8 YEARS.

16 BOOKS. (13 NOVELS.)

AND FINALLY!

THE! NEW! YORK! TIMES! BESTSELLER!!! LIST!!!!!!!

Oh yeah, baby. The Blue Bloods series debuted at Numero Four!!!!
Check it out!!

I found out really early—Wednesday night—apparently that’s when “the List” is sent out to publishers and you know, there is ONLY one list. The New York Times list is nirvana – the place all authors hope to go once they publish—anyway, my agent and editor told me I’d hit the list at Number Four and there was mucho screaming in my hotel room and dancing around. I was on tour in Phoenix when I found out. (Why is it all my good news is always while I am traveling? I don’t feel like I travel all that much. But I found out my first novel sold while I was out of town too. Hmmm.)

And Revelations also debuted at #55 on the USA Today list! The USA Today list is of ALL books regardless of category (adult, childrens, fic, non-fic). Very cool!!

It was so nice to celebrate at the Masquerade Ball with all of you!! Big shout outs to Amanda and Rhianna – gorgeous, gorgeous girls from the Blue Bloods message boards! Along with all of the beautiful teens in goth-punk finery, and super-fab finery (there was a mother-daughter team of amazon models—hi guys!). It was so nice to meet everyone!! It was really, really fun. Thanks to the lovely ladies of the Scottsdale Public Library who hosted it: Mariana van Meter and Medina Zick. You guys are so awesome. I was so moved by how much these teen librarians care so much about their charges—Scottsdale teens are very, very lucky to have Mariana and Medina looking out for you!

At the ball, we all did the cha-cha slide…I gotta say, there’s no better way to celebrate debuting on the bestseller list than cha-cha sliding with a hundred masked teens at your own Masquerade Ball!

Hugs and kisses to all, and especially to you, dear readers, who made it all possible.

And now I’ve gotta get back to work!!!

xoxo
Mel

Just arrived in beautiful Phoenix, Arizona. Actually my hotel is in lovely Scottsdale, with a gorgeous view of the Camelback mountain. One of the wonderful things about going on this book tour is discovering how varied and gorgeous and interesting our country is, Austin was awesome, and Phoenix is sooooo cool. I love the desert, I love the flatness and the starkness of it—it’s very striking and poetic. And the cacti! It’s like one of those old Snoopy comics with his cousin (I forget Snoopy’s Arizona cousin, but he was always drawn with a cactus behind him.)

Anyway, I’m again, exhausted, but happy (see: election results!!! YAY!!!) and tomorrow is our baby’s 2nd birthday. I can’t believe she’s so big now. She’s such an articulate little monster. “Put on my pull-ups so we can go to the pool!!!”

Okay! Okay!

Don’t forget: tomorrow: (Nov 6) I’ll be at the Poisoned Pen at 7PM
4014 N Goldwater Blvd, suite 101
Scottsdale, AZ 85251

and Friday night, Masquerade Ball!!!
7:30 PM
3839 N Drinkwater Blvd
Scottsdale, AZ 8521-4452
Come in your finest, your Goth finest, your Blue Bloods finest, or whatever you think looks fine!!!! Pimp it up people!!!

xoxo
Mel

xoxo
Mel

Go Vote!

Okay. You’re done? Were the lines long? Did you get a sticker?

I’m jealous. Because, um. I’m not actually a US Citizen. NOT YET anyway. I have to apply next year. It’s a long sad story why I have lived here 23 years and am still not a citizen. It involves shady immigration attorneys, lost applications, and 9/11. But, since my husband can vote, I have a voice in “half” of his vote.

Here’s a happy mom email. Now this REALLY made my day.

Dear Melissa:

I want you to know that after a long struggle, my 12 ½ year old daughter is actually “reading” for pleasure!  She bought your book “the Ashleys” at a school book fair and just finished it last night.  She couldn’t put it down!  I’ve been trying forever to get her off the computer and now she wants me to buy her more books from your collection.

Thank you so much!

From a happy mom in Barrie, Ontario, Canada!

Awesome!! Thanks Happy Mom!

And I’m going to be in Scottsdale, AZ this week! I’m doing a reading at a bookstore on Thursday night and then the super-fancy Masquerade Ball is on Friday night! We’ll have a DJ! A Tarot Card reader! A Make-up Artist! Goody Bags! And me!

November 6, 2008
7PM
Poisoned Pen Bookstore
4014 N Goldwater Blvd. Suite 101
Scottsdale, AZ 85251
Phone:
(480) 947-2974

November 07, 2008 (7:30 PM)
Masquerade Ball in Scottsdale, Arizona!!
Scottsdale Public Library – Civic Center
3839 N. Drinkwater Blvd.
Scottsdale, AZ 85250
(480) 312-7323

GOBAMA!!!

xoxo
Mel

Am back in L.A. now. Austin and the Texas Book Festival were really awesome. So many nice volunteers and such a well-run festival! The highlight, of course was meeting fellow authors—Lauren Myracle, who is zany and hilarious and made us take photos of lifting fans up in “princess chairs” (Lauren: my arm STILL hurts!), Paula Yoo (who plays a MEAN violin and has the BEST skin I have ever seen. What is it with Koreans and their baby’s-butt skin?? Tres unfair!!) and Shannon Hale, who kept us all in stitches the entire night at the Austin Bat Cave. Lauren, I have to warn you, Shannon and I want REVENGE on the scare-a-thon.

I’ve been very entertained by all the other authors who participated in the scare-a-thon. Lauren’s Thriller video has go to be seen to be believed. (Did she learn it in all one take???) and Shannon’s Dean Witch project is so spooky and funny, and this from Scott Westerfeld is one of the best, I think: funny, unexpected, totally entertaining. And here’s Meg Cabot in her fairie costume, zexy!!!

Technical glitches on the secret Revelations story have been fixed. So please try looking again! And Borders and Chapters should have the books in VERY soon. I was in a Borders yesterday and they didn’t have it yet, but they said it should be in this week.

Now I have to go as I have GIRL due and I am only halfway done through my final polish!

xoxo
Mel

I’m still in the lovely state of Tayhas, but those of you who live in California know what I’m talking about.

There’s a referendum on the ballot on November 4th to reverse the right of gay people to get married, legally, in California.

A few months ago, the California Supreme Court concluded that not allowing all its citizens the right to marry was UNCONSTITUTIONAL. Everyone has a right to marry who they want, even if the person is of the same-sex. Same-sex marriage is legal in Massachusetts, Hawaii, and in most of the Western world (Canada, Europe, etc.) and, currently, in our great state of California.

Proposition 8 would reverse the California Supreme Court decision and invalidate all the same-sex marriages that have been performed here.

There are benefits to marriage: tax benefits, estate benefits (being able to inherit your partner’s money without paying taxes or running into weird estate laws), laws like…who can come into the ICU when you’re sick, because it’s “family only”. Or who can decide what to do if you’re brain-dead…your partner, your husband/wife, should be the one making these decisions. But if you’re gay, your partner isn’t “family” which, when I think of this, I am about to burst into tears—can you imagine???? Mike and I aren’t family because we are not related to each other. But that’s what it’s like for gay and lesbian couples.

My dear friends Paul and Matt, have been together for fifteen years. Matt laughed wryly and said that all his brothers and sisters are divorced, but he and Paul have been together for much longer than any of his siblings. They own two houses together, and yet, they are not “married”.

Another of my best friends, Tom Dolby, with whom I co-edited the anthology “Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys” is planning a fall wedding next year with his fiance, Drew. It just about destroys me that the government has the ability to tell people who can be “married” or not. When Tom and Drew got engaged, we received a beautiful engagement announcement from their parents. Friends have feted them at parties from coast to coast. I am really looking forward to a fabulous wedding. Tom and Drew are really upset about Proposition 8, as you can imagine. They have been looking forward to making it legal.

What is a wedding after all, than a chance to celebrate with your family, your community, to be able to declare, in public, that the two of you are pledged to each other? And legal status MATTERS. It just does. Everyone should have a right to be a “Smug Married”. EVERYONE!

NO ON 8!!!

xoxo
Mel

Am in Austin! Woohoo! It’s noicccceeee here. Very cool, Southern hipster Tayhas flava. I’m digging it. It’s so interesting to go to a big city that’s not New York, or L.A., or even Chicago. It’s a nice vibe. The corporate overlords have put me in the Hotel San Jose, which is a really nice retro-cool modern hotel, with beautiful concrete floors (my architect-wife’s heart melts) and fountains everywhere and just a really nice garden environment. It’s very Palm Springs in a way. I’ve been shopping up and down “SoCo” and bought a cute little mod mini-dress from By George, and then gifts for Mattie from the Kids Genius toy store. (More Cinderella junk, but oh well. She really loves it.)

The writers I’ve met have all been so GREAT: really warm, friendly, funny, smart people. Did a panel today with Paula Yoo, Lauren Myracle (the scare-a-thon taskmaster) and Jennifer Ziegler, and we rocked the house. A really fun and fiesty group. Paula brought the house down with her violin performance (Stairway to Heaven). I’ve never enjoyed a tour so much since this one. And the other day met up with other fab YA authors Varian Johnson, Margo Rabb (who was wearing a Libertine dress from Target that I also own!! We bonded.) and Tanya Lee Stone, with whom we got into a friendly argument about Melvin Burgess’s “Doing It” (I loved it, Tanya loathed it, but thankfully, I think we liked each other—I can’t speak for Tanya. LOL.)

Anyway, I am contemplating changing into costume number three, I wore a running-around dress this morning for book signings, then a blue Marni dress for the panel, and now there’s a cocktail party and some kind of Family Feud event with other writers and lots of teens. I was going to wear this Nanette Lepore black sheath dress with my new killer patent Loubs but am wondering if it is “too much.” But then part of the pleasure of going out is dressing up, isn’t it?

Okay. Gotta go. There’s an ice cream parlor across the street from my hotel that I need to hit.

xoxo
Mel

Quickly: My Five Randoms interview!

Okay. I rose to the challenge. Lauren Myracle dared me to face my biggest fear.

So. Yes. I made that dental appointment. Here is the proof. A rather boring video: and actually just putting it up scares me. I have no make-up on. I look really goofy from that angle on my built-in iSight camera. But oh well. If anyone really wants to watch it, go ahead. There are three calls made: To my dentist, and her receptionist (Nazzi), and the surgery center, and then back to Nazzi again. Nazzi of course, always remembers me because I’m the one who comes in every year and they tell me I have to get this done and then I promise to get it done and then disappear for another year. Also: hilarity ensues when no one knows what my name is. This is what happens when you keep your maiden name professionally (Melissa de la Cruz) but use your married name for your personal life (Melissa Johnston) and the name on your ID is Melissa de la Cruz-Johnston. You will try to make appointments and no one (including you) will figure out “who” you are. Sigh.

And the scary stuff: “You want to be sedated, yes?” Me: Gulp. Um. Yes!

Okay: gotta go to Tayhas!!! I love Texas!!!!

November 01, 2008 (2:00 PM)
Texas Book Festival Appearance

Family Life Center
1300 Lavaca St.
Austin, TX

PANEL DISCUSSION
Panel: How Not to Be Popular

Melissa de la Cruz (Revelations & Angels on Sunset Boulevard)
Lauren Myracle (Bliss)
Paula Yoo (Good Enough)
Jennifer Ziegler (How Not to be Popular)

Come see me talk with other fabulous and funny authors!!

Happy Halloween! Everyone be safe tonight!! Anyone dressing up in Blue Bloods costumes: pictures please!!

xoxo
Mel

Okay. Canadian reader wrote in, yay! She received her copy of the book from Chapters on October 28th, and ordered it online. And apparently the store is now listing the book as available now, instead of Dec 1st, and just did this a couple of days ago.
I hope that helps!

Also: if you can’t see the arrows at the bottom of the secret story, you have to make your browser window bigger.

xoxo
Mel

Hey guys,

So you all know the secret chapter is only available to Target customers right? It will be available exclusively to Target guests for the first three months, and then afterwards, I will make it available to everybody on my site.

I’m hearing there are technical glitches to the story. They should be fixed by now. There are arrows at the bottom directing you to turn the page. If you don’t see the arrows, make your browser window bigger. (I had to make mine bigger to see them.) If you still can only see the first page and can’t turn the page, email me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and let me know what browser you are using to read it. It might be a browser issue.

Anyway. Sorry some bookstores don’t have it on the shelves yet. They are still unpacking boxes and putting them out. Oct 28th is an estimated date, but it should be at your local bookstore very, very soon. If they give you the December 1st date, tell them that is an OLD date and it’s a wrong one. But just keep checking in, or you can order your copy now from B&N or Amazon which are shipping books as we speak! I assure you, if I could personally deliver each copy to you I would! As long as I had a car and driver to take me, of course! 🙂

xoxo
Mel

Yesterday I journeyed to Catalina Island. And yes, it was a journey – there and back it was a 12 hour day! But I can’t complain, one of my favorite things in the world is to travel via town car with a driver. We drove to the salon to get my blowout, then to a restaurant so I could get lunch, then to the Catalina Ferry. I grew up being driven around by the family chauffeur. In fact, I thought it was the ONLY way people got around. My Dad only drove on Sundays, when the driver had a day off. One of the things I loved about living in New York City was how much like Manila it was – the town car culture was in full-force.

These days the only times I get to experience this treat is on book tour. (And it IS a treat. Usually stocked with magazines, Fiji water, and gum in the backseat.) And every time I climb into a car I remember our old Mercedes and our old driver, who not only taught me to ride a bike, but also drew lots and lots of pictures of Duran Duran on my command. (He was a pretty good artist and I was a pretty spoiled brat. LOL!)

So: Catalina. Gorgeous! I didn’t know what to expect and was utterly charmed. I love the little golf carts zipping around, and everyone was so nice and friendly. And when the ferry pulled up there was a huge mist, and the town was called “Avalon” so of course I was thrilled by all the King Arthur references. Apparently it doesn’t mist like that at all, so maybe the town just knew it was coming and was like, cue: mist!! Very cool. All the kids were bright and lovely and had so many questions.

Also I just wanted to tell you all to go to the official Blue Bloods website and enter the contest. It’s a sweepstakes, so anyone can enter. The winner wins a thousand-dollar shopping spree with me! I love playing stylist and will help you pick out clothes—whee! (Or books -most of you seem to want to buy more books and that’s perfectly fine by me).

And I’m so glad you are all enjoying Revelations—I’ve been lurking to read reviews and I feel gratified and inspired to finish the next book. Back to work!

xoxo
Mel