Finally home and finally have two seconds to blog about the FUNNEST BOOK TOUR EVER! Omigod, did we BOND or did we BOND? If you are ever LUCKY enough to go on tour with the marvelous Rachel Cohn, the irrepressible P.G. Kain, the splendiferous Jenny Han and the fabulositon Taylor Morris, you will be VERY lucky indeed. Anyway, I still haven’t figured out how to get photos on my blog, so here’s a link to the photos PG took of the tour. Check out how cute we all are!
I was a little worried about going on tour with fellow authors. Writers are sometimes an aloof bunch, so I had no idea what to expect. I hoped everyone would be civilized at least. But everyone was SUCH a DARLING. It was gossip, gossip, gossip in our luxury van all the way to New Joisey and Conneck-ti-cut. We found out that PG and I used to frequent the same, ahem, scandalous after-hours nightclub, that Taylor had lots of embarrassing things happen to her as a child (just a tad exaggerrated for her hey-larious book CLASS FAVORITE), that Jenny’s last name is pronounced Han like Han Solo and not Han like Hand, how Rachel’s insanely awesome book Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist is becoming what will be the next-JUNO with Michael Sera, nonetheless and how they got to call him “Mike” and yes, Rachel and her co-author whom she calls J.B, as in James Brown, the hardest-working man in YA, David Levithan, got to be extras in the movie, and Norah is based on Rachel’s fabbity fab English sister, and how we are all absolutely addicted to Tar-jay.
It was SOOOO nice to hang out with such lovely fellow writer-peeps. We managed to survive a death-defying ride back to Manhattan on the last day, and I think we entertained a lot of kids too. I know *I* was incredibly entertained. I really hope S&S sends us out on tour again, we had such a great time! Thank you to our tres chic sweetheart publicist Carolyn Pohmer for putting it all together.
And thank you to all the Ashley cover girls who did the Ashley event! Omigod, that was insane as well!! All the girls are SO MUCH MORE BEAUTIFUL in real life, and I could not get over how poised, and articulate, and just all-around awesome they all were. They were all under the age of 15 and taller than me. Total gazelle models. Loved it! I will post pics from everything as soon as I can figure out how to do that.
Anyway, you must all now go buy everyone’s books—Rachel’s Gingerbread which made me laugh and sob and really really want a cafe mocha with an aching, aching heart, Taylor’s Class Favorite made me cringe, cringe, cringe and giggle, giggle, giggle with total empathy, PG Kain’s The Social Experiments of Dorie Dilts: Dumped by Popular Demand was so charming, fun and breezy I was so jealous I didn’t write it, and Jenny Han’s Shug is simply the sweeeetest book about young love I have ever read.
I’m a bit behind on all my deadlines so blogging is going to be sporadic at best from now on, but carry on without me and let me know what you all are buying! Here’s my latest: Hit the Barneys clearance sale and scored TWO Reyes dresses: one cowl-neck, cinched waist, very cool black “walking around in Soho” dress ($129 from $595), another sleeveless, striped, sailor-y springtime dress ($119 – wrongly marked down b/c it was a Spring dress but the nice salesguy gave it to me anyway from $495), TWO Vince leather jackets, one hip-length and skinny in mahogany ($279 from $700) and one black and boxy ($239 from $600). Was very happy with all my purchases as I had announced to my husband I was “over” shopping since I have “bought everything.” Alas, this is not the case.
Oh and what did I wear on tour? WELL. Let me tell you. I bought these awesome knee-length Loeffler Randall boots from Nordstrom a while back and have been ITCHING to wear them, ($500 from $700) in the softest black suede, with my six-year-old Rock and Republic jeans (tight-tight-tight and a gift from the designer who is a big fan of my first novel Cat’s Meow) tucked into them, with my black cashmere turtleneck Ports sweater ($700) under my this-season military Balenciaga jacket ($2500). And of course, my trusty Mongolian scarf that my husband bought me a looong time ago. And I think he paid $150 for it back then. Then on Day 2 it was black cashmere Diane Von Furstenberg turtleneck mini-dress ($400) over golden-brown Frye tall boots ($250) and my decades-old Helmut Lang cream funnel-neck coat (I think I bought it for $800 from $2000), cashmere and mink ear-flap hat (J. Crew and $120) and extra-long cream Club Monaco scarf ($40 from $100) that always gets me compliments—especially if I do this same combo of cream-colored coat, hat and extra-long scarf all together. Did a kind of black and white thing on Day 2 there. Then on Day 3 it was my new Thread Social turtleneck dress with the buttons all along the side ($600), Christian Louboutin round-toe spike-heel booties ($900) and my new bought-just-for-this-tour Mayle fur and tweed jacket with like a two-foot fur trim on the bottom that was fab ($500 from $900).
I had bought SPANX to wear underneath everything, which was great—so slimming! Except kind of felt like I was being squeezed by a King Cobra the whole day. Hmmm. The $38 Spanx tights are worth it I think, I bought the “Tarjay” line of Spanx—Assets—to wear for one of the events and I got like, A RASH from all the squeezing! For an extra $26 I’ll take the no-rash effect, thanks.
It was heaven being back in New York, except I was so exhausted all the time, because of course when I would get back from the tour events Mike and I would flee the hotel room and go get dinner at like, midnight. We hit Momofuku Noodle Bar (awesome although since we are from L.A. and have great ramen here, didn’t quite knock us out as much as we thought it would), as well as Bobo (faaaabulously snobby and “secret” restaurant—no name on door, you have to buzz to get in, think fab retro-speakeasy-meets-Louis-Quinze elegance inside), Bar Stuzzichini with our gang, our best friends—four gay couples who are our closest friends and whom we vacation with all the time—we’re going to Vegas in a few weeks!—Mike and I are the token straight couple and we are proud to be that—you know how it’s so awesome to be with your best friends because it’s just all teasing and, not to be so cheesy, laughter? With us it’s all SCREECHING and WILD RUMPUSING once we even set EYES on each other.
Screeching and wild rumpusing was how the book tour was too, come to think of it.
Sigh. Now I really miss my friends and those fellow writerinos.
Anyway, back to work!
xoxo
Mel