Sophia The Writer

It's Those 11 Questions

2012-02-27T00:00:00.000-08:00

I'm the last blogger on earth to get this meme. Tagged by Nutschell (and accidentally tagged by Julie Dao when I commented on her blog, so I sprinkled some of her questions in.)

1) What’s your ultimate caffeine source?

Boba!!! 4 Life

Which I can only drink before 7 p.m. Caffeine messes me up. One day I would love to own a caffeine-free boba shop. I know, I know, no one but me would drink it.

2) If you were stranded on an island, what book would you like to have with you?

One of Maria V. Snyder's, or one of George R. R. Martin's since it'll last me a long time.

3) Favorite music source? (Radio, Pandora, Spotify, CD, Ipod, etc)

Pandora and Spotify these days, though I used to get most of my new music from KCRW, our local public radio station

4) You have the winning $50 million lottery ticket. What do you buy first?

A house not in the ghetto.

(Maybe this pimp mansion that just got built next to Krispy's house. Alz and I visited the Open House today and spied on Krispy and her sister in their backyard. With their permission.)

5) Favorite day of the week?

Tuesday or Sunday (coincidentally those are the days local movie tickets are $6)

6) Favorite TV show?

Sister Wives

do NOT judge me

7) Movie you’re planning to watch on the big screen?

Safe House
Denzel AND Ryan - the manly one

photo of hottest man on earth from Lani's site

8) Actor/Actress you’d most like to meet?

Since Dante Basco and I didn't pan out...it's time to introduce myself to one of my future husbands, Keanu Reeves or Christian Slater.

I would also say Jason Momoa or Joe Manganiello, but I can't breathe when I see those two men, even with shirts on. In fact I'm having a hard time finishing this blog post with this photo ...of...humina humina....

9) Author you’d love to have lunch with?

Maria V. Snyder

10) What Disney character are you most like?

Is there any writer/book lover who doesn't answer Belle?

11) Harry Potter or Twilight?

This question is so uncool. I'm a crazy dress-up and reenact scenes fan for both.

But of course I'd say Twilight. I'm an admin of the Los Angeles Twilight Lovers Group after all.

I've said too much.

A Day in the Life Series: Angela Brown

2012-02-21T14:41:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the premiere of A Day in the Life Series!

Facebook forcing you into a fugue state with amazing vacation photos? Social network sending you into yearlong Seasonal Affect Disorder with everyone's cooler clothes and cooler lives?

It does me! When I first started blogging, I couldn't understand why everyone was always talking about how perfectly matched their husbands are, how charming their children, how gorgeous the vista they write in front of.

I must have signed on the wrong line.

I started this series because I'm deathly curious how people actually spend their days, when they're not raving about their perfect families and picking strawberries on the coast. I hope it helps you feel "normal" too, and I hope you'll be next!

A Day in the Life of an Aspiring Writer

by Angela L. Brown

There’s this cute little thought that writers are starving artists living off meager wages, just getting by or they are able to sit around all day seeking the muse and drinking lattes. Well, I’m a single mom so the starving artist gig is an option I say “No” to, not when I’d have a starving kiddo as well. So, as an aspiring writer with a full time gig, I have a bit of a hectic schedule. But getting things in balance is worth it for me as I pursue my dream of publication. So join me on a Tuesday:

6:11 am – The alarm blares. Grunting, I free myself from my blankets and slap the Snooze. Then I remember why I have it set at that time. So I turn it off, roll – seriously, I am NOT a morning person – out of bed and commence the “Time to get up, Danielle” nag that has to go on for a bit because my daughter is even LESS of a morning person than me. After some time of nagging and “But I’m sleepy, mom” repeated more times than I care to count, the chipmunk finally gets up.

6:30 am – by now, I’ve gotten to the kitchen and am preparing breakfast and putting her lunch together. She finally trudges in, thankfully dressed, to eat then I hop on the laptop to check on a few e-mails I’ve gotten, mostly blog posts that have been sent.

6:55 am – chipmunk has eaten and freshened up and it’s hair time. If she were a boy, I could brush it in two minutes flat, but she’s a girl and it requires a bit more.

7:30 am – make sure kiddo and her best bud are dropped off at their school then back home to steal a ten minute nap before I’m up again, doing my morning stretch and getting ready for work (the morning stretch is new. I eventually want to incorporate actual exercise into this busy-ness somewhere).

This is what I wish I could do instead of heading off to work:

BUT…

9:00 am to 6 pm – I’m at the paying gig with coworkers surrounded by non-inspiring Hayworth, a guppy twisting my tail in a sea of gray

Yeah, that is what I get to stare at all day. Yippee! Not. I usually take my lunch during my first fifteen minute break while reading blog posts then do more blog reading at lunch and normally get too busy to take my last break of the day. Thankfully, I have some chipper coworkers who help me with that waking-all-the-way-up process like Christie Dolley J

6:20 pm – pick up my chipmunk from her friend’s house then speed home to fix something uber-fast for her to eat.

7:15 pm – her basketball practice

8:30 pm – make sure to review her take home folder and review any teacher’s notes, follow up on homework and reading assignments the chipmunk has while she does her nightly duties.

9:00 – if we’re lucky, which isn’t always the case, we say our evening prayer and tuck chipmunk in for sleep. Then I’m on the computer to do more blog reads, blog prep for my posts and some writing. If I finish my blog and writing stuff before 1 am, I grab a book or pull up a book in my kindle app for PC library and read a few pages.

Somewhere between 1 am and 2 am - When I start seeing double, I finally go to bed.

***
Thank you so much Angela for being my brave first profile and sharing your day with us. I'm so impressed by how much you get done and I really want to gift you with a nap.

Will you share your day with us? To be profiled on this series, click the email button in the right sidebar and let me know!

Origins Blogfest: The Real Sam Slinsky Story

2012-02-13T17:00:00.000-08:00

Hosted by DL Hammons, Katie Mills, Alex J. Cavanaugh and Matthew MacNish

Most things in my life trace back to being incredibly unpopular.

I was the only Chinese kid among the white musical theater kids, so I was relegated to "the funny sidekick" role no matter how good my auditions were. Good training for Hollywood.

I was the only one among the Chinese kids who dyed my hair, had boyfriends, and did musical theater. (Now they ALL dye their hair. Biters.)

My typical day at school consisted of fending off taunts by ugly cheerleaders and thick-necked jocks. It was THAT cliche.

So at night when I wrote in bed, I didn't write about kids with problems. I had enough of them in real life. I wrote about Sam Slinsky.

My happy life makes me smile!

Samantha Slinsky is the daughter of an Austrian bodybuilder and a Czech-Chinese prima ballerina. Her sister is a super-waif made famous by a silhouetted kiss portrait taken with and by her photographer boyfriend.

Sam's story begins on the day of the Academy Awards, which her dad is up for in Super Awesome Action Hero category. When she opens her locker at school, paper Oscars flutter out, planted by her extraordinarily hot, tall and thin HAPA boyfriend.

The requisite mean girl walks by, livid with envy, but her snark is cut short by Sam's biting and loyal best friend. That's right. Sam doesn't have to fight her own battles. She's THAT popular.

Her day goes on in this fashion, with public admiration humbly demurred. Because Sam can afford to be humble and abashed, what with her mansion and millions and famous parents. No wonder people like her. She didn't have to be sarcastic and angry like me.

And wait 'til you meet her parents. They're gorgeous and in shape and better yet, they love her. Without her having to get all A's. (Notice they're only 1/4 Chinese.)

This was the kind of story I liked to tell at that time. The more stressful my own life was, the more perfect Sam's.

The thing is, it's not that I didn't want to be Sophia. Sophia was just as cool as Sam. The difference was, nobody knew it. I wanted Sam's fame and popularity and public recognition.

Well, you know how my story turned out.

I took myself to Hollywood.

Sophia Chang is the daughter of Chinese-Taiwan immigrants: a computer guy who hated his job and a wacky Tiger mom, who pushed their kid to make it, on her own.

It's not a bad story.

People of Color Reading Challenge 2012

2012-02-09T00:20:00.000-08:00

When I'm not campaigning against word verification, I'm cyberbullying bloggers into resuming my beloved People of Color Reading Challenge. This is the only one I've found that has a blogger of color on their team and I hope you'll sign up to support writers and main characters of color!

Level 3. Read 7-9 POC books

The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani

Blogging Booboos Revisited and Great Comments Award

2012-02-05T17:23:00.000-08:00

Remember Top 3 Things Well-Meaning Bloggers Do That Drive Readers Nuts?

The faux pas that especially struck a chord with readers was #1: word verification.

After that post I became a one-woman rally. If you have a word verified blog, I begged you to eradicate hoop-jumping. Along with Jon Yang, I also got a blogger to turn on full RSS feed for wordpress (faux pas #3).

Unfortunately only 2 bloggers responded to my word verification pleas. (Or maybe the other bloggers responded in their own comments - #2). Don't worry, I've given up annoying the blogosphere with my crusade.

DISQUS
For my one-year blogaversary Jon installed Disqus for me, which I thought would help me respond to comments better. I sometimes regret this change - the old way was fine and actually made it easier to comment back on people's blogs. Not everyone is registered with Disqus so I don't have a link to their blogs.

Also, when readers use the mobile site, their comments only show up with Blogger, but not on the post.

Will you let me know what you think of using Disqus versus Blogger's original platform? I might switch back.

AWARD
Now I want to appreciate the flip side - great commenters. When I comment I do put time and thought into responding, so it touched me when Tasha Seegmiller presented me with the

It's an unfair award because I'm bound to forget somebody and sometimes fantastic commenters get busy with life. But I want to recognize:

Coleen Patrick
Mrs. Pancakes
Krispy from A Nudge
Angela Brown
Samantha Sotto
Meradeth Houston
TL Conway
Margo Berendson
Julie Dao
Tere Kirkland
Stephanie
Theresa Milstein

Thank you for all your support!!

Ask The Soap Expert! Amy Warden from Great Cakes Soapworks

2012-01-30T00:03:00.000-08:00

We have an expert in the house!

Please welcome Amy Warden, owner of Great Cakes Soapworks in Kansas. Amy handmakes her soaps using a cold process and delicious ingredients (like olive oil and goat's milk).

I found Great Cakes while researching for my novel and on top of answering my questions, Amy was kind enough to send me some samples. I was so blown away by them I had to have her on the blog. She's here every day this week to answer any questions you have about making soap - face, body, even laundry detergent. Amy also makes lotion and lip balm, so don't be shy.

All of the following reviews are completely unsolicited.

Lavender Meadows Goat Milk Soap

My formerly nice Asian skin has been acting like a psychotic teenager lately to my intense embarrassment. I've used this soap twice and already my face is smoother and not screaming at me anymore. The scent is light and calming and, like all Amy's soaps, washes off with no residue. Fans of Lush are going to love this soap.

Whipped Shea Butter - Hazelnut Vanilla flavor
I'm a compulsive hand-washer who lives in a semi-arid climate and I keep my tiny tub of this on the mail table to dab on before I leave the house every day (just a little bit works). Today my ashy legs (yes Asians can get ashy) itched like crazy until I dabbed them too. It's stayed on all day. My boyfriend likes the smell way more than the national hippie brand I was using from the drugstore.

Handmade Lip Butter - Orange Creamsicle flavor
My favorite part about Amy's products is how clean they feel and smell. With the low number of ingredients that I can actually identify, I like feeling "natural". I'm a handmade junkie now.

Great Cakes will debut the Valentine's Day line on January 31st - only 11 soaps in each batch so get 'em early. You can get 10% off all orders for life with the Preferred Customer Signup.

Blog

Facebook

Twitter

Leave any and all soap questions in the comments - Amy will come by everyday to answer them. (Make sure you're registered with Disqus or at least signed up to receive replies.) If this goes well, I might start an Ask the Expert series!

Aria Dragons and Air Force One

2012-01-26T15:38:00.000-08:00

It's Chinese New Year and you know what that means:

the best part of the family Chinese New Year dinner

What, not money?

I tagged along on a last-minute trip to Vegas (aren't they all) where every casino was decked out in dragon red in the hopes of seeing more Chinese green.

Look at those coins. See, about the money.

dragon dance at the Aria hotel

at Crystals in City Center

Dragon year is going to be amazing - as writers y'all better harness this energy.

To make investment bankers jealous of how we roll. Duh. Why else did you take this lucrative job as a YA author?

To inspire you, here's a video of the reason my return flight was delayed: Air Force One bringing the President to Vegas. Our video doesn't capture the massive size of this plane - seriously the biggest one I've ever seen IN REAL LIFE, including the double decker jumbo jet I took to Taiwan back in the good old, um I won't say what decade.

Trust, POTUS is pimp.

Rebel Writer's Pledge 2012

2012-01-23T04:07:00.000-08:00

Hosted by SA Larsen

No more guilt - I'm Tiger Mom approved!
No more playing it safe - tell the story I want to tell, even (especially) if people go "Ew!"
Trust your instincts - know what advice to discard
and for gawd sake No More Clutter - throw it away!

Need more inspiration? The button will take you to the list of blogs in this hop.

You raging to do anything in 2012?

Say No to SOPA

2012-01-18T03:21:00.000-08:00

Beloved Wikipedia joins several major sites in going black today (nooo not while I'm writing!) to protest two ~~ass-backward stupid~~ censorship bills going to Congress next week.

I'm in the middle of celebrating my One Year Blogaversary, which I wouldn't be able to do without all of you: the friends I've met through blogging and the internet.

No way am I going to give up the community I've found because of ineffective, illogical and misguided censorship.

If you love the first amendment like I do, learn more or write to Congress through these links:

American Censorship: SOPA/PIPA

Google: End Piracy, Not Liberty

Wikipedia

Firefox Add-On "DeSopa" Bypasses DNS Blocking

One Year Blogaversary GIVEAWAY (Intl)

2012-01-11T13:30:00.000-08:00

To thank you for your "folla's", I am giving away TWO prizes - one for readers, one for writers!

For readers:

SIGNED Copy of EXCLUSIVELY CHLOE

by J.A. Yang

Summary from Goodreads:
Chloe-Grace can't help it - she's spectacular. How could she not be with celebrity parents who have been the queen and king of Hollywood for years? And Chloe is a celebrity all unto herself as well - she's the first celebrity-adopted kid in Hollywood.

But now Chloe's sixteen, and she is tired of every undesired moment of the world's attention. She wonders what it would be like to be a "normal" kid in a regular school. To really understand it, though, she would need to go undercover. So after getting a "make-under" at the hands of her mother's fabulous stylist, she enters the "real" world. But she soon finds out that there is just as much drama there as there is in Hollywood....

Author Bio:
J.A.Yang has slummed it in the valley with the Wakefield twins; slumber partied with Huey, Dewey and Louie; joined Krakow in stalking Angela; and climbed every mountain with the Von Trapps. He is the author of Exclusively Chloe. He lives online at www.jonyang.org.
***
I love that this book is like Maddox Jolie-Pitt's story - an Asian adopted by non-Asian celebs.

I can't gush enough about Jon, a 2009 Debutante who's generous enough to give away a signed copy. If you're not following his blog, you should. Also sign up for his 50/50 Challenge - 50 Books and 50 Movies this year!

For writers:

Angel and Demon 25-Page Critique

The very generous Krispy and Alz from A Nudge in the Right Direction will EACH critique up to 25 pages of your WIP. That's TWO critiques in one prize!

Why is it called the Angel and Demon Critique?

Because if anyone has read one of Alz's famous rants, you'll know she doesn't pull any punches. She won't be vicious or unnecessarily brutal, but she also doesn't tone anything down just to spare feelings. Only the brave should apply!

Why would I want a Demon critique?

Because you need a kick in the pants.
Because you need someone who leaves no stone unturned, no nit unpicked.
Because your relatives will not be this honest with you. (Unless you're Chinese.)

Testimony:
I have undergone an Alz critique and emerged better for it.

Last year I fiddle-edited a draft forever - you know, when you agonize over a single word and call it revising - and it still wasn't working. I had a sense of where it could go, but I couldn't stomach the thought of rewriting it AGAIN.

So I sent it to Alz.

She tore it apart so thoroughly (and hilariously) that it broke all petty emotional ties to that draft and freed me to start from page zero. It was revolutionary - and just in time for NaNoRevMo.

Plus she has an MFA in Fantasy.

So Krispy is the Angel? Bwahahahaha-

Shhh, not so loud. After Alz, Krispy will be a soothing balm of puppies.

NOTES:
Enter through the RAFFLECOPTER below.
Both prizes are international.
You can enter for one or both, but only one winner per prize. (Make sure you specify which prize you want in the comments!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Psychedelic Tiger and Blog in Review Meme

2012-01-10T04:26:00.000-08:00

I know. It's out of control, isn't it? It's all thanks to this guy:

My 2012 Crush of the Year: Jon Yang. Be jealous, cubs. (Stay tuned - I'm giving away his book tomorrow)

He's the guru behind the blog overhaul, the sexy social network buttons, and my change-over to Disqus. (I'm going to try responding to comments that way so hopefully you've got your notifications enabled!)

And now, 1-Year Blogaversary Fest continues with - a meme you can steal!

Take the first line from the first post of each month this year (link to it) and you've got your very own blog in review.

2011 Blog in Review

January
Happy Birthday New Blog
"You were born on 1/11/11."

February
The 48-Hour Dark Experiment
" You can't make me, but you can sure join me! "

March
I Dreamt of High School, I Mean Beverly Hills
"I've been having a series of intensely vivid dreams this week and after reading Lauren Oliver's Before I Fall yesterday I was sure I'd dream about it. "

April
April Boobs Day
"When I first moved back to NYC after a run through Hollywood, I got a new friend to spread a rumor that I had gotten implants."

May
Heading South with the Boyfriend
"Let's go Vin; my ex Dwayne looks mad!"

June
May/APA Music Crush of the Month: Bruno Mars
"It may be June, but APA month continues here at Sophia the Writer!"

July
Boba 4 Life!
"Accent vlog with Krispy concludes with read-alouds from Imaginary Girls and White Cat - plus a lesson in what to call your grandparents in Taiwan Mandarin. "

August
Mashti Malone
"I'm off to the 40th SCBWI Conference!"

September
1000 Mile Weekend
"Sorry I'm behind on the writer's campaign and CPing - I was getting card sharked by this kid:"

October
In My Mailbox #4
"It's time to thank some giveaway hosts!"

November
NaNoRevMo and WriMo
"This is the first Saturday I haven't had to work or rehearse in over a year!"

December
NYC Boba and Boba 4 Life: Questions Pt 2
"Greetings from NY!"

***
Giveaway is coming tomorrow...

A Year of Blogging

2012-01-06T01:55:00.000-08:00

My 1 Year Blogaversary is coming up on 1/11/12 and to show my gratitude for your support and friendship, I've got a great giveaway planned!

Through this blog I've met amazing friends like Krispy and Alz from A Nudge in the Right Direction IN REAL LIFE, drunk way too much Boba (4 Life) and...

Reunited with my celebrity crush!

Thanks to social networking, my celebrity crushes are well aware of how much I ~~stalk~~ support them. So You Think You Can Dance's Robert Taylor, Jr. even responded to my tweet about dreaming he was my soulmate:

But the most epic win last year was the conclusion to my 10-year-hunt for Dante Basco, the cutest guy who ever asked for my number. (The most famous was someone from the Matrix but he was 15+ years older than me and I didn't recognize him.)

Dante himself not only commented on the post, but retweeted to his legion of ~~stalkers~~ followers. And yes, ladies, he did apologize for losing my number. SEE FOR YOURSELF.

In addition to his great sense of humor, Dante is committed to the Asian-American and Pacific Islander community and has formed a production company to tell our stories - and his lovely lady helps produce. They just finished shooting their next film, Hang Loose, in Hawaii so I hope you'll support him when it comes out.

TwiHardFact: Dante lived with Justin Chon while in HI. I can't tell who is luckier.

The Dusty Bookshelf Challenge 2012

2012-01-03T06:00:00.001-08:00

For 2012, I'm cutting down on my expenses and finally getting through the books I already amassed through

Borders closing sales
Christmas gifts and giveaways
my trip back East to my beloved Harvard Bookstore's bargain basement. (We almost had to buy another suitcase.)

And no more books from the library until I finish the ones I own! The last library book I still have from 2011 is Vanish: A Firelight Novel by Sophie Jordan so I'll probably finish that first.

I'll be reading at the Grungy level: 20+books.

Books include:

Ash by Malinda Lo
Touch of Power (Healer) by Maria V. Snyder
East by Edith Pattou
and more!

Dusty Bookshelf Reads Completed:

Sophia on Goodreads»

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Happy 2012: Around the World in Under 5 Minutes

2012-01-01T04:02:00.000-08:00

You know that guy who quits his finance job and travels around the world photographing amazing places all year?

That guy is my friend Kien Lam, and yes, I hate him too. Especially after this absolute sick video compiled of time lapses he shot from the 60 cities he visited. He composed the music with his brother William and it's so breathtaking I wanted to herald the new year by sharing it with you.

If you had a reaction like mine (one too inappropriate for a YA writer's blog), you can check out his work here: Kien Lam Photography

Have a gorgeous, expansive and aware 2012.

Class of 2011 Superlative Blogfest: Elements of Fiction

2011-12-29T15:33:00.000-08:00

Hosted by: Alison Miller, Jessica Love, Katy Upperman, and Tracey Neithercott

I'm starting the busiest work crunch of the year, so I've only got two for you today:

Elements of Fiction

Best First Line: "On the day he died, Eric Leaventhall had a date that couldn't be broken, so he went."
from Dead Man Dating by Lori Handeland, in the anthology Dates From Hell

I originally bought this quartet of novellas for Kelley Armstrong's bonus Karl Marsten story, but Lori's first line (and next few) was so eye-catching I read that story too and LOVED IT.

Most Jaw-Dropping Finale: Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy, Book 3) by Richelle Mead

This is when I knew Mead was a complete and utter plot genius. She holds NOTHING back in this series - where most authors would drag out the storyline over a course of books, Mead gives you the ending you can't believe, leaving you wondering how the heck the story can go on. And it does.

December Book Crush of the Month and Top 10 Book Boyfriends of 2011

2011-12-28T03:14:00.000-08:00

Hosted by: Confessions of a Bookaholic, A Life Bound By Books, Fiktshun, and Two Chicks on Books

Today's theme also re-caps my meme: Book Crush of the Month. Unfortunately, I used music/dance crushes mostly, so there are only, um, 2 in the retrospective. December revealed at the end...

Top 10 ~~Wolf~~ Book Boyfriends of 2011

1) February Book Crush of the Month: sorcerer-lawyer Lucas Cortez from Kelley Armstrong's Otherworld series

kickass wallpaper by mistymerrymistletoe

2) Cery from The Magicians' Guild (The Black Magician Trilogy, Book 1) by Trudi Canavan

Because I love strong short guys!

3) James Hallowell from Vampire Crush by A.M. Robinson

4) Chen Yong from Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon

photo from Cindy's website

5) Jack, from Exit Strategy (Nadia Stafford Series, Book 1) by Kelley Armstrong
Because who can resist an older contract killer? (Gabriel Byrne in Point of No Return, anyone?)

In The American, Clooney ~~rips off this book~~ plays an older contract killer named Jack, which made me like the film way more than I should have.

6) Jeremy Danvers from No Humans Involved (Women of the Otherworld, Book 7) by Kelley Armstrong
The Alpha wolf of the upstate NY clan who might have some Chinese blood in him.

7) Karl Marsten from Personal Demon (Women of the Otherworld, Book 8) by, who else? Kelley Armstrong - she writes the HOTTEST love scenes (children look away)

a jewel thief werewolf

8) Beast from Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley
But only before he turned into some pansy-looking prince. What can I say, I like anybody wolfish.

9) November Book Crush of the Month: Taycob from Twilight

and finally: 10)

December Book Crush of the Month:

Alexander of Macedon as portrayed in The Persian Boy by Mary Renault

photo credit

This guy had a Napoleon complex a couple thousand years before Napoleon was even born. He was short, strong, handsome and healed from wounds with freakish vampire nature.

Alexander, is that you?

He had beautiful male lovers and traveled a distance most Americans can't even fathom, over mountains, down rivers and across deserts. In 300 B.C., yo.

Top 10 Book Covers of 2011 and Superlative Blogfest

2011-12-27T05:46:00.000-08:00

Hosted by: Confessions of a Bookaholic, A Life Bound By Books, Fiktshun, and Two Chicks on Books

Top 10 Book Covers (I Read) in 2011:

Hosted by: Alison Miller, Jessica Love, Katy Upperman, and Tracey Neithercott

I realized too late that this might be an impossible blogfest because I've read a total of 18 books published in 2011 - and 4 of those are MG, adult fantasy, graphic novel, and Go the F**k to Sleep, which I don't think counts as YA. Or picture book for that matter. But it is the funniest 2011 book I've read.

Today's topic: Head of the Class

Favorite Dystopian: Crossed by Ally Condie

Favorite Science Fiction: Outside In by my idol Maria V. Snyder

Favorite Fantasy: The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

Favorite Paranormal Romance: The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong

Favorite Action/Adventure
AND
Favorite Genre-bender: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs - my review

Top 10 Books I've Read in 2011

2011-12-26T03:40:00.000-08:00

Hosted by: Confessions of a Bookaholic, A Life Bound By Books, Fiktshun, and Two Chicks on Books

Top 10 Books I've Read in 2011
(in reverse chrono order that I read them)

1) Crossed by Ally Condie (won ARC from Elana Johnson)

2) White Cat by Holly Black, narrated by Jesse Eisenberg (library audiobook)

3) Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson (library, then bought)

4) Beauty by Robin McKinley (library)

5) The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender (library) - Review at Afterglow

6) Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (bought by accident - my review)

7) Exit Strategy by Kelley Armstrong (library)

8) Howl's Moving Castle by Dianna Wynne Jones (library)

9) Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead (library)

10) Vampire Crush by A. M. Robinson (Kindle)

Vampire Academy's Rose in Round 2

2011-12-23T00:24:00.000-08:00

I see my Tiger Mom threats worked - Rose Hathaway, my Hero made it to Round 2 in:

Tournament of Heroines

Today she's in the Superior 16 - so go vote again HERE before we suck your blood.

In case you missed why she's badass: Vote Rose Hathaway, My YA Hero

(Damphirs can't actually suck blood, but whatever. She can stake us.)

Deja Vu Blogfest: I Can Hold You Til You Cry

2011-12-16T06:00:00.000-08:00

The Deja Vu Blogfest is hosted by DL Hammons, Katie Mills, Lydia Kang, and Nicole Ducleroir. Today we recycle a blog post that deserves to see the light of the internetz once again.

I chose one of the first posts on this new blog back in January 2011. It's one of the few that received zero comments. (The other posts that received no comments were my Japanese quake relief ones - so sad - and reading challenges.)

I Can Hold You Til You Cry

originally posted 1/17/11

One thing people don't know about me is that I was in a really woo-woo graduate program for counseling psychology. We regularly cried in class and did therapy on each other.

At the same time, I worked evenings at a well-known investment bank, assisting people who were younger than me and hundreds of thousands of dollars richer. That firm was one of the first to crash during the recession and I was laid off just in time for my first NaNoWriMo.

Therapy by day, i-banking by night. Yup.

The last class I took in my counseling program was Expressive Arts Therapy. For my final project, I made a blog presentation: Temenos: An Expressive Arts Journal. You've been warned, I was deep in the woo.

(Prize if you know where my post title is from)

A Touch of Poison and Win a Kindle Fire

2011-12-14T03:50:00.000-08:00

I returned from an exhausting trip to my native East Coast and spent my first night back in LA with violent food poisoning. Good thing for boyfriends who had drunk buddies in college.

*Update 12/14* After further research, looks like it might be altitude sickness. We had to transfer so it was all day on a plane and at airports.

Now that I've grossed you out, here's a giveaway at Paperback Dolls for charity:

And who knows what my title references? Juliana, you better know...

Vote Rose Hathaway, My YA Hero

2011-12-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

Update 12/13: Rose won! (of course)

The YA Heroine Tournament is here and if you don't vote for Vampire Academy's Rose Hathaway you are not my son!

(That threat usually works in Chinese families, especially on daughters.)

Two Chicks on Books is our Team Rose headquarters. Vote at The YA Sisterhood tomorrow - Monday Dec 12, for 24 hours.

Actually Rose is a very particular hero. If you had a sunny childhood where your parents told you they loved you every day before cheerleading practice and you grew up with absolutely no issues whatsoever 1) I'm not sure why you're writing YA instead of, like, being a Stepford wife 2) you won't relate to Rose.

But if sarcasm is a fine art form for you, then read on!

Why Rose is a Badass Mothertrucker

She's a dhamphir: strong as a vampire, hearty as a human
She embraces her sexuality in a very realistic teen way. You go with your non-prude self!
She's curvy and half-Turkish, not a blonde, blue-eyed model waif like a certain boring Moroi. (I kind of hate that certain Moroi.)
She defies authority and risks public excoriation to stand up for what's right. Revolucion!
She has mommy issues. Don't we all?
She's the opposite of a passive Mary Sue. This girl's got Anger and she's never afraid to speak her mind. Down with whiny, helpless female characters!
Rose is the first YA character I can relate my actual high school experience to. That's right, I was a half-vampire guardian who was gravely misunderstood.
No seriously, Rose's story made me cry harder and harder with each book in the series. It's like the grown-up version of Walk Two Moons for me.
She is for all the misfits, goth girls, freaks & geeks who were made fun of; people who didn't belong. (I may have played a sorority girl onscreen but in high school I was so far from popular I was anti-popular.)
Rose lets us know others feel like we do. And that it gets better.

NYC Boba and Boba 4 Life: Questions Pt 2

2011-12-07T19:54:00.000-08:00

Greetings from NY!

Saints Alps in ~~NYU owns everything~~ the East Village has the best boba in NYC, I don't care what you say. This photo is from my visit 3 years ago, but it's the same Yogurt Nature with agar-agar that I get every time.

And here's part 2 of me and Krispy's Lori's Questions vlog. One of us has our eyes closed in EVERY screen capture. (I tried to learn javascript to fix this but the tech geeks wouldn't help me any further.)

Boba 4 Life: Chang for President

2011-11-30T20:38:00.000-08:00

Congratulations NaNoWriMo winners! For those procrastinating on our last day, here's the latest episode of Boba 4 Life.

My co-vlogger Krispy from A Nudge in the Right Direction and I answer the first half of Lori M. Lee's questions, including: wolf v. vampire? Dalai Lama v. Batman? And I accidentally go on the campaign trail.

November Book Crush of the Month: Taycob, Duh

2011-11-27T14:55:00.000-08:00

November's ~~Twilight~~ Book Crush Of the Month is obvious:

Taylor Lautner/Jacob Black
or as TwiHards know him: Taycob

For the 100th time, I'm a diehard Team Jacob acolyte. (And for you Edward freaks, can we say New Moon Nipple? WTF?)

Earlier this month I took some gals from the Los Angeles Twilight Lovers Group to the Taylor Lautner taping of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

I wore this T-shirt with this Breaking Dawn hoodie I bought just for the event.

I even got a copy of the Cullen wedding invitation with my purchase. It looks like something I printed up at Kinko's.

Key takeaway: Taylor Lautner is the most fan-friendly walking piece of hawtness ever.

During commercial breaks, he looked out into the audience and if you waved at him, he waved back while flashing this grin that zaps you, melting, into a pool of light. I had, like, a religious experience when he looked at me.

Even Martha Stewart, the second guest, was not immune to Taycob's inhumanly white smile, asking him if he had a girlfriend.

photo source

Back off, Martha, I will cut you. Video of that episode is here on NBC.

The leader of our fearless Twi group, Sharon Macross, took off from work, slept in her car, and camped for days in downtown L.A. for the Breaking Dawn premiere in order to snag these exclusive red carpet photos:

following 3 photos belong to Sharon Macross

the Adonis faces the press

Thank you beloved leader for allowing me to share these with my readers, who I'm sure are now all Team Taycob. RIGHT?

The Simpsons Write a YA Novel with Neil Gaiman

2011-11-24T08:08:00.000-08:00

photo credit

Yes, that's Neil Gaiman in the back.

Anyone else catch last Sunday's Simpsons? "The Crew" pictured above group-writes the next YA hit in an Ocean's Eleven parody and attempt to resist the vampire craze.

Meanwhile, Lisa Simpson demonstrates the writer's favorite activity: procrastination.

Andy Garcia even reprises his Terry Benedict-ish role as the Big Bureaucratic Publisher.

Simpsons, you and I are back on! So much genius in this episode. Thank you for 23 great seasons!

FOX doesn't release the episode until 8 days after airing, but when they do, you can find it HERE.

BECOME Giveaway Winner and More Dark Carma

2011-11-20T15:30:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to the winner of the signed copy of Ali Cross' BECOME:

Meradeth!

For another chance to win, the Dark C.A.R.M.A. Tour giveaway is still going on!

On a related note - those of you who run giveaways using Google Docs Forms, how do you count those entries that are worth +2? Do you manually input them into the excel spreadsheet somehow?

Walk Two Moons: Thank You, Sharon Creech

2011-11-16T03:43:00.000-08:00

Walk Two Moonsby Sharon Creech changed my life. I was well out of college when I read this, huddled on the tiny couch in the tiny Manhattan apartment I shared with a roommate. The sun was up and I'd stayed up all night reading. When I closed the book, I cried with everything my heart was carrying from childhood. This book helped heal me.

And I realized then:

This is what I want to do for a living.

Written for Beth Revis' Show Gratitude blogfest:

**Don't forget to enter the giveaway of a SIGNED paperback copy of Ali Cross' BECOME and swag!**

Ali Cross Guest Post and GIVEAWAY of BECOME

2011-11-12T01:12:00.000-08:00

I can’t tell you how excited I am to be here on Sophia’s blog! She is awesome and I’m pretty
sure all of her readers are super cool too.

Sophia, thank you for having me, and for helping me celebrate the release of my book,
BECOME.

So, Sophia asked me to talk about how I came to self-publish, what my journey had been. Oh man, let me tell you—it has been quite the journey. And I’m not even talking about all the legwork that goes into bringing a book to life all by yourself. The formatting, the marketing, the uploading, the pricing, the marketing, the reviews, the sequels, and the marketing. All. By. Yourself. Or, if you’re lucky, you’ll do it the way I did—sharing some of the burden with a handful of other rockin’ indie authors.

Then there’s the whole journey-of-the-mind. The one in which you say (lots of times) “Oh my gosh! Am I really going to self-publish? Am I doing this? For realz?” A couple deep breaths. “Seriously? Are you SURE?”

With heavy dashes of intermittent terror and euphoria.

Because self publishing is terrifying. And completely awesome.

Right around the time I decided to go forward with the independent release, BECOME took second place in the full manuscript division of the League of Utah Writers’ yearly competition. (They like me! They really like me!)

Before that, BECOME had been rejected, in the full for the 103rd time. Wait, the full wasn’t rejected 103 times. I think it was only rejected, um, about 32 times. Oh yeah. It was read, in the full, by 28 agents.

Before that, one agent read it three times. She never actually requested any of the revisions, she just kept rejecting me, I kept fixing it up and she kept agreeing to read it again. She liked my writing, what can I say? But, obviously, she just couldn’t fall in love with my story.

Before that, an agent offered to represent BECOME! Yeah! We had an awesome talk where she told me some (but not all) of the changes she would like to see. She said she’d send me the notes, and as long as I agreed to them, she’d sign me. Hurray!

Except, the notes never came.

I emailed her and asked if she’d changed her mind about me. She assured me she still wanted me and my story. Work on something else in the meantime, she said. But four months later I had to face facts: The agent wasn’t playing fair and she had no intention of signing me. So I got back to work. Revised according to the things we talked about (because they really were great ideas) and started querying again.

Before that, I had a contract with a small publisher. BECOME was set to be released in July of 2010. But alas, that publisher went out of business.

Before that, I worked like any aspiring author to perfect my story. I wrote, revised, wrote and revised some more. I entered (and won) several competitions. My story was strong. But it would not be published any time soon.

Okay, fast forward to today. Yesterday I released my book. I spit and polished it. Had it professionally edited. Hired a professional artist for the cover image. Did my darndest to give it the best birthday I could manage.

And now it’s up to you to determine if all those agents were right to reject BECOME, or if I was right to publish it because, damnit, they were wrong.

Bio: Ali Cross is the sensei of the Writer's Dojo where she holds a black belt in awesome. She lives in Utah with her kickin' husband, two sparring sons, one ninja cat, two sumo dogs and four zen turtles.
ali's blog: http://www.alicross.com
ali's Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/authoralicross
ali's Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ali_cross

Sixteen-year old Desolation Black wants nothing more than to stay in Hell where it’s cold and lonely and totally predictable. Instead, she’s sent back to Earth where she Becomes the evil she despises and the good she always feared.

When Desi is forced to embrace her inner demon, she assumes her Choice has been made—that she has no hope of being anything other than what her father, Lucifer, has created her to be. What she doesn’t count on, is a reason to want to change—something she’s never had before—a friend.

Ali is giving away an awesome SIGNED copy of BECOME, along with swanky swag! Fill out the Rafflecopter below to enter. Ends Nov. 20

11.11.11 and the 11 Hour Challenge

2011-11-11T01:11:00.000-08:00

from last 4th of July w/ my (Filipino of course) friend Dennis

I'm a woo-woo SoCal hippie so of course I believe in the power of repeating numbers. 1 has always been my favorite number and 11:11:11 on 11/11/11 only happens once every 100 years.

Today the energy in the world will help us leap that much closer to our dreams. Of debuting on the NYT bestseller list at - of course - #1.

For WriMo's, we are celebrating by taking the 11-Hour Challenge. Log 11 hours or 11,111 words. May we emerge from this mystical day with Gollum computer hands.

NaNoButtKicko

2011-11-08T20:39:00.000-08:00

Are you stalled? Go to the Get Your BUTT-KICKING Here thread at the NaNoWriMo forums - the funniest entertainment since Family Guy.

You might get sergeant AniRemi:

*KICK*

Aw, the poor little wrimo got caught up in the forums? DID YOU SIGN UP FOR NANOWRIMO, OR NANO-WHINE-O? YOU LITTLE DIRTBAG! I don't want to see your horrid little Running-Man-With-a-Pencil face crawlin' back to this forum until you get some words in! I got three words for you, recruit, and you better read 'em and understand 'em:

Write. Or. Die.

or the spork-loving Kiriona:

YOU GET YOUR SORRY BEHIND OFF THE INTERNETS RIGHT NOW! NANO IS WRITEY WRITEY TIME! NOT CLICKY CLICKY WASTEY TIME TIME!

So you get out of there, open up your novel and give it the love it deserves! Do you not hear your characters?! They are CRYING! They want attention too!

At this rate, I'm going to need to a butt-kicking for spending so much time reading this thread.

***

Coming on Saturday: The Ali Cross BECOME Tour stops here!

I've got a guest post from Ali about her journey to self-publication and a GIVEAWAY. That means FREE.

NaNoRevMo and WriMo

2011-11-05T14:40:00.000-07:00

This is the first Saturday I haven't had to work or rehearse in over a year!

This month I'm doing two NaNo's:

1) An email group Peggy Eddleman started for NaNoRevMo, which is exactly what it sounds like - 30 days of intensive revision.

2) Rebelling as usual for NaNoWriMo. Since I'm completely rewriting most of my WIP, I'm technically creating new words.

Buddy up with me under YellowTypingFiend and watch my erratic and low word count!

Sookie Stackhouse Says Happy Halloween Y'all

2011-10-31T14:12:00.000-07:00

taking HitGirl's order

w/ the Last Airbender and my Alcide (she's wearing plaid under there)

sweet dreams from Maleficent

Oh my gawd ya'll, it's Jessica Brody as her character!

(To everyone who's waiting on emails/crits from me, I'll be back soon! Just in the middle of moving and student deadlines.)

My Gray Car: On Being Out As A Writer

2011-10-28T02:31:00.000-07:00

I'm infinitely proud of my CP Juliana Brandt for hosting her very own blogfest! I'm not surprised it's dedicated to celebrating each other as writers - Juliana is an incredibly supportive and positive writer.

The first week's question asks: How do you broach the subject of being a writer to other people who aren’t authors?

I live in L.A.

Everybody is a writer. Even the actors (try to) write. Even big-time directors "really want to write."

In fact, disclosing that I'm also a writer has a surprisingly beneficial effect of telegraphing my poverty-ridden status quickly and efficiently. It signals to other writers that I'm not a viable money lender, to my a capella group that I'll be wearing a suspiciously similar dress for this upcoming concert, and to everyone else that my gray car is actually white.

Hey, car washes are not cheap in L.A.

On a serious note, I never introduce myself as a writer. When people ask, "What do you do?" they mean for money. When I was in The Biz (yeah I said The Biz), I didn't call myself an actor until I made money doing it. (Good thing that happened really quickly, or I would have been a "um, nothing" for a long time.)

So I tell people what my money job is. The writing might never come up at all.

The only people I actively avoid talking about writing with are my boyfriend's family and my father. Old school Chinese who live by "show me the money." I have no money to show them, but they're welcome to ride in my gray, I mean white car.

Those folks rarely ask about my writing anyway. It's less than a hobby, like biking. It's a shameful frivolity not worth mentioning. I prefer it that way. Their negativity and insulting comments are better left unsaid. (We already know you don't want to write in a Chinese family.)

As Sinclair Lewis said:

It is impossible to discourage the real writers - they don't give a damn what you say, they're going to write.

Besides I have you guys. That's all I need. :)

Oprah, Lesbiebers and 7 Posts You Don't Want To Miss

2011-10-23T16:18:00.000-07:00

Thank you Ani at Anime's Musings and Alexis at Alexis Bass Writes About Writing. I've been looking forward to this award for months!

Goal: highlight previous posts in the superlative categories below.

Most Beautiful: Anti-Acknowledgements or Why You Don't Want to Write In A Chinese Family

Most Helpful: What Oprah's Book Editor Told Me

Most Popular: June/Gay Pride Music Crush of the Month: Lesbians Who Look Like Justin Bieber (apparently I'm not the only one...)

Most Controversial: A Barbie for the Ladies, with Poll (only 18 more days to decide once and for all...)

Most Surprisingly Successful: Top 3 Things Well-Meaning Bloggers Do That Drive Readers Nuts

Most Underrated: Does Every YA Fantasy Heroine Need to Be Bad-Ass?

Most Pride Worthy: The Vow of Silence (featured ninja post at Ali Cross')

I'm passing this on to: my co-vlogger from Boba 4 Eva Krispy and Alz at A Nudge in the Right Direction

and thanks to:

from Nutschell at The Writing Nut

from Joy at CATHARSIS

My previous post for this award: All My Women Boyfriends (and 7 Random Facts)

October/Filipino-American Crush of the Month: Dante Basco

2011-10-18T16:23:00.000-07:00

Happy Fil-Am Month! In case it wasn't obvious: I Love Filipinos.

Because I'm a round-eyed Asian, people thought I was Pinay. I learned hip-hop by watching the Flips in middle school. (And from MTV's The Grind.)

photo credit

This month's hawtness is Dante Basco. You see, we were supposed to talk on the phone and fall in ~~lust~~ love. But he lost my number. Here's what happened:

When I was a bright-eyed young actor starting out in Hollywood, I attended an Asian American award ceremony. Afterward, I accosted Ang Lee. Then I saw Dante.

It was like the Beatles coming to America. My mind started chanting, "Ru-fio. Ru-fio."

photo link

I watched Hook like 20 times as a tween. Now dreamboat Rufio, my future husband (after Keanu Reeves), was standing there in a suit.

I ran up to him and gushed and preened and you know what he did? He asked for my number.

Do the Pinoy got game or what?

So of course I gave him my cell phone, landline, all three emails, home address, social security number and date of birth. And pin. Just in case he needed money to call me.

photo credit

I mean, could you say no to that smirk?

And he goes, "My name's Dante, so you better pick up when I call."

Okay that doesn't translate well in writing, but it was very smooth. Trust me. I was like, "Okay *giggle I will *giggle any time of night is okay ."

After sleeping with the phone under my pillow for 3 months and my door unlocked in case he wanted to drop by, I finally accepted the truth.

He had lost my number.

photo credit

"My name's Dante, can you help me find Sophia's number?"

Clearly, Dante has been trying to find me. So good readers, if you see Mr. Basco, please direct him here. (My boyfriend has already been apprised of the situation.)

Dante, you owe me a phone call.

***

Thanks for all your suggestions for September's Book Crush of the Month. The winner is Damon Salvatore from the Vampire Diaries.

*This (only slightly exaggerated) account happened YEARS ago - no disrespect to Dante's girl! It was very sweet of him to entertain a fan.

Top 3 Things Well-Meaning Bloggers Do That Drive Readers Nuts

2011-10-10T21:46:00.000-07:00

Do you want people to read your blog and comment? Make it easy for them!

These are the Top 3 Things Well-Meaning Bloggers Do That Drive Me Readers Nuts.

1) Word Verification on Comments

Why This is Annoying: Unless you're Dooce, your blog isn't going to get that much spam. This just adds another hoop for readers to jump through. (And who can figure out what that upside-down word is anyway?)

What the Big Guns Do: You know those book blogs with 1397 followers and 68 comments on every single one of their reviews? You know why they have so many comments? They make it easy for their readers. One click and you can move on. This encourages people to comment away.

In the 4 years that I've had 5 different blogs, I've gotten ONE spam comment. I'm still playing Little League with my under 200 followers, but even the Big Guns don't pain their readers with extra steps. If you get - gawd forbid - ONE spam comment in your 4 years, just delete it. Not that big of a deal.

2) Partial-Feed for Readers

Why This is Annoying: Avid blog readers subscribe to hundreds of feeds (I do). The way we get through them all is by going quickly through our reader (I actually try to read every single blog).

Your followers don't have time to click through to every post. Please. Make it easy for them.

What the Big Guns Do: In the last 6 months I've written to four blogs asking that they turn their full feed on. That's how much I want to read your blogs. Blogs with followers in the thousands replied yes. Only one blog I've written to declined, but I guess they get a free pass since the god of writing advice Donald Maass is one of their bloggers. Even then, I only click through when the link looks really good. Instead, I spend my time reading your blogs with the friendly full feeds.

(I click on all of Donald Maass' posts. He's a genius.)

3) Responding to Comments In Your Own Comments

Why This is the All-Time Most Annoying: In essence, you're expecting your readers to hang around your blog, revisiting your posts day after day just to see if you've responded.

Avid bloggers like me comment as much as possible. They can barely remember whose blogs they last commented on, much less which post. After a while, readers think you don't really care about their comments and will just stop.

What the Big Guns Do: There are several work-arounds I've seen and I'll do my best to give you the pros and (mostly) cons of each of them. Remember, I'm describing ease of use for the commenter, not the blog owner.

Blogger: there is an option to subscribe to comments by email or in a feeder. Who the heck wants to subscribe to a comments feed?!?
WordPress: same option to subscribe, which ends up with a cluttered inbox full of other people's un-related comments and I have to log into my WordPress account to in order to unsubscribe once I finish reading the one response to me. Highly annoying.
Disqus: a little unwieldy to sign up for and link all your logins, but once you've set it up, it will email you comment responses to you and you alone. Not a bad option.
Intense Debate: same as Disqus but easier to sign up for.

All of these still keep the conversation on your blog, which is a sneaky way to drive more traffic to you, but this is too selfish a tactic for me.

My Work Around: Commenting back. Simple. Respectful. Supportive. And shows other people that you care about what they have to say on their blog too, not just your own. Sometimes I'll tweet the other person my response. Email if it's a longer conversation. The rare instance I comment on my own blog is to answer a question that other readers would want to see the answer to as well.

The bottom line is - keep the conversation going. It's a back and forth thing. Make it easy to be your follower.

*These tips apply to regular ol' bloggers, not professional bloggers who earn substantial income from blogging.

I'm a Featured Ninja

2011-10-06T08:08:00.000-07:00

I'm the featured Ninja at Ali Cross' Dojo today!

Check out my technique: the Vow of Silence and find out why I ~~rarely~~ never talk about my writing.

***

In other news...

YA Confidential has an epic giveaway ~~that I hope you don't enter so I can win just kidding no I'm not~~.

In My Mailbox #4

2011-10-03T22:07:00.000-07:00

hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren inspired by Alea

It's time to thank some giveaway hosts!

After Obsession (ARC) by Carrie Jones and Steven E. Wedel from Carolina Valdez Miller
WinterTown (ARC) by Stephen Edmond from Adventures in Children's Publishing
Wildefire by unfairly good-looking Karsten Knight from Brenda Drake

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

2011-09-30T12:53:00.000-07:00

Thank you for all the September Crush of the Month suggestions! Great vampires and werewolves (and some regular old people). And now...

I'm reposting my Afterglow review as part of Tracey Neithercott's Fall Book Club.

Excerpted summary from Goodreads:

A mysterious island.

An abandoned orphanage.

A strange collection of very curious photographs.

It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience.

The afterglow:

I was never going to read this book.

I'd originally bought it as a birthday gift for my Boba 4 Eva co-vlogger Krispy - only she'd bought it four days before in a Border's closing sale.

Here I was, stuck with a creepy book with no easy return.

So I starting reading.

After 30 pages flew by I considered keeping it.

200 pages later I was hooked. I'd stayed up until 6 a.m. reading books before, but never until 9 a.m. (Yes, I said a.m. Granted I didn't start until 5 a.m.)

Aptly published by Quirk, this debut novel at turns charmed, terrified, moved, and nauseated me. (I don't recommend eating while reading...)

One of the most interesting things is seeing how Riggs wove the photos - all found and unaltered - into a narrative that was not only entertaining, but tightly woven with a terrific twist. It's like reading an extremely well-written creative writing class prompt that continued until it became an emotionally true story. The last two photos are just breathtaking; they stun the heart.

Jacob, the protag, has a wonderful voice, and each character is well-enunciated. This is a rare book that stands out for its originality. Don't you dare buy this in anything other than its hardcover - there's a cute little surprise on the cover underneath the jacket.

I'm so glad a mix-up forced me to read this book!

Choose My September Crush of the Month

2011-09-28T00:15:00.000-07:00

I'm behind on my Book/Music Crush of the Month series!

Reasons:

photo credit

I read mostly YA and, other than Jacob Black (Team Jacob 4 LIFE), teen boys don't do it for me.
Karl Marsten, the werewolf from Kelley Armstrong's Otherworld series, is kind of sexy (are you seeing a werewolf theme here?) But in that universe, my heart belongs to my inaugural Book Crush of the Month: Lucas Cortez.
I LOVE Joe Manganiello as Alcide; like, I can't breathe when he comes onscreen (definitely a werewolf theme here.) But I'm a canon zealot - I don't like what True Blood does with the storyline. That is NOT the Alcide I know!

Since there's no werewolf to stir my fancy this month, I need your help.

Tell me who you're crushing on in the book/music/TVspinoff world this month and I will feature the most popular hottie in a few days. Guys, girls, trans, doesn't matter to me. Tell me, who's hot?

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

2011-09-23T20:21:00.000-07:00

I NEVER had a school assignment that asked what we did on our summer vacay's - that always sounded like a cliche made up from the 50's, like the Easter Bunny or moms who wear aprons. (Who does that other than hipsters??) (The only time I wore an apron was to model a designer one no one can afford for a trade show in NYC.)

So I'm THRILLED to be a part of fellow Campaigner Michael di Gesu's blogfest!

JUNE

Camp NaNowriMo and high tea with the ladies from the Los Angeles Twilight Lovers Group (the same ones who were interviewed by msn.com - where I got to reenact Bella)

JULY

Played Bellatrix at the Harry Potter midnight showing with Krispy (what's with me playing Bella-'s?) and a Gryffindor at the Harry Potter Exhibit at Nucleus Gallery

Possessing the Elder Wand

AUGUST

Krispy and I had a very gangster birthday at the 20's-40's-themed Cicada Club downtown.

Look - a photo of the elusive Alz! Why is there a big purple splotch instead of her face? Because if I show her face, she will hunt me down and kill me (and take back the Yellowfiendatee she sewed me).

Real life writer-blogger pals Anime and Nutschell (who took most of these photos) stopped by too:

And of course, SCBWI. This was a GREAT summer.

Before They Were Published Interview

2011-09-19T13:53:00.000-07:00

I'm interviewed over at Jest Kept Secret today for Jessica's series Before They Were Published! It's one of the rare times I talk about my writing.

Jess is not only a fellow Campaigner, but we share a CP (Juliana), which makes us CPs-in-law...? :)

She's on the lookout for more writers to feature, so head on over!

Top 5 2012 YA Books To Look Forward To

2011-09-17T21:05:00.000-07:00

This is a Mini Challenge by Princess Bookie, though I have way more than 5. Interesting that they're all sequels - I'm a HUGE series girl. I can't stand when stories end!

3. Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

10 Random Facts

2011-09-12T17:59:00.000-07:00

Alz and fellow Campaigner Cheryl Reif tagged me, though I'm not sure what more I can share that you don't already know from this list of cool experiences from Harvard and Hollywood and this list of weird health ailments :D

1) I'm trained as both a life coach and a woo-woo therapist

2) Yes, I once danced with one of Britney Spears' back-up dancers at a club so exclusive it was inside another club.

3) I adopted my dog by accident. At the shelter, I'd put a hold on both him and this chihuahua (I know, right) and I was going to cancel his hold and go with the little yapper, but they didn't spay her in time (a harder procedure for females) and neutered him instead. So I brought Terry home and now he's my son.

4) Before Terry, we fostered MANY dogs from pugs to chis. My favorite breed is still pit bulls, like Manny.

5) I love handmaking cards

6) I find everything in restaurants too sweet and too salty.

7) Two words: neti pot. (After blogging about my daily headaches, Suz suggested this cure.)

8) I hate anime. I'm sorry! Those squeaky pedophiliac girl voices freak me out.

9) I'm a cry-baby. I cried twice during Encino Man.

10) One last time: TEAM JACOB! Vote for your team here.

1000 Mile Weekend

2011-09-06T06:17:00.000-07:00

Sorry I'm behind on the writer's campaign and CPing - I was getting card sharked by this kid:

that's his lucky egg on the table

(also quite competitive at Mario Kart Double Dash)

We logged over 1000 miles this weekend driving up here:

Then up to Sonoma for a wedding, then all over the East Bay to see my two favorite cousins:

The hulking one on the right drove his friend to Stanford all the way from Jersey. Good friend or insane?

Now it's time for me to finally sleep.

Guess That Asian!

2011-08-26T12:33:00.000-07:00

It's time for the 2011 Guess That Asian! ::crowd goes wild::

Head on over to the official contest page at Jo Whittemore's blog and you could win books by amazing Asian writers.

In other news, I'm ~~insane~~ participating in the Third Writer's Platform Building Campaign. Between this, real NaNoWriMo and the upcoming crunch time at work, I should probably quit my Cityville addiction.

Singing with Project Glee at the Angel Awards

2011-08-21T08:21:00.000-07:00

Damian, Samuel, me, Lindsay and Marisa (another Yardbird soprano)

Last night the Harvard Yardbirds, my a capella group, performed at Project Angel's Food's Angel Awards honoring Glee producer Dante Di Loreto. (Look, we're even mentioned in Los Angeles magazine!)

What a surprise to run into our fellow performers: three of the finalists from The Glee Project! Damian, Samuel and Lindsay were super sweet (and really tall! I'm wearing 4-inch heels in the photo.)

We got to catch Damian's sound check, where his Irish accent killed the Yardbird ladies:

We were okay too...

Catch the finale of The Glee Project tonight and see if one of these adorable singers lands a spot on Glee!

Wordless Wednesday: On 3 or After 3? Birthday Preview!

2011-08-17T08:17:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday To Me

2011-08-12T08:12:00.000-07:00

Ahem, I have an announcement...

It's my birthday weekend! Consider this video from a recent Toys 'R' Us trip my gift to you. Please don't blackmail me with it.

I'll be sharing the celebration with Krispy on Sunday at a 20's-40's themed restaurant/lounge. We will post ridic-pix.

For my birthday, I'd like a 3-book deal with movie-tie-in. I get to play my MC, of course. Barring that, I'll settle for something off my wish list. Oh yeah. I am not above groveling for gifts.

Liebster Award

2011-08-10T20:18:00.000-07:00

Thank you Bluestocking for the Liebster award!

This award is intended to connect bloggers, specifically those with less than 200 followers. In accepting the award, I must:

Show my thanks to the blogger who gave me the award by linking back to them.
Reveal my top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
Post the award on my blog.
Bask in the love from the most supportive people on the internet—other writers.
And best of all – have fun and spread the karma.

These blogs are on my Gold Class list in Google Reader:

A Nudge in the Right Direction - Alz and Krispy, my co-vlogger from Boba 4 Eva
A Glimpse of Wistfulness - Linda whose photos of life in Taiwan make me jealous every day
I Aspire To Be - Juliana Brandt is so real in her blog
You Are the Unicorn of My Dreams - Lori M. Lee's blog. The name is award-worthy enough.
Anime's Musings - Ani is an original girl-boyfriend and a fellow sufferer of Harry Potter Hex

SCBWI: Asian Edition

2011-08-08T17:55:00.000-07:00

see how Texas sweetheart she is?

I finally got to hug my girl-boyfriend Jo Whittemore!

Lisa Yee signs her books

I pulled this one from Jo's twitter feed - we're Charlie's Angel-ing at dinner with the super-German, Asian-approved Kristen Kittscher. Jo was such a celebrity, we kept getting pulled from the table to take photos.

At kidlit drinks on the final night I was inducted into the annual Guess the Asian photo. Don't ask me how it works, I just posed and smiled. I would tell you who's in the photo, but I'm not sure how much I'm supposed to give away. Details on the Guess the Asian contest to come...

We also hung out with Cindy Pon and the camera-eluding Ellen Oh, who should be a stand-up comedian. She's my badass homegirl from NYC (REPRESENT!!)

Still to come...Why Jay Asher probably thinks I'm his stalker...

Mashti Malone

2011-08-05T02:09:00.000-07:00

I'm off to the 40th SCBWI Conference! If you're going, be sure to find the Asian who's constantly eating.

I'll leave you with some Saffron Rosewater ice cream from Mashti Malone, one of the many hipster haunts L.A. ~~is plagued with~~ offers.

Here I am with Karyn and her husband after a double date to Iris, the Cirque du Soleil show at the Kodak Theater (home of the Oscars).

***

48 Hour Dark Marathon is still going on! I've completed 2 rounds already (that's 4 days of no personal-use internet) and I'll get one more round in before it ends next Monday. You can still sign up!

July Dance Crush of the Month

2011-07-31T19:31:00.000-07:00

Whoops, I went 48 Hours Dark before I could post my July ~~Book~~ ~~Music~~ Dance crush of the month: Marko Germar from So You Think You Can Dance. By far Marko is the sexiest of my crushes.

For those who don't follow SYTYCD, here's why Marko makes me weak in the knees:

When the store he worked in was held up, he stood up to the gunman. He was shot in the shoulder and the bullet is STILL there. The guy still dances like a master.
He's Filipino from Guam. My previous crushes should've made clear I'm all over the Asian-Spanish thing.
While his multi-genre dancing is RIDICULOUS, I didn't develop my lust until this tango:

Something about that open-collared shirt and the dominance. Watch just the first 10 seconds of this dance - the little flick of the sleeve before he stalks Melanie.

Melanie Marko - Tango by choco-intense

***
Congrats to everyone who finished their first 48 Hour Dark Experiment! You can still sign up HERE for the marathon. I'm beginning my second session as soon as this posts.

48 Hour Dark Experiment Marathon: July 31st-August 8

2011-07-27T02:27:00.000-07:00

It's what you've been asking for: the third run of the 48 Hour Dark Experiment, my internet-quitting boot camp. That's 2 full days unplugged and procrastination-free. Just in time to prep for SCBWI.

This time - marathon style.

The rules again:

Internet usage while at work FOR WORK PURPOSES ONLY doesn't count. Allot time for that. I will give myself a total of 30 minutes each day to be divided into 3 increments.
If email is vital to your work as a writer, allot the necessary time. For instance, I owe some pages to a critique partner. It should take me only 3 minutes to draft up a critique email and send it.
NO blogging, reading other blogs, surfing the internet, twittering, facebooking, stumbling upon, digging, Google+ing, gchatting, yahoo talking, AIMing, iChatting, liking, updating books on Goodreads, Grouponing, crying, whining, eating too much ice cream. (Because that's bad for you.)

Here's how the marathon is going to work:

From July 31st-August 8th you will pick ANY 48-hour period to go dark.
Pick as many 48-hour periods as you like. I recommend one if this is your first time. As the creator, I will try to do one after another, with maybe a few hours of internet fast breaking in between. In fact I might start early.
Sign up below with Mr. Linky.
Whenever you're not dark during that week, feel free to visit the blogs below and leave encouraging messages. Or stalk them and slap them (virtually) if you catch them online.

You don't have to follow me or spread the word.. Do this because you have a problem, a problem like mine, which is watching too much time go to Mother Internet. This is the third time I've done this and I'm extremely productive when I go dark. I also come back with better discipline.

YES there is a prize.

I'd like to interview and feature the blogger who logs the most 48-hour dark periods during this marathon. This is because I and the addict public would like to know how you did this without dying.

It's time to kick the habit, addicts. The strong will survive.

Summer 2011 Diversity Your Reading Challenge

2011-07-25T07:25:00.000-07:00

glamorous Cindy and me at YA In Bloom last month

Diversity in YA, run by Cindy Pon and Malinda Lo, is holding a summer reading challenge with AMAZING book prizes!

There's a kick-off giveaway, just for...um, kicks. (Man my brain function's really taken a downhill turn since the post-Harry Potter ~~mental~~ illness.)

And an essay contest at the end for a huge motherload of books.

Go check it out. Go now.

(psst - recognize the other author behind us in the photo?)

Pitch Contest with Victoria Marini

2011-07-24T18:29:00.000-07:00

Chanelle at Beyond Words is hosting a pitch contest judged by her agent Victoria Marini. Another great thing about Chanelle's blog is that she lists giveaways in her sidebar for easy entering. Good luck!

Afterglow Book Reviews: BUMPED

2011-07-22T06:30:00.000-07:00

I'm a book reviewer! A while back I joined Afterglow, the site for those of us who don't want to bask alone in the sweaty light of after-book love. My first glow is of, fittingly, Bumped by Megan McCafferty, the first book I read in ONE NIGHT and I review it as a writer as much as a consumer.

Slytherin in the House

2011-07-20T07:07:00.000-07:00

Slytherin, Bellatrix (me), Sirius (Krispy), Gryffindor (Ani), Slytherin Quidditch

Krispy and I finally met Ani at last week's Harry Potter midnight showing, where we had a strong Slytherin representation.

Before you all go in an uproar, I sorted into Gryffindor. BUT...the Death Eaters have cooler costumes.

yes this is a nice Muggle restaurant, I'm still gonna Cruciatus you

And then all 3 of us bloggers got sick after the showing. Whoever hexed us, I will hunt you down with my Bellatrix brand of crazy.

Teaser Tuesdays: Prom

2011-07-19T01:25:00.000-07:00

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.

"You're pregnant," I said.
"Ha," she said. "I don't know what kind of purse to buy for prom."

p. 13
Prom
by Laurie Halse Anderson

*** In other news, I'm sick and bored at home!

Farewell, Potter; Hello, BlogHer

2011-07-15T16:11:00.000-07:00

with the Dark Lord

Midnight showing. I was Lestrange. Photos to come...

***

I'm the featured blogger on BlogHer's Life front page! YAY!

YAtopia Pitch Contest

2011-07-14T00:42:00.000-07:00

YAtopia is having a 3-line pitch contest with Vickie Motter! This is perfect for those who are squeamish about posting work willy-nilly over the webz.

Yeah, with a z.

Sorry, I've been working with teenagers all day, then I went to Hot Topic to hunt for Harry Potter-wear for the premiere tomorrow night.

And I almost bought a leather-waisted jumpsuit at Bebe.

I need to just sit down quietly with a book .

Once Upon a Readathon/48 Hour Dark Experiment Update

2011-07-13T23:33:00.000-07:00

I finished , so I only completed half my goal for the read-a-thon, though I did make strong headway into . And got in a good hour of reading at the doctor's office (I hate you HMO's.)

The Dark Experiment was really necessary, despite a freak-out on the second night when I got stressed about work and compulsively surfed for like 4 hours. I got no sleep, but found out that Vin Diesel is NOT gay, and IS a dad. (Take that, boyfriend, for trying to ruin my raging crush on deep-voiced, beefy men.)

Going dark was like a reset - I learned to curb unnecessary email checking and blog reading. I'll host another internet fast in a few weeks so we can all join in!

***
Krispy, Ani and I are going to the Harry Potter premiere tomorrow night!!! Photos and probably videos will go up.

Snitches Be Crazy: Harry Potter Exhibit Opening

2011-07-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

making friends in line

Krispy, Karyn and I waited over 2 hours in line to get got our cosplay on at Gallery Nucleus's Harry Potter exhibit opening.

We played the Bertie Botts WORST GAME EVER - each bowl had identical jelly beans that were either, for example, Peach...or VOMIT.

I ate:

canned dog food
toothpaste
boogers
centipede

but was lucky enough to miss:

rotten egg
skunk spray

next to a Hermione portrait w/ Luna Lovegood

the Lovegoods, Cho Chang and, um, me

(wait, aren't I supposed to be on a 48 Hour Dark Experiment? Yes I am; I pre-blogged this.)

Once Upon a Read-a-Thon and 48 Hour Dark Experiment

2011-07-09T15:14:00.000-07:00

In an effort to curb my internet usage during Camp NaNoWriMo, I'm participating in

this read-a-thon, hosted by Lori at Pure Imagination, Candace at Candace's Book Blog, and Reading Angel
a second run of the 48 Hour Dark Experiment, my successful internet ban. This one will overlap on Monday and Tuesday.

I'm hoping to finish at least 2 of the books on my currently reading list (look to the left).

I'll come back next Wednesday with an update of how ~~insane I~~ this went.

Anyone want to play along? (If you miss this one, I'll be hosting a more official 48 Hour Dark Experiment in the future.)

prettyGeeky Photoshoot for Gemco Jewelry

2011-07-07T14:50:00.000-07:00

I feel like a Greek goddess from my novel

In April I did a photoshoot for Gemco Jewelry, an awesome family-owned retailer here in SoCal.

We found photographers prettyGeeky through the power of the internet - fellow writer Lori's sister is one half of this down-to-earth photography duo.

prettyGeeky scouted amazing locales:

a helipad on the rooftop of a luxury downtown L.A. apartment, where we were shut down by security
a secluded cove on an Orange County beach that slowly flooded us out of our location

For more photos, including a behind-the-scenes breakdown, check out "G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S", prettyGeeky's blog post documenting our shoot.

50 degrees and high winds, but so worth it

Camp NaNaNoWriMo

2011-07-05T18:22:00.000-07:00

It's finally here! Camp NaNoWriMo is the summer version of our yearly rough draft-fest.

July is the beta month (intrepid inaugural campers like me will be reporting bugs - not the Edward Cullen but the interwebz-ruining kind).

August will be fully functional.

You can follow my progress at: YellowTypingFiend, but I'll probably take 2 months to hit 50K. Stupid computer strain.

Or send a care package (the Camp NaNoWriMo gear benefits the Office of Letters and Light, which runs NaNoWriMo and ScriptFrenzy.)

Anyone going to camp with me? If there's anyone in SoCal who wants a writing buddy, I'm happy to organize a coffeeshop/Panera Bread gathering.

Boba 4 Life!

2011-07-01T08:08:00.000-07:00

Accent vlog with Krispy concludes with read-alouds from Imaginary Girls and White Cat - plus a lesson in what to call your grandparents in Taiwan Mandarin. Watch for the spontaneous hair change!

Catch Part 1 here

You So Have An Accent

2011-06-29T13:05:00.000-07:00

Krispy from a Nudge and I did a Tumblr accent challenge!

You know how you never think you have an accent when you do? Well mine is kind of awful.

(I also clearly had too much sugar. No more Boba 4 EVAH)

Otto the (Dead) Bunny

2011-06-28T17:00:00.000-07:00

Week 2 of radio interviews features doctoral student and rabbit lover Karyn, who only has photos of her first bunny, Otto...dead.

Catch Part I on Broadcastr - Karyn visits the rabbit show (they have those!) and brings a (live) bunny into Starbucks

Part 2 below and on Broadcastr "Why is Karyn Holding a Dead Bunny?"

<p>&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;</p>

Catch Week 1: My Little Pony Forever

In My Mailbox #3: Demons, Time-Travelers and Anti-heroes

2011-06-26T11:11:00.000-07:00

...aaaand 3 months later, I've finally won enough books for a third In My Mailbox, hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren inspired by Alea

Damned Busters: To Hell and Back (Fantasy) by Matthew Hughes from Deranged Book Lovers
Demon Hunting In Dixie (Paranormal Romance) by Lexi George from the always helpful Guide to Literary Agents
Before Ever After (Literary) by Samantha Sotto from Goodreads

Samantha Sotto is a ridiculously sweet author who supports fellow writers unequivocally and has amazing blog-commenting/visiting skills. I'm so thrilled to own a copy of her book before its August debut! Visit her site to get to know this adorable writer before she gets big and out of our league. ;P

It Gets Better

2011-06-23T00:13:00.000-07:00

I watched this while repeating, "Not going to cry." By the middle I was crying - especially when Jay Asher came on.

The young me could have desperately used this message, so this is what I tell young people now that I'm fogey enough to be a mentor.

My Little Pony Forever

2011-06-21T02:48:00.000-07:00

I'm bringing radio back!

Every hipster who listens to NPR (or if you're a local Angeleno - Morning Becomes Eclectic) raise your hand.

I LOVED the radio segment of journalism school and while I was in Charleston on my Grand Ol' South Tour, I interviewed Rebecca Enzor about a certain, um, ~~insane fetish~~ lifelong passion: My Little Pony collecting.

People - this girl paid for her wedding with My Little Ponies. Listen below or at Broadcastr.

For more on Becka's love for the Pone, visit her own post.

Hopefully the Last Eight Questions You'll Ever Have to Read

2011-06-17T01:33:00.000-07:00

I'm finally caught up on memes! Tagged by one of my gal-boyfriend's, Ani, who's also my blip.fm DJ :)

If you could go back in time and relive one moment, what would it be?

The moment I stepped onto the UCLA field where we shot First Daughter with Katie Holmes. Hundreds of extras and a hired band were waiting for us and one of the extras with a painted face kept yelling, "Sophia-mia, stand next to me-a!" It was the one time in my life I felt like a movie star.

If you could go back in time and change one thing, what would it be?

I would have fought to get back the $6000 my talent manager stole from me.

What movie/TV character do you most resemble in personality?

In the industry, I was called the Asian Gilmore Girl. Some people have also said Drew Barrymore.

If you could push one person off a cliff and get away with it, who would it be?

Don't "they" say pushing your wrongdoers off the cliff won't make you feel better? (or would it?)

Name one habit you want to change in yourself.

staying up way too late

Describe yourself in one word.

Ha!

Describe the person who named you in this meme in one word.

Gal-boyfriend.

Why do you blog? Answer in one sentence.

I like having a place to curate my photos. :P No, I actually would be a lonely hermit without the writer's community I've discovered through blogging.

Feel free to steal this meme!

Wordless Wednesday: Princess of Nashville

2011-06-15T01:03:00.000-07:00

at Hot & Cold, another Bongo Java production

Teaser Tuesday: Vampire Crush

2011-06-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.

"We'd better get. But y'all have a nice night," I say. Apparently, fear turns me Texan.

Location 1330, Kindle
Vampire Crush by A.M. Robinson

June/Gay Pride Music Crush of the Month: Lesbians Who Look Like Justin Bieber

2011-06-09T14:27:00.000-07:00

Happy Gay Pride month!

My June music crush is Dani Shay, whom I discovered first on Krispy's blog. She not only looks but sings like Justin Bieber, except her voice is a little deeper. Tee.

Dani is first in line of a whole slew of lesbians who look like Justin Bieber. The facebook group was taken down, which is just stupid, so click the link if you like girls who look like boys. But let me warn you, these hotties are heartbreakers!

There's even a barbershop quartet of LesBiebers*:

*I coined this - attribute me, all me

Top 10 Tuesday: Favorite Book Settings

2011-06-07T04:03:00.000-07:00

hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

Favorite Book Settings

1. Sitia
from Maria V. Snyder's Study and Glass series (I like it better than its northern counterpart, Ixia)

2. Hogwarts

3. Forks, WA
Because vampires everywhere else will eat you.

4. La Push, WA
Because you might run into these guys:

5. The A-list's Los Angeles
No matter how much authors fictionalize Hollywood, the real thing is always more frightening

6. Bon Temps, LA
Home of Sookie Stackhouse

7. the insane billionaire's bunker in Maine
from Kelley Armstrong's Bitten (Otherworld #2). Even though it's a creepy paranormal experiment lab, this setting is so well-realized it sticks in my mind.

8. Cambridge, MA
from Ellen Wittlinger's Love & Lies: Marisol's Story - brings back Harvard nostalgia

9. The Big Woods
from the Little House series - I still like the first novel best, before the locusts, crop failures, diseases, and long winter

10. NYC
from Melissa de la Cruz's Blue Bloods - vampires AND money. It can't get any better.

Incriminating Photos of Wolves and Models

2011-06-05T09:00:00.000-07:00

Juliana tagged me!

You guys must hate me for the awards and memes I pass on - but I seriously like finding out about you. No need to tag others if it's too bothersome!

Do you think you're hot?
is there ANY way to answer this without sounding either conceited or low on self-esteem?

Upload a picture or wallpaper that you're using at the moment.
I used to exclusively use Twilight-themed wallpapers until a student caught one on my laptop of the shirtless wolfpack in jorts. Now I use inspirational writing quotes like this one:

When was the last time you ate chicken meat?
Dinner last night at a local Japanese curry joint - I added chicken to the eggplant pasta. We used a Groupon, of course.

The song(s) you listened to recently.
Colbie Caillat's "I Never Told You" - I like to torture myself

I also listen to the music links @ThatGirlAni shares on Twitter.

What were you thinking as you were doing this?
"Crap I didn't even finish the last meme Ani tagged me for and now I'm publishing this one..."

Do you have nicknames? What are they?
Some college people still remember me as Shorty - or even older - The Purple Streak. (because of my hair)

Tag 8 blogger friends...
1. Sarah Skilton
2. Krispy
3. Ani
4. Lori M. Lee
5. Theresa Milstein
6. Heather Says
7. Mrs. Pancakes
8. Katrina Lantz

Who's listed as No. 1?
Sarah! She's a model. Look, I have photographic proof (she's gonna kill me for posting this)

Arm. Warmers. we are soulmates

Say something about No. 5
I wish Theresa was my mom.

How did you get to know No. 3?
I think from Bluestocking's blog and being Lori's CP. We're SCBWI LA members who haven't met yet - Ani you going to the schmooze this week?

How about No. 4.
Bluestocking's CP right? And her sister did my photo shoot.

Leave a message for No. 6
Girl, you need to call me for some catch-up. Better yet - do you vid chat?

Leave a lovey dovey message for No. 2.
I'm forever grateful for your generous nature in inviting me into your circle of friends, without whom I would be a hermit who hated L.A.

Do No. 7 and No. 8 have any similarities?
They're both married.
And...
I'm going to have to find out - they're relatively new blog friends.

Proud Posts: May Video/Photo Recap

2011-06-03T12:02:00.000-07:00

“Share your favorite post from the last month and tell us why it’s close to your heart!”

This month's blogging took SO MUCH TIME - it was all visual/video. Two posts I put a ton of work into are:

Boba A Go-Go! APA Month Vlog - my first ever video blog with Krispy

and

Grand Ol' South Tour: Nashville - the photos of me and my 'Sis' make me so happy

May/APA Music Crush of the Month: Bruno Mars

2011-06-01T19:32:00.000-07:00

It may be June, but APA month continues here at Sophia the Writer!

Peter Gene Hernandez is Filipino and Puerto Rican, one of my favorite mixes (Asian/Latin, that is, not specifically Flip and Boricua.)

I was obsessed with his song "Grenade" this month. I-would-die-for-you love gets me every time.

Boba a Go-Go! APA Month Vlog

2011-05-31T01:41:00.000-07:00

It's here! Krispy and I on camera together for the first time answering reader questions and showing off weird human tricks. Plus, the unofficial boba champion of Southern California...

The Asian's Guide to the South

2011-05-30T13:37:00.000-07:00

Hello Intrepid Asians!

You may at one time find yourself venturing into the deep interiors of America, wondering what the heck you're doing there and if you'll make it out alive.

I have gone South...and returned, bearing photographs aplenty.

Here is a truth-tell of how to experience the South as a Yankee, a city slicker, and - of course - an Asian.

GENERAL
Shame on you Los Angeles and New York. The South beats you by spades in politeness. One creepy thing Southerners do is look you in the eye when they speak to you! Like they actually care that you're a human! What is that?!

CHARLESTON
Nervous about landing in a state that proudly flies the Confederate flag? "Chas" is a bit of an uncomfortable place to be Asian - because you'll be the only one. In EVERY SINGLE place you visit. We definitely received double takes and awkward stares. Fun place to see American history, but lacking greatly in diversity.

NASHVILLE

New blog friend Joy is moving to Nashville, and I'm happy to report that the music capital is a fairly comfortable place to be Asian. The 3 colleges, including nationally known Vanderbilt, brings in enough hipster-wannabes that you can pretend you're in Venice, CA. Nobody bats an eye when you walk into a restaurant, and you can even play Spot the Asian about once a day.

Grand Ol' South Tour: Nashville

2011-05-24T15:11:00.000-07:00

Family

From Charleston we flew to Nashville to see my childhood friend that I call my little 'Sis'.

It was AMAZING to see her in the city she's adopted for the last 5 years, and to finally meet her boyfriend. We're both far from family and having a sister for a few days filled a wonderful place in me.

We checked out the art fair at Centennial Park, which also sports a full-size replica of the Parthenon. Local high schoolers were taking prom photos that day so we joined in.

reliving our high school musical days

At night we created my Mii so we could...play the Michael Jackson dance game on the Wii of course.

Food

Vidalia onion rings at Burger Up

their Bongo Java brand coffee is like crack

lunch on our last day

housemade salsa & chicken salad

Sis' front porch, right before the every-13-year cicada plague.

Next up on the tour...Graceland!

********

Don't forget to Ask Your Asian! Ask me or Krispy anything and the Asians will answer in an end-of-May vlog.

Magnolia Plantation and Fort Sumter

2011-05-23T03:17:00.000-07:00

Charleston: Touristing

We toured the Magnolia Plantation, which they've renamed the "Garden", and I swear I found Bon Temps.

Having a Sookie moment


Having a Snow White moment

Then we hopped a ferry to Fort Sumter, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired.

bridge to Mount Pleasant ferry dock

You did NOT put a Confederate hat on my Yankee head

inside the Fort

********
Don't forget to Ask Your Asian! Ask me or Krispy anything and the Asians will answer in an end-of-May vlog.

Ask Your Asian: APA Month

2011-05-20T01:45:00.000-07:00

Happy Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month!

Because of the Grand Ol' South Tour I didn't get to post about this until now, but it doesn't matter because May is not the only month I rock my Asian heritage.

To celebrate, Krispy from A Nudge In the Right Direction and I will be your Asian ambassadors. Send us your questions about anything Asian from why Korean girls get eye surgery to what Krispy and I consider our ethnic identity. We're spilling our yellow secrets!

Our Q&A will debut at the end of the month...in VLOG form. That's right, we're putting our moving pictures into the interwebz. It sounded like a good idea at the time. I blame Ali Cross.

Leave your questions in the comments and stay tuned for more Asian-American goodness, including the Asian's Guide to the South.

*UPDATE* Apparently you can ask us anything. We'll respond. Maybe in Chinese.

Wordless Wednesday: Gals on a Charleston Porch

2011-05-18T00:12:00.000-07:00

Becka and I did NOT mean to match

See more from the Grand Ol' South Tour

The Grand Ol' South Tour

2011-05-16T13:39:00.000-07:00

why do tall women wear heels?!?

When I told my very urban, very ethnic friends I was venturing into the South, the #1 question they asked is: "Why?"

Because I'm the kind of person who will fly across the country to meet someone from the internet. Yup, the answer is super creepy.

Rebecca Enzor is one of my CPs and she's incredibly sweet!! She gave us a great list of restaurants and activities, and her husband even cooked amazing food for us. I also discovered she is incredibly tall.

CHARLESTON: The Food

bread pudding at Glass Onion

housemade butter at Husk

okra!

Five Guys Burgers

woah they don't have THIS flavor in Cali fountains

Sweet and Bitter...But As Long As I Look Good

2011-05-13T15:52:00.000-07:00

Damn that boba after 9 p.m.

Krispy and I had milk tea last night during the Bloggerpocalypse and I was up until past 5 again. There goes the extra hours from my east coast jet lag. I will blog my trip soon!

Thank you Susan Oloier and Kristine Asselin! I'm so glad to have met you both. :)

I'll point to my previous posting of this award for people I've tagged. The rules seem to have morphed, and now I'm supposed to tell you 7 more things about myself. (Because that last 7 wasn't enough.)

I was so cheered when some of you said my life was cool after my 7 random facts LOL. I enjoy it a lot but I also deal with some annoying chronic issues. Ironically, many of them have to do with sugar...

I have hyperinsulinism/hypoglycemia. It's a huge f$*#ing issue in my life - it prevents me from signing up for anything that would keep me from food for more than 3 hours. I constantly have to think ahead to my next meal and my hours revolve around the question, "When did I last eat? Where can I get food?" I get headaches and shakes all the damn time. I come from a diabetic family on both sides, so it's not a surprise, but it's a big fat hassle. To this day some people think it's psychological, including my RN stepmom. And I'm not ruling that out. But seriously, I eat six times a day and I weigh just a little over 100 pounds. I don't think that's psychological, otherwise I'd be a millionaire with my diet plan.
I've been insomniac my whole life. My mom says I was even a night owl baby. I had a rough childhood and I could barely sleep at night as a kid. Even now my mind races and I have to take muscle relaxants if I'm expected to get up early the next day.
Part of my difficulty sleeping has to do with my hypoglycemia. If I'm too hungry, I can't fall asleep or stay asleep. I get this light, tingly feeling in my arms like I'll float away. My issues are all related. Fun!
I'm prone to day-long migraines that sometimes don't stop with Motrin, but miraculously disappear when it hits 9 p.m. or later. Like I said - night owl.
After two car accidents and a lifetime of computing, my neck is janky. I have a hard time finding pillows and I have to switch pillows 2 or 3 times a night. These days I'm using a rolled up towel.
Because I danced my whole life and have a weird gait, I developed recurring bursitis in my hip in my early 20's, ending my aspirations to be a pop star backup dancer. I did end up dancing professionally anyway (HUGE redemption!), which I'll blog about one day.
I have extreme myopia (almost legally blind) and SPK, which is a severe dry eye. I drop my eyes twice a day to produce more tears and I have to be careful when wearing contacts, which sometimes hurt. I've worn glasses since I was 8.

As you can see, my body is a hot mess, but heck, as long as it looks good then I'm still smiling! :)

That's the L.A. mantra at least. And now it's time to go eat my afternoon snack.

Wordless Wednesday: Mid-Air

2011-05-11T02:46:00.000-07:00

from my window
en route to Charleston

Follow Friday: Character To Date and To Be

2011-05-06T01:48:00.000-07:00

Q. Circle time! Time to share. What character in a book would you most like to be, what character in a book would you most like to date?

To Date:
In modern times - Lucas Cortez, my February Book Crush of the Month
In ye olde times - Devlen Daviian from (the goddess) Maria V. Snyder's Study Series

To Be:
Paige Winterbourne - she's a Harvard-educated witch...who's married to Lucas Cortez
or
Renesmee Cullen - even though I hate her and her name even more, everyone loves her and I would finally end up with Jacob

***
Hi New #FF! I'm on the Grand Ol' South Tour this week, so it might take me a few extra days to follow you back but I WILL get to all of you!

Wordless Wednesday: Like a G(6)

2011-05-04T01:11:00.000-07:00

Heading South with the Boyfriend

2011-05-02T01:11:00.000-07:00

Let's go Vin; my ex Dwayne looks mad!

A girl can dream, can't she? :P

Although my real boyfriend looks nothing like these hulking specimens, he is taking me across country on a Grand Ol' South Tour to visit Rebecca Enzor in Charleston and a childhood friend in Nashville who swears there are Asians at Vanderbilt.

As requested, more pics of the photo shoot last week are coming. For now, I'll leave you with another outfit that didn't make the cut - the beach bridal look:

I'm on a Photo Shoot

2011-04-29T03:45:00.000-07:00

I'm modeling jewelry!

It's been a crazy, packed week chasing down makeup artists and zipping myself into countless dresses. The whole team didn't think we'd get it together in time, but as creative endeavors often do, everything came together in the end.

Last night I was on a rooftop overlooking downtown L.A. Today I'm crouching against rocks at the beach in Orange County, hoping the tide doesn't sweep me away.

Here's a dress that didn't make the cut, but is fabulous:

In addition to this shoot, my a capella group is taking official photos tomorrow. And I still have to work then pack for a weeklong trip - that begins Monday morning.

AAAAAAAHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....

He Bear, She Bear: How Competition Made Me Read

2011-04-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome new followers from Goodreads and #FollowFriday! I'm overjoyed to be in the triple digits.

And welcome if you've surfed over from Lisa and K!

Today I'm guest blogging over at Baffled Books about pesky genius cousins, the dreaded "competition" that scares writers, and the Berenstain Bears. All related.

For new readers: I grew up in New York and I live in Los Angeles. I hate driving but I've gone too soft to withstand snow any longer.

Here's a handy guide to what I blog about:

Dogs, including mine
Book or music crushes of the month (still looking for April...)
Teaser Tuesdays
Lessons I've picked up on this journey toward publication
my previous life as an actor and dancer (a.k.a. the cooler days)

Posts that people like are on the left sidebar. Feel free to Twitter or Goodreads me. It's been such a pleasure getting to know everyone!

Teaser Tuesday: The Novice

2011-04-26T01:23:00.000-07:00

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.

The scholar grinned. "You need a good memory to use the library. How else do you find a book again after you've read it?"

p. 100
The Novice by Trudi Canavan

My Playlist and Author Obsessions

2011-04-22T15:46:00.000-07:00

I LOVE this week's questions!

Q. What is on your current playlist right now?

Bruno Mars "Grenade"(hardcore stalkery love gets me every time)Leona Lewis' latest album(esp. "Happy")Jessie J (this woman is a musical genius)

"If you find a book you love, do you hunt down other books by the same author?"

This is EXACTLY how I like to read. I become a fan of an author, not of individual books. Here are some authors that I will read ANYTHING by:

Maria V. Snyder

Alice Hoffman

Jessica Day George
Shannon Hale
Kristin Cashore

As you can see, the genre I author-stalk in is YA high fantasy, which is also what I love writing in as well.

All My Women Boyfriends (and 7 Random Facts)

2011-04-21T02:53:00.000-07:00

Thank you Angela Perry!

The rules for this award are

Thank and link to the person who nominated me.
Share seven random facts about myself.
Pass the award along to 15 new-found blogging buddies.
Contact those buddies to congratulate them.

7 Random Facts About Sophia

I am certified in canine behavior from the ASPCA in NYC. I've worked with everybody from Rottweilers to Pomeranians. I've even taught a shelter dog to moonwalk on command.
During the week I shared a makeup trailer with Katie Holmes (I sat in the next chair), I learned that her life was quite normal (she was with Chris Klein at the time.)
I'm learning to beatbox (at a glacial pace) at the request of one of my a capella group members.
My mom once met director Ang Lee and went on an on about me. She must have been memorably pushy because when I met Ang Lee a few months later, he said, "I remember your mom."
I was Jackie Chan's interpreter when he came to Harvard as a guest and there's a photo of us in the Boston Globe laughing. I had to get up at 4 a.m. to go to the airport to meet his private jet (Zhang Zhiyi was on it, sleeping) and I got to ride around campus in his limo all day with his entourage.
Number of times I've thrown my back out in a dance-off at a club/party: 2
Number of times I've split my pants dancing at a club/party: 2

(Number of parties/clubs I've danced at in the last 6 months: 0)

15 ~~Gals I Swoon Over~~ New Blogging Buddies

Cindy Pon Even though she's published and famous, she's sooooo down to earth. Sometimes I pinch myself and ask, "Is the popular (mom) girl actually talking to ME?" Plus she likes Betsey Johnson.
Jo Whittemore Another uber-published author that fangirls like me can talk to. Even when I gush like this about them. She likes Betsey too.
Krispy My new boba/burger buddy
Alz My new boyfriend (in my mind)
Samantha Sotto This is one of the most supportive authors I've ever blog-met - Sam comments on blogs like a fiend. And is super cute. Just sayin'.
Ali Cross Ali is the ninja of networking and another great commenter. Join the dojo.
Lola Sharp Lola gives good virtual hug. What more can you ask for?
Miranda Kennealy is not just an author but also a super smart D.C. politico who gets my Yale (sucks) jokes. SEXY.
Ellen Oh is the Don - she just got a 3-book deal. Can we all sigh jealously now?
Ani I'm STILL hoping to see this cool chick at a local SCBWI event soon :D
**this blog friend is award-free** :(
Summer Frey can probably found her own networking dojo :)
Kristine Asselin another super supportive author (I was lucky enough to win a most excellent query critique from her)
Joy Page Manuel kind of defines versatile (she has a Masters in Sociology)
Sarah Skilton I was supposed to meet Sarah IN REAL LIFE this week but my stupid body barred me with a migraine and I am now hunting her down to meet IN REAL LIFE asap. Kind of because I can't believe how cute her blog photos are and I want to see this in person. I will report back (with photos if she lets me.) (And if this post hasn't freaked her out.)

As you can see, I crush very easily on fellow writers, women, and bloggers. If you're a friendly woman writer/blogger, it's all over. I will be your loyal boyfriend for life.

Teaser Tuesday: Picture Perfect

2011-04-19T15:12:00.000-07:00

There was, really, nothing you could use as a blueprint for your life, except your past.

p. 395
Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult

It's Over, Marcus Mumford (Though I Still Love You)

2011-04-18T16:02:00.000-07:00

Boyfriend: Did you notice Marcus sings out of the side of his mouth sometimes?
Me: Really? I was too busy noticing how the light makes his eyes twinkle.

This week my boyfriend delivered the second half of his Valentine's gift: a trip to Vegas to see Mumford & Sons.


the keyboardist showing that accordions rock

I had this plan to dress super hawt so that Marcus Mumford would pick me out of the audience to marry him.

Then I found out the concert was outside. On top of a pool. (With a cover on it.)

Jeans and a scarf it is.

We were one of the only 2 Asians and everyone was ginormously tall so I mostly watched them on the screen that broadcasts to the Strip.

my future husband

He played the accordion with his tongue and I nearly fainted.

But THEN.

He came back for the encore and he was SMOKING.

It is so over, Marcus Mumford. ::crying::

***

It's my actual boyfriend's birthday - we'll be steaking out tonight!