Weekly Roundup + Be Awesome
Current mood: tired

Hey Everyone!

I thought it would be nice to post this on Myspace since I know we might be excluding some people with the blogger...and I'm really sorry if that is the case, but you can comment using AIM or even be anonymous and add a name in the comment if you wish...so please visit the blog if you are friends with us on here.

Now, what I really wanted to talk about is our new feature: Weekly Roundup. The first one can be seen now and I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts, so definitely let us know!

Also, we are planning a big giveaway that deals with giving back to family/friends/charity/anyone! So if you want to add your thoughts on that or wish to donate a prize, read the post and get in touch! You can find a link straight too it in the Weekly Roundup.

And you can find the Weekly Roundup here!

Thanks,

Lauren (And Keaton)

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St. Jude Project: We Want YOUR Help!

Hello:

You may or may not have heard from us in the recent past, but we are writing again to fully explain this idea. I'm from an online blog called Shooting Stars and we are working on a project. You see, I had hoped that if we were able to use a site and make a book and if people bought it, we'd make some money off of it…so we could give about half the proceeds away. I didn't say anything because I wasn't sure if that was how it would work, but I've decided that it should and if not, I'll try and find a way!

Basically, we want as many people to answer this question:

"If you could wish on a shooting star, what would you wish for and why?"

We'll include all the answers into a little book and allow people to purchase them using a self-publishing site. If we make any money off of it, we hope to donate at least half the proceeds to St. Jude's Medical Center, a place I've been keen about for awhile.

So, you simply need to answer the above question, include your full name, and credit (student, singer, musician, author, etc.) if you have one! Be Specific if you wish!!

Please spread the word. We want submissions from anyone and everyone!
Also, send in your answer ASAP!

Thank you for your time and we appreciate the help!
Kind Regards,
Lauren
www. shootingstarsmag. blogspot. com


P.S. If you are an author, please feel free to write a wish for a character...just include their name and the book they are from.

P.P.S.
Promotion opportunities on blog here! Let us know how we can help promote what YOU do!

8:39 PM - 4 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

BANDS/AUTHORS Promotion!

Promotion: Bands and Authors (But will promote other things as well, just get in touch!)
We can be found on here and you can email us at:

shootingstarsmag@aol.com


Okay, so if you are an author, you are probably used to seeing things like these since I got the idea from fellow reviewers. The idea, however, is to show some ways that we'll help promote you…and I figured it wouldn't hurt to do it for my blog as well, especially since we DO NOT JUST PROMOTE BOOKS! 

Bands first then:

INTERVIEWS

That's right! We do interviews. Keaton has done a couple in person, but I think it mainly depends on her if she would want too. You can always ask though. As for me, I do interviews via Myspace messages, Email, or even over AIM so it's more of a back n forth interview. As of NOW, I don't do in person or on the phone interviews. Hopefully things will change in the future, but this is the easiest thing for me and I would think Keaton as well.


REVIEWS

We can and will review things. Our reviews often differ when it comes to music, not just who likes what, but how we decide to review things and what we focus on. But we're pretty willing to at least TRY and listen to your music and come up with SOMETHING to say, whether good or not so good.

TYPES: If you have an E.P. or album and want to send one of us a copy to review it, just message us via Myspace or email us here: shootingstarsmag@aol.com and send us a link to your music. We'll pass it around to each other and see if someone is interested in checking out your music. If so, we'll give you a place to send it.

If you DO NOT have recorded music beyond your Myspace page, that's fine! Just get in contact with us and we can try and write something based on just the Myspace songs. We'll do our best to promote!

CONTESTS

We started our online magazine to promote music and added more things as we went along. So FAR (as this is being written) we have not had a music related contest, but would LOVE TOO. If you have a C.D/E.P., t-shirt or other merch, or anything else to give away, let us know! If you already have an idea for a contest and just want to promote through our site, that's fine! Just get in touch. 


LIVE SHOWS

Now this is a bit harder because I definitely don't see as many concerts as Keaton and I'm sure she ends up seeing certain ones, but if you want a live review…let us know dates and whatnot and if one of us can make it to see you live, then we'll try! Can't make any promises though.


ANYTHING ELSE

Okay, so…I just basically covered the basics. If you have any other ideas or ways you'd like to be promoted (including Guest Blogs where you talk about your band or any other topic) please let us know! We'd love to help.





AUTHORS

Now, for the authors…this is NOT just a YA Book Review Blog. We will read and review YA, Adult, and we'll take any genre. Right now, though, we'd like it if your book was NOT self-published, just to narrow down on some things.


REVIEWS

Again, we would love to receive copies of your novel to read and review. We can't promise a review by a certain point, since I (Lauren) am the main book reviewer at the moment and sometimes life gets hectic…but your book will MOST LIKELY be reviewed at some point. If it's imperative or you'd really LOVE too have it reviewed by a certain time, let us know and we will try our best. 


INTERVIEWS

We do interviews. Right now we do them via Myspace, Email, or AIM. No in-person or over the phone…but that might change in the future. Just let us know if you are interested in an interview and we'd love to set that up.

GUEST BLOGS

Many reviewer blogs have these and I honestly enjoy reading them. It's an author's chance to talk about their book, being an author, etc. etc. and having a different audience, perhaps, be able to get to know them and learn about their work. If interested, again, please just let us know and give us a book site or Myspace so we can check you out!


CONTESTS

I love doing contests and I know they often attract a lot of people, so if you have a book coming out and want to promote it more or just feel like holding a contest, please get in touch and we'll work something out.

Mark it Up: Some authors might know this idea, but we've had a lot of marked up books given away recently…and would love to have authors give more away, whether on our blog or on their own blog/Myspace. The idea is to have the author take their book and write comments about the book and the writing of the book inside the margins….who is your favorite character? Was someone originally going to be named something else? Do you have a favorite line? Favorite section? Etc. etc.


AUTHOR TO AUTHOR INTERVIEWS

Okay, I have never done this before but I liked the idea because I've seen musicians interview musicians, etc. and I've seen a ton of authors interview other authors on their own blogs…so why not try something here every now and then? So if you are an author and would like to interview another author, please let us know and we'll try and contact the other author as best as we can to see if they would be interested. Once the interview was done, we'd post it on our blog and the two authors involved can post it wherever they wish as well.

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Calling all Teachers/Librarians/People with Book-y Jobs

Hey Everyone!

Chelsea (The Page Flipper, Kristi (The Story Siren) and I have decided to use some of the reviews/interviews/etc we have for our blogs and put various issues together for, hopefully, each month and allow people to print off the issue...essentially forming a 'magazine' for anything and everything book related (YA and Adult).

What we need from everyone though is to know what YOU think about the idea. Do you go to your library a lot and would you be willing to print off copies to put on tables?
Are you a librarian yourself and feel your branch would be willing to put copies in the library for people to pick up?
Are you a teacher and would be willing to put issues in your classroom for students to look at/take with them (when school is in session, of course)?
Are you part of a bookclub that would like to have issues to check out?
Any other book-related jobs?

Let us know! We're hoping to have our first issue ready sometime in June (and don't worry, everything in the issues WILL go on our respective blogs too), so please comment us/email us/message us/etc and let us know if you'd be willing to hand out copies or print off copies when the issues are ready to go?

Thanks,
Lauren (Chelsea and Kristi!)

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Two Book Contest for GLBT Month

Winners are Marlayne and Rachie! They have been notified. Thanks for entering the contest. More to come for the month of May, so subscribe to our blog on here and pay attention to our blogger for more info:

www.shootingstarsmag.blogspot.com

And check out all the stuff on there as well (comment comment!)

That's right! This is a two book contest.

Idea: Come up with the most unique way to promote our GLBT Issue/April Issue this month. It can be simply posting about it somewhere or anything else you come up with. Depending on what people do, we'll figure the winner out by choosing or by picking a random winner. But you never know, so enter if you can! Once you've done something to promote the issues, just message us through here and let us know (with some kind of link/proof) or email us here: shootingstarsmag@aol.com

End: Wednesday April 30 at 10 PM Eastern

Prize: Breaking Up is Hard to Do by Lynda Sandoval, Niki Burnham, Ellen Hopkins, and Terri Clark.

AND

Vintage: A Ghost Story by Steve Berman

So, if you want a chance to win these two books then please enter the contest! Take your time but if you're planning on doing something, let us know! Any questions, just comment/message/email, and we'll get back to you!

-Lauren

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GLBT Month

If you did not see the bulletin I sent out, then let me say it again here: For our zine this month (April) the main theme is GLBT. We will put things up that won’t  go with the theme, but the majority will. Same type of things that we normally have: interviews, reviews, articles, etc, so I hope people enjoy the issue...it’s the first time we’ve gone with a main theme.

So, please keep checking here and here:

www.shootingstarsmag.blogspot.com

First part of the issue is up. Interview with author Brian Sloan, who wrote A Really Nice Prom Mess and Tale of Two Summers! Read and comment there!

Interview with author, Catherine Ryan Hyde is up. She wrote Pay it Forward, Chasing Windmills, Becoming Chloe, and more.

+ More! Keep checking

For new things. I’ll try and post things as the month goes along, but a lot will probably come at the end of the month. Spread the word. Let us know what you think!

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Go Ask Ogre by Jolene Siana

If you go to our blogger, which is here:

www.shootingstarsmag.blogspot.com

You will find our new review of the book Go Ask Ogre: Letters from a Deathrock Cutter by Jolene Siana.

I loved the book, so please read the review and comment there with your thoughts!

Currently listening : The Con By Tegan and Sara Release date: 24 July, 2007

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Guest Blogger: Doree Lewak

Welcome to our very first Guest Blogger, Doree Lewak.

Her novel The PanicYears comes out this Tuesday, and starting this Tuesday, she’ll have a blog in the Myspace book section, so stay tuned for that!

Add her: www.myspace.com/thepanicyears

Now, read her blog!

The Panic Years:

Your best friend just picked out a $450 diamond-encrusted sleeping bag that you are to wear (after she insists you lose those last pesky 10 pounds) as a bridesmaid dress for her wedding that you can’t afford in the first place. Your loser college boyfriend who wasted five years of your life -- your best years in your dating prime! -- just announced he got engaged... to the girl he’s known for three months.  Your loving albeit overbearing and over-concerned parents have opened up the dialogue about "freezing those eggs" -- and you’re only 27 years old!

Welcome to the Panic Years!

It’s a rough ride, but I’m Doree Lewak and as a reformed panicker, I’m going to help you get through them, with pride semi-intact. 

The Panic Years are a mighty force. When the Panic gets its grip on you, it’s hard to disengage yourself from its hold -- and even harder to get a grip on reality.  With successful coping tools and strategies, I want to help every SPS (self-pitying spinster) out there to overcome the Panic before it overruns your life!

I think it’s OK if you’re single and you want to get married; it’s not OK when you let the Panic Years conquer your life. My mantra: "Don’t get panicked, get proactive!"

So what if it has whittled down to just you and the five-year old flower girl for the bouquet toss at weddings?  Who cares if you were just set up on the most miserable blind date experience of your life with "eccentric eye patch guy"?  This is no reason to Panic -- and let the fear that "it will never happen for you" start to warp your way of thinking and undermine your sense of self.

To learn more or order the book, please check out www.thepanicyears.com or my MySpace book blog of the week -- I’d love to read your Panic posts! 

Remember: Never let ’em see you Panic!

7:21 PM - 3 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

New Book Reviews
Current mood: excited

Wake

By: Lisa McMann

Wouldn’t it be awesome to be able to see into people’s dreams? Their fantasies, their fears…it would all be spread out before you…and the best part? They wouldn’t even know! It sounds great, doesn’t it?

Well, not for Janie. Most of her dreams consist of other people’s, and it doesn’t just happen when she’s sleeping. If she’s around anyone who falls asleep, she better watch out, because she’ll be sucked into their subconscious, unable to control her body shaking or going numb while her mind is away.

And the worse thing about all this? Nobody knows but her…until she meets Cabel.

Cabel is a boy in her class who suddenly transforms one school year into the type of guy that has all the girls looking, but he only seems to focus on Janie.

But of course, nothing ever stays simple in Janie’s life and some of her dreams transform into nightmares of a monster armed with knives for hands.

As her year goes on, even things with Cabel start to change and Janie begins to think she never had him figure out to begin with.

But what exactly are those nightmares about? And what is up with Cabel?

Whether she wants to have it or not, Janie has a gift…so will she use it?

Wake is an amazing debut from author Lisa McMann. Janie’s struggles with family, friends, and school are not alien to teenagers today, not to mention the boy troubles! But mix that with her ability to see into people’s dreams and you have a realistic fantasy at your fingertips! You’ll speed through these pages, eager to figure out every single mystery hidden within the novel, and in the end, you’ll definitely be eager for more!

For fans of: Laurie Faria Stolarz

Review by: Lauren

Add Lisa on myspace: www.myspace.com/lisamcmann

Out Now, so go and get it!

The Comeback Season

By: Jennifer E. Smith

Courtesty of www.teensreadtoo.com

Ryan Walsh is a girl who loves the Chicago Cubs. It’s not just about baseball to her, though. It’s more about her dad, who
passed away when she was ten years old, who sparked her love for the team. She’s a freshmen in high school now, and
the year didn’t turn out quite how she wanted it to, with her drifting further apart from her grade school friends, Kate and
Sydney.

Everything changes for Ryan on Opening Day, when she goes to Wrigley Field to try and scalp a ticket. Though she ends
up having to enjoy the game outside of the stadium, it’s all worth it, for that day is when she really meets the new kid at
school, Nick.

From then on, they have a relationship that builds quickly based on things like baseball and knowing when to just be silent
together. Things are finally starting to look up for Ryan, when it all starts to get out of her control again. The feelings of
helplessness. The fear. In the end, Ryan will have a hard lesson to learn. How to move forward, without forgetting the
past.

THE COMEBACK SEASON was an amazing story about getting through the tough times in life to make it to the other
side. The friendship between Ryan and Nick is warming and hilarious at the same time, reflecting the lives of friends all
over the world. Jennifer E. Smith mixes life...love...death...strength...and baseball in a beautiful way that will keep you
flipping the pages and ready to tread through the journey alongside Ryan. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll be happy, you’ll be
mad. But most of all, you’ll love this book, whether a fan of sports or not, because more then that, it’s simply a story of
learning how to live and thrive during the good and bad times.

Out now!

Add Jennifer on Myspace: www.myspace.com/thecomebackseason

My Life: The Musical

by: Maryrose Wood

Emily and Phillip’s relationship began because of one play: Aurora. Emily was at the theatre enjoying tickets she had received for her bat mitzvah; while Phillip was there alone to escape the family he felt he could no longer turn too.

From then on, the two became inseparable; the best of friends. The thing that continued to tie them together and give them joy in their lives was still the play that brought them together. However, rumors are starting to go around, first from their friend Ian, and then from others, that the show might be closing.

How could this be? Aurora was something that they saw every Saturday. It was a huge part of their life. How could it be closing? And if it was true, then they wanted to see every single show until the end!

The only thing is: they need the money and a lot more then what they had been borrowing from Emily’s grandmother. But Grandma Rose has her own secrets and needs the money for herself as well. What are two theatre nuts to do?

This was a great story for anyone interested in young adult literature, but most especially for any fan of the theatre! The book started off a bit slow for me, but it soon became quite appealing! Phillip and Emily’s love for the play comes across exceptionally well and made me think about my own favorite play, RENT, coming off of Broadway. One thing I really loved about the book is that each chapter is named after a song from various musicals and it always somehow ties into the chapter!

If you’re looking for a book that combines the theatre, friendship, and the passion of being a fan, then this is the book for you!

Out now!

www.myspace.com/maryrosewood

A Really Nice Prom Mess

By: Brian Sloan

www.myspace.com/bmsloan

Prom night: dress up, go out, dance, and have the time of your life. Right?! Not for Cameron.

First, he gets stuck going with a fake date, Virginia, because his boyfriend, Shane, wants them to go together…but not together. Instead, Shane will be going with his ex-girlfriend and best friend, Jane. Problem is: Virginia was the only one not in on the plan, and guess what? She finds out!

With a suddenly drunk date, Cameron is finding that the night is not going to go over well at all. The dance soon becomes just as bad, with Virginia burning her hair and Shane off pretending to be "one of the guys", that Jane decides her and Cameron need to get high.

The book continues with more and crazier events, with Cameron sneaking out of prom with the drug dealer, going to a gay strip club, being chased by the cops, almost drowning, and more, just too finally see prom night actually come to an end. But on a high note or low, you’ll have to read to find out!

A Really Nice Prom Mess is a hilarious novel about a prom night gone completely awry. The book keeps you interested from beginning to end, with one adventure to the next. I loved the various relationships between the characters and how there are more then one side to everyone, which you find out as you read along.

The book is something that people will enjoy, whether in high school themselves or not! I highly recommend and I can’t wait to read something else by Brian Sloan. Ever think of writing a sequel?!

Winter Guide
Current mood: accomplished

If you go to our Website you will find our issue for December, but it's also called our Winter Guide. A list of things we think you MUST check out. So go here and take a look:

http://shootingstarsmag.blogspot.com/

I'm putting this blog up so that once you do read everything, you can leave us a comment here and not only can we see what you think, but the bands and authors can see what you think a lot easier then having to sift through a bunch of pages/comments.

So please please read and please please comment! We want to know who is reading, so let us know!

Note: I put the posts in the wrong order on accident, so if you wish to read it the right way...start from the bottom (Winter Guide) and go up to the end (Extra! Extra!) but it doesn't matter either way, as long as you READ READ READ!

Thanks everyone. And remember, if you comment us, we'll comment back!

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