THE Store

By now, just about everyone who loves books knows that Borders Bookstore has filed Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. So many people have posted some really insightful comments on what that means for publishers, authors, and the future of traditional books. No need to add my own thoughts there.

What do want to discuss how people feel about brick-and-mortar bookstore closings.

Like so many others did this week, I received the email that announced the closing of my local Borders. As soon as possible, I hurried to take advantage of the deep discounts that always go along with a closure. I walked out of the store with not only a huge bag of books, but also an incomparable sense of loss.

As I walked out, I realized that, no matter how many trips I made into that store to get some amazing deals, my trips were limited. The very thought felt surreal. Since that store opened almost two decades ago, it has played a crucial role in my life. It was the place where I bought my first Neil Gaiman novel (Neverwhere); the place I pre-ordered my Harry Potter books; the place my parents and I spend every December 26th, sipping warm drinks and hunting for a new fireplace read; the place where I went on more than one date. Hell, I even had more than one first kiss in that parking lot!

Because, for people like me, brick-and-mortar bookstores have their own element of romance. The romance of new stories, the romance of discovery. And as we lose those stores, we will surely lose some of that romance.

So please share some of your own thoughts: stories of bookstores you've loved, or maybe even reasons why the emerging world of electronic "bookstores" will still maintain the romance of the book.

Better to Give Than Receive: Hereafter Signed ARC Giveaway #1!!!!

When HarperCollins sent me some extra ARC's of Hereafter, I did two things. First, I dragged them inside, spread some of them out on my coffee table, and commenced to petting them like Gollum from Lord of the Rings. After a few hours of creepily muttering "My preciouses," I did the second thing: came up with the very first Hereafter Signed ARC Giveaway!

So, without further adieu, the rules.

This contest will run through March 7, 2011. Each participant will get one entry for each of the following:

1. Follow my blog
2. Follow me on Twitter (@thudsonwrites) to keep with with Hereafter news
3. Add Hereafter on Goodreads.com
4. Like PitchDark on Facebook, to keep up with all the amazing things Harper is doing, in celebration of Hereafter and other YA paranormal titles being released this summer.

Already doing all four? Email me at tara@tarahudson.com to let me know which ones you have done/are doing, along with your name and address so I'll know where to send the ARC's. (Subject title: ARC Giveaway, so I don't think you're a deposed Nigerian prince trying to get ahold of my bank account.)

For every Hereafter-related comment you make on the blog, Goodreads, or PitchDark, you get another entry; same thing for every @mention you make.

Here's the best part: I'm giving away THREE of my precious ARC's. I'll choose the winners randomly, using the very elaborate technique of putting names on slips of paper and drawing them out of a straw cowboy hat. After all, you want me to save my resources for postage right? :)

So starting now, I can't wait to see some entries!

In Which I Continue to Moonlight

Check out my second post on the Class of 2K11's blog, where I discuss promotional tools I wish I'd known about, the day I got my publishing contract.

In Which I Moonlight

Check out my guest post on the Class of 2K11's blog, where I discuss writing for YA while keeping your potential MG readers in mind.

And while you're there, check out some of the other amazing 2011 Young Adult debuts. (Besides the incredibleness that is HEREAFTER, of course!)

Work, Writing, House, Kiddo: Or, Three Jobs and a Baby

In the spirit of my recent "what was I thinking" theme, here's a list of all the things I didn't realize would happen when I decided that simultaneously working two jobs and becoming a new mom would be easy.

New working moms may experience one - or more likely, all - of the following:

1.Between you, the jobs, and the baby, someone isn't getting a bath. Most often, it's you.

2.You will eat anything that's put in front of you, as long as it doesn't have tentacles and isn't moving.

3. Actually, edit #2. You will eat anything that's put in front of you. Period.

4.Because of #2 and #3, you will remain fat. In all the wrong places.

5.Because of #4, someone will inevitably ask, "Have you had that baby yet?" You will have to decide between answering, "Yeah, three months ago (jackass)" and stabbing that person in the eye with a fork.

6. While we're on that topic, you will sometimes feel wildly emotional. This will cause you to use a lot of exclamation marks in your writing. Please remove them! Yay!!

7. While feeling wildly emotional, do not decide that it's time to finally shop for a new pair of "button" (i.e. not maternity) jeans. This experience will nearly kill you, and may leave you crying like a six year old in a Target dressing room.

8. The same goes for the first time you wear those jeans. You may or may not feel like the equivalent of a rhino in a leotard.

9. After that moment, you come to a new low. Remember making fun of your mother and grandmother for the industrial body armor they insisted on wearing under their clothes? You now own, like, four sets.

10. But you know what? The baby is always worth it. Even when he craps all over you. Which he will.

Holy F

Motherhood.

It's scary as hell.

Let's overlook the fact that, once you become a parent, you also become entirely responsible for someone else's well-being - physical, mental, spiritual, psychological, etc. And let's overlook the fact that, as the old cliche goes, kids don't come with instruction manuals.

Instead, I'd like to discuss the incredibly unfair circumstances that leave a child at his most vulnerable, medically, while he can't a) tell you what's wrong, or b) take anything for his illnesses.

Seriously - nothing. No antibiotics, no cough medicine, no Benadryl. We can't even give him acetaminophen for the fever. All we can give him is food which he won't even, love that he doesn't notice because he's so sick, and mist from a humidifier that looks like a frog.

So, to repeat another cliche...this stuff is NOT for sissies.

It's ALIVE!!!!

Can you believe it's been almost 5 months since I've posted here?!?

What's wrong with me to cause such an unacceptable delay? Aside from the more obviously flaws (trying to beat you to the punch, Peanut Gallery), I have some seriously amazing excuses.

First - the Impending Child is no longer impending! Wyatt Edwin Hudson was born at 1:37 pm, November 8th, 2010, weighing in at 8 pounds and measuring 21 inches in length. (Judging by the fact that I'm only 64 inches long, you can guess why my last trimester wasn't rife with blog posts. Just lots of languishing on my couch and complaining.)

Here's a picture of the second most handsome guy in my life. (I'm contractually obligated to give my husband first place.)



Isn't he kind of a doll?

Then on to my second piece of amazing news - we have a cover for HEREAFTER! You might have already seen this image floating around the web, but now you get an up-close view of this gorgeousness. Not to get all slobbery, but isn't it just dreamy? This isn't absolutely final, since my brilliant design team is going to add some blurbs I've received from some equally brilliant YA authors, but...still. LOVE this.