Monthly Archives: September 2010

Teen Reader Awards & Best Book from September

So, the Teen Reader Awards (a poll run by the Canadian book chain Indigo — ah, I used to spend many an afternoon at Chapters & Indigo) have been announced.  Over 300,000 people voted.  Way to go teens for supporting literature! So who won you ask? Here are the results:

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The Cybils 2010

Nominations for the Cybil awards begin October 1st. Wait — you don’t know what the Cybils are?  Well, it says it in the picture: Chidren’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards. Essentially, we the people in order to form a more perfect union…  No wait, that’s the Declaration of Independence (why do I still have [...]

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The Native Star: a book recommendation

5 out of 5 stars. I happened upon M.K. Hobson’s The Native Star quite by chance, and as a steampunk fan and steampunk writer, I gave it try. Then I fell in love — with the world, with the main character, with the contagonist, with the plot… Emily is a California backwoods witch trying to [...]

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Music for the Masses

I’m a musical person.  I listen to music for artistic inspiration; I listen to music to keep my exercise stamina strong; and I listen to music because I like it.  Duh. When people share music with me, I enjoy that — even if I may not like the music they suggest, I still appreciate the [...]

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Oktoberfest: Evidence in Pictures

And so the intrepid warrior returns from her foray into the jungles of Bavaria.  What did she discover?  Delicious Bier and lots of Spaß.

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Road Trip Wednesday: Blast from the 19th Century Past

Thanks to that gals at YA Highway for this blog prompt. If you could travel back to any historical era for research purposes, which would you choose? Definitely late 19th century United States — specifically, 1876 Philadelphia.  Boy oh boy do I wanna see the International Centennial Exhibition that’s the back drop for Eleanor’s story.

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Writing Self-Esteem (the search for confidence continues)

I read this blog post by Juliet Marillier (one of my favorite writers when it comes to romance and love), and it inspired me to follow up on an old post of mine. Writing Self-Esteem. We all suffer from highs and lows, and not even the writes who are multi-published, have quit their day job [...]

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Dragonsong: a book recommendation

5 out of 5 stars. I thought I’d bring back an old classic: Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonsong. It was one of the first novels I read in which I truly connected with the protagonist.  I didn’t just sympathize or care about Menolly’s story, I understood it. No, I didn’t live with dragons growing up.  And no, [...]

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Connecting Online with YA Readers (part 3)

Okay, one more installment on the young adult (YA) internet wielders.  After contacting my teenage spy network, I’ve located a few highly entertaining places the tweens and teens and lots of  over-eighteens seem to be hanging out. Um, and I’m hooked now.  Maybe you all are already “hip” enough to be clued into these websites, [...]

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Connecting Online with YA Readers (part 2)

**Note: I’m about to rant some…   Plus I talk in circles.   Sorry…  The thing is, like the poor mommy in the picture above, my feelings on this topic are split. After reading this post by Hannah Moskowitz, I was prompted to take my own recent blog post about YA readers online a step further.  Read [...]

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  • About Sooz

    Hi! I'm Susan Dennard. I'm a reader, writer, animal-lover, and cookie-eater. My debut novel, Something Strange and Deadly, will be available in July 2012!

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