First off, for those of you in New Hampshire and environs, I will be reading and signing tomorrow at Time of Wonder in Exeter, NH at 4:00. It’s a great bookstore, so come if you can.
Second, the lovely and talented Carrie Jones is organizing a book festival in Bar Harbor, and I will be there along with many talented and fun authors. Please come! I booked my hotel room this morning. The hotel has an outdoor heated pool that overlooks the ocean. Um, do you think I can do my reading in the pool?
I’m a little bit embarrassed about how much I love “Gives You Hell.” It is so great for turning up the volume and singing along with in the car. There’s even that sing-along part to get you in the mood.
But this is not just about my guilty-pleasure love for the song. No, I have an anecdote! So the other day my husband and I were driving and this song came on, and he said, “I wonder who this song is about?” Before I could say, “Well, duh, it’s about some ex-girlfriend” he said, “Maybe it’s about an ex-band member.”
Wouldn’t that be a much more interesting story? An ex-band member, or an old friend who was like, “You are never going to make it.” And by and large the lyrics can support it (the only line that at all indicates it’s a romantic relationship is “When you find a man that’s worth a damn and treats you well . . .”) For me this just opened the song right up. I always like finding new possibilities in seemingly simple things.
Anyway, if you click the link, you too will be singing this song for the rest of the day. You’re welcome!
My little contest got a mention in Publisher’s Weekly — as if you needed more of an incentive to enter. I hope this article inspires some really fun and creative photographs. So head out to your mall and find that poster!
Here’s your chance to win a copy of Secrets of Truth & Beauty and another great YA book!
Hyperion Teens is running an ad campaign in malls promoting several of their books, including Secrets of Truth & Beauty. So, I decided to hold a little contest. It’s pretty simple: find the poster, take your picture with it, and post it on your blog.
Here’s the nitty gritty:
How to Enter:
Go to your local mall and look at the posters on the directories. If you see something that looks roughly like this:
Take a picture of yourself with it (you can cover your face if you like to be all incognito.)
Then post that picture to your blog, myspace page, facebook page, etc., and email me (megan @ meganfrazer.com) or post a comment here letting me know that you have a picture posted.
But wait . . .
What if you don’t live near a mall, or have a supreme aversion to them, or your mall isn’t one with one of these posters in it? Well you can also enter by going to my facebook page and becoming a fan. (If you’re already a fan, just let me know you want to be entered).
If you post a picture AND become a facebook fan, well, that’s two entries.
The deadline: The promotion ends August 16th, so this contest will end then, too.
Who can enter? Anyone with a US Mailing address.
The Prize: I promised two books, so what’s the other one? Pick one of the other books featured in the ad, and it’s yours! You can choose from:
If you win, you get to pick. So that’s two books for something as simple as becoming a fan on facebook, or as fun as taking a goofy picture of yourself at the mall. And really, the goofier the better. I may just throw in a subjective prize for my favorite picture.
Good luck and have fun at the mall. Have an Auntie Annie’s pretzel for me!
I am so in love with the song “Little Bribes” by Death Cab for Cutie.
In addition to the great melody, it has one of my favorite lyrics ever: “You were like a walking condiment, tall in stature and exceptionally red.” How great of a simile is that? Except, um, I guess the lyric is actually “You were like a walking compliment, tall in stature and exceptionally read.” Now I’m a little disappointed, but I still love the song.
It’s not too late to enter this month’s debsness contest! Get cool things! Hurrah!
Lauren at Lauren’s Crammed Bookshelf asked me to participate in her Inspired Friday series. I wrote about Robert Cormier, whose work inspired me to pursue YA. Here’s the awesome cover of The Chocolate War as I remember it:
On Tuesday Secrets of Truth & Beauty was finally released. I went to visit it at my local Border’s, where the customer service people were so nice.
But, I could not just sit around and stare at my book — I had work to do! After Border’s, I went and gathered supplies to make chocolate goat cheese truffles and mini goat cheese cheesecakes for my launch party.
The launch party was the next night at RiverRun Bookstore in Portsmouth, NH. I grew up in that area, and it was great to have the event so close to “home.”
I could not believe who came. Many of my family, and friends, parents of friends. It was also great to see my high school advanced writing teacher, Kay Morgan. I wrote my first novel in her class, and she was a great teacher. The most important lesson she imparted was the value of active verbs. She came with the librarian from the high school, Mrs. Kentner, who very kindly gave me a copy of Because I Am Furniture by Thalia Chaltas. Thalia graduated from the same high school as I did, although we did not overlap.
Also in attendance, author Kate Racculia, whose debut novel This Must be the Spot was just purchased by Henry Holt for publication in Spring of 2010! Yay Kate! We were in a writing group together when I lived in Boston, and she was a reader of an early draft. Another author friend, Deva Fagan, who wrote Fortune’s Folly, also came. Here we are together:
I did my reading, answered some great questions, and then signed. It was very busy, and kind of went by in a blur, but I had a great time. People often ask when it felt real — when I really started to feel like an author — well, after the past couple of days, it’s finally seeming real.
Thank you to everyone who came or otherwise has supported me. Love to you all!
Earlier this week I mentioned that I had visited a literary landmark in Maine . . . and ate blueberry pancakes! Well here I am at the Empire Grill in Skowhegan, Maine.
When Richard Russo’s novel Empire Falls was turned into a miniseries, they filmed in and around Skowhegan and Waterville. The Grill was built just for the film, and then new owners purchased it and kept it going as a restaurant.
I’ve decided to do an occasional blog series on books and movies that have either influenced me or which I admire, and Empire Falls will be the first one.
When I read the book, I felt like I was visiting the town, and hanging out with the characters. When I had to put it down, I actually missed the place and people as if they were real. I’d have thougths like, “I wonder what Tick is up to today.” The characters were all flawed, but also all redeemable (to varying degrees) which is what made them so compelling to me.
My draw to the town itself was more perplexing. If I could have gone there, I would have, even though it’s a depressed mill town that just about every one was trying to get out of. What Russo did so well was create a sense of community. He captured the benefits and the drawbacks of living in small town New England.
So that’s the admirations part. What about the influences? Well, I can’t say that I had Empire Falls on my mind while writing Secrets. Rather, as I was thinking about Russo’s book this weekend, and why I liked it so much, it occurred to me that I was trying to create that same sense of community with Jezebel Goat Farm and Hollis. If there was an influence, it was subconscious. I think, rather, that my love of the book and the world I created come from the same place: a desire for more community. I wouldn’t be surprised if many of these admirations and influences posts have something to do with small towns in one form or another.