Ohioana Book Festival 2011 Recap

Festival Details click Here!

This past Saturday I was fortunate enough to attend the Ohioana Book Festival in Columbus, Ohio. Ohioana is a completely free gathering for lovers of books and showcases central Ohio's local authors. There was so much to do and to be honest with you it was just as good if not better than some of the conferences I've attended and actually paid for.

I can't even begin to rattle off all the individual seminars, because there was just so many. One of the main things I wanted to share with you guys is I met the Regional Advisor for the local chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators.

                                                   Click HERE to visit their national site!

There is a ton of advantages available to members of SCBWI. If you are serious about getting published in the children's market this is the professional society for you. They have annual conferences, local monthly meetings and networking opportunities. A great place to meet other people with the same interest as you.


The second thing I wanted to share with you all is the great books I discovered by authors right in my back yard. A couple of them I had reviewed their novels on READING, WRITING & WAITING, so it's always nice to put faces with books.

Erin McCahan, I Now Pronounce You Someone Else

Erin McCahan was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, but moved to Columbus, Ohio when she was nearly five. She spent her best collegiate years at Hope College in Holland, Michigan and Capital University in Columbus, where she still lives.

Here Comes the Bride — If She Can Pass Chemistry.

Eighteen-year-old Bronwen Oliver has a secret: She's really Phoebe, the lost daughter of the loving Lilywhite family. That's the only way to explain her image-obsessed mother; a kind but distant stepfather; and a brother with a small personality complex. Bronwen knows she must have been switched at birth, and she can't wait to get away from her "family" for good.

Then she meets Jared Sondervan. He's sweet, funny, everything she wants — and he has the family Bronwen has always wanted too. She falls head over heels in love, and when he proposes marriage, she joyfully accepts. But is Jared truly what she needs? And if he's not, she has to ask: What would Phoebe Lilywhite do?

Author Website

Goodreads

I met Erin McCahan yesterday. She was super nice and remembered my book review!

Linda Gerber, Trance

Linda Gerber learned out of necessity to write on the go while living the expat life in Japan, where she served as the Regional Advisor for the Tokyo chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. She is the best-selling author of novels for teens and tweens. Her books have landed on such notable lists as the ALA Popular Paperbacks, Women’s Sports Foundation recommended reads, and Literacy Lab recommended reads. Her latest book, Trance, is a Junior Library Guild selection. Gerber currently lives and writes in Dublin, Ohio, blissfully ignoring her husband, four kids, and one very naughty puppy.

Ashlyn Greenfield has always known when bad things are going to happen. Each time that familiar tingling at the back of her neck begins, she knows what's to come a trance. She's pulled in, blindsided, an unwilling witness to a horrible upcoming event. But she's never been able to stop it not even when the vision was of her mother's fatal car accident. When soulful Jake enters Ashlyn's life, she begins having trances about another car accident. And as her trances escalate, one thing becomes clear; it's up to her to save Jake from near-certain death.

Author Website

Gooreads

It was really cool to meet Linda because her blog actually quotes my review! That's proof that authors do read reviews guys! My review of Linda's book TRANCE.

Lisa Klein, Cate of the Lost Colony

A writer of historical fiction for young adults, Lisa Klein is a native of Peoria, Illinois. She received her BA from Marquette and her PhD in literature from Indiana University. Klein was an assistant professor of English at The Ohio State University for eight years, where her special discipline was Shakespeare and Renaissance culture. Klein lives in Columbus.

Lady Catherine is one of Queen Elizabeth's favorite court maidens-until her forbidden romance with Sir Walter Ralegh is discovered. In a bitter twist of irony, the jealous queen banishes Cate to Ralegh's colony of Roanoke, in the New World. Ralegh pledges to come for Cate, but as the months stretch out, Cate begins to doubt his promise and his love. Instead it is Manteo, a Croatoan Indian, whom the colonists-and Cate-increasingly turn to. Yet just as Cate's longings for England and Ralegh fade and she discovers a new love in Manteo, Ralegh will finally set sail for the New World. Seamlessly weaving together fact with fiction, Lisa Klein's newest historical drama is an engrossing tale of adventure and forbidden love-kindled by one of the most famous mysteries in American history: the fate of the settlers at Roanoke, who disappeared without a trace forty years before the Pilgrims would set foot in Plymouth.

I had seen this book on several blogs and even discussed it with a girl in my critique group, but I had no idea the author was local! Can't wait to read this one. YA needs more historicals!

Website

Goodreads

Kristina McBride, The Tension of Opposites

Kristina McBride, a former high-school English teacher and yearbook advisor, wrote The Tension of Opposites in response to the safe return of a child who was kidnapped while riding his bike to a friend’s house. She lives in Ohio with her husband and two young children. This is her first novel.

It’s been two years since Noelle disappeared. Two years since her bike was discovered, sprawled on a sidewalk. Two years of silence, of worry, of fear.


For those two long years, her best friend Tessa has waited, living her own life in a state of suspended animation. Because how can she allow herself to enjoy a normal high school life if Noelle can’t? Ho...moreIt’s been two years since Noelle disappeared. Two years since her bike was discovered, sprawled on a sidewalk. Two years of silence, of worry, of fear.


For those two long years, her best friend Tessa has waited, living her own life in a state of suspended animation. Because how can she allow herself to enjoy a normal high school life if Noelle can’t? How dare she have other friends, go to dances, date boys, without knowing what happened to the girl she thought she would share everything with?


And then one day, someone calls Noelle’s house. She’s alive.


A haunting psychological thriller taken straight from the headlines, The Tension of Opposites is a striking debut that explores the emotional aftermath of a kidnapping on the victim, and on the people she left behind.

“Tense! The constant push and pull of friendship, pain, love, and jealousy is beautifully drawn. A definite must read.” – Jay Asher, author of the New York Times bestseller Thirteen Reasons Why

Author Website

Goodreads

I'm really excited to read this one! Reminds me of the Elizabeth Smart story.
 
 
Happy Reading!!!
 
ANNIE

Boy Books

So I read, a lot.

And generally, this is split into two categories non-fiction that makes me a better person and that I should read more of, and fiction that makes me a happier person, but I probably read too much of - an opened book is a finished book. And then I can't help but open another book.

Still, when people I know ask me about good MG/YA books for boys, I've only got a handful of authors to recommend, and they're all almost all fantasy.

They are (alphabetically)

Cinda Williams Cima
Eoin Colfer
John Flanagan
James Herriot (though, he probably requires the attention span of an older reader)
Brandon Mull
Christopher Paolini
Sarah Prineas
Rick Rearden
Johann David Wyss

Now tell me, who am I missing?

Showing Love to Your Fellow Writers

All the fine ladies here at GOT YA are writers and we've all been on the publishing roller coaster. Some, like Veronica Roth and Kathleen Peacock, have their sparkly new book deals and are just a few months from taking the Young Adult world by storm, and others are still searching for that perfect agent/writer magical bond to happen. So all of us here can sympathize with the ups and downs of this whole publishing thing and know how hard it is to get that precious manuscript turned into a book sitting on a Barnes&Noble book shelf. Writing becomes an obsession, and don't just think once you've got your deal it'll go away, because it won't. When your book gets to the point where the marketing department at the publishing house decides to send out those coveted shiny UNCORRECTED ADVANCED COPIES (ARCs) out to reviewers, you'll be setting your Google alert buttons. I promise you that.

How do I know that? Simple. I'm a book blogger and you wouldn't believe how many authors contact me after I post a review of their work. Yes, I'm one of those people who read ARCs and post for the world to see exactly what I thought about your book. Just yesterday, my Google alerts brought to my attention one author posted my review and a link back to me on her website. So you never know who's reading your blog.

Now, I know you are probably wondering: Okay, yeah, so what, Annie. How does this apply to a beginning writer like me? Well, my friend let me tell you. Everywhere you look, there is a blog post, article or something posted about "Building a Platform" for writers at every level in their writing career. Book blogging is an excellent way to keep the posts coming on your personal blog and reach other people in the writing community who share your taste in genres and writing styles. The only thing is, when you are a writer blogging about books, you have to not only make sure you post a truthful opinion, but make sure you do it in a respectful way. Am I saying RAVE about every single book you read? No, not at all. What I am saying is you never know about the future. Someone's book you are simply SLAMMING on your blog today may be in the same publishing house/literary agency as you some day, and what do you think they'll say about your book when they are approached to write a blurb/recommendation? Awkward, right? LOL Yeah, I think so too.

So here's my advice: Blog a lot, read a lot, write a lot and you can't go wrong. Try to find not only negatives in a book, but positives too. Remember, every book you read is somebody's baby. Do you want somebody to call your baby ugly? Nope, me neither, so don't forget to show some love to your fellow writers while making your splash in the publishing world.