It’s official. For the second year in a row, LK Griffie has garnered Pearson Prize Teen Choice award honors with her late 2009 release, Nowhere Feels Like Home. The second book in the Misfit McCabe series captures the tumultuous emotions of the teen years through the struggles of fourteen-year-old Katie McCabe as she copes with grief and anger. By inviting teens to select their favorite books for the contest, The Pearson Prize excites teens about reading.

Author LK Griffie specializes in teen literature and Nowhere Feels Like Home continues the story of rebellious Katie. Stuck in bed with a broken ankle and reeling from the loss of her father, her home, and life as she knew it, Katie must deal with her anger toward the town bully and a world that’s fallen apart. Teens identify with Katie’s emotional journey to fit into a new school, a new home, and a new family.

The Pearson Prize Teen Choice Award started in 2008 as a way to engage Montreal teenagers in reading books. The brain child of Michael Earnest Sweet, the prize also serves as a way to bring in books for teens to read on a limited budget. Authors donate books as their entrance fee to the contest, the teens get books to read, and the authors get recognition.

LK Griffie says, “I am thrilled to have my work selected as a winner in the 2010 Pearson Prize Teen Choice awards and overjoyed that the students continue to enjoy my work and can connect with Katie.” For more information on Nowhere Feels Like Home and LK Griffie, visit www.lkgriffie.com. The Misfit McCabe series is available on Amazon.com. For more information about the Person Prize, visit www.pearsonprize.org.

Pearson Prize Teen Choice Award contest is held annually in Montreal, QC to help promote reading and obtain books for the schools. Nowhere Feels Like Home is a young adult novel and one of the 2010 Pearson Prize winners.

The post Nowhere Feels Like Home Nabs 2010 Pearson Prize Teen Choice Award appeared first on Be the Cat.

Picture 1

Picture 2

 

Picture 3

Picture 4

Picture 5

Picture 6

So which picture is your favorite to see on a poster. Use the radio buttons below and cast your vote.Voting has now been closed. Picture 2 was the winner and the image has been sent to have the poster created. Thanks so much to everyone who participated. I appreciate the help.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

The post Help Me Pick My Poster appeared first on Be the Cat.

Then, after having such a wonderful day brightener, it got even better. Denise’s 12-year-old daughter (pictured to the left – isn’t she a doll?), who also read Misfit McCabe posted a comment on the family blog, which she gave me permission to post below:

The best part of this for me was not that she loved the book, which is still fabulous, but how she expressed the connection she made to the words and the surprise that a book could cause that level of emotion. I think Jewelz and I must be much alike when I was her age, in that I could not cry in front of others about anything that had to do with me. My tears were private and emotion was buried as far as I could get it. Except when reading or watching a movie, which then allowed me to vicariously let go of the emotions I had been harboring inside. One of the comments I hear frequently about Misfit McCabe is you made me cry hurled like an accusation. I am delighted to hear it because it means I have effectively done my job and struck a chord within the reader. (Sorry guys, not going to say sorry for making anyone cry.)

I was recently challenged by another Twitter friend, Monica Pearce (@MonicaEPierce) and had to tell her why I feel my books are important because she called me out when I called them simple stories. Jewelz encapsulated it perfectly in the surprise that a book could cause that level of emotion. I write stories so readers like Jewelz can connect with my characters and know that they are not the only ones who feel that way and make mistakes and it’s okay to feel the emotions. In this complicated world, the task of growing up is filled with pitfalls and uncertainty and by reading about characters who experience similar issues to their own, it helps the path to feel a little firmer under foot. Or, at least, it did for me and this is what I hope to pass on to my readers and why I write.

Thanks to Jewelz for her comments – she has truly made my day & probably my week.

The post Review and Comments to Warm the Heart – Misfit McCabe appeared first on Be the Cat.

I’m not going to discuss the party other than to say a good time was had by all, but wanted to share a moment which was special to me. The office director has two daughters, one of which is in my target reader age group. She read Misfit McCabe when it was first out and had shared with several of her friends. So, being the season of giving, I brought a copy of the newly released Nowhere Feels Like Home for her to read. She wasn’t there when I arrived, so the book was put in her room. When she did arrive we chatted and I let her know I brought the sequel and her face lit up. As an author I don’t think anything can top the feeling I get when someone is delighted at the thought of reading what I wrote. She even told her parents how excited she was to have something new to read. A simple moment, although brief in duration, will not soon be forgotten. So now, I’m walking on air and have a renewed enthusiasm to get the next book in the series underway. By giving the gift, I got one I can cherish in return.

The post A Simple Moment appeared first on Be the Cat.

At the beginning, I usually mentally try out some scenarios of simple every day life, to help me get a better understanding of how the characters react and interact with each other and their environment. I want to know them intimately – if I don’t somewhere along the line they will turn into stick figures that I am trying to move through situations rather than full-fledged beings thinking, reacting, and feeling so readers can identify with them. I recently did an interview with Katie McCabe, the main character in my Misfit McCabe series for Carolina Valdez Miller, and have been thinking about having a few more conversations with my characters to get a take on where they might be taking me in the next installment in the series. While this is not another interview, I am amazed that I am still learning things about my characters even though we are going into book 3 together.

I was thinking about Sarah, the cousin Katie is closest to and has the most interaction with, and who is a central character to the series story lines. As thoughts were flitting through my mind, I thought about her getting dressed into the clothes she works around the farm in, and it hit me…I had no idea what brand a jeans she wears. Is she a Levi’s girl or are Wranglers the jean selection of choice? Sarah was a little miffed with me for not knowing, after all, we’ve known each other for quite awhile, and she practically lives in jeans, unless it is a more formal occasion and I hadn’t even noticed what brand she wears?

In my defense, I barely notice what brand I wear let alone anyone else on the planet (or those who inhabit my mind). I am not a fashion maven and never have been. Sarah’s reaction told me that while it is something that had escaped my observation, it is something that is obviously important to her and that she felt the choice says something about her as a character. My initial thought was that she slides into her well worn Levi’s, but the moment the thought was in my mind, she interrupted wanting to know if I had just dressed her in Levi’s. That’s when she got a little irritated with me. I’d like to go on record now as now being aware that Sarah wears Wranglers – no fancy designer jeans, but well worn (and obviously loved) Wrangler jeans. Matt and Mark on the other hand wear Levi’s, which I somehow new because of the little red tag on the back pocket. Draw whatever conclusions you want about that observation.

While it may seem like a small and rather superfluous thing to know whether a character wears Levi’s or Wranglers, it is the sum of all those little details which may or may not make it into the final text which make the characters who they are, and the more you know about them, the more real they will be on the page, and the more your readers will feel like they know them at the end of the book. Which is really the point of the entire exercise.

The post Thoughts From the Morning Commute – Levis v Wranglers appeared first on Be the Cat.

One thing I have heard from most writers I know, and even some I don’t know, but happened to get a snippet from their blog, is the frustration we experience when being interrupted while working. The absolute worst times are when you are in the writing zone, fingers flying on the keyboard, or pen scratching on the page for you long-handers out there. You are in the world of your characters. You are living their emotions, seeing the action, reacting to the external forces and settings. You are immersed to the point where you hear the dialogue, experience the smells, and the world of your life has ceased to exist. Until it happens. You are yanked out of the story, sometimes by the scream of a child, the sound of the phone, someone knocking on your door, or sometimes it is simply someone saying your name. Any vestige of concentration has just been shattered into a million pieces and you’ll spend the next half hour once you are able to return to working trying to pick the pieces up and put them together again. The results are sometimes fragmented as you may be missing pieces which were in your grasp only moments before.

Things like that make me want to scream. It takes me so long to get back into the place I left, and sometimes I never get there. And the reality of the situation is that non-writers simply do not understand that their thirty-second interruption just cost you thirty minutes, and maybe some vital bits of your story. Of course, if the bits were extremely vital, then they should resurface, but at what cost to the pace and flow of the story. So for you non-writers out there, if sometimes the writer in your life seems especially irritable or touchy, it’s because the interruption is like someone pouring a bucket of ice water on you during your sleep. It’s jarring, pulls you out of the world which held you in thrall, and it is nearly impossible to return to the world you crave quickly.

The picture I used for this post speaks to me of writers. The figure hovering over a little world, searching while ideas, characters, thoughts flow from her.

The post Thoughts From the Morning Commute – The Writing Temperment appeared first on Be the Cat.

The interview posted today on Carol’s Prints and I was extremely pleased with how it turned out. Carol Valdez Miller is working hard on writing her second novel, and has a very encouraging and sparkling personality. I would recommend checking out her blog or following her on Twitter or both. So stop by and read Interview with a Misfit.

The post Interview with Katie McCabe appeared first on Be the Cat.

The way it works is this: If you have a book you’d like to share with the troops and your book is available via Smashwords, you create a 100% off coupon and contact Ed. He sends a list of the troop contacts which have opted to participate in the program and you send emails off to the contacts with a description of your offerings and the coupon code. It couldn’t be simpler. For full details, visit the Smashwords blog.

Being the wife of a former military member, as soon as I learned about Operation eBook Drop I immediately wanted to participate, but wasn’t sure whether my young adult books would be of interest to the troops. I had this vision of a soldier sitting at his post, complete with war sounds of mortars and bullets flying, reading Misfit McCabe and couldn’t quite fathom it. Then I started thinking about the men and women who are overseas and serving our nation. Perhaps Misfit McCabe could give them an opportunity to escape their grim reality and take a mental trip back home. The soldiers might have a child at home, much like Katie McCabe, or they may be reminded in some way of themselves at a younger age. I’ve said for many years that young adult novels are not just for teens, so it was time to step up to the plate and put Misfit McCabe out there. Another reason I thought my young adult offering might spark some interest is it would be a good way for the troops to connect with those left behind. Maybe they do have a teen at home who is missing mom or dad, and they could email them the link and coupon to download the book. I really hope it will be used in this way as well.

When I mentioned my participation in Operation eBook Drop to my husband, Denny, he was skeptical at first, which irritated me until I realized I had the same skepticism initially. Imagine my delight when less than 24 hours after having sent the coupon code out in email to the troops I had my first download from a soldier. Thanks to Wayne Dunlap for making my weekend. Whether you believe we are involved in the war for the right reasons or not, the soldiers who are overseas serving our country are there because they are doing their job. Involvement in this project is a great way to say Thank You to all of the men and women who are daily putting their lives on the line for our freedom. If you don’t have your book available in ebook format through Smashwords, it is a relatively easy process and once available you can participate in Operation eBook Drop. Fellow author, Linda Welch, encouraged me to get involved. Well, what are you waiting for?

Posted on LL Book Review

The post Misfit McCabe Joins Operation eBook Drop appeared first on Be the Cat.

First goal to come to mind is to write the third book in the Misfit McCabe series. Ideas for the book have been plaguing me while I have been going through the editing and proofreading process on Nowhere Feels Like Home trying to get it ready to launch. I have been forcing myself not to work on the new material until I have finished with the other because I know what would happen. I would start working on the new book, become consumed by it, and Nowhere Feels Like Home would languish on my hard drive waiting for me to finally get back to put the polishing touches on it. Then I would have two books waiting for my editing attention, and my attention span just isn’t up to it. It would become a vicious cycle and I’d end up never finishing any of them.

Which, of course, leads me into the second goal which is to finish putting the polish on Nowhere Feels Like Home so it can get out there. I not only need to proofread it again once the proof copy arrives (tomorrow?), but will also need to convert it into ebook format for Smashwords.com as well as format it for the Kindle. Along the same lines, my third goal is to publish the second edition of Misfit McCabe and reformat it for Kindle and retire the first edition, both paper and ebook format.

One other goal is to start getting my books out there as donations to teen shelters and children’s hospitals. With the holidays coming up, the timing should be perfect and it does make me feel good to hear of someone who connected with the story who wouldn’t have otherwise had the opportunity to read the book.

My last goal is to spread a little holiday cheer. Of course, that is always a goal at this time of the year. I love the holiday season and enjoy the spring in my step and the joy of giving. I always feel so very fortunate for the things I have in my life, and like to spread the good feeling around.

What I’ll really need the crystal ball for is to see whether or not I will be able to accomplish all of my goals (except for the holiday cheer – that’s a given). The writing of book 3 does not include the editing of the book, only the completion of the first draft writing. I would make myself insane trying to accomplish the editing in this same time frame. I enjoy goal setting because without goals how do you know whether you’re accomplishing anything? By setting the goal and making it time-bound, I increase my chances of succeeding.

So, what did I accomplish on day 1 of my challenge to myself? Absolutely nothing. A friend and I went to Dana Point and floated in a pool for the entire afternoon. It was a great way to beat the heat, and I desperately needed the mental break. Because of taking the time to relax, today I’m revved up and ready to tackle my challenges (and trying not to panic because there only 98 days left of the year after today). The starting point? Outlining the plot. I have begun.

The post One Hundred Day Challenge appeared first on Be the Cat.

As a result, instead of working on the reformatting of Misfit McCabe for distribution in e-book format to Barnes & Noble, I’ve been cheerfully avoiding the task by working on the creation of an email signature which uses the book widget, and telling everyone how pleased I am. Oh well, tomorrow is another night. By the way, the below is the email signature. Pretty cool, huh?

LK Griffie – Author of Misfit McCabe
Pearson Prize Teen Choice Award Winner
Read Now – http://bit.ly/jadpc
Visit me at Griffie World
Where in the World is Misfit McCabe?
Follow me on Twitter: @lkgg

The post Surprise Turn of Events appeared first on Be the Cat.

In the meantime, while I’m waiting, I need to get the book trailer started and I have been itching to get going on the next book in the series. It still amazes me that I am in the middle of writing a series because when I originally wrote Misfit McCabe, it was supposed to be a stand alone book. Now, I’m so embroiled in the story line, I don’t know where it’s going to stop. I know what I hope to accomplish with book three, but whether I will get everything in this upcoming book or not will be the question. I tend to have some grandiose ideas about what I will be writing before I actually do the writing. Then I sit down, go into the writing zone, and the next thing I know I’m coming out of the fog, looking around, and realize I only covered about half of what I had intended to. The book just went in its own direction. I guess that’s okay because I just have more storyline to throw into the next book. Although, I would like to finish this series up so I can get on to some other writing projects which are waiting for my attention.

I will also be working on getting the second edition of Misfit McCabe ready for release, and need to work on the Kindlized versions of both books. Then I will need to jump on the marketing merry-go-round again (I don’t think you ever really get off that one though.) Just the thought of everything that has to get done makes me feel like running back to the cave. 

The post Coming Out of the Cave appeared first on Be the Cat.

You’ve just had an epiphany. Some little bit that had been bothering you about your writing just surfaced and you finally know how you’re going to handle it. Maybe it’s a plot point that you couldn’t get your mind around. Maybe a new character surfaces. Maybe it’s a bit of dialogue the provides the perfect end to a scene. Whatever it is, once you have the epiphany, it seems like the creative flood gates open and you are ready to WRITE!

I love when it happens. For a writer it is the ultimate part of the creative process. Sometimes it happens when you are not actively struggling with a concept. It happened for me this morning. I was going along, on my way to work, when BAM it happens. I suddenly know the one thing that will tie Nowhere Feels Like Home together and put a big bow on it. I wasn’t even thinking of the book at the time, and the answer was only one word that floated through my mind, and then suddenly the whole concept was there right in front of me ready to scoop up. Now all I have to do is find the right place in the book to insert a scene or two and make it happen. Sometimes being a writer is very good.

The post Thoughts From the Morning Commute – Start the Fireworks appeared first on Be the Cat.