I have enjoyed starting off every post recently with giving away a Scarlett. Today is no exception!

When I last wrote a few days ago, I set a challenge to see if we could do something about the very poor state of the Amazon YA discussion board. At that time, it had eight sorry little discussions, floundering around and going nowhere. Now it has 34! And they’re great! This is what I mean about YA readers . . . you guys know your stuff!

The winner when the clock went off was:

What YA book are you reading right now/have you most recently read and loved?–Christmas gift cards need spending!

This was started by Jocelyn. So, Jocelyn . . . please send me your address, and the third copy of Scarlett will go out the door!

As my final act of 2007 . . . and my way of ringing in 2008 . . . I am giving away my final (as far as I know—unless I am sent some more, but I don’t think I will be) ARC of Suite Scarlett.

Here is the contest. Finish this sentence. “MJ should send me Suite Scarlett because . . .”

Answer it in whatever form you want. Answer it in the comments. Answer it on your own blog. Answer it in a video. Answer it in a piece of fan fiction. Answer it in an e-mail to me. You just need to get the answer to me somehow. If you answer it quietly, to yourself, I will never know. Any form of answer that I can access counts. You just need to tell me about it so I know to look.

If you were left out of the Amazon Challenge . . . mention this! It will give you BONUS POINTS!

Because judging this by myself will kill me, I am going to call a PANEL OF EXPERTS to assist me. They may include . . . . Oscar Gingersnort, my friend J.K. Rowling, Free Monkey, and Several Famous Authors. Know that I WANT to send books to everyone. I WANT to do that. I just have the one left, though, so I am forced to choose. I have tried to mix it up between asking questions, posing challenges, and picking names at random.

Know that I WANT to send books to everyone. I WANT to do that. I just have the one left, though, so I am forced to choose. Know that I look forward to having the real copies of the book to give out, because there will be lots of those!

The deadline for this is Monday, January 6th, 2008, at noon. One week from now!

Today is technically the last day of ASK MJ. But you know . . . ASK MJ will never really be over. I just won’t be answering in every single post. But if you ask me something that I simply must address, I will immediately do so!

I got great questions this time . . . great because they were all about FEAR and DANGER. Two of my favorite topics!

jellybean said…
Emergency cheer question!

Let’s say that a few weeks ago you took a short weekend vacation to the seaside. You were frolicking in the ocean, like a FOOL, when a rogue wave smashed you to the sand, held you under, and gave you a lump the size of a baseball on your hip.

You have hidden said lump with only moderate success over the holidays. Now New Year’s Eve is coming up, and you are sick of wearing baggy dresses. So you are going to wear an awesome dress that totally shows the still-huge lump.

Question: what is your awesome cover story for this lame, lame injury?

Jellybean, have I taught you NOTHING? If I get across one point and no other, I hope it is this one: THE SEA IS OUT TO GET US ALL. I blog about it. I wrote a book about it. And yet, despite my best efforts, many of you still frolic in the gently lapping Waves of Death.

But okay. So you went swimming and were hit by a (*shudder*) rogue wave. Lesson learned . . . HOPEFULLY. You need a cover story. I have one.

That lump is where you keep your hamster. It is a hamster holster. You keep your hamster on your hip because you know Zac Efron breaks into houses and eats unattended hamsters sometimes, and you know that he will know that a lot of people are out tonight and there will be hamsters aplenty to feast on. You are no fool.

anonymous said…
Is your New Years going to be as equally festive and cheery as your christmas? I was wanting to warn you that there is a very large possibility that JK will break into your house at exactly midnight and wishing you a frightening new year of jam thievery and “dancing queen”/jelly fish nightmares. I’m not psychic, she just seems like the kind of person to do that.
Be afraid…be very afraid.

I needed this image in my head about as much as Zac needs another hamster in his mouth.

bissfullydazed said…
You know what? Zac Efron has no business eating hamsters. I almost wish someone would eat HIM, thereby ending High School Musical’s plot to collaborate with Wal-Mart and Starbuck’s to take over the world. I have two questions. 1. WHEN is Girl at Sea coming out in paperback? and 2. Is there ANY way we can come up with a an incredibly complicated hairbrained scheme in which I stow away with you in the plane on your trip to England? PLEASE?! I HAVE to go!

I agree with you about Zac and the hamster eating. I don’t know if I would go so far as to say that he should be eaten himself, though.

As for the other questions . . . I think Girl At Sea comes out in paperback in May. I’m not 100% sure of this, but I think so. It will probably be right around the release of Suite Scarlett. As for number two . . . I am sure we can work something out. I will need protection, after all. J.K. has been leaving little hints at my door that she knows when I am flying to England. Can you fit in a bag? Can you be ready in a week? Are you willing to fight J.K. Rowling?

If you answered yes to those three questions, we should talk.

shausto-la said…
aww no i cant post on amazon. *headdesk* but i do have a question. Why in the world is Mario so darn funny looking??

I mean, really. with that funky red cap and blue overalls and HUMUNGO white gloves that he so stole from Mickey Mouse…its actually pretty freaky..

I had absolutely no idea what the answer to this was. But you are lucky, Shausto-la. First, I have video game expert Oscar Gingersnort here (but he is busy making fun of me at the moment). I *also* have Famous Mario Expert Charlieissocoollike.

It was Charlie who answered your question. He said:

1) Mario originally started in 8-Bit and its tricky to make detailed 8-Bit characters. To make sure that the Mario character was recognizable as a person in this very simple form of computer graphics, the people in the character design section of Nintendo obviously tried to emphasize all of his features too make sure that people could tell what he was. This meant Mario was blessed with a big mustache (to show he is male) and then big hands and big feet. Mario’s limbs and facial hair have shrunk a bit from his move during his move from 8-Bit to Wii, but his limbs are still kinda large.

2) Mario is a plumber, and is apparently always caught on the job when he is asked to go rescue Princess Peach which is why he is always seen in his plumbing uniform. The gloves are obviously there to protect his hands from the junk people shove down their drains and the dungarees are there because they are just far more practical when doing work. Mario doesn’t have time to tighten his belt, Mario has a job to do.

3) The reason that Mario’s uniform is bright red and blue comes back to the whole 8-Bit simple graphics thing. If you can remember, Mario has a brother, Luigi. These two brothers do look and sound quite a lot alike so to be able to tell the two apart they had to don uniforms that were strikingly different to each other in terms of color. Also, there weren’t really that many colors to pick from in those days so Mario got stuck with the basic ones, which always turn out to be really bright.

4) Mario also chose to dress in red and blue because the world he lives in is primarily green and brown and so he wants to stand out from the background so Princess peach will notice him. This also explains why Luigi hardly ever gets kissed like Mario does at the end of the games because Luigi just kinda blends into the background and peach doesn’t really see him.

5) Mario looks kinda odd because he is Italian and as a general rule all Italians are required by law to look kinda funny.

cei cei said…
lily i truly feel your pain. my Scarlett card is also taunting me, but she keeps changing what she says. her two fav. things are- ‘HAHAHA, You cann’t read me til the day AFTER your birthday! Just like Libba Brays The Sweet Far Thing (which came out 12/26)! HAHAHA’

or 

’Tho there is a small chance of you winning a copie of me early it will not happen, then in may I will be sold out!MAWWHAHAHA!’

clearly Scarlett DOES NOT like her potential readers.*sniff sniff*

A lot of you also seem deeply freaked out by Scarlett. There are many reports of her staring at you, talking to you, and controlling you. Rest assured . . . it is only her picture that does this! The real Scarlett would do no such thing. The real Scarlett has enough to deal with . . . like insane hotel guests with dead ferrets, actors on unicycles, handsome boys who burst into flames, hotel rooms with criminal histories, rich boys with dinosaurs, younger sisters with too much power, and a family on the constant verge of disaster. She would tell you that the last thing she wants to do is freak you out. She herself is trying very hard to KEEP CALM.

Also, she won’t be sold out. There will be Scarletts for all. Big boxes of them. Don’t you fret!

2007 has been a big year. I wrote Suite Scarlett, Girl At Sea came out. There was the Bartlesville book banning (to be discussed in a later post soon). I met Free Monkey. In August, I took a train to Georgia with Scott Westerfeld, Justine Larbalestier, Holly and Theo Black, and Cassie Clare and wore a Wonder Woman costume.

There were darker moments too. I think you will all remember the reports in which I was spotted driving around with a baby on my lap. What made it worse, I guess, is that it wasn’t even my baby. Or my car. But at least I have a LICENSE.

Then there was my disastrous rap album, “Free Monkee Playa.” I thought I could rap. I really did. Everyone told me that I was great . . . so great that I should go somewhere else and share my rap with OTHER PEOPLE. Sorry for that.

What does 2008 have in store?

Oh, my friends . . . my dear, dear friends. More, and better. There will be work on Suite Scarlett 2 (already started, actually) and the revealing of the secret project I have been working on in the UK. Suite Scarlett will come out in May . . . and there will be celebrations and a truly awesome contest. Later in the year, Let It Snow will appear.

Plus, I have plans for this site and this blog. PLANS. Plans that involve you. Plans that at this point include more updates, new stuff to help you with book reports . . . and maybe getting an assistant to help me keep it all running. (Note to J.K.: do not even think about applying.)

So, until next time (which won’t be long from now), please get your entries in to get your Scarlett. And have a Happy New Year!

Posted: Monday, December 31st, 2007 @ 8:47 pm
Categories: Suite Scarlett, Zac Efron, ask mj, hamsters, jk rowling.
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