Tornado Relief

I am from Alabama, so naturally, I am an enormous Alabama Football fan (ROLL TIDE!!!). Example:

(Me at Bryant Denny Stadium)

A few weeks ago, a gigantic tornado tore through Tuscaloosa. Example:


Unfortunately, many people lost their businesses, homes, and loved ones. A big chunk of the wonderful college town that I once knew now looks like this:

Tuscaloosa will be dealing with ramifications of this terrible storm for years to come. If you would like to donate to help out, please click here to visit the Red Cross Disaster Relief Website.  Or you can text "Red Cross" to 90999, and a one time donation of $10 will be added to your cell phone bill. In the meantime, I give you an awesome of cover of Coldplay's, "Fix You"- by Little Big Town. They sang this during Music Builds: The CMT Disaster Relief Concert, and I have to share it. They ROCKED it. Or beautified it. Whatever you want to call it, it was awesome.



*Note- Tuscaloosa was not the only town affected by this particular band of storms, but it was considered to have been hit the hardest. My heart goes out to anyone who lost anyone or anything, and I send well wishes your way.

Book Reviews!

 Words.  Words are only a combination of letters and symbols.  It seems simple, right? But without words, we wouldn't have our language.  We wouldn't have names.  We wouldn't have books.  Words are important.  

 

Books have always been my way of being able to travel to another city, or country, even another world without actually having to leave my house.  The right combination of words can make characters jump right off the page.  Good authors have you wrapped up in the story and loving or hating their characters within seconds of opening the book.  It's amazing how you can fall in love with someone without actually having met them face to face. (Edward Cullen, anyone?)  But the greatest thing is, you get to know what they are thinking at all times.  Haven't we all said at one point or another in our lives that we would love to know what everyone is thinking right now?  Well when you read, you get to do just that. 

 

Books can be so engrossing, so utterly enthralling, that they can suck you in so incredibly deep that you refuse to put it down until you finish.  When you can't stop reading while you cook, or while you shower, or while you eat; it blows me away that a person can create a world so intensely interesting that you can't live until you make sure that the character is going to be okay in his or her own life first.

 

I learn something new every time I pick up a new book.  Whether it be a word that I have never heard before, or a town that I have never visited, or a culture that I never knew anything about, reading will ALWAYS teach me something.  So I have decided that whenever I read a new book, I will write a short review and then tell you what that book taught me.  I am big fan of YA paranormal (since that is the type of book that I am writing), but I read all genres.  I look forward to sharing my journeys with you, and hope that it inspires you to go buy a book and learn something!

Beauty and The Beast Retelling

I have decided to post a short story every month to keep my creative juices flowing when I start to get burned out on my novel-in-progress. This particular one is not exactly short (it's almost 2000 words), but I have a soft spot for it. One of my favorite childhood movies was Beauty And The Beast-- i still know ALL the words to the songs, by the way-- so I wrote this story for a fairy tale retelling contest that I entered a few weeks ago. Hope you enjoy!

Scarred

 

My father will not let me be beautiful. 

  "Beauty is for silly girls," he says. "Beauty only causes pain to others."

  I avoid my reflection in the mirror as the familiar burn of embarrassment turns my cheeks a shameful red. My hair falls over my face and I let it stay there; the less of my face that anyone sees, the better. I know that that he relishes in the fact that I will never be beautiful. The doctors said they could fix my skin. They said they could turn the thick, leathery scars that covered my face and arms into skin that I could be proud of again. 

Pimping Maggie

So as I have said before, Maggie Stiefvater is my favorite author. If you have never heard of her, where the heck have you been???? She is the Best Selling New York Times author of Lament, Ballad, Shiver, Linger, and a myriad of other books yet to be published. Shiver and Linger are part of the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy, and the third installment, Forever, is due to be released on July 12th, 2011. Maggie is not only an author that can make a reader's heart bleed with her beautiful descriptions, but she is also an accomplished artist and musician. Here is proof:

And yes. Maggie designed and hand cut ALL of that paper. Plus she shot the video (using stop motion animation). Plus she wrote and recorded the music in the background. Impressed yet? (Don't make me add another "plus").

To pre-order an autographed copy of Forever (or any of her other amazing books), click here. To go to the Wolves Of Mercy Falls website, click here. And if you want to be entertained by Maggie's quirky sense of humor, click here -- Even when she is trying to be serious, she will make you spew coke from your nose.

Oh in case I forgot to mention it before, Maggie rocks. She just does.