jame richards

What I Did While I Waited

2011-10-13T08:18:00.007-04:00

One of my debut buddies recently noticed my photo on the Milk Carton of Bloggers. I've "gone off my blog" as my mom calls it. That makes me laugh---it sounds like "she's gone off the beam" or "she's gone off her nut." I think it should be an expression we all use, so get started on that, would you? Start using it today.

Reminds me of my oldest friend D declaring that everyone should start using his expression "Put that on the menu!" Everything comes from somewhere and somebody had to say "Awesomesauce" and "Craptastic" for the first time. Why shouldn't you be able to announce an addition to the lexicon? It reminds me, though, of back in high school when D scheduled a Renaissance. Still makes me laugh. I just don't know if it's possible to make people participate.

I recently thought of a variation that could be really useful. It would be used when you're taking what you want from life or a situation and leaving the unwanted parts behind. "I'm ordering off the menu." My friend will be really ticked if this takes off. But we'll also laugh for years. Please leave a note in the comments when you use this line and tell me the circumstances.

Anyway, so, yeah...blogging. It's been a while. You might think I've been knitting (no), planting a butterfly garden (yes) or taking up hot yoga (yes). But the big question is what about writing? And yes, I'm working on a new project. Something different. Very different for me. Different can be exciting. And I'm eager to see what happens with it. This is where the waiting part comes in...

When I was waiting to hear back about 3RR, I helped the time pass by listing what I did each day of the wait. What does waiting look like? What does waiting feel like? If you're a writer, you know waiting is a big unavoidable piece of what we do. Waiting for news. Waiting for contracts. Waiting for checks. When I looked back at those pages much later, they struck me as found art in a way. There's a simple beauty to the ordinary tasks we do each day. And when you read them in context of the knowing the ending, knowing that a published book comes out of them ultimately, a book I'm proud of...it gives it all a feeling of mounting anticipation.

And if you're not a writer or in publishing, perhaps it would be interesting to get a sense of the time passing, like feeling the road beneath your wheels when you drive across the U.S. Waiting takes the shape of it's container, you see. If we could pick our container, I would choose I Dream of Jeannie's bottle. How I'd love to do my waiting on that plush round couch filled with velvety pink pillows and tassels. Unfortunately, it's the waiting that chooses the size and shape of the container.

So, you've probably guessed I'll be having reason to wait soon, to wait for news. And I'd like to chronicle it here this time. Leave a comment and tell me what you did while you waited...for news of your book, for a loved one in surgery, whatever. What did your waiting look like?

And remember to pick and choose and "order off the menu."

Thoughts on Birthdays

2011-04-07T13:57:00.002-04:00

It was about this time of year Three Rivers Rising sold to Knopf.

It was about this time of year Three Rivers Rising launched.

It was about this time of year another project launched. A scowling baby was born. My own Little My, the mystical magical subversive who fits in a thimble. She pontificates. She delegates. She points out all your shortcomings from the top of an armoir.

Or, in the case of my own Little My, she says hilarious "isms."

More Meditations on Tove

2011-03-08T14:10:00.010-05:00

Tove Jansson wrote The Summer Book shortly after the death of her beloved mother, and it is, not surprisingly, a book haunted by a recently deceased mother. The loss is only mentioned directly once, but then every story is thematically about the child, Sophia, and her grandmother coping, grieving, raging, moving on or not moving on. For that reason, I sense Jansson is both characters---the small girl and the old woman at the same time, trying to comfort each other, thus trying to comfort herself.

Sophia confronts all the childhood terrors such as a robe in the attic that appears to move on its own, while Grandmother struggles with fears of her own mortality, firmly believing she did something to leave her mark on the world but can't quite remember what it is. They go snooping on a new neighbor's island and even break into his new home (Grandmothers Behaving Badly!), until they hear the motor of his boat and run to hide under the boughs of a tree. Of course, being a gentleman, the neighbor runs after them and extends an invitation for cognac. Imagine crawling out from under a tree, dusting yourself off and taking his arm for a leisurely stroll back to the house, as if nothing had happened!

Throughout their day-to-day adventures, they share their excessive---though not unwarranted---worry about the man in their lives. Father. Something of a ghost himself, Father is almost always accounted for as "at his desk, working," burying himself in his work perhaps to deal with the loss of his wife. When he does venture out, taking the boat just as the weather turns, Sophia is beside herself with worry---the fear of losing another parent is there, but never expressly stated. In another story, Father gets the gardening bug and attempts to cultivate the island, only to be met with a drought. What lengths he goes to trying to keep something alive: it gives a sense perhaps of the mother's lingering illness (alluded to in other passages), the finality of the drought not unlike the inevitablility of death.

I love the relationship between Sophia and Grandmother, how they question each other, how they bristle and fight and return and remain bound to each other. I love how they create things with their hands and their imaginations, how they explore the island and discover treasures together.

The indelible image I expect to take away from this book, besides the island, is the miniature house they build together, then make up stories for the occupants. Sophia begs for Grandmother to tell of the Mother calling to her children, and listens as if she can truly hear the voice. When the little house is destroyed by waves and Grandmother secretly builds a new one, I held my breath to see if the fake would pass muster. Sophia leans in and listens....then announces, they're still there. I can hear them. The family is safe.

A Little Island of Summer

2011-03-02T13:40:00.014-05:00

Something about too much snow made me wild to read The Summer Book by Tove Jansson.

Yes, I have been thinking about parts of the world where the sun doesn't shine for periods of time---often rocky, windswept and burnished by the sea, places where you lash your house to the rocks so it doesn't blow away, the image that will stay with me forever from The Shipping News---but all that was far from my thoughts back in November when I was at NCTE in sunny Orlando and I happened to grab some adorable swag of these funny creatures called Moomins. It tickled at the far reaches of my memory, but maybe only as a recollection someone else had shared, not my own memory at all. My daughter was smitten with Moomintroll and Snorkmaiden and Little My, as I knew she would be, and we've been learning quite a bit about their creator Tove Jansson ever since.

How romantic her life seems: She was an artist with a studio in a tower for winter, and an island dwelling for summer.

I've always loved islands---the quality of sunlight reflecting off all that sparkling salt water makes me wish I were a painter. Like Tove. You can see her cottage on Klovharu off the coast of Finland on the website linked above, or in this video below which my husband found.

I wonder if the person filming just jumped out of his boat and let himself in the way the characters mention in The Summer Book. Near the end, the grandmother prepares to close up and leave the island for the season, maybe forever, by leaving notes for passersby who will inevitably stop in to escape a storm.

In her later years, after the Moomins had their heyday, Jansson turned her artistic vision to writing fiction for adults. The more I dreamed of her little island cabin, the more I became anxious to read The Summer Book about an island very much like this one. And, photos and videos aside, that's how I really get to see it through her eyes. Every leaf, every rock, the boats, the storms...you can feel the danger at times, and the stillness at others. I had to read it slowly, in little bites, to savor the images and to mull over the emotions. It was like meditation in a way, being present with the author for a few moments at a time, seeing her island through her eyes...what a rare invitation that is.

Wintry Mix

2011-01-25T14:19:00.006-05:00

There must be places not covered in snow, right? How lucky are the folks who live in those places.

Then again, I think of northerly places on our planet where the sun doesn't shine at all for extended periods of time.

How lucky I feel in comparison to those folks.

I'm not sorry to be a writer who works from home when the weather is like this, and the kids are on their 6th snow day...but, c'mon, the kids are on their 6th snow day!

Nanuet, NY Barnes & Noble Event and Writing Contest

2010-12-21T14:56:00.003-05:00

What a great event! Teens submitted writing in advance, we picked the winners and gave a 15-minute critique before our panel, Q&A and signing. Such great entries and how satisfying to meet the young writers! Their enthusiasm is contagious.
Thanks to Shari Berger Maurer (Change of Heart, on right) for putting it all together!!! Great to meet Jen Nadol (The Mark, in white) and Margie Gelbwasser (Inconvenient, in red), and to see Shannon Delany (13 to Life, and Secrets and Shadows, in black) again.

A Panel Among the Holiday Shoppers

2010-12-07T15:39:00.004-05:00

We spoke, we read, we answered questions, hopefully making a few holiday shoppers curious about what was going on and how they could ever survive without a place where stuff like that happens. A place where you can browse and hear piped-in music and smell coffee brewing and maybe run into a friend who is a little less holiday stressed and a little more eggnogged up than you are. Ahhh...

Thanks for having us Barnes & Noble of Westport!
Go Bricks and Mortar!
Photo courtesy of Roaring Brook's, Nan Mercado.

NCTE 2010 Pix

2010-12-02T09:15:00.023-05:00

Orlando: A few hours on a plane and you're in a sunny warm place where trees have leaves and grass is green. I loved the silvery foliage of this tree in front of my building (hotel complex Coronado). And I took this palm tree photo from the balcony.

Now if you are someplace where the landscape is gray and brown, like the Northeast for example, you're probably thinking these photos are fake. The sky is too blue. The pool is too blue. But I took these with my tourist-y camera, no joke.

Now imagine that I have to tear myself away from all this beauty and sunshine to go into a convention center. I know! But it was a thrill to see a big group of English teachers eagerly waiting to talk about poetry. Sylvia Vardell started us off and we were all treated to readings by Lee Bennett Hopkins, Marilyn Singer and Pat Mora. They were all so gracious and made me feel welcome in the Poetry Club.

You probably can't see that this pyramid has water flowing down the steps, but it was a very soothing sound. A great spot to mellow out after my presentation.

Now, through the magic of technology, skip to the next night. The balmy Florida air. The music piped in around the gardens. Lots of walking across "campus."

Before the Random House dinner, I hung out with a few writers at the waterfront lounge, including 2k10 Classmate Janet Fox, author of Faithful and the forthcoming Forgiven (Spring 2011).

Then it was on to a nice meal with Random House folks and NCTE English teachers.

It was such a thrill to meet one of my heroes Kirby Larson, author of Hattie Big Sky, a work I consider to be one of the most perfect books ever written. Even better that it's historical fiction. Next to her, Lois Lowry, who I've had the good fortune to meet previously since she was one of the judges for the award 3RR received prior to publication. If you haven't listened to The Willoughbys on audio, do yourself a favor and find it. Artie Johnson was born to read this book. Genius meets genius.

Then here is Pat Mora in pink who participated in the poetry panel the day before. She read from Dizzy in Your Eyes: Poems About Love, which includes all relationships, not just romantic. I love how she thinks about expanding the audience for poetry, and about how educators should apply themselves to the craft of writing.
Here's Pat with panel organizer Sylvia Vardell of Texas Women's University and the blog Poetry for Children. And last, but not least, I grabbed a photo-op with the current crowned Newbery winner Rebecca Stead, author of When You Reach Me.

Well, one more last stop, I finally got a turn in one of those hammocks, and looked out at the lights and the water and said goodbye to Florida. Until we meet again, Orlando...

POETS AND BLOGGERS UNITE: NCTE PANEL

2010-11-09T08:04:00.003-05:00

You can probably guess I have a soft spot in my heart for English teachers. What could be better than heading down to Orlando for the NCTE Annual Convention to talk about writing and books with a whole city full of dedicated educators? Well, I'll tell you. I've been invited to participate in a panel called POETS AND BLOGGERS UNITE: USING TECHNOLOGY TO CONNECT KIDS, TEACHERS, AND POETRY, organized by Sylvia Vardell.

This is a before-during-and-after project, so even if you aren't an English teacher or you are but you're not going to NCTE, you can play along at home. Panel participants/poets will be featured by bloggers (see list below) the week before: reader comments and questions would be most welcome! Then follow-up posts will keep the discussion going the week after the convention. So, please take a look and get in the mix.

Tricia Stohr Hunt; The Miss Rumphius Effect
Featuring Marilyn Singer

This Week’s NCTE Poetry Posts at The Miss Rumphius Effect
Meet Marilyn Singer
More on Marilyn Singer
Marilyn Singer and Mirror, Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse
Marilyn Singer and First Food Fight This Fall

Elaine Magliaro; Wild Rose Reader
Featuring Lee Bennett Hopkins

This Week’s NCTE Poetry Posts at Wild Rose Reader
Lee Bennett Hopkins: WHY POETRY?
PASS THE POETRY, PLEASE!: A Wild Rose Reader Interview with Lee Bennett Hopkins
A Question for Lee Bennett Hopkins
Lee Bennett Hopkins: A Silent Mentor

Sylvia Vardell; Poetry for Children
Featuring Pat Mora and Jame Richards
Pat Mora and NCTE
More on Mora

Hey, Teen Writers of Rockland County, Win a Personal Critique

2010-11-03T11:27:00.002-04:00

I'm posting about this author event even though it's still a ways off because the deadline to enter the contest part is rapidly approaching.

So, if you are a teen writer from the Nanuet area, polish up that fiction and send it off.

Who can enter: Grades 7-12
What to enter: Short story or excerpt of novel, up to 10 typed pages
Any genre, from contemporary, historical, fantasy, realistic, steampunk, horror or paranormal, is acceptable.
When: submit by November 11
The critique will take place before the teen author event at Barnes & Noble on Route 59 in Nanuet at 3 p.m. December 11.
Where: shari.maurer@alumni.duke.edu
Why: so you can win a face-to-face critique with one of the authors mentioned below,
and a signed copy of their book

The authors are Shannon Delany, author of 13 to Life; Margie Gelbwasser, author of Inconvenient; Shari Maurer, author of Change of Heart; Jen Nadol, author of The Mark; and Jame Richards, author of Three Rivers Rising. They will read from their novels, talk about writing and publishing a book, and sign copies of their books.

Good luck writers!

Thanks Ridge!

2010-10-19T16:00:00.004-04:00

We had a lovely afternoon in beautiful autumnal Ridgefield, we being

Moi

Thanks Ridgefield Library and Books on the Common!

You're next Waterford---Get ready for Laura, Ann, Rose Kent and yours truly!

Books, Critiques and More at the Split Charity Auction

2010-10-18T07:56:00.006-04:00

Bid on a personalize/signed copy of Three Rivers Rising and help a worthy cause!

To honor National Domestic Violence Awareness month, author Swati Avasthi has combined a blog tour for her debut novel, Split, with a charity auction. Over 40 authors, agents and editors have donated manuscript critiques, personalized books, and more to an online auction that anyone---reader, writer, booklover---can bid on and buy. All proceeds go to the Family Violence Prevention Fund. In addition to the auction, Avasthi is donating $1/comment on her 26-stop, month-long blog tour, coordinated by Kari Olson at Teen Book Scene. If we reach the goal and cap of $250, Swati will double the donation to the Family Violence Prevention Fund. The CDC estimates that one in four women will experience intimate partner abuse during her life and UC Davis estimates that a child who grew up witnessing abuse is four times as likely to perpetrate abuse, 25 times more likely to commit rape and 6 times more likely to commit suicide. Family Violence Prevention Fund has some great initiatives, including Coaching Boys Into Men and Start Strong, that are about breaking the intergenerational cycle and preventing abuse. So, follow the tour, get stuff you want, and make a difference.

Kidlit Author Panel

2010-10-13T14:10:00.000-04:00

Hope to see you there! Bring questions!

Saturday October 16, 2010
1:00 PM until 3:00 PM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ridgefield Library in association with SCBWI of Lower Fairfield County and ‘Books on the Common’ present: A ‘kidslit’ Writers' Panel: ‘Talk from the Trenches: Six published authors give advice on writing, finding an agent and selling your children’s book.’

The writers are:
Ann Leal - ALSO KNOWN AS HARPER
Jame Richards - THREE RIVERS RISING
Michaela MacColl - PRISONERs IN THE PALACE
Sari Bodi - THE GHOST IN ALLIE'S POOL
Caragh O'Brien - BIRTHMARKED
Laura Toffler-Corrie - THE LIFE AND OPINIONS OF AMY FINAWITZ.

Books will be for sale and signing after the event thanks to Books on the Common. No registration.

230-Book Giveaway!!!!

2010-10-11T16:52:00.004-04:00

Do you have a teen book club? Wanna win a free pack of books---ten copies of each book---from Class of 2k10 debut authors? Read the deets on our blog and please, spread the word!

We want to give you free books---seriously---not kidding!

Comment on the Class of 2k10 blog post to win. And help us finish out our debut year in style.

October is Almost Here

2010-09-29T09:08:00.005-04:00

O is for October and...

O is for OMGerbils!

Yes, the gerbils are here. And, man, they never stop moving! How will I ever get any work done with all that racket?

Now, what do you think of when you think of October? All the great books that are coming out, of course! Starting with A Finders-Keepers Place by Ann Haywood Leal, my buddy and 2k9 mentor.

"Mature beyond her years, able to make the best of a bad situation and blessed with impressive survivor skills, Esther proves an admirable heroine in this poignant story." ---Kirkus Reviews

In case you missed it on the Class of 2k10 blog, here is my video interview with Ann about her new book.

My Radio Debut

2010-09-20T08:41:00.003-04:00

Thanks to Barry, I never have to live through my first radio interview again. Actually, it was painless, enjoyable even, due largely to Barry being so easy to talk to. We talked about pumpkin ice cream, and, oh yeah, books---don't forget those! Please check it out.

http://abookandachat.blogspot.com

Autumn

2010-09-08T16:13:00.003-04:00

You know it's coming by the date on the calendar, but those other subtle signs appear to shake your disbelief:

the light changes. It's lower and softer and golden.
the geraniums are getting leggy. You vow to take cuttings and successfully overwinter them.
pumpkin-flavored foods appear. My local ice-cream emporium already exhausted their first batch. Come back later. In other pumpkin-related news, my mailbox is now surrounded by (mini?) pumpkins and possibly a watermelon. Ah the joys of being Mrs. Compost King.
family members suddenly demand their favorite hand-knit socks. You will have to review the rules regarding laundry temperature and agitation so as to reduce the risk of felting. Again.
the very tops of trees up by the Green have red spots.
visions of pot roast dance in your head.
shiny bags of bite-size candy block every aisle of every store, much like they will later block your arteries. You vow not to give out candy this year, especially to anyone not wearing "full costume." A mask doesn't cut it, Kid---you know who you are!

Any favorite harbingers of all things autumn? Let's hear it.

Better Late Than Never: Hudson, Ohio

2010-07-15T13:41:00.015-04:00

I'm more than quite a ways behind posting in real time, but here are some photos of my visit to the Hudson Library in Ohio. This was back in June.

The whole gang drove out there without incident, partly with thanks to my neighbor for loaning us those DVD screens you hang on the back of your seat! It was a seriously long drive.

Before heading to the library, we stopped at my sister's Montessori school to see the Rag Loom she'd built. Now you know that's right up my alley! She cuts t-shirts into strips and the kids can go over to the loom and weave them in anytime they like. I wonder if they'll auction it off or draw straws when it's done---where can I get me a straw?

Then we headed over to the beautiful Hudson Library to meet coordinating librarian Mary Balog. I thought I heard wrong when I asked where the reading was and the staff member told me the Flood Room! But sure enough, my hearing is fine and the coincidence gave us a laugh.

First thing after I arrived to set up, a gentleman approached with something in a big plastic bag. He introduced himself as Bob Gaspar, a former resident of Johnstown, PA---he was even wearing his circa 1950s Johnstown Varsity Letter sweater (below in red)! And, in that big plastic bag, he carried a map belonging to his wife's family who had lived in Johnstown since way back before the flood. What a thrill for a lowly wordsmith! It meant a lot to me that he knew about my book and that he went to the effort to come by with those treasures.

So, a little talking, a little reading, a few questions...and then I signed books provided by The Learned Owl. I so appreciate everyone who came by and it was particularly lovely to meet so many of my sister's friends and coworkers. I'm glad to know she's surrounded by such a wonderful community.

I'll Never Make it as a Photojournalist

2010-06-22T14:53:00.016-04:00

If you already heard that I'm not quitting writing to start my filmmaking career any time soon...or my journalism career (see my interview with Class of 2k9's Ann Haywood Leal), then you probably won't be surprised to know that photojournalism is also not on the list of pursuits threatening my daily wordcount.

Not that I don't love to take photos, I do. I took a gazillion of my kids when they were small, just to capture that ephemeral cuteness, and I cropped them and framed them and let the whole digital thing pass me by. Then one of those cute kids cutely dropped my magnificent camera and my gorgeous zoom lens no longer zoomed. Or maybe it no longer it focused. I don't remember.

I finally asked for a digital camera a birthday or two ago, and I do love downloading them and such, more than I thought I would. But the artistic side of me hasn't been re-activated yet, unfortunately. And when I go places to visit, I'm terrible at chronicling the events and locations, only lately have I demanded people pose and smile. (I guess you could say I was one of those natural light/natural action snobs.)

Let's start with BEA: BookExpo America. And, look, as I load these photos, I notice that I am in some of them which means I handed my camera to someone else...further reducing my photo credits.

Shown above Swati Avasthi, Bonnie Doerr, and moi at the New Title Shelf. Amy Brecount White and moi at the Folk Art Museum. Photo taken by Irene Latham---I should've taken a photo of her as well.

Below, the lovely display at The Voracious Reader in Larchmont, NY. And Denise Jaden, CarolMerrilling with her book. Oh, and a brief semi-chance meeting with Josh Berk, mastermind of MasterBerk Theater! He looks dazed and a little frightened---that's kinda how everybody looks after meeting me I guess. Sorry Berk.

Long story short, I have very little to show for my recent travels. Maybe you'll be grateful to be spared the interminable Vacation Slideshow from Hell, but here are some highlights just the same. Oh, and it wasn't vacation anyway, it was work.

When I Grow Up, I Wanna Be a Walking Cliche

2010-06-16T09:41:00.005-04:00

So much to catch up on. My super-busy week turned into a super-busy month. I've put many miles on my car and many blisters on my feet. I have a few photos to share, none of my feet---I'm sure you're relieved to hear.

Let's start with the end of May: I asked friends to think back to their own graduations. Could they remember who their speaker was, or what was said? Did they get any bad advice? You see, I had to write a commencement address for the grad school I attended years back---kind of an Alum Girl Makes Good speech. Now, I always say, if it's a speech you need, you could do worse than asking a writer. We have experience making something out of nothing, making order out of chaos, and squeezing blood from stones. But the only requirements to help me narrow down the universe of infinite combinations of letters, numbers and punctuation marks: "Five minutes; humor would be appreciated."

Endeavoring to write a commencement speech without the usual cliches, the whole thing became a reflection on cliche-free living and, oddly enough, perfectionism to some degree.

This is the whole ceremony: my part is around minute 44. The whole thing looks very crisp but you can't hear the audience reactions at all. This recording by faithful friend Penny has more ambient noise and I just love the interpeter's reaction and signing of "throw your typewriter off a cliff."

What did you want to be when you grew up? How did it work out for you? Now, what do you want to be when you grow up?

55,555

2010-06-09T11:11:00.002-04:00

So I took Big Green to the AutoSpa for some love and attention before my next big monster drive on Friday (I will get some details and photos of all my travels on here soon) and what did MechanicBernie and I see when we looked at the mileage: 55,555.

Yes 5 FIVES!

You're either the kind of person who thinks that means something or you're not. But what? What does it mean? Play the lottery? Or good luck in general? I prefer my good luck to be highly specific...

Now my clever neighbor thought to look up what zip code that would be. It is Young America, Minnesota (looks like it recently merged to become Norwood Young America, but still...). What could be more perfect for a writer of children's books?

Also, funny: a friend from college had just written on Facebook "When are you coming to Minnesota?"

So, I don't mind a rumor starting that I'm coming to MN...but I've just been to MA, NYC, OH and now PA coming up this weekend. Then Boston the week after (only that one's for a family thing). Pretty soon here, folks, I need to sit perfectly still and stare into space, not to mention get some writing done.

But let's just say "What if" as writers like to do. What if I went to MN for a little visit...what do you recommend I go see? With kids or without? Restaurants? Nature? Art?

Ok, back to work. Trying to get some storylines sewn up before the kids get out of school for the summer.

Interview with Nancy Paulsen Author, Lynda Mullaly Hunt

2010-05-21T09:37:00.006-04:00

Here's a new friend of mine for you to meet: a newly signed author and newly minted Tassy Walden winner, Lynda Mullaly Hunt. New, new, new! Get to know her---I bet you'll enjoy her passion for writing and her sense of humor as much as I do. Congrats, Lynda!

Title: One for the Murphys
Release date: Spring, 2012
Imprint/publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin Books for Children
Genre: Mid-grade
Target age group: 9-13
Synopsis: Turns out that 13 year old, street smart Carley Connors is only afraid of one thing—Love. After a heart-breaking betrayal, Carley, a newly minted foster care child is placed with the Murphy family, who break down her walls. She learns the hard won lesson that she can love other people and, even more surprising, she can let them love her.

1. Every good story starts at the point of change. What is the point of change in this story?
The point of change is in the first line when the reader finds that Carley is in the backseat of a social worker’s car on her way to a foster home placement. From that point on, the story is all about Carley dealing with changes—both external and internal.

Carley must navigate the unfamiliar territory of a bustling, happy family and come to terms with the reality that a life she’s never thought existed actually does--just not for her. She avoids physical contact and follows a strict rule about never, ever crying, because that is for the weak. However, as Carley is drawn to her foster mom, Julie, and the youngest of her three boys, those rules become harder and harder to follow. The Murphys (with the help of Carley's hard-edged, Broadway obsessed friend, Toni) chip away at her barriers, transforming her. At first, she hates it. Then she hates it that she doesn't hate it.

But, when the state says that Carley’s mother wants her back, will she lose the only real family she's ever known?

So, yes, this story is all about changes. Dealing with them in the moment and predicting the next one coming around the corner. A little like real life, huh?

2. What do you want that you can’t have? How would your main character answer the same question?
Wow! What are we talking about here? I’d really like a mocha latte, but I’d also like to be able to fly or travel through time. To get serious (gasp!) I’d like my brother, Michael Eric, and my Mum back. Michael died when we were young. My Mum died five years ago. There are also some things I'd really like to undo for the people I really love such as my niece's car accident.

I'd also want all children who are not mothered to find someone to nurture them. Imagine how our world would change if ALL children were well cared for and loved! Oh my God---Imagine what we could do! How different the world would be?!

Carley wants a lot, actually. She longs to have her mother back but doesn’t want her at the same time because she fears the pain. She longs for the affection and gentleness of Julie Murphy (foster mother) but keeps her distance because she fears the love. All the while, though, Carley wants to be folded in and feel like she belongs somewhere. She doesn't want the push and pull anymore. She wants the truth. And she wants to know she can believe it.

Personally, there are other things I want, but I wouldn’t say I can’t have them. I just have to work hard and be patient. Patience comes naturally to me. So, hurry up and give me the next question.

3. Did another book serve as a model for yours, either in structure or inspiration? Tell us how.
The impetus for MURPHYS came from an unlikely source--Star Wars. My then nine year old son and I were talking about the six Star Wars movies and the story they told as a whole. We discussed how the six episodes of the movies were the complete life story of Anakin Skywalker—the first movie being him at about nine years old and the last movie portraying his death. We also talked about Luke as a character. Somehow, I stumbled upon the idea of Luke wanting his father and yet not wanting his father. How there were a few characters in the movies that both wanted yet didn’t want the same thing and the internal struggle that comes from that. I thought about this for days.

As a teacher who has worked with at-risk kids, I had also been thinking about the ways children protect themselves emotionally and had been researching resilience in children for a paper. I found that no matter the geographic location, socio-economic status, race, or any other factor, the number one attribute in resilient children is to be able to spot the adults who can help them and be able to reach out to them for support. Simple in theory but so difficult for some of the kids who need that little extra help to do.

Anyway, while doing the dishes one evening, I think these ideas crashed into each other. The line, “I ask the nurse how long I’ve been out” popped into my head. Not only did I hear the line, but I saw the girl, smelled the hospital, heard the beeping of the machines, felt her sadness and confusion. Her isolation.

Always happy to wait on doing dishes, I ran to the computer to type it in, planning to work on it the next day. However, after typing that one line, I just kept going. I had the first chapter of Carley waking up in the hospital (which I have since thrown out) done before heading back to the kitchen. Once Carley's voice started, I just had to get it out—like having a sliver in my hand. I so wanted to know what she would tell me. The novel was done within a year.

4. Tell us about a real-life person or situation that crept into this book.
After reading MURPHYS, my sister asked me why I had written it. (Funny that I’d never asked myself that question, because I’m forever asking questions.) I sat back and thought for a moment and decided that it was a wish. I’ve come to realize that buried in everything I write, there is always…always a wish. And by writing the story, I can fulfill that wish, if only a little.

As a new teacher, I became friends with, Judy, another teacher who is about 20 years older than me. She became a life mentor, teaching me things about kids and husbands and marriage and navigating life in general. I watched and listened and learned a lot from her. To show my appreciation, I rigged her closets with confetti, placed hidden recordings of “The Voice of God” in her classroom, stole her chalk, and created an elaborate joke about how I was selling her new car for five hundred bucks. She loves me though. Honest.

My sense of humor, writing ability, creativity, and stubborn passion all come from my own Mum, and I am so grateful to have been her daughter. In many ways, though, I would have never known what it was to be “mothered” without Judy. In the early days of our friendship, especially, she cared for the waiting child in me and I am a stronger, happier adult for it.

5. Wildcard question: What’s your superpower? What’s your Kryptonite?
Well, at the risk of sounding like a complete sap (which I am, of course!) my kids are both my superpower and kryptonite. My husband and I met when we were young, so I gave my heart to him before I even had a driver’s license. However, I could never have predicted how having a child cracks you wide open emotionally. The world has expanded in all kinds of ways for me since they arrived. But life’s stakes are much higher now; a mom worries sometimes, you know…

6. What are you wishing I would get around to asking already? (And what’s the answer, wise guy!)
How about the best writing advice ev-UH?

My Mum used to love the quote from Auntie Mame, "Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving!"

Well, it wasn't writing advice exactly, but I’ve found that all good "life" advice usually always pertains to writing specifically. Success in either one means you must put yourself “out there.” Be confident even when you don’t always feel that way. Make connections. Take chances. Don't be afraid of redos. Be vulnerable and then stay vulnerable even after you have to brush off your setbacks. Keep your sense of humor. Follow your heart. Be open to change—in you and in your manuscript. Work your butt off!

Want to write? Go for it! Don't worry about it or think about it---just do it. Is there an agent you really want? An editor? Again, go for it! Be prepared, though---do your homework, put in your time! Join critique groups and get serious about studying the craft. Remember---overnight success usually takes years!

To that I would add that you need to write your story—not what you think an editor will like—but your story in your voice. The key to a strong voice? Authenticity! So, go ahead! Sit down at your keyboard and open up that vein!

7. What can we expect from you next?
I have a draft of a YA novel, OUT OF ORDER, to my incredible agent, Erin Murphy. I am more than half way through another MG but jumped from it about a week ago when another YA voice started up in my head. Thus far, this newest venture is entitled, RUNNING BACKWARDS.

What I am most looking forward to after MURPHYS is released, is getting into schools to talk with kids about books and writing and life—about going for it! Life (and publication!) is not about waiting for your ship to come in; it’s about leaping into the water and swimming out to it!

Website: http://www.lyndamullalyhunt.com/
Blog: lyndamullalyhunt.blogspot.com
Facebook: Lynda Mullaly Hunt
Twitter: kidswriter66
Agent: Erin Murphy of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency

Thanks Lynda. Lots of great advice here. For a minute, I thought you said, don't be afraid of rodeos...the clowns are pretty scary...And your mom and I have something in common, except when my kids tell it, they'll be complaining that they couldn't get me to stop pretending to be Rosalind Russell/Auntie Mame.

Thanks for coming by, Lynda.

Six Authors in Search of a Reader (2); and Other Good News

2010-05-03T11:30:00.007-04:00

One of the best parts of being a writer is watching your writer pals succeed---and what a year it has been! Starting with Shelagh winning the PEN NE CBC 2009 Susan P. Bloom Discovery Award (see her interview) and now Bette Anne Rieth, interview following, wins for 2010! And in between, new writing buddy Lynda Mullaly Hunt sells her book to her dream editor, and the lovely Caroline Rose announces some great news about her own verse novel. Caroline is promoting and giving away a copy of 3RR, by the way, on her blog as part of Elana Johnson's Spread the Awesome.

Now I hear Pam Farley has won the Tassy Walden, a prize for unpublished writers from Connecticut! (not on the website yet) Yay Pam! (Photo of Pam below, at my signing.) Maybe with a round of hearty applause you could persuade her to do a Six Authors interview...hmmm.

(Ed'd: I'm rubbing my eyes, am I reading it right? Lynda also won in the YA category!! Whoa, congrats again to Lynda!)

But let's get back to Bette Anne: I've been a fan of this writer's work for several years. She's got it all---the emotion, the tension, poetic language, the pacing. This one below is contemporary, but she also has an amazing historical novel handy. Keep your eyes peeled for Bette Anne! We're gonna be seeing a lot more of her work!

Title: Greetings from the Miracle
Genre: Young Adult
Synopsis:
After fleeing her New Jersey foster home, fifteen-year-old Deena Reed takes to the road in a rusty Buick with Charlene, ex-con and the mother she hardly knows, and Billy, a teenage drifter Charlene has picked up along the way. Deena is searching for a miracle: A home, family, someone who will stand by her, no matter what. Her only compass is a postcard from a place called the Miracle Motor Lodge with a message from Grammy, who raised Deena and died three months ago. I wish you were here. But on a road trip where old hurt and new betrayals add up as fast as the miles, only Deena can decide if she’s headed for a miracle or another dead end.

Interview:

1. Every good story starts at the point of change. What is the point of change in this story?
When Deena decides to leave Big Foster’s (her foster home) with her mother, Charlene, an ex-con, and Billy, a teenage drifter. Good or bad, Deena is ready to take her chances with Charlene. She’s ready to change her world.

2. What do you want that you can’t have? How would your main character answer the same question?
I want one life to live and one life to read. So many books. So little time!
Deena wants her homemade pies to have the ability to magically change a person. She wants to feel good about herself again. Since Grammy died, she’s developed a little stealing problem and she’s beginning to think it runs in her blood. She wants Grammy to be alive again and Grammy and Charlene to be reconciled. And Billy. Yeah, it’s bad, but she wants him.

3. Did another book serve as a model for yours, either in structure or inspiration? Tell us how.
Not one book, but many. I’ve always been a big fan of Anne Tyler. A favorite is A Patchwork Planet. I love Tyler’s exploration of the question: Can we escape the sins of our past? The short stories of Jill McCorkle were also an inspiration. I’d never read her until an early draft of “Miracle” was read at an SCBWI first-pages session and an editor on the panel suggested I read Crash Diet. Wow! If you want to study voice, or still struggle to understand what voice is, read McCorkle. (Thank you, Alexandra Cooper.)

4. Tell us about a real-life person or situation that crept into this book.
Oh, boy. Well, it’s hard to write a book about a mother-daughter relationship, and not have elements of your own creep in. I loved my mom. I miss her. (She passed away while I was writing the book.) We had our good times, but we had our hard times, too, our roadblocks. So, yes, she’s in the book. I’m in it. And her rolling pin is definitely along for the ride.

5. Wildcard question: What’s the weirdest thing you ever ate?
I will preface this by saying I am not a food adventuress.
My husband and I were living in Arkansas. We were invited to a barbeque up in the Ozarks. Our host offered a plate of small round things. Turkey fries, he called them. After I ate a few, he politely explained that they were “the part of the tom turkey that goes over the fence last.” I have to say they were quite good. I had a few more.

6. What are you wishing I would get around to asking already? (And what’s the answer, wise guy.)
What’s the best writing advice you ever received and listened to, really took to heart?

Write every day. A gem from Patricia Reilly Giff. When I’m at it everyday (I write in the morning before the day job), I’m at my best. It sounds like simple advice, obvious really, but for me, who had been a “when I have time,” or “when I’m inspired” writer, it was a breakthrough.

7. This manuscript is complete—what are you working on next?
Actually, I have two things simmering on the back burners as I finish revising Miracle: One is about a teen musician and her pirate muse. The other is about a girl who hears voices in an old church. Both stories involve daughters and mothers in conflict. (I’m beginning to see a pattern here.)

Cookie:
I catch Billy watching me in the rearview mirror, and something about him, maybe the black hair and glasses, or maybe the cartoon T-shirt, makes me think of a superhero before the tights and cape, before the hero’s sure he wants to be bothered with superpowers and saving the world. “You should put on your seatbelt.” He pulls a ticket from the toll machine.

Charlene thinks he’s talking to her. “I don’t wear them. It reminds me of riding in those prison vans, shackled. Handcuffed.”

But Billy’s eyes are still on me. I turn to the window, pretending I don’t see him hand Charlene the ticket, I don’t see the way his muscles move under his T-shirt.

The Buick lumbers away from the tollbooth. Charlene tucks the ticket in the sun visor above her head. The same motions get repeated in the minivan that emerges from the booth next to us, and the SUV next to them. The mother turns, checks on the kids, the family settles in for the long ride. I think of all the times I rode the bus with Grammy and stared down into those kinds of cars, wishing I knew what it was like to ride in one.

And then there’s the place I’ve always kept inside, a place for Charlene and me, just us, a place small and cozy. I can see it in my mind. I can feel its walls holding in my hope.

Your mother is nothing but trouble, Grammy said. Your mother will never change.

Charlene turns and checks on me. The Buick gathers speed. I take Billy’s advice and buckle up.

I know a place, and this is my chance to find it.

Agent info: I wish
Contact: On Facebook as Bette Anne Rieth
Blog: Under construction at http://barieth.blogspot.com/

Thanks for playing along, Bette Anne! Can't wait to read all of Greetings from the Miracle.

Release Week Finale: Winner Announced

2010-04-20T14:32:00.002-04:00

In honor of the announcement of the winning limerick, I would like to share a limerick of my own which has won nothing and probably never will. But it was pretty fun to write, and well, what's the point of doing anything on a blog---to have fun, right? And this contest was a lot of fun. I had fun anyway, and I hope you did too. What I do know for sure is that the winner is gonna have a TON o' FUN reading The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin by Josh Berk of Tenners fame.

Once there was a group, name of Tenners.
Of books for the young, they were penners.
In two thousand ten,
their careers did begin.
Now readers say Long Live the Tenners!

Ok, I know, I know...I won't quit my day job.

The limerick with the most votes...(insert drum roll sound effects)...

is...

Number 7!

Winner: Please contact me at contact (at) jamerichards (dot) com and give your mailing address. Congratulations!

Release Week: Celebrating with My Mentor

2010-04-19T08:30:00.008-04:00

My hero and mentor Pat Giff gave me a little cake party to celebrate the launch of Three Rivers Rising. I signed copies for my workshop classmates.

Several years back, I wrote the first words of Untitled: Flood Novel so I'd have something to bring to Pat's workshop---I was so eager to meet her and I couldn't very well show up empty handed. And all through the writing, selling, editing process, I've dreamed of the day I would launch my book from her store, The Dinosaur's Paw.

Release Week: 3RR Spotted in the Wild

2010-04-17T11:45:00.004-04:00

The irrepressible Miss Linda from Linda's Storytime improvised a dump for me by the front door. And when I left, a teen customer was actually holding my book and peeking into it!

Friends report receiving shipment from the big online retailers as well.

If you see 3RR in the wild, let me know. I'd love to know where it's been spotted!

Release Week, Release Week: Interview by My Loved Ones, Part 1

2010-04-15T09:38:00.004-04:00

If you've got kids, you'll know what I mean when I say the Little Leaf doesn't fall far from the tree. My husband and I are writers (though he works for "The Man") and big readers/book lovers. So one day they all sat down with my BFF, SweetBrownPoison, to prepare an interview for me to complete at my leisure. Where was I? I don't remember. I'd like to say I was dusting knick-knacks and baking cookies, but I think I was writing (Five15AintPretty).

So here is Part 1 of their interview and my answers:

1) LL#2: Has anyone written about your book before?
Many ways to interpret this question, but I'm going with: Has anyone written about the flood before? My answer is yes. In fact, there's a list of books for further reading in the backmatter of 3RR. (And I'm sure there are others I've missed.) I think she's asking if there is other fiction, so I'll mention The Terrible Wave by Marden Dahlstedt and The Day It Rained Forever by Virginia Gross. Adults will enjoy In Sunlight, in a Beautiful Garden: A Novel by Kathleen Cambor.

2) LL#1: How many books do you have in mind?
I have at least four manuscripts/partials in the air right now. So that means four ideas in the process of fleshing out. I have a very clear idea for an additional story, but I'd like to travel to the setting first...so that could be a ways off. No lack of book ideas here, just the time it takes to write them!

3) My Old Man: When can I give my notice? (No pressure.)
AAAAHHHH...hahahaha! My husband is well known for his sense of humor. This is not a quick-money kind of business. Especially when you write as slowly as I do! Maybe he can give his notice when he's 65...or 75.

4) LL#2: How many books have you written so far?
Three Rivers Rising is my first. I have another fairly developed manuscript, if you want to call that "a book."

5) LL#1: Where do you live?
Interesting that my own child would ask this---she's putting herself in the shoes of an interviewer. My cagey answer is "Hopefully, most of the day, I live in my imagination." That means I'm getting a lot of writing done, and those are the best days.

6) My Old Man: How much do you weigh?
LL#1: That's unpolite!

7) LL#2: How are you going to celebrate when your book comes out?
Oops, this already went by, but I'll pretend it didn't: How about I take my taxes to the post office, then drive you and your friend to baseball, then we can go to our new favorite restaurant and Game Stop afterwards? (It should be a special day for everybody, shouldn't it?)

8) LL#1: What's your next book idea?
Wow, these are really good questions---how'd you guys get so smart? Well, as I mentioned, I do have several projects in motion at the same time, but the one that is in the day-to-day development phase is a manor-house kind of story with a fanciful main character. I don't want to jinx it by saying too much, but it is very different from my previous projects.

9) SBP: What's your favorite food?
This is tricky. Food in general is my favorite food---I like everything. Except beets. I love combinations like brownies with potato chips. I love batter, esp. cookie dough. I love diet cola and hazelnut coffee, both brand loyal though. This is gonna sound crazy, but I love condiments---I cannot be trusted around mayonnaise---and fresh herbs. I think my number one love is french fries, though. Wow, sounds like all junk food, not setting a good example for my kids here. I also love avocado, mango, arugula, and roasted brussel sprouts.

10) LL#2: What goes on in your wold (sic)?
This one is handwritten by LL#2. What does she mean? She lives with me! I think my life must be somewhat mysterious to them: how is it that I stay home all day and yet no laundry gets folded, no groceries appear, etc? Writing, correspondence, time for exercise, maybe a shower---it's all gonna get even crazier now that the book is out!

I'll pick it up with number 11 next time. Tomorrow's the last day to vote on a limerick! Thanks for celebrating my Release Week with me!

RELEASE DAY! RELEASE DAY!

2010-04-13T09:55:00.003-04:00

Yes, today is the day. The day you think might never come. The day you can't believe could be so far away when you sign the contract. And yet, time goes by so quickly, you can't believe it's here already!!!

So, for today's shenanigans, please enjoy this storyboard. (Then go vote for a limerick.)

THANKS AND HAPPY 3RR RELEASE DAY EVERYONE!

Release Week Shenanigans: Day 1---Who Wants to Read Some Deleted Scenes?

2010-04-12T12:15:00.007-04:00

Don't you love the end of movies when they show deleted scenes and bloopers (does anybody use that word anymore?)---well this is like that, only no one needs an ice pack afterwards.

[Remember: When you get to the bottom of this post, keep going and watch the limericks video. Vote for your favorite!]

Ok. Here's a scene from an early draft---dated 2005---of Three Rivers Rising which comes out tomorrow, April 13. Long long ago, I thought gossipy busybody Mrs. Godwin would be a speaking character, meaning she would have her own poems or monologues, however you like to think of it. She serves what I like to call the Greek Chorus function, or the Gladys Kravitz function: how do you show what your characters are rebelling against? You have to show somebody who lives and breathes the status quo, someone's whose judgement is to

be feared. Also, I notice that early versions of this book had little or no punctuation---that definitely changed, and rightly so.

Mrs. Godwin

some of us remember
a time back before the railroads
when the entire state of Pennsylvania
was buzzing about canals.

that boats should climb mountains!
imagine it!

a body of water was planned
to keep the canals full
in case summer ran dry.
the canals went out
as the railroad came in
and the little lake

changed hands over the years.
that’s how it was explained to me
when we bought shares in the reservoir,
by then it was one of the largest man-made lakes
anyone could name

well everyone in Town knew of Mr. Carnegie’s refuge
up here in the Alleghenies

and we longed for our own share of clean air
and clear water
after the smells and crowds and filth of town---
even me with my many society engagements
and social obligations among the right kind of families
my ladies’ clubs
and volunteer organizations---
even I was tempted away

to recreation in the mountains
at the lakeside resort
formally known as the South Fork Hunting and Fishing Club
though very privately
we call it simply Lake Conemaugh---
“we” being the most important families,
dozens in the high season
men of influence

highly accomplished ladies
and their well-bred children

many from Pittsburgh.

I wouldn’t embarrass myself by dropping names
suffice to say all the biggest tycoons in steel and coke
are members: Carnegie, Frick and Mellon
though they must be too busy tending their fortunes
to join us on the porch of the clubhouse

or to grace the parlors of those families
possessing gingerbread cottages lakeside.

Mr. Godwin is quite the opposite
he is absorbed by his new passion:
fishing.
from the moment our train car arrives at the South Fork station,
he is lost to me
doesn’t seem to hear me.

at the end of the season
it is nearly impossible to persuade him to leave.
he doesn’t seem to mind roughing it
though it wears on my nerves after a few days---
I can bring only my maid and one other girl!

for weeks on end!
I live like a pauper
in the name of fresh air and sunshine
while my house in town waits
fully staffed
furnishings covered in starched white drop cloths
for the summer.

well!

never let it be said Louise Godwin is a poor sport.
here I am to make the best of it.
at least I have the dogs with me
especially my precious little Ditsy
who never leaves my side.
her hair is tied up with a bit of the ribbon

trimming my new parasol.
what a picture we shall be

lounging on my favorite chaise
under the awning.

“Let’s go see
who has a spot of tea
and some gossip for us, Ditsy...
who will pass the time.”

Well, well...I can see how my writing has changed since 2005, hopefully for the better. I think Mrs. Godwin would be a fun character voice to write in, but it was better for this particular story to cut her. She's still a character in there, speaking her mind and making everyone miserable, peeking through the curtains like Gladys Kravitz.

I Know From Funny: Let the Voting Commence

2010-04-09T20:14:00.008-04:00

Why does humor sometimes get a bad rap? You know how they always say the Academy Award never goes to comedy? Yet, when humor is done well, it is sublime. It is an art form AND it is very likely harder than any other kind of writing. I love to laugh (who doesn't, really?)---so, as a reader, I'm always on the lookout for something funny. Here's a book that has it all: the laughs, the emotional depth, the storytelling...yeah, if this book were a movie, it would break the mold and win the Oscar. Maybe you've heard of a little something called...

THE DARK DAYS OF HAMBURGER HALPIN

Maybe you were so eager to read it, that you wrote a poem about it! A limerick even! And you've been waiting patiently to hear the author, Sir Josh Berk, read the poems aloud so the audience could vote and the winner could be decreed. (The winner will receive a signed copy of said work of said genius.)

And here it is for you listening/viewing pleasure. And please check out the bonus entry in the comments section!

Please vote in the comments with your number selection. The voting will close in one week, April 16. Good luck to our poets, and Happy Poetry Month!!

Feeling Linky?

2010-04-06T14:12:00.003-04:00

One week from the release of Three Rivers Rising and it's hard to believe I don't have more to say! But, the truth is, it's got me quite busy. Come over to Random Buzzers and say hi! Ask a question. Post an art work about the Johnstown flood or vote on your favorite natural disaster in literature.

Please come by and comment on my interview with fellow Tenner and Class of 2k10 member Denise Jaden, author of Losing Faith.

A nice group of writers called Slushbusters also interviewed me for their blog. Check them out.

Still waiting for the next installment of MasterBerk Theater---all I can say is YOU CAN'T RUSH GENIUS! It will be worth the wait.

Last Day for Limericks

2010-03-26T14:23:00.002-04:00

Thanks to everybody who has contributed limericks so far! And if you're still working on one or more, you've got until 11:59 p.m. So get crackin!

Then check back to hear Josh read them on...A Very Special MasterBerk Theater.

Q: Ooohh oooohhh! When will that be?
A: I don't know yet. Josh is a very busy and important author (can't you tell by the Sherlock Holmes-y pipe?). And he rents the sound effects machine by the hour. Check back frequently.

Q: When can I vote for a limerick?
A: You can vote in the comments as soon as you watch the video to choose your favorite.

See you back here soon.

Interview with Roaring Brook Author and Tenner Laura Toffler-Corrie

2010-03-23T09:20:00.007-04:00

We all know people who are funny. We might even know some writers who are funny. But I can assure you, we know far fewer people/writers who can write funny. It's not as easy as it looks. In fact, it's not easy at all. Who said on his deathbed, "Dying is easy; comedy's hard." But just to break the curve, here's a writer who makes it look easy (and thus fools us into thinking we can all do it, darn her).

Title: The Life and Opinions of Amy Finawitz
Release date: Fall 2010
Imprint/Publisher: Roaring Brook Press, MacMillan
Genre: upper MG, lower YA
Target age group: 10 -14

Synopsis: Native New Yorker, Amy is emotionally stranded when her best friend moves away for the year, leaving her to hang with girls who are dorkier than she is and crush on hunkaliscious hot guy all by herself. But before she knows it, she’s teamed up with her elderly neighbor and her neighbor’s very religious (Hasidic) nephew to uncover a hundred year old mystery. This not only leads them to cool places around New York, but prompts Amy to discover herself in the process.

1) Every good story starts at the point of change. What is the point of change in this story?
Amy’s best friend moves away for the year, leaving her to fend for herself. Suddenly she has to go from being part of an inseparable, bff duo to being a solo act. So, then the question becomes, who is she by herself? What does she do now? I think this is a situation everyone has had to experience at some point in their lives and can relate to.

2) What do you want that you can’t have? How would your main character answer the same question?
A royal bloodline, maybe? Certainly too late for that, at least in this incarnation. Living in America, you could probably have anything you wanted if you wanted it badly enough. But then…would it make you happy? That’s probably the real philosophical question for me, Grasshopper…
I believe that Amy wants that elusive thing that all teenagers imagine that someone else has: beauty, popularity, the ability to ‘fit in.’ That’s why when Amy teams up with very religious Beryl Plotsky and all he sincerely wants is to be a good person and do good deeds, she has to re-evaluate herself.

3) Did another book serve as a model for yours, either in structure or inspiration? Tell us how.
This book, and especially the format, was really inspired by my own life; the letters, play and stories my bff and me used to write to each other. The format is a little unusual since it’s all in letters and little one act plays. But I’ve certainly been inspired by other books such as Catcher in the Rye, and writers such as Woody Allen, Kurt Vonnegut, Beckett, Dickens, Meg Cabot and Louise Rennison. I love humor that is edgy and that exposes us, our humanity, our relationships and all our crazy contradictions.

4) Tell us about a real-life person or situation that crept into this book.
I was kind of a smart-ass dork in middle school and high school, so there’s a lot of me in Amy. The inspiration for Amy and Beryl at Houdini’s grave on Halloween, for example, was inspired by the many ridiculous situations I somehow got myself into as a teenager.

5) Wildcard question: What’s the weirdest thing you ever ate?
Once at some Bulgarian restaurant on Avenue A, I ordered calamari with pasta. It came out of the kitchen, literally, a small, totally intact octopus plopped on a mound of spaghetti. I think I tasted one of the tentacles…I blocked out the rest.

6) What are you wishing I would get around to asking already? (And what’s the answer, wise guy!)
You’ve done a brilliant job! I can’t think of a thing you've neglected to ask…Well, maybe one thing. How about: what pisses you off about being a writer?
Answer: That I have to go through a process of drafts and my brain just won’t skip to the finished version. Bad brain!

7) What can we expect from you next?
Well, I’m working on something that will poke fun at all the supernatural stuff out there, but with romance, suspense and, of course, humor. It’s still in the writing phase, but no pressure on me or anything…(sticks sharp spork into chest and keels over).

Website: http://www.lauratoffler-corrie.com/
Blog: http://bit.ly/4fzmB4
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=profile&id=1529817750
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LauraTofflerCor

Thanks for doing the interview, Laura! Can't wait to read Amy!

Readers, don't forget to share a limerick in the comments of the previous post to win a signed copy of The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin by another funny writer and Tenner, Josh Berk.

AND THIS SHALL BE THE BEST GIVEAWAY CONTEST EVAHHHHHH

2010-03-19T16:24:00.010-04:00

Ok, I know I'm posting twice in one day, but all this sunshine is mania inducing. Not to mention my near-release status: my book and I have been circling Laguardia for about six years and the tower has just approved clearance to land.

So, here's the thing: I have an extra copy of this beautiful hardcover edition of The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin that I will gladly give to one lucky winner (note, I said "extra" copy). Josh will even send along one of his super-cool signed bookplates.

I just finished reading it and I can tell you it is so original and funny and well paced. Will Halpin is a deaf teen who decides to take a risk and leave behind deaf culture and his old high school for a mainstream education. Now, that would be book enough for anyone. I would totally read that. But Mr. Berk does not stop there. Without giving too much away...there's a mystery suddenly, and a ghost and a unused coal mine! Berk showed amazing restraint in pulling back before the Scooby-esque runaway-coal-cars chase scene. I don't know if a lesser writer could have stopped himself! I loved this book from the layout, illustration and gorgeous blue of the cover, to Berk's hilarious bio, and well, every page in between. Oh, and look who agrees with me...

"This witty tale of mainstreaming, misfits and murder glitters like the 'Future Diamonds' that coal-mine souvenirs promise to someday become..."
— Starred Review, Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2009

"A genre-bending breakthrough that teens are going to love."
— Starred Review, School Library Journal, January 2010

So we have established that you WANT this future classic. Here's what you'll do.

1. Write a limerick

I'm a poetical heretical theoretical kinda gal, and though I write in open form in my novel, I enjoy reading poetry in form (check out Helen Frost, please, she's so inventive, and Marilyn Nelson---I can't even explain what she does in A Wreath for Emmett Till).

Now a limerick, if you're a little rusty, is five lines with the first, second and fifth rhyming. The third and fourth shorter lines also rhyme. They are typically baudy in nature, which is fine, but keep in mind, this is the blog of a children's book author.

2. Post your limerick in the comments by March 26

3. Watch for A Very Special Edition of MasterBerk Theatre

Berk will perform a dramatic reading of the limericks, complete with sound effects, silly pipe and cravat. If you're not familiar with MasterBerk Theatre, here's a sample of him reading Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves.

4. Vote on your favorite limerick

Vote and invite your friends to vote in the comments. The prize will go to the poet who gets the most love.

Get started on your limericks! MasterBerk and Hamburger Halpin are waiting!

Click Here; Read There

2010-03-19T10:05:00.006-04:00

Such a great post on The Backstory by Ann Leal, author of Also Known as Harper and the forthcoming A Finders Keepers Place (Henry Holt, October 2010). Our ancestors find ways to speak to us. And what they want to say, apparently, is that they weren't all that different from us. Who doesn't want to live on? Through their descendants? Through their art?

Now, if you know me, you know I was raised on old-school rock in the heart of the Catskills where musicians of the 60s and 70s (and even to the present) could getaway for R&R, away from the other R&R (rock and roll). That Lynyrd Skynyrd shirt with the Jack Daniels label design was de rigueur, practically a uniform. (I can't believe I said Lynyrd Skynyrd and de rigueur in the same sentence...)

Anyway, what I'm getting at it is seeing an excerpt of my book juxtaposed with lines from Bob Dylan---yeah, I know!---in a review that goes out to librarians all over the country. (Look for 3RR in the sidebar.) And you might recognize other loves, Jimi and Van. Thank you, thank you, thank you Richie---it was such a thrill for this North Country Girl.

Reviews and Interviews

2010-03-17T08:53:00.004-04:00

Some good news in the last week or so: starred reviews! Thanks so much to the thoughtful readers at Kirkus Reviews and School Library Journal. I probably don't have to spell out the value of reviews like these for a book like mine. Look for the complete reviews on my website soon (once the issues are "out there").

Meanwhile, check out my interview ---Tennerview really---with Elevensies' Shawn Goodman (Something Like Hope, Delacorte). Elevensies is the Live Journal community of 2011 debut authors, following the tradition of the Debs and the Tenners.

Faith, the Children's Book Reporter, interviewed me on her blog as well. Check it out---fun questions!

Also, congrats to wonderful Caroline, who won Swati's ARC of 3RR from Midwinter ALA over on www.swatiavasthi.com. Hope you enjoy it!

So, what did we do to celebrate? My husband asked what kind of wheat-free, dairy-free, sugar-free, alcohol-free celebration I would like. (I know, I know, darn sinus infection!! You picked the wrong time to mess with me!) I couldn't think of a thing, but he suggested our new favorite restaurant, which has rice noodle dishes and vegetables that are crunchy and brightly colored. My kids love it because it's right next to Game Stop---everybody wins.

What's a good mid-week celebration in your house?

Interview with Class of 2k10's Alexandra Diaz, Author of Of All the Stupid Things

2010-03-15T11:22:00.010-04:00

Now, for your reading pleasure, a few questions for Class of 2k10 debut author Alexandra Diaz. Her novel, Of All the Stupid Things, was the class' first release, hitting stores in late December---just a toe over the border but still counting as 2010!

Title: Of All the Stupid Things
Release date: December 22, 2009
Imprint/publisher: Egmont USA
Genre: YA
Target age group: 14+

Synopsis: Tara, Whitney Blaire, and Pinkie have been friends for years. Then the new girl comes to town, and Tara begins having feelings for her. Can the girls’ friendship last when all the rules have changed?

1. Every good story starts at the point of change. What is the point of change in this story?

There’s change right from the beginning starting with the rumor about Brent, but I would say that the arrival of Riley is when things really start raveling.

2. What do you want that you can’t have? How would your main character answer the same question?

I would love the ability to live and work anywhere in the world instead of having to comply with immigration laws. As for my characters, Pinkie wants everyone to be safe and happy, Whitney Blaire wants everything her way, and Tara doesn’t really know what she wants but will keep running until she gets it.

3. Did another book serve as a model for yours, either in structure or inspiration? Tell us how.

As a writer, I’m always influenced by what I read. Different books creep in without me even noticing. While rereading the last Harry Potter, I noticed a couple things that made me laugh because they’re in my book as well despite the books’ complete differences. Thankfully, I don’t think anyone else would be able to pick out these borrowed tiny tidbits.

4. Tell us about a real-life person or situation that crept into this book.

A boy who never called was the basis for Nash, Pinkie’s love obsession. I originally wrote Nash exactly like this boy but then I found him too two-dimensional. It wasn’t until I made Nash into his own fictional character that he seemed to become real.

5. Wildcard question: What’s your superpower? What’s your Kryptonite?

I wish my superpower was flying, but unfortunately I haven’t mastered that yet. My real superpower I suppose is the ability to pretend, whether that’s to pretend a different world exists or pretend I’m perky and awake when I haven’t slept. My kryptonite is a combination of procrastinating and not realizing the day only has 24 hours. That’s where pretending helps!

6. What are you wishing I would get around to asking already? (And what’s the answer, wise guy!)

What type of fiction could you never see yourself writing? Anything scary. I couldn’t read Goosebumps to the kids I used to babysit! I’m brave in real life but evil supernatural scares me to pieces. However, vampires and werewolves don’t faze me at all.

7. What can we expect from you next?

I’m working on a few different projects and I’m not quite sure which will be next. We’ll see!

Website: http://www.alexandra-diaz.com/

JR: Thanks for the interview, Alexandra!

My Five-Minute Recording Career

2010-03-10T15:29:00.006-05:00

A while back...let's say in February, the Lost Month...my trip to Audible was cancelled due to winter-weather-related curmuddlement. But Tuesday, just in the nick of time, I was able to record my author's note at a NYC studio.

Some of the highlights:

a red velvet cupcake from the new Magnolia Bakery branch at Grand Central: the frosting was amazing and it was not just kinda sorta red, it was really really really red!
on-the-train reading: The Reinvention of Edison Thomas (ARC) by Class of 2k10-mate and fellow Tenner Jacqueline Houtman
the nice folks at Outloud Audio
a mini-celebration at a champagne bar with Erica, my agent's assistant (I would say "lovely assistant," but that would sound like my agent was an illusionist)
oh, and I made it to my trains on time
the weather was lovely for walking around the city
a friendly security guard was watching over my car in the parking garage, and come to think of it, the cashier was super nice, too

All in all, I think the reading went great, though anyone would sound good with all that fancy equipment. I'm a little self-conscious about whistling the letter "s"---ever since I broke a tooth about, oh, I don't know, eleven years ago (!) my s-es are a little whistly. My dentist said, "That's ok people will think you're happy!" (What?)

The reason I don't rush to fix it has to do with the fact that "fixing" means whittling it down to a stump and putting a fake tooth on top. When the problem is that your teeth are crumbling like Greek ruins, the fix can't possibly be crumbling them further. It's just counter-intuitive. Ugh, I know, I know, there's some dental work in my future before I can start my sideline career as an audio book reader. Haha! It really does look fun and thank you to Audible and Brilliance and Outloud Audio for giving me a little peek at their world.

Interview with Class of 2k10's Janet Fox, Debut Author of Faithful

2010-03-08T15:15:00.007-05:00

I was lucky enough to meet Janet Fox, a wonderful writer and truly lovely person, at SCBWI NY, at the exact same time I was reading an ARC of Faithful! Ok, I mean, I did put the book down---it wasn't like I was reading while I was walking and then ran smack into her, spilling one of those giant shiny silver coffee pots on us...but I could see that happening, to me at least.)

I could list all the reasons that Faithful is right up my alley---it's historical, involves debutantes and high society, class-challenged romance...yeah, our books should get married...but the best part for any reader is how much you will love the characters. By the end, I was so invested in the main character, Maggie, that I hated to let the story go. Also, I love when setting is a character: Janet's artful and compelling descriptions of Yellowstone brought back striking memories of my own visit as a child.

And now, here's more with Janet Fox:

Title: FAITHFUL
Release date: May 13, 2010
Imprint/publisher: Speak/Penguin Group
Genre: YA
Target age group: 12-18

Synopsis: In 1904 Margaret Bennet has it all – money, position, and an elegant family home in Newport, Rhode Island. But just as she is to enter society her father drags her to Yellowstone National Park, where he informs her that they will remain. At first Maggie’s only desire is to return to Newport. But the mystical beauty of the Yellowstone landscape, and the presence of young Tom Rowland, a boy unlike the others she has known, conspire to change Maggie from a spoiled girl willing to be constrained by society to a free-thinking and brave young woman living in a romantic landscape at the threshold of a new century.

1. Every good story starts at the point of change. What is the point of change in this story?
Lovely question! The story opens as my protagonist, Maggie, is about to leave behind her childhood home, friends, and the social structure she knows for what she thinks is a short journey. She is unaware that her father plans to leave their home forever. Everything changes for Maggie when she discovers his duplicity.

2. What do you want that you can’t have? How would your main character answer the same question?
I’d love to have years added to my life, so that I could write all the books that crowd into my head! Maggie would say that she wants her mother.

3. Did another book serve as a model for yours, either in structure or inspiration? Tell us how.
Ah! Well, I love Jane Austen. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE was an inspiration; Maggie’s last name is Bennet. FAITHFUL doesn’t pretend to be witty, but I hope it contains the same kind of romance: complex and layered.

4. Tell us about a real-life person or situation that crept into this book.
I was first inspired to write the novel because our family has a cabin in the mountains of Montana and we’ve spent lots of time in Yellowstone National Park – I was dying to set a story in the Park. And my own mom had recently passed away, so I incorporated my grief into Maggie’s. The setting and character arc just came together.

5. Wildcard question: What’s your superpower? What’s your Kryptonite?
I love it! I can find lost things. I’m really good at it. Oh, and I can spot 4-leaf clovers a mile away. I’ll be on a hike, and they just pop out at me like they're fluorescent or something. It’s a little weird.

6. What are you wishing I would get around to asking already? (And what’s the answer, wise guy!)
“Do you ever struggle with your writing?” Yes. All the time. I love it, but it’s also painful. But I love it…

7. What can we expect from you next?
I have 4 things in the works: a “sequel” to FAITHFUL (actually, it’s a novel using some of the same characters, but following another protagonist to a different place); two separate middle grade fantasies; and a middle grade historical piece set in Elizabethan England. And my agent is shopping something for me now, but I don’t want to jinx it, so, shhh…

JR: Thanks for stopping by, Janet. Can't wait for that sequel! C'mon just a peek...I won't give away any spoilers...

Website: www.janetsfox.com
Blog: www.kidswriterjfox.blogspot.com
Facebook: as Janet Fox
Twitter: as janetsfox

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt8G0mXqvVM

Extended Frances-ism and 3RR ARC Giveaway

2010-03-03T09:22:00.004-05:00

My pint-sized font of wisdom wrote a poem for my husband and me this morning... I mean, this is how we roll in our house: poetry before breakfast, a chapter of a novel over goldfish crackers, making up songs in the shower...

The snow falls fast
and trees sway.
My braids blow in the wind.
The squirrels wrap up in their tails.
The foxes curl up with their moms.
The smell of cocoa fills the air.

I admit I did correct for spelling---even an over-proud mama has trouble with "skwrls" for squirrels.

Thanks for indulging me. Now, if you want to read a little something I wrote, namely Three Rivers Rising---and I hope you do, especially if you're a reader of this blog---and you don't want to wait until April (40 days to go), and you wouldn't mind owning a signed ARC...get in on this giveaway over at Swati Avasthi's website/blog.

You might recall that Swati and I met and had a little Mutual Admiration Society meeting (I love love love her book Split, available everywhere) at Midwinter ALA in Boston. As much as we enjoyed each other's ARCs, we decided they would be put to better use in giveaways. My giveaway of Split was last month, and now she's got 3RR up on the block. Please check out Swati's site and say hello.

Fifty Day Countdown

2010-02-21T14:15:00.002-05:00

My soon-to-be defunct countdown widget says we are at the 50-day mark for 3RR. A nice big fat round number...the kind an English major can embrace.

Well, February has been almost completely lost: first an emergency with my dad, then my flight getting cancelled due to the "blizzard," meanwhile I was sick with a cough that seemed to originate somewhere near my solar plexus and later became a sinus infection...the upside is that all the bad news leveled off and we celebrated my dad's birthday in rehab (the physical therapy and food-on-a-tray kind, not the celebrity kind). His injuries are reasonably well in hand and not causing him pain at the moment, but facilities of this kind indirectly cause other problems so he has pneumonia and a potpourri of other infections to add to his to-heal list.

Now I'm getting reaquainted with my computer and not even scratching the surface of emails and other correspondence. I'm seeing the need for some kind of calendar to show where I'll be reading/signing/speaking or whatever, so look for that soon...probably on my website.

On a positive note, I have been writing, which can sometimes be a comforting constant through trying times. I'm making plans to visit a recording session of 3RR this week or next. And I'm expecting reviews to start trickling in over the next few weeks. So check back again, the fun part should be starting soon.

SCBWI NY 2010

2010-02-12T09:57:00.003-05:00

Go back in time and hang with us at SCBWI! And meet the Beat Box Guy.

And don't miss Berk's Release Day: The Musical.

A Balm, a Salve

2010-02-08T11:42:00.006-05:00

If you didn't win the signed ARC of Split by Swati Avasthi (and believe me, I'm kinda sad I have to part with it myself), console yourself with her new trailer! It is dyn-o-mite!

(Irene, you can watch it, too.)

Sorry for the Delay: Winner Announced

2010-02-05T09:27:00.002-05:00

Hi all, sorry for the delay. Here's the scoop. I had a wonderful and surreal time at SCBWI NY and I couldn't wait to come back and post about it, and post my interview with Janet Fox who I met there, and announce the winner of Split (ARC), and most of all to get writing with renewed zeal....but then I got some news that was also surreal and the opposite of wonderful. So, I'll be away from the blog and "the Internets" next week as I join my family to figure out what we do next. Right now I'm in that waiting limbo, waiting to go wait in the airport, then waiting to go wait in the hospital...

Please do check back soon for Janet's interview and other good stuff. And, oh yeah, I just got my first fan trailer from Mary in Ohio. She's a teen librarian and she created it as a sample for Teen Tech week---the kids will all make book trailers. Cool, huh?

Thanks to everybody who entered and for all the follows, old and new. And now the lucky winner is....drumroll....

Irene!

Please contact me to claim your prize!

The Winner of the SPLIT Giveaway Announced Momentarily

2010-02-03T10:47:00.003-05:00

Check back in a few...

Meanwhile, gaze upon this in wonder:

It is the 8-foot snow sculpture Celestial Elephant by Donna Dodson and Andy Moerlein.

Giveaway: Signed ARC of Split

2010-01-26T10:24:00.005-05:00

It just so happens that I have in my possession an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of YA novel Split by Swati Avasthi, signed by the author and dated "Midwinter ALA." Both Knopf authors and Class of 2k10 classmates, Swati and I had a few moments to chew the fat and sign each other's ARCs after the Its a First reception in Boston. And we decided to support and help promote each other by having giveaways of those ARCs. First, here's the scoop on Split:

Synopsis:

16-year-old Jace Witherspoon arrives at the doorstep of his estranged brother, Christian, with a re-landscaped face (courtesy of his father’s fist), $3.84, and a secret.

He tries to move on, going for new friends, a new school, and a new job, but all his changes can’t make him forget what he left behind—his mother, who is still trapped with his dad, and his ex-girlfriend who is keeping his secret. At least so far.

Split is about what happens after. After you’ve said enough, after you’ve run, after you’ve made the split. How do you begin to live again?

This book will knock your socks off. If you're a reader, you will take a great ride that you won't soon forget. If you're a writer, well...prepare to be humbled and awed. Swati has created characters who I would recognize instantly if I saw them on the street, and I really do expect to see them! That's how real they are to me now. I predict Swati has an amazing career ahead (hard to believe this is her first book!) so this signed ARC will be a treasure, I have no doubt.

So leave a comment if you want to win and get an extra entry by following my blog. Contest closes Tuesday, Feb 2.

(U.S. and Canada only)

Follow Me

2010-01-22T17:55:00.002-05:00

Just noticing...I have 26 followers. Nothing wrong with that. But! If I had...oh, I don't know...say 36 followers (!), I might be tempted to give something away. Something special. Something one of a kind! HINT: notice photos of other beloved debut authors below. Not an official annoucement yet, but let's just say...when I come back Monday morning...

Midwinter ALA: It's a First Reception

2010-01-19T13:36:00.023-05:00

Twenty years doesn't seem like all that long ago. I graduated from college in the Boston area twenty years back---almost to the month---from the release date of my debut novel. And this past weekend I had the honor of returning to Boston to celebrate with my wonderful editor and meet the energetic enthusiastic librarians of the American Library Association (ALA). The symmetry of it thrills my writerly heart.

Some highlights:

The view from my hotel room!

The Rooftop Ballroom at the Omni Parker House. I definitely got my history fix! Photo is from their website---its just a tiny bit better than mine...

Of course the It's a First reception didn't have a wedding cake or dining tables, but you can imagine the city skyline from windows on three sides. And the little girl inside me still thinks the crystal chandeliers are made of diamonds!

Our editors introduced our books, lots of shop talk with book lovers ensued. I didn't grab my camera in time to take a photo of Anna, but I did get to meet her and tell her how much I enjoyed All Unquiet Things. Luckily I snapped the other authors at dinner.

Nancy Siscoe, editor, and Swati Avasthi, author of Split (Knopf, 2010) and member of the Class of 2k10.
Check back soon for a signed-ARC giveaway of Split (hint: it might include a followers goal, so please follow).

Marianne Malone, author of The Sixty-Eight Rooms (Random House, 2010), and editor Schuyler Hooke (not Schurley Hooche, not Agnes Gooche).

Now I've known for some time that my courageous editor, Joan Slattery, can see inside my head! And help me make the content on the page match what's up there. For some reason, I have the notion that you can tell that from this picture. What do you think?

So, it was over in a blink: reception, dinner, signing each other's ARCs, or actual hardcovers in the cases of the earlier releases.

In the morning, I had time for a quick coffee with Boston sculptor Donna Dodson, a friend from college---that's right, we haven't seen each other in 20 years---before catching the train. Here we are holding the camera up to ourselves at South Station before she takes the T back to her studio---did I feel like a kid again? Yeah, and conversely old at the same time! Oops, look at that, I missed my own face entirely!

Almost forgot, in another full-circle syncronicity, Donna used to be the teen librarian for a nearby library. She's gonna help spread the word about certain 2010 releases! Thanks, Donna!

Out-of-Office Reply Post

2010-01-15T19:21:00.009-05:00

No interview this weekend. As you may have guessed from my sidebar, I'll be at Midwinter ALA in Boston.

I'll be meeting my editor for the first time, along with Class of 2k10 author Swati Avasthi (Split, Knopf, March 2010) and Tenner author Anna Jarzab (All Unquiet Things, Delacorte, released moments ago!) I'll also meet Marianne Malone (The Sixty-Eight Rooms, Random House, February 2010) who I'll be getting to know from scratch. The event is a reception for debut authors from the Fresh Fiction from New Voices: It's a First catalog.

The reception will be at the Omni Parker House: talk about literary history...AND there might just be one haunted elevator! So I hear...

The most illustrious group to call the Parker House home was certainly that nineteenth-century men’s social gathering known as the Saturday Club. A hint at the caliber of the club’s membership is alluded to in an 1867 letter from visiting British author, Charles Dickens:
I dine today with Longfellow,
Emerson,
Holmes, and Agassiz. Longfellow was
here yesterday. Perfectly
white in hair
and beard, but a remarkably handsome
and notable-looking
man.
Originating in the Literary Club and the Magazine Club, two private associations of the mid-1850s, the Saturday Club began as a small group of friends who chose the Parker
House to host their festive roundtables on the last Saturday afternoon of every month. Typical among its nineteenth century members was poet, essayist, and preeminent
transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson would take the train from his home in Concord, then visit the Old Corner Bookstore and the Athenaeum before dining at the
Parker House, Alongside Emerson might be poet and Atlantic Monthly editor James Russell Lowell, scientist Louis Agassiz, novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne, poets John
Greenleaf Whittier and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, diplomat Charles Francis
Adams, historian Francis Parkman, sage-about-town Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, and
many others.
The Saturday Club’s afternoons were often taken up with poetry readings, impassioned discussions, and book critiques. Indeed, some great moments in literary history transpired in these Parker House meetings. Here, in the folds of the Saturday Club, Longfellow drafted “Paul Revere’s Ride,” the idea for the Atlantic Monthly was born, and Dickens gave his first American reading of “A Christmas Carol.” As important to the group as intellectual pursuit, however, was camaraderie—and a hefty dose of mirth, gossip, revelry, and seven-course meals, all washed down with endless elixirs.
Literary superstar Charles Dickens, who resided at the Parker House during his 1867-68 American lecture tour, joined club members for one particularly memorable meeting, on November 30, 1867. Among the author’s noted contributions was a favorite gin punch—concocted on site, after Dickens dispatched his assistant George Dolby to pull his stash of fine gin off the Cunard liner docked nearby.
Dickens’ presence in Boston always created a stir. When staying at the Parker House, he took lengthy walks almost every afternoon, dressed flamboyantly in a brightly colored coat and shiny boots, accessorized with striped cravat, fine hat, and gloves. Guards were
regularly assigned to his hotel room door, since curious fans were eager to catch a glimpse of their favorite writer rehearsing the exaggerated gestures and odd facial expressions he used to create characters in his public readings. The colorful Dickens preened and practiced his animated talks in front of a large mirror which now rests in the mezzanine level hall by the Press Room. Artifacts from his stay were long kept on display in the Dickens Room. Today, that room is used for meeting and dining, but it still holds the marble fireplace mantle Dickens used.

Interview with Egmont Author Kristina McBride

2010-01-11T10:36:00.007-05:00

And now, for your reading pleasure, please meet Kristina McBride, author of The Tension of Opposites (Egmont, May 2010), Tenner and Class of 2k10 member.

Author: Kristina McBride
Title: The Tension of Opposites
Release date: May 25, 2010
Imprint/publisher: Egmont USA
Genre: YA
Target age group: 14-18

Synopsis:
It’s been two years since Noelle disappeared. Two years since her bike was discovered, sprawled on a sidewalk. Two years of silence, of worry, of fear.

For those two long years, her best friend Tessa has waited, living her own life in a state of suspended animation. Because how can she allow herself to enjoy a normal high school life if Noelle can’t? How dare she have other friends, go to dances, date boys, without knowing what happened to the girl she thought she would share everything with?

And then one day, someone calls Noelle’s house. She’s alive.

1. Every good story starts at the point of change. What is the point of change in this story?
Two years ago, sixteen-year-old Tessa’s best friend, Noelle, was kidnapped. The Tension of Opposites begins when Tessa learns that Noelle has been found alive and is returning home.

2. What do you want that you can’t have? How would your main character answer the same question?

Dinner with Attucis Finch. Or three separate evenings with my grandparents, featuring them at the ages of 18, 25, and 35.

Tessa wants to have a normal life, and a normal friendship with her best friend (who returns from her kidnapping as a very distant and self-destructive girl), and she’s not sure if she’ll ever attain those two things. 3. Did another book serve as a model for yours, either in structure or inspiration? Tell us how.
As I was revising The Tension of Opposites, I read several books in the same thematic vein as mine, mainly to get a feel for a darker tone. Two that come to mind instantly are The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold and Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott.

4. Tell us about a real-life person or situation that crept into this book.

There’s a flashback scene where Cooper, the kidnapped girl’s younger brother, crunches a popsicle stick between his teeth until it splinters into a minature broom. This drives Noelle crazy. My husband does this whenever he eats a popsicle, and it has the same effect on me as someone scraping their nails down a chalkboard. He thinks it’s quite funny. Me, not so much.

5. Wildcard question: What’s your superpower? What’s your Kryptonite?

Superpower: Obsessive cleaning.
Krypronite: Things that are dirty or sticky. (Yes, I know that this often times includes my own children.)

6. What are you wishing I would get around to asking already? (And what’s the answer, wise guy!)

My favorite song (at least, my favorite song of the day): Break Away by John Mayer.

7. What can we expect from you next?

All I can say is that I’m working on the second novel of my two-book deal with Egmont USA. It is totally unrelated to The Tension of Opposites.

JR: Can't wait to read both, Kristina. Thanks for coming!

Feeling Linky? Look for more info about this author:

Website: http://www.kristinamcbride.com/ (under construction)
Blog: http://kristinamcbride.livejournal.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/McBrideKristina
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6889070-the-tension-of-opposites

Any Unanswered Questions

2010-01-08T14:45:00.005-05:00

Anything you don't already know about me or Three Rivers Rising? Want to find out? Check out my chat with friend and fellow Tenner Laura Toffler-Corrie, author of The Life and Opinions of Amy Finawitz, Eighth Grader (Roaring Brook Press, Fall 2010).

Six Authors in Search of a Reader: Interview Series (1)

2010-01-04T12:52:00.003-05:00

When I was a girl, my mother used to say, "In my next life, I'm going to be beautiful...like Elizabeth Taylor." And I sometimes find myself thinking, In my next life, I'd like to be musical. I could have long hair and a guitar, big hoop earrings, like Carole and Paula from "The Magic Garden." But one alternate life that I don't have any trouble imagining is being a reader for an editor or agent. After all these years of learning the craft, I think I have a durn good eye for spotting quality writing. And so I bring you this Interview Series: Six Authors in Search of a Reader. (I stole this title from my friend Penny a little bit, but I'm pretty sure she won't mind since she stole it from Luigi Pirandello a little bit.)

The authors in this series have applied themselves to writing and revising in a professional manner, they have a completed manuscript and they have a total package of skill and talent. They are one reader away from representation, in some cases, and/or publication. One reader: the right reader, the one who is their perfect match.

So, let's begin with the first interview---and if you want to read more by this author, please clamor in the comments.

Some of my faithful readers may recall the PEN New England Children's Book Caucus Susan P. Bloom Discovery Award for work by an unpublished writer, which was given to Three Rivers Rising in 2008. Well, let me introduce you to 2009 winner, Shelagh Smith, author of A Mouthful of Straw.

Title: A Mouthful of Straw
Genre: Historical Fiction
Age group: Young Adult
Synopsis: Set in 1930s China, A Mouthful of Straw tells the story of Yi Pei, an unlucky and unwanted farmer’s daughter cast out of her family home to live with American missionaries in the bustling city of Nanking. Scarred by a fire and robbed of a once bright future, Yi Pei faces trials from the girls at her new school who see her as an ill omen; learns about love and friendship when she meets her first true friends; and finds strength and courage she never knew she possessed as she and the international community around her struggle to fend off the invading Japanese army during the horrific period known as the Rape of Nanking.

Interview:

1. Every good story starts at the point of change. What is the point of change in this story?

There are many points of change in this story, but the first is when Yi Pei is sent away from her family home to live in an orphanage run by western missionaries. It’s her first exposure to westerners, to education, to other young girls, to city life. It gives her the chance to see that there might be a life bigger than the bleak one she’d always imagined for herself.

2. What do you want that you can’t have? How would your main character answer the same question?

That’s a tough question. I want a lot of things, I suppose, which sounds terrible because I already have so much. I have my health, I have a job I enjoy, I have the best friends and family I could ever hope for. The one thing I want that I can’t have is the freedom to travel and experience other parts of the world – at least not yet, that is! :)

If I had to answer the same thing for Yi Pei, I would say that the one thing she wants but can’t have is a family of her own, even though she manages to create a community around herself that fills that need for her.

3. Did another book serve as a model for yours, either in structure or inspiration? Tell us how.

I’ve always been a huge fan of historical fiction, so I suppose the Masters of Rome series by Colleen McCullough got me to see history as not only a literal recounting of past events, but as a really robust backdrop for any number of stories. If you haven’t read that series, you’re missing out! Another author I really enjoy is Steven Saylor who wrote the Roma Sub Rosa series which are historical mysteries; and of course Diana Gabaldon who did the Outlander series which was a nice mix of history and fantasy. Boy, this was the wrong question to ask…I could go on forever! I’ll stop now.

4. Tell us about a real-life person or situation that crept into this book.

There are many real life situations that crept into this book – I think we’ve all been the ‘outsider’ at one time or another, though hopefully not to the extent that Yi Pei is. There are also a number of real life people who are mentioned in the book – John Rabe, the German nationalist who headed the International Safety Committee and worked with the refugee community in Nanking is in the book; and several of the western missionaries are based on real life characters. And there is a character in the book modeled after my best friend.

5. Wildcard question: What’s the weirdest thing you ever ate?

Chopped reindeer in some kind of thick brown gravy. Don’t ask. It was good. But you know how people say, “I liked it…but it was gamey” and you don’t really know what that means? Well, know I know what that really means.

6. What are you wishing I would get around to asking already? (And what’s the answer, wise guy!)

What was the hardest part of working on this novel? (I guess.) The hardest part was letting it go and saying, “Yep. You’re done.” I’m sure if I just gave it one more pass it would be even better… :)

7. This manuscript is complete—what are you working on next?

I’m working on another historical fiction novel about Lizzie Borden! This one is a bit different, though, because it’s told from the perspective of her older sister Emma.

JR: Whoa! I'm really looking forward to reading more of that one!

Cookie:

Mother had told me that before the night of the fire I had been a beautiful child, a bright and cheerful girl. The other women nearby often came around then, looking to make a match with their sons. Sometimes I dreamed I would have found a good husband, that my family’s land would have grown with the addition of a new son-in-law, and that I would have borne him many children. I dreamed that I would have made them happy. My future had been bright then. Now there was no talk of husbands, there would never be children to care for aside from tiny Lien, and even she was growing older and needing less from me each day. Soon the mothers would come to make a match with her for she was very pretty, though she was born with an impulsive temperament which made her less desirable as a good wife. Mother was certain she would grow out of such unbecoming behavior, though, and counted on me to show her how to act like a proper girl. My role had become teacher; I was to teach Lien to be the girl I once was even as with each passing day I shrank in the memory of my family.

A whisper in the darkness carried over the sound of the rain, and though I knew it was disrespectful to listen, I could not resist. Since Father no longer looked at me or spoke to me, I craved the sound of his voice. Even Mother’s words were becoming fewer these days as the strains of feeding five mouths pressed in on her. I held off tears, not wanting to wake Lien, but more importantly to hear what Mother and Father were whispering in the darkness. Sometimes I would hear them laughing and grunting, making marriage sounds and it saddened me because I knew no man would ever touch me in such a way. The thought threatened to overwhelm my resolve not to cry, but then I heard my father’s voice. It was harsh and final.

“We have no choice. There is not enough for us all.”

I strained to see through the blackness, trying so hard to see that my eyes ached. I made out only the faint white glow of the thin curtain separating their space, providing them the smallest bit of privacy.

Mother’s voice was strained and heavy with sorrow, quieter than Father’s. “Husband, surely there must be another way. Please.”

He did not answer. After a long silence between them I heard her muffled weeping. My heart stuttered in my chest. I wanted to go to her, to give her comfort as she comforted Lien when she cried, as she had comforted me in the past. I was frozen in my bed. I felt sick, my stomach threatening to spill the rice and vegetables I had eaten hours ago, though I wasn’t sure why. I only knew that something bad was going to happen and that it was my fault for bringing bad luck into our home.

Agent info: N/A
Contact: shelaghmsmith (at) comcast (dot) net
Facebook: Shelagh Smith

Thanks for playing along, Shelagh, and thanks for giving us a peek at A Mouthful of Straw! And I hope you find your perfect reader!

If you're like me and you wish you could run over to your local bookseller and get your hot little hands on this book, please please PLEASE comment!

Substitute Santa!

2009-12-23T09:52:00.002-05:00

Here's a little story for Christmas by Little Leaf #1. I can't reproduce it here because blogger prefers I don't paste these days. But its a gem, so worth the trip. Merry merry!

To You and All Your Family...

2009-12-21T08:35:00.004-05:00

Happy Winter!
Safe Holidays!
Let's make 2010 the best year ever!

Reindeer #1 of a series

by Little Leaf #1 2008

A turning point in a mother's life: reading with LL#1 this weekend, and I noticed the text in her book was smaller than mine! She's reading Redwall and I'm reading Solace of the Road. Also, my firstborn told me I was "cool" this weekend. Probably has something to do with all the Christmas cookies we baked. Recipe to follow.

Skin You Can Write On

2009-12-10T15:42:00.002-05:00

Let's just say I'm taking this writing thing a little too far: I have a kind of hives called Dermatographism. Now I haven't taken Latin or whatever, but doesn't that mean "Skin You Can Write On"? Another non-Latin reason I suspect that: the brochure has a photo of a guy's chest with his name scratched on it. Yes it does. No I'm not making it up. The letters are raised like a hive would be, only instead of a bump, it's "Terry." No, I'm not gonna put the picture on here. You can use your imagination just fine, that's what it's for.

Now the second fascinating glimpse into my life and personal hygience comes in the form of the "emollient" I have to use. (Ok, I think I was supposed to get the "lotion" but anytime I think of that word in isolation, I get a Silence of the Lambs flashback. "IT PUTS ON THE LOTION!!!" shudder) Anyway, the stuff is made of wax! So, obstacle number one, you can't get it out of the tube without a caulking gun, and number two, once you get a handful, it doesn't spread around at all. So you just glop it on. Everywhere. And now the part where I use the cliche about the cure being worse than the...whatever...it's tacky. Tacky as in sticky. All my clothes feel like a wet suit. And when I do succeed in peeling off a layer, the air feels cold on my skin. Like a cold sweat that never goes away. I'm made of cold damp frozen rubber. I'm a wax museum writer in a meat locker wearing a scuba suit and tanks filled with compressed air.

What exactly was so bad about the itching again?

One Two Tie Your Shoe

2009-12-03T15:25:00.003-05:00

Guess which little "ism"-maker tied her shoes today. An historical event! She used the bunny-ears method made famous by my sister Jennifer in Barclay Heights during the 70s.

What a great day, so great that we celebrated by getting H1N1 shots! What could be better?

Stash to Story Congrats!

2009-12-03T12:03:00.004-05:00

Wabi Sabi Knitter did her first Stash to Story workshop! Congratulations! If you are a knitter or quilter who has an interest in writing about your craft or experiences, you owe to yourself to check out her workshop. Or if you've already written something, click through to the Stash to Story blog guidelines for submission.

Just read ARCs of Sea by Heidi Kling and The Cinderella Society by Kay Cassidy. World, you wish it was 2010!!!

I also received Leaving Gee's Bend (ARC) by Irene Latham, but I didn't dare open the package until I was finished with TCS because I suspect LGB will have power over me until the very last word. (Maybe I've only mentioned in passing my love for the quilts of Gee's Bend, and my fascination with the story of Gee's Bend, and---oh, yeah---did I mention Irene is a poet?) I want to be prepared: Kids, here's the phone number for the pizza delivery, put yourselves to bed when its dark...

Kids: Mommy mommy mommy.
Me: unh...
Kids: Mommy, eyes on me, Mommy!
Me: whah?
Kids: You love that book more than me! WANNNHHHHH!!!!

If you haven't checked out http://www.classof2k10.com/, please do! And comment on the blog to win awesome titles from the Class of 2k9.

Grad Party for Class of 2k9 AND Class of 2k10 Launch

2009-12-01T10:03:00.004-05:00

December is here and it is official launch time for the Class of 2k10 debut author group. Check out http://www.classof2k10.com/. YAY! = understatement.

Before we start talking about our own books, we're celebrating the graduation of the Class of 2k9 with, you guessed it,

a giveaway<------CLICK IT!

We're giving away copies of their amazing books! Leave a comment to enter. Enter again with a link from tweeting, blogging or facebooking, etc. about it. (Comment on the 2k10 blog to enter, not here.)

Hooray for the Class of 2k9! Great job! Good luck!

More Good Fun

2009-11-20T09:26:00.005-05:00

Go see this loop of covers on The Tenners. Now permanent on the sidebar! Thanks Suzanne!

How about a review from the One ARC Tour: Pirate Penguin's Reads.

Another one? Okay. This is from Rebecca's Book Blog.

Thanks folks!

Oh, yeah, and my second round of galleys are DONE!

Tenner ARC Giveaway

2009-11-18T13:46:00.002-05:00

Signed ARC of The Secret Year by Jennifer R. Hubbard!

Synopsis: After his secret girlfriend's death, 17-year-old Colt finds the notebook she left behind, but he is unprepared for the truths he discovers about their intense relationship.

Leave a comment on her Tenner post by Thursday.

Some of the Goodness Coming Your Way in 2010

2009-11-16T17:50:00.002-05:00

Eventually this will be a permanent feature on my blog and website, but until then a sneak peek at the Class of 2k10 trailer.

Wanna Hear Some Good News?

2009-11-13T09:06:00.004-05:00

Check out Tenner Buzz. Some debuts are almost here.

Thanks for the Waiting on Wednesday (WoW) Frenetic Reader!

Little Leaf #1 reviewed 3RR for school. Her comments to me: "I like Estrella" (the sister) and "I think the dad is a big tough man" and "Are Peter and Celestia going to marry?" After reading for several hours, she said when interrupted, "Rats, I was FINALLY getting to a good part where the dam breaks." Finally?!! Haha.

Well, she's not exactly the target audience. It's not a middle-grade book, but what if you have a precocious reader? I say to this to any parent---your preteen kid CAN read it and get the jist. (In fact, the readability score from my software says it has a second-grade reading level, mostly because the lines are so short (verse). But each line is not a complete thought---several make a sentence.) Where you have to use your judgement as a parent is in the sophistication of the ideas. Disowning. Chaperones. Society. My daughter's school chums tell me they can't wait to read it and I think, "Good, by the time it comes out you'll be old enough to understand it."

My galleys arrived yesterday, so it's right back to the woodshop for me.

Have You Got Your Act Together? What Are You Waiting For?

2009-11-10T09:52:00.009-05:00

Do you ever think to yourself, What if I'd started sooner? What if I'd really gotten my act together with this writing thing when I was twenty instead of fo...something else. Where would I be now all those years later? I do think it, sometimes. I know I'm supposed to be bigger than that and say, This is my journey blah blah blah, I'm where I'm supposed to be yadda yadda.

My act was so NOT together at twenty. I'd like to say it was in scattered little pieces, awaiting assembly with one of those confounding metric IKEA allen wrenches. But, no, my act was a vapor cloud hovering somewhere over New England. This is why I'm so blown away (not my twenty-year old vapor cloud, me now) by my fellow debut writers who are college-age students. Some of them even have movie options. I just think it's pretty remarkable to write a book while pursuing an education: those two acts use really similar parts of your brain.

Other news: my WIP was launched into my editor's orbit last night. Then I promptly clicked something that sent up flares and flashing and red lights for a possible computer virus. Still wondering if I dodged that bullet or if there's something percolating behind the scenes. Then I poured hot boiling potato water all over my foot. Yeah, I know how to party. I know how to celebrate. (*edit*: I didn't see the humor in this before now: poured boiling hot potato water on myself after finishing a manuscript about post-famine Ireland. Maybe that's actually good luck.)

After being very restricted in my reading for my WIP, I'm reading for leisure again. Crossing Stones by Helen Frost---that's only semi-leisure reading because it will be in My Mom's Mock Newbery. Frost is a long-time favorite (The Braid, Diamond Willow). She has great focus and awesome ability to keep a story under control, even within the confines of very tightly controlled poetic forms.

So much emotion. The characters were so developed. And the different poems were shaped like a meandering stream for one character, and stepping stones for the others. When I read the note at the end, Frost said the stones were sonnets with interwoven rhyme schemes. And I'd missed it all because I was so involved in the story and so busy wiping my eyes. Maybe I should rate books on how many tears actually fall off my face. I'll be looking at it again, anyway, closer to Mock Newbery time. (What a cover, huh?)

Hey, You Like Stuff, Right?

2009-11-05T15:22:00.002-05:00

You like swag: bookmarks, stickers, postcards, and other book-related goodies, etc. Who doesn't right? Well, get over to Tenners and leave a comment. Then think positively or say an incantation or do whatever you do to improve your chances.

But wait there's more! And it ain't a set of Ginsu knives (they slice, they dice, they even cut through tin cans...) There was a really fun Tenners Tell All: The Casting Call (great idea Bree). One of the most fun questions for writers is Who would play your characters in the movie version?

Another fun question, though not necessarily for writers is Who would play you in the movie of your life?

Or the one I used to ask my English 101/102 students (partly to help me tell them apart early in the semester): What famous person are you told you look like?

I'd love to hear your answers: give me something to read besides my own WIP! Even better if you have a profile pic.

Read with Your Ears

2009-11-02T19:34:00.007-05:00

I used to say I wished I could read Braille so I could read while I drive. The library had just coughed up the latest by Louise Erdrich and it felt practically alive on the passenger seat next to me. Lucky for life and limb, and for anyone who's ever been near a highway, it eventually dawned on me that I could listen to books and have both hands on the wheel.

Still, sometimes I forget for a while.

Until I remember again. Or until I have a huge backlog of reading to catch up on. Like after a long stretch of research when I don't allow myself very much leisure reading.

I just listened to Tropical Secrets by Margarita Engle on audio. This is one of the few performed by multiple actors. Four voices. Favorite turns of phrase: "liquid hatred" and "a danceable sorrow."

And I was all unraveled by the young Daniel following the Cuban tradition of adopting an orphan with the same name. Imagine the circumstances that would make adoption by a 13-year-old child look like a viable proposition.

A Great Book

2009-10-19T18:02:00.004-04:00

I'm reading A Swift Pure Cry by Siobhan Dowd, one of my mother's favorite authors.

It makes me want to put myself on ice for one hundred years and learn to write like that. I'll never read another book again.

What a Week!

2009-10-15T14:51:00.003-04:00

Well, Tuesday was my Six-Months-Out Day, meaning only half a year until my pub. date. Not the kind where you meet some guy from match.com for a beer in an establishment that has corner booths and brass railings. NO! Not that kind of pub. date. I know: hardy har har. The release date. So that was a good day and I celebrated wildly, mostly in my head.

One way to celebrate was to launch my website. I cut the ribbon with a pair of giant scissors and smashed a bottle of champagne on the bow. What a waste of good champagne...I know. Sad really. Just think of all the thirsty people in some far-off land...tsk tsk.

Another piece of the celebration was getting the official okey-dokey to include the links for Audible and Brilliance on my website. They're the nice folks who are going to bring you Three Rivers Rising on audio; downloads and discs respectively. At the end of the summer, over a lovely lunch, we talked about what the characters would sound like and what qualities the voices would need to convey. A whole new industry for me to learn about!

Last but not least, the caboose on the good-news train: I think I'm done, I think I'm done, I think I'm done. My work in progress. My book #2. Whatever you want to call it. I think its done. I will continue reading about the Bridgets and the Fairies and the Typhoid Marys while my mentor has it, but I'm hoping its pretty darn ready for its close up!

Where Do You Get Your Ideas?

2009-10-14T12:39:00.002-04:00

Good Tenners Tell All today: comments will be pouring in all day I'm sure. The question is "Where Do You Get Your Ideas?"

And scroll down if you want a free book. I extended the deadline.

Six-Months-Out Day!!!! And a Surprise...

2009-10-13T09:09:00.014-04:00

Happy October 13, 2009---six months from the release date of Three Rivers Rising!

I'm calling it Six-Months-Out Day, like a half birthday only in advance. To celebrate, I'm giving away a book* (not my book obviously, if you were paying attention oh, like one sentence ago!!). I read an excerpt on the author's website and it made me leap out of my chair to go buy it. Now I can't wait to share it. (And I'll throw in some of the bookmarks I just ordered.)

I'll give 5 hints. Then I'll tell you where to send your guess. If more than one person guesses correctly, then it's names in the hat for the winner.

Good luck! I hope you win! Not you, the other one...behind you.

1. The book is by a 2009 Debutante, buddies of the Tenners.

2. It is a beautiful upper-YA hardcover.

3. Now charades. Three fingers. First word. *tugs on ear*

(Second word of image.)

4. Still charades. Second word. *tugs on ear*

5. Last hint. Still charades. *tugs on ear*

Everybody's got it? Now, make your guess at contact@jamerichards.com

What? Jame, you don't have a website...SUPRISE!! Guess who's been secretly building her new website. It wasn't meant to be a secret---I just thought I'd take a crack at it and if I hated it, I would at least have the domain and hosting taken care of. But I'm pretty darn happy with it, if I do say so myself. And what better day to launch that sucker than SIX-MONTHS-OUT DAY!?!

Please hop over to

http://www.jamerichards.com/

after you make your guess and have a look around. Also, if you have a link to my blog anywhere, please update it to the website. You can still access the blog from there.

Edited: Contest will close at midnight Friday and I'll announce the winner Monday! Yay!

Thanks for playing and thanks for stopping by!

*Sorry, U.S. only.

A Half-Birthday

2009-10-08T09:30:00.002-04:00

Little Leaf #2 was very excited about her half-birthday recently, so we decided to run with it. We had a half-cake, with half-candles. It was fun---it made an ordinary weekday a little bit special.

It got me to thinking: Tuesday is six months from my release date! I'm gonna call it Six Months Out Day. And to celebrate, I should give something away, shouldn't I? Here's my idea. I just splurged on a beautiful upper-YA hardcover and it is on my nightstand this very minute. I finished it last night. To assuage my guilt at being so extravagant, maybe I should give it away. Maybe I should throw in some of the shiny new swag I just ordered.

So, I have a contest in mind. I'm not gonna say what the book is...cause that might be part of the fun. There'll be clues. And maybe some sekrits revealed. So check back October 13 for the Book Off My Nightstand contest. Kinda like the Shirt Off My Back contest, but I'm pretty sure nobody wants that stinky old thing.

Hen's Teeth

2009-10-07T07:33:00.006-04:00

My Grandpa Richards used to say:

Whistling girls

and crowing hens

always come

to some bad end.

He was a cheerful guy, always spreading joy like that. My sister was usually the one whistling, so it didn't bother me that much.

My Old Man uses the expression "hen's teeth" to mean rare. Like today, after he left at 5:45 a.m. in a downpour to get to work early, I stumbled downstairs to start the day...before I absolutely had to! When I'm up early, he says, "That's in hen's teeth territory."

Another thing that's super rare, so I hear: second-pass galleys. Yup. Guess who's getting them. Why? It's that pesky verse thing. (Cue the aw-shucks gesture and head tilt.) Line breaks. Line spacing. You just can't be too careful. So, once again I will have 3RR in my hot little hands and hope I can still see the trees in the forest. Forest. Trees. Hmm. Let's make a new poem:

A whistling sister!

Crowing, toothy hens!

Let's hope my treeless forest

comes to a swift and happy end

* Blogger is not allowing me to create the correct line spacing! AHHHHH! Is that a bad sign?

Revisionist History

2009-10-02T17:49:00.003-04:00

Ok, first of all, I can't get SuperFreak out of my mind. Not only that, but now I hear Morgan Freeman narrating my life choices. And I wonder if anyone is filming my frequent spontaneous dance moves around the kitchen while folding laundry. All right, I always think that, who am I kidding? (Did I grow up to be Tina Fey or what?)

But, still, I thought it was just me. Meaning it isn't happening to my neighbor. She does not have SuperFreak stuck in her head when I thought the whole world did. Just to validate my worldview, though, a guy behind me in the grocery started singing OUTLOUD:

do do do do
click click
do do
do do

do do do do
click click
do do

Ahhh, thank God. I'm not alone. Surfing the wavelengths of the collective unconscious. There are others, similarly afflicted.

Moving on, if there's not much in the way of exercising, or showering, or stocking the kitchen with healthy produce or even identifiable foodstuffs...then that can only mean one thing. Revision time. And I ask you this, if you're revising historical fiction, does that mean its revisionist history? Hmm. This just tells you how tired I am and how fried is ye olde brainpan. (I started referring to my mind/brain that way after reading Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson. Not the ye olde part. That's just silly.)

My good friend from Diet-Coke Fueled Life was threatening to go off the sweet brown poison as of Oct. 1 if she doesn't finish her own revision (YA contemporary, about a girl named Hazel) and I'm gonna check in with her now and see how it went. Come on back if you want to hear.

I'm not threatening to give anything up, except beets, but I'm hoping to finish around Octoberish myself.

Just one more Wa-Wah-Wowwww...she's superfreak-ay! And if you're picturing Rick James, like I'm picturing Rick James, let me just say that Charlie Murphy is a HELL of a storyteller! Like the storytellers of old. Like the days of ye olde brainpan.

Don't Read This!

2009-10-02T11:29:00.001-04:00

Don't spend any time here: where you really want to be is over here at Blog-toberfest by author Jeri Smith-Ready. Fun stuff to read. AND amazing giveaways! Including a grand prize of untold proportions!

Newbery Buzz

2009-09-29T12:56:00.002-04:00

Some of my favorite writers are on this Mock Newbery list:

Allen County Public Library: 2010 Mock Newbery Election

In bold, I don't mind mentioning! Ann, friend and 2k mentor, and Pat, teacher and all-around mentor. And several other 2k9 members, as well. Congrats. Very exciting.

Revisionary

2009-09-22T15:28:00.005-04:00

Like my new word? Revisionary? Like if you're a visionary who happens to be revising...one thing I must revise before any more of the school year goes by: do my errands or cleaning jobs before writing. I know, isn't that the opposite of the Infallible Writer's Law of writing before anything else so you don't make excuses. Well, the thing is, if I sit down at the computer at 9 am, many days I'm still there at dinner time. No groceries. Weird smells coming from various places in the house. Hmm. Maybe we could try varying the schedule.

Part of the picture is that revising is different than composing. You could inch forward a set number of pages a day, or word count, if you're figuring out a new story. But revising, you're just in it, body and soul, until its done. What other choice do you have? Balance...yeah...right. Is it balance to say sometimes I include writing in a relatively normal existence while other times I might be a hunched-over hermit with a foul-smelling lair who grunts in the direction of interruptions. I can't say that it isn't pretty satisfying to see what comes out of those hermit times or that they aren't enjoyable in their own way. And that's what frozen foods were invented for.

Another Writer in the House

2009-09-21T15:14:00.003-04:00

We have another writer in the house. Little Leaf #2 has not fallen far from the tree. Her first work is called My Family Book. I drew each family member and she colored them and wrote the text. Here's my page:

My mom loves me.
My mom loves to knit.
My mom loves books.
My mom loves cows. (huh?)
My mom loves cats.

The other pages are similar. For her dad, she wrote: "My dad loves to be a bookworm." I had to write "bookworm."

On a related subject, the Francesism Train might have come to the end of the line. Did First Grade squeeze it out of her so fast? No made up words? Squiggling and squaggling? No more -ish or -y words? Dinnery? Milkish? I'm crying on the inside, tears that will never stop.

Another Bridget? The White Witch of Clare

2009-09-09T13:16:00.005-04:00

Yes, can you believe I found another Bridget for my WIP. I first heard of Bridget "Biddy" Early from my friend Ann who had visited her cottage in County Clare many years ago. You had to climb through the overgrowth to get there and you best not take a souvenir or damage anything...or else...dunh, dunh, dahhh...

But I'll let Ann tell you the rest of that story someday. Anyway, according to the esteemed and ever-reliable Wikipedia, the cottage is now cleaned up and on the tour docket.

I was reminded of her again when reading The Burning of Bridget Cleary by Angela Bourke. There's that whole idea of fairy abductions---the thinking that got Cleary burned---and yet here's Early who made a name for herself and something of a fortune by supposedly exploiting her relationship with the fairies. From the accounts I've read so far, it seems that she was a psychic (very good for my WIP!) and a healer. That would be enough on its own, don't you think, fairies or not!

Folks would ask Biddy Early for help and she'd look in her glass bottle for the answer. People were afraid of her and the priests tried to prevent anyone from going. Interestingly enough, priests were thought to possess the same powers she had, but they always chose not to use them. She took no pay, but visitors brought her food or livestock or whisky: she had four husbands and they all died of drinking in one form or another.

She had a certain amount of power and she lived outside the rules, partly because people were frightened enough of her. Now I have some new ideas for my own Bridget---Delia Bridget---and how she could possibly acquire enough power to resolve her problem.

Who wants a free book

2009-09-08T10:32:00.002-04:00

Go here for a giveaway. And look around for some author interviews while you're there, you know, just to be neighborly. Pour yourself a Diet Coke and a brick-shaped slab of something apple-y with streusel on top.

School Night

2009-09-01T17:00:00.002-04:00

Yes, it is a school night. Back-to-School Eve. That means 5 o'clock = time to make dinner. Then baths, books, and bed. A big yellow bus in a.m. (Are you struck by how much school buses and standard yellow pencils resemble each other, or is it me?)

Nothing unusual, right? All this has happened many times before? Yes and no. Yes, we've done the first day of school routine before. But, no, this time something's different.

It is the eve of my youngest going full days. I'm going to have hours and hours and luxurious hours to backstroke around in. Don't laugh. Don't say I'll just have more time for housework. Don't say I'll waste my treasure on Facebook. I want to write. I want to read. And research. I want to get organized. Maybe take a yoga class.

Mostly I want to breathe. Listen to the quiet. Feel the continents shift.

Misc.

2009-08-30T13:44:00.001-04:00

The winner of My Mom's Mock Newbery: The Very Good Sticker was Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. And the second place went to Diamond Willow by Helen Frost. We had a great time---everyone was so excited about this year's books and had extensive comments. Agnes brought the M&Ms. And my dad got to watch ALL the grandchildren and keep them away from the dessert table---what a learning experience.

Just noticing my recent post about Diamond Willow and the performance by a number of actors. I was lucky enough to meet some nice folks from the audio industry (more about that to come) who estimate that there are fewer than twenty audio books with multiple actors!

Back from Vacation

2009-08-25T14:38:00.002-04:00

Photos to follow. Great time. Greater memories.

HOME:
Bathroom leak.
Emissions test.
Computer virus.
Bored kids.
Back-to-school shopping.

How do you bring a little of your vacation home with you? I could stuff rocks and sand and river water and pine cones into a jar, but then what?

Rock the Mock Newbery

2009-08-06T11:21:00.002-04:00

I finished Quest by Kathleen Benner Duble. After some rocky exposition qualms, I went on to enjoy this book. And, I'm ashamed to say, I was really in suspense about whether or not the characters would survive: the shame is that I spent the first 17 years of my life spitting distance from the Hudson River and yet knew nothing of the life of Henry Hudson. Also, you might think I could have guessed the outcome from reading the jacket copy, but if I've already commited to reading something, I don't want any spoilers running my fun. So, a cursory glance is all I'll allow myself. Once I accepted the different styles separating the voices, the story moved gracefully. Very satisfying.

One question we'll need to address is whether or not it is MG (middle grade). I think my library had it in the teen section. Not that some books can't be both. We'll see.

Now, I'm on to Trouble and so far I love it. Man, can that dude write about the ocean! (I recently finished Lizzie Bright..., not for this year's contest, also set on the coast.) Another thing that fascinates me is how the author can tell us what the dog is thinking (without it being cutesy) and how the kayak is sinking (while the MC is sleeping)...I'm always trying to stay in the head of my character exclusively! You must show everything through the MC's eyes. Yet this book takes you all over the place but you never feel betrayed. Or like the author lost control of the story. He makes it look so effortless. Darn him. Darn you Gary Schmidt for soaking up all the talent!

I'm listening to Diamond Willow by Helen Frost (a kindred verse novelist) with my girls as we drive back and forth to camp. They are WILD about it! And the side benefit is they don't fight because they don't want to talk over it and miss something. Interesting to note, the different voices are literally different actors---food for thought for other multiple POV books such as my own.

I read this book early in the year, so this is review. It does seem a bit younger than the other two above. Also, the Avi book is older at some points, like talking about Republicanism and Horace Greely. I haven't finished that one yet, so I'll reserve judgement on the age question. Fate hasn't let me finish an Avi book yet: G-belle and I were reading Poppy when the Warriors invaded our homeland and seized power, (silent prayer for the health, long life and productivity of the Erin Hunters) so back to the library it went.

Well, back to my own revising and reading up on Ireland.

Perfect Day

2009-08-05T18:18:00.003-04:00

I'm not sure what Lou had in mind, but when I hear this song I think of how someone might chose to spend their last day on Earth...if in fact we could chose...to spend it as if it were any other day, only with the heightened awareness of observing, treasuring and trying to hold on to the impermanent even while it's happening.

Not unlike a birthday, where you think, I gotta have the best day ever!

What would you do with your day if you knew you only had one more day to live? A bucket list? Or one last hurrah for your life exactly as it was?

Lou Reed
Transformer (1972)

Perfect Day

Just a perfect day,
Drink Sangria in the park,
And then later, when it gets dark,
We go home.
Just a perfect day,
Feed animals in the zoo
Then later, a movie, too,
And then home.

Oh it's such a perfect day,
I'm glad I spent it with you.
Oh such a perfect day,
You just keep me hanging on,
You just keep me hanging on.

Just a perfect day,
Problems all left alone,
Weekenders on our own.
It's such fun.
Just a perfect day,
You made me forget myself.
I thought I was someone else,
Someone good.

Oh it's such a perfect day,
I'm glad I spent it with you.
Oh such a perfect day,
You just keep me hanging on,
You just keep me hanging on.

You're going to reap just what you sow,
You're going to reap just what you sow,
You're going to reap just what you sow,
You're going to reap just what you sow...

My Mom's Mock Newbery: The Very Good Sticker

2009-07-24T10:46:00.004-04:00

Now let me explain...I know the chance for these books to win the real Newbery has come and gone. This Mock Newbery is a little off the calendar. My mom schedules it for the window of time she is with her reading/writing/librarian friends and her reading daughters. So cross-reference all those busy schedules and it usually winds up happening in early August.

If you want to read along at home, grab this year's nominated titles. Check back in August to see how it went. Maybe we could do absentee voting, if there's enough interest. You'd have to be at your computer during the meeting...I'll run it by The Sassy One.

Trouble by Gary Schmidt
Seer of Shadows by Avi
Diamond Willow by Helen Frost
Quest by Kathleen Benner Duble
Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Now I will say that I read Diamond Willow early in the year and need to revisit. I started Seer of Shadows, but didn't beat the clock as it was due back at the library. Hunger Games is still fresh in my mind. I'm reading Chains now.

What's tough is you want to get ahead and read them early, but then you need to review anyway as it gets closer. I think I just have to give up and admit to myself that I'll be reading them all two weeks before the meeting.

Background: this is the third year. Last year the winner was T asting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood by Ibtisam Barakat, and the year before was Yello w Star by Jennifer Roy.

Bridgets, Bridgets and More Bridgets

2009-07-23T16:01:00.003-04:00

Now that I have feedback on my next book, it is time to think about revising. It's like writing/composing, but a slightly different headspace.

My mom, a great and voracious reader, recommended The Irish Bridget by Margaret Lynch-Brennan---about young Irish women who came to the U.S. and worked as domestics, often called Bridgets. Research. Narratives. Lots of great details for my main character. Can't wait for it to arrive.

But, what floored me was another title on the same page of results: The Burning of Bridget Cleary by Angela Bourke. Now, I've been aware of this story for many years, but never found anything in my Internet searches...because...I've been searching for O'Leary. (O and C are so close...) It is the story of the last burning of a changeling---someone possessed by fairy spirits. What a lucky break! I can read this and get some clarity on my own story.

Well, do you believe in serendipity? Those little hints that come along to tell you you're on the right path? Usually accompanied by goosebumps? My radio-loving husband calls to say he heard that NPR has a show tomorrow with an Irish band called...you guessed it...Burning Bridget Cleary. Maybe that doesn't tickle you or raise the hair on your neck, but I LIVE for stuff like that!! Live for it. Check out their website---they clearly rock---and there's a telling of Bridget's story.

Oh, and just in case you don't have a census report handy...my ancestor who inspired The Keening was Delia Bridget...

Looking Ahead...

2009-07-21T20:33:00.002-04:00

The galleys are gone. If sending out a manuscript is like putting your kindergartner on the bus, then sending in your very last pass of that manuscript is like dropping your kid off at college. "Geez, Junior, I hope you'll be ok on your own. Hope I gave you everything you need to go on and have a great life under your own steam. Here's fifty bucks for pizza."

The blurb is in. Thanks Pat! I will post it when I get the official okey-dokey.

My agent has given me some food for thought on my WIP, which is perhaps more "in progress" than I once thought, guaranteeing me plenty of the "work" part. I agree with his assessment---funny how I had talked myself into overlooking some of the book's weaknesses because I knew how they got there. Weird paralax, huh?

Anyway, then there's the good news---a sekrit, shhhhh---for now. I'll spill when the other official okey-dokey comes in.

This from the Franny files: the blight is back! Remember the Irish Potato Famine? Well, that disease is back, only the tomato version. So expect prices to skyrocket! Does that mean buy stock in tomatoes...hmm.

Not Sorry to Hear Some Good News

2009-07-09T10:57:00.002-04:00

Before we get ahead of ourselves, it is just a hint of a glimmer of hope and you have to get out a magnifying glass and squint really hard to see it, but here it is: Unintended Use Restores the Gift of Hearing. (Boston Globe)

Someday, when I get a memoir-ish manuscript together, you will all read about the genetic tumor (suppression) disorder that affects my husband's family. A mild strain, but still NF2. (neurofibromatosis type II)

The choices for treatment were limited to 1) rock or hard place, 2) devil or deep blue sea, or 3) the devil you know vs. the devil you don't know. You take your chances based on the odds and whether or not you feel lucky, punk. We felt lucky. And his hearing was preserved, very close to perfect speech discrimination, in that ear.

But ears come in pairs...

The Next...and Last?...Step

2009-07-02T00:11:00.002-04:00

So the next step is marking up pages that look like book pages, with words to the effect of (say this in your best movie announcer voice)

---THIS IS THE LAST TIME YOU WILL SEE YOUR BOOK BEFORE IT GOES TO PRINT---

So you see, it is a little bit scary. What if I change my mind about that semi-colon? What if I wake up in a cold sweat the very night after I send it back? What if all this tinkering really made it worse?

Every time I try to look at the pages, I go instantly blind! Like that kid in a the 70s movie who was shipwrecked and looked at the sun and went blind, but some grizzled old guy was there to look out for him. I'm like that, only my clothes are still mostly clothes shaped and not methodically tattered by a movie studio employee. And there's no grizzled old guy, unless you count my husband. (Was that movie from one of those classic novels I was supposed to read over the summer in high school? I should know what it is, right?)

My editor said I could use any color of pencil not already in use to make my corrections. It would just so happen that I have hundreds of colorful writing/drawing/scribbling implements strewn about the house. Hmmm...Is it any surprise? I'm torn between Royal Magenta and Imperial Olive. Maybe Languid Violet. In case I haven't mentioned it lately, my other dream job is to name paint colors. Or lipsticks. Could also be nail polish. Hey, they picked a poet to name cars and she came up with the longest in-use car name in history: The Civic. That might be the only thing I learned in grad school, but I treasure it. And share it with you...

And the ARC goes to...

2009-06-26T10:29:00.003-04:00

First, let me say thank you to everyone interested in reading Three Rivers Rising! I wish I had an ARC for everybody.

After a heated contest of Rock, Paper, Scissors, in which Paper was the victor, my older daughter was the one to chose a slip of paper from a 100% wool Blue Ombre hat with decorative rows of garter stitch and a long braid with a tassel on top (my first time knitting continental)...and the name was...drumroll...

Photomonk!

So let's get your address and I'll put the ARC in the mail!

Thanks for participating in the giveaway. It was a lot of fun.

ARC Giveaway---Don't Forget to Comment

2009-06-22T14:20:00.003-04:00

The last day is almost here! Put your name in the comments to win a random drawing for a Three Rivers Rising ARC (advanced reader's copy).
You can see, I only have a few and they're mostly spoken for...here's your chance to get one of a dwindling number, put it on your shelf with your other ARCs and let them have an ARC Party! That's what I'm gonna do.

2k9 Giveaway

2009-06-19T11:14:00.003-04:00

Would you like to win a copy of Heart of a Shepherd by Rosanne Parry? Who wouldn't right? Well, Jenn has one to give, over at (closed), but act fast because the comments close today. Good luck, I hope you win. Ok, that's a lie--I hope I win.

More News

2009-06-18T14:36:00.003-04:00

If you're like me and you find yourself obsessively revisiting my amazon listing, go ahead and click the option for them to alert you when Three Rivers Rising is available.

If you can't wait that long and you want to read a little essay right this very minute, click this link for Roominations about the house I grew up in.

And if you'd like to be in the Hand Knit Hat Drawing for an ARC of 3RR, scroll down and comment in the previous post.

The ARCs Arrive!! A Giveaway Follows!!

2009-06-17T16:35:00.004-04:00

The ARCs arrived before I even had a chance to obsess about when they would get here! A lucky break! You can see it is rather a smallish pile, and they are mostly accounted for...but one precious copy should go to a reader of this blog, you know who you are, but you gotta leave a comment. That's how the random drawing works. Readers leave comments, I put all the names in a hand knit hat, and the lovely lady shown above will pull one out. (I know there are electronic ways to do this, but I try to leave room in my head for more important things like...like...like...)

Now this drawing is just for the ARC, kid not included, but I am taking offers. She comes complete with two inhalers, 15 Rainbow Magic Fairy books, and an assortment of Webkinz and food allergies.

Let's close the comments in one week, June 24. Then I can put it in the mail that Friday or Saturday*.

Ok, you know what to do...GO! (Greenlight!)

* U.S. only.

Pick the Pic

2009-06-16T13:08:00.003-04:00

Ok, the picking's actually been done. Here's the official smiley-er me.

Guess What's Coming?

2009-06-11T14:11:00.004-04:00

My Advanced Reader's Copies (ARCs) are coming very soon. A week or two. Two-ish. I'm not sure how many I will get, but if there's an extra...what would you say to a giveaway? A random drawing? Maybe from the blog comments? Or maybe a trivia question? Oooooh, I love trivia...

"ARCs?!!!...Did she say ARCs?"

Let's hear your ideas. And check back soon for the actual drawing/contest!

The Fairies of Goodland: Part III

2009-06-05T14:25:00.002-04:00

Here's the third installment of my eight-year old daughter's first novel. There's more to type still, but writing is finding some steep competition from Erin Hunter's Warrior series. And Star Wars: Episode 6 coming to a small screen near us this weekend. Let's see if she can jump back in the flow after being out for several days.

I said, "It's no surprise you're so good at writing: you have two writer parents." She said, "I have Mr. S. to thank. He's such a good teacher." Just making sure I don't take more than my share of credit. As my mom used to say, "You keep me humble, kid!"

The Fairies of Goodland: Part III

“No. Where should we check?”

Suddenly a chubby devil ran by. Lola fluttered behind the girls as they zipped up behind the devil and grabbed onto his rough crimson skin. He lumbered towards a tube, which a devil had just jumped into. Then the bulging devil hopped into the tube but with trouble. He had a hard time wiggling down to a scary place. The tube was a transporter to the Fire Castle of Unsa Kula.

The devil landed with a plop on the dark cloud and almost fell through it. He bounded toward the castle, heaving in deep breaths as he went towards the blazing hot castle. Two immense clouds encased him in a safe suit to protect him fro the entryway of the castle. When he stepped in, the suit burned away. The girls and Lola jumped off the dingy devil and escaped behind an old tapestry where no one could see them.

“Where is MY MEDALLION? You have failed me Noofen! Come back only if the medallion is with you, so you cannot give it to the fairies. I shall break it with my own BARE HANDS if I have to!” Unsa Kula boomed in his loudest voice. He banged both fists twice on the arms of his throne.

“Don’t disappoint me again!” It almost seemed as if steam poured from his ears.

“By the way, Devils are extremely scared of Small Rodents! Even Unsa Kula is!” Abigail whispered excitedly.

Just then an announcement was heard. “Cleaning Day,” it said. The tapestries rolled up super fat. The red long carpet was pulled back. Everything was bare. Unsa Kula ordered the smallest devils to clean. They saw something around his neck that caught their eyes. The words on the front said, “Search-it.”

Lola waved her wand and invisible sparkles surrounded the girls. Their fairy wings were back. Again they were fairies. A good thing too, or else a small devil would have discovered them just then.

The girls flew around the palace to get to Unsa Kula or his Gadget. Being the largest devil in history made him extra scary, extremely tall and every part of his body was massive: his feet, legs, hands, arms, belly, nose, ears, head or (shy?) body part imaginable. They flew up to his knee, but when they reached it, their wings were sore.

So Abigail Alexa and Lola had to do it the hard way: climb. They grabbed at his skin and pulled themselves up steadily. Alexa lost her gripping and almost fell to her death. Luckily they made it to his chest. A big red hand reached over to scratch his hairy chest.

“Get out of the way! He’ll hurt or kill you!” screamed Lola. The girls dodged out of the way just in the nick of time. They finally reached his gigantic neck. They were holding onto the “Search-it” Gadget. Abilgail flew to the back of his neck and undid the knot. Lola pulled the gadget free of his gruesome neck.

“What the...!? Give that back!” hollered the irate Devil King. The three girls were out of his ugly hands’ way. They swiftly flew off the cloud back into the human world, Goodland.

“Lola, it’s lunch time. Could we change back to human size and eat something. Then we’ll use the thing (?) the medallion,” Alexa pleaded.

The Fairies of Goodland: Part II

2009-06-02T10:12:00.002-04:00

If you haven't already read the beginning, scroll down please to start at the previous post. If you read the first piece already, you are surely dying to know what will become of our heroines, if they will escape the evil clutches of Unsa Kula (pronounced cool-a) and help the fairy, Lola Nature find the Nature Medallion.

Maybe there should be a new game show, "Are You as Prolific as a Third Grader?"

And now the next installment:

The Fairies of Goodland: Part II

“We’ll help you get the Nature Medallion. Send us to town.”

Then Lola added, “His devil minions are keeping guard of it in the Devil’s Castle on Storm Cloud. Thank you.” And with that, she gave a wave of her wand and both girls felt funny.

Once again the sparkles flowed and swirled around in a tornado containing the two young girls. As they were shooting downward, they grew to human size and parachutes appeared, surrounding them and safely they dropped into bushes where their parachutes disappeared into thin air. They climbed out of the bushes, brushing off leaves, dirt and twigs from their bodies.

All of a sudden, Abigail and Alexa both felt a sharp tug on their arms.

“Ow!” Abigail cried as she jumped up in pain.

“Yow!” Alexa winced, as she too hopped up in pain. It was night and it was hard to make anything out. But then Abigail and Alexa noticed at the same time the curly nutmeg hair, jeans with a hole, and brown tank top.

“What are you guys doing out this late? Have you heard about the demons? They could be in the bushes or anywhere! You better get home!” Megan Sapeln harshly whispered.

The girls dashed down Elm Street towards the yellow house where Abigail lived.

“Do you think the demons are actually the guardian devils?” Alexa whispered curiously. She opened the green door and pushed Abigail inside, and slammed the door very hard.

There were scratching noises from upstairs. “Heh-ha!”

The girls crept up the stairs, but only to find a guardian devil snooping around to find the Nature Medallion!

“It’s not here! I searched everywhere!” shouted a devil to another devil. The devils were crimson with sharp horns and menacing long tails with arrows at the end. They crawled down the stairs slowly.

When the girls saw the tip of their horns coming down the stairs they ran to Abigail’s bedroom.
The two mischievous devils stomped towards the front door, opened it and slammed it so hard a picture frame fell and broke.

“How are we supposed to explain this?” Abigail spread her arms wide to show what she meant. “At least the picture is safe. Mom has an extra frame just like this one that we could use.”

The girls didn’t know, but they now possessed a locket that had a picture of Lola inside.

The girls stepped cautiously up the stairs, Alexa holding her travel tote bag in one hand, her friend’s hand in the other.

Abigail pulled on her puppy nightgown and Alexa tugged on her kitten nightgown. Alexa climbed into the guest bed in Abigail’s room. Abigail crawled into her bed.

Soon it was morning, the same time they noticed the silver lockets. Abigail went to the backyard and opened the locket. Alexa soon walked up to her friend in amazement. The air in front of them started to shimmer and glow. In the blink of an eye, Lola Nature was in front of them.

“Lola, guess what! We saw two guardian devils last night and they were looking for the medallion!” Alexa wailed.

“Yes, they have come to the human world to search for the medallion because Unsa Kula got mad because the biggest guardian devil was making rain which was putting out the Fire Castle,” Lola cried. “The medallion could be anywhere! The devils didn’t find it, did they girls?”...

Get This Girl an Agent!

2009-06-01T14:47:00.005-04:00

If you've been checking in from time to time, you're probably scratching your head and saying, "I thought she had two kids...where's the other one? No funny sayings? No silly pictures?" And the answer is going to seem obvious once you hear it: that child has her own blog. Oh, of course! She/we unfortunately don't update it very often. But that's going to change. She has started her own debut novel with the words, "How many pages do I need to win a Very Good Sticker?"

It's in the vein of the Rainbow Magic series: there's a certain amount of emphasis on what everyone is wearing, the MCs can shrink down to fairy size and grow wings, and the bad guys are goblins (in this version they're...well, you'll see).

Am I thrilled? Am I proud? Am I having a Stage Mother Moment?

Notice her vocabulary. Her balance of Description, Action and Dialog. Her strong verbs. Remember she is eight-years old. (What were you writing in 3rd grade?) Look out Daisy Meadows (if you are in fact a real person and not a carefully scripted pseudonym for committee-written product): you've got some competition!

Here's the opening of The Fairies of Goodland:

The Fairies of Goodland

The burbling stream rushed against her toes as Abigail Omana splashed through the waves of the water. Abigail was wearing an emerald tank top with her favorite worn-out jean shorts. Fishes fled as her feet plunged into the water with every step. Her friend Alexa Spooca tried to keep with her best friend. Abigail had brown hair that had been pulled into a barrette. Alexa had blonde hair that usually covered her eyes but was pulled back in a headband the color of the blue sky. Alexa had a yellow short sleeve shirt with brand new shorts. Abigail and Alexa rushed in to the shack Abigail’s father built out of pinewood planks.

“Get off!” exclaimed Alexa as a beetle landed on her shoulder. As the wind whistled through the trees, Alexa swatted at the bug.

The shack was old, it had been made at the beginning of their friendship which was seven years ago. It started when both were four years old. Now both were 11, and old enough to go to the stream themselves.

“I’ll get the folding chairs. You drag over...that small table? Where did that come from, Abigail? Did your dad sneak in here with it?” Both girls were too slow and big to notice that the shack was growing. Actually, they were shrinking. Wings like fairies’ appeared on their backs.

“What the heck! What happened?” Swirls of fairy magic surrounded them and they were suddenly whisked up in the air towards the clouds.

“Where are we? H-helloo? What is that?” Abigail pointed to a beautiful, glittering, shiny, immense castle before them.

Standing in front of them was King Cloudian and Queen Cloudsa. “Welcome Abigail and Alexa. Our special fairy Lola Nature needs your help.”

The pretty queen stepped aside and behind her was Lola. “Hi!” she yelped in a meek, small, scared, shy voice. She was trembling slightly.

“What’s wrong Lola? I noticed that the wind blows when its supposed to be sunny, the grass is gone, and the trees are puny. Why?”

Lola looked at the girls for a long moment. Finally, she spoke up, “Unsa Kula, the devil, stole my Nature Medallion. Without it, life in the wild is just not right! It’s even wrong in Cloud City! All of the other fairies are miserable. Even the animals her are very unhappy!” She pointed a small finger in the direction of a sad-looking ladybug. “Sorry I interrupted your club. Would you like to go to Goodland Town or your shack? Which one?” She still sounded shaken.

“We’ll help you get the Nature Medallion. Send us to town.”

World, Meet Harper

2009-05-26T09:39:00.004-04:00

Today's the day for the lovely and talented Ann Haywood Leal! Today is the release date for Also Known as Harper.

Of course you should buy a copy or two (they make a great gift) at your independent bookseller, if you have one handy...

Other Tiger in Westerly, RI
(Launch Party!!)
May 26 at 6:00 p.m.
for example...

but I hear some of the big guys ship for free if you buy enough copies (and you should buy at least that many).

If you can't get to RI for the party, congratulate Ann online. Here's her website. Here's her blog.

Haiku on the Brain

2009-05-14T10:27:00.004-04:00

Thanks to my new favorite friend, Billy Collins, I'm thinking about Haiku again. And the Haiku generator my old favorite friend Sweet Brown Poison told me about ages ago when I didn't have a blog to use it on.

Here are a few results:

hippie mommy is
he jesus is that lady
so fat you told us

you're writing in the
broader sense don't park there
narrative a term

other night and in
some cosmic way i think i
might have to increase

Coming soon, Haiku by an actual person, maybe even me.