Blogging vacation

Life is crazy busy right now, so I've decided to cut myself a little slack.  I'm taking a blogging vacation until things settle down a little.  Feel free to peruse the past few years of  posts.  I'll still be tweeting and facebooking on occasion so I won't be disappearing entirely.  Happy spring.

Rock the Drop! Support Teen Lit Day

Yep, it's Teen Lit Day today, and there is no shortage of ways to celebrate.  For ideas on how to make this day rock, check out YALSA (Young Adult Library Services). 

Meanwhile, readergirlz, one of my favorite blogs, have come up with a pretty cool way to get the word out. It's called Rock the Drop!  Here's what you do.

1. Visit their site (the link is above)

2. Download the same bookplate I've snagged below

3. Print it

4. Paste it into your favorite YA novel

5. Drop the book in a public place (bus stop, coffee shop, etc.

6. Snap a photo 

7. Send it on over to readergirz AT gmail Dot com 

8. check out their site to see the YA love

9. Thank the cool ladies at readergirlz

10. spread the word

Here's my contribution.  I left it in the lobby of my local rec. centre and it was gone when I finished my workout an hour later.  I know that whoever has it will enjoy Miss Smithers by Susan Juby.

JULIAN SMITH - I'm Reading a Book: a great way to support Teen Lit Day

Today is Teen Lit Day.  Yeah.  I discovered this vid by way of a writer Mary McKenna Siddals.  It's pretty cool, and so is Julian.  If you like this, he's got some really cool other clips, music, social commentary and he isn't a bad writer either so have a look at his blog.

Flash Mob Freeze Mob to help Celebrate National Library Week, April 10-1...

Thanks for Leila at Bookshelves of Doom for the heads up on this week being National Library Week as well as National Volunteer Week.  Whew...busy busy week!

http://bookshelvesofdoom.blogs.com/bookshelves_of_doom/

YA Highway: Why are there so many love triangles in paranormal YA?

Image via Wikipedia

Of course love triangles have been around forever!  But, here's a link to an interesting post on why there are so many love triangles in YA paranormal literature . Leila Austin, the author of the post, raises the point that there are other ways of bringing conflict into young adult books. Check it out. YA Highway: Why are there so many love triangles in paranormal YA? 

A word about reviews

A work of art is usually pretty close to the heart of it's creators. Most of us who write, want to make a living, but most of us also want to create something special, something that others will want to read again and again. Unfortunately, not everything we create is wonderful. I don't know a writer out there who hasn't wanted to change something after a book has been published. Nothing is perfect no matter how much we want it to be. it. Sometimes it takes us a while to discover our own imperfections. Not so with reviewers. They can usually spot problems that we writers (and even editors who also end up close to a project) miss. Consequently, authors get bad reviews. It's just the way of the world.

So, what to do when you get a bad review?

Suck it up...

In other words, keep your mouth shut! If you must comment, if anything, be gracious. Thank the reviewer for their time, and move on. Bitch about the review to your family & friends if you must, but then move on to your next project. Try to use any constructive criticism to improve your next work. If there's nothing constructive in a review for you, forget it. Your job is to get work out into the world, not to worry about one opinion. Yep, that's right, a reviewer's opinion is just one opinion. We always hope reviewers will love and recommend our work. We hope all of our readers will love our work too. Some might. Some might not. You just have to get used to the fact that public criticism isn't always fair. But, one way or another, you DO have to learn to deal with it, at least if you want to survive in the world of literature, art, theatre, music, or any other art form. It's part of the business, just like rejection is. Media, whether it's internet media or print media has some great advantages and some serious headaches. My first publisher always told me that any review is a good review no matter how bad it is...it gets the word out.

Emily Dickinson's "Wild Nights-Wild Nights!"

Wild Nights! Wild Nights!

    By Emily Elizabeth Dickinson

---

    Wild nights! Wild nights!
    Were I with thee,
    Wild nights should be
    Our luxury!

    Futile the winds
    To a heart in port, --
    Done with the compass,
    Done with the chart.

    Rowing in Eden!
    Ah! the sea!
    Might I but moor
    To-night in thee!


And here's a copy of the original written by Emily.  Pretty cool don't you think!

Image via Wikipedia