Halloween: Twilight fangirl style

I'm in love with The Time Traveler's Wife...

I cannot wait for this movie. I'm only 120ish pages into the novel and it is FANTASTIC. So fantastic that all I want to do is read. Devour it until it is done. Why have I not read this before? Someone please tell me why no one told me to read this exquisite novel?

As soon as I finish reading it I am going to see this!

Book title freak out

Over the past few months, I've been furiously working on "the book". Copyediting, rewriting, cutting, rearranging. I've been reading books on structure, scene, character, how to get published, what not to do, etc. Now I've hit the proverbial wall. The book has had a name for eight plus years. And I love the name. But after all of my reading, I'm not sure the name is doing the book any favors. It may be time to edit it too. Would any of these names capture your attention on the book shelf?

• Reminders Of Them
• Dwell
• The Nature of Things Come & Gone
• Tended
• Kindred
• The Weight of Silence
• The Downside of Love
• The Color of Solitude
• Placeholders
  

TBR

This is my To Be Read (TBR) pile (in no particular order):
Vision in White - Nora Roberts (not pictured)
Made in the U.S.A. - Billie Letts
Belong to Me - Marisa de los Santos
The Little Giant of Aberdeen County - Tiffany Baker
Firefly Lane - Kristen Hannah
Prep - Curtis Sittenfeld
Writing the Breakout Novel - Donald Maass
The First Five Pages - Noah Lukeman
Nineteen Minutes - Jodi Picoult
Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen
The Annunciation of Francesca Dunn - Janis Hallowell
The Bright Forever - Lee Martin
P.S. I Love You - Cecelia Ahern
Hooked: Grab Readers at Page One - Les Edgerton
Veronica - Nicholas Christopher

This does not take into account the two Jane Austen novels, the two Mark Haddon novels, Middlemarch, Anna Karenina, and Wuthering Heights that are still on my bookshelf.

Death By Demin day

I have a stack of books over two feet tall that are waiting patiently for me to read. They've been sitting there staring at me for weeks. Months even. And they'll have to keep waiting. Death By Denim by Linda Gerber came out on Tuesday and my copy arrived from Amazon today! You may remember my post from a month ago about her first two books in the series. If you haven't read them, stop reading this now (I mean now!) and go get them. They are fabulous.

The author is having a virtual release party in addition to the one I can't go to in OH. So in an effort to get more people to read these books and go to her blog, I'm Tweeting and posting to Facebook. Please check them out. You will not be disappointed.

Now my weekend will be taken up by Aphra and Seth. No better way to spend it. Cannot wait!

Me and my teenage super sleuths...

As you all know, I am obsessed with Veronica Mars. Well, now I have a new teenage super sleuth to occupy my time. In the Young Adult series by Linda Gerber, Aphra Connelly must help keep her mom's ex-CIA-witness-protected-family safe from The Mole. The one big problem, Aphra and the family's teenage son, Seth, are falling for each other and the bad guys are not stupid. They know if they "follow the girl, [they'll] find the boy." Silly teenage hormones. Always causing people to get shot at, poisoned, followed cross country, etc.

If you're looking for a quick, fun, on-the-edge-of-your-seat read, I highly recommend this delightful series. But you better get reading. The next book in the series, Death By Denim, comes out May 14. (I've already ordered my copy!)

Fin

It is done. The first full draft of the book. 380 pages. 99,150 words. Now comes the editing.

The end is near

I think that by the end of the month, I might be, maybe sorta kinda, finished with the full first draft of my book.

Parasitic aliens in love

So I was sitting in the Phoenix airport on Sunday, after a long few days at a conference, sobbing as quietly as possible for twenty or so minutes all because of a book.

I had saved Stepahnie Meyer's first adult book, The Host, specifically for this trip. Not only would I be in the author's town, but I would be in the vicinity of the setting of the book. (Yes, I know, I'm a dork!)

I expected to love the book simply for the fact that I am obsessed with her other books. Her characters are more alive to me than some people I know. But I also expected to be a little wary of it. While vampires and werewolves don't phase me, I have a big problem with aliens. They're just not my type of thing. But this book is so my type of thing. Above all else, it is a love story. A wonderfully sweet, tragic love story that involves Melanie (a host body that has been invaded by an alien), Jared (Melanie's one true love), Wanderer (the centepede like alien in Mel's body) and Ian (the human who loves Wanderer even without Melanie's body).

In the beginning I was rooting for Mel and Jared. But by the end, the most heart-wrenching characters were Wanderer and Ian. These are the two that broke my heart. That had me bawling surrounded by fellow passengers who kept giving me sidelong glances to make sure I was OK. And if I didn't have as much faith in Stephanie Meyer and her love of romance, I'm not sure I would have been OK. But knowing that Bella and Edward survived it all to be together and no one stood in their way, I was banking on The Host to deliver much of the same. Lucky for me (and the passengers around me) the crying didn't last too long.

I am a force to be reckoned with

Well, maybe I'm not quite that good, but I have managed to personally get two people in love with Edward Cullen. And I talked about it at work so much that Deb and Kristen started the series and are now in love with him too. Shawn even said he "may" have to read it. :)

My obsession knows no bounds

So after I posted my irate fan blog about Midnight Sun, I read through the 264 pages that Stephanie Meyer made available on her website. I skipped dinner. I barely remembered to feed the kitties I was so engrossed.

And I was blown away. I didn't think it was possible to love this story more that I already do, but hearing it all from Edward's point of view made me fall in love with him all over again.

Watching him fall in love with Bella and realize that he would fight his family over her if necessary was just as powerful as Bella's need for him in Twilight. True love stories do not come around often, so when one this perfect does, it's hard not to go all gooey and turtle-dovey.

So here's my plea to Stephanie Meyer - Please, please, please finish this book. I cannot live happily ever after without at least seeing "Confessions" from Edward's point of view. I need this. And I know you do too. You can't give up on him now!

Beware the wrath of angry Twilight fans

To the jackass who leaked portions of Midnight Sun on the internet-

Just who the hell do you think you are? Midnight Sun was not yours to distribute to the masses. You were given a copy because you were a trusted friend (or possibly even family member). And what do you do? You betray not only Stephanie Meyer, but also the legion of now devestated fans, by being the world's biggest ass.

As a writer, I am horrified by your blatant disregard for the legal copyright of Midnight Sun. As a fan, I am furious and devestated that you have potentially ended a story that I have been dying to sink into. (So furious in fact that I'm close to wishing you bodily harm. Serious harm that would help the overwhelmingly global impact of your actions sink in far enough that you are never quite right again!)

Did you think that we'd all be so voracious to read the unfinished manuscript that your betrayal would be forgiven? Because of you and your selfishness, the world may never know Edward's story. (I may never know Edward's story!) And that is unfrgivable. The fact that Stephanie Meyer said her mood was dark enough to let James win and kill all the Cullens should make you ashamed of yourself.

And even if Stephanie proves a kinder person that I (which I am counting on), I will always think of you as the person who tarnished the near-perfect saga. And like the books, Edward was damn near-perfect too and you've ruined that for her. At least for today.

So you better find a way to fix this disasterous turn of events and convince Stephanie that you are the lowliest type of scum on the planet and your actions should have no bearing on her writing or Edward's story. If you don't, I think there just may be a special place in hell for a person who angers and devestates millions of women with one careless action.

Think about it.

Sincerely,
A Seriously Irate Fan

One big, fat I told you so...

Comment from Karen on Facebook today after finishing Twilight:

"I am absolutely furious that you would do such a mean and horrible thing to such a loving sister. I mean really, giving me a book like that to read, knowing that I would be DYING to read the next one and PURPOSELY NOT bringing it. Honestly, I thought you cared. And seriously, what an awesome book!"

Direction

After years of rebelling against romance of any kind in my writing, I have finally given in. For the longest time, I didn't want to be seen as one of "those" writers. I didn't want to be chick-lit or romance novel-ish. I wanted to be respectable. I wanted to be literature.

I wanted to be taken seriously as a writer and have my stories mean something. Somehow in my mind I felt that being literary mean that I had to give up the things I enjoy (ie romantic love) to be replaced by grown-up plots and ten-dollar words. But I read romance novels, devour them actually, and I lap up any good love story. And stories don't have as much impact on me if they don't make my heart sigh.

So why do I consider these authors and books to be serious literature, but not my own?

And that's when something clicked in my sluggish brain. This deep rooted seed of romance sprang to life and my novel has a new purpose. The mental block lifted and I could clearly see the path Aden was to take to get to the happy ending. Just by accepting that two characters are meant to be (which in my head I knew, but never allowed to be acknowledged on paper), everything fit in place.

I'm in love with a vampire

Well, actually a whole family of Vampires – the Cullens. But Edward Cullen is top of the list with his golden eyes, bronze hair, wicked crooked grin, and unequaled love for one Miss Bella Swan.

I immersed myself in my latest obsession, The Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer, this past weekend and read the 2,515 pages of all four books in a four day stretch. Back-to-back. With only brief interludes for minimal food and bathroom breaks. Otherwise, I was all vampires all the time. And it was well worth the aches from sitting in a chair with my neck cocked down to read.

I cannot express how much I LOVE this series. In the next few days I will try though. I cannot stop thinking about the four books so I will do more blogging as the scenes keep replaying in my head like a widescreen. You'll also soon get to watch the trailer for the Twilight movie set for release on December 12, 2008. (Robert Pattinson - who played Cedric Diggory in Goblet of Fire - completely brings Edward to life.) Cannot wait!

She's not done yet

Because no one, including J.K. Rowling herself, is quite ready to let go of Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the rest of our beloved (and hated) Potter characters, Bloomsbury, Scholastic and Amazon are releasing The Tales of Beedle the Bard – the book Dumbledor willed to Hermione upon his death. Proceeds will go to the Children’s High Level Group (CHLG) charity. This amazing addition to the Potterverse will be available December 4th. Amazon is also selling a leatherbound version for those with a little extra cash lyring around. I unfortunately am not one of those people, but I will be getting my grubby little hands on that standard edition!

The Final Installment

Scene: 12:08 a.m. Harris Teeter in Ogden.

Mark and I were fourth in line to get Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I have the time-stamped receipt to prove it.