Home Again Home Again, Sickety Sick

I’m pretty sick right now — started last night on the plane flight home, and has gotten worse since, so this blog post will, most likely, reflect the pathetic state of my body and brain. Regular readers know how poorly I deal with illness. There might be rants coming up.

The timing couldn’t be worse. I’ve got a major deadline coming up, and my brain and typing fingers need to be in top physical condition for the next few weeks. Ugh… can I will myself to get better?

Enough downers, however. Let’s talk about some cheerful stuff:

There’s a cool article about me in this week’s edition of the Washington City Paper, complete with this picture (which apparently makes my hair look quite long), and the compulsory discussion about the value of chick lit. I’m actually starting to wonder if there’s a class on this topic at journalism school, seeing how often reporters write articles about it. I was also surprised to learn that the phrase “killer unicorns” is inherently chick litty. Who knew? I always thought it was pretty gory (ba DUM ching!) Regardless, I’m pretty happy with the way the article turned out (and glad that I got to use Sophocles and Harlequin in the same sentence!)

And there are a few new reviews out of my books:

From Teen Book Reviewer, Jocelyn, on Secret Society Girl:

I wish I’d picked up SECRET SOCIETY GIRL sooner! Once I did, I was hooked. The world Diana Peterfreund creates in this novel is totally different from mine, and maybe a little far-fetched, but still completely real once you start reading. Her characters all step right off the page—even the most minor background characters are three-dimensional. Peterfreund really breathes life into her protagonist, though! Amy’s voice is witty and funny and perfectly suited to the character that the (rather brilliant) author creates.

I’ve been gushing about the characters so much this sounds like a character-driven book with no plot, but that would be the wrong impression. SECRET SOCIETY GIRL is nothing if not a suspenseful page-turner! There’s not a dull moment in this book. I couldn’t put it down! This smart, wickedly funny novel is a new favorite of mine.

From CanaryNoir, on Secret Society Girl:

The way Ms. Peterfreund works out that drama, and fills-in several of the principle supporting characters inside the society, makes for a great story. There is a large cast of characters, most of whom come from very privileged backgrounds in comparison with Amy’s own hard-working, self-made origins, and Ms. Peterfreund has a lot of fun with undercutting stereotypes by having Amy face up to her own acceptance of them. She also leaves a lot of threads open for future books (and this looks to be the first of some number of these books). While not quite as dark and dangerous as it implies itself to be, Secret Society Girl is fun and interesting and intriguing enough to pull the reader along. It also stands out as a book more focused on the main character and her new friends figuring themselves out and showing what they’re made of instead of tying up the end in a big romantic bow. This book is about Amy coming into her own as Amy; not Amy finding twu wuv to complete herself.

From The Yale Alumni Magazine, on Under the Rose:

Cross Dink Stover with Nancy Drew and Bridget Jones and you get Amy Haskel, the sarcastic senior at transparently disguised “Eli University” who briskly narrates this winning mystery. When Haskel gains entry to the elite secret society Rose & Grave, she finds that its stodgy alumni are still cold as a crypt on the subject of women being admitted. Then erudite and threatening anonymous e-mails begin to fly around the society-only server, and naturally, Haskel investigates. The mystery is twisty, but the real fun lies in Haskel’s tossed-off asides about Yale, oops, Eli traditions–from shopping period (during which undergrads “weren’t hunting for good bargains, but rather, for gut classes”) to the annual Halloween concert, when students wear costumes aimed at “inducing everyone around you to marvel at your brilliance and beg you to tell them what the hell you’re dressed as.”

I also found out in that article that Lynn Harris, author of Death by Chick Lit, is another daughter of Eli. I’ll definitely have to pick up her book.

Okay, and now, the important stuff:

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix movie might be the best HP film yet. LOVED it. Also, whoa, sexy! That was certainly a change from the book! Now I’m very looking forward to the final installment. I may or may not actually go to one of the release parties. If so, I may or may not go dressed as Tonks (I do have the pink wig, after all.)

The Seventy Days of Sweat Challenge is back on, since the wedding extravaganza is over. I hope I can wrangle my broken body and brain into shape for this thing. Write write write!

And the bloggy stuff:

The fabulous Jo Leigh blogs inspiration. This woman has written over 40 books and she just keeps getting better. How cool is that?

The Buzz Girls tour Marley around RWA Nationals. They owe me a new keyboard after reading their posts.

Scott and Justine talk about how Justine has never even seen the inside of a box, let alone wanted to think there. Having gone first-reader rounds with Justine, I know how very valuable her input is.

And now I sleep. And take my medicine. And wonder why we haven’t progressed to the point where we can just upload our consciousnesses into some kind of invincible, impenetrable, can’t-get-sick bionic machine. Ugh. Would someone get on that, please?