Welcome to the chat, everyone! As usual, I am your book tour guide, Amelia. But I think the person we should be looking forward to chatting with is Ariel, author of this month's Dekoposh Book Club book!

hi amelia
& hey everybody! welcome to Deko Posh!

Hello I am excited to have a discussion about this book. who was your favorite character?

hmmm, my favorite character would have to be a toss up between Stefanie. Or Marin
Stefanie was great comedic relief (especially with all of Abby's angst!) & Marin... who doesn't love a dreamy love interest?

I think my favorite character is actually Abby (Even with her moodiness? Yes.) Abby was real. If she was hurting you knew it. If she was happy, you knew that too. She didn't try to cover up or hide her pain. She had to be herself.

Haha, I have to agree about Marin, lol.

Hi everyone, sorry I am late! I got stuck on a conference call!

That's fine, Dina! Welcome to the party!

If you had a chance for a rewrite which character, if any, would you change and what about them would you alter?

hmmmm I would probably give a little more backstory to the mom in the story... why she was the way she was... or even do a little more into Emily's life - more of who she really was compared to who Abby perceived her to be

Okay, talk to us about the mom, please. What was her deal?

momma preston had some issues! :P
I only had a vague outline of what went on in Momma Preston's life...
but from what I remember:
HER mom was really controlling, moody... the same way she was to Abby... basically how she was is all that she knew to be.. abby broke the cycle by daring to be different as you can tell from the beginning, she was a lot like her mom but towards the end both her & her mom were committed to being different people.. it's just like in real life, things don't always resolve in 30 minutes or less. It takes time & effort, but things CAN change

This book was really fun! I am so excited that we have a column blogger who is also a author! Very cool!!!

My favorite character was Stephanie. She reminded me of someone I know. There connection was genuine.

Ariel,

Are you ready to write another book?

Yes! I'm actually working on the 2nd one right now!
I haven't made much progress but............
NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) starts November 1st so hopefully that'll give me a push in the right direction
I would encourage everyone to participate! It's a lot of hard work but it's a lot of fun as well!

Glad to hear it! dekoposh is a fan!!!

Yes, one of the things I liked about this book is that it inspired me to participate in NaNoWriMo this November!

Very cool, Amelia! That is great.

that's awesome amelia! That was one of the biggest reasons I decided to make NaNoWriMo such a big part of CD... to get more people participating! Everyone can be an author!

Are you going to continue with Abby's story?

I've thought about it but I haven't completely decided. To me, Abby's story is complete.
To be honest, my original NaNo novel wasn't Chasing Dandelions! A lot of the characters and plot lines were taken from my NaNo to make CD NaNoWriMo's biggest advice is QUANTITY ... not quality so my NaNo wasn't very good :P
I took the best of my NaNo & made it into Chasing Dandelions...

so long story short:
Maybe, maybe not!
I started NaNoWriMo late last year (just like Abby) so I just started writing! Now that I know about it, I'm tempted to plan it out but I'm deciding against that.. I'm just gonna roll with it

What about these characters in particular made you choose their story to write? Have you thought of adapting other parts of your original script and developing them further?

When I was editing my NaNo, thinking of a new story to write I thought of this...
what would happen if I wrote a book, about writing a book for NaNoWriMo?
I took a few characters from my NaNo & the story of Emily and made into what Chasing Dandelions is..

someday, I would like to go back and redo chasing dandelions... maybe taking out some parts and adding in more detail. As of right now, I'm pretty busy with college... and starting a NEW NaNoWriMo

And you? Are you interested in NaNoWriMo?

Hey guys!!

Ariel, I apologize, I haven't read your book yet but I promise I will do so asap!! I'm sure it is amazing though!

thanks laybay! glad you could make it

No problem big sis!

Not sure if this has been asked yet, but were there any inspirations to write this book or the story?

Hmmm, NaNoWriMo would have to be the biggest inspiration...
originally I had a COMPLETELY different story written but when it came down to it, I didn't like the story I was writing. Some of the best writing advice I've gotten is to write what YOU would like to read... and my NaNo wasn't something I'd pick up at the library...

a lot of the characters were modeled after people that I know... I took various aspects of people's personalities - the good & the bad - to make Abby, Marin, Emily & Stefanie

I really liked Abby!

I must admit I didn't want the book to end...I wanted to know more about Marin and Abby. When she won the contest what happened next? A book? Movie script? Did she pursue her writing further??

Yes, I agree---me too!

hmmm you know I never thought about it! haha
I'd say abby finished out her junior year, took her SAT & all that jazz. Worked on her relationship with her mom & dad and also reached out more - started being more social instead of a recluse
Marin + Abby? Idk, I'll leave that for you guys to decide

Dina~ Why Abby? What did you like the most about her? And were you sad about Emily?

Abby seemed to be so true!

Ariel is the second book an extension of Chasing Dandelions? And I heard you have a third book in mind as well...super excited about all that you are doing. Just keep us informed! When should we expect the second book?

the second book?
Hmm, maybe sometime after NaNoWriMo?

I must say my favorite character is probably Emily, heh. I felt connected to both her and Abby, as writers.

Emily was fun to write.

If, (and this is a BIG if) I decided to write more about Abby's life, I'd probably do a story from Emily's point of view...
She'd seem like a fun person to write... there's more to her than meets the eye... and Abby's view of her

Definitely! I like that idea.

me too! Just talking about it is giving me some ideas...
what about you? Any ideas for NaNoWriMo?

Just wanted to show my support for Ariel and Amelia! Good job with this everyone this is awesome! And Congrats on working on a 2nd book Ariel. I still haven't read it yet....still pestering Amazon to make a Kindle version!!

thanks Steph!
Haha yep, I'm still working on the Kindle version too!!

Yay, what was up with the mother...and the passive father. This book made me cry, laugh and I couldn't stop reading it until I was finished...very good Ariel!!!

thank you!

Have you ever thought of writing a series of books?

I have actually, not about Abby but before...
I've been writing since middle school and actually had an idea for a series... but it never panned out.
...Maybe that I'm writing again I'll start working on it

Kindle...is a thought?! So much easier for us the reader. I think you can do it, Stephanie. KINDLE...KINDLE...KINDLE.

So exciting, thank you to all of you for being here! I look forward to reading more of your books, Ariel!

Yes, this is probably our best Book Club meeting yet Thanks for writing an awesome book for us to talk about, Ariel, haha. Can't wait to join you in NaNoWriMo next month!

thank you!
yes, everyone be prepared for some MAJOR spamming about NaNoWriMo on my twitter/blog... I know last year it's ALL I talked about :P

Thank you Amelia and Ariel, I have to run---we have 150 gift bags to pack tonight for the Jeans Bring Dreams Concert. Thank you for this time, it was great to sit here and read though all your comments. Please continue!!!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a good night, Dina!

thanks for joining us Dina!

Also I wasn't quite sure where did she live? I enjoyed the read but wanted a little more detail. Ariel is it possible for a sequel? WE WANT MORE FROM ABBY...

no sequel but if I DID choose to write more about the Preston girls, it'd be through Emily's point of view... I think that would be interesting

& I think I set CD in Brentwood a made up small town somewhere in Texas... the greatest state in the US

Yes this has been fun!!! I appreciate ya'll for allowing me to join in the book review. I definitely have recommended this book to family and friends and expect great stories to be written from this new and upcoming author. Look forward in reading your book series, Ariel. I must go but continue striving forward in writing you are a very talented and gifted young lady. I am very proud of you...mom

We appreciate you joining us, AnnMarie!

What did you think of Chasing Dandelions Amelia?

It was great, Ariel! Not too shabby at all for your first novel, lol. Like I said, I really liked Emily, and despite her moodiness, I liked Abby, too. x3

thanks amelia!
can't wait to read yours!!

Everyone, its been great! Best wishes to you Ariel on your next book and your series.

thank you!

Thanks for coming everybody! Hope you all have a great week!
Don't forget:
NaNoWriMo starts November 1st and ends November 30th!
The goal? Write 50,000 words in 30 days!
Join the fun at www.nanowrimo.org

Hope to see you all there!

Well, looks like the meeting is drawing to a close. Thanks to everyone who participated, this was great!

Be prepared, the book for the month of October is Melissa Walker's Violet On The Runway. I'm about halfway through, and I'm loving it! See you next time, and thanks again!

Hello!