Memes.

 

Where the hell do they come from?

 

And why do I think Clarinet Boy is so dang funny?

A whole lot of them start on reddit. You know that, right? Reddit is 4chan’s  respectable grandson. And no, I will NOT link to 4chan. That would shut us down in three seconds flat.

There are several iPhone apps for reddit-reading, but two stand out:

iReddit

This is the official app, and it’s free. Good way to get acquainted with the site, and browse it quickly. Offers several standard “sub-reddits”, or specialty pages, or you can peruse any sub-reddit that you wish, if you know the name. Can save to Instapaper or email links. Also, a nifty “serendipity” feature, where you shake your iPhone for a random post.

 

Alien Blue–Reddit Client

This app has a free and paid version.  Comes with a large, eclectic, standard list of sub-reddits, and again, you can add your own favorites. If you find something shareable in Alien Blue you can copy, send to Twitter, sms, email, Evernote, Facebook, Pocket, Instapaper, Tumblr…you get the idea. Create filters to keep out Reddit contributors you find–less than savory. The font and color is also adjustable.

 

Reddit contributors vary in age. Most contributors seem to be in their twenties or so, but teens read Reddit for the AMAs, (“Ask Me Anything”–no-holds-barred Q&As of all kinds of people, from victims at the Batman shooting to movie stars to, just last night, Obama) memes and funny pics. And they read Reddit for other things–but I’ll let you figure that out.

 

 

 

 

If you’ve never done a public library visit before, there’s a few things you may not know.

Librarians are fangirls at heart. Well, some of us are. We may act all cool negotiating your fee on the phone, but inside we’re dying because we loved your book and we want to share it with the world immediately.

What Money?

But, just because we know how awesome you are doesn’t mean we can raid “deep” library pockets. If you’re not a big name, don’t expect a huge fee. We may pay a few hundred dollars if you are coming from out of town. But if you could do an author visit for $50, that would be great. Or, preferably free. Could you do it for free? Then we might be able to provide drinks and a snack.

Keep Talking.

If your audience isn’t asking question, it’s not necessarily a bad sign. Sometimes they are just mesmerized by you because you are no longer a real person. You are a celebrity. A Real Live Author. And maybe they are just trying to absorb the words coming from your mouth.

The librarian will help you out, asking questions to keep you going. Even if most of the audience hasn’t read your book, we will have or we’ll have researched you. It’s  in our interest to make this event work, too.

Maybe you don’t know what to talk about? Maybe you’re a new author and no one has read your book yet? What then?

Talk about almost anything.

• Have a book trailer? Show it.
• What inspired this book? (Killer Kittens from Omaha? Where’d that come from?)
• How long did it take to write? How many versions do you have?
• Pre-empt the where you get your ideas question. (You know it’s coming.)
• Show off your work space.
• Talk about your next book.
• Talk about your famous author friends.
• Talk about what you do when you can’t write and what you do when you absolutely must write.

If you speak about a range of topics, you will strike upon something the audience will want to hear about. And if you have a message to deliver? Handle it lightly. Just like your  readers, your audience can pick up on a theme quickly and will appreciate it…until it’s been beaten into them.

The Big Swag Grab.

Is your book not for sale yet? Bring ones to give away! Don’t have any ARCs to spare? Get book plates made and sign them so they can be put in your book upon purchase. Or remember those bookmarks you made? This is the time to send them out into the world.

Look Good.

It is highly likely you will be on someone’s cell phone. It is almost guaranteed you will get on the library’s website. And it’s possible you’ll get in the local or metro newspaper.

Have a Sound Bite to Read.

Pick a teaser scene in your book and get really good at reading it. Sometimes you won’t have time for it because people already know you and your book. And sometimes even though they are already familiar with it, they want to hear YOU read it. But, if they don’t know anything about your book, this is your opportunity to get them hooked.

The thing is: practice so you can read it well.

Be On Time.

Above all, care enough about the visit and the audience to show up on time, be dressed, and act personable. Nothing is worse for a reader than coming to an event to see your hero of the moment and have them show up an hour late, in pajamas, and in a bad mood. It makes the author look bad and it makes the librarian look bad for not knowing better.

“Surround yourself with people who know more than you and soak up knowledge like a sponge!” P.K. Witte

There’s no better way to celebrate the end of summer than with an awesome GATE CRASHERS’ AUTHOR APPRECIATION SIGNED BOOK & SWAG GIVEAWAY!

Get your entry in by September 25th!

Gate Crashers is all about writing great books, bringing people together, learning from reading and reading to learn. I’ve been super lucky, finding loads of wonderful folks willing to share their wisdom and help us do just that.  But it’s not just great writers, editors, illustrators and agents who’ve made Crashing the Gate so much fun, it’s all you guys— each and every person who has ever stopped by Ink & Angst, taken the time to read Gate Crashers, left a comment and joined in!

So as a thank you to EVERYONE (readers and writers alike) I’m doing something a little different.

I put all the folks who’ve helped me out this year into my thinking cap (not literally of course, they’d never all fit, so I used scraps of paper instead) and drew seven names (because that’s my lucky number).

This month instead of sharing wisdom, Gate Crashers is featuring books by those seven authors and giving stuff away! Signed books and awesome swag!

How do you win?

Just leave a comment and I’ll drop it into the Thinking Cap! For every ten that go in two will come out winners! The more comments, the more giveaways!

And here we go!

(Book blurbs borrowed from Goodreads) Click the pics for awesome author links!

Gina Damico

Croak

Gina Damico

Published March 20th 2012 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Fed up with her wild behavior, sixteen-year-old Lex’s parents ship her off to upstate New York to live with her Uncle Mort for the summer, hoping that a few months of dirty farm work will whip her back into shape. But Uncle Mort’s true occupation is much dirtier than shoveling manure. He’s a Grim Reaper. And he’s going to teach Lex the family business. She quickly assimilates into the peculiar world of Croak, a town populated by reapers who deliver souls from this life to the next. But Lex can’t stop her desire for justice–or is it vengeance?–whenever she encounters a murder victim, craving to stop the attackers before they can strike again. Will she ditch Croak and go rogue with her reaper skills?

Watch the trailer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkIivAxaW3w

Kimberley Griffiths Little

 

The Healing Spell

Kimberley Griffiths Little

Published July 1st 2010 by Scholastic Press

Twelve-year-old Livie is living with a secret and it’s crushing her. She knows she is responsible for her mother’s coma, but she can’t tell anyone. It’s up to her to find a way to wake her momma up.

Stuck in the middle of three sisters, hiding a forbidden pet alligator, and afraid to disappoint her daddy, whom she loves more than anyone else, Livie struggles to find her place within her own family as she learns about the powers of faith and redemption. Livie’s powerful, emotional, and sometimes humorous story will stay with readers long after the last line is read.

Watch the trailer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k4VaODgUuA

Circle of Secrets

Kimberley Griffiths Little

Published October 1st 2011 by Scholastic Press

After her mother walked out on Shelby Jayne and her dad, Shelby thought she’d never speak to her mamma again. But with her dad leaving the country for work, it turns out she doesn’t have a choice: Shelby has to move back into her mamma’s house, deep in the heart of the Louisiana bayou.

Her new classmates tease and torment her, so Shelby’s relieved to finally find a friend in Gwen, a mysterious girl who lives alone on the bayou. But Shelby can’t help wondering if Gwen has something to do with the puzzling messages she finds hidden in the blue bottle tree behind her house. The only person who might be able to explain is her mamma — but Shelby’s not ready to ask. Not yet. It may take a brush with something from the beyond to help Shelby see that the power to put her own ghosts to rest is within her reach.

Kimberley Griffiths Little’s haunting and powerful tale brings one girl’s attempt to grapple with family, friendship, and forgiveness to beautiful, vivid life.

Watch the trailer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiTQhFXi0uo

Elisa Ludwig

Pretty Crooked

Elisa Ludwig

Published March 13th 2012 by Katherine Tegen Books

Willa’s secret plan seems all too simple: take from the rich kids at Valley Prep and give to the poor ones.

Yet Willa’s turn as Robin Hood at her ultra-exclusive high school is anything but. Bilking her “friends”-known to everyone as the Glitterati-without them suspecting a thing, is far from easy. Learning how to pick pockets and break into lockers is as difficult as she’d thought it’d be. Delivering care packages to the scholarship girls, who are ostracized just for being from the “wrong” side of town, is way more fun than she’d expected.

The complication Willa didn’t expect, though, is Aidan Murphy, Valley Prep’s most notorious (and gorgeous) ace-degenerate. His mere existence is distracting Willa from what matters most to her-evening the social playing field between the have and have-nots. There’s no time for crushes and flirting with boys, especially conceited and obnoxious trust-funders like Aidan.

But when the cops start investigating the string of burglaries at Valley Prep and the Glitterati begin to seek revenge, could he wind up being the person that Willa trusts most?

Watch the trailer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGm3W8AOX_Q

Hilary Weisman Graham

Reunited

Hilary Weisman Graham

Published June 12th 2012 by Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers

1 Concert
2000 Miles
3 Ex-Best Friends

Alice, Summer, and Tiernan are ex-best friends.

Back in middle school, the three girls were inseparable. They were also the number one fans of the rock band Level3.

But when the band broke up, so did their friendship. Summer ran with the popular crowd, Tiernan was a rebellious wild-child, and Alice spent high school with her nose buried in books.

Now, just as the girls are about to graduate, Level3 announces a one-time-only reunion show.

Even though the concert’s 2000 miles away, Alice buys three tickets on impulse. And as it turns out, Summer and Tiernan have their own reasons for wanting to get out of town. Good thing Alice’s graduation gift (a pea-green 1976 VW camper van known as the Pea Pod) is just the vehicle to get them there.

But on the long drive cross-country, the girls hit more than a few bumps in the road. Will their friendship get an encore or is the show really over?

Watch the trailer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFVAQVr-HuY

Megan Mirada

Fracture

Megan Mirada

Published January 17th 2012 by Walker Childrens

Eleven minutes passed before Delaney Maxwell was pulled from the icy waters of a Maine lake by her best friend Decker Phillips. By then her heart had stopped beating. Her brain had stopped working. She was dead. And yet she somehow defied medical precedent to come back seemingly fine. Everyone wants Delaney to be all right, but she knows she’s far from normal. Pulled by strange sensations she can’t control or explain, Delaney finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her altered brain now predicting death, or causing it?

Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who recently emerged from a coma with similar abilities. At first she’s reassured to find someone who understands the strangeness of her new existence, but Delaney soon discovers that Troy’s motives aren’t quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature-or something much more frightening?

For fans of best-sellers like Before I Fall and If I Stay, this is a fascinating and heart-rending story about love and friendship and the fine line between life and death.

Watch the trailer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd5rUSMoYdI

Cynthia Leitich Smith

Tantalize

Cynthia Leitich Smith

Published February 13th 2007 by Candlewick Press

Are you predator or prey?

CLASSIFIED ADS: RESTAURANTS
SANGUINI’S: A VERY RARE RESTAURANT IS HIRING A CHEF DE CUISINE. DINNERS ONLY.
APPLY IN PERSON BETWEEN 2:00 AND 4:00 PM.

Quincie Morris has never felt more alone. Her parents are dead, and her hybrid-werewolf first love is threatening to embark on a rite of passage that will separate them forever. Then, as she and her uncle are about to unveil their hot vampire-themed restaurant, a brutal murder leaves them scrambling for a chef. Can Quincie transform their new hire into a culinary Dark Lord before opening night? Can he wow the crowd in his fake fangs, cheap cape, and red contact lenses — or is there more to this earnest face than meets the eye? As human and preternatural forces clash, a deadly love triangle forms, and the line between predator and prey begins to blur. Who’s playing whom? And how long can Quincie play along before she loses everything? TANTALIZE marks Cynthia Leitich Smith’s delicious debut as a preeminent author of dark fantasy.

Watch the trailer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=subaxSxSFXc

 

Eternal

Cynthia Leitich Smith

Published February 10th 2009 by Candlewick Press

With diabolical wit, the author of TANATALIZE revisits a deliciously dark world where vampires vie with angels — and girls just want to have fangs.

At last, Miranda is the life of the party: all she had to do was die. Elevated and adopted by none other than the reigning King of the Mantle of Dracul, Miranda goes from high-school theater wannabe to glamorous royal fiend overnight. Meanwhile, her reckless and adoring guardian angel, Zachary, demoted to human guise as the princess’s personal assistant, has his work cut out for him trying to save his girl’s soul and plan the Master’s fast-approaching Death Day gala. In alternating points of view, Miranda and Zachary navigate a cut-throat eternal aristocracy as they play out a dangerous and darkly hilarious love story for the ages.

Watch the trailer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaBIoUEMWrg

 

Blessed

Cynthia Leitich Smith

Published January 25th 2011 by Candlewick Press

With a wink and a nod to Bram Stoker, New York Times best-selling author Cynthia Leitich Smith unites the casts of Tantalize and Eternal in a delicious dark fantasy her fans will devour.

Quincie P. Morris, teen restaurateuse and neophyte vampire, is in the fight of her life — or undeath. Even as she adjusts to her new appetites, she must clear her best friend and true love. With a wink and a nod to Bram Stoker, New York Times best-selling author Cynthia Leitich Smith unites the casts of Tantalize and Eternal in a delicious dark fantasy her fans will devour.

Quincie P. Morris, teen restaurateuse and neophyte vampire, is in the fight of her life — or undeath. Even as she adjusts to her new appetites, she must clear her best friend and true love, the hybrid werewolf Kieren, of murder charges; thwart the apocalyptic ambitions of Bradley Sanguini, the seductive vampire-chef who “blessed” her; and keep her dead parents’ restaurant up and running. She hires a more homespun chef and adds the preternaturally beautiful Zachary to her wait staff. But with hundreds of new vampires on the rise and Bradley off assuming the powers of Dracula Prime, Zachary soon reveals his true nature — and a flaming sword — and they hit the road to staunch the bloodshed before it’s too late. Even if they save the world, will there be time left to salvage Quincie’s soul?

Watch the trailer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pieAazPg_b0

 

Diabolical

Cynthia Leitich Smith

Published January 24th 2012 by Candlewick

Prepare for a hell of a ride as Cynthia Leitich Smith calls on characters from her previous novels – and conjures up new ones – for a climactic showdown.

When “slipped” angel Zachary and his werewolf pal, Kieren, arrive under suspicious circumstances to a mysterious New England boarding school, they quickly find themselves in a hellish lockdown with an intriguing assortment of secretive, hand-picked students. Plagued by demon dogs, hallucinatory wall décor, a sadistic instructor, and a legendary fire-breathing monster, will they somehow manage to escape? Or will the devil have his due? Best-selling author Cynthia Leitich Smith unites heroes from the previous three novels in the Tantalize Series – including Zachary’s girl, Miranda, and Kieren’s love, Quincie – along with a fascinating cast of all-new characters for a suspenseful, action-packed clash between the forces of heaven and hell

 

Watch the trailer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj0sK2ml17Y

Billy Elm 

Delroy in the Marog Kingdom

Billy Elm aka Helen Williams

Macmillan Caribbean March 2, 2009

If you look into River Mumma s eyes, something terrible going happen to you! Too late, Delroy remembers his mother s warning. Is drowning his fate or is something worse in store? Becoming a marog is only the beginning. The king of these unusual frogs has chosen Delroy to succeed him, but first he must retrieve the king s magical stone from a venomous snake. Slogging through underground caves and tunnels, faced with insurmountable obstacles, Delroy is tempted to give up and wonders whether he will ever return to his former life.

Watch the trailer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EttD1ywqDbw

 

Now you’ve seen them, the seven authors from my Thinking Cap! Leave a comment for a chance to win their signed books and swag!

Giveaway ends Sepetember 25th!

 

If you’re a published author, illustrator, editor or agent and you’d like to join the Gate Crashing club and be featured this fall, leave a comment that says so! I’ll get back to you lickety-split.

Happy Writing!

Happy Reading!

backjumps: A quickly executed throw up or panel piece. Usually painted on a temporarily parked train or a running bus. (wikipedia)
Take five minutes, 100 words or less, and create something magical. No stress, no strings, no critics. Just you and your craft.

I’m loving this set of photos from Kim Wagner’s Etsy Shop. Take a minute and click through them. Below is the first one I saw.

It spoke to me about loneliness and the power of books. What does it say to you?

 

 

So while I’m road tripping…

 

 

Let’s look at a couple of car travel apps for writers:

 

On the move. Need wi-fi. But where to find it?

Free Wi-Fi Finder

Finds free wi-fi near you, and  filter by location type.

 

Work+

This app looks for wi-fi around you that meets your specifications, down to the noise level you prefer.

Stuck in a car on your cross-country book tour. Need fuel, sustenance and lodging. Should you stop here or stick it out thirty more miles?

 iExit Interstate Exit Guide

WELL SISTER GIRL OR SONNY BOY WE’VE GOT JUST THE APP YOU NEED. Tells you what specific eateries, motels and gassery establishments are available at each exit that stretches before you, for miles and miles and miles and…you get the picture.

Inspired by my own personal journey, the kitschy, the cool…

 Road Trip 66

Get your kicks with over 1800 diners, relics and roadside attractions. If that’s not novel fodder, I don’t know what is.