If you like The Hunger Games...

Then you will LOVE this.

This morning Kelsey discovered this little baby and put it on Twitter. And WOW. Danielle Chuchran is going to make a GREAT Katniss. I really, really, really want her to get it!! Check it out. Prepare yourself because everyone who's seen it has cried. Wowzers!






What do you think?! Let's start the campaign to get Danielle Chuchran as Katniss!!!

Join the facebook fan page for Danielle as Katniss Everdeen!!!

The first time is memorable

Firsts are important. First car. First kiss. First line.

In the fun book-ish world, you can add some other types of firsts...and these are momentous in the life a writer--or blogger.

First ARC you get in the mail. First blog post. First comment on said blog post. First book signing. First launch party.  First dinner with an author. First time my blog gets me a quote in an article. First post in which you go link crazy. First contest. First book expo event.

In the last few months, I've been watching as all these awesome things keep happening. It blows me away. And today--I did the last one on my list. I had my first book expo event. And it was glorious!

It was called NEIBA, which I was able to go to because of my job as a independent bookseller. I didn't really know what to expect (aside from the books.) Luckily, I had Irish there to guide and direct me some. What did I discover? Only the most excellent time ever. I met great publishing reps for our store and had some wonderful conversations about YA and the blogging and book selling world. It's amazing how connected they are--and how full of incredible people. The community here amazes me more and more each day.

Anyway...as I'm sure you are wondering...here's the fun stuff I got today!!

Some it is going toward the YA Spooktacular Event...so you'll have to make sure you check that out for some fun stuff! (Another first! I've never hosted a blogging event before.)

The exciting thing is that there are so many more firsts to look forward to!

The first BEA. The first author guest post. The first book tour stop I go to. The first time I break 100 followers.

The first time I send out a query. The first time I sent out partials. The first time I get an agent (and hopefully the only time). The first time I get a book deal (and hopefully not the last). And then the first a cover and first ARC.

Sure. I know that those could be a loooooong time from now, but they are still hopes I cling to and work toward. After all, what is life if not hope?

SPEAK. You have a voice

Words are very powerful and this is the one time of year that people realize that, and fear it.

Wesley Scroggins, an associate professor of management at Missouri State University, finds the book SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson "filthy and immoral." He calls is "soft pornography." You can read his article here.  The fact that Mr. Scroggins can see this as porn makes my stomach turn. These are his words: 

In high school English classes, children are required to read and view material that should be classified as soft pornography.

I daresay that teenagers get these things from 9 out of 10 movies and television shows on the air right now. But I digress, as that is a point for another day. He says this of the book:

This is a book about a very dysfunctional family. Schoolteachers are losers, adults are losers and the cheerleading squad scores more than the football team. They have sex on Saturday night and then are goddesses at church on Sunday morning. The cheer squad also gets their group-rate abortions at prom time. As the main character in the book is alone with a boy who is touching her female parts, she makes the statement that this is what high school is supposed to feel like. The boy then rapes her on the next page. Actually, the book and movie both contain two rape scenes.

I'm sorry but sometimes, this is the opinion of teenagers. Some families are dysfunctional. Some teachers are viewed as losers (I had some) and yes, girls do have sex--and guys--and they go to church on Sunday like everyone else. There are stigmas on high school and sex and what is "normal." There always has been. (I mean, go watch Grease.) These things DO happen in real life and I daresay that's why Scroggins doesn't like it. But, that's not the point of me writing this post.

I read SPEAK in high school, when my drama teacher told all of us that we should read it. She even bought copies that we could read and kept them in her classroom. (She was a Christian as well, which Scroggins talks about in his article.) SPEAK is a book about a girl who is raped, and her struggles to move on. Her journey to find just how important her voice is.

We ALL have this struggle.

Sure, it's not always with rape, but there is something that we have that we can't always find the words to say. Maybe it is rape, or sex or drugs or goodness, even something as simple as under/over-eating or lying or jealousy. The list is numerous.

I think the point of a book like SPEAK is to give the courage to say those things. Whatever they are.

For Myra, who wrote this amazing post, it's her faith. For C.J., it's her story. These are only two examples. There are more that have opened up about this just today. In response. (And I highly doubt it was the response Scroggins expected.) There's a pretty exhaustive listing here. In addition, he's also called another YA book Twenty Boy Summer. The author of that Sarah Ockler, shares her opinion and also tells you how you can take a stand.

I'll say one of the things on my list: I was sexually abused when I was little. It's one of those taboo things that people don't talk about--and especially in my family. We don't talk about anything real. Even now. When I read SPEAK in high school, it affected me so much because I never, ever told anyone. No one. But it happened. I remember it from first to second grade and later, I as I grew up--until about fourth grade.  In corners, in nooks of the house, in the basement.  It was a long time, a big secret and a lot of pain. Now, they are vague memories but the pain and shame that accompanied them for so many years will always be fresh.

Middle school sucked for me. I was shell of a person. I tried to know something, to have something solid to hold on to, but I never really found it anywhere except books. Not friends. Certainly not family. There was nothing but me and my misery. Even when high school started and I became a Christian. I tried but there was always something missing. And I wanted it. Sometimes, I still wonder if I've found it. God is good to me and he's definitely been there--and is there--even when I'm not sure. He proves it through days like today.

Something C.J. wrote really resonates with me.

Maybe SPEAK isn't Dr. Scroggins' cup of tea. Maybe the idea of having his children read about a highly dysfunctional family is upsetting. Maybe the thought of having rape be a terrible reality in the life of the book's main character offends him. That's his right. But for every child who is blessed with a non-dysfunctional home and who hasn't been broken by something as awful as rape, there's another girl like me. A girl who can't find the words to describe how shattered she feels. Who doesn't even know if she has the right to feel shattered. Who's learned that bringing her secrets to the light results in more pain. That girl needs books like SPEAK to be on the shelves. She needs to know there are others out there like her. She needs to see someone else's path so she can have the language to start thinking about her own outcome.

This was me. The year after I read SPEAK I opened up. I definitely think it was part of the reason was because of this book. Not all of it, as my faith does play a role, but part. There is power in words.  To heal, to love, to grieve, to rejoice. There is power to spark something amazing and painful and full, which if you read either of the posts I linked you will see. The things he has said hurts my heart. Opinions are like noses I guess...but they still leave marks. I support SPEAK.  I always will.

If you've never read it,  buy a copy now. If you have, head on over to Anderson's post about this situation and show your support. If you are on twitter, tweet about it with the #SpeakLoudly hashtag. Promote this.

Words are powerful.

We can either let people like this keep them from being heard, keep us silent, or we can ban together and stand our ground. We can speak. We can shout. The more of us there are the louder will be.

Skip A Starbucks Day...Bring a girl home from China.

I heard this incredible story on Myra McEntire's blog and then again on Rachel Hawkins and I had to share it. I mean, I am PRO adoption. This story made me cry.

Check out the full story on CJ Redwine's blog. I was going to recap it but it's her story....and it's incredible.

Basically, you pay $5 (which is the cost of one grande iced vanilla latte) and you help bring a girl, named Johanna Faith, home from China to her new family. And, as if that act was enough, you can win something. Lots of things. So, it's $5, a prize and a little girl who needs her family.

Skip a Starbucks. Or a Dunkin Donuts. Or McDonalds. Skip it & change a life. Seems pretty simple for just $5.

Also, if you donate at CJ's page, leave a comment here. I'll send someone a prize too. I have some ARCs lying around...

Here's what I need: Comment with the following information:
Did you donate money? y/n
Did you tweet this cause to help? y/n (Add link) +2
Did you facebook this cause? (add link) +4

"I'm a reflection of the community."

I’m BIG on community. I love it. I love having people who know me, really know me, who like me for the crazy, lost, random, indecisive me that I am. I need encouragement, acceptance, love, freedom--and I need it from people who know me. M. Scott Peck once said, "There can be no vulnerability without risk; there can be no community without vulnerability; there can be no peace, and ultimately no life, without community." If he was right, then community, literally, is a circle. In both definition and action.

I feel as if I have always been on the search for true community, even before I knew what it was I was looking for. I needed people who were the same yet different, who were bonded with me over something. I think that all of us, every single person, longs for some form of community. We search for it in clubs and friends, in jobs, in churches, in teams, on Facebook, in chat rooms. (I can continue but I wont. You get it.) There are some who find it in these places and some who don't. There are some, and I fall into this category, who have glimmers of it--but glimmers do not a whole picture make.

Eventually, after a couple long and trying years, I got tired of searching. When I did, something fantastic happened: I met Myra McEntire. We lived in the same city at the time and she came into my Borders. Through some random things, I started talking to her. I remember that I said to her, "I'm a writer. I just started working on a YA novel...I've been looking for people to connect with." She smiled, grabbed my arm and said something that I had no idea would impact my life as it has. Her words: "Are you on Twitter? Get on Twitter." I had Twitter but I didn't know what I had until she talked to me.

Apparently, there’s a world full of young adult authors and bloggers on twitter—and they will talk to you, answer questions, encourage, connect. What is the crazy world!???!? Now, it's August, my sixth month of YA life on Twitter, and I am blown away by it. Not Twitter itself but the people. Oh my gosh the people.

I have never seen a community like this. It is the most incredible group of people, people who genuinely care about each other, who pour out their lives, hearts, time, wisdom to help others learn and grow. I’m in it. I tell my best friend that it is my social life and, in a way, it is. I have developed relationships with amazing people who have changed me with their words, their laughter, their encouragement—and I haven’t even met most of them. I'm not sure what it is exactly that makes this community so incredible. Maybe it simply that you share something you are passionate about. Passion is easy to bond over. And when that passion is writing, or reading, that bond is remarkable.

The YA community is the most amazing thing I’ve ever been part of. I know that I have an immense purpose for being part of it (stumbling into it, really!) And my biggest advice to anyone pursing anything in writing (especially in the YA world) is to get on Twitter and connect. It sounds weird--and I get that--but I also know that I've had amazing coffees, dinners, cupcakes, conversations, encouragement and all-around support with amazing people, who are the authors and bloggers and readers on Twitter.


I was trying to figure out what to call this post. Then I found the title quote by...ahem...Tupac (2pac or Tupac Shakur, if you prefer). Random but fitting. Why?

Because I AM a reflection of the community.

I would've never made it this far without every single person who has reached out to me. I hope that I reflect them well. I also hope that you feel the same. I hope that the YA community on Twitter is your social life, your family, your friends. And if so, reflect them well. If we do, the next generation of YA writers will have something to believe in and they will pass it on because community is a circle.