Kreativ Blogger Award

Hey... so Anna Waggener recently awarded me with the Kreativ Blogger award. Er... a couple weeks ago, I guess. I'm supposed to link back to the blogger who gave me the award, say 10 facts about myself, and then pass it on to six new bloggers.

Anna's blog is here, and you should definitely check it out because it is BEAUTIFUL. She also has a book coming out... no idea when but the cover is amazing.

Isn't it gorgeous?? I love how completely unique, yet kind of scary, yet kind of simple it is. She has a contest going on as well to win a copy of GRIM and you can find the info for that here.

OK, anyway. 10 facts... I don't know, I always feel like it's kind of boring just talking about myself so I asked my sister to say 10 facts about me instead. This is what she came up with, and not everything is necessarily true because she likes to be silly:

1. I'm silly.
2. I love to draw.
3. I love to read my Bible.
4. I do crafts.
5. I go to school.
6. I'm graduating.
7. I'm moving to the Phillippines.
8. I take pictures.
9. I'm goofy.
10. I'm nice to my cats.

Now the 6 bloggers, and I'm going to give them to the 6 awesome bloggers who commented on my last post.

1. Angela Brown
2. Nhim
3. Natalie Aguirre
4. Nick Hight
5. Brittany Clarke

and... last but not least, 6. Laura Wise, who I have to say is an amazing commenter. She always has funny or insightful things to say, it seems! :)

Pass it on and thanks for the award, Anna! :)

The Dilemma of Naming Documents When Your WIP Lacks A Title

I really, really suck at coming up with titles for my stories. Which is a problem when it comes to naming documents. I usually end up being too lazy to come up with good document names, so they're left with names that aren't helpful in the least in telling me what the document actually contains.

Let's take a look at the statistics, shall we? (Oh and just a  note, I don't actually have that many completed drafts of stuff... most of the documents are filled with a few paragraphs or sentences of half-baked ideas).

Number of documents that are named with a really terrible summary of the story e.g. "Cranberry Story": 18

Number of documents named with the first line of story e.g. "I wake up to tent fabric": 9

Number of documents named after a random character (or main character) in the story e.g. "Dudley": 18

Number of documents named with a summary that actually effectively summarizes: 1

Number of documents named with names that give no information whatsoever e.g. "Life" or "rename later" (and "rename later"s document name still hasn't changed since 2009): 6

Number of documents named with something that resembles an actual title: 12

And that's just one folder. I haven't even gotten to my Short Stories folder yet...



My wonderfully named documents in my short story file...


I am so good at naming documents, aren't I? I mean, obviously I know exactly what the documents "short story" and "random short piece" are. I also evidently get kind of crazy after naming multiple drafts of something...

How do you go about naming your documents when you don't have a title yet? How do you come up with titles for your WIPs?

In other news... I finished the first draft of my current WIP yesterday!!

Ages of Books, Characters, and People

Hey! I'm back! :) Although it's funny, because whenever I see bloggers going on breaks and then they're like "Hey! I'm back!" and blah blah blah, I'm like... okay, yeah, whatever... I just read your posts when they come out anyway, no matter if they're a few days or weeks apart. But, whatever, that's  not the point of this post...

So, I don't if any of you know this, but I am a teen SPY at YA Confidential, which is an awesome YA group blog that focuses on all things TEEN in order to aid YA authors. They have a great panel of teens that they ask questions to on a regular basis (obviously... I mean, I'm on it... haha). Actually, if you're a teen you could sign up to be a teen analyst, just go to their home page and fill out the form on the sidebar. :)

Anyway, they do regular ask-the-teens posts where they invite their followers to ask the teens questions. One of the questions in the most recent post caught my eye:

Do you really care about the age of a character as long as the writing and story are good?

...and in trying to answer the question, I realized I actually had quite a lot to say on this particular topic.

So... one of the things is, books definitely can fit into different age groups, but I don't think this is all based on the age of the protagonist. You can't just assume that because the protagnist in a story is 12, the book is for 12 year olds.

In my head, I picture two categories of books. There are "fluffy" books - the feel-good books that are fun and bubbly and cute. An example that comes to mind is Forgive My Fins by Terra Lynn Childs (which is actually a really good book that you should read...) These books could have protagonists ranging from nine to seventeen, and younger/older. Yet I think of these fluffy books as being more appropriate and enjoyable for a younger audience. I know I read books like this in middle school even if the protagonist was 17, a good 5 years old than I was.

Then there's the "dark" or "edgy" books. These are the books that are really heavy, and are pretty much the opposite of the fun, bubbly, cute books I just described above. These books are much more serious and deep and deal with much greater issues than in the fluffy books. Yet again, these books could have protagnists ranging from twelve to eighteen years old, but I think of them of being more enjoyable for an older teen audience. Some examples I think of are books by John Green, The Perks of Being A Wallflower, and The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta.

So, the age of the book, as a whole, rather than the age of the character in the books determines the age of the audience.

BUT I still don't care what the "age" of the book is. I know I just said that I thought of "fluffy" books as being for a younger audience, but that doesn't mean I don't LIKE those kinds of books. I LOVE those kinds of books. I also like the edgy books sometimes too. It really depends on how I feel at a certain time what kind of book I want to read. I've talked about reading needs before, and I'm sure I'll talk about them again after this.

My numerical age (17 at the moment) does not determine what kinds of books I read - I, as a whole person with all my personality quirks, determine that... just like books as a whole determine the age of the audience the book is appropriate for.

So I guess the answer to the question is... no, I don't care about the age of the character at all! :)

Hope that made sense... haha.

Do YOU care about the age of a character as long as the writing and story are good?

One Word Labels in YA and Life

So one of my biggest pet peeves in YA has become a focus on popularity. Which turns out to be really annoying, because TONS of books are about popularity, and I guess understandably because a lot of the lives of teens are focused around popularity (although not mine, which is why it bugs me). It's not just popularity, though, that bugs me in YA. It's also the labels, of maybe one word that can define a person or character in a YA book. "Jock", "nerd", whatever.

The thing is, characters aren't just one word. They CAN'T be just one word. Why? Well, because people aren't just one word. Humans are complex and crazy and twisted and amazing and their ideas change and morph and their personalities change depending on the situation or their age or a whole bunch of other things. They are so, so complex. And yeah, I know how hard it is to capture that complexity in writing. But it's definitely not impossible. I've seen it done.



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Another issue with labeling is that once you label someone with a word, let's say, I don't know, Mean or something, then that becomes all of what you think of them. You only use that one word for that person, and in your mind, that person becomes that word. She or he IS the word you've given them.  This then hinders you from seeing other sides of their personality and makeup that break through your one word label.
I know I definitely do this with characters, too. I have this image of a character in my head. "Okay, so this character, he's going to be... Quirky Guy." And then everything he does has to fit into that label I've given him. Which, yes, does help to keep you on track sometimes. But at other times, why not let a character break out of the one word mold you've formed for them?

This doesn't apply solely to people and characters, either. I think I also tend to label books with one word sometimes. I'll finish a book and based on that closing impression, I'll go, "okay, that book was good" or "that was awful". And then forever after that, I think of that book as good or bad. Even if I know there was good parts where I really did get into the characters, or bad parts where I really just wanted to leave the book and never come back. Like people, books are complex and they can't really be summed up in one word.

People, characters, books - all are complex, much too complex, to be stuck with one word to describe them.

So, basically... yay for me, because I like to use lots of words! Haha. :)

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And... with all that being said... actually this has nothing to do with this post, but methinks I am going to take a blogging break for a month or so. I don't know, I might post if I have an idea or something but for now I'll be gone for a month. Basically the only reason I wanted to let you know is because that means I won't do a Teen Scene Link Roundup for February.

Have a great weekend!

When Being Articulate On Paper Just Isn't Enough...

Me: (trying to explain at how I fail at using bookmarks) ...and my bookmark was right there on the table beside me and when I got to the page I wanted to be-

Bro: You make goals for yourself for how many pages you read in a sitting?

Me: No, I just meant, like, when I got to the page I did when I finished my chocolate milk. Um, I mean... like, when I was finished with it... (trying to explain)

Bro: And you call yourself an author.

Me: Hey, I never call myself articulate out loud.

Bro: So... are you articulate in loud then?

Me: Wow... you are such an intelligent conversationalist.

An Enlightening Interview With A Magic Eight Ball and A Petpet

I'm in grade 12, which means I'm almost done school, which means I have to spend a long time sitting and pondering life decisions like, What do I want to do next year? What should I take in university? and other equally annoying questions that I don't feel like answering.

I also find that there are a lot of questions to be asked that just don't have concrete answers. There's so many questions where you have to think so much, and weigh the options, consider every angle, and so forth. It takes a lot of work and a lot of brain muscle.

Then there's those questions that frequently raise intense discussion throughout the book blogging world, that have answers with so many different sides it gets hard to keep track.

So I've decided instead of going through that whole brain-numbing process of answering hard questions, I will just enter my questions into an online Magic Eight Ball and it will give me all the answers I need. What could make life easier?

Is it OK if what I write doesn't necessarily line up with my beliefs?

Magic Eight Ball: Very doubtful.

Should published authors do book reviews, either negative or positive?

Magic Eight Ball: Signs point to yes.

Is the YA genre going downhill in today's society?

Magic Eight Ball: My sources say no.

Should teens be published?

Magic Eight Ball: Outlook not so good.

Should all YA books with sex, drugs, and violence be banned from the earth?

Magic Eight Ball: Without a doubt.

Are teens and kids capable of picking out books that are suitable to their needs?

Magic Eight Ball: Better not to tell you now.

I don't really like these answers. I think I'll try another approach. When I was ten, I would spend all of my time on Neopets doing who knows what (that's also how I learned how to do some HTML coding which I have now forgotten most of) and you could ask your Petpet questions. I still have my account, so I will log in there for the first time in a hundred years and consult my Petpets.

Well. That's encouraging.

Ouch. 

 I don't know what to say to that...

Well... that was... interesting.

Um, you know what? On second thought, I'll do my decision-making and question-answering the old-fashioned way...

Review of All The Books I Read In 2011

Well, since another year is over I thought I'd do a sort of overview of all the books I read in 2011. I read 120 books in 2011. Some of them were bad, some of them were awesome, some of them were OK. Some of them met expectations, a bunch of them didn't, a bunch of them absolutely surpassed all my expectations. I'm going to put some of the books I read into categories. I'm hoping to review some of the books I read last year over the course of this year, and of course keep reading books.

...And maybe this is just an excuse to talk about books. I'm like my sister, who if you get her started talking about movies, she will NOT stop. I'm the same, except with books. :D

The Absolute BEST Books I Read in 2011



Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta - Best book of all time!! I cannot say enough times how awesome this book is, and how much I think you should read it. I reviewed it here, with links of where you can get it. Please, please read it!!

The D.U.F.F. by Kody Keplinger - Honestly I had really low expectations of this book, I have no idea why, but it blew me out of the water. So much better than I thought, and it was so realistic and blew every annoying stereotype that I always see in YA out of the water.

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins - After reading a bunch of books because of hype and being terribly disappointed, I was nervous to read this book. Would it live up to the gianormous mounds of hype circulating it? YES. SO MUCH YES.

King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner - This book... I am so in awe of Megan Whalen Turner's writing skill. If you want to be a writer, you have to read this book. This woman knows how to write!! Although you have to read the first two in the series, The Thief and Queen of Attolia, in order to get the entire effect, I think. I definitely have more to say on this book, though.

The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta - Another beautifully spun contemporary novel by Melina Marchetta... the characters in her books are so awesome, and the stories... this book was so unique and awesome. :) I can't wait to read it again!

Obviously, I read more awesome books this year, but these are just some of the most awesome.

Books I Want to Buy

I use the library SO much, but there are just some of those books that I know I will read a million and one times over again if I own them.

Harry Potter - I finished Harry Potter in January of 2011 (I borrowed pretty much every book from my best friend) but I have to own them, because they are pretty much the perfect books to reread with all the awesome characters in there.

Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen - I've already this book twice, loved it both times. It's such a cute story.

The Half-Life of Planets by Brendan Halpin and Emily Franklin - I love romance books with alternating perspectives, and I could read them over and over again. :)

The D.U.F.F. by Kody Keplinger - It was so good and interesting and awesome, I must read it again!

The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta and Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta - Books with awesome characters you just have to read a million times over again.

Books I Bought in 2011

I'm usually really hesitant about buying books before I read them, but this year I bought more books then I usually do.

Across the Universe by Beth Revis - I bought this book at Chapters with a gift card I got. I'd seen it online and I'd been following Beth Revis's blog for a bit, and I thought the summary sounded interesting enough. It was OK but I found I didn't get attached to the characters as much as I'd have liked to.

Divergent by Veronica Roth - There was tons of hype and excitement online around this one. My friend had also bought it and said it was good. I ordered it off Amazon, although for all the excitement I was a little disappointed. My mom also read it, and both of us agreed that the main character was the most bland, stereotypical character in every possible way.

Jenna and Jonah's Fauxmance by Emily Franklin and Brendan Halpin - I told you, I like cute romances and I know I'll read them over again. I saw it online somewhere and then ordered it on Amazon.

Dream Factory by Brad Barkley and Heather Hepler - I bought this book because a) cute romance, and b) I'd read Scrambled Eggs at Midnight, also by the same authors, and I absolutely loved it.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin - I completely fell in love with the cover of this book. The way the summary was written definitely attracted my attention as well. I have to say this book was so disappointing. Also, after reading the book, I don't like the cover as much because it has pretty much nothing to do with the book.

Books I Read For A Second (Or Third) Time in 2011

I reread books when I love them, or if I run out of good books from the library and then I go through my shelves of books I own and pick out my favourites to read again.

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling - I reread Deathly Hallows because I wanted to reread Harry Potter like, as soon as I finished it, and I hadn't returned Deathly Hallows to my friend yet. I also reread Half-Blood Prince because that one was one of my favourites. :)

The Princess Bride by William Goldman - I reread this book because it's AWESOME, and because I have it.

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta - Because I love this book. I read it 3 times this year.

The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins - I read Mockingjay a long time after I finished Catching Fire, so I kind of forgot what happened beforehand. I read this after reading just some OK books, and reading these I was reminded what awesome books are supposed to be like.

The Princess Diaries II and III by Meg Cabot - There are things in these books that should make me not like them, but I love them anyway. I read II because I have it, and III because it's my favourite.

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin - I'd read this twice before. I read it again because we own it. It was worse the third time around. I think I'm done rereading this book.

I also reread Dream Factory, and Jenna & Jonah's Fauxmance because I have them and I like cute romances.

2011 Releases

I had to look up all the books I read last year on Goodreads, because I honestly had no idea which books were 2011 releases. Do people really just care to read the newest releases? I think that's crazy... you miss out on so many good books that way.

Jenna and Jonah's Fauxmance by Emily Franklin and Brendan Halpin

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Like Mandarin by Kirsten Hubbard - So unique, and I loved that it focused pretty much completely on friendship. It's such a different book than any other YA book I don't really know what to think of it.

My Unfair Godmother by Janette Rallison - I just saw this on a shelf in the library and picked it up because I thought the cover was fun. I reviewed it here.

Where She Went by Gayle Forman - I'd read If I Stay because my mom bought it for me, and it was OK so I thought I'd try this companion novel. I liked this one better.

The Worst Books of 2011

The Karma Club by Jessica Brody - This was just a completely stereotypical, run of the mill YA book. Which is probably why I don't really remember much of it.

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver - Shallow, annoying characters. After this I didn't feel like reading another book by Lauren Oliver, no matter the hype around her and her books.

Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta - After falling in love with Jellicoe Road (and then Saving Francesca), this book was awful. The main character was so annoying and I hate annoying MCs. Fortunately, I read other books of Melina Marchetta's before I read this one. I guess she proves that you do get better as you write more. :) Fine, maybe I'll give Lauren Oliver another chance... haha.

Alice in Charge by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor - I used to love the Alice books when I was younger. I hated this book. It was terrible.

Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz - After seeing some things about the Alex Rider series, I thought I would try it out. This book was absolutely, completely, utterly boring, typical, and something a five year old would write. Someone told me it gets better, but I just can't bring myself to try another Alex Rider book.

The Julian Game by Adele Griffin - I picked this up because I saw it online somewhere, and I liked the cover. Unfortunately, I am completely done with YA books about popularity. DONE!!!

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin - After all the hype (and the beautiful cover), I was disappointed. Also, the latter part of the book turned all weird really unexpectedly and I completely didn't believe any of it (also I have a really hard time suspending my disbelief to read any paranormal stuff, so that may be part of the problem). I was also very disappointed that there is supposedly sequel - in my opinion, completely unnecessary. I did like the relationship between Mara and her brother, though.

Well! That's just a quick(ish) overview on some of the books I read in 2011. I love talking about books!!!

What awesome books did you read in 2011? Terrible books? 2011 releases? Books you would read again? Books you want to buy?

December Teen Scene Link Roundup

Happy New Year, everyone!

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Today I am going to post my first teen scene link roundup.... where I post links to things like teens' opinions on books and stuff. These are all the posts I found in December that I think might help you! Keep in mind that most of these posts are opinion posts, so the opinions in each post might differ from teen to teen.

Update: I fixed all the links... a bunch of them were cut off before. Sorry about that!

Teen Opinions

Kate Coursey gives you a teen's perspective on swearing in YA.

Teen Riley Redgate gives you a teen's perspective on romance in YA.

Teenage book reviewer Rida gripes about the problems she's found in YA paranormal romance.

Teen author Steph Bowe on teenagerdom, friendship, and why loneliness is okay.

Canadian Yahong Chi shares her favourite kind of book endings.

YA Confidential interviews 4 teens at once. Here's part one and part two of that interview.

Teen Izzy G on embarassing book covers.

Teen Maggie on what she hates in books.

Teen Laura's biggest pet peeve in YA.

Teens' Favourite Books of 2011

Paper Hangover asked some teens what their favourite books of 2011 were and posted the results.

YA Confidential's best of 2011 from their teen spies, including favourite book, favourite YA relationships, and favourite characters.

Teen Lyla Lee's favourite books of 2011.

Teen Izzy G's favourite books of 2011.

Teen Becca C's favourite books of 2011.

YA Confidential gets their teen spies and analysts to talk about their favourite books of 2011.

I know it's kind of sparse right now, but I'm hoping you guys will help me and tell me some teens to follow, or if there's a blog/website that frequently has teen-related features. If you want more information about my teen scene link roundups, go here and if you have any other questions, just ask or e-mail me!

Interview With My Awesome Sister On Books (and Movies)

I like learning about people's reading habits, because I find it fascinating how different they can be from person to person. So far I've interviewed my best friend, my brother, and my dad. Today, I will be interviewing my sister.

My sister is 19 years old, and she has Down Syndrome which means she learns slower than other kids her age, but also that she has an awesome personality. She loves movies and loves to make us laugh. She is also quite short compared to the rest of my family, and I like to tease her by calling her "Shortbread Cookie". :) She also likes to be a chatterbox, although she wasn't so much in this interview because we weren't talking about movies.

Anyway... onto the interview!

Me: So, what kinds of books do you like?


Sis: Wizard of Oz, Anne of Green Gables, Flat Stanley.


Me: So why do you like those books?


Sis: 'Cause... interesting?


Me: Why are they interesting?


Sis: They’re based on a movie.


Me: Oh, so you like books based off movies.


Sis: Yeah.


Me: How come you don’t read more?


Sis: I don’t know! I always read before bed.


Me: What’s your favourite book?


Sis: Wizard of Oz


Me: Do you like reading?


Sis: Yes.


Me: Why?


Sis: ‘Cause... everything.


Me: Yeah, but why?


Sis: (groans) I enjoy reading.


Me: Why?


Sis: I enjoy reading!


Me: Yeah, but why? Is it fun, or...?


Sis: It’s fun!


Me: Would you read a book that I wrote?

Sis: No.


Me: No! Why not?


Sis: Cause... not fun.


Me: Why not?


Sis: It’s not based on a movie.


Me: (laughing) Oh... well, thanks. So if I got a movie made, and then I wrote a book...?


Sis: Yup.


Me: You’re silly. What books do you not like?


Sis: Your books.


Me: What? Oh, like the books I read?


Sis: Yeah.


Me: Why not?

Sis: Cause kind of bit boring.


Me: Why are they boring?


Sis: Cause not based on a movie. I like Wizard of Oz, because it’s based on a movie.


Me: So how do you pick a book to read?


Sis: Just pick one book, and read it.


Me: Yeah but is it the title or the cover?


Sis: The cover.


Me: Or...


Sis: The cover!!


Me: What do you like about the cover?


Sis: The pictures.


Me: Do you have anything else to say about reading and books?


Sis: Nope. Bye.

So, in case you didn't catch that... she likes movies. And the Wizard of Oz. Haha. Isn't she cute? :)

What's your favourite movie based on a book?

How to Actually ACCOMPLISH Your Goals

Around New Year's is the time when we start to think more about these things called "resolutions" because new year, new start, right?

So I think that "resolution" is just a fancy way of replacing one of my absolute FAVOURITE WORDS OF ALL TIME:

GOAL.

You may think I am crazy, but goals definitely are NOT just for January. This year I have made Summer Goals, New School Year Goals, and Mid-Semester Goals. I have goals in various categories such as health, reading, writing, school, and more. Now, I don't know, maybe everyone makes a lot of goals. But I bet a lot of people don't actually accomplish (okay, what is the correct term when you uh, reach a goal? reach? finish? accomplish?) their goals. And what's the use of making goals if you don't actually accomplish them??

So I bring you today...

GRACIE'S GUIDE TO REACHING YOUR GOALS

Tip #1: Make a plan

If you just flippantly say "I resolve to write more" or something, and then that's it, it's pretty difficult to reach that goal. OK, so I'm going to use a goal I made at the beginning of September as an example. I made a goal to run more, building up so I could go farther.

So, first step in making a plan, I think, is dividing up your goals.

Tip #2: Divide up  your goals

When I make goals, I try to be as specific as possible. "Write stuff this month" should be "write at least 3 scenes of work in progress" or "Write 50,000 words this month". Then I'd divide it up even more: "In order to write 50,000 words this month, I will write 1,667 words a day"; "In order to run 60 miles this month, I will run 2 miles each day." This is all part of my plan for reaching my goals.

The next thing that most people would say now is that you can motivate yourself by bribing yourself. "If you abstain from sweets this week, you can have a piece of cake on Saturday." This definitely works for some people, but I don't understand this kind of motivation - you encourage yourself with something that is the opposite of what you are trying to accomplish... okay, then. But it does work for some people.

For me, I just need to be focused and constantly plan and be absolutely determined to reach my goal. The actual accomplishing of the goal is a huge reward for me, actually, especially in areas like fitness because as you live healthier, you actually feel more energetic, better, etc.

Another motivation for me is sort of competition. My dad and I both run and he is always impressed when I say I've run longer than usual, and sometimes that will motivate me. I think, "I'm going to run 5 miles today, then just wait until dad hears how long I went for!" I think we both encourage other, and in some cases it is a little competitive. Some time in mid-November, I'd run 45 days in a row and my dad was going on the treadmill and I heard him say to my mom, "I have to run! [Gracie]'s run 45 days in a row!"

Tip #3: Use encouragement and competition from another person to motivate you.

And guess what? My goal of running 60 miles in November I reached, and passed... I actually ran around 65 miles, and I ran everyday from October 24 to December 22, and so far I've only missed 2 days in December. I know I used running as an example, but all these things you can apply to writing goals (or any other goals) too.

I hope this helps you a bit when trying to reach your New Year's Goals! Good luck!

Do you make New Year's Resolutions? Do you ever actually accomplish them? What's your strategy?

Book Review: Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Book: Jellicoe Road
Author: Melina Marchetta
Genre: YA Contemporary
Why I picked it up: I saw it somewhere...
Cover: I love it when covers just have one symbolic image on the front that says so, so much about the story inside.

Summary:

At age eleven, Taylor Markham was abandoned by her mother. At fourteen, she ran away from boarding school, only to be tracked down and brought back by a mysterious stranger. Now seventeen, Taylor's the reluctant leader of her school's underground community, whose annual territory war with the Townies and visiting Cadets has just begun. This year, though, the Cadets are led by Jonah Griggs, and Taylor can't avoid his intense gaze for long. To make matters worse, Hannah, the one adult Taylor trusts, has disappeared. But if Taylor can piece together the clues Hannah left behind, the truth she uncovers might not just settle her past, but also change her future.

Last year sometime I saw this book on a blog, asked for it for Christmas or my birthday or something, got it as a present, read it, and then fell completely in love with it. Jellicoe Road is a book that I have read 3 times this year. It also made me cry each time, and I think the best books are the ones that make you cry.

Each time I read this book I am amazed at everything. The writing is amazing, the stories are amazingly intricate and touching, and the characters are awesome and completely lovable. The idea itself is also quite interesting and completely unique.

Even though there is so much sadness in this book, and so many horrible things it never gets to be too much. It's all just part of the story and makes it so the beauty of life shines through even better. I love how it switches between past and present, and how you have to work to figure out what's going on but when you do figure out, you're blown away.

I loved the characters. Taylor is such an awesome character, so beyond any of the stereotypes you see in a lot of books today. Actually all of the characters were. I loved how at the beginning Taylor distanced herself from everyone, and at the end she had a whole group of friends which made a cast of characters that you just wanted to stay around forever. The best books always have characters that become friends to you by the end of the book.

This book is just so unique and different and not stereotypical or annoying at all. It's like no other book out there, but it so, so beautiful. I love this book (obviously, I read it 3 times already this year and I'm sure I will read it many more times) and I really, really want you to read it too.

I think EVERYONE should read this book. Go. Now. Read it!!!!

LINKS:
Jellicoe Road on Goodreads
Jellicoe Road on Amazon.com
Jellicoe Road on Amazon.ca

Melina Marchetta's Website

Corrine Jackson's IF I LIE Cover Reveal!

Guess what? Today I am helping to spread the word about the cover of Corrine Jackson's IF I LIE. I've been following Corrine Jackson on her blog for a while, and I really enjoy reading it. I also interviewed her here.

Now, summary of IF I LIE....

A powerful debut novel about the gray space between truth and perception.Quinn’s done the unthinkable: she kissed a guy who is not Carey, her boyfriend. And she got caught. Being branded a cheater would be bad enough, but Quinn is deemed a traitor, and shunned by all of her friends. Because Carey’s not just any guy—he’s serving in Afghanistan and revered by everyone in their small, military town.



Quinn could clear her name, but that would mean revealing secrets that she’s vowed to keep—secrets that aren’t hers to share. And when Carey goes MIA, Quinn must decide how far she’ll go to protect her boyfriend…and her promise.
 
Then, the cover!!
 

 
It comes out August 28, 2012. I'm so excited!! :)
 
Links:
Corrine Jackson's Twitter
Corrine Jackson's Facebook
Corrine Jackson's Website

I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO...and 39 New Things To Try On Your Blog

I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO. I feel like I'm a little kid again, back in the time before I was a hard-working, motivated young person with lots of goals to reach and... y'know, before I spent my time lurking the Internet. *ahem*  Anyway, I feel like it's perpetually one of those days where I'm sitting on the couch and outside, the sun is shining, and my mom is bustling about and all I can think of to do is whine, "I don't know what to do-oooooooo!!" And then Mom replies threateningly, "Well I could give you something to do." And I scurry off before she puts any evil scheme into motion.

So. That's pretty much how I feel about this blog right now, I have no idea what to do. There's lots of stuff I could do, but none of it really excites me.

Yeah and then I remembered that I actually made a list of "new things to try on your blog". I read something once that said you should try new things on your blog to see what works the best. Not to mention it's fun. So now I present to you, 39 New Things to Try on Your Blog!

1. Post your inspiring pictures
2. Take pictures of your neighbourhood and post them
3. Take pictures of any area inside your house and post them
4. Give a virtual tour of your desk/writing area/bedroom/most important room in your house
5. Draw cartoons and post them
6. Use drawings to illustrate a point you're trying to make in a post
7. A different format, like vlogging, or aerial writing...
8. Do a post on video
9. Post a pardoy video
10. Make a short fun/serious film
11. Live blog (which is when you update a specific post throughout the day)
12. Live chat
13. Create a blogfest
14. Create a blog award
15. Do a link roundup
16. Get quotes from a whole bunch of people (bloggers, authors, experts, etc) on a certain topic and post them
17. Create a weekly meme
18. Organize a blog scavenger hunt
19. Hold a contest
20. Giveaway prizes
21. Do an interview with someone
22. Do an interview with someone on a specific topic (like their reading habits)
23. Do an interview with someone with video chat
24. Do an in-person interview with someone on video
25. Do an interview and post the audio
26. Host a guest on your blog
27. Do a blog swap with another blogger
28. Create a post of your favourite quotes
29. Create a post of quotes on a specific topic or issue
30. Post about your music inspiration
31. Ask a question so that lots of people comment and discuss stuff
32. Do a book review/suggestion
33. Tell a funny story
34. Post part of someone's MS and critique it (with permission)
35. Do a blog series on a specific topic
36. Hold a writing contest
37. Share an excerpt of your WiP or anything
38. Post your opinion on an issue
39. Write a post in a different perspective

So yeah... those are just some ideas for you, and just because they've all been done before doesn't mean they can't be new to you and your blog. :D

I also wanted to update you on my ideas of the Teen Scene Link Roundup and my Ask-the-Teen questions. I'm going to post a December Teen Scene Link Roundup on January 1st, and the Ask the Teens thing I am going to start sometime in the New Year (in January, probably). And I made about pages too... the about page for the Teen Scene Link Roundup is here and the about page for the ask the teens thing is here.

Do you have any ideas for new things to try? What new thing do you think I should try? ;)

Book Review: Going Bovine by Libba Bray

Book: Going Bovine
Author: Libba Bray
Genre: YA
Why I picked it up: I've seen a lot of talk online about Libba Bray and a couple of her books, this one and another (Beauty Queens).
Cover: My favourite covers are the ones that have just a couple of simple images that represent the story... and this one definitely falls into that category!

What it's about:

All 16-year-old Cameron wants is to get through high school—and life in general—with a minimum of effort. It’s not a lot to ask. But that’s before he’s given some bad news: he’s sick and he’s going to die. Which totally sucks. Hope arrives in the winged form of Dulcie, a loopy punk angel/possible hallucination with a bad sugar habit. She tells Cam there is a cure—if he’s willing to go in search of it. With the help of a death-obsessed, video-gaming dwarf and a yard gnome, Cam sets off on the mother of all road trips through a twisted America into the heart of what matters most.

So, I guess I'll admit it... I was kind of weirded out by this book at first. But then it started to make sense, and then it was pretty cool.

It's kind of like the Wizard of Oz in the sense that Cameron, the MC, falls into this really weird dream world where he goes on a long, fun, weird journey and meets people along the way.

I loved the way this book didn't fall into the trap of focusing entirely on the romance... it gave a lot of room to the friendships Cameron formed too, which is awesome! Before I read this book, I was like, where are all the awesome best friends in YA?? Well, I found some in this book.

I liked the weirdness of it... in the end it just made it fun and made me appreciate Libba Bray's creativity (and I am slightly jealous because this book would have been so much fun to write).

I would recommend this book to you if...
-you like those crazy adventure books
-you're looking for a book with some good friendships in it
-you don't mind books being on the kind of weird, random, creative side

Links:
Going Bovine on Goodreads
Going Bovine on Amazon.ca
Going Bovine on Amazon.com
Going Bovine on Libba Bray's Website (...where you can find a whole bunch of other links of where to get it)
Libba Bray's Official Website
Libba Bray's Twitter
Libba Bray's Blog

BEWARE THE BOOK CURSE!!

A terrible thing happened the other day... and I'm not really sure I am able to talk about it with you, as it was such a traumatizing experience. But I will try.

See, I was at the library. Innocently, I was gathering books for the coming week. Hours later, I innocently went up to the checkout counter and piled my 21 books (barcode up, you're welcome, librarian) on the wood surface. 20 beeps later, and I was almost home free.

BUT THEN.

Then something happened that, at the time, I didn't notice as being strange. But now I realize how naive this was, for of course it sticks it out now! You see, now I recall the event and in recalling the event I remember the librarian's appearance. Gnarled, wrinkled hands with lengthy fingernails the ends of which were tinged green. A gray bun in the centre of her head framed perfectly by wispy gray hairs. A hooked nose, a mole, beady eyes... and a suspicious smell.

At the time, I dismissed her slightly odd appearance but now I wished I would have been more alert (oh, what the excitement of 21 new books to read can do...)

The strange librarian scanned my last book, and then did a strange tapping pattern on the cover before sliding it over to me. The next part gives me shivers - she grabbed a bookmark from beneath her desk and tucked in this last book. After closing the cover, she gave it one last tap and grinned at me, revealing yellowed teeth. "Enjoy," she said in a decidedly sickeningly sweet voice that was flavoured with cackle.

Strange things were happening - and this was only the beginning.

I went home with my bags weighed down with lovely blocks of words, eager to dig in. When I got home I was for some reason drawn to that last book, the one the librarian had tapped and slipped a bookmark into. I opened it.

And soon found I could not let go. My eyes devoured the pages and my heart pounded and I could feel the drip of sweat on my forehead. What was happening to me?

Despite my efforts to not read this book all of the time, I could not stop. I spent all of my time in this book. It was a lengthy book, too, and I began to realize everything was disappearing around me: my family, my friends, my life outside of the fictional realm. My social life was disappearing along with my health - now in addition to increased pulse and sweating, my head hurt and my eyes drooped.

At one o'clock A.M. that night (morning, I guess) I realized I had been talking to the book. I had been yelling at the characters, warning them of what I thought was ahead, and crying with them when they were hurt. I was talking to fictional characters! Yet at the time I thought, I knew they were real.

My mind, my health, my family, my friends... all gone. What was going on?

That's when I remembered... the strange gray-haired, hooked-nose librarian. The tapping. The bookmark. The sickly sweet "Enjoy" accompanied by a yellow-toothed grin.

It was five-thirty in the morning. I was on page 254 of many more. I gasped.

A witch! A curse! The tapping... obviously some sort of code to unlock a crazy spell. The bookmark... obviously injected with some sort of witchy potion. I had been cursed!

Yet I could do nothing to stop it... the only thing I could think of was to finish the book.

I holed up in my room for the next two days, not wanting anyone to know I had fallen for any librarian's harebrained tricks. I read and read and read, and my vision began to swim but I kept on.

On the third day, I finished the book. I closed the cover with a smack and immediately felt a sigh on my lips and a weight lift off my chest. I knew the curse had run its course. Although I could still feel some remnants of the curse as I felt a twinge of sadness that I had finished the book...
And maybe I am still cursed after all... for I still have a longing to return to that wretched place, the library, that caused me to be cursed in the first place....

**This entire post is fictional, although I may have been "cursed" by a good book a few times... also, librarians, my description of you is for the purpose of the story. None of you that I've seen ever look like that... :) What books have you been "cursed" by??