Susane Colasanti - Journal

It's a week of thanks, which means that it's a good time to give back. Kind of like how my Gram always put special cookies out for everyone on Bingo night when it was her birthday, but on a larger scale. I'm talking about giving back by serving the community. I hope that my books help readers feel less alone and feel better about their lives in some small way. But there are lots of other ways I can contribute to society.

Ever since I was a kid, I've had a passion for volunteer work. I was a Girl Scout from Brownies to Leader-In-Training. In the summers, I was a candy striper. I trained as an EMT. Then Ryan White died and I knew I would be an AIDS activist. In college, I volunteered with ActionAIDS as a buddy and home helper. After I moved here, I became an educational outreach volunteer and curriculum developer for GMHC, the captain of my school's AIDS Walk team, and the arts and crafts director at a camp for kids affected by HIV and AIDS. There were a bunch of other short-term things over the years as well.

And then...I just got overwhelmed. I was teaching and writing and totally exhausted trying to do both. Something had to change. I took a hiatus from volunteering, telling myself I'd go back in a year. Five years later, I'm ready to return. I wasn't sure what my new volunteering would focus on. I thought about reading to children at the hospital or to older people at the senior center, returning to the Girl Scouts as a leader, working with Big Brothers Big Sisters, or mentoring. Then I found a wonderful organization that assists local seniors. The idea of working with them felt right. So I'm applying to be a shopper and escort, which mainly involves helping clients get to the doctor, grocery shopping, and running errands. Regular readers know that I don't do winter, but the thought of someone being unable to get out for groceries when it's cold breaks my heart. A lot of older people here are all alone. I would walk through all kinds of frozen precipitation if it means that someone will be taken care of.

Here's why I'm talking about this. If you've been thinking about volunteering, now is the time. I really regret those years I let slip away without doing more. Time can be sneaky like that. So take control. You can find volunteer opportunities in your area at Do Something or Volunteer Match. We can all find room in our lives to help make the world a better place. The world needs you.

Water towers are cool.





That is all.

These three darkest months of the year are hard times for me. I miss the sunlight. I'm not a fan of sunset being at 4:35. So I'm looking for light within the darkness. Some of you mentioned tricks you use to get happy on my Facebook, like music and cake and friends. All of these are good. There's much to be said for indoor entertainment.

Like how in recent Netflix adventures I've been watching last season of Private Practice. I never hear people talking about this show so I don't know how popular it is, but I think it's really good. It may not have that overwhelming intense thing Grey's Anatomy does, but some of their story lines rival Grey's. I'd watched that Grey's ep where Addison takes her brother to Seattle Grace a while ago, so it was cool to see the tie-in from Private Practice's side. The characters are sweet and it's always interesting. Recommended.

In movie news, I just saw The Men Who Stare at Goats. Dude, it was so much better than I thought it was going to be! It's the best movie I've seen in a long while. Recommended, especially if your sense of humor is kind of weird like mine. Now I'm waiting for Brothers. I used to have a husband list when I was a teacher, where every year I'd list my Top Five Husbands and students could call me by any of those names if they wanted. Anything to make the day more fun for them, you know? And, um, me. For several years, my #1 and #2 husbands were Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal. I've been saying that those boys look alike for years, and now they're playing brothers! Totally brill.



Books I want to read keep piling up. I like to read in bed, but sometimes I'm so tired that I can't read more than a chapter. This means it takes me a ridiculous amount of time to read books these days. I'm finally reading Jonathan Tropper's This Is Where I Leave You, which is just so freaking good. Highly recommended. I've been a fan since Plan B, so I'm thrilled about all of his success. You deserve every bit of it, Jonathan!

Of course, the only music I'm playing these days is the new John Mayer album. I scored floor seats for his concert at Madison Square Garden! Excellent ones, yo. It's a good thing I'm into anticipation, because the concert isn't until the end of February. Which is perfect, since February is the coldest month and I don't do cold. So I'll look forward to this concert and let it be my light at the end of the darkness. I feel warmer already.

Recently, I posted my new paperback cover designs. Now I can share the spine art with you, which I'm really excited about. By the time Something Like Fate is released on May 18, all four of my books will have a matching look on the shelves. Each spine has pretty watercolor stripes that reflect the color scheme of the covers:



The new editions of When It Happens and Take Me There should be out around March. I can't wait to see them in bookstores!

Some shout-outs are in order. Let's get to it.

Shout-out to the Manhattan Village Academy Book Club! These kids are amazing. I visited them on Monday as part of the Adopt-A-School program. Lots of positive energy and thoughtful questions were in the house. Thanks to Ms. Daehler and everyone for making me feel so welcome.



One friendly neighbor from the book club had this photo of a squirrel snarfing down a McFlurry on her Facebook page, so of course I had to swipe it.



Shout-out to Jonathan Ames! I went to an interview with him at Upright Citizens Brigade in which he spanked the interviewer at the end. He also attempted to play some Wii boxing, but that didn't go over so well. It was his first time with the Wii. I never knew that Jonathan is fluent in Backward Word. That's where you say every word backwards. He does it so easily! Thanks for dazzling us with your lesser-known talents.

Shout-out to John Mayer! His new album, Battle Studies, comes out on Tuesday. Along with a zillion other fans, I will be trying to score pre-sale tickets to his winter tour tomorrow. Good luck to everyone else with a secret code!

Forty years ago today, the first episode of Sesame Street was born. It was sponsored by the letters W, S and E and the numbers 2 and 3. Since that day, the show has done a brilliant job of evolving with the times. It is still relevant. It is still teaching in a way that speaks to us. And it is still freaking awesome.

I've posted some clips of the Yip-Yip Aliens already, so here's one with Kermit, Cookie, and the Mystery Box. I love that Cookie has recently explained how cookies are "sometimes food" while fruit is for everyday. Not that he's thinking about fruit here.

Happy birthday, Sesame Street!

Last week kind of sucked. On Monday and Tuesday, I felt like I was coming down with a cold, but it didn't really materialize into anything serious. Then on Wednesday it was like, Wham! What I thought was a cold revealed itself to be a nasty stomach virus. Not cool. It was disgusting. Fortunately, it was not as disgusting as that crazy food poisoning thing a bunch of us had a while back. Which was caused by E. coli from tomato plants, by the way. Judy Blume had it. She posted a photo on her blog where she was sleeping on the bathroom floor with pillows and blankets and stuff. I remember being like, Dude! That's such a good idea!

This was not that bad. Mainly, it just made me exhausted all week. I'm not good about working when I'm sick. I probably could manage to write, but I'm sure that everything I write would sound all groggy. So I took several sick days. Luckily, my boss is flexible about such things. That's a joke because my boss is me. Hilarious. You know Michael's World's Best Boss mug on The Office? I just got a World's Best Boss mug keychain, since it works both ways.

So yeah. It's back to work time! Plus, there are lots of things to look forward to this week. I will hopefully be making progress on this second draft. I'm visiting Manhattan Village Academy's book club today as part of the Adopt-A-School program. Sesame Street is celebrating its 40th birthday tomorrow. I'm finally going to see Whip It this weekend, if it's still playing. And I just heard some exciting news from my agent. Something Like Fate is Penguin's lead book for the Summer 2010 season! That means fun times are ahead. I should have marketing details to share with you soon. In the meantime, back to making some second draft magic...

In a negative situation, I always try to find something positive. Something positive about not having dental insurance is that I can go to any dentist I want. True, I might have to take out a small loan to pay for my visits. But I have finally found an Awesome Dentist! I always hoped that the Awesome Dentist existed, despite worrying that he was merely a mythical entity, rather like unicorns or zero-calorie cupcakes that taste like real cupcakes and not some sugar-free, low-fat variety which, really, why even bother? So I am very happy to announce that for the first time in my life, I have an Awesome Dentist. I've had Dumbass Dentist, Ghetto Dentist, Evil Dentist, Evil Dentist Group Practice (who were clearly practicing how to extort ridiculous amounts of money from their patients by performing all sorts of unnecessary procedures), and Grumpy Dentist. How relieved am I that dental karma is now showering me with its powers?

About as relieved to discover that my bottom wisdom teeth will never be pulled. Awesome Dentist took a 3-D image of my mouth and determined that the only way to pull my wisdom teeth would be to first remove chunks of my jawbone. Um, I'm good with all my jawbone intact, thanks. He also said there's no reason why they should be pulled, despite all previous dentists yammering at me to get them out. Not only is Awesome Dentist awesome, he also specializes in sedation dentistry, dealing with sensitivity, and Invisalign. So I'm going back next week to do impressions for my braces. And then I'll have braces. Invisalign is crazy expensive, but it comes with perks (like going on the back of the teeth and taking them out to eat), so hopefully having braces 20 years too late will be minimally traumatic.

Remember that rad poster alert from Wednesday? The mystery has been solved. It was part of Penguin's booth at the Frankfurt Book Fair, where galleys of Something Like Fate were distributed. More photos from the fair were posted at The Letter Garden. Thanks to Ka-Yam for this incredible documentation! My editor also helped crack the case by discovering that it wasn't actually a poster. It was more like a wall panel, so there's no way to get one. Which is sad because it would have made a sweet door poster. But hey, maybe more Something Like Fate walls will pop up at book fairs here in the States! Let's be on the lookout.

Spotted: One rad poster.

I don't know where this is or where it came from. All I know is that it's freaking awesome:



Sources say it may be located in Germany. Jack Bauer is on a mission to identify its coordinates.

Over.

Over the weekend, I finished the first draft of book five. My goal was to finish this draft by the end of October. For a while there, I wasn't sure I'd make it. But when failure is not an option, magic happens. There's still a ton of work to do. My first drafts are never pretty. I have to do a second draft and then a third before I can submit the manuscript to my editors. Hopefully, I'm in for a fun ride.

Then there was the big Village Halloween Parade. Even though it passes by right around the corner, I hadn't seen it in years. We had a friend visiting who wanted to see it. So we stood out in the warm night (which was awesome because having to wear a coat over your costume sucks) and watched the fabulous parade. The best costumes were some Wild Things. Every year there's this group of weird skeletons. They are huge! I might have a short video of them to show you soon.

Our friend was visiting from Toronto. He works on the set of Degrassi! He brought me swag! They just wrapped season 9 and wait until you see what happens. There's a major plot point that, sadly, I cannot share. However, I am allowed to tell you the following:

1. The main actors get paid a flat rate of $1,000 per day, regardless of what they do. Whether someone works for a few minutes in a short scene or they have to pull a 14-hour day, they still get paid the same. Fascinating.

2. Joey sold his hat from Degrassi Junior High on eBay and the studio got mad at him. I'm siding with Joey on this one. If the studio is going to be all possessive about their stuff, then they shouldn't give it away. I wonder if Joey regrets selling his famous fedora.

Okay, the second draft is waiting to be written. I wonder if there's a way to work in a Degrassi beach towel...

1. Yay for Laurie Halse Anderson! She rocked the house yesterday on Penguin's Point of View website. Her reading/Q&A event streamed live for all to see. You could even submit questions online. I was stoked when my question was selected! I asked, "What's the one thing you hope that your books can do most for teens?" And guess what? Laurie and I have the same exact answer! Which is to help teens feel less alone. I was a bit verklempt to be connecting with one of my role models in this way, all united by a common purpose. Love her.

2. The Cybils nominations are out. This list of awesome YA novels that were released over the past year includes lots of my faves. It's a good resource if you're looking for new book recommendations.

3. When I signed some books recently, I noticed that When It Happens is in its 10th printing! It was really cool to see that "10" there all by itself. I was a bit verklempt again. Of course, a 10th printing would not be possible without everyone who has read or talked about or shared this book. Word of mouth is a very powerful force. So I have all of you to thank for your kindness. Thank you thank you thank you! You guys rule.

4. Princess Bookie recently had a contest where you could redesign certain book covers. Although the contest is closed, it's fun to see alternate cover designs. Redesigns of the Something Like Fate cover were included. Cindy's blog is super impressive, so go on over for a visit if you haven't seen it yet.

5. Apparently, Halloween is tomorrow. Do not get me started on how quickly October flew by. We have a friend visiting, so we'll watch the big Halloween parade here in the Village. If I dress up, I'm going as three-hole-punch Dave, a composite of two Jim Halpert costumes. My Yip-Yips costume idea will have to wait. Whether you'll be trick-or-treating, partying like the rock star you are or having a low-key night, be safe and have a fabulous time!

Guess who's getting braces?

That would be me.

I probably should have gotten braces, like, 20 years ago. As a neglected teen, I usually didn't have even the basic things I needed, much less some expensive braces. My Gram did intervene in her classic superhero ways and managed to set me up with a retainer. But the retainer hurt. It kept scraping my gums. It was anchored around my bottom wisdom teeth, which hurt all the time. And I kept throwing it out with my lunch. So now I need to fix the problem. Oh, and those bottom wisdom teeth? Need to come out.

If it wasn't for the issue of getting my wisdom teeth pulled, I wouldn't be so resistant about braces. They're not the old-school metal kind that Miranda had in Sex and the City where she asked that girl, "Are your braces blue?" and the girl was all, "No, they're sapphire." Mine will be the invisible kind that go on the back of your teeth, so no one can even tell you have them. Plus, my dentist says they'll only be on for less than a year. So it's time to move forward, despite the horrific expense. Did I mention that I don't have dental insurance anymore? I know, the fun times just keep coming!

My top wisdom teeth were pulled years ago. It was pretty bad. Mainly because I have a really sensitive system. I would love to be less sensitive, but that's not happening. My pain threshold is so low it's subterranean. I can't drink caffeine without feeling sick. Even cold medicine makes me feel weird. But I have to accept who I am and make the most of my lacking attributes, of which there are many. While sensitivity sucks in the face of teeth yanking, it's good for writing books. So I'll focus on writing. And psyching myself up to make that appointment. Which I'll be making any minute now...

People sometimes ask me why I pay so much rent to live in a tiny apartment (which is an average size for the West Village but microscopic anywhere else) when I could own a massive five-bedroom house in Kentucky for the same amount. The reasons for this are infinite. It's mostly about the energy. It's also about experiences like last Saturday night, aka The Ultimate New York City Night.

I'm a huge fan of a certain famous person who lives in my neighborhood. Out of respect for his privacy, I can't write his name here. However, I can give you the following hints about his identity:

1. I mentioned I was going to his house on my Twitter.
2. We get together now and then to have lunch.

He just bought a house a few blocks away from my place. You basically have to be him to own an entire brownstone around here. A friend of mine is his interior designer, so I got to visit his house. It's still being worked on, which means I'm allowed to show you a photo or two. This is part of his changing room:



The first floor has an amazing front room with a fireplace (I think there are eight fireplaces in total) and built-in bookshelves around the windows. Built-in bookshelves are a passionate desire of mine. These won't stay white like mine will be one day, but they are still gorgeous:



After the tour, we went to The Waverly Inn. I've always wanted to go there. It's this restaurant that doesn't even have a phone number -reservations are that exclusive. But another friend of mine (who is the boyfriend of my interior designer friend) is a fitness instructor at Equinox around the corner, so he'll saunter over during the day to make reservations. I know, my friends are outstanding! Shout-out to SP for hooking me up. Usually there's some movie star or other at The Waverly Inn. There wasn't anyone famous there Saturday night, though. Just some guy who looked like that guy from that show. But I do have one thing to show you:



See this plate of mac and cheese? It's not just any mac and cheese. This mac and cheese is $95.00. It has shaved white truffles on top. While I think it's outrageous that there can be $95.00 mac and cheese, I cannot deny its deliciousness.

That's the news from the nabe for now. When his house is finished and I get to see it again, I might be able to post a photo or two here. Stay tuned.

1. As Teen Read Week wraps up, I'd like to remind you to read something out of this world. To celebrate this most fabulous week, Readergirlz has been posting tributes to authors made of awesome. If you're looking for some good book recommendations, you should head over there.

2. Dissecting Perfection has compiled a Fall 2009 playlist entitled YA Celebs Playlist. Along with a bunch of other authors and bloggers, I answered the question, "What's your fall anthem of choice?" Regular readers will be less than shocked by my response.

3. Speaking of John Mayer, I'm a bit irritated. His new album, Battle Studies, drops on November 17. I could not be more excited. He's even having a small album release concert. When tickets went on sale, they were only available to existing members of his fan club. Which of course includes me. But I didn't get my tickets! Because right when they went on sale at 10:00, the website didn't refresh my page the way it was supposed to. Then it was 10:01. Then 10:02. The dread was unbearable. At 10:03, I was forwarded to the sales page. By then all the good seats were sold out. I could always go and sit way in the back, but I know me. I'll just be fuming the whole time that I'm not closer and I can't see and there's some dumbass who's not even a fan in the front row, checking his messages and not knowing any of the songs. Blerg.

4. When Thirtysomething was on, I was 13. I was not interested in watching the show. It was about grownups. Grownups were not interesting. Even so, I remember getting a sense that the show would be good. So I've been watching the first season, and it really is good! I love shows where people just sit around talking about everyday stuff that we can all relate to. If you can look past the goofy 80s fashion atrocities, you'll see a show that was ahead of its time.

5. The last few days were gorgeous! Today is cold and rainy, which is actually a good thing. It was so perfect out yesterday that I kept finding excuses to do errands. Now I have a lot of writing to do. Last night we went to the High Line to watch the sunset. That place is magical, especially at night. It was all city lights and big sky and waxing crescent moon:



Hoping you find some magic this weekend!

Dear Blog Readers,

Susane will not be writing a journal entry today. After a freakishly early attack of pre-winter, she is spending the day outside. It is 70 degrees. It is sunny. She will be wearing flip-flops and hugging trees in the park.

Peace out.

Love,
Sexy New iMac