Not Your Mother’s Book Club

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Frank Portman at Not Your Mother’s Book Club

September 14, 2009 in Events | No comments

I’ll let you in on a little secret. Okay, it’s not really a secret. I happen to be a fan of local author and rock n’ roller Frank Portman, who wrote KING DORK and the brand new ANDROMEDA KLEIN (Delacorte, August 25, 2009). His readings are a blast because he always treats his audience to a song or two from the catalog he created while playing with his band, the Mr. T Experience.

When he did a Not Your Mother’s Book Club event at Books Inc. the other day, he regaled the audience with a snippet from ANDROMEDA KLEIN and also with some great songs like the aptly-titled “I Wrote a Book About Rock and Roll.”

It just so happens that Frank will be touring in New York when I’m there next week, so I wanted to tell all the folks who might be in the area. He’ll be appearing:

Friday, September 18, 2009
8:00pm - 10:00pm
The Housing Works at 126 Crosby St. in New York, NY

Saturday, September 19, 2009
4:00pm - 5:30pm
WORD bookstore at 126 Franklin Street in Brooklyn, NY

Sunday, September 20, 2009
6:00pm - 8:00pm
Sidewalk Cafe at 94 Ave. A in New York, NY

The last event is with Tiger Beat (led by awesome YA author Libba Bray). I’ll be at that one for sure and maybe one of the other two. (If I hadn’t already warned him, I bet he’d think I’m stalking him!) If you’re in the area, go to a Dr. Frank show… they’re always a lot of fun!

Frank signing copies of ANDROMEDA KLEIN at Books Inc.

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Richelle Mead and Lily St. Crow at Not Your Mother’s Book Club

August 30, 2009 in Events | 1 comment

This past Thursday, I had the great pleasure of going to see a Not Your Mother’s Book Club reading at Books Inc. in Palo Alto for rock star paranormal authors Richelle Mead (the VAMPIRE ACADEMY series) and Lily St. Crow (the STRANGE ANGELS series, both out from Razorbill).

And let me tell you, these ladies have an awesome and devoted fan base. When my friends and I dropped by an hour before the reading, the coveted chairs set up in front of the table were almost all taken! THAT’S devotion.

Richelle and Lily had been traveling together for several stops and this was their last joint reading on the tour. They both read from their respective books and took questions from fans before the official reading ended and fans formed a huge, chaotic but very fun signing line. This was my first NYMBC event where I hadn’t actually read either author… Now I’m definitely going to pick up both of their books because it was such a wonderful time and both premises sound so cool.

More pics after the jump!

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Sarah Dessen Event: Not Your Mother’s Book Club

June 22, 2009 in Events | 12 comments

Now, everyone probably knows I’m no stranger to Not Your Mother’s Book Club Events (@nymbc). Yesterday’s super sold-out lunch with Sarah Dessen was no exception and I’m happy to be able to share pictures with you.

Sarah, who is extremely charming, spent an hour or two circulating from table to table to chat with her fans and readers up close. Then she did a little reading from her brand new release, ALONG FOR THE RIDE, which everyone should go pick up. Right now.

She had some really interesting things to say. Did you know that she found being a full time writer more difficult than she ever thought it would be?

When she was sitting at my table, she told us how having her baby recently completely changed how she thinks of her writing career. Caring for something else so much really helped get her out of her own head. Writing ALONG FOR THE RIDE, as a result, was a completely different experience.

That’s a good thing to keep in mind, and you don’t have to have a baby to experience it: step outside of yourself every once in a while. Get your mind off your obsessive writing patterns. Approach your craft from a different direction. Even the biggest, baddest, most bestselling pros do this.

Without further ado, here are some great pictures from the event, after the jump.

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Debutante Ball at Books Inc! Event With Sarah Quigley, Cheryl Renee Herbsman and C. Lee McKenzie!

May 15, 2009 in Events | 4 comments

Just last night, I had the pleasure of hanging out with some awesome YA authors. Cheryl Renee Herbsman, who wrote BREATHING (Viking, 2009), Sarah Quigley, author of TMI (Dutton, 2009) and C. Lee McKenzie of SLIDING ON THE EDGE (WestSide Books, 2009) were our three debutantes at Books Inc. They can be seen pictured here from left to right. (Sorry your eyes are closed, Cheryl, it’s hard to get three people coordinated in a group shot!)

The reading was wonderful, with so many friends, family and fans in the store to cheer our debs on. Punch, cupcakes, cookies, tiaras and pearls were in abundance to make it a truly white-glove affair. In fact, bookseller extraordinaire, Summer, even showed up with kid gloves. Cheryl read from BREATHING first, and had some inspirational words for writers:

Read a lot, write a lot, kill the inner critic.

When her first manuscript didn’t sell, Cheryl admitted the following:

It was hard not to give up, but people told me to start working on something new. That book was BREATHING. It was the best advice I got.

C. Lee McKenzie read from SLIDING ON THE EDGE next. In fact, she had her first paragraph memorized! She told the audience that her idea for the book came from a newspaper article, and brought the clipping that started it all. So look out, writers, inspiration is everywhere. She also told people to build their web presence, book deal or not, so that you can start connecting with readers and develop your career.

The pretty pink princess of the evening, Sarah Quigley, then read from TMI (here are links to: my review, my interview with Sarah). No wonder Becca, her character does theatre… Sarah had great stage, er, bookstore presence and totally nailed her character’s voice.

After getting books signed, everyone poured out of the store on a total sugar high. This isn’t the last you’ll hear from these debut authors, so if you haven’t picked up their books yet, do it now and get in the know. Some of my lucky readers don’t need to go through the trouble, though. They’ve won autographed, personalized copies! Click the link below to reveal the contest winners and see more awesome pictures from the event!

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Lisa Yee Reading at Books Inc.

April 16, 2009 in Events, Writing | 2 comments

What a wonderful time! I just got back from the Lisa Yee reading at Books Inc. Palo Alto. First, I have to give a standing ovation to Jennifer Laughran, who organized this event and is in charge of  Not Your Mother’s Book Club. She is such an asset to the Bay Area kidlit community. She is literally on the pulse, if not the pulse, of everything that goes on here.

Speaking of pulse… my pulse is definitely jangling with sugar from all the delicious cupcakes! Mmmm.

Another standing O goes to Lisa Yee, who was her witty, charming self at tonight’s reading, as you can see from the pictures.

After reading a little bit from STANFORD WONG and ABSOLUTELY MAYBE, she spent a little time giving advice to writers, which she tried to say in one, very long word:

ReadReadWriteWriteReadWriteReadReadWrite

She also told writers to pull something different from the shelf, something other than what they’d usually read. (See: The Importance of Reading for Writers)

Instead of worrying about producing the next New York Times bestseller, she also advises writers to keep some perspective:

Keep your goals small: write one good sentence.

Overall, a very fun and totally memorable evening. More pictures behind the cut and… the winner of the ABSOLUTELY MAYBE contest revealed!

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