kelly said

Hi my friendlies! Long timey no talkie, huh? Sorry ’bout that, but I’ve been a busy little beetle writing, reviewing the Advanced Reader Copy for J.Taylor Publishing’s MAKE BELIEVE anthology (squee!), preparing for some interviews in December (starts nibbling fingernails *NOW* eep!), and writing writing writing!

However, I’m baaaack! And I’ve been nominated for THE BOOKER AWARD by my writer buddy Rebecca Hart, whose debut novel CALL OF THE SEA is out now through Inkspell Publishing.

The rules for the award are simple, I have to:

1. Choose my top five books

2. post the Booker Award Icon

3. Nominate others for the Award.

Well, to quote Neil Gaiman, “Picking five favorite books is like picking the five body parts you’d like most not to lose.”

eep! I’m no good at choosing favorites! So here’s the top five books I have on my shelf that bear the evidence of repeated reading. In no particular order:

THE OUTSIDERS by S.E. Hinton

I read this book in 6th grade and I don’t think I’ve put it down since, hehehe! I’m a superfan of this story, I’ve read this paperback so many times that the spine can barely hold the pages. I don’t even know how many times I’ve seen this movie and I bet I’m one of the few left who remember the TV series they tried to get going, remember, the one with David Arquette playing Two-Bit? *sigh!* This is one of the few stories where I know exactly what’s going to happen, when and how and yet it still elicits an emotional response from me every time I read it.

GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell

I love this book because Katie Scarlett (yes, I know her name is Scarlett O’Hara, but I can’t help but toss in my Irish accent when I call her by her nickname, hehe!) is a character who makes things happen, who’s actions propel the story forward and keep me as a reader clinging to each page.

MISERY by Stephen King

I actually have a love hate love relationship with this book. It’s the first book that gave me nightmares (scary that I love that, hehe!) and it’s the first book that’s ever drove me insane with the “book within a book but it’s all jacked up” scenes. See, Paul Sheldon is forced to write a novel on a typewriter with a few keys missing. So, we, as the reader, get to read Paul’s unedited manuscript, with the absent letters filled in by hand. If I’m not mistaken, I believe the letter “E” was broken (along with a few others that snapped off along the way, adding to Paul’s torment as well as ours). Can you imagin  r ading a publish d nov l with a good chunk of l tt rs missing from the t xt, hard  nough to r ad a s nt nce in this blog post with th  l tt r “E” missing, right?  Anyways, back to the nightmare part — yes, this is very true. There’s a certain part where Annie is punishing Paul for his attempts to escape, and the description was what had me closing the book and not returning to finish until nearly six months later! eep! So much worse/scarier than the movie (and that is all I have to say about that, hehe!) Oh, and the other reason I love this book is that it’s by Stephen King, the only “monster” in it is human (which can be more terrifying than any space alien, goblin, or ghoul) and it took place in Colorado.

FARENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury

A city where books are burned and firemen hoses spray kerosene instead of water?! One of my earlier forays into dystopian fiction, where the future is a bleak alternative to what we know now, and how one man’s shift in perspective is enough to spark a change in the world. Totally awesome book.

WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS by Shel Silverstein

This book of poems was fun, goofy, scary and one of my favorites as a kid. Eighteen flavors, ickle me pickle me tickle me too, Sick, Boa Constrictor, For Sale — hehehehe! I loved them all.

So my friendly followers! I nominate YOU to step up and name YOUR five favorite books! Or if you can’t choose five favorites (I feel your pain, trust me! ), how about the last five books you purchased or checked out from the library? omgosh, I’ve been away for so long that I’d love to know what you’re all reading!

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Hello my friendlies!

Please join me in welcoming young adult author, Julie Reece, who’s been so kind to sit with us and chat about her debut YA urban fantasy novel, CRUX!

Hi Julie, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to stop by for a visit! I’m excited you’re here. I’m wondering if you’d like to tell me, what was the seed of inspiration that motivated you to write CRUX?

A dual seed of wanting to write something to entertain my teenage daughters and a really weird dream!

Whoa, how cool for your girls! And after reading CRUX, I’ll say that must’ve been some dream.  So, just to share with my friendly followers, I’m typically a very slow writer, sometimes taking months to finish a short story, meanwhile, other authors have that amazing ability to let the words fly—how long did it take you to finish writing CRUX, a full length novel?

I wrote it in about five months but it took me that long again to edit the darn thing and send it out to beta readers who were kind enough to shred the manuscript for me :) I couldn’t have done it without their advice!

Five months, wow, that’s awesome! What was the most challenging scene for you to write?

Hmm. The scene where Birdie and Grey research how to break the curse in Jeff’s office. I don’t want to bore the reader with too many details, make it too easy to figure out, too complex and frustrating, too predictable, cheesy or cliché. Ugh! That was tough!

I can imagine how tough that was! So having gone through that, what was your favorite scene to write?

I can’t pick a favorite, but the most fun to write was the battle chapter near the end. I like high fantasy, high drama and a good fight scene! :) Blood and guts and glory, baby!

Nice! I don’t think your readers will be disappointed. So, once you wrote everything out, had it critiqued and polished that manuscript until it shined, can you tell us briefly about your road to publication?

I am blessed to have a group of writing friends and I follow(ed) them around like a needy puppy (I have no pride. I freely admit this) I watched what they did and took their advice. Some had success with a new publishing company (J Taylor Publishing) and encouraged me to submit my novel there. I did and was fortunate enough to find they loved it an accepted the work for publication! Whaa-hoo!

woohoo! What a great success story! Are there any special people you’d like to thank for helping you along your writing path?

Oh my gosh, how long do you have? My girls and husband for their inspiration, my critique partners, Kathleen, Julie B, Claire G, Aimee and my writing pals in the group Sisters of the Traveling pens at Scribophile, (no way to list them all here but I owe them each, like, a car), my editor and the people at J Taylor Publishing for taking a chance on me.

Now that your publication dream has come true, do you have any advice you’d like to share with aspiring novelists?

Don’t do what I did! LOL Wait and hone your craft. Make sure you are really, really ready. I think the number one mistake we writers make is in our excitement and zeal to be published, we rush the process. I sent a short story out for publication before I was ready and now it’s out there! I wish I could smite it from the stratosphere but alas, I cannot. :) I chalk it up to learning.

Care to share what you’re working on next?

Sure! I am editing a finished YA paranormal historical romance. (Heavier in the romance department than CRUX, but still has a lot of action.) I am also mid-way through two more YA urban fantasies, and I have an idea for a contemporary romance, also YA.

I’m sure your readers will be thrilled to hear you’re slate is so full! Julie, thank you so much for taking time to stop by and visit with my friendly followers.

Thanks so much for having me here today! :) I really appreciate you and it was fun.

CRUX, by J.Taylor Publishing is available now. Click HERE to add it to your to-read shelf.

Julie lives in the metro Atlanta area with her incredibly supportive husband and daughter, and their twenty-two pound cat, Hurley. Please click HERE to visit with Julie on her website

 Now, my friendlies, as an extra special treat, please help me welcome CRUX main character, Rebecca “Birdie” Orin.

Hello Birdie, thank you for accepting my invite to chat with my friendly followers.  For readers who have yet to know you through your story, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Um, *stares at feet* I don’t like to talk about myself that much. Let’s just say I was in and out of foster care most of my life before winding up on the street for a few months. That’s all changed now, though.

It sure has, wow. I better not say too much more on that, wouldn’t want to spoil anything for new readers. With that in mind, can you chat about the toughest chapter in your story to get through? If that’s too uncomfortable, how about your favorite part? :)

Hmm, you don’t mess around, do you? Do you enjoy a good root canal, too? Okay, I’m sorry. It’s just the hardest part is also the toughest to talk about. My friend, Shondra, was taken by the Snatcher. He’s the creep who takes girls from the street and traffics them. She, uh, she helped me, and paid the ultimate price for it. *swallows and stares at hands* Ya know, before I get all weepy and embarrass myself, let’s talk about my favorite part … the day I met Grey. He was sitting at a bistro table in downtown Atlanta. I was on the run, as usual, and he helped me out of a jam. The boy is molten lava hot. Can I say that?

Of course you can, hehe Wow, Birdie, after everything  that’s happened, what’s changed for you, what do you like best about life now, what do you like least?

Do you have a couch I should lay down on for all of this? Sorry. That was snarky again, wasn’t it? I’m working on that. Okay, I like my boyfriend. I like my powers. Sometimes, that’s the part I like least, too. It feels like with this power I have a huge responsibility. Not sure what Jeff had in mind, but I think he wanted me to go all Batgirl on crime and bad guys and stuff. I never asked for all of that, you know? It’s kind of heavy, waiting for the Joker or Godzilla to show up so I can take him down. I just wanted to be an artist and live a small quiet life. Not sure I’m going to get that now.

Life certainly has changed for you. What has this experience taught you about yourself?

Oh, I don’t know. So much has changed. I guess I realized I’m not as big a coward as I thought. Maybe I never was. I also learned sometimes, it’s worth the risk of getting hurt to care about somebody else. Sheesh, I should like a Hallmark card. Can we move on? Please?

Of course. :)  Let’s move on to Grey, Kate, Scud, or any other friend (or foe) of yours from CRUX.

I just got a text from Izzy saying she wants to meet me for coffee. Izzy is Scud’s sister, gorgeous and an old family friend of the Mathews. She’s also been stalking, oops, I mean crushing on Grey for, like, ever. She probably wants to threaten me to stay away from him again. Or poison my coffee. It’s a toss-up.

Yikes! better watch your back, eh? You’re smart about that though, as readers will see. Can you tell me what would you like readers to remember most about CRUX.

I guess it’s the idea of hope. No matter how your life sucks, it may not suck as bad as you think. I mean, something good may happen tomorrow or next week. Wait one more day.

That’s awesome advice! You’re so right about that. So, I have to pry because enquiring minds want to know, hehehe! Do you have a secret you can share with my friendly followers, one that didn’t appear in the book?

Okay, I guess it’s all of your psycho analyzing me, but I’m going to tell you something I haven’t even told Grey. When Fenris became a man, he came to say goodbye. He looked at me, deep into my eyes. No, not gooey, like in a soap opera, I mean something happened between us. It’s hard to explain, but I felt this strange sort of bonding thing happening. *Shivers* never mind, it was probably my imagination.

Whew, sounds intense! I’d like to know more but I can see you glancing at your phone so our time is nearly up. Last question, what’s next for you?

Well, *smiles big* Grey’s taking me to the movies on Friday night and then … oh, you mean , like, long term? I dunno. School is starting. Grey and I are still working on developing our powers. I’ve been having these weird dreams again. It’s probably nothing, but … hey. Grey’s here to pick me up. We done?

We are, thank you so much!

Awesome, thanks for having me over, Ms. Said. The coffee and donuts rocked!

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Hello my friendlies!

It’s Friday! Whatcha reading?  I am so totally looking forward to the OCT 2012 release of THE CURIOSITIES a collection of stories by Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton and, Colorado author Brenna Yovanoff that it’s my Friday *wanna* read, hehe!

(You might also know these talented ladies as, The Merry Sisters of Fate)

Here’s a sneaky peeky at what you can expect to find between the pages:

A vampire locked in a cage in the basement, for good luck.

Bad guys, clever girls, and the various reasons why the guys have to stop breathing.

A world where fires never go out (with references to vanilla ice cream).

These are but a few of the curiosities collected in this volume of short stories by three acclaimed practitioners of paranormal fiction.

Ooo! Sounds totally awesome to me! I’m so excited I’ve already added it to my t0-read shelf in anticipation of the release date, hehe! Click HERE if you want to add it to your to-read shelf, too.

So, why am I chatting you guys up about a book that isn’t even out yet?

Because, Brenna Yovanoff, in all her awesomeness, is hosting a giveaway! Yup, that’s right, click HERE to for the full details on her site to see how YOU can enter to win a copy of THE CURIOSITIES.

Whatcha think, my friendlies? Are you curious about THE CURIOSITIES?

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Hello my friendlies,

Wow, wow, wow. I’m not even sure where to begin, really. I had such plans for the weekend, blog posts scheduled squeeing with excitement for my special giveaway coming up in a couple days . . .

And then I turned on my local news at 3:45 Friday morning.

I see a normally cheerful and smiley Kyle Dyer of my favorite news station, 9NEWS, with a grim set to her face and sadness in her eyes while she reports on a “MASS SHOOTING AT AURORA THEATER.”

What. The. H.

Immediately I was like, whaaaa? Where, which theater? See, without giving up too much of my personal information, I live on the border between the City of Aurora and the City of Denver. And Aurora, is like, huge, over 300k people and over 150 square miles consuming three different counties kind of large. It sprawls and sprawls and sprawls. There are many theaters scattered all over. But when I saw the oh-so-familiar neon sign of the Century 16 Theater, my heart sank. No! That’s like, MY theater! Hubs and I and our family have been going to that movie theater since the day it was built!

What. The. F!

And then my phone rang, my mom calling me wanting to know if my husband and I went to the movies, because she knew how anxiously I’ve been waiting to see The Dark Knight Rises, avoiding any and all internet contact that would result in spoiling the movie. My great-aunt called shortly after that, the person who cultivated my love for the silver screen during all those childhood summers spent visiting her in California, wanting to make sure that hubs and I weren’t at the movies that night. Hubs and I had chatted about wanting to go to the late night showing, but being a work night, we decided that a matinee would be best over the weekend. So it was nice to put their minds at ease that we were never in any sort of danger or anything.

As the story unfolded, I couldn’t look away from the TV. My heart hurt at the emotion in the witnesses voices as they relayed their stories, and feelings of pride surged at hearing about the courageous acts of heroism. Then, they revealed the suspect’s address off of 17th and Peoria.

What. The. DOUBLE F!

That is like, less that one mile from my house, my friendlies! I had my first ever traffic accident at that very intersection a few years ago, a lady ran a stop sign and t-boned me while I was driving home. I visit the 7-11 there for my slurpee fix. My mother-in-law works at the elementary school just up the street from there. My uncle used to shop the PX at Fitzsimmons there, my husband has visited with docs at the Anschutz Cancer center.

This tragedy didn’t occur in some far off place across the country, it happened here, in my neighborhood, near my home.

See, there are times I think I’m able to numb myself a bit to some sadness, and maybe that sounds horrible. When Columbine happened and the incident with Platte Canyon High School, those were close, I wept and felt immense sadness for those students who went to school one day and never came back home to their families. I ached for the fear those incidents created about whether kids are safe in school or not. This may sound awful, but even though I sympathized and had heartfelt emotions, Columbine and Platte Canyon High weren’t high schools I attended, I had never driven by those campuses on a daily basis, I don’t live in Littleton or Bailey. So while that tragedy impacted me because I live in the same state, I didn’t have that sense of closeness that I do right now.

I think I’m feeling that sense of hopelessness, the “Why? What was his motive?” I mean, this wasn’t a situation where violence could escalate due to alcohol or clashing opinions. This was a movie theater, a quiet place where friends and families were just looking to spend some time with each other and enjoy a flick. It’s a place where you’re supposed to kick back and relax, a place to escape reality and be entertained for a couple hours.

I’m also thinking, “What could we have done to prevent this?” and I feel so bummed that my answer is “Probably nothing.” See, in my opinion, if someone wants to cause harm to others, if that’s their intent deep in their heart to see something like this through, nothing will stop them from completing that task. Even if we banned all guns or made bullets like $500 a piece. Do we start outlawing baseball bats, tire irons, pipe wrenches, do we tie people’s hands to their sides so they don’t punch anyone to death? I don’t know, I don’t have the answers, I just feel like the bottom line is, where there is a will to do inhumane things, there is a way to make them happen. We just need to remember that a statement like that works both ways – where there is a will to do GOOD things, there is a way to make them happen.

I know there are a ton of awesome people out there, and there are just as many jerk-faced jack-asses out there, too. To me, it’s not about preventing the bad or evil things, but about how we overcome them and band together as good people to push back against the bad.

So, yeah my friendlies, that’s where my head’s been the past few days. I’ve turned to twitter a few times to try and focus on other things, tried picking up a book and even scrolled through all my friends updates on FB. But with helicopters hovering overhead, talk of all the booby traps, chemicals and incendiary devices in that apartment, well,  I haven’t been able to think about much else than what’s happening down the street.

I’d like to think we had some help that day, small miracles where reports indicated his gun jammed, saving who knows how many lives. Thank the heavens that no angry neighbor upset about the loud music or members of our fine police squad clearing the building opened the door to his apartment. The suspect intended for many bad things to happen that day, I’m heartbroken for the senseless loss of life, but I’m thankful he wasn’t 100% successful in what he had planned.

Anyways, I know I don’t mention any names in this post, there’s been enough readily mentioned in the media. And yeah, my post title is kinda vague, too. I didn’t really want my footprint to fall into the mass of other better-written, or more detail oriented blog posts out there or to detract from the people who have suffered the greatest impact of all with the loss of their loved ones. I just needed an outlet to release my thoughts.

I appreciate you all for letting me deviate from the normal writerly/bookish things I like to talk about. I’ll be back on schedule soon! *hugs!*

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click HERE to see more fun stuff from my pinterest boards

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