I've been dying to share this news and not's even about me!

My sister and I have been dying to share this news...here's what we posted on our site today!

After a lot of planning by the fabulous folks at Simon & Schuster, we are excited to announce that Becca Fitzpatrick will be revealing the cover of CRESCENDO, the highly anticipated follow-up to New York Times Bestselling HUSH HUSH, here on FallenArchangel.com, live from the Denver Teen Lit Festival on Saturday April 10! The cover reveal will take place over the course of several hours as Laurie Maves, a chalk artist from Denver CO, will be drawing the Crescendo cover live!

The streaming video of this event will begin around 11 am EST / 9 am MDT. Plan to stop by throughout the day to see the cover art as it gradually comes to life and for occasional visits from Becca.

We will be posting more exciting stuff about the cover reveal in the coming days!! So you know where I'll be next Saturday. Too much excitement for one weekend...the night before we're heading to Philly to see Blue October!

P.S. Feel free to grab that button up there to help spread the word! I had some technical Blogger issues and couldn't get the html coding in there to grab but you can find that on our site.

Feeding my book addiction

I bought three new books Friday. One new book is the last thing I need, let alone three new books. But I'm a total book addict so going to the bookstore is about the worst temptation ever. I think I could resist a bakery better than a bookstore! And that's saying something.

Check out these pretties. I started The Dead Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan (LOVED The Forest of Hands and Teeth!) and already love this one too. I haven't heard much about Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer but those covers with the giant moon and the whole idea of life getting all insane from a meteor knocking the moon out of orbit got me. And Lament...well, I just needed more of Maggie's enchanting writing after reading Shiver.

I think it's safe to say my TBR pile is about half way to the ceiling now. (Not that I actually stacked them to find out. Hmm, but that could be kind of fun) With the books Simon & Schuster sends us to read before giving away the copies they provide each month on Fallenarchangel and the books I buy I'm nowhere near caught up. Love our friends at S&S for sending us such incredible YA titles (Bleeding Violet, Thirst, Claire de Lune, etc.) so you won't EVER hear me complain about all these fabulous books. The only problem is fighting the reader in me who screams "Feed Me!" every time I look at them so that I can get my own books written.

I guess the fact that there are only two things I want for my birthday--a babysitter so that I can spend the day writing and a gift card to the bookstore--are pretty telling. If only there were a gift that allowed you a few extra hours in a day!

A book deal celebration!

Beth Revis' blog was one of the first I stared following when I came into the writing/blogging world so it's awesome to share in the MAJOR news of her first book deal. And we're talking MAJOR...Beth signed a 3 book deal for a serious chunk of change. Woohooo, how sweet is that? It's so cool to see such a great thing happen to a great person. Congratulations, Beth!!!! I can't wait to read Across the Universe.

And because Beth rocks she's hosting a MAJOR giveaway in honor of this big news. We're talking two prize packs full of all sorts of cool stuff, one for writers, and one for readers. Love that idea! So be sure to head on over to congratulate Beth and put your name in to win. I'm all about the writer's basket! Of course, I'd snatch up that reader's basket in a heartbeat. That woman knows how to put a prize pack together.

Click here to enter.

A 10-year-old future book reviewer needs your help!

My niece (she turns 10 this month and is one of my favorite people on the planet) reads just about as much as I do if not more. Of course, I like to think I had something to do with that since I started reading the Harry Potter series aloud to her when she was seven. We just finished this past year! If it weren't for those little distractions like, say...school, sleep, raising my own child...we'd have finished it in half the time.

My sister truly believes in supporting her daughter's love of reading (eeek she thinks she might want to be a writer when she grows up!) so they did a book review together on her blog. We all remember what it was like when you fired up the blog and decided to run your first contest or even your first post. Nerve wracking. Will anyone comment? Will anyone want the book I'm giving away? Does anybody care? Now imagine you're ten and wondering all that.

I'm all about her reviewing more books and hopefully seeing her start her own blog down the road so if any of you have an extra minute please stop by the review and enter the contest to help her start off in a positive way. Trust me, it will make her day. And mine too.

Thanks for your support!

You can find the review here.

Here they are with the book they're giving away.

I don't write long book reviews...

...and I'm not going to start now. BUT. All of you need to go buy or borrow or download a copy of Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves.

Seriously.

It's that A M A Z I N G.

Might be a little tough on the eyes, but in honor of Hanna I'm writing the rest of this post in violet. If you've already this book you know why. ; )

We received a copy of Bleeding Violet from Simon & Schuster for our feature in April so I was bound to read it, but it was when I saw my writing friend, Lacey, rave about it on Twitter and the review on her blog that I got really excited. She was spot on with how sexy and dark and crazy it is.

Check out the summary below for yourself, but know that it fails to reveal the awesomeness that is this book. Freaky new creatures (eep! no vamps, wolves, demons or faeries! not that there's anything wrong with them), a girl that actually has major issues that aren't the average teen angst. Hanna can be a hot mess but you can't help but love her for the way she doesn't give a shit. She's fearless in a way you don't see in a lot of stories. I could go on and on but you REALLY need to check this one out for yourself. It's just that good.

Love can be a dangerous thing....Hanna simply wants to be loved. With a head plagued by hallucinations, a medicine cabinet full of pills, and a closet stuffed with frilly, violet dresses, Hanna's tired of being the outcast, the weird girl, the freak. So she runs away to Portero, Texas in search of a new home.

But Portero is a stranger town than Hanna expects. As she tries to make a place for herself, she discovers dark secrets that would terrify any normal soul. Good thing for Hanna, she's far from normal. As this crazy girl meets an even crazier town, only two things are certain: Anything can happen and no one is safe.

I'm so putting this one back into my to-be-read pile for a second rotation.

Teens and adults...Calling all my YA fans!

*This is taken from our Fallenarchangel blog*

Is YA Getting a Bad Rap?

Frankie over at The First Novels Club posted a really super blog yesterday about the bad rap YA has been getting from some folks lately.

Teens are dealing with more crap than ever these days. They know and understand harsh realities that even those of us who were teenagers half a decade ago didn't have to go through. The world is rapidly changing, and teens are rapidly adjusting. They're smart. They're savvy. And they are tough cookies. And if they want to read a book--any book--that is fantastic. Because reading rocks.

Most teens know the difference between a normal relationship and an extremely unhealthy one, which yes- it does often gets glorified and depicted in paranormal romance. And if there are teens or adults reading a book along those lines, believing it's sexy to threaten violence, believing its healthy for a person to want to kill themselves over you, dreaming of a guy who stalks you...I have a hard time believing that those thoughts and desires stemmed from the reading of a book. Unhealthy ideas about relationships stem from a deeper source than that and are often the fault of other factors, not a story.

We want to take this a step further, we want to know what you think....

It’s no secret that YA books have grown in popularity with teens, tweens and adults of all ages. With that popularity comes more scrutiny – it has been said that some YA contains immoral themes that could negatively influence young readers. We want to hear from YOU young and old, YA Lovers, Readers, Writers, Editors (etc). Are you influenced by the storylines and relationships you read about? Join us on Thursday night at 9 pm to discuss this on FallenArchangel.com

A contest you can't miss!

Suzette Saxton and Bethany Wiggins, the incredible sisters at Shooting Stars, are holding a contest, the Fantabulous Followers Giveaway with Prize from an Agent!

This is one you can't miss.

They've got an agent critique, books, and even candy to give away. Visit their blog for more details and to enter. Good luck! I've got my fingers crossed I can snag that big prize so I can have my current WIP critiqued.

Am I too trusting?

I'm sure most of the writers out there will agree with me when I say one of the best ways to improve your writing/story is to have other writers read it and provide you with feedback. I learned this simple fact very quickly when I started writing. Forget the vision of a lone writer holed up at home, slouched over their keyboard in a typing frenzy, or more than likely staring at the screen trying to think of what to type next. That's only a fraction of what takes place when it comes to writing a novel. At least it is in my personal experience.

Without the help of the extraordinary writers I've met online I'd NEVER have been able to type the words THE END on my first novel, or revised the hell out of it, or produced a query worthy of requests, or even gotten any requests... I could keep going with examples, but the point is that if I had never trusted in these people, complete strangers, I'd still be struggling and most likely have given up. So thank you to each and every one of you who have inspired and supported me along the way. You rock!

Now comes the tough part of this post.

What about the people out there who don't support you and who aren't thinking of anyone but themselves? I have been very blessed so this isn't something I've dealt with personally, but I've heard stories from people who have. I'm talking about the Story Snatchers. Ick. How anyone could have the nerve to use an idea they know for a fact has been done is beyond me. It's wrong and it's pathetic. Now in my experience the people who have warned me of this danger, asking me questions like "Aren't you afraid they might steal your ideas?" aren't usually fellow writers, they're friends and family.

Which got me thinking. We writers must be a pretty trusting bunch.

How do I know I can trust the people I share my work with? Well, for me, it's pretty simple. I listen to my instincts. I only share when it feels right. I take the risk. How can you post on a forum, find beta readers, enter contests, work with a critique partner, or even submit your work to agents and editors without taking a leap of faith? Any one of those people mentioned could borrow a plot, a character, a setting and there's not too much I can do about it. But if I worried about that and didn't send my work out into the world to be read and critiqued or considered I'd never grow and my stories wouldn't have a chance in hell of becoming published work.

It's not that I think my ideas are so legendary or original that if anyone were to steal them I'd lose all hope of future publication. Because let's face it everything we create is recycled and pieced together from ideas that have lived before. But we work extremely hard and pour a piece of ourselves in every story we bring to life so I pray none of us ever have to experience something as awful as someone intentionally snatching from us.

As usual with this sort of heavy topic rolling around in my head it got me wondering how the rest of you feel. Am I too trusting or do most of you share my philosophy and take the risk and trust? Have you ever been burned? How do you decide who to share your work with? Do you ever worry about Story Snatchers?

Are you the tortoise or the hare?

Do you like to take your time with a slow but steady pace when you write or are you more about the speed and crossing the finish line as quickly as possible to write THE END?

I SO used to be the hare. (which is not a bad thing at all!)

All I paid attention to was my word count. Words, words, words. I couldn't get enough of them. And that's not necessarily a bad thing but it definitely involves more editing and revising down the road. At least that's what I discovered. I've read quite a few book, blogs, articles, etc that say you should just write. Write what comes to you. Write from the heart. Write without over thinking it. That's what editing is for.

And while that's all great advice that probably works for most people, I'm sort of thinking I do better the opposite way. This is my first experience writing slow and steady, but it's working. Not that I did it intentionally or anything. It's actually an accident I can chalk up to the fact that I'm waiting to hear on the partials and fulls I have out on SAGE. That, and well, who knows what else...distractions, reading, obligations. I could go on and on. But the important thing is that I seem to have stumbled upon a better way for me to personally write. Heck, I even let two writers (who have agents mind you! you ladies rock) read the first few chapters of my first draft, yes, I said first draft, and they had great things to say about it. If anyone had read the first draft of SAGE they would not have been able to type any comments because they'd be laughing too hard.

Now if only I could find a balance between the two! Imagine how many books I'd crank out...

It's your turn. Are you more of a slow and steady tortoise or the speedy hare?