In A Date You Can’t Refuse, by Harley Jane Kozak, greeting-card artist Wollie Shelley is made an offer she can’t refuse: the FBI wants her to be a cooperative witness and infiltrate the offices of MediaRex, as MediaRex’s newest “social coach”. In return, the FBI will ensure that Wollie’s brother, who suffers from schizophrenia, will continue to have a place at the federally-subsidized halfway house where he’s currently living. Everything’s going as well as can be expected for Wollie, until a coyote-chewed corpse turns up.

When I finished reading A Date You Can’t Refuse with a happy sigh, I was actually a little surprised that I enjoyed this book so much.

You see, a lot of things happen to Wollie from the moment she steps foot in the offices of MediaRex, a media-training company that teaches foreign celebrities how to handle living famously in America.

In novels where there’s a lot going on all the time, I tend to start feeling stressed and exhausted. Often, I get the feeling that the frenetic pace is forced, as if the author is worried that if there’s not enough “stuff” happening, readers will get bored and close the book. But it’s when things get too chaotic that I’m more likely to put the book down, never to return, or skim quickly past all the frenzy (and usually without really missing much when it comes to plot advancement).

Not so with A Date You Can’t Refuse. Wollie finds herself up to her eyeballs in stuff, but none of it ever feels forced. Yes, the pace is fast, but it all fits the story in such a natural way. And it was all really interesting, with lots of funny moments. Rather than feeling exhausted by all the action, I found I didn’t want to put the book down.

And here’s the main thing: I really liked Wollie Shelley. She’s smart, but vulnerable, too. And she doesn’t do anything dumb and out of character just to move the plot along (one of my pet peeves). She’s funny and endearing, the kind of woman you can see yourself becoming best friends with.

I also enjoyed Kozak’s secondary characters, and even found myself liking most of the suspects – Kozak has a knack for creating likeable and distinctive minor characters. The only characters I had problems with were Wollie’s two best friends, Joey and Fredreeq. Joey’s a sexy actor and Fredreeq’s a sexy soccer mom, and I kept getting the two of them mixed up. I liked them both, but they sometimes felt like they were the same person.

The plot has a lot of fun twists and turns and I didn’t figure out who-done-it before Wollie did. There are also some interesting side plots, such as Wollie’s wobbly relationship with her boyfriend, an FBI agent working undercover on another case.

All in all, I found A Date You Can’t Refuse to be a fun, fast and absorbing read with an endearing protagonist, a great cast of secondary characters and an interesting mystery. And because I stepped into this series with the most recent title, I’ve got a lot more to look forward to: not only Wollie’s next adventure but also the three previous titles in the series.

Where to buy A Date You Can’t Refuse:

U.S. (Amazon.com) | Indiebound | Canada (Chapters) | UK (Amazon.co.uk)

Review copy details: published by Broadway Books, 2009, trade paperback, 338 pages

After looking forward to The Word on the Street all week, we all ended up missing the entire event. On Saturday, with the colder weather and the rain, allergies began hitting us – not the tiny-sniffle type of allergies, but full blown sinus-pressure, drippy nose (you wanted to hear that one, didn’t you?), cough and non-stop sneezing type of allergies.

My older son, who, ironically, seems to have constant low-grade hayfever during late summer and early fall, was the only one who remained unaffected.

By the time Sunday rolled around, all my husband and I wanted to do was lie on the sofa with hot lemon tea and a box of tissues each.

The good news, though (I do love that there’s always good news): I ended up finishing up three books over the weekend, all of which I really enjoyed. Add to these books the handful of books I read earlier in September that I also enjoyed, and I can definitely say September turned out to be quite a good month for me, reading-wise.

I’ll be writing up reviews for most of this week, so stay tuned.

There’s one book that I started a couple of weeks ago that I haven’t been feeling like picking up again to finish. It’s The Mystery of the Third Lucretia, by Susan Runholt. I thought it would be a did-not-finish for me, because I haven’t been able to really get back into it.

I can’t think of any reason why I’m not that interested in it, though, after reading about two-thirds of it already: it’s a well-written novel, with a fun and smart teenage protagonist and what looks to be quite a clever mystery. The author does have a tendency to overuse the gothic “if I’d only known” foreshadowing device (it’s a personal thing with me – I tend to think that even once is too often – and she doesn’t use those exact words, but there’s a lot of “as it turns out, this was a really bad decision, but we didn’t know it at the time”), but I’ve overlooked it in other books easily enough; I don’t like “if I’d only known”, but it’s not enough to make me stop reading a book.

I am so enamored of Blue Balliett’s middle grade art mystery series (I wrote a couple of reviews back when I first started MsBookish – I raved about The Calder Game here and enthused about The Wright 3 here); The Mystery of the Third Lucretia, another art mystery but with teen protagonists, is really a natural read for me.

Since I can’t put my finger on anything about the book that’s putting me off, I’ve decided to finish it tonight. I’ve already read so much of it, after all. Plus, it’s gotten so many good reviews, and I’m pretty sure I added it to my TBR because I’d seen a good review of it in one of the book blogs I follow.

On the theory that, for once, I’d hate to miss out because of my reading mood, I figure I might as well give it another go.

Have you ever done this – thought that a book was a DNF for you, but decided after a while to pick it up again and finish it anyway? It rarely happens to me, but then again, I don’t often read that far into a book before thinking, this one isn’t for me.

This giveaways round-up post is a regular feature here at MsBookish so if you’re holding a book giveaway, let me know and I’ll include your giveaway in my next giveaways round-up post. I do need, however, the link to the actual giveaway post, and not just to your blog – and if you could indicate the genre, that would be very helpful, too (it can sometimes take me a while to decipher what genre the book fits into!).

A huge thank you to everyone who’s emailed me their giveaway information this past week.

There’s a nice variety of books being given away this week, and there’s a nice handful of international contests, too. As always, the giveaways are grouped according to genre, with a catch-all category of “All Other Fiction”. If you like paranormal or fantasy, make sure to also check under the YA category.

And after you’re done checking out all these great giveaways, please hop on over here and let me know your favorite words!

FICTION

Mystery/Thriller/Suspense

The Fashion Hound Murders, by Elaine Viets, at The Lipstick Chronicles (ends Nov 3) *note: this contest requires a photo entry

Ravens (audiobook), by George Dawes Green, at J. Kaye’s Book Blog (ends Oct 30, US and Canada)

The Tenth Justice (audiobook), by Brad Meltzer, at J. Kaye’s Book Blog (ends Oct 30, US and Canada)

Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Paranormal/Horror

Would-Be Witch, by Kimberly Frost, at The Book Resort (ends Oct 31, international)

Kitty’s House of Horrors, by Carrie Vaughn, at Popin’s Lair (ends Oct 7, US and Canada)

The Shimmer, by David Morrell, at J. Kaye’s Book Blog (ends Oct 30, US and Canada)

Ruined, by Paula Morris, at Bermudaonion (ends Oct 7, US mailing address only)

Witch Way to Murder, by Shirley Damsgaard, at The Book Resort (ends Oct 24, international)

The Dark Divine, by Bree Despain, at Windowpane Memoirs (ends Oct 22, international)

Glass Houses, by Rachel Caine, at So Many Books, So Little Time (ends Oct 5, international)

The Eye of the World, by Robert Jordan, and Mistborn, by Brandon Sanderson, at Macmillan (ends Sept 30, US only)

Tall, Dark and Fangsome, by Michelle Rowen, at My Guilty Pleasures (ends Oct 1, US and Canada)

Chick Lit/Romance/Romantic Suspense

Prince of Montéz, Pregnant Mistress, by Sabrina Philips, at Sabrina Philips (ends Oct 24)

Show no Fear, by Marliss Melton, at Bookin’ with Bingo (ends Oct 10)

Meggie’s Remains, by Joanne Sundell, at You’ve Gotta Read This! (ends Oct 3)

The Popularity Rules, by Abby McDonald, at Melissa’s Bookshelf (ends Sept 30, international)

Historical/Historical Romance

The Killing Way, by Tony Hays, at Passages to the Past (ends Oct 13, international)

The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova, at the following blogs: Peeking Between the Pages (ends Oct 24, US and Canada); Debbie’s World of Books (ends Oct 9, US and Canada); Starting Fresh (Oct 31, US and Canada); The Tome Traveller (Oct 21, US and Canada)

Highland Rebel, by Judith James, at Peeking Between the Pages (ends Oct 17, US and Canada)

The Day the Falls Stood Still, by Cathy Marie Buchanan, at Booking Mama (ends Oct 6, US and Canada)

The Earl Claims His Wife, by Cathy Maxwell, at A Book Blogger’s Diary (ends Oct 26, US only)

A Highlander’s Temptation, by Sue-Ellen Welfonder, at Starting Fresh (ends Oct 31, US and Canada)

Christian Fiction

The Real Enemy and The Last Word, by Kathy Herman, at Thoughts of a Sojourner (ends Sept 29, US only)

An Eye For An Eye, by Irene Hannon, at Thoughts of a Sojourner (ends Oct 4, US only)

The Night Watchman, by Mark Mynheir, at J. Kaye’s Book Blog (ends Oct 30, US and Canada)

The Real Enemy, by Kathy Herman, at J. Kaye’s Book Blog (ends Oct 30, US and Canada)

YA Fiction

Hush Hush, by Becca Fitzpatrick, at the following blogs: The Book Resort (ends Oct 31, international); My Thoughts … Your Thoughts? (ends Oct 13, US only)

The Everafter, by Amy Huntley, at Pop Culture Junkie (ends Oct 6, US only)

Fire, by Kristin Cashore, at Presenting Lenore (ends Oct 3, US and Canada)

The Hollow, by Jessica Verday, at J. Kaye’s Book Blog (ends Oct 30, US and Canada)

Ballad, by Maggie Stiefvater, at Angieville (ends Oct 1, US and Canada)

Give up the Ghost, by Megan Crewe, at the following blogs: Sharon Loves Books and Cats (ends Sept 30, US and Canada); The Book Resort (ends Oct 31, international)

Magic Under Glass, by Jaclyn Dolamore, at Jaclyn Dolamore (ends Sept 27, international) *Note: there’s also a prize for most referrals, so if you do enter, please let Jaclyn know that Memory referred you, since I discovered this contest on Memory’s blog, and I’m not entering the contest, so mentioning me doesn’t do any good!

The Dust of 100 Dogs, by A.S. King, at Stella Matutina (ends Oct 5, US and Canada)

Once A Witch, by Carolyn MacCullough, at Lauren’s Crammed Bookshelf (ends Oct 5, international)

The Swan Kingdom and Daughter of the Flames, by Zoë Marriott, at The Shady Glade (ends Sept 30, international)

Dreaming Anastasia, by Joy Preble, at Shooting Stars Mag (ends Oct 1, US and Canada)

Fire, by Kristin Cashore, at Melissa’s Bookshelf (ends Oct 3, US only)

Picture Books

The Listeners, at 5 Minutes for Books (ends Sept 30, US and Canada)

All Other Fiction

A copy of Her Fearful Symmetry, by Audrey Niffenegger. Devourer of Books has posted the full details here.

Christian fiction, YA and chick lit book prize packages, at Books, Movies and Chinese Food (ends Oct 5; Christian package is US only, the other two are US and Canada)

Loving Frank, by Nancy Horan, at Reviews by Lola (ends Oct 5, US only)

The Opposite of Love, by Julie Buxbaum, at Popin’s Lair (ends Oct 7, Canada only)

Rooftops of Tehran, by Mahbod Seraji, at J. Kaye’s Book Blog (ends Oct 30, US and Canada)

Going Away Shoes and Ferris Beach, by Jill McCorkle, at Bookin’ with Bingo (ends Oct 11, US only)

The Last Song, by Nicholas Sparks, at Bookin’ With Bingo (ends Oct 17, US and Canada)

Supreme Courtship, by Christopher Buckley, at the following blogs: Books and Needlepoint (ends Oct 16, US and Canada); Pudgy Penguin Perusals (ends Oct 4, US and Canada); Reading at the Beach (Oct 12, US and Canada)

Goldengrove, by Francine Prose, at The Bluestocking Society (ends Sept 30, US only)

The Demo Tapes Year 2 (ebook), by Susan Helene Gottfried, at Savvy Verse and Wit (ends Oct 9)

A Disobedient Girl, by Ru Freeman, at Musings of a Bookish Kitty (ends Sept 29, international)

NONFICTION

Momofuku, by David Chang and Peter Meehan, at Saveur (ends Oct 12, US only)

US National Parks Photo Challenge (win one of listed Lonely Planet books), ends Sept 29

Lopsided, by Meredith Norton, at She is Too Fond of Books (ends Oct 3, US and Canada)

Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms, by Jane Dorion, at Chocolate and Croissants (ends Oct 2, international)

How to Rule the World From Your Couch, by Laura Day, at the following blogs: At Home with Books (ends Oct 5, international); A Sea of Books (ends Oct 3, US and Canada)

Permission Slips: Every Woman’s Guide to Giving Herself a Break, by Sherri Shepherd, at the following blogs: Books and Needlepoint (ends Oct 15, US and Canada); My Guilty Pleasures (ends Sept 30, US and Canada); Reading at the Beach (ends Oct 15, US and Canada)

Traveling With Pomegranates, by Sue Monk Kidd, at Bookgirl’s Nightstand (ends Oct 1)

Be Beautiful, by Alice Hart-Davis and Molly Hindhaugh, at Chicklish (ends Oct 12, UK only)

Up for Renewal, by Cathy Alter, at Janel’s Jumble (ends Oct 1, US and Canada)

From now until November 1, in preparation for NaNoWriMo, I will be in full research mode for my NaNoWriMo novel. (Here’s my NaNoWriMo profile – if you’re participating, let’s be Writing Buddies!)

My research? Words! Lots and lots of glorious, gorgeous words, with perhaps a handful of more desolate words for variety.

I will be in full word-collection mode over the next five weeks.

What types of words am I collecting?

Mainly modifiers: adjectives and adverbs. Verbs and interjections, too. I’m not as interested in nouns, unless they’re abstract nouns.

I’m not looking for unusual words, either, although unusual is fine, too. Mainly, I’m building a random list, filled with a variety of words suggested by lots of different people.

So, what are your favorite words? Words that you always stop to admire whenever you see them, whether in a book, on a billboard, in a magazine. Words that make you smile, or laugh, or perhaps even sniff back a small tear.

I’d love to know, if you’d like to share! Please let me know in a comment, or send me an email. Don’t hesitate to tell your friends, too – the more words I collect, the better!

Update: This page wasn’t loading properly, but all is fixed now. Enjoy!

Anastasia Romanov, the daughter of the last Tsar of Russia, is believed to be dead by the world, but she is alive. And when she sleeps, she dreams …

Anne Michaelson doesn’t know much about Russian history; she is more worried about getting into a good college. But then the dreams start …

Dreaming Anastasia is a fun young adult fantasy that takes the reader back and forth from current-day Chicago to the time of the Romanovs, and throws in elements of a Russian folktale for added chills. I am so thrilled to have had the opportunity to interview Joy Preble, author of Dreaming Anastasia, about her writing process! Joy is so smart and funny (something that pops out at you right away if you read her blog); I hope you all enjoy reading her answers to my questions as much as I did.

I’m fascinated by writers’ processes, how each writer has such a personal way of approaching the writing of his or her book. Could you talk a bit about your own writing process?

JP: You mean after the ritual goat sacrifice, right? Just kidding. You know, it’s probably less of a process than a ‘ooh, I’ve got a spare twenty minutes here so let’s use it wisely rather than checking Facebook.’ But in terms of inspiration – each book I’ve written has come from a different place. Dreaming Anastasia came from both my fascination with the Romanovs and my sense that like me, I had this character who was aching for something to change her life.

Another novel that I hope you see fairly soon, developed from two things – the suicide of someone I knew, and my endless fascination for Texas high school football, spurred of course, by the fact that my son was an offensive lineman and his buddies pretty much sprawled on my furniture for a number of years, gossiping like a bunch of girls and eating me out of house and home. (One time at eating group – which rotated houses each week the night before the big game and involved the parents feeding groups of seven players – Jake and his buddies consumed over eight pounds of brisket, three apple pies, untold amounts of potato salad, a couple loaves of bread and at least a gallon of ice cream.)

A third book is a love story set with the back drop of a family bakery – not too different from the one my aunt and uncle ran in Chicago for many years. (Okay the family breakups and the main character’s crazy and disastrous love life is all from my head.)

[MsBookish notes: That is an amazing amount of food!]

Some writers like to outline everything, some like to outline a bit, and some like to just start with the first word and where it takes them. Which type of writer are you? Have you always been this type of writer, or did you try a bit of everything before you found your groove?

JP: I’ve tried and tried to be an outliner. But I’m just not. Mostly I start with either an idea or a character and kind of noodle around from there, writing bits and pieces and seeing what I have. At some point later – maybe thirty pages in – I do stop to create at least a rudimentary bullet point outline. Especially with Dreaming Anastasia, which has a mystery element to it, eventually I needed to know where I was going or I was going to write myself into a corner. Even with the other books that I’ve written now, there is always a point where I do have to know where I’m going to end up – with the caveat that I don’t have to really go there if the muse decides that I need to make a detour.

Do you have an writer’s rituals or writing quirks, things that you absolutely must do or have around you before you start writing?

JP: Nope. I know a lot of people who do, but I think because I began writing seriously while I was still actively parenting a high school aged son and teaching high school at the same time, I was thankful to carve out time to write wherever I could get it. If I stopped to brew up my half-caff latte with soy milk in my special mug first, I’d have used up the spare ten seconds. So I pretty much find that I can write on demand most days.

The original title for Dreaming Anastasia was Spark. Could you talk a bit about the change in the title? What inspired your original title, and what led to the new title?

JP: Well, to be perfectly honest, once money changes hands between you and a publisher, they can pretty much title it ‘Jo Jo the Crazy Boy Goes to Camp’ and you’ll probably say, hmmm, sounds good to me. That being said, the original title did relate to Anne’s magic as well as to the nature of her role in the story – she’s the ‘spark’ to move everything from the stasis that it’s been in while Ethan’s been searching for the girl who can rescue Anastasia. However, my editor ultimately felt that Dreaming Anastasia more clearly branded the story with its historical fiction element. People would know what they were getting. And honestly, it would match the cover art Sourcebooks had been playing with. Once I thought about it for awhile, I realized he was right. Plus, it really is reflective of the dreams Anne and Anastasia both have. So I do think it was easy to embrace the change.

[MsBookish notes: Dreaming Anastasia definitely gives the reader a good idea about the historical aspects of the book. It also has such a beautiful ring to it.]

In Dreaming Anastasia, the narrative voice changes from that of Anne, to Ethan, and then back in time, to Anastasia. What led you to use this narrative structure? Were there any challenges to switching between the three different voices as you wrote?

JP: Interestingly, I wrote the first draft of this novel in third person. But I always alternated between the voices of Anne and Ethan and Anastasia. At one point, I’d even contemplated Viktor having a voice as well, but I discarded that idea early on. Every time I attempted to tell the story any other way, I ended up at a dead end. Each character brings such a specific point of view to the telling that I just wanted the reader to have that. Anne is such a snarky, funny, contemporary voice. Ethan has more of the gravitas of history behind him, and he’s just so serious and earnest much of the time. (okay, plus hot) And Anastasia gets to have this sad, mystical quality to her telling. I loved having all of that collide, but I would be lying if I said it wasn’t challenging. Sometimes if I’d been away from the manuscript for awhile – such as the lengthy time between when I finished the final revisions and we finally headed into copy edits, which was a long number of months – I’d have to sort of warm up and just write dialogue between the characters for awhile until I knew I heard them. Anastasia was always the easiest to nail because she is so trapped in the past, more or less. And Anne is funny, although not nearly as funny as Tess. But she’s got that contemporary cadence that I hear every day. Ethan was always a little harder. I always wanted him to have something a little stiff and old-fashioned about him, even as he was trying to blend in. Sometimes that was tricky.

[MsBookish notes: Joy did an excellent job managing the three narrative voices; I can imagine how it could be tricky at times.]

What writers have influenced you the most as a writer?

JP: You know I don’t think there’s any one person who comes to mind but rather everyone. I think we all sort of stand on the shoulders of the greats, so to speak. Plus honestly, every writer I read rubs off in some way. So I guess the better question would be who hasn’t influenced me! I do think having studied the classics helps me get a sense of the roots of story telling. Those horrendously sad Greek tragedies. Shakespeare’s sense of the human condition. But I’m influenced by so much more than that. John Irving and Anne Tyler and what I see as her contemporary YA counterpart, Sarah Dessen. All three of those writers have taught me about what it means to be human as well. About the crazy patchwork of people that sometimes collide and fall in love or suffer or just live life large. JK Rowling taught me how to spin a tale over many, many volumes and make it work! So amazing. Judy Blume taught me that I need to reflect what it’s like to be sixteen even if someone might complain that it’s too edgy. That it’s important to honestly tell the story that needs telling. (Oh! I have such issues at school sometimes when teachers will tell students writing a personal narrative, “Well, if you can’t think of something, just make it up.” And sit there thinking, no! You are telling that student that his experiences, whatever they are, are not of value. That bothers me so much) And just so you don’t get the wrong impression, let me end this answer by adding that I’ve also learned a lot from television writers. I mean seriously – I think I owe a serious debt of gratitude to the Palladinos and their Gilmore Girls. And if Joss Whedon hadn’t combined westerns and sci fi in the late, great Firefly, I might not have had to guts to do a little genre bending myself!

[MsBookish notes: I for one am very glad that Joss Whedon  inspired Joy to do a little genre bending! I agree totally with Joy; television writers really are amazing. I’ve learned a lot about how to tell a riveting story from television, as well as the big screen. I love that Joy has included television writers as one of her influences!]

Thank you so much, Joy, for this wonderful interview!

To find out more about Joy and Dreaming Anastasia, visit Joy Preble. And make sure you stop by her blog, Joy’s Novel Idea – it’s a very fun blog, and she’s been sharing her publication journey there with her readers. You can also follow Joy on Twitter.

There’s no graceful way to post about this, so I thought I might as well let my Inner Drama Queen take over.

(If you have any pots and pans handy, feel free to bang on them and add to the general noise and ruckus.)

Are you ready?

I’M GIVING UP!

So, what exactly am I giving up on?

My reading challenges.

I CAN’T DO THEM. I REALLY, REALLY CAN’T DO READING CHALLENGES.

So this is my official notice that I have totally failed at almost all of the reading challenges I’ve signed up for, and my declaration that I will be exercising more discipline henceforth when it comes to all the gorgeous, glorious reading challenges that I just KNOW will be coming up now that we are in the final quarter of this year and heading into the new year.

And I’m trusting all of you to hold me accountable. From now on, if I find myself accepting another reading challenge, I will include in my post all the reasons why I will be able to succeed, and if I can’t think of enough reasons, I will not accept.

See, it’s not even that I’m not reading the books that I challenged myself to read. The fact is, I don’t have a clue whether I am or not.

There’s no getting around it. I just have a tough time keeping track of the books that I’ve read. And when I write reviews, I can never seem to remember to check on my challenges and see if the book I’m reviewing fits into any of the categories.

Take J. Kaye’s 100+ books challenge as an example. I’m pretty sure I’m on track to meet my goals for this challenge, but for the life of me, there’s no way I can list the all the books that I’ve read this year – I just haven’t kept track and can’t remember them all.

So this post is my not-so-graceful way of admitting that I simply fail at reading challenges – even when I’m technically fulfilling the challenges, I’m still failing them.

Sad, but true.

From now on, I’m only going to take on challenges that I know I will be able to meet; yes, I know this rather defeats the point of challenges but so be it. I might, for example, tackle a Betsy-Tacy reading challenge if I come across one (I’m sure I will). Or an Anne of Green Gables rereading challenge. But that’s the extent of it. No thrill of discovering new-to-me authors for me, no ecstasy of reading newly published books, no triumphant reading-across-the-finish-line posts.

As for my current challenges, I am letting myself stick with the following challenges:

The Harry Potter Reading Challenge

and

The Sookie Stackhouse Reading Challenge

And now, as gracefully as I can after admitting to so many stupendous reading challenge failures, I will exit this post …

Molly at My Cozy Book Nook has a great post about why she writes in books. I myself don’t tend to mark-up books as I’m reading them, but it’s not because I feel any sort of taboo about writing in a book; I just never think about doing it.

One interesting result of participating in the recent BBAW reading meme is that I want very much to remember to occasionally write in a book now. I’m one of those people who actually likes to find books at used bookstores that have been marked up – it’s like getting two enjoyable things for the price of one.

Molly’s post is really wonderful, giving readers an insight into why she writes in books, what books she does write in, and how she does it. In her BBAW reading meme post, she also gives a link to Mortimer Adler’s essay, “How to Mark a Book” (link goes to a pdf file).

After reading Molly’s post, I got to thinking about my own relationship with books. From an outsider’s perspective, I suspect I look like I have quite the cavalier attitude when it comes to my own books.

I dogear like crazy, unless I happen to have the opportunity to read a book through from beginning to end in one sitting. I have no compunction about breaking the spine of a book that otherwise stubbornly refuses to shift into a more comfortable-feeling position in my hands. And I’m a snacking reader. I grew up munching on apples as I read (I can remember feeling quite fond of Ariadne Oliver, the apple-eating mystery writer who shows up occasionally in Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot novels).

Note: If you’ve lent me a book, though, not to worry – I only do this kind of thing to my own books. Honest.

The books in my house that are the most comfortably-used-looking also tend to be the most well-loved. A crease in the spine means I’ve read the book; several creases? I loved it. Fold lines in page corners are reminders of when I had to put the book down; they also mean I intended to pick it up again. I like comfortably used books the same way I love old wood furniture, whose lines and markings suggest so much more – a history of every day events, impressed into the wood as time marches by.

The tactile feel of a book, its pristine pages, that new book smell – all of that is lovely (there’s nothing much better than wandering around a bookstore, picking up books, feeling their newness, the smoothness of their covers). But when I look at a book I’m about to read, I’m never really seeing its cover, its bulk, its physical aspects. Instead, I see the story, one that might (or might not) grab hold of me and take me along on a gorgeous, glorious ride.

The anticipation! Each one just might very well be that next truly magical read.

I’m also very fond of giving away books when I’ve finished reading them. If I think you’d like a book I’ve read, you’re not going to be able to leave my place without that book in your hands. I never keep track of who I lend my books to, so when friends come over with a book I’ve lent them previously, it’s like an unexpected surprise.

Of course, if I really do want a book back, I say that, too. But usually it doesn’t matter one way or the other to me.

There’s no pressure to read it, either. Since I usually don’t remember who I’ve lent a book to, you’re not about to get a phone call or email from me saying, “Well? Was I right or was I right? Didn’t you just LOVE it?”

I kind of figure if the book’s meant for you, you’ll love it. If not, you won’t. Neither will I cross your name off my friendship list if we don’t share the same taste in books.

Mind you, none of what I’ve said above applies to my art books and other “coffee-table” type books, or to non-fiction. Non-fiction books are my reference library, so I need to keep them on hand. And big glossy colourful books get the museum treatment around here. I like to pour over them, and revel in the colour and feel of the pages, and yes, sniff appreciatively that new-book smell that never seems to fade. And I keep them, rather than lending them out.

What about you? What kind of relationship do you have with your books?

For the Harry Potter Reading Challenge, I decided to re-read the Harry Potter series in audiobook format.

I’d just like to pat myself on the back now, and say, “Good decision, Belle”.

I’ve always had a sort of strange envy for people who decided to start reading the Harry Potter books after book seven was published. I think to myself how delightful it would be to have that opportunity to sit down, new to Harry’s wizarding world, and polish off the entire series from beginning to end, one lovely book after another.

And now, listening to the books in audio, I feel like I’m getting the chance to experience the books that way, too. (Well, almost, anyway.) Jim Dale, the narrator of the Harry Potter audiobooks, is a superb narrator;he ably brings each story to vivid life, and I find myself caught up in the books almost as if I didn’t quite know what was about to happen.

I normally listen for an hour or so before bed, and it’s like my own personal bedtime story. Once again, I find myself drawn into Harry’s story, and there’s just such a good feeling when I come to the end of one book, and know that the next book is there for me, waiting for me to start it.

When it comes to audiobooks, I have a tendency to favor books I’ve already read before. That way, there are no surprises. I know beforehand that yes, I do like the book (and no, there aren’t any scenes that are too intense for me to handle in print, much less in audio, where you can’t flip through the next page or two, eyes closed).

So the books in the Harry Potter series are perfect for an audiobook re-read. Although they’re pricy (and I noticed that Audible isn’t currently carrying them, either), I discovered that my library has a few copies of each volume.

Audiobook bliss. That’s about all I can say.

And the Harry Potter challenge is definitely one that I will be completing (I’m afraid I’m going to have a generally woeful post coming up soon about the state of my reading challenges). So far, I’ve listened to Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (that’s the UK title) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (finished that last night, smiling all the while at Dobby’s reward). I also started Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban last night.

One thing, though: I do find that the images in my mind resemble to a great degree the images I remember from the movies. If you’ve re-read the Harry Potter books, do you find this happening too?

I was just over at BBAW and there’s a massive list of Book Blogger Giveaways there – many of them are still open, so rather than re-invent the wheel this week, I thought it would be smarter to just point everyone over there to take part in BBAW giveaway fun.

Okay, yes, I was also feeling a bit lazy. It’s been quite the busy week around here, and I’ve been having fun with the BBAW daily writing prompts and visiting as many new-to-me bloggers as I could. Anyway, I should be back to normal by next week’s Sunday Salon, so if you’re holding a book giveaway, let me know and I’ll include your giveaway in my next giveaways round-up post.

NaNoWriMo, Anyone?

We’re nearly into October already, so I’ve decided to start getting ready for NaNoWriMo over the next several weeks. I also decided to create a new user account, since my last one was affiliated with my personal blog and I never did much with it other than update my daily word count.

This year, I’m hoping that a lot of the bloggers I know now because of MsBookish will be participating in NaNoWriMo; I’d love to have some writing buddies. Here is my profile page – if you’ve joined, or are joining, log-in, cruise over to my link and add me as a writing buddy!

If NaNoWriMo is new to you, here’s more information:

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It’s all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that’s a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

So, what am I planning to do to get prepared for NaNoWriMo before November 1? As some of you know, I’ve been working on finishing up the few final scenes for my current work-in-progress, NANTUCKET (or maybe, not-working is a better phrase, since I’ve been procrastinating finishing up my first draft ever since the end first came into sight three weeks ago).

I am aiming to finish NANTUCKET this coming week – I’m going to go back to my “half an hour of writing a day” goal which worked so well to get me started and kept me writing. And once I’ve finished, I want to keep the writing habit, so I’ll be starting a new novel right away.

My timing, though, isn’t so great. The novel you work on for NaNoWriMo is supposed to be a totally new project, something you’re starting just for NaNoWriMo. So in addition to starting my next novel, I’ve decided to start working on character sketches for my NaNoWriMo novel, too. The book idea I’ll be working on in November is a children’s book; it’s an idea that I’ve had for several years now, but while I have the concept, and the two main characters, I need to flesh things out a bit more before I can sit down and write.

I won’t be doing any outlining – I’m more of a pantser, rather than a plotter. But my idea for the book involves chapters that deal with separate stories about different characters, all linked together by the two central characters and the main concept. I’m not going to try and come up with each of these separate stories, but I’d like to try a somewhat different approach than I normally take, and discover first the characters who will be populating my fictional village before I start writing.

My hope is that I’ll have a nice batch of characters to draw from, and from there, I’ll be able to sit down on November 1 to that blank page, and find out whose stories I’ll be telling, and how they’ll all be related.

If you’re a writer, or have been thinking about writing a novel, I hope you’ll sign up for NaNoWriMo, too – I think it’s going to be so much fun this year, and even better, we’ll all have a first draft, or most of a first draft, when we’re done!

"What if your mother was a criminal? What if her crime was magic? What if magic ran in the family?" This is the intriguing premise of Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse, a middle grade fantasy novel written by Kaleb Nation.

Kaleb initially got the idea for Bran Hambric when he was fourteen years old; he wrote almost five hundred pages of the book in six to nine months, and then over the next four years, he rewrote the book multiple times. The result? A fun and fast-paced read that middle graders who love magic and fantasy will be sure to enjoy.

I had the opportunity to interview Kaleb about his writing process. It was fun and exciting to learn about what went into the writing of the book, and I hope you all enjoy this interview as much as I did!

In an interview with Sourcebooks, you talked a little about how the idea for Bran Hambric came to you. When you began writing, were you writing toward an ending that had already come to you, or were you writing to find out where your idea was leading you? Can you describe how your original idea grew to become Bran Hambric?

KN: When I first wrote the story, I didn’t really plot it out much. All I had was a big idea, and I knew basically where it was going and who it would include, and what happened to some of the characters at the end. So as I wrote the book, many of the characters totally surprised me! I think I wrote about 5-600 pages in the six months following the first big idea. After I had all of that, I rewrote the book many times over the following years, until it was transformed into the book it is today.

You originally wrote 500 pages of the book in six to nine months. Could you describe your writing process during the writing of this first draft? Did you outline, or did you just start writing and let the story tell itself to you? Did you develop your characters first, or did they develop as you were writing? What were some of the things that drove you to write that first draft?

KN: I didn’t outline it much with the first draft: I really just wrote it out for a long time, and kept going with the characters leading the way. I did get stuck somewhere, and at that point I started plotting out bits and pieces of the book, just so I had a road map of where I was going. It was very much character driven for that draft though.

You spent six years working on Bran Hambric. I’d love to learn more about your editing process, the ways you refined your initial draft into the completed book. Did you have an "aha!" moment, when you knew the book was complete?

KN: I had a strange editing process. For the first few years, I just kept rewriting the entire book, and I’d get so far in it, then suddenly go back to the beginning and start over editing there again! I am a perfectionist when it comes to writing, so I wanted the beginning to be really clean. I didn’t really have an "aha!" moment when I realized the book was finished, because I wasn’t even really sure it was: but I was ready to start hunting for an agent, so I sent it off!

[MsBookish: Just wanted to stick my nose in and say that Kaleb definitely accomplished a very clean beginning - the prologue that starts Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse is incredibly exciting, and pulls you right into the story.]

There is a lot of humor woven throughout Bran Hambric. Can you talk a bit about the humor in the book?

KN: I think my humor is derived from a lot of the radio dramas I listened to when I was very young, especially shows like Adventures In Odyssey and Jungle Jam And Friends, and from my dad, who was always making us laugh as kids. I think that having humor in a book makes it a far more enjoyable read!

Other than Bran Hambric, which of your characters did you enjoy writing about the most?

KN: Sewey was my favorite character to write about other than Bran. Sometimes even I find myself laughing as I write about his antics. He’s one of those characters that takes over the scene, so that it’s not like I’m even writing it at all, I’m just trying to keep up with what he’s doing.

[MsBookish: Sticking my nose in again to say that Sewey is very definitely a fun character; Kaleb has caught him so vividly, and I’m not at all surprised that writing the scenes with Sewey in them was more a matter of trying to keep up with what Sewey was doing!]

What are you working on now? Do you find your writing process is different than it was when you initially wrote Bran Hambric?

KN: I’m working on the sequel to The Farfield Curse right now. My writing process is quite different than with the first: far more organized, with a good amount of plotting and notes. That way I don’t have so much trouble with writer’s block… and I don’t take six more years on this one!

[MsBookish: I’m very glad to hear this, because I think once readers have read Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse, they’re going to be looking forward to the sequel.]

What authors have influenced you the most as a writer?

KN: Lemony Snicket! I think his humor has affected mine greatly, because I loved his books growing up.

[MsBookish: I thought one of the most engaging things about Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse was the humor – it added such fun to the excitement.]

Thank you, Kaleb, for taking us for this behind the scenes look at the writing of Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse!

You can read more about the book at Bran Hambric and visit Kaleb Nation at his blog, Kaleb Nation. He is also the Twilight Guy, and if you enjoy videos, be sure to visit his YouTube channel. And that’s not all! Kaleb’s composed a soundtrack for Bran Hambric, and you can listen to some of the tracks here!