Starters Review + Giveaway

I had the pleasure of reading an Arc of Lissa Price's Starters, and in addition to the following review I will be hosting my very first giveaway! **Squees with excitement** Giveaway details below.
Callie Woodland is a sixteen year old Starter living in a dystopian version of Los Angelos. Her world has been ravaged by the Spore Wars. Only the very young and the very old were inoculated against it. Those between the ages of twenty and sixty died when the spores were released. Starters unclaimed by Ender relatives were forced to the streets unable to work or make money to survive - until Prime Destinations.

Prime Destinations is a secretive company that allows Starters to work by renting out their bodies to Enders who want to feel young again. The Starters go to sleep for a period of time and wake up much richer.

Starving on the street and with a sick younger brother Tyler, Callie inquires at Prime Destinations and ultimately decides to become a donor. Things seem to be going well, until she wakes up at a nightclub in the middle of one of her rentals. She quickly finds something is wrong with her chip. The discovery sends her on a journey that causes her to question her actions and everything she knows. She risks her life to try to uncover a much larger and more sinister plot

From the moment I heard about Starters, I knew I wanted to get my hands on this book. It definitely did not disappoint. It reminded me a bit of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse in premise but there are only a few similarities. The book was exciting, hard to put down, and left me guessing what the next surprise would be at every turn of events.

I loved Callie's character and strength throughout her journey. She changed nearly every person's life she touched. Despite having to make difficult choices, she stuck to her beliefs along the way.

Starters is an eery and twisting ride that takes a deep look at human behavior. As adults we all want to be young again but at what cost? The story makes you take a deep look inside and wonder about the choices we make and the costs we may not have considered. Starters had me squirming in places wondering if people could really be that cruel for their own benefit. And it ultimately forces the question, if you were in Callie's situation what would you have done?

Starters debuts Tuesday, March 13 and I highly recommend you check it out! An e-short entitled Portrait of a Starter: An Unhidden Story is available now and also well worth a read. It sets the stage for the story that unfolds in Starters. For more information about Starters, to see the book trailer or read an excerpt visit http://www.randomhouse.com/teens/starters/ . For more on author Lissa Price visit her website http://www.lissaprice.com/ .
I'm definitely looking forward to two more upcoming e-shorts and the second book Enders!

And now for the giveaway! One winner will receive a copy of Starters plus a bookmark signed by Lissa Price. Three other winners will receive signed bookmarks. All you have to do to enter is follow my blog and leave a comment below answering the question, if you were an unclaimed Starter, would you go work for Prime Destinations or would you find another way to survive? Don't forget to leave your email address so I can contact you if you win. If you tweet/facebook/blog etc. about the giveaway you'll get an extra entry, just be sure to leave a link as proof.

Contest ends midnight CST Monday, March 19, 2012. International entries welcome!

Turning 30!

Today I turned the big 3-0, an age that has always seemed downright terrifying to me. When you are little, thirty sounds so old but now that I've arrived its not so bad. In fact its pretty great!

I've done many things in my life so far to be proud of. Went to school, became a Bat Mitzvah, passed my drivers test, got good grades, graduated high school, got into college, graduated from Purdue with a degree in Aerospace Engineering, received a masters from Wash U, got my first full time job, got a promotion, and wrote a book. To name a few. ;)

I've been fortunate enough to travel quite a bit both inside the US and to places like Israel, England, France, Spain, Italy, Andorra, and Monaco. I've seen many beautiful and fantastic places that words could not do justice to.

I have the best friends and family in the world. They are supportive, loving and caring and I wouldn't be where I am today if not for their presence in my life.

I've also filled many roles in my thirty years. Swimmer, dancer, engineer, podcaster, sister, daughter, cousin, granddaughter, girlfriend, sorority girl, spacecadet, reader, and writer. The list goes on and on. Many of these roles have stuck, others I've moved on from. Regardless of the role, each of these has in some way shaped who I am today.

After my sum of thirty years of experiences, I'm starting to learn that I'm a strong, smart, independent woman. I'm discovering who I am as a person and shaping my life for who I want to become. And although I certainly dont have all the answers, in thirty years I have laid a great groundwork for the next thirty years and beyond.

There are many things I still want to do in my life. More travel, publish a book, get married, start a family etc. I'm ready for those things and look forward to them because of the person I've become.

My life has had its ups and downs, but I am determined to make thirty a great year. Getting old isn't most people's idea of fun, but there are reasons to look forward to it. The more you age the more experiences you have to help mold even better ones in the future. I have so many things still to look forward to, and I intended to look age in the face and laugh. Thirty is a fabulous age, and I'm sure it will be a fantastic year!

The Edit Monster!

I spend a lot of time editing. Editing podcasts and editing the first draft of my manuscript. These are both very different kinds of editing, but editing nonetheless. For podcasts I used to call myself the edit monkey. Mainly because it got to the point where it felt like a task a trained monkey could do. So naturally when I started editing my novel I said the same thing.

BOY WAS I WRONG!

The edit monkey has transformed into a full blown edit monster! Once I start, I can't stop myself. Even if I'm not editing my manuscript, I want to edit everything in sight, including bad grammar, spelling and typos on twitter, friends facebook posts and anywhere else I look. My mind has become hypersensitive to things that need to be edited! Its become a sickness. I've physically had to stop myself from replying to posts on facebook to correct grammar or retweeting twitter posts without typos! And don't even get me started on people's bad grammar when having a conversation. YIKES!

The edit monster has hijacked my life! I will try my best to refrain from correcting other's posts, tweets, work etc. Hopefully the edit monster will crawl back into his dirty little cave soon. But not too soon I still have a book to edit ;)

*image from http://writingspectacle.blogspot.com/2011/11/using-editminion-to-your-advantage.html

Writing is an Emotional Roller Coaster

"A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit." - RICHARD BACH

Writing is an emotional roller coaster. Name an emotion and I've probably felt it, not once but multiple times on my road to writing the first draft of my book. I'm expecting equally as many emotional responses with every step I take along the way. I've talked a little bit in the past about "Crap" syndrome and its true that nearly every writer at some point or another has felt like they weren't good enough and needed a little pat on the back. But when writers want to give up, there is often a lot more emotion involved than simply not feeling good enough.

Learning to write is a journey and we all have to start somewhere - rock bottom. The funny thing about rock bottom though, is for a writer they don't usually start there. Writers usually start with a false high. They get a great idea (or something they think is great) and they run with it. They keep writing until they A.) lose interest B.) lose their way, or the rare C.) actually finish the story. Finishing a book is rare for a lot of people. You'd think it wouldn't be but, between time management, writers block, other great ideas, or a various slew of other distractions people lose site of their stories and their goals. Those things alone can cause a slew of emotions; everything from an exciting rush to frustration, sadness and anger.

At some point in the process, writers tend to seek out some kind of feedback from friends, family, online critique groups, beta readers etc. Friends and family are great to help build you up but "buyer be ware" sometimes your friends and family don't have the heart to tell you something isn't good or they can't put their finger on what is exactly wrong with a piece. Critique groups and beta readers are great because they can usually point you to where you went wrong and all your weaknesses. This is also where the nightmare begins for new writers. It's hard to hear that the idea you created has so many things that need work. Not that the idea was bad persay or that what you did was wrong but that your execution needs work.

This is where I hit my true rock bottom.

Two things happened simultaneously.
1.) I hit my overwhelm threshold. I could not write, critique, read feedback and edit, all at the same time and the thought of doing so stressed me to no end.

2.) The realization that I had a great idea but I knew nothing about writing. Among my greatest offenses, POV jumping, passive voice, wordiness, ineffective use of dialogue... the list goes on and on. Not to mention I had an insane number of people land blast me for the use of a prologue, something to this day I refuse to give up.

Stress + feeling like a failure = my emotional breaking point.

This was a very pivotal time in my writing. If I had let everything that was happening get to me and completely consume me, I would have run screaming from the room and never looked back. It would have ended my writing career. But instead I chose to take the feedback and use it as a learning experience. I took a step back and started from the beginning, with the basics. I learned about writing. I read blogs and books, went to seminars, and took online classes. I kept pushing myself to the brink of my comfort zone and persevered through the emotional train wreck. The negative responses, and advice along the way became the fuel I needed to grow and start to climb that big scary hill. I was determined not to let this bring me down.

In all of this, I always followed my gut the whole way. I stopped when I got overwhelmed. I didn't cut things because people said I had to. I refused to give in on the prologue even though people told me prologues were a bad idea. I knew it was important to my story even if people couldn't see it. So I decided I needed to prove myself by improving my writing.

I worked and worked and worked until things started falling into place. So far I've had at least 10 revisions on my prologue alone, and finally I'm down to mostly minor revisions and suggestions. It's been a long road, and there were definitely points where I wondered why in the heck I was doing this. But I've been lucky to have a lot of cheerleaders and help along the way. If you keep at it and look for help, people are usually willing to offer you valuable advice. There are certainly people out there that are more than willing to tear you down, but you can't let them. In most cases, people just want to help show you how to transform your story into something wonderful.

With every new group I find and get involved in I learn new things and find more people willing to help me and join my every growing network of cheerleaders. Most recently its been the St. Louis Writers Guild. In the few short weeks I've been a member, they have proved to be an invaluable resource. They have welcomed me with open arms and not only offered seminars and discussions but endless support.

After a long bumpy ride, all the work is starting to pay off. The feedback has become far more positive and every new thing I write has less mistakes than the previous. In the end you have to ask yourself: are you going to let the emotional roller coaster run you over, or are you going to grab on and let it take you to new heights? Go out there and turn the negatives into positives. Never give up and never quit. We all have to start somewhere, but thankfully the roller coaster never goes backwards!

Meeting Andrea Cremer, Author of Nightshade!

I love meeting authors! Especially enthusiastic, fun ya authors! I enjoy hearing their unique stories about how they got into writing and how they were published because no two experiences are alike! Andrea Cremer was no exception to the rule, and was certainly a pleasure to meet. She is energetic, bubbly, adorable and bonus I love her books!
Her story particularly resonated with me because she has a full time job as a professor and has three published books with two more on the way. I asked her how she juggled writing and a full time job, something I'm struggling with a bit with now. She replied, writing in every spare moment, dropping to part time at work and even taking time off. She also said to keep writing time sacred and make sure to stick to a schedule. So after that tip, I know I must protect my Sunday writing times. They are sacred!
Some other things from her Q&A that I enjoyed, she said she broke rules. Lots of them. As a new writer with little knowledge of the publishing world she did a lot of things new writers probably shouldn't. For instance pitching a series. Agents take gambles on new writers/clients and when they pitch a series its an even bigger gamble but I love that Andrea went for it and that it worked. A sure sign that some rules are made to be broken! I love a rebel!
When asked about where she got the idea for the series, she said she had a strong female voice in her head that was also a wolf. This was a bit problematic, the wolf part not the voices, (as a writer hearing the voices of your characters is totally normal, I swear!) because werewolves are typically seen as grotesque creatures that are always being hunted in stories. But Andrea didn't want anything like that. Especially since werewolves spend minutes experiencing the change, including a serious of bone cracking transformations that leaves them vulnerable during the shift. She wanted her characters to be able to change at will and not have to worry about having a change of clothes.
So here's the really cool part, she borrowed from physics and string theory. Using the idea that there are an infinite number of dimensions, when transformations of her wolves occurred instantaneously, the human part, clothes and all would be put into another dimension, a closet if you will, until they were ready to use it again. Therefore no crazy long vulnerable, transformations and no naked people running around! Which although can be humorous, has been done many times before. I give her major props for the physics nod, plus I'm a big geek and like that sorta stuff!
One more thing! She signed in colored sharpies! This totally made my day! I love color! And although her signature sentences are related to her series, I think its also great advice, both for aspiring writers and life!

So when I read great books and meet great authors I love to recommend them to others. If you haven't checked out the Nightshade series I highly highly recommend you do! It's a beautifully written series about werewolves, that definitely breaks the mold! Calla is a strong protagonist as an alpha wolf and the leader of her pack. She ends up torn between her destiny, Ren another alpha wolf from a rival pack who she is set to unite with to form a new pack, and Shay a mysterious human who shows up at her school and the new pack is asked to protect. After reading Nightshade I was so torn between the two boys that I didn't know who I wanted Calla to end up with more! I've never read a book and not had at least a small opinion one way or the other about a pairing. So run over to your favorite book buying spot and grab this series! The books are cool and so is the author! I definitely had a hard time putting these books down!

Do Your Homework: Research, Research, Research!

Today I attended a workshop called Editing/Proofreading: A Do it Yourself Job? presented by a St. Louis editor Mary Ward Menke and hosted by the St. Louis Writers Guild. I learned some great advice about proofreading, the power of a critique partner/beta reader, how to go about finding an editor and many other important editing tips, some of which I will share momentarily. However, the biggest thing I learned today was the importance of doing your homework.
Go out there and do the research. Take the time to learn the ins and outs of your craft. If you don't you will sound like a blundering idiot, and DO NOT make the mistake of thinking people won't notice.
And because its worth repeating I'll say it again - DO YOUR HOMEWORK!
The following are some examples of why it is so important to make sure you research.
Example one: A woman attending the workshop, who is about to self publish her book, and by about to I mean within the next month or so, asks some questions of our speaker, Mary. One question, should I be hiring my own editor, or using the editing services provided by the self publisher? Admittedly, I am no authority on self publishing, but I do know this is something she should have asked when she was first beginning to look into self publishing, not a month or so before she's about to turn over her manuscript to the self publisher. But I guess as the saying goes, better late than never.
This particular woman also said some other things that made me question her knowledge on the topic. She continued to spout one self publishing company, the one she was using, and did not make reference to any other companies out there. Statements to the effect of, x company does this or offers that, were made repeatedly. A clear sign to me that she was first not very knowledgeable about the topic and second had not done her homework. Although this woman in question was very nice, I did not have a favorable impression of her as a writer, and I've never even read a single word she has written.
Example two: Mary tells us about a book that was published in which the main characters of the book traveled to St. Louis in 1946, to see a Browns baseball game. While they were in St. Louis they took a side trip to go up in the arch. Now anyone from St. Louis, or anyone with google skills would quickly find that the arch didn't exist in 1946. Ask yourself, would you want to continue reading a book where you knew a part of the plot was completely inaccurate? Probably not. Would you read any other books published by this author in the future? Again probably not. Had the author done their homework (or their editor for that matter), they could have avoided making a mistake like this, as well as losing possible readers in the future.
Example 3: Immediately following example two, a woman in attendance raised her hand and said that in the Percy Jackson series there is a scene in the St. Louis Arch where Percy fights some monsters at the top of the arch and then punches a hole in it and dives into the Mississippi river. Again if you've been to the arch, or if you've looked it up online, you know that while the Arch is near the river it would not be physically possible to punch a hole in the arch, jump out and land in the river.
Now this example is interesting to me, because I have read the book and did think this scene was cool. But at the time I read it, I also thought it was a bit odd how this scene occurred and was not sure how it was possible unless Percy flew from the hole in the Arch to the river. Now I have a bit of an overactive imagination at times, and for some reason I shrugged it off and kept reading, even though I probably should have stopped. Even more interesting, I attended an author signing with Rick Riordan in St. Louis, and the question was asked where did you get the idea to use the St. Louis Arch in the Percy Jackson series. His answer was that when he was originally telling the stories to his sons, he was trying to use places that they had been so they could relate.
Now putting all this together, here is a man who has seemingly done his homework because he's been to the arch, yet chooses to ignore the facts. Maybe he did this for the sake of fiction or some other reason, yet many many children and adults, still continue to read his stories. This is a huge exception to the rule! Maybe in this case ignorance is bliss because a majority of his reading audience is children who may not know better and do continue to read his stories, but there are still people out there who notice, and those that do, will forever question this authors credibility.
So moral of the story do your homework!
I will end with some advice Mary gave related to editing, that relates directly to doing your research. When looking for an editor, shop around. Price will vary. Most good editors will give you a free sample edit of your first 5 or so pages. This is so you can see if you like the editors style. Not every editor is right for every person. Also know that editors can not and should not be promising you publication. If they are, you should as Mary said, "run screaming in the opposite direction." And lastly if there is something you don't want changed dialect etc. make sure you let your editor know up front. So when looking for an editor, do some research.
In whatever you do in life, whether it be writing or something else entirely, please do your homework. You could save yourself a lot of misery, heartache, and embarrassment. You want people to think of you as the intelligent person you are instead of thinking you're a complete idiot!
**steps off the soap box**

I wrote a book!

You can do anything you put your mind to. No truer words were ever spoken. Sometimes we don't realize what we are capable of until we try it. When I first started writing, it was more out of necessity than anything else. An idea was born and something inside me took hold and forced me to put pen to paper. I never had a desire to write - I hated writing in fact, but I couldn't escape, no matter what I did. So despite my previous thoughts on writing I gave it a try. And the more I wrote the easier it became. Writing is hard don't get me wrong, but like anything else the more you do it the better you become. In practicing the art of writing, I soon learned that I couldn't have been more wrong in my thoughts towards it. It wasn't that I disliked writing as a whole, it was certain kinds of writing I didn't enjoy. When I could choose what I wanted to write I truly enjoyed it.

When I decided to finally tackle writing as a hobby, I began to wonder how much I could actually write. 10,000 words? 20,000? 50,000? a whole book? The idea seemed daunting to me, but I was up for a new challenge. Something I had never done before. I began to wonder, how does one go about writing a book?

The simple answer, you write, and you keep writing until its done.

The more complex version, you plot and you write and you edit and you write and you write some more. You let the idea take you on a journey and you see that journey through to the end.

Don't sweat the small stuff. If something isn't working or doesn't feel right or the ideas arent flowing at all, walk away and come back later. Sometimes inspiration strikes when you least expect it.

Perseverance! Should you write every day? Most certainly, but sometimes that isn't always possible. However, that doesn't mean you should let weeks on end pass by and not write. And even if that happens, don't give up, revisit your writing. Treat your writing like an old friend, pick up right where you left off no matter how much time has passed.

Read! Never stop reading. Even when you are writing. It can show you the best and the worst of the trade, and everything in between. And you can learn from it all. What you should and shouldn't do. It can drive your inspiration.

Learn! Never stop learning. Take a writing class, get a book, join an online forum, read writing blogs etc. No one person can know every detail about one subject so never stop trying to learn about it.

Even doing all of these things, I won't lie and say writing a book was a picnic. It's a long winding and bumpy road. It's not easy to bear your sole onto paper and then stare back at it thinking you have a masterpiece. Ever writer at some point doubts their work or their direction or even their writing. It's what keeps us grounded. But just because you hate what you wrote, does not give you a pass to stop doing it. Pick yourself back up and move forward either with that story or another. Keep moving forward not matter how long it takes. It's not a race but the prize is finishing. The sense of accomplishment.

Point is don't let anyone ever tell you that you can't do something - including yourself. Prove the naysayers wrong and go out there and do it. You'll be surprised what you have in you. I know I was!

A Glee-less Holiday

I have to express a bit of a gripe with Glee's Holiday episode. For a show that prides itself on celebrating people's unique qualities, and showing that its our differences that make us each special, Glee has done a poor job when it comes to its holiday episodes.

Their focus for their holiday episode this year was Christmas. Now I realize that a large majority of the world celebrates Christmas, but Glee really missed a prime opportunity to display the multitude of other holidays that occur over the month of December. There was one throw away mention of Hannukah, Rachel at the end of the episode wishing someone who donated money a Happy Hannukah, and no other mention of any other holidays except Christmas.

Glee has characters built into the show that are Jewish, Rachel and Noah 'Puck' are both Jewish and I wouldn't be surprised if McKinley High has students that celebrate things other than Christmas and even Hannukah. Yet we have everyone singing Christmas songs for the most part during their holiday episode, and spouting what they want for Christmas, including the Jewish Rachel.

I understand that there aren't many rousing songs that represent the other holidays, (although I have a little dreidel, I made it out of clay, is a Hannukah classic) there are other ways to represent and honor the other holidays on the show, and they really have yet to do that. Plus with as inventive as a show as Glee is, I'd love to see some new songs, or parodies of existing songs to represent some of the other cultures and holidays.

So for a show as open-minded as Glee, they were pretty closed-minded when it came to the holidays this year. I hope in the future they consider honoring more than just one culture during the holidays.

Ender's Game The Movie

With movie news flying left and right about Ender's Game, I wanted to weigh in some thoughts. I will preface by saying Ender's Game is my absolute favorite book of all time, and I've been waiting for this movie since I picked up the book for the first time well over 10 years ago. Even then there were rumors of a movie, and they were looking at Jake Lloyd (young Anakin Skywalker) to play Ender, but nothing ever seemed to pan out. From what I understand, Card had issues with the numerous scripts that had been written over the years. I certainly can't argue with that mentality, as there are seemingly endless ways one could screw up Ender's Game on the big screen. Doing this fabulous book justice is a bit of a chore.

When I heard the news this year that once again that Ender's Game would be a movie, I was highly skeptical, as this rumor has come around many times before. Honestly, I'm not holding my breath for this, and wont 100% believe it until I see a trailer and then am sitting in the movie theater, but this current effort looks extremely promising.

Before I launch into confirmed and rumored actors for the movie, it has been stated on many sources and by Card himself, that the children will be older than in the book with Ender around age 10. As cool as the book is with Ender starting battle school at age 5, I have to agree with this decision. I think the age bump will work, and let's face it no five year old could honestly portray this character properly. And if producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, both known for the new star trek and fringe, are any indication, this film is headed on the right track.

So onto the actors,

Asa Butterfield - Confirmed to play Ender. I have no complaints about this kid, in fact I think he's about as perfect as you can get for Ender Wiggin. He has the look and he can act. He was amazing in Hugo (if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it, its a beautiful movie!). And he proven he can play slightly darker and mysterious in BBC's Merlin as a young Mordred. All around great choice!

Harrison Ford - Rumored to play Colonel Graff. I think Ford is an interesting choice for this role, but I have no doubt he can play it well. I actually see him a bit as a certain other mentor to Ender (more on that in a minute) but if he's cast as Col. Graff, I wont have any complaints. We all know this man has no trouble acting and has a large portfolio of roles to back him up!

Hailee Steinfeld - Rumored to play Petra Arkanian. Now this one I struggle a bit with. I admittedly have only seen clips here and there of her work, and she seems like a wonderful actress but I'm not sure if I am sold on her for Petra. She was originally who I would have picked to play Katniss in the Hunger Games, but I'm not sure she has that complexity that Petra carries in the book. I picture Petra with a slight fiery streak, someone more like Chloe Moretz possibly, that has proven the range of both soft and fiery. But I know Steinfeld can act and would do her best to portray Petra properly in the movie.

And onto the latest rumor (and this is a spoiler if you haven't read Ender's Game, so you've been warned!)


Ben Kinsley - Rumored to play the thought dead Mazer Rackham. Back to what I was talking about above, I originally thought Harrison Ford would be a better Mazer than Graff, but now hearing this news, I couldn't think of a more perfect person to be Mazer. Ben Kingsley would be great in this role, and certainly bring the right life to this important character. And again like Ford, has great experience as an actor.




So looking ahead, I think Ender's Game, despite many years of hope and fears surrounding a possible movie, is headed down the right general path to do this amazing book justice. The next few months will be telling as to how this project moves forward and if it will make it into production.

Of the uncast roles, Bean is the most important to get right. Personally I hope they find a young undiscovered to bring this role to life. His chemistry with Ender is key to the story, and I hope they find the right kid to do the job.

I look forward to more casting news and hope that this finally makes it to the big screen. I'm definitely getting excited about the Ender's Game movie and can't wait to watch it continue to develop!

Tuesday Teaser

I don't normally do these but just for a little bit of fun today, a teaser quote from the book I'm currently reading The Gathering, book 2 in the Quantum Prophecy series by Michael Carroll.

"Did I ask for a science lesson?" Dioxin snarled. "Make it fly! You can do that can't you?"

Ahh gotta love superhumans, especially of the villian variety ;)