Lisa Roecker's Blog, page 19

The Bookanistas: The eBook eXperiment

Publishing is a tough business.

Really tough.
The kind of business that chews people up and spits them out and makes them swear that they will never write another book ever again. EVER.
But it's also the kind of business that grabs hold of you and won't let go.
Because for many writers seeing their name on the cover of a book is a dream.
And dreams don't die easy.
That's one of the reasons I was so impressed when Shelli Johannes Wells wrote this very honest post about her experience in publishing last week. And then when I found out she's running an eBook eXperiment on her blog I was intrigued. eBooks are uncharted territory for so many writers (us included), but there's no argument that they've created a profitable, accessible channel for writers to publish their work. eBooks are our future and I know absolutely nothing about them.
So, I don't know about you, but I'll be watching Shelli's journey from manuscript to eBook with great interest. Can a savvy writer make a go of it with a YA eBook? I can't wait to find out.

Interested in what the other Bookanistas are up to this week? You know you are...

Elana Johnson interviews Elle Strauss, author of Clockwise
Christine Fonseca  is wowed by The White Assassin - with giveaway
Shannon Whitney Messenger loves Lola & the Boy Next Door – with giveaway
Beth Revis delights in The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer – with giveaway
Shelli Johannes-Wells falls for Fracture
Carolina Valdez Miller adores Ashfall – with giveaway
Jessi Kirby marvels at The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
Shana Silver steps up to Audition
Corrine Jackson is crazy about Cracked
Stasia Ward Kehoe swoons for Swan and To Dance

This is your brain on edits

LiLa on a good day:


LiLa after a week of editing:



And we're not even close to being done. Hold me.

Tell The Truth Tuesday

1. Today is my 8-year wedding anniversary.

2. I'm planning on serving tacos for dinner because nothing says "I love you" like ground beef.

3. This commercial made me cry. I'm blaming it on Ben's 1st birthday.



4. I haven't been to the gym in almost a week. THERE IS NO TIME. Boo.

5. Stacey designed the cutest b-day invites for Ben's first birthday in like an hour. Need gorgeous, custom, evites? Head to the Paperless Pooch STAT.


What's your truth this Tuesday? Hopefully they're more exciting than mine. I'll be living vicariously through you in the comments.

How to Write a Kissing Scene by (soon-to-be) famous author Stasia Ward Kehoe

Best. Idea. Ever.

Celebstalking by LiLa

First off it's Friday and I'm not hungover. Can I get a hell yeah? Or maybe even just a heck yes? I'd totally settle for a heck yes.

And now....Let the celebrity discussion commence!


I love John Hamm on so many levels for so many different reasons. But I also love his girlfriend, Jennifer Westfeldt. She's charming and cool and everything John Hamm's life partner should be. She was also the star of Kissing Jessica Stein and holy crap, I LOVED that movie.

Tyra. Modelland. Book signing. I'm sorry I can't elaborate more, but it's really hard to type in the fetal position.

Crap, why can't I look like this when I do drop off in the morning? Well, I guess it might have something to do with the fact that on an average day I roll out of bed at 7:37 and drop the kids off at 7:51. So, yeah. There's that.

(Also, are pointy toed shoes back in style now? Am I the last person on the planet who still wears ballet flats? WHY!?! WHY!?!)

This picture just sent the D-Bag-O-Meter into overdrive.

Is it just me or is anyone else scanning this photo for an Activia logo?


I was so intrigued by this frothy drink that I googled Nespresso and discovered that I need one. Now.

You guys, this is Lourdes. Lourdes! She's all grown up! Am I the only person completely shocked by this? Is it weird that I'm sort of dying to know how Suri feels about it? That bitch cracks my shit up.

Happy weekend all!

Bookanistas: WINNER!!!

Last week we decided to spread our love for SOMETHING LIKE HOPE. A huge congratulations goes out to Susan at The Book Bag blog! Susan, email us with your address and we'll place the order and then it's up to YOU to spread the love as well!
To the rest of you, go out and buy this book and spread the love on your own. We can promise you one thing--you will not regret it!


Check out what the other Bookanistas are up to this week:


Fall TV - Whatcha Watchin'

It's no secret that I'm the TV queen and this Fall is no different. I'm committed to watching every show with even the tiniest bit of buzz and reporting back to you about whether or not it's worth watching. Of course you'll have to bear in mind that all opinions are that of a woman who will religiously watches the new 90210 and pretty much anything Bravo churns out (With the exception of that awful Dallas show. What is that about? I have no idea why I hate it so much, but I really, really do.).

Anyway, here's what I've watched so far....

The Playboy Club - Don't judge me, I'm in Mad Men withdrawal, ok? I mean I had to at least give it a shot. The best/worst thing about the show is Eddie Ciberian's piss poor Don Draper impression. And then I remembered that Leanne Rimes let's that Don-a-be whisper sweet nothings into her ear every single night. Distracting to say the least.

The Verdict: Stick a stiletto in this one because this show is DEAD. (Sadly you'll only get this joke if you've actually watched this piece of crap. Needless to say, I'm hopeful you have no idea what I'm talking about.)

The Ringer - There's a lot of buzz about this show so I was very curious to check it out. The concept is pretty intriguing (a twin fakes her death and leaves her sister to take over her life). The execution is cheesy in the extreme. But lucky for Sarah Michelle Gellar, it's just the kind of cheddar that I love. Everything from the terrible special effects to the far fetched events that transpire throughout this 60 minutes of gouda practically scream telenovella.

The Verdict: Pour yourself a cheap glass of wine and grab a box of Wheat Thins, this one is cheese-tastic fun.

Two Broke Girls - The promos promise a script heavy on the sarcasm and one liners so I absolutely had to give this one a shot. And it was decent. A couple of funny moments leave me hopeful that this show will continue to get better. That combined with my girl crush on Kat Dennings will have me tuning in for a few more weeks.

The Verdict: I'll stay tuned to see if this one eventually lives up to its promise.

So, what are you guys watching? Tell me everything in the comments. You know me, I hate to miss out on crappy television.

Tell The Truth Tuesday

1. Must. Finish. Editing. We are in hard core edit mode and it sucks, we suck and everyone hates us. Including (but not limited to) our husbands, children and Jack's kindergarten aid who gives me the evil eye every morning at drop off.

2. I feel very guilty for missing two weeks of Friday celeb posts. ESPECIALLY since last week I got a great tip from famous author, Lee Nichols, about Posh Spice toting her baby around in ginormous heels.

3. Speaking of famous author Lee Nichols (that really has a ring to it, doesn't it?) I'm totally sneaking chapters of Tales of a Drama Queen in between edits. I forgot how much I love good old fashioned chick lit. Love.
4. We have two contracts to sign this week. And I have no idea if we're allowed to talk about either of them, so that's all I'm going to say about that.

5. I went to an open house on Sunday and fell in love with a house. I've spent the vast majority of time since then staring at pictures of it. Great use of my time for someone with a manuscript due in approximately one week.

So, what's your truth this Tuesday? Spill it in the comments. The jucier the better.

Small Town Laughs

The two times a week that our local paper is delivered, my husband and I fight over the pages. Well, one page in particular. The Police Reports. There is always at least one blurb that makes us laugh out loud and a few that go down in history.
Here's our favorite from this week...

A Lakedge Court resident said he heard suspicious yelling nearby Sept. 7. The resident said a female yelled, "Go, go, go!" loudly, which sounded to him like an argument that was escalating. Police discovered a woman urging her reluctant dog to go outside in the rain, according to the police report.

Niiiice.

And here are the two that go down in history from last year...

A 26-year-old woman summoned police Oct. 22 after she spotted a large spider on the dashboard of her vehicle at 2:52 p.m. The driver immediately pulled off Darrow Road and called 911 for an officer's assistance, according to police records.

The officer reported the female was standing at the roadside on Darrow Road with all the doors on her vehicle ajar. The woman said the spider was most likely poisonous since it was yellow and black. She said it was first observed on her dashboard and last seen crawling underneath her driver's seat. The officer did not find the spider after a thorough search.

The officer reassured the woman that the spider probably was not poisonous, and she left the scene without incident, according to police reports.

And our number one fave. Drum roll please...

A Sullivan Road resident called police to report a "suspicious package" on his front porch Nov. 2 at 3:20 p.m. The resident said he observed an unknown person leave the package and called police, according to the police report. The officer said he could see the package was clearly labeled with the Amazon.com logo and asked the man if he had ordered anything from the firm recently.

The man reportedly said "Why yes, I did."

The officer told the resident his order had arrived. The resident then said he was comfortable opening the box. The officer then left the scene, according to the report.

We're almost postive the reporters at the paper choose the most ridiculous ones to print. They must have so much fun at work.

Bookanistas: SOMETHING LIKE HOPE and a GIVEAWAY

I've had my eye on this book for a long, long time. It just sounded like such an inspirational story and I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. Turns out SOMETHING LIKE HOPE is all of the above and SO much more.

What the back cover has to say:

17-year-old Shavonne has been in juvenile detention since the seventh grade. Mr Delpopolo is the first counselor to treat her as an equal, and he helps her get to the bottom of her self-destructive behavior, her guilt about past actions, and her fears about leaving the Center when she turns 18. Shavonne tells him the truth about her crack-addicted mother, the child she had (and gave up to foster care) at fifteen, and the secret shame she feels about what she did to her younger brother after her mother abandoned them. Meanwhile, Shavonne's mentally unstable roommate Cinda makes a rash move, and Shavonne's quick thinking saves her life—and gives her the opportunity to get out of the Center if she behaves well. But Shavonne's faith is tested when her new roommate, mentally retarded and pregnant Mary, is targeted by a guard as a means to get revenge on Shavonne. As freedom begins to look more and more likely, Shavonne begins to believe that maybe she, like the goslings recently hatched on the Center's property, could have a future somewhere else—and she begins to feel something like hope.


What Lila has to say:

I can't describe this book without using the word "heartbreaking." And what's even more difficult to comprehend is the fact that this story may not be fiction to 93,000 boys and girls across the country who occupied residential centers at the time the book was written. In fact, Shawn Goodman has worked in several juvenile facilities like the one in the book, so I imagine he pulled from his own experience to write Shavonne's story.

And there's no doubt in my mind that this book will win additional awards (Shawn has already won the Delacorte Press Prize for a First Young Adult Novel, as seen on the cover). Shavonne's voice is pitch-perfect and Mr. Delpopolo, her counselor throughout the book, could have been sitting across the table from me the way he jumped right off the page. I absolutely loved the tension at having the opportunity to be inside Shavonne's head while at the same time witnessing her actions, which were often directly in conflict of one another. Throughout the course of the novel, she is hiding something and as I turned each page, I was urging her to let Mr. Delpopolo in so that he could help her move forward and could teach her how to heal. I grew attached to say the least.

I've already emailed many of my teacher friends to spread the word about this beautiful book. It would be a great conversation starter in 7th-12th grade and will be a great source of inspiration for students who may be struggling to find their way. Shavonne's story will break your heart, but will also leave you feeling incredibly hopeful. It's the perfect reminder of how lucky we all are to have friends and family members who love us and a life where we feel safe. It also leaves me very inspired to spread some love around.

So here's the deal. One lucky commenter will win a brand new copy of SOMETHING LIKE HOPE. But here's the catch. After you read it, you must donate it to a school or a shelter or hand it off to a young person you know who might benefit from a little hope in their lives. Deal? Deal. Oh...and then we want to hear about it, of course! We want to know if you loved the book as much as us and where the copy ended up.

Leave a comment for a chance to win!

Check out what the other Bookanistas are up to this week:





Elana Johnson is in a tizzy over Texas GothicChristine Fonseca  is transformed by ShiftingShannon Whitney Messenger takes a shine to So Silver Bright – with giveawayScott Tracey is on board for Starship AcademyBeth Revis shouts about The Name of the StarShana Silver loves Lola and the Boy Next DoorRosemary Clement Moore is distracted by Alien Invasion & Other InconveniencesSarah Frances Hardy adores Birdie's Big Girl DressStasia Ward Kehoe takes a fancy to FractureCarolina Valdez Miller goes gaga for Glow and Shifting – with giveaway