Time to Loosen It Up–Or why we shouldn’t be uptight about books that become movies

Note: This one has actually been sitting on my computer since November. Kind of got lost…but I found it and decided to post while it was still mostly relevant (And at least a little true).

I feel like talking about movies. Specifically movies that are based on books.

It can be a fan’s dream…or worst nightmare. I know that often I’ll be reading a book and think, “Hey, this would make a kick-butt movie.” Plus, I love to see my favorite stories leap off the page. At the same time, for every good/amazing movie version, there is an equal amount of bad movies. Some are horrendous. Some are merely blah. It seems like it is often hit-or-miss when a book is being turned into a movie. After all, a book can contain a LOT more information than a measly movie can. They’re having to fit a four-or-more-hour read into two and a half hours of screen time (sometimes). Things are going to get cut, things are going to get changed. You may find yourself at the Parthenon in Tennessee battling the hydra a book early.

Now before some people start griping about the all the book-movies gone wrong, which leads to “How could [insert author] have let this happen” let’s remember this: When a writer signs a publishing contract and becomes a published author, they typically sign away the movie rights during that process. And I don’t think that it takes author involvement to make a great book-movie (though it certainly may help). After all, J.R.R. Tolkien wasn’t around to see his Lord of the Rings trilogy get movie-fied, but it was an amazing set of movies.

I’ve come to realize it’s not about getting every scene and snatch of dialogue on the screen. When I think about some of my favorite movie adaptations, it’s about more than that. Think about:

• The Lord of the Rings trilogy
• The Princess Bride
• Holes
• Pride and Predjudice (the Colin Firth version)
• The Passion of the Christ (okay, maybe that one is based on four books)
• The first two of the new Chronicles of Narnia

These are some of my favorite movies. I love them. I adore them. In the case of LOTR (and probably soon-to-be Hunger Games) I go stark-raving crazy over them. And it’s not because they are exact replicas of the original work. Heck, my favorite Princess Bride scene isn’t even in the book. They are amazing because they capture the spirit of the book. Ally Carter puts is beautifully when she talks about the possibility of aging up the characters in her book, Heist Society: “I for one would rather have an actress who has Kat’s same spirit than someone who only has Kat’s same age.” She makes the case that even if they age the characters into their early 20s for the movie, it can still be the same story and still have the same experience as the books and that is what she is most concerned with. For more about her thoughts on the possible Heist Society movie you can start here. (Can we get a “Heck, yes” to a Heist Society movie, by the way)

I’m not looking for every scene to be in the movie when I go see it. I’m not looking for a movie that follows the plot of the book exactly. Some books just don’t make good movies on their own. Take, for example, The Two Towers. Do I love LOTR? Yes. Once upon a time, did I read the trilogy every year? Yes. (Should I get back into that habit? Yes.) Which book was the hardest for me to get through? The Two Towers. I mean, as long as Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli were in the picture I was riveted (can you guess who my favorite characters were?). And then you got to Frodo and Sam and I remembered that I knew how it ended and went all, “Eh. I’ll get to it.” LOTR fan fail, I know.

The Two Towers is mostly walking and a little bit of fighting and some great dialogue between the Elf and the Dwarf. Walking, dialogue and a tiny bit of fighting do not make an amazing movie. Had they followed the book as Tolkien wrote it the movie would have like the bargain brand paper towels on a Bounty commercial.  Instead, Peter Jackson took a little artistic liberty and gave the fans a teeny taste of the action to come at the end of the movie. Big gamble? Definitely. Did it pay off? yes. As did saving the Shelob scene for The Return of the King. After all, we’d just been through the climax of the movie at Helm’s Deep. To add the scene in Shelob’s lair would have taken away from everything we’d just been through. Plus, it created a serious sense of anticipation for those who knew what was coming (and I guess for those who didn’t). Don’t believe me? Look it up online, I’m sure people have written dozens of articles to this effect. What worked so well for Peter Jackson is that he was first and foremost a fan. And he recruited fans. And they were all concerned with creating a movie that would stay true to the big picture of the LOTR books, not just the tiny details. (Though they did great with those, too.)

You cann’t going to please everyone. There are going to be people whose favorite scene is an obscure one or not imperative to the over-arching plot. People like me who were disappointed that most of the Eowyn/Faramir scenes did not make it into the theatrical editions (that was, however, my only disappointment). But for the most part, I think that LOTR fans world-wide ended up with a movie that lived up to their expectations. For me, at least, LOTR was one of the very few movies that I feel the movie was a good as the book.

Have I had some serious disappointments when it came to movie adaptations? Yes. Eragon and the first two Twilight movies being among them. These are the kind of movies that make me worry when I hear another one of my favorites is being translated to the big screen. Now, usually I enjoy the movie, but still think the book is better. Occasionally, I’ll like the movie better than the book (that list includes all of two movies, I think).

But, no matter how awful I think the movie is going to suck, I still feel  that a true fan must see it at least once and form their own conclusions (even if you wait till it’s in DVD form). That’s why I went to see Eclipse and why I went to go see Ella Enchanted, despite the weirdness of the trailers. In both cases I was glad I had gone. Eclipse turned out to actually be a good interpretation of the book (IMO) and Ella Enchanted, while nothing like the book, was a fun movie and I do enjoy watching it every now and again. This is why I plan to go rent part two of the Deathly Hallows as soon as I can, despite what my HP fanatic friend says about how much it stinks. Even if he’s right (and we do have different opinions about how to accurately transform a book into a movie) and I end up feeling indifferent or hating it, I need to finish it just to be able to say that I have. (Anyone feel me there?)

So, does this mean that I am worried about what they’ll do with Hunger Games?

Nah.

They’re taking the time to cast the right people and I’ve found that when a director takes the time to make sure that the actors are right, then they’ll make sure the movie is right as well. Not that anything but time will tell, however, I’m hopeful and I’ve yet to see anything that worries me. A word of advice though, don’t reread Hunger Games right before the movie comes out. You will spend the whole movie thinking about how this detail is different and how they left out that line. I did this once, never again. I’m planning to reread a couple of months before so that it will be fresh, but not so fresh that every difference has neon lights pointing to it.

So what about you? What have been some of your favorite (or least favorite) movie adaptations. Why? What was it about the movie that made you (dis)like it?

Book Review: Son of Neptune

(Way, way, way overdue I know…it’s been sitting in my comp for two months. But here you go.)

The Heroes of Olympus #2: Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan

Ages 12 and up

In The Lost Hero we learned of Camp Jupiter, the Roman counterpart of Camp Half-Blood. In a desperate attempt to save Olympus, Hera had switched the leaders of the two camps, Percy Jackson and Jason Grace. Jason has been at Camp Half-Blood helping the Greeks, and now it’s time for Percy to make an appearance on the other side of the continent. Percy resurfaces with almost no memory of who he was. Of course, that doesn’t keep the usual brand of trouble from following him. Apparently, that Death has been taken hostage by the giants and until he is released, killing the monsters is going to be impossible. And it seems that the gods can find no better guy for the job than an amnesiac Greek demigod. After only a few hours at Camp Jupiter, Percy and his newfound friends set off on a journey to a land where the god’s power may not even reach.

I know, it’s short and sweet. But seriously, I’m not sure how much I trust myself to tell you. Now, I’m not saying that I have a favorite author. That’s just not a choice I’d be able to stick to for more than a few minutes. However, Rick Riordan ranks very close to the top, so naturally I was more than a little ecstatic when this book came out. And it was was almost (I’ll get to that) everything I could have hoped it would be.

Now, if you know me (or have read my blog), you would know that I have had a thing for Greek mythology since I was a little girl. That is what got me into the Percy Jackson books for the first time. (Okay, that and the movie trailer reminding me that I kept meaning to read them.) So I won’t deny that that is part of why I love these books. Riordan does more than just retell the Greek and Roman myths (and sometimes it’s hard to tell which is which), he reimagines them. He takes them and changes them is a way that his readers will recognize, while still keeping them true to their original character. For example, he takes the Amazons and turns them into business moguls funding their way of life through a company even children will recognize in this day and age, Amazon.

I didn’t figure it out until about halfway through, but there are several parallels between this book and the original Percy Jackson books. Not that I will tell you what they are (or maybe this amnesia thing is clouding my view). But, considering that his missing memory is constantly on Percy’s mind, I think that making him go through trials that the readers would recognize—even if it was only subconsciously—was a beautiful touch.

The characters in Rick Riordan’s books (I’m talking about all three mythology series here) have always been some of my favorites. I love them. They bounce of the page and come alive. You feel like you know them, like they’ve been your friends (or enemies) for ages. I could totally see myself hanging out with Annabeth and talking about books for hours. His characters, even the minor ones, so often have distinct characteristics that define them and make them different from all the others around them.

That little “almost” up at the top has probably been bothering you for three whole paragraphs. It boils down to one small fact. The book was great, I loved it. I can’t wait for the next one (The Mark of Athena Fall 2012). In fact, I’m already excited about the next one, all things considered (if you know, you know). However, despite how much I love him and how great I imagine he looks in a purple t-shirt (C’mon ladies, you know you were thinking about it too), Percy Jackson is not in fact my favorite character in the books. He is hair’s breadth close, but he is not. My favorite character sadly, has a very small part in this book…though I think I can bet on seeing a lot more of [redacted] in the next book. (It’s kind of a given.)

All of this, the characters, the mythology, the settings, the crazy, twisting plot that he seems to come up with—all of these things are used to create a book that keeps moving right up to that very last page. No joke, I’m pretty sure that my heart stopped for about five seconds when I turned page 513 and realized that the twenty or so pages that were left were actually the glossary and several black pages. Had my whole family not been asleep, I probably would have yelled. It’s a brilliant ending, but it doesn’t stop you from feeling like you’ve been thrown off a cliff. (Cause obviously, with three books left, we still have the world and Olympus to save.)

This a good example of:

• Multiple POVs
• Raising the stakes
• Reimagining vs. retelling
• Characters
• Story Movement

What Dreams May Come–I take a look at the next year

New Years-1-002 by Ludie Cochrane

Happy New Year!

I know, I know. I sort of dropped off the face of the Earth for a while.

It all started with National Novel Writing Month in November. A great success if I may say so. No, I did not make it to 50,000 words by the end of the month. On Nov. 30 at 11:49 p.m., I looked at my word count and decided that 42,000 words was good enough for my first year. I mean, all things considered I am now 30,000 words and fourteen chapters closer to the end of Mind Games (which is plotted out at roughly 40 chapters, though that will most definitely change). It’s exciting being able to look at the word count for MG and see the number 42,000. My last “book” finished at 47,000 and I’m only halfway finished with this one. I think I have a pretty good chance of hitting that 80,000-100,000 word goal for this current project.

Can tell that I’m restraining myself from over-using my CAPS Lock?

And then there was the December-long reading binge where I endeavored to finish all of those books that I started in the last year, but for one reason or another put down (mostly for another book). That went relatively well also.

And that leads in to what this year holds for me.

Now, I’m not one to really make New Year’s resolutions per se. I believe that if you want to change there is no day like today. However, the last two months have brought me to some conclusions (not to mention drastically changed the plot of Mind Games):

1. I need to read more.
2. I need to write more.
3. It’s time to get this book finished.
4. I don’t want to write for money, I want to make money writing and there is a difference.

Which has led me to set some goals that could be considered New Year’s resolutions, if I made NYRs.

The easiest one is going to be reading more. My goal for 2012 is to read 48 books. Could I read a whole lot more? Yes. Would my house, school and life suffer? At this point, yes.  Most books take me 6-7 hours to read. So, finishing a book a week shouldn’t be too hard. That’s just an hour a day. To make it more challenging and improve my reading range, I have come up with a few guidelines. First, at least one of those books is to be a book on writing. Second, I cannot read two books of the same genre/age range back-to-back. With the exception of series (because that would be just cruel). So, should I want compare say YA paranormal fantasy and adult paranormal fantasy, I can. But I shall refrain from reading…oh let’s go with Fever by Lauren DeStefano and then Suzanne Collins Hunger Games trilogy (both YA dystopian novels). There has to be something different in between. This is to encourage me to read outside of my comfort zone. I read a lot of young adult, fantasy and science fiction. That leaves whole genres that I haven’t tapped. Crime, historical fiction, suspense (which, despite my mother’s protests, I love), romance, all those classics (which I also enjoy), “Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera” as they say in The King and I.

All of this is just a step towards my becoming a better writer (my other goal).

Because by the end of February I’m planning to have a finished first draft. And then it will be time to edit. And then…it’s time to query (and start the next book). Eek! In fact, one of the gifts I asked for this Christmas was the 2012 Writer’s Market. If I want to be a writer…it’s time to BE a writer.

That’s my goal for 2012.

What’s yours? Have you thought about your goals as a writer? Have you written them down? Do it. It makes them easier to stick to. And then do your best!

The Music That Makes Me Write

I <3 Music by Dia

As writers we have our lucky pen. And our trusty laptop. And our favorite writing programs. We have our routines, our favorite writing spots, our “bibles”, our quirks and our writing buddies. I am no different. The pen I use changes, depending on what mood I’m in. Some days I can get a ton of writing done at home and some days I can hardly get two words out. I have a three ring binder that I carry with me wherever I go, even if I know I won’t need it, because it has all of my Mind Games stuff in it and I can’t bear to not have it on me (because, the one time I leave is the time I’ll need it). But my most important tool? The one that affects my writing the most? That one never changes.

My music.

Give me my music and I can turn almost anywhere into a writing spot. I can write in the middle of a lunch rush at Chick-Fil-A, with a packed lobby and a gaggle of high-pitched little girls two tables over. Music is one of the most important parts of my writing process. Can I write without it? Yes. Will I like it? Heck no. And it’s not just because I am a music major and have constant need for some form of music to be playing.

Music helps me write a better story.

Now of course, it does often help me to write faster (once I resist the urge to sing). I don’t have a specific writing CD as some do. What I listen to can change from day to day. Right now, country is the music of choice. Tomorrow, it might the Star Wars soundtrack or a Broadway Musical. Or,  it might be a collection of songs that I picked because they sync with my WIP in some way (Yes, I have a Mind Games playlist).

One of the things that music affects the most is the development and the relationships of my characters. For example, if I’m writing from Annette’s point of view, I might listen to Trouble by P!nk or As She Cries by La Rue. For David, I might choose Build Me a Wall from Shrek the Musical or Hero by Bethany Dillon. My friends can testify that I’ve been listening to my iPod in the car or at home and gone, “This is such a/an [character’s name] song.” I eat us any song that fits with a characters journey or relationship with another character. I have (or had, it’s gone apparently) a playlist that was dedicated to the relationship between Annette and David (my two mains in case you hadn’t guessed) which includes Accidentally in Love, both versions of You Found Me, some Disney,  and Haunted and several other songs by Taylor Swift.

In addition to inspiring my work with the characters, music is also extremely helpful in setting the mood when you’re working on a specific section. Creepy beginning? Then I listen to Fog Bound from POTC. Am I trying to get the writing fires revved and type a storm? Then I skip to the section of the list with the Kelly Clarkson songs. This may seem extreme to some, but when I was developing the playlist for Mind Games, I actually sat with my outline and arranged the songs so that they fit the mood of certain chapters. Doesn’t mean that I always stick to that, but it helps when I’m trying to get into the scene.

And who knows, the music you’re listening to might cause you to realize something about a character or discover a plot twist that you didn’t know was there before. Example? Oh boy, do I have one. Picture this: I’ve finished getting the outline for Mind Games down. It’s typed, I’ve divided it into tentative chapters, I’ve started picking songs that match them. And then I go jogging and Speak Now comes on. BAM! I realized that my book was missing a whole four chapters in which the heroine actually agrees to marry the big bad evil dude. What?! Needless to say, David’s not happy. It didn’t affect much of the beginning of the story, but it did completely change the ending of the book. Okay, not really, but it threw quite a loop in the road that got me there.

So what’s your relationship with music and writing? Can you live without it? Is it a necessary part? Or do you just use it when the mood hits you?

Keeping Me Honest–NaNoWriMo 2011

So, I figured that there is no better accountability partner than the internet. I’m trusting all of my friends online to keep me honest about my word count…and nag me if I start to slack. Yes, I’m giving you permission to heckle me.

Nov 1- 1866

Nov 2- 1020

Nov 3- 581

Nov 4- 2,008

Nov 5- 2,578

Nov 6- 0

Nov 7- 0

Nov 8- 266

Nov 9- 1322

Nov 10- 0

Nov 11- 0

Nov 12- 1223

Nov 13- 0

Nov 14- 927

Nov 15- 3,39

Nov 16- 4246

Nov 17- 851

Nov 18- 1,789

Nov 19- 0

Nov 20- 225

Nov 21- 517

Nov 22- 2,430

Nov 23- 1,099

Nov 24- 4,336

Nov 25- 1,035

Total: 31, 681

% Finished: 63%

That Little Lightbulb–Or I take a look at the writer’s true muse

“ Well, the first thing you should have is an idea and then… Well, first you need something to write with. They… they know that. Well, obviously you need a writing instrument and you need an idea. I’m just not sure which should come first.” –Dr. Temperance “Bones” Brennan in The Woman in the Car 1.11

Warhol's Lightbulbs by zetson

Are there any Bones fans out there?

Oh, wow, yes I see you all. Remember this hilarious interview from the first season? I do. As a writer myself, I love it any time they work in details about Bones’ writing career. Moments like this make me giggle.

Though, I think if she went about it scientifically, she’d find that the idea usually comes before you even pick up the pen. The idea is, in fact, the reason that a writer starts writing.

You hear a lot about writers and their muses. This is it. The idea is the muse. The idea is the thing that gets us up in the middle of the night when we have a 6 a.m. shift and makes us turn the laptop back on. The idea is the thing that makes us laugh and cry and tear our hair out when we can’t quite figure out a certain part of it. Ideas don’t always come when it’s convenient and hardly ever when we have a pen or a piece of paper handy (often they like to come when you have one, but not the other). We learn to carry notebooks with us and enough pens to supply a small classroom, because, when that idea comes you don’t want to lose it. (Any fledgling writer’s out there, learn now. Go get a small notebook and a pack of pens and keep them with you at all times.)

And ideas aren’t that hard to come by. We are inundated by them (which is sometimes a problem). What’s the saying… “There’s nothing new under the sun”? It’s true. Original doesn’t necessarily mean brand spanking never-seen-the-light-of-day new, but it does mean that you’re looking at something in a new way. Think about all the retellings of Cinderella that there are out there:

• Ella Enchanted
• Just Ella
• Ever After
• A Cinderella Story
• Before Midnight
• Princess of Glass
• Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister

Those are just the ones that I could name off the top of my head. I know that there are oodles missing from that list. Each one of them tackles the “original” story in a different way. They play with characters, relationships and even the very plot.

This is one of the reasons that reading books is so very important. Reading provides constant exposure to other ideas. Ideas outside of our own experience and exposure. And you never know where a story idea is going to come from. You can find them in books, movies, music, dreams and life experiences just to start. Don’t believe me? I can give you a few examples.

My first “novel” (which is unfinished because I lack the skill to rewrite it into what I want it to be) was inspired by Lord of the Rings. Not the movies, but the books. I mean, the movies are awesome, but it wasn’t until I read the actual books that I realized that I wanted to be a part of that world. TROA (Still working on an actual title) started out as a LOTR fanfic and evolved from there (more about that later).

There’s also Shattered, my own Cinderella retelling (as a lover of fairy tales, I felt that I had to  add to the list at some point) which was inspired by a movie. That one came to me one day while I was watching Ella Enchanted with friends. It struck me that it might be kind of fun to write my own reinvention, but the kind of character that I envisioned wouldn’t be one to just sit idly by and let her stepmother bully her. So I started wondering: “Apart from horrible curses, how could I get Cindy to act so out of character and make it credible?” And then the answer came to me. Of course, that is still highly top secret. You’ll read about it someday.

And then there is my current WIP, Mind Games. My baby. The book that keeps trying to grow up too fast. This one is a hodge-podge of ideas and inspirations ranging from manga to previous story ideas.The first actual scene I wrote was inspired by a dream (which was the product of an Alias marathon and a Kelly Clarkson song). The idea was in my brain brewing, but I didn’t know the characters or anything about them. My dream didn’t lay out the whole book, it was only the one scene, but that was enough for me to sink my teeth into the idea and really start to develop it. Of course, that scene has since been cut. Sad, I know. But the story moved away from that plotline and into something better.

And that’s my final bit of advice. Don’t get too attached to your ideas. They’re going to grow, they’re going to evolve. So often ideas start out as a question, that becomes more questions with each answer you discover and the idea becomes more than you ever imagined. Remember that first story, TROA? That’s actually an acronym for the original title, The Ring of Alythya. That story started from a simple question (I am bearing my former sixteen-year-old soul in telling you this): What would happen if there was someone who was born to face down Sauron? That little bit of fanfiction eventually ceased to grab my interest (I think that character could win some serious Mary Sue prizage), but the idea was still there and some of the scenes I’d come up with were kind of decent. TROA started as a LOTR rip-off that was truly cringe-worthy, but with each successive edit/rewrite I discovered that even though the characters (and I) thought it was about a ring, in the end it wasn’t about the ring at all. It was about making the main character into someone who step into the role she was being prepared for. (Or course, it still is kind of Lord of the Rings-y, but now it’s more because they share the same genre.) I had to let go of a lot of my first ideas somewhere around draft four or five (And I’m going to have to let go of more when I’m ready to pick it back up again). It wasn’t pretty. It hurt. And turns out, it was better without all that gunk. Writers are like parents, we give that idea years of our lives, nurturing and growing it and then we have to let it go make its way in the world. We have two choices: We can let the idea change as the years pass, allowing the story to be its own person. Or we could be that psycho parent that forces their kid to wear children’s clothes and locks them in a closet. You know, the scary one that has to appear in at least one episode of every crime show? (Mrs. Epps anyone?)

Things Get in the Way–Or I take a look at my writing excuses

Excuses, excuses, excuses... by hugovk

So, I’ve been thinking about these funny little things called excuses. You know, those strings of words we use to keep from working on our current WIP. And I figured that with NaNWriMo coming up, now would be a good time to talk about them. So, whether you’re planning to write a book in a month or if you’re just trying to write a book period, I invite you to examine your own excuses as I examine mine.

Now, of course, there are such things as legitimate excuses. There are times that you just can’t meet your goal or fulfill a task. Things like kids, car problems, relatives and basic sanitation do require some of your attention. You also require some of your attention. There are just certain things that we have to take time. And then there are those things are just helping us stall. For whatever reason, we don’t want or are afraid to pick up that pen and start writing and so you avoid it. Be warned, sometimes legitimate excuses can be used for stalling. Most of the time, you know the difference. I know when I’m stalling. Like, now. Actually, like this past week.

To illustrate my point, I’ve written down some of my most common excuses:

• My room: This could be a legitimate excuse. My room has been in a constant state of chaos for months. Not to mention the laundry that has to be done daily it seems. Problem is, I kind of clean, but then I get distracted or start playing on the computer. So I can’t really say it’s legitimate, but neither is it entirely stalling. It doesn’t help that I currently have an extra mattress, a dresser, two ends tables, a crib and a box spring jammed in here at the moment.
• “I’m tired”: This is probably my most common excuse. When you get up as early as I do (or earlier) tired is a common problem. Thing is, I’m always tired it seems, so apparently I’m going to have to deal with it. Getting enough rest is important, but somehow, getting too much ends up leading into getting too little.
• “I don’t feel like it/I’m not in the mood”: There are times that I know I should write and that it wouldn’t be terrible, but for some reason I (mentally) stomp my foot like a three-year-old and go, “I don’t WANT to!” This one is probably the most embarrassing for me, considering that I’m a part of the write every day, rain or shine camp. But I’m no different from anyone else, there are days that I just don’t want to write. And there’s not necessarily any harm in taking a break for a day. Sometimes your noggin’ just needs a break. Still, you need to use discretion. Do you really need a break? Or are you just frustrated? Maybe you should walk away, go for a jog, get something to eat, possibly take a shower and then sit back down and continue working. Or start working as the case may be.
• “Work was a bear”: Anyone ever have a particularly hard day at work? Really, no one? Ya’ll must be lying. Anyways, there are some days that I the last thing I want to do is sit down and write. There are days that my day has just been terrible and writing is just more work. Fine, whatever. Don’t let it stop you completely. Grab that book you’ve been meaning to read for months. Or grab some of your research materials if you find those particularly fascinating. Chill in bed, or on the couch or as you pig out on ice cream and Oreos and do something that is both enjoyable and constructive.
• A book: Not much to say about this one. I stink at limiting my reading time. Now, reading is never a waste of time, but at the same time I have things that need to get done.
• This blog: This one is a tricky one. Because sometimes I use the blog to avoid writing the book and other times I work on the book when I need to stop and work on the blog. So there are times that the blog is a legitimate excuse and times when I’m just using it to stall.

And that’s my list of most often used excuses. What’s your list? Sit down for a minute and think. Write them down. Identify which ones are legit excuses and which ones you use to stall. Of course, that’s only half the fight, but it’s easier to come up with a battle plan once you know what you’re dealing with.

Have you completed step one? Awesome, time to move onto step two. For each excuse that you’ve put down, come up with a plan of action. Is it something that needs to get done? Then get it done. Figure out a date or a time and stop using it as an excuse. Here’s how I plan to conquer my excuses:

1. Clean my room- Once I get all this extra furniture out of my room, I am going to take an afternoon and that’s all I will do. No writing, no reading, no stalling.
2. Use my desk- It’s a lot harder to fall asleep while I’m writing if I’m sitting in a chair vs. my bed.
3. Give myself a cheat day- One day a week I give myself permission to just veg. I don’t have to write or do any research or get anything constructive done. But that’s it.
4. Plan ahead- There are several things that I can do to keep work from being my excuse. I can do my heaviest writing on my day off or on my short day at work can help. Also, planning to get out of the house and going to the library to work. There’s something about going to a specific place to write that makes you get stuff done.
5. Plan my reading time- again not much to say.
6. Designate my writing time- It’s time for me to start designating one or two days a week to sit down and pound out a few blog articles (like I’m doing now) to store up for the rest  of the week. The rest of the days I work on my book.

So that’s it. That’s my plan. A lot of it will be easier as I work on prioritizing and managing my time.

Keep in mind that there are going to be times, long stretches of days or weeks or even years that you may not be able to write. And that’s okay. Life is kind of crazy. Things happen. Cars get crashed, loved ones die, finals week (*cough cough* month) comes. Those things  are bigger that an excuse. Just accept that there are going to be times that you have to put the book aside and focus on other parts of your life.

So join me as I say: “DOWN WITH THE EXCUSES!”

Book Review: Tortall & Other Lands

Tortall & Other Lands by Tamora Pierce

Ages 12 and up

I thought about coming up with something resembling a synopsis for this review, but I realized that due to the nature of this book, it would be very short (or really long). So I’ll just put it plainly. This is a book of short stories by Tamora Pierce (Song of the Lioness Quartet, The Immortals, the Beka Cooper Trilogy). Most of the stories involve Tortall or one of its neighbors. It is good. You should read it.

I’ve been reading Tamora Pierce’s books since I was a teenager. I actually picked them up because of her book Trickster’s Choice, the cover called to me. Of course then I found out that book wasn’t where the story really started, so me being me, I had to go all the way back to the beginning before I could start what I’d originally wanted to read.

It was nice to be able to interact with some of my old friends in from Tortall, as well as some of the new ones. I enjoyed that she switched up the point of view between the different stories. They weren’t all in first person, nor were they all in third. She matched the POV to the style of narration to the story and the characters.

Speaking of which, this book was an awesome study of different characters. With only a few pages for each story, Pierce managed to connect me with her characters. She used the details extremely well.  Many of them show you something about the characters at the same time that they move the story forward. There’s also something to be said about the continuity of style that she shows throughout the book. She may change voices, but Pierce is always at the helm. Some of the stories that stood out to me were: “Testing”, “Mimic”, “Student of Ostriches” and “The Dragon’s Tale” (because Daine and Numair from The Immortals remain my favorite of her characters and because Kit is awesome).

The only sour point for me was how the stories seemed to become repetitive. They always seemed to deal with a similar problem: a young girl being oppressed by her father or society or someone else. Which is a wonderful topic and the source of a lot of fiction, but at the same time, it’s not the only problem out there and I would have like to see some of the stories deal with other issues. It kind of felt like I was being beat over the head.

Still, this is a lovely little collection of stories that are worth the read. Especially if you are a writer (or already a fan of Pierce’s work). I think that the short story format allows you to see the individual elements of what makes a story great a little bit easier than a full length novel.

This is a good example of:

• Point of View
• Integration of story and world
• Continuity of style
• Character sketches

This book is on my recommended list.

I Get Creative With NaNoWriMo 2011

Ah. It’s that time of year again. The hustle. The bustle. The stress of that looming deadline that creeps closer each day until suddenly it pounces on you. And hopefully, you’ve got a fool-safe plan (because, let’s face, there is no such thing as foolproof).

You thought I was talking about Christmas, didn’t you?

DSCN5902_edited-1 by Lindsey Hickman

Nope. I’m talking about National Novel Writing Month a.k.a. NaNoWriMo. It’s one crazy month where writers all over the world try to write a 50,000 word novel between midnight Nov 1 and 11:59 November 30. If you want real details, you can check out the Wiki article.

The idea of writing an entire novel in 30 days is not a new concept for me. The current method that I am experimenting with and tweaking is from Book in a Month by Victoria Lynn Schmidt (Good book). I modified her plan so it could be spread over the course of a year. I love the idea of spending one month focused on writing a book, but at this point in my life, I would just be setting myself up to fail miserably.  There is unfortunately a lot going on in my life right now that cannot be put on hold for a whole month. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t’ want to get a ton of writing done. It’s just that focusing on one project is a bit beyond me right now.

Then I had this thought: Who says I have to play by the rules? I mean, I’m not planning to submit. So I came up with my own plan.

I decided that my goal would still be to write 50,000 words. If I can bang out 50,000 words of Mind Games, awesome! That’s half of my 100,000 word goal. But I’m going to take November and focus on consistently writing every day. That means 12,500 words every seven days…that’s just under 2,000 words a day. It’s a big goal for me, but hey, if you don’t aim big, you’ll never be big. Right?

Anyone else out there that wants to join me? Maybe the idea of NaNoWriMo scares you or you just don’t have enough time or your stories just aren’t long enough for 50,000 words. Let’s not let anything like that stop us. Let’s decide that we are going to join in on the fun, even if we’re being a little unorthodox. Maybe you decide on less than 50,000 words. Go ahead, modify it a little. It’ll be good practice for next year. It’ll be good practice period.

And let me encourage you. If you can participate in NaNoWriMo, if it’s even a possibility, GO FO IT!!! Make this the year that you finally write that book.

So, how about it? Anyone going to join me?

Book Review: Forest of Hands and Teeth

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Ages 16 and up

Mary’s world is simple. There is the fence that separates her village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth and the masses of unconsecrated (a.k.a. zombies). There is the Sisterhood that keeps order and protects the village. And there are her mother’s stories about the outside world and the ocean. The path her life will take is simple and uncomplicated and controlled. She will either marry and raise a family or join the Sisterhood. When her mother is infected and no one has spoken for her, the Sisterhood abruptly becomes her only choice. Inside the walls that shelter the sisters, Mary starts to discover that the Sisterhood hasn’t been entirely truthful. Mary’s world begins to turn end over end as she tries to discover what exactly these women have been up to and what dark secrets are hidden in the church walls. And she begins to wonder, what if her mother spoke the truth about the ocean?

It has taken me several months to get to where I can objectively talk about this book (I finished it in July). You would think that for my maiden voyage into the zombie genre I would choose something that was comical, like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but no…I chose Forest of Hands and Teeth. I’m glad I did, but it took me a long time to get there. To put it simply: I love the writing but I didn’t like the book.

Now, disclaimer: My opinion of this story is subject to change. Okay, not really, let’s rephrase. My opinion of this series has changed. I put down Forest of Hands and Teeth and had to think long and hard about whether or not I was going to pick up the next book. I did eventually decide to continue on with the series, mostly because the recommendation that made me pick up the series in the first placecame from someone a trusted (two someones actually). And I will say I’m loving the second book. My main problem stemmed from the fact that this was only the first book in a series, and that means it ended in an unhappy place. And as many of you know by now, the ending factors a good deal into whether or not I like the book as a whole (Anyone remember the Specials debacle). But I still say you should read this book. And not just because you need it to set up the second book. I think that there are also several lessons that you can learn by reading this book.

First off, the writing was superb. She was great with the descriptions, I felt the world around me. Could sense the Forest crowding in at the edges of the fence. Ryan also did very well with grabbing my attention. She opens the book with her heroine facing two simple problems: zombies and boys. And then BAM! Her mom gets infected, her brother tosses her out and the boy that was going to speak for her (though she’s actually in love with his brother) goes silent. That coupled Ryan’s spin on the whole zombie thing hooks and drags you through the first half of the book (drags as in tied behind a runaway horse).

I liked the her spin. My limited experience with zombies (Abhorsen trilogy anyone?) uses magic in the creation of the undead (or weird forms of Kryptonite). This was the first time that I remember science used. The unconsecrated were created by scientists out of the desire to do good and help people. They weren’t planning on making a horde of flesh-eating animated corpses.

Unfortunately (and this would have helped my overall impression) I felt like there was a lack of a character arc for Mary in this book. She kind of starts in one place, has an adventure, and then ends in another place that is the same as the first place. A character needs to have growth, they need to be different in a marked way. Not just in that they have had new experiences, but in the fact that they have changed as a person. I don’t feel that Mary did this.

Another thing that I suggest you watch for (and you will learn a lot from this) is the way the story kind of lulls in the middle. The tension does pick up again at the end (oh boy, does it pick up), but it does go a little limp for a chapter or two. This is a good section to maybe analyze when you’ve finished the book. Figure out why it dies down like it does and determine how you can avoid doing that in your own book.

This book is worth the read. It will entertain you and it will teach you something about writing. I had to take a long, hard look at myself to figure out why it was exactly that I didn’t like it. That exercise has made it easier for me write about a book objectively when it comes time for me to review it.

I will put out the caution that these are teenagers we’re dealing with and because of that sex is very much on Mary’s mind (especially considering that they’re expected to wed and increase the population at the age of sixteen). There is nothing gratuitous and it is all very subtle. I didn’t feel the need to skip any chunks of text as I have with some books, but I would still steer younger teens away from these books.

This is a good example of:

• Description
• World-building
• Starting tension

Diamonds in Disguise–Or the best stories come from the people you know

You know as writers we always love a good story. We read other writer’s works. We watch movies and listen to music. Nothing gets our blood going like a well-told tale. But I recently realized that they best stories aren’t fictional. They can, in fact, be sitting right next to you and you will never even know it.

Now this is something that I should have known, growing up with the mom that I had. She loved telling us stories about when she was a little girl. Okay, maybe I begged her for the stories. But the point is that she had some pretty awesome stuff to tell. About her childhood and about growing up (kids, your parents do know they’re talking about—listen to them). Like the one where a tornado once deposited an stable (intact, horses and all) in her backyard.

But no, I didn’t realize it growing up. The things we take for granted. Of course I didn’t want to be a writer when I was little, so I didn’t spend much time thinking about these things.

No I realized it a few weeks ago reading a friend’s blog post. I remember reading it and thinking, “Now, that’s a story.”

The amazing things in life don’t happen when you’re reading the book (at least, most of them don’t). They happen while you’re out living it. While you’re out making memories and laughing (or crying) with friends. You discover them when you talk with other people.

Your life may not seem interesting to you. You may think that it’s boring or dull. But the person sitting right next to you probably thinks the same thing about their life. So swap stories, you might discover that the tale they have to tell is more amazing than anything you could ever read or write.

Don’t Get Twitterpated–Or what I’ve learned about tweeting good content

Twitter is a valuable tool for any writer. From bestselling authors to those of us just trying to write something—anything—that people will enjoy as much as we do. And Twitter isn’t very hard to figure out, just takes a few months or years…Actually, I’m not sure I’ll ever really know entirely what I’m doing with Twitter. Mostly, I just take a shot in the dark and try it again if it works. The one thing that I’ve noticed, though, is that tweeting good content often, is the best way to engage with others and will get you the most exposure.

But finding good content can be hard. All that searching and reading and having to decide if it’s worth retweeting. It just takes so much effort. Right?

Wrong.

If I’m focused I can plan out a whole day’s worth of tweets in just two quick sit downs (I use Buffer, which only allows me to store 10 tweets at a time). How do I do this?

Tweeting good content is mostly about staying informed and trying to predict what your audience would want to know. Now, chances are you are no more a mind-reader than I am. So, how do you predict what your followers are going to want to read? Simple. Just pass on what you find interesting, chances are they will find it interesting too. After all, they most likely followed you because you share some similar interests. Now that that part is out of the way, we can talk about how to find good content. Or at least, what I’ve learned  about finding good content.

Half the work will be done for you if you follow the right people. If you follow people that are posting good content that interests you, it’s easy to find stuff you want to pass on to your followers. When trying to build your Twitter list look for these kinds of people:

• Authors like you- Look for others that are in a similar spot in their writing journey. They are the most likely to post information that is applicable to you. They also love to interact with others like them. They will be the first to congratulate you when you make your word count. And the first to encourage you when your book is driving you up a wall. Or slamming you into the wall.
• Authors that inspire you (or your friends)- I didn’t start following people like Rick Riordan (@CampHalfBLood), Ally Carter (@OfficiallyAlly) or Lauren DeStefano (@LaurenDeStefano) because I dreamed of becoming all buddy-buddy with them. I followed them because I loved their writing…Okay, mostly I followed them for news about their upcoming books, but I have learned so much from following them and other published authors. I’ve learned about book tours and copy editing and keeping going even when you want to burn your manuscript, so I now follow as many of my favorite authors as I can.
• Publishing houses/agents/editors- These are good to follow so you can stay up-to-date with the publishing industry. They also happen to post a lot of advice about writing and publishing. So follow them. Especially if you’ll be submitting your book to them.
• Social media experts- Let’s face it, we’ve entered a world where managing your Twitter and Facebook and blog are just as crucial as writing that book. Following social media accounts (good ones) are a good way to learn and keep abreast of what’s going on. After all, the more you know…

Another good source of info for me are the blogs that I subscribe to (Most of them are located in my blogroll to the right). I apply the same criteria to choosing my blogs. All I have to do is log into my email and I have all kinds of interesting posts at my fingertips. Plus, just like with retweeting, it’s nice to support others that you admire.

If neither of those are working for me—or if I feel like I’m lacking variety on that day—I will do a hashtag search. There are all kinds of people that you never even knew about posting stuff that might just tickle you. Plus, including posts with hashtags makes it easier for others to find and follow you. Some that I have used include:

• #amwriting
• #writetip/#writetips
• #writer
• #writing
• #author

Finally, even though you want to be passing along the content of others., there is one big reason that people (real people at least) decide to follow you: They like you. Something you said resonated with them. So don’t forget to be yourself. After you’ve got all kinds of fun stuff to pass along, put in a few personal tweets. Twitter is a great place for accountability. Ask people to hold you responsible for goals. Post updates about where you are. Are you sitting down to write for a few hours? Post your word count, people will celebrate with you…or berate you if you didn’t make your goal. Twitter can also be a great place to ask questions and offer any insight that you might have.

Finally, I couldn’t talk about Twitter without mentioning how I make it happen.

The main problem that you may discover if that you don’t have the time to sit on Twitter all day long and space your tweets out evenly. Nor do you want to flood the Twitter stream with everything that you’ve found to share. Here comes the importance of scheduling your tweets using an app like Buffer or TweetDeck or HootSuite. They all have their pros and cons and it doesn’t much matter which you use. It just depends on what your preferences are.

Now I can’t claim to be any kind of Twitter expert. Heck, I can’t claim to be an expert at much of anything (except running a Chick-Fil-A drive-thru). But this is what I have learned so far, so I wanted to share it with you. Please chime in with your own advice.

And if you’re interested in following me my handle is: @TheGladElf.

Free Book Fridays: The Book That Took My Breath Away

It is time to tell you about my final giveaway. And I’ve saved the best for last: The Hunger Games.

The ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to death before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love. (Scholastic)

I still get chills thinking about this series.

I didn’t know it was possible for a book to affect me like these books did. This book is intense. With a capital ‘I’. I was shaking when I finished the series.

Now Hunger Games allows you a little control. It makes you think that you can put it down and that you are still a functioning human being and then you read the next book. You are not in control. Suzanne Collins is in control. And you had better be ready for the ride.

Another thing that I didn’t know was that it was possible to write like she writes. I lived, I breathed that world. It was me, I was it. And that book was glued to my hand. Someday, I will have the time to reread this series, without the desperate need to know what happens, and I will be able to figure out how she did it, but I have never experienced the sensation of being unable to breath while reading a book (well, not when my asthma is under control).

You know the hype. You know it’s going to be a movie. And it is going to take the world by storm…even more so than it already has. Experience it now. Be one of those people that read the book before they saw the movie. You will experience something incredible.

To win, just comment on this blog post. Tell me about an author that took your breath away or affected you in a way that you did not expect.

Also, you can get extra entries if you do any of the three following things:

1. Follow me on Twitter. Just make sure you leave your Twitter handle in your comment so I know to credit you.
2. You can also comment and repost any of my blog posts for another entry. Make sure you tag me on Twitter so I know you did it, or send me the link if you choose another method.
3. Subscribe to my blog. I will give you two entries.

Do all of this by 9 p.m. E.S.T. on September 30^th. I will announce the winner on October 1^st as well as draw names for any of the books that I have left.

Also, if you haven’t been convinced by my rabid fan ravings, you can check out the review here.

Book Review: Goliath

Goliath by Scott Westerfeld

Ages 12 and up

With disaster successfully averted in Istanbul, the Leviathan and her crew are headed to an unknown destination in Asia. But of course, when you’re just a few months into a world war, trouble is always sure to pop up. The airship is rerouted to Siberia first, where Deryn has to deal with the brilliant (and possibly mad) Dr. Nikola Tesla who claims that his weapon, the Goliath, has the power to level cities from half a world away. He believes it will stop the war. Alek instantly sees Tesla’s invention as his chance to stop fighting that he feels his family is responsible for. After all, his father’s marriage to his mother, a commoner, is what made them targets in the first place. And if they hadn’t been killed, Austria would never have invaded Serbia. To further complicate things, he discovers that the boy he has known as Dylan, his best friend, is actually a girl. Hurt and betrayed, Alek pulls away from everyone but the eccentric doctor. Will Deryn convince Alek to trust her again? Will Alek be able to stop the war? And is Tesla a genius or a madman?

I have had to put this book down at least five times since I sat down to write that bit. In fact, I think I better put it back on its shelf. Out of sight, out of mind. Right?

Okay, I’m back.

So, Goliath. Oh, Scott-la, you have outdone yourself again. I’m still giggling from my favorite bits and pieces. And my fingers are itching to pick it back up and reread right now. If I didn’t have at least fifteen other books on my “to-read” list, plus the research for my book and my book, I would gladly spend another lunchless afternoon. I was little more than a bump on a log (well, bed) yesterday. You can ask my mom. A giggling, cackling, kicking with joy bump.

So what is that made Goliath so good? Other than the fact that it’s the final tome in a series that I love?

I think Scott Westerfeld’s biggest strength as a writer is his world-building. It is so easy to get caught up in the world that you’ve created and go overboard on the detail. Westerfeld has never done this for me. If I could pick one series that I would most want to have turned into a movie (a good movie, that is) right now, this would be it. Westerfeld uses beautiful, vivid, colorful detail in his story. I can almost see and touch and smell the world that he’s made in the Leviathan series. I was transported to Tokyo and to New York, as well as into the familiar passageways of the airship.

But wait, that’s not the only thing.

It’s not just this new world that he has created that makes this book so unique, but the way he integrates that world into history. For all of the new ideas between the Clankers and the Darwinists that are included, it never feels outrageous. And that’s saying something when you’re dealing with a giant flying whale. I think the reason is because he uses facts to ground the story. There is just enough of the world we know to make this fantasy real. For example, one of the characters that makes a brief cameo is William Randolf Hearst. In our world, he was a sensationalist newspaper mogul. In their world, he is a sensationalist newspaper mogul. Through his character we get to experience the conflict between the New York Journal and the New York World. We get to glimpse a little of the silent film era through him also. All of these are elements that existed in the real U.S. or A. around the time of WWI. For his use of history alone, I would recommend this series to anyone looking to write historical fiction (whether or not you’re going to change history in your book).

His characters were just as much fun as in the previous books and showed just as much growth. I loved how when Alek found out Deryn’s secret (oh, c’mon guys, it’s on the front jacket flap) he was upset for a variety of different reasons. Not just because she hadn’t trusted him or because he’d felt that she betrayed him. But more on that later. I believe that I have already talked about how well Westerfeld crafts his main characters in my Behemoth review. It wasn’t until Goliath that I truly appreciated how well-rounded his side characters are. They were never stereotypes. You know that thing they say about small actors? I think perhaps here the phrase should read “There are no small characters, only small writers.” When I shut that book, it wasn’t just Deryn and Alek that I missed (as is often the case), I miss them all. Klopp and Bovril and Dr. Barlow and even Eddie Malone (despite the desire to strangle the man). I missed their personalities and their quirks and even the way they talked.

My final favorite part of this book was the relationship between Alek and Deryn (no brainer, I know). Westerfeld could have easily ruined it for me, but instead he had the relationship grow naturally, after Alek knew Deryn for who she truly was. And though it was awkward at first, I think they both handled it in a way that showed how much they had grown over the last three books. And that’s as far as I can go on this subject without getting myself in trouble.

If you have not read Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan series, I have only two things to say to you. First, shame on you for reading this whole review without having read books one and two. Second, get thee to a library/bookstore and obtain thee copies of these books. This series is in no way a waste of time and probably the most good, clean fun you will have until Oct. 4^th. (You can’t see it, but typing that date has put a manic grin on my face.)

This is a good example of:

• World-building
• Integration of fact and fiction
• Characterization
• Character utilization
• Pacing

This book is on my recommended reading list.

Free Book Fridays: The Author That Keeps Me Begging For More

First off: Congratulations to last week’s winner, Mariajose. Who will be receiving her very own copy Heist Society by Ally Carter in the mail just as soon as she gets me her address.

And now, on to this week’s book: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. For those of you who’ve never heard of Percy Jackson, keep reading. If you’ve had your eye on this series for a while (or you already love the series) just skip the italic bits and get to the good stuff.

Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school…again. And that’s the least of his troubles. Lately, mythological monsters and the gods of Mount Olympus seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy’s Greek mythology text book and into his life. And worse, he’s angered a few of them. Zeus’ master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect.

Now Percy and his friends have just ten days to find and return Zeus’ stolen property and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus. But to succeed on his quest, Percy will have to do more than catch the true thief: he must come to terms with the father who abandoned him; solve the riddle of the Oracle, which warns him of betrayal by a friend; and unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves. (Disney Hyperion)

If you’ve been following my blog from the beginning…or really, for the last few months…you’re probably aware of some of the authors that I just adore: Scott Westerfeld, Lauren DeStefano, Suzanne Collins, Eoin Colfer, Cassandra Clare (oh, wait, I haven’t told you about her yet), Ally Carter. The list is rather long.

Rick Riordan is somewhere near the top. Like way high up there.

His Percy Jackson series is currently my most battered and beloved set of books. I’m addicted. I love Percy. I love Annabeth. I love Grover. I even love Clarisse on occasion.

I picked them up one January day, right before the movie came out (because, when possible, I prefer to read the book first).

And I could not put them down.

Seriously, I made a late night run to Barnes & Noble just to get The Last Olympian, because I could not stand just hanging where The Battle of the Labyrinth had left me. I was addicted. And I still am.

And thankfully, he didn’t stop with Last Olympian. Anything of Riordan’s that I can get my hands on, I devour. I’d probably show up to purchase his shopping list if he published it.

And it’s not just because his writing jives with my own sense of humor. Or that his characters are so memorable and fun. Or that his plots are not what I would expect from a borderline YA (actually, it’s more middle grade, but I don’t care). Nor is it the fact that I have loved Greek mythology since I was eight.

He has taken something that I love, something that I am utterly familiar with, and he has done more than retell the stories. He has reinvented them with the humor and the characters and the plot.

The Lightning Thief is the first book I bring up when I hear someone reads. It’s the first book that I recommend when someone is looking for something to read. It’s the book that I gave as birthday presents to my two best friends. I reread this series often, because I love it and because it just makes my day happier to dive into Percy’s world. I think, if I could live in any of the books that I have read, this is the one I would choose (unless, of course, I could be an elf in Middle-Earth).

You can bet that when Son of Neptune comes out, I will have scraped all of my pennies together and will be waiting on the sidewalk, for my Barnes & Noble to open so that I can take my copy home and read it. Or at least, I’ll go over right after work.

And this wonderful experience can be yours too. There is a copy of The Lightning Thief sitting on my bookshelf, waiting for someone to comment below and win it. Tell me about an author that you absolutely adore, or one that you’ve followed forever…but make sure you do it by 5 p.m. EST on September 22^nd. And if you’d like extra entries into the contest, try one of the three ways below (all of which will get you entered into this week and next week’s drawings):

1. Follow me on Twitter. Make sure you put your Twitter handle in your comment so that I know to give you the credit.
2. Help spread the word. Comment on another of my blog posts and then post the link to Twitter (or facebook). Just make sure you give me the link (or tag me if you choose Twitter).
3. Subscribe! This one will earn you not one, but two entries into the next two drawings!