making space for books

I do not tend to think of my blog slowdown (posting has neared a standstill at points over the last year!)(you may have noticed. or not.) as a positive thing. There are good books I've missed, even better conversations skipped entirely, and potential new internet friendships ignored. However, there is a silver lining to the quiet (probably several, really): I now sit with books. I make space to contemplate them – sometimes unconsciously. I still read them at the same speed as ever, and after I finish I continue to jot down notes and reflections to help recall later what I liked and didn't like.

But then I wait. I let my heart stop hammering and my tears dry.  I turn those thoughts over and over. Sometimes I change my mind entirely. Sometimes when I get down to finally writing and posting the review I focus on a theme or outside concern that doesn't bear any relation to the direction my notes took in the first place. I think it’s a wonderful change. My reviews end up more thoughtful, or at least more representative of the reading experience I had and the way I'll remember the book down the road. 

Anecdotal evidence suggests that these long-mulled reviews end up being more positive than the ones I used to finish one night and post the next day.  And I don’t mean positive as in “I love every book I read now!”  I mean it in the sense that I am more enthusiastic about the books I’ve read, and who they might be perfect for.  I bring up books in conversation more often, even if they were not my cup of tea.  I’m sharing them more readily, too (both recommendations and physical copies).

I take this rekindled enthusiasm as a promising sign for both my reading and my blog.  I needed the “blog break” over the past year, though I lamented (and was ashamed of) it at the time.  But these days I’m excited to read, and consider my reading, in a slightly different way.  It’s a good thing.

I’m curious: How long do you consider a review and/or how long does it take you to write a review?

six years is quite a while

It has been quiet at Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia over the past six months.  And that’s okay.  Life (even reading life!) changes.  That said, I’m here.  I’ve been going to book club and checking Twitter and Tumblr for the latest news from my fellow readers and bloggers.  I’ve been thinking about blogging recently, too.  Unfortunately, my reading pace hasn’t picked up much.  Still, Sunday was my six year blogging anniversary, and it seemed like the kind of thing I should write about. 

Six years (whoa. dude.)!  For my five year anniversary I wrote about five authors that blogging introduced me to.  This time around I’ll feature six more.  As I said last year, one of the best parts about blogging is that I’m constantly discovering new favorites.  I may not have read every book in these authors’ backlists yet, but the ones I have, I loved.  And to quote myself, “I trust their stories: for entertainment, wisdom, emotion, and always, always, beautiful writing.”

Merrie Haskell – I always have been (and likely always will be) a soft touch when it comes to fairy tales.  Haskell writes really lovely middle grade retellings of my favorites, and she includes strong doses of history, mysticism and other elements mixed in with the magic.  I liked her debut, The Princess Curse, but I fell irrevocably in love with The Castle Behind Thorns.  I know her books will be auto-buys for years to come.

Frank Cottrell Boyce – I very much appreciate books that are smart, feeling AND funny.  It takes a lot of skill to balance those elements, and if I had to pick one writer for young readers who gets it right every time, I’d point to Frank Cottrell Boyce.  He charmed me with Cosmic, his tale of outer space and family dynamics, and his upcoming The Astounding Broccoli Boy is just as charming.

Sylvia Izzo Hunter – I read a book* this past fall that was 100% a Cecelia book.  Meaning, I fell in love with it immediately, was not disappointed when I finished it, and I keep thinking about it after the fact.  I shall be following Hunter’s career with hungry eyes.

*The book!  Was!  The Midnight Queen!

Kate Elliott – Before I began blogging I had no idea that there were book communities online.  Obviously I learned the error of my ways, and began participating in the bookternet.  I also began noticing that these online communities were finding ways to meet up in person.  What were BEA and ALA?  I researched.  I went to ALA Annual (my first conference!) in 2010.  I was a hot mess, let me tell you.  I was a newbie blogger wandering the exhibit floor, wearing a tiny denim skirt and flip flops, surprised/pleased/terrified to find that booths were just giving away books.  One of those books was Kate Elliott’s Cold Magic.  I had no idea that she’d written previous books, I just liked the look of that one.  And I’ve liked her books (and her fantastic online presence) ever since.

Erin Bow – Dear Lord, does Erin Bow know how to write.  Her book Plain Kate is just… one of the best books I’ve ever read.  Yep, that’s a pretty good description.  I think it’s a mix of really knowing and loving language (Bow’s also a poet) and not shying away from the darkness of life.  I have her Sorrow’s Knot on the shelf, and I know it’ll be just as fantastic (all of my trusted sources say so), and there’s another book coming out soon.  All to say: if you haven’t read Bow yet, you should make the time.

Jonathan Stroud – Real talk time, subject: book acquisition.  I follow bloggers whose opinions I trust, yes.  And sometimes a book just sounds fantastic (aka it ticks all of the Cecelia crack boxes).  And sometimes I pick based on gorgeous cover art.  BUT.  Sometimes it takes an award to get a book on my radar (or in this case, a nomination for the CYBILS).  Stroud’s Lockwood & Co.: The Screaming Staircase was one of those.  Once I read it, I became its biggest fan.  I gave it to people for Christmas, I made a point to meet the author when he came on tour, and I haven’t stopped thinking about the fantasy world Stroud created.  That book made me a Stroud fan (for life).  I’m pretty happy about it.

These are some of my blogging author discoveries.  Who are yours?

what is one thing you would try if you knew you couldn’t fail?

I wrote a few months ago about getting my new job because of skills I learned from blogging.  That’s still true, and incidentally, I still love my job (yay!).  But in that post I also made a note that I’d been at my company for three years and earned their respect prior to landing this job-that-I-love.  Penelope Trunk (an author and entrepreneur who writes great stuff on career and life) wrote a post today on respect and said, look at what you do well. Now. That’s what earns you respect, whether you like it or not.

Penelope writes really raw, honest things, and I respect her for that: she does it well.  And her post made me think about what I do well, and how exactly I earned my own workplace respect.

I (initially) earned respect by asking questions.  And no, they weren’t job-related questions.  Here’s the story: I was given a dark corner cubicle where I could have hidden away and never learned anyone’s names and eventually faded from existence.  That might be an exaggeration… *might*  The one redeeming characteristic of this cubicle was a whiteboard (I didn’t need a whiteboard).  So I wiped it clean and put up a silly question, probably something like “What is your favorite color?”

My secret: I have nice handwriting, and I’m vain about it.  THAT is why I wrote a question.  The good news is that people came by, noticed my question, and responded.  Soon, I was writing up a new question every day.  I was also okay at my job, but that question-a-day routine was what helped me connect with my coworkers and learn more about my office and eventually transition to another role (and from that to this one!).

We moved to a new office, and the whiteboard moved to the kitchen.  I still write up the question every day.  When new hires go on a tour, I’m introduced as ‘the person who writes the questions on the board.’  I’ve earned respect at work for being good at asking questions.

Another secret: I rarely answer my own questions. I may be good at asking (or finding sources to use when I can’t think of a question), but I don’t have a quick processor upstairs.  I mull, I weigh, and often the entire day goes by without an answer popping into my mind.  Related: It takes me forever to write book reviews.

Anyway, all that to say that I put today’s question up at 9am, and I still haven’t thought of an answer.  It may be just that I am a slow thinker, but it may also be that I am scared of more than just failure.  I may be scared of responsibility, or expectations.

But hey, it’s not all about me (and my possible fear).  I love today’s question, and I love the different answers.  I wanted to figure out a way to ask it on my blog.  So here you go (and I’m sorry you had to ramble through bits on respect and the history of my job/questions to get there):

What is one thing you would try if you knew you couldn’t fail?

top ten blogging confessions

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, where we all get to exercise our OCD tendencies and come up with bookish lists.  If you’d like to play along, check out this post.

Two years ago I did a post on bookish confessions, where I shared secrets such as: I have run up $100+ library fines (it was just the once, I swear!), I skip ahead in a lot (most?!) books, and that I semi-permanently stowed 14 boxes of books at my parents’ house.  Today’s list, however, focuses on blogging confessions.  Some may surprise you, others may not… but this is about the writing itself, the so-called behind-the-scenes, rather than books directly.  Well, except in the case of #10.  I had to sneak that in there.  Even if I’ve already ‘confessed’ it multiple times!

Top Ten Blogging Confessions

1.  Of the top 10 all-time most popular posts on my blog, 4 are recipes, and NONE are book reviews.  Welp.

2. I wait until a “good” week before updating my blogging stats for sites like NetGalley and Edelweiss.  Vanity is a killer, folks.

3. Currently around 50% of my reading = romance novels, and I very rarely blog or review them. 

4. Reading and reviewing graphic novels feels like cheating.  It’s so easy!

5. I signed up for the much-discussed, er… much-maligned (?!) Blogging for Books program because I want to review more cookbooks.  And no one is exactly throwing them at me right now.

6. I take any/all photos on my blog with my iPhone 4s.  I don’t own a camera, and haven’t since ~2007.

7. My best blog traffic day in any given week is Tuesday.  Thanks, Top Ten Tuesday meme friends!

8. I got my current real-life job because of skills I learned from blogging, but most days I feel like a rank amateur.  Have you seen my fellow bloggers?!

9. I hate vlogs and/or booktube videos.  I have never been able to force myself to watch one all of the way through.

10. I really do judge books by their covers.  All. The. Freaking. Time. I know I should know better by now!

What are your blogging confessions?  Or if you don’t blog, what’s your favorite from my list?

handwriting and blogging

You may have read a recent article in the New York Times about handwriting and education, and the links that researchers see between putting pen (or pencil!) to paper and idea creation, memory and learning ability.  What you probably didn’t do is print it out, highlight the particularly interesting bits, and then carry that paper copy around in your purse for two weeks, waiting for the ideal moment to stop and write a reflection blog post.  Who does that, anyway?  A nerd like me.  *grin*

Maria Konnikova’s June 2nd piece gathered information from recent studies that suggest that handwriting can have a long-standing effect on learning.  She wrote that “[P]rinting, cursive writing, and typing on a keyboard are all associated with distinct and separate brain patterns – and each results in a distinct end product,” and, “[W]riting by hand allows … a process of reflection and manipulation that can lead to better understanding and memory encoding.”  It’s an interesting premise, and in my case, a convincing one.

I began to think of the ways in which I wrote as a child, and continue to write today.  I learned to print in kindergarten.  I began to learn cursive lettering in first grade (age six!).  In third grade, my mother began homeschooling my siblings and me, and handwriting landed very far down the priority list.  In middle school my family bought a home computer, but I shared the use of it with everyone else. I wrote anything I wanted to say down on paper, usually in print.  And I eventually started corresponding with pen pals all over the world, some of whom used beautiful and peculiar print that almost looked like a different script. 

By the time I was back in a formal classroom in high school, I’d taught myself to write only in my version of perfect print: some of it borrowed from the Norwegian pen pal who lived above the Arctic Circle, some handed down from my mother, some cadged from an English teacher whose chalkboard printing I particularly admired.  I learned to type in a high school class by sheer force of will – I would not get anything less than an A grade!  And most of the rest of my life has been spent typing (with the essential caveat that I took class notes by hand), including college and grad school papers, work and personal emails, and endless chat messages to friends. 

The interesting thing about blogging is that it has reintroduced me to handwriting.  Over the past 5+ years I have filled a succession of notebooks with scribbled thoughts on characters, plots, weaknesses, strengths, lists and who I’d recommend the book to.  Whether or not I put those notes in a later review doesn’t matter – there’s something about writing out my visceral response to a book that helps me connect to it AND dissect it.  I begin to see larger themes and similarities, and I remember the reading experience far longer. 

So, that NYT article made perfect sense.  Handwriting has always been one of my outlets of personal expression, but it is also a tool that helps me understand things on a deeper level, and think more creative thoughts overall.  No wonder I love it!  And no wonder I persevere in writing my reviews and blog posts long-hand, even when it would be far easier to type and hit ‘Save,’ and not bother with that in-between draft. 

Now I’m wondering about you, my fellow readers.  Where does handwriting fit in your life? Do you believe the handwriting hype?  How do you write your reviews?

do you review every book you read?

I had a number of interesting conversations last week with fellow bloggers at the BEA Bloggers Conference and Book Expo America. One of the topics we covered popped into my head again while I was at work today. I thought I'd pose it to you (my readers who are also bloggers): What percentage of books read do you review?

Since I couldn't open a Word document and write a post then and there, I took to social media.  I got a lot of interesting responses, varying from right around where I am to 100%, but it seemed as though most of the replies were grouped toward the high end. Please feel free to share your own estimate in the comments! I'd love to know if it's abnormally skewed due to the active twitter audience on a given Tuesday morning (or any other plausible factor!).

Now for the confessional portion of this post. The reason my percentage is so low? Is because around half of the books I read are romance novels.  And I generally do not review or record them in any way (you won't see them populating my Goodreads shelves, for instance). There's always the off chance that my mother or grandmother will read my blog, after all!

Lest you think I am *afraid* of my family knowing I read romance, I'm not. Well, not much. It is more that I have little desire to have a conversation about the romances I read, and especially not 'in public.' That is not the case at all with middle grade and young adult literature. When I read a fantastic YA book, I want to shout it from the rooftops. So, if we redefine the original question, I'd say I review about 90% of the young adult and middle grade lit I read.

The rest of my reading pie is taken up with slices of adult fiction and adult science fiction and fantasy.

So, please do tell: what does your read-to-reviewed ratio look like?

p.s. In case you also read romance and haven't discovered them, two romance-reviewing blogs I trust implicitly are Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, and Dear Author. They do a much better job of recommending romance than I ever could/would.

how blogging helped me get a job

That title feels a little bit like link bait, but it has the virtue of being true.  Blogging DID help me get a job.  I can now say that five years of blogging has been worth it, career-wise.  Of course, I’ve always known that reading and writing about reading was worth it for my sanity, if nothing else (sanity is underrated).  And the books!  Books are glorious.  Discovering and attending book events like BEA feels like visiting a strange world where everyone is at least as nerdy as I am.  It’s sweet and unnerving and perfect.

Anyway, back to the job bit. 

Background: I’ve been at the same nonprofit in DC for three and a half years.  I started working for them after grad school didn’t pan out and that one disastrous entry-to-the-office-world job.  I was content if not perfectly happy doing what I did: it involved a lot of staring at spreadsheets, but it paid enough to eat well and travel to Ireland, and I had other things going on in life to get my ‘fulfillment’ quota.

Then a job opened up in another department for a Web Content Manager.  I looked at the description out of curiosity, and then I did a double take.  I could see the path to my dream career, and I had the skills to do it – I’d learned them from blogging.  When they offered it to me (after all of the usual HR type things), I took it without hesitation.  I may be the happiest I’ve ever been in a work environment – and that’s counting the first time I cashed a paycheck, when I began lifeguarding at age fifteen.

Below I’ve copy/pasted some of the exact requirements from my job description, and how my blogging experience helped me land the job.

Minimum of 3-5 years’ relevant online website development and management experience.

I’ve been running Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia on my own for over five years (at times more successfully than others…) – and I have slowly and surely built a following by connecting with fellow bloggers and engaging in social media.  I listed my blog on my resume under ‘Relevant non-work skills and experience,’ and I made sure to talk about it in my cover letter and during the interview process.  I also included my Twitter handle so that the hiring manager could see that I post consistent content with a targeted focus, and that I had a sizeable audience.

Knowledge of HTML and experience with popular content management systems and analytics programs.

If you have tried your hand at blogging, you’ve probably gotten really familiar with Googling for help.  I’ve done my fair share of this, but I can also point to Bloggiesta as one of the events that helped me develop my web skills.  Through Bloggiesta mini-challenges I learned basic HTML, I began to track my blog with Google Analytics, and I played around with RSS feeds and services.  All of these skills are directly transferable to my new position.

Excellent SEO/social media/web editing skills.

I dabbled with Klout for a while before I got a little skeeved out by how much information and access they had to my online life. How did I learn about Klout?  Bloggers.  And of course my Twitter presence is almost entirely book-related, though I tend to listen more often than participate.  Still, I could point to those things, plus knowledge of Google Analytics, Google+, Facebook and LinkedIn.  Web editing?  I do that nearly every day on Blogger.  And SEO was another one of those things I learned about via Bloggiesta. 

Even though blogging taught me the skill set for this job, it’s important to acknowledge that I’d already built trust and community in the company through my 3+ years of previous employment.  I was/am lucky, but I also paid my dues.  I’d like to think that anyone who forms key relationships and proves themselves hard-working could do the same.

I hope this is useful: for those who question if there’s any benefit to blogging aside from engagement with the community and free books, and for anyone who wonders if blogging counts as professional development if you’re not interested in going into publishing.  Even if you think your real world job isn’t remotely related to blogging, you could be developing the skills that will lead you to the perfect job.  I’m living proof.

five discoveries in five years

Five years ago today I started blogging. The blog began as a promise to myself to begin 'something good' in the midst of one of the toughest years of my life. And for a while I didn't have a defined blogging identity. In those first few months I brought up books only rarely. Interests (like blood) will out! I found myself reading book blogs, and thinking, "I could do that. I could talk about books." By July 2009 most of my posts were book-related.

One of the wonderful side effects of jumping into this world has been new book and new-to-me author discovery. I feel incredibly lucky to have found new standby authors. I trust their stories: for entertainment, wisdom, emotion, and always, always beautiful writing. So on this fifth anniversary of my blog, I'm highlighting five authors blogging has introduced me to.  Many thanks to Charlotte and Liviania for the idea!

Patrick Ness – The Knife of Never Letting Go was one of the first dystopian novels I read back when that trend was just beginning. I believe it was on a list at Rhiannon Hart's blog along with The Hunger Games (which I ugly-cried in public over). That was enough to get me to try it. And then a little later I read A Monster Calls and realized that making me cry and cringe and FEEL was going to be Ness' modus operandi. He writes powerful fiction and incredible voices. I think I will always look forward to his next project.

Meljean Brook – Velvet at vvb32reads was one of the early cheerleaders for steampunk, and I took part in several challenges and events that she put on, including the Iron Seas challenge, which featured Meljean Brook's books. ZOMG, these are *amazing* and worth a read even if you usually stay away from romance as a genre. Brook writes seriously wonderful characters, who are surrounded by amazing world-building, and you get a guaranteed happy ending. What could be better?! I count down the months to every single new release.

Sherman Alexie – I was introduced to Sherman Alexie in my first year of blogging by Leila of bookshelves of doom and Steph Bowe.  And I’ll be forever grateful to those two, because Alexie is one of the greats of our time.  You can’t go wrong, whether you choose his YA classic The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian or a short story collection like War Dances.  Alexie’s insightful writing is commentary as much as entertainment, and important as well as beautiful.

Catherynne M. Valente – I discovered Catherynne M. Valente by following a link on Neil Gaiman’s blog (I'm pretty sure that's where I found it?!).  My love for Gaiman’s fiction preceded blogging, so I was already in the habit of reading his updates.  And then one day he mentioned Valente, who wrote The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making as a serial novel/desperate call for help.  Valente’s struggles spoke to me, but the book even more so.  The story is such a lovely, bizarre, fantastical tale of Fairyland that I made a place for it in my heart, for always.  I’ve since read several other Valente titles, and I always feel a sort of reverence or wonder for her way with words and her imagination at large. 

Sharon Shinn – I can’t remember who introduced me to Sharon Shinn.  I would say Angie of Angieville (she’s a huge Shinn fan), but according to my review of Archangel, my first taste of Shinn was Angelica, and I don’t believe Angie reviewed that one.  ANYWAY.  Blogging not only introduced me to Shinn’s sci-fi series featuring angels, but to her writing as a whole.  Which is always delightful and thoughtful, as well as wrought with feeling and romance.  I pick up Shinn novels like clockwork now whenever I feel the need for speculative fiction that will turn me inside out and make me swoon.

Those are my five author discoveries.  Do you have any go-to favorite authors that you discovered via blogging?

top ten things that make my blogging life easier

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, where we all get to exercise our OCD tendencies and come up with bookish lists.  If you’d like to play along, check out this post.

This week’s list is about the ‘tools of the trade’ that make my life as a book blogger stress-free and fun.  If you’re into the blogging scene, you’ll recognize the majority of these as necessities or ‘givens.’  If you don’t blog, I encourage you to check out these resources anyway – they’re great tools for the serious reader as well as the hobbyist blogger.  Anything that introduces you to more books is a good thing, right?!

Top Ten Things That Make My Blogging Life Easier

1. Goodreads – This is THE social network for readers.  It’s a database where you can keep track of the books you’ve read, write reviews, give star ratings, and interact with your favorite authors (if that’s your jam).  I get great recommendations from fellow readers every time I log in.

2. Bloggiesta – Hosted biannually, this is a blogger ‘work party,’ where an entire weekend is devoted to updating whatever needs updating on your blog, and also learning new tricks of the trade.  I learned basic HTML coding from participating in Bloggiesta!

3. Weekly memes – Events like Top Ten Tuesday (this post!) and Waiting on Wednesday are great ways to find new blogs to read and fellow readers with the same taste.  TTT is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, and WoW is hosted by Breaking the Spine.

4. Arlington County Libraries and King County Library System – Libraries.  They remain a favorite method of mine for accessing new and not-so-new releases.  Arlington County is my current location, and they’ve got a good selection of YA in print and digital formats.  KCLS is ‘back home,’ and I still peruse their digital collection on a weekly basis.

5. Twitter – My preferred social network, and a great way to discover the latest news in the publishing world.  I follow agents, editors, authors, bloggers, and more.  What’s noteworthy?  You’ll find people talking about it on Twitter.

6. Blank journal/notebook – I like to write most of my reviews longhand before I type them up.  I find that this allows me to edit, deliberate over word choice, and make sure my conclusions are sound before I hit the ‘publish’ button.  Because the internet doesn’t forget.  And you can still cross things out in a notebook!

7. Kindle, OverDrive, iBooks and Blio – I don’t have an e-reader, so I rely on these reading apps for iPhone.  They offer digital access to galleys, library books and ebook purchases, free of charge.  And then I can read happily on my phone during my commute!

8. NetGalley access to digital ARCs – Speaking of galleys (not-quite-final books that are circulated to selected reviewers and influencers before publication to create hype), I use NetGalley to request early reading rights from publishers.  I don’t use this service as much as I once did, but a couple of times a season I’ll peruse the site and get stars in my eyes from all the books on offer.  If you review books, or are a librarian, bookseller or educator, you too can sign up!

9. Edelweiss & Shelf Awareness emails – Edelweiss is a service that, like NetGalley, offers digital access to ARCs.  But my favorite part of Edelweiss?  Their weekly Monday emails with publishing catalogue updates.  I do a lot of new title discovery on Monday afternoons (thanks, guys!).  Shelf Awareness’ daily emails are essential for anyone interested in the publishing  industry.  If you like books, you should sign up for Shelf Awareness.

10. Book Expo America – This yearly conference is basically book heaven.  I go to meet up with fellow bloggers, make contacts among publishing professionals, and see what’s new and awesome in book world.  While not necessary to maintaining a successful blog, BEA is a great help and a lot of fun besides.

Do you use any of these tools or resources? Which one is your favorite?

waiting on wednesday (56)

Today I’m participating in "Waiting On" Wednesday, a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Its purpose is to spotlight upcoming book releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

If you have browsed some of the more worthwhile corners of the internet, you may have (at one time or another) come across the blog Hyperbole and a Half.  If you haven’t, get thee hither!  It is full of hilarity and truthiness and more hilarity.  If I ever need to laugh at myself and my internet addiction or the crazy randomness of life, that’s where I head.  Alli Brosh, the creative genius behind that little site, has written a BOOK.  And since books are my favorite thing since, like, ever (you wouldn’t know it from this blog…), this is wondrous news.  Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened will be released by Touchstone (Simon & Schuster) on October 29, 2013.

Named one of the Funniest Sites on the Web by PC World and winner of the 2011 Bloggies Awards for Most Humorous Weblog and Best Writing, the creator of the immensely popular “Hyperbole and a Half” blog presents an illustrated collection of her hilarious stories with fifty percent new content. 

In a four-color, illustrated collection of stories and essays, Allie Brosh's debut Hyperbole and a Half chronicles the many "learning experiences" Brosh has endured as a result of her own character flaws, and the horrible experiences that other people have had to endure because she was such a terrible child. Possibly the worst child. For example, one time she ate an entire cake just to spite her mother.

Brosh's website receives millions of unique visitors a month and hundreds of thousands of visitors a day. This amalgamation of new material and reader favorites from Brosh's blog includes stories about her rambunctious childhood; the highs and mostly lows of owning a smart, neurotic dog and a mentally challenged one; and moving, honest, and darkly comic essays tackling her struggles with depression and anxiety, among other anecdotes from Brosh's life. Artful, poignant, and uproarious, Brosh's self-reflections have already captured the hearts of countless readers and her book is one that fans and newcomers alike will treasure.

What books are you waiting on?

book expo america, 2013 version

Last year marked my first trip to Book Expo America.  I read a lot of helpful posts from fellow bloggers who had visited before, but I didn’t really know what to expect.  I don’t think you can until/unless you’ve been to a huge conference.  All you can do is take the advice that seems good, be prepared and stay flexible.  So how’d it go for me?  Pretty well!  I learned a lot and I posted some ‘after the fact’ BEA tips based on my experience. 

I’m attending again this year, and I’m *gasp* ignoring several of my own suggestions (and that’s okay, too).  We could probably call this next section, How Cecelia Bedelia Is Doing BEA, And Why It’s Kind Of Crazy.

1. Time commitment.  I’m only going for two days, instead of four like last year.  I’m skipping the BEA Bloggers Conference.  It’s not that I don’t want to have the full experience (I do!) – my limitations are about vacation time at the day job and saving ca$hmoney.  If you’ll be at BEA on Friday and Saturday, we should probably be friends.

2. Business cards.  I ordered two hundred mini cards a month ago – twice the number I took with me last year. I like the thick card stock and lovely printing quality of MOO cards, and I found a 30% discount code online. Tip for life/the internet: if you’re going to online shop, always do a search for discount or promo codes before you hit the ‘purchase’ button.

3. Transportation.  The train: I’m taking it, and I booked early to ensure the best fare (something I failed to do last year).  I’m taking the early train up to NYC on Friday, and the 6-something in the evening train back home the next day so as to only spend one night in a hotel.  I will probably come to regret that…

4. Lodging.  Many of my fellow bloggers and attendees will tell you that the only way to do BEA affordably is to either live in the greater New York metro area, know someone who does and has a place to crash (me last year), or share a hotel room.  Since I didn’t feel like figuring out awkward financial arrangements with an internet friend, I am staying by myself in one of the Barnard College dorms provided through the BEA hotel booking partner.  Still expensive, but not bad for NYC, and being able to shut a door on other human beings privacy at the end of the day will be so worth it.

5. Children’s Author Breakfast.  It’s on Friday morning, and it’s the first thing I’ll do at BEA.  I had an amazing experience attending this breakfast last year (Lois Lowry made me weep).  I’m excited to hear from a new crop of authors this year, and if you’re going and sitting at the nice tables, CAN WE BE FRIENDS PLEASE?  I’d love to chat with people I know.  Last year I sat next to a film rights person who was perfectly nice, but I didn’t know what to say/do.  Blogging friends, volunteer yourselves!

6. Bag check and the USPS.  Also known as genius and lifesaver.  I plan to use the concierge-attended bag checks on the lower levels of the Javits Center throughout the day to cut down on the number of books I’m carrying at any given time.  And I’ll definitely repeat last year’s Post Office lunch break to mail my books home each day – it saved me from having an enormous stack at the end, and I got a breath of fresh air (alone!) in the middle of a very busy schedule.

7. Meet with publishing contacts and blogging friends.  Self-explanatory.  Umm… anyone want to do breakfast or coffee on Saturday? *grin*

8. Extra battery/handheld charger for phone. My phone is a combination watch, alarm, reading device, calendar and the portal to the internet.  And because I have an enormous smartphone, the battery dies every 2.5 hours when in use.  Also: the BEA app is too good not to use.  Extra juice for the phone = mandatory.

9.  Books!  Oh yes, that.  I am already looking at lists of authors and signings and panels I want to check out.  I tend to be fairly relaxed about schedules (no color-coded spreadsheets), but I’ll still have several ideas and possible plans in mind.

And I think that’s it!  Tell me: what are your tips, tricks, fears and/or plans for BEA?  If you don’t plan to attend, will you look up Armchair BEA?  Your secrets, please!

bea bloggers & the fantastic flying books of mr. morris lessmore

As mentioned previously, I’m in New York.  I’m using vacation days from my real job to go to BEA Bloggers and Book Expo America 2012.  Real life friends: if you weren’t convinced before, I AM A NERD.  Okay, done now.

BEA Bloggers was a full day devoted to book blogging.  Book bloggers networked, checked out panels on everything from critical reviewing to monetization, and had a chance to meet favorite authors as well as learn and share their tried-and-true methods for keeping things new, interesting and on the right side of the ethical line.  My favorite panel of the day was one entitled ‘Demystifying the Book Blogger & Publisher Relationship’ – each of the panelists provided great input and the audience appreciated the topic.

On a different note: I got incredibly lucky with my breakfast table and made several new friends (also: was SO HAPPY to find danielle. from My Mercurial Musings sitting right next to me!  ask her about the level of happy.  it was pretty epic).  Best part of the day, by far, was meeting bloggers both new and familiar.  I heart you, wonderful book people!

One of the books in my ‘swag bag’ at BEA Bloggers (yes, this was a thing!) was a charming picture book by William Joyce called The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.  I love a good picture book, though I don’t search them out as often as I should (I have little cousins, but no kids of my own).  This?  Is a special story in a beautiful package, and one I’ll be buying for many years of baby showers and birthdays to come.

The book that inspired the Academy Award–winning short film, from New York Times bestselling author and beloved visionary William Joyce.

Morris Lessmore loved words. 

He loved stories.

He loved books.

But every story has its upsets.

Everything in Morris Lessmore’s life, including his own story, is scattered to the winds.  

But the power of story will save the day. 

Stunningly brought to life by William Joyce, one of the preeminent creators in children’s literature, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is a modern masterpiece, showing that in today’s world of traditional books, eBooks, and apps, it’s story that we truly celebrate—and this story, no matter how you tell it, begs to be read again and again.

Morris Lessmore is in the habit of writing his daily joys and activities in his own book.  But when his world is turned upside down, things turn dull and confusing.  It takes a special encounter, a flying book and a lady floating through the sky for Morris to find his place among the books. 

The story is simple, redeeming, and magical.  The few lines on each page are almost window-dressing for the lovely illustrations.  Those illustrations range from sepia-toned and melancholy to bright, happy and action-filled.  There were a couple of page spreads that were particularly wonderful – including the one here (you can see that I enjoyed this book IMMEDIATELY), with its letters and words super-sized and at odd angles.  It’s about getting lost in books, and should come across as sweet, earnest, and perhaps a bit nostalgic for the average reader.

Recommended for: fans of beautifully illustrated picture books, readers large and small, or old and quite young, and especially anyone who sees a book and knows that enchantment awaits inside.

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore will be released on June 19^th, 2012 from Atheneum Books for Young Readers (Simon & Schuster).  For more on the film and app that preceded the book, check out the website.

bloggiesta – well, what did i do?

I rather impetuously decided to ‘do’ Bloggiesta this weekend. I put up an ambitious (for me!) To Do List. Unsurprisingly, I did not complete everything I set out to do. But! I am happy with the changes, challenges and tasks I was able to complete. And in the time I wasn’t ensnared in the world of blog beautification, I managed to go to a Capitals practice, brunch afterwards, and to have three girlfriends over for pizza, game and movie last night. And tonight I’ll go off to my weekly ball hockey game. In all? A very satisfying weekend.

Yes, but what did I DO for Bloggiesta?

Added a Privacy Policy – many thanks to Jacinda for the tip!

Re-organized my review Archive after being inspired by Emily

Read several cool blog posts about SEO and how to improve and navigate it

Updated 1 post for SEO according to April’s SEO guidelines

Attended 2 of the #bloggiesta Twitter chats, on Friday night and Sunday morning

Wrote and scheduled 1 book review post

Wrote and scheduled 1 food recipe post

Made my email ‘clickable’ using the HTML tips from Pam at Bookalicious

Commented on 10 fellow Bloggiesta participants’ posts

This was fun! It was definitely made better by the social interaction. I’ll participate again in the future, for sure. If you took part in Bloggiesta, what was your biggest take away?

bloggiesta - i'm doing it!

Oh yes - that title speaks the truth.  I have finally decided, after 3+ years of blogging and watching from the sidelines, to participate in Bloggiesta.  Bloggiesta is a ‘work on your blog’ sort of event (hosted this year by Suey at It’s All About Books and Danielle at There’s A Book) and the point is to improve, spiff up, or just get caught up on some book blog-related things.  And to do so in the company of the rest of the book blogging community – like a big internet work party.  At least, I hope it’s like that!  We shall see.

What tipped the scales?  I kept seeing cool links to mini-challenges.  Things I didn’t even know I could do suddenly looked awesome and imperative.  My Bloggiesta To Do List was born.

General Items:

Write and schedule 3 book review posts

Write and schedule 2 food recipe posts

Plan a steampunk theme week for later in the spring

Listen to a steampunk podcast

Mini-Challenges:

Update the HTML to make my email clickable on the ‘Contact’ page

Update five posts for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Make (at least) 2 themed pages for my blog

Comment on at least 5 participating blogs

I shall probably add more as I go, but this is it for now.  Wish me luck!  Also, please do tell: what mini-challenges or tasks have you set for yourself?  

the survival kit

Unless you follow me on twitter (and even then), you may not know that I’ve become an intense hockey fan in the last year. Weird, huh? Here’s what happened: I moved to DC from Seattle, my hometown. I had years of indoctrination in Seattle sports fandom, and I wasn’t about to adopt my new city’s teams. HOWEVER. We don’t have NHL hockey in Seattle. And DC has a dynamic team, the Capitals. My friends are Caps fans. It took almost a year, but they converted me. *happy sigh*

What does this have to do with books? Well… Steph Su mentioned The Survival Kit on her blog last year, and I was caught by the mention of a hockey player. What?! Hockey never shows up in YA books. Neither does water polo (my own sport), for that matter. If you have a sports reference, it’s inevitably football/cheerleading, or at least that’s the way it seems. So, I decided that I’d read this book, come he-double-hockey-sticks or high water (see what i did there? i’m hilarious.).

When Rose’s mom dies, she leaves behind a brown paper bag labeled Rose’s Survival Kit. Inside the bag, Rose finds an iPod, with a to-be-determined playlist; a picture of peonies, for growing; a crystal heart, for loving; a paper star, for making a wish; and a paper kite, for letting go.

As Rose ponders the meaning of each item, she finds herself returning again and again to an unexpected source of comfort. Will is her family’s gardener, the school hockey star, and the only person who really understands what she’s going through. Can loss lead to love?

Rose, the recipient of the Survival Kit that gives this book its name, is dealing with grief and loss. She’s turned off emotions, she’s avoiding conflict, and she’s having trouble keeping it together. Enter a special kit, good friends, and a possible distraction in the form of schoolmate Will… and you have Rose’s perfect storm. Nothing is easy for Rose, and that, combined with descriptions of hope and struggling through pain, turn this from a clichéd ‘Mother dies’ novel into a complex rendering of an unthinkably sad situation.

What I liked: well, obviously the hockey. Unless you break out in hives at the mention of sport, this inclusion should be interesting to you. And yes, there are mentions of football and cheerleading to round things out. Freitas also does a great job of incorporating life (friends, guys, family dynamics) in with honest dialogue. The emotion was real. I teared up a time or two.

What I didn’t like: actually, the only thing I will mention here is the prose itself. And that was one chapter. The majority of the book worked, in other words. Just uneven in one, solitary place. I warned you.

Recommended for: fans of Sarah Dessen and Susane Colasanti (good YA contemporary romance, in other words), and those who find themselves even the tiniest bit curious about hockey.

book blogger holiday swap returns for 2011

Do you have a book blog? Do you like to send and receive holiday gifts? If you answered ‘Yes’ to both of those questions, you should probably get in on the Book Blogger Holiday Swap. I’ve taken part for the last two years, and it’s been fun and positive each time. I look at the swap as my chance to make another book blogger’s day. And that, my dears, is a VERY rewarding feeling.

Are you in? Go check out the sign-up post and get involved. After all, the holidays are coming soon!

book blogger appreciation week 2011 - community

Book Blogger Appreciation Week 2011 is here! During this week the book blogging world acknowledges the wonderful community we have online. We do this by handing out awards (congratulations to all those nominated!), and by following daily blogging prompts. Today the focus is community.

My contribution for the day will be to shout out to a few blogs that have enriched my blogging experience. These people are lovely – genuinely nice people. And they love books. Go visit, and tell them I sent you!

Rhiannon Hart at Dangers Untold and Hardships Unnumbered

Rhiannon is the first blogger I actually wanted to be. She’s a talented writer (she’s just been published! her book is on its way to me from Australia as we speak!), and she has impeccable taste in books. Also: I think she probably knows everything EVER about dystopian lit.

Juju at Tales of Whimsy

My most faithful commenter award goes to Juju. I don’t know how this lady does it, but she juggles real life, keeps up a beautiful blog, and comments (almost) instantaneously whenever I publish a post. She’s fantastic.

Alyce at At Home with Books

Alyce ran one of my all-time favorite features – My Favorite Reads (now retired), and is very sweet in person. She also has fantastic taste in science fiction, and her picks challenge me to read beyond my comfort zone.

Ryan at Wordsmithonia

Ryan is proof that sometimes you don’t have to share tastes beyond for a love of reading to become great friends and supporters. Luckily, we’ve discovered that both have a thing for Mercedes Lackey’s books. Ryan is consistently encouraging – and a great part of my blogging experience.

Kristen M. at We Be Reading

Kristen and I have been lucky enough to meet in person a couple of times, and each time I’ve been impressed by her kindness and humor. She’s smart, she reviews fun kid lit – what’s not to love?

Velvet at vvb32reads

Velvet is an active blogger year-round – she shares awesome steampunk and zombie events (check out September Zombies!). She’s engaged and engaging, and her programming has provided much-needed structure in my reading world.

Of course, these aren’t the only bloggers I appreciate. I find myself grateful and humbled when I think of all the help and fun that I’ve had with you over the years. Thank you, and please, keep it up!

buttermilk chicken tenders

My sister is awesome. Like fried chicken awesome. In fact, while I was staying with her this last week, she fried chicken. Seeing as I have never deep-fried anything in my life (and neither has my mother, that I know of), I was impressed. You could even say ‘deep-fried’ impressed. Too much?

In any case, she got her recipe from the Pioneer Woman (here), and with a few little adjustments, we enjoyed a fantastic meal and I have possibly conceded that I will follow the Pioneer Woman’s blog in the future. Only for the recipes, mind you. I am also planning further adventures in deep-frying. Aren’t beignets and donuts fried? YUM.

Buttermilk Chicken Tenders

INGREDIENTS

½ tsp. black pepper

½ tsp. salt

1 tsp. garlic salt

1 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. cumin

5 boneless chicken breasts flattened and sliced, or a package of pre-cut meat (if you don’t want to pound the chicken breasts flat with a rolling pin and then slice them thin like my sister did)

1 cup buttermilk

2 egg whites

2 cups flour

Vegetable oil (enough to be one inch deep in the pan)

DIRECTIONS

Place chicken meat in a bowl with buttermilk and let soak for at least 15 minutes.

Combine spices and flour in a separate bowl, and drizzle in the egg whites. I think you could probably use the whole egg, but we were experimenting (after I’d separated one egg, my sister handed me the shell with the yolk still in it and told me to ‘go raise a baby chicken.’ hilarious, that one.). The flour mixture is the right consistency when it’s clumpy, but not damp.

Heat one inch of vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-low to medium heat. While oil is heating, place buttermilk-soaked chicken in flour mixture and turn to coat thoroughly. When covered, place on plate to await its turn in the frying pan.

After all strips are covered and oil is heated, drop one or two chicken strips in at a time. HELPFUL WARNING: Wear an apron. Oil jumps out of the pan like nobody’s business! Cook for one to two minutes on each side. You’ll know when to turn them because they’ll fry up crispy and brown.

When strips are fully cooked, remove from oil and place on a paper towel-lined plate to dry. Serve with barbeque sauce, ranch, bleu cheese dressing…whatever flavor you prefer.

If you have any doubts about the recipe or frying, just go over to the Pioneer Woman’s blog post. She has even more details and hints and step-by-step photos, and she makes it look easy. Le sigh.

Recommended for: a special night at home with an all-American menu, the perfect meal to dig into while you watch the game, or classic summer picnic fare. Also taste-tested for cold breakfast the next morning. Verdict? Addictive!