Year of the Garren

Roni: Garren found out today that 2012 is the Year of the Dragon on the Chinese calendar.

Stacey: It's been a fun morning. He's made up a dragon dance.

Roni: That was a dance? I just thought he had coffee again.

Stacey: There's a subtle difference.

Roni: Which is?

Stacey: He stays off the bookshelves when there's no caffeine involved.

Roni: Nice.

Stacey: He and Justin are trying to find something to drink with no sugar and no caffeine in it for Garren to drink to celebrate.

Roni: Water?

Stacey: He doesn't like water...something about Blue Dragons and breaking a truce?

Roni: Milk?

Stacey: He won't drink it outside the cow.

Roni: He wha-? Oh...Eww.

Stacey: Yeah.

Roni: Orange juice?

Stacey: Too much sugar content.

Roni: I'm out.

Stacey: Me too. 

Justin: (from kitchen) Pickle juice!

Roni: What?

Justin: Garren likes pickle juice!

Stacey: That can't be good.

Roni: I have a feeling things are going to get barfy after pickle juice and dragon dancing.

Stacey: Ew.

Garren: (dancing past) Happy Year of the Dragon!

Justin: (dancing past with Garren) Happy Year of YOU, Garren!

Garren: Happy Year of ME!

Roni: We're in trouble now...

Garren: (dancing past again) HAPPY YEAR OF ME!!!

Book Signing

Roni: Well, we have some exciting news to announce...

Garren: And I promise I haven't had ANY coffee this morning.

Roni: Judy has a book signing coming up.

Garren: And I'm still excited!

Stacey: Unfortunately, MY book won't be there...

Roni: BUT you will have a preview copy there for people to look at...

Garren: And those cool post cards for people to take with them!

Roni: AND, people will be able to pre-order Life Unscripted.

Garren: THIS TOO IS EXCITING!

Stacey: Yeah, I guess. 

Roni: Would it make you feel any better if we showed the new cover again?

Stacey: Well....

Roni: Here...

Roni: Does that make  you feel better?

Stacey: *giggles* Yeah, kinda...

Garren: STILL EXCITED!

Roni: Garren, I thought you said you haven't had any coffee.

Garren: I HAVEN'T!!!

Roni: What are you drinking? *takes his mug and smells it* Is this black tea?

Garren: Earl Grey. Justin gave it to me. It's goooooood.

Roni: Earl Grey has CAFFEINE in it!

Garren: OOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! It's Justin's fault.

Roni: Don't blame Justin! Give me that!

*Roni tackles Garren*

THUD

Stacey: SO...Judy will have The Bird Lady, both Sally books from the Trunk of Alexia series, and even a couple of her poetry books available for sale and for signing.


CRASH

Stacey: Uhh... and anyways...she'll be at the Red Mountain Library in Mesa on March 10th from 1:00 until 4:00...

Roni: I GOT IT!

Stacey: *shaking head* Where was I?... Oh yeah, it's going to be a local author fair, so look for Judy at one of the tables there. 

*Roni sits back down with Stacey*

Roni: *brushing hair out of face* Just email or leave a comment if you need directions to the library.

Stacey: Thank you, Roni.

Roni: You're welcome, Stacey.

Indigo: *in background* Did you just get beat up by a girl?

*Garren stalks off*

Roni: Anyone want to finish a cup of tea?

Stacey's book revealed

Stacey: So! We FINALLY get to reveal the title and cover of my book!

Roni: After a lot of patiently waiting...it's time.

Garren: Now?

Stacey: After the proper build up....

Garren: OK.

Stacey: So...after months of waiting....we are happy to reveal the cover and title of MY new book (written by Judy, of course...)

Garren: Now?

Stacey: *to Garren* Wait for it...*to you* So without further ado...






Roni: *whispering* NOW, Garren!

Duh duh da DA!

Stacey: Here's the cover and title of my book...coming soon to Amazon.com!

Garren: *squee!* This is so exciting!

Stacey:  So give us a little time to finish up the last little edits, and we'll announce a release date. 

Roni: But until then, stay tuned here for more little excerpts like you saw last week.

Garren: YESSSSSS. Definitely more of those are coming!

Roni: In fact, we may have one next week...

Stacey: As well as some other surprises we have in the works for you all.

Garren: I like surprises!

Stacey: Yes, Garren. You like spoiling surprises, too.

Garren: But I get so EXCITED!

Roni: *sigh* So in the next couple of weeks...we'll let Garren unveil one of our surprises.

Garren: YESSSSS! It's gonna be FUN!

Stacey: So, until next time, we'll leave you with the tentative synopsis from the back of the book:

Stacey Thompson is about to start her senior year of high school. On her first day, she encounters not one but two guys that keep demanding her attention. Brian, sweet, considerate, and star of the school play, asks her out. Mariusz, bookish and rebellious, keeps getting her stuck in detention. As Stacey navigates her way through the school year, she must make a decision about how she will deal with each of these boys. She also must deal with her most cunning adversary, herself. Between facing her fears, leaping off rooftops, and sabotaging the Prom, Stacey must come to terms with life, injustice, and maybe even death itself.

Stacey's snippet

Garren: Hi everyone! We have a snippet for you!


Stacey: My new book is in the final stages of editing and so we thought we'd give you just a tiny peek at it.

Garren: So we voted on what snippet should be used from the book and we unanimously came up with the scene we're peeking at here today.

Stacey: So just as a set-up...I'll let you know that I narrate the book.

Garren: That means it's actually Stacey who is telling the story.

Stacey: They know what narrate means.

Garren: I'm just SO excited!

Stacey: I'm the one who's excited. It's MY book!

Garren: I know! But I'm still SOOOOOO excited!

Stacey: *ahem* Yeah, so, I like I was saying. I narrate the book. And the following snippet is the very first preview available anywhere!

Garren: It's a scene that takes place in the school library where Stacey works and a conversation she has between her and a cheerleader.

Stacey: *gag* Yeah, I remember that happening....so here we go:

I lead her to the book, and pull it off the shelf. I hand it to her and she looks at it as if I’m handing her a handful of poop.

“It sounds depressing,” she says, still not taking the book.

“Did you want the book or not?” I ask.

“Do you have something less depressing?”

“I thought you had to the do the book report on this book.”

“Well, the teacher said we could do anything by that author. I just thought a book about a little girl would be sweet, you know?” she snaps her gum again.

That is so annoying. I wonder if one of these times she’ll choke on it.

“You want less depressing Dickens?” I ask.

“Yeah,” she smiles.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah.”

I hand her Great Expectations and lead her up to the check out counter.

“This one has a cheerful title,” she says, handing me her school ID card.

“Yeah,” I nod, as I check the book out to her. “Real cheerful. It’s due back in two weeks.”

“I have to read this in two weeks?”

“You can renew it if you need to,” I remind her.

“How many times?” she asks, looking at the thickness of the book.

“When’s the report due?”

“In three weeks,” she says, still eying the book.

“Then once should be enough, shouldn’t it?”

“Whatever,” she turns and walks out of the library.

As I watch her leave, I wonder if she has ever fallen off the top of the pyramid and landed on her head.

“What did she want?” Mrs. Worthington asks, watching the cheerleader leave.

“A cheerful Dickens novel,” I answer.

“What did you give her?” she asks, looking at some papers.

“Great Expectations.”

“Good girl,” she puts the papers down. “Come with me.”

 

Garren: Ta da!

Stacey: So there you have it, the very first sneak peek at my new book!

Garren: I'm SOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!

Stacey: Uhm...Garren? Have you had coffee today?

Garren: Only a little.

Stacey: Oh no! *uh* Okay folks, Garren needs to go drink lots of water right now. But we do have another surprise for next week...

Garren: EVEN MORE EXCITED!

Stacey: Yeah, Garren. It'll be okay...anyways...we're going to be unveiling the cover of my book in next week's post.

Garren: I...CAN'T....STOP....SHAKING...

Stacey: What has Roni told you about coffee?

Garren: It's sooooooooooooo gooooooooooooooooooood!

Stacey: Yeah, she's really gotta stop saying that...it just riles you up more...

Garren: Cover picture next week!

Stacey: Yes, next week. Let's get some water in you.

Garren: TA DA!

The aftermath

Indigo: Well, that went well.

Garren: I didn't mean to set the whole cake on fire.

Indigo: *sigh* At least the firemen were nice.

Garren: And very understanding.

Indigo: The good news is that Judy said it's all right if we post a sample from Stacey's book next week!

Garren: Yes, Stacey and Roni are busy looking through the book to see which scene they want to use to post here for you all to read.

Indigo: And Judy wanted to extend a big thank you to everyone who wished her a happy birthday, whether it was here on the blog, or on Facebook, Twitter, by text, or in person.

Garren: Yes, so thank you to everyone. The surprise party was a smashing success.

Indigo: We got to visit with a whole bunch of Judy's other characters who dropped by here. 

Garren: Yes, they were all very nice. 

Indigo: And it was very helpful to have a water elemental on hand. She was very useful in assisting the firemen. 

Garren: *ahem* Yes, well...uh, yeah...so we'll see you here next week for a preview of Stacey's new book!

Indigo: Meanwhile, we're going to go finish cleaning charred cake off the ceiling...don't ask..