The DMs in L.A. -- Robin

UPDATE: At 11:59 Tuesday night, we will stop taking entries for our ARC contest.

(Jay, Lisa Yee, Cheryl Klein, Gregory K., Robin, Eve)

Yes, we rubbed elbows with some pretty impressive people last weekend at the SCBWI Los Angeles Writer’s Day. Luckily we didn’t rub noses…cuz that would’ve been awkward.

I have to say that I was totally moved by Lisa Yee’s speech. Well, I was moved during the parts where I wasn’t actually laughing and snorting loud enough to cause Eve to elbow me in the ribs to shut me up.

What I loved most was seeing Lisa’s family there supporting her and handing out bookmarks after her speech. How cute was that!? She talked about being true to your passion and writing if that is what you’re meant to do. But more importantly, she said, if you have children, you must do your passion. Your children need to see you pursuing your dreams and doing what you love. Otherwise, what are they learning about their own futures? Oh man, my eyes got all teary at that one. Fortunately, Eve must have sensed my vulnerable moment because she finally stopped elbowing me in the ribs. (Thanks, honey.)

I learned some other things on our trip to L.A. It was a long car ride and the three of us had planned on brainstorming our writing projects together to, you know, get some work done. But instead, we ended up playing a riveting game of “If you could only smell one smell for the rest of your life, what would it be?” Yeah, we’re that dorky. I learned some interesting things about my fellow Mermaids.

If Eve could only smell one smell for the rest of her life it would be white cake (why white, I do not know). For me, it’s a newly opened can of tennis balls (please, no ball jokes…I heard enough of those from Eve and Jay). And if Jay could smell only one smell for the rest of his life it would be Jessica Alba (please, make all the jokes you want).

- Robin

P.S. While Stephen Mooser of SCBWI didn’t say much about this summer’s conference, he did tell us the theme for the after hours party: Under the August Silver Moon. And, yes, we’ve already started brainstormin’ costume ideas!

3-2-1 Contest!

You won’t find any French hens, turtledoves, or partridges in pear trees here. But you will find 3 Disco Mermaids, 2 literary agents, and 1 fantabulous editor.

We’re giving away an Advance Reading Copy of Jay’s debut novel, Thirteen Reasons Why. And all you’ve gotta do is make us laugh! Actually, you’ve gotta make us laugh harder than anyone else.

Your entries will be judged by all three Disco Mermaids on a funny-scale of 1 to 10 (10 being frickin’ hilarious). The ten highest-scorers will move on to Round Two. Or maybe we’ll use a 1 to 10 scale with 10 being the least funniest, in which case the lowest-scorers will move on.

The top ten entries will then be judged by Jay and Eve’s shared agent and Robin’s agent (which she refuses to share) using a 1 to 10 scale. The top five highest-scorers (or lowest-scorers…we’ll figure it out by then) will move on to the final judge, Jay’s editor. And while his editor definitely knows how to pick a winner, she absolutely refuses to pick the winner’s nose!

And because there are three Disco Mermaids, the winner will not only receive a gift from Jay, but will receive a gift from Eve and Robin, as well. Eve signed a 20 x 16 print of her acrylic painting, Sunset Vineyard (which does indeed include a touch of pink, as all of her paintings must). Robin’s four-year-old son drew a 12.5 x 30.5 panoramic profile of the Disco Mermaidmobile on taupe butcher paper, which he christened the Really Big Ship! You will also receive an official Disco Mermaid button, featuring the logo designed by Don Tate. Plus, a Butterfinger bar similar to the one mentioned in the book. But unlike the literary candy bar, this one is a 'New 2 Piece King Size' Butterfinger. Not only does it come with the familiar tagline crispety, crunchety, peanut-buttery, but since it was purchased in Nipomo, it also claims to be crocante, prurient, cremosa con cacahuete (mani).


So…whatchagottado? Simply give a celebrity a helping hand. Give someone famous an idea for a children’s book...because you know they all wanna write one. And since everyone should follow the advice to Write What You Know, give them a title for a book only they could write. For example:

ANGELINA JOLIE: Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego (and does she need a Mommy)?

JUDE LAW: Daddy had Two Nannies

AL GORE: Walter the Ozone-Depleting Dog

You get the idea. And if you don’t, just flip through a few pages of Us or People or Star and you’ll get more ideas than we’ll have time to judge. Just leave your entry in the comments section of this post, and you're entered. The last day to submit is Tuesday, April 17th...so get titular!


BONUS: This ARC will be personally signed by Jay, having the distinction of being his first ever autographed book!

He is Relaxin', Indeed -- Jay

My wife was staying with her sister in Santa Cruz last weekend. Since we didn’t know if we’d see each other on Easter, we didn’t color any eggs. At the last minute, we decided to all meet up in Big Sur on Sunday morning to spend the day hiking and hunting.

Hunting Easter eggs, that is.

I told them I would bring some plastic eggs with me, but by 9 o’clock Saturday evening there wasn’t a single store with anything more than rabbit Pez dispensers. By 10 o’clock, I was back home doing things the old fashioned way...boiling eggs and dipping them in dye. Then I woke up at 6, drove three hours north, and had an awesome Easter Sunday.

By the time we met, we'd missed the only church service in town, so we went to the spot we’d originally wanted to get married. It’s an outdoor chapel featuring nothing but a dozen basic wooden benches facing a stone and wood altar and a large wooden cross overlooking the creek. A few other people (visiting from Sevier County, Tennessee) had the same idea as us. After talking for several minutes, I learned that the middle-aged couple purchased their first home in Arcadia, California...which is where I lived till I was thirteen! In fact, we all lived there at the same time.

Small world.

My wife, my sissie-in-law, and I then hiked to the top of Buzzard’s Roost. We had lunch at the Big Sur River Inn, relaxed by the water, then I hid Easter eggs for them...


Then it was their turn to hide Easter eggs for me...


Finally, my wife said something she’d been holding in all day. “You seem much more relaxed than you have in months.”

It was true. With no way to check my e-mail, work on my second book, and very limited cellphone reception (though I was able to welcome Eve back from Hawaii), it was hard to do anything but simply reeeeelaaaaax. And it felt refreshingly wonderful.

But don’t worry...I’m back.

- Jay


UP NEXT: win yourself an Advance Reading Copy of my debut novel, Thirteen Reasons Why (plus many more cool prizes)

Aloha and Mahalo and Aloha! --Eve

Although most of you probably didn't even notice my 2+ week departure, I did in fact just return from sixteen days of Hawaiian Island hopping with my parents, sister, brother-in-law and nephew, and feel like I've been under a lava rock forever. In an effort to completely relax and have quality family time I ignored newspapers, TV, email and phone messages. My secondary goal was to synthesize all my MG book revisions (YES, I'm still revising the same book) in my head (or out loud to anyone who would listen) so that all the connections make sense. I'm weaving in new themes, allegories, metaphors, (acronyms, logarithms, onomatopoeias and Lord knows what other big word things I can't define that I've thrown in there!) and needed some brain marinating time. So, between swimming, eating pineapple, hiking, eating papaya, exploring, and eating coconuts I managed to learn a ton about the revision process.

I'm taking the opportunity to throw out a huge MAHALO holler to everyone who helped make this such a fruitful (No pun intended. Okay, pun intended.) trip.

THANK YOU TO:

AMY for listening patiently to my constant babbling about plot details, character quirks, and theme relationships when all you wanted to do was quietly develop your Coppertone tan.

KERILL and DON for teaching me “The Hero's Journey” and for the book and video on how to write it well. (How lucky am I to have two good friends in Hawaii who just happen to be writing and literature experts??)

MOM and DAD for listening to my constant babbling about how hard it is to get a book published, and for watching the entire “Hero's Journey” video with me…even though it has no relevance to your lives, whatsoever. Although, maybe it does…did you ever know that YOU'RE my heros?? (Cue Bette Midler…sniff!)

J.B. (my seven-year-old nephew) for reminding me that children's books are fun, and writing them should be fun too.

TRI (bro-in-law) for keeping me laughing. I find it's the best cure for writer's block.

NANCY (homicide investigator…long story, don't ask) for hanging out with me in Waikiki (listening to my constant babbling about my book) and answering my millions of childish questions about what you do for a living…fascinating! (Her line of work is actually quite pertinent to my book…plus it's like watching a good movie. For free!)

RANDOM HOTEL POOL BOY for listening to my constant babbling about my book, how much I know about the hero's journey, all the workings of homicide investigation, and how tan my sister is.

Aloha!

--Eve

Coming Soon...

With 2/3 of the Mermaids out of state (one in the desert, the other on a tropical island), things have been a tad unusual in DiscoLand. There hasn’t been a Brainstorm Meeting in a few weeks…or even a Brainstorm Phone Call.

But there’s still been a ton of exciting things going on. While camping, Robin got a very encouraging phone call from her agent (she had to stand atop a rock to keep the signal). Jay got what’s called a Spectacular E-Mail from his editor. But neither of these bits o’ news can be shared just yet. Which means, yes, we’re extremely cruel for even bringing them up. (But don’t worry, we won’t even mention the Chicago lawyer who contacted us on Thursday.) Oh, and Eve went to a luau with a real live pig. Well, it was real…but there was absolutely nothing live about it.

Later this week, two more cool things will be happening. One for us…and one for you.

For us: On Saturday, we’ll be attending the Los Angeles SCBWI Writer’s Day (anyone else going?). Among those speaking will be two of our favorite bloggers: Lisa Yee and Cheryl Klein!

For you: Before the end of the week, we’ll announce a contest to win an Advance Reading Copy of Thirteen Reasons Why. The only reason we’re not announcing the contest right now is that we haven’t gathered all the prizes…and we haven’t settled on the type of contest.

RobinJayEvesDropping #1

- overheard in the teen section of a bookstore -


Female Teen 1
Why do you always read books about girls
who are mean to each other?

Female Teen 2
I don't know...because it's fascinating!