Sunday is for Secrets

PostSecret




Quote of the Day:

There are no secrets better kept than the secrets that everybody guesses.
-- George Bernard Shaw

Authors in the Corner: Mini-View with Tera Lynn Childs

How did you decide to become an author?

I never really decided to be an author. Since I was more of a science girl growing up, it never really crossed my mind. Then, after I finished graduate school and was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, I spent a lot of time reading. And the more I read the more I started getting ideas of my own. Ideas of what I would have done differently, what I would have had the characters do. So I decided to try writing a book of my own.

As a child, what did you want to grow up to be?

A million different things. I had a different dream every week, I think. Here’s an abridged list: teacher, architect, fashion designer, actress, environmental biologist, lawyer, doctor, dancer, and mommy.

Who or what’s your greatest influence?

I don’t think I can name a single influence on my writing. I tend to absorb things subconsciously (like the summer I spent at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival when I started speaking in Elizabethan English), so I’m sure I’ve absorbed many influences over the years. I do know that THE LIVELY ART OF WRITING by Lucile Vaughan Payne taunt me a lot about the mechanics of style.

Are you working on something right now?

Yes, but it’s hush-hush and unofficial. I can tell you that it is not connected to OH. MY. GODS. or GODDESS BOOT CAMP (coming June 2009) and that it involves a different branch of mythology.

Have you ever refrained from writing about a certain topic for fear of how others would react to it?

No, and I don’t think I would. I’m a firm believer in the idea that plot is derived from character and so the action of any book will naturally develop from that characters. If my characters ever lead me to a controversial topic, then it must be necessary to the story and I could not ignore that for the sake of avoiding controversy.

What’s your favorite author? Your favorite book?

My default answer is Jane Austen and PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, but I have many favorite authors and even more favorite books.

Is there something that I didn’t ask that you wish I had?

What color is your toenail polish?
Sparkly Caribbean blue!

Thanks, Tera!

Quote of the Day:

A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won't cross the street to vote in a national election...
-- Bill Vaughan

Corner Reviews: Serafina67 *Urgently Requires Life*

serafina67 *urgently requires life*
Susie Day
Scholastic Press

After getting a new laptop for Christmas, our main character decides she is going to start a blog. Therein lays the creation of serafina67. Sera only has a few rules for her blog – no typing in ALL CAPS (except for when she just has to rant about her dad and the “stepmonster”), and no one must EVER speak about the Incident.

So she sets herself a happiness deadline to achieve some goals. She wants to make her mom happy. She (of course!) doesn’t want any repeats of the Incident. She wants to get a boyfriend and make new friends.

So what’s going on between her and patchworkboy? And who is this mysterious person she has befriended, who goes by the name of Daisy? Keep checking back for daily posts!

Okay… I’m going to go ahead and get this out of my system. I know that this is a book about a girl’s blog, but jeez… ever heard of spell check and punctuation? Seriously, lots of people blog, but I don’t see many of them typing this way. I also had a little trouble understanding what she was saying sometimes because of the slang terms.

Now, you may get the assumption that I disliked the book. Well, you’re wrong. Despite all of these things, I was really able to get into the story, and the person behind Daisy really surprised me. If you don’t mind those minor things, you should definitely consider looking into this book!

Quote of the Day:

I love you the more that I believe you have liked me for my own sake and for nothing else.
-- John Keats

Authors in the Corner: Guest Blogging with Tera Lynn Childs

Happy Birthday! WOO!

---------------------

Today ... is my birthday. At precisely 10:52am (Central Time) I will be thirty-mumble-mumble. Okay fine, I’ll be thirty-two. Not the end of the world. Right?

It’s a little scary, though. I mean, I’m now officially twice as old as when I got my drivers’ license. (Actually, since I failed the test on my birthday and had to take it again the next day, I’ll be twice as old two days from now.) I’m more than three times as old as when I had my golden birthday, when I turned ten on September 10. I don’t even want to think about how many times older I am than when I had my first real birthday party in first grade.

But the thing is ... I don’t feel old.

An old person doesn’t watch Disney Channel or read Gossip Girl or listen to Kid Rock. They don’t play Neopets or spends hours upon hours watching marathons of Buffy or Hannah Montana. They definitely don’t buy High School Musical water bottles and spiral notebooks.

I was watching an episode of Buffy tonight (the one where Willow casts a spell and everyone loses their memories of everything about themselves) and there was a part where Buffy called Dawn a kid and Dawn said, “A teenager.” And that got me thinking: How did Dawn know she was a teenager? She had no memory of how old she was. She had no ID. She couldn’t see herself. How did she know she wasn’t twelve or twenty.

Think about it. If you closed your eyes and forgot how old you were, could you guess? With no other clues, could you ... feel your age? Would you be right?

If I close my eyes and forget that I’m thirty-mumble-mumble, my brain short-circuits me right back to high school. I might as well be that seventeen-year-old, ready to graduate and take on the world. I still feel that fear and excitement and absolute belief in the future that I felt fifteen years ago. (Only now it’s kind of blurred by the fact that I have to pay bills and act like an adult ... most of the time.)

Maybe that’s why I love writing teen fiction so much. I get to indulge that inner teenager who hasn’t realized that she’s trapped in a grownup’s body. I hope she never does.

Keep your eyes open later this week to learn some more about Tera!

Quote of the Day:

I put my faith in you,
So much faith and then you
Just threw it away.
-- Paramore, For A Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic (Riot!)

Did You Miss Me?

Hey guys! You've finally got me back (well... sort of). I'm on a computer in another town right now because guess what? I have power and water, but not cable and internet :[

As soon as I can, I PROMISE that I will flood you guys with reviews.

As for other news....

I just spent like almost four hours checking my email and wading through all my google reader posts. If I didn't read yours, I'm sorry -- I ended up just pressing "mark all as read". It's alot to keep up with!

And I'm sick :[ It's not very fun.

Thanks to Chelsea for making sure that everything was posting right!

I miss you guys, and I hope to have internet back in my home realllllly soon.

Quote of the Day:
Man, hurricanes suck.
-- Me

Authors in the Corner: Guest Blogging With Regina Scott

The Things We Do for Love

I’m delighted to be here today. Thanks to Megan for having me as a guest! Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Regina Scott, and I write primarily historical fiction, usually set in the nineteenth century in England. My first young adult novel, La Petite Four, is available now in fine stores everywhere. I love the glamour, the interesting stories, the sheer adventure that is the nineteenth century. But when you write history, you have to research.

And that’s a love in itself.

They say write what you know. To write about a historical period, you have to know everything from what they ate to how they got around town to what they called their best friends. I’ve read dozens of books on the Regency period (1810 to 1820 in England), gone to a plethora of museums and conferences, but, for me, head knowledge isn’t enough. I have to experience it.

And that’s led me down some rather odd paths.

I’ve handled nineteenth century dueling pistols in New Orleans. I learned to fence with the epée and once fought a silver medalist from Iran to a draw. I’ve driven a coach and four around the park. I’ve danced to Hole in the Wall and the Sir Roger de Coverly, two famous Regency country dances. I’ve peered through quizzing glasses and laced up corsets. I’ve dressed up like a Regency dandy to prove it was possible for a girl to masquerade as a boy. (And it isn’t as easy as it sounds, believe me!)

It wasn’t until this year, though, that I could do the ultimate research—go to England and experience it for myself. Oh, a lot has changed since the nineteenth century, but there’s so much in England that still reminds me of the period I love so much. For example, the city of Bath holds a lot of its nineteenth century charm. One of the original spa towns, people used to go to bathe in and drink the water that bubbles up from hot springs below. Of course I had to try it.

Besides the obvious places like Spencer House, the home of Princess Diana’s ancestors, there are little known corners of London that whisper of times past. I loved seeing Hyde Park and Rotten Row, where my characters ride their horses, and Bond Street, where they shop. My wonderful critique partner Kristin and I even stumbled into this little alley off St. James’s where we found what must have been a mews at one time. Each of the lower doors would have housed a prized bit of horseflesh for the aristocracy living nearby while grooms and coachmen lived in the upper rooms. Can’t you just see the horses prancing into the yard, so proud, hear the jingle of tack and the call of the grooms? Now, that’s what research is all about, making your story more real!

If you love history or just good stories, be sure to stop by the blog I share with talented author Marissa Doyle. Nineteen Teen (http://www.nineteenteen.blogspot.com) features interesting tidbits about life in nineteenth century England, along with fun quizzes and contests. And my website http://www.lapetitefour.com has articles and more pictures on the Regency as well. Until we meet again, blessings!

Quote of the Day:

If you do not tell the truth about yourself, you cannot tell it about other people.

-- Virginia Woolf

Authors in the Corner: Mini-View With Regina Scott

Regina Scott, Author Interrupted ( :] )

How did you decide to become an author?

I loved books so much, and I loved telling stories. Becoming an author was a natural fit.

As a child, what did you want to grow up to be?

An author. I wrote my first novel in the third grade. Thankfully for literature as we know it, it was never published.

Who or what’s your greatest influence?

My faith. I was born again a few years ago, and that’s made me rethink my priorities, my vocation, what I write, and the way I write. Once you start following Jesus, there’s no looking back, only forward.

Are you working on something right now?

I’m trying my hand at a contemporary YA (shock!) about a British teen transplanted to a Florida high school. Hey, I had to get England in there somehow!

Have you ever refrained from writing about a certain topic for fear of how others would react to it?

Not a specific topic. I do have to be careful in writing about history, though, to make sure that the story doesn’t get lost in the historical detail that I find so fascinating. I also take care to choose the right details. For example, I know they had chamber pots and outhouses, and women wore no underwear so they could use those conveniences, but that’s TMI for most people.

What’s your favorite author? Your favorite book?

Oh, this is hard! I have so many favorites on my keeper shelf! One series I’ve read over and over again since I was a kid is the Prydain fantasies by Lloyd Alexander (The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, The Castle of Llyr, Taran Wanderer, and The High King). Most recently I’ve read Revenge of the Homecoming Queen and Twisted Sisters by Stephanie Hale and laughed myself sick. I just read Shelley Adina’s first book in her new series, It’s All About Us. Friends, fashion, faith. Fantastic!

Is there something that I didn’t ask that you wish I had?

Why write historical stories? There’s something magical to me about the past. The whisper of long skirts, the scent of lavender verbena perfume, the comfort of chamomile tea and raspberry scones. Galloping across the fields, defending your honor by sword, dancing the night away with a handsome viscount at your side. Ah, the stuff of dreams. I hope I get to share them for many years to come.

Quote of the Day:

When the whole world fits inside of your arms,

Do we really need to pay attention to the alarm?

-- Jack Johnson "Banana Pancakes"