*stops* *gulps in air* *wheezes* *cries*
Sorry; it’s a pretty busy month. That’s kind of just how I breathe now.
It’s a lot of fun and cool stuff, though! So really, I just wanted to chill out for a second and talk about it, because I’m kinda plagued with the feeling at this point that I’ll never get a chance to again because ALL THE THINGS TO DO.
First things first, you might have picked up that I’m blogging for Barnes & Noble now. Which is awesome. I freaking love Barnes & Noble, and I freaking love promoting books, and yes, I even freaking love blogging. (I also really love getting paid for blogging, as it turns out.) So, this is pretty awesome. In case you missed it, my first post went up this week: The Rise of the Unreliable Narrator in YA Lit. In it, I got to rec a few books (none of which I’ll mention here, in case you don’t want spoiled for you that those books have unreliable narrators) and talk a little about what I’ve found to be a fascinating phenomenon in the past year or so, i.e. the search for the YA GONE GIRL. This seemed to be the top of every agent’s wishlist for a while, and I don’t blame them; it’d make a pretty awesome YA. (And, as I argue in the post, I think it already is.)
Here’s the interesting flip side to all that, though: this was the first time I’ve ever been a truly faceless and basically nameless blogger. When I blog, it’s either here, for YA Misfits, or for a friend who asks me to do so on a particular topic. Tweets are “Check out this post by @MissDahlELama” or RTs of whatever I put out there.
This time, there was a lot of “This article.” No name. No knowledge of me. No nothing. Even crazier were the people tweeting it: authors of the books mentioned in the post. Authors I hadn’t tweeted the post to. Authors who just…saw it. Or were told about it by others. I also thought, “Hey, OK, not that many people seeing it – there aren’t even many comments.” And then saw that actually there were a massive amount of likes and comments on Facebook.
For some reason, this sort of terrified the hell out of me.
We’re meaner to faceless bloggers. We just are. We will eagerly talk about how much a post sucks when we don’t know the author behind it, and say how little they know about YA, or what an oversight it is that they omitted X book. I’m gonna be a person that happens to now. And that’s okay. It’s worth it. And I want to learn. And I should know more. And people should be honest about their feelings.
But it was definitely a new feeling.
(And I say this, by the way, as someone who has had her blog posts trashed, and despite the fact that actually this one was really well received.)
Anyway, so that’s a little about that. Next week, I’ll have my second post going up, and spoiler alert: it’s probably gonna make you want to buy some books.
In more fun and exciting news, this coming Tuesday is the cover reveal for BEHIND THE SCENES, thanks to the lovely ladies (particularly MG Buehrlen) of YA Books Central. The cover creating process is definitely an interesting one, especially given that I have zero artistic eye or ability. I don’t know what I expected, but I know it wasn’t what I got, largely because I never would’ve been creative enough to come up with it. So, I’m excited to talk about all that after the reveal, and I hope everyone else appreciates just how much the cover will stand out on shelves as much as I do!
Finally, back to blogging, here’s a bit more about what’s up:
Today, I’m on YA Misfits, talking to superstar literary agent Sara Megibow about what she’s looking for, and why she’s adamantly putting herself out there as an LGBTQ-seeking agent. It should surprise approximately no one that I think this is an awesome thing for agents to do, because the effect it can have on what people write that they might previously have been afraid to try can be huge. There’s no question that both YA and NA (oh God, especially NA!) need more QUILTBAG lit, and anything that helps make that happen is absolutely fantastic in my eyes.
Next week, I’m back here, with a weeklong miniseries of Dahlia’s Top 10 of 2013. Most of the books will probably be glaringly obvious, given how much I’ve raved about them in the past few months, but a few haven’t gotten as much attention from me as they’ve deserved, and I’m psyched to revisit them. But whether you think you know what they’ll be or not, I highly, highly recommend stopping by each day, because the series has a little something extra that you’re definitely gonna wanna check out.
The week after that, I’m participating in the 2013 YA Superlatives blogfest, because I really, really like talking about books, and I hope you’re doing it too! That means I’ll have a blog post up every day, and actually, I’ll have two on Tuesday the 17th, because as you may have noticed, I’m a sucker for Broke and Bookish’s Top Ten Tuesdays, and “Top 10 New-to-Me Authors I Read in 2013” is just not a topic I can skip!
And, because, honestly, the 2013 version is still probably my favorite post on this blog, you can definitely expect 10 Blunt Messages on the Eve of 2014 at some point.
What’s keeping me busy otherwise? Quite a bit ๐ Currently awaiting line edits on BEHIND THE SCENES, drafting its followup (which I won NaNo with, helping me along a lot), and drafting a NA contemp I’m hoping to be the thing I finally self-publish. (You may have read the first five pages in WriteOnCon.) It’s been pretty cool watching all those green progress bars in the blog margin move. (UtL = the BtS follow-up; LWaT = the NA, which is actually at almost 70K after last night.)
And, of course, reading. Alllllways reading. Currently AMY & ROGER’S EPIC DETOUR by Morgan Matson. Next up? Still not sure, but I’ve got a billion new books at home and I’m hoping to fall in love with one!
So, that’s what’s up. Sorry if you’re sick of my voice; it’s gonna be around a lot this month!
Now you’ve got the Counting Crows going through my head! Fortunately, it’s a good song b/c I think it’s going to be stuck in there for a while.
Congratulations on your B&N gig! You’re just rising right up through the on-line book world.
Oh, and your most recent posts definitely made me want to buy a few books. I think I’ll wait until all 10 recommendations are out and then choose where I want to start.
The “search for the YA Gone Girl” reminded me of something. I think it was a contest entry although I don’t remember what contest it was. You tweeted about it…it sounded amazing. I wanted to write it down and sort of keep an eye out for it, in case it got published someday. But I can’t remember the name or the writer! Do you remember by any chance?? I want to say it was described as Gone Girl & something else, and it was about a girl who was in a music classroom & there was a shooting and her family had to relocate after. The first 250 was about her throwing something away in a garbage can after moving?? (My memory is usually better than this…)
Anyway. Very exciting about blogging for B&N! That’s awesome!
I LOVED Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour!
I don’t think I could ever get sick of you! And I’m super excited about Behind the Scenes!
You haven’t talked about macarons lately though…haha ๐ Ulta has a new shower gel out with pictures of macarons on the bottle, but spelled macaroon and it smells like macaroons. I didn’t end up getting it.
Yesssss that manuscript was by Amanda Panitch, and it was freaking EPIC. She is A) awesome and B) now repped by Merrilee Heifetz at Writers’ House; definitely keep on keeping an eye out!
And thank you!! Sad about the shampoo; it had so much promise ๐ฆ
I actually have been trying to cut down on macarons because they’re insanely expensive and I was spending a weird amount of money on them. But my birthday is next month, so when it comes, I MAKE NO PROMISES.
Thank you sooo much! I tried googling it and came up with nothing. I am definitely going to keep an eye out for it! I remember thinking it sounded awesome. Thank you again – it was driving me crazy that I couldn’t remember!
Haha – It’s your birthday, treat yourself! ๐
Awesome! What a cool thing to hook with B&N. I know you’ll do great and look forward to what you write. I’m curious. I know you are deep into YA, but are you expanding into NA now too for reading/reviews/etc? (I might have missed this…sorry if thats the case)
Congrats!
JM
Thanks, JM! I’ve actually always read NA; I posted about it back in…I want to say 2011, maybe? But there’s definitely been a lot more of it out there this past year, which means there’s a lot more to talk about! (And it’s actually what I used to write when I was actually *in*, though if you ever read any of my posts about the first manuscript I queried, you’ll see why that didn’t quite pan out!)
I could never get sick of your voice, Dahlia–it’s way too smart and sweet! I’m so happy for you that your reputation is taking you to more and more places and even getting you a paycheck. ๐ How cool is that? Way cool. GOOD FOR YOU!
Aw, thank you so much, Gayle!! That means so much, especially considering all the great things I’m hearing about your book/voice lately!
Yay! I’m so glad you’re going to join us for the Superlatives Blogfest! Also, I can’t wait to see the cover of BEHIND THE SCENES. I have a feeling it’s going to be fabulous. ๐
Yay, I’m excited! Still trying to cram in a few more books from this past year before I solidify for good! And thank you; I hope so!