Amanda Hocking

It’s Saturday night, at 9:30. I’m in my jammies, watching a Lifetime movie with Hayden Paniettiere, and Eric is sleeping on the couch next to me. I’m a very exciting person.

I also filled out forms to go see a dentist, and I’m very excited about it. The dentist sounds very fancy. Eric was making fun of me for being so excited to go to the dentist, but I am.

This movie is scaring me about going to other countries, but it’s also makes me want to go to Europe. They have such pretty buildings there. All the buildings here are crap. Well, not all of them. But a lot of them.

I like this place. It’s probably my favorite place in all of Austin, MN.

My friend Pete is getting married there this fall, and I’m jealous, because it’s such an awesome place to get married. You can’t tell from the outside, but they have really pretty starlights and awesome balconies and stuff.  Here’s in the inside of the Paramount:

This is the really pretty church/pavillion that my friends Val & Greggor got married in two years ago:

So yep. Those are some pretty places that my friends got/are getting married in Austin, Minnesota.

Also,  I did an interview with a reporter for the London Observer, and the article is out now. You can read it: here. It’s about epublishing in the UK. There is one error in the article. It says that I’ve sold nearly a million copies of Switched. I have sold almost a million books of all my titles together – not just one title.

Oh! And tomorrow, there’s the Oscars. But also, Shotime is re-airing Episodes from the beginning. Episodes quickly became one of my favorite shows. It’s very funny, and it has people in it from Green Wing. (Side note: Can I get the two series of Green Wing on DVD here in the US? I’ve only see it available for the UK). And Matt Leblanc is surprisingly wonderful. I really enjoy it.

But tomorrow I will be watching the Oscars. I’m very excited to see what Franco comes up with. I just feel like everything that happens will be tweetable and youtube-worthy. 

Today I have a guest post from J. L. Bryan – author of Jenny Pox and the newly released Haunted E-Book. He’s having a lot of really fun giveaways to go along with the release of his latest book, and he’s a great writer, as well as a terrifically swell guy. So enjoy his post, and check out his books.

Jacob Wetterling is still missing.

When I was a kid, I used to lay awake at night a lot, imagining where he might be. I always thought he’d be in Egypt. I don’t know why exactly. But I just thought nobody would look for him there, so he might be there, and nobody would know. He might be there alive.

I think less about where he is now. Sometimes I still do. I imagine that he was brainwashed, and he doesn’t know who he is. But he’s an adult now, and he’s far away from who ever kidnapped him. He’s a little damaged from the experience, but he’s met a nice a girl, and he’s going to therapy and moving on with his life.

I don’t know if I believe that’s true. But I hope it is.

When the FBI began digging up around his neighbor’s house last year, I sorta had a mini-breakdown. It occurred to me – like really occurred to me for the first time – that he might not be alive. I watched footage of the farm being exacavated on a news broadcast, and I ended up sobbing uncontrollably. Something about the reality of it was devestating.

But Patty Wetterling held it together. What little she said about it was thoughtful and objective. That woman is my hero. I can’t even fathom how she does that. The level of bravery and resilience and poise is astounding.

I was thinking about all the good Patty Wetterling has done for missing and exploited children. She’s worked so hard, in spite of so much, and I want to help.

I have a book I plan to release soon. (I’m thinking April, right now). It’s called with Lost Without You, and it’s about a teenager who goes missing and her friends frantic attempts to find her. When it’s released, a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center. I’m not sure how much yet, but I will have a definite percentage when I release Lost Without You.

Until then, I encourage you all to look into the foundation and to donate if you can.

For more information on Jacob Wetterling, including an age progressed photo, please click: here.

If you have any information about Jacob Wetterling or his adbudctor, please contact the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office (Minnesota) – Missing Persons Unit – 1-320-259-3700.

The latest word on the street is that Joseph Gordon-Levitt will play the Holiday Killer in the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises.

Eric told me this on Friday, and I was so excited when I found out that I literally tripped on the stairs while running up to get my copy of The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. I grabbed it to show Eric pictures of the Holiday Killer, but of course, he didn’t care, and just wanted me to show him illustrations of the Riddler.

But still. I’m very, very, very excited.

In more exciting news:

If you’re a follower of my blog, you may have noticed my frequent mentions of Eric (the above Eric obsessed with the Riddler). He’s my roommate, platonic life mate, and life guru. Starting Tuesday next week, he will also be my assistant.

This is especially cool for us because his goal in life has been to be a personal assistant. In fact, we’ve been good friends for like ten years or something, and throughout the duration of our friendship, our mutual goals have been for me to a published author and for him to be my assistant. 

This will be exciting for people who enjoy things I do because Eric will be keeping more organized and helping me do stuff, so I should be better about answering emails. He’s also going to be taking over the PayPal stuff, so I think I’m going to expand on that also. I don’t know exactly what that will entail, but I’m sure we’ll come up with something.

Also, check out how adorable my cat is:

The cute one sleeping is Squeak. The big fluffy butt is Nikki Fris.

In case you missed yesterday’s epic post (and it truly was epic, in the real sense of the word, and not in the fake “epic fail” kinda way), you should check it out: here.

After I made the post, I did the next logical thing: I took a nap and watched Top Chef. I get the biggest news of my career and life, and then I take a nap. In my defense, I was tired, and I’ve lost my voice. I sound Kathleen Turner with emphysema,

I want to thank everybody for all your undue praise and crazy support. I do really appreciate it, and if it weren’t for you guys, I doubt all of this would happening. I just wrote a book. You guys made it popular.

For people asking how this happened, as far as I can tell it happened like this: Terri Tatchell bought Switched and Torn (this was before Ascend came out). I’m not sure what ereader she bought them on, but it was an ereader. She read them, enjoyed them very much, and decided she’d like to adapt them. She emailed me and her agent emailed me, asking if they could adapt them. Her agent talked to my agent a lot. And then a month later, the deal was finalized, and now I’m telling you.

OH! Here’s the especially bizarre and true part of the story. I decided I was going to get a Bluray player, but before I even got one, I started buying Blurays (that’s the kind of person I am). I was laying in bed one night, trying to fall asleep, and I was thinking about how I don’t know why Cloverfield is called Cloverfield. (I still don’t, BTW).

So, since I could sleep, I got up, and ordered a bunch of Blurays from Amazon. Amazon kept recommending movies to me, and since I’d bought Cloverfield, they suggested I buy District 9. I took their suggestion, because I saw District 9 in theaters and loved it.

The day – the very day – I got District 9 in the mail from Amazon is the day Terri Tatchell emailed me. Not even kidding.

So the whole feels a bit like kismet to me, and I don’t even believe in kismet.

I was reading old blogs the other day, and when I got really serious about writing, my roommate and life guru Eric suggested I try the Secret. He said it worked for Ellen and Oprah, and since I’d tried everything, I decided to try it.

The idea behind the Secret is that you can manifest the things you want by believing you’ll get them. I think. I don’t completely understand. Eric said I needed to make a vision board with all the things I wanted so that I would put it out for the universe to know what I wanted, and then… I could get them? I don’t know.

But I’ve had the same vision board up in my room for over a year. And here is what’s on it: A still from Juno with the words “movie” on it in silver sharpie. A page from one of my books that says “published.” A million dollar bill from Who Wants to Be a Millionare the board game with the word “money” written on it. A quote from a magazine that says “I have the greatest job ever” and I wrote “writing” above it. An iPhone. Batman Converse. A boombox. And Pete Wentz.

I just got an iPhone (thanks Verizon!). So other than Pete Wentz, I’ve pretty much got everything from the vision board. Oh. I don’t have a boombox either. I want an old school one like Radio Raheem had in Do the Right Thing. But that’s the besides the point.

The point is – maybe there really is something to this Secret thing. Thanks, Universe, for being awesome.