Playlist

I have a book playlist! 

For an author, a book playlist is a kind of soundtrack to their book - it could be songs that they listen to while writing, songs that inspire particular scenes, or songs with themes or lyrics that resonate with the book. 

One of my current projects is a young adult urban fantasy fiction. I'm trying a new working style for this book (pantster* as opposed to plotster**) and I'm noticing lots of differences - characters doing whatever they want, twists jumping out of nowhere, book dreams, and yep, for the first time, a book playlist! 

* Pantster: Finding out what happens as you go, writing "by the seat of your pants."
** Plotster: Planning / plotting the book out before writing.

So, here are five of the songs from the playlist for my current work-in-progress:

1. Yep, the MC's a bit of a badass:



2. And cute-guy-with-a-secret needs a theme song, right?



3. Here comes the fantasy element:



4. And talk about your romantic melancholy:



5. Save the world? Get revenge? Fall in love? Hey, I'm a pantster this time: I have no idea! 

May is New Zealand Music Month, so I'm going to round off my five song book playlist with this from Kiwi band The Peasants:



It's very cool to be able to add a new dimension to the work with music, and I'll definitely aim to be back to update the playlist as the book takes shape :)

Keep kicking ass!

Bake That Book (That Teenage Feeling)

A huge thank you to Sarah from That Teenage Feeling. For her meme "Bake That Book" she takes her inspiration from YA, and this week? It's The Jelly Bean Crisis!

Everything is possible!

Changing Teams

Zombies Vs. Unicorns by Holly Black, Justine Larbalestier, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Maureen Johnson, Carrie Ryan, Scott Westerfeld, Meg Cabot, Garth Nix, Kathleen Duey, Margo Lanagan, Naomi Novik.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I went into this book as a reader with boxfuls of MLPs. Sure, I’m scared of horses, and pretty sure my parents’ Shetland is trying to kill me. But unicorns? Sign me up! Team Unicorn all the way.

Now, I don’t know whether it’s the love-story-heavy Team Zombie, or the high-ick-factor on Team Unicorn, but somewhere early on in this book, I realized that I have grown up, moved on... and changed teams. I’m now a Zombieland, The Forest of Hands and Teeth, Hollowland kind of girl.

Between the gorgeous undead love stories, heart-breaking end-of-days dramas and skull-cracking comedies, I’m sold. (But I think I’ll hang on to that box of MLPs, just in case ;)).

My favourite stories? Love Will Tear Us Apart by Alaya Dawn Johnson, Bougainvillea by Carrie Ryan, The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn by Diana Peterfreund, Inoculata by Scott Westerfeld.

Cover: The Jelly Bean Crisis

A huge thank you to all the bloggers, readers, tweeters, and absolute sweethearts who made Cover Reveal Day so awesome! I am grinning like a mad thing from all the AMAZING things people have said about the cover :). 

(Some of my favourite quotes? 
"HOLY SMOKES! That cover is gorgeous!" "It’s RAINING jelly beans!!! Come ON! *dies*" "Wow, I fell in love with the synopsis and I pretty much knew that the cover would rock." "Definitely my favourite cover (and title!) so far this year."... Actually, my favorite quotes might have to become a whole blog post!!! :P)

The book launch is August 1, and the blog tour is August 6-11. Sign up now!


Everything is possible!

If Dreamhunter was a cake...

Dreamhunter by Elizabeth Knox
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Very Inception. Delicate and beautiful imagery. I was nearly 300 pages in before I realised that there hadn't been a love interest! And I still didn’t care! Lucky for me I have the sequel, because I really want to know what happens next!

And if Dreamhunter was a cake? It would be a raspberry lamington – delicate, intricate, deceptively easy, smooth, and (surprisingly) Kiwi.

One more week of NZ Book Month - have fun :)

Everything is possible!

NZ Book Month: Thunder Road

Thunder Road by Ted Dawe

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

New Zealand YA fiction. Dark and shaken. Love the male POV, the Kiwi slang, the overall themes and feel of the book, and I really liked the ending. The content (drugs, cars, gangs) just made me sad... I guess I don’t mind crying over zombies and romance, but wasted lives just rark me up!


It's New Zealand Book Month! If you're in New Zealand, get your NZ Book Month voucher ($5 off your next book store purchase) here.

Everything is possible!