Hi All,

I repeat a similar post every year on or about this date. You see, it’s my 5th wedding anniversary and this is one of my favourite stories. It’s an essay I wrote for a magazine, but never really tried to sell….

If you’ve ever thought about making your own wedding cake, here is a story for you.

The picture above is of my mother and father-in-law’s wedding cake topper. It’s made of FROSTING and is from 1946. We found it on my mother-in-law’s bedside table after she passed away and used it on our cake. Sadly, it did not survive the move to Canada, but we have our memories.

And speaking of memories, I bought my darlin’ a Gingko tree (5th anniversary is “wood”) for a pressie and he said, “It’s lovely! Let’s try not to kill it.”

Happy anniversary, my darlin’. I have no idea what I did to get so lucky, but I’m glad I did it. I love you!

Restoring Harmony is a sweeping adventure about a determined girl fighting to bring her family together in a broken world. Armed with only a fiddle and a keen sense of the land, Molly is the best kind of heroine–smart, feisty and courageous. Anthony writes with tenderness and imbues her story with hope. This is a coming-of-age journey at its best. Anthony is a welcome new voice in teen lit.

- Suzanne Selfors, Author of SAVING JULIET and COFFEEHOUSE ANGEL

Instead of an author interview and book giveaway this week, I am offering up a few sneak peek pictures from our photo shoot earlier this week for Restoring Harmony. If you’ve been here before, then you probably know all about the fabulous Sarah Tradewell and how she looks just like Molly, the main character in my book, and the amazing story about how we met, but I thought you might like to see some of the fun we had this week.

Sarah and her parents drove up from Victoria to our island and my husband did a photo shoot with Sarah. He is putting together a book trailer using still photos, text, and music (to be released later this fall after he figures out how to do it when I re-launch my new and improved website). Right after I announce the two winners of the Donut Days books from last week’s giveaway, I’ll share with you some of the extra photos that he took.

The winners of their very own copies of Donut Days are: Marmite & Tea and Jessica! Congratulations!

P.S. I was interviewed by the lovely Larramie over at The Divining Wand today, so drop on over there and make me look popular!

And now for the photos. Just click on them to see them bigger.

Here is me with Sarah.

Sarah playing her fiddle – during the shoot, my husband, who LOVES fiddle music, thought it would look more authentic if Sarah played, so she did. There were several times when he’d actually gotten the shot he wanted, but he pretended to keep shooting just so she’d keep playing!

And here is Sarah in the recording studio. My husband is also a musician and so the two of them recorded four of the tunes from my book, including one called Brianna’s Reel that Sarah wrote just for me for my book! They sound amazing. They’re getting mixed still, but once I have them available, I will share (if I can figure out how to add an audio file to my site).

Sarah just sent more snaps, so I thought I’d add them in! Here they are.

Actually, it’s not me that will be in the photos, so I’m not technically ready for any close-up. I’m very excited to say that tomorrow we (and by we, I mean I’ll mostly be cooking for everyone else and other people will be doing) are doing the photo shoot for the pictures we will use in my book trailer! Wahooo!

The fabulous Sarah Tradewell is coming up to my island with her parents and my husband is going to take at least a zillion pictures of her with and without her fiddle. Also, and this is really cool…on Tuesday, Sarah and my husband (who is also a musician/singer/songwriter) are going into the recording studio to record a few of the tunes and songs that are in my book. But get this…there is a fictional reel in my book called Brianna’s Reel (named after a character) and Sarah has written a reel just for me and my book! Seriously! How cool is that?

Eventually, there will be downloads of the recordings available, and of course, the book trailer, but that will be a ways off. Hopefully, later this week, I’ll have a few sneak peek pics. Stay tuned! And don’t forget to enter the contest to win Donut Days by Lara Zielin. You have until Thursday.

It may seem like I’ve been slacking off by not posting all week, but actually, I’ve been building suspense. You knew I’d have to have something really good if I waited this long to post, didn’t you? Well…I do have excellent plans! I would like to announce my new plans for Fridays here. As many of you know, I was recently chosen to be one of the Debs over at The Debutante Ball 2010. That means on Fridays, I will be over there blogging. I don’t want to leave you high and dry here though, so I am starting Friday Features.

Each Friday I will have either an author over here guest blogging, or an author interview. These won’t be just any writers though…these will be ones with new releases. And there will be FREE books. For you!

I am thrilled to announce my very first Friday Featured Author, Lara Zielin.

Lara is the author of the new YA novel, Donut Days. We also have the same fabulous editor (Hi, Stacey!) over at Putnam, and I first became aware of her through that connection. And then I read her most excellent book. Once I’d read it, I knew I had to share with you all. I’m going to hand this over to Lara now, but don’t forget to enter to win (contest is at the bottom of the post).

So, without further ado, Here’s Lara! (click on this link to read her own brand of wit and wisdom!)

* We are giving away two copies of Donut Days by Lara Zielin. The first copy is an ARC (advanced reading copy) and because so many contests are only for US residents and they ignore their northerly neighbours, the ARC is for a resident of Canada! Lara is also giving away a signed copy of her book.

Here’s how to enter: Leave a comment on this post, or on Lara’s guest post any time between now and Thursday, 27 August 09 and you’ll get one entry (be sure to identify yourself as a Canadian resident if you’re interested in the ARC).

For a second entry, include in your comment, or in an email sent to me via my contact page, the answer to Lara’s question: “If you were a donut, what donut would you be and why?”

Lara’s answer: I think I would be a powdered-sugar donut (because they taste the best) but with pink sprinkles because, in life, you can never have too many pink sprinkles on things. Or, at least that’s my philosophy.

Joelle’s answer: I would probably be an old-fashioned…sweet, but not too sweet, and good for dunking in tea…hmmm…wait a minute…maybe I better rethink that…

Anyway, read Lara’s post and drop by her website but enter here first to win!

*FYI -The numbers you see hyperlinked as you read down are Lara’s footnotes which appear at the end of the post.

THE TIME I SAW BORAT AND FIGURED OUT MY BOOK, WHICH IS NOT R RATED SO PLEASE DON’T FREAK OUT

Here’s the truth, peeps: DONUT DAYS did not come easily to me.

I knew I wanted to write a novel based on the experiences I had in the evangelical church when I was a teenager (and into my early 20s) because, seriously, you would not believe the stuff that went down in the megachurch[1] I attended.

For starters, the pastor drove a Mercedes and then paid his employees, like, minimum wage. Then, his wife had loads of plastic surgery[2] but he still divorced her. Which, in a megachurch, is a huge no-no.  Then … well, okay, I guess I’m getting ahead of myself here. The point is, I had a lot of fodder for a novel. And I really wanted to pen a protagonist who saw the cracks and flaws in the church’s façade and called it like she saw it[3].

But every time I sat down to write, I couldn’t make it happen. I got words to happen, sure, and I strung them together in sentences, one right after the other. I even completed books and sent them off to agents[4]. Needless to say, I did not get multiple, competing six-figure offers.

What I did get what frustrated. What was wrong? Why couldn’t I write something that engaged people? I mean, even my husband (who was my fiancé at the time and really wanted to make it to the altar, not to mention other, a-hem, places) could slog through it and pretend he liked it. And if he couldn’t do it, no way anyone else was going to. But what was the problem?

Make it real, my fiancé (how husband) told me.

It is real, I insisted.

Except it wasn’t. It was like a shiny, plastic version of the gritty, complicated world I had known. It was like I was writing it through a filter. It was like I was scared to bring it real[5].

And then, I saw Borat. The movie (versus a live version of Borat as played by Sacha Baron Cohen).

There’s this scene in the movie where Borat goes to an evangelical church and pretends to get saved. He pretends to start speaking in tongues, to fall down, to roll on the carpet[6], to believe everything that’s being spouted at him.

It is hilarious. I laughed until I cried.

Until something else happened.

When the antics died down, people in the church started really reaching out to Borat. Believing he was a down-on-his luck guy who needed a hand, they prayed for him. They took up an offering for him. They fed him. They helped him.

And that took it from flat-out hilarious to flat-out complicated. I blinked. I face-palmed. I woke up.

Borat showed me—like nothing else had—how writing about the church couldn’t be black or white. It had to be grey and complicated. And how, at its heart, the book couldn’t really be about church. It had to be about people who were searching for answers and sometimes finding them, sometimes not; sometimes succeeding at making the world a better place, sometimes failing.

I had my epiphany. I knew what to do. I went home and immediately started rewriting the book.  After a few months, I sent it to an agent who accepted it. The manuscript sold in a matter of weeks[7].

I’d figured out what I wanted to say, and how to take off the filter that was preventing me from being truly honest about what I’d experienced.

But DONUT DAYS still walks a fine line. For those of you who want to throw an ACLU petition at me right about now, please let me emphasize that DONUT DAYS is not a book about church. Not really. It’s more about people thoughtfully questioning what they believe, and why. And for those Christians who want to be mad at me because the book isn’t “Christian” enough, whatever that means, please let me emphasize that I believe in God, and I believe in the church, but I wrote DONUT DAYS because I also believe that it’s okay to question absolute power, and that no pastor is infallible.

In general[8], my great hope is that DONUT DAYS helps people remember that even if people suck, God doesn’t have to.

And I learned it all via the 21^st century version of an after-school special. I learned it by watching Borat.

[1] Picture the church, synagogue or mosque where you grew up going. Now add 5,000 square feet, a bunch of purple carpet, a full band and deafness-issuing speakers, Thomas Kinkade paintings (puke), a fountain in the foyer that’s bigger than the one at the mall, and about 4,000 people. That, my friends, is a megachurch.

[2] Ironic much? Because the Bible says (and she preached it) that we’re perfect in God’s sight. But apparently not perfect enough.

[3] Instead of, say, closing her eyes and saying “praise Jesus” over and over.

[4] My apologies to the good agents who were saddled with this dribble. You know who you are.

[5] Oprah moment: I was scared to bring it real.

[6] I wish I had the space to explain what all this is but I don’t. If you want to know, please watch Borat or late-night Christian television.

[7] In publishing, where everything moves more slowly than an Ent debating whether or not to attack Mordor, this is really, really fast.

[8] Cue John Hughes movie music, God rest his awesome soul.

One of the most common reactions I get when people ask me when my book is coming out is, “Why does it take so long?” The truth is, if you’re the writer, you’re pretty busy during most of that eighteen months (average) that it takes from purchase to publication, so while you can hardly wait, time does fly by. Between editing, trying to write a new book, and all the pre-publication marketing, I’m really, really busy. However, I thought those of you who might want to know more about what goes on behind the scenes, would be interested in this great post by Moonrat. Although she wrote it as a plea to writers to meet their deadlines, it gives you an insider look at what’s going on leading up to publication. Since you asked…

A tweet I made on Twitter sparked an interesting discussion between Donut Days’ author Lara Zielin and myself yesterday. Read about it here on her website. Lara and I have the same editor, and my friend Penny got me her ARC quite a while back, so while we’d never really chatted, we were aware of each other. After our discussion, I decided I like her very much!

Her book is out now, so I plan to get my review up ASAP. Also, Lara is going to come by here next week (or soon) and guest blog and you will get a chance to win my ARC of her book! By the way, isn’t it a GREAT cover? I love it!

P.S. I do want to point out that this post that Lara links to on my site was NOT written about her book, but about another book, quite a while back.

It has not escaped me that all my main characters have names that end in the “eee” sound. Molly, Kami, Lexi, Sydney and Jamie. Even though Meg Cabot tells us that authors who say things like, “My characters tell me what to do, I have no control over them” are nuts because the author is in charge here, I still “wait for the character to reveal his or her name” and so far, all my main characters are into the “eee” sound.

What struck me as odd last night, as I was drifting off to sleep, is all the best friends and secondary characters seem to have names ending in the “uh” sound. There is Becca, Julia, Jenna, and Krista.

And then, while my husband was snoring away, and I wished I was also asleep, I thought back to how my name has a silent “e” on the end, but my whole life people have called me things like Jo-lee and Jo-Ellie (and JoEllen, Joella, Joleen, and yes, even Jell-O) and I started thinking that perhaps having a distinct ending to the names of my characters is my way making sure that people say their names right (although Kami is pronounced “commie” and probably people will read it as “cami”, so there goes that theory).

Maybe middle of the night curiosities are not the best material for a blog post…unless any of you fancy yourself an amateur Freud and can tell me why I’ve fallen into this naming pattern.

I put the Need To Read page on a summer hiatus (mostly because I’ve been too busy writing), but here are three books I read recently that I know you want to read.

Tango The Tale of an Island Dog (MG) by Eileen Beha – seriously good! This is a read for everyone. It’s a perfect MG book, but you could read it to younger kids too, and I loved it, so apparently it’s great for old folks like me too! I had an ARC, but I think it’s out now.

Treasure Map of Boys by E. Lockhart -This is the third book in the Ruby Oliver series, so you know…if you haven’t read the first two, this one won’t mean much to you, but if you have, then you’re in for more fun with Ruby and her crazy family. Loved everything except the footnotes, but I guess that’s a personal thing. Some people find footnotes fun and interesting. I just find them distracting.

Stealing Heaven by Elizabeth Scott – OMG! This is sooooooo good!!! I kid you not. This book was a total page-turner. I read it in one sitting. Okay, well, a few pages before bed, and then the rest in one sitting on the porch, but I could not put this book down. Definitely looking forward to more from this author (I have put her other books on hold at the library). I think Alexa recommended her to me, so thanks, Alexa!

What are y’all reading?

My editor sent me the final artwork for the cover of my book. This is what it looked like when she first sent it to me, just so I could see it (and post it all over my blog like a crazy girl!).

And this is what the final cover looks like.

As you can see, the title really pops now, and also they added the tremas (or spots, as my mum calls them) over the “e” in my name. Yay! Yes, it’s the little things that make me happy. It’s all in the details, baby!

I am taking a blog holiday, but what I’ve done, is go through the archives and pick a few somewhat random posts that I thought you might like to see again. (Oh, and unfortunately, the bit about our house being for sale…yeah, wrote this last year and it’s still unfortunately true! Anyone want to buy waterfront in Tennessee? Drop me a line!) Anyway, enjoy!

If you think rejection is hard, try regret – Carolyn Hax

I love this quote. Hax made it in regards to dating (or not taking a chance with someone) in her advice column a few years ago, but it works for everything, really. Still…I’m not so sure that rejection and writing go hand in hand.

Our house is for sale (not the one we live in, but the one we moved from). Everyone knows when you sell a house that multiple offers are optimum, but really, all you need is one person to fall in love with your house and buy it. And yet, if our realtor books an appointment with someone, shows the house, and they don’t think it will work for them because they have five kids and it turns out our house only has one bathroom, we don’t feel rejected, do we? The house is just not a good fit for that family. This got me thinking about the word rejection in regards to publishing.

Why exactly is rejection the word that writers (and editors, agents, etc.) have chosen to latch on to? When you’re in the query process, or the submission process, you often hear advice to ‘not take a rejection personally’ because your writing may not be bad at all, ‘just not a good fit’. But the verb ‘reject’ means: to dismiss as inadequate or faulty. How can you not take it personally and still call it a ‘rejection’? I would like to challenge everyone to reject the term rejection in regards to writing, and switch to something more positive. Or at least neutral.

I know that some of my friends and family are surprised that “rejections” don’t seem to bother me much. I’ve always thought it was because I started out life as an actress, and in that tough field, sometimes you’re rejected right to your face! At least with writing, you get a nice snail mail letter or an email. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not Little Miss Sunshine (well, okay, I am, but that’s an entirely different post), but semantics are everything, especially to writers! Words matter. From now on I am not accepting any more rejections. It’s not like an editor says, “I reject you! Bwahahahaah!” anyway. No, they usually say….”Thank you for the opportunity to read this, but it doesn’t really fit in our house.” There you go! No rejection anywhere in that letter!

While I’d like to sell everything I write from now on, there may be an occasion where it doesn’t happen…you know, just one or two rare occasions (haha)… Here are the words I choose to use when that happens. I challenge you to do the same, lose rejection from your vocabulary, and add to my list.

• Took a pass
• Decided it wasn’t right for them
• Is giving someone else an opportunity
• Turned it down
• Bowed out of the running
• Didn’t want to buy it
• ????

I’m on a computer break, but had to drop in w/ my GREAT NEWS! I’ve been selected as one of the new Debs at The Debutante Ball! More info to come, but click on over to their site now, and check out the news release!

I am taking a blog holiday, but what I’ve done, is go through the archives and pick a few somewhat random posts that I thought you might like to see again. Enjoy!

Today’s Featured Author is John Rowe Townsend. I had the great joy of meeting him and his partner, (also a fabulous writer who I will feature at some point) Jill Paton Walsh, last fall at their home in Cambridge, England. John and I had been corresponding since 1991, when I wrote to him to tell him how wonderful of a writer he is. John and Jill have encouraged, sympathized and offered advice as I have worked my way along this writing path and I am very grateful to know them. When I was in Cambridge, Jill called me, “John’s biggest fan” and I have to say I was thrilled to hold that title! Thanks, Jill.

John is a storyteller. I think that is what I’ve learned most from reading his books. There are a lot of good books out there, but the ones that are stories in the sense that you would love to tell it to someone or would listen raptly if someone were telling it to you, are what the really intriguing books are made of. John is this kind of writer. His middle grade and young adult novels will draw you in and really never let you go. You’ll remember them long after reading them.

If you are not familiar with John’s work, it’s not your fault. While his books are not readily available here in US bookstores stocking new books, you can find most of them online and in used bookstores. Start here to see titles available. Also your library is a great place to find more of John’s work. For you writers, make sure you pick up a copy of John’s Written For Children. This comprehensive history of English-language children’s literature is a must-have. Visit John and Jill to learn more about them.

Just in case you’re wondering…I think my favorite JRT book is The Summer People. My copy got dropped in the bath, so if you find one in a bookstore, please feel free to send it to Joelle Anthony, P.O. Box…just kidding. I’ll get my own copy soon!