WriteOnCon The Vlog Part 2 (WARNING DANCING AHEAD)

Well, we might be a little bit biased, but we think this vlog announcing that WriteOnCon registration opens tomorrow, Thursday July 1st, is even funnier than the first one.

Of course, you don't have to take my word for it. Witness the American Idol-esque antics of one writer determined to get into WriteOnCon. 

Karsten, we hate to be the ones to break it to you, but registration is open to EVERYONE at http://www.writeoncon.com/ starting tomorrow. Stancing (stalking while dancing) is NOT required. In fact, it's discouraged.

Triumphant Tuesday

Okay, so the truth is, I'm not feeling even remotely triumphant today. In fact, I'm feeling hot, sweaty, tired, crabby and annoyed with life in general.

And yet, life is pretty freaking good.

I mean, read this post from our favorite Southern Belles over at Plot This. We're writers dammit, and we're lucky to be doing exactly what we love.

So, today I am making as solemn promise to myself to appreciate all of the amazing things in my life. I have a family that I adore, sisters who are my best friends, a job that I'm obsessed with and a DVR to record all the trashtastic summer television. Take that Tuesday!

So, you tell me: What's your triumph this Tuesday?

Giveaway: THE HEALING SPELL by Kimberley Griffiths Little

Keeping in spirit with THE HEALING SPELL (available from Scholastic Thursday), here are exactly 9 reasons why you need to buy this book. Now.

9. The author. Kimberley is maybe one of the nicest people we have ever met. She is incredibly supportive of other writers and has a great deal of wisdom to share because she's an old pro. Check out all of her other books here!

8. The blurbs. Um, hello Richard Peck of Newbery Award winning greatness.

7. The cover. After you read the book, the cover will have much more significance. The artist did a beautiful job capturing the spirit of the bayou and the tone of the novel.

6. The trailer. This speaks for itself. Show this to a room full of kids (okay fine, and thirty-something-year-old sister-writers) and they'll be begging to read. End of story.

5. The setting. Hello Louisiana. There's the bayou, the dialect, the gators, the pirogues. By the end of the book you'll want your own baby gator to hold while you lay back in your pirogue letting your fingers skim over the waters of the bayou with a belly full of crawfish. Trust me.

4. The culture. There are scenes in this novel that encapsulate the culture of the deep South. And the healing spell? I'll never forget it.

3. The secondary characters. Kimberley creates a solid cast of characters readers will fall in love with. A dad, sisters, an aunt, a cousin, the love-interest. They all work to thread the pieces and parts of the story together in a really rich and beautiful way.

2. The story. Middle schoolers everywhere will truly connect with Livie's situation whether or not they've ever dealt with a sick loved one. She's smack dab in the middle of two sisters (I feel your pain Livie), she idolizes her dad, struggles to understand her mom before the accident and feels nothing but guilt afterwards. Add in a confusing crush amidst difficult circumstances and you have the perfect storm of tension. Bravo!

1. Livie. Her voice rings so true to middle school. She tells the story with such heart that you can't help but fall in love. I was rooting for Livie all the way through and couldn't wait for her to find the strength she needed to come to terms with her mother's illness.

So, there you have it. THE HEALING SPELL stands out in the world of middle grade lit making it a must-have.

AND lucky for you, one reader will take home a SIGNED copy today. Become a follower, leave a comment with your email address and we'll let the random number generator decide!

What We Learned This Week: The Celeb Edition

Just because it's summer doesn't mean we can't learn a lesson or two. Thank God for celebs.

1. Pimping your kids out to the paps with Twilight props is just tacktastic.

There are so many things wrong with this picture. We're not quite sure where to begin.

• Um yeah, we get it Twi-hards across the world are excited for the movie premier, but Edward/R. Pattz on a BPA free water bottle? SERIOUSLY? Well, I guess it kind of works in a way. His chilly skin would theoretically keep your water nice and cold.

• You're showing your Edward the vampire water bottle to your 18-month old daughter. Pimp your kids out for the paparazzi much?

• Wouldn't you just love to know what Tori is saying to her daughter? "Look honey, this nice man is Edward. He'll suck your blood and watch you while you're sleeping."

2. It's REALLY hard to walk with hooves.

Thank God I saw this picture before packing for my trip next weekend. I almost grabbed my hoof-like black platform boots. Thanks to Lady Gaga, I decided to pack a nice sensible pair of sneakers instead. P.S. Can you imagine what she went through to take those bad boys off for security? If there were flight delays in NYC last week, I think we all know who to blame.

3. Botox is almost never a good idea.

Thank you, Kate. Before this, there was the slim chance we might have considered Botox. We can now safely say that day will never come. Do you think the Botox mixed with the venom in her blood to create the lovely cat-eyed look pictured above? MEOW.

3. The only excuse for jorts (the fugly offspring of jeans and knee length shorts) is....Crap, there isn't one. 

Yowsers. In the infamous words of Whitney herself, "Crack is whack." Beyonce, we don't know what you were smoking when you left the house looking like this, but please stop. You're gorgeous, and this...isn't.

4. Cameron Diaz is hot.

That bathing suit is not. Also Jim Carey was hilarious on In Living Color. We miss those days.



5. Every time Gwyneth wears something remotely unflattering, a fairy gets its wings. 

Okay, fine, this isn't really that bad. We just really wanted to say something mean about Gwynnie because the GOOP newsletter popped up in our inbox this week and it almost always inspires irrational Gwyneth hate.

So, how about you guys? What did you learn from US Weekly this week? Sound off in the comments about our horrible cattiness and have a fabulous weekend!

Are you ready to be a slush puppy?

We've been hearing a lot about the so-called "new era of publishing" where agents and editors don't exist and readers decide who will become the next J.K. Rowling.

Sounds awesome in theory, right? No more nasty agents and editors judging your work and telling you that your amazing-sure-to-be-bestselling manuscript sucks ass.

And there are tons of incredible books that started out as self-published and moved on to find success in mainstream publishing. (WE HEAR THE DEAD anyone?) These success stories certainly prove that there are some great books slipping through the cracks in the current system.

But, um, have you guys ever read slush? This Salon.com article tweeted by our uber smart publisher Dominique Raccah provides a really interesting perspective about the reality of the slush pile.

The truth is, we thought our first (doomed) novel was AMAZING. Truly. There was absolutely no doubt in our little heads that THE NORTH SHORE was going to be a huge hit. And you know what?

It sucked.

Bad.

I feel horrible that we subjected so many literary agents to that pathetic manuscript and thank God every single day that it NEVER found its way to readers. I get chills just thinking about it.

So, I guess I'm not sure that I'm ready for this "new era of publishing." As a reader, I don't want to read slush. I want to read really amazing stories that are going to make me laugh and cry and keep me up all night wondering if our work will ever be able to live up to what I just finished reading.

But maybe that's just me.

WTF Wednesday

1. WTF is up with Ryan Cabrera's hair? Seriously, dude. That look didn't work in 1999 and it's STILL NOT WORKING.

2. I'm back to refreshing my e-mail every 5 seconds. Literally. Even the automatic refresh function in yahoo isn't satisfactory. WTF is wrong with me? What am I even waiting for? I wish I knew.

3. There is a LOT of flirting going on via Twitter these days. Have you guys noticed? WTF? Is Twitter the new place for swinging singles to meet up? Is it weird that Laura and I mainly use Twitter to argue amongst ourselves? Wait...don't answer that last one.

4. Speaking of Twitter wars, Laura totally owes me a case of Diet Dr. Thunder after losing a bet with me last Friday. WTF, isn't it time for The Lone Roecker to PAY UP?

5. Laura also tried to convince me that we need to make some kind of crazy ass pact to look at our book cover together for the first time. WTF, Laura? Have you met me? Do you really think all this e-mail refreshing is for my health? When that fateful e-mail arrives I'm opening it faster than you can say, "What Would Nancy Drew Do?"

6. We've updated our website to include the words "dicking around on the internet." WTF is wrong with us? Wait...definitely don't answer that last question. For the record, Laura came up with it as a joke and I argued that we absolutely had to include the term because if I ever read that on another author's website I would 100% buy their book.

7. WTF is up with LiLa and why haven't they commented on your blog lately? Um, yeah, we suck at comments lately and feel absolutely terrible about it. We're trying really hard to make our way through all of our unanswered comments, but we also like to do other stuff like write and sleep. So, don't hate us. We love you and read (and sometimes reread!) every single comment. And we will visit your blog someday very soon or respond via e-mail because we think you are all amazing.

Ok, your turn. WTF is bugging you this Wednesday?

The Sky is Everywhere

After reading Sarah Wylie's post about two of her favorite recent reads, I immediately logged into the library and requested both books. Instead of actual books, I ended up with these cool MP3 player things with the audio book loaded into it. I lost my iPod last year so I was super-pumped to have something to listen to at the gym (even it was a tear-jerker of a book more likely to force me into the fetal position than burn calories). Anyways, ever since I began the book Friday, I've been walking around with earphones plugged in my ears. The sound of my normal life has been muted and I've been thrust into Lennie's world. And let me tell you, it's been heartbreaking.

Here's a bit about THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE:

Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker, bookworm and band geek, plays second clarinet and spends her time tucked safely and happily in the shadow of her fiery older sister, Bailey. But when Bailey dies abruptly, Lennie is catapulted to center stage of her own life—and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, suddenly finds herself struggling to balance two. Toby was Bailey’s boyfriend; his grief mirrors Lennie’s own. Joe is the new boy in town, a transplant from Paris whose nearly magical grin is matched only by his musical talent. For Lennie, they’re the sun and the moon; one boy takes her out of her sorrow, the other comforts her in it. But just like their celestial counterparts, they can’t collide without the whole wide world exploding.

Now, I'm a sucker for sad books, especially sad books mixed with romance. Add in a sister or two and I'm putty. But a warning to all writers. Jandy Nelson will make you feel like a total hack. Her sentences are poetic, each word carefully chosen, each line contributing to this beautiful, intricate, masterpiece of a book. It is exactly that: Art. And, it's her debut. As I was listening, I found myself loving it just as much (maybe even *gasp* a tiny bit more) than BEFORE I FALL. Here's a few reasons why...

• I'm not quite sure how she did it, but Nelson had me crying (literally tears streaming down my face crying, at the gym mind you) and then laughing a few paragraphs later. Lennie's grief is thrust in front of the reader and it is real and authentic and raw. But her character still manages to shine through, granting you moments where you forget the great sadness. It feels like life.
• Nelson's secondary characters shouldn't be called secondary. It's a crime actually. She builds characters with spider-leg eyelashes-Bat-Bat-Bat, booming thou-shalt-Ten-Commandments kind of voices and special laughs named Aunt Gooch because they arrive like an aunt with pink hair, a suitcase full of balloons and no intention of leaving (don't quote me on that, remember I listened to the book!).
• Each chapter contains a poem written by Lennie that offers a window into the relationship she shared with her sister. A poet at heart, I loved these excerpts.
• This book taps into the aftermath of losing someone--the fear that accompanies a loss because all of the sudden you realize the worst can happen and if it happened once, it can happen again. And the not knowing who you've become after that somebody is gone (obviously Nelson says this better, so forgive me). But everyone can relate to this.
• Lennie's Uncle Big explains that the only way around this is through (again, much more beautifully said) and I hope this stays with me. I've always marveled at the strength of others as they work their way through tragedy--they must have had the same realization. I was inspired by this.

The bottom line? I loved the book. Absolutely, positively loved every word, every page, every scene. I will never forget it. Books like this make me want to be a better writer.

If  you haven't read it, grab it, if you have, what did you think?

LiLa Stages a Rebellion and CELEBRATES!

We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to guest vlog for The YA Rebels on Saturday and this time we decided we needed a little help from some of our friends...

(Snarky commentary courtesy of Scott Tracey our ever-grateful YA Rebels sponsor)



Here are the links to our guest stars' fabulous blogs (Hint: if you're not following these peeps, crawl out from that rock you've been hiding under and HIT THE FOLLOW BUTTON. Seriously.):

• Elana Johnson;
• Shelli Johannes-Wells; and
• The Plot This Belles.

And the best news yet? One of our extra special guest stars has some BIG news and a vlog of her own to celebrate.



P.S.
Um, feel free to watch our vlog over and over and over again. We have a not-so-friendly competition going with Karsten Knight (fellow YA Rebels Guest Vlogger) about who can get the most views on You Tube for their guest vlog. The winner gets a tiara, so we're counting on you guys.

Top 5 Things We've Learned This Week

5. The writing community is made of awesome. Okay, okay, we already knew this--but it was re-confirmed this week after all the support WriteOnCon received. We were seriously blown away.

4.  There is a hidden ingredient in the new Pretzel M&Ms. Crack.

3. Whenever I whip out my cell phone, I feel like Emma from DECEPTION. It's super old-school. And it won't charge unless you physically push the cord into the phone with a great deal of force. I'm eyeing the Droid, but am afraid of touch screens.

2. Apparently, we broke three super secret YA Rebel Rules in our guest vlog for them (which will be airing tomorrow). They seriously need to come up with an orientation packet for guest vloggers or something. If you're interested in hearing EXACTLY which rules we unknowingly broke, stop back on Monday for a behind the scenes look at our vlog.

1. My new favorite word is "slag." It's all Loretta's fault. I feel the need to work it into day-to-day conversation although I have the feeling that referring to the little girl that shoved my 3-year-old daughter at the playground as a "stupid slag" might be frowned upon.

Any lessons to share this week oh wise readers?

You know you've gone too far when you reference LiLo...

As writers we all know that voice is probably one of the most important ways we can distinguish our work.  As you may have gathered from our recent tweets we've been hard at work on a synopsis for LIAR SOCIETY and, um, let's just say it was kind of a struggle.

Our first draft was pretty much a total nightmare. We'd managed to distill Kate's entire story into two single spaced pages, but we'd left out the most important ingredient of the book: our voice. Ok, so theoretically that's an easy fix, right? Just go back over your craptastic, dry as a bone synopsis and add in some voice.

Yeah...not so easy.

Some lines worked, like:

Just as Kate's wondering if Nancy Drew has some kind of 24-hour hotline to rescue girl detectives in distress, her mysterious (and ridiculously sexy) knight in not-so-shining armor, Liam Gilmore, saves the day.

Some...not so much:

She came clean, but Cameron turns everything around on Kate, so she looks about as trustworthy as Lindsay Lohan.

So, how do you guys walk the line on voice? How can you tell when you've crossed it?

P.S.
For the record, I stand by my LiLo line. Don't tell Laura, but I totally added it back in before sending the final synopsis back to our editor. (Ha! Do you hear that furious clicking noise? It's Laura frantically checking our sent e-mails to see if good old Linds made the cut. Good times.)

Cry Me a River

Lisa is crabby.

Evidence:

• I didn't help with the blog post yesterday, so she felt the need to include an embarrassing photo of my butchered hair.
• She sent me the last chapter of LIAR SOCIETY 2 last night after 1:30. The woman doesn't sleep.
• She developed this insane schedule for us to complete LS2, forcing each of us to write two chapters a day for the last two weeks.
• She gave me synopsi homework (it's like a rash, only more irritating) and almost cried when I returned it, dry as a bone and called on her to fix it.
• Her Twitter feed makes me want to jump off a bridge.

Chin up, Lisa. Crank up the AC, go grab your Snuggie (pictured*), fix yourself a martini and watch an episode or two of the Bachelorette.

And remember. Jessica Simpson is almost always having a worse day than you. She is never going to live down that dress...

EDITORIAL NOTE:

Wow, even Laura's retaliatory blog posts are sort of nice. For some reason this makes me even more angry. 

Yours Bitchily, 

Lisa

*It turns out my stash of pictures sucks compared to Lisa's. This was the best I could do on such short notice and without access to a scanner.