Upcoming Events!

On Sunday, August 26, I will be speaking with a panel of YA authors (Veronica Rossi, UNDER THE NEVER SKY, Talia Vance, SILVER and Corrine Jackson, IF I LIE)  for the Palo Alto Litquake festival.   We will be talking about genre and writing and answering questions.  Books will be for sale courtesy of Books, Inc. (including early copies of SILVER and IF I LIE!)  Stop by and like the Facebook page for updates of the event.  Our panel is from 4 to 5 pm, but there are a lot of great events, so come early and enjoy!

The four of us will be speaking again on September 29 at 2pm at Bay Books in San Ramon.  This event will be relaxed and intimate - a real chance to get to know us better!

On October 25 and 26, I will be speaking with the YA Muses (Veronica Rossi, Talia Vance, Bret Ballou and Donna Cooner, author of SKINNY) at the Your Best Book workshop in Charlotte, NC.  We hope to do a bookstore event in Charlotte, too, so stay tuned!

On Saturday, November 3, I will be with some of my Class of 2k12 siblings - J. Anderson Coats (THE WICKED AND THE JUST), AC Gaughen (SCARLET), Lynne Kelly (CHAINED) and Jennifer Shaw Wolf (BREAKING BEAUTIFUL) at the YALSA Literature Symposium in St. Paul, talking about The Next Big Thing in Author Visits.  Can't wait to mingle with some of my favorite people - librarians.

On November 15, I will be at Book Passage in Corte Madera, launching the anthology DEAR TEEN ME with authors E. Kristin Anderson, Marke Bieschke, Stacey Jay, Mike Jung, Katherine Longshore, Erika Stalder and Mariko Tamaki.  We will be speaking briefly about our essays and our other books.

Hope to see you soon!

Friday Five -- Donna Cooner

I'm absolutely thrilled to bring author Donna Cooner to the blog today.  I met Donna at a workshop where she shared a brilliant piece of writing that included getting into the creepy mind of a killer.  The little critique table eventually became the YA Muses, and Donna turned her writing mind to something different - and even more spectacular.  SKINNY, which will be published by Scholastic on October 1.



THE FIVE:

1.  What is your guiltiest pleasure?

Naps.   Maybe it's from teaching kindergarten a long time ago, but I still love nap time.  I'm talking the "open up the windows, let the breeze blow back the curtains, climb into bed, pull up the comforter, two hour in the middle of the afternoon" kind of nap.  No falling asleep on the couch wimpy kind of nap for me.

2.  What is your most treasured possession?

I don't think of pets as possessions, but I have three I truly treasure.  My twelve year old chocolate lab, Cassidy, is almost completely blind now with cataracts, but she is still the sweetest dog that ever lived.  Of course when I tried to get another one like her, I was blessed with the Goat Dog, Roxanne.  She's a two year old chocolate lab and is getting better, but is still definitely a puppy (By the way, Roxanne has a supporting role in SKINNY).  Finally, there's Stu, my kitty adopted from the shelter about five years ago.  Now if you're talking an actual possession, then I'd have to say I definitely treasure my red beetle convertible.  Nothing lifts my spirits like putting the top down and heading up the canyon toward the mountains on a hot, summer Colorado day.  It's an instant mood changer.

3.  What one word do you think describes you best?

Thoughtful.

4.  Who are your writing heroes?

That is a hard question to answer.  I like such a diverse group of writers and for so many different reasons.  Hummm... let's see.  I love Judy Blume, Barbara Park, Edgar Allen Poe, Emily Bronte, Janet Evanovich, CS Lewis, Pat Conroy, Victoria Holt and I can go on and on--jumping genres and timeframes.

5.  Who are your real-life heroes?

My real life heroes are my mom and dad.  They built their lives around family and faith, working hard on limited resources to give my sister and I the best foundation we could possibly have.  My mom was funny, opinionated, brave, and kind.  She lost her long battle with cancer about three years ago and I still miss her every day.

ABOUT SKINNY:

From the YA Muses blog: Ever – named, somewhat ironically, after Cinderella’s ‘happily ever after’ – started putting on weight when her mom died. Now she is fifteen years old, weighs 302 pounds, and hears voices.  The voice that whispers in Ever’s ear is the voice of self-doubt, and it has a name—Skinny.  Skinny’s nasty little whispers tell Ever constantly that she’s ugly, a loser, friendless, and undeserving of love.  Especially the love of Jackson Barnett, who once kissed her in the snow all those years ago and whom she’s adored ever since.

But Ever hears another voice too – her own amazing singing voice that no one knows about even though she’s memorized the lyrics of every musical ever written.  If Ever is willing to take the chance to radically change her body, maybe she might also find the courage to share that voice with the rest of the world.  Embarking on the risky, terrifying journey of weight loss culminating in gastric bypass surgery, Ever’s body gradually changes on the outside - but she soon finds that changing the fat girl within will prove much harder.

Pre-order SKINNY here.

ABOUT DONNA:

You can find Donna at the YA Muses blog.

On Twitter.

And on Goodreads.  

Friday Five -- Talia Vance

Today's Friday Five author is Talia Vance, author of SILVER (Flux, September 8, 2012) and SPIES AND PREJUDICE (Egmont, Spring 2013).  I met Talia at the Big Sur Writer's Workshop in 2009, and immediately fell in love with her tight writing and snappy dialogue.  It is my great pleasure to interview her, and to call her a friend.

THE FIVE:


1.  What is your earliest memory?

I was probably 3 or 4 years old.  I was crawling under the kitchen table.  I remember clearly my grandmother telling me that I would not remember this when I was older.  And I decided then and there that I would.  I committed that little incident to memory and never let go.  I have no idea what prompted her to say that, but it sparked a little bit of defiance in me.  It’s part of what made me believe I could do anything I set out to do.

2.  What single thing would improve the quality of your life?


Work less.  Play more.

3.  Who would play you in the film of your life?


Drew Barrymore.

4.  If you knew you would be stranded on a desert island, which book, piece of music, and snack food would you take with you?


The Time Travelers Wife, Counting Crows’ August and Everything After, and Starbucks’ Skinny Vanilla Latte

5.  What is your favorite writing motto/mantra?


Finish the book.

Talia's Books: 

SILVER:


Brianna Paxton has been invisible to guys since the eighth grade. She's pretty enough, it's just that no one bothers to look. There's almost nothing that can't be explained with science, and Brianna has a theory: she's missing the pheromone that attracts people to one another. Brianna's theory is shot to hell in one frozen, silver moment, when time stops and Blake Williams not only sees her, he recognizes something inside her that she's been hiding from even herself.

Before Brianna fully understands who and what she is, she accidentally binds her soul to Blake. Forced to find a way to reconcile forbidden love and her bloody heritage, Brianna discovers that there's nothing pointless about her, and Blake may be in the most danger of all.

Preorder SILVER.

SPIES AND PREJUDICE:


At sixteen, Berry Fields knows everything she needs to know about love. It sucks. As an employee for her dad's private investigation company, she's seen it firsthand. Men lie, cheat, leave. Even Berry's dad is love's victim, having never fully recovered from the death of his wife eight years earlier.

When Tanner Halston and his brother Ryan transfer to McHenry High, Berry is not impressed. She knows the type—good looking and full of himself. And it doesn't help that Tanner always seems to catch her at her worst moments. But when Berry's best friend hits it off with Ryan, it becomes impossible to avoid Tanner.

Berry embarks on her own investigation into her mother's death, determined to discover the truth. As she gets drawn deeper into a web of lies, she finds herself fighting against everything she thought she knew, about her mother, herself, and her growing attraction to Tanner Halston.

SPIES AND PREJUDICE will be published by Egmont in the spring of 2013.


Find Talia on Twitter
And Goodreads

Friday Five -- Bret Ballou

Don't forget to comment below for a chance to win an ARC of GILT -- details here.

It is my great pleasure to introduce a newly refurbished Friday Five on the blog!  I've combined the Friday Five and Follow Friday posts and will host a new writer every Friday, including all their details.


I am especially delighted that my first guest is the wonderful Bret Ballou.  I met Bret at a writer's workshop where he was in the first critique group ever to hear the (now deleted) first chapter of GILT.  He amazed me with his ability to bounce back from criticism and return to the table with a kick-butt revision.  I'm proud that he is a writer-friend, and even more so that he is a friend.


THE FIVE:

1.  What is your earliest memory?

It must’ve been just after my second birthday. My parents were having our house built in mountain forest outside of Albuquerque and we were at the construction site. I was standing with my mom in the dining room, watching an electrician install an electrical socket. I was fascinated by all the colorful wires. Every time I’m in that room, I still think about how cool that moment was.

2.  What is your most unappealing habit?

Wow, Katherine, you ain’t pulling punches are you? This isn’t frivolous Friday Five. Ok, so I’ll give you one of my most unappealing traits instead of a habit. I’m a pretty structured person and a planner on top of that – so anything last minute that throws my routine or plan outta whack forces me into grumpy pants. In the end, I deal with the situation (and most the time, without killing anyone), but I’m trying to learn to “roll with the punches” a bit more, ‘cause life sure seems a lot simpler for those that do.

3.  What is the worst job you’ve done?

One of my first engineering jobs was designing instrumentation for urological surgical procedures. To say some of these instruments looked like torture devices out of the GILT era is putting it lightly. And then I actually attended procedures to see them used on real, live patients. Ugh. People, pray for urinary tract health (especially, men). The job was interesting, paid well, and I learned a lot, but the things I saw…oh, the things I saw.

4.  What do you consider your greatest achievement?

For me, it’s the fact that I’m able to handle (so far, at least) writing, a full-time engineering job, and a pretty active family. I’ve pushed myself far beyond what I believed my capabilities were and keep stretching them. I enjoy getting up at 5 every morning to write (seriously). I would rather write than watch TV (most the time). And, while I’ll always have publication-related goals, what I really want is to tell the best effing story I can.

5.  Who would play you in the film of your life?

This one’s easy. Since I was about 14 years old people have said Jake Gyllenhaal and I are doppelgangers. I think it has mostly to do with the eyebrows, but about 80% of people I know have said the whole, “Hey, you know who you look like…” So, I guess Jake would be a good choice.

ABOUT BRET:

Bret's currently working on a middle grade adventure (I'm reading a draft now, and it's fabulous).

Bret blogs Fridays on the YA Muses.

You can find Bret on Twitter here.

Friday Five -- Random Thoughts

Today's Friday Five is going to be totally random because I woke up late and have to enter the revision cave as soon as possible.  So, here we go, in no particular order:

1.  This is one of the best posts on the business I've seen in a long time.  With what is one of my favorite quotes: "The prize in this pie-eating contest is more pie."

2.  I've been reading James Scott Bell's book Revision and Self-Editing (while in the revision cave), and talking with the Boys in the Basement every night.  Stephen King coined the term, but Bell goes so far as to suggest leaving little suggestions for the "Boys" to work on overnight while you sleep.  I think of my "Boys" as the Untouchables -- kick-ass Treasury-types, smoking cigars and doing good.  Last night they brought me a dream in which I went out to lunch with John Green.  Sure, it didn't do anything for my Book 2, but it gave me a little ego-boost...

3.  I hear it's snowing in parts of the US.  Rumor has it that snow will come to California next week.  I can't tell you how happy this makes me.

4.  Viking, the imprint publishing GILT, is part of the larger Penguin Group.  BORN WICKED, A debut by a Penguin sister, Jessica Spotswood, will be on shelves next month.  It's a great read, with a wicked twist on history, and I'll be giving away an ARC next week (come back!).  In the meantime, check out the trailer.

5.  Happy Friday, everybody!  I'm completely out of random, because I need to go writing a kissing scene like that one...