YA – Page 19 – Writing Wrongs

Win Heartbreak River

Over on the Geek Girl’s Guide this week, we’re giving away an autographed copy of Heartbreak River by Tricia Mills. It’s her debut YA novel.

All you have to do is leave a comment on the blog entry. That’s it. It doesn’t get much easier than that.

Raiders of the Last ARC

This week over at the Geek Girl’s Guide, we’re giving away the very last ARC of The Geek Girl’s Guide to Cheerleading, signed by both of us–sure to be a collector’s item, an one-of-a-kind.

As part of the fun, we’re also launching our What Kind of Geek Are You quiz, based on the characters in the book.

Now, you don’t have to be a teen to:

Visit the Geek Girl site
Enter the contest
Help us spread the word.

Remember, part of “young adult” is adult. It’s a short list of people we don’t want reading our book. Like Stalin. Yeah, him. I think it’s safe to say we don’t want Stalin reading our book.

And at this point in the game, we’re really only looking at awareness, rather than promotion or marketing. How do you know you want to read a book if you’ve never heard of it.

And hey, over here at Writing Wrongs, you get a sneak peek at the results, too. Below is my result. Big surprise, no?

Your result for The What Kind of Geek Are You Test…

You are: BETHANY, a WORD NERD

You know the difference between a period, a comma, a colon and a semi-colon. You are on a first name basis with all of the characters in Pride and Prejudice, Harry Potter and probably the Twilight books too. No one doubts your supremacy in English class, but your ability to diagram relationships or punctuate a social life can be … well, meh. Get your nose out of those books occasionally. Real life can have happy endings too.

See the other results here.

Take The What Kind of Geek Are You Test at HelloQuizzy

Note of warning: The quiz host site may ask you for demographic information. You do NOT need to provide this to get your result or the code for posting the quiz on your own blog. In fact, I recommend you skip over it.

Now, what are you waiting for? Come on, you know you want to.

Looking for John Green

John Green, author of the young adult novels An Abundance of Katherines, Looking for Alaska, and the soon to be released Paper Towns was here in Minnesota.

Not only was here here in Minnesota, but here at our local library today, about the same time Kyra had a birthday party to attend. Here’s how it went.

Andrew and I dropped Kyra off at the party, which was being held at one of those inflatable jump places. This was a new place that opened up right across the road from an already established inflatable jump place. So, if you venture into this part of town, all your jumping needs are pretty much taken care of.

We made it back to the library with about ten minutes to spare. We wandered into the teen section where we met up with some very excited girls who were also looking for John Green. Turned out he was scheduled for the meeting room on the first floor, so we all headed down there.

I stood in line to buy some books to be autographed. The big surprise? Penguin sent a bunch of his soon-to-be-released book, Paper Towns, for the signing. Oh, sure. Some people might have an advance reader copy, but we have the real thing, and it’s signed.

Anyway, we lucked out and got our books right before John started to speak. He read from Paper Towns and then spoke, then took questions. Oh, and he did his happy dance. But with the last question, it was time to pick up Kyra. I loaded down Andrew with our books. He was nervous and told me to hurry.

I raced out. On the drive, I realized I should’ve told him to give up his #50 spot in the book signing (yes, they were handing out numbers) and just stand at the back of the line. I so wanted to get a picture of John signing a book for Andrew. Instead, when Kyra and I returned to the library, Andrew was waiting outside, books in hand.

We went back in anyway. Kyra wanted books she could read herself and Andrew wanted a snack. We ate, then ventured down to the meeting room. John was still there with just the library staff. I explained how I missed the signing and could I please get a picture of Andrew and John together?

Well, I could:

It’s clear: John is made of awesome. In this photo, Andrew is also made of awesome, but with a dash of ‘tude thrown in.

John is incredibly gracious, so it’s no surprise that he let us take the photo. The real surprise? Minutes prior, Andrew inhaled two hot dogs, each with about six packets of ketchup. While wearing a white shirt. But dude, check it: not a single stain.

Whew.

Oh, and Darcy? Look what’s coming your way this week.

All We Know of Love

On Tuesday, August 26, Nora Raleigh Baskin’s YA novel All We Know of Love comes out.

I was fortunate enough to have Nora as a teacher for two children’s book writing classes last summer. Nora teaches at Gotham Writers’ Workshop and if you’re inclined to write children’s fiction (from picture book to YA), look into taking a class with her. She is absolutely terrific.

For those of you who have never attended a writing class or workshop, it can sometimes be very difficult to find the heart of someone’s story if they’re just starting out (either with writing or that particular story). Nora has this talent. I marveled at her feedback to the other students. It was spot-on every time. So, of course, I listened when she gave me feedback on MacKenna’s story.

Anyway, she’s published several middle grade books, but All We Know of Loveis her first YA. It sounds terrific and I’ve already pre-ordered it. And look at the quote she got:

“A poignant, daring tale about love. . . . I hesitate to use the word ‘healing,’ because it has so often been misused, but this adventurous tale truly deserves that description.” ~ Anita Shreve, best-selling author of THE PILOT’S WIFE

Dude! Anita Shreve. Sweet.

And, for your viewing enjoyment, the book trailer:

Take a YA vacation

Not going anywhere this summer? Need a good summer read? Have I got the books for you:

Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes

Here’s the deal: Aunt Peg, the New York artist and the person Ginny Blackstone depended on to make her life interesting, took off to Europe without a word three years ago. Aside from a few postcards, Ginny hasn’t heard much. Then she gets a horrible phone call that changes everything.

But the story is only beginning. Soon after, Ginny receives one little blue envelope from Aunt Peg containing a thousand dollars and some very strange instructions…

Maureen really captures what it’s like to be young, American, and in Europe–exciting, scary, and lonely.

Girl at Sea

This is the summer Clio has waited for her whole life. School is out. She’s gotten a great job. And she’s just met the guy of her dreams. Things could not be better.

It’s about time something remotely normal happened to her. Named after the muse of history, quasi-famous at eleven for making a board game with her father, touring the world in questionable style at twelve… it’s been an odd journey so far. Some of it sounds good on paper. Lots of things sound good on paper. It doesn’t mean they actually are…

Another travel story, only this time, mostly on a boat–with jellyfish (well, technically, the jellyfish aren’t on the boat). Anyway, this books is nominated for a Rita this year (and how excited am I that the YA category received enough entries to be viable–very).

Suite Scarlett

The Hopewell Hotel is small Art Deco “jewelbox” in New York City. The hotel has a grand past, but a somewhat dusty and broken present, with pigeons breaking into the rooms, chandeliers with more cobweb than glass, and constantly exploding toilets. Guests are rare, but it does have one constant set of inhabitants… the Martin family.

Scarlett Marin is the third of the four Martins. Scarlett is fifteen, blonde, and broke. Her friends are gone for the summer. And she’s got this one curl that exists just to stab her in the eye and blind her. Welcome to her life…

No traveling for the main character this time, but home is in New York, in a hotel, so it’s like a vacation for you. This one is the start of a series. Maureen did a great job bringing the story to a conclusion while still leaving enough threads open for the sequel.

* * *

As for me, I’ve been pondering my wardrobe dilemma. The recommended conference wear is “business casual.” Okay, I work for a software company. Most days, I wear jeans and my Chuck Taylors to work. Any business casual I might own is several years old–and looks it.

I do have some cute capris I can wear that I can dress up with some cute jackets. Thing is, I hate sandals. I never get pedicures (yeah, I know, you’re surprised). I don’t want to pack extra shoes, so I’m thinking …. I’m thinking … of just wearing the Chucks. Anyone asks, I’ll tell them I got a foot condition.

Actually, I’ll tell them I hate sandals and see no point in ruining my feet.