Must, Want To, and Should

As the holiday season approaches and I receive requests for more and more things (shopping, parties, extra work, and so on), I begin to get overwhelmed by it all. At first I toss another ball into the air, fill up another blank spot on the calendar, and make a note to myself.  But very soon, the air is thick with balls, the calendar has no more empty squares, and I've run out of note paper.

You have to say no sometimes. But when? And what to say no to?  Well, it occurred to me that there are really 3 categories of things: those we MUST do, those we WANT TO do, and those we SHOULD do.

The MUST do's: attending work parties, buying gifts for Mom and Dad, making a visit to the grandparents.

The WANT TO do's: attending a new movie, buying gifts for friends, arranging a trip to Disneyland.

The SHOULD do's: attending a relative's party way out in the Valley, buying a gift for the boss, visiting a friend's new baby.

Sometimes they overlap - you may want to do the same thing you should do, like visiting that friend's new baby, for example - and sometimes they are at utter odds with each other, like when that relative's party is at the exact same time as the only day the museum is holding its free exhibits that you really want to go to.

So where do you begin? Do you start with the MUST's? Or the WANT TO's? Are you a SHOULD do person?  I know plenty of people who start and end with what they WANT TO do and have no care for anything society or family/friends may tell them they SHOULD or MUST do.  That takes courage to disregard others' opinions as well as a healthy ego that says "My WANTS come first."

Me? I start with the MUST do items and then go to the WANT TO. I am independent enough to ignore what I SHOULD do but let's be honest, I often run out of time and money just completing the MUST items on my calendar/list/inbox. I rarely get to the WANT TO's!

This is the way I plan to approach my gift-giving, party-attending, subbing requests, and so on this month. If it's not a MUST, then it ain't getting done.

But what about writing? Well, I think you can apply these categories to writing as well.  As writers, we all feel we MUST write, that is not in doubt, but whenever I feel like I SHOULD write - whether it's on a particular day or at a particular time or about a specific subject or theme - then my writing ends up terrible. That's happened when I tried following a trend I wasn't crazy about or chasing an editor who kind of liked a book I submitted but wanted to go in a different direction, or even when I wasn't finding anything to write about at all. Each time I did the SHOULD rather than the WANT TO, my work suffered.

I have to find the WANT TO in every SHOULD in order to do it. Otherwise I will resent every ounce of energy I am spending on it.  Life is too short for SHOULD.

Creation and the still mind

Every writer has her own rituals: music, food, chair, spot at the local coffee shop that isn't next to the guy talking on his cell phone nonstop. I don't particularly care about music or food, but I like to be facing a window with some sun streaming through (or rain on some days if I'm in the mood).

One thing I think most everyone can agree on is the importance of having a still mind.

To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.  

-Lao Tzu

But how to achieve that when all around you is chaos?

I wish I was Zen.  I wish I could do yoga and calm my crazy brain but I am a ballet dancer and that is a very structured environment.  It helps me, sometimes, to be in a class and allow the discipline of the dance form to create some structure in my mind but often it only lasts for the 90 minutes I am in the studio or for the hours I am teaching.  Once I am in my car and headed home, the crazy quilt of thoughts comes back.

With all of the recent events in the news (the marathon tragedies, the Texas explosion, the failure of gun control in the Senate, and the many, many terrible things that occur on a daily basis in every city around the globe), it's really difficult to keep a calm and still mind and to allow the universe to surrender its messages to us, the creators.

-- How do we create characters who are sympathetic if we do not have sympathy for others? 

-- How do we invent plots that do not feel trite? 

-- How do we promote messages of love and equality when all around us we see and experience hate and intolerance?

-- And should we do anything of the sort or simply write and let others invest their own meaning into our words?

I have no conclusions, no solutions. I know people who insist on ignoring what they can do nothing about and that's great for them if they can do that but writers need to examine the world beyond them at all times.  When we retreat and seclude ourselves, then our characters and their thoughts/words/actions are not real to the reader.  Nothing feels sincere if it is not based in some sort of reality.

Reviews, views and sock puppetry

Psst! Hey buddy, wanna buy a 5-star review?

 
The internet has been aghast at the accusations of sock puppetry by best-selling authors (see JA Konrath's wonderful series of posts explaining all of it as well as the Guardian and Huffington Post articles). The problem?  Authors are alternately buying reviews of their books (like the mega-selling indie author John Locke) or creating false accounts to boost reviews of their books or denigrate other authors' books (see Stephen Leather, etc.).

It's tempting, when faced with low Amazon numbers or very few reviews, to bump up your own with some fake ones.  After all, a writer might tell herself that everyone else is doing it and besides, what could be the harm in just one or two fake reviews? I am not going to judge anyone for doing that because I can easily understand the despair one might feel.  Believe me, I would love to have more reviews on Amazon or B&N but hey, the ones I have are honest and well-written so who am I to complain?

I think that the people (mostly writers) who are outraged about fake reviews aren't considering the intelligence of readers these days.  We (I am a reader too!) are savvy about too many 5-stars - and by too many 1-stars.  I can read a review and tell if someone hasn't read a book and is posting a fake review.  And I can tell when it's a friend or relative saying really nice things just to be nice. Most readers can - they're not fooled by trolls.

Where I draw the line is with authors who are purposefully trashing their competitors. Hiding behind a fake name and online profile is cheap, mean, and cowardly.  If you have to say something nasty about a fellow writer (do you really?), then at least use your own name. Personally, when I read a book I don't like, I just don't rate or review it.  I don't believe in 1 or 2 star reviews. Why? Because I put my own name on the reviews and I wouldn't want a fellow writer to feel bad - like I would (and do) when I receive low ratings.

Retaliation is a poor substitute for honesty.  When a writer (or reader) posts a nasty review just because that writer angered them personally or because they want to make the writer feel bad, that's retaliation.  Anyone who claims they are "just being honest" is lying to themselves.

All that being said, I would like to post a link to a real review by a real reader of my novel, CHASING THE FALLS.  I submitted my book to Flamingnet Book Reviews to be reviewed but did not pay for it.  They gave me honest feedback (you will see how honest it was!).  This kind of review really touches my heart because I can tell the reviewer read the book and truly enjoyed it.  This was an intelligently-written piece that really dug into the meat of the book.  This is the kind of review writers cherish.  Thank you, Flamingnet Book Reviews and my teen reader!

Jealousy and the writer

Recently, the American Library Association awards were announced (the Printz, Caldecott, Newbery, etc.) and some truly amazing writers won prizes. Congrats to them all. I wasn't familiar with most of the books on the lists since some were picture books and others were for young readers but I did recognize many of the names. That's the thing about this writing business: it's a small one. It just has a very wide reach. Or it can if you're lucky.

When you first begin writing seriously, you see the many books in your genre and think, "I can write as good - no, I can write better than that!" You see people getting published every day, new books arriving on store shelves every week and think, "If that guy can get published, so can I!" But the longer you go without being published, you begin to get jealous of all the writers who do, especially if they're your friends. You wonder if certain wheels were greased; whether there was a personal connection, a previous relationship, a media platform you don't have.

You are the green eyed monster. And that's okay - we all go through that.

But the more time you spend pursuing this crazy idea of yours to become a professional writer, the more words you get under your laptop, the more you realize that your friends getting published and becoming successful has less to do with them and more to do with the business itself. Over the course of a career, so many things can change for a writer: one year you get a multi-book deal at auction but the next year, the contract is canceled because the first book tanked. You may sign with a high-powered agent only to have her drop you when your book doesn't sell. A beloved agent or editor could leave the business just when you thought you were hitting your stride. These things happen to everyone all the time.

And that's when you realize that there is a massive element of luck (I think it's being added to the periodic tables soon) when it comes to writing success. You could have it this year and your friend could have it next year. Both of you could sell books - or neither could. Sure, my eyes used to be a little green. I would get frustrated when people I knew were getting deals and I wasn't - or they were getting more of an advance or more marketing dollars or awards or fan emails - but now I know my luck could change too. I have every shot at getting those things too but it's nothing I can count on. I simply have to keep writing, keeping imagining, and keep supporting my friends. Their success is good for us all. It means publishers are publishing, readers are buying, and if my friend hits it big, maybe she'll write me an awesome blurb for my next book.

Win-win.

The LAYAs at WeHo! Free books! Free candy!

Meet the authors of some of your favorite books!

On Sunday, October 4th, 10 amazing writers from the LA area - members of a great group called Los Angeles Young Adult Authors (LAYA) - will be at the West Hollywood Book Fair with a terrific group of teens who will be reading from their books on stage, readers theater style.

There will be 2 sessions on the Teen Stage. The first, from 1-1:45PM, will feature the following writers:

Jonathan Bernstein – “Hottie”
Susan Casey - “Kids Inventing”
Cherry Cheva – “Duplikate”
Amy Goldman Koss – “Side Effects”
C. Leigh Purtill – “All About Vee”

And from 2:30-3:15PM, there will be these authors:

Ben Esch – “Sophomore Undercover”
Sally Nemeth – “The Heights, the Depths and Everything in Between”
Michael Reisman – “Simon Bloom”
Carol Snow – “Snap”
Mark L. Williams – “Danger Boy”

The authors will be signing books at the nearby Barnes & Noble booth, plus they will be promoting their books - and hanging out looking to make friends! - at the LAYA booth (#B15 in the center of the park).

We will also have a raffle for 2 baskets of books - one basket featuring books from the first session's writers and the other for the second session. You gotta come by the booth to enter!! And say hi to your favorite writers - they're mostly shut-ins so they need to see happy faces smiling back at them.

The fair runs from 10AM - 6PM and will be held at West Hollywood Park, 647 N. San Vicente Blvd, West Hollywood, CA.

Come see us!

Influential books

Sometimes you read a book that so impresses you as both writer and reader that you hang your head in your hands and wail, "Why can't I write like this?"

Many of the classics do this for me - I feel particularly humbled by John Steinbeck and Edith Wharton - as do newer genre writers like Ray Bradbury and Stephen King. Then there are my contemporary favorites who never fail to amaze me: Anne Tyler, Elizabeth Berg, Michael Chabon, Alice Hoffman, and many, many more.

When I read YA, I read mostly for research: to see what's out there and why it's getting attention. But recently, I've been doing some pleasure YA reading that my friend Laura recommended. Number one on her list since I met her almost 2 years ago has been "War for the Oaks" by Emma Bull. It's urban fantasy about human-faerie interaction and a war and the rock music scene and really not my normal cup of tea.

I finally read it, finishing it this weekend, and I loved it. It's a book that all other books in the genre are based on. Having read a fair number of urban fantasy novels like it, I was gratified to read the original. Smart characters, clever dialogue, a plot that moves...and the romance wasn't abrupt or grating. No wonder so many authors were influenced by the book.

I have longed to write a novel that would be influential to other writers (heck, I'd love to write one that is influential to readers too!), something like Orwell's "1984" or Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451." I haven't come up with anything so far that has the monumental scope either of those do but books like Emma Bull's renew my desire to find that one thing that will make my own work stand out.

Random Thoughts on a Friday

1A. My ultimate dream vacation, if someone else is footing the bill or I suddenly become Bill Gates-wealthy, is a tour of Japan, China and Korea. I have always wanted to see Tokyo, although it was recently named the most expensive city in the world!

1B. My ultimate dream vacation, if I have to pay for it myself and I'm the same level of poor as I am now, is a west coast drive from SoCal to Seattle, stopping for the beaches of Malibu and Santa Barbara, the cities of San Francisco and Portland, and classes with the ballet companies of SF and Pacific Northwest along the way.

1C. My actual dream vacation this summer will be a few days in Arizona with my brother and his family. I can't wait to see my nieces!!

2. My friend Liz Thurmond has her very first published short story in Everyday Fiction! It's called "Modern Love." I love it! I never knew she had such a romantic side to her - amazing what you can learn about people when you read their material. Congrats, Liz!!

3. I don't really like research for writing. I like to make everything up as I go along. Besides, with the internet, you can spend/waste hours of your precious brain time.

4. I'm a little bit nerdy when it comes to Harry Potter. I can't wait for the new movie. In the meantime, I saw "Moon" which was AMAZING! Very thought-provoking; I highly recommend it.

My old friend's new book!

HUGE congrats to my former co-worker, Michael Ferrari, who used to sit next to me in our cubes at The WB in Burbank when we were both standards editors. His new book, BORN TO FLY, is in stores now! Check it out:

I read a very early draft of the book years ago when we were trading material. Michael read the first draft of my very first novel too. It was called FAT GIRLS IN LA and eventually became ALL ABOUT VEE. He was the one who read it and pronounced me a real writer which gave me a huge boost of self-confidence.

Eventually, Michael left the network, moved back to Ohio with his lovely family and entered the manuscript in the Delacorte Yearling prize for middle grade books and won! I was so thrilled for him! And now, it's published! Yay!

Here's Michael's very cool website - love the design of his book cover! So retro and yet still very modern. He's gotten some great reviews from Booklist and Kirkus - yes, Kirkus likes him! And who wouldn't? The story's hero is an 11 year old girl named Bird McGill and it takes place during World War II. I love that his hero is a girl - that's awesome! I'm sure both girls and boys are gonna love it.

Many, many good wishes to you, Michael!! Wish I could be in Ohio for your first signing but I'm sure it will be just the first of many!

Addicted to Angst

This post could be subtitled, Why Write YA? I think every young adult author is asked that question in an interview and we usually stumble and mumble something about being connected to our inner teen or never outgrowing the high school years or whatever gem tumbles out of our collective mouths.

Honestly? It's the angst. We're obsessed with it. We revel in it. We wrap ourselves up in it and spin it around and around until we are cocooned in trials and tribulations: will he or won't he? will she or won't she? will I or won't I?

I came to this conclusion last week when I was on a panel of authors and illustrators at my friend Paula Yoo's writing class at UCLA. Here's her blog post with pictures and everything. Paula, by the way, who's the author of the fab novel GOOD ENOUGH, takes pictures everywhere! I love that about her!

Back to the panel.

Alongside me were 2 illustrators, Dan Santat and Erin Eitter Kono, who write and illustrate kids' picture books, and middle grade author Michael Reisman whose SIMON BLOOM series is both imaginative and educational. First of all, let me say this about the three of them: they brought toys! Dan and Erin each brought mock-ups of books they'd illustrated plus Dan showed us a very awesome trailer he did for his book, ALWAYS LOTS OF HEINIES AT THE ZOO, which is just about the greatest title ever! And Michael brought his Air-Zooka which blasts a cannon of air at people across the room. That was frickin' cool!

Now, more seriously, though, when each of us talked about how we got into the business, how we sold our first books, I noticed that the 2 kids book writers and the MG writer all seemed a LOT more upbeat than me. Granted I've had my share of setbacks very recently but hey, we all do. Every writer has good days and bad; it's a never-ending roller coaster ride on this thing called Book Publishing. But it's the way you deal with things that makes a difference. Dan and Erin and Michael were far more positive and "oh well, things will work out" than me. I, on the other hand, was (as Paula so aptly titled her post and remember, she's a YA writer too although she also writes picture books so her angst is balanced out by her happy-good-times attitude) doom-n'-gloom.

It was all about the angst for me.

Woe is me.

Alas, poor Yorick I knew him well.

Life sucks/stinks/blows.

Writers of kids books don't usually have to deal with heavy issues in their books (although exceptions to this abound). They entertain their readers and sometimes educate them in an underhanded way. YA writers, though, take on BIG stuff, PERSONAL stuff, INTIMATE stuff, and we also try to entertain when we can. But entertainment is secondary, usually, to dealing with problems and helping our characters experience growth.

So I guess what I'm driving at is the center of whole nature v. nurture controversy which sociologists have studied forever. Does our angst-y nature make us YA writers or does writing YA makes us angst-y?

And the answer: it's in our genes. We angst, therefore, we write YA.

4 Famous Writers I want to meet

1. Anne Tyler - does not tour, does not give interviews, does not have a website. I love her books! She won the Pulitzer for "The Accidental Tourist" but I love many of her other books so much more: "A Patchwork Planet," "A Slipping Down Life," and oh, "Digging to America." Her characters are so true-to-life, so haunting (in a good way! they really stay with you long after you've finished reading).

2. Umberto Eco - Italian author, background is semiotics. Eco hasn't written many novels and the ones he has written are really hard to read - complex, intricate, and filled with references to arcane texts and historical figures. "The Name of the Rose" is a wonderful mystery set at a monastery in the 14th Century (the movie adaptation wasn't bad, with Sean Connery as the investigator) and long before there was "The Da Vinci Code," there was Eco's "Foucault's Pendulum," which I needed to use a dictionary to read. But more than his novels, I love his nonfiction essays ("Travels in Hyperreality" contains some of the funniest, smartest material I've ever read on philosophy).

3. Elizabeth Berg - prolific author of what many demean as "women's lit." Not chick lit. She writes for smart women: Oprah loves her ("Open House"). That is not a bad thing, despite what Jonathan Franzen believes. I find her prose tremendously accessible, her stories heartfelt and touching, her characters multi-faceted and flawed. Her books made me want to try my hand at first person POV. "Never Change" broke my heart. I adore her writing style.

4. Lemony Snicket and his creator, Daniel Handler - the series for kids, "A Series of Unfortunate Events" is a brilliant concept, dark, funny, clever but never pretentious. I've not read Handler's books for grownups because I've been so enamored of his Snicket's creations and I fear being disappointed. His work, along with the gorgeous illustrations by Brett Helquist, recalls Edward Gorey and Charles Addams, whom I adored growing up.

3 Movies I'm Jazzed About

Seven Pounds, starring Will Smith and directed by Gabriele Muccino (who also directed Smith in "The Pursuit of Happyness"). Will Smith is a suicidal IRS agent who decides to help seven people before he kills himself. I know it doesn't sound very promising - sort of maudlin with a likely sappy ending - but in the hands of these two, I know it will be heartfelt and sincere, if nothing else. Also, didn't they say that about "It's a Wonderful Life"?


The Day the Earth Stood Still, starring Keanu Reeves and based on the classic 1951 sci-fi film which was directed by Robert Wise and was itself based on a short story by Harry Bates. "Gort, Klaatu barada nicto!" Come on, who in the free world has not heard those words before? The first time I saw the original film, I was in junior high. I have no idea what class it was or why the teacher showed it to us, but I absolutely remember every frame of it. Will the Reeves version be as good? Hard to tell. It's got a great cast and likely amazing special effects but will people believe Reeves (and lord knows he's one of my favorite actors of all time and I'll watch him in just about anything) is Klaatu and not Gort?


The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, directed by David Fincher, and based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald (one of my absolute favorite writers ever - ever!). A man is born very old and ages backwards. Pitt and Blanchett - together? My heart does a little pit-a-pat. I love Cate, adore her like I do Meryl and Michelle. The movie, I can tell from the trailers, will break my heart. I just know it. Sigh. Bring it on.


Don't forget to enter the Teen Free Book Friday contest to win a signed copy of LOVE, MEG or ALL ABOUT VEE! Contest ends Friday, December 5th!

Random Thoughts on a Friday

4 Bits of Goodness

1. Celebrity Goodness - check out my latest celeb sighting here in LA.

2. Television Goodness - HH and I have been watching "Fringe," which was okay for a while but has suddenly gotten downright terrific. Before I put up with it because I was so missing "The X-Files," which used to be a big-time favorite show of mine, but I didn't feel "Fringe" was X-worthy. This week's episode proved it just may be its successor.

2A. Commercial Goodness - I hope all Trek geeks like myself and HH (and Paula Yoo!) saw the fantastic trailer for the JJ Abrams-directed "Star Trek" which won't hit theaters until May 09 (argh!) but will have me on pins and needles until then. Complete awesomeness!



3. Authorly Goodness - there are a lot of things I don't care for about LA but one of them is most certainly not the presence of some amazing authors. I have had the privilege of meeting up close and personal many of my very favorite authors right here in this city. Among them: Paula Yoo, CG Watson, Liane Bonin, Claire LaZebnik, Jordanna Fraiberg, Sasha Watson, Amy Koss, Kerry Madden, Sally Nemeth, Michael Reisman, Phyllis Gebauer, Janet Tashjian, Lisa Yee, Joyce Lee Wong and I'm sure I'm leaving someone out! How lucky am I???

4. Goodness Goodness - all you knitters out there, pick up your needles and get knitting some preemie caps for the Save The Children fund's "Knit One, Save One" campaign this year. They're so very easy to do! And they're so important. And don't forget to send along a message to our President-elect, Barack Obama, urging him to consider aid to needy children around the globe.

Honors and Privileges

As an author who sits in her bra and eats Puffins all day, occasionally leaving her writing desk to take or teach a ballet class, I take every excuse I can to get out and see people. I have to. Otherwise, all of my characters would sound like me. Or HH. Or Oprah and Ellen and the ladies on The View. So I consider it research.

This past weekend, I was invited to speak to a group of fantastic and fun writers at their monthly meeting of the National Writers Association Los Angeles Chapter at Mo's in Toluca Lake. It happened to be a day when the fires were raging in Montecito and freeways were closed and Ahnuld declared a state of emergency so I was doubly pleased at the turnout. I had a fab time, loved meeting everyone, and hope I get to see them all again, either in person or virtually. They even wrote about me in their newsletter (thanks, LaVonne!) and presented me with a framed certificate of appreciation (thanks Tom!). How awesome is that?

It's also pretty fantastic when you find out you've been honored in other ways, like when the State ofKansas puts you on their recommended reading list for High Schools and when California Readers puts you in their 2009 California Collection for California High Schools. I loved hearing these bits of news! I was - and am - so excited to know that an entire state (or 2) will get a chance to read LOVE, MEG.

But the one that made me laugh out loud was learning that a copy of LOVE, MEG is in the Rare Books Collection at the Central Branch of the Boston Public Library! Apparently, it was a gift from the Boston Authors Club and is included in the library as part of its Boston Authors Club Collection. I think that's pretty cool, actually, and I had to share with my immediate family who still haven't read the book.

LOL - or am I secretly crying? Hmmm...a fine line. I must get out more.

Random Thoughts on a Friday

4 Cool Things and 1 Sad Thing

1. Talk Thing - Tomorrow I'll be giving a presentation to the National Writers Association Los Angeles Chapter in Burbank. I call it "Just Finish It!" because that's the number one piece of advice I have for writers. It's at Mo's Restaurant on Riverside Drive at 9:30A, if anyone is interested.

2. Read Thing - On Sunday, I heard Sasha Watson read from her brand new book, Vidalia in Paris (how awesome are books with V-named main characters???). I'm so psyched to read it! Here is a photo of me with Sasha and YA authors Paula Yoo and Michael Reisman, taken by HH with Paula's way cool camera.

3. Watch Thing - HH and I have been enamored of Chef Ramsay since we first saw the British version of his "Kitchen Nightmares" show. Now in its second vitriolic yet altruistic season, we still love it. And him.
4. See Thing - San Francisco Ballet is performing in LA this weekend. They are gorgeous! I saw them do "Don Q" years ago and it was unforgettable. I love that they are a very diverse company (i.e. not everyone is skinny and pale).

And now...

1. Sad Thing - Michael Crichton passed away at the age of 66 on November 9. Prolific author of so many amazing books, creator of one of the longest-running dramas on television, a screenwriter and director, software company owner, and oh yeah, a doctor, Crichton packed SO MUCH into his life. I can only hope to achieve a tiny amount of his success and I will consider myself successful.

SCBWI Conference Fun!

On Saturday, I was invited to be part of a YA author panel at the SCBWI conference held at Mills College in Oakland, which is northern California near San Francisco. What a gorgeous campus! And for those of you who are counting, it's a women's college that was started by an alumna of Mount Holyoke College in western Massachusetts which is where I got my undergrad degree.

Go MHC!!

This was my first writers' conference EVER, which was a huge surprise to my fellow speakers, all of whom were far more seasoned. Thank you to them all for making this a really great experience for me. And a great big special thanks goes to Margaret Speaker Yuan and Colette Weil who invited me and who put together the whole thing. They did an amazing job. Every detail was so well-conceived and the conference itself was so well-organized. Kudos!

First up, to begin our day at Lisser Hall, keynote speaker Elizabeth Partridge, who has written several nonficton biographies of John Lennon and Woody Guthrie, among others, talked about the business of being a writer, not just the important things like getting reviews and using the internet but also the philsophy of being a writer. She talked about her "mean Barbara" who sits on her shoulder and whispers negative thoughts like, "You can't do this, who do you think you are." We all have a mean Barbara - whether it's a real person or just the voice of our subconcious mind - and we have to push her away.

Next at the podium was editor Gretchen Hirsch of HarperCollins who discussed her favorite first pages, from books she's loved as a reader and as an editor. Among them, Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women" and E Lockhart's "The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks." Most interestingly, though, she took us through several drafts of the first page of a novel called "The Body Finder" to show us how she and the writer worked through changes to make it smoother and more concise, selecting just the right words to convey meaning.


Following Gretchen was agent Erin Murphy of Erin Murphy Literary who talked about query letters. She had us in hysterics as she read some of the awful mistakes people make when sending letters to agents, including one hilarious letter from a man who must have been a car salesman in his daily life because it was filled with "offers" to Erin to be part of the millions his books will surely make. Erin basically told us, look, it's one thing to be confident in your work but another to treat it like a money-making venture. When you query an agent, you want to be personable, to give him or her a reason to want to read and like your work, and to want to pursue you as a client. She also read letters that she liked and made her want to read more of the writer's work.


Then Erin and Gretchen took questions from the audience through Margaret Speaker Yuan at the podium.And very quickly, it was Carrie Watson's (QUAD) and my turn, with Betsy Partridge as moderator. We talked about...I have no idea! I think we talked about writing and what it was like to write about difficult issues for teens. It's hard to remember because I was so focused on all of those people looking up at me. If anyone reading this attended, maybe they can remind me of what we said. I'm pretty sure Carrie got a bunch of laughs because she's very funny. Me, I'm more like a deer in the headlights, regardless of the kindness of some attendees who said I did a good job.

And then it was on to lunch where HH and Carrie and I hung out with some attendees and Colette. We stayed for a short while to hear editor Julie Romeis of Chronicle Books talk about Lisa Kline's book "Ophelia" but then we had to leave to get back to LA. HH was a groomsman in his friend's wedding the next day and we didn't want him to be super tired - too exhausted to put on his tux.

What a great weekend! I so wish I lived closer to Oakland because there were some amazing people I met up there and I adored Mills College - like a west coast version of my alma mater! And a super special thanks to Luan from Laurel Books in Oakland who provided all of our books in a sort of mini-store outside the theater.

In Your Room in stores today!

On Tuesday, I had a yummy decaf Americano at Bottega, a small Italian cafe/restaurant in Larchmont Village in LA with my friend and fellow author, Jordanna Fraiberg, whose debut novel, In Your Room, is in stores today!

For those of you unfamiliar with the lovely Jordanna, here are 5 facts about her:

1. She's originally from Canada.
2. She's a former professional squash player (yes, I actually know a professional athlete!).
3. She worked for many years in the movie business - and we actually worked in the same building for at least a year without even knowing it!
4. She recently married and has some of the most gorgeous wedding photos of anyone I've ever seen on her Facebook page.
5. She has all her own teeth (I'm just guessing on this one but she does have a beautiful smile).

And a 6th bonus fact...Jordanna is the number one person I would high-five if I were a high-fiving kind of person.

I love hanging out with her; she's sweet and so smart and funny and she makes me want to use big words. It's also a huge amount of fun to talk to a fellow writer because they know exactly what you're going through on a daily basis: the ups and downs of Amazon numbers, the good and bad of Goodreads reviews, the word count (oh, the word count!). They also know you have to make time to actually get out and talk to people and to give yourself an opportunity to wear clothes that are not jeans and a Home Depot t-shirt.

Seriously, I tried on 4 different outfits before settling on the one I actually wore to meet with Jordanna. Why? Because a) I had no idea what looks good on me anymore b) I couldn't possibly wear all my old, good clothes at once and c) when you're not used to choosing from among a selection of clean clothes, you feel really lost when faced with a closet full of them.

Anyway, back to Jordanna...she's currently on a blog tour, guesting on blogs all over the web and doing interviews, and she's gotten some terrific reviews for her book. I can't wait to get my hands on a copy! If you can't find one in stores near you, order it on-line here!


And don't forget! Tonight at The Page Flipper, I'm chatting LIVE (that's me, really, not anyone posing as me) with whoever shows up at 4PM Pac/7PM Eastern. So I hope you'll be there!

Duarte Festival of Authors

Amy Koss, Kerry Madden and me at the table

On Saturday, I attended the Duarte Festival in Duarte, CA. Sadly, it rained which meant we couldn't be out on the lovely grounds of Westminster Gardens. We still had a great time but it wasn't the same. Also, sadly, my friend Liane Bonin couldn't make it due to an illness she picked up while she was in Italy for work.

As bummed out as I was about both of those things, I did get a chance to bring the fantastic authors Kerry Madden and Amy Koss in to take Liane's place on the panel. They even hung out at the table with me for a while which was loads of fun. These girls are hilarious! You know the old adage, never judge a book by its cover, well, the same definitely holds true with authors, particularly YA and MG authors: never judge them by their books!

We met some great people who came to the festival to hear authors Ray Bradbury, DJ MacHale, Stephen Cannell and Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, all of whom were just as fascinating as you'd expect them to be.

Kerry and Amy and I did our own panel discussion, along with children's book author Barbara Jean Hicks and mystery writer Naomi Hirahara. They were wonderful! I loved meeting them. I just wish we had gotten a larger crowd because they all had a lot to say about what they write and how and where they all began - all of which was funny and smart and really interesting, even to me!

Here are some pics of the booth, as well as some of our more famous fellow authors that I'm sure you'll recognize.

I am interviewed for Duarte TV by Gonzalo

The Duarte TV Interview Crew

Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez

The great Ray Bradbury

Amy, Kerry and me looking like real authors

Thanks to everyone who came, everyone who listened, everyone who worked to make the festival a success!

Random Thoughts on a Friday

1. My episode of Connie Martinson Talks Books will be on television again here in LA on August 18, at 3P and 11:30P! And again, if you're not in the area or don't have cable (like me!) you can watch it stream live from LA City View Channel 35. I have all the info on my website.

2. Yesterday was my first earthquake! I was in ballet class, in the middle of plies, when the floor started shaking and the lights overhead began swaying. We all sort of looked around at each other like, "What the heck is this?" The guy at my barre waltzed on over to take cover under a doorway but the rest of us just stood there. It seemed to go on forever! But when it was over, our accompanist began playing and we went right back to plies. Dancers are pretty hardcore, I guess. It's impossible to get us to give up our class.

3. Check out this thread over at Reviewer X's blog. Not just because she claims I inspired the post with my question on an earlier thread but because I think there's a lot of great information i there. I am the sort of person who hates to bug people for reviews. Sure, I have gently cajoled my readers here about posting reviews at Amazon or on their own blogs but when I send books out, I kind of try to let them go and not worry. But I do! I am always anxious about people with my books. And I have a tendency to assume people don't like them if they're not responding right away.

4. This weekend is the big national convention for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Although I'm not attending for various reasons, I hear it's great and lots of authors, especially local ones here in Los Angeles, are going. So if you're trying to get in touch with your favorite SoCal writer, that's probably where they are.

5. I am still totally jazzed about the new book I'm working on. Still. That's a good sign.

Celebrity sighting in the sky!

On the flight from Atlanta to LA, HH and I sat 2 rows behind the writer Joel Stein, who has a column in both Time magazine and the Los Angeles Times. Not many people recognize writers, especially columnists, but he was wearing a little tag that said, “Joel Stein,” on it so that was kind of a gimme. I knew who he was but HH doesn’t read the paper so I had to explain.

Here's his website to give you a better idea of who he is and what he writes about.

As it turns out, Mr. Stein was playing flight attendant on our flight, making the mixed drinks or what the airline calls “adult drinks.” And for anyone who reads Mr. Stein’s columns, you know what he would do with a straight line like that. He told us over the PA system that he had been training all day so I guess he knows a little more than the rest of us!

He was wearing fashionably torn and stone-washed jeans with a long sleeved striped shirt, tails untucked, and ladies, he wears cotton briefs (couldn't tell the style but did see the elastic strip when he bent over - naughty, naughty!). Delta would NEVER let their flight attendants wear such sloppy clothes - or such unkempt hair - but Mr. Stein must have charmed them all.

I'd say he did a pretty decent job. If it were me, I would be flippin' terrified! But I do have to admit he was slow. He took soooooo long to mix drinks for people, and this is without much banter, that the cart was in the aisle next to my ear for so long I was starting to get claustrophobic. Although nervous, he covered it up well, cracking jokes when he could but being as conscientious as he could allow himself to be.

Afterward, HH and I happened to be walking from the plane next to him when HH decided to ask him where the article would be published (Time). Then Mr. Stein wanted to know how we thought he had done. We gave him 2 thumbs up (he seemed a little in need of support) and he liked that. He showed us his battle scars from his single day of intense training (he told us he had to practice with the water slide, among other things) and we replied that we were bummed it was such a safe flight and that he didn't get a chance to show off what he'd learned.

Mr. Stein liked that too.

We'll keep an eye out for his article!