I just realized you can now order MISTLETOE on Amazon and B&N! It’s not supposed to be out until October 1st. (And I’m not sure yet if it’s available at the local bookstores–I haven’t been to one in so long while I’m finishing up Angels!)

It’s a little early for Christmas romance, but I assure you the book is going to get you IN THE MOOD for some X-mas loving.. 🙂

In other news, I have been OBSESSED with this yogurt in LA called “Pinkberry”. It’s from Korea, and it’s this great store in WeHo where they put fresh (NOT frozen or canned) fruit on your yogurt, and it’s just deeelish. The lines for this yogurt snake down the block forever… but it’s so worth it. For months, the owners have put up “low fat” or “non fat” signs everywhere, and all the little LA gym bunnies and gym rats have been lining up for their non-fat fix… But yesterday Mike and I stopped by, and they finally had nutriotional information posted about the yogurt! It’s zero fat, but the calorie count is high.

25 calories per ounce! The “small” is 5 ounces (125 calories – not bad) but the medium is 8 ounces which is 200 calories, equal to a candy bar or a soda. Let’s not even talk about the large (13 ounces = 325 calories). So now Mike and I call it “Fatberry”. Hee hee. Not that we mind, well, Mike does, since he’s trying to be healthy. But I’m pregnant so I’m allowed to indulge. Also, how bad can it be for you? Even if it is calorie packed it’s still more healthy than a soda or a candy bar.

I remember in NYC, I would get Tasti-D-Lite, which was SUPPOSEDLY six calories per ounce. But “Tasti” as the gals call it, tastes very chemically and artificial. Whereas Fatberry tastes, well, great.

But the interesting thing was that there was NO LINE. We have never seen this before. So perhaps now that all the body-conscious LA peeps have discovered they are eating Fatberry, they no longer want to line up for their non-fat dessert. Yes, it’s like that Seinfeld episode, where everyone goes to get that “non-fat” yogurt but then they find out it’s full of…fat! Pretty hilarious.

So it was my birthday, and my darling husband has offered to buy me a BIRKIN for my birthday. Can you believe it??? BIRKINIZED!!! It’s a dream come true!!! We’re supposed to go to the Hermes store this weekend to get on the waitlist or whatever you have to do to get one of these damn things.

And yet, and yet…I am paralyzed by indecision and self-loathing. Do I WANT a bag that costs as much as a mid-sized car? I mean, YES!! But STILL. I like the IDEA of owning a Birkin one day, but actually OWNING one? What will I have to aspire to then? Doesn’t the rabbit hole just get bigger as you slide down that Hermes-lined path? And after you get one, it stops being THE BIRKIN and just becomes ANOTHER HANDBAG YOU OWN.

I don’t know…I guess I’m feeling guilty..we just bought a house, we’re having a kid, (which means baby nurses and nannies and nursery school and then private school and piano lessons and French immersion and baby yoga and music classes and all those things that you’re supposed to provide a kid with now) and not to mention Marie-Chantal cashmere onesies and Lucy Sykes rompers and Flora et Henri french-smoked cardigans in the three-figure range. I mean, the kid is going to be expensive! Ok, not the kid. The kid comes free. The kid’s accessories are going to be expensive…

And I want to provide it ALL. You know? My parents doled out for everything, ballet, piano, private school, nannies, nurses, midwives. Until we moved to the States and had no money but even then they sacrificed so much so that all three of us could go to private school and the Ivy League. My dad drove a crap Dodge ram van for years and he said it was worth it because while he had a cheap car, at least all three kids were valedictorian or salutatorian and that was priceless. (Did I mention my dad has all three of our college diplomas (Columbia/Yale/Harvard) on HIS wall, and that he drives around with an ALL3IVY license plate?)

So perhaps I won’t Birkin. I don’t know. I can’t decide. The nice thing is that Mike offered. Birkin bag: $11,000. A husband who’s WILLING to buy you a Birkin bag: PRICELESS.

And now I must go back to ANGELS ON SUNSET BOULEVARD and find out what the hell happened to the missing rockstar!

xoxo
Mel

Thank you to everyone for the sweet birthday wishes! I love birthdays and celebrations. For a long time, ever since I turned 18 I had a huuuuuge party to celebrate my birthday, which always coincided with the start of the school year at college. I also remember birthday “outfits”. The one I wore when I was 21 was particularly choice–a dark-blue silk romper with a plunging neckline and short-shorts up to there (it was all one piece) that I wore with fishnet stockings, high heels and this amazing silver and blue stone necklace that my best friend Jennie gave me. I pranced around my dorm room and suite like I was friggin’ Madonna, man. I bought the outfit for $25 at the flea market next to Tower Records on 4th Street and felt hella glamorous.

When I was 25 I threw a huge bash at the backyard of my West Village apartment (it was the backyard of three connecting tenement style buildings) and wore a fabulous one-piece Pucci-esque halter jumpsuit that I had bought at Urban Outfitters for $39. God, I was so skinny then… and SO TAN! There were so many people at the party, including two boys that I was crushing on… I won’t say which one I kissed (Ok, the cute lawyer not the cute wannabe rockstar). I felt like Winona in Reality Bites…

For my 26th birthday, Mike and I were already dating for a year (we met a month after my 25th) and he threw me a huge dinner party b’day that I had no hand in planning (it was all a surprise!) at a French restaurant with thirty of my closest friends, we all sat at this long table and drank lots of red wine and champagne and ate steak frites.. It was awesome, and it was the first time “a boyfriend” had thrown me a birthday party instead of me throwing myself one.

My friends were SO impressed with him… that was definitely when I decided he was a keeper. (Although I had decided this two weeks after we had met. He was the funniest and smartest guy I met…and really chill. He was so relaxed. Unlike so many uptight guys I met then.) I always tell my husband I married him because he was the only guy I ever met who was funnier than me. (So many guys only THINK they’re funny, like Dane Cook. But really they are just jocks with lame ass jokes.) Definitely Ethan Hawke from Reality Bites. Mike used to wear these vintage polyester shirts with the collars that had a wingspan from neck to shoulders, and Converse Jack Purcells. But he would argue he was Ethan from Reality Bites, with ambition. He would never work at a newsstand and steal a Snickers. Hee.

Anyway, what did I wear for my 26th? An ivory Gucci tube-top and vintage plaid plants and Gucci platforms. I think the designer addiction kicked in around that time. Also, I was making more money so I had moolah to spend on such things…Although I do remember I bought the Gucci top for $50 at Century 21 and the platforms for $99 at the same store…

I sold my first novel at 27, and in the past several years, my birthday has been pretty low-key as the celebrations were more focused on the book parties, and promotional events… plus our wedding…which was a huge production…it just seemed too much to gather up all the friends and keep celebrating yourself..

In the Filipino tradition, when it’s your birthday, YOU take all the friends out, not the other way around… birthdays are a time to celebrate all the people who make your life worthwhile, which I always thought was a nice way to look at it…

Anyway, my mom threw me an awesome baby shower for my birthday this year, and I was so overwhelmed by everyone’s good wishes, and it was so great to see all our friends in LA, so many of them people we would not have met if we had never moved here…your life gets so much richer when you are open to meeting new people…You know when people say “I feel really blessed” and it sounds so corny? Well, I won’t say it but I felt like that at the baby shower. So much love all around! And it makes the baby seem like more of a reality now. Friends have bought us blankies and Marimekko sippy cups and fabulous chic velvet dresses for the baby! It’s really coming!

What did I wear? A black and gold Liz Lange dress ($150) and a sequin Barneys shrug ($300) and my gold Miss Trish of Capri Thong Sandals. But even if my clothes are more expensive now, I’d give anything to have back that hot size-2 body I rocked when I was 25…

xoxo
Mel

A few months ago, my publisher received a rather angry letter from one of my readers. This reader has now posted the text of her letter as a “review” in Amazon. In her letter and review, the reader outlined all the flaws she had found in Blue Bloods, including the spelling of Plymouth (it was spelled Plimouth back then) and what she (the letter-writer was a she) saw as my glaring lack of knowledge concerning American history, for example, the dates of the founding of Roanoke and Plymouth, which in my book, I had made to seem as if Roanoke occured during the time of the Mayflower, when I knew in my research it had not. (In fact, as much as 30 years separated them.)

However, to make my story more IMMEDIATE, I used fictional license to merge the two histories together. After all, I was writing a novel, not a historical text, and it worked so much better in my story if the colonies were founded almost at the same time. I was also aware that the Pilgrims didn’t celebrate Thanksgiving right when they landed, but waited until the next year, but again, to my Blue Bloods Thanksgiving had a different meaning, so I made the story align more with the popular conception of the holiday.

I wasn’t aware that by picking and choosing from history, that some readers (well, really, just one, since everything else I have found on the web or has been written to me via email is nothing but excitement and enthusiasm for the book) might think that I was UNAWARE of several key facts. I guess some people just like to think they are smarter than the author (there’s a GOTCHA! quality to this), or that the author is just a lazy bum who didn’t even think about any of this, when in fact, I had thought about it long and hard, and decided that as an artist, and NOT a historian, I was allowed to pull and manipulate history to tell my story. Just like Sofia Coppola does in Marie Antoinette, or Stephen Spielberg did in Amistad..or in a whole bunch of other “historical” novels and romances.

Maybe it was my fault that I didn’t include a breakdown of exactly what I used from history, what I made up, and what I intentionally mixed up for my story…because I have since realized even some librarians–my favorite people!–well again, only ONE librarian–is under the impression that I was, well, to put it bluntly, clueless.

The letter writer also pointed some other copy-editing type of mistakes, like it’s November, but I have Cordelia say it’s winter, or that the dates later on in the book don’t match up with fortnight travel, etc. I do apologize for not having caught these. But not every novel is perfect, in fact, even Tolstoy himself defended what he called “sunspots” in his novels–for instance, his readers would complain that a character was described as having blue eyes in one chapter, and brown eyes in another. Sunspots, he explained, happen to even the best of writers because one gets so caught up in the story, little details escape one’s attention.

The librarian also complained that I had mixed up Myles Standish with William Bradford, who had been the governor of the colony for thirty years. Again, I read the history, and I liked the name Myles Standish better… since in MY book, Myles is Michael (The ArchAngel) and the names just went together bettter.

Also, I was really wary of writing the “Mayflower” parts because I didn’t want to get stuck in Olde English and I deliberately chose not to use the Olde Spellings. (I chose to spell it Plymouth rather than Plimouth). I also didn’t want to call anyone “Goody Standish” or such. In fact, the letters in the book are really brief because I wanted to try to stay away from any accidental errors as much as possible.

So there you have it. For my next trick, in Masquerade, I made the entire Gilded Age disappear! Haha.

Anyway, as Tess Gerritsen writes in her blog, you can’t win over everyone, and you have to write for yourself…and I realize as I write this that I am really responding to only two disgruntled people in the universe, who will never even read this, while the vast majority of my readership just wants me to shut up so I can finish Book Two in the series and put up the first chapter already. I promise, it’s coming.. and in answer to all your emails, MASQUERADE pubs next April!!! Can you stand it??? I can’t!! It’s sooo good and soooo much more juicy than BLUE BLOODS even!

One of the fun things about putting Blue Bloods together was figuring out how to make the Mayflower story work with MY mythology, and picking the pieces of history that fit with mine…most of it worked–for example, tons of people from the Mayflower died after the first year…what could explain that? Bad weather? Hell no, VAMPIRES! Hee hee. I was really excited when I figured out the Roanoke angle, and hey, what’s 30 years difference in historical fact to a novelist? I make things up. It’s my job.

And I know my faithful readers probably think this blog is pretty boring, so I’m sorry. We’ll go back to the regularly scheduled shopping sprees in a bit. I just had to get it off my chest. It bothered me that there was this misconception of my work as shoddy research floating around in cyberspace when in fact I had done the research, and had deliberately chosen to manipulate history to fit my story.

To be accused of “dumbing down” the teenage populace because of this strikes me as somewhat hysterical. They are not the only two people in the world who know the history of Plymouth, after all–many, if not all of my readers know it just as well. But what do my readers have that these two did not? Well, they gave me the BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT, as in they understood I was using artistic license to tell my story, and they came along for the ride and enjoyed it. Also, if you’re looking for history, I’m not sure a novel about vampires is really the place to find it. The Mayflower history was a fun trope, a fun context in which to place my Blue Bloods.

Please know your author works long and hard, forsaking vacations, weighing each option in the storyline, and trying to make everything fit along with all the great hot kissing scenes that make the story actually worth reading…

My husband always tells me to ignore the naysayers and the critics and the snarkies and the nasties, and I usually do, I have developed a VERY thick skin in my ten years in this business (when Karen and I toured for How to become Famous in Two Weeks or Less, boy did we weather our share of rotten tomatoes–from people who had not even READ our book, they just hated the title!), and already I regret the time it has taken to write this blog since it is taking me away from my VASTLY MORE IMPORANT job of WRITING MY BOOKS.

Btw, in Masquerade, there is a really fun Gilded Age murder mystery…but I’m not saying whether it’s based on historical truth or not… you will just have to figure it out for yourself! 🙂

xoxo
Mel

When I quit smoking I had to find something else to do other than smoke cigarettes while writing. For a long time, I thought this would be IMPOSSIBLE. Because so much of writing means staring in despair at a blank computer screen, waiting for the words to arrive. And somehow, holding a cigarette meant I had something to do while waiting, and the computer was always obscured by this huge haze of smoke. Ah, those were the days…

I was an enthusiastic smoker. I LOVED smoking. Two of my favorite people in college even taught me how to smoke freshman year, and while they no doubt thought I was the dorkiest person in the world since I arrived at college without this know-how, they kindly guided me on how to ape their sophistication. And when I mean sophistication, I mean it whole-heartedly. These two friends of mine seemed so worldly, so jaded, and so, well, cool…I really wanted to be just like them. And they smoked, so I wanted to smoke too.

Yeah, OK, peer pressure is bad. And smoking is BAD FOR YOU. So let’s make it clear that I do agree with all those things.

But so much of life is more complicated than a surgeon general’s warnings. Both my parents smoked. It was the bad, glamorous 70s and my earliest memory is my dad rolling down the window on the Mercedes so he could light up after church on Sundays. There’s a picture I still treasure, which shows my family on the beach in the Philippines. We’re all looking windswept and sun-kissed, and my dad is lounging on his back, with his aviators, and a cigarette dangling on his hand, and there’s mom, in her swimsuit, a cigarette on her lips. My parents loved fun: they threw all-night parties that lasted until ten in the morning in their restaurant/nightclub, my dad played poker with his friends until dawn (and the action would get so heated, one friend famously bet his vacation house–and yes, handed over the keys when he lost!). They lived life TO THE FULLEST. They traveled the world, shopped in Hong Kong and London, and they smoked. Another memory: my parents walking through the airport, their duty-free bags stuffed with cartons of Marlboros.

When I was growing up, my mom would smoke while doing her hair and putting on her make-up. She had a gold ashtray on her dressing table. I thought nothing could be more glamorous.

Then we moved to the States, and my dad quit smoking, and a few years later, my mom did too. Part of it was the result of assimilating to America–in the suburbs, fewer and fewer people smoked, and my younger brother, who was learning about the evils of smoking in school, would throw my mom’s cigarettes in the toilet when he found them.

But I was determined to live like my parents, and while they both were upset when they found out I smoked, they also understood–they had been young once too.

My husband has never smoked. He has always hated smoking, and when we first met, he tolerated it (after all, he moved into MY apartment) but gradually, over the years, he has nagged me to stop, and I don’t smoke now because of him.

I’m glad I don’t smoke anymore. My clothes don’t smell. I don’t have a cold that lasts for two weeks. Plus, It’s not the same–my friends from college have quit too (although we do sneak the occasional guilty cigarette when we get together), we’re all getting older, we’re trying to have kids, we realize we’re not immortal. You can’t even smoke in New York anymore. Sad. Now all the clubs smell like body odor and beer. Ick.

But I’m never going to be one of those people who are angry that other people smoke. Or who lecture people not to smoke. I think it’s gross that tobacco companies have made their cigarettes so addictive. But I do believe in personal choice and responsibility. It’s a learned habit, and it’s one you can break. It was my choice to start smoking, but it has also been my choice to stop.

I guess I’m thinking about smoking because I am sitting here writing the LAST chapter of Masquerade, and I really wish I had a cigarette to celebrate. But I’m glad I don’t.

Some fun stuff today…

I taped a podcast for HarperCollins’ Sweet & Sassy Summer Girls of Fiction Podcast, and it is now up on the HarperTeen site. Scroll down to Episode 11, which is my podcast. I talk about thrift-store shopping and more! I was nursing a cold while I taped it, so my voice I think sounds a little hoarse, and I think I ramble on too much because of all the Sudafed I was taking.

Recently I found out Blue Bloods has been nominated for an ALA Quick Pick For Reluctant Readers! The Au Pairs was a 2004 Quick Pick, and Skinny-Dipping and Fresh off the Boat were both 2005 Quick Pick Nominees. It’s an honor just to be nominated (natch) and it’s so fun to see Blue Bloods on the list!

There’s a nice review of Blue Bloods along with Jennifer Barnes’ Golden and Cara Lockwood’s Wuthering Heights, both excellent books!

There’s also a nice review of Mistletoe that I found on a YA blog.

And here’s something I found tres amusing–this disgruntled reader thinks I don’t even exist! “Melissa de la Cruz, the supposed author of The Au Pairs, which furthers my theory that these books are cranked out by recent college grads in a Hoboken sweatshop, the authors names made by snootynamegenerator.com.”

First off, I love that I have a snooty name! 🙂 Because I once asked my dad where our name came from and he said when the Spaniards came to colonize the Philippines, they posted names on a tree, and the Filipinos had to pick one (because we didn’t have last names in our native culture). And our ancestor picked “de la Cruz” so in a sense, it’s not a real name. But it is MY real name. And I do have Spanish blood–on my mom’s family’s side were wealthy Spaniards (the snooty Reyes family).

What’s funny is that if I don’t exist, then who wrote all those incendiary essays for the New York Press? Or those sex articles in Marie Claire? Or published her dad’s emails on McSweeney’s? I’ve been a published writer for a decade, and my career can be traced via Google at any time. I’ve only been writing YA books for the last three years, but I certainly didn’t come out of nowhere.

And alas, all the books written under my name ARE all mine, the deadlines are mine, the advances are in my checking account, and any praise or blame, falls on me, not some poor annonymous college grads… Hilarious. You’ve got a have a sense of humor when you are somewhat in the public eye. (And I’m so glad that as authors, they don’t post pics of us dropping or gaining weight on the cover of tabloids!)

xoxo
Mel

US WEEKLY CELEBS SIGHTING!

Mike and I were waiting for a table at La Conversation, on Doheny, a really cute little French cafe on the border of WeHo and BevHills, for brunch this morning, when a black Escalade pulls up, and two teeny-tiny girls alight from it: Nicole Richie, looking tan, blonde and MUCH prettier than those scary anorexic pics in the tabloids (and yes, thin, but not scary thin like that bikini shot in Star. She’s just really tiny), wearing a loose white and blue peasant blouse, huge sunglasses, denim cutoffs, and holding a black Balenciaga motorcycle bag.

She was with Mischa Barton, who was wearing a pink and orange Pucci or Matthew Williamson mini-dress that came up mid-thigh, rocking a cute patchwork Chanel bag, and white sandals. They were both gorgeous and impeccably made-up, although their hair was artfully casual (Mischa’s looked like it was still wet, it was twisted back from her face and then hung in loose curls). They were with Cisco Adler (Mischa’s boyfriend) and Nicole’s new boyfriend, I can’t remember his name, but he’s been pictured with her in Us Weekly.

It was an US Weekly moment come to life! There were paparrazzi across the sidewalk waiting for them to leave the restaurant. Mike and I were seated right behind them, so we even overheard their convo a bit. It was REALLY hard not to stare, they were straight in my line of vision.

They were pretty loud, laughing a lot, kind of high on the attention (and if you’re young and beautiful, why not??) and plotting their ‘escape’ from the restaurant so they would not be harassed by paparazzi. It was fun to see them–they just seemed like a couple of pretty kids who liked to have fun. They were also nice to two little girls who asked for their autographs, and to an older matron who showed them a picture of themselves in some magazine.

SALE NEWS

This morning Mike and I also made our way to the DIVA Cappellini sale, a fabulous Italian brand that carries B&B Italia, Alessi, Cappellini–high-end modern Italian furniture. Our Cappellini couch is one of our most treasured objets and we heard they were doing a MAJOR sale, so of course we got there before it even opened.

We totally scored–we got this fab office chair that’s usually around $800 for $100, a walnut bookshelf ($200 from $2000), walnut side table ($150 from $1100), a small felt bench with chrome legs ($200 from $900), three light fixtures for $90 each (they are $900 at the store) and a fabulous Wenge (dark African wood) coffee table ($450 from $3000).

There was this fabulous oak coffee table that was only $150 but it was SO HUGE we had no idea where to put it. And this one couple who saw it, they were so aghast at the price–they had bought the SAME ONE just last year for about $4000!

The clientele at these design sales is so great for people-watching–hipster couples with their cutely named children “Sienna! Come here!”, architects with their geometric frames, lots of older Europeans–one fabulous woman, she looked German, she had white-blonde hair, a deep tan and was wearing a white eyelet sundress, very low in the cleavage, with gold Prada sandals and a white Lanvin purse with a gold chain. She was probably around 60 and she looked AMAZING! Total Baroness Schraeder.

Overheard at the sale. A couple looking at a Jasper Morrison watering can (very sculptural plastic) The man saying huffily, “I can’t buy it. I already have TWO ridiculous watering cans!” Mike and I totally giggled because, sadly, we also already own TWO ridiculous watering cans. I bought Mike a beautiful Stelton stainless steel watering can for Valentine’s Day last year ($400) and we also own a Philippe Starck watering can. Did I mention that we only own ONE plant? It’s a lemon tree out on the deck.

But isn’t life about little luxuries? The $5 cafe latte? The $20 Chanel lipstick? They said the secret to life is to have little happy things that you look forward to every day. The Taiwanese are apparently very good at this. And we can vouch for this, our Taiwanese friends are very cheerful people, and they look forward to such things as eating a really great dinner (and they ALWAYS know the best places to eat).

My dad is like this also–he’s always looking forward with much joy to the small things in life, like lunch. When my dad first had chemo, the two of us had lunch every day, and there was this Taiwanese dumpling restaurant we ate at EVERY DAY because they had the best pork dumplings. And every day, without fail, we looked forward to this meal–talking about what we would order, and then afterwards, reminiscing about the food! And then the next day we would go back there again.

Pop’s back on chemo for three months, and we’re going to go back to our usual schedule of rotating restaurants that we love…President Thai (the best roast duck salad), Din Tai Fung (the dumpling house), Goldilocks (a Filipino restaurant), yummm… I look forward to it!

What a great day–today I received the book jackets for ANGELS ON SUNSET BOULEVARD, and they are GORGEOUS!!!! It is GOLD FOIL with EMBOSSING on the angel wing tattoo. It’s just so lovely. I can’t stop looking at it. You know how writers always complain about their covers? (And I have had my share of ugly covers–I won’t mention the book, but just know it’s the one with my picture on it! Yikes!!) Well I am SO HONORED with this one. S&S really did such a great job!!!!! THEY ROCK! I wish I could put it up but you won’t be able to see the SPECIAL EFFECTS of the cover until you see it in a bookstore. It comes out February 27!

And that means I should sign off now because I am still rewriting it!

xoxo
Mel

Hello, I am still here. No, Masquerade is not yet done. But it will be SOON. I can almost TASTE it.

The sad news is that my wonderful editor, Helen Perelman, who has been the book’s biggest cheerleader, fairy godmother and close reader, is leaving Hyperion. WAH! I knew Helen was a kindred spirit from the beginning because her favorite character is the bitchy Mimi. (My theory is that in life, as in Sound of Music, you are either for Maria or the Baroness Schraeder, and I’ve always been a Baroness girl. Hello-a nun?? Not! I love when she tells Captain Von Trapp, “I’ll just go back to my little circle in Vienna, where I belong” letting him know that he is going to MISS OUT on the most glamorous life evah! And hey, the Baroness also has the best couturier in Vienna…that’s gotta count for somethin’! So she doesn’t get the guy. His loss!!)

But the good news is that my new editor, Jennifer Besser, is also wonderful, and that is Jen’s beautiful neck on the cover of Blue Bloods!! Isn’t that great karma? It’s like destiny. I’m looking forward to working with Jen!

I’m also in the midst of rewriting Angels on Sunset Boulevard, so with the vampires and the missing rockstars, I’m really busy. I also want to give a shout-out to my ultra-fabulous editor at S&S, Emily Meehan, who really understood what I was trying to do with this book and has helped me find the essence of the story and hone in on it. What is a writer without her editors?

And on top of that, me and my dear friend Tom Dolby are editing our anthology GIRLS WHO LIKE BOYS WHO LIKE BOYS for the awesome Trena Keating at Dutton. It’s about the friendship, love and lust that exists between gay men and straight women, and we just have some wonderful writers on board – Simon Doonan, Cindy Chupack, Ayelet Waldman, Andrew Solomon, and tons more… Some of the stories will make you laugh, others will make you cry (god I sound sooo cheesy!) but really, this is a GREAT book and Tom and I are so proud of it! It comes out June 2007, just in time for Gay Pride!

I once marched in the Gay Pride parade in New York City with my (now-ex) best friend Morgan (who is gay- and a man- some readers have asked if Morgan is a girl, he is not). We marched with GMHC, Gay Men’s Health Crisis, where we were both volunteers. And it was really fun, marching up and down Fifth Avenue holding up the GMHC sign and chanting “G!M!H!C! Safer Sex for You And Me!” (What is ironic about this is that when we marched, we were about 21 years old and both of us were still virgins at the time. Yes, we were very late bloomers. We were practicing the safest sex possible!)

The best part was when we got booed by the religous right freaks who were protesting the parade. And we chanted back “Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho! Your homophobia’s got to go!” It was really thrilling and empowering, because we were SO much louder and stronger than they. And as my mom would say, of course you were louder–you have a REALLY loud voice. Yes, I am the girl in the restaurant with the loud laugh. It sometimes embarasses my husband. But what can I say? I come from a line of loud-mouthed ladies. (My mom is also really loud. I think it is because we are both a little deaf. Whaatt?)

I also just wanted to let my readers (and yes, I know I have been slack with my emails. I’m so sorry – I promise to respond as soon as I meet all my deadlines) know the following, since you guys seem to be most concerned with:

1) Will there be an Au Pairs 4? YES! It will most likely come out in May or June of next year. But I do not know yet what the book will be about, since that’s next in line AFTER I turn in BB2: MASQ and ANGELS and GIRLS WHO LIKE BOYS WLB.

2) When is the sequel to Blue Bloods coming out? Next April. And it is called MASQUERADE. And it is hot, hot, hot. Lots of Sacred Kissing and cute undead boys and intrigue…

And I know I have promised writing tips and all that, I will be updating my website with all the new info as soon as… say it with me, “My deadlines are done”.

Life really goes on hold when you have book deadlines.

The other sad news is that I won’t be able to go to Saint-Tropez this summer like I had planned. This was where I was going to set the first book of my new series SOCIAL LIFE, but with the new schedule of Au Pairs 4 being a reality, S&S and I have decided to push back SOCIAL LIFE for now until 2008. I just can’t handle it all! I wish I could, but with another series debuting next year (THE ASHLEY FILES) which comes out in October 2007, my plate is heaping and full. So Saint-Tropez will have to wait till next summer.

And as my agent says, “Don’t even talk to us about Au Pairs 5!” Although of course, you know, I would love to write it. I can’t seem to get those girls out of my head!

Other good stuff coming down the pike: MISTLETOE which is out in October, and 21 PROMS, out in February. Both are from Scholastic, and I have a story in each book. The one in Mistletoe is fiction, the one in 21 PROMS is the true story of my high school senior prom.

And the other day, Mike and I were at the Barnes & Noble at the Grove, and we found Sun-Kissed face-out in the new teen books section. So cool! The other week, they had NO copies of ANY of my books and I was CONVINCED my career was over. Yes, I take the temperature of my career by how many books B&N stocks. But then we went back a week later, and they had stacks of Skinny-Dipping, Sun-Kissed and Blue Bloods! So I asked the B&N lady how the books were doing and she said they had SOLD OUT of everything the other week and had to ORDER MORE. They were down to the LAST copy of The Au Pairs, even.

Which is what an author who just bought a 4 BR house in the Hollywood Hills likes to hear. (We closed escrow today and get the keys tomorrow- yippee! But don’t even talk to me about moving. I can’t focus on anything till the books are DONE.)

Earlier in my career, re-orders would have been UNHEARD of, I always assumed that my books were not on the shelves because they had been RETURNED. As in, pulped, remaindered, going to that book cemetery in the sky. You really only have about a month to “prove” yourself in the bookstores. If they don’t sell, back to your publisher they go AFTER A MONTH!

But now they are being RE-ORDERED. And really, it is thanks to all you wonderful readers out there, who have turned your friends on to my books, who buy anthing with my name on it, and keep telling me you want more. I aim to please!

I hope you guys like ANGELS ON SUNSET BOULEVARD. It’s a little like Blue Bloods but it also has that upstairs/downstairs quality of The Au Pairs, because the girl is from the wrong side of the tracks and the hot boy is from Bel-Air. There’s a cool mystery in it too…

Anyway, I have babbled on long enough. It’s back for work for me.

xoxo
Mel

Just wanted to put up a quick note to everyone who has emailed me in the past month. I’m really behind in my correspondence, but do not fear, I will answer your email when I FINALLY turn in Blue Bloods 2: Masquerade in the next week or so.

And I know a lot of you have asked for writing tips, and I promise I will put those up (and email you back) when the book is done.

Here is one tip I should have followed.

-Do not put off your deadline so much that your agent and editor become so agitated and you become so stressed out that you dream you have written pages when you wake up and realize, sadly it was just a dream!!!

But never fear, BB2 is looking SO SO HOT, and I am close to the finish line…wish-fulfilment dreams or not!

xoxo
Mel

As an avid reader of Gawker, I was very excited to see the cover of my book FRESH OFF THE BOAT on its homepage. Of course, it was in a “chicklit chart” that Print magazine had put together, showing how all the chicklit books look the same — pink covers, martini glasses, high heels, etc. The title of the Gawker item was “Gloria Steinem would be proud”. Here is the chart.

I guess if I didn’t have a sense of humor, I would be kind of offended…but gladly, I do, and I *love* that Fresh off the Boat’s cover is on Gawker!!! YAY!! It brought a huge grin to my face.

And as for all the chicklit bashing…PSHAWWWW!!!… As Meg Cabot so rightly put it “there isn’t a container in the universe small enough to hold my concern about being called a chicklit writer” (I am paraphrasing here, but you get what she is saying.)

Chicklit, schmicklit. Who cares??? I write books. Media, marketing, publishing, sales…they need CATEGORIES. They need to put us all in boxes. So they LABEL you — “romance writer” “fashion writer” “chicklit writer”. Whatevah. I like to say I write “chic lit” myself.

And I think Gloria Steinem WOULD be proud–we women scribblers (PG Wodehouse in his Jeeves books always writes about “this passel of women scribblers”–but in the books he also points out that they sell like gangbusters and are very practical women–it’s hilarious and I love his depiction of them)–anyway, we women scribblers are writing our way to independence…we make enough money so that we can pay for all our Manolos, our martinis, our four-star vacations… I don’t have to ask my husband to pay for any of my fashion frivolities, because of the money I make from writing my candy-covered books, I can INDULGE in anything I want…

And so what if it is frivolous? We need more frivolity in this world! MORE not LESS!! There’s a sniffy comment on Gawker about how the first chapter of this chicklit book is concerned with answering the question “WHERE ARE MY MANOLOS???”

Is that a bad thing? It actually made me want to read the book! Where ARE my Manolos?? Hee.

My books have been called “guilty pleasures” “shameful indulgences” “total entertainment” “decadent escapism”. I have to say, no one should feel guilty or ashamed to read something that is FUN, LIGHT- HEARTED and ENTERTAINING. I think those are all great qualities in books.

We all live in the real world right? In the real world, not all the boys are hotties, not all your friends are loyal, brave and true, and not everything works out with a happy ending. There’s so much sadness and wretchedness in the world already. Not everyone wears leopard-print Cavalli caftans and four-inch heels to go grocery shopping in. (But everyone SHOULD. It would be a much sunnier world if we all dressed like Mrs. Roper meets Paris Hilton on acid. Hee.)

I live in the real world. Where there’s cancer and illness and sadness and miscarraiges and friends who don’t turn out to be worth the friendship and trust issues and money freakouts and bankruptcy and foreclosures and wars and death and terrorists and all that awful stuff…I was in New York during 9/11 and I cannot sit through the trailer for that stupid Oliver Stone movie without crying (just thinking of it right now makes me tear up)…part of it is anger that he has made a movie about this (I didn’t see United 93 either, I refuse) and part of it is because anytime I see anything about that awful day I remember sitting in my apartment in a fetal position frantically trying to reach my husband who was working downtown (he was fine, he walked thirty blocks and caught a cab with nice British strangers since we lived 100 blocks up) and calling all my friends who lived and worked downtown to make sure they were all OK (they were all OK)…and for six months after that none of us could talk about anything else. We were so scared. Oy. And I remember that winter, an editor at Gotham asking me to do a fun, frothy serial novel for the magazine, because he was convinced what New York needed right then was some good frothy fun, and he was right.

So yes, I know life is not always megafun like an endless summer in the Hamptons nor will I ever need to use my vampire superpowers to bring peace to my immortal people. But oh, isn’t it fun to READ and WRITE about what that would be like?

I think so.

Back to Masquerade! My agent just handed me my ass on a platter since this book is sooo late. So I’ll be keeping vampire hours for the next two weeks as I wrestle this book to the ground and finally turn it in…

xoxo
Mel

Found this nice review of Blue Bloods from the Herald-Mail newspaper. The text is below.

Sink Your Teeth into this coming-of-age book
by Christine Burgh
Herald-Mail.com

Set in dramatic New York City, Melissa de la Cruz’s “Blue Bloods” puts a different spin on the vampire novel.

Schuyler Van Alen is a 15-year-old girl descended from the rich and powerful of New York. With her mother in a mysterious coma and an absent father, Schuyler is taken care of by her elderly grandmother.

But things soon start to change. When Schuyler receives an invitation to “the Committee,” a club Schuyler is sure she isn’t meant for, her first reaction is to decline. But her grandmother has different ideas. Schuyler reluctantly attends the meeting and discovers a startling truth: She is a blue blood, an immortal vampire. Even worse, something is killing her kind.

This book has a great story line, incorporating the dilemmas of teenagers into the life of a vampire. The story is told through the viewpoints of different characters, giving the novel unexpected twists.

I would recommend this 302-page book not just to vampire novel fans but to anyone who enjoys a great story.

Look out for the next book in the series, “Silver Bloods.”

_____

Only the sequel is called “Masquerade” not “Silver Bloods”. Not sure where the reviewer got that info.

Also, TeenReads.com reviews Sun-Kissed!

And here’s an excerpt from the very nice review from Amy Alessio!

“Au Pairs fans will enjoy reading about where these three friends are heading. While the clothing and party descriptions add ambience, the strength of this series has always been the friendship among the girls. The problems are real, and although many storylines are tied up neatly yet satisfyingly, there are surprises in this installment.”

___

Also wanted to say that I will be posting “Advice for Young Writers” on my website and a “F.A.Q.” page very soon… I get so many emails from you guys asking how to start out, and so I have collected my thoughts together and have posted the kind of advice I wish I had been given when I was starting out…

Still working on rewrites for Masquerade, and beefing up the second half of the book. I’m hoping to be done by mid-August so I can have a bit of a vacation before gearing up for the next two books I have due! And then the baby comes! Aaah! Craziness.

What can one do when one is so busy??

Why, spend all your time FANTASY SHOPPING of course. I am officially kind of sick of maternity clothes. Yes, they were fun for a while. And I’m having a fun time trying to be “Angelina Jolie pregnant” (lots of empire-waist Theory dresses) or “Gwen Stefani pregnant” (fun kimono tops). But seriously, ENOUGH.

I have been drooooling over all the new clothes in Vogue and Bazaar and W… and I really really want a great new winter coat. Every year when I lived in New York I would buy a new winter coat (or two). It was one of the funnest parts of living in the city– because you know, we don’t have cars, in the city, so your coat and your handbag equals your luxury SUV. I would buy sumptous tweed and fur and velvet coats from Valentino, Michael Kors, Viktor & Rolf, Veronique Branquinho, vintage suede Pauline Trigere… every season DEMANDED a new coat.

But now I live in LA and really, I cannot justify buying a new winter coat because we don’t have winter here. Yes, I know, it does get “cold” in L.A. Otherwise known as sixty degrees. But seriously, when you’re just running from your car to the restaurant, there is no need for a coat. So I’m bummed. I loved buying coats, they were one of the highlights of my fall fashion spree.

The funny thing about all the summer sales going on right now in LA is that all these clothes that are on sale can still be used for at least four more months… the weather really does not change from August to December. (It actually gets more pleasant, because 100 degrees is awful, but 80-85 is great pool weather.) So I should just stock up on all these summer clothes since I can wear them anyway…

I am OBSESSED with the empire-waist dress from T-Bags. It’s sooo gorgeous. Everyone in LA is working this whole long-dress thing right now. Last summer it was strapless and empire and long and jersey, this year it is halter and printed and long and jersey. I just came back from Montana Ave and was so sad that none of the stores (not even Planet Blue) had this T-Bags dress. I asked and they said they are sold out! So now I have to pre-order it at Shop Intuition. Which is a pain, I’m all about instant gratificiation. Who even knows if I will want this dress when it finally arrives? Also, just to complain–at Planet Blue this dress was only $110. (They had the size smalls but I’m pregnant and need the large!) But for some reason it is $200 on Shop Intuition. Wassup with that? I really want this dress because it is a) not a maternity dress and b) tres fabulous.

I also want this Rachel Pally caftan dress that Sarah Jessica Parker was wearing in the pages of US Weekly. Doesn’t it look sooo comfy? Although again, it is sold out everywhere and the only version available is the long one. Which will be great for the fall but right now it is just too hot to wear kimono sleeves AND a floor-length hem in LA.

In other news, I visited the Eagle Rock Target on Friday, and lo and behold – they had the Paul and Joe for Target line already!!!!! SOOO EXCITING!!! I’m such a huge Paul and Joe fan! And their clothes are SO expensive, I bought a cute caftan top of theirs from Barneys and it was friggin’ $600! For a top! But they are worth it because they are so, so cute and they look so individual and no one else will be rocking that top since they don’t make very many of them. So, you can imagine my extreme happiness at seeing the Target version for $40!! Alas, they did not have my size. (The racks were CLEANED out my friends). But I did manage to get a really cute silk kimono top $39, cute green silk dress $49, really cute plaid shorts $29, and ultra-cute plaid hoodie-caftan $59 and adorable peach lace-trimmed camisole $29. Almost nothing fits right now except for the kimono top, so I have to wait until I have the baby and get back to pre-preggers size before I can wear these clothes. They also had a really cute white leather jacket for $149, but I’m going to think about that one first. I still haven’t even worn the Luella one that I bought last season!

It’s really so heartening to see designerwear at such cheap prices, so accessible. I can’t wait for the Nine West Sophia Kokosolakai, Vivienne Westwood and Thakoon line, and Viktor and Rolf at H&M! Woo hoo!

I always talk so much about how you can get all this great stuff from Target, but when Mike or my mom points to one of my clothes and asks, “That’s nice, is it Target?” I get really annoyed! Because more often than not, it is NOT Target, it is from Barneys and costs a fortune. Just because I have SOME stuff from Target does not mean EVERYTHING is from Target.

The coolest would be to wear that great Balenciaga cape coat (you know the one that makes you look like a lampshade) with the Paul and Joe shorts from Target. Fashionista, baby!

Ok, now back to BB2: Masquerade…which is chockfull of fabulous, fabulous outfits for the most fabulous teen vampires evah!!!

xoxo
Mel