DEAR CASSIE Cover Reveal

Got a beautiful cover from the awesome Lisa Burstein to show you today!

But first, in addition to the DEAR CASSIE cover reveal, Lisa is hosting an EPIC CONTEST to celebrate DEAR CASSIE’ s cover reveal.  Lisa wants you guys to share diary entries of your favorite fictional characters with her. That’s right, choose ANY character from books, TV, movies, a cereal box and write a 500-750 length diary entry from their point of view.

She'll will choose the top 5 and then let the masses vote on their favorite. The favorite will be published in the final version of DEAR CASSIE. You read that right, published with the author’s name! The additional four will win $20 book buying gift cards.

So get diary-ing! Send your entries to prettyamystories@yahoo.com by January 1st!

Voting for the top 5 will begin January 7th, with the winner being announced January 14th!

Now on to the COVER!!!

Gorgeous, right?!

Blurb: What if the last place you should fall in love is the first place that you do?

You’d think getting sent to Turning Pines Wilderness Camp for a month-long rehabilitation “retreat” and being forced to re-live it in this journal would be the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.

You’d be wrong.

There’s the reason I was sent to Turning Pines in the first place: I got arrested. On prom night. With my two best friends, who I haven’t talked to since and probably never will again. And then there’s the real reason I was sent here. The thing I can’t talk about with the guy I can’t even think about.

What if the moment you’ve closed yourself off is the moment you start to break open?

                                                                                                                                 

But there’s this guy here. Ben. And the more I swear he won’t—he can’t—the deeper under my skin he’s getting. After the thing that happened, I promised I’d never fall for another boy’s lies.

And yet I can’t help but wonder…what if?

AND there's an excerpt! 

Excerpt: We kept walking on the lake trail, the bullfrogs croaking. There was also a humming in my ears from the nicotine.

 It could only be from the nicotine. It had nothing to do with being outside, at night, alone with Ben. It had nothing to do with Ben coming to the cabin and taking me instead of Nez and it definitely had nothing to do with the stars above us shining like they were the sky’s tiara. 

I stopped on the trail and looked up, taking them in, when all of a sudden bright colored lights exploded in the sky—fireworks, one after another, on top of each other, huge kaleidoscopes of light, like sparkling rainbow spiders.

“How did you know?” I asked, my voice going softer, like if I talked too loudly they would stop. It was so beautiful, after weeks of so much ugly. 

Ben turned to look at me, the colored lights in the sky turning his skin pink, blue, green. “I’m magic.” He shrugged.

I geared up to tell him to fuck off, because that was some corny-ass shit, but then I realized that he really kind of was. In that moment he was able to actually make me forget being me.

 “I would try to kiss you,” he said, “but I’m afraid you’d kick me in the balls.”

“I probably would.” I laughed, the sky filling with noisy color like paint launching from a giant popcorn popper. “But like I said, it wouldn’t be about you.”

“I guess I’ll have to figure out how to make it about me,” he said, taking off his boots and socks and standing. “Come on.”

“There is no way I am getting near that water again,” I said.

“I’ll make sure nothing happens to you,” he said, holding his hand out to help me up.

            I looked at his palm, open, waiting, just wanting to hold mine. For once, I didn’t think about anything except that there was a cute, sweet, smart-ass boy standing in front of me with his hand out.

I pulled off my boots and socks and took it.  

We stood at the lakeshore, our hands still clasped, the water licking our feet, fireworks decorating the sky.

I turned to him. He was looking up, his mouth open in wonder like he was trying to swallow the moment.

It was definitely one worth keeping.

DEAR CASSIE pre-buy links:

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13628374-dear-cassie

The Book Depository: http://www.bookdepository.com/Dear-Cassie-Lisa-Burstein/9781620612545

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Dear-Cassie-Lisa-Burstein/dp/1620612542/

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dear-cassie-lisa-burstein/1113610316

PRETTY AMY Links:

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13375237-pretty-amy

Powells: http://www.powells.com/biblio/62-9781620611197-0

The Book Depository: http://www.bookdepository.com/Pretty-Amy-Lisa-Burstein/9781620611197

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Pretty-Amy-Lisa-Burstein/dp/1620611198/

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pretty-amy-lisa-burstein/1108930786

About the Author: Lisa Burstein is a tea seller by day and a writer by night. She received her MFA in Fiction from the Inland Northwest Center for Writers at Eastern Washington University. She lives in Portland, OR, with her very patient husband, a neurotic dog and two cats. Dear Cassie is her second novel.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#%21/LisaBurstein

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LisaBursteinAuthor

Website: http://www.lisaburstein.com

So, what do you guys think? I love it! All the words! And the guy looks cute ;) Let me know in the comments!

Thank You and a Promise

Yesterday was the cover reveal of my book, The Summer I Became a Nerd, which is just well... CRAZY TOWN!

THE cover... Of a book... That was written by ME... I mean, that's just BONKERS!

If you haven't seen it yet, here you go!

It's adorable and I love it and I think it fits the vibe of the book and just.... *faints*

But enough about that, what this blog post is really about is me saying THANK YOU!

Thank you to all you amazing bloggers who took the time to work up posts for the reveal, who were brave enough to put my stupid face on your blogs, who talked about my book and what you thought of the cover and the concept. To all of you who went to Goodreads and added it to your shelves. I was ridiculously happy all day long!!!

And as I clicked on post after post, the love I felt for the book community and all the readers and authors friends just grew to the point where I realized something. And here's where the promise part comes in. I feel a responsibility and want to make this the best book it can be. I want it to make you laugh out loud! I want you to fall in love with these characters as much as I have! I want it to go in your keeper pile and stay there!

So, that's my promise to all of you. I will make this the best book I can. Because you are all wonderful and...

Sign up for TSIBAN Cover Reveal (Jon Stewart Style)

That's right, people! The time has come!

The cover for THE SUMMER I BECAME A NERD by yours truly will be revealed on November 30th and I am over the mooooon :D

So, if you'd like to help me reveal this awesomeness on your site, please let me know in the comments and leave your email address so we can send you all the juicy details!

Sign ups will end on Monday, November 26th, so get to commenting!

How to kickstart your muse

I was in a slight slump the other day. I wanted my mind to wander, to imagine all those lovely, awesome new book ideas, but my brain just didn't want to cooperate. So, I asked Twitter and the fantastic ladies over on the WrAHM Facebook group if anyone had tips or tricks for getting the muse into gear. I received tons of great responses, and here they are! (Please click on their tweets to go to their twitters. Then follow these ladies because they're AWESOME!)

(Click on these ladies' names to head over to their blogs, or in some cases, their twitters, for more amazing content!)

Shallee McArthur says, "I have a playlist on YouTube for each book and use it to help me 'get in the mood' before I start writing (when I'm drafting, I can't listen to music while writing). When rewriting, I often have a song on the list for specific scenes, and I listen to that song while I work on the rewrite."

Bethany Crandell has a unique suggestion ;) : "My muse loves it when I blow my hair dry. Must be all the white noise and fumes from the hair product."

Tristina Wright says, "Pinterest inspiration boards! I have a board for each of my books plus generic writing and character boards where I keep ideas for future stories."

Melissa Brady King agrees with Bethany: "The hair dryer has some weird connection to my brain. It blows ideas in my ears or something. Good ideas sometimes occur when I'm folding laundry, but I often get inspired while running and listening to my WIP playlist."

Katherine Ernst recommends asking a lot of "What if?" questions. "Even when I think I know where the plot is going, I like to ask myself questions about whether this plot element or that character choice could be changed or modified. Could this twist be added, or that character be different. Many ideas get thrown away, but sometimes asking those sorts of questions leads to really interesting story choices that wouldn't have been discovered otherwise."

Melissa Blanco also likes listening to her playlist and going for a run. She also says, "Whenever I sit down to write, I read over the last scene I wrote." (I also like doing this. I feel like it gets me back into the story and I might catch a few typos in the process.)

H.E. Gryphus likes Pinterest, as well, and adds, "Staring at a fire... Seriously... I did it this weekend and kept running back to the house to write down notes."

Erica Covey says, "Listening to music or going outside/playing with the kids works best for me. Actually doing anything that prevents me from writing down notes (shower, rocking baby to sleep, baking) is sure to give me a few ideas." (THIS happens to me all the time, too! Which is why I put a voice recorder app on my phone!)

Jessica Opfer has this same thing happen to her, too. "I tend to play scenes in my head while I am swimming laps, walking the dog, or feeding the baby. So yeah, any time I can't actually write things down is pretty much when the best thinking happens. Go figure!"

Robin Lucas goes for a nap. Sometimes our brain just needs to recharge, I think.

Melissa Hurst says, "I use a notepad to write ideas down when I start a scene and I don't know where I'm heading. I include anything that comes to mind no matter how weird it sounds." (I love this suggestion because one never knows what thoughts are going to lead to that AMAZING idea!)

Alexandra O'Connor recommends a shower (I'm on the shower team too!). "Seriously, all my good ideas come to me when I don't have a dang thing to write them on. I have to keep repeating key phrases over and over until I'm done."

Do you have any suggestions for kickstarting the muse??? Please, leave them in the comments!

Keeping Things Fresh

I am definitely a creature of habit. I like a routine. Get up, fix coffee, have coffee while checking internet things, try to write, blah blah blah. But today, I've switched things up. See, normally my husband takes our 6YO to the bus stop in the morning allowing me to sleep a little later which means I'll stay up late. But I've noticed that I write more in the morning, when my mind is fresh. When I stay up, I say that I'll get writing done, but I usually just end up watching a lame movie or youtube videos or playing phone games. Then I'm like:

So, I'm hoping this change will make a difference in my daily word count. We shall see. It's 8:30 now (a good hour before I normally wake up), and I've already done my twittering, facebooking, and now, even a blog post.

Also, there's just something about making a change in one's life. Even though it's just a tiny thing, I feel like I'm moving forward. Like I just leveled up or something!

LEVEL UP DANCE!

Now it's time to spend those experience points and get down to business!

What about you? Are you a morning or night or evening writer? Do you stick to a routine or let things happen as they may?

OPAL by Jennifer L. Armentrout Reveal

No one is like Daemon Black.
When he set out to prove his feelings for me, he wasn’t fooling around. Doubting him isn’t something I’ll do again, and now that we’ve made it through the rough patches, well... There’s a lot of spontaneous combustion going on.But even he can’t protect his family from the danger of trying to free those they love. After everything, I’m no longer the same Katy. I’m different... And I’m not sure what that will mean in the end. When each step we take in discovering the truth puts us in the path of the secret organization responsible for torturing and testing hybrids, the more I realize there is no end to what I’m capable of. The death of someone close still lingers, help comes from the most unlikely source, and friends will become the deadliest of enemies, but we won’t turn back. Even if the outcome will shatter our worlds forever.

Together we’re stronger... and they know it.

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Follow this link to an ~~~ EPIC CONTEST ~~~ Announcement. You will want to bookmark this page!

http://jenniferarmentrout.blogspot.com/p/october-1-2012.html

USA TODAY Bestselling author, Jennifer L. Armentrout, lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing, she spends her time reading, working out, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell, Loki. Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She also writes adult romance under the name J. Lynn.

Find Jennifer on: Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Website | Blog

5 Animated Movies That Won't Annoy The Crap Out Of You

I'm a stay-at-home mom. My oldest is six and then there's the three year old. We don't have television because we can't afford it. It's not so bad seeing as I don't have America's Top Model or reruns of CSI to distract me, but I also don't have Nick Jr. to distract the monkey-boy. The littlest is pretty good about keeping himself entertained, but sometimes I have to just put on some eye candy to keep him out of trouble (and to retain my sanity). In other words, I've seen a lot, A LOT, of animated movies. And I've narrowed it down to the least annoying, the ones that I actually enjoy and can handle watching multiple times (because as most people know, children can watch the same movie twelve times in one day and still say, "Again, again!"). So, here they are for those of you who might be in the same position as me.

1. CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 

Based on the children's book written by Judi Barrett, this is our family's go to movie. We even have a nickname for it: Steve. The voice acting includes Bill Hader, Anna Faris, Andy Samberg, Mr. T, Neil Patrick Harris, and the always brilliant, Bruce Campbell. The animation is fun, the story is great, and my husband and I are constantly repeating some of the hilarious one liners. I'm pretty sure a day doesn't go by that we don't watch this movie, and oddly enough, that's alright with me.

2. TANGLED

Remember when you were a little girl and you had crushes on animated characters? Yeah, apparently I never grew out of that. I just love Flynn Rider played by Zachary Levi in this one. My husband says the horse, Maximus, is the best part of the movie. And my 3yo has "Mother Knows Best" stuck in his head practically day and night. Laugh out loud moments combined with great songs make this one a classic Disney flick.

3. MEGAMIND

You can see all the big names in this one. I'm particularly impressed with the story. There's a great anti-hero thing going on plus a strong female character. And the animation is really quite pretty.

4. GNOMEO & JULIET

All Elton John, all movie long. Emily Blunt and James McAvoy do the main voices in this retelling of Romeo and Juliet. I'm a sucker for retellings and I love Shakespeare so this is a no-brainer for me. Also, there is nothing sweeter than listening to the boys sing along with "Love Builds a Garden." Makes me tear up every time.

5. HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON

This is a recent addition to our regular viewing list. The 6yo especially loves this one. There are lots of Scottish accents which I could listen to all day. The story reminds me of a boy and his dog kind of story. And who wouldn't want their own Toothless?

So, there you have it! I'm always looking for new kids' movies to add to our list. Do you have any that don't make you want to pull your hair out?

And now that I've finally done a new blog post, I think I deserve a break!

Entangled Teen Blog Launch!

Today, I'm first up on the brand-spanking-new Entangled Teen Author Blog! Head on over to share in my Crush on guys with accents! Mmmmm, accents...

PLUS, there's a huge giveaway going on! YAY FREE BOOKS!

Fangirl Friday

Long time, no FF! I know, I know, but today I'm feeling especially fangirly so let's get right to it.

A little while ago I mentioned that I would start watching Doctor Who. Guess what happened...

Yep... So, I think I'm finally emerging from my Doctor depression (or Tennant-itis, as I like to call it) and I can talk about how awesome this series is. One of the things I think is so great about Doctor Who is the way the writers have taken every day things and worked them into the essence of what Doctor Who is. They've created a fandom like no other. Take this picture above. The 3-D glasses, the bowtie, the TARDIS coffee mug, the thing-a-ma-bob he's holding (that's a sonic screwdriver, btw), and the banana are all references to the show and 3 of those things you could come into contact with often. Now that I'm a fan, I can't go a day without being reminded of The Doctor just by living life. Talk about smart writing.

I could seriously go on and on about the sheer brilliance of Doctor Who, but it would probably involve lots of spoilers and girly squeeing and ugly crying so I'll save that for another day.

Next on the FF agenda is the Nerdist! Go listen! Tons of podcasts featuring only the coolest celebrities and film and TV writers. I must say that my favorites are the ones where Chris Hardwick, Jonah Ray, and Matt Mira just have a conversation. The David Tennant interview is, of course, awesome.

Also, listening to these guys is strangely inspiring. I feel the need to find someone to geek out with, to start on that costume I've been wanting to make, and write about all the nerdy things.

Which is what I shall do now!

What are ya'll nerding out about?

In which I vow to care less...

So, this post from Chuck Wendig: Ask A Writer: In Which I Exhort You To Care Less

It seriously hit me hard. Like hard hard. I encourage everyone to read it.

After reading it, letting it really soak in, I came to two conclusions.

1. I let things get to me way too easily. Then, I let those things dig their stupid, meaningless claws into my brain where they constantly bug the crap out of me. You see, I'm a worrier (I might have mentioned this before). Tiny things, things that happened years ago, still nag me. Most of the people that were involved in these insignificant happenings probably don't even remember them or remember them differently than I do, but still, they're there in my brain. This habit has got to stop because pretty soon, when TSIBAN is released, there will be people who like my book (hopefully), but there will also be people who really don't like it, maybe even hate it. I've already vowed not to read the bad reviews, like the really bad ones that might be super hurtful. I don't know if this makes me smart or a coward, but it's just the way I'm going to approach the whole thing because life is too short, dude.

2. I have GOT to unclench when it comes to writing. I have GOT to relax and remember what is wonderful about doing this. I don't know what it is that's causing this sometimes overwhelming feeling of fear and doubt. Maybe I'm trying to hard to improve, maybe I'm letting other people's writing intimidate me because there are so many awesome authors and am I even worthy of a place on a shelf even close to them and *PANIC*

... Deep breaths...

See how quickly the anxiety sets in?

So, here's my promise to myself (and maybe you want to join me on this):

I shall care less. 

Simple enough. Easy? Highly doubtful, but if by saying that over and over in mirror gets me another thousand words down then it is worth it.

And just to end on a happy note:

New Ideas Drive Me Crazy

I decided to go back over all my old blog posts today because of this post from Roni Loren and I realized something. In the beginning, this blog was meant to be a place for me to discuss my writing journey. Back when I started that first book, this blog was where I went to vent, talk about writer stuffs, converse with new friends, get advice and maybe even give some advice along the way. And rereading some of those posts reminded me of this. Granted, some of those posts make me shiver, but ya know, whatever.

Anyway, I enjoyed those posts, so I'm going to try to get back to that type of blogging. Being honest, talking about the craft, and sharing stories instead of these other things I've been doing (or not doing because I'm sure you can see that I haven't been blogging hardly at all lately).

So, I'll just get right to that :)

I've been having trouble lately with... well... all of my WIPs. I remember the days when I had just one book I was working on writing.

*sighs, looks wistfully off into the distance* Those were the days. 

Now I think I might be stretching myself too thin. With book #1 and then with TSIBAN, I had this need to focus on just them. While I was writing each one, they were it, the end all, be all. I don't know what's happened to my brain. It's like I'm just walking along then:

BOOM! NEW IDEA!

Then I can't be satisfied until I've written the first few pages. THEN after I've done that, I immediately go into this self-doubt mode like, "What am I doing working on this? I should be working on this other thing. And this isn't that great anyway. Right? But I really like it." And on and on.

SHINY NEW IDEAS! THEY'RE KILLING ME!

*deep breaths, deep breaths*

And there you have it. A seriously rambly and out of nowhere post. Please tell me I'm not alone in this. What do you do to keep the new ideas at bay? How do you stay focused?

Teen Cult Classics

I was talking with my husband the other day about my characters. I mentioned something about how the characters might have known each other as children, maybe played video games when they were little kids.

"Aw, yeah," he said, "I can see them hanging out playing Nintendo."

"No, they wouldn't have played Nintendo," I said.

"Super Nintendo?"

"Nope, try Playstation 2," I said.

"Oh my God, I'm so OLD!"

This conversation got me to thinking. My generation's classics are completely different from my target audience's classics. I watched Care Bears and Rainbow Bright. They watched Dora the Explorer and Blue's Clues. I played Nintendo and Sega. They played PS2 and XBox. I was obsessed with Leonardo Dicaprio (who am I kidding with that "was", I still am obsessed with him). They're into Zac Efron. 

So, here's my question, what are this generation's cult classic movies? I wasn't entirely sure so I went to the most knowledgeable source: My 19 year old niece. 

Her immediate answer was, "Mean Girls!!!! Hands down."

Then she said, "People quote The Hangover, too." 

So, what do you guys think? Do you have anymore? 

Fangirl Friday: A Quickie

Okay, the kids are off to the grandparents' today so I have to make this quick because the grandparents will be here soon and there are dirty dishes and I hate it when that happens... So, here we go!

A new Marvel Girl comic in which her origin story is told??? Whaaaaa?!?!?!

I really want to see Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter this weekend.

The Beautiful Creatures movie wrapped shooting here recently, so that's freaking awesome!

So... yeah, that's it. Quick and lame. What are you excited about?

New WIP Music

Okay, I have so many pots on the stove it's ridiculous, folks. I have book ideas coming out the wazoo, but here's the thing, there's this one that has been eating up all my brain power (and let's face it, I don't have a lot of that). It's this beautiful, or at least I consider it beautiful, story that absolutely must be told. Or else I will hate myself for all eternity. Okay, maybe that's a little extreme...

But still...

So, as you might have noticed, I like to create a soundtrack, as many writers do, for my WIP. And since playlist.com sucks now, I'm gonna have to give a link to my Pandora station for this book.

http://www.pandora.com/station/play/906049481888864147

If anyone knows of a website similar to what playlist.com used to be, could you let me know because it makes me all kinds of sad that I can't just add songs to a playlist then paste the html here without having to sift through youtube videos :(

If you don't want to check out the Pandora station, then here's one song that I think fits my story perfectly (Stef introduced this to me because she's awesome, of course).

The Summer I Became a Nerd is on Goodreads!

I feel more and more official everyday, folks! That's right, my book is on Goodreads and waiting for you to add it to your shelves!

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14744489-the-summer-i-became-a-nerd

The comments so far have me doing this all over the house :

Shufflin' Saturday

Here lately I've been on the search for music that fits with the work I'm doing at the moment. Here are a few that have struck a note (pun intended) with me.

The Black Keys - Howlin' For You

Cover Reveal - The Collector by Victoria Scott

Okay guys, I've been waiting for this one! The Collector by Victoria Scott, Entangled Teen sister!

Here's a little about it:

Dante Walker is flippin’ awesome, and he knows it. His good looks, killer charm, and stellar confidence have made him one of hell’s best—a soul collector. His job is simple, weed through humanity and label those round rears with a big red good or bad stamp. Old Saint Nick gets the good guys, and he gets the fun ones. Bag-and-tag.

Sealing souls is nothing personal. Dante’s an equal opportunity collector and doesn’t want it any other way. But he’ll have to adjust, because Boss Man has given him a new assignment:

Collect Charlie Cooper’s soul within 10 days.

Dante doesn’t know why Boss Man wants Charlie, nor does he care. This assignment means only one thing to him, and that’s a permanent ticket out of hell. But after Dante meets the quirky, Nerd Alert chick he’s come to collect—he realizes this assignment will test his abilities as a collector, and uncover emotions deeply buried.
 

Mmmmm, sounds yummy, yes?! But wait, there's more! We have a few quotes from the main man himself, Dante Walker!

And now for the reveal. Drumroll, please!

Lisa Burstein's Prom Dress and Gift Card Giveaway

To celebrate PRETTY AMY entering the world on May 15th, Entangled Publishing sister, Lisa Burstein,  is giving away 3(!) Size 8 Phoebe Couture evening dresses, generously donated by Kay Unger and 2(!) $20 Sephora gift cards.
4 lucky people will win! Contest starts 4/17 and goes until 5/17

See more at Lisa Burstein’s website!

To make this even MORE fun, some brave Entangled authors, editors, publicists and interns have given Lisa their prom photos. She will be posting them on her Facebook page over the next month as well!

Author Interview with Lisa Burstein

Yay! Lisa Burstein has agreed to be my very first interview! Isn't she brave?!

Greta and the Goblin King Cover Reveal!!!

Y'all are going to LOVE this one! I was gobsmacked by this covers beauty! GRETA AND THE GOBLIN KING by Entangled sister Chloe Jacobs releases November 13, 2012, and is about, well... Here, read this:


While trying to save her brother four years ago, Greta was thrown into the witch’s fire herself, falling through a portal to a dangerous world where humans are the enemy, and every ogre, goblin, and ghoul has a dark side that comes out with the full moon.


To survive, seventeen-year-old Greta has hidden her humanity and taken the job of bounty hunter—and she’s good at what she does. So good, she’s caught the attention of Mylena’s young Goblin King, the darkly enticing Isaac, who invades her dreams and undermines her determination to escape.


But Greta’s not the only one looking to get out of Mylena. The full moon is mere days away, and an ancient evil knows she’s the key to opening the portal. If Greta fails, she and the lost boys of Mylena will die. If she succeeds, no world will be safe from what follows her back…


Doesn't that sound freaking AWESOME?!?!?! And here's what you've been waiting for. Rest your weary eyes on this:

A Shufflin' Saturday Request

There won't be a Shufflin' Saturday post today because I actually have places to go and people to see (shocking, I know). Instead, maybe you guys could give me some music suggestions. What songs do you know of that when you hear them you think, "High school"?

Fangirl Friday!

Happy birthday to Zach Braff (a.k.a JD on Scrubs, a.k.a. Stefanie's alter-ego), Paul Rudd, and John Ratzenberger!

So, lots of news on the superhero movies front.

The Captain America sequel will be released on April 4, 2014! YAY and BOO! I have to wait two freaking years to see more of this:

The X-Men: First Class sequel will start shooting in January which means we'll have to wait even longer for more McAvoy and Fassbender. It's kinda easier for me to deal with this since I'm loving the X-Men titles from Marvel. AND I'm only up to 2010 in those. I was on a comic binge the other day and realized I was missing a couple of issues because the next one in line was this:

*RECORD SCRATCH!* Right! To put it simply, I was astonished (nudge, nudge, get it?!).

Anyway, that's enough of that. Let's continue with what I started last week. Today, I'm discussing:

The Best Time-Suck: TV 101, Part 1

Shufflin' Saturday: WIP Playlist

Yay! Shufflin' Saturday! So, I've been working hard, trying to get my playlist down for this WIP. So far, I've only found a few songs that click. Here they are! Enjoy!

Fangirl Friday!

Happy Birthday to Robbie Coltrane, Warren Beatty, and John Astin!!!

So, I'm still coming down from the awesomeness of The Hunger Games. Despite the fact that I had to sit in the third row, all the way to the right, and in front of two chatterboxes (at least the girl was asking her guy questions about the story which led me to believe he had read the book), I still loved the movie! I only have two small criticisms, but they're not really worth mentioning.

I'd like to try something a little different today. I usually talk about up and coming fangirl events like new movies or books, but today I'd like to talk about some things that I feel every nerdgirl should know about. I wouldn't judge you if you didn't know about these things, of course. This article, On the Fake Geek Girl, from The Mary Sue got me to thinking about how wrong it is to look down on someone who calls themselves a geek, but doesn't seem to know the things they should. Geekdom is an all inclusive club! Anyone can join!

So, let's start with:

The Classics: Movies 101

Stefanie is Bedazzled!

Once upon a time, there was a girl who went searching for a writer buddy. After meeting a few people, this girl thought she would never find "The One". Nobody was clicking with her. In an act of desperation, the girl posted on the AbsoluteWrite.com forums, titling the post "Can a girl get a writer buddy :)". The heavens shined down on her then. Her savior came in the form of a girl who wrote awesome YA and was funny and just as silly as the girl was. It was the start of a beautiful friendship.

Okay, maybe that was a little dramatic, but considering the impact this writer buddy has had on me, the dramatics are warranted. I first started exchanging emails with Stefanie Gaither back on March 27, 2011. Over the past year, Stef has become not only a writer buddy, but also a dear friend. I even had a dream once in which we met at a writing conference. When we saw each other in said dream, there was lots of hugging and girly squealing (later, when I told Stef about the dream she said she would have tackle hugged me, lol). After the hugs, we became detectives to find the person trying to sabotage our writing... But back to the point of this blog post.

Without Stef's help, my writing would not be what it is today. She taught me the difference between its and it's. She opened my eyes to the wonders of the semi-colon and the emdash. She's tried to help me with my comma problems, but that is a lost cause. She has always been honest about my writing without being harsh. She's helped me out of many writer blocks including one last night. She listened to me rant about how hard writing is and life in general. We have stayed up into the early morning hours just being crazy.

Needless to say, Stef will be getting a very heartfelt acknowledgement at the end of THE SUMMER I BECAME A NERD  because, if not for her, the book would be crap.

Here's just a small collection of things we've traded in chat sessions (of which, there have been "many" or that's what gmail says, apparently there are too many to count), emails, through facebook, and twitter. Enjoy the crazy!

Book Swag

Free stuff, freebies, swag... Everyone loves this stuff. As someone who's starting to plan their promotional campaign for an upcoming book, I've been giving this some thought. I personally love it all! But I know some people just end up throwing some things away when they get home. So, here's a poll. What items would you head for at a conference or a book festival? You can choose up to 3.

Shufflin' Saturday

I've been on a Dave Matthews kick here recently which I attribute to Phillip Phillips on American Idol.

He reminds me soooo much of Dave Matthews, it's eerie. Anyway, my Dave Matthews Pandora station keeps playing nineties rock which just sends me back to Junior and Senior year of high school. So, let's look at that.

Fangirl Friday: The Hunger Games Edition

Happy Birthday to all these awesome, strong actresses (just like Jennifer Lawrence!): Keri Russell, Catherine Keener, and Michelle Monaghan!

Oh my goodness... It's here... IT'S FINALLY HERE! The Hunger Games... We've all been waiting a while, feels like forever, and it's finally here! So, let's get pumped up!

Let's go back, when all of us were just getting into the books. This is how we saw the characters before we had a cast:

And now we have this:

Fangirl Friday: The Hunger Games Edition *SPOILERS*

Do not click this post if you don't want the movie or the first book to be spoiled for you!

Lucky 7-ish

I've been tagged by a couple of cool mamma-jammas with this, but I haven't gotten to page 77 on my WIP yet so I wasn't going to do it. But, after reading all the other fantasticness, I can't help myself. So I figure, since I don't have a page 77 yet, then I can pick from anywhere. Right, we'll go with that!

The Rules:

1. Go to page 77 of your current MS.
2. Go to line 7.
3. Copy down the next 7 lines/sentences, and post them as they’re written. No cheating.
4. Tag 7 other victims …er, authors.

Excerpt:

 Just when I'm about to give up the ghost and betray my beliefs by saying that I never really saw what the big fuss was about when it came to The Lord of the Rings, she shocks the hell out of me.

“How did you know Two Towers is my favorite one?”

My eyes widen and the next few sounds out of my mouth could never, ever be construed as actual words. “Guh... Uhh... Bah?”

Her hands start to dance nervously over the plastic pages of the binder as she says, “I mean, yeah,” she shrugs, “we could watch that.”

Thanks to Kate Avelynn, Tracy Rohlfing, and Tiffany Truitt for tagging me!

I only have a couple of people I'm going to tag because I can't think of anyone else who hasn't been tagged and even these people have probably been tagged and I just don't know it. So, if you haven't been tagged yet and want to participate, just say so in the comments and I'll add you to the list here! Cool? Cool!

Ophelia London

Suze W

Rambles About Characters and Settings: A Downton Abbey Edition

So, I'm a character girl. I love intriguing characters. A book, movie, TV show, or what have you could be set in a white void, and as long as the characters are great, I'll love it. Don't get me wrong, location is fun, too. Anne Rice is really good at location description, but once I got it, I got it, ya know? After reading Interview with the Vampire, I pretty much just skimmed the description in her other books. Some people say, "Location is a character, too," which can be true. Like in Harry Potter or The Hunger Games or The Shining or Firefly. Those examples might be more literal than what those people are meaning, though. But it seems easy to me (and I use the word "easy" very loosely here because writing, especially good writing, is never easy) to make a setting a character in say a fantasy or horror novel. I think I might be getting off track here...

Anyway, back to characters... Like I said on Friday, I've started watching Downton Abbey. What a wonderful example of great characters. I goofed up though. I started watching season 2 first and didn't realize it until I was almost done with the ones that are out so far. So, last night I started at the beginning with season 1 and something was revealed about a character that I didn't know even after watching 7 or 8 episodes of the second season (I won't give any spoilers, but for those who do watch DA, I will say this: THOMAS!).

Anyway, that one thing changed my view of that character, not in a decidedly good or bad way, but I now look at him just... differently. And that's why I consider this show a shining example of character building. The thing is, you never know what a character will do just like you never know what people will do. None of the characters so far are straight up good or bad. They're real people. They make mistakes, sometimes intentionally, and because of that, they are more human than almost any of the characters I've ever read or watched. I can only wish that someday I'll be able to write characters as good as these.

So, what about you guys? Are you a setting or a character person? Do you watch Downton Abbey and, if so, what do you think about it? What other stories can you think of where the setting was a character? Post in the comments!