"I think there’s an innate dangerous quality to the human psyche that makes us doubt ourselves if we feel like we are doing something 'different'. But seriously, we need to get over that instinct because we are ALL doing something different.
So that’s my resolution: no guilt over writing the way I need to write."
--Deva Fagan, in her blog post here

1. First things first, Anna of Book Nerds was nice enough to make me a widget for Brightly Woven. This is extremely good news, because despite my years of designing websites and working with graphic design programs, I could not figure this crap out for the life of me. PLUS! She made it really, really, REALLY pretty! Feel free to take for your own site, if you’re so inclined:

2. Last night I watched The Jersey Shore with my roommates. First–do these people actually exist? I mean, are we sure they’re not CGI creatures created by James Cameron, tinted orange this time instead of blue? Because they exist in an environment that is not only completely foreign, but also one populated by other creatures that appear and act exactly as they do, using war terms to describe their woes on the battlefield of love. Last night, the poor blonde girl who finally sobered up and realized she was locked in Crazy Town’s clown carnival and WANTED OUT IMMEDIATELY was referred to as “the grenade”–meaning one of the guys–Pauly?–had to sacrifice his time and energy into entertaining her so that the other guy–Mike “the Situation”–could hook up with her slightly more attractive friend. And then let’s not forget that Snookie (I keep wanting to call her Snuggie), the dirty dancing ewok of the show, got punched in the face last night at the bar when she yelled at a guy (who is a teacher in the Bronx, by the way) for taking their shots. Despite the fact the fact that the clip of his fist connecting with her face is already online and has been for about a week, MTV was classy enough not to show it. AND put a “any violence against women is WRONG WRONG WRONG” message immediately after the show. But as Roommate H pointed out, violence against ANYONE is WRONG WRONG WRONG.

3. Temperature this morning: 16 degrees, feels like 7 degrees. High in Arizona today: 73 degrees. High in Arizona when I finally touchdown next Wednesday: 63 degrees. Not that I’m going to complain about 60 degree weather, but the 70s couldn’t have held out for three more days??

4. Today is editor appreciation day! Can I just say that I appreciate both of the editors I’ve had the pleasure of working with at EgmontUSA? First, Ruth Katcher, who actually went through BW and edited it with me and didn’t immediately abandon all hope when she saw my adverb abusage. And Regina Griffin, who acquired BW in the first place and has since been such a joy and pleasure to work with. Can I also thank Alison Weiss, Egmont’s fabulous editorial assistant? You guys have no idea how hard she works. I hope she realizes how much all of the Egmont authors appreciate everything she does.

5. Did I ever mention that I have a Tumblr profile set up for Brightly Woven? You can find it here. I really love Tumblr’s interface and how easy it is to post multimedia! I’m going to be posting some exclusive content over there (Including the map of the countries I drew for myself as a guide while I was writing. Warning: it is pretty pathetic.) Check it out and let me know what you think.

Happy weekend!

Originally published at alexandra bracken. You can comment here or there.

We have established that I miss being in school.

I have finally figured out that it’s mainly because I can no longer nap at random hours of midday.

Which doesn’t really make all that much sense, since I had an internship last year and couldn’t really nap midday then, either. But anyway.

But also, it’s because my Post-School-Distress-Disorder is like a weird ghost that comes back to haunt me with glimmering memories of things that used to make me go out of my mind with raging stress. Take finals, for example. Why am I jealous of everyone on Facebook updating their statuses with things like “F(…) YEAH I AM DONE” and “SECOND SEMESTER SENIOR, B(…)” and “HOME!!!”? Is it because I miss the sweet, sweet sense of victory that comes after 10+ hours of scribbling essays into Blue Books? Is it because I miss knowing that I’ll have an entire month to relax and hang out with my family (when, today, I was worried I actually gave myself more vacation time than my alotted hours)?

No, friends. I think I actually miss studying for exams. I miss waking up with a purpose and snacks, being the first one in the library, distilling weeks of notes into a single page study guide, hanging out with Carly in one of the private study rooms, how nice the Caf and UC workers were when they reminded you to eat protein, the small pride in being able to sit still for 6+ hours each day… glimmering, glorious. But really? I came out of every finals season looking like I had spent the past two weeks living in a crack den.

By the time I graduated, I had this routine down to the point that it was slightly less pathetic than my freshman and sophomore years (when I slipped and fell down the library stairs because I was carrying 25 books and my laptop). So I think I miss it not because I like it, but because my brain reactivated “STUDY MODE” last week and has been in a state of general confusion about why it’s not really getting much of a workout.

I remember that Carly’s roommate said she used to pretend that she was Hermione and that she actually LIKED studying to make it through the dark days of endless papers and projects… but clearly I must have a little Hermione in me if I spent most of today lamenting the fact I no longer have access to the JSTOR database. Not because I need it to research my next story (though, really, talk about handy), but because I miss randomly cruising it for interesting articles.

People assure me I will overcome PSDD. It certainly helps that I’m not wallowing in unemployment and that I have my very! own! health insurance plan!

And then college will maybe just become that place where I learned a lot and once had to febreeze my roommate while she was sleeping to rid her of Frat Stench…

Originally published at alexandra bracken. You can comment here or there.

If you follow this blog on the semi-regular basis that I update it, you’ll know that Dina In The Kitchen is generally a bad idea. I’ve gotten mustard on the ceiling while making fried chicken.

Don’t ask. Just…don’t. Don’t even think about it. You’ll hurt your brain. Just take my word for it. This is a story that is often told by my mother whenever I go into the kitchen to do something as simple as put the kettle on for tea.

It’s just a bad idea.

Now, having said that, this post will contain recipes. (Recipes involving meat, for those who don’t want to read about such things – you’ve been warned.)

Originally published at Dina's Lair of Doom. You can comment here or there.