Social Media

Maybe you've seen this book trailer for Socialnomics by Erik Qualman. I was in a workshop on Friday on Social Media and the presenter showed it. I haven't read the book, but the trailer floored me.



How well do YOU do social media?

The video gets a little cut off--here's the link if you'd prefer: Social Media Revolution.

ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS by Stephanie Perkins

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


From Goodreads:

Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris—until she meets Étienne St. Claire: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he's taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home.
As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near-misses end with the French kiss Anna—and readers—have long awaited?

***
I've seriously been hearing good things about this book since it came out. But I wasn't expecting to LOVE it the way I did. It's just a good, sweet, young adult romance. Filled with teen angst and first love. Good (nice) characters, cute (nice) boys, and real friends--there were some mean girls too, but it felt real. No car crashes, no crazy twists. Sound like it could have been boring, right? NO! Stephanie does a great job getting inside Anna's head--I loved her. I want to be her friend. I don't normally reread books, but this one almost makes me want to start over at page one.

Oh yeah, and I want my YA novel to be on the shelf next to this one. I want my YA novel to be this book's BFF.



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Unintentional Beginnings

So yesterday I had a fabulous lunch with a good writer friend. We talked about writing, our kids, our lives. In some ways it felt incredibly decadent. Maybe because she made me an awesome gourmet salad and served me iced cappuccino.

On the way home, I passed a truck driven by a very old friend. Someone I haven't talked to in ages. Someone I miss a lot. I briefly thought about turning around to follow, but thought better of it. I came home and wrote these words on Twitter:

I saw a ghost today. Driving a white pickup truck. It made me cry.

I wasn't expecting the following comment by @KevinTCraig in reply: "Great beginning for a novel!!! Just sayin' :-)" (Thanks, Kevin!)

I wasn't thinking about writing the beginning of a novel. I was just emoting. And now I'm thinking.

How do you get new ideas? And more importantly, what do you do once you get one?

School Photo Day

KB over at Keenie Beanie initiated SCHOOL PHOTO DAY for blogs. And I decided, it sounded like fun.

Any way, here's my senior picture. :)

And four years later, my college graduation picture. Not sure why I didn't smile. 

That was the closest thing to "big hair" that I ever had. And I was totally blind--but too vain to wear my glasses.  All in all, though, the college one looks a lot like I do now. Anyone want to take a guess how long ago it was?

:)