Stacey Jay is a rockstar

And I mean it. Stacey Jay is a super mom and a writer who can slip into an impressive range of voices, characters and settings. I'm so excited to interview her right here as the very first guest in the 2009 Debs Blog Tour... where I'll interview a series of amazing debut authors, we'll talk to each other in fact. All year long. Keep coming back for more...

So Jane magazine used to do this spread 'the same five questions we always ask' when interviewing celebrities… so my Debs blog tour page is Jane magazine inspired… below 'the same 5 questions I always ask' for Stacey Jay, author of You Are So Undead to Me which debuted on January 22nd. Buy it here!



1. What is your preferred writing brain food?

Coffee! Does that count as a food?

2. What is the soundtrack to your debut novel?

"In over my head" by The Fray. Megan's in over her head and I'll be honest, this hasn't been an easy road. I was pregnant or had a new baby for most of the process and, at times, it's felt like I wasn't going to make it to the next step. I'm just so excited to finally see it releasing and be able to say "yes! I did it!". And I'm hoping the baby will start sleeping through the night before my first signing so I can manage to stay awake until 9pm. Lol!

3. Describe your perfect writing space.

Small, cozy room, bookshelves on the wall all around and the smell of books filling the space. There's a coffee machine that spits out cappucinos on one wall and a massage chair on the other and time stands still inside so that the time I spend writing doesn't eat up my time with my kids or my hubby. That sounds like the best space ever. Sigh...

4. Tell us about one of the secondary characters in your debut novel. How did he/she come to life?

Monica is Megan's nemesis and she's just a big, hairy B. But also very smart and great at her job and, at times, helpful and nice. She's just the perfect bad girl, the kind you can't quite bring yourself to hate but drives you absolutely insane. I wanted to make her more than the stereotypical meanie and I hope I succeeded.

5. What did/will you do on your launch day?

I'll probably take my baby out to the bookstore and stick the copy of YASUTM in the stroller with him and take a picture of my two new arrivals and then scream and nerd out and...then go home and get back to work so I get to do it all again soon. Lol. :) I'm really looking forward to it!

Check out Stacey's site and her upcoming projects and seriously... read about her zombies! She knows her stuff!

How to save the world

"I had a routine. It was every minute. I knew the things I wanted to do. This year I quit the food pantry. I actually really liked being there, Molly or no Molly—there was something therapeutic about stacking can after can of green beans, box after box of Stovetop, and something comforting about packing boxes for distribution… one of everything, knowing the meals that would come out of that box would be so much more important than any meal I ever ate."


Nadio feels better, somehow, when he is doing for others. Whether his mother, his sister, his girlfriend or the town's aging Vietnam Vets. He can't explain what drives him to the work he does but it makes him feel full somehow and he can set the rest of the things that confuse him aside. Something about being around him, you want to do the work he does. Check it out: you can volunteer with the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, to help affect policy, serve and deliver meals, or use your professional skills to promote the organization's mission. What are you doing this weekend? They could use your help and you'd maybe get a taste what Nadio means... that peace he feels.

Little One

In 2008 my brother and I both finally achieved something we had dreamed about for most of ever. I sold a book and he became a dad. While I admit, watching my brother and sister in law grow a family has been INFINITELY cooler than selling a book, it has been a big year with so much to celebrate. I can't believe that it has been a year since I wrote this post and since This Is What I Want to Tell You was called Permanent Ink and Parker had a different name.

But yesterday Ruth Nightingale turned 1 and she is freaking amazing.



Happy Birthday to my favorite girl!

Stuff Keeley Likes

"I saw a flash of Keeley, years of Keeley, little kid Keeley—taking off on her bike, leaned into my sister’s ear whispering, leaned over a pile of construction paper, scissors, torn magazine pages, she was always making something. A collage, a poster, on her knees over a pile of paper and glue in our kitchen and then her eyes welling up when her parents would come to get her. I don’t wanna go, she never wanted to go."

Some of you who read this page may not know that Keeley is Noelle's best friend. Keeley is Nadio's first love. Keeley is at the heart, or at least the core, the hard to find center of This Is What I Want to Tell You. And she's an artist. Her handmade books and photographs and collages paper the walls of the story and remind the twins about days and moments they'd forgotten. She thinks you should check out this very cool site on diversity in photography, meet some new artists and delve into the history of photography. It's maintained by a beautiful Brooklyn-based artist named Qiana Mestrich. You should check out her work too. Keeley thinks so.

Back to Life

This blog is confused. It is forging it’s identity. It is quiet and outgoing all at once.

No longer. As of today, Permanently Inked has officially been re-imagined within the dawn of 2009, the year This Is What I Want to Tell You hits the world.

Permanently Inked will, from now on, bring you:

-Regular entries
-Thoughts from Keeley, Nadio, Parker & Noelle
-Playlists, art, recipes, musings
-Thoughts, excerpts, characters and questions from the recently revived No Happy Endings.
-Street art
-A full year of interviews with fabulous debut authors brought to you by the International Debs Blog Tour
-And of course, some pictures of my nieces, birthday tributes to my dearest, and the inevitable musings on writing and working in high schools all at the same time.
-No more confusion. At least not all the time.

Welcome.

Aches and Resolutions

I don't believe in resolutions, not really. But it is seven days in to the new year and I'm lying in bed wrapped in quilts surrounded by tissues and teacups and I can't help thinking about the things I should be doing instead of being sick in bed, the things I must do this year, the things... you know.

So I have this book coming out. In less than two months. I'm sure there are things I should be doing. Can I come to your school? Can I read in your bookstore? Can you buy a copy? And, most importantly, can I get over this crippling fear of reading in public? It's time.

My head hurts.