I Wonder...Would This Be Olivia's Favorite Ornament?

A drummer boy??? Looks a bit like Sean...if you REALLY use your imagination!

Enjoy the Season!
Monica Duddington

On a Blog Tour!!

BAND GEEKS AND RIPTIDES is on tour this week! Check it out here! Hope to see you at one of the stops! Have a great week, and stay WARM!!! (Maybe with a book set in a warm, sunny, beach town. <wink, wink>)

Monica Duddington

BAND GEEKS AND RIPTIDES: The Story Behind the Story

Let’s first get this out there. I’m an adult who loves to read YA. I know there was a big controversy not too long ago about how horrible it is for adults to read YA, but I’ve already been quite public about my disagreement with that assertion. (Click here for an example of how I feel about this.) And as a writer who likes to read YA, it only follows that I might also like to write YA. And so I did.

One day a couple of years ago, I went to a high school marching band concert where some of my former students were performing. This concert actually only included the percussion part of the band, so drums, keyboard, and my personal favorite—the mallet players. Mallet players play the instruments that look like big xylophones, and that sit at the front of the field since they aren’t exactly easily moved about.

I sat at the concert mesmerized by two things. First, those mallet players! Watching those mallets fly about hitting the right notes every time seemed so magical. The people playing them were obviously very talented. I couldn’t take my eyes, or ears, off of them.

The second thing that mesmerized me occurred during the in-between times of the concert, when one school would finish and move off of the floor, and the next would set up. The interactions between the band members was so much fun to watch. These young men and woman loved what they did so much, and it seemed to infuse their relationships with one another. They seemed to genuinely and deeply like and respect each other. There was a feeling of camaraderie and community that isn’t always present in large groups of high school students. I suddenly wanted to be in high school again, but this time I’d be in the marching band instead of theater.

Watching them got me to thinking. (Writers do a lot of watching and thinking.) A novel about a tight group of high school marching band members would be so much fun to write. But I needed a setting and conflict. So I took a page from my own life and put a little twist on it.

I made Olivia, my mallet player, move from one state to another just before her senior year of high school. The cities would have to be radically different from one another so as to make her need to rely on who she REALLY is, not who she thinks she needs to be to fit in. When I was in the middle of my junior year my family moved from Huntington Beach, California to Portland, Oregon. So I switched that up and moved Olivia from Portland to Huntington Beach. I can’t imagine two more different places. Today Portland is known for its “weirdness” and hipster vibe. Huntington Beach is Surf City, USA. For a girl in a marching band to move from hipster weirdness to the cool surfer town would be a challenging task—to say the least! 

First, she would need to find her place in this new world she is plunked down in. That couldn’t be too easy. There’d be stumbling blocks along the way. Some pain. Some angst. (All things I remember all too well from my own experience!)

But, what if she eventually figures out the truth? The truth of how to find a new life in a new place. And new friends. And maybe a cute guy who makes her heart beat some strange rhythms. And somehow learns how to do all of this without forgetting her roots in her hometown.

Of course being in the marching band would have to play a significant role in her ability to find her way in an alien new land.

In writing Band Geeks and Riptides, I created some of my all-time favorite characters. Olivia, Drew, Shelby, Hunter, Grace, and Sean feel like real people to me. I love them, and I hope readers of Band Geeks will too.

If you are interested in reading Band Geeks and Riptides you can get the ebook from Amazon HERE. You can read it on any device with the FREE Kindle App! 

     Monica Duddington

BAND GEEKS AND RIPTIDES IS HERE!!!

Exciting news!! The Band Geeks and Riptides ebook is now available on Amazon!! This is the perfect romantic young adult novel for anyone who has ever marched to the beat of his or her own drummer! If you would like to read this fun contemporary novel you can click here to buy it!  It can be read on any device with the FREE Kindle App!

And here's the blurb:

Can a homesick band geek find happiness in Surf City, USA?

High School band geek Olivia never asked to move from her hometown in Oregon with its motto Keep Portland Weird, to Surf City, USA, a.k.a. Huntington Beach, California. However, just before her senior year that’s exactly what her mother decides they will do. Olivia finds herself in a foreign land of surf, sand, and sun where she’s not even sure she speaks the language. She’s convinced she’ll never fit in.

Homesick and desperate to find her place in her new school, Olivia makes some potentially serious mistakes. But has she missed noticing friendships that have snuck up on her? And then there’s the enigmatic drummer Sean, who seems to be making Olivia’s heart beat some odd rhythms.

Maybe it’s not time to give up on Surf City, USA.

I HOPE YOU ENJOY BAND GEEKS AND RIPTIDES!! 

BAND GEEKS AND RIPTIDES

Band Geeks and Riptides is about to be released!! I’m so excited!

I get to introduce the world to Olivia and Drew and Sean. And Shelby and Grace and Hunter. I hope you’ll love them as much as I do!

Sometimes authors write a book simply because they think it’ll be a good story that people will hopefully want to read. And other times they write a book from their heart. Band Geeks is a book of my heart and I’m thrilled to be able to share it soon!

Can a homesick band geek find happiness in Surf City, USA?

High School band geek Olivia never asked to move from her hometown in Oregon with its motto Keep Portland Weird, to Surf City, USA, a.k.a. Huntington Beach, California. However, just before her senior year that’s exactly what her mother decides they will do. Olivia finds herself in a foreign land of surf, sand, and sun where she’s not even sure she speaks the language. She’s convinced she’ll never fit in.

Homesick and desperate to find her place in her new school, Olivia makes some potentially serious mistakes. But has she missed noticing friendships that have snuck up on her? And then there’s the enigmatic drummer Sean, who seems to be making Olivia’s heart beat some odd rhythms.

Maybe it’s not time to give up on Surf City, USA.