I want to hear what YOU have to say!

I've been thinking about this for a while, and this morning I thought--you know what? I'm going to do it!

I've done a few guest posts on here, and they've been really fun--so I'd like to do some more!

If you write books, read books, sell books, work as/with an agent, are a librarian, teach English and use contemporary YA in your classes, work in publishing--basically anything book-related--and have something you'd like to write about regarding books or publishing or anything writing-related (hints, things you'd like to see more of, things you're tired of seeing, books you wish people would read, etc.) please do the following:

1. Send me an email at elizabeth AT elizabethwrites dot com

2. Put Blog Entry in the subject line

3. You can go ahead and write up a blog entry (no more than 750 words, please!) or suggest a topic you'd like to write about.

That's it! I'll be in touch with everyone who write to me, and I hope to hear from all of you, as--well, I want to hear YOUR voice!!

Win a copy of Mockingjay!

I don't think there's any question as to what book everyone is reading and talking about right now: Mockingjay, the third book in the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins.

And, I have a copy to give away!

For your chance to win, all you have to do is have a US mailing addy, and leave a comment telling me *how* you first heard about the Hunger Games series (online, through a friend, just picked up the first or second book, heard a librarian or teacher talk about it, etc) by midnight EST this Friday, September 3rd, and then one person will win the copy of Mockingjay!!

PS Please, please, PLEASE don't forget to leave a way for me to get in touch with you in your comment!!

contest winners and links

Congrats to CPlusha, who won the recipe contest with her story of high school brownies that were so good that people risked detention for them--and for the recipe itself! Congrats also go to Krista, who won the fake boyfriend contest--I think she had me at "the age of MySpace" which seems like a hundred years ago -- but wasn't!

Moving on, I've got loads of links to share:

Bob Mayer on the "good old days" of publishing -- "Way back in the days of Faulkner, Hemmingway, the Algonquin Round Table, etc. it was just as hard, but different. Then you had to schmooze, make contacts, get known. Gee. It’s kind of the same now too."

Do you sometimes need to tell, rather than show, in a story?


"Social Media Networking has taken all the fun out of my Internet social life." -- great article on the pressure authors feel to blog, tweet, etc.

Following up on this, a great article about how some authors use facebook (and twitter, and, I'm sure other social media) as a way to promote their books over and over (and over) again -- there are also loads of links in this article as well, so be sure to check it out!

Very interesting article on characters--should you know more about them than your reader does (or will?)

Pimp My Novel on why publishing runs off a returns-based model, and a breakdown of what's currently going on in the Random House vs. Andrew Wylie showdown

Over at Murderati, signing the praises of good editors

Acclaimed YA author Sara Zarr muses about writing and the possibility of moving on -- "From the outside in, maybe whatever I do next won’t look that different from what I’ve been doing. Maybe it will. All I know for sure is that in the midst of being smart about the practical needs and realities, I want to be a beginner again at something creative, to always be a learner, to be bold and risk failure. I want to have faith that when I step off the comfortable path, I’m not going to freefall forever."

Nathan Bransford on high-concept

Dear Author has a bunch of interesting information and links here, but what really caught my eye is the following: Laura Lippman's latest book sold more, its first week out, in ebooks than in print (granted it was about 740 copies more, but still) and--only 4,000 copies sold in the first week gets you on the adult NYT extended fiction hardcover list???

Finally, how awesome would this be? Baking in the Betty Crocker Test Kitchens

And for my husband, who loves root beer floats, I'll be making the following: Root Beer Float Cupcakes

Intereview with Kristina Springer! (and yes, there is a FREE book involved!)

The Girlfriends' Cyber Circuit (GCC) is a webring of YA novelists, and I'm happy to be part of it because I get to talk to other YA authors about their books--which, well, how awesome is that? (And I think we all know how much I love YA!)

Today I'm talking to Kristina Springer about her new novel, My Fake Boyfriend Is Better Than Yours (what a great title, right?)




Me: Tell us about your book in ten words or less!

Kristina: 2 BFFs + 2 Fake Boyfriends = Trouble


Me: What's the best writing advice you've ever been given?

Kristina: Let the rejections roll off your back.


Me: What do you wish you'd known about being published/publishing before your book/first book came out?

Kristina: How important the first three months after a book’s release are.


Me: What's the last book you read that you loved so much you had to tell everyone about it?

Kristina: Kristin Walker’s A Match Made in High School


Me: Random Bonus Question Time...What's your favorite salad dressing?

Kristina: Ranch.


Thank you, Kristina, for stopping by! And for you, lovely readers, I'll be back with last week's contest winner--and more!--very soon, but in the meantime, has anyone out there got a fake boyfriend story, or know of one? If you do, and have a US mailing addy, post it here by midnight TONIGHT, August 30th, and the best one (IMO) will get an ARC of Andrea Cremer's Nightshade OR an ARC of Cassandra Clare's The Infernal Devices (winner's choice!)

quick contest and mmm....food

Just reading these recipes made me feel better! (At least while I was reading them :-)

100 Grand Cupcakes? YEP!

I always wondered how Baked Alaska was made...

Four-ingredient (!) Nutella Brownies? Yes, please!!!

And I'd also like to give away a copy of one of the best YA novels I've read in ages, The DUFF by Kody Keplinger. (US mailing addys only)

For your chance to win, just tell me what your favorite dessert is (I know you're shocked by this one!) by midnight EST tomorrow, August 27th--and make sure you leave a way to contact you!

The one desert that sounds the most awesome to me wins, or if there is so much awesomeness that I can't decide, I'll use the random number generator.

urgh.

I came down with a cold this weekend and bam! It's like everything shut down. I still feel pretty bad, actually, but I had to drop by here and say hi to everyone--and say congrats to the winner of ARC of Beautiful Darkness, Lynsey, who once saw her mother open a can of green beans, and--well, she hasn't touched them since!

I'm getting ready to head back to bed, but I have loads of links that need to be shared...and check back next week for your chance to win a copy of Mockingjay!

A writer's worst fear, or Honey, I Deleted Your Novel

From Writer Unboxed, posts on cliffhanger chapter endings, common writing mistakes, and a great one on burying all your I can't(s)

More problems at Dorchester (and news on that here as well)-- and Barnes and Noble

Agent and author Nathan Bransford on writing query letters -- and a good explanation of what publishers do

An editor talks about passing on a book--this one is fascinating, as editors don't usually open up so publicly about books they've declined that have gone on to do well

Pimp My Novel guest post on envy

From Muderati, What Is A Writer? and a lovely post from Tess Gerristen on The Unplanned Career--"And that no, most of us don't plan out every move in our career because baby, in this career, there ain't a lot of planning you can do.

Maggie Stiefvater offers advice and encouragement about writing in-- Seven Steps to Writing a Novel

insomnia bites

I'm one of those people who needs eight hours (nine is better) of sleep or I become zombie-like, sitting around blinking and doing things like deleting all the links I wanted to share!

Thank goodness that I'd also saved them in a file. It's like I knew I wasn't going to get any sleep last night!

Anyway, here there are and as I'm sure there will be more typos than usual, I ask for your forgiveness in advance:

The YA Blogosphere is buzzing over Ellen Hopkins being invited--and then uninvited because of "objections" (read: CENSORSHIP)--to a book festival in Texas. Almost all of the other authors who had been asked to attend the festival have now withdrawn, in protest, which I think is awesome. Two of the authors have great blog posts up about this: Pete Hautman on the festival and what happened and Melissa de la Cruz, another author was was invited and backed out when Ellen was uninvited--on how she lost out on something she loved due to censorship

The folks at Orbit have done yet another chart of trends in fantasy book covers--Castles had better start looking over their back because dirigibles (!!) are starting to grow in number...

Over at Murderati, a post about something I think most writers (or at least, this one) have to deal with--learning how to get out of your own way

Pimp My Novel on great first lines -- I admit, offer me a good first line when I pick your book up when I'm browsing the bookstore, and chance are I'll buy it. (Is anyone else the same way??)

E-books are most definitely making their presence felt--they've started hitting the USA Today bestseller list (which is a very, very big deal) -- While I have yet to meet a YA writer whose e-books sales have been over ten percent of their total sales (is there anyone out there who writes YA and whose e-books sales are higher than ten percent of their total?) there's no doubt in my mind that e-books sales are going to become hugely important--and fast--for adult authors, particularly those who write genre fiction.

Agent and author Nathan Bransford wants to know what you'd do if you were in charge of publishing

More on Barnes and Noble's problems

Beloit University's Mindset List for the Class of 2014 -- I love these lists, not only for what they say about those the list is about, but for who is writing them as well. (I mean, J. R. Ewing??? Really???)

And, of course, a few tasty bites--Peanut Butter Mud Hen Bars (just trust me!!) and Chewy Salted Pecan and Chocolate Chip Squares

Also! Don't forget that your worst meal could win YOU an ARC of Beautiful Darkness...