Sharing the Brain

December 22 - 25th ...

2009-12-25T11:32:00.001-05:00

I'm back!! I was in the clutches of a nasty influenza this past week which did little to improve my holiday mood.
But it's Christmas morning. Everybody's napping (except for me). And I'm feeling like I've accomplished something amazing. I survived December.
I survived December. (Okay. Technically I have one more week, but really, I'm just starting my "January" activities now because I can't go on!)
Okay. Yes a touch melodramatic. But just for kicks, I've decided to do a little calendar of events from the past month -- all done with a 21 month old child. Amelia is amazing!!
She survived this:

November 26: Thanksgiving with family and friends
November 27: Thanksgiving at the bi-national Center where I work
November 28: Turkey sandwich party
November 30 - December 3: Lag time ... Christmas shopping ... gearing up for...
December 3: Block party -- art and lanterns and Christmas music
December 5: Christmas carols and the Pereira symphonic orchestra
December 6: Friend arrives from Spain -- decorating the farm for Festival of Lights Party
December 7: Touring around the city with friend
December 8: (Another three friends arrive from Spain) Festival of Lights Party
December 9: Going out with friends from Spain
December 10: Cesar's 40th birthday party with live music and lots of friends
December 11: Hanukkah dinner
December 12: Another birthday party for Cesar
December 14: Friends arrive from Argentina
December 15: Touring with friends from Argentina
December 16: Big day with friends from Argentina, Spain, Mexico ... picnic and fun at the farm
December 17: What? No plans? Well ... I actually skipped out on a Novena (the nine days before Christmas people get together at each others' homes and sing carols and say the "novena" prayers here in Colombia)
December 18: I honestly don't remember. It's all blurring together now.
December 19: Big wedding that started at 1:00 pm and lasted until 3:00 am ... Amelia fell in love with the mariachi band. I finally got her to sleep at 9:00 pm and we danced and danced.
December 20: Back home.
December 20 - 23: the flu -- missing out on numerous Christmas activities
December 24: Christmas Eve at the family's until midnight!
December 25: Christmas Day -- lunch with family and dinner with friends

I'm tired.
I LOVED seeing friends we haven't seen for years! Friends from Spain, Mexico and Argentina. And I loved dancing and celebrating.
But no more.
Next year I think we'll go into hermit mode and keep things SIMPLE. It's all about survival!!

And, as promised, my last book recommendation for December. And it's a "parenting book." Granted all parenting books, after Amelia's birth, were burned in a massive bonfire. (Especially the ones that talked about simple 'routines'.) BLAST routines! All books except for this one.
Anyway, this book is one I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE recommended by my husband's student exchange mom who's a dietician/nutritionist. There's nothing that brings you back to the basics as much as parenting. What's important in life? Sleeping, eating, going to the bathroom, and laughter. But you can't have the last if the first three aren't in order. And this book is an amazing way to approaching eating and eating habits with kids. How to Get Your Kid to Eat ... But not Too Much has kept me sane and kept things in perspective at the dinner table.

Happy Holidays! I wish everyone peace and wonder in 2010. (Wonder is my favorite thing because so many forget about the magic of the world in which we live!)

December 19 - 21st and feeling surly ...

2009-12-21T14:23:00.000-05:00

Feeling overwhelmed. (Okay. Grinchy!)
Have that itchy-need-to-write-but-the-screen-just-blinks-at-me feeling.
Have a bit of a pit in my gut because of the blinking white screen/ blank-slate brain right now.
Feeling like I've gotten wrapped up in everything and have lost a bit of the Christmas magic.
Have a cough, fever, and am afraid that I'm getting a Christmas bug. (Yes, I'm whining here!)

So today's recommendations bring me back to what I love about Christmas because I watched them last night trying to capture a moment of peace in what has become a month of madness. Here are my recommendations for best videos on the planet. (They always make me cry.) Hell, a chunk of good, Manchego cheese makes me cry these days. Sheesh. Getting all sentimental and stuff. Anyway, get in the holiday spirit with The Grinch and Charlie Brown Christmas. And for good measure, maybe you can find a 24 hour marathon of A Christmas Story, too.

December 18 and The Book Thief

2009-12-18T10:37:00.001-05:00

"It's just a small story really, about, among other things:

A girl
Some words
An accordionist
Some fanatical Germans
A Jewish fist fighter
And quite a lot of thievery "

I really don't think you can get better than this (though you can bet I'll spend the rest of my life trying.) Narrated by death, The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, is the story of Liesl Meminger living in foster care outside of Munich, Germany. Her best friend is Rudy -- the boy who dreams of being Jesse Owens -- and she becomes the world for a Jewish refugee, Max, describing the outside to him since he hides, huddled in a cold basement.

Exquisite. Exquisite. Exquisite. Exquisite. Amazing imagery and the best narrator of a novel I've ever read.

Like I said, I really don't think you can get better than this!

Colombia From the Hip + December 10 - 15 Book Recommendations

2009-12-15T12:47:00.001-05:00

Well, I was caught up in the mad Colombian party vortex last week and was conspicuously absent from my keyboard.
Yikes!!
But for good reason. Really. It was worth every sleepless minute. :-)
On December 7th and 8th, Colombia celebrates the "Alumbrado" -- the Day of the Virgin. And we have a huge party at Cesar's farm the 8th with a group that sings Colombian Christmas carols, the weirdest bunuelo contest (bunuelos are Colombian cheese donuts), and lots of lights!! All the kids light lanterns and stick candles in the grass to burn. (Note: We're NOT in Nevada here where the whole state would go up in a ball of flames.)

Friends came in from Spain and Argentina! (Yay!) And after the big Alumbrado, Cesar celebrated his 40th. (Yikes!) So we had to have another party to commemorate four decades and danced under the stars until our feet hurt.

Then we were invited to a Hanukkah celebration, which was a treat!! And then, of course, another party to celebrate Cesar's four decades just to make sure our bones ached. Nope. Not twenty anymore.

And I think Amelia has officially gone on strike. She's done with all this activity. (Though she's quite the good dancer now!! :-) )

So I'm back. Limping just a tad. (I think I pulled a hamstring or something.) And now we're getting geared up for a big wedding this week, Christmas next week, then New Years with twenty + family from all over the country. Then January. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

So here are my latest book recommendations. Yep. I've been slack. On the computer side of things. I think it's understandable, though. Really. Don't you??

I *heart* Skippyjon Jones. This Siamese cat, wannabe Mexican Chihuaha superhero is the best children's book series I've read in a long time. Skippyjon, much to his mother's chagrin, sleeps in bird nests, writes on walls, and gets into loads of trouble. And the best part? He's the leader of the Chimichangos, a group of vigilante Chihuahuas, that save the world from horrible things like bobbleheads, pinatas and more (most found in Skippyjon's closet). Holy Jalapeno Hilarious!!

Jeanette Winterson's novels blew me away when I was in college. And the other day when I was at the Dollar Store I found one I haven't read yet. That brought me back to my days of quoting Oranges Aren't the Only Fruit, The Passion, Written on the Body -- novels that deal with love, sexuality, past and present, magic and more. Oranges is a semi-autobiographical novel about Jess, a "typical" teen dealing with the things all teens deal with. Add to the pot an evangelical mother that spews bible quotes and expects Jess to do the same and the fact she's fallen in love with another woman. It's a GREAT great novel about identity and reconciling religion, faith, love, parenting, and who we really are.

The other day I was recommending this novel. Actually, I pretty much recommend this novel to every single person I meet. Feed, by MT Anderson changed the way I viewed YA novels before I began writing YA. After I read Feed, I thought, "This is serious. I had better give every word I write in every book 150% effort, or not write."
This. Is. Amazing. In the future world where people are given "feed" implants in their brains -- hard-wired to advertisement-information that constantly 'feeds' into their brains, Titus and his friends meet Violet -- a strange girl who does things nobody else does. Like talk. Everybody in FEED just chats. Brilliant. Thought-provoking. A novel in which even the Sky, Clouds, and Stars are "trademarked", this is a phenomenal criticism of our rampant consumerism, technology, and the inhumanness of it all. Read. This. Novel.

Okay. Hope to not be absent so so long next time. Because that means I've been sleeping and working -- both of which I am behind on!! Ugh.

December 8 and December 9th with Poetry ...

2009-12-09T17:17:00.001-05:00

Well, I have one book for two days, but it's a book for two voices!! Does that count?

Flickering fireflies, honey bees who want to unionize, a moth's love affair with the porch light and more, Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman (illustrated by Eric Beddows) is a phenomenal collection of bug poetry. Vivid images, palpable textures, Fleischman's poems are funny, witty, and full of wonder.
It's the perfect book to read with kids (poems for TWO voices), and it's a great gift for those who simply love words.

On the Seventh Day ...

2009-12-07T18:29:00.001-05:00

Okay ...
Too biblical, and a somewhat irreverent reference; however, my pick for day seven is Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre.

Set in small town, trailer-park central, Texas, USA, this is a story about how Vernon Gregory Little's life has been turned upside-down after his friend, Jesus Navarro, commits a Columbine-style massacre at his school.
This no-name town becomes the center of a media frenzy and a hungry-for-fame hack reporter, Eulalio Ledesma (yes, they all have weird names in the book!), manipulates events to look like Vernon was the perpetrator of the school killing.
Vernon heads to Mexico, Against All Odds-style to escape trial and possible death row with Taylor Figueros. As you can imagine, he doesn't escape and is represented by a Johnny Cochran-style big-shot lawyer
This is a slicing satire about American media, reality TV, fifteen-minute-famers, death row, and tragedy becoming a media orgy. And it's one of the funniest novels I've ever read in the midst of it all. I laughed out loud from beginning to end, and I sure wish this would be required reading when it comes to media ethics.
Writing a novel is hard work.
Writing comedy, real comedy, is an art.
Plus, Vernon is the best anti-hero I've ever read. And he's always nice to his mom (who's worth about as much as her latest perm).

READ. THIS. BOOK!!

On the Seventh Day ...

2009-12-07T18:29:00.000-05:00

On the Sixth Day of Book Recommendations ...

2009-12-06T10:35:00.000-05:00

This was a hard list to narrow down. Ellen Hopkins has six verse novels on the shelves, and I'm not sure how to choose. But I had to pick one, and I pick Burned.

Pattyn is caught in a world where abuse, subservience to men, and a rigid church hierarchy reign. Moreover, she'll do anything to prove herself to the person she most cares for -- the person who most abuses her -- her father. When she's suspended from school, her parents send her to live with an aunt in rural Nevada. There, she finds what she's never had her whole life: acceptance, love, her youth. And, through her aunt's kindness and love, Pattyn learns to understand more about her dysfunctional family and acceptance of her father and mother.
Nevertheless, a summer of youth isn't enough, and in the end, after the fairy tale is over, Pattyn is left with a choice that will inevitably make the difference between life and death.
This is an incredibly challenging novel because it doesn't take an easy route, happy-ending trail. Pattyn is tragic and leaves the reader wishing so many things could've been different in Pattyn's life. And Hopkins is a poet; her words are sparing, each one loaded with meaning.
A NYT best seller, Ellen's words have reached youth and adults alike across the states.

(From Burned)
...

When you were almost grown, did you ever sit in a bubble bath, perspiration pooling, notice a blow dryer plugged in within easy reach, and think about dropping it into the water?

Did you wonder if the expected rush might somehow fail you?

And now, do you ever dangle your toes over the precipice, dare the cliff to crumble, defy the frozen deity to suffer the sun, thaw feather and bone, take wing to fly you home?

Three recommendations for December 3rd!!

2009-12-03T12:00:00.001-05:00

I know. It's supposed to be one per day. I'm not REALLY cheating. But I'm taking artistic license to share three of my favorite children's books of the moment.

This is one of the most beautiful, poetic books I've read, written by Mexican author Jorje Lujan and illustrated by Piet Grobler. (It has both the Spanish and English text).
Sky Blue Accident is a poetic account of a little boy who crashes into the sky and breaks it, saving some pieces in his pocket. It's simply magical. I've read it to adult and children and all of them fall in love with the funky drawings and beautiful text.
Sure, it's for kids. But if you have somebody on your wish list who loves poetry and magic, I'd definitely buy this for my closest friends!

Now here's a princess I can relate to!! Written by Robert Munsch and illustrated by Michael Martchenko (the same author of the famous book Love You Forever). I LOVE this story about a princess who's castle has been destroyed and her "true love" stolen away by a terrible dragon. She's left with a paper bag for a dress and does what Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and all the others should've done. She goes for her man, tromping across burned forests to rescue him.
And the ending? PRICELESS!! Now I only hope that Amelia one day will say, "I want to be the Paper Bag Princess for Halloween." :-)

Written by Mem Fox and illustrated by Leslie Staub, this should be required reading for all heads of state, religious leaders, teachers, parents, children ... human beings. And then read again. And again. And again. If we take a look at our world, it seems we've kind of lost our way. Whoever You Are is an exquisite story about the fact that no matter how different we look, how different our beliefs, homes, lands and religions are, we're still one of the same. Beautiful beautiful illustrations and a story that melts my heart!!

On the First Day of December ...(And Second)

2009-12-02T12:13:00.001-05:00

It's December!!
And to celebrate I'm going to post a book a day and why I loved it!!
So celebrate the holidays and give people a book. Keep writers writing, publishers publishing, kids, children, teens and adults reading, and imaginations blooming.

And because I'm late. I'm doing December 1st and 2nd today!!

First up: Bull Rider by Suzanne Morgan Williams. This is a beautiful vignette into the life of a rural American family dealing with war and how it effects us all. When Cam's big brother Ben returns from Iraq severely injured, Cam, a huge skateboarding fan who has never had the slightest inkling to follow in his big brother's bull riding boots makes a pact with Ben: he'll ride bulls, and the never-ridden UGLY, for a fifteen thousand dollar prize if Ben works as hard as he can to get better. It's a beautiful book about healing, courage, and dealing with tragedy. And the relationship between the brothers was incredibly real, not sickly sweet. Morgan Williams did a superb job of creating characters we not only love but also relate to!

Crazy Beautiful by Lauren Baratz-Logsted was my decadent read while waiting for a twenty-four pound turkey to cook on Thanksgiving Day. (I don't remember the last time I got to read during the day!) This is a beautiful story about Lucius and Aurora -- young teens new to the same school. Aurora is immediately popular while Lucius becomes the school pariah because of a mysterious explosion that blew his hands off. (He now wears prosthetic arms and uses hooks for hands.) Baratz-Logsted does a beautiful job of giving bits and pieces of information about Lucius's past while developing the relationship between him and Aurora. One of my all-time favorite relationships in the book is between Lucius and the school security guard, unlikely allies in a hostile environment: high school.

So every day I will send a book recommendation your way hoping you have a wonderful holiday filled with beautiful words, images, and endless-reading days. Ahhh ... Maybe that's what I'll ask for Christmas. A day to read. :-)

Another Blog about Twilight??

2009-12-01T10:37:00.001-05:00

Well, at least I got you to come to the blog.
It seems to me the only blogs being read these days are rants, few raves, and mostly incensed insults about the famous Twilight series.

Several years ago when Twilight first hit the shelves, I read no fewer than seven vampire novels including the classic Dracula and Rice's Interview With a Vampire. And I liked them all. Really. (My personal favorite being MT Anderson's Thirsty). And, yes, I liked Twilight. Not big into Vampire lore myself, I have no idea if any of the other books I read commit egregious errors like Twilight does (according to the majority of articles and blogs).

But I took Twilight for what I think it is: a pretty good read. (Other books in that category for me are: The Davinci Code, The Firm, Practical Magic and more. And I mean this as a compliment because being a good story teller is a great skill!). As for Twilight, I think Edward's sexy (At least in Twilight. Admittedly, I haven't read the other books in the series. But a sixteen year old here in Colombia gave me the synopsis one day while waiting in line for a Juanes concert. Good enough.) And the thing I most remember about Bella is she makes dinner for her dad. (I, for one, can't boil water so I think making dinner for two people at seventeen years is an awesome feat.)

But it kind of amazes me the sheer number of people who are so vehement, and even a touch malicious, about the dreaded, damaging Twilight series. To be fair, every single article, blog etc. I've read about the series is much wittier, well-written, well-versed, and well-researched than this blog. I can't be bothered to look for examples of bad prose etc. (Links to all these blogs, articles below). But that said, what's the deal? A Facebook friend wrote, "TWILIGHT HAS DIVIDED THE COUNTRY." And it seems that it's definitely divided the writing community.

But why? Why is everybody so upset about a, um, sterilized vampire-world?

I'll use me as an example. I was pretty shy in school. I've never been a giddy "ooh-ooh" kind of girl. And my novels, to date, are pretty sex-less. My characters spend much of their sexual energy with hot magazines in bathrooms. Moreover, I'm definitely not a Christian and though I believe in something, I'm not sure what that something is. My novels and characters are a reflection of my belief system.

Meyer is a young Mormon woman. (Yes. Faith, background, everything we ARE influences our novels). She herself has said she relates most with Edward (who, admittedly, has that creepy stalking thing going on. We'd have to ask her hubby about that one.) Moreover, though, he's incredibly nineteenth-century when it comes to his sexuality, a touch obsessive, and, well, saving himself. Hey. It works for Meyer and obviously her audience. It's where she's coming from.

It seems, though, there's a slew of critics (including the great Stephen King himself) who find this series an abomination to the canon of literature we offer for young adults out there. (Remember last year the big "to-do" about King dishing Meyer's writing saying, in so many words, she probably couldn't write her way out of a paper bag. Link below.)

But this is the thing. All those people who rant, stump, fume and rage about Twilight have read it (and finished it). See. I don't finish books I don't like. Period. Life is short and there are too many awesome books out there.So this brings me to believe they feel jipped about spending money on such a horrific book and finished it because they just had to. But think about it. Every time we mention the dreaded Twilight, though, I can guarantee you Meyer is getting another sale. Hell, I kind of wish my book would be on all those blogs. FREE PUBLICITY. And by doing this blog, to ride the Twilight-read-my-blog-wagon, I am doing the same: selling her books.

And I've read the criticisms about how Twilight promotes unhealthy relationships, stalking, horrific prose, and hack research. Okay. Perhaps. But I know a few classics that pretty much do the same (except for the horrific prose part. Maybe. Okay. What the hell, I'll go there. Ever try to read Snow by Pamuk? Good God. 600 pages of snow descriptions. Yep. Just put me on that uncultured-rather-read-Twilight-than-Nobel-prize-winners train!)

I can hear the screaming: But all the teens will become love-sick, obsessed, and jealous and throw themselves into abusive relationships and whatnot.

Nah. Let's give our reading audience more credit than that. They're savvy. They're smart. They call it when they see it. Oh. Yeah. And they're teens who have love-sick, obsessive, jealous tendencies because their hormones are raging, brains aren't fully developed, and are willing to wear neon colors. Good God. Haven't they seen a decade of bad 80's style? MUST they repeat it? If that doesn't PROVE they're a market that can be influenced by evil, I don't know what. But the fashion will pass as well as the Edward obsessions. Really.

And that said, they're buying my books. (Okay. Some of them are.) And they're buying my friends' books. And I'm happy they are. And I'm happy their buying Meyer's books, too.

I guess this is just me thinking there's Much Ado about Nothing. It's a vampire book series. (A million-dollar empire now). I live in a country where the people read an average of 1.7 books per year (nationwide) and fewer than one book per year in my city. Yep. PER YEAR. So guess what? I bought the Twilight series for a library I work at down here along with Harry Potter (I DO love all the HP's and Rowling's magical world), and anything that's coming out on film this year because I need kids to read here.

So in my opinion any book, any book, that gets people reading is a good book.

Links to other articles/blogs about Twilight (if you don't do the direct link, just cut and paste):

http://psa.blastmagazine.com/2008/08/16/twilight-sucks-and-not-in-a-good-way/
http://psa.blastmagazine.com/2008/08/23/twilight-a-follow-up-and-a-promise/
http://community.feministing.com/2009/08/twilight-criticism-has-no-teet.html
http://blogs.usaweekend.com/whos_news/2009/02/exclusive-steph.html

The Bookshelf Muse is hosting a CONTEST!

2009-11-23T23:06:00.004-05:00

http://thebookshelfmuse.blogspot.com/2009/11/massive-followers-contest.html

Great prizes, including a full manuscript critique! It's a great blog that I have relied heavily on.

Thanksgiving: Let the Chaos Begin

2009-11-22T15:44:00.001-05:00

I never fully appreciated my mom until I had to put on my own Thanksgiving dinner. And I think the people who ate my first five or six Thanksgiving dinners would REALLY appreciate mom. (But, luckily, these feasts are held in other countries where the people have NO idea that what I cook is pretty abominable compared to Mom -- the magician of Thanksgiving with innumerable side dishes.)

That said, I'm waxing nostalgic about all the years of botched Thanksgivings, burned and lost turkeys (yes lost, under a spare tire, in fact) and more. This is my mishmash list of Thanksgiving Memories I prepared (since I have time today before my house looks like it exploded). (Yes. It takes me about four days of organization and pre-cooking to get a meal on the table. I think Amelia's fondest childhood memories of my cooking will be "take out.")

Buying live turkeys in "la Galeria" -- open market -- in Pereira. Holding them up by their feet and thinking they were pretty heavy. Do you realize how much feathers make a bird look plump? Very non-runway attire.
Realizing that you can't cook a turkey in a pizza oven -- no matter how hard you try to smoosh it down.
Looking for a lost turkey, only to find that it slipped under a spare tire and had a nice black tire-mark across the top. (Gravy does not cover up tire marks)
Smoking ovens when I realized that 350 degrees celcius is WAY too hot. (Damn conversions)
Spending seventy dollars for three anorexic turkeys. (Yep. Turkey is really expensive abroad).
Searching for ingredients in every language possible only to find the ones I need don't exist in some places. So I do "creative replacements".
Watching Cesar take a bite of turkey after seven botched Thanksgivings and saying, "Wow. this is good. Like. I really want to eat it this year." Me: "Really??"
(That was an exciting day! I think our guests, though, felt a little bit like guinea pigs after they realized that my usual Thanksgiving feast was pretty crappy.)
Years of laughter and forgiveness (you have to be forgiving to survive one of my dinners and remain my friend).
Lots of leftovers. (Proud to say not many leftovers anymore. I've improved. Really.)
Cesar's family always looking forward to our annual Thanksgiving and his aunt thinking my pumpkin pie is great. (It's not bad. It's just not ... pumpkin pie. Just a little weird-tasting is all).
Learning that family isn't only "family" but those you love. My parents taught me that Thanksgiving is a time to share happiness, love, life, tears ... family. And living abroad, friends become family.

So now that I see it's getting to be too much of a "Chicken Soup" kind of post (with all do respect Mr. Canfield), I'll leave you with wishes for a wonderful salmonella-free Thanksgiving. (That's what I always cross my fingers for.)

Best Author Visit questions EVER ...

2009-11-13T01:24:00.001-05:00

This year my author visits were with Kindergarteners, second and third graders, who, in my opinion, had some of the best questions and comments ever!

1. Did you write your book in pencil or are you allowed to use a pen?
2. Do you have lots of pictures in the book?

I asked how long they thought it took me to write the book:
Student A: Ummm, like ten hours.
Student B: No way. At least two weeks.
Me: About three and a half years. So I started when you were still wearing diapers and finished when you were in first grade.
Students. Whoaaaaaaaa ... (whispers -- she's really slow.)

3. Do you read your book after you're done?

I talked about revision and making corrections and how my editor had pages and pages of notes on how I needed to make my book better.
Student A: Oh. Did you forget your capitals and periods?
Student B: I bet you missed a lot of spelling words.

4. How did you draw the picture on the front?
5. Do you really like your job?

And my favorite ...

6. How did you get the pages in the book? (Comments afterward included: Geez. If she had to put her book together in the garage she'd never get done.)

Thank you Fritsch School for welcoming me and making me smile. Thank you for your amazing attention to detail.
PLUS, I loved the hugs. (High Schoolers and Middle Schoolers usually don't hug me.)

Price Wars

2009-10-19T14:07:00.002-04:00

So, the Book Wars that began late last week are continuing . . . with Wal-mart and Amazon slashing prices on their best-sellers to crazy levels, what will happen to independent bookstores and new-to-the-scene authors? For those of you who aren’t as into book-business geekery as I am, there’s a great article at WSJ.com ( http://tinyurl.com/yjhr26w ) about the whole situation. In a nutshell, though, Wal-mart and Amazon.com are each trying to out-low-price the other, selling their most popular titles *at a loss!*

At this point, it’s not just independent bookstores that will suffer. Even the larger bookstore chains – like Barnes & Noble – that don’t have a plethora of other products with which to turn a profit are being placed in a difficult situation by the Wal-mart/Amazon duopoly. And once something like this is hurting *Barnes and Noble,* you can believe that your corner bookseller, who has no choice but to sell books for the actual price that is actually printed on the actual cover, is already neck-deep in the fast-rising waters of business failure.

Beyond the people who are selling the books, this sort of crazy pricing is hard on authors who don’t have the selling power or name recognition of, say, a Stephenie Meyer or a Dan Brown. In these tough economic times, all writers appreciate consumers opening their ever-thinner wallets to buy the stories we’ve worked so hard on – the books that, for us, represent rent paid, food bought, and the boon of continued electrical service. But when faced with the choice of Dan Brown’s novel for $8.99 (in hardcover! Good God!) or taking a chance on a new author whose book costs several dollars more, my fear is that too many of these customers will reach for the cut-rate book. Maybe that sounds like paranoia, but I’ve heard enough rumbling and grumbling from my cohorts in the publishing industry to know that I’m far from the only one who feels that way.

Are there any upsides to the new low, low, LOW prices? Sure. Someone who is on a tight budget may buy a nine-dollar novel. If the only books on offer are fifteen dollars – or more – that may pass the threshold of affordability for a segment of the population, resulting in a missed sale for everyone. And while I have no love for Wal-mart, I’ll admit to liking (and using) Amazon. I can shop there in the middle of the night, when the brick-and-mortars are closed. I can find any book I might need. The prices are attractive, even to me.

Still, I think everyone who loves to read should be concerned about what these latest pricing maneuvers are doing to the publishing industry as a whole. If prices fall dramatically, it will result in lower earnings for the publishers. Which could quickly translate into less pay for the authors who provide those publishers with material. And that only makes it harder for us to do our jobs, what with the whole worrying-about-paying-for-heat thing. Writing in a drafty garret may seem romantic, but I don’t think numb fingers are anyone’s idea of success.

COMPROMISED HAS A COVER!!!!

2009-10-15T15:47:00.000-04:00

Thank you, Mischa Rosenberg, "Design Assistant Extraordinaire" at HarperCollins! Wow. Speechless here.

RANT: Don't touch my child ...

2009-10-13T13:04:00.001-04:00

Okay. It was time. I have to rant, rave, stump, scream, and unload here. I haven't "raised" a child in the States, but I can pretty much guarantee that people are more respectful about a child's space there than here. (But I'd love everybody's thoughts, similar rants, raves etc.)

I'll paint the scenario: Imagine walking up to an adult you don't know, one with pretty curly hair and big blue eyes. Now grab that adult's cheeks and stroke her hair saying, "Ooooh ... Ooooh. Everybody look at the pretty lady." [Horrible person and her seventeen family members circle lady and loom over her.] "Can we hold you?"

Wouldn't happen.
Ever.
Unless, of course, you're robbing said lady or want somebody to call security on you for being a total creep.

So why ... WHY ... do people feel entitled to touch children they don't know as if they were store merchandise?
This. Pisses. Me. Off.
It's a violation of a little person's space (Yes, children ARE little people) and a total violation of their human rights because they are small and defenseless.
That, though, is what parents are for -- to fight those battles.

I said to the lady, "Don't touch my daughter."
She was shocked. Appalled. Everybody in the area looked at me as if I were a possessed demon (my face probably had that blotchy purple thing going on that happens when I am infuriated.)
"We're just looking," evil lady said.
"She is not merchandise in a store. Don't touch her."
Crowd disperses and people look at me like the nasty, mean foreigner I probably am.

I'm pretty laid back about cultural differences. But this to me isn't a cultural difference. This goes much deeper than being an overprotective mother.
It's disrespectful. It's dangerous. It teaches kids that their own space doesn't belong to them and from early on ANY adult has a right to enter that space. It's not a big jump to make, especially considering I live in a country in which child abuse "is probably the biggest public health issue" on the table with child-sex tourism in Cartagena (according to a UN study), an ongoing war in which children are recruited to fight, kill, rape and be raped and more.
Moreover, the World Health Organization estimates that 40 million children are abused around the world (one million alone in the USA) before they turn 14 (the majority by a trusted adult).

So my question is this. If a child isn't taught from early on that her space belongs to her and her alone and perfect strangers are allowed to enter that space, how will she know when her space is being violated by somebody she "should" trust?

Yep. I'm raging. And the more I think about this, the more I seethe.
Just. Don't. Touch. My. Child.
Period.

Introducing Lindsay Eland

2009-10-12T12:58:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I'm a little biased. Linds, as I call her, and I have followed each other across the internet for about five years now. Back in the day when we were both newbie writers, we joined our first critique group which later broke up. But I dragged Lindsay with me on my online quest for editorial feedback. For the past three years, Linds and I have been members of a killer critique group (killer for our editorial savagery) that I moderate. We fondly call it The Cudas (for barracudas). Linds is undeniably the "nice Cuda." But don't let that perky smile fool you. Behind that smile is a mind that churns out original and comic works of middle grade fiction faster than you can say cutie-pie.

Lindsay's middle-grade humorous novel, SCONES AND SENSIBILITY, comes out this December from Egmont. I can tell you, having witnessed it's nearly fully-formed birth—it is a hoot! So I'm going to turn the mike over to Linds and let her speak for herself.

Tell us about yourself. 

Let’s see. I’m a thirty-year-old mother of four. I love to laugh, drink iced mochas, and sing really loud in my car. I don’t like brownies with nuts and I’m extremely sentimental and will probably keep this interview just because it’s been given to me by a dear writing friend!

You have a book coming out this December, the middle-grade novel  Scones and Sensibility. Can you tell us about it?  

Sure! Scones and Sensibility is about an overdramatic and overromantic twelve-year-old girl who, using her heroines Elizabeth Bennet and Anne Shirley as her guides, sets to match-making in her small beach town with disastrous and hilarious results.

You have a great sense of humor and a brand of wit all your own.  What is your inspiration ?  

Life! I grew up with laughter all around me. Listening at my Grandparents table to the roaring laughter and the pee-in-your-pants stories my parents, my grandparents, and my aunts and uncles told. And really, life is full of funny mishaps, hilarious witticisms, and knee-slapping adventures.

What advice can you give aspiring authors? 

Write and read. And then read and write. A writer is first and foremost a reader…so read! And don’t ever, ever, ever give up! No writer would have gotten to where he or she was if they had given up after the first or even the twentieth rejection.

What books inspired you growing up? 

Matilda by Roald Dahl
Bridge to Terebithia by Katherine Patterson
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell

These were the books that first gave me the deep yearning to want to create stories that were filled with magic.

Tell us something surprising about yourself. 

Let’s see…I hate the sound of someone eating a banana or stirring a bowl of macaroni and cheese…it’s extremely gross to me. I’m also probably one of the only women on earth that wishes her hair wouldn’t grow….yes, I like it short and I wish it would just stay like that.

Visit Lindsay at http://lindsayeland.com/

Happy Dreaded Chore Day!

2009-10-12T10:12:00.001-04:00

Monday! Hurray! I am so in love with Mondays. No, seriously! On Monday mornings, my dear husband goes to work, my sweet son goes off to preschool, and I’m left with a couple of hours to myself to work. It’s heaven – the best way to start the week. By the time I have to go retrieve the toddler, I usually feel like I have at least a vague idea of how much needs to be accomplished during the rest of the week.

Monday morning is also my time to do The Dreaded Chore. I’m not much of a procrastinator, but every week, there’s something. It varies, but The Dreaded Chore is usually something that got put off from, say, the previous Thursday. A phone call I didn’t want to make. An email that I was “too busy” to return. A bit of tedious research that I’d been successfully avoiding. Monday morning, I just hold my nose and tackle whatever it is I most don’t want to do. And man, is that a great way to start the week – with the whew-that’s-done relief of having The Dreaded Chore behind me.

This week, it’s double-checking the timelines from my copy edits. I’ve heard friends of mine – already published authors – complaining about doing their copy edits. I never really understood. I mean, copy editing is just to correct that last, nit-picky stuff, right? Except that’s the problem. For most writers I know – and I can now include myself in this group – copy editing makes us want to throw up our hands and declare it too hard. Missing weeks, inaccurate sunrise times . . . this stuff can make a person crazy! Which is not to say that I am in any way frustrated with my copy editor. On the contrary – I’m deeply grateful that there’s someone out there dedicated and detailed enough to catch those sorts of mistakes before some eagle-eyed reader goes; “Hey! It couldn’t have happened that way! What sort of hack is this woman?”

The problem is fixing all of those mistakes. It’s a Dreaded Chore. And since it’s Monday morning, it’s time for me to quit procrastinating and finish correcting my slip-ups. Happy Dreaded Chore day, everyone!

Some cool news!

2009-10-09T16:09:00.000-04:00

Okay. It takes me a while to assimilate these things but seeing it in print helps me a lot.
This was on Publisher's Weekly a bit ago and I just wanted to share:

2009 IRA Young Adult fiction award winner for FREEZE FRAME, Heidi Ayarbe's THE DOUBTING, the story of a teen whose attempts to play off his Obsessive Compulsive behavior as the quirks of a superstitious athlete come crashing down over the course of one momentous weekend, to Donna Bray and Ruta Rimas at Balzer & Bray, in a two-book deal, by Stephen Barbara at Foundry Literary + Media.

(Yep! That's me! Work for two more years!)

Thank you, Libba Bray

2009-10-09T15:12:00.001-04:00

I think it's high time I created a blog, something I have studiously avoided for quite some time. Everyone says aspiring authors should have one. I am part of Sharing the Brain, the blog my critique group, the Wordslingers share, but I have been pretty lame of late.

I've been toying with the idea of what I'd like to speak about in my blog. I can't imagine dispensing daily, or even weekly words of wisdom that anyone would want to read. I totally admire the noble efforts of my friends Mary Lindsey and Elana Johnson who spout consistently great bits of blog advice that I gobble up religiously. And then there is the amazing Heidi Ayarbe (Freeze Frame, 2008) who bubbles with humorous tidbits and has me laughing constantly.

And another thing I don't want to do is whine. Lords knows I could whine from sun-up till sundown. It's my birthright. But no. I don't want to do that(well, maybe just a little). So, I was left thinking I have nothing I want to say to the world until I can say...hey, I have an agent and my book is coming out...not. Not yet, anyway.

Another thing I refuse to do is post negative reviews of books I have read. I respect the work ALL authors put into their writing and who am I to dash their hopes when I am struggling myself?

So, this morning, while tearing through the pages of Going Bovine (while I should really be putting the final touches on a massive project for work with an ominously looming deadline) I had a revelation. I want to tell everyone how this book has me absolutely floored. How lately I've bought one YA book after another (no names, please) only to slam them shut after 50 pages, with the notable exception of all things Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games, Catching Fire). Of course, Libba's previous series, The Gemma Doyle Trilogy, are my absolute favorites. How I've been on a quest for something to read that will remind me why I WRITE.

So THANK YOU, LIBBA BRAY, you funny, brilliant, poignant and wonderful woman for sharing your genius with me. For giving me something to blog about. For reviving my excitement for writing. I'm not nearly half way through and my only fear is that I will read it too fast.

Waxing Philosophical: What I didn't know about Coca Cola ...

2009-10-07T16:51:00.005-04:00

Today I'm feeling a little bit grateful for the fizzy brown fluid (that was originally green ... really), so I'm going to go off on a tangent (something writers have a tendency to do) and write a list of things I didn't know, some things I did, and other random, crazy, and some disturbing facts about the bubbly beverage. (And maybe you didn't know them either.)

Now, so you know, none of these ideas have been endorsed by the Coca Cola Company. And some of these things seem pretty cock-eyed to me and I wouldn't try them. That said, if anybody, namely the big big multi-billion dollar Coca Cola company, feels like suing me, they're not gonna get a whole lot out of it. (Is that a good enough disclaimer?)

Coca Cola was invited by John Pemberton in 1886 and was marketed as the "cure all" for a whole slew of ailments including: morphine addiction, dyspepsia, neurasthenia, headaches, and impotence (this, remember is PRE Viagra)
Santa Claus used to have a blue outfit until Coca Cola, more specifically Haddon Sundblom (a Michigan artist), dressed him in red in 1931. Three decades of Coca Cola ads with a fat Santa have molded how we "perceive" Santa to be.
When things are a bit too "runny", Coke seems to take care of it. (This I tried. And it could be timing, synchronicity, whatever. But as soon as I started drinking it, ahhhhh.)
Pour Coca Cola on a jellyfish sting. (Less gross than peeing on it.)
The Navy uses Coca Cola to preserve submarines. (Yes. Remember you're ingesting this liquid)
Coca Cola is great for cleaning tile grout. (Yes, I've done this. It works.) Oooh, my intestines are all-aflame!
It's sold in over 200 countries.
A can of Coca-Cola (330 millilitres (12 imp fl oz; 11 US fl oz)) contains 35 grams (1.2 oz), or 7-8 teaspoons, of sugar.
Soft drinks lower calcium levels and higher phosphate levels in the bloodstream which, in turn, strip bones of calcium ... you do the math. You drink lots. Your bones will suffer. Ick.
It can remove oil, carpet, and any number of other kinds of stains that industrial-strength detergents cannot.

And these masterminds of marketing have a pretty great stack of slogans under their sleeves: (How's that for unnecessary alliteration?)

(1891) The Ideal Brain Tonic./The Delightful Summer-Winter beverage.
(1927) Around the corner from anywhere.
(1945) Passport to refreshment.
(1948) When there's Coke, there's hospitality. (You think Kim Jong-Il knows this? Somebody send him a case of Coke, for God's sake!)
(1971) I'd like to buy the world a Coke. (Remember this one? With everybody singing and holding candles??)
(2007) Live on the Coke Side of Life.

Okay. Enough said. It's random. It's pretty useless however interesting. And my stomach is ever-so-grateful for it today. That said, I probably won't be buying a bunch tomorrow.

In the Stacks with Barbara Moon

2009-09-26T15:01:00.000-04:00

To kick off BANNED BOOKS WEEK, I'm starting my latest and greatest Blog Section: IN THE STACKS (name stolen from Barbara Moon, and since I'm stealing the cool name, I'm going to start off with her.)

I have never met Barbara but I feel so grateful to her because she was the VERY FIRST NON-RELATED PERSON to write to me about FREEZE FRAME, even reviewing it after just reading the ARC (advanced reader's copy) Since then, we have been in contact (thank you Twitter) and she has become a great "virtual" friend. I hope we can meet someday!!

(AND, if you're a librarian and want your library IN THE STACKS, you can become absolutely famous with my five or six blog readers. Let me know if you want to be here, and I'll send my super questionnaire your way!) :-) Who can resist that kind of an instant-fame deal?

What's your library's name and where is it located?

[Barbara Moon] Suffolk Cooperative Library System (a consortium of 56 independent libraries and their branches located on Long Island )

Why are you a librarian?

[Barbara Moon] I love books. I love people. I love connecting books & people. I love finding creative solutions to interesting problems. I like marketing new books and services.

Have you ever "shushed" anybody?

[Barbara Moon] I have never “shushed” but I have gone up to a couple of teens and mentioned that someone near them was trying to study. If no one is around, I don’t care if there is some noise.

Most people generally think of librarians as schoolmarms. What are three unexpected "non-librarian" things about you (short of being a hired assassin if, in case, you are)?

[Barbara Moon] I’ve hiked in “the bush” in New Zealand ( similar to a rainforest), visited a castle in Spain named for me (Santa Barbara. well, at least it has my first name. The named for me part is doubtful.) I ADORE Tex-Mex food – like it spicy!!!

In Freeze Frame, Mr. Cordoba spends an inordinate amount of time reading the newspaper. I have been told (ahem, oops) that this is pretty unrealistic, however nice it might be. So can you name four things you do in the library that most people wouldn't know about?

[Barbara Moon] hand out candy, play music, use strings of lights to highlight book displays, and an impromptu juggling contest (this is when I was a school librarian)

As for Mr. Cordoba, I know plenty of librarians who spend an extraordinary amount of time with crossword puzzles, facebook, etc. I’m pleased that Mr. Cordoba read the paper. I thought that was great! The one misconception that most people have about librarians is that you spend a great deal of “work” time reading. Not so, all my reading is done in my off hours.

What is your most-requested book? (Or one of the top requested)

[Barbara Moon] Twilight & Fruits Basket

What is your favorite book, one you read over and over again?

[Barbara Moon] This is impossible now. As a child I reread a copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales until I wore out the binding. I literally loved it to death.

If you could have any author visit your library, who would it be? Why?

[Barbara Moon] Too many to count. I have listened to and met some very interesting authors. Recently I heard Tracy Kidder – what a truly human human being. I like his books. I also think that M. T. Anderson and John Green gave some of the most thoughtful speeches at last year’s ALAN workshop. Very thought-provoking. Joan Bauer and Libba Bray are so warm and personable and approachable. The list goes on and on….

The Proust Questionnaire for Librarians:
1. What is your favorite word? yes
2. What is your least favorite word? no
3. What turns you on? trying something new and exciting
4. What turns you off? people who say “we’ve never done it that way”
5. What sound or noise you love? laughter
6. What sound or noise you hate? fingernails on the chalkboard? I don’t know. I have never thought about this.
7. What is your favorite curse word? (Yes, I know librarians curse!! You have whole dictionaries and thesauruses of curse words, I imagine!) I really don’t curse. But I can give you a look that will cause you to stop dead in your tracks.
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? something creative with color, paint, or fiber
9. What profession would you not like to do?anything with numbers, illness, or operating a motor vehicle is out.

10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? “welcome home”

a. The Pet Club at Riverhead Library (They collect pet food, blankets and towels for the animal shelter as well as make their own homemade pet biscuits etc.)
b. The wall at Babylon (designed by a local artist)
c. The Port Jefferson craft club (girls knitting)

Why I Love Juanes ...

2009-09-21T16:44:00.001-04:00

Juanes brought music to Cuba yesterday. To 1.2 million Cubans gathered at Revolution Square to be, more or less, exact. He brought a message of peace. He brought a message of love. He brought the message that no matter where we come from, what our ethnic, religious and cultural differences are, we're all people. And we all have the same basic fundamental rights -- one of which is music. He brought a message of hope to all the Colombians and their families who have been kidnapped and are being held prisoners in a never-ending war. His latest song asks us to reflect and do the same. "It's time to change."

...
es tiempo de saber
pedir perdón
es tiempo de cambiar
en la mente de todos
el odio por amor.

It’s time to change…

Si te pones a pensar
la libertad no tiene propiedad
quiero estar contigo amor,
quiero estar contigo amor,
quiero estar contigo amor…

Juanes embodies one of my favorite poems which, by writing it here, I'm probably infringing on God-knows-how-many copyright laws. (Sorry Mr. Dalton) But I have to share it with you because you can replace the word "poetry" in the poem with words like: music, education, health care (yes THAT debate again), dignity, housing, and, just to appease the IRS, taxes.

Like you, I

love love, life, the sweet smell

of things, the sky blue

landscape of January days

And my blood boils up

and I laugh through eyes

that have known the buds of tears.

I believe the world is beautiful

and that poetry, like bread, is for everyone.

And that my veins don't end in me

but in the unanimous blood

of those who struggle for life,

love,

little things,

landscape and bread,

the poetry of everyone. (Roque Dalton)

Thank you, Juanes, for your vision, your humanity, your music and your words. You ARE poetry.

Colombia from the Hip

2009-09-17T15:36:00.000-04:00

Interesting encounters with an overpacked backpacker ...

Oftentimes the people we meet stop and give me pause. This was one. Probably because he had 79 kilos of "stuff" on his back on his trek from Tierra del Fuego up. (My back ached just looking at him).
Do I BELIEVE he had walked from Tierra del Fuego to Pereira with two tents, a shoe collection that would make Imelda Marcos proud and lots of pots, flags, and who-knows-what-else?
I could've. Except for the fact that he said he did the bit from Tierra del Fuego to Arequipa, Peru with a penguin he adopted.
Nevertheless, who's to say what he dreams isn't as real as what we "live."
So, cheers to our overpacked backpacker and another chance encounter with a truly fascinating person in Colombia.

Two Words (And oh-so-much fun!)

2009-09-11T11:17:00.001-04:00

Joe Wilson’s Internal Dialog after “Outburst”

“You lie!”

Ah giblits. Did I think that or say that? [Looks around] Yep. Looks like I said that. [Clears throat].
I’m sure nobody heard me. Just the guys around me. It’s not like I said it that loud.
Nothing to get my knickers in a twist about.
Oh, Lord Almighty. Yep. Big O heard it. I’m getting that stink-eye from him. Dude. I hate the stink-eye. Looks like the prez could pretty much raise hell and put a chunk under it.
He’s scanning the area. I’ll just look around. C’mon guys. Oh, Lord. Creek's rising and I'm up to my ass in alligators. Big time. Help me out here. Jesus, it’s not like I’m Trent Lott or anything.
God it would be good to have some kind of distraction here. Something even worse than what I did.
Where’s Sarah Palin when you need her?
Hey. Do you think I’ll become a Saturday Night Live star, too?
Jesus Christ, Lord Almighty, he’s STILL staring over here. C’mon, man. Okay, Barack. Barack, Barack bo Barack, Bananafana Fo Farack, Mi my mo Marack … Barack.
Did I say that out loud, too? [Looks around] Doesn’t look like it. Filter. Filter. Filter thoughts. Maybe that’s what my life coach Sylvia is always talking about. Filter, Big Joe. Just filter.
This will totally blow over. I mean who’s really gonna care about this in the next ten minutes?
Gotta catch his eye. Catch his eye. C’mon McCain look my way and give me one of those thumbs up you like to give with that twitchy wink of yours. C’mon, help me out here. Did he just glare? Like Debate #2 condescending daggers glare? Oh, Geez, John. Not you, too.
Right now I could chew nails and fart tacks. Bad night to not take my Beano. I mean this kind of stress is murder on the digestive system. And tonight of all nights I double-dosed on the chitlins.
Dude, he’s still staring at me. Good Lord willing and the creek don't rise, I reckon my party and constituents got my back. Did Mitch McConnel l just blow me off? Well you can just kiss my royal American. I’ve got your back, too.
This has to blow over. It just has to. Think. Think. Think. Think. Think.
Tourette’s. Okay. I can do that. Tourette’s. If I say a whole slew of other vulgarities, I can win the disabled vote. I’m a Congressman. I have Tourette’s. Oh yeah. Shoe-in for next term.
Wait. Shit. Is that a pre-existing condition? Lordy, Lordy.
[reading small print of insurance stub].

Incredibly LONG Post on how FREEZE FRAME got Published

2009-09-07T13:28:00.001-04:00

From A to Z … The path to publishing.

I love these stories – hearing about how people get their first novel published. Simply because every story is different – some are Homer epicesque (like Jay Asher waiting twelve years to get Thirteen Reasons Why out there), some are Dorthy Parker short-storyesque (like Stephenie Meyer and her famous dream, synopsis, and mega-dollar deal within six months). (Personally, the “shorter” ones depress the hell out of me because it’s way to Fairy Tale Land for my taste. And, quite honestly, one in a million.)

But considering Freeze Frame was one in 195,000 in 2008 (yep, 19 books are published each HOUR in the states, 70% of which sell fewer than five-hundred copies), I wanted to share with you my ABCs of “How I Got Published.” (This does not count the years 2000 – 2004 when I first started writing “seriously”, for magazines, short story pieces, 'how-to books' etc.)

And before beginning, I’m going to tell you the three elements I think have to do with getting a book on the shelves: Determination (ie hard work hard work hard work), vocation (some people call this talent but talent tends to throw people off these kinds of careers. Like ANY career, you've gotta have an interest that goes deeper than so-so), and Luck. (Yep, that’s the kicker. I don’t really think anybody gets to this point without the third (some call it timing – same diff).

A. June 2004: I got an idea for a novel (after having written drivel for many years and two horrific novels).

B. June 2004 – October 2005: I wrote that third novel (hoping for better results than the previous two not fully knowing HOW bad the previous two really were). This took me a little over a year.

C. October 2005 –I live in Colombia so doing ANY kind or form of snail mail is extremely expensive, not to mention totally unreliable. And the business is very traditional/snail-mail. So I decided I needed an agent.

D. I researched agents. Thanks to the Verla Kay Blueboards I didn’t have to start from scratch. I researched every agent named on the Blueboards (what they represented, how their sales went, what they were looking for etc.)

E. Then I wrote a stellar query letter. This may sound like I’m bragging, but I’m not. If my query had not been stellar – flawless – with a good hook– I would never have landed an amazing agent. Period. (That said – digression here – I’ve been reading that lately there are lots of query clinics and agents are kind of glossing over the letter and going straight to the pages of the novel.)

F. November 2005: I came up with a list and started from the top, sending out query letters for my first really really bad novel.

G. January 2006: After revising Freeze Frame, I decided I should query agents for it because I wasn’t having much luck with The Chosen (A historical fiction novel about how the Incas sacrificed children to the Gods). I got a lot of requests to read pages of The Chosen, but nobody was biting. (I could go on and on about why not. Bottom line: It’s really quite bad. Good concept. Bad writing.)

H. February 2006: After researching a whole new slew of agents – two different genres (The Chosen was historical fiction; Freeze Frame is contemporary), I came up with a new list.

I. April 2006: I got the call. Stephen Barbara, after reading my query, asked me to send off the manuscript. I withdrew my queries from the other agents I had approached and sent my manuscript off. I signed with Stephen that very same week. (Many people ask how many agents I queried before Stephen with Freeze Frame. I had a LOT of luck on this one. He was in my first chunk of agents – so there were perhaps four or five other queries out there. I don’t remember. That’s NOT the norm. I know people who have gone through one hundred before getting their agent.)

J. April 2006: Stephen sent off Freeze Frame to a first round of editors. And we got lots of the same comments back, over and again. “Kyle is not likable. The writing isn’t strong enough.” Etc. One was interested in a revision, so I worked on a revision for a particular editorial assistant (thank you for your thoughts, even though you don’t know who you are, because that was a KEY step to getting here!) Based on these comments, Stephen sent my novel to Jill Santopolo (then at Laura Geringer Books, HarperCollins Children).

K. September 2006: Jill wrote Stephen with just some ideas about how she’d like to see the novel changed before taking it to Laura and acquisitions. Stephen sent me the letter, I LOVED her ideas. (As you might have gathered, I’ve been so so privileged and fortunate to work with Jill). And though my novel was under consideration somewhere else, I wanted to go ahead and make those changes because I knew it would make it better.

L. September 2006: Sent novel changes to Jill. The other house passed (uh-oh). Jill liked what I had done to follow her editorial ideas. (This is REALLY important. Great if you can write. WAY BETTER if you can revise and work with an editor. That’s KEY.)

M. October 2006: Met Jill and Stephen (Which was a treat!) Jill and Laura Geringer are on board to get this novel to acquisitions. Jill comes up with a profit/loss packet about me, the novel, other novels with similar themes etc. to present to acquisitions and sets a date to go to acquisitions. November 1st.

N. November 1, 2006: HarperCollins makes an offer, things were negotiated, and I got my first book deal.

O. – Y. (Revisions, revisions, revisions, revisions, copy editing, ARCs out, more revisions – THANK YOU, JILL FOR YOUR PATIENCE – cover – THANK YOU CARLA WEIS FOR THE BEAUTIFUL COVER – first reviews, sales reps, publicity, marketing, and a whole slew of things that go on behind the scenes for which I’m incredibly grateful as well as ignorant, I’m sure …)

Z. October 7, 2008 – Freeze Frame hits the shelves.

So that’s how it happened with me. Share your stories. And for those of you who don’t have a story yet, I hope you will one day. So hang on because it’s a great ride!

Testosterone + Silicone + Horse Poop =

2009-09-01T17:00:00.001-04:00

Pereira's cabalgata!

And what a show. Pereira's parties -- which last a month, though it somehow seems a whole lot longer -- end with the infamous cabalgata -- the horse ride up and down the streets of town in which the only thing you'll see jiggling are the spectators' eyes. BOING -- cartoon style.
Nope. Those boobs don't move.
The cabalgata, in itself, is a bit, well, tacky. Exquisite horses, that really should be the center of the show, are shadowed by triple-d cups shoved into double-a corsettes, drunk horsemen, Burro-tecas (donkeys strapped with blaring music) and the general chaos that goes with any massive event where alcohol is present in Colombia.
And we're talking about exquisite, Paso Finos, purebreds (NO. Not the silicone-enhanced women .. the horses!), the finest horses costing tens-of-thousands of dollars and up. But all that is lost to a strange homage to a world whose values have kind of gotten mixed up over the years in which plastic surgery is an appropriate gift for high school graduates, and women become ornaments, investing more in their bodies than brains.
At one time, the cabalgata was a way for ranchers to show off their horses and skills on a horse -- a spectacle people looked forward to year-round honoring the hard-working ranchers, arrieros and horses.
Now, the basic idea is still there. There's just a lot of leather and plastic in the way of the horses. I think it should be a non-alcohol event at eleven o'clock in the morning so we could really appreciate the beauty of the horses. And wearing clothes that actually fit might not be such a bad idea. (Or would that be too radical?)
Normally, I avoid it, but this year I wanted to bring Amelia -- a huge fan of ponies. She loved watching the balloon and popcorn man and vendors selling hats and ponchos and spent the afternoon shouting, "Ponies! Boobies!"
You gotta love the candid way children see the world. Indeed, Amelia, there were lots of ponies and boobies. (A bit more of the latter, I'm afraid).

Colombia from the Hip

2009-08-26T15:27:00.001-04:00

Colombia from the Hip

Plaza Bolivar -- the best public space in Colombia (according to Penalosa -- the guru of city planning, former mayor of Bogota). And definitely Pereira's most lively plaza.

1. Bolivar Desnudo -- This is the symbol of the city and probably the most famous statue of Simon Bolivar by artist Rodigo Arenas Betancur. Arenas created it in 1964, and it was one of the most controversial statues because, well, Bolivar is naked (hence the title).
2. The Chess Corner -- There is a very serious chess club that plays in the same spot on the Plaza Bolivar every day, all day long.
3. Shoe shiners -- Hundreds of people are employed in this plaza from shoe shiners, human statues, coffee vendors, musicians, and the dreaded mimes -- all making their living in this plaza surrounded by beautiful mango trees in the center of Pereira.

Waxing Philosophical on the Inevitable Hideousness of ID Photos

2009-08-21T18:36:00.001-04:00

It's that time of year again -- time to jump through an inordinate number of hoops to make any Cirque du Soleil acrobat look less-than-limber. Yes. It's time to renew my Colombian VISA, this time getting permanent residency here.
That is, if a decent document photo isn't a requisite.
I'm quite certain that if the authorities were to pick and choose who they wanted to reside within their borders, doing so based on document photos would narrow the field down to, um, one. Or perhaps two lucky people who actually took a decent ID photo.
So two days ago when I had jumped through hoop twelve-hundred and fifteen, sweating buckets while walking up and down the city streets, depositing money in banks, getting photocopies, returning to hand in paperwork only to find they hadn't given me all the information (big surprise), the inevitable happened. "Yeah. We need two 3x3 document photos."
Most, at this stage, would say, "Ahh, hell. I'll do it tomorrow." Because, as I mentioned, I was grimy, sweaty, flushed, and looked like a tomato with spiky hair. However, I feel like I've reached a Zen moment of acceptance of the inevitable hideousness of any kind of photo in which I'm supposed to "smile."
This goes way back to school picture days -- days I will always look back upon with a kind of grim disdain. There was always some overweight lady with coffee breath who would prep us before we sat in front of the big white screen. One year, the lady parted my bangs right down the middle and I ended up looking like Alfalfa from The Little Rascals (Yes. I have cowlick issues -- another thing I've finally come to terms with). And then there was the year the lady overlooked, YES OVERLOOKED, the green booger in my left nostril. I'm sure parents that year were thrilled to have a blown-up class photo with booger girl.
At the time, I was mortified (much like Elaine's nipple photo on Seinfeld). I was sure to be named booger or Alfalfa for the rest of my life. But, over the years, I've grown to accept the fact my hair never looks quite right, and the smile is always too forced and pasty.
So, two days ago, when he wanted the photos, I nodded and walked back another kilometer to the photo place, sweaty, grimy, slapped my money on the counter and said, "I need photos." The man looked me up and down, took the cash and nodded grimly to the back of the photo shop where two women frantically painted their eyes, curled their lashes and even spritzed on perfume for their photos.
"DON'T YOU KNOW?" I wanted to scream. Again, I should reiterate, I was having a bad document-goose-chase day. They looked at me, my sweaty hair and now-purple cheeks and took their photos.
I walked in the booth and this is what I got for my permanent residency card here in Colombia:

No. Not pretty. I kind of look like a felon stuck in the prison system. You know. The one who's there because she got a shitty lawyer and can't seem to get a re-trial.
Oh well. Like I said, I'm Zen about the photos now. Just a shame it's a permanent VISA.

Colombia from the Hip

2009-08-19T13:06:00.002-04:00

A. Selling bunuelos, avena (liquid oatmeal drink) in the Plaza in Santa Rosa (a small town just a half hour from Pereira)
B. The best snow cones in Pereira -- right at the zoo entrance (made with real fruit juices (berry, lemon, orange, tangerine), and enough condensed milk to make your head spin.

More to come!!

What do editors do??

2009-08-10T17:24:00.000-04:00

Okay.

I'm not an editor. But I've worked with some, so I have an idea about WHAT editors do. But before I began all of this, I had a very warped sense of editors and their jobs. Think red pencil, marked up manuscripts, and a voice like Charlie (in Charlie's Angels but not nearly as nice, just almost as mysterious).
I was wrong. (Even about the red pencil).
(BTW, please feel free to correct me and add onto this never-ending list of things-editors-do).

Things editors do: (I'm especially grateful to Jill Santopolo since she's been my Raider of the Lost Arc in all this. So I have to mention her ... lots!) (And I'm not EVEN going to touch on reading through the slush pile -- that's actually a real pile, sending out rejection letters, letters asking for full manuscripts, reading full manuscripts and editing them pre-contract etc. etc. etc.)

1. BEFORE a manuscript has been acquired, editors have to be amazing salesmen. Once they believe in a project and want to work with a writer, they do everything they can (short of jumping through flaming hoops, as far as I know) to get their publishers on board. Once that's done, they have to do what none of us would ever want to do (da-dum-da-dum): face the acquisitions board. They come up with a huge profit/loss package with information about the writer, the first fifty or so pages of the novel, a synopsis, and a comparative study of novels on the market that are similar to the one they are pitching and WHY the one they are pitching is WAY cooler. And then they start to try to drum up support for the project in-house so acquisitions goes well.

2. Whew. Then they breathe. (They do that, you know. Breathe.)

3. Now here comes the obvious. They "edit" novels. But we're talking WAY more than comma splices and run-on sentences (I've NEVER had either, BTW!) :-) . Editors have this phenomenal global view of HOW the book works. And why it doesn't when it doesn't. And, as I mentioned earlier, they are arc masters, knowing that each and every relationship in the novel has to have its complete storyline. This revision process goes on as long as it needs to until the editor and writer, together, feel the project has come to a good stage and it can be passed on to copy editors (Amazing people I will mention later).

4. And then the work begins ... Yep. I told you the list was long. And this is where things get a little fuzzy for me, so here's where I'd love more input from editors and authors alike. Anyway, as if it weren't enough for editors to help writers become writers, the editors have to start BUZZ. Ahhh, the industry word for books that sell before they're for sale. But how do they do this? Good question.

* Sending your ARC (Advanced Readers Copy) to their favorite librarians and reviewers (For literary imprints, the reviews are really important.)
* Publishing houses have "sellers" just like any other business. These sellers are based regionally and are sent ARCs from houses. Getting sellers on board with a novel is really important for its success in bookstores.
* Get a blurb from a successful author on the novel. (Thank you, Ellen Hopkins!)
* Nominate the novel for some big industry awards (like The Golden Kite)
* And a bazillion other things I'm not really sure here.

5. While this is going on, novels head to copy editors -- expert grammarians, fact checkers, and, in my honest opinion, incredibly brilliant people. They comb through the manuscript looking for every timeline glitch, misspelled word, book quote, movie reference etc. In FREEZE FRAME's case, my novel went through a contract copy-editor, an in-house copy-editor, back to Jill, then to me. Twice. Yep. Lots of work and lots of fact checking. They even printed out a map of my hometown to doublecheck that my character could actually cycle everywhere he did in the novel.

6. Here's something you'd never imagine. Editors are human! I was so intimidated about the whole process only to find that I had the privilege of working with not only an amazing editor (bravo Jill!) but also such a great person. Editors are approachable and great to bounce ideas off. They have each novel in their best interests and their thoughts, ideas, and comments about the novel are meant to push the writer to her limits and make the novel a hundred times the novel she thought it could be.

So, here's an ode to the editors out there; the ones who take risks on new authors and old; the ones who believe in the power of words and that some books, however "non" commercial they are, need to be out there on the shelves.

Thank you!
(Agents, you're up next!!)

Read this novel!!!

2009-08-04T12:19:00.000-04:00

Read this novel. Read this novel. Read this novel.
It's the handbook on descriptive writing. The images are phenomenal. It's poetic. And on top of that it keeps the reader engaged with a phenomenal plot in a mystical world.
I was captivated from beginning to end with the lives of the two-egg twins and their mother's dimples and a world in which who and how you love is decided by others.

Here are just a couple quotes from the novel:

The slow ceiling fan sliced the thick, frightened air into an unending spiral that spun slowly to the floor like the peeled skin of an endless potato.

To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never, to forget.

Read this novel!

Colombia from the Hip

2009-07-29T13:17:00.001-04:00

Myths abound about Colombia. So I'm going to have these little sections of photos I take in Colombia on the streets -- photos of my everyday life that don't have anything to do with horrible drug lords wearing tacky gold necklaces, the FARC, war, trafficking or anything that Hollywood and the media might have come up with to distort what Colombia is (as if you can "define" a place).

Here are my pics of the week:

1. A view of Pereira from Plaza Victoria (about a five-ten minute walk from my apartment)
2. Juan Valdez Coffee Shop
3. The "Shovel" Corner. Early every morning men gather at this corner with shovels, waiting for work. They're day laborers and get paid about $10.00 a day. (If the person who hires them is honest).

Sigh of Relief

2009-07-26T15:40:00.002-04:00

I have not had the best couple of weeks. My daughter was sick, I have been struggling with hip pain and life doesn't stop for any of it. The laundry still piled up. The kids still needed to be fed and the house to be cleaned. Not to mention my job. I have not written for the last two months.

I've been waiting to hear from my agent, who has been reading revisions of my manuscript. In the meantime, I have been researching my next book.

I received an email during a busy day last week that she the ms has much improved and she will have notes soon. She wants to try to make a go of it this fall. Everything else evaporated at least for a few moments. It is much improved. Those words echoed in the caverns of my mind.

It will all be okay. Isn't it funny how much my self worth is tied into my writing? Each manuscript contains pieces ripped from my soul and carefully sewn together thrown onto the reader for mercy. While I have come to appreciate criticism, at times I find myself doubting whether I have anything worthwhile at all.

The Cover Controversy and More ...

2009-07-25T12:40:00.002-04:00

As promised, a short synopsis of each book and genre.

Sarah Dessen, THE TRUTH ABOUT FOREVER -- (YA/Chick lit)
Macy's summer stretches before her, carefully planned and outlined. She will spend her days sitting at the library information desk. She will spend her evenings studying for the SATs. Spare time will be used to help her obsessive mother prepare for the big opening of the townhouse section of her luxury development. But Macy's plans don't anticipate a surprising and chaotic job with Wish Catering, a motley crew of new friends, or ... Wes. Tattooed, artistic, anything-but-expected Wes. He doesn't fit Macy's life at all--so why does she feel so comfortable with him? So ... happy? What is it about him that makes her let down her guard and finally talk about how much she misses her father, who died before her eyes the year before? Sarah Dessen delivers a page-turning novel that carries readers on a roller coaster of denial, grief, comfort, and love as we watch a broken but resilient girl pick up the pieces of her life and fit them back together.

Robert J. Sawer, WWW:WAKE -- Sci. Fi
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. The wildly thought-provoking first installment of Sawyer's WWW trilogy, serialized in Analog in 2008 and 2009, explores the origins and emergence of consciousness. Blind teen Caitlin Decter gets an experimental signal-processing implant that inexplicably opens up her vision to the wondrous infrastructure of the World Wide Web. Inside the Web is a newborn webmind, a globe-spanning self-contained consciousness that is just becoming aware of the outside world. Secondary plot threads about a highly intelligent hybrid primate and Chinese bloggers battling a repressive government extend the motif of expanding awareness. The thematic diversity—and profundity—makes this one of Sawyer's strongest works to date.

Patrick D. Smith, A LAND REMEMBERED -- Historical Fiction
A Land Remembered focuses on the fictional story of the MacIveys, who migrated from Georgia into Florida in the mid-1800s. After settling, this family struggles to survive in the harsh environment. First they scratch a living from the land and then learn to round up wild cattle and drive them to Punta Rassa. Over three generations, they amass more holdings and money, and move further from their connection to the wild land.

Orson Wright, THE VENGEANCE OF ARGIR -- Fantasy
It seems it's won awards etc. but I'm having a bugger of a time finding anything about what this book is about. If anybody finds out, I'll post!!

Susan Choi, A PERSON OF INTEREST -- Adult mystery/contemporary
Professor Lee, an Asian-born mathematician nearing retirement age, would seem the last person likely to attract the attention of FBI agents. Yet after a popular young colleague becomes the latest victim of a serial bomber, Lee's detached response and maladroit behavior lead the FBI, the national news media, and even his own neighbors to regard him with damning suspicion.

Amid campus-wide grief over the murder, Lee receives a cryptic letter from a figure out of his past. The letter unearths a lifetime of shortcomings – toward his dead wife, his estranged only daughter, and a long-denied son. Caught between his guilty recollections and the scrutiny of the murder investigation, determined to face his tormentor and exonerate himself, Lee sets off on a journey that will bring him face-to-face with his past – and that might even win him redemption.

Haruhi Suzumiya, THE MELANCHOLY -- "Light novel" (I found the definition of this offensive and will rant on a later post)
Apparently, though, it's now an Anime series and I haven't quite figured out if it's in book form, though it seems like it's a set of stories about a detective within one novel. As you can see, I'm not doing too well on my own investigations. Hmmm. This is what I get from the DVD reviews:
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (2006) overflows with zany energy. Despite the title, Haruhi Suzumiya is anything but melancholy: she's a bossy, outspoken high school girl who's searching for "aliens, time travelers, and espers." To aid her search, Haruhi founds a new club, The SOS Brigade. Although she doesn't realize it, Haruhi has actually found what she's looking for in her recruits: Yuki is an alien; Mikuru, a time traveler; Itsuki, an esper. Kyon, the put-upon narrator,is normal--at least superficially.Itsuki warns Kyon that the existence of the universe may depend on Haruhi's whims. When she gets upset, dark gaps open between dimensions, haunted by shinji (ghostly giants) whom Itsuki and other espers must destroy. Kyon wonders if he's having nightmares or protecting the world from destruction, but this storyline recedes as the series progresses. Like Dokkoida and Magical Shopping ArcadeAbenobashi, Melancholy spoofs the clichés of anime and otaku culture. When the president of the computer club challenges the SOS Brigade to a duel playing "Day of Sagittarius 3," the episode turns into an outrageous spoof of sci-fi anime, with Haruhi shouting commands from the bridge of an imaginary space ship. But the series stops, rather than ends, with the story unresolved as Haruhi and Kyon walk off into the rain. Given the popularity of Melancholy in Japan and the US, a sequel may be in the works. (Rated 13 and older: cartoon violence, risqué humor) --Charles Solomon

PEOPLE BOUGHT THESE BOOKS BECAUSE OF THE COVERS:

And finally, if you're interested in what goes behind a book cover (and what can go wrong), check out these articles and blogs about the latest book cover controvery over Justine Larbalestier's cover for her novel LIAR, LIAR.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6672790.html?&rid=#CustomerId

http://justinelarbalestier.com/blog/2009/07/23/aint-that-a-shame/

Okay, the week of book covers, controversies, and all that goes with them is up (for now.) I'm off to swim with Amelia and play! Have a great weekend.

Juding a book ...

2009-07-19T12:22:00.002-04:00

by it's cover.

We're not supposed to, but we all do it. And publishing houses invest loads of money in creating the "just right" cover that will capture the target audience's interest, then pass the cover through marketing, publicity and a whole slew of people who determine if it's the right look. So, I'm going to post six random novel covers. None of which I've read. And I'd like to know, for each cover, if A. You'd read it. (based on the cover alone) Why or why not? B. What you think the novel's genre is. and C. If you have any dreadful/awesome novel cover suggestions to post on the blog.
This week, I'll re-post and give a short synopsis of each book!

Here goes!

You know you're a foreigner when ...

2009-07-14T11:12:00.000-04:00

Since one of the main themes of my blog is about "feeling foreign", I'll try to talk about one thing that REALLY makes me stand out around here every blog post or so -- things that reveal my essential "gringa-ness". (Here, BTW, saying gringa/gringo isn't insulting. At least that's what they've been telling me for the past twelve years.)

Getting used to the day-today life in a foreign country can be exhausting, and after twelve years I still hold fast to some of my very gringa ways. (You'd think by now I'd know ...) Anyway, I'm pretty much the only one I know who actually waits for the traffic light to change to cross the street. I play the human version of Frogger on a daily basis and have gotten quite good. (I say I'm good because of the fact that I'm still alive and have only been clipped once by a taxi. Yes. I was crossing on green and assumed I had right-of-way. Silly me.)

There's something fantastic about a country that has "interpretive" traffic signs and lights. I think the whole idea of the game Red Light/Green Light is lost on children here. In fact, thinking about it, I've never seen the game played. How could they play it when red, yellow, and green all mean go?

The only thing that stops traffic in Colombia are the cars themselves that, at a moment's notice, will stop in the middle of a busy freeway to a.) pick up a customer (if you're a taxi or bus) b.) drop somebody off c.) say "hi!" to a friend seen in the next traffic lane or on the side of the road d.) buy beer, coffee, chips or other things at the little corner store e.) go in reverse because of a missed turnoff and f.) or show a little affection for the passenger. (Ahh the Latin Passion). All of the aforementioned actions cause massive traffic jams as the cars veer into the next lane to avoid the stopped car/bus/taxi or horse cart.

Nobody complains .. well not much. I suppose they figure what the moron in the car in front of them does today, they'll do tomorrow. And as for groping one another on the freeway, I stick with Einstein's theory of freeway groping (almost as well-known as the theory of relativity): Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.

Happy Endings?

2009-04-05T13:31:00.003-04:00

I bought Seven Pounds and watched it again this week. I love that movie. I ball my eyes out, but I love it. Several people I know do not like books or movies that do not have a happy ending. I don't like unrealistic happy endings...the kind that you know should have ended down a completely different pathway.

I have noticed a pattern. My favorite characters are always the down and out, dark and miserable heroes who surprise everyone with what they are capable of doing. I'm not sure if it is the darkness that attracts me or the fact that they rise above it. I love a realistic ending. Sad or not.

What is your favorite character? Do you have to ave a happy ending?

DUKING IT OUT

2009-04-01T14:32:00.003-04:00

I've got two book ideas fighting in my head. One is hard and I started it with no idea how to finish...I just go along grinding out a chapter at a time. The other came fully fleshed out (tho it'll probably get changed) and seems like fun, BUT requires research. Sigh. So I do a little on one, then a little on the other and it feels like my brain is getting bruised!

The World's a Twitter ...

2009-03-10T11:30:00.003-04:00

Blogging @ 10:31 am.
Procrastinating revisions @ 10:32 am.
Wondering why anybody would care about what I did at 10:31 am and 10:32 am but have posted it because now the minutia of my life is an open book.

My followers don't respond.
What is it with the followers, anyway? Aren't they supposed to be there? Responding? REACTING?
WTF???

10:34 Don't care.
And I'm bored with myself.

Yep.
I've jumped into the world of Twitter. Honestly, I don't really get it
and because there are about three people in this whole world that read
my notes, I won't be offending too many twitterers. Or whatever those
who tweet are called. Though I can see the advantage to something like
Twitter, I can't help but feel it's absolutely absurd, but one of those
things we're all supposed to do. Because it's "the thing."

Certainly, people follow interesting people. And considering the comments I get on
my mundane, pretty lame, oh-shit-I-need-to-tweet updates, I'm not one
of the interesting. Not remotely.

Regardless, I'm in. I'm tweeting. And though I supposedly "follow" lots of people, I honestly can't be bothered to read the updates, either.

10:38 am wondering what this world is coming to.
10:43 am -- finished my tea. It's a diuretic, right? Uh-oh

Music

2009-02-25T21:15:00.003-05:00

I LOVE music. I sometimes think that other women my age don't feel the same way about music that I do. I like almost everything and what I listen to depends on my mood. When my children are in my truck (I drive a little red truck) I usually choose something mello. The second they step out for the remainder of my ride to work I choose whatever I'm in the mood for (sometimes it's Blue October or Radiohead, sometimes Korn or Slipknot) but ALWAYS super loud!!! I see other women my age (mid thirties) sitting in their minivans, listening to quiet talk radio or Hannah Montana and I wonder what happened to that feeling they got in high school when they couldn't wait to get home to listen to THAT SONG--whatever it was at the time? I don't ever want to lose that love.

Music is a soundtrack for my life and it makes me feel ALIVE and wonderful. When I write music is extremely important. So I'm curious how music helps others create.

The above pictures are of Apocalyptica. They are a new band who don't have a steady person on vocals so they borrow a singer here and there. They are not the typical metal band--they use cellos. Four cellos--hard and fast--amazing. If you have not checked them out I really suggest that you do.

Photobiography

2009-02-25T15:40:00.001-05:00

1. Name: Heidi
2. Favourite food: Thai
3. Hometown: Carson City, NV
4. Favourite color: Blue
5. Celebrity crush: Anderson Cooper
6. Favourite drink: carbonated water with lemon
7. Dream vacation: Nevada with family
8. Favourite dessert: nutella crepes
9. What I want to be when I grow up: Happy
10. What I love most in the world: Wonder
11. One word that describes me: Content
12. Favourite pastime: Reading
13. Favourite Word: fug
14. Best Emotion/Mood: silly laughter
15. My favourite season: Fall

People Watching

2009-02-19T15:30:00.002-05:00

I carry a small notebook in my purse with me at all times. I love to people watch everywhere I go. When I see someone interesting, I jot down notes about them and use them for future characters. Especially secondary characters can be hard to picture sometimes and this really helps me.

I love to watch someone and wonder who they are. It's fun to make up stories about them. My husband and I do that just for fun.

I once noticed a man at Burger King. He was probably in his seventies. He sat in a booth with an old pocket watch propped up so that he could see it. He had a digital clock on the other side of the table (a small battery operated one) and he was writing in a notebook. I kept wondering what he wrote. The trashcan was behind him, so when I got up to throw my daughter's stuff away I took a peek over his shoulder. He had line after line of scribbles. No words. No doodles. No punctuation. Just scribbles. Lines and lines of it.

I still wonder why he had pages of scribbles in straight lines. Did he have a stroke and he was trying to learn to write again? Was he mentally ill? I guess I'll never know, but I'm saving him in my little notebook. I'm sure he'll fit in somewhere in a story....

Picture this....

2009-02-16T19:22:00.003-05:00

Have you ever (well of course you have) been reading something and suddenly realize the writer is in your head. I read this book around Christmas and something in it really struck me and has stuck with me. It was, The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield.

I really enjoyed the book, but page 113 especially hit home for me. A writer is describing her possible characters as people in the back of her head shouting for a turn. They become quiet once she chooses an idea for a year or so then the clamour starts all over again. I will not even try to put it as eloquently as she does.

Does every writer see that? It is always the same when I am finishing a project...the shouting begins. Some are louder than others and those are usually the characters I choose-the loudest.

I recommend this book. She has some other metaphors that once you read you can quite get rid of. Now every time the characters yell at me to choose them, I will picture the little red-headed girl in the back, quietly waiting for the final tale.

The Universal Grossness of Parenthood

2009-02-12T16:15:00.004-05:00

I'm finally about to hit the year-mark in what I fondly refer to as "baby boot camp." My daughter will be one on February 22, and it seems like this year went sometimes at warp speed, and other times at a crawl. (Honest to God those first three months, I was allotted more than standard twenty-four hour day.)
Christine (Yep our super Christine who is now madly working on revisions for her novel) said, "Parenthood is filled with long days and short years."
I kind of tweaked it: "Parenthood is filled with long days, longer nights, and short years."
And having reached the year mark, I couldn't agree more.

That said, I've been reflecting on something: The Universal Grossness of Parenthood. (Something like the Unbearable Lightness of Being without so much philosophy.)
So I, too, have joined the ranks of those who have the honor to carry the title -- parent. And to prove it, I have passed the following tests ...

1. I now spit on kleenex, tissues, or other fabric-like materials to wipe off my daughter's face.
2. I don't think twice about sticking my finger in the back of a diaper to "make sure" it wasn't just gas. (Though I don't really recommend this if you're not at home near a sink and soap. And a DEFINITE no-no with long nails.)
3. "Once-tasted" fruit that has been thrown on the floor has been designated its own food group in our home -- one I admit I rather like.
4. I'll spend an entire day thinking everybody around me stinks -- or the city has some kind of weird odor issue -- only to realize, when I get home, I forgot to wash the spit up off my shoulder or I have some kind of pureed substance on my person.
5. "What's thatsmell?" is a common question for me.
6. Sleep isn't an option anymore. And I'm okay with that. (Thank God for Caffeine)
7. Blow-outs are a regular part of a day. In fact what comes out of that little body is NOT proportional to what goes in. Babies defy the law of conservation of mass and matter.

Really, though, what a gift this year has been. I'm so so lucky. And hell, I never slept well beforehand anyway.

Shameless Self Promotion

2009-02-09T11:34:00.004-05:00

It's always fun to google yourself and actually find something. And even better when they're GOOD things. So here are some blogs and cool reviews for FREEZE FRAME! Yay!

http://yalsa.ala.org/blog/2008/07/30/books-to-watch-out-for-freeze-frame-by-heidi-ayarbe/

(This was my first starred review from a while back. It still makes me feel all fuzzy inside!)

http://thebookmuncher.blogspot.com/2008/08/freeze-frame-by-heidi-ayarbe.html

http://www.readerviewskids.com/ReviewAyarbeFreezeFrame.html

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3779937.Freeze_Frame

http://greasy.com/lunarhunk/freeze_frame_heidi_ayarbe.html

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PBX/is_6_42/ai_n31030029/pg_1

http://karinlibrarian.wordpress.com/

http://mutantangel.blogspot.com/2009/02/2008s-freeze-frame-by-heidi-ayarbe.html

Now, I'm just getting techie smart and do these "google updates" so I know when someone's talking about me -- good or bad. But that's the thing. In this funky business, I just need to be talked about! (Certainly, though, I'm LOVING the good stuff! It's all that ego, you know.)

Heidi

Eight is Enough ... Apparently Not ...

2009-02-06T10:31:00.003-05:00

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/31/nadya-suleman-octuplets-m_n_162756.html

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090206/ap_on_re_us/octuplets

I just have one question. Are our tax dollars going to be supporting this woman and her rampant irresponsibility? What about these children? Now eight newborns and six other brothers and sisters ages two to seven with no father and a grandma that apparently doesn't want anything to do with this.

I'm incensed. Comments welcome.

Stephen vs Stephenie

2009-02-05T16:01:00.006-05:00

I like this cat fight that Christine found. And it brings up several issues as both readers and writers that I'd LOVE to chat about and hear from you. (Are you out there?) Okay, maybe we'll hear from three. But it'll be fun nevertheless.

1. Should writers ALWAYS support other writers?
2. When we criticize other writers do we come off as pompous, jealous, cynical, all of the above?

I read the article. Stephen King obviously doesn't think Meyer can write herself out of a paper bag (though I think her banker would say otherwise).

Just to tip the scales a bit, I've found a pretty much "documented" criticism of STephen King's writing:

"Critics praise King as a stylist whose characterizations are much better than those that are generally found in Gothic suspense novels. He is criticized, however, for lack of originality in plot and for being derivative in a field that too easily lends itself to imitation and cliché."

So, let's hear it. And to be fair, I'll start off with my $.02.

I don't think writers should support other writers simply because we're in the same business. If King thinks Meyer writes poorly, why can't he say so? He takes a BIG risk coming off as arrogant, petulant, and pretty harsh, but were he a critic for, say, the NYT or something, people wouldn't be in such a big huff. HOWEVER because he did seem to go on and on, I think he came off as a touch, ummmmm, petty. Good enough. He doesn't like her work. Fair game. She's still going to be a millionaire as is he.

I think more constructive criticism from writers, though, would come off as less arrogant and more professional. I don't feel like we should always be cheerleaders to other writers. It's a subjective business.

What do you think as readers? Writers? When you hear criticisms from other writers?

So, let's hear it. Stephen vs Stephenie ... where do you stand?

"A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal."
Oscar Wilde

Woah, there!

2009-02-05T13:15:00.003-05:00

Yes, it's a picture of a cat fight.

So, apparently Stephen King did some trash talking about Stephenie Meyer earlier this week. Link here: http://blogs.usaweekend.com/whos_news/2009/02/exclusive-steph.html

Does he sound just a TOUCH jealous to anyone else? Like, maybe he wishes *he'd* thought up the good, sexy vampire idea?

I dunno. I think writers slamming other writers for their writing is really unfortunate. (That was quite a sentence I just penned there.) It's a small business. It's hard. Everyone's taste is different and there's no accounting for the market. Snarking is too easy, in my opinion. If someone's a pompous jerk, then call them on it. But accusing someone of being a bad writer? That helps exactly no one in my book!

What's with Football?

2009-02-03T23:07:00.003-05:00

Okay. I just have to say this, "I don't get it." I just CAN'T get into a game that says there are three minutes plus left over and they play another thirty. It's like when my husband says, "Yeah. Let's go," when I'm ready to leave a party and an hour later, we're still there saying goodbye. Like they say in Colombia, "People here say goodbye more than a bad circus."
But football.
I don't get it.
I don't like it.
It's all too much of ... huddling, too-fast-plays, huddling, butt-pats, coaches speaking through fancy-schmancy microphones calling out plays while the quarterback probably has some gizmo blackberry that shows the field in 3D to doublecheck the play then they call another huddle and call out numbers, then a blur of movement, then ... And only twenty seconds have gone by.
Like I said. I don't get it.
Hmmm ... maybe the game IS Colombian at heart.

The Great Philosophy of Calvin and Hobbes

2009-02-03T17:21:00.003-05:00

I thought we could all use a little something to spice February up ...

A little rudeness and disrespect can elevate a meaningless interaction to a battle of wills and add drama to an otherwise dull day.

I understand my tests are popular reading in the teachers' lounge.

Life's disappointments are harder to take when you don't know any swear words.

That's the difference between me and the rest of the world! Happiness isn't good enough for me! I demand euphoria!

In my opinion, we don't devote nearly enough scientific research to finding a cure for jerks.

You know, Hobbes, some days even my lucky rocketship underpants don't help.

Its no use! Everybody gets good enemies except me.

What's the point of wearing your favorite rocketship underpants if nobody ever asks to see 'em?

I'm learning real skills that I can apply throughout the rest of my life ... Procrastinating and rationalizing.

I have a hammer! I can put things together! I can knock things apart! I can alter my environment at will and make an incredible din all the while! Ah, it's great to be male!

I'm not dumb. I just have a command of thoroughly useless information

Yes!

2009-01-30T14:26:00.003-05:00

Ever have one of those days when you think you're too tired/fried to write but you sit down for a minute anyway and then just do some really fantastic work?

My naptime writing session was like that today.

Aaaaah, happiness. These are my favorite sort of afternoons.

Just wanted to share.

Why do my Google alerts suck?

2009-01-25T21:23:00.003-05:00

Someone in the industry told me to use them to keep tabs on stuff like werewolves and YA fiction, but they're not capturing anything worthwhile - often the results aren't even relevant! Is that common? Can anyone fix my boolean terms to get better results?

I'll take any suggestions I can get (and if you're not using Google alerts to keep track of stuff, a well-known publicist says to do it, so . . . go!)

Hope is Born ...

2009-01-24T12:19:00.006-05:00

It's time for a new beginning, new hope, a new world.

Oh, maaan!

2009-01-23T12:51:00.002-05:00

So, here I was, naively hoping to finish the draft of my next novel before beginning the revisions for my editor on the first.

HA! I realized I had a little problem with the villain. Little. Tiny. And after pow-wowing with the wonderful Wordslingers, I found a fantastic solution. Which is great! But I'd guess it'll take me another 20,000 words to remedy the situation. Plus writing the end of the book. And that just ain't gonna happen in the next two weeks. Siiiiiiiiigh. Oh, well. I took good notes on what I want to do, and maybe I can sneak in a little work when I'm tired of revising.

On a funnier note, the conversation about what I should do involved one Wordslinger actually saying the words "murder is always good." The funny part is that the rest of the 'slingers roundly agreed with this statement. Man, we're weird. Thank goodness we can at least be weird together!

Am I Getting Old?

2009-01-11T11:52:00.004-05:00

Concerts are strange. The big stadium concerts, I mean.
Think about it. You pay $40.00 to watch big screen TVs in the cold and sing along with 40,000 of your very close friends. You're lucky to get within a hundred yards of the singers.
So when we arrived at the stadium and Miguel Bose came out, I wasn't ready for the intensity of 40,000 people bursting and bubbling across the stadium. It was like getting injected with pure energy.
He started on time, at 8:00 pm, and we sang, danced, laughed, and yearned for more. After a stage change (a 30 minute pause around 10:15), Juanes came out and rocked the stadium. And he sang, and sang. And sang.
Now, don't get me wrong. I LOVE Juanes. I love what he's done for Colombia. He's about the sexiest man on the planet and an amazing performer. Regardless, I started to get really tired, the cold biting into my clothes, and couldn't help but daydream about hot chocolate. I even think I nodded off during a couple of his newer songs.
Midnight came around, and he was still singing. He came out for an encore and said, "YOU ARE MY BOSSES. I'LL SING AS LONG AS YOU'D LIKE." That's when I thought, "For the love of God somebody has got to stop this man. Please." I, of course, didn't vocalize that because I didn't want to be the bane of 39,999 avid fans. In Colombia, nobody stops Juanes.
Certain that we'd never, ever, ever get home, I thought I had two options: one, enjoy the concert or two, pray that it would end soon. Naturally I opted for number two. I was so so tired. We'd be there forever and ever listening to music in the cold when I could be sleeping.
I'm getting old.

Crap.

Happy 2009!

2009-01-05T16:49:00.004-05:00

Happy New Year!!

Of course I have to be cliche and write a Happy New Year post. It's just "the thing" to do.

Anyway, New Year's is quite an event in Colombia. At midnight, at home, all you've gotta do is find someone to kiss. (Yes, I know. I went through decades in which that was about as likely as Victoria Beckham buying a pair of Payless shoes.)
Here, though, it takes a lot of coordination to do everything 'just right.' When the clock starts to strike twelve, you have to eat twelve peeled grapes and make a wish on each dong. No time to chew. Then, as soon as that's over, everybody runs around the block with a suitcase to make sure they'll travel during the year. Then we take out a life-size doll -- the old year -- and burn it. Kind of like starting the New Year with a clean slate. All this is done at midnight -- somehow. And then, of course, the fireworks (yes, they're illegal, but here 'illegal' always has a subjective interpretation and no our fireworks don't REALLY look like the picture) all the while wearing yellow underwear (which I've never been a fan of for probably pretty obvious reasons) and the party begins. Sigh. I'm tired. And New Years was almost five days ago. We always spend the New Year with all of my husband's family. (It's a HUGE family holiday here -- not like at home where you go off with friends). His mom, her three siblings, and all of their families. There are about twenty of us doing these crazy antics, and this year we spent the rest of the night singing karaoke. Which, admittedly, I LOVE! I'm horrible, but I just LOVE karaoke. Yes, send me to the cheese factory, but at least I'm honest about it. Lots of people won't admit it.

The thing I love: NO RESOLUTIONS. Which I've always thought were pretty tedious. I mean why start the year off with a bazillion things you haven't done? It's just better to burn the doll.

Anyway, I hope this year brings everyone wonders, peace and joy.

Happy 2009
Let the writing begin ...

Heidi

An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves. ~Bill Vaughan

(Personally, I'm just glad I can make it to midnight half the time. Sigh. Am I getting old???)

My Green Dilemma

2009-01-03T22:20:00.003-05:00

Both Heidi and Trish have recently mentioned heros and villians and that's gotten me thinking about a little problem I've developed. I've been reading Wicked by Gregory Maguire and I'm very nearly done but I've reached a point where I don't want to read anymore, in fact I haven't cracked it open since before Christmas. Not because, I lost interest or I didn't care about the characters. Quite the opposite. I care too much about the characters. Both Elphie and Glinda. I obviously know how the story ends and I just can't bring myself to read about the death of the Wicked Witch of the West. Last week, the Wizard of Oz was on TV, looped for twenty-four hours for the holidays. I found that I couldn't bring myself to watch. Maguire has taken one of the most evil characters from my childhood that had not a shred of goodness in her and made her so real and sympathetic that I get mad at the good guys for offing her! I'm not sure how this will affect me reading other works by the talented Maguire, I don't want any more of my fairy tales messed with. But it brings me to an interesting question...can a villian be too sympathetic that it destroys their badness? Thinking that hard makes my head hurt :)

Mandy

PS I should mention that I'm also reading What-the-Dickens, Maguires childrens offering and am greatly enjoying it and not having my good and evil roles challenged in the process.

The New Yorker's Panel Tanks It ...

2008-12-22T11:02:00.003-05:00

I'm shocked.
Awestruck.
Amazed. Amazed. Amazed that THE NEW YORKER -- probably the most important literary magazine in the United States just tanked an article on YA literature. Their book bench reads, a section of the magazine that is always fun to browse, has a panel discussing HEADLONG, by Kathe Koja. The panelists respond to the novel, its meaning, and the "YA label." Here are some of the most interesting quotes:

MACY HALFORD:
The book totally surpassed my expectations. I tend to think of young-adult fiction as sort of facile—a straightforward style, uncomplicated themes and morals ..

Jenna Krajeski:
When I was a teen-ager, I assumed that the label [YA] was synonymous with preachy and boring, a companion to sex-ed classes. I still can’t imagine kids Lily’s age actually reaching for this book over “Tropic of Cancer.”

Ligaya Mishan:
Teen-age boys don’t read, apparently.

But I wonder if this is part of what demarcates young-adult fiction. Surely we demand of “adult” writers (or perhaps what I really mean is “great” writers) higher moral and philosophical stakes?

Halford:

Well, of course we do demand of “great” writers—literary-fiction writers—higher moral and philosophical stakes. Like I said, I think the Y.A. genre is typically defined by very straightforward moral messages, ones that are deemed “suitable” for children, even if the subject matter deals with more grown-up topics (like sex or drinking).

Oh dear. Oh dear. Oh my oh my oh my oh my oh my. Part of me wants to be indignant, but the other part realizes that The New Yorker is guilty of what many are: perpetuating the idea that YA lit is second-rate and adolescent readers don't read complex novels. I'd like to say I'm surprised. Okay. I'm surprised THE NEW YORKER stooped this low. But I'm not surprised about the flippant attitude toward YA lit. I had a family member tell me, after my book was accepted for publication, that YA was just hack reading. Needless to say, he didn't get a free book. Granted, he will probably doesn't read anything other than the sports section of the paper anyway. Okay. Yeah. I'm miffed. Because if anything THE NEW YORKER who prides itself on being THE LITERARY MAG of the US dropped the ball and is, in my eyes, no better than that family member I mentioned.

So, THE NEW YORKER panel, let me introduce you to MT Anderson, Markus Zusak, Ellen Hopkins, Laurie Halse Anderson, An Na, Walter Dean Meyers, Terry Trueman, Cormier, Spinelli ... should I go on?

Welcome to the world of great lit. I'll let it slide .. this time. But honestly, you ended up looking like a bunch of elitist putzes instead of real readers of real literature. What a shame.

HUGE NEWS!!!

2008-12-21T14:40:00.002-05:00

Yay, it's official and I can share!

Thanks to my wonderful agent, Caryn Wiseman of Andrea Brown Literary . . . .

Simon Pulse (an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.) has bought my novel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The estimated publication date is Summer of 2010.

I'll be working with a super-fabulous editor, and I can't wait to get started. After years and years of dreaming, it's finally gonna happen - a book *I* wrote is getting published! Hip, hip, hooray!

Merry, um, something.

2008-12-12T14:08:00.002-05:00

Argh. Between writing as much as I can on my WIP and waiting on some big news from my agent (stay tuned,) and trying to keep up with the rest of life. . . I am so not in the holiday spirit this year.

That's never happened before. I *love* the holidays. But this year, I just wish the presents were wrapped, the cards were sent, and the meals were cooked so that I could hole up and write my little heart out.

It's a bummer when your passion turns you into a total grinch, you know?

NBC is showing It's A Wonderful Life on Saturday night . . . maybe that will give me the kick I need to be a little more mistletoe and a little less main-character.

Heroes???

2008-12-06T18:24:00.003-05:00

Heidi brought up heroes...and I could not resist. One of my favorite shows is, drum roll...Heroes. I like it first because the plot is so complex if you miss an episode you are lost. the writing is fantastic, the characters are hard not to like, even the villains. What exactly are the differences between heroes and villains? Both have the power to change and go the other direction, and in this show they often do. Gabriel, here or Sylar is one of my favorites. he is a terrifying killer, then he changes for a while and chooses to be ultimately good, but he has just taken another turn....

How do we portray our bad guys? Good guys? Aren't the best heroes characters that are ultimately flawed but deep down want to do the right thing? If you push a character hard enough, any character couldn't they turn into a villain?

Tardy Words from the Caboose

2008-12-01T19:21:00.003-05:00

(If I knew how, I'd post a photo here from the Cirque du Soleil)

Oh oh, missed the T-Day deadline!! Which means I’m suspended between Thanksgiving and Christmas like a gymnast leaping high in the air to do the splits. As if!!

On top of my thanks for health, family, love and work, I’m also grateful for beauty. This week the sky, seen through black and lacy branches was bands of purple fading to lipstick to apricot to blue. I’m nourished by the beauty of my house and garden. I’m grateful to New England ancestors who threw nothing away and so left me all their furniture and silver!.

Last night, at a church with walls of glass, I watched a choir of girls wearing long white dresses with crowns of lighted candles on their heads sing Swedish carols. It came to me that Light would be my word this holiday season. In writing and in life, I will seek out light where I find it. I’ll try to be a light to others. When I see light on the path, I’ll follow where it leads. Not a religious thing, just my personal revelation.

Where are all the heroes?

2008-12-01T11:40:00.003-05:00

Peter Parkers, Clark Kents, and Bruce Waynes abound in the world -- they just don't have the cool gadgets and showy outfits.
So, I pose a better question, where AREN'T the heroes?
CNN's show on heroes gave me goosebumps. The lineup of "top heroes" included a runner, teacher, librarian, farmer, ex-convict, rescue worker, doctor and more -- regular people seeing where love, faith, and help are needed in this world. Ordinary people with extraordinary vision and a passion to help humanity.
So it made me think about my heroes because though I saw the difference each of CNN's heroes made in lives of thousands, each and every one of us has a hero or two. I hope. Because heroes challenge us to be better, strive for more, work harder. Heroes are the measure to which we can hold ourselves. My heroes don't wear "Super Capes" or have secret lairs. My heroes, each one, has taught me about how to be a better person. And I still have a lot of work to do to live up to their examples
The immortal words of Peter Parker's uncle: "With great power comes great responsibility."
But we all have great power within us. We sometimes have to sift through the muck to find it.
Anyway, CNN's heroes was a brilliant way to show how regular people lead lives of love and passion -- without looking for the spotlight.

I am humbled.

Grateful to be Don Quixote no more

2008-11-29T10:58:00.005-05:00

Whoops! Late giving thanks! What am I grateful for? You guys! And the birthday girl who introduced me into the wonderful world of critique groups nearly four amazing years ago. I am grateful to share my writing and my life with you ladies, as our children grow older and we do too. We've been through so much together—two births!—yet we've never officially *met*. (except Heidi and I) It's almost hard to believe, isn't it? When we do, we'll barely notice, I think. It'll seem like we've been sitting around each other's living rooms and kitchens for years, yapping.

Anyway, I am grateful for these women, my writing sisters, and my whole extended online writing community, which has mushroomed pretty far and wide. I am grateful for my children, husband and parents, who continue to support and cheer me on in my endeavors and what used to seem like Don Quixote wacking at a windmill, and doesn't so much anymore.

And lastly I am grateful for the incredible Catherine Drayton, (deep breath, who represents, yes, Marcus Zuzak, of the Book Thief), my agent, who first, unbelievably, gave a hint she liked my writing a year ago this Thanksgiving and is now, even more unbelievably, guiding my career and working with me on revisions of my latest book.

Okay..yep...grateful. That's me.

Thankful

2008-11-27T18:57:00.002-05:00

Today is Thanksgiving and yesterday was my 35th birthday. This time of year is tough for me, because every since I was a little girl most of my friends were usually busy or out of town this week. It isn't easy having a birthday this close to a holiday, but when I start to get down I think of all of the reasons I have to be thankful.

I made it another year, I have friends and family, books and writing, a house, clothing and a job I enjoy. I am a Sagittarius (one of the luckiest, jovial signs of the zodiac). I am a mother and a wife. I have many interests so I am rarely if ever bored. I am alive and ready to howl at the moon!

I am thankful for all of the ladies in this group...I could not do it without you.

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

2008-11-27T13:08:00.003-05:00

I'm spending the day baking pies, watching the Macy's parade with my son, and thinking about how grateful I am for all of the wonderful people in my life. Since this is a blog about writing, this is the place where I'll take an extra moment to be grateful first to these wonderful, wacky women, who help me so much and make me so happy. Thanks, Slingers!

I'm also so thankful that the universal powers-that-be nudged me to write in the first place. To have something that gives me such a sense of purpose and wonder is truly a gift, and I am so, so grateful to have it.

Gratitude

2008-11-26T16:34:00.003-05:00

Every night before putting my daughter to bed, we say, "love, peace, health, happiness, gratitude."
Gratitude.
At the risk of turning this into some Hallmark Hall of Fame "thankful" blog, I have to be honest. I am thankful. I am grateful. I am grateful for my health, family, friends, and job. Sometimes I get caught up with things, and then I look at my baby girl and watch her, how she is so amazed by the way a ball moves in her hand; the way a toy makes a noise. And I stop. I stop work. I stop everything to be grateful that I have these moments with her.
My deadline is looming.
My daughter is healthy.
The laundry is piled up.
We have food on the table.
The house looks like a tornado has gone through Toys R Us and deposited everything in one fail swoop.
I have a home.
And I have a job to buy those toys. And I have good mind not to replace the batteries in any of them.
Grateful.
I am grateful.
I wish you and your family love, peace, health, happiness and gratitude.
Happy Thanksgiving.

Thankful for Thanksgiving

2008-11-24T22:04:00.003-05:00

Giving Thanks is obviously the theme for the week as we near Turkey Day and I have so much to be thankful for. Hubby, relatives and friends, all of whom are healthy is just the begining. Then I can move on to a rewarding (though exhausting) job, great co-workers, wonderful boss and on into my home and the critters running around in it, chewing up my bathroom rugs. Next, my writing buddies. I have learned so much from the Wordslingers and continue to be amazed by the wealth of talent we have in our group. But I'm also thankful for Thanksgiving. I've got a couple of days off and a great meal planned with good friends. It's a special time of year and I hope that everyone has a blessed holiday whether you're serving turkey or tofu.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Mandy :)

Someone I Deeply Admire

2008-11-23T16:44:00.003-05:00

"My first memory is of the brightness of light...light all around."

I have always been fascinated by artist, Georgia O'Keeffe. Born in 1887, she was a strong, determined woman who never let anything stand in the way of her goal. She lived in West Texas (where I grew up) and still found beauty. Her true home was in Ghost Ranch, New Mexico. I lived in New Mexico for several years and in lots of ways feel it is my home. The land is breathtaking and I can completely understand why it inspired her so.

"When I think of death, I only regret that I will not be able to see this beautiful country anymore...unless the Indians are right and my spirit will walk this land when I'm dead."

She is one person I would love to meet on the other side, or in another life. She is a wonderful role model. Whenever you feel stuck in one spot in your writing, or you're frustrated that something is not going the way you thought it should, look at some of her work. I promise it will inspire you.

On the back burner

2008-11-18T19:01:00.002-05:00

I'm stuck between two manuscripts. I've started a new work and am loving it but at the same time there's still Solis. My new wip, tenatively called Rossi, is so much fun and I'm in the creating stage whereas Tala and Solis are hanging out...waiting on me to decide which one gets my attention. Rossi tugs and demands my time while Tala sits quietly twiddling her thumbs, hoping that I'll eventually finish those last few edits and start querying. She's been placed on the back burner. Am I just afraid to query? Is there more that needs to be done? Who knows what's going on in my weird pysche. But for now, it seems that Rossi is winning the battle.

I know that my pic has nothing to do with my post...I just couldn't pass it up though. I love Pearls Before Swine and I often feel like pig does. He mirrors my emotions more than I'd like to admit.

Mandy

Uuuuuuugh!

2008-11-17T21:00:00.003-05:00

So, I'm trying desperately to finish the project I'm working on because 1) that's my job as a writer and 2) I have an idea for a new thing that I'm excited to start on.

And yet I barely eeked out five pages last week. Why? Time. Plain and simple. Either the kid decides not to nap or I have a house project that has to get finished before I host the out-of-town guests and parties and events that are clogging my calendar between now and the new year. And I LOVE all of those things . . . but when I can't get my writing done, I am one frustrated woman.

It seems like it's always one thing or the other - not enough inspiration, or not enough time! But oh, there are those rare and wonderful moments when we get some of both and that's when things really click.

So, I guess I'll sit on my muse and hope she sticks around until my dining room curtains are hung and my kid is in bed.

Regarding my revising

2008-11-17T18:22:00.003-05:00

I'll be a hamster to Trish's bird—a whole lot of effort with not as much to show as I'd like. Yes, I am making good progress, but not as fast as I think I should. I'd love to just have the remaining chapters pour out from my mind like golden honey, but instead the ideas are dribbling out in fits and starts. And right now, I'm kind of plugged. Maybe I should have posted an image of that already forgotten dude, Joe the Plumber.

Of course, like Trish's industrious bird, I'll get there, but sometimes I feel that for all the frenetic activity, I'd have more to show for it.

But this too, shall pass. Ah, if only books wrote themselves...but then nothing truly worthwhile comes without real effort. In the immortal words of one of this semester's graphic design students, "go hard or go home"...in other words, just get it done and get it done right (and quit yer whining).

Twig by Twig

2008-11-16T11:43:00.002-05:00

I've decided that right now the animal I feel like is the bird (and I chose the hummingbird because they represent joy). Birds are amazing. It takes them days to make one little nest. They pick up one twig or one leaf at a time, sometimes twice their weight. They don't give up, they don't stop until it's finished. It can rain and the bird will keep going. The wind can knock the nest out of the tree and the bird just rebuilds.

I feel like a bird right now. It may take me a while to complete my revisions, but I will not let the winds or the rain stop me. I'll take it twig by twig until my masterpiece is in my agent's hands.

We're back ...

2008-11-10T11:01:00.003-05:00

Funny. You wouldn't think taking the time to write five minutes/week would be a task, but, alas, we entered the blog realm and so very quietly slipped away from it. But we're back and stronger than EVER.
Lisa, our resident artist has been offered representation! Christine and Trish are out there with amazing agents shopping their work. Mandy is ready to jump in and start querying. Yikes! And Jean, well, Jean is getting new eyes.
As for me, I'm up to my eyeballs in revisions for novel #2 -- still working with Jill Santopolo and HarperCollins (now with Balzer and Bray books).
But I wanted to take a moment to tip my hat to Laura Geringer. After twenty-seven years in the business, she decided to move on and is now going to write full-time. She's written loads of children's books under the name L.G. Bass. I've never met Laura Geringer, but I am so so proud to have had my first novel out under her imprint. And so grateful that she took a chance on me.
Laura Geringer is a gem in the business. She would take on projects and novels not necessarily because they'd be commercial successes but because she believed they were books that quite simply needed to be out there. And she's built a reputation by working with renown authors like Laura Numeroff, William Joyce, Richard Egielski. I am so fortunate that she thought FREEZE FRAME should carry the imprint those other books do.
So, though I've never met her, I miss her.
And I will always be grateful that she took a chance on me.
Best of luck to you, Laura Geringer!

One of My Muses: The Decemberists

2008-11-09T23:00:00.004-05:00

And I am a writer, writer of fictions
I am the heart that you call home
And I've written pages upon pages
Trying to rid you from my bones
I am a writer, I am all that you have hoped on

And I've written pages upon pages
Trying to rid you from my bones
My bones
My bones

(And if you don't love me let me go)
And if you don't love me let me go
(And if you don't love me let me go)
And if you don't love me let me go

The Decemberists are my favorite band. I had the great fortune to see them this past Wednesday, Nov. 5 the day after the most amazing election in the history of the universe. I'm mainly mentioning this band, because, Colin Maloy, the wild and wacky lead singer and incredible genius behind this troop of geniuses claims he is a failed writer. I just want to send a shout out to Colin, because he is not a failed writer, but rather a writer who has managed to put a treasure trove of amazing stories to music. For the past three years, the music of the Decemberists has been an inspiration to me. I truly realized this at that performance Wednesday as they breezed through the songs that have been the soundtrack of my life as I struggled to find myself as a writer. Particularly the song above. I distinctly remember listening to that on my favorite radio station, (shameless plug here) WFUV, the non-commercial station out of Fordham U, on a fall day last year when I was feeling pretty discouraged. For some reason, those words, and the haunting melodies helped me resolve to plug on. Now here I am, one year later, agented by one of the best in the biz, Ms. Catherine Drayton of Inkwell Mgt, fresh off the Decemberist concert. It became a giant blue state celebration of the election of Barack Obama. So I guess, I'm rambling, but I just want to reflect on the two impossibilities that have actually come true this year: Landing an amazing agent and witnessing the election of the most amazing human being I can think of to lead this country. And...I'd like to mention: Mr. Obama is a published author, to boot. (and he can pronounce nuclear). It's been quite a week. Oh..and did I mention I turned 50?

Balance

2008-11-09T21:35:00.002-05:00

I was a clumsy kid. Every year in gym, we would complete a gymnastics rotation. There was not a single event I could master and I wanted so much to be able to flip and fly through the air. But no, my feet need to stay on the ground. Now that I'm older, balance takes on a new meaning. Work, writing, critting, hubby, friends, reading, housework and on and on (and I don't have kids...I am in awe of all moms!) Learning to juggle all of my responsibilities plus everything that I want to get done is a trick I've yet to master. I'm still struggling for balance. I know that everyone wrestles with having enough time in the day but I also know that some have mastered a schedule that I am totally jealous of. I love to hear how others fit everything into one day, people are so creative when it comes from making the most of their time. So tell me...do you have a schedule? Do you stick to it? I'm a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants gal by nature but I'll keep working to find my balance at least until life decides to knock me off the beam again.

Holiday Gift-giving Guide

2008-11-09T13:42:00.003-05:00

In a word? Books. Please.

In this economic disaster zone, it seems some folks are still bullish on the book market, and as someone who is still waiting (mostly) patiently for her agent to sell a manuscript, I hope to God they're right.

This article seems to think fiction is the way to go this holiday season.

Books are an inexpensive way for people to escape the not-so-wonderful reality around them. They're portable. They're easy to wrap. There are endless choices. I say, hit your local bookseller and you can be done with your holiday shopping in time to grab a gingerbread latte and read the first few chapters of the book you couldn't resist buying for yourself.

Looking for a suggestion? Try FREEZE FRAME, by our own Heidi Ayarbe, available now at bookstores everywhere (and also, of course, on Amazon.)

Writing and What A Book Can Become...

2008-11-07T21:38:00.003-05:00

S. Meyer's TWILIGHT comes to the big screen this month...and it's amazing to me. I read the book two years ago before all of the hype. It was just on the verge of becoming popular and none of the other books had been released. I loved it, and I can't wait for the movie to hit theatres. I will be in the audience the first night Edward's face graces the big screen.

Every time I see the trailer for this movie I wonder if she ever imagined her idea, her baby becoming this huge. Did she even fathom the popularity of something that was once a thought in her head?

In looking at some of our previous posts, I saw that last October I thought I was almost finished with the final revisions of Shadow People. Ha! I'm at it again, and might as well use a pick ax! My point is, I can't imagine my characters hitting the big screen, or hundreds of squealing teens standing in line until midnight for the release of my book. It would be wonderful, but while I have my head in the book all I can focus on is where the characters lead.

So how does it happen? How does one little idea become what Meyer's books are today? Or even Harry Potter for that matter? Is it timing, marketing, luck or all of the above?

2008-07-20T08:33:00.003-04:00

Okay..it's official..we are slackers. But in defense of the other parts of The Brain— they've been really, really busy. Poor Jean has her eye stuff and mega-parties to host. Heidi is under the gun to finish her next book (Don't forget, Freeze Frame comes out this October—woohoo, Heidi! Christine (poor girl) is in the middle of a move with a toddler in tow, Mandy and and Trish have JOBS. So what's MY excuse, the lazy crazy professor of the Brain. Nada...I'm lolling round in our summer getaway, writing, writing, writing, chaffeuring my son from internship to girlfriend, girlfriend to internship. I'm logging miles and with gas at 4.20 a gallon, maxing out the old credit card. My daughter is still at sleep away camp.

But other than that...I have plenty of time..SO..hi! Everyone I know online now has a website or blog. This is mine...I figured, why not visit the poor neglected thing. Dust off the cobwebs on behalf of my busy colleegues and bring this thing back to life.

Well..there you have it. While another of my critmates from my other writing group, The Cudas, has landed an agent, (bringing the total from that group to four out of six) I am still without. I'm currently waiting on two requested fulls and the revised ms submitted to the Uber agent who ALMOST loved me. I'm still waiting to see if she loves me this time, or thinks I'm a lost cause. We'll see.

Meanwhile, the first draft of my WIP, Afterside is almost complete. I'm excited because it's garnered a lot of excitement from people who've read it so far. SO maybe, maybe if novel #2 goes down, three's the charm? I sure hope so. I'm getting old here and have been a bridesmaid at too many happy affairs, so to speak.

Wild Summer

2008-06-11T17:13:00.004-04:00

Arkansas is on the very edge of tornado alley but this year my fair little state has had more touchdowns than usual. Somehow we missed spring and the cool air from our late winter and the warm air from our early spring collided. Most of the midwest has suffered from this same problem as stroms have stretched the width and breadth of the plains. This picture was taken in the town just next to mine, during a touchdown that sadly, created quite a lot of damage.

Storms bring out something wild in me as well as in nature. I love to sit out on my porch and watch the lightening tear through the sky and the clouds boil and turn. It get me thinking, which often leads to breakthroughs or new twists for my wip. Some of my most unusual ideas have come from watching thunderheads dance above me. So for me, Spring already being my favorite time of year, is also my most creative and productive.

Mandy

Rumor has it

2008-04-28T22:00:00.002-04:00

So, I heard from a blog who heard from a blog who knows how to use Yahoo news that George W. Bush is attempting to cut funding to Reading is Fundamental for 2009.

RIF has been providing underprivileged kids with books since 1966. Please help RIF and the kids they assist by clicking on this link:

http://www.rif.org/get-involved/advocate/what/

Just enter your zip code and easily email the president and your senators and representatives to voice your support of RIF.

Lord. How long is it until November, again?

An old favorite

2008-04-03T15:45:00.003-04:00

I've just finished re-reading one of my very favorites - NEVERWHERE by Neil Gaiman. It's a fabulous fantasy set partly in London and partly in an alternate London - "London below." Richard Mayhew, everyman extraordinaire, finds himself sucked into a classic hero's quest in an inventive reality neither he nor any of the other "normal" people in the city above ever knew existed.

Neil Gaiman is a master of setting fantasy into reality like a gem in a ring. It sparkles, it catches your attention, but it looks like it belongs there. He's just phenomenal. If you haven't read anything he's written, NEVERWHERE is a good start. CORALINE would be a good next step. It's written for kids, sort of, but it's the scariest freaking book I've ever, ever read.

I'm on sort of a re-reading kick right now - adult and YA and MG. I do that once in awhile, which is good for the book budget and good for me as a writer. The second or third time through a book, I notice how the author has done what they've done. The first time through I tend to get too sucked into the plot to see that stuff. I'm the world's most eager audience - willing suspension of disbelief is something of a specialty for me.

A bit of YA heaven

2008-03-30T21:35:00.004-04:00

I've just started reading the second book in Libba Bray's Great and Terrible Beauty series; Rebel Angels with the third one, A Sweet Far Thing, lined up and waiting. I only finished GTB a week ago and took a rest to read Cassandra Clare's Book 2 of the Mortal Instruments series: City of Ashes. I should probably talk about that, because I still can't get it out of my mind. But instead, I'll talk about Libba Bray's writing; the incredible beauty of her images, her sense of place, character and time. The writing is so lovely and at the same time biting it makes me ache. The uppity British school her main characters attend, their bitchy rivalries, their pent-up frustration against a proper woman's place in society, set against a back drop of wild, dangerous, magic and sensuality. AHHHHHH! It's YA heaven to me. After reads like these, I'm very worried about what to read next. I'm thinking of a book called a Certain Slant of Light (can't recall the author's name) but it's a ghost story with a twist. Also a possibility: Wildwood Dancing

Personally, I wish there were two of me. One who can read around the clock and the other who can write. Make that three. There's got to be one who lives the rest of my life. I know Christine says she never reads in the genre she writes, but I live, eat and sleep YA and feel like I'm missing something if I'm not reading it.
I find I don't have a problem with reading it while I write it. The characters in the books I read feel very distinct from the ones I invent. And you know what's REALLY scary?

They are all seem real to me.

What am I reading????

2008-03-30T21:19:00.003-04:00

I am reading Darkly Dreaming Dexter, by Jeff Lindsay. I actually just started it last night and did not want to go to sleep I just wanted to read. The hit series in Showtime, Dexter is based on this series. It's about a serial killer who kills serial killers. He was raised by his foster father who happens to be a homicide detective. He recognizes early on that Dexter is a sociopath. He teaches him a code to keep him safe, also teaching him to fake emotion since he feels none. Dexter works as a blood spatter expert in a lab for the police department, his foster sister is a cop. Lindsay's characterization is pretty darn good, and I am really enjoying Dexter's dark and secret world.

He is an unlikely hero...he is technically a bad guy who hunts other bad guys. So far I really recommend this series if you want something interesting and different to read that is not too heavy. I put down the other book I was reading to start this one because the other was taking me so long (not sure if I will go back to it). Now I am ordering the other two books.

Trish

A room of mine own . . .

2008-03-12T10:34:00.002-04:00

Oh, to have an ideal writing room . . . although if I had a perfect place to write, what would I blame for my fallow periods? But it’s still fun to dream, so here goes.

First off, I would have to have lots of windows and interesting things to look at on the walls – when I write, I spend good stretches of time staring off into space, and it’s nice to have something to stare at. I wouldn’t have a desk – just some comfy chairs that I could sit in with my laptop, and an ottoman for my feet and a little table for a drink and the baby monitor (I write while my son naps – it’s actually great motivation. If I don’t write then and write fast, I miss my chance for the day.)

Really ideally, my writing room would have a door that opened on to the back yard, where a nice dirt path winds into the woods, makes a 1.5 mile circuit, and dumps me back at the house. This path and back yard and woods are not attached to my current home, but I’m fantasizing here, people. Anyway. That would be perfect, because I like to walk when I’m stuck for words.

There would be a stereo and a little T.V. in the room. Sometimes I like quiet, and sometimes I like music and sometimes I like the television on but turned down too low to hear while I’m working. So, include all of those things, too.

What else? I’d like Internet access, but not wireless. I’d want to have to walk over to a specific chair and plug in my computer to get access to the ‘net. I read a great quote that pretty much sums up my reasoning for this . . . “Being a great writer is 3% inspiration and 97% not getting distracted by the Internet.” I have no idea who said that. If you do, leave a note in the comments section, will you?

Those are all my necessities. Maybe someday I’ll win the lottery . . . speaking of which, I wonder what J.K. Rowling’s writing space looks like?

Location, Location, Location

2008-03-12T09:27:00.005-04:00

For me the perfect creative space is all about this quaint little Canadian costal town. In the mornings, I could walk to the market and by my groceries for the day and then head back to my little house on a hill. I'd like to have an attic room with two bay windows, one showing me the harbor and the other facing the forest. It should be a soft neutral color and have two big comfy chairs for reading and chatting with a friend. My desk would sit in a corner, though I'd probably spend most of my time in my fluffy chair with my laptop. Book shelves lining the other two walls with all my favorites including my Wordslingers shelves, that would have pics as well as their brilliant works. It would have to have an awesome stereo system. I like to take writing breaks and dance around the room. Hardwood floors but with a couple of well placed rugs, cause I'm sure it'll be a stinker to heat. That's my spot. I wish I was there right now!

Mandy

My Dream Space

2008-03-11T23:06:00.003-04:00

If I could create any space to write and money were no object.... Hmm, first it would have a huge bay window facing South, where most thunderstorms blow in from in this area. I would have a soft couch in muted colors, one wall would be pale blue with thousands of my favorite quotations written in calligraphy. Along another wall I would have a large black and white photo, probably of trees, and the other wall with custom shelving for all of my books--and a special display shelf for Wordslinger books.

A small desk facing the window to give me the opportunity to slack and daydream. Let's not forget the collage of inspiring people...like Mr. McAvoy, here.

Trish

Roads

2008-02-27T13:38:00.002-05:00

There are so many things I like to do with my little bit of free time. Movies and books are just two of my favorite past times. I enjoy movies of every genre from foriegn (especially French, cause every now and then I can pick up a word or two)to comedy to drama to sappy chick flicks. Books are my passion whether reading or writing. Reading engages my brain, enjoyable time, but not relaxing. My little brain is working over time on the hamester wheel. Writing is work, even though I wouldn't spend my time any other way.

When I want to relax, I get in my car, pick a road I've never been down before and get myself as lost as possible. Behind the wheel I can let go and enjoy my freedom. I don't have to think about anything beyond the next curve, but I often find that's when my mind opens up and I find those elusive answers to pesky problems. I take a country road to and from work everyday that is twenty minutes out of my way. That is my me time. Sometimes, the windows are down and the radio is up, other times, I keep the radio off and just listen to the sound of my car on the road. Now living in Arkansas, I have found myself in some scary places, think Arkansas Chainsaw Massacre. But even those times have brought interesting stories and great memories. I always find a strange aderanline flowing after I have found my way out of a place that I have never been before.

Mandy

Hobbies

2008-02-25T20:16:00.003-05:00

While some people think writing is my hobby it is work. I have so many interests sometimes it's hard to balance my time. Reading is a big one, one of my favorite things. I also love movies, music, dancing, taking drives into the mountains (although I no longer live near the mountains), playing practical jokes and scaring people, thunderstorms, playing cards, Mythology, and drawing/painting. Then we have astrology...one day I would like to take a class and learn even more about it.

But there is one subject I have more books on than others (besides writing)...the paranormal. I have always been interested in ghosts. I read and watch just about everything I can get my hands on about them. My house has actually been investigated, but that is a much longer post....

So there you have it, too many interests and not enough time.

Trish

The badness of habits . . .

2008-02-20T21:22:00.002-05:00

I have trajillions of bad writing habits, but here I will discuss two of the most mundane. They are not habits of craft or production. But they are really unfortunate.

1) I write best when I am also drinking a diet Coke. I try so hard to eat organic, nutritious things. I don't consume any other artificial sweetners. I'm a vegetarian, for heaven's sake! Yet, when I don't know how to link one scene to the next, or I can't nail a patch of dialogue, cracking open a can of that fizzy artificial goodness can cure all ills. I've given up trying to use mineral water, etc. - it has to be a diet Coke.

2) I do not write by typing words on my ergonomic keyboard while sitting on my back-friendly Swedish office furniture (not that I own any such furniture, anyway.) No, I sit hunched over my laptop, on my couch, with my feet up on the coffee table. I'm pretty sure my spine will someday curve into a perma-C from this abuse. Again, if I could manage to be creative while maintaining good posture, I'd do it. But I can't. So . . . meh. Moderation in all things, right?

Plot Maze

2008-02-20T20:50:00.002-05:00

Like Jean, I am a victim of my own overheated brain. Too many ideas, too many subplots and tangents.

As far as writing habits, writing is my bad habit! I write every chance I get. It's possibly an illness. I think my tendency toward the manic can often be detrimental, as I don't allow my ideas to simmer and gel. Actually, I have a confession: posting on forums has been the main impediment to writing. I've slowed down and have gotten much more done.

On reading the same genre, I find, it's best for me if I don't read something with a similar plot or character, but I'm okay with YA. It's mainly what I enjoy reading and often I find it helps me to work out the kinks in my writing.

I'm actually a lot happier camper when I am writing than when I am querying. That makes me nuts, a crazed chihuaha on a hamster tread.

A plethora of bad habits

2008-02-20T20:43:00.006-05:00

I have a plethora of bad habits...procrastination is probably the biggest. Self doubt, did I mention procrastination, I also get excited and side-tracked by other ideas before I finish an old one...like now! I am the worst at procrastinating when I am finishing up on a book (now), I think a big part is I don't want to say goodbye to my characters. That and there is always that fear that what do next will suck. There you have it. What if the next one isn't as good? What if my agent hates the finished project?

So what am I doing to correct it? I still write at least a little every day, eat chocolate, take hot baths with bubbles so tall I can't see my body and try to quiet my always babbling mind.

Trish

My Very Worst Writing Sin

2008-02-20T20:00:00.004-05:00

Sigh - I've got so many sins...but I think my worst one is a tendency to get lost in my own story! I'm so interested in what's going on with my characters that I wander off on leafy byways, linger by unimportant mudholes and come up with unecessary complication after unecessary complication. I find myself adding minor characters when I'm more than halfway through, thus irritating my antagonist and protagonist who just want to get to the end of story.
I study books that have both a simple plot line and lots of emotional appeal. I applaud them. But when I try to produce something straightforward, little by little those complications creep in.
Curiousity can be both a good and a bad trait. In real life and in my writing life, I'm afraid I've been either cursed or gifted by snoopy christening fairy who hopped through the window when nobody was looking and handed me a double dip.

Why do I keep doing that?

2008-02-20T13:35:00.002-05:00

My absolute worst habit is procrastination. I'm tired or I'm too busy or I really just want to sit on my backside and watch tv. I try to keep a schedule of my writing time. But I'm obviously not the worlds greatest schedule keeper. How do you break a habit? I'm sure there are loads of self-help books on the subject. I wouldn't read them though, I'd procrastinate on those too. Lately, however, my MC has been thumping on my head. She's feels neglected, so to keep her happy I write and I revise. So far as long as she's thumping I'm not procrastinating so badly. So I keep my fingers crossed that she keeps it up.

Mandy

What NOT to do when writing ...

2008-02-14T12:32:00.002-05:00

This week, we're talking about BAD WRITING HABITS. And mine seem to come directly from my own writer insecurities and "issues." Yikes. So here's a list of things I think you SHOULDN'T do while working on your next best seller!

Don't:

Doubt yourself -- you'll have plenty of time to do that AFTER you finish your first draft.
Over edit, killing your voice, losing the spontaneity and magic of the trade.
Read the same genre you're writing in EG. I'm a YA writer. When I read, while working on a new manuscript, I don't read YA. I read adult, biography, historical .. and mostly in Spanish. It's really easy to pick up another author's voice and style.
On the same note, if you read the same genre while working on your own MS, if you're anything like me, you'll probably freeze and think, "This is bloody genius." And being genius, you'll look back at your 20000 words and think it's drivel. The books we read are EDITED, REVISED, EDITED, REVISED and have been through a lot before getting to the "bloody genius" stage.

We write because we have stories clattering around in our brains. Don't let anybody tell you your story isn't:
Original (none are .. really .. it's all about HOW you tell it)
Worth telling
Something you are capable of telling

Basically, don't listen to the "great voice of negativity". People will always be there telling you you CAN'T. But you can. You will. Just keep at it.

Good luck! Keep writing.
Heidi Ayarbe

What's the Big Idea?

2008-02-10T09:58:00.000-05:00

(NB: This picture doesn’t have anything to do with this post, except that the wind chill is well below zero here today, and I’m sick of winter.)

I wish I was one of those writers with a recipe-box full of ideas (coughtrishcough) – but I’m just not. I usually have one or two ideas beyond my work-in-progress, which is enough to keep me from assuming that when I’m finished with the current work I won’t ever write again.

A lot of my ideas come from what I would call “tangential research.” When I’m learning about whatever my current subject is, there will be a little mention of something else that I find intriguing. Once in awhile, those little mentions stick with me, like a splinter that I can’t quite pull out. And that will sometimes start a series of what-ifs. The “what-if” stage is important – that’s when I know I’m really hooked, and that a story will probably come out of it. It doesn’t always happen – sometimes the what-if’s fizzle, or I just can’t get excited enough to pursue it, but that’s the general pattern of how my story ideas are born.

It would sound so much more wonderfully mystical to say that I dream things that I write about, or that the characters start whispering to me in my head. I would love to get ideas that way, but if I’m being honest? It’s just plain ol’ curiosity taken too far that gets me another story. As long as they keep coming, though, I’m not complaining!

Grasping at ... ideas.

2008-02-09T15:54:00.001-05:00

A writer of fiction lives in fear. Each new day demands new ideas and he can never be sure whether he is going to come up with them or not. (Roald Dahl)

So where DO writers get their ideas? Great question, and one that is really hard for me to answer. I'm bombarded with ideas every day, but it's not getting the idea that's the problem, it's getting the idea that grabs me. Because once I commit to an idea, it's going to be at least a year or so (actually .. OR SO) of developing it. Imagine knowing that one drink at a bar with a stranger would be at least a two-year relationship? You'd think pretty hard about who you were going to drink with. Ideas are the same.
With FREEZE FRAME, I got the idea from a poetry group. A woman came and said her grandson had asked, "Hey, Grandma, which way is tomorrow?"
I loved that phrase! I loved how he thought of time as a place he could travel. And I began to think about what a teen would ask. "Which way is yesterday?" In fact, FREEZE FRAME was originally titled FINDING YESTERDAY (then THE MEMORY KEEPER, SHATTERED, SUPPOSE, 10:46 .. and a slew of other titles until my editor really nailed the right one .. in my opinion!)
My latest book idea began with a character. That character doesn't exist anymore. In fact, the original concept of the book was peeled away until I met my MC and created her dilemma. My idea and I came to an impasse, though, and I felt really stressed because I wasn't sure which way to take the novel. So I set it aside, and the other night I realized what I needed to bring the novel to a darker place -- a simple change in the first few chapters. I've only been with this idea since October. We've already had our first big tiff. But I'm ready to go back to it, work out the kinks and move forward.
Grasping at straws?
Kind of ..
Just grasping at ideas .. until the right one sticks.

Heidi Ayarbe

The Oak Grove of My Mind

2008-02-02T20:42:00.000-05:00

Well, I've been frantically re-imagining my second novel with more Druids and a less convoluted plot in hopes that the agent who loved/hated it might give it a second chance. I worked like my fingers were on fire through the month of January, while on winter recess from my professor job. Now, it's back to work and I understand a bit how Trish feels. Of course, my life is much easier than hers! I don' have a nine-five job, but time is much scarcer and once you lose that momentum, it's so much harder to pick up the threads and keep weaving.

I'm grateful I made so much progress in January. I'm far from done, but considering that at the beginning of the month, I no idea whatsoever to do to help my poor ms, I feel very inspired and positive I am on the right track.

I will confess something about myself. I am a compulsive writer. If I didn't HAVE to have a life, ie: feed the kids, go to work, socialize (reluctantly and under threat) I'd just sit at this computer and write all day, preferably on a nice sunny porch with the leaves rustling. I think, the privilege of having that life some day, is what motivates me more than anything. Not fame, not money, not even the idea that people will read what I do, but the thought that it's okay to write 24/7.

Yes, my fellow Brains already know I am this kind of a nut. It's probably because I'm a late-bloomer when it comes to writing and now I write the way I used to do art. Obsessively and compulsively. Hey, it beats, drugs, gambling, smoking or alcohol, right? (I typed, write, btw, and had to correct myself)