Friday Five (or more): Non-SCBWI Edition

1. I'm writing the Friday Five.

2. On Saturday.

3. So what? Its not like I can count to 5, so why should I be expected to know the days of the week?

4. No, I'm not being bitter...

5. About the fact that everyone and their mother is in LA at SCBWI and I'm not.

6. Seriously! I'm not! So stop asking, K?

7. Alright fine. I might be just a little bit bitter.

8. Or A LOT!

9. Maybe jealous is the right word?

10. No, I don't like that word. Scratch that. How about...envious?

11. *scrolls through online thesaurus*

12. Ummmm how about I'm "excited by proxy for my friends that are there"

13. Just roll with it.

14. Anyway, the weekend isn't all bad.

15. I got this!

A Comic Con Penguin Goody Bag from Sara (my favorite member of the FNC right now;)

That's a Vladimir Todd Tote Bag!

 Signature Edition Vampire Academy!!!!!

Dick and Jane and Vampires (LOL)

Vampire Academy Lip Gloss! (tastes like watermelon)

And a Vladimir Todd Key Chain

Oh...and an arc of Matched!

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Did I mention Vampire Academy was signed?

SQUEEEEE Squared!

16. So you know, I guess my weekend is pretty good.

17. And truth be told...

18. I'm WAY excited for everyone at SCBWI LA! :-) I hope that anyone who is there and reading my blog (Stop reading my blog and get back to the conference!!!) is having an amazing time!

19. :-)

20. Score! I made it to 20.

10 Reasons: Delirium

I was LUCKY enough to score an arc (or two) of Lauren Oliver's upcoming release Delirium. And if you know anything about me, it's that I LOVE Lauren Oliver. Before I Fall knocked my socks off and changed the way I saw life and...well, basically it turned me into a pathetic pile of mush and tears.

And Delirium....

I'm still pulling myself off the floor.

Here's the product description from Amazon.

Ninety-five days, and then I'll be safe. I wonder whether the procedure will hurt. I want to get it over with. It's hard to be patient. It's hard not to be afraid while I'm still uncured, though so far the deliria hasn't touched me yet. Still, I worry. They say that in the old days, love drove people to madness. The deadliest of all deadly things: It kills you both when you have it and when you don't.
Lauren Oliver astonished readers with her stunning debut, Before I Fall. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called it "raw, emotional, and, at times, beautiful. An end as brave as it is heartbreaking." Her much-awaited second novel fulfills her promise as an exceptionally talented and versatile writer.



So I present to you....

10 Reasons Why DELIRIUM made me Delirious!

1. The Premise! This is a dystopian novel and the world that Lena lives in pretty much looks and sounds exactly like ours except that love aka deliria is a disease that is cured when you turn 18. You undergo a procedure and then...you're completely apathetic and everything is decided for you, who you'll marry, what you'll do. It's scary sounding and boring as crap! This also makes a killer set up for a love story.

2. Philosophizing. I'm convinced Lauren Oliver is really like a 1,000 year old philosopher hiding in the guise of a 20 something year old woman, because her novels have a way of making me want to take apart my world and how I live and look at them from another angle. She slips in these little bits of truth that you know already but probably forgot or never gave much thought to, and I can't help coming away from her writing feeling like I've truly gained something beyond just a great reading experience.

3. Rounding The Bases! This is probably always going to be one of my reasons for loving a book--or at least a bonus feature. But what can I say? I'm a sucker for romance. I'm a sucker for kissing. And I'm a sucker for...other things:-) And Lauren Oliver does it right..you know, the writing of that stuff. Also, she nails the emotional aspect too when it comes to this territory. Yay!

4. Character Arc. Lauren Oliver is fabulous at this--taking a character who is totally A and tearing them apart and putting them back together until they are Z! Lena goes through a massive journey in this book from completely buying into the party line--Love is EVIL, the cure is GOOD. We wants it NOW! To....OMG the cure is EVIL, love is AMAZING! RUN!!!!!

5. ALEX! Lauren, you had me at Kent McFuller....and now...ALEX!  I don't want to talk about Alex too much because I don't want to spoil the story for everyone but....I love Alex! He'd make me change my beliefs about everything I thought was true too. And once I finished Delirium, I had one thought in my head....ALEX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

6. The Swooning. There were some MAD cute scenes in this. When Lena was first falling in love with Alex, they were soooooo adorable with each other, giving secret looks, making up excuses to see each other. It made my heart melt with cuteness. And then....there were other scenes like when Alex reads love poetry to Lena that just....SWOOOOOOON!

7. Love is worth it! In this book, LOVE isn't just something you want or desire or makes life worth living. Love IS life. Love is worth dying for, and it makes you remember how unbelievably special and important it is and that it's worth sacrificing your life to experience it, save it, or just hold onto it. I'm telling you....1,0000 year old philosopher!

8. The Suspense! Seriously the last 100 pages had me on the edge of my seat biting my nails and freaking out until I got to the very end and cried and then started thinking....ALEX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

9. Hana! Lena's best friend had some of the best lines and was a real eye opener for Lena in her quest. I was kind of surprised by Hana's character arc, but she made a fabulous foil for Lena and really played an important role beyond just being the  cliched obnoxiously annoying best friend filler because every girl in a YA needs a BFF. Hana was not that character at all. She was so much more.

10. ALEX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry, I had to get that in there one more time. Seriously, I LOVED this book! It had everything you could want. Love, romance, action, philosophizing, ALEX!!!!!!!!

Ok, I'm going to go cry now.

Some more.

10 Reasons: The Replacement

I've been so excited to talk about The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff, because it was awesome! So I figured I'd tell you why it rocked. 10 reasons why it rocked in fact. But first....check out the summary.

Summary (from Amazon):

Mackie Doyle is not one of us. Though he lives in the small town of Gentry, he comes from a world of tunnels and black murky water, a world of living dead girls ruled by a little tattooed princess. He is a ReplacementÑleft in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago. Now, because of fatal allergies to iron, blood, and consecrated ground, Mackie is fighting to survive in the human world.


Mackie would give anything to live among us, to practice on his bass or spend time with his crush, Tate. But when TateÕs baby sister goes missing, Mackie is drawn irrevocably into the underworld of Gentry, known as Mayhem. He must face the dark creatures of the Slag Heaps and find his rightful place, in our world, or theirs.

Edward Scissorhands meets The Catcher in the Rye in this wildly imaginative and frighteningly beautiful horror novel about an unusual boy and his search for a place to belong.

10 Reasons Why The Replacement Rocked!

1. The set up and imagery in the first chapter is so deliciously creepy that I had chills. In 100 degree weather! Score--this tale is better than air conditioning.

2. Mackie Doyle! Ok, so I'm 100% behind girl power and female protagonists...I even write one. BUT with so few male narrators in the YA world, hearing Mackie's oh so boyish voice was like a breath of fresh air.

3. Roswell! Mackie's best friend was this dude named Roswell who was perfect....maybe a little too perfect but still...after you read this, you're going to wish you had a best friend named Roswell too. Or, you might want to date him.

4. Rounding the Bases! WOOT! I so loved that Brenna wrote in a few make out scenes which actually included more than kissing, and recognized that when it comes to relationships kissing and sex are not the only options. I know my FNC chicas will be excited about that.

5. Brenna has a seriously creepy and cool take on fairies and the idea of changlings or replacements, one of the scariest kinds of fairy practices I know.

6. Tate! Mackie's love interest is kick butt! She's pissed too!

7. Shades of grey. There was so much going on in this story I still need to process it. What's right, what's wrong, how do you fix a mistake? Who is guilty? What is worth sacrificing? How big a sacrifice? Bad guys? Good guys? Love it!

8. The writing. I don't know how I'd describe Brenna's writing style, but chances are if you are a fan of her Merry Sisters of Fate CP Maggie Stiefvater, you're going to fall for Brenna's writing too.

9. Quiet Suspense. I'm always amazed when a writer decides to slow things down despite the fact that you know the shit is going to hit the fan and inside you're screaming to go save the day and hurry! But the character really does need to develop and figure things out. And boy does Mackie do that!

10. Relatability. Ok so granted you probably don't get sick everytime you smell blood (unless you're Bella Swan) or freak out when touched by metal, but Mackie often feels off and like he doesn't belong anywhere and there was something honest about that, that even though I'm like 100% positive I'm human and a girl....I could totally relate to how he felt.

Basically, this story rocked! And you need to check it out when it debuts on September 21st.

On a related note...The Stolen Child by Keith Donahue is another amazing book I loved that also deals with the concept of changelings. Definitely a different take on the folklore and it's not a YA but every bit as awesome and something you can read while you wait anxiously for The Replacement to come out.

Mockingjay Prep

Mockingjay is officially less than a month away! SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

And I'm preparing for the big event! First of all, I spent some time at the start of summer rereading both The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. Because honestly, those books can be reread over and over and over again, particularly any scenes that involve Katniss kissing Peeta, or Katniss kissing Gale, or Gale being present, or Peeta being Peeta.

Yes I'm Team Both, though I have strong leanings toward Team Gale. Basically, I think Katniss is meant to be with Gale, but I'd like Peeta for myself.

And I've revisted this post I wrote at The First Novels Club about the myths and stories Suzanne Collins used to create The Hunger Games. You can check it out HERE if you like.

But this made me want to repost my predictions for Mockingjay. Here's the gist below.

Peeta vs Gale: I think Gale will win purely based on my study.

Will Katniss Live: I'm inclined to say no, but I think her "death" may come simply from being denied entrance to District 13. I'm almost positive that they will get to the borders of District 13 and then something like a trap or a kidnapping will cause the rebels or just Katniss to turn around. However, the difference in cover design, the live Mockingjay flying out into the blue background makes me think Katniss will survive, or....her spirit will...so no? I don't know. I'm biting my nails in anticipation.

All bets are off.

Anyway back to my Mockingjay Prep!

Next, I'm heading to Hot Topic to get myself one of these....

So I can wear it when I go to THIS! 

The Mockingjay Midnight Madness Party

at Books of Wonder in NY!

This is so epic because Suzanne Collins will be there! SQUEEE!

Reading from Mockingjay! SQUEEEE!

And I can get my copy at Midnight! SQUEEEE!

Mostly I'm excited to see Suzanne Collins again!

Aaaah! Epic picture with Suzanne and my writing buddy Courtney!

Don't you just wish EVERY book came with a midnight release party?

Oooh look! Trailer!

So that's how I've been preparing for the big day!

What about you guys? Are you prepping? What are your theories?

And most importantly...WHO is going to party with me at Books of Wonder?

Maggie Stiefvater Week at The FNC!

Hey Guys!

Sorry for the lack o' blogging this week, I've been spending most of my time over at the FNC for Maggie Stiefvater week! If you head over there today you can win either an arc or a finished copy of Linger....#1 on the New York Times Best Seller list! Wheee!

In other news, I'm reading Brenna Yovanoff's The Replacement and OMG this book is soooo captivating and engrossing and creepy! The first chapter alone gave me chills. I cannot stop reading.

BTW, the cover has this kind of sparkly, irridescent quality to it that you can't see in the picture. It's SO pretty in real life, I cannot wait to own a real copy.

Anyway, back to work on things. Let me know if you're reading anything awesome at the moment.

:-)

Friday Five (or more): Clueless Edition

1. So I really had fun posting my thoughts on why The Craft and Empire Records deserved to be made into a YA novel.

2. So much fun in fact I wanted to do one more.

3. But these posts are hard. Not just any movie will do.

4. They have to be special and they have to really deserve to be a YA Novel.

5. Because YA novels are awesome!

6. So I thought I'd choose Clueless.

7. But technically...it's already a YA Novel.

8. Well...sort of...

9. It's called Emma.

10. You know? By Jane Austen.

11. Yeah....

12. SO Clueless wouldn't work.

13. You know what else would be awesome?!?!?

14. 10 Things I Hate About You

15. Except that's already a novel too...

16. Ok, it's not a novel. It's a play.

17. By Shakespeare.

18. You know...The Taming of the Shrew.

19. But you know what's not a novel and not an adaptation of an old book or play?

20. Fear!

21. My vote for who would have written it? V.C. Andrews. Totally!

22. And that's my Friday Five.

23. Or more...

Damn the Man: Save the Empire!

Ok, so since I mentioned Empire Records yesterday in my talk about how awesome The Craft was and how it should be a YA novel, I felt like today, Empire Records deserved the same treatment--because come on...is there anything better than Rex Manning Day?

I think not!

So in honor of the greatest movie ever made about a bunch of kids who shave their heads and steal Whitney Houston CDs and gamble money in Atlantic City and try to lose their virginity to washed up pop stars that work in a record store....

Here's why Empire Records should be a YA novel!

Also...who would have written it? David Levithan? Perhaps...

Anyway here we go!

1) Rex Manning Day! Oh Rexy, you're so sexy! Seriously, people! Why is Rex Manning Day not like an official holiday recognized by the government? Does anyone even know when Rex Manning Day is? Can today be Rex Manning Day? Because I'd totally celebrate it! We could listen to Say No More, Mon Amour all. day. long. And eat cupcakes, and offer each other fresh fruit then try and guess what color underwear the person next to you is wearing. It'd be awesome! Anyway, just think of the possibilites of Rex Manning Day in a YA novel--instead of a few references to this most important holiday spread over an hour and a half of film, we could have over 300 pages of Rex Manning Day!

2) The Ensemble Cast! Roll Call:
Corey (the virginal Harvard bound closet speed freak who will never please daddy).

Gina (the slut who wishes she was a singer who fears she'll never get out of that town).

AJ (the artistic Romeo who glues quarters to the ground "I don't have to explain my art to you Warren").

Lucas (the yesterday you were normal, and today you're like the Chinese guy from the Karate Kid guy).

Warren (the shop lifting amateur who returns to the scene of the crime and steals rap, metal, rap, metal, and Whitney Houston).

Joe! (the manager who like adopted Lucas or something and plays the drums in the back and wins the store and the girl in the end all while hiding the fact that Lucas technically stole $9,000).

Deb (with her neo-natzi boot camp make-over, the boys will come a-running)

You get the idea! Basically, this YA novel would have the BEST cast ever!

3) Mark Sucks. Ok, not really. Mark is actually kind of awesome, and hilarious...Mark sucks is just the pin that Debra makes him. But seriously, how can you not like a guy whose name is Mark with a K and wants to start a band called Marc with a C! I mean seriously. Imagine the dialogue hilarity that would ensue. Like Rex Manning Day, I think we could all use a little more Mark in our lives.

4) Damn the Man, Save the Empire. I think pretty much everyone in the publishing and book industry can relate to this--Indies are desperately trying to stay afloat, and this is a story about teenagers standing up and saying no to the big corporations and WINNING! That alone makes this a YA novel of awesome!

5) What's with Today today? Don't we want to know, Lucas. Maybe the novel can answer that.

6) Corey and AJ! He loves her and has to tell her he loves her at 1:37 on the dot ("Thats an excellent time") and how... ("You say 'I love you'.") But she is planning to lose her virginity to Rex Manning and then realizes that EWWWW she was about to lose her virginity to Rex Manning and breaks AJ's heart at 1:37 on the dot only to realize at 1:38 on the dot that she loves AJ to but she didn't know it at first because it was more than love and not just some stupid feeling in her stomach like everything else...Le sigh. I heart this couple!

7) You get to dance around a record store and play whatever music you like! AND get paid. Dream job, anyone? Dream job? Happy Rex Manning Day!

8) Robberies, Gambling, Sex in the break Room and Guns Oh My! Seriously, there is more than enough drama and action in this movie to make everyone want to read it...I say...instant best seller!

9) Berko and Debra Yeah they have their problems, like her feeling horrible all the time and shaving her head after trying to kill herself, but...there was something so sweet about their connection and Berko is pretty much the most underrated character in the movie, but the expression on his face when he finds out Deb shaved her head and had a bandage on her wrist...this boy deserves some serious page time!

10) Dancing on the Roof! So not only do they get to have this big awesome party at the end to raise money to keep their Indie store alive and keep the big corporations away, at least from their store, but Gina gets to sing in a band, Berko gets more face time, Corey and AJ get together, Lucas remains Lucas, Mark remains Mark, and Joe buys the store all while getting to rock out and have the news cover it, but then they have a dance party on the roof.

I ask you...why do more novels not end with a roof top dance?

Yeah. Empire Records...is awesome!

Happy Rex Manning Day!

The Craft as a YA Novel

I don't know what it is, but something about hearing The Pierces "Secret" every week on Pretty Little Liars starts dragging up memories of watching The Craft!

"Made of awesome"

You know that totally awesomesauce miracle of the 90's with Robin Tunney--with hair!--because you know, she shaved it all off in Empire Records (for the record, another awesomesauce miracle of the 90's).  And also Neve Campbell was in it, who I hearted so badly because of Party of Five, even though I can now see that it is Neve who is Kristin Stewart's acting role model--obviously, because they both like to act by taking breathes...all kinds of breathes, like deep breathes, and catching their breath, and little hitches of breath and saying half words...anyway, back to my point.

So...I was just thinking...how cool would it be if The Craft had been a novel?

Based on the time period it came out and the subject matter, etc...I'm going to go out on a limb here and say L.J. Smith would have written it. Probably. Or not...

Anyway here's why it would have made an AWESOME novel.

1) New girl in town! Come on, everybody loves the new girl, I know we're a little sick of her at times, but...chances are if you fly into the movie book on a plane--we're going to love you.

2) New girl in town who gets mixed up with monsters! BUT unlike the majority of our new girls who find themselves suddenly dating a vampire/werewolf/angel/fairy/shape shifter/merman? Sarah gets mixed up with a bunch of witches---her new friends! LOVE IT.

3) Cool creepy witch lady who owns the New Age store. Lyria I think her name was---so cool. I'd love to see a character like her in a novel.

4) In this story of magic, sex, and death, there are real consquences! You get what you put out there times three, hurt someone and it will hurt you, and if you hurt someone....you REALLY hurt someone---it's not just for show.

5) Case in point--Chris (who was Neve Campbell's boyfriend in Scream and a total psycho in there except for when he was being kinda cute). Chris was the hot guy who flirted Sarah and took her out when no one else was nice to her...and then told the whole school they had slept together (badly) when in fact they had merely kissed. Sarah kind of got the best revenge ever--I mean, how many times in high school did you wish you could just put that one guy under a love spell? Well, Sarah did! Win! But then she realized, she didn't really love him. Fail! Also...the spell made him kind of a rapist. Also...it left him dead. Yikes...

6) Sarah is the most powerful witch of all! That's right...hidden in the final scenes of the movie in a way where it's so not cheesy (its not!) Sarah realizes that her dead mom (because you got to have a dead mom) was a witch, an uber powerful one and now Sarah has the power. The power to stop...

7) Nancy! Oh man, the epitome of keep your friends close and your enemies closer--she was a frenemy before frenemies were invented (or...ok before I discovered them and mind you, I watched this movie when I was like 10, or 12...one of those). So many books focus on the romantic relationships of characters---here we got to focus on friendship...and enemies.

8) Nancy was crazy!!!!!!!! I'd LOVE to read some of the dialogue she'd have in the fake YA novel version of The Craft.

9) The Magic--whoops I almost forgot that, but when the girls spells start working...it's SO fun! And then they have sleepover parties and watch reruns of Bewitched--aside from the whole turning into psycho killers who make you think your family died in a plane crash as a practical joke (LOL...wait...WHAT?) they were pretty sweet friends.

10) Ummmm...The Craft just has that quality about it that made me love it--it was funny, and scary and dramatic. I may have seen it more times than I'd like to admit to...also I cannot be held responsible for the kitchen knife I spray painted to look a little more witch-like when I convinced my friends to call the corners. Sorry mom.

So yeah....those are my thoughts of the day.

Guest Post on Querying

Hey Guys,

So today I'm over at the Write-Brained Blog run by the ever fabulous and fashionable Christina Lee. Head over to read my battle plan for querying and how to win the query wars.

Linger and Book Mark Winners!

Thank you so much to everyone who entered my contest for a signed copy of LINGER! WOOT! Randomizer has spoken and the winner is...

HAYLEY!

Yay!!!! Do a little dance!!

Hayley, check your email for a message from me.

WOOHOO!

Also...I promised to give away 3 Maria Snyder bookmarks featuring cover art for Inside, Out and Outside, In for telling me something random. And the winners of the bookmarks are...

1. Laura Marcella

2. Carolina Valdez Miller

3. Jonathon Arntson

WOOOT!!!

Ok guys, thanks again!!

Playlists For Books

So here's my writing update, I'm still working through the plotting of book 2. It's going well, but a little slow, mostly because of my summer job. I have a lot of the movement of the first few chapters down which kind of makes me want to giggle with excitement when I read the summaries.

I have probably like 90% of the big scenes together, but I'm still missing a few key pieces that I think will tie everything together. Luckily, tomorrow there's a First Novels Club meeting so I'll have my sound board to figure out problems and decide what needs to be added or moved around.

But...I'm at the point where I'm ready to start putting together my playlist!!!! SQUEEEE!

I'm OBSESSED with playlists and book soundtracks. And I will obsessively seek out music and revise and play with the order of songs and tweak for forever.

But I write in silence.

I know...

See, for me the playlist is something I listen to when I'm not writing to get me in the headspace of my book and take me through the scenes and action constantly so that when I'm working on events happening on page 350--the mood, tone and events of what occured on page 10 are still fresh in my head. For me the playlist ties everything together.

And then it becomes really awesome to listen to when I revise--yep, I write in silence and revise with music.

This might totally change, but this is the song I plan to use for track 1 of book 2's playlist.



Don't you just LOVE that version?

Anyway if you're interested I have STOLEN's playlist at the bottom of the blog.

What about you guys? Do you playlist? And am I the only wierdo who makes playlists but can't listen to them while actually writing?


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
P.S. Two days left to enter my SIGNED LINGER Contest (rumor has it your book won't just be signed, but doodled in by Maggie)

Signed LINGER Giveaway!!!!

In honor of July and LINGER's upcoming release and...because I felt like it, I'm giving away a SIGNED copy of LINGER!

YAY!

The contest is simple! Simply comment below with who you'd cast to be Grace and Sam in the movie version of SHIVER (which I so hope I get to see in the near future!).

And if you're not already one of the Cool People aka a follower, then head on over to the sidebar and click that follow button.

Did you do it?

Awesome!

Ok, now...go cast Grace and Sam!

Want more votes? Bring a friend over to my blog and make sure they tell me you sent them and I'll give you an extra vote! For every friend you send, your name gets entered again. AND if your referral makes a referral than you get more chances from that too because I grandfather in the votes (its a labor of love). So please get creative and tweet, blog, facebook, beg, bribe...ummm just figure out a way to get more friends over here so you have more chances to win, ok? :-)

And here is the demonstration in case what I just said makes no sense.

So Harry Potter reads my blog. "It's great for some late night reading, especially when your camping out in the middle of nowhere and there are death eaters on your trail and you just need a good laugh." Harry really really wants to read LINGER and own a copy signed by Maggie Stiefvater. "Hey, one of my dad's best friends was a werewolf." And so he enters my contest by commenting below:

"For Sam, I would cast this actor...he's British and he has dark brown hair, plays a...I think he plays a wizard in these movies that...well I can't really remember the name, but he's been in 6 of them and the 7th is about to come out in two parts and then he's going to be out of work so I think he'd make a great Sam. His initials are something like...D...R... And for Grace, oh there is this actress in the movie too who would be perfect...her name is like...Emma....Emma Whats-her-name."

Riiiiiight.

Anyway 1 point is awarded to Dan Radcliffe Harry Potter.

But 1 point is not enough for Harry. He REALLY wants to read own LINGER signed! So to get more points, he goes to see Hermione.

Harry: Hermione, can you do me a favor?

Hermione: What is it, Harry? Need me to brew some polyjuice potion? Are we breaking and entering into Gringotts? Did you run out of quills to do your homework with?

Harry: No, I....

Hermione: Do you need relationship advice about you and Ginny? Or you need to borrow a few galleons for a butterbeer?

Harry: Hermione, no-I just--

Hermione: You've finally decided to join S.P.E.W.! I knew you'd come around, let me see if I have an extra button...

Harry: HERMIONE!! I just wanted you to follow Frankie's blog and sign up for her contest to win a signed copy of LINGER.

Hermione: Oh, I love Frankie's blog! Harry, why didn't you just say so?

Harry:...

And so 1 point is awarded to Hermione and 2 points go to Harry!

But now Hermione wants more points. "I didn't receive a 174% on my runes final for nothing. I should have the most points." So she goes to Ron.

Hermione: Ron, listen you need to go sign up to follow Frankie's Blog and then enter her LINGER contest.

Ron: What's a blog? Is it like a snog?

Hermione: *blushes* No, it's an online journal of sorts that muggles write. You can read them for fun.

Ron: Aw, Hermione! More reading? What are you trying to do to me, woman?

Hermione: Don't call me woman and this blog is different, its really fun to read--even you'll enjoy it.

Ron: If I follow Frankie's blog can we snog in the room of requirments later?

Hermione: RONALD!

Ron: Ok fine...oh hey! Frankie's blog IS awesome. Ok, I'm totally following now.

Hermione: Yay!

Ron: Now can we snog?

So 1 point goes to Ron, 2 to Hermione and 3 to Harry. Get it?

Old Followers get their points multiplied times 2! And I'll throw in 15 extra points if you write a whole blog post about this.

Cool?

Contest ends Sunday, July 11 at 11:59PM.  (Open Internationally)

Friday Five (Or More): Random Edition

1. I came up with an appropriate blog title for my Friday Five.

2. Because I am notoriously bad at counting to five.

3. But the alliteration is so nice.

4. The Friday Fifty could have worked too.

5. But I don't think anyone would read that.

6. Fifty is a lot.

7. You probably knew that already

8. Moving on...

9. I have bookmarks!

10. 3 in fact

11. From Maria V. Snyder, on one side is INSIDE OUT, the other, a sneak peak at the cover from OUTSIDE IN

12. These bookmarks can be yours

13. If you tell me something totally random about your week in the comments.

14. Shall I add one more thing to get us to 15?

15. Sure, why not:-)