Writers' Chasm

Sold by Patricia McCormick Lakshmi is a thirteen-year-old girl who lives with her family in a small village in Nepal. Though she is desperately poor, her life is full of simple pleasures, like playing hopscotch with her best friend from school and having her mother brush her hair by the light of an oil lamp. But when the harsh Himalayan monsoons wash away all the family's crops, Lakshmi's stepfather says she must take a job to support her family. He introduces her to a glamorous stranger who tells her she will find her a job as a maid in the city. glad to help, Lakshmi journeys to India only to learn the unthinkable truth: she has been sold into prostitution. An old woman named Mumtaz rules the brothel with cruelty and cunning. She tells Lakshmi that she is trapped there until she can pay off her family's debt -- then cheats Lakshmi of her meager earnings so that she can never leave. Gradually, Lakshmi forms friendships that enable her to survive in this terr...

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic. This Week's Topic: What do you want to know about writing and getting published? I've been working on revisions a lot lately so I've been thinking about different methods of revisions a lot. It seems like I have a new method for each book because I haven't found the one method that works for me. In my travels, though, I have had one question that keeps popping up. How do you work on revisions when your book is the last thing you want to see? How do you rewrite that scene one more time when all you want to do is throw your computer out the window?

Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann The small town of Cryer’s Cross is rocked by tragedy when an unassuming freshman disappears without a trace. Kendall Fletcher wasn’t that friendly with the missing girl, but the angst wreaks havoc on her OCD-addled brain. When a second student goes missing—someone close to Kendall’s heart—the community is in an uproar. Caught in a downward spiral of fear and anxiety, Kendall’s not sure she can hold it together. When she starts hearing the voices of the missing, calling out to her and pleading for help, she fears she’s losing her grip on reality. But when she finds messages scratched in a desk at school—messages that could only be from the missing student who used to sit there—Kendall decides that crazy or not, she’d never forgive herself if she didn’t act on her suspicions. Something’s not right in Cryer’s Cross—and Kendall’s about to find out just how far the townspeople will go to keep their secrets buried. A Touch Mortal by Leah ...

WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. I finished watching season two of Veronica Mars last night. This season wasn't as good as the first one, but it was still pure brilliance. I feel like they left quite a few threads untied, though. I know that's typical of the show but it seems this episode left more unnecessary things hanging than usual. Still, I was thinking about it in my sleep again so that counts for a lot. I still can't believe it was Cassidy. I'm in denial. All the time I spent loving him and wanting him to get together with Mac. I was so hoping that finally someone on this show would have a nice, long-term relationship and then that hope had to be smashed into a million pieces. I swear every time I think this show can't possibly shock me any more than it already has, I get thrown through another loop. I wish they'd stop dragging out the "Who murdered Lilly Kane" plot line. I thought I would be able to move on with my life after the season final...

Incredibly long but good week this week. It's finally starting to warm up and most of the snow melted. I just finished watching the last four episodes of Veronica Mars season two. It was BRILLIANT. Full review will be up sometime next week. Must Read: SCBWI: San Diego conference overview News: The big news this week arrived when Borders declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Pimp My Novel and Writer Beware both reported on the subject. Adventures in Agentland: Prologues and when you should and shouldn't use them Gatekeeper: Difficulty of finding an internship Querytracker: Author photos: general tips and posing tips Rachelle Gardner: ISBNs When you're missing the mark The Strangest Situation: Do we really only use 10% of our brains? Critique: Feeling better vs getting better In Writing: Taking a break from BB for awhile before I dive back into another round of revisions. I finished outlining CT (finished and outlined are two words I never thought I'd be using in a sen...

To me, hype and following are two completely different things. They both affect people's buying habits but how varies by person. I personally will specifically avoid books with a lot of hype and spring for books with a large following. Hype Hype typically occurs prior to a book's actual release. Companies spending millions of dollars every year hyping their products and publishers are no exception. The books that are predicted to be the most popular are typically the most hyped. My favorite example is the Twilight series. Following Following typically occurs after a book's been released. A book's following is the number of people who have read, enjoyed, and recommend that book. I will read a book with a large following over a book with a lot of hype any day. It is possible for a book to have both, but for me hype cancels out following. My favorite example is The Book Thief which I only read after several people told me about it. It is now one of my favorite books of a...

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic. This Week's Topic: How do you pick your titles? I don't really have a secret for picking titles. Basically my method is to wait until something pops into my head that sounds good to me. Sometimes that title might not even really fit the book or feel exactly right, but to me it's just a working title until I think of something better. Burning Bridges was the first thing to pop into my head when I started the first draft and needed something to name the folder. I don't know why it popped into my head because I don't really see a connection between the book and the title, but it's stuck through every one of the three drafts. Lately I've been toying with the idea of changing it to Once Bitten, Twi...

It's here! I need to get to a bookstore ASAP... Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton First there are nightmares. Every night Ellie is haunted by terrifying dreams of monstrous creatures that are hunting her, killing her. Then come the memories. When Ellie meets Will, she feels on the verge of remembering something just beyond her grasp. His attention is intense and romantic, and Ellie feels like her soul has known him for centuries. On her seventeenth birthday, on a dark street at midnight, Will awakens Ellie's power, and she knows that she can fight the creatures that stalk her in the grim darkness. Only Will holds the key to Ellie's memories, whole lifetimes of them, and when she looks at him, she can no longer pretend anything was just a dream. Now she must hunt. Ellie has power that no one can match, and her role is to hunt and kill the reapers that prey on human souls. But in order to survive the dangerous and ancient battle of the angels and the ...

Because of Valentine's Day, I'm taking today off blogging and opening the floor. What is your favorite kiss scene of all time? From a book, TV show, movie, whatever. For books, I'm still partial to Daine's kiss in Realms of the Gods by Tamora Pierce. I read that scene so many times in middle school. Favorite kiss of all time, though, is hands down all of Veronica's at the end of season one of Veronica Mars.

This has been an amazing, crazy week. I can't wait to see what the weekend brings. :) Must Read: Handling revisions from an agent Thrashing News: WriteOnCon's February Live Event BookEnds: It's all subjective to a point Pub Rants: Answers some quick questions Truth about film rights Querytracker: Creating business cards Rachelle Gardner: Sell-ins, sell-throughs, earning-out, and returns Explains remainders The Strangest Situation: Can a loved one trigger a flashback? Agoraphobia vs PTSD Waxman Literary Agency: Embracing scary In Movies: Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist -- I had trouble suspending disbelief through parts of the first half, but I did like the second half. I want to read the book so I can compare... Cashback -- Strange and original movie. Kind of a fluffy romance that makes you think About Last Night... -- Great movie. This one kind of surprised me. Have a great weekend and I'll see you on Monday!

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson Melinda Sordino busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so her old friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't know hate her from a distance. It's no use explaining to her parents; they've never known what her life is really like. The safest place for Melinda is to be alone inside her own head. But even that's not safe. Because there's something she's trying not to think about, something about the night of the party that, if she admitted it and let it in, would blow her carefully constructed disguise to smithereens. And then she would have no choice. Melinda would have to speak the truth. When Speak was challenged and the #SpeakLoudly campaign began, I added this book to the top of my list and finally got the chance to read it this week. It was everything I hoped for and so much more. The prose was so raw and beautiful. I was hurting inside for Melinda from the very first page to the last. I've heard the w...

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic. This Week's Topic: Who are your favorite literary couples? It was hard for me to narrow them down, but here are some of my favorite literary couples... Eric + Britney This was one of my favorite couples from the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. I rooted for them through every book and I loved that no matter what happened, they always seemed to end up together again. Cabel + Jamie From the Wake series. I cheered for them through all three books. They were perfect for each other and even though their relationship had problems, they worked through them. Lupin + Tonks There two are and will always be my favorite Harry Potter pairing. Well...my favorite canon HP pairing anyway... I was always a huge Lupin and...

Guyaholic by Carolyn Mackler V Valentine is the queen of meaningless hookups. Ever since her mom dumped her with her grandparents, she has bounced from guy to guy. Until the fateful day she gets hit in the head with a hockey puck -- and ends up in the lap of Sam Almond. From the start, Sam is different, and V is terrified. When her mom invites her to Taxes for a visit, V takes the opportunity to run away. But hitting the road isn't the escape V thought it would be. Can a guyaholic kick the habit? This book is fantastic, even better than the jacket makes it sound. The voice was spot on and she really nailed what it's like to be a teenager. This book doesn't hold anything back and that's one of the things that makes it great. The characters were excellent and well-rounded including the minor ones. I really enjoyed the role reversal in the girl that's running from commitment and the guy that's looking for something more. This book sucked me in and wouldn't let...

Sorry this is so late, it's been a crazy busy weekend. No I didn't spend the last two hours looking up Harry/Draco fanart... It's Super Bowl weekend! GO PACKERS! [For the record: I'm cheering for the Packers, but just want my Budweiser Clydesdale commercials and the 2011 premiere of Glee.] Must Read: False memories at The Strangest Situation News: YAHighway opens The Highway Cafe BookEnds: The importance of a synopsis Revisions from agent Caroline in Space: Referrals Jill Corcoran: Sending queries and fulls in the digital age Querytracker: Once upon a yawn: how to avoid writing a boring story Rachelle Gardner: Agency agreements Answers questions on foreign queries, trilogies, websites, and more Strangest Situation: Amnesia in fiction Memories of traumatic events In Movies: Guardians of Ga'Hoole: Great movie! I have to admit I was surprised with how well they did by the books. Miss Congeniality: Seen this one before, but it was still good the second time. Miss ...

The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan Nick Ryves and his brother, Alan, have spent their lives on the run from magicians who are hunting them down to take back a stolen charm. When a brother and sister appear at the Ryveses' door one night, the danger draws even closer. The boy bears a demon's mark, a sign of death that can only be erased by the blood of a magician. When Alan is also marked, Nick is desperate to save him -- desperate enough to chase the very magicians they have hidden from for so long. Ensnared in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse, Nick starts to suspect that his brother is lying to him about their past. As the magicians close in on his family, Nick uncovers a secret that could destroy them all.... I'd like to begin with a quick disclaimer: When I was about a quarter of the way through the book, I went on Twitter and accidentally read a MAJOR spoiler that completely spoiled the surprise ending for me. Because of this, I didn't enjoy the book as mu...

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic. This week's topic: In the movie "Groundhog Day," Bill Murray has to relive the same day over and over. What books would you pick to read over and over for the rest of your life? The entire Harry Potter series. If I had to pick ones in particular, I'd choose Prisoner of Azkaban, Half-Blood Prince, and Deathly Hallows. Because even though I've read them a hundred times since they came out, I could always read them again. The entire Immortals series by Tamora Pierce. My two favorites from that series are the first book Wild Magic and the last book Realms of the Gods. That series is made of brilliance and it hasn't lost its magic since I lost track of how many times I'd read the series in mid...

Remember what I said last week about the weather finally starting to warm up and the snow melting? Yeah...I think I jinxed it. Spent most of this week snowbound because of the ice storm that rolled in on Sunday. Song of the Week: All You Wanted by Michelle Branch BookEnds: Agent edits Reminder of the need to follow-up Queryshark: #195 Querytracker: Mentioning similar books in a query Strangest Situation: Cryer's Cross: A heroine with OCD Writer Beware: Beware pay-to-play TV talk shows Have a great weekend and I'll see you on Monday!