In my Suitcase

You may remember my (bad) packing advice, which can be boiled down to: Sweep your entire TBR pile into your rolly suitcase, and throw in a swimsuit or two, too.*

Well, I'm on the road (or, more accurately, in the air [cue the anxious hand-wringing]) today and my carry-on is again full of reading material:

Four magazines: Smithsonian, Marie Claire, Whole Living, and Elle.
Five Books: The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, Bossypants (!), 13 Reasons Why, Hector and the Search for Happiness, and A Visit from the Goon Squad.
One Kobo, loaded with over 100 eBooks.

And . . . four swimsuits.
Yup, I continue to follow my own (silly) advice. Hopefully the Wisconsin weather will cooperate and I can spend lots of time reading poolside. :)

*I would like to apologize to the many, many people who have shown up at my blog via a Google search for "how to pack a suitcase." You will find the opposite of help with that here. Related: sorry to the people who have found me through fear-of-flying and hypochondria related searches.

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Lola and the Boy Next Door

In March I fell in love*--with Anna and the French Kiss. I still love Anna, with its magical Parisian setting and cute British French American boy and funny + relatable heroine.

So I guess I'm in a polyamorous relationship now because I read** an ARC of Lola and the Boy Next Door this weekend, and I'm totally in love with it, too.

A few reasons why:

• Bay-area setting. If I didn't like in NYC, I would want to live in Northern California. Love. And Stephanie Perkins's richly detailed settings are like bonus characters.
• Costumes! Clothes! Wigs! Sparkles!
• Hot inventors
• Did I mention the hot inventors?
• MORE ANNA AND ST. CLAIR

Here's the jacket copy in case you need more info:
Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn’t believe in fashion . . . she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit -- more sparkly, more fun, more wild -- the better. But even though Lola’s style is outrageous, she’s a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood. 

When Cricket -- a gifted inventor -- steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door. 

But wait, there's more! Would you like my ARC? Because I will give it to you.
To enter, just leave a comment with your name -- and your email address, so I know how to find you.

Extra credit (please let me know in your comment if you qualify for any of these):

+1 New followers
+2 If you're already a follower
+1 Tweeting this giveaway
+2 New follower on Twitter (@rebeccabehrens)
+3 For posting about this giveaway on your blog.
+2 Add me to your blog roll

The contest will end on Friday, July 15th at 11:59 pm Eastern time. I'll randomly select the winner from all the entries, and announce him/her on Monday, July 18th. Good luck!

*Sorry, I couldn't help myself w/ the pun.
**More like devoured. Saturday was supposed to be a writing day but, oops.


EDITED: At some point, Blogger is going to start holding comments for moderation. Don't worry; I'll approve all submitted before 7/15 at 11:59 pm EST!

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The Lover's Dictionary: a review

inspired, adj.
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that David Levithan, half of the duo behind Will Grayson, Will Grayson would have the (genius, creative) idea to tell a love story entirely composed of dictionary entries. But still: whoa. A choice that shouts, "That's so crazy it might just work!" And it does.

flip, v.
The book made fluttering and flapping noises as I read it, constantly turning the pages to get to the next entry, wanting the love story to unfold faster than I could read it.

linger, v.
You'll find yourself meditating on some entries, thinking about the words and their connotations and denotations. Sometimes the entries will change the way you think about language.

universal, adj.
Because no matter who you are--man/woman, gay/straight, old/young, married/single, crazy/sane--you'll see yourself and your relationships reflected again and again in the I and the you. This will make you laugh and it will make you cry.

poignant, adj.
Maybe it's because it's universal that the knitting and unraveling of one particular relationship carries so much weight. Because it's so relatable, it's keenly felt. Moving in the simplest way. Isn't that also the best way to be moved?

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RTW: Burning Down the House

Road Trip Wednesday is a weekly blog carnival hosted by YA Highway. This week's topic is: Your house is on fire and you can only grab five things. What are they?

Just reading the prompt made me start sweating and check to make sure there weren't any forgotten candles burning. It also reminded me that I really REALLY need to finally buy a little extinguisher for the kitchen (bad Rebecca!).

I'm going to ignore some obvious answers, like my phone/wallet/passport/insurance information. Also ignoring photo albums (wahhh!) because I have so many of them. And I'm assuming I'm wearing my engagement rings.

My answer starts out all practical:

External HD. All my writing is on here.  Nuff said.

My MacBook. I love this thing like it's my child.
I go into withdrawal if I have to be away
 from it for more than a few hours. Sad, but true.
Also, I am going to need to go online to look
for a new apartment and fill out insurance crap.

And then gets way sentimental:

Bookends made from Tennessee pink marble that once
 was the floor of Vanderbilt Hall at Grand Central Terminal.
GCT is my favorite building in NYC. I love bookends (related to my love of books).
 A wonderful present from my now-fiance.
Maybe a stupid choice because they are very heavy
 and I am running from a fire in this scenario.

Family heirloom Parker pens given to
 me by my mom when I started writing.
Mine are Art Deco and green and they inspire me.

You are probably saying, WTF? A blob in an old Ziploc?
 This is the stuffed bear I left behind in a hotel
 room during a family trip, at age seven.
Even after it went through the hotel laundry,
I managed to get it back. Fast forward to
when I first moved to NYC and was having
 a rough transition. My parents sent me the bear
in this Ziploc, with the caption:
"Never give up! When all is lost it may be found."
 I think I would need this after an apartment fire.

What about you?

EDITED: Um, also assuming all people in my apartment are able to get themselves out, too. :)

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Monday Miscellany

--I finished my revisions! Is there a better feeling than hitting "send" on an email with a shiny new draft attached?

--Speaking of revisions, the current issue of Writer's Digest (with Sarah Dessen on the cover) is full of wonderful revision advice. I picked up a copy and read it on the beach on Saturday.

--Along with Nova Ren Suma's Imaginary Girls. I'm trying to read it slowly and linger in the mood. When the back cover copy compared it to Shirley Jackson's fiction, I was like: SIGN ME UP. It seemed fitting to start reading it with the sound of waves crashing in the background (even if the story's main body of water is a reservoir, not an ocean). The writing is simply beautiful. Like the cover.

I adore this gorgeous cover.
I could sit and stare at it all day.

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Carrots and Sticks

I am a big believer in carrots and sticks.* When I'm revising the carrot is often a book I really really really really want to read. I buy a copy and have it sitting on my shelf, mainly so when I'm feeling procrastinatey it can mock me like this:
Sure, go ahead and spend another 15 minutes reading Go Fug Yourself and refreshing your Twitter. Don't work on your revisions. Meanwhile, I'll just sit here, collecting dust, until you're done. 
I find it very effective.

My revisions reward for this round was Bossypants. I mean, if the content is anything like the amazeballs cover--I am going to have the time of my life reading it.

Aren't you laughing right now?
I mean, seriously. This is inspired.

Except yesterday I got a copy of Imaginary Girls and a copy of Lola and the Boy Next Door. I also keep reading tantalizing reviews of Libba Bray's Beauty Queens, so now I'm wondering if I might switch my reward. I'll one final read-through of my WIP this weekend, and then it's DONE. (for now)

If you were me, which would you pick as the carrot? Also, how do you reward yourself when you finish revisions?

*Not sure what my stick is. Maybe negative self-talk? I'm better at carrots.

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RTW: Blurbbing by the seat of my pants

Road Trip Wednesday is a weekly blog carnival hosted by YA Highway. This week's topic is: You're re-reading one of your faves when someone asks the dreaded question: "What's that book about?" Give us your best off-the-cuff blurb of any book, any genre, and have your readers try to guess the title in the comments!

This was much harder than I expected! Apparently I am not a natural pants-er even when it comes to blurbs. I tried to pick a not-too-obvious title. Here goes:

The random sixteen residents of a new apartment building on Lake Michigan are invited to play a game--and given $10,000 each and a unique set of clues for playing. It's their task to find out who killed a mysterious millionaire. The winner gets his $200 million fortune. But nothing (including the murder) is as it seems, finds the 13-year-old girl who takes the lead.

Any idea which book I'm pitching? Leave your guess in the comments!

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Middle-Grade Madness

I'm partway through a middle-grade reading binge made up of BEA ARCs and recommendations from Suzie (thank you!). What I've read so far:

Flyaway by Lucy Christopher: I loved this literary MG and its sensitive, bird-studying main character. 
One cold winter morning, Dad gets sick – and goes into hospital. It’s there I meet Harry, with his scruffy hair and firefly eyes. From his window we watch a wild swan on the frozen lake outside. There’s something different about her, truly different. Almost magical. Perhaps, if we can help her, everything else will begin to make sense.

The Secret Identity of Devon Delaney by Lauren Barnholdt: Devon is a funny, bright, and relatable narrator. I totally see why the Devon series is so popular. 
Mom says karma always comes around to get you, and I guess it’s true. Because last summer I was a total liar, and now, right in the middle of Mr. Pritchard’s third-period math class, my whole world is about to come crashing down.

Sparrow Road by Sheila O'Connor: An artist's colony, a mystery, a moody Midwest setting (complete with a creepy mansion). YES. It already has me asking "What was or what could be?" And the cover is gorgeous.

“No music.  No TV.  No computer.  No telephone. 

And everyday, silence until supper.” 

Those are the rules of Sparrow Road, an eerie artist mansion in the country, where Raine O’Rourke is forced to spend her summer.  And worse, she can’t figure out why her mother agreed to work there as a cook. “Not everything’s a mystery,” her mother warns, when Raine pesters her with questions, but Sparrow Road is full of secrets Raine intends to solve.  

All I've read so far are great. Any other MG recommendations for me?

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Revising: A Visual

Look at the glorious Track Changes!
And this only represents medium marked-up-edness. Some pages are entirely pink.
Guess I'm doing my job. :)

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RTW: Plots and Pants

Road Trip Wednesday is a weekly blog carnival hosted by YA Highway. This week's topic is: Are you a plotter or a pantser? Do you like to make a detailed plan before you start a project? Or do you prefer to fly by the seat of your pants and make it up as you go along?

Funny you should ask. I talked about my desire to pants more, plot less here: I wish I was a little bit pants-er.
I have always been a plotter. My two completed mss*? Plotted. My old partially-written WIP? Really plotted.
But the new WIP that I cheat on my revisions with? PANTSING!

That's right. I wrote myself a pitch and I'm just pantsing it from there. So far. Who's to say that I won't flesh out an outline when I'm working on that one full-time.

What about you? Plot or Pants? And do you have envy of those who do the opposite of you? Because as a plotter, I've always envied pantsers.

*"completed" as in "having full drafts that may or may not still be revised a billion times."

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Pinterest for Writers

I stumbled into joining Pinterest lately--my friend invited me and I signed up, but had no idea what I was making an account for. Then other friends started "following" me on Pinterest and I still didn't have a clue what it was, but figured it was time to figure it out. So, being a lazy person in the 21st century, I posted a status on Facebook: Hey guys, what is this Pinterest thing and why should I be using it?
Turns out Pinterest is a collection of virtual pin boards, social-networked. The official explanation:

What is Pinterest?

Think of Pinterest as a virtual pinboard — a place where you can create collections of things you love and "follow" collections created by people with great taste.

People use Pinterest to collect and share all sorts of things -- wedding inspiration, favorite T-shirts, DJ equipment. You name it, people are pinning it.

We know you have great taste in something. Our mission is to make Pinterest the best place for you to share your taste with the world.

It feels kind of like fantasy football but for stuff. Sure, it's inspiring, but looking at other people's boards starts to make me feel a little tight-chested, like I am never going to have enough disposable income/time to make my home/wardrobe/travel plans/food look even 1/8 as good as the stuff on Pinterest. I turn away from the screen and see my haphazard, design-aesthetic-lacking furniture and the jar of Old El Paso in my fridge and stretched-out cardigans from Old Navy and feel like a wee bit of a failure at life.

But--I've found one awesome way to use Pinterest for my writing. I've always tried to make character collages to get a sense of the gestalt of my characters. Handmade, IRL collages are not the easiest to put together; you need a lot of magazines, glue sticks, and time. It's also easier said than done to find the right images for your characters/settings/whatever you're making the collage for. Not so with a virtual pin board. I can create a new board for a character or scene, then run all over the Internet snagging related images. Maybe I find a house that looks like the spooky one a character is renting. Then maybe I find an image of the food she's cooking, the dress she's wearing, the musician whose album she's playing when the ghost first appears. When I sit down to write the scene later, all my inspiration is right there on Pinterest if I need it.

I'm not sure yet how much I'll use Pinterest as a writing tool--for one thing, pin boards are public and I like to write with the door closed. It's a cool option to have, though.

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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

This book was the very deserving winner of the National Book Award in 2007.
And yet--it was the #2 challenged book in 2010, according to the ALA.

Excuse me while I go bang my head against a wall.
In the meantime, read Alexie's wise and gracious response to the latter:
Alexie told The Washington Post that, "It almost makes me happy to hear books still have that kind of power. And there's nothing in my book that even compares to what kids can find on the Internet." So. True. But there's also nothing in his book that they shouldn't find.

I've been a fan of Alexie's short stories and adult fiction since middle school. (Ironically, my mom used his stories and the film Smoke Signals as part of her 8th-grade Language Arts curriculum, and that was how I got introduced to Alexie's fiction. Suck on that, book-banners.) Alexie does incredible things with voice, and his writing walks that tightrope of tragedy and humor like few can.

I love Absolutely True Diary not just because it tells a good story, and it tells it well, and because it's an important one to tell, but because it is absolutely true. It is one of the most honest books I've read, sometimes painfully so and oftentimes hilariously so. And its honesty one of the reasons why it's such great literature for young people. Which is also why it's a shame that it's so frequently challenged.

I know I say this all the time, but if you haven't read it--go! Now! Read it! And if you have read it, let's talk about why you loved it, too!

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