There are so many violets in our backyard in the spring that it looks almost completely purple for a couple of weeks. It’s one of the reasons Elliora’s middle name is Violet, because our backyard looked like this around the time we found out we were pregnant. It was actually even more violet-covered a week before this, believe it or not. It’s almost the end of violet season around here.

Here’s an alternate Day 7 shot. Our LED twinkle lights (they’re not Christmas lights because we keep them up year-round) cast interesting pools of light and shadow on the ceiling and walls around them. I was inspired by Bex’s shot of her grandparents’ vintage bunch-of-grapes lamp and the cool shadows it cast.

Hey, look! I am actually done blogging every single one of my 7 Days photos from the run that was only a couple of weeks ago! Not only that, but…I MADE IT THROUGH THE WHOLE WEEK WITHOUT GETTING SICK. IT WAS A 7 DAYS MIRACLE! *cue angelic choirs*

I expect to come down with the plague shortly, now that I said that. (Although I originally wrote that almost two weeks ago and I’m still not sick.) I guess there was that toothache I had that week—really that I had had on and off since around my birthday almost a month ago. It was finally resolved on Day 6 when I went to the dentist. It turned out the problem was a cavity in one of my remaining wisdom teeth. The solution was easy: pull the tooth. It was done and I was driving home less than 30 minutes later, much relieved. I don’t really count that as being sick.

While I’m blogging, a couple of quick things:

• Up until a few days ago, I was more than a month behind on uploading photos to Flickr. I’m still taking photos every day, I just don’t get around to doing anything with them. I’m starting to catch up and am hoping to be caught up before I leave for Omaha. Wish me luck.
• Instagram finally released an app for Android phones, just a few days before Facebook bought Instagram. So I’m enjoying using Instagram as a new, easy way to share photos from my phone on Twitter and Facebook. Or you can see my photos here.
• Elliora has a new favorite all-purpose word, suitable for all sentiments and occasions: MINE. Her dad’s laptop? “Mine!” Annalie’s jacket? “Mine!” My frosted mini-wheats? “Mine mine mine!” Lily the cat? “MIIIIIINE!”
• We’re heading to Omaha on Friday, just me and the girls. (Poor Troy, he has to stay here and work, and have the house to himself for a week and a half.) When we come home, my mom and my niece are coming with us. They’re going to stay and visit for three whole weeks and will be here to celebrate Annalie’s eighth birthday. We’re all pretty excited about that.
• Party plans for Annalie’s birthday were on hold for a while, because we weren’t sure if my mom was going to be able to come here, or if she’d have to stay in Omaha because of some family obligations. Now that we know, I have sorted out the party plans and I think it’s gonna be really fun. It’s a big relief to finally have a plan.
• Chris wrote something great about blogging with two small children that expressed perfectly how I feel, so I’m just going to quote her:
  

  Well, I’d still love to have an awesome, regularly-updated website. That endeavour is sitting on a back burner, as our time and energy are all earmarked for other stuff for a while.

  In my mind I have an enormous stovetop with quite a lot of burners, especially at the back.

• I started a page to keep track of all the words Elliora says. She’s adding about three or four new ones every day. There’s a button for it over on the sidebar. —>

How on earth did it get to be mid-April already!?

Photo taken 14 April 2011

If you’ve been reading my blog for the past year, you probably know that I have a friend named Rainbow Rowell. I went to high school and college with her, but wasn’t really friends with her back then—more like friendly acquaintances. We reconnected over Facebook around the same time that her first novel, Attachments, was published last year. I read it and LOVED it, and we emailed back and forth a few times and then had coffee in Omaha when I was there and somewhere along the way we bonded like whoa over books and Harry Potter and Downton Abbey and kids and Tom Felton and now she’s a really good friend. A marvellous friend, even. (Internet friends, FTW!)

Attachments is being released in paperback on March 27th. In honor of that release, here’s a review of the book, an interview with Rainbow, and a chance for you to win a paperback copy (a lovely trade paperback) of Attachments now!

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Attachments is mostly about Lincoln, a 28-year-old college graduate who has just moved back home with his mom temporarily and works as the IT guy at a newspaper, helping them prepare for whatever coding disasters the year 2000 might bring, while he figures out what he really wants to do with his life. Part of his job is to make sure employees aren’t using their email for nefarious (i.e., non-work) purposes, so he reads everyone’s email. Even though he feels uncomfortable with that part of his job, he starts looking forward to reading emails between two particular women who work in the newsroom. Beth and Jennifer’s emails are funny and smart and cover a wide range of topics. Eventually, Lincoln realizes he’s falling for Beth, and he doesn’t know what to do about it. It’s not like he can walk up to her and introduce himself as the guy who monitors her email and then ask her out on a date. The book alternates between chapters that consist of email conversations between Beth and Jennifer, and chapters about Lincoln becoming who he wants to be.

You might be thinking, An underachieving, living-with-his-mom 28-year-old man whose job it is to read other people’s emails as a hero? What was Rainbow thinking? She did set herself a tricky task, but you know what? Lincoln might have been drifting and unfocused at the beginning of the story, but he was also kind and intelligent and loyal and wanted more from life. He’s one of the most likable and loveable characters I’ve ever come across. Of course that might be because Lincoln—a D&D gamer and a big fan of the show “Quantum Leap,” who didn’t mind sleeping on flowered sheets or letting his mom cook for him because it made her happy—kind of reminded me of a lot of guys I know and love, including my husband. It was really refreshing to read a love story where the guy was a normal, socially well-adjusted geek. It didn’t come off as even the tiniest bit creepy that he had a crush on a woman he’d never met.

And the women! I loved Beth and Jennifer. Their email conversations are hilarious, smart and emotional. I want to be friends with them.

By the last third of the book, I was reading as fast as I could to see how everyone would manage to get their happily-ever-after. As I read the final chapters I was laughing and crying at the same time. I’ve read Attachments three times now, and enjoyed it just as much the third time as the first—maybe even more.

(NOTES: One of the reasons this book was especially fun for me to read is that it’s set in my hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. It’s never mentioned explicitly that it’s set there, but to anyone familiar with Omaha it’s obvious. It won’t detract from your enjoyment if you don’t know it, though. Also, when I wrote these interview questions, I was in a book-club frame of mind, asking Rainbow questions as if we were at a book club meeting at which everyone had already read Attachments. That means that some of this interview might not make sense if you have not read the book. But there are no major spoilers and I think most of it’s interesting even if you have not yet read Attachments, especially if you’re interested in the process of writing a novel.)

On to the interview! Details about the book giveaway are at the end.

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1. Did you have a similar system of email monitoring at the Omaha World-Herald when you worked there in the late ’90s?

Yes. We were very late to get email and internet access, and when we did, it was very controlled. At first, there were only a few computers in the building that had internet access, and you had to get special permission to use one. When we got individual access, we all knew we were being Big Brother-ed. But even then, it was hard to resist using email to gossip or talk with your friends. It was so much easier (and more subtle) to email than to crouch in each other’s cubicles.

2. As you were writing, did you make sure that the emails were all ones that would really get flagged?

Well, I gave myself a pretty big umbrella…I say in the book that their emails can get snagged for being too long or too frequent. And I say that the list of flagged words is long and ridiculous. But YES, I usually tried to make sure there was a curse word—or a near curse word, or something that could be construed as sexual or even financial—somewhere in the conversation. Once, in real life, I had an important email get flagged and sent into IT limbo because I said that I was a “hardcore reader.”

3. How did you remember so much about 1999? Did getting the details right require a lot of research and fact-checking, or did you just remember a lot about that period in your life? I was struck in particular by details like which movies were out, what color lipstick was fashionable, drinking Slice and Zima, the Indian Hills Theatre closure, and the TV schedule (when Quantum Leap was on).

I started the book in 2002, so 1999 was recent history at first. The longer that I worked on the book, the more it became a period piece—which was actually more fun. I had the benefit of hindsight to know what about 1999 would still be funny or interesting over time. (Tom Cruise jokes. Matrix references.) All the Y2K stuff was a really late add. After my first draft, I realized that I had written a book about an IT guy in 1999-2000 that never mentioned the Millennium. Duh.

My next book takes place in 1986. That took a lot more thinking and researching.

4. In your head, are there more details about the characters and their world than there are on the page? Like how you said Beth’s full name is Bethany, but that didn’t make it into the book…or, say, do you know what dorm Lincoln lived in at UNL, or what mall Lincoln and Eve went to where he bought her an Orange Julius? (This is one of those Omaha questions, probably, but I want to know the answer anyway.)

Oh, good question. I guess the answer is a limited yes. I usually don’t think up details until I need them. But sometimes I need information that doesn’t make it into the book. For example, I always had to think about what part of town the characters were in, so that I could internally make sure they stayed oriented and consistent.

I never thought about where Beth and Jennifer lived. (Just realized that.) I definitely don’t have troves of information socked away about each character. Writing is very freestyle for me, just making it up as I go along.

5. Was your college newspaper, the Daily Nebraskan, a drunken viper pit? (More generally, I assume you based Beth and Jennifer’s experiences with working at a college paper and a city paper on your own experiences?)

The Daily Nebraskan was sometimes a drunken viper pit. I didn’t drink in college, which meant I spent a lot of time not fitting in. It was especially hard for me at the college newspaper because I spent almost all my free time there, but I didn’t party with anybody. I was there for the fights and the melodramatics and the coups. But I missed out on all the stress relief, the drunken make-out sessions and the inside jokes.

That said, I have great memories of working on the Daily Nebraskan, and I made a lot of friends there. I had Jennifer make that “drunken viper pit” comment because she seemed like the sort of person who would hold onto a grudge. I often gave Jennifer my most acidic feelings and thoughts.

6. Are you a D&D player? Or did that part require a bit of research? Did you run it by a friend who plays for a reality check?

I never played myself—not that I’m above it!—but I hung out with guys who did. And my husband did. So he was my reality check. (Funny to think about a D&D reality check.)

7. When Lincoln the perpetual college student was discussing whether he might have a problem with school with his sister, it made me think of your recent column about how you have a reading addiction, and that might not be a good thing.

Good observation. It’s different, I think, because the reading addiction is more drug-like. More of a “more-more-more, now-now-now” feeling. Lincoln’s problem with school (if it is a problem) is more about not wanting to commit. Not really wanting to be any one thing. Not really wanting to make a choice. And a lot of it, for him, is just a love of knowledge. (I just sorted Lincoln into Ravenclaw, I think. Though he does have some Hufflepuffly moments…)

There were some lines and ideas in Attachments that I really liked, that resonated with me strongly for one reason or another.

“it was like sitting inside a headache”

This is one of the very first things I wrote, and I almost cut it a few times because I worried that the whole section was too belabored. I’m glad you like it!

“He tried to look like someone she didn’t need to worry about so much.” (Says a lot about Lincoln’s character.)

I’ve never given that line a second thought. (It’s about his mom, right?) It’s sad, isn’t it? One of the surprises/delights for me when I was writing was realizing that I could inhabit a character, Lincoln, who was so different from me. When I was writing him, I would start to feel like him and not like me anymore. It was a very weird/cool feeling.

“Sometimes I pray for a bumper crop of zucchini or a good night’s sleep.”

This one is a line that an editor asked me to cut because she thought it sounded silly. But it seemed like exactly the sort of thing that [that character] would pray for. Also, I like thinking about people who have such an intimate relationship with God that they can talk about everyday things in their prayers.

Eve’s ideas about adding good things to the pile instead of trying to fix what’s wrong, just letting the pile of good things grow; and “figure out what’s right with you.”

I have nothing to add to this—other than I think Eve is right.

“Nobody deserves a baby.” I loved this line because it sort of has to sink in for a second before you realize what Beth was saying. It sounds negative at first, then you realize it’s really not.

YES! A baby is a profound thing! And also a completely mundane thing. People have babies whether they deserve them or not, and even people who deserve them don’t really deserve them, you know?

“like a giggle falling off its chair” – Did you have some of these lines written for years, like you thought of them and saved them up for someday when you needed them?

Ha, no I am not so Machiavellian as that. This is another one that an editor asked me to cut. Sometimes the really interesting lines call attention to themselves, and you have to ask yourself whether they’re being distracting. This line survived a major rewrite of that scene. In the end, I kept it because it made sense to me.

One of the only exceptions I can think of is in my next book, Eleanor & Park. One of my very first notes was to have Park say that Eleanor’s body reminded him of a “perfectly made Dairy Queen ice cream cone.” That line survived, but it might be the only thing from my notes that did.

“There’s no air in space.” Perfect ending.

Thank you! I’m so glad you like that ending. A few people really hate it. There’s a very funny Goodreads review of my book that’s like, “WTF does that even mean?!?!”

I know what this line means to me. What does it mean to you?

Too much space in a relationship isn’t breathing room, it’s suffocating.

THIS! YES! That’s exactly what I meant!

I don’t see how you could have meant anything else! Not coming from Lincoln’s mouth, anyway.

I wish I could do this back-and-forth with the author of every book I love. This was fun! Thanks again, Rainbow!

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Would you like to win a copy of the paperback of Attachments for your very own, including a signed bookplate from Rainbow? All you have to do is leave a comment! For fun, tell me one of your favorite book quotes, if you can think of one. If you can’t, that’s okay. I’ll keep the comments open till Friday, March 30th, 2012. I’ll pick a winner using random.org and will notify them via email. If they have not replied within a day or two, I’ll pick another winner.

(If you happen to already own a copy of Attachments and would like a signed bookplate, mention that in the comments too! I’m pretty sure Rainbow would be happy to send you one.)

Comments are now closed. Book winner will be announced shortly!

I realized, after I did that last post about the newly-listed items in my Etsy shop (several of which have already been purchased, thank you very much!), that I have not blogged about pottery I’ve painted for a long time. The last post I could find that had more than a fleeting mention of dottery in it was way back in April! So let me catch you up, if you’re interested.

The little blue ‘be happy’ bowl up there is one that I painted for no particular reason or recipient. I ended up sending it to Leah as an apology for taking so long to send her my half of our flip-flop swap.

I painted this bowl for my friend Laura, with a slightly inaccurate Big Bang Theory quote on it. I don’t have a picture of it fired because Laura picked it up from the pottery shop when it was done.

The things I do for my friends. Kassie was inspired to ask me to paint this for her after reading about the “first: kindness; then: F*** AUTHORITY” mug I painted for Elaine. And because I love her, I did it. I’ll even admit it was kinda fun. But I don’t plan on painting another one. This was a limited edition mug. I don’t have a picture of this one fired either. (You can read Kassie’s hilarious account of watching me paint it here.)

She looks so innocent, doesn’t she? Not like a person who would ever ask a friend to paint a lovely dottery mug with her five favorite curse words on it.

I painted this geek dottery mug as a gift for the lovely Bex. It has two Firefly/Serenity quotes on it: “a little whimsical in the brainpan,” said by Mal in reference to the mentally-unstable River Tam; and, “Also, I can kill you with my brain,” a line said by a very calm River to a very spooked Jayne. The moral here is, never assume that just because someone’s whimsical that she is not also deadly when the situation calls for it.

I had a lot of fun painting this mug, particularly the little whimsical bits.

These annoying smudges are not fun, however. I took photos of this mug with my phone before it was fired, so I know these smudges weren’t there when I finished painting it. That means someone at the pottery studio wasn’t handling my pieces carefully. I’ve had this happen to at least three or four pieces I’ve painted at that studio. Rather disappointing because it’s only 10 minutes from my house.

Brenda had asked me to paint her a round dottery mug a while back, when her cool blue coral mug broke and she missed having a round mug. When I was in California and Brenda had the summer fiesta in our honor, she said that she needed to remember how much fun it is for her when she throws parties. So I painted her this mug as a reminder to be festive.

A little ‘be happy’ dottery vase I painted for Madge, at her request.

This cunning mug was a custom order for my Etsy shop, a dotty mug with Jayne Cobb’s hat on the front and a Firefly quote on the back. I was a bit nervous about painting the hat, but I think it turned out pretty well.

“Dear Diary, Today I was pompous and my sister was crazy…it was the best day ever.”

Shiny.

Annalie painted this Azurill plate the same day that I painted Katie’s NO WHINING sign. She pored over her Pokemon book, and picked the cutest one she thought she could paint. This was almost a disaster because she accidentally spilled a big blotch of black paint on the right ear and was very upset. I convinced her to leave the plate overnight and let it dry, and we’d come back the next day to fix it. We scraped the mistake off, and fixed the blue and pink, and now you can’t even tell the black blotch was there.

Remember those ‘internet friends FTW!’ mugs that Rainbow and I painted while I was in Omaha? Bad news.

It got broken during shipping. I was fairly bummed about this. I really liked those colors, and now Rainbow’s mug will be lonely.

I couldn’t even superglue it together and use it to hold pens, because there was a big ol’ U-shaped crack all across one side. Of all the mugs and bowls and things I’ve shipped, this is the first one I’m aware of that has broken. So it’s possible there was some flaw in the bisque that made it more prone to breaking.

At least I still have the memories. And an excuse to drag Rainbow to paint pottery with me again next time I’m in Omaha.

I actually got to paint pottery twice when we were in Omaha. The second time, I went with my mom, my girls, and Aurora. We did a handprint plate for my my mom with all three of her granddaughters’ handprints on it.

My mom wasn’t planning for Aurora to paint anything, but when she saw Annalie gathering paint and brushes, she said, “I paint? I paint too?” I helped her pick a plate and paint colors, and she painted the heck out of that plate.

Elliora didn’t paint. She hung out in the stroller, played with my mom’s keys.

She had her first lollipop, which she kept rubbing on her hair, then putting back in her mouth with an “Mmmmm!” Crazy baby.

Annalie fingerpainted this butter dish for my parents. I wrote the word ‘Butter’ on it just in case they couldn’t remember what they were supposed to use it for. (This is a photo of it unfired; my mom didn’t get to pick it up till after we left.)

Annalie also painted this plate for me, using my favorite colors. Isn’t she sweet?

Elliora did paint this plate, sort of. I helped her put handprints all over it one day when we were at our favorite pottery studio in Maryland. I think it turned out kinda cute, no?

I think it’s pretty clear that I do what I love, or this post wouldn’t have been nearly this long.