Jeri Smith-Ready

Blogtoberfest Day 10 - Shana Norris

The winner of a signed copy of Saundra Mitchell's SHADOWED SUMMER is Book-Adorer! Just send your name and mailing address within the next week to jeri AT jerismithready DOT com.

Today's Blogtoberguest is Shana Norris, who is giving away a signed copy of her latest release, Troy High.

I can't wait to read this, because it's a modern retelling of the Trojan War, from the point of view of Cassie (i.e., the seer Cassandra, who was my favorite person from Greek mythology--I always thought she deserved way more lines).

For more about Troy High, including its backstory and playlist, visit its page on Shana's website, and check out this book trailer:





Before I started high school, I had all these fantasies of going to homecoming in this beautiful princess gown that would make everyone stop and stare at me—like that scene in NEVER BEEN KISSED when Drew Barrymore arrives at the school dance and all eyes are on her. (Or even like the very similar scene in EVER AFTER. Drew really knows how to make an entrance, doesn't she?) I was BEYOND excited about my very first homecoming dance when I began ninth grade. What would I wear? Who would I go with? Could the stars align just right so that, miracles of all miracles, I would be named ninth grade homecoming princess??

Things seemed to get off to a good start when a guy that I'd been friends with for a long time asked me to go to the dance with him. I had a date? I had a date! This had to be a good sign. Homecoming would be my night to shine.

Sadly, my big homecoming fantasy never became a reality. I soon learned that the homecoming dance at my school was never the Really Big Thing that it is in my book TROY HIGH. Yeah, the homecoming game was kind of a big deal and we had a homecoming queen and court, but the dance was just another school dance. Then two days before homecoming, I suddenly realized that I didn't like my guy friend the same way he liked me. I should have figured it out a week earlier when I started taking different routes between classes and hiding in the library during lunch so that I could avoid seeing him. I had to give him the “I just like you as a friend” speech with “but we can still go to homecoming—as friends” added on. He agreed to go as friends, but he didn't exactly seem thrilled about it. I don't think it was just my imagination that he seemed to spend the next two days avoiding me.

Yet I still had hope. Maybe I could salvage my homecoming fantasies and make homecoming a great night.

Or maybe my homecoming was just doomed from the beginning. Because I played the flute in my school band, I got to go to homecoming wearing the dorkiest blue cowboy hat with ratty white feathers that has ever existed. To this day, I still don't know what the connection between cowboy hats and Blue Devils—my school's mascot—is, but that was the headgear they forced us band students to wear, along with uniforms that, judging from the bell bottom pants, were remnants from the hippie days. I was able to change after the game, but it turned out that no one wore beautiful dresses and suits to homecoming unless they wanted to be made fun of all night long. So I wore jeans and a T-shirt, like everyone else. When I walked into the gym for the dance with my sulking date that was just a friend, the music didn't stop. No one turned to look at me. Granted, I was pretty short so I was easy to overlook, but I was certain that even a height disadvantage wouldn't have caused people to ignore me if I'd been wearing the princess gown of my dreams and my school had invested in a spotlight. But in reality, my big Drew Barrymore moment fizzled and died. I spent homecoming leaning against the wall, watching other people dance, and feeling incredibly guilty while I tried to talk about stupid things that would make my date forget I had just dumped him two days before. And making homecoming court? The stars apparently weren't on my side that night or the next three homecoming nights the following years.

But the thing about being a writer is that you can change things. You can have the big, fancy homecoming of your dreams if you want in your books. So in TROY HIGH, I gave my characters the homecoming my school didn't have—which turns out to be a night that my characters will NEVER forget, even without the Drew Barrymore moment.

* * * *

To enter to win Troy High, leave a comment below. For complete rules, read the introductory post.

Deadline for entry: Tuesday, October 20, 11:59pm Eastern. NOTE: THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. The winner is...cait045! Congrats!

Other open Blogtoberfest giveaways:
Sarah Beth Durst and Ice
Megan Crewe and Give Up the Ghost
Nancy Holder and her 5-pack of novels
Kelly Parra and Invisible Touch
Lauren Baratz-Logsted and Crazy Beautiful
Amanda Ashby and Zombie Queen of Newbury High

Thanks again to Shana for sharing her Homecoming memories!

Labels: Blogtoberfest, Contests, guests

• posted by Jeri @ 9:00 AM
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