The LOVE NOTES Tour Continues! Plus, Life Imitating Book

The LOVE NOTES tour is still going strong -- and will be until the end of the month! Today REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD is featured on the blogs Teen Hoot Books and Book Groupies. You can read all about LOVE NOTES on these sites and can pre-order it at Amazon! Thanks again to the bloggers for hosting and to fellow authors Kira Adams (PIECES OF ME), Breigh Forstner (STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART) and Shane Morgan (THE RIGHT SONG). Make sure you check into the tour and get the chance to win some cool freebies!

In other news, I'm still putting the finishing touches on my second novel. I'd really like to get it out there by March. I just want this one to be great, even better than the first.

What's funny is that I feel as if I've stepped into the life of my latest novel's narrator, Sadie. Overweight, out-of-shape Sadie makes a life-changing decision when she decides to walk a marathon -- and spends the rest of her freshman year of college training for this event.

Well, for the past year, I've been walking, too. In 2014, I completed my goal of walking 1000 miles (1058 altogether). This October, I'll be participating in Avon's 39.3 mile Walk To End Breast Cancer.

Walking may not seem like a hard-core activity, but let me tell you, training to walk long distances takes work. Over the last year I went from barely being able to walk a mile without stopping to walking 7, 8, 9. 10 miles. This past weekend, my husband and I actually did 12 miles and are working our way up to longer and longer workouts in preparation for the event. I'm hoping to actually run a marathon in the future, but for now, I'll take walking.

The other day a friend commented that I'm following in my character's footsteps and you know what? Sadie has inspired me. There have been days when I haven't felt like getting out and doing those 5 miles I'm scheduled to do, but I thought of Sadie's training schedule and went for it. Maybe it's silly to draw inspiration from a character I wrote, but hey, it works for me, LOL!

I hope to have Sadie's full story out this spring so stay tuned. Meantime, enjoy LOVE NOTES, the perfect read for Valentine's Day.

Real-Life Band Geek Moments

In my book, REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, Melinda endures many "band geek" moments. She's picked on by her classmates, her pants split in the middle of the hallways and she blows an audition in front of the entire band -- causing her to lose first chair flute. While I've never personally gone through any of those things, I have had some real "band geek" moments of my own.

When I was in school, our high school jackets were really fashionable. Our school colors were black and yellow, and all of the cool kids wore jackets that had those colors, plus the school's name on the back. Most of these kids were also on some kind of sports team so their school jacket would say, "Sachem Soccer" or "Sachem Cheerleading."

I really wanted a jacket of my own so I asked my parents if I could get once that said, "Sachem Music" on the back. They agreed and bought me one for my next birthday. It was a beautiful fleece jacket that had my name embroidered on the pocket. It was comfy and warm -- and expensive. I couldn't wait to wear it to school and show it off.

As soon as I stepped into the school, the mocking started. I could hear the laughter all around me, "Sachem Music -- what a dork!" "You're only supposed to wear a jacket if you're on a sports team, not if you're a band nerd!" and so on. I wanted to curl up and die. I wished I could just burn the jacket, but it was freezing out so I had to wear it once again when I went home. I then hung it in the back of my closet and never looked at it again.

One of the things that I like about Melinda is that she eventually learns how to stand up for herself. I wish I'd done that back in high school. I really loved being in the band and was proud of my accomplishments. I just wish I'd had the guts to let my classmates know that.

I can't change the past without the help of a time machine, but I do have control over my characters' actions. Still, as an adult, I PROUDLY wear my band geek badge of honor!

Please read and review my novel REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

The Band Geek Behind BAND GEEK

Most of us have heard the old saying, "Write what you know." That's great advice and I certainly followed it when I was writing REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD. While it's not an autobiography, I definitely incorporated some elements of my own life as a teen.

Like my narrator, Melinda, I'm a flute player. My first instrument was actually the piano, but I was being taught by my mom (who's an awesome pianist) and refused to listen to her. I never wanted to practice ... I was a horrible student. When I entered the fourth grade -- the year where we were taught to play band and orchestra instruments -- my grandfather (who was an awesome violinist) told me, "You're going to play the flute." I listened to him and fell in love with the instrument. I still love it and continue to play to this day.

Though my background is classical, I gradually switched over to jazz. In high school, I learned to play tenor sax so that I could be in jazz band and then tripled on flute/sax/clarinet in college. When I played pieces, I'd have them marked, "Measures 1-20, flute; measures 25-30, clarinet; measures 30-34, sax." It was fun, but very confusing! These days, I only play the flute, though I sometimes fool around on the piano. I like to tell people that I'm conversational in piano and fluent in flute.

Anyway, that's one big thing that Mel and I have in common: we both play flute and we're both passionate about music. We're both from Long Island, NY. Like her, I was a good student. I worried a lot about my weight (though I was a skinny kid ... and am NOT a skinny adult!). I was also pretty shy in high school as she was. But that's where the similarities end. My high school years weren't the best, especially since I considered myself to be kind of invisible, but I had a steady group of friends and was generally left alone. Mel has it much worse. She has a not-so-great relationship with her parents, she's bullied in person and online, and has a lot of anger. She really goes through a lot in my story, but comes out stronger and more secure in the end.

I also didn't have a Josh in my life. I had a lot of guy friends, but none who were so charming and naughty as he is. I'm not sure if it's a good or bad thing that I missed out on that!

So while I did base some of her life on mine, she became her own character and most of her experiences are unlike mine. Still, I could relate to many of her feelings -- her happiness at performing in front of a crowd or her loneliness at being an outsider. That's what "write what you know" is REALLY about; being able to use your reactions and feelings, even if what your character's life is different from yours.

Please check out and review my novel REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

Welcome to Naomi Rabinowitz Author!

Today was a really important day for me. For one thing, it's my husband's birthday. We had a great night out in the city with friends and enjoyed some delicious Senegalese cuisine. But we had more than one reason to celebrate: my book REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD is now available on Amazon Kindle.

I've been working on this novel for quite a long time. I began in 2002, got an agent, made some major edits, almost sold it ... and then nothing happened. I then put it away for a few years, but often thought about it. I finally decided to go the independent publishing route and once again made some major edits. All in all, I'd say that I edited this book about 20 times. Writing is fun, but it certainly isn't easy when you take it seriously!

I chose to write Young Adult fiction because that genre has always appealed to me. Teens are interesting to write about because they're not kids, but aren't yet adults -- and they're still going through many changes and many "firsts" in life. I wanted to write a story that captured that confusing time that we've all been through -- or will go through eventually.

In a nutshell, BAND GEEK is about a 15-year-old girl named Melinda who sees herself as a loser in school. She's chubby, she doesn't have a boyfriend, she doesn't have many friends and her own mom makes fun of her weight. Mel's content to be in the background and hide from life. The one thing she is confident about, though, is that she's first chair flute in band. But even that gets taken from her when her enemy, Kathy Meadows, wins the seat in the next round of auditions.

Mel then teams up with Josh Kowalski, a rebellious trumpet player. He persuades Mel to help him take down Kathy and as they scheme together, they fall in love. Only Mel begin to question just how far she's willing to go to get what she wants and hang onto Josh.

Music, love and revenge are major themes in my book, but the story goes much deeper than that. It explores various friendships, Melinda's relationship with her family, high school dynamics and Melinda's relationship with well, herself. It has some funny moments, but like any coming-of-age stories, a lot of sad portions, too.

While this novel is a YA story, there is some harsh language. Let's be real: teens swear and often say some disgusting things. I wanted my teens to be real, not sugar-coated versions of youth. So my characters screw up and make mistakes, and are sometimes rude. But I tried not to overdo it. I also tried to show how my characters have goals and passions.

As for the cover, it was made by a great e-book design company called Damonza. I gave them my book's summary and they came up with this awesome concept. I love it! It's gotten many compliments from friends, too, which is always a good sign.

So welcome to my blog! I hope you'll check out REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD on Amazon and will continue to check in with me as I write about my literary journey. Happy reading!