authors

Friend Books

/ authors, books, friends

Today’s trip to the library was a good one for picking up novels by people I knew.

Today, I picked up:

I Heart You, You Haunt Me by Lisa Schroeder (lisa_schroeder)
Total Constant Order by Crissa-Jean Chappell (crissachappell)
The Opposite of Invisible by Liz Gallagher (lizgallagher)

I’ve heard nothing but wonderful things about these books.

I also grabbed a couple books that came recommended from the Blue Boards:

Another Kind of Cowboy by Susan Juby
Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer (I LOVED her stuff when I was a kid!)
Evolution, Me, & Other Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande
Slam by Nick Hornby

I have NO IDEA which one to read first!!!!!

(X-Posted)

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Lauren Myracle

/ authors, writing

Lauren Myracle, best-selling author of the Internet Girls series (ttyl, ttfn, etc.) says this about her incredible first novel Kissing Kate (recently re-issued):

“It came neither quickly nor easily. When I pick up books at the bookstore, they always seem so glossy and enticing, so polished, and sometimes, I have the despairing thought that words leapt cleanly from the author’s mind to the page—snap, just like that. This was certainly not the case for me. I mention this because some of you are writers, too. Keep plugging away, and keep the faith!”

Did she not read my mind or what? I mean, those are my exact thoughts. I expect my first drafts to come out perfect, ready to sell, already saleable and marketable. I put all kinds of pressure on myself when I write stuff I KNOW is crap, but needs to get out anyway.

When I hear of a best-selling author’s struggles, I feel so much more faith that I’m not so much different than she or he is. So I have to try to forget about their degrees from Columbia and NYU and their MFAs and concentrate on writing well. Write well. Famous words from the newly retired Miss Snark.

I can do this. I WILL do this. :)

As James Thurber said: Don’t get it right, get it written. Time for me to stop obsessing over perfection and sales, and time to focus on telling an amazing, captivating story.

(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)

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Laurie Halse Anderson!! :) (Pictures)

/ authors, pictures, yay

Today, I got to meet Laurie Halse Anderson (aka halseanderson), bestselling author of the novel Speak, among many other great ones, including her new one Twisted.

Laurie Halse Anderson and me.

I’m a dork, so I was the first one there. People were setting up, and let me tell you how weird it was to be in a high school again. Upper Arlington High School doesn’t have bells, they have this weird bell-like sounding device. Like a simulation bell, if you will. So strange and unsettling. I wouldn’t want to hear that while running late for class, that’s for sure. Quick poll—if any of you are still in high school, do you use bells or weird electronic bell simulators? I’ve never seen or heard such a thing before.

ANYWAY, I was standing there and chatting with a few people, and then I recognized Laurie. She had on a smart leather jacket and a cool red shirt. I smiled at her and she pointed and asked “don’t I recognize you from Live Journal?” I said “Yes, I’m bananagirl—” and she ran over and gave me the biggest hug ever. It was so cool! We chatted for a bit, and then a brand new author showed up. Her name’s Lisa Klein and she wrote the book with the gorgeous cover called Ophelia. I’d seen the book in the stores and thought it looked interesting, but now that I’ve met Lisa, I’m definitely going to pick it up at some point. Lisa is so quiet and shy, but once she said something about having a published YA novel, Laurie and I were both “Really? Tell us more!!!” I got to meet two authors in one night. What a treat!

So we tried to do pictures, then I realized I’d left my CF card at home. ACK?!?!? I had twenty minutes, so I ran home and got it, and also my copy of adamselzer‘s book, to show to the owners of the bookstore who were sponsering Laurie’s signing. (Adam, the owner is pretty sure they’ve already ordered your book, but she did take down the information just in case they haven’t). When I came into the auditorium, Laurie, who was in the middle of a sentence, stopped and said “oh, hey Ronni!” That was kind of cool.

Laurie Speaking

Laurie Speaking

I love the irony she talked about. She hated The Scarlet Letter when she was in high school, and in some schools, Speak is being taught in conjunction with it. Crazy, right?

She’s such a good speaker. She’s inspirational. She’s friendly and grounded and super smart. She’s also quite gorgeous. I really enjoyed talking with her, and listening to her, and getting to hang out with her for a bit. She signed my book with a very inspirational message, and I’m still floating. I’m going to make note of this, make it my mantra, make it my LIFE: Pre-publication is a temporary condition.

Thank you, Laurie, for an awesome Sunday evening! ♥

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Books, Authors, Reading, Writing, Etc.

/ authors, books, writing

I love reading. If you want proof, look here:

Books I’ve Read in 2007. This document gets updated every time I finish a new book (provided I REMEMBER to add it when I’m done reading) so check back often.

Today, I found out that Laurie Halse Anderson is going to be practically down the street from me on March 25th. Guess where I will be camping out that day? With my camera, for sure. I’ll ask her to send me some “best-selling author” mojo. 🙂

Right now, I am reading brentsbrain‘s Split Screen, which just came out. I read the first screen, I will probably start on screen two at lunch. I just finished My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult and OH MY GOD. I ALMOST lost it, but managed to keep it together. But wow. I recommend that book to EVERYONE.

And just so you know, I’ve regained my joy of writing. 🙂 I’ve finally let CRUSH go, I’ve let ONLY YOURS go, definitely let BECOMING ME go, but that doesn’t mean I won’t use them for parts. There are brilliant moments in both of those books, so I plan to use them to pad current and future projects. I wish I was at home and writing now.

I guess that’s all for now. Time to eat. See ya!

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Hmmm

/ adam, authors, books, life

I’d like to review adamselzer‘s book on Amazon or Barnes & Noble, however, I probably will not because the rules for customer reviewers are apparently different from those for “real” reviewers. For example, “real” reviewers can use the words “sex ed” and they can use “profanity” such as “wiseass,” or “smartass” but someone like me cannot.

That is really annoying, not to mention quite the double standard.

Over the past week, I got to watch some Sarah Silverman. Some of her jokes are very funny, but honestly, I think a lot of them are just plain MEAN. It’s one thing to poke fun at races or what not, but there is a difference between poking fun and at insulting, and she borderline insults people. I think that’s her way of really showing how ridiculous stereotypes are… but I can’t tell if she’s playing a role or if she really believes some of the things she says, like this one:

“Everyone knows that the best time to get pregnant is when you’re a black teenager.”

I know I’m ultra sensitive, though, and she’s brash and in-your-face with the slurs and such. While her show is just plain wacky, I’m not sure how I feel about her stand up material. With that said, some of her stuff is hilariously funny. Her joke about Martin Luther King farting in the car while his family is with him, then putting up all the windows and turning on the heat had me laughing for hours after hearing it.

And now I digress.

I found the service plan for my laptop, so I’m going to back up the most important things and then take it in this Wednesday. That’s the plan anyway—provided I’m not still hanging on to this cold that’s currently making me miserable.

Speaking of, it’s lunchtime aka naptime for me. Later!

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