In Which I Become a Complete Brent Crawford Fan Girl

I love Will Carter.

Truly I do. In a kind of, he'd be the funniest yet most annoying little brother ever, but I want to pat him on the head and say "aw, my boy's all growed up (but not entirely)" way.

Hi, my name is Sarah Billington and I am a complete Brent Crawford fan girl.

He brought Carter into my life a couple of years ago with this book...

Carter Finally Gets It

Meet Will Carter, but feel free to call him Carter. (Yes, he knows it's a lazy nickname, but he didn't have much say in the matter.) 
Here are five things you should know about him: 

1. He has a stuttering problem, particularly around boobs and belly buttons. 

2. He battles Attention Deficit Disorder every minute of every day...unless he gets distracted. 

3. He's a virgin, mostly because he's no good at talking to girls (see number 1). 

4. He's about to start high school. 

5. He's totally not ready. 

Join Carter for his freshman year, where he'll search for sex, love, and acceptance anywhere he can find it. In the process, he'll almost kill a trombone player, face off with his greatest nemesis, suffer a lot of blood loss, narrowly escape death, run from the cops (not once, but twice), get caught up in a messy love triangle, meet his match in the form of a curvy drill teamer, and surprise the hell out of everyone, including himself.

And then again with this book... 

Carter's Big Break

After surviving freshman year (just barely), Carter is craving his summer break. Unfortunately, when he and his girlfriend, Abby, part ways, it looks as though summer just might break him. Things start to look up when he's unexpectedly cast in an independent film opposite the world's biggest tween sensation, Hilary Idaho. With Hollywood knocking on his door, Carter gets a taste of the good life. But as the film spirals out of control, he begins to fear that he's not the "somebody" he thinks he is and more the "nobody" he's sure he always has been. Find out if Carter goes Hollywood...or Hollywood goes Carter. 

And then, most recently, I got to hang with Carter and his boys again in this book...

Carter's Unfocused, One-Track Mind

After an eventful freshman year and disastrous summer, fifteen-year-old Will Carter returns to Merrian High none the wiser. His sophomore year will present a host of new problems: the return of Scary Terry from juvie, the pregnant presence of Amber Lee, friends-with-benefits negotiations with Abby, prom night expectations, and the ever-constant harassment from his boys. When Abby announces that she might be transferring to a New York arts school, Carter's world is turned upside down and he'll be forced to make the biggest decision of his life. In his signature voice, author Brent Crawford details young Will Carter's high school struggles, this time focusing on Carter's discovery of his true passion and the sacrifices he'll need to make.



While reading, I laughed out loud a whole bunch of times and subjected my sister and her boyfriend to funny paragraphs that I thought were simply genius. I had them trapped in a car so they couldn't run away from me and my Carter recital anyway. They could roll their eyes (which my sister did when I first started) but they both laughed when I started reading (at the book, not at me. I think) so it all ended up brilliantly.

The Carter series is just so REFRESHING. Contemporary fiction from the boy's point of view, and OH how different it is to a girl's.

There are no boys to swoon over in these books, these are the kind of boys who push each other over and shave off someone's eyebrow because they think it's funny.

And in Carter's world, it totally is.

If you like comedies and contemporary young adult fiction I highly recommend these books. Seriously. I don't know Brent Crawford (I totally want to write him a fan letter though, but don't know how to contact him) but am a big, big fan.

I can't wait for the next book. I really really hope there will be a next book.

So this is my fan girl post. I'm sharing the book love. What books, movies, bands or things do you LOVE SO MUCH OH SO MUCH that you want the world to also recognise the awesome (mostly so you have someone to talk about it with)?

Love,

Stupid fan-girl-itis.

I should totally be getting ready to head to class right now, but I have a bee in my bonnet about something and I want to share.

Published authors are people too. I must remember that. They are just people who are a bit further along the publishing path than me. They're totally normal. Many of them seem like really cool people.

In fact I think THAT is why I turn into embarrassing fan girl when I get to meet some in person, because I reckon they're cool and I'd love for them to be my writer buddy maybe.

So what do I do? I linger, I stand, I don't know what to say so I turn into creepy standing linger girl.

Actually no, usually I go along to their talk and think it's awesome and amazing and how much fun is that person and then I leave without having said hello.

Yesterday however, YA author Penni Russon came to my University and spoke about YA for 2 hours. It was awesome hearing her thoughts on the subject, her thoughts on her books, how she ended up as an author and how her books were published (as a work experience girl, she became friends with the editorial assistant and years later the editorial assistant became the commissioning editor and wanted some PENNI RUSSON thank you very much. I think this is awesome. I have more on this story later)

Yeah, so Penni came, she talked and I decided to bite the bullet and speak to her cos she's a real human being. And freaky stalky linger girl happened. Sigh.

But that's okay, cos I'm going to another event soon that she's also going to be at and just maybe I'll be able to pry freaky stalky linger girl off me and try again. Or maybe I'll just say "'sup" from across the room and leave it at that.

Okay, next part of the story, which involves editorial assistant-commissioning editor girl and someone ELSE who will be at the event I'm going to soon, Lili Wilkinson.

Two years...was it two? I think it was two. Two years ago I read a newspaper article about another aussie YA author, Lili Wilkinson. I hadn't actually heard of her at the time, but discovered she was in her mid-twenties and had a couple of books under her belt. I'm a couple of years younger than Lili, but I completely aspire to have her career. Soon.

Anyhoo, in the article it said that she had been commissioned to write a book for a new series, called Girlfriend Fiction.

WELL, I decided. Commissioned? Well maybe I could get mySELF commissioned as well.

So I emailed Allen & Unwin who were doing this collection and told them about a book I had written (okay, not entirely written yet, actually, not at ALL written - I don't reccommend doing this. That could have bitten me on the bum) that I thought would be great for Girlfriend Fiction, how should I go about submitting, if they were even accepting unsolicited stuff.

I sent it to the comments section on the website, not really expecting a response, not expecting anyone but maybe the webmaster to see it.

The ACTUAL editor (hello editorial assistant-commissioning editor gal) replied saying that they were full at the moment, but they'd love to see it at the end of the year.

WHOA. So in my mid-semester break at University, so over 6 weeks I wrote the book. I had so much fun doing it, too. And I polished it up as best I could and I sent it.

She replied with a page and a half of notes and if I'd be INTERESTED in rewriting it, she'd take another look. There were notes about stuff that happens right at the end of the book so I was pleased to see she'd definitely read the whole thing.

I was so thankful for her notes. They made so much sense to me and the whole back half of the book is COMPLETELY different - and for the better. And the climactic conclusion? WAY better than it was.

In the end, she decided it wasn't quite right for Girlfriend fiction. But that's okay. She helped me make it a better a book just by considering it. I never sent her a thank you email for that, which I regret not doing, but just assumed she's a busy woman and didn't need it.

Since then, THAT SAME BOOK got me my kick ass agent and introduction to her other clients, many of which have become awesome writer friends, and some editors are now looking forward to Sarah Billington books. I mean, wow.

I put it down to that article about Lili Wilkinson, and Girlfriend Books. It's kind of a dream now, that I'll write a book for Girlfriend fiction, because to me, that's how my career finally lifted off.

I've been to a couple of events Lili runs, and it's so stupid but because of this history that she has NO idea about, I don't go up and talk to her because stupid scary stalky linger girl will come out.

Maybe she's reading this right now? If so - see you on Sunday. If I'm brave enough. :)

MUST go to class now.

Sairz