Okay, so I love Pride & Prejudice. To the point where I may have inadvertently become ridiculous. I have three copies in my room (well now two since Shayna convinced me to ditch one of them but still). Oh, and my big birthday plan last year in college? To fall asleep listening to Elizabeth Bennet being reasonably irked at Mr. Darcy describing her merely as “tolerable.” For the record: OUCH! So you could say that I’m a fan. Although I have to wonder how anyone could NOT love the story. I mean feisty woman + haughty british man = awesomeness.

Anyhow, the reason for this rant? Pride & Prejudice was on T.V. last night. Now, usually this is not something I would know because my mom unplugged the cable at our house because she decided I spent too much time watching crappy shows. My response, “It’s not crappy, Mom! There are a lot of valuable life lessons I can learn from (insert name of tv show here). For example, Gossip Girl taught me that it is a very bad idea to sleep with your best friend’s boyfriend and then hang out with people that want you to use cocaine. Because you never know if what they are really after is a sex tape. See, Mom! Lesson learned.” Somehow she never bought that . . . I don’t know why.

Anyhow, I started watching it (Pride & Prejudice, not Gossip Girl) because I found it at the proposal scene with Mr. Darcy drenched by the rain standing under the gazebo-thingie asking Elizabeth to marry him. To which she says that he’s the last man on earth she would ever be tempted to accept. For the record: OUCH! And, yes, I was pathetically caught up in Matthew MacFayden’s blue eyes as it hits him for the first time that maybe he should have been a bit nicer to the girl he has been seriously crushing on. It got me to thinking though: how often do I miss what is really going on with people?

See, I make up pasts for people. It’s one of the great things about being a writer. You get to imagine how that popular girl in your class grew up and what she got for her seventh birthday and why she is so intent on making it into Harvard. And then you get to write about it. But when you actually are dealing with real life . . . well, that is WAY more complicated than fiction. As much as I love Pride & Prejudice and get caught up in the story I always know that Mr. Darcy secretly is not the jerk that Elizabeth thinks he is. But that’s the problem, isn’t it? In real life secrets often remain secrets . . .  unless you write an autobiography and decide to share a ridiculous amount of your life.

Not that that means I don’t still have some secrets. I just don’t have many. I wonder whether that will make my life easier or harder when I return to Lewis & Clark. I guess I’ll find out soon!

More later.

Obsessively yours,

Marni

Okay. Not to brag or anything  . . . but my fans are seriously cool. Now I know you might be thinking “whoa there Marni. Isn’t everyone who loves to read cool?” And I have to concede that there is an excellent point in there. But I am convinced that mine are the coolest.

Why? Oh let me count the ways:

1. They friend me on facebook.

Which is just about the coolest thing ever! I’m sitting in my room, probably procrastinating on the latest “to do” list my mom and I have created when I get a lovely message: you have a friend request! Now after years of feeling like a grade A dweeb with an inability to speak to the popular people this makes me feel unbelievably cool. Because people I’ve never even met from all over the world want to be my friend! Take that, low self-esteem!

2. They tell me about their experiences.

See, my fans have to be the bravest people ever! Because it is crazy hard to talk about pulling. I know, I had to pretend that no one would read my book besides my editor Debbie Reber in order to write it. I wasn’t exactly forthcoming about trich in high school either. I would have been scared to send a message because if the author was a jerk that might kill my enjoyment of the book. Even when I am 99% certain that the author will be super cool I get nervous about sending a message. But my fans are about a billion times braver than I am. They tell me about their pulling and I tell them about mine and they inspire me to keep trying to spread awareness about trichotillomania.

3. They are unbelievably nice!

Not one of them has said: wow, so I read your book . . . need therapy much! (Not that they aren’t entitled to write that. Therapy is very helpful. I’ve had about 7 therapists already so I definitely have had plenty of experiences there too). Instead people write things like “I recently relapsed with my trich and your book helped me feel like I wasn’t crazy for pulling.” Seriously, that message is possibly the only one better than the “friend request” message. Because it means that I helped someone! I think it is so easy to go through life feeling inadequate and unhelpful that when you receive a message like that you sit up straighter and go “oh right! That’s why I do what I do. That’s why I have imaginary interviews with Oprah while I clean my room. That’s why I am going to try to start a blog specifically about my daily struggles with pulling.” (Side note: I am going to be so prepared for Oprah by the time I get my room clean. And look for more updates about this second blog!)

That is why I am spending my last few weeks before school starts up again doing book signings and trying to figure out how to spread the word. Because this is actually helping people!

And speaking of those really cool people who send me amazing messages that make me clap my hands in excitement  . . . some of them were able to come to my book signing!

Which leads me to yet another reason why my fans are the coolest:

4. They really care.

They showed up in Ashland, holding copies of my book, to meet me! At one point there were three teenage girls (all of whom pull) standing around me little table. I don’t think any of them had met another teen who pulls before that. How do I feel about this? The local news asked me the same question. You can see my answer here:

Marni Book signing

So, yes I love my fans. I also love that I have fans. That in itself is still somewhat shocking to me. And most of all I love that people are finding the courage to come forward. It’s terrifying but it really makes a difference.

Anyhow I best get back to my room (and my imaginary chat with Oprah)!

Obsessively yours,

Marni

Hey Everyone!

So, I am sort of known for my procrastination. It’s been a running joke in my family for a while that if I can put something off I will (this in sharp contrast to my sister’s endless schedules that include stuff like “wake up.”). In college I STARTED writing a Philosophy essay at 4 a.m.

Why do I do this to myself? That might require some in depth psychological examining but I think that the short answer is because I can. I mean, that essay was good (all about my first desire need to get sleep and my second desire need to get a good grade–thrilling stuff). In high school I procrastinated all the time because it never seemed to make much of a difference. And because I LOVE tv show marathons. Seriously. It doesn’t even have to be a good show. I’ll watch it.

But now I cannot procrastinate. Every single day I have something going on. Take this week for example:

Monday: Interview with KOBI (channel 5 in Medford, OR). 

Marni\’s KOBI interview

Tuesday: Online Interview with Louder Than Words TV

Wednesday: Meet Emily and her sister (as in the Emily of the series) for the first time.

Thursday: Keep Emily and Amy entertained. Perhaps take in a play?

Friday: Say goodbye to Emily and deal with stuff from the Willamette Writer’s Conference. Like sending queries and writing samples to agents.

Saturday: Book Signing at noon at Bloomsbury in Ashland

Sunday: My sister Shayna comes home.

So you could say I have a busy week. And that’s just the big stuff. I also need to clean my room since on the live video chat I don’t want the viewers to be thinking “oh my god, does that girl ever do laundry or just dump it on the floor?” (Yes, I do laundry. Stuff just seems to end up on the floor). Plus I still babysit which means hours of this:

Which is a lot of fun but his extreme level of cuteness is a bit distracting. Not to mention that when Ilan-a-bug comes out I end up being attacked. And yes, 41 lbs of boy can be scary.  

Anyhow, I better stop procrastinating and feed a very hungry little boy. He’s insistent.

YIKES!

I hope everyone can come to my online interview tonight!

More later.

Obsessively yours,

Marni

Hello!

So, yes, people did come to the party. In fact, it was pretty much perfect. Way better than I had been anticipating. For starters, before the party even began I came downstairs to find this:

That’s right! FLOWERS!

Can I just say that nothing makes a girl (or me, at least) happier than receiving a bouquet. You hold it in your arms and grin and do a happy dance. Which is best done in private so as not to have too many people trade looks and mutter “Are you sure she’s sane? You know I know this great therapist . . .”

Anyhow, two hours and three bouquets later I was convinced that the party was perfect and couldn’t get any better. Which was when my mom shoved a book in my hands and insisted that I read an excerpt.

I admit it: I was scared. All these people were there to support me and my book launch and I was nervous they would hear my excerpt and wish they’d never shown up. But I stood there and launched into one of the funnier pieces in the book and people started laughing. It was a rush, staring at the words I had written and knowing that they had the power to make the room reverberate with the sound of people’s amusement. Way fun!

So what am I obsessing over now? Well, the Mail Tribune is doing a story on me, and I have a Writer’s Conference coming up, and I’m waiting to hear people’s reaction to the book. I guess you could say that I have plenty to keep me busy. Think good thoughts for me, will you? And if you’ve read the book and want to write a nice review on Amazon that’d be exciting too . . .

Obsessively yours,

Marni