Ego is here!.

Our good friend and fellow book lover Keri Neal has written her first Ebook.  YAY Keri we are so proud of you.  Please visit the link above and when you finish reading let us know what you think!

CONGRATS Keri!

I (Kim) was able to join in on a twitter chat yesterday with Maggie Stiefvater in celebration of her new book The Scorpio Races being released.  I wanted to share my part of the chat with all of you.  As you’ll see Maggie is awesome when it comes to answering fans.

Enjoy:

@mstiefvater what excites you most about sharing #TheScorpioRaces with us all?  #askmaggie

@MysticLitLounge I really, really want readers to love Thisby, the island. I want them to miss it when the book’s done. #askmaggie

@mstiefvater To whom or what do you attribute your creativity?  #askmaggie #askmaggie

@MysticLitLounge That’s hard to answer in a tweet! It’s curiosity, I guess. Always asking ‘what if?’ #askmaggie

@mstiefvater So do you know everything about a character before you even write him/her?  #askmaggie #askmaggie

@MysticLitLounge Oh, if only. I find out a lot in the first 10,000 words, which is why I hate my books until then. #askmaggie

@mstiefvater Have/would you ever co-author a book? #askmaggie

@MysticLitLounge Hard to imagine . . . I spend so much time daydreaming core scenes, what if they didn’t mesh? #askmaggie

@mstiefvater YES graphic novel pweeeeeeeese. #askmaggie #askmaggie

@MysticLitLounge Hahahha! I have an idea and sketches but the idea’s just not DONE yet. #askmaggie

@mstiefvater #askmaggie Are you going to be involved in the movie at all? #askmaggie

@MysticLitLounge Not in the Shiver movie, no. That might not be true of all projects, but definitely for that one. #askmaggie

@mstiefvater #askmaggie That just doesn’t seem right.  How do you give up your story for interpretation?  #askmaggie

@MysticLitLounge That’s pretty much the standard for Hollywood. Only very rarely does an author get consultation. #askmaggie

@MysticLitLounge In all fairness, most authors are too close to the project to be a good interpreter for films. #askmaggie

@mstiefvater #askmaggie I’ve found Lament at half price books, does that offend you? #askmaggie

@MysticLitLounge Nope. If I don’t love a book, I’ll send it on to the library. I’m not offended the same happens to me. #askmaggie

@mstiefvater #askmaggie When you write do you have to have a large chunck of time or does a few mins here and there work? #askmaggie

@MysticLitLounge I do it whenever I can. I do need to have an hour. And my music on. And no internet. #askmaggie

@mstiefvater #askmaggie how long does it take you to get in the zone to write on average? #askmaggie

@MysticLitLounge I can jump right in if I know what I’m writing. If I don’t know … I need to brainstorm, not write. #askmaggie

@mstiefvater #askmaggie would you ever write a non YA PR? #askmaggie

@MysticLitLounge Possibly? Far more likely than me ever writing something without magic in it. #askmaggie

@mstiefvater #askmaggie BTW I’m dloading #TheScorpioRaces right now into my Audible app #askmaggie

@MysticLitLounge OOOH I hope you like it. I hand-picked the narrators. #askmaggie

@mstiefvater #askmaggie How do you know when a book you are writing is finished? #askmaggie

@MysticLitLounge Hard to put into words. It FEELS done. The emotional arc of the characters is complete. #askmaggie

@mstiefvater #askmaggie Do you read blog and listen to podcast reviews of your books? #askmaggie

@MysticLitLounge I used to, but it’s impossible now. So often I’m in planes/ airports/ bad internet. They take too long to load & listen to.

@mstiefvater #askmaggie You are a wealth of knowledge and creativity Miss Maggie.  You must know you are VERY loved! <3 #askmaggie

@MysticLitLounge *grin* I love my readers back. You have good questions! #askmaggie

@mstiefvater #askmaggie What is your fav time and place to write? #askmaggie

@MysticLitLounge I like to write at night when the e-mails start slowing down, and on my couch with my headphones on. #askmaggie

@mstiefvater #ask maggie do you know if you will be coming to Austin or Dallas soon? #askmaggie

@MysticLitLounge Not this year, but possibly next year. Hopefully not when it’s 104 degrees. #askmaggie

@mstiefvater #askmaggie Amen Sister! #askmaggie

@mstiefvater #askmaggie How long did it take you to write your first novel? #askmaggie

@MysticLitLounge 1 month. That was back when I was 13 and wrote crappy novels. It does not take long to write crappy novels. #askmaggie

@mstiefvater #askmaggie LOL Ok revise that, make that first published novel. #askmaggie

@MysticLitLounge Haha, four months for the rough draft. #askmaggie

WE MET THE ONE AND ONLY MAGGIE STIEFVATER!!!

Shannon and I were joined by our friends Jen and Christine.  We arrived around 5:45 and grabbed a third row seat.  I actually expected more people to show up. But we were lucky in that we didn’t have to wait in line so long and we got to chat a bit with the Magic Mrs S for a bit.  She was great.

She came out just a little past 7 and started talking and telling us some great stories. Telling us about her travels with Shiver, stupid cab drivers in CA, and a bit about little neurotic young Maggie.  She even read from Linger for us.  It’s awesome to hear an author read their own work.

Listen Here:

Then she gave us an opportunity to ask her some questions.

Listen Here:

We then got in line to wait for our opportunity to tell Maggie how much we love her and grab a pic or two with her.

Maggie we love you and wish you all the best.  We can not wait for Forever and the next chance to meet and chat with you again.

~Kim and Shannon

Aprilynne Pike you are a talented writer! You brought us a twist on the faerie world with Wings. A gal that didn’t know she was a faerie.  You brought us an awesome love triangle! We love your style of writing and they way you whisk us away to a land of magic and danger.  We eagerly await Spells. I personally can not wait to find out what happens next!

Thank you Aprilynne!

Today we appreciate 2 more authors that brings us very different views on the paranormal.

J.R. Ward is the author of the wonderful Black Dagger Brotherhood and Fallen Angels series.  If you were left feeling like you missed out on the Twilight Series, Ward doesn’t disappoint with Wrath, Rhage, Tohment, Zsadist, Phury and Vishous who make up the Brotherhood and rule the Vampire race.  Thank you J.R. for bringing us these wonderful characters who are complex, strong and each have a soft side.  The love between Wrath and Beth is one we should all strive to have.

Alyson Noel Brought us Damen and Ever. A love story that lasts lifetimes. She brought us the love of Tulips. Her twists on the immortal is something that we’ve never seen before. Alyson, you are so very talented. You have a great way of telling a story. You also have such creative names for your characters. I, Kim, am having a hard time getting Damen and Ever out of my head. I keep wondering what will happen next. Thank you so very much for sharing this story with us and could you please hurry up the next book release?

~Shannon and Kim

Day 3 brings us two more of our favorite authors whom we would love to show our appreciation too.

Suzanne Collins With your Hunger Games series you thrilled and excited us.

We love you for:

• Peeta
• Katnis
• Gale
• Prim
• Rue
• The love triangle
• Giving us someone to root for
• Giving us such an entertaining series

We hate (in a playful way) you for:

• making us choose between Peeta and Gale
• making us sad
• leaving us hanging!!!

Thank you for your beautiful mind. Thank you for writing and sharing this story with us.  We truly appreciate you! And can NOT wait for Mockingjay!

Bree Despain‘s first novel The Dark Divine is a mysterious tale of a boy who disappeared and then reappeared almost 3 years later.  Daniel’s disappearance left Jude and Grace Divine with lots of questions and doubts, but Grace’s affection for Daniel leads her to find out what happened between him and  her brother Jude.

Bree’s love of writing started in school when she would write for her friends and her teachers told her she should be a writer but really didn’t think she could.  She went to college with thoughts of being a lawyer or something to that affect and put writing on hold until she took a year off and wrote plays for inner city youth and it spurred her to write again.  A car accident made her believe that life was too short not to do what you love and six years after the anniversary of the accident The Dark Divine was released.

Bree thank you for bringing us the mysterious world of Grace, Jude and Daniel and by all means keep writing.

Today we want to appreciate 2 more of our favorite writers.

Maggie Stiefvater Maggie brought us Sam and Grace through her novel SHIVER. She shows us what life long love is all about. Not to mention werewolves are involved. A whole pack of them.  She totally swept me, Kim, into this world of coats and scarves and mittens. Hoping the temps won’t fall below 34.  She makes us long to find a yellow eyed creature to connect with. One that shows us how to use our senses on another level than we’ve ever used them before. For me, she’s made me view the fall and winter in a whole new way! We are looking forward to LINGER, next in the series.

Thank you Maggie. We love your stories!

Becca Fitzpatrick‘s first novel Hush, Hush drew us into the world of Nora and Patch, Fallen Angels, murders, kidnappings  in a cold and foggy town in Maine.  Becca grew up reading Nancy Drew novels under the covers when she was a kid and developed her love of mysteries and storytelling into a wonderful career as a writer.  Becca, your characters bring mystery and romance to your novel. That’s part of the reason we appreciate you. Your story hold much intrigue for us reading it and it’s hard to put your book down.  Thank you for letting us into this mysterious and dark world and giving us hours of enjoyment, anticipation and love.

The sequel to Hush, Hush, Crescendo is due out in November of this year, We can not wait to see what happens next for Patch and Nora.

Thank you Becca.