Quite a while ago, I was lucky enough to get my hands on Natasha Friend’s new book, For Keeps. While she’s written several other books, none of them had crossed my path. For Keeps was such fun that I immediately contacted Natasha and asked for an interview.

For Keeps -

1. What were your favorite books when you were a teen? Anything and everything by Judy Blume, Norma Klein, Paula Danziger.  THE CATCHER IN THE RYE, THE MAKING OF A WOMAN SURGEON (I thought I wanted to be a doctor), GO ASK ALICE. . . . I could go on and on.
2. What’s on your iPod or CD player? Okay, this is slightly embarrassing, but besides “Eye of the Tiger” (the Rocky theme song) to fire me up . . . “Mind Food”—this meditation/relaxation recording that helps me de-stress.  My dad’s ex-girlfriend gave it to me when I was in college studying for exams, and I’ve been using it ever since.  It works!
3. What’s your favourite website? I love looking at other Y.A. authors’ websites.  Sarah Dessen.  E. Lockhart.  Laurie Halse Anderson.  (Amazing authors, all).  I have Y.A. author website envy.
4. What do you read in the bathroom? I don’t read in the bathroom; I sing.  Show tunes.
5. What’s the best piece of advice anyone ever gave you (or you learned from a book)? To be “the master of my fate” and “the captain of my soul” (William Ernest Henley, INVICTUS).
6. What are you reading now? NANNY RETURNS, the sequel to THE NANNY DIARIES.  Next up: GOING BOVINE by Libba Bray (Printz Award winner, who I just saw give a reading; she’s incredible!)
7. Do you know how to cook? What’s your specialty? Yes!  Chicken Cacciatashi, of course.  (My kids call me “Tashi”).
8. Are you a sports fan? Who’s your team? Yes!  Boston Red Sox!  And, as a former gymnast, I love watching gymnastics on TV.
9. Do you speak any foreign languages? Yopes.  OpI spopeak Opopoppy.  Dopoes opanopyopone opelse?
10. What’s the coolest writing-thing that’s happened to you since you sold your first book? Discovering that I still have many, many more stories to tell, and that people still seem to want to read them.  And pay me for them!
11. Go on, give us some writing advice. You know you want to! Read.  Read, read, read, read, read, read, read.  The single-most important bit of writing advice I could give anyone.  Turn off the TV and read.

Thanks so much, Natasha!

One of my favourite things to do while I cook is listen to BBC Radio 4 online. It started out as a simple habit that zillions of people worldwide have – listening to The Archers. If you’re not familiar with The Archers, it’s the longest continuous running radio serial (if you call it a serial instead of a soap it sounds better) in history and it’s really cool. I think it took me about three months to figure out who everyone was (with help from their website). The show is only about 13 minutes long and I listen to it most days or play catch-up on the days I miss.

Anyway, right after The Archers is a show called Front Row. It’s an arts and entertainment interview and review type show. I have no idea what artsy things are going on in my own country, but I can tell you what’s playing in London’s West End and who’s starring in what. Or who is short listed for this or that museum prize, or what movie you should see (even though I haven’t seen a movie in years). But what I love most about Front Row is the author interviews.

FR is what you might call a “top of the heap” show. Very rarely do they interview emerging artists. Their focus is more on the seasoned, established, and successful. Because of their reputation, they get interviews with amazing writers, actors, artists, musicians, and even snag the occasional one with people who “don’t generally do interviews.”

I have put numerous books on hold at the library after hearing the author interviewed and that brings me to why I’m sharing this with you in the first place. I have been listening to people be interviewed for over a year now and here are a few things I’ve learned that I hope to use when/if I ever find myself being interviewed on the radio.

1. Answer the question – seems simple enough, but when we’re nervous, our instinct (okay, maybe only mine) is to try to be funny. The honest interviews are the best.

2. Try not to ramble. Your time on the air is short. Make the most of it.

3. Breathe – both before you answer, but also don’t forget to pause so the interviewer can chime in. The good ones won’t interrupt you unless they have to (i.e. you’re rambling), but they often can clarify your answers if you let them help you.

4. Have a short story to tell – one that doesn’t have to do with the book is often good.

5. Get your title into the conversation, no one can see your book on the interviewer’s desk (it drives me crazy when they don’t mention the title more than once).

6. Don’t interrupt. Just because you think you know what the interviewer is asking you, doesn’t mean you do.

There are plenty more things, and I bet some of you have tips, so leave them in the comments if you want. And thanks for listening reading!

P.S. Don’t forget to enter to win The Witchy Worries of Abbie Adams (through tomorrow) or to join me on The Postcard Swap – the response has been good, but there are still spots available!

I’m over at The Debs trying my hand at poetry. Read it at your own risk. You have been warned.

Happy Anniversary to me and my wonderful agent, Michael! It’s been two years since he called and forgot to actually offer to sign me, but I said yes anyway.

Don’t forget to scroll down and enter to win Rhonda Hayter’s wonderful new MG, and if you’ve got a book coming out between Jan & June of this year, scroll down a bit further and consider joining me in the The Great Book Release Postcard Swap.

Oh, and lastly, I’ve set up my very first bookstore signing! It will be at Annie Bloom’s books in Portland, OR on 20th of May. Click here to find out more info and to pre-order your copy. And don’t worry, I’ll remind you closer to the event.

Today we have Rhonda Hayter here, the author of the incredibly charming middle grade novel, The Witchy Worries of Abbie Adams. I am so excited about this book. I’m telling you, it’s the funniest MG I’ve read in a while. It’s got magic and science and history and it’s so much fun! Everyone go out and buy it because rumour has it, it’s potentially a series. But it needs our support to make it happen!

This is what my 9 year old niece said about it: I loved reading the book of The Witchy Worries of Abbie Adams. I thought it  was very interesting and magical. That writer had very interesting descriptions.

And my niece is one savvy reader, folks! Just to help spread the love, I’m giving away my ARC. Why would I do that when I love it so much? So I have an excuse to buy it when it comes out in April. Because I am a kind and generous person. All you have to do, is leave a comment or email me through the contact page. It’s open to US and Canadian residents, and I’ll take entries until Tuesday, midnight, March 9th.

And now for the interview!

Rhonda Hayter was born in St. Jean, Quebec. She was an actress for some time, appearing in plays on tour and in New York and Los Angeles. Now, she works as a story analyst for a famous movie producer.  When she and her husband found themselves with two little boys, one of whom morphed into a werewolf one day, The Witchy Worries of Abbie Adams was born. Rhonda lives in Los Angeles with her family. This is her first book.  You can find her at www.rhondahayter.com

And a blurb about the book:

Abbie Adams is a regular eleven-year old girl with normal problems, like a really strict fifth-grade teacher. (Meet Miss Linegar. Rhymes with vinegar.)  She’s chronically behind in homework, struggling to remember all her lines in the drama club play, and tormented  by having to keep a big secret from her very best friend. And on top of all these problems, she’s also a witch and has to deal with outsized crises, like her little brother morphing into a werewolf and trying to eat his first-grade teacher. Abbie’s foremost challenge is to maintain the delicate balance between witchy and human life, as she maneuvers her way through all the difficulties that any girl might face, while grappling with magical complications.

What’s the coolest writing thing that’s happened to you since you sold your first book.

Selling my first book again!!  I sold it to Raincoast Books in Canada in 2007 and it was all ready to go to the copy editor when Raincoast decided to close the publishing arm of its distribution business and orphaned me.  That was a bad day.  The following September I was thrilled to sell it again, to Harcourt here in the States.  That November before I had signed my contract, my agent called me up and asked me if I had been reading the business news. The hair on the back of my neck stood up.  Harcourt was undergoing all sorts of upheaval due to the economy. They had stopped acquiring, the vice-president had quit, things were being restructured…and I got a bad, bad feeling.  A month later my editor called with the news that she was leaving Harcourt. My heart stopped beating in my chest…but thankfully she took me with her to Penguin and no CPR was necessary. Now the book is finally coming out in April 2010….knock wood.

Do you use an outline when writing, or just let it flow and write as fast as you can?

My first book, The Witchy Worries, just rushed madly out of me …but about two-thirds of the way through, I had painted myself into so many corners that everything just stopped dead.  I also had about ninety-seven subplots.  Then, I sat down and outlined what would happen next and finished up that way. In my next draft, I edited out the extra subplots.  (They’re delicious warmed up later.) Now I come up with an idea, think of my first line, and doggedly outline, even though I don’t necessarily stick to the original outline as the book progresses.

What author or book have you recently discovered that you want the world to know about?

Sherman Alexie and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. It’s deeply sorrowful, but you laugh all through it. I heard him speak at the SCBWI conference here in Los Angeles last summer and he had the same effect on all of us there.  We were continually erupting in laughter, while tears rolled down our cheeks.  People leapt to their feet to applaud him when he was done. It’s his first YA book and it won the National Book Award. My fourteen-year old loved it as much as I did.

What were your favorite books when you were a teen?

I was all about the sci-fi, baby. Isaac Asimov and I Robot, Robert Heinlein and Stranger in a Strange Land, Ray Bradbury and The Martian Chronicles…and everything else Bradbury wrote. Last year he spoke at the West Hollywood Book Fair and I took my kids to see him. I found myself incredibly moved to lay eyes on the man who had filled so many of my hours with magic when I was a teenager.  In fact, I burst into tears.  My kids were kinda embarrassed.

What’s the best piece of advice anyone ever gave you (or you learned from a book)?

It’s advice that I gave myself and now I give it to every writer I know.  And here it is:  When you’re in the process of writing and you feel compelled to show your work to someone else, tell them that they’re only allowed to tell you one thing…that it’s absolutely brilliant.  (They can pick out particularly wonderful things to compliment you on if they want to, but that’s it.) That confirms what you have to tell yourself as you go along, so that you don’t lose your inspiration to your nasty, mean-spirited inner critic.  Then, when the book is completely written, you don’t know what else to do with it and your tender heart is better protected, you can give it to a few people whose opinion you completely trust, and ask for honest notes. Of course it’s nice if they tell you it’s brilliant too, but you’re emotionally prepared for it if they don’t.

What’s the most embarrassing thing that happened to you in high school?

Well it was actually in eighth grade but it was embarrassing enough to last me a few years.  My family was living in rural North Carolina and late one night, my dog came in through the screen door and curled up in bed with me.  In my deep sleep, I got the sensation that something was wrong… that possibly the house was on fire…but I was too tired to give it much thought.  Some time later, my dad burst in and started inexplicably yelling at my poor sweet dog. This rank injustice wounded me and after he left, I took the dog into my arms to comfort her and went back to sleep…still wondering hazily whether the house was on fire. In the morning, all was revealed. The horrific, pungent and inescapable smell that I had mistaken for house smoke was skunk…the skunk that my witless, formerly lovable dog had stupidly killed and apparently eaten. On the bus to school, everyone roared with disgust and complained about the terrible odor, but miraculously, no one attributed it to me!  Sitting in class, the stink permeated every corner of the room.  When they opened the windows at the back of the class, the people sitting in front of me complained that it made it worse…but still no one realized I was responsible.  At lunch, I raced to the gym, flung open my locker, saturated myself with clouds of Right Guard and shakily convinced myself that there was yet some hope of escaping this day’s humiliation undetected. Then, out in the school yard, my seven-year old brother raced up to me and deafeningly proclaimed, “Everybody says I smell like skunk!!!”  All across the yard, heads swiveled toward us.

What do you read in the bathroom?

Strunk’s Elements of Style and every time I do I discover a new way I’ve been using grammar improperly.
Thanks, Rhonda! And don’t forget to enter to win!

I am looking for up to 19 MG and/or YA authors interested in participating in The Great Postcard Swap & Distribution Promotion.

What it is: A giant exchange of postcards (or bookmarks) promoting a book.

How it works: Twenty authors (including me) will agree to mail out 5 of their postcards or bookmarks to 19 other authors. When you receive the promo material from the other authors, you agree to distribute them in your area (see options for distribution in guidelines).

Objective: To get our promo material in the hands of people we don’t know.

Who is eligible: Middle Grade & YA authors whose novel comes out between January 1^st, 2010 and June 30^th, 2010.

Books must be from a publisher (no self published books or ebooks at this time).

Canadian and U.S. writers (this means if you live in the US, you must be willing to send postcards to Canada, and vice versa).

How to participate:

I will be taking sign-ups until March 31st, or until I have 20 participants.

Send me an email at restoringharmony10 @  yahoo dot com (please use this even if you have my private email address to make it easier to coordinate).

Include:

author’s name

title of your book & release date

date you expect to have your postcards ready to mail

mailing address

website or blog if you have one (for verification* – see below)

email address

If you don’t include all these things, I may not have time to follow-up with you and I might not include you. Please do not leave this info in the comments section!

What happens next: Once I have 20 people, I will send out an address list to all participants. Each author will send 5 postcards to each person on the list.

Once you start receiving your packets of 5 from other authors, it is your job to distribute them. Please avoid dumping them off somewhere in hopes that people will find them interesting. The idea is to give them to people/places you think might actually be interested.

*Your info will remain as private as I can keep it, while still sending it out to 19 other participants. If you have a P.O. Box, this is the time to use it. I will not post your info anywhere on the web, and all participants agree to use this list ONCE to mail their cards out, and not to distribute it in any way. I will verify that each book is a legitimate release from a publisher and not someone just phishing for addresses.

Suggested places/people to distribute to:

Librarians you know.

School staff you know.

Personal friends who read.

Kids you know – your babysitter, your child’s best friend who loves to read, etc.

Booksellers you know.

Thanks for participating and I look forward to hearing from you! Feel free to ask questions or leave suggestions in the comments section. Since this is an experiment, I’m totally open to ideas from you. If I get more than 20 interested authors, I will probably do a second list. Also, while I know that 5 postcards may not sound like a lot, please remember you will be responsible for handing out 95 others, so that’s why we’re trying it with 5. I’m perfectly willing to discuss it, but I’m afraid if we do more than that, some people might feel overwhelmed and the postcards might not get handed out.

Wow! Can you believe February is almost over? Goes fast when you’re on a deadline. Spring is right around the corner!

Over at the Debs we’re talking about our bad habits this week. I don’t really have many, so I wrote about my husband’s. Check it out.

In book news…ummm…well, I don’t really have anything. I mean, I’m trying to put together some signings and release parties and things, but nothing to announce quite yet. If you live in Portland, what bookstore would you be most likely to go to for a signing? I would love to know!

Do you know about this video of Oprah’s Mob Scene Dance? Well, you might want to give it a watch (or at least half of it to get the idea), and then pop on over here to see this fantastic version some kids put together in support of reading. You’ll be smiling the whole time. Thanks to my editor, Stacey, for the links!

Have a great weekend.

If you’re looking for a great middle grade, look no further than Drizzle. I got my hands on an ARC of this and really enjoyed it. I’ve since passed it on to the Grade 6&7 at the school and last time I was there, it was already dog-eared from being passed around. Thanks for stopping by, Kathleen and welcome!

• Kathleen Van Cleve is the author of Drizzle, a book coming out in March about a girl who lives on a rhubarb farm that grows chocolate rhubarb and rains every Monday at one o’clock… until it doesn’t.  Information on her other books and other things can be found at www.kathleenvancleve.com.  She also teaches screenwriting at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Are you a sports fan? Who’s your team?
I love sports.  Love everything about them (except, well, steroids and bad behavior and the Dallas Cowboys.)  I was a rower in high school and college, and have been running mostly on (sometimes off) during the past twenty years. My favorite professional sport to watch is football.  Specifically, I love the Philadelphia Eagles, and oh, how they break my heart.  I’ve loved them since I was a little girl, and went to the games with my brothers and father.  Why can’t they win a Super Bowl?  Why???  And a question: is it better to lose all the time, or get really, really close to winning the Super Bowl and then lose?  Argh!
What’s on your iPod or CD player?
A lot of songs from musicals, like Wicked, Hairspray, Rent (Seasons of Love!), Avenue Q, Chicago, you get the idea; a lot of pop songs – Lady Gaga, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Black Eyed Peas; some rock – Green Day and Bruce Springsteen and The Who; John Legend (This Time!) Barbra Streisand, Jill Sobule, Cat Stevens (If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out) and oh, a bunch of classical music too.  Also songs from the show Glee, and Neil Diamond, and the Beatles.  I have no idea what this list says about me.  It’s giving me a headache.
What were your favorite books when you were a teen?
Books by SE Hinton, (all of them), Agatha Christie (all of them but especially The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and And Then There Were None), Judy Blume (all of them), Susan Isaacs (all of them, especially Shining Through and Almost Paradise), Jane Austen (Emma & Sense & Sensibility and eventually all of them, although I didn’t read the rest when I was a teen), all fairy tales (especially a book of Irish Fairy Tales which I cannot find despite looking everywhere) and Edith Hamilton’s Mythology. I remember thinking I was awed by One Hundred Years of Solitude by Garcia Marquez when I was 18 – which is truly amazing – but I wonder if I really had any idea, then, what was going on in it.  Hmm…
What’s the best piece of advice anyone ever gave you (or you learned from a book)?
After my first novel was bought, my best friend said “Enjoy this.  You’ll write more books, but it will never be like this again.”  She was right and I had a blessed, Cinderella-like experience that will assuredly never happen again. (I wish every writer could be as lucky.)  Another time – long before I started to write – an old boss yelled at me when I said I couldn’t possibly “do” the deal (don’t ask) because both the accountant and the lawyer had said no, it couldn’t happen. He went on to say that they were paid to say no.  “Your job is to make it happen.”  I didn’t know it at the time, but it turned out to be really good advice for all kinds of endeavors.  Finally, when I met my future husband, my now-deceased father (among others) said “marry that man.”  It was the best decision I ever made.
What are you reading now?
A Man for All Seasons (Robert Bolt), The Thief (Megan Whalen Turner), I Am A Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be Your Class President (Josh Lieb), and Dominic (William Steig).  The latter is a read-aloud for me and my boys.
What author or book have you recently discovered that you want the world to know about?
I’m on a bit of a reading binge right now, and have been wowed by the following authors, all of whom (through no real intent) women:
Hilary Mantel (Wolf Hall), Katherine Paterson (Bridge to Terebithia – I know I’m late), Sharon Creech (Walk Two Moons – again, late) and Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge.
If you could live anywhere for a year, where would it be?
Rome.  Or Paris, although I’ve never been.  But I think I’d like to live there; it seems kind of perfect.
Do you know how to cook? What’s your specialty?
No, but I’m trying.  The thing is that when you have kids, they want to eat every day.  It’s killing me.  But I do make a pretty mean meatball.  And the three year-old can order takeout.  So we’re doing okay.

Since I’m not doing much updating on Need to Read anymore, I thought I’d use this Monday post to give you a heads up on a few books you might want to check out.

Fat Cat by Robin Brande is a fascinating read. It’s got all the topics close to my heart like simplifying your life, science, food, and vegetarianism, plus it’s got a bit of romance, chapters that make you laugh out loud, and an overall great hook that carries you all the way through the book.

Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr. I know I’m late to this party as it came out a while ago, but I actually put it off because I was scared of it. I won’t tell you if my fear was warranted or not because I don’t want to spoil the book in any way, but I will say that what finally swayed me toward reading it was Sara as an author. I know from reading her other books that even when she tells us gritty things, she handles it with truth and grace. What more can you ask from an author?

Siesta Lane by Amy Minato came recommended to me via Janet Reid’s blog. It’s a beautiful nonfiction blend of memoir, poetry, and revelation. I’m actually reading it very slowly, just a bit at a time. Partly because it’s so wonderful, but also because it stirs me into action and I can only take so much stirring at a time. It’s about a city girl who moves into a tiny cabin in rural Oregon. The tagline is: A Year Unplugged, or The Good Intentions of Ten People, Two Cats, One Old Dog, Eight Acres, One Telephone, Three Cars, and Twenty Miles to the Nearest Town. I actually bought it for my husband, but was hooked from the very beginning. He blew through it a while ago.

I’m over at The Debs today spilling a little about my next book, walking at work instead of to work, and whatever else I can think of. Drop on by!

I had a very stellar review this week for Restoring Harmony and I can’t help but share the link with you all. Thanks to Lauren over in England for my first UK review!

I finished work on the book trailer for Restoring Harmony.It will be a while before I post it though…maybe around the first week of April, but honestly, I’m so excited about it I can hardly stand it! I hope you all had an excellent week! Feel free to share your news in the comments section.

Last spring, an Australian teen book blogger contacted me about my Red Hair article and wanted to put it on her website. Of course, I said yes. When she heard I had a book coming out, she asked to interview me for her site. I was all over that idea! My very first interview.

This is the way I remember us meeting, but since I’m so old, and I’m about to feel much, much older in a minute (and you’ll know immediately why), I could have some of the facts wrong. Between the marketing and the writing, it’s really hard for me to remember that far back these days. However I met Steph Bowe, she did a very nice interview of me, and I appreciate it. Just the other day, I dropped by her site and you would not believe what I saw! It’s one of those lovely shocks that made me so happy for her, I knew I had to get her over here for an author interview. Yes, I said author. Did I mention Steph is sixteen?

Welcome Steph! Tell us a little about you.

I’m a 16-year-old YA author represented by Ginger Clark of Curtis Brown. My debut novel – a story about love, loss and garden gnomes – will be published by Text Publishing in September 2010 in Australia & New Zealand and by Egmont USA in America in Summer 2011.

• What’s on your iPod or CD player?
• At the moment, these songs are on constant rotation: ‘Lola’ by The Kinks, ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by Dire Straits (beautiful song!), ‘Short Skirt/Long Jacket’ by Cake and absolutely everything by The Killers, Matchbox Twenty and Cobra Starship.
• What are your hobbies that don’t have to do with writing?
• Dancing! Not in public. Also singing, photography, reading (obviously!), blogging, acting, playing with my dog…
• Where do you see yourself in ten years?
• I’ll be 26 in ten years time… wow! So I’ll definitely still be writing, and hopefully publishing. I’ll have long finished high school, and hopefully a creative writing degree. I’d love to have a job in writing or publishing – working at a newspaper or as an editor in a publishing house. I want to stay close to my family… and I think that’s about it! I’m not super ambitious. I just want to be happy.
• What are you reading now?
• Solace & Grief by Foz Meadows – a vampire YA set in Australia, but that’s refreshingly different than other vampire YA. I also just finished Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan, which isn’t out until April, which I absolutely LOVED and you would be wise to get your hands on the moment it’s released.
• Do you know how to cook? What’s your specialty?
• I can cook, but not much! My specialty is definitely cakes and I make great healthy muffins – banana and dried fruit. I also make a mean tomato-and-cheese toastie. My mum’s trying to teach me to cook, but I’m a bit klutzy and forgetful so it doesn’t tend to work out well!
• What’s the coolest writing-thing that’s happened to you since you sold your first book?
• Meeting my Australian publisher for the first time was pretty cool – all the people at the publishing house are really lovely. Everyone was really impressed with me – since I’m young, I think – and it was so strange! I’m not used to being the centre of attention.
• Go on, give us some writing advice. You know you want to!
• Read a lot, write a lot & send your work out there! If you stay committed to your goals, you will achieve them – so persist!

Thanks, Steph for the great interview. And congratulations on your upcoming book!

Remember last week when I wrote about knowing I was almost done with my current WIP because a new idea was forming in my brain? Well, the idea grew some after that post and I got pretty excited. Each day, I built on the plot, and the characters. I even named my MC.  Then one morning, I woke up and realized I hadn’t actually thought about that grand new idea in a couple of days. “I was busy,” I told myself, and it was true, so I bought it. For a while.

Then on Saturday, I thought I’d better get it down on paper. Just in case. Since new things hadn’t occurred to me for a few days, putting it on paper would get the juices flowing again, right?

Now, I have never written a synopsis and just had it fall out of the sky. All synopses are a challenge, but after a couple of hours, what I realized was it wasn’t the synopsis that was giving me trouble, it was the idea. That was not a leaky balloon, or even a frustrated sigh, you heard on Saturday around noon…nope it was a the Big Fizzle…fwoooshhhhh…..and the idea sputtered and died.

On the plus side, I am not alone! I know of at least two other writers dealing with this right now too, and each day on Twitter they post how excited about their new idea they are, and then they hear the fwoooshhhhh….

The thing is, this is not really a sad thing for a writer (at least not for me). Just because this idea fizzled doesn’t mean it won’t come back to me someday, maybe not for years. Or it might be gone forever. Who knows? But by letting it go, instead of fighting to hang on to it, I’m wide open for whatever great idea I get this week!

BREAKING NEWS!!! BREAKING NEWS!!! MY PUBLISHER JUST SOLD THE FOREIGN RIGHTS TO RESTORING HARMONY TO CHINA!

What do I love besides my husband and avocados? Find out over on The Debutante Ball.

Not much news…finished my new book (again) and sent it to agent before it goes to editor. Spent the week catching up on publicity stuff. Speaking of that, if you want a sneak peek of Restoring Harmony, there’s a new ARC tour afoot. She’s still taking sign-ups for now, but I think she’s capping it at twenty. And who’s the host, you ask? Well, she’s appropriately named Harmony!

That’s it. What’s up with you guys?

I’m very excited to have Catherine Gilbert Murdock here today because I’ve been a fan of hers since I read the first book in the Dairy Queen series. Probably since I read the first sentence. What a wonderful voice D.J. (and Catherine) have. If you’re not familiar with them, what rock have you been living under? try to remedy that as soon as possible. You’ll be highly entertained as well as experience a whole range of emotions while you follow along with D.J. and her adventures in small town America. The third, and final book in the series came out last fall, and I recently read it. Front and Center is as wonderful as the rest and I blew through it in one sitting and then was mad at myself for reading it so fast because then the series was over! Luckily, they’re books, so I can reread them whenever I want!

And now for Catherine.

1. What’s your favourite website?

Cake Wrecks (cakewrecks.blogspot.com ) which features pictures of horrible bakery cakes. I now have to check it daily because the woman who hosts it is so hilarious, and the cakes are so awful, that it really . . . well, frankly, now that I think about it I’m not sure what it does “really,” other than both undermine and reaffirm my faith in humanity. But it’s great.

1. What do you read in the bathroom?

This is luscious . . . I got a copy of Henry Fowler’s Dictionary of Modern English Usage for Christmas, and that’s what’s in our loo now. His articles are so dense that I can only read so much — so loo length is ideal — but I still emerge inspired, and often howling in laughter. Fowler has a real, and legitimate, bone to pick with pedantry, and as I’m writing a book right now with a very pedantic character (though intentionally so), The Dictionary of Modern English Usage really keeps me on the straight and narrow. I hope, at least. Let’s just say I’m glad Fowler’s no longer around to critique me.

1. What’s the best piece of advice anyone ever gave you (or you learned from a book)?

I was an aspiring but unsuccessful screenwriter before I was an aspiring but ultimately successful author, so pretty much everything I know about writing comes from my screenwriting days. Including this tip, courtesy of  Writers Book Camp (no apostrophe — it’s a Hollywood thing), to develop a list of fifty little insights about each character. For example, if you have a character who’s really into sports, you could demonstrate this by describing the sports posters in every room, or the sports pages spread everywhere, or three TVs playing ESPN, or . . . how all the cows are named after football players. Which turned out to be one of the most memorable elements of Dairy Queen. The point is, don’t just say “Mary was, or felt, so-and-so;” show us. Show with images, show with actions, show with dialog or smell or flashback, but show it. Don’t just lecture.

1. What are you reading now?

I just finished (finally, I know) the seventh Harry Potter book. I saved it for vacation, and gobbled it up in almost one sitting. Man, can J.K. Rowling tell a story. I’m in awe.

1. What author or book have you recently discovered that you want the world to know about?

A few years ago I read Jim Malusa’s Into Thick Air, and absolutely fell in love with it. He describes a six-continent bike trip in such vivid and enthusiastic detail that I wanted to do it myself, and I hate camping. Why this wonderful book hasn’t received far more attention I can’t imagine.

1. Do you know how to cook? What’s your specialty?

Anything that’s quick, or easy, or one-dish. Preferably all three, but that’s tough. Tonight I’m making Peposo, which is 3 pounds beef, ten garlic cloves, salt, pepper and a bottle of red wine, all baked together for 3 hours. So it fills fills both the “easy” and “one-dish” categories, even if it’s not exactly quick. Actually, I need to get to the supermarket soon if we’re going to eat before nine PM . . . The recipe is from In Nonna’s Kitchen, another great book that should not be out of print, but sadly is. If I ran the world, everyone would have this book. And be much better off for it.

1. What’s the coolest writing-thing that’s happened to you since you sold your first book?

Other than hugging Neil Gaiman? Actually, the coolest thing happened before I sold, or even wrote, Dairy Queen. My sister Liz — Elizabeth Gilbert — got nominated for a national book award (this was for The Last American Man, way prior Eat Pray Love), and she invited me to an event held the night before the actual awards ceremony, when the nominees each read aloud for five minutes. Needless to say, this is an amazing experience, and it inspired me so much in my own writing: not just to write well, but to write each sentence as though I were standing on stage reading it to this audience. Which I’m sure sounds horribly pretentious, but trust me, it really helps eliminate the chaff. There are worse goals in the world that aspiring to write a paragraph that will hold 500 people’s attention.

Thanks so much, Catherine! It’s great to have you here, and I am definitely going to use that fifty things when creating characters. I love it!

P.S. As any of you regular readers know, I am a big fan of Eat, Pray, Love but I want you to know that after I read it and went to E.G.’s site, what I was excited most about was the fact that she was related to the fantastic and famous YA writer who had actually answered a few of my emails, Catherine Gilbert Murdock!

A favourite topic among writers is that oldie, but goodie: “How do you know when your book is done?” I can’t answer for any of you, but I think I’ve finally figured it out for myself.

When I am writing a book, the occasional new idea flits through my head. Some are better than others, and I write those down. I might even journal about them a bit. While writing this WIP, I went so far as to try to do a synopsis of a new idea, which I then passed back and forth with my agent  a few times before finally giving it up as dead. No matter how excited I might get about something new, it never, ever sticks. After a few days, I forget all about it. When I’m working on one book, I can edit another (I alternated editing Restoring Harmony and writing The Right & the Real for the last six months), but apparently, there’s No Vacancy in my brain for a new book idea.

And that’s how I know I’m wrapping up work on a book. Last Friday, as I came into the homestretch on my revisions for this WIP, I got a fresh book idea. A good one. One that I’ve journaled about and it expanded instead of deflated. One that is flooding me with more and more details. One that is making me anxious to sit down and start writing something – a synopsis probably. While there will be months of revisions with my editor ahead of me, this seems like a strong indicator that my initial draft of The Right & the Real is essentially done.

This new book idea is a big relief because when you only have room for one story in your head at a time, you can’t help but wonder if you’ll ever get another good idea or if this will be the last book you ever write.

How do you know when you’ve finished a book?

As always, I’m over at The Debs today. The topic this week is “Covers” and there are some great posts. I talk a bit about mine and the artist.

A fun thing happened when I was teaching my writing class to the Grade 6-7 class. One of the students raised her hand and told me that she’d gotten an email from a teen friend who wanted to tell her all about a book she’d seen around the web that she wanted to read. Yep! You guessed it. It was Restoring Harmony. My student got to say to her friend, “I know the author! She comes to our classroom and teaches us writing sometimes!” Super cool for me, as you can imagine.

Since you all pretty much would have to be blind not to know what my cover looks like, I chose this other nice picture to include today, just because it makes me really happy. It’s a photo of my husband after he walked into the house and discovered eight of his friends had delivered a surprise gift for him while he was gone. A piano! Quite a surprise, don’t you think? You really have to click on it to make it bigger so you get the full effect of his astonishment. Thanks to Allan for the pic.

I’m very excited about this interview because as you all know, I love my agent. I mean, just from his pic, you can tell he’s a nice guy, right? So far, I’ve mostly just talked ABOUT him, but now he’s here to speak for himself. Feel free to say nice things about him in the comments section. With me (and all his other clients who adore him) he’s used to hearing good stuff about himself, but a little more won’t hurt!
Michael Bourret joined Dystel & Goderich Literary Management as an intern while studying film and television production at New York University, and began at the agency full-time in 2000. After ten years as an agent in the New York office, Michael now works in Los Angeles in the West Coast office of DGLM.  There, he continues to represent his own list of bestselling and award-winning clients while also aggressively pursuing new film and television opportunities.

1. What were your favorite books when you were a teen?

I didn’t actually read YA as a teen, so I’ll mention a few younger books I loved: Bunnicula, The Cricket in Times Square, The Castle in the Attic, Ramona Quimby, Age 8, Freaky Friday.

1. Do you have any pet peeves in query letters that make you quit reading?

I have many, many pet peeves!  I hate when my name is spelled wrong, I hate typos in the first sentence, I hate being queried by writers who haven’t done their research.  But in the end, none of that really matters if the query is compelling.  As I’ve mentioned on our blog, the details aren’t the most important thing, the idea, the narrative, the storytelling – that’s what hooks me.

1. What’s the most embarrassing thing that happened to you in high school?

High school was the most embarrassing thing to happen to me!  More seriously, one time I leaned against a container in the dark room and unknowingly got the entire back of my (rather baggy) pants wet.  I looked like I had a very serious bladder problem the rest of the day.

1. What are you reading now?

Client manuscripts!  It’s a busy month.  But I intend to finish The Lost City of Z by David Grann, Jumping off Swings by Jo Knowles (whose Lessons from a Dead Girl I adored, and then I need to read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

1. If you could live anywhere for a year, where would it be? And what kind of a place would you live in?

Northern Italy.  I love big cities, but I’d really love to live in a tiny Italian town, in a small cottage.  I’d want to garden and cook and read and live quietly.  Honestly, I’d probably go nuts after a couple of weeks, but it sounds lovely in my head!

1. What was the first book you sold? Tell us what it felt like to make that sale.

I won’t share what the book was, but I will say that it was very practical nonfiction.  Selling it felt fantastic, and it was only my second submission!  I really thought I’d figured it all out.  What strikes me now is that there is no way I could sell the book in this market.  None.  Our business changes all the time, and I think that’s what I love so much about it!

A while ago, I asked readers to leave questions for Michael and he would choose a couple to answer. The following are two of the submitted ones.

1)      What was it about Restoring Harmony that made you request a full?

It was a great concept: a little post-apocalyptic, but set in a near-future which was entirely believable – and very scary!  It was the kind of book that could have been so many different things, and I was so pleased that there was great narrative to go along with the high-concept idea.

2)      What happens in client Lisa McMann’s upcoming book, GONE?

I’m sorry I can’t share the answer to this one, as you’ll just have to read it!  But I will say that I think the series ends in a way that will be surprising, fulfilling and just perfect.  Not long until you can find out!

Thanks for stopping by, Michael! And if you get tired of that house in Italy before your year is up, just let me know. It sounds like a great place for me to spend some time writing another book!

Tuesday Bonus Post!

I just got an email from a reader and she wrote the most amazing piece on her blog about how Molly, the main character in my book, has inspired her to try to share her own music more. She also gives a lovely review of RH, but this piece is special and I wanted you to see it. It has less to do with me, and a lot to do with this reader and her musical path, and she’s a beautiful writer too, so I hope you enjoy it. Thank you, Rebecca, for making my week.

Way back at the beginning of this year, which is already 1/12 over, I posted here about how my husband and I had decided to try and lower our footprint even more, and so we were parking the truck for one month.

So guess what? We did it. And guess what else? It was totally easy. I’ll admit that it was easier on me than on my husband because I just don’t go out at night that much, so walking everywhere during the day was just fine. The weather was pretty mild too, which helped. A couple of times we car pooled with neighbours who were going by our house to the same destination, and we hitch hiked (no problem getting a ride and safe here) and Victor spent a lot of time on his bike too.

Our three biggest challenges were water, night, and Victor’s gigs. We have a water dispenser and have to refill it at the store about a mile away. We stocked up with 17.5 gallons on Dec. 31st, and then Victor carried one gallon a few times  a week on his bike. And in the middle of the month, we hitched a ride with the neighbour and refilled all the empties.

Victor didn’t have a light on his bike though, so he had to walk to evening meetings. And we got rides with other musicians in the neighbourhood to the music gigs Victor did in January (in 2009, he did 3…this year, he’s done 5 already!)

We were most proud of finding a solution to the following challenge. Victor heard about a house concert at a friend’s house up island. Not our island, but on Vancouver Island. That meant a ferry ride and somehow getting north 35 km and then getting back in time for the last ferry home. He ended up posting an ad on a local Yahoo group asking if anyone wanted to drive and he would pay for the ferry and he got a taker right away and they had a blast! He also took the ferry/Greyhound bus down to Victoria for a rehearsal this past week.

My biggest accomplishment was not so much solving a problem, but increasing my exercise by a lot. Each weekday, I walked about 2-3 miles on my treadmill while writing my new book (see, you knew I could work writing into this post somehow, didn’t you?) and then did the two mile loop to the Village to get library books and a few groceries. On average, I increased my walking about 10 miles per week. Not bad, if I do say so myself.

And how much did we spend on gas for the truck? Yep. $0

Victor wrote about his experience here. And I think it pretty much says what I didn’t. I know that my critique partner, Kim, has been eating all her evening meals by candlelight to save electricity. Have you done anything I should know about and try to do to save energy or reduce my impact on the Earth? I’d love to hear about it!

Today, I’m over at The Debutante Ball talking about snow. Had enough? Well, this is a different kind and you might just like it.

This has been an entire week of promotion. I’ve managed to catch up on a whole lot of publicity stuff I’ve been planning for Restoring Harmony while my critique group reads my new book. It’s back to writing next week though, and I’m excited!

Speaking of publicity, The Book Pixie has spoiled me with a whole lot of great coverage this week. First she gave RH a fantastic review, then she chose passages she thought you might like to hear from the book, and after that, she let me blather on about my favourite utility. And to top it off, she’s even giving away her ARC of Restoring Harmony!

I’m sure you’ve all been waiting with bated breath (don’t you love it when people write baited breath? That cracks me up every time…like worm breath!) to find out who won Eileen Cook’s new book. Congratulations to Thuy from Alberta! And thanks to all who played.

If you live on the same island as me, don’t forget that Molly-lookalike and fiddler extraordinaire, Sarah Tradewell is in concert Saturday night at The Roxy. She’ll be accompanied by my favourite musician of all.

Next week, I have a very special guest for WCW. I don’t think he’ll be giving away any books, but if you’re an unagented writer, you’ll definitely want to check out his interview (hint, hint).

Have a great weekend, everyone!

C. J. Omololu might have a hard name for me to remember (I’ve typed Omululu and Omololulu so far), but her new young adult novel, Dirty Little Secrets, is unforgettable. Here me now, believe me after you’ve read it, it will knock your socks off. I read a lot of books, but when I finished this incredible one, I just sat in my chair, stunned by the sheer amazingness of it (yes, I made up that word, but it works).

I have since handed this book off to two teens who totally agree with me (my favourite kind of teens) and also love this book. It is available February 2nd, but you can pre-order it now, and as soon as you’re done reading this interview, I expect you to all go buy it. And if you can’t afford to buy it, then request it at your library. I was going to give away my ARC, but umm…actually…I can’t part with it. I really can’t! So, sorry all…just go buy it. You’ll only be sorry if you don’t!

And now for the interview with C. J. (aka Cynthia).

1. What’s your favourite website? I’m guessing you mean website that aren’t about shopping. I spend a lot of time on The Tenners at http://community.livejournal.com/10_ers/ and at the writer’s message board at http://www.verlakay.com/boards/index.php. I read a lot of writing-related blogs too, mainly to keep up with what’s going on in YA.
2. What are your hobbies that don’t have to do with writing? That question makes me realize that I need to get some. I like photography and I made silver jewelry for a while.
3. What do you read in the bathroom? Catalogues. I dream about all the stuff I’m not going to buy.
4. What’s the riskiest thing you ever did and how did it work out for you? Marrying my husband when I’d said all along I didn’t believe in marriage. We’ve been together almost 16 years, so it looks like it turned out pretty well.
5. What author or book have you recently discovered that you want the world to know about? Ooh, can I do two? I’m going to anyway Two Tenner books that I just LOVE are Jen Nadol’s The Mark which is just coming out at the end of January and Jaclyn Dolamore’s Magic Under Glass that is also just out. Both are fabulous reads! Full disclosure – we all have the same publisher, but I actually bought my copies and I’d recommend them no matter who published them.
6. If you could live anywhere for a year, where would it be? Someplace with a beach – Mexico or Hawaii. My husband says I’d go island-crazy and want to leave, but I highly doubt that.
7. What’s the coolest writing-thing that’s happened to you since you sold your first book? I was at a writer’s conference just after Dirty Little Secrets sold, and during break I found myself standing next to an agent who was speaking that day. I started to introduce myself (I have no fear of talking to people I don’t know as you can see) when she stopped me and said, “I know who you are.” Totally thrilling.
8. Go on, give us some writing advice. You know you want to! Sit down every day, open up the file (or notebook) that contains your story and do just a little bit of work on it. The hardest part of writing is ignoring all of the excuses for not doing it.

Thanks Cynthia! Oh, and by the way, readers? She also has a picture book for young readers that looks pretty cool. Stop by her website for more info on her and her books!

P.S. Sorry this is posting so late. The power has been out all morning.

You might think I love Goodreads because I can go over there and see what people think of my book (4.17 stars out of 5), or monitor how many people have it on their shelves to read (169) or how many readers have entered the contest my publisher is sponsoring to win my book (399), but I never go over there for those reasons. I mean, that would be kind of sad to be monitoring those kinds of statistics, wouldn’t it?

No, the reason I love Goodreads is because every time I hear about a new book that sounds fabulous I can go over there and add it to my shelf. Like this one, that Janet Reid just wrote about.

It sounds fantastic. But my library doesn’t have it (it’s not even out yet), and my budget doesn’t accommodate pre-ordering it right now. But I can add it to Goodreads and then sometime in the future, when either my library gets it, or I’m flush, I’ll remember to read it!

That’s why I love Goodreads. What about you? Do you use it? What’s your favourite thing about it?

Firday explains how fried my brain is from revising my new manuscript. And I am moments a few hours away from sending it to my agent and critique group, so all I have to say this morning is pop on over to The Debs to help us celebrate Deb Maria’s new book release and find out what happened to my copy of her book.

And don’t forget to enter to win Eileen’s book (scroll down). Speaking of winners, congratulations to Leah! She won last week’s giveaway, Iain Lawrence’s THE GIANT-SLAYER. The book is on its way, Leah. Thanks to all who entered.

Hoppy Weakend evriwon.

You’ve all seen interviews and guest posts here with the fabulous Eileen Cook. It’s not that I play favourites, giving her more press than the rest of you, it’s just that she is one of my best friends AND she’s got a new book out. Plus whenever I feature her I get way more hits than when I talk about myself she’s so funny that everyone enjoys her visits.

Eileen’s new YA book hit the shelves this month. It’s a great twist on popularity and revenge and you don’t want to miss it. That’s why, I will be giving away a copy of Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood right here. That’s right, I want you to read this so much that I’m ponying up the cash myself and will have a copy sent directly to you! And Eileen will send you her autograph on a piece of duct tape (we do live in Canada, after all) for you to stick inside the book. So leave a comment, or send me an email using the address on the contact page by midnight, Tuesday, 26th January. This contest is open to Canadian and US residents only, sorry blog readers from afar…I don’t have that much cash!

And now on to the interview, but first, a cutie pic of Eileen at the beach!

• What are your hobbies that don’t have to do with writing? Knitting. I have developed a serious yarn fetish over the past couple of years. I can’t pass a yarn store without stopping in.
• What’s the best piece of advice anyone ever gave you (or you learned from a book)? I was once told that there are always people who will say it can’t be done, that you shouldn’t take a chance, that it will never work out. Tearing down other people’s dreams is easier for some people than building their own. The secret is to ignore those people and find those who will be there to tell you can, you should and to get busy!
• Where do you see yourself in ten years? I never would have guessed where I would be now ten years ago! I’m enjoying the journey too much to worry about where I might end up. I am pretty sure I’ll still be writing, reading lots and hopefully spending time with good friends and family.
• What’s the most embarrassing thing that happened to you in high school? Most of high school was embarrassing. You should see pictures of me back then.
• If you could live anywhere for a year, where would it be? London! It’s my favorite city in the world. I’ve been several times and I never get bored.
• Are you a sports fan? Who’s your team? When I moved to Canada we started going to the hockey games. Now I’m a full fledged hockey nut.  I’ve been known to paint my face.
• Do you speak any foreign languages? I lived in Europe for awhile and when I was there I spoke really bad French. People would always raise their eyebrow and say “What?”
• What’s the coolest writing-thing that’s happened to you since you sold your first book? Meeting other writers!  You would be a perfect example!
• Go on, give us some writing advice. You know you want to! Read. Read. Read. I believe books are the best teachers.

Thanks, Eileen! Always a joy to have you here. And to the rest of you, don’t forget to enter! And since I’m not on Twitter anymore (except briefly on Saturdays), please feel free to tweet this contest. In fact, if you do, and you tell me, I’ll put your name in the drawing twice!

There are two kinds of people in life: the kind who are happy to let you have the last word, and the ones like me. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean that getting in the last word is necessarily a bad thing. But I’ll admit that when my friend Wanda sent me a thank you gift after we hosted her in our home for a week, my first thought was, “Oh, I need to send her a thank you note.” And then I had to remind myself that her gift was a thank you. If I sent a note, would she then have to send me an email, thanking me for my note? And then would I follow with another email, telling her it was my pleasure? Ummm…well, if I’m honest…then, yes. That’s how it would go. At least until Wanda got tired of the thank yous and moved on with her life.

And what do you do when two people who are in regular contact are both the Last Word Type? My agent and I can go on all day long trying to get in the last witty email, the last joke, the last and final closure to what should’ve been a quick exchange. Don’t get me wrong, I think we both have fun doing this, but how much work are we getting done? Luckily, my agent has perfected the last word. He sends an email with nothing but a smiley face. How can I answer that? With two smiley faces? Even I know when I’m facing a professional Last Word Type.

But here’s the deal…with a book due on March 1st, and my first novel being released May 13th, my daily email has already started to skyrocket (all in a good way). In addition to the writing deadline, there are all kinds of promotion things to do, guest blogs and interviews, hunting up indie bookstores, checking my hourly sales ranking on Amazon. What I’ve discovered is that I barely have time to answer the emails I need to answer, let alone thank you for thanking me for thanking you for thanking me. So, as of now, I am going to try to become one of those other people. The one who lets you have the last word!