Julie Bowe

Scout truly did not want me to write this morning. However, he has now found something else to occupy his attention. I can hear him bouncing from counter to floor to other surfaces. I suspect a bug is involved. So, with Scout otherwise occupied, I have been able to squeeze in some time before church and the usual Sunday errands. With any luck, I can come back to Chapter Four later today and put in some quality time. Right now, SNL rerun beckons.

Here is a shot of the bride and groom to be: Cali and Sam. They are posing on the piece of land they purchased on the other side of the lake from where we live.

THE COMPOUND by S. A. Bodeen was the second audiobook we took with us to San Angelo. We never began it then as the kids got so caught up in IDENTICAL. However, over the past week or so we have spent enough time in the car to listen to this thrilling novel. Eli and most of his family made it into the compound before the nuclear explosions rocked the rest of the world. For six years, Eli and his family have lived underground, alone. Survival has its costs. For Eli the cost has been his relationship with the rest of his family. He lives inside himself most of the time not wanting to be touched or to touch others. Now, things are getting more desperate in the compound. Some of the food supplies are ruined; others will run out before enough safe time has passed. After 6 years underground, Eli's father's behavior has become more erratic as well. Will the family survive the compound?

There are quite a few surprises in this survival tale. And the audiobook possesses the perfect pace to convey the tension and heighten the suspense. Narrator, Christopher Lane, breathes life into Eli and his family members. He avoids one of the real pitfalls when voicing a teen and does not make Eli sound child-like or adult0like. Eli sounds much like any teen. The single voiced narration creates characters with tone and pitch. The resident teens and I enjoyed this listening experience enormously.

I love the blunt honesty of this Craigslist ad for a grumpy fox terrier!

This is by far the funnest review I've read of The Compound yet. And I love that, in this techno crazy world, there are still kids out there being captivated by books. Check it out:

http://www.toadhillreviews.com

In I'm Y.A., and I'm O.K., an article written for the New York Times, author and journalist Margo Rabb discusses the stigma of YA publishing with many other published authors, including Meg Rosoff, Sherman Alexie, and Curtis Sittenfeld, and shares her own experiences regarding the publication of her novel, Cures for Heartbreak. Margo asked me for my thoughts on the matter, so I thank her as well as Colleen from Chasing Ray for prompting this piece.

There are many adults who regularly drop by the YA shelves of bookstores and libraries, myself included. Some of these adults are booksellers, like me, while others are librarians, teachers, or parents - or simply readers who know a good book when they see one and pay more attention to good writing than age branding. While some bloggers and/or book reviewers are professionals who get paid for the time they spend reading and reviewing books, many book bloggers hold whose day jobs or dream jobs may not be related to novels or the publishing industry at all. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Readers come in all shapes, sizes, and ages.

There are many teens who visit the YA section of the bookstore, then head on over to the adult fiction/literature section. While browsing through novels, teen readers might find themselves standing next to a married couple who share a love of Tolstoy, or a single woman in her thirties who would rather read a book about shapeshifters than a romance, or a grandfatherly type who used to be a schoolteacher. Just like the books they read, adults and teens crossover in the stores, pass by each other in the aisles, and share book recommendations or smiles because they - we - appreciate good books, and whether or not they are the same age, they share that interest. At home, a mother might recommend a book to her daughter that she just read or that she read ten years ago or that she read when she was her daughter's age.

Good books are timeless. Good books are ageless.

We adults who dare to read YA and juvenile fiction often read "grown-up" fiction too. Just because we read "kidlit" doesn't mean we haven't read Austen and Dickens. I've been reading "grown-up" fiction and classics since I was a kid, when I also gladly read everything in the kids department and the teens department. I knew then, as I know now, that there were books written for kids and books written about kids, and while some had the same audience, some definitely did not. I knew that some books had "adult situations" while others were simply labeled as adult fiction because they were published before stores and libraries had so many age and genre divisions and shelving guidelines.

Then and now, I had and still have no problem reading a YA novel and a classic novel back-to-back. I have been known to polish off a new YA book, then immediately pick up The Great Gatsby and re-read that, just as I can read a horror novel one day and a story about the loss of a spouse the next (different kinds of horror, those.) I'll read a classic Victorian comedy on Monday, a futuristic sci-fi YA story on Tuesday, and three modern plays on Wednesday.

My interests are varied, so my favorite books are varied, but one thing they all have in common: goodness. Good writing, good writers, good plotting, good characters (which does not always mean "good guys," but rather well-written and believable), good stories, good storytelling. I don't care whether stories were published for kids, teens, or adults, whether they were written two hundred years ago or two years ago, whether they were bestsellers or not, just as long as they are GOOD.

I know what I like. Anything I've ever liked through-and-through, I still like today. This is not only limited to books, but as this article is specifically pertaining to books, that's what I'll discuss now. I adored Alice as soon as met her, even before she set foot in Wonderland. I thought (and still think) the world of Nick Carraway. I joyfully and (tearfully) followed the stories of Anne Shirley and of Turtle Wexler. I still think Tinker Bell is cooler than Peter Pan.

I've been a writer and storyteller since day one. I always knew I'd write novels for different ages, for all ages. I knew I wanted to write teen fiction long before I actually a teenager. I never thought teen fiction was less important than adult fiction - nor more important than juvenile fiction, for that matter. I never thought classics were more important than contemporary works, just different.

When I finally get a full-length book published, I will be proud to see it on the shelves. I'll be happy when I have published different works in adult fiction, teen fiction, and juvenile fiction, as well as plays, and maybe even non-fiction. I hope that my stories will be found, shared, and enjoyed. When an adult tells me that she or he has read my YA novel, I'll smile.

The Book Girl Reviews: a Place for the Book Obsessed is sponsoring a giveaway of Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Candlewick, 2007, 2008). Peek: "By midnight EST on Friday July 25th, you have to write a short summary of your favorite YA book and post it here."

Cynsational Notes

Tantalize will be available in paperback July 22, and news about Eternal (Candlewick, 2009) and additional books in the storyline/universe is coming soon!

Second post of the day, not including my F-locked one. Which shows you how little I'm getting done today.

What I thought I'd be doing: working on my paranormal.

What I'm not doing: working on my paranormal.

Let me just say this, and no, I'm not being unnaturally hard on myself:



SUCK ALERT! SUCK ALERT!

So I've been sitting here jotting down the pros and cons of this thing, and came up with a lengthy list.

PROS

1. Interesting story (I guess)
2. A few really good characters
3. Some awesome (gruesome) scenes
4. Conflict (situational and between characters)
5. 66K

CONS

1. Interesting story if I can find it amongst all the uninteresting crap
2. Too many characters. And for every interesting one I have, I have half a dozen losers. And they all sound the same.
3. Some hideously-stupid-beyond-belief-where-the-F-was-my-brain-when-I-was-writing-this-stuff scenes.
4. Too many conflicts
5. 66K words of scenes haphazardly strung together with no transitions and in some case no completion

Note: this one shouldn't surprise me. It's the way I always write a first draft. Chapters? Who needs 'em? I figure them out later. Thing is, these scenes are just, well, thrown in! No thought at all to any stragetic placement in the ms.

CONS, cont:

6. Passive. PASSIVE, PASSIVE, PASSIVE. Did I mention passive?

7. Wordywordywordywordywordywordy...it goes on and on and on and onnnnnnn for-freaking-EVER. Yeesh! Get to the point already.

8. Does anyone seriously need eight adjectives in a single sentence?

9. I'm not in love with my MC. Not even when she has sex. Yes, there is a sex scene. On the floor. Did I mention this is NOT young adult?

10. Frankly I'm not in love with any of the characters. The ghost, maybe.

11. 95% of it's written in third-person/past-tense. After 3 novels in first-person/present this is extremely difficult for me to pull off. The ghost POV is written first/present--which is probably the only reason I like her.

12. I don't know how it's going to end. Which was FINE for my other novels because there was only one character I had to worry about.

13. Not only am I not "in love" with my characters--at this point I hope the ghost kills 'em all in the end.

14. This multiple POV thing'll be the death of me.

15. What do I know about paranormal anything? Think about it.

This was a very ambitious undertaking I wasn't prepared to take on 3 years ago. My writing has improved, I'm happy to say. Maybe now I can recognize the brown matter before it hits the fan.



But will it be worth it?

I'm not sure if I'm ready to tackle this. If so, I may have to break down and do an outline (groan) or that board thing with all the post-its tacked in chronological order.

I need to decide.

Or I could just write another YA.

Gimme.

The place is magic.

I'll admit:  being back at Vermont College always makes me feel like a writer.  Every once in a while, I drive up and spend the day.  Being there gives me confidence.

But being there with my friends and fellow writers--the faculty and alum I admire, I felt inspired and proud.  VCFA is making great writers.  And it continues to nurture its alumni.  I left with so many ideas.  I'm not sure which one to attempt first.

It's the people.  It's the place.  It's the way I feel when I walk up the hill and see the campus.  

This weekend, I learned so many things...I agree with Sarah S that community is vital to a writer.  And that is because the process can be so isolating and the path, so daunting.  Many honest writers got together and discussed just what a writing career looks like.  And the funny thing was: all the stories were different.  Many of us shared experiences to help each other at one particular stage or another:  starting out, reading your first galley, getting your first (or tenth...or twentieth) rejection...dealing with reviews...dealing with bad reviews, slow sales, great sales....

To the alum of VC:  Thanks!!!!

In other words, a writing career in no way resembles Aristotle's poetics or a Hermeneutic Code!

This year, Tami Brown did a great job chairing the event.  Next year, I will be chairing.  So if you have ideas...if you have a wish list....please email me!!!  Get involved.  And see you next year.  As soon as I have a date, I will post it. 

 

Sarah

Part I wasn't quite doing it for me, but I persevered and I'm glad I did. Remember--tomorrow is the last day you can view it for free.

Nike’s Just Do It slogan turned 20. I love it so much that I still carry a Just Do It keychain. I lost my first one on a five-mile run (along with my keys) ten years ago. I retraced my route twice (for the most exercise ever) but I never found the keys. I was able to buy a replacement key chain off ebay for under $2.

Nike is pretty amazing. My husband works near their Beaverton campus, and several friends and friends of friends work there. You hear stories of committed employees getting Swoosh tattoos on their calves. When Phil Knight sold some stock this year and paid state taxes, he was responsible for Oregon’s budget being in the black. My favorite Nike commercial of all time was the Y2K one. [My poor coworker spent that New Years Eve in the “command center” as absolutely nothing happened to our hospital system.] You can see the commercial here.

Read more about the slogan here. It’s a pretty good philosophy for writing as well.

http://classof2k8.blogspot.com/2008/07/shameless-saturday_19.html

Ellen Booraem’s The Unnameables is a Junior Library Guild premiere selection for Fall 2008!! Congrats, Ellen!

Must hop into shower (well, actually not much hopping at my age) and get ready for the bridal shopping trip. Did manage to get up a little earlier and write for a while. I am hesitant to do much with the final two chapters until I hear back from my editor on the first three. But I am forging ahead, confident that I have something to say. Working on a professional book, I know, is different from what many of the rest of you are doing. I have the utmost respect and am awed by those who can write poetry, novels, and the like. I prefer what I do. And in a way, it is storytelling in a different venue. The reason I read books by Atwell and Allen and others is that they have a voice to them. I hope to do the same.

What photo to share today? How about Scout eating my laptop?




ETA: Thanks for the cheering up comments. I survived the day. Cali has a drop dead gorgeous dress within her budget (thanks to ProfessorNana ponying up half the cost). Now I get to watch Dr. Horrible....

That if I tell myself I'm going to write three hours a day (and that's not checking email, or blogging, or getting up, or anything, just writing), I write three hours a day.

How come that doesn't work with diets?

1. I have 3 tons of expensive blue stone in my backyard.

2. I hate the color.

3. It is not returnable.

4. I screwed up when picking it out. All my fault.

5. I am now investigating ways to try and stain it enough that I am okay with the color. Will try iron sulfate first. Not sure what after that.

It's always kind of neat to find my opinions officially and unexpectedly reinforced. Today's example: a few weeks ago I managed to catch the Simpsons episode "The Italian Bob," and pretty much thought it was the funniest thing I had ever seen--to the extent of checking iTunes for the track of Sideshow Bob's Pagliacci performance, just in case. (It wasn't there.) (Catchiest. Aria. Ever.) And just today I found out that Kelsey Grammar won an Emmy for that episode. There you go! People who know what they're talking about agree with me!

On the other hand you have the 2002/3 Twilight Zone season. I caught a few when they were first on, and I've been watching them for a few weeks now in rerun, and I'll tell you what: I have yet to see an episode that I didn't totally enjoy. Wikipedia tells me that I'm alone in my opinion. I'm comfortable with that.

I wonder whether I should talk about the new Twilight Zone versus the old, or compare its success to Fear Itself's dismal, dismal failure.

( Oh heck, why not both. )

Yesterday I was lucky enough to visit Rick and cfaughnan's Writing Camp.

Writing Camp is one of the coolest things ever invented.

We talked about writing what you know, and what that does and doesn't mean. I was fascinated by what the writers thought when they heard that advice. I hope I helped change their minds. You can write about anything! But you can also use a lot of what you know to make it sing.

I also read the first chapter of my WIP, which was pretty scary, I must say. But they laughed at the right places and that made me feel good. During the work time, I got to wander around and talk with the writers about what they were working on, and also offer some advice for things they were stuck on.

Today, I got some disappointing news. I admit, I cried a little (but only for like, a minute, reallY!). But it's all just part of the road we writers travel. Sometimes the scenery is breathtaking and you can hardly believe how lucky you are, and sometimes you get stuck in traffic with no air conditioner on a 90º day. And then you get a flat tire. But someone is always there to help (thanks Barry et al!). And eventually, the road opens up again, fresh air blows in the windows, and there are more gifts to be found. Am I right?

I hope so.

And I hope everyone has a great weekend.

xo

~*~*~*~*~*~

halseanderson Daily 15 Keeping Myself Honest Check-In:
Yesterday: 67 words [I know. So sad,]
Today: 256 words [I know. Not much better.]

I mean, who doesn't need a $2995 bronze bust of George W. called "Commander in Chief"? After all, it's made in the USA! And he looks so noble and everything!

My WIP has passed 55,000 words and is still careening along. I had expected it to wind up around 70-80,000 words, but it looks like my first draft is running longer than I had expected. This surprises me, since I tend to be a "bare-bones" writer, and my manuscripts usually come out looking like they just escaped from a prison camp, half-starved and filthy with bad grammer, misspellings, and cliches. For someone whose passion is writing I sure am bad at the mechanics of English--I'll blame dyslexia and my childhood years in Africa.

It's possible the book is just longer than I thought. It moves along at a good clip, (I think,) and I'm not including a lot of superfluous information. (I hope.) We'll see. The rough draft will tell the story--and if it doesn't, my critique partners will.;-)

Random quotes from my life:

"Mommy, super-dupers don't like LADY kisses! They only like DOGGY kisses!" (I had made the mistake of kissing my four-year-old "super-duper".)

"So, Mommy. I hear you don't have a penis." (Yup, that would be correct.)

Okay, time to shut this thing off and make lunch. We're out of bread and I used all the Ramen, so I guess I'll have to get creative...

When I get a rejection -- Move On! from Sunday in the Park With George



and the shorter version – as if Bernadette Peters, as my manuscript, is speaking directly to me!




When I feel stuck!

The Impossible Dream




When I’m connecting with a character, and ‘in the zone’ of writing & revising a novel -





Then when I’m ready to send the manuscript back out --

It’s My Turn Now