WEEK FIVE of the I Love Dark YA Blogfest...
Waiting on Wednesday—What dark YA book are you most looking forward to?

       Pandemonium (Delirium #2)
Blurb  and image from Goodreads:
I’m pushing aside the memory of my nightmare, 
pushing aside thoughts of Alex, 
pushing aside thoughts of Hana and my old school, 
push, 
push, 
push, 
like Raven taught me to do.
The old life is dead.
But the old Lena is dead too.
I buried her.
I left her beyond a fence,
behind a wall of smoke and flame.



Hardcover, 375 pages;  Expected publication: March 6th 2012 by HarperTeen (first published March 1st 2012)

This book is the second in a series by Lauren Oliver. If you've been following my blog, it's easy to see that I'm a fan of hers. The first book in this dystopian YA series was Delirium. I recommended it to my sister and friend. They loved it as much as I did. Of course, it has one of those killer cliffhanger endings. I complained after reading it that I should only begin reading a series when the entire thing is finished. It is so hard to wait.

Thank you to the authors at YATOPIA for hosting the I Love Dark YA Blogfest. If you'd like to check out the other blogs who have participated this month, click on any link below.
1.Flowers for Ghosts  2.Lori M. Lee  3.Reader Girls  4.Writings My Drug  5.Christa Writes  6.Pensuasion  7.M.J. Fifield  8.Rebecca Mahoney - Writer  9.Callie Kingston  10.Heather McCorkle  11.Lyla Lee  12.YA all the Way  13.Bookalicious  14.Brinda Berry Blogs  15.Christine Fonseca, Author   16.Fiction And Film  17.Courtney Koschel  18.Rachel Pudelek  19.Julie Tuovi  20.E.R. King  21.ali cross  22.Yvie Gonya  23.Ru  24.Reading Stands Forever  25.Written by Joe Duncko  26.Ink & Angst  27.K.T. Hanna  28.Theresa  29.That Is Not A Typo  30.My Back Patio  31.In the Best Worlds  32.Lucy Curtis  33.WriteEscape  34.Dreamcatchers Lair  35.Elana Johnson  36.Swift Scibbler  37.Writing Slave  38.the epitome  39.Kerri Cuevas  40.Medeia Sharif  41.YA author, Sherry Soule  42.L.A Speedwing  43.C.K. Bryant  44.CURRENT PROMOTIONS  45.RaShelle Workman  46.Angelhorn  47.Elaine AM Smith  48.Imaginary Reads  49.Relics of Providence  50.Cait Peterson  51.B-Word 

I recently posted a humorous Facebook status regarding early Christmas decorating and was a little surprised at the massive number of responses. I'm that person who sometimes waits until the week before Christmas to begin decorating. Other years, I'll bring that crap...I mean, wonderful goodness, down from the attic after Thanksgiving. I NEVER decorate before Thanksgiving. Why? Actually it's because I love Christmas and don't want to celebrate for more than a month. I don't want to grow tired of the twinkling lights, the beautiful colors, and the essence of giving and celebration.   

The day after Thanksgiving, I managed to slide the 400 lb Christmas tree box (only slight exaggeration) down the attic ladder. Hmm... that may be the REAL reason I put this off. The tree is a tall one and easy to assemble. Then come the lights and ribbon and decorations. I have all the decorations I've ever owned, but I don't put them all on the tree. My favorites are a Power Ranger ornament that was my son's, a popsicle stick sled that a student made for me when I was doing student teaching, and the ones I've purchased while on vacations. Holding each one is like opening a tiny memory that makes me happy.

For the top of the tree, I did something different this year. I have used the following as tree toppers: numerous angels, Santas, branches, and bows. This year, I've strapped a glittery Nutcracker to the top. You like? The year I put the Santa with his fur-lined robe on top, my husband asked why we had a beaver tied to the top of the tree. He only nodded at the Nutcracker. I think he's sort of a traditional angel type. BUT I do the decorating, so he will have to learn to appreciate my creativity. So, tell me, what do you have on top of your tree? Do you decorate for Christmas with a tree and is it real or artificial? Any special ornaments?
Also, don't forget that you can still enter the $25 Amazon gift certificate. CLICK HERE to add your name to the entries!

Need to get off the eating & shopping merry-go-round?
Visit with me at the following blogs:

This week, I've been a guest at Gloria Richard's with a fun Twitter quiz.  Want to see if you can get the first question? 
1. A picture of a FAIL WHALE appears on the screen. This means…
a. a public service announcement about using birth control
b. Twitter has been watching you and you don’t know what you are doing
c. the Twitter server is overloaded from all the people tweeting.
CLICK HERE to take the entire quiz and see the answers.

I'm at SavvyAuthors.com with a post on Using YouTube for Tech Support. CLICK HERE if you've ever needed tech support you could follow.

Also, don't forget that you can still enter the $25 Amazon gift certificate. CLICK HERE to add your name to the entries!

WEEK FOUR of the I Love Dark YA Blogfest...
November 23rd: Assignment is #YASAVES—Blog about how a dark YA book made an impact in your life.

BLURB and image from Goodreads: What if you had only one day to live? What would you do? Who would you kiss? And how far would you go to save your own life?

Samantha Kingston has it all: the world's most crush-worthy boyfriend, three amazing best friends, and first pick of everything at Thomas Jefferson High—from the best table in the cafeteria to the choicest parking spot. Friday, February 12, should be just another day in her charmed life.

Instead, it turns out to be her last.

Then she gets a second chance. Seven chances, in fact. Reliving her last day during one miraculous week, she will untangle the mystery surrounding her death—and discover the true value of everything she is in danger of losing.

• Here are the awards won as listed on Goodreads : Goodreads Choice Award for Young Adult Fiction, Debut Author, Nominee for Goodreads Author, Favorite Heroine (2010), YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults (2011), RT Reviewers' Choice Award Nominee for Best Young Adult Paranormal/Fantasy Novel (2010), Publishers Weekly's Best Children's Books of the Year for Fiction (2010)
  

Of all the YA books I've read, I think this one has the potential to change a life. When you are a senior in high school, it seems that your life will go on forever, that days are sometimes too long, and that people will always be around. If you are reading this blog and you're in high school, I can't convince you otherwise. I could say, "Cherish these people, be good to each other, enjoy your youth,"...yadda yadda yadda until my face turned blue, and I'm positive that it would make not a bit of difference. So, parents and teachers....you're wasting your time. This book told from the viewpoint of Samantha Kingston does what others can't do. It's a glimpse into life during high school that DOES change in a drastic way. Everyday. It's also a book that highlights a problem that has been around for ages -- bullying. I believe bullying is not a new phenomenon, but that we hear more about it with the availability of news. 

I thought Lauren Oliver's insight into the teen psyche and what really goes on in high school is incomparable. Some readers who have critiqued the book say that they had a hard time with it. The main character Samantha is too harsh and they didn't like her. I completely disagree with those reviews. Samantha is very REAL. At the beginning of the book, you see what every other person sees in Samantha. You see what's superficial. As you read, you understand more about Samantha and her experiences in life that have molded her. Midway through the book, I began to love Samantha for her humor, her flaws, and her not-so-obvious goodness.  I also love that her character grows. So, if you want to read a book where everything is black and white, find something else. The characters in Before I Fall are three-dimensional. 

Before I Fall is a contemporary YA that made me laugh and cry. I listened to the audio version of this book while commuting daily to work. It's pretty embarrassing and slightly dangerous to find yourself blubbering on the freeway. It's also one of those books that you can't quit thinking about after you're finished. Would this book help one person examine him or herself and how little things make a difference in the treatment of others? I think it might. It might stop a young person from idly standing by when he/she could do something right.  This book is more than entertainment. It has a great message. Read this book. You won't be sorry.

When I was in the fifth grade, I read a book about extra-sensory perception which is more commonly known as ESP.  After trying all the experiments a fifth-grader is capable of performing, I determined that I probably didn’t possess ESP. I was crushed. I wouldn’t be reading the minds of my classmates anytime soon. READ MORE at Paranormal Freebies where I'm guest blogging.

#1 Ball O' Fire
DL Hammons, Katie Mills (Creepy Query Girl), Lydia Kang, and Nicole Ducleroir have partnered for the Deja Vu Blogfest. Here's the description from DL's website:" How will this work?  First, sign-up to participate with Mr. Linky below (or at any of the ladies blogs above), then shout out to all of your blogging friends and encourage them to sign up as well.  Take the badge above and plaster it everywhere, blogging graffiti gone wild.  Then on December 16th all of those taking part will re-post their favorite blog offering, or one that never received the exposure it should have.  Then as the day unfolds and everyone hops from one blog to another, what they will be reading is the best of the best (as determined by you).  That day the blogosphere will be chock full of past writing brilliance!  Encouragement, enlightenment, knowledge, bared souls, stimulation, hilarity, insecurities, success stories!  All on display…the very same day…like no other time before.  Some of them will no doubt be familiar, well-deserving a second read, but a good many will be the first time you’ve seen them.  And it couldn't be any easier to take part...no writing necessary!"  SIGN UP HERE

#2 Ball O' Fire
Ciara Knight has a blog hop for her "Did I Notice Your Book" series and I'm participating. Here's the description from her site""On December 1st, Did I Notice Your Book is going viral. Around a dozen blogs will each choose one book from a specific genre. All the same components mentioned below will be involved. We will tweet under the #Noticebook hash tag and see if all the authors find their books. I’ll have a list on my blog with links to each of the locations.

At this time, I have the following genres represented: Urban Fantasy, New Adult, Inspirational, Mystery, Erotica, Young Adult, Paranormal, Sci-Fi, and Suspense Thriller. If you are interested in participating, and would like to choose a book from another genre, please contact me. I’d love a total of a dozen blogs."   The list of participating blogs will be at Ciara's site.  

Another tip: Ciara hosts publishers on her site in a series of interviews that authors should read. It's called Publisher's Q & A and you can find it HERE.

#3 Ball O' Fire

I don't care if you write YA/Children's fiction or not.  Adventures in YA & Children's Publishing is ridiculously loaded with writer resources. Every week, they post their favorite articles and blog posts from across the web. It's amazing. The left sidebar has worksheets and examples (like for query letters) of everything under the sun.  CLICK HERE

#4 Ball O' Fire
Need a little entertainment with your information?  Author Michael Offutt is always entertaining, informative, sometimes controversial, and a great blogger. Michael features movies, books, videos, interesting photos, gaming, author interviews....the list goes on.  He's a sci-fi author who isn't afraid to speak his mind about any topic.  Oh, and he's 1/2 Asian  so I have to feel this kinship. 

Here's a brief bio from his blog: I'm a guy. I write stories. My science-fiction novel entitled SLIPSTREAM will be released in May 2012 through Double Dragon Publishing and Media Group.   CLICK HERE 

#5 Ball O' Fire

Do you think you could blog everyday? Would your post be worth reading? This author is doing just that. Published in a Year is a worthy blog for your list of 'must reads" and I love it. The East Coaster is on Day 154 of the 364 days that she vows to blog. Post 154 is about Taxes for Writers. The posts are brief and cover everything from the author's progress toward her goals to featuring another site or blogger. CLICK HERE

I'm guest blogging at Brooke Moss' place today. I absolutely LOVE her blog. If you need a chuckle, her blog is the place to be. Here's the link of you'd like to follow me there to read my debut author revelations. You can also comment on her blog to win a copy of The Waiting Booth.

I'm traveling this week. Yesterday I sat on airplanes and in airports for 13 hours. No, I did not travel to the North Pole, but I'm certain that I'm close. It's really cold here and may snow. As a lesson for me, I have discovered there is a limit to the airport shopping and people watching I can do and still maintain sanity. Therefore, I'm a little crazy today. (Note to self: ALWAYS take a book on the plane. A person writing in a notebook does not look busy enough to the passenger sitting next to him/her.) I'm sure I'll recover. I'll be doing it again tomorrow, so I need to post my Week 3 post for I Love Dark YA Blogfest now. I had a choice between casting the movie and making a playlist for a favorite dark YA book.  

If you've read Forever (Book 3 of Wolves of Mercy Falls) by Maggie Stiefvater, you know how rich this book is with music. Two main characters, Sam Roth and Cole St. Clair, are both singers who play musical instruments, but they are stylistically very different from each other. If you can tell which songs belong to which character/scenes, leave me a comment. I loved doing this post as part of the I Love Dark YA Blogfest!  Because I tend to favor alternative and pop music, you won't find any country or rap on my playlist. Of course, this music fits perfectly with this book because Cole St. Clair is definitely going to rock the house while Sam serenades you sweetly with his acoustic guitar.

If you click on this link for I Love Dark YA Blogfest, you can check out the other bloggers' playlists. If you are interested in finding out more about Maggie Stievater's writing and the Wolves of Mercy Fall series, click this link.

Here's a video by Cage the Elephant. I have a few of their songs from an older album and thought I'd see what they've been up to lately. This song is Aberdeen. It rocks. The second video is the "making of" for Aberdeen. Enjoy!

I'm a busy writer this month. Here's an update on what I've been up to lately:

1. If you came by to read my flash fiction post in week 2 for the I Love Dark YA Blogfest, please skip down to the previous post . 
2. I've been guest posting at Gloria Richard's blog with the Pimp My Web Presence series. This week, you can help us out by adding your thoughts on Twitter applications. I've tried Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, Twitterific, Echolon, Twitter, and others. What have you found to help manage your tweets? 
3. I submitted my book for review by a Knight at www.ciaraknight.com. CLICK HERE to read the review.
4. I'm running a contest on my site to win a $25 Amazon gift certificate. It's easy breezy to enter. CLICK HERE.
5. Did I mention that my contract is signed, and I'm doing edits on Book 2 in the Whispering Woods series? The title is Whisper of Memory. I'm anxious to get this baby wrapped up and released, but I know I'll have to be patient. 
6. I'm currently involved in several writer's campaigns. I joined WRiTE CLUB last week. Yeah...I like to play rough. What are some rules as presented by DL? 

• 1st RULE: You DO NOT talk about WRiTE CLUB.  
• 2nd RULE: You DO NOT talk about WRiTE CLUB.
• 3rd RULE: If someone taps out, WRiTING is over.
• 4th RULE: Only two people to a WRiTE.
• 5th RULE: One WRiTE per week.
• 6th RULE: No shirts, no shoes.
• 7th RULE: WRiTES will go on until Feb1. 
• 8th RULE: If this is your first week at WRiTE CLUB, you HAVE to WRiTE.

 If you wanna duke it out in the writing ring, CLICK HERE.