On the iPod - Just Dance by Lady GaGa
Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!Super massively celebrating today. Irish soda bread baked, dilly casserole bread in the oven, corned beef waiting to go. No, I'm not Irish, but one of the main characters in my upcoming MG series is. Does that count?
The winner of Jennifer Hubbard's THE SECRET YEAR is:
SoLaR
Please send your mailing instructions to gerb (at) lindagerber (dot) com and we'll get that sent out to you. Don't forget to write "winner" in the subject header so it won't get lost in my inbox!
Everyone else, come on back on Friday when for a release week celebration with Elizabeth Scott and your chance to win a signed copy of THE UNWRITTEN RULE!!!
Okay - I promised I would tell you the story of my secret relationship a long, long, long time ago...
Back in my neighborhood growing up, we had a group that got together every summer evening to hang out and play kick the can and popgun and radar and about anything else we could think of. In our group, a boy who was about three years older than me singled me out. He would hide with me sometimes during the games. We'd crouch in the bushes together and he might hold my hand, but I didn't think much of it.
Then one day I started to get little gifts on my doorstep from "a secret admirer." I didn't like it much because it meant I got teased by my siblings and any friends who found out about it. So I left a note telling the guy to stop.
That night, this boy 'revealed' that the gifts had been from him. He wanted us to 'go together' and made me kiss him, but he said our boyfriend/girlfriend status had to be a secret. I guess he didn't want to be teased by his friends either since I was so much younger than him. Not much changed, except that when he hid with me during the games, I knew why. And he would sneak kisses sometimes.
We were 'together' secretly like that for months. Until one day I was coming home from a friend's house something felt off. My neighborhood was too quiet. No kids outside playing. No moms visiting on front lawns. Even the birds had stopped singing. It was dead still. I dumped my bike on the driveway and ran into the house. My mom was sitting at the kitchen table, a wadded tissue in her hand. Her eyes were puffy and red. When I walked in, she looked up at me and her eyes welled again. She told me this boy had been cleaning rifles with a friend in anticipation of a hunting trip and his had gone off. He was dead.
I didn't know what to do. I remember wandering outside where I sat on a swing and stared at nothing for a long time. My whole chest felt hollow. I mean, I wasn't in love with the guy or anything, but he was my first boyfriend, if you could call it that. I ached for his family's loss. I ached for him. And I couldn't tell anyone how I was feeling, because I had promised to keep it secret. Which is why there are no names in this story. It still is.
Sooooo... what else is happening this week?
Readergirlz is hosting a LIVE chat with Scott Westerfeld tonight! http://bit.ly/ahuTaT
Wimpy Kid hits the movie screens. http://tinyurl.com/ybt78fz (This is big in our house because youngest son is excited to see it - and hoping they are truer to the book than the Percy Jackson movie was.)
I have 63 entries left to judge in the Central Ohio Writing Contest before next week... which is why I won't be listing more what's happening this week. Sorry!
SoLaR
Please send your mailing instructions to gerb (at) lindagerber (dot) com and we'll get that sent out to you. Don't forget to write "winner" in the subject header so it won't get lost in my inbox!
Everyone else, come on back on Friday when for a release week celebration with Elizabeth Scott and your chance to win a signed copy of THE UNWRITTEN RULE!!!Okay - I promised I would tell you the story of my secret relationship a long, long, long time ago...
Back in my neighborhood growing up, we had a group that got together every summer evening to hang out and play kick the can and popgun and radar and about anything else we could think of. In our group, a boy who was about three years older than me singled me out. He would hide with me sometimes during the games. We'd crouch in the bushes together and he might hold my hand, but I didn't think much of it.
Then one day I started to get little gifts on my doorstep from "a secret admirer." I didn't like it much because it meant I got teased by my siblings and any friends who found out about it. So I left a note telling the guy to stop.
That night, this boy 'revealed' that the gifts had been from him. He wanted us to 'go together' and made me kiss him, but he said our boyfriend/girlfriend status had to be a secret. I guess he didn't want to be teased by his friends either since I was so much younger than him. Not much changed, except that when he hid with me during the games, I knew why. And he would sneak kisses sometimes.
We were 'together' secretly like that for months. Until one day I was coming home from a friend's house something felt off. My neighborhood was too quiet. No kids outside playing. No moms visiting on front lawns. Even the birds had stopped singing. It was dead still. I dumped my bike on the driveway and ran into the house. My mom was sitting at the kitchen table, a wadded tissue in her hand. Her eyes were puffy and red. When I walked in, she looked up at me and her eyes welled again. She told me this boy had been cleaning rifles with a friend in anticipation of a hunting trip and his had gone off. He was dead.
I didn't know what to do. I remember wandering outside where I sat on a swing and stared at nothing for a long time. My whole chest felt hollow. I mean, I wasn't in love with the guy or anything, but he was my first boyfriend, if you could call it that. I ached for his family's loss. I ached for him. And I couldn't tell anyone how I was feeling, because I had promised to keep it secret. Which is why there are no names in this story. It still is.
Sooooo... what else is happening this week?
Readergirlz is hosting a LIVE chat with Scott Westerfeld tonight! http://bit.ly/ahuTaT
Wimpy Kid hits the movie screens. http://tinyurl.com/ybt78fz (This is big in our house because youngest son is excited to see it - and hoping they are truer to the book than the Percy Jackson movie was.)
I have 63 entries left to judge in the Central Ohio Writing Contest before next week... which is why I won't be listing more what's happening this week. Sorry!
Happy release week to: Meg Cabot (GLITTER GIRLS AND THE GREAT FAKE OUT: ALLIE FINKLE'S RULES FOR GIRLS), Lindsey Leavitt (PRINCESS FOR HIRE), Deb Caletti (THE SIX RULES OF MAYBE), Elizabeth Scott (THE UNWRITTEN RULE), and Carrie Vaughn (VOICES OF DRAGONS)
