I Will Read 10 Pages -- Interview with Moi

I Will Read 10 Pages


This is a great blog/site, and Jennifer has just posted an interview with me. Be sure and check it out, especially if you're an aspiring author; she's got great questions about "the biz"...

My ending for Harry ....

Here's the link to my ending of Harry Potter, published in the Austin paper the day the book came out (I wrote it about five days prior). Just had to share!! (You have to register, but it's free). I'm not the first one, so scroll down. I think I'm third.



http://www.statesman.com/life/content/life/stories/books/07/21/0721potterend.html

Oh, and on MSNBC, JKR said she's probably going to write an encyclopedia type book telling what happened with the 2ndary characters and giving some backstory on some other majors. Cool!

Harry Potter!

I did it. I went to the store at midnight, got a wrist band (I ended up in Slytherin!!! Ack!!) and bought the book. Stayed up until 3 and got about halfway, then waited all of Saturday (can you believe the kids wanted attention?????) so that I could finish the rest that night.

Loved it ... and that is all I will say :) Well, that and it's bittersweet that it's over. No HP8 to look forward to.

The Austin American Statesman on Saturday ran some possible HP endings, including mine. After 72 hours, I can post my version, so look for it this week!

Author Buzz Winners!

Congrats to the five winners of the Author Buzz contest! These folks will be getting Carpe Demon and California Demon (and I apologize to the winners, who haven't yet been emailed; my outgoing mail server is acting screwy, and I'll try again tomorrow):

Deborah Fochler

Deanna Stillings

Bob Seifert

Linda Scott

Jeanne Engel

Congratulations! If I have your address, the copy will be going in the mail tomorrow!

Come check out this great interview of me at The New Jaynie R

The New Jaynie R

Fun interview and cool prizes. Check it out!

AUTHOR BUZZ!

Here's a contest correction! The contest is STILL going! The drawing is July 20, not June 20. So go ahead and enter!

A bit o' news, DAF hits stores, and GCC Tour: TANYA LEE STONE and A BAD BOY CAN BE GOOD FOR A GIRL

I have sent off the book!!!! Whoo hoo! Hooray! Release the balloons (what???? that's not the reason for all those fireworks outside my window????)

Anyhoo, hopefully I'll get back on the blog-train before the next (soon!) deadline approacheth, but it won't be tomorrow. We hit the road for a pre-RWA vacation. Me, the dh, and the 2 precious munchkins in a rented minivan. We're heading up to Oklahoma to see Alice, with whom Catherine bonded in China (those of you who followed the China blog may recall the "sticks in your head even though you don't want it to" Mr. Mutt song that the girls sang). Four days visiting, then down to Dallas for RWA ... and intermittent internet connectivity. Yikes! How will I survive w/o google and my WTM message board?

I will, however, have great things to read along the journey. **I** won't be reading DEMONS ARE FOREVER (since I, you know, wrote it, I already know what happens), but YOU can because -- hooray! -- it's in stores now!




Order the book!

But since I won't be reading my own book, I might just have to pick up Tanya LEE Stone's paperback release of A BAD BOY CAN BE GOOD FOR A GIRL. Check out the awesome buzz:

"brave and beautiful...honest and nonjudgmental" - Megan McCafferty, New York Times best-selling author

"Sure to be the new Forever." - Award-Winning Author Cynthia Leitich Smith

"...the kind of tell-it-like-it-is wisdom that comes from your best girlfriends."
- Libba Bray, New York Times best-selling author

“Vagina Monologues…for the teen crowd.” Donna Freitas, Beliefnet.com

"every high-school age girl in the world needs to read this book...a story of self-discovery, broken hearts, and renewed spirits...a wake-up call." - Teens Read Too!

"spot-on...evidence that feminism is alive and worth fighting for." - Avenging Sybil

"This is not a book that will sit quietly on any shelf; it will be passed from girl to girl to girl." - School Library Journal

"This amazing first novel is one of the most honest treatments of teenage sexuality to be found in YA fiction.” - Kliatt

"This should be on every girl's ninth grade reading list for life." - BookSnog



Order the book!

Tanya Lee Stone is the author of more than 80 books for young readers. A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl is her first Young Adult novel. She has a degree in English from Oberlin College and a Master in Education degree from Southern CT State University. In addition to her books, publication credits include VOYA and the New York Times.

She loves chocolate-covered pretzels and Wild Berry Skittles. She hates the word tasty.

And more about the book ...

Don't let the title scare you.

A BAD BOY CAN BE GOOD FOR A GIRL is a cautionary tale. Teens are dealing with sex, whether we’re ready or not. This novel is about three very different girls who date the same player guy. About how the choices they make shape who they want to be. About empowerment.

Meet Josie, Nicolette, and Aviva. Three very different girls who all meet the same bad boy with an irresistible knack for getting into their blood and under their skin.

Three girls. One guy. Who will come out on top?

In A BAD BOY CAN BE GOOD FOR A GIRL, Tanya Lee Stone takes a hard look at love and sex and asks the questions: “When can a bad boy be good for a girl?”

Tanya says, “I get lots of email from teens thanking me for ‘being honest,’ saying my book helped them, or they ‘gave it to a friend who needs it.’ What’s better than that?”

Since the book came out, Tanya has been outspoken about censorship and the need for tackling tough topics in teen books. Check out her VOYA article: “From Forever to Today: The Importance of Sex in Young Adult Literature” and a recent interview with AS IF! (Authors Support Intellectual Freedom) in which she discusses sex, censorship, and Judy Blume.

The new paperback includes a bonus Reading Guide. Book Club Folks: If you have chat software and want Tanya to do a virtual book club visit, let her know.

For a free bookmark and signed bookplate, email her at tanyastone@tanyastone.com

Read an excerpt: http://www.tanyastone.com/badboy.pdf


In addition to her website (www.tanyastone.com) Tanya’s online blogging at Live Journal (http://tanyaleestone.livejournal.com/ ) and MySpace (www.myspace.com/tanyaleestoneauthor)


And here are her answers to my GCC questions!



HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR TYPICAL “WRITING DAY”?

I have kids, so I often wake up before the rest of the house does and sneak in some quiet time. Then the ruckus begins! Once they’re off for the day, I work until about 2 pm. Then the hat changes from writer to Mom.
DO YOU RECALL THE KERNEL OF INSPIRATION FOR THIS BOOK?
Oh yes, the inspiration was the moment the title struck me. I was sitting in a lecture and the speaker was talking about upcoming anthology themes. One was bad boys; one was good girls. I scrawled the title in my notebook and was possessed for the next nine months.

PICK A CHARACTER IN THE BOOK AND TELL US WHAT TRAIT YOU SHARE (OR COME CLOSEST TO SHARING) WITH THAT CHARACTER.
I have three main characters; all girls. I share a bit with each of them, which was fairly intentional. My goal was to have three very different girls be faced with the same awful guy and explore how any of us are vulnerable to that type at one moment or another. By putting a piece of me in each, I was more able to do that. Josie and I share a strong sense of self. Nicolette and I share a skewed sense of power—meaning, there are times when you think you are immune to being hurt because you are so strong—and you are wrong. Aviva and I share the artsy thing. What’s interesting is that girls often write to me and say the same thing as I’m saying now—there are pieces of them in each girl, even though they may relate the strongest to one in particular.

IF YOU WERE STUCK ON A DESERT ISLAND, WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE A MAGICAL TRUNK THAT GAVE YOU LIMITLESS BOOKS TO READ, OR A LIMITLESS SUPPLY OF PAPER ON WHICH TO WRITE?
Limitless books to read. I think the pressure of having limitless paper would be too much to handle!

BEER OR WINE? Beer.

CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA? Chocolate.

WHAT’S YOUR ALL-TIME FAVORITE BOOK?
I’m afraid I answer this differently each time I’m asked! There are just too many favorites. Let’s go with F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Basil and Josephine Stories.

GCC Tour: FRENEMIES by Megan Crane

I'm so excited to get to host Megan and Frenemies because I had the chance to peek at this book months ago, and thought it was just fabulous!


Order the book!

Check it out ...

FREN-E-MY\noun: The friend who gives you the sweetest smile to your face, while holding the sharpest knife to your back.

We’ve all heard the saying, “keep your friends close and your enemies closer,” but what if they’re one and the same? It’s the cardinal, number-one girlfriend rule: don’t date your friend’s ex. In FRENEMIES by Megan Crane, it is Gus Curtis’ supposed friend and old college roommate Helen who breaks that rule and goes one step further: she doesn’t just date an ex-boyfriend; she steals him from right under Gus’s nose!

Just a few months shy of her 30th birthday, Gus discovers Nate, her "Mr. Right," hooking up behind her back with her so-called "friend" Helen. Soon it seems despite working to hard to appear all grown up, Gus is still living the life of a teenager.

Gus is left with more questions than answers: Can she win Nate back before she turns 30 (And if so, does she really want him?) Is Helen really as devious and manipulative as she seems, or, worse, is Gus more like her frenemy Helen than she’d care to admit? And is she ever going to grow up? With the clock ticking down to her birthday, Gus discovers that sometimes the best thing about best-laid plans is trashing them altogether.

In FRENEMIES, Gus experiences first hand what happens when you reach that inevitable point in life when you must surrender yourself to adulthood and the big 3-0.


About Megan ...

Megan Crane is a New Jersey native who graduated from Vassar and got her MA and PhD in literature from the University of York in England. She is the author of Everyone Else’s Girl and English as a Second Language. She currently lives in Los Angeles.

Visit her on the web at http://megancrane.livejournal.com/
or http://www.megancrane.com


And now for Megan's answers to my GCC questions ...

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR TYPICAL “WRITING DAY”? My typical
writing day involves installing myself in my chair around 8, sucking
down coffee, opening my Word document, and then proceeding to spend
3-5 hours rotting my brain on the Internet at such places as Go Fug
Yourself. I console myself with the knowledge that as a chick lit
writer, I need to be up on pop culture. (Yeah, sure.) At this
point, I am usually in a panic, which means I try to crank out
pages. I usually have set page limits when I'm writing, or otherwise
I would still be lounging in my pajamas on the couch, waiting for The
Muse. On days when I am more stressed (read: closer to a deadline) I
surf the net less and write more pages. It all works out in the end!

DO YOU RECALL THE KERNEL OF INSPIRATION FOR THIS BOOK? It was a
combination of the movie Mean Girls, some personal friend implosions,
and my belief that it was time to write about severe drama queeniness.

PICK A CHARACTER IN THE BOOK AND TELL US WHAT TRAIT YOU SHARE (OR
COME CLOSEST TO SHARING) WITH THAT CHARACTER. Like my main
character, Gus, I have had long periods in my life where I over-
dramatized every last thing like it was going out of style. These
days, I contain that impulse to the medical realm. So instead of
saying, "my neck aches," I am much more likely to say, "honey, I
think I have bacterial meningitis." As you do.

IF YOU WERE STUCK ON A DESERT ISLAND, WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE A
MAGICAL TRUNK THAT GAVE YOU LIMITLESS BOOKS TO READ, OR A LIMITLESS
SUPPLY OF PAPER ON WHICH TO WRITE? This is an evil question. I'll
choose the books, since those books would inevitably contain blank
pages, and that way, I could do both.

BEER OR WINE? Neither. I'm a fan of the ridiculous cocktail with
foliage attached. If it's served in a pineapple, all the better.

CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA? Chocolate. I don't actually understand the
point of vanilla....

WHAT’S YOUR ALL-TIME FAVORITE BOOK? I don't have one! I have
shelves and shelves of books I love, that I refuse to give away...