CynJay -Cynthia Jaynes Omololu

And the Winner Is.....

2011-12-02T07:36:00.000-08:00

MELINDA! (mbuttars83) You get the ARC of DITCHED, some bookmarks and super cute punk fairy tattoos.

Winners of the bookmarks and tattoos are:
Allison
Heidi
Small Review
Julie@My 5 Monkeys
Pam Harris

Congratulations to all of you!!!

Send your actual mailing addy to cyn@cjomololu.com and I'll get your prizes right out to you. If you didn't win, look for DITCHED on sale in January!

Giveaway-DITCHED by Robin Mellom

2011-11-28T07:00:00.000-08:00

This is one of my very BFF's Robin Mellom:

Why yes, that is Gordon Korman in between us, but that is another story for another day. Robin is cute and smart and funny...all of the things that would make me hate her if I didn't like her so much. She also wrote a book called DITCHED that is coming out on January 10.

Justina Griffith was never the girl who dreamed of going to prom. Designer dresses and strappy heels? Not her thing. So she never expected her best friend, Ian Clark, to ask her.

Ian, who always passed her the baseball bat handle first.

Ian, who knew exactly when she needed red licorice.

Ian, who promised her the most amazing night at prom.

And then ditched her.

Now, she must piece together stain-by-stain on her thrift store dress—exactly how she ended up dateless…with only the help of some opinionated ladies at the 7-Eleven. But to get to the whole story, Justina will have to face the boy who ditched her. Can losing out at her prom ultimately lead to finding true love?

I'm always afraid to read books written by friends of mine. What if I don't like it? What if I have to avoid the subject every time I see them? Lucky for me, DITCHED is AWESOME, because otherwise it would be hard to just fake my enthusiasm for the next couple of years. And it is. Awesome. Fun and funny, quirky and poignant in all the right places. The premise is new and the writing is great - nobody else could make time spent in a 7-11 so riveting. I was dying to find out what happens to Justina and Ian and the end made me say awwww out loud.

Robin gave me one of her precious ARCs and has authorized me to give it away to one of you lucky blog readers. She also sent me some of the cool custom punk fairy tattoos (you have to read the book for this part to make sense), so in addition to the book, I will give away tattoos and bookmarks to 5 additional readers.

Comment before midnight on December 1st and I'll draw a random winner of the ARC and five more winners for the tattoos and bookmarks. You don't even have to say anything funny - just leave your name for the drawing. This international contest is open to anyone over the age of 13.

Cover Lovin'

2011-11-09T09:34:00.000-08:00

I don't think there is any email subject line that can stop a writer's heart faster than "Here's your cover!". Most readers don't realize that authors aren't in charge of their covers and in many cases don't have any say at all. I'm happy that my publisher has kept me in the loop about my cover and often asks for my suggestions. Hopefully, we'll have a final cover to reveal here soon, but in the meantime, here are some of the covers that have been released in the past few weeks that I just love:

The only thing I can safely say about the cover for TRANSCENDENCE is that it won't have a girl in a pretty dress on the cover. Not because I'm against girls in pretty dresses, but Cole is more of a jeans-and-Vans girl. At least until book 2.

And....Done!

2011-11-02T17:48:00.000-07:00

Ah, the two sweetest words in the English language - The End! I got to type those this afternoon and I feel like exhaled for the first time since late August.

The stats:

Days it took to complete first draft: 71
Length of first draft: 84,704 words
Average words per day: 1,193
Days skipped: 0
Days that I wanted to skip: 68
Coffee consumed: 177.5 large ones
Head-Desk sighs of frustration: countless
Number of times Naive by The Kooks was listened to: 234.3
Emergency email/texts to my support system (aka Daisy Whitney): 45 (approx)
Number of those occurring after midnight: a lot

At the end of the process, this is what the back of my sad, worn notebook looks like, full of food stains and coffee splotches:

And this is the infamous cork board, all filled up and happy:

So what's next? Well, tonight I'm going to sit down and watch my DVR'd episodes of Modern Family, Big Bang Theory and Hoarders. Tomorrow, I'm going to open the file to page 1 and start all over again, taking out the horrible parts and adding in some (hopeful) brilliance. If past experience is any guide, I'll probably take out several thousand words, but end up with about 10k more than I have now. Chapters will get switched around, threads will be deleted and expanded and characters may or may not survive to the final draft.

Yeah, in other words, the hard work has just begun.

So...How's It Goin?

2011-10-28T20:59:00.000-07:00

As of this minute - 78,713 words and counting, or 259 pages for the normal people in the audience. Which means I'm about 10k from the end of the first draft of this book! I'm on Chapter 28, and I know what's going to happen for the next two chapters, which is always a relief. I have to say, forcing myself to sit down and write 1k every day has really worked, better than anything else I've ever tried.

I'll keep you posted when I type those two magic words that start with T and E. At which point I get to start over on page 1 and make it good.

I Can Officially Die Happy

2011-09-21T14:39:00.000-07:00

Why yes, that is DLS featured in our Scholastic Book Fair!!!!!!!!
(Dear Scholastic, I'm afraid the poster for Dirty Little Secrets was misplaced as we packed up the book fair....)

Putting My Word Count Where My Mouth Is

2011-09-21T10:23:00.000-07:00

So I made a big deal a few weeks ago about writing 1k per day, every day in order to finish a book. In case you missed it, that post is here. People have been asking how I'm doing on the sequel to TRANSCENDENCE, and as someone famous once said, a picture is worth a bunch of words:

30,602 words to be exact (I added another thousand last night after I took this scan. Don't mind the coffee stain on the right side of my notebook. I blame the cat.) I'm happy to say I'm on track to finish this draft before Thanksgiving, unless it ends up a whole lot longer than I have planned. Are all of the words good? Nope. But they exist and for me, it's so much easier to fix stuff than create stuff.

Some of these words were REALLY hard to do. The words on 9/7 were written in a hotel room at a resort where we were celebrating my dad's birthday. The ones on both the 10th and the 17th were written in the car while my kid warmed up for his soccer game. More than a couple of thousand were technically written after midnight, but I counted them as I hadn't been to bed yet. More than once I thought about blowing it off for the day, because after all, this draft isn't actually due for quite a while. What's the harm? But I know that if I skip one day, it's going to be so easy to skip the day after that and I really want to keep on schedule. This weekend is going to be a blur of baseball and soccer tournaments (I don't know about you, but leaving the house at 5:30 on a Saturday morning is not my idea of fun) and it's going to be really hard to get the count in, but I'm going to do everything I can to get them done.

How about you? How's your draft going?

Susan Vaught and GOING UNDERGROUND

2011-09-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

I have a confession to make - Susan Vaught is one of my literary heroes. Her novel TRIGGER was a huge inspiration when I started writing YA, and a seminar I took from her years ago still resonates every time I have to write a killer synopsis (which I can now do because of what I learned from Susan). Her books take hot topics and turn them into intensely personal stories (BIG FAT MANIFESTO, EXPOSED). When I found out she was writing a YA about sexting and the repercussions of laws that don't keep up with today's reality, I had to get an advance copy.

I don't cry easily. It seriously took most of Titanic before I shed a tear, but by the end of her new book GOING UNDERGROUND, I was sniffing and wiping away tears in a good way. I really fell for her main character and the difficult and ridiculous situation the all-knowing adults around him have put him in (I have to say, the parents got off pretty well in this book. The law and those who enforce it rightfully don't) and what it does to his psyche and his future.

Here is a snapshot of GOING UNDERGROUND:

Del is a good kid who's been caught in horrible circumstances. At seventeen, he's trying to put his life together after an incident in his past that made him a social outcast-and a felon. As a result, he can't get into college; the only job he can find is digging graves; and when he finally meets a girl he might fall in love with, there's a sea of complications that threatens to bring the world crashing down around him again. But what has Del done? In flashbacks to Del's fourteenth year, we slowly learn the truth: his girlfriend texted him a revealing photo of herself, a teacher confiscated his phone, and soon the police were involved.

Basing her story on real-life cases of teens in trouble with the law for texting explicit photos, Susan Vaught has created a moving portrait of an immensely likable character caught in a highly controversial legal scenario.

These are the first lines of the new book:
Dead zones are places without life, without feeling, without air. I've seen them in pictures of polluted oceans and read about them in descriptions of the cold void of space. Sometimes I think parts of my body have turned silent and dark like those pictures and descriptions. Sometimes I think I've become a dead zone.

I told you her writing was amazing. I had the pleasure of interviewing Susan recently and asked her a few questions about the book.: As the parent of teen and pre-teen boys this was a topic that really hit home for me. How do you think having kids of your own changed the topics you write about or the way you write fiction?

My childrens' enjoyment of stories inspired me to start writing for children and young adults, and whenever I write fantasy, my son's tastes definitely weigh into the equation. My daughter is the contemporary literature fan, as is her best friend, who is now a high school teacher. I think about them as well. At times, I explore topics that were fears of mine when my kids were younger, or I imagine how I'd deal with newer-to-the-world issues now, if my children were still young. I believe I tune into injustice more quickly, because kids, teens, and young adults have a hard enough time surviving to adulthood without being strangled by the mistakes and shortcomings of adults.

I think my favorite lines of Del's are toward the end where he's explaining his situation in a letter to a college admissions officer; "....my personhood got revoked. I got kicked out of society. It felt like getting kicked off the world." My heart was just breaking for him and I was so angry at the outcome of such a ridiculous situation. Do you think things are getting better legally with Romeo and Juliet laws?

Some states are, some states aren't. I really wish it could be addressed at a federal level, and I believe we have to find some way to keep up with technology, and to focus more on real protection and safety issues for teens and young adults vs. trying to legally enforce morality. This last is the socially sensitive issue, I know, but it drives me insane when kids lose their futures because of ridiculous laws or legal decisions, or the over-legalization of the normal mistakes kids, teens, and young adults make. Sooner or later we have to face the fact that we have essentially criminalized consensual sexual activity between teens--something no society ever in time has been able to control--and we are ripping futures away from teens and young adults because we can't a) keep up with technology that they are mastering faster than we do, and b) get our act together on accepting the fact that teens think about and experiment with sex. I'm not saying don't have rules, don't educate them, don't attempt to dissuade them, don't have consequences (within the family group)--just, how about let's not send them to jail and prison and put them on sex offender registries for life for falling in love or doing the modern technological equivalent of "playing doctor."

I know you were inspired by some of the cases you worked with as a psychiatrist - what other research did you have to do to make the book ring true?

I researched age of consent laws in various states, researched cases where children have been convicted of sex offenses based on sexting, and spoke to a district attorney. I remember one question I asked the DA--what if two teens, one under the age of consent by one day and one over the age of consent by one day had sexual contact? Would you prosecute? The DA said, "I wouldn't in that situation, but if a parent chose to press charges, I wouldn't have a choice." I then asked her if she had seen cases like that, and she got tears in her eyes, nodded, and didn't answer out loud. That made quite an impression.

My favorite part of writing are the 'happy accidents' that come while you're writing when a character or situation just shows up. Did you have any 'accidents' that made it into the book?

The inclusion of Fred the parrot and the rescued animals happened by accident. That was nowhere in my outline when I started, but my own parrot was plucking my nerves (and my hair) while I was writing the first couple of chapters, and shortly thereafter, Fred the parrot stormed into the narrative.

In spite of having a difficult real world job, you write so many great books - what's up next for Susan Vaught?

I have one manuscript completed and in the editing process. My title for it is FREAK, but that may change. FREAK is told through the eyes of Jason, a young man with schizophrenia. When his best friend and maybe girlfriend Sunshine disappears, he knows he has to find her--even though the police and the FBI consider him the primary suspect. His voices and distorted perceptions confuse him and make him doubt himself, but he'll never give up, not if there's the tiniest chance of finding her alive--but Sunshine's time is fast running out.

I also have another manuscript still in the revision/writing process. It's a contemporary romance with some . . . unusual . . . fantasy elements. :)

Thanks Susan! Find out more about Susan and all of her books here. GOING UNDERGROUND is an important book for anyone to read, but I think it is particularly eye-opening for the parents of teen boys. And it's on sale TODAY!!!!

Hoarding Resources

2011-09-08T11:22:00.000-07:00

After writing DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS, I made some amazing connections in the hoarding community. One of them is Geralin Thomas who is a wonderful organizer and one of the key players on A&E's show Hoarders. Today on her blog is a fabulous list of resources for books and DVDs on hoarding. Check it out with this link. Interestingly, there is only one fiction book on it (yeah, it's mine). Apparently more people should be writing about this subject for all age groups - get on it people.

...And Another Thing

2011-09-02T08:44:00.001-07:00

I'm so glad that some people have found that last post helpful. One thing I forgot to mention that I think is key in the process of maintaining forward momentum - stop writing in the middle of something exciting. That tiny piece of advice has saved me countless hours of staring at a blank screen. Just when the scene really gets going, when you can't wait to write the next part because you know it's going to be awesome, when you've flown past your word count for the day and are on to a new personal best...hit Save and close the file. Sounds crazy I know, but it works and that excitement is what is going to carry you on to the next day's writing session.

I love the scene I wrote yesterday - a bunch of them go to a snooty party and I knew that Griffon and Cole were going to have a really heavy make-out scene up on the roof of the building looking over the lights of San Francisco (sorry to all of you who hate romancy stuff - these books are full of it). This is the point in the book where we see all of the good stuff happen before the shit hits the fan (Beat 4,: The Catalyst, for those of you SAVE THE CAT fans out there) and I was really looking forward to writing it. I wrote the beginning of the party, some cool stuff happens, and then just as Griffon was reaching for Cole's hand, I stopped. Closed it up and drove the kid to guitar lessons. I've been thinking about the next scene ever since - picturing it in my head and tweaking it here and there to make it even better - and now I get to sit down today and write it.

Just after that scene, there's a little bit of a cliffhanger where Cole bumps into another major character in the hallway and a big 'dum dum dum' is revealed. Yeah, you guessed it, I'm saving that scene for tomorrow. And am I writing on Labor Day? You betcha.

Have a great weekend everyone, but don't forget to squeeze in your 1k!

Write a Novel in 90 Days (or Less!)

2011-08-31T10:14:00.000-07:00

So I'm about 8, 000 words into the sequel to TRANSCENDENCE (still a little bit of a thrill to actually write that) and it's occurred to me that I've learned a few things since I sat down to write my first book that might possibly be helpful to someone.

I have people come up to me all the time and ask how to write a book. My standard answer is that I don't know. Because I don't. For me, writing is like seeing a movie in my head and writing down what happens. But then I started to think, that, except for the magic part of the whole thing, I actually do know how to write a book because I've done it four times already (yes, I only have one novel published and one coming out next year - your math isn't wrong). And I have a guaranteed way to do it in 90 days. I wrote both DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS and TRANSCENDENCE in about three months each. (So what do I do with the rest of my time? It's called authoring, as opposed to writing, but that's another topic for another day.)

And the secret is...are you ready for it?....write 1,000 words a day, every day, no matter what. Thanks for reading, I hope that helps.

Wait, what? You need a little more? Okay, there actually are some guidelines for this groundbreaking butt-in-chair writing method.

1. Commit to write 1,000 words a day. I pick this number because honestly, it's not that much. Maybe an hour, maybe an hour and a half if I don't know exactly what's going to happen. 1,000 words in a standard, double-spaced manuscript with an average amount of dialogue is about 3 pages. You can do three pages, can't you? If you write really slowly (I always say that the typing course I took in 8th grade was the single most helpful thing I ever did), then you can change your word count to something like 500 words a day, but that moves you on to our 180 day guarantee. I have to keep myself accountable, so I write the date and the word count on the back of the notebook I use for, well, notes and stuff I print out from the internet. 1,000 words a day for 90 days = 90,000 words or about 300 pages, which is about how long my books tend to be these days.

2. That's every day. But what about Sundays? Or birthdays? Or soccer tournaments? Too bad. No matter what else is going on you have to commit to 1,000 words a day. Get up early, stay up late, stop watching TV, write during practice. I wrote most of DLS in a cold, drafty gym waiting for my son to finish his workout. Even people with crazy schedules can find the time if they want to badly enough. Looking at my notebooks, I see that I started both DLS and TRANSCENDENCE on November 17th. Why? I have no idea, but I had to force myself to work through the craziness of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Last Saturday was packed with soccer and a pizza party we threw here at the house until fairly late. I was exhausted, but sat down at 11pm to do my 1k because I had to. The secret here is that it's not about word count per se, it's about sitting down and opening the file every day (we'll talk more about that later). If you're going on vacation for three weeks and know you won't write every day, then don't start the book yet. Which brings me to the next point....

3. Don't start your book too early. You know when a great idea hits you. You get that excited feeling in your stomach and your mind starts racing with possibilities. You feel like you should run to the laptop or notebook and start writing right away. Well, don't. Every idea needs time to stew and develop. For you to get to know the characters and the plot, even if it's subconscious. I got the idea for DLS from a magazine article I read in August, but started writing on November 17th. That's about the right amount of time for me. Your mileage may vary. Someone on chat asked last night when you know it's time to start writing. For me, it's when I find myself saying bits of dialogue out loud and I have a great first line.

4. Don't fly blind. Yes, my favorite writing quote is still the one over there on the sidebar about driving at night, but you do need to know that there's a road somewhere beneath you. I've tried a lot of different ways, from the 9 Point Plot Process to the method laid out in Blake Snyder's SAVE THE CAT (which I love), and find that I like a mashup of several different methods. I do like to have a lot of scenes plotted out on my bulletin board before I start so I have some idea of where to go, but leave a lot of room for the magic to happen where I have no idea why the characters are driving to the zoo, but I just go with it. This is the board for the sequel to TRANSCENDENCE (it was called FATED, but we're changing it - will NYT bestselling authors please stop stealing my titles!). Each card is a scene, and they're divided into acts. You might notice that the last two acts, basically from pages 151 to the end are a little...um...skimpy. That's because I get bored outlining and planning. This is enough info to get me halfway through the book. At some point before I reach the halfway mark, I'll go back and write a bunch more scenes for the last half of the book. You only need to stay a little ahead of yourself so that you don't get stuck.

4. Can you 'bank' words for the next day? No. Are you really on a roll and want to keep on going until you've cranked out 4k for the day? Awesome! Go right ahead. But you still need to sit down the next day and write your 1k. The deal is that it's not so much about word count as it is about sitting down and opening the file every day, whether you feel 'inspired' or not. It's like skipping class in college. I used to go as long into the semester as I could without skipping a class, because the first one is the hardest and the rest were easy. If you go one day without writing a word on your manuscript, it's that much easier to not open it the second day.

5. What if you get writers block? Then just write garbage. That's right , 1k of complete crap. Stuff you know you're going to dump. It's all in the doing, not what's done. Eventually, you'll get back to a place where it's working again, and you might surprise yourself that what you wrote isn't a total loss.

6. Can you revise as you go? Yes, but you still have to keep up word count, which is why I suggest not doing heavy revisions until the first draft is done. Yesterday, I was trying to get the first chapter in shape to show my editor, but my darling and wonderfully harsh critique partner insisted I cut a bunch of fluff, which amounted to over 1k words. That stunk, but she was right, so I did it, and then had to add enough words to make the final count for the day 1k over the count from the day before. Does that make sense? If you start with 5,500 words from the day before, and then cut 1,000 words, then you have to add 2,000 words that day to make up for it. Sound unfair? It probably is, but those are my rules.

7. Writing is not a 365 day a year exercise. At least it's not for me. I know Stephen King would probably disagree (and if you haven't read his On Writing or Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird you should). I do the 1k-every-day thing until the first draft is done, and then I go and do other stuff like revising, copyediting, website improvement, playlists, laundry and dishes. I can get about two books done a year at this point without completely burning out, and books are wonderfully cyclical in what they demand from you - create, fix, wait, promote.

8. What about punishments/rewards? I don't use them, but you can if you want. The guilt of not completing what I set out to do that day, combined with the crankiness I always get if I'm drafting but haven't done my count for the day is enough for me. Although I never say no to chocolate and I drink a ridiculous amount of coffee.

I hope some of this helps you zero in on the method that will work best for you. As for me, I only got 50 new words done this morning, so I'm off to do the other 950.

And the New Title is......

2011-08-24T14:48:00.000-07:00

TRANSCENDENCE

I love it and think it works perfectly with the theme of the book.

If you're a regular around here, you might know that figuring out what to call this book has been a bit of a struggle. I blogged about it here and here. Right as we were submitting it we decided to call it DESTINED because it deals with reincarnation and the meaning of life (simple stuff, I know) and the publishers loved it too. After meeting with marketing, my editor told me that P.C. Cast was coming out with a book called DESTINED at about the same time, so we couldn't use it. Dang.

After throwing around literally hundreds of titles, my editor, the marketing department and I have all agreed that TRANSCENDENCE is the winner and I'm so glad. Even better, here's the catalog copy:

Love isn’t the only emotion to survive death . . .

When a visit to the Tower of London triggers an overwhelmingly real vision of a beheading that occurred centuries before, Cole Ryan fears she is losing her mind. A mysterious boy, Griffon Hall, comes to her aid, but the intensity of their immediate connection seems to open the floodgate of memories even wider.
As their feelings grow, Griffon reveals their common bond as members of the Akhet—an elite group of people who can remember past lives and use their collected wisdom for the good of the world. But not all Akhet are altruistic, and a rogue is after Cole to avenge their shared past. Now in extreme danger, Cole must piece together clues from many lifetimes. What she finds could ruin her chance at a future with Griffon, but risking his love may be the only way to save them both.
Full of danger, romance, and intrigue, Transcendence breathes new life into a perpetually intriguing question: What would you do with another life to live?

They're including a really kick-ass excerpt as the flap copy, but I don't want to give everything away. I've seen some cover-mock ups and they're amazing, and hopefully I can share sometime in the near future.

On another note, today was the first day of school, and like I promised, I wrote the first thousand words of the sequel to TRANSCENDENCE today - so far, it's still called FATED, and we should be able to firm that up soon. But that is another post for another day.

Look for TRANSCENDENCE sometime in June of 2012!

Now That's Cool!

2011-08-16T15:56:00.000-07:00

Remember the Scholastic catalogs that you used to get as a kid?

Look what's in the Fall Teen catalog!

(Closeup of page 7.)

And what a bargain!

So How Was LA?

2011-08-12T13:54:00.000-07:00

Every August, kidlit writers converge for summer camp, also known as the SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writer's and Illustrator's) conference. This year was the 40th anniversary, so there was record attendance with over 1,300 people.

This was the view from our room. LA even looked pretty for us.

There were some amazing speakers!

Richard Peck was a master of the subtle glance to get a laugh. He was awesome.

Laurie Halse Anderson told us to stop volunteering and get to work. She even gave me a hug, because that's how we roll.
If you ever get a chance to sit down and talk to Gary Paulson, take it. Tell us more about jail Gary!

And then Judy Blume stopped by to chat with Lin Oliver for awhile. It was the dream of just about every woman in the room to hear her speak. She even told us what she wants on her tombstone. What is it? You had to be there.

Of course, everyone knows the real doing is happening in the lobby. Here's me with fabbo EMLA clients Ruth McNalley Barshaw (my son's personal hero) and the amazing (and not-so-shrinking violet) R.L. LeFevers.

And Robin with up-and-coming superstar Mike Jung.

Robin Mellom and her lovely agent Jill Corcoran.

Me and the lovely Lee Wind.

Greg Pincus and the glowing Eve Porinchak.

And then there was the party. It was crazy. Crazy good.

Shelli Johannes-Wells and Robin Mellom looking a little sleepy.

Suzanne Young and my roomie Christy Raedeke getting reacquainted.

We're still not sure who let Miss Elaine in.

And those are all of the photos that I'm allowed to post. So how was LA? Let's just say we're counting down the next 359 days until we can do it again. Ahem. Because it's such hard, hard work.

Meet Michelle Ray and her book FALLING FOR HAMLET

2011-07-12T08:30:00.000-07:00

Most people who know me know that I only read YA books. Mainly because I don't have time to read anything else (The Help has been on my Kindle for months), but also because I love to see what new and exciting things other YA writers are doing.

A few months ago I started hearing about FALLING FOR HAMLET and I couldn't wait to get the book and see how Michelle imagined the main characters in Hamlet for a current audience. I know this one is going to be a favorite of many teens in my life. Michelle took time out of her busy debut week to answer a few questions, (and after hearing her answers, I can tell she's a kindred writing spirit) so let's get to know Michelle Ray and her wonderful debut book!

First comes love, then comes madness...

Meet Ophelia: a blonde, beautiful high-school senior and long-time girlfriend of Prince Hamlet of Denmark. Her life is dominated not only by her boyfriend's fame and his overbearing family, but also by the paparazzi who hound them wherever they go. As the devastatingly handsome Hamlet spirals into madness after the mysterious death of his father, the King, Ophelia rides out his crazy roller coaster life, and lives to tell about it. In live television interviews, of course.

Passion, romance, drama, humor, and tragedy intertwine in this compulsively readable debut novel, told by a strong-willed, modern-day Ophelia.

Adapting something that is well known can be scary for a writer. Did you have any second thoughts about adapting a Shakespeare play?

I did. First, the question was whether I had anything fresh to say. There are other adaptations of Shakespeare and even other adaptations of Ophelia’s story, but I thought the setting, my voice and my way of telling it made it unique so I kept going. Second, the language of Hamlet is incredible but translating it was rough. At times, I wasn’t sure I could make it sound colloquial enough, and at other times, I wished I didn’t have to. Shakespeare’s words are magnificent, so I hated to make them go away. However, my hope was to remind people what a great story Hamlet is, to update it with a modern message, and to perhaps draw the unfamiliar or the reluctant to the original.

How did you get to know Ophelia?

I thought about her a lot. I know that sounds basic, but I did. She was in my head constantly for years. I would imagine conversations she’d have with other characters, how she would view the media, and how she would feel about certain events in the book. I’m not a writer who jots these things down formally. I chat in my head while driving, while trying to fall asleep, and while going through daily activities. In fact, I created Ophelia’s conversation with Hamlet about his seeing ghosts while at a children’s museum with my kids. When a great idea strikes, I end up rooting through my purse for receipts or scraps of paper to write on so I don’t forget. It’s not pretty, but it works.

In terms of building who she was, I started with what would make her betray Hamlet and worked my way back and forth from that. I had to think about the history of her family (the dead mother was Shakespeare’s fault, not mine, yet it helped Ophelia be a little more lost and lacking in good guidance), her father’s position in the court and living situation (the pressure to behave well and the lack of privacy within the castle mirrored what happened to her outside), and how long she was with Hamlet (a tumultuous, long-term relationship seemed like a better answer than a new relationship. When you’ve got history with someone, you’re less likely to walk away from craziness . . . usually). Then it was a matter of adding detail. When I tried to make her do things she didn’t want to do, the pages didn’t work. Sounds as insane as the original Ophelia, but it’s true. She guided my way.

What kinds of things did you change as you worked on the story?

In early drafts, she was in college. This allowed her to be more independent, and in some ways, more irresponsible. Once my agent suggested that I try aging her down, the dynamic changed, and I believe it changed for the better. Her ties to her father and her conflicting feelings about his demands seemed even more believable when she was in high school. Some of the behaviors that got her into trouble were more embarrassing once she was younger. And her feeling of being out of her depths and having no one to turn to made even more sense with her still being in high school. Also, with Hamlet already in college, there was added tension of his being free of their old life while she was still under the thumb of his parents and her father. He had more access to girls, too, which drove her nuts.

You’re a teacher – have you always been a writer?

Nope. I was a director before I was a teacher, which is storytelling, but the words weren’t my own. There’s a certain comfort in that because you can always blame someone else for dull moments. In truth, I’d always had stories in my head, but I didn’t write them down because I didn’t see the point. My husband encouraged me to put them on paper, but it took a loooong time (over a decade) before I thought of myself as a “writer.” It’s still odd to admit that, actually. What really made me take writing seriously was teaching writing to my fifth graders. An incredible group called LitLife came to my school to teach teachers how to teach writing. In doing the activities, I realized that I loved putting words on paper and that I was good at it.

What’s a writing day like for you?

Choppy. My teaching day is intense, so I don’t usually have time to think about my writing. I love what I do, and I love that I have a job that keeps my mind occupied, but when I get home, I’m tired. Even so, it’s writing time. This means I sometimes shortchange my family by disappearing to write, and other times it means I’m frustrated because I can’t write when I want to. Kids’ homework, baths, bills, and quality time are important, but it means I have to be very efficient when I write. I admit that I get shouty when I’m interrupted (like if my kids can’t sleep and come out a thousand times to tell me so), and I stay up late a lot, but I love all the aspects of my life so I wouldn’t give anything up.

Many reviews for FALLING FOR HAMLET say they can’t wait to see what you do next. What’s up next in your writing?

It’s the most remarkable thing that people feel that way, and it presses me to keep going. I’m working on another adaptation for teens and an adult historical fiction novel. My great fear is that FALLING FOR HAMLET might be the only book I ever get published, but others I trust don’t seem as concerned as I about this. Either way, it’s been such an exciting ride, such an unexpected pleasure to be published and to have my book in real bookstores. I’m trying to appreciate each moment.

Thanks Michelle! Whether you know the story of Hamlet backward and forward or have never read a word of Shakespeare in your life, check out FALLING FOR HAMLET and hear another side of the story.

I'm Not Dead

2011-06-21T11:42:00.000-07:00

In fact, I'm blogging today over at YA Outside the Lines.

Don't Panic!

2011-05-11T12:50:00.000-07:00

Wow, has it really been over a month since I posted? For the three of you who check back regularly, I sincerely apologize and as soon as this revision is put to bed and tucked in I should have the brainpower left to have something interesting to say here on the blog.

I got my second round of revision notes on The-Book-Formerly-Known-As-Destined (as some of you know, PC Cast is coming out with a book called Destined at about the same time, so basically, she wins the title contest) and as always, my first response is to panic, brush back tears and shake my head as I read the three single-spaced pages of notes, knowing deep in the pit of my stomach that there is no way I can possible fix all of the millions of things that are still wrong with this book. And we're not talking misplaced commas here. We're talking notes like: the overarching sense of danger is lacking...I found this plot point difficult to accept...this whole thing needs more of a build up...and...you should give up writing altogether because you obviously have no talent. Okay, so I might have read between the lines on that last one. After an hour or so of wallowing, I usually go take a shower and when I emerge and read the letter over again, things are looking...if not doable, then at least remotely possible.

By the sixth time I've read the letter, I'm starting to see what my editor means. At this point, we usually start an epic email back and forth where I write comments or questions and she answers them in another color. I answer back in another color and this goes on for awhile until we have a veritable rainbow of possible solutions to the big issues. We've found over the past couple of years, that we both like email rather than phone conversations because we can print them out and refer back to them as we go. Plus the colors are pretty when you print it all out.

About this time, I usually call my BWB (best writing buddy) Daisy. She's read an early draft and knows enough about the book to be able to bring me back from the edge of the cliff. We talk possibilities from the insane (should V be the reincarnation of Hitler?) to the reasonable (maybe cutting this kissing scene, however painful, will move the plot along faster). Everyone needs someone who's not being paid to work on their book help them out. She can take a step back and help me see the big picture that is now completely lost to me.

By the end of the first day after notes come, the panic has ebbed and I'm starting to see a light at the end of this process. That maybe it just might work after all. That the book, when all is said and done, might not completely suck. It might just be...dare I say it...pretty awesome.

I guess the message in all of this is that when you get a critique, whether from your editor or your critique partner, don't panic. Don't email them right back, screaming about the fact that there is no way this is all going to get done. Don't get angry that they want to change big parts of your plot and kill some of your darlings. Put it away for a little bit, and when you come back, read each sentence slowly until it begins to make sense. A little time and common sense can do wonders. A big bag of Starburst jelly beans left over from Easter doesn't hurt either.

Almost Done!

2011-04-06T17:43:00.001-07:00

I've been gone. I'm sorry. I've literally been spending every waking hour (and a couple that weren't so waking) in my kitchen chair working on the revision for the-book-that-was-called-Destined. I'm about to turn in this revision so that my editor can have another crack at it and send it back to me one more time in a few weeks.

When I'm writing, I can't read fiction. I don't know if it has to do with lack of confidence or what, but reading good books brings me down, so I tend to read writing books - usually Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott or On Writing by Stephen King. This time around, my buddies Robin and Eve recommended Save the Cat and Save the Cat Strikes Back by Blake Snyder.

So far, I've read both of them cover to cover twice in the hopes that all of his great advice will be implanted in my brain by osmosis. The books are about screenwriting, but there is so much good stuff in there for fiction writers, I can't recommend them highly enough.

By using some of Blake's techniques, I've turned this:

Into this:

Because I can never use something right out of the box, I adapted his methods a little bit to suit how I do things but it is really helpful to see everything right out in front of me. I can swap scenes around and find something in seconds without having to rifle through all 300+ pages trying to remember where I had a particular character say a particular thing.

Better pacing? Check. Better character motivation? Check. New title? Um.....

Set in My Ways

2011-03-24T23:22:00.000-07:00

There have always been three things I've needed to write: laptop, coffee and total silence. I've never been able to work with the radio or music on - I don't even really like it if other people are in the house. I wrote most of DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS with earplugs in and noise-canceling headphones on because even though there was nothing playing, people were less likely to bug me and ask me to make them a sandwich or something.

I got my edits for the-book-formerly-known-as-DESTINED last week and there is a lot of editing and rewriting involved. Most things are still the same. I still work in the kitchen (although it's a different kitchen this time), I still drink way too much coffee and I'm still wearing headphones. Except now, there is constantly music coming through them, which is weird to me.

It started because I would listen to Foster the People before every writing session to get in the mood. I've watched this video so many times that if this book ever does get finished I'm seriously going to have to put them in the acknowledgments.

I've always liked listening to music before I write to set the tone, just not during. The guys are so adorable and the video makes me think back to when I lived in SF right after college, going to clubs and watching bands. And the new book is set mostly in the Haight, so it makes sense. Then it changed to listening to them and the Black Keys over and over while I was writing to keep me in the mood. The past couple of days it's been non-stop Pandora through the headphones, something like six or seven hours a day. And it seems to be working. Characters are talking, scenes are flowing. Who knew?

Just goes to show that new stuff can sometimes work. But I'm never giving up my coffee. Ever.

The LitChicks - DASH AND LILY'S BOOK of DARES

2011-03-17T22:30:00.000-07:00

The LitChicks are back this week, and this time Leisl's up with her recommendation:

DASH & LILY’s BOOK of DARES by Rachael Cohn & David Levithan
I know they always say ‘Don't judge a book by its cover’ but I'm convinced that it's second nature. We don't mean to, we just do. That's what happened with this book. Believe it or not the reason I chose this book was because of the heart on the traffic light thing. The cute cover aside..this was a good book.

This book is about a boy named Dash who finds this red notebook on a shelf in a bookstore one day, and as any curious human being would do, he read it. Inside were a series of questions that led to a dare. Ihe writer , a girl named Lily, gave the reader of the notebook directions to follow and then they ended up having a sort of joint journal type thing going with little dares & adventures mixed in. The story is set during Christmastime and Dash hates everything about Christmas while Lily loves everything about it, so they learn about each other and then in the end they meet each other amidst a string of events.

It's a very fun idea and I found that the characters were relatable and fun to read about. Makes me want to start my own dare book.

Dirty Little Secrets - After

2011-03-15T09:33:00.000-07:00

By far, the question I get most often about DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS is: What happened after the book ends? People want to know what happened to Lucy, if she stayed with Josh, where she lived and if she and Kaylie stayed friends.

I ended DLS a bit abruptly because I felt that that was where this part of Lucy's story ended. If you look closely, you can get some hints about what happens next. A lot of people like it that way - curtain down, end of story. Apparently, a lot of people don't and really want to know what happens after page 210. For those people, I bring you...THE LAST CHAPTER.

Click on that link and you will be able to read AFTER, the last chapter of the book that is only available on my website. There you will find the answers to a lot of questions about what happens after page 210, but I warn you - ONLY READ THE LAST CHAPTER AFTER YOU HAVE READ THE BOOK. I'm serious about that. There are HUGE spoilers that IMHO will ruin the regular reading of DLS.

Lucy and I hope you enjoy!

Paperback Writer

2011-03-14T15:56:00.000-07:00

The paperback of DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS releases tomorrow!!! In addition to the story, there are 15 reading group questions as a bonus to get the discussion started that are exclusive to this edition. In honor of the facelift, I am giving away TWO copies of the paperback. Because I am lazy and in the middle of revisions for the next book, all you have to do is comment below in order to be entered. International entries welcome. I will choose two winners at random at 8pm tomorrow night PDT.

Special Announcement - did you read DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS? Are you wondering what happened to Lucy? Did she stay with Josh? Did she ever tell anyone her secrets? Come back here tomorrow for the key that will get you the answers to these questions and more. VERY VERY SPOILERY. Only for those who have already read the book. So go do that and we'll see you back here.

The Myth of the Gatekeepers

2011-03-07T09:00:00.000-08:00

Nathan Bransford had an interesting blog post this morning about the 99-cent Kindle Millionaires. As I scrolled down to the comments section, I was waiting to see the word that always pops up whenever anyone is talking about self-publishing and I wasn't disappointed. The very first commenter gave a big thumbs up for anyone brave enough to get around the 'gatekeepers' of editors and agents.

The word gatekeepers always conjures up visions of high stone towers with agents and editors poised at the top with automatic weapons, ready to shoot down any new author who dares to try to enter the traditional publishing world. Here's the thing about gatekeepers like this - there aren't any.

Agents and editors don't exist to keep new authors out of the system. On the contrary, they are hungry for new talent and everyone wants to be the person with the next big thing. They comb their submissions looking for great writing and amazing new ideas. There were thousands of debut children's books published last year (I tried to find the exact number, but it is safe to say thousands.). So if you have submitted your writing and are getting nothing but rejections, it's not because the gatekeepers are barring your way.

It's because your work isn't ready.

Go back to the drawing board. Put that piece away and start working on something else. Go to some conferences or take some writing seminars. Get a great and honest critique group or at least one person who knows what they are doing who can help you get your next book in 'unpassable' shape.

The very first novel I wrote still hasn't sold, and I'm glad. When I look back at it there were so many things wrong with that manuscript that if it had been published, I'd cringe to look at it. Thank goodness for the agents and editors who gave me the time to hone my craft and get my writing up to a publishable level - and allowed me to be proud of that first book.

I'm not a fan of self-publishing. There, I said it. Don't get me wrong, I love my Kindle - the process of thinking about reading a book and actually reading it within two minutes is awesome. It's self-published books whether in print or ebook form that I don't like. I got in an argument with a good friend at a recent conference because he said being a self-publishing hater was downright un American. These people were the pioneers of the new literary frontier, they were taking matters into their own hands, going around the traditional establishment and making their own money. Right. I have no problem with all of that. There is one thing that keeps me from being a proponent of self-publishing: most self published books aren't very good. I have yet to read one that wouldn't have benefited from a heavy-handed editor or frankly, just more time honing their craft.

So what's the problem with that? So there are a bunch of mediocre self-published books out there. Who does it hurt? In my opinion, everyone. Most readers don't take the time to find out who published a book - whether it came from a big publishing house or a box in the author's garage. They just pick up a title and give it a try and if over and over again the quality of the writing is poor, how long is it until they decide that reading is a waste of time? That books today aren't well-written and that they'd spend their time better with Snooki and the gang at the Jersey Shore?

Apply the same principal to becoming a pilot. Let's say you spend a lot of time playing Apache Air Assault on Xbox and you routinely beat all your friends. You decide that you want to be a pilot, but don't want to waste time with flight school or those pesky tests. You put on that pilot's uniform and take the wheel of the nearest jumbo jet. How many planes would have to crash before the flying public decides that train travel is looking more appealing? (Yes, I did just compare writing fiction to something potentially life-threatening.)

I do think there is a place for self published non-fiction books. I know someone who is self publishing a book on a very specific method for playing blackjack and I think it will do well. There is a built-in audience for that kind of book and he has a 'platform' already set up so that people will go looking for his book. Unless you're a very well-known fiction author (or celebrity - don't get me started), that probably won't happen for you. Yes, I know there are a few (a very few) who are making money self-publishing ebooks. but these are the exception rather than the rule and I think that once the curiosity factor wears off, it will get even more difficult.

I do think that this will all sort itself out. I have to believe that the publishing industry will figure out an ebook model that works for everyone that will allow readers to get the books they want and writers to afford to create them. That a great book can still get a lot of traction by word of mouth and that quality writing will triumph in the end.

According to this NYT op-ed piece, 81% of Americans want to write a book. At the same time, only 15% of Americans regularly read books. Gatekeepers or not, to me, this seems to be the real problem.

Clean House Casting Call

2011-03-03T12:26:00.000-08:00

One of the best things about being a writer is that you never know what is going to pop up in your inbox on any given day. This morning, I got an email from the casting director of the show CLEAN HOUSE on the Style Network asking if I knew of anyone who might benefit from being a guest on the show. I emailed her back, checked it out and decided to put the call out to all of you. You can find out more about the show on their website.

The characters in my book live in a level 5 hoarding situation - no use of major rooms like the kitchen and bathrooms, no heat or hot water and only narrow little ant tracks to navigate through the mess - the kind of thing you see on the very worst episodes of HOARDERS. The folks from CLEAN HOUSE are looking for people whose houses are years from that situation, cluttered, messy and disorganized. If that sounds like you or someone you love and you live in the greater LA area, you might consider sending in an email. The specific casting call is:

Do you need help ridding your house of clutter? Are you having a hard time letting go of stuff you don't need but just can't seem to part with? Is your house in dire need of a makeover? IF AT LEAST 3 ROOMS IN YOUR HOUSE ARE MESSY, then you need CLEAN HOUSE!!

If you OWN a SINGLE FAMILY HOUSE (sorry, no apartments, condos or townhouses) and at least 2 adults live in the home, then please email the following info to us and we'll be touch with more details:

1. Names and relationships of EVERYONE living in the house. (You must OWN the house)

2. Address and phone number.

3. Photos or video of all your cluttered rooms.

4. Tell us about yourself and why you and your family need CLEAN HOUSE!!!

5. Do you own or rent your house?

For prompt attention, please answer ALL of the above questions!!

Email Rose at rosecastingcleanhouse@gmail.com

One of the most amazing things in the past few years has been the increase in visibility of hoarding disorder. While we might not be closer to solving the problem, the books and shows on hoarding have helped bring this dirty little secret out into the open for many families. I've been in touch with a few of the participants on HOARDERS on A&E, and for the right people, it can be a real benefit and help them change their lives. For a family who is on the brink of tipping into a hoarding situation, the experts on CLEAN HOUSE can help them get their lives back in order. If you think you might be that family, it can't hurt to check it out and it just might change things for the better.

2011-02-22T08:47:00.000-08:00

Spent a lovely weekend in the city at the SFWriter's Conference meeting new people and hanging out with a few old friends I hadn't seen in a long time. On Sunday, I was part of a panel on Capturing the Teenage Heart along with my buds Heidi Kling who wrote SEA, the fabulous book based on the aftermath of the Indonesian tsunami and Naheed Senzai who took the problems in Afghanistan and condensed them down into a fabulous middle grade book called SHOOTING KABUL.

I love speaking not just because I love to talk about writing, but because it forces me to take a close look at the topic and analyze a process that I usually don't question for fear of scaring the magic away. For this talk, we focused on how to take a huge subject like Afghanistan or Indonesia (or hoarding) and distill it down into something that teen readers will love, and it was interesting to see how we each made the story personal.

It was moderated by the lovely editor from Simon and Schuster, Annete Pollert who I'd never met but could easily hang out with for an extended period of time. Funny and hip, but infinitely kind, - if she is your editor, you are in very good hands.

The conference itself was well-organized and the organizers treated us really well - if you are near San Francisco next year you should come along. The Mark Hopkins Hotel is gorgeous, even in the rain, and the range of speakers guarantees there is something for everyone. Our audience seemed to like the presentation and I think we could have kept going for several hours over our 45 minute limit. We were politely booted out of the room to get ready for the next group and kept the conversation going out in the hallway for almost an hour. I even got a CD of our session and despite bad experiences listening to my own voice (come on, you know you skip over your own message on the answering machine) I wasn't horrified when the hubs sat down and listened to all 45 minutes.

Thanks to the SFWC for inviting us and special thanks to Martha Flynn for taking pictures. Sorry I'm so lame that I forgot to turn on the flash.

Ooh..Look!

2011-02-17T16:48:00.001-08:00

Something tells me there will be a giveaway in the near future (like around March 15th).

Writing YA Romance

2011-02-14T14:18:00.000-08:00

It's Valentines Day, so of course we've been inundated all day with issues of love, roses and chocolates. For the very first time, my fifth grade son spent his own money on a suit-clad teddy bear and a small box of chocolates (big enough to count, but not so big as to be 'awkward' - in his own words) for the girl he has a crush on. As I write this, I'm dying for him to get home from school and tell me how it went. I was a little conflicted at first about such an early declaration, but then I figured this was just the first of many lessons in dealing with love and relationships and a suit-clad teddy bear is as good a place to start as any.

My first book didn't have a big love-interest factor, but the small romantic scene in the coffee shop was so much fun that the next several books include a large amount of romance. Just about a year ago, I was smack in the middle of writing the first draft for DESTINED and it was like I was sixteen all over again which was both good and bad (although if you asked any of the boys/men I live with, they might imply that the overly emotional state I lived in wasn't ideal).

I had my last first kiss seventeen years ago on my first date with my husband (yes, we kissed on the first date, but we were already old and I'd known him for years). Writing YA brings all of those emotions and feelings racing back again and it is precisely the unknown that makes the new romance so exciting. In my opinion, a good teen romance takes ages to develop and the first kiss stops just short of being agonizingly overdue. You need to have to work to get there, even if you know from the first time you lock eyes, the two of you were meant for each other. For girls, romance is all about the possibilities for the future (it's cliche, but how many of us wrote our love's last name all over our notebooks?) - pretty much every boyfriend is 'the one', although few of us happily marry our high school sweethearts (Agent Erin and my friend Tina excepted). While there has been a trend in YA of including a lot of the physical aspects of the relationship (one of my favorites being pages 126-128 of LOOKING FOR ALASKA and pretty much all of THE DUFF), I'm still a fan of the 'fade to black' in my own writing, at least for now.

The book I'm working on right now is from a 17 year old boy's point of view and lemme tell you, it's a lot different. While still romantic in his own way, my MC is very much hooked on the physical aspects of the relationship he's in as well as the physical attributes of the relationship he'd like to be in. This book has a lot more sex in it than I intended (although still mostly in the 'fade to black' realm) but everything is absolutely necessary in order to be true to the character. He does a ton of stuff that I would kill my own kids for doing, but changing anything would imply that I'm in charge, and anyone whose read this blog for any amount of time knows that this is simply not the case. My fictional teens do whatever they want and I have to shut my mouth and go along for the ride.

I wouldn't want to go back and be an actual teen again, but for a few hours every day I get to feel the excitement, anxiety and overwhelming possibility that is YA romance and that is the best job in the world.

Happy Valentines Day!

The LitChicks - BEAUTIFUL CREATURES

2011-02-10T22:09:00.001-08:00

It's once again LitChicks Day! For those of you new to the blog, you might wonder who the LitChicks are - they are Portia (13) and Liesl (14), two of the most well-read gals in town. Each week they bring us a recommendation from their recent reads (which, since they've learned not to reveal spoilers, are completely unedited by yours truly).

This week, it's Portia's turn and her pick is:

BEAUTIFUL CREATURES by Margaret Stohl and Kami Garcia

Beautiful Creatures is another book I think Cynthia was surprised I hadn't read. Maybe it's one of those YA classics that everyone who reads anything reads (like The Hunger Games); I don't know. However, one day, I went over to Cynthia's begging for books to read because I read through my whole bookshelf. This was, of course, before all my school projects got assigned, but that's beside the point. I went home and spent all weekend reading Beautiful Creatures (a nice thick book). I'm not sure what I was expecting from this book. I never ever really considered reading Beautiful Creatures before Cynthia recommended it, but when she's says something's good, it's usually worth reading.

It was a bit funny for me to open the cover, start reading, and realize that Beautiful Creatures is set in the south, in a little town obsessed with the Civil War--excuse me, the War of Northern Aggression. We're learning US history this year in history, so all the wars and civil rights and north and south and slaves and independence is starting to run together. However, it made the setting....more.....familiar? to me. Or relate-able.

This book also reminded me a lot of books like Twilight or Evermore. Books where there is a "forbidden" relationship, where the guy and girl aren't equal. I guess it's not fair to compare because the books aren't really alike at all, but that was something I noticed.

So, Beautiful Creatures follows the story of Ethan Wate who lives in Gatlin AKA nowhere. Same people your whole life, nothing new ever happens.....Booorrinnnggg. When Lena moves in, the niece of the town shut-in Macon Ravenwood, she's the talk of the town. She's also branded a freak at school, but Ethan is somehow drawn to her. It also doesn't help that they share a mental connection and have the same dreams. Lena is not normal. Eventually, Ethan and Lena fall in love, but Lena's 16th birthday is fast approaching. On her birthday she will either be claimed light or dark. Lena is terrified of turning dark, but Ethan is convinced they can find a way to be together even though he is a lowly mortal. (The mortals are always always lowly...)

This was a cute book. I'm a sucker for a nice love story, and the supernatural aspect of it was cool too. I think that us humans are attracted to books and movies about magic and supernatural things because it lets us be creative. It lets us think for one second, that we could actually do cool stuff that was unnatural. At least, it does for me. I also liked the way all the characters tied in. All in all, a definite must read! However, it's not a very lighthearted read, so be wary. If you're sad, this book probably won't cheer you up. The second book was also a little hard to get through immediately after, so I would recommend taking a short break before diving into Beautiful Darkness.

Giving Away THE MOCKINGBIRDS by Daisy Whitney!

2011-02-03T13:37:00.000-08:00

Good friend, fancy dresser and awesome writer Daisy Whitney and I had a great time at Kepler's last night - thanks to all of you who came out to see us! In honor of the visit, I'm giving away two signed copies of her groundbreaking book THE MOCKINGBIRDS over on the DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS Facebook page. Head on over there, make a comment and you're entered - we'll pick two random winners tomorrow night.

A little about THE MOCKINGBIRDS:
(Booklist) Silence does not equal consent. . . . The only thing that means yes is yes.” When Alex, a junior at Themis, a New England boarding school, wakes up naked in a boy’s bed, she doesn’t immediately realize what has happened during the previous drunken night. As fragmented memories return, though, she begins to understand that what happened was date rape. With the encouragement of her friends and older sister, Alex submits her case to the Mockingbirds, an underground justice system inspired by Harper Lee’s classic novel, in which Themis students investigate and try crimes committed against other students. Whitney, whose author’s note discusses her own teenage experience of date rape and its aftermath, is a seasoned journalist, and she writes with smooth assurance and a propulsive rhythm as she follows Alex through the Mockingbird’s trial process and its accompanying emotional storm of confusion, shame, fear, and finally, empowerment. Authentic and illuminating, this strong debut explores vital teen topics of sex and violence; crime and punishment; ineffectual authority; and the immeasurable, healing influence of friendship and love.

The LitChicks - Confessions of a Shopaholic

2011-02-03T09:44:00.000-08:00

The LitChicks are back and this week, it's Liesl's turn to give us a recommendation. Her choice?

Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
This book was made into a movie, and I happened to see the movie before I read the book. Normally the book is better than the movie but for this I like both in different ways. The book and movie are different so it's hard to compare but the basic storyline is the same.

This book is about a shopaholic named Rebecca Bloomwood, who ironically is a journalist for the financial magazine "Successful Savings". Rebecca can't resist a sale and can come up with a rationalization for any purchase. however everything starts to fall apart when she gets her VISA bill, her OCTAGON store charge card bill, and a bill for her share of the rent..she realizes that she has a problem and is in serious debt. So, she comes up with a plan. she's going to stop spending. She quickly becomes forgetful of this plan when she sees a sale sign in the window of her favorite store. Anyway, this is a hilarious story of her journey to become debt-free and some pretty cool things happen to her.

To me, a sign of a good writer is someone who can write and when you read that book you feel with the character. When they do something good, you’re happy or proud of them, then on the flip side when they do something bad, you get annoyed at them. I found that with this book. Rebecca knew she shouldn't go shopping, but whenever she did I'd get mad at her. This was a thoroughly enjoyable book. enjoy:)

Thanks Liesl! I've seen the movie, but I haven't read the book - yet.

On this date: In 1959, the music died. Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and "The Big Bopper" die in a small plane crash.

A Room of My Own!

2011-01-26T21:13:00.000-08:00

A lot of you know that I got all crazy over the holidays because we moved for the first time in 12 years. I'll spare you all the gory details, but we got the opportunity to move into a much larger house in the same neighborhood. This house is cool, not only because it's a lot bigger and I finally don't have to share 5 feet of closet space with the DH, or because our good friends live right next door and we share a backyard and subsequently all of the children, but also because I'm getting this:

That's right - my own office! Just a few feet from the back door. Okay, it doesn't look like much now, but give it a month or so. The left hand part is going to be a covered patio with doors on a rail that slide open and the right hand part is going to be my own perfectly tiny space.

The desk over there actually fits right into the little bay window in the front. I'm thinking the back of the space will either have shelves or a big ol' bookcase for the many, many books I seem to mysteriously acquire.

These French doors are going to open right onto a fab patio where I can work 'al fresco' whenever I feel like it.

I never really bought into the whole 'room of one's own' thing until recently. DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS was written partly in my kitchen and partly in a drafty gym waiting for my kid to finish gymnastics. While a person should be able to write wherever they are, a place that is designated for the job, away from the kitchen, the laundry and the little piles of dog hair that I always seem to spot under the piano just when I'm getting into a scene should make me a lot more productive. Or at least take away any last excuse I have not to be.

On Thursday, I'm blogging over at YA Outside the Lines on a subject not that far off of this one - go check it out.

On this date: In 1979, The Dukes of Hazzard premiered.

The LitChicks-LUCY THE GIANT

2011-01-19T21:47:00.000-08:00

It's Portia's turn this week and her recommendation is....

LUCY THE GIANT by Sherri L. SmithAlright. I have a secret. A guilty pleasure if you will. I do indeed read the books that my 10 year old sister brings home for herself to read. I have read a surprising number of Candy Apple books. (5 graders have really cute problems.) My little sister has pretty good taste. She read Harry Potter, Series of Unfortunate Events, the usual. All the stuff her school library has, so not a whole tonna YA. When I picked up this book the other day, I was surprised to find out that A) it was a YA book, and B) it actually looked kinda deep and interesting. My kind of book.

Anyway, this book followed a girl named Lucy (she's 6 feet tall) who lives in Alaska with her alcoholic father. Lucy has to pick up her father from the bar multiple times a week because he'll pass out. Her mother left when she was a little girl. She has only one friend, and it's her dog, Santa Barbara. One day, Lucy just can't take it anymore. Her dog has died, and her father is the epitome of drunk and unloving, so she hops a plane and runs away. Once she's in a different part of Alaska, Lucy is free to reinvent herself, and forge a new identity and future apart from her father and her height as out of towner Barb.

When she gets a chance to join a fishing boat and crew--Geneva, Tracer, Don, and the captain, Harley. While on the fishing boat, Lucy works harder than she ever worked in her life, but for once, she's accepted. However, Lucy can't hide from her future forever, and she can't hide her true identity. What will happen when she's spotted by someone who knows "Lucy the Giant" from back home??

This was a change in books for me. I have never really read about a tall girl in Alaska who runs away and joins a fishing ship. I doubt most people have, actually. But it was a really good book, one that got me thinking how lucky I was to have 2 parents who love me, solid friends, and a home in California. :)g

Thanks Portia - another one to add to my reading pile!

On this date: In 1981, the Iran Hostage Crisis ended.

Paperback Makeover!

2011-01-11T09:04:00.000-08:00

The paperback of DLS is coming out in March and I just got permission to reveal the new cover:

It sounds ridiculous, but I particularly love the back - there are blurbs from Geralin Thomas, one of the organizers of the show Hoarders on A&E and another from Courtney Summers, an author I greatly admire and whose review of DLS I hold close to my heart.

Look for it in bookstores soon!

On this date: In 1908, the Grand Canyon National Monument is created.

The LitChicks - Beauty Rules by Bobbi Brown

2011-01-06T08:59:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's LitChicks time again! Leisl asked last week if she could review an unusual book and I was in a good mood, so I said sure. Even if it's not YA, I love to see what the most voracious readers I know are thinking and reading.

Leisl's pick this week?

BEAUTY RULES by Bobbi Brown

This was the only book on my Christmas list this year and I was thrilled to open it! I was anxious to read it and after all the fun family festivities I grabbed a blanket and got reading. This was a fantastic book! I absolutely loved it. This wasn't a novel and I wouldn't characterize it as a self help book...it's more of a guide to self love and fun beauty tricks/tips. I would advise it for all girls who love makeup or just want a good book to read. The thing I loved about Bobbi was that her main makeup philosophy wasn't covering up imperfections or hiding the things you don't necessarily like about yourself, it was highlighting the things you do love and "lovingly minimizing flaws."I liked that in all the before and after pictures throughout the book in all the captions she had something really nice and genuine to say about each girl. She would complement their skin or eyes…anything, and then she would show them how to highlight it with fun makeup. I learned that you should either have dramatic eye makeup or lips but not both. As a blue eyed person...black mascara makes my eyes "pop" and that there is more than just physical appearance to being beautiful.

On this date: In 1994, skater Nancy Kerrigan was attacked in Knee-Gate.

Dirty Secret by Jessie Sholl

2011-01-05T06:00:00.000-08:00

I hate admitting things that don't make me look so great, but sometimes you just have to. I found out about Jessie Sholl's memoir DIRTY SECRET because of a snarky comment I made on Twitter. I was searching for my book on Amazon and stumbled on her upcoming book in the process - I think I tweeted something like "Just found a book called DIRTY SECRET about hoarding. Can you say check titles?"

Sometimes you forget that everything you say online is public. That if you say something snarky about someone else's book they're likely to see it. And send you an email.

Lucky for me, Jessie is very nice and sent me a message that she didn't know about my book when they titled hers and would I be interested in seeing an advance copy? As she also told me that she'd read and loved my book, I was sufficiently shamed and said that I would love a copy.In the months since, we've become online friends, realizing that any confusion about titles is probably good for both of us - she even interviewed me for her blog.

So enough about how we 'met'. What about her book? In short, it's great. Her publicist sent me a copy of DIRTY SECRET: A Daughter Comes Clean About her Mother's Compulsive Hoarding a few months ago and I tore through it in a matter of hours. To me, it felt eerily like my character Lucy was all grown up and had written her own book about dealing with her mother as an adult. DIRTY SECRET gets into the details of what it is like to grow up with a hoarder and what the secrets do to you and how the situation morphs as both parties get older. There are many of the same elements in this book that are in my story - piles of belongings, 'collections', rationalization and denial. To top it off, Jessie's book has lots of teeny tiny bugs - you'll close the cover itching. Throughout the book you experience frustration as she has to deal with her mother's decline but also the compassion that she feels precisely because it is her mother. And there is a great and honest epilogue.

DIRTY SECRET came out on December 28th. You can buy it here or here or head down to your local bookstore and ask for it. If you're interested in hoarding - or complex mother-daughter-relationships - you won't be disappointed.

Find out more about Jessie on her website.

The Upside of Offline

2011-01-01T20:19:00.000-08:00

If I haven't said it to you personally, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa and Happy New Year. Oh, and Happy Birthday if it applies. Yeah, I've been gone awhile.

If you're familiar with the blog, you know by this post that my work life basically stopped on November 13th. When my friend's son landed in the ICU, all of us rallied around trying to support them as they went through a difficult time. I've said recently that it was a lot like the feeling you get when you're riding in an airplane. We all know it won't make a difference, but it seems that just by concentrating and wishing hard, you can keep the plane in the air. Or keep your friend's son from dying.

Well, whether it was the cumulative brain power of all of their friends and family or (far more likely) the amazing efforts of the hospital ICU team, I'm happy to say that RJ's tumors are gone and he's currently at home recuperating before his next round of chemo. He feels icky, but he's actually doing really well and the prognosis is very good.

As things eased at the hospital, we moved to our new house and painted, fixed up and rented our old house and the holidays became a blip in the rear-view mirror (yes, I'm one of those people who wants the tree down on the 26th - family pressure kept it up until yesterday) I started to wonder what was going on in the rest of the world. Since mid-November I haven't really blogged, tweeted or Facebooked and it's been an interesting experience.

My lovely and talented friend Daisy Whitney dropped by the other day and in talking to her, I realized just how unplugged I've been. Morris Awards? The nominee list came out? Really? Who made the bestseller list last week? Editorial Anonymous is coming back? John Green loved Anna and the French Kiss? I didn't have a clue about any of it.

Sure, I've been feeling a little guilty about not being around. The three of you (okay, I know it's really four, but I try not to count my mom) who regularly read the blog must have been really bored seeing the same post week after week. I felt so bad every time I'd get a new follower on Twitter - they probably unfollowed this mostly absentee writer before the day was over. And I didn't get to congratulate several friends whose books came out in the past month.

I started paying a little more attention the past couple of days - getting on Facebook and Twitter and Google searching my name. I found some great new reviews and my book on several end-of-the-year lists. That was all cool. But then I found something that I'd blissfully forgotten about. Namely, that pit-of-the-stomach disappointment when my book didn't appear on a certain list or in a blog post about the reader's favorite 2010 books. The tinge of the green-eyed monster that tends to show up when someone loves a book that doesn't happen to be mine. That sense of unworthiness and self doubt I start to get when I read about someone else's amazing book. And Lord, let's not talk about the ill-fated foray to Amazon.

Yeah, I realized that I didn't miss any of that at all. I've started to wonder if there is such a thing as a happy medium. Can I go online and interact with my friends and readers and keep up with news of the writing world without getting all wrapped up in the self-indulgent stomach-clenching comparisons it usually brings? I honestly don't know.

If I were a resolution making person, I'd probably resolve to not go online so much. But soon the kids are going back to school and I'm going to get my real life back. Sitting here in my kitchen all by myself gets lonely and Twitter and Facebook make me think that there are other people out there. Basically, I need the interaction. Maybe I can just change the way I react to online news.

But I doubt it.

The LitChicks - Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

2010-12-16T21:54:00.000-08:00

Liesl actually wrote this several weeks ago, but because things have been so hectic, she was cool about letting me put it on the blog now (thanks Liesl!).

Her pick this week?

Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

This book has been passed around to almost all the girls in my English class, and there is a VERY good reason. People were raving about it and I was like pass that over here..so I got it started it and had to force myself to do homework and sleep. This novel was one of those “girls too good for guy but guy is given a bet he can't get the girl but guys can't resist challenge so he takes the bet and the rich girl and poor guy fall in love” books. That's the gist...but in detail...Alejandro (Alex) Fuentes and Brittany Ellis are assigned as lab partners for senior chemistry.

Brittney grew up in a challenged home. Her sister has a problem and doesn't talk or feed herself and it puts a lot of stress on her mother. Her dad works long hours and is gone a lot, so because her home life is FAR from perfect she wears nice clothes, drives a BMW, is captain of the cheer squad, and is the girl friend of the quarterback, she has what appears to be a perfect life.

Alex is in a gang called Latino Bloods, and lost his father when he was 6 years old. Alex and Brittany both secretly like each other but act as though they hate each other and they each think that the other one does hate them. After getting fed up with her football playing BF who is only interested in having sex, Brittany dumps him and her friendship with Alex blossoms and becomes romance. They are completely opposite but soon realize that they have a lot in common specifically complicated family life. Brittany knows that Alex is in a gang and really wants him to ditch the gang but if he does he risks his life. Since he isn't willing to do that for her, they break up but they both miss the other one and have difficulty getting over the break up. Alex realizes that the gang life isn't for him and he goes through the exit process. He then goes and finds Brittany. they end up meeting each other again and i won't give away the fabulous ending.
Definitely worth your time:) - enjoy!

On this date: In 1843 A Christmas Carol is published.

The LitChicks: The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May and June

2010-12-02T23:16:00.000-08:00

I'm back. Mostly. Been a crazy couple of weeks, but things are looking up with my friends, we've finished our move and I'm ready to get back to work.

First up, a LitChicks review from Portia that is sorely overdue:

The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May and June by Robin Benway

This is another Ms. Turner book. I think a lot of my review books are. I get so many of my reading books from Ms. Turner because of the advantages previously listed in my last review. She's so up to date with all the latest and greatest releases. :) This book came out last August I believe (that's what it says on the cover of the ARC I was reading, anyway.) I was intrigued by the concept of sisters (you know, 3 sisters that fight but love each other and are totally different - that's practically my life right there) because I have sisters and I like reading about them. I also liked the idea of having "super powers" in a normal world. So, if you were all wondering, write nice books about sisters. They are ah-may-zing. In my opinion. They also usually make me cry....maybe that's a personal problem.

Anyway, this book follows three sisters, April, May and June (wonderful names, huh? Named after the month they were born in. How's that for creative?) as they first discover their powers. (That's "powers.") Apparently, they all had them when they were little, but they faded away only to be re-awoken by their parents' divorce. When the three sisters move with their mom, one day in the car, April has a vision of the future......while May literally disappears............and June is screaming about something she heard.......that someone else was thinking. That's when they all realize...........(dunh dunh dunh dunhhhhh) that they are actually NOT normal. Hm. Well, that's okay, but their powers are starting to affect their daily lives. June desperately wants to be popular and to be friends with the mysterious Mariah.......and achieves that by reading her mind and responding to what Mariah thinks about life and herself. May is the sarcastic, angry middle child who falls in danger of literally disappearing in the middle of her European history tutoring session. April is plagued by a memory of her sister in an accident, and drawn to the intriguing Julian while receiving detailed visions of their future relationship which she has no intention of developing.

Will these darling sisters get their act together in time to save themselves, their mom, and the people they are beginning to hold most dear (cough cough Henry and Julian)??? :) We can only hope. A great story about sisters and the bond they share, the troubles they have, and their desirous for independence each in their own way while trying to stay true to themselves and each other. And not, you know, use their powers for evil.
Everybody knows, "with great power comes great responsibility".
Okay, that wasn't really in the book.

On this date: In 1979, the last AMC Pacer rolled off the assembly line (we had a black one with the license plate RFATCAT - I miss that car).

Where I've Been

2010-11-22T12:40:00.001-08:00

The ten of you who check in regularly may have noticed I'm not posting much lately. A good friend of mine has been going through a rough time and I've been spending a lot of time trying to help in any way I can through this crisis. Her 13 year old son (my son's best friend) was diagnosed with Burkitt's lymphoma last weekend. This is a very aggressive form of cancer and he is now in the ICU on a ventilator and heavily sedated. On top of everything, she is a single parent, a fifth grade teacher and gave birth to her beautiful daughter two days ago. We knew the baby would have a bilateral cleft lip, and it's amazing that what seemed like such a big deal just a few short weeks ago seems so minor today.

Talk about perspective. I love my career and I love my books, but everything has taken a back seat to helping my friend and her family. Hopefully, things will stabilize in the next week or two and I'll be able to get back to my characters and to my job as an author. They always say go to your strengths in a crisis, so I created a blog so that everyone can keep track of the happenings. It is called Friends of RJ on blogspot if you know Jessica and RJ or just want to follow along, come and pay us a visit.

I hope to be back to normal blogging soon, but in the meantime all of your good wishes are welcome.

The LitChicks - CATALYST by Laurie Halse Anderson

2010-11-12T09:05:00.000-08:00

In Portia's defense, she actually emailed me her review yesterday morning - the delay in this week's LitChicks is my fault. So, better late than never, is her pick this week:

CATALYST by Laurie Halse Anderson

Alright, I am highly aware that this is late, and normally I wouldn't really have a great excuse, but today I do! The laptop I usually use to conduct such criminal activities such as sending in book reviews is being a bit strange and hibernating whenever I turn it on. No one ever told me batteries are capable of dying in 2 seconds, or that computers even need to hibernate (maybe it's a winter thing?), but I'm here a bit late!

I'm not sure how many of you know Ms. Turner who teaches English at Bancroft Middle School, but she has such easy access to books and always keeps on top of the latest releases and the popular series. In some ways, I think she's a bit better than the school library because you don't need a card, there's no due dates, no overdue fees, no limit to the number of books you can take, and she always has suggestions based on what you like and what she thinks you might want to try. So, all in all, I'm lucky! One of the books she lent me a couple weeks ago was CATALYST, by Laurie Halse Anderson (who also wrote SPEAK). I really liked SPEAK, and I really like deep books, so I thought I would try it, and it was amazing!

CATALYST follows the story of young Kate Malone--a preacher's daughter, secret night runner, straight-A student (especially in the science and math department), and motherless girl who takes over a mother's job doing laundry, cooking - the works in their slightly dysfunctional family. Kate is an organized person. She does her homework, takes care of her family, is on the cross country team, and operates on minimal sleep. However, there are quite a few things going wrong in Kate's life.

Mainly, she only applied to one college--MIT. And she didn't make early decision. And she's still waiting to get her acceptance........which wouldn't be super painful if she had back up colleges, but Kate only applied to one. Second, Kate's neighbors (who include school loser and Kate's enemy Teri Litch) move in with Kate after they're burned out of their own home. This if, of course, bad enough as it is, but it only gets worse when:

Kate is roped into building the Litch's new house--alongside Teri, of course.
Teri's little brother, Mikey, gets into a freak accident in the new house and the outcome isn't pretty.
She finally hears from MIT, and it's not really what she expected.......or wanted.
She has a fight with her dear boyfriend, Mitchell Pangborn (who's going to Harvard, by the way)

Can Kate keep it together? Can she ever be friends with Teri and support her in her hour of need? Can she herself recover from Mikey's accident? Can she make a decision about college and face the future?

These are all questions Kate finds herself facing as her orderly life falls to pieces. A beautiful read. I was sitting there thinking, "A bunkbed with my sister (who I happen to like) is not bad at all!" Kate's problems make you want to comfort her. I think the author did a beautiful job making Kate's life realistic and did a great job reflecting Kate's internal dilemmas and thoughts. I loved getting to know Kate and understanding her. This is a book I would recommend for everyone. I love first-person books, and I love getting to know characters so well and seeing how different people are on the outside and the inside and realizing how much people hide and what they're really going through.

On this date: In 1954, Ellis Island closed.

So What's It About?

2010-11-08T07:55:00.000-08:00

Publication announcements are a little like Twitter - short and sweet. Many people have sent me emails and asked in person to expand on the description of DESTINED that appeared in Publisher's Weekly. After tweaking it to make it spoiler-free, here is the longer version of DESTINED's synopsis:

Destined
Book One of the Keepers Series

She’s always done what’s expected of her, but sixteen year old cello prodigy Cole Ryan often feels like her destiny is just a straightjacket. Having spent her entire life working toward something she’s no longer sure she wants, Cole starts questioning everything, especially the feelings of déjà vu that have gotten stronger and more frequent in recent months. She afraid she’s losing her mind as visions of other lifetimes in other places begin interrupting her days. A visit to the Tower of London brings on an overwhelmingly real vision of a beheading that took place on that very spot centuries before, leaving her weak and disoriented. A seemingly chance meeting with intriguing and slightly mysterious Griffon Hall begins to shed light on all she’s been experiencing.

Although she can’t bring herself to believe him at first, Griffon immediately senses that Cole is becoming like him —a Keeper. People who can remember all of their past lives. Keepers like Cole and Griffon hold onto their memories of past experiences in order to use them in this life. With kept memories come enhanced mental and physical abilities that must be put to use for the good of the world at large. Many Keepers work behind the scenes advising the leaders of major countries on everything from human rights to environmental issues.

But not all Keepers want to improve the world. Rogue Keepers like Cole’s cello student Veronique are out to avenge the wrongs that were done to them in the past, and Griffon knows that Cole isn’t safe with her. As Cole struggles to believe what Griffon says, their relationship deepens despite a nagging sense that he isn’t telling her the complete truth about their connection. As they become physically closer, defenses are lowered and Cole finally recognizes the essence in Griffon’s eyes – and he is not who she expected him to be.

In her panic and confusion, Cole’s sense of loyalty is shaken. Is it truly Veronique she should be afraid of, or has Griffon been hiding something even more dangerous? As she wrestles with the questions of who she should believe, her own enhanced abilities of connection are awakened. Despite her doubts, she must use these abilities to save both of them from mortal danger even as she struggles to find her true destiny in this ever-expanding world.

Some of my friends are reminding me that I swore that I'd never write paranormal romance. Yeah. Just goes to show that you should never say never. I'm not ashamed to say that I LOVE this book, the characters and the story. DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS was a bit heavy to write (to say the least) and while DESTINED does have some larger themes like the purpose of life and questions of destiny, there is a lot in it that made it a blast to write. At the same time, I'm also working on another contemporary YA about race and identity and another one lined up in the queue after that, so I haven't gone completely over to the dark side.

I'm a big believer in things in the universe falling into place as they will. As we were finalizing the deal for DESTINED, I took myself on a two-day writer's retreat (also known as the hubby is home for three weeks, so this is my opportunity to get the heck out of here). On the way out of town, I stopped at a coffee shop. As I was waiting, I perused the rack of sale stuff, and there, on the clearance shelf, I found this:

Spooky, no?

On this date: In 1960, John F. Kennedy is elected President.

Wonderful Book News!

2010-11-03T11:58:00.000-07:00

It's out in the trade papers today, so I can finally share the news that caused me to go into a complete Reeses coma a couple of weeks ago:

DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS author C.J. Omololu's DESTINED, in which cello prodigy Cole begins to experience flashes of past lives just as the mysterious Griffon enters her world, bringing attraction, suspicion and an unsettling knowledge of reincarnation, as well as sequel FATED, in a pre-empt, in a very nice deal, to Mary Kate Castellani of Walker Children's, by Erin Murphy of Erin Murphy Literary Agency (World English). Bloomsbury UK Children's will publish simultaneously starting in summer 2012. (Translation rights: Rights People.)

Now I know what I'll be doing for the next two years! One of the best things about the deal is that it's going to come out simultaneously in the UK, which was a thrilling first for me. I'm so glad to be working with Walker and Mary Kate once again after the success of DLS! They've been totally behind this project from the very first word.

Readers of the blog will remember that I wanted to show how a book evolves from beginning to end, starting almost a year ago:

Last November (I always seem to start books in November - not NaNoWriMo, just accidentally) I wrote a post with the title What I'm Working On Now.
On the 18th, I gave a progress report in New Book, Day 2.
A few days later, I wrote about Changing Names of the characters when the originals just weren't working (the importance of the character names is another post altogether).
On December 7th, I wrote about the magic that happens when writing a book in Not Just Smoke and Mirrors.
On December 16th, I celebrated hitting 20k.
And then on January 6th, I hit 30k.
In the meantime, a book called DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS came out so I was a little busy until February 26th when I posted about Sequels and New Books.
And then on March 18th, I wrote about The End (which as we all know, isn't really the end).
On June 21st, I wrote about my title struggles in Titles Titles Everywhere (interestingly, none of these ended up as the final title).

It's been a great ride so far and I love love love this story. I'm so thankful to everyone who is helping to make it a reality.

Look for Cole and Griffon on store shelves on or about June, 2012.

On this date: In 1922, the entrance to King Tut's tomb was discovered.

The LitChicks: LA CANDY by Lauren Conrad

2010-11-02T21:27:00.000-07:00

This week it's Liesl's turn to tell us about one of her favorite books. Her recommendation is:

LA CANDY by Lauren Conrad

Oh boy! High school is a lot crazier than Iexpected but...I'm back!!!!

I read this book when it first came out and was on the new book shelf at the library. I honestly wasn't expecting much from a celebrity author (sorry celebrities!) but was pleasantly surprised. This was my kinda book! I love girly fun books.

This book is about two girls named Jane and Scarlett. They move to LA together and are roommates. Jane has an internship with a prestigious event planer named Fiona Chen. Scarlett however, is in LA to attend U.S.C. They are spotted at a club and offered a part in a new reality T.V show L.A. Candy, but they realize along the way that being a T.V. star is not what it's cracked up to be and that they don’t necessarily like it.

This book was a mix of a lot of genres. It was girly, but was fun, it had a little romance (every book has to have a little(:) and it had drama... it's based on life in L.A. I really liked the character of Jane. She had high priorities and didn't - you know - find a random guy in the club and a hotel room and go at it. She had a good job and knew what she wanted to do with her life. She didn't let the other people influence her. She was cautious and I think that Jane and Scarlett were a good personality match. Scarlett was very outgoing whereas Jane was reserved and kind of shy. Scarlett was willing to try new things and Jane stuck to the tried and true. This was a good book. Congrats Lauren! Can't wait to read the second book.

On this date: In 1976, the movie version of Steven King's Carrie debuts.

Happy Book Birthday - THE MOCKINGBIRDS!

2010-11-02T09:14:00.000-07:00

Today is the day that the world gets to read a great new book:

Promise not to tell Daisy, and I'll let you in on a secret. We'd met several times at different author events here in the Bay Area but we didn't really connect. She is fancy and well put-together and I am...not. As Taylor Swift says, she wears high heels, I wear sneakers. She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers. Daisy knows everything about new media and marketing, is pretty, smart and vivacious and generally the kind of person I try to stay away from.

We were at an author event in San Francisco last spring, and she had an ARC of THE MOCKINGBIRDS in her bag that she let me see. I opened it casually and thumbed through the first few pages, and was riveted after the first chapter. It is one of the best opening scenes I've read in a novel in a long time. Heartfelt, poignant and just perfect - I had to read more. I looked up at Daisy with newfound respect and a little shame at how judgmental I'd been. Yes, she was still fancy, but damn the girl could write a book. By the end of the evening, I'd wheedled the ARC out of her hands and added her as one of my best friends.

The rest of the book is as good as the opening - you'll have to pick up your own copy to see what I mean. From the publisher:

Some schools have honor codes.
Others have handbooks.
Themis Academy has the Mockingbirds.

Themis Academy is a quiet boarding school with an exceptional student body that the administration trusts to always behave the honorable way--the Themis Way. So when Alex is date raped during her junior year, she has two options: stay silent and hope someone helps her, or enlist the Mockingbirds--a secret society of students dedicated to righting the wrongs of their fellow peers.

In this honest, page-turning account of a teen girl's struggle to stand up for herself, debut author Daisy Whitney reminds readers that if you love something or someone--especially yourself--you fight for it.

This is a book that is not just important for girls to read - boys will get a lot out of the story as well. Pick up your copy today, and congratulations to Daisy!

On this date: In 1947, Howard Hughes Spruce Goose took it's one and only flight.

Treats Only!

2010-10-29T14:52:00.000-07:00

So The Big Hairy Dog and I were on our morning walk and wanted to share some of the most creative decorations in the neighborhood.

No sure which was scarier - this spider...

...or this one.

You see this lovely neighbor as you cross the bridge over the creek. Don't know that I'm coming this way in the dark.

These guys always do an amazing job - looks like an Egyptian theme this year..

Doctor Who?

These guys are insane! Can you see the size of this thing? Last year was a pirate ship and the year before was a castle. Always worth a look.

Okay, this is in my yard. But I really like 'em.

Happy HALLOWEEN!

On this date: In 1929, the stock market crashed.

The LitChicks - EXTRAORDINARY by Nancy Werlin

2010-10-28T09:56:00.001-07:00

The LitChicks are an every-Thursday feature with sisters Portia (age 13) and Liesl (age 14) taking turns recommending some of their favorite reads to the blog.

This week, Portia took pity on her high-schooler big sister and filled in with a recommendation I've been dying to get to because I've heard great things about it. Portia's pick this week:

EXTRAORDINARY by Nancy Werlin

A frantic phone call from my sister this morning made me aware that in the homework she was doing last night, she forgot to do her book review this week, and waking up at 5:30 this morning to get ready for school didn't do much for her distraction either, so I decided to answer her plea and a review this week. :)

EXTRAORDINARY is a recent novel; I think it came out in September! [September 7^th to be exact.] The basic story line revolves around this girl named Phoebe. Phoebe is a Rothschild--her mom is extraordinary, and her family is wealthy. They are rich, and love Phoebe, and she loves her parents. But, Phoebe has a secret wish to be ordinary. She doesn't want people to look at her an only see a name. She is uncomfortable with herself, self-conscious, and in a group of friends she hardly likes when she meets Mallory. Mallory is different. She dresses weird and hardly talks to anyone. In a impulsive move, Phoebe decides to befriend her. Mallory and Phoebe eventually become as close as sisters--practically a part of each other’s families.

Then Phoebe meets Mallory's older brother, Ryland. Phoebe is automatically drawn to Ryland, and she has no idea why. She just feels so much better when she's around him, even if he does make comments about her weight and tell her to grow up. Ryland and Phoebe secretly meet up and talk until Mallory finds out. She is furious, yells horrible insults and Phoebe, and their lives separate. Phoebe feels so low, but at least she still has Ryland. Then her support system starts to disappear.....her mom goes into a coma, her dad never leaves her side, and Mallory...Mallory is gone. Phoebe turns to Ryland with no one else to go to, but he only cuts her down until she feels ordinary. One day she breaks down and says it.

Phoebe never realized how much strength she had, and what it meant to admit how she felt. She never knew the consequences, but she is sucked into a bigger problem than she ever realized involving her family tree and a whole other species.....of faeries.

An exciting read that makes you think of what it means to be extraordinary. :)

On this date: In 1965, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis is completed.

How Do You Say That?

2010-10-27T10:07:00.000-07:00

Omololu is not the last name I grew up with. In fact, it took me a little while to learn how to say it correctly. Want to hear me do it? Check out the pronunciation guide at Teaching Books. While you're there, check out Maggie Steifvater, Jon Scieszka and Rick Riordan among others - not only do you get to hear how their names are pronounced, but how they sound as well. Warning - you may find yourself spending a large amount of time here.

On this date: In 1904, the New York City subway opened.

A Good Day

2010-10-22T18:20:00.000-07:00

Today was a good day. You know how I said that the best thing about being a writer is that every day you might get the phone call that will change everything? Yeah. Today was a day like that.

In honor of the news, I was finally able to bust out the special package of Reece's that I bought in New York at the Hershey's store. What's so special about this package? Nothing at first.

Until you look closely at the size of the package.

That's right, a whole one pound of peanut butter and chocolaty goodness. Or is that chocolate and peanut buttery goodness? Um...there's a lot here. Want some?

Stay tuned to the blog for updates - I'll share my news as soon as I can!

On this date: In 1797, the first parachute jump is made.

The LitChicks - THE OUTSIDERS by S.E. Hinton

2010-10-21T15:59:00.001-07:00

Yay for Portia who came through for us again this week with a great recommendation. This post made me laugh out loud, it was so true and such a wonderful 8th grade perspective on books and life. I didn't change a word.

Portia's Pick this Week:

THE OUTSIDERS by S.E. Hinton

School books are boring. I'll say it again. The books you read in school are usually about 90% pretty sleep-inducing! In my humble opinion. You start with Island of the Blue Dolphins in 5 grade.......moving to Tuck Everlasting in 6 grade, and The Pearl in 7 grade................Now, I'm not saying that all books are bad. The Skin I'm In was really quite nice! But I've always wondered if it was just the books they picked that were boring......(Oh why can't we read Harry Potter!!) or if it was just the way we dissected every little line that ruined it...(Can anyone tell me what the author means when she refers to the red house on the corner. Does it stand for her sense of independence? Or perhaps anger?) I mean, give me a break! I appreciate reading with different attitudes other than "I'm reading because it's interesting," but this hidden meaning grates on you after a while.

Last year, towards the end of 7th grade, we were given a choice of about 8 books that we could read in groups of 4. In our groups, we would do various work with conflicts in the book. I chose The Outsiders. I guess I could have gone with Catherine Called Birdy or The Sign of the Chrysanthemum, but I chose the gang book. And prayed it wouldn't be like....others..I've read. I was very surprised.

I started reading The Outsiders by assigned chapters at first. But then I really got into it. I went home and read and spent all class just reading--mastering the art of holding a book open under your desk and looking up at opportune moments. Being the sap that I am, when I got to the last few chapters, I got a bit emotional. I remember sitting in my chair in English, with a tissue clutched in my hand, just about bawling with tears dripping down my face. The person unnamed sitting across from me stared at me in disbelief and said pretty rudely, "Are you CRYING!!?!!?!?!? Whatchooo crying for? This book isn't sad at all! Geeez. Drama rama! I can't believe you're crying!!!" Oh well. This book makes you cry. That's just a fact of life.

I really liked this book. This was one of those books I like that really make you think about life. Liesl is a very beach read girl. She likes a lot of books, but chicky ones are her favorite, I think. I appreciate a beach read, but I like books that make me momentarily depressed--surprisingly. Ones that make me look at my life and think, "My problems aren't that bad," or "I should appreciate my friends more," or "What if.........[fill in the blank]" The Outsiders really made me look at my relationships with my siblings and friends and think about what kind of bonds I have with them. Looking at Ponyboy's relationships with his brothers and the back stories made me appreciate my family so much more.

S.E. Hinton described the characters with such clarity.....you felt you really knew them. And of course, you pick your favorites. Bad boy Dallas, shy Johnny, funny Two-Bit, light-hearted Soda, and adult Darry..... I think this book makes you look at loyalty differently. The author took friendships and city gang rivalries and made you think they weren't that bad. You were rooting for Ponyboy all along. Greasers vs. Socs.......You would never think about gangs like that. You look at thugs like real people and you see the truth behind why they are the way they are. I think that's something we could all use. Even though it's written in the 1960s....(not so long ago!!), this book is still able to be appreciated.

It's a school book, and I can actually see why. If an author wants to know what kind of books I like, The Outsiders is a good example. I like the way it was written, I like the dialogue, the ability to understand the characters better than they understand each other, the idea of a story with sibling relationships and friends. A book that makes you think about life.

On this date: In 1959, the Guggenheim museum opens in NYC.

Coloring Books

2010-10-15T11:01:00.001-07:00

I've always loved walking into a book fair - my heart starts racing and my fingers itch to pick up all of the great titles. Because of this, I love helping out at the book fairs for my kids schools.

A few weeks back, I was helping the librarian unpack the book fair at the middle school. I'm talking titles with her, pulling out the YA books that I really loved and squeeing when I saw a book by an author that I 'know'.

In the middle of this, the librarian asked me to unpack the African American book box. No problem.

I grabbed the box and started to take out the titles. Problem.
Me: "Uh oh. They sent us the wrong box."
Librarian: "For what?"
Me: "The African American box. It's for elementary schools, not middle."
Librarian: (Sighs) "No. It's right. Every year the box for African American readers is full of picture books."

I was dumbfounded. The selection of 'regular' books was great - so many challenging and interesting YA books that I couldn't wait to whip out my checkbook. The selection in this box was clearly for kids averaging a third grade reading level. As I asked about the issue, a disturbing pattern began to emerge.

Turns out, our wonderful librarian has been struggling for years to get quality reading materials at the book fairs for kids of color. She showed me a string of emails to Scholastic trying to address the selection for multicultural kids, as well as the lack of any books with people of color on the cover in all of their promotional materials (see this list of 100 featured books on their website) . Not only does she have to special request books with multicultural characters (read: they are not sent to all schools automatically) but the boxes always contain material far too young for middle school readers.

Then I heard the kicker. She got involved after several of the middle-school girls gave her a letter complaining about the lack of books in the book fair with people who represented them. I repeat: middle school girls went out of their way to write a letter stating their views. If any of you know a middle school girl, you know what a big deal this must have been for them. They never do anything if they don't have to.

Our district is more sensitive than most to this issue. The middle school my son attends is 43% Hispanic, 23% African American, 14% Caucasian and 12% Asian. My 13 year old has brown skin, brown eyes and curly dark hair. He also gets straight As.

I know that there is a problem in publishing with a lack of quality YA books with characters of color. I also know that there are a lot of authors who are starting to correct that (Jacqueline Woodson, Justine Larabalestier, Mitali Perkins and Jaclyn Dolamore to name a few). I'm not sure why titles by these and other authors weren't included in the book fair, but I do know that more of an effort needs to be made to bring teens young adults books that reflect what they see in the mirror.

On this date: In 1965, the first draft cards were burned.

The LitChicks-Amigas: Fifteen Candles by Veronica Chambers

2010-10-14T11:01:00.000-07:00

I thought high school had her beat, but Liesl came through for us today to recommend one of her favorite reads.

Liesl’s Pick this Week:

AMIGAS: FIFTEEN CANDLES by Veronica Chambers

To be 100% honest I picked this book off the shelf at the library because:

a). I thought that the girl on the front was pretty, and

b). I liked the cover girl’s heart-shaped sunglasses.

But...my not advised judgment was okay. This was a fun book!

A Latina girl named Alicia becomes a summer intern at city hall. She meets a fellow intern named Sarita who is stressing out about her quinceanera. Alicia loves quinces and offers to help. Alicia has a dream of starting a quince planning business and thinks that this would be a great start to the company and good publicity. She recruits the help of her friends , Jamie the hair and makeup artist, Carmen the fashion designer, and Gaz the musician, to help her. With all her enthusiasm and desire to make this the perfect quince, Alicia goes a little overboard and things get rocky. After lots of hard work, the quince turns out to be awesome and Sarita is so happy. A really good book if you like stories about friendship and fun and mild romance. I thought it was a fun read and would definitely recommend it!

On this date: In 1994, Pulp Fiction debuted.

Book Club Visit - Balboa High School

2010-10-12T15:06:00.000-07:00

(Yes, I took this photo this morning. The campus is just that pretty)

I've been spending a lot of time in high school lately and loving every minute of it. Today's visit was at the lunchtime book club at Balboa High School in San Francisco. I have to say that book clubs are my most favorite visits to do - sitting in a room while 20 people talk about my book? Yes, please.

The book club was wonderful and as befitting The City,very civilized with tea and homemade cookies. The teens were really attentive and interested (at least they faked it well) and had lots of great questions. We talked about Dirty Little Secrets and about young adult books in general. One of the best moments was chiming in as they picked the book for next month - Jay, you won, they're doing 13 Reasons Why.

As I was looking around the room, it hit me again how important engaged and energetic librarians are to the success of any school. Both Marla Bergman, the librarian from the Public Library, and Molly Lazarus, the school librarian at Balboa, make their time available to get kids interested in reading. The room was bustling the entire time with teens hanging out during their lunch hour, reading or discussing books. The displays were full of new titles, so many that I had a stack that I wanted to borrow by the end of the day (alas, my high school library card has long expired). The kids were excited about the books we were discussing and about choosing books they want to read next. It was fabulous and refreshing.

I thought about this all the more because I was missing my own turn as elementary school librarian today. Because of budget cuts, our district got rid of all elementary school librarians so the parents rallied together and we all take turns sitting at the desk checking books in and out for the kids. I put on my library hat on Tuesday afternoons (don't worry, another parent filled in for me - thanks Todd!). Because we sit in, the kids are able to check out two books every week - for many kids, the only books they have access to on a regular basis. But we don't do all of the other things great librarians do. We don't book talk new titles or look for new titles to buy. We don't put together reading groups so that kids can find books that they would like to read for fun. We're like the checkout people at the grocery store - I can wield a scanner and tell you what's overdue, but that's about it.

We need our great librarians back.

Thanks again to the great folks at Balboa High School who read Dirty Little Secrets and then let me come in and talk about it!

On this date: In 1998, student Matthew Shepard died in an anti-gay assault.

The LitChicks: HATE LIST by Jennifer Brown

2010-10-07T09:25:00.000-07:00

The LitChicks are sisters Portia (13) and Liesl(14). They read anything and everything and take time out of their busy schedules to bring us their favorite book recommendations every Thursday.

Today, Portia has come by to give us her recommendation:

HATE LIST by Jennifer Brown

HATE LIST is one of those many novels I borrow from Cynthia that don't make it back to her house for many weeks. When I first borrowed it, Liesl took it to read, and she was taking.......FOREVER! So, I kept bugging her because I really wanted to read it! I would get all in her face, like, "Liesl! Are you reading it? Are you reading it? Are you reading it?" until she finally caved and gave it to me. However, once I got it, I barely read it. 15 minutes a day for RIP [the free reading program] at school is not enough time to finish a book in a reasonable amount of time, so I just took it home and sat down one night (okay, tonight) and just finished it!

However, this book was one of my favorite kinds of books! Ones that make you stop and think about life and count your lucky stars. Ones that make you want to go and hug all your friends right now! And make sure that your family loves each other and you're living in reality.

HATE LIST is a book about a girl, Valerie, whose boyfriend, Nick, randomly turns a gun on a crowded lunch room and starts shooting one day, killing more than 5 people and injuring many others. When the police find a notebook with a "Hate List" in it, people start to piece together that the victims shot were ones on the hate list, and that Valerie and Nick were behind it all. But Valerie is innocent. She never shot anyone, she never asked for anyone to be shot, for Nick to do anything, she never saw it coming....She never was serious that ever wanted anybody dead. But nobody can see the truth in what she says. They see somebody who hated them all who accidentally got shot and was mourning her boyfriend. They see somebody who should go away, who has no future or friends.

This book was about Valerie's journey through recovery. How she comes to terms with herself and the role she played in the shooting and the role she didn't play. How she came to terms with the Nick she knew and the Nick who killed people with hopes and dreams. I loved it. Everything about it. I thought it was beautifully written. I loved how you saw Valerie's point of view and you got all worked up in her defense. I liked how everything fell to pieces so beautifully, but not sloppily, and was reclaimed. I liked realizing that people are not what they seem, and that things affect people in unexpected or different ways. I also liked the news articles thrown in, too.

I think everyone should read HATE LIST. It will make you look differently at life. I think that's a good thing. I think we should all stop and think every once in a while.

On this date: In 1931, Bishop Desmond Tutu was born.

Know the Rules Before You Break Them

2010-10-05T18:31:00.000-07:00

I'm involved in a great mentorship project right now as part of a Yahoo Group. In reading the messages between the mentees and the mentors I've seen a pattern begin to develop. I'm not sure if it's because we're writing YA, but a lot of us don't want to follow the rules. Maybe we're all 16 emotionally, and as my good friend Phillip was fond of saying in first grade - we don't need no stinkin' rules. Rules are for the lesser writer. Rules are for the people who have no imagination.

Rules are for the people who want to be published.

If you're writing for yourself and your friends, then never mind this post. Go crazy. Pull together a 500k word young adult contemporary with a talking dog as a main character.

There are some rules that unfortunately, new writers need to be aware of (and actually follow) if they are writing in the hopes of seeing the words on their laptop become a book someday. I'm going to gear this toward getting an agent because I firmly believe that you need to get an agent in order to write anything longer than picture books. Yeah, another stinkin' rule.

Some of my favorite rules include:

YA = Younger than 18. I hate to say this, but if you're writing about college students, you probably won't be able to sell it as YA. Yes, college is much easier to write - no pesky parents to worry about. But agents probably won't look at it. If you do manage to snag an agent with this manuscript, they're probably going to tell you to rewrite it as high school students before they'll send it out. Yes, I know that ALONG FOR THE RIDE by Sarah Dessen (one of my favorites) is set in the summer between high school and college. She's Sarah Dessen. You're not.

Keep it under 100k. We've all see the doorstops that pass as novels these days - 300 to 500 word (mostly paranormal) books that look like serious reading. Anything over 100k words is going to be a red flag for an agent. Save the big stuff for your second (or third) book.

Know your genre. Contemporary isn't fantasy isn't dystopian. Each genre is a separate being with it's own rules and regs. Study up and know what you're writing before you start submitting. If you're not sure, I suggest a few days spent perusing the posts over on the message boards at Verla Kay. A confused agent isn't likely to read very far.

Get a hook. Your gentle coming-of-age story about a girl who comes to terms with her parents divorce might be really well written, but you probably won't get an agent to read it. It's been done. Find something about your story that is amazing and original and will get the agent excited to read on. A rockus coming of age story about a girl who reacts to her parent's divorce by hooking up with a hot guy who turns out to be an alien sent to bring her back to the mothership? Much more likely to get pages requested. Oh, and make sure the hook comes early in the book. Like the first page.

No more backstory. The great thing about middle grade and young adult books is that they don't fool around. We don't want to see two pages on how the light is falling in the room as the sun sets over the dunes. We don't care. Get to the juicy stuff and make it quick. You might also want to rethink that prologue. Go ahead and write it if you must. Then delete it.

Get rid of the cliches. Does your book start with a dream? With a character looking in the mirror? Does she have a dangerous but attractive lab partner? Are one or more of the parents dead (okay, guilty as charged)? You need to brush up on your cliches because agents have seen them all. There are tons of great blog posts out there about the dreaded YA cliches - one of my favorites is by my pal Joelle Anthony (whose Restoring Harmony is a rockin' book).

The rules are a pain, but worth following, at least for your first book. I know of what I speak. Just ask me about the contemporary/romance/thriller set during freshman year of college I wrote. It's awesome. And unsold.

Agents get hundreds if not thousands of query and sample pages every month - don't give them a reason to reject you off the bat.

On this date: In 1990, Henry and June is the first NC-17 rated film.

Hoarding Updates

2010-09-30T20:46:00.001-07:00

If you're interested in the subject of hoarding, I'm putting updated links on the DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS Facebook fan page. We're putting up interesting articles on hoarding, research results, new hoarding books, etc. Feel free to post your own information relating to compulsive hoarding.

The LitChicks: LEGALLY BLONDE

2010-09-30T14:35:00.000-07:00

As I suspected, in school and after school activities have been eating up the girl's time, so they've decided to break it up and each recommend one book per week. We're always glad to have them give good book recommendations whenever they can.

Liesl’s Choice This Week:

LEGALLY BLONDE by Amanda Brown

I got this book in a book exchange in 5th grade and didn't open it until this past summer. I recently went through a phase where I wanted to be a personal defense attorney and go to Yale Law school. I had this whole plan - I was going to graduate and start my own firm and eventually get married and then I would be this lawyer woman who was really successful and had an amazing family...it wasn't a very practical plan.

I now have a new career path but that is beside the point. This book is about a girl names Elle Woods who is Delta Gamma sorority president and goes to USC. She has a very "hot" boyfriend and 2 very good friends and a very wealthy family and she seems to have it all but...Warner (her amazing bf) breaks up with her just when she is expecting a proposal. She is devastated and mortified and sooooo sad so she devises a plan.

One of the reasons her boyfriend broke up with her was that he wanted to pursue an career in law and need to focus and become serious about school and because he was going to transfer to Stanford Law. Elle applies to Stanford Law even though her family and friends think she is crazy and out of her mind, and gets excepted. She packs her bags and heads to Stanford to win back Warner and (I think) to prove everyone wrong - that she can go to law school. She soon realizes though, that law school is no joke and she struggles to fit in. Her fellow classmates all call her Barbie and don't think she belongs there. She struggles to make friends. Warner is surprised when he runs into her and they hang out and she does all the crazy things to try to get him back and they kiss once or twice. She gains hope, she loses hope, she wants to give up, she presses on.

I can't give away the end but I tell you, Elle woods is a fighter! She is the kinda girl that stops at nothing to achieve her dreams. Look to her for inspiration! ( side note...I heard that the movie is really good too! I have yet to watch it so read and then watch!! )

On this date: In 1955, James Dean died.