Hey there, Readers and Road-trippers, Chickadees and Pelicans —
Did you know that How to Be Bad was born right here on MySpace?
True story. It all started when Lauren wrote a post on http://groups.myspace.com/teenlit, the MySpace teen lit group Sarah had just started. She said she’d always wanted to
write a book with another author, alternating chapters back and forth.
“Any time, baby,” E. replied. Within minutes Sarah had emailed something on the order of “Me too! Me too!”
We decided to go for it — even though we barely knew each other. But after many discarded ideas (good–bye teenage fairy godmothers), we settled on a road trip: Three girls. Three voices. Three problems. One novel.
While writing, we realized we needed a road trip of our own. (Check out the photos, below.) We headed down to Florida and hit Disney World, soaked in hot tubs, got caught in thunderstorms, ate way too much chocolate —
and met some alligators. Most of our adventures made it into the book, one way or another.
We couldn’t have had more fun writing How to Be Bad, and we hope it’s nearly as much fun to read.
Long may you rock!
XOXO
E., Sarah, and Lauren
My last night of summer drama camp, the boy I liked suggested we walk down by Lake Michigan. It was cold, and we were going to miss curfew. But we went — and I kissed him! We were out very late, kissing under the stars and talking and gazing at the water. The next day, camp was over. I never saw him again. I was so glad I seized the moment.
Getting a belly–button ring in college! Okay, fine not the actual “getting” of it. That involved a needle, signing a “in the event of bleeding, permanent
scarring, loss of consciousness” waiver form, a scary black leather chair, and an excessive amount of pain. But having it. Knowing it’s there. Plus, my parents still don’t know about it, and that always ups the bad factor. . . .
Guess what, Sarah? Your parents know now, heh heh heh! For me, aye-yai-yai, I have to go into darker territory, if I’m going to be honest. In high school I made the STUPID decision to drive a cute boy to buy something in downtown Atlanta that was . . . illegal. And we got busted. And he got taken to jail. And I ended up going back and trying to make bail for him and getting picked up by the police myself. Bad, eh? BUT, as much as it sucked (and believe me, it did), it helped me realize that even the “baddest” girls can learn from their idiocy and be bad in a much better way the next time.
Keep your eyes out for my bestselling fantasy novel, Paraworld Zero. I just found out that it's a finalist for the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Yahoo! Have a wonderful day!
Hey all! UPS finally delivered my copy of How to Be Bad today and I just finished reading it! I loved all of the characters and I spent a lot of time trying to figure out who wrote which character. I am hoping very much that there will be a sequel? The book was so hilarious and I had a ton of LOL moments. I'm thinking I will put it on the shelf next to The Friday Night Knitting Club...it has that kind of feel!
Hola, all you good (bad?) girls! Lauren here, writing to say that I'm off being a somewhat bad girl with E. and Sarah, cuz we're touring for our book WHICH JUST CAME OUT!!!!! Only, the tour has been...uh...
Well, YOU decide. Here are the bad things that have happened so far:
--E's shoes were stolen (why?!!! why would someone steal another person's shoes????) --I lost *all* data on my computer, including the novel I'm supposed to, er, finish --there was vomiting --there was crying --WE GOT A SPEEDING TICKET FROM A COP NAMED FLOYD!!!!!! --I was forced to eat yucky cottage cheese --Sarah made me buy a bikini (trust me--not a good thing) --and my book, ttyl, made the "10 most banned books of the year" list (which my editor was actually thrilled by, but which made me hide my head in my hands)
All that in only two days. Geez Louise!
But other than that, the tour's been AWESOME. We are having so much fun despite our bad luck!
xoxo,
Lauren
P.S. Just so you know:
--we did not even consider boob-squashing police officer Floyd, unlike the girls in the book when they had their brush with the world's smallest police officer --my brilliant husband talked me down through my tears and helped me recover my lost file --AND I had an extremely yummy chocolate bread pudding tonight in Miami, which chased the dodgy cottage cheese right out of my mind. Almost. :)
