Armchair BEA: Who am I?

Since I won't be attending BEA this week, I've chosen to instead participate in Armchair BEA, aimed at bringing the fun to our home computers.

Armchair BEA - Day #1:
Who are you, and how do you Armchair?


Born and raised in the good old U S of A, I've been a bookworm for as long as I can remember. The first book I ever fell in love with was ARE YOU MY MOTHER? by Dr. Seuss. My dad once told me he read that book to me so many times that if he got a single word wrong, he'd get "in trouble" with me. I can't remember ever not having books in my life. I was one of those kids who spent all her pocket money on books, buying series such as BABYSITTER'S CLUB, SWEET VALLEY, and SADDLE CLUB each month. I've since moved on to more complicated books. My favorite authors are Jodi Picoult and Jacquelyn Mitchard, which may surprise longtime readers of my blog (which is predominantly YA-focused). When it comes to YA, my favorite types of novels are fantasy-focused, particularly high fantasy, fairy tales/mythology, and dystopian fiction. I love authors who make me think, who feel no qualms about reaching inside my chest, pulling out my still-beating heart, and shredding it to bits with magic scissors. Books that aren't black and white, but shades of gray. Books that have MEAT to them and aren't just "We live in a perfect world. Let's live happily ever after with our 2.5 kids now." Books that pull me in and make me care fiercely about the characters.

I'm also a life-long writer. One of my biggest dreams is to one day publish a novel. I'd love to begin querying SUPER SECRET PROJECT: FIZZYPOP by the end of 2011 (which means the world CAN'T end in 2012!). I've always been a writer, even when I didn't know what that word meant. As a child, I'd get really upset if someone deviated from the storyline I wanted to play out with our Barbies. I was also the type of kid that could go outside (or inside, for that matter) and live in my head for hours, making magical objects out of silly things like rocks and tree branches. In first grade, my school published a school literary magazine that we all had to submit for. My entry was really silly, something like, "The clown was sad. It was his birthday. A girl knocked on the door. The clown was happy. The end." But that silly little story made me want to write, and I started my "career" of paragraph-long stories. Someday, I hope to share something I've written with all of you, my fellow bookworms.

I'm hoping to armchair by participating in a lot of fun events this week and bringing all of you a taste of what you're missing if you're not in NYC!