The Inkblotter at The King’s English

Our Design Bella’s Wedding Dress Competition is popping up all over the place, and for good reason! We’ve got fabulous entries pouring in — I do not envy the judges their job.

Barbie Bella at The King's English Bookshop

The entries will officially be on display starting tomorrow, Tuesday July 22nd, but if you’ve been by the store then you’ve already seen our two 3D entries: a full-size

Full Size Bella's Wedding Dress at TKE

wedding dress and Barbie Bella (note to Matel: you saw it here first!).

I’ll be posting more pictures of the entries starting tomorrow, and they’ll all be on display until the PAR-TAY (!!!!) on Friday, August 1st.

Also, yours truly will be on Channel 2 (KUTV) on Friday at 5 p.m. talking about how awesome the books are and how cool our party will be. Unless they decide to edit me out, which is totally fine by me; I’m even considering not watching it, since there is probably nothing more heinously embarrassing than making a fool of yourself on TV. Unless it’s on YouTube.

Ann Cannon at The King's English Bookshop

So TKE hosted an event for my new young adult novel, The Loser’s Guide to Life and Love, and seriously I felt like a debutante at my own debutante bowl, except that I’m 52. And also I wasn’t wearing a corsage.

Anyway, it was a GREAT evening (thanks, Jenn!) with all kinds of amazing and personal touches–from the dragonflies on the banner to the icy cold cans of Dr. Pepper to the readers’ theater (the kids were amazing!) to Anne Holman’s sweet and funny introduction.  Plus there were actual people in attendance. PEOPLE!  No kidding. I’ve had events in the past for other books where nobody came.  So thank you, everybody, for being there.

Sometimes readers ask which of my books I like the best.  It’s a hard question to answer because your books are like your children:  you love them all equally but some days (truth be told) you like the kid who cleans up his bedroom without being asked better than you like the kid who just totaled your new car.   I will say this, though.  I never ever had more fun writing a book than I did writing Loser.  I think that’s because I wrote about things I love: summer nights in Salt Lake City, my Avenues neighborhood, the moon (and Goodnight Moon, too!), sweet and silly teenage boys, overly affectionate cats, old movies, party food, flowers, romance.  I call Loser my happiness book, and while I don’t know if it’s the best book I’ve ever written, it certainly holds the distinction of being closest to my heart.

A “What Are You Reading?” Poll of Our Booksellers (who were in the store at 10:50 a.m. this morning):

• Sue: just finished Out Stealing Horses (”wonderful”) and The Loser’s Guide to Life and Love, currently working on The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Supreme Courtship (due out in September), and The Beekeeper’s Apprentice
• Chris: in the middle of Death: A Life (due out in September) and The Pesthouse
• AB: The Two Kinds of Decay (”superb”)
• Bunny: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (”liking it a lot”)
• Anne: A Case of Exploding Mangoes
• Mary: all of Kittredge, A Case of Exploding Mangoes, Eat, Pray, Love, and People of the Book
• Jenn (a.k.a. me): just finished Such a Pretty Face (utterly fabulous) and Does This Book Make Me Look Fat? (due out in January), in the middle of Please Don’t Come Back From the Moon, This is the Place, and (Not that You Asked)

Last night was a blast! Our Midsummer Night’s Party for Ann Cannon was tons of fun; Ann gave us the full story behind The Loser’s Guide to Life and Love, then we had a cast reading, and then folks lined up to get their books signed, chat with each other and with Ann, and had baba ganoush, hummus, and baklava from Mazza plus Dr. Pepper (Ann’s favorite drink!) to celebrate. I’m pretty sure I can safely say that fun was had by all. But just in case you doubt me, here is a slideshow (hopefully) of pictures from last night:

• We are on the cutting edge of social media! For a (nearly!) 31 year old store, I’d say that’s pretty good.
• Dean Bakopoulos is crowned ‘Winner of the Conference’ at Westminster’s Writers@Work. I think his ‘miscreant’ shirt, purchased from yours truly, is not only accurate but a great complement to his, ahem, accoutrements. On his next visit to Salt Lake, we’ll have a sash made up for him. That’ll be a reading you won’t want to miss! Note: I have to add that I think that Kim Addonizio deserved an award as well — maybe a golden harmonica? — for her amazing spontaneous harmonica performance at her reading; an unforgettable moment, I assure you!
• We are celebrating the pants off Indie Week this year: a 17.76% discount off pretty much everything in the store, plus a special 40% off section on our patio; Indie-tastic handouts celebrating the ABA’s new IndieBound initiative; Local First Utah directories, bumper stickers, et al; displays of our favorite local authors and books on the importance of independent businesses; even the store is decked out!