Cover Stories: Between Here and Forever by Elizabeth Scott

Elizabeth Scott has been here before to share Cover Stories (which I'll link to when melissacwalker.com is fully functional again--soon, soon!). Now, she's back with a beautiful tale of Between Here and Forever:

"I had no idea about the cover at all--when I'm writing, I never think what I'm writing will be published, so I don't think about it. I wasn't asked for input on the cover, but let me tell you, this cover was everything I had no idea I wanted--and MORE!

"When I first saw my cover, my exact thought, as written to my editor, was, 'OMG I LOVE it! It's so perfect and holy crap, the way it ties into Bloom is BRILLIANT!!!' (I tend to be very caps happy when I'm happy).

Read the rest of Elizabeth's Cover Story, and see the new paperback for her 2010 title, The Unwritten Rule, at melissacwalker.com.

Rgz Street Team: Sarah Reviews Between Here and Forever by Elizabeth Scott

The rgz Street Team is a group of teens who bring YA reviews to our blog, led by Postergirl Miss Erin. Find out more.

Today, Sarah reviews Between Here and Forever by Elizabeth Scott:

"I love Elizabeth Scott. Her books are always fantastic and surprise me in some way. Between Here and Forever was definitely amazing.

"Abby feels that she can't measure up to her sister, but I think that everyone feels that way about someone that they won't ever be as pretty or smart enough. She would do anything in order to wake up her sister and I adored her dedication to her sister. It was similar to what I would do for my sisters.

"She thinks that no one can see past Tess, but the whole time she was wrong. Tess had secrets that were uncovered and I found it sad that the person that Abby knew was not the person that she was..." --Sarah

See Sarah's full review of this book on Sarah's Random Musings.

Holly's NYC Teen Author Carnival/BEA/2K10 Pictoral!

What a trip! I (Holly) came home totally brimming with the wonder of meeting so many book lovers and bloggers and other authors - and a few pics!

First, there was the Teen Author Carnival, organized the amazing trio of Mitali Dave, Devyn Burton, and Korianne Wey. It was incredibly well done. There were tons of authors I've been hoping to meet, and they were there! Jeri Smith-Ready, Amy Brecount White, Lauren Oliver (Story Secrets), Sarah Darer Littman, Linda Gerber, Michelle Zink, Jon Skovron, and more...plus many, many bloggers I've been dying to meet: Kristi of The Story Siren, Shelli Johannes-Wells of Market My Words, James of BookChic, Steph of Steph Su Reads, S.F. Robertson of Wastepaper Prose, Chelsea of The Page Flipper, Erica of The Book Cellar, Pam of Bookalicio.us, Laura of I'm Booking It, so many more...and...

Sharon Loves Cats! I will always be devoted to Sharon (and owe her litters and litters of adorable kitties) for being the first to read, review, and declare her love for TELL ME A SECRET:




I was on the Love & Heartbreak panel. To my right: Simone Elkeles, Kieran Scott, Susane Colasanti, and Alexandra Diaz's gorgeous hair:

To my left, Sarah Ockler, Kody Keplinger, Elizabeth Scott (Story Secrets) and Gayle Forman (hiding!), and Heidi Kling:

And amazing audience #3!

The asked such fantastic questions, and we laughed a lot about the various forms of relationships in YA. Thanks to all of you for coming!

Then we headed downstairs for signings, and I gave away a ton of my TELL ME A SECRET 2-chapter previews. (I still have a bunch to give away at my blog before the 6/22 release!)

But the coolest thing was that when I visited my editor earlier that day, she gave me the very first copy of the very first book (from which I did my very first reading in the TAC panel!). I was quite excited to be holding a real, live copy of my own book, which awesome blogger Reverie Book Reviews captured:

I finally got to meet fellow readergirlz diva/amazing author Elizabeth Scott in person:

Caught up with fellow readergirlz diva/YA queen Melissa Walker:

And met the incomparable Barry Lyga - as smart and funny and nice as you would expect him to be (plus he just blurbed my friend Conrad Wesselhoeft's incredible book, ADIOS, NIRVANA for 10/10):

And the very cool and nice YA author Stephanie Kuenert (kee-nert, I now know!), whose writing I love:

Bravo to Mitali, Devyn, and Korianne for putting together such an incredible event - topped off by getting to go out with a bunch of the authors from the other panels, including Courtney Scheinmel, who I know think is probably a soulmate. I was too shy to say hi to Ned Vizzini (I loved Kind of a Funny Story...hi, Ned!).

The next day (after a very exciting, top-secret meeting with...ack, I'm dying to tell you! Soon...), I headed over to BEA. I forgot to take pics there, but I did do a drive-by of the garment district. Oooh, fabric!

Then there was the wonder-ous event at Books of Wonder (my new favorite NYC haunt) with the Class of 2K10! Check them out!

Here was the blow-your-socks-off 2K10 Roster:

SWATI AVASHTI - Split
ALEXANDRA DIAZ - Of All the Stupid Things
JERI SMITH-READY - Shade
JENNIFER R. HUBBARD - The Secret Year
KITTY KESWICK - Freaksville
JUDITH GRAVES - Under My Skin
JANET FOX - Faithful
BONNIE J DOERR - Island Sting
JAME RICHARDS - Three Rivers Rising
SHARI MAURER - Change of Heart
LEAH CYPESS - Mistwood
IRENE LATHAM - Leaving Gee's Bend
RHONDA HAYTER - The Witchie Worries of Abbie Adams
SHANNON DELANY - 13 to Life
ERICA PERL - Vintage Veronica
DENISE JADEN - Losing Faith

I was really excited to see my old friend Swati Avasthi (see her SPLIT Story Secrets here):

And fellow Circle of Secrets gal Jennifer Hubbard and her sizzling debut (Story Secrets here):

And(!) my dear and FAITHFUL friend Janet Fox (Story Secrets here):

And I snapped an adorable shot of Mitali from the Teen Author Carnival, who has to be one of the most brilliant and book-loving gals around. I told her when it was time for letters of recommendation, there will probably be 30 authors lined up to give her one!

It was especially cool to meet Shari Maurer, Denise Jaden, and Irene Latham, who I ended up hanging out with quite a bit. And all of the women in this post should join GLOP (Gorgeous Ladies of Publishing) stat!

On Wednesday, I headed to HarperMedia Studio, where I was interviewed for a video by my editor! They matted me up and chatted sci-fi and books and were quite patient with my lack of media savvy. The final product will soon be available at my HarperTeen site.

I loved meeting all of you and celebrating successes and YA admiration. That was the best part!

~Holly Cupala

rgz LIVE! Twitter Party with Elizabeth Scott!

Join us tonight for our first ever twitter chat with Elizabeth Scott, the winter Author in Residence. Ask her about her books, her video blogs for readergirlz...anything!

The chat will start live at the top of the hour over at twitter. Elizabeth Scott can be found on twitter at escottwrites

rgz LIVE! Twitter Party tonight with Elizabeth Scott!

Stop by twitter for a chat with Elizabeth Scott, author of THE UNWRITTEN RULE! Live chat at 6pm PST/9pm EST - see you there for our first ever rgz twitter chat! (Elizabeth Scott is on twitter as escottwrites).

Don't have a Twitter account? It's fast and easy to set one up!

At http://twitter.com, just click on the yellow "Give it a try" button to get started. All you will need is your name, a unique user name, and an email address. Add a password, and you're now on Twitter!

Search for readergirlz to begin following us and our tweets.

If you want others to see your posts ("tweets") during the chat, make sure the "Protect my tweets" box is not checked on the Accounts tab. If you want to get fancy, you can add a picture and customize your page in the Design tab.

Protect your privacy! No one can see your email address on twitter, but it's a good idea to choose a user name that doesn't give away your real name or location (especially if you are not an adult).


To join the Elizabeth Scott chat:

Click on the "Home" page and enter #rgz in the Search box. Our chat will come up, and you can jump right in! Be sure to include #rgz in your chat posts so that everyone else can see them and respond.

We'll see you there tonight!

May 2010 Newsflash: Win ABSOLUTELY MAYBE by Lisa Yee!

Dear rgz friend,

Thanks for helping make our third-annual Operation Teen Book Drop the best one yet.

• Thanks to the generosity of publishers, we delivered over 10,000 books to teens on Native reservations and tribal lands.


• 772 books were purchased by individuals to completely sell out the TBD Wish List. The books were donated to two tribal school libraries through GuysLitWire.


• More than 100 authors and friends left books in secret spots from Seattle to Madrid.

In short, it was awesome. Thanks to everyone—publishers, authors, editors, agents, bloggers, readers—for playing along. Thanks, also, to our partners: YALSA, GuysLitWire, and If I Can Read, I Can Do Anything.

This month’s featured book
We’ll be talking with Lisa Yee about her terrific novel ABSOLUTELY MAYBE. Set in Hollywood, it tells the story of a girl trying to make it in L.A. however she can. And because it is a Lisa Yee book, it’s hilarious, even as it touches on homelessness, abuse, alcoholism, and all manner of tacos.

We’ll be chatting with Lisa May 19 at 6 p.m. Pacific, location to be announced. Watch for the determination at http://readergirlz.blogspot.com to join the fun.

If you comment on our blog by May 5, we'll enter your name into a drawing for Lisa's novel.

Learn alongside our Author in Residence
We have loved having Elizabeth Scott as our AIR, and have learned a ton from the link roundups with really fantastic information for writers. If you want to know why characters need to suffer, what effect e-books will have on the printed ones, and how famous authors insulted each other with style, you have to continue the discussion on Elizabeth's blog.

Then, help us say goodbye to Elizabeth on May 3 at 6 p.m. Pacific, 9 p.m. Eastern. She’s been amazing, and we’re going to have a blast talking about THE UNWRITTEN RULE and what she’s learned as our AIR.

We’re definitely trying something new for this chat. It will be a TWITTER party! If you don’t have an account, sign up. Then look for us under the hashtag #rgz.

Our next AIR is Lisa Ann Sandell, author of A MAP OF THE KNOWN WORLD and other superb YA books.

Lisa starts the third week of May. We can’t wait!

Welcome to our newest diva!
Readers, we are thrilled to announce the addition of a new diva to our fold—one who has already been working tirelessly behind the scenes as our rgz media specialist and who will now take on the role of Social Media Diva. Please give a warm welcome to the witty, wonderful Martha Brockenbrough, author of Things That Make Us (Sic), the grammar guide which will have you laughing out loud! Martha is also the founder of National Grammar Day and SPOGG - the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar. Perfect, right?!



This month’s Postergirlz Picks:

LOOKING FOR ALIBRANDI by Melina Marchetta
BEIGE by Cecil Castellucci
GINGERBREAD by Rachel Cohn
NOTHING BUT GHOSTS by Beth Kephart
SOMETHING, MAYBE by Elizabeth Scott
GIRLWISE: HOW TO BE CONFIDENT, CAPABLE, COOL AND IN CONTROL by Julia DeVillers

This month’s community service project
826 National is a nonprofit tutoring, writing, and publishing organization. Kids between 6 and 18 can visit their local 826 chapter for tutoring sessions, writing assistance, free workshops, and more.

Hopeful writers should definitely check out the organization's opportunities for student publishing. High school students located in the Bay Area who love to write and are in need of financial aid may apply for college scholarships offered by 826.

The organization also has lots and lots of amazing volunteers who donate their time, energy, and expertise. 826 has locations in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Michigan, Boston, and Washington, D.C. If you live in or near any of these cities, you should definitely drop by in person and volunteer your time and/or share your writing!

*****

the readergirlz divas' twitter~
Martha Brockenbrough (@mbrockenbrough), Things That Make Us [Sic]
Holly Cupala (@hollycupala), Tell Me A Secret (June 2010)
Liz Gallagher (@lizgallagherliz), The Opposite of Invisible
Elizabeth Scott (@escottwrites), The Unwritten Rule
Melissa Walker (@melissacwalker), Lovestruck Summer

co-founders~
Dia Calhoun (@diacalhoun), Avielle of Rhia
Justina Chen (@justinaychen), North of Beautiful
Lorie Ann Grover (@lorieanngrover), Hold Me Tight


http://www.readergirlz.com/
readergirlz blog
rgz Twitter

Author in Residence Elizabeth Scott: Win a set of all my books!

Our second amazing Author in Residence, Elizabeth Scott, is a smart and hilarious writer who will be on the rgz team through April! Check out her mini-issue at the rgz website.

Throughout her visit, she will be cross-posting at the readergirlz blog. We are honored to have Elizabeth among us (look at that lineup of books!). Learn more about Elizabeth Scott and our author-in-residence position.

Here is the fourth, and last, of Elizabeth’s monthly vlog entries about writing, in which she answers reader questions what she does when she finish a book, including post-book rituals, how her drafts drop, on average, between 30-40% when she edits, and why editing (even though it can be painful) *is* a good thing.

Comment below for a chance to win a set of all of Elizabeth Scott's published books, including a copy of her upcoming novel, Grace, when it comes out in September!

Here she is:

Cover Stories: The Unwritten Rule by Elizabeth Scott

I read Elizabeth Scott's latest novel in one day last week while I ate gingerbread cookies and drank coffee and tried to avoid my revisions. What a treat! (You can win a copy of it, along with four other great titles, on I Heart Daily.) Oh, and check out Adele's review of the book to learn more about the inside.

Oh, and check out Holly Cupala's Story Secrets with Elizabeth, plus Elizabeth's latest Readergirlz Author in Residence video!

Here's Elizabeth herself to chat about the gorgeous purple cover!

"I didn't really have an idea for the cover. I just knew I wanted it be as pretty as my other Simon Pulse covers are!

[See two cover tries for The Unwritten Rule in this lineup of Elizabeth's other books (the bottom one is the final, just in different colors):]

"My editor and I talked about what would look good, and we both thought hands touching or passing a note might be cute. But it turned out that there was a much better picture out there!

"We looked at a lot (A LOT) of images before *the one* was found and we talked about all of them...."

Read the rest of Elizabeth's story, and see more trial images for the cover, at melissacwalker.com.

PS-Don't you love how Elizabeth and Simon Pulse let us share all these test covers?! They did it with Something, Maybe too. FUN.

Story Secrets: THE UNWRITTEN RULE by Elizabeth Scott

What a treat to have Elizabeth Scott, well-loved author of SOMETHING, MAYBE, BLOOM, PERFECT YOU and many more - and our second Author-In-Residence at readergirlz - here to spill her Story Secrets about THE UNWRITTEN RULE, which just released this week! (If you missed other Story Secrets, read them here!)

Welcome, Elizabeth!

*****

THE UNWRITTEN RULE is about a girl who falls for her best friend's boyfriend. As you can guess, things get really messy really fast, and although the story is a romance, it's as much about friendship and how complicated it can be as it is about love.


How did THE UNWRITTEN RULE come to you?
I actually came up with it when I was talking to my editor, Jen Klonsky! We were talking about high school and somehow we ended up talking about the things you weren't supposed to ever do--like liking a friend's boyfriend or ex-boyfriend. "It's like a unwritten rule!" I said, and then WHAM! The story just hit me...

Read the rest and see the trailer!

Author in Residence Elizabeth Scott: Win a Copy of The Unwritten Rule!

Our second amazing Author in Residence, Elizabeth Scott, is a smart and hilarious writer who will be on the rgz team through April! Check out her mini-issue at the rgz website.

Throughout her visit, she will be cross-posting at the readergirlz blog. We are honored to have Elizabeth among us (look at that lineup of books!). Learn more about Elizabeth Scott and our author-in-residence position.

Here is the third of Elizabeth’s monthly vlog entries about writing, in which she answers readers questions about the writing of her brand new novel, The Unwritten Rule! She talks about how she writes relateable characters and creates perfect guys.

Comment below for a chance to win a copy of The Unwritten Rule! (Elizabeth is giving away five copies!)

You can learn a lot from this awesome writer. Here she is: