VNSA Book Sale Tips

Just a few little tidbits about the VNSA Book Sale (a wonderful annual book sale in Phoenix). Mostly because last year's post got quite a few pageviews from people wanting to know about it!

When should I arrive at the VNSA book sale?

I can't tell you for sure, but if you're not there WELL before opening (I heard someone in line mention 4 AM), you can expect a wait. Our experiences in the past 2 years:

2011: Arrived around 9 AM; got in around 10:20 AM
2012: Arrived around 10:30 AM; got in around 11:45 AM

My brother and his wife (and baby!) arrived right around 11 and I reckon they probably got in at noon. So if you're not going to get there at 4 AM, the wait time decreases the later you arrive, but the wait seems to be pretty steady from 9-10:30 or so.

(It FELT like the line was longer in 2012 versus 2011--in fact, it probably was, but the line would move more slowly earlier in the day.)

Anyway, there is still plenty of cool stuff there even if you arrive at 11...but I'd say there's more cool stuff there if you arrive at 9.

How much does it cost?

If you park at the Coliseum, it was $7 this year (the fairgrounds get that money; not VNSA). The sale is free, but the longer you spend there, the more likely you are to spend more money...

What should I bring?

Definitely bring some sort of bag or bags to carry your books in. In years past they had plenty of bags for all, but the supply seems to be diminishing; I'm not sure they had ANY in 2012. If you plan to buy a lot, or even just something heavy, you likely won't regret bringing a rolling suitcase or backpack. (A rolling suitcase makes it very easy to buy more books, though.) You can get a shopping cart at the sale (just have to wait a bit), or the other option is to find an empty box and throw your books in and carry that.... Yeah, if you're not going for a cartload of books, go ahead and bring a bag.

Wearing sunscreen is smart if you'll be out waiting for an hour (and if you get there before noon, that's not unlikely). It's not a bad idea to bring a bottle of water for the line.

And I'd definitely suggest you bring a friend or two! You'll save on parking and it makes the line more fun. If you're the type who can strike up a conversation with anyone, that's fine too. Otherwise, I think a newspaper would be a pretty good idea. I'd hesitate to bring a book because I don't know how they'd figure out it wasn't theirs, but several people had some so there must be some method.

Can I hold someone's place in line?

They had signs saying not to, and I'm not sure what would happen if you tried cutting. Actually, we saw my brother, his wife, and their baby across the rope and stopped to chat with them for about 30 seconds. The people behind us started moving past us, despite the fact that we were still probably 30 minutes away from actually entering the building so there wasn't anything to gain by moving ahead instead of waiting for a minute. Anyway, yeah, I wouldn't try it if I were you.

Why is the line so long?

Probably the fire marshal not wanting everyone to get burned up in case of an emergency. It felt less crowded inside this year, but that might be due to the areas I was browsing.

What can I find there?

Almost anything. I didn't even look at half the sections this year, but I browsed the tiny books, the old books (but not the really old/rare books, which require you to leave your bag/suitcase/boxes/etc. outside), the old magazines (some from the 60s!), craft books, sewing patterns, children's books, textbooks (not many of those), DVDs (lots of popular movies, I think around $3), CDs, kids' DVDs, business books, finance books, and even some National Geographic CD-ROMs. Yes, I got the whole collection from the 1920s for $1, and yes, you can kind of sort of view it in a newer Mac; the viewer itself doesn't work but fortunately all the pages are images and appear to be organized in such a way that I can view them chronologically. :)

How do you decide what to buy?

Everyone has their own strategy. If you're on a very tight budget, your best bet is to not pick up anything unless you really want it (and maybe to just bring a small bag or no bag at all!). If your budget is a bit more flexible, I'd suggest you pick up everything you think you might want (provided you can carry it!). When you're done browsing, or your arms are too tired, you can set your things down (usually on the floor, granted, though this year there was some vacant space at textbooks by 11 or so) and sort through what you want and what you don't want. Anything you don't want, you can put in a conveniently located discard box and it will be placed back in its proper area.

What did you buy there?

To be honest, I haven't done much with the books I got last year, so I tried to be cheaper this year and gave myself a budget of $20. (Spending less time helped, too!) So here's what I got for $19.50 this year.

Did you go to the 2012 VNSA Book Sale? Any great finds? Any tips?

Writing Wednesday - Tucson Festival of Books - History Meets Fantasy

First, my weekly writing update. I actually still need to do a lot of typing on my snowflake, but I'm basically working on Step 4 now (and actually enjoying coming up with some new threads!). But I have a lot of work ahead of me. It's a bit depressing that the author of the snowflake method says that it may have taken as long as a week to get to this step...I need to work harder.

So as I think I promised, I'm going to share with you everything I heard at the Tucson Festival of Books! Preface: I attended most panels because of an interest in the TOPICS, not the speakers. So some of the people you may see referenced may not write things that are in line with my beliefs, and me mentioning an author here isn't any sort of endorsement at all unless I state otherwise. OK?

I roughly outlined the festival earlier. There are tons of "workshops" and "panels." Most look something like this one.

So I was tempted to go to the panel that author Dave Cullen commented on my blog was on at 10 AM Saturday. But I thought that would be a good compromise on something that would kind of interest my mom and kind of interest me. Except she wasn't interested! So with the fear of potential crowds I ended up at Yvonne Navarro and Janni Lee Simner's "History Meets Fantasy - When to Research and When to Make It Up" panel. (They're both TusCon regulars so I've certainly heard them both speak quite a bit.)

Yvonne Navarro said that you have to take what's real and twist it to fit your purposes.

Janni noted that Thief Eyes was well-researched (at one point she noted that she had to run it by an Icelandic reader to make sure it rang true!). She said that sometimes you start writing a story and realize it takes a lot more research than you thought. She also noted that you have to set up reader expectations. There are lots of different kinds of fairies and vampires, and these portrayals are influenced by legends, by the conversations authors have with each other on the page, and what you bring to them. Overall, you have to know your canon, whether you're writing history or a licensed property.

Janni also noted that it can be easier to have a character who doesn't know everything, so that things can be explained. ((Aside: I do that myself but I wonder if that's something more acceptable in children's and YA novels; I know in adult fantasy it's considered a cliche to have the farm boy who doesn't know anything come onto the scene.... Cliche or not, though, it does seem to work.))

On the topic of vampires, Yvonne noted that not all vampires drink blood (they may take life force, memories, youth--"anything that you, as a writer, could want them to take.") But you have to use the right words, whether or not they are historically accurate (some words that are accurate might not feel right.)

As far as writing goes, Janni said, "You can't write for every reader."

Yvonne replied, "You try, but there are just too many people." She noted that genres cycle through, so what you love may be popular in a few years. Right now zombies are popular, although they have changed quite a bit from their earlier portrayals (namely, they have gotten faster).

Janni and Yvonne joked that the zombies would pick off the smokers. Janni added that it could make a good ad campaign: "I gave up smoking and I survived the zombie apocalypse."

Again, back to writing, Janni said that it's very hard to figure out what people want. Write what you love. It's not a guarantee, but you'll have a better chance of selling, and you get the experience of writing it. (She noted this came from experience, where she tried to write what would sell, and couldn't sell it.)

Yvonne added, write what you love; tell the story you want to tell. "If you don't like what you're doing, if you're not enjoying what you're writing, you might as well work at an office somewhere ... you have to write what you want to write." She said you have to grab readers in the first paragraph. She also suggests new writers read their work all out loud, like it's happening, to help catch typos.

---

I'm actually kind of remiss in not having read anything by Janni Lee Simner in particular. I've been to a couple of her readings at TusCon and they're always excellent. I need to remedy that deficiency fairly soon. She's always been very friendly to me. Actually, at her last reading I attended, she did a drawing and I won a journal she made herself!

My concern with journals is the pressure of finding something worthwhile with which to fill them, though...someday!

And I think I'll make a trip to my library soon.

Random 13th - Books

First off, my thoughts and prayers go out to Japan (and every other place touched by recent earthquakes). I only have one acquaintance there; she is safe and her blog is very interesting.

So at the Tucson Festival of Books, in at least a couple panels, discussions arose about what books influenced the authors. It was fun to hear what books children's book authors Grace Lin and Candace Fleming used to love. Grace Lin cited the Anne of Green Gables series on two separate occasions; she said she wished the books went on longer because Anne was so real. Candace Fleming loved "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" and "Island of the Blue Dolphins," but her favorite was "Misty of Chincoteague"--she even got a signed first edition with Misty's hoofprint (!) in it. She also reminisced about the old Scholastic Book Club days, when they used to have real quality books you could order. I think I remember those days. Now I feel old, but I DO remember most of the books they mentioned. (Then Louis Sachar went and had a grown-up answer that he didn't really enjoy reading until high school, when he got into J.D. Salinger and Kurt Vonnegut. Oh well. I liked "Wayside School" when I was a kid anyway.)

What about me? Three that influenced me:

The Little House Series: I think I've always been interested in other cultures/technology levels, and that series has it all over. Also a very light touch on the romance (I hated the very thought of romantic threads in books when I was a little girl!). I've read them a ridiculous number of times; I'm the type that likes to reread books. I'm pretty sure if I went back and read them with a more critical eye they might not be quite as good as I remembered. But then again, I re-read "The Long Winter" (my least favorite as a child, unless you count "The First Four Years") fairly recently, and it held up pretty well, I thought. Though, it's my understanding that kids today aren't at all interested in pioneers anymore. I've even heard it argued that due to the prevalence of electronics, they can't even find that world interesting anymore. I think that's sad.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Honestly, I think it would be a pretty unusual Christian fantasy writer who doesn't at least kind of like them, and I REALLY like them, still. I was fairly young, sleeping in a cousin's bedroom (I think) at my aunt and uncle's house, when I discovered "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." I stayed up late reading and was absolutely enchanted with the whole idea, though I'm not sure I picked up on the Christian allegory just then. I checked out all the rest of the books from the library and read them multiple times before we finally bought a boxed set for the family. I actually read "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" more critically before the movie came out, and it wasn't quite as good as I remembered...I think I found a typo or something, though given how many printings the book has had, that could've been the publisher's fault. If I recall correctly, I think the others have held up pretty well, though. I'm sure they gave me a push toward writing about other worlds.

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH: I think I actually read this one AFTER the cartoon Rescue Rangers came out, though I imagine I've always been interested in tiny parallel societies and the like. Anyway, it's a fascinating exciting story AND has little mice behaving like people. I adored it, even though the ending was bittersweet. (The movie adds a lot of magic that I didn't care for; I thought their world was interesting enough.)

Robert C. O'Brien also wrote "Z for Zachariah," which I believe is a YA novel, but awfully dark--in some ways even darker than "Hunger Games," I'd say (maybe not moreso than the sequels, which I haven't read). Not a bad book, but I'm really glad I didn't read it until I was an adult!

Media Monday - Review - The Gunman's Bride - Catherine Palmer

So here's my little review of the first book (of 4) that I won from Love Inspired's Historical line. Bear in mind that have read fewer than 10 romance novels in my life, and this is only the second "category" romance. I actually don't think I'm quite the target audience for Love Inspired--I honestly don't really have a desire to read roughly one romance novel a week....

And yes, I freely admit, what drew me to this novel was primarily a) the word "gunman" and b) the train on the cover, with a dash of c) pretty dress (I'm no expert on Victorian fashion so I'm hard-pressed to discern the accuracy).

Back cover:

They were running from the past...and looking for a new beginning

Bart Kingsley had followed her to New Mexico, ready to lay his love--and his life--on the line. But spirited Laura Rose had made a fresh start for herself. She hadn't left her controlling father in Kansas to let some gun-slinging outlaw ruin her hopes--no matter what scandalous past they shared six years ago. Or how his green eyes beckoned!

Rosie was his light in the darkness--Bart would do anything to win back her trust. But he was a wanted man. Would the past, with its dangerous demands and debts, conspire to destroy their new beginning? Or would his faith in God--and in Rosie--be rewarded?

The majority of the conflicts can be summed up by Bart's line: "It's not other people who come between us, Rosie. It's us. We keep tearing this thing apart. Why? Why do we do that?"

So if you love romances based around misunderstandings and distrust, this is your kind of book.

2 things I liked:

*The male lead is actually half-blooded Native American. (I do think it's a bit sad that of the books I won, it's the only one that doesn't depict the male lead, which makes me wonder if they worry about what their audience might think about a non-white male lead...)

*I was surprised to find that quite a few minor characters were based on or inspired by historical figures--there was more research here than I'd expected.

2 things I found a touch peculiar:

*At one point in the book there are numerous wanted posters for our green-eyed, half-blooded Native American hero Bart. I would have thought the townspeople would instantly recognize Bart from the description, but they didn't seem to. So I would've liked to see that issue more clearly addressed. Were men with those features actually fairly common in 1880s New Mexico? Or were the townspeople going easy on Bart and I missed it?

*Bart's obsession with Rosie's feet made me squirm (mercifully, that obsession seems to wane). Now, in fairness, I do believe the legs were considered indecent in Victorian times (I've even heard that instead of saying "leg" they would have to say "limb" or "extremity" to be proper!). But that doesn't mean I didn't find it uncomfortable.

1 more thing I liked:
*Bart's literal answer to Rosie's prayer near the end, which hearkened back to the very beginning of the book with the near-climax, made me laugh out loud in delight. Given that I'm not huge on romances, that was pretty good.



*FTC disclosure--I WON this book and didn't pay a thing for it, not even shipping. Though I still try not to pull my punches.

Media Monday - Tucson Festival of Books

If you live within a 3-hour drive of Tucson and you like books or writing at ALL, then you really need to go to the Tucson Festival of Books, taking place March 11-12, 2011!

It's FREE and is one of the largest book festivals in the country, taking place on the University of Arizona campus. Last year they estimated 70,000-80,000 attendees, and I know there were literally hundreds of authors as well, with dozens, maybe over 100, panels/workshops/presentations on Saturday, and maybe just a few less on Sunday, all scheduled in blocks (like classes!) with 30 minute intervals in-between. It's so big, the GUIDEBOOK they hand out for free (which is the size of one of those large insert booklets they put in newspapers) is 64 pages long.

The panels themselves are inside (air-conditioned) buildings on campus--many underground in the "Integrated Learning Center," an area they built after I graduated, that takes up a good portion of the formerly-all-grass central mall... There are "panels" where a group of authors discuss things, and then "workshops" which for the most part seem to be one author...discussing things that are usually somewhat more directly related to writing. There were a TON of "workshops" last year, and they were almost all packed, but I don't see as many this year, or at least not as many that are relevant to me.

Then above-ground are tents with exhibitors, many (but not all) book-related. Even The Jane Austen Society of North America was there.

And in the center, they had a kind of food court.

There is a McDonalds on campus and they handed out McCafe mocha samples last year (there was quite a line sometimes!). I think this year they'll have real fruit smoothies. Since I don't like strawberries, I reckon I'd better just bring a lot of water.

They also sold lots of umbrellas last year--the sun was hot!

Well worth the $5. The parasol and food were my only expenses.

This year, I found at least 9 different panels/workshops I'm interested in attending! Well, actually 11, but 2 timeslots are double-booked.....

Which should I choose? "Self-Editing for Fiction Writers" or "Electronic Publishing - More Than an Alternative"? Both sound useful. The self-editing is categorized under "literature/fiction" and I don't really write literature, plus I've heard tons of things about editing. (The challenge is putting them into practice.) But on the other hand, I've heard a lot about eBooks/etc. already, too, even though that's probably how Maggie and I are going to end up publishing The Pirate and the Healer. (You can make good money publishing eBooks, and I only saw one remotely reputable publisher that looked willing to even consider an unagented Christian fantasy romance with pirates.)

OK. Electronic publishing it is!

I'd also like to attend "Creating Biography from Diaries and Letters" but as far as I know, I'm not actually going to WRITE a biography, and "How to Write and Publish a Book in the Next Three Months!" sounds infinitely more tempting.

Anyway, it's definitely worth attending, whether to learn, get motivated, or just hear some free talking and maybe pick up a smoothie.

Tucson Festival of Books--one more reason why Arizona is awesome (from January-March)!

VNSA Book Sale - Phoenix, AZ - And gingerbread!

We arrived at the annual VNSA Book Sale in Phoenix at the fairgrounds (by the Coliseum) maybe a bit after 9 AM. It opened at 8, but there's a substantial line to get in until maybe 11 or later (the line was gone when we left at 12:30).

Yes, this is meant to be artistic, yeah....

As recently as 2009, maybe even 2010, they had two lines feeding in. This year they had one, which is fairer but takes away the chance to get in earlier by picking the right line! Was in line behind some of the SAME PEOPLE I'd been behind 2 years ago (my brother's friend's family). The line can be slow; the fire marshal makes sure the place doesn't get dangerously overcrowded. A great way to pass the time is to make conversation; we ended up spending about 30 minutes or more talking to a nice couple behind us! And we finally got in at maybe 10:20.

Inside there are something like 500,000 books, DVDs, etc. I initially gravitate toward what they're now calling "Treasures," which has historic books (my favorite!). Rare & Unusual is also awesome...it tends to be more expensive, but sometimes they have some deals. I got an old tour book of either England or Scotland (I forget which) for I think $8 one year. And in that section, once I even got one of the better Dance Dance Revolution games (DDR Max 2) for $3! At that price I couldn't pass it up for a friend, even though I already had it. It was scratched but played fine.

This year I went looking for stuff published before 1923 (public domain!). 2 years ago I got a ton of tiny books (just the right size for dolls) at 80 cents to a dollar! Paperbacks are $1.50 and the money goes to charity! I tend to buy stuff that looks like it might be good, figuring it's for a good cause.

A view inside.

Once you're (finally) inside, you can easily spend a couple hours browsing. People bring backpacks, suitcases, handtrucks and crates--anything you can use to carry books. They do have some plastic bags for you but they were in short supply this year, and get awful heavy. Sundays are half-price but I find Saturday is plenty cheap. Highly recommended if you like books at all!

$31.60, baby! They had some...interesting little books that were the right size for dolls and looked almost like mini textbooks, so if you see a peculiar tiny book in there, that's why! :)

And to top that out, my mom met me later with her Valentine's present to me!

Yes, those ARE gingerbread unicorns. :)

Winning Wednesday

So winning refers to something that was "luck" (or Providence), not anything to do with writing skills. Be warned!

And for my writing progress report...could be worse. I did finally finish the last full chapter of Endwood (just need to complete the epilogue). I probably should have split the ending into two pieces but I really didn't want the story to continue too terribly far after the climax. I'm SO looking forward to being done with it!

So I joined American Christian Fiction Writers a while back and sometimes people will post about when they have agents or editors on their blogs. So someone at Seekerville posted on ACFW about how they were having a costume party and invited everyone to come. I'm not sure if they mentioned a giveaway or not, but I didn't notice. I just wanted to dress my avatar up!

So the real story is that Tina James, senior editor of Love Inspired Historical and Love Inspired Suspense, was announcing they are printing four Historicals a month instead of two. Since I've never actually wrote historical romance (or any historical fiction without a major speculative element) I'm not sure if that's relevant for me or not, but squee! Historical clothes!

So I posted.

Aside from sewing the ribbon on the hat, this is all items I found at Ross and/or TJ Maxx. I do love making historical and fantasy costumes, but I suppose that's a story for another time. Anyway, I chose to dress in 1920s garb because if I WERE to write an outright historical, I reckon that's when I'd set it. And I love the Coney Island pictures, LOL.

Anyway, long story short, I was just outright SHOCKED to have won a contest that I believe was just a random draw. Really? I don't know how many entrants there were (well over 200 comments but some were from the same people). And I won four books? Shipped from the Senior Editor at the one Love Inspired line I could ever imagine writing for??? I didn't even know there were four books to win!

I used to believe in, if not luck, then things just happening randomly. But after going through Beth Moore's study of Esther, I'm not so sure. It's pretty much impossible for my mind to wrap around how every single little thing (as small as misplacing my keys and taking a minute to find them) could happen for a reason, but it certainly wouldn't be outside the range of God's power.

At any rate, winning four books is a lot bigger deal (and more unusual!) than losing my keys. A little part of me is wondering--maybe I should try a historical romance?

Another historical outfit I made (perhaps the most accurate, and completely made by me) is a 1770s dress. It would take so much work and research, but I believe people were getting into 1770s historical recreation in the 1920s...it seems to me that could be a very fun romance, with characters from a past era trying to recreate an even farther past era. And anything on Coney Island could be interesting (although I'm not so sure that would fly, given that the place used to be nicknamed "Sodom by the Sea"...).

Anyway. For now I reckon I will need to settle down and read them. I'll likely review them here, but I'm both a picky reader AND not much of a reviewer, so we'll see.

Oh right! In the comments from last week, I promised a picture of my phone, too.

If you want your Samsung Comeback to also look a bit like EVE from WALL-E, here's the photo.

I modified a page to print a paper EVE mask (of all things) I saw online, then shrunk it to a 240 height so it looks nice on the inner flip screen (I suggest you set your phone to "Black theme"--Menu, Settings, Display settings, My Theme, Black theme for the Comeback).

So, have you had anything recent happen that might be Providential?

Saturday Bonus - Meek Heroes

Friday night I went to Corona After Hours (a.k.a. "loud church," or at least I call it that because of the rock music, which I like, but I always have to put in earplugs, even at concert!). Pastor Mike preached on the Beatitudes, and specifically:

Matthew 5:5: Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. (NIV)

Pastor Mike noted (correctly, IMO) that in today's society, it's especially hard for men to be meek and gentle, as it's not a quality valued in men. But that made me think of Suzanne Collins' "Hunger Games" (a kind of post-apocalyptic book--incredibly compelling, rather dark and not from a Christian worldview at all). Nadine has a pretty good review of it--though she was a bit more positive toward its morality than I am.

I think you could argue that Peeta, the male lead, embodies many of the Beatitudes, while Katniss, the female lead, rather does not. And I adored Peeta in that book (haven't read the sequels and don't plan to). While I found Katniss fascinating, I can't say I actually LIKED her as a person, exactly. It could be that she's too human, fair enough, but I really wanted to shake some sense into her...

That said, Peeta's gentleness makes me wonder if guys actually like Peeta, or if he's just a woman's fantasy. Thoughts? Can men enjoy reading a "meek" hero?

(EDIT: I answer a great question in the next post.)