The Next Big Thing

thanks so much to Diane Zahler for tagging me to participate in THE NEXT BIG THING blog chain!

if you haven't heard of it, The Next Big Thing is a campaign that started in Australia and spread all over the world. essentially, authors and illustrators answer a series of short, speedy questions to introduce their next project, then they tag another author to answer the same questions the following week. not sure how long it's been going, but it sounded like fun, so here's my Q&A:

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

2) Where did the idea come from for the book?
It started with a series of conversations between two characters who I could not get out of my head. I had to write the book twice to figure out their story!

3) What genre does your book fall under?
Contemporary YA.

4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
I can never answer this question! It's hard for me to imagine any actors playing my characters. Good thing I'm not a casting director!

5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?A bully and a boy with Down syndrome form an unlikely alliance when they team up to find one of their missing fathers.

6) Who is publishing your book?Bloomsbury.

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
One month. I wrote it during NaNoWriMo! (note: I spent almost a year rewriting it.)

8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Another question I have a hard time answering. I always try to tell a story I haven't read before, so if there is a similar book out there, I haven't read it yet.

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?I knew I wanted to write a story from the perspective of a bully, and when the second character came to me, I had to think long and hard about his voice. He felt very unique to me, but it took some time before I figured out he had Down syndrome. I had recently witnessed a teenage boy with Ds having an argument with his dad in a store, and I think something about that fight stayed with me and worked its way into the character.

10) What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?
Even though there is a character with Down syndrome, this is not a story about Down syndrome. It's just a story. And one of the characters just happens to have that trait.

the Next Big Thing chain continues with Anne Greenwood Brown! Look for her post next week.

festival of books

school visits, panels, and workshops - oh my!

i just got back from the Tucson Festival of Books and thought i'd share some of the highlights.

my weekend started with a visit to St. John the Evangelist Catholic School, where i met some incredibly bright and inquisitive students.

do ignore my crazy facial expressions! ;)

then it was off to the festival, where i got to present a workshop with awesome author Tom Leveen!
here's me and Tom putting on our "serious author" faces at the signing afterward:

 

well, Tom looks serious anyway. i kind of look like i'm doing my "mean girls" face.

then Tom and i joined the AMAZING A.S. King for a panel, and i tried not to be fidgety sitting next to an author i admire so much.

...tried and failed, that is!
this is me fidgeting with the case for my glasses:

and fidgeting with my hands under the table:

but A.S. and Tom are way too much fun, and i didn't stay nervous for very long. i had an absolute blast talking to the group. can't wait to go back next year!

best lines OSCAR edition

5 days to OSCAR, and for the first time in years, i'm genuinely excited about the show.
so many good contenders this year!

and i'm thrilled to say part of what makes some of the best picture nominees so amazing is the writing. in honor of the fabulous scripts that made it to the big screen this year, i thought i'd do a movie edition of Best Lines today - featuring my favorite one-liners from a few of the top nominees.
2 WARNINGS:
#1 - there is an f-bomb in one of these quotes.
#2 - said quote may make you spit liquid out of your nose with laughter.

LINCOLN:
-  "Trust? Gentlemen, you seem to have forgotten that our chosen career is politics."
-  "I could write shorter sermons, but when I get started I'm too lazy to stop."
-  "Shall we stop this bleeding?"

DJANGO UNCHAINED:
-  "Your boss looks a little green around the gills."
"He just ain't used to seeing a man ripped apart by dogs is all."
"But you are used to it?"
"I'm just a little more used to Americans than he is."

ARGO:
-  "If we wanted applause, we would have joined the circus."
-  "Brace yourself. It's like talking to those two old fucks from The Muppets."

WRECK IT RALPH:
-  "What's going on in this candy-coated heart of darkness?"

MOONRISE KINGDOM:
- "Our daughter has been abducted by one of these beige lunatics!"
-  "Why do you always use binoculars?"
"It helps me see things closer. Even if they're not very far away. I pretend it's my magic power."

and finally, the line i have quoted so many times in my terrible Scottish accent, Handsome has banned me from saying it around the house:

BRAVE:
-  "I am Merida, and I'll be shooting for my own hand!"

what were some of your favorites? who do we think is going to win in the script-writing categories?

Dead Ends

sorry to be so mysterious, but i had to do a little magic to make this post disappear. ;)
keep an eye out for a new cover for Dead Ends coming soon!

 

a very scary research trip!

last night i went on my first official "research outing" for writing.

i confess, my research often involves me sitting at my laptop doing video, photo and map searches... and scouring "How Things Work" websites. as a writer, the internet has saved me a lot of time and money when it comes to researching my stories.

but i recently realized i needed some information for the Work In Progress (aka next month's NaNo project) that no amount of googling could help me find. i needed to see/experience it for myself. so i was THRILLED when The Nest Haunted House here in Arizona agreed to give me a behind-the-scenes tour!


i am only one short chapter into GRIM (the WIP about a group of teenage boys working at a haunted house), and i have already run into questions about logistics (how do they communicate inside the haunt?), costumes (what are the fake vampire teeth made out of?) and layout (how does mad scientist get into his lab, and where does he go if he has to take a pee, for crying out loud?!)

all of these questions are just background for the actual story, but they have to be accurate for authenticity.

AN ACCESS HALLWAY FOR ACTORS:

GETTING MAKEUP TOUCHED UP BEFORE SHOWTIME:

ONCE THE SHOW STARTS, IT'S LIGHTS OUT! TOUCH UPS HAVE TO BE DONE WITH THE HELP OF A SPOT LIGHT:
A PLANNING BOARD AT THE NEST:

i also had a ton of questions that ARE pertinent to the story, but this is a spoiler-free zone. thanks so much to Brooke Rodda of Angles PR for answering many of those questions and for spending the evening with me.

and thanks especially to Josh Burdi and Skyler Wright, the teenage actors who gave me incredible insight into what it's like to be a teen working in such a wild business. (The Arizona Republic has a great shot of Skyler getting into his makeup here. - link! click it!)

if this book gets published, by the time it comes out, those guys will no longer be teenagers, but i hope they'll still be hanging around haunts like The Nest, giving guests a good scare. in any case, they sure gave me a lot of inspiration. i can't wait to start writing the rest of GRIM, thanks to them.

organized chaos

NaNoWriMo starts in one week, and i have to admit - i didn't sign up until today.

there's been a lot of revising this year - rewriting Billy D and going through the editorial process with Butter. i haven't written anything new in so long, i wasn't sure i was ready to dive head first into another rough draft. so i was considering skipping NaNo, to give myself a break.
but then i thought - a break from WHAT? - a break from my favorite part of writing? from the pure freedom of rough-draft creativity? i don't need a break. writing a new manuscript IS my break - from editing!

so i'm going for it again this year, but now i only have a week to prepare. and preparation is key.

here is how i get organized for the mad-dash chaos that is National Novel Writing Month:

step 1 - story idea.
dude, ya gotta have an idea. otherwise that blank page can kick your butt on day one. for me, that idea has to be fully formed, which means:
step 2 - outline.
it's not cheating! you can outline your whole book - just don't count those words in your November tally. in fact, i go beyond outlining and fully recommend:
step 3 - write a first chapter.
again, i don't count it when i'm adding up the November sprint. chances are, your novel will be longer than 50,000 words - so it doesn't hurt to have a few thousand written ahead of time and a few thousand still to write afterward.
step 4 - make adjustments.
you have an outline and a first chapter. if you're not feeling it, you may want to switch gears. the point of the outline and the first chapter, for me, are to get me revved up for NaNo - to make myself WANT to write the next page so bad i practically can't wait for the madness to start. if you're not feeling that urge, you may want to look at your chapter and your outline and see if this is really something you want to spend 30 days of your life with. if not - go back to step 1 and start again. (if i were clever with PhotoShop, i would build you a little flow chart here, but i am so not talented in that way.)
step 5 - clear your schedule.
clean your house; get your doctor's appointments out of the way; finish up whatever other projects you are working on. these things, if left undone, will become distractions, at best, or give you a guilty conscience, at worst. i know i personally struggle with NaNo if i have a long "to do" list hanging over my head in November.
step 6 - do. not. write.
if at all possible, give yourself a few days or a few weeks to rest your brain and recharge the creative batteries. spend quality time with important people (in case you accidentally ignore them while immersed in NaNo), and do something FUN (there will be very little time for fun in November).
step 7 - strap on a good attitude.
despite what i said about the fun, that's actually what NaNo is all about. it's permission to have FUN writing. have fun staying indoors, unwashed and anti-social. have fun sitting on your butt for hours on end. have fun meeting new friends at local write-in events. however you "NaNo" - make sure you have fun while you're doing it.

personally, i plan to have fun writing something out of my comfort zone. it may end up getting tossed, if it doesn't feel like "me" in the end, but i will still get a kick out of trying.

oh, and part of my fun is in the preparation this year. i have a "research outing" planned for this week that should give me some GREAT inspiration. if i get permission from my outing "hosts," i promise to blog all about it.

AMC and SMG

this is less "blog post" and more "too long for twitter."

let me preface this with:
i have been watching All My Children with my mom since i was a kid. i've been less interested in it over the last few years, but i still TIVO it and catch up with the characters every once in awhile. of course, when i heard the soap was getting canceled, i committed to seeing it through to the end.

well as far as i'm concerned, it already went out with a bang. i could pretty much stop watching it and die happy after this scene today:

starring:
Sarah Michelle Gellar (ex-Kendall, now appearing as random crazy girl in hospital)
Dr. Maria Santos

SMG: So, I see vampires. That doesn't make me crazy.
DrM: No, vampires are very, uh, popular.
SMG: I saw them before they were trendy.

genius.

bunches of books

i am just back from a quick trip to Portland and staring down a very busy week ahead, so i thought i ought to squeeze in a blog post, but i'm just. so. tired.

so we're going to do this the lazy way - with pictures!

these are all from the trip, but in keeping with our writing/reading/book-loving theme here, every shot i'm sharing has a book in it. so this totally counts as a blog post, okay? okay.

surrounded by miles of books:


inside the rare book room:


our hotel had a library overlooking the lobby:


and every book in the library was signed by the author, including this one:


may all your own travels include a few books as well...

SCBWI in pictures

i apologize in advance if this post makes the blog load slow on mobile browsers or anywhere else. there are quite a few pics.

here are a few of my favorite (and only!) shots from SCBWI-LA. i have to start, of course, with my AWESOME roomie, Emily Hainsworth - fellow Apocalypsie and author of THROUGH TO YOU.

next up, my agent sisters! meet a few members of the literaticult: Whitney Miller, Jo Whittemore and Kristen Kittscher!



sorry, cell phone shots.

now, here is my prize photo from the conference! me and the LA girls (Melanie Abed and Kristen) posing with Judy Blume!

again, cell shot. sorry.
Judy Blume was kind and patient with all of us drooling all over her. i thanked her for all of her books, but mostly for BLUBBER. and i don't even think my voice shook too badly!

the winners of the PJ party!


the Steel Cage Pitch Match in action! writers and illustrators had 30 seconds to impress ABLit agent Mary Kole. hosted by boysdontread.com - a brand new blog you should absolutely be following.


SCBWI was exhausting, educational and inspiring. i can't wait to go back someday.

oh, and psst! - i got my editorial letter for BUTTER while at the conference, so i am about to be a busy girl! (read: neurotic, over-caffeinated, obsessive mess)
it's possible the blog will go quiet after this.

stranGe thinGs at stopliGhts

strange... and AWESOME... things at stoplights!



i spotted this golden snitch glittering atop the antenna of the car next to me on the way home tonight.

love it! wish i had one.

MANIA

things i am obsessed with this week:

1)
Pottermore - the website that is so far only a countdown to the next "big thing" from JK Rowling and the world of Harry Potter. if it's not a book, what's bigger than a theme park? could it be the long-awaited encyclopedia of Potter - delivered in an online format instead of ink and paper? the suspense is killing me !!!

2)
The 2nd official Trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2:



3)
Donald Sutherland as President Snow, Woody Harrelson as Haymitch... and really,the entire cast of the Hunger Games. i know there was much controversy over the picks (isn't there always?), but as far as i'm concerned, these casting directors nailed it.
click here for a slideshow of the cast - and please, do try to see past their hair color! ;)

4)
finally, i'm obsessed with wondering - what will be the next big book? ...the one that has us lined up for a midnight release party or creating live countdowns on our blogs. is it already out there, sitting quietly on a shelf, waiting for word of mouth to spread like wildfire (a la HP), or is it about to burst onto the scene with all the marketing fanfare a publisher can possibly afford?
what is it? when is it coming? and can i get an ARC??

Strange Things! At Stoplights!

blogger continues to act up, but at least i can post!

so, i haven't done a "Strange Things at Stoplights" in forever, but oh boy, do i have one for you today. this should actually be titled "Adorable" things at stoplights, but it's also strange indeed.

from the intersection near our house:


and a close up for better viewing:


a one-bedroom home, perfect for the single bird! just enough room for a nest, which can double as your bed, bath and dining room! lovely yellow walls, though the electricity goes in and out a bit. but you can't beat the rent - it's free! first come, first serve.

...and you thought your apartment was small!

RTW: greatest literary couple

today is the 65th Road Trip Wednesday over on the YA Highway website.
(if you are a young adult writer and not already following YA Highway, you should really get over there right away!)

Road Trip Wednesday is a weekly blog carnival. every week, the highway folks post a reading or writing prompt and ask bloggers to write up a post to participate. i love reading what people come up with, but i've never participated ...until today.

the prompt for the 65th RTW is: "Who are your favorite literary couples?"
i couldn't resist. so here is my contribution:

valentine's day is near, so surely when asked about our favorite couples, we should think of the great loves of literature. Elizabeth & Mr. Darcy! Romeo & Juliet! Scarlett and Rhett!

or, in my case:

FRED AND GEORGE!

maybe it's because i'm revising my bromance, but this is the power couple that instantly came to mind when i saw the prompt.

Fred and George Weasley are my perfect pair. they finish each other's sentences; they can communicate without even speaking; they are less than whole without each other. few lovers can say the same.

this pair could have easily been swallowed up in such a huge family, but together - they stand out.

Mrs. Weasley: "You're a prefect? Oh Ronnie! That's everyone in the family!"
George: "What are Fred and I? Next door neighbors?"

and as much as they fiercely love everyone in that family, their first loyalty is to each other.

plus, of all the great couples in all the books in all the land, Fred and George lay claim, in my opinion, to the greatest "ride off into the sunset" of all time.

"STOP THEM!" shrieked Umbridge, but it was too late. As the Inquisitorial Squad closed in, Fred and George kicked off from the floor, shooting fifteen feet into the air, the iron peg swinging dangerously below. Fred looked across the hall at the poltergeist bobbing on his level above the crowd.
"Give her hell from us, Peeves."
And Peeves, whom Harry had never seen take an order from a student before, swept his belled hat from his head and sprang to a salute as Fred and George wheeled about to tumultuous applause from the students below and sped out of the open front doors into the glorious sunset.

lucky pug

this is NOT about writing.

also, it is probably funny ONLY to me and handsome.
and it is funny to NO ONE without the volume turned up.



hope you're having a good weekend!

the greatest Christmas present ever

i bet you think i'm going to say peace on earth or the love of family and friends or some such thing, huh?

yeah, yeah, that's all well and good... but no, the greatest Christmas present ever was from an elf named Lemdel.

i can't remember how old i was, but it was around the time of the Cabbage Patch Kids craze. remember phase two of this fad? KOOSAS - the cabbage patch pets!
i wanted the dog one, with a brown eye patch. (or as i believe i put it on my letter to santa - "a black-eyed akoooza")
this letter to santa was followed by many conversations with my parents, in which they explained santa's workshop was all out of the black-eyed koosas and wouldn't i want a different one? no, just the black-eyed one. (i wasn't spoiled at all. nope, not me.) mom and dad even put in a personal call to santa, they explained, but he just did not have time to make any new toys, and surely some other koosa would be fine, right? no, santa will figure it out. (really, i was darling.)
around the same time, i remember seeing something on TV that looked like a stampede of adults climbing shelves in Toys R Us, trying to grab the last Koosas. i guess they all got the same messages from santa about the toy shop being all out. i still had faith in the jolly old guy.
my parents came home looking frazzled sometimes too, and trying to talk me into different toy ideas, but my list was unshakable.

anyway, every year, on top of the gifts under the tree... Christmas morning, an additional pile of presents would appear - all wrapped in special red santa paper. that Christmas, there was one extra present on the pile - wrapped in green elf paper instead. a long letter attached to the present in special elf handwriting (that looked an awful lot like professional caligraphy, now that i think about it) was addressed to me. the letter explained that i'd been such a good girl (all evidence to the contrary) and that i deserved a very special present. so even though santa was very busy, one of his helpers - the one writing the letter - had taken time to make one extra present just for me. it was signed: Lemdel, the Elf.

i guess you know what was inside. i still have my black-eyed Koosa, who is named, of course, Lemdel.
best. Christmas. present. EVER.

there is a sequel to this tale - an adventure/mystery in which Lemdel goes missing, sparking a desperate search that ends with Lemdel nearly getting thrown out with the trash only to be saved at the last possible second.
story for another time.

have you seen this yet?

for the win

fave features

i suspect the infrequent posting on the blog here might continue through the end of November, as i have not yet failed at NaNoWriMo. (one reason - choosing to write instead of blog)

but i don't want to be one of those bloggers who apologizes for my long silences, so i decided to be more productive than that and give you some places to visit when you find my blog dark for a few days at a time.

this is a collection of my favorite features in the blogosphere. they are either weekly or very regular, so you'll probably get addicted and keep checking back for them every day, just like i do. if you visit, be sure to leave comments and tell the bloggers who sent ya! :)

(the links are in green. click 'em!)

*my current fave feature and my go-to place for covers is at Naomi's inkcrush blog. her Cover Comparisons are so much fun to examine. she pulls covers from all over the globe for a single book and puts them all in one place, so you can study the subtle - or sometimes completely obvious - differences. i have no idea where she finds them all.

*Kate Hart's Field Trip Friday posts must take her forever to put together. she provides a collection of writing, publishing and otherwise entertaining tweets from the week. i used to love following this feature even before i caved and joined twitter. it's a great way to feel connected if you're not ready to start tweeting... and a great way to get caught up if you just haven't had time to tweet!

*i am loving the Trailer Talk on E.J. Wesley's blog. he shares two book trailers, generally very different from each other, then gives some insight into why they win or fail. it's been educational, as trailers are a total mystery to me. (says the girl who works in TV. haha.)

*finally, a great feature for readers on the run! check out Debra Garfinkle's Book Review Haikus. the link takes you to her blog's home page. if you scroll down her page, you'll see several of the haiku entries. they are indispensable for a reader who doesn't have time to read lots of long reviews. i think she always does 5 books... and you'll have her honest opinion on all of them in less than 5 seconds.

happy blog bouncing!

now playing in an imagination near you

someone asked me recently how i would cast my novel. it's a fun game writers like to play when they dream of their books becoming movies... and i suck at it.

i guess i like to think of my characters as totally new, so i can't imagine them looking like anyone else. (i promise this isn't ego talking. i have a hard time picturing actors playing the characters in everyone else's books too!)

but in the interest of NaNo procrastination, i decided to kill some time on the internet, looking up hip young films to see if i could imagine any of the people as characters in BUTTER.

and i found some! they are perfect! score me a movie deal, because i am ready to start filming!

this is Butter:

this is Anna:

and this is Trent, Parker and company:

hmmm. i like this so much, i'm wondering how my editor will feel about me rewriting the whole book to make them all penguins...
no?
:(
okay then, i guess if i ever score a film rights sale, i'll just leave it up to the casting directors. ;)

happy halloween

i hope you are all reading something spooky this weekend.

however, if you are like me, you generally don't read horror, because your imagination is much more terrifying than anything hollywood can put on a screen, and you wish to sleep at night instead of stay up listening for spooky sounds you can't explain.
this is why i am about to give you a list of horror movies and not books.

on that note, i present to you my top 5 film picks for good halloween scares:

#5 - Poltergeist
good for folks who fear clowns and believe TV is evil.
personally, it's in my top 5 because i looked a lot like that little girl growing up, so of course i liked the movie when i was a kid, even though it was terrifying.

#4 - Exorcist
good for masochists or people who are lacking that part of the brain that feels fear.
i do NOT watch this movie. ever. i avoid channel-surfing in the month of October for fear i will stumble across a clip of this movie playing. i HATE this movie. if i were in Harry's class at Hogwarts, the girl from exorcist would have been my boggart. the fact that she is my biggest fear is what ranks this movie in my top 5 recs, even thought i hate it. HATE.

#3 - Scream
great if you're squeamish about true horror but like a good, "BOO!" surprise.
more campy than blood-curdling, the Scream films are fun for folks into all levels of horror. you can either laugh or hide under the covers. the closest thing to a cult classic since...

#2 - Halloween
hello! how can this not be on your halloween dvd list? the music! jamie lee curtis!
even if you're like me, and the stalker-serial-killer-who-keeps-coming-back isn't your thing, you have to see halloween just to say you've seen it.

and my number one fave horror film of all time is.......

#1 - The Shining
an amazing movie, regardless of genre.
i love the story telling and the build-up of intensity. i love how even the good characters are totally creepy. the setting is genius and the acting, well - Jack Nicholson - 'nuff said. this is an exceptional movie that just happens to be a horror flick.

whether you're watching movies, reading, partying or trick-or-treating... i hope you all have a happy halloween!