In Which Our Heroine Says Adios

So I have decided to leave blogspot. Love the friends I've made here, but dual-blogging is not good for me. You can stalk me here from now on: www.livejournal.com/users/seeyouupside

However, before I go, I'm leaving you with a poem I wrote for Creative Writing:


It is fairy dust that guides me in
and leads me away into the garden of words and wisdom
bright colors light up the sky and I spin until I’m dizzy and my head aches
Though your words are magic, floating around your lips like cigarette smoke
I still see Los Angeles and drunk crowds of girls
their shirts too tight and their skirts too hiked up

It is the fairy-folk that seduce them
Glittering eyes and invisible wings
their lips taste like fire, delicious to the soul, burnt to a crisp
my head is pounding when we walk into the club and
music bounces off one ear and out the other
you say its usual
I don’t believe you

One of them - their eyes dolled up in silver eyeshadow
Makes a pass at me and I may have felt myself blush like a school girl
cooties are one thing, this is another
Leading me, fingers entwined like branches
I am a tree, stable, but not tonight

Tonight I am someone else
not sure who she is or who I am
but she is full of life and smiles and arms outstretched like
she owns the world
Gold glitter falls on top of her like autumn leaves in a pile waiting to be picked up
no one picks me up

I am on the floor breathing
Fairy faces lean in towards me and I know
I know this is the end as I know it
their lips graze mine
kisses like juice of fruit spilling down my chin

In Which Our Heroine Expresses Her Love for T.H. Mafi

So once upon a time, I stumbled onto Twitter stalked Victoria Schwab's Twitter (sorry, Victoria) and saw that she was excited about some girl she was tweeting (conversing?) with on Twitter. So I went to this girl's Twitter and found out it was T.H. Mafi , whoever that was. I saw she was repped by Amy Tipton (also Victoria's agent), but since I didn't know her I thought it'd be sketchy to say, "Hi! Congrats!" So I went along with life.

Then a week or two later, her blog came into being and I clicked on it. I am such a stalker. I found her blog entry to be really funny. As in really, REALLY funny. I was dying to know what got her Amy. Or how Amy came to be her agent. I nagged. T. H. Mafi (whose real name I will not dispense here, but her first name is totally Tahereh), who said she'd think about telling me. THINK ABOUT TELLING ME? So I nagged her some more. Then I followed her on Twitter. Then I read her blog some more and giggled.

One day, Tahereh wrote a blog entry about how writers were all wonderful. And I was having a sad day. I was writing Novel/WIP and I was thinking it was weird to be this excited about a novel and how well I was writing it and how clearly this was messed up and it was a dream and I was seriously, seriously awful. (Talk about a run-on sentence.) I read her blog, and laughed. Then I cried. It was something I needed at that very moment and Tahereh gave it to me.

Tahereh's blog is so funny that I get tears in my eyes every time I read it. Because I am laughing so hard. Please go read today's post. It is her query! FINALLY! I nagged and nagged until she finally did it. :D Her book sounds so great -- funny and unusual.

P.S. Once Tahereh came to my area of the world and we tried to meet up. Like really tried. But someone had conferences to go to and a short trip here and it didn't work out. I may have sniffled about this. My roommate looked at me weird. But I am vowing to meet her for real one day. Because I'm betting she is as funny in real life as she is on her blog.

In Which Our Heroine Writes An Open Letter to Her Boyfriend

(*If you don't know, James Franco and I live together under YA Elevensie author Carrie Harris's bed.)

Dear James,

I know we live together and everything, so this means we should be honest. I hope this doesn't hurt your feelings. I never meant to. This is only for the your good and the good of mankind's.

Your writing sucks.

I know you're getting your Master's in Fine Arts at NYU for Creative Writing, and I am SO proud of you for this, but...that story in Esquire? Not cutting it. It sounds like a freshman in an undergraduate 101 class wrote it, not you, my handsome, hot boyfriend. And I know you think that I shouldn't talk because I'm not in your class and I don't know what other people wrote (and you probably think my writing sucks), but I just wanted you to know.

You can do better.

So listen, James, the next time you want to submit something like that to Esquire or anywhere else, let me read it first. Let me edit it. Let me give you my comments. Let's fix it before it's "shit" as Michael says in the short story.

I love you and because of that I'm willing to tell you this. You can write better, you can do better, you can be better. I know you have it in you to rock the short story world with your awesomeness and I have no doubt you will. But for right now? Please sit in a 101 course and see how your short story is similar to some of the students' works there. You need to observe to learn. All writers observe (and you know this), but I don't think you've ever observed that class. You need to work harder, push yourself and open yourself up.

By the way, I'm still mad you won't give me an ARC of PALTO ALTO. Stop hoarding them. Its not nice.

Love,
Rachel

P.S. When are you going to ask me to marry you? Its getting to be a while now!

In Which Our Heroine Finishes

I feel like I am light years ahead of everyone right now and I am totally not sure why.

I wrote this entry up originally at 2 AM, two hours after I completed (yes, completed) my WIP. It is untitled and therefore I have no idea what else to call it except 'WIP.'

It is not my secret idea of awesome, which was about Zelda Fitzgerald. (That is still on the back burner, waiting for its turn.) No, this WIP is a contemporary YA completed in 5 (or 6? I am not very good at mathematics) weeks. Yes, 5 weeks.

It took me 9 months to write The Rose Kingdom, so for me to write my next/second novel (which was actually my sixth novel idea at the time) in 5 weeks is crazy AWESOME!!!

I have no idea what I am going to do to celebrate, but I promised myself (and Alex Bracken) I'd be out on the hunt for her novel BRIGHTLY WOVEN in stores. So after classes today, I think I'm going to do that. And then write a five-page paper. Ick.

The song that REALLY represents this novel to a tee is 'A Rush of Blood to the Head' by Coldplay. I found the lyrics when trying to figure out why the lyrics on someone's blog sounded so familiar, and then I listened to this song on repeat for like eighty bazillion hours as I wrote a few scenes.




I am so beyond proud of myself, and I know that sounds cheesy but I really don't care. I worked with a few jotted ideas and then ran with it. I never outline, but in this case I semi-needed to because it was an unusual timeline. The characters are wonderful (and a bit creepy, if I say so myself) and I had a hard time leaving the 'writing' part of them.

But now I look forward to edits. :-)

In Which Our Heroine Is Tagged

I was tagged by Steph for this meme, so I guess I have to do it. Hehe.

I like- the feeling of sunshine on my face
I like- dance parties
I like- when good things happen to good people
I like- reading good books, curled up on my dorm couch
I like- good music
I like- to write
I like- the YA publishing industry and how those I've met are so willing to help me and want me to succeed
I like- getting ARCs in the mail
I like- sleepovers with my high school BFF
I like- the fact that I am going to London in 54 days! I've never been outside the country
I like- sweet tea from the South (I'm the North :-P), chocolate, and my grandma's cake
I like- my English class and my Creative Writing class this semester

I love- sunny days where I can wear sundresses

Today was- (It has just started but I'm guessing it will be -->) long.

I hate- my Spanish class, and that my Jewish History course is too hard for my liking
I hate- when someone I know is sad and I can't fix it
I hate- a lot of things that happened in the past
I hate- ketchup
I hate- waiting
I hate- prejudice
I hate- racism
I hate- the smell of eggs

I (secretly) like- . . . being tagged in memes.

I love- that I am doing extra work for Spanish AND I'm allowed to redo a paper for my Jewish History course, and that I'm changing my major.

I tag:
- Kristin
- Sumayyah
- Tahereh

YAY!! WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL NEWS!!

Please go congratulate S.J. Maas (Sarah) on her book deal to Bloomsbury. She just sold her novel QUEEN OF GLASS (a YA fantasy retelling of Cinderella as an assassin) to Bloomsbury Children's USA. :-)

You can see the full post here: http://sjmaas.livejournal.com/371175.html

In Which Our Heroine Reviews SISTERS RED by Jackson Pearce

Today I am reviewing SISTERS RED by Jackson Peace. SISTERS RED is her second novel (her first is AS YOU WISH), and it is delightful. :-)

Thank you first off to Little, Brown's booth at ALA MidWinter for providing me with this advanced copy. This book is not a final copy, and the official release date is June 7, 2010.



The summary of this book comes from Amazon.com:
Scarlet March lives to hunt the Fenris--the werewolves that took her eye when she was defending her sister Rosie from a brutal attack. Armed with a razor-sharp hatchet and blood-red cloak, Scarlett is an expert at luring and slaying the wolves. She's determined to protect other young girls from a grisly death, and her raging heart will not rest until every single wolf is dead.

Rosie March once felt her bond with her sister was unbreakable. Owing Scarlett her life, Rosie hunts ferociously alongside her. But even as more girls' bodies pile up in the city and the Fenris seem to be gaining power, Rosie dreams of a life beyond the wolves. She finds herself drawn to Silas, a young woodsman who is deadly with an ax and Scarlett's only friend--but does loving him mean betraying her sister and all that they've worked for?

SISTERS RED is an urban fantasy retelling of the fairy tale, Little Red Riding Hood. Told in interchanging point of views from both Rosie and Scarlett, it is the story of two sisters, who hunt the Fenris (or werewolves). The novel is well paced, and the reader learns about the world throughout the story.

Both sisters are distinct in their personality, and it was never an issue or too confusing as to who was speaking (even when I didn't look up at the chapter change). Scarlett is the older, more protective sister, who is constantly obsessed with the hunt for more and more Fenris. Rosie, on the other hand, wonders about what it would be like to do things on than hunt the Fenris and stay out of town -- what it would be like to have a life. The sisters are wonderfully drawn, and to be honest I do not recall ever reading such a wonderful sibling relationship in recent urban fantasy YA.

I'd have to give this book 5 out of 5 stars because SISTERS RED stole my heart with it's retelling and the sibling love. Please read this when it comes out. I found it EVEN BETTER than AS YOU WISH. :-)