This post should be a Waiting on Wednesday feature, but alas I have no time to do the link up today! Why, you may ask? Because at this moment, I am on a plane on my way to Greensburg, PA, for a very special event.
You may trust everything I say about this event, because I went last year. Basically, it in a nutshell is this: Me and a bunch of other young writers (ages 14-19) are going to spend 10 days writing, critiquing and listening to fantastic authors lecture. We will also be having an INSANE amount of fun at all times. Literally, AT ALL TIMES. (Sleep doesn’t happen at Alpha, not really.)
But now you’re wondering, “Well, why do I care?”
If you follow me on the blog … you probably don’t. I mean, the blog will continue its regular, jam-packed posting schedule without interruption. I’ve still got tons of giveaways, reviews and more coming right at you. No rest for the wicked or the grossly over scheduled, they say!
But if you follow me on Twitter, it could mean everything.
I will be live tweeting my favorite pieces of advice or author tidbits from each lecture. So this either means this is the time to unfollow me on Twitter for a little bit (please don’t) or follow me on Twitter RIGHT NOW (please do!). These are the authors I’ll be live tweeting from:
Tamora Pierce
Tamora Pierce was drawn to books from a young age. Raised in rural Pennsylvania, the child of a “long, proud line of hillbillies,” her family never had much. “We were poor, but I didn’t know it then. We had a garden where my folks grew fruit and vegetables and our water came from a well,” she explains. But one thing they did have was plenty of books. So Tamora read.
A self-proclaimed “geek,” she devoured fantasy and science fiction novels, and by the age of 12 was mimicking her literary idols and writing her own action-packed stories. It was thanks to her father that Tamora began writing. “He heard me telling myself stories as I did dishes, and he suggested that I try to write some of them down,” Pierce says.
But Tamora’s novels had one major difference: unlike the books she was reading, her stories featured teenaged girl warriors. “I couldn’t understand this lapse of attention on the part of the writers I loved, so until I could talk them into correcting this small problem, I wrote about those girls, the fearless, bold, athletic creatures that I was not, but wanted so badly to be.”
Seventeen years later, after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, a brief career in teen social work and some time spent writing for radio, Tamora Pierce held true to her childhood crusade, and published Alanna: The First Adventure, the first in a quartet about a valiant, young, female warrior. Pierce’s heroine struck a chord with readers across the country and quickly earned her a loyal following.
Pierce is now a #1 New York Times bestselling author and has written twenty-five books, including her newest, BEKA COOPER #2: Bloodhound. “It’s a pretty good life, if I do say so myself. Struggling along as a kid and even through my twenties, it’s the kind of life I dreamed of but never believed I would get. Yet here I am, after a lot of work, a lot of worry, a lot of care for details, and a massive chunk of luck, the kind that brought me such strong friends and readers. Pretty good for a hillbilly, yes? And I never take it for granted,” she says.
Pierce lives in upstate New York with her husband Tim and their three cats and two birds.
Kij Johnson
Kij Johnson (born January 1960 in Iowa) is an American writer of fantasy. She has worked extensively in publishing: managing editor for Tor Books and Wizards of the Coast/TSR, collections editor for Dark Horse Comics, and content manager working on the Microsoft Reader. In her time at Wizards of the Coast/TSR, she was also continuity manager for Magic: The Gathering and creative director for AD&D settings Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms. She is an associate director for the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas, and serves as a final judge for the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. Johnson is the author of three novels and more than 30 short works of fiction. She is best known for her adaptations of Heian-era Japanese myths.
John Joseph Adams
John Joseph Adams (www.johnjosephadams.com)—called “the reigning king of the anthology world” by Barnes & Noble.com—is the bestselling editor of many anthologies, such as Under the Moons of Mars: New Adventures on Barsoom, Brave New Worlds, Wastelands, The Living Dead, The Living Dead 2, By Blood We Live, Federations, The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, andThe Way of the Wizard. He is a four-time finalist for the Hugo Award and a three-time finalist for the World Fantasy Award. He is also the editor and publisher of Lightspeed Magazine, and is the co-host of Wired.com’s The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast.
Catherynne M. Valente
Catherynne M. Valente is the New York Times bestselling author of over a dozen works of fiction and poetry, including Palimpsest, the Orphan’s Tales series, Deathless, and the crowdfunded phenomenon The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Own Making. She is the winner of the Andre Norton Award, the Tiptree Award, the Mythopoeic Award, the Rhysling Award, and the Million Writers Award. She has been nominated for the Hugo, Locus, and Spectrum Awards, the Pushcart Prize, and was a finalist for the World Fantasy Award in 2007 and 2009. She lives on an island off the coast of Maine with her partner, two dogs, and enormous cat.
What you do now is up to you! Just know these few important announcements and all will be good. Also know that I’m thinking of having a huge giveaway during my wrap up post. If you guys think it’s a good idea. Anybody want signed books from these guys? Anybody? ^_^
My Life is a Notebook 