Angela Sage Larsen's Blog, page 4

Review: Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Insurgent by Veronica Roth


My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Second books in series are hard to write and sometimes they’re hard to read. Not so with Insurgent, the second in the dystopian Divergent series. Summary of the series from Amazon: “In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.”

I’m still in love with the characters and how they are developed; Tris is wonderful because she has her inner struggles but instead of getting whiny about it, she takes action (sometimes she’s rash, but that just makes it more fun). Four…well, he’s brilliantly written. Wonderful to have a main character male who is brave–not just physically courageous but morally courageous, willing to be vulnerable. The twist at the end *blew my mind*. I really thought I knew where Roth was going (and I was disappointed in advance at how the plot would wrap up, thinking, well, at least it’s well-written in every other way). Then…BOOM!

CAN.NOT.WAIT.FOR.BOOK.3!!!





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Happy TRW

Oct. 14-20 marks Young Adult Library Association [YALSA]‘s Teen Read Week: a whole week focused on celebrating teens and libraries, and reading for the fun of it.

Of course, Fifties Chix will be celebrating with lots of free activities online! Join the party here! And be sure to check your local library to see what cool events are taking place in your community.

Happy reading,

It’s your Day!

Today is the first annual International Day of the Girl Child, proclaimed by the UN. Questions that I’ve heard being asked include: Why girls? Is it possible we’re giving too much attention to girls and boys suffer for it? Isn’t “equal rights” a passe issue? Girls in the West are spoiled, isn’t it true that the last thing they need is more “awareness”?

Looking at the statistics provide some easy answers. Like, 55% of the world population are women (and yet females are considered a “minority,” that is, do not claim or have the benefits of a “majority” of the voice or representation at decision making tables). Or 70% of the world’s poor are female while just 1% own titled land. In America, you might be tempted say, “Phew. Not the case here.” While we have made great strides in this country, remember that according to Forbes, women in the US earn $0.77 for every dollar their male coworkers make. Here is the most remarkable statistic. This one’s going to blow your mind, so you might want to sit down: women have 100% of the babies. (I just researched that and it’s totally true.)

I gotta be honest: having this discussion makes me really uncomfortable. Because… I can’t believe we are still needing to have it! No one benefits from the oppression of women, not even the oppressors. No.One.

As to the notion that girls are already spoiled, I urge you to take a look at the word “spoiled.” In the US, we use that word like it’s a good thing, as in a child has more than she needs, or we’re too lenient with girls’ wishes and demands. But here’s a brief rundown of the word “spoil” from my trusty Thesaurus: mar, damage, impair, blemish, disfigure, blight, flaw, deface, scar, injure, harm; ruin, destroy, wreck; be a blot on the landscape. ANTONYMS improve, enhance. I would have to agree, that sadly, we are on the road to spoiling our girls by insisting that their chief contribution is being cute, sexy or attractive window dressing (sometimes it’s a bonus if she’s smart. Wow, with looks and smarts, she could go pretty far. Let’s hope she doesn’t gain weight if she has a baby or gets wrinkles, though!).

This ignorance includes not realizing how this affects boys. Boys’ and men’s relationship to their mothers, sisters, relatives, friends, and spouses can damaged by looking, as the Bible says, only “on the outward appearance (I Sam. 16:7).”  This is the most immoral and impractical way we can possibly regard someone. There is a danger to judging someone based on how they look. It is how disdain blooms into rage and violence, which are often the natural course of dehumanization.

So, today the purpose of the International Day of the Girl is “to speak out against gender bias and advocate for girls’ rights everywhere.” Stand up for a girl–yourself if you are one or a loved one–start in your own thinking. Challenge yourself to appreciate girls for their qualities. Make an agreement with yourself that you will compliment a girl based on her attributes and characteristics. Instead of, “You look adorable,” try: “I loved seeing you on the soccer field. You have a great attitude that is a wonderful example for your teammates. Way to be a leader!”

To me, International Day of the Girl is about a worldwide mental shift. Your thoughts matter. How you think and how you treat people matters. As journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, authors of Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide confirm, “the oppression of women and girls worldwide is the defining issue of our time.” Yes, I write fiction; but I know that the stories we tell matter and fiction for me is just the vehicle in which important messages are delivered. The messages I continue to cherish are “believe in yourself and the greater good” and “friends are forever.” I long to see opportunities for girls because I know that we all benefit; if just one sentence or word I write inspires a girl or boy (or an adult, for that matter) to think in a fresh, empathetic direction, I am thrilled!

Today and every day, there are practical and fun ways you can participate in Day of the Girl:

Celebrate Day of the Girl Summit at 7 pm Eastern.
Read the State Department’s commitment to raising the status of girl worldwide here.
Today, join a twitter chat 1:00 Eastern time and help make #Dayofthegirl trend on Twitter to raise media awareness.

Visit these sites regularly (starting today):

Day of the Girl  – speak out against gender bias and advocate for girls’ rights everywhere.

Newmoon Girls – where girls connect & support each other while creating poetry, artwork, stories, videos, and more.

Pigtail Pals – redefining girly, reclaiming boyhood.

Half the Sky – turning oppression into opportunity worldwide.

Spark Summit – girl-fueled activist movement to demand an end to the sexualization of women and girls in media.

Annnnnndddd….announcing the grand opening today of online store Toward the Stars, the world’s marketplace for empowering gifts for girls (which of course, features Petalwink!). Put your money where your mouth is and support companies that are doing it right.

Happy surfing, happy thinking it through, happy speaking up…and happy Day of the Girl!

I’d love to hear in the comments section below what you are doing to celebrate Day of the Girl

 

 

I am a writer. That is my job.

Ah, what an oversimplified statement, that. I love writing, it’s what I do for a living (at least that’s what LinkedIn says). So why is it everything else often comes first? I realized it feels an awful lot like “running late” — for those of us who are time-challenged, we are familiar with the nonsensical but unrelenting argument: “I’ll make it up on the road” (I’m sure this post will be a delight for traffic cops to read) when we jump behind the driver’s seat ten minutes later than we’d hoped [then there's: "oh, great. I need to stop to get gas, too"].

That’s how I feel about writing sometimes. (Few things should come before my writing time. Examples:

God.
My husband.
2 1/2. My dog. 2 3/4 The rest of my family [who know Daisy and know why she has a slight advantage in my list of priorities].)

I feel like when other stuff besides the list provided above comes between me and my writing that “I’ll [just] make it up on the road.” Translation: That time will magically appear out of nowhere…precious, protected, quiet time will bubble like liquid gold out of a little crack in the real world and I and my fully charged and non-besmudged-screen MacBook Pro will flounce gracefully (inspired ideas and all) into a secret  “Now I Am Writing” dimension and be literarily [I just invented a word. yay, me] productive.

When I schedule my writing day, this is almost always the outfit I wear.

Just to be clear, this has never happened.

I have to take a pickaxe to my day and bust out a ragged niche for writing time. And it’s not because anyone else thinks this isn’t a legit use of my time…it’s because I need to be clear that I am a writer. That is my job.

So, this post is really a note to self…but if you need a reminder that what you are called to do is legit, feel free to grab a pickaxe [and put on your green leggings] and hack away!

5 Classics by Christmas Challenge

I just made up this challenge and I hope you’ll join me. I think I am reaching (I know I am), but I want to read 5 classics by Christmas. It’s a totally arbitrary goal and it just sounds cool (better than 5 Classics by January. Bor-ing.) I get swept up so easily in contemporary fiction (mg, ya, and adult), that I put the classics on hold. So I thought I’d give myself a little (totally made-up) incentive. Join me! What will you read? I’ve got on my list:

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Scrumptious reads! Yes, please!

Most of these I’ve read, but it’s been years and I need to reconnect with these messages and writers. What do you see in common with my delectable choices? Comment below if you want to join me…we can share yumminess! Happy reading!

We did it!

I’m still pinching myself…last Thursday and through the weekend, Fifties Chix Travel to Tomorrow was a #1 Best-seller on Amazon! The reader and fan support was overwhelming! So grateful!

Screen shot of TWO #1's! Woot!

Let’s Make History

Hey, you know what’s fun about being an author? Writing, of course!! You know what’s easy to forget about being an author? Actually getting your book into readers’ hands. Or the fancy term: marketing! Today for one day only, I’m working on some fancy m a r k e t i n g. *Hack, cough* I have plenty of revising of Fifties Chix: Third Time’s a Charm to do, but . . . . Here goes:

By now you know how much I love creating messages that empower and inspire girls. The Fifties Chix series champions strong female characters and their adventures. I would love the first book in this series to be an AMAZON EBOOK BEST-SELLER so that this much-needed positive message gets maximum exposure (read: get books into readers’ hands). And . . . I need your help.

For ONE DAY only, Thursday, August 30, 2012 we are reducing Fifties Chix: Travel to Tomorrow down to only .99 so that it’s even easier for you to help make Travel to Tomorrow an AMAZON BEST-SELLER! This is a very exciting prospect as we launch the Fifties Chix series this fall…and at this discount [over 80% off] it’s a win/win.

Please check it out here, snag some ecopies for yourself and friends and tell the world!

Thank you so much for your help…and happy reading!

Good Writing Day

If you keep writing, you’re bound (get it?) to finish your book eventually…like I did tonight!! Fifties Chix: Third Time’s a Charm is done! You understand that when I say “done” I mean the first draft (at 55,000 words). There are rounds or edits and revisions to come, but I’m not going to think about that right now. I’m going to bask in this surreal-can’t-quite-share-it-with-anyone moment.

And get going on the fourth book.

Yes, for real.

Bad Writing Day

Torture.

An endless tunnel, no end in sight. A tunnel that is supposed to be a book. A book that is supposed to be an adventure. But it’s a tunnel. Claustrophobic, boring. Bad lighting. I think it smells bad, too. Did something die in here? Ew. Tunnel vision, it turns out: not so great. My mind wanders. Why haven’t we heard back from so-and-so about the review/proposal/agenda/funding/bid/idea? Gasp. Dear Lord, they read the book/s and hated it/them/mywriting/theconcept! My writing stinks! I knew it. Who are the fools that have encouraged me in this endeavor? Who are the morons that told me to keep going? Who are they? Seriously. I can’t remember and I want names. Yes! Names! I will put them in my book, that will be their punishment. They will wander around in my plotless blatherings, my pitiful rantings, my endlessly (Lord, why can’t they end? Just give me a climax and some falling action and END it already) pointless scribblings. I’m not a writer. I mean, geez, I use too many adverbs. My dialogues run on and on like a terrible sitcom punctuated by annoying laugh tracks. I use stupid adjectives (like, for example: stupid). My characters look at each other. They glance meaningfully. They mock me from the page. I have no unique voice. I sound like ev-er-y-body else. What do I have to say, anyway? “Hey folks, perk up. I know it’s 105 and you’re thirsty. Why don’t you lick the sweat off your arm and quick complaining?” Nice. (Another insipid adjective.) Why can’t my characters figure this out for themselves anyway? They sure are bossy the rest of the time, telling me what to write and what they should say. Suddenly they’re pliant and obedient. Suddenly they’re great listeners waiting for direction. Suuuuuurrre, until I start directing, that is. Then they’ll be all, “No, not like that.” Come on, stir up some trouble! Rock my world! Distract me from social media, email and Words with Friends. There are no snacks left in the house. I’ve been chewing the same piece of flavorless cut-rate gum for the last forty minutes. Real writers write. They don’t whine about their characters. They don’t take naps in the middle of the day. Even my dog is bored. She meandered to a far corner of the house a half hour ago. Yes, I should write about her. That would be fascinating. People love to read about how adorable other people’s spoiled pets are. That stuff is pure gold! What other great authors have written about their pets? That would be a fine topic to Google….

Great…so here’s what comes up: Pets talking about their authors. But guess what? The pets are talking about their authors and the books they’ve written. Bet they wrote those books with an ending. Yeah, because as a rule, other than that frustrating
Seriously, what is that smell?

First Annual Strong Girls x Good Books Award!

I’m excited to announce a contest we are hosting through Fifties Chix! We are on the search for good books for strong girls. If you’re like me, you have a hefty summer reading list. As you read, take note of the middle grade books that stand out to you (#mgreads) and until July 31, nominate your favorite ones (here).  Think of one word or phrase that describes the book or why you love it. In August, our panelist of middle grade readers will cull through the nominations and read the books and vote on a winner (and, no Fifties Chix books are not eligible to win )! The first annual Strong Girls x Good Books Award will be announced in September! In the mean time, you can download a fun Fifties Chix summer reading book mark when you nominate a book.

We’ll be looking for books that have a strong female protagonist (main character) and a great message. (Read: books that are sexy or violent won’t make the cut.)

I can’t wait to see your summer reading list! Happy reading!