Doing the Jammie Shuffle in LA

Hi guys,

I have to say, it has been once crazy summer. Unfortunately I don't mean I got to spend it with the always lovely 80's John Cusack and Demi Moore in beautiful Nantucket.

What I mean is that it has been one BUSY summer. The release date for THE SAVAGE GRACE is getting closer and I've been buried in writing and revisions. I apologize for not being as active on the blog as of late. But don't worry, there are lots of fun and exciting things to come. Speaking of which, the book cover for THE SAVAGE GRACE is really close to being released and I can't tell you how excited I am to share it. Patience. (That was as much for me as anyone else).

So I've just returned from the fabulous SCBWI LA conference with my lovely critique partners and best friends Brodi Ashton (EVERNEATH, Harper Collins Spring 2012) and Emily Wing Smith (BACK WHEN YOU WERE EASIER TO LOVE, Dutton - Available Now). It was an awesome trip full of fun, laughs, and surprises.

TOP TEN THINGS I learned from SCBWI LA:

1.) Lindsey Leavitt is a riot. Many of you may already know who Lindsey Leavitt is (author of THE PRINCESS FOR HIRE series and her latest book SEAN GRISWALD'S HEAD), but you may not know that she is exactly the kind of person you want to hang out with at a conference like this. She almost literally bounces of the walls with energy, and pushes you to make sure you are actually having a blast. Of course that also means when it is 3 am and your about to pass out from exhaustion and she's trying to order a pizza and chocolate cake from room service, it can be difficult to turn her off. GO TO BED LINDSEY!

2.) Guilt Tweeting works. Emily wasn't going to go with us this year for various reasons, but as soon as Brodi and I arrived at the airport without her, we both immediately missed her presence. In an effort to express our sadness at her not being there, both Brodi and I tweeted about how forlorn and despondent we were that she would not be attending with us. Next thing we know, we get a text from Emily, saying she'd booked a flight and was going to meet us in LA the next day. Woohoo!

3.) Gary Paulsen is crazy. . . but in an extremely entertaining way. Between his stories of being in a Mexican prison, dog sledding, and his *honest* opinions about publishing, this became very very clear.

4.) I GOT TO STAND THREE FEET AWAY FROM JUDY BLUME! Ok, I didn't actually learn anything from that, it was just really cool.


5.) If you put a whole bunch of writers in their pajamas, they turn it into a party! At first I was a little bummed that this year's ball was going to be a PJ party. Basically, that's what I wear to work nearly every day, and the ball at SCBWI is one of the few occasions that gives me an excuse to get a bit dressy. In the end, however, I think the pajamas made everyone a bit more relaxed and there was actually more people dancing. Lindsey can certainly bust a move in those PJs. The party went something like this...



6.) Brodi believes I must eat beef constantly, and insists this should be announced at regular intervals to everybody within a thirty foot radius.

7.) Apparently the only things I managed to take pictures of were Judy Blume and a book made out of chocolate. Obviously you can see where my priorities lie.


8.) I reaffirmed that I love Richard Peck. Seriously. What an awesome, sweet, and commanding speaker/writer/person.

9.) Gluten, dairy, egg free breakfast is nearly impossible to find in LA when you are in a hurry. I don't get it. I thought LA was all about catering to insane diet restrictions?

10.) On a related note, trail mix and water purchased from a hotel convenience store is as expensive as funding the next shuttle mission to Mars. But when you're allergic to everything else in the building and about to have a hypoglycemic attack… it'll do.

That's all for now. As I said, I've got a lot to share in the coming weeks and months as we get closer to THE LOST SAINT being released in paperback (this November) and THE SAVAGE GRACE in December.

Spreading the Love: Emily Wing Smith and BACK WHEN YOU WERE EASIER TO LOVE (Giveaway)

4/25/2011

Sorry for the blog silence (I know, I know, I've said that a lot lately) but I'm hard at work on book 3 of the Dark Divine trilogy. (Yes, there is a book 3! It comes out December 27th--hence why I'm working on it so furiously.)

Anyway, I'm taking a little break from writing about Grace and Daniel in order to start a new feature on my blog called "Spreading the Love."

Even though I've been holed up in my writing cave for the last several weeks, I've still been in tune with the YA world enough to notice that there's been a lot of bashing and anger and hating going on around the interwebs lately (over a myriad of topics from all different view points). In my opinion, hate is a nasty, contagious, disease that I would prefer to stay as far away from as possible so I don't get infected with it. (I'm neurotic enough, I don't need anything else to obsess over.) I just don't have time for hate in my life. I'd much rather spend my time talking about the things I love--and why I love them.

Which is why I want to spend a little time each week "Spreading the Love." So for the next little while, expect a series of posts from me about the things I love.

To kick off "Spreading the Love," I'd like to tell you about one of the people I love the most in the world: Emily Wing Smith.

Emily is one of my critique partners, a dear friend, and one of the reasons I am a published author today. Seriously, I don't know if THE DARK DIVINE would even exist if it weren't for the amazing Emily Wing Smith.

Here's why: Emily and I met several years ago (about 11, I think) when we were both taking a YA fiction writing class in college. I loved Emily's writing and was in awe of her talent. We got to know each other a little bit during that class, but after it was over, I didn't see her again for many years. About 7 years ago (I think) I went to a writing conference called Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers. It was during a time in my life that although I was very determined to become an author--I felt very daunted by the task of trying to do it all by myself. I went to that conference looking for a little inspiration, and what I found was Emily.

Em and I ended up in an advanced writing class together and by the end of the week we'd re-sparked our old friendship. It felt so awesome to have a writer-friend again. Em and I started talking about putting together a critique group with another writer-friend from our old college class. Soon a fourth person was added to our little group that met once a month to share our writing, critique each others' work, and just plain lend our support.

It wasn't long after our little group started meeting that I decided to challenge myself with a new writing project: a story about a girl named Grace and a boy named Daniel. My group encouraged and helped me through so many drafts of THE DARK DIVINE over several years. Our group has grown over time (there's six of us now--which is why we call ourselves The SIX) and we are more than a critique group. I'd say that we are best friends who also happen to critique.

Emily was the first in our group to get a book published. A beautiful collection of stories called THE WAY HE LIVED. Seeing Emily succeed prompted me to take a chance and start submitting my stories around, and a little while later, I sold the Dark Divine trilogy.

Emily and I (along with Brodi Ashton and any other member of The SIX who is available) meet almost every Thursday to write, talk through plot points, and mostly just enjoy spending time with other people who "get" what were going through as writers. It's pretty much what keeps me sane.

This Thursday, April 28th, Emily's second book, BACK WHEN YOU WERE EASIER TO LOVE, is going to be released!!!

This was actually the book Emily was working on all those years ago when we met at that conference. I've had the privilege of reading and critiquing several parts of this book--and I can't tell you how excited I am for this book to finally make it out into the world. It's beautiful, romantic, thought-provoking, and also a lot of fun. Who could want more than two hot guys, a road trip, an unplanned Vegas detour involving Barry Manilow, and lots of Sprite?

To celebrate the book release, I'll be joining The SIX in our one and only performance as our Barry Manilow cover band "The Barely Manilows" at Em's launch party at The King's English Bookshop this Thursday (7:00 pm). As the most non-musical, non-coordinated person in the world, it means a whole darn lot that I'm willing to make a fool of myself for Emily and her book. (And you certainly don't want to miss it!)

GIVEAWAY TIME:

For those of you who can't make the party, don't worry, as part of my "Spread the Love" series, I'm going to give away 2 signed copies of BACK WHEN YOU WERE EASIER TO LOVE here on the blog...so you can love it just as much as I do.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment about a book you love--or a book you're looking forward to. That way you can "spread the love" for that book to the rest of us.

Contest ends Wednesday night (April 27th) at 11:59 p.m. I'll announce winners Thursday morning.

Now go spread your love in the comments...

Top 7 Things I Learned At This Weekend's Writing Retreat

So Business first:

1. Don't forget about the The Romantic Times preview of THE DARK DIVINE. Chapter 4 just went up on their blog. If you go over there and read the chapter, leave a comment on the RT blog, and then come back here and tell me about it, I'll enter you in the weekly random grab-bag prize giveaway. Our random winner from last week is: YA Vampire Books
Email me at readbree(at)gmail(dot)com and I'll send you the list of your prizes to choose from.

2. Don't forget about the BIG FRAKKING GIVEAWAY. All you have to do to enter is comment on that post. But creativity in spreading the word about TDD will get you bonus entries. Also, don't forget that the deadline has changed to December 14th.

3. My first two book signings have been scheduled:

The official launch party for TDD will be on January 2nd at 3pm at The King's English in SLC, Utah. I'll be doing a book talk, reading, and signing. I imagine there will also be refreshments and prizes :)

I will also be doing a reading and signing at the West Jordan Barnes & Noble on January 16th at 2pm.

If you'd like me to do a signing in your hometown, then ask your local bookstore to have me come out for an event, or start pestering my publisher @egmontgal on twitter to send me your way. Hey, it's worth a shot right?


Okay, on to the fun stuff:

Top 7 Things I Learned At This Weekend's Writing Retreat

1. If you don't want to be murdered in your bed, fill your house with a bunch of crazy people. And it snows A LOT in Payson, Utah.

Writing buddy Kimberly Webb Reid had her house in Payson to her lonesome this weekend while her hubby went to Vegas with his brother. And since the sleepy little town of Payson, Utah experienced it's first ever murder a couple of weeks ago (I may or may not be making up that statistic) she wasn't too keen on spending the weekend alone. Figuring no one would want to invade a house filled with crazy people, so she invited our critique group out for a weekend of writing at her place--needless to say, we were ready and willing to come protect her. And since it apparently it snows a lot in Payson, we were pretty much stranded there all weekend. (We were able to make one quick trip Walmart for supplies in Valynne's SUV, but after sliding on the roads we dared not make another trip out.)

2. Brodi Ashton is still #1 Crazy.

Awhile ago, our friend James Dashner asked us who was the craziest person in our critique group. Brodi was named #1. (I'm number #3, btw.) Brodi insisted that the vote was unfair since she wasn't present, and has been campaigning for a re-vote ever since. We debated much, and Brodi tried to explain why we were all crazier than she, but ultimately the matter was tabled, so therefore Brodi remains at #1 crazy.

3. Snuggies aren't all they're cracked up to be.

On our supply run to Walmart, Valynne decided to buy a leopard print snuggie. However, the darn thing just kept sliding off everyone's shoulders. Which kind of defeats the entire purpose of the Snuggie in the first place. I think it should be redesigned with a back like a giant fleece poncho. We could call it a "ponchie" or a "ponchet."

4. Writers Love Titles

And not just titles for their books. Valynne Maetani decided that our writing group should finally have an official name, and Emily Wing Smith decided that we should each have an official figurehead title within the group. We debated much and we went through several names such as: The Clique (too cliquish), The Craft (too witchy), Scribble Sisters (not too fond of the S.S. acronym), and BAM (an acronym invented by Brodi Ashton's son that doesn't actually stand for anything.)

We finally settled on "The SIX." We also assigned each person an official figurehead position. Here they are in order of craziest person:

#1 Brodi Ashton: Crap, um, I can't remember her position. Maybe she's just Official #1 Crazy?
#2 Emily Wing Smith: Official Group Scribe
#3 Bree Despain: Official Hair Consultant and Nutritionist (b/c I insist everyone eat a bit of protein at each meal)
#4 Valynne Maetani: Official Bouncer (seriously, don't mess with V)
#5 Kimberly Webb Reid: Official Ledger Keeper (Not sure how this is different from Official Scribe)
#6 Sarah Bolton: Official Sartorial Advice Giver (Because she supplies our group with fashionable yet affordable shoes. Like the yellow ones I'm wearing in this pic. You should check out her online shoe biz here)

5. A Grouper is NOT an Amphibian

Actually, I already knew this. But get a group of slap-happy, sleep deprived, sugar O.D.ed, snuggie wearing writers into a game of Scattagories and anything can happen--like Brodi adamantly trying to convince us all that fish and amphibians are the same thing. And don't you dare try to get a made-up word past Emily. That girl is a walking dictionary and she will tackle you while wearing a leapard print snuggie and wrestle you over a correct definition. I'm not normally a game player, but I have to admit that this was one entertaining board game experience.

6. Being the group's Official Hair Consultant actually has official responsibilities (who knew?)

Earlier this week, Brodi Ashton asked me if I thought she could pull off being a brunette. I said, "Um, No" because she has really light eyebrows. Well, Brodi, being #1 crazy and all, decided that I was saying that being a brunette required special skillz that she does not possess and took this as a challenge to prove me wrong.

So first she went to a professional hair dresser and had her hair dyed. Then she tweeted me this picture and claimed that she was now a brunette:



But then I saw Brodi the very next day at the BEAUTIFUL CREATURES launch party and she looked like this:

(Sara Zarr, Valynne, Emily, Brodi, Me, James Dashner, Kika, Kika's Friend)

Anyone else notice the discrepancies in these two pics? Yeah, I thought so.

I declared that Brodi was indeed NOT A BRUNETTE, so during the retreat she decided to dye her hair AGAIN. This time with a $7 bottle of dye from Target. (Emily and Valynne decided to get in on the action and also wanted to dye their hair.) And since I had just been voted "hair consultant," I was forced to do the actual dying for all three of them (as opposed to just laughing at their antics like I'd originally planned). Em's hair turned out fantastic. Valynne's you really couldn't tell the differnence. And, well, Brodi's . . . still didn't turn out brunette. It was more like dirty, dirty, dirty dishwater blond (Brodi's own words, not mine).

Devastated, Brodi drove in a snow storm to Walmart to buy and box of blond highlights to try to restore her original hair color, but then we somehow decided to use Emily's left-over bottle of dark brown die on her instead. Which means that:

6. Brodi Ashton still can't pull of being a brunette

Yep. Apparently Brodi's hair is resistant to the color brown. After THREE dye jobs, she is now officially a red head. Em's dye had a touch of red in it, and that's all Brodi's hair seemed to care about. (I'd show you a picture but by the time we'd done four dye jobs in Kim's guest bathroom, we were all looking a little worse for wear and nobody would pose for a pic.)

7. I can actually get some work done in a house full of crazy people

Shocking, huh? Despite all the craziness, I actually got a good 23 pages out of the experience. That's a big deal for me. And they're actually 23 pages that I really, really love. I can't wait for the next retreat!

So what did you do over the weekend?

Countdown To The Dark Divine Contest: Help me title my new book!

(Note: If you came here looking for info about the street team, click here.)

Shout outs to some awesome friends:

1. Congratulations to bff Emily Wing Smith for winning The Utah Book award for her exceptional YA novel THE WAY HE LIVED. The awards ceremony was neat, and our adventures afterward were some of our wackiest--complete with blood, gore, cheesecake, and Brodi Ashton walking barefoot down 4th South and me screaming things like, "Don't smell that, you might get hepatitis!" I'm sure Brodi will blog about it in much funnier ways than me, so be sure to pop over there.

2. Congrats to James Dashner and his whirl-wind tour of the USA to promote his new book THE MAZE RUNNER. Plus, he was featured in two articles in PW Daily yesterday, and according to them, the book is doing A-Mazing.

3. And huge congrats to new friend Becca Fitzpatrick whose novel HUSH HUSH is debuting at #10 on the NYT bestseller list!!! YAY! She'll be signing at several Utah Costcos over the weekend, so if you are in the area, check out her schedule here.

Shout out for myself:

Did you guys see my beautiful ad in PW Daily? It's run three times over the last week. It's so beautiful. Click here to see it, then scroll down until you see it in its purple glory.

Okay, on with actual post:

HOLY CRAP, SO I JUST REALIZED THAT IT'S ONLY 2 MONTHS UNTIL THE RELEASE OF THE DARK DIVINE!!!! Excitement! Joy! Fear! Trepidation!

So, this next month is going to be a bit crazy. I am attempting to finish the first draft of the sequel to The Dark Divine in the next 32 days. As a result, my brain power failing....words not coming.... loosing ability to type...

Sooooo, yeah. The rest of this blog post will be short and too the point (I hope) and my posts will likely be a bit sparse between now and November 23rd. Never fear, though. The Street Team will still be announced a couple days after the deadline (which is the October 26th btw if you have not yet applied. And if you haven't applied, why not? And if you have no idea what I'm talking about, click here).

Ok, on to the point. Time to celebrate only 2 months left! This month the prizes are as follows:

Prize #1: signed copy of WAR DANCES by Sherman Alexie, and a signed copy of THE MAZE RUNNER by James Dashner
Prize #2: signed copy of ONCE WAS LOST by Sara Zarr
Prize #3: signed copy of HUSH HUSH by Becca Fitzpatrick

So here's what you gotta do for me if you want to be entered in the contest. As I mentioned, I am in the middle of writing the sequel to THE DARK DIVINE. I am loving spending more time with the characters from TDD and am very excited about where the story is going, but here's the deal, it doesn't have a title yet. Got any suggestions? (No titles with spoilers please!) (UPDATE: I'm thinking of things that either play of the words "dark" or "divine" or "desire" or "Grace" or "temptation" or some variation of similar words--yet not something that sounds like a steamy Harlequin romance novel.) Post a comment to be entered into the contest. Rules are below:

1.) Must be a follower of the blog and post a comment to qualify (UPDATE: You don't have to suggest a book title . . . you can always just say"hi")
2.) Answer question = 1pt
3.) Already a follow of blog = 2pt, Become a follower = 1pt
4.) Already a twitter follower = 2pt, Become a twitter follower = 1pt
5.) Tweet contest = 1pt.
6.) Post contest on your blog = 1pt

The contest ends at 11:59 pm on October 28th. Winners will be announced sometime within the next two days after that. . . I promise . . . assuming I'm still alive.

Okay, back to my writing cave. And don't forget to spread the word about the STREET TEAM!!! We need you!!

Contest Winner, and Author Events Galore!

First Thing: The winner of the Denver goodies giveaway is: thetruebookaddict

(Email me at readbree at gmail dot com with your mailing address, and I'll send you your prizes)

Now on with the post:

I love autumn. September rainstorms. The smell of fallen leaves. Anticipating Halloween. Cool jacket weather air that gives me the perfect excuse to buy more jackets . . . And the beginning of a whole new season of book releases. And one of the highlights of this autumn has been getting to go to my local Indie bookstore, The King's English, for the launch parties and signings for a few of my favorite authors. In fact, I have been to TKE for an author event 4 times in the last 4 weeks. I'm sure the ladies of TKE would get totally sick of seeing my face--except that I spend a small fortune every time I walk through their doors. (After all, I MUST pick up autographed books for my blog readers, right? At least that's what I tell hubby . . .)

In September, I went to Shannon Hale's launch party for FOREST BORN with Brodi Ashton and Hubby. Shannon did a great presentation. She's one entertaining lady. And because she is such a rock star, we had to take a number in order to get our books signed. My number was so far down the list that hubby and I went out and ran errands, then went to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants (Mazza--yum!) and then went back to TKE and still had to wait 20 minutes in line before we got our books signed. Wow, now that means you've definitely made it as an author. Congrats, Shannon!

Also in September, I was invited to a signing for Debutante author Michelle Zink (PROPHECY OF THE SISTERS) by another Deb, Sydney Salter. Michelle did an amazing book talk and I wished I'd had a a notebook handy so I could have written down some pointers on how to be an engaging speaker. I absolutely loved how she handled to Q&A portion of her talk. For every question someone asked her, she then asked the audience a question (after answering the question addressed to her, of course). Apparently, she asked the same book-related questions to each of her audiences during her tour, and then compiled the answers on her blog here. I thought this was a great way to engage her readers, and I think she ended up with some interesting feedback.

After the signing, I got to go out to dessert with Michelle, Sydney, James Dashner, and SpeedReader (one of the cutest bloggers on the planet--from My Favorite Author), along with a few of Michelle's family members who live in Utah. (Did you know that Michelle is originally from Utah? Dude, Utah really does rock when it comes to the YA scene.) It was so fun to get to know Michelle, and she even gave me a few pointers about what to expect at my first bookseller dinner.

October started off in a great way with a launch party for Sara Zarr's ONCE WAS LOST on the very first day of the month. It was a great event. I absolutely love listening to Sara speak, and Emily Wing Smith made some awesome cookies in honor of Sara's book cover. (At least I can say that they looked awesome since I couldn't actually eat any of them.)

Sara told us about how her book was inspired by the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping, and by her own struggles with faith--which only made me want to read the book more.

After the event, we went over to The Dodo restaurant for dessert (again, I had a fruit plate). The group included Sara Zarr, her hubby, Matt Kirby, Emily Wing Smith, Dan Smith (Em's hubby), Sarah Dufford Williams, a very nice writer named Melinda (sorry can't remember her last name), Valynne Maetani Nagamatsu, Sara Bolton, Brodi Ashton, and James Dashner. Wow, that was a big group! I'd recount our wacky antics and conversations, but Brodi has (of course) already done a hilarious recap here--so you should go check that out.

Only five days later, I found myself back at TKE for the launch party for James Dashner's THE MAZE RUNNER. The evening started off a little harried when a semi rolled over on the the freeway, making Hubby and I almost a half hour late with all the traffic delays. Luckily, they started the event late so I didn't miss any of James's book talk. It was so fun to sit in the audience and listen to some of his die hard 13TH REALITY fans ask him questions. They are a dedicated group! One 10 year old boy almost acted as if James's decision to write THE MAZE RUNNER was an act of treason.

Aside from watching a dear friend finally launch his much anticipated book, the best part of the night was getting to see the bloggers from The Inking Cap who I'd met at the Writing for Charity event back August. I'd given them each a bottle of THE DARK DIVINE nail polish--which they were all wearing on their toes at James's party! They even took a picture of one of them attempting to kick James in the head with her painted toes--which I would show you now, but nobody has sent to me a copy of it yet. (Hint. HINT.)

Update: Hinting worked! Here's the pic of Debbie from The Inking Cap kicking James with her Dark Divine toes. Though for some reason the polish shows up pink in photos rather than purple. Oh, and I guess she's kicking him in the shoulder and not the head, but still, it's pretty cool.

After this event, we went to The Dodo again, but this time we got dinner. The group was me, Hubby, Sara Bolton, Valynne, Brodi, Emily Wing Smith, and another friend of mine named Emily Allen (who was an old college friend of James's, and she informed us that back in the day, James used to go by the name Jamie. So be sure to call him that the next time you see him. He'll just LOVE it.) James (ehem, Jamie) even graced us with his presence for a few minutes before he left to go pack for his whirl-wind national book tour. See you in a month, James!

Me, looking slightly demented, and kind of gargantuan compared to James (center--duh, I guess) and Brodi.

Emily Wing Smith, Valynne Maetani Nagamatsu, and Sara Bolton

Valynne, Emily, Brodi, and Me (looking almost as demented, but less gargantuan)

Besides the semi truck rollover, the $25 parking ticket I got at TKE, the driving debacle that got us home at 10:15 pm despite the fact that we left the restaurant at 8:30 pm (don't ask), it was a great night. And once again, for a much funnier take on the evening, visit Brodi's recap of the night here. (Thanks for always posting the funny stuff before I get to it, Bro. You are a better blogger than I.)

So that's my month of author events so far. Did I mention I'm going to The King's English again this Wednesday to hear Sherman Alexie speak about his new book WAR DANCES? Now if only I were cool enough to get him to go share a fruit plate with me at The Dodo afterward. Hmmm, perhaps that should be my new mission in life. Operation: Get Sherman To Have Dessert With Me. I'll report next week on how it goes.

Contest winners, and a word about banned books

So here are the winners for the The Countdown to THE DARK DIVINE Contest:

Grand Prize winner of 3 Egmont books of your choice: Sara (from The Hiding Spot)

Check out the list of books here , then email me with your choices. Please note that a few of the books on the list have not been released yet and would need to be a pre-order.

2nd place winner of autographed copies of Shannon Hale's FOREST BORN and BOOK OF A THOUSAND DAYS: Mhm, yup (Kristen)

3rd place winner of an autographed copy of Michelle Zink's PROPHECY OF THE SISTERS: RK Charron

Winners, email me at readbree(at)gmail(dot)com with your mailing address and I'll send you your prizes.

A word on banned books:

I'd like to say something eloquent here about free speech and how censorship is wrong and how if a bunch of "concerned citizens" got their way in the world I would have never read some of my favorite books that have truly impacted my life for the better. . .but basically all I can muster up to say at the moment is: BANNING BOOKS SUCKS!

Okay, so that was 3 words about banning books, not "a word," but you get the gist, right?

I'd go on and on for a bit, but some of my friends have already written much more eloquently on the subject, so I'll send you guys to them:

Emily Wing Smith (author friend extraordinaire) just found out that her brilliant book THE WAY HE LIVED is being challenged by a school in Florida and may soon be added to the banned books list. She blogged about her feelings on the subject here.

Author friend James Dashner also blogged about it here, and links to the Random House First Amendment Committee. But what's most of interest there is the discussion/brawl that's broken out in the comments section on James's blog between people with opposing views on censorship . . . and semantics. (P.S. James's THE MAZE RUNNER debuts 1 week from today!)

And writer friend Nikki Mantyla wrote a very nice post about discussing censorship issues with her writing students, and the ridiculousness of some of the books that are on the banned books list. Check it out here.

Considering some of the books that have been banned or challenged in this country (Hello, LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE?!) I have no doubt that THE DARK DIVINE will be challenged and/or banned someday. But hopefully that won't stop other teens who would love and appreciate the book (and maybe even need the book) from being able to read it. Support free speech! Go read a banned book this week. I think I will dust off my well-worn copy of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, or perhaps OF MICE AND MEN, or maybe HARRY POTTER, or SPEAK, or BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA, or, or . . . you get my point, right?

Okay, so I've said quite a few words already. Be sure to come back later this week so I can tell you all about my trip to Denver for my very first tour stop at the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association expo. I picked up some cool goodies there (including a signed final copy of HUSH HUSH, plus a HUSH HUSH locker poster . . . and more) that I will be giving away to a lucky blog reader. So stay tuned!!

Final Favorite SCBWI L.A. Moments--Finally! Also, Win Free Autographed Books!!

So I've been promising to finish up sharing my final favorite moments from the national SCBWI conference in L.A. for quite some time now--and give away the signed books I picked up while I was there. And, YAY, I'm finally gonna do it!

For a refresher of my first 6 favorite moments from SCBWI L.A. click here. Seriously, click there if you haven't read it. The "belly boobs" story is totally worth it.

So on with the favorite moments:

7. Getting to meet up with other Utah writers and authors at the conference. The Utah/Southern Idaho region really represented this year with 16 participants. We even got to get together in the hospitality room for a little social (but for some reason we were relegated to sitting on the floor).

Some Utah writing peeps . . . with "air quotes"

Me and Matt Kirby (THE CLOCKWORK THREE coming Fall 2010 from Scholastic)

Okay, so the last three moments are dedicated to the awesomeness that is Emily Wing Smith: BFF and cohort in crime. Here's the deal, I met Em a little about 9 years ago in a Y.A. writing class at BYU, then we met again at a writing conference at BYU about 5 years ago and decided to form a critique group. Our friendship has grown over the last few years, and we all championed Emily when she became the first in our little group to publish a book (THE WAY HE LIVED) and over the last couple of years, I think we've become pretty close friends . . . but I think I learned more about Emily Wing Smith in the few days we spent together in L.A. than I have in the almost decade since I met her. And let me tell you, that girl is one hilarious and amazing person with some serious cojones.

8. First of all: Emily is the queen of the "sidle." That girl has more guts and charisma than I could ever have when it came to sidling up to famous people at the Blue Moon Ball (of Belly Boobs fame) and striking up conversations. Thanks to Emily, we got to talk to Richard Peck (RICHARD PECK!!) for a good 30 minutes (30 MINUTES!!). Richard was so kind and wonderful and genuinely nice to us, and I would have never have had the guts to talk to him with Emily's sidling skillz.

Emily Wing Smith and Richard Peck (sporting a blue satin track suit)

Brodi Ashton, Richard Peck, and me

She also got us a picture with Jay Asher.

(Yes, that is Jay in the Austin Powers costume)

And here's a couple of us at the ball with other author friends that we love.

Brodi, Me, Emily, and Sydney Salter (MY BIG NOSE AND OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS)

Sydney, Matt Kirby, Brodi, Me, Emily

9. This might sound a bit insensitive but my next favorite moment was when Emily Wing Smith almost lost an eye . . .

Yeah, so we woke up Monday morning to discover that the TV show LIE TO ME was being filmed right outside our hotel room window. Brodi, Emily, and I stood out on the balcony and watched the hubbub for a few minutes. Then Emily went into the bathroom to clean her contacts so she could see better, and just as Brodi and I were calling to her to see if we could use her camera to take a few pics on the film crew . . . we heard Emily shriek in pain.

Brodi and I went running to the bathroom to see what was the matter and found Emily cupping her eye and trying not to scream. Apparently, she had grabbed Brodi's contact solution instead of her's, only Brodi's is the kind that you have to soak your contacts in for 6 HOURS! before you can put them back in your eyes. So basically, Emily had just put ACID in her eye. . . and she was so embarrassed about having used Brodi's contact solution without asking, she wouldn't tell us what had happened.

Luckily, Brodi and I figured it out . . . and I basically had to sit on top of Emily on the bed while Brodi sprayed a pint of saline solution directly into Emily's eye. But here's the truly funny part, the whole time Brodi and I were scrambling to save Emily's eye . . . she was more concerned about trying to tell us where her camera was so we could get a picture of the film set.

The whole situation is really quite funny in retrospect . . . but I'm sure Emily's eyeball would disagree.

10. When Emily Wing Smith tried to con her way onto a television show.

So Emily has always (okay for like 2 months now) had the dream of being an extra on a TV show, and is writing a novel about a girl who gets to be one. She even researched how to be an extra (become hot) and contemplated trying to find a show to be an extra on while we were in L.A.. Unfortunately, she realized the idea wouldn't realistically pan out . . . until we woke up to the TV show being filmed right outside our hotel. This is when Emily hatched her brilliant plan: she going to be an extra on that film set! At first Brodi and I thought she was kidding. I mean, nobody really has the guts to walk right onto a film set and try to be one of the actors, right?

Yeah, you don't know Emily.

We studied the background actors for a bit from our balcony: hot women in swanky dresses. Unfortunately, because Emily had FRIED one of her eyes, she had to wear her glasses, so we decided to go with the "sexy librarian" look. We got Em all dressed up, reapplied the makeup on the right side of her face that had gotten washed off when we doused her with saline solution, and Brodi pulled Em's hair into a cute little chignon. And them Brodi and I watched in utter amazement as Emily sidled her way past security and straight on to the film set as if she were one of the hired background actors. Seriously, I was freaking out the entire time!!

Hard to see, but that's Emily past security. When I started taking pictures of her, other people came rushing up to see if she was a famous person. Which she totally should be . . .

Emily was *this close* to convincing a head honcho (by bribing him with a sandwich) to let her be on the set, before someone else kicked her out. But did that deter our Emily? No. She turned around and tried again at a different entrance to the set. Alas, ultimately she didn't make it in as an extra, but we did get to watch for a bit while they filmed. And I didn't mind one teensy bit about missing the morning sessions of the conference in order to watch Emily try to fulfill a dream.

Perhaps someday we'll be able to go back to L.A. with her and really participate in a shoot. I wouldn't miss that for all the world!

Okay, that's it. All my fave moments from the conference. Like I've said before, I'm giving away the books I picked up while I was there. All you have to do if leave a comment on this post (or one of the other L.A. posts) in order to be entered into a drawing to win 1 of the following signed books:

THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART TIME INDIAN by Sherman Alexie

BREATHING by Cheryl Renee Herbsman

KING DORK by Frank Portman

The contest ends Monday, September 7th at noon. I'll post winners later that day.

Thanks for reading!!

Favorite Moments from SCBWI L.A.: Part One

So I think the maniacal bunny men are sufficiently subdued enough (and the kids are finally asleep!) for me to blog about my many adventures from SCBWI L.A.!! There's so much to tell, I think I'll have to sift it down to my favorite moments--and probably break it into more than one post. So here we go:

1. Almost missing the plane to L.A.--and no, I didn't sleep in and get to the airport late. In fact, I got up at 3:30 in the morning and got to the airport by 5:00 am for my 6:00 flight. My BFFs, and conference buddies, Brodi Ashton and Emily Wing Smith got there shortly after me. We sat there waiting for our flight to be called . . . and waited and waited and waited some more . . . until the guy with the little microphone suddenly called out in a very snippy voice, "Passengers Ashton, Despain, and Smith, this is your final call. Are you planning on joining us this morning?!"

The snippy man with the microphone claims that he called our flight several times, and called our names individually several times. But I still think he was lying. I mean, we were staring right at him the whole time . . . But anyway, we made it onto the already filled plane just in time, and apart from poor Brodi's eardrum almost bursting mid-flight, we made it to the conference without a hitch.

2.The Tenners Meet The Bloggers Lunch: One of the best things I did while in L.A. was to get to meet some of my fellow tenners, and some of the awesome YA bloggers I've made friends with on twitter. Fellow Tenners were Kim Derting, Lindsey Leavitt, Christy Raedeke, Jennifer Cervantes, Suzanne Young, Denise Jaden, and Matthew Kirby. And a few other authors showed up, too. Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (Beautiful Creatures), along with Jay Asher (Thirteen Reasons Why) and even Holly Black (Spiderwick Chronicles) was there for a bit.

The bloggers included Catt from The Dreamer Reader, Alicia from Shooting Stars Mag, Vania from Reverie Book Reviews, and Khy from Frenetic Reader. Some of the bloggers came with their moms--who I think are some of the coolest moms I've ever met!! I mean, any mom who would drive their teenage daughters out to meet a bunch of authors are totally awesome in my book.

(Khy, Catt, and Alicia--3 of my favorite bloggers! Too bad I can't get the picture bigger.)

Khy and her Mom made each of authors a cool gift bag full of specific presents based on our blog posts and our books.

My bag included:

A purple matchbox Mustang . . . Because I LOVE Mustangs and will eventually buy myself one someday.

Purple duct tape, so hubby can make me something cool to wear out of it.

A box of pastels . . .Because the MC in my book is an artists and needs a new box of pastels.

And a box of Ghiredelli Brownie Mix bigger than my head! (Because I'm a chocoholic.) The box was so big I couldn't fit it into my suitcase so Brodi offered to carry it home for me . . .Hey, wait a second, I haven't gotten those back yet!!

(Me with the brownie box bigger than my head. Seriously, Bro, where are my brownie?!)

The other cool thing about lunch is that I got to share chips and salsa with the awesome Jay Asher.

(This is Jay sitting across from me at the restaurant wearing an Egyptian hat given to him by Khy. I know the picture is really fuzzy, but I put it in here to prove that I really did eat lunch with JAY ASHER!!)

3. Meeting Sherman Alexie . . .and he LOVED our shirts. At the beginning of the conference, each member of the faculty was forced to share one word with the nearly 1000 conference goers in the audience. After many got up to share inspirational words like hope, listen, acceptance, Sherman Alexie got up and said, "Inappropriate." Well, we were all already crushing on Sherman's brilliance and plotting a way to get to meet him, so hearing that gave us the perfect plan. You see, Brodi, Emily, and I all made "bad review" shirts in order to "wear" the things people had said about our books. Well, Emily's shirt just happened to say "inappropriate" because of a ridiculous B&N review of her book . . . So we knew we HAD to show our shirts to Sherman. So anyway, Sherman LOVED out shirts and was happy to take a picture with us.

Me: Blasphemous (and looking very shiny), Sherman the Awesome, Emily: Inappropriate, and Brodi: Violent

Okay, wow, this post is getting long . . .and we're only 24 hours into the conference. Let's adjourn for now, but be sure to leave a comment. For everyone who comments on this (and future) SCBWI L.A. posts will be entered into a drawing to win one of three awesome AUTOGRAPHED books I picked up at the conference.

I'm leaving on a jet plane

So I just wanted to leave a little note to let you all know that the blog will be quiet this evening as I am headed off (way too frakking) early tomorrow morning for the SCBWI national conference in L.A. I doubt I'll get a chance to blog, but I will be twittering all about my adventures with sister authors Brodi Ashton and Emily Wing Smith as we test out our "bad review t-shirts," meet some awesome bloggers, and stalk Sherman Alexie. You hear that, Sherman? We'll be the ones in the red t-shirts following your every move. Be afraid, be very afraid . . .

Brodi has informed us that she is hopped up on several different kinds of decongestant, and since she was previously voted #1 Crazy of our writing clique, this should be a very interesting trip. I promises pictures and wild tales to come on the blog next week, but for now you can follow action on twitter @breedespain

Talk to you all next week!!

The Dark Divine soundtrack: song #10

Today was ONE OF THOSE DAYS. It all started when I was awakened 1.5 minutes before my alarm was supposed to go off by both of my children screaming. I stumbled out of my room and discovered that KidZ had puked in his bed, and his following screams had freaked the heck out of KidA. I made a new bed for KidZ on the couch, cleaned up the puke, and since both of the kids were sick, I decided to let them have a movie-day while I got some work done. In the meantime, KidA discovered the wonder of the microwave . . .which I didn't realize until poor nauseous KidZ started freaking out about a stinky smell in the kitchen, and I discovered KidA standing (gleefully) in front of the buzzing microwave. I flung open the door and found two, shriveled, blackened, vaguely pterodactyl-shaped chicken nuggets and a partially melted IKEA plate. After I threw the plate outside and opened all the windows to air out the toxic pterodactyl+plastic fumes, I returned to work in the next room. . .only to be beckoned a few minutes later by a crashing noise from the family room. Apparently, the kids "resting on the couch" had digressed into a Power-Ranger's-style-death-match that resulted in the demise of my favorite lamp.

And that was only what all happened before lunchtime. . .

So anyway, I've decided that I need to focus on a few of the good things about today:

1. I got to read the first draft of Emily Wing Smith's new novel. And by the way, you MUST MUST MUST go check out her new book trailer for The Way He Lived. I helped make it! (Well, if you call picking out pictures of cute guys with no shirts on "helping." Although, I noticed that Em didn't actually use any of those . . .but she did use a couple of the other pics I chose.)

2. I got a really good email update from Ted

3. I remembered that I Tivo-ed the new Bachelor season premier

4. Today's song for The Dark Divine Play-list/Soundtrack only happens to be my current most favorite song: The Postal Service's cover of Against All Odds

Not only is this another one of those completely and totally perfect-for-the-moment songs for the soundtrack, it is also a freaking awesome song. Yeah, I know, I always say that each song is awesome--but hey, they wouldn't be in the soundtrack if they weren't--and this time, you don't just have take my word for it. The New York Post named it as one of The Top 100 Best Cover Songs of All Time! How's that for a ringing endorsement? And, of course, you all get to check it out here for yourselves.

And I really wish I could tell you why this song is so perfect for the soundtrack, but once again, all I can say is: You'll have to read the book. So for now, just sit back and picture me madly working on revisions while you listen to this song. (And make sure you listen to the whole thing so you can get the full effect of the song.) I'm off to go force hubby to watch The Bachelor with me. . .

Against All Odds - The Postal Service

The weekend I lost my brain: part two

So continuing on from yesterday's post--I had a great dinner with Ted and company Friday evening, and a fun time networking at the reception (once I actually got to the right party). I returned home late that night just in time for . . .

Brain malfunction #3: I realized around midnight that I had NO IDEA what time the SCBWI conference started in the morning.

I was so wrapped up in finishing my revisions and finding a fabulous outfit to wear to the dinner/reception, I failed to record the actual details of the conference in my brain--which I guess wouldn't have mattered since my brain was still sitting in a dressing room next to the indigo boot-cut jeans I'd tried on earlier in the day. I searched the house for my conference brochure (no dice), attempted to look it up on-line (modem still broken--and since the Internet is like my second brain, I was really running on zero thinking-power,) and finally hacked my neighbor's wireless again. Phew, a quick search through my emails confirmed that the conference started at 9:30 am.

I got up early in the morning and was actually ready to go about 45 minutes early--which turned out to be a good thing because Kid A woke up screaming in his crib because his diaper had literally disintegrated during the night. I carried him at arms length to the tub and started him on a bath. Apparently he wasn't too keen on this idea because he promptly screamed and splashed me right in the face--smearing the make-up on the left side of my face, and flattening a chunk of my hair. Just the look I was going for: Two Face from that Batman movie. Thanks Kid A, I love you too. So I set to work on a patch-up job of my appearance while hubby finished bath-time and wrangled the boys, and I ended up running out the door 5 minutes later than I'd planned.

I hate being late. I'm the kind of person who plans out her route the day before she has to be somewhere. Sometimes I get to places/events so early, I end up parking down the street for a few minutes until it's an "acceptably early" time to arrive. After the wrong-party disaster, I was really feeling stressed about not being late to the conference. Which is probably what led to . . .

Brain malfunction #4: After taking two wrong turns, and having to flip a U-ey, I finally pulled into the parking garage at the Discovery Gateway with only a few minutes to spare. By some miracle, there was a parking space open right next to the entrance--actually there were several. Counting myself lucky, I grabbed my coat, notebook, tote, sack lunch, 32 oz bottle of water, and dashed up the 3 flights of stairs just in time to find that the lobby was completely empty . . .

Did I have the wrong time? Did I get trapped in some kind of Mario-brothers-like time warp? I don't remember driving through any large green sewer pipes . . . I dug in my giant bag for my cell phone--I swear it took 5 minutes--dialed my hubby's number as my phone started beeping at me that it was almost out of battery. Argh! Luckily, hubby answered, and luckily strokey (as we lovingly call our modem) had a brief moment of wellness, so he was able to check my email and figure out that in my hazy brainlessness state the night before, I'd managed to confirm the time of the conference, but not the location. My trusty phone gave out just as hubby informed me that the conference was actually at the SLC library, and not the Discovery Gateway . . .

A fact that I had discussed more than once with more than one person.

Friend: Hey, isn't it great that the conf is at the library this year?

Me: Yeah. Those chairs at that Discovery museum place are made for people with much smaller bums.

Friend: You mean children?

Me: Um, yeah . . .or supermodels.

Friend: Right, cause a lot of supermodels frequent Utah's children's museum.

Me: Hey, it could happen. Don't they all go to to Park City for drug rehab anyway?

Friend: O-kay . . .So I'll see you at the LIBRARY next week. . .

Yeah, so anyway, after a frantic drive to 4th south, a wrestling match with my widow trying to reach that parking ticket thingy, and a wild dash through several floors of the library--I arrived just in time to walk into Ted's presentation 15 minutes late. Smooth. I'm all about good impressions.

Anyway, the rest of Ted's talk was fantastic. I kept turning to the people next to me and giddily exclaiming, "That's my agent!" Luckily, I was sitting next to a couple of writing BFFs (Valynne and Emily) so they didn't get annoyed until after the 102nd time I squealed about MY AGENT's awesomeness. Jill Dembowski also gave a great presentation on how to be an editor's favorite author. I wrote down many tidbits of info that I may have enough energy someday to share with you all. Emily Wing Smith participated in a panel for debut authors--she rocked the Q&A session and was the only (I think) author to sell out of her books during the lunch break.

After lunch, Valynne, Emily, and I decided to go on a little adventure . . .so we went across the street to check out the rally/protest/march that had been gathering outside the library during the conference. And no, they were not protesting writing for children . . . Emily collects pictures of unique signs for her blog, so we went on a quest to find the best sign in the bunch.


This guy won hands-down, in my opinion

When none of the shouting turned into fist fights, we decided to head back up to the conference to listen to a panel of book-sellers. Interesting, gloomy, bit depressing. Did you know that a lot of book-buyers for indie stores are kind of jaded? But don't worry, fabulous agent Ted came back to liven things up with his quips and charm. After the conference ended, Brodi, Sydney, and I snapped some picks with Ted since we are his only 3 clients from Utah.

We call this: Ted and his Utah client harem . . .or as Brodi dubbed it: Ted and the sister-authors. Brodi Ashton is on the far left, then Sydney Salter Husseman, Ted Malawer (of course), and me.

After the picture session, we went to dinner at the Red Rock Cafe. I sat at a table with Ted, Brodi, Sydney, and Jill. We had a great time discussing TV shows, books, and awkward Thanksgiving moments. It was a lot of fun, but of course my tired, tired, brain had to fit in one last meltdown . . .

Brain malfunction #5: Did I seriously just tell the story about the time I became infamous in the 9th grade because I "accidentally" beat up the neighborhood hot-shot--to MY AGENT? Yeah, I did. In full-color-blood-spurting-everywhere-from-the-guy's-nose-detail. Way to look normal, Bree, way to look normal. At least I didn't mention the fact that I punched the guy in the face AT CHURCH.

So that's all she wrote. . .for now. Do you have any brain malfunction moments to share? I'd sure love to hear them.

Confession is . . .I'm a pessimist

Yep, it's true. It drives my friends and family crazy, but I have never been a "glass half full" kind of girl. They call it being negative. I call it always being prepared for the worst. My husband is constantly saying to me, "Would it kill you to be positive for once?" Um . . .no. But apparently NOT being positive might.

Last night, hubby and I went to the Body Worlds exhibit at the Leonardo (thanks Kersten!). The main focus of the exhibit was on the human heart, and one of the placards talked about the effects of pessimism on the heart. Apparently people who constantly see the glass as half empty are much more likely to die from cardiovascular complications than those who don't. So in addition to being an eternal pessimist, now I know it's probably going to kill me. How's that for irony?

So in an effort to give my heart a little jump start in a positive, more optimistic direction, I've decided to post a few tidbits of good news.

1. Kid Z (my 6 year old) made the Principal's honor roll for having perfect behavior every day. How's that for showing I've actually got some good mommy-ing skills? (Never mind the fact that I got a call from his teacher the VERY NEXT DAY because Kid Z got caught teasing someone at his table. Every kid is allowed an off day, right? I'm still a good mom, right?)

2. Kid A finally said the words to me I've been waiting the last 2 years and 7 months to hear: "I love you, Mommy." Never mind the fact that he kicked me in the nose this morning while I was attempting to change his diaper, those 4 little words make it all seem worth it. Most of the time.

3. My fabulous friend Emily Wing Smith got a starred review in Publisher's Weekly for her debut novel, THE WAY HE LIVED. In my opinion, PW is the authority on all things publishing related so getting reviewed by them in the first place is pretty big--but getting a starred review is FREAKING AWESOME. Most book-buyers for libraries and bookstores will only purchase books that get reviewed by one of the big name publications, and some buyers will only look at the starred reviews. Hopefully, this means big things are in store for Emily and her book. I can just hear the National Book Award committee dialing her number . . . Just remember that you heard about Emily from me first.

4. Emily also got this review from a School Library Journal teen reviewer. (So what are you waiting for--go buy Emily's book already :))

5. And last but not least: Ted gave my manuscript the green light this morning! Wish me luck!

P.S. I promise I'll post about my crazy weekend soon. I'm waiting on a few pictures first. Because you all want to know what fabulous agent Ted looks like, right? (Not to mention, prove that he really exists.)

Retreat and a Review

So a couple of weekends ago, while in the midst of my word-cutting revision, I had the fabulous opportunity to go a on writer's retreat with my lovely writing buddies: Emily, Kim, and Valynne. (Darn it all, Sara was too busy launching her online shoe biz to come). In honor of Emily's birthday, the sale of her second manuscript, and the imminent release of her debut novel, THE WAY HE LIVED (more on that in a minute) she rented out a three bedroom condo in Eden, Utah and invited us along. Em and I went up early on Friday and enjoyed the afternoon writing (me revising) and then Kim and Valynne joined us that evening. We spent the rest of the weekend checking out local restaurants, writing, enjoying the amazing scenery, and debating everything from gambling to proposition 8. And despite my insane diet restrictions, I still managed to eat my weight in Swedish fish and sour patch kids. There's nothing like a weekend of hard work, interactions with like-minded people, and a sugar coma to give you the burst of creativity needed to tackle a bunch or revisions. Thanks for the weekend, Em. You rock!

While on the topic of how awesome Emily Wing Smith is, I want to give a shout out for her book debuting November 1st. THE WAY HE LIVED is an amazing story told from the points of view of six teens dealing with the loss of their friend/sibling Joel Espin who died on a tragically ill-lead boy scout trip to the Grand Canyon. Each teen reveals different aspects of Joel's life, letting the reader piece together the reason why Joel may have chosen to sacrifice himself in order to save his fellow hikers. Em summarizes it better than me:

Six stories. Six voices. One reality.

Monday’s Child has just lost her brother, but that’s not why she’s crazy. Tuesday’s Child is a star and wishes she wasn’t. Wednesday’s Child is obsessed with getting revenge. Thursday’s Child is on a quest to find herself. Friday’s Child is in love with a dead guy, and Saturday’s Child is in love with a guy in gray sweats–who isn’t her boyfriend. And the child born on the Sabbath day is the one to set it all in motion.

(Sorry Em, I stole that from you blog, but since I'm promoting your book, I figured you wouldn't mind.)

The book was originally titled SUNDAY'S CHILD but her publisher thought teens would be reluctant to buy a book that had the word "child" in it. Personally, I prefer the original title, but hey, I'm not a marketing expert.

Anyway, Emily is amazingly talented and an extremely hard working author. I'm totally biased since she has been my wonderfully patient critique partner for the last 4 years, but I think her book is wonderful and everyone should read it. Our writing styles are quite different. Emily's writing is sparse, thoughtful, poetic, realistic, literary, and character-driven. I, on the other hand, write the plot-driven romance/thriller type stuff. Emily has always been patient with me, and because of her influence, I now have rich characters to populate my plots (at least I think so, but then again, I'm completely biased).

I have learned so much from Emily over the years, and I think she deserves to have a smashingly wonderful book debut. THE WAY HE LIVED hits book stores on November 1st, but you can preorder it now on amazon.