ALA Amazingness

Last weekend, I went to Seattle.  I adore Seattle.  I spent a year almost living there (ask me about this sometime, and I'll tell you about it) and always assumed I'd moved there.  But then moved to England instead.  (hey, the weather is the same!)

The Washington State Conference Center hosted the American Library Association mid-winter conference.  My Corsets, Cutlasses and Candlesticks sister, Cat Winters was going to be signing.  My editor and agent sibling (and now good friend) Stasia Ward Kehoe, offered a place to sleep in her wonderful home where I got to meet her delightful family.  And my editor arranged a pass.  So of course I jumped at the chance.

For two days, I was surrounded by books and book people.    Publishers, agents, writers, sales reps, and, of course, librarians.  Lots of librarians.  (And you know, I love librarians).  My Class of 2k12 sibling, Jennifer Shaw Wolf, author of BREAKING BEAUTIFUL, picked me up at the airport, showed me some Seattle sights, wandered the exhibits with me and we both killed our feet in our fancy boots.  I picked up galleys of some fabulous spring and summer books.  I attended book buzz panels to see what publishers are interested in.  Stasia and I met the Penguin sales rep (the delightful Colleen Conway) for coffee.  I went to a session where I learned which books of 2012 the local teens loved the most (and the least).  My favorite quote?  "Scarlet (from AC Gaughen's Robin Hood retelling, SCARLET) is the best female character since Hermione Granger."  I couldn't have put it better myself.

And I met writers.

I had dinner with several authors, including Allyson Valentine, author of the forthcoming HOW (NOT) TO FIND A BOYFRIEND, Helen Landalf, who wrote FLYAWAY, Karen Finneyfrock (another editor sibling) whose THE SWEET REVENGE OF CELIA DOOR is coming out this month.  We were joined by J. Anderson Coats, author of the fabulous THE WICKED AND THE JUST, and another 2k12 sib.  And also the lovely book blogger, Jean Vallesteros.

This weekend, I'm catching up on my revision for Book 3.

The End of the Internet Blackout

As many of you know, I spent December in a self-imposed Internet blackout.  My friend, Corrine Jackson, author of IF I LIE and TOUCHED, did this back in October, and came out of it with a fresh lease on writing and life--to listen to her talk about it was like listening to someone come back from a near-death experience (or alien abduction?).  She was power-charged, enthusiastic, and writing.  So I had to try it.

The thing is, I love the Internet.  I love Twitter and Facebook.  Many writers are great eavesdroppers, and Twitter especially gives us the perfect chance to indulge.  Social networking also gives us the opportunity to experience a simulation of social interaction--we spend an awful lot of time alone with a computer or a pen and pencil, after all.

But for me, the Internet was also disrupting my writing life.  When I got stuck in the middle of a paragraph or a scene, or didn't know what happened next, I'd just click over to Twitter.  Check my e-mail.  Research St. Stephen's Day on Wikipedia.

And not write.

So I took a month off.  I couldn't quit cold-turkey.  I had blog posts to write the YA Muses, the Class of 2k12 and Corsets, Cutlasses and Candlesticks and couldn't add to anyone else's already packed workload by refusing to do them.  I responded to personal messages on Twitter and Facebook.  And I had to use my e-mail--the YA Muses, especially, are a life-line for me--so supportive and encouraging, and as I slogged through the muddled middle of my WIP, I needed them more than ever.

But the biggest thing I learned this month is that the best way to cure writer's block is to sit in front of the blank screen until I write.  It could be a minute, it could be twenty.  But trawling the Internet only served as distraction, not inspiration.  So as I head into 2013, my resolution is to find the balance.  Only allow myself blocks of time for Internet and socializing on it, and turn it off when I'm writing.

I, too, have come out of this month recharged.  I read nothing but non-fiction--history, biography, books on craft.  I watched a shed-load of happily-ever-after movies recommended by Facebook followers--When Harry Met Sally, Romancing the Stone, A Knight's Tale, The Princess Bride (though I can't help envisioning the final scene that William Goldman put in the book--his own little retaliation to the happily-ever-after).  And I wrote.

I wrote 47,320 words in December.

More than I've ever written in a single month before.  So yeah, it was worth it.

Happy Holidays!

Well, my friends, tomorrow is December 1 and then the year ends.  Thank you so much for traveling through 2012 with me!  Thank you for your support and well wishes, for reading and for giving opinions.  And thank you, most of all, for all of your interest in the Friday Five authors.  They have all been fabulous to work with and so enthusiastic about writing, kids and good stories.

I wrapped up the Friday Five feature with Elizabeth Richards last week, and I'm looking into starting up again next year.  But for now, I'm going to sign off the Internet for a while.  I have a deadline looming, family matters to attend to, and the holidays to celebrate - as I'm sure you do, too.  So enjoy your Christmas, your Hanukkah, your Kwanzaa and any other days you want to make special.  You may occasionally see me on Twitter or Facebook, and I will be scheduling blog posts in advance for Tuesdays at the YA Muses blog, on the 13th at the Class of 2k12 blog and on the 17th at Corsets, Cutlasses and Candlesticks.  But for the most part - at least this is the plan - I will be writing my fourth novel (and drinking peppermint mochas).  Call it a late NaNoWriMo.  Good luck to you all!

 I will see you here again in 2013 - may it bring us all joy.

Friday Five -- Elizabeth Richards

Today's Five features the author of The Black City, the gorgeously dark and lovely-sounding romance published by Putnam on the 13th.  Elizabeth is a journalist and world traveler and lives in England.  Her website bio states that she'd like to see ten volcanoes before she dies - I hope one day she makes it to California, because as the daughter of a geologist, I could show her a few...

THE FIVE:

1. What scares you most?

I’m petrified of spiders (specifically evil house spiders that like to leap on me in the shower, bleurgh) and ever since I was a kid I’ve had nightmares about being eaten by sharks. However, I have to say my biggest fear is losing my husband and family. I couldn’t function without them – they’re my strength, my heart, and I need them.

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

Probably Thora Birch during her American Beauty years. We look quite alike (round faces, wide eyes and ghostly pale skin!), plus she gives off this weird, sullen vibe that matches my character.

3. What living person do you most admire and why?

Stephen Fry! He’s funny, intelligent, silly, gentlemanly, artistic, humble, sexy – the list goes on. I’ve been a fan of his work ever since I was a teenager. I just find him fascinating.

4. What other profession would you like to learn?

I’d love to learn to be an illustrator. I adore drawing and painting and whenever I get a free moment (which I admit isn’t very often these days), you can find me up in the study working on a new art project. It’s a very fulfilling and relaxing pastime and it would be a joy to do that for a profession, but I would never give up being an author!

5. What profession would you never, ever want to have?

I would never, ever want to be a politician. I’m too blunt.

ABOUT BLACK CITY:

In a city where humans and Darklings are now separated by a high wall and tensions between the two races still simmer after a terrible war, sixteen-year-olds Ash Fisher, a half-blood Darkling, and Natalie Buchanan, a human and the daughter of the Emissary, meet and do the unthinkable--they fall in love. Bonded by a mysterious connection that causes Ash's long-dormant heart to beat, Ash and Natalie first deny and then struggle to fight their forbidden feelings for each other, knowing if they're caught, they'll be executed--but their feelings are too strong.

When Ash and Natalie then find themselves at the center of a deadly conspiracy that threatens to pull the humans and Darklings back into war, they must make hard choices that could result in both their deaths.

You can order BLACK CITY here!

ABOUT ELIZABETH:

You can find Elizabeth on her website.

On Twitter.

And on Facebook.

Books! Books! And More Books!

As you all know, I'm a proud member of the Class of 2k12.  We are a group of debut authors of young adult and middle grade books who came together as a marketing collective and through the course of the year became friends, confidantes, and - I hope - a lifelong support network.  These authors are great people.  And now you all get the chance to find out what great authors they are, too.  There is something for everyone here - middle grade verse, deep dark YA mayhem, faeries, astral projection, history, legend, elephants, war... Need I go on?

The Class is hosting a huge end-of-the-year giveaway on the class blog, and I'm doing my bit by spreading the news and giving you the chance to win here, too!  The giveaway closes on the 12th of December!  I regret to say, it's open to US and Canada only - our coffers can't spread to sending 21 books abroad.

Check out the Rafflecopter to find out which books will be coming your way if you win, and then enter!  You want these books....


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Bonus!  I'm also posting over at the Corsets, Cutlasses and Candlesticks blog today - hop over and find out what a Tudor feast was like - and be thankful you don't have to cook (or eat) one yourself!

Friday Five -- McCormick Templeman

This week's Five is with the author of THE LITTLE WOODS, published by Random House in July.  I only know her online, but McCormick Templeman is a delight to follow on Twitter.  She has a dry and unconventional sense of humor, and what seems to be an obsession with sharks.  One day, we will have to compare notes...


THE FIVE:

1. What is your guiltiest pleasure?  

Probably Survivor. I haven’t watched it in years, but there’s a reason for that.

2. What is the worst job you’ve done?

I worked for a very short while as a phone operator for a posh hotel. I am terrified of speaking on the phone, so this was not a good fit. It did not end well.

3. What keeps you awake at night?

My daughter. She scolds her brother in her sleep.

4. What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Getting a basically feral cat through a metal detector at an airport. The TSA agent was like, you gotta take that cat out of the carrier, and get it through. It had taken me half a day to get her inside. I tried to beg them to give me another option. I had an image of her escaping and killing like twelve people before starting an enormous fire, but in the end, we made it through, and she actually got back in her carrier. That was definitely the most proud I’ve ever been.

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

Kate Winslet, but Kate Winslet trying to look frumpy. Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind except not so fancy.


ABOUT THE LITTLE WOODS:


Are the woods behind St. Bede's Academy really haunted, or does bad stuff just happen there? When Calista Wood, a new student, arrives midway through her junior year, St. Bede's feels like a normal school . . . until she discovers that a girl had disappeared a couple of months earlier. Some kids think she ran away, others think she was murdered, but it's only when Cally starts digging around that she finds the startling truth.

You can order THE LITTLE WOODS here!

ABOUT MCCORMICK:

You can find McCormick on her website.

And on Twitter.

It Gets Better

When I was in high school, I expected it to be like a movie.  I watched the greats - Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Dirty Dancing, Lucas (OK, maybe they're not up there with Citizen Kane) - and I thought high school would be like that.  I went through school thinking "If this were a movie, x, y and z would happen."  And it wouldn't.  It was mostly just boring and repetitive.  No one got dunked in a toilet.  The prom queen was exactly who you would have guessed would be prom queen back in Freshman year.  I wasn't plucked from the (rather frightful) school play by a scout to be the next star of Broadway.  It was high school.  But I did hone some of my story skills - I found foreshadowing everywhere and knew there had to be a payoff for poor behavior.

But I always wondered about everyone else's high school experience.  Were there people who lived like they were in a John Hughes film?  Did people really meet the boy of their dreams at the Homecoming Dance?  Did anyone get plucked from obscurity to be famous for what they did well? (remember, this was before reality television).

That's one of the reasons why I enjoyed reading the Dear Teen Me blog and now the anthology: Dear Teen Me: Authors Write Letters to Their Teen Selves.  Comparison to my own letter.  To my experience.  But it rapidly became more than that.  Sure, I saw similarities: Tom Angleberger's Buckaroo Banzai obsession struck mysteriously close to home.  Miranda Kenneally's wish that she'd called the boy back.  Caridad Ferrer's struggle with shy Jekyll and competitive, spotlight-craving Hyde.

And I read lots of differences.  My high school was a relatively safe place.  My life was even safer.  Two parents with stable emotions and a dad with a good job.  A sister who was even more of a brainiac than I was.  Nothing like what some of these authors have gone through.  These are stories that completely change you, my friends, and I daren't even mention them here because you need to read them in the author's words.

But one thing that stands out in all of these letters is the same thing that was posted on my Facebook page by an old school friend when I asked the question, "What would you say to your teen self if you could?"

It gets better.

This is why I've seen so many reviews saying teens should read this book.  And why people say they wish they'd read it as a teenager.

Keep living.  Keep loving.  Keep dreaming.

It gets better.



Dear Teen Me is published by Zest Books, and available from Amazon, Indie Bound and Barnes&Noble. 

Want to know more?  Check out the Zest Books Dear Teen Me blog tour and check out the list of contributing authors.

And find out when Dear Teen Me will be near you - I'll be joining some of the authors in Corte Madera on Thursday the 15th and Berkeley on Friday the 16th.