Quickly, because I have to run out soon and also I’m putting the final polish on THE AU PAIRS: CRAZY HOT…

Blue Bloods has been selected an ALA Quick Picks TOP TEN BOOK!!!! Ahhhhh!!!! I am BEYOND excited about this, as I ADORE librarians AND awards… A Top Ten book??? It just tickles me TO DEATH.

I feel like I’ve won an Academy Award… Because you know, as writers, we don’t get to walk on red carpets or anything.. so this is what we have.

The award’s full name is Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers… My readers are reluctant! And young adults! But they are sooo DRAWN in by the story that they end up loving it! As in, mine is the kind of book that people who DON’T read find themselves LOVING and then because they LOVE it, learn to LOVE reading. How great is that??

I have a TON of readers who tell me they never liked to read until they read my books. Why? Because reading should be FUN and PAGE-TURNING and make you LAUGH or EXCITE you or ENTERTAIN you.

Sure, there are books out there that are PROFOUND and make you THINK. And the best books are those that combine the two (THINKING and ENTERTAINING)–like Tolstoy’s WAR AND PEACE (skip the boring Napoleonic Wars parts and stick to the love stories! I used to re-read Nicolai and Maria’s love story repeatedly –it’s in the very end of the book–because I got goosebumps every time I read it. It’s INCREDIBLY romantic.) But when you have very little time in life, shouldn’t reading be a pleasure??

Anyway, I’m very very happy to have been given this award. When I was in high school, I had no friends, but at the end of every semester we would have an “Awards Ceremony” and they would give out the class honors, so that the top student in each subject would receive a certificate. We wore garlands of ivy in our hair (totally not joking) and sat in rows as the headmaster would call out the names. What happened was, they called out your name, and you stood up and they read all the awards you were being given. Then you went to collect your certificates and shake the headmaster’s hand.

I remember taking eight classes each semester, and each semester, I went home with six top honors awards, I swept the board in everything except for gym (yes they gave awards for gym in my school–they were merciful to the dumb) and Math (I SUCKED in math).

I would stand there for what seemed like an embarassingly long time, while Mr. Grant read off “Melissa de la Cruz, awards in AP English, Chemistry, Social Justice, French IV, AP European History, AP Art History…” and I could see my classmates ROLLING their eyes since the list was so long and they weren’t getting any awards…and I would think to myself, SIT AND SPIN BYATCHES!! AWARDS DAY IS MINE!!! Like a total nerd.

And it was even worse when my sister was in high school with me. Because they would do the awards alphabetically regardless of grade, so after reading off all of my sister’s awards (she actually graduated valedictorian from our high school, I only managed salutatorian–I was robbed! Read my bio!) they would read mine. We were kind of famous for “killing” Awards day.

Also, I have to say that my mom kept each of those type-written card-stock award certificates proudly. We didn’t own a home, my parents drove a shitty Dodge van. But we had AWARDS….

And now I have an ALA Award…la la la la…hee hee hee…

As you can see, I’m slightly deranged from writing The Au Pairs: Crazy Hot. Just a warning to all new moms out there who want to write novels? Um. Don’t do it! I have a crying baby on one hand and a laptop on the other. Who signed up for this crazy publication schedule? Oh that’s right, I DID.

Overachievers never die…they just go on to sign up to write five books a year.

xoxo
Mel