1. My week began with my whole Julianne Moore story (which I have told to everyone who will listen, but if you missed it, just go back an entry) and then it’s just been crazy from there. I keep waiting for things to calm down. But I am realizing that this one mom at my kid’s preschool was right when she said to me, very kindly, “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.” Leave it to a mom to shoot it straight. Was my life this chaotic before I was trying to juggle career, home stuff and parenthood? To be honest, I don’t even remember. Wouldn’t change it for the world, however. Although a BIT more sleep might be nice. Just saying.
2. But then there is this meme, from Ultimate YA, which made my day yesterday:
I love this because 1) It’s super flattering and 2) I’m kind of a meme freak, so to be the subject of one is just so cool. I get asked a lot about why I reference earlier books in my later ones. The main reason is that I used to get asked a LOT about whether I would write sequels, especially for This Lullaby and Someone Like You. I think some people are really good at writing series: I just don’t think I’m one of them. But I appreciated the interest, and wanted to do something for all those loyal readers who had devoured every detail in every book. So I put a few little things for them to find, as sort of an inside joke between us. Hopefully if you haven’t read any of the other books, it’s not a distraction, but if you have, it’s like bumping unexpectedly into an old friend. I always think I’m being VERY sneaky with my references, making it challenging. But then, invariably, someone posts them ALL the day a new book is released on Wikipedia, so I guess I’m not so clever after all. Still, it’s fun. Thanks for the meme, UltimateYA!
3. I looked out from my office window yesterday to see my kid having a blast with the babysitter, which is always a great thing. They were piling leaves at the bottom of the playground slide and just barreling into them at full speed, over and over again. Whee! Then, a couple of hours later, she was totally stuffed up. Is there any fun childhood activity that does NOT result in stuffy noses, bug bites or sunburn? Can you be allergic to fun? I mean, when I was a kid we biked without helmets and ate cookie dough by the bowlful, raw eggs and all. Now we have to worry about concussions and salmonella. But I get that. I’m not a fan of head injuries or food poisoning. My husband, watching her sniffle endlessly, said “No more jumping in leaves,” and I thought, “Oh, MAN.” What’s next? No going outside? Wearing a mask everywhere? Yikes. Hopefully not. For now, though, pass the tissues.
4. I never know how many people who read this blog also follow me on Twitter. But just in case, I want to address something that I tweeted this week here in this longer format. I was watching GMA with Oprah guest-hosting, which was GREAT, by the way, and they were doing a segment on steals and deals. They held up some kind of skin moisturizer and Oprah said, “Oh, this is GREAT for ash and dry skin!” So I tweeted this: “Oprah just used the word “ash” to describe dry skin on GMA. I love morning television.” I very quickly got some responses, mostly from African American followers, that it’s a common term for dry skin and I must not know a lot of black people if I didn’t know that. I was surprised: I didn’t mean to seem that I didn’t know the term—I do—just that I had not often heard it on TV, much less from Oprah Winfrey. I did not at ALL mean to offend ANYONE and I was horrified that someone might think otherwise. I deleted the tweet and responded thusly to those who had let me know it bothered them, but I wanted to explain myself here as well. Twitter is SO instant, just 140 characters and an button push. I am sure I am not the only one who occasionally puts things out there that they later regret. Anyway, I just wanted to say again that I never meant to offend. I know now, and as O herself says, when you know better, you do better.
5. On a lighter note, I have decided that it is time to start thinking about taking my kid to Disneyworld. She’s five, she’s obsessed with Princesses and Tinkerbell, and I think it would make her WORLD to see Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella in person. So I hopped on the internet to do some research and immediately got TOTALLY overwhelmed. So many options. I tweeted about it, and got TONS of great advice from people—try to stay at the park if you can, get the meal plan, book dinners WAY ahead, use an app for ride lines—but I am still feeling daunted. Then again, I am not someone who enjoys planning big events. I get the sense that making all these decisions about the park is akin to putting together a wedding, which was ANOTHER task that almost did me in. In retrospect, I would have been better off letting someone else do that and just showing up at the appointed time (which was what my husband got to do, although he also had to listen to me agonize about appetizers and invitations for an entire year, so nobody really won in that scenario). I’m thinking about looking into the travel agents that work for Disney and/or AAA, to see if they have packages where a lot of stuff is decided FOR you for one price. It may make the difference between us going or not. Maybe the Fairy Godmother runs a travel business? Bippity-boppity-here’s-your-itinerary? It is Disney. Anything is possible.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
About Disney, My family booked their trip through AAA. We did a Land and Sea thing where we stayed at the park for 4 days and got on their cruise for 3 days. So much fun! About the meals at the park…they’re HUGE. I think you could easily split one between the three of you. Also, get an autograph book for Sasha. All the characters can sign it and you can keep it as a keepsake forever. Also, a quick story. My sisters and I were super grumpy one day so my parents bought us each a Grumpy doll from Snow White that way whenever we were in a bad mood we would have to carry the stupid doll. Inevitibly we’d start laughing and all would be well. My dad even had to carry it at one point.
Very useful information!!
As a native of Los Angeles, I grew up going to Disneyland but have never been to Disneyworld. It just seems so overwhelming, so many parks and options and not being able to do everything in a day, would just be the end of me.
I know it’s closer to you, but Disneyland is just so much more manageable. Though I know there are tour agents that cater EXACTLY to people like you:-). Good luck!
I have read your books many, many times over and ALWAYS enjoy the small references to other books in them. Makes me feel like the characters are still alive and well (well, for fictional characters)! It’s a nice touch that feels like an inside joke, just like you said. Woo!
I am Disney obsessed! I would totally help plan your trip or give any suggestions you needed. Seriously.
My travel agent works through Your Magical Journeys–totally free to you, they make their commission through Disney. Best part is, once you book with them, if a discount comes up, they apply it without you even having to know about it. We did AAA a few times but using Magical Journeys is so much easier for us. My travel agent is Terrisue (but any of the ladies can help you) & the website is http://yourmagicaljourneys.com. She’ll give you prices for different levels (if you can, definitely stay at one of the monorail resorts, the Polynesian is our favorite), with and without the dining plan. The dining plan makes things easier, not necessarily cheaper, as long as you make dining reservations in advance. Which, I will totally do for you if you want LOL Can you tell that planning Disney trips is one of my favorite things to do??
I agree with Amanda in that I always enjoy your reference to previous characters. I feel like its an update on an old friend.
I have read all of your books and look forward to a new one. And I look forward to passing them on to my future daughter.
I absolutely LOVE how you always put a little detail of one book into another. It’s so much fun to read your books and see that; it makes me feel so special for recognizing it!
Have fun at Disneyworld!
I have been to Disney World four times now. You need to stay on the park because it makes it was easier plus they provide transportation for you to all the parks. Get the unofficial guide to Disney World. It gives you tons of good advice and a good schedule to follow to see everything in the park. Get an autograph book but be prepared to stand in line for a long time to get the book signed.
I am so excited for your new book!
About Disney World, I live in Florida and grew up on Disney! My family used to go every winter for a trip and it was always either wet and rainy, freezing cold, or both. My advice? Most of the hotels in the area have a shuttle that will take you to the parks, so it doesn’t matter where you stay if you’re trying to watch the coin purse… Also, eveything in Disney adds up! The worst part about going, now that I’m an adult myself and worry about the cost versus the fun, is definitely how I’m going to feed myself and the fam!
I also tell people who have never been to just wing it! They have a whole bunch of guides and blahblahblah that tell you when and where to be to do exactly what and for how long. BAH I say! It’s way more fun to wing it! Besides, if you read up on everything before you go, it takes the magic out of everything! Remember, this isn’t just an experience for your daughter, but for yourself, also!
Easiest way to do this, hands down, is to book a hotel reservation, purchase your tickets, either online or at the parks (although I think you get discounts if you purchase in a package online), and go and have fun!
Hope I helped a little!
BTW, I LOOOOOVE your books! And am a religious reader of your blog…I confess haha
I agree with the first commenter about getting your daughter an autograph book. My parents took me to Disney World when I was five and I STILL have my autograph book, 18 years later. I didn’t get a lot of signatures, but what matters is that I still remember what happened when I asked each character. Poor Eeyore couldn’t sign it because he didn’t have fingers. : )
Dear Sarah, perhaps children are able to survive many, many things because they are just resillient and we, adults, often do not realise that being a child is being also resillient. What a blessing !
Disneyworld is great! Make sure to get fastpasses if you go. It’s a Small World and Peter Pan’s Flight always have long lines. It’s the offseason now so that’s always a good time to go. Here in Florida, I try to go during a weekday during the day so it’s least crowded. The New Fantasyland is also opening. It looks great.
Ms.Sarah, I would absoloutley love it if you wrote a sequel to Someone Like You, because it was the first one of your books that I ever read, and I’d love to know more about Grace Halley Thomas, and what Halley would contribute to her. And, on the cameo subject, I love those, esp. the Scarlett one in This Lullaby, I almost died when I caught it.
Hey Sarah, you should check out the DISboards – it’s a huge forum dedicated to Disney and planning trips. I live two hours north of WDW and have an annual pass, so I’ve been a ton of times. The DIS seems to be super useful for first timers though. If you go with a travel agent, I would still do some of my own planning, as people post there frequently about wrong advice they’ve received from agents. Staying on site is always nice and makes it easier to take a mid-day break, if you want to recharge, take naps or go swimming. Also, there are two water parks at WDW. I haven’t been to them as I’m not much of a water park person, but they seem to be popular and your daughter may enjoy them. All of the parks have both counter service and table service restaurants, and some of the table service restaurants can be full months in advance, so making reservations can be a good idea if you want to eat at some of the nicer restaurants. And they’re all child friendly since it’s Disney! I know it can seem overwhelming at first, but there’s so much useful information online
Also, count me in for the people who love references to your earlier books.
Honestly, Disney is amazing, your daughter will love it (this is coming from a Floridian who has been there more times that she can count), but just so you know they’re opening ANOTHER CASTLE in Magic Kingdom (the best park btw). It’s going to be Beauty and the Beast’s castle, I hear it’s not going to be as grand as Cinderella’s but since it’s only a short time away from the big reveal you might want to wait until then to go. Also, if you go when it’s warm out (which is really most of the year) you should definitely go to one of the water parks like Typhoon Lagoon or Aquatica (which is SeaWorld’s water park that even has a slide that goes through a dolphin tank) if it’s too cold for a water park then you can still go to SeaWorld, if your daughter hasn’t been there she’ll love it. When I was a kid my parents talked to some people there and even got us in to pet some penguins (I was absolutely obsessed with them in first grade) and they chose us from the crowd to sit on Shamu (I was to scared but my sister went). It’s an amazing experience so try to fit in as much as you can and take a million pictures so you can look back, remember the good times, and laugh at your clothes (mine having been from the late 80s/early 90s). Oh! And don’t forget to get a Mickey ice-cream bar! It’s not a trip to Disney without one!
I just wanted to tell you that I think you’re an awesome author. You really make me want to read your books because of how much detail you put in them and the different situations in each book
Right now I’m reading Lock & Key and I can’t put it down at all!! Love it…
Hi Sarah! I just checked out your twitter account and saw that your new profile pic is your new headshot. You look gorgeous! This must mean you should be updating us with information about your new book fairly soon!!!
Hi Sarah I read your book called Keeping the moon
I love finding references from other books!! I have a sticky note on the publication page with page numbers, who, and what book. I’m kind of obsessed with finding them.
Instead of going to disney land/world, have you considered a disney cruise? you can get the whole princess experience on the cruise….if you do it in march, kids cruise free:P.
we just did it with our boys (2 and 4)..it was really relaxing and fun.