I totally have a drinking problem, sigh

I swear, every time I take a sip of my soda, it spills down the front of my shirt and/or splashes onto my pants. What's up with that? I'm tired of my shirts having diet pepsi on them--so attractive. UGH.

Awwww I know you guys thought I was totally gonna get all AA on you.

I'm actually doing great! I had a fabulous weekend reading, writing, and chillaxing. I'm trying desperately to keep my mind off my BRAND-NEW RELEASE of Stupid Cupid by working on a new story! Actually, 2 new stories.

Okay, actually 3--but I'm trying to focus on one at a time, really.

Starting a new project is scary and exciting. It's rather like falling in love. You get the rush of excitement from the new shiny thing. OMG it's gonna be so cool! It'll be everything I ever dreamed of! This one will be totally much better than my last one, too.

I, of course, dive head-first into the imaginative pool and bathe in the luxurious glittery glow of new story. It's got action! Adventure! Romance! More romance!

But then, I inevitably hit a relationship wall where I gotta figure out where the heck I'm going with this thing: aka, writing the synopsis. These are torturous for me, though I fully know I can't live without them. The syno is my lifeline--it's the plotting of my story that helps me keep on track when I go to draft. It's the skeleton that holds the body up. It's the cracker to my cheese.

It's also insanely hard to write sometimes.

Fortunately, I have the syno and first chapter done on my new sparkly project. So I'm working away at it, chugging down diet pepsi like it's going out of style--caffeine serves as great brain fuel, LOL. I also need to finish the syno for project #2 (which has 50 pages written). Once those are done, I'll let myself work on project #3.

Project #1 that I'm doing now is another contemp comedy. But projects 2 and 3...these are different. They're outside my usual comfort zone. So they're taking way longer than normal to get ironed out, because I want to do them justice.

So, how do you like to work on new projects--whether it's writing, something artistic, etc? Do you like to plan it all out first, or do you fly by the seat of your pants and just jump into the deep end?

How I Spent My Book Release Day!

So, yesterday was the release of Stupid Cupid, as I'm sure you fine people have figured out by now. LOL. I had a super-fun day.

First things first--right after midnight on the very eeeearly morning of the 22nd, the manpanion and I toasted to success (which we did in our snooty rich-people voices, of course) We didn't have any champagne, so we did a vodka shot instead. Yes, we're classy! Then, I promptly conked out (surprise!). I was shocked I got any sleep, but it's a good thing I did, because I was super busy yesterday!

I got up at 10 am, got my contest winners all in order and posted on my blog, and played a wee bit of Farkle on Facebook (I'm addicted so badly to that game--it's like crack). I also looked up my book on every possible bookselling site in the whole wide world. It was so cool to see it live and ready to ship!

My friends Athena and Melissa came over, and we went to Panera for lunch. OMG so tasty--I had the frontega chicken sandwich. I highly recommend it if you haven't tried it yet. Our friends Sunita and Surita (I hope I spelled that right!) met up with us. Here's a pic of them (from left to right, Sunita, Surita, Melissa, and Athena):

After lunch, it was time...dum dum DUMMMMM! Athena, Melissa, and I piled into Athena's car and headed to the Borders in Solon. When we got there, I told them I was the author and wanted to sign stock.

Imagine my surprise when the bookseller apologized, but said they'd already sold out of their 5 copies of Stupid Cupid. Whoa! He promised to order more and let me know when they came in. Well, I thanked him profusely, and we headed to the next store on our list: Joseph Beth Booksellers!

When we stepped through the front door, Athena instantly squealed. I didn't know what for--she pointed out the display RIGHT in front of the door:

Hello, check that out! I was stoked--and dude, right next to LeBron James' book. LOL. So I signed those and yapped for a few minutes with Megan, the super-awesome bookseller at JB. They'd gotten TWELVE copies in for me to sign! After that, I got in a signing frenzy and was itching to start signing other books there, like the LeBron one, and maybe a couple of the 12,000 copies of Twilight. I did manage to restrain myself, though. Megan led me to the back, where there was another display holding my book in the back of the store, at its other entrance:

The pic is a little blurry, because we were so action-y, and quite a bit caffeinated to boot. Anywho, we hit a few more stores on the east side and west side that were CRAZY busy so I could sign their stock too--made me glad I wasn't doing my holiday shopping.

Then, I headed home to enjoy a leisurely dinner with the manpanion. We had a hankering for boneless wings, so we went to Applebees. I'm drooling right now thinking about it--I got that lime chicken with rice and cheese, and soooo it was so goooood. After that, we hung out with my parents and family for a wee bit, then headed down to Strongsville, where I wanted to hit one last Borders before calling it a day. They had 5 copies, so I signed them. And they were soooo super nice--so I wanted to give a shout-out to them too! :D

When we got home, we relaxed with a glass of wine and rocked out on Guitar Hero: World Tour. I have to say, I was killing it on medium! One day, I'll be brave enough to try the hard level. But not anytime soon.

Awesome day!! Thanks for letting me share. I hope you guys had a fun day yesterday too. Oh! And I forgot to mention, but my friends sent me pics of my book out in the wild. A couple even snapped pics of it in Walmart--how cool is that? ((hugs)) thank you to everyone for being SO awesome and supportive. I love you guys! XOXO

Winners, winners everywhere!!

First up, the winner of the book triplets scavenger hunt: Nine Fly!! Congrats, and thank you everyone SOOOOO much for entering!!

Next is the winner of my contest in the virtual van tour post for Mandy Hubbard's novel Prada and Prejudice. And the winner is Cherry!! Please email me at rhonda at rhondastapleton dot com to claim your book. :D Huge thanks to everyone who followed our crazy van tour--we had a BLAST doing it!

LAST. We have the biiiiiiiiig winner of my book launch contest. Cue drum roll here. Now, let me just say that we got some really, really horrible poems. I am impressed by the caliber of wretchedness and purple prose we saw, as were the judges!! You guys made everyone laugh, cry, and even throw up in our mouths a little.

But alas, there can be only one.

The winner, of the most horrendous love poem written in the history of mankind, IS.........Jessica!

Here's her entry:

You are a treat.
And are very sweet.
Your hair looks like wheat.
I like repeatedly passing your street.

I do not cheat,
so you should send me a Tweet,
and we can meet,
and get something to eat.

I am very neat.
You should give me a greet.
My name is Pete,
and I like your feet.

For your love, I know I must compete.
But I am elite.
And my love—as strong as concrete!
I will defeat.

My heart is incomplete.
And only YOU can make it complete.
Please go out with me. . . .

Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone. I have gotten tons of support and love for the launch of Stupid Cupid. I greatly appreciate it!

My plan today is to have a leisurely lunch with friends, and then run around like mad and sign stock in several local stores. haha

Have a great Dec 22! I know I will. :D

Stupid Prada Summer Van Tour--the last stop!

Read Saundra Mitchell's recap of day 1 HERE.
Read Mandy Hubbard's recap of day 2 HERE.
Read Rhonda Stapleton's recap of day 3 HERE.
Read Saundra Mitchell's recap of day 4 HERE.
Read Mandy Hubbard's recap of day 5 HERE.
Read Rhonda Stapleton's recap of day 6 HERE.
Read Saundra Mitchell's recap of day 7 HERE.
Read Mandy Hubbard's recap of day 8 HERE.

I had the best of intentions in posting this yesterday. Really, I did. I had my lappy all set up so I could get this sucker done after our signing in the Winchester House. Only, when we set up this signing for our tour, none of us realized how freaking CRAZY SCARY this house would be. And even worse, for some stupid reason, we thought it would be fun to spend the night in this creeper place.

Here's the pic of us outside the house yesterday afternoon, before the signing. Back in a time where we were innocent and young, and completely unaware of what exactly awaited us inside.

First, we did the signing in the lobby. This place was like a ghost town, literally. The house is apparently mega-haunted, and we kept hearing weird thumps and things that go bump in the night. Saundra was totally digging it of course, as she was the most prepared out of the three of us (her book is about ghosts--oh-so handy for HER, right??). She kept ditching up and exploring the stairs that lead to nowhere and some freak-tacular rooms. Mandy and I, however, spent the whole evening cuddling up to Fight Club Guy in the lobby and trying not to pee in our drawers.

Of course, we tried not to cuddle TOO close to him--see what he's wearing? It's the same freaking outfit he's had on for like over a week now. Stinky! If it weren't for the fact that he saved our butts after our van got ripped off, Mandy would have been spraying him down with a hose.

None of us got a wink of sleep last night: Saundra kept trying to capture photographic and EVP evidence of ghosts and wouldn't stop talking to them. Mandy kept throwing deodorant pellets at Fight Club Guy. And I kept downing red bulls and chewing chocolate-covered espresso beans out of fear of falling asleep. As you can imagine, when we escaped the house this morning, we all crashed hard, super happy to be in our own beds.

Thank you again for following us on this virtual van (er, helicopter?) tour. :D Comment HERE for your last chance to win Saundra Mitchell's novel SHADOWED SUMMER! And comment HERE for your last chance to win Mandy Hubbard's novel PRADA AND PREJUDICE!

The Book Triplets Scavenger Hunt!

To celebrate the last seven days until STUPID CUPID releases, I’ve joined forces with two other authors, whose debut novels have the same book birthday as mine: Bree Despain, author of THE DARK DIVINE, and Lindsay Eland, author of SCONES AND SENSIBILITY. We decided to hold 3 super-fun scavenger hunts, one on each of our blogs!

The winner of each scavenger hunt gets a signed author’s copy of SCONES AND SENSIBILITY, a signed author's copy of THE DARK DIVINE, and a signed author's copy of STUPID CUPID!

And how do you enter? Just email me (rhonda at rhondastapleton dot com) the correct answers to all 6 questions below (there are two questions about each author). Answers are found on our websites, so you'll have to do a little digging!

Bonus: if you tweet, facebook, or blog about the contest, you get an extra entry. Just make sure to leave a comment in this post to let me know where you pimp the contest, so you get the credit for it!

And even better, all three of us are doing this scavenger hunt, so when you’re done entering here, head over to Bree's and Lindsay's blogs and enter their scavenger hunt contests too! (Note: you can only win once, but this does give you more chances to win, since we're each giving away a 3-pack of our books).

FYI, their questions are different than mine! come on, you didn't think we were gonna make it THAT easy, did you? Mwahahahaaaaa. So, here goes:

Search Bree’s website: www.breedespain.com.

1. True or False: Bree hates Tivo and thinks it’s the lamest invention since the VCR.

2. The Dark Divine is a modern, paranormal retelling of which story: A) The Little Mermaid, B) Sleeping Beauty, C) The Prodigal Son, or D) Pride and Prejudice.

Here's a blurb about her book, THE DARK DIVINE, being released on December 22, 2009 with Egmont USA:

Grace Divine, daughter of the local pastor, always knew something terrible happened the night Daniel Kalbi disappeared—the night she found her brother Jude collapsed on the porch, covered in blood. But she has no idea what a truly monstrous secret that night really held. And when Daniel returns three years later, Grace can no longer deny her attraction to him, despite promising Jude she’ll stay away.

As Grace gets closer to Daniel, her actions stir the ancient evil Daniel unleashed that horrific night. Grace must discover the truth behind Jude and Daniel’s dark secret . . . and the cure that can save the ones she loves. But she may have to lay down the ultimate sacrifice to do it—her soul.

Search Lindsay's website: www.lindsayeland.com.

1. What are the first two books that really made an impression on Lindsay?

2. True or False: Lindsay loves flying on airplanes.

Here's a blurb about her book, SCONES AND SENSIBILITY, being released on December 22, 2009 with Egmont USA:

Seek tirelessly and you shall not find a contemporary heroine of middle-grade literature as refined and romantic as Miss Polly Madassa. Still swooning over the romantic conclusions of Pride & Prejudice and Anne of Green Gables, twelve-year-old Polly decides her purpose in life: helping along lonely hearts in search of love. Polly's only task this summer is to make deliveries for her parents' bakery, leaving ample time for this young cupid to find hearts to mend--beginning with the kite-store owner, Mr. Nightquist, who will pair perfectly with Miss Wiskerton (the unfairly labeled town curmudgeon). Polly's best friend Fran Fisk is in desperate need of a mother ever since hers ran off with a man she met on the Internet; Polly must find a match for Mr. Fisk. And while she's at it, it wouldn't hurt to find Clementine, Polly's teenaged sister, a beau worthy of her (so she can shed that brute, Clint). Polly's plans are in full swing, so she definitely cannot be bothered by the advances of classmate Brad Barker.

But maybe Polly should have turned her attention to Miss Austen's Emma next, because she quickly learns the pitfalls of playing matchmaker. How will Polly patch up her own relationships, while ensuring that destined love can take its course?

Search Rhonda's website: www.rhondastapleton.com.

1. What day does Flirting With Disaster come out?

2. In what library is Rhonda's launch party for Stupid Cupid?

Here's a blurb of STUPID CUPID, being released on December 22, 2009 with Simon Pulse:

Felicity Walker believes in true love. That’s why she applies for a gig at the matchmaking company Cupid’s Hollow. But when Felicity gets the job, she learns that she isn’t just a matchmaker…she’s a cupid! (There’s more than one of them, you know.)

Armed with a hot pink, tricked-out PDA infused with the latest in cupid magic (love arrows shot through email), Felicity works to meet her quota of successful matches. But when she bends the rules of cupidity by matching her best friend Maya with three different boys at once, disaster strikes. Felicity needs to come up with a plan to set it all right, pronto, before she gets fired…and before Maya ends up with her heart split in three.

* * *

Now that you're done with my questions, check out Bree and Lindsay's scavenger hunts too, and make sure to enter!

Lindsay Eland: http://lindsayeland.com/blog/

Bree Despain: http://www.breebiesingerdespain.blogspot.com/

Thanks for playing our Book Triplets Scavenger Hunt, and good luck! Winners will be announced on release day, December 22, 2009!

Stupid Prada Summer Van Tour--Pitstop 6: Statue of Liberty, NYC

Read Saundra Mitchell's recap of day 1 HERE.
Read Mandy Hubbard's recap of day 2 HERE.
Read Rhonda Stapleton's recap of day 3 HERE.
Read Saundra Mitchell's recap of day 4 HERE.
Read Mandy Hubbard's recap of day 5 HERE.

YAY, it's virtual van tour stop #6 today, and we're in NYC, bay-bee!!

So, I gotta say I'm a little unhappy with our new driver, Fight Club guy. Between you and me, I think there may be something wrong with him in the head. Mandy Hubbard looks like she's about 3 seconds from booting him out of the van, and Saundra Mitchell's started swallowing all her jewelry.

The only reason he's lasted this long is because he brought all these awesome boxes of soap with him--dude, we love soap. Plus, everywhere we go to eat, someone's calling him "sir" and giving him meals for free. At least we don't have to pay for him.

Anyway, we're finally in THE big apple. I don't know how she did it, but Mandy managed to swing a signing for us in the crown of the Statue of Liberty--I'm stoked!! Of course, we totally had to stop and pose. We made Fight Club guy rent a helicopter and take a pic of us:

Right after that, Fight Club guy flung the camera at us and flew off into the sunset. *sigh* Another driver, lost to us forever. None of us saw that coming. Farewell, crazy dude. Hmm, I bet Saundra totally regrets eating those big gold hoop earrings now.

Guess what, you guys? We're giving away a copy of Prada and Prejudice to our devoted van tour readers! So leave a comment in this post, and you're entered to win!!

Well, that's all we have for today. Join us on the last leg of our van tour to see where we go next week (and stay tuned, because there juuuust might be a copy of my book given away!!!):

Monday, December 14 – Toad Suck, AR (Saundra Blogs)
Wednesday, December 16th- Giant Cow at Wilkes Barre, PA (Mandy Blogs)
Friday, December 18th – Winchester Mystery House, San Jose, CA (Rhonda Blogs)

Finally, Stupid Cupid author copies!

Okay, color me tickled pink. When I got home yesterday, two of my author copies of Stupid Cupid were waiting for me--my editor sent them! Check out this super-foxy pic of me posing with them (one book shows the front, and the other shows the back--aren't they cute? And please, ignore my messy hair, haha...I just got in from what had to be the windiest day EVER):

Also, my editor made me a super-fabulous cupid/love mix CD. How cool is that? Here's a pic of it--she put some fun songs on there:

The rest of my author copies should be arriving shortly. Which is good, since I'm doing giveaways for them. haha.

Speaking of, don't forget about my book launch contest--click HERE for all the glorious deets and to get entered (you have until Dec 21, and you can enter as many times as you want!). Also, you may want to check out Mandy Hubbard's van tour post next week (I'll post the schedule again tomorrow)...just sayin'. :D And last, there will be another fun opportunity to win a copy of my book, plus 2 other brand spankin' new YA books! I'll post more about that soon...it's a surprise!!

Glee, Obsession, and Christmas Miscellany

I'm listening to the Glee soundtrack #2 right now. I don't know about you guys, but I adore this show. It's drama, goofiness, romance, love, and of course, kick-arse MUSIC. And boy, do I love listening to the CDs! I find myself listening to a few songs over and over, like that Endless Love cover they do. WOW, that knocked my socks off!!

Speaking of obsession, I blogged at the Fictionistas about how neurotic I am (at least ACT like you're surprised! haha). Go HERE and leave a comment about your obsessions so I don't feel so alone. Or, feel free to tell me I need therapy. hahaha kidding--don't make me cry, yo.

What else, what else...I actually have all my Christmas shopping done, save 1 present. Feel free to throw tomatoes at me if you're jealous. haha. I usually start Christmas shopping in August, but I got a late start this year. It's good to have it done. However, I have absolutely no decorations up in my house...mayhap I should put up my tree now before my mom clubs me to death.

Oh! Also, my book Stupid Cupid is out in 2 weeks as of yesterday. WE ARE AT UNDER TWO weeks, you guys. I'm so freaking nervous. Nervous and soooo excited. My book is almost here!!! I'm taking the day off work and trying to figure out how to celebrate my book birthday. Any ideas on what I should do? So far, I plan to drive around, sign stock, and faint when I see my book on the shelves. If you have other ideas, I'm totally game. :D

Stupid Prada Summer Van Tour--Pitstop 3: Drooping, WV

Read Saundra Mitchell's recap of day 1 HERE.
Read Mandy Hubbard's recap of day 2 HERE.

YAY, it's our virtual van tour stop #3 today, and we're in Drooping, WV. I know you're all as excited about this as we are! Trust me, it was crazy getting to WV from Washington in 2 days. Especially since our trustworthy monkey driver turned out not be so awesome after all.

After the three of us went to a rave the other night with George Washington (glowsticks included--George doesn't do anything halfway), Saundra Mitchell told the monkey it was time for us to take off for the next leg of our tour. Apparently, he didn't want to go, as evidenced by him flipping her the finger, smacking his bright-red buttcheeks at her, and running off into the wilderness with our cheese whiz and box of wine. Little bastard!

You should have heard the cuss words Mandy Hubbard hollered when she found out the wine was gone. I think she made some up, actually. There are sailors out there still crying from their lost innocence.

Anyway, I digress. To help us get over the loss of our monkey, we hired an Italian pool boy named Paolo to drive us to WV. Paolo has about as much brains as a box of hair, but whatev. Once we got to our stop, we immediately took our pic on DROOP MOUNTAIN:

I mean, really, how could you not want to hit a place called Droop Mountain? It totally sounds like Cougar Mecca. I swear, off in the distance, I heard the haunting sound of hungry, lonely women howling for young, nubile, 21-year-old manflesh. Then, the low strains of Hall and Oates' song "Maneater" drifted toward us on the wind. Spooky! We decided it was a good idea to lock up our pool boy in the van. Um, just for safekeeping, of course.

But I have to say, those Cougars really came through for us. They bought some of our books and totally made this stop worthwhile. Even though I totally found fake red fingernails embedded in the sides of our van after the signing. Hussies.

Well, that's it for today. Join us on the rest of our van tour to see where we hit over the next two weeks:

Monday, December 7th – The World’s Biggest Ball of Twine, Cawker City, KS (Saundra Blogs)
Wednesday, December 9th – Half.com, Oregon (Mandy Blogs)
Friday, December 11th – Statue of Liberty, NYC, NY (Rhonda Blogs)

Monday, December 14 – Toad Suck, AR (Saundra Blogs)
Wednesday, December 16th- Giant Cow at Wilkes Barre, PA (Mandy Blogs)
Friday, December 18th – Winchester Mystery House, San Jose, CA (Rhonda Blogs)

Truckers, monkeys, and cheese whiz

Okay, you HAVE to check out Mandy Hubbard's post today on our next virtual van tour stop. Srsly. If you do nothing else today, go HERE and read, stat.

Also, don't forget to check out the rest of the tour over the next few weeks! There are prizes and festivities galore!! My post will be up on Friday, and you do NOT want to miss it. For realz. You don't. Well, I'd better make it a good one now that I've hyped it up this much. haha

Aaaaaanyway, here's the rest of the schedule:

Friday, December 4th – Drooping, WV (Rhonda Blogs)

Monday, December 7th – The World’s Biggest Ball of Twine, Cawker City, KS (Saundra Blogs)
Wednesday, December 9th – Half.com, Oregon (Mandy Blogs)
Friday, December 11th – Statue of Liberty, NYC, NY (Rhonda Blogs)

Monday, December 14 – Toad Suck, AR (Saundra Blogs)
Wednesday, December 16th- Giant Cow at Wilkes Barre, PA (Mandy Blogs)
Friday, December 18th – Winchester Mystery House, San Jose, CA (Rhonda Blogs)