This was our house in Provence.  It had a pool and badminton and one side was built right into a kind of cliff so some of the walls inside were rock.  Vair, vair nice.  Houses in Europe don’t generally have screens or air conditioning so it was a bit buggy.  My sister was a little freaked by this.  I didn’t mind so much except for the bats the first night. 

In Provence, we visited towns, hit up some markets, went wine tasting…

The winery had a self-guided tour which means they gave us a laminated piece of paper and shuffled us off into their factory where we could touch their big, expensive – possibly dangerous – machines totally unsupervised.  And with three little boys in tow.  This kind of stuff does not happen in the US.  Kids loved it.   

.

We ate a ton.  Literally.  Okay, not literally, but it felt like it.  Love the cheese course.  Hate the foie gras.  Sorry, French people, it’s just yucky.  Will skip photos of me stuffing my face in favor of me with two-thirds of The Chaos at our village creperie.

Then we went to Paris where I kept wondering: why didn’t I study abroad here?  No offense, Copenhagen, you’re pretty too, but Paris has a certain je ne sais quoi (I don’t actually speak French which is at least one reason I didn’t study there.  But you should if you can ’cause it’s really, really nice.) 

We stayed in an apartment on the river, went to the very top of the Eiffel Tower which, lemmetellya, is pretty high up.  I don’t like heights much.  Or waiting in lines to go high places.  But the view was pretty cool. 

We stuffed our faces some more, including at this amazing bakery across from the apartment, did other generally touristy things, looked at some art (The Chaos could def have skipped that part) and walked a LOT which is one of the best things to do in Paris.  It is just sooooo pretty.

Now we’re back and the boys are still saying merci and bonne nuit.  I really wouldn’t mind if they kept that up forever.

Denise Jaden’s debut YA novel, Losing Faith, comes out from Simon & Schuster/Simon Pulse on September 7th.      

What book are you reading right now?  The Iron King by Julie Kagawa – so, SO good!

Your favorite children’s book:  Children’s including YA?  Way too hard to choose, but a few favorites include Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson, The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen, Guitar Girl by Sarra Manning.  If you’re talking about a child-age book, I’d say Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. 

Your favorite non-fiction book: The Bible.  Honestly, besides that, and some writing craft books, I don’t read much non-fiction.

Your favorite classic (read: book they made you read in school) book: The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton.

The last book that made you laugh: The Treasure Map of Boys by E. Lockhart.  I couldn’t read it in bed because I kept my husband awake with my snorts.  

The last book that made you cry: If I Stay by Gayle Forman.

The last book you recommended to a friend: The Red Umbrella by Christina Diaz Gonzalez.

A novel you’ve re-read (and re-read): The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen. 

One sentence that gives the gist of your book best: After Brie’s sister, Faith, dies in a mysterious accident, Brie uncovers her sister’s role in a dark and twisted religious cult…a cult that now wants Brie as a member.

Avoiding spoilers, a 1-2 sentence passage from your book that you really like: 

The thing about guys in Sharon, Oregon is the majority of them wear this tougher-than-granite act, cracking bottles open with their teeth, their jean buckles, their forearms.  I figure it’s to make up for living in a town with a girl’s name.

Learn more about Denise and Losing Faith at her website: www.denisejaden.com.  Also, Denise is holding an online launch party now through September 14, visit her blog for details on prizes and how to enter http://baskinex.blogspot.com/).  

Thanks, Denise!

The blog will be dark until early September, but here are a couple places I’ll be…

-The Mark is featured on the new Bloomsbury/Walker site for their titles with a paranormal element.   

-I’m participating in Wastepaper Prose’s Author Insights feature each Tuesday or Thursday (I love this series – 30 authors answering one question each week)

-Guest posting at Chronicles of a Newbie as part of the Complete Your Draft Challenge

Enjoy these final weeks of summer…au revoir!

Enter at The Tenners by commenting with a favorite book cover and why by Tuesday, August 17th at midnight.  Giveaway is open internationally to anyone 13 or older.  Good luck!

The Freak Observer by Blythe Woolston: The narrative structure is not straight-forward and the book is rife with ambiguity. It is lacking in prom dresses and predictability, but it is rich in theoretical physics, murdered chickens, and an unusual and resilient main character…Loa Lindgren.

The Life and Opinions of Amy Finawitz by Laura Toffler-Corrie:  Told in wry emails and brilliant little one-act plays, this laughout-loud debut MG novel offers quirky characters, a whimsical tour around New York City, and an appealing story about what it means to be a good friend.

And coming soon…

Livvie Owen Lived Here by Sarah Dooley (Aug 17): Olivia “Livvie” Owen feels things differently than her parents and two sisters. Livvie is autistic. Her family has had to move repeatedly because of her outbursts. When they again face eviction, Livvie is convinced she has a way to get back to a house where they were all happy, once.  The problem is, Livvie burned down that house.

Wildfire Run by Dee Garretson (Aug 31): Just once Luke Brockett would like to do something slightly dangerous, but when your father is the President of the United States, that is not an option.  A “summer camp” experience with three friends at Camp David ends abruptly when a forest fire traps Luke and his friends are inside.  With the Secret Service agents incapacitated, the friends are forced to outwit security systems designed to be unbeatable before the fire gets to them.

The Absolute Value of -1 by Steve Brezenoff (Sep 1): Noah, Lily, and Simon have been a trio forever. But as they enter high school, their relationships shift and their world starts to fall apart. Privately, each is dealing with a family crisis—divorce, abuse, and a parent’s illness.  Noah’s got it bad for Lily, but he knows too well Lily sees only Simon. Simon is indifferent, suddenly inscrutable to his friends. All stand alone in their heartache and grief.

All descriptions from Goodreads.

Congrats Blythe, Laura, Sarah, Dee and Steve!

That’s how first drafts go.  They’re my least favorite part of the writing process.  The hardest part, the blank page daring me to come up with something interesting.  But what I really hate about them is the certainty that what I’m writing is a complete mess. 

As the big-picture creative part of the process, the draft is where story lines develop, characters are fleshed out, sometimes taking on larger or different roles than originally imagined, themes emerge and pieces of the story connect or fall apart.  

And because much of this stuff develops organically, the story is inevitably uneven.  Things are repeated, emotions flat, motivations missing, whole parts of the story are explored too fully or not enough, characters act differently in the beginning than they do later and not in a good way.  Not because they’ve developed on the page, but because they’ve developed in the writer’s head, their voice different on page one-hundred fifty-three than it was on page fifteen.   

Knowing all of this drives me crazy in the same way that knowing my car needs to be vaccuumed or my desk organized does.  But I ignore that stuff just like I ignore the disaster of words behind me as I’m drafting because if I didn’t, I’d spend my whole life neatening things up and never get anything done.

The first draft is about spilling out all the thoughts and pieces of story to be organized and prettied up later.  I try to write sequentially, keeping one “clean” file and a separate “junk drawer” one, with stray bits and out-of-order scenes that get worked in as I go. 

I just keep writing until I’ve exhausted ideas and worked my way to the final scene, already written and waiting it’s turn to be cut and pasted in, and I’ll have…a finished draft, a lot of editing to do and maybe a few minutes to clean my desk.

The feet all got lots of dates which their owners are quite pleased about.  Of course, their owners all wrote in to say they’d date their own feet.  Which is just kind of…strange. 

And the winner of the two books is…

Juliana! 

Congrats, Juliana!!! There’s a message in your inbox about how to claim your prize. 

Thanks again to everyone for playing along (including you, feet owners:)) – I loved reading the random answers and if you’ve got any random questions, be sure to send ‘em along (tho’ my husband will probably not thank you for it).

In other words, there’s not a lot to blog about and I’m too lazy to come up with real content.   So how about a random giveaway?  

Really random. 

I make my husband answer questions like these all the time: 

If you had to marry one, who would you pick – Britney Spears, Lady Gaga or Amy Winehouse?

If you had to date one of these people based on feet alone, which would it be?

Friends are sometimes forced to play, too – sorry, Mistie & Martin. 

It must run in my family because my sister keeps a list of her favorite baby names – boy and girl – in her wallet.  She’s been known to take them out on first dates and make the guy choose and, yes, sometimes they even go out with her again. 

So, now it’s your turn!  Answer a random question – both if you like - for a chance to win any two of the random assortment of books shown below (click on the pic for a larger view): 

The questions again…

Who would you marry (Britney, Gaga, Amy)? 

Which feet would you date (pink, red, brown, orange polish)? 

If marrying/dating girls/celebrities/feet isn’t your thing, use your imagination, ‘k? 

Leave your answer in the comments by Tuesday, July 27.  I’ll pick one random winner to be announced July 28.  The giveaway is open internationally to anyone 13 or older.

Good luck and thanks in advance for playing!

To enter, comment on the Tenners’ post with where you’re going on vacation and what book you’re bringing.  The giveaway ends Monday, July 19th at midnight – good luck!

I read this on the Tenners’ ARC tour a few months ago – it’s got a great cast of characters and interesting paranormal mythology/science. 

To celebrate the release, Anastasia is giving away a bunch of stuff, including signed books, swag and t-shirts – details here.

Congrats, Anastasia!