Meandering Monday (11)

This is gonna be a short Meandering Monday because I am sooo tired after the weekend I had. On Friday night, I went down to Raleigh, NC for the final stop in the Breathless Reads tour. It was awesome. A friend of mine came along with me and we had a good time, though got a bit lost on the way back. More details next Monday with pictures! I arrived home around 1am, went straight to bed, and woke up at 7:15am to get ready to head up to DC.

I was going to DC because my roommate and her boyfriend surprised me with an early birthday present- tickets to a Kathy Griffin show! We all love Kathy so it was really a present for all of us. The trip up was uneventful, then we grabbed lunch at Chipotle (them) and McDonald's (me) before heading over to visit with my grandma. We got there a bit late so we weren't able to visit for too long but it was nice to see her.

After that, I went home and did my taxes then it was time for dinner. My mom made spaghetti and meatballs with french bread, which we all really loved. We hung out for a bit after, though it ended up being too long because we ended up rushing out of the door. Luckily, everything went right for us- the subway stop we started at isn't far from the house, the train left shortly after we boarded (it was an end stop so sometimes those trains take a while to leave), we had to switch trains but the next train came after just a few minutes of waiting, the trackwork happening didn't hinder us much, and the shuttle to the Kennedy Center pretty much took off right after we got on at 7:50- 10 minutes before the show. They dropped us off at the front, we walked in and the theatre was the first on the left, blasting pop music.

We got our seats in the last row of the first set of seats in the orchestra section. It was such a good spot. We only had to wait a few minutes and then the show started so we got there at the right time. It started with a short clip video featuring interviews with Kathy, some stuff from her D-List show, and at the end, introductions from her celeb friends like Rosie O'Donnell, Betty White, Jane Lynch, Paris Hilton, and a couple others.

Kathy burst onto the stage, waving and dancing to Lady Gaga's Born This Way. Once she was done with that, she proceeded to make fun of multiple celebrities, including Charlie Sheen. She even wrote down quotes from him in her notebook because something new was popping up every hour. I was a bit sad there wasn't much about Oprah. I feel like there would've been but she made a joke about Oprah and some of the crowd didn't seem to like it so she skipped it. Which sucks because I really wanted to hear her thoughts on Oprah's final season and when Celine Dion was on last Monday. Hopefully it'll show up in her Bravo special which will be on in a few weeks.

The show was amazing though- she talked and joked for two hours and we all were laughing so hard. Once it was done, we went home (took longer though) and went to bed. We overslept a bit, had some breakfast and then drove back down to Lynchburg. It was a really fun weekend and one of the best I've had in a while.

Did any of you guys have a good weekend, either this one or sometime recently? Tell me about it!!

Cat Friday (6)

Yes, it's come. The moment you've all been waiting for! KITTEN PHOTOS!! These were taken after the cats were a few weeks old and growing hair and all that, but before we gave three away (then got two back later that year, lol) around 12 weeks old.



The kitten they're all laying on is Farley. Then from left to right, we have Khali, Meeko, Chance, and Pearl is off on his own, lol. Aren't they just ADORABLE?! They're still pretty cute now but nothing can beat them as kittens. They're so tiny! They used to fit in the palm of my hand. Now they're all grown(ish)- they will be two years old this May.

RIP L.K. Madigan

So I heard on Twitter last night about the unfortunate passing of author L.K. Madigan. You can read a little more about it here. I didn't know her that well, but we got the chance to correspond a bit via email. She was working on a story where the main characters cross-dress to get into a strip club on Ladies' Night; she had shown it to another writer who was part of the GLBT community and she found it offensive. Lisa then thought of emailing me as I'm a young gay male who reads YA; she was a bit apprehensive about it, she told me, but Lisa Schroeder assured that I'm "super sweet", which is true.

Anyway, of course I read the excerpt, but being the unoffendable person I am, I found nothing wrong with it. She actually told me about some of the stuff she had in before she revised it. I still found that stuff funny. I'm weird. But during those email chats, we really hit it off. She was a wonderful, funny person.

A few months later, we got the chance to meet at ALA (photo below). She was so excited to see me (and I was excited to see her too) and even came out from behind the signing table to give me a big hug. We chatted for a few minutes and she signed my copy of Flash Burnout. It was so great to finally meet her in person.



A few months later, she sent me a signed copy of The Mermaid's Mirror, her second book, as a thank you for helping her out with that excerpt. She included a long note too- unfortunately, the manuscript had been rejected and she was working on revising it to send to other publishers.

I was astonished to hear last month about her pancreatic cancer diagnosis and I prayed that somehow things would work out. I didn't think that something like this would happen this soon.

But, like in her final post on her blog from last month, I'm glad she achieved her dream of being a published author and that she was lucky to live as long as she did after battling breast cancer. I'm glad I was able to meet her. I'm glad she has two wonderful books out there for the world to read. She is going to be missed immensely.

RIP L.K. Madigan.

Author Interview- Jessica Burkhart

1) Your Canterwood Crest novels are really doing well, with you contracted up to Book 20 (at the moment of this writing, at least). Did you ever expect them to do this well? How are you handling all the success?

I never expected the series to go beyond four novels--my first book deal. I was shocked and thrilled that I'd sold books and prepared myself to find a way to wrap the series at four. But my editor, Kate Angelella, fought for Canterwood and put all of her talent and knowledge to turn it into something that resulted in the publisher wanting more books. Kate is *finally* on the "dark side" :) as she's now a full-time freelance writer, author and freelance-editor, but I am incredibly lucky enough to have her freelance-editing Canterwood. The books would be entirely different without her. She's been there since Take the Reins.

I really (this sounds soo untrue, but it really is!) don't think about how the books are doing. I hold my breath from contract to contract just hoping that I'm able to keep writing as my full time job. I think the worry of will I ever sell another book? is enough to keep me grounded and not walk around thinking oooh, I have a 20 book series! Go me! I'd want someone to hit me over the head with one of my books if I ever acted like that!


2) Aside from the Canterwood novels, you seem to be working on several other projects for both middle-grade and YA. Can you tell us anything about them?

On the back burner, I have a dark YA verse novel, KEPT, that I've put aside for now. I'm taking a break from it to focus on my new start-up company with Kate--Violet & Ruby Productions. We launched our business in January 2011 and we're a two-person packager. We're penning e-books, e-novellas and co-writing novels. Co-owning a business with your best friend is amazing! I love collaborating with Kate and having a partner fills in weaknesses I have with writing and vice versa for her.


3) What's your favorite Jelly Belly jelly bean flavor (or flavors, if you're so inclined)?

Ha! I love that you asked this! Kate got me a mini-Jelly Belly machine for Christmas. :) I looove bubble gum, watermelon and cotton candy. Y-U-M. Popcorn is GROSS!


4) According to your bio, you love Kathy Griffin. Have you ever seen her live (I'm seeing her Feb. 26!)? If not, are you going to one of her Broadway shows in March?

I was lucky enough to see her at Madison Square Garden last February! She was wonderful and it was beyond cool to see her in person since I'm a crazy fan of her show. You're going to have the best time seeing her.


5) What TV shows, movies and music are you into currently?

TV: Pretty Little Liars, any of the Real Housewives that are currently airing, Vampire Diaries and Supernatural.

Movies: Cannot wait for Red Riding Hood. Still watching Eclipse. :) Just saw and (surprisingly) loved Fight Club. I also want to see The Roommate with Leighton Meister. And a fave that I saw in theaters a while ago was Easy A. Emma Stone blew me away!

Music: Britney, Lady Gaga, Measure, Ben's Brother, Andrew Belle (those 3 are from the Pretty Little Liars soundtrack), Pink, Ke$ha, Katy Perry, Glee Cast and Nicki Minaj are currently on my playlist.


6) On your blog, I've seen a couple pictures of an extremely adorable kitty named Bailey. How and when did you get her? Any cute cat stories to tell us?

Oh, Bailey, LOL. :) She gets an ego boost when I try to show her a pic of herself on my blog. Bailey's actually not my cat--she's Kate's. But I love her like she's mine. I'm not allowed to have pets in my apartment and I'm a HUGE cat person, so I taking pics of Bailey. Whether she, um, likes it or not.

To preface the story--Bailey thinks she can't jump high. At all. She overshoots every jump and sits for five minutes before leaping onto the bed, couch, etc. With that said . . . one night I heard this pitiful meow that woke me up and I figured she was just making noise. Then it continued. I got up and found her inside a cardboard box that wasn't tall AT ALL but she wouldn't jump to get out. *shakes head* Cats. :)


7) What book(s) are you reading now, or are about to start?

I'm reading two right now--Losing Faith and Spirit Bound. Going to start Holly Black's Red Glove after that.

Falling Under by Gwen Hayes

Falling Under by Gwen Hayes
"Theia Alderson has always led a sheltered life in the small California town of Serendipity Falls. But when a devastatingly handsome boy appears in the halls of her school, Theia knows she's seen Haden before- not around town, but in her dreams.

As the Haden of both the night and the day beckons her closer one moment and pushes her away the next, the only thing Theia knows for sure is that the incredible pull she feels towards him is stronger than her fear.

And when she discovers what Haden truly is, Theia's not sure if she wants to resist him, even if the cost is her soul."- summary from Amazon

I enjoyed this book- it was something different from the usual paranormal fare, which I liked. The prose and atmosphere seemed very Gothic to me and it set such a great tone. I loved being with these characters a lot of the time, which really kept the story going for me.

The romance is front and center in this book with everything else kinda falling to the wayside. In a way, it was kinda nice to read a paranormal romance that wasn't also about this huge battle going on. Theia and Haden were fun to read about, though when they were apart, Theia got on my nerves sometimes because she was moping around and angsting about losing Haden. I can see though why she feels that way in a sense, but at the same time, I was like "Just get over it already." It bothers me to see the female characters act this way whenever their supernatural boyfriends get taken away.

Most of the time though, I did enjoy Theia and she's a brave character. I liked her interactions with her friends, which felt very realistic to me. I loved reading scenes with the three of them. There were some great twists and turns throughout the book, though another thing that bothered me a bit was the open ending. There's questions left unanswered and it really seems like this could've been a standalone with a few extra scenes added on.

Overall though, a very enjoyable read that's creepy, dark and romantic.

FTC: Received ARC from Around the World Tours. Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.