FIND ME SOME FUNNY

Sometimes when my to-do list becomes overwhelming, I spend a few hours minutes refreshing my emails and hopping around the blogosphere.  In doing so, I realize two things:

1. Most people are better at blog design, button-making and all the html stuff than I am.

2. I wish I were good at the funny.

There are some amazing blogs out there full of sly snarkitude or savvy silliness (okay I AM good at consonance) that make me absolutely LAUGH OUT LOUD.  They tend to be my go-to blogs on mornings that are, well, not-so-awesome.  You'll find some in my blogroll.

I WISH I could provide a steady dose of the funny to my fantastic followers and random hoppers-by.  Instead you have to settle for the occasional giggle bookended by posts of the overly earnest variety (I tend to be a bit hyper-focused).  If I ever find the funny, though, you'll be the first to know.  (See, there's an internal rhyme in that sentence, so you're not hopping away entirely empty-handed.)

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE LOL BLOG????

Oh, I'm feeling so overwhelmed--please leave a comment and connect me to some funny!

I did make the button above using Cool Text. Perhaps it's a wee bit pathetic but at least it's a jolly color.

I'm guest posting at "Dear Teen Me"

How do you go from dancer to writer?

Bunhead to computer-addicted-writer-geek?

Click on over and find out

http://dearteenme.com/

Jokes aside, Dear Teen Me is an amazing website full of heart-rendingly honest letters from YA authors to their teen selves. There's some great advice for readers of any age!

Bookanistas Give Back: You could win a private screening of the new TWILIGHT MOVIE

Charitable donations are a very personal thing. There are so many ways our hard earned money can help others, and lately our world seems to be breaking into pieces around us. Needs are many and great. So, the Bookanistas have decided to try to give a bit back. I wanted to tell you about our first effort.
This month, we are teaming up to help Twilight movie actor Charlie Bewley (Dmitri) with a very important cause: raising funds for a cancer hospital. His project is called RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!

DONATE & YOU'LL BE ENTERED TO WIN A PRIVATE SCREENING OF THE NEW TWILIGHT MOVIE--FOR YOU & 20 FRIENDS--THE DAY BEFORE ITS RELEASE, as well as other prizes, including stuff from the Bookanistas--signed books and advance copies of novels, critiques of your own writing, and so much more. To learn more about Charlie's cause or to enter this amazing contest, hop on over to Hourglass author Myra McEntire's blog...

CLICK HERE!!!

I'll also be donating a signed arc of Audition to the cause, so there's a double-chance to win an arc this month.

Bookanistas: ONE OF THOSE HIDEOUS BOOKS WHERE THE MOTHER DIES

Plot without spoilers...Her mother's cancer death means that fifteen-year-old Ruby must leave her boyfriend and best friend to live with her movie star dad--the guy who left her mom before she was born--in Los Angeles.  Determined not to be wooed by her dad's wealth and access, Ruby is also blind to a secret that he keeps: one that could help her understand their past and pave the way to a better relationship.

Of literary interest...While artfully using the verse form to highlight Ruby's sense of displacement through her grief, her confusion about her father, and the difficulties of being a teen starting over in a new town, Sones still manages to create a book full of relatable moments, levity and wonderful wit. A must-read for verse novelists.

Finally, just gotta say...Despite Ruby's confession that "...blank books scare me" (a great poem about being afraid to write down her feelingg (p. 114)), her prose emails to her boyfriend, best friend, and even her late mom are sprinkled throughout the novel, lending another layer of literary texture and revealing her raw hurt and loneliness in an amazing way.  Finally, even though I'm not gonna spill it, I really enjoyed the ending of this book!

Two YA verse novelists, Sonya Sones and Ellen Hopkins, are releasing their first ADULT VERSE NOVELS this year.  Triangle by Ellen Hopkins pubs in October.  Sonya's book is out this month.  I can't wait to read it!

TO FIND OUT WHAT THE OTHER BOOKANISTS ARE READING THIS WEEK, CLICK ALONG!

Christine Fonseca Fangirls Cassie Clare


Shannon Messenger Accessorizes with White Cat/Red Glove

Jamie Harrington Praises Posession

Shelli Johannes-Wells Admires Shimmer

Carolina Valdez Miller Wants You To Find Clarity

Megan Miranda Discovers Where She Went

Jessi Kirby Hopefully Doesn't Loath The Liar Society

Shana Silver Seeks Clarity

Rosemary Clement-Moore is Overwhelmed by Wither

Corrine Jackson J'Adores Anna and the French Kiss

Stasia Ward Kehoe Cries Over One of those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies

Sarah Frances Hardy Marvels Over Matched

LiLa Roecker Brags About Bookanistas Giving Back