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| Photo by Tamara Craiu |
Welcome to Day 2 of our Blog Party celebrating all the people who made 1,000,000 visits possible! If you haven’t stopped by Day 1, please pop over.
The giveaways will run 6/8/13, 6/9/13, 6/15/13 and 6/16/13. Each day is a separate entry with its own prize packs, so be sure to enter all four days. I’ll announce the winners on 6/22/13.
The Surprise Grand Prize
I was lucky to go to the YOUR BEST BOOK WORKSHOP in Charlotte last September, where I met Lorin Oberweger and Brenda Windberg from FREE EXPRESSIONS SEMINARS AND LITERARY SERVICES. They and the rest of the faculty at the workshop were the warmest, most caring and dedicated mentors anyone could possibly ask for. And when she found out that we were celebrating this milestone, Lorin got in touch and offered an incredibly generous Grand Prize. Even though I had intended not to accept any prizes because this was supposed to be about me giving back, I couldn’t turn down the chance to share this fantastic opportunity with you!
Lorin is donating a registration to STORY MASTERS, an opportunity to study with three masters of fiction craft: Donald Maass, Christopher Vogler, and James Scott Bell. There isn’t anything these three authors don’t know about writing. Their books are featured in our four giveaways among our favorites, and they are known for breaking writing elements into brilliantly understandable steps.
The four-day workshop will be held November 7-10 in Minneapolis, MN. It’s an incredible opportunity for a lucky writer to do amazing things for his or her career.
There’s no need to enter separately for the Grand Prize. Just complete the form on today’s giveaway and be sure to mark that you’re a writer!
More People I Need To Thank
Prize Pack Nine: Marissa’s Picks
Three years ago, I was with Marissa Graff at an SCBWI conference, listening to an agent tell a room full of authors that we HAD to blog. Neither of us had a clue what a blog even was. We decided to throw our cluelessness together and Adventures in YA Publishing was born. Marissa has since gone off to pursue first teaching and now her MFA in Children’s Literature from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, but her legacy lives on here. I’m beyond grateful to her for the ideas, hard work, enthusiastic community building, and support. We truly would not be here without her.
In keeping with the idea of celebrating with the people who most inspired me, I have asked Marissa to share the title of her favorite YA novel and her favorite craft book.
What’s Your Favorite Way to Celebrate Success, Marissa?
Okay, a success: This will probably sound highly obsessive, but I like to celebrate a success in writing with setting a goal that helps keep that momentum going. If, for example, I’ve struggled on a scene or tackling a particular revision, and I finally get it, I try to ride the wave of that success into another day of productivity. Maybe add in a dash of a sweet treat to reward myself 😉
What do you think makes Young Adult books unique and special for readers and/or for writer?
Favorite Fiction
Code Name Verity
by Elizabeth Wein
Hyperion Book CH; First Edition edition
Released 5/15/2012
Oct. 11th, 1943-A British spy plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot and passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a chance at survival. The other has lost the game before it’s barely begun.
When “Verity” is arrested by the Gestapo, she’s sure she doesn’t stand a chance. As a secret agent captured in enemy territory, she’s living a spy’s worst nightmare. Her Nazi interrogators give her a simple choice: reveal her mission or face a grisly execution.
As she intricately weaves her confession, Verity uncovers her past, how she became friends with the pilot Maddie, and why she left Maddie in the wrecked fuselage of their plane. On each new scrap of paper, Verity battles for her life, confronting her views on courage, failure and her desperate hope to make it home. But will trading her secrets be enough to save her from the enemy?
A Michael L. Printz Award Honor book that was called “a fiendishly-plotted mind game of a novel” in The New York Times, Code Name Verity is a visceral read of danger, resolve, and survival that shows just how far true friends will go to save each other.
Purchase Code Name Verity at Amazon
Purchase Code Name Verity at IndieBound
View Code Name Verity on Goodreads
Favorite Craft Book
The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master
by Martha Alderson
Adams Media
Released 10/15/2011
When it comes to writing bestsellers, it’s all about the plot. Trouble is, plot is where most writers fall down–but you don’t have to be one of them. With this book, you’ll learn how to create stories that build suspense, reveal character, and engage readers–one scene at a time.Celebrated writing teacher and author Martha Alderson has devised a plotting system that’s as innovative as it is easy to implement. With her foolproof blueprint, you’ll learn to devise a successful storyline for any genre. She shows how to:
Use the power of the Universal Story
Create plot lines and subplots that work together
Effectively use a scene tracker for maximum impact
Insert energetic markers at the right points in your story
Show character transformation at the book’s climax
This is the ultimate guide for you to write page-turners that sell!
Purchase Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master at Amazon
Purchase Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master at IndieBound
View Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master on Goodreads
Prize Pack Ten: From the Bookshelf Muse — Angela’s Picks
One of the first things I ever did after Marissa and I started the blog was to write a post about this miraculous discovery called The Emotion Thesaurus on a blog called The Bookshelf Muse. I couldn’t rave about it enough. Little did I know that practically every writer in the world already knew about Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi and The Emotion Thesaurus, and that it was soon to become a best-selling writing book! Fortunately for me, Angela and Becca have become friends, mentors, and great sources of inspiration. I am truly blessed to know them.When I have something small to celebrate, I usually do something that usually makes me feel guilty. Haha, that sounds crazy, doesn’t it? It might be something small, like goof around online, or buy a chocolate bar, pick up some fast food, or go do a bit of “me” shopping. The point is, when I’m celebrating, the part of my brain that’s poking me about watching my weight or getting back to revisions or doing some chore…it shuts off and I can enjoy the little things.
What do you think makes Young Adult books unique and special for readers and/or for writer?
I love the way YA books have a sense of empowerment to them. Characters go through terrible things, truly awful circumstances, yet throughout the book, they adapt, grow and overcome. As a teen, so many things about my life made me feel weak, overwhelmed, victimized. I love reading books where the characters push to overcome their fears and doubts and deal with whatever comes. Their experience leaves me feeling empowered.
Angela’s Fiction Pick
Daughter of Smoke and Bone
by Laini Taylor
Little, Brown and Company; 1st edition
Released 9/27/2011
Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.
In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.
And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.
Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious “errands”; she speaks many languages not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out.
When one of the strangers—beautiful, haunted Akiva—fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?
Purchase Daughter of Smoke and Bone at Amazon
Purchase Daughter of Smoke and Bone at IndieBound
View Daughter of Smoke and Bone on Goodreads
Angela’s Craft Pick
Writing Screenplays that Sell
by Michael Hauge
Collins Reference; Anv edition
Released 3/15/2011
For more than twenty years, Writing Screenplays That Sell has been hailed as the most complete guide available on the art, craft, and business of writing for movies and television. Now fully revised and updated to reflect the latest trends and scripts, Hollywood story expert and script consultant Michael Hauge walks readers through every step of writing and selling successful screenplays. If you read only one book on the screenwriter’s craft, this must be the one.
Purchase Writing Screenplays that Sell at Amazon
Purchase Writing Screenplays that Sell at IndieBound
View Writing Screenplays that Sell on Goodreads
Prize Pack Eleven: From the Bookshelf Muse — Becca’s Picks
In addition to being Angela’s Muse-in-Crime at the Bookshelf Muse, Becca Puglisi writes YA fantasy and historical fiction. If she could mainline Mountain Dew, she would.
When it comes time to celebrate, I usually do it with food, lol. Dinner out is a must, usually with dessert, followed by an extra Mountain Dew.
What do you think makes Young Adult books unique and special for readers and/or for writer?
I think that YA books are special because of the need they meet for their target audience. The teen years are so up-and-down, with more than their fill of self-doubt and uncertainty. Books can provide a welcome escape, or a sense of identification when readers see themselves in the characters. These books can also can open the reader’s eyes to issues, scenarios, and ideas they’ve never before experienced. Books were very important to me as a teen; the main reason that I choose to write for the YA audience is because I want to create the same reading experiences for today’s teens that I had when I was growing up.
Graceling
by Kristin Cashore
Harcourt Children”s Books; First Edition edition
Released 10/1/2008
His eyes, Katsa had never seen such eyes. One was silver, and the other, gold. They glowed in his sun-darkened face, uneven, and strange. She was surprised that they hadn’t shone in the darkness of their first meeting. They didn’t seem human….
Then he raised his eyebrows a hair, and his mouth shifted into the hint of a smirk. He nodded at her, just barely, and it released her from her spell.
Cocky, she thought. Cocky and arrogant, this one, and that was all there was to make of him. Whatever game he was playing, if he expected her to join him he would be disappointed.
In a world where people born with an extreme skill—called a Grace—are feared and exploited, Katsa carries the burden of the skill even she despises: the Grace of killing. She lives under the command of her uncle Randa, King of the Middluns, and is expected to execute his dirty work, punishing and torturing anyone who displeases him.
When she first meets Prince Po, who is Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change.
She never expects to become Po’s friend.
She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace—or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away…a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone.
Purchase Graceling at Amazon
Purchase Graceling at IndieBound
View Graceling on Goodreads
Becca’s Craft Pick
Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You”ll Ever Need
by Blake Snyder
Michael Wiese Productions
Released 5/25/2005
This ultimate insider’s guide reveals the secrets that none dare admit, told by a show biz veteran who’s proven that you can sell your script if you can save the cat!
Purchase Save The Cat! at Amazon
Purchase Save The Cat! at IndieBound
View Save The Cat! on Goodreads
Prize Pack Twelve: Nicole’s Picks
Right after I discovered the Bookshelf Muse, I found WORD for Teens, which was founded by Nicole in 2005 while she was a student. It has since been featured in Read, Remember, Recommend for Teens and Nicole has been quoted in Publisher’s Weekly. She has spoken on the Children’s Book Council’s forum event ‘From the teen’s perspective’ in 2011, and moderated a young adult discussion panel at New Paltz’s Inquiring Minds in 2012. Her reviews and insights on books and Young Adult lit are fantastic.With a good book and some chocolate milk! I think, when it comes to successes, it’s important to celebrate them and what you’ve accomplished – but for me, every time I do something successfully, I’m always looking ahead for the next thing to work on. So I really celebrate by, yes, reading a good book and drinking a glass of chocolate milk, and then jumping straight into my next venture.
What do you think makes Young Adult books unique and special for readers and/or for writer?
The connection to raw emotion. The wide variety of storytelling. The ability to jump straight into the story. The universalism of the themes, despite the wide variety of the characters. The authors. The bloggers. The readers. The readers.
Eyes Like Stars
by Lisa Mantchev
Feiwel & Friends
Released 4/13/2010
All her world’s a stage.
Bertie Shakespeare Smith is not an actress, yet she lives in a theater.
She’s not an orphan, but she has no parents.
She knows every part, but she has no lines of her own.
That is, until now.
Enter Stage Right
NATE. Dashing pirate. Will do anything to protect Bertie.
COBWEB, MOTH, MUSTARD SEED, and PEASEBLOSSOM. Four tiny and incredibly annoying fairies. BERTIE’S sidekicks.
ARIEL. Seductive air spirit and Bertie’s weakness. The symbol of impending doom.
BERTIE. Our heroine.
Welcome to the Théâtre Illuminata, where the actors of every play ever written can be found behind the curtain. They were born to play their parts, and are bound to the Théâtre by The Book—an ancient and magical tome of scripts. Bertie is not one of them, but they are her family—and she is about to lose them all and the only home she has ever known.
Lisa Mantchev has written a debut novel that is dramatic, romantic, and witty, with an irresistible and irreverent cast of characters who are sure to enchant the audience.
Open Curtain
Purchase Eyes Like Stars at Amazon
Purchase Eyes Like Stars at IndieBound
View Eyes Like Stars on Goodreads
Thief’s Covenant
by Ari Marmell
Pyr
Released 2/21/2012
Once she was Adrienne Satti. An orphan of Davillon, she had somehow escaped destitution and climbed to the ranks of the city’s aristocracy in a rags-to-riches story straight from an ancient fairy tale. Until one horrid night, when a conspiracy of forces-human and other-stole it all away in a flurry of blood and murder. Today she is Widdershins, a thief making her way through Davillon’s underbelly with a sharp blade, a sharper wit, and the mystical aid of Olgun, a foreign god with no other worshippers but Widdershins herself. It’s not a great life, certainly nothing compared to the one she once had, but it’s hers. But now, in the midst of Davillon’s political turmoil, an array of hands are once again rising up against her, prepared to tear down all that she’s built. The City Guard wants her in prison. Members of her own Guild want her dead. And something horrid, something dark, something ancient is reaching out for her, a past that refuses to let her go. Widdershins and Olgun are going to find answers, and justice, for what happened to her-but only if those who almost destroyed her in those years gone by don’t finish the job first.
Purchase Thief’s Covenant at Amazon
Purchase Thief’s Covenant at IndieBound
View Thief’s Covenant on Goodreads
Prize Pack Thirteen: Bonus Prize Pack
Spirit’s Chosen (Princesses of Myth)
by Esther Friesner
Random House Books for Young Readers
Released 4/23/2013
Esther Friesner’s fanbase is growing. Readers who love girl-centric teen fantasy-adventure are happily following her from ancient Greece to ancient Egypt and now Third-century Japan.
Himiko’s world is falling apart. An attack by the Ookami clan has left many from her tribe dead or enslaved. And those who remain in the ransacked Matsu village are certain they’ve angered the gods. Amid the chaos and fear, Himiko hatches a plan to save her beloved tribe. Traveling through the treacherous wilderness with her best friend Kaya, their only goal is to free her clanfolk from the Ookami. At every turn she encounters other tribes and unforeseen challenges. But just when it seems that she will outwit Ryu, the cruel Ookami leader, she is captured. Held agains her will, Himiko starts to realize that not all of the Ookami are her enemies and every step of her unconventional journey has prepared her for something greater than life as a princess. Though she may not see her path as clearly as the spirits seem to, there’s more adventure (and even unexpected love) for this young shamaness and warrior.
Purchase Spirit’s Chosen (Princesses of Myth) at Amazon
Purchase Spirit’s Chosen (Princesses of Myth) at IndieBound
View Spirit’s Chosen (Princesses of Myth) on Goodreads
Out of This Place
by Emma Cameron
Candlewick
Released 5/14/2013
A powerful novel in verse captures the voices of three teens as they struggle against hardscrabble realities — and move toward their dreams.
Luke spends his days hanging out at the beach, working shifts at the local supermarket, and trying to stay out of trouble at school. His mate Bongo gets wasted, blocking out memories of the little brother that social services took away from his addict mom and avoiding the stepdad who hits him. And Casey, the girl they both love, longs to get away from her strict, controlling father and start anew in a place where she can be free. But even after they each find a way to move on and lead very different lives, can they outrun their family stories — and will they ever be able to come together again? Set in Australia and narrated in alternating points of view, here is an affecting look at the evolving lives of three friends from talented new author Emma Cameron.
Author Question: What is your favorite thing about Out of This Place?
Prior to publication I was given literary feedback on Out Of This Place which said that besides being a strong written work for readers it also lends itself to being a performance monologue. The fact that Candlewick Press has chosen to release it not only as a hardback novel but also as an audio book validates this, so my current favourite thing about the novel is that people will be able to hear it as well as read it!!! The story is set in Australia and besides being stoked at how much effort the Candlewick editor took to hold its Australian flavour, I was also gobsmacked to learn that the readers of each character’s story in the audio edition all have Australian connections of sorts. I love it when something so serendipitous happens and I can’t wait to hear the audio version.
Purchase Out of This Place at Amazon
Purchase Out of This Place at IndieBound
View Out of This Place on Goodreads
Prize Pack Fourteen: Bonus Prize Pack
Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass
by Meg Medina
Candlewick
Released 3/26/2013
In Meg Medina’s compelling new novel, a Latina teen is targeted by a bully at her new school — and must discover resources she never knew she had.
One morning before school, some girl tells Piddy Sanchez that Yaqui Delgado hates her and wants to kick her ass. Piddy doesn’t even know who Yaqui is, never mind what she’s done to piss her off. Word is that Yaqui thinks Piddy is stuck-up, shakes her stuff when she walks, and isn’t Latin enough with her white skin, good grades, and no accent. And Yaqui isn’t kidding around, so Piddy better watch her back. At first Piddy is more concerned with trying to find out more about the father she’s never met and how to balance honors courses with her weekend job at the neighborhood hair salon. But as the harassment escalates, avoiding Yaqui and her gang starts to take over Piddy’s life. Is there any way for Piddy to survive without closing herself off or running away? In an all-too-realistic novel, Meg Medina portrays a sympathetic heroine who is forced to decide who she really is.
Purchase Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass at Amazon
Purchase Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass at IndieBound
View Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass on Goodreads
The Year of Luminous Love
by Lurlene McDaniel
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Released 5/14/2013
In the vein of Eat, Pray, Love, but for teens, this inspirational novel is set against the backdrop of Tennessee horse country as well as the historic cities of Italy and the Italian countryside. The story unfolds as three teenage girls, recently graduated from high school, plan the next phase of their lives while dealing with immediate life issues. McDaniel subtly explores the many types of love the girls experience–including love for one’s family, one’s friends, and intimate love–and the sacrifices they choose to make (or not) for each of them.
Purchase The Year of Luminous Love at Amazon
Purchase The Year of Luminous Love at IndieBound
View The Year of Luminous Love on Goodreads
Prize Pack Fifteen: More of Martina’s Fiction Picks
The Sky Is Everywhereby Jandy Nelson
Dial; 1 edition
Released 6/8/2013
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.
This remarkable debut is perfect for fans of Sarah Dessen, Deb Caletti, and Francesca Lia Block. Just as much a celebration of love as it is a portrait of loss, Lennie’s struggle to sort her own melody out of the noise around her is always honest, often hilarious, and ultimately unforgettable.
Purchase The Sky Is Everywhere at Amazon
Purchase The Sky Is Everywhere at IndieBound
View The Sky Is Everywhere on Goodreads
The Book of Broken Heartsby Sarah Ockler
Simon Pulse
Released 5/21/2013
When all signs point to heartbreak, can love still be a rule of the road? A poignant and romantic novel from the author of Bittersweet and Twenty Boy Summer.
Jude has learned a lot from her older sisters, but the most important thing is this: The Vargas brothers are notorious heartbreakers. She’s seen the tears and disasters that dating a Vargas boy can cause, and she swore an oath—with candles and a contract and everything—to never have anything to do with one.
Now Jude is the only sister still living at home, and she’s spending the summer helping her ailing father restore his vintage motorcycle—which means hiring a mechanic to help out. Is it Jude’s fault he happens to be cute? And surprisingly sweet? And a Vargas?
Jude tells herself it’s strictly bike business with Emilio. Her sisters will never find out, and Jude can spot those flirty little Vargas tricks a mile away—no way would she fall for them. But Jude’s defenses are crumbling, and if history is destined to repeat itself, she’s speeding toward some serious heartbreak…unless her sisters were wrong?
Jude may have taken an oath, but she’s beginning to think that when it comes to love, some promises might be worth breaking.
Purchase The Book of Broken Hearts at Amazon
Purchase The Book of Broken Hearts at IndieBound
View The Book of Broken Hearts on Goodreads
Thanks for celebrating with us, everyone!
Happy reading and writing,
Martina
