A New Chapter

 A new chapter has begun for this writer. This summer I started Seton Hill University's Writing Popular Fiction MFA program, and I've already made friends, met mentors & REAL witches! 

Yeah, this is definitely where I parked my car. It just took me a long time to find my keys. 

Now I'm off to write about witches, murder, curses & star-crossed Sapphic lovers. 

xo

B

My Last Playlist

To celebrate the My Last Kiss paperback hitting shelves today (with some super fun extras if I may say so myself!), the Fierce Reads crew at Macmillan has posted the My Last Kiss Playlist on their Tumblr!

As you may already know, music is a huge inspiration for everything I write. I get most of my ideas from song lyrics and use the playlists I compile for my novels to push through the congestion of [uninvited] Writer's Block Parties. Music is magical in the way it evokes emotion and inspires. That same magic lives on every page of every book you love, which is why I'm so excited to share these songs with you. They're a tiny peek inside Cassidy's world and the friends (and frenemies) that made her afterlife...ish so thrilling to write about. And hopefully, for you, to read about.

You'll hear some of my favorite bands like Metric, Eisley, Dashboard Confessional, Radiohead and so many more. If you like what you hear, thank the artists by buying your favorites.

I'd love to hear which songs you like best and any new tunes that make you think of Cassidy's journey or Ethan's dreamy eyes and even Caleb's adorable skater hair. Let the song swapping begin!

B*

MY LAST KISS Blog Tour: Day 12

Once your eyes recover from the 126 minute The Fault in Our Stars movie-induced crying jag, prepare yourself for the biggest stop yet on the MY LAST KISS Blog Tour. I am (finally!) revealing the My Last Kiss Playlist!!! (Note: If you are still suffering from Augustus Cryialus, scroll down and let your ears to the work for you.)

Music is such a huge part of my writing process. Song lyrics are notorious for triggering ideas for my next book and for helping set the right mood for the scene I'm working on or to get into the head of a character and connect with his/her emotions.

Before I roll out the playlist, I must encourage you all to BUY THE MUSIC!!! I've included a playlist widget so you can enjoy the songs here on my site, but I can't stress enough that if you love the songs please please slap down the $1.25 on iTunes for the real deal.

I've also included links to music videos for each song. I decided upon the most obscured, sometimes acoustic, versions to highlight how talented the musicians are (which is why you should buy their music!) and how powerful the songs are.

Okay, without further ado, I give you...
The My Last Kiss Playlist



Metric - Help, I'm Alive link
The Band Perry - If I Die Young link
Biffy Clyro - Many of Horror (Ethan's theme song) link
Eisley - Ambulance link
All-American Rejects - The Cigarette Song link
Ingrid Michaelson - Ghost link
Broken Social Scene - Love Will Tear Us Apart link
Orelia - Suggestions (Cassidy & Caleb) link
Tonight Alive - Amelia link
Regina Spektor - Eet link
Imperial Mammoth - Requiem on Water link
Dashboard Confessionals - Ghost of a Good Thing link
The Wealthy West - Give Me Resurrection link
Taylor Swift - Last Kiss link
Radiohead - Videotape (Cassidy & Ethan's song) link

Enjoy the jams!
B*

MY LAST KISS Blog Tour: Day 8

Today on the MY LAST KISS Blog Tour  I share an exclusive look inside My Last Kiss with Miss Page-Turner and discuss what my inspirations were for the main character's Ghostly Appearance.

Then I talk about the bands that serve as my Musical Inspirations over at Michelle & Leslie's Book Picks.

Read both full posts here and here. And don't forget to enter the My Last Kiss giveaway here to win a signed book and lots of other goodies!

B*

MY LAST KISS Blog Tour: Day 7

Day 7 of the MY LAST KISS Blog Tour is a double dose of behind the pages insider info revealed! 

First visit Tales of a Ravenous Reader to see the My Last Kiss Pinspiration Board on Pinterest. Then go on an "Easter egg" Hunt at YAreads where I reveal the meaning behind never before shared hidden goodies in the novel.

Read full posts here and here.
B*

My Hair is Bluuuue!

So...my hair is bluuuue! And like all good things it happened sometime around midnight at the response of 3 days spent locked in the Writertorium on the floor (don't ask me why I edit best on all fours) with a box of animal crackers, bottle of ice water, a fan on low to drown out "distractions," and a first, er, rough draft.

Was the dye job reward for working my authorly magic on the draft and molding it into a tastey second draft treat in under a week? ...No. But writing is hard, and sometimes a little encouragement is needed to forge ahead. This particular brand of encouragement can be credited to The Mockingbirds author extraordinaire, Daisy Whitney when she tweeted a pic of her pink hair. I've been talking about dying my hair blue (according to my mom) since I was 4-years-old, and seeing Daisy take the follicle plunge I thought to myself, self, it's about time you stop stalling by saying you'll go blue when you get published and realize going blue might be the edge you need to get published! (Okay, I realized that is twisty, midnight logic, but it was convincing.) Plus now that my crazy's on the outside, people can stop giving me that look when I start talking.

So, what do you think? Has anyone else made a decision so bad it turned out good?

B*

Jordan Catalano is baaack!

Something miraculous has occurred and I feel I would be doing the entire TV viewership an injustice if I did not share. The miraculous event I speak of is the reemergence of  My So-called Life in syndication! (Airing Mondays at 11pm on Sundance channel.)

Go ahead Generation X-ers and Y-ers, screaming is merited here because this means two essentially amazing things. 1) We get to relive our Jordan Catalano teenage dreams through the never aging Jared Leto. I'll give you a sec to let the picture below stir up some of those memories...

OK, and 2) A whole new generation of girls will be exposed to the fabulous insanity of Angela's identity shifting dye job (hello red!) and friends like Rayanne and Rickie and, er, Brian Krakow and the oh so angst filled relationship with the blissfully monosyllabic Jordan.

The cast was of the time and just plain real in an era before "reality" TV sunk that word into the crapper. But the thing that keeps this show on my Best Ever On TV list is the honesty of creator Winnie Holzman's  (and many others) writing. The anti-quipy-without-trying dialogue is a lesson to anyone who is writing anything. Period. I proclaim (until proven otherwise--go ahead, try me!) the modern YA genre was born in the pages of her pilot script. I say this because the story is still relevant, the characters are still relatible, albeit questionable in the wardrobe department. 17 years later--2 years elder the series main character Angela Chase--the mere mention of this show when I inevitably bring it up at someone mentioning starting a band (possibly named Frozen Embryos?) still gets a hand over the heart, "Omigod I looove that show!" response.

The premature cancellation of this gem is one of the lingering pop cultural travesties of our time. How can a show that is called "the most extraordinary show of the new TV season" by Entertainment Weekly be canceled after only 19 episodes and The Bachelor is on it's 15th season?! I am beyond grateful to Sundance channel for rectifying a tiny piece of this wrong.

P.S. I'm buying this shirt.

B*

Welcome to The Writertorium!

First off, HI! Welcome to The Writertorium which is, of course, a virtual snidbit of my real Writertorium where I spend entirely too much time (according to "other" people) writing and happily pretending my reality is the real one.

Secondly, I feel, right off the bat, I have some explaining to do. It involves that silly little photo up there. Yup, take a quick glance, attempt to figure out why I chose to post a very poor quality photo of the dazzling Edward Cullen a.k.a Robert Pattinson in all his cardboard cutout glory on my very first blog post. Then come back down here, and I'll explain.

There are two reasons: One, he has a word bubble that says: "I promise to love you every moment of forever. Just don't forget to return your library books." Which is what I hope to hear from every sultry mythological creature after my heart. Two, I owe a great writerly debt to this vampire.

I'm not like the writers I've had the privilege to meet or hear speak. I was not a reader my whole life. In fact, I used to find all sorts of creative ways not to read that I'm sure will make my old English teachers' heads implode. (My favorite is making up authors and stories and writing entire Book-It! reports on said fictitious fiction so I could get my holographic purple button and free personal pizza.) I know that sounds terrible coming from an author, but if you think about it, I was doing exactly what an author should. I was writing new stories. Right? That's what we do, so it makes it okay, right? I realize that's a bit of a stretch, but I'm giving myself that one 'cause it's my blog, and I have a tendency to choose the truth. It's fun. You should try it.

So, anyways, the point here is, when I read Stephenie Meyer's Twilight--and this is beyond unforgivable because I did see the movie first--I genuinely enjoyed reading for the first time in my life. Thankfully, there were three more mondo sized novels in the saga to quench my new thirst for literature, but when I finished page 754 of Breaking Dawn I was completely dazzled and consumed by a world that I'd accepted as reality and obsessed with getting more of. So I made up for lost time and got to reading my skinny butt off. But I just couldn't get over the blissful feeling of losing myself in fiction. So, I did what I always do, started making my own fiction.

I wrote for months and turned out two very...novice novels before anyone even knew I was writing. (And, no, it was not about vampires or werewolves or any other para-sexy-normal creatures.) But, as they say, third time's a charm. That charmer landed me an agent and a legitimate reason to lock myself in my Writertorium for days on end.

Which brings us back to the point of my ramblings, my brand spanking new blog! I will be writing regularly about (hopefully) getting my debut novel published and the crazy process that entails as well as all the other fabulous things that stumble across my path in The Writertorium.

B*

P.S. I am a comment junkie and I respond to every one, so bring 'em on!