If you go to my editor’s Publisher’s Marketplace page , she’s added me to it.

So, it’s just been brought to my attention that it’s Banned Book Week. I immediately dug out my “I read banned books” button, even though I’m home for the evening. Since I don’t want to get in trouble for posting someone else’s list, go here http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwlinks/100mostfrequently.htm to view the most frequently banned books.

Here are some of my favorites:

Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
Forever by Judy Blume
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (huh? really?)
Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Anastasia Krupnik series by Lois Lowery (you’re kidding, right?)
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden (I just reread this and wrote about it)

There were quite a few more books on that list that I’ve read too. Do you know what’s really weird? There are a bunch of sex education books that are challenged because they have SEX in them!!! Can you believe it? What depraved mind thought of including information on sex in a sex education book? Sorry…don’t get me started. 

Happy reading everyone. 

Joelle
P.S. What I find particularly hilarious is that I live in a small, conservative town in the South and our library subscribes to a book leasing service for their YAs and MG. That means, they get whatever’s sent to them. If anyone besides me were reading some of the stuff, there’d be RIOTS in this town! Ever heard of Chris Crutcher (yeah, I know you have)…well, he’s featured prominently. And a few other novels many adults in this town would have heart attacks over are on the shelves too. I love it.
Also go here for more info:

American Book Sellers http://www.abffe.org/banned.htm

One of the books my editor sent me was called MOUSE NOSES ON TOAST. She sent it because I mentioned that I liked the name. It is a chapter book. I read it one evening, thoroughly enjoyed it, and then passed it on to my niece for her eighth birthday (it wasn’t her only pressie from me, but I think she liked it best!). My dad said she read it all the way home in the car. Here she is, deeply involved from the very beginning. Ain’t she cute?

This is a cool shirt that you can get at ALA. So I just wrote this very awe inspiring and informative post about BBW and it disappeared. You’ll just have to use your imagination about the funny and interesting things I wrote. You can get all the info on BBW here, at my friend Eileen’s site.

I’ll be wearing my button that says, “I Read Banned Books” all week, and since I just spent two months reading the Harry Potter series again, I won’t be lying! What banned books are you reading this week?

Check out what I have to say on Need To Read about:

Long time no post here at Need To Read. Mostly because I’ve been reading Harry Potter. I just finished the whole series, I think it took me about two months, and I really enjoyed the time. I still am dreaming about being magical myself, even though I finished several days ago (I always dream I’m a witch when I read HP and then I’m disappointed when I wake up and I’m not).

In between HP #4 & #5, I read Meg Cabot’s ALLIE FINKLE’S RULE FOR GIRLS - MOVING DAY (I think this picture is for the sequel, but I’m too lazy to go find the right one). It’s MG, and I loved it. I thought it was traditional Cabot in the style, tense, and humour, but very much for MG readers, which is not always an easy thing to do. Meg Cabot is a real pro at keeping her audience in mind when she writes, whether it’s tweens, teens, or adults. I was impressed all the way around and I am looking forward to the sequel (and when I read it, I’ll post the cover to this one instead).

I also read an ARC that my editor sent me (can I just tell you how much I love saying “my editor”?) called MOUSE NOSES ON TOAST. It is a chapter book and quite frankly, I don’t really read chapter books very often (or at all), but this was really fun. I had mentioned that I loved the title and she included it in my welcome package of books she sent me. I passed it on to my 7 year old neice and I bet she’ll love it.

I then started reading a book that I really, really wanted to like, but after 88 pages I finally gave myself permission to give up. It was a bit of a mystery (not like a mystery-mystery, but like one of those things where something happens in the prologue that is supposed to intrigue you to the point where you have to find out what’s going on) and yet I still didn’t care. This author, who shall remain nameless, has several books out. One I’ve read and loved, one I read and was a bit indifferent to, and then this one…EVERYONE loves this author’s books though, so that’s why I gave it more than 50 pages. Alas…it goes on the “lost interest” card.

Lastly, and I think this really should have its own post, but I don’t feel like doing two, I read MEMORIES OF A TEENAGE AMNESIAC by Gabrielle Zevin. This was the most fantastic book. I fully expect it to be on the Fave Fifteen of ‘08. I loved her other book ELSEWHERE and so even though this was due at the library yesterday, I decided to just pay the fine and give it a quick read. By page one I was totally hooked. Zevin not only writes about unusual topics/premises, but she is just a brilliant, beautiful, poetic, and very funny writer. She writes in ways I can only dream of writing. When I read her books, I’m overwhelmed by a mixture of feelings - admiration, envy, a sense of how lucky I am to read her writing, envy, sheer elegance of the prose, did I mention envy? It’s kind of like watching Judi Dench act. On one hand I love it and it fills me up with such beauty and on the other I feel like, “Well, I might as well never act again when Judi’s out there and can act like that!”

So…definitely add this to your reading list, and if you haven’t read ELSEWHERE, get that too!

I’ll leave you with this one question…If you could have one power (or be able to do one spell or charm) from Harry Potter,  what would it be?

I would definitely choose the ability to disapparate.

  I received the new SCBWI bulletin in the mail today and was pleased to see an article of mine in it. Usually they have one or two of my pieces sitting around, already purchased, but I never know when they’ll end up in a bulletin, so it’s always a surprise. Anyway, the article is called Learning From Other Genres and is, as the title suggests, all about how studying other genres, like playwriting and screenwriting can help your fiction writing.

When I first submitted this piece, it was really, really long and the editor told me they’d like it if I could cut it in half. So I did and they did and all was well. What made me laugh today is that the article is a two-page spread, with a very cute illustration and a very large headline/title. The reason this made me laugh is because prior to cutting over 16k words from my novel, I might have thought when I saw this, “Well, they could’ve taken it as written since they had room for a two-page spread.” but the new me, the one who has learned that extra words drag things down, was simply grateful that the editor at SCBWI made me trim it because now it is tight, to the point, and hopefully readers will stick with it, rather than give up half way through!

When I told my agent that I have a tendency towards repetition, he kindly said, “you just like words”. Maybe so, but I’m starting to like them more when there are fewer of them. Hmmm…maybe there’s another SCBWI article in this post!

I’d like to send out congratulations to my wonderful agent for being promoted to VP at Dystel & Goderich!

Here’s the announcement from PM: At Dystel & Goderich Literary Management, agent Michael Bourret has been named vice president and Lauren Abramo has been promoted to subsidiary rights director (both started their careers at the agency). Agent Jessica Papin is rejoining the agency after a three-year stint in international rights sales for the American University in Cairo.

Time to celebrate! Congratulations!

1. I am going to make my Monday deadline.

2. On Monday, when my revised manuscript is due, it will be there.

3.My printer is spitting out the revised pages as I type this.

4. All I have to do is read my manuscript and see if it still makes sense after cutting 16,103 words in twelve days.

5. Did I mention that I’m going to make my deadline?

Maybe I’m just a softie - okay, I am - but Meg Cabot is the coolest person ever and this is why. It literally made me tear up…not like, you know, the end of that movie Beaches, or anything, but like a Hallmark commercial. RANSOM MY HEART is one book I will definitely buy.

On Sunday, I had to take the day off from editing. Not because it is a day of rest, but because I did a play. Twice actually - a matinee and an evening performance. As you may know, I was trained as an actress and worked professionally for a while, but I haven’t done a play in more than six years.

Anyway, this play, Waking Up by Dario Fo, is a hilarious one-woman show, about twenty-five minutes long. This was not a full-blown production, but a staged reading. I had limited costuming, no real set, and no props. Plus, because it was a reading, I had my script.

Interstingly enough, at the beginning, I was convinced I would just go ahead and memorize it. Usually actors try and get rid of the script as soon as possible so they can get on with the “acting bit”. I thought that it would be too hard to use the script too because of all the objects I had to create out of space (kind of like mime) -a baby, clothing, a sink, diapers, refrigerator, stove, etc., but once I started rehearsing, I realized how handy it was to have the script! It wasn’t a hinderance at all. And having the words there let me relax and really get into the character.

I also like working at a professional level (No Bells & Whistles is a pro company), but not having it be about a career, or the next job, or who might see the play and help me make a connection. It was suddenly fun to be an actor again!

The other thing I learned is that while I hope to do more of these staged readings, I really am a writer. And not just because my book is sold and I have an editor now, but because that is who I’ve evolved into. It’s what makes me happy. And on that note…I better get back to cutting because I’m just over half way there and I only have until Monday to finish!

A fellow writer, Karmen Kooyers, sent me this quote (she didn’t say where she got it, but if anyone knows, please feel free to add it in the comments).

When revising, “Cut down to the bones, but leave the heart.”

I have to admit that cutting is way more fun than writing. I know that might sound like sacrilege, but so far it’s true. All you need is a certain amount of ruthlessness, and I guess I’ve spent my whole life preparing for this because I don’t like clutter. I throw out, give away, or recycle anything that I don’t have a need for and I always have. Now I’m just doing it with extra words!

P.S. If my editor or agent is reading this, I’d just like to say, Thanks for seeing the forest for the trees, because there sure are a lot of extra trees in this manuscript!

P.P.S. This post was longer, but I just cut a bunch of it!

This picture is of my friend Sarah Tradewell (taken by Benjamin Madison) and if you click here, you can read a fun story about how we met! She looks just like my character Molly. AND they both play the fiddle too!