Living Little Women

Ask a Good Reader What They Think

2012-01-22T17:11:00.001-08:00

I’m lucky because I’ve got a few good readers who have consistently been reading my manuscript for the past – ahem – three years. But every manuscript needs a pair of fresh, critical eyes. I was lucky enough to have a good friend who has worked in publishing read my first three chapters – her feedback was immensely helpful. Most of us, however, are not that lucky. If you have a friend who is a good, critical reader and is willing to look at your manuscript, that’s a good place to start.

Don't Stop Believin'

2012-01-16T07:49:00.000-08:00

This is pretty stupid. I have a full time job, a baby, a workout schedule, friends and all the other trappings of adult life. They all suffer (a little) so that I can spend about 12-14 hours per week writing a book that stands a small chance of being published. Even if it is published it stands a pretty good chance of earning enough to buy lunch for me and a friend – as long as we eat at a pretty cheap place.

At times I’ve thought of redirecting my computer use to the stuff people usually use them for: Facebook, newspapers and shopping for sewing supplies. Sometimes I think of diverting my time into reading other people’s books. But I don’t…because I believe that my book is going to get published.

My husband helps me get time to work on my book by giving me the confidence to occasionally say “no” to social events and scrubbing toilets. He has taken over much of the house cleaning. Sometimes he talks about “Thud Factor.” That’s the pride he’ll feel when a book with my name on it lands on a table. I think he’s more confident that my book will be published than I am.

We may be stupid, but we won’t stop believin’.

Outline More, Cut Less

2012-01-03T15:03:00.001-08:00

“So, without putting too fine a point on it, we’re going to have to let you go.” This is a recent conversation I had with chapter four. I put lots of time into it. I balanced the funny portions of it with the tense ones. I edited it to the bone, leaving not even so much as a comma up for consideration. But when I reread it, one stark reality came to my mind: it didn’t move the plot forward. I dragged it to the trash with some sadness.

As I look back on it now all of this could have been avoided if I had started outlining sooner. The chapters I wrote after that have a much better shot at staying employed through the editorial process. Outlining came too late for chapter 4. Chapter 1 suffered less, but did have the first half of its content rearranged and its starting place moved around a few times.

I know it doesn’t seem cool or sophisticated to write an outline but I won’t ever give it up. I don’t have the time to waste on another chapter 4.

Wintertime

2011-12-26T08:51:00.000-08:00

It’s wintertime, which means that I’ve unpacked my tights from the back of the closet, put another quilt on the bed and stocked up on my Cadbury’s Drinking Chocolate in preparation for long nights of writing. Winter means re-reading The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and watching my DVD of the 1994 Little Women movie. It means baking a ton of different cookies for the holidays and freezing them so that the freezer is like a magical vat of chocolate chip cookies, ginger snaps, black and whites and peanut butter cookies.

Almost everyone has a favorite winter-themed book. What’s yours? Tell me in the box below and you can win a copy of Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler. Don't forget your email.

That Special Something

2011-12-12T18:19:00.000-08:00

Several years ago, there was a debut book by a YA author that I absolutely loved. I initially borrowed it from the library and enjoyed it so much that I bought my own copy. And I loved it so much that I pre-ordered a copy of her second book. When the author’s second book came out a year later, I thought it was fine but it didn’t rock my world the way the first one did. I ended up picking up a copy of her third book at The Strand when it came out and waited a couple of weeks to read it. I thought the fourth book was better, skipped the fifth book and just picked up and put down the sixth book.

I’ve been trying to figure out why I flew through the author’s first book and then stalled on the later ones. The author is a very good technical writer with creative ideas and vivid imagination. I understood what she was trying to achieve in her plots, which were generally complex and well-thought out. I wondered if it was because of the diversity of the stories – each book is extremely different – but then I realized that there are other authors that I like who have written a diverse series of books.

I guess the best explanation that I have is that the author’s first book had that special something that hooked me from the first page. It’s a rare experience when that happens and a totally amazing one. For me, reading a book like that is like being entirely in the author’s head and living the plot. The author’s other books, for whatever reason, didn’t have that pull. It makes me sad.

What is a book that has that special something? Tell me in the box below and you can win a copy of In Darkness by Nick Lake.

Bacon and Boundaries

2011-12-04T11:52:00.000-08:00

“Testing boundaries” is a really nice way of saying “scaring the stuffing out of yourself.” I’ve been doing a lot of that lately. I ate (and liked) sausage. I ventured away from my two book genres (YA and cook books). I even bought and wear a brighter shade of lipstick than I usually wear.

Weirdly, I’m doing this because of Jamie Oliver. My good friend Olivia was kind enough to get me Jamie Oliver’s Meals in Minutes for my birthday. To my chagrin, many of the recipes have things I don’t usually eat, like bacon and sausage. And while you can make some substitutions when you’re cooking, you can’t substitute anything for bacon. It stands by it’s salty, smoky self.

Tell us about a time when you stepped outside of your comfort zone. Type it in the box below (don’t forget your email) and you could win a book about a girl who stepped way out of hers! It’s and ARC Dumpling Days by Grace Lin. In this book Pacy and her family move to Taiwan. Like many people who relocate, Pacy is confronted with another language, different customs and a big lifestyle change. Fortunately the dumplings are great and they help her get through it all.

Holiday Shopping

2011-11-27T13:20:00.000-08:00

For me the best gift that you can give or receive is a book. During each holiday season I usually give at least one or two books as gifts each year. I like the challenge of finding something that they will like and have often delved deep into the belly of The Strand to find the right match.

Sometimes I think about a time when this kind of thought was requires. During Louisa May Alcott’s time books were decadent. They were hard to get, expensive and often warranted a lot of thought. Today it’s a lot easier. I wonder what the ride of e-books will do to that trend.

Some of my favorite books have been birthday or holiday presents. I received Little House on the Prairie for my eighth birthday. It sparked a reading frenzy. I received Jamie Oliver’s Meals in Minutes for my most recent birthday. That book has sparked an eating frenzy.

What’s the best book you’ve ever received as a present? Let me know in the space below and don’t forget to tell me your email. This week I’ll name two winners for the two copies of the ARC of The Queen of Kentucky by Alecia Whitaker. It’s a great story about a girl who learns about self-awareness and the value of friends while experimenting with different lifestyles. I liked it because it’s a great view of the consequences of these choices and the importance of self-reliance.

Two Good Retellings

2011-11-20T17:41:00.000-08:00

I recently read Jane by April Lindner. It was an impulse grab from the shelves of my local library. I thought, "Hmm...Jane. This seems like a Jane Eyre retelling. I like the Brontes so I might as well try this." It was one of my best impulse grabs in a long time.

Somewhere around the middle of the book I had one of those rare reading experiences: I didn't want the story to end but I wanted to find out what happens in the end. I read quickly and thought about the book when I wasn't reading. I finished it in two days.

I've given a lot of thought to what I liked about Jane. First, I thought it was a retelling that was really true to the spirit of the original. Second, there was a ton of chemistry between Jane Moore, the poor nanny, and Mr. Rathburn, her rockstar employer. Third, I loved the short, clipped way that Jane spoke. In addition to being true to the original, it reminded me that this is another really good way to distinguish a character.

I can't give away Jane this week because I borrowed it from my library. Instead, I'm giving away another excellent retelling - an ARC of The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson. It's an awesome retelling of the murders attributed to Jack the Ripper. Want it? Just tell me about your most recent awesome reading experience and it could be yours. Don't forget to add your email.

Why Ask Why

2011-11-14T13:37:00.000-08:00

As some of you know I have a day job as a financial journalist. By night, weekend and any other time I’m an aspiring author. Recently a great journalist, Andy Rooney of “60 Minutes” fame, passed away. I was lucky enough to hear him speak when I was in college. He was the guest speaker at my college newspaper's annual dinner. When I heard he had died I thought a lot about some things he said and how his advice can be helpful for authors and readers.

Rooney talked about what sounded like a golden age of journalism. He told us about a time when every major city had at least one daily paper that had correspondents around the world. All of the reporters practiced what I consider real journalism - interviewing people, establishing relationships with sources and breaking news. He also told us about a very important experience he had during his first job as a war correspondent. An older, more experienced correspondent seemed to ask the simplest questions. Most of them began with "Why..." Rooney was flabbergasted. He expected the conversations on a war to be deeper and somehow more sophisticated. After some time he learned that "Why?" is one of the most powerful tools a journalist can use to open doors and get sources off of their prepared statements and into what they really think.

I've been reflecting on who I can apply that to my writing. In my opinion, it's a basic question for an author. Why does that character do that? Why does that happen? Why is that even in your story? Asking those same questions as a reader make what you're reading more impressive and meaningful.

This week I'm giving away an advanced reading copy of Winter Town by Stephen Edmond. It will be available in early December and it takes the journey teens go through when they change their appearance and thoughts. It can be yours if you tell me (in the comments below) what speakers or experiences have changed your view of some things.

Books of Wonder

2011-11-07T06:25:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I thought it would be fun to invite some of my book friends to get together to talk about publishing. Some of them are working authors, some aspiring, some work in publishing as editors while others do the marketing for books. I was trying to think of a cool, laid back place that had some connection to the industry and also served snacks. The ideal spot: the coffee shop at Books of Wonder.

It had just reopened so I decided to check it out beforehand and get some work done on my book. It was awesome. The chairs are comfortable. The music selection was cool. The cupcakes and scones are excellent. And, there was this great chalk drawing that reminded me that authors need to be "curiouser" all the time.

About a week later the girls and I got together there. We talked a lot and did a little shopping. Books of Wonder has a really nice collection of authors you won’t find at the big box stores. Just browsing gave us ideas to try out on each other. I expect this coffee shop to become a regular hang out for lots of publishing people. Who knows, maybe you’ll see an aspiring author working on her first big book there (me).

This week I’m giving away an exceptional book called Dark Eden by Patrick Carman. I loved this book because it is chock full of great ideas and uses them to discuss topics like fear, elusive achievement and memory. To win it answer one simple question: What makes your favorite bookstore so good? Don’t forget to include your email.

Don’t Try Harder

2011-10-31T07:15:00.000-07:00

This week I’m sharing my thoughts on I’ve heard a lot of writing advice during my time as an aspiring author. Some of it was useful, some of it I already knew and lots of it made promises that are not likely to be fulfilled.

One of my favorites is “try harder.” People from your grandmother to those people you reluctantly accept as friends on Facebook will tell you that, if you try harder, you will get published, sell your movie rights and get rich enough to buy an island.

I’ve found that none of that is true. I experimented by trying really hard at a few passages. They sucked. In fact, they sucked about as hard as the ones I was lazy about. This led me to a conclusion: if you don’t want to suck try pretty hard. This is particularly helpful when you’re editing your work and experimenting with more and more elegant ways to send your main character down the hall for a drink of water.

There’s another problem with this maxim. It suggests that, if I try hard enough, I will become (cue the music) the greatest author that has ever lived. Let’s be honest. Emily Dickinson blindfolded could write me to pieces.

Here’s what I’ve decided to take from this revelation. Getting published would be SWEET! Being known as a great writer would be AWESOME! But being proud of the book I created and the craft I learned will be harder. To do this I’ll need to work pretty hard for the right amount of time.

This blog would be irrelevant if we all could use a great idea that the book “The Future of Us” by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler brings up. It’s set in the late 90s. The main characters go onto the internet for the first time and find their modern-day Facebook pages. This excellent book can be yours if you answer one simple fill-in the blank question: if you knew then what you know now you never would have ______________. Be sure to add your email address.

Best new take on an old idea

2011-10-24T08:44:00.000-07:00

Dystopian books have been super hot and tons of them have been published. This week I’m giving away one and writing about another. At the end of this blog, you can read how you could win a copy of “Shatter Me” by Tahereh Mafi!

But first, the book I’m writing about this week is Gabrielle Zevin’s “All These Things I’ve Done.” I was beginning to think that everything in the dystopian genre had been done… until I started reading it. Zevin combines a semi-dystopia with a strong narrator, aspects of the Godfather movies and a sprinkling of religion to create a gripping, funny and very moving book. It’s a unique innovation on this genre.

The book pays homage to the dystopian genre in several important ways. The world is in trouble. Chocolate and caffeine are banned, creating a prosperous black market. Shortages of clothing and medicines are as regular as the curfews. And, the main character takes on the semi-totalitarian government via a familiar dystopian path of the hero.

The exceptional aspect of this book is the presence of religion. Annie (the main character) is Catholic and really tries to follow her religion throughout the book. Of all of the recent YA dystopia I’ve read, religion hasn’t really factored in very much. I’m very interested to see what happens next because the plot of the first book didn’t follow the typical dystopian story arc.

Now, here’s how you can win! Mafi’s book “Shatter Me” is reminiscent of the X-Men movies and comic books. If you like them, you’re going to love this book. Tell me who your favorite X-Man is and why in the comments below and you could win. Don’t forget to give me your email.

YA Opening Lines that I Love

2011-10-17T08:44:00.000-07:00

Everyone has a favorite opening line. This week I'm writing about my favorite and giving away a copy of the excellent new book, Liesl & Po by Lauren Oliver and Kei Acedera. Read on to find out how to share your favorite first line and why and you could win it!

As I thought about this it's really not right to say that I have one favorite opener in all of YA. I have dozens. They're each unique and mean different things, so they're impossible to compare. This week I chose one of my favorites: the first line of Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle. The narrator, Cassandra Mortmain, has started to keep a diary and she’s writing in the kitchen sink of the decaying castle that her family owns.

There are a few reasons why I like this so much.

First, there's the absurdity of writing in the sink. People don’t generally write in the sink, they write in chairs. It tells me that the narrator is unconventional

Second, the reason why Cassandra is writing in the sink – when she explains it, you learn a lot about her including the fact that she wants to be a writer, how her house looks and smells (it is in ruins) and the size of her family and where they are. It’s a great place to start exposition from and often, when I’m trying to place a character, I think of Cassandra in the center of the house, writing in the sink.

Third it gives you a good idea of the type of humor the author used. It’s funny it sets your expectations.

What's your favorite line in a YA book? Enter it into the comments below (don't forget to give me your email) and you could win a copy of Liesl & Po by Lauren Oliver and Kei Acedera!

Maureen Johnson’s Writing Advice

2011-10-10T13:16:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago I went to Maureen Johnson’s launch party for her latest book “The Name of the Star” at Books of Wonder in New York City. Maureen spoke about her book briefly then took questions from the audience. She gave out two piece of good writing advice which I paraphrase here.

1. Don’t be afraid to suck.

I had heard this kind of advice before I started writing. I wish I had paid more attention to it. The essence is simple. Unless you are the kind of talent that comes along every 50 years your first drafts are going to suck no matter how hard you try. If you do try to make it all perfect you will end up doing what I did – endless rewriting and very slow progress. It took a pretty big effort from my husband to get me out of this habit.

2. Read as much as you can. You learn how to write by reading.

This is pretty easy for almost all authors because most of us got here by having a pretty heavy reading habit. If you want to write I think it helps to read with a few objectives in mind. Try to figure out why you like or don’t like an author. Is it the flow of their language? Is it their word choice? Are they really funny? Why are they funny? That analysis can help you to improve your own writing and help you edit your own work.

I took a third piece of information away from the reading – Maureen’s description of her inspiration and early drafts of The Name of the Star reminded me of the wonderful, exciting time that follows a really good idea. For me, that excitement is one of the reasons why I love writing so much.

This week you can win The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin. To win, just put in the best writing advice you have heard. The best one will win!

Best Book I Read This Month

2011-10-03T16:13:00.001-07:00

The best book I read this month is Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. Answer the question at the end of this blog and you could win one of two copies of it were giving away this month!

Fantasy isn't really my thing but I liked this book because it's very clever and creative. For example, the main character uses her magic mostly for good. Sometimes she uses it to get back at her boyfriend. She also uses her magic to color her hair a bright blue. I like this spin on magic powers. And, what girl wouldn't make her hair gorgeous, if she could.

From more literary perspective, I like this book because it weaves topics from several genres and mixes in some themes from traditional orphan stories. Also the description of the setting is extremely detailed and easy to visualize.

Interested? Here's your chance to win a copy of it. If you could change your hair to any color what would it be and why? type your answer in the comments box below (don't forget to give me your email) and you could win!

Interview with Going Underground's author, Susan Vaught

2011-09-22T13:57:00.000-07:00

This week I interviewed the author of an excellent new book called Going Underground. It was written by Susan Vaught. Put your questions or comments below. If yours is good enough, you could win a copy of Going Underground!

Question: It's clear that some real life child pornography cases helped shape "Going Underground." Which one (or ones) effected you the most and why?

Answer: I can't say that any one case affected me more than another. Over my many years of private practice, I worked with young men (and some young women) who had been charged for various crimes because of age differences with their boyfriends or girlfriends (I'm talking months or maybe a couple of years). I was leaving private practice and moving back to inpatient work when I saw the first ripples of "sexting" and how teens were being charged under these laws. The situation made me want to scream. In my opinion, teens have enough stress without their normal lives and behavior being criminalized. So many have no idea they're breaking a law, or how serious the charges could be.

Question: I enjoyed the way you revealed the story with several flashbacks. Why did you choose this technique?

Answer: The main character chose it. I know that sounds bizarre, but characters often become very real to writers, and I'm certainly no different! Del seemed shy and miserable about what happened to him, like it burned him so badly he could barely look toward the flame. So I let the flashback chapters unfold as he could bring himself to reveal the information.

Question: There were some interesting symbols in your book. Del, for instance, always had one foot in the grave. What were your favorites as you wrote the book?

Answer: Symbols are funny things. Most of the time, I don't intend them, or have any idea they're happening. The grave scenario, for example, occurred because I had moved to a new state and my land has a very old cemetery on it. I was wondering if it could be rehabilitated and if we could turn a section of it into our own "family plot." In doing the research, I read bizarre burial and cemetery laws from dozens of different states, including that bodies don't really have to be buried six feet underground. That fascinated me, and as I developed Del's life, it seemed logical to use that information in the piece--and also that grave-digging was a job that Del could have despite his difficulties with the law. Maybe one of the safest--and, of course, oddest and most interesting. The metaphor developed after the story was written, with the choice of title and cover. My original title was Lost In Space, Without the Robots. Ahem. Not much symbolism there, I guess?

Question: The characterization of Del's parents is somewhat flat and I had trouble deciding whether or not to like them. They're out of touch, but occasionally touching. They may be animal hoarders or the saviors of some innocent fuzzy souls. Did you intend this ambiguity?

Answer: Yes, because they are flat and despite their best intentions, and they are distant. I believe you feel what Del feels--confused, sort of attached to them, but also clearly seeing the faults. He doesn't know whether to like them or not, either (something many teens might say about their parents). I envisioned them as people who weren't super-parents before, but functional parents with demanding careers and absorbing hobbies. Instead of building their life around Del as some parents might, they included him in theirs. Then life (Del's situation) damaged them, and they haven't recovered. Del may be farther along in finding his way back to earth than his parents.

I believe, and have experienced clinically, that disasters that happen to children have serious and lasting impact on their parents. In fact, the inability of parents to magically spring back from damage like this complicates the healing process for many teens, and leaves them struggling not only with their own issues and traumas, but the limitations of their parents as well. In the movies, the parents are often healthier or stronger, trying to pull the traumatized kid along and help him heal, but in real life, that's just not what I've seen.

These two people had good, fairly privileged lives. They--and as far as they knew, their son--were living well within the safe and comfortable boundaries of the law. Then much of their life was shattered, most of their future plans, their sense of being safe--torn away, forever. They were helpless to stop it, and helpless to stop the damage to their only child. The line between rescuing animals and hoarding is often blurry, and animal collecting often begins following a drastic loss and profound sense of helplessness like this. It's a way for people to feel safe and comforted again, to re-establish a sense of control and positive action in life. Del's parents have resources, so they (so far) can care for all of the animals they have taken in to heal (maybe instead of doing the work to heal themselves). Might this change down the road? Possibly. Could they slow down on the animal focus and connect more with Del? Possibly. Could animal rescue become animal hoarding for Del's parents? Yes, absolutely. If they don't face what's happened to them, if they keep drifting along, shutting out the pain, they could fall apart and lose perspective. Del, however, is moving beyond that stage, and perhaps beyond them.

Nothing Creepier Than Poe

2011-09-19T08:49:00.000-07:00

Halloween is right around the corner. That got me thinking about my favorite creepy writer, Edgar Allen Poe. In this blog I'm going to tell you why I think he's the best horror writer of all time. In the comments section below, tell me who your favorite is. It might win you a copy of Eve by Anna Carey.

For me Poe is the king of all horror stories because of two things: pacing and symbolism. The pacing in his poems and short stories adds to the dread you feel for the characters and the end of the work. His use of symbolism is special because it's rare in horror writing, provides an interesting look at narcissistic or brutal personalities and it raises the horror genre to art.

I like Poe so much that I pay homage to him in my book. Alex, one of my characters, has an elderly great aunt Eulalie (named after an Edgar Allen Poe poem). Also, his grandfather owns an advertising company and writes jingles. This is a reference to Mark Twain who called Poe the “jingleman."

Who is your favorite horror writer? Why? Post in the comments below (don't forget your email) and you could win a copy of Eve by Anna Carey.

Would it be so Hard?

2011-09-06T13:21:00.000-07:00

In mid-September a new TV show featuring Sara Michelle Gellar called “Ringers” will start airing. The premise is that identical twin sisters, who have been estranged for years, get back together. One dies and the other one takes her place. Most of the entertainment press have been preoccupied with whether or not “Buffy...” fans will revere Gellar in this new role. I've been thinking about something else.
If you believe the premise of this show you have to believe that appearance is everything or, at least, it's more important than everything else about a person. The twin who dies apparently has a husband, friends and other people who don't know anything about her except that she has a kickin' bod and nice hair – because they don't seem to notice that the siaster who took her place doesn't know them.
The show hasn't started yet so it's hard to say if this is the creator's intent or not. That said, it's a silly game to play. Thousands of messages are sent to women every day that exaggerate the importance of appearance through TV, the web, magazines and even books. Strong women are often portrayed as attractive and good at everything, creating an equally unattainable ideal. I think it would be nice if a somewhat attractive, reasonably smart, moderately popular girl was loved for her nature. Failing that, it would be nice if those characteristics were given any air time at all.
If you'd like to win a book that does explore some of those topics this could be your lucky day. Just comment on my blog below (don't forget to give me your email address) and you might win The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman by Meg Wolitzer.

What is Dystopia?

2011-08-17T18:57:00.000-07:00

Recently my friends at Figment Fiction posted an interesting Tweet. They asked people to share their own definitions of dystopia. Before long, the definitions were becoming hard to reconcile so they asked an even better question: Which novel do you think best exemplifies the dystopian genre?

I was a little surprised at how much disagreement there is out there on this topic. Some of novels were suggested that I thought were clearly sci-fi. A small discussion broke out about what anti-eutopia is. That one really baked my noodle. I went back to the novel that best exemplifies the genre.

For me dystopia is a lot of things. It can be anything from a totalitarian society and individual teenager who's struggling against a really bad environment. The stories I'm thinking of have a three book recipe. In the first book the scene is set and the problem emerges. In the second book the regime crumbles and the resistance gets going. In the third book the regime falls and the hero wins the day.

What is a dystopia to you? Answer below (don't forget your email) and you could win the latest by Harlan Coben, Shelter.

Why Are Book Reviews Never Mediocre?

2011-08-16T08:49:00.000-07:00

Have you ever read a review that said the book was "OK?" I haven't. Ever.

This is a bigger problem than most people think, as I see it. If reviewers are either really positive or really negative it makes it hard to figure out whether you will like the book or not. This leads us to a logical question: why read the review in the first place? One sided reviews also make you question the objectivity of the reviewer. Its reasonable to think that most of the books are not at one extreme or the other but somewhere in the middle. I also think this is a problem for authors who need unbiased criticism to get better at their craft.

I think there are a couple of reasons for this. First, I think some of the reviewers are friendly with the authors and don’t want to hurt their friend's feelings with a negative review. Second, some reviewers let their love of YA show in their reviews. They want to promote the genre, not give an objective review.

One reviewer I think does a great job with objectivity and the right tone is The Book Muncher. Her reviews are always thoughtful and suggest improvements to books without preaching.

Is there a reviewer you like? If so, tell us about it in the comments below and you could win! This week I'm giving away "Sketchy Behavior" by Erynn Mangum.

The Best Book I Read This Month – You Can Win It

2011-08-16T08:46:00.000-07:00

“Going Underground” is a new book by Susan Vaught. It is one of the best books I’ve read in some time because its pacing creates real tension and it sends an excellent, timely message about our culture and legal process. I also have a few observations that might improve it.

“Going Underground” is a story told in a series flashbacks. Writers who choose this format have to keep a close eye on how they reveal the story and be sure that it intensifies the message or reaction in the reader. It’s harder than it sounds. Vaught does it really well.

“Going Underground” also sends an excellent message for all of us to hear. In the story a young man is convicted of distributing child pornography when he and his young girlfriend text message pictures of themselves to each other. This is more real than many may think. It has happened in many states. For those of us who grew up before texting pictures was the norm, this is a little like being arrested for playing, “I’ll show you mine if…”

The dialogue of this book was a bit of a let down. Many of the characters use the same words, making them difficult to tell apart. And the main character sounds more like a 20-something year old woman than a 17-year old straight boy. His best friend doesn’t dress very well and, at one point, the main character wonders why his friend won’t accept his offer to go through his closet and pick something out. If the main character was gay, this would be more believable.

If you would like to win a copy of “Going Underground” tell me what you think of the application of child pornography laws to underage kids who send pictures of themselves to people. Why do you think this was an issue for some areas? What does it say about our culture? Don't forget to tell me your email.

Is Starting Over in a New Town Still Believable?

2011-08-15T07:34:00.000-07:00

Moving to a new town and starting over has been a theme in thousands of books. A recent (and excellent) YA example is Sarah Dessen’s new book, “What Happened to Goodbye” In it a girl moves every six months due to her father’s job. In every town she takes on a new identity. It all catches up with her in the end because someone stumbles upon her multiple Facebook accounts.

The climax of this book made me wonder: In the social networking age, can authors still use starting over as a believable narrative structure?

I think it’s still possible, but it is a lot harder. Almost anyone can Google you. And, take a good luck at your Facebook friends. You’re probably only about five degrees of separation from anyone. Authors have to get creative to get around this.

What do you think authors can do? Have you read any books that do this well? Tell me in the comments below (don’t forget to leave your email) and you could win “After Obsession” by Carrie Jones & Steven Wedel. It’s a great twist on the paranormal themes that abound.

What Makes a Great Title?

2011-08-01T08:04:00.000-07:00

Great titles are largely subjective. One person's great title is another person's pile of hot, steaming letters. Here are a few of my favorites and why I like them. Put yours in the comments below and you can win a copy of Shut Out by Kody Keplinger!

One of my favorite titles of all time is Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. I love titles that sound a little familiar but different enough that they are intriguing. I also like that it connects to a symbol that's used throughout the book. And, it's clever. The name pokes fun (mocks) the brutal and controlling government that the protagonist challenges.

Another one is Vegan Virgin Valentine by Carolyn Mackler. You can't beat that alliteration! And, it tells you exactly what you're going to get in the book. If you're interested in those things, this book is for you.

So, what are your favorites? This is a great week to play because I'm giving away two copies of Kody's book to two different people. "Shut Out" is also a great title. It has a great, halting, sound and a connection to sports, which are important in this book.

So, what do you think? Remember to leave me your email address!

More Symbolism, Please

2011-08-01T07:50:00.000-07:00

Symbolism is one of my favorite literary techniques. It can be as simple as the color of a cowboy's hat in a western or as complicated as Edgar Allen Poe's use of sounds.

And I wish there were more of it in YA.

The dystopian authors use symbolism a lot. It's not surprising. The characters in these books are often trying to stick it to the man. They need a symbol to unite and motivate them. This symbol may also remind them, when the going gets tough, why they're rebelling.

Other YA books don't have this kind of structural need for symbols. But some authors still do great work with it. Notably, the book I reviewed last week on my blog (How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr) uses lots of really interesting symbols.

I believe that YA should embrace symbolism. I think symbolism adds depth to a novel by giving the reader something to tease out of the story. Symbols encourage readers to analyze. This makes their experience with the writing more vibrant and real. Also, it would make it harder for people to criticize our genre if we used more of the traditional tools employed by adult fiction writers. It would be nice to hear less from those yo-yos.

What do you think? Do you think YA is using enough symbols? Too many? What are your favorite symbols? Write your answer in the box below and you could win a copy of Unforgettable by Loretta Ellsworth. She uses a very interesting symbol. Her main character is unable to forget anything. Is that why the girl he met is so unforgettable?

The Best Book I Read This Month - And How You Can Win It

2011-07-09T13:36:00.000-07:00

This month I read a lot of great books but one stands out – How to Save a Life bySara Zarr. A father dies, spurring his widow to pursue an adoption that they had discussed but never started. The book is written from two perspectives: that of the couple’s biological daughter and the mother of the child that is set to be adopted.

This book’s main strength is in characterization. Every character was distinct in their thoughts, the words they used to express them and their physical attributes. They felt real because they grew slowly, as people do in the real world.

How to Save a Life was also very emotionally engaging. The birth mother’s story was so sad that it was hard to read. She grew up in an abusive home and you feel it in the choices she makes as a young adult. The grief that the daughter feels as she mourns her father is so real it hurt. Even when she escapes her pain into denial, you feel nothing but sympathy.

What’s the best book you read this month? Why? Tell us in the comments below and you might win How to Save a Life!

My Favorite Founding Father

2011-07-05T17:25:00.000-07:00

Over the past few weeks I have been noticed a remarkable similarity in the people who are seeking the Republican nomination for president. Each and every one of them made a point of talking about American history in their speeches or TV interviews. This is remarkable for two reasons. One, I expected them to go out of their way to distinguish themselves from one another. Even stranger, when talking history, some of them were inaccurate and some were flat out wrong.

Before this blog becomes one of many thousands pitting Republicans and Democrats, I would like to tell you about my favorite founding father. ‘Bet you didn’t see that coming. Tell me who your favorite historical figure is and why and you could win a copy of Marianna Baer’s excellent new book, Frost before it hits the shelves.

My favorite founding father is John Adams because he was very smart, methodical and had a real partnership with his wife Abigail Adams. He valued her intelligence and judgment at a time when few men did. I also admire his willingness to speak his mind. He did it so often that, while he was vice president, the Constitutional congress passed a law prohibiting the vice president from talking during votes.

Who’s your favorite? Put it in the comments below and you could win Frost!

If I was an Alchemist

2011-07-05T17:18:00.000-07:00

This week I’m giving away and advanced reading copy of Bloodlines by Richelle Mead, which will come out this August. In this book, a family of alchemists takes on challenges that I would mention but it will give away a good story.

That got me thinking about what I would do if I was an alchemist. Originally the idea was to spin straw into gold. But a few hundred years have passed and no one has done that yet. Also, all my jewelry is platinum. If I suddenly added gold it would look weird.

That got me thinking about what I would like to convert into something else. Staying on the clothing angle, I thought that spinning spaghetti into jewel-encrusted tiaras would be a neat trick. That would be great for the next time I host my publishing friends. “Just a minute girls...” Then, voila, we’re all princesses!

I also thought my form of magic could make a few things I loathe into things I like. For example, I hate loafers with tassels. I would like to be able to turn them into bunny rabbits. I also don’t like acid wash jeans. Maybe I could make those into kitchen appliances I’ve always wanted. Then there’s my least favorite creature: cockroaches. They would be so much more likable as chocolate chip cookies.

What would you do? Put it in the comments below and you could win the copy of Bloodlines!

Harry Potter Movie Rituals

2011-06-27T09:01:00.000-07:00

Preparing for an event is sometimes as important as the event itself. Cooking Thanksgiving dinner is as important as the holiday. Finding a great pair of shoes for a big event is as important as finding the right date. Over the course of the Harry Potter movies, I have made up my own rituals. Before each movie is released I:

Reread the book that the movie is based on.
Watch the previous movie (or, sometimes, all of them). I’ve got the DVDs ready.
Eat the same snack at the movie - Nonpareils and Sour Patch Kids. Try it. Trust me.

Harry Potter 4 was my low point as a professional. I left work a early (with someone who reported to me) to go see the movie in the theater near our office. My boss found out. He wasn’t upset but did come up with a non-traditional punishment for us. In our weekly, company-wide email, he told everyone what we had done and encouraged all employees to ridicule us. They did. For about four months.

Do you have a pre-HP ritual? Did the movie make you do something you regret? Tell us about it in the comments and you could win a pre-publication copy of Pretty Bad Things by C.J. Skuse!

Convincing Your Friends to Like Young Adult

2011-06-27T07:53:00.000-07:00

Some of your friends are a waste of time. Some of mine are too. They believe everything they read in the New York Times, they worship Jonathan Franzen, and think that the topics in YA are too simple for them. But the rest of them have a chance. Here are my most successful techniques for converting people into YA nuts:

Give them a book – Duh. This will work for about 15% of the population who read a lot and listen to NPR.
Target the product - Think about what themes your friend likes, then choose a YA book with a similar message. Tweeting a link to the e-book is a good technique for this.
Needle them – People who read adult fiction are tough. Persistence pays off. Keep gently reminding them that YA has crossed over, that the themes are timeless and that the books are really fun. Even the snottiest people like to read a good trashy drama sometimes.
Back into the book from the video – Moviegoers usually know which movies were books before and most of them like to talk about books versus movies. The visual art crowd is also pretty open to the book trailers that have been posted on YouTube. Some of them are beautiful and can spark an interest.

Have you ever used a technique like this to get your friend into YA? Tell us about it in the comments section and you could win a copy of Forever by Maggie Stiefvater.

The Future Isn't E-books (Only)

2011-06-05T17:06:00.000-07:00

Last year, a friend who works in publishing joked that a good holiday gift for her and her co-workers would be a shotgun shell with a post-it note attached reading, “If e-book sales eclipse print sales, insert in mouth and bite hard.” At that time, e-readers were starting to take off and people in publishing were afraid that print books were going to go the way of the dinosaur. Now, it seems more like the rise of e-books is going to be a great supplement for the publishing industry’s core business of selling print books.

At Book Expo America earlier this month, there was a consensus that at least for the next few years, most people are going to own both e-books and print books. So, while publishing is going to make less money on e-books, that cut is going to be offset by overall sales. Additionally, readers are indicating that they still like going to bookstores and buying books but also appreciate the convenience of being able to load legions of books onto an e-reader for trips and vacations. People will choose the format based on what they want from the book.

I don’t have an e-reader at this point. But I do have lots of bookcases, many of which are filled with dog-eared copies of books from my childhood and books I’ve come to love as an adult. I have a meaningful relationship with these books. In some cases, the cover art is beautiful. In other cases, I have re-read the book so many times it’s like an old friend. I can’t imagine getting rid of these books. I also have a shelf of books for work that I’d love to transfer to an e-reader. They’d be portable, searchable and they wouldn’t take up valuable real estate in my New York apartment.

Do you have an e-reader? And what do you use it for? Answer in the comments below and you could win a copy of Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa.

Which Team Are You On?

2011-06-05T16:58:00.000-07:00

Which Team Are You On?

Shirts or skins? Republicans or Democrats? Sharks or Jets? There are so many teams to choose from! But the question dogging the YA world is Xander or Ky? Normally I have my mind made up early. Edward (not Jacob), Gryffendor (duh!)… etc. But I’m having a lot of trouble picking between Xander and Ky. Here’s how I see it:

Xander seems really stable, and secure and even a little boring. He is the complete opposite of that jerk who kissed your friend. But he’s not bland. He’s got depth and a little mystery.

Ky has a tragic story that makes even the animals at the shelter say, “Dude, that sucks.” He takes risks and he’s flawed so he’s exciting and gives you something to complain to your girlfriends about.

I’m having trouble figuring out which one is the best match for Cassia. What do you think? Enter your choice and say why in the comments below and you could win a copy of Popular by Alissa Grosso.

Saying What You Like About an Author

2011-06-05T15:45:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I started baking cookies and other treats for the bike racing team that my husband and I coach. After a few batches of cookies I started to experiment with a pinch more of this or a dash of that. I asked the team for feedback on my changes, but few of them said much beyond, “They’re good!” It occurred to me that either the team didn’t like what I was making very much or they just didn’t know what to say. Finally, one of them explained, “The thing is, in any proportion butter, sugar and chocolate taste pretty good.”

I’ve noticed that lots of people say similar things about the authors they like. I wonder if that’s because most people forgot the analysis techniques they learned in school. I also think that the kind of close reading that this analysis requires just isn’t fun for most people. There isn’t a lot of casual dialogue like this about books. There’s a lot of it in book clubs – but that’s where it stays.

Do you think this level of analysis matters? And is the personal experience you have with a book more important than being able to talk about it and learn what other people think about it? Add your answer to the comments section below and you could win a copy of Outside In by Maria Snyder.

Book Giveaway - What's the weirdest part of your reality?

2011-05-27T17:46:00.000-07:00

Thanks to reality shows like "Sister Wives" and "19 Kids & Counting" I have decided to stop writing satire. Completely. I'm serious. You can't make this up!

It's also why I'm so impressed with Libba Bray's new book Beauty Queens. It's a sometimes ironic, sometimes witty take on beauty pageants. The best part of this book is the dialogue. It's as sharp as a tack. Bray also wrote in a few characters from our overhyped reality like Larry King and Sarah Palin, leading me to wonder if our news services and political discourse would be more relatable if they used Vaseline on their teeth and taped up their boobs. I'm talking to you, Larry.

Care to take a try at it? Tell me what the strangest part of reality is for you (by June 5) in the comments below and you might win a copy of A Touch Mortal by Leah Clifford. In this book the main character commits suicide. She expects a calm end but her spirit ends up in a place between life and death. I know it's implausible, but is it really harder to believe than this?

BEA or Bust!

2011-05-23T08:46:00.000-07:00

I’m about to leave to pick up my pass for Book Expo America, the four-day conference on the publishing industry that is held each year at the Jacob Javitts Convention Center in New York. I’ve been looking forward to BEA since I registered in January because it allows me to talk to writers, network with publishing professionals and get some free books.

I’m hoping to get advanced reading copies (ARCs) of a few books, some of which I want to read really badly. The only trade off with ARCs, though, is the question of anticipation. Is it better to get a book you really want to read earlier and devour it right away? Or is it better to have the anticipation of reading it stretch ahead for another few weeks or months?

I finally decided that anticipation is nice but so is having an ARC of a book like Crossed, the second installment of Ally Condie’s dystopian trilogy, or Shannon Hale’s Midnight in Austenland. I liked its predecessor, Austenland, so much that I finished it and went right back to the beginning and read it again. I’m hoping to scoop up ARCs of both of those books!

Here’s the checklist of what I’m taking to the Javitts Center:

Comfortable shoes
Backpack (more evenly distributes the weight of any books that might come home with me)
Map of the exhibition hall and corresponding list of where and when to get ARCs of books that I covet.
Snacks and water bottle. All of that walking around burns a lot of energy.
Fully charged cell phone and laptop.

Hopefully I’ll see some of you there. And watch this space. This time next week, I’ll be giving away some ARCs to you!

The Best

2011-05-16T10:37:00.000-07:00

The best - a simple pair of words - is, in my opinion, the most overhyped sentiment in American English. My favorite example of this is William Hung, the American Idol contestant whose rendition of "She Bangs" was so horrendous that people across the U.S. laughed out loud at it. Hung obviously barely practiced and didn't seek any help but still said he was happy because he did his best. His best was so underwhelming that this may seem like a joke. But he was serious. So were a lot of people who admired him for that. If you listened carefully, that night, you could hear muses from across the stratosphere saying, "That's it. I'm done."

Fortunately, the muses were still alive and kicking for Louisa May Alcott when she wrote Little Women. One of the reasons that I love the book is that doing your best is realistically portrayed a long-term action, not a single event. The characters each strove, nearly every day, to improve their work and themselves. The March sisters didn't dwell on their relative poverty. They took their jobs very seriously and talked about ways to enjoy the things they had. They also tried to do the best at their hobbies with the hope that they'd be the next great actresses, writes, artists and musicians.

The three characters with the most distinct talents are Jo, with her writing, Amy, with her drawing and Laurie, with his music. Jo, Amy and Laurie all want to be the best at their respective discipline and they work hard to improve. As they get older, a split emerges: it becomes apparent that Jo's talent for writing is unique while Amy and Laurie are seen as gifted but more ordinary in their talents. But not being the best doesn't mean that either Amy or Laurie stops practicing their drawing and music, respectively: they are still trying to improve their art, even to the last page of the books.

My Pageant

2011-05-09T14:45:00.000-07:00

I’m looking forward to Libba Bray’s upcoming Beauty Queens. I liked her other books a lot and I'm looking forward to seeing what she does with the premise. And, I was in a pageant once. I can still see the teenage me spinning around on stage to Pretty Woman, our pageant’s opening number, and then going through the motions of all of the swimsuit competition, talent competition, the personal statement and the evening gown competition. I rocked the personal statement.

I was probably not an ideal candidate for a beauty pageant. I’ve always been bookish, better at writing than singing and dancing. I signed up for the pageant not because I thought I had any chance of winning but because I knew that it would be something that would take me completely out of my comfort zone and force me to consider things like the miracles that can be done with hot rollers.

I had about three months to prepare for the pageant, during which I learned things like how to turn quickly, with a little bounce in my step, and flick my hair at the same time. I’m not making light of these things. It was hard work. There were the moments of ridiculousness during which I felt like I had entered an absurdist world. But the other girls in the pageant were kind and supportive, there were no pageant moms like you see in Toddlers & Tiaras and the women who were organizing the pageant really wanted to put on a good event. There were parts of it that were almost brisk and business like.

Despite the good parts, one pageant was enough for me. At the end of the evening, I stood on stage in a black evening gown with some tasteful rhinestones studded around the neck (I had very tasteful outfits) and held a rose with the other girls as the judges announced the winners. I was genuinely happy for Crystal, the girl who won the pageant, and for Dana, who won the talent competition with a pretty intense tap dance routine. I got a trophy for participation and, like my college writing professor said, a boatload of experiences that I never thought I’d have that I have a feeling will be fodder for a plotline someday.

In the meantime, I’m looking forward to reading Beauty Queens.

Scenes and Settings and Real Life Irony

2011-05-01T14:44:00.000-07:00

I sometimes have a hard time with a very basic part of writing a scene: describing who is there and what they are doing. This is especially ironic. I’m a journalist in my day job. I make a living writing the who, what, where, when and why in each one of my stories in a lively and concise manner.

Why is it harder for me to put what journalists call the five Ws together into my book? I think it’s partly because where a chapter in my book should start and what the focal point should be isn’t a clear as the focal point of a news story. Also, while spare prose and brevity is generally a good thing for a journalist, there is such a thing as being too concise. I’m definitely guilty of that. Finally, I worry that the simplest ways of saying where characters are and what they were doing can sound boring and hackneyed. The writers who can set up a scene in a unique, engaging way deserve a lot of credit – I think it’s harder to write a good opening paragraph to a chapter than to write a good ending.

There are a number of YA writers who have the technical and creative skills to do a really good job of this. A few standouts that I’ve read have been Gayle Forman in If I Stay and its sequel, Where She Went. Forman is also excellent at physically moving a character from one place to another. Megan Whalen Turner, another one of my favorite authors, does a fantastic job of this in her Queen’s Thief series. And Mary McCarthy, author of The Group, sets scenes in two ways that I really admire: she manages to make you feel like you’re part of the gossipy group of young women that she’s writing about and also completely sticks to the voice of the narrator.

Are there any writing exercises that anyone has ever done to make this easier? Let me know in the comments section below!

The Sisterhood of the Granny Pants

2011-04-25T10:51:00.000-07:00

I had a conversation with my friend Anna, who is a pretty spectacular bike racer, about how hard it can be for female cyclists to find jeans that fit. There is no magic pair of jeans, like in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, for ladies who have built the leg muscles and reduced their waist sizes. I thought the only solution was a trip to the tailor.

Anna let me in on a secret she had discovered: granny jeans. Like many great discoveries, hers was an accident in a department store a few weeks ago. I went to investigate it myself and it was definitely true – granny jeans are cut curvier. And there are many pairs of stylish granny jeans out there that don’t have elastic waistbands. I may even be wearing some as I write this.

That got me thinking about a scene in my book during which Sarah, my narrator, realizes that her body has changed after a year of racing her bike. Her jeans fit differently and, when she looks at her legs in the mirror, she realizes that the muscles in her calves and quadriceps are more defined. The change thrills her! She sees thinks her toned muscles are a visual representation of months of hard work and sacrifice.

Although I haven’t written this part yet, I think Sarah will learn how to tailor her own pants because that’s the kind of thing that a girl who is trying to live her life according to Little Women would do. Or she’ll discover the granny pants secret and tell all of her cycling friends about it. Call it the Sisterhood of the Granny Pants.

A Thread A Day

2011-04-17T17:16:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, I'm an avid quilter. I've made more than 30. This weekend I had a talk with my quilt teacher about a new project that I’m about to start - a replica of the Jane Stickle quilt, a Civil War era quilt that has 225 different blocks. I made my first replica of the Jane Stickle quilt a few years ago. It took me one full year.

Why do I want to make another Jane Stickle quilt? Quite simply, I love it. I love the patterns of each of the blocks, I love its symmetry, I love how the colors work together and I love being able to recreate it in my own vision. Also, while I'll always treasure my first Jane Stickle quilt, it was only the second quilt I made and I am now critical of my color choices and my less than stellar skills on some of the blocks. Think first draft.

I’m going to do things differently this time. I’m going to pick what we quilters call a “focus fabric,” which is a single piece of fabric, usually with a vivid pattern or set of colors. The idea is that you use the focus fabric as a color palette and pick other fabrics that coordinate or match the colors in the focus fabric. I’m also going to make an outline, planning what color will go where so that I can create a pattern of color symmetry within the quilt. The other big difference is the amount of time I’ll have to devote to it – after my family, career and my book, it’ll probably only be a few minutes a night. It could take years to finish.

So will my book. Quilting and writing have a lot more in common than you might think. Both are arduous. Both require dedication and inspiration. And, the raw materials are similar. Looking at fabric gives me lots of ideas, so does reading great books.

Lines To Die For

2011-04-11T14:25:00.000-07:00

If there’s one thing I love to read, it’s a great phrase. My favorites are the ones that mark a turning point, capture a major theme or crystallize a character’s purpose in a book. Some of the best ones are short and carry a big message. My husband and I use some of them as running jokes. When he gets upset with me, he sometimes shouts, “Do it to Julia!” This is from George Orwell’s classic 1984. In that scene the main character gives up on his true love and any hope of independent thought.

YA books have some great ones.

Even people who haven’t read any of the Harry Potter books know that “Expecto patronum!” is a lot more than a way to invoke a spell. Harry says it when he simultaneously grows his confidence, relieves himself of some grief for his parents and saves the life of one of his best supporters. It’s a signpost on Harry’s path that points, “This way to adult land and herodom.”

In The Secret Garden, Colin Craven is a peevish, spoiled and high irritable invalid who is convinced that he won’t live to grow up or, if he does, that he’ll be a hunchback like his father. When he meets his cousin Mary, he takes much more of an interest in life, which leads to an improvement in his health and his disposition. It’s a beautiful moment and a real turning point in the story and in Colin’s character when he goes into his mother’s garden – the secret garden – and sees spring unfolding around him. Colin exclaims, “I shall live forever and ever. I am well!

What are your favorite moments or phrases? Let me know in the comment box below!

The Princess Store

2011-04-04T11:58:00.000-07:00

On my regular Monday walk to The Donut Pub, which sells the best donuts in the world, my husband and I passed by an empty storefront. It was a beautiful space—large, light and airy and a whole wall of floor-to-ceiling windows. There were no partitions inside, just a wide open floor.

“Look at that space!” I exclaimed. “I could open a princess store!” He’s used to my whimsy so he said, “What’s a princess store?” I replied, “It’s a store when you can buy or rent princess-style gowns, tiaras, glass slippers and buy books about princesses, like A Little Princess, Princess Academy, The Princess Bride, A Princess in Tatters and The Princess of the Chalet School. And then you could put your princess dress on and spin around in the middle of the store so that you can see your skirt float around you.”

To his credit, my husband didn’t snicker. He just said, “But do you think you can pay the rent with that? It doesn’t seem like a good business plan. And your product line would be limited.” I said, “We can sell princess cupcakes and other baked goods. I already have a princess cookie cutter! It’ll help boost the bottom line. And this space looks like it’s been vacant for a while. I could probably get it for cheap.”

I have other ideas, like action figures of Sara Crewe and Miss Minchin from A Little Princess and Miri from Shannon Hale’s Princess Academy. Heck, we’d have an entire Shannon Hale section due to the number of books she’s written about strong, smart princesses-types like Isi from The Goose Girl and Dashti from Book of a Thousand Days. We’d also have a section on fairy princesses, princesses from ballets, Princess Leia and a nook on Disney princesses just to be completely inclusive.

Imagine taking your lunch hour to curl up with a princess book in a velvet chair and eat a cupcake with pastel-covered flowers? Or taking a break from work to cast off your business suit for a long gown of tulle and lace? It would be better than meeting Prince Charming!

The Musical Rites of Spring

2011-03-29T10:49:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend I performed one of my rites of spring: I reread my favorite parts of The Secret Garden and listened to the soundtrack from the original Broadway cast recording of the show. As far as I’m concerned, it really doesn’t get much better than seeing a musical of one of my favorite books. Even if I don’t agree with parts of the adaptation, it’s usually pretty exciting to see everything I had imagined come alive on stage. With singing and dancing!

I prefer adaptations made by writers, composers and directors who stay faithful to the spirit of the book and use their creativity to develop storylines that were subplots in the original. The musical adaptation of The Secret Garden does an excellent job of this, particularly in the way it portrays the sad love story of Archibald and Lily Craven. In the book it was a subtext. In the musical they get a beautiful song about how Archie and Lily met (in a garden, of course) and how their relationship unfolded.

Another thing I appreciate about the musical is that a lot of the language from the book is in the lines of the play. There’s one wonderful scene in which Mary Lennox and Mrs. Medlock are taking the train to Misselthwaite Manor. Their lines, in the musical, are almost exactly as written in the book.

A more difficult musical for me to watch was the adaptation of Little Women. The musical did something interesting. It interspersed Jo March’s writing process and the sensational stories that she wrote with the plot of the book, which follows the March sisters and their friends. The musical had some wonderful moments, namely the song that Marmee sings after Beth dies, a duet between Beth and Mr. Laurence and a big production number where the entire cast acted out one of Jo’s stories.

But there were two points that I thought the show stumbled on. First they weren’t true to the spirit of the book. Mr. March, Jo’s father, was written out of the show. I found that strange, particularly considering that the March sisters are consumed with Mr. March coming home from the Civil War safely in the book. More troubling, Laurie was presented as a kind of geeky, pompous twerp – not the handsome, athletic, generous character that every fan of the book loves.

What do you think makes a good adaptation of a book into a musical? And what is your favorite one?

The Popcorn Phenomenon

2011-03-21T11:58:00.000-07:00

I learned about the popcorn phenomenon in Farmer Boy, one book in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House series. The book covers the childhood of her husband, Almanzo Wilder. According to the book, it’s possible to fill one glass with milk and another glass of equal size with popcorn then pour the milk into the glass with the popcorn and it won’t run over. Wilder writes, “You cannot do this with bread. Popcorn and milk are the only two things that will go in the same place.”

As soon as I read this, I had to find out if it was true. It is. It also works with caramel popcorn.

This wasn’t the first time I had tried something out that I read in a book. I learned how to make paste from flour and water in Lois Lowry’s Anastasia books. I also learned, like Anastasia does, that you have to use the paste quickly or else it starts to smell. In Anne Digby’s Trebizon series, I learned about how to score tennis matches and about cricket from Antonia Forest’s books about the Marlowe family.

I was really pleased a few months ago when one woman in my writing group said that she tried something that I had written about and found out that it worked. My narrator, Sarah, is goes out for her school’s bicycle racing team. At one of her first lessons on racing, the coach tells her to get off of her bike and walk next to it, steering it only with her hand on the seat. At first, the front wheel flops around and the bike falls over. Then she feels the bike’s center of gravity. At first, she’s able to go a few feet at a time. Then she’s able to push the bike for a long way by the seat. When the woman in my writing group read about the drill, she went out to her bike shed to try it. It worked!

My Life As A Super W.A.G.

2011-03-07T08:34:00.000-08:00

For the past five years, I’ve spent every weekend in March and April at bike races. It all started when my husband, a longtime professional cycling fan and lifelong athlete, asked if I would be interested in helping him to coach a collegiate cycling team. I said, “What am I going to do? I’ve never raced a bike in my life.” He said, “You’re good at organizing. They need help with the basic logistics so they can concentrate on the racing.” I said, “Okay, I’ll try it. And I’ll make some banana bread for them.”

We’re now entering our sixth season as the coaches of Columbia University’s cycling team. My role has evolved from a W.A.G. (wife and girlfriend) to fully fledged coach, confidant and supporter. While I still haven’t ever raced a bike, I’m a much more technically proficient rider than I was five years ago and I’ve learned a lot about racing just by watching. I can help new riders with their skills, talk to them about their races and give them advice about how to warm up and cool down.

Coaching our team is a volunteer job. While there's no pay, we are compensated. The road trips up and down the East Coast every weekend are really fun. Sometimes we laugh so hard it hurts. We also enjoy introducing people to the sport and helping more seasoned riders to improve their performances. We share in the disappointment and sadness if someone has had a bad race or is going through a tough time at school or at home. And then there is the exhilaration and joy when someone who has trained hard all winter wins a race!

When we started coaching the team, I never dreamt that I would write a book or that some of my experiences in coaching would be so important to it. But when I wrote that first character sketch of my protagonist I saw bike racing as the perfect physical challenge for her.

Do You Re-Read?

2011-03-07T08:25:00.000-08:00

There are two kinds of people in this world: people who re-read books and one-time readers. I am a re-reader.

A re-reader is someone who loves a book so much that she must re-read it on a regular basis. Sometimes, she loves a book so much that she reads it and then starts again from the beginning. These are books that she must have copies of and they must be neatly shelved, by author, in alphabetical or chronological order if it is a series. A one-time reader is someone who reads a book and thinks, “Wow, what a great book!” but doesn’t see the need to experience the pleasure of reading it more than once.

One of the problems with being a re-reader is that the list of books that you like to re-read on an annual basis grows on an annual basis. It used to be that every year, I would read all 58 books in Elinor M. Brent-Dyer’s Chalet School series, all of Antonia Forest’s books about the Marlowe family, Anne Digby’s Trebizon series and an assortment of other books such as and an assortment of other books such The Great Gatsby. I tend to dip in and out of books these days, reading my favorite parts when I think about them. With a job, a baby, a cycling team to coach and a book to write, I don’t have the luxury of time of being able to re-read the way I used to.

There’s nothing wrong with being a one-time reader. Clearly, if you spend less time re-reading, you have time to read more books. A one-time reader might also have fewer books than a re-reader but that’s not necessarily the case. Some people just like to have books around, even if they never plan to read them again.

I think I’ll always be a re-reader. I still love the experience of the plot unfolding, even if I know what is going to happen, and then savor the beauty of my favorite scenes and lines.

Which one are you? And what is your favorite book to re-read?

The Recessionists

2011-02-28T11:03:00.000-08:00

Several new books that tackle the issues surrounding the current financial crisis. The books remind me of similar movements of artists and writers, like the Impressionists, the Surrealists and the Transcendentalists. So I’ve decided that this group of writers needs their own name: the Recessionists.

I think the Recessionists are their own sub-genre of YA literature. The challenges the characters are facing are directly related to the headlines we’ve been seeing in the mainstream media over the past three years: the failure of major Wall Street firms like Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, the impact of Ponzi schemes such as the one run by Bernie Madoff and the rising unemployment rate. This is different than a more traditional book about the struggles of a poor family or how a family copes after a parent unexpectedly loses their job. The Recessionists are responding to a broad and far-reaching economic downturn.

I’ve read two books recently that fit well into this genre. Gwendolyn Heasley’s Where I Belong and Sarah Darer Littman’s Life, After. Heasley’s book deals directly with the impact of the current recession while Littman’s Life, After is related to the economic crisis in Argentina in 2002. Both books describe how their narrators cope with the devastating and sometimes humiliating effects that these downturns have on them and their families. While Life, After is about a different recession at a different time in a different country, the story resonated strongly with me in light of what has been going on in the U.S. and the world over the past three years.

As a financial journalist in my day job, much of what Heasley describes about the fallout when Corrine’s father loses his job rang true. I heard many stories like this: parents taking their children out of expensive private schools and dramatically scaling back their lifestyles. Meanwhile, Littman’s descriptions of life in Argentina are definitely something that a young reader today who is affected by the recession could relate to. Another common thread is the lack of control both narrators have over their lives and how they have to learn to adapt to their new lives.

Who is your favorite Recessionist author?

In Honor of Dystopian Novels: What Would Be in My Bunker

2011-02-21T08:14:00.000-08:00

There have been some excellent dystopian novels published recently, with new ones and several sequels set to come out in 2011. In most dystopias or authoritarian societies, there are rules against owning certain items because of their potentially subversive qualities, such as books or cell phones. Here’s what I would have stashed in my bunker to preserve for future generations and prepare for the revolution:

Item One: Copy of Little Women
Little Women is partly about building a different world that is more just for all of society, not just women. It also has a lot of different ideas and philosophies and a really cute male protagonist in Laurie, so it’s the perfect companion for rebuilding society. Also, check out Lauren Oliver’s page for Delirium, her new YA dystopian novel, where Little Women is one of the banned books in her narrator’s world.

Item Two and Two-A: Coffee and bacon
The goal of a dystopian novel is to bring down the government and build a new society. But everyone knows that you can’t rebuild society without lots of coffee. No one would ever be able to get going in the morning. Bacon, on the other hand, isn’t essential. It’s just delicious.

Item Three: Sunscreen
Rebuilding society will involve a lot of work outdoors. You definitely need sunscreen for that.

What would be in your bunker? Choose carefully. You might need something special to bring down an entire regime (usually by the end of the third book if it’s a series).

How Cayenne Pepper is Like an Outline

2011-02-14T07:55:00.000-08:00

I owe a lot of thanks this week to cayenne pepper. I recently had the kind of cold that involved a lot of annoying late night coughing. Over-the-counter medications were useless. In despair, I googled “cough suppressant” at 2:00 A.M. I found the following recipe:

2 teaspoons water
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon lemon juice
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

I thought, cayenne pepper to suppress coughing? It seemed so weird that I almost left it out. But then I figured that it couldn’t hurt. I mixed up the ingredients and then tasted it. The cayenne pepper stung my throat. But almost magically, I stopped coughing and went to sleep.

The next morning, as I looked over the outline for my book, I realized that cayenne pepper is like an outline. You can use too much and burn your tongue, just like you can outline too much and feel tied down by what you wrote. Or you can use too little and barely taste it, just like when your outline is too sparse and you write without direction. Or you can do what I’m finally doing – use and outline just the right amount. My hope is that the outline I’m working from is giving me enough direction so that when I finish one chapter and start another, I know where I need to go without being too tied down.

I wish I had figured both of these things out sooner: I might have spent less time coughing. And less time staring at a blank page.

Why Hate on YA?

2011-02-07T11:32:00.000-08:00

Something about the young adult book market doesn’t add up. From what I understand:

YA books are selling really well, both in their targeted age group and with older readers.
Many YA authors are writing excellent, high-quality books.

So why doesn’t the YA market get more respect? I’m referring to a recent Publisher’s Weekly article covering Judy Blundell’s forthcoming YA novel Strings Attached. The article quoted Susanna Hermans, a bookstore owner and the co-chair of the New England Children’s Booksellers Association, as saying that “Strings Attached…is so well-written it could be shelved with the adult titles.” Hermans’ quote is probably not meant to put down the genre. I think that it does point out two valuable lessons for YA and authors generally.

First, I think it illustrates a value judgment common in our society. Things that kids like are often seen as less sophisticated than things adults like. The Daily Show is supposed to be deeper than Sponge Bob Square Pants. Impressionist art is alleged to be better than comic books. But like most societal rules, this one breaks down when looked at individually. I know a few adults were moved by Harry Potter.

Second, it points out the fallacy of a phrase we all use regularly while ignoring its inherent subjective definition. We all know good writing when we see it. But one person’s good writing is another person’s slop.

In my opinion, Blundell’s writing is breathtaking. I learned just by reading Blundell’s her first book, What I Saw And How I Lied. My hope is that Strings Attached gets the same kind of cross-over treatment that books like The Hunger Games is getting, with space in the YA and mainstream sections of bookstores. And my other hope is that books like this will help to raise the profile of the genre so that it gets the respect that it deserves.

Author Struck

2011-01-31T08:37:00.000-08:00

When I was in sixth grade, I wrote a letter to Jason Bateman's fan club. A few months later I received a signed black and white photo and a short letter from Jason, thanking me for being a fan. I was over the moon. I even taped the picture in my locker at school. That was the only time I've ever engaged in fan worship - until last year.

There have been a number of YA books that I've read over the past year and really loved. There were times where I've been so blown away by a book that I've even gone to the author's website and sent them an email telling them how it affected me. I always hesitate to hit send, wondering if I'm wasting their time or pointing out something that I like about their book that they are already aware of. I also email authors if I'm writing about their book in my blog.

It may be hard to email an author about their book but it's even more nerve-wracking to talk to them in person. I live in New York and regularly go to a number of events sponsored by the New York Public Library, where YA authors read and discuss their work. There's no time to re-word what you're going to say when you're standing in front of an author. I think one of my dorkiest (but most sincere) moments was when I blurted out to Carolyn Mackler, "I really, really love your word choice!" As I blushed, she replied, "That's so nice to hear! I spend a lot of time on word choice and it's very important to me."

So yes, I'm a little author struck. And I'm definitely humbled when I get to talk with a good writer who has managed to complete the trifecta: writing a book, navigating the difficult world of finding an agent and then getting published. All of the authors I've met have all been extremely nice, encouraging and gracious. It gives me hope that a financial journalist who loves to write YA fiction in her spare time (that's me) will someday get her own book published!

Have you ever emailed an author? And what happened? Let me know in the comment section below!

American Bloomsbury Gush

2011-01-24T09:05:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading Susan Cheever’s American Bloomsbury, a book on the life, love and work of Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry David Thoreau. I loved it.

This wasn’t the first time I’ve read about this group of authors and philosophers. As an American Literature major who wrote her senior thesis on Alcott, I had read several biographies and histories of the individual authors and their era over the years. While Cheever’s book re-states the well-known facts of the authors’ lives and works, she does it with a liveliness that almost made me forget that I was on well-known territory.

Reading the book is almost like gossiping with Cheever about some of my favorite writers. Who knew how much passion and intrigue lurked beneath the surface of beautiful, quiet Concord? Who knew how much despair there was? And who knew that their lives could be as mundane as yours or mine?

The book also reminded me that these authors’ lives were much more than the well-known facts. When you spend years reading Little Women or Emerson’s essays, you see the black and white photograph of Alcott or Emerson on the back of the book. That’s your image of them: static, black and white and somber (no one smiled for pictures back then). You forget that they actually lived. And you forget that they did all of this together.

It’s too bad reality TV wasn’t around then. Could you imagine Survivor: Concord? I’d watch it more religiously than Glee.

Strong Female Voices

2011-01-17T05:18:00.000-08:00

Last week, I wrote about my favorite male characters from young adult books that were published in 2010. This week, I’m writing about their female counterparts. Generally speaking, the characters I liked best had powerful, intelligent voices and were a step removed from traditional female characters, either by the actions that they took or their thinking.

Dani from Life, After by Sarah Darer Littman.

Dani is a great combination of a classic young adult heroine and a more modern one. She is older and wiser than her years as a result of her family’s need to leave its home in Argentina as a result of the country’s economic crisis. She struggles with the emotional issues related to this and to her father’s depression but helps to keep her family together through strength and persistence. One of the hardest parts of this book was reading about Dani’s own struggle with depression. Her depression felt very real and heavy and, as it lifted, more of her true spirit came out.

Bianca from The DUFF by Kody Keplinger.

Bianca’s voice is her strength. It is sassy and true. Although Bianca spends much of the book hiding from the problems that are rooted in her distorted self-image, she makes a choice that is courageous when she decides to let herself fall in love again. One of the things I loved about Bianca is that she is a part of a new generation of YA heroines. More female characters have greater control and direction in their relationships and don’t wait around for the boy to call the shots. When Bianca starts to combine this power with a greater sense of happiness with herself, she develops a new level of dignity. This is a great story for young woman who feel like they're not entitled to be happy, for any reason.

Scarlett March from Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce

Scarlett March is the older of two sisters who fight an underground world of werewolves. She’s scarred from her battles, brutal, unapologetic and seems insane at times but when you see her in the context of her life, it all makes sense. Scarlett is tough, like Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games trilogy, but as fragile inside as any sixteen-year-old girl. It’s odd in some ways to have a female narrator who thinks like a seasoned warrior but, like Bianca in the DUFF, Scarlett is part of the new generation of YA heroines. I can’t wait until the sequel comes out.

Who is your favorite heroine of 2010?

The Leading Men of 2010

2011-01-10T07:11:00.000-08:00

The Academy Awards names the best male actor of each year. I decided to follow that tradition and name my favorite male young adult characters of 2010. My picks come from just the books I've read, not all of the books that came out last year.

1. Both Will Graysons from Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan. There are times when neither Will Grayson is very likeable and times when they are both very sympathetic characters. Levithan's Will Grayson is depressed and as a reader, I wanted to stand up and cheer him on to find his way out of it and then help him to stay happy. While Green's character is frustrating because he can't act on the very things that will make him happy, Green makes him likable enough for you to want him to get the girl of his dreams and make up with his best friend, Tiny Cooper.

2. Finnick from Mockingjay, the third book in the Hunger Games trilogy written by Suzanne Collins. Finnick was a huge surprise to me. When he first appeared in Catching Fire, the second book in the series, I thought he was a handsome, ruthless playboy. But he's actually a very brave, faithful and honest soul with a tragic story. I only wish Finnick's story had a different ending.

3. Xander from Matched by Ally Condie. Cassia Reyes, the heroine, is matched to Xander, her best friend, by their totalitarian society with the expectation that they will get married someday. Xander loves Cassia and doesn't want to lose her but he is also able to respect that she may not love him in the same way. He can also respect his rival for Cassia, Ky Markham, and behave toward him in an honorable way.

Who are your leading men and why? Let me know in the comments section below and you can win a copy of If We Kiss by Rachel Vail. Remember to leave me a way to contact you!

The Sisterhood of the Sequel

2011-01-03T08:05:00.000-08:00

As regular readers of this blog know, I’m a series girl. While there are a several stand-alone books that I’m looking forward to in 2011, a lot of favorite authors are publishing or will publish sequels this year. Here are the three series books and one other that I am the most excited about!

1) Real Live Boyfriends by E. Lockhart – I really enjoyed the first three books in this series because Ruby, the main character, is complex, flawed and adorable. In the first book in the series, Ruby does something that alienates her friends and pays for it later. Lockhart is a very funny and clever writer who creates an inconsistent path for Ruby that feels remarkably real and makes you root for her.

2) Caddy’s World by Hilary McKay. Caddy’s World is the sixth and possibly last book in the Casson family series. My favorite aspect of these books are their mastery of absurdist humor. The parents are artists and they are hilariously impractical. McKay also gives the reader a great view of their world by using excellent visual descriptions, making you see what the characters see. I’m really intrigued by one character, Saffron. I hope there’s more about her in this book!

3) Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares. I had always hoped that there would be a fifth book in the Traveling Pants series, even though the pants were lost in the fourth book. The series, in many ways a character study of its protagonists Tibby, Lena, Carmen and Bee, is one of my favorites. I hope Brashares answers some of the questions I’ve been wondering about, like what will happen with Lena and Kostas and how Bee is handling adult life!

4) Cut and Run by Sarah Dessen – This book isn’t exactly part of a series but Dessen writes about a group of characters in the same small town so there are some glimpses of past heroines. All of Dessen’s books are elegantly constructed. Their plot and timing are beautiful. At first they seem like a very familiar theme: lonely girl meets boy, finds happiness forever. But once you dig into the story you realize that the angle that Dessen takes is unique and exciting.

What books are you looking forward to this year? Let me know in the comments section below and you can win a copy of The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman. Remember to leave your contact information!

New Year’s Socks

2010-12-27T09:03:00.000-08:00

My New Year’s resolution is to learn how to knit a pair of socks. Knitting has been hard to fit into my schedule between work, writing, our baby and the holidays. But we need the room it will free up. A few years ago I loaded up on yarn at Wal-Mart and haven’t used enough of it yet. And, as any good disciple of Louisa May Alcott knows, unused yarn is almost like waste and that waste is as bad as a lack of industriousness. So on January 1, I’m going to cast on 60 stitches on my needles and knit until I have a pair of socks. I’m thinking green with red racing stripes on the cuff.

There are times when I wonder if I make resolutions like this because of Little Women or if this was something that I would have done if I had never read the book. But I’ve always liked making things, starting with doll clothes and graduating to knitting, crocheting and quilting. And, according to the media, this actually makes me kind of hip because do-it-yourself gifts like hand-knitted socks and sweaters are really cool now.

Knitting these socks is probably going to be pretty hard for me. Although I can knit, it doesn’t come naturally for me. When a pattern isn’t clear, it’s not easy for me to figure out what I’m supposed to do. There will probably be some unraveling, a little swearing and at least two times when I throw a half-knitted sock across the room. Still, I have this fantasy that in a year, I’ll have an entire drawer filled with home-made socks in every single color and style. I’ll post a picture of my first pair of socks when they’re done!

Guilt Valley High

2010-12-20T09:16:00.000-08:00

It’s been probably fifteen years since I read my last Sweet Valley High book but I’m anticipating a return to the series. Sweet Valley Confidential is coming out in March and, according to its blurb on Amazon, it’s about the grown-up challenges that Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield—the series’ heroines—face. It’s a grown-up book about the Wakefield sisters! My first thought was that I needed to read it. My second thought was that this was the kind of book that would be perfect for an e-reader. No one would have to know my guilty pleasure.

Normally, I’m not shy about my love for young adult literature. I’ve proudly read the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books on the subway. But Sweet Valley High books are different. Don’t get me wrong – I loved Sweet Valley High. The concept of such different twin sisters is always appealing and there was always the excitement of walking into the bookstore and finding a new book. I also really liked that the characters had very well-developed back stories that stayed consistent throughout the series and loved the drawings on the front covers. They were detailed enough that the characters’ faces were clear in your head.

Despite this, there is a stigma against series books of this kind that I can’t help absorbing. Similar to the Nancy Drew books, the Sweet Valley High books were written by a series of ghost writers. As a writer, this makes me take them a little less seriously because my sense is that a series of ghostwriters wouldn’t logically have the same ownership in and love for the story that an actual creator would. That makes them a little more disposable (despite my box of the first seventy or so that I can’t part with) than a series of books like the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

Am I being silly? Probably. Should I just buy my copy of Sweet Valley Confidential and flaunt it for everyone to see? Definitely. Will I read it without stopping once I get my copy? Absolutely.

Giveaway #11 - Illustrated Books

2010-12-13T07:34:00.000-08:00

My friend Kieron Black was in New York over the weekend. Kieron and I are at roughly the same point in our writing processes and we agreed to critique each other's first 50 pages.

We started out talking about trends in the young adult and middle grade reader books, particularly about the number of books with illustrations that are out there like Scott Westerfield's Levithan series. Kieron, who is also an illustrator, is writing an action and adventure story about a young boy named Prawn who gets swept up in the middle of a war between sea creatures. Kieron is using his illustrations to give the reader a clearer picture of the sea creatures and their world.

This made me wonder: what's your favorite example of a young adult or middle-grade book with illustrations? Tell me in the comments are below and you'll have a chance to win an advanced reading copy of Lovesick, the third book in the Ghostgirl series by Tonya Hurley. The series is a kind of neo-gothic, Edgar Allen Poe-influenced series about a girl named Charlotte Usher and it has beautiful illustrations.

Post your response in the comments section below and I'll select a winner in one week.

It’s Beginning To Read A Lot Like Christmas

2010-12-06T08:41:00.000-08:00

Every Christmas, I re-read my favorite young adult books that have holiday themes. My three must-reads for the holiday season are End of Term by Antonia Forest, Jo of the Chalet School by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.

The first two books were published in England in 1959 and 1926, respectively, and are difficult to buy. Part of what I like about these books is that they are from a different time and tell a story of a holiday tradition that was very different than my own. In Jo of the Chalet School, there are two beautiful chapters on Jo’s Christmas in Innsbruck in 1926. It’s mostly mundane stuff, with long descriptions of shopping for presents and what clothes the characters were wearing. It’s like seeing an old friend every time I re-read it.

End of Term is more complex. The premise of the story is that a school is putting on its annual Christmas play. The language and writing are beautiful and there is a real discussion within the book about religion, the Christmas story and how it is told. One of my favorite parts comes at the end when Patrick, a friend of Nicola, the main character, watches her perform a solo in the church where the play is being staged.

“Difficult, Patrick thought, to think of that as Nicola singing—this immaculate succession of notes, lifting and drifting among the soaring pillars and arches as he had seen thistledown lift and drift on evening the watermeadows, floating away at last above the trees...He did not know why (there was nothing in the words to warrant it) but, as the verse ended, it seemed to him, the hairs crisping on his scalp, that she had been singing of the ultimate solitude of God.”

What I like about The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is much simpler. As a child, it made me sad when Tumnus, the faun, tells Lucy about the White Witch’s hold over Narnia and its eternal winter. “Why, it is that she has got all Narnia under her thumb. It’s she that makes it always winter and never Christmas; think of that!” It’s something that’s so easy for a child to relate to – and it also explains, very simply, one of the many reasons why the White Witch is so evil.

What are your favorite holiday re-reads? Let me now and you can win a copy of City of Masks by Mary Hoffman. Post your entry in the comments section below and don’t forget to give me a way to contact you. I’ll post the winner next week.

Book Giveaway #10 – Your Favorite Sports Scene

2010-11-29T09:36:00.000-08:00

Many young adult books have a storyline about a character, usually the protagonist, who plays a sport competitively, dances or does some other kind of physical activity really well. My favorite sporty character is Rebecca Mason from Anne Digby's Trebizon series. Rebecca is a good student and a gifted writer who discovers that she has an immense talent for tennis when she's about fourteen.

In The Tennis Term at Trebizon, Rebecca's goal is to earn a spot on her school's varsity tennis team. To do this, she's got to prove that she's better than Edwina Burton, an older student who is also a talented player. Their coach arranges a match between them with the idea that the winner will take the sixth and last place on the team. Rebecca wins the match. Afterward, she wanders off of the court and stretches out in front of an ancient tree on her school's campus, close to an easel where a friend is painting a picture of the campus. Rebecca dozes off and wakes to find her friend painting her into the picture. This is what she sees:

“The dark tree-the sunlight-the warm glow of school buildings beyond. Everything was there. And something had been added. A tiny figure in white reclining under the tree in an attitude of joy, ecstasy, even her racket lying in the grass beside her. Here the paint was new and glistening.”

What I love about this moment is that after Rebecca has won the match, her friend captures the spirit of the moment and its context: the triumph, the beauty of the day and the love for her school.

What's your favorite sporting moment in YA literature? Let me know in the comments section below and you can win a copy of The Splendor Falls by Rosemary Clement-Moore. Remember to leave me a way to contact you. I'll pick a winner on Monday, Dec. 6.

Cookies! Warm and Just out of Your E-Reader

2010-11-22T13:02:00.000-08:00

I was really excited by some news about e-readers that came out last week. In the near future they will give authors a chance to add "bonus items" to their e-books like recipes, patterns for everything from clothing to coasters, interactive maps of their imagined worlds and more. I was excited because baking is an important activity in my books. My main character, Sarah Conrad, is trying to lead her life according to the themes in her favorite book, Little Women. Just like the March sisters did, Sarah bakes to make friends, give gifts and think about lessons of self-reliance.

My Thanksgiving gift to you is the recipe for the first treat that Sarah bakes for her friends:

Sarah Conrad's Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

¼ cup of white sugar

¼ cup of brown sugar

1 ½ cups flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda

10 tablespoons or 1/3 sticks of butter (at room temperature)

1 egg (at room temperature)

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 cup chocolate chips

Set out butter and egg, let come to room temperature

Pre-heat oven to 350.

Measure out the flour, salt and baking soda into a bowl and mix with a fork so that the salt and baking soda are well combined with the flour.

Cream together butter and sugars until well blended, about three minutes. You can do this with a stand mixer, a hand mixer or by hand.

Add egg and mix well. Scrape the side of the bowl to make sure all of the batter gets mixed

Beat in the vanilla extract

Beat in the flour mixture until it's well mixed.

Add chocolate chips

Using a small ice cream scoop or a spoon, measure out the batter into roughly one-inch dollops on two baking sheets. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. When finished, slide off of the baking sheets with a spatula and let cool on a rack.

My Book in One Sentence?!

2010-11-15T08:41:00.000-08:00

When you tell someone that you're writing a young adult book, they typically ask what it's about. My standard, boiled-down response is, “It's a coming-of-age story about a girl who tries to live her life according to the principles in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women.”

When I tell people my one-line summary, they sometimes ask if I mean that Sarah, my narrator, wears long dresses and role plays. Not at all, although she wouldn't turn up her nose at occasionally putting on some good, old-fashioned dresses and twirling around. It's more like she's trying to do what the March sisters would have done.

Some of this has to do with how she is a good and loyal friend. But it's also being an industrious person, always bustling around and working on something or making something. Sarah knits socks and hats for her friends. She learns how to make energy bars for her cycling team once she figures out she can do it for a lot less money than it would cost to buy them. I even have this crazy idea that my book could include Sarah's Energy Bar Recipe and Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe. Or some easy patterns and instructions for knitters.

Getting the topic of my book refined into one sentence was difficult. As a writer, it's hard for me to step back from my work to try and summarize it in so few words. I want to tell people so much more, like how I'm experimenting with narrative voices. I want to talk about how my research on Alcott in college transformed a book I had loved to read into a text that was worth studying.

Na-Na-Narration

2010-11-08T09:09:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite series of books is Ruth Elwin Harris' Sisters of the Quantocks Hills. The story is about four intelligent, artistic (and orphaned) sisters and is set in England in the years before the beginning of World War II.

Each book is written from the perspective of one of the sisters. A period of time overlaps from the end of one book to the beginning of the next. Additionally, each of the sisters reflects on a walk that they took to the Quantocks Hills with the handsome sons of their guardian before the war broke out. The books have both linear and overlapping narration: each time an event is described, the reader sees it from a different perspective and learns something critical to the plot or about the characters. It's an awesome technique that left me gasping with oh-my-goodness and oh-no-she-didn't moments.

As an avid reader of series books, I've rarely found examples of overlapping narration. Many series books are linear, with each one bringing the story forward and setting it up for the next one. There are just a few that I found where the author is writing about the same situation from different character's perspective. What disappointed me about these books is that I feel like the author didn't take advantage of the chance to describe the situation from different character's perspectives. The author simply chronicled each character's reaction to it.

What the other characters are thinking is of enormous interest to me as a reader, which I think is why I like the overlapping narration technique so much. I think many authors have felt the same way, as evidenced by re-telling of literally famous stories, such as C.S. Lewis' retelling of the story of Cupid and Psyche in Till We Have Faces and Gregory Maguire's Wicked.

Here's my question: what are your favorite books that use narration like this?

Book Giveaway #8 – Dragons

2010-11-01T12:38:00.000-07:00

Do you like dragons? Tell me about it and you can win a copy of Firelight, a new book by Sophie Jordan.

Firelight is about a girl named Jacinda who is a draki, or a descendant of dragons. She breaks a tenet of her society and is banished to live with the mortals. And then the girl meets boy, star-crossed love story begins.

My own favorite dragon is Eustance Scrubb, who is temporarily transformed from a human in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis after “sleeping on a dragon's hoard with greedy, dragonish thoughts in his heart.”

In the comments box below, tell me about your favorite dragon. I'll pick a winner on Monday, November 8^th and announce it here and on twitter. Just make sure you remember to leave a way for me to contact you!

An Author in the Marching Band

2010-10-25T09:16:00.000-07:00

This weekend I went to my college’s homecoming football game. I organized the first annual reunion for alumni of the marching band. Before you judge, the marching band at my college is really, really cool. Honestly.

About one hundred alumni turned out. One, who had been the conductor of the band in the 1960s, conducted the current band as they played our Alma Mater. As I watched him rehearse with the band I knew I was witnessing an important emotional moment. It might have been the sweeping gestures he used to conduct, which are rarely used today, or what he said when explained how he thought the music should flow.

The difference at the performance was huge. I had only heard it performed as a dirge. The alumnus added variations in the tempo and the volume that followed the words of the song. He made it sound grander and like a sentimental song from the early part of the 20^th century that reflects on youth and love for your college.

As I watched, the writer in me struggled to capture the emotion behind what I was seeing. I knew that the beauty of this moment was in the love for the music that the conductor and the band were feeling. And I knew I needed to act fast, this would probably only happen twice – first at the rehearsal before the game and then the actual game itself.

On my way home I reflected on what I had just done. Authors need to be able to separate the extraordinary from the day-to-day and explain it in a way that reaches people deeply… just like that music reached me.

Hearing Voices

2010-10-18T15:45:00.000-07:00

A lot of writers start interviews with jokes that come directly from the voices of their characters. It sounds a little crazy but I hear my characters' voices in my head too. More specifically, I hear dialogue, usually entire chunks of conversations. It can be distracting when I'm at my day job and trying to concentrate. My characters can get pretty insistent.

Sometimes the voices help me out when I'm stuck. For example, this past weekend I was struggling with the opening scene of the third chapter of Quads, the first book in the Living Little Women series. In the scene, Sarah, my narrator, is going to her first bike race. It's a very important scene because Sarah is supposed to fall in love with the sport. But telling it from her perspective wasn't working. The problem was that a lot about bike racing needed to be explained, but it was implausible for someone to know all that at her first race.

Then I heard the voice of another character:

Stefano Bennati should have been out racing his bike that morning but due to an unfortunate incident involving Newton's Third Law and a jackass who didn't know how to handle his bike, he was standing on the side of the race course with his arm in a sling.

Sarah needed a person like Stefano, who is the captain of the team and who has been around bike racing for a few years, to explain what was going on. From there, the story flowed logically and I was able to switch back to Sarah's perspective a few paragraphs later, once I got all of the basics down.

Blech

2010-10-11T08:41:00.000-07:00

I was scheduled to get a flu shot today. Instead I got the flu. As my body works on immunity, I’m stoking it with chicken soup, crackers, tea and maybe a nice walk around the block this afternoon if I'm feeling better.

Last night was a tough night. I woke up at two and couldn’t fall back to sleep. I passed time by finishing Will Grayson, Will Grayson by David Levithan and John Green. I have to admit (and it wasn't the fever talking) that this book kind of blew me away. Once I started it, I read as quickly as I could just to find out what happened. Now I'm taking time to savor it, going back and seeing how it was written and try to figure out what I liked about it so much.

It wasn't just the plot, although it was a very clever one: two characters in the Chicago area are both named Will Grayson and when their paths cross unexpectedly, it has major consequences for them and for their groups of friends. I can pinpoint the moment when the book turned from being a good read into a book that I kind of loved: when Levithan's Will Grayson is setting out to meet his online boyfriend, Isaac. The tension was so high and, as a reader, I wanted so badly for it to work out for him. I was surprised at what happened next and I was definitely not disappointed.

I feel like I've been lucky as a reader lately. A lot of what I've read has turned to gold as I've been reading it and even more of it has just been a good read. What have you read lately that has blown you away?

Book Giveaway #7 - Kissyface

2010-10-07T11:55:00.000-07:00

Over the years, many young adult books have been focused on two characters and their first kisses. There are some classic scenes, like Bella and Edward's first kiss in Twilight and the brief, passionate kiss between Eugenides and Irene in The Queen of Attolia. One of my favorites is Westley and Buttercup's first kiss in The Princess Bride. William Goldman writes, "Since the invention of the kiss, there have only been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure. This one left them all behind.”

Here's your chance to tell the world about your favorite first kiss in a YA book. Say what your favorite YA first kiss is and explain why. You could win a copy of Rachel Vail's If We Kiss.

Post your response in the comments section below by Thursday, Oct. 14. I'll post the winner on Thursday, Oct. 21. Don't forget to leave a way for me to contact you!

Following A Series

2010-10-04T09:11:00.000-07:00

I recently read Sue Townsend's Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years, the latest book in her long-running series about a hapless intellectual from Leicester, England. I've been a fan of Adrian Mole since I was about twelve or thirteen, the same age that Adrian is in the first book in the series: The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, age 13¾. Chronologically, Adrian is a couple of years older than me but we've had a lot of similar life and world experiences.

As a follower of series fiction, I get the sense that my experience is a rare one. Because of gaps in publishing, main characters usually age at a slower rate than their readers. Or series often end when the narrator comes of age, or is about 18 or so. At that point, the author has the option of shifting the focus of the series to another, younger character in an effort to keep it going. Sometimes this works very well, such as in Elinor M. Brent-Dyer's Chalet School series. Sue Townsend also did that very well in Adrian Mole although she had a different problem: a few of her key characters were elderly and passed away over the course of the series.

All of this led me to do a lot of what if planning when I started to write my series. My original plan was for four books that followed my narrator through high school. But then I started thinking about what Sarah would do in college, later in life and who she would marry. I ended up deciding that even I never got past writing the first book in the series, it was relevant to know what happened to her in five, ten and fifteen years because the choices that she made at fourteen would have some kind of impact on her life.

Sue Townsend said that she was finished writing about Adrian Mole after Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction. She cited excellent reasons – a little burnt out of the character and wanting to do other projects. But she's written two books about Adrian since then and I hope that The Prostrate Years isn't the end of the road for the series.

Book Giveaway #6 - Your favorite TV show

2010-09-30T04:19:00.000-07:00

While some YA books have made great success on the small screen, television shows like Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars are few and far between.

So, here's your chance to be a TV executive and tell them what you want to see. Say what YA book or series you think would make for a good TV mini-series or series. Don't forget to say why. If you have great reasons, you might win a copy of Viola in Reel Life by Adriana Trigiani.

Post your response in the comments section below by Thursday, October 7. I'll post the winner on Sunday, October 10.

Thinking Outside the Plot

2010-09-27T08:21:00.000-07:00

I recently read this essay and it got me thinking that YA novels are too often criticized for their quality. The author is a fan of the genre and writes fondly of being fully absorbed in books for hours on end as a child and teenager. She also writes that in her view, one of the main draws of YA books that they tend to be more plot-driven than language-driven, which allows her to speed through books like Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games trilogy just to find out what happens next.

The author wrote: “Of course, one of the reasons you can read this fast is that the language doesn’t always delight your synapses or persuade you to kick off your shoes and stay awhile. When I’m reading Collins’ writing, I’m not savoring a sentence like I do when I’m reading Michael Chabon. The plainspoken pulse of The Hunger Games doesn’t beg a reread like the poetry of The God of Small Things, or set you still like a scene of Cormac McCarthy’s. But I’m not reading Mockingjay [the final book in the Hunger Games trilogy] for those reasons. I’m reading to find out whether the Capitol mutations bred deliberately to hunt Katniss are going to tear her to pieces before she manages to kill President Snow.”

I thought the popularity of YA books with adults, particularly for crossover books like the Hunger Games, shows that the complexity of the writing is satisfying to some mature palates. It's true, Collins' writing in the series is spare compared to a Michael Chabon or a Cormac McCarthy. But it's very precise and has a beautiful rhythm. In my view, the language also reflects some of the numbness that Katniss Everdeen feels. Living with the threat of imminent death or starvation in an authoritarian regime doesn't exactly inspire flowing, flowery descriptions.

Why shouldn't someone be reading Mockingjay for the writing? Why shouldn't someone savor the language of Looking for Alaska? Or the philosophy and cultural observations behind The Disreputable History of Frankie-Landau Banks? Just like Michael Chabon and Cormac McCarthy, these authors all offer something that writers and readers can learn from.

Book Giveaway #5 - Your favorite scene in To Kill a Mockingbird

2010-09-20T08:12:00.000-07:00

I read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee for the first time in sixth grade. It was amazing. I was absorbed from the first page to the last. Its themes have had a huge influence on popular culture and are still very relevant today. More than twenty years after my first reading, I still find it to be a very powerful book.

Daisy Whitney's forthcoming book, The Mockingbirds, takes it name from Harper Lee's book. The Mockingbirds is about a girl named Alex, a student at an elite boarding school who is sexually assaulted by another student. The school has a history of sweeping assaults like these under the rug. So Alex turns to a secret society called the Mockingbirds, which was formed by the students to right wrongs.

The winner of this week's giveaway will receive an advanced reading copy of The Mockingbirds, which is slated for publication in November. To enter, please post your favorite scene from To Kill a Mockingbird and explain why you like it in the comments section below by Friday, Sept. 25. I'll post the winner on Monday, Sept. 27.

Good luck and happy reading!

Little Racer Women

2010-09-13T07:32:00.000-07:00

It's never a good thing when a bike race ends and you can't find one of your riders. That was the story back in April, when I was at a race with the collegiate team that I coach with my husband. It was a rainy day and any number of things could have happened to this rider. We were relieved when she finally came across the finish line, covered in dirt and grease. There had been a crash and then she had to stop and fix a problem with her bike. As she wiped off her face with a towel, she said “This is going to end up in your book, right?”

Of course it was.

The team knows all about my book. We’ve talked about it on long training rides and during road trips to races. It’s a coming-of-age story about a girl named Sarah who tries to live her life according to what she learns from Little Women. One of the major subplots is Sarah's decision to join her school's mostly-male cycling team.

I’ve found that there is a strong connection between the philosophy of Little Women and Sarah becoming a bike racer. Most of this is because of Jo March, the spirited, resourceful and determined main character of Little Women. She pushes the boundaries of what a young woman of her time is able to do, getting a job when her father lost his fortune and then selling her hair in her family's time of need. As I see it, the spirit of Jo March is one of the things that lays the groundwork for Sarah to be able to join her high school cycling team without ever having raced a bike before.

Cycling is a hard sport for women to break into, even with the best support in the world. Most bike racers are men. This means that there are few mentors or even other women to relate to. With so few women at races, they often don't have their own race and get lumped in with men, some of whom have been racing for years. The difference between a woman starting her first race and a man in his third year of racing is breathtaking. But it’s totally hard core when a young woman can hold her own with a group of guys in a bike race.

There is a part of Sarah that grasps that bike racing is the kind of thing that Jo March might have done. There is another part that just falls in love with the sport. As Sarah begins to train, she applies the lessons that she learns from Little Women. When Sarah gets her team kit, she finds out that cycling clothes aren't cut with boobs and hips in mind. But she figures it out. She finds a sewing machine and learns enough about sewing to tailor it to fit her. I have a feeling that Jo March would have totally have done the same thing.

Loving L'Engle

2010-09-06T12:05:00.000-07:00

I recently re-read And Both Were Young by Madeleine L'Engle for the first time in around ten years. The story is about a girl named Philippa Hunter—known as Flip—who goes to boarding school in Switzerland after the unexpected death of her mother. It's a coming of age story but it's also a love story and a story about forgiveness and acceptance. These are all themes that I find very appealing.

And Both Were Young made me think about where I was in my life the first time I read it. I think I was about twelve and I remember loving it from the first page. I re-read it at least several times over the years. Re-reading it brought me back very clearly to a time in my life when I was at the same awkward, gawky stage as Flip.

I was a little nervous to re-read a book I had loved so much as a teenager. What if it didn’t resonate with me as an adult? Would I have to admit that what I loved as a child was merely kid stuff? Fortunately, I loved it just as much as an adult as I did back then. I think that L'Engle still works for adults because she writes honestly and realistically about the emotional development of young women. She describes that awkward time when a young, smart girl feels stuck on the cusp of woman so eloquently that it almost makes me cringe to read it.

I actually met her once at a book signing at Bank Street College Book Store. She signed a copy of A Swiftly Tilting Planet for me and I was able to tell her how much her books meant to me when I was growing up. As I left, I realized that at least half of the line was made up of young women like me who probably told her the same thing. I’ll bet she never got tired of that.

The Path of the Hero...at Boarding School

2010-08-30T08:48:00.000-07:00

The boarding school book is an established genre in England. Despite the success of stand-alone U.S. novels like Curtis Sittenfeld's Prep and John Green's Looking for Alaska, there isn't really a strong tradition of books that follow a girl from her first day at boarding school until she graduates. From my perspective—and I'm not just saying this because I'm writing a series of books about a girl who goes to boarding school--that's a loss for readers and writers.

The way I see it, following a girl through her career at boarding school is an excellent opportunity for you to follow a character you like as she grows up. For the authors, it's a chance to do long-term plot and character development and planning. There is also the opportunity to create fun, short-term characters to move the plot forward and then fade into the background. Authors also often put in minor characters who don't play a big part in the series but get mentioned in a way that emphasizes the tight-knit community of a boarding school.

The plot of most boarding school books follow the progression of the path of the hero pretty closely. This is particularly apparent in the first book in a series, which is often about a new girl who is going to boarding school for the first time. The girl always has some challenges and struggles for a while. She usually descends into some kind of darkness--usually humiliation--and then emerges having conquered whatever her problem was in the first chapter.

Over the years, I've observed that there are a a number of common themes in boarding school books, regardless of when or where they are written. Often, the hero is falsely accused--and then exonerated--or the hero is misunderstood or ignored and then embraced when her peers realize their mistake. Add this to the normal emotional turmoil of being in high school and as an author, you've got a lot of material to work with.

Summer Book Giveaway - Where do you read?

2010-08-23T05:25:00.000-07:00

I can read almost anywhere. On the couch, at the park, or on the subway. My bed is also a great place to read but being the parent of a nine-month-old, coaching a cycling team and working full time means that I usually fall asleep about five minutes after I lie down. So right now my favorite place to read is curled up on the armchair in my living room.

This week's giveaway is all about your favorite place to read. Where do you read and why do you like it? The winner will get a copy of Tonya Hurley's Ghostgirl.

Ghostgirl is about a girl named Charlotte Usher (note the Edgar Allen Poe reference) who chokes to death on a gummy bear one morning at school. The book is about how Charlotte adjusts to the afterlife and stays involved with what's going on in the land of the living. The book has a lot of nice touches that make it fun to read. The artwork makes it feel like a graphic novel and there are nifty chapter titles, sidebars and relevant quotes.

To enter, please post your favorite place to read in the comments section below by Friday, August 27. I'll post the winner on Monday, August 30.

Interlude

2010-08-16T05:50:00.000-07:00

By day I’m a financial journalist. I cover the commercial real estate market so I have read about the Barnes & Noble drama, not reported on it. Most of what I have read has been questionable, if not unlikely. This has resulted in a lot more stress to the publishing world than is necessary. So, with this week’s blog, I’m changing gears a bit. Hopefully this will help you understand better what’s going on.

For the past two years, things at B&N have been tough and the company’s stock price has gotten pretty low. The Riggio family owns about a third of the company’s stock. A billionaire named Ron Burkle owns 19%. Recently the Riggios and the board of the company announced that they were considering selling it or taking it private. Burkle tried to buy more of the stock but was blocked. He sued and the Riggios set up a poison pill. A poison pill is business speak for making it really, really financially unappealing for any investor to take over the company.

There are a few things that don't add up to me about this. The first is that Burkle is suggesting that Barnes & Noble is mismanaged. It seems fair to say they expanded too aggressively and could close some of their stores. But they've got 720. How did Barnes & Noble get so dominant without good leadership? I also find it a little silly that the mainstream media keeps comparing Barnes & Noble to Amazon. Sure Amazon sells more books than Barnes & Noble. But they sell other things, too, like garden hoses and flip-flops. I've never seen anything like that at Barnes & Noble. This makes the companies incomparable.

Some in the media have decided that this is death knell for all bookstores. I’m pretty sure it’s not. I think that bookstores are in a similar situation to the company that I work for. Our business used to be print only. Journalists tended to specialize in print, radio or television. Today journalists have to excel at all three. This evolution is hard and daunting. But we’ll adapt. So will Barnes & Noble. And in the meantime, we can all follow a story that seems like the bad part of a modern-day fairy tale...poison pills, hostile takeovers and messy lawsuits.

Summer Book Giveaway #3

2010-08-08T17:49:00.000-07:00

If you're anything like me, you spent years of your life hiding the cover of the book that you were reading. Let's face it – for a long time, young adult books were seen as something for, well, young adults. But thanks to authors like J.K. Rowling, Stephenie Meyer and Ann Brashares, YA-loving women from all over the world are openly reading the excellent books that are available in the genre.

The contest for this month's book giveaway ties into this. I want to know if anyone has ever poked fun at your YA book reading. What did they say and, more importantly, what did you reply? The winner will get a copy of Alive and Well in Prague, New York by Daphne Grab.

I really enjoyed this book, not only because the narrator, Matisse Osgood, goes to a Quaker school like my narrator, Sarah Conrad. Matisse grows up in Manhattan and is upset, to say the least, when her family moves to Prague, N.Y., because of her father's illness. There's a lot of humor in it, some great characters and some excellent outfits worn by Matisse and her friends. At the end of the day, it's a sweet, smart book about how a young girl learns to cope with dramatic changes in her life and comes out a better person and I'm looking forward to sharing it with one of my readers!

Please post your response in the comments section below by Friday, August 13. I'll post the winner on Monday, August 15.

Timelessness

2010-07-19T06:33:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, when I read books, I don't understand why authors make specific pop culture references. Sometimes they got into great detail about the make and model of a phone or car. Doesn't that immediately date their books?

I'm not a big fan of saying exact times and products in my books. It’s obvious that my story takes place in New York and New Hampshire after September 11, 2001. There is the internet and websites like Facebook and Twitter, which I never explicitly name, and my characters all have smart phones. Beyond that, I don't want to tie my book down too specifically.

I think there are a couple of reasons why authors do this. They know that shows like American Idol and technology like the iPhone are all the rage and they write them into their books to make them feel more relevant to the moment. I would argue that this tendency to write about what are essentially very transient things is dangerous because it will lead to their book being outdated very quickly. Won't there be a time, fairly soon after their books are published, that librarians will start skimming through them and say something like, “This book is too dated.”

Maybe this is part of our culture. Some books have become disposable, like a newspaper or a magazine. Maybe it's the authors trying to use specific details to tell us about their characters. Maybe it’s for the money. Most books don’t make any. But a product placement might pay some bills.

With most books, their place in time is clear—the past, the present or the future. But there are different ways of doing that. When you read Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder doesn't talk about the brand of candy that Pa brings home. We just find out that Pa brought candy. And it was delicious.

My Writing Anniversary

2010-07-19T05:34:00.000-07:00

It's been three years since I started writing again. What do I have to show for it? Two completed first drafts of manuscripts and a mess of re-writing to do. And then after that, hundreds of letters to agents and no guarantee that one will even send me a rejection letter. If I ever sell my book, I think my pay will be about 1 cent per hour. But if I was doing this for the money, I clearly wouldn't be writing.

Despite the daily frustrations and the highs and lows, I'm extremely happy that I'm writing again. I wish I had never stopped. The process of getting back into it was very frustrating. I remember plotting out my book with great excitement, drawing maps of my narrator's boarding school and making a character list. My characters were very clear in my head. I just couldn't translate what I heard in my head to the page.

About a year into the process, I announced to my writing group that I was able to write like I had when I was sixteen. Two years in, I felt like I had when I was a senior in college. Back then I had unlimited time to write. Now, I squeeze my time in after work and on the weekends.

I feel like I’m getting close. I know what I need to do to turn around Quads, the first book in the series, so that it jibes with Living Little Women, the second book. I've got the third book plotted out. I feel like I've got a handle on the process of getting an agent, although I'm well aware this won't get me an agent. And I have business cards with my name and my blog on them. It made me feel super professional. The other thing I have—and this may be the most important one—is hope.

Magic Phones and Why I Don't Write Fantasy

2010-07-19T05:29:00.000-07:00

I was recently reading a copy of Sarah Mylnowski's new book, Gimme A Call. It's got a neat premise: a girl who just graduated from high school is able to call her fourteen-year-old self and try and save her from some of the mistakes that she made. The biggest one is getting involved with the guy who ends up breaking her heart.

While some of my favorite books are fantasy books, it's not a genre that I ever see myself writing in. As a reader, I can believe that there's a Platform 9¾ and that it's possible to walk through a wardrobe into a different world but I can't apply that belief to my own writing.

I think that my job is a big reason for this. I’m a financial journalist. The parts of the financial industry that I write about are partially about the present and partially about what people think that the future will be. If I do my job well, I can separate the facts from the marketing spin and get to the best view from my sources.

Interlocking Events

2010-07-12T06:40:00.001-07:00

Drucie McDaniel, my high-school drama teacher, gave us an excellent lesson on interlocking events on the first day of class back in tenth grade. It was Drucie's first day teaching at my school and, when she walked into class, she informed us that she had been mugged on the way in. Her purse was snatched off of her arm as she walked to the train.

Was she freaked out? Yes. But Drucie had poise and was also an excellent teacher. She decided to use her experience to teach us about the importance of interlocking events for a writer. That morning, a whole series of small things had led to her purse being stolen: she had gotten to the station a little earlier than intended (right at the moment the mugger had been choosing a target) and the straps on her purse were loose (making her purse easier to take). She instructed us to write a short treatment in which a series of small events leads to one major one.

The treatment that I wrote that day was about two brothers who didn't like each other and who, through a variety of events, got stuck in an elevator together. I don't remember a lot of the details but I know that it evolved into a one-act play that was my project for the year. Over the next few years, the characters that I created in that class became the focus of a short story that I wrote for my senior thesis and now are both in my Living Little Women books. One of them, Alex, is my narrator's crush.

I wonder. Would I have written about Alex if I hadn't taken Drucie's play writing class? And would Alex be the character he is today if I hadn't written about him when I was in college? Where will this series of interlocking events end?

Summer Book Giveaway #2 - Your Favorite Movie

2010-07-06T07:49:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of summer movies out there this year. So, this week I'm going to give away a copy of Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters to one lucky person who can tell me which movie (that was adapted from a book) is his or her favorite. Getting into the contest is easy.. just follow the steps below. As you probably guessed from the title of my series, my favorite is the 1994 version of Little Women.

I like it because the movie kept with the spirit of the book and only deviated from the plot when necessary. Several of the characters were exactly like I imagined them, particularly Christian Bale in his role as Laurie, Mary Wickes as Aunt March and Kirsten Dunst as young Amy. I was less sure of Winona Ryder (I liked her interpretation but I feel like she's too pretty and cute to really be a perfect Jo) and Susan Sarandon as Marmee (too preachy and almost too sensual for the role).

I feel like the trend toward classic literature-paranormal mash ups is just another way of adapting a well-known book. Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters is clever, preserving some of Jane Austen's writing and adding the sea monster twist and lore to it. It's a fun read. There are also about twenty pages of drawings that do help to illustrate more far-out episodes of the plot.

Here's what you have to do to get in on the competition:

1. Follow me on Twitter @livinglittlewomen

2. Join my facebook group

3. Post your favorite movie adaptation in the comments section of my blog below.

I'll announce the winner on Friday.

The Opposite of Blame

2010-06-28T15:03:00.001-07:00

Long ago, before liability lawyers made it impossible to admit you made a mistake and news outlets learned that laying blame on people was good for ratings, there was a thing called “forgiveness.” Evidence of this is all over television. Heroes get revenge. Forgiveness is seen as weak. This may be because forgiveness is easy to understand but can be hard to exercise, particularly if the person who did the wronging was acting intentionally.

I set up a situation like this in my upcoming book Quads, when my narrator Sarah Conrad finds her roommate Marnie reading her diary and preparing to post parts of it on the internet. Sarah is furious, horrified and humiliated. But Marnie, having read Sarah’s true feelings about her, also feels wronged. They argue, then Marnie storms off into the night – very close to the dorm curfew.

Sarah struggles with two feelings. On one hand, she wouldn’t mind if Marnie, who is already in trouble at school, missed the curfew. But she also worries that Marnie might be expelled is she breaks curfew. Sarah asks a few friends what they think. They agree that Sarah should let Marnie hang herself. After an emotional struggle, Sarah decides to go against her friend’s recommendation and go out looking for Marnie.

Along the way Sarah realizes that she's going to have to learn to forgive Marnie and start over. At first, Sarah has no idea where to start. Marnie is snobby, impetuous, self-oriented, whiny and dishonest. But Sarah realizes that she has overlooked Marnie’s playfulness, talent with odd things like knitting and that Marnie genuinely wants to make friends. Sarah begins to change her mindset on Marnie and learns about a skill of her own. Sarah leans that she has a capacity for forgiveness.

Clean Teen

2010-06-18T13:37:00.000-07:00

When I started to write my books, I wanted to stay away from steamy love scenes and characters with substance abuse problems for a few practical reasons. First, writing steamy love scenes embarrasses me. I don’t want to write about graphic details like genitals and condoms. Second, I'm tired of characters with substance abuse problems who drive the plots of books.

That's not to say that I'm writing a squeaky clean teen book with no sex or drugs. There is definitely kissing and there may be some sex in a later book. And, some characters will drink alcohol. They might even get drunk.

To exclude this from my books would be unrealistic. Girls today are more aware of sex at a younger age. Clearly, most teens don't live the extremes of the characters in Gossip Girl or the narrator of Pure. I’m writing about more moderate situations in which the characters have relationships, good or bad, and learn from them.

So there will be situations where Sarah (my main character) kisses boys. She may even have some beer. But this is not what my books are about. I am writing about what leads to the kiss or the drink and why it’s important to Sarah.

The Stigma of Popular Fiction

2010-06-14T06:50:00.000-07:00

In my senior year of college, I took a class called "Popular Fiction." My professor, George Stade, was an old-school Modernist who wore a tweed jacket and occasionally smoked a cigarette in class. His reading list included books like Dracula, The Godfather, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, The Necromancer and The Maltese Falcon.

I loved the class. After spending nearly four years reading most of the classic literature that an English major should read, I was ready for characters like Michael Corleone. I also learned that a number of commercially successful books have literary value.

I'm writing a series of books titled Living Little Women so it's obvious that my books fall on the literary side. But my main character, Sarah Conrad, is very much a girl in the modern world has to deal with the same kinds of things that her counterparts in commercially driven novels do. Sarah is invited to a party that serves alcohol and has to decide whether or not to go. She also deals with a tense and confusing romantic interest.

My sense is that much of the best of the YA books that are being published today are more literary than commercial. And, some of them have sold very well including Libba Bray's Gemma Doyle series and her follow up, Going Bovine.

Summer Book Giveaway #1

2010-06-07T12:19:00.000-07:00

You love books, right? That means you really love free books. What's even better than free books? A book you won in a writing contest. This week I'm going to give away a copy of Simone Elkeles' new book, Perfect Chemistry, to the person who writes the best review of a book they've read recently. To get into the contest, follow me on Twitter (@LivingLilWomen) or join my group on Facebook. Then, post your review below. On Friday I'll announce the winner.

I scored copy of Perfect Chemistry when I went to see the Elkeles, a New York Times best-selling author, speak at the New York Teen Author Carnival. It's told partially from the view of Brittany, who is from a rich neighborhood, and partially from the point of view of Alex, who is from a poor one. Their teacher assigns them to be each others' lab partners. Tension and romance ensue.

Obviously, most of the book is focused on the relationship between Brittany and Alex. But I thought Brittany's relationship with some of the secondary characters, like her sister Shelley and Isabel, a girl on her pom-pom squad, told me more about what Brittany was really like early on in the book. She is kind and caring in her interactions with her sister and Isabel and this is a pleasant contrast to her self-oriented focus on upholding the idea that she's the perfect girl from the perfect family. One last thing: if you're the kind of girl who falls in love with boys in books, Alex is a good one to get to know. On the panel I went to, Elkeles said that Alex was probably hers.

Good luck!

The BEA Beat

2010-05-31T04:45:00.000-07:00

This past week I went to the BEA (Book Expo America) conference in New York City. One of my goals for going was to get a better idea of what's hot in the YA market. I was also hoping to come home with a bag full of advance copies of the newest books. One of the first people I met was a bookseller who seemed almost pleased to be kissing the old trends goodbye.

"Vampires may be on their way out, but I don't think they'll ever die," she lamented. I joked back, "Maybe hat's because they're undead." She laughed with the delight of someone who has been at too many conferences and had too many versions of the same conversation.

While vampires were extremely present at the event, I got a real flavor for what's coming next:

The paranormal. This includes zombies, sea monsters, ghosts. I scored a copy of the lovesick, the latest book in the Ghostgirl series by Tonya Hurley. Unfortunately, I missed out on one of the advance copies of Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.
Dystopia. I think YA fans like dystopian writing because middle school and high school sometimes feel like a totalitarian state. I've already started reading an advance copy of one of the books I picked up, Matched by Ally Condie.
Good, realistic fiction. The Little, Brown booth was giving away two of what they are hoping will be their top titles this year: The DUFF by Kody Keplinger and The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney.

These trends were interesting, but one of the panelists (an editor) brought us back to Earth saying, “An honest voice is always more important than the genre.” For this aspiring author (or a wannabee, as I have started to call myself) that was good news. I like a good vampire novel or a story about a crazy dystopia but I'm writing Living Little Women because Alcott's (and others') books shaped my childhood and helped me form my voice.

I learned a lot at the conference. I also picked up a lot of free books. Over the next few weeks I'm going to be giving them away here through a summer reading contests. Keep checking my blog or my space on YouTube for details on how to enter.

Open Spaces and Green Mountains

2010-05-24T08:14:00.001-07:00

I recently took a trip to New Hampshire with the collegiate cycling team that my husband and I coach. Dartmouth College was the host of our conference championship in and around Hanover, NH. This trip also gave me a chance to do some research on the setting for my series of books. I've lived in New York City long enough to need a reminder of life in a more rural setting is like.

The first thing that struck me was how dark the nights are and how many stars you can see. It's amazing how much the street lamps or light from office buildings overpower. Equally impressive is the sound. It's amazingly quiet at night in New Hampshire. Then there's transportation. In New York we walk or take public transportation everywhere. In New Hampshire, almost everything is a drive away.

After that there is a raft of smaller, sometimes more confusing, things. Signs on many of the rural roads warn of "frost heaves." Thanks to web enabled phones, our band of urbanites discovered what they are and why we have to watch out for them. There are also a lot of "Moose Crossing" signs. We were not sure why you need a sign to yield to an animal that weighs around 1,500 pounds.

As I wrote this blog, I sat across from a house that reminded me of Sarah's dorm. I studied it and visualized her inside of it. The house is white with green shutters. There are tree branches touching almost every window and a stone wall that goes around the yard. It's mostly square, with windows and columns on the porch. It's three stories and probably seems like a midget compared to Sarah's apartment building. I felt like if I were to go inside, the floor boards would creak underneath my feet and the air would smell different, fresh and maybe tinged with pine.

My college writing professor said that there is inspiration everywhere. I found a lot of it that day.

Third Before First

2010-05-17T07:39:00.001-07:00

The third person narrative is hard to find these days. If you choose a book at random in the YA section of a bookstore, chances are that it will be written in the first person.

I've spent a lot of time wondering why first person is so prevalent. I think it has something to do with our culture's laser focus on the individual. In 2006 Time Magazine's person of the year was you. People haveTwitter, Pandora, websites and personalized accessories that seem to bend the focus of the world onto them. If art reflects reality, the first person narrative is just a reflection of the new god of our culture.

The first person narrative isn't new, of course. But it is a little tricky. Unless the narrator has a very distinctive voice, books written in the first person sound very similar. Some notable exceptions are Julia Lefkowitz, the heroine of Polly Shulman's Enthusiasm and D.J. Schwenk, the narrator of Catherine Gilbert Murdock Dairy Queen trilogy.

Most of my books Quads and Living Little Women are written in the third person. But I wrote in devices that allow Sarah Conrad (my main character) to speak in the first person. This serves two purposes: it lets the actual character's voice be heard and it also gives me some freedom to the writer to experiment. Writing can be formulaic and I like the flexibility of telling stories in different ways.

Choosing My Words Carefully

2010-05-10T07:57:00.001-07:00

I recently attended a young adult book reading in New York and got a chance to meet Carolyn Mackler, one of my favorite writers. I went up to her after the reading and blurted out, “Hi, I'm Sam and I love your word choice!” then felt like a fool for my immature exuberance. She was very gracious and seemed to appreciate that I noticed how careful she is with every word.

I first became aware of how important word choice is when I was working on my senior thesis at Barnard College. My thesis adviser was Mary Gordon and I was working on an unpublished, semi-autobiographical novel. I had used the word “vehicle” in what I thought was a joking way about my narrator's car. Professor Gordon stopped over the word and very gently crossed it out. She wrote in “car” above. “There are some words you never, ever use in spoken English or written English,” she explained. “This is one of them.”

I immediately grasped what she was talking about. Professor Gordon had opened a whole new world of language for me. I started to study word choice in everything: emails, conversations, books and magazines. Her advice, coupled with the advice of my editor in my journalism career, has convinced me that every word and where it is placed is important. Even little ones like “and” and “the.”

Going Uphill

2010-05-03T07:46:00.001-07:00

When I tell people that I like riding my bike in New York City, most of them give me a look that's more pity than admiration. When I tell them that my main complaint with riding in the area is that there aren't many good hills around, they are usually smile politely and scan the exits. On a recent trip to New Hampshire I got to climb some hills and do some research for my book, which is set there. During my search for facts and great climbs, the connection between writing and riding uphill became clear: the more you do them, the better you get at them.

When I started writing my books about Sarah Conrad two and a half years ago, it had been ten years since I had done any creative writing. I sat with my laptop and struggled to write the way that I did when I was twenty-one and fresh from thecreative writing program at my college. I knew that my emotional experiences were richer and my life experiences were much more diverse but I had lost the knack for writing creatively. It was pretty depressing. It felt about the same when I hit my first incline in New Hampshire. The rise didn't look too bad, but my lungs immediately started sending a distress signal. My thighs hit the panic button next.

After roughly one year of slogging through drafts and redrafts, my writing moved from "yuck" to "pretty good." Even then I found that I could only produce decent work with a lot of concentration, quiet and lots of re-writing. I particularly found it difficult to write in the third person, which was how I chose to narrate my first book, Quads, and parts of my second, Living Little Women. Gradually my writing improved. I'm not sure why, but it took a quantum leap forward during my maternity leave. My cycling improved during that time for a more obvious reason - I wasn't pregnant anymore.

One of the riders on the cycling team that my husband coaches asked him how to climb hills faster. My husband said, "I could tell you a whole bunch of physiological stuff, or you could just ride them a lot more." I think that my writing has been like that too. Some people are defined by their talent. If I'm successful in this, it will be because of a lot of hard work.