Barry Lyga Rocks!!!

Carolina Valdez at Carol's Prints has been holding this fabulous contest Barry Lyga Rocks!!! Part of the contest is to write a letter to the awesomely awesome author himself, Barry Lyga.  Make sure to check out the other letters-to-the-author here.

::I'm starting to feel nervous:: *sweaty palms* Okay, here goes nothing.*deep breath*

Dear Mr. Barry Lyga, (It feels so informal, but since I'm not on Barr-man status with you, I shall call you by your full name)

I first heard of you at the DFW Writer's conference and was super excited to read a book of yours. Well, between work. writing, 3 maniac kids, and life I hadn't gotten a chance to get around to it (Goth Girl Rising had been sitting on my shelf for months). Anyway, when I heard about Carolina's contest, I figured that it would be a good time to read it.

I put down a couple of other books that I was trudging through to finish and picked up Goth Girl Rising and finished it in less than 24 hours. That is saying something huge about your book! You grabbed my attention with amazing writing, true, real-life characters, and a realistic plot.

And I do have to say you stepped into a mentally unstable 16 year old girl's role quite easily. Should I be worried about you? I think I should. Just a little. Kyra's history and life story leave her in an extremely vulnerable state during some of the most most impressionable times of a teenage girl's life. You do such an honest representation of her that I truly felt as if I knew Kyra. I felt for her and wanted to be there for her.

Kyra has a depth to her that I loved. She is a typical teenage girl in the fact that she thinks she knows what she wants, feels, cares about only to be utterly confused in certain times and start having reverse thinking on those topics. Even though she comes across as one who could care less about what others think, we get so close to her to see that even a person who appears that way truly does care on the inside.

Beyond the on-the-spot character portrayal, the writing craft and creativeness kept the story moving at an unreal fast pace. I loved how you switched between present, to past, to chat sessions, to poetry, to playing out scenes in comic book panels. I have one word for that: genius.

Out of all the ways that you wrote, I have to say that the piece of poetry that threads itself throughout the book, revealing itself in entirety only near the end was amazing. It kept me wanting to know what was going to happen. What she was going to do. What she was going to say. And then when the poem does end, it is nothing like what I expected. As a reader, there couldn't have been a better way to have done it. I applaud that well thought out idea.

Now that I've finished one of your books, I have all of the rest of your books on my TBR pile. I love discovering new authors that are able to keep my interest and keep the book in my hands until it is finished. I can't wait to start another book of yours. Actually, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I win the contest that Carolina is holding, so that then I can have 2 more books of yours! :)

Sincerely,
Tiffany Neal AKA Your #1 Fan (Um, I had to do that-it's what my 4th graders do)

Phew. *wipes sweat from brow* Why do I get sweaty palms when I'm writing to an author? It's not like I'm meeting them face to face. Maybe writing is more stressful because that's what I want to be when I grow up and the author may look at my writing and say: NO! You will never be a published author! You can't write worth a damn.
Whatever the case is, I'm glad I got to share a great book by an amazing author. Check out his website which features his other books and blog here!