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One Day at Barnes & Noble...

One day, hopefully by the spring of next year, I will be hosting my first ever book signing event. When my book sales a gazillion copies (not "if", but "when"), I will go on a book tour with a friend or an author whose work I love. It would really be something to tour with, I don't know, David Sedaris, Johnathan Franzen or Mitch Albom. Maybe Mitch --- I think he would be able to appreciate my book the most as he writes things that are inspirational and life-changing. 


I haven't got a clue what that day will be like, at my signing event. I'll be a little nervous, I know, but what will it be like for people to stare at a teenager waiting for him to say something stupid or run away screaming, "Stop looking at me! I'm just a kid!"? But I know that God will give me strength and something cool and ridonkulously awesome and precocious (in a good way) to say to my new fans when they approach my pimped-out table --- well, not really. It'll probably just be an ordinary wooden or plastic table with a table cloth draped over it, but for the sake of my self-esteem, let's just say it'll be pimped-out. :P


There will be a poster nearby with my face on it and a giant photo of the front cover of my book. There will be an introduction on it, too, reading,

A gripping perspective on the complications of the average American teenager, Sunday Morning is a novel that tells a story of laughter, stupidity, anxiety, confusion, and dysfunction. It is a story that follows Marshall Brennan from the typical Chicago public school to a high-society school in Michigan, where he has come with his mother and sister for her new job and to escape the anxiety and pressure that he faced at his former life. On his journey to self-discovery and to relinquish his freak-flag, he is a 21st Century teen opposed to the typical, apprehensively entangled in silly teenage dreams and sky-high-nosed Corporate America brats. And like the beginning of a promising new week, he will rise like the sun (or wallow in his own exaggerated misery).

Don't worry. I just made that up. I will include some of that in the actual intro, but that is a mere draft. But even more importantly, I will greet my fans with,

Hello, and thank you for your interest in my novel. It's been a journey, but it's finished! It's called Sunday Morning and it's the story of an anxiety-plagued American teenager who recently moved to a Michigan suburb, attending a private school, and is a part of a dysfunctional family who is trying to get along and pretend to be a normal family, escaping old problems, and ultimately running into more impediments than ever before when they think they are starting to become normal. I'd say it's more or less a young adult read, not necessarily a teen read, but it's for anybody. It would be a blessing if you could buy it, and hey, if you like it, recommend it to friends and family!

Yeah, I know it's long and I will cut it down. But most importantly, God will tell me what to say when that glorious day comes.


I think I'll go eat dinner and watch Glee now.


P.S. Thank you so much, Ms. Darlene, for this magnificent opportunity to express my weird creativity through this blog. I wish everyone in the Writer's Workshop all the followers in the world and I know that, with your help, I will reach my dream and finish my novel within the next several months. See ya Sunday! :)

HELLO, HELLO

Hello, bloggers and welcome to my blog!


My name is Matthew Ford and I live in Michigan. I am a sophomore in high school at a school for art and design. I love music, especially rock, pop, dance, and Christian. I am actually listening to Nelly Furtado's "Whoa, Nelly!" album as I type this, and was listening to Britney Spears and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs earlier, so I like a lot of diverse music. I am a Christian but am very open-minded (a lot of people think that Christians are too conservative, but that's not always true.) I am very humorous and like dark  comedy and drama. I like to read and write and am working on a novel right now, which I hope to finish by the fall. I'm a huge Gleek and watch stuff like Modern Family, Bones, The United States of Tara, Weeds, and random movies (The Devil Wears Prada, Mean Girls (best ever), Little Miss Sunshine, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and classics/Oscar nominated films, etc. etc. etc.) I like The Catcher in the Rye, The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, and am getting ready to read Will Grayson, Will Grayson soon, and a lot of other books. I plan to be a filmmaker, writer, and maybe a musician after high school, but have other talents that I am considering pursuing. I'll be attending Northwestern University in Illinois.


I am also very opinionated, which will be obvious as I continue to post.


This is my first post so I am just going to explain what this blog is about and hopefully, you're interested enough to read it. It is a blog for teenagers and "young adults", but I am sure that anyone can enjoy the information posted. It is like a journal, featuring my experiences in school. I may also comment on things that take place in popular culture, and especially things that teens most care about. I enjoy giving advice to my friends when they have an issue and I like to believe that I give good uncommon advice on teen conundrums. I want this to be something like an open forum --- no holding back. Whatever you have on your chest, let it out as teens go through things that many people may not understand. The blog is called "Up In Flames" for all the things that could possibly go wrong in someone's life, blowing everything up in flames. It's like "My Dog Ate My Homework" and what you're going to do about it after he ate it.


That's all for now. I look forward to reading your posts and maybe answering some questions. I can post a lot more content if I have a big following, so please tell your friends about the blog. Us teens will one day be adults and we're responsible for the future. Thanks and keep blogging! :)