Lookee!

Look what I got my hot little hands on last week! I feel like I've been waiting forever!

Doesn't it make a nice addition to the family?

This time of year is notoriously busy for me. Spring sports means late afternoon/early evening practices and pick ups in different towns, 7:00 pm dinners, catching up on chores at night and weekend special events. My reading time is practically nonexistent during the months of April and May, mainly because by the time I open a book before bed, my eyes can't stay open. And so I'm only on p. 96 out of 613 (I peeked with squinty eyes to see how many glorious Dreams pages I had to look forward to).

However, I'm officially on vacation for a week. And although we have a lot to do (getting ready for Easter, visiting colleges) you better believe I'll be finding the time to immerse myself in Laini Taylor's world. Speaking of which, Laini will be visiting Boston next week to promote her book and there's a slim chance I'll get to meet her again. I was fortunate enough to meet her during her Daughter of Smoke and Bone tour and hope to see her again.  

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a book to read.

This Couldn't Wait Until Monday

Are you a Laini Taylor fan? Are you sick of reading about my adoration of her writing? I realize that 5 of the last 11 of my posts have included something related to Laini but this is news I couldn't keep under my hat (if I actually wore hats).

Laini's recently released Young Adult novel, Daughter of Smoke and Bone has been optioned by Universal Pictures!

It's going to be a real live film! (squee!)

 Read all about it here on Laini's blog. If you're discovering Laini Taylor for the first time, here's an incentive to check out her incredible writing.

Also, a shout out to my friend Donna Weaver at Weaving a Tale or Two. She had her query critiqued at the QQQE by Matthew MacNish yesterday. I'm sure Donna would appreciate a visit and support for the query that she's polishing up.

And finally, something I heard on the radio last week. I'm a fan of Michael Smerconish's talk radio program and Wednesday he featured a member of the American Dialect Society. Every year since 1990 at their annual meeting in Portland, Oregan, they've chosen a "Word of the Year," a significant word that has been either introduced or has been important to (mainly) North American culture. Being a word lover, I'm curious as to what it will be this year.

Last year's word was App.
In 2009, the word of the year was "tweet."
Before that in 2008, "bailout."

As for 2011, I'm thinking maybe "occupy." Ideas, anyone?

And I know it's early, but who should play the part of Karou?

Yay vs. Nay

(Or another little glimpse at my thought process)

*clicks onto Laini Taylor’s blog*

Oh. My.
Ooooooh My! Want!

The following conversation with myself went something like this. Wait. You all have conversations with yourself, right? *ahem*

Yay: I really should promote this on the blog.
Nay: No, I most certainly should NOT!
Y: This is so freaking amazing! My literary friends would go gaga over these.
N: More friends equals less chances pour moi to win.
Y: Hmm. True, but even if I don’t win, I’ll rejoice with the lucky winner. Especially if it’s a bloggy buddy (bluggy? bloddy?)
N: Who am I kidding? I’ll pout, spout a few choice words at the monitor, and sulk some more. That graphic sampler...*sigh* *drool*
Y: Still...If I mention the you know what, it could draw more potential fans to Laini’s site. That would be cool.
N: EEK! 358 people have already entered!
Y: What’s a few more? I’ll do it!

Click to read about and enter Laini Taylor’s Big Fat Holiday Giveaway. The contest is open until midnight PST, Saturday, December 10. Many will enter, few will win. And just so you know, I am on a winning roll right now. The girl who never wins raffles (me), won a 3 month family membership to the Y at a fundraiser and a gift certificate to a local restaurant at our annual school Turkey Shoot Giveaway (too politically incorrect so we had to change the name). So, following the rule of 3, I’m due to win one more thing. I plan on sending my cosmic vibes out west to Oregon so that my name magnetically clings to Laini’s (or whoever draws the name) fingers. Just sayin’.

If you'd like to watch an interview from 2009 with Laini and her husband Jim (who magnificently illustrated Lips Touch Three Times), click here. It's not short - about 30 minutes - but it's an interesting conversation about writing, illustrating, their creative journey, and YA fiction. I could especially relate to what Laini spoke about at 15:30. Enjoy and have great weekend!

The Signing That Almost Wasn't - Part II

Part II will also be my post for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group post. Keep reading. I promise it ties in. If you missed Part I and would like to read it, it’s here.

I continued driving and at one point thought I missed a turn. Glancing at the clock - 6:57pm - I started to panic but knew I was close to the bookstore. “Just keep going and hope for the best.” Maybe I could turn around up ahead. As I passed the library where I listened to Laurie Halse Anderson speak last year I realized that I hadn’t made a wrong turn after all. The bookstore was only a couple of blocks further. I found a parking space across from the store, and thanks to my weird but awesome ability to parallel park in one swipe, I entered Wellesley Books at 7:05pm. I quietly headed downstairs and around the corner to a small, cozy gathering. The organizer for the night's event had just finished speaking and Laini was introduced as I sat down in my seat (and said a silent ‘thank you’ inside).

There were maybe 40 people in attendance, mostly teens and young adults. Laini stood behind a table with a small podium on top. Three walls lined with books framed her – the perfect backdrop. Laini’s lovely smile and pink hair lit up the room as she talked about her new book, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and how it came to be. She had been writing a novel and working on it a long time, but it wasn’t going well. (familiar) A new novel idea came into her head and she gave herself permission to cheat on the ms she had been working on for one day. (familiar) This new and intriguing story started pouring out as she wrote but it was important for her to complete the novel she was working on. So she went back to the former ms and finished writing it before continuing her new ms. (also familiar) The previous novel she told us, “never saw the light of day,” but she didn’t feel like it was a wasted effort. She went back to working on Daughter, turned the first 6 chapters in to her publisher (they loved it), and finished writing it.

Laini then read an exerpt from her novel. There’s something special, magical about listening to an author read from her own novel, and if you ever get the chance to go to an author event, I’d highly recommend it. The scene started out humorous but ended with an emotional ache that is written beautifully. I instantly fell in love with the MC, Karou, and I’m really looking forward to reading her story.

How does this tie in to the Insecure Writer’s Support Group? I mentioned in Part I that I really felt like I needed to get to this signing – to listen to a writer who has made it. I’ve been having some serious doubts about whether or not to continue with pursuing publication. I don’t think I could ever give up writing, but at this time in my life, actively working daily towards writing – blogging, commenting, finding time to write – is taking its toll on me. I suppose if I felt confident about my current ms, I could handle the exhausting schedule of daily life plus writing life; in other words, if I felt like I was making progress.

Did you notice all the times I wrote "familiar" up above? My experience with writing my ms is eerily similar to Laini’s. I’ve worked on my current ms for almost 2 years now. I started out strong but I’m losing my momentum and am having a lot of doubts about it. Last year, I took a break during Nanowrimo and started writing a YA that I was really excited about. However, I promised myself that this time I would finish a novel, the one I'm working on - Nitpicky. That’s where I am now, trying to finish it so that I can turn my attention back to the YA project. I can’t tell you how consoling it was to know that a struggling writer like me can share a similar experience with an incredibly talented author – and it’s okay.

(Laini and me)
After Laini’s presentation, we went upstairs to have our books signed. I thanked her for coming so far from home to speak to us (she’s from Oregon) and told her that I also write for teens. When I shared with her that sometimes I wonder if I had started too late in life to become an author for teens, she gave me some advice. I’d like to pass that along to all of you, especially if like me you’re in a stage of your life where you’re thinking it’s too late.

There are two perfect times to plant a tree. The first time was 20 years ago. The second time is now.

and don't forget: "Just keep going and hope for the best."

The Signing That Almost Wasn't: Part I

Before I begin, I made it.
I met Laini Taylor.
I never give away the endings to books or movies, but you may want to skip through my misadventures on the afternoon and evening leading up to the signing. So yes, there is a happy ending which will be part of my next post. This one was getting extremely long, so I'm splitting into Part I (today) and Part II (Tues. or Wed.).

When you have 4 kids who attend 3 different schools, throw in after school activities, and the inevitable last minute change of plans, you never know what the day will bring. All the planning in the world doesn’t guarantee that the day will go as expected. And so when I learned of Laini’s signing earlier in the week and checked my schedule, I knew the timing of getting there would be tight, and there was a good chance I might not get there at all.

Enter change of plans: My daughter’s game was cancelled. At first, Aw (sad face) but then, yay (happy face) I could pick her up earlier. This meant I could go to a wake I needed to attend earlier. Then there was dinner. Friday is takeout night at our house. Easy, right? I had just enough time to go to McDonald’s for the kids and pick up a pizza for my husband and I.

No problem, until we hit traffic. Okay. It’s okay, I murmured to myself. I just needed to leave to my house by 6:15. I arrived at McD’s and there were 10...TEN cars in the drive thru! Were they giving away burgers? I’d never seen the drive thru backed up that much. Plan B: I pulled into a space and directed the 2 girls who were with me to RUN TO THE DOOR! WE’RE ORDERING INSIDE! I got to the counter, ordered, then reached into my purse when I realized, I left all my money at home. NOOOOOO! I died just a little bit inside at that point as I saw in a flash what the next half hour would be like and how my chances of getting to the signing were slim to none.

So I did what any self-respecting person would do in my situation. I shouted, GIRLS, RUN! Thankfully my girls know that Mom can be kind of a maniac at times. This was about when I started talking myself down from a frantic state. This may sound corny, but I use little mantras to calm myself down when I feel myself starting to tense up. “Just keep going and hope for the best,” popped into my head and was repeated over and over again. I really, really , really wanted to go to this signing, I needed to go to this signing (will get into that in my next post), but knew safety and staying calm were top priority. So we got back into the car and crawled through traffic back home. I grabbed my wallet which was thankfully where I thought it would be (after giving older daughter cash to go out with friends). Then we crawwwwwled to the pizza place, crawwwwled back to McDonald’s (but no cars in the drive thru this time – Woot! Small victory!), and made our way home.

I got the kids settled, grabbed my sweater and camera, and left without eating supper – it was now 6:30. Getting to Wellesley on a good day is about 20-25 minutes. I was definitely going to sweat this ride out. By now it was getting dark and I was so afraid I’d miss a turn; the timing was going to be right down to the minute. As I approached the long lines of traffic at the red lights tense as can be, I purposely diverted my eyes from the dashboard clock and whispered, “Just keep going and hope for the best.”

to be continued...

Discovering Laini Taylor

Don’t you love when you discover an author so talented that you devour her/his work and want to tell everyone you know about it?

Two words. Laini Taylor.

The story of how I discovered Laini isn’t extraordinary. I had heard her name before, seen pictures of her distinctive pink hair, and read rave reviews of her novel Lips Touch: Three Times on some of the blogs that I visit. I’ll admit, sometimes it takes me a while to catch on and picking up this book to read was no exception. In fact, I knew that my library owned it. As I browsed the YA shelves seeking new reading material, many times I’d find Laini’s book, slide it off the shelf, gaze at the beautiful cover and put it back. “Maybe another day,” I’d say. Why? Sometimes because I already had 3 books in my arms, but mostly because of my own preconceived judgments, I’m embarrassed to admit.

Preconceived judgment #1 – It’s 3 separate short stories, not one novel, so I won’t really get into it. I’m not really in the mood for YA short stories. I want to get completely drawn into a novel and really get to know the main character. I just can’t do that with a short story.

Wrong. There are 3 separate stories but they have a common theme. And Laini’s gorgeous prose pulls you right in from the introduction of each story. Here’s an excerpt from the first page:

"There is a certain kind of girl the goblins crave. You could walk across a high school campus and point them out: not her, not her, her. The pert, lovely ones with butterfly tattoos in secret places, sitting on their boyfriends’ laps? No, not them. The girls watching the lovely ones sitting on their boyfriends’ laps?
Yes.

Them.” (Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor, p. 13)

Preconceived judgment #2 – The cover is intriguing but with a title like Lips Touch, it must be about kissing and I’m not really into novels heavy in the romance department.

Wrong, again (except for the cover and inside illustrations being gorgeous). Each story has a supernatural element and involves a kiss that is pivotal to the main character and the dilemma/consequences that may occur.

So why did I finally decide to stop in the middle of reading Going Bovine to check Lips Touch from the library? Laini's latest novel, Daughter of Smoke and Bone was released this week. It has received terrific reviews from bloggers who have read Advanced Copies and my curiosity started getting the best of me. But that’s not what made me jump in my car on a busy Saturday soccer morning to check the book out from my library [which was totally worth it for 2 reasons. 1 –They had the book, and 2 – I had a great conversation w/ the YA librarian about teen lit and authors we liked].

The night before, I visited the website of an independent bookstore in my area, Wellesley Books, to see if there were any upcoming author visits. It's been a while since I checked. Last year, I was lucky enough to meet Laurie Halse Anderson here. Guess who’s coming there this Friday? Laini! I decided right then and there to check out her book so I'd be familiar with her work. If all goes well, I'll be at Laini's book signing Friday night *crosses fingers*.

Simply put, Laini is an incredible storyteller. She weaves imaginative descriptions, intriguing characters, fantasy, and emotion together to create stories that you won’t want to put down. I'm really looking forward to Daughter of Smoke and Bone and plan to read her other works.

Have you read any of Laini Taylor's books? Are there any other books you can't wait to read?