Saturday, April 23, 2011

Celebrity Saturday: Meet THE EASTER BUNNY

Many of us grew up with annual Easter egg hunts, but while we take the time to write letters to Santa Claus and his elves, how many of us stop to ponder the mysteries of this other, fuzzier nighttime messenger?  Offkey has a shadowy sit-down with the one and only Easter Bunny to ask the hard-hitting questions and get the answers you need to hear, whether you celebrate this holiday or not.  Everyone... meet the Easter Bunny.
Cayla: Welcome to the blog.  Are you male or female?
Easter Bunny: I’m an immortal, ubiquitous, anthropomorphized member of the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha.  You’re asking about my gender?
Cayla: What did you want to be when you were a little bunny?
EB: A big bunny.
Cayla: When’s your birthday?
EB: I don’t remember, I was being born at the time.  Check with my parents.  Although, they probably won’t be of much help. I come from a big family.
Cayla: Why do you distribute eggs?
EB: Conveniently enough, they’re on sale this time of year.  And because eggs are very versatile –they’re small and compact, easy for me to carry; you can dye them; you can eat them; you can store candy inside of them; you can throw them at passing cars.  What’s not to like?
Cayla: How do you make all of your deliveries on schedule?
EB: Hey, they don’t say ‘quick as a bunny’ for nothing.  Plus I have a moped.
Cayla: Are there multiple Easter bunnies?
EB: Nope.  Well, there are those weirdos who dress up like me at malls.  But come on – would anyone else want this job?
Cayla: Easter chicks are pretty steep competition for you this time of year – how do you cope?
EB: Chicks are small and easy to crush.
Cayla: Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
EB: You know what?  I’ll tell you what.  The bunny came first.  That’s what.
Cayla: Do you like marshmallow peeps?
EB: No, they generally have a bad attitude – conceited.  You know, puffed up.
Cayla: How did you get started in this line of work?
EB: It was way back in the day, you know, and my friends and I were having a sort of Dionysian blowout, and they got me to promise to deliver eggs to children from around the world. They haven’t let me forget it.
Cayla: Do you care whether children are naughty or nice, as your peer, Santa Claus, does?
EB: Don’t talk to me about that fat bastard.
Cayla: Do you ever get anything in return?  Santa gets milk and cookies…
EB: What did I just say???
Cayla: Do you get paid?
EB: I distribute candy, so I’m paid on a commission basis by dentists throughout the world.
Cayla: Is it dangerous hiding eggs in houses with cats and dogs?
EB: If you get served papers demanding payment for hospital bills… you’ll know why.
Cayla: Do you make deliveries all over the world?
EB: I go where there’s demand.  So yeah, pretty much everywhere.
Cayla: How do you get into people’s houses?
EB: A good friend of mine taught me some lock-picking skills when we were doing time.
Cayla: Have you ever been arrested for breaking and entering?
EB: Yeah, that’s why I was doing time.  Hasn’t happened in a while, though.
Cayla: Well, thank you very much for taking the time off your busy weekend to be here with us.
EB: Yeah, whatever.
Have a happy holiday everyone. ;) Be back next week!
<3 Cayla

Friday, April 22, 2011

Dear Teen Me!

Yeah, I know I'm technically still a teenager, but I'm also technically an adult (in the USA, anyway).  Point being, I wrote a letter to my high-school age self, and Dear Teen Me was kind enough to post it!  So check 'er out....

Dear Teen Me from Author Cayla Kluver

It's dotted (okay, smothered) with ancient pics.  So... fun! :)

Don't worry, I do remember that I owe you guys a Need2Read and a Where-It's-At.  And a Celebrity Saturday this week.  But here's the thing... I'm sheepish to say that yesterday, I screamed at a t-shirt, "I don't know what this is!!!!" and almost went to the bathroom while my sister was in the room because I forgot she was there.  No, seriously.  I'm waaaay behind on everything not deadline related.  So I humbly ask you again to bear with me.  Please? :)

I will be back in full force as soon as I have met this deadline, I promise.

Thanks for your patience!

<3 Cayla

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Celebrity Saturday: Meet Susy Spencer

She's a young woman exploring the world.  She's moved eight times in the last four years, carrying her journal full of poetry with her wherever she goes.  This is a very special interview because it's the first one I've conducted in person and it turned out very conversational.  Everyone... meet Susy!





Cayla: Tell us a little about yourself.

Susy:  Let’s see.  I’m twenty-two and have spent some time in college, and am looking for meaningful work.  This sounds like I’m in a job interview because that’s what I always say.

Cayla:  What would you consider to be meaningful work?

Susy:  I love children and animals, so I think something in one of those fields would be good.  Also something where I could use my brain.

Cayla:  You like to write poetry.  What is it about poetry that attracts you?

Susy:  One thing about poetry is that I like that it has structure, for the most part.  Once you understand what the rules are, you can actually break them and make beautiful things too.

Cayla:  When did you start writing poetry?

Susy:  I was five years old.  I wrote a poem in Old English about Jesus.  It even rhymed, actually!  I rhymed “thee” and “family”, which I thought was quite impressive at the time.





Cayla:  And did you continue to write poetry while you were growing up?

Susy:  In spurts, in cycles.  I wrote angsty, badly rhyming poetry when I was about eleven.  It was usually about woodland creatures.

Cayla:  Really?  Angsty, badly rhyming poetry about woodland creatures?

Susy:  Yes, it was an unfortunate stage in my life.

Cayla:  What kind of woodland creatures?

Susy:  Oh, you know, birds, and trees, with their boughs and their something something powers… you know.

Cayla:  You have a blog where you talk about some of your poetry.

Susy:  Yes, I’ve kind of neglected it recently due to lack of internet access and time.  I’ve moved eight times in the last four years and I just want to settle before I get back to devoting a lot of time to that.

Cayla:  What poets do you admire?

Susy:  I really like Yates.  Mainly how I got turned on to Yates was he wrote this poem called Down by the Sally Gardens, which an English composer then converted into song, and it’s beautiful.  It’s not necessarily that I always like poems that rhyme, because I don’t, but I like poetry with a lot of structure, more depth to its rhythm, so I find that I’m frustrated by a lot of modern poetry.





Cayla:  Are there any modern poets you do admire?

Susy:  You know, I write the blog not only to tell people about poets that I find, but also to find out about them myself.  I’m actually quite ignorant on the subject.  So I research, then I blog.  What I would love to track down is a Spanish poem called Merecer, which means “to rock”.  I read it in one of my Spanish classes and I don’t know if I’ll ever find it again, but it was really passionate.

Cayla: Now, you went to school for a while to study singing.  What was your major exactly?

Susy:  Vocal Performance with an opera emphasis.

Cayla:  A lot of opera is in other languages – have you studied other languages to prepare?

Susy:  Yes, I have.  I’m very quick on the uptake when it comes to phonetic rules, if I can see something and hear it, so I generally learn pronunciation very quickly.  I actually took a phonetics class entirely in Spanish, so I find that I know the phonetic terms… just not in English.  Somewhat unrelated, I’ve discovered recently that when I sing just for my own enjoyment, I prefer blues and jazz to opera.

Cayla:  Let’s talk a little bit about Benedict Cumberbatch.

Susy:  Oh.  Oh dear.  He hasn’t taken out a restraining order yet.

Cayla:  Why do you love him so much?

Susy:  Well, of course because he’s ginger.

Cayla:  Ginger power.

Susy:  I think it’s because he plays Sherlock in the most modern and gripping and excellent way I’ve ever seen Sherlock portrayed.  I’m a Holmesian.

Cayla:  I’m going to ask you to step back from your love of Benedict Cumberbatch and ask you a difficult question.  Cumberbatch or Jeremy Brett?

Susy:  That’s a really difficult question.  The settings of the show they’re in fit them and their portrayals of Sherlock so well.  I can’t imagine Jeremy Brett playing the Sherlock that Benedict does.





Cayla:  Who are some of your favorite authors?

Susy:  You.

Cayla:  Smooth!  But really.

Susy:  I enjoy reading theological books so I’m a big fan of James White and Elizabeth Elliot.  But on a lighter note, I enjoy mystery books.  I read this absolutely delightful piece by P.D. Wodehouse.  It was a satire of the 1920’s damsel in distress, gothic romance.  I’m very eclectic in what I read.  For example, when I sneak into Borders, I’m reading The Age of Enlightenment, which is a history of quantum physics, because I enjoy expanding my horizons when I read.

Cayla:  What would you say to young readers, who might read primarily one genre, about expanding their horizons?

Susy:  I can’t imagine reading only one genre.  I guess I would say don’t be afraid to try something you’re unaccustomed to, but if the book makes you uncomfortable, also don’t be afraid to put it down.


Thank you so much to Susy for being here today!  Make sure you check out her blog:

Susy's Poetry Bubble

All the best!

Cayla

Friday, April 15, 2011

Legacy Back Cover Copy!

I am thrilled to reveal the entire cover of Legacy, front to back, in addition to the text on the back cover.  Enjoy!  HarlequinTEEN is doing a fabulous job, and I'm so grateful.  Thank you to everyone on the team!! :)

Copyright 2011 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited. All rights reserved.

Click to make it bigger!  Here's what it says following the excerpt from the book...

A Crown Princess.  A Scandalous Secret Crush.  A Kingdom on the Brink of Disaster.

In her seventeenth year, Princess Alera of Hytanica faces one duty: to marry the man who will be king.  But her father's choice of suitor fills her with despair.

When the palace guard captures an intruder - a boy her age with steel-blue eyes, hailing from her kingdom's greatest enemy - Alera is alarmed... and intrigued.  But she could not have guessed that their clandestine meetings would unveil the dark legacy shadowing both their lands.

In this mystical world of court conspiracies and blood magic, loyalties will be tested.  Courage won't be enough.  And as the battle begins for everything Alera holds dear, love may be the downfall of a kingdom.

Squeeeeeeeee!!!!!  Feel free to share!

<3 Cayla

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Holy Hot Links, Batman

It's been a great week for Legacy - I've started using the #Legacy hashtag on Twitter (if you feel so inclined, please use it too!), there have been tons of Advanced Review Copy requests sent to Publicity[at]caylakluver.com (yes, that is an invitation for you other reviewers and interviewers to do the same!), and some of the links I'm about to share with you have to do with the book in question.  I would like to thank my lovely blogging pals YA Bibliophile, Amaterasu Reads, and Left and Write for their contributions.

But first:  Tomorrow, April 15th, will be another great reveal day for HarlequinTEEN's edition of Legacy.  I cannot wait to share with you guys.  Stop back!

Also, the answer to a quick Q:  The scene on the cover of the HarlequinTEEN Legacy (which I referenced as being a scene in the book) is where Narian and Alera have their little rendezvous in the Palace Stables.  I believe the chapter is called "A History Lesson", for those of you who were wondering!

Moving on to Where-It's-At...

Check out Chelsea's Need2Read list, and follow this amazing girl's blog.

Guess what book Heidi picked this week!!  Bet you can't.  I bet you have no idea. ;)  Hugs, Heidi!

Whoa..... could it have happened twice in one week?  Disney, I am reconsidering your principles.  Thanks, Kai! :D  On a side note, this is a great blog for reviews and anything book-related.  Definitely check it out.

Help Kaylea Stewart, the cousin of our beloved Story Siren who has been diagnosed with Acute Lymphocyte Leukemia.  It's as simple as clicking that link.

For aspiring authors, this is a house to keep an eye on.  The Oasis crew interviews Heather Howland of Entangled Publishing.

Katie McGarry gives great, down-to-earth, emotional advise to teens.  Her debut novel, PUSHING THE LIMITS is coming out in Spring 2012 through HarlequinTEEN, and I for one am dying to read it.

Well folks, that's it for now!  Time for me to go to bed....

Much the sleepy,

Cayla

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Need2Read 4/12/11

Well how about this.  Dang.  I am ahead of schedule.  It is 2:16 AM my time, which technically makes it Tuesday, which means it's time for Need2Read.  First, the list (which is very themed this week, by the way), then rantings and ramblings.  Since I've got such an early start, I figure I have plenty of time for both. ;)

Need2Read is a weekly meme hosted by Offkey wherein you post a list of one or more books you absolutely NEED to read. Post your list on your blog and leave a comment here so that I and other readers can find it -- or just share your Need2Reads in the comments!

1. A Time to Kill by John Grisham


Grisham's first (I believe - do correct me if I'm wrong).  I remember my dad reading John Grisham when I was little.  In those days I always pronounced his name "Griss-ham", as a side note.  But onto the point, Grisham is hugely popular in my crazy lawyerly family, but I haven't read anything by him yet.  So I thought I'd start at the beginning.  (Plus - the Joel Schumacher film adaption? Fabulous.)

2. Unwind by Neal Shusterman


I've heard great things about this one, and as is the case with me and an unfortunate number of fantastic authors, this would be my first Neal Shusterman book.  Is this the best pick?  Any other Shustermans I should read first?

3. The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris


I cannot figure out why I haven't read this book already.  I've seen the movie at least three times, and every time I watch it I go, "Oh, I have to get the book!"  And yet here I am.  Bookless.  This has gone on far too long, ladies and gentlemen.  Now is the time to break the cycle.  (FYI, younger viewers/readers?  Don't watch this movie or read the book.)

4. Salem's Lot by Stephen King


I remember my sister reading this one.  We shared a room and she made us sleep with the lights on.  (I was very, very annoyed.)  But ever since, this book has had that little bit of haunting nostalgia about it.  Why did big sister need the lights on?  What words could Stephen King have put to paper that would scare her so completely?  Cue creepy music....  In all seriousness though, I love being scared out of my wits.  And I need to read this book.

5. A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick


*Friend Recommendation!*  'Nuff said.  This guy is the real deal in his genre anyway, from what I've heard - I don't know how I've been missing out on his stuff for this long.  Craziness.

So, those be my Need2Reads for this week!  Like I said earlier, they're kind of themed... all pretty dark, most of them thrillers.  I feel the need to say that, while I understand my readers are frequently young adults, I'm not limiting these Need2Read lists to the YA genre.  A lot of them are books that are important across age groups, and all of them (famous or obscure) are books that interest me.  Just be aware that they may not be your cup of tea, especially depending on your age.

Disclaimer over, I really want your help in making Need2Read a little something more than it is.  I chose the name "Need2Read" for this meme because it doesn't limit book choices to a specific genre - really, it just implies a desire to read.  So maybe, with your help, we could pump this up to something along the lines of... getting as many books in as many people's hands as we can.  I know, that's vague.  That's why I need you!

Just brainstorming for right now.  But let me know what you think.

Toodle-pip!

Cayla

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Awesomeness Saturday (Japan Cover Art!)

Obviously, it is Saturday, and I didn't pull my act together well enough to get you guys a cool interview this week.  However, I promise I do have some great ones coming up.  (Stick with me, please?  Thanks!)

This post I have entitled "Awesomeness Saturday" since today I will be sharing some major awesomeness with you that is not in interview form.  ALLEGIANCE published in Japan on April 2nd and I have the cover art with me!

Before I post it, I want to say that the artist, Mr. Akihiro Yamada (the world-famous illustrator!), did an amazing, outstanding job with this cover.  It's so beautiful I don't even know where to start.  I better get on with it and show you what I'm talking about.  Sending love, love, love to my Japanese publisher Wave.


Click to make it even bigger!  My lord, I just love this cover.  Tell me what you think in the comments!

Thanks a bunch,

Cayla

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Updates and Where-It's-At

The most important update of all is that a new episode of Hot British Sniper is available on the CBS website.  Watch it now, and then lets talk about how cute and awesome he is.

Moving on from celebrity crushes, I am working like CRAZY on some interview stuff and Legacy review copies are being sent out.  Bloggers and reviewers, send your emails to publicity[at]caylakluver.com to get yours!

I'm also working toward having my new manuscript (unrelated project) done this month or the next (by June 1st at the latest), which means I am le busy!!!  I have some great people lined up for Celebrity Saturday, but I got totally sidetracked this week and its going on a momentary hiatus.  Don't worry - I'll be back on the wagon soon.

Well, that might not be true.  I'm one of these people who likes to do a million and a half things at once, then regularly freaks out about the fact that I don't have enough time to do it all, then gets bored if I cut back.  It's probably not 100% healthy.  Point being, I have more on my plate than usual these days, so if you guys would bear with me while I flounder about and blog/tweet/answer Q's inconsistently, I would really really appreciate it.  I promise I'll do something fun when it's all over.  Like post a video of me dancing to "Celebration".  Or something.

Anyway, here are some great links to check out (aside from that episode of Hot British Sniper, which you should watch NOW):

I love Birdy Books.  Just sayin'.  She's a sweetheart.  Check it out y'alls.

I had so much fun reading this list.  Also, I won a book over at Words by Webb this week.  Which I also danced about.

Totally spot-on musings about why young adult romances capture our hearts.  The comments are really interesting to read too.  Everybody has an opinion!

One of the best articles I've read in a while.  I was really sucked into this one.  Major kudos to guest poster Lily Childs.

Writers, get focused again.  I love this article.

A super interesting, fun article about linguistic uses of color, including phrases from other languages that you never saw coming.

So those are my ramblings for now.  What have you got? ;)

Talk to you soon,

Cayla

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Need2Read 4/5/11

First off, happy birthday to my little sister Kendra!

Second, I heart Jack Bauer.  (I also heart the fact that "heart" is now included as a verb in the Oxford English Dictionary, along with LOL, OMG, and other internet phrases.)  Anyway, I've been watching 24 (belatedly, being that I'm a diehard Kiefer Sutherland fan), and I'm all yippee-skippy about it.  Expect more posts about 24.  Don't worry though, I certainly haven't forgotten about Hot British Sniper.  His beautiful face will appear on this blog many, many more times.

Moving on to Need2Read...

Need2Read is a weekly meme hosted by Offkey wherein you post a list of one or more books you absolutely NEED to read. Post your list on your blog and leave a comment here so that I and other readers can find it -- or just share your Need2Reads in the comments!



Here's my list for this week, beginning with a shameless plug!

1. Legacy by Cayla Kluver


Ooooohhhh, aaaaaaahhhhh!  Look at that!  Isn't it gorgeous?  Don't chya wanna read it?  Hmmm?  (Shameless plug over.)

2. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova


I just spotted this book at Borders today (unfortunately I had no money with me... now that I'm home I still don't have any money, come to think of it).  But I really want to get my hands on this one.  It sounds gothic and sweeping and wonderful.  Anyone familiar?

3. Under the Poppy by Kathe Koja


Another one I saw at Borders.  Again, pretty gothic (I assume).  I'm in a gothic mood these days (she said angstily).  I really like the sort of Merchant of Venice vibes I was getting from the description (that may be a weird connection only I made, and WOW I am in love with parentheses today).

So it's a markedly short list this week.  There are more in my Need2Read folder but most of them aren't published yet and I like to wait until they're on the shelves to list them.  All of this means that I need your recommendations, um, kind of now. ;)

Also, big kudos to Birdy Books and Carrie for adding Need2Read to their blogs.  You guys rock.

Let me hear what you're reading (or what you need to read) in the comments!

Cayla

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Celebrity Saturday: Meet E. Kristin Anderson

She's a poet and a novelist, and she's bursting with personality.  Dubbed "The Hate-Mongering Tart", she runs a website of the same name (you'll have to check it out to see if she's really hate-mongering or not).  She has an amazing connection with the young adult audience, and it is a pleasure to know her.  Everyone... meet Emily Kristin Anderson!



Cayla: Welcome Emily! You write under the pen name E. Kristin Anderson, and on your website dare readers to Google your given name, Emily Morse. Naturally I did. Would you mind telling us the story of when you discovered you share a name with the host of “Sex with Emily”?

EKA: Well, to be completely honest, I started toying with the idea of using a pen name a little before I learned about Sex With Emily. I mean, for one, I had a friend in college whose last name was Morse, and his sister’s first name was Emily. So it was like 2 degrees of separation from someone with my name who wasn’t me. I started Googling and found out that there was a screenwriter named Emily Morse. And it wasn’t long before that screenwriter rose to prominence as the top-googled Emily Morse…and it turned out that she was the Sex With Emily lady. Le sigh. I really wanted to not be confused with someone else who was famous for something that was really different from what I do. And when I started writing for young readers (I started using Anderson when I was only writing poetry for adults) I was really glad that I’d chosen a pen name. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with talking about sex, but it’s not necessarily what teachers and librarians and parents want their teens to find when they Google you for a book report.

Cayla: Your poetry has been published quite extensively – congratulations! When did you start writing poetry, and why?

EKA: I have been writing poetry since I can remember. I actually wrote a lot of song lyrics when I was in high school, nursing delusions of grandeur that I would one day win a Grammy for songs I wrote with Foo Fighters and Hanson. I was totally going to tour with them, too, in my band called the Cinnamin Twists (cinnamon is intentionally spelled wrong there, it’s how you made a good band name in the 90s). In college though, I went back to straight up poetry, taking classes, writing drivel that I thought was just, like, totally amazing. Then I graduated, met some real poets, figured out I was crap, and started over. I think poetry is just this amazing art – it’s a lot like sculpture, but using words as clay. To me, writing a novel is more like painting a mural, but poetry is more like taking a block of wood or a hunk of clay and pulling away everything you don’t need until you have what’s left and what makes it beautiful and important.



Cayla: You also write novels, primarily for the young adult market. What makes you passionate about writing for teens?

EKA: I’d been trying to write short stories for ages, and I’d always wanted to write a novel. I tried NaNoWriMo for the first time when I was 20, a sophomore in college, and having an existential crisis somewhere along the lines of “my friends are mean girls and I think I have social anxiety and I don’t know what to major in and holy crap I’m not going to be a rock star.” So I wrote about that. I didn’t get very far and went back to poems. I attempted some horror stories (mostly based on Buffy) in high school and tried to go back to them for fodder a few times, but could never get it right. I tried to write edgy stuff about like sex in pick up trucks, and that didn’t work out because I’d never had sex in a pick up truck, or, like done anything remotely edgy ever. So I put novels aside for a while. Then I started reading YA. Like, really reading it. And it was like a lightbulb went off. My horror stories, my edgy fiction – it was missing the honesty of YA. The voice of my fifteen year old self was all like HEAR ME OUT, WOMAN! And I listened. And now I write these books for my teen self, and for the other teen selves, and it’s awesome.

Cayla: Tell us a little about the books you have completed. Was there one that was particularly special to write?

EKA: The first book I wrote is called MYSELF BEHIND MYSELF, and it’s a novel about a girl struggling to get over her ex boyfriend, who was in the military, while writing a History paper on him in order to “stick it to the man,” or rather, her evil History teacher. This book was really special for me to write, because I set it at my own high school (a fictionalized version), and I gave Jody, my protagonist, a lot of the same small-town, art-freak hang ups that I did. While Jody and her cohorts are not me and my friends, she was a great outlet to me. It will always have a place in my heart, even if it does end up a trunk book.

I just finished revisions on my second novel, 1999, which I like to call my Y2Kpocalypse novel, but which my critique group has recently dubbed “The Breakfast Clubpocalypse,” which I consider an amazing compliment. It’s the story of Y2K actually happening in all its techonological disaster, taking place in a record store on December 31, 1999, with a love triangle and a friendship crisis. I loved writing this, it’s so fast-paced and I got to drop all kinds of music references. It’s sort of my love letter to Nick Honby, to be honest. I like to pitch it as “High Fidelity meets The Day After Tomorrow, but with less ice.”



Up my sleeve I have first drafts of ME AND THE JERSEY DEVIL, a summer camp love story with mean girls, mental illness, cryptozoology, and alien abduction (maybe). And I recently finished a draft of VISITED THE SEA, a love story taking place on an island off the coast of Maine with a magical realism twist. You know, with, like, sea people. Looking forward to revising both of these.

Cayla: You’ve had some fascinating job experience, in all different areas of the workforce. Anything stand out in your memory as being especially strange, hilarious, poignant, or life-changing?

EKA: Gosh, I have had some weird jobs. The New Yorker obviously gave me a lot of insight into publishing and the magazine world, and I gained a lot of experience there when it comes to editing, writing, and especially layout and design, as I worked in the page makeup department. But I think the job most valuable to my career right now was as a bookseller, where I was the manager of the children’s section. I read and read and read and I got to know kidlit very intimately. So important for a writer to know her market, and to love it.

Cayla: You are a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Why do you recommend others join?

EKA: Because SCBWI is the best way to find a supportive community, to hook up with like minds and find critique partners and writing groups. It’s an invaluable resource. I can’t say enough how amazing SCBWI has been for me. And maybe the Austin group is just special (no – I KNOW the Austin group is special) – but guess what? There are lots of special groups nation- and worldwide. Find yours!



Cayla: Okay, it has to be asked: what inspired you to name your blog “The Hate-Mongering Tart”?

EKA: So in my online poetry group I was sort of the nice one who got picked on for being too nice and gave not that harsh critiques to new kids and all that jazz. So one afternoon, in our chat room, I gave a constructive critique to someone new to the group. She complained about me to an admin, not knowing that that admin was a personal friend of mine. He came on and lambasted me – I of course knew he was kidding, the entire group knew he was kidding, but the new kid took him completely seriously. The admin said, “yeah, ignore Emily. She’s a regular hate-mongering tart.” To anyone who’d been around a while, the message was clear: If you ignore critique, you’re not doing yourself any favors. But the monicker stuck. Here I am, mongering hate.

Cayla: As a reader, what is your favorite genre of books? Who are some of your favorite authors?

EKA: God, I’ll read anything. Seriously. I mostly read YA, but I also love girlie or quirky middle grade. I like literary adult novels, I love issues books and paranormal fantasies. I love anything weird or kind of off. I loved mixed media and verse novels. I love books that punch you in the face with crazy awesomeness. I love Judy Blume, Francesca Lia Block, Lauren Myracle, Laurie Halse Anderson, Douglas Coupland, Nick Hornby…I could list forever and ever.



Cayla: Do you have any advice for young adults wanting to make a career out of writing?

Write. Write every day. Write and put it away and look at it a while later and see if you can improve on it. And don’t write in secret. Show people. Scared people will laugh? Anyone who laughs at you for trying to make art isn’t worth your time. Show your friends, ask for feedback. Show your teachers, ask for feedback. Check out local writing groups at cafes or even at places like SCBWI. Go to author events and readings and ask questions – authors are really accessible these days! Join Twitter, interact with other writers in #kidlitchat and #yalitchat and #poetparty and #scribechat. Put yourself out there. Be shameless.

Cayla: Anything you’d like to add before we wrap things up?

EKA: I’d love to encourage people to visit my blog this month. April is National Poetry Month and I’m looking forward to the star-studded list of guest posts I’ll be hosting from poets, editors, verse novelists, and the like. There will also be tons of giveaways, so you might get lucky!

Thank you so much for being here, E. Kristin Anderson!  Make sure you check her out at the following sites and follow her (I do - I LOVE reading her blog):

The Hate-Mongering Tart (Official Website)
Twitter

Have an amazing Saturday, everyone!

Cayla

Friday, April 1, 2011

'Legacy' Cover Art (HarlequinTEEN)

I've been waiting what seems like forever to share this, and I am so excited for you guys to see the final cover art for the HarlequinTeen edition of LEGACY, coming out on June 28th, 2011!


Copyright 2011 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited. All rights reserved.

Thanks so much to Harlequin for this BEAUTIFUL cover art.  I just love it.  The scrollwork is amazing, and I'm ridiculously giddy that the scene depicted here is actually in the book.  I'm going to spend the entire day doing a happy dance, and I cannot wait to have this book in my hands (and for you guys to have it too!!).

YAY!!!!!!