From Lauren Barnholdt’s Blog

Introducing….

THE REALITY CHICK BUZZ THE BOOK contest!

The PRIZES:

(1) Your choice of either an iPod Shuffle, OR a fifty dollar Amazon.com gift certificate
(2) An autographed copy of REALITY CHICK by Lauren Barnholdt
(3) A copy of the August issue of Teen People, which lists REALITY CHICK as a Can’t-Miss Pick for August
(4) Free tuition to a session of Lauren’s YA writing class

THE CONTEST:

STEP ONE: Simply copy and paste this whole message (including the info about the contest) into any blog, message board, email list, myspace bulletin, or anywhere a lot of people will see it!

REALITY CHICK by Lauren Barnholdt is NOW IN STORES!

Going away to college means total independence and freedom. Unless of
course your freshman year is taped and televised for all the world to
watch. On uncensored cable.

Sweet and normal Ally Cavanaugh is one of five freshpeople shacking up
on In the House, a reality show filmed on her college campus. (As if
school isn’t panic-inducing enough!) The cameras stalk her like
paparazzi, but they also capture the fun that is new friends, old
crushes, and learning to live on your own.

Sure, the camera adds ten pounds, but with the freshman fifteen a given anyway, who cares?
Ally’s got bigger issues — like how her long-distance bf can watch her
loopy late-night “episode” with a certain housemate…

Freshman year on film.
It’s outrageous.
It’s juicy.
And like all good reality TV, it’s impossible to turn off.

IN STORES NOW!

Check out Lauren on the web at www.laurenbarnholdt.com or on her myspace at www.myspace.com/laurenbarnholdt

STEP TWO — Email Lauren at lauren (at) laurenbarnholdt.com and let her know you’ve posted about the contest and the book, and you’ll be entered to win the prize pack! The winner will be picked at random on September 1st. The more places you post, the more entries you get. Have fun and good luck!!!

Just back from a wedding and the best wedding cake I have had in quite some time. I always get myself excited about the cake and then it’s a bit of a letdown. I’m one of those people when asked, “Buttercream or Lite” blurts “BUTTERCREAM!” Anyway, this cake was delicious with a layer of pineapple filling so thin as to be almost undetectable. Maybe I imagined it. Right after the cake was cut (to my sons and I, it seemed to take forever), my little one says to me, “I want you to get me the people piece.” Meaning the piece with the little bride and groom. I had to break it to him…he has to get married to get that piece. So, of course, he was satisfied with a plain old sliver.

Finished Incognito and really liked it. It was a light, breezy read with still plenty going on and interesting characters. I hope Suzanne Allain will eventually have another book out. Right now I’m simultaneously reading Cheating at Solitaire by Ally Carter and Kiss Me, Annabel by Eloisa James. I used to read historicals almost exclusively and then slipped into reading contemporary romance and then chick-lit while I was writing my historical. Now I’m writing a contemporary and wonder if I shouldn’t really try to multi-task and simultaneously work on a second historical–so I’m reading Regencies to get back in that frame of mind.

I’m in a bit of a writing quandary. I feel any fans I might have had as a result of my first book won’t necessarily be interested in my second–they’re nothing alike. So I’m torn. My first book was self-published, and right now I can view it as stand-alone, being a completely different entity than a traditionally published book. But I do have some fans, many of whom are asking where book #2 is. I could tell them, but I don’t think it’s the book they’re waiting for. Trouble is, I only have some vague ideas about another historical–nothing really gelling it all together. And I don’t want to deal with a lot of revisions and rewrites simply because I dove in blind. So I’m thinking about it….and getting a headache.

Last night I had an honest-to-goodness Girl’s Night Out! I’m not sure I’ve ever actually had one–at least since high school. That sounds pretty pathetic, but my college friends were mostly guys (ditto for my work friends), and I married my high school sweetheart. So…last night was a first and very interesting. It was just four of us, all married and each with two little boys–funny how it worked out like that, but I think moms with boys (plural) need that ‘off’ time more than moms who don’t. Just an opinion…

Anyway, we went for dinner and to catch up and talk. Conversation ran the gamut of extramarital affairs (none of us!), internet dating (ditto), child delivery tramas, our husbands (of course), vacations and future plans.

I was shocked to discover that all three of them were considering having another baby. They all wanted to try for a girl (even though, of course, they would love a boy). I was the only hold-out. I figure I have enough to deal with two rowdy, rambunctious boys, and fate would probably deal me another, leading to deeper, more prevalent forehead wrinkles, and many more premature gray hairs. Oddly enough, all three of them told me that they felt sure, certain, that if I tried again, I’d have a girl.

Based on what?! That just sounded totally ridiculous to me.

Anyway, when I got home, I was telling my husband a bit about the evening (a discussion of elephants, pole-dancing, carbohydrates after 3pm…), and I mentioned how they all wanted to try for a another baby. I told him that sounded like a great idea for a book–four women get together for a GNO, three decide to try for another baby, and the fourth gets pregnant. I thought the friendship dynamic would be great. He says, “I don’t like this idea at all.” No creative vision, I tell you.

And if I’d gone to the Conference, I would have missed all that…