"When you're in love, you want to take your clothes off."

Yet another topic on which the oh-so-smart-always-SO-RIGHT Betsy Lerner and I agree. When I’m in love with something, I’ll go all the way for it.

If I fall in love with a book, I will talk about it everywhere. It’s like the blush of new love—maybe it sickens people and they just want me and THE PASSAGE said book to GET A ROOM ALREADY but I can’t help it, I just can’t stop. I tweet about it. Email about it. Post about it constantly on Facebook and on my blog. Have conversations about it. Buy it for people as gifts. Because when I am in love, I want everyone else to be in love, too.

And if I fall in love with an author, I will (METAPHORICALLY, don’t call the police) go all the way for him or her, too. I will retweet their tweets. I will talk up their books, share the good reviews, and defend against the bad ones. I will go to the mattresses for authors I love. Because I don’t just fall in love with anybody. I fall for the authors who deserve it.

You know the ones. The ones who don’t just write amazing books. The ones who are humble. Who are kind. Who pay it forward. You see them on Twitter, chatting with readers who have five followers or 500. Responding to comments on blogs (theirs or others’) even if they have a multi-book deal and movie options in the works. The authors who participate in reader contests and in charity events and who never, ever forget that their good fortune is not a right—it’s a gift.

The ones who never forget that readers are the ones who give them that gift.

Those are the authors who deserve it, and for them, I’ll go all the way.

When you’re in love, what do you do?

The YA Highway Guest Blogger Today Is...

ME!

Go forth and comment, please!

In Honor of Benny.*

How much time is enough time to spend with your best friend?

How many slumber parties? How many shared meals or whispered secrets?

Five years' worth? Fifty years' worth?

Bridget adopted her best friend eleven years ago. She was fresh out of a bad grad school experience and Benny was a three-time loser, back at the shelter after being dumped by families again and again and again. He had crooked ears and big doxie paws, and his paperwork said he was “disobedient.” Bridget took him home.

Every morning Bridget woke up and said to him, “I missed you while I was sleeping!” And every night they went to bed, side by side.

Bridget and Benny slept under the covers in six different apartments, four different cities, and two different states. But Benny got older, while Bridget stayed mostly the same.

He lost his hearing and one of his sweet, beautiful eyes, but that only taught Bridget that those things weren’t so important. He taught her to let them go. They were still happy. They still had each other.

When you work in rescue, you meet so many good dogs. So many amazing dogs. And in the past eleven years, Bridget added six more rescues to her family and has fostered countless others. She has given her heart to be broken again and again but she always had Benny. Mr. B. The dog of her heart. Her best, best friend.

Now he is gone. He lived to be seventeen.

But it wasn’t long enough.

It’s never long enough.



Rest well, Benny. You were loved every day for eleven years and you will be loved every day of Bridget’s life still.

I love you, Bridget. And I miss you, Benny.


* Written by Bridget Adams and me.
* Photo credit: Joe Adams

On Stalking.

So. Something you may or may not know about me: I recently started writing about animals for Change.org. I love animals and I love writing so doing this makes me happy.

And I LOVE getting comments, on this blog and over there. I love getting messages and tweeting with people and it is SO FUN and it makes me HAPPY and HOW DID PEOPLE LIVE BEFORE THE INTERNET?!?!

But last week I got a message that read something like this:

Hello Dear Mrs. hodkin how are you, i like animls as like you, you are looking so beautiful & nice with gray eyes& with simile, please send me a book about Animals, my address is available on my email address it is request in your great honour, you are very very very nice. Thanks.

My reaction:

*SHUTS DOWN INTERNET* *RUNS AWAY*

Maybe the reader was trying to be nice—and I am rather fond of my similies, it is true. But for me, Change.org is not a dating site (is it for anyone?!?!). Neither is Twitter. Neither is Facebook. This social networking thing? For me, it’s part of the BUSINESS.

We are all here because we a) want to be published b) are being published c) are already published or d) are involved in the publishing industry in some blogger/agenty/editorial capacity. We are also here to make writerly/bloggerly/agenty/editorialy/readerly friends and OMG—I have made some AMAZING friends thanks to The Internet. And sometimes we talk about motorcycles and flaming tar pits and redneck vampires and about absconding with each other and various and sundry seemingly odd or inappropriate tidbits. Sometimes I even comment on their avatars! But. BUT. I only talk thusly with Internet friends who I am 1000% certain won’t skitter away in terror. Like, Internet Friends whose hotel rooms I’ve crashed whilst looking like a dirty orphan, or Internet Friends who have met my mother or Internet Friends who are SEKRITLY ME.

If none of the aforementioned conditions are met, it is a Cardinal Rule not to comment on the appearance of an Internet Friend unless directly solicited. Exempli gratia:

A) “Look at my spiffy new author photos! What do you think, dear chaps?”

B) “Do you like my new armadillo hat?”

C) “How bad is the pimple on my chin really?”*

If none of those questions are being asked, if your opinion on said Internet Friend’s appearance has not directly been solicited, REFRAIN. Refrain with the iron will of a thousand nuns. Because commenting on a stranger’s photo, even to praise it, is creepy. It creeps me out. And I am not the only one who feels this way.

Have you ever been similarly creeped out? Share your stalker stories in the comments.


*If an editor or agent asks this question, if you want to get published, the only correct answer is “What pimple?!” You heard it here first.

Golden Oldies

Yesterday I left the house. I walked outside, blinking in the brilliant sunlight, got in my car, and turned on the radio to get psyched for a Day Full of Errands.

But on the first station, there were commercials. Then more commercials then more commercials and MOAR COMMERCIALS. I wanted to eat a radio tower. I was very mad.

Then, the Stones’ Gimme Shelter came on.

I <3 that song. Love it so much. And it got me all riled up and happy and I was dancing in my car driving carefully.

Same reaction when songs I love pop on in the grocery store. I act a little bit like this:



This is relevant BECAUSE:

Sometimes, writers of books will use product placement allude to other books. Two books I have seen in other books a LOT lately are Wuthering Heights and Pride & Prejudice.

My theory? It’s because those books are awesome. They are very wonderful and they are classics and everyone should read them MR. DARCY MARRY ME.

And when I see a good old classic pop up in a hip, shiny, new book, I get all MY SHARONA on everyone. It gets me psyched. OMG the author and I LIKE THE SAME BOOKS! HOW COOL.

But. When I see the same books mentioned in other books I’m reading again, and again, and again AND AGAIN AND AGAIN, it’s kind of like a song that’s overplayed on the radio. It just loses its luster. It doesn’t affect the quality of books at ALL. I don’t stop reading. But I no longer have that MY SHARONA reaction. It stops being so special.

So maybe, if you are writing something, and you were planning to have your characters read Wuthering Heights or discuss Pride & Prejudice in their English class, maybe JUST MAYBE you might want to think about using a different book, hmm?

On the topic of literary allusions, what say you?

In this edition of the Copy Corner, I bring you: THE HOT ZONE

Since we were JUST TALKING about reading outside of the YA genre, I thought it would be nice to share the copy for one of my MOST FAVORITE grown-up novels with you gentle readers.



What it says:

Imagine a killer with the infectiousness of the common cold and power of the Black Death. Imagine something so deadly that it wipes out 90 per cent of those it touches. Imagine an organism against which there is no defence. But you don't need to imagine. Such a killer exists: it is a virus and its name is Ebola. "The Hot Zone" tells what happens when the unthinkable becomes reality: when a deadly virus, from the rain forests of Africa, crosses continents and infects a monkey house ten miles from the White House. Ebola is that reality. It has the power to decimate the world's population. Try not to panic. It will be back. There is nothing you can do...

Why it works:

Normally, we're told hypothetical questions/scenarios/what-ifs are maybe not the best way to go in a query letter. But c'mon-- with a sentence like, "Imagine a killer with the infectiousness of the common cold and power of the Black Death," I can forgive all that. It's hardly "Imagine a world where MERMAIDS have FUR." It's legitimately disturbing.

Next, I love the repetition here. "Imagine X. Imagine Y." It's nice and makes my brain sing.

Then we have the real hook. "BUT YOU DON'T NEED TO IMAGINE." (caps added for EMPHASIS).

Why not?

Because the virus, the one with the deadliness of the Black Plague and the infectiousness of the cold is REAL.

SO SCARY SO SCARY.

And what happens in this story, hmms?

THE UNTHINKABLE: the "deadly virus, from the rain forests of Africa, crosses continents and infects a monkey house ten miles from the White House."

THE WHITE HOUSE!!!!! THE WHITE HOUSE!!!!! Look at those STAKES!

Then we have the reminder of what Ebola can do (and it's only TEN MILES from the White House): "It has the power to decimate the world's population."

And then this, the closing hook: "Try not to panic. It will be back. There is nothing you can do..."

YES YES YES YES.

And guess what? This is non-fiction.

ADDENDUM

That was the jacket copy for the mass market paperback. This is the jacket copy for the hardcover:

"The true story of how a deadly virus from the central African rain forest suddenly appears in a Washington, D.C., animal test lab. In a matter of days, 90% of the primates exposed to the virus are dead, and secret government forces are mobilized to stop the spread of this exotic "hot" virus."

If you were an agent, which plot synopsis would YOU rather get?

There's No Shame In Reading YA. But.

Two weeks ago, GENIUS VERONICA wrote a phenomenal post about feeling as though she should be ashamed of her genre while earning her B.A. In creative writing. Haven’t read it yet? What are you waiting for? Go. Then come back.

Because while I agree with her 1000%, I’m going to talk about a sentiment I’ve been hearing quite a bit in the YA community lately: writers and readers who read YA books and only YA books. No adult books. Zip. Zero. Nada.

And I don’t agree with it.

Let me preface my argument by owning that when I was in college, I was one of the snobby literary fiction snobs who would have given V the side-eye if I’d seen her reading a YA book. It wasn’t until the fourth Harry Potter book came out that I finally, finally gave in and read the first one, and I only did that because my youngest brother wouldn’t have a conversation about anything else. So I read the first book. I finished it.

Then I went out immediately and bought three more.

For a few years after that, I still preferred the classics, and medieval and renaissance literature (because I was FANCY, readers) in particular. My snobbiness + my unwillingness to invest time in books I might hate led to my reading the same books I knew and loved again and again and again, until that fateful Harry Potter moment. And as I will happily admit to you now, I was, of course, an idiot. I didn’t want to risk spending time and money on a book only to hate it, but because I wasn’t reading anything new, I wasn’t LEARNING anything new. I was staying in my comfort zone, and Hogwarts showed me the first glimpse of the kind of fun I was missing out on.

Did I immediately run out and buy a ton of YA novels? Nope. At the time, I wasn’t even really aware YA really existed. But slowly, I began branching out to more contemporary lit fic. And then more commercial adult fiction. I learned to appreciate Zadie Smith and Amy Tan. Kazuo Ishiguro and John Grisham.

Life IS too short to spend time on stuff you hate—but if you don’t try anything new, you might be closing yourself off from some really cool things. And while I obviously, obviously love YA and fly that flag proudly, there are so many adult books I’ve read and loved in the past year and would have missed out on if YA was ALL I’d read since becoming a YA writer. And for the books I feel I’ve wasted hours of my life on that I wish I could get back?* Those were worthwhile in their own way, too. I truly believe that as a writer, you can learn something from every book.** Maybe that something will be what not to do, but even if you LOATHE a commercial book, if it’s wildly successful, there’s a reason. And we as writers ignore that at our own risk.

Also, by not reading outside of your favorite genre, be it YA or something else, you could be limiting yourself in terms of inspiration, too. One of the novels that ended up having a major impact on my YA book is an 18th century Scottish novel about Calvinism and predestination theory (SO FANCY). It’s pretty much the farthest thing from a YA novel I’ve ever come across (and did I mention that it is FANCY, hmm?), but I discovered it in a college class, loved it, and when I started writing my book, it was like a lightning bolt. The pieces started coming together. And my book is not about Calvinism at ALL.

So, bottom line? V’s right—have no shame in writing***, or reading YA. YA rocks. But reading adult books is pretty damn worthwhile, too.


*I'm looking at you, Walden.

**Except Walden. Okay, even Walden. But it WON’T be fun.

***I’m not going to talk about writing in this post except to say that my same “READ EVERYTHING” philosophy doesn’t apply to it. I’ll save the whys for another day.)

Flashback Friday - Throw Momma From The Train

Flashback Friday was started by...crap. I have no idea who started it. But it was started by someone else, not me, and it's pretty cool. And alliterative.



From IMDB: A bitter ex-husband. A put upon Momma's boy. Both want their respective spouse and mother dead, but who will pull it off?

That's a hook if I ever saw one, non? Also, it's kind of about writing! And Rob Reiner appears in a cameo as Billy Crystal's literary agent.

Some awesome scenes:



Also:




OMG I love this movie. Go rent it. You will not be sorry.

Titles That Make Me Drool

I really loved talking about jacket copy with you guys on Tuesday. And I am going to do more posts like it soon! But not today. Because that post made me think about all the reasons people pick up or don't pick up books. My Scientific Analysis (TM) goes something like this:

1) Author recognition
2) Cover art
2) Title
3) Jacket copy

Author recognition...well, that's the whole platform thing agents talk about a lot. So I'm going to let them do it because they do it better than me. Cover art? Maybe another day, but there's also lots of blogs devoted to cover art.

Next up is titles.

I've been reading a TON of agent blogs every day for over a year now. A few posts have mentioned titles. Mostly, the advice boils down to "a great one isn't necessary--just a bonus. But God kills a kitten every time you invent a really, really bad one. So, proceed with CAUTION."

If great titles are a bonus, WE ALL WANT ONE, don't we? YESSS. But what makes a title great? Who knows? All I can do is talk about ones that hooked me, and try to figure out why. Without the cover art, without author recognition, without the jacket copy (though in cases, I did proceed to the flap if the title made me sufficiently curious).

And with that, below is my list. I am keeping it YA in this post. Some of these books I've read, and some I haven't, but I tried to recreate the thought process that occurred when I first discovered them. Here goes:

LIST O' TITLES THAT MAKE ME DROOL:

Living Dead Girl - How can you be a LIVING dead girl? Very curious.

Looking for Alaska - Why does anyone need to look for Alaska? It’s on a map. Oh…Alaska is a person. How unusual. Ok, where did she go?

Tithe - Ooh. Sinister. What’s being tithed? Or…WHO is being tithed?

The Adoration of Jenna Fox - The ADORATION of? Strong word. Who is adoring Jenna Fox? Why?

Madapple - What is madapple? It sounds sinister and wild.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth - A whole FOREST of random body parts? WHY?! So creepy. So AWESOME.

Tender Morsels - Such evocative words. What, or who, are the tender morsels? And who is eating them?

The Demon’s Lexicon - What IS a demon’s lexicon? TELL ME.

The Catastrophic History of You And Me - WHAT HAPPENS that’s so catastrophic?

A Love Story: Starring My Dead Best Friend - How can someone’s dead best friend star in a love story? Wouldn’t that make it a SAD story? Very curious.

I Am Number Four - A person is being numbered? Weird and creepy. In like Flynn.

Like Mandarin - WHAT is like Mandarin? Mandarin is a—oh, wait. It’s a person. With a very unusual name. She sounds interesting and unusual. And who, or what, is like her? Very curious.

Incarceron - I don’t know what this means, but incarceration = imprisoned, and that’s kind of cool. But it’s been made into a noun. Interesting.

The Fat Girl - So blunt. Sharp. Who would call someone “the fat girl?” And what happens to her?

Andromeda Klein - I want to read about someone named thus so badly. SO BADLY.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks - The DISreputable history? Why so disreputable, Frankie Landau Banks? I love that character name so much.

The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z - Juxtaposition? Play on words? How can a fall be brilliant? I have many questions!!

The Dust of 100 Dogs - ONE HUNDRED? That’s a lot of dogs. And what is dog dust? I want to know.

How to Say Goodbye in Robot - How DO you say goodbye in robot? What the HECK does that even mean?

The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm - Random body parts. I AM SO THERE. But why THESE parts? MUST KNOW.

Total Oblivion, More or Less - Oh god, this voice. Love this voice already. And what's in total oblivion?! TELL ME MORE IN THAT VOICE.

The Sweet Far Thing - Sounds…sexy. What IS this thing that is sweet and far?

Spanking Shakespeare - Shakespeare is dead. Why would someone want to spank Shakesp—oh. OH.

The Hunger Games - Is this an eating disorder book? Are people playing games to avoid eating? Sounds dark and sinister. Love.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower - What ARE the perks of being a wallflower?

Going Bovine - How can someone go cow-like?

The Secret Year - Why so secret?

Aaaaand...DONE! For now! Here is what I learned from this experiment: the one thing pretty much all of these titles have in common? They made me ask questions. Sometimes a LOT of questions. Sometimes weird questions. But in each case, questions that made me want to pick up the book to get those questions answered. Food for thought.

What do YOU think of the titles I listed? Did you have the same reactions? Similar reactions? COMPLETELY OPPOSITE reactions that made you go "WTF is Michelle smoking today?!" Other examples of titles that make YOU drool? Let's hear it.


PS: I know that authors don't control the title of their book once it's sold, but we DO control the title before it's submitted to agents. And if it can give us a boost, let's figure out that magic and bottle it!

YA Highway's Road Trip Wednesday

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week: When/why did you start writing?

When: May 14th, 2009, 11:00pm

Why: Because I had an idea earlier that day, and it just wouldn't let go.

You've heard a bit of this before, so I'm going to keep it short. I never wrote as a kid. I had no idea what I was doing. But I had a story I NEEDED to tell. It really felt like I didn't have a choice.

So I started writing. It was terrible. Awful. No good, very bad. But the more I did it, the less offensive the writing became. Until it was decent. And after many, many, many passes, and the help of awesome beta readers, it became something I was happy with. You know the rest.

Writing is one of the weirdest professions. You can start writing at six years old and be published at fifteen. You can start writing at 6 and be published at 66. You can not write a single word of fiction until you scribble down the remnants of a dream about a sparkly vampire in a meadow, finish that book in three months, get an agent in four, and a $750,000 book deal in five. You can get your MFA at Iowa or you can be a gas station attendant; you have the same chance at being a New York Times best seller either way.

It's a funny business we're in. And even though I'm late to the party, I feel very privileged to be a part of it.

And the winners are....

Darlyn (from MALAYSIA, I believe!)

And

Casey Blackwell/The Bookish Type

And

Susan Fields

What? What’s that you say? There were only two winners, you thought?

Well, on Twitter last week, I passed 500 followers, in large part thanks to you guys. So, I thought it would be nice to share the love.

So Darlyn, Casey, and Susan, I’ll be emailing you guys today- just respond with your addresses and I’ll get your books in the mail this week! And Susan, I’m sending you a copy of an as-yet-to-be-determined ARC ☺

And for the 184 friends who didn’t win, do not fret. Because most of my ARCs are for you. I shall have lots and lots of books to give away in the coming months (more copies of MATCHED, THE DUFF, and one more copy of BEAUTIFUL DARKNESS among them!). And not to bribe you or anything, but if you stay followers (here and on Twitter), you’ll get additional extra entries for it :D So stick around, because I’ll be giving away:

THE REPLACEMENT (Brenna Yovanoff, 9/10), THE CALL (Michael Grant), LOW RED MOON (Ivy Devlin), THE DUFF (Kody Keplinger), HERO (Mike Lupica), MATCHED (Ally Condie), GRACE (Elizabeth Scott), VIRALS (Kathy Reichs), FIRELIGHT (Sophie Jordan), RECKLESS (Cornelia Funke), DELIRIUM (Lauren Oliver), BIRTH OF A KILLER (Darren Shan), INSIDE OUT (Maria V. Snyder), RED MOON RISING (Peter Moore), DUST (Joan Francis Turner), SHADOW HILLS (Anastasia Hopcus) and MORE!

I am sorry :(

There were so many, many entries and I need more time, I'm afraid, to add them all before the randomizer can do its work.

Winners shall be announced Monday, June 14th. I'm so sorry, guys. Please excuse my fail?

Contest closed!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for making my Very First, Very Celebratory Contest so epic. Without you guys, it wouldn't have even BEEN a contest, and now, not only have I met lots of new friends, I have so many books I'm looking forward to reading thanks to those awesome first sentences you guys posted. You rock.

And a big round of applause to Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl, Ally Condie, and Kody Keplinger for writing some of the most fabulous books of 2010. I am in awe of their talent.

I am going to be tallying up the entries and then selecting the winners at random over the next day; the winners will be posted some time on Friday, June 11th, before 5pm. If you don't win, fret not, because I have more ARCs in my pile o' books. Many, many more, including: DELIRIUM by Lauren Oliver, FIRELIGHT by Sophie Jordan, I AM NUMBER FOUR by Pittacus Lore, ASCENDANT by Diana Peterfreund, RULES OF ATTRACTION and LEAVING PARADISE by Simone Elkeles, SAPPHIQUE by Catherine Fischer, FORGED by Laurie Halse Anderson, VIRALS by Kathy Reichs, RECKLESS by Cornelia Funke and REVOLUTION by Jennifer Donnelly.*

Oh, and a few more copies of THE DUFF, MATCHED, and BEAUTIFUL DARKNESS, too. I told you about my hoarding tendencies. Do not make fun.

Bottom line: if you stick around, there will be good stuff to come.



*And maybe, MAYBE, you MIGHT be able to tempt me to give away my sole ARC of CLOCKWORK ANGEL by Cassie Clare, if I can bear to part with it. You needed a ticket to snag it, and not many were given away. No promises, but...maybe.

And...we have LINKAGE!

This makes it feel really, REALLY real. Woah.

(click to zoom)

Road Trip Wednesday

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

My love for YA Highway is no secret at this point. I just wish they didn't choose such a hard topic, this time.

This week's topic: How do you know when a project will work out, and when it won't?

Well...THE UNBECOMING is my first book. So, I suppose I should just write about how I knew, when I was writing Book #1, that it was going to work out.

The answer?



This topic made me look back at the first emails I sent after I started writing on May 15th, 2009. Maybe I'll post them, someday. The first people I told ended up being the first soldiers in my Beta Army: Emily L., Becca, Christi, and Mary. There are no words to adequately thank them for everything they've done for me since then, so I'm not even going to try; wait for the acknowledgements, guys. In any case, I sent the very first email about my project to Emily when I was only one day in and had 5,000 of the most sh*teously awful words to show for it. Four days in, I had 12,000 words. At 9 days, I had 21,000 words and posted the above status update to Facebook.

And, as usual, Stephanie was more right than I was. I didn't magically know the project was going to work after I passed 20,000 words; I knew I had to MAKE it work the second I told people I was writing a novel. I had to see it through. And one of the main tasks of my first readers (those nonjudgmental, kind souls) was to encourage me by asking for more words to read every day. If I didn't send them anything, I was subjected to The Shames. I am very motivated by The Shames. So even though my book changed drastically about 60,000 words in, and I had to rewrite virtually all of those words and then some, and then rewrite them all again several times over, I knew I was going to finish THE UNBECOMING because I didn't feel like I had the option of not finishing it. People knew about it. I felt like my first readers (and later readers; the Army expanded to include Stephanie, Emily T., Kate, Natan, and several other awesome friends) were counting on me. I would have felt really, really awful if I didn't finish it.

Did I know I'd get an agent with it? No. Did I know it was going to sell? Definitely not. But the only thing I could control was the story- finishing it, revising it, and trying to improve it with each pass until it became the best book it could be.

And I'm going to keep trying, until it's due :)

Who are you, and what do you want?*

Hello, hello, friends! Since there are now, happily, so many of you (and this DELIGHTS me to no end), I thought it would be wise and prudent and FUN to have a poll. So I can get to know you better. And please, if you feel like it, I would love it so much if you introduced yourself in the comments to this post in addition to clicking on this nifty poll.

Also, there is a second poll. Because I want to know what you all want. What do you want to see on this, yet another writer's blog? Writing advice? Agent interviews? Author interviews? Rants? Cute animal pictures? General shenanigans? Because whatever it is, I want to GIVE it to you. I aim to please.

And without further ado:

WHO ARE YOU?
	I am a friend.
	I am a writer friend.
	I am an agented writer friend.
	I am a published writer friend.
	I am a lawyer friend.
	I am an animal rescuer friend.
	I am not a friend at all. In fact, you suck.
	I DEFY LABELS
pollcode.com free polls

Also, I tried to do another poll to find out what you guys are interested in reading about here, but it won't let me include an option for "writing stuffs." And that's ridiculous. So, I'm going to do it the old fashioned way, and hopefully you'll chime in with comments- what would you like to read about? Writing stuffs? Author interviews? Agent interviews? Rants? Cute animal pictures? General shenanigans? YOU TELL ME!

Thanks, guys. And don't forget- tomorrow is the VERY LAST DAY to enter for The DUFF, MATCHED, and BEAUTIFUL DARKNESS (this time around). So get those entries in!


*And thanks to Hannah Moskowitz for the inspiration!

New York Adventure, Part 2a: BEA, Or, How Holly Black Became The First Stranger To Hear About My Book Deal

I...don't even know what to say to everyone who is now following (and reading) except...thank you. Even if you are only here for the ARCs. It still means a lot that you're here. And I am now desperate to read SO many books you have excerpted in the comments! So many books, so little time.

Speaking of, check out my BEA haul:



That first stack is not from BEA. Those are just books I own and love. Also, my cat killed my camera, so all I have is this crappy cell phone picture. Here is a slightly better one:



And many of them are for YOU!

But I digress. BEA.

Last Wednesday, I woke up at 7am. Alright, 7:30. Alright, 7:45. I was supposed to meet the fabulous Ms. Fox on some street corner in the East Village. We were both running a little late, but we met. Then we tried to catch a cab.

We had no luck.

So we caught the bus. The very, very, very slow bus. But on that bus, Diana met a friend! I do not remember the name of her friend, but she was very nice. And she worked in publishing. This helped demonstrate a very important lesson: publishing is a small, small world. And New York is also a small, small world. You should remember that every time you are tempted to tweet about that rejection. People will KNOW.

Ahem. Moving on. When we finally got to the Javitz center, it was 9-ish already. Mercenaries like General Townsend had already done their sweep. I was supposed to meet up with the super talented Shana Silver, Shelli Johannes and Jen Hayley but I was late and it was loud and it didn't happen. So, Diana and I wandered a bit trying to find things on our list. But it wasn't frenetic. Not yet. Not until we got in line for Justin Cronin's signing of The Passage.

Then shiz got real.

We were TWO people away from him when they ran out of books. TWO. I almost burst into tears right then. Diana almost had to smack me across the face and tell me to snap out of it. Almost. Luckily, I am easily distracted and there were many, many shiny copies of MATCHED by Ally Condie being given away to help ease the pain. I grabbed some. No, I will not tell you how many because it is embarrassing. Suffice it to say that YOU will benefit from the largess, alright?

Shortly thereafter, I received the good word that I was allowed to share my very, very good news with people at BEA. That was supremely happy-making. But Diana already knew the good news, so I just kind of swayed back and forth and collected ARCs until I went to a paranormal panel with Richelle Mead (VAMPIRE ACADEMY), Andrea Cremer (NIGHTSHADE), Ivy Devlin (LOW RED MOON) and Holly Black (MODERN FAERIETALE TRILOGY, THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES, WHITE CAT, ZOMBIES VS. UNICORNS- THE WORLD!!!!!)

The panel was awesome. And guess what I did after the panel?

I went up to Holly Black (who is not only talented, but really pretty) to congratulate her on the supreme awesomeness that is WHITE CAT. Have you read it yet? If not, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR IT IS GENIUS!!!

And while I was telling her what an inspiration she was and how talented she was and generally fangirling all over the place, she was so nice that I might have let it slip that I had gotten a book deal the night before.

And she asked me the title of my book.

Readers, each time I think my life can't possibly get better, it does. Holly Black congratulated me. If that's not a modern fairytale*, I don't know what is.




*See what I did there?

My Very First, Very Celebratory Contest

As you know, I have recently had some good news to share.

So, to celebrate, I now have some good news for you: I am giving away not one, not two, but FOUR of the most anticipated and buzzed-about ARCs I scored at BEA last week. One winner will receive BEAUTIFUL DARKNESS by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl and MATCHED by Ally Condie, and another winner will receive THE DUFF by Kody Keplinger and MATCHED by Ally Condie.

Two winners. Four books. Cue squealing.



Ethan Wate used to think of Gatlin, the small Southern town he had always called home, as a place where nothing ever changed. Then he met mysterious newcomer Lena Duchannes, who revealed a secret world that had been hidden in plain sight all along. A Gatlin that harbored ancient secrets beneath its moss-covered oaks and cracked sidewalks. A Gatlin where a curse has marked Lena's family of powerful supernaturals for generations. A Gatlin where impossible, magical, life-altering events happen.

Sometimes life-ending.

Together they can face anything Gatlin throws at them, but after suffering a tragic loss, Lena starts to pull away, keeping secrets that test their relationship. And now that Ethan's eyes have been opened to the darker side of Gatlin, there's no going back. Haunted by strange visions only he can see, Ethan is pulled deeper into his town's tangled history and finds himself caught up in the dangerous network of underground passageways endlessly crisscrossing the South, where nothing is as it seems.

Publication date: October 12th, 2010



Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical and loyal, and she doesn't think she's the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She's also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her "Duffy," she throws her Coke in his face.

But things aren't so great at home right now. Desperate for a distraction, Bianca ends up kissing Wesley. And likes it. Eager for escape, she throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with Wesley.

Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out that Wesley isn't such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she's falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.

Publication date: September 7th, 2010



In the Society, Officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die.

Cassia has always trusted their choices. It’s barely any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one . . . until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path no one else has ever dared follow—between perfection and passion.

Matched is a story for right now and storytelling with the resonance of a classic.

Publication date: November 30th 2010

GIVEAWAY
Those who know me know I have a thing for first sentences. So, to enter, comment on this post with your favorite first sentence- it doesn't have to be from your favorite book. Hell, it doesn't even have to be your favorite first sentence- I'll settle for one you just really, really like. Or one that really, really intrigues you. I am not picky.

Remember to leave your name and your email address so I know how to find you, though. I will be picky about that.

And for extra entries:

+1 New followers of this here blog
+2 If you're already a follower of this here blog
+1 New followers on Twitter
+2 If you're already a follower on Twitter
+1 Linking to my contest on your blog, twitter, etc. Include links. (up to 5)
+3 For posting about my contest on your blog. (Must be an actual post)
+2 Add me to your blog roll
+3 for referring someone to the contest
+3 for being the person referred

And please, for the sake of my delicate sanity, tally up your entries in your comments so I can add them easier. Me + math don't mix. Winners will be selected randomly, so even if you choose "The night was humid," as your favorite first sentence, you can still win. And I won't judge you.

Also, contest is open internationally unless you live in Antarctica. I am sorry, Antarcticans. I love you, but maybe you should live somewhere more accessible. Just saying.

The contest will end June 9th at 11:59 pm Eastern time. Winner will be announced June 11th. Good night, good luck, and even if you don't enter, please know that I am grateful that you even read this. Really.

New York Adventure, Part 1 - The Book Deal

Last Tuesday, I went to New York.

The original reason for my trip was for the Backspace Writer's Conference. The conference features panels with literary agents and authors I admire on subjects like "What Literary Agents Want," and "You Can Plot. Really." (OMG did I get a ton out of that one- thanks Gayle Lynds!). But the main reason I wanted to go was to snag a literary agent.

Because, you see, back in March, I didn't have one.

I'd been working on my book for a little less than ten months at that point, and I had hit a wall. I was pretty happy with the characterization, the voice, and the dialogue. I was not so sure the plot worked, or whether the pacing held up during certain scenes in the manuscript. But my Beta Army didn't have too much more to say, and I was flummoxed. So when an agent announced another Backspace contest- offering scholarships to attend the conference to four writers with finished manuscripts - I wrung my hands and gnashed my teeth. I wanted to enter, but was my manuscript really, really, FINISHED? Was it as GOOD AS IT COULD POSSIBLY BE? I did not know, so I asked everyone I did know. I only have one novelist member of my Beta Army, and that is my genius friend Stephanie . When the Backspace deadline was upon me and I couldn't decide whether to send in my entry, she made the choice easy.

She told me she'd stop being my friend if I didn't enter.

Now, I don't have all that many friends, so I couldn't afford to lose her. I ran out of the house, but the post office had closed, so I had to FedEx my entry. I did. Then I waited.

A few weeks later, right before the winners were announced, I got a strange email. It was from a literary agent. She was one of the judges assembled to sort through the entries, and she said she loved my query and first two pages when she saw them in the pile, and wanted me to send her the full.

I did. And she wanted to represent it. I made a few changes, and then my book went out on submission.

When I first started this whole writing thing last year, I did not think I could be more attached to my inbox than I already was. Folks, there is nothing quite like being on submission. I found myself crouched and dirty, clutching my laptop and cell phone in the corner of my bedroom, startling at loud noises. It wasn't pretty.

In a week, my agent called me to tell me we had an offer. A few days later, she called to tell me it had become an auction.

If there really are no words to describe how it feels to have a real, professional editor say that not only did they like your book, but they want to PAY you for it (and there aren't), there are even fewer words to describe how it feels to have multiple editors say the same thing.

I was floored. When Simon & Schuster Children's won the auction last week, I was in New York City. I'd extended my trip to attend BEA (Book Expo America), and that night, I was at a restaurant with one of my brothers. When I told him the news, we just looked at each other. It did not sink in. During the auction, I had talked to my editor, Courtney Bongiolatti on the phone, and her feedback was insightful and perfect. I couldn't believe I was going to get the chance to work with her on making my book the best it could possibly be.

And so, in the blink of an eye, I became an author.

Like someone younger and wiser has recently said, it is a blessing. A gift. And I won't be taking it for granted, either.