A year gone by...

I am never a girl lacking for words, and yet words cannot describe my 2010. It's been an extremely long time since I felt like I was really in my element because most of the friends I see day to day don't share my passion for stories, both reading them and writing them. This year I was among so many avid readers and well-read intellectuals that I felt truly myself for the first time since early high school.

I'm not sure how I am going to recap the awesomeness that was this year in one post. I don't think I can do it justice because I've attended dozens of outstanding events and met so many amazing people, many of whom have become good friends and have been overwhelmingly positive influences on my life. So to all the bloggers, authors and book lovers I met this year - Thank you! You are truly a special breed.

I don't mean to forget anyone in this post, but I know I will, so forgive me now. I will do my best to cover it all though! Cut for an obscene amount of photos...

Loser/Queen Giveaway

If you haven't heard about this book it sounds like such a cute read. I can't wait to dig into my copy, but first I'll make sure someone else gets their hands on a copy of it as well. A big thanks to Simon & Schuster for providing a copy of Loser/Queen by Jodi Lynn Anderson and a cute pom pom key chain (like the ones on the cover) for a giveaway!

Cammy Hall is what anyone would describe as a loser. She lives with her grandparents and has adopted their way of life… right down to the comfortable shoes and early bedtime. And can she help it that she actually likes to knit?

At school, her skills with knitting needles and some yarn go completely unappreciated: people like Bekka Bell reign while Cammy and her best friend, the fearless Danish exchange student Gerdi, watch from the sidelines. Cammy’s used to being an outsider; after years of humiliating moments, her goal is simply to fly under the radar. Then she suddenly starts receiving mysterious text messages that lead her right to all the embarrassing secrets about the most popular kids in school. Cammy never expected to be able to climb up the high school food chain, and the agenda of the texter may be questionable—but how can she possibly give up the chance to be Queen?

More Author Insight: The Significance of Books

What do you believe is the significance of books and why did you want to write them?

"Before I delve into this question, let me just say that I write because I can't help myself. I can't make it from my bed to my toothbrush in the morning without thinking of something my characters have done/should do/might do, etc. Sometimes I get lucky and am able to string these ideas into a cohesive plot that people would want to read. Now, that being said, I think that books take us away from the world. Like little rocket ships. We forget that we're curled on our couches, or in a waiting room, or mad at our best friend, or that we need to take the garbage out. This is, in my opinion, the purpose of a good work of fiction." - Lauren Destefano, author of Wither. 

"Books are gateways.  Movies and television are emphasized these days, but they're passive mediums.  Books invite you, not just to be a spectator but to be a participant. You don't get to just watch Harry Potter, you get to BE Harry Potter.  As I grew older, I realized that I had stories of my own to tell and that maybe there were people out there who'd want to enter the worlds I'd created as much as I entered the worlds of C.S. Lewis and Tolkien and Susan Cooper when I was a kid." - Shaun David Hutchinson, author of The Deathday Letter.  

"I've always been a voracious reader and I love the way books transport you into another world. I wanted to create worlds and characters that I loved and share them with others." - Andrea Cremer, author of Nightshade. 

"Books are significant because stories are significant. Everyone has a story to tell, even the imaginary ones. I wanted to write them because they wouldn't stay in my brain. It's almost an exorcism in a way. If I can get a story or character out of my head and onto the paper, I feel lighter. It's incredibly satisfying to read words back and think, 'That's exactly how I wanted them to be.'" - Robin Benway, author of The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, and June. 

"Books are amazing. They contain entire worlds, filled with fabulous characters. They can be funny; they can be witty; they can be emotionally gripping. They can teach us something new. They can make us think about things in different ways. They can open our worldview. How can you not get lost in a book? There’s nothing like grabbing a book by a favorite author and curling up with it. I wanted to write books because I have stories to tell, and I want people to read them." - Jackie Kessler, author of Rage. 
 

Once in a Full Moon by Ellen Schreiber & Giveaway

Release Date: 12/28/2010
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Age Group: Young Adult
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Pages: 304
Series #: 1
Buy: Fountain Bookstore / Amazon
Description: Fountain Bookstore
Beware of a kiss under the full moon. It will change your life forever.

Celeste Parker is used to hearing scary stories about werewolves—Legend's Run is famous for them. She's used to everything in the small town until Brandon Maddox moves to Legend's Run and Celeste finds herself immediately drawn to the handsome new student. But when, after an unnerving visit with a psychic, she encounters a pack of wolves and gorgeous, enigmatic Brandon, she must discover whether his transformation is more than legend or just a trick of the shadows in the moonlight.

Her best friends may never forgive her if she gives up her perfect boyfriend, Nash, for Brandon, who's from the wrong side of town. But she can't deny her attraction or the strong pull he has on her. Brandon may be Celeste's hero, or he may be the most dangerous creature she could encounter in the woods of Legend's Run.

Psychic predictions, generations-old secrets, a town divided, and the possibility of falling in love with a hot and heroic werewolf are the perfect formula for what happens . . . once in a full moon.

I loved this book. Period. Discussion over. The end.

It's just that simple, but I'll elaborate because I realize that doesn't actually say much. In the spirit of full disclosure, I wasn't expecting a lot out of this book. I'm not sure why I felt that way, but I was pleasantly surprised by how solid it was in every way. The characters, the world, the plot... it all fit together like an intricate little puzzle. It kept me interested at every turn without trying to be overly complicated.

Schreiber does an amazing job of creating a world that anyone can relate to. The town of Legend's Run is divided, east and west. Which side is the right side or is there own? Celeste Parker doesn't believe there is. Both eastsiders and westsiders stick to their own, but the arrival of a new student, Brandon Maddox, prompts her to cross the invisible line.

As I tore through this novel , both of them became incredibly real to me. It was the tiny details, ones you could easily gloss over, that made me feel like they could be people I'd met in real life. In fact, Bradon was such a well developed character that he reminded me of a guy friend who is strong, caring and a man of few words. All of the characters evoke clear images of who they are through their words and actions.

Tension also runs high. It builds throughout the book, but there are mini cliffhangers and other exciting moments that kept me hanging on every word. I realized I was turning pages, but I didn't realize how fast.

Nothing in this book stood out to me as a problem. I've read a lot of reviews in which people have though Celeste was immature and needed a backbone, but the fact that she is this sweet girl who can't go to her friends with many of her problems didn't bother me. Afterall, I lived through high school and sometimes you don't feel comfortable telling your friends things for fear that they'll judge you. Even adults feel this way on occasion, so Celeste's belief that she couldn't tell even her best girlfriends about the boy from the wrong side of the tracks and everything they go through after he saves her in the woods one night didn't make me think less of her. I just took it at face value that she was a teenager.

If I had a gripe it would be that there is a "true love conquers all" moment or scene that felt misplaced. I can't say it was contrived, but it was couched as more of a revelation than I believe it actually was because it is quite aparent that these characters have deep feelings for one another. It is also obvious they they accept each other completely, down to their darkest secrets. That was the only moment in the entire book that gave me pause, but within paragraphs the story had me again.

It all lead up to a sublime ending that left me intrigued, satisfied, and ready for another book. I will eagerly snatch up and devour the two forthcoming books in this series whenever they are released.

Author Insight: The Significance of Books

Author Insight is back for Round 3 with a new crew of 30 fabulous authors! These ladies and gents will be sharing their experiences, wisdom, trials and tribulations over the next few months every Tuesday and Thursday. The first 15 are up today...

What do you believe is the significance of books and why did you want to write them?

"Books allow us to experience things we wouldn't normally (thankfully, in many cases) be exposed to.  It makes us look at the world and at ourselves differently, to ask ourselves questions that help us flesh out our own individual beliefs and values.  There's tremendous power in that, particularly in YA fiction where most readers are teens who are on the cusp of adulthood and trying to figure out who they are vs. who other people want them to be." - Kay Cassidy, author of The Cinderella Society.

"To me, the most important thing about a book is the ability to create human empathy. When a reader can understand why a character does something or the choices he makes, they subconsciously become better able to empathize with humanity in general. If a book makes a reader care about war on Middle Earth, she'll care about war on Earth, too. If a reader protests tyranny in Panem, he'll protest it in America, too. If a reader can learn to love a character who's handicapped, or a different race, or from a different socio-economic class, that reader may also feel the same way about people he meets in real life." - Beth Revis, author of Across the Universe.

"To me the interaction with books and all forms of art is the difference between living and living well. As humans, we can survive without art, but the quality of our lives is severely diminished by its absence." - Ty Roth, author of So Shelly.

"A good story lets you experience life through someone else’s eyes and that’s why I decided to write books. Usually the characters come to me first and it takes a while for the story to unfold before I can start writing. I often feel that these characters and these stories already exist somewhere and it’s up to me to figure them out and write them down for other people to read." - Cynthia Omololu, author of Dirty Little Secrets.

Before I Fall + Delirium tote bag winner

Boy are there a lot of people who wanted to win a signed copy of Lauren Oliver's Before I Fall and an awesome tote bag she sent me featuring the cover of Delirium (February 1, 2011)! Alas, there can only be one winner, and that person is...

Ngo S.

Congratulations! I have your address in hand and will send your prize out shortly. Thanks to everyone who entered! As always, stay tuned for more to come.

Lost Saint Winner

And the winner of an ARC of Bree Despain's The Lost Saint and pretty blue nail polish is....

Alexandra T.

Congratulations! I have your information and will send the prize along shortly. Thanks to everyone who entered. Remember to keep checking back because more great giveaways are on the way!

Alyxandra Harvey & Hearts at Stake Giveaway

Earlier this fall I had the chance to meet Alyxandra Harvey in Charlottesville. She popped into town to do a quick signing and I drove just shy of an hour to chat for a while. Alyx is positively lovely!

She was sitting near the front of the store with a giant stack of books and a bit of a line so I waited until it dwindled down before going over. Boy, did I put her to work! You see, I handed out copies of Hearts at Stake (Drake Chronicles #1) at the movie theater when Eclipse came out and have a handful of copies left over, so after signing my books I had her sign the remainders so that I could pass them along to FIVE lucky readers.

What? I didn't stutter. You heard right. I'm giving away FIVE signed copies of Hearts at Stake. All you have to do is fill out the form below for your chance to win.

Uncovered: Witch Eyes by Scott Tracey

Scott Tracey revealed the cover of his debut novel Witch Eyes today! Looks pretty fabulous doesn't it? I think it's a great mix of creepy and cool. If I saw it on a shelf I would definitely want to know what this book was about.  See Scott's thoughts on his cover HERE.

Tell me what you all think!

Braden Michaels wears his sunglasses at night. And at the movies. And in the shower. Raised by his warlock uncle and taught to use magic, he suffers from a deadly curse: the witch eyes. He sees everything that normal eyes filter out: history and memory; love and pain; magic and darkness. The mind, however, was not meant to process so much, and the power is killing him slowly. The only thing saving his sanity are the sunglasses he always wears. And then the visions reveal a dark threat on the horizon. Braden runs away to Belle Dam, the city where the threat originated, and is immediately swept up into the town’s mysterious feud. Two rival magical families have divided the town into a personal chessboard of scheming and machinations, and Braden is their latest pawn. As he tries to avoid their manipulations, and see the truth behind his return to Belle Dam, he has a choice to make. One side, or the other. Ignite the feud, or end it. Sacrifice himself, or someone else. Live, or die.

 

Coming from Flux in Fall 2011!

Blog Tour: Entice by Carrie Jones

Release Date: December 7, 2010
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Age Group: Young Adult
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Pages: 272
Series #: 3
Buy: Fountain Bookstore / Amazon
Description: Fountain Bookstore

Zara and Nick are soul mates, meant to be together forever. But that's not quite how things have worked out. For starters, well, Nick is dead. Supposedly, he's been taken to a mythic place for warriors known as Valhalla, so Zara and her friends might be able to get him back. But it's taking time, and meanwhile a group of evil pixies is devastating Bedford, with more teens going missing every day. An all-out war seems imminent, and the good guys need all the warriors they can find. But how to get to Valhalla? And even if Zara and her friends discover the way, there's that other small problem: Zara's been pixie kissed. When she finds Nick, will he even want to go with her? Especially since she hasn't turned into just any pixie. . . She's Astley's queen.

These books are always a quick read for me because I love Carrie Jones writing. Her ability to boil things down and choose exactly the right words to convey a concept or image amazes me. It makes for a very visual journey.

Zara returns in book three, much changed, but still the same unsure girl she's been all along. She and all of the other characters are each distinct and very real, but Astley really came alive in this book for me. I'm definitely on his team. There are also some unexpected laugh out loud moments. The first of which was when Zara, who is attempting to threaten, tells some evil pixies to tell their king, Frank, that "he has a ridiculous name for an evil pixie king".

Despite the speedy read, I had a few problems with this book. From the start there was a lot of recapping and exposition. It didn't slow things down too much, but for a while I felt like there was at least a sentence of of backstory or explaination per paragraph. I also had some issues with the flow of the story. In some places it felt a little broken like thoughts were being cut short.

Originally, I believe this series was supposed to be a trilogy with Entice closing out the story, but as I understand it there will be at least one more book. (Yay!) I can't wait to see what happens next in Zara's tale and see how this story evolves.
To find out more about the series, follow Bloomsbury Teens and the Need series on Facebook.

Giveaway

A shiny new copy of Entice and some very cool Need series bookmarks will go to one lucky reader. Thanks to Bloomsbury for donating the prizes!

James River Writers and a Giveaway

Back in October I got an invite to dinner with a bunch of writers and booksellers. You might be thinking, "why that's random". Well, yes, it would be had it not been the weekend of the James River Writers Conference here in Richmond. (Apologies in advance for the lack of photos. You know I'm normally better.)

I showed up at Cha Cha's Cantina downtown just before 7p.m. to find that I was the first one there, so I wandered around outside of the building waiting for someone else to show up so that I wasn't sitting at a huge empty table all by myself. Luckily, Kris Spisak and Lauren Oliver showed up a few minutes into my table avoidance.

Once the table filled up there was a mix of people I knew, like Kelly who owns Fountain Bookstore, and those I didn't, like Kris and authors Gigi Amateau and Silas House. There was good conversation, tasty Mexican food, and it led to Gigi and I having a donut date at Country Style Donuts (which are the best donuts in the city).

I was especially excited for the chance to actually sit down and talk with with Lauren since we'd never had the opportunity before. You see, we had been friends on Twitter for a while before her book came out, and when it did a friend got a copy signed for me. (Of course Lauren had to get a dig in about the fact that I didn't drive from Virginia to Chicago to see her.) A few months later, at Teen Author Carnival in NYC, we finally got the chance to meet! I mean, who cares that it was in a line for the bathroom. Then at ALA in Washington, D.C. we ran into each other again and walked the venue for about 10 minutes before we parted ways. Needless to say, we hadn't exactly had a lengthy conversation at any of our meetings.

It was a wonderful night with literary folks. Thanks so much to the James River Writers for inviting me!

Giveaway

Up for grabs is a signed copy of Lauren Oliver's debut novel, Before I Fall, and a total bag featuring the cover of her forthcoming novel Delirium (Harper, February 2011). A huge thanks to the James River Writers for supplying the book and to Lauren for sending me the super-cool tote bag to add to the giveaway!

Uncovered: City of Fallen Angels

Cassandra Clare shared the cover of City of Fallen Angels, book four of the Mortal Instruments series, today. Isn't it lovely?

This morning the cover went live on Entertainment Weekly's Shelf Life, where you can also read an excerpt from the book. Make sure you go check it out, but before you rush off, leave a comment to tell me what you think of the cover.

Love, blood, betrayal and revenge — the stakes are higher than ever in City of Fallen Angels. Simon Lewis is having some trouble adjusting to his new life as a vampire, especially now that he hardly sees his best friend Clary, who is caught up in training to be a Shadowhunter—and spending time with her new boyfriend Jace. Not to mention that Simon doesn’t quite know how to handle the pressure of not-quite-dating two girls at once. What’s a daylight-loving vampire to do? Simon decides he needs a break and heads out of the city—only to discover that sinister events are following him. Realizing that the war they thought they’d won might not yet be over, Simon has to call on his Shadowhunter friends to save the day — if they can put their own splintering relationships on hold long enough to rise to the challenge.

Coming from Margaret K. McElderry on April 5, 2011.

Lost Saint Giveaway

Book Two of Bree Despain's Dark Divine Trilogy, The Lost Saint, hits shelves on December 28, but one lucky reader will win their own advance copy courtesy of Egmont. They were nice enough to provide me with one ARC and a bottle of Lost Saint nail polish, which is a beautiful blue that corresponds to the book cover, to give away.

Grace Divine made the ultimate sacrifice to cure Daniel Kalbi. She was infected with the werewolf curse while trying to save him, and lost her beloved brother in the process.

Desperate to find Jude, Grace befriends Talbot, a newcomer to town. But as the two grow closer, Grace’s relationship with Daniel is put in danger — in more ways than one.

Unaware of the dark path she is walking, Grace begins to give into the wolf inside of her — not realizing that an enemy has returned and a deadly trap is about to be sprung.

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Release Date: October 18, 2007
Publisher: Razorbill
Age Group: Young Adult
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased
Pages: 304
Buy: Fountain Bookstore / Amazon
Description: Fountain Bookstore
Clay Jenkins returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers 13 cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker--his classmate and crush--who committed suicide two weeks earlier.

On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out how he made the list.

I can't say enough about this book. It's the first book I've picked up in a long while that blew my mind. That's because Asher's debut exceeded my expectations on every level. It's beyond a quick read. Asher's writing is crisp and clean, and it wasn't frilly in the least. The deliberate brevity suits the story well and made some moments of Clay and Hannah's story unbelievably real. (I mention both of them because even though Hannah's voice only appears on audio tapes, it is truly their story.) All of the characters are unique and well-developed. I loved them, hated them, felt sorry for them and sometimes found myself wanting comfort or scream at them. The bottom line is that this novel moved me in a way that I don't think I've ever experienced.

I know people are divided on this book, and that's fine because sometimes that's all an issues book like Thirteen Reasons Why needs to do. The point is that it makes you think about the issue at hand, in this case, suicide. (There are many more, but that's the main focus.) It forces you to step out of your own life and think about the "what ifs" and the things you're never considered in your own life. It forces you to consider that the decisions one person makes can affect other lives. Thirteen Reasons Why does all of these things.

Whether you like Hannah and Clay or hate them, you'll get an intimate picture of how the actions of many lead one girl to end her life and how her decision and the electronic ghost she leaves behind affects those she holds responsible.

Smart Chicks Winner

I told you winner takes all, and this is what they'll be receiving in their mailbox... (Feel free to Ooooo and Ahhhhh.)

•As You Wish by Jackson Pearce (signed)

•Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce (signed)

•ARC of Radiance by Alyson Noel (signed)

•Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl (signed)

•ARC of Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl (signed)

•The Forest of Hands & Teeth by Carrie Ryan

•The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan

•Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr (signed)

•Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr (signed)

•And some swag.

And now for the winner...

Congratulations Allison C!

 

Your books will be in the mail to you shortly. Thanks to everyone who entered! Stay tuned for more giveaways.

Ye Olde Rennaisance Faire and one hungry girl

I'm a sucker for a good rennaisance festival, so when Monica from Bibliophilic Book Blog invited me to one in Maryland I didn't need any convincing. I mentioned our planned outing to Tess, a friend and bookseller at Fountain Bookstore, and what she said really kicked started the excitement, mostly because we wanted to see if she could do it.

"I'm going to eat my way through the Rennaisance Faire!"



Monica and The Thomas Schroeder
ft. his Robin Hood hat.



And she wasn't lying. My boyfriend (Apologies that there is no photographic evidence of his existence.) and I picked Tess up that morning and drove to Monica's house where we started out day with homemade waffles. When we arrived at the fair we immediately got caught up in the costumes. Pirates and wenches and fairies, oh my!

After exploring a bit and finding Monica and her husband, THE Thomas Schroeder, some grog (because that is the only term appropriate to a renn faire), we played Dunk the Wench. The wench Tom tried to dunk was particularly surly, mocking his feathered cap. "Are you Peter of one of the merry men?"

Tess and I.

We played the game where you toss ping pong balls into cups and win things, and Tess scored a cool renn faire mug. Next came our first stop for food. I went with my traditional renn faire food - ribbon fries. Monica got the same and cheese bites because, no matter where we eat, she has to get cheese sticks/fritters/balls/etc if they have them. But Tess, she started slow with the familiar and broke into a run. She's kind of a skinny mini, so I have no idea where she put it all!

Over the course of the day Tess ingested fried mac n' cheese, spicy nuts, a pretzel, sausage on a stick, chocolate-covered cheesecake on a stick, and a turkey leg. I was duely impressed and I bow to her intestinal fortitude.

Tess with her sausage.

Later came sword, star and axe throwing. I was awful at sword throwing and adequate at star throwing, but I excel at axe throwing! Out of the gate I stick one in the the wall, and teh next I put one in the target. YES!

Hack & Slash, a comedy show on one of the stages was the next order of business. It was a hillarious mix of quips and physical comedy. Things they promised we would see during the show:

• High altitude beaver punting.
• "I will do a back flip and land in my own navel."
• "And I will solve the hurricane problem by giving the entire Louisiana Purchase back to France."

It was an awesome day with awesome friends, and totally worth the drive. Renn Faires! HAZAA!

Smart Chicks Tour & Giveaway

You guys know I like to drive. Give me a car and a destination and I'll get there. Good company and rockin' tunes are also appreciated, but if I had to roadtrip without them I suppose I could.

I've pretty much been driving since the end of September, and all those posts are coming. I promise! In fact, I'll be driving when this post goes live at 6a.m. Pennsylvania this time. But that's not what this post is about.

This post is about Ohio, lonely winding roads, creepy houses, lots of cool ladies, and strange but wonderful accomodations. Oh yeah, and these ladies...

Smart Chicks Dayton: Kelley ARmstrong, Jen Lynn Barnes, Kami Garcia,
Melissa Marr, Alyson Noel, Jackson Pearce, and a special appearance by Margaret Stohl.

Set the stereo to repeat, walk away

Very few of you know this (at least I think) but I am an aspiring author, and today I'm going to talk about me because I have to share my most recent source of inspiration with the world. It's a song. And it's been on infinite repeat, provided I am near a computer or have my iPod, since I found it. In fact, I'm listening to it as I write this. Yes, it is that good.



The Band Perry
Kimberly Perry and her
two brothers Neil and Reid.



What is this magical song that has inspired me both as a person and a writer? Not so fast. Let me tell you how I found The Band Perry first. 

I was half-listening to my XM radio one day, you know, tooling down the highway with the radio playing in the background while your thoughts are far away on something else. One lyric in this song pulled me away from those thoughts. The lyric...

"Who would have thought forever could be severed by the sharp knife of a short life."

Chilling right? I was so intrigued by this single sentence, both poetic and poignant all at once, that I jotted it down in the notepad of my phone. Admittedly, I did this while driving. (I'm a horrible person. Chastize me later.)

But the sad fact is that I never looked up the song. It wasn't until I heard it again that I heard the whole song and fell head over heels. I kept it on repeat for the better part of a day at work. The more I played it, the more the lyrics haunted me when I wasn't actively listening to the song. (This goes against nature because normally when you play a song you've had in your head it quenchs the need to hear it and the nagging goes away. Not true in this case!)

So I Googled. I found out that Kimberly Perry had shared the story behind the song with The Boot here. Once I read that I, of course, had to listen ten-zillion more times. The chorus kept getting to me. See...

"If I die young bury me in satin

Lay me down on a bed of roses

Sink me in the river at dawn

Send me away with the words of a love song"

Long story longer, I went home and immediately wrote the opening chapter to a new story. If you know me, you'll know that the story is in no way as sweet and wonderful as the song. In fact, it's a very creepy horror story. Regardless, this song MADE me write it.

Oh, just listen to the damn song already!!!

More Author Insight: Never say die (and the winners!)

When you’re feeling defeated and are ready to quit, how do you convince yourself to keep going?

 
"I’m terrible at convincing myself, but I have very good friends who wouldn’t let me quit. Without them A Touch Mortal wouldn’t have been finished, let alone published. The writing community is just awesomely supportive.s such magic in being on the road. Anything can happen." - Leah Clifford, author of A Touch Mortal.

"I turn on the pot of water and make myself a stiff cup of green tea. Does the trick every time." - Daisy Whitney, author of The Mockingbirds.

"I think about having to go back to my last job.  That’s inspiration enough to try to make this writer thing work." - Jen Nadol, author of The Mark.

 

"I did change mediums a few times. First writing, then music, then acting, before I finally came back to writing again. But I don't think I've ever considered not creating things. I don't think I could quit like that. And since I know writing is my best medium, I think I'm kind of stuck. But really, the trick is to continue to find the joy in writing. And as far as I know, the only way to do that is to write from the heart and not worry about what people tell you that you should be writing." - Jon Skovron, author of Struts & Frets.

Author Insight: Never say die

When you’re feeling defeated and are ready to quit, how do you convince yourself to keep going?

"I remind myself that I'm writing. Writing!!! And I'm lucky to be able to do it."- Elizabeth Scott, author of Grace.

"I don't. My husband, kids and friends do. Without my Circle of Trust I'd be nowhere without a paddle." - Heidi Kling, author of Sea.

"I have people around me who (sometimes literally) kick me in the butt and tell me to suck it up.  A support group that gives you exactly what you need when you need it is invaluable as a writer." - Scott Tracey, author of Witch Eyes.

"I have to stop and think, why am I doing this again? Because I love it, that’s why. Writing gives me joy and I just have remind myself that I’m doing what I love." - Danielle Joseph, author of Indigo Blues.