Thursday, June 23, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
GCC Tours Jessica Brody and MY LIFE UNDECIDED
As I mentioned last week, I'm about two authors behind on my blog tour schedule, so I just may have to double up on author in order to catch up -- especially since it's about one week until my daughter is out of school for summer vacation. There goes the rest of the little time I have! Argh!
Anyway, I'm so super excited to tour Jessica Brody this week. She is one of the contributors to DEAR BULLY and so I'm also going to post her bully story over on the DEAR BULLY website. Take a visit over there if you can (www.dearbully.com).
Before I get to her book, Jessica is going to tell a little about her experience with bullying:
I’m so thrilled to be one of the authors contributing to the forthcoming anthology: Dear Bully. I wrote a song for the book that talks about how I was bullied in middle school. I was constantly teased, harassed, pranked, you name it. And I spent the entire time on the outside, looking in, wishing I could be part of the “popular crowd.” But now, looking back on it, I’m glad I wasn’t. I talk about this a lot now when I do school visits. My experience in middle school shaped who I am today. I honestly don’t think I would be writing young adult novels had I not had these experiences. They stayed with me. Long enough that I’m able to use them in my writing. I think (hope!) these real life experiences I have to pull from make my characters more real and believable.
Jessica has an amazing book out (it came out on June 7th) and here's a little bit about MY LIFE UNDECIDED:
PLEASE READ THIS! MY LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!
Okay, maybe that was a bit melodramatic, but I’m sorry, I’m feeling a bit melodramatic at the moment.
Here’s the deal. My name is Brooklyn Pierce, I’m fifteen years old, and I am decisionally challenged. Seriously, I can’t remember the last good decision I made. I can remember plenty of crappy ones though. Including that party I threw when my parents were out of town that accidentally burned down a model home. Yeah, not my finest moment, for sure.
But see, that’s why I started a blog. To enlist readers to make my decisions for me. That’s right. I’m gave up. Threw in the towel. I let someone else be the one to decide which book I read for English. Or whether or not I accepted an invitation to join the debate team from that cute-in-a-dorky-sort-of-way guy who gave me the Heimlich Maneuver in the cafeteria. (Note to self: Chew the melon before swallowing it.) I even let them decide who I dated!
Well, it turns out there are some things in life you simply can’t choose or have chosen for you—like who you fall in love with. And now everything’s more screwed up than ever.
But don’t take my word for it, read the book and decide for yourself. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll scream in frustration. Or maybe that’s just me. After all, it’s my life.
Reviews:
"Brooklyn is a sympathetic protagonist with whom teens will identify. Her journey is fun to read, and decision-challenged readers will learn an important lesson about self-acceptance along the way."
--School Library Journal
"Brody taps into a universal human desire...An amusing coming-of-age story with many funny moments...[Brooklyn's] flustered, off-the-cuff narration should keep readers as invested in her actions as her blog followers are."
--Publisher's Weekly
About the Author:
A few fun facts about Jessica Brody’s own life undecided:
- Jessica was born in Los Angeles, moved to Colorado when she was twelve, moved back to California after college and now indecisively splits her time between both states.
- Jessica graduated from Smith College in Massachusetts with majors in Economics and French because she was convinced she wanted to be an “important business woman.” After a brief stint as a strategic analyst for MGM Studios, she abandoned her business background to become a full-time writer. Now she uses her mad spreadsheet skills to build complicated outlines for her books.
- Appropriately, when writing this book, Jessica couldn’t decide on a title. So she polled 50 of her closest friends to finally come up with My Life Undecided.
Visit her online at: www.JessicaBrody.com.
Bestselling Author of:
The Karma Club (young adult)
My Life Undecided (young adult) - Coming June 2011!
The Fidelity Files (commercial fiction)
Love Under Cover (commercial fiction)
And coming soon: www.MyLifeUndecided.com, where you can post your own undecided questions, poll the community, and get some answers.
My Life Undecided
- Reading level: Young Adult
- Hardcover: 320 pages
- Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); First Edition edition (June 7, 2011)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0374399050
- ISBN-13: 978-0374399054
Thursday, June 9, 2011
GCC Tours Elizabeth Scott and BETWEEN HERE AND FOREVER
I am so overdue with my GCC Blog tours. Please forgive my time away from here. I've been so busy with DEAR BULLY, the anti-bullying anthology that comes out in August, that I've been so neglectful (is that a word?) of my personal blog. So, apologies to everyone!!! I'm actually going to be touring Jessica Brody NEXT week (even though I was supposed to do it THIS week), but right now I'm going to tour Elizabeth Scott, because I was supposed to tour her LAST week.
(Confusing, I know... welcome to my life!)
So, first things first, WELCOME, ELIZABETH SCOTT to my humble web page/blog. Here is a pic of her beautiful book cover for her latest book, BETWEEN HERE AND FOREVER.
Here's a little about the book:
Abby accepted that she can't measure up to her beautiful, magnetic sister Tess a long time ago, and she knows exactly what she it: Second best. Invisible.
Until the accident.
Now Tess is in a coma, and Abby’s life is on hold. It may have been hard living with Tess, but it’s nothing compared to living without her.
She’s got a plan to bring Tess back though, involving the gorgeous and mysterious Eli, but then Abby learns something about Tess, something that was always there, but that she’d never seen.
ever sought revenge? As the old adage goes, do you think that living
well is the best revenge?
I think it's best to be the better person, as hard as that can be, and
I do think that living your own life the best way you can is super
important!
2. Cliques and mean girls are everywhere. At book signings I've had
everyone from 12 year old girls to 45 year old women tell me they
still encounter them. Do you? How has it changed since you were a
teen?
It's more subtle as you get older, but yes, the mean girls are still
out there! But luckily, there are also loads of amazing and truly
sweet women too.
3. I have a "Writing Music" playlist on my iPod. What would be on
yours? What one song or artist captures the essence of your book?
The Only Exception by Paramore, for sure!
4. What do you tell people is your favorite book/author? Now what is
your "real" favorite book/author. (i.e. I tell people Pale Fire by
Nabokov is my fave, but right now I'm really
into Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea.)
I can't pick a favorite book or author--I love too many books (and
authors) to ever pick one and every time I'm asked this question I
feel so bad that I can't answer but in a world filled with so many
great books and authors, how can I pick only one?
5. If you could swap lives with anyone for a day, who would it be and why?
I'm pretty happy with my own life, actually.
6. Who would be in your dream cast if your book was made into a movie
or television series? (And multimillion dollar salaries were no
issue--they'd all do it for free!)
If someone wanted to turn Between Here and Forever into a movie, I'd
be so thrilled I wouldn't care who got cast!
7. As a publicist, I know that it's important for every novel to have
journalistic hook. For The Lost Sister, it's mean girls, bullies and
hazing. What's yours?
Small towns, secrets, and finding love.
8. Just because it hasn't been asked yet, favorite 1980's movie?
Oh, I don't know--probably Empire Strikes Back. I wanted to marry Han
Solo for years after that movie!
9. Why should I choose your book for my book club?
If you like stories about sibling relationships--and, of
course--falling in love--then you should check Between Here and
Forever out!
10. I'm a huge and fabulously powerful movie producer and you have 30
seconds (an elevator pitch) to sell me on why your book is great and
should be made into a movie. Go!
I wish I'd make a pitch, but I'd probably either ask you about your
upcoming movie. Or try and figure out how much work you've had done on
your face. (!!!)
Posts
