I am very, very, very bad about sometimes buying books not for the story, but for the cover. I really admire new, innovative, and beautiful cover design because I can tell how hard it is to be any of those things with a sea of other books already out and a limited budget. So when a cover DOES manage to be new/innovative/beautiful...I must own it. Examples:



I WAS TOLD THERE'D BE CAKE by Sloane Crosley
I've mentioned this cover on the blog before-- and I still haven't finished the book. It's really good, don't get me wrong, but since it's essays you can kind of pick it up and return months later-- but I digress. This cover felt like something out of the 1950s in the most fabulously vintage way. So I bought it with only the slightest of slight ideas what it was about.



THE LUXE series by Anna Godbersen
I not only bought this one, I bought the first three in the series, all for the covers. I might even buy the fourth one, but I totally have not been able to get through THE LUXE yet (I don't think it's my style) so I feel silly buying the fourth...but it has that pretty purple dress on it...



MADAPPLE by Christina Meldrum
Okay okay, THIS ONE I actually wanted to read the book itself. But more than anything, I just wanted the cover. It is creepy and eerie and pretty and great. And I still haven't read the book.



WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON by John Green and David Levithan
My friend scottique found this accidentally and showed it to me-- I'm guessing it's a rejected cover for the book. Which is a shame, because I think it's fabulous. Look at that bunny monster thing in the background! Who wouldn't love that?
(Shameless promo moment-- remember that you can win an ARC of WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON, by subscribing to my youtube channel!)

Anyhow-- is this just me? Anyone else snag a book just for the picture on the front?

Okay, people-- I've now officially lost at Nanowrimo. I had to take a few days off to figure out some plot bits here and there, and then Thanksgiving, and...there you have it. It only takes a few days off to get so woefully behind you're beyond repair.

That said, I still really think Nanowrimo is a great thing, and am not sad that I gave it a shot again this year. And here's why:

-Nanowrimo encourages people who are scared to write to shut-up-and-write-already. Sometimes writing seems like this big, impressive, impossible thing, and something like Nano gives you permission to not take it super seriously for thirty days-- but rather, to just enjoy the ride.
Case and point: My sophmore year of college I obsessed with editing this neverending high fantasy novel I'd been writing all throughout high school. I kept revising and changing and rediting without really getting anywhere. Nano came along, gave me permission to work on something new, and before I knew it I'd proven to myself that I could write something other than that neverending high fantasy novel. That I could enjoy writing for the sake of writing, that I could throw away pages or chapters or even entire books and that was fine-- I could always write more. That story ideas are not a finite resource.

-Nanowrimo allows people to be bad at writing. Instead of staring at a blank document and thinking "I'd write that novel, but I probably need to outline more. Or plot more. Or wait more." You're told to write, even if it sucks, instead of making excuses for why you AREN'T writing. I think proving to yourself you can write a book--even a bad book-- is better than sitting around saying "eventually" forevermore.

-Nanowrimo is casual. If you lose, no one cares. If you win? Well, to be honest, no one really cares about that either. The only person that cares either way is YOU. Nanowrimo is entirely about YOU, and what YOU create. It has nothing to with me or your English teacher or your critique partner or anyone else. And if YOU are happy with your wordcount at 10k or 40k or 200k, that's what's important.

-Nanowrimo is, at it's core, simple. Some people aren't experienced enough writers to focus on plot/characters/growth/subtext-- so nanowrimo doesn't require any of that. You've just got to get words onto paper. But you know what? Without words on paper, you can't achieve plot/characters/growth/subtext. So at least chasing a word count gets you a step in the right direction.

Anyhow, all in all-- I love Nanowrimo. I will always encourages others to participate. And while I didn't win, I'm pretty happy with where THIS DAMN HISTORICAL NOVEL THAT OMG STILL DOESN'T HAVE A TITLE is headed.
How did everyone else do?

I've been a terrible blogger lately, but it's not my fault, I swear. I've just been Nano-ing. I know I said I wasn't doing it officially, but then I got all competitive and started entering my word count in that little progress bar and got caught up and...well. Now I'm in.

I'm at that point though where I'm very,very excited about the mss, which is titled THE DAMN HISTORICAL NOVEL WITH NO TITLE. Okay, that's not *really* the title, but seriously, it's gone through like seven titles and none of them really wow me. The best of the collection is THE MADDENING CROWD, followed by CURIOUSLY DANGEROUS, but I'm not married to either.

How is everyone else nano-ing doing?

So I'm working on my nanowrimo novel, which is a historical fantasy and has gone through the following titles: A BRILLIANT DARKNESS, FINN, A WORLD BEFORE US, and about...um...eight others. I'm not good at titles. I know I said I wasn't officially doing nanowrimo, but now that drive to WIN is kicking in and I'm going to try to get caught up today.

This is especially difficult because OMG THIS BOOK IS REALLY HARD TO WRITE.

I chose this idea to flesh out because I wanted to expand my writing with a Just For Fun novel. I wanted to write something outside of my comfort zone. In other words, I wanted to make myself suffer.

SO despite the fact that throughout September and October I've been reading non-fiction on my historical time period, listening to audio lectures, even watching DVDs on it, the historical-i-ness of this piece is overwhelmingly tough at times. Those of you out there writing historicals regularly? YOU ARE CLEARLY SUPERHEROS.

Anyhow, back to nanowrimo work with me. If you're on twitter, do a search for #writingparty-- every few nights I throw one (or if I'm slacking off, someone else does!) and we write like crazy people then tweet about it. You should come!

There's been a lot of talk about why authors should or shouldn't use mature language, themes, or concepts in YA literature. So I did a video!



I'll give you a dollar is you link/repost this. Seriously. A whole dollar. Yep...going to get those dollars now...just keep reposting...

I am not doing Nanowrimo this year.
Well, not officially.
See, I'm a big fan of Nanowrimo. I think it's the reason I got unstuck with my writing back when I was a freshman in college. It gave me permission to write something kinda crappy, which was EXACTLY what I needed-- I was so obsessed with writing something PERFECT that I ended up just NOT writing for fear my work would have flaws (gasp!). I've done Nano most years ever since, and typically write the first draft of ALL my work with the same mentality-- 2k or more a day, no excuses-- though I don't stop till the story is complete instead of calling it quits at 50k.

So, to sum up: Nanowrimo is great.

However, part of what helps make it great is the community and forums which sadly, I don't have time for. So I'm calling myself an unofficial nano-er this year. I'll be trying to get my 2k a day done on a Secret Project that's a just-for-fun book, and will be cheering everyone along via livejournal and twitter. With that in mind, here's my Nanowrimo advice:

1) No excuses! Write your daily word count. No matter what. Writing 1700 in a day isn't so hard, but if you have to double that? That gets tricky. Very tricky. It's easy to fall behind.
2) If you write MORE than the min. word count one day, don't carry those words over to the next day. That way if something unforeseeable prevents you from writing on day, you're still ahead.
3) Skip the boring parts. If you're looking forward to an upcoming scene, just go ahead and write it.

In other news, I'll be in Charlotte, NC, this Friday for AASL's Pitstop! I'll also be hitting up the local bookstores signing stock of AS YOU WISH :) Keep an eye on twitter-- I'll tweet about all the bookstores I've signed at.

ETA: A video of Kipling and Alcott playing "Punch The Dog."

SO, the SISTERS RED cover is out! In the world! And I love it. Here's a clearer version:



I love it. Love it love it love it. I can't wait to see how it looks on the hardcover. I keep staring at it. Can I hug it? I might hug it.

After my parents, sister, grandparents, students, and friends snatched up their ARCs, I have six left to give away here in contests I'll be holding over the next few months. Unfortunately, I do not have any ARCs to give to review sites or book blogs, but you're as welcome as anybody to enter one of the contests I post here! I wish I had enough for everyone that wants one, but alas...
SO, with that in mind-- Contest Numero Uno will be in November!

ETA: I'll be chatting with the Mundie Moms HERE tomorrow at 8:30 pm EST! Come by!!! Please! Don't make me talk to myself. Again.

How awesome is my editor? She sends fruit rollups and ties everything up with a red bow.
AND now the SISTERS RED cover is out and shareable and you can understand how much I LOVE AND ADORE IT.

I shot a video but...um...well, I just woke up and when I saw how my hair looked in said video...um....yeah.

SISTERS RED arcs should be coming soon.
Soon soon soon.
*taps desk*
*tappity tap tap*
*checks mailbox*
*asks concierge if there are any packages for me*
*back upstairs for more tappity tap tapping*

I'm so excited because when the arcs get here, the cover can be shown and the book can be read and all that other good stuff.
In the meantime, I've been:
-Working on SWEETLY edits a little bit
-Playing with Space Dog and Alcott
-Outlining a new mss
-Figuring out vlog logistics (There's a vlog that's been in the works for months now, but I've had very few days that are both free-of-activities AND not-raining to work on it.)

I'm excited about the new manuscript because it's a different genre for me. I'm treating it as my "just for fun" book-- I don't know if it'll sell, or if it'll even be good...but I'll have a fun time writing it. I considered doing it for Nanowrimo but I want to start it now...
*tappity tap tap*

Before I sold AS YOU WISH, I felt like once I got published, writing would be easier. Things would flow, I'd be more confident, my problems would dissolve, so on, so forth.

Sadly, that isn't the case. Writing doesn't get any easier. In fact, it's still HARD usually. Like, pull-my-hair-out-ow-my-brain-hurts-where-are-the-fruit-rollups hard.

Anyhow, so since writing is HARD sometimes, I think it's important to take a real, honest, lets-be-serious look at what you're good at and what you're bad at as a writer, so you can solve the problem and grow as an author.

Having the confidence to say "this is what I'm good at, this is what I'm not" is a very important part of the writing process. Knowing with certainty what you're good at will give you the editing sure-footedness to tell your critique parter/editor/mom "no, that part should stay," for example, and knowing what you're bad at means you'll be willing to listen to ideas on those parts of the story instead of being overwhelmed by critique.

Don't try to write down EVERY LITTLE THING you could improve upon-- you'll give yourself a migraine. Just a few bigger things you think you could get better at. Likewise, don't write down EVERYTHING you're good at. Just things you're really pleased with yourself over. Stuff that makes you feel warm inside when you write it.

So, here are a couple of things I think I'm bad at as a writer:
-Overstating things. Sometimes I want readers to get the message so much that I say it four million times. I'm worried the quick-and-careless readers will miss it. I need to stop worrying about said quick-and-careless readers and focus on the careful, awesome readers who will get the point without me saying it seventy-five times.
-Holding back. With PURITY, the story wanted to become something I hadn't planned. I tried to stop it and...fail. Sometimes you just have to let the book take you where it wants to go.

Here's what I think I'm good at as a writer:
-The whole "If there's a gun in the first act, it should go off by the third" thing. I like everything to have a point, and I think that's pretty shiny, if I do say so myself.
-Romances that are built up, not instantaneous OMG YOU ARE PRETTY LET'S BE IN TRUE LOVE KTHX.

Now...your turn! In the comments! Or, if you'd rather, you can comment on cold remedies because omg I am sick...

I GOT A PUPPY:







She's a Chinese Crested. Her name is Kipling. She looks like she is from SPACE and that's outstanding.

ETA: Her ears were taped to train them to stand up straight. Lots of breeds to it (as Mandy mentioned, Dobermans). BUT...I like her floppy ears and the tape seemed to bother her, so I took them down. If they stand up, it's all well and good, but if not the floppy ears are fine by me. :)

1) My friend Carol is walking in the Breast Cancer 3-day. That's pretty awesome. Her donation page is here: CLICK.
Did you know that ONE IN EIGHT women in the US will get breast cancer?
That's a lot of women--- enough that I wager everyone reading this knows someone personally who has dealt with breast cancer in some capacity.
So, if you have a dollar or two, please donate to Carol's 3-day (or anyone's 3-day, if you'd rather). Carol is only something like $350 short of her goal. If you post on your blog about the Breast Cancer 3-day, I'll enter you to win a signed copy of AS YOU WISH. Let me know in the comments where you reposted.
BUT WAIT, there's more. If you donate even one dollar to Carol's 3-day, you get a second entry-- just forward me the little confirmation email at jacksonapearce@gmail.com. So go forth. Enter. Win things. Contest closes one week from today.

So you've entered, right? Yes? Ok, on to two other points--

2) I totally forgot I was holding a contest for an ARC of SHIVER by Maggie Stiefvater over at YouTube (one entry for commenting on my This Is Your Life Maggie video). BUT GUESS WHAT? Since Maggie was in town a few weeks ago and we frolicked and ate preservative-free food together, that ARC is now a SIGNED ARC. So you should go enter and I'll go ahead and close the contest tomorrow at MIDNIGHT. TELL YOUR FRIENDS, ppl.

3) CANDOR by Pam Bachorz came out on Tuesday. This is the cover:


So, Pam used to live in Celebration, FL, which is Disney's semi-creepy planned community. After living there, Pam wrote a book about a really-creepy planned community. It's very big brother/super spy/clever and you should read it. It's also a GREAT boy book in a YA world mostly devoid of boy books.


P.S.: Today is DOG DAY! Ahhhhhhhhh

Two things are happening right now:

1) Atlanta is underwater. But really, not as badly as the news would make you think. The way they talk, everyone is swimming to work today. And it's true, the flooding is REALLY BAD in some places, but most of us are just fine, especially now that the rain has stopped (at least for the time being). Yesterday I admit I had big plans to build an ark, but now that the storm drains have had time to catch up I think I'll just make quiche instead.

2) I am getting a dog! On Thursday!
This is very exciting to me. Alcott will probably be very annoyed by this new addition. But videos and pictures to come, whether you like it or not. :)

First pass pages are what you get right after copyedits and right before ARCs-- it's the book typeset exactly as it will appear in the printed version. Today I got first pass pages for SISTERS RED:





I LOVE what they did with the fonts for Rosie and Scarlett. I'm just so, so excited about this book from the design end (well, from the story end as well, but you know what I mean).

Two things:

One, you have like...one hour to enter Debness if you haven't yet. And you really should.



Two, this is GIVE UP THE GHOST:


It's by Megan Crewe. I like Megan. She does things like tutoring special needs kids, which makes her both great AND caring AND giving. Everyone cheer for Megan because she's very very awesome.

GIVE UP THE GHOST's blurb:

Cass McKenna much prefers ghosts over “breathers.” Ghosts are uncomplicated and dependable, and they know the dirt on everybody…and Cass loves dirt. She’s on a mission to expose the dirty secrets of the poseurs in her school.

But when the vice president of the student council discovers her secret, Cass’s whole scheme hangs in the balance. Tim wants her to help him contact his recently deceased mother, and Cass reluctantly agrees.

As Cass becomes increasingly entwined in Tim’s life, she’s surprised to realize he’s not so bad—and he needs help more desperately than anyone else suspects. Maybe it’s time to give the living another chance….

Why would you not want to read that? Why are you not reading it right now? It came out yesterday, so you've had a full twenty-four hours to go get it. Go now please. Thx.

So I'm still in that stage of book-release-joy where I read most of my reviews (I know, I know, I shouldn't, but I can't help it!) I've been pretty lucky so far, and haven't had many that panned AS YOU WISH. In fact, reading my reviews has gotten me into the habit of reading and following other authors' reviews as well. I've realized there are four kinds of reviews:

-Meaningful, thought out reviews that analyze the book and make a sound judgment (whether that judgment be positive or negative). These reviews are WIN. Pure WIN.
-People that just give a ranking, with no explanation as to why.
-People that knock a book down because they disagree with it on some sort of moral level.
-People who knock a book down because of something entirely irrelevant to the text.

I-- and most authors-- have gotten a few in each category. And before I continue-- this is not a rant against bad reviews. If you dislike a book I love-- if you dislike my book-- and provide meaningful commentary on why, more power to you. That's a-okay.

This is, however, a rant against all the other review types. So here we go:

People that just give a ranking, with no explanation as to why.
I think this confuses me because I'm one of those people who really, really likes telling people what I think.
Sometimes to a fault. But anyway:
If you're taking the time to review and affect a book's star ranking why not explain it? Did you not read it carefully enough to explain yourself? I can excuse this a little more with a five star unexplained ranking since the five stars just implies "All is awesome with this book," but unexplained fours, threes, twos, ones...no. Just no. Write a real review! Tell us why you feel that way! You have the chance to make your opinion heard, and you're missing it!

People that knock a book down because they disagree with it on some sort of moral level
I saw a two star review for a book about a gay teen, and the explanation was "I didn't like that the main character was gay."
Um...why did you read the book then, for starters?
But that aside: Did the book, independent of your personal views, smoothly accomplish what it set out to do? Was the plot developed? Were the characters realistic? Was the writing beautiful?
What's that? You don't know, you just know they were gay and that's icky? Right. Ok then.
All reviews are personal opinions, of course-- but there's a difference between saying "I didn't personally feel that the characters were well-rounded" and "One was gay and I don't like that."

People who knock a book down because of something entirely irrelevant to the text.
I got a three star review on Amazon like this. The 300 word review says the following about the book itself: "the story is consistent and even thruout."
Seven words. 2% of the review.
The rest of the review is a rant about how the book isn't available on the kindle. That's why it was ranked three stars. Oh wait-- and she hated the cover. Kindle + Cover = 3 stars, regardless of the quality of the story.
I'm not really angry about that-- more disappointed. If you're going to give me book three stars, fine, but can it at least be because of a fault within the text itself?

This is why I love the book blogging community. Even amid the dozens of book bloggers who have hated my cover, they still provide thoughtful, meaningful reviews for not just my book, but all books. They understand that the text is what is really being reviewed, and that a ranking without explanation is worthless. They provide meaningful commentary on the text from multiple angles, with a thought out conclusion. I value their opinions, instead of dismissing them because they're like the reviews mentioned above. I'm eager to see what they review, what they like, and why they liked it.

Book bloggers are rockstars.
Rock on, Book Bloggers, rock on.

This weekend was the Decatur Book Festival!

I spoke with the fabulously-dressed Aimee Friedman on a panel about falling love with supernatural beings.

I also did the following:
-Fiesta-ed with Maggie Stiefvater, Jackie Dolamore, and Jessica Burkhart on the sketchy side of town. We played games like "Spot The Hooker" and to my surprise, few were spotted. Jackie was very upset.
-Bailed on a questionable dinner to hit up Chipotle with the previously mentioned + David Levithan (who, back when I did that paper bag interview with Maggie, I emailed. He never answered, so I thought he figured I was a LUNATIC since the email was something like "I want to make a paper bag you! With voices! And Maggie! Please to respond!" Turns out, he didn't get the email. But I suspect he still might find me crazy).
-Signed lots of books at The Little Shop of Stories, which is my favorite indie bookstore EVER.
-Did not take enough naps.
-Traipsed all over Decatur determined to use all of my $10 gift cards they gave all the authors. I ended up buying an ice cream scoop and some cups with them. How boring am I?

So after quite a long weekend, I spent yesterday FINALLY reading HUNGER GAMES (and started CATCHING FIRE), writing a chapter of FATHOMLESS (SISTERS RED #3) (which I don't really plan on writing in full till next year, but the prologue was floating around my head and wanted to escape) and slept. A lot.
Sleep is good.

Video involving, but not limited to, DBF shenanigans will go up in a few weeks.

I feel the release party is better explained in pictures. Thus, pictures:













Things that aren't pictured:
-The majority of the awesome and fantastic people who came. I was so happy with the turnout!
-The big silver stars I taped to the floor that said things like "Get a signed book because signed books are way better" and "Why are you in the cafe? The signing is over there."
-The balloons that my parents and sister picked up, and then two students-- Rachel and Danielle-- helped cover the entire store in.
-Allie and E.M., who drove from four zillion miles away (ok, really they drove from Birmingham, but I've made that drive before and it is NOT easy. There are cops every five feet on the interstate between here and Alabama.)
-Meeting a bunch of book bloggers I've been following for ages.

Thanks for coming and making it fantastic, everyone. I had an amazing time and can't believe I finally was able to sign books for so many of my friends and family. It was definitely an unforgettable experience, and I owe it to you.

ETA: Video by the fabulous Vania of Reverie Book Reviews here: