YA Rebels Pumpkin Carving Contest Giveaway

So, this week (and last week and next week) I'm filling in at the YA Rebels vlog for the wonderful Corrine Jackson while she cuts back on the interwebs to get her writerly stuff caught up. This week the Rebels are each carving a pumpkin and you, the viewer are going to judge them. Here's how the contest is going to work:

On Sunday the Rebels will post photos of each of the pumpkins on their Facebook page. You
"Like" your favorite pumpkin (you only get to vote ONE time!) and you'll be entered to win signed copies of TEN by Gretchen McNeil and VELVETEEN by Daniel Marks. U.S./Canada only. You have until midnight on the 30th to enter, and a winner will be announced on Halloween!

So there it is. I'm going for the sympathy vote since I'm not an official Rebel...yet. Here's my video for your viewing pleasure. Go leave me a comment and make me look popular. They have an opening for Wednesday I hear.

Monday Monkey Madness: Helping Out Your Favorite Writers

Photo by Michael Elliott

There are many ways in which you can help your favorite writers get their books the attention they deserve. This is especially helpful to those authors who don't have the big blockbuster series that have major backing from their publishers.

Two ways are through Amazon.com: reviewing and tagging. 

If a book gets a certain amount of reviews, Amazon will give it better visibility on their site which will result in better sales.

You could also tag the book. This is close to the bottom of the product page, labeled under 'Tags Customers Associate With This Product'. You can agree with tags already in place or add your own. You're allowed up to 15 tags. This will also give the book better visibility.

So, if there is a small quiet book, *cough* Never Eighteen *cough* that you really enjoyed, consider doing this to help the author get the word out about the book.

Have a great Monday.

Insanely Yours,

Megan   

F³A: Teen Read Week Wrap Up! Drabble Winner!

I want to thank everyone who entered my Drabble Contest!! I received so many good entries, spooky, creepy, funny, eerie, it was hard to pick a winner, but I did. The winner is Andrea Stanet!! Congrats Andrea. I liked her entry, titled Just Because, because it was creepy, but it also made me giggle. Here's her entry.

Just Because by Andrea Stanet

After the season premiere of Zombie Hunters, Karen walked Marlene across the back yard, halfway home. 

“The one thing that has never happened, and can never happen, in human history is the one thing you’re afraid of,” Karen teased.

“Just because it has never happened doesn’t mean it can’t.”

The bushes at the edge of the woods rustled. Karen’s head whipped around. “What was that?”

“Ha ha. Don’t try to scare me.”

They parted. 

A moment later, Marlene heard a scream, several moans and wet slurps.

It sucked being right all the time. She ran inside and barricaded the door.

Andrea wins a signed ARC of Danny Mark's Velveteen, a signed marred copy of Never Eighteen, bookmarks for both books, I'm going to throw some other 2k12 swag in there too. So congrats to Andrea!!! yay.

Friday Scribbles:

Next Pandora Song (Beck Station): The Hardest Button to Button by the White Stripes

 

 Book of the Week: An Unbalanced Line by me. Because it feels like I've been revising it forever and it's the only book I can concentrate on right now.

Netflix/Redbox of the Week: All I have to say is this right now, "What's TV?"

Quote of the week:  “Often, a school is your best bet-perhaps not for education but certainly for protection from an undead attack.” ― Max Brooks, The Zombie Survival Guide

Have a great weekend. I know I will. I'm getting my Halloween on! 

 

Teen Read Week: Favorite Teen Books I've Read This Year

This year I've not read as much as I would have liked to, but I've read a bit. Come on though! I've been revising two books, trying to find an agent, keep up with two teenagers, including teaching one to drive, and have taken on more projects than any normal human should.

BUT, I have read some, and of these some, here are my favorites:

Love and Leftovers by Sarah Tregay. This is a novel in verse about a girl forced to move to a beach home with her mother after her parents split. She's having to come to terms with the move, making new friends, her relationships back home, her mother's depression, and the reasons behind her parents problems. It's very moving and Sarah's poetry is flowing and beautiful. It was so good I read it in one day.

The Gathering Storm by Robin Bridges. This is the first in a trilogy, in fact the second just came out recently (like 9 days ago). Admittedly, you need to be patient in the beginning because while it's paranormal it's authentically historic and introducing the characters and getting used to the way they interact takes a little getting used to, at least for me. Once the story got into full swing, which is about a necromancer in Russia having to deal with all sorts of paranormal creatures as well as coming to terms with her own gift (or is that a curse?), I couldn't put it down.

Okay For Now by Gary Schmidt. The book is astounding. It's about a boy struggling to get along in a new town, new school with a jerk brother, an even jerkier dad, a sad mom, and another brother coming back forever injured from Vietnam. He finds solace in the library among Audubon's birds.

The Wicked and the Just by J Anderson Coats. I'm not a historical fiction person, in fact, I'm not sure I've ever read a historical fiction book in my life. Once I picked this one up though, I couldn't put it down. I'm also amazed by how much research had to have gone into this novel. It's apparent that Ms. Coats did her homework. As she describes it, Medieval Girls Gone Bad. Love it.

Breaking Beautiful by Jennifer Shaw Wolf. I've always loved mysteries. I devoured my way through Agatha Christie, Dennis Lehane, and Harlan Coben novels. So bring mystery to YA and I'm all over it. Allie is in a car crash which kills her boyfriend, but she can't remember a thing. Through the book, and as her memories start coming back to her, we're given glimpses of her abusive relationship, and start to wonder, as Allie does, if she had something to do with the accident.




Velveteen by Danny Marks. This book is awesome. Velvet is murdered by a serial killer then lives her afterlife in an ash covered Purgatory. What she really wants to do is haunt her killer to death, instead she's stuck trying to find a way to stop a soul rebellion before it destroys the world of the living. She's got her work cut out for her. Tim Burton should make this into a movie. But one of his good movies, not one of his bad movies.



 Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I don't think I really need to say anything here. LOVE.

I've read lots of other good books, but these are the ones that are stand outs for me this year. Tomorrow I think I'll talk about favorite YA books EVA!!!

Don't forget my Drabble contest ends tonight at 5 pm PST! I've got some good entries. It's going to be a tough competition!

Teen Read Week: Author Visit Fun! And don't forget my drabble contest!!!

For Teen Read Week I was invited, along with Helen Landalf (Flyaway), Kendare Blake (Anna Dressed in Blood and Girl of Nightmares, and Chelsea Campbell (The Rise of Renegade X) to the Burien Library. We introduced our books, and read a little bit. We had a great crowd of teens there, readers and writers alike. They asked a bunch of great questions about our books, our writing process, and the publishing process. It was a lot of fun. I love doing visits with teens and writers.

Tomorrow night I get to go to the Olympia Barnes and Noble with Helen, Marissa Meyer (Cinder), Kiki Hamilton (The Faerie Ring and Torn Wing), Kevin Emerson (The Oliver Nocturne Series), and Mikko Azul (Askari). It starts at 5:30, so if you're in the area, come on by.

I've spearheaded many events for our local young adult and middle grade writers. We'll soon have a website up and running. If you're interested in having a group of writers come to your book store, library, school, or book club, send me an email.

For more information on Teen Read Week visit the website.

And don't forget to enter my Drabble contest if you haven't, visit the contest post for details. There are GREAT prizes to be won!!