Event Information:
When: May 17th, 9 am to 5 pm
Where: Colony High School 3850 E. Riverside Drive Ontario, CA 91761
This event is a completely free and un-ticketed event! Priority seating WILL be given to teens, but come one, come all! There will also be giveaways and raffles at the Fest, also free! You can visit the website, to see the full schedule of the day by visiting the official Ontario Teen Book Fest website. Books WILL be available for purchase at the event, available from Mrs. Nelson’s Book Fair Company :) They are an amazing company so definitely bring your books from home, but try and support Mrs. Nelson’s by purchasing a book!
Check out the full blog tour here!
Blog Tour Schedule:
May 2nd: Spotlight on Jessica Brody -- What A Nerd Girl Says
May 3rd: Spotlight on Elana K. Arnold -- Nite Lite Book Reviews
May 4th: Spotlight on Catherine Linka – Fangirl Feeels
May 5th: Spotlight on Livia Blackburne -- The Thousand Lives
May 6th: Spotlight on Lauren Kate -- She Reads She Blogs
May 7th: Spotlight on Katie Alender -- Movies, Shows and Books
May 8th: Spotlight on Lauren Miller -- A Bookish Escape
May 9th: Spotlight on Sarah Skilton -- Read Now Sleep Later
May 10th: Spotlight on Lissa Price -- Recently Acquired Obsessions
May 11th: Spotlight on Jessi Kirby -- What A Nerd Girl Says
May 12th: Spotlight on Katherine Ewell -- iFandoms Collide
May 13th: Spotlight on Mary Pearson -- The Windy Pages
May 14th: Spotlight on John Corey Whaley -- Read Now Sleep Later
May 15th: Spotlight on Robin Benway -- Adventures of a Book Junkie
May 16th: Spotlight on Ava Dellaira -- Fangirl Feeels
Spotlight on Lauren Miller:
I grew up in Atlanta. I went to college at Yale and law school at Berkeley, then I got married and moved to Southern California to practice law.
I liked it. But after about a year, I got the itch to be doing something more creative. The itch got stronger. I found myself typing out random bits of dialogue on my Blackberry (remember those?) and pitching story ideas to my co-workers. One of those ideas became a script for a TV pilot. When it didn’t sell, I wrote another one and another one. Soon, I was ducking out of work to go to pitch meetings at studios and networks. It felt like I was getting somewhere.
Then I got pregnant. Unexpectedly. This freaked me out. Not because I didn’t want kids (I did), but because I was afraid (ok, convinced) that motherhood would zap my creative potential.
To prove myself wrong, I resolved to write a novel in the first 100 days of my child’s life and blog about it, an experiment I called “embracing the detour” (if you’re looking for an embrace the detour fridge magnet, I’m your girl. If you’re looking for old embrace the detour blog posts, click HERE). At the time, it seemed like a brilliant idea. Looking back, it makes me laugh at the childless version of me.
Then again, she’s the reason the current version of me ended up with a two-book deal at HarperTeen. And my very first script sale (but that’s a whole other story).
Thanks to to Kristyn Keene at ICM and Sarah Landis at HarperTeen, my debut novel, Parallel, hit bookstores on May 14th. My second novel, Free to Fall, will be out next Spring.
Lauren Miller's Books:
Book Summary:
Abby Barnes had a plan. The Plan. She'd go to Northwestern, major in journalism, and land a job at a national newspaper, all before she turned twenty-two. But one tiny choice—taking a drama class her senior year of high school—changed all that. Now, on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, Abby is stuck on a Hollywood movie set, miles from where she wants to be, wishing she could rewind her life. The next morning, she's in a dorm room at Yale, with no memory of how she got there. Overnight, it's as if her past has been rewritten. With the help of Caitlin, her science-savvy BFF, Abby discovers that this new reality is the result of a cosmic collision of parallel universes that has Abby living an alternate version of her life. And not only that: Abby's life changes every time her parallel self makes a new choice. Meanwhile, her parallel is living out Abby's senior year of high school and falling for someone Abby's never even met. As she struggles to navigate her ever-shifting existence, forced to live out the consequences of a path she didn't choose, Abby must let go of the Plan and learn to focus on the present, without losing sight of who she is, the boy who might just be her soul mate, and the destiny that's finally within reach.
Book Summary:
What if there was an app that told you what song to listen to, what coffee to order, who to date, even what to do with your life—an app that could ensure your complete and utter happiness? What if you never had to fail or make a wrong choice? What if you never had to fall? Fast-forward to a time when Apple and Google have been replaced by Gnosis, a monolith corporation that has developed the most life-changing technology to ever hit the market: Lux, an app that flawlessly optimizes decision making for the best personal results. Just like everyone else, sixteen-year-old Rory Vaughn knows the key to a happy, healthy life is following what Lux recommends. When she’s accepted to the elite boarding school Theden Academy, her future happiness seems all the more assured. But once on campus, something feels wrong beneath the polished surface of her prestigious dream school. Then she meets North, a handsome townie who doesn’t use Lux, and begins to fall for him and his outsider way of life. Soon, Rory is going against Lux’s recommendations, listening instead to the inner voice that everyone has been taught to ignore — a choice that leads her to uncover a truth neither she nor the world ever saw coming.
Interview With Lauren Miller:
1. What do you enjoy most about writing in the Y.A. Genre?
Oh, there are so many things! If I had to pick my favorite, though, it'd be the fact that when you're writing about young adults, you're in the realm of FIRSTS. First loves, first fears, first heartaches, first discoveries. There is something so heightened about the first of anything, and I love that.
2. Who are some of the authors and/or books that inspired you to become a writer?
Oooh, fun question. In some ways, every book I've ever read and loved has been an inspiration. Great books just make you want to write! As for authors, I'd say Judy Blume for sure - I devoured her books when I was young, and I learned so much about voice from her writing. But the book that sealed the deal for me was A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. It only took one sentence for me to fall in love with the story, and by the time I was finished with the book, I'd decided that I wanted to be a writer.
3. What muse(s) lead you to write Parallel? What was your muse for Free to Fall?
I guess I'd say my muse for Parallel was my daughter, who was a newborn when I started writing. In fact, her existence was the reason I wrote the book at all! I was working as an attorney at a big law firm and writing TV scripts on the side when my husband and I found out we were pregnant, and I panicked that I'd never "become a writer" once I had kids (whatever that meant!) So I vowed to turn the first TV pilot I ever wrote into a novel while I was home on maternity leave, and that little project was Parallel. My muse for Free to Fall was definitely The Doubt (readers who've read Free to Fall will know what I mean. Everyone else will just have to read it to find out, ha ha).
4. Is there a message that you were trying to convey to readers when you wrote Parallel and/or Free to Fall? If so what was your message(s)?
I tend to think there are messages in every story, whether or not the storyteller intends for them to be there, and because of that, I am always asking myself, "what are you saying here?" Sometimes the answer is, "I don't know yet!" because sometimes the story itself is the answer. That was very much the case when I set out to write Parallel. I knew I wanted to explore the struggle between free will and fate, but hadn't yet figured out where I came out on the issue. Which is stronger, our decisions or our destiny? Which defines us, our choices or our circumstances? As I got deeper into my story, my answers to these questions started to come into focus for me, and Parallel's "message" -- that it's not one or the other, not fate or free will, but a perfect combination of both -- began to emerge. With Free to Fall, I knew what I wanted to say through my story -- that our best moments aren't always our happiest, and that wisdom and reason aren't always the same thing -- before I'd even figured out my narrative. So yes, messages in both, but I came to them very differently!
5. Is there any book news or teasers that you would like to share with your fans?
Well, I'm working on a third book, another standalone, that I'm incredibly excited about. Like Parallel and Free to Fall, it's realistic fiction with a speculative sci-fi twist. I can't say much yet, except to tell you that the story is told from the point of view of a girl who isn't anything like any character I've ever written before, which makes the writing really challenging and fun.
Oh, there are so many things! If I had to pick my favorite, though, it'd be the fact that when you're writing about young adults, you're in the realm of FIRSTS. First loves, first fears, first heartaches, first discoveries. There is something so heightened about the first of anything, and I love that.
2. Who are some of the authors and/or books that inspired you to become a writer?
Oooh, fun question. In some ways, every book I've ever read and loved has been an inspiration. Great books just make you want to write! As for authors, I'd say Judy Blume for sure - I devoured her books when I was young, and I learned so much about voice from her writing. But the book that sealed the deal for me was A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. It only took one sentence for me to fall in love with the story, and by the time I was finished with the book, I'd decided that I wanted to be a writer.
3. What muse(s) lead you to write Parallel? What was your muse for Free to Fall?
I guess I'd say my muse for Parallel was my daughter, who was a newborn when I started writing. In fact, her existence was the reason I wrote the book at all! I was working as an attorney at a big law firm and writing TV scripts on the side when my husband and I found out we were pregnant, and I panicked that I'd never "become a writer" once I had kids (whatever that meant!) So I vowed to turn the first TV pilot I ever wrote into a novel while I was home on maternity leave, and that little project was Parallel. My muse for Free to Fall was definitely The Doubt (readers who've read Free to Fall will know what I mean. Everyone else will just have to read it to find out, ha ha).
4. Is there a message that you were trying to convey to readers when you wrote Parallel and/or Free to Fall? If so what was your message(s)?
I tend to think there are messages in every story, whether or not the storyteller intends for them to be there, and because of that, I am always asking myself, "what are you saying here?" Sometimes the answer is, "I don't know yet!" because sometimes the story itself is the answer. That was very much the case when I set out to write Parallel. I knew I wanted to explore the struggle between free will and fate, but hadn't yet figured out where I came out on the issue. Which is stronger, our decisions or our destiny? Which defines us, our choices or our circumstances? As I got deeper into my story, my answers to these questions started to come into focus for me, and Parallel's "message" -- that it's not one or the other, not fate or free will, but a perfect combination of both -- began to emerge. With Free to Fall, I knew what I wanted to say through my story -- that our best moments aren't always our happiest, and that wisdom and reason aren't always the same thing -- before I'd even figured out my narrative. So yes, messages in both, but I came to them very differently!
5. Is there any book news or teasers that you would like to share with your fans?
Well, I'm working on a third book, another standalone, that I'm incredibly excited about. Like Parallel and Free to Fall, it's realistic fiction with a speculative sci-fi twist. I can't say much yet, except to tell you that the story is told from the point of view of a girl who isn't anything like any character I've ever written before, which makes the writing really challenging and fun.
Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteYou're Welcome! I'm going to this event on my birthday, so I'm really excited!!!
DeleteWaaaa...I live to far away. I enjoyed the interview with Miller. Thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDelete:( I'm glad you enjoyed the interview :)
Delete