Ladybug Storytime Review

Thank you Kristina at Ladybug Storytime for reading Celia on the Run and sharing your thoughts on your blog. So glad you enjoyed it! http://ladybugstorytime.blogspot.com/ I'm in awe of readers and bloggers who can take on a book, read it, and are then able to write their own personal and original thoughts about it. This is something I have a hard time doing myself, but really want to work on. I love to read, I read quite a lot of books, but I never write reviews because I have a difficult time talking about other people's work, regardless of whether I enjoyed the story or not so much. Can't explain why that is! One of my goals this year is to start getting comfortable writing reviews, and by the end of the year, I'd like to have accomplished 10. Seems doable, seems like it should be pretty straightforward, but I promise you I'll get writers block when I sit down and try to write words about a story I read & loved. I do think reviews are extremely helpful when I'm looking for my next read, so I feel like such a slacker for not contributing. Going to change that this year!

1 Year Ago Today...

Celia on the Run turns one year old today! Happy birthday to Nick and Celia, to their story. Happy anniversary to my publisher, Untreed Reads! Hard to believe my debut novel has been out for a full year now. Even harder to believe a publisher was willing to take a chance on me, a writer with no credentials, just a manuscript and a good imagination. So thankful for the chance to share my first book with the world, and even though I would write regardless of publication, having readers get lost in a story I created is so incredibly rewarding. Since it was only 12 months ago when Celia on the Run was first released, it's easy for me to remember the happy-nervous feeling I had when I first saw MY book available online. I was so freaked out and excited about it I didn't tell anyone (except my husband, of course) that the book was officially published and out there in the world for nearly a month. Pretty weird that I kept that to myself, huh? I can't even explain why I did that, why I kept my big news a secret, but I eventually got over my shyness (a little...still have a long way to go), and have enjoyed connecting with bloggers and readers over the last 11 months. I've learned so much in a year, and I can't wait to see this next 12 months has in store!

Featured on Buried in Books

A big thank you to Heather at Buried in Books for featuring Celia on the Run on her blog today. Be sure to enter the giveaway and check back often to see what's new! http://wwwburiedinbooks.blogspot.com/

Photos Are Ideas

As much as I enjoyed writing Celia on the Run, I have to admit I had just as much fun putting together the photo album inspired by the book. If you haven't taken a peek yet, the album can be found here http://celiaontherun.com/roadtrip/ The majority of those photos are ones I took at some time or another, long before I ever wrote the novel. Many photos are from previous travels, some were taken just around the corner, but somehow they all worked together perfectly to give a pictorial telling of Nick and Celia's cross country journey. The first photo in the Celia on the Run photo album was taken back in 2003 in Arizona when I was with my parents on what turned out to be our last family vacation together. I remember snapping the photo from the backseat of the rental car, never dreaming that particular photo would become part of the inspiration for my first published novel. I just love to take pictures, anywhere, everywhere, and I suppose I'm now realizing that a lot of the ideas I get for art and writing come from my own photos, even if years go by in between the time the picture was snapped and when it becomes part of something more. Inspiration takes time!

Recently, my husband and I did a little aimless driving for fun, and as always, I took my camera and had a great time shooting all the random things we came across. Who knows, maybe these images will inspire another book years down the road? You just never know! These recent photos are of Gilreath's Mill, a rundown, rusty, gem-of-a-find in the middle of the woods near Taylors, South Carolina. Check back here in ten years to see if I ever incorporated this decrepit non-landmark into a work of fiction!

My Top Ten

It's always exciting to hear someone out there enjoyed reading Celia on the Run at the 5 out of 5 star level! A big thank you to Taeesha from a blog called A Diary of a Book Addict for her wonderful review of my debut novel. Check out her spoiler-free write up here: http://adiaryofabookaddict.blogspot.com/2012/11/celia-on-run-by-sarah-mandell-book.html# I'll admit I'm very stingy with giving out 5 stars myself so I feel totally honored here. Most books I read are 3 or 4 stars (which is good!). I enjoyed them immensely but didn't finish the book thinking, "Man, that was really and truly the best book I've ever read". So what are the best books I've ever read? Here's my top ten favorite books of from the last few years, in no particular order:

The Electric Michelangelo by Sarah Hall

My Name is Memory by Anne Brashers

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

The Age of Miracles by Karen Walker Thompson

In the Path of Falling Objects by Andrew Smith

Dash & Lilly's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets by Garth Stein

The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern