Welcome to my first blog, and my new and improved web site. I hope you enjoy looking around. If there’s anything you don’t see here that you’d like to, please leave a comment below. You’ll notice on my contact page that my email address has changed.

I’ll be using this space partly to talk about book stuff—what books I’m loving, what new projects I have going on, and fun stuff like the fact that my first novel, A Mango-Shaped Space, is going to be made into a Manga comic in Korea! Mango/Manga, I guess it was fated to be.

I’d really like this to be interactive. Feel free to say what’s on your mind and I will too. I’m big on making lists. I honestly couldn’t function in life without a daily list. I even have to write “shower” on my list or else I might forget. So, in no particular order, here are some things on my mind today:

1. Since my New Year’s resolutions (things like work out more, eat candy less) usually just get transferred to the list the following year, I’ve decided to go easy on myself this year and do something that I might actually have a chance of sticking to. In 2008, I resolve not to click on any headline that has the words “Britney” and “Spears” in it. If I had back all the time I’ve spent reading about her antics (and those of her celebrity peers), I could have written another book! Plus, I’m starting to feel sorry for her. Can you imagine if your every waking moment was documented for the world to see? I shudder at the thought.

2. Quote of the day: “Most of the shadows in this life are caused by our standing in our own sunshine.” -- Ralph Waldo Emerson. I used this quote in Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life because I liked it so much. Emerson was talking about how we put limitations on ourselves and hold ourselves back. Life has a way of doing this all on its own; it doesn’t need our help. If we always tell ourselves negative things, we’ll start to believe them. I invite all of you to join me in this one—dwell on the positive, give yourself a break, don’t block your own sunshine.

3. When I write a book I always have to figure out the title before I can start writing. I work really hard at coming up with the right title to reflect the kind of book it is. Some are easier and some take more time. For instance, it took me weeks to come up with Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall, while Leap Day was pretty obvious since the book takes place on Leap Day. So when I see a great title on a book in the store, it always catches my attention. Favorite book title of the day, spotted in Borders in Rockaway, NJ: Stop Dressing your Six-Year-Old Like a Skank. Love it!

4. My mother recently made me a scrapbook of my childhood. I couldn’t believe the things she’d kept. My pre-school diploma! A photo of me in our driveway where the snow is taller than I am. The stuffed purple shark I got a “D” on in sewing class in eighth grade (do they still HAVE sewing class??). She also saved my diary from 5th grade. It ends abruptly when one of my sisters found it hidden under my mattress and told the boy I had a crush on that I liked him. I never kept a diary again. Lesson learned: never hide anything under your mattress, that’s the first place snooping sisters look! In my next blog I’ll include some funny passages from the diary.

5. Ok, it’s getting late and I have the second half of Season Three of LOST to watch on DVD before Season Four starts in a few weeks. I’ve gotta say, this Writer’s Guild strike is giving me a lot of extra time at night with no new sitcoms to watch. Although as a card-carrying member of the Guild, I do hope it ends soon so everyone can get back to work. (Not too soon though. It has also come in handy when my husband asks me to do something around the house. I simply shake my head and say, “I can’t, I’m on strike.”)

Cheers, and Happy New Year!

Wendy