Yearly Archives: 2012

SLAPPY HOLIDAYS

 December 19, 2012   |     53 Comments

I pride myself on being a voice of optimism. I tend to blah-g solutions not complaints. But here I am, staring at the screen, waiting for my thoughts to boil into a blahg-worthy idea and… UGH. All of my ideas are depressing. Not a single one will launch you into winter break with joy. So I asked Alisha my office elf to help. She came up with some great ideas. A list of nice things we can do for one another this season like send a care package to a soldier, foster a dog or cat, shovel a neighbor’s snow, write a thoughtful note to someone just because, or donate your old books and pj’s to the Pajama Program.…

Title Wave

 December 5, 2012   |     88 Comments

Before I get to the main business of the day I want to thank all of the people who helped me raise $2600.00 for the Office of Letters and Light.  Their programs provide educators and librarians with the tools they need to inspire creativity and push students to reach goals. Participants are given free access to web forums, workbooks, writing tips, and pep talks from published authors. In addition to a completed novel they are left with a sense of accomplishment and confidence in a field that most people find intimidating and out of reach.

I truly believe that teaching creativity, grit, and innovation, are one of the best ways to guarantee your future success. For everything else there’s Google.  …

Sneak Leak

 November 28, 2012   |     31 Comments

Happy post Thanksgiving!!! I hope you all had a great holiday. As Alisha mentioned I was in O’ahu, Hawaii and I had a much needed break. I worked every day except for Thanksgiving but it felt different doing it on the deck of our beach rental.

Thanks to Alisha for writing such an ah-mazing blah-g while I was gone. I have to say, I saw her before I left and while she always looks stunning, she did seem more at ease. So I can vouch for the authenticity of her joyful ending. Yay office elf!

I also want to thank you all for your honest feedback regarding the title for Phoenix Five. The tribe has spoken. Most of you are …

Tic Talk

 November 15, 2012   |     31 Comments

I’m BACK! Thank you Mark at the Genius Bar (Fashion Island) for fixing my laptop yesterday. It was only gone for one day but I swear I had phantom pains. I kept looking at my monitor expecting to see my festive desktop and it was dark. You want to know what the problem was? My question mark key wouldn’t work. I had been too busy to take it in so I had to keep cutting and pasting previous question marks and it was starting to drive me insane. But thanks to Mark I can do this again ????????????????????????!

    Random note: I can’t stop eating Cherry Passion Tic Tacs. I want to but I can’t. I’m starting to feel sick from …

Momentarily Lost

 November 14, 2012   |     10 Comments

Hi friends. Temporary bad news to report. I’m having technical difficulties with my computer, which the Genius bar has taken hostage overnight. I feel a little lost without it and have had all this free time today. Cuh-razy.

I’ll be back tomorrow with a new Blah-g post and… A LEAKED PAGE OF THE PHOENIX FIVE!!!! Thanks for being ever understanding and stay tuned…

xoxo

Lisi…

Read ’em and Write

 November 7, 2012   |     43 Comments

As many of you know I am on a major deadline. Thankfully, I am surrounded by supportive and understanding people. But their understanding only goes so far because, well, they don’t really understand what it’s like to write all day. So in times like these when my brain hurts and I’m in need of encouragement, inspiration and improvement I turn to the very things that got me into this mess. Yup, books.

The following is a list of books I have downloaded and turn to every time I need support. I highly recommend them all.

Write-A-Thon: Write your book in 26 days (and live to tell about it)   By: Rochelle Melander

Because I have crazy deadlines and I need to …

BOO YEAH!

 October 31, 2012   |     30 Comments

Let’s get right to it: 1) Hurricane Sandy BLOWS! Pun intended? Sure, why not? I am thinking about all of you on the east coast who have been displaced from your homes, left without power and forced to cook food like my friend Cheryl. Look she’s making lunch for her kids. I am not kidding.

It’s so like her to still look good.

2) If you find yourself in Laguna Beach tonight and you happen upon this house,

dressed like a Monster High character, I will give you a SIGNED BOOK along with a serious amount of candy.

3) Look what I have gotten myself into. Help out of you can. If not sit back and watch me deteriorate over …

Group Shrug

 October 24, 2012   |     58 Comments

A promise is a promise. And last Wednesday I promised to take Seventeen’s flirty text message ideas to the streets to find out how boys would react to them. And so I did. I am lucky enough to live in a neighborhood that is infested with skateboarders. They ride the streets with cameras strapped to their helmets so they can record their ongoing efforts to break the sound barrier. Since I give them rides to the top of the hill on my golf cart they were kind enough to answer my questions. And since they are under 18 I was legal enough not to post their faces.

   But trust me on this…Ahhhh-dorable.

1. Hey good lookin’ what’s cookin?

James, 15: …

How to Rush the Crush: Advice for Jordan and millions of others.

 October 17, 2012   |     49 Comments

I spend most Wednesdays dolling out advice no one asked me for. That’s what older people do when we’re not complaining about aches and pains. We can’t help it. We’ve already been through what you’re going through and it hurts us to watch you struggle. Yes, I know we’re supposed to stand back and let you learn from your mistakes. But if someone could have told me how NOT to get my heart broken or how NOT to embarrass myself in front of a crush I would have gladly listened. Of course I would have written them off as geriatrics who couldn’t possibly understand what I was dealing with. But maybe some of it would have seeped in.

Does it …