Between The Lines

...Me! Me!! ME!!!

I'm Prodhi...you can call me Prod.
I'm a YA reader/reviewer/ other than that, I'm a nutcase gone awry. Yes, I'm insane so to speak:) I'd say I'm a girl next door, but I'm much better off without a Pinocchio nose, thank you very much. I'm a pretty fun chica, I guess. I also realize that this About Me section doesn't do the three dimensions of my character justice. Or four. Or five. Or six. Oh shooh!

...Contact moi, Lovelies.

Bloggers and readers, if you have anything to say to me, here: prodhi@live.com. YA authors who would like me to review their books, I'll be more than honoured. Contact me at the same address.

...Book I'm reading now

Not Like You by Deborah Davis

...Blogposts Past

...Blogroll

...Followers

...WordBox

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Ghost Week Day Four: Guest Post by Megan Crewe; How I Got Through High School, Breathers Only

When we think YA, we think teens. And when we think teens, we think high school. Wherever you are, whoever you are, if you are a teen or have survived through adolescence, it's likely that high school is common ground for us. On that note, Megan Crewe, author of Give Up the Ghost tells us how she lived through high school without any ghost friends. Here's how:

How I got through high school, breathers only In my book, GIVE UP THE GHOST, Cass feels her ghostly friends are pretty much essential to getting through high school. Without them, she feels she'd have no one to talk to, and be dismissed or harassed by everyone. Thankfully, my teen years were a lot less traumatic than Cass's! I never had a friend stab me in the back, and while I did get teased some in junior high, I always had friends for support, too. I was particularly lucky in high school, because I went to a school with a strong academic focus. I was the kind of kid who got her essays done a week early and was on the honor roll every term, and I talked to people (especially girls) who went to other high schools and felt they had to play dumb or they'd be made fun of. But at my school most of the popular kids were doing well academically, too, and people would congratulate you for being on the honor roll. So I could just be the sort-of-nerdy person I was and most people respected that. My high school wasn't very clique-y either, which was a relief after all the teen book and movie portrayals I'd seen. I had a couple of close friends I almost always hung out with, but I had lots of not-so-close friends who hung out with a variety of different people, too. There were any number of people I might end up eating lunch with, talking to in class, or joining up with to do a group project. You could chat up just about anyone in your grade and no one would think anything of it. I don't know if it helped or not, but I was active with a lot of different groups in high school as well. I did a brief stint in the drama club, a couple years on the school newspaper, and participated in both the speed swim and synchronized swim teams throughout. I got to know a lot of people that way I might not have otherwise--either because we didn't share many classes or they were in different grades. And of course it's easier to feel happy at school when you're involved in activities you enjoy there! So that was my high school experience--maybe some of you reading this can share yours? How do you get on at school? Do you wish you had ghosts to confide in or spy for you? :)

Labels: Ghost Week, Guest Post, Megan Crewe, Surviving High School

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Sunday, August 30, 2009

Blogger Spotlight: Stephanie Su of Steph Su Reads--"My double life as a book blogger and a regular girl."

Today, we have a beautiful guest post from Stephanie Su of Steph Su Reads. Click here to check out her amazing blog--trust me, I've been a follower for a while now and it's great.

Here's Stephanie Su taking over:

The phrase “double life” always makes me think of being a spy, which I would be absolutely horrible at. I’m intelligent, but not clever; in shape, but not a risk-taker. I love reading books about girls kicking butt via innovative solutions in tough scenarios, but if I were ever in a story like that, I’d be the quiet but intense innocent bystander who gets blown up by an enemy’s stray bullet. A civilian casualty.

That being said, while I don’t think I’m “spy-like” in my double life as a young adult and a book blogger, I do feel like two completely different people. You know that Myers-Briggs personality test that, like, all career guidance office make you take, the one that assesses you on four different poles, one of which is introversion-extraversion? Yeah, I’m as introverted as you can get without going off the scale and into improbability. I’m a total loner. A sheet of tiredness instantly floats over me whenever I encounter a large group of happily chattering people, even if it’s people whom I know and like. Even among my closest friends, I don’t talk much. There is nothing happier for me, nothing more invigorating, than being immersed in an amazing book or on a roll with my writing.

These admissions may come as a surprise to people who read my blog, as well as people whose blogs I comment on. According to some blogger friends, I am an extremely friendly and funny person, always happy. Whenever I hear these sorts of things said about me, I usually start to choke dangerously on whatever I have in my mouth at that moment—because I was, up until age 18, quite possibly one of the most dissatisfied teenagers I have ever known.

So the duality of my life comes from my ability to be more myself in written words than I can ever be in speaking, in person. I love the time for thinking and preparation that we are allowed before making a blog post, or leaving a comment on someone’s blog, or even replying to someone’s Tweet on Twitter. I would never say that my conversations with some friends via email are less fulfilling than in-person encounters, even if the former can take several hours or days to come up with a reply.

I think that some people think in dialogue, which makes them always ready with a reply when you’re talking face-to-face with them. Others think in terms of scenes, like from a movie—they consider camera angle, lighting, the actual movement of the conversationalists involved. I, on the other hand, think in words—actual, written words. Often when I’m talking to someone I’ll hear a word that was said, and then I’ll type the word out on an invisible keyboard with my jittery fingers, or write it in cursive, my thumb tracing the word out on the side of my pointer finger—over and over again, all the while keeping up the conversation with the other person. A little embarrassing to admit the extent of my written-wordiness!

I think in written words, which is why I’m so much more myself in writing than I ever am in person. So you bloggers are actually getting more of me than many other people in my life—and that’s the best part of me having a “double life.”

That was lovely, don't you agree? A blogger with such communication skills through her writing must be a fantastic blogger too! So go ahead and explore Steph Su Reads!

Labels: Blogger Spotlight, Guest Post, Steph Su Reads, Stephanie Su

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