A Few Shout Outs and Reminders:

Augustana is playing in Eugene at the WOW Theater in May. I’m only telling you this because I bought tickets, which is the highlight of my month. The band broke up over the summer and they had to cancel their summer tour with Jack’s Mannequin (another pretty great band). But, it looks like they’re performing again so check to see if they will be in your area. You don’t want to miss this show.

Counting Crows is on tour with their latest release, Underwater Sunshine (album comes out on April 4). I’m seeing them up in Portland in April, but check and see if they’re coming to your area. Adam’s voice is so wonderful live.

Thanks to my friend, Leslie, for decorating my twitter home page. It looks fantastic. I might have to actually start tweeting now (@katiekacvinsky). I follow exactly nineteen people and they are pretty much all comedians or Star Wars impersonators. Classy.

I have to thank Carol Chu for her visually creative superpowers and for designing the cover of Middle Ground. She also designed Awaken, as well as First Comes Love.  The art team at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt are incredibly talented and I’m always amazed with their artistic covers. I’ll have more information about Middle Ground coming soon.

Finally, this is random, but a friend of mine paints jeans and every few years she designs a pair for me. I’m posting a picture of her latest pair because they’re rad. I’m so impressed with how creative people can be, especially when they take the risk to put their thoughts down on paper, or in a song, or on a canvas, or… on jeans. Thanks, Marcia.  These will go great with all my gray t-shirts.

Gray and Dylan? What's up with their names?

A question that I'm often asked by readers is how I come up with the names for my characters. For example, in Awaken I named Madeline after Madeline Island, my favorite place in the world. It's one of the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior. You catch a ferryboat from Bayfield, Wisconsin, and twenty minutes later you touch ground on a rustic paradise, a place for loners who want to get away from crowded beaches and tourist traps (but who also enjoy some great restaurants and pubs).

Okay, I digress. This post is supposed to discuss how I named Gray and Dylan. It's simple, just listen to Mr. Jones, by Counting Crows.

I'm slightly obsessed with this band and with Adam Duritz for his genius song writing. His influence is partly why I wanted to become a writer. He uses writing to tell stories and to vent and to celebrate the highs and low low lows of life. I even got to meet Adam once, at a bar in Los Angeles. I asked him, "If you were stranded on an island and could only bring three albums, what would they be?" He listed off Miles Davis, Ani Difranco, and Joni Mitchell. (Just a fun fact for you).

In the song Mr. Jones, Adam sings, "Gray is my favorite color," which we have in common. I love the color gray; I wear it almost every day. I own about twelve gray t-shirts and ten gray tank tops and gray jackets and sweatshirts and scarves and hats. It's a gorgeous, calming color and it looks great when it’s complimented with something bright (just like Dylan's bright personality compliments Gray's darker character).

The name Dylan? Easy. Comes from Bob Dylan, the greatest songwriter of all times, and also referenced by Adam Durtiz in Mr. Jones when he sings, "I want to be Bob Dylan."

So, there you have it--a long winded explanation of where their names come from and why they are so dear to me.

What's New??

Well, I have a new boyfriend, Jason Segel. Okay, I'm totally kidding, but I did run into him a few weeks ago.

Last month I treated myself to a weekend trip to Los Angeles, where I saw Ryan Adams in concert. He is one of my favorite musicians (he’s even referenced in First Comes Love) so I was thrilled to finally see him live. Other highlights of my trip were:

• 70 degrees and sunshine (always a treat in February)
• Cruising around in my friend’s convertible. I’m not a car person, I really could care less what brand a car is, but I will say this: I am now officially a convertible girl. It’s not so bad being stuck in traffic in L.A. when the sunshine is pouring over you.
• Hollywood Museum (I can’t believe I never went there when I lived in L.A.) The entire second floor featured the Oscars movie nominations for 2012. Definitely worth the time, if you’re ever in L.A.
• Dinner at the Chateau Marmont
• And, as the picture above demonstrates, I met Jason Segel on Sunset Boulevard. He was nice enough to take multiple pictures with me until one turned out (the flash on my camera wasn’t working, which made the encounter awkward yet amusing). I own every episode of How I Met Your Mother and Freaks and Geeks so you could say I was mildly excited.

Other items to discuss:

It is on, yo: Book signing/release party at Grass Roots Music and Books, May 8th at 7 p.m. in Corvallis, Oregon. Stop in and pick up a copy of First Comes Love. You have plenty of prior notice, so you have no excuses not to be there. Flights shouldn't be too expensive if you start looking now. It's a great excuse to visit Oregon.

I’m in the process of reading over "Get Unplugged" essays and I’m about halfway through them. It is so inspiring to read these entries. Everyone that participated in this contest has written really thoughtful, reflective responses. I will announce the winners at the end of this month.

I am hoping to do some publicity this spring with First Comes Love. I especially want to get down to Los Angeles and Phoenix, where the novel takes place, so I will keep you updated as events are finalized.

Finally...
My editor sent me a couple of dust jacket covers for First Comes Love. The cover has this cool finish called gritty matte, so they feel as sexy as they look. I am giving one away, autographed (with a few other treats) in a couple of weeks. To win it, just help get the word out about First Comes Love. Send me a message (either on Facebook, or through my website) letting me know how you are helping to spread the word in your area or online. I'll choose my favorite (and most creative) response in April!

brass magazine

This month, brass magazine featured me as their cover story. brass is a money and lifestyle magazine published for young adults. Their covers feature young entrepreneurs, or just young people doing cool things. I'm honored to be a part of this magazine. The photo shoot consisted of climbing thirty foot mossy tree limbs. I got to work with graphic designers, writers, photographers and a video crew. It was an amazing experience to be around so many creative minds. The photo on the cover was the last shot we did. We were in a studio and they gave me a pen and said, "Pose for us." I'm like, "With a pen?" They're like, "Yeah, just roll with it." So, I pointed the pen right at them, as if I was trying to shoot a dart, and they loved it. They're like, "Yep, that's our cover shot." They said that oftentimes the very last photo in an all-day shoot ends up being the cover photo.

If you're interested in reading the article, it's available online.

I just want to give a brief background of brass, because I'm a huge advocate for this magazine. Money plays a major role in our lives and it's something that I think schools often overlook when it comes to preparing young adults for the real world. I never had to take any personal finance classes when I was in high school or college and I think this should be mandatory curriculum. The entire point of school is to prepare kids to go out into the world and be responsible citizens, yet, they forget to teach us about credit card debt and how to take out loans and create a budget....

Look at our current economy and all of the financial trouble people are in, especially when it comes to debt. Well, unless you major in finance in college, you just don't learn about it. That's what brass does--it educates young adults about the money side of life because, let's face it--it's pretty important stuff.

Finally, for those budding writers out there, brass is always hiring writers (and paying them!!) for magazine material. All of the articles in the magazine are written by young adults, some even in high school. Contact them if you're interested.

To learn more about brass, check out their website.
Finally, here's information on how to get a subscription.

Sidewalks are Safe

Less than three months until First Comes Love is in stores. I want to celebrate by taking a book tour via yacht or maybe hot air balloon or rocket ship.

For now, here's another interview with Gray and Dylan:

Gray, what’s your favorite thing about Dylan?

Dylan: I bet it's my unique fashion taste.
Gray: Right. No one wears ripped baggy jeans and basketball shoes quite like you.
Dylan: I don't wear basketball shoes.
Gray: Dylan, those black adidas shoes you wear everyday are basketball shoes. They're high tops. I used to own the same pair in middle school.
Dylan: (shrugs) I like skipping and high tops give me great ankle support.

Hey, Gray and Dylan, could we focus here? Let's go back to the original question.

Gray: Sorry. My favorite thing about Dylan...well, surprisingly I could list a lot of things here, but I’d have to say it's her 'random thought for the day.' Everyday, she thinks of something…
Dylan: Brilliant? Epic? Poetic?
Gray: More like insane. Watch, I'll demonstrate. Dylan, let's hear a random thought.
Dylan: Lately I've been thinking about sidewalks and how boring they are.
Gray: Sidewalks?
Dylan: Yeah. Why are they so straight and perfect all the time? Why can’t they zigzag, or be designed in looping figure-eights? Why don’t they have some built-in moguls or sand pits for a little adventure? Why don’t they have a rope tow, so you can wear rollerblades and a rope will pull you around? Wouldn’t that be great?
Gray: (shakes his head)
Dylan: And why can’t sidewalks be colorful? What’s up with all the beige? Beige is the most uncreative color of all times. Why can’t each square be a different color, or painted with a mural so that each piece stands out? Someday, when I own a home, I’m going to get my neighbors together and do something about this sidewalk pandemic.
Gray: Point made.

SoCal Shout Out

Okay, so in the past two weeks I've discovered my new favorite band and my latest favorite read. Augustana is from San Diego, California and I just bought their recent album (featured below). Yes, I still buy c.d. albums. Is that old school? Well, there's something spiritual about actually buying an album and holding it in your hands and tearing off the plastic wrapping and turning through those intimate little pages of song lyrics and pictures. It's like the band is opening their front door and inviting me inside to hang out. Or, maybe I'm just weird.

I still haven't made it to track five yet. I can't stop listening to the first four tracks, that's how good this album is.

I'm also ecstatic that one of my favorite authors released a new book last week (which I read and devoured in one sitting). Francesca Lia Block is from Los Angeles, and part of the reason I love her books is she describes L.A. so well--all of it's sadness and loneliness and yet she still makes L.A. shine, even through the smog. She also writes one of the best characters ever created in YA literature: Weetzie Bat. So, check out her latest book, PINK SMOG.

Watching the Sky

The flood waters in Corvallis are finally receding. I've experienced earthquakes, tornadoes, blizzards, OSU Beaver games and other disasterous situations, but this was my first flood experience and here's what it taught me: Water makes things invisible. That's the scary part. You never know how deep it is, you never know how hard the current is pulling and how easily you could get swept away. You don't realize how quickly the ground is eroding and how fragile everything becomes. Concrete turns into creamy butter, dirt hills turn into a slippery slide, and gravel just sinks. It changes the entire landscape and makes all the streets that were once so familiar and safe look like wild predators and that is just freaky. When Mother Nature flexes her muscles, it's defnitely humbling. For all of our amazing technologies, we still can't compete with her. All we can do is blink up at the sky and wonder when the rain will stop.