Gossip Time...The Fault in Our Stars

Maybe this story supremely touched me because I have friends and family who have battled cancer. Maybe this story resonated with my soul because I have seen one too many people die young. Or maybe it's just because sixteen year old Hazel Grace Lancaster, the main character in John Green's THE FAULT IN OUR STARS, is unlike any person I've met on paper or in real life.

My first instinct when I heard this story was about a girl with terminal cancer, was to not read the book because I don't particularly like reading books or watching movies that are sad. Sure there are some sad moments in THE FAULT IN OUR STARS, but there are also some extremely happy and funny moments too. There is one scene where a blind boy is trying to egg his ex-girlfriend's car and I found myself crying because it just seemed like such a great injustice that this boy couldn't even have the gratification of getting back at his inconsiderate girlfriend, but I was also laughing simultaneously because it was so pathetic that it was funny.

A book has never made me cry and laugh at the same time, and for that I give THE FAULT IN OUR STARS two thumbs up, five stars, I dub it a book that will forever be one of my personal favorites.

THE FAULT IN OUR STARS is not just a novel about sick teenagers with cancer, it is a book about love of the most unique and genuine kind. It is a book about family and our place in the universe.

Needless to say, I highly recommend it.

Writing Update

As I was perusing through my old blog posts I realized its been quite some time since I actually talked about my writing. I've written plenty of Gossip Time Book Reviews and had a pretty steady round of Forever Waiting Writers Series interviews, even posted videos of me skating, but pretty much I've been talking about other people's writings and evading the topic of my own.
Deep breath...here goes:

1. Conferences create lightbulb moments
Late February I attended an SCBWI conference in Atlanta, GA and I had the awesome opportunity to hear Kristen Daly-Renz, editor at Balzer + Bray, speak. I had been struggling with the beginning of ANOMALY for awhile, but what she said, it was like I was on this road battered by a storm with giant fallen trees blocking my path, and she literally cleared all those trees with her words. Yeah, pretty amazing.

2. Embarking on Query Road
Late March I wrote this optimistic post about how I was packing up my metaphorical car with just me and my manuscript, ANOMALY, safely buckled into the passenger seat, and we were heading out on Query Road. We dropped off 13 queries. Out of those I received two no responses, ten rejections, and one partial request. We keep telling ourselves that it's a subjective road trip. But no matter how you look at it, sometimes rejection stings.

3. Conferences create opportunities
When you go to SCBWI conferences often editors at publishing houses are open to submission from conference attendees. Not all, but some are. On Friday the 13th, I received an email from an editor that I had submitted to months ago and had pretty much written off as a rejection. She said she'd be happy to read my full manuscript.

4. Now I'm on the ship Forever Waiting
I'd say I'm handling the waiting fairly well. As recommended by many, I've started writing a new novel about a figure skater. Sometimes it feels cliché, a figure skater writing a novel about a figure skater. It has its ups and downs, but over all I think it's a positive creative output versus checking my email a million times a day. Now, I only check it about half a million times.
I've started reading more. Currently in the middle of THE FAULT IN OUR STARS by John Green. Let's just say I will be definitely gossiping about this one. I'm also reading quite a few manuscripts from pre-published writers. That's also been quite fun.

Care to share what's going on with your writing/reading journey?

Gossip Time...SLIDE

I devoured SLIDE by Jill Hathaway. What a page turner.
The main character Sylvia, better known to close friends and family as Vee, has an affliction that most people think is narcolepsy with some OCD.

If Vee touches an object that someone has a strong emotional connection or reaction to, Vee will pass out and literally slide into that person's body. She can't read their mind or anything like that, sometimes she doesn't even know whose body she's slid into, but she sees the world through their eyes.

Usually this involves sliding into annoying situations like someone cheating on a math test or a teacher taking a swig of a burning clear liquid from a flask in between classes, or slipping into her Dad's head when he's performing life saving surgeries on children, but when Vee accidentally slides into the body of someone holding a bloody knife over her sister's best friend's body things start getting complicated.

Whenever I read or watch a good murder mystery on tv I find myself always trying to guess who the perp is. As I read SLIDE, just when I thought all the clues pointed to a certain character, the author would prove me wrong and have me guessing all over again.

Switching Gears

I've spent so much time writing paranormal/fantasy and reading paranormal, fantasy, and dystopian young adult novels that I've decided it's time to take a break and switch gears.

I'm going contemporary all the wall and it's a breath of fresh air. I'm reading books by Gayle Foreman and Sarah Dessen. I'm playing around with a novel about a figure skater who has real life problems that don't revolve around super human abilities, vampires, or anything paranormal.

I still love paranormal, fantasy, sci-fi, and dystopian, but for now it's fun to take the time to delve deep in some characters who are firmly grounded in reality.
What genre are you gravitating towards these days?

Gossip Time...SHIFTING

SHIFTING by Bethany Wiggins is a young adult novel based on the Navajo legend of Skinwalkers. From page one I found myself rooting for Maggie Mae, a teenage girl on the verge of graduating high school, who has been bounced around from foster home to foster home. Maggie Mae's hard life has molded her into a proud, tough girl, and yet also someone who is grateful for the little things that many teenagers wouldn't think twice about.

When Maggie Mae moves in with her social worker's mother, Mrs. Carpenter, in Silver City, New Mexico, it seems Maggie Mae may have finally found a place she can call home. Mrs. Carpenter looks past the many marks on Maggie Mae's record for indecent exposure.

No, Maggie Mae isn't working the streets.

But she does have a tiny problem that seems to occur around every full moon--she morphs into an animal. Unfortunately, when she shifts back to her human form, her clothes are shredded in the process.

It's hard enough fitting in when you're the new girl at school, but even harder when you've got an unstable condition, such as shifting, to hide. When rich, athletic, handsome Bridger starts paying attention to Maggie Mae it places her in an interesting predicament. How can you become close to someone when you have so much to hide?

To add to Maggie Mae's woes a mysterious man has arrived in Silver City looking for her, a girl at school is spreading rumors about Maggie's past, and a pack of scary, angry dogs seem to be after her.

If you're looking for a book that has paranormal, fantasy, science fiction, and romance elements, I recommend SHIFTING by Bethany Wiggins.

Chocolate Everywhere

Looking at the movie poster on the left you're probably thinking the title of this blog post should be: Blood Everywhere.

But, no. I actually mean chocolate.

I've listened to the series on audio book (which I highly recommend) and watched the movie twice. The first time I watched the Hunger Games I thought a bag of peanut M&Ms would go nicely with the occasion.
The problem is that at some point during the movie I forgot there were M&Ms in my hand. Apparently, I was so into what was happening to Katniss I didn't even realize I was smashing the chocolate into a melted mush in my fists. And then while Katniss was dodging fireballs or trackers jackers or mutant dogs, I was bringing my hands to my face, repeatedly.

When the movie was over I felt something dry and crusted along the side of my neck, my chin, my cheeks, and on my white fleece jacket.
Yup. I had smeared chocolate EVERYWHERE.
My friend and Mom laughed at me. When I told Sarcastically Delicious (aka boyfriend) about it he was like that must have been some movie.
Yes, the Hunger Games was an amazing movie.

Note to self: Do not eat chocolate when I watch Catching Fire.

Forever Waiting Writers Series: Interview with Thomas Taylor

Today we have the pleasure of spending time with Thomas Taylor. He is not only a talented illustrator and picture book author (Jack's Tractor, It's Hard to Hurry When You're a Snail, to name just a few), he also designed the awesome banner for my blog. His science fiction thriller, HAUNTERS, is set to come out May 2012.

Here's a bit about HAUNTERS:

 Eddie, Adam and David have the same gift. They can time-travel, appearing as ghosts in the past. But each of them wants something different…

 Eddie is sworn to protect the course of history. Adam wants to change it for his own ends. And David must find a way to keep them apart – and save the future of the world…

Thomas, you're a talented author and illustrator with many published picture books and a Science Fiction Thriller and a Comic-Gothic novella soon to be released. Which do you enjoy more, drawing or writing?

The biggest difference between writing and drawing is the level of concentration needed. With illustration, once I have decided what I’m going to draw, I can listen to the radio or chat with friends while I work. With writing I need total concentration and, if possible, silence. For this reason, I like to break up my writing with illustration jobs if I can. A change really is as good as a rest, at least for me. But I can’t really say I prefer one over the other. 

What inspired you to write HAUNTERS?

I have been thinking about ghosts since childhood, mostly because I was terrified of them. So scared, in fact, that I honestly thought I’d seen them as a boy. Of course, I realise now that I never did – well, probably never did, anyway – but I have spent a lot of time wondering what they may be if they do exist. There are several more-or-less scientific explanations for ghosts out there, and these, along with a hundred other things, helped me put together the idea behind Haunters.

Haunters is an inverted ghost story, where the living are the ghosts, and where the dead are the ones being haunted. It’s intended to be an exciting experience for the reader, rather than a scary one. I wish my 12-year-old self could have read it.

The Forever Waiting Writers Series is about how long we sometimes have to wait to see our dreams come true. Can you tell us how long you had to wait before you saw your first book (picture or novel) published and what that journey was like?

I was first published as an illustrator in 1997, having graduated from art school two years previously. My first written picture book came out in 1999.

It wasn’t until about 2005 that I realised what I really wanted to write was fiction for older children/young teens. It took me two years to write my first novel – a piratical sea-faring adventure with more than a dash of the fantastic -- but it didn’t find a home after several submissions. I had begun Haunters by then (under the working title of ‘The Ghost Effect’), and gave up on the pirates. Haunters was taken on by The Chicken House (Scholastic) in summer 2010 and has taken two years to reach publication.

How did all this feel? Well, ‘slow’ would be a good word to describe it, as well as ‘frustrating’, ‘exhilarating’, ‘confusing’ and ‘elating’ (when I finally signed the contract). But ‘slow’ seems the best way to sum up the actual journey. ‘Glacial’, even. 

Any advice to those of us who are pre-published and in the trenches?

It’s often overlooked that publishers don’t simply take on books, they take on authors, and by extension all the books they hope they’ll write in the future. Taking on a new author is therefore expensive in time, money and effort, and carries huge risks over many years. It’s rare for a publisher to feel they’ve got a good return on that investment from a single book. No wonder publishers find it so easy to say no.

So I wouldn’t advise anyone to work hard on the text of their debut novel, because anyone serious about publication is doing that already. But make sure you don’t forget to work on yourself at the same time. For example, look into joining SCBWI, read extensively in your genre, know the market, follow submission guidelines, etc. Do everything you can to be part of the publishing world, even if you feel you are not. And above all, when you do make contact with editors, you should be able to talk about your projected career, about the kinds of books you want to write in five year’s time, about your (realistic) ambitions, and about the challenges of publishing today.

Do all you can to look like it’s only a matter of time before someone snaps you up, and -- if your book’s good too -- somebody probably will.    

Wow. That's great advice. Thank you.

The characters in HAUNTERS are dreamwalkers, if you could have any supernatural ability what would it be?

Dreamwalking would be cool. To be able to detach your mind from your sleeping body and drift, as a ghost, through the waking world, terrifying your enemies or going into the past the visit lost loved ones – yes, dreamwalking for me, please. Even better than telekinesis!

Thank you so much for spending time with us Thomas! 

Sadly, HAUNTERS isn't available in the U.S., but you can get it from Amazon. Also check out Thomas' Comic-Gothic Novella, DAN AND THE DEAD, at Amazon.