Josie Bloss is the author for this Thursday's Author Tales. Josie is the author of Band Geek Love, which was just released July 1st!!! Yay! Band Geek Love is Josie's debut novel. You can expect a review of Band Geek Love soon! Don't forget if you want to sign up for the Monthly Contest, this is where you need to comment!

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I have always been fascinated by the advice that writers have for each other. From where we get our ideas, to how we approach the writing process, to the ways we keep ourselves from going insane after staring at a computer screen for hours on end. But I never thought I had much to contribute to the discussion until I considered how my first book, Band Geek Love , came to be.

On my last day of high school band camp (lo that decade ago), I found a moment away from the craziness, sat down at a picnic table, and wrote the following in my journal:

See, the funny thing about band camp is how all-encompassing it is. When you're in these tight quarters with all your friends, you begin to forget about life outside of marching band. Here, on the last day ever of band camp, I'm becoming a little more objective...

I love this place with a passion but I completely lose my ability to think of the future (being home, school, going to college). No, all that matters is this day, this hour, this minute. When does rehearsal end, who likes who, a solo coming up...

Maybe I love it for exactly this reason. I take my place in a microcosm. Despite the stress of this little world, somehow I'm less tense. I know my place, I know the routine, I'm comfortable.-

Josie, Age 17

This turned out to be the basis for Band Geek Love !

Fortunately, unlike my main character, Ellie Snow, no cute boy showed up in the audience to completely ruin my own fabulous trumpet solo (my version of Conner the Troublemaker wouldn't show up for a few months yet). Ellie's story is both a bit more humiliating and more exciting than my own. But then, Ellie is more of a control freak than I ever was, and she probably sort of deserves to have her world shaken up. To find out what she did with her humiliating (and exciting!) experience...well...you'll just have to read the book !

So, I suppose I do have a piece of writerly advice (or at least an observation about something that worked for me), especially applicable to teenagers who want to become writers: Record everything. You never know when a spur-of-the-moment journal entry written at a picnic table during band camp might end up turning into an entire novel.

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Thanks Josie for yet another inspiring guest post! If you would like more information about Josie and Band Geek Love, visit the following links:

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/josiebloss

Website: http://www.josiebloss.com

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