The Beauty of Fiction: A Response to Criticism.

Remember when I talked about peaches and criticism?

Well, I saw my first negative review.  And since I'm writing this post, I think we can all agree that I'm not quite as far along with the whole being okay with negative feedback as I would like to be.  But, the reason this person hated my book was because it wasn't realistic enough.

And you know what?  I'm not upset about that.

Fiction is beautiful because it allows you to escape to a place where everything isn't exactly as it is in your current life.  When you read a fiction book, you're able to escape from where you are without ever leaving your couch.  And that's pretty spectacular.

Reality has a place in fiction, absolutely.  But the precise amount of reality that belongs in any given story?  I don't think that amount exists.  And truthfully, I don't think I want it to exist.

I love getting lost in a story.  And more times than not, it's a fiction book that I get lost in.  Okay, all the time.  I'm not educational enough to get lost in reading non-fiction.  And do you know why it's easy to get lost in reading fiction?  Because you know it's not true.  And somehow, by knowing that, you give yourself permission to get lost in it, and maybe even believe in it.

The book that I wrote may not be is not one-hundred percent realistic.  And I like it that way.  That is why I love fiction, and that is why I wrote fiction.

While I was writing my novel, I had the chance to speak to an accomplished novelist that I really admired.  I asked her what her biggest advice for writing a book was, and she responded, "Read.  A lot.  And then write something that you would want to read."  Such simple advice, but it struck me as genius.  I love reading fiction, I love reading YA fiction, and I love reading YA fiction that I can get lost in without it being so realistic that I stop and fact-check the story.  So that's what I wrote.

Sure, I could write a story about a girl who drools on her pillow and who wakes up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom because she drank too much water before bed.  I could include every time she washes her clothes or changes the sheets.  I could write about a girl who doesn't go to dinner with a guy she just met, because that's not very realistic.  Yeah, I could write a book like that.

But it wouldn't be a book I would want to read.

With contemporary YA fiction, I think there's a line between reality and the magical mystery of fate that you need to land just a little on either side of.  It's different for every book, but I'm proud of how I landed on that line.  I'm proud of the balance of my story.

Because it's one I would want to read.

Do you read fiction?  Do you prefer it to be more realistic or more fictitious? 

Happy to be Alive: Books, Headbands, and Peaches.

1.  Tomorrow is moving day!  While this means that today will be crazy, I'm so looking forward to waking up in our new home on Sunday.

2.  I mailed out 58 of my books to reviewers this week!  The blog tour for my book is starting in two weeks...this means that 58 book bloggers I have never met will read and post about my book.  This is both insanely terrifying and thrilling, and I'm so excited to see what they think!

3. I made these headbands for my shop and asked Chris to take pictures of me so I could list them.  He was actually really good at it and I got to laugh a lot while listening to someone say I was pretty.  Hello, win-win.

4.  I'm working really hard on being okay with the fact that not everyone is going to like me.  This has a lot to do with the fact that I just sent 58 copies of my book to strangers.  To them, it will be 304 pages of words.  To me, it is 304 pages of three years filled with dreams and emotions and time and tears.  I'm working on being okay with the realization that there are going to be people who just don't like my book.  I was looking on pinterest (because duh, where else else do you turn when you're trying to learn a big life lesson?) and saw a quote I've heard so many times:

I'm pretty sure it's going to be a lifelong journey, but I'm going to try to remember this every are of my life.  Way easier said than done.

5.  Let us end on a wonderful note...it's a three-day weekend.  I wish you immense amounts of pool time with way too much sunshine and guacamole.

Why are you happy to be alive this week?

w h i l e   y o u ' r e   h e r e :

Because I want to remember every single second.

Blogging is cool for a whole lot of reasons, but one of my favorite reasons is that it's pretty much an online journal that catalogs weeks and months and years.  If you have a blog, you'll be able to look back at it years later and see how your interests changed, how your dreams changed, how you changed.

Chances are, if something is big or important to you, you blog about it.  And I just really like the idea of one day being able to type in an address and see the past years of my life--pictures, emotions, gifs, and all.

This week, I have been overwhelmed by the fact that people are actually reading my book.  That's crazy to me! I mean, obviously that was the goal, but it's one thing to hope and pray and cross your fingers that something is going to happen, and a completely different thing to see something actually happen.

So here are a few texts and tweets from this week that made me stop what I was doing and just soak in the fact that this is real life.  

w h i l e   y o u ' r e   h e r e :

Because this has been the craziest week of my life.

via

As of today, my book has been out for a week.

My mom was at my house when my author copy came in the mail, and it was the most surreal feeling to see her flip it open to random page, because the first thing that came to my mind was, "Oh, I wrote that by the pool last year."  These are my words that I wrote down over the past few years of my life, and now anyone can buy them and hold them and put them on a shelf.

Words truly cannot express how that feels, so instead of trying--and failing--I thought we could talk about how I will forever be indebted to you if you feel inclined to support my book through any of the following ways.

R A T I N G S.  Did you buy my book?  First of all, THANK YOU.  I owe you a cupcake.  Second of all, it would be awesome if you could leave a rating on whatever site you bought it.  See those little stars next to my book?  They're just waiting on you to click on them.  Unless you hated it.  Just kidding.  But not really. 

S O C I A L.  Are we friends on twitter and instagram?  We should be.  Use #happytobealive2014 to talk about my book!  Take a picture of it, tweet a quote from it, or just say hello!  I think it's going to be super cool to be able to search that hashtag and see my book's journey.

G O O D R E A D S.  Do you have a Goodreads account?  Add my book to your to-read shelf!  And if you've read it, leave me a review on there!

R E V I E W S.  Do you talk about books on your blog?  Because that would be awesome.  Email me and we can talk about getting a book in your hands!

It's a wild and crazy and scary time.  But I'm following my dreams, and that's worth more than I know how to put into words.

Have you ever jumped all in and followed a dream of yours?

This is Real Life: A Book Update

It's late at night and I know there's no way I'm going to be able sleep because I'm so excited to share all of this with everyone. 

In case you're new around here: I wrote a book.  I've been so nervous that something was going to go wrong or fall behind schedule, so I've been afraid to post updates because I hate publicly saying something and then having to follow up with, "Oh wait, that's actually not happening."  Again with the need to be brave.  Geez. I will get there!

However, it appears that everything is on schedule, so here goes nothing everything.

BOOK COVER

First of all, let's just talk about the fact that MY NAME is on the cover of a book...because I wrote said book.  Dream.  Come.  True.

WHAT'S IT ABOUT?


This is the description on the back of the book.  Look at you, getting a sneak peek and stuff. 

Avery is a seventeen-year-old girl whose reality has just been shattered by the death of her mother. Feeling a desperate need to flee from what has become her life, she follows a travel plan meant for her mom and her that leads her to the little beach town where her mom grew up. It's there that she meets a group of three adventurous friends who adopt her into their circle, allowing her to experience a summer she never thought would be possible after suffering such a great loss. Unfortunately, her summer full of experiences threatens to end abruptly when she realizes that one of the three has a secret that causes her to question everything about the new life she has been building.

Avery must learn to balance her grief and her desire for a future in order to achieve her mother's final wish for her: That she would be happy to be alive.

WHEN DOES IT COME OUT?

April 14th, 2014. 

Also known as my twenty-second birthday. 

Also know as nineteen days from today. 

This is real life. 

I have about a billion and seven more things to say, but I'll end this before it gets way too long.  Be warned, though.  A billion and seven book-related blog posts coming your way. 

You can also find me here:

A happy pup, exciting news, and warm weather.

This week was a real peach, so I am especially happy that Friday has once again shown up with a cup of coffee and a day off. 

1.  This guy is feeling so much better.  If you've ever had a dog, you understand how terrible last week was.  And you also understand that him feeling better means that by default, I feel better.  Celebration coffees all around!

2.  The cover for my book is finished!  It is so incredibly perfect and I've pretty much been crying over it since I saw it.  On that note, next week will include a book cover reveal and a book update--I am so excited to share it with you!  Any questions or suggestions for this post?

3.  Warm weather.  Also known as:  pool, pool, pool. 

Happy Friday, beautiful people! 

What are you thankful for this week?

You can also find me here:

Do something amazing today.

Happy Monday!

How is it already the last Monday of February?  Anyone?

It's no secret that I love making headbands, but these are definitely my favorite things I've ever made.  I've worn one of them pretty much every day for the past two weeks because I love silver, I love gold, and I love not having to wash my hair every day fix my hair.

buy it HERE

I am oh so close to having everything with my book paid for, and I'm trying to wrap things up by selling 80 headbands.  The fact that I have gone from three-hundred and ten to eighty is amazing, and I am so thankful!

Buy it HERE

Buy it HERE

Thank you for reading my blog, for being supportive and buying from my shop, and for giving me a place to chase after my dreams.  If you are reading this, you are incredible and I am so thankful for you!

You can use the code BLOGFRIENDS for 20% off, just because.

Happiest of Mondays to you!  Do something amazing today.

Check out this month's featured sponsor:

Thankful Fridays: 2014 edition.

Thankful Fridays was one of my favorite parts about blogging last year.  I decided it was time to throw it back into the mix this year.  I highly recommend you join me, even if you don't blog about it.  Forcing yourself to find things you're thankful for or things that made you happy in your week, even if they're silly things, can really change your attitude.

1.  Pitch Perfect 2 is coming out.

If this is your first time hearing this, just go back to bed now.  Your day isn't going to get any better than this.

2.  Encouraging comments, emails & tweets.

Because having a ton of people who would be strangers to me if it were not for the internet telling me they're excited for me is such a weird, incredible gift.

3.  TFIOS trailer.

Be right back while I go cry for approximately 37 days while I remember how good this book was.  Also, that has over 6 MILLION views and only came out about two days ago.  Please, try to tell me that this generation doesn't like to read.

4.  Authors.

More specifically, authors who have the ability to string words together in a way that just makes you feel.  I'm looking at you, John Green.

5.  Gold paint pens.

Because yes.

P.S. Book update:  I'm halfway there!  I only need to sell 155 more things to meet my goal.  You guys are amazing. 

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