First, it’s come to my attention that Amazon has the prologue and first chapter of Bitterblue online, for anyone who wants a sneak peek.

MORE IMPORTANTLY: As you may or may not know, in conjunction with the soon-to-be-released Hunger Games movie, THERE IS NAIL POLISH. I’ve always been led to believe that the ultimate goal for an author is the movie deal. Now I understand that the movie deal is merely a MEANS TO A MUCH HIGHER END: NAIL POLISH. And listen, I think my books would make for some great nail polish. There are so many bright and sparkly colors! While I was trying to convince a friend of this the other day, she mentioned that Bitterblue couldn’t really pull off nail polish. I must agree. (Um, if you are BONKERS about spoilers, don’t read the next sentence, but really it’s a joke, not a spoiler, and would be understood by anyone who’d read the first few chapters:) Helda would do Bitterblue’s nails and send her off to bed, then in the morning, Bitterblue’s manicure would be full of telltale gargoyle grit or somesuch. Then, later in the day, I suddenly realized: Gargoyle Grit! What a great name and concept for a nail polish! it could be matte, chunky, and various values of gray, maybe with the occasional sparkle! Are all you designers listening out there? GO!

Anyway. It would be fair to say that I love nail polish, and I also love the beautifully-written, sad, intelligent and captivating Hunger Games books. THEREFORE I’m now the owner of seven of the Hunger Games colors. *ahem* Here are my nails. This is a base coat of Smoke and Ashes (that’s the darker polish you can see peeking through), with alternating topcoats of Riveting (the more red/orange one) and Harvest Moon (the more gold one) on each nail:

Like the HG nail polish, the Suite Andalucía piano solo by Ernesto Lecuona is beautiful.

Like the HG nail polish, The Returning by Christine Hinwood is beautiful. You should read it. (Listen, I’m trying to make these photos interesting for people (BARBARIANS) who are bored by nail polish.)

By the way – my manicures are often slightly weird – I try wearing a single color but am never satisfied – so someone asked me once if I feel a little strange going out into the world with my nails painted all different colors. My feeling is that the person asking that question is forgetting that we’re all going to die someday. Do you really want to spend your life worrying about what other people think of your nail polish choice?

Do what makes you happy.

Happy sigh…