Standing in line to enter Theater number 3 about a half an hour before showtime, I notice the guy standing in front of us. He’s got a goatee and hairstyle almost identical to Robert Downey, Jr. I seriously had to do a double take.
“You didn’t grow out the goat just for the movie, did you?” Yes, I went there…asking a complete stranger, an adult no less, if he’s trying to look like Ironman.
He laughed, took one look at Hubby, and said, “He’s got one too.” Good point. Continue reading
Stephanie Morrill, Creator of GoTeenWriters, wrote a new book. Within a book. Sort of. Think Inception with a YA twist, but no one wakes up tied to a chair or sitting at a desk spinning a top. But her main character, Ellie Sweet, is a writer. And Ellie takes her “real” world and rewrites it into a fictional piece full of Lady’s, Princes, catty dames, sword duels and the whole nine yards. The people in her life, high schoolers in and out of her circle of friends, become fodder for her characters and scenes.
But the funny thing is her Prince Charming changes names. Because just when she thought she knew who she was falling in love with, at her high school, she finds herself drawn to another Prince, the kind whose crown isn’t apparent to the naked eye.
The Revised Life of Ellie Sweet is not your typical YA Read but I simply loved it. And I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but I can tell you this: For a writer/reader who tends to choose sides (Team Edward, Team Gale, and Team Sawyer *from Lost) within the first few encounters of a story, I can say that this is the first time I didn’t choose. Because I couldn’t. Until right near the end of the book. I totally fell in love. Twice! I guess there’s always a first time for everything.
Morrill’s fun YARead is available to DOWNLOAD Tomorrow at www.playlistfiction.com – a clickity click away! And you can always peruse the first pages on Amazon to get a taste test! Reviews are up too if you’re interested. Excited for you all to meet Ellie. She’s Sweet, in the most wonderful way! 🙂
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Have you read anything good lately, Young Adult-Fictionally speaking? Do Share! Have you checked out the other selections at Playlist Fiction? The library is a’ growin! 🙂
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What did you learn growing up about Eye Contact?
Were you in the hard knocks school of “Look me in the eye, Son!” or did you hear “Never look a person in the eye” from your social mentors?
And when you fell in love. The first time. Was it in her eyes that you found yourself? And could he see right into your heart when he gazed into your baby blues? Or in my case, the brown-eyed girl?
Attended a marriage seminar several years back called PAIRS where the first lesson shared the importance of body language, encouraging couples to establish a focused position before talking. Knee to knee. Eye to eye.
But not everyone does the eye contact thing naturally. Personally, I get a tad distracted if I’m concentrating too hard when I look into someone’s eyes. My mind begins this peripheral dialogue that sends me into a zone all by itself.
“He’s looking into my eyes. I’m looking into his. He’s holding his stare. Holy cow, he hasn’t blinked. In a really long time. Wait! Which eye am I looking in? Left? Right? Both? Yikes! Who will look away first? [I do… then return, and…] He’s still looking. Right into my eyes. Wow. What was I saying? What were we talking about?” Continue reading
I was a thinker from a young age. So I resent the suggestion that young people don’t think. Or have irrelevant experiences. Or just need to grow up. Because those very tender and vulnerable years are when I learned so much about myself. My needs. My fears. My dreams.
Allow me to introduce you to my friend and co-author at Playlist Fiction, Laura Anderson Kurk. She gets teens. But not only that, she’s a superb writer who has a gift with words. She’s taught me so much in a short amount of time. On top of giving me a story that will stay with me forever. Glass Girl is an incredibly beautiful story of how something new can come of something broken. Life after loss. Love that shows up when you least expect it. But need it most. Meg’s story will take you by the hand and walk you through her journey of pain. And healing. And hope. A story that continues in the sequel Perfect Glass, which I am just as eager to pick up this June. On or around the same time as Swimming Through Clouds, my first YA Book. Ever! Yikes! Continue reading
This is Love.
To tell you the truth, it takes a lot longer than FIVE minutes to type up an itty-bitty blog on my iPhone. Although, I haven’t tried to dictate the words to Siri, who still thinks “Raj” is “Rise” so I’m not holding my breath on that option.
Anyway, I write my first-five minute blog yesterday on the LIRR, heading to Manhattan, and Hubs sits next to me, amused. At first. After six. Then ten. Then twenty minutes of fixing all the words Auto-correct thinks I meant to say, I round out the five sentence story and hit SEND. Off to impress the socks off readers everywhere, because who doesn’t have five minutes to spare?
I promise to tell you all the details of our ultra-fun, topsy-turvy, full of “No way!… WAY!”-moments date, but first: The value of five minutes as I’ve experienced this past week, leading up to yesterday.
This past Tuesday, I make plans to attend a book reading of Ashok Rajamani, the author of the memoir “The Day My Brain Exploded” at a Barnes and Noble in the city. But I haven’t been to a bookstore in a while, so I decide to arrive plenty early to read and research popular Young Adult novels currently circulating the hands of teens. The train two minutes from my house, according to the LIRR website, leaves at 12:35PM. I leave my house at 12:27PM. Sure. I probably didn’t need to zap my coffee those last 30 seconds. But what can I say, sometimes a girl just has to have her coffee. Warm. Continue reading
I interrupt this BLOG to make a Public Service Announcement. Two, in fact.
After threats to give my laptop a bubble bath by my princesses who are home 24/7, Spring-breaking, I have been warned not to spend too many minutes writing. So, for the most part, besides a tiny bit of this and that, In Search of Waterfalls is In Search of a Vacation this week.
And the SECOND Big Announcement is the Launch of a NEW, very cool, Website called, PlayList Fiction. <—– This is what happens when a very coolio Lit Agency rounds up five aspiring Young Adult Fiction authors and creates a hot E-Book Line! Books! Giveaways! Every Month!!
Today’s the day! April 1st!
One Day! Three Books! Are now available to Download the Drama!
So connect with us ON Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest and let’s get acquainted!
And that’s it! Happy Spring Break, All! Off to Shake it UP and learn from the Dog with a Blog. World of Tweens I live in. What can I say?
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And you, how are you spending your Spring Break? Any news you want to share? Do you watch Dog with a Blog? Come on… I admitted it!
