Days of Angst and Coffee

A while ago I got this email from a teacher:

Good Morning!
I teach 10th grade English to students with learning disabilities, mild cognitive disabilities, and emotional disabilities.  It is close to impossible to find a novel that all are interested in and will actually participate in discussion about.  I begged and begged my director and she was able to purchase me a class set of your novel, The Compound.  It's such a pleasure to teach this novel!   ALL my kids listen while I read and have much to discuss, which never happens.  They even groan and complain when we have to stop reading or class is over.  I've even had two of my copies come up missing and two students who checked it out of the library for their parents to read.  I wish I could convey to you how unusual this is!  I teach the core curriculum, the same standards, as a general education class and it is very difficult for my students.  They are now working on these standards and don't even realize it because they are so excited about his story.  THANK YOU!

A few weeks later, I had a library event in her city and she came to see me. She was so sweet and I hugged her and offered to Skype with her students. Here’s the thing: I reserve the right to charge or not charge for my Skypes. This gets me into trouble with other authors, but would you be able to get a letter like that and then not do the Skype simply because they don’t have a budget? I’m not that person and I never will be. So today was the Skype. And those kids were great. They had a million questions and made me laugh, and I made them laugh too. I was so glad I took the time. And then I got this email:

Thank you so much!   Of course, after we hung up they started talking a mile a minute.  They're such good kids and this is the first time many of them have finished a book or even liked reading.  Our system's superintendent and assistant superintendent were here also.  The assistant superintendent said she'd have to get us The Fallout so that we can read both next year.    I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone!!

I can't thank you enough for the excitement you have brought to English class.  This will be a lasting, good memory for my kids who have so few things to be excited about.

So yeah. That was pretty much a really good use of my time. And it reminded me of why I do what I do.

I'm thrilled to announce I'll be part of the Fierce Reads Tour in the fall. Marissa Meyer will be the guest on our leg. I'll keep you posted on the cities...

Check it out: www.stonecrowns.com   

Today I received this email from a teacher: I teach 10th grade English to students with learning disabilities, mild cognitive disabilities, and emotional disabilities.  It is close to impossible to find a novel that all are interested in and will actually participate in discussion about.  I begged and begged my director and she was able to purchase me a class set of your novel, The Compound.  It's such a pleasure to teach this novel!   ALL my kids listen while I read and have much to discuss, which never happens.  They even groan and complain when we have to stop reading or class is over.  I've even had two of my copies come up missing and two students who checked it out of the library for their parents to read.  I wish I could convey to you how unusual this is!  I teach the core curriculum, the same standards, as a general education class and it is very difficult for my students.  They are now working on these standards and don't even realize it because they are so excited about his story.  THANK YOU!

http://www.psla.org/assets/Documents/Awards/PA-Young-Readers-Choice/MasterList2013-2014.pdf

Yesterday was Day Nine of working on the new novel. About seven last night, just shy of 54,000 words, I typed The End. Of course, now I'll spend a lot of time revising, over and over, but I am still amazed at the fact I wrote a novel in nine days. A novel with characters that I have come to love despite only spending a week with them. ( And believe me, there are characters I spent a few years with and still can't stand.) Sunday was my biggest day, with the word tally being just under 10,000 after about nine hours of writing. My shoulders were knots of steel by Sunday night. So let me put this in perspective: Typically, it takes me anywhere from six to nine months to a year to write 50,000 words. I aim for 1,000 a day, but often do not come close to that. Which is what makes this nine day writing frenzy so absolutely out of character for me. I procrastinate. I am easily distracted by television, snacks, and books written by other people. I like to take naps. But this story just wouldn't let me go. I couldn't sleep at night because the voices were yelling out the scenes in my head. There were times when I felt the thing was writing itself and I couldn't type fast enough to keep up. (Another thing about me? Crappy typist.Horrible.) I don't know what it is about this story, but it just wanted to be told, I guess. Whether or not it ever ends up on a bookshelf remains to be seen, but I will be sure to let you know. For now, I'm hoping the voices are silenced.

Starting to write a new novel is hard for me. One reason is that I have probably just completed one, which I spent at least several months, maybe even years, writing. So to set aside that world and move on to another isn't easy. Plus there's that word count. If I just spent the last year reaching 10k, then 20k, then 30, 40, 50, etc., it is so freakin' hard to look at a blank screen and start over with zero words. So hard.
Last week, I sent in a novel to my editor. It's part of my middle grade series, but it was on a deadline, so that had been my priority the last few months. This week, I pulled out a novel that I'd written back in 2011 for a contract, but it was (very wisely) pushed aside for The Fallout, the sequel to The Compound. So this novel had been sitting with my agent and we recently had a long conversation about what it needed. It took me a few days to process his thoughts, but then I started revising, ended up adding about 7000 words, and sent it back to my agent on Monday. I kinda twiddled my thumbs, then pulled out a picture book that had come close soooo many times and spent Monday revising that and sent it to my agent as well.
Then came Tuesday...what to do?
I've had a title kicking around in my head for almost fifteen years. I had no idea if the title was for a YA or MG or what and never had any idea what to do with it. So Tuesday I typed out the title on the blank screen and started writing a new YA. This was three days ago. A little while ago, I just hit 11,000 words. I have no idea what's going on with me, but yesterday I literally typed until my vision started swimming and I knew I was gonna get a migraine if I didn't stop. This story, after only three days, is consuming me. I think about it in the shower, when I'm cooking, when I'm running. It won't let me go. So I'm gonna just keep typing and see what happens. I will let you know. 

My friend illustrator Lauren Stringer http://artistand3cats.blogspot.com tagged me in The Next Big Thing. The next book I have coming out is the paperback of:

1)      What is the working title of your next book?

The next book I have coming out is the paperback version of The Raft, my young adult novel that was released in hardcover in August.

2) Where did the idea come from for the book?

I spent about three years living out on Midway Island. To get there, we took a small turbo-prop plane, which took about five hours over nothing but ocean. I was always worried the thing would go down.
3) What genre does your book fall under? Young adult
4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

Wow, well, there are basically two characters: 15-year-old Robie, and twenty-something Max. There are flashbacks to Max in high school, so an actor who could do younger and bit older. Dreaming here, of course: I would love to see the novel be a movie and there are any number of people who would be perfect for each part.
5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Robie takes the flight to Midway, which crashes halfway there, leaving her in a raft in the middle of the ocean.
6) Who is publishing your book?

Feiwel and Friends, a Macmillan imprint
7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

About a year, I think. It was painful, I didn’t think I was ever going to finish. But I always go through that stage with my books.
8)What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I had a friend tell me, “Hey! You’ve written a female Hatchet!” Not that I would dare put my book in the same category as Hatchet, but for fun we did start calling it Hatchette after that.

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book? My experiences on Midway contributed a lot to the story. I didn’t have to research the setting because I had lived it. All the flora and fauna and wildlife was second nature to write about.
10) What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?

The book is on the 2013 TAYSHAS high school reading list in Texas and was named a 2013 YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers.

A while ago, my husband and I were hanging out and he said, "You know what? I never thought about this before, but you have to deal with a lot of crap. You have way thicker skin that I ever thought you did."  He then went on to tell me he had discovered Goodreads ( he is not much of a reader, so he went on there for the sole purpose of looking up my books) and was shocked at some of the things people said about my books. (And me personally, although they do not know me.The internet makes people brave.)  And I told him, "That is why I no longer look at my books on Goodreads."
He then went on to say he wanted so badly to reply to some of the especially mean ( yes, I used that word, because it is accurate in some cases) ones. He didn't of course, which I was glad of. Because Goodreads is what it is. It should be about people sharing opinions on the written word, but it has become a place for passive aggressive people to share all that pent up frustration or whatever, which means turning the bashing of authors and books into an art form.
Listen. I was a reader looooooong before I was an author. Loooooooong before. So yes, I post books on Goodreads. But when I don't like one, I would never consider putting something like: "This author should kill themself because they are the worst writer in the world!" ( Or as one Goodreads reviewer wrote after reviewing The Compound: "Her bio says she is a teacher. I guess what they say about teachers who can't is true!"  Yeah, that was the one that taught me my lesson about reading about my books on Goodreads.) 
Instead, I am careful to be kind and straightforward and always add something to the order of : "This wasn't for me, but I'm sure many other readers will like it..." Because that is the truth. Books I love are hated by many. And vice-versa. So this is what blows me away about Goodreads: that one person will say "This is terrible! I hated it!" And upwards of fifty people will reply with a "Oh, I'll take it off my list." Seriously? What kind of sheep...er...reader actually doesn't read a book they want to, just because someone else hated it?  Not a real reader, that's what I think. If there's a book that looks interesting to me, I treat it as a secret that I need to discover. If my forty closest friends ( I don't actually have that many close friends, but you get what I mean) tell me "Oh, that book sucked..." I will still pick up that book and read it, because I haven't been let in on the secret yet. That is what a real reader does.
So I have learned not to mind when a reader hates one of my books. But when other people, who have not even opened the fricking cover, dismiss it as well? That is where I really need the thick skin.