Dia Reeves's Blog

I haven't posted one of these in forever so here's a cookie from book three. The manuscript is still a work in progress so the following is subject to change, but here's a taste:

Peter scooted close to Rue and kissed her. When she kissed back, he jerked away, staring nervously into the woods.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Rue said, slipping her cold hand beneath his jacket, jealous of his warmth. "Peter, relax."

"I am relaxed," he said. "It's just…my aunt was telling me the other day about some guy who was found dead near the woods"–he lowered his voice–"with his heart missing." He looked down at his chest, as if making sure his own heart was right where he'd left it. "They looked around but couldn't find it. Whatever stole that poor bastard's heart probably ate it with a side of fries."

"Ridiculous."

"It's true! You're from here. You know what Portero's like."

"I do know," said Rue. "I just mean it's ridiculous that you think the man's heart was eaten. We don't eat them."

"You don't eat what?"

"Hearts."

Rue cracked Peter in the face with her elbow and knocked him unconscious.

So I haven't posted in forever, but I've spent the last three weeks in a writing frenzy, and the only way to have a writing frenzy is to not go online ever. So I've been maintaining radio silence. That and I hate blogging. ;p But the frenzy is over, my first draft is done, and now I can do other things like post about my first author panel.

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This past Monday, I did an author panel as part of the Diversity in YA tour, along with Cindy Pon, Jo Whittemore, Malinda Lo, Guadalupe Garcia McCall (not pictured, where did she go?), and Bethany Hegedus. It was in Austin and it was awesome. I've never done an author panel, let alone a book signing; this was new territory for me. I only agreed to do it because I desperately wanted Cindy Pon's autograph. Which I totally got! In person she's really cool and outgoing and friendly. So yeah, pretty much my exact opposite. xD

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First we had an interview with Katie from Mundie Moms and Jen from I Read Banned Books where I shocked everyone into silence with totally inappropriate recollections, and then we had the panel and people actually came!

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Yes, I was taking pictures of the crowd while I was on the panel. Why not? They were taking pictures of me. ;p I took this one, on the sly, of Varian Johnson, who was moderating.

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I always manage to get a picture of someone looking irritated with me. xD But Varian was cool; he didn't stick around long after the panel because his wife was expecting. Probably as you read this she has finally delivered unto him a girl child.

So even though I was dreading the panel and having to speak in public, it wasn't that bad. When Varian said we had gone over an hour, I was shocked, because it went by so quickly. The only bad thing was that I had to sit next to Cindy who looked totally fabulous. I, of course, looked like a schlub. Curse you, Cindy!!!!!!!

After panel, we had the book signing. BookPeople had arranged a stack of my books on a table, and when the signing was over all the books were gone. Okay there were only like five books, but money is money, yo.

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So at my first book signing, this young lady happened to be my first autograph. Her name was Jennifer. Btw, there were so many Jennifers and Jessicas at this event, it was insane. Like that scene in GoodFellas when Karen gets introduced to Henry's mafia family and realizes they're all either named Peter or Paul and all married to women named Marie. Ha!

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Another of my fans was a guy named Steven. Sure he was Guadalupe's son, but I don't think she was forcing him to be nice to me. See how big he is? Could *you* force him to do anything?

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Cynthia Leitich Smith came by, specifically to tell me that my books totally freak her out, which was AWESOME.

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And Jenny Moss dropped by to say hi. She's always been really sweet to me online so it was great seeing that she's like that in person too. She came to dinner with us when everything was over.

I don't know the name of the restaraunt we went to, but I had the tortilla soup. And it was brown. Which was really bizarre. I should have taken a picture of that stuff. But it didn't matter because I totally hijacked Malinda's guacamole–that stuff was yummy in my tummy.

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Going in a circle from the bottom left is Jo, Jenny, me, Cindy, Jen Bigheart, Steven, Guadalupe, um…who is that?, Stephanie Pellegrin, Jessica, Malinda, Amy Rose, and Bethany.

Amy Rose drove Cindy, Malinda, and I back to our hotels and convinced me of something I already felt when I first got off the plane–that Austin is a great city.

So that was it. And it was a great experience. I'll have to spend the next three months in my hermit's cave recovering from all the socializing, but it was worth it.

On a much lighter note, I found this old interview on my desktop that I don't think was ever used so I'm posting it here. Hanna from my first book is being interviewed by Death. I have no idea why–like I said, I did this a long time ago.

Give me a one-line description of your book. The hook, if you will. What's the "Hey, cool!" about the book?

I run away to strange town called Portero that's full of monsters and doors to other worlds, and I have to use my wit, charm, and good looks in order to survive. It's easy for me—I come from a long line of almost diabolically fascinating women.

What's the worst thing about your situation in the book? (Please describe the situation. In great detail.)

The worst thing for me is that my family situation isn't the best. Poppa died and left me with his bitch sister who hates me…which is partially my fault, I'll admit it, since I smacked her upside the head with a rolling pin. But I only did that as a last resort! Normally, I'm very levelheaded. Which is why I ran away from home. To live with my mother. Who I'd never met. And who also wants nothing to do with me. But I'm sure I can talk Momma into letting me stay with her. I'm almost certain I won't have to use a rolling pin on her or anything crazy like that.

What's the best thing about your situation? (Again, details.)

 I finally get to spend time with Momma. And I get to meet lots of interesting people. And by interesting, I mean weird. Turns out Portero is full of weirdos. They hate outsiders and only wear black because their town is full of monsters and people die all the time so basically they're always in mourning. I kind of like that. Not that people die all the time, but that there are monsters here. People are so busy trying to, you know, not die, that they don't even care that I'm manic-depressive.

If you could be anyone, who would it be? (Fictional character or real person.) Why?

I wouldn't be anyone but who I am. Other people are so cowardly, afraid to go after what they really want, constantly weighing the pros and cons, and worried about "consequences". I never worry about anything. I just do whatever I want to do, whenever and however I want to do it. I wouldn't trade that for anything.

What's your standard outfit? What wouldn't you be caught (ha ha) dead in?

I wear purple dresses, mostly. Sometimes I'll wear a skirt if I'm feeling daring, but no matter what I wear, it has to be some shade of purple. Purple was Poppa's favorite color, and it just seems disrespectful to wear any other colors. I'd never wear blue jeans. They're so constricting. My girlie area prefers to be free and unobstructed.

What are you most afraid of? Why? How do you move past that fear?

I'm afraid of being alone. When I get really manic, I start to detach from reality. Having people around helps keep me connected to what's real. It's even better when the person loves me, because then I know I'm safe. I know I'll be protected. To keep from being alone, I tend to latch onto people, whether they want me to or not. I know Momma would love to escape my clutches—she's really afraid to get close to people—but I'm a hard girl to discourage.

What's one thing about you that no one else knows? (You can trust us. Really.)

Back when I was in Dallas, I sat next to this guy on a bench at the park and we started talking about this and that. He was really funny and kinda cute, so I started making out with him. It wasn't until I chipped my front tooth against his mouth that I realized he was a statue and not a real guy at all. Hallucinating can be a real pain sometimes.

In BLEEDING VIOLET, were there any parts of the story where you were like, Dia, what on earth are you making me do? Or were you and your Creator in sync the entire time?

Dia never tried to make me do anything. If anything, she tried to get me to stop doing stuff. She's way more uptight than I am, that's for sure.

If you had your way, what would you change about BLEEDING VIOLET?

I'd wear uglier clothes. I ruined so many cute dresses and lost so many pairs of shoes trying to battle the forces of evil, like, I can't even describe it.

If you could make your Creator, Dia, do anything, what would it be?

I'd force her to write a sequel so that I can have even more time in the spotlight. But I think Dia's still a bit traumatized from our first go-round. I tend to have that effect on people.

Tell me one thing in the real world that you wish you could change.

I wish the real world wasn't so dull and…monsterless. I'm lucky I have a place like Portero to fit into. I think that in the real world, people would think that I was a monster, just because I'm so different. Probably no one would even want to be friends with me.

If BLEEDING VIOLET goes Hollywood, who should play you in the movie? What about Rosalee?

I think I should play myself. There really is no one else like me in the universe. There's not even anyone who could pretend to be me; no one is that good of an actor. Momma would never agree to star in the movie—she hates everybody—but Thandie Newton or Sanaa Lathan or N'Bushe Wright might do a good job pretending to be as fascinating as she is. As for Wyatt…I think he's like me—one-of-a-kind.

If there's anything I haven't asked that you really want to talk about, go for it!

Well, since we're on the subject of Wyatt, I just want to say that our relationship isn't as one-sided as he seems to think it is.  Sure, I may take advantage of his feelings for me, but I take advantage of everyone. So if you're reading this Wyatt, please understand that I'm not singling you out—I'm an equal opportunity user. But just because I use you doesn't mean that I don't love you. Because I totally do.

If there's one piece of advice you could give to your fans, what would it be?

If you want something, take it. Life's too short to be sitting around empty-handed. Oh, and don't let the monsters eat you.

Finally, who's your favorite Horseman of the Apocalypse?

Death, of course.  And no, I'm not flattering you. You know that I've been wanting to meet you for a loooong time. I'm just fortunate that this meeting didn't involve any blood or carnage—that's very rare for me, you know? So. Want to come over to my house for lunch? I'll make my famous blood pancakes!

First, I just want to say congrats to Cindy Pon whose book FURY OF THE PHOENIX is out today! Y'all should definitely read it–Cindy is probably one of the most twisted writers I know (don't be fooled by the sweet facade!) She's having a kickass contest, so enter to win!

But I also want to continue to offer my support to Jessica Verday who pulled her story from an anthology after the editor asked her to turn her gay couple into a hetero couple on her assumption that the publisher didn't want to include gay characters.

There's been a lot of talk about this, and on the blue boards it was suggested numerous times that the editor shouldn't be cast as the villain simply for making a business decision. I agree that the editor isn't the villain (she's actually a nice lady; I know because I've worked with her), but this is bigger than her. This is about the deeply entrenched discrimination in the publishing industry. So deeply entrenched, that some editors apparently take for granted that publishers don't want gay characters.

People keep coming up with all kinds of reasons to rationalize why the editor initially wanted Jessica to make her couple heterosexual, mostly saying that it's a business decision. I say as long as there's institutional discrimination, there will always be some halfassed rationale to back it up. It's a business, people say; you can't get all emotional when making business decisions.

Can you imagine Rosa Parks boarding the bus thinking, "Well, it's wrong of them to discriminate against me, but they're just thinking of the bottom line–making me sit in the back of the bus helps to maintain their profit margins and really, why should my rights as a human being interfere with that?" Gandhi himself said business without morality is complete bullshit. Or something along those lines.

I think when people rationalize like that, they do it out of fear. Institutional discrimination is scary; business on the other hand, well that's just status quo.

There've been some other remarks too. Stupid things like that Jessica has a vendetta against the editor (as though she's not allowed to not want to work with someone who assumes gay characters are bad business) and she's being petty by not offering her story now that the publisher has asked her for it nicely. I don't worry that Jessica's story won't ever see the light of day; I'm positive it will. So I don't think that her decision not to include the story, even after the editor and publisher apologized, is a loss for readers who will certainly have a chance to read it in the near future. We gained something much greater than one story, though. People talk about discrimination in the publishing industry, and now we've seen that those people aren't just making it up. Thanks to Jessica, many MANY people have seen the truth for themselves.

This is the funniest/lamest conspiracy theory ever–the idea some bloggers (who are also aspiring authors) have that if they write negative reviews of YA books, successful YA authors (the YA Mafia) will blacklist them and ruin their future careers.

I'd never heard of such a thing until Holly Black posted about it: http://blackholly.livejournal.com/148264.html

I brought this up on the Blueboards, so I'm copying my response there here.

It seems like some people who write negative reviews already feel nervous about doing so, and so when they are called on it, even subtlely, they get defensive and maybe even slightly delusional, ie, YA Mafia.

In Holly's post, in the comments, the bloggers who are worried about this seem to want to have the freedom to write whatever reviews they want, negative or otherwise, but still be welcomed with open arms by the author/authors' friends/agents/whoever whose feelings they've hurt. That's what I think is naive.

One, even if you write the most evenhanded negative review in the universe, that doesn't mean that the author will take it that way. You can't control how people internalize what you've written. I think that as authors, we're better equipped to handle negativity in the form of reviews because that's part of the job (not all of us of course; Candace Samms anyone?), but bloggers don't have to ingest the kind of medicine they dish out and so I think being critiqued or disagreed with is harder for them to handle.

That said, I think bloggers should do exactly as they please with regard to writing reviews. Just as long as they understand that everything they do has consequences. Will it ruin their future careers? Of course not. Will it ruin their future relationships with authors who feel (rightly or wrongly) hurt by their past dealings? Of course.

You can't have it both ways. No one can.

When you write books marketed for anyone under eighteen you have to deal with a whole set of bullshit that adult authors don't have to face, namely, WRITING RESPONSIBLY.

Certain people say things like "you can't write about sex and drugs because, if you do, you're PROMOTING that behavior." Those people expect YA authors to write about what teens go through, just not in a graphic or offensive or, you know, honest way. We have to make the good guys good and the bad guys bad, and anytime anyone does anything morally or socially objectionable, they have to be punished. Preferably by lightning so that we all understand that God is punishing them for being bad.

All I can say is screw that. The only thing I'm responsible for is telling a kickass story. All that moralizing and crap, that's not my job. I'm neither a preacher nor a parent and have no interest in teaching the youth of the world how to be or not be stupid.

I'm not saying that books can't open kids' eyes and put all sorts of new ideas into their heads. I read A Clockwork Orange when I was in high school and it blew my hair back. Did I go out and starting raping and killing people? No. Did I reevaluate my ideas about the importance of free will to every individual, even murdering rapists? You bet.

Not saying that I've written anything as powerful as A Clockwork Orange, but I'd say any book has the potential to make you think. But once thought becomes action, well, my responsibility as a kickass author ends and your responsiblity as a reader with free will begins.

Picture it, kiddos: You're a costumer in a bookstore looking for a dark fantasy novel. You look around and see signs for ADULTS, TEENS, and CHILDREN. You're looking for a young adult novel, so you head for TEENS. Once you're there, you see more signs for SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY, and ROMANCE so you head for the FANTASY shelves. Then you ignore the EPIC FANTASY, and the *NEO-FAIRYTALES, and you finally find the DARK FANTASY book of your dreams. Huzzah, right?

Categories, genres, and subgenres. That's what it's all about. YA is a category. All it does is tell you what part of the store you're in. It doesn't tell you what type of book you're getting. Genre tells you that. Genre lets you know that you're reading a romance and not a mystery, and the subgenre tells you whether the romance is contemporary, historical, or paranormal. See? YA is not a genre. Say it with me so that you will believe it: YA is NOT a genre. Thank you.

*I just made that subgenre up. But what *do* you call all those books about modern fairies or those modern retellings of Cinderella and whatnot?

I have updated my FAQ's page again. Huzzah! And just know, the level of snark is in direct proportion to the number of times I've been asked a particular question.

Slice of Cherry will release one week from Tuesday so to celebrate I'm having a giveaway on my book's Facebook page. Up for grabs are a signed copy of Slice of Cherry (hardback) and Bleeding Violet (paperback), as well as bookmarks and your very own silver key (if you read the books, you'll understand why silver keys are important. ^_^). Also, I've decided to have seven winners, not just one like I usually have. I'll announce the seven winners throughout the day on January 4th.

It's international and the only thing you have to do to enter is leave a comment  here. And only leave ONE comment please; leaving multiple comments won't increase your chances of winning, you sly dogs. [image error] Anyway, I wish you all luck and I hope you're just as excited about my release day as I am. [image error]

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This is what I've been listening to on repeat the past two days.

I like the parts when he goes, "OH!" Don't ask me why. :p I've also been listening to the Sweeney Todd soundtrack, the original cast recording with Angela Lansbury–this song especially because it's not in the Tim Burton version.

What else? Oh, yeah. On the way to Florida, we listened to some CDs I made of old school stuff, and one of the songs that took me waaaaay back was this one.

I made a reference to it in Slice of Cherry–the sisters are at a Juneteenth celebration and the old folks are listening to Lenny White. This is the song I was thinking of when I wrote that. [image error]