What a Girl Wants: Letter to Sixteen Year Old Self

Colleen has the latest post up at Chasing Ray for What a Girl Wants. This time she asked what we would say to our sixteen year old self about what to read before senior year. Here's my entry:



Lorie Ann Grover:

"Dear Sixteen Year Old Self:

What I say to you the summer before your senior year is to nourish hope. All this angst you are seeped in will go into your own novels. You’ll figure out what has happened, and you’ll find comfort and truth in: your folks divorce, your grandmother’s cancer, and the end of your ballet career. You’ll write novels about these pains and more, and they will touch others. What is happening to you will make a difference to them.

In the meantime, read for hope and read for pleasure. Find authors' greatest life works and listen. Expand your worldview. Find The Book Thief to relish the most beautiful words, and see hope in man’s history in the darkest hours. Read Out of the Dust and see the tenacity that runs through a girl like you.

Find your own beauty in North of Beautiful, and be empowered to find your true calling through Aria of the Sea.

Take time to read backwards. Without embarrassment, hold onto those middle grade novels that you loved. Dip back into the Island of the Blue Dolphins, cry through Charlotte’s Web again, and explore the universe further with Miss Pickerell.

Know now, that in the future, you will sign your own novels, “There’s hope. Look.” So, go read. Find hope. "

Find Beauty Challenge: Me!

So, of course, I had to make one! Here's my submission for the Find Beauty Challenge!



Appearances: Miss Erin, Ellen and Emily, Jackie Parker, Dia Calhoun, Janet Lee Carey, Cathy Garber, Kato the dog, Justina Chen Headley, Holly Cupala, and me! Yay!

North of Beautiful: Find Beauty Challenge, Justina

Oooooh. How sweet and beautiful is this? THANK YOU, JUSTINA! xox

North of Beautiful

Okay, I'm home but have to post in order of the events. So I'll start with last Sunday. The launch party for North of Beautiful was amazing!

I may have a snippet of a video to post, but in the meantime, here's Justina speaking about true beauty.


Miss Erin and her mother surprised everyone by driving over to attend the event. And then Miss Erin sang for Justina!


It was a crying moment for certain. So, sweet!

Many thanks to Brenda Gurung for hosting as Justina signed for over one and half hours!

The week has brought amazing things. Not only was North of Beautiful on the home page of Barnes and Noble, the novel has now garnered 3 starred reviews! Everyone is cheering!

At the same time, the Find Beauty Challenge is underway. Here are the deets from Justina's blog:

"Tell the world what you find to be Truly Beautiful! Just upload a 90-second video describing what real beauty means to you...and you could win yourself an iTouch! PLUS, for every uploaded video, I'll donate $10 (up to $1,000) to Global Surgical Outreach, an amazing group that helps kids with cleft lips and palates in the third world.

Here's what to do:
1. Record a 90-second video essay about what's truly beautiful to you!
2. Upload the video onto YouTube.
3. Then...send a link to north@marthabee.com. (Martha Brockenbrough--tech guru and my friend of much wonderosity--will link your video to the North of Beautiful YouTube channel.)
4. Tell all your friends to RATE your video."

Here's to good friends, true beauty, and beautiful book launches! Brava!