Every Wednesday, YA Highway asks their readership a simple question to answer on your blog. Once you answer, you link your blog in the comments for other readers to hop on board. This is Road Trip Wednesday. Today's topic : What was the best book you read in February? I didn't have many books to choose from this month and I totally blame John Green. The Fault in Our Stars totally destroyed me and all I wanted to do afterwards was read something that wouldn't leave me a weepy mess. Sixteen , edited by Megan McCafferty took care of this for me. Blurb from Goodreads: Remember what it was like to be sixteen? Whether it was the year your teeth were finally free of braces or the year you were discovered by the opposite sex, that magical, mystical age is something you will never forget. Edited by Megan McCafferty, author of the runaway hit novels Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings , Sixteen: Stories About That Sweet and Bitter Birthday is a compilation of short ...

Yep, that is a horrible pun for the fact we're approaching March* and I don't care. The last several months for yours truly has epically been made of suck and I'm looking forward to all the things that happen once March 1 arrives. I just need to make it through one extra day of February**. Since blogging at The Pie has been spastic and not terribly brilliant as of late, I want to share with you what I'm looking forward to. Movies Even though there's more hype about the Hunger Games movie, the one I'm more than ready to see comes out in a week and a half. John Carter stars Taylor Kitsch (Tim Riggins to most of you) which means a lot of ogling. I have no shame and am proud to admit it. Don't think I'm not looking forward to seeing Hunger Games because I am. There's talk about a movie date with Bestie Danielle and that alone is a good reason. Editing and Revision For something different, I'll be revising in March. This time it will be a...

This month's selection for the YA Book Club was John's Green's The Fault in Our Stars .When I found this out, I twitter-yelled at YA Book Club's brainchild, Tracey Neithercott. That conversation sounded a lot like this: Me: Why are you making this happen NOW? I'd like to get through a month without crying. Tracey: I wish I could send tissues through Twitter. I'm not sure if it's hormones or age or my mortality is showing, but my eyes began watering on page one and did not stop until the end. TFIOS is one of those books where you just know it's going to end badly. You're reading about teens with cancer-- of course it's not going to end well. But this isn't a cancer book. It just happens that the characters have cancer. It also just happens that I still can't think about it without getting misty-eyed. In fact, I'm still processing it. What I liked best about TFIOS is that, despite the sad factor, it was a very uplifting book...

As a kid, I didn't have an imaginary friend. I had an imaginary GIRAFFE. This unnamed giraffe would be my scapegoat whenever I did something I shouldn't. (Which honestly, wasn't that often. I was a well-behaved rugrat.) The giraffe got stuck in the back seat of my dad's boat of a car whenever we schlepped to Connecticut to visit the grandparents. Though I don't remember ever talking or playing with the giraffe, I'm sure that happened too. It shouldn't surprise you then when I say that giraffes are one of my favorite animals to watch at the zoo. They're pretty and seem so peaceful*. They have little horns on their heads and I like the pattern of their coat. Because of my giraffe love, Chez Gregoire has several giraffa camelopardalis items: the magnet, the keychain, the cat toy, the figurine. Yes, even the stuffed animal(s). The best giraffe acquisition of late, though, was found in the Target dollar section. Hubby was kind enough to add it to our...

Credit The first thing you're told when you decide to write in a particular genre and market is to read what you're going to write. This, of course, is so you know what works and doesn't, what is trending, and whether or not giraffes are a useful protagonist*. So you read all the kidlit you can get your hands on. Some is awesome and others aren't worth the ink used. With each fantastic book you've read, you want ten other people to read it as well. Now we're at the meat of today's post. Over several conversations with Hubby, I've learned that his knowledge of middle grade and young adult books is paper thin**. This is quite fucking sad. We all know that there is so many fantastic worlds and stories in these two areas and he's missing out. What are you getting at? It's Friday and I have stuff to do. I'm so glad you asked. Hubby has agreed to give reading MG and YA a try. Because of this, I want to make sure that he starts off read...

On non-Leap Year years, February 14th marks the exact halfway point of the month*. It’s also Valentine’s Day. Known first as one of the millions of saint’s days, we can thank Chaucer for making it about sex **. It would be great if that’s all what the holiday turned into, but we all know that is so not the case. If you’ve been around for a while, you know about my thoughts about red roses . So if you’re like me and can’t abide by what you’re supposed to do on this “holiday” or if you’re alone and feeling sorry for yourself, never fear— FLIPPANT GIRL IS HERE . 1. Role play . Pretend you’re an urban cupid, complete with foam bow and arrow. Walk around the crowded city streets and shoot unsuspecting passersby with your love arrow. 2. Live tweet your romantic dinner . Whether it’s for one or twenty, share all the things with the world. Did the waiter have a nice rear? Share! Did the guy with the off-kilter toupee make a pass at the college girl? Share! We should all live vicariously thr...

Every Wednesday, YA Highway asks their readership a simple question to answer on your blog. Once you answer, you link your blog in the comments for other readers to hop on board. This is Road Trip Wednesday. Today’s topic: What story ideas have you trunked because they were too similar to published/well-known stories? I’m lucky to say that I haven’t trunked anything. Yet. That’s not saying I’ll never will, but so far I’ve been lucky. Confession time: The Assassin Project could very easily fall into the trunked category, if I’m not careful. There were initially a lot of similarities between my story involving an academy of assassins and the Gallagher Girl series by Ally Carter. Because of this, I haven’t drafted Assassin Project. Instead, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking on how to make my story different. That’s what needs to be done when a story idea is too close to something that is out there. You have to see how you can make yours unique. I forget who said it (and I might be mi...

One of my favorite shows in the last decade was PRISON BREAK. If you never heard of it, here's the blurb from imdb.com : Due to a political conspiracy an innocent man is sent to death row and his only hope is his brother who makes it his mission to deliberately get himself sent to the same prison in order to break the both of them out from the inside out. Each episode ended in such a way that you had to tune in for the next episode. All characters were fleshed out, including the most deplorable character introduced. And the planning behind the prison break? It totally proves how important detail is. WARNING: THE NEXT PARAGRAPH CONTAINS SLIGHT SPOILERS In Season 1, everything rides upon the plan Michael put in place prior to his incarceration. Michael laid out the entire escape plan on his body, all the way down to how he and his brother will make it out of the country. At one point, part of Michael’s tattoo gets damaged. This jeopardizes the escape. This example illustrates ...

There's nothing better than getting advice from professionals in our desired field. Sometimes it's even important to get advice from something that doesn't involve our field at all. This is the case with this snippet from the television show Extras. This clip makes me laugh every single time. I hope it does the same for you. Ian McKellen on Extras by Victor_Bugle When Sir Ian says acting is all illusion, he's right. This also holds true for writing. When we write, we're creating our own universe. As a writer, our job is to make sure that we don't shatter that illusion.

Holy hell, Lurkdom! How did it become February ??? I don't know either, but time needs to learn to slow down. I have things to do, you know? Of course, I'd probably get them done faster if I didn't read freaking 13 books. Out of all these books, only one stood out as five star material. EVERNIGHT by Claudia Gray. Blurb from Goodreads:   " Bianca wants to escape. At the eerily Gothic Evernight Academy, the other students are sleek, smart, and almost predatory. Bianca knows she doesn't fit in. When she meets handsome, brooding Lucas he warns her to be careful--even when it comes to caring about him. But the connection between them can't be denied. Bianca will risk anything to be with Lucas, but dark secrets are fated to tear them apart...and to make Bianca question everything she's ever believed. " I know, it doesn't say much. But! It was definitely worth it. What I Liked About It: The twist. It seriously shocked me out of readin...