Ha, I just realized I titled yesterday's entry "Day 5" even though it was July 6. I spent all day yesterday thinking that it was the 5th. I think I'm back on track now!

Today we have our first special guest joining the party! Please welcome Cyn Balog, author of the newly released FAIRY TALE.

About the book:
Morgan Sparks has always known that she and her boyfriend, Cam, are made for each other. But when Cam's cousin Pip comes to stay with the family, Cam seems depressed. Finally Cam confesses to Morgan what's going on: Cam is a fairy. The night he was born, fairies came down and switched him with a healthy human boy. Nobody expected Cam to live, and nobody expected his biological brother, heir to the fairy throne, to die. But both things happened, and now the fairies want Cam back to take his rightful place as Fairy King.

Even as Cam physically changes, becoming more miserable each day, he and Morgan pledge to fool the fairies and stay together forever. But by the time Cam has to decide once and for all what to do, Morgan's no longer sure what's best for everyone, or whether her and Cam's love can weather an uncertain future.

On to the interview!

Thanks for stopping by and joining in the blog party, Cyn! Let's start off with some music: What song always makes you want to dance whenever you hear it?

Um, I kind of love 80's music, so no matter how many times I hear Raspberry Beret by Prince on my iPod, it still makes me shake my booty. And I have heard it A LOT.


Thanks for the great dance music, Cyn!

I love that the guy is the fairy in your book. It sounds like a fun, yet confusing problem for a teenage boy to have. How weird would it be for him to explain that to his friends! So where did the idea for FAIRY TALE come from?

Well, that was exactly it! I thought that the whole "girl finding out she is a fairy princess" thing was pretty overdone. Plus, she'd be the envy of all her friends, but if a guy found out that he was a fairy... just imagine the beating he would take! To me, that was much more interesting. I also wanted to write a story about how a love that is seemingly perfect can come to an end, because when I was 16, there were so many things in my life that I thought were "definite", but I ended up growing out of. And I love love triangles, so I threw it all together and FAIRY TALE is the result.

It sounds awesome. I can't wait to read it! In your book FAIRY TALE, Morgan plans to trick the fairies so she can keep her boyfriend Cam with her. Have you ever tried to fool anyone for any reason and if so, did it turn out the way you planned?

I'd be the first to say that I'm not crafty enough to fool anyone. One Halloween, I tried to scare my husband as he was coming out of the bathroom in our condo, shortly after we were married. I was climbing up the steps, and when he opened the door I jumped out and said, "Boo!" and he punched me so hard in the stomach that I nearly needed medical attention. So I have learned my lesson.

Ouch!!

What fairy tale would you want to be in and who would you be? Would you change anything about how the story ends?

I think I would like to be in one of those happily ever after tales, like Cinderella. I wouldn't change how it ends, other than having the prince set up a nice room overlooking the ocean for me to write my books. But even though I'm not too much of a feminist, I kind of think all those princess stories, about the prince "saving" the poor beautiful girl, are a little annoying. I'd like to be more clever and in control of my future and not such a marshmallow.

If you were a paranormal being--fairy or anything else--what would you be?

I honestly can't think of anything better than a fairy-- in my world, they can grant wishes, and they can fly. Two things I think would come in pretty handy in my life.

I think fairy would be my pick too. They're so fun!

Can you tell us one weird fact about you that makes you the life of the party?

I can sing the 50 states in alphabetical order in less than 20 seconds. Ok, no, that would probably make me the death of the party. Um, ok.... how about this... I have no qualms about wearing a lampshade on my head and dancing on the bar.

Hey, we have something in common! I can also sing the 50 states in alphabetical order in less than 20 seconds. It's not a talent that I often have the chance to demonstrate, but it's a fun skill anyway. ;)

Where can you be found during a party? Are you making the rounds talking to everyone, enjoying all the great food, or doing something else?

I would totally be going for thirds in the buffet line. I am not much of a networker, so I usually end up stuffing my face with food. Otherwise, I might be sitting in a corner, alone, avoiding eye contact. Yes, I am that "scary" person that people always look at and wonder, "Who invited HER?"

Can you tell us a bit about what's coming up next after FAIRY TALE and when we can look for it in stores?

I'm excited about SLEEPLESS, a young adult paranormal about a sandman who falls in love with a mortal girl whose sleep he controls. It should be coming out sometime in 2010!

Thanks so much for stopping by to party with me, Cyn!!

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Cyn Balog is a normal, everyday Jersey Girl who always believed magical things can happen to us when we least expect them. She's also the Race & Event Manager for several national fitness magazines. She lives outside Allentown, Pennsylvania with her husband and young daughter. Both are 100% human, or so she thinks. FAIRY TALE is her first novel.

FAIRY TALE is available in stores now, so be sure to check it out or order from Amazon.com! Visit Cyn online at cynbalog.com.

Interruption to the blog party for a moment: Apparently, I'm having a streak of bad luck. This weekend my desktop computer decided to go crazy and stop working correctly (I'm writing from the laptop). Now my car has decided that it no longer wants to start.

I need some good dance music to brighten my day:
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..Oh, yeah. I pulled out the New Kids on the Block. It's just THAT KIND OF DAY, the kind that requires some NKOTB.

(Side note: As I rewatch this, I can't help focusing on just how puffy everyone's hair is. I seriously don't remember their hair being that puffy, but apparently it was.)

Want more info about Troy High? Party over to Royal Reads for my guest post on reinventing Troy. Thanks so much to MssJos for letting me guest post at her blog. Keep an eye on Royal Reads this month to find out how you can win an autographed copy of Troy High!

Check back here tomorrow for the first of our special guest interviews!

A sneak peek at Troy High, in my Southern accent. Special guest appearance!
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Need an unbiased look at Troy High? Click here for a review from Library Lounge Lizard!

Your party music for the day is the song my fifty-some year old aunt requested at the wedding the other night so she could dance: "Boom Boom Pow" by the Black Eyed Peas. You're never too old for some Boom Boom Pow.

(I was going to put up a video of me dancing the Thriller for you guys, but I've hurt both of my ankles and it's painful just to walk so I can't attempt to dance right now.)

*throws confetti*
*lets loose a thousand balloons*

Welcome to my blog party! We're partying throughout the month of July. Today I've relaunched my website shananorris.com with a whole new look, so if you're reading this through Livejournal you can pop over there to take a look! Also, the Troy High page has been expanded to give more details about my version of the retelling and also includes links to different websites with more information on the events and people involved in the Trojan War.

Here's the first bit of trivia I've released about Troy High:

It's obvious where Troy High got its name, but the name of the other high school in the story, Lacede High, was also inspired by Ancient Greece: Sparta was referred to by the ancient Greeks as Lacedaemon. According to Greek mythology, Lacedaemon was a son of Zeus and married Sparta. He named his country after himself and the capital after his wife. Lacedaemon is now the name of a province in the Greek prefecture Laconia, where the ancient site of Sparta lies. From Lacedaemon, I created the school name of Lacede High School, home of the Spartans.

There will be a video sneak peek at Troy High posted tomorrow, so check back for that!

Now, since this is a party, we're going to dance. As a tribute and because it's one of those songs that I absolutely cannot resist dancing to, we're kicking off with Thriller!
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(It's just the dance part because all of the full version videos have disabled embedding. But you can go here to see the full video.)

One day last week, I told The Husband that we should buy a watermelon. Every time we went into town, we would drive by these two men set up on the corner between McDonald's and Hardee's, with a bunch of watermelons set out for sale. I've bought a couple of the bowls of pre-cut watermelon chunks from the grocery store, but they're just not the same as a fresh watermelon.

So The Husband bought one on his way home from work a few days ago. It's really good. Totally worth it.

The only problem is that when there are only two of you in the house, one watermelon is A LOT of watermelon. Even though we got one that was kind of small. We cut it open to cut out the inside and we ended up with three big bowls of watermelon. We had to rearrange things in our refrigerator just to fit it all inside. Plus, someone The Husband works with gave us a whole grocery bag full of cucumbers from his garden. So now we're eating watermelon and cucumbers with every single meal. Breakfast? A bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios with a side of watermelon and cucumbers. Lunch? Grilled cheese sandwich with watermelon and cucumbers. Dinner? Tacos...with watermelon and cucumbers for dessert.

Anyone wanna come over for a watermelon and cucumber salad?

Last week I did an interview with Portrait Magazine, an online magazine for teens. The interview is up as part of their July issue and they've also posted some extra content about Something to Blog About as part of their Book Club feature. So you can check it out for some trivia and a fun quiz. What's funny is that earlier this year I had started to think of questions for a quiz to post on my site about STBA and the very first question on my quiz was a lot like their first question, ha. I never did get around to finishing the quiz. I used to write quizzes for my high school newspaper and they can be really hard to make up!

Their trivia feature also reminds me that I want to post some little tidbits of info about Libby and her friends that didn't make it into the book on my website. Just fun little pieces of background information from my notes while writing the book that don't affect the plot so they weren't included in the story itself. I need to get around to doing that.

Anyway, Portrait has a pretty cool website with lots of content so check it out if you haven't before!

Just got back from ALA. Actually I got back two hours ago, but after trying unsuccessfully to fall asleep I had to get up for a little while. I think now that I'm back on the east coast, my body is on west coast time.


Jack D. Ferraiolo, Nancy Viau, me, and Lauren Myracle after our lunch with librarians.

I had a great time! I met so many people, let's see if I can remember everyone: my critique partner Marlene Perez; Heidi R. Kling and the adorable BB; my online friend and librarian Laura; fellow Abrams/Amulet authors: Lauren Myracle, Nancy Viau, Jack D. Ferraiolo, Jan Greenberg, Maiya Williams, Laura Numeroff, Meghan Nuttall Sayres, David A. Beronä; my lovely and tall editor Tamar Brazis along with the rest of the Abrams crew: my marketing director Jason Wells, editor Susan Van Metre, and the hardworking Julia and Camille who helped keep the stack of books on the table high and expertly applied the "Signed Copy" stickers. Plus lots of booksellers and librarians and teen readers! A group of teen girls from YALSA made me feel like a rock star when they descended upon the booth during one of my signings and told me that my cover was awesome and each left with a signed copy.

My marketing director Jason said I HAVE to write about my celebrity encounter, so here it is: On Saturday--I think it was Saturday, right? The days kind of blend together--I was sitting at the little table at the Abrams booth and had been signing copies. A nice looking gentleman stopped at my table and said he had to come over to check out my book because the big poster of the cover drew him in. He decided to get a copy and asked to have it signed. I said, "Who should I sign it to?"

"Well, I'm Orson Scott Card, so just sign it 'To Orson'," he said.

Oh my gosh. It really was Orson Scott Card, author of Ender's Game! I kind of did a double take when he said his name and Jason said he saw the name badge and it really was him. Orson Scott Card now owns a signed copy of Something to Blog About.

Another celebrity I saw:

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Didn't get in line to buy his book, but I did take a picture.

Anyway, ALA was awesome. I had a great time and I loved everyone I met. I didn't get to see a lot of California, but what I did see reminded me a lot of South Florida--lots of tall buildings, lots of peach and pink, palm trees, and busy highways. If it weren't for the mountains off in the distance, I'd have felt right at home!


Outside the Anaheim Convention Center

Okay, hopefully I can go to sleep now since it's 1:00am eastern time. Get back on eastern time, self! Oh, funny thing I just remembered: On my flight from Dallas to Raleigh, we had the Kansas City Wizards soccer team on board because they're playing a game in nearby Cary. This little, tiny boy, who couldn't have been more than five or six years old, sitting in the row in front of me, as the guys were boarding and moving down the aisle, says loud enough for them to hear, "Go, RailHawks!" (The team the Wizards were playing against.) One of the guys looks at him and goes, "Nice, thanks!"

Only have a quick minute--today is VERY busy for me and I doubt I'll get a chance to write here tomorrow--but I wanted to stop by before I headed off to the American Library Association Conference on Saturday. If any of you are going to be there, I'd love if you stopped by and said hi! I'll be at the Abrams/Amulet Books booth 2647 to sign copies of Something to Blog About on Saturday, June 28 at 4:00pm and Sunday, June 29 at 10:00am.

It's my very first ever trip to the western side of the U.S. I'm excited and a bit nervous. But mostly excited!

And I've been singing Led Zeppelin's "Going to California" in my head since last night. Which is not really the best "let's get excited about a trip!" song, but whenever I think of California that's the song that pops into my head.

I’ve become addicted to podcasts in the last few months. I love finding new ones that I didn’t know about. Here are what I’ve been listening to lately:

• Lipgloss and Laptops - Yes, it’s about makeup. But it’s also about technology, current world events, the cosmetic industry, and beauty culture.


• I Should Be Writing - Mur Lafferty is a science fiction/fantasy writer, but her podcast has information and discussions that are universal to all writers, no matter what genre you write in.


• Savvies - A podcast about shopping! And saving money! Two things I really like. ;) This is a video podcast and you get to follow the ladies on shopping trips and get some tips on what to look for.


• Betty in the Sky With a Suitcase - If you need a laugh, listen to this podcast by a flight attendant.


• Notes in Spanish - I’m trying to brush up on my Spanish. Three years of high school Spanish and I still can’t speak it very well. I’m going through the beginner podcasts right now, but there are also intermediate and advanced podcasts available.


• Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Writing - Tips on common grammar mistakes and how to improve your writing.


• 60 Second Psych and 60 Second Science - One minute reports on news from the neuroscience and science worlds.

Do you have any podcasts that you love?

I had my third booksigning event yesterday at Quail Ridge Books & Music in Raleigh, NC. Thank you to everyone who came to see me! I got to see an old friend of mine that I hadn’t seen in ten years. We’ve known each other since first grade and were close friends all through our school years, but we lost touch after he moved to Raleigh. But then we reconnected through myspace and keep in touch through email, so it was great to see him again. And I got to meet an online friend of mine that I’ve known for a few years now only through the internet, so I really enjoyed getting to meet her in person.

It was a lot of fun and Quail Ridge Books is a great store. Definitely worth a visit if you’re in the Raleigh area. They even gave me a gift after my signing.



A Harry Potter bag! Isn’t it so cool? It even has a Harry Potter T-shirt inside.