Win a FREE copy of Give Up the Ghost, by Megan Crewe!

Both Judith and I are part of the Class of 2K10, the debut YA & MG author group. One of the neat things about 2K is we get to support other YA authors. Megan Crewe is a part of the Class of 2K9. Her debut novel Give Up the Ghost was an enchanting read. I adored the sister relationship in the book. Plus, I do love a great ghost story. So it's very exciting to be able to share this author with Wolfy Chicks readers. As an added bonus Wolfy Chicks will be giving away a never been read copy of Give Up the Ghost. All you have to do is comment on this post. We will pick a winner on Thursday, October 1st. So give a big Wolfy Chicks howl to author Megan Crewe!

1.What projects are you working on / have published?

My first published novel is coming out September 15th--GIVE UP THE GHOST, a young adult paranormal. It's about a teen outcast who uses the secrets her ghostly friends dig up to take on the popular kids in her school. Then the popular student council vice president comes to her for supernatural help, and shakes up everything she thought she knew.

2.What's your "road to publication" story?

I'd written a number of books before GHOST (I started writing novels in my early teens), but GHOST was the first one I really felt was ready to go out into the world. I queried several agents and got an offer of representation. After minor revisions for my agent, GHOST went out to editors. We had a few close calls (editors who loved the book but couldn't get all the okays they needed) and a chance to revise and resubmit. After the revision, we ended up getting two offers!

3.Why YA?

I love writing about teens because it's such an emotional and exhilarating time in people's lives. You're figuring out who you are and who you want to be, and experiencing a lot of things for the first time. It's exciting writing about characters going through all that.

I also love writing *for* teens, because I think you'd be hard-pressed to find more devoted readers. I never loved books quite as much as when I was in my teens, and I'm sure it's the same for many other people as well. I hope that my books will leave readers thinking and feeling the way so many books did for me when I was a teenager.



4.Best writing advice you've heard?

Read. Write. Revise. I'm not sure who first said it, but my high school creative writing teacher wrote it on the chalkboard at the beginning of the year, and I couldn't agree with it more. It's so important to know what's already out there, and you can learn so much about story-telling and prose from reading other books. I encourage aspiring writers to read outside their preferred genres, too, because you never know what will inspire you. And of course you have to write. The best way to get better at writing is to keep doing it. Practice makes perfect? And finally, I know a lot of people avoid revising heavily because it seems like a lot of work and it's not as exciting as creating that first draft. But I think it's incredibly rare that anyone tells their story the best possible way the first time. There are always things you can do to make it stronger--and why wouldn't you want to tell your story in the strongest possible way?

5.What inspires you?

Everything! Ideas can come from so many places--things I've seen, overheard, read about, or some random place in my unconscious. But mostly I'm inspired by other art. Particularly forms of storytelling--books, TV shows, movies. I see storylines and characters and wonder what if one element was used in a different way, or transplanted into a different setting, and that'll start the creative gears whirring. I find I get a lot of character ideas while listening to music, too. And striking visual art can bring a whole story to mind.

6.Did you write stories as a teen? If yes what has/hasn’t changed?

I've been writing stories since I knew how to write! :) I finished my first full-length novel when I was 14. What's changed is that I've experienced a lot more and gotten a lot more practice at writing, and I think my writing's grown tremendously since those early novels. What hasn't changed is that I'm very dedicated to my writing. I set aside time for it every day and make it a priority in my life.

7. Describe your office/workspace/writer’s cave.

One third of our bedroom is my "office" space. I have all my reference, young adult, and speculative fiction books on shelves here, along with my desk and desktop computer, and the comfy chair in which I write on my laptop. I always write on my laptop to get away from the distraction that is the internet. The area's usually something of a mess--mail and notes scattered on the desk and the shelves--but I still manage to get plenty of work done.

8.Who is your favorite character in your work? Why?

I love all my characters, but I'd have to pick Cass as my favorite. After all, she's the one who inspired me to write her story! I love her sense of humor and her prickliness and the vulnerability underneath. And I loved seeing her grow throughout the story.

Thanks Megan for hanging out with us. If you want more Give Up the Ghost check out the book trailer!



Check out her website www.megancrewe.com and her blog www.megancrewe.com/blog

Moon and Werewolf

Why do you think the moon plays such an important role in the werewolf lore?

Is it because it's the "symbol" of night?

What are your thoughts?

We'll give you ours in a couple of days...

Mark your calender September 30th

Wednesday, September 30th we are featuring YA author Megan Crewe!!! Her debut novel Give Up the Ghost , is part of Class of 2K9, our sister class! We're interviewing Megan, and wait for it... and giving away a copy of her NEW BOOK!

I'm about half way through it and I love it... You couldn't claw my meathooks off my copy, so the lucky winner of will get their very own brand spanky new hardwcover copy. So give a big Wolfy Chicks Howl and spread the word about the giveaway and Megan's book. We will be drawing a winner from the comments posted from September
30th... If you need practice commenting on our blog, feel free...add those comments, we love comments, comments are our friends...

Gothic-ish Picture Books

There is nothing more captivating for me than a creepy, fun, gothic tale. These stories may come in the form of lengthy adult and young adult fiction novels or in the fantastical illustrations of a picture book. Working as a library technician in an elementary school library, I read a lot of middle grade novels and picture books. This is supplementary to the young adult fiction titles I read/devour - partly because I’m a writer and I need to stay current on YA trends – and more than partly – more like largely, because I LOVE YA fiction.

With my background, both as a library technician and a writer of young adult fiction, I find myself especially drawn to the paranormal / gothic / supernatural-ish MG titles and picture books in my library. It could be considered a bias, but I prefer to call those titles my special area of interest when developing my library collection. And I will admit to ordering a few titles for the library simply because I was dying to read them – but the kids read them, too! My weaknesses are fractured fairy tales – retellings with modern twists. The more unusual, gothic, and dark - the better.

With October around the corner, I’m already planning how I’m going to decorate the library and which stories I’ll do as read alouds to the Kindergarten to Grade 6 students at my school. There are some amazingly creepy (but fun!) tales out there – stories that teens and adults would love as well. I thought I’d share a few of my go-to favourites. Let’s dig into some gothic-ish picture books, shall we?

The Spider & The Fly – illustrated by Tony Diterlizzi. Based on the famous poem by Mary Howit and illustrated in the style of a classic Hollywood horror film from the 20s and 30s – this picture book gets its message across with a haunting cinematic feel. Also Diterlizzi’s website just kicks supernatural butt: http://www.diterlizzi.com/


Beauty and the Beast – retold by Marianna Mayer with illustrations by Mercer Mayer. While this is definitely a longer picture book, a title that I might divide into several library storytimes – it is perfect for a leisurely escape when you might need a little magic and romance in your life. A mixture of black and white ink drawings and full colour paintings, combined with rich, gothic text – this book is the epitome of cool. And it was published 1978.



Cinderella Skeleton (or Cendrillon Squeletton) - by Robert D. San Souci with illustrations by David Catrow: I first saw the French edition of this title (I work in a French Immersion school) and immediately had to order the English version so I could read it to the students without burning their ears with my horrible French accent (I read / listen to and understand enough French to get by, but speaking it? Not so much.). The illustrations are fabulous. Strange and eerie. Yet who couldn’t sympathize with the poor wraith who lives in the “…third mausoleum on the right…”



Snow White in New York – by Fiona French. Set in New York during the 1920s great Jazz age, this is an art deco, poisoned-cherry cocktail of a take on the classic story. It starts with a very hip first line and pulls you into a glamorous, dame of a tale. “Once upon a time in New York there was a poor little rich girl called Snow White.”



Princess Florecita and the Iron Shoes – by John Warren Stewig with illustrations by K. Wendy Popp. This Spanish fairy tale harkens to Sleeping Beauty except it’s all girl power as, thanks to a little black bird, a maiden learns of an enchanted sleeping prince and sets off in a pair of iron shoes to rescue him. The illustrations are dreamy – full of fog and muted pastels. Love it.




The Tailypo: A Ghost Story – by Joanna Galdone with illustrations by Paul Galdone: This book simply must be read aloud. It’s truly frightening in a fun, engaging way. Kids love this story and will often ask me to read it again and again. I made the mistake of dimming the lights in the library when I first read it to a grade 3 class (just before Halloween). The next day a parent called to tell me her son had nightmares. Oops. Now when I read the story, I make sure to give a little preamble about it being fiction and just a fun scare – and I leave the lights on. Just goes to show that a well written book published in 1977 can captivate (perhaps too well) today’s youth.

I think I’ll stop there, but I hope you’ll track down these titles. Please share any of your own gothic-ish picture book favourites - I’m always on the lookout for more of these spooky reads.

Wolfsbane, Monkshood, Aconitum= werewolf lore?

A common flower? Or a way to become a werewolf…just another piece in the werewolf lore puzzle.


“Even those who are pure of heart, and say their prayers at night, can become a wolf, when the wolfsbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright.” Quote written for the Lon Chaney Jr. Werewolf movies.

In Freaksville, my lycans are born not bitten, but they go a bit deeper than that. You'll have to wait until book two to get more details. (Sorry to be a tease.) This is the same in Judith's Under My Skin, her wolven are born. However, she takes it a step further and has werewolves that are created in interesting means... I don't want to post spoilers so you'll just have to trust me.

So the question: Do believe werewolves should be bitten, born or made by other means?

Regurgitated cover art

I never forget a face...your name, maybe, sorry, but never your face. It's etched into my mind, just like my characters are. So when I saw this cover for North of Beautiful, I knew I had seen the face somewhere before...



It was on the cover of Evermore by Alyson Noel.



It's the same girl. The cover artist for Evermore used a color wash and added the tulips. The original photo can be view on wwww.veer.com. It was taken by a professional photographer Zen Shui. Veer is a site where graphic artists can purchase stock images. The problem is that image can be resold over and over.

However, in the case of these two book cover, they are the same model yes, but they both have a very different feel. I'm not sure most people would notice. Both covers are extremely well done and do work well for both genres. I think it's fascinating how the same image can be used different ways. It is sorta how two people could read the same book and get different things from it.

We're mentioned in Publisher Weekly!

OMG! I about fell out of my chair when I read this email from my editor. I have to tell you my fingers are still shaking as I type this. So excuse any typos!!!

Judith and I along with a few other of our publishing mates are listed in Publisher Weekly spring updates! (Our titles were bumped to 2010 but still it's very cool!)


"We're itching for spring to arrive with Under My Skin by Judith Graves, in which a girl must control the beast that waits under her skin; Freaksville by Kitty Keswick, in which four teens become trapped in a haunted theater; Island Sting by Bonnie Doerr, an ecological mystery about saving the endangered Key deer."

Also just to show you how spazy I am. My publisher is listed in 2010 Children's Writer and Illustrated Market Guide (CWIM) and I bought the book ($29.95) because Freaksville was mentioned on page 167. They forgot my name but said it was a YA paranormal romance laced with humor. I'll take what ever I can get. They didn't mentioned the werewolves but, hey that's okay! . It's finally feeling real...January is almost here!

UMS is worth the wait!!!

Waiting on Wednesday! Well good things are always better in pairs! Judith's book Under My Skin (A major fabu read, I might add.) Is featured on Butterfly Book Reviews Waiting on Wednesday blog. We've been WOW'ed!! Check it out!


http://butterflybookreviews.blogspot.com/2009/09/waiting-on-wednesday-under-my-skin-by.html