Mindi Scott's Blog, page 2

On the blog: Comparing the finished (yay!) hardcover and paperback versions of LIVE THROUGH THIS

Two years ago minus three days, I received finished copies of Freefall and wrote up a blog post comparing the book with the ARC. 

With Live Through This, I have both a hardcover and a paperback version of the book to show you, so I'm going to leave the ARC out of the discussion. (I will say, though, that I think the biggest differences this time are that the cover on the finished book is matte and the pages themselves are beige, while the ARC's cover is glossy and the pages are white.)

So here are the finished books!



The hard cover, obviously, is on the left and the paperback is on the right. They both feature the blurb from Stephanie Perkins at the top, and are close to the same height. Also, they are the same number of pages. From what I can spot, the interior pages in both versions are identical in every way, so if you're talking with your friend about the Miley Cyrus quote that you read on page 89 (for example!), it should be the same, no matter which version you have.

Things start to look a little bit different when you flip over to the back:



With the hardcover, we have the blurbs from Mandy Hubbard/Amanda Grace and Jo Knowles in much larger print than the paperback, since they take up the majority of the content. The back of the paperback is busier: small blurbs up top, the (condensed) book summary, as well as lots of tiny print about the design and such at the bottom. With the hardcover, the summary and all the tiny print appears inside on the jacket flaps, of course. 

There are actually a few slight differences in the book summary from hardcover to paperback. The paperback is more concise. Neither of these summaries match what's on my website or Goodreads. Amazon and other booksellers happen to be using the catalog summary, which isn't like any of the summaries that you can find elsewhere. (I think I'll probably go ahead and edit my website and Goodreads to match the hardcover's summary now that it's for sure final.) Also, the tagline appears on neither version! Live Through This doesn't appear to have a tagline.

Here's a look at the back flap of the hard cover sitting beside the last page of the paperback:



My picture didn't get used anywhere appear with Freefall, so this is kind of cool. The picture that appears in the books is the same one that appears at the top of my blog.

Here are both styles of Live Through This on the shelf beside Freefall:



As you can see, Freefall is their shorter (but still sexy) little brother. (And, yes, I adore Courtney Summers and her books. ♥)

The only thing I would have liked to see different on the Live Through This spine is my first name, like Freefall has. I like Elizabeth Scott, Kieran Scott, and Michael Scott very much, but I'd prefer to see Mindi Scott's books in the right place on a store shelf rather than potentially mixed in with the books of another YA-writing Scott, you know? Oh, well.

That's all the stuff that I can think of to tell you! I'm super excited that the finished copies are ready and will soon be available for YOU. I'm also really glad that Live Through This has format options for readers. Me? I'm actually a paperback-loving girl, so the hardcover will mostly be chilling on the shelf looking cool while the paperback and I go off and have the time of our fricken lives together. :-) 

The Day We Got the Kirkus Review

Friday, September 7, 2012, started out as a strange day for me. My commuter bus jacknifed and had to be evacuated, and then my replacement bus (filled with two buses worth of passengers) had to pull over for several minutes to be serviced. Even with all of this nonsense, I was only twenty minutes late for work. What an adventure!
An hour after I arrived and settled in for a day of data entry, I got a call from my editor, Liesa. I didn't take the time to wonder what was up. We rarely speak on the phone, but we do email and text often. I assumed she had a quick question for me, so I took the call and hurried to the break room with my phone to my ear. 

Liesa said, "We got your Kirkus review. And it's a starred review!"
I said, "Really? Oh my gosh! I'm so excited! That is so great!" 

And then we made excited "Yay!"s and such at each other. She read me parts of the review and we chatted about how wonderful it was that the reviewer totally got what we were trying to do with this book. Liesa let me know she was forwarding the review to me and congratulated me repeatedly before we got off the phone.

I called my husband and my mom to let them know about the star. I tried to explain what it meant, but I honestly didn't entirely know. (I do have a slightly better idea now, having learned that Kirkus touts themselves as "The World's Toughest Book Critics" and that the Kirkus star is "awarded to books of remarkable merit.") 

After the phone calls, the emails started coming. And the texts and the tweets. People who work for my publisher. People at my agent's office. Other writers and readers and friends. It was so exciting and overwhelming that I had to go into the bathroom to cry a couple of times.

The best part for me was thinking about the reactions that everyone told me about. Like Liesa and Alyson at Simon & Schuster hugging and jumping up and down right before Liesa called me. And Jim and Lauren at Dystel & Goderich reading the review on Jim's phone, and trying and failing at a high-five. And everyone at Pulse getting an email that announced the review.

All of these people in New York--some of whom I've met and many of whom I haven't--were all excited and happy for me. But it wasn't just for me. I wrote the book, but I am not the only person who made it what it is, who has a stake in it, who wants good things for it. 

We did this. We made this book together. And someone likes it! How cool is that?


★ "What makes this more than another 'problem' novel is the author's steadfast refusal to deal in stereotypes and easy answers. [ . . . ] Required reading for anyone who's ever wondered 'why didn't they just tell someone?'" ~ Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

You can read the full Kirkus review here.

Announcing the LIVE THROUGH THIS book launch party!

~October 13, 2012~Please SAVE THIS DATE because that's when I'm having my book release party for my second novel, Live Through This. Hooray!

(If you're out of the area and know you won't be attending, I have information for you about ordering personalized and signed copies at the bottom of this post!*)

Here are the details:

When: Saturday, October 13, 2012 from 2:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. 

What's happening: Author reading, presentation, and Q&A! Several songs mentioned in the book will be performed live by members of Alabaster and Peace Mercutio! Reception and book signing to follow!

Where: Elliott Bay Book Company
1521 Tenth Avenue, Seattle, Washington 98122
(206) 624-6600 / orders@elliottbaybook.com

RSVP email: mindirochelle at gmail dot com. Or, at the Facebook launch party event page.
This is not required, but will definitely be appreciated so that I can tell the bookstore how much seating will be needed, as well as give them an idea of how many books to have on hand to sell that day. They will be offering both the hardcover ($16.99) and paperback ($9.99) versions. If you know what you'd like in advance (and especially if you'd like multiple copies), please do let me know or go ahead and contact the bookstore soon to pre-order directly from them.

Parking suggestion: The street parking near the bookstore only allows for two hours of pre-paid parking. A better choice is the Harvard Garage, located two blocks away at 1609 Harvard Avenue, Seattle, Washington 98122. It costs $5 for the entire day.  (Also, the bookstore does have a small garage beneath, which reimburses $4 for people who spend $20 or more at the store, but it can be pricey to park there for very long.)

*If you can't attend the event, you still have the option of getting personalized and signed copies of Live Through This shipped to you! Simply place your book order online through Elliott Bay Book Company's site anytime between now and October 11, 2012, and include a comment notation that you are requesting an autographed book from this event. Alternately, you may make this purchase and request by phone: 1-800-962-5311.

My Surreal & Exciting Day: The photo shoot for the LIVE THROUGH THIS book trailer!

Earlier this year, I wrote a concept for a book trailer for Live Through This that I was really excited to make.  But a day or two later, I decided to give up on the idea. I didn't have the money, the skills, or the models to make this project happen.

My husband, Dwayne, didn't give up though. This summer, he talked to a girl who recommended the perfect Coley (my main character). Gradually, everything came together.  With the help of a couple of our friends, as well complete strangers who volunteered, we were able to put together a cast of twelve that includes Coley, her family, a few of her friends, members of her dance team, and Reece, her love interest.

This past Sunday, we all met up at Richmond beach for a six-hour photo shoot! Dwayne was the director, Shaina (Dwayne's band mate) did the photography, and my sister, Lindsey, helped me with getting the food and props together. For the shoot itself, I mostly watched from a distance, but I did give feedback for a couple of scenes.

The above is me, standing between "Reece" and "Coley" along with members of our local high school's flag and cheer teams, who were in scenes depicting part of my fictional dance team.

It was a really fun day for me and everyone involved seemed to have a great time too. They each got to find out just a little bit about the characters they were portraying. It was also so interesting to figure out who knew who in real life and from where.  I actually only had known the "mother" and "older brother" before that day, so it was really cool to get to meet everyone else!

There were a couple of surreal moments for me, mainly involving Anika (Coley) and Kyle (who, by the way, was named for Kyle Reese from Terminator  and was our Reece for the photos!). These two truly could not have been more perfectly cast. The characters in Live Through This have resided in my head (and in my manuscript) for close to three years. So, to see people who looked so much like them standing right in front of me? In real life? Being all three-dimensional? Well, it was a little overwhelming at times, but also one of the coolest things ever.

Here is a dorky moment that Shaina captured and sent to me (which makes Dwayne laugh hysterically every time he looks at it):

I'm not posing in the background there. I'm also definitely not supposed to be in the shot. Dwayne and Shaina had had me come down to make sure that my Coley and Reece scenes turned out exactly how I wanted because they knew it was super-important to me. It's hard to tell when the picture isn't zoomed, but I'm just frozen in that spot, smiling while trying not to cry from watching all the cuteness zomg! unfold.

Many thanks to Anika (especially Anika who was in every photo!), Bailey, Cali, Carter, Kelland, Kyle, Linda, Madeline, Marty, Sarah, Shaylee, and Taylor for volunteering your time and for being so darn photogenic. :-) And thank you also, to the parents, spouses, and siblings who came along. You are all so awesome!

Shaina is starting the editing now and I'll be able to share the finished video later next month. Let me tell you--I can hardly wait!

And the winner of the Live Through This ARC is . . .

The winner of the Live Through This ARC and other adorable prizes is . . .
@AngelinaCHansen

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!

In case anyone wondered (because I always wonder about this stuff), her second entry, which she received for Tweeting the contest, was the one that was chosen as the winning entry by the random number generator. 

And for everyone who isn't Angelina, and therefore didn't win my giveaway, the book will be coming out on October 2, 2012, which is in 49 days! It's available now for preorder all over the place. I really hope you'll check it out! 

 Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, IndieBound, iTunes, The Book Depository, or Amazon

Thank you  so much to everyone who entered the contest, tweeted about it, and blogged about it. It was really fun for me to see all the entries coming in and see that some of you are excited about my next book. :-)
         

I'm having a giveaway! I hope you'll enter!

My second novel, Live Through This, comes out in two months! In anticipation, I'm giving away my very last extra Advance Reviewer copy of the book, along with other adorable prizes. (Spoiler: You can click right here to enter.)

Look at the cuteness! And can you spot what's meta in this photo? ;-)

The giraffe is relevant to the story. (You'll see!) And the wrapped present? Well, that's relevant too. But since it reveals a surprise from the book, it's for the winner's eyes only.

I will LOVE it if you'll enter to win and tell others about the giveaway too! Here's what one reader asked me to add to this announcement:

"This is my favorite book of 2012. It just barely edges out John Green's latest, which is my second favorite." ~Dwayne Scott, devoted husband of Mindi Scott

Oh, and here's an opinion, from someone who isn't completely biased:

Live Through This is by turns harrowing, sad, funny, and romantic. I couldn't put it down." ~Stephanie Perkins, author of ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS

_____________________________________________

Giveaway details
To enter, please fill in this form.Ages 13 and up.Open to U.S. mailing addresses only.Last day to enter is Friday, August 10, 2012 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time.
Optional Extra Entries(+1) Tweet about this giveaway for one additional entry:  "Win an ARC of LIVE THROUGH THIS by @mindi_scottt + 1 plush giraffe + 1 Mystery Gift. RT to enter! http://mindiscott.com/?p=1657 " (You may also tweet once per day until August 12 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time for one additional entry per day.)  (+5) Earn five additional entries by posting about this giveaway on your blog.

A Letter to Readers: Why I wrote LIVE THROUGH THIS

As I've said before, my second novel, Live Through This, is a story that I never intended to write.

I've posted a letter for readers on my website (which also appears in the Advance Reader Copies) to share a little more about why I did decide to tell this story. It wasn't an easy book for me to finish (no book ever is!), but as you'll see, once I'd thought it through, making the decision wasn't difficult like I had long believed it to be.


"On January 30, 2010, I awakened once again from the disturbing dream that I first started having when I was a teenager.

In many ways, the dream mirrored the sexual abuse that I’d experienced when I was younger, and I always awoke from it feeling all of the same shame, confusion, guilt, and self doubt. These feelings were not a result of the abuser being cruel or rough toward me; they were because in course of the dream—as well as in real life—he was very much the opposite of those things.

That particular January day, I couldn’t seem to shake it off. I lay miserable in bed for over an hour, staring at the ceiling until I was finally compelled to do something with my emotions.  So I got up, went to my computer, and started typing.

After I’d finished several paragraphs (which now appear in the first chapter of the book), I read them back and thought: How can I possibly consider writing about this?

It seemed to me that even though a story was rapidly unfolding in my mind, I should stop thinking about it. But the idea kept nagging at me throughout the day.

I wondered whether having the opportunity as a teen to read a book that reflected what I was going through could have given me the comfort I’d needed and the strength to begin to heal sooner.

I thought about how most of the depictions of sexual abuse I’ve seen in movies and books are characterized by violence and threats.

I remembered that it wasn’t like that for me, and that I’d grown up feeling as if the things that had happened didn’t matter because I hadn’t been physically harmed.

I reflected on when I finally got help while in my twenties, and how I came to understand—after months of therapy—that abuse doesn’t always look like abuse, it doesn’t always feel like abuse, but that doesn’t mean that the victim wanted it or is responsible.

Then I realized that, yes, I still have the occasional upsetting dream, but I’m an adult now and I’ve truly moved away from my past. Meanwhile, right now, there are so many young people who are experiencing the things that I’ve experienced and keeping it all a secret like I did for so long.

That realization was what made me decide that no matter what, I couldn’t possibly consider not writing about this. 

So I did."

On the blog: Denise Jaden's NEVER ENOUGH book launch.

On Saturday, July 14th, Dwayne and I ventured up to Mission, British Columbia for the book launch of Denise Jaden's second novel, Never Enough. 

Wait! Quick side note: Last week, Denise did a short interview for me at Michelle's and my blog, WE HAVE WORDS. If you click on this link and leave a comment at the end of that interview, you will be automatically entered to win books galore from a contest Denise is running!

Okay, back to the event! So it was on Saturday and took place at Black Bond Books. Simon & Schuster provided beverages and snacks (including a platter of yummy desserts!). Denise signed books, talked about her inspiration for writing this book and what the process had been like to do so, and read a short except for her crowd of fans. 

Here are a just a couple of pictures that we got:


Denise, reading a first-chapter excerpt. (And apparently, using zoom on my phone's camera makes the pictures smaller?)


Denise and me! (You can't tell, but we're totally both wearing white capri pants in this picture. Because that's how we roll.)

Oh, funny story: One of the employees came up to me and said, "You're Mindi Scott?" She went on to mention that she was familiar with my first book, Freefall, and it was her understanding that I have a second book coming out in October. We chatted for several minutes about books, in general, and the fact that Dwayne and I had met while we both worked at a bookstore ourselves. 

After she walked away, I was in awe and said, "Wow! I can't believe she recognized me like that!"

Dwayne admitted then that it was he who had told her who I was, which made me laugh. I'm still not famous, just as I'd suspected all along. ;-)

Anyway, it was wonderful to see Denise again and great to see her celebrating a book that she worked so hard on. (Which I finished reading this morning, by the way, and LOVED.)

It was also a nice day to take a 5-hour round-trip drive. Dwayne and I had a fun time traveling together through the farm lands, freaking out from all the border patrol on H Street (the longest street IN THE WORLD), and stopping for ice cream and pizza (yes, in that order) on the way home. Hooray for fun times!

On the blog: Geeking out IN YOUR FACE over the Star Wars "Machete Order"!

Okay, people! I'm here to spread the joy of the Star Wars Machete Order!

Are you ready for this?

Until recently, when pondering the best order in which to watch the Star Wars films, the only options seemed to be either 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3 or 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Or, you know, some people choose just 4, 5, 6 and leave it at that.

But then I came across this blog post, which offers a very different alternative. And this option? Well, it pretty much blew my mind.

To sum up, the author of the blog suggests watching the movies in the order of 4, 5, 2, 3, 6 and skipping #1 altogether. What this amounts to is: "Two films of Luke’s story, two films of Anakin’s story, then a single film that intertwines and ends both stories."


It's long, but you should absolutely check out the full blog post if you're interested in learning why this viewing order works so well. It's very well-put together and interesting! (Oh, but beware spoilers for the entire series, if you happen to be someone who hasn't yet seen them all and you want to be surprised.) 

After reading about this order, I had to try it. Despite my husband's misgivings about mixing things up in such a strange way (perhaps he had a bad feeling about this!), we watched A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back on Sunday. Then on Tuesday: Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, and Return of the Jedi. I have to say, I was very pleased with the results. I'm not sure that Dwayne was entirely sold on skipping The Phantom Menace (he thinks that seeing more of Anakin's relationship with his mother onscreen would have be helpful; I think he might have preferred that we try 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 6), but we both agree with the creator of the Machete Order's overall assessment:

"[W]atching Revenge of the Sith makes Return of the Jedi a better, more effective film." 

And that, for me, equated to a pretty satisfying experience overall.

Now, I can't say that someone who hates the prequel movies with every fiber of their being will appreciate a rewatch, even if it is in this revised order. The romance parts are no less eye-roll inducing than they ever were and the changes/inconsistencies/annoying bits can be very frustrating. I burst out laughing at parts that weren't meant to be funny. I also shouted "WHY?" at my TV/George Lucas a number of times. Dwayne flipped off the TV when Greedo shot first, because seriously. SERIOUSLY. (We're lucky, though, because we have the original trilogy on VHS, so the floaty part at the end of Return of the Jedi doesn't include 22-year-old Anakin . . . if you know what I mean.) But without Episode 1 mucking things up, I really do feel that the 2 and 3 held up, you know, not too badly.

So, do it! Watch the Star Wars saga in Machete Order!

(Not entirely on topic, but another thing that I found interesting is that now having watched every episode of the cartoon, Star Wars: The Clones Wars, the going-ons near the end of Revenge of the Sith were so much more emotional for me this time around. To have spent so many hours with these characters in animated form, and to then be reminded of how things were going to end up for them was actually pretty sad.)

Working that side braid.

Yesterday, my sister sent me this picture of my niece, Ella, with a text:



"It's Ellaniss Everdeen"
I immediately took a picture of myself at work and sent back:



"Oh, yeah? ;-)"