Monday Guest Blogging bows to Speak Loudly for Laurie Halse Anderson and Speak

It's time to Speak Loudly for Speak!!!

We interrupt our usual Monday Guest Blogging broadcast, er, post, to bring you an Epic Guest Blogging event. Unless you were off twitter, blogs, social media, or in a hole yesterday, you might have missed how Laurie Halse Anderson's wonderful book, Speak, is being challenged as "pornographic". Yes, I know it's absurd, but unfortunately, this absurd and completely warped voice has been the one spouting hate and intolerance in the press. That's why the Young Adult literary community as well as writers everywhere need to stand up and refuse book banning and censorship as well as regulating rape to some pornographic, highly sexual event, which is most certainly NOT!

So, today I leave you with the link where you can find blogs in defense of Laurie Halse Anderson and Speak. The very awesomeness that is Reclusive Bibliophile made an expansive list.

However, the one that touched me deeply, had me weeping was CJ Redwine's brave and courageous post about being a rape survivor and what books like Speak mean to those who have experienced it.

And Lindsey Roth Culli had a great open letter to Dr. citing her faith and backing up her argument with scripture from the Bible. TAKE THAT!

The very fabulous Myra McEntire had courage enough to post about how much her faith means to her, how hard it is to be a writer and a Christian sometimes, and how issues like this get her really riled.

And I also blogged about being a Christian, having the pleasure of teaching Speak last year, meeting Laurie Halse Anderson at ALA, and how not all Christians are intolerant book banning haters.

************GotYA wants to support Speak returning to the BestSeller's List. We will be giving away a copy on Flashback Friday. All you have to do is comment today, and you'll be entered. *******

Flashback Fridays: ALA Recap

Welcome to Week Ten of our fabulous segment Flashback Fridays where the old and new collide on everything from books to movies to first loves to favorite vacations.

This week I'm flashbacking to my experience at last week's ALA conference. So what exactly is ALA? Well, it's the American Library Association, and it is the oldest library association not only in the country, but in the world. Pretty impressive, huh?

ALA held this year's convention in Washington DC. It's always been a dream of mine to go to our nation's capital, so I figured touring DC and hitting the convention was an awesome plan. I'm sure you're thinking, "So what does a writer need with a bunch of librarians or info on the newest online databases?" Trust me, ALA is so much more than library cart races(yep, they do have those!). Publishers, editors, and authors all convene on ALA just as much as librarians do. Where else would you get to meet authors like Laurie Halse Anderson, Ellen Hopkins, Melissa Marr, Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. And yes, although he signed books after I left on Sunday morning, I did have a fangirl John Green moment as he passed by my buddies and me.

Here are some pictures of the exhibit hall

It was truly an intense experience meeting all those great authors. It was a surreal moment getting MG author, Avi, to sign my book. My first year teaching I taught his The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.


And I have to say that it was an especially fangirl moment with Laurie Halse Anderson. I can't imagine a more giving and caring author than Laurie. After mentioning teaching Speak to my Freshman, we talked about the experience, and she also wished me luck in my own writing career. Now that's classy!! I can't wait to read her historical fiction Chains and its sequel Forge.

Other very approachable authors were a personal favorite and fellow AbsoluteWriter, Melissa Marr, and Carolyn Mackler, the author of The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things. Her new book, Tangled, sounds awesome.

So what else is cool besides meeting authors and publishing teams? One word. ARCS!!! I scored some very exciting books like Ally Condie's, Matched, Lisa Desrochers's Personal Demons, Margaret Stohl and Kami Garcia's Beautiful Darkness, and Alexandra Adornetto's Halo

Here I am with my tower of ARCS along with some purchased books




















And here's my buddy, Rebecca, with her books




















And here I am being very, very excited to have scored an ARC of Matched. Ally Condie was there on Sunday signing after I left. Bummer!













So ALA was about meeting authors, free books, but it was also about meeting up in person with "online" friends.

Here I am with a good Absolutewrite buddy of mine, Sumayyah. Remember her name because Melissa Marr loved it and its meaning. She might be immortalized someday!

And here I am with Twitter buddies, Miranda and Rebecca, who is co-owner of http://www.fallenarchangel.com/, which is a fansite for Becca Fitzpatrick's Hush, Hush series.

So, if you get the chance, I highly recommend you check out an ALA conference. They have a mid-winter meeting in January, which will be held in San Diego. And then next year's conference will be in Nawlins...or New Orleans!!