Category: Road Trip Wednesday!

RTW: Interactive Q & A

21 Comments

Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival,” where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

Today’s Topic: Interactive Q&A. Post a question on your blog, then travel the highway answering others’ questions.

I was going to write this post last night, but a couldn’t for the life of me come up with a good question. The ones that popped into my head felt lame or one-dimensional or already done. So, ladies of YA Highway: three cheers for you, because this question thing is harder than it looks!

That said, here’s what I finally came up with…

If you could live in any city in the world (assuming money is no issue :)) which city would you choose?

For me, the small town of Lahaina on Maui is the obvious choice. I love warmth. I love quaint. I love seafood. I love beaches and suntans and flip flops. And hello, how gorgeous is this sunset? 
Now, since I made the rules and money isn’t an issue, maybe I can have a second home in Charleston, SC as well.
 
What city would you choose to live in if it were just that easy?
 

Road Trip Wednesday: Love Is In The Air

24 Comments


Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival,” where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

Today’s Topic: In celebration of Valentine’s Day, what are your favorite literary couples?

*Before you begin reading, you should know that some of the explanations below contain mild spoilers. Just sayin’.

For some reason whenever it comes to Road Trip Wednesday prompts I can never pick just one. Such is the case with my favorite literary couples… there are so many great ones! I have a feeling as I  read everyone else’s posts, I’m going to end up remembering even more favorites. Here’s my list of the ones I love:

Sam and Grace from Maggie Stiefvater’s Shiver, because they were so freaking considerate of each other. I can’t think of a sweeter, less drama-filled couple (well, other than the whole wolf thing…).

Adam and Mia from Gayle Foreman’s If I Stay, because even when everything else was lost, Mia chose Adam. Plus, that scene when he cries…

Romeo and Juliet from William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, because even though they were selfish and immature, they did what they thought was right for love.

Ron and Hermione from JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series, because they were funny and magical and constantly kept me guessing.

Lennie and Joe from Jandy Nelson’s The Sky is Everywhere, because they had the hottest kisses and they just seemed to get each other.

Laila and Tariq from Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns, because I love best friends who become more.

Ryan and Sarah from Elizabeth Scott’s The Unwritten Rule, because even though I’m only a quarter of the way through the book, I’m already rooting for them.

What about you? What literary couples make you swoon?

RTW: Groundhog’s Day

17 Comments

 

It seems the groundhog has predicted an early spring!

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

Today’s Prompt: In celebration of Groundhog’s Day, what book would you read over and over?

I can’t choose just one, and my choices are all over the board. A children’s classic, my favorite YA, and an adult fiction that moved me like nothing else ever has. What do these books have in common? I’ve read all three more than once, and I absolutely adore them…

From Goodreads: An affectionate, sometimes bashful pig named Wilbur befriends a spider named Charlotte, who lives in the rafters above his pen. A prancing, playful bloke, Wilbur is devastated when he learns of the destiny that befalls all those of porcine persuasion. Determined to save her friend, Charlotte spins a web that reads “Some Pig,” convincing the farmer and surrounding community that Wilbur is no ordinary animal and should be saved. In this story of friendship, hardship, and the passing on into time, E.B. White reminds us to open our eyes to the wonder and miracle often found in the simplest of things.

Who doesn’t love Charlotte’s Web? I’ve read this book to every class I’ve ever taught, and I’ve found that kids can’t get enough, no matter what grade they’re in. The goose and her silly speech patterns is my favorite. 🙂 

From Goodreads: 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. 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.

I’ve talked about The Sky is Everywhere more than once on this blog, and for good reason. The writing is gorgeous, and likeable protagonist Lennie is both the unluckiest and luckiest girl in the world.

From Goodreads: A Thousand Splendid Suns is a breathtaking story set against the volatile events of Afghanistan’s last thirty years, from the Soviet invasion to the reign of the Taliban to post-Taliban rebuilding, that puts the violence, fear, hope and faith of this country in intimate, human terms. It is a tale of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war, where personal lives, the struggle to survive, raise a family, find happiness, are inextricable from the history playing out around them. Propelled by the same storytelling instinct that made The Kite Runner a beloved classic, A Thousand Splendid Suns is at once a remarkable chronicle of three decades of Afghan history and a deeply moving account of family and friendship. It is a striking, heart wrenching novel of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love, a stunning accomplishment.

A Thousand Splendid Suns is my very favorite adult novel. It’s heartbreaking, thought-provoking, and unforgettable. I’ve read it twice, and even though I knew every twist that was coming, I loved it even more the second time.

What about you? What book do you love so much you could read it over and over again? And don’t forget to stop by YA Highway to check out all of the other recommendations!

RTW: A New Universe

20 Comments

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This week’s topic: If you could live within the universe of any book, which would you choose?

I’m a military wife, so packing up and moving to a new place does not hold that “the possibilities are wide open” kind of promise for me. More like, “Oh my God, I can’t believe I have to do this all over again!” In almost eight years of marriage, I’ve lived in three states and SEVEN different houses. So, yeah. Over it. Still, it is sort of fun to think about all of the different worlds I’ve immersed myself in while reading and imagine myself a part of them. I scrolled through my Goodreads list and noted all of the books with settings that appealed to me. Two themes quickly emerged:

BEACH/LAKESIDE – The Boys Next Door, The Summer I Turned Pretty, Twenty Boy Summer, and The Summer of Skinny Dipping

BOARDING SCHOOLS – Harry Potter, Anna and the French Kiss, The Mockingbirds, Prep, and Looking For Alaska

I can draw only one conclusion about the above: Someone needs to write a book set at a boarding school ON the beach so I can live in that universe. 🙂

There are many books I’ve read and loved that are set in universes I definitely would NOT want to set foot in. Here are a few… A Thousand Splendid Suns, The Hunger Games, The Giver, Matched, Dirty Little Secrets, The Chosen One, Stolen, The Forest of Hands and Teeth, The Pillars of the Earth, and The Replacement
  
Which fictional universe would you like to be a part of? And don’t forget to stop by YA Highway to see how everyone else answered today’s prompt.

RTW: Bring Your Blurb

10 Comments

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival, where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This week’s topic: Blurb it! Write a blurb for your favorite book or your own work.

This is way hard! Maybe because I feel like I’m totally tooting my own horn. But if I can’t say wonderful things about my story, then why would anyone else bother? Right? So, I’m opting to share the blurb from the story I’m currently querying, Where Poppies Bloom. I came up with a one-line pitch before ever I began to write the story, which turned out to be quite helpful in keeping myself on track while writing, and while crafting my blurb. Here’s the original one-line pitch:

 A guilt-ridden girl chooses between life with the golden boy who dulls her pain, or eternal escape with the ghost who holds secrets of his own.

From there, I expanded to a three-line pitch, which I’m also going to use as my blurb. My CPs helped a lot here. I tend to err on the wordy side, and so many aspects of the story felt important enough to include. It was difficult to condense, but eventually we came up with this:

Drowning in guilt that stems from her younger sister’s tragic death, seventeen-year-old Callie Ryan travels to the Oregon coast to spend the summer with her aunt. Cheerful yard boy, Tucker Morgan, manages to resurrect a glimmer of the girl Callie used to be, but she also finds unlikely companionship in mysterious Nathan Stewart, the dark and ethereal ghost bound to her aunt’s house. When Callie discovers a chilling, decades-old connection between Tucker and Nathan, she must choose between life with the golden boy who dulls her pain, and eternal escape with the ghost who may harbor sinister motivations.

I spent forever working on my full query blurb. My CPs were extremely helpful with this phase as well, and I revised those two little paragraphs more times than I care to recall. I’ve had some decent success with my query, and I’m currently waiting to hear back on several requests. If you’re curious about my query blurb, you can find it in the sidebar.

As far as a cover blurb? One word:

“Unput-downable!”

Don’t forget to stop by YA Highway to check out all the other fabulous blurbs.

RTW: Favorite Lines

17 Comments


Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival,” where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This week’s topic:  What is your favorite line from your WIP (or from a book you read recently)?

Oh, how to choose? I have lots of favorite lines from the WIP I’m currently querying, Where Poppies Bloom. Wait–is that egotistical? I mean, I have to love the lines in my WIP, otherwise I’d delete them and try again (and again and again), right?

First, here’s a little summary: Drowning in guilt that stems from her younger sister’s tragic death, seventeen-year-old Callie Ryan travels to the Oregon coast to spend the summer with her aunt. Cheerful yard boy, Tucker Morgan, manages to resurrect a glimmer of the girl Callie used to be, but she also finds unlikely companionship in mysterious Nathan Stewart, the dark and ethereal ghost bound to her aunt’s house. When Callie discovers a chilling, decades-old connection between Tucker and Nathan, she must choose between life with the golden boy who dulls her pain, and eternal escape with the ghost who may harbor sinister motivations.

And here are a few of my favorite lines:

            “You’re beautiful,” he says without a hint of embarrassment. “And you seem… sad.”

            Mystified, I choose to ignore both of his assessments. “How come I couldn’t see you those other times?”

            “Because I didn’t want you to. It’s the difference between a whisper and a shout. Just as you won’t hear me if I don’t want you to, you won’t see me unless I let you.”

            “But I can feel you.”

*****

             There is one thing I’m sure of, and it’s dreadfully selfish: I want Tucker to kiss me. The spark of life I normally feel in his presence was multiplied by a thousand with his innocent kiss on the beach earlier. I can’t stop wondering what it would feel like if we really kissed. If I’d spontaneously combust with the emotional high of it all.

*****

            He presses his lips to mine. “This is good, Callie,” he says, serious now. “You and me? We’re good together.”

            There’s no denying that. I nod, reveling in the sensation of his finger tracing the lines of my face. The slope of my nose, the bow of my upper lip, the curve of my cheek. I watch his eyes as they follow the path of his finger, his expression adoring.

            “Tell me you feel it too,” he whispers.

*****

            It’s something like sinking, being sucked into a black hole of misery and guilt, only I’m not alone. I have a companion in Nathan. When his dark, sad eyes meet mine, it’s as if we’re inexplicably linked. Nobody can break that bond. Nobody but Tucker, who is Nathan’s direct opposite. If Nathan is a black hole, Tucker is the brightest of stars, twinkling incessantly, leading me home. 

What about you? Any favorite lines from your WIP? Your favorite books?

RTW: Best of 2010

10 Comments

Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival,” where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This Week’s Topic: 5 Best Books of 2010 and/or Sum Up Your 2010 in a Book Title

My 2010 book title is easy: A Long and Winding Road (To Nowhere). 2010 was very much a transitional year, both personally and with my writing. Though I’ve yet to reach my final goal  of publication, I do feel like I’ve made some great strides and hope that in 2011 I’ll continue to move closer to achieving that goal.

I posted my Five Best Books of 2010 on New Year’s Eve. You can find it HERE, or you can scroll down a few posts to check it out. I imagine my favorite titles might overlap with some of yours. 🙂

RTW: Best of December

8 Comments

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This week’s topic: What is the best book you read during the month of December?

I read some fabulous books this month. The Boys Next Door and Endless Summer by Jennifer Echols, The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff, and Matched by Ally Condie. But if I have to choose a favorite it’s Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins.

From Goodreads:  Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris—until she meets Étienne St. Claire: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he’s taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home. As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near-misses end with the French kiss Anna—and readers—have long awaited?

I’m always wary of books that get an explosion of hype on social media sites. I’ve been disappointed more than once in the past. Still, I bought Anna because I love contemporary romance AND because Stephanie Perkins appears to be an incredibly delightful person on Twitter and on her blog. I wanted to support her.   

I’m so glad I did. I absolutely adored Anna and the French Kiss. In fact, I’d say it’s about as close to perfect as a book can be. I caught myself smiling while reading more than once, and had to rein it in for fear of being judged by my husband. And when I wasn’t smiling, I was stressing–hoping that Anna and Etienne would get it together and somehow manage to meet up on the same page.  

It’s not easy to create a protagonist who is real, blemished and layered, yet still incredibly likeable. Anna is all those things and more. She’s funny and honest and still discovering who she is and what she wants. She’s like, the ideal narrator. And St. Claire is adorable in many of the ways Anna is. Not perfect, but so charming and endearing that it’s easy to overlook his flaws. Their relationship is so true to life. Full of mixed signals, what-ifs and insecurities, but still supportive and loving, if slow to develop. It felt real, like every other part of this book.

Oh, and the setting! I’ve never been a big Paris fanatic. If I ever make it to Europe, I’ve always been more interested in visiting Rome or Athens, but Anna made me fall in love with the City of Lights. Everything was described in such great detail: the food, the theater, the parks, even the school cafeteria sounded beautiful and glamorous. After I finished reading I told my husband (whose father is French) that I wanted to visit. Needless to say, he was thrilled.   

I recommend Anna to anyone who reads (seriously, it was that good!), but especially those who love contemporary romance or books set abroad.

RTW: All I Want For Christmas…

13 Comments

Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival,” where YA Highway’s contributors  post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get  everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This Week’s Topic: You spot Santa at the mall, climb onto his lap, and whisper that you’ve been a good  girl in his ear. What do you want Santa to bring you this year?

Can Santa bring me a kick-ass agent and a dream book deal?

No? Not his department?

Okay then… I’ve asked Santa (otherwise known as my fab husband and generous family) for any or all of the following three things:

1) Flowers by Kenzo Perfume – The poppies on the packaging first attracted me and the scent–so pretty! Soft and floral.

 2) A Massage Gift Certificate – Do I even have to elaborate?

3) Borders Gift Card – I can blow $50 in Borders in about 3 minutes, so a gift card would be greatly appreciated and happily used.

So, that’s it for me, Santa. **Oh, and if you could just work on the whole agent/book deal thing, that’d be great.**

What about you? What are your dream Christmas gifts?

RTW: The Story of Me (In 6 Words!)

22 Comments

Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival,” where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This week’s topic: Your six-word memoir. Literally, your life story in six words.

Whew! This was way hard!  Mine ended up being more of a statement of who I am today. Honestly, my first effort was this: Loving mother, wife, writer, music fan. I tried to snazz it up a bit. Seven words would have been *so* much easier. 🙂 Regardless, here’s what I ended up with:

Matriarch, lover of literature, Nashville harmonies.

Can’t wait to read all the others!