Susane Colasanti - Journal

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!

Exciting news: My paperback covers have a fresh new look! The main images are the same, but the covers have new fonts, tag lines, and embossing! I am so excited to see these on the shelves. They should look gorgeous because the spines all have a new look, too - these sweet watercolor stripes. Although the new editions won't be out for a few months, I just had to share them with you. If you see these When It Happens or Take Me There covers out in the world and are inspired to document them for me, that would rock.

1. Can I just tell you how good Love Happens is? If it's playing near you and you've been considering going to see it, definitely go. It was refreshing to see Aaron Eckhart not playing an a-hole. I've always liked him, especially during his twisted Neil LaBute In the Company of Men days. Jennifer Aniston's character reminded me of Christian Slater in Bed of Roses, this 90s film I adore that never got the attention it deserves. I'm strongly recommending Love Happens, and not just because that was an alternate title for When It Happens. Warning: You will fall in love with the fluffy parrot and immediately want to go out after the movie and get your own fluffy parrot.



2. Before the movie started, there were previews for so many upcoming good movies I can't even. I seriously cannot wait for It's Complicated. Put together Meryl Streep, Steve Martin (love him!), Alec Baldwin, John Krasinski (still my #1 husband, despite rumors of a possible engagement), and a bunch of other awesome people, and you get a magical movie experience that will linger for weeks. Oh, and it's by Nancy Meyers. Enough said. But there's more. Whip It! comes out soon, along with Did You Hear About the Morgans? In that one, Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Grant go into a witness protection program. Which could go either way, now that I think about it. Precious (based on Push) looks amazing, but my heart shattered just watching the preview. I have a feeling it's going to be like Boys Don't Cry - a brilliant film that I can never watch again because it's too haunting.

3. Speaking of SJP, some Sex and the City movie filming took place right before I left for the islands. I was walking back from Rite Aid when I noticed that Carrie Bradshaw's stoop was being washed, ladders and other official looking equipment were scattered all around, and movie filming notices were posted all down the street. Question: If Carrie's stoop is part of the new movie, does this mean that Carrie and Big are over?

4. A cute box set of three Sarah Dessen books is out. I went hunting for it at the big Union Square B&N and found this:



Her box set chilling with Take Me There in the Noteworthy section! I am honored.

5. After unbearable anticipation, I finally cracked open the last season of The Office. I'll just say this for now. Jim and Pam at the rest stop in the rain? Perfection.

Take Me There is a bestseller.



I have not fully absorbed this yet. Last week, Take Me There made the Heartland Indie Bestseller List. This is the list compiled from independent booksellers' reports in the midwest.

Dude. It's unreal.

I mean, there's my book with Markus Zusak and Sherman Alexie and Sarah Dessen (who has three books on the list - you rule, Sarah!). The complete list is here.

This is some serious indie love. Thank you, thank you, thank you indie booksellers! And ultimate thanks to my midwestern readers. You are the ones who made this happen. You are made of magic.

Happy First Moon Landing 40th Anniversary! How are you celebrating? I'm going for a Firecracker Popsicle later. Those are the ones that are red, white, and blue and look like rocket ships. They are just so refreshing. In fact, a box of Firecracker Popsicles is the first thing I'm going to put in my freezer when I move to a bigger apartment and get to have a refrigerator with a freezer. It's been a long six years with no freezer, particularly in the summer when you want something icy. Ah, the joys of NYC living. Location trumps frozen food.

Over the weekend, I did some volunteer work for President Obama. We collected over 1,000 signatures in support of his health care reform initiative. This freaking rocks. I am so sad and mad about all of the people who don't have health insurance because it's crazy expensive, all the kids who never go to the doctor because their parents can't afford to take them, everyone living with serious health issues who can't receive the care they need. And I'm horrified by the amount of older people who can't take their medication because it isn't covered by insurance. I really, really hope things change very soon.

A cool summer breeze flowed through my window that night, calming my rage. I woke up Sunday all excited to see that Waiting for You got a shout-out in The Philadelphia Inquirer. I have love for this newspaper since I lived in Philly when I went to Penn. I always love going back to visit Philly in that way where you have emotional ties to the places you've lived. Anyway, here's the feature with some other hot summer teen reads. More cool links: Running for Fiction reviewed When It Happens. And the review of Take Me There that was posted today gives you a good idea about how the book's plot lines are connected. It's hard to believe that Robby is only 14. He has skills like that. Also, Kristin recently established Teens Read, a Ning for teens who love to read. I swear, if sites like these and online book discussions and Facebook and other ways to interact with my fave authors all existed back in the day, I would have been ecstatic. This whole Internet thing rocks.

I checked in at my Goodreads page and saw that the pub date for Something Like Fate has been listed. It's May 13, 2010! I'm sort of freaking out that next year is 2010 already, but I'm more excited to see the pub date listed. I need things like this to make a new book feel real. At this point, the manuscript is in copyediting. I'm finishing my acknowledgments today. And then, you know. Getting that Firecracker Popsicle. Astronauts rule.

My book is in the Raleigh-Durham airport Borders!



But I'm jumping ahead.

We went to Chapel Hill, North Carolina this weekend for a wedding.  Chapel Hill is a cute little town with impressive trees and sweet air.  They love their Tar Heels! Sarah Dessen often raves about her Heels on her blog, but I just thought she was a fan.  Now I understand it's more like a way of life.  These were the wedding favors:



I had no idea what these cookies were supposed to be.  Get it?  Tar on the heels? Other things of note are the Pac-Man mint tins I scored at Chapel Hill Comics and a dessert place called Sugarland, which of course I had to visit.

So.  We were at the airport to get our flight home when SP wanted to go in the airport Borders.  He always wants to check out airport bookstores for my books.  I never want to.  Why would my books be there?  Those bookstores are so small that there's only like five books in the teen section. I explain that I am not Meg Cabot.  I explain that I have not written a book containing vampires.  But SP isn't hearing any of that.  He is my #1 fan.  He always insists on checking.

And there it was.  A copy of Take Me There.

It was a moment I've secretly been waiting for.  Seeing my book in an airport bookstore was one of my goals that I didn't really have control over, but always wished would happen.  I was a bit verklempt.  Laurie Halse Anderson had been there on her recent tour and signed copies of Wintergirls, so I had to sign my book, too.  SP did a happy dance, even though his neck had a crinck in it because he didn't see the pillow menu at the hotel and slept all crooked.  That's dedication.

Some numbers:

• It's Day 4 of my blog tour. Today I'm over at The Story Siren, where I reveal which author I'd trade lives with for a day.
• There are only 8 days of waiting left until Waiting for You is released!
• Reviewer X is giving away 2 copies of Waiting for You.

May 14 isn't only the pub date of Waiting for You. It's also when Take Me There will be released in paperback. To spread the word, Tatyana Cabrera created a Take Me There book trailer! I interviewed Taty last year, since she contributed to the book. An excerpt of her poem, Rebel, appears in Take Me There. To create the book trailer, she took photos all around the West Village, where the story takes place. Among the many scenes she captured are Rhiannon's house, Magnolia cupcakes, sunset on the river, and the place where some serious iPod dancing went down. Infinite thanks to Taty!

Time is really zipping by these days. I think it started around the time I resigned from teaching and became a full-time author, which was almost two years ago. But this warp-speed time phenomenon does not apply to book releases. It's always so hard for me to wait for my new book to come out! So I'm stoked that there are only three more weeks to go before Waiting for You is released on May 14. I have four fun contests planned for you to win signed copies of Waiting for You. You can also win Take Me There, which comes out in paperback on May 14. The first contest begins on Monday with a special guest author, so stay tuned!

Sometimes little things that totally shouldn't bother me can really, really bother me. It's a symptom of being detail oriented. I am working on letting these little things go, but it's hard. This may be a life-long struggle. One thing that was bothering me (which was so not a big deal) was the tag line for Take Me There. It said, "If you take a chance, you might just find true love." I could not shut up my noisy brain about it, all clamoring that the tag line should really be, "If you take a chance, you just might find true love." Which was so ridiculous because a.) who cares? and b.) I was the one who wrote it. After a while (i.e. way too long), I finally let it go.

Then the paperback edition arrived yesterday. The cover looked like this:


It's really cool how the universe takes care of things while we're not even looking.

85 gorgeous degrees are coming our way this weekend. I hope it's just as gorgeous where you are. Enjoy the springtime!

As if I wasn't stoked enough about Waiting for You coming out on May 14, the friendly neighbors at Penguin have put together a Susane Sampler to get the party started. Woot! The sampler has a few chapters from all three of my books. So if you'd like a Waiting for You sneak peek or want to read a bit from When It Happens or Take Me There, you can check it out at Scribd.

Read on.

The following takes place between 10:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. Events occur in real time.

10:23 p.m. Receive call from SP. Upload the coordinates of his location to my PDA. He has a visual on Kiefer Sutherland. Must hurry before Kiefer leaves.

I have been waiting to meet Kiefer to give him a copy of Take Me There with the 24 roof scene marked. And because he rocks my world. Now is my chance.

10:25 p.m. Realize I look hideous. Have been in John Mayer T-shirt and pajama bottoms all day, working.

10:26 p.m. Throw on sweater and jeans. Try to appear presentable. Hair revolts.

10:32 p.m. En route to location. No need to send a chopper.

10:39 p.m. Arrive at location. Checked for weapons and ID at door.

10:41 p.m. CTU conference with SP. I will give Kiefer the book. He will be ready for documentation.

10:43 p.m. Kiefer is outside smoking. Executive decision to wait until he is back within perimeter.

10:48 p.m. Kiefer is a very friendly neighbor. He's also an actual neighbor of mine. Accepts the book. Is awesome.

10:50 p.m.



10:59 p.m. Reflect on brilliance of unplanned reverse color coordination.

Copy that.

I would never consider my work important enough to frame. Or even to randomly tack up on the wall. But SP doesn't feel that way. He's my #1 fan. So he had this specially made for me:



It's a collection of Take Me There things. There's the book jacket and part of the floor display and some author notes. SP also took a Gelly Roll pen and heart erasers and guitar picks from the John Mayer fan club and some other things that apply to the book. Then he had everything assembled by a schmancy framer. How cool is that?

In the entire history of me, no one has ever cared about me this much. One thousand gold stars for him.

Today is World Vegetarian Day! I've been a vegetarian for 15 years and love an opportunity to officially celebrate that fact. I think I will party by swinging by Whole Foods for some Quorn.

Speaking of the world, German rights to Take Me There were just sold! My first translation! I can't wait to see what the German cover looks like. It's so interesting how books from the States are packaged differently to sell in other countries, how a good cover here might not appeal to teens somewhere else. The German edition will be released next fall. I'll share the cover image with you when I get it.

More locally, Crumbs is planning 40 new stores this year! Thanks for the news, Sharyn.

By the way, I am quite aware that vampires are not actually altering my stereo volume. It's probably just my neighbor's remote. Or unicorns.

So I was flipping through my September issue of CosmoGirl and what did I find on page 49?  A contest to win copies of my books!  What a cool surprise.  I knew the Take Me There ad was going to be in the August issue, but I didn't know about their contest.  Here's how to enter:

Text SUSANE to 467467 to win one of these books!  10 lucky winners will receive Take Me There and 15 lucky winners will receive When It Happens.

I think the deadline is September 5.  Enjoy the long weekend!

I've been getting a lot of sweet emails about Take Me There and from first-time readers of When It Happens, since it was recently released in paperback.  Knowing that there are people in the world who are relating to my books and having fun reading them means everything to me.  I also love answering readers' questions.  Michael A. sent these discussion questions about Take Me There. 

SPOILER ALERT:  You might not want to read on if you haven't yet read Take Me There and are planning to.


1.  Rhiannon and James were considered good friends to each other; I could tell.  Based on what I got from the story, is it possible that their relationship could become more intimate; more than just friends in the future?  It sure seemed that way at the end when they were dancing together.  Also, would you say that Rhiannon secretly loved James all along even though she openly denied it at first?  She said that they were just friends but they also hung out a lot too.

What's interesting about these questions is that they are among the ones that I want my readers to answer for themselves.  I purposefully left some questions unanswered (at least, directly) so that my readers could form their own conclusions.  So even though I have my own opinions about the connection between Rhiannon and James, I don't think my opinion matters.  What's important is what you come up with as you're reading. 

Okay, that totally sounded like one of those annoying teachery responses when all you want is a clear answer.  But I think it can be really fun to imagine how the story continues.  Imagining what happens next or during times when we never find out was something I did a lot as a young reader.  All of that imagining definitely helped build my writing skills.

2.  Nicole seems to have this ongoing struggle with her feelings between Danny and her teacher, Mr. Farrell.  Would you say that it was wrong for Nicole to have the feelings she had for Mr. Farrell?  Sure it shouldn't be boyfriend/girlfriend kind of relationship but just a simple fact that a student really likes her teacher.  Would you say it would be more friendship-based rather than romantic?

Nicole's feelings for Mr. Farrell are definitely romantic!  She fantasizes that they are in an intimate relationship and thinks that she wants those fantasies to become reality.  I absolutely do not think Nicole's feelings for Mr. Farrell are wrong.  It's never wrong to feel affection for another person, regardless of who that other person is.  Our feelings are part of who we are and should never be denied.  Feelings can't hurt others; actions can.  So having romantic feelings for someone and actually being in a physical relationship with them are two very different things. 

Nicole has the type of crush on Mr. Farrell that I had on a teacher, so I can relate to her obsession.  That whole scene with the chalk dust on Mr. Farrell's sock?  Totally happened to me.  The teacher I was crushing was actually a TA in college, but the intensity of my affection for him was very similar.  I think it's pretty common for a student to have a crush on one of their teachers at some point and maybe even believe that the affection they feel is love.  However, Nicole's feelings were more intense than a typical student's since she had other unresolved issues she hadn't yet dealt with.  But fantasies are never wrong because they don't hurt anyone.

3.  What exactly is karma?  I kind of got the idea as I was reading the ending but how would you describe it?

Karma is a type of energy that responds to positive thoughts and actions.  If you are someone who puts out positive energy into the world by being optimistic and doing good things for other people, then the idea is that you will receive good things back.  But!  Karma is not about doing something good just to get something good back.  Like, you can't help someone carry their groceries home and then sit around waiting for a $50 bill to blow down the street right at you.  Although I did once find a $50 bill on the candy rack in a deli.  I held it up, but no one claimed it.  Maybe karma was involved - we can never know for sure.  Karma's about how all of your actions, as a holistic unit, affect your fate.

4.  How did James spend that money Mrs. Schaffer gave him?  I have a feeling that he did just what she wanted him to do with it...

Your intuition is correct ;)

Here's the CosmoGIRL! ad.  Yay!  Thanks to Kendra for converting this into a .jpg format so I could share it with you guys.



I'm in need of extra positive energy these days, so it's a nice warm fuzzy.  I also welcome other warm fuzzies.