The Possibilities Rise with the Sun (or Hope SPRINGS Eternal)

Tip of the Day: Wear sunblock to avoid looking like crusty prune at age 50. No one likes prunes. But everyone loves book giveaways so keep reading to find out what you can win! And RHONDA STAPLETON! You are the winner of Em's book! Please email us your snail mail address at author2author[dot]blog[at]gmail[dot]com!

Yay it's spring! As a teen that meant brighter clothes, cuter shoes, school winding down, spring dances, and the hopes of a blossoming new love. Spring fever was a wonderful thing, full of possibilities.

And it still is!

When the sun comes out and the temp rises:

1. I am happier and

2. More optimistic, so

3. I think others are also happier and

4. In a good mood,

5. Like when they're reading my manuscript in sunny NYC,

6. So they'll be nice and ready to buy it!

When I can tear myself away from my email, I sit on my front porch with my laptop and write. I get some of my best writing done outside, with music playing and breezes wafting by.

Oh, who am I kidding. I'm checking my email on my porch, too.

Happy Spring, everyone! Celebrate the sun by commenting to this post for a chance to win ZIGZAG by Ellen Wittlinger. (Also link to this entry on your blog and I'll enter you twice.) This was one of the first books I read that made me decide for sure that I, too, was going to write YA novels. And it takes place over summer vaca on a cross-country car trip, so soak up its warm vibes! I LOVE road trip books!

Deena, Miss Recently Repped

Take a Break Book Giveaway Day 2

Winner of the day: paperxxflowers please email us your name and mailing address at author2author(DOT)blog(AT)gmail(DOT)com to claim yesterday's book Skinny-dipping. Everyone else get ready to comment to win another book!

I know most of you that live in colder states are probably sick of the snow, but I had to bring it back one more time for today’s Take a Break Book Giveaway. And hopefully you’ll forgive me once you see this book cover also features a prince on it (a fictional, cartoon prince, but sorry that’s the best I could do).

For your chance to win today’s book DO OVER by Niki Burnham all you have to do is leave a comment either on Blogger or our LiveJournal syndication page. And if you put the contest info on your own site, let us know and we’ll give you two entries for today. Easy, isn’t it? Now onto the book you can win…

DO OVER is one of the books in Niki’s Royally Jacked series, but I picked this one not only because it still has the loveable Prince Georg in it but it also involved skiing. And after spending my own Spring Break skiing last week, I had to show the Skiing Love. Despite the fact my own skiing experience didn’t involve a prince of any kind, has left me sore in most parts of my legs, and even more happy when I returned home to find most of the snow had melted while I was away. But I still had tons of fun skiing and I love Niki’s books, so I wanted to share that with a reader.

Here’s what the books about:

“Girl meets prince, Girl loses prince. Girl gets prince back—right? Well, that's what Valerie Winslow is hoping. She's back in Schwerinborg after spending time with her mom (and mom's girlfriend, Gabrielle) in the good ol' U.S. of A., and she's hoping the sparks will fly between her and Georg. At first it looks like everything is fabulous, but a ski trip to the Alps brings out Val's not-so-nice side, and what should have been a romantic weekend turns into a very bumpy ride.”

You can read this book even if you haven’t read the first two books in the series Royally Jacked or Spin Control, though, you might want to read them first if you haven’t already. It would probably help everything make much more sense.

Go ahead and leave a comment already, so you can win the book!

--Emily, Miss Awaiting an Agent

Take a Break Book Giveaway!

Tip of the Day: Here’s something new I learned this week researching for my novel—although Wiccans believe in the three-fold law and Hindus believe in the karmic law, stating that people who use black magic will get bitten in the butt for it, most cultures who believe in magic have no stated belief in a rule of return of any kind.

This week is our Take a Break Giveaway! Each of the five of us selected a book that reminds us of summer, vacations, or Spring Break. And we’re giving them away to our readers. To enter for a chance to win, all you have to do is leave a comment. That’s it: a comment for an entry. Plus you can double your chances of winning. You’ll get a second entry if you post a link to our contest on your own blog. Just leave your blog address in your comment. Each day, we’ll announce the previous day’s winner and let you know how to email us your address. We love these giveaways! They’re a blast.

The book I selected is The Au Pairs: Skinny-Dipping by Melissa de la Cruz. It’s a nice hardcover edition I won at a conference and its cover makes me want to go to the beach. I’ve heard wonderful things about Melissa de la Cruz’s writing and I’d love to read her someday. However, I am completely unable to read this book for reasons beyond my control.

You see, this novel is about girls working summer jobs in the Hamptons and partying, meeting guys, and using expensive name-brand products. And I worked a summer job in the Hamptons, too. I worked at the desk of an expensive resort, like the Suite Life. Ha ha ha ha ha.

I did not party. I did not meet celebrities. This was what my summer in the Hamptons was like:

-- Number of hours worked per week: 80
-- Number of overnight shifts per week: minimum of 3
-- Number of roaches killed in substandard employee housing: five kajillion -- Number of arguments with a celebrity’s mother who objected to her time share being rented to “Asians”: 1
-- Number of letters received by my employers threatening to sue me personally because the guests in the room next door set their alarm clock too early: 2
-- Number of bounced paychecks I received: 12
-- Number of times I heard drunken guests sing karaoke to “Summer Wind”: 517
-- Number of drunken guests who thought it was fun and not creepy to flirt with the girl at the front desk after singing “Summer Wind”: 117
-- Number of times I cashed bounced paychecks for my coworkers (who were treated like crap because they spoke Spanish and couldn’t argue with the local bank, who was in on the scam) right out of the front desk cash register, and just let the lying weasels we worked for try to fire me: after word got around, at least three times per overnight shift. Well, it was fun to be known around town for something.

I did try to go out and party with my coworkers a few times, but it always turned into us falling asleep over our drinks and speculating on who was doing coke to keep up with their triple shifts and still have a life. The kitchen help sometimes displayed ugly knife wounds self-inflicted from working without sleep. And then we compared notes on killing roaches. Good times.

Anyway, I walked out of my summer in the Hamptons with a wad of cash, a few bounced paychecks I could no longer cash out of the resort’s cash register, and a deep seated loathing of anyone connected with Hamptons’ high life. In fact, just hearing about “summer in the Hamptons” causes me to blurt out “they’ll be the first ones against the wall when the revolution comes!” and vow to read Karl Marx.

So therefore, I am scarred for life and unable to read The Au Pairs: Skinny-Dipping. I tried, because it looks like a great book, but it brought all those memories of capitalist exploitation flooding back. If I ever dream of returning to the Hamptons, trust me, it will be with a guillotine. Vive le revolution!

Not that my stay in the Hamptons wasn’t valuable research for my novels. Maybe not the same as Melissa de la Cruz’s, but I was able to write an extremely accurate scene where a boy kills a roach and watches its yellow guts ooze out. If you ever have any questions about roach killing, I’m your go-to girl. Or ask Paris Hilton; I hear she spent some time in the Hamptons, too.

Now leave your comments so I can enter you in my giveaway!

-- Kate, Miss Apprentice Writer

Reviews Schmeviews

Tip of the Day: Check our blog next week where we'll be doing another awesome contest and giving away a book every day. Since vacation time can't get here fast enough for many of us, we've picked books that will take you somewhere wonderful, and we're calling this The Take a Break Book Giveaway!

For a long time, I was worried that none of the major publications (School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, etc) had reviewed I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME. But then it went into a second printing pretty quickly, and a couple of very positive reviews did come out in VOYA and KLIATT, which aren’t the BIG ones, but still – great exposure for my book.

So I moved on.

I decided it didn’t matter.

My little book was doing just fine, thank you very much.

And then, last week, I noticed a review over at www.barnesandnoble.com from School Library Journal.

I thought – “Wow, a review from one of the big ones! How come no one told me about this?”

And once I read it, I knew why.

It isn’t an especially positive review. Although there is one line I can use on my web site. "Told in Ava's voice, this novel-in-verse captures the all-consuming nature of intense teen love."

Getting a review that is less than glowing is not very fun. On the bright side, people say a bad review is better than no review, and I've heard most school librarians do use School Library Journal to help them make purchase decisions. Still, it's hard to digest the fact that what one person thought of my book is probably going to be read by people in the biz. Will that review hurt me down the the road? Or do they take reviews with a grain of salt? I have no idea.

What do you think? Would you rather have a bad review than no review at all? Do you think you can almost always find SOMETHING good in the review to share with others?

~Lisa, Miss Pinch Me I'm Pubbed

To Revise or Not to Revise?

Tip of the Day: Buy colored pencils for edits to tell your marks apart from your editor.

That is the question I faced last week. And in this particular case, I’m not talking about the early stages of the book when you are still getting feedback and revising all of the time. But after you think the book is PERFECT and you are seeking publication and someone says they might possibly publish it if first you do this list of things. First you think:

AHHHHH!!! I can’t possibly change my precious book! (Or is that just me?)

But then you have to let it sit for a few days and REALLY think about the revision request. Will it add or take away from your vision? Does it really need these changes?

I let my revision request sink in for a few days and I came to the conclusion that YES, I will give it a try. I’m still plenty nervous about what big changes I’ll be doing to my book but, at the same time, I started to get excited about it. Just a little. I was driving down the street last weekend and a great new chapter just hit me. So much that I was writing on the backs of envelopes in the car and eventually pulled over so I wouldn’t run into anything/anyone.

Then, I went to a café Monday night and started plotting and planning and REALLY got excited about it. These changes could turn out to be really, really cool! So my plan? To continue taking lots of notes this week—come up with lots of chaps/scenes I need to write (or delete) and start writing next week. I also decided that searching online for revision help could also be beneficial. I found some Web sites that hopefully you’ll find helpful too, no matter what stage of revisions you are at.

First stop: a blog entry on Cynsations. Who doesn’t love Cynsations? She’s always got such great entries. Here’s a particularly great one called Novel Critique and Revision Questions. In this one, Cynthia outlines good questions you should ask yourself as you’re revising.

Second stop: Cynthea Liu’s Revision 911. Here she breaks it down into sections, specifically revising characters, plot, setting and description, and so on. This site especially helped me because I was committing one of her listed no-nos—making a character too dumb. That happens when something is staring the character right in the face but you have them ignoring it. Yikes!

Last stop: Revision Lessons: Judy Blume. This is what I call a feel good piece. Why? Because someone as rockin’ as Judy Blume, who has sold over 75 MILLION books, still has to revise. And she even includes a marked-up page of one of her manuscripts.

Ok, back to work for me. But before I go I’m dying to know, have any of you ever had the to revise or not to revise struggle? And what did YOU decide to do?

Kristina, Miss Soon-to-Pub

YA Librarians as YA Researchers (or Sorry, No PARTY GIRL* Here)

Tip of the Day: Don't turn on the TV if you want to get any writing done and it's American Idol season. Is that show ever not on? And why do I get sucked in?

As a YA Librarian, I am now part undercover spy. Because my work badge clearly states my reign over the Teen Area, I can hang out there straightening/rearranging/observing the YA shelves -- and those who hang out there -- withhout raising suspicion. Heh heh heh..... ;)

Yes, in the afternoon and evening hours, the teen tables are full, the PCs are clicking away, and the teens are talking. What are they saying? Honestly, I'm not sure. That either means (1) I suck at being an undercover spy, or (2) what they're saying isn't as important as how they're saying it. How they're interacting. What they're wearing. All great details to use in my YA novels!

What I also like to observe are the books that draw the teens' attention, especially on the new shelf or my display shelves. I do stop myself from pulling out my notebook and jumping in front of their faces, firing, "What made you pick up that book? What do you like about it? What do you hate about it? Would you read my book if it was on this shelf?" -- because I know that despite the age I appear on my badge (approx. 14), I am an adult (sigh) and I don't want to scare them out of my beloved Teen Area!

(This is my Teen Area. I'm working on making it snazzier! Can you say cool coffee table, fab area rug, and lounge chairs that are too uncomfortable for adults? :))

What have I learned so far? Teens like:

-series, like Gossip Girls, The A List, The Clique, etc, with no abandon

-new books, face out

-manga and graphic novels

-gaming on the Teen Area PCs

-cell phones

-humor, adventure, and animal stories if you can recommend a good one

I think my novel on submission now is definitely an adventure. Maybe that means I have hope with the teens in my library!

Those of you without teens at home, how do you observe what books they are drawn to in real life? Do you tailor your writing ever to resemble these books?

Deena, Miss Recently Repped

*Apparently PARTY GIRL is THE Parker Posie movie to see before you are officially initiated into the world of Public Librarianship.


It was very not good, but not as much as doing your taxes, so if you do them at the same time, it all works out.

Querying it up Colorado-style

Tip of the Day: Snow is incredibly beautiful, even in April, as long as you don’t have to drive in it and it hasn’t turned into slush, sludge, or any other questionable looking liquid/solid form.

This blog is coming to you live from the great state of Colorado.

Do you feel the low atmospheric pressure due to the high altitude? And the cold, mountain air?

No? Are you sure? Because I sure feel it.

Colorado is known for many things aside from high altitude, such as awesome skiing, the Rockies, and being the home to some pretty kick-butt literary agents. I’m sure many more agents than my current home state of Michigan is known for. So being out here I can’t help but pretend how fun a covert operations to said agents' offices would be to find a way to plant my manuscript secretly on their desks to get them to read it.

Not that I would actually ever do anything like that.

Or at least not do it after I joked about it on this blog.

Because that’s just not how this business is done. No matter how much more exciting a covert operations involving…say, binoculars, bubble gum, shoe strings, a Swiss Army knife-screwdriver, and any other gadget I could fit in my purse…would be then the normal way of getting an agent through the slush pile with a query letter.

So since I'm on vacation and having fun, I thought it would be extra fun to do a list of five things you should also not do to get an agent’s attention, in addition to secretly trying to break and enter into their office:

1.) Don’t send your query in a bolded, 58-type script font.

2.) Don’t send your query for your sports-related story in a dirty athletic shoe.

3.) Don’t send your query for a pie cookbook with the frozen-chocolate pie from page 14 in with the package. Especially in summer. (Flashback: did anyone else see that episode last season on Beauty and the Geek when Joshua actually wanted to put a pie by itself—no wrapping or anything—in a gift basket?…okay, sorry way off topic…back to our regularly scheduled programming…)

4.) Don't send your query for a fantasy written entirely in the made-up language of your world.

5.) Don't call up an agent and tell them you are doing them a favor letting them represent you since you have a book that’s worth one-trillion-million dollars, despite the fact it isn’t finished yet, you don’t have any publishing credentials, and you have to ask them what the word “literary” in literary agent means. While we are at it, this probably isn’t a good thing to state in a query letter, either.

Not that anyone has attempted the above (well at least all of them, but No. 5). I’m not an agent or anything, so I’m just guessing these are big no-nos, and since this is Author2Author, I thought I’d give a heads up to avoid these in case anyone was considering these ideas.

Okay, now I’m off to go back to skiing in my pretty new ski outfit…

No, this isn’t me. Or my outfit. April Fools!!!!!!!

I totally had you fooled for a second there, didn’t I? ;-)

--Emily, Miss Awaiting an Agent