Join me and authors Greg Bear, Mindy Hardwick, Roy Kindelberger, Craig Orback, Bernadette Pajer, Dan Richards, and Trudi Trueit(!) at the Mukilteo Library on Sunday, November 16, 2 - 3 p.m. for a fun afternoon talking books, writing, and lots of random stuff - rumor has it there will be prizes and treats! (Rumor has it I might even bake some cookies :-)

Mukilteo Library
4675 Harbour Pointe Boulevard
Mukilteo, WA 98275
Map

I hope to see you!

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• In past years, more than 100 young adult authors—including David Levithan, Sara Zarr, Libba Bray, Sarah Dessen, and Cynthia Leitich Smith—have participated in Operation TBD by “rocking the drop,” leaving copies of their books in public places for teens to find.
• Teens and other fans of YA literature are also invited to “rock the drop.”
• 826NYC will be accepting book donations to help grow their in-house library and enhance their youth writing and literacy initiatives.

• Follow @readergirlz on twitter and tweet #rockthedrop.
• Print out a bookplate from readergirlz.com and drop books in your area on Support Teen Literature Day.
• Donate books to 826NYC (find dropoff and mailing address at readergirlz.com).

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TBD is back and better than ever this year for Support Teen Literature Day, with hundreds of YA readers and writers dropping books in their local hangouts for teens to find, read, and enjoy. And look at this year's adorable logo by Lindsay Frantz!

How to get involved?

Follow readergirlz on Twitter and FB, leave a YA book for a teen to find with the official TBD bookplate, and tweet your adventures with #rockthedrop. Easy peasy! You can even donate books to 826 NYC. All of the details are here! I hope you rock the drop, too!

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I realize I've been very secretive about the book I'm working on, but Amy Brecount White, friend and author extraordinaire, is not going to let me get away with it any longer! She invited me to participate in The Next Big Thing Blog Hop, celebrating what secret project authors are working on next. You can see her answers here, and mine are below:

1: What is the working title of your book?  I'll Never Tell. (No, really, that's the working title! Though it will probably change, knowing my track record. Remember Brimstone Soup? Street Creed? Right.)

2: Where did the idea come from for the book?  I was having a conversation with my writer-friend Martha Brockenbrough at an SCBWI conference, telling her about an experience I'd had in college. I was ironing my outfit, and Bam, the idea suddenly landed. I spent most of the conference writing it down. (This is eerily similar to how TELL ME A SECRET hit me...I should go to more writing cons with friends!)

3: What genre does your book come under? Contemporary Young Adult.

4: Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? Hmm...my book might have a very full cast. There are four voice characters whose stories are interwoven, then a couple of secondary characters they interact with. The central character, Sayla, could be played by my friend Erin McIntosh - she could be innocent and moody and mysterious all at once. I was going to take the fifth on the love interest, but then I saw a poster for The Host and thought...yeah, Jake Abel could definitely be Hugo.

5: What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?  Four voices, four terrible secrets, and one explosive murder that will bring them all together.

6: Is your book self-published, published by an independent publisher, or represented by an agency? I'm represented by Edward Necarsulmer at Dunow, Carlson & Learner.

7: How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? After thinking about the idea for a couple of years, I wrote most of it in a month - though the last part is taking a bit more time.

8: What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?  Maybe the emotional intensity of a Laurie Halse Anderson book crossed with the grit of Ellen Hopkins and the romance of a Deb Caletti book. And I might say it's definitely a Holly Cupala book. :-)

9: Who or what inspired you to write this book? A chance meeting I had in college with a person who would change my life.

10: What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? Secrets...murder....intrigue...romance.

Okay, so I get to tag someone now! I think, since she is partially responsible for this bolt of literary lightning, that I will tag Martha Brockenbrough, author of the absolutely delightful and hilarious DEVINE INTERVENTION, available from Arthur Levine Books. You can check her out this Saturday at Disneyland (DISNEYLAND, PEOPLE!) at The YAppiest Place on Earth!

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Did I mention the booksigning event open to the public on Thursday eve at Barnes and Noble in Kennewick, WA? Well, I'm mentioning it now!

Drop by to see me and all 16 Cavalcade of Authors peeps for a booksigning event of epic proportions. See you there!

Thursday February 28, 2013 5:00 PM
Columbia CenterSuite 700, 1321 N. Columbia Center Blvd., Kennewick, WA 99336,
509-736-3116 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 509-736-3116 FREE 

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I'm very excited to be going to A Cavalcade of Authors this year! I was supposed to go last year, but as many of you know, something came up...

So this year I'm joining lots of top authors - Suzanne Selfors, Chris Crutcher, Lisa McMann, Kelly Milner Halls, Veronica Rossi, Trent Reedy, Jonathan Auxier, Maureen McQuerry, Brandon Mull, Gregg Olsen, Jonathan Maberry, DJ McHale, and Jeff Burlingame - for A Cavalcade of Authors 2013!



Here is my workshop:

 
SECRETS, SUSPENSE AND HIDDEN TRUTHS: Creating Characters Who Make You Want to Turn the PageIs your character a parfait or an onion? Whether your story is fun or freaky, dark or dreamy, we’ll peel back the layers of how to write characters who will grip your readers to the very last sentence.

Hmm. And I will also be bringing a few books and prizes to give away...

Will you be there? I can't wait to see you!

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Happy Valentine's Day, readers! I hope you have a sweet one, or at least a bubbly one.

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I've been out and about in the virtual world recently - here are a few fun stops with chances to win DON'T BREATHE A WORD!

May and Santos of DBAW give their "Misfit Christmas Wish List" at 12 Days of Reading with A Book-lovers' Review and Good Choice Reading...

Secret simmering book ideas, author bucket list and more at "Best I've Read 2012" with Once Upon a Twilight...

...and never-before-disclosed rejected DBAW titles (and authors that make me swoon) over at Girls on YA.

Happy holiday reading, folks!

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Hi, all! We sure had fun at NCTE, meeting teachers and authors and publishing friends. There were bright ideas, dinners, ties that suddenly transformed into bandanas...and those were just the off hours. Highlights included meeting my panel-mates, Joan Kaywell (a powerhouse of amazingness), Adrian Fogelin, and Steve Brezenoff...

...and meeting up with R.J. Anderson, Aprilynn Pike, Libba Bray, Brodi Ashton, Emily Wing Smith, Shannon Hale, Beth Revis, and Sarah of YA Love Blog, an outstanding high school teacher (hello, Sarah's students!) that I've met before on Twitter and was excited to finally meet in real life.

Here's a shot after dinner with Brodi Ashton and Emily Wing Smith (courtesy of Emily):


I had the chance to talk with many teachers interested in teaching my books, so I thought I would put together a resource redux here:

TELL ME A SECRET (HarperCollins, 2010)

Read Excerpt
TELL ME A SECRET book trailer
Audiobook, read by award-winning actress Jenna Lamia
Discussion Questions
TELL ME A SECRET Scaventer Hunt challenge
Links to a collection of interviews


DON'T BREATHE A WORD (HarperCollins, 2012)

Preview booklet
DON'T BREATHE A WORD book trailer
DBAW On Location in Seattle video
Discussion Questions
DON'T BREATHE A WORD Scavenger Hunt challenge
Links to a collection of interviews
Special Edition Illustrated Excerpt download:


Enjoy!

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I'm heading to Las Vegas! I'm joining acclaimed authors Steve Brezenoff, Adrian Fogelin, and award-winning moderator, author Joan Kaywell, for a panel discussing homelessness and poverty in teen lit at 2:30 pm and will be signing at the HarperCollins booth #522 at 5:30!

YOUNG READERS IN AN UNCERTAIN ECONOMY
Level:	Teacher Education, Secondary (9-12), Middle (6-8)
Topic of Interest:	Literature
Description:	Lower-income families and the struggles they face can be a hard-to-find topic in secondary literature. Children need books that they can relate to, and characters they can see themselves in. This panel of award-winning authors and educators will discuss fiction books for young readers that feature families coping with poverty, homelessness, and the current uncertain economy.
Participant(s):	Speaker: Steve Brezenoff author, Lerner Publishing Group, Minneapolis, Minnesota - Speaker: Holly Cupala author, HarperCollins Publishers, New York, New York - Speaker: Joan Kaywell University of South Florida, Tampa - Making Lemonade When Life Sends You Lemons

Location:	Grand Ballroom Room 121, Level One, MGM Grand
Time:	Friday 11/16 2:30 PM - 3:45 PM

 
Then stop by the HarperCollins booth #522 at 5:30 to say hello and get a signed copy of DON'T BREATHE A WORD. I hope to see you!

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Denise Jaden's second novel, NEVER ENOUGH, launches today, and I can tell you that it's an intense, heartbreaking, hopeful novel. Here's my "official" blurb on the inside cover:

"A poignant look at sisterly devotion and heartache woven into a sweet tale of first love and a girl coming into her own."

Denise made a very cool video with lots of quotes and cameos from your favorite authors to celebrate the release:




She's also doing a big event today with prizes and goodies, oh my!

I hope you'll check it out, and stop by Denise's blog to congratulate her and find out where to get the book!

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Hey, libraries, schools, and readers - DON'T BREATHE A WORD has now officially been added to Kay Cassidy's very cool Great Scavenger Hunt Contest!

Voila, the DBAW challenge!

Here's the deal: school and public libraries can enroll in the program, and by reading books and answering trivia questions, you and the library can win awesome prizes! Like bookstore gift cards and signed YA books and swag! Read all about it here.

I created a fun quiz for DON'T BREATHE A WORD, with questions like "What does Joy want her street power to be?" and "What is Creed's real name?"

You can also take the TELL ME A SECRET challenge!

Thanks again, Kay, for inviting me to participate. And GOOD LUCK, readers!

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I have two upcoming events in the Portland area - Oregon folks, I hope to see you!
Saturday May 5 at 2pm
Joëlle Anthony and Holly Cupala at Powell's!
Powell's Books At Cedar Hills Crossing
3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd, Beaverton, OR  map

Joëlle will be launching her new YA, THE RIGHT AND THE REAL, and I'll be in Portland for the first time signing DON'T BREATHE A WORD! We'll have readings, prizes, signings, and (rumor has it) chocolate!


Saturday May 12 at 1pm
DON'T BREATHE A WORD signing at A Children's Place!
A Children's Place
4807 Northeast Fremont Street Portland, OR  map

Join me for behind the scenes secrets, swag, and lots of fun in beautiful Portland, OR. I might even bring some DON'T BREATHE A WORD lemon cake (Joy's favorite)...


Bring your friends! Your neighbors! Your neighbors' friends! Your friends' neighbors!

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Check out the trailer for my writer-bud Joëlle Anthony's THE RIGHT AND THE REAL, a gritty, funny book about a girl who is kicked out because her dad joins a cult:



I got to be an early reader for R&R, and here's my totally uncensored, unpolished reaction:

"Joëlle, I am the slowest reader known to man, but I was totally sucked in by R&R. I wasn’t able to put it down! I loved it."

Read it! You'll love it, too!

Buy at Powell's, BN, Amazon, your local indie


OH and this is super exciting: I get to join Joëlle for a RIGHT & REAL/DON'T BREATHE A WORD event in Oregon on May 5th!!!

Saturday, May 05, 2012 02:00 PM

Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, Beaverton, OR

From Joëlle Anthony, author of Restoring Harmony, comes the teen novel The Right and the Real (Putnam), which follows 17-year-old Jamie after she is kicked out of the house for refusing to join the church of the Right and the Real and must find a way to survive on her own. In Holly Cupala's novel Don't Breathe a Word (Harper Teen), Joy is suffocating from severe asthma, overprotective parents, and an emotionally-abusive boyfriend when she escapes to the streets of nearby Seattle and falls in with a "street family" that teaches her to use a strength she didn't know she had.

Hope to see you!

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(I've been meaning to post this forever!) This is the TED Talk that inspired Asher's obsession with crows and their uncanny corvid smarts:

Joshua Klein on the Intelligence of Crows



Pretty amazing!

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Wie erstaunlich (how amazing)! TELL ME A SECRET is now available in German, published by Baumhaus Verlag and translated by Christina Pfeiffer. They did a gorgeous job with the cover! And I think, just maybe, they were influenced by the art in the trailer we made for TELL ME A SECRET (which I think is awfully cool):

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I've been a bit MIA for the past month or so after a major life event...here's a pic from the DBAW launch party...can you guess what? ;)

Several Fridays ago, we made one of the most amazing, gorgeous DIY things yet. It's been kind of an eventful winter! (And this might explain why I'm a bit behind on a few things, including blogging...!)

So what's new with you?

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Wow, this is amazing news for a little contemporary amidst a lot of bigger books - Barnes & Noble chose DBAW as a Top Teen Pick this month! Thank you, B&N, and thank you to readers for loving it!

Here's a pic my dad took in my hometown! :)

Send me a pic of DBAW on your local BN shelf and win one of our super-cool DBAW sticker bookmarks!

Tag me on Facebook here or via Twitter, then contact me here with your mailing address!

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For the last day of the DON'T BREATHE A WORD tour, I put together a surprise...a bunch of YA author friends stopped by to share a few of their powerful words!

Special thanks to Beth Kephart, Denise Jaden, Melissa Walker, Justina Chen, Lish McBride, Lisa Schroeder, Sarah Jamila Stevenson, CJ Omololu, Stephanie Kuehnert, Tara Kelly, Joëlle Anthony, Stasia Ward Kehoe, Janet Fox, Tina Ferraro, and Janet Lee Carey!

And now you're probably wondering who won prizes from the DON'T BREATHE A WORD launch day? I think you should get some! Here are the winners:

Thank you to everyone for coming along for the ride, and check out the full DBAW tour for...well, everything you probably ever wanted to know about the book. :)

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Don't Breathe a Word is on the shelves and the tour is going strong! Here's a recap of the second week highlights, plus there are still lots of chances to win signed books, swag, and other cool stuff!


Monday, January 2
Review: Heidi Z at YA Bibliophile
Character Feature with May and Santos: Andye at Reading Teen
Short excerpt + “behind the scenes”: Jenny at Mimosa Stimulus

Tuesday, January 3
Review: Bailey at IB Book Blogging
Scavenger Hunt #1—9 am EST: Sara H at Eve’s Fan Garden
Scavenger Hunt #2—12:30 am EST: Kate at I Just Wanna Sit Here and Read
Scavenger Hunt #3—4 pm EST: Angela at Reading Angel

Wednesday, January 4
Review: Tara M at The Bodacious Pen
Review: Sara at Eve's Fan Garden
TMAS Cross Over – Locations: Heather at Proud Book Nerd
Creed’s Music Feature: Deborah at Books, Movies, and Chinese Food

Thursday, January 5
Review: Jenny at Mimosa Stimulus
Character Tens List: Kayla at Caught Between the Pages
Playlist: Crystal at My Reading Room

Friday, January 6
Review: LiLi at Chica Reader
Creed This or That List: Izzy at My Words Ate Me
Joy Character Book Picks: Heidi at YA Bibliophile

This week there are character secrets, deleted scenes, a quiz, and last chance to enter the 1 Comments on DBAW Tour Wk 2: win books & prizes!, last added: 1/23/2012