Welcome to the new, prettified Sarahenni.com! (For those of you reading on an RSS feed, you might want to click through for full effect.) Since The Great Blog Disaster of 2011, I’ve been working on redesigning my blog to make it more pleasant-looking and comprehensive. I’ve added FAQ and lexicon guide pages, as well as a Listening To page where I’ll track my most-enjoyed albums.

Self-Portrait by the Artist

But! Most evident and most exciting, a new, gorgeous blog banner drawn by local Washington, D.C. artist Noelle Stevenson!

I’ve been following Noelle’s art on her Tumblr (better known as Gingerhaze) for a while, and I’m so glad she agreed to lend some of her style to my blog. She’s a student at the Maryland Institute College of Art, and does freelance art and fanart in her spare time. I asked her for an interview so my readers could get to know her better.

When did you start drawing?

I’ve pretty much always been drawing! I was one of those kids who tried to one-up the other kids at crayon time and always got art kits for Christmas. I very clearly displayed a inclination towards it at a very young age.

What made you decide to pursue art school?

I started planning for it as soon as I discovered it was possible to go to school for art. I knew that there was nothing else I’d rather be doing, and so it wasn’t a hard choice to make.

I discovered your Tumblr when my friend linked to the Broship of the Ring. What made you decide to draw the Broship?

My family has a tradition of watching Lord of the Rings every time we’re all together, so I grabbed my tablet and was doodling while watching it. I can’t say where the actual idea came from, but I drew outdoorsy Aragorn, preppy Legolas, and trucker Gimli first and posted them on my Tumblr. It blew up really quickly. Of course I had to keep going!

Were you surprised by how the Broship blew up? You and your drawings became internet famous!

It was super exciting! I found myself with a fairly large following pretty quickly and was seeing my art on big websites like io9. It was kind of surreal.

What is it about a certain book/tv show/movie/comic book that inspires you to draw its characters? For example, you’ve mentioned enjoying Game of Thrones, but you haven’t featured many drawings inspired by it.

You know, I can’t really say! Just that there are certain things that provide me more readily with material. Lord of the Rings, for example, is full of inspiration, because while it’s epic and beautiful, it’s also very easy to make fun of. I can’t say I felt very funny after finishing Game of Thrones. I also haven’t seen very much of the show yet, and it’s easier to draw fanart when the imagery is provided to you.

I write young adult books, and blog about a lot of YA books/movies/TV shows. So I love that you have drawings inspired by The Hunger Games! How did you first hear about THG? What made you want to draw those characters?

My friend recommended them to me and I was hooked instantly. No matter what anyone says about the writing style (and despite the fact that Suzanne Collins apparently decided that she hated all of her readers by the third book), they are undeniably engaging and addictive. I really found the character of Katniss refreshing, especially in the wake of Bella Swan. So when I found out that they were making a movie, I wanted to record my impression of the book before they were altered by the imagery of the movie.

Are you excited for the movie? Any concerns?

I’m very excited! From what I could see in the trailer, it looks like they really captured the spirit of the book. I’m still nervous about a few things, mainly that they’ll play to the pre-teen Twilight crowd too much, but from what I can see so far they’ve done a good job of avoiding that trap. The casting is unusual but I think they could all do a really good job.

Have you read other YA books, or do you seek out anything YA?

I haven’t found much YA to read lately seeing as it’s mostly undead teenagers in love, but I really do like the genre. I prefer action/adventure themed stories though, and sometimes those get placed in the children’s section even if they have more mature themes.

What are you reading right now?

I’m working my way through A Song of Ice and Fire by G.R.R. Martin, but I think I may give up after A Storm of Swords. It’s a bit too much for me.

What do you hope to work on once you’re done with art school?

Any kind of narrative illustration, hopefully! I came to school interested in book illustration, but my sights have shifted towards comics, especially since I’m more interested in telling my own stories. But I’d love to write and illustrate my own book at some point!

Thank you so much, Noelle! And thank you for the gorgeous artwork :) You can find more of Noelle Stevenson’s art on her blog, Tumblr, and Twitter, and buy prints at her shop!

Happy Valentine’s Day! I’m posting as part of YA Highway’s Blog Circus Lovefest, and I couldn’t decide on just one object of affection to send a Valentine’s Card to. So I gathered a few of my favorite characters, and scoured Etsy for cards that would perfectly capture my love. It was a tough job but … okay, fine, it was totally fun. I had a blast finding the cards, and casting the characters—so here they are, my Valentines!

I’d send the dreamily odd Cricket Bell (from Stephanie Perkins’ Lola and the Boy Next Door and cast here as Nicholas Hoult) this fun, funky card—appropriately made in San Francisco! The polar opposite of moody, broody rocker Max, Cricket Bell was smart and a bit silly. But his loyalty and genuine nature made him one of my absolute favorite YA boys… next to Etienne, of course!

Warner from Tahereh Mafi’s Shatter Me is a lot of things: controlling, manipulative, demanding, ruthless… a touch psycho? But as the book goes on it’s clear there’s a whole lot more to Warner than meets the eye. The promise of a heart-wrenching backstory and surprising plot twist or two is enough to get me hooked for Unravel Me, and to keep me on Team Mysterious and Tortured. But you can’t just give a man like that a box of candy hearts, so Warner (played here, per the author’s suggestion, by an extraordinarily smoldering fox in a tux whose name I don’t even care to know because it’d ruin the mystique) would get this simple card with a complicated message by Fifi Du Vie.

Oh hi, Love Interest in the forthcoming Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore. I don’t know you. Not even your name—seriously, there’s no hint of anything on Goodreads even. But I’m prepared, nay, predetermined to fall madly, wildly, foolishly in love with you. And every minute we are apart? Every day that the elusive ARC of Bitterblue passes hands and I remain clueless about each of its 500+ pages? I miss you more. Happy freaking Valentine’s Day, mystery dude.

Oh, Gale. Pretty, helpless, moping-in-a-meadow Gale. Get back in the coal mines, buddy—Peeta got your girl by painting himself into dirt. I know,  it sucks. But take the advice of this apt, and awesome, print (also by Fifi Du Vie) and don’t get too bogged down with, you know. Thoughts.

I was also dying to give away this Valentine to a fictional studmuffin:

But I couldn’t think of just the right guy (or gal!). Who would you send it to?

For other Valentine’s awesomeness, check out the other Blog Lovefest posts, and rock out to my collection of non-romantic Valentine’s Dance Break songs!

I’m so excited today to bring you something very, extremely cool that was—once again—made possible through the magic of Twitter! I shared this recently, an accessory that I’m fairly certain all of my friends absolutely need:

(source)

My friend Tracey Neithercott commented that it would make a great Kindle or book cover, and we commiserated that – to our knowledge – the internet had not yet created this. Enter Erin Bowman, organizer of awesome things and designer extraordinaire, who said, “Challenge accepted!”

After some brainstorming of what other great covers would fit in the “Go Away, I’m Reading” vein, Tracey, Erin, and I had some fantastic ideas. Just days later, Erin had an amazing design that was custom-made for (slightly smaller) YA books.

There are three sets of designs, all of which will allow you to silently warn everyone at the coffee shop that Reading TIme ≠ Social Time.

To get Set #1, go here:

For Set #2, go here:

And you can download Set #3 below!

At Hogwarts // In Narnia // Mt. Doom (LotR) // In the Arena (Hunger Games) // In Forks (Twilight)

Printing Instructions:

These covers will fit the traditionally-sized YA book.* Take the PDFs to your local FedEx or Staples and get them printed on tabloid paper (11x17in). We suggest a matte cardstock  (you could print on something glossy, but sometimes that causes light glares at certain angles and you want people to be able to read that Go Away message without incident). Choose a weight between 60-80lb for the paper. Anything lighter and the page will be too thin, anything heavier and folding it around your book will be difficult. You can have the store cut the printer-outs for you (it will cost a little more), or you can handle it on your own when you get home (there are crop marks in the files).

Erin also has a great tutorial up on her blog about how she puts the dust jackets on her books. I have a little different method, so here’s a video where I show an alternative dust jacketing method:

Let us know what you think, and of course we’d love to see pictures of the dust jackets in action!

* There are, of course, exceptions.

“Go Away” Dust Jacket Series by Erin Bowman, Sarah Enni, and Tracey Neithercott is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at www.embowman.com

It’s February! Usually I love this month because it kicks off with the Superbowl, but I can’t really get jazzed about this year’s matchup. So I’m skipping right past that to my next favorite thing—Valentine’s Day! It gets a bad rap, but I’ve always appreciated a day that’s meant to celebrate a powerful, positive thing. A best friend or even a pet can be a Valentine, technically. Love is love, it doens’t just have to be romantic!

And, in that spirit, and because I use this blog to feed my Etsy addiction care, I gathered some of the best literary Valentine’s cards and gifts I’ve seen lately. It’s not too late to get your beta reader, writing mentor, agent, editor, or muse a little reminder of your unending love and admiration!

Not quite a card, not exactly a pillow, this notebook-inspired keepsake from CornFlowerBlue Studio is unique, fun, and frameable. It’s the note I always wished someone would pass me in study hall!

Feel like letting your beau know you think of them whilst brooding on misty moors? No better way than sending them one of these Valentines from Presse du Four with words from The Original Emo Crew—Shelley, Byron, or Keats.

Love a techie bibliophile? They’ll delight over Rich Neely Designs‘ incredible array of iPhone-charging tomes. (And hey, don’t flinch at the idea of drilling into a hardback Harry Potter edition. This one was a horcrux anyway.)

Decoration? Inspiration? Command? This lovely print from coniLab can be whatever they need it to be, and that’s the beauty of it!

If making saucy innuendos about libraries is wrong, Constellation & Co. doesn’t want to be right.

This and so many more Ex Libris Journal prints are clever and beautiful and begging to be framed in any self-respecting literati’s office!

What about you?? Are you a V Day lover or a hater? Have you found any great writerly gifts lately? Has Etsy warped your brain as much as it has mine??

Welcome to another Road Trip Wednesday, a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway posts a weekly writing- or reading-related question and anyone can answer it on their own blogs.

This week’s topic is:

What was the best book you read in January?

In addition to getting me out of my Game of Thrones writing rut, John Green’s newest kept me up until 2:30 AM reading, crying, and hugging my cat, teetering on the verge of an existential crisis. It made me feel ALL THE FEELINGS.

GPOY

But it’s disingenuous of me to say that I just love the book. I do love the book. Certainly it would stand on its own, but what raises The Fault in Our Stars specifically and John Green generally is a community of YA readers called Nerdfighters. I met them, en masse, at Green’s Jan. 11 Washington, D.C. book tour stop. Through being a fan of John Green I got to see real teens (a crapload of them) find a connection to books, to a thirst for knowledge, to the desire to think about more than what MTV thinks they think (what), and most of all a connection to each other*.

John Green, by being a nice guy, an incredible author, and someone who does not ever talk down to teens, got a room filled up like this:

With teens who greeted an author like a rock star, sing along to songs about Quarks, and ask questions about feet and the meaning of life and get equally thoughtful answers. Teens who sit quietly and soak it up when someone talks to them like the intellectual-conversation-starved people they are, instead of just asking what college they’re going to.

The Fault in Our Stars was an incredible book. Amazing. Read-it-with-a-pencil-because-you’re-gonna-want-to-underline-stuff good. It flirted with too patently philosophical, but never crossed the line. I recommend it to humans who like thinking about humanity.

What awes me even more than John Green’s prose, though, is the opportunity he’s giving teens to find their like-minded peers. To celebrate life and all its complexities with them. If I’d had the Vlogbrothers in high school, I might’ve done some things differently. I would have met a lot more people I felt connected to, probably, and I would’ve felt less embarrassed to like the weird shit I liked like.

But you know what? I’m 26 now, and he’s still giving me that.

(A substantial portion of the DC Mafia, from right to left: Rick Lipman, Jessica BS, Cristin Terrill, Sara McClung, and Lindsey Roth Culli. Not pictured: Me and Sasha)

So The Fault in Our Stars gets my nod for best book I read in January. And John Green gets my thanks for making this month more incredible than it would have been without him.

What about you?? What was the best book you read in January? Did you get a pre-signed copy of TFiOS? Did it have a Hanklerfish?!

*And yet the boy to girl ratio was horrendous. Seriously, nerdboys, you need to come to events like this. Play the odds game, fellas.

No, the second phrase in that title is not some secret dirty lingo. It’s a commonly used phrase in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire books (maybe you’ve heard of them?) that means, basically, that something is a ruse, an act, a joke. And that is exactly what my attempts to write have been lately, friends. For serious.

I always take a healthy break after finishing a first draft, because drafting is difficult and tiring for me. So after wrapping up the WiP sometime after Thanksgiving, I set it aside and focused on the exciting trip I took, and the new friends I made. Something I enjoyed—like, a lot—during my break was reading Martin’s series.

If these books were food, they'd be a controlled substance.

I got… um… quite into them. In about three weeks I read the first three books—a total of more than 3,000 pages of a high-fantasy series that features kingdoms, swords, horses, dragons, wolves, and just about every single thing that is NOT in my contemporary YA WiP.

So when I opened up Scrivener and began to clear the cobwebs from my book… I couldn’t quite do it. Everything was “m’lady” this, and “by the seven gods” that. I couldn’t shake the urge to sit and read A Feast for Crows; I just wanted to immerse myself in that world again.

Frankly, it was getting a little bit weird.

Then, like a just-in-time life vest tossed from the U.S.S. YA*, came January 10 and the release of John Green’s (brilliant, wonderful, Kleenex-box-crushingly sad) novel The Fault in Our Stars.

It was a jarring switch from 27 characters that mostly want to put each others’ heads on spikes to an introspective 16-year old cancer patient that watches America’s Next Top Model. But it was like changing from fun but intense party shoes to sole-worn ballet flats. The same thing that always gets me about YA—the colloquialisms, the youthful cadence, the ability for authors to USE CAPS LOCK IN DIALOGUE—got my creative side to wake up again. My thoughts started returning to the WiP of their own accord, and I stopped having nightmares about undead strangers in the snow.

I’ve read countless tweets and blog posts about people carefully selecting the books they read while drafting, worried that the voice or style would interfere with their writing by being too different, or too much the same. But I’d honestly never experienced it ’til now! It was confusing and strange, and overall I’d say I don’t recommend it. I’m back on the path and gearing up for revisions. But man, that was a wild sidetrack!

What about you?? Are you careful about what books you read while drafting/revising/rewriting? Have you had a book/series take over your creative brain? How do you break out of writing slumps?

*Yeah, you're right, that was a bit of a stretch. I told you, I've been outta the game!

The pictures of writers and their cats are from the Writers and Kitties Tumblr.

More information on the Hemingway Cats here.

More info (and pets!) through the organization that brought us Hammer, Homeward Trails.

Welcome to another Road Trip Wednesday, a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway posts a weekly writing- or reading-related question and anyone can answer it on their own blogs.

This week’s topic is:

If you couldn’t use your own name, what would your pseudonym or penname be?

Well, as some of you know but many may not, I actually am using a pseudonym. Right now. At this very moment. Sarah Enni is, in fact, neither my given nor my married name.

I’ve always said I would use a pseudonym if I got published. Actually, I said this before I was even writing, when it was a kind of “when I circumnavigate the globe, I’ll fly the Finland flag!” kind of declaration, which is to say, a silly and far-fetched one said aloud purely for entertainment value.

But then I started writing, and decided to blog about it. I had to make the decision then if I wanted the blog to serve any kind of branding purpose, so I decided to go with Sarah Enni (Enni being a family name, and yes—it is Finnish, like my imaginary schooner’s flag). It’s unusual without being unpronounceable (en-knee), and though people frequently see my email and think I’m Sara Henni (a gross-looking and worse-sounding potato sack of a name, no offence to any Sara Hennis that are hopefully not lurking), I very much enjoy my writing name.

What about you?? Are you using a faux name? If you had to, what would you choose? Should we use the “name of the street you grew up on + name of your first pet” combo for pseudonyms (in which case I should change this blog to kristenaurora.com)?

This post was first published on January 1 last year, but  it worked so well that I’ve decided to use the same motto for this year, so it applies now more than ever.

I am often late to things. And by things, I don’t mean birthday parties or brunch. I mean like, late to the airport. So late that I miss flights. Sometimes. Okay, often. (This is really fun for my friends and family, let me tell you.)

I used to be late and then freak out. On the metro, in the taxi, in the check-in line, in the security line. Like, cursing myself and stomping my feet and shaking. This was a stressful and not terribly productive use of my time. I gained wrinkles and lost some hair doing this.

Then one day, as I was in the shuttle on the way to the airport trying not to check my watch every three seconds or bite my nails to bloody stumps, I thought of something. A little phrase that stood out, rooted itself in my mind, and allowed me to breathe easier:

I am when I am.

Now when I’m in line, or on hold, or in traffic, I repeat this to myself and it helps keep me calm. It’s a calming dose of reality, like the strangely humbling comfort John Lennon always gave me in “All You Need is Love” when he said there was nothing you can sing that can’t be sung, nothing you can make that can’t be made, and nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time. You can only be where you are, in that moment.

2012 is going to be a year of change. Lots of important, exciting things are or could happen. But I can’t rush them, or will them to happen sooner. I can’t pass by them, overeager for the next exciting thing. I need to be calm and present for every moment.

So, I am adopting I am when I am as my official motto for 2011. I’ll think it to myself when friends start to query, but I’m just not ready. When friends get agents before me, and start the publication journey I am so anxious for. I’ll be happy for every one of them, and I’ll be happy with exactly where I am. I am when I am, and when things change I’ll be ready.

What about you? What are you doing to prepare yourself for the new year?

Just so we don’t spend the ENTIRE week getting too weepy about leaving 2011 behind, today we’re all going to discuss what books we can’t wait for in 2012! Hold onto your spectacles, because 2012 is going to be JAM PACKED with books I am salivating over.

Veronica Roth’s Insurgent

May 28

I find Tris Prior to be one of the most refreshing YA characters I’ve ever read. How she struggles with fighting for what she wants versus feeling guilty for wanting it reflects a truly painful human conflict we all battle, regardless of age. Tris suffers from an inability to bullshit the world about who she is, and people don’t always take kindly to teens (and in particular young women) who live that way. The people in Tris’ world REALLY don’t take kindly to it, and I’m so eager to see where Roth takes Tris, both in the geographic world of the Divergent series and in her emotional journey.

Erin Jade Lange Butter

Date TBA

I remember reading the Publisher’s Marketplace announcement about this book, and the concept really struck me: “A boy everyone calls “Butter” is about to make Scottsdale High history. He’s going to eat himself to death live on the Internet – and everyone will watch. He announces his deadly plan to an army of peers and expects pity, insults or even indifference. Instead, he finds morbid encouragement.” And a funny thing happened with this idea. It stuck around. I kept thinking about it when there was a rash of horrible teen suicides last year. When the Hunger Games movie started discussions about teens interacting with the world through “reality” shows. I love this concept, and most of all I’m so eager to read how Lange handled these issues in her book, and see what kind of discussions it sparks.

Kristin Cashore’s Bitterblue

May 1

I’ve struggled over the last two years with some YA heroines who are physically, butt-kicking strong, but who lack a nuanced emotional vulnerability. Kristin Cashore’s fantasy books feature leading ladies who assert themselves physically, and lead rich and complicated inner lives. Cashore brings each character such depth that their struggles with innate superpowers or neon monsters seem totally relatable. I can’t WAIT to see what Bitterblue has in store for us!

Stephanie Perkins Isla and the Happily Ever After

Fall 2012

With Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door, Perkins has crafted two stories that are some of the best contemporary YA I’ve ever read, and I’d argue the most natural, fresh voice in that genre right now. What’s drawn me to her work, along with the perfect pacing and general quirky spirit, are the boys. These are boys. By that I mean, dudes. Guys. People that I’ve met, that I’ve known, that I’ve loved. They’re imperfect, they’re not drop-dead gorgeous, they’re awkward, they’re scared to death of the women they’re attracted to. Etienne, Cricket, and Josh are the most swoon-worthy boys in YA that I’ve ever met, and quite frankly I married one of them. It’s an absolute joy to see Perkins translate the thrills of falling in love with someone so real.

(GPOAB* included in lieu of not-released book art because he/Seth Cohen typify the type of guy that Perkins writes, and also, I think she’d approve.)

Justin Cronin’s The Twelve

August 28

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! There is no conceivable way I can wait another eight months for this book, the sequel to Cronin’s 2010 novel The Passage (pictured above because artwork for The Twelve is being shrouded in mystery and impending terror, no doubt). I loved The Passage more than I have loved a book in a very long time, because though it clocks in at an astounding 800 pages, not a scene is unnecessary, not a word misplaced. The action is tense, the characters are vibrant, the world is, in a word, angsdngfksd. Everyone called this a vampire book, but it was really more like a vampire-zombie post apocalyptic mash-up of Mad Max and 28 Days Later. I will be pre-ordering this to my Kindle and staying awake to begin reading the minute it downloads.

 Check out what everyone else had to say!

Erin Bowman

Kaitlin Ward

Kate Hart

Kathleen Peacock

Kirsten Hubbard

Kristen Halbrook

Kristin Otts

Lindsey Roth Culli

Phoebe North

Stephanie Keuhn

Sumayyah Doud

Veronica Roth

* Gratuitous Picture of Adam Brody