I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing quite a few YA authors over the past year (and a couple MG authors, too!). Here are links to the interviews, in case you missed any of your fave authors:

• Cyn Balog, author of Fairy Tale
• Karen Bass, author of Run Like Jager and Summer of Fire
• Kristin Butcher, author of Return to Bone Tree Hill, the Zach & Zoe MG series, and many other books for teens and children
• Megan Crewe, author of Give Up the Ghost
• Tina Ferraro, author of The ABC’s of Kissing Boys, How to Hook a Hottie, and Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress
• Danette Haworth, author of Violet Raines Almost Got Struck by Lightning
• Carrie Jones, author of Need, Girl, Hero, Tips on Having a Gay (ex) Boyfriend, and Love (and Other Uses for Duct Tape)
• J.E. MacLeod, author of Waiting to Score
• Keri Mikulski, author of Screwball and Change Up
• Lisa Schroeder, author of I Heart You, You Haunt Me and Far From You
• Kristina Springer, author of The Espressologist
• Courtney Summers, author of Cracked Up To Be and Some Girls Are
• Barrie Summy, author of I So Don’t Do Mysteries and I So Don’t Do Spooky – coming December 1!

I’m happy to welcome author Kristina Springer to my blog today. Kristina’s debut novel, The Espressologist, just released on October 27 ( Farrar, Straus, and Giroux). It’s about a teenage coffee barista who discovers a talent for matchmaking customers based on their favourite coffee drinks. Grab a cuppa and check out Kristina’s responses to my 20 Questions!

1. Morning person or night owl?
   Morning.
2. Outliner or pantser?
   Outliner.
3. Rejection letters – save ‘em or toss ‘em?
   Save ‘em.
4. What’s the best thing a reader ever said to you?
   That she laughed out loud in so many spots.
5. What was the last song you had stuck in your head?
   That Beyonce one– Ring on It? It was on GLEE. So funny.
   
6. What was the last movie you watched?
   Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.
   
7. What was the last book you read and loved?
   Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree, by Lauren Tarshis.
8. What’s your all-time favourite story?
   Tough question! Hmm…I’m always a sucker for A Christmas Carol.
9. Any nicknames we might come across if we delved into your past?
   I had a lot of names that end in “head” from my Dad while growing up. Really, me and my three brothers had a whole slew of them: Melon Head, Pumpkin Head, Knuckle Head, Meat Head, and so on.
10. Any phobias you’re willing to admit to?
    I‘m not a fan of hospitals.
11. What’s the most unusual job you’ve ever had?
    Pool attendant at an apartment complex. I just had to be there. And check the chlorine once a day.
12. What’s the scariest thing you’ve ever done?
    Hmm…probably giving birth. Especially the last kid– he was ten pounds.
13. What’s one thing that really bugs you?
    Spam.
    
    Oh wait… you probably mean this:
    
14. What’s one thing you’re really proud of?
    My kids.
15. What’s the last thing you Googled?
    Addresses (I’m working on Launch party invites).
16. Where’s the farthest place from home you’ve travelled?
    France.
17. What’s your idea of a perfect vacation?
    Somewhere tropical.
    
18. What’s your favourite sports team?
    I’m so not into sports teams. I never know who is playing or what season it is.
19. What’s up next for you writing-wise?
    My Fake Boyfriend is Better Than Yours comes out in the fall of 2010.
20. What’s your favourite piece of advice for writers?
    Be persistent.

Definitely good advice! Thanks so much for being here, Kristina. Congrats on the release of The Espressologist!

Thanks Shari!

Over on Buried in the Slush Pile, The Buried Editor wrote a great post about the acquisitions process, which, according to the nifty diagram, includes eleven points at which the manuscript may be rejected and five points at which the author may be asked to do revisions. Interesting, yes, but the last sentence of the blog post is what stood out for me: “It also demonstrates just how miraculous it is that anything ever gets published.” I chuckled, and then I thought, wait! I don’t want to hear this.

Actually, I kinda already know how hard it is to get published, how high the odds are stacked against any one manuscript or author. But I don’t want the reminder. Sure it’s important for aspiring authors to be informed and to understand the process, at least to some degree, but I guess I don’t like letting reality suck the fun out of dreaming and hoping.

Then again, keeping my dreams alive is up to me. I did choose to check out the diagram – which is truly informative and interesting should you wish to have a peek – and I can also choose not to let harsh reality get me down. I can choose to work hard to improve my craft, too.

Yes, it’s tough to get published. No, not everyone who hopes to get published will. And we writers can’t necessarily do much about that: as The Buried Editor points out, there is a lot that the editor does and very little the author can do during the acquisitions process.

So what’s my job? Write the best manuscript I can, and don’t worry about the odds. Write, learn, improve, write some more. Dream a little. Oh, and don’t give up. Hope springs eternal.

At the beach this morning, I watched a heron fishing for its breakfast. I watched for quite some time, amazed at the heron’s patience. He stood motionless, waiting… waiting…. Several times ducks and gulls disturbed the water near the heron, and I imagined him wanting to shush them – “be still! you’re scaring away the fish! – but he didn’t move. Even when a breakfast-sized fish jumped about six feet behind him, he didn’t flinch a feather. Occasionally he’d arch his neck forward to peer more closely into the water, then straighten up again and wait some more. Waiting, until the perfect moment, the moment that brought the right fish into the right place, and then… strike! (I expect the fish’s perspective would be that this was entirely the wrong place at the wrong time.)

All this reminded me of two things: first, a brief chat I recently had with a writing friend about synchronicity, about things coming together at the right time. We thought that perhaps this applies to stories, and I wonder if when it’s the right time for us to tell a certain story – and not before – the pieces will fall into place. (Depending on where you’re coming from spiritually, I imagine this idea of synchronicity may be interpreted as coincidence, luck, God’s timing, one’s stars aligning, et cetera.)

For me, forcing a story that’s not ready to be told – or that I’m not ready to tell – isn’t likely to meet with good results. I’ve been stuck at a point in one particular story that I really want to tell, and I’ve berated myself over my lack of progress on it. But I decided to cut myself some slack. Maybe it’s just not the right time for me to write this. Instead, I’m outlining a new project and spending time “refilling the creative well”, nurturing my spirit so that when the story demands to be written, I’ll be ready.

The second thing the heron brought to mind this morning was how painfully slow the publishing process can be, lol. So much waiting! And as we wait to hear back on critiques, queries, revisions, contracts, edits, and so on, it can be tempting to grow impatient or discouraged and give up before our breakfast swims by (if you’ll excuse the silly analogy), or to be jealous when someone else gets a bigger fish, or gets one more quickly, or to be frustrated when those blasted ducks splash about, disturbing the water and delaying, yet again, us getting what we want.

Maybe we should keep the whole synchronicity idea in mind during all the waiting, too. Things happen at the right time, and our job is to be ready to seize the opportunities when they come. Nurture our creativity; hone our craft; polish the stories we’ve already written so when we get a request, we can send it confidently; and when the pieces come together and the time is right for a new story, thank God / the universe / your lucky stars, open a Word document, and write!

What do you think about synchronicity as it applies to writing and waiting?

Okay, fine. I’ve accepted it…. It’s fall.

I’ll admit it is pretty nice to see the maple leaves change to match the one on our flag, making fall the clear winner in the which-season-is-most-patriotic competition. (What, you’ve never heard of that competition?)  Throw in blue sky and just-above-freezing temperatures this morning, and it was the perfect time for a run. And now, it’s the perfect afternoon for some yardwork, but somehow that doesn’t hold quite the same appeal for me. Maybe later…. (Hey, if I wait long enough, the snow will arrive and hide my mess of a yard anyway, right?)

Hope you’re enjoying the weekend!

Peace….

I just read Lisa Mantchev’s Eyes Like Stars and loved it! Unique, innovative, and freakin’ hilarious at times, thanks to Lisa’s take on the fairies from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Here’s the blurb:

Beatrice Shakespeare Smith is not an actress, yet she lives in a theater. She’s not an orphan, but she has no parents. She knows every part, but she has no lines of her own. Until now.

Welcome to the Théâtre Illuminata, where the characters of every play ever written can be found behind the curtain. They were born to play their parts, and are bound to the Théâtre by The Book–an ancient and magical tome of scripts. Bertie is not one of them, but they are her family–and she is about to lose them all and the only home she has ever known.

Highly recommended!

(*blurg = blurb in a blog)

This is awesome:

(With thanks to my friend Christine.)

Have a fun weekend, everyone!

Things I’m lovin’ today:

1. blue sky, red leaves, crisp breeze
2. getting out of my car in the parking lot of the grocery store and noticing that, as usual, I smell the sea instead of exhaust/parking-lot-blech
3. outlining (yes, me – outlining!) my Sekrit Project to fast-draft during NaNoWriMo
4. chai tea
5. this song:

Hope there are good things in your Monday.

Peace….

Although I’m in denial about it being October because that would mean summer is really, really over  (seriously… how is that possible?), I’m aware enough to know it’s a new month, which means *insert drum roll here* a brand new 20 Questions YA Author Interview! Yes, it’s true, and I’m delighted to welcome Megan Crewe to my blog on this, the first day of the month-which-must-not-be-named.

Megan is a fellow Canadian (*waves to Megan from across the country*). Her debut novel, Give Up The Ghost, launched September 15 from Henry Holt Books for Young Readers.

Welcome, Megan!

And now, 20 Questions….

1. Morning person or night owl?
   I think of myself as a middle-of-the-day person.  I’m at my sharpest between about 10am and 2pm. 
2. Outliner or pantser?
   Outliner all the way! If I don’t have an outline I inevitably end up writing myself into a corner I can’t get out of.
3. Rejection letters – save ‘em or toss ‘em?
   Save them. They’re part of the journey!
4. What’s the best thing a reader ever said to you?
   That they stayed up late reading my book because they found it impossible to put down.
   
5. What was the last song you had stuck in your head?
   “Suddenly I See” by K.T. Tunstall
   
6. What was the last movie you watched?
   At home: Audition (a Japanese horror movie). In the theater: District 9.
7. What was the last book you read and loved?
   Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson.
8. What’s your all-time favourite story?
   It is absolutely impossible to pick just one! The one I’ve loved the longest is The Changeling by Zilpha Keatley Snyder.
9. Any nicknames we might come across if we delved into your past?
   My dad calls me “pumpkin” sometimes–that’s about it.
10. Any phobias you’re willing to admit to?
    Spiders. And I’m mildly claustrophobic.
11. What’s the most unusual job you’ve ever had?
    I haven’t had any really unusual jobs! I do get pretty goofy with the kids I work with, though.
12. What’s the scariest thing you’ve ever done?
    Spend five weeks overseas by myself (my first non-family trip). But it was also incredibly exciting.
13. What’s one thing that really bugs you?
    Having dry skin on my hands. I carry moisturizer everywhere.
14. What’s one thing you’re really proud of?
    My book!
15. What’s the last thing you Googled?
    A teacher’s name, so I could invite her to my launch party.
16. Where’s the farthest place from home you’ve travelled?
    China.
17. What’s your idea of a perfect vacation?
    Going to a far-off country I’ve never seen before and exploring its cities and landscapes.
18. What’s your favourite sports team?
    I cheer on the Canadian team during the Olympics!
19. What’s up next for you writing-wise?
    More YA novels, paranormal and fantasy.
20. What’s your favourite piece of advice for writers?
    Read. Write. Revise. (and repeat!)

Thanks so much for being here, Megan!

Thanks for the interview!

Check out the book trailer for Give Up The Ghost:

I’ve never posted a “teaser” before, and I’m not entirely sure I want to do so now. Still, everyone seems to be doing it…. (And yes, Mom, if my friends jumped off a bridge, I’d probably do that, too. ) So, without further ado, a teaser from my WIP, to be deleted probably very soon:

[ETA: October 5 -- too late! teaser's gone]

Hmmm…. I’ll have to find a cheerier passage next time I give in to peer pressure.

Peace.