The time there were gourmet treats

I believe I was at Gretchen McNeil's launch party for Ten when Ava asked about an arc of Let the Sky Fall. When I went back to the super secret vault of arcs at MGRB, I saw a copy and grabbed it for her.

Over the next couple of weeks, Ava kept asking if I wanted to read it. She explained it as having people who could control the wind. Since I always have eleventy billion books to read, I said no. And then I finally looked up the synopsis and saw that Ava left out the best part of the description: FORBIDDEN LOVE.

I got it back from her and read it in one night. [I also later found that I had grabbed another arc of it at some point and it was lost amongst my TBR piles.]

When I saw that Shannon's launch party was going to be at MG, it was a no-brainer. Then I met her at an event with Kiersten White and Kasie West and she mentioned cupcakes and it was a definite thing.

I met Michelle at Starbucks for our regular pre-signing coffee date ritual.  And she spoiled me with arcs from Caitlin [an arc of Unbecoming? EEEEEEEEEEE!!!] and the first two Amy Plum books to complete my collection.

Michelle and I headed into Mysterious Galaxy around 6.  The guys who work there recognized us right away and started setting up the chairs so we would have somewhere to sit.

Shannon was there early and then left.  Her mom brought in the gorgeous bouquet of flowers, balloons and some very tasty treats. 

The event started right at 7pm.  Shannon started out talking about how Let the Sky Fall was her "just for fun" book.  She found it very liberating because it was something she worked on when she was trying to get away from working on her middle grade series.  She had been working on version 20 and started writing without the intent of it ever getting published. 

The book has a lot of Shannon in it.  The setting is where she grew up, a lot of the jokes are from her childhood, the side characters are based on real life people and Vane's house was friends house.

Shannon admitted that she doesn't know where the voice for teenage boy came from. Thinks maybe from her husband since he's still into video games and Star Wars.

She mentioned again that she wasn't planning on having Let the Sky Fall published, but got confident about it and showed it to some friends. They all loved it. Then she didn't think it would sell because of her middle grade series had just been sold.

And then she sold 5 books in a month and a half.

Shannon read a section of Let the Sky Fall. She asked us if we wanted her to read from Vane's or Audra's point of view. Ava and I both said Vane.  She said that it would sound so much better if she read Audra's and that's why we decided to go with Vane.  She told us to pretend she was a hot teen boy with killer abs and muscles.

The questions started right after that.  Mostly because Shannon said that it wasn't a good idea to let her sit there and ramble away.

Was there a difference in writing middle grade and YA?

Yes. One series is written in 3rd person, past tense. The other is written in 1st person, duel POV.  When she's writing the middle grade, she really has to focus on kid voice. Can't read anything other than middle grade or something with "pretty prose" because she'll be working with something with glittery poop. She mostly thinks about how it felt when she was 12.

What is the hardest part about writing different series?

Hardest part is having two deadlines. There's no break. The world building is what takes her the most time. For Let the Sky Fall, it's a small world because Vane doesn't know anything about himself. For book 2, it needed to be more. And she likes to always have a why to anything she writes.

She wrote book 2 in 3 months, working 17 hours a day.  Let the Sky Fall will have 2 additional books.

Challenges in writing teenage boy?

It was strange how natural Vane's voice comes to her, it's always been very clear. She listened to what she thinks his music would be: whiny emo. And thinks there's a whiny 17 yo boy inside of her.

After about 20 minutes of questions, Shannon started the signing.  Somehow, I became the first in line [without shoving or slapping].  I got up to Shannon and thanked her for coming.  She signed my book and we talked about her awesome "Keep Calm and Let the Sky Fall" stickers.  As well as the awesome book cover Scrabble tile necklaces she was giving away.

After helping Michelle with her many books and then having the discussion about author involvement with covers, we moved to the corner where Michelle, Ava, Beverly, Kim and I talked about all sorts of things revolving around books. 

We were getting ready to leave when Shannon realized that she forgot about the In & Out Burger gift cards, so we did a quick raffle.  Alas, I didn't win one.  However, I did get to take home an entire tray of the delicious goodies.

Shannon is adorable and Let the Sky Fall is amazing.  I can't wait for book 2.  I suggest you all go buy it now.  Mysterious Galaxy even has signed copies....

The time it was an inquiry

So.  Everyone should know about my epic love for Michelle Hodkin and all things Mara Dyer.  Especially Noah Shaw.  Even though I flew to Chicago for her, I want to fangirl over meet her again.

Today the cover for Retribution was released and it is stunning.

  

Look at them all together.  Aren't they gorgeous?

 

 

I realize that it's too early for Michelle to know tour dates.  However, it's not too early for me to be trying to get her to Southern California.  I've already been in contact with Maryelizabeth at Mysterious Galaxy and she is more than happy to put in a request with the publisher to get Michelle to the Redondo Beach store.

 

This is where you come in...

 

Would you come see a Michelle Hodkin event?  I need to provide Maryelizabeth with some basic stats as to how many people would be attending.  She needs to give that to the publisher to show that it would be a great stop with excellent book sales.

 

As far as I know, Michelle hasn't been to the LA area.  When she toured for Unbecoming, she was up in San Francisco. 

 

Please please please leave a comment below if it's something you would go to.

 

Thank you!!

 



The time I did a blog hop

So.  This is my first attempt at a blog hop. The lovely ladies at The Book Hook Up invited me to try one. I love the idea of it and I'll pretty much jump at any chance to pimp out my favorite books.


As soon as I learned that it was a Bad Boy Hop and read the "definition" of a Bad Boy, I was certain of what my giveaway book would be...


Because Noah Shaw is the most delicious bad boy there is.  And while he is mine [I have proof], Unbecoming is one of the best wtf-is-going-on-mystery-type books that screwed with my head and had me thinking about it for weeks afterwards.

I can't recommend it enough. Not convinced? Click on the book cover to be taken to the GoodReads page.

Rules for the giveaway are listed under the "terms and conditions" on the Rafflecopter widget.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now that you've entered here, check out all of the other blogs on the hop [listed below] for a bazillion chances to win other phenomenal books! You can also check out the hosts' blogs: I Am a Reader, Not a Writer and The Book Hook Up

Good luck!!

The time it was a best of list

So. Everyone is busy posting their best books of 2012 and since I'm not a reviewer, I wasn't going to contribute. At the last minute [obviously], I have decided to add my very own best of list.

In no particular order, here are my top 4 [yes, 4] authors I met in the year 2012.

Michelle Hodkin

My love for Michelle is strong. I mean, we flew to Chicago for her. The trip was fun, Michelle was amazing. And most importantly? I got Noah.

  

I may or may not be in talks with MGRB to start a campaign to get Michelle here in 2013 for Retribution.

Sarah J Maas

I met Sarah several times in 2012. Every time, I was a hot mess of fangirling. First was ALA, second time was at CC, third time was the Throne of Glass release party and the fourth time was my birthday.

Where she gave me a birthday hat to wear. And signed my birthday card.

Disregard the fact that my eyes are shut. 

Sarah is always so amazing and I may or may not have some tentative plans with her in 2013, thanks to Ava.

Elizabeth Norris

I believe, by now, everyone knows of my love for Ben and how Kassiah got him for me.  And how I got him again when I met Elizabeth in San Diego.

  

But then, somehow. I won an arc of Unbreakable when Elizabeth had a contest. And in the arc, she signed him over to me again. In case anyone was going to dispute this ownership.  :D

Stephanie Perkins

The first time I met Stephanie was at Festival of Books. Ava made me stand in line with her to see Stephanie. And when I got up there, I proceeded to have the worst case of word vomit. But, Stephanie took it all in stride and hugged me.

I saw her again a few days later, on the YA or Bust tour. In the process, Lucy blew up on the freeway. We still decided to go and when I word vomited the entire story to Stephanie, she immediately got up, came around the table and hugged me. Again. And thanked me for coming.

 

She attempted to make Kassiah share Étienne, but since his name was spelled wrong [something Stephanie and I both missed], Kassiah says its not binding.

Guess I'll have to try again when Isla comes out.

All in all, 2012 was a great year. I met a lot of awesome authors and I can't wait to see what 2013 brings.

The time there was traffic

Ellen Hopkins has been an elusive addition to Dear Bully. It seems that I continually miss her signing dates or appearances at ALA. Even after the date at Vroman's was announced, I wasn't sure I would be able to get there. But I did.

We got up to the store around 6:20, which is late by our standards. There was a small group of people already there; however front row was still available! I bought the new book, checked with the events person to see if they were passing out signing tickets [no, they weren't] and settled in to wait for Ellen.

Just before 7, the events lady came in and told us that Ellen was stuck in traffic and would be at the store as soon as possible. To kill time, she went though the "housekeeping" items and even read Ellen's introduction.

Ellen got there around 7:30. She thanked us all for being there and waiting for her after she was late. She immediately started talking about Collateral.

While doing research for Collateral, she spent 100 hours interviewing military families. She also planned to launch something with a particular veterans program, however, after they saw the book, the veterans decided it wasn't a good fit. Ellen figured it was because she doesn't "pretty up" any of her topics.

She then read a poem from the book. The particular poem that is now part of a traveling Iraq photo exhibit. After reading, she shared that she followed a battalion through 2 deployments for authenticity as well as the fact that $1 from every sold copy of Collateral will be donated to a military charity.

The Q&A started after that and many of the questions focused on Crank, which was a very personal story. Crank focuses on Kristina who becomes addicted to meth [and is based on Ellen's daughter]. It was 6 years of Ellen's life and she decided to write the story for herself. She quickly learned that it was a story that touched a lot of people. Ellen would sell the book without an agent and on only 75 pages.

Ellen's daughter, Kristina, has been supportive of the books and is quite proud of them. At first she was wary, but now shares them with her friends. A lot of the stories from the sequel, Glass, come straight from Kristina, who is doing well now.

Ellen's advice for writers is to be a voyeur: listen to conversations. She gets a lot of information while at airports. Always write every day and if a block happens, try going to a new place to write.

After about 40 minutes of talking, the signing started. When I got up to her, I thanked her for coming. Ellen looked up and me and commented that we've talked on twitter. I said yes, that I'm the one who drove from San Diego. She said it was a far distance. I then told her that we almost came to Vegas for her and Michelle Hodkin. Hubs asked why we had to go to Chicago if they were in Vegas. Sooo I clarified that we flew to Chicago for Michelle.

AND THEN ELLEN SAID THAT MICHELLE TOLD HER ABOUT ME.

After getting my things signed, Ellen asked if we were driving back right away. When I confirmed that we were, she told me to drive safely.

Ellen Hopkins is funny. She's an excellent storyteller. And while I haven't read any of her books yet, after what I heard tonight, I'll be starting them soon.

The time we flew to Chicago

I feel like it's no secret how much I love The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, Noah Shaw and [obviously] Michelle Hodkin. I missed her in SF when she toured for UoMD and after reading it, I was determined to get to her.

When ALA in Anaheim came around, The Evolution of Mara Dyer was the only arc I wanted. I would have give up everything else to have gotten that one book. Alas, they weren't giving them out. Flash forward to September and Kristin had tweeted a picture of the arc she had won and she was happy to share it with me.

After I had all of the flails from the ending of Evolution, I went into serious stalking mode. I made a few mentions of Y'ALLfest in South Carolina to Hubs and when he didn't laugh in my face, I figured it was a go. Turns out, Michelle was only going to be signing on Friday, we would have been leaving Thursday night. YALLfest was a no.

I looked into her other tour dates and asked her if she was planning a trip to the west coast. She said not that she knew of. I briefly thought about going to the Texas Book Festival, but quickly squashed that. And then I wondered about Chicago...

We have family there, so that means a place to stay. The original plan was that we were going to power through the 30 hour drive, but for $50 more than the estimation of gas, we could fly and have a mini vacation.

Hubs called the bookstore first to see if we could buy an event ticket [I'm ticket #1!!!] and book. He told the lady we were coming from San Diego and were met with stunned silence.

I seem to get that reaction a lot...

So. When I tweeted about the blogiversary giveaway, Michelle saw it and said this:

After airfare was purchased, it was official and the serious fangirling was set on high.

We got into Chicago on the Friday before the event. After we settled in a bit, we decided to go find the bookstore and pick up the books and ticket.

There was a bit of a mix up when I asked to pick up my stuff. No one could locate the binder with event preorders. It took some searching and some wandering around the store, but I noticed some books pulled behind the counter and voila! I had my book and ticket #1.

We spent the next day during the tourist stuff.  We all went down to Navy Pier and got on one of those double decker buses where we sat outside in the 36 degree weather and froze our asses off.

On the day of the event, we got to Naperville early. Painfully early. I may or may not have been overly excited. The event was being held at Two Doors East, a little boutique two doors away [not just a clever name] from
Anderson's.

We wandered around. Went into Anderson's. Bought Starbucks. Talked to some awesome guy named Tony about Apple TV. Went back into Anderson's. And finally just decided to wait outside the store until they unlocked the door.

They let us in around 6:15. The lady remembered talking to me on the phone and announced to the few girls who were there that I flew from San Diego for this. And then the girls starting asking about the trip. One girl even said she thought her drive of an hour was excessive.

It quickly started filling up and Michelle got there right at 7pm.

She started out with the origin story to UoMD.  Michelle was lawyer before she was a writer.  She worked in civil anti-terrorism litigation, even working on some of the 9/11 cases when she was 24. 

Once while in New York, she met a woman whose daughter was in a building collapse and her friends did not survive.  The woman wanted to sue the building's owner for mental anguish.  Michelle exchanged information with the mother and said she would try to put her in touch with someone. 

Unfortunately, Michelle didn't think about the mother or daughter [who Michelle said you could definitely see there was something more and haunting about] until she was in New York again a year later.  She found the number and called, only to find that it had been disconnected.  Upon googling the family name, Michelle found that it never existed. 

She started writing that night. 

Somehow, the topic of the last names were brought up, so I asked if MaraAmitraDyerNoahElliotSimonShaw [MADNESS] was on purpose. Originally, Dyer was Noah's last name as an homage to Reality Bites character Troy Dyer.  It wasn't working and Mara quickly adopted it.  And then Shaw was quickly picked for Noah and the middle names fell into place.  It wasn't "planned" per se, just worked out that way. [And I fucking love it].

And as for the language that is in Michelle's books? She says that she needs to be able to write the story that she needs to write and it's up to the parents to control what their kids read. But while 8 and 10 year olds know the bad words, she's not particularly concerned with language.

The only other notes that I have [be thankful I took this many] is that Retribution is in it's first draft.  Which means there's no punctuation.  And that readers have all of the puzzle pieces to the entire story, we were given them in Unbecoming.

After about an hour of talking and Q&A [at some point, Michelle did point right at me and ask if I was me *squee*], she started signing.  It did go in numerical order, so after I unpacked my pile of books, I apologized to the line of people behind me as well as Michelle for having so many. 

Michelle said I didn't need to apologize.  I told her the story about the book boy fight and asked if she would please please please sign Noah over to me. Michelle said that since I came from San Diego [insert gasps from the crowd], I deserved him.  She also said that she loved my blog [how I remained standing and coherent, I'll never know] and that we were friends.

I had a hardcover copy that I ordered signed [when I missed SF] and asked her to personalize it.  Which she did.  And then resigned.

How I felt all night

I got some of the awesome swag: buttons and stickers and tattoos and bookplates and bookmarks. I'm far too lazy to go drag it out of my packed books to take photos of it.  Just know that it's awesome. And it's all mine.

 

Michelle is perfection.  Online she is friendly and funny and just so mother fucking awesome.  In person? She is better.  It was beyond exciting to finally meet someone who I adore online, devour their books and then find out that in real life, they're just...gah. 

 

 

She absolutely made the trip to Chicago worth everything.  I can't recommend her enough.  Go go go go see her.  Now.  But don't ask for Noah because I'm not giving him up.  EVER.

 

Want a signed copy of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer? Click here.