Sick Day

I’ve been battling a cold for the past two weeks, as has my child (last night: fever of 102, out of baby Tylenol, 2AM trip to the Ralph’s. Ooo, that was FUN.) But seriously, it’s times like that that remind me of how much parents really matter. Because even though I felt on the edge of death, the thought of my daughter (she’s a girl not a boy even though her name is Mattie. Which is short for Mattea which was my Spanish great-grandmother’s name) being so sick shot a bolt of adrenaline through me and Mike that for the hour that we freaked out and struggled to take her temperature and desperately consulted the baby books and considered calling my mom or his brother the doctor, we totally did not even think of how tired we were or how late it was, just the BABY IS SICK!! AAAH!!

She’s fine now. Still has the sniffles but her fever’s down, thank god.

But as for me, I’m still sniffling and shuffling. Part of me is kind of enjoying this because since I’m sick, I can’t be expected to work (as if anyone expects me to work but me!) and I just curl up on the couch and read THE HOST. I’m really excited for this new Stephenie Meyer since I would *love* to read Twilight, and friends, I tried, but I couldn’t get past a hundred pages, not because the book wasn’t great, but because I just couldn’t read about anyone else’s vampires but mine. You know? And I met Stephenie at a conference a few years ago and she told me exactly the same thing. She said she has a hoard of all the new vampire books including mine and she hopes to read them in the far future, when she’s totally done with her own vampires. But I’m TOTALLY psyched for the movie somehow. I dunno, why is it that reading about other people’s vampires feels weird, but watching them on screen does not feel like I am betraying my Blue Bloods? Have you guys seen the trailer? Hot hot hot. I’m excited!

In my first novel Cat’s Meow, the main character writes three-word fashion reviews. (McQueen: Volume! Extravagance! Carnavale!”) so I thought I would do the same for the recent books I’ve read.

Jhumpa Lahiri: Unaccustomed Earth: Unsettling! Powerful! Inspiring!

Jennifer Weiner: Certain Girls: Love! Love! Love!

Okay, so three words obviously isn’t enough for a novel. But for a fashion line, I do think it’s succinct! Haha. I loved that Jen Weiner’s new book had a YA angle—one half of the story is told by a twelve-year old girl which she does really well. Can we expect a new YA from her soon? I think we should!

That’s all for now. Updates on the sneak-peeks soonest. And I’ll be at BEA in a few weeks—come see me!

xoxo
Mel