YA Highway

Valentine's Day Blog Lovefest!

2012-02-14T07:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

We're excited to spread the love---and not just the romantic kind!---to celebrate. Today we're giving all our readers the chance to make the day one about love by hosting a blog circus (with the same format as our Road Trip Wednesdays) encouraging you to write a Valentine blog post! Please link your blog post for everyone in the comments, then click around to see everyone else's lovely posts.

And the bonus: if you link to a Valentine's blog post, you're automatically entered to win one of two prize packs of books and bookmarks!

Before we get to everyone else, we also wanted to send out a Valentine to our readers:

Roses are red

Violets are blue

YA Highway is bursting with love

For every one of you!

And, now that we've set the low bar, we can't wait to hear from you!

(source)

Avoiding Family Engagements via the Crazy

2012-02-13T12:47:00.000-05:00

So the long weekend approaches and I'm sure your family has already started dropping hints. Family time, they say. Time to catch up, they say. Time to partake in joint familial activities. If you're family is anything like mine they attempt to lure you into said activities with coffee and bacon. Maybe even home grown mint tea. (Yes, all of those are my mother. Yes. They always work. Always. She also does this thing with her face that...it shouldn't be allowed okay?)

But I am here to help! You have three glorious days ahead of you that you can use to write. Don't let the family bribe you out of your closet of writerhood, don't let them guilt you into the sunlight. Here are a few pointers that will help you WRITE ALL THE THINGS*:

Prepare your coffee the night before. Maybe even move the coffee maker into your writer-ly space so you don't have to go into the kitchen. Avoid the kitchen guys. This is their first wave of attack -- they'll be frying and baking and you'll say oh just one bite and before you know it, one bite is six hours and you're bone tired and can't write. In summary: no kitchens.
Stock up like you're getting ready for the zombie apocalypse, okay? Snacks, coffee, tea. Get an electric tea kettle. You only leave your writing zone if you want your writing streak to die.
If you're a student, don't feel like you can't use that to advantage. If your parents come knocking for some parent/child time, just yell this term paper is due on Tuesday, don't you care at all about my future?! It will work, and your parents will also feel guilty and give you at least three hours of uninterrupted work time. Which you can use to Tumbl.
When all else fails build a fort out of books. Most people won't want to touch the mental process linked to that with a ten foot pole. That, and if you have to resort to building a fort of books you probably look a little crazy. Trust me. People will leave you alone.
And if all else fails:

I would practice the hissing, though, before you actually do it. It could be off putting (which you want) or not and lead to uncomfortable questions.

*I'm mostly kidding about these. I've definitely pretended my MS is a term paper, though. Sorry Mom! <3

Interview with Reade Scott Whinnem

2012-02-12T12:06:00.005-05:00

I read THE PRICKER BOY when I was just beginning to write my own YA horror. I devoured Reade Scott Whinnem's book, and it helped to inspire some of the mood and themes embedded in my own WIP. THE PRICKER BOY shot to the top of my favorites list in no time.

So you can imagine my excitement when I got to talk with Reade for nearly an hour, discussing writing, reading, and the realm of horror.

On the perfect recipe for scary scenes:

“Everyone has a true ghost story. Either it’s something that happened to them, or it happened to their uncle or cousin. The scary part is that it’s never resolved. Your brain can’t rationalize the phenomenon.

“So I’ve found that what you DON’T see, what the writer leaves to the imagination, is often more upsetting and disturbing than what you do see. It just gets your imagination spinning. In the early drafts of the PRICKER BOY, I answered a lot more of the questions, and it was my agent who first said, “Let your reader have the freedom to draw their own conclusions.”

On the nightmare that inspired THE PRICKER BOY:

“I was so young when I had that nightmare, but it did stay with me. The Pricker Boy kind of became my own personal monster. Everybody has Frankenstein, everybody has their own Dracula, but the Pricker Boy was mine. As I got older, my family would joke about it. It’s just a part of my past that was always there. When it came time to write this story, and I needed a monster, he was the logical choice. The Pricker Boy was the perfect little-boy fear.”

On writing for young adults:

“In THE PRICKER BOY, there’s one scene where Pete starts picking on Ronnie, and the word “faggot” comes up. My editor and I went back and forth, trying to figure out how to best make the point we wanted to make – but we couldn’t just use that word for the sake of using it.

“When you’re writing for kids, it’s easy to be controversial. But I do feel that there’s something at the core of that scene…it’s like a lesson. People think that there’s no substance when it comes to writing for kids. But I don’t believe that to be true. I think that you can write for kids and have some real heart to the writing. You can make them think. We can’t be Pollyanna about the world kids live in. Kids see through that. If we try to sanitize their world, they will know it.”

On the YA horror genre:

“I would love to see more. I read Rick Yancey’s MONSTROMOLOGIST series, and I loved them. At times I felt he did things that were a bit much for a YA novelist, but I thought they were some of the best stories I’d read in years.

And THE HUNGER GAMES – I know those are science fiction, but there was a lot of horror in those books. Not paranormal horror, but definitely disturbing and aesthetic. It helps turn the pages.”

Reade’s journey to publication:

“It was the late nineties when I decided to really try my hand at “being a writer.” It wasn’t until 2004 that my first book was published. It took a long time. I was almost ready to give up, and I got this phone message form an editor in Virginia, saying that she loved my book and wanted to publish it. I was completely floored. From there, I lucked into finding an agent in New York – Kirsten Wolf, who is wonderful. When she agreed to represent me, I thought that I had misread the email. I couldn’t believe it. She found PRICKER BOY a great home at Random House. “

Reade’s writing process:

“I teach high school, and that kind of takes over your life, so my writing time is during the summer. I’ve got a little office in the basement. Every day I get up and try to put in three or four hours, and if I’m lucky, at the end of the summer I have a very rough first draft – or I need to do complete rewrite. “

Reade’s upcoming books:

“[One of my manuscripts] is about these high school friends, and one of them disappears. Two of the boys who are left behind decide to get in a car on the first day of summer and take off across America to find her, even though they have no idea where she is. It’s the story of a road trip, and also the story of what caused this girl to run away. It’s a little bit horror and a little bit sci-fi.

"The other book I’m working on is set in Providence just before WWI. It’s a homage to H.P. Lovecraft and the kind of monsters he envisioned."

Advice for new writers:

"You have to get your ass in the chair. You have to sit yourself in front of that computer and WRITE, even when it feels like your writing is terrible. You have to keep pushing through. It’s a ritual, and if you can keep up the discipline of that ritual, you’ll succeed in creating something that you find beautiful."

Reade, thanks again for talking with YA Highway! And be sure to check out his novel THE PRICKER BOY - but leave the lights on while you're reading.

As a child, Reade Scott Whinnem spent his summers in the earthquake-ridden, ghost-infested woods of East Haddam, Connecticut. From an early age, his father instilled in him a love of Star Trek, comic books, and monster movies, thereby condemning him to a life of incurable geekiness. In addition to being a writer, he is an avid gardener, cook, and photographer. Both he and his wife are proud public school teachers. They live on Cape Cod, where they dig clams, correct essays, and when necessary, reassure their overweight cat that she is a devastatingly attractive feline.

YA Highway Blog Lovefest!

2012-02-12T04:00:00.001-05:00

Source

There's only a couple of days until February 14, a day that---though it intends to celebrate togetherness---can bitterly divide people. And that sucks! Here at YA Highway, we wanted to give all our readers the chance to make the day one about love: love of any kind, not limited to romantic. We'll be hosting a blog circus (with the same format as our Road Trip Wednesdays) encouraging you and all our readers to write a Valentine blog post!

Source

The Valentine blog posts can be a love note to anything---another blogger, a book, an author, a character, a bookstore, your beta readers...anything and anyone! And feel free to get creative (for inspiration, check out some of the fantastic posts that other bloggers put together for last year's blog lovefest)!

Write up a Valentine, and on on February 14 (this Tuesday), come back here and share the link with us! Hopefully by putting a lot of literary love in the same place, we can brighten the holiday for everyone.

And if that doesn't cheer you up, this might---we're adding a giveaway! When you enter your link in the comments of February 14's post, you'll be entered to win one of two prize packs:

Prize Pack 1

BALTHAZAR by Claudia Gray and SHIP BREAKER by Paolo Bacigalupi, with bookmarks!

Prize Pack 2

PANDEMONIUM by Lauren Oliver and AWKWARD by Marni Bates, with bookmarks!

We'll select the winners randomly using Random.org, and announce it before the Road Trip Wednesday post the next day!

Writing for Yourself vs. Writing for an Audience

2012-02-11T06:50:00.004-05:00

Sometimes, as writers, we churn out words without really thinking about who we're writing for - which is natural, because churning out words is big job requiring lots of concentration. But when you take a break, do you ever think about who exactly you're creating a book for?

Is it for yourself? Lots of writers say the reason they write is to express themselves, to let out the words they wouldn't have a chance to let out otherwise. Thinking of your writing as just for you, not the criticizing masses, can take a lot of the pressure off of the job and let your creative juices flow freely.

Is it for an audience? Thinking about an audience as you write can give you direction. You remember not to stick in anything that wouldn't interest a wider crowd. And thinking of your book as a way to entertain/help/communicate something to readers can give you major inspiration.

Personally, I think the best writing can be done "for" both yourself and an audience. It's important to write what you love, for you. Awesome art comes from the heart (yay, rhyme of the day!). But it's also just as important to keep potential future readers in mind. They're real people who, if you put the work in, might be helped, entertained, and/or thought-provoked (that's a thing, right?) by what you create. Yay, writing!

But that's just my view. What's yours? Who do you write for?

Field Trip Friday: February 10, 2012

2012-02-10T08:00:00.000-05:00

THIS WEEK IN WRITING

- "When it doesn’t happen but it almost does, you feel like you’re farther back from where you started." Courtney Summers on turning points, at Nova Ren Suma's blog.

- Psychology Today lists twelve things you weren't taught about creative thinking (via Michele Wells).

- Author Steph Sinkhorn gets all post-modern Venn diagram on us with "Spheres of Existence: Writing Other Experiences With Integrity."

- Why YA? Lucas Klaus lists four reasons; Melissa Kantor says it's about "that place where life felt like walking a tightrope without a net." (via Anica Rissi)

- Author Leah Cypress finds that the best way to deal with jealousy is to do what got her in trouble in the first place.

- YA Confidential takes a look at the realities of teen depression; Sara Zarr has a post about faith, meds, and spiritual life.

- How do you handle time-breaks in your story? Juliette Wade talks solutions.

- N.K. Jemisin talks about creating a past and a future for people of color in sci-fi.

- Please don't blog your book, says Jane Friedman.

- Author Gayle Forman is on fire this week with two great metaphors for writing: "Doors and Books and Doors To Books" looks at the revision process; "The Perfect Song" discusses making your book sound like your vision.

- 25 things you should know about story structure, from Chuck Wendig.

- The Intern examines why dream sequences almost never work in a novel.

- "Can writers successfully write outside of their own racial identity?" Dhonielle Clayton says yes! With some caveats.

- Agent Natalie Lakosil has suggestions for how to handle conflicting advice.

THIS WEEK IN READING

- Sometimes covers are cringeworthy. Erin Bowman, Sarah Enni, and Tracey Neithercott have the solution!

- Author Matt de la Peña will speak at a Tucson school in March, and is using his honorarium to donate copies of his recently banned books.

- Mike Flowers at YALSA compares the Printz and BYFA award winners.

- Get a glimpse into a real high school literary club, courtesy of Some Screaming Fan Girl.

- Bring a Friend to the Bookstore pairs with local coffee shops to increase sales.

- Reports say state funding for California libraries has been completely eliminated in next year's budget.

- Antonia Senior at the Guardian reports that e-books sales are being driven by downmarket genre fiction. TL;DR, see this comment: "Oh, how dreadful - people are reading (e-)books they enjoy rather than what journalists tell them they should be reading to impress their friends." In response, Sarah at Smart Bitches says, "Read what you like, then read more of it, and go on with your badass self."

- Flavorwire lists ten great science fiction books for girls. (Our resident sci-fi experts tell me some of them might be better suited for women.)

- Check out 1book140, a global Twitter book club that's reading graphic novels this month.

- Author Jennifer Lynn Barnes explains why dystopian YA is so popular, at Romantic Times (via Regina Griffin).

THIS WEEK IN PUBLISHING

- Hate marketing? Join the club. And thank Elana Johnson for her guide to getting started.

- Erin Lange tells you how to get your book on TV.

- The ABA, Books-A-Million, and Indigo Books joined Barnes and Noble in refusing to carry Amazon titles.

- Agent Jennifer Weltz suggests the key to saving publishing is branding publishers to the consumer.

- The SFWA removed Dorchester Publishing from its list of qualifying markets.

- Random House will raise prices, but will offer e-book lending of its titles to libraries.

- Author S.M. Johnston has tips for bloggers doing interviews.

- Three literary agents on how to navigate a changing industry.

- GalleyCat suggests five G+ profile traps to avoid.

- Agent Steve Laube walks writers through the four stages of editing; Erin Bowman takes it from the writer's perspective.

- Nathan Bransford stirs the pot with "Do Writers Give Up the Right to Be Casual Reviewers?" complete with shoutout to our own Phoebe North.

- Trying to get your foot in the door? Interns reveal the secrets to a query that knocks. the socks off agent Susan Hawk; agents from Curtis Brown explain how to make a strong first impression (the right way, not the crazy way).

- Author Diana Peterfreund points out that after our big internet kerfuffles, nothing really changes.

- What agent Sarah Davies is seeing in her inbox, and what she'd rather have.

- When should you call an agent? Rachelle Gardner says if s/he's yours, whenever. If not: never.

- Emma Straub tells authors how to be an indie bookseller's dream (hint: be nice; bring candy).

THIS WEEK IN CONTESTS

- The lovely and talented Tahereh Mafi has a gigantic book giveaway going!

- Win a critique from new literary agent Gemma Cooper!

THIS WEEK IN OTHER STUFF

- It seems Pinterest and Tumblr both reached the tipping point this week, at least in the publishing community. The Millions has a list of great book-related Tumblrs to follow (obligatory link to YA Highway's here!); GalleyCat has a book lovers list for Pinterest. Meanwhile Social Beat revealed how Pinterest is making money off your links.

- Rookie gives readers a guide to escaping a bad romance.

- Lego will meet with the SPARK movement to discuss the stereotypical marketing of their products for girls.

- A Wisconsin student was suspended for teaching a classmate to say "hello" and "I love you" in Menominee, a Native American language.

THIS WEEK IN THE RANDOM

Lana Del Rey + Hunger Games =

Punctuation humor

Have a great weekend!

Getting Old. Writing Young. Staying Sane.

2012-02-09T12:47:00.000-05:00

As I get older, I realize how far out of touch I am getting with what's "hot" and "now." Some days I feel completely in the dark. (Mom, I now know how you felt when you had to learn how to use a computer in your 40's!)

Technology is moving so fast, something is "out" even before it's "in" so how in the world do we account for this while writing for young people? Do we have them use iPads and iPods and Twitter and Facebook, knowing that in a few years, those things may be totally obsolete? Cell phones have progressed from devices you use to make calls, to things that control your garage doors and home security, for goodness sake. It seems we are all about convenience, so what will be next? Jetson style insta-meals and hovercars? (See, I totally dated myself right there. How many teens even know who the Jetsons are!)

I'm am very curious to know, for those of you who write straight up contemporary, how do you decide what to include to make your story feel "real" but relevant?

Road Trip Wednesday # 116: Jinx--that was MY idea!

2012-02-08T07:30:00.000-05:00

source

Welcome to our 116th Road Trip Wednesday!

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway'scontributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer iton our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and geteverybody's unique take on the topic.

We'd love for you to participate! Just answer the prompt on yourown blog and leave a link in the comments - or, if you prefer, you can includeyour answer in the

comments.

This Week's Topic:

What SNI were you psyched to work on, but discovered it was too close to something already done?

Road Trip Song of the Week:

Ironic by Alanis Morissette

Fun Things To Do With Books (other than reading them)

2012-02-07T09:00:00.000-05:00

Break out that glue gun and dig around the junk drawer for an exacto knife (and if you're anything like me, band-aids. Lots of band-aids.) There's no better way to procrastinate writing than by crafting. Besides, if you're incorporating books into said crafting, it's not really procrastinating, right? Right.

Warning: This is not for the faint of heart. If seeing a book in pain--no matter how old and falling apart--gives your heart palpitations, you might want to click away. But if your love of books has you bursting at the seams and you want to show off your love of literature in some crafty way, proceed.

Check out the tutorial here.

We're all familiar with the secret compartment book. You take a book, carve out a good chunk of the pages on the inside, and have a nifty little place to store your valuables. Which is all fine and good. But if you're going as far as to shred the book's insides, the least you can do is give it a little facelift on the outside. I'm a big fan of Alice in Wonderland so this one quickly caught my eye.

If your writing desk is feeling a little stuffy why not add some greenery by making these awesome book planters?

I don't know about you guys, but my kindle has become my go to for reading. I lost my car keys the day before we headed out on a four day drive to our new home. I shrugged. I lost my kindle for twenty minutes and my tears could've filled the Atlantic. But sometimes I long for the book 'smell' and the feel of actually holding one in my hands. Enter the Hardcover Kindle Book Cover.

And, finally, if the thought of inflicting damage to a book makes you cringe, here's some cool DIY book stands (the instructions are for iPads, but with just a smidge of tinkering they'll work great for hardcovers or e-readers.

Got any crafty book ideas you want to share? List 'em below!

Why Starting Over on a WIP Isn't Exactly a Bad Thing

2012-02-06T11:16:00.005-05:00

So there you are, typing away at the first draft of your latest WIP, and something just doesn't feel right. Maybe you realize what it is; a lack of genuine voice, a character that you aren't quite sure you truly understand, a missing plot point that could fix all those things and more.

"I'll fix it during editing," you tell yourself for thousands, maybe tens of thousands of words, because damn it YOU WANT A FIRST DRAFT TO MAKE ALL SHINY AND PRETTY AND READY FOR GO TIME!

So you keep going, like a boss (because after all, the only way to bust out a crappy first draft is to just do it, right?). Even though you are getting through the story, you can't quiet the horrible nagging feeling that tells you the book could need some serious reconstruction during the first round of editing, and of course 'reconstruction' is a nice way to say 'I will probably be rewriting entire portions of the book.' It's a scary (and time consuming) thought, so you attempt to keep trudging on for the sake of making good time.

But once you come up with the perfect solution, the fix that has the power to mold your story into exactly what you wanted it to be, it can become very hard if not impossible to ignore. Then before you know it, you'll find yourself at a point where your gut instinct is telling you to start over.

START OVER?! But you just did months of preliminary work! You just wrote x-amount-of-words! WHAT A WASTE.

Except not. There's no denying that you needed to be led to that big 'aha!' moment somehow, and you just spent quality brain time exploring the characters and the story and the world. You are already familiar with the pieces, and now you've got the glue. Starting at zero words can seem really daunting and intimidating and even embarrassing, but you can bet all your pogs and Pokemon cards that it'll come easier to you this time.

And suddenly, a project that has had you scratching your head and losing sleep at night for months has the potential to be completed in a much shorter amount of time than you ever thought yourself capable of. So while you are technically starting over, you're really not, and you'll see the proof in your rapidly rising, brand new word count.

Of course first drafts always suck, but don't let that rule let you slip into a lazy daze that will leave you with a revising list so long and detailed you feel as though you are about to start over anyway.

-Have you guys had any experiences, good or bad, with starting over on a WIP after you've already put a fair amount of work into it?-

Writing + baby = ?

2012-02-04T07:41:00.000-05:00

Sleep? Meh. Sleep is for amateurs.

So, you’re having one of those things, you know, those ‘baby’ things, and you’ve heard a rumour they take up quite a lot of time, but you want to keep writing? And you’re wondering if that’s even remotely possible? Well, it’s definitely possible. However, there are a few things worth knowing.

Babies will not conform to your schedule.
In fact, they don’t know what a schedule is. I learnt this one early. I had everything planned out, you see. I was going to start my maternity leave six weeks before my due date, and I was going to spend those six weeks writing like a madwoman and finish a draft that I’d been working on forever. And also I was going to write approximately ten thousand blog posts and schedule them in advance, for those tricky early months. Because, you know, I was realistic. But as it turned out, my kid was one step ahead of me. I got a week into my maternity leave and made some progress on the draft. And then? Then she arrived, five weeks early. The best plan is probably not to make a plan. Just wait and see what happens.

Be adaptable!
I seriously cannot emphasise this enough. In order to get writing to fit around a baby, you might have to write in new places, by different means and at weird times. Pre-baby, I was pretty fussy about when and where I wrote. After baby, well. I discovered the fine art of one handed typing while nursing the baby with the other arm, and scribbling things in precariously balanced notebooks while nursing the baby with the other arm. (You’ll notice a common theme here.) I started getting used to this, but remember what I said before about my baby being one step ahead of me? She got distractible. She started trying to steal my pen if I was writing in a notebook and helping me type if I was on the laptop. (Literary ambitions start young, apparently.) Then she got so distractible that feeding her off to sleep meant spending huge chunks of my evening in a darkened bedroom. Not particularly conducive to productivity. So I started taking my ipod touch in with me and making notes on there. And writing things at crazy late night hours after she’d gone to bed. (I try to take advantage of naps too, but my baby isn’t all that into napping. If she naps long enough for me to write something, that’s a bonus.)

Expect things to happen at a slow pace.
This might not be the case for everyone. However, when you haven’t had much sleep, when there are piles of washing in strange places all over the house, when there’s a little person who needs to be held, you may find that other things slip ahead of writing on your priority list, such as, you know, eating and showering. It is worth trying your very best to write something every day, even if ‘something’ means one sentence. But you might not even manage that. That draft I was talking about before, the one I wanted to finish before I had my baby? Well, my baby is seven and a half months now, and I’m still working on it. Is it worth beating yourself up over slow progress? Absolutely not. And there's a reason for that.

Your baby will be more incredible than you ever thought possible.
No really. They will be. I promise. Whether or not you admit to it, you'll probably find yourself spending a lot of time staring at them in wonder and thinking, I made that thing? Seriously? When you think of all the many years you and your child have together, there are plenty of years ahead when they'll be bigger and less needy, when they'll come home from school and stomp off to their bedroom, and suddenly, you'll remember the baby creature with its wide eyes and tiny hands, the one you held in your arms for hours on end. Even if it seems epic at the time, babies don't stay babies for long. So enjoy them. Make sure you put down your pen and turn off your computer and give them as much love as possible. It might seem counterproductive, but it's the opposite. Your baby will give you more inspiration than you ever thought possible.

Field Trip Friday: February 3, 2012

2012-02-03T08:00:00.000-05:00

THIS WEEK IN WRITING

- SCBWI's Winter Conference concluded on Sunday, and even if you weren't able to attend, you can pick up loads of information at their conference live blog.

- There's no one right way to write, but author Kimberly Derting shares the tips she's picked up along the way.

- Author Malinda Lo has a great post on writing about lesbians when you aren't one.

- "There will always be people around to beat me down, set my expectations, explain 'the brutal reality' to me. But, you know – I don’t need to be one of them." Author Kameron Hurley on avoiding self-sabotage.

- Author Zoe Marriott tells you how to kill cliches.

- How letter writing can change your life: Join author Mary Robinette Kowal for the "Month of Letters Challenge."

- Mike at Big Sur Fiction Writing Workshop asked us to let you know that there is still time to sign up for the March 2-4 workshop!

- Should you be writing? Check this handy flowchart from The Writer's Den.

- Jeff at Boys Don't Read says, "[I]n fiction, being realistic just isn't that important." See also: Iconic writers on truth versus fiction (via Cleolinda Jones).

THIS WEEK IN READING

- Debbie Reese continues to be a force of nature in covering the Tucson situation. Not sure why it matters? Read this amazing post by our friend Samantha Mabry, who also pointed out the Librotraficante effort, which they're describing as "Wet Books: Smuggling Banned Books Back Into Arizona." Sherman Alexie, one of the authors banned, says, "In the effort to vanish our books, Arizona has actually given them enormous power. Arizona has made our books sacred documents now."

- Lisa Asanuma wants you to share the love this Valentine's Day by buying books!

- Cynthia Leitich Smith reports on the Dolly Gray Children's Book Award, given to excellent portrayals of individuals with disabilities.

- Can bells and whistles save the book? Dubious Laura Miller is dubious.

- Lots of Hunger Games news this week, including a game that's "Oregon Trail minus the dysentery, plus murder," 9 "untold secrets" of the cast, and of course, a new trailer!

- In other movie news, Beautiful Creatures announced its first casting decision!

- The Story Siren announces the results of her "Best of 2011 Debuts" voting (yay Divergent!).

THIS WEEK IN PUBLISHING

- Blogger and librarian Kelly Jensen has a nuanced assessment of ARCs, ethics, and speaking up. Librarian Jennie at Biblio File is horrified by the behavior of a few bad apples, and author Colleen Mondor says, "[W]hat about reading thoughtfully and writing well and, I don't know, supporting our damn libraries?"

- Interesting account of the evolving roles of agents and editors: Former editor Rebecca Carter makes the move to agenting in order to be more "involved in the flow of ideas and working on the text." (via @drydenbks)

- The Intern has an eye-opening look at the reality of negotiating a book contract without an agent.

- Agent Rachelle Gardner cautions that book contracts are not always about the money.

- A book proposal? For fiction? Sometimes you have to write one, but don't be scared-- our girl Marquita Hockaday has you covered.

- Sometimes editors are wrong: check out the real-life rejections received by a book now racking up accolades.

- Barnes and Noble announced it will not stock books published by Amazon.

- The Nelson Agency announces their solution to agenting in the e-book landscape.

- BEA is adding a day for children's books this year!

THIS WEEK IN OTHER STUFF

- How old does Google think you are? The Washington Post has more explanation.

- A study finds blogging is actually therapeutic for teenagers.

- Jonah Lehrer at Wired considers the inconsistency of genius (oh Bono, Spiderman?) and how we identify good ideas (via Sarah Enni, via Molly O'Neill).

- Researchers claim to have discovered the most annoying tweet in the world, but they forgot the "buy my book!" part.

- Must-read article from Rolling Stone: "One Town's War on Gay Teens." (Trigger warning for cutting and suicide.)

THIS WEEK IN CONTESTS

- Query critiques, books, gift cards and more from S. M. Johnston!

- Win a custom cutie from S. B. Rodgers!

- Melodie Wright needs your help spreading the word about a pitch contest with agent Tricia Lawrence!

THIS WEEK IN THE RANDOM

You knew it was coming: The Inevitable Sh*t Agents and Editors Say

And of course Kristin Bell's sloth meltdown was everywhere this week, but YA Highway has a well-documented love affair with sloths, so we have to include it.

Have a great Superbowl weekend-- and if you're not a football fan,
you can always go behind the scenes at Puppy Bowl. :)

When Book Reviews Get Personal

2012-02-02T05:00:00.000-05:00

One thing book reviewers and authors – as well as Goodreads itself – seem to agree on: too-personal reviews aren't okay. The most accepted definition of too-personal seems to be slamming an author's appearance, race, sexuality, or other factors they can't control -- and that have nothing to do with his/her book.

But what about factors the author can control – like religion, political leanings, and friendships? Are those fair game? What about where the author lives, grew up, or went to school, or what they do for a day job? Extracurricular activities? Taste in music, other books, desserts?

Or should readers evaluate a book in a vacuum? Should it be judged solely by the contents between its covers – not how and where and why it came into existence, and by whom?

In one sense, certainly. A book should be able to stand on its own, out of the context of its creation. However, elements like an author's background and beliefs absolutely impact what an he/she writes. So shouldn't they be fair game in the thoughtful discussion of his/her books?

(Emphasis thoughtful.)

It's interesting to think about, at any rate. Either way, there's one thing to keep in mind. What the majority of authors reveal online is just one facet of themselves; a persona composed of carefully selected life-slices. Some authors share quite a bit, while others share very little. But in every single case, there's a whole lot more behind the curtain.

Where's the line between not personal, personal and too personal in book reviews?

RTW #115: Best Book Of January

2012-02-01T01:06:00.000-05:00

source

Welcome to our 115th Road Trip Wednesday!

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

We'd love for you to participate! Just answer the prompt on your own blog and leave a link - or, if you prefer, you can include your answer in the comments.

This Week's Topic: What was the best book you read in January? Road Trip Song of the Week: “Turn The Page" by Bob Seger

We All Get Them Eventually: Sagging Middles

2012-01-31T09:33:00.000-05:00

It’s funny how life imitates art.

Yes, I’m talking about sagging middles today. Why is it that middles are more susceptible to the gravitational pull of the earth? You’d think, tucked neatly between things, they would be able to retain their composure and firmness, but in fact, they use the beginning and end as a support so they can just let it all go and hang limply between without putting in any real effort.

As in life (my middle may be a bit more saggy than when I was 20) this is true with our writing.

Beginnings are fun, right? All that newness, introducing characters and getting to know them, the hints at plots and building everything up in interesting ways. FUN.

Endings, well, here is the chance to tie everything together in a way that makes readers go HOLY CRAP! Awesome! Things are resolved, we get to see the characters we’ve fallen in love with achieve something, and we walk away feeling satisfied. **

So why are the middles so hard?

Because this is where everything happens to get us from the beginning to the end. (Duh right, so why is it so hard?) This is where the stakes build, but maybe not in as an exciting manner as at the end. This is where we get to know the characters. What they think. Why they act the way they do. Their hopes dreams, habits, ticks, failures. If a novel was a cake, this would be the icing between layers. (And how boring would a cake be without all those delicious layers, right?)

I usually have to have some kind of rough outline, or my middles drag on the ground. How about you? How do you get past the dreaded sagging middle? (sit-ups aside)

** Yes there are those books that have less than stellar endings and you walk away shaking your head and mumbling like an insane person, but for the sake of this post, we’ll pretend they all end in a satisfactory manner. ;)

Setting: It's in the Details

2012-01-30T23:05:00.001-05:00

Artist

I've been writing a short story lately and have enjoyed drawing from my own travels as I've developed and described the story's setting. One thing I've been aware of as I've been writing is conveying the beauty of the setting in a unique and meaningful way so that my characters connect to their Place. Additionally, a few recent photo series (such as this one and this one) got my creative-setting-juices flowing and reminded me how a great setting is in the details.

To create those details, I've been thinking heavily on the themes and ideas Place can inspire. My short story relies heavily on a street name and one word in a foreign language to bring about a transformation in my main character. That one detail grows into something rich that defines the entire story, becomes and connects the main character to her Place in a way that can't be torn asunder. Setting can be powerful that way.

We've all heard the phrase "can't see the forest for the trees," but sometimes it's important to slow down and really look at those individual trees. What kind are they? What lives in them? What treasures can be discovered--physically, emotionally, thematically--in those trees? Is the bark smooth, is it shaggy, is it peeling away? Those very different descriptions can parallel the journey your main character is going through. Peeling bark can hint at a character peeling away an old identity to reveal the new, improved (or not so improved) layer underneath, for example. Making connections like these helps ground your character in her or his Place and creates a character out of the setting, enriching the story as a whole.

I think to Charlotte Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper as a particularly excellent example of a single detail playing a major thematic role in a story. While a woman lies in confinement, she becomes obsessed with the pattern in the wallpaper, convinced it holds all manner of horrors. The color, the pattern and the smell all "contribute" to her descent into madness. Truly, it is nothing but paper, but the rich way the paper is manipulated turns it into a character, into something with reaching fingers, with prison-bars and the ability to carry themes (early feminism, depression, gothic horror, a critique of 19th century medicine) that help define the story.

Which books do you think effectively used setting as a character, as a thematic device, as a parallel to the character(s)' journey?

How I Tripled My Daily Wordcount with Google+

2012-01-28T09:00:00.017-05:00

I've long been a social media early adopter--friendster, myspace, facebook, you name it--I was right there at launch. That was the case for Google+, too. I grabbed an invite on Day 1 and quickly began filling my circles with friends from across the kidlit industry.

Many people have dismissed Google+ as a facebook rip-off. I can't deny that it shares much of the same functionality--the front page of content (called here a "stream," rather than a "feed"), the connectivity and interactivity. So far, in my six months of using G+, I've come to like it more (the privacy management can't be beat), but until recently I could understand why users--writers included--dismissed G+ for the older service.

But recently something changed--I began to use one of Google+'s most unique features--and my daily writing output nearly tripled.

Normally, my writing day moves in skips and stumbles. I write a little bit, surf the internet a little bit, chat on IMs, write a little bit more. Over the course of a day, I typically averaged somewhere between 800 and a thousand words. At times, I've used word racing over IMs with other writers to encourage myself to focus, but it wasn't something I particularly enjoyed. I would have just as soon wrote alone as I would have with a partner.

But lately, some writer friends and I have been using Google+ hangouts to host "write-ins." During these two- to five- hour blocks, we alternate between dedicated writing time and socializing. This videochat face-time has proven to be a major boon.

Because I can be pretty extroverted, you see, even though I'm also fairly shy. Gabbing with friends refreshes and energizes me. And let's face it; writing is a solitary profession. Worse, it's been several years since I lived close enough to other writers to meet them for coffee, gossip, and work.

Hangouts have been the perfect solution. During a write-in, my friends and I will settle in--gathering coffee, catching up. Then I'll wind up my bright red kitchen timer for anywhere from a half hour to forty-five minutes. While we work, we can still see one another, though we usually mute our microphones and turn down the volume on our laptops. We type away, and since we can see each other at a glance, we all feel fairly accountable. I know when my writing friends have begun to shop on amazon (and they know when I've begun to gawk at goodreads). I've found that this extra level of accountability really helps me focus in a way that word racing, the #amwriting hashtag on twitter, and even turning off my internet never really has.

Also helpful are the spaces in between writing, when we gab and gossip and share our story frustrations and publishing fears. This chance to connect with fellow writers, even across vast distances (today I wrote with writers in Canada and Ireland!) is a great reward, one which makes the very endeavor of writing feel a little less solitary and a bit more social. Writing is now like going to work--with coworkers who I really, really like. I look forward to our little writing dates, even if the majority of our time together is spent furiously typing while making goofy faces.

As you can imagine, my productivity has soared. I've tripled my average output. Where, once, I meandered along at 800 words a day, I now reach 2500-3000 words--and usually over the course of just a few hours. Best of all, that time spent writing feels fun, even effortless. Rather than ripping myself open and bleeding out every precious word, I now spend that time breezing along.

So if you've been skeptical about what, exactly, Google+ is good for, you might want to give hangouts a try. A meeting of the minds has never been easier--or, in my experience, more productive.

Field Trip Friday: January 26, 2012

2012-01-27T08:00:00.000-05:00

THE BIG NEWS THIS WEEK

Depends on who you ask. Techies would say Apple's "mind-bogglingly greedy and evil licensing agreement" deserves the nod (over 600,000 copies of iBooks Author were downloaded in one week). Folks who studied Latin American lit and care about censorship (oh hai) would vote for Debbie Reese's continued coverage of Tucson Unified School District's closing of Mexican-American Studies programs. Twitter would say Steven Colbert's interview with Maurice Sendak; Tumblr might say The Boston Phoenix's evaluation of gender bias in NPR book coverage.

But hey, you wouldn't know the biggest awards in children's literature were handed out this week, because The Today Show decided not to cover it again this year.

THIS WEEK IN WRITING

- What Project Runway taught Veronica Roth about explanations.

- Another great post in Nova Ren Suma's "Turning Points" series: Saundra Mitchell reminds us that you can always walk away.

- Author Lenore Appelhans describes how book blogger have benefited her writing.

- Writer's Relief lists ten common myths about writing for children.

- Mitali Perkins has a great list of question to ask about telling the story of a "less-powerful" child.

- Is Jodi Meadows insane for deleting her 75K book draft? Not really.

- Lesbian books, or books about lesbians? Author Malinda Lo looks at categorization and labels.

- Maggie Stiefvater presents "Rough to Final" posts from ten author friends.

- Libba Bray on industry awards, gratitude, and never really knowing anything about writing.

- Do your characters have Disappearing Wound Syndrome? Kieryn Nicolas at the YA Lit Six says people don't miraculously heal in two pages.

- Why Megan Whaley Turner isn't telling you anything.

- Erin Bowman has a great tutorial about outlining in Scrivener.

- Nick Mamatas has ten pieces of advice that writers should stop giving (via Cleolinda Jones).

THIS WEEK IN READING

- If you follow us on Tumblr *cough*, you may have seen this link to Capitol Couture, a pretty amazing Hunger Games fashion site.

- Publishers Weekly takes one for the team, tallying up the 5 books that inspire the most tattoos. (You can safely peruse that link without fear of coming across any scary Edwards.)

- Fourth-graders in Massachusetts are asking Universal to please, please not lose the message of Dr. Seuss's The Lorax on screen.

- Flavorwire picks ten legendary bad girls of literature and ten cult literary traditions for die-hard fans.

- Stacia Ward Kehoe notices a correlation between awards and covers that aren't photo-illustrated (via Kelly Jensen).

- Check out this crazy enormous Lord of the Rings family tree (via Bookish).

- Want to share your YA love on Facebook? Epic Reads has some cool banner images for you to use.

- Margaret Atwood talks to The Guardian about the making of, and reaction to, The Handmaid's Tale.

- More fun recognition for YA Highway contributor Veronica Roth: Divergent made the 2012 Amelia Bloomer list for feminist literature, and a quote from her book was the second-most shared on Goodreads in 2011!

- Nominees for the NAACP Image Awards in Literature were announced-- scroll down to find their children and YA categories-- and the Rainbow Project named their 2012 Rainbow List for GLBTQ books for teens.

- Important post from Kelly Jensen at Stacked: Some of her favorite books of the year weren't in the running for ALA recognition this year, and it's because she, and we, failed to nominate them. Did you know you can nominate books for the Printz? I didn't. But I won't forget next year.

- Nominated but still didn't make the cut? Lisa Schroeder says lists are nice, but...

THIS WEEK IN PUBLISHING

- Do you need a social media intervention? Angela Ackerman has a therapy session broken down by problem platform.

- Where are you on the hierarchy of book publishing? (My favorite part: 46). Laura Miller when she is cranky. 47). Laura Miller when she is not cranky.)

- The HuffPo picks 7 of the best author websites, including Rick Riordan, Amy Krouse Rosenthal, and Jay Asher.

- Want to be an editor? Find out how Martha Mihalick got her spot at Greenwillow Books.

- General PSA: If your book is on Goodreads and its data comes from Amazon, you need to get that fixed asap. (via Cleolinda Jones)

- How do bestseller lists work? The Sacramento Bee explains.

- Agent Jennifer Laughran on the fine art of zipping it (aka the tone of your social media should match the tone of your work).

- 25 things writers should know about agents, from the terrible mind of Chuck Wendig.

- The Passive Voice reports some problematic terms in the Amazon/Penguin Breakthrough Novel Contest.

- Author Media lists 44 helpful Twitter hashtags for writers.

- Author Lauren DeStefano fights back against the idea that weight is tied to success.

- Lots of discussion this week about piracy, as the failure of SOPA/PIPA didn't stop the government from shutting down Megaupload and striking fear into similar services. Meanwhile Fast Company goes behind the scenes to "unmask" a digital pirate on Amazon (via Victoria Strauss).

- Celebrate your friends' successes as your own, because their new contacts are now yours too! Lisa Iriarte on the green-eyed jealousy monster (via Amy Boggs). On a related note, Rachelle Gardner shares that agents are also not immune to a little jealousy; Jodi Nelson Call laments eviscerating internet culture in "We Hate When Our Friends Become Successful" (via Myra McEntire, who I do not hate for becoming successful).

- NPR reports that publishers and booksellers see a "predatory" Amazon; Josie Leavitt hears the news about Amazon's deal with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and asks, "What fresh hell is this?"

THIS WEEK IN OTHER STUFF

This is a real thing! That
apparently happens! Near me!

- Not gonna lie: It was pretty fun watching the New Yorkers on my Twitter feed complain that they are ranked number 22.5-- tied with Austin, Texas-- on this list of most literate cities. (What's that? Tulsa was number 21? *slow smile* must. control. self.)

- Still missing Hedwig? Snowy owls are all over the US this winter, so you have a decent chance of spotting one!

- Faber has set up "The Spark," a YA online community that will offer fans a chance to star in book trailers, compose music, create artwork, and write themed short stories all relating to YA books.

- We all love our iThings, but is our love for all things Apple worth exploding Chinese factories and fatal job conditions?

- Fantastic story about one teacher's extraordinary and successful effort to reach a problem student (via Mike Mullin).

- Monty Python! Together again! Sort of! (via @NYDNBooks)

- I love, love, love this post from Karen Rivers: "How To Forgive Yourself."

It is the moment when, instead of writing it down, or talking to your reflection, you allow yourself to let go. No, that's wrong. That makes it seem like the things themselves want to be released, but you are holding them back. They are stuck to you with barnacle-like tenacity. It's not that you have to let them go. It's that you have to make them leave, pry them off one by one.

THIS WEEK IN CONTESTS

- Win an Apocolypsies starter pack that includes Born Wicked, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Reunited, and Starters, plus lots of great swag!

- You can win a query critique from Jodi Meadows at YAtopia!

- Win a copy of Kody's next release, A Midsummer's Nightmare!

- Bridge the Gap is offering a "scholarship" for LGBT/Allies-- you are encouraged both to apply and to bid on their auction items.

THIS WEEK IN THE RANDOM

Remember how last week I linked a sneak peek of the Twilight musical? Um... this isn't it. But it does include highlights such as "Feed the Wolves," "Don't Cry For Me Jacob Black," and a vampire version of "Be Our Guest." (via Letters to Twilight, via... something, IDEK.)

This zebra was all over the web this week. I am embarrassed by how many of those
moves I recognize. (Kid 'n Play, anyone? Anyone?)

Presented without comment, with all thanks/blame on Kirsten.

Have a great weekend!
~ Kate Hart

1 Key to Writing Unpredictabl-Whoa, I Can't Believe That Just Happened!

2012-01-26T11:43:00.001-05:00

The following are excerpts from reviews of the most Awesomely Unpredictable (Imaginary) Book Ever:

"This book had me on the edge of my seat. It was so unpredictable…"
"I never knew what was going to happen next! I kept reading to find out…"
"First I was like, whoa! And then I was like, WHOA! And then it was like, WAIT I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT JUST HAPPENED THAT'S AWESOME."

Don't those sound great? I want to read that book. (If only we all had membership cards to the Imaginary Library…)

So how do you make YOUR book unpredictable?

There's anticipation (building things up so the reader actually cares about what happens). There's presentation (putting events or developments out there in a way that makes them irresistible and intriguing). There's freshness (thinking up elements of plot that haven't been done over and over - tricky!). Another key aspect of writing an unpredictable book, one that I think deserves a little more attention, is sense-making-ization (writers can make up words, right?).

It's not enough to throw any exciting event out there in the hopes that it will surprise the reader. Heck, it's really easy to do that.

Look! A cat with a gun! EVERYBODY RUN.

Central to book unpredictability is the anticipation and presentation of events that are surprising, but that make perfect sense and fit with the rest of the book. Otherwise, the reader is just like, "Huh? Okay, I guess."

Luckily, Thomas was able to wrangle the gun from the cat, and it soon returned to its cuddly, catnip-loving self.

The best way to unpredicta-fy the reader is to leave them thinking, "I can't believe it! But wait… OF COURSE. How come I didn't realize this was going to happen?" In this case, the reader never could have predicted it. Unless they were reeeeally paying attention. In which case, they'll feel smart and awesome for figuring stuff out… instead of bored, like they do when they read predictable books.

Speaking of predictable books, is predictability really such a bad thing? Not always, particularly when you're using ancient, well-loved tropes (if the good guy didn't prevail at least a little bit in the end, it would kind of suck). But surprising the reader, giving them something fresh and exciting and mind-bending, can never be a bad thing.

So go forth and write with surprise! Remember, only YOU can prevent forest fires... I mean, prediction.

What are some other ways to make a book unpredictable?

Road Trip Wednesday #114: Sayin' It

2012-01-25T05:30:00.000-05:00

Welcome to our 114th Road Trip Wednesday!

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

We'd love for you to participate! Just answer the prompt on your own blog and leave a link - or, if you prefer, you can include your answer in the comments.

This Week's Topic: Write a dialogue between two of your favorite YA characters Road Trip Song of the Week: “What Would You Say?" by Dave Matthews Band Next week’s topic:TBD

Cover Reveal: Kody Keplinger's A MIDSUMMER'S NIGHTMARE!

2012-01-25T00:30:00.000-05:00

We're excited to reveal the cover for our Kody Keplinger's third YA novel, A MIDSUMMER'S NIGHTMARE! It'll be published by Little, Brown/Poppy on June 5th, 2012.

Whitley Johnson's dream summer with her divorce dad has turned into a nightmare. She's just met his new fiancee and her kids. The fiancee's son? Whitley's one-night stand from graduation night. Just freakin' great.

Worse, she totally doesn't fit in with her dad's perfect new country-club family. So Whitley acts out. She parties. Hard. So hard she doesn't even notice the good things right under her nose: a sweet little future stepsister who is just about the only person she's ever liked, a best friend (even though Whitley swears she doesn't "do" friends), and a smoking-hot guy who isn't her stepbrother... at least, not yet. It will take all three of them to help Whitley get through her anger and begin to put the pieces of her family together.

Alternative Desk Ideas

2012-01-24T10:52:00.000-05:00

In On Writing, Stephen King talks about making the leap to being a professional author by buying himself a big 'ol honking desk, "the sort of massive oak slab that would dominate a room ... a T. Rex desk."

I imagine it looked something like this.

Problem was, putting that much emphasis on his writing upset the balance of his life (at the time King was in the midst of a six-year bender, so he wasn't able to appreciate the desk, or much else). Once he cleaned up, King swapped the T. Rex desk for something smaller that he put in the corner of the room.

Put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down to write, remind yourself why it isn't in the middle of the room. Life isn't a support-system for art. It's the other way around.
Stephen King, On Writing (p.94)

Not many writers can afford to go the T. Rex desk route, or claim much dedicated work space in their homes at all. But here are a few ideas for non-traditional desks that don't take up a lot of room, and will keep your inspiration going along with (not in spite of) your busy life.

The Offi Mag Table doesn't take up much room, and when flipped on its side it creates a great functional surface for a laptop or pen and paper right in front of the couch. Or use it with...

A professional massage chair might help those of us whose typing posture resembles the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Fewer back-aches mean more marathon writing sessions---and if you live with a family of Samaritans, they might take the bait and give you a massage while you're at it!

A portable kitchen island (like this IKEA version) gives you room for writing accessories on top, and research materials or your to-be-read list to be stored beneath. It's a mini-desk with storage options that you can wheel into a corner when writing time is over!

We've blogged before about the dangers of sitting down for long periods of time, and one awesome way to solve that problem (and get a truly multi-purpose work area) is to set up a treadmill desk. Lots of YA authors (including Courtney Summers and Jessica Spotswood) have changed their work space to be more active. And there are great tutorials online about how to construct a pretty cheap desktop onto your treadmill.

I don't think King was alone in dreaming of a dedicated room where writing would get the space it deserves. But it might not be the best idea to seclude yourself away from friends, family, the outdoors---all the things that inspire.

Got any other unique ideas for work space? Where do you write when you're at home?

CATS

2012-01-23T01:53:00.007-05:00

When I asked the YAH ladies whether I should write about something meaningful, or whether I should write about cats, the near-unanimous decision was, "CATS. I LIKE CATS."

So. About cats.

I have two of them. They are brothers, and they are pretty much the most adorable critters ever.

They are called Zuko and Caspian. Because I am a nerd.

They are extremely mischievous.

And if they weren't so adorable, they would probably drive me completely bonkers.

As it is, they already spend quite a lot of time driving me bonkers. They rip up my homework, and they eat things that cats have no business eating, and they've given me ringworm twice in six months.

But I love them anyway.

I never intended to be a cat-owner. I'm more of a dog person. But when I saw these little boys at the shelter, they wiggled their way into my heart and settled there until I took them home.

And that's kind of what happens with books.

(See what I did there? I made this post about writing, despite gratuitous pictures of kittens. BOOYAH.)

Sometimes a story worms its way inside you, despite everything. It doesn't listen to your insistence that I do not write fantasy or Sci-fi just isn't my thing or Eww, contemporary, NO... Sometimes, the story will claim you. You may think you are adopting a shiny new idea, but in reality, the story adopts you. And even when it drives you bonkers - even when you are slogging through that difficult middle section and you want to trunk it forever - it will not let you go. And you can't help but love it, despite all its problems. Despite the ringworm.

Field Trip Friday: January 20, 2012

2012-01-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

THE BIG NEWS THIS WEEK

You'll never guess what happened this week: People continued to argue on the internet! I know, right? Are you totally blown away by this completely unexpected development?

Yeah, me neither. So here. Guardian. PW. Stiefvater. St. Crow. Spotswood. Jones. Um... hilarious. Draw your own conclusions. And unless President Obama, Tina Fey, or God comments on reviewer/author relationships in the near future, we're done here, because in the meantime, Arizona school districts are closing Mexican-American Studies programs.

That means they're boxing up books by Sherman Alexie, Isabel Allende, N. Scott Momaday, Sandra Cisneros, Matt de la Peña, Jane Yolen, Howard Zinn, and even some guy named William Shakespeare. Oh wait, no, you can still teach The Tempest-- you just can't mention race, oppression, or "Natives."

Thank goodness for Debbie Reese, who has followed this issue closely; Elizabeth Burns at SLJ also has more links, Stacy Whitman has an honorary book list, and Democracy Now has a debate on the subject.

Meanwhile, Toni Morrison was pulled from an AP Literature class, and of course there were massive online protests against ill-advised censorship legislation. The NYT and CDT both have more; you can also get the simpler version at The Oatmeal, see whether your representatives support the bill, look at copyright violations committed by the bills' supporters, and check out Herpderpedia.

THIS WEEK IN WRITING

credit here and here

- First, do no harm: Rebecca Behrens writes a Hippocratic oath for revisions and rewrites.

- Author Janice Hardy explains how to use query writing as a plotting tool.

- Adam Heine looks at the difference between not screwing up a query and it being awesome (via Jodi Meadows).

- On the writing journey: Stephanie Sinkhorn gives you permission to feel your feelings, Sean Ferrell talks about the writer who never shows up, Harvard Business Review says to find happiness, forget about passion; Lindsey Roth Culli suggests you get out yer yardstick, and Delilah Dawson says the creative cycle will kill you-- but only if you let it.

- Francisco X. Stork wrote a moving "letter to a young author."

- Get a look at Saundra Mitchell's first draft and final pages from The Vespertine.

- "I identify with all of my characters. A writer has to do so if she wants her readers to identify with them as well." Judy Blume in Smithsonian magazine

- Has Word affected the way we work? Interesting article at the Guardian.

- Melissa Marr on "shelf hopping" between adult and YA.

- What's the first thing you should do when you open your computer? Advice from Seth Godin (via Livia Blackburne, whose name I'm pretty sure I've misspelled for about a year-- sorry, Livia!).

THIS WEEK IN READING

- Does writing your name in your books count as a prenup? "How to Say 'I Do' to Shared Bookshelves," at BookRiot.

- "I suspect that people who can't respect young adult lit also don't respect young adults. I suspect that people who belittle children's literature don't think much of children." Shannon Hale sticks her tongue out at last week's YA link bait article.

- Should publishers build apps for cars? If it works for NPR...

- Author Jennifer Weiner finds the gender balance in NYT reviews still leaves much to be desired. There was a response article at Salon, and rather than link it, I will send you to John Scalzi's assessment.

- Interesting conversation in this YA Speculative Fiction panel.

- "Some people sneer at me for reading so much YA, and I sneer right back at them, because they are caught in the artificial divide between 'children’s' and 'adult' literature." Why S.E. Smith loves YA, at xoJane.

- It's almost Printz time! SLJ has their mock competition up for votes.

- Congratulations to this year's Edgar Award nominees!

- YALSA launched "YALSA Academy" this week, a channel for librarians and library staff that focuses on teen services issues.

THIS WEEK IN PUBLISHING

- To survive publishing (or life), you need a Tina Fey to your Amy Poehler. (via Rachel Hawkins)

- Don't waste precious space telling me you're a mammal, says agent Janet Reid.

- Jessica Faust says yes, do mention if you've been previously agented.

- Sex and the Magic Secrets to Getting Published, from Torre DeRoche (via Jess Regel).

- Agent Victoria Marini has a helpful post: "All About Revision Requests."

- PW profiles self-published author Brittany Geragoteli's road to success, which started at Wattpad.

- Author A. C. Gaughen offers a debut checklist for new authors.

- Amazon's huge plagiarism problem

- Very interesting legal questions being raised by the success of Fifty Shades of Grey, an erotica series that began as a Twilight fanfiction called "Master of the Universe." (also, relevant comic is relevant.) (also also, you guys totally owe me for not posting the gif I found on image search for this one.) (I know you're totally searching for it now.)

- Speaking of fanfic, Nicole Cliffe at The Awl just read Clan of the Cave Bear for the first time and calls it "totally totally a legitimate description of a bangin' Cro-Magnon blonde successfully infiltrating a group of fugly Neanderthals and being all Katniss Everdeen." (See how we totally brought that back to YA? RELEVANT.)

- This week's requisite "Amazon will kill us all" article is at Pandodaily.

- Did you know Tumblr has an official book envoy? Okay, I made up her title. But Rachel Fershleiser is available to help authors, publishers, and other literary-type people.

- Your career's not over until you say it's over, at EvilReads.

- Jacket Copy reports Apple will announce a "Garage Band for ebooks."

- "Write faster" is just the tip of the iceberg: Veronica Roth gives you a glimpse into the reality of a publishing timeline.

- Are you going to ALA Midwinter this weekend? (The jealousy. It burnnns.) Samantha Mabry has your guide to downtown Dallas, and the lovely ladies at Stacked are hosting another ALA blogger meetup-- don't miss it!

- YA Fusion interviews Dandy Conway, a district sales manager for Random House Children's Books.

- Writer Unboxed has three ways to use Pinterest for book publicity (although I would check their TOS first).

- New blog alert: Let the Words Flow has transformed into the shiny new site Pub(lishing) Crawl; indie MG/YA authors band together over at The Indelibles.

- The trick to success, even in publishing, is developing relationships (at Forbes, via Jane Friedman).

THIS WEEK IN OTHER STUFF

- Lionsgate is acquiring Summit Entertainment, which means double the massive YA franchises for them. (Speaking of, Broadway World has exclusive photos from Twilight the Musical, there are rumors that the Twilight franchise will continue beyond the films, and a still of Katniss and Peeta before the Opening Ceremonies was released this week!)

- Daniel Radcliffe hosted SNL last weekend, including a skit revealing Hogwarts, ten years later.

- 20 heroic librarians who save the world, at io9 (via Alison Weiss).

- How sharing passwords is sort of like second-and-a-half base for teens, at the NYT.

- Latoya Peterson at Racelicious digs deeper into the social significance of the "Sh*t People Say" memes.

- "The Netherlands has done everything humanly possible to make teen sex and drugs seem dull." Why American teens should go Dutch, at FT Magazine.

- On America, Islam, and the Signing Line, from John Green.

THIS WEEK IN CONTESTS

- The YAmazing Race with MGnificient prizes, from The Apocalypsies!

- Win a spot on the Something Strange and Deadly blog tour!

- Win a copy of Caged Moon!

- The Write Dreams auction is raising money to help Donna's Dream House, a holiday home for children and teenagers with life-threatening or terminal illnesses that was recently burned by arsonists. Stop by and check out how you can help.

THIS WEEK IN THE RANDOM

Want more YA-related random? YA Highway is now on Tumblr!
I'm hoping to share links throughout the week to keep these posts more manageable, because they have gotten crazy long.

It's crazy how many of these are right: Predictions about 2011 from a 1911 newspaper.

Ever wonder what Lincoln looked like in color? Find out at Flavorwire.

via Neatorama (via Kaitlin Ward): Fotoshop by Adobé

The President's birthday wishes for Betty White's 90th:

I want to hug these Nerdfighters. (via Hank)

Have a good weekend!
~ Kate Hart

Review: Froi Of The Exiles by Melina Marchetta

2012-01-19T10:46:00.000-05:00

Australian cover, but I prefer this one!

Since this is a sort of sequel to Finnikin of the Rock, it's possible that there will be some Finnikin spoilers in this review, although I tried not to. So if you haven't read Finnikin of the Rock (p.s. why haven't you? Do it now.) and don't like to be spoiled...you've been warned. Finnikin of the Rock is one of my favorite books ever, so I just about died of excitement when I got Froi of the Exiles from Netgalley. And it didn't disappoint. Here's the summary, via Goodreads:

"Three years after the curse on Lumatere was lifted, Froi has found his home... Or so he believes...

Fiercely loyal to the Queen and Finnikin, Froi has been trained roughly and lovingly by the Guard sworn to protect the royal family, and has learned to control his quick temper. But when he is sent on a secretive mission to the kingdom of Charyn, nothing could have prepared him for what he finds. Here he encounters a damaged people who are not who they seem, and must unravel both the dark bonds of kinship and the mysteries of a half-mad Princess.

And in this barren and mysterious place, he will discover that there is a song sleeping in his blood, and though Froi would rather not, the time has come to listen."

First and foremost, I love great settings. And clearly, so does Melina Marchetta. All the places in this book are beautiful in their own way. Every single place in this book enhances the story. It wouldn't be the same book without these exact caves and palaces and forests and streams.

And the plot. Once it gets going (which doesn't take long), there's barely a second to breathe because things are just happening. Constantly. In a good way. I never knew how to feel about anyone. Their histories and motives and plans are revealed piece by piece, constantly evolving, and I was as confused as poor Froi about who could be trusted.

When I started reading this, my biggest worry was that I wouldn't like it because of Froi. He's the main POV character, as you can guess from the title (although, don't worry! There are bits from other POVs, too; Finnikin and other beloved characters from Finnikin of the Rock still have roles). Froi was a character I did not find quite so beloved in the first book. If you've read it, you know why. But in this book, I very much liked him. He struggles, but his heart is in the right place, and he does a lot of things right. I felt like I understood him.

The other new characters are wonderful, too. Especially Quintana, the Charyn princess. She's had it very rough, and it shows (the book summary is not joking when it refers to her as "half-mad"), but I really felt for her, and even liked her. The book summary also refers to the Charynites as "a damaged people" and that does pretty much sum up every single character in this book.

Which leads me to the only thing about this book: it's dark. Really dark. There is a lot of murder--or probably slaughter is more accurate, in some places--and a lot of rape. A. lot. To be fair, most of the rape that comes up happened in the past and is just still affecting people (for obvious reasons), so at least you're not witnessing it as the reader, most of the time, and it definitely was relevant to the world and was well-handled, but sometimes I had to take a break from reading because the bleakness started getting to me. I don't think it should deter anyone from the book (although if you find rape triggering, it may not be a good book for you. Also if you found Finnikin of the Rock too dark for your liking, or even almost too dark, you probably will want to skip this one), but it's a book to go into knowing that you'll be reading about more darkness than light. All in all, this book is wonderful, beautifully written, and well worth your time.

Sidenote: we are having a Highway Cafe chat tonight! See this post for more information, and hope to see you there!

Join Thursday's YA Highway Cafe Chat!

2012-01-19T00:36:00.000-05:00

HEY YOU!

YES, YOU!!

Come join us for our next Highway Cafe chat Thursday, January 19th at 6pm PST/9pm EST!

Follow @YAHighway on Twitter for the link & password. We'll tweet it before and during the chat.

Can't wait to talk books and writing with you!

YA Highway Is Against Internet Censorship

2012-01-17T21:00:00.000-05:00

YA Highway has chosen to skip RTW this week in protest of SOPA and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA).

If passed, these two bills would severely impact -- even devastate -- the internet as we know it, including websites like YA Highway. A few influential sites are blacking out entirely, such as Reddit, Matador, BoingBoing, and even Wikipedia (English). Other sites against the legislation include Etsy, eBay, Wordpress, Mozilla, Twitter, Tumblr, Google, LinkedIn, Craigslist, MoveOn, Metafilter, Facebook, AOL, and many more. On a personal level, piracy is a very real issue in the publishing industry -- but limiting our freedoms through SOPA and PIPA is not the solution.

From Wikipedia:

In late 2011, the United States Congress proposed two legislative bills, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), which legal scholars and others have advised have the potential to significantly change the way that information can be shared through the Internet. It is the opinion of the English Wikipedia community that both of these bills, if passed, would be devastating to the free and open web.

The White House came out against SOPA, and the bill was dropped by Congress this week -- for now. PIPA is still up for vote on January 24th.

HOW YOU CAN TAKE ACTION:

First Chapters

2012-01-16T07:00:00.000-05:00

Yeah. I think I'll be ready for this move.

I have a confession to make.

It’s been a few months since I actively sat down and put in any work toward one of my (million? gazillion? It’s just getting ridiculous now) SNIs. But I have a good excuse! As you’re reading this, my house is being disassembled, things stuffed into boxes and packed into trucks, ready to be shipped to Spain.

But the thing is, that’s really not much of an excuse. Sure, it’s a big life change. One we went through a few years ago when we moved to Germany. If anything, this move should be easy peasy *knock on wood* thanks to my awesome I-moved-our-entire-house-to-another-country badge and the abundance of what I learned the first time around.

Yet I’m still a nervous mess.

And my stories remain untouched.

First chapters used to be beyond easy for me. With little (okay, no) preparation, I’d type out the entire first chapter an hour or so after the SNI struck. Of course I’d come back to adjust things later on, but I could barely name the characters before diving right in. That’s how excited I was. So what’s the hold up this time?

Much like starting over in a new country, starting a new book is both exciting and a little terrifying.

Learning a new language. Meeting new characters.

Surviving a drive through downtown on itty bitty streets. Navigating your way through a plot hole.

With all things in this writing world, there are the ups and downs. And in good fashion, I hit a bump in the road a little over a year ago. I like to think I’m not too much of a pessimist and that I handled the not-so-great moment of losing my agent with some strength and grace. Besides, other people have made it much farther in the publishing process only to have the rug swiped from beneath their feet. I knew it wouldn’t be the end of my writing journey.

So why the long pause before diving back in? Because for the first time, I realized how much work it took to get to where I’d been. Finished, polished manuscript in hand. Someone who’d believed in it. Writing is a labor of love. There’s no time clock and no guarantees. No promises and no sympathy. And dammit, it can just be scary.

But this twenty-something woman who’d never called anywhere else home had gladly stepped onto a plane for the very first time to move to Europe three years ago.
And it was exciting and terrifying.

So when the question came up, when she helped make the decision to move back home or to go somewhere new, she didn’t think twice.

And she’s not going to put off her new book a second longer.

Well, maybe a few seconds. There is that whole four days in a car thing about to happen . . .

What fears do you have about writing, and what do you do to quiet the nervous butterflies?

Writer's Winter, Or: When Productivity Goes Into Hibernation Mode

2012-01-15T06:45:00.000-05:00

Did you know this year's winter only started a little over three weeks ago, on December 22nd? That means we have approximately nine more weeks of winter to go. That's nine whole weeks of colder weather, bare trees, and (possibly) lots of snow. Whoa, dude. Can we get a self-heating coat over here?

Lots of people love winter. When the snow is swirling and the hot chocolate steaming, I can totally see why! Most of the time, though, I'm one of those people wrapped up in multiple bed covers, wishing she didn't have to go outside to get to [insert destination that is not in the house].

I want to enjoy winter more. But often, looking outside, all I see are those poor bare trees - and I wish they could be green and lush instead. I see clouds in the sky, and I wish they could fade away to reveal a blazing summer sun.

Actually, the natural "stasis" of winter reminds me of the bouts of unproductivity we all go through sometimes as writers. When the words aren't flowing, or the revisions aren't sprouting, or the ideas aren't coming to life, its like we're experiencing a creative wintertime. And just like regular winter (at least in the US Northeast), this winter feels like it'll never end.

The important thing to remember is that it will. And even more important than that is to remember that winter has a purpose. In nature, it'd be impossible for trees to go from autumn to spring without a break in between. Trees don't die from December to March; they just take time to rest and conserve their energy during a time of less sunlight. It's during winter that the majorly awesome rebirth of spring is made possible.

So next time your productivity goes to hibernate, or if it's off in its cave right now, try not to worry too much. You will find a way to recapture it from the frozen hands of Old Man Winter - it's just a matter of time. And the best part is, in the process of ending your Writer's Winter, you'll kick off a whole new season: Writer's Spring. Gorgeous Flowers of Awesomeness, get ready to bloom from the pages of your novel!

You know what? Maybe winter, the season, isn't so bad after all. I think there's some hot chocolate mix in the kitchen...

A Long and Kinda Poetic Ramble about Story Truth

2012-01-14T02:03:00.007-05:00

I've been thinking about stories lately - mostly because I'm writing one. I've been thinking about all the little tricks we writers use to get those words on paper. Know your characters. Build your world. Find your theme. Write chronologically. Don't write chronologically. Edit as you go. Don't edit as you go...

But the problem with those tricks is that they're endless. You can listen to wonderful advice until your ears fall off, but the book is not being written.

I would never presume that I know the Ultimate Trick To Writing A Book, but in all my recent thinking and recent writing, I believe I've stumbled on a secret.

Are you ready?

Tell the truth.

"But wait," you say. "We're writing fiction. Fiction isn't truth. Fiction is the opposite of truth."

Okay. Let me explain.

Truth is one of those things that nobody seems to understand. One person will claim to know he Truth, while the other person will claim that Truth is something entirely different. Some people believe in Absolute Truth, and some people believe in Relative Truth, and some people believe that Truth should always be capitalized when one is writing a blog post about it. (Like me, apparently.)

But this post isn't about Universal Truth or Relative Truth or Absolute Truth. This is about Story Truth.

Even fictional things can be truthful. I'd argue that they must be truthful. Because you, the writer, have a particular Truth inside of you that no one else has noticed. You, writer, have seen things the way others have not. You smell the dairy farm down the street in a different way than your neighbor. Your scar looks rougher and pinker than your friend's even though you fell off your bikes on the same day, at the same time. You know all about the man who sleeps outside the coffee shop every day, because once you felt guilty and sat down to talk with him. No one else did that.

You have a Truth. A particular Truth. One that burns inside of you. And you must write it.

You know you want to. You're scared, sure - Truth is scary - but you are DYING to weave it into your story. You feel like your lungs might explode if you don't. The world may not keep spinning if you do not write about the man who sleeps by the coffee shop, the texture of scars, the scent of summertime cows.

Don't be afraid that it's insignificant. The simplest things can be the most profound. "Loneliness hurts." Yes. Simple, but profound. Write it. "Family is not about blood." Sure, maybe it's a little cliche - but it still moves me. Write it.

Tell the Truth. Wrap it up in story, because sometimes the fiction makes the true thing even more obvious.

"Curses can be broken." That is my personal Story Truth. What's yours?

Field Trip Friday: January 13, 2012

2012-01-13T08:00:00.000-05:00

THE BIG NEWS THIS WEEK

Hey, remember on that chart a few weeks ago, where I had "media discovering articles snarking on YA = best. linkbait. EVER"? Guess we'll be recycling that slice of pie this year: Alexander Nazaryan at the NY Daily News thinks the books written by our new National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, Walter Dean Myers, are "insipid" and "painfully mundane, with simple moral lessons built into predictable situations." And so on and so forth.

In addition to the many fine links collected at the School Library Journal, Stephanie Sinkhorn gives these comments the sideye, Alissa Grosso says literature is meant to be enjoyed, and Phoebe North links the accusations to criticisms of the recent dystopian trend.

THIS WEEK IN WRITING

- Love this post from author Juliette Wade, examining not just how the internet is a productivity trap, but why, with solutions tailored to those reasons.

- Ready to query? Check out Martina Boone's Pre-Flight Checklist for manuscripts.

- This post about "don't miss a moment" parenting is also applicable to writing: "Don't Carpe Diem."

- Author Malinda Lo wrote a thoughtful piece about being conscious about gender.

- How not to write about rape, from Jim C. Hines at Apex Magazine.

- Are acknowledgements insincere? Very interesting look at their development, at The Millions.

- Author Maggie Stiefvater posted a massive comparison of her rough and final drafts, with tips for authors.

- How just six words from a high school teacher gave author Dave Eggers "the moment that changed everything."

- Author Zoe Marriott on the roller coaster of drafting.

- Jealousy is a bad thing... sometimes. The lovely Gretchen McNeil vlogs about the importance of knowing your audience when bitching. (warning: video auto-starts.)

- You have fans! They love you! They want to know... all your identifying information? Author Charles Benoit with some words of caution.

- Author Allison Brennan on spearing the doubt monster.

- Beyond orcs and elves: Editor Stacy Whitman (who we also interviewed this week!) talks benefits and risks of writing cross-culturally.

- Get your best swoony scenes ready-- Oasis For YA is hosting the "That's YAmore" blogfest, just in time for Valentine's Day!

THIS WEEK IN READING

- Maybe the greatest thing ever: Author Jim C. Hines risks life and vertebrae to recreate the ridiculous poses of women on book covers.

- Lots of "best of" polls still in full swing: Be sure to vote on the YA Book Genre Battle at Most Important Letter, the Best of 2011 Debuts at The Story Siren, and check out the Morning News Tournament of Books.

- Why are love triangles so popular right now? Author Sarah Rees Brennan has the answer... starting with the 6th century.

- What the Occupy movement can learn from The Hunger Games, at Salon.

- The folks at Storycasting asked us to tell you about their book-casting community. Looks like fun.

- Was your copy of TFIOS unsigned? John Green tells you what to do.

- Oprah, being the BAMF she generally is, welcomed Beyonce and Jay-Z's new baby with a trunk full of children's books.

THIS WEEK IN REVIEWING

After last week's kerfuffles and drama, there was no shortage of perspective pieces regarding book reviews and authors. Agent Natalie Lakasil reminded everyone that these disputes are neither specific to YA nor anything new. Authors Julie Kagawa, Courtney Summers, and Highwayer Veronica Roth advised authors and reviewers to be cool; Elizabeth S. Craig and Highwayer Phoebe North both posted their own codes of conduct for author/reviewer interactions.

Kelly Jensen at Stacked draws a distinction between critical and negative reviews, and points out that "class never goes out of style." Dear Author has a great discussion in the comments of their (also great) post, "The Reader Author Paradigm." Author Lindsey Roth Culli suggests you "be better than the nasty," Sarah Fine points out that friends don't whip friends into a frothy meringue, Stacia Kane says, "Just cut it out," and Lynne Kelly says, "It's Not You, It's Your Book. Wait, Now It's You."

Also relevant: Twenty ways to get good karma; Meghan Daum on internet haterade culture (via Lazy Self-Indulgent Book Reviews); and Amanda Palmer's reaction to the "I Hate Amanda" thread on her own fan forum (tl;dr: she turned the negativity into art).

Sick of it all? Well, you can see which reviews are up for "Hatchet Job of the Year" (though none of them are as bad as this 2000 review: "Everyone has a book inside them - sadly James Thackara's escaped"). You could also check out these awesome parody reviews, or see your favorite TV characters as lit bloggers. And of course here is my extremely helpful take on the subject, courtesy of Amy Poehler:

THIS WEEK IN PUBLISHING

- Charts! American "Copy Culture" in a graphical look at digital piracy.

- Author Jody Hedlund gives advice on making friends without making them feel used.

- What if you get an offer from a publisher, and you've been rejected by every agent around? Jessica Faust at BookEnds gives advice.

- Hey, we need more Latino books! And Asian books! And... Mitali Perkins breaks down the numbers.

- Agent Rachelle Gardner reveals how long it takes for editors to respond to submissions.

- Should you use a pseudonym? Ask agent Kate Testerman... aka Daphne Unfeasible.

- Author Gayle Forman on choosing not to be bitter when her career took an unwanted turn.

- The NYT's "Why Authors Tweet" article was popular this week. The Guardian posted something similar a few days later.

- Publishers Weekly reports that Entangled Publishing is upping its print capability.

- Yes, yes, self-publishing benefits the author, but what about the reader? Chuck Wendig challenges self-pubbers to step up.

- Author Natalie Whipple explains the pros and cons of the option book.

- Sincerely? Yours? How do you close an email like a query letter?!? The Hairpin has some general guidance.

- 5 crazy ways to get book publicity, including tying tags to flies and tattooing sports figures with your name (via Sterling Books).

THIS WEEK IN OTHER STUFF

- How "Sh*t White Girls Say To Black Girls" blew up the internet, at Colorlines.

- The Frisky has 5 ways to get more culture (via the internet) this year.

- Google's newest search additions have other companies crying "unfair" (via Jenny Schwartz).

- Suuure, you can get a verified Twitter account... for the low, low price of $15,000. (Want to double your followers? Buffer has "7 Twitter Habits to Adopt.")

- Agent Sarah LaPolla separates the sitcom men from the girls.

- Highwayer Kody Keplinger posted at Poptimal this week, about the clichés of blind characters.

- "I know that there are a few things nobody talked me through, and that I want to talk through with you." Sady at Rookie extends a hand to rape and sexual assault survivors.

THIS WEEK IN CONTESTS

- Wanderlove! Get a copy of Kirsten Hubbard's fantastic sophomore novel over at Goodreads.

- The lovely Debra Driza is giving away a copy of Dawn Rae Miller's Larkstorm!

- YAtopia is hosting a pitch contest with Entangled Publishing!

~*~*Congratulations to Highwayer Kaitlin Ward, who is now represented by agent Sarah LaPolla!!*~*~

THIS WEEK IN THE RANDOM

Want.

Fontface poster at Typographical Warfare

And lo, the internets did fold unto themselves, and the world's worst fanfictions
were created. And it was not good.

Everyone and their dog retweeted this video this week, with good reason. I am now hoping the books in my living room get up to similar hijinks at night.

Cuteness overload: Baby sloths get a bath.

Have a great weekend!

~ Kate Hart

Publishing Interviews: Stacy Whitman, editor at Tu Books (Lee & Low)

2012-01-12T06:44:00.000-05:00

In our Publishing Interviews Series, we sit down with people on the other side of book publishing -- agents, editors, and more -- providing insight into industry happenings and just what goes into getting a young adult novel on shelves.

Today we welcome Stacy Whitman, editor for Tu Books, an imprint of Lee & Low!

FOR READERS

Whatmakes Tu Books special?

TuBooks focuses on fantasy, science fiction, and mystery for children and youngadults. What makes us special is that our mission is to diversify thesegenres—every book we publish features a person of color as the protagonist.

Whatbook do you think every teen should read?

The one that’s right forhim or her. There is no one book that would be the right answer for everysingle teen. The challenge—and the fun—of working in books for teens is makingsure there are choices out there for them, so that each person can find theright books for themselves, sometimes with the help of librarians, peers,parents, and other people who recommend books.

If you had to pin medown to an answer of one actual book, I’d say the Harry Potter books. At thispoint, perhaps that might be a cliche, but they were popular for a reason.They’re a cultural touchstone now, and even if the reader eventually ends updisliking the books, I think it’s good to try them out and see what all the fussis about.

Whatup and coming books/authors should we be watching for?

Ourfall books are on shelves in bookstores right now, or you can find them onlineon our site and at all major retailers.

Forspring, we’ve got a couple great books to look forward to:

CatGirl’s Day Off byKimberly Pauley (author of Sucks to Be Me)

Nat Ng’s Class D (as in dumb) talent oftalking to cats doesn’t measure up to what her super-Talented family can do:levitation, lie-detecting, chameleon-like blending into one’s surroundings.Nat’s Talent isn’t something they ever discuss, and she’d rather noone—ever—knew about it anyway.

Butwhen Nat’s celebrity-addicted best friends show her a viral Internet video of acelebrity blogger being attacked by her own cat, it’s only Nat who can see thetrue story—the blogger is an imposter, and the cat knows it. To find the realkidnapped blogger and prevent a murder or two, Nat and her friends must racethrough Ferris Bueller’s Chicago from movie set locations (such as WrigleyField) to the suburbs, accompanied by wise-cracking cats. Perhaps Cat Girlmight save the day after all!

Vodníkby Bryce Moore

When Tomas was six,someone—something—tried to drown him. And burn him to a crisp. Tomas survived, butwhatever was trying to kill him freaked out his parents enough to convince themto move from Slovakia to the United States. Now sixteen-year-old Tomas and hisfamily are back in Slovakia, and that something still lurks somewhere. Nearby. It wants todrown him again and put his soul in a teacup. And that’s not all. There’s alsothe fire víla, the water ghost, pitchfork-happy city folk, and Death herselfwho are after him. If Tomas wants to survive, he'll have to embrace the meaningbehind the Slovak proverb, So smrťou ešte nik zmluvu neurobil. With Death, nobodymakes a pact.

FOR WRITERS

Whatwould you love to see in your sub pile?

I’ve been looking for anAsian steampunk for about a year now. Get on it, writers! :) I’d also love tosee strong stories for middle grade girls, a voice that’s sometimes hard to getright. I’d love to see unique settings, inspired by real-world cultures butcreating new fantasy worlds. I’d also like to see more contemporary fantasyfeaturing characters of color, particularly African Americans.

What'syour best piece of advice for aspiring writers?

Find your voice. That’sreally the one thing an editor can’t teach when it comes to craft. I can givesuggestions for plot, characterization, pacing, worldbuilding, and all sorts ofother things, but voice is something that you have to find within yourself. Andthen work on those other things too, because of course the better it all flowstogether, the more likely I’ll be to want to work with that book. Oh, and whenit comes to submissions: be patient. Books may be transitioning to a fasterpace when it comes to ebooks, but the editorial process still takes time.

FOR INDUSTRY HOPEFULS

Howdid you come to be an editor?

It wasa long, long road of trial and error, actually. I grew up on a farm, raisinghorses and rabbits for 4-H and FFA. I started college as an animal sciencepre-veterinary medicine major, but due to my allergies, I had to admit that Icouldn’t sustain that as a career. I changed my major to human development withan emphasis in child development to stay in the same college and keep myscholarship while I figured things out. I loved my classes, but didn’t want tobecome a social worker, teaching preschool wasn’t for me, and the other optionsdidn’t sound appealing to me either. I worked my way through school, though, inpublishing-related jobs, typesetting college books, reporting for the localpaper, and so forth. Finally, after years dabbling in classes in otherdepartments, I took an elementary education children’s literature class as anelective, and it dawned on me: I could combine my experience in publishing withmy degree, add to it my love of books, and actually do something I loved! Itwas an epiphany.

Aftergraduating college, it still took a while to get the kind of editorial job Iwanted. I edited for a trade magazine, and decided to get a master’s inchildren’s literature. To work my way through grad school, I edited elementaryschool textbooks at Houghton Mifflin, and got further experience in children’slit interning at the Horn Book Magazine and Guide and working as a Barnes and Noble bookseller. Finally,several years after graduating from undergrad, I got my master’s degree inchildren’s lit and my first job in children’s literature as an associate editorat a children’s book imprint (Mirrorstone/Wizards of the Coast).

If Ihad been willing to move to New York and start again as an editorial assistantin children’s publishing (moving backward from associate editor at the trademagazine), I might have been able to do that rather than getting a master’s inchildren’s lit. But I don’t regret getting the master’s—it was the right thingfor me, and it helped me move laterally from one publishing industry toanother.

Whatare your most and least favorite things about the job?

Mostfavorite: working with authors, making their book the best it can be—especiallyat the developmental and line editing stages, when everything is fresh andexciting and I haven’t already read it five times. I love discovering somethingnew in my submission pile that really excites me enough to want to read it onthe train home, and continue reading when I get home. That is a rare enoughoccurrence that it stands out when it happens.

Leastfavorite: Cover, catalog, and other sales copy. I’m never really sure if I haveincluded spoilers or if the copy is persuasive and intriguing enough. But mosteditors I know hate cover copy, so I’m not alone.

FAST FIVE

Lastbook you read:

Variant by Robison Wells and Dust and Decay by Jonathan Maberry. (I never read just one bookat once.)

Onething you can't live without:

Modern technology. Iused to think I was born in the wrong century—my grandma used to say I have an“old soul,” and that I should have been born in the 40s or even the 1800s. ButI couldn’t give up my CDs/iPod/Hulu. Or indoor plumbing.

3words that describe the kind of books you want to edit:

Diverse

Enchanting

Hopeful

Ifyou could have one superpower, it would be...

Is there an “unendinghealth” superpower? I don’t mean eternal life. Just something that would getrid of these aches and pains and chronic things like allergies...

If youweren't an editor, you would be...

The ownerof a cat cafe, like the ones that are popular in Japan right now.

Thank you, Stacy!

You can read more about Tu Books, along with their submission guidelines here.

Road Trip Wednesday #113: Pseudonyms

2012-01-11T02:01:00.003-05:00

Welcome to our 112th Road Trip Wednesday!

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

We'd love for you to participate! Just answer the prompt on your own blog and leave a link - or, if you prefer, you can include your answer in the comments.

This Week's Topic

If you couldn't use your own name, what would your pseudonym or penname be?

Road Trip Song of the Week:
"That's Not My Name" by the Ting Tings

Some Thoughts on Naming Characters

2012-01-10T05:00:00.000-05:00

I LOVE NAMES.

I keep an Excel spreadsheet of names and surnames I like, so I have something to refer to every time a new character crops up. Seriously, I love naming characters. For the most part. On occasion, naming gives me grief, and hours upon hours of babyname.com procrastination still can't save me. But mostly, it's fun – and pretty fascinating, I think. Below, some rambletastic thoughts on naming characters.

Character after the name

This is the easiest naming stage for me. I might know a couple things about my book and my characters, but the less I know, the easier it is for me to name them.

Character before the name

The more I know about a character, the harder they are to name. Worst is when I've written most or all of a story, and have to change a major character's name for some reason; say, a book with some similarities to mine is using it already, or I realize it has unintended connotations, or I never really liked it in the first place.

I think it's mostly because names aren't ever in a vacuum – they come with a feeling, or multiple. They vary, depending on the sound, what they're similar to, who we've known with them, or read about with them, or seen on TV, and on and on. Sometimes, though, names come with a feeling based on nothing in particular. They excite us – or inexplicably rub us the wrong way.

(I would give an example, but I might inadvertently insults somebody's dear old aunt.)

So when I've already created a character, matching them to the perfect name is almost impossible, I find. I end up settling, and feel mildly unhappy about it. Fortunately, sometimes the character grows into the name during further revisions.

Choosing names by meaning

I don't do this, although I know other writers who do. It's pretty interesting to look up my characters' names after I've used them, though.

Unusual names

Guilty as charged. I'm always attracted to creative names, but I think the key is balance. Especially in a contemporary novel. If a character's name is truly unusual (… like Mandarin), it needs to be for a reason, and balanced out by "normal" names. When too many unlikely (though pretty on their own) names crowd a narrative, it's distracting and unbelievable.

Fantasy and future worlds often call for unusual names. However, there's definitely such a thing as too unusual. I love the names in Melina Marchetta's Finnikin of the Rock, because they're familiar, but with interesting spellings: Evanjalin, Finnikin, Isaboe. I love Kristin Cashore's names, like Katsa, Po, Brigan and Bitterblue. But I'm not a fan of the majority of Suzanne Collins' names in The Hunger Games trilogy: Katniss, Peeta, Gale, no. Though I do love Prim and Rue.

Names from the wrong era

Always something to think about. Names from our parents' and grandparents' generations (especially girl names) – even our own generation, depending on how old we are – often seem incredibly old-fashioned to teens. However, names from older generations are back in play. Twenty years ago, Emma, Ava and Abigail would have seemed passé, and now they're among the top ten most popular names in the United States. And in five years, that might change all over again.Which leads me to…

Super popular names

When I was in high school, a book featuring a Chris and Jennifer (and there were plenty) woukd have seemed uninspired. For the same reason, I try to steer clear of names like Madison and Emma – pretty much anything in the SSA's yearly top ten, actually – for main characters (side characters are fine). Even though they're unusual names for people my age, they might be overly familiar and generic-feeling for teens.

Then there are names less popular in the real world, but super popular in the novel world, particularly in YA. How many variations of Damien have we encountered in paranormal or urban fantasy?

How do you choose names? What are some of your all-time favorite character names? Are there any you can't stand?

Dabbling in a New Genre

2012-01-08T11:25:00.002-05:00

They say to write the books you love to read, right? Then why do many of us usually stick to a single genre instead of branching out to try new things?

There are a couple of good reasons- once you sell, it isn't as easy to genre-hop around at your leisure, especially if you're hoping to stay at the same publishing house/imprint. And getting a couple of books under your belt that are the same genre can definitely help strengthen your writing skills and help you find your voice.

Still, though. DOESN'T THE IDEA SOUND REALLY FUN SOMETIMES!?

Since I'm unpublished, making the change was simply something that I had to get used to the idea of myself. After writing three contemporaries, I started to wonder why there wasn't more straight up, classic horror in YA. And while I love contemporary (and always will!), I realized that I was pretty passionate about trying on my horror gloves for awhile.

"This'll be easy," I thought to myself. "I've read a lot of horror. I've loved horror movies since I was a wee thing. LET'S DO THIS."

Once you start, something becomes pretty clear almost immediately: writing a genre you aren't used to can feel reeeaaallly uncomfortable and unnatural at first. If you're trying out dystopian, maybe you're finding that your world-building skills need some work. Or if you're dabbling in contemporary, you may find it a bit more difficult to concentrate on so much emotion when you're used to being able to throw in a magical vampire-bunny for excitement. For me with horror, writing any scenes that were non-straight-up-scary just felt off.

That's when that sparkly new inspiration and eager drive can falter, because you start to freak out and go all "I CAN'T DO THIS I NEED TO JUST STICK TO WHAT I KNOW WELL" and scurry back to your old back-up book in your previous genre with your tail between your legs.

Ah, writers. We're so silly sometimes.

Of course it's going to be insanely awkward at first. The perfectionist inside of you isn't going to like it right at the get-go. You're going to have to force it for awhile, maybe even going through thousands of words before you feel the 'click.' And even then, remember the oh-so-important-for-your-sanity rule, ALL FIRST DRAFTS SUCK. You're doing something new and scary, but the more you write, the easier it will get, and before long you'll have owned that obstacle right in the face.

So I say, write that book about the alien that works in a diner in Montana! It can only open more doors to you, both career-wise and creatively. Expanding your horizons can really help you grow as an artist, and just in case you needed to hear it...YOU CAN DO EEEET!

A Really Long Post About the Author/Reviewer Relationship

2012-01-06T19:40:00.005-05:00

There have been a lot of things happening lately with reviewers and authors. And when I say "lately," I really mean, "in the past year," although this week has been rather eventful.

What I'm going to do in this post is explore this dynamic in detail. I will try to dive into the heads of both sides in the hope that we can better understand each other. At no point do I intend to make excuses for anyone's unprofessional or unkind behavior-- I'm just trying to sort out the dynamic that creates that kind of behavior, the best I can. And disclaimer: it's going to be long. Bring snacks.

This author-reviewer relationship has never been simple, but nor has it ever been quite this complicated, because of the Internet. Now the reviews are not isolated to newspapers and magazines, they are on blogs, tumblr, facebook, twitter, Goodreads, and more places than I can really count. Anyone can review books as long as they love reading and dedicate themselves to talking about it, and that means that more people are doing so.

A Business Relationship; Not A Business Relationship

Book reviewers (with the exception of those who do it for a job-- right now I'm not referring to those reviewers, though) are not paid to write reviews; they are providing a free service. It is a hobby in the best sense of the word, because they are dedicated and consistent, they have well-designed and well-organized blogs, they form a community, they put on events like the Debut Author Challenge or the YA Heroine Tournament, they go to conferences, they do interviews. I think it's pretty fantastic that people love books so much they would do all those things for no pay, in addition to their day jobs or studies.

In any case, book reviewers are not paid, so this is not quite a business relationship. However, sometimes they pay for books (as opposed to getting ARCs), so they are contributing to an author's salary. Still, there isn't the kind of balance we typically see in business relationships.

Authors, however, are paid for writing books, even if it's just from book sales. So in that sense, this is a business relationship-- when an author reads a review of their book, they are at work, and that requires a certain type of behavior.

So, to recap, this is NOT a business relationship, because book blogging is not a business. Yet it IS a business relationship, because authors are paid, and they are often paid by book reviewers' purchases.

A Personal Relationship; A Not Personal Relationship

Reviews are not personal, because they are the assessment of a product. If I assess an Apple product on the Internet, is that a personal attack against Jonathan Ive, head designer at Apple? Certainly not. Do some reviews include personal attacks against authors? Yes. And regardless of whether you agree with that sort of review tactic (I don't), I still don't think an insult on the Internet is personal. If a reviewer calls an author a jerk, they are probably not saying that based on any experience of that author as a real human being. Anyone could have written the book and they would have called the author a jerk. Even insults are not personal on the Internet. Now, it may still bother the author, and I would argue that they are well within their rights to be bothered, but it's something to keep in mind.

Yet to say that reviews are not personal ignores the simple truth of this industry, which is that authors pour their hearts and souls into their work. They carefully construct stories over a period of a year or (in most cases) more. Their characters fill their waking moments and enter their dreams. As with any art, books are personal, and any time someone bashes an author's work, it feels like it is the author himself or herself who is being bashed. As much as we say that shouldn't be the case, it is unavoidable, and I would argue that making book-writing completely impersonal would be to the detriment of books everywhere.

The Public/Private Space

So this business/not business relationship, which is both personal and not personal, all takes place in a place that blurs the public and the private space. The Internet is a strange place from the perspective of the author, because of how it changes. A few years ago, I was on Facebook and Twitter and Blogger as a private citizen. If you read my earliest blog posts, they were personal and open in a way that they aren't now-- because no one was watching. Fast forward to the book release, and I don't have a private Facebook page anymore, I've deleted most of my personal blog posts, and I don't tweet the same things anymore. I don't discuss even huge events in my personal life (graduation! Marriage! Etc!), because for me, the Internet now feels public. And I know a lot of people who are totally okay with keeping their personal lives separate (I am one of them).

But there are many authors who are either dismayed by the loss of their private Internet space or, more likely, don't quite realize that it's gone. For some reason, they tell themselves that if they remove their Author Hat and put on their Reader and Human Being Hat, everyone will notice the change and be forgiving.

That is absolutely not true. When you become an author, everything you do under your author name on the Internet is work. And you are required to be professional always.

That doesn't mean "don't have a personality," but it means authors are required to respond to negative reviews--even those that include personal attacks--with maturity and, in most cases, a closed mouth. If a person works in retail with frustrating customers, he or she would have to do it there, too. Plenty of people have jobs where they have to deal with difficult feedback on a daily basis, and they do it admirably.

In my mind, there are no exceptions to this rule. You must always respond publicly with maturity. I don't care what you say to your family or to your dog, but when you are on the Internet, or at a work event: always maturity and professionalism.

Reviewers, too, sometimes struggle with the private/public dynamic. So many exchanges that sound like private conversations take place in a highly public environment, like Goodreads. And this is not necessarily because the reviewers want to stir up drama; it's because many of their friends exist in that public space with them, and they don't want to have to create a separate forum to have those often not-all-that-close relationships. And if the cameras are always on you, eventually you forget they're there. That is not to say that the content of those conversations must change-- that is entirely up to the people having those conversations-- but that the people participating in them should be constantly aware that they are public.

Butbutbut...!

This is yet another difficulty, because while reviewers are free to express their emotions and opinions about a work or about particular situations in the forums that are natural to them, authors must restrain themselves within the forums that are natural to them. Goodreads, for example, is a place where authors and readers collide, but authors are not allowed to be readers there. And sometimes, when the reviewer insists, "I'm allowed to express my opinions, whatever they may be!" the author begins to think, "well, shouldn't I be able to do that, too? Don't I have the same right to be emotional and opinionated in public?"

Think again.

There is a difference, and it is this: 98% of the time, the reviewer is expressing opinions about a book, and if an author expresses his or her opinions about a review, they are always saying something about the reviewer. A review is a personal opinion, and it's hard to critique an opinion without insulting the one who holds it. I haven't seen it done well in this situation. The author is always, even if inadvertently, calling the reviewer stupid, or ignorant, or a jerk.

And also, keep in mind that this is not the reviewer's job. A hobby is something people do for enjoyment, and you wouldn't critique them if they were playing basketball or harmonica or something, because that wouldn't be in the spirit of the hobby. You don't get to critique a reviewer's job performance, because that's not what it is.

Where Authors Are Coming From

Authors, particularly YA authors, are expected to have an Internet presence, and to be responsive in that presence. So, authors are expected to respond to at least some e-mails, tweets, tumblr questions, etc. That means that authors spend a large portion of their days in the public space. And that, in turn, means that they must act calm and professional for a larger proportion of their daily life than people working traditional jobs, unless they want to get off the Internet (which some choose to do).

Now, many people rant to their co-workers after work, or even at the office while the boss isn't around. An author's co-workers, though, occupy the same space as reviewers and readers, so they can't communicate with them easily or with the same freedom that you would over a drink with your peers at an office. Additionally, authors rarely get to know each other in the same way that you would get to know a co-worker at the office, because our profession is so isolated. Therefore, exchanging private e-mails or starting private forums seems awkward and uncomfortable in a way that inviting your co-worker out for drinks does not.

On another note, as much as people insist that reviews are for reviewers, not for authors, the @ messages in our twitter feeds suggests otherwise. I don't read reviews, and I don't Google myself, and I don't have any Google alerts set up, but I still see reviews, sometimes just when I'm browsing fun websites that I always check, sometimes when people send them to me, or when they tweet comments to me, or when they e-mail me negative reviews with a well-intentioned "don't worry, you'll do better next time!" note. It is impossible to completely avoid reviews.

All this is to say, the thought running through our heads is something like this: I must be on the Internet, where I am constantly being criticized, but I must also be perfectly professional at all times. Sometimes it feels like standing in a circle of fire, and whenever you so much as twitch, you get burned, but you can't show any reaction to the pain. Some authors find ways to deal with this. Never have I had the desire to engage with a reviewer. But I don't think it's that difficult to understand when some authors have trouble.

Where Reviewers Are Coming From

The problem is, when authors have difficulty navigating this strange and often difficult dynamic, they often call for reviewers to change their reviewing style. Some reviewers go for the straightforward, polite book review. Some go for humorous rants involving .gifs. Some go for not-so-humorous rants. And sometimes authors want to say, I'm okay with negative reviews, but you can write them the first way, because that's the easiest kind to take.

Here's the thing: that is not at all fair. If someone told me I had to write in the beautiful, lyrical style of Laini Taylor, I would say, "...but I can't DO that. That's just not how I write!" As writers, we should know that style is hard to change, and that if you try, you sometimes won't enjoy writing anymore. Reviewers have different styles, that cater to those who love heated debates, or to those who love to poke fun at things, or to those who prefer straightforward analysis-- in other words, reviewers are writing what their readers respond to, just like we are. And we don't get to tell them they have to change that style. We can debate about where the lines between personal attack/libel and review are (and I'm not going to do that here), but we don't get to say "these kinds of reviews are not okay."

But some authors have said that, and they've said it a lot, sometimes in shockingly unkind ways. An environment now exists in which reviewers are extra sensitive to authors' reactions to reviews, and that is wholly unsurprising. Reviewers are giving an awful lot to authors. They are giving us hours of time and effort. They are giving us pieces of their paychecks. Sometimes they fly across the country to go to conferences and meet us. And here's the thing: even if these reviewers give us negative reviews, they are still doing us a service.

I know there are times when someone reads a critical review and decides not to pick up a book. Those times are far outweighed by the incidences in which someone reads a review, positive or negative, and decides, based on that review alone, that they will give a book a try. Most people are aware that opinions about books and movies and television shows vary widely, and they will try to make up their minds for themselves. The worst thing for an author is NOT someone hearing your book is bad, it's someone not hearing about it at all.

Something's Gotta Give

As far as I can see it, that is the situation we are in. We are all trying to figure out how to make our way through this business/hobby, personal/impersonal, public/private relationship. We are going to screw it up-- all of us. As far as I can see it, the best way to deal with these conflicts is to understand where people are coming from-- understand what you are saying when you say, you should always act professionally, authors (so true! But God, that becomes hard, and we will make mistakes), or you shouldn't review that way ("I, with my Important Author Hand, will suppress your free expression, Person Who Buys My Books!" Um, no).

But even more important than understanding is forgiveness. Forgiveness does not mean that you say something is okay when it isn't. Actually, it does the opposite. An act doesn't need to be forgiven if it's not wrong to begin with, so forgiveness calls things exactly what they are.

And then, in a feat that is certainly not easy for the person who has been wronged, forgiveness lets those things go. (Especially when there's an apology involved.) It doesn't harp on them for years to come, or mention them at every opportunity. It doesn't make plans to sabotage their stats on this or that site, or put them on some kind of mental blacklist if they get a book deal. Forgiveness pretty much says, screw this giant line between us. We are working together for the good of books and reading, and if you mess it up, I'll get over it eventually.

Not saying it's easy. But maybe it's worth a try.

(Note: if I have left out some aspect of anyone's perspective, feel free to add it in the comments in the interest of fully fleshing out this issue. That said, this isn't a place to name names or make accusations, so please...don't. Thank you.)

Field Trip Friday: January 6, 2012

2012-01-06T08:00:00.000-05:00

THE BIG NEWS THIS WEEK

Yeah, I saw this week's author/reviewer kefuffles, and no, I'm neither linking them nor rounding them up. Here is my official statement, co-opted from agent Amy Boggs (who may have been talking about something completely different).

I only bother to say this much because I've covered similar issues in the past, and thought its absence would imply that I was scared to comment. Nope. I just think all parties involved-- including writers, reviewers, myself and the rest of the peanut gallery-- would be better served to a) keep in mind that this is not an issue unique to YA, b) listen to "Am I a Man or a Muppet?" thirty times on repeat, and/or c) use our powers for fun instead of drama (this one is my favorite of the week).

Moving right along... James Franco sold his book to Amazon. So. That happened.

THIS WEEK IN WRITING

- Lots of reevaluating going on with the new year. Several people shared the ways they're taking back control of their lives and careers, including Stephanie Perkins, Elana Johnson, and Stephanie Kuehnert. Gala Darling writes in praise of calling it quits (via Maureen Johnson); Dani Shapiro reminds us that it never gets easier, and Sarah Enni brings back her motto from last year, "I am where I am."

Wordplay has 12 writer's resolutions for 12 months, Chuck Wendig has 25 things writers need to stop doing, and Sarah Ockler has a great post with "Just Make the Bed." I especially like this post from Sara Zarr, encouraging us to do something for ourselves and our creativity.

Inspired by a post from Cleolinda Jones, I wrote about the relationship between depression and writer's block; The Bloggess shared her battle with depression, and agent/writer Betsy Lerner says, "If you're not feeling well, get help."

Whatever you do, take care of you-- and remember, there are things to look forward to.

- H. Samy Alim at the NYT suggests we "Occupy Language" to expose how it is used as "a means of social, political and economic control." Jessica at Scholastic will be doing a series on managing information overload, and Jenny Martin says, "Let this be your year."

- Famous authors on why they write, at The HuffPo.

- The Horn Book has a great discussion about why first person present is so prevalent in YA. (via Michelle Andelman)

- Author Sarah Rees Brennan isn't ashamed of writing fanfiction, but if she could do it all again, she'd hide that hobby.

- Who writes that text on the backs of books? Our girl Kirsten explains.

- io9 considers how famous writers would have written Twilight. My favorite:

James Joyce
Edward's rapacious love for Bella reflects the way globalism has pillaged Ireland. It's entirely written in Esperanto, with sections in untranslated Greek, except for Chapter 40, which is inexplicably rendered as a script page from the musical The Book of Mormon.

THIS WEEK IN READING

- Flavorwire matches kidlit characters and their grown-up counterparts. (via Rachel Stark)

- 50% off teen books at Barnes and Noble! Katie's Book Blog has details.

- Congratulations to this year's Cybils finalists in young adult fiction and sci fi/fantasy, as well as Moira Young's Blood Red Road, winner of the UK's 2011 Costa Children's Book Award.

- Novel Novice lists their most anticipated YA releases of 2012. You can also vote for your favorites on Goodreads.

- Author Natalie Whipple is proud that YA is a girl-centric genre.

- Why are YA fantasies popular? Cassandra Clare on the secret worlds kids hide from adults, at the WSJ.

- We're sad to see the Diversity in YA blog come to an end. :(

- Publishers Weekly gives an overview of the holiday season's bestsellers.

- Edi Campbell at Crazy Quilt has information about a petition to provide federal recognition to school libraries.

THIS WEEK IN PUBLISHING

- Considerable confusion reigns regarding Barnes and Noble's plans for the Nook. Dealbook, Silicon Angle, and Investor Place all have info.

- Walter Dean Meyers has been named the national ambassador for young people's literature.

- Elizabeth Bird makes a wish list of kidlit conferences to attend. (Sadly, none of the Highwayers can make it to ALA Midwinter in Dallas this month, but if you get to go, there's a blogger meetup on Friday night!)

- Author Kiersten White shares her rookie mistakes in "Yes, Do This, No, Don't Do That."

- Edittorrent explains what editors want to see when they check out your website.

- Find out what literary agents talk about at dinner, with secrets provided by The Intern.

- How do you know if your agent is any good? Jane Friedman has some pointers, and Michelle Witte has some tips that apply to agencies as well as other publishing professionals.

- Brilliance Audio is suspending the availability of download audiobook titles for libraries.

- Author Caleb J. Ross says he lost $75.48 on a Facebook ad campaign and you can too! (Caveat: This is exactly the opposite of some information I've heard from an agent via an experienced marketing rep, so YMMV.) (via Lydia Blackburne)

- This one also confused me: Author Sophie Perinot says the best way to help your writer friends is to pre-order their book, because it improves their first run numbers. I may be totally off here, but I was under the impression that pre-orders don't count toward your chances at the NYT bestseller list. Of course both those things could be true-- if anyone can explain, please do so in the comments!

- Olivier Blanchard says 2012 is the year "personal branding" dies. (via Maureen Johnson, of course)

THIS WEEK IN TECH AND THE WEB

- See your Twitter feed in instant infographic at Vizify (then knock over the bar graph Angry Birds-style).

- Google, Twitter, Amazon, and Facebook consider "nuclear blackout" in protest of SOPA.

- How Google+ is ruining the internet, from ReadWriteWeb.

- Did you get an iPad for the holidays? Check out the NYT's list of best iPad apps.

- Voting is open in the Shorty Awards-- choices include best author, blogger, and fake account, or you can nominate other industry figures for a variety of categories.

THIS WEEK IN OTHER STUFF

- Um, guys? Twilight the musical. I'm so not kidding. (WHERE IS OUR PRODUCTION OF TINY DANCER WHERE. And speaking of, John Green's tour van is freaking awesome. Also, you should click that picture, because I spent way too long making it for absolutely no reason.)

- Chloe Caldwell writes a love letter of sorts to Sugar at The Rumpus.

- What's the next big YA blockbuster? Salon asked authors for their hopes and predictions.

- A martial artist and contortionist attempts, and fails, to recreate common comic book poses for female characters, and explains why torso dislocation just isn't sexy.

- Actress Kristin Bell apparently throws fantastic Hunger Games parties.

THIS WEEK IN THE RANDOM

These Hugalopes are pretty cute.

These "sexting ice breakers for English grad students" are amazing.
(Examples: "“I’ve been examining your assonance all day;” "“What do you say we skip the exposition and cut straight to the rising action?”)

20 dated celebrity endorsements from over a decade ago, thanks to Buzzfeed. Because obviously I want a shampoo that will make my hair look like Justin Timberl-aughhhh!!

I know this is several months old, but I just saw it yesterday and it's worth bringing back.

Have a great weekend!

The Social Media Life

2012-01-05T13:58:00.001-05:00

The dawning of 2012 (and the waning of 2011) has seen some interesting and honest thoughts in the blogging community about writing, negativity, life and balance. I'm not going to link specific posts (you can browse through some of our FTF posts to find a handful) because analyzing specific ones isn't the point of my thoughts.

My thoughts are this: after some three years of blogging, twitter, facebook, etc.; many more years of writing; novel mis-starts, rejections and failures; success and contracts; making the most amazing friends in the world online; seeing the most ridiculous spurts online; and generally loving this supportive, frustrating, eye-roll-worthy, hilarious, kind, generous, emotional and talented community, my overall feeling about social media has become somewhat

apathetic.

Sometimes I'm active on this here internet. Sometimes I'm not. When I do participate, I try to make it meaningful. That's what matters to me, even if my outer circle of acquaintances forgets who I am for a while. Or for forever. That's okay. There's a lot of pressure for writers and aspiring writers to be very active with social media and, while that doesn't necessarily hurt, it isn't the end-all, be-all of life, either.

It's just one small facet of a big life.

You know what I'm not apathetic about?

Beta reading amazing critique partner manuscripts.
Setting up coffee dates with writerly people I've never met in person, then totally crushing on them/creating a meaningful relationship offline.
Putting family first.
Putting my writing and other work tied for first.
Lying in bed, using my laptop only to listen to Explosions in the Sky and email my fiance about the best music for stormy weather while the rain pounds my roof.
Waking up to sunshine on my new dwarf citrus trees.
My neighbor coming by to tell me the biscotti I made her for Christmas was the best she'd ever eaten.
Discovering a dear and beautiful friend has started a blog with one to two sentences per day of positive things that have happened to him.
The blessing to serve to another dear friend who is going through a difficult pregnancy.
Watching one of my sports teams win their match in the company of family and friends.
Taking photos of anything that strikes my fancy.
Laughing. A lot. All the time.
Latin dancing.
Bingo and karaoke at dive bars where Everybody Knows Your Name.
Talking to my mom on the phone.
And about a million other things.

I haven't had a recent epiphany about these ideas. More a gradual lessening of the guilt that used to plague me over the past year when I couldn't keep up with everything I was "supposed" to keep up with (blog, twitter, work, personal life). After three years of navigating what is a new arena for writers, the dust has settled for me and my priorities are more in line with what they should be for me. Priorities are different for everyone. Which is perfectly fine.

It's a good feeling to be in the right place, to be on that journey toward mastering the juggling act. Not that I honestly think I'll ever master it. Life is too vibrant, crazy, buoyant, amazing, exciting and unpredictable for that. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Instead of asking how your journey's been, I'd rather just take a page from my postive-thinking friend and ask for one positive thing that happened to you today. Ready? Go!

Road Trip Wednesday #112: Writing Retreat of Dreams

2012-01-04T05:00:00.001-05:00

photo from freecabinporn.com

Welcome to our 112th Road Trip Wednesday!

This Week's Topic

Describe your dream writing retreat. Where would you go? Who and what would you bring?

Road Trip Song of the Week:
"Holocene" by Bon Iver

A Brief Explanation of Film Options

2012-01-03T12:29:00.003-05:00

There seems to be a lot of confusion around how books become movies - which is understandable, because it can be REALLY confusing. I get emails and tweets every so often from readers saying something along the lines of:

"OMG, you should totally turn this into a movie!"

Oh, if only authors had that power. Sadly, though, that isn't exactly how it works. In 2009 the film rights to my debut novel THE DUFF were optioned. Instantly I got a lot of emails and tweets that read something like this:

"OMG! So when is the movie coming out? Who are they casting?"

But that's not how it works, either.

When a film is "optioned" there is no guarantee it'll be made. Basically, an "option" is just that - a studio or producer or director or whatever buys the option to make the film. In other words, they pay a certain amount of money (it can range from a tiny amount to a ton of money - usually it's tiny, though) to ensure that they and only they have the right to make the film for a certain amount of time. If they haven't made the film by the time the option expires, they can either re-option or lose the rights.

Now you're probably wondering about that "tiny" amount of money for the option and thinking, "But I thought authors get paid a lot when their books become movies." While " a lot" is relative and amounts vary, most authors do get paid more once the film goes into production. Which may happen right away or . . . never.

I know. It's kind of complicated, but that's show biz!

Now, I'm going to go watch the Hunger Games Trailer again. For the millionth time. Let's hope some more kick-ass YA books like this get optioned! And then turned into kick-ass films!

A New Year's Message from YAH's Resident Apocalypse Advertiser

2011-12-31T06:30:00.008-05:00

Hello friends! I'm Emilia, your resident Apocalypse Advertiser, and I'm here to tell you that despite scientific claims to the contrary, the end of the world is imminent.

When I first heard that 2012 would bring the apocalypse, I was like, "Whaaa? Now that's a great practical joke, Mayans!" But then I had this DREAM. In the dream, a massive hippopotamus woke me up in the middle of the night and told me to come with him. Not wanting to anger the dude, I did! He took me to a long river, where fairies stole my clothing. It was really cold. Suddenly, the hippo disappeared, and I was forced to walk back home on my own. When I got back in bed, I found this note under my pillow:

2012 is the year the world will end! Love, Hippo

It was then I realized I wasn't dreaming. I was fully awake, and everything had been real! Including the hippo's note. Ever since that night, I have been determined to spread the message of the apocalypse to everyone who's willing to listen.

So yeah. The world as we know it is gonna end in 2012. This means that maybe it's time to start asking yourself questions. Questions like: what have you been doing that doesn't really make you happy? What are you called to do that you just haven't been doing? Starting tomorrow, the fire could come any day. So maybe it would be good to start doing more of the things that will make you feel awesome when you look back on them (while you're running for cover from collapsing volcanoes).

It's okay if you don't believe me. I promise I'm not offended - I just can't promise you a spot in my personal Apocalypse-Proof Bunker with ApocaCupcakes(tm)! But even so, it might be a good thing to ask yourself: is there anything you could be doing right now to help make your life more awesome? (Tip: use that Macbook to write now before it's melted!)

I don't mean to make you feel guilty. Guilt is kinda useless. But the fact is, the Firey Earth Lord Potamus (the hippo came back - long story) is not forgiving. And there's no better time to write and read and fulfill your dreams than before the apocalypse comes!

Good luck in 2012, friends!

But seriously - happy New Year from all of us at YA Highway. You are awesome and capable of anything, and 2012 is going to be a journey to remember. We hope to see you along the way!

Field Trip Friday: The Big News of 2011

2011-12-30T08:00:00.000-05:00

2011 has been another amazing year, and once again, we have you wonderful readers to thank for it. Last year, I mentioned we were excited to go from 100 followers to 1500; this year, we're on track to double that number! From deal announcements and book debuts, to blog awards and the continued success of Road Trip Wednesday, we are so glad to have you all along for the ride on this publishing journey.

Now let's take a look at 2011, Year Of The Hashtag!

*quick explanation about these links: Some lead directly to original sources, but when the Field Trip gathered several links about one topic, I've linked to it instead. You may have to scroll down, and CTRL+F will help you locate the topic in long posts. As in all FTF posts, images are linked to their source. Unless I forgot or made it myself.

JANUARY

- A new edition of Huckleberry Finn cut all uses of the "n-word."

- The first of several "can authors be reviewers" debates sprang up after an agent's comment during #querychat.

- A contest from First One Publishing caused a ruckus as well.

- Kody Keplinger's The DUFF was chosen for the YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers Top Ten!

FEBRUARY

- Bitch Media's "100 Young Adult Books for the Feminist Reader" listed, then removed, several titles, which led to a firestorm of criticism in the comments and on the #bitchplease hashtag.

- Borders filed for bankruptcy.

- Guest poster Nicola Richardson generated great conversation about race in YA.

- Author Martin Amis claimed only a brain injury could make him write for children. Lots of other people pointed out that he can be a total tool.

- Sugar at The Rumpus wrote many incredible articles this year, but her beautiful list of advice in February just might trump them all.

- The YA community lost critically-acclaimed author L. K. Madigan (Lisa Wolfson) to pancreatic cancer. Several tributes are rounded up here.

MARCH

- In which we examined the bizarre case of the YA Mafia.

- Several publishing efforts raised money to support victims of the horrible earthquake in Japan.

- Self-publishing icon Amanda Hocking signed a reportedly $2 million deal with St. Martin's Press.

- Fans questioned "The Hunger Games" casting decisions, and many accused the studio of whitewashing.

- We celebrated the release of Kirsten Hubbard's debut novel, Like Mandarin!

APRIL

- Author Jessica Verday was the first of many authors to withdraw from an anthology because the editor asked her to straighten a gay romance. Cleolinda Jones did a great job keeping up with the ins and outs of the controversy.

- Publishing came home to report from the Bologna Book Fair.

- All sorts of weird stuff happened on April Fool's Day.

- Guest poster Sarah Heacox wrote one of our most popular posts, "Great Characters with Disabilities in YA and MG."

- Someone leaked stills from "Breaking Dawn Part 1." All retinal damage attendant to their viewing appears to have been temporary.

MAY

- Highwayers Sumayyah Daud, Kaitlin Ward, Kirsten Hubbard, Sarah Enni, Phoebe North, and Kody Keplinger (not pictured) got to attend Book Expo America. Kirsten and Kody were also chosen to be part of the Teen Author Carnival!

- We got our first look at Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss.

- Osama Bin Laden was killed under the dubious codename "Geronimo."

- Help Right Now raised over $20,000 in auction bids to support victims of the storms that swept across the country in late April. I want to take this opportunity to again thank every single one of you who donated, bid, spread the word, or helped organize the event.

JUNE

- An article in the Wall Street Journal claimed YA is "rife with explicit abuse, violence and depravity." And lo, the YA community did respond, spawning a million posts plus the #YASaves hashtag.

- A mysterious new website called "Pottermore" appeared, and speculation about its use ran wild.

on Bourbon Street with Kiki Hamilton, Courtney Moulton,
Leah Clifford, Shannon Messenger, Lisa Desrochers,
Julie Cross, Kari Olson, Kate Hart, Veronica Roth,
Kirsten Hubbard, Carolina Valdez Miller,
Sarah Enni, and Lindsey Roth Culli.

- Kirsten Hubbard, Sarah Enni, Veronica Roth and I had a great time at the summer ALA conference in New Orleans, where we got to co-host a blogger meetup with the ladies from Stacked!

- YA Highway added six fabulous new contributors, not to mention an adorable meesling. Meanwhile, Emilia Plater graduated from high school and headed to college, where she promptly joined the Quidditch team because she's awesome like that.

JULY

- We bid a bittersweet farewell to Harry Potter with the release of "Deathly Hallows Part 2."

- Borders closed its doors forever.

- Google+ made its debut.

- Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak survived the Scroggins challenge in Missouri, but Twenty Boy Summer and Slaughterhouse Five did not-- despite the fact that some of the voters didn't even read the books.

- Michelle Schusterman had to exit the Highway this year (*sob*), but her post about metafiction continues to get more traffic than any other article in our history.

- Controversy over agents-as-publishers continued.

- Phoebe North's post about honoring your process struck a nerve with many writers.

- An author who announced she had signed with Jodi Reamer of Writers House and sold her novel for six figures within days quickly discovered she had been the victim of a hoax.

- Kristin Halbrook's Nobody But Us sold to Harper Children's!

AUGUST

- The New York Times claimed boys don't read YA because of girls. (Okay, it was a little more nuanced than that, but not much.)

- Publish America offered to show your book to J.K. Rowling for the low, low price of just $49! Or, you know. Not.

- WriteOnCon was a big success, and you can still access most of the resources they provided.

- Lee Bross announced she will be writing Fates for Delacorte under the pen name Lanie Bross!

SEPTEMBER

- The #YesGayYA controversy garnered a little attention for an important subject, but mostly devolved into a mess.

- Read For Relief rallied the publishing community to raise funds for victims of Hurricane Irene.

- Agents argued about no-response policies.

- The blogosphere celebrated Banned Books Week in style.

- Kody Keplinger's sophomore novel, Shut Out, made its way into the world!

- YA Highway was named "Best Publishing Industry Blog" of the year!! (I hope my overuse of exclamation points here doesn't retroactively disqualify us.)

OCTOBER

- The National Book Award erroneously nominated Lauren Myracle's Shine for their Young People's Literature category... then asked her to recuse herself from the running "to maintain the integrity of the award." As you might imagine, everyone had something to say on this topic, but none stronger than Libba Bray.

- The National Book Foundation's "5 Under 35" list included a YA author for the first time ever!

- Steve Jobs passed away at the age of 56.

- The NYT talked a lot about Amazon. It got a little tedious.

- Our readers submitted some fabulous YA-inspired jack o'lanterns!

NOVEMBER

- YA movies made lots of news: "Breaking Dawn Part 1" premiered to mixed reviews, and the first "Hunger Games" trailer made us all sit up and take notice.

- NaNoWriMo rolled around again, with the requisite inspirational and/or critical posts.

- The #FridayReads hashtag raised questions about paid ads and authentic recommendations.

- Sara Zarr wrote a fantastic post about being inspired by failure.

- Amazon debuted a new Kindle lending program that included books from publishers who had specifically declined to participate.

DECEMBER

- Veronica Roth's Divergent won pretty much all the awards this year (not to mention she participated in a panel at Comic-Con)!

- Amazon again rocked the publishing boat when they announced the acquisition of Marshall Cavendish during the launch week of their price comparison app. Then some guy at Slate wrote some troll-bait hating on indie bookstores, which went over about as well as you'd expect.

- Author P.C. Cast angered readers by not just ignoring their opposition to "the r-word," but then mocking their complaints in her newest book.

- Diablo Cody revealed that her "Young Adult" movie stemmed from experiences writing Sweet Valley High books and wondering if she is "some kind of stunted woman-child that’s living vicariously through her characters." She goes on to describe YA as a "guilty pleasure." Yay. Thanks for the solidarity there, D.

- Phoebe North's YA sci-fi Starglass sold to Simon and Schuster!

Inspired by this

Want to compare with last year? Check out our 2010 round up!

2011 YEAR-END ROUND UPS AND RETROSPECTIVES

Every list ever: Largehearted Boy aggregates all the "best of" books and music. You can also get a sortable Excel version of this year's book lists from Blogging For a Good Book, or find out
the top ten reasons to make a top ten list.

Books

- Best books of the year according to: YALSA, Goodreads, NPR (YA), Barnes and Noble, the New York Times, Kirkus (YA), Amazon, Publisher's Weekly (YA), Indigo Blog, Random Buzzers, Audible, MTV, and children's book award lists.

- You can still nominate your favorites of 2011 at TeenReads!

- The year in publishing according to The Telegraph, The Washington Post's book news timeline, Jane Friedman's must-read articles of 2011, GalleyCat's top stories, by the numbers, Writer's Relief, and Nielsen's Top Tens in Sales.

- The Guardian's 2011 book quiz

- What your favorite 2011 book says about you, at Flavorwire

Music

- Best albums of the year according to Pitchfork, Consequence of Sound, Spinner, NPR, NPR listeners, MTV, Rolling Stone, and Rolling Stone's readers.

- The Village Voice's 10 best 2011 things to listen to while writing

- PopMatters' 20 worst albums of 2011

- Stereogum's 50+ most anticipated albums of 2012 (the XX! Grizzly Bear!)

From Our Friends

- Sarah Enni hosted a week-long blog carnival with lists of music, characters, books and more.

- Some of our favorite people, Katy Upperman, Erin Bowman, Jessica Love, Tracey Neithercott, and Alison Miller, hosted the "Class of 2011 Superlatives" blog carnival-- a cool twist on the usual "best of" lists.

- Forever Young Adult listed their Top Ten Swooniest Books of 2011 and Top Ten Favorite Reads.

- Jessica, Lisa, Rachel, Jaime, and Patricia hosted a huge Top 10 of 2011 event, including covers, book boyfriends and more.

- The Book Smugglers hosted several weeks of "Smugglivus 2011," with guest posts and lists of favorites from tons of YA authors.

- Nomes at Inkcrush hosted the "Faves of TwentyEleven" awards.

- Kathy at I Am A Reader, Not A Writer is hosting a "Best of 2011 Giveaway Hop," and Reading Teen is hosting an enormous giveaway.

- Great lists of favorites from Jen, Kelly, and Kimberly at Stacked; Kari at A Good Addiction; Carey Farrell's books and music.

Did we miss yours? Link it in the comments!

THIS YEAR IN THE RANDOM

The year... in photoshop fails, weird science, Legos, best websites, Native fashion appropriations, viral videos, movies, more movies, even more movies, tech surprises, video games, insignificant news, weird life forms, strange hotels, political scandals, and awesome Tumblrs..

... according to Twitter, GQ, The Hollywood Reporter, The Atlantic, Indian Country, and Fresh Air...

...in pictures from the BBC, MSNBC, ABC, the NYT, Reddit, Flickr, Pitchfork, the United Nations, the Atlantic, Billboard, the Telegraph, Vanity Fair, Greenpeace, and Time...

and in memes. Of course.

Scumbag Brain, Party Toddler, Horsemanning, and First World Problems.

From all of us here at YA Highway, have a safe and happy New Year!

On Responding Graciously

2011-12-29T10:00:00.011-05:00

In the publishing world, we spend a lot of time getting ourselves accustomed to rejection.

We steel ourselves for it. We tell ourselves not to react defensively to criticism (constructive or otherwise) from critique partners, editors, and agents. We do our best to process criticism, to absorb it, to learn from our mistakes and not take rejection of our work as rejection of ourselves as people.

Maybe that’s why it can be equally difficult to react with grace when someone actually—gasp!—likes our writing.

It is for me, at least, and I wonder if other writers have experienced similar emotions. Much of this is exacerbated by the way that I was raised: to always strive to be better, rather than resting on my laurels for even a moment. So for years, when someone complimented my writing, I’d blush and stammer and demur.

“Oh no!” I’d say, “It’s nothing. I’m really not all that talented. Thank you, but surely you must be joking.”

Then the other person would sort of frown, and I’d wonder what their problem was.

It’s taken me years to unpack this kind of exchange. I finally realized that those people saying nice things actually meant it—and, more, that they aren’t particularly interested in arguing with me about whether they really like my work or not. In short, I’ve finally figured out how to be gracious—how to take a compliment and not be rude in response.

At first, I relied on a stock phrase. “Thank you for saying that. I really enjoyed writing it, and I’m glad you liked it.” Every bone in my body objected to this odd, stilted, kind speech. If I just accepted their praise, did that mean I was full of myself—that I had a swelled head?

But I eventually realized how much more smoothly these interactions went when I responded graciously, rather than hemming and hawing my objections. People want to know that they’re being heard—that you respect their opinion of your work, that you respect your own work, too. I no longer dreaded the inevitable confrontation whenever I sensed that someone was going to say something nice about me. Instead, it started to feel good!

Funny thing is that it’s made a difference in my writing, too. Because when you mire yourself in doubt, it shows in your art—you might undermine the strongest parts of it, sabotaging yourself over and over again. Now I feel instead like I can listen to praise, process it in much the same way that I once did criticism, and use my strengths to my own best advantage.

So if you’re anything like my former self, the next time someone says something nice about your writing, try something new—just say “thank you”!

Road Trip Wednesday #111: Best Books of the Year

2011-12-28T07:00:00.000-05:00

Welcome to our 111th Road Trip Wednesday!

This Week's Topic

We're combining today's RTW with Highwayer Sarah Enni's End-of-the-Year blog carnival, and asking:
What were your top five favorite books of 2011?

Road Trip Song of the Week:
"New Year's Day" by U2

Memes Make Writing Rules More Fun!

2011-12-26T07:00:00.000-05:00

Please excuse my dear Aunt Sally.

My very educated mother just served us noodles. (Anyone else still sad about Pluto? Just me?)

They're mnemonics. They're usually silly. And they help us to remember random things. But in this lovely age of technology the internet has brought us something even better.

Memes.

They're not just for Chuck Norris anymore.

English is often coined as one of the most difficult languages to learn given all the rules and take-backsies of said rules in particular though rarely make-sensible situations. Never fear. The internet, as always, has got your back.

Everyone, every one. Alot, a lot. For help remembering when to hit that space bar . . .

Brilliance by Hyperbole and a Half

I'm not judging your story either way. Just be sure YOU know what you mean . . .

It's like the internet has eyes and sees into my documents o.O

tricky, tricky . . .


Don't lie. You've done it too.


Also not to be confused with Yar, which is, obviously, the language of the Pirate.

What are your favorite grammar memes?

Happy Holidays from YA Highway!

2011-12-25T15:19:00.002-05:00

Field Trip Friday: December 23, 2011

2011-12-23T11:07:00.000-05:00

Apologies for the abbreviated version of the round up this week,
but be sure to come back next Friday for a look at 2011!

THIS WEEK IN WRITING

- Author Susan Dennard talks story expectations and disappointments.

- The makers of Scrivener have iPad and iPhone apps in development.

- What's the best gift you can give a writer? GalleyCat has a suggestion, and the NYT polled authors to find out which books they like to give and receive.

- Can't remember the rules laid out in The Elements of Style? Now you can learn it in sing it instead.

THIS WEEK IN READING

- John Green announced Wednesday that Barnes and Noble erroneously shipped copies of The Fault In Our Stars.

- The NYT looks at Scholastic's new "Infinity Ring" series and its combination of in-book and gaming features.

- Spanish novelist Lucía Extebarria quits writing in protest of piracy issues.

- NPR's list of top YA included Veronica Roth's Divergent!

THIS WEEK IN PUBLISHING

- Sara Megibow shares the newbie mistakes she's made as an agent.

- Editor Angela James has ten things writers need to know about Twitter.

- Don't query agents on Twitter. Seriously. Janet Reid is not kidding.

- How to have a better blog, from The Rejectionist.

- Mark Changizi takes a look at the destructive side of creative communities (via Elizabeth Craig).

THIS WEEK IN OTHER STUFF

Buzz for the "Snow White and the Huntsman" movie has been high, but reaction to the poster for the other Snow White movie, "Mirror Mirror," is lukewarm at best.

THIS WEEK IN THE RANDOM

A few writing-related cartoons:

Behold, the most obscene photo on the internet:

A little holiday cheer: anonymous donors have been paying of layaway accounts around the country, and musicians play Tchaikovsky's Sugar Plum Fairy on a glass harp.

Still not cheered? How about The Hobbit trailer?

Have a merry Christmas weekend!
~ Kate Hart

Villains! And Villanesses!

2011-12-22T12:06:00.000-05:00

I don't think I've been very forthcoming on my feelings about the new ABC show, Once Upon a Time. Here they are in a nutshell: I love it! And I'm heartbroken they're on winter break until January 8. One of the reasons I love this show is its main villainess, Regina aka the evil stepmother/queen/witch.

The premise of the show, in case you don't know, is this: slighted, angry, and denied her own happy ending, the Evil Queen Regina (am I the only time who gets a kick out of that name, or is that just the nerd in me?)(Regina means 'queen' in latin, hence the kick) curses all of Fairy Tale Land. Everyone's memory is wiped and they're stuck in a time loop in Storybrooke, Maine until Emma, Snow White and Prince Charming's daughter, returns to break the spell. The show alternates between revealing each of the character's histories (and I love, love the twists they've put on all the fairy tale's so far), and what's happening in real time as Emma and Henry (a little boy who knows it's all a curse) work to break the spell.

There are many things I love about this show (not least of which is Josh Dallas) is the well rounded, and sympathetic characters. Most of all, Regina. She has the potential to be an incredibly flat, rah-rah go evil! sort of character. But she isn't. Regina has motive; she's been denied a happy ending over and over again. She's also been wronged by Snow White - in this telling, Snow is no innocent victim of her own beauty. She's an active participant in creating the anger that propels most of Regina's narrative.

It's hard (at least for me) to not feel a little sympathy when Regina is spurned by her adopted son in favor of his birth mother, left by Graham in favor of Emma, turned on by any number of people when all she wants is a happy ending. Her moral compass might be a little skewed, and her methods questionable, but her core is something we all understand and recognize. She wants to be loved, she wants friends, she wants to be happy. But the fairy tale dynamic won't allow her to be happy, without removing happiness from someone else -and that's why we think she's evil. Because we think the cost is too high, even though, had it been Snow working for her happy ending, it would have ended the same, just with Regina on the other side.

I think there's a lot to learn from the writers of Once Upon a Time (and why not, since they're also the writers of Lost), and a whole lot to learn from Regina as a villainess. Cardboard villains are all well and good, but the ones that make and enrich a story are ones we understand, who maybe took a wrong turn, but were on the same path until something awful happened. When we understand and sympathize with the circumstances of their creation, we can love and hate them better, and in that way, tell better stories.

RTW #110: Where Do You Buy Books?

2011-12-21T02:32:00.000-05:00

Welcome to our 110th Road Trip Wednesday!
Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.
We'd love for you to participate! Just answer the prompt on your own blog and leave a link - or, if you prefer, you can include your answer in the comments.

This Week's Topic:
Where do you buy most of your books? No one is judging!

Road Trip Song of the Week:
“Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana

Winter Giveaway Winners!

2011-12-20T22:14:00.000-05:00

AT LONG LAST...

Here are the winners of YA Highway's Third Annual Winter Giveaway!!

(winners, we'll email you soon with details on how to collect your prize.)

(note: we should have gotten everyone the right prizes, but with hundreds of entries, we might have made a mistake or two! if you're not from north america & won a book, or won a critique when you didn't want one, lets us know and we'll figure something out.)

THE CRITIQUES

AGENT CRITIQUES

Michelle Andelman: query critique

Linda McLaren

Susan Hawk: query + 20 page critique + conference call to discuss

Chihuahua Zero

Sarah LaPolla: 25 page critique

Jeni Bell Williams

Taylor Martindale: query+ first 15 page critique

Tosha Sumner

Victoria Marini: query critique

Kelsey Keating

Brooks Sherman: query critique

Kristy Gillespie

YA HIGHWAYER CRITIQUES

Kirsten Hubbard + Kristin Halbrook: query critique

Crystal Schubert

Veronica Roth + Stephanie Kuehn: query critique

Kate Scott

Kate Hart + Phoebe North: synopsis critique

Eliza Tilton

Amanda Hannah + Sarah Enni: first chapter critique

Shelley Watters

Kaitlin Ward + Kristin Otts: first chapter

Kim (segurakim92)

THE CRAFTS

Customized Book Bottle

Tina (kristina.wrenn)

Personalized book plate stamp

Nicole Settle

THE BOOKS

ADVANCED READER COPIES (ARCs)

Hemlock by Kathleen Peacock

Rebecca Behrens

All These Lives by Sarah Wylie

Jaquira Diaz

Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood

Cheri Williams

Chaos by Nalo Hopkinson

Brandi (brandisbookmusings)

Tempest by Julie Cross (x 2)

Brianne Carter

Maryanne Fantalis

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

Carey Farrell

The Queen of Kentucky by Alecia Whitaker

Juliana Haygert

Fracture by Megan Miranda

TeriC/Teri

The Rivals by Daisy Whitney

thegirlonfire27

Pure by Julianna Baggott

Jo (jo.tee35)

HARDCOVERS

Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

Julie (magistraai)

The Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare (signed!)

Emily S (emilyj_1128)

Shut Out by Kody Keplinger (Signed!)

Gabbi Calabrese

PREORDERS* (by YA Highway authors!)

Insurgent by Veronica Roth (May 2012)

Vivien (deadtossedwaves)

Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard (March 2012)

Jaime Morrow

A Midsummer's Nightmare by Kody Keplinger (June 2012)

Bethany (bethany.hensel)

Hope your holidays are fantastic!

How To Share Your Favorite Books and Authors

2011-12-19T12:42:00.004-05:00

One of, if not the, best ways for a book to build buzz and gain new readers is by word of mouth. Readers have a great deal of power deciding what to buy which leads to what bookstores buy which leads to what publishers buy. When you discover a new favorite author or book, spreading the news helps ensure that a writer can continue to produce material for you to fall in love with. What are some ways to tell others about favorite reads?

Quick and Easy Ways:

1. Social Media. Use your twitter, facebook, Goodreads, or other social media account to mention the books you love. The mention could be as simple as saying you finished a book and it made you swoon/cry/smile/angry, or you could use twitter to post an opinion question or poll about some aspect of the book to create a more interactive sharing experience. Particularly hot button topics include siding with one or the other love interest in a love triangle, book vs. movie, or comparing two similar books in the same genre.

2. Books as Gifts. 'Tis the season, and giving books is a great way to appreciate a favorite author, as well as get everyone crossed off your gift-list quickly. It seems there are two ways to go when purchasing books for others: buy what you think they would like, or introduce them to your favorite authors. I have given books under both conditions. Only you will know how receptive a friend or family member might be to receive your most favorite contemporary or dystopian YA; don't forget to consider that giving your favorite books can be a way for you and your adult family members to connect over a common interest. Adults love that stuff.

3. Leave the Book Places. Have an extra copy of your favorite book? Write a note in the front cover about why it's your favorite. Mention whether you want the next person to take the book with them to read, or whether you'd prefer they leave the book in your chosen location. A train station, for example, is a good place to leave books you'd expect someone to take. Your doctor's office, in contrast, is a great place to leave a book for people to start, hopefully getting sucked into the first few chapters as they wait for their appointment.

4. Actual Word of Mouth. Tell people about your favorite authors. As a writer and as a reader, I am often asked for book recommendations. Become that person that others come to for recommendations by offering your opinions freely, reading in public and joining (respectfully) in conversations where others are giving their own recommendations.

More Involved Ways:

1. Get it in the Classroom. Ask your teacher to stock a copy of your favorite book in her or his classroom. As a student, prepare a few ideas to tell your teacher about why the book should be available for in-class reading or checking out to take home. At this time of year, teachers sometimes get bookstore gift cards from students and may consider using that, or school funds, to stock the book. If you can supply a copy, even better. Parents can also get involved by emailing book recommendations to teachers or bringing favorite books to parent-teacher conferences.

2. Start a Reading Group. Perhaps your school has a book club or you meet with a group of reader-friends regularly, already. Expand your reach by contacting your local library or book store to ask if you can assist in forming a reading group. Create a "Suggested Reads" newsletter for your group and feature your favorite books as reads of the month. An added bonus is that, with the bookstore's or library's backing, you might be able to help arrange a visit by a favorite author going on tour, or one who is local to your area. Another option is to ask your library or bookstore if you can write a brief review or recommendation on a sticky-note-sized-paper to post on your favorite book's display or shelf space.

3. Fanfic. Some authors read it, some don't. Some authors hate it, others are flattered by it. Regardless how the author feels about fanfiction, it spreads the word about a book. Join a fanfic website (and follow its rules, or find a different site to join) and start posting stories about your favorite book characters and setting.

4. Contact Your Favorite Author. Check to see if your favorite author has a website with contact information. Sometimes, this will be a direct email, while other times it will be the email to a publicity rep or the publisher. Send a thoughtful, well-composed email with your thoughts on the book. Request a few postcards or bookmarks, then share those with reader friends. It's no guarantee that you'll be sent anything, but it doesn't hurt to ask. Popular authors, especially, likely don't have time to respond to every message, even if they wish they did, or may leave the promotional materials to others.

What are your favorite ways to spread word about your favorite books or authors?

Have a super week!
Kristin Halbrook

The Wizarding World of...Colorado?

2011-12-18T09:55:00.007-05:00

When I went to visit my friend Shayla at Colorado State University, she was about to try out for the Quidditch team. "I want to be a Keeper," she said

I wasn't sure I heard her correctly. "I'm sorry. Did you say Quidditch?"

She did say Quidditch, and she then proceeded to show me pictures, video, and articles about college Quidditch teams around the country. It's for real. At CSU, Quidditch is still considered an extracurricular club, but at some universities, the sport of the wizarding world is actually a sport to rival football and volleyball.

After some geeking out about this new-found awesomeness, Shayla asked me if I'd like to write about her team - the CSU Boggarts - for YA Highway. I said yes in a hurry, and she introduced me to Christof Bentele, team co-captain, founder of the Harry Potter Alliance, and a psych major at Colorado State.

How long have you been playing Quidditch with CSU?

Christof: We have been playing since the start of the year, practicing every Friday and putting in some serious effort to improve our flying skills. As most our team didn't know they could fly on brooms before now, there was a healthy learning curve, but we have seen so much improvement over the semester.

How do you adapt J. K. Rowling's version of Quidditch to a college sport?

Christof: It fairly simple actually: 3 chasers (offensive), 2 beaters (defensive), 1 keeper and 1 seeker per team. The chasers play with the quaffle with the aim of putting it through one of the opposing team's 3 hoops for 10 points. The beaters play with the bludgers (3 of them) and throw them at opposing players to "knock them out" and take them out of play until they reach their own goal posts. The keeper attempts to defend their hoops and the seeker attempts to catch the snitch for 30 points to end the game. The snitch is a person who runs and is dressed in yellow, he or she evades the seekers from grabbing the sock and ball that hangs from their waistband. Also everyone but the snitch must be on a broomstick at all times. All of this and a fair amount of magic is always helpful.

What's your favorite part of the games?

Christof: My favorite part, as a Keeper, is being able to make a clean tackle to prevent a goal. With 3 large hoops to defend, it is nice to actually prevent a score for our team. Sometimes I can even take possession of the quaffle and run to the hoops for a goal as a keeper, very exciting if it works.

What kind of reactions do you get from Muggles when they learn that you play a sport from the Harry Potter Universe?

Christof: "Ten points to Gryffindor" every time.

What is your team looking forward to next semester?

Christof: We are losing a few players at the end of the semester and so we are hoping to attract some new members and actually train up to win some more matches. I also hope we can go to
some elementary schools and teach the game to eager learners.

Besides Harry Potter, what are some of your favorite books?

Christof: Currently I am reading "Submarine" by Joe Dunthrone which is the novel that Richard Ayoade's new film is based on. Some of my favorites besides HP would be 1984, the Phantom Tollbooth, Lolita and Perfume.

Thanks again to Christof for giving us a peek into the wizarding world of CSU!

And now, for your viewing pleasure, a video from the Quidditch World Cup.

Asking Why

2011-12-17T16:53:00.000-05:00

Why am I writing this story?

It seems like a simple question. And hey, the answer is pretty damn important. You’d think it would stay in my head the whole time I’m working on a project. But you know what? It doesn’t. It starts off blindingly obvious, in the dreamy floaty stage before I start a first draft. You know that stage. It's like falling in love. Everything about the story is amazingly beautiful, even when it leaves socks all over the floor and plays very loud music late at night and doesn't behave according to the plan you've set out. Even then. I mostly don't even need to ask the question in that stage. I'm writing it because it is glowing and amazing and marvellous and because it is the sort of idea a genius might have, and because I think there's a chance it might not even be that hard to write at all.

But this stage wears off, and it turns out that this story isn't the mythical one which turned out to be easy to write all the way through. In fact it isn't even remotely close to that. In fact it is impossible. Impossibly impossible. And I start making changes the story needs in order to make sense, because no story ever comes out making complete sense.

But then my inner perfectionist kicks in. And my inner perfectionist doesn't understand how editing is meant to work. I'll start thinking that the story is lacking in all these different nutrients. It needs more cleverness. More literary sparkles. More plot twists. It needs to change its hair, and its name, and its soul. And I start making changes left, right and centre, to fill all these holes, to make it less flawed. Because never mind the reason I was originally writing this - never mind that! If I change all the right things, it will be flawless. And in the middle of all that, it's surprisingly easy to forget why I'm writing it in the first place. I switch things around and switch them back, and it doesn't fix anything.

It just so happens that this is exactly where one of my recent projects ended up. I'd been giving it makeover after makeover, trying to make it better. I wasn't sure exactly where I was going wrong, but I was sure that if I made exactly the right changes, I could fix everything, and it would be perfect. Then, for reasons you might have already read about, I had a huge break from writing anything at all, which didn't help. Every time I thought of the story, my brain froze up like a grumpy computer until I thought about something else. I was starting to think that almost two years of work was, well, a write off. It was an unfixably broken story. I couldn't find the fire at its heart anymore.

But one evening I sat myself down and very gently asked myself why. What was it that had made me want to write this story in the first place? Initially I couldn’t remember. Then I made myself remember the summer when I first came up with the idea and couldn't get it out of my head. Slowly, the whole thing started to glow again.

Why? Because I've had this certain scene floating in my head for years and I've always wanted to write the rest of the story. Because when I was twelve I read this book that resonated with me so deeply that I had to write my own response. Because there’s this scene at the end where the fireworks happen and everything comes together, and I want to get to that scene and light the fireworks. And most importantly, because there are these two characters, characters I love, who are travelling through darkness together, characters with a chemistry that wouldn't leave me alone for a whole summer. I went back and read the scenes I'd written that seemed closest to all these things. And suddenly it all made sense.

Just like that, I had found the heart of my story. And it wasn't anything clever. In fact, it was kind of ridiculously simple. So simple that it was easy to forget.

After that, I ended up making more changes. But this time, they weren't to make the story more 'impressive'. They were to make things clearer, and to take the story as close to the things I first fell in love with as possible.

What are you writing at the moment? And why are you writing it?