Yay! I successfully converted my two-column blog into a three column blog. Tweaks are still needed, though--I've having all kinds of trouble with the header. I'm calling it a night. I must watch my recording of America's Next Top Model.
U2 in the house!
Last month, I went to see U2 LIVE! They brought the house down; Raymond James Stadium in Tampa will never be the same. The stage ensemble, known as the spaceship or the claw, was massive, the effects spectacular, and the concert only established what I already knew--U2 is the world's greatest rock band. Please notice: my ticket actually reads I M Fan.
Wait till you see the pictures--wait! Don't go yet! You will not believe how close our seats were! I could see Bono's eyebrows even without my binoculars! I could see so well that I saw Larry come to the stage and I yelled at my husband to get Larry on video.
"No one's even out yet," my husband said.
"Turn it on!" I didn't have time to tell him how right I was.
Then the spotlight grew brighter and the stage smokier and the beat of Larry's drums filled the air. Yeah! Larry! I remembered how Larry has carpal tunnel syndrome and gets specially made drumsticks because banging the drums is painful for him, he's been dealing with it for years--but no time to dwell on that, sorry Larry! because Edge appeared in a spotlight, then Adam, then BONO, then all HE!! broke loose and the screaming began! My husband doesn't scream, and there were no other women by me, so I had to do all the screaming for my section. Let me just say for the record, we were well-represented.
Here, for your pleasure, are just a few of the hundred or so photos I took of the concert. I hope you enjoy them!
These first two are from videos:
This bridge spanned the gap from the stage to the catwalk. A sea of hands stretched upwards, trying to reach Bono as he sang "Beautiful Day."
This photo is my favorite.
Same old address, brand new website! Please check it out!
Click here to go Danette Haworth.
I'd be grateful to hear any comments, especially if you encounter glitches of any sort. Hope to see you there!
"Black Water" by the Doobie Brothers-it's been stuck in my head all morning, the same two lines--O, black water, keep on rolling/ Mississippi moon won't you keep on shining on me. Yes, I should have guessed the name by that, and I did! After I googled the words, that is.
I give you the video now, so you may listen and get the song stuck in your head. Pay it forward!
My editor just sent me an email with this wonderful news:
Our Marketing department was so enamored of the Moonlight Secrets cover that they have decided that it will be gracing the cover of our Spring 2010 catalog! . . . Every bookseller around the country gets a copy of our catalog and Moonlight Secrets is the first thing they will see when they pick it up.
WOW! This day just keeps getting better and better!
I'm thrilled to present to you the cover for my new book, The Summer of Moonlight Secrets. Brandon Dorman illustrated the cover. Isn't it awesome! I know that's kind of like saying, Isn't my child cute? but I can't help it! I'm awed by the magnitude of his gift. I hope you like it too!
U2 played Friday to more than 70,000 fans in Tampa, and I was one of them! You would not believe how close our seats were! I'll post photos later.
By the way, U2 fans, there are more than ten U2 references woven into the previous post--did you find them all?
Copy edits: French toast, French fries, but plaster of paris. Who knew?
It's a beautiful day and I'm going to see U2--or maybe it's a beautiful day because I'm going to see U2.
Boy, am I excited! We bought our tickets as soon as Internet pre-sales opened months ago. Farthest away ticket--$75! We're talking a huge, outdoor arena in Tampa--you know, elevation so high you could get vertigo, don't get too close to the edge--look out! So the sweetest thing my husband did was take over the ticket buying. Now we have good seats. Don't ask me how much they cost.
Even so, this day in October will be out of control! I can't wait to see Bono! I'll probably have to use binoculars or look at those huge screens; some people think that's even better than the real thing because you can see their faces, but I prefer to watch the specks on stage because they are the real thing.
We don't have a GPS, so we'll use the old map. But parts of it are tiny, where the streets have no name. Guess if we get lost, we'll have to walk on. Hubby will navigate; I will follow.
I cannot wait!
Bono! I'm wearing my purple shirt!
I've decided that I hate commas.
They don't know what they want. They're neither left nor right; they're ubiquitous. That is their power.
They used to precede the word too at the end of a sentence, but they've slacked off; the contemporary comma no longer sets off too and sometimes not even either.
Introductory phrase? Set it off with a comma! she barks. But wait! Look at the small print: introductory phrases are usually followed by a comma, if a pause is intended. Short introductory phrases don't require a comma.
She pounds her fist on the table. Subjective!
Oh no! Oh, no! Both correct!
I'm in copyedit mode. When I did this for Violet Raines, I felt like the success or failure of the book depended on if I deleted a comma or not. But I am wiser now, more experienced.
Still . . .
I hate you, Comma!
The revised manuscript for The Summer of Moonlight Secrets has been delivered and accepted! YAY! Tomorrow, I'll receive the copyedited printout to go through--this is going fast!
Also, I've seen the cover, and it is absolutely beautiful. I couldn't have asked for or even imagined a better cover. I spent a whole weekend looking at it. Thank you, Brandon Dorman!
I'm absolutely in love with some book trailers I've recently discovered. I'd love for you to see them! After the jump, I've posted some links to sites with good instructions for making your own book trailer, something I'm going to try for The Summer of Moonlight Secrets.
The first two trailers were created by Maggie Stiefvater. The amazing thing about Maggie's trailers is that she created the art, composed the music, and played the instruments for both videos. Even if there were no books to stand behind them, these trailers are pieces of art.
SHIVER by Maggie Stiefvater YA novel
BALLAD by Maggie Stiefvater YA novel
SOME GIRLS ARE by Courtney Summers YA novel (attitude and mood!)
Here are a few links I found that have a lot of good information on how to use Windows Movie Maker, where to find photos, music, and even videos.
Author Jill Elizabeth Nelson gives step-by-step instructions in this easy to understand post.
Megan Crewe provides lots of information, including plenty of links for images and music.
Lynnette Bonner posted a series on how she made her book trailer. Scroll to the bottom to start from the beginning of the series.
Courtney Summers guest posted on Summer Friend and gave us the how-to.
Enjoy and good luck!
Okay, yesterday I said my goal was to see Wendy Mass, Tim Green, and Margaret Peterson Haddix.
Missed Wendy by fifteen minutes; nix on Tim Green, BUT . . .
I did see MARGARET PETERSON HADDIX's hair.
Here's what happened:
All systems were going down.
"Mary!" I said to my Scholastic rep. "Where's that Starbucks?"
She shook her head. "It's a long way. Head down the hall. You'll feel like you're lost, but keep going and then you'll find it."
"Thank you," I said, scratching my arm and those little pricklies across my scalp.
I beat it down the hall, the whole while scanning everyone's tags for that special color that would mean they were an author, i.e. Wendy, Tim, or Margaret. No go.
I hoofed it down the hallway, around a turn, past the lobby. Must have been half a mile by now. I needed that cappuccino.
"Lady--please!" I grabbed a woman by her shirt collar. "Starbucks!"
Sympathy flooded her eyes. She pressed a dollar into my hand. "It's a long way from here. Keep going that way, then go up an escalator."
I strode through the hallway on my hard heels--yes, I know, that's supposed to be high heels, but since they weren't made for distance, they'd become hard heels. I walked through four seasons and a different time zone before coming upon the moving stairs that would take me to nirvana.
"Double shot cappuccino," I hollered at the barista, "and throw some ice cubes in it. I need it now!" I had her toss in a piece of banana bread because my trek had depleted my energy.
Do you know how long the walk back was? I drank my whole cappuccino and ate the bread before I could even see the exhibit hall.
But what about Margaret, you ask. Ah, yes. Halfway through my journey back, I noticed people exiting a darkened ballroom with the slide show still illuminated.
Aha! says I. Someone important is here.
Slipping through the door, I saw a line that took up the length of the ballroom. Like a thick rope, it coiled around the corner. Seeing the line people all facing one way, I deduced where the author was, but I could not tell who it was, for around the table, people clustered ten deep. And they were all taller than me.
"Who is it? Who is it?" I said, jumping up and down to see.
"Margaret Peterson Haddix!" someone answered.
Right then, at the apex of my jump, I swear I saw the top of her head, dark hair, maybe even an eyebrow.
I looked at that line, I thought about my booth, and then I resumed my journey.
Another day, Margaret.
Later, I'll post about those rowdy Scholastic Book Fair people, Joe's parking technique, and photos!
I had a great time!
Tomorrow (October 1st), I'll be part of the Scholastic group at the FAME conference (Florida Association for Media in Education) at the Marriott World Center in Orlando. I'm to sign books and chat, but my secret mission is to meet other authors whose books I've read and get a photo with them!
My short list includes Wendy Mass, Margaret Peterson Haddix, and Tim Green.
I have three pairs of black pants and I can't decide which pair to wear. How can that be so hard?
In any case, stop by and say Hi! if you're there!
Having lived in Florida for a while, I’ve become accustomed to the beautiful sunsets, the gorgeous weather, and the lush landscapes. But I’ve never gotten used to the sight of those lizards clinging to my window screens.
I was on the phone recently with my next-door-neighbor when I saw a tail dash under the chair I was sitting on. I shrieked into the phone and pulled my legs up.
“What is it? What’s wrong? Are you okay?” my neighbor cried.
“Oh, one of those lizards is in my kitchen!” I said.
“I had one in the house the other day, too,” she said. “I pushed him out with a broom.”
I got off the phone and returned to the scene with my broom, prancing like an elf in case he darted under my heels. He was under the table. I swiped the broom under, not far—I didn’t want to smush him, just scare him out of there. He didn’t move. I swiped again, and finally I pushed the bristles gently against him. He was an expert at playing dead. He wasn’t leaving on his own; I was going to have to remove him myself.
I took a see-through container from the cupboard and turned it upside down over him. Sliding a thin piece of cardboard under it, I now had him trapped. He was scrambling inside and leaping against the walls. I screamed all the way outside, sure he was going to escape and crawl up my arms.
I made it to the front yard and let out a loud whoop when he popped out.
Throwing her second-story window open, my neighbor from across the street leaned out.
“Are you okay?” she yelled, phone in hand, ready to dial 911.
“LIZARD!” I hollered.
She snickered, then closed her window.
They tease me now about my squeamishness and I laugh right along with them. After all, I heard one of them scream at a snake last week.
I spent some time on fellow writer Kim Kasch's blog today and found some great stuff!
First off, thanks for the Kreativ Blogger Award, Kim! I will try to think of seven interesting things about myself and post them next time. In the meantime, I nominate everyone in my sidebar!
Secondly, Kim posted some useful tips on MS Word here.
And best of all, Kim and her good-looking family did a great video on using voice when writing:
I said I wouldn't look Brian Regan up on YouTube anymore because I prefer to be surprised when I see him in person. And yet, here we go! Funny clip, new material--Brian Regan, you reign!
Major big announcement:
The Hotel of Blueberry Goodness has been retitled. The book is now called The Summer of Moonlight Secrets.
After revisions (which we're in the last rounds of), it became clear that the story had taken a path different from the proposal. We loved Blueberry, but we needed something that hinted more strongly at the mood and angle of the story. The hotel is still there, and so is the blueberry goodness, but now you know there's moonlight and secrets!
Hi all! Kim Zook has opened a new site called The Motherhood Muse, which is set to not only have a bunch of great tidbits, but writing contests as well--with prizes! And yes, men are welcome to submit.
Check it out!
So I'm perusing my Bartlett's Familiar Quotations and I come across this one. (Writers, please sit down.)
The true writer has nothing to say. What counts is the way he says it.
Alain Robbe-Grillet
I staggered about my office, flummoxed and dizzy. Yes, yes, the way we say it--voice and all that--but having nothing to say?
It's true there's nothing new under the sun, BUT not all us have had the same experiences in life. We have stories to tell, secrets to divulge, mysteries to solve. And other times, it actually is the shared experience we wish to indulge in because it helps us to identify ourselves and to know that we are not alone.
In fact, I think that's one of the most important things a writer, especially a children's writer, can convey: you are not alone. Strong, fictional characters become our friends; readers become loyal to authors who can deliver that familiarity with genuineness. When I pick up a book by one of my favorite authors, I'm instantly all nice and cozy--they're such good hosts! (Then there are my favorite mystery/suspense writers who offer something entirely different. Instead of cappuccino, they toss me a gun and then there's all that running around and stuff. Still, I like the excitement.)
So, back to the quote: The true writer has nothing to say. What do you think?
I'm thrilled to announce that Brandon Dorman has signed on to illustrate the cover of my new book, The Hotel of Blueberry Goodness. If you've seen the cover for Savvy or The Wizard, or The Slippery Map, then you've seen Brandon's work--it's awesome!
I can't wait to see what he comes up with for Blueberry Goodness!
I'm typing the last page of my new draft for The Hotel of Blueberry Goodness! Celebrate good times, come on! Woohoo! Yeah! I'll have a few days off next week and I'll be able to visit you!
In the meantime, I just saw an ad for medical subjects with this qualification: If you see/hear things that aren't real, you may qualify for studies.
How would you know if you were qualified?
To me, this is like when the dentist asks, "Do you clench your jaws when you're asleep?" I don't know--I'm asleep!
Anyway, hope all is well! See you next week!
I am related to a Romanian prince. At least that's what my grandma always said. Shari Green interviewed me for her blog, Shari Green, and that was one of the things I told her.
Shari's interview format is fun and breezy! Come on over and I'll tell you my nickname!
This story does not begin at the Driver License Bureau. It begins a few days before that, a few days earlier when I could not stand the bangs wisping all over my eyes, covering them. I chopped them off. I exercised no finesse, thinking only that I wished to see, I wished to be free. I even chopped the sides and had my daughter cut the back.
When the hair stopped flying, I looked in the mirror. "Oh, no," I said. "Jack and the Beanstalk."
"More like Willie Wonka," my daughter said. This would be the Johnny Depp version.
In the days following, I had to use my license a couple of times at the bank, only to be reminded that it was expired. Expired? Why those incompetents at the DMV!* I renewed by mail in January! I now realized I'd never received it. After several phone calls, it came down to this: I had to go in, stand for hours in line, and replace it.
So I did. And lucky me, after I settled in for the wait, a lady said if anyone was just replacing their license, they should leave the waiting area, bypass the line, and head to the counter. WOOHOO!
Then she told me to step up to the camera. SNAP! OH NO! I'm Jack and the Beanstalk for the next six years. Of course, I decided right then and there to not get any tickets for six years. And to always pay cash.
It was later, when I was in my room, I remembered I'd once written myself a note on the back of an unopened letter, sometime in January. The note's been sitting under my curling iron since then.
I leaped up, snatched the envelope, and tore it open. There, in full glory, was my renewed license, with the old, much more presentable picture.
Oh, happy day!
*my apologies!
Today's the last of my blog tour! Samantha Clark is hosting me on her blog Day By Day Writer.
Day By Day is definitely a blog for writers. In other posts, Samantha discusses query letters, synopses, and time-wasters. I could relate to every word.
Check it out! I know you'll enjoy her blog, and I hope you'll enjoy the interview.
Margo Dill is one of the contributing writers for WOW! Women on Writing, and today, she's interviewed me for her blog Margo Dill's Read These Books and Use Them!
Come visit! Anyone leaving a comment on her blog will have their name entered into a drawing for a free copy of Violet Raines!
The Divine Miss Mommy talks about Violet Raines today. This is a cool site, reviewing products and samples; check it out!
Hi, everyone! Courtney Summers here. I write YA novels and my debut, Cracked Up to Be, came out late last year. When Danette asked me to do a guest-blog about book trailers for Summer Friend, I was thrilled. I've been reading her blog since the beginning and I'm a huge fan of her entries, as well as her charming and extraordinary middle grade debut, Violet Raines Almost Got Struck by Lightning. I hope I can do her space on the web justice and offer y'all something helpful and interesting to read at the same time!
So. Let's talk book trailers! I should say right off the bat this guest blog is not going to question their usefulness--it's going to be about how to make one yourself. My personal opinion about book trailers is that they're great and why not? There are worse things to do than, you know, use a new and exciting medium to get word out about your work!
That said, here is the book trailer I made for Cracked Up to Be:
I love book trailers. I love watching them. The unveiling of a new book trailer for an upcoming release is comparable to a cover reveal because, much like a fabulous cover, a well-executed book trailer can get a reader totally amped for a book. That's an exciting experience for author and reader alike! I'm going to take you through the process of making mine and share with you some tips and tricks I learned along the way.
Shortly after Cracked Up to Be sold (September of 2007), I immediately started thinking book trailers. I didn't want my release date to sneak up on me and have nothing to show for it (well, besides the book), so I was teaching myself the in and-outs of Windows Movie Maker (the software that came with my laptop) as early as that October. That's my first tip: don't wait to familiarize yourself with the tools that are freely available to you. Do it as soon as possible. I ended up making A LOT of mock book trailers so I knew how to take full advantage of the program when it was time for me to really start cracking. Playing around on WMM also enabled me to get a sense of how book trailers worked in terms of pacing and structure etc.
After I had the program pretty figured out, I had to decide what I wanted my book trailer to feel like, what kind of tone it would convey. Cracked Up to Be was not a light read, so I wanted to aim for something a little gritty in sound, but "clean" in look (I'm a minimalist at heart and adore white space). A book trailer is a hook; a hint of what's to come. Don't think of it as a literal interpretation of your book--think of it as a teaser, a taste.
In the case of book trailers, I'm a firm believer that shorter is better. You don't have to cram in every bit of information into one. Immediately think of the most concise and compelling way you can get the essentials of your story across. Write the script for your book trailer first. Your script will inspire the other pieces needed to complete the final produce (visuals, sound). So before I started thinking on the visuals and the sounds, I opened up notepad and made up my script.
For Cracked Up to Be's trailer, I took this plot summary from the catalogue copy (written by my wonderful editor):
Perfect Parker Fadley isn’t so perfect anymore. She’s quit the cheerleading squad, she’s dumped her perfect boyfriend, and she’s failing school. Her parents are on a constant suicide watch and her counselors think she’s playing games…but what they don’t know, the real reason for this whole mess, isn’t something she can say out loud. It isn’t even something she can say to herself. A horrible thing has happened and it just might be her fault. If she can just remove herself from everybody--be totally alone--then everything will be okay...The problem is, nobody will let her.
And turned it into this:
Perfect Parker Fadley isn't perfect anymore.
She's quit the cheerleading squad
dumped her perfect boyfriend
her parents are on suicide watch
and she's failing school.
But what no one knows...
the real reason for this whole mess...
isn't something she can say out loud.
A horrible thing has happened
and it just might be her fault.
What's the worst thing you've ever done?
cracked up to be
a novel by courtney summers
coming Janury 2009 from St. Martin's Press
http://courtneysummers.ca
It seems like a lot of text, I know, but I think it translated into a book trailer pretty well. If you'll note, it's broken up into three parts: 1) plot summary 2) the hook ("what's the worst thing you've ever done?") and 3) all the must-have information (title, author, release date, author website). The great thing about scripting your book trailer is it provides you with a HUGE launching pad in terms of figuring out how you're going to do what you're going to do next. How do you want this text to look? What visuals does it inspire? What kind of music would complement it? It will also help you figure out your pacing. Pacing (next to music) is crucial.
In my case, I looked at each line as a beat. I wanted to keep a steady rhythm throughout the book trailer with appropriate pauses for emphasis, building toward the space between "and it just might be her fault" and "what's the worst thing you've ever done?" Having a general idea of what kind of pacing I wanted the book trailer to have, I started to look for music and sounds that would fit it. Music. Is. So. Important. Music will drive your book trailer like nothing else and it will really give your audience an idea of how your book might make them feel to read it.
Getting permission for music or finding free/license free music is crucial--and not as difficult as you might think. In my case, I used a song that fit my end goals (it had a steady rhythm and great beats I could take advantage of) by Brad Sucks. He's a talented, Canadian based musician who encourages people to use his music in their projects for free.
When it comes to finding free/easily licensed music, there are many options out there. Google is your best friend. Look into Creative Commons licensing. Check out The Free Music Archie ("please visit the track page to discover what you can and cannot do with each track"). Is there a talented but little-known band whose music you would LOVE to feature in your book trailer? Don't be afraid to email and ask! You may let you use it under agreeable terms. Cross-promotion is beautiful thing.
And if you play an instrument, perhaps getting the perfect music for your trailer is as simple as sitting down and recording it on your computer. Also, if you're not interested in music for your trailer, think of how you can best use sound. While C.K. Kelly Martin incorporates guitar music in the trailer for her latest release, One Lonely Degree (watch it here), she also uses the sound of someone breathing to great effect.
I edited all of my audio in Audacity, which is a free digital audio editor, and one I found to be very easy to use (but I didn't wait until the last minute to learn how to use it! I played around with it a great deal of time before as well.).
Your script will also give you a great idea of what kind of visual cues to use. I could have picked very literal visual interpretations of each line of my script (perhaps pictures of pom-poms, a couple walking away from each other, a bottle of pills etc), but in the end, I decided to hand draw and scan images, which I felt helped support the kind of gritty feel I wanted to achieve. This approach worked for the first half of the trailer. For the second half, I knew I wanted to incorporate some photographs as well. If you have an eye and a digital camera, getting the perfect images for your book trailer could be as simple as taking them yourself.
While I dabble in photography, my general style wasn't really appealing to me for my trailer (although I did ultimately use one of my photos--the girl in the bathroom). Luckily, I'm blessed to know some very talented photographers and my friends, Kim Hutt (the photo of the girl holding her hair belongs to her) and Veronique Moisan (the party photos belong to her), graciously gave me permission to use their work.
When looking for images yourself, again, check out those that have Creative Commons licensing (but make sure to pay close attention to the type of license! Just because it says cc doesn't mean you can use it freely for every purpose). In fact, Flickr enables you to search specifically for cc works on its search page. Do you have friends who are into photography? Maybe they'd love to be involved in that part of your book trailer.
Once you have the script, the visuals and the sounds you need, it's time to put them all together in the movie making program that comes with your computer! And that should be reasonably easy enough because you've been practicing on it for fun all this time... right?
Happy book trailer making!
All this said, there are many fantastic people out there who will make a rockin' book trailer for you, for a fee. Circle of Seven Productions leads the pack when it comes to making book trailers and I am a great admirer of their work. But if you are unable to hire someone to do it for you, as I was, don't be afraid to DIY! The total cost of Cracked Up to Be trailer was my time. The end result is a trailer that I am incredibly happy with and that has been--thankfully--received very positively.
Hope this was a helpful read!
Thank you, Courtney! It was a very helpful read. Please visit Courtney's website and check out Cracked Up to Be.
