Welcome to Smugglivus 2011! Throughout this month, we will have daily guests – authors and bloggers alike – looking back at their favorite reads of 2011, and looking forward to events and upcoming books in 2012.
Who: Sarah Rees Brennan,the lovely author behind the Demon’s Lexicon books – an awesome supernatural YA series that Ana happens to love. Sarah also is an supergeek of the highest measure, hilarious, and wicked smart to boot. We love her, precious. Yes we do.
Recent Work: The third book in her Demon’s Lexicon trilogy, The Demon’s Surrender (which, as mentioned before, Ana loved).
Give it up for Sarah, people!
Hope, Despair and the Fiction That Gets Us Through It All
I spent January of this year throwing up.
I know, I know, writers are so glamorous!
It wasn’t because I had a horrible hangover. (Correction for truthiness: it wasn’t because I had a horrible hangover that lasted all month…)
Last year for Smugglivus, I talked about finishing my first series, and being convinced that there would never be another. It’s hard to know what to do, I said, when you get your dream and it didn’t work out. But then I got awesome news in November 2010…
I wasn’t allowed to tell you guys back then, but it was this: the vampire comedy I’d written with Justine Larbalestier about being a girl whose best friend falls in love with a vampire (he’s so dreamy! do you think he likes me? do you think 113 years is too much of an age gap?) was bought by Harper Collins. And it’s coming out July 3rd, 2012.
But if you got good news in November, Sarah, you may well ask, why were you throwing up in January?
SARAH: Well. Okay. So Team Human worked out. But only because of Justine Larbalestier. Magical Justine! Of course they would wish to publish Justine. But not just me on my own. No, never again. Doomed, doomed, doomed.
LOVELY AGENT KRISTIN: So, you have written this book. Do you want to send it out to publishers?
SARAH: Might as well get it over with… because it’s all over… doom, doom, doom…
LOVELY AGENT KRISTIN: Are you playing a little drum?
SARAH (with dignity): I believe certain doom should come with a musical accompaniment.
I knew it was all going to go wrong.
I’d written a Gothic romance. (Good job Sarah, only twenty years too late…) I wanted to do creepy manors, and ancestral secrets, and strange feudal towns in modern times. And I wanted to interrogate the idea of romance I saw in a lot of fiction: having a soul bond, being co-dependent: love at first sight with a hot stranger is fun, I’m sure (myself, I have never experienced it), but I wanted to see people dealing with the problems–the scary elements–inherent in a lot of this stuff.
My heroine has an imaginary friend who turns out to be a real boy. How different would someone be, outside your head? How different would you be to them? How scary would it be–and would you have any romantic feelings for them? Would you feel like you should–or like you really, really shouldn’t? Wouldn’t you be freaked out by them being physical at all?
It all seemed like such a good idea until the book was complete, and I’d sent it off. ‘A Little Less Action, Little More Conversation Please’ – OH WAIT! THAT’S NOT HOW THE SONG GOES! Oh Lord, what had I done? Nobody was going to want a book like this… especially one written by me, Queen of Loony Decisions!
I spent forty-eight hours in the bathroom, wrapped in a quilt, and then the auction happened. I was radiantly, transcendantly happy to have Unspoken bought by Random House. And I remain absolutely convinced something will go wrong. (I did have a cover artist go on the lam, never to be heard of again. You see I’m right. Disaster follows me everywhere I go… though that cover artist’s Mysterious Disappearance did result in my getting another cover, the most beautiful cover of all time. So possibly I will soon be under suspicion of doing away with her…)
Unspoken is out September 25th, 2012. Two books out within three months! Maybe the thing that will go wrong is that I will go completely doolally, and do events where I look benevolently around and say ‘Hello, friendly spiders. I am the banana of the ocean. Join me in my dance.’
I’m so scared about 2012. But enough about me me me me me–that’s not the point! The point is that fiction gets you through terror, and into happiness (and back again to terror…) New Books I Am Super Looking Forward To in 2012, Guaranteed to be Awesome:
The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman
A book set in Prague with a murder mystery and historical and literary drama llama! Like The Secret History but better! So different from the usual, and so, so good.
Adaptation by Malinda Lo
Malinda Lo is writing a sci-fi series! With a love triangle… in which Our Heroine is torn between a dude and a mysterious hot new lady! Give it to me! Autumn’s too long to wait! Where is the cover! What is happening? I keep banging this spoon against the table, and yet nothing happens…
Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake
I loooooved the scary-girl smitten-boy ghost-hunter-falls-for-ghost first book, Anna Dressed In Blood, and have offered both bribes and threats in my quest to get the second in the series. I ain’t proud.
And my greatest discovery of 2011…
The TV show Revenge.
SARAH: La la la, I guess it might be funny to check out the pilot of that TV show which has the girl from Everwood and the sheriff’s son from Roswell and the little bro from Gossip Girl and… man, I watch too much TV…
SARAH: Wait, wait, wait. Is this the Count of Monte Cristo set in modern times with a female lead? Oh my God, I do believe it IS!
SARAH: The lead is a deceptive, cold-hearted, ruthless lady who is basically BATMAN. She has a cruel lady rival who looks like a VAMPIRE. The boys are her good-hearted, beautiful pawns! Except for the eccentric billionaire boy who knows what she’s up to, and he mainly admires her revengey ways while being taken aback sometimes by her ruthlessness! He says ‘You scare me’ and she says ‘Good’ and then… they don’t kiss… and I don’t understand why… I don’t understanddddd… Her facade is FLAWLESS! He tries to get revenge on Hamptons society by dressing really badly and ordering froofy drinks! She is in CHARGE!
SARAH: Marry me, Revenge.
Look at her porcelain-doll face and her shark eyes. Love, love, love.
Partners in crime. Ladies in charge. I’m a woman of simple needs. I’m confident that 2012 will fulfill them.
What are your hopes and fears for 2012? Share with me… to win a thing!
I will explain the thing. Unspoken is the first book in the Lynburn Legacy: the Lynburns being The Family Who Live In the Manor, engaged in all sorts of unspeakable things, their family motto may or may not be ‘Hot Blond Death.’ In their quest to win the coveted Creepiest Family in England trophy, part of the manor’s decor is drowned ladies with flowing locks. Behold this gold-ish pin to commemorate such creepiness!
Also, an excerpt.
“Jared’s nothing but issues,” Ash said bitterly. “And the urge to take them out on other people.” He set off toward the principal’s office
“Wait,” Kami said, and her voice caught on the word. “His name’s Jared?”
Ash gave her an impatient glance. “Yeah, so?”
“Nothing.”
Ash nodded and walked away.
It was nothing, Kami told herself. Plenty of people had that name. She just didn’t like hearing it out loud.
It made her remember being in London for the first time, holding her dad’s hand and enjoying the novel sensation of having nobody know her name or her entire life history, having nobody even notice she was Asian because it was an everyday unremarkable thing here. She’d heard someone shout out “Jared!” and spun around, stood up on the stone parapet of Blackfriars Bridge and looked for him.
But Kami wasn’t a child anymore, to search for him in every crowd. It was a name like any other. She still found herself feeling possessive. Jared was hers, his name was his, and it annoyed her that it was shared by some delinquent.
“Hey, he’s cute,” Holly said, looking after Ash. “Actually, they’re both cute. The new guys, I mean. Ash is cuter, but crazy Jared might be more fun.”
“Yeah, getting expelled from school and spending your life in a chain gang: such fun.” Kami grabbed Holly’s elbow and steered her back inside. “I need to talk to this guy.”
Holly blinked. “Because he’s cute?”
“Because he’s crazy,” said Kami. “And that’s news. Besides, he’s a Lynburn, and I want to know about them. That Lynburn seems a little busy just at present. But can you snag him and bring him to me tomorrow?”
“You know,” Holly drawled, “I’ve never had a problem snagging them.”
Kami felt Jared reach for her, as if he knew she was thinking about him. I’m bored, he said. What are you doing?
Talking about hot guys, Kami informed him.
Jared said, Oh my God.
You did ask.
It’s a topic of absorbing interest, Jared said. I’m sure. Obviously, as a hot guy myself, I wouldn’t know.
Kami laughed.
I find your skepticism very hurtful, Jared said. I’m extremely hot. Except not so much in the face.
If you’re saying a lot of people want to buy tickets to your imaginary gun show, Kami said, I’m very happy for you.
His amusement rippled through her, making her smile, as she and Holly reached their classroom. Holly was giving her a strange look, which made Kami realize that she had been communing silently with the empty air for too long and had also just laughed at nothing.
“Well, thanks, Holly, you’re a pal,” Kami said hastily.
How do you deal with it? Kami asked Jared. The laughing at nothing and occasionally stopping dead in your tracks.
I have a system where when I stop, I lean casually against something, Jared told her. It makes people think I’m a bad boy. Or possibly that I have a bad back.
Kami laughed again and Holly gave her a familiar look that said she was worried Kami was crazy. Kami subsided and flipped open her notebook to start plotting her interview with the delinquent.
Holly was bringing him to her tomorrow. She had to be prepared.
Happy Smugglivus! I wish you all a year of much joy, both fiction and nonfiction.
Thanks, Sarah!
Giveaway Details:
You heard the woman! If you want to win this fantastically creepy gold-ish pin to commemorate Unspoken, leave a comment here letting us know your hopes and fears for 2012! The contest is open to all and will run until Saturday December 31 at 11:59 PM (PST). Good luck!
55 Comments
Sass
December 28, 2011 at 2:53 amMy hopes for 2012 are simple – that I somehow manage to find a Real Job, and work out what the hell I’m doing with my life. Failing that, I’ll take ‘my life is less of a general disaster than usual, and other people *think* I know what I’m doing.’
My fears… You did just hear what my hopes were, didn’t you? Mostly I fear failing horribly at working out what I’m doing with my life. Well, that and driving. I have to learn to drive. I’m a terrible driver, with the nerves and the short attention span and the bad hand-eye co-ordination.
If nothing else, at least 2012 will have good books. TWO new Sarah Rees Brennan books! And a new Malinda Lo! And the second Anna Dressed In Blood (I’m reading the first one right now, and isn’t it stunning?).
Alwyn
December 28, 2011 at 3:27 amThat is a mighty creepy pin. I love it. Also I can’t wait to read Unspoken! I keep hearing things are coming out 2012 and going “That’s so far awa- oh wait.”
Anyway!
My Hopes for next year are that I finally manage to balance working my insanely demanding job with having hobbies again and getting a couple of non work related projects I have planned off the ground.
My fears, that when I start looking into moving jobs within my company, not so much that I won’t get the new jobs, but that I will get them and then fail at them.
Ceilidh
December 28, 2011 at 3:38 amIs there, at any point during the TV show Revenge, a moment where the protagonist looks up at the sky angrily, shaking her first while screaming “REVEEEEEENNNNGE!”
MarieC
December 28, 2011 at 6:28 amI love this! Thanks to both Ana and Thea, I was introduced to the Demon Lexicon series!
My hope and fear for the next year are tied together: the presidential election. I hope there won’t be any mudslinging, but I fear that that will not be the case. (I also hope that there will be year without war/conflict, but…).
bookharlot
December 28, 2011 at 6:43 amMy hopes involve hopefully expanding my little family.
My fears involve the Presidential election in 2012.
Lindsay Elizabeth
December 28, 2011 at 7:06 amYeah… I’m hoping that I will get into grad school… And I’m afraid of going to grad school.
I’m also hoping that one day you’ll actually come somewhere near me and I’ll get to go to one of your events!
Hannah
December 28, 2011 at 7:08 amOooh. This book, I am very intrigued.
My hopes for 2012 – that my new job is as awesome as I think it could be, that I actually catch up on binding the birthday/Christmas/graduation books I’ve promised people I’d bind them, that I learn to be a masterful bread baker.
My fears for 2012 – that I’m going to be completely overwhelmed by working nine hours a day mostly on my feet in a foreign country and that there will be even more truly terrifying natural disasters like last spring. Also, to be truly and completely and fully candid, that I will yet again not find anyone to date.
Michelle
December 28, 2011 at 7:26 amI am so excited about Unspoken and Team Human! Can’t wait for summer!
My hopes for the new year are that this is the year when I am really an adult, and I get it all together. I’ve been waiting for years, surely I’m a real adult now, right?
My fears are for my parents and grandparents. Age and health make every day with them a gift.
hrh_Taliesin
December 28, 2011 at 7:43 amMy hopes and fears for 2012? Well, there are many… Fears seem easier to start with. I’ve been at University for 5 years now studying to become a teacher, and I’m petrified that I won’t find a job (“what do you mean you have no open art teacher positions?”). Also, well, it is 2012- isn’t the world supposed to end? I also fear completely breaking down in the middle of my teaching internship.
As for Hopes… I hope a budding romance works out, I hope I find a job, and I hope that finding said job is more of an adventure than an insurmountable obstacle. I hope to travel more- so many cities and countries, so little time.
(Cannot WAIT for this book! The conversations between Kami and Jared already have me hooked)
Lu Hallulat
December 28, 2011 at 8:07 amWell, it sounds an awful lot like I’m sucking up when I say it, but new SRB is always good news! I am essentially dancing on air with anticipation. But I’m also looking forward to the new Mira Grant book, because the last book ended on such a cliffhanger that it wasn’t even a little bit funny. Also The Good Wife does nothing but get EVEN MORE AWESOME, so I really want it to come back.
Lorelei Chapman
December 28, 2011 at 8:09 amOh Sarah! I love Revenge too!! Totally hooked on that show. My hopes and fears for 2012:
Hopes: Working things out in my marriage whether that means overcoming our issues or moving on……..
Fears: Being alone although with 2 children, I am never alone but being without a significant other for the first time in 17 years is a terrifying thought.
I could really use that creepy pin (which I think is pretty cool actually) for luck through my journey……….
Amelia Mansfield
December 28, 2011 at 8:37 amMy hopes for 2012 are to finish and market my current WIP and to make progress with my PhD! My fears are that these things do not materialise…
SO excited for UNSPOKEN now – am reading and really enjoying THE DEMON’S LEXICON series at the moment but gothics are even more my thing and I am totally hooked by this excerpt!
Lori Strongin
December 28, 2011 at 8:45 amI was lucky enough to meet Sarah at last year’s RT convention and I promise she’s as funny in real life as she is on the page/screen. And I am SO THRILLED to hear about her 2012 successes!!!!
Beyond also looking forward to Girl of Nightmares (Want NOW) in 2012, I’m also hoping to avoid Sarah’s January stint in the vomitorium. My very first YA book is coming out on Jan. 30 and I am all kinds of nervous and excited and scared sh*tless. So my desperate prayer to 2012 is that the book is well recieved and people enjoy reading it.
Smiles!
Lori
Elspeth Allison
December 28, 2011 at 9:00 amI hope for a lot of things.
-I hope for my book, any of my books, to be picked up by a publisher.
-I hope for a man who’ll be good for me and not run away as soon as he sees me coming.
-I hope for new television discoveries to feed my craving that is not unlike Sarah’s.
-Mostly I hope for more Community. Because Community is AMAZING.
-I hope to not die.
-I hope to live.
-I hope to drink a lot of tea.
-I’m afraid of wasting another year without accomplishing anything
-I’m afraid of not reaching the goals that I’ve set myself
-I’m afraid of a life alone
But whatever happens, I guess I’ll always have my books. 😀
Elsa
Kari
December 28, 2011 at 9:11 amNot to steal from another person above me, but my hope is to get into grad school and my fear is my aggressive hatred of papers at this point will make grad school not go as well as it should. Also my hope is to travel a lot! (and corresponding fear-being even more broke than I am now, but I like travelling too much to turn down any trips).
Also, 2 new books!! So excited, especially with that excerpt to prove what I already knew, which is that Unspoken will be awesome.
Revenge is awesome-favorite new TV show of this year. Kyle Valenti grew up pretty well I’d say 🙂 And Nolan is my favorite forever, which means I hate Tyler’s face even more than I did before the latest episode… Grr…
Ciel
December 28, 2011 at 9:46 amGreat giveaway!
What I’m most excited for about 2012 is the (also scary) chance to get into a masters program, which will put me a step closer to my career goals. On another note, I am super excited for 2012 because of all the AWESOME BOOKS that will be coming out! Beware, B&N…
srs
December 28, 2011 at 10:08 amI hope that I finally finish my masters thesis and I fear that I never will.
swevene
December 28, 2011 at 10:45 amMy hope for 2012 is that I will get better grades than I did this last semester. My fear is that I will crash and burn horribly and not be given the chance to arise from the wreckage like a phoenix.
A writey, middle english speaking phoenix.
Maggie
December 28, 2011 at 11:47 amHopes and fears! A lot of boring ones of each about money. Fears of no money! Hopes for more money for the helpful paying of bills and things!
But much more interesting hopes: I hope that I can overcome Sending It Out Terror and get some writing out to agents. I hope one of them is absolutely gobsmacked by how awesome the writing is and signs me on. (Additionally, I hope that the writing is indeed awesome.) I hope that many glorious things are attendant upon this! See above re: no longer treating paying the electric bill like an unattainable luxury.
So basically I hope I can overcome my fears and make my plans come to fruition. And be more productive and less of a scaredy-pants. Rah, rah, rah!
pscott
December 28, 2011 at 12:10 pmMy hope is that I’ll finally figure out what I want to do when I grow up (maybe I’ll reach this one before retirement? Only 22 years to go!) and my fear is that I’ll be stuck in a series of dead end government jobs for ever because I’m terrified of losing my health insurance despite being generally healthy… wow downer.
New hopes and fears. I hope to travel to the far east or South America next year.
Fears, zombies created by super flu……
Tina
December 28, 2011 at 12:34 pmMy hopes for 2012 are plenty of good books, being able to visit my brother as he studies abroad in Argentina, and maintaining and building a variety of relationships (w/ friends, family, guys, etc)
My fears are really just the basic fears of anxiety and stress and high expectations ruining an otherwise good year. And also, needles. Apparently you have to get shots to go to Argentina. Yikes.
Krispy
December 28, 2011 at 1:15 pmMy hopes for 2012 other than figuring out my life MORE are that I make more bookish friends and find just as much fabulous reads as I did this year. The last shouldn’t be too hard because SRB has TWO books coming out, and I do adore her writing! I also hope to travel more and write more.
My fears for 2012 other than the fact that the world is supposed to end is that a bunch of movies I’m anxiously anticipating will suck more than a black hole (though I guess they don’t really suck, black holes, that is).
Stephanie C
December 28, 2011 at 1:31 pmMy hopes are to continue my freshman semester at college and to improve on my studies. I also hope to obtain a research position and internship.
My fears are of failure: failure of college, unable to get research, the stresses of my major, and that as college life continues, the farther I’ll be and get from my high school friends.
Can’t wait for Unspoken and Team Human!
Sarah
December 28, 2011 at 1:48 pmMy hopes: the new hours for our library (more hours!!!) will work out, the remodeling moving forward and maybe even happening.
My fears: that BAD PERSON will keep stealing my new books, mean politicians at all levels.
ferretvamp14
December 28, 2011 at 3:12 pmMy hopes: That I will be able to find a job, I will read more, health for my family and pets, and an awesome Dragon*Con, lol!
My fears: The exact opposite.
Thanks for the giveaway.
Kara DiDomizio
December 28, 2011 at 6:44 pmI really hope my family will be in better health this year! Both of my grandmas, my young cousin, and my grandpa all ended up in the hospital and nearly died this year so I’m hoping that it will be much more of a calm year next year. I’m also hoping to get started on my college education in a positive way once I graduate in May. I also fear the ~ end of the world talk.
I’m kind of fearful of moving forward in my life. That sounds silly but I guess at my age, 18, it doesn’t seem so.
Victoria Zumbrum
December 28, 2011 at 6:57 pmMy hopes for 2012 is to get financially stable and to hopefully get pregnant. I still fear not being able to financially stable. Please enter me in contest. Tore923@aol.com
Mary Preston
December 28, 2011 at 6:59 pmI hope is for a more settled year.
My fear is that life will find a way to stuff up my hope.
marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com
Amy C
December 28, 2011 at 9:09 pmYesss, Sarah Rees Brennan is so lovely. It’s a shame there isn’t enough of her to go around… which is why I suppose we steal her characters and cuddle them and love them. 🙂
I may be a cynic because my only hope is that I’ll make it through next year mostly intact. This hope grows, like mold, from my fear of next year, namely junior year of high school. Four AP classes. Scary. Yeah, people have gone through it before, but going through with it is different hearing about it (and somehow, those memories of AP classes and dinosaurs– I mean, teachers, teachers!– seem to get fonder). (It doesn’t really help that the juniors I know now stagger, moan, and think like zombies.) And then there is home stuff, like neglect and malnutrition and anxiety… Gosh. Next year is going to be so much fun. I’m not bitter or anything. (Yes. Yes I am.) (I don’t want to grow up.)
Meg
December 28, 2011 at 10:20 pmThis year I hope to make each Sarah Rees Brennan book last longer than a day and I fear my friends will abscond with them for too long.
Another hope for next year that’s mixed together with a healthy dose of fear – dating! Fear and excitement feel the same! Whee!
Isi
December 29, 2011 at 1:36 amSo excited for Unspoken! My hopes and fears for 2012 are pretty basic – I hope to find a job, since I seriously need one, and I hope that if I do it pays enough for me to visit America over the summer. I hope to finally achieve my goals, I hope to be able to account for myself with pride.
I’m afraid that none of that will happen. I’m afraid that friends will drift even further away. I’m afraid that my life won’t get back on track.
Vivian
December 29, 2011 at 2:20 amMy hopes… Do good in schoolwork, workout, get better at tennis, meet more diverse people, start a relationship.
Fears… Failure to reach my hopes.
Cindy
December 29, 2011 at 2:36 amGreat post! I will look forward reading “Team Human” and “Unspoken”. So my hopes for next year, beside the usual things (happiness for my family and my friends, a good health and so on) is to publish my book. And my fears… well, not the 2012 world end, that’s for sure! But there are too many fears to describe them here.
Katherine
December 29, 2011 at 2:46 amI guess this isn’t very original but…
I hope that the world doesn’t end in 2012.
I know it won’t because that particular theory defies the laws of physics, but still XD
Emily
December 29, 2011 at 2:52 amOh man, 2012! So many hopes and fears! Graduating, hopefully getting a job (one that pays! Dollars, even!), hopefully finding a place to live… And the terrible fear of Adulthood and all that seems to entail. 🙁 Here’s to the hopes.
Also very excited for both Team Human and Unspoken (the latter even more so after reading this excerpt! Wow, very interested now). 🙂 But of course.
Irene
December 29, 2011 at 7:30 amI’m so excited for both Team Human and Unspoken (loved the excerpt by the way)!
My hopes and fears for 2012 are very simple. My hope is that I get good grades in my exams, and my fear is that I won’t. 🙂 So I’d better go study…
hapax
December 29, 2011 at 8:57 amHopes for 2012: To finish something. Anything. Or at least get caught up to 2011. Oh, and to READ ALL THE THINGS.
Fears for 2011: To find myself stuck back in 2009.
reading mind
December 29, 2011 at 9:52 amEvery time I see a post of Sarah I get so excited and happy! I love her so much and her books are ABSOLUTELY wonderful. And she is so kind to answer the emails I sent her. Okay, I must stop my fangirl moment!
My fears…god, I have so many. Mainly I fear to accomplish nothing. There are so many things I wanna do and I hope to have both the chance and the courage to do them !
Anya
December 29, 2011 at 12:00 pmI hope that my final exams go well in 2012 and that I save up enough money to do the awesome language immersion program in France that I have been longing to go to!
I fear that a year without a new Harry Potter movie will be too much emptiness to bear 🙁 (but with new SRB books! Yay!)
Gisele Alvarado
December 29, 2011 at 5:11 pmI’m looking forward to read this books, the covers are awesome!!
My hope: is to have good grades, because i really want to do great in school this year!
My fear: the end of the world… i’m still young to die… :S I know is crazy but i dont think the world ends, but all the problems, the wars,for power, over money, eventually will be disastrous.
Kemendraugh
December 29, 2011 at 7:27 pmHopes: To travel JUST a little and visit some dear friends of mine! And sort my bookshelves!
Fears: That I burn out from poor planning of my life and work.
But you know what?
I think it’s going to be okay 😀
Sarah p
December 29, 2011 at 10:56 pmI am hoping for continued happiness, academic success, and to explore the city I’ve just moved to! And, of course, for good books to read!…
Rachel H
December 30, 2011 at 12:07 amThis post, and excerpt, were fabulous.
For 2012… Hopes: Learning a ton, reading fabulous books, getting into grad school (or getting a job or something), continuing to write
Fears: Losing touch with friends as we all graduate, not finding anything for after graduation
Ariel
December 30, 2011 at 1:30 amHopes: To be able to read ALL THE THINGS before I have to transition to a much less equipped library system next month. Or that an anonymous millionaire gives my new library lots of books. Or money. Or maybe I could find a job opening and be able to buy books! I’m not all that picky. (I’d also like to not still be writing ‘2011’ on things past January. Last week I dated something 2010. Happens every year.) And now I hope for a fantastically creepy gold-ish pin! And new SRB books!
Fears: Failing uni. Movers damaging my books (I have written all sorts of threats on the outside of the boxes that are filled mostly with bubble wrap, but I still fret). My computer finally giving up and dying. Finding out that I’m studying for a job I’m not any good at.
Anonymous
December 30, 2011 at 4:48 amHopes: Getting my GPA up…and being sure about my major.
Fears: Getting morbidly obese off chocolate pretzels.
Lilian
December 30, 2011 at 4:49 amHopes: Getting my GPA up…and being sure about my major.
Fears: Getting morbidly obese off chocolate pretzels.
Christina
December 30, 2011 at 8:22 amHopes: I newly joined the work force, and now I have no time! I’d like to be able to learn how to make time for all my non-work loves. Also, because I work in customer support, I’d like to learn to not take angry comments personally.
Fears: That I will forget that I am still working towards becoming a librarian, and will instead get wooed by making money. Also, that I will not be able to make friends in the new city I moved to!
Becky
December 30, 2011 at 8:59 amHope: Things get better.
Fear: Things do not change.
Wait, that is vague and lame. Hrm. Basically, I would like to do well at my job. Tackle various personal issues. Take over the world. Alphabetize my bookshelves so I can actually find things.
And I suppose, worse than no change would be for things to change for the worse…
FD
December 30, 2011 at 4:08 pmHopes for 2012? Oh nothing much, just pass the first year of a law degree at 70% or above, obtain gainful employment, master one-time tempi changes, break the 10k barrier, safe arrival of a new niece/nephew, find a summer internship, and read lots of books.
Fears: Any of the above going wrong. In particular, I have a recurring nightmare about doing so badly in finals that I’m turned away from my second year.
Rai
December 30, 2011 at 9:38 pmMy hopes are just that generally things will start moving forward. It would be nice to get a job, although not one that eats up all my time. I hope my relationship continues to work out. I hope to do more writing and read many wonderful books (like Unspoken. You have no idea how much I anticipate it).
My fears I suppose are that the opposites of my hopes will happen. That my life won’t be going anywhere. It’s a whole other year, so I suspect something like that WON’T happen, but you never know.
Karaethon
December 31, 2011 at 7:36 pmOh my gosh Unspoken. Don’t get me wrong, I want Team Human sooooo badly and will be buying it on release day. But Unspoken sounds completely amazing and I have to have it. Thank you so much for the excerpt!
My hopes for 2012 are that my impending knee surgeries go okay, and that after recovering I will be able to walk like a normal human being for the first time in I guess forever. I’m also hoping to use that to get in better shape. No more sitting in front of the computer or TV all day every day when not at work! …Well, not as much.
My fears are also said impending knee surgeries. I know it’s going to be expensive, but I think I can handle it. What if I can’t though? Getting back to working 40 hours a week with post-surgery knees is gonna be tricky, since I’m on my feet all day. How long will it take to fully recover? Will I be able to make ends meet? It’s a scary thought.
Smugglivus 2011: Week 6 Schedule | The Book Smugglers
January 1, 2012 at 12:02 am[…] STEPHANIE C […]
Escapist Newsletter (Vol 6 Issue 1) | Literary Escapism
January 1, 2012 at 8:25 pm[…] Reader – Babbling About BooksSara Rees Brennan, author of The Demon’s Surrender – Book SmugglersTerry Spear, author of Dreaming of the Wolf – Larissa’s Bookish LifeContestsDark Faerie […]
Stardancer
January 3, 2012 at 9:31 pmALL my hopes and fears, eh? Let’s see. My parents, with whom I currently live, are moving across the country and I am not. I’m afraid I won’t be able to live on my own–without, you know, running out of money so that I have to live in a cardboard box. I’m also afraid that life will interfere again, as it has half a dozen times already, and postpone my engagement to the wonderful guy I’ve been with for a couple of years now.
On the flip side, I’m excited to live on my own again and I hope it’ll help me learn to make my life MINE. I hope to start doing something for other people, something I love that I can be really good at and not just do because I should. I hope I can get engaged. I hope I can make enough money to buy all the awesome books that these awesome authors are putting out.
(Unrelated, but: I got the entire Demon’s Lexicon trilogy for Christmas and I about spent the rest of the day stroking to it and speaking to it in a soft, loving voice.)
Lenore
January 4, 2012 at 4:56 pmOhhhh I have been so focused on wanting to read Team Human (awesome concept, and I’d totally be that annoyed, sensible best friend) that I didn’t really think about Unspoken – until now. I have it bad for this book! September is much too far away! I think you’re going to have an awesome 2012.
Myself, I hope that 2012 will be the year I land my first long-term, full-time job doing what I passionately want to do in the peacebuilding sector. Fingers crossed!