Mindi Scott's Blog, page 13

A gratuitous discussion!

I hear the word "gratuitous" bandied around a lot in discussions of YA literature. 

Gratuitous sex scenes.

Gratuitous violence.

Gratuitous language.

People are opposed to seeing ALL THIS GRATUITOUSNESS in books and it makes them mad and and disgusted and possibly not want to read the author who uses said gratuitousness ever again, etc, etc, etc.

Pardon me while I try to grasp what this even means. 

My dear friend Merriam-Webster defines "gratuitous" thusly:

1 a : given unearned or without...

Nine years.

Today is Dwayne's and my nine-year wedding anniversary.  We were married in Las Vegas exactly three days before 9/11. 

He is working a very long day today, so we might see each other for only, like, a half an hour before he has to go to bed or something.  Or maybe not at all.  Boo!

Here are the special text messages that we shared in honor of this day:

Me to Dwayne (at 9:45am):  Nine years ago right now, a minister was walking in on me in the bathroom!

Dwayne to me (at 2pm):  At this time nine y...

Personalized with Names.

Every tourist shop has them.  Racks and racks and racks of key chains, stickers, shot glasses, jewelry, and such with common names printed or engraved upon them.  For example, you can get a "Lindsey" bracelet (or even a "Lindsay" bracelet).  You can get a "Robert's Room" sign.  You can get "Ella" refrigerator magnets.  You can get "Linda" pens.

You know what you can't get? 

Any of those items with "Mindi" on them.  In all my life, I've found just ONE thing that had my name spelled correctly.  ...

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Steve Brezenoff

Steve Brezenoff is the author of The Absolute Value of -1, a YA realistic novel released by Carolrhoda Lab on September 1, 2010.

The absolute value of any number, positive or negative, is its distance from zero: |-1| = 1 .

Noah, Lily, and Simon have been a trio forever. But as they enter high school, their relationships shift and their world starts to fall apart. Privately, each is dealing with a family crisis—divorce, abuse, and a parent’s illness. Yet as they try to escape the pain and...

30 Days 'til Freefall.

That Book I Wrote That One Time will be coming out exactly one month from today.  Hooray!

The last week of September, Kari and Kelsey of Teen Book Scene have organized a Book Trailer Tour where I will finally get to reveal the Freefall book trailer.  They've also set up a blog tour for the first two weeks in October with interviews, guest blogs, a deleted scene, contests to win finished copies of Freefall, and much, much more.  It should be fun!

But for today,  here is an inteview with me at...

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Denise Jaden

Denise Jaden is the author of LOSING FAITH, a contemporary YA novel coming out from Simon Pulse on September 7, 2010.  That's in just a few days, you guys!  I already got a chance to read the ARC and it was a really great read.  I had taken it with me to work one day and was very, very tempted to read a page or two during the workday.  :-D

Denise is currently doing a really fun online launch party with lots of great interviews and prizes for you!  Check out her blog to get the scoop each day. ...

Seriously.

Every time I try to upload pictures on LJ, a Photobucket page hijacks everything.  What gives?  Can I make it STOP?

(By the way, I have a sort of plan to blog every day in September. This totally counts for today's because LJ is effing up the entry I've tried four times to finish!)

Goodreads giveaway.

There is a Freefall ARC available on Goodreads for one lucky winner in the U.S.!  The best news is that all you have to do to enter to win is click! 

And, I think, provide a mailing address. 

Oh, and be a registered member of Goodreads.

But other than that, it's totally simple!


Goodreads Book Giveaway

Freefall by Mindi Scott

Giveaway ends October 01, 2010.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win Best of luck!

New Vlog: Silversun Pickups totally saved my revisions!

[image error][image error]I've posted Vlog #3.  Hooray!

Fun facts about this one:

1.  There is a Dark Secret about my revising for my editor revealed.

2.  We were going to include bootleg footage from the Silversun Pickups concert I attended, but it didn't work out.  However!  You can view the awesome footage here if you'd like.

3.  Not all of this was shot on the same day.   You might or might not be able to guess which parts were from a few weeks ago and which were from today!

What's up.

Look!  It's been an entire week since I posted!  It doesn't feel like a week has passed.  Which explains why I think the date every day is August 19th.

I booked the hotel in NYC for my upcoming trip.  It was a Priceline name-your-own-price thing.  I check in there and throw in a few bids -- which are never accepted -- and then I do it again a couple of weeks later.  But today it accepted my fourth (I think it was) offer), so we're set. 

And . . . I'm wondering if that fourth bid was a mistake....