It’s Friday and that means I’m over at The Debutante Ball blogging. Well, actually, it’s not me…well, it is sort of me…I mean…in honour of Halloween…I have one of my alter-egos helping me out…I mean…well, just pop over there and find out for yourself what I’m up to!

After all the blogging about Betsy and the re-release of the Betsy-Tacy high school books, I felt compelled to read a few. I read Heaven to Betsy and Betsy in Spite of Herself. Basically, I walked around for three days with a smile on my face because they’re just so darn enjoyable. I had planned to read all the grown-up ones in a row, but the library FINALLY got me my requested copy of Being Nikki by Meg Cabot. Ooooh! That was so exciting. I like almost everything Meg Cabot writes, but I really like the adventure-type stuff. Like The Mediator Series. And this series. I can hardly wait for the third one, Runaway. I doubt I’ll be able to wait for the library to get it though because it took them something like ten months to get this one. Maybe I’ll buy it and then donate my copy to circulation so that someone else doesn’t have to wait forever for it.

So…I couldn’t help but notice that a few people have dropped by to read the Red Hair article. Thanks for coming over!

I’ve been thinking for a while that it really needs some updating because some of the things I rarely see anymore (vegetarian teens, for example). The piece was first published by SCBWI just over two years ago, but I’d written it about 6 months before that. That list was generated from the reading I was doing in 2005 & 2006. While a lot of it is still going strong, things have changed too. Trends have changed. For the last year, about half of what I’ve been reading are ARCs and I’m well into a stack of next year’s ARCs too. Because of that, I really have missed a lot of the cliches from 2007-08. I’d love it if you want to add to the comments section what you’re seeing over and over these days.

I also want to say that I am in no way telling anyone how to write their book. The list is intended to show what I have seen over and over again. That’s all. My point in writing it was always that if you’re using any of these things to be unique, maybe you want to think again. That’s all. After all, who am I to tell anyone what to write?

Here is a follow-up article that I wrote for SCBWI earlier this year.

Way back when I first started this blog, I interviewed one of my favourite (and fellow Canadian) writers, Arthur Slade. You can read it here. He has a new book out, and it’s been so long since we’ve heard from him here, I thought he should come back. He very generously took time out from his rock-star-like schedule and wrote this guest post while he was on the plane going from one big book event to the next. So, welcome Arthur Slade. And if you’re looking for a great book of his to read, I’m sure they’re all fantastic, but I personally love Tribes.

Learning to get to the root of things

A guest post by Arthur Slade

One day when I was out chopping wood in my backyard, I thought about the process of writing a novel. Now, before you think I’m a lumberjack, I want to point out that I was slowly removing the stump of a tree I had previously cut down with a chainsaw and this was my first time swinging an ax in years. I had decided to stretch out the job and only use my ax and a shovel. I could have rented a machine to tear it all out in about 20 minutes but my theory was that I would do an hour of work each evening as exercise. And I liked the idea of doing this job the old fashioned way.

Five days and five hours of work later the roots were all gone and I was left with a feeling of satisfaction. Somehow I was closer to nature. But as I was chopping, I actually did a bit of thinking (a dangerous thing while you’re swinging an ax). Writing a novel is very much like removing a tree stump. If I had looked at the job as a whole I might have been overwhelmed. But because I approached it one chop at a time it was completely manageable. A novel requires the same technique. It’s okay to stand back and look at the big picture. But our main job is to swing that ax and get the job done. Just watch your toes!

Thanks to Joelle for letting me guest blog!

Arthur Slade is a writer for young adults. His latest novel is The Hunchback Assignments.

I’m a slow learner. I don’t mean that I’m stupid-slow, I mean that I have to process things for a while before they sink in. Also, I need to learn things in layers, building upon what I know, kind of like when you update a computer program. It doesn’t wipe out the one you have, it just adds to it, so presumably (unless it’s Microsoft Vista), it works even better.

From Day One as a writer, my strength was in my voice. I don’t keep anything I don’t need, so I do not have a collection of old rejection letters, but if I did, I could show you that most of them said things like, “Nice voice. No plot.” Okay, they weren’t that blunt, but that’s what they amounted to.

About five years ago, I developed a reading program called The Need To Read. So far, it’s just been for me, but I do hope to teach some workshops on how writers can learn to write from reading. Anyway, the two main things I learned from reading, aside from all the things that are overdone in YA, are how a story is structured, and pacing. These were my weaknesses. I’d like to tell you that once I learned them, I was good to go, but the truth is, I pretty much only learned them well enough to write myself a book that an agent and an editor could see potential in.

During the editing process, the structure and the pacing of Restoring Harmony was basically torn apart and put back together again – by me, but with my editor’s excellent guidance. I think now, I have a much better idea of how to structure a novel. One can hope anyway!

So, now that I have this knowledge, what is the next writing upgrade I need to work on? I’m not sure what exactly, but I do know that there’s something out there for me to learn next. After reading this lovely essay about studying with Annie Dillard (brought to my attention by Moonrat) I am thinking a lot about the intricacies of storytelling, as opposed to the broad structure. I’m thinking about the fine brush strokes and not just the hard lines.

Until now, I have relied strictly on instinct. I think it has served me well, and I don’t intend to make any major changes that might damage my voice (after all, it’s the one thing that has worked for me all along), but it does interest me to hear how successful writers like Annie Dillard approach the craft writing.

What books on craft do you like?

Good job all of you who plan to stay up for the last 4.5 hours of the readathon, but I’m outta here. Just finished FOR KEEPS and loved, loved, loved it!

Nighty-night!

Had to share this great line from the ARC I’m reading – FOR KEEPS by Natasha Friend

Because no matter what those sex-ed teachers say about how great condoms are, there’s not a condom in the world that can protect you from heartbreak.

I was hooked on this from the start and I’m now on page 27. Hope it stays good! It’s gonna be a long night!

I finished the Paula Danzigger book. She’s quite a writer. She uses rhythm in neat ways. Like this:

Is this a plot of her mother’s?

How’s Jim going to take this?

What will Mindy say?

I look around at everyone at the table.

No one’s saying anything except Mrs. Carson.

She’s the only one smiling.

Phoebe’s not.

Nor is Duane.

Neither am I.

By breaking this up into single lines instead of a paragraph, you really get the idea that things are falling apart and are disjointed. I love it!

Okay…time for more tea and to pick something new to read. So far, no progress on the Husband Making the Dinner Front. One can still hope though.

I know everyone else is about 13 hours into this, and I’ve just started, but I’m going to stay up late! The fire’s roaring, the popcorn’s gone, and I’ve just read for an hour. After discussing Woodstock and Paula Danzigger with the fabulous Nova Ren Suma this morning, I dug out IT’S AN AARDVARK-EAT-TURTLE WORLD. I’ve read about 50 pages. Boy, I love Paula. I met her once, but that’s a story for another time. By the way, my copy is from 1985 and there’s not even a cover image available on Amazon anymore…but still…so good! It’s the sequel to THE DIVORCE EXPRESS.

It’s all about popcorn, tea, and something to read from here on out…oh, wait…I might have to go chop a little firewood. And then I’m on it. I’m changing books. I’m picking from my ARC pile, or I might go for the comfort of Betsy-Tacy or Nevil Shute. I’ll let you know on my next break! Wish me luck winning the good chair from the cat.

Somehow, even though I saw tweets and twitters about this, I neglected to check it out. Today is the 24 hour readathon! I’m joining up a bit late, I should’ve started reading at 5am (which would’ve been hard since I slept until 9am!). However, better late than never. Stay tuned for updates.

I actually have plans this afternoon, so my participation is going to be somewhat limited, but maybe I can use this as a good excuse for my husband to make dinner! Yay! Off to read for a bit before we go here.

I am reading JUMPED although I’m not sure if I’ll continue. I’m not totally sold on it yet, however, that might be because I just read this and it’s still playing in my mind like a really good movie – making it hard to pick up something new.

Well, okay, I’m not really at a loss for words or it would be a pretty boring post, but it is my day to blog at The Debutante Ball, and this week we’re talking about book deals. Come on by!

My friend Kim recommended this book to me ages ago. There were a zillion and one holds on it at the library, but luckily another friend just called the other day and offered to lend me her copy.

This is an amazing book. I know, I’m late to the game, but still…maybe if all you read is YA, then you missed this book (it’s adult fiction). I am a big fan of Nevil Shute and it reminds me of a story that he would tell in a way he would write it. It’s got a bit of femininity to it that his books don’t have (even though he’s a master at writing female characters), so it’s not quite the same as reading one of his books. But if you like his writing, you’re bound to like this one. Highly recommended!

I have to admit, when I first heard of Sara Zarr, my immediate thought was, “Wow. Is that the coolest writer name ever? Yes, I think so.” Sara and I share an agent, which is how I first found out about her, but I know her fantastic books, Story of a Girl and Sweethearts would’ve come my way and made me a reader and a fan even if we hadn’t had that connection. Not to mention, she’s an extremely nice person and very helpful to this newbie, answering my panicked emails about editing procedure very quickly, and reassuring me it will all work out!

Here are the nine questions Sara wanted to answer.

1. What’s on your iPod or CD player? I just put my iPod on “shuffle songs” to answer this question and here are the first three that came up: (You Come In) Burned by the Dandy Warhols, If We Could Hold Each Other’s Hunger by Peter Himmelman, and One Minute Longer, also Peter Himmelman (so much for shuffle). But, there are 11.2 days worth of music on my iPod, and that’s only like 15 minutes.
2. What do you read in the bathroom? Nothing. The bathroom and reading should never have anything to do with each other.
3. Do you eat right, get plenty of exercise, and sleep eight hours, or do you sit in front of your computer writing all the time? The first one! If I’m not eating right, exercising, and sleeping eight hours I can’t write at all.
4. What’s the riskiest thing you ever did and how did it work out for you? I got married at 19, which I would not generally recommend, and it’s worked out pretty darn well if I do say so myself.
5. What are you reading now? Among other things: Alice Munro’s short story collection RUNAWAY. She is so good!
6. What author or book have you recently discovered that you want the world to know about? I just blurbed a YA novel called The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson. I loved it. It was one of those fun/poignant/romantic/dramatic hard-to-put-down books and the main character plays clarinet, which was totally my instrument in grade school and high school.
7. If you could live anywhere for a year, where would it be? And what kind of a place would you live in? Manhattan. But only in a luxury apartment or hotel suite, paid for by someone else, and for no more than a year.
8. When’s the last time you rode a bike? Stationary: yesterday morning, at the gym. Actual: like ten years ago? I’m scared of riding with traffic—cars, people, other bikes, skaters, dogs. I’m sort of scared of a lot of things.
9. Go on, give us some writing advice. You know you want to! Write between the lines. That’s where life is lived. People rarely say exactly what they’re thinking or do exactly what they want to do. Assuming your characters are people, they shouldn’t, either.

Sara Zarr is the acclaimed author of three novels for young adults. Her latest, Once Was Lost, is about a kidnapping in a small town, seen through the eyes of a pastor’s daughter going through a crisis of faith. She lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, and online at www.sarazarr.com

Thanks Sara! And I love your cover!

I am never quite sure when to blog about ARCs, and since that is primarily what I’ve been reading lately, I haven’t posted. Is it more helpful to hear about them early so you can add them to your TBR list? Or when the book comes out? I have decided to just list them here and then if I love them (and I remember later – don’t hold me to this), I’ll blog about them closer to their release date.

Here’s what I’ve been reading:

LYNN VISIBLE by Julia DeVillers – a fun read that comes out in March.

THE SECRET YEAR by Jennifer R. Hubbard (I loved this so much that I tracked down the author and interviewed her for Wild Card Wednesdays – I’m even going to give away my ARC to a lucky commenter)

MY BOYFRIEND’S DOGS by Dandi Daley McKall

THE TRAGEDY OF A GIRL NAMED HAMLET by Erin Dionne

THE WITCHY WORRIES OF ABBIE ADAMS by Rhonda Hayter

RUNAWAY TWIN by Peg Kehret

PALACE BEAUTIFUL by Sarah deFord

SECRET SATURDAYS by Torrey Maldanodo

DRIZZLE by Kathleen Van Cleve

THE TIMEKEEPER’S MOON by Joni Sensel – the sequel to THE FARWALKER’S QUEST and even better than the first!

The only already published book I’ve read recently was AFTER YOU by Julie Buxbaum. This is a FANTASTIC book. Adult fiction, beautifully written. Just fantastic. Definitely add it to your list. You won’t be sorry. I loved her first book too, THE OPPOSITE OF LOVE.

If you’re a fan of the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace, then you’re probably wondering why the title of this post isn’t Betsy, Tacy & Sunday Lunch. I shall reveal all. Just stick with me here.

In honour of the re-release of the Betsy-Tacy high school books, there is a blog tour afoot, hosted by TLC Book Tours, and I talked my way into being part of it. Today, is my official posting day (although, if you come here very often, you know I post about Betsy every chance I get).

My mother read me all the younger Betsy books when I was five years old (and then she went on to finish reading them herself when I lost interest in the “older” Betsy). Eventually, I grew up a bit and read all the older Betsy books myself. Over the years, I have read the entire series, many times. They are like the mac & cheese of books – comfort food.

I pretty much envied everything about Betsy’s life, but one idea that appealed to me on so many levels was Sunday Lunch. Every Sunday evening, Betsy’s family would open their home to their friends and family. Anyone could just drop in for sandwiches & coffee. A lot of times there would be music – singing around the piano, occasionally there would even be dancing, but for the most part, it was just a social event. You could bring people too. Say your cousin was in town, bring her along, no invitation necessary. People new to town were often invited to Sunday Lunch and great friendships (or romances) were sparked. There were friends of Betsy and her sisters, as well as friends of her parents at Sunday Lunch. All my life I wanted to have my own Sunday Lunch.

When my husband and I moved to an island in British Columbia, we found ourselves quickly part of small-town life. Before we knew it, we had a circle of friends – friends who would be PERFECT to invite over for Sunday Lunch! When I broached the subject with my husband, he was on board right away. We did have to make some modifications to Betsy’s version though.

First off, we are vegetarians, so there is no Sunday pot roast to make sandwiches out of. Secondly, we didn’t want to call in lunch because in these parts, lunch happens around noon and we thought 4pm-7pm would be the optimal time for our weekly gathering (it leaves enough time for crash-cleaning and afternoon naps without carrying on into all hours of the night).

We did want to take a page out of Betsy’s book (pun intended) though and keep things very simple. That is how we came up with soup and bread. We also thought it was important to do it every week so that there was never a question about whether it was happening or not. While we don’t like rules, there is one guideline, and while it’s taken some training (and some people will never succumb to it), the golden rule at Sunday Soup is that you don’t have to bring anything. We wanted an event where our friends could be walking down the street and suddenly remember it’s Sunday and just turn up our driveway and join us without worrying about contributing in any way. Another thing we did from the beginning was use real dishes and silverware. We just didn’t want this to be any harder on the environment than it has to be (a load of dishes in the dishwasher is not so bad). The Ugly Mug Club was born.

We have been doing Sunday Soup for almost a year and a half now. Every week! Some days we have fifteen or more people, others we have two. We have a first come-first serve policy on the soup, so if we run out, we run out. I’m pretty good at gauging how much soup to make depending on the time of the year and what other events are happening here on the island and we’ve only scraped the bottom of the pot once. And truth be told, I did just defrost some other soup from the week before so I’m not as mean as I sound!

The benefits to Sunday Soup are immeasurable. We have made so many friends, so many connections. The first year, I made a different soup every week for all 52 weeks. Now I primarily cook in season. I’ve become a much better cook and can make soup like nobody’s business along with a wide variety of breads too. I’ve even started teaching a college student to cook and she comes over and helps me make soup. If you’re interested in reading more about it, I have this blog here. I’d love for you to stop by and read it. A writer in Wisconsin was so inspired by SS that she had one of her own! Wouldn’t it be great if lots of people started doing it? That’s my dream anyway…I’m a lot like Betsy that way…always dreaming of something new! A worldwide Sunday Soup Tradition in honour of Betsy!

———

Here’s a bit of info about the blog tour and other Betsy events.

10/23    Bainbridge Island, WA at the Library (this date is still a bit tentative)

11/7 Highland Village, TX Barnes and Noble

11/8  St. Paul, MN at the Red Balloon Bookshop

4/17/10 Dallas, TX, Dallas Heritage Village

There is a reading challenge here, if you’re interested. And why wouldn’t you be?

If you’re ever on our island on a Sunday, fall by the house for Sunday Soup. You don’t have to bring anything. And we’re getting a piano soon, so start learning all those Betsy Tunes!

Hi All,

I’m over at The Debs today talking about leaping and falling and landing. Stop on by and tell me what chances you’ve taken that have paid off.

Welcome to my new-ish Wednesday feature. For the most part, you will find interviews on Wednesdays with authors who I can coerce into answering my questions. However, as many of you know, my computer crashed last week, so I’m a bit behind trying to play catch-up and retrieve files and things.

So…for today’s Wild Card Wednesday, I am asking for your help. I need you to do two things for me.

1. While I was able to retrieve most of my files, it appears my address book is gone. So, would you please send me an email? I mean, if you want to be in my address book (or ever hear from me again). If you’ve gotten an email from me in the last 3 days, you can ignore this request. If you don’t have my email address, but you would like to be on the Restoring Harmony email list (or you just want to talk to me), drop me a message using the contact page.

2. The other thing I would love for you to do is to leave a link in the comments section to your favourite author, recent blog post, article on publishing/writing, or even your own website.

To get the ball rolling, I will link to Editorial Assistant’s excellent post which is actually a series of her own links to everything you need to know about publishing. I printed out a bunch of these posts and read them in front of the fire tonight. You will not believe how much wiser about publishing I am just from doing that!

Next week…Sara Zarr will be here…I think. I still have to confirm that she’s not being interviewed somewhere else that day…but there will be an interview of someone fantastic and Sara will definitely be here eventually. It’s Wild Card Wednesday after all. There are no guarantees! Heck, next week I could be interviewing Oprah. Not that I’d let her bump Sara though.

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving, although most people had their big dinners yesterday. It’s sort of optional here which day of the three-day weekend you choose to pig-out. We chose yesterday. That way we can eat well again today by digging into the leftovers. You might be wondering what vegetarians eat on a day traditionally reserved for turkey, so I’ll tell you.

The Menu

Homemade bread

Potato-leek soup

Zucchini fritters

Wild rice pilaf

Vegetarian stuffing

Roasted vegetable & red wine gravy

Delicata squash with maple syrup

Swiss chard with garlic

Hap Joëlle’s stewed fruit (an adaptation of Nashville’s Hap Towne’s famous stewed raisins)

and for dessert

Apple Galette

I made everything from scratch, and about seventy-five percent of the ingredients were actually grown here on the island – a lot of it by us. It’s part of our 1 mile diet (our garden plot is at The Commons, about a mile away).

So what does this have to do with writing? Not much. Except that I am so grateful for living here, with my husband, and having this opportunity to write in such a beautiful place. I’m thankful every day, but especially today, for all of you, my imaginary online friends, as well as the friends I see every day. And thankful for my family and their support for my writing and just my life in general. And of course, I’m extremely grateful for my wonderful agent and fantastic editor too.

So to all of you out there, whether you celebrate the holiday or not, Happy Thanksgiving, eh?

I’m over at The Debs where we’ve been talking about morning people and night owls all week. Join me and have a bowl of cereal!

Today’s interview with author Sara Zarr has been postponed due to illness (mine, not hers). Also, on Monday, my computer bit the dust, taking her interview with it. The computer gurus promise that while the computer itself is history, Sara’s interview can be retrieved. I have to go now as my husband is shooing me back to bed with the bottle of disinfectant spray he intends to use on his computer.

I’m a lifelong Cubs fan. Assuming you believe life starts at fourteen, which because I’m a YA writer,  that works for me. Yesterday was the last day of the regular season for 2009, and naturally, the Cubs lost.* This didn’t bother me because at the end of the season, when it’s clear that the players are only going to the World Series if they can score some tickets for a suite, Cubs Legend and radio announcer, Ron Santo starts telling great stories about his days as a player.

One of his recently told stories was about the time he had such a long hitting streak going that he’d tied the record for hits in consecutive games. If he could get one more hit in that day’s game, he would break the record. It was only about the seventh inning, but there weren’t lights at Wrigley Field in those days and it was starting to get dark. As he came up to the plate, hitless for the day, the umpire leaned in and said, “Hey, kid. It’s getting too dark to play and I’m calling this game after this inning, so you better get your hit now.”

And he did.

I like this story because when the pressure was on, he stayed focused and did what he had to do. I often say I am finished writing at 4pm no matter what time I start work because my brain switches off then. Over the summer, I found myself on deadlines several times that required me to work well past 4pm. I was surprised that after I pushed through and stifled that whiny voice that kept saying, “You’re useless this time of day” just how much work I was able to get done. Like Ron, I just had to focus and believe.

Another thing about being a Cubs fan that has served me well is the idea that some things are just out of my control. I can be disappointed in a loss (or a rejection), but there’s a new game tomorrow, and it’s a long season, so in baseball, publishing, and life, sometimes you just have to suck it up and move on.

It doesn’t hurt that we Cubs fans have been supplied with an everlasting mantra: Wait ’til next year!

While 2010 may not prove to be the year of the Cubs any more than 2009 (or any year since 1908) proved to be, I do know one thing…it’s gonna be great for me because this time when I say “wait ’til next year” I’m not just talking about the Cubs! I’m talking about the release of my book!

Patience is going to pay off for me, why not the Cubs?

*You are only allowed to make disparaging remarks about the Cubs after having served been a die-hard Cubs fan for a minimum of twenty years. Okay…ten.

I’m saying nice things about my agent over at The Debutante Ball today, but before you pop over there, I have an announcement!

I have chosen a winner for the name my feature on Wednesday contest. Thanks for all the entries, everyone! I have decided to go with Wild Card Wednesdays. This appeals to me on two levels. I’m a sucker for alliteration, and I’m a big baseball fan (you know…if your team doesn’t win its division, it can still get into the play-offs as the Wild Card team…unless your team is the Cubs…and then they will be on vacation as of Monday…let’s not talk about that).

But I digress…so the winner is Stephanie! Congrats Stephanie. I’ll email you and we can find an ARC in my pile that you’ll like. Thanks for playing, everyone!

Summer is over. There’s a fire in the woodstove and I have a big TBR pile, so it’s time to get back to Need To Read.

The first book I’ve read in almost a month (I know!) is Gorgeous by Rachel Vail. This is the companion book to last year’s LUCKY. I vaguely remember that I liked LUCKY, although I was slightly disturbed to discover that I couldn’t really remember anything about it except the stunning cover! Anyway, this book takes place at the same time as LUCKY and is about her older sister.

I really liked this book. It has a little extra something that gives it a step-up from your every day YA, but I wont’ tell you what. I’m a big fan of Rachel Vail, but I have to say that if I’d read this, not knowing who the author is, I wouldn’t have guessed. It’s a bit of a departure (but in a good way) from her normal writing. Anyway, try it. I think you’ll like it!