A Lingering Kiss for Valentine's Day

In Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other.  Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past . . . and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack.  And Isabelle, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole.

At turns harrowing and euphoric, Linger is a spellbinding love story that explores both sides of love -- the light and the dark, the warm and the cold -- in a way you will never forget.

Comes out in stores everywhere July 20th. Pre-order here.

Enter to win an advanced review copies of LINGER, Sisters Red, The Dead-Tossed Waves, and The Replacement on Maggie's blog.


The sequel to Shiver, my latest favorite book. So far, Shiver has captured everyone who I have forced it on. It's fantastic, and you should read it. Like, now.


What are you doing? Are you reading it yet?

How To Be Original in an Unoriginal World

Isn't that the question we all consider at some point? Nothing ever seems to be original these days, even our own thoughts. And how is that possible? Are we all robots, programmed to think the same or similar things? Jeez, I don't think I'm a robot. Well, at least I hope I'm not a robot.

Anyways, this thought has been haunting me for the past several days. Why, you ask? I know you all think the blog writers here are the greatest thing since sliced bread, but alas, my friends, depression has fallen upon us. It appears someone has been leaping into our minds and cutting out little details, then larger details and has put them all into a book. It's so sad. So. Sad.

Now, before you grow too concerned, let me assure you: we will be just fine. Changes will be made, spirits will be lifted, and horizons will be run at full speed on a galloping horse (ok, that last one was silly, but I couldn't help myself).

But, back to the originality of the universe, or rather, books and ideas. It sucks when you read something or see a movie and you're all, "SH*T GUYS, I'm writing a book on that RIGHT F*CKIN' NOW!!" So, what's left to do but slam your head into a wall and sleep for two days? Ok, well, that's not the healthiest reaction, but I can't help it.

But, today I have decided on taking a different approach. In order to regain my confidence, I looked up some famous quotes by people supposedly smarter than I on the subject of being original and the like.

We'll start with the most depressing, then work towards the inspirational...always nice to leave off on a good note.

"About the most originality that any writer can hope to achieve honestly is to steal with good judgment." ~Josh Billings

...Now that just sucks. It's kinda funny, but kinda not at the same time. I see what the guy is saying, but it still makes me sad. If you're gonna take someone else's words and ideas, you might as well be classy about it. I'm sure there are plenty of examples of how NOT TO do this in the world. I would love to involve FOX in this category some how, but my brain seems to be missing and I can't come up with anything.

"All my best thoughts were stolen by the ancients." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

...I like the way this is phrased better than the first quote. I like placing the blame on other people, cuz let's face it: I lack the balls to take responsibility for when my stories turn up in things that have already been published, I'm a child and I WILL throw a fit. or...OR I can just start a rumor that the "ancients" were all time travelers and actually stole all my ideas, brought them back in time and used them first. ... ... ... I told you I was a child.

"I'd rather be caught holding up a bank than stealing so much as a two-word phrase from another writer." ~Jack Smith

...True. I'm no plagiarizer. I have my own words to use, and I definitely will. Plus, it's always fun to make up words...I really like pissing off the Microsoft Spell Check.

"An original writer is not one who imitates nobody, but one whom nobody can imitate." ~Chateaubriand, Le Génie du Christianisme

...I think there are double negatives in there, but the point has been made. You can be influenced, but also try to be an influencer. See? Made up word. Awesome.

Now we move onto the section where I rant about how this quote totally blew my mind, and how it will single-handedly revive me into writing like a crazy person for the next six months.

"Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass." ~Anton Chekhov

...Hell yeah. It's about the challenge. You think things one way, just like everybody else, but the challenge is to say them in a different way. I think that is what I like most about writing. Everyone sees that the moon is shining brightly, but not everybody notices how it sparkles off the broken glass beneath their feet.

Isn't that why we all hate procedural cop shows? I think it is. Well, hold on. Not everyone hates procedural cop shows. I only watch one, myself, and it's Castle, because getting my Nathan Fillion fix each week is muy importante.



But most of them are so unoriginal, which makes watching them incredibly boring. Usually, I can't figure out Castle till the last twenty minutes or so. Last night, however, I had a stroke of luck when my brain decided to leap into the future and bring back the plot without even trying. I don't know how I knew it was all going down, but I did. The best part was that when I looked at my sister, and told her how it was going to end, she didn't believe me, because it sounded too crazy. Not even Castle spewed out the story line during the episode as he does sometimes being the author he is and all.

I'm not going to do any spoilers about it, because I'm awesome. Oh, by the way, if you don't watch Castle, you really should. The people on TWOP even like it (even though they don't do recaps, boo). Besides, its Nathan Fillion saying/doing ridiculous things, which is awesome.

Alright, this post is long, and I'm feeling inspired. Off to the magical lands of typing and staring I go!!!!!!!!!!!

aha!

Workin' For A Livin' ...

So, I decided this morning that I really do hate my job, and everything (except for my "off time") that it entails. Wanna know something else? I hate it most on Fridays. Don't call bullsh*t on that either, because I know you think everyone hates their job most on Mondays. NOT TRUE, I say!

I hate it most on Fridays because the weekend is so close, and I.Just.Want.To.Go.Home. ... ... ... or out, or to a movie, or ANYWHERE BUT WORK. It's true that I don't care for Mondays, but I don't HATE them.

I am also aware that I don't have the crappiest job on the planet either, there are must worst professions out there. In fact, I have had a few worse jobs in my past that I would never EVER consider going back to. Example one: working at Target. ::shiver::

However, for today's entry, I will discuss the worst jobs in the history of the world in order to bring a little levity to my situation, and hopefully some humor to your day (I know you are like me and like to laugh at the expense of others, or you wouldn't be reading this blog in the first place).

1) Flatulence Analyst. That's right! You can be hired to sniff people's gas all day in order to study the health of their intestines. I'm not kidding, it's real. I can honestly say I would rather work at Target than smell people's butts. And that, my friends, is really saying something.

2) Carcass Cleaner. You know all those displays in places like the Field Museum of the dead animals that have been stuffed? Well, somebody has to do it. If you don't want to know how they do it, then don't keep reading this paragraph... Sometimes they boil them which can release noxious fumes (sometimes causing lung infections and skin breakouts), or they stick a stink bomb into a large aquarium and let the maggots pick the bones clean. Then there is the time honored traditional way of rolling up your sleeves, and delicately removing the slime and entrails the way you’d debone a chicken. Lovely. Gross.

3) Poultry Processor. This is actually a lot like the previous job, except you aren't stuffing after taking out the insides of the chicken. I guess the entire process only takes a few minutes, which leaves you unstuffing hundreds of chickens in a day. Ew.

I could keep going, but this is getting really gross, and of course there are the classics like Garbage Collector, Sewer Cleaner and anything else Mike Rowe has done or talked about on Dirty Jobs.

Wait a second. Perhaps Mike Rowe has the worst job ever, because he does all the other worst jobs for his job. God, that really sucks. Somebody should give that guy a cookie.

Speaking, of tasty treats, it's been a while since I gave my readers one. Here ya go!

In honor of Dear John coming out this weekend, I give you Channing Tatum!




aha!