Wren's playlist of utter randomness

For those of you who have read For Ever (or all three books!), you'll know that Wren's a little off-center. Well, her playlist is equally random. She listens to stuff for the sound and feel of it. She doesn't really keep track of what's in at the moment; she's just as likely to listen to a song she heard her parents playing when she was eight.

Promise, Ben Howard*

Doll Parts, Hole

Love Will Tear Us Apart, Joy Division

Smile Like You Mean It, The Killers

Décollage, Les Balayeurs Du Désert

Midnight City, M83

Fade Into You, Mazzy Star

Blue Monday, New Order

I've Got Dreams to Remember, Otis Redding

Young Folks, Peter Bjorn and John

Love My Way, The Psychedelic Furs

All I Need, Radiohead

Spaceboy, Smashing Pumpkins

The Diamond Sea, Sonic Youth

To Lose My Life, White Lies

Rhinocerous, Smashing Pumpkins

Elegia, New Order

* This is the song I imagined toward the end of Sever.

Who are you?

I just read a blog post on "being authentically yourself." Now, you might be saying to yourself, "What else can I be?" I've actually found it's very easy to be someone other than myself, at least part of the time. Think about what we're asked to be and do, whether it's in school or when looking for a job.

• Be an energetic go-getter who loves collaborating with people!
• Must be good at math and science!
• Must love working in groups!
• Study hard for the stuff that you're not interested in! Don't pay attention to the stuff you're interested in!
• Get your head out of that book and get an internship with a Fortune 500 company!
• Must love multitasking rather than sitting alone all day reading a book or doodling!

For years and years, I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do, and I literally couldn't sit down to write for more than five minutes without feeling like a fraud. After a long time of being told what I should be doing, someone close to me told me to focus on what I enjoyed doing. The problem was: I didn't enjoy writing anymore. I was afraid of it, because I kept thinking I had to be someone I wasn't.

I am not an extrovert. I can read or write all day and feel completely fine in that very internal world.

I am not and never have been a math and science person. I'm fascinated by certain scientific facts, but my brain does not work well with equations. Likewise, I enjoy stories, not formulas.

I hate group work. Hate it.

I never liked studying. Reading a good book is always better.

In my world, multitasking is over-rated. Spending an entire day reading (or writing) a book is perfectly acceptable.

The world, in a lot of ways, is built for multitasking extroverts who excel at math and science and love group work. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. We need people who love math and science and group work and multitasking. I'm just saying it's okay to be the other way, too. I think that's a lot of what got channeled into Wren in For Ever. I think she feels a little out of place in the world, and I think for a long time I did, too.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that some of the people who connected with The Ever Series are introverts who love reading and hate group work. There are maybe even some people who love math and science and group work in there, too. :-)

Right now, I'm in Ever's world. What a ride. I can't wait to share his side of For Ever.

To those of you who have followed along on Wren's journey from the beginning, thank you.

CJ

Sever just got the sweetest review

It just made my day! Thank you to Ever's No. 1 fan.

XX

Buy Sever now on Amazon!

When Sever ends, will it be For Ever? 

I close my eyes, remembering his last words.

Wren Sullivan, I shall never forget you.

Alex saved me and cursed me. And now, even a year later, he haunts me. Maybe for the rest of my life. Feelings I’ve kept buried for the past year suddenly overwhelm me. Guilt … confusion … and the fear that I will never have control of anything—including myself—again in this lifetime.

***

When Wren Sullivan’s enemy sacrificed himself to save her, it should have been happily ever after with her true love, Ever Casey. The problem is: she can’t forget Alex Rousseau. Now, as a new enemy presents himself—and Wren begins to discover long-held secrets from a world across the dimensional divide—she must make choice after impossible choice as her mortal world is torn apart by a battle between immortal beings who have existed eons longer than she has been alive.

On top of that, her eighteenth birthday is coming up. And prom. And graduation. The question is: will she make it that far?

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So close!

So, here it is: if I can stop freaking out by tomorrow and work up the nerve to press "Publish," then Sever will most likely be available (fingers crossed) sometime on Monday (4 August)!

Right now, it's well past midnight here in Portland, Ore., and I need to remind myself to breathe deeply.

Can't wait for you guys to read Sever!

CJ