Kimberly Hirsh logo Kimberly Hirsh

Posts in "Long Posts"

NaNoWriMo

Hi there, friends! Once again, I have registered to participate in National Novel Writing Month. (If you want to be buddies, you can find me under the name KimberlyH.) I have tried plotting and I have tried pantsing, and I have gotten almost halfway to the 50,000 word finish line, but I have yet to complete a NaNovel. So I'm trying a few things differently this year.
 
 
1) I am neither pantsing nor plotting, but doing this bizarre thing where I have a vague notion and I have notes about ideas I want to use, but I have no idea where this thing is taking me.
 
 
2) I am treating this like a giant 50,000 word free write, which is what it's supposed to be anyway. I don't know why I have always felt like I needed to write a GOOD novel for NaNo. It's not really the point.
 
 
And the big one, number three:
 
 
3) I am soliciting you as members of my reading group. All this means is that as I write the novel, you will get installments emailed to you for you to read or delete at will. I do request that you offer no critique during the NaNo-ing period; we'll save that for NaNoEdMo. But reminders and proddings to send more story are perfectly acceptable.
 
 
If you would like to be part of my reading group, comment here or drop me an email at your preferred address for me or at lectitans at gmail dot com. You will get an invite to a Google Group called "The Theatre Fairy." I am the only person with posting access and I promise only to send out story bits. I will need your email address to invite you.
 
So if you'd care to join me for this crazy ride, let me know!

Books Read in 2008

  1. Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui, Karen Kingston
    2. Craft, Inc., Meg Mateo Ilasco
    3. Indigara, Tanith Lee
    4. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
    5. Jessie’s Mountain, Kerry Madden
    6. Finding Serenity, Jane Espenson and Glenn Yeffeth, ed.
    7. Valiant, Holly Black [Audio CD]
    8. The Twelve Kingdoms - Volume 1: Sea of Shadow, Fuyumi Ono
    9. The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan
    10. Fearless, Tim Lott
    11. Erec Rex: The Dragon’s Eye, Kaza Kingsley
    12. Bronx Masquerade, Nikki Grimes
    13. Soon I Will Be Invincible, Austin Grossman
    14. It’s All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff, Peter Walsh
    15. The Gatekeeper Trilogy, Book Two: Ghost Roads, Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder
    16. Getting Things Done, David Allen
    17. Y: The Last Man - Unmanned, Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra
    18. Y: The Last Man - Cycles, Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra
    19. Y: The Last Man - One Small Step, Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra
    20. Y: The Last Man - Safeword, Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra
    21. Y: The Last Man - Ring of Truth, Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra
    22. Y: The Last Man - Girl on Girl, Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra
    23. The Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
    24. V for Vendetta, Alan Moore and David Lloyd
    25. 300, Frank Miller and Lynn Varley
    26. Organizing from the Inside Out, Julie Morgenstern
    27. The Gatekeeper Trilogy, Book Three: Sons of Entropy, Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder
    28. A Great and Terrible Beauty, Libba Bray
    29. R.O.D.: Read or Dream, Volume 1 : Three Sisters–One Power, Hideyuki Kurata
    30. Strangers in Paradise Pocket Book 1, Terry Moore

Happy Teen Read Week!

For more information contact:

Sara Easterly, Publicist for readergirlz

Sara Easterly & Friends

sara@saraeasterly.com

206-632-8588

READERGIRLZ PRESENTS “NIGHT BITES” ONLINE AUTHOR CHATS

More than a dozen authors to converge on rgz forum to chat with ravenous teen readers

Sept. 18, 2008 (Seattle, Wash.) – In celebration of Young Adult Library Services Association’s (YALSA’s) Teen Reed Week™, readergirlz (rgz) is excited to present Night Bites, a series of online live chats with an epic lineup of published authors. The chats will take place at the rgz forum, Oct. 13-17, 2008.

Playing off of YALSA’s theme of “Books with Bite,” Night Bites will feature five themed chats designed to appeal to an array of literary tastes. Sure to suck in even the most reluctant teen readers, the complete Night Bites schedule is as follows:

  • Monday, Oct. 13: Multicultural Bites with authors Coe Booth (TYRELL), An Na (THE FOLD), and rgz diva Mitali Perkins (SECRET KEEPER)
  • Tuesday, Oct. 14: Verse Bites with rgz diva Lorie Ann Grover (ON POINTE), Stephanie Hemphill (YOUR OWN SYLVIA), and Lisa Ann Sandell (SONG OF THE SPARROW)
  • Wednesday, Oct. 15: Contemporary Bites with Ally Carter (CROSS MY HEART AND HOPE TO SPY), rgz diva Justina Chen Headley (NORTH OF BEAUTIFUL), and Maureen Johnson (SUITE SCARLETT)
  • Thursday, Oct. 16: Fantasy Bites with Holly Black and Ted Naifeh (THE GOOD NEIGHBORS), rgz diva Dia Calhoun (AVIELLE OF RHIA), and Tamora Pierce (MELTING STONES)
  • Friday, Oct. 17: Gothic Bites with Holly Cupala (A LIGHT THAT NEVER GOES OUT), Christopher Golden (SOULLESS), Annette Curtis Klause (BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE), and Mari Mancusi (BOYS THAT BITE).

It all happens at the rgz forum (http://groups.myspace.com/readergirlz) beginning at 6 p.m. Pacific Time (9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time), Oct. 13-17.

Watch the Night Bites video at rgz tv www.youtube.com/readergirlz

About readergirlz

readergirlz is the foremost online book community for teen girls, led by five critically acclaimed YA authors—Dia Calhoun (Avielle of Rhia), Lorie Ann Grover (On Pointe), Justina Chen Headley (Girl Overboard), and Mitali Perkins (First Daughter: White House Rules). readergirlz is the recipient of a 2007 James Patterson PageTurner Award.

To promote teen literacy and leadership in girls, readergirlz features a different YA novel and corresponding community service project every month. For more information about readergirlz, please visit www.readergirlz.com and www.myspace.com/readergirlz, or contact divas@readergirlz.com.

About YALSA

For more than 50 years, YALSA has been the world leader in selecting books, films and audiobooks for teens. For more information about YALSA or for lists of recommended reading, viewing and listening, go to www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists.

Ó2008 readergirlz

###

Books Read in 2008

1. Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui, Karen Kingston
2. Craft, Inc., Meg Mateo Ilasco
3. Indigara, Tanith Lee
4. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
5. Jessie’s Mountain, Kerry Madden
6. Finding Serenity, Jane Espenson and Glenn Yeffeth, ed.
7. Valiant, Holly Black [Audio CD] 
8. The Twelve Kingdoms - Volume 1: Sea of Shadow, Fuyumi Ono
9. The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan
10. Fearless, Tim Lott
11. Erec Rex: The Dragon’s Eye, Kaza Kingsley
12. Bronx Masquerade, Nikki Grimes
13. Soon I Will Be Invincible, Austin Grossman
14. It’s All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff, Peter Walsh
15. The Gatekeeper Trilogy, Book Two: Ghost Roads, Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder
16. Getting Things Done, David Allen
17. Y: The Last Man - Unmanned, Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra
18. Y: The Last Man - Cycles, Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra
19. Y: The Last Man - One Small Step, Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra
20. Y: The Last Man - Safeword, Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra
21. Y: The Last Man - Ring of Truth, Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra
22. Y: The Last Man - Girl on Girl, Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra
23. The Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
24. V for Vendetta, Alan Moore and David Lloyd
25. 300, Frank Miller and Lynn Varley
26. Organizing from the Inside Out, Julie Morgenstern
27. The Gatekeeper Trilogy, Book Three: Sons of Entropy, Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder 
28. A Great and Terrible Beauty, Libba Bray 

Cybils Nominations Open October 1st: How Can You Participate?

 Nominations for the third annual Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards (the Cybils) will be open Wednesday, October 1st through Wednesday, October 15th. The goal of the Cybils team (some 100 bloggers) is to highlight books that are high in both literary quality and kid appeal.  The Cybils were founded by Anne Boles Levy (http://dadtalk.typepad.com/book_buds_kidlit_reviews/) and Kelly Herold (http://kidslitinformation.blogspot.com/). 

This year, awards will be given in nine categories (Easy Readers, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Fiction Picture Books, Graphic Novels, Middle Grade Novels, Non-Fiction Middle Grade/Young Adult Books, Non-Fiction Picture Books, Poetry, Young Adult Novels). Anyone can nominate books in these categories (one nomination per person per category). Nominated titles must be published between January 1st and October 15th of this year, and the books must be in English (or bilingual, where one of the languages is English). To nominate titles, visit the Cybils blog (http://www.cybils.com/) between October 1st and 15th. A separate post will be available for each category - simply nominate by commenting on those individual posts. If you are not sure which category to choose for a particular book, a questions thread will also be available. 

Between October 16th and January 1st, Cybils panelists (children’s and young adult bloggers) will winnow the nominations down to a 5-7 book short list for each category. A second set of panelists will then select the winning titles for the different categories. The winners will be announced on February 14th, 2009. 

The Cybils lists, from long lists to short lists (http://dadtalk.typepad.com/cybils/finalists/index.html) to the lists of winners (http://dadtalk.typepad.com/cybils/2007/02/the_2006_cybils.html), offer a wonderful resource to anyone looking for high-quality, kid-friendly books. The Cybils team has worked hard to balance democracy (anyone can nominate titles) with quality control (two rounds of panel judging by people who focus on children’s books every day). We do this work because we consider it vital to get great books into the hands of children and young adults. 

How Can You Participate?

We think that the Cybils nominations will be of interest to parents, teachers, librarians, writers, and teens. If you have a blog or an email list or belong to a newsgroup that serves one of these populations, and you feel that your readers would be interested, please consider distributing this announcement (you are welcome to copy it). The Cybils team would very much appreciate your help in spreading the word. And if you, or the children that you know, have any titles to suggest, we would love to see your nominations at the Cybils blog (http://www.cybils.com/), starting on Wednesday. Thanks for your help, and stay tuned for further news!

Jen Robinson (http://jkrbooks.typepad.com)
Literacy Evangelist for the 2008 Cybils