As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I did some spring cleaning and reduced my two book shelves into one book shelf to make some room in my apartment. That left me with a lot of books to giveaway! So I decided to have a contest and I'll donate the left over books to the library.


Here are the contest rules:

1. Comment on any of my posts this week to receive one entry. (No limit to how many comments you can make).
2. Advertise this contest on your blog, twitter, facebook, wherever and link me back to it in the comments of this post to receive an extra entry
3. Friend me on LJ, twitter, facebook, or subscribe to this blog in a blog reader and get an extra entry (if you already friend me, just leave me a comment here and mention it to receive the extra entry)
4. Post an excerpt from teen/childhood writing (READ BELOW FOR MORE INFO) on your blog or here in the comments and link me back to it in the comments of this post to receive FIVE extra entries. I'll keep a log of all the entries in another post so people can find them easily and read them all if they want. Post as many excerpts as you like until Sunday, but each one will require a new link to make it easiest for me to keep track.
5. Enter as many times as you like, really, I don't care, I just want to give away books! So if you do all of the above once, you can get 8 entries. If you do it a second time, it doubles, make sense?
6. You don't have to post high school writing to enter, just a comment will do.
7. Contest ends Tuesday April 28th at 11:59 pm est.
8. On Wednesday April 29th, I'll put all the names in a hat and pick it live in a vlog. Check back here to see if you won.
9. This contest is open to US and Canada residents. I don't have the funds to ship overseas, sorry!
10. No anonymous posts because I need a way to contact you if you won.

What do you win?

1st place will win their choice of EIGHT books listed below
2nd place will win their choice of SIX of the remaining books
3rd place will win their choice of FOUR of the remaining books
The rest I'll donate to the library

Here are the list of books to choose from:

GINGERBREAD by Rachel Cohn (mass market)
SHRIMP by Rachel Cohn (hardcover)
SAY THE WORD by Jeannine Garsee (ARC)
SKIN DEEP by E.M. Crane (Hardcover)
FLAVOR OF THE WEEK by Tucker Shaw (paperback)
SCRAMBLED EGGS AT MIDNIGHT by Brad Barkley & Heather Helper (paperback)
SAVING ZOE by Alyson Noel (paperback)
LOVE SICK by Jack Coburn (hardcover)
NAOMI AND ELY'S NO KISS LIST by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan (hardcover)
OH. MY. GODS. by Tera Lynn Childs (hardcover)
SLAM by Nick Hornby (hardcover)
SWOLLEN by Melissa Lion (hardcover)
IF I HAVE A WICKED STEPMOTHER, WHERE'S MY PRINCE? by Melissa Kantor (hardcover)
GAMMA GLAMMA by Kim Flores (arc)
IT'S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY by Ned Vizzini (hardcover)
CHEATING AT SOLITAIRE by Ally Carter (paperback)
GUTIAR HIGHWAY ROSE by Brigid Lowry (paperback)
GIRL OVERBOARD by Justina Chen Headley (hardcover)
THE POISON APPLES by Lily Archer (hardcover)
THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN by Sherman Alexie (hardcover)
TWO WAY STREET by Lauren Barnholdt (paperback)
DESCRIPTION (Elements of Fiction) by Monica Wood (paperback)
DOING IT by Melvin Burgess (hardcover)
CRIMES OF THE SARAHS by Kristen Tracy (paperback)
WHAT HAPPENED TO CASS MCBRIDE (paperback)
MARKED by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast (paperback)
HOW TO BE BAD by E. Lockhart, Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle (hardcover)
THE SPELL BOOK OF LISTEN TAYLOR by Jaclyn Moriarty (hardcover)

Again, if you are the author of one of these books, please don't be offended that I'm giving it away. Please see yesterday's post for an explanation of how I decided which books to keep and which to give away.


WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY HIGH SCHOOL WRITING?
I wanted to do something fun for this contest. In March, I attended the NYC Teen Author Event where a bunch of authors read from their craptastic teenage writing. I have seriously never laughed so hard in my life. Some read fairy tales they wrote as kids. Some read excerpts from novels they wrote as a teen. Some read angst ridden poetry. Some read short stories. I haven't stopped thinking about that event. I don't know about you guys, but I have some truly terrible writing from high school. I think it would be fun if anyone who wanted to participate posted some of their funniest/worst writing from high school and we all had a good laugh.

I'll give you an example. When I was 16/17, I wrote a 75k novel that had NO PLOT, no character names (seriously! what was I thinking?), and mostly contained existential ponderings (influenced by Camus' The Stranger, Hamlet, and a few other high school curriculum required reading). It also had a theme about giving up on hope! lol. I'm thankful I had the very good sense never to revise or attempt to query this monstrosity, but I did make my poor mother read it and some of my friends (they all loved it. *eyeroll* Yeah, I totally believe that, haha). I also have TEN notebooks filled with angsty teen poetry or song lyrics. I also kept a detailed diary while in high school. Plus I wrote lots of short stories. I'm going to try to post an excerpt from each of these formats over the course of the week to encourage people to read and laugh. Please make fun of them! That's the point. I won't be offended, I promise, I know these suck and other than entertaining people with my terrible writing examples, these writings just sit in my apartment collecting dust.

Note: I do have the 75k high school novel called YOU ARE HERE backed up on a Lacie drive, but my stupid mac short circuited yesterday--the charger part--so I'm bringing it in to be serviced tomorrow, but until I get it working again, I can't actually get that novel off my backup drive since it's formatted for mac. As soon as I get it off, I'll post some hilarious excerpts, but for now I'll copy some of my poetry and things I have in notebooks.


And to comply with the contest, I'll post some very, very bad song lyrics I wrote. I wrote these in either eighth or ninth grade because I can tell by the handwriting and the notebooks they are in. I'll post a few just to get things moving. These are supposed to be bad so feel free to laugh! Oh, I should also note that I was NEVER in a bad, but that didn't stop me from filling a gazillion notebooks with song lyrics. These also kind of "borrow" the tunes from some of my favorite songs back then. I doubt you'll be able to figure out what songs exactly because I listened to obscure music back then. Also, some of these are fictional song lyrics. I almost wrote nothing autobiographically unless it was in my diary. I've always wanted to write fiction!

I particularly love the contradictions in these poems, the lines that just don't make sense or are forced in to rhyme, and the fact that I got nearly every your/you're wrong in my notebooks, haha.

AGAIN Everything must end But it has to begin first The question is when When life will quench the thirst Everything is clear Foggy all the time There is nothing to fear That's why I'm frightened all the time Again... The time of the past is right And everything sets in Again... We tried to end the fight And all I did was win Again... Emptiness fills the air Oblivion is gone Everything's not there Everything's all wrong Blackened by the hate Brightness overfows The future's out of date The past will always show Again chorus Yesterday has passed A wrinkle in eternity Future spells are cast Drowned by the roaring sea The world shakes again A tear falls from the sky The pain will never end The people will never try Chorus

LOST Walking through A maze of starlights Can't get through Blind the car lights Melt me down Simmer my insides And when I'm found I'll just run and hide I am lost And I'm never found I'm undone And fully unwound I'm unattached By nothing to be bound But when I'm found I'll still be Lost Close my eyes Emptiness instills me The world's disguise Has come to kill me Swallow me whole Engulf my outsides But my only goal Is to run and hide Chorus

TONIGHT Last night I dreamed of future days I dreamed I was walking in a cloud of wonder My satin gown floated on the floor And outside I could hear the thunder I heard laughter echoing through But when I looked all was empty I closed my eyes and I saw you And I knew it was all perfect I dreamed you soothed my fears with your words You held me in your arms forever But as time went on you seemed to fade That trick you pulled wasn't very clever I opened my eyes and looked around I shook my head back into reality i was lost again but now I'm found But I wish it was still you and me I squinted past the rising sun Hoping to see beyond its existence The knot I tied has come undone The moment I had with you was only an instant So now I wait for night to fall Until I can be with you a plenty But in my way there's an obstacle It's called daylight and it's deadly

OPPOSED TO REALITY *hehe, I found this one incredibly embarrassing, so enjoy! Our lips embrace From touch to touch Sweetness surrounds The lust of such Our tongues tangle A web of love When heaven meets hell Angel above Chorus: I know it's just a fantasy When will you know what you mean to me Why can't it be what it's meant to be I'm just opposed to reality A lonely room With me and you Embracing your arm You say, "I love you too" This fairy tale Must come to an end Wish you were mine Lover and friend

NOTHING Standing here Alone at last Nothing to fear The future has passed Another day Blinks before my eyes Nothing to say Everyone lies A solitary thought Is all I feel The pain is gone Nothing is real CHORUS: Sand drifts through my fingers A memory of the past Rain drops fall through eternity Nothing good could ever last Through the wings of time A bird will always fly As sadness overthrows Nothing to cry Another wish is made Lost in the dust A friend is always there Nothing to trust Chorus

A FACE IN THE DISTANCE *I'm pretty sure I read this one at a high school poetry slam in 9th grade CHORUS: I see your face in the twilight I don't know who you are I wonder where you're going if you're going far Your memory is in my heart I'll always hold it true Your flaws and strengths together Are the things that make you you I can't see every detail I see you but an instant That moment of my time Leaves a lasting imprint Your face is etched in stone It's embedded in my mind Your silhouette's a shadow I know now why love is blind CHORUS You move to your destination With such ease and with such grace You're ignorant to the fact That I'm watching your beautiful face As I stare at you in awe You don't give me a glance My heart is in the right place I only want a chance CHORUS Your life keeps going on But mine just stays the same My life will always be empty Because I don't know your name So every day I see you And you don't know I'm there Another face int he distance To keep me in despair

Over the next few days I have some fun excerpts to post. I have more angsty poetry. I found a letter I wrote to a guy I had a crush on. I used to have a habit of doing this. It was very My So-Called Life because Angela writes Jordan a letter she never means to send in one of the early episodes. Except I always gave the guys the letters. I have one of my discarded drafts. Very embarrassing, but whatever! I also have some Sailor Moon poetry I wrote if anyone wants to see that. I have some song parodies I wrote, but those aren't as fun. I found part of a weird short story I wrote in a math book, I can never tell if these things were autobiographical or fiction because I have a lot of fictional poetry too.

GOOD LUCK!