I'm an introvert or an ambivert (a person whose personality has a balance of extrovert and introvert features) or I'm an introvert who learned to manage in an extroverted world. It all depends on the definition. Regardless of how it's categorized, I have introvert features that make marketing a book very difficult. And, yet, I have to do it. This weekend in fact I'll be inflicting my introvert awkwardness on a Facebook Takeover Event hosted by Saguaro Books, the publisher of my book, The Travelers. (If that's not a fantastic pitch to get you to come to the event, I don't know what is!)
Following bloggers is very personal. The blogs I read regularly are the ones in which I feel some sort of personal connection to the content or the blogger's point of view. That means they're usually book related. So, for some Friday Fun, I'd like to introduce you to some of my favorite book bloggers.
Today is Black Friday, if you're braving the malls and high traffic areas - good luck! We're going to play table tennis and watch Gilmore Girls. Tomorrow, however, I will brave the shopping areas because it is Small Business Saturday, at least according to Kristen Bell. (You may know her from Frozen fame and the great new show The Good Place. She'll always be Veronica Mars to me. Go Marshmallows!) She's done a series of commercials to support the day and they worked on me, at least! I'm in!
It's finally Friday. And I'm in much need of a distraction. So let's have some silly Friday Fun and pretend for 5 minutes that all the world's problems could be solved if we just cared about each other as much as we cared about our dogs. I mean. I get it. I love my dog, even when she wakes me up at 5 am to throw up on my carpet (which she does more frequently than I'd like). How could I not love that face though? Look at her, she's adorable and she loves books! She's perfect! Alright, so we've established dogs are adorable and great. Let's take this up a notch. Since I had so much fun writing a blog on “if my characters were Barbie dolls,” I thought I’d try a variation on this theme. In this blog, I’m going to do, if my characters from The Travelers were dogs.
The Travelers, my first published novel, falls into the young adult (YA) genre of fantasy/paranormal/sword and sorcery (I never realized so many genres and sub-genres of YA existed!) People often ask me what inspired me to write for young adults. I had several reasons. For one, young adults seem to actually read books. More importantly, they are more open to ideas and exploration of truths. I wanted to write a book that was fun and exciting. But, I also wanted it to be more than just a book about two teens who fall in love and overcome obstacles. I wanted it to say something, maybe even teach something.
So, I need a little levity in my life right now. Therefore, I decided to try something new. I'm calling it T-shirt Tuesday. My husband probably has hundreds of t-shirts with funny, ironic sayings or pictures on them. I'm going to use those to draw inspiration for my Tuesday blogs, or at least I'm going to try. Ready? Today's inspiration is...
We've never needed a day like World Kindness Day more and it is actually today November 13, 2016. Seriously, it's a real thing and feels ironically timely. In honor of that, I pledge to read more books about goodness and kindness overcoming obstacles and prejudice. And, I pledge to talk about those books with my daughter and other children and young adults to help spread kindness rather than hate. Books can change the world, if we just read them. Therefore, here is a World Kindness Day book YA list of books that I want to read to help fulfill my pledge. I'd love more suggestions for adding to the list!
K.L. Kranes 