Amy Reed's Blog, page 7

Beautiful Book Trailer!

It's a little late (almost seven months since the release date) but my husband Brian and I FINALLY finished the book trailer for BEAUTIFUL! Slow and steady wins the race, or something like that. My excuse is we're both extremely busy–I'm working and writing, he's making movies and music–but luckily we were able to carve out enough time to create this, ahem, dare I say it?–masterpiece.  The truth is he did most of the work.  I am so grateful to have such a talented, generous dude in my life.

On...

Advice To My Teenage Self

Some of you probably caught the #gimmeacall hashtag on Twitter yesterday and today, where folks tweeted messages of advice to their former high school selves (in honor of the release of Sarah Mlynowski's new novel Gimme a Call). A few of my favorites:

"Dear high-school self: don't worry, you'll put those bitches in a book one day" (@abbymcdonald)"Dear 15-year-old self, those comics you feel guilty for spending your barmitzvah money on each week will save your life one day" (@neilhimself aka...

Dear Phoebe Prince, I hope you found the peace you were looking for

There's been a lot of talk on the web in the last few days about the tragic story of Phoebe Prince, a 15-year-old girl who committed suicide after being ruthlessly bullied. At first, I tried to avoid reading the angry and heartbroken posts about her. I was afraid. A coward. I did not want to be reminded of my own past, the wounds from nearly seventeen years ago that still feel fresh whenever I think about them.

A lot of people have asked me how autobiographical Beautiful is.  I usually say...

Beautiful Cover Story

Ever wonder how the cover for Beautiful came to be?  Melissa Walker asked me, so I told her for Unabashedly Bookish, The Barnes & Noble Community Blog.  I'm reposting here because I thought you might find it interesting:

Amy Reed's Beautiful has a really arresting cover. The lipstick, the bracelets, the tousled mix of innocence and debauchery on the girl's face — it all adds up to an intriguing package. (Read teen reader Sarah's review of the book.)

Here's Amy with her Cover Story:

"I didn't...

Hello, goodbye, and other writerly thoughts

Hello blog.  It's been awhile.  My excuse is I've been writing, which is a pretty good excuse if you ask me.  Since, like, I'm supposed to be a writer, and, like, my next book's due to my editor May 1, and, like, I have approximately ten pages left to write.  This is when things start getting weird.  I'm excited that she's almost done, but I'm also feeling a little protective, like I want to grab her and hold her tight and not let her go.  (Yes, apparently my book has a gender.  I told you...

Thanks Jason Myers and Pegasus Books for a great reading on Tuesday

Here's Jason reading from his new book The Mission:

In other news, here's my friend Amy P. and her adorable son Evan with Beautiful (and what looks like the wrappings of a toothbrush):

Send me your pictures!

Check out this guy's mad skillz

by the magnificent Justin Frahm

This is me.  With my pet Unicornbird.  We are flying and I am happy.love,

PS: You know what would be really cool?  If you guys sent me pictures of you holding a copy of Beautiful in random places.  Then I could post the picture on here and you'd be famous to like the two and a half people who read this blog.  I'm totally copying what Frank Portman does on his blog, but I'm sure he knows that imitation is the best form of flattery.  Shoot, I owe him a photo...

A Friendly Challenge to My Fellow YA Authors: Be Crazy, I Dare You!

With all the big awards and Best of the Year and Best of the Decade lists that have come out in the last few weeks, I'm reminded of just how awesome and diverse the Young Adult genre is, and how lucky I am to be a part of it.  When I was a teenager, there were very few books I felt I could hold onto as mine, books that told my story from my point of view.  Now the field is so full, there's something for everybody: from vampires to sci-fi, from romance to LBGTQ to historical fiction, from ...

Random thoughts on a rainy day

I guess staying home sick is as good a time as any to write a blog post.  It's miserable and rainy outside and Peanut's going crazy because she's desperate for a walk, but I'm pretty sure once she gets out there she's going to change her mind.  She's a prissy girl and doesn't like getting her feet wet.  If I was feeling better, I wouldn't actually mind being out there in the rain.  I'm from Seattle after all, and it really does rain there as much as people say it does, and I find it kind of...

Holy Smokes! Three Readings in February!

It's going to be a busy month! Hope you can join me for one of these events.  It's going to be lots of fun.

An Evening of Edgy YAwith Amy Reed and Jason Myers

Tuesday, February 9, 7:30 p.m. @Pegasus Books in Berkeley

2349 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley (2 blocks from the downtown Berkeley BART station)

I am honored to be joined by bestselling author Jason Myers, author of Exit Here and new release The Mission.  Please join us as we read from our newest works, answer a few of your questions, and sign...