I'm so bad. But we all love the badies right? Who wants to be the good guy working away to save the world when you could be the evil mastermind mucking up the good guys plans to begin with...you know, and generally not blogging...

Well I'm blaming this leave of absence (haha, see I learned something in college! $116,000-yeah that's how much I spent for four years at TU, thank you financial aide office-officially well spent!) on the fact that I am now working nearly full time! 40-ish hours a week! And who knew it was so dang exhausting? I'm ready to go back to my 25-hour-a-week days where I got plenty of writing and reading done, not didn't home with my legs quaking and not from joy...or walking around in 3 inch heels all day.

But I did have a bit of fun today. Totally had another old guy come in the store to buy a naughty book. The strapping lad of oh, maybe seventy, picked up this lovely little gem all about bondage. And in the ballsy of all ballsy moves, he walked right out of the store without a bag! All the young whipper snappers who come in to the store embarrassed about buying a Playboy obviously need to take a page from this veteran pervs book! If you're gonna buy dirty be proud about it! Hold your head up high as you're walking out with your smut!

Oh, and in totally unrelated news-and because I'm random like that-I found this awesome article from the ladies at Not Your Mother's Bookclub while doing my obligatory daily Google shuffle. It answers a lot of questions that I had about the process of book making after the idealistic making of the deal. Everything from who has to read the manuscript (in short, everyone) to the trying decision of what goes into the decision of whether it will be printed into a hardback/cloth, or a paperback. Very interesting stuff. I just wish they'd reveal who the editor was who participated in the interview. She works with YA which is the genre I writey-do in.

Here are the YA books I've read so far this summer:
The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer (HIGHLY RECOMMEND! This book follows the incidents that took place in Life as We Knew It but can be read without reading LaWKi first. I got five people at work addicted and hand sold all the copies we had in store...waiting for new shipment now.)

Wings by Aprilynne Pike: This was a very interesting story. It's not often I say that I've never read anything like this, but I've never read anything like this. Loved the mix of fantasy and reality in this number.

Deadly Little Secret by Laurie Faria Stolarz (HIGHLY RECOMMEND! I've been a fan of Stolarz since Blue is for Nightmares and this book just proves that she is improving even more as a writer. I couldn't put this down! I was left guessing the entire time! Great mix of paranormal and who-done-it-ism! And ended realistically which doesn't happen often in YA so extra kudos. The second book comes out in November. Her book Project 17 just released in paperback and I'm picking that up Wednesday.)

City of Glass by Cassandra Clare: The last part of the Mortal Instruments trilogy. Very enjoyable read and her diction is so lush and smooth that it almost sounds like poetry even when she's writing grotesque descriptions. Yummy yummy yummy.

And of course!
Being Nikki by the fab-u-lous Meg Cabot: Follows the first book Airhead as the main characters gets used to life in the spotlight. This book REALLY picks up the series and gave it a good direction to follow. The last chapters had me squirming and giggling and VERY eager to read more!!! notice the extra exclamation points! Definitely a good beach read.

I know I've read more but can't remember sadly...good thing I graduated because my memory is starting to go. Speaking of which, I've gotta go. My guitar is glaring at me for ignoring it for two days...(I can totally almost play "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz....you know...if "almost play" translated to mean I can play all the chords but my fingers still suck so I have to stop and reposition them each time...because apparently typing an 100,000+ word novel and countless numbers papers is not sufficient enough exercise to make your fingers un-sucky.)

Lots of Love,
Casey

H.A.K.A.S.

P.S. White chocolate Lindor balls are the shiz!

Is it possible to feel home sick for a place that was never really your home?

I've been researching schools in Japan and Seoul to apply to for next year and just realized how much I miss Seoul! And I found I missed the little funny things I never thought I'd miss, like the sound that the trains made when we were approaching a station and the automated voice announcing the name came on. Or the mountainous piles of umbrellas that would block the stairs outside the goshiwon I stayed in whenever it was raining. Or walking into the Coffee Prince cafe and trying not to squeal because it looks JUST like the cafe in the drama. Or even watching episode after episode of 우리 결혼했어요 (We Got Married) and being like "WHAT ARE THEY SAYING?....AND WHY AREN'T CROWN J AND IN SEO IN YOUNG A COUPLE IN REAL LIFE?" I miss eating too spicy dokbogi and not knowing how to order pizza. Cute, old ajumas whispering like little giggling school girls on the train, crazy permed hair and all. And most of all I miss being folded and tucked away in a crowd and knowing I didn't fit in with everyone else but knowing that was okay and that people would be that much more welcoming because I didn't.

I really hope to go back to Seoul soon. I was there for seven weeks but there's still so much more to see and experience there. I've researched working at SMOE the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education but we'll see what's the right fit. Gotta crank out a resume too, but I already have some references lined up. It's coming along one step at a time.

Last week was a week from Hades with a crazy art project and two projects for my communications class. Then we had a freak one day snow storm but I got a lot of reading and writing done, which is always good. About 45 pages into second book in Calling You series.

6 weeks until graduation!
1st woman's detective agency is super cute! I didn't know Jill Scott was such a good actress!

Alright, so I've worked at a Borders store here in Tulsa for a little over and year and a half and I'll come right out and say it, the main reason I applied was the discount. I had flitted my life away in a retail job before(I'm a proud survivor of two and a half years at Old Navy thank you very much!) and after my cushy stint as a Resident Advisor at the freshman dorm resident hall at my college (Trust me, after two years of having psycho moms yelling at you for over charging her twenty cents for her baby socks, having a drunk frat bro in training lob a DVD of Jenna Jamison's finest work from the second floor landing during the Beer Olympics is nothing...true story) I wasn't too warm to the idea of trotting back into retail hell.

But it was books so it wasn't like I didn't spend all my time there anyway. Unfortunately I quickly discovered that those same moms who were yelling about their baby socks yelled about the coupon they left at home that you can't let her use anyway because it's against company policy and could get you fired. However, amongst the bowing and scraping, and the spit up on your favorite jeans from the genius mother who let her five year old drink an entire caramel mocha by herself, there come these shining gem moments. Today just so happened to have one of them.

So I was putting away some reshelves and trying not to laugh at the 80+ year old couple who were looking at Karma Sutra books, and you know, worrying that grandma there could break a hip or dislocate something vital if they were seriously thinking of trying page 55 of the Position of the Day book, when I happened to stumble upon Drink, Play, F@#k by Andrew Gottlieb.

Now I'm not going to lie. The title is what did it. As a cronic F-bomb dropper I just knew that this was something I needed to check out. Plus the inner annoyed employee (haha, inner...right...) in me was interested in anything parodying Eat, Love, Pray which we were practically slammed with about a year ago when it was featured on Oprah. And I was not disappointed in the least. I laughed out loud-scaring the guy nosing around the register, waiting for the right childless moment to come up and buy his Playboy. And the smile I gave when he was walking away, waving off my "Have a nice evening, sir!!!" was totally real. I couldn't put it down. So while I'm supposed to be finishing off Grotesque, and you know, studying for my Communications test tomorrow, I'm busy laughing along with Mr. Sullivan in his adventures in Ireland.

Well done, sir and I look forward to reading about Vegas next!

My legs are hurting from my ballet class (or, as as I've come to know it, Ball-oww class)and everyone knows that the best cure for sore legs is reading (IcyHot also doesn't hurt...) So I grabbed a book to procrastinate from doing homework contribute to the weakening economy and settled down with some Red Vines and sweet tea for a nice evening of yummy YA Scifi classical literature. The pick for today was Suzanne Collin's Hunger Games. I was a little skeptical at first because in reading the back of the book, all kinds of alarms went off in my head that this was a rip off of Koushun Takami's Battle Royale, hugely popular novel that has inspired a manga series and two hit live action movies in Japan. But once I put all of these preconceived prejudices aside, I really enjoyed the book.

It follows Katniss-kudos for the cool name-who steps in her sister Prim's place when she is chosen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a battle to the death that only one person can walk away from (the part that shouted Battle Royale). It's the classic man vs. man. vs nature battle with a twist. Katniss was likable, though she did infuriate me at times-hello treating cutie Peeta like a prop-but over all it was a like. The only complaints I had was that the back of the book made it sound like cannibalism is a vital part of the plot and it is not. Not that I'm just this overbearing fan of people eating-unless of course they are of the one eyed, one horned,flying, and purple variety-but I thought this was going to be an a real issue in the book, it being called Hunger Games and all, but it really wasn't. But it wasn't too violent-I see worse in Halo commercials-and you really start to feel for Katniss. And I eagerly await the sequel Catching Fire to come out in September, so I'm going to give this a Face Out.

Well, I must get back to watching What I Like About You doing my forgotten homework. Valentine's Day shall be coming up soon, but I've come to realization that no guy can love me as much as I can love myself and will be spending my evening writing. Lol. It is the one love of my life.

Until next time,
Smooches,
Casey

Well, I got my response from Maya Rock and that would be no. So after the prerequisite eating of lots of chocolate, listening to Beyonce's B-day album on repeat, and grumbling about if this whole publishing thing is really for me, I got over it, grew a pair, and decided that she was right and one day I shall find the right agent. For now, it's back to the grind. And ice cream. And lots of Gossip Girl. (Dan's hooking up with the teacher le gasp SO saw that one coming...)


And back to lots of reading as well because you can't learn the craft if you don't know the craft. I work at a major chain bookstore so I'm around books all day and have the privilege of seeing what comes out, what sells, and what stays on the shelf for months on end and won't move no matter how much we try to push it. One such example, unfortunately, I saw today. We received The Envy, book three of Anna Godbersen's The Luxe The concept of the story was pretty cool; Bray's A Great and Terrible Beauty meets Gossip Girl, but so far the results of such a merger have been pretty meager. I picked up the book and couldn't get into it and all attempts at hand selling it haven't gone over well either. I'm not the only one who apparently thinks so. We have this term at the store called RPL for books that aren't selling well that we have to ship back to the publisher and I have a feeling that this might end up on that list at the end of the year.


On the other hand, I am currently reading Life As We Knew It by Pfeffer. I'd seen more than a few kids coming in to pick it up, so I think it was used as a school title, but so far it's pretty good. Unique concept and a character who is pretty endearing. A little nonchalant at times but what teen isn't? In the store we have a term called a Face Out for books that are selling well that we showcase in the section. I'm going to give this one my Face Out of the week.

Well, time for eating more ice creamdoing homework.
Yawn,laters
Casey

Well I'm going to give this blog thing another go under my new account.

I'm Casey. I'm a writer-hopefully one day a published one-and that's about all I've been doing lately. I'm a senior at the University of Tulsa and completely my first full length novel in 2005 while crammed into my dorm room. It's my last year and I've finally completed me second (Calling You: Sealed) and am started on my third(Calling You: Joined). Calling you is a series that I am working on/have been obsessed with writing. It centers around a girl name Samantha Grace who's adopted and finds out that she isn't normal, in any sense of the word. And if she doesn't screw things up too much, she could get something that most people would kill for: power, love, and eternal youth. Unfortunately, it seems like the person that most people would for it, is her.

It's a very complex story but I have plenty of time to write it this semester as it is my last and my school schedule consists of Ballet, Improv, Communications, Studio Art, European film and Independent Study. And my hours have been cut at work. But I'm not complaining. I like time to breathe. Unfortunately it also means that I have plenty of time to be at home and check my email. Which I have a lot of temptation to do because I sent out a few queries for Calling You: Sealed. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, especially for an agent at Writer's House named Maya Rock. I've heard that she replies quickly, I just hope that I'll get a partial or full request! It's a step in the direction I'm hoping to go. Maybe one day I'll see my dream actualizated and I can walk into the NY public library and sign their copy of my book like in Breakfast At Tiffany's.

Lol.

But thankfully my only difficult-ish class is Small Group Communication. But it's cool. And I found out that Kristin Cast, co-author of the YA series House of Night is in my class. I recently read the series and I must say it's rather good. And it's set in Tulsa so there are landmarks and locations I'm familiar with, which is a lot of fun. I'm starting to think that Oklahoma is the state to write paranormal literature in though. But anyways, you should check it out. House of Night, not Oklahoma...unless you want to see Oklahoma, in which case go ahead but you won't mind much. Except erratic weather.

Ja,
Casey

P.S. Meg Cabot is great. Been reading her blog for years. Maybe one day her blog writing prowess will seep into me. Today is her birthday so Happy B-day to her!!!! And Happy SuperBowl Sunday too...(yea...I don't even know who's playing.)

P.P.S. Been working on getting my writing playlist together for Joined. It's a little darker on one end and near lighthearted on the other than Sealed was so the whole thing is like a roller coaster. I'll be uploading the playlists to my iPod as soon as it stops acting like an idget....

Playlist for Sealed:

Evanesence-Bring Me to Life

The Pierces-Three Wishes

Aqualung-Strange and Beautiful

Britney Spears-Unusual You

Incubus-Summer Romance (Anti-Gravity)

The Veronicas-I Can’t Stay Away

Ryan Cabrera-True

Paramore-Born For This

Muse-Blackout

Jagster-I’m Leavin

Evanesence-Good Enough

Sara Bareilles-Gravity

Leona Lewis-Misses Glass

Origa-Inner Universe

The Pillows-Ride on Shooting Star

Jason Mraz-I’m Yours

All-American Rejects-Gives You Hell

Journey-Don’t Stop Believin’

Marie Digby-Miss Invisible

David Archuleta-Crush

The Veronicas-Mouth Shut