THE FANTASTIC FLYING BOOK CLUB BLOG TOUR FOR SPARK HAS BEGUN!

The blog tour organized by The Fantastic Flying Book Club is officially underway! Check out the initial interview and enter to win a copy of Spark.

FORTHCOMING SPARK TOUR - THE IRISH BANANA REVIEWS

This Thanksgiving, I have much to be grateful for--family and friends, a fulfilling creative life--and, more than ever, readers and bloggers.

I'm delighted to announce Hannah at Irish Banana Reviews is organizing a blog tour for my forthcoming YA, SPARK!

I've loved the blog tours for my previous traditional releases, and can't wait to find out where this tour will take me as well...

In thanks for all the support my readers have given me over the years, I'm also planning a special December release. Find out all about it via my newsletter.

FERAL - ONLINE TOUR + TRAILER PARTY

Exciting news for my next YA (and first mystery / thriller), FERAL.  The book went live on Edelweiss last week; bloggers can grab an e-galley now:

The Lovely Bones meets Black Swan in this haunting psychological thriller with twists and turns that will make you question everything you think you know.

It’s too late for you. You’re dead. Those words continue to haunt Claire Cain months after she barely survived a brutal beating in Chicago. So when her father is offered a job in another state, Claire is hopeful that getting out will offer her a way to start anew.

But when she arrives in Peculiar, Missouri, Claire feels an overwhelming sense of danger, and her fears are confirmed when she discovers the body of a popular high school student in the icy woods behind the school, surrounded by the town’s feral cats. While everyone is quick to say it was an accident, Claire knows there’s more to it, and vows to learn the truth about what happened.

But the closer she gets to uncovering the mystery, the closer she also gets to realizing a frightening reality about herself and the damage she truly sustained in that Chicago alley….

Holly Schindler’s gripping story is filled with heart-stopping twists and turns that will keep readers guessing until the very last page.

To celebrate the galleys hitting the world,  I'm holding a trailer party...and you're invited!  To attend, share the trailer (below) anywhere you can: your own blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc.



I'm also in the earliest stages of organizing the online tour: vlogs, sneak peeks, giveaways, and more!  To participate,  sign up using the form below.  If you have trouble viewing the form, email me at writehollyschindler (at) yahoo (dot) com.

EARLY STOPS - THE JUNCTION OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY TOUR

You never saw a girl more anxious to spread the word of her latest book...THE JUNCTION OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY doesn't release until February, but I'm already beginning to organize an online tour! 

Click on the page I recently created to learn more about the tour, and to view the stops already I've already planned. 

How many more days until February????

SUPER SWEET SIXTEENTH CENTURY BLOG TOUR + GIVEAWAY

I'm thrilled to host a tour stop for Rachel Harris's debut YA, MY SUPER SWEET SIXTEENTH CENTURY.  Rachel has been a fantastic supporter of mine; she wrote a incredibly flattering post about my second YA, PLAYING HURT, when it released in 2011.  So when she approached me, asking if I'd consider blurbing her own debut, I eagerly agreed.  I figured if she connected so strongly with something I'd written, I'd more than enjoy her own work; I was right, and sent a blurb straight to Rachel:

“Fresh and funny, Harris’s detail-rich writing makes for a truly charming debut novel.”
—Holly Schindler, author of Playing Hurt

I also love the passion that drips from Rachel's words as she speaks of her own work:

Congrats on your debut, Rachel! 

Thank you so much! This certainly feels surreal =)

Please tell us about MY SUPER SWEET SIXTEENTH CENTURY:

Sure! My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century is about a young daughter of Hollywood who unfortunately hates the spotlight and is being roped into a huge televised birthday gala by her well-meaning dad and future-step-mother. They bribe her with a trip to Florence, a city she’s been fascinated with forever because of the ties to her birth mother (the one good thing about the woman), and while Cat’s there she discovers a gypsy tent. Needing to do something very un-Cat-like for once, she decides to be wild and steps through the open flap…and soon after exits in Renaissance Firenze.

With nothing but a backpack stuffed with contraband future items, Cat soon befriends her ancestors and gorgeous artist Lorenzo. Her many cultural missteps aside, Cat’s enjoying her Renaissance vacay (as she calls it) until an older man filled with creeptastic amore starts sniffing around. As she struggles to find a way back home, and her own century, she realizes that perhaps an unwanted birthday party might not be the worst thing in life.

What was the inspiration behind MY SUPER SWEET SIXTEENTH CENTURY?

Once I decided I wanted to write a story where a modern-day girl gets sent to a historical setting, I got stuck choosing an era. I love Regency novels but I also love research, and I’ve learned a lot about the Regency period already, thanks to my book reading obsessions. So after talking it out with my husband, the sixteenth century leapt to mind due to my fascination with the Renaissance and Romeo and Juliet as a teen, not to mention it would then lead to it being set in Italy, a beautiful country filled with history. (The delicious boys and sexy accents didn’t hurt, either.)

But even once I had the setting and the era, I still needed inspiration. I always start with my characters, interviewing them extensively, choosing pictures for them, and making a collage. Then I create a story soundtrack that follows the internal arc of the main character and the major plot lines, so that while I'm drafting, I have a song or two that speaks to the chapter I'm working on. I often turn to the song lyrics to help me add imagery or an internal thought that drives my point home in new ways. It was at this stage that I found the song Love Story by Taylor Swift, and shortly after the video, which is filled with such rich visual inspiration. The song itself ends up playing a key role in the soundtrack.

What’s been your journey as an author? 

My journey began in the summer of 2010 when I read the Twilight series. I fell back in love with reading for fun, and with the entire YA genre. By the end of the summer, I’d decided to try writing my own book. I quickly found a local writing group, dove straight in, and was querying my first novel by Thanksgiving.

I’d read that you should go straight into your next book, not sit around waiting while you query, so I started writing My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century in early 2011. I came up with the idea toward the beginning of January, spent the rest of the month in research, and wrote Chapter One in February. That book was with agents by mid-April. I signed with my fabulous agent in August, and found my home with Entangled Teen a month later. It’s been like a dream.

What’s been the best part of having a book in development?  The biggest surprise? 

The best part is the friendships I’ve made, hands down. Everyone at Entangled has been amazing. The entire editorial team is made of awesome, especially my own editor, Stacy Abrams. She knows her stuff, isn’t afraid to show you how to make a story better, but she’s a total sweetheart and encourager at the same time. And funny! And the other writers….we say we’re a family at Entangled, and we really are. All the authors have been so supportive, especially my fellow Entangled Teen girls. Those are my peeps!

The biggest surprise….how scary it isn’t. It’s like, I knew that editors were just regular people, but I never really thought I could become friends with them, or that they’d care just as much about my book as I do. They’re totally on your side. Oh, and that they don’t freak if you don’t agree with every suggestion or question they have. They understand it’s your baby, and are just trying to make it the best it can be—and boy do they do that!

Has seeing a book through development changed your writing at all?  If so, how?

Yes! Actually, my writing changes ever so slightly with each book. I mean, it’s still my voice and style, but I grow with each book—I handle certain things better, and other elements come quicker. But working with Stacy taught me where to focus, where my strengths are, and how I can increase tension and conflict. Really, the entire editorial process was educational, but my favorite part was copy edits. It’s so much easier to spot redundancies, repeated words, and overused gestures when it’s not your book, but my tics are my tics for a reason, so they stay invisible to me without the help of other people. Along with those strengths I mentioned, my editor really helped me see where my weaknesses were, too, and I like to think I’ve grown because of it (*grin*)

Every author, it seems, has a favorite writing “trick”—reading work out loud, brainstorming while going for a walk…What’s yours?

My favorite trick is definitely my story soundtrack. I burn CDs and have one in the car and one in my laptop. The laptop one I use occasionally before I write a scene to help get me in the mindset and emotional place I need to be in, but the biggest help is the one in the car. As I drive, I sing along to the lyrics and reflect on how they fit where my character is in their growth, why the words speak to their situation, and I always come back home needing to jot notes down. Sometimes entire scenes are changed just from listening to these lyrics, and they’re almost always made better by helping me dig deeper or add more romance or add a bigger dose of humor….I heart my soundtracks!

Please tell us about future books in the works:

In this series, I have a companion novel, A Tale of Two Centuries, that I just completed and sent to my editor. It comes out in June 2013. This was a fun twist because it’s Cat’s sixteenth-century cousin Alessandra who time travels to present-day Beverly Hills. This one is longer and I think goes a little deeper—not to mention a bit swoonier. I had a lot of fun with the romance in this one. Actually, I had a lot of fun with all of it.

Then next December, six months after Alessandra’s story comes out, I have a third book that is completely unrelated, but also with Entangled Teen. Rearview Mirror is a YA thriller with paranormal elements set in my hometown of New Orleans. I’m really excited about this book—probably because I’m drafting it right now!

After that, I have four YA story ideas and a sweet adult romance in the works….we’ll see what my editor wants me to work on first  =)

What are some common themes in your work? What can we always expect from a Rachel Harris novel?

I adore this question! Before I started writing, I researched the industry a lot, and I came across a blog post from an author who mentioned that all of her books have a similar theme at their heart. That statement really resonated with me. I love the idea of a reader knowing what they are getting at the heart of all of your books, so I sat down and thought, “What would I want a reader strolling through a bookstore and scanning author names to think about when they land on my name?”

I came up with a list of adjectives and words that I wanted my books to represent, regardless of genre. It could be YA or adult, contemporary or paranormal, but I knew I wanted certain things to be at their core—my so-called brand. And the tagline I came up with for my brand is Unmask Your Inner Flirt.

I’ll break down what that means to me.

First, I believe people wear masks of different kinds, and at different times. Some are obvious, such as a makeover to get attention, trying on a new role, or trying to be someone we're not. Others are more subtle, such as a character hiding behind a mask of perfection, afraid to make a mistake, always needing to be in control. All the main characters in my books deal with this in some way.

For Cat, hers is a mask of perfection she wears because her estranged mother is a Hollywood star known for scandal, and she’s always trying to overcompensate by never messing up in public, and never letting people too close. It was by getting her out of her element, out of a scene she can control and into one that she can’t, that she’s forced to deal with these things.

(Fun side note: On my soundtrack, Cat's internal arc starts with Poker Face by Lady Gaga because she always wore that mask, and by the end, it’s Love Story because she’s opening herself more to the possibility of love.)

The second part of the brand comes in with the romance. I’m a sucker for a good love story, a happy ending, and humor along the way. To me, the word flirt represents the fun part of the romance, where you might laugh at your relational missteps or get the butterflies in your tummy from just looking at the guy. Those moments will be in every one of my books, too.

I think we all wear different masks at different times of our life, whether we know it or not, and I believe deep down there is a flirt in each of us….a girl (or boy) who loves falling in love and enjoys being swept away with a new romance. And that’s why at the heart of any book I write, you’ll always find these themes. 

...Super-sweet Rachel is also including a giveaway with this post.  Two lucky winners will receive signed swag packs.  Each swag pack includes trading cards of Cat and Lorenzo, a Super Sweet tattoo, a bookmark, a signed bookplate, and a 'super sweet' bracelet.  Giveaway winners will be announced September 28th.  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure to check in with Rachel on her website, and follow her on Twitter or Facebook. 

THE RELATIONSHIP I NEVER THOUGHT I'D HAVE

I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t writing, and I can’t think of a moment growing up when I didn’t dream of being a full-time author. I just always imagined myself making money doing the one thing I loved more than any…

But I never imagined, in all those years of dreaming, that I’d ever have a relationship with my readers. I mean, come on, writers aren’t rock stars—they don’t fill auditoriums with throngs of screaming fans who pass out at the mere thought of breathing the same air.

Sure, I figured I might sign a few books here and there. Shake a hand once or twice. But never did I ever think I’d ever know any of my readers by name.

Imagine my utter thrill, then, to find the book blogosphere. (I honestly didn’t know it existed before I sold my debut, A BLUE SO DARK, to Flux in early ’09.) Not only do I know many of my readers, but my readers are also some of my very best publicists! (Whoulda thunk?)

Throughout the PLAYING HURT Blog Tour, my readers posted reviews and book recommendations, passed copies of PLAYING HURT on to their friends, and hosted giveaways.

So I might not be a rock star, but my readers rock…

To find out just how much my readers rock, check out my video below (during which I run the “credits” for my PLAYING HURT Blog Tour)…

CONVERSATION WITH A BALL PLAYER

Okay, so it's more than well documented at this point that though I've written about ball players, I'm definitely not an athlete myself.

Imagine my thrill, then, when a ball player signed up for the PLAYING HURT Blog Tour! Yes—a book nut and an athlete, all rolled into one! I was absolutely delighted to get a chance to interact with Caitlin at Scarrlet Reader, to discuss PLAYING HURT and athletics in YA literature.




HS: Hi, Caitlin! Can you tell us a bit about yourself—and your sports history?

C: Hey Holly! Thanks so much for having me here. Now, a bit about myself? Well, I’m a 15 (almost 16!) year old sophomore in high school. I’m a very active and competitive person and I have a great love for reading. My sports history goes all the way back to when I was about 6 years old when I started playing soccer, but now a day, I’m a strictly softball only player. It really is a passion of mine. I’ve played from my town recreation team for seven years to a tournament 16U travel team. While reading Playing Hurt, I was wondering if it was a love of playing a sport that helped inspired the book.

HS: Oh, if you only knew…I’m really, really not an athlete. I’m a bit of a klutz, actually. (I swear I can fall around corners!) I’m really flattered, though, that the depiction of sports felt authentic enough to you that you wondered if I played / loved sports.

I definitely have a much stronger appreciation of athletics now that I’m older—I realize now just how mental sports are. I can’t imagine what it must be like trying to come back to the game after an injury—or even after surgery, as is often the case with athletes who have overused their bodies.

I believe you’ve had some experience with a sports-related injury yourself. Can you tell us about that?

C: Well, I’d first like to thank God that I have never had as severe injury like Chelsea (*knocks on wood*), but I have definitely had my fair share of sports injury in my years. One of my most serious injuries from over the years happened when I was pitching for softball. It was just a regular game while I was pitching. A girl comes up to hit, I pitched the ball, and it all happened really fast. The ball had hit off the bat and came straight back at me, towards my face. I had enough reflexes to try and bring my mitt up to block the ball, but I was only able to reflect it a bit and it hit me on the side of my face right next to my left eye. I remember hearing the gasp from the people in the stands and the pain on the side of my face. I was kind of in shock and just fell to a knee. My coach ran out and they took me off the field. I was examined and ice packed. I honestly just like to shake these kinds of things off but people love to make a bigger situation out of things then needed and they didn’t let me play for the rest of the game. I ended up coming out of it with minor scars, but I did have a giant, nasty purple bruise on my face for two week (not fun, lots of cover up).

It just shows how easily you can be hurt and how suddenly. I’ve had teammates with broken legs, strained wrist and angles, and even a few knocked out teeth and, it’s scary thinking about all the possibilities of injuries that could happen. I’ve been hit by pitches (once really bad in the head, but thank Lord for helmets), ground balls, aching shoulders from pitching too much. I’m use to those pains, but a permanent pain like with Chelsea’s hip is something that I’m not sure I could deal with. Which leads me into asking – Why was it a hip injury you chose to have happen to Chelsea? I know with basketball players sprained ankles or wrist would be pretty severe too, so a hip injury was something I wasn’t expecting.

HS: First of all, I’m so sorry to hear of your accident. Though I’m a bit of a klutz, I’ve never broken a bone…I can’t imagine how much your injury must have hurt…

When I came up with the sports subplot (which didn’t come about until the very last rewrite…about five years after I wrote the first draft!), I immediately imagined Chelsea as a workaholic. Somebody who lived basketball—who felt guilty when she wasn’t working out, or practicing, or engaged in visualization techniques…

I also knew I wanted to show the scene of Chelsea’s accident, and wanted a dramatic impact—I tried to picture scenarios of Chelsea falling, and what it might look like from the stands—or from the screen of Chelsea’s bedroom TV, as she watched the DVD of her last game over and over…

Of all the scenarios I imagined, none seemed quite as dramatic as Chelsea coming down from a jump, into the splits—and breaking her already-stress-fractured hip.

What kind of impact has being injured had on your ability to play? Do you find yourself hesitant now in a way you weren’t before? What’s the mental healing process been like?

C: Well, being physically hurt, believe it or not, causes me more mental pain then being in actual physical pain sometimes. There have been times where my shoulders are killing me or my elbow feels like it’s got to burst, but I never like to let it on so it’s always a mental battle with myself to push past the annoying pains. There have been times where injuries have affected my playing, like when I sometimes twist my ankle the wrong way and can’t run as fast as I want or my shoulder starts to hurt and I can’t pitch as consistently, but I would say I have never been hesitant towards going right back into it (unless for some reason I’m really nervous about playing a certain team!)

Though, it was actually just a few days away during my softball practice that I was hitting off the machine when one of the balls I hit spun weird and hit me in my leg. It stung real bad so I had to sit down, and as I was doing so I was thinking about how funny it was that I was talking to you about the injuries I’ve gotten from sports and how often they happen. Though, I have to say that I haven’t really experienced any emotional injuries relating to sports like Clint or Chelsea did.

So, I was wondering if you thought that emotional injuries (like with Clint’s past and Chelsea’s loss of basketball) have a stronger impact then physical injuries?


HS: I think the mind is the toughest “muscle” to heal. Once you know the pain of an injury—emotional or physical—it’s got to be really hard to put yourself in line to be hurt again. I really admire athletes who get back in the game after an injury.

I do understand why athletes would want to get back out there, though…In order to write Chelsea, I just imagined that she felt the same way about sports that I felt about my writing. If something happened to me that made it impossible for me to continue writing, I’d be devastated. My sense of self would be shattered. It’d change my life completely.

What are your thoughts on sports in literature? Do you find, as an athlete, that they’re presented accurately? Do you see holes that you’d like filled—even holes you hope to fill yourself (if you have any interests in pursuing writing)?

C: I must say that if an author uses sports in literature well, it can really capture reader’s attention, especially younger readers and boys. Sports are a huge part of the world today and if used correctly it can broaden your reader audience.

Though I must say that there are sometimes I’ll read a book and the author will use a sport in a negative way and it will really get on my nerves. Let’s just take the universally unrated sport, cheerleading. I’ve read dozens of books where the cheerleaders are the stupid, clueless girls who don’t know how to add or the super bitchy girls that are weak sluts. Whoa, hold on a minute, have you ever even tried to cheerlead? Do you know how much upper and lower body strength you need? How much hand-eye coordination you have to have? And let’s not get into how flexible you need to be. Just think about it. If an author writes for young adults you are writing for teenagers who do these sports you are insulting. You are possibly losing an entire category of readers by insulting one’s sport. I know I would not feel friendly towards a book that insulted softball.
Getting off my rant, there are really great books that accurately represent sports (Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes and Deadline by Chris Crutcher, Oh. My. Gods. by Tera Lynn Childs, and, of course, Playing Hurt by Holly Schindler). All these books bring feeling into the sports they talk about and I feel like any sports lover would enjoy then. As for holes I see in the writing of sports, I’m really no expert on all sports I read about (except for maybe softball ^^). I’m not sure that if I did pursue writing that I would write about sports. Softball is something that I do out of enjoyment and for myself. If I ever were to pursue writing, it’d probably be fantasy and I’d invent my own sport, haha.

I loved talking about my love of sports with you Holly and just from reading Playing Hurt I could tell you took great care into reading about Chelsea and Clint’s sport history. You think you’ll write a book with sports in it again?

HS: I love what you just said about cheerleading. That’s so incredibly spot-on—both about the amount of strength and focus it takes in order to cheerlead, and about the way a negative depiction can limit an author’s readership…Very intuitive…

As for my own writing, I’d love, love love to write more physically-oriented books. Not necessarily just about sports, either…

What I mean is, what comes easiest for me as an author is the internal dialogue and metaphorical, poetic writing that filled much of my debut, A BLUE SO DARK…In fact, when PLAYING HURT was in development, my editor sent me a copy of the manuscript with all the metaphors highlighted, telling me I HAD to prune some of it back!

What’s tough is to write something physical as it’s happening—and make the scene feel real. I so admire authors of genre fiction—mystery, adventure, horror—who can write dramatic scenes that you can see, hear, smell, feel.

…That’s what I’d love to do more of, as an author: dramatic, physical writing.

How’s your softball season been this year?

C: Sadly my school season has ended. We had our last game this week. The seasons go by so fast that I barely felt like we played all the games! It was a pretty good season, but now I can concentrate on my travel team I'm on for the summer. I play for a 16U tournament team that goes through the end of July. It really a wonderful thing to be a part of if you're really into the sport. I know I have a great time with my teammates over the summer playing in different places. I've also had a great time talking with you, Holly, about your book and softball. Thank so much for having me on my blog and thank you all for reading!

Thanks so much, Caitlin, for taking the time to talk about sports, and for your insights and love of literature…Best of luck this summer—and be safe on the field!

AUTHOR VISIT AT THE LIBRARY CENTER

I had an incredible time at The Library Center here in Springfield on Saturday...I got a chance to interact with a group of teens who were avid readers and writers; some of them had even begun the submission process themselves! Enjoy the snippets from the visit, which I've put into a video:





And be sure to check out these fab stops on the PLAYING HURT Tour: Reviews at Palm Books Journal, Anna Reads, Gone with the Words, and Between the Pages; interviews at Makeshift Bookmark, Supernatural Snark, Michelle and Leslie's Book Picks, I Am A Reader, Not A Writer, and Readers Unite (Readers Unite is also hosting a giveaway of PLAYING HURT...and maybe even a giveaway of A BLUE SO DARK...so head on over and show some follower love)!

TOTAL. OBSCENITY.

Catherine Ryan Hyde recently put up a post about Jake and his favorite toy of all time, 'Roo. Not that he's (ahem, cough) spoiled or anything, but I felt compelled to show you guys the full picture of Jake's toy collection...Here's Jake (toys in background)...

Here's a close-up of the ever-expanding pile...

...But has there ever been a better toy than a TP tube???

...Of course, Catherine's Ella's got her fair share of toys, too! Looks like Catherine and I are both guilty of picking up a new plaything every time we go to the store:

And the great toy-off is on! Who do you think has the biggest collection: Jake or Ella?

The week in review at the PLAYING HURT Blog Tour:


Reviews at Bringing The Epic, Preturnatural Primer, Fragments of Life (where you can also enter to win a copy of PLAYING HURT), and Dreaming in Books; interviews at Melody's Reading Corner, Snowdrop Dreams of Books, Things Liz Loves, Books by Their Cover, The Bookshelf Detective, My Overstuffed Bookshelf, and Cafe Saturday.

Also, be sure to check out the full 4-1-1 of Fiction Folio's PLAYING HURT Tour!

CHATS 'N HATS...

I had the absolute best time last night...at my very first live author chat! Thanks to Read. Chat. Love, I got a chance to connect with my readers in real time...The thirty-minute scheduled talk about PLAYING HURT was incredible...then became an informal chat during which we dished on everything...Including our collective love of hats, in honor of the Royal Wedding!


(Yep, I've been up since three watching the wedding festivities. What can I say? I'm a girl...Love the dresses. Love the hats. Wish I had my own "fascinator.")


Thanks much to the readers who attended the chat...and hung out for more than an hour and a half, from start to finish!


...In addition to the chat, I've been all over the place online this week. I'm really not joking. Check it all out:


Interview at MarjoleinBookBlog; Emilie's Book World interview and PLAYING HURT review; guest post on "safe" college degrees at Lucid Conspiracy; a guest post on revision at Tina's Book Reviews; and PLAYING HURT reviews went live at Midnight Bloom Reads and Fragments of Life. You can also check out the full info on Fiction Folio's PLAYING HURT Tour, and review the entire Read. Chat. Love Event, with an author interview, letters to and from Clint, a guest post on how Project Runway can make us all better authors, and a convo with Clint himself!


My favorite post this week, though, is at Catherine Ryan Hyde's blog...she's got my buddy Jake and his 'Roo...


And while you're at it, don't forget to check out my very first post at my MG Author Blog, Smack Dab in the Middle!

IN MY EASTER BONNET

For some reason, I just can't get enough of spring this year. Seriously. And I'm not the only Schindler who feels this way...I'm pretty sure we've planted just about every flower known to man around the house...

Today? I'm listening to the rain on the window of my office, and am working up the remainder of the posts for my PLAYING HURT Blog Tour...and generally just feeling pastel-tinted and spring-like inside, because of the beautiful support I've received from my bloggers. I can't tell you guys enough how important you are to me.

...A full run-down of the week's posts are below.

Happy, happy Easter, everyone! May you get lots of chocolate bunnies...

PLAYING HURT Tour:

Princess Bookie,

Confessions of a Bookaholic,

Crazy Bookworm,

A Life Bound by Books: interview and review,

The Book Sp(l)ot,

and (as part of the Philippine Tour) One More Page

READING NOW VS. THEN: CATHERINE RYAN HYDE’S JUMPSTART THE WORLD

I’ve been so wrapped up in the release of PLAYING HURT—and the super-fun corresponding blog tours—I haven’t had much time to blog about anything else! (I can’t even begin to describe how truly cool bloggers have been about the release of PLAYING HURT. I’m not joking. My readers? The best. I’m so, so lucky…)

I’ve been wanting to write a post for some time about Catherine Ryan Hyde’s JUMPSTART THE WORLD. Thing is, every single time I start to write it, I get a woosh of all sorts of images: me sitting in the movie theater when I was in grad school, watching PAY IT FORWARD (I was already a fan of Catherine’s)…I remember the insanely exciting, scary, stressful months leading up to the release of A BLUE SO DARK, and the hope and—okay, intimidation—I felt approaching Catherine for a blurb. I think of all the exchanges I’ve had with Catherine via email and online in the months—good grief, A BLUE SO DARK is actually nearly a year old!—since she sent her incredibly encouraging blurb…

As for JUMPSTART, I loved it—as I absolutely knew I would. Some novels (I’m thinking of Anderson’s WINTERGIRLS or Suzanne Phillips’s BURN) you read because they instantly put an off-kilter feeling in your gut. You’re propelled forward to find out how the protagonist’s knotted-up mess will finally untangle. Although the storyline is equally as compelling, JUMPSTART has a vulnerability about it, a more gentle tug that draws the reader on to its conclusion. The sweetness is what I wanted to return to, each time I had to put the book down.

As for me, anytime I cracked the cover of JUMPSTART, I also thought about Catherine. I saw her hand in the pages…

Before I began writing full-time myself, authors were truly distant, almost sacred creatures. I saw novels as objects—as things. As I was growing up, and as I entered adulthood, authors seemed, for the most part, somewhat unapproachable. Not Catherine, though. And because of that, as I read JUMPSTART, I truly felt that the novel was living. Breathing.

I don’t think I’ll ever pick up a book again and think of it as a thing…

Thank you, Catherine…

How about you? Has meeting an author online or in person changed how you read?

(Aaaand...because the PLAYING HURT Tour is still rolling: Check out the interview at Yay! Reads. I'm also in the midst of a couple of international PLAYING HURT Tours...Check out my guest post on world building and the review posted at Amaterasu Reads (as part of the Philippine Tour). And, as part of the Canadian Tour, check out the interview and review at YA Booklover, as well as my guest post on Clint, my last-minute addition, and the review at Moonlight Gleam...)

BLOGGERS DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

I know a lot of bloggers feel like they've been taking some heat lately...Hearing they have no impact on sales, don't help promote novels... I'm one author who absolutely believes in the power of the blogosphere. 100%. The blogosphere is connecting my books with the appropriate readership...and is allowing me to have the kind of relationships with my readers I never thought, when I sold A BLUE SO DARK, would actually be possible (I didn't know the YA Book Blogging Community existed when I sold BLUE).

One example of a blogger helping to promote my books (and a reader I'm glad to have gotten to know) is Gabrielle at The Mod Podge Bookshelf. She's running my latest interview, in which I dish on my first job and where I'd love to be today, if not for writing (but...really. Come on. Who am I kidding? Like I wouldn't be writing. Holly not writing is like Holly not eating...)

And stay tuned for my interview at The Story Siren next week, in which I'll do some weighing in on the positive impact I see bloggers making on my work...

COFFEE BREAK WITH THE NAUGHTY BOOK KITTIES

Ahhhh...yet another fantastic stop on the PLAYING HURT Blog Tour...A coffee break with Brent at The Naughty Book Kitties, one of my favorite bloggers!

LOVIN' MY BLOGGERS (INTERVIEW + FIRST TWITTERVIEW!)

Yes, oh, yes, more interviews! (I can't even begin to truly describe how much I adore my bloggers...)

The first interview for my Canadian Tour has gone live at YA Booklover Blog...

And my first Twitterview has gone live at Stacked (along with a giveaway)!

KICKIN' OFF THE PLAYING HURT TOUR!

Who better to start off the next leg of the PLAYING HURT Tour than Angela at Reading Angel? She's been one of my absolute biggest supporters...And she's got some super-fun questions...

Head on over to Reading Angel to find out about my multiple run-ins with fame (aka Brad Pitt). Who's the biggest star you've ever bumped into?

NEW BLOG + NEW TOUR

I'm so incredibly thrilled and flattered by all the positive attention PLAYING HURT'S been getting! (And also incredibly sad that the tour at Teen Book Scene's coming to a close...) Right now, you can check out my guest post + contest at A Good Addiction, and Shut Up! I'm Reading's just posted a review of my firstborn, A BLUE SO DARK...

Also, Kayla at Midnight Twilight's Book Blog is running a character interview with Clint himself, for all you Clint junkies out there...

In the midst of all the PLAYING HURT excitement, I'm also looking forward to the release of my next novel, which is a (yet untitled) middle grade, due out from Dial in '12. In fact, I just put together a new blog with a group of super-cool fellow MG authors, called Smack Dab in the Middle. We're actively looking for followers (hint, hint, nudge, nudge). Here's the first post, a vlog, which explains what we're all about:




I'm also in the midst of organizing dates for my own PLAYING HURT Tour, so stay tuned!

MY READERS ROCK

I'm totally serious. My readers are the best. First of all, Amaterasu Reads is hosting a Philippine Tour for PLAYING HURT...and even put together this super-cool banner to advertise:

And...speaking of tours, Readers Unite is also hosting a Canadian Tour...

And this hit my inbox over the weekend—an incredible fan letter from Jessica in NY; Jessica graciously allowed me to share her words:

"Hello holly! My name is Jessica, and I'm a freshman in highschool. I went to the book store wednesday and picked up a copy of playing hurt, and I instantly wanted to buy it! I finished it yesterday! I just wanted to tell you that it was by far the best book I have read! I'm going back to read your other novel too!! I'm so excited to get that one started!! I can't wait till you come out with more books!!-much love! Jessica"

What author's not going to get excited over that?

...Of course, Aura would be a bit peeved if I didn't mention a fantastic review of A BLUE SO DARK went live at Lost For Words, along with a giveaway of the book!

PLAYING HURT B-DAY PARTY, A BLUE SO DARK GIVEAWAY, + SELLING YOUR BOOK

My kitchen smells like flowers and there’s a song in my heart. Yep, PLAYING HURT’s release has been incredible—how cool was yesterday’s Twitter book birthday?

Also: don’t hesitate to check out my guest post, “Costumes, Glitter, and Blank Checks: What it Takes to Sell Your Book” at the Parking Lot Confessional.

And, my firstborn, Aura, stopped by Lost for Words for a character interview…Be sure to get in on the A BLUE SO DARK giveaway!

Also, check out my post on the Writer’s Digest Blog (“5 Ways Writers Kid Themselves,”) which includes a chance to win a copy of A BLUE SO DARK and PLAYING HURT!

GUEST POST, INTERVIEW, REVIEW (ON THE EVE OF A BIRTHDAY)

I've got another book birthday coming up...tomorrow, in fact! Yep, March 8, PLAYING HURT will be officially "born."

Of course, this means that I spent the weekend sending out 200 mailers (and more emails), while organizing distribution of author copies of PLAYING HURT, putting together posts for my own PLAYING HURT Blog Tour, and juggling revisions of a yet-to-be-acquired novel.

I’m telling you, in all seriousness, anyone who thinks writing is a leisurely occupation is (as we say here in the Ozarks), a stark-raving idgit.

…But you know who makes it all worth it? You guys. My incredible bloggers. I just want to give you all enormous bear hugs.

…Speaking of: A guest post went live today at Reclusive Bibliophile, in which I comment on how hard it is to write a publishable novel before you’ve gone through the development process yourself.

Flux, my publisher, also put up a hot-off-my-computer interview.

And—just so my first baby doesn’t get too jealous of all the attention my newborn is soaking up, a review of A BLUE SO DARK can be found at The Serpentine Library.

...See you guys tomorrow: On PLAYING HURT's birthday!