Welcome to my often weekly In My Mailbox Post, exploring the cool books that I got this week. This meme is hosted by the awesome Kristi of The Story Siren.
2. Lock and Key, Sarah Dessen (audio)-because I hate to admit it, but I've never read a Sarah Dessen before (please don't throw rocks) and I'm going to meet her on November 22, so I'm getting ready!
3. Lips Touch Three Times, Laini Taylor (squeee!)
4. Fallen, Lauren Kate super thanks to Joanne for sending this!
Whew! Pretty epic week for me:-)
So Shannon over at Ramblings of a Wannabe Scribe and I are now exchanging our WIPs. I think it has something to do with the fact that we are both not receiving proper fall weather in our respective sides of the US, and I have a December goal of finishing my revision and she has January and we are both doing The Intern's unoffical Nanorevismo that brought us together, and she might be insane for agreeing to work with me, but mostly because we clicked:-)
Let me tell you, if you can get Shannon to look at your WIP, OMG....she is hardcore and will point out every little thing you were hoping to sneak into that long sentence, sprinkle with fairy dust and pray that your future agent/editor/reader/electrician would just look the other way and not see.
Adverb? Huh, what adverb? Me? There? Nooooooooo.
Adverbs of the world beware.
Shannon will find you. Hopefully my extensive adverbolism won't traumatize her too much. I'm trying to quit I really am. There's twelve steps and...oh whatever. She's kicking my butt and I'm simultaneously taking deep breathes and feeling wowed and excited to make changes.
It's interesting that she is now pointing out some things that my newest critique partner Kelly is finding. Apparently every reading has it's own issues, because my alphas never said a thing about these things-go figure. I guess that's why we need the alphas and the betas and the gammas and please God don't let me need anymore after that.
So anyway my goal is to finish my own revisions of chapters 11 and 12 because then I will have gotten to the moment of the imaginary curtain call. If my book were to be transformed into a play, the end of chapter 12 would definitely be the moment for intermission, so for my own sanity and because that means I finished chunk 2 of 4, that's my plan for this week and then I'm going to go back and start applying Shannon's changes. Woooooo. But you know what, I'm getting there.
And I have to say that despite the deep breathes, I'm kind of surprised at the backbone I think I developed, or is it thick skin? Whatever you want to call it (just don't say I have a thick head, no one likes having one of those), I think a year ago I would have been traumatized by these comments, but right now I'm just like "Ok, let's go! Bring it!"
Remember my meltdown a few weeks ago that I like to bring up all the time, when Atiya said that a scene wasn't working and the FNC concurred? Well that scene is like 1,000 times better than before and so is the portion of chapter 10 that I hacked. So I'm feeling pretty good, because I know that everytime I'm forced to go back and cut, the book only gets better.
So yeah...
Also, I saw Paranormal Activity tonight, dragged by my BFF kicking and screaming the whole way, and luckily it didn't scare me! So now I'm going to go to bed and enjoy my extra hour.
Oh and if anyone was wondering about my costume.
Let's just say I donned a certain faux leather jacket, tall boots and my hair long dark and straight. Any guesses?
We all have our favorite movies, the favorite movies we post in our profiles and on our facebook pages and can admit to total strangers, "Oh yeah, that is my favorite movie." You know the one that got the oscar nomination, the really artsy one, the one by that creative director who no one understood who died...
Then there are your favorite movies that you might post on your profile, maybe on your facebook page and probably tell your friends about after you've known them for at least a couple of weeks. You know the ones that starred the guy on the cover of that magazine last month, the one with the bad acting but still made a killing at the box office, the one that EVERYONE has seen, and well, look he was REALLY hot.
But then...
There are those movies that you know you've watched like 100 times and you know it's a bad movie, and you know no one likes it and you know that no one should like it because its horrible and you're not even sure you really like this movie very much yourself-in fact you know you don't like it, but for some crazy reason, you just keep watching it. You know what I'm talking about, right? Right? (Please please tell me I'm not the only one) It's that movie that just seems to always be on tv and like a car crash you can't take your eyes away and if you looked deep deep deep deep down inside yourself you know that you kind of, sort of like the movie, I mean not really, not at all, ok fine, just a little bit, a teeny tiny bit...
Ok so I'm going to come clean and admit what my most embarassing favorite horrible movie is...
This movie is TERRIBLE! It's not funny! It's not romantic! It's not even cute! Don't ask me why I like watch it so much. Granted Ryan Reynolds is HOT, but he's NOT in this movie, like at all.
There are some wonderful moments in the movie, like when the girl from the Scary Movie movies plays the role of the totally insane pop singer Britney Spears Samantha James...for the record I love Britney Spears-don't judge! Oh hey look at this scene!
But yeah, it's totally Halloween and I should either be working on my revision or at least watching my favorite Halloween movies (Practical Magic and Hocus Pocus) but nope, had to watch Just Friends which is really more of a Christmas movie, but there you go.
Now please please please save me from my embarassment and tell me your favorite embarassing movie.
I have been so jealous of everyone who signed up for Nanowrimo, like REALLY jealous because I LOVE writing first drafts, they're the best! They're fun and inspiring, and your mind is uber creative and expanding and the best part is...they are allowed to be crap. Yeah! Plus everyone is doing it and I like to join things too...
But revisions...now that's where the pressure comes in. This is when you've slowed down and you're thinking straight and you're being analytical and wondering if those color changing flowers in chapter 9 are really necessary to the plot (um...they TOTALLY are!). But those of us who are revising our little butts off deserve a little month named after our plight too!
I'm a few pages away from finishing my edit on chapter 10. I started yesterday, so it's not like I've been spending an extraordinarily long amount of time on this chapter (at least not by my own standards-I've been known to revise a single chapter for months on end coughChapterOnecough). But I feel like this chapter is DRAGGING the lifeforce out of me. It is kind of a transitional chapter which is probably the problem. The centerpiece of the chapter...is a kind of awkward/hot scene between my two little lovies. My critique group has been very ANTI this scene, though a lot of my alpha readers seemed to enjoy it.
I did a post recently on how awesome my critique group is, and while getting feedback is important, you also need to know when to listen to other people and when not to. A lot of things you do with your manuscript have to come from your gut, because really only you know how to tell your story and only you know what's best for it.
Personally, although I knew this awkward scene wasn't working I still liked it. So I've been trying to fix it, but I'm getting easily distracted, checking out blogs, er...writing this blog post. And normally I have super tunnel vision when it comes to the times I work on my book (usually).
This whole chapter feels like its taking forever and it kind of reminds me of something Rachel Vincent posted recently. When she gets tired or bored revising her manuscript she knows it means that part needs to go, so now I think I need to cut this scene. Actually I'm kind of feeling like I want to cut this whole chapter...but let's not get crazy.
Definitely this scene at least... The whole chapter at the moment can't go anywhere, it does have some crucial plot points and clues in it, but yeah...
Ok...this is kind of painful, but I'm going to do it, I'm getting out the knife...brb...
I did it! I feel kind of relieved, but my problem isn't solved. I still have a bunch of dialogue weaved in that does need to stay...so I just have to find a way to bring that in with maybe a different setting. Hmmmm.
Well now that I just liposuctioned my novel in a big way (I guess since this is the middle of the WIP it was like a tummy tuck) I'll give you a word count update and all that.
Chapters Revised: 9 and 3/4 (like the platform)
Chapters Remaining: 12 and 1/4
Page Count: 489! Well this is exciting...this was the amount of pages I ended up with after the first draft.
Word Count: 144, 800 (much nicer and lower number than before) Woohoo!
K, back to work!
UPDATE!
So the scene I cut...technically I only cut half of it...I know I'm such a liar, but the half I didn't cut was mostly the dialogue I thought I had to keep. Well...I just went back and totally hacked that out too. I realized the dialogue could be cut in half and also moved to the final scene of the chapter and so now my WIP has an even bigger (or is it smaller) tummy tuck.
New Stats!
Chapters Revised: 9 and 6/8
Chapters Remaing: 12 and 2/8
Page Count: 486 (OH MAN!)
Word Count: 144,070 (SQUEE!)
Ok, some words are about to be put back in, but now I feel like I'm getting somewhere, whoo!
So you guys remember how I got seduced by the wrist massaging Israeli guys outside of Borders? Well, my beloved sister Eva has recently become a Mary Kay consultant. And of course I am now her BEST customer ever! I mean, I'm totally hopeless around salespeople. I am, it's pathetic. And I know exactly what they're doing to me. I can parse their argument to pieces in my head and analyze their use of language (because I'm an English professor) and seek out their methods of manipulation (because I'm a Psych professor) but I suck and they always get me! And now my own flesh and blood is selling things and well...I have a brand new facial regime-we'll leave it at that. So in honor of sibling love, though I claimed I was the BEST sibling in my ABCs, here is a link to her page.
Ok now that's out of the way, I want to give you a small demo about the kind of week I am having.
(This scene has been recreated from my memory and not embellished at all). No really.
Liz, the barrista: Well! Look who's come strolling in here after 9!
Frankie: I know! I'm so tired!
Liz: Aha
Frankie's Head: Flops on the counter
Liz: A vanilla soy latte?
Frankie's Thumb: Gives the thumbs up sign
Liz: Oh no. Better make it a venti.
Which leads me to this, my mini rant! Because this is just the sort of week for a rant (my first one in fact!)
I've been listening to this YA book on in my ipod and really enjoying it-that was until I got to this one part which I have now realized is my biggest pet peeve in literature. I've seen a lot of writers blog about their pet peeves or things that they try to fix or edit out, but my thing is a lot less common and to the best of my knowledge no one has discussed this yet. So I will.
Ok, you know how in some books, a sort of side character will suddenly come along and have REALLY important backstory to share? Usually it involves some kind of great revelation or secret, or confession. Right? That's fine, except...then the side character goes right into telling you the main character the entire story from their point of view. I'm still ok with this, fine, some people have a backstory that the author worked very hard to create and it needs to be shared. BUT, then the said character suddenly loses their voice, and they go into this loooooooong drawn out, highly detailed description of their story that sounds nothing like how anyone in the history of the world has told a story outloud to another person before.
I could have told you that when I got my Israeli wrist massage, I was wearing my hair down and could feel the air conditioning in the mall softly brushing the waves cooly off my neck, and that on the other side of the mall there was a mother pushing her crying child in the stroller. But I didn't. Because I wouldn't tell you that when I'm telling a story about me. Ok maybe I would if that moment was truly epic, but it wasn't. Anyway, certain details are fine, but when the author starts throwing in all kinds of similes and metaphors and too many adverbs...it's a big warning sign that the character has left the building and the author has stepped in. Another big warning sign...when the storyteller (as so often happens in YA) is much older and maybe telling a story about the MC's parents, except they start referring to the MCs parents by their first name. Why?
Let me freely quote Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban The Movie for you!
Lupin: Harry, you have the same eyes as your mother. Your mother was kind to me at a time when no one else was.
Notice the way Lupin referred to Lily as "your mother" because he is talking to Harry. It wouldn't have been appropriate for him to refer to her any other way, unless he was talking to Dumbledore or someone who knew her as Lily and not Mom.
Has your grandmother ever come up to you and told you a story about your dad when he was a kid? I bet she said something like, "when your father was your age..." not, "oh when Tom turned five..." Because you're probably thinking Tom who? I know this guy named Dad, but Tom?
Also extensive dialogue. Sure, people remember a few phrases here and there and there may have been one or two extremely important and epic quotes, but really, when you're telling the MC the truth about the last thirty years of your life, you don't need to say what everyone said at every moment. How do you remember that? I didn't remember you having super memory listed as one of your character traits in the last 200 pages of this book. Also why is your voice so different?
So basically, when this happens it totally pulls me out of the story and I don't want to be pulled out, I like being in. I know we as writers do a lot of backstory and we love our backstory and want to use it and we totally imagined the way someone looked at someone else thirty years ago, but really, unless you have a pensieve, or the ability to time travel, or your storytelling character has been overly detailed all along...some darlings have to be killed, or summarized.
Do you guys notice this? Does it bother you? Or is it just me? Is there some little thing you find in books that totally pulls you out of the story? Just wondering...
Well now with that bit of negativity out of the way, here's a writing update for you.
I'm about to start editing chapter 10. 3 more chapters to go in my 2nd chunk of 6. I've been getting some really nice feedback and I'm really excited about how these chapters are starting to shape up.
So chapters revised: 9
Chapters to go:13!
Total Page Count: 493
Total Word Count: 146, 289 ( I swear I'm cutting words like crazy!)
It appears that I have been tagged, by the lovely Sarah of Sarah with a Chance fame. So now I must tell you guys all sorts of crazy things about me that you never cared to know, but you must...because in the game of blogger tag there are no safe spots! And well who am I kidding, I LOVE talking about myself (we all do, there's a reason facebook's 25 things lasted so long), so without further ado...here are Frankie's ABC's!!!
Available or in a relationship? OMG seriously this is the first question? Well while Sarah has Johhny Depp and Ryan Gosling...I am very, very available at the moment. Please send back up, my grandmom is looking at me funny:-)
Best friend? My BFFs are Allison from the 4th grade and Atiya (who I'm dedicating my first book to) from the 2nd grade! Grade school BFFs are always epic! The FNC chicas have also earned this title:-)
Cake or Pie? Sarah, I have to tell you something too...I don't like pie either! Wierd huh! BUT, I do LOVE Pumpkin Pie-it's my one exception. So as you can guess, I'm a cake girl, all the way! (Just-so-long-as-its-vegan-cake)
Drink of choice? Green Smoothies!! I love them and they are yummy and make me feel soooo good inside. However, I am on a first name basis with every barrista within a twenty mile radius of my house and they all know my order...vanilla soy latte. No really. I think even some of the booksellers at Barnes and Noble who cover the cafe for a few minutes while the barristas take their breaks know my order. It's sad, really...um, next question?
Essential item for everyday use? The internets...so we can meet up everyday:-)
Favorite color? Nooooooo not this question, OMG please don't make me choose. I'm terrible at this because I'm very picky about colors being certain shades and tone and not all purples were created equal and I like different colors for different items depending on the thing.
You see what I mean? I'd NEVER drive a purple car, and I'd never have an all red blog. I could go on, but I'll leave some mystery behind...
Google? Ohhhh this is my daily essential, I change my answer.
Hometown? It is called Cheltenham. There's one in England too. That makes me happy.
Indulgences? Socks! I love crazy cozy socks and I own way too many of them. The frillier they are the better too. I just got a pair with pink bows that tie just under my knees. They're fun!
January or February? Hmmmm, usually February because it's closer to spring than January and also closer to my birthday which I like to think of as being an honorary member of February because if me and Dr. Seuss and Jon Bon Jovi (my birthday soulmates) had been born and February was a NORMAL month with 30 days, our birthdays would have been February 30th and my birthstone would have been an amethyst instead of aquamarine. I don't know why these things concern me, I should probably check in with Jon to see how he feels about the birthstone arrangement.
Kids and their names? Not yet, though at least once a week at least one of the many kids I babysit for will accidentally call me mom...
Life is incomplete without? Writing! Ain't dat da truth!
Marriage date? I don't know, you tell me, have you sent the back up yet? Are they here? Seriously, my grandmother is breathing down my throat! Help!
Number of siblings. 4! I'm one of five, in fact I'm the best of five, I'm the oldest. Yeah I said it. What are you going to do about it? Go ahead. Leave a comment, see if I care!
Oranges or apples? Oh boy get ready for another little known fact about Frankie! Apple (no really) was my first word! I was way too cool for that mama and dada crap.
Phobias and fears? My biggest fear is always something happening to one of my siblings. Those are actually my only kind of nightmares, they were much more frequent when I was a kid and we were all younger. I was so scared of kidnappers. No phobias, I don't think...
Quote for the day? Ok so I just googled "quote of the day" and here's what I got. "Friends may come and go, but enemies accumulate." Thomas Jones (1892-1969) Oh great! I need a fortune cookie to undo that one.
Reason to smile? The WIP is really getting Whipped into shape and I'm in love with lots of parts.
Season? Fall! I LOVE fall. I love the colors, the way the trees look, the fact that its cold and the weather for lots of cozy socks with frilly ribbons, but not cold enough that you'd rather eat slugs than go outside. Plus there are a ton of holidays and I LOVE me some Halloween and to-furkey Thanksgivings. Plus back to school shopping, which I will be convinced I need to do for the rest of my life no matter what.
If you were to do your own TV show (Sarah thinks that this the question - she also thinks it looks funky-I'll take her at her word), what would it be? Ok is this like I can create any tv show I want? Or like this is the Frankie show? Here's what I really want to watch on tv, this is what I am going to produce (I promise) once I have lots of production money set aside. I want My-So-Called-Life back on the air, and I want it now. I want Angela, I WANT Rayenne, I NEED Jordan Catalono for my life to be complete and I want everything the same as it was, big baggy flannel shirts and grunge and doc martens. So we will be recasting and reshooting the original nine episodes and then with our new cast, things will continue and we will finally know if Angela and Rayenne ever make up, if Ricky ever finds love, if Brain Krakow steals Angela from Jordan, if Jordan ever learns how to say Brian's name properly and if Tino will ever EVER make an appearance on the show.
Unknown fact about me? More? Ok...well from about the time I was 9-ish until I turned 13...(oh this is so embarassing) my absolute most favorite song EVER! like I bought the cassette tape (yes the cassette tape) because they didn't have the single in the music store was this....
Did you see the shear amazingness that was Haddaway? This might explain a lot...oh wait, a minute...look at this! At 2:38 begins the greatest dance scene EVER! When the back up arrives, I will be using this choreography for my wedding!
Vegetable you hate? Peas! I told you before, and my opinions on the little green turds are not changing.
Worst habit? Arriving 5 minutes late to things...my friends have even dubbed it Frankie Time and I now suspect that I'm being told false times to arrive at things...
X-Rays you've had? Umm on my teeth and one time on my shoulder when I thought my first week of college I found a bump and was absolutetly convinced I was dying and then it turned out that I had just strained my shoulder from carrying too many textbooks around.
Your favorite food? Mangoes! Mangoes! Mangoes! I even invented a word for how I feel when I eat a mango...They give me mangorgasms.
Zodiac? Pisces! Sun sign and ascending which means I'm as pisces as you can get!
Ok, that was a whole lot about me! And now I think I shall pass the baton onto Shannon Messenger who gave me my first award, is also experiencing kooky weather and is having a contest to win a book (hey does this give me more points?) and will likely tell you about the time she was almost an extra in a soft core porn. So Shannon, Tag your it!
Just in case you were wondering, I have some pretty powerful and important friends, like mega powerful and they let me in on a little secret today that I thought I'd share with you.
Fall has been canceled this year.
Yep, sorry, no fall. The leaves are changing colors and they're falling off the trees, but there will be no fall as in no crisp cool dry weather.
Instead you can enjoy a mix of winter and summer, preferably occuring on alternate days, back to back to keep things interesting. This was determined in a really big conference over the summer when no one could decide whether to extend summer in place of fall or bring winter early, so the two sides compromised. And now we got both. Enjoy:-)
You guys know Donna, Sara and Janine at the FNC, right? Have I ever mentioned the fact that they are AWESOME and insightful and full of great advice? Well they are. They are probably the greatest critique group a girl could ask for. Because they are fierce, and they aren't afraid to rip me apart.
I once sat in Starbucks with them, like a year ago when I was still fussing with my opening and I had a brand new one that I truly truly loved! I mean it was deep, we were engaged. And so since it was so new, I read it to them right there at the table, thinking I'd wow them to pieces and they'd say "Yes, Frankie, you finally did it. This is your opening! Throw the confetti!" What actually happened, was I said the last word of my opening, looked up (eyes wide) and Donna (I swear) yelled "NO!" vehemently across the table.
LOL.
And you know what? She was right.
I mentioned having a bit of a minor breakdown a few weeks ago over some critiques I got. I should also mention that one of my best friends, Atiya who I'm dedicating the book too also has some kick-butt insight though she isn't a writer.
Anyway this one scene was brought up that I thought wasn't a big deal-actually I thought it was quite good. But apparently it was quite controversial and wrong. And so reluctantly, I changed it, and changed it again and again and again.
Ok I'm getting to my point here, I promise!
So a few weekends ago at the SCBWI Fall Philly, Sara and I met Kelly another YA fantasy writer and we recently switched emails and WIPS to critique. Hi Kelly!
Well Kelly wrote me yesterday to tell me she finished the portion I sent (and I'm finishing yours today:) and she specifically pointed out "I was smiling and reread that part where...(Insert controversial scene)."
This just proves that even though critiques sometimes bite, when you have someone who knows what they are doing critiquing you, you get sweet comments from readers who are going back to reread parts-I can't think of any bigger compliment than that of someone wanting to read something you wrote twice.
So me and the manuscript are still in love:-) Though it took a bajillion rewrites and several break downs to get there.
Just got back from seeing the Pennsylvania Ballet Company perform, and I thought I'd share with you what goes on inside my head when I see a ballet. See...ok I'm a dancer and I LOVE dance and I can pretty much watch any kind of dancing from any part of the world and be mesmerized. But for some reason, ballet and me...we just don't see eye to eye. It's kind of over my head. But my aunt LOVES ballet and she has season tickets and I love getting to spend time with her and while me and the ballet aren't in love, we have a mutual appreciation for each other. So I attend the shows.
So perhaps this is because my knowledge of ballet comes from one year of classes when I was five and the movie Center Stage. But when I'm watching the ballet, I find I can't concentrate on the dancing itself or whatever storyline is being presented. All I can think about is...I wonder if the male principle dancer is sleeping with the female principle, or has he already gone through the chorus.
Is that horrible of me?
So while they're up there twirling around and prancing, I'm trying to decide if the blond girl on the left is a total prima donna and tried to outdo her best friend, the red head on the right, by practicing for an extra hour everyday without telling anyone just so she could be placed one row up in the chorus line.
And before I know it, there is a veritable soap opera in my head going off about how that one guy in the back row has a crush on the girl to his right but he is forced to lift the girl on his left and nobody wants to lift her because she has some superstitions about wearing deoderant on opening night, while the girl in the middle won't talk to anybody EVER because it messes with her craft, while the guy on the far left row is furious that the choreographer placed him back there because they stopped sleeping together a month ago and if the female lead could just stop being so perfect all the time, maybe someone else would have a shot at fame. OMGzzz. Suddenly the ballet becomes a lot more interesting in my mind.
Now this is probably a horrible side effect of the writing life, you literally CAN NOT STOP making up stories about everybody, no matter the situation, all the time. I mean ALL the time! So yeah, it was quite the spectacle this evening -that ballet company is one sordid lot and nobody even knew!
I love you. I love you so much right now, you're everything to me. We've been through a lot of ups and downs. I've torn you in half. I've thrown you in the trash. I've deleted you and started you over and deleted you and started you over and deleted you and ...you're right I shouldn't bring that up anymore. But right now...at least the part of you that's revised...well look I love the rest of you based upon the promise that you'll be more like the revised chapters....but anyway, right now...I just want to hug you and love you and squeeze you. You're becoming exactly what I want you to be, going from a horribly mutated misshapen piece of play doh, to a sculpture....a partially revised sculpture.
Geez, can't you take a compliment. I mean honestly, I tell you I love you and look! I've never felt this way about my manuscript before. And it's all because of you:) Mwah, smooches!
Also check out my review of Ballad at the FNC. I loved it. Oh and there's a post there about my favorite quarreling couples:-)
Unfortunately I didn't get to do any big revisions today, just a few little tweaks--still waiting to do chapter 9, because I had to do all sorts of professor like things--my students better be grateful! I mean, I do this because I love it. But...you know what I mean.
So tomorrow means its almost Friday and I have some big writing plans for this weekend! Yay!
Oh Hai Kreativ Blogger Award. How are you today? I'm fine, thanks for asking, feeling a little sniffly, it's part of my feeling flu-ey. Oh thank you, I hope I feel better soon too. So umm....like....what are you doing here on my blog? Where did you come from? Shannon sent you? Oh well that was very nice of her, you must go tell her thank you! I'm supposed to tell her thank you? Well then what do you do? Sit there and look pretty? That's it? I have to do all the work? Wait, I have to nominate 7 other people! You're kidding! KB, that's a lot of work and you know I'm feeling flu-ey AND sniffly AND I need to revise chapter 9. Ok, ok you're right, I should totally nominate seven other blogs. But that's going to be hard. Why? Well I...subscribe to a lot of blogs. NO I'm not an easy reader! I resent that KB! Ok fine! You know what, go sit over on my sidebar, yeah...right there and look pretty and I'm going to take care of this.
:-)
Hehehe! Just kidding! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Shannon of Ramblings of a Wannabe Scribe for my first ever blogger award at Frankie Writes! Squeeeee! I'm thrilled and I'm thrilled to pass the award along! Thanks so much for thinking of me and my habit of talking to inaminate objects and actually finding it amusing.
And now: The Rules (Here's where de award gets Sir-ious)
1. Copy the Kreativ Blogger picture and post it on your page
2. Thank the person who gave it to you and link back to their blog
3. Write seven things about you that we don't know
4. Choose seven other bloggers that you would like to give the award to
5. Link to the bloggers that you choose
6. Let the winners know that they have the lovely award.
7 Things You Didn't Know About Frankie!
Geez what with my talking to things that can't talk back and my story about the unisex bathrooms, what else could you possibly need to know...let me think...really hard....OK, got em!
1. I HATE PEAS! I really do, with passion. I won't eat them, no matter what. No, you can't make me!
2. I can recite word for word (including the music used for montage scenes) of Clueless. It's sick.
3. I can also do this for the Leo/Claire version of Romeo and Juliet I um...have a really good audio memory.
4. When I was 4, I was CONVINCED that it was illegal for girls to wear anything but skirts and dresses and would throw fits about how I didn't want to go to jail if my mom showed me pants in the morning. I have no clue...
5. My newest secret life goal is to become a racecar driver, you know, on the side in between book signings. I really LOVE driving...fast.
6. My mom almost named me Fiona Mallis, but apparently Fiona Mallis translated to Bad Wine, and my dad nixed it. So then I had no name for a week and then I became Frankie Mallis which basically means I'm an evil Frenchman. Thanks alot, Mom and Dad! There is another translation though of Frankie Diane which means Divine Spear...so that's what I tell people. And until I'm married, I'll still be evil.
7. I actually love my name despite the interesting translations. It's an automatic ice breaker when I meet new people. Only about 1 out of every 150 people I meet (yes I did calculations, very scientifically) won't ask me anything about my name or comment. But 25% of the people I meet will sing "Frankie and Johnny" to me, 77% will say my name is cool, 85% will ask if my name is short for something, and 84% will ask what my real name is...And those numbers don't add up at all...Oh look at the time, got to go!
Now my award must go on...to 7 highly deserving bloggers!
Ok, still fighting off this flu-ey feeling-seriously feeling just go away, you're not invited. But I have managed to do another revision of chapter 8.
Here are some stats:
Chapters Revised: 8
Chapters Remaining: 14 (I think I can meet my December deadline, just need to keep going!)
Total Page Count: 493...hmmm same as yesterday and I did some MAJOR cutting in this chapter
Total Word Count: 146, 790....hmmmm more than yesterday. I swear I CUT!
Oh well. Now the good news is I get to work on chapter 9! Yay!
And because I had a moment last night where my brain went from fully functioning to temporary insanity, and I said I'd post a small excerpt, I'm going to do it.
So a little Snippet for you. My MC Lilliana is having a small flashback at her birthday party.
After a pretty awesome meeting with the FNC yesterday-small fun tidbit about our meeting. We sat at a table next to a high school English teacher grading papers who came over to tell us how much she enjoyed listening to us discuss our work with each other so passionately and that she kept hoping we were doing this for fun and not for a class. It was really nice to hear how much she appreciated that and that she hoped her students would turn out the same way-so hello to you if you are reading, it was nice meeting you:)- anyway we discussed how chapter one has been giving me some problems.
For a while I've known it was problematic and I just had gotten to a point where I didn't even know what to do to fix it. Chapter one you have plagued me in many incarnations for a very long time. But finally, the FNC made a suggestion that I really liked and I went ahead and did it and now I think it really works. Of course I am free to change my mind and the FNC has yet to see the result and give a verdict, but today I'm pretty happy.
I went about making a few other changes and really I'm loving the first quarter of my book right now. And finally finally finally, after like a million set backs and freak outs and meltdowns, I revised chapter 7. Wooo!
So here's some stats for you:
Chapters Revised: 7
Chapters Remaining: 15
Total Word Count: 146, 459
Total Page Count: 493....scary!!!
On the downside, I totally feel all flu-ey. Ick. But at least my chapters kick butt. I think I may even post an excerpt tomorrow...if I'm feeling brave...that or bake chocolate pumpkin cupcakes. Maybe I'll do both.
OMG! Can you believe that I haven't blogged since last Thursday. EEEEk! I think it's been awhile since I stepped away from the blog for so long, but this past week has been Cr-azy what with my tire going splat, and the co-ed bathrooms freaking me out, plus I had a bajillion papers and portfolios to grade and a little thing that felt like the flu but wasn't quite has been hounding me all week and still won't leave me alone. Go AWAY flu-like thing. I don't like you.
Anyway my absence got me thinking, now that I'm back, how did I become such an obsessive blogger? And I realized in very Freudian fashion, it's because of my mother. See, two summers ago when I really started blogging (I had a false start, deleted everything then started again), I was in Scotland. And my mom wanted me to take pictures of everything and blog so she could keep up with me. Well I took her words quite literally because I did take pictures of EVERYTHING and I blogged just about everyday, posting pictures, talking about my adventures in Scotland and explaining historical monuments, and hairy coos and how to pay with pounds (if you go into my summer 2008 archives you won't even need to make the trip there, seriously I took it for you). If I went a day without blogging, my mom got really worried, because this was her main source of connecting to me when I was so so so far away. So this is where I think I picked up the habit of doing the blog daily. And then wierd weeks happen, but now I'm back. Personally, I like my habit, and I like you for reading my blog. Really I like you A LOT!
So...well I got back a little while ago from an FNC meeting that went pretty well. My first chapter which has been kind of getting on my nerves was on the table and after talking to the girls I finally have a solution to fix the opening scene. YAY! I'm getting ready to redo that (but first I stopped here because my devotion to the blog is just THAT strong). Hopefully by the end of the night I will have made all of the suggested edits on chapters 1-6 and then I can finish my revision of chapter 7 and then move on forward, because December-my self inflicted imposed deadline for querying agents is fast approaching!!!
And NOW...for your In My Mailbox viewing pleasures. We shall explore the contents of my mailbox this week, the lovely meme hosted by Kristi at the wonderfully fantastic The Story Siren.
1) Cleolinda's Annotated Harry Potter in 15 Minutes (not pictured because it's a download) If you're unfamiliar with her Movies in 15 Minutes then you MUST get go over to her website right now! Her parodies have made me laugh so hard and so loud that I'm pretty sure my parents have thought I'd gone insane. Anyway you can get your own annoted copy HERE!
2) How To Rule The World From Your Couch, Laura Day
Ruling the world is definitely on my to-do list. Doing it from my couch? Even better!
3) Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (book 4), Jeff Kinney
The funniest books EVER!
4) Hush, Hush, Becca Fiztpatrick
Woohoo! Finally got my shiny hardcover copy-so pretty!!! Love Becca, love the book! I'm also listening to it on audio! Also check out my co-review of Hush, Hush with Donna over at the FNC.
5) Lady Macbeth's Daughter, Lisa Klein
I've been excited for this for a long time. I absolutely loved her retelling of Ophelia, so I can't wait to get into this.
6) Soulless, Gail Carriger
Donna and I are planning to co-review this at the FNC very soon!
Ok so that was it for my mailbox! I've been having fun looking at everyone else's. Hopefully I shall be back later with a writing update:-)
-Ok quick disclaimer before you read below-I mention going to the bathroom-a lot and poop. So if that grosses you, come back tomorrow-
This is so wierd. I know that having unisex bathrooms is supposed to become this trend or whatever, and like in theory it sounds cool and makes sense-like why should women have to wait in line when the men's room is totally free (ok, so we totally use the mens room already when its empty...I mean I do...don't you??? umm....) and vice versa. And I get the whole unisex bathroom thing when it's a single room, like who cares who is using the bathroom? At home there is one bathroom everyone can use- it doesn't matter if you're a boy or a girl, but in public, with multiple toilets...? OMG NO!
See, the floor where my office is has one of those mixed bathrooms. I think the idea behind it is that it's supposed to be for just men at one time and women at another and if you go in you can put up the occupied sign, but there is more than one bathroom in there, so why be the person who occupies the whole place just so you can use one toilet? Plus even if it is occupied, you don't know if that means all the bathrooms are full, or if there are girls in there or boys. It makes no sense. And for a long time, it hasn't been an issue, though there have a been a few awkward moments when I'm walking in and a boy is walking out and you stop and stare at each other and want to apologize for accidentally wandering into the wrong bathroom "Oh no I should have read the sign," or "oh nope those aren't pants on the figure thats a dress, my bad." But then you realize that there is no sign designating it, it's just a bathroom for anyone, anytime, anywhere (ok not anywhere, clearly you must be at the bathroom on this floor in this particularl building to use it, but you see what I mean).
So today I had my first experience of having to use said bathroom with a boy! At the same time!!! EW!
I went in having to simply pee (OMG I never thought I'd discuss the bathroom on my blog, I'm so sorry) and a boy followed right behind me. I ignored that fact and went into my stall and he went into his-right next door to mine! So anyway, you know those really awkward moments when you go to pee and you know someone else has gone to pee next to you and you can like hear each other breathe, and it's really awkward, and then suddenly you can't pee anymore even though you really had to just a second ago and you're all worried that the person next to you is going to think you're either doing some heavy loading or you're a freak who can't pee? (Have I thought too much about this? Whatever) Anyway that is awkward enough as it is! Bring in a boy and it's even more awkward!!!
So there I am (squatting-like any respectable cosmo girl) and nothing is happening and he is breathing heavily (because boys just breathe louder) and I can't concentrate and I know he's listening to my stall because I'm listening to his and then suddenly....PLOP-from his stall!
THAT'S IT!!!! I cannot be expected to go to the bathroom when I have to hear and potentially smell boys' you know whats in the bathroom! To all my male readers, no offense, but...you know yours smell worse than ours:)
So I stand up, because I'm just not game for this. But then I decided, no! I'm not letting some stupid unisex bathroom drive me out of MY stall when I need to be there. So finally I go and it's awkward. And he's still going and I get out of there and wash my hands and I'm off. And at this point I think I am done with the unisex bathroom. Or until I really really have to pee again. Ugh!
Oh Hai front passenger side Tire, you're acting rather funky this afternoon. What's that you say? Squissssh? Whooooosh? EEEEEEEEAAARRRR! Ok look Tire, I can't translate your wierd super secret tire language-speak English.
OMG! You're flat! What? Why are you flat? What did you do? You got a nail stuck in you? Well how responsible was that? I mean, really, Tire, didn't I teach you to look out for those things? What? You say I'm the one who drove over it? That it was my fault? Psssh! Tire, you're the one with a nail stuck in you, ok? I'd say this is your fault!
Ok fine, possibly it is the steering wheel's fault. I mean he's the boss of you. No, I'm not the boss of him, I just guide him, we're more like buddies, best friends, bffs- he just always does what I tell him to do. No that's not a one way relationship, we have lots of respect for each other...Don't think you can smart talk your way out of this. I'm supposed to be at work now and you're kind of putting a damper on my day.
Yeah I know my jacket is awesome, but flattery will get you nowhere, so unless you're talking about reinflating yourself, I say it's quiet time for you.
A few hours later at the tire store...
I'm sorry Tire, but I have to replace you. Yes, I'm leaving you alone here with these strange men. As far as I can tell they are very nice. They have lots of other broken tires here for you to play with. Don't worry you'll be happy. Yes, I'm telling you the truth.
What's that? No...I didn't just order a new one. Ok I did. Sorry. Really sorry. It was nice knowing you. (tear). Have fun with the other tires.
In My Mailbox is the awesome meme that explores the exciting books we recieved this week and is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren and was inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie.
This was an EPIC week. My jacket came, and I had major couponage, plus an SCBWI conference. Get ready!
1. Princess Ben, Catherine Gilbert Murdock (signed) bought at the SCBWI Fall Philly. She was really sweet, wore a lot of funky jewelry and talked a lot about the connection between screenwriting and novel outlines. Very cool stuff. And it turns out that she is a huge fantasy fan though this is her only fantasy on the market.
2. Dairy Queen, Cathering Gilbert Murdock (signed) also bought at the SCBWI Fall Philly. One more fun fact about her Catherine, her older sister is Elizabeth Gilbert-the author of Eat, Pray, Love-that book you know that is being made into a movie with Julia Roberts. Now that I've met Catherine, if Elizabeth looks similar to her, then I think Julia was a good cast call.
5. Looking For Alaska, John Green I've got big plans to do an all John Green weekend and read all 3 of his books for the first time back to back. Now my plan can go into action. I just need to find the right weekend.
6. Vampire Academy Boxed Set (Books 1-3), Richelle Mead I had a coupon...I couldn't resist....new covers are shiny...
Ok and....what LiLa has been waiting for my Vampire Diaries Jacket!!!
These aren't the best pictures because I had to take them myself, but I will come back with better, I promise.
Sexy popped collar look.
Preppy collar look
Arm detail
All in all this jacket is awesome (and totally VEGAN!) YAY!
And hey you know, while I have you here, let me show you this!
Away We Go! I heart this movie like there's no tomorrow, it's sooooooo sweet!
That's right! I was seduced on the way to Borders and not even by books! See the only Borders that's convenient for me to go to is at the mall, and it is strategically placed behind this stand full of assorted dead-sea-mineral-type-spa-treatments. This stand also happens to be run by a bunch of Israeli guys who were all valedictorians from the School of Seduction and Bullshit (I'm convinced this place exists).
I don't know how they do it, but they find some way to reel you in and sweet talk you until you're purchasing some kind of weekly facial peel that you definitely don't need and are pretty sure doesn't work.
But...I had a Borders coupon and I meant to use it. So I braved the treacherous route to the store and I rushed past the Israeli guys claiming I already owned their nail care line (well I do!) and there's nothing they can offer me, and I'm busy and in a rush, and I have this coupon and... One got me, I don't know how, it was something in his eyes.
I paused.
And see this is where I went wrong. Once you pause, you've pulled out the white flag and it's all over from there. I let him give me a wrist massage (yes, a wrist massage), and blabber on about how the oils and salts work together and one rises and one falls and basically it ends up with your skin being clean. None of it made any sense at all, but three hugs later, a major discount that may have been fake, and a drawing of a happy face, I owned facial peel. Oy!
But alas, I made it to Borders where I bought my book which shall be revealed on Sunday for my In My Mailbox Post. But I wasn't done. I had two coupons for Barnes and Noble. So I went there next. Where I found more books. The post shall be big this week, especially because it includes my Vampire Diaries Jacket!
So Barnes and Noble was less exciting. No one tried to seduce me or sell me facial peel. But the barrista at the cafe did have something interesting to reveal to me.
Barrista: You look familiar.
Me: Yeah, you too.
Barrista: I wonder where I know you from.
Me: Did we go to the same high school?
Barrista: I was your babysitter when you were 6.
Me: OMG!!!
Barrista: Yeah and your family was super hard to babysit for!
Me: Sorry?
Barrista: Yeah, here's your coffee!
OK, actually she seemed pretty happy to see me and now I'm dying of curiosity for stories because I do not remember her at all. I mean if there wasn't a line behind me I would've been like "so what was I like when I was 6? What did I say and do? Was I a funny kid? Or shy?" Because my parents are not so good at these stories. They've got the baby thing down, but they don't seem able to tell me much more. So yeah that was my shopping trip yesterday. Pretty eventful.
You know how things always look better in the morning? Well its the morning and I forgive you. Yes I know I said some very harsh things (I may have even insulted your manual-hood) and we went to bed very very angry with each other. But I didn't pull the plug.
I now think that maybe it wasn't all of your fault and perhaps my lap top was interfering in some of the communication between us. He was always jealous of the bond we had. But I do have to go through him to get to you and sometimes you know, three's a crowd.
But I got up this morning I turned on my lap top and VOILA you printed everything I asked for -without me having to remind you! So thank you and you can come back to your table perch now. I won't make you sleep on the old shelf.
I am so mad at you right now I don't even have words! You're not even listening to a word I'm saying! First of all you are supposed to be a double sided printer, this is why I bought you, this is why you have that funny piece on your backside! So when I hit print I expect this double sided thing to happen automatically and not be left with some message about how it's manual and I need to replace the odd pages printed back inside of you so you can then print the evens!
Ok fine, so I should have made sure automatic was checked off but whatever I was willing to work with you.
UNTIL you started skipping pages and printing things like page 4 on the back of page 19! What on earth!
So I canceled you. I couldn't have any of that. And sad as I was about the paper wasted, I decided to try again.
We moved onto automatic which is clearly the only thing your good at. I'm sorry but your manual skills are severely lacking! But then...ok so I forgot to remove the already printed odd pages and so you were essentially double printing on most pages.
But I caught this early and I asked you to stop! I hit cancel print! 3 times! But do you listen? NO! You just keep on printing your little printer heart out. So since you don't seem to understand the word CANCEL I decided to pause. But pause apparently isn't in your vocabulary either. What the hell, printer? I went out the other day and I bought you brand new ink! I'm good to you, I gave you your very own table to perch on, and I don't force you to print that often.
Ok so fine, you won't stop, you won't pause, you're determined to finish this job, even after all the yelling. I pulled out the printed on pages and let you continue. So at least most of what I wanted to print would be there. But then in the middle of this print when you are finally doing things RIGHT you just stop! Seriously printer. you're really making me reconsider whether or not you were a totally awesome purchase. I'm kind of thinking not so much right now. Get your act together and print my pages!
Also when a document has been deleted from print jobs that means that NO jobs are in the queue. HELLO?
Ok, anyway beside printer troubles, I think I am putting a bow on chapters 1-6 and moving on. I'm going to give them a fresh read through tomorrow and see if I spot anything glaring or awkward, but I think now I've transformed those chapters into something much better than they were before, and I've learned a lot in doing so. Hopefully these lessons will carry forth to the rest of my revison and things won't take so long, because I'm now much more aware of my weaknesses and downfalls.
Ok so chapters 1-6...aka ROSE LILY Part 1
Chapters Revised: 6
Chapters to Go: 0 (ahahahaha)
Page Count: 148
Word Count: 43,951
Now I move onto obsessing over chapters 7-12 (aka Rose Lily Part 2)
Hey! It's my first contest. Why? Just because...I'm feeling inspired to give things away!
Since it's October, one of my favorite months and Halloween is almost here, one of my favorite holidays I'm going to have a MEGA Giveaway! I mean Mega! I have 3 P.C. Cast Books for you!
1) Untamed (book 4 in the House of Night series)
2) Hunted (book 5 in the House of Night series)
3) Immortal: Love Stories with Bite, ed. by P.C.Cast featuring stories by Richelle Mead, Claudia Gray, Rachel Caine and more... (FYI: This is the Borders exclusive edition, so it's missing Rachel Vincent's story)
Here's how to enter:
Leave a comment below and let me know what you're going to be for Halloween-and don't forget to leave me an email addy!
You must be one of my followers (do it, join, we have fun here).
+1 if you repost this on your blog
+1 if you link me in a tweet
So you have a total of 3 chances to win (because 3 is a magic number and there are 3 books)
Please leave links below for me to follow:)
Contest ends October 25, 2009 at 11:159PM.
I will contact the winner by email and announce it here! Good luck!
I'm kind of in love with my first few chapters right now (which I'm scared to admit because the FNC is periodically ripping them apart, stomping my heart on the ground over sentences and some of the MC's actions-all at my request). But anyway -whatever, no one else might understand but we are in love. We've been spending all of our days together and our nights. We snuggle, we print, we save, we erase and rewrite, we listen to our playlist together and discuss which song is our favorite at the moment. PS. I've listened to that playlist so many times now...I may not be able to much longer. And as a dancer, I have a very HIGH tolerance for hearing the same song over and over and over again. But alas it is finally, finally perfect and fits sooo well it makes me ridiculously happy. But I really need to finish this revision soon-not only because I gave myself a December deadline but because sooooo many crappy things happen to my MC and it's sort of exhausting me right now.
And just for pure interest I thought I'd post a total page count and word count for the whole shebang because I've been doing some more random revisions in random places when I feel tired of a section.
When I finished writing, my epic WIP closed in at 22 chapters, 489 pages and 138, 217 words
Today my WIP has 22 chapters (though I think it may possibly become 23), 490 pages and 145, 143 words. I swear I am deleting words like crazy, so I don't know what's happening, but I'm working on it.
But anyway, remember when I bought a printer? Well it was time for me to get new ink. So I went back to the store and guess what? Helpful Salesman was there and he remembered me! Crazy! He saw me and went "Oh you're the writer!"
:-)
Then I went to Barnes and Noble where I shamelessly manipulated two of my sisters and three employees to pose for me with copies of Maggie Stiefvater's Ballad-all in the name of contests!
See how much I want to win Maggie? I'm getting strangers to pose for me!
But so yeah, that was my night! On to some lesson planning so I can do that professoring thing in the morning.
PS I have no explanation for why I look sooooo freakishly tall next to my sisters, or why my teeth seem so funky. Clearly I am the Khloe Kardashian in my family, though birth order should make me Kourtney...
Richelle Mead revealed the Spirit Bound cover today on her blog and ummmm WOW!!! I think it's gorgeous as a cover, although fitting into the story...I don't know how I feel about it. It's definitely the most romantic of the covers so far (even including the new ones).
Do you think this is too spoilery? I mean that has to be Rose and Dimitri on the cover right? So it seems Rose will get to save him somehow?????????
Dimitri looks HAWT-I like the model they chose. I wonder if he is the same as the other Dimitri on the original version of cover 3 Shadow Kiss? He was hawt too and definitely close to how I imagined Dimitri.
I kind of miss the angsty covers, but I like this. My only complaint is the model for Rose. She is so not Rose!
Rose has dark hair, and when this model appeared on Frostbite I thought it was Lissa, until I saw the Lissa on Shadow Kiss.
I know Richelle doesn't think the model on Vampire Academy looks like the Rose in her head but I wish they'd used her all the way through because she is exactly what Rose looks like in my mind. Hey I saw the cover first and it's pretty close to the description so I can't help it.
Do you guys have celebrity dreams? I think I once read in a dream dictionary that if you dream about certain celebrities it means you see parts of yourself in them or you want to be like them or something of that nature...
Well anyway from time to time celebrities do make guest appearances while I'm sleeping. Though unfortunatetly, I don't have a very wide range of stars to come visit. In particular, two celebrities come to visit me every now and again.
1. J.K. Rowling
2. Brett Michaels
Don't ask.
Anyway considering what I mentioned above about what it means for certain celebrities to appear in your dreams, I'm not quite sure what Brett Michaels is doing so frequently in mine-and we've had quite a drama occuring where I'm sometimes an unwilling contestant on Rock of Love, and once I was even his nanny who he put in therapy to make sure I could keep up with the rock and roll lifestyle. But long hair and eyeliner on guys never got me too excited. I keep appealing to Brad Pitt and Paul Wesley, but I think Brett scared them away.
Anyway last night it was JK who came to see me:-) I'm not quite sure the set up, I was in my office and I guess I either worked alongside her, or I worked with her, but she came bursting into my office, grabbed a spinning chair, sat on it backwards and slid over to me (clearly bc I am soooo exciting). And I guess we were in a time warp, because Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows hadn't been released yet, even though I seemed to be fully aware of the plot and had read the story.
So basically JK was asking my opinion on whether or not to go ahead with the July release date of book 7 or to push it back by 35 days. Why 35 days? I don't know! Analyze me if you want. She thought that if she pushed it back she could write a few more paragraphs more clearly and elegantly, but it was pretty good as it was. And she was very torn about what to do because she feared if she pushed the book back then there would be an uproar in Potter fandom.
So I gave it some thought, spun my own spinny chair around to face her better and told her I thought book 7 was fine as it was, but that if she felt it in her gut that she needed more time than she should move it back. She was so excited by my advice that she pushed against the floor and zoomed out of my office and stole my spinny chair!
So yeah...that was my dream last night.
Back to writing, though I'm mostly obsessing over my first few chapters, the ending of my story has been kind of shifting around in my mind, like a slowly moving cloud constantly changing form. I'm finding all of these loose ends I need to tie up, but I'm also seeing a way to clearly show the door is open for book 2, and 3, and 4... At the moment the ending is kind of too cute for words. I giggle everytime I read it. And while that's fun, it sort of needs something a little bit more somber. Happy, but not everything's perfect. By the end of the book, my MC is a different person than she was at the start, she has lost A LOT, but she has gained a lot too. Mostly though her entire year has been one FML moment after another, so I want to give her a bit of a break at the end, you know?
So that's really shaping up and now I'm back to revisions. Need to move on from the first 6 chapters this week!
I took last week off because I am SERIOUSLY behind in my reading, what with professoring and revisions. But this week I couldn't resist grabbing these up and Ballad was on the way (I screamed when I got it, I am so excited).
In My Mailbox is the awesome meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren and was inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie.
1. Candor, Pam Bachorz: This one is getting fantastic reviews and the writing drew me in immediately-loving it so far and love the unique premise of a town full of brainwashed stepford types.
2. Ballad, Maggie Stiefvater: More James!!! What more could I want? And the cover is soooo sexy and I'm already completely absorbed not only by the awesome that is James from Lament, but Maggie's writing is otherworldly and you can't help but fall under her spell.
3. Everafter, Amy Huntley: This is one of those simple yet hauntingly beautiful novels. It kind of reminded me of If I Stay while I read excerpts in the store, I'm very excited to dive into this one.
4. Dark Secrets , Elizabeth Chandler: More supernatural 90's teen romance being reissued in the same vein as L.J. Smith.
And my bussiness cards from Vista Print arrived, just in time for the Fall Philly SCBWI conference!
