After Hannah Baker commits suicide, thirteen tapes in a shoebox show up on Clay Jensen’s doorstep. There are 13 reasons and 13 people on the tapes, all who have a connection (snowball type effect) that led Hannah to make the decision she did. Once the tapes are listened too, the next person in line receives the box of tapes.

It’s Clay’s turn and he’s unsure why his name is included at all.

I bought this book on a Friday afternoon, and by that Friday night, I had read the entire thing. I couldn’t help myself. Told in first person from Clay’s perspective, we follow along his journey as he listens to the tapes with Hannah’s voice and the map of their town she had slipped into his locker before she died. If you purchase the hardback copy, the map is included on the inside of the book jacket—a nice addition.

The emotions portrayed in the book are all over the place. Not only did I feel so much pain for Hannah and the rumor that started everything, but witnessing Clay’s reactions, his helplessness, is painful as well.  Now, the entire story isn’t a complete downer, if you will, especially since the topic is a horrible one. There are moments of lightheartedness as well. But it is the suspense that will keep you turning each page.

The writing is fantastic. Well done. The overall voice is strong and compelling. Now, I must admit I struggled a bit with the shifting between Clay’s thoughts (printed normal) and Hannah’s speaking on the tapes (printed in italics). It does take some getting used to, but don’t let that hinder you.

This book renewed my faith in the YA genre. It really did.   FIVE ANGELA STARS *****


Five Stars:    Loved it. Read it in one day; Couldn't put it down
Four Stars:    Liked it; Read it in a week; Good read; Entertaining
Three Stars:   It's ok. About a Month to read; Average story
Two Stars:     Didn't like it. Took longer than a month, but I finished it.
One Star:        Hated it.Took several months to read. Bored to death.

(All my reviews are based upon my personal feelings, regardless of past or present hype for the book. I don't believe in book bashing either and will do my best to fair in my review).

The objective of this blogfest is to write one 100-word sentence (with a 5-word leeway, so between 95 words or 105 words). You may use ONE semi-colon, if necessary. There is no genre. The only requirement is that you love it enough to post it on various social networking sites.

Check out You’re Write, Except When You’re Wrong for more blogfest details.

I wasn’t sure I could do it. I know I can be a windbag and talk, and talk and talk a person’s head off, but I’m pretty sure I throw some periods and question marks in there. I also know I have had to work at keeping my sentences short and sweet in my novels (in the beginning, I was known to write some lengthy sentences and I was highly reprimanded for them by class instructors).

So now, there is a blogfest to celebrate the very long, unnecessary sentence—THAT sounds like my kind of fun.

But could I do it? I wasn’t sure I could pull it off. I’m still not sure I did (breaking all sorts of rules to do it).

Well, you tell me.  What do you think? Here it is:

The blade caught the light, reflecting a cold glimmer across the watery surface which rippled with every miniscule movement I made, sending little waves to lick the sides of the bathtub while I breathed in and out in hopes of calming my twelve-year-old nerves that fretted in my chest as I held the plastic handle of the pink Daisy razor within inches of my bare, yet incredibly “Sasquatch-like” hairy legs—that’s what the kids at school call me—but I know I need to get on with it, make the first pass . . . so I can be just like the other girls.

I want an iPhone.

Or at least I think I do.

EVERYONE has one and my excuse for not getting one in all this time—Verizon didn’t sell it. I like Verizon and didn’t want to switch.

But now it’s here. Verizon has it. No more excuses.

Except . . . do I really need it? What will it do for me that my current little phone (which I can dial and call people with) doesn’t? I have no apps, and I need to know if I need them? Am I missing out on something grand? Am I behind the times or is it simply a need to feel like I’m keeping up with the Joneses?

I don’t text? I haven’t in all these years and have done okay. If I need the internet, I wait until I am home and use it on my laptop.

I have a digital camera. Do I need a camera on my phone? Do I need to check my email on the go? My facebook status?

I DO NEED IT FOR TWITTER! (That's something, but is it enough?)

Hmm . . . Do I need a smart phone or should I stick with my dumb phone?

What do you think?

Tell me why having an iPhone will change my life for the better and what I’ll be missing out on if I don’t.  Advice appreciated. And writers, what has it done for you?

Whenever I’m asked about what my current work in progress is about, I get slightly embarrassed. This is how a typical conversation tends to go:

Them: So whatcha writing now?

Me (cheeks flush red): Ummm . . . A zombie western romance for young adults.

Them: What?

Me: Yeah, a zombie . . . western . . . romance.

Them: That sounds . . . different. (Their way of saying, “You’re strange.”)

Me: (trying to make myself sound less strange): It’s really more of a romance set in the wild, wild west really, with only a sprinkling of zombies, not a lot, but enough. It’s actually quite fun to write.

Them: Sounds . . . fun. (Their way of saying, “You’re even more strange than before.”)

Me: I write other stuff too. More contemporary stuff, not just zombies. My other three books are more contemporary actually, like Lesley Kagen and Elizabeth Flock. That kind of stuff.

Them: Oh, tell me about those. (Now I’m back to just “strange” and not “strange-strange” and that makes me happy).

I need to learn to own my strangeness. Just embrace it and go with it. It is what it is, and the truly bizarre thing about zombie novels (something I didn’t know about until well after I started writing one) is that their HOT. People like their zombies. They do. (I bet you do too. Go on, admit it). From costumes, to movies, to the new show called “The Walking Dead” on AMC, to shirts and clothing—zombies are EVERYWHERE. Well, not literally everywhere. Their not real—duh? But you know what I mean.

So I shouldn’t be embarrassed. I mean in the hierarchy of paranormal creatures and writing, it goes something like this:

1)      Vampires (super big genre, but slowly losing momentum. How much more can we take, really?)

2)      Zombies (I’m biased here. I think their much cooler than the following. But like I said, I’m biased)

3)      Witches/Ghosts

4)      Aliens

5)      Monsters/Goblins

6)      Wicked clowns (clowns suck)

In an article in The Writer magazine, October 2010 issue, it says that zombies are the next BIG thing. Who knew? Not me. Not when I started. Jonathan Maberry goes on to say, “Nowdays, zombies offer greater storytelling potential than vampires . . . in recent years the vampires themselves have become the story. They are beautiful, tragic figures, and much of the writing is about them. Not so with the living dead. Except in a handful of zombie tales, the walking dead do not possess intellect or personality, and therefore all the writer has to do is establish that they are the threat. Once that’s done, the story can focus on the humans who are caught up in that threat.” He also says, " They allow the fiction writer to create and sustain suspense. They are a constant and pervasive threat. Blood and gore, however, is not absolutely required." 

That’s what I do. It’s not about the zombies. It’s about the people (the alive people). AND, I'm not a horror writer. so there's not a ton of blood and gore in my novel. It's actually quite tame as far as zombies go. The article even goes on to say that you don’t have to like zombies to write about zombies—their talking about me, folks.

So YES! I’m writing a zombie book and I like it. Think what you will (but I'd much rather you think kindly please).

Who knows, maybe it will be this zombie book of mine that will break down the door to publication and not my more contemporary works.

Now wouldn’t that be funny . . . Angela Scott, Zombie Writer Extraordinaire (I added the extraordinaire because I wanted to). Oh, and don't forget to check out my cool "Got Zombies?" tab above.

I have a confession . . . I don’t like reading Young Adult novels. (Gasp!) I know. I know. How dare I say this when I, myself am a writer for the young adult genre. Isn’t this contradictory?  Why would you say such a thing?

Well, first and for most, let me clarify that it isn’t that I don’t like ALL young adult novels, just pretty much the ones I’ve read so far (there could be some good ones out there, I’m sure). And without naming the books I’ve read (or currently reading), I will just say, for the love of Pete, make the characters interesting! Make me love them! Make me care about them! I’m currently in the process of reading two YA novels and I’m struggling, peeps. It’s more a chore than a joy to read them. I don’t care about these characters at ALL! I don’t care that the girl next door is a witch or that the sun has disappeared leaving a gray ceiling above. I just don’t care.

But I should, right? This is MY genre.

Maybe I’m going about this whole thing the wrong way. Because in my mind, I thought teenagers were smart, capable, imaginative thinking creatures who WILL pick on the fact that the romance is lacking depth and the plot is underdeveloped. They WILL notice if your character is boring, so you better make your characters as realistic as possible. And they WILL notice when the action pace crawls. Am I giving teenagers more credit than I should? Are they NOT thinking, imaginative creatures after all? (My son is a teen and yes, he is a creature so I can safely say this).

Teens are not stupid by any means. They’re not. But some of the dribble we’re feeding them scares me. If they can’t find well-developed, completely engrossing young adult novels, they will move on to the adult market in search of it, and the adult market is a scary place (though I do know YA is progressively becoming darker and is starting to tackle some pretty hard subjects).

Now, I know I need to read more, open myself up to the world of young adult novels and become less judgmental.  I have some good leads like “I Am Number Four .” I’ve been told it’s a great read from the first page. I will see (insert rubbing hands in a wicked kind of way).

Of all the YA books I’ve read so far, I can safely say I did enjoy The Hunger Games. That was well done. The pacing was great. Each chapter left me HAVING to read the next, which is a great writer’s trick. But my favorite character wasn’t Katniss (even though she is the main character). AND, I will say, I didn’t like book two or three nearly as much as I enjoyed book one.

So, if you have any suggestions for really good (I mean REALLY good) young adult reads for me, I’d love to hear about it. I’ll check it out and let you know what I think.

I’m technologically defunct. I know. My husband knows (he’s nodding his head right now). When I first started this blog almost a year ago, I thought it was scary. How do I do that? It’s too hard. I’m still trying to figure out what all the little gadget buttons do. Fancy phones with apps and text ability . . . wow. That’s all I can say. I balk at new technology. GPS navigational device—just write the address down on a piece of paper for me and give me directions. I don’t even know how to turn it on. I’m old school. And I can tell you right now, if you text me I will just call you back. I will. It’s easier. I’m not a texter. It takes too long.  Or I will text back O.K. Two letters is about all I can handle, and it will probably take me ten minutes to do.

Anyway, I’ve been playing around with this “blog thing” and FINALLY after all this time figured out how to add a followers button (thanks to a good friend who is super smart). I even started a Twitter account—I’m getting fancy now, so watch out. I kinda feel like a geezer wearing coke-bottle glasses pointing to a movie screen and saying, “I think that moving picture show is of the devil! It’s just another fandangled doohickey to get me to stop listening to my radio. Takes away the imagination, I tell ya. What’s the world coming to?”

Okay, maybe I’m not THAT bad, but I’m pretty darn close. When the kids have a problem with the computer, I tell them to go find their dad. And don’t even ask me how to work the remote control to play a DVD—that’s just a whole ‘nother language to me. I end up messing up EVERYTHING causing my husband to make me promise him that I will never touch it again—“Don’t even think about it, babe. Just say no.” Adding “tunes” to my iPOD just about makes me cry.

I am getting better though. I am. Really, I am. Look how far I’ve come in just a short time. I have a blog. I have a twitter account. I have an iPOD (and yes, I figured it out). I’m still not converted to the texting thing. Not yet. Maybe someday.  AND I have a followers button--a followers button! It only took a year.

Now, I know that most of you out there are following me through your Google reader, which is fantastic, but I’d sure love to see your little faces on the side smiling at me.  So click on the followers button and make me happy—makes me feel like I’m writing to real people and not just “imaginary, invisible” people. Also, by clicking on it, it makes me look less pathetic when it says I only have 1 follower (thanks Diana).

Write it, they will come.
Yeah, that just ain't happening. We are told as writers we need a platform, a way in which to promote and sell our work, and we're supposed to have it in place BEFORE we even get to the point of publishing our first novel. I say, what a pain in the hienie! That's a lot of pressure. And what do you do when most of your Facebook friends are more interested in building up their farmtowns and playing mofia wars than they are to listening to your writing dribble? (My friends love my writing dribble, right? RIGHT?)

Building a platform is a tough thing to do, especially with so many hopeful writers out there in the great big internet world trying to do the very same thing. So any information I can find I shall pass it along to you, my faithful writer/follower friends. (My non-writer friends, still follow me and love me despite my writerly ways).
Here is another link I found about why writers should build platforms and how to go about it (it has a little to do with the cartoon above, which is more accurate than you think). http://querytracker.blogspot.com/2009/06/building-your-platform.html

I still like my dermatologist even though I still think she’s spastic. I mean, last week I took my oldest son to see her for a follow-up for his own “dermatological issues,” and in walks our doctor dressed from head to toe (okay, maybe just neck down) in purple. Purple knitted dress. Purple tights. Purple high-heels. She’s young. She’s cute. She can get away with that, though I don’t think anyone else could.

Man, can that girl talk! She obviously has a ton to say, just like my last visit,  so most of the time I just nod and listen. Maybe I’m just getting old so all chatty young girls annoy me. I don’t know. So this second time seeing her (though not for myself) completely verified what I knew all along—Dr. Amy is kinda nuts. But that’s okay. I’m willing to give her a chance.

Anyway, I am four weeks into the search for the “Perpetual  Itching Angela” cure.  (Check out the 1/5/11 blog).  Dr. Amy took me off the prescription cream my previous doctor gave me and told me to take Zyrtec twice a day (twice the daily dosage), lather myself in moisturizing lotion and to cut my nails short.

Sounds good in theory and I have put it into practice, doing my very best. But well, it ain’t working. In fact, the itch has become worse, almost intolerable. I now have cuts, scrapes, and bruises (big bruises) from itching. I need the steroid cream! I do. I know it isn’t good for me, but I’m not sure what else to do. Oh, and by the way, the lab work came back negative. It’s not my thyroid or liver causing me to itch for the past seven years. I’m glad, but also disheartened. What the heck is it then? The mystery still goes on, dang it.

I’m hanging there, trying to make a full-blown effort to do everything my crazy doctor is suggesting. I use the moisturizing lotion. I take the Zyrtec even though it wipes me out. I think I will go back to Dr. Amy and see what she has to offer me at my next visit (in three weeks). I’m worried it’s neurological and she’s going to put me on the “crazy people pill” which takes away a person’s will to live (not literally, but makes you feel less energetic). I like my energy. I need my energy. But maybe I am crazy. No one seems to have the answer.

Actually, before the “crazy people pill” I think I will go check out a holistic doctor and see what he may have to offer me. I’m tired of itching. It would be so nice to feel comfortable in my own skin instead of wanting to tear it off all the time.

I just want to be normal! Well, as normal as I can get anyway (please don’t comment about the normal thing. I know I set you up. I get it. I do. But still).

I know I can use all the help I can get when it comes to building my writer profile/platform. Now days, it’s the thing to do. Almost a must have for any new author--You don’t have a platform? Then what’s wrong with you?

The problem? How does one go about creating a platform? How do you drum up traffic to your blog or website when the internet is THISSSSSS BIGGGGG? How?

Well, I’ve been spending a lot of time online researching this very thing and visiting various websites, commenting on blogs and getting my name out there (which is all good advice. I mean, how can you expect anyone to read or comment on your blog posts when you don’t put yourself out there and comment on others? Pretty profound, huh? I’m a smart cookie . . . okay, I read that advice, but still).

Well, in all my commenting and surfing around of blogs by other writers, I ran across this blog: http://rachaelharrie.blogspot.com/

She will be running a “Writer’s Platform Building Crusade” starting in February. It’s a simple concept really—uniting writers with other writers. It’s a great way to add followers to your site while making friends as well (I like new friends. Can never have enough. Bring on the friendship relationships. I’m ready). This is a way to pay it forward and get involved, and even learn a little something along the way from fellow writers who aspire for the same thing—publication and greatness (okay, I’ll settle for publication, but greatness sure would be nice too).

Anyway, check it out. Follow the link above and I’ll see ya in February to check out your blog and pay it a forward a little myself.