I recently did an interview with Stacked, a really cool blog run by three librarians. It was fun because all the questions and answers had to be Twitter-style in 140 characters or less! My interview is posted here, between those of Daisy Whitney (author of THE MOCKINGBIRDS) and Stephanie Perkins (author of ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS).
Hey, everyone! Look what I have!
Why, yes, that is yarn in Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin colors! What does this mean for YOU? Well . . .
TWO winners will receive the following:
1. A scarf knitted just for you by me in the colors of your house at Hogwarts! (Because it's cold and I have Harry Potter on the brain right now. You can take a quiz here if you don't know which house you'd be sorted into.)
2. A signed and personalized copy of FREEFALL mailed to you*. (If you already have your own copy, you may choose from a list of other paperback contemporary titles instead.)
3. A signed and personalized copy of FREEFALL mailed to your friend*.
For one chance to win, simply fill out this form. There is room for extra entries on the form if you blog about this contest and include the link. Those who have read and reviewed FREEFALL prior to entering will have the opportunity for the most entries. (Reviews do not have to be positive; just honest.) I very much appreciate you reading my book and taking the time to tell others about it!
You can also get one additional entry per day by Tweeting: "Spread the Word about Freefall by @mindi_scott - RT to enter!" Winner #1 U.S. and Canada only. Winner #2 International*. Ends at midnight PST on December 23, 2010. Good luck and thanks for helping me spread the word!
*If the winner and friend in the International contest are outside the U.S. and Canada, the book prizes will be shipped via Book Depository and will not be signed and personalized. Not out of meanness; I've just spent hundreds on shipping costs this year! :-)
Hey, everyone! Look what I have!
Why, yes, that is yarn in Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin colors! What does this mean for YOU? Well . . .
TWO winners will receive the following:
2. A signed and personalized copy of FREEFALL mailed to you*. (If you already have your own copy, you may choose from a list of other paperback contemporary titles instead.)
3. A signed and personalized copy of FREEFALL mailed to your friend*.
For one chance to win, simply fill out this form. There is room for extra entries on the form if you blog about this contest and include the link. Those who have read and reviewed FREEFALL prior to entering will have the opportunity for the most entries. (Reviews do not have to be positive; just honest.) I very much appreciate you reading my book and taking the time to tell others about it!
You can also get one additional entry per day by Tweeting: "Spread the Word about Freefall by @mindi_scott - RT to enter! http://bit.ly/eYaJ0d"
Winner #1 U.S. and Canada only. Winner #2 International*. Ends at midnight PST on December 23, 2010. Good luck and thanks for helping me spread the word! ♥
*If the winner and friend in the International contest are outside the U.S. and Canada, the book prizes will be shipped via Book Depository and will not be signed and personalized. Not out of meanness; I've just spent hundreds on shipping costs this year! :-)
I saw bunches of status updates about TANGLED this weekend. They were along the lines of this:
My Friend: Tangled = ♥
My Other Friend: So cute! So fun! I adored every second of Tangled!
My Other Other Friend: Add Tangled to my list of all-time favorite Disney movies! So, so good!
My Other Other Other Friend: I loved TANGLED. It was very [XYZ] and [123].
I left a comment for one of them like this: Wow! I want to see this movie and I’m hearing so much great stuff. I might have to check it out very soon!
Then I saw a status update like this from My Other Other Other Other Friend: TANGLED was such a disappointment. I heard that it was so great from so many people and that it was very [XYZ], but it wasn’t. And it was only a little bit [123]. What a letdown!
I left a comment for MOOOOF saying: Thank you! I was going to see this based upon the other glowing recommendations, but now that I’ve read your comments, I won’t waste my time. I mean, I thought it was going to be [XYZ] and [123]. Since you say that it isn’t, why even bother?
Okay, actually, that didn’t happen. Not that last part. And, in fact, not that second to last part either. But I see this ALL THE TIME with online book reviews. A book gets some good or even great reviews. People leave comments on those reviews saying they can’t wait to read it. Someone else writes a review saying that they read the book because it was recommended highly, but actually, the book wasn’t all that. People then leave comments saying that they were going to read it and thought it sounded good, but now they aren’t going to because they read this review that apparently tells it like it is.
As an author, I find it disheartening when I come across this, and not only when the book being discussed is one written by me.
As a reader, I find it perplexing. I’ve seen so many books that I’ve liked and loved get this kind of treatment and I think, You’re interested in this book. Dozens/Hundreds of other readers love it. But you won’t read it now because THIS PERSON didn’t fall in love with it? Are they your identical book twin or something?
If there is a book that I want to read, there are times when I do like to check out well-written critical reviews to see what the non-lovers of a book have to say. Not because I need to be persuaded not to read it. Not because I think that the way they feel is the way that I am going to feel. I just find it interesting to see opposing views. I like to predict where I’m going to fall on the spectrum when I do finally get my hands on the book. In some cases, I love to be surprised when I’m wrong.
There is no one person out there who loves exactly the same books that I love. There is no guarantee that I'll love or hate the things that I expect to love and hate. Isn't that part of what makes life interesting? Making these discoveries?
I hate writing. I love having written. –Dorothy Parker
The first time I read the above quote, I was shocked by the first sentence. That's just wrong, right? For a writer to hate writing? And to admit to it?
Well, honestly, when I search not too incredibly deep into my soul, I can admit that I don't enjoy writing. Not novels, at least. While it's happening, I find the process to be frustrating, difficult, depressing, annoying, stressful, and IMPOSSIBLE. I'm constantly moping around and making exclamations such as, "I'll never finish this!" and "It's so hard!"
But I keep going. Little by little. Sentences, paragraphs, pages, scenes, chapters. AFTER I've written these things, I love them. I especially love when, together, they form a finished manuscript. For me, finished manuscripts are Best Thing Ever, The. I was so high from the accomplishment of finishing my last one (which, sadly, was a long time ago) that I didn't sleep for three days afterward. Even something small like finishing a five-page scene gives me a rush that will sometimes last for hours.
I hear advice all the time that if you don't love writing, you should follow other pursuits in life. Odds are, you aren't going to make enough money from it to support yourself anyway, so why put yourself through that?
While I'm in the seemingly endless process of writing/revising a manuscript, I find myself pondering if I'd be better off taking that advice. I can't, though. Because even though I don't love writing, I do love having written more than just about anything.
