Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays-Song of the Sword by Edward Willet

SONG OF THE SWORD-Edward Willet
From Indie Bound: Ariane's life is already a mess before she hears the singing. Two years ago, her mother disappeared. She bounced around different foster homes until her aunt finally took her in. Now she's become the prime target of the meanest clique at school. And to top it all off, she is having frightening premonitions, and they are becoming more intense. The moment water touches her skin, she starts hallucinating--about a lake, a lady, and a sword. When a staircase opens up in the middle of Wascana Lake, and the water begins singing to her, she has no choice but to answer the call.
Ariane learns she is a descendant of the Lady of the Lake, and soon the stories that she thought were legend become a real life nightmare. She and her unexpected companion, Wally Knight, are charged with finding the scattered shards of Excalibur before Merlin can get his hands on them. The infamous magician, known in this world as software tycoon, Rex Major, is trying to recover the pieces of Arthur's sword so he can reforge it and restore his limitless power.

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This is the first book in the Shards of Excalibur series. And it's going to be a good one-series I mean. Loved the first and how Arthurian legend was woven into a troubled teens life. A character who drove the story, which is always a favorite for me. I liked her a lot--especially in once scene where the bad guy (er, girl) gets a taste of--well, I shall say no more. This is also a favourite of one of my book club kids. He's twelve and a voracious reader who loves 39 Clues, Rangers Apprentice, Percy Jackson. The sad bit about lending him the ARC (thanks to  Lobster Press!) is he read the book good and early. He's anxious to the second.

For more Marvelous Middle Grade Monday Marvelousness check HERE:)

Cheers and enjoy the day!

Papertrails Family Book Blog: 10 things we like about "The Luck of Jude" (2011)

CATH IN THE HAT is hosting--I thought I would not have anything, but I do. A friend brought this ARC to me from Book Expo America. This weekend I came upon this review:

Papertrails Family Book Blog: 10 things we like about "The Luck of Jude" (2011)

So, I moved it on up my to read pile! And-enjoyed it very much.

YA Author Elana Johnson: Giveaway Week, Day Whatever-It-Is

You can win an ARC of The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab- oh yes you can! All you need to do is go here:

YA Author Elana Johnson: Giveaway Week, Day Whatever-It-Is

YAY~! Thanks, Elana!

Three Writing Reads

This was the first post I read this morning and so very timely. Pushing through the fear that can often bind us. The trick for me is be aware that I am running from a project not dealing with the fear/self doubt. And by running from the project I mean writing around it, not sending it out once done because it needs a little more tweaking, needs to rest for another year or two (okay, maybe not quite that bad...but, you know). The interesting thing, especially when sitting down to start a new project and all the little whispering fearful voices start, is once you _do_ break through and start the fear fades and you think..what was I afraid of. It’s a crazy cycle of fear, overcome, fear, overcome...like I say, though, the trick for me is being aware enough to know I am overcoming it, not running from it. I fear this ramble may make no sense...see? But, I am going to leave it up anyway. Deleting it would be doing the running away thing.

Um. Here’s the link!Christine Fonseca, Author: Show Your Fears A Little Love Too!

And, some sage advice on finishing a novel. Make the focus on story and telling it. The novel is the medium.

DearEditor.com (this is a new website to me, just found this morning thanks to this feature on Cheryl Rainfield’s blog:

Cheryl Rainfield: » Guest Post: Banishing the Blahs From Your Fiction by author Deborah Halverson – and a giveaway.

And that be it from me and Three Writing Reads! Happy reading and writing everyone.

Interview Wednesday | Playing by the book

I have no interview for today, but encourage you to check out Playing by the Book! An all around great blog I've just started reading, plus...she's gathered up interviews from Kidlitosphere. Promises to be an insightful, fun reading of blogs, learning about authors and illustrators, the writing craft 'n' more. Enjoy!

Interview Wednesday | Playing by the book

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday-The Resisters by Eric Nylund

From GoodReads:


In the tradition of Robert Heinlein and Ray Bradbury, million-copy bestselling Halo author and game developer Eric Nylund brings action-packed science fiction to a young audience with this riveting children's debut. Twelve-year-old Ethan Blackwood has always known exactly what he wanted — to win the state soccer championship, get into the best high school, and become an astronaut. Then he meets Madison and Felix, who tell him something . . . insane. They claim that 50 years ago, aliens took over the earth, and everyone past puberty is under their mind control. Ethan doesn't believe it. But then he sees for himself the aliens' monster bug robots and the incredible way that Madison and Felix have learned to fight them. So Ethan Blackwood has a choice: he can go back to his normal, suburban, protected lie of a life — or he can become a Resister. This is science fiction on the lines of Scott Westerfield and Cory Doctorow for middle graders.

This was, for me, a surprising delight. My first reaction was to the cover. I wasn't sure about it. (note: after I read the book, loved it, shared it with my book club kids, they made it clear they loved the cover). Now, I can't even remember why I wasn't a fan of the cover. When I started to read I was "in" from page one thinking "oh, this is going to be good." As I carried on I added to the thinks-"Can't wait to book talk this!"  Action, believable characters (as a writer of adult sci fi, Eric Nylund _totally_ captures the spirit and voice of middle grade. Check out his post for the release date of the book and the reading history he has with his son...it is no surprise to me that he wrote this book so well. Some serious writing skills (check out his adult fiction) and a love of middle grade. Oh. Kids in book club who took and read the book? Gave it a five out of five donuts (yep, our rating system based on favourite snack) all around.

That's it from me. Happy Marvelous Middle Grade Monday and as always big, BIG thanks to the mama of this meme-Shannon Whitney Messenger @ Ramblings of a Wannabe Scribe.  BTW she has BIG WriteOnCon announcement. And when she says it is big...it. is. HUGE!

Some more Marvelous Middle Grade Monday-ers to check out:

Shannon O'Donnell-Book Dreaming
Myrna Foster-The Night Writer
Sherrie Petersen- Write About Now 
Natalie Aguirre-Literary Rambles
Brooke Favero-Somewhere in the Middle
Ally Beecher- Kid Lit Frenzy
Barbara Watson-Novel and Nouveau
Anita Laydon Miller-her middle grade blog
Michael G-G-Middle Grade Mafioso
Jessica Lei-her blog  
Pam Torres-So I'm Fifty

Three Writing Reads

This weekend I am heading off on a mini-retreat with a good friend. We will be writing, writing and writing. Two goals will drive my writing. Polishing up a new picture book to send out to agents and continuing to work on a middle grade novel. It will be nice to have a focused few days of nothing but writing and reading about writing! Speaking of, my morning blogging travels were focused on that as well. Next are three that caught my eye.

Okay...this first one isn’t just one post, it’s a whole buncha them. Lindsey Carmichael of Ten Stories Up is hosting all Canadian Interviews for the month of July. Her first question to each author is about sharing their typical writing day. I haven’t read them all yet, but the ones I have show just how different we all are in how we process and work. Very important to remember when you are starting out-butt in chair, yes (otherwise the book won’t get written), but once the butt is in that chair? It differs. Some power through without looking back, some edit as they go, some power along one day, edit the next. This week she is featuring non-fiction writers.

Ten Stories Up

And some of you probably already familiar with these sites, but just in case.

http://blog.writersdigest.com/norules/2011/07/13/3GreatBlogsForChildrensWriters.aspx

And here, Elana Johnson talks about her drafting process. She is right about revising the mess after doing a fast draft. I am trying to outline more this go around, but am not sure it’s working. I might just be a fast (ish) drafter who has a whole pile of revision to do after the fact. But, what she talks about here has me intrigued!

YA Author Elana Johnson: Drafting, Drafting