Kelly Gay Interview & Giveaway

Head on over to Susan Adrian's blog for an interview and giveaway with the sweet and awesome Kelly Gay! I can't wait to read her book!

Interview & Giveaway with Author Kelly Gay!

Hi all! It is a giveaway FESTIVAL here. So let's dive in to an interview with Enchanting Urban Fantasy Author Kelly Gay, who stopped by to tell us about her debut novel (on shelves now!), THE BETTER PART OF DARKNESS. We're also giving away a signed copy!

Susan: Hi Kelly! First, congratulations on the release of your first book! How's it feel so far?

Kelly: Thanks Susan! And thanks for having me on your blog! My book being ‘out there’ in the world feels awesome, scary, exciting, surreal… you name it. A book debut fits that whole rollercoaster analogy incredibly well.

Susan: I haven't been able to get my hands on a copy yet (I will, ASAP!), so could you tell us a bit about the story?

Kelly: Sure. The book is set in Atlanta about a decade after the discovery of heaven-like Elysia and hellish Charbydon, two alternate dimensions, which are home to beings that inspired our myths of angels, demons, gods, and monsters. Now they live among us, and it’s Charlie Madigan’s job to police the off-world sector and keep the peace, but when a new off-world drug is released, an ancient threat emerges, and her ex-husband makes a terrible bargain to win her back, there’s nothing in heaven, or hell, for that matter, that Charlie won’t do to set things right.

Read the rest here ...

Win a copy of LINGER!

Dear Santa,

All I want for Christmas is LINGER. The elves don't even have to build me one in your shop. You can win it here:

http://karinlibrarian.wordpress.com/2009/12/01/win-an-autographed-copy-of-linger-by-maggie-stiefvater/

See, I made it easy for you.

xoxo,

Christine

5 most common YA subgenres

Suzie Townsend is a junior agent with FinePrint Literary Management and she goes into detail about the 5 most common YA subgenres. "Common" can sometimes be tried and true, or sometimes, it's just plain ol' tiring. A really great, educational read on Susan Adrian's blog

My dream book looks like ...

Scott Westerfeld's LEVIATHAN! The Steampunkish illustrations are exactly what I've imagined THE UNICORN TAMER to look like. Hopefully someday ... *crosses fingers*

Today I came on to drool over bookshelves. In the last month or two, I've bought:

* GRACELING by Kristin Cashore
* GOING BOVINE by Libby Bray
* BOY TOY by Barry Lyga
* THE TRUTH ABOUT FOREVER by Sarah Dessen
* SWEETHEARTS by Sara Zarr
* HUSH, HUSH by Becca Fitzpatrick
* ON WRITING by Stepehn King

and they are all currently lying on my floor because I am out of shelf space. It'll take some re-arranging before I can buy a new bookshelf, but it's still fun to look!

Neil Gaiman shows his shelves:


Popping colors:


Floating bookshelves:


Unique shapes:

Tree:

It's Its and 5 Ways to NOT reach your dreams

How To Use An Apostrophe

A pictorial guide on how to correctly use apostrophes. Fun!

5 Ways To NOT Get Your Novel Published

1. Don’t be amazing - The single most common reason for novels not being published is that they are simply not amazing. Publishers have an almost unlimited supply of writers looking to get their books in print, so why would they publish anything but the very best writing? Your novel being good is just not good enough.

Fancy e-books

Publishing veteran resurfaces with e-book venture

Former HarperCollins honcho Jane Friedman steps into the future, launching Open Road Integrated Media to publish e-books drawn from known and amateur authors.

Super interesting read here.

A taste of what it feels like to have an agent!

I won Kelly Sonnack's 5-page crit in Cynthia Liu's "Take the Dare" auction and I think it's some of the best money I've ever spent. Not only did a bunch of kids get a bunch of books, but Kelly is sweet. She's also honest and has gone above and beyond the call of duty.

She's not only:

* critiqued my pitch
* answered really detailed questions I have about publishing/writing-related things
* thoroughly reviewed and provided feedback on my first 5 pages
* been supportive throughout this whole process

but she's also offering to:

* read both my 1st person pages and 3rd person pages to tell me which one is better
* have a phone conversation
* read the complete, polished manuscript

*falls over*

She's amazing and I'm so lucky. Not to mention so very scared. I want FRIENDS WITH DEATH to surpass her expectations. I'm so nervous, I'm having a little trouble writing. Which is why I'm reading (recently purchased GOING BOVINE) - to learn and better my craft.

Anyway, that's what I've been working on. I'm also, once again, wrestling with the decision of "should this story be told in 1st person or 3rd" and I'm trying to decide if I want to do NaNoWriMo this year. I have this WIP to finish and polish and my MG fantasy that I want to completely re-write so I don't know if I have the time to meet the 50,000 words in 30 days goal. I'm super tempted, though. How about you? Are you NaNoWriMo-ing?