Better than a Lego brick to the eye…

Posted on October 25, 2011
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So, just what have I been up to lately? Hmmmm? Lots of things, O somewhat-ignored blog readers. Big things, even.

For one, I came up with an idea for a new website, talked some of my author peeps into going into it with me and Shazam! made a website and launched it. In like a week and a half. Booyah!

I’d like to invite you to take a gander at Read It and Laugh, a brand spankin’ new website dedicated to funny books, funny authors, and funny readers. I hope you’ll take a look! It’s kinda my response to the whole “O woe is me, all YA books are DARK and EVIL now” thing that’s been going around. And those other authors I talked into going along with me? Some seriously funny people. I ain’t kidding. (Plus, you know me. There’s chances to win stuff. Go check out the Funny List, for one).

Let’s see…other than that…

Well, The Max is off school for two weeks for what they call “half-term” here. So my writing time is kinda shot anyway. And now he’s gone and gotten himself some kind of lovely virus and an evil-wicked temperature (103 F or 39.7 C). So there’s that. The poor Max.

I’m not even gonna mention the spit up that accompanies said illness. Not. Gonna. Do. It.

And I joined a gym. Been trying to get back into shape and people, let me tell you, it’s gonna be a LONG haul. But I’m working on it. The gym has a pool too, so I’ve taken The Max swimming a few times (when he was still well and you couldn’t cook hot dogs on his forehead).

And I finally went to an eye doctor and got my eye checked out. This is where the blog post title comes in. See, about 7 or 8 months ago, The Max accidentally got me with a Lego brick right to the eye. He stuck it out the same time I turned to look at him. No chance to blink. Nothing. Lego straight in the eye. Hurt like…well, hurt like a lotta words I don’t want to use. For like an hour. And almost every morning (and sometimes randomly during the day), when I first open my right eye, I feel like someone is stabbing me with a serrated knife. It’s been so long though and it’s so weird that it’s only in the mornings that I was starting to wonder if I was crazy (not my normal crazy, but crazy-crazy).

Turns out it’s perfectly normal. Apparently I have this huge jagged gash in my cornea from when he got me with that brick. STILL. From like 8 months ago. And overnight it starts to heal and put new cells or whatnot together. Which then sometimes adhere to my eyelid. And then when I first open my eyes in the morning…kabang! I literally rip those shiny new cells right off my cornea. Hence the pain.

And my husband wonders why I hate mornings.

The bad news is that it can take (obviously) a long time to heal. And last night while The Max was thrashing around in a feverish daze, he got me IN THE SAME FREAKING EYE. *sigh* I may start wearing an eye patch. (kidding) (mostly)

In writing-ish news, the copy edit phase is now complete on CAT GIRL’S DAY OFF. Woot! Now it’s the publisher’s turn to go do all their fancy stuff. I’ll get one more look at it in the final proof stage and then…book baby! Probably in April.

Now *that’s* better than a Lego brick to the eye.

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Extra Points Opportunity #4 for iPad Giveaway!

Posted on October 17, 2011
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Here’s another chance for you to earn extra points/entries towards the iPad I’m giving away at the end of October (and if you haven’t entered already, um, why??)!

The first opportunity (500 points!) was for buying a copy of one of my books during the contest period. The second opportunity (50 points each) was for changing your Facebook and/or Twitter Profile picture. The third opportunity (50 points each) was for posting reviews of either of the Sucks to Be Me books.

This one is SUPER EASY. All you gotta do is read my FREE prelude to the third book, Sucks to Be Moi on either Smashwords OR on my website and leave a comment.

To earn this extra points opportunity you have to:

  1. Read the short story/prelude (you can read it online either at Smashwords in various formats or right here on my website)
  2. Leave a review on Smashwords OR a Comment here on my site.
  3. BONUS: Earn an additional 50 points if you post a link/description to the short story anywhere (your blog, your facebook wall, your twitter, etc.)
  4. E-mail me at kim at kimberlypauley dot com to let me know what you’ve done so I can verify it. If you also did the bonus (above), let me know too!
  5. Important! Include your contest username in the email so I know who to award the points to!! And please send it by October 30th to give me time to award the extra points!

And that’s it! You get 50 extra points! Do the bonus and you’ve got 100 extra points right there!

Have an idea for another extra points opportunity? Let me know!

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Design my next bookplate and WIN!

Posted on October 11, 2011
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So, I ran out of bookplates. Which isn’t a terrible tragedy, as I used to use Avery labels and just make my own whenever I needed more. But I thought that this time it might be nice to get some made and have ‘em all be shiny and new and things like that. You know. I’ve been mucking around with possible ideas (and still have a few), but then I had a BIG idea.

Ninja Max says: "Ideas, they are my favorite!"

Would YOU like to design my next bookplate? And win something cool if your design is chosen? You would, wouldn’t you? C’mon, you know you do.

The Details

What’ll the winner win? An ultra-special copy of Still Sucks to Be Me. A marked up copy. With margin notes from me and little details and snippets and things like that. A one-of-a-kind thing. And signed, of course. And some book swag. And your name up in lights on my website. Okay, maybe not lights. Pixels. (Or, if you’d rather wait until next year, I’ll give you a marked up copy of Cat Girl’s Day Off. Your choice.)

Whaddaya gotta do? Design a bookplate using the specificiations below and email me your design in either jpg or png format by November 15th, 2011.

The Specifications

  • Dimensions (for printing) are 90 mm x 55 mm, however this means the artwork should actually be 96mm x 61mm (basically, extra padding around the outside…but if you just do the 90 x 55, that’s fine, I can add the padding).
  • 300 dpi (if you don’t know what that means, don’t worry overly much)
  • Include (somewhere) my name (Kimberly Pauley) and my URL (www.kimberlypauley.com)
  • Preferably, the bookplate would be generic (i.e. not specific to the Sucks to Be Me books or the Cat Girl’s Day Off book) so I can use it for any of my books
  • Any images used need to be your own design or you must have permission to use them
  • You need to leave space so I can actually, um, sign them and maybe write messages to people (or at least their name)

This is one design I was playing with which is actually based on a fan’s drawing of me from a workshop I gave a few years back. It’s pretty simple. Feedback on Twitter, however, was that “she” (me) looked tired and not very happy. So, um, yeah. Hence this contest…(though if you like it, let me know)

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Extra Points Opportunity #3 for the iPad Giveaway!

Posted on October 11, 2011
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Here’s another chance for you to earn extra points/entries towards the iPad I’m giving away at the end of October (and if you haven’t entered already, um, why??)!

The first opportunity (500 points!) was for buying a copy of one of my books during the contest period. The second opportunity (50 points each) was for changing your Facebook and/or Twitter Profile picture. This one’s for people who have already read either (or both) of my books and who don’t necessarily “do” the social networking thing. Because, apparently, those people still exist. Really.

To earn this extra points opportunity you have to:

  1. Write and post a review of my book (either one: Sucks to Be Me or Still Sucks to Be Me or their translated counterparts). The review can be posted at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, LibraryThing, Chapters, Powell’s,  your blog, or any other online book review-ish-ness place you can think of (you tell me).
  2. Wanna make it count multiple times? Simply post the review in more than one spot! However, I do ask that if you (for whatever reason) absolutely hated my books? Um, skip this one, please. Sorry, but I’m not gonna give you a bunch of extra points for trashing the books…that kinda defeats the purpose of having these giveaways…
  3. E-mail me at kim at kimberlypauley dot com with the link(s) so I can verify it.
  4. Important! Include your contest username in the email so I know who to award the points to!! And please send it by October 30th to give me time to award the extra points!

And that’s it! KaPow! You get 50 extra points! And yes, if you’re paying attention…if you wrote reviews of both my first and second books and then posted them on three sites (say Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Chapters), you’d have 300 points right there. Easy Peasy!

Have an idea for another extra points opportunity? Let me know!

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And the winner of the T-shirt is… @that_cool_girl !

Posted on October 10, 2011
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It’s that time again! I’ve passed 2000 followers and I get to give away a t-shirt! Congrats to Hannah-Beth @that_cool_girl the winner of a Sucks to Be Me t-shirt of her choosing (Hannah-Beth, just email me what size, color and design you want + your address)! Woot!

Next t-shirt will be given away at 2500 followers…(right now I’m at 2114 so if you’re not following me yet, get going!)

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Cats & Blogs: What the Cat Read ( @LdySkyfire )

Posted on October 7, 2011
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This is the first in a continuing series of posts about book bloggers and the cats they love. Or tolerate, depending. In Cat Girl’s Day Off, my main character Natalie can talk to cats (not that she always wants to). If you’re a book blogger and you’re owned by a cat (or more than one cat), send me an email if you’d like to be featured!

What the Cat Read: Three cats reviewing the books they love!

Because you know that the cats in bookstores and libraries have way more to say than they let on when we are around, What the Cat Read puts a new spin on the book review by offering it up from the perspective of our purrrfect feline friends. Maintained by Willow, Sara, Buggy, and human Cameron Yeager!

How long has it been since your first cat owned you?
My first cat, Midnight, found me in 1991 when I was 11 years old. She was a 9 month old shelter kitten and she provided years of love and affection until her passing in October of 2007. I couldn’t have asked for a better first time feline owner.

Tell me about your cats.
The current felines in my life are Willow (WillowWisp), Sara (Sarabear), and Buggy (Little Bug). However, instead of my telling you about them, I think it might be easier to let them do the talking. =^-^=

Willow – “I’m a Silver Tabby-Siamese mix and yes my eyes are crossed. Gotta problem with that? I love getting into mischief. If a door is closed, I want to know what is on the other side. If my humans are late in feeding me, I have no problems making my displeasure known by knocking things off shelves or smacking their face with my tail. In fact, my antics over the years earned me the nickname of “Cross-eyed Demon Child” and I proudly live up to it daily.”

Sara – “Murrr! I always say that when I’m happy. And since I’m always happy, I say it all the time. Murrr! When I was younger, a wild animal viciously attacked me and as a result, I have difficulty seeing out of my right eye. But that doesn’t stop me from enjoying my life to the fullest. Every day I play chase with my cousin Inari around the house, and though it upsets the two old biddies, I don’t care. I’m having fun! My favorite game to play with my human is “Spin the Kitty” and boy do I get dizzy. Murrr!”

Buggy – “My name may be Little Bug, but I’m far from little. As the oldest of the felines in the house, I don’t put up with any kind of nonsense. The humans may think that they are in charge of everything around here, but if they only knew how tightly I have them wrapped around my little paws, especially at mealtime. When all is said and done, I AM a feline equivalent of a Red Hat Society member. Female: Check (and Calico), Over 50: Check (10+ years old, you do the math), & Attitude: Heck ya! Just ask the dog. I like to spend my day’s lounging on the bed with a good book, basking in the sun, and getting in plenty of lap time with my humans. Oh, and did I mention I like hats?”

If they could read (I’m not saying they can’t), what do you think their favorite books would be?
As Willow said, she loves getting into mischief. As a result, she is very much a mystery novel lover. She currently is reading Lilian Jackson Braun’s “Cat Who” series. Her favorite series though is Carole Nelson Douglas’s Midnight Louie Mysteries. She’s got a serious soft spot for that street cat!  Sara, being the youngest of the three, is really into the Young Adult and Fantasy genres. She really enjoys reading Seanan McGuire’s October Daye series and the Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling.  Buggy is more into the Classics. Her author of choice is Jane Austen and her favorite book is Sense and Sensibility by, whom else, Jane Austen.

If you could ask your cat(s) anything, what would you ask?
Why they feel it is necessary to try and trip me whenever I walk up and down the stairs?  Actually, I don’t really know what questions I would ask of them.

What do you think the answer would be?
Willow – “If we told you the reason why we try to trip you on the stairs then our plans for world domination would be at risk.”

And here’s Cameron and all her furry companions:

P.S. Cameron, I can tell you the real reason why they try to trip you on the stairs. Because they can.

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Sneak Peek Continued…Oscar!

Posted on October 6, 2011
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Okay, so my editor and I were randomly tweeting back and forth today and she happened to mention Jang Geun-Seok. So I looked him up (thank you, Google image search) and I have found Oscar!!!

Seriously! He’s perfect. Okay, so he’s South Korean and not half-Japanese and he’s twenty-four in real life, but other than that, PERFECT. Totally has the right attitude.

Okay, and he’d need his bangs/fringe (over here in the UK they call bangs “fringe”, yet another thing to get used to…go to a salon and say you need your bangs trimmed and they will look at you like you grew another head) to be green.  But other than that, seriously, this dude is totally Oscar (click through to embiggen if you like).

Disclaimery bit: I don’t own any of those photos or have any rights to ‘em or anything like that. Don’t know the dude at all. Just think he’s exactly awesomesauce for Oscar. And if he’s anywhere near as cool as Oscar is in my head, then he’s totally AWESOME.

Don’t forget to check out all the Sneak Peeks!

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I have seen my cover and…

Posted on October 6, 2011
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…it is good. (And for those of you too young or too, um, normal, that was totally said in Butthead’s voice).

But I can’t show it to you. Sorry. Really, I am. I would LOVE to show it to you. But it’s nowhere near final yet and my publisher hasn’t said I can and…well, I just can’t. But trust me, you’re gonna like it. I especially love that Nat’s attitude is so obvious (and that she’s not a watered down version of half-Chinese). And I’m in love with the font they used for the Cat Girl’s Day Off title on the front. Can one be in love with a font? I think so. Even better is that it’s also (likely) going to be used inside the book for the chapter-y bits. Love, love, love.

And pink cats.

Love that there’s a pink cat RIGHT ON THE COVER OF MY BOOK.

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Looky! I’m in Publisher’s Weekly!

Posted on October 5, 2011
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Here’s a link to the full article. :) And the excerpt:

Last month marked the release of the inaugural list from Lee & Low’s Tu Books, and the imprint is off to a running start. “Reviews of all our first books look really good so far,” says editorial director Stacy Whitman. The debut releases are Wolf Mark, a paranormal thriller by Joseph Bruchac; Galaxy Games, a space adventure by Greg Fishbone; and Karen Sandler’s Tankborn, a dystopian novel. “It seems that dystopia is as strong as ever, though I keep expecting to see it subside,” Whitman remarks. “In the future, I’m anticipating that urban fantasy with a twist will be strong.”

Spring will bring Vodnik by Bryce Moore, a contemporary fantasy set in Europe, and Kimberly Pauley’s Cat Girl’s Day Off, in which a girl who can talk to cats solves the disappearance of a celebrity blogger. “This book has mystery, celebrity, and fantasy elements—it’s a mashup of genres. I’ll be on the lookout for more of those,” Whitman notes.

I’m proud to be involved with this! And I’m so excited to have a book coming out that features a multi-ethnic (which, incidentally, spell check wanted to change to mulch-ethnic…what the heck is that?!) cast and a gay character. And that my editor, if anything, encouraged all of that. And, hey, MASHUP. I love that word.

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And I read…Entangled by @cat_clarke

Posted on October 3, 2011
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Sigh. I kind of hate it when books make me cry. But in a good way. It means it got underneath my skin.

Of course, my husband might argue that I sometimes cry at really sappy commercials, but I’m going to ignore that. After all, he’s a mathematician and statistician. What does he know?

I’m trying to read more local (i.e. UK) authors now that I live over here in London. Some time ago I bought Cat Clarke‘s Entangled and I chat with her on Twitter (where she’s quite fab and undoubtedly cooler than I am). Been meaning to read it for ages and finally got around to it.

Great book. You should go read it right now. But have a supply of tissues. I love Grace’s voice in the book. She’s strong but weak and often blind to the truth, but she tries really hard. She wants to do the right thing. Desperately. Too often she believes she’s the person that she sees reflected in the eyes of the boys who take advantage of her.

Haven’t we all been there.

Well, okay, I haven’t exactly been where Grace is (thank goodness) but the spirit is the same. That’s what I like about books like Cat’s. They’re honest and heart wrenching and so so true. Some feelings are universal.

As an aside…even after living here for some months, there are still so many things I have to translate in my head as I read. Biros. Scarpering. English is just different over here. And I may never get used to the extra “u’s” that are all over the place.

Entangled also reminds me that I need to be meaner to Aria, the main character in my current manuscript. I am always entirely too kind in the first draft (*puts on my mean pants*).

Off to write!

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Sneak Peek: Oscar Green

Posted on September 30, 2011
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This continues the series of behind the scenes posts for Cat Girl’s Day Off (coming in Spring 2012!). Oscar is one of Nat’s best friends. He’s hilarious and probably my favorite character in the book (don’t tell any of the others I said that). The Sim versions aren’t perfect, but it’s as close as I could get. You can also check out this post, which has some real-life pictures of what I think Oscar might look like.

Don’t forget to check out all the Sneak Peeks!

Sim Oscar!

The Many Faces of Oscar. Not sure which hair I like better.

Name: Oscar Green

Age: 16

Height: Way taller than Nat! Booyah! Seriously, I lucked out in the half-Asian lottery. I’m almost 6 feet tall.

Build: On a scale of 1 to Spiderman, I guess I’d have to say I’m a 4 in the muscles department. But I’m cute!

Talent: Nothing official with those BERM folks. I’m just cool.

Hair: Black and green

Eyes: Dark brown

Ethnicity: Half-Japanese

Grade: Sophomore

Best Subject: English

Best Friends: Nat Ng and Melly Zinsz

A Brief Interview:

Can you describe yourself in one word?

Awesomesauce!

So, I hear you know everything there is to know about celebrities like Easton West and Ty Wellington.

Just ask me anything. I can probably tell you the color of Ty’s boxer shorts right now.

He’s a boxer guy then?

Oh yeah. Maxim magazine, last October. Said briefs chafe. I totally agree.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Famous!

For what?

Oh, I don’t know. Does it matter?

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