Advice I Would Give Teen Me

Posted by Suzanne Lilly
Twitter @suzannelilly

When I was a teenager, I was addicted to Dear Abby’s advice column. Friendship on the rocks? She could tell you how to repair it. Boyfriend lying to you? Dear Abby could fix it. Family troubles? Her advice would steer you on the path to recovery.

Looking back, some crucial personal advice never appeared in the Dear Abby columns, or perhaps I missed those posts. If I could stretch my magic wand back in time to give the teen me advice, this is what I would say.

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Don’t rely on your friends to validate who you are.

I used to think my friends’ opinions were all that mattered in the world. If someone said something bad about me behind my back, I was shattered. Now I know that we all are unique. No one can be everything to everyone. All I should do is be the best person I possibly can, and my actions will validate who I am.

This too shall pass.

A friend and coworker of mine had this philosophy on life, and many times events proved the truth in this adage. No matter how bad or how wonderful things may seem at the moment, they will pass. Something new will come along. So hang in there! This too shall pass.

Be smart! Study hard and your brains will take you far in life.

I knew I was smart in high school, but I wasted my smarts trying to get into “fun” classes. I took an interior decorating course, in which I discovered I’m color blind, I took music classes out the wahoo, and machine shorthand. That’s those little machines court reporters tap on during trials.

I thought it would be so glamorous to sit in a courtroom all day and transcribe notes each evening.

Mmhmm.

I even thought that might be the way to meet the perfect man.

Double mmhmm. (You may stop laughing now.)

As a result, when I went to college, I had a rude awakening and had to take remedial courses in math and science to get up to speed on my general education. Don’t be afraid to be smart in high school! Smart women have more opportunities in life. That leads me to my next point.

Make your vision for your own future and go for it!

Whatever you want to do in your life, whatever you dream, it’s possible. Plot out the steps to actualize your dream and take those steps, one day at a time. Before you know it, your dream will become reality. Remember, even the inchworm crept onto Noah’s ark, one tiny step at a time.

How about you? What advice would you give to your own teen self?

My Summer Reading List

Summer officially kicks off every year for me with the last day of school. So, to be fair to summer, or in full disclosure or something, I'm going to give two lists. The books I HAVE read this summer and the books I have on my TBR (to be read) pile as well as on hold at my local library. I'm thorough like that. LOL This month has been a YA summer of awesome so far and it's only June. I've read and enjoyed the following books abundantly. (One less than the others, but that's a preference thing). OK! Here they are: 1. Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris 2. Embrace by Jessica Shirvington 3. Unraveling Isobel by Eileen Cook 4. Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins 5. Deadly Cool by Gemma Haliday 6. The Body Finder by Kim Dertling 7. Endure by Carrie Jones 8. Spellbound by Rachael Hawkins 9. Spellcaster by Cara Lynn Shultz 10.Hourglass by Myra McENtire 11. Die for Me by Amy Plum 12. Until I Die by Amy Plum 13. Desires of the Dead by Kim Dertling On my immediate to read pile is: 1. Arise by Tara Hudson 2. Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake 3. A Need So Beautiful by Suzanne Young 4. Rapture by Lauren Kate 5. Wicked Business by Janet Evanovich 6. The Last Echo by Kim Dertling 7. Timepiece by Myra McEntire 8. The Last Rite by Lisa Desrochers Obvi these 8 won't last me all summer, but I still have a shelf of cozy mysteries a dear friend sent me when I decided to write one earlier this year. I love all their quirky titles. And another load of romances I've scored this year attending writers conferences. So, when the YA runs out (as if) I have other genres I will dive into. Honestly, I'm such a Word Nerd, I read cereal boxes at breakfast if I didn't bring my Kindle to the table. True story. I just love words. If you read YA and are looking for some summer suggestions, I loved all the ones I read so far this summer. They're unique, some para, some angels, some time travel, sci-fy Ex-Files-style, lots of romance, evil pixie kings, and a couple YA mysteries too. Hope your summer is filled with thousands of fabulous words. Happy Reading! ~Julie

The Two Cat Paradox

Normally, I write this blog post from the couch in the living room with my cat curled up around my ankles or on top of the keyboard. Today? Nothing. She's not even in the room. Why?

We got another cat. A little Siamese. Up until a couple days ago, she was quarantined to our guest bedroom and had a relatively small impact on cat #1s life. Then we let her out.

Cat #1 is the kitty who they coined the term "fraidy cat" about. If we move the couch, she'll spend a week terrified to go near it. So she's hiding. In the back part of the house where it is safe and cat #2 can't get her.

Why might cat #2 try to get her? Well, the new addition is anxious for a playmate and used to being around other cats. She's gotten to close a couple time and been hissed out. Which scared her. So she's upstairs under the bed in guest room. This leaves the main part of our house free of any pets.

Apparently 1 cat + 1 cat = 0 cats.

I've been tempted to get a third just to see what happens, but my husband claims the universe implodes at that point, so we'll probably stick to just the two.

You never know though. He might forget about one of them if we go long enough without seeing it. 

Cozy Mystery Summer Cooking and Reading

Posted by Suzanne Lilly
Twitter @suzannelilly 
I'm normally not a big mystery reader, but I've recently been getting more into cozy mysteries and psychological mysteries. I'm a quirky customer, though. For me to love a mystery, it has to have humor along with the grit. If food is involved, it's a bonus. Harlan Coben is one of my favorites, and I recently discovered Judy Alter when she did an interview on my blog. Her book No Neighborhood for Old Women fit the bill in the mystery/humor department.

The story is full of colorful characters, and by colorful, I mean literally. Keisha arrives at work each day with spiked hair of multiple hues, flaming turquoise skirts with matching shoes, or flowing scarlet tops. She has a no nonsense attitude that grounds Kelly O'Connell, the heroine and real estate agent/sleuth.

Kelly has realistic relationships with the people in her life, including her two young children, imposing neighbors, and a love interest with police officer Mike Shandy. She connects with everyone over food and wine, loosening lips enough to figure out who the serial killer in the neighborhood is that's targeting women living alone.

The thing I liked best about this book is there are no kick-ass heroes or heroines. Everyone is just as ordinary as the people on your own street. This is a mystery that could happen in any town, any state. Those are the kind I love. I find them to be the most unnerving, because they're so close to reality.

Judy Alter loves cooking and food, so it's no wonder she describes mouthwatering dishes in her novel. When Kelly O'Connell served her mother King Ranch Chicken, I had to go pull Judy's cookbook with this recipe off my kitchen shelf. I haven't made it before, but it's on my menu for this week. It's a spicy chicken dish made with Rotel tomatoes, one of my pantry staples. I'm going to try it in the crockpot to keep the kitchen cool.

Image by leoslo on Flickr.

Judy also loves Craftsman homes, and her heroine has similar taste in architecture. About 1/4 of the way into the book, I had to do some research to find out what makes Craftsman homes so charming. Oh my. The pictures are so wonderful. I think a Craftsman may be my next dream home. It's a design popularized in the early 1900s, and incorporates natural light and plenty of wood features throughout, such as pillars and built in cabinets and bookshelves. I recognized the style right away from our own historic town district. 

Image by Susan_W on Flickr.

In the meantime, I'll keep reading and cooking, too. As a matter of fact, one of my new favorite summer recipes is going to be on Judy's Potluck blog on Sunday. It's a tortellini spinach salad that's cold and refreshing and hearty enough to satisfy the Mike Shandy in your life. Serve it up with a light white wine, or as Mike would prefer, a beer.

If you like cooking and food, you might also enjoy these recipe posts on our blog:

Spring Recipe for Leg of Lamb

Lucky St. Patrick's Day Recipes

Fun Things to Do With Girl Scout Cookies

Hatch Green Chile Days Ahead

Post-Weekend Blues

How many of you were hoping that you'd wake up to discover it was Satuday again? I know I was. Mondays tend to give e a case of the blues simply because I hate the fact that it always feels like my weekend was wasted.

Every week, I make a list of the things that I'd like to accomplish over the course of those two days, and each week I come up short. The garden still isn't planted, the entry way still doesn't have a fresh coat of paint, and the kitchen still isn't clean.

What I did manage to accomplish this weekend, though, was to test out a couple recipes and spend some time with my family. Neither were on my list. Both are extremely important.

What was or wasn't on your list this weekend?

Cover Reveal of Shades of the Future

Posted by Suzanne Lilly
Twitter @suzannelilly 
It's here! The cover reveal for Shades of the Future, the newest Honey Creek Book due out July 2012.

I'm doing a simultaneous cover reveal here, at the TeacherWriter blog, on V. B. Tremper's blog, and on my Suzanne Lilly author webpage. Thank you to Kim Jacobs for designing such an eyecatching cover.

You can be one of the first to read an excerpt from Shades of the Future by sending a blank email to shadesofthefuture@gmail.com. 

What would you do if you could see your future? Would you try to change it? What if you couldn't? Sometimes this thing we call "the gift" is really a curse.

Mariah Davis loves animals, running, and her hunk of a boyfriend, Kevin Creamer. Everything looks bright for her until the day she finds a pair of sunglasses that allow her to see the future.

When she glimpses a disaster looming, she tries to avoid it but fails. She has a car accident that lands her in a wheelchair, smashing her hopes for a running scholarship to the veterinary program at Ohio State University. She pushes Kevin away, thinking he’ll want to end their relationship now that she can’t walk.

Will she ever learn to trust and love again? She could search for an answer in the sunglasses. But she’s afraid what they reveal might destroy her. 

I'll be on book blog tour in July and August, and I'll be giving away a pair of designer sunglasses to one lucky commenter. Subscribe to the blog so you'll be able to follow me on tour and enter every day to win.

Wishing you many hours of happy reading!

Summer Reading List

A few weeks ago, Jennifer shared her summer reading list. So I'm cheating this week and sharing mine. You might notice a few small differences. First, mine is less AP English homework and more fun reading. Mine also includes some strange books that you might not think would end up there.

1. At Last by Jill Shalvis
2. Summer Days by Susan Mallery
3. Bunheads by Sophia Flack
4. Just Your Average Princess by Kristina Springer
5. Underworld by Meg Cabot
6. Bolshevik Revolution by Edward Carr
7. A Rose for Melinda by Lurlene McDaniels
8. Let's Pretend this Never Happened by Jenny Lawson
9. Calico Joe by John Grisham
10. Hard Country by Michael McGarrity

What's on your list?

Katy Perry, Blue Hair, and My Personal Success

Posted by Suzanne Lilly
Twitter @suzannelilly

I'm sporting a new hairdo today. It's fluorescent blue over my normal golden highlights. To be totally honest, I'm at the age where women don't dye their hair fluorescent colors, or wear blue wigs, unless they're named Katy Perry. I'm not trying to be youthful, or outrageous, or pretend I can sing like Katy. I was forced into turning my hair blue.

What do you mean, I don't look like Katy Perry?

You see, I'm a middle grade teacher. As such, I'm always trying to instill a love of reading in my students. Last summer, I read The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller. She inspires her students to read forty books in a school year, and with her system, she inspires teachers everywhere to do the same.

Last August, I informed my students we would all be reading many, many books in fifth grade. I gave them the forty book goal, and several of them slapped their hands on their foreheads. A few doubled over in pain and turned ashen and pale. The anguish in their body language was no worse than if I'd stabbed each of them with a hypodermic needle. A horse sized hypodermic needle.

But by the end of October, everyone was getting into the groove of reading, and many students were on fire. By the end of December, a couple of students had already met their forty book goal. They asked, "So what happens when we pass our goal?"

Obviously, I didn't want them to stop reading just because they'd met the mark early. So I did what all teachers do in that kind of situation. I made something up.

"There might be some reward in it for you."

"What reward?"

"I haven't decided yet."

"Didn't you dye your hair blue one year when a kid in your class read a bunch of books?" One particularly attentive student asked the question I hoped no one would bring up. Her words hung over our desks, swirling in the air like a swarm of blue flies.

I cleared my throat. "Ahem." I slurped a drink of water. Stalled for time.

"Why yes, I did dye my hair blue. But it was for reaching an incredibly high goal. I'm certain no one in this class will be able to meet it."

"How many books do we have to read to get you to dye your hair blue?" For the first time this year, all eyes in the class were on me, and all ears were listening attentively.

I picked a number that seemed too high for even the most avid reader to attain. "One hundred books."

A whoosh went round the room. Everyone sucked in their breath except for the attentive girl who remembered my blue hair from three years ago. She stood up.

"I'll do it." Now all eyes turned to her. She squared her shoulders and stood up straighter. "I can do it. I'll just read a little bit longer each night. I can finish sixty more books by June."

As the year continued, many more students made it to the forty book mark. June 6 came around, and I felt secure in the sense that my student wouldn't make it to one hundred books. After all, on Monday she had only read ninety-seven. But on June 7, she came to school proudly brandishing Book #100 over her head.

"I finished! I got up this morning at 5 a.m. and finished the book!" She smiled her most angelic smile. "Now will you dye your hair blue for me?"

That kind of dedication and fortitude, not to mention love of reading, has to be rewarded. So that, my friends, is why I'll be wearing fluorescent blue streaks in my hair. Who knows? I may decide I like the look and keep it for a while. It worked for Katy Perry. It worked for me. It got my students to read well over 1,000 books this year. That's my personal success.

If you liked this post, you might also enjoy:

The Battle of Katniss and Bella

Would You Rather Be...A Ninja or a Pirate?

Good, Bad, and Ugly Book Titles

Lori Foster's Get Together 2012

If you didn't get to attend, we missed you. It was a jam packed weekend and I was lucky enough to spend some time with fellow Creekers Julie Anne Lindsey and Maggie Greene.

Here are a couple of pictures:

Maggie, Julie and Me during a signing on Friday night. We'd all just driven in since none of us live in Cincinnati. I feel like a beached whale (pregnant) while the other's look wonderful!  Both girls were so kind and gave me baby gifts. Thank you ladies!

Here we are again with out Honey Creek Editor, Wendy. Again, ignore the pregnant lady. Not my best look! Saturday proved to be a very long day and I was ready to hit the hay. I'm not sure if you can see, but Julie is wearing a Honey Creek shirt. I won't tell you how she got it but keep in mind next year that if you really want to win the HC basket, you have to put in more tickets than her!

It was really great to meet everyone and to reconnect with Julie. This conference is a great one to get your feet wet on if you are a writer and new to the scene. Registration usually opens in January and it sold out this year within weeks! So keep an eye out for our tweets or posts so you can snag a spot next year.

We're Back...

From the Lori Foster Reader and Author Get Together! Myself and a bunch of other authors and readers spent the weekend in a hotel outside of Cincinnati hanging out, chatting, and generally enjoying ourselves. The best part? The Honey Creekers finally got to meet!

Maggie Greene, Julie Ann Lindsey, and Jennifer Anderson

We only wish Suzanne had been able to make it to the conference so we all could have been together. Our fearless editor, Wendy Williams, and amazing publisher, Kim Jacobs, were also there. I'm sure pictures are floating around, but I can't find them at the moment.

If you get a chance, you should come to the Reader Author Get Together next year or find a similar event near you.

Were you there? What was the best part?

The Perfect Man, an Audi, and Chocolate

Posted by Suzanne Lilly
Twitter @suzannelilly

This week I read an article Amy Copperman wrote for the online magazine Divine Caroline, called "The Perfect Man." In it, she lays out a grocery list of qualities The Perfect Man should have, according to recent research by Austin Reed. It’s even laid out in a handy format which you can print out and take with you to the grocery store. Or laundromat. Or wherever you might hope to meet this elusive man.

This led me to…

Click on the Austin Reed link, thinking I was going to see the details of a weak research study. Instead, I ended up on the Austin Reed menswear webpage. It’s full of suits the previously described Perfect Man would wear, modeled by similar Perfect Men.

Which led me to…

My own research project on Google to find out how many people use the search term “The Perfect Man,” as opposed to “The Perfect Woman” or “The Perfect Date.”

This revealed…

“The Perfect Man” beat out the other search terms by 16 to1. Stay with me, this story is going somewhere.

This led me to wonder…

Which search terms might beat out “The Perfect Man?” Perhaps “chocolate?” I added “chocolate” to the search. It beat “The Perfect Man,” 60 to 1. Yipes! Are more women searching for chocolate than are searching for men? Could that be a question for the Would You Rather game?

This offhand thought led me to…

Entering the search term “Audi,” because according to Ms. Copperman’s article, The Perfect Man drives an Audi.

Sure enough, “Audi” beat out “The Perfect Man” 80 to 1. Loosely translated, women are 80 times more interested in a man’s Audi, and 60 times more interested in how much chocolate it can hold in the trunk, than they are in the man himself.

I know, it's silly, right?

Advice to men, according to Ms. Copperman’s article, is that you can’t go wrong if you drive an Audi, dress in a sharp suit, drink beer, and enjoy watching soaps. Then I clicked on an article link in the Google search results.

Which led me to…

Isaiah Mustafa, the Old Spice Man. He rides a horse or drives a motorcycle in the commercials and doesn't drive an Audi. He doesn’t wear suits. I’m pretty sure he’s not drinking beer while he watches soaps. All that research was for naught, because we all know how Isaiah Mustafa made sales of Old Spice skyrocket.

Let’s face it, there is no Perfect Man, unless he’s Your Perfect Man, aka Mr. Right. He comes in all sizes, shapes, and sensibilities, no matter what the Austin Reed study says. There’s only one thing that’s almost certain to attract women.

Chocolate.

Now it’s your turn! 

What’s Your Perfect Man like? Mine loves chocolate even more than I do. He keeps us supplied with truffle-like confections, which is fine by me. And he doesn't drive an Audi.