June 6, 2015 In Book News & Events By Rachel Gold

Gaming, writing & mental health – I’m teaching at The Loft!

In August, I get to play games and talk about brains while teaching* teens at The Loft.  (* and by "teaching" I mean tossing out really cool ideas and watching the class make them more awesome.) I'm deeply excited about this for a few reasons: Gaming + writing = super fun writing Gaming with teens = radical creativity at play I haven't taught teens before, but I have taught lawyers and teens have to be immeasurably more fun (with apologies to my lawyer friends) My next YA novel (out spring of 2016) includes radical ideas about mental health (like the fact that sometimes the person with the disorder is the perfect person for you to date) It took me at least 10 years to figure out how to work with my brain to get novels written and I'm excited to share what I've learned and hear what works for other people Below are the class listings. Click through either title to go to The Loft's site where you can register. Also look forward to future posts about mental health, gaming and writing. If you have a topic or question you'd like me to address, comment, tweet, social or email me (contact info is at the bottom of

June 5, 2015 In Uncategorized By Rachel Gold

Kimchi for the innocent, the timid and the neurotic

Adapted from the Yummy Kimchi recipe suggested to me by Allison Moon and the recipe in "Brain Maker" by Dr. David Perlmutter. Altered to be more digestible to people who can’t tolerate FODMAP foods (like me) by removing all onions, leeks, scallions, garlic and the like. If you’re on a very strict FODMAP-avoidant diet, do not use the jicama either. (If you don't know what that means, you probably don't have to worry about it.) Ingredients: 1 napa cabbage quartered and then cut into chunks or strips as you like 1/4 c. plus 1 tbsp fine pure sea salt 1 large crisp apple, Asian pear or bosc pear 2 tbsp fresh ginger root 1 tbsp anchovy paste (sounds gross, is awesome) 1 tablespoon Korean chili powder (or more, or none depending on your taste; I used smoked paprika, this may or may not be your thing -- see notes below) 2 stalks of celery 1/2 to a full daikon radish, peeled and cut into quarters lengthwise, then 1/2-inch-thick chunks 1 large carrot 1/3 to 1/2 jicama (optional) Ingredient notes: Although the recipe called for Korean chili powder, I didn’t have any and I don’t like chili anyway, so I used smoked paprika. If you go this route make sure that a) you really

January 12, 2015 In Book News & Events By Rachel Gold

January Book Club

Gayya.org is hosting a January book club for Just Girls! Much of the discussion is happening on Tumblr -- you can see the details here on the Gayya.org site. You can follow the discussion by following the GayYA Book Club tag. There will also be an hour-long Twichat on January 21st at 8pm EST hosted by Katherine Locke.

October 22, 2014 In Book News & Events By Rachel Gold

Follow the blog tour

The Just Girls blog tour has kicked off and will run through Nov. 16 with blog reviews of the books and many changes to enter a raffle to win a $50 Amazon gift card and signed copies of Just Girls. And here's a quick peek at what some of the first reviewers are saying: Melissa Storm's Blog: "What does it mean to be a young adult in today’s world? What does it mean to be a feminist? To be a girl? Rachel Gold’s fantastic Just Girls asks all these questions and more, and the answers are bound to surprise you while also resonating deeply with anyone who has ever felt insecurity, fear, or love." Pavarti K Tyler's Blog: "Ella’s story is sweet, brave and easy to relate to.  Her relationships with Tucker and Shen especially bring to the discussion the difference between sexuality and gender, a distinction not often considered by the mainstream public.  I very much enjoyed the book."  

October 20, 2014 In Book News & Events By Rachel Gold

Just Girls: Art Giveaway, part 2!

Remember how I had this great plan to reward people who bought Just Girls in its first six weeks with free, amazing art of the characters? Then I spent some time with art and realized I just want everyone to have it. So forget what I said about emailing me to tell me you bought the book. If you want the art, it's yours! Clicking the link below will start downloading the PDF for you (or open it in a browser window so you can save it to your computer). Give it a minute to download. It's a 93MB file so that you can print it out in high quality if you want. Just Girls character art Here's a smaller file version of the finished art so you can see the whole illustration:

September 17, 2014 In Book News & Events By Rachel Gold

Virtual reading: Just Girls chapter 3

If you wanted to see me read from Just Girls, here it is -- a virtual reading for folks who can't make it to one of the launch parties or who want a trailer for said parties. (If you're viewing this on my home page, click the title to go to a page with a bigger video player.) Here's the link to the page with the preview of chapters one and two in case you want to read those first.   Here's a page with links of places where you can buy a copy of Just Girls: https://rachelgold.com/just-girls/ And here's my facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/BeingEmily

September 11, 2014 In Book News & Events By Rachel Gold

Just Girls: Art Giveaway!

Because I believe readers will fall in love with many of the characters of Just Girls, I'm working with an illustrator to create a free art piece for anyone who buys a copy of the novel between now and Nov. 1, 2014. In this post you can see some preview sketches from the early drafts (be patient with the page of sketches, it takes a few moments to load). The final piece will be a detailed, two-color, full-page illustration. I'll also have at least one framed copy signed by me and by the illustrator as a prize for the games we'll be playing at the Sept. 27 launch party at Addendum Bookstore.  To get your digital copy of the art emailed to you, just email me some proof that you bought the book: part of the receipt, a photo of you holding the book or your eReader with the book on it, or the confirmation from your favorite online bookseller that you bought a copy. Send that to: Beingemily@gmail.com. I'll email you the art, which will become available around Sept. 20. And now on to the sketches from the talented (and delightful) Mandie Brasington. (Fans of Just Girls will appreciate her comic: How

September 8, 2014 In Book News & Events By Rachel Gold

Order Just Girls

Available from your favorite booksellers (or the ones you grudgingly order from because they're cheap and have fast shipping). For more information visit my Just Girls page. You can order your copy  from Bella Books, Powell's Books, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indiebound and many others.

September 2, 2014 In Uncategorized By Rachel Gold

On writing and gaming

Or is that gaming and writing? Many people know that I’m an avid gamer in addition to writing young adult novels. I get a fair number of questions about how I balance the two because as many writers have discovered it’s hard enough to balance writing and a day job and a social life and staying healthy (all of which are also parts of my life) — and then to try adding gaming to that mix. So I’m going to answer that and specifically the question from Allison Moon who asked this week if I have, “