Smile, Everyone! -- Jay

Earlier this week, the Advance Reading Copies of Thirteen Reasons Why were shipped out all across the country. For the first time, people who know nothing about me are going to be reading my words and judging me as a published author.

How freaky is that!

It doesn’t matter that I’m a nice guy. It doesn’t matter that I wrote that book while working at two public libraries and three bookstores (though never more than two at once). It doesn’t matter that the very first time I appeared in a newspaper was way back in elementary school, sitting in the school library and reading a book. It doesn’t matter that I think librarians, booksellers, and children’s book reviewers are the three most important pillars of any society.

And it doesn’t matter that our blog address is printed on the back of every ARC (tee-hee!).

The only thing that matters is whether people who don’t know me can connect with a story that I just totally made up. So as I try to focus on Book 2, I’ll be sitting on pins (as well as a few needles), waiting to hear their reactions to Book 1.

This moment is precisely what I’ve been saving my hour-long massage gift certificate for.

- Jay

BONUS POST: San Luis Obispo county has a weekly arts & entertainment paper called New Times. This week’s issue gave the results of its 21st annual “Best Of” readers poll.

Check this out…

Don't be a Dumb Writer

Be a smart writer!

SmartWriters.com is now accepting entries for its 2007 Write-It-Now! Competition. The judges are cool. The prizes are cool. The doors that could open for you are cool.

Everything...is...just...so...cool!

We've long considered the SmartWriters staff to be members of the extended (though close-knit) Disco Mermaid family. In 2005, Eve earned an honorable mention in the mid-grade category. In 2004, Jay earned third place in the picture book category and first place in YA (which then moved on to win the Grand Prize). In fact, Jay got Chris Crutcher to blurb Thirteen Reasons Why because Mr. Crutcher was the YA judge the year that manuscript won.

So enter today, because you never know...

The Early Bird Gets to Take a Nap -- Robin

This past week I’ve been trying to tweak my writing schedule so I can get the maximum amount of writing done, watch The Daily Show, and feed my son (on an almost daily basis). A certain very special editor has asked for another round of revisions on my middle grade manuscript and now I’m in frenzied writer mode!

I remembered some conversations I had in the past with other writers who are also mothers. Here’s their one piece of unwavering advice: “Oh, honey, you gotta get up at 5 a.m. before the kids get up to get any writing done.” At which point I smile at these “helpful” moms and then kick them in the shins (but only because I might hurt myself if I tried kicking them in the head).

I was feeling desperate, so I took their advice. Beep, beep, beep! My alarm sounded at 5 a.m. and I tried smothering it with a pillow to put it out of its misery. Only there I was… without a pillow and the stupid alarm kept going off and my husband kept kicking me in the shin. (See where I get these ideas?)

I loaded up on diesel fuel for coffee, broke out the butcher paper, put on some bluegrass…and guess what!? I got busy, y’all!


This was my kitchen table at 8 a.m. after hubby loaded up on my gourmet diesel fuel coffee and took this picture. It was a very productive morning and I now openly apologize to anyone I physically hurt in the past.

Hopefully all my mother/writer friends out there are smiling on me and saying, “Finally…she gets it.”

Except that it’s 7:30 p.m. now and I just passed out face down in a bowl of pasta. Anyone got any other advice?

- Robin

3-2-1 Contest!: And the Winner is...

Congratulations, Natalie! Your celebrity children's book title just won you a bunch of stuff! You’ll be receiving a book, a painting, a drawing, a candy bar, a button, and probably some bubble wrap, too.

Natalie is the blogger behind Italian Moments: A blog in which an American expatriate rants and raves about life in Italy. And since she lives on an entirely different continent, the U.S. postal service would like to extend its congratulations, as well.

Either it's a coincidence or a sign of things to come for Jay's novel that this very week, the Bologna Children’s Book Fair is taking place not too far from our winner’s home. If Natalie attends, we hope she gets offered an Advance Reading Copy of Thirteen Reasons Why. “No thanks,” she could say. “I already own the very first signed copy.”

That’s right…the very first!

Thank you to everyone who submitted a celebrity book title. You had us rolling on the floor and reaching for our inhalers too many times to count. In our minds, you're all celebrities (though you obviously need no help coming up with titles)!

And please...stick around. This won't be the last Disco Mermaid contest. In fact, we’ll be announcing a new contest in the near future with an even bigger prize!

Curious George Meets Grindhouse -- Eve

UPDATE: A winner has been selected in our ARC contest. And the winning entry is...(*scroll to the bottom of this post to find out)


I once saw a Hollywood marketing expert speak at a conference, and she advised us to pitch our children's books in terms of popular movies, so that people could get an instant feel for our stories. Some examples I made up for popular teen books:

• SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson: The Accused meets Mean Girls
• MONSTER by Walter Dean Myers: Menace 2 Society meets Dead Man Walking
• THE OUTSIDERS by S.E. Hinton: Rebel Without a Cause meets West Side Story (minus the dancing)
• GO ASK ALICE by Anonymous: Requiem For a Dream meets Thirteen
• THE MIRACULOUS JOURNEY OF EDWARD TULANE by Kate DiCamillo: The Velveteen Rabbit meets The Passion of The Christ (minus the beatings and flayed flesh)

I thought about this really hard and decided that my middle grade book (still in revisions) is basically Boyz 'N The Hood meets Unbreakable meets Stand By Me meets Lord Of The Flies. (Four of my favorite movies..woo-hoo!) I know it sounds funky, but when I thought about it in those terms, it gave me a clear vision and enabled me to weave layers of symbolism into the story. This little exercise really helped me focus. The deeper into revisions I get, the more the puzzle pieces seem to fit together. It's such an exciting process!

I'm curious to hear your “Hollywood Pitches” for your own books. Especially Jay Asher's THIRTEEN REASONS WHY (I'm stumped on that one). C'mon… try it, it's pretty cool. Okay, if you can't think of one for your own book, make up a pitch for a teen book you'd like to read. And you can't say, Curious George meets Grindhouse...that's MY next masterpiece.

- Eve


*...going to be announced on Monday!

Penguin Pride! -- Jay

I lost a bet. And when you're a Disco Mermaid, losing a bet means total public humiliation. I admit, sometimes I go on and on about how wonderful it is to be a Penguin author. So Robin and Eve assumed that making me dress as a penguin for an entire day would wipe the P-word from my mouth.

Let's see...

First, I gassed up for work.

Once there, I helped a kid check out a book on, that's right...penguins!

For lunch, I grabbed some frozen yogurt.

I did a little window shopping...

...which gave me the urge to hit the treadmill.

After work, I splurged on a fancy new 'do.

I relaxed with a round of golf.

And by the end of the night, Eve and Robin's plan had totally backfired. Cuz not only is it still great to be a Penguin author...but I learned it's also great to actually be a penguin!


- Jay