We are Thankful For...

Tina and I are thankful for our wonderful YA Fresh Friends who visit us every week! Happy Thanksgiving to our US friends and we will be chatting with you all very soon. :)

~Kelly & Tina

Midnight Movie Madness

I have been hearing about people going to the midnight debut showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows last week, and how much fun they had.


Making me realize I've never been to one of those fan-tastic midnight movie events, and considering I tend to wake and fall asleep early, it is possible that I never will.

So I thought I'd turn to our YA Fresh readers for the deets. Have you ever been to a midnight theater premiere of a long-anticipated movie? If so, which one, and how did you like it? And if not, do you plan to give one a try?

Kidlit Critterpalooza!

For over a year now, Critter, the creation of artist Ian Sands and the brainchild of children's book writer, Christy Evers, has been traveling the world, meeting many talented writers and authors and exploring where they live. At each stop he learns more and more about KIDLIT and the importance of literacy and creativity.

Remember when he went on a college adventure with me? Here he is--in my hand--in front the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Sports Center:


Critter has been to rock concerts, national landmarks, a palace, college, attended his first SCBWI conference, walked among giant redwoods, and met the world famous artist, Robert Bateman. Now that his journey is coming to a close, it’s his hope that you will help him celebrate over at The Bookshelf Muse. His new hosts, together with old hosts, have teamed up to create the Kidlit-inspired event, Critterpalooza! and you’re invited!

There are many prizes to be won--including a signed set of my own books--all in the spirit of helping Critter celebrate creativity within our KIDLIT community, and to raise awareness for his charity, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.

I hope you will check it out and give that little cutie your support!

Welcome to Christy Raedeke

I met debut YA author Christy Raedeke a couple years back through a fellow writer on Facebook, in a Scrabble game. She's a very strong player, I must say, and now that her first book, Prophecy of Days-Book One: The Daykeeper's Grimoire, is on book shelves, I can attest that she's a very strong writer, too!


Hey, Christy, so glad to have you here.

Thanks so much for inviting me to YA Fresh. I loved meeting you at a Facebook Scrabble game--the power of the internet to connect word lovers everywhere cannot be underestimated!

Could you please tell us a little about your writing background and how you made your first sale?

After majoring in journalism in college, I worked in high-tech Marketing and PR, but always loved fiction and continued to take classes at night and on weekends. I was kind of focused on the short story and didn’t think I had a book in me—-little did I know the book inside me would be so big I’d have to break it in two and sell it as a series!

I met agent Laura Rennert at the Big Sur Writer’s Workshop that the Andrea Brown Literary Agency puts on every year (best workshop out there, in my opinion!). Laura was one of my “faculty” and I was workshopping the book that would become Prophecy of Days. I left with great direction on how to tweak the book, so I went home and worked on it for a few weeks and then sent it back to her. She signed me and then the real revision started!

Andrew Karre was at Flux at the time, and it was he who acquired the book. I was elated. After several years, my dream had come true--I was going to be published! As soon as it hit me that people might actually read the book, the terror set in…


Yep, know that terror well! Now, readers and writers often like to get a behind the scenes peek of an author's writing routine. It would be great if you could please share your typical writing day schedule.

Sadly, “typical schedule” could never be used to describe my writing time. When I was writing Book I of Prophecy of Days, I was home with young children and I would write while they napped or were at preschool. Last year when my youngest entered elementary, I went back to work in the world (and oh, how I missed my writing cave!). I still had a lot to do on Book II after I started work, so I’d write at night and on weekends. It’s most helpful for me to go away for a weekend and do a huge number of pages—I prefer to really get in the groove and crank stuff out. If I have to I’ll do an hour here and an hour there, but mostly I write when I know I have at least 2-3 hours in front of me.

Please tell us about your novel, Prophecy of Days-Book One: The Daykeeper's Grimoire, and what we can expect from your characters.

Hmmmm. Well, I suck at the mini-synopsis, but here goes. It’s a story about modern technology and ancient mysteries, about adventure and travel and discovery. There’s a girl, her friend, a boy, and a mysteries monkey who communicates through origami. Add in some Mayan astronomy and people with evil motives and intrigue and mayhem ensue… (Here is where I rely heavily on the ellipsis to imply that there is so much more! Which there is! I promise!)

Sheesh, can you believe I’m in marketing? It’s like how the cobbler’s children have no shoes—the marketer sucks at packaging her own books!

Haha, well, I think it sounded great! So what's up next? Do you have another project in the works?

I do have a new project! It’s so fun to be in the courtship phase where every idea my new novel has seems just charming and full of possibility. We have not yet had our first argument and I have not discovered that he actually does watch Sports Center every night despite saying that he’s all about the foreign film. It’s blissful. Can you tell I’m only on page 28? The book is contemporary YA with a male protagonist, so it’s really different from the Prophecy of Days books.

I also have another finished manuscript that’s sort of marinating. When I feel stalled with my new love I will go back to that for a cold read. It is the manuscript that An Na chose to win the Holmes Fellowship for YA Literature from Oregon Literary Arts, so it feels very special to me—though I know it needs tons of work.

Would you like to close with a writing tip?

My favorite writing tip came from author Teri Hall (The Line). When I was just losing so much time on “research” (aka legitimate Google searches for the book that somehow ended up as Scrabble games or Facebook stalking) she suggested the 40/20 thing. Turn off all distractions, get some tea or coffee, set a timer for 40 minutes, and write straight through. Use the following 20 minutes to do whatever Google/Facebook/Tweetish thing you need to do and then go at it again. It’s amazing how much you can get done!

Also: write the book you want to read. You have to read the damn thing so many times that if it’s not something you love you might go insane.

That is all the wisdom I have! It’s been fun to be on your blog, thanks for the interview!

Thanks--and a great tip for me, too, to keep some control over my hours of Scrabble!

Starbucks Holidays, Fa la la la la, la la la la

The holidays are fast approaching! In California there is a crispness to the air. Store sales are already booming. And of course…

Starbucks has their holiday drinks available!

What holiday drinks you might ask??

Well, when October came around so did Pumpkin Spice Latte, with a new friend called Toffee Mocha.

And now what’s here this November?

Peppermint Mocha Twist

Espresso Truffle

And Gingersnap Latte!

Okay, if those don’t make you think toasty holiday evenings by the fireplace at home, I don’t know what does. Haha!

I have to admit my favorite Starbucks drink is White Chocolate Mocha, and Pumpkin Spice is nice. I have yet to try these other tasty sounding drinks but I just might!

Any Starbucks drinkers out there? What’s your favorite treat drink?

Our Lovely Winner

This weekend we had a fun giveaway of numbers 3 and 4 in Melissa Marr's WICKED LOVELY series. I used my random number generator, which landed on...

Jolene Allcock and Family!

So Joelene, if you'll kindly e-mail me at admin@tinaferraro.com, we'll get those books in the mail to you.

Thanks again to everyone who entered, and check back in with us regularly because we luuuuuv doing giveaways!

A Wicked Lovely Book Giveaway!

I hope we have a bunch of Melissa Marr fans out there--Wicked Lovely, anyone?--because Kelly and I have something pretty special to offer up this weekend: hardcover copies of books #3 and #4 in the Wicked Lovely series, Fragile Eternity and Radiant Shadows.


And all you have to do to be entered to win them both is tell us something you consider “lovely." Like...I might say that it’s lovely how the leaves are turning on the trees...or the cheesy crust on the lasagna coming out of the oven is definitely lovely.


So if you’re looking to read (or re-read) hardcover copies of Fragile Eternity and Radiant Shadows, leave us a comment. The winner will be announced on Monday!

And the winners are...

It turns out we now have TWO copies of JUST ADD MAGIC to give away, so I am pleased to announce

JANIE EMAUS

and

ROSIE 2002

both as winners. Janie and Rosie, please e-mail me at admin@tinaferraro.com with your contact information so I can get that winging along to you!

Thanks to everyone who entered!

JUST ADD MAGIC Giveaway!

For our YA Fresh Halloween celebration, we welcome debut author Cindy Callaghan to chat with us about her writer's life and her debut middle grade novel, Just Add Magic.

Hello, Cindy! Could you please tell us a little about your writing background and how you made your first sale?

I've been writing forever. In third grade I wrote my first play. I was always into short stories, scenes and characters. Of course, lots of melodramatic poetry. Then, I put creative writing aside for college, grad school, early career days of clawing my way to the glass ceiling, and starting a family. About six years ago I saw an ad for a writing class. That catapulted me into my first novel, a fabulous suspense thriller for adults. The class became a critique group and one novel became another and another, and finally to JUST ADD MAGIC.

Great! Readers and writers often like to get a behind the scenes peek of an author's writing routine. It would be great if you could please share your typical writing day schedule.

I prefer big chunks of time to write. So, I try to block a whole day, sometimes two. I go away over night sometimes. It is very hard for me to find a quiet place, so getting away to our mountain house alone or with a few writing friends works very well. The coffee shop is a good place for me to edit on paper. Also, I like to work early in the morning. If my creative juices are really flowing, like with a first draft, I can get up really early and write for hours. It feels like minutes.

Please tell us about your novel, Just Add Magic, and what we can expect from your characters.

When Kelly Quinn and her two BFFs discover a dusty old cookbook while cleaning out her attic, the girls decide to try a few of the mysterious recipes inside. But the ancient book bears an eerie warning, and it doesn't take long for the girls to realize that their dishes are linked to strange occurrences. The Keep 'Em Quiet Cobbler actually silences Kelly's pesky little brother and the Hexberry Tart brings an annoying curse to mean girl Charlotte Barney. And there is the Love Bug Juice, which seems to have quite the effect on those cute Rusamano boys...

Could these recipes really be magical? Who wrote them and where did they come from. And most importantly, what kind of trouble are the girls stirring up for themselves? Things are about to get just a little too hot in Kelly Quinn's kitchen.

Sounds terrific, Cindy. Would you like to close with a writing tip?

I'll borrow from the great philosopher, Nike.....Just Do It!

I love it! Okay--now YA Freshers, it's your turn to weigh in. To be entered to win a copy of Cindy's book, and keeping the Halloween holiday and yummy food in mind, merely leave us a comment telling us your favorite Halloween treat! Whether it's trick-or-treat candy, a cup of witch's brew punch over dry ice or maybe orange and black popcorn balls...whatever you like!

And be sure to check back on Monday to learn the winner.

What's Fresh with Denise Jaden's Losing Faith

A terrible secret. A terrible fate.

When Brie's sister, Faith, dies suddenly, Brie's world falls apart. As she goes through the bizarre and devastating process of mourning the sister she never understood and barely even liked, everything in her life seems to spiral farther and farther off course. Her parents are a mess, her friends don’t know how to treat her, and her perfect boyfriend suddenly seems anything but.

As Brie settles into her new normal, she encounters more questions than closure: Certain facts about the way Faith died just don't line up. Brie soon uncovers a dark and twisted secret about Faith’s final night...a secret that puts her own life in danger.

Hello Denise, it's great to have you here! Could you please tell us a little about your writing background and how
you made your first sale including the title and publisher?

Denise: My first published novel is called Losing Faith and it was just released from Simon Pulse / Simon & Schuster in September. I've been writing for about seven years, and have several other novels in various stages of revision. I met my editor at a writers conference shortly after finishing Losing Faith and she was interested! After getting an agent, we sent my book on submission to the editor from the conference and she loved it. The rest is history!

Readers and writers often like to get a behind the scenes peek of an author's writing routine. It would be great if you could please share your typical writing day schedule.

Denise: I write at least six days per week, usually for about an hour to an hour and a half per day. I'd love to write more, but at this point life doesn't allow. I homeschool my son in the mornings, then hit the gym. When we get
home, it's time for a quiet time for my son and a writing time for his mom.

Please tell us about your novel, Losing Faith, and what we can expect from your characters.

Denise: Losing Faith is the story of sixteen year old Brie, the black sheep of her religious family until her older sister Faith dies. Through the bizarre and devastating grieving process, Brie discovers that certain facts about Faith's final night just don't line up.

Sounds great! What's up next for you, Denise? Do you have another project in the works? If so, please tell us about it.

Denise: I'm working on another YA novel called Appetite For Beauty. It's about a cheeky and forthright girl who discovers a dangerous, self-destructive side in her sister, and has to decide between helping her sister and a powerful and unfamiliar desire to become appealing to a mysterious boy.

Thank you for sharing with us, Denise! Would you like to close with a writing tip?

Denise: Write every day. It helps stimulate the creative juices and for me, I often start dreaming about my characters and stories when they're a regular part of my day.



Denise Jaden lives just outside Vancouver, Canada. When she’s not writing, she can often be found homeschooling her son or dancing with her Polynesian dance troupe. Losing Faith is her first novel. Find out more at www.denisejaden.com.