Middle Grade Monday: James Ponti Author Event

 

On Friday, I went to RJ Julia's to see James Ponti and Alyson Gerber.

I've seen James Ponti a few times before and he never disappoints. 

Read my recaps of each event:

Time 1

Time 2

Time 3

I reviewed EUROPA already, I adore this series.

The room was packed, which was nice to see.

Themes:

James writes four themes in his books:

1. Family Drama

2. Mystery

3. Action/Adventure

4. Humor 

* He writes about Family because of his own story.

Writing Advice:

1. Write something small and work up to a book - it's like training for a marathon, you don't go out and decide to run a marathon in one day. You have to build up to it. It's the same thing with writing. 

2. Read your world aloud. You will catch more mistakes that way - of even strangely worded scenes.

On Coming up with the concept for The Sherlock Society

There’s a lake near his house. There are nine benches around the lake. One day, he decided to walk about the lake to plot his book. At each bench, he would stop and ask a question. Each question would be harder than the last and he couldn’t leave the bench until he solved the answer to the question.

Example: The new book would be a mystery.

The kids would get around Florida thanks to their Grandfather.

Why would he be taking them around to solve mysteries? He had a vested interested as a former investigative journalist.

After two laps around the lake, he had the book figured out.

Book three: Art Attack comes out in September and I'm so looking forward to it!  

Why Europa is Dedicated to Suzanne:

When James was coming up with the idea for the Shakespeare Code, he remembered a conversation with former co-worker Suzanne Collins. He wrote her a quick note about it. She immediately called him up. They had the same conversation again and then spent time figuring out the code for this book. 

Our newest pictures:

Alyson was busy with other readers, so we didn't get a chance to talk, sadly. 

But what another fun night! 

Book Event: Debbi Michiko Florence

Last weekend, I went to my first book signing in forever. And it was so much fun. Savoy in Westerly Rhode Island hosted Debbi Michiko Florence  and her new book Just be Cool, Jenna Sakai. 

Savoy (picture taken from their website)

Debbi read from the book and answered some questions. 

Jenna's story is the companion novel to Keiko's story. (Read my review here)

I love how the covers match. These colors really are amazing. 

About Jenna's Story:
Debbi did ask for the hair color streak to be wider in Jenna's picture. Otherwise, the cover was perfect.

Of course we talked about the awesome diner and milkshakes. I loved the story of how the diner changed over time in the book and the inspiration behind those changes. 

Just thinking about the story's milkshakes makes me hungry again.

I had the good fortune to read Jenna early and I loved it. Check out my review here. 

And I created an If You Like picture:

Pictures from the event:

Of course, they had drinks to go along with the launch.

And a prize wheel to spin

I won a pair of chopsticks with pink flowers on them. 

And because I loved these books so much, I talked about them when I guest starred on my Librarian Friends' podcast:

You can listen to the episode here.

All in all, it was a Great Event! And I'm so happy I was able to attend.

Mysterious Saturday Review: Top Secret 21

 Jimmy Poletti's famous for selling cars, but that's not all he was doing. His illegal activities get him arrested. Since he missed his court date, it's Stephanie's job to track him down.

As she looks for him, she starts finding bodies of his poker friends. Soon the leads dry up and her only lead is that someone wants to kill Randy Briggs.

Briggs hangs out with Stephanie during the day and sleeps on her couch at night. As much as he annoys her, Stephanie uses him as bait.

Plus, Ranger's life is in serious danger and he needs Stephanie's help to smoke out his would be assassin.

My Thoughts: I really look forward to these books and devour them when they come out. I know I need to set aside a chunk of undisturbed time because I want to read them in one sitting. As usual, the danger and the action kept me turning the pages along with the humor and the romantic tension.

Fun: I was lucky enough to attend a Stephanie Plum event as a kick-off for the book. I'm a huge fan of this series and loved meeting Janet Evanovich again.

Here are some photos:

Janet and the moderator talking onstage.

They talked about 

1. Grandma Mazur's bucket list (which is hilarious and a fantastic part of the book)

2. Janet's writing schedule and how it got thrown off when her son became really sick (he's good now)

3. If Stephanie ages at all during the book series - she doesn't

4. If Stephanie will ever choose between the two men - which would kind of end the series

5. How Janet plans never to stop writing the series as long as people want to read them

6. The movie and if there were any more plans for more - there aren't plans for movies, but some TV options are in the works, which would be Fantastic!

7. Janet talked about her romance books and how she thought of herself as a failed romance writer

8. She mentioned that the first Plum book was darker and her editors asked her to lighten the second book

9. She talked about growing up in the burbs and how characters in her book mirror people she knows in real life.

10. She also talked about her writing process with co-authors.

Morelli and Ranger 

I'm a Ranger fan. Plus these amazing book cupcakes.

And finally us together! 

Meg Cabot at RJ Julia's

Meg Cabot was at RJ Julia's at the beginning of the week. Of course I rearranged my work schedule to be there! If you've been following the blog, you know that not only is she one of my favorite authors, but she's also the reason I became a YA Librarian. In grad school, I wasn't sure which librarian road I was going to take. I read the first Princess Diaries book and it changed me. I chose to be a YA Librarian because of the amazing books in the field. And it was right choice. So how could I pass up meeting her? It was a fantastic night.

We learned some secrets of her past. She started writing when she was very young, making up all kinds of stories.  She hated Math (as does Princess Mia). Here's a photo of her.

She was an Art Major in college. At first she thought of majoring in writing, but she met a boy at party who advised her against it. He said that majoring in something you love would crush your love for it. So she majored in art instead. (She ended marrying that boy after meeting him again years later). Here's one of her illustrations of laundry. 

She thought she would go to NYC and get an illustrating job.  That didn't happen. Instead, she found herself with a job at NYU in the dorm (much like Heather Wells - only there were no dead bodies).

When her father passed away, she realized that life was short. She didn't want to regret not trying for her dreams. The day she got home from the funeral, she started seriously writing query letters. She wrote query letters and started sending them in daily for two years. And got a pile of rejections in return. But rejections weren't the worst thing that could happen, so she kept trying. She has folders of manuscripts that will never be published.

She asked her friends for some advice after learning that her story about a girl finding out her mother's dating her teacher didn't have enough of a plot. She wondered if the girl should turn out to be a princess or be kidnapped by aliens. The princess plot won and the main character turned 14 instead of 30. 

For the Heather Wells books, she wanted an average woman. At the time, that was size 12 but it's now size 14. She used a lot of her background from her previous job in the series. Yes, people really did elevator surf. To keep more up to date on current student life, she reads blogs. When she's stuck with procedure questions, she calls her brother who works as a cop.  Other covers for the first Heather Wells book:

For the current cover, they couldn't find a male model who portrayed Cooper. The book covers in France for the series use a cake topper. That seemed like a fun alternative. I can't wait to read The Bride Wore Size 12. 

Here we are together with the cake topper from the cover!

Summer Books Event at RJ Julias

On Friday, Erin and I attended Summer Reads stop at RJ Julia's and it was a blast! Lots of laughter and lots of talking. Here's some notes on the tour. 

Susane Colasanti:
All I Need is her 7th book (read my review here)
She wanted to write a beautiful summer romance - the kind of romance she always hoped would happen to her one summer. It never did. She always thought this summer was going to be the one that changed her -either a romance or she would reinvent herself. But it never did and summers were always boring.
So she wrote this book. 

Also in this book, she writes about Soul Mates. She confesses that she's obsessed with Soul Mates and that everyone has one.
She also confesses that she's still 16 at heart.
She loves her job because she can reach out to teens and make them feel less alone. She loved being a science teacher (10 years) but believes that she can help more teens as a writer. She wants them to be able to survive the worst time in the lives, knowing that it really does get better. 

She used to fight with her high school English teacher over the books assigned for school. She would read them, but she never really liked the classics. The Outsiders was the only book she had to read for school that she enjoyed. Otherwise, she'd be reading Stephen King. 

Huntley Fitzpatrick:

My Life Next Door is her debut novel (although she has 2 other books written that will never be published)

She believes that you can change your past with writing and make things better.
She's a hopeless romantic and adores the Happily Ever After Ending - which she brings to her books.
She always reads the ends of books first, so she knows if she wants to read it or not and if it has a satisfying ending. 

For her book, she wanted to take the star-crossed lovers theme from Romeo and Juliet and change it. She didn't want the main characters to be impulsive and immature with crazy families, and of course, the two characters don't die at the end. The ending of that tale always bugged her.
She loves writing YA because it's the time where all the first experiences happen and because teens are so curious and questioning everything during this time in their lives.

Leila Howland

Nantucket Blue is also her debut novel 

It's a novel about friendships and what happens when a great friendship breaks up.
It's based off of her experience as at the time she was breaking up with her best friend. When she went looking for books to read, she couldn't find any.
She wanted to explore the idea further and started writing to let out her emotions and heartbreak.
In her book, she wanted to make a perfect girl - and then place her into a summer where Everything goes wrong for her. She says something wrong at a major life event for someone else, and then she can't take it back. Regret follows and then Shame.
How can she make it right?
But also Leila wanted to figure out what's the worst thing that this one friend could do after a best friends breakup? 

She had previously written a novel for adults, but was told that her voice was too young. Her agent sent her some YA titles by E. Lockhart and Natalie Standiford. She found urgency to writing and entertainment value with lots of emotion. She couldn't put the books down. She finally found her voice after reading these books. A sequel will be coming next summer. 

Una LaMarche
Five Summers is also a debut novel. (Read my review here)
While it's her first novel (ever written and published), she has a background in journalism.
It's a novel about friendship based off some of her own camp experiences. She attended a camp with an annual dance, so she added that into the book.
She wanted to make this centered on friendships and what happens to the friendships after a few years of not seeing each and a few secrets that could damage the relationship.
She has a love/hate relationship with books where the main characters were clearly meant to be together, but never did - like Little Women and Circle of Friends. She's crushed when the romance doesn't work out the way she expected. 

She used to keeps a diary - but sometimes her life was so boring she wrote fictional accounts of her day. 

Fierce Reads Tour

On Sunday, I attended the CT stop at RJ Julia's and it was a blast! Lots of laughter and lots of talking. Here's some notes on the tour. Sorry - the pictures I took came out terrible. 

Emmy Laybourne:

Can't stop smiling when describing her book about death and destruction. Blood type determines course of action. Intruders. Trying to escape to a evacuation site. Put aside issues (drama/romance) to find a way to survive. The storefront came from Target (because she's there a lot with her kids). Inspired by an article on blood types in Asian countries where blood determines your personality (kinda like horoscopes)

On Writing: She tries to write 5-8 pages a day - following a system. Inviting her characters each day to come chat with her, so she had to be there to to listen to them. Last thing she does each day is to read ahead on the outline to get her mental prepared for the next day.

Details outlines and send publishers and then starts to write the book when agreed but still surprised by the HOWs

Next book (after the last book in the trilogy) will be a fantasy

Jessica Brody: Wanted to try something different - a scifi suspense. Blank slate  for her character that's inspired by Bourne. It's about a girl who wakes up in the middle of a plane crash wreckage (there's a hidden significance to Flight 121) - unharmed except for the loss of her memories. She has no idea who she is - and no one else seems to either. The sequel will be out in February. 

When Writing: She only drinks coffee when she writes and she uses the computer without battery so she must finish writing before it dies. She follows a screenwriting writing technique where she has 15 plot points figured out and starts with those. If something changes (often happens), she replots from that change before starting to write again.  

Inspirations: Any book that was done well as you knew you couldn't write it is inspiring, Sophie Kinsella, and 

Christopher Pike

She didn't expect to like twitter - but treats it like a game. How can I say something significant in 140 characters or less!

Anna Banks: Mermaids! Merman prince searching for a girl who can communicate with fish. This girls seems to have the Gift of Poseidon, but she doesn't know why she has this rare gift.. He tries to help her figure out who she is, knowing that if she's the girl he thinks she might be - she will have to marry his older brother. 

On Writing: Recently quit job and realized that in order to focus, she must actually get dressed and leave the house. She doesn't rely on outlines because she without them. She started reading romances at the age of nine and every book she writes will always have kissy scenes and a love story. 

Gennifer Albin: All the names in book have double meanings and she tried to make them easy to pronounce. Space and time can be seen manipulated and changed by young girls. Adelice has that gift, but her parents have been training her to hide it. They don't want her using her power, but they haven't told her why. On the day of her testing, something goes wrong and Adelice life changes.

On Writing: Used to be creature of habit, but since having kids, she has learned to write anywhere. She completed the first draft of Crewl in November for Nanowrimo. However, when she tried to write the next book in the same manner, she found that it really needed an outline. Each book needs something a little bit different in terms of planning.

Would love to meet J.K. Rowling - who inspired her greatly.

Leigh Bardugo: Her Fantasy novels were inspired by czar Russia. Where Darkness comes with monsters. Alina is the orphan underdog. She a huge fantasy fan. Most fantasy worlds take after Medieval Europe (mainly England) and she wanted to change that - so she made her world Russian. 

On Writing: For her first draft, she needs noise, but in revising she using her computer without the internet so she won't be distracted. She sometimes skips ahead in the book to avoid writer's block. 

Inspirations: Dune, Wrinkle in time, and George R. R. Martin (whom she's met)

Author Event @ RJ Julia's: Lucy Burdette

Last night I went to see Lucy Burdette at one of my favorite bookstores. There were lots of people there. As Lucy talked, we laughed. I just read her first book in the series Appetite for Murder.We've been talking on twitter and I was so happy to meet her! 

The second book, Death in Four Courses, just came out yesterday. I'm so looking forward to reading it.

Don't you just love the cover?  Her friend took the photo that inspired it!

Ten Things I learned Last Night:

1. All the restaurants in the books are real

2. Except for one in book 3 - where Hayley's forced to write a negative review 

3. Lucy Burdette is a pen name, which comes from her grandmother's name

4. Books in the front of big bookstores windows (like B&N) have been paid to put there! (I found this fascinating)

5. Lucy lives part of the winter months in Key West - and loves it there (which shines through in her book)

6. Reviewers found Hayley dumb - which means she has plenty of time to grow up. I didn't find her dumb. I thought she didn't have a sense of direction until she found her passion.

7. For her first book series - golf mysteries, Lucy paid her entire book advance to join a golf tournament and to take a look behind the scenes. 

8. Her golf game isn't very good.

9. She helps spread the love of cozy mysteries.

10. Topped Chef is the title of the 3rd book, which she wanted to name Fatal Reservations but her editor LOVED this title. 

Here the podium

And check out this cake!!!!