Fall TV!

When I was a teenager, I was very proud of the fact that I barely watched any TV. I read books. I listened to punk rock. These were worthy pursuits. Movies, those were good too. But TV was thing making the masses dumber.

Yeah, I'm so not snobby like that anymore. Even back then, whenever I was home sick or bored during the summer, I would tune into my guilty pleasure: One Life to Live. Yep, as in the soap opera. Which I still watch daily and have since the summer before freshman year of high school.

I think my frustration with TV came in the middle of high school when one of my all-time favorite shows, My So-Called Life, was canceled after one season. I was the same age as the characters in that show and dealing with the issues they were dealing with. I'd never seen something so real on television before. But they CANCELED it!!! And on a total cliffhanger too! Would Rae Ann and Angela ever really be friends again? Would Angela and Jordan Catelano get back together? I would never know. So I started making blanket statements that TV sucked, it was mind-numbing, there were no good stories told through that medium.

And honestly during the mid-to-late nineties, I don't think there were many. There were a lot of sitcoms, which weren't really my thing unless I was really bored or sick or tired or bummed out and then yes, please cue up the Seinfeld. But the only show I watched religiously was The X-Files because it had all the right elements of tension and suspense and OMG would Mulder and Scully ever get together???

I don't know if the writing on TV has just gotten better or I have come to a point in my life where I need some mindless entertainment and melodrama to unwind (probably a mixture of both), but I've found myself watching a lot more TV over the past few years, including catching up on the things I missed during my TV boycott phase. My friend Jenny and I get together weekly to watch the Gilmore Girls (we're on season 4 and were both probably way too excited when Sebastian Bach tried out for Lane's band!). And on my brother's recommendation, I also watched Freaks and Geeks because he felt like it was a comedic 80s version of our high school experience. He said the little brother reminded him of himself and the sister reminded him of me and it was quite true! However, I had the same reaction when I reached the end of that series as I did with My So-Called Life, wondering why a show that was both so hilarious and so true to real high school life had gotten canceled!

My husband and I have one Netflix queue for movies and one for TV and lately the TV one gets a lot more attention while the movies just languish for weeks. Currently we are watching and loving season two of True Blood. We are also into the comedies on Showtime like Weeds and Californication. (I never thought I would pay for the premiere cable channels, but we fell so in love with those shows when watching them on Netflix that we had to.) I'm really loving this season of Weeds so far, especially since right now it is in my favorite city, Seattle.

I also have to admit that I started watching Grey's Anatomy because it's set in Seattle, but I kept watching because it has the soapy drama I crave. Usually it is pretty well-written too, though I felt it started to go downhill for about a year or so there. Then the end of last season really picked up and the season finale had my heart pounding and left me crying on the couch, so I have to say that is the season premiere I am most anticipating.

I was also incredibly pumped for the 90210 premiere, and it did not disappoint! An earthquake on the first day of school? A bunch of new potential relationship and broken hearts? And some seriously sketchy situations going on? Soap opera heaven for me!

90210 falls into my soapy drama category, but as a YA writer and someone who deep down still feels 16, I have to say I have a particular soft spot for those teen dramas. I love Degrassi: The Next Generation too, but it has gone on so long at this point that most of the characters I initially watched for are gone.

On the soapy drama front, I have to say I was disappointed that the new Melrose Place was canceled as I rather enjoyed it, but now I have a hole in my TV viewing schedule to fill (not that I have that much time to watch TV unfortunately). There are a bunch of shows I really want to see but am afraid I might be too far behind on to tune this season. I might have to catch up over next summer and then get hooked. Those include Gossip Girl, The Vampire Diaries, Glee and Mad Men. All of which sound right up my alley for various reasons, but I didn't have time to watch them when they started so now I'm behind.

Maybe there are some new shows just premiering that I would like, but I'm not that up on the TV news so if you guys have suggestions, I'd really love to hear them. Obviously I watch all kinds of TV. I love sci-fi/fantasy like X-Files, Battlestar Galactica and True Blood. I love my soapy dramas like 90210 and Grey's Anatomy. And I have a particular soft spot for shows that seem true to life like My So-Called Life was... well obviously, those are the kind of books I write now, so if someone out there also likes those kinds of shows and wants to turn BALLADS OF SUBURBIA into one, please let me know ;)

But seriously, what returning and/or new shows are you especially excited about this season?

Do you write the book you want to read?

I turned in THE BOOK WITH THE TITLE SO FABULOUS THAT I DARE NOT SPEAK ITS NAME, which will be published by MTV Books on July 1, 2011, and I've moved on to writing my option proposal. I'm so excited! The sky is the limit for this book. The only requirement is that it should be the same genre as GOING TOO FAR, FORGET YOU, and THE BOOK WITH THE TITLE SO FABULOUS THAT I DARE NOT SPEAK ITS NAME. So I'm writing the book I want to read.

I'm being very careful about this. I've loaded the soundtrack onto my iPod, only songs I love. I've found cool names for the hero and heroine. I'm working on their characters, making sure they're people I'd want to hang out with. The setting is a place I'd kill to live. The stuff that happens in this book is stuff I love to read about in other people's books--if I read these hooks in the back cover summary when I'm standing in the bookstore, that book is an automatic buy for me. I am doing my best to make this the Best Book Ever--for me, at least. Tastes differ, but this book is perfect for mine.

But not everybody writes this way. At a writers' conference luncheon recently, I sat at a table with an author who wasn't published yet but was pretty far along, with more than one manuscript completed. She told me she wrote romantic comedy, so of course my ears pricked up. But then she went on and on and on about THE HUNGER GAMES, and when I said dystopian isn't my thing, she said dystopian is her FAVORITE. So I asked her: "If dystopian is your favorite, why in the world are you writing romantic comedy? Don't you write the book you want to read?" Her response is that she'd gotten that advice before, and it was the worst advice she'd ever received. People told her that she did not have a dystopian voice. She has a romantic comedy voice. She wasted a lot of time writing dystopian and now she is writing romantic comedy.

I don't want to mess with anybody's head here, because I do think what's good advice for one person can be terrible advice for another. But, trying to put myself in her place...I cannot imagine someone telling me that I do not have the voice to write YA romantic comedy and romantic drama, but I have a good dystopian voice, and I should write dystopian instead. I mean, I REALLY dislike dystopian. It would be like someone telling me that I was a terrible writer but I had a terrific aptitude for being a mortician. I would not run out and become a mortician. And even if I did give writing dystopian a shot, writing it would be like painting with my eyes closed. I would have no idea whether I'd written a good dystopian novel or not, because I dislike all of them.

Writing is hard, and navigating the publishing world is harder, but I think the most confusing and demoralizing time for writers is that period when they've completed some manuscripts, they've had some encouragement, but they haven't made that first sale. At that point some people beat their heads against the wall for many years and many manuscripts, acting out the definition of stupidity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. (Fifteen years and ten manuscripts before I was published...I am way guilty here.) I have watched people make one change and suddenly their careers take off. But turning your back on the genre you love in favor of one you don't love, just because somebody (who didn't buy your book or offer you representation) suggested it, is not a change I would recommend to anyone.

Weigh in, y'all. Do you write the book you want to read? Are you operating very successfully in a genre you don't prefer? Do you think "voice" is really an immutable part of a writer and is suitable only to certain extant genres? I would love to know what you think.

Critiquing 101

We writers love to get feedback on our work and are satisfied with comments ranging from gushing praise to awestruck delight. After we’ve spent hours slaving at our computers, criticism is the last thing we want to hear. But the painful truth is that nobody’s writing is perfect, and one of the ways we improve is by absorbing constructive criticism and applying it to our writing.

Like so many other things that are good for us, being criticized is a pain.

Every writer knows there are two sides to criticism: dishing it out and taking it. To be effective, both must be done with finesse. If you’ve taken part in a critiquing session, you’ve learned—possibly the hard way—that not everyone has mastered the technique. When a writer is reduced to tears, throws her coffee cup, and storms out of the room, those are pretty good signs that something went wrong.

Having been both a disher and a taker, I’ve learned a few strategies that have kept me on the good side of my fellow writers. (I hope!!!)

When you’re dishing it out:

1. Lead with specific positive comments such as, “Your dialogue sounds so natural.” Do not say, “Uh, this is a pretty good story,” and then heap on the negatives.

2. Phrase your constructive criticisms as suggestions or questions. “Do you think this scene might work better if….” rather than, "This scene is boring."

3. Limit your criticisms to two or three points at the most so the author doesn’t feel picked on.

4. If the author gets defensive, stop talking! Arguing your point leads to hard feelings--and slashed tires.

5. Be supportive. Emphasize the positive aspects of the work and encourage the author to keep trying.

When you’re taking it:

1. Listen to all comments with an open mind and resist the urge to defend your writing. If possible, take notes. This keeps your hands occupied so you don’t strangle the critiquer.

2. Respect the critiquer’s views. If one person has these concerns, others may feel the same way.

3. Do not shred or ritually burn your notes. Set them aside for a few days and review them.

4. Reread your manuscript with fresh eyes and revise as necessary.

A few last words:

ü Only ask for feedback from people whose opinions you respect.

ü Give feedback that’s honest but courteous.

ü If you dish out criticism, be able to take it.

Stand alones or series?

Okay, here's my deep dark confession: Series scare the TAR out of me. At least, in terms of writing. I insist that my brain doesn't work that way and as a general rule, the stories that most interest me tend to be stand alone stories, whereas I have many writer friends who come up with ideas in terms of series. Common conversation with some of my friends:

Me: I have a great idea for a story. It's about [insert story idea]

Writer Friends: Wow, you know if you did this and that to it, it would make a great series.

Me: YAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

or

Writer Friends: You know, I just had a great idea for a series.

Me: A series? Another one? You can't just think of one story?

Over and over, I've had these conversations with my friends. They think I'm being a big baby and they may have a point. I do get to frothing at the mouth and snarling like a cornered badger when I think I'm being pushed into a corner and I can't help it—that's exactly how the idea of committing to a series makes me feel. And you know, I understand that it's a feeling that's in all likelihood, akin to shooting myself in the foot. Clearly, publishers love the idea of series. I could probably sell a series idea a lot easier than I could any of my stand alones. Maybe. Possibly.

Thing is, there are no guarantees in this business. And I've seen far too many stories that maybe should have only ever been one book, two at the most, that were stretched into series that went on ad infinitum and it dilutes the power of the original story. Of course, by the same token, some of the most celebrated stories of the last decade were series—especially within the young adult genre. I mean, HUNGER GAMES, much?

I don't know... it's not that I'm totally against the idea of writing series,—after all, I do have an adult story that somehow wound up expanded into three manuscripts (still unsold, but clearly, I can do it). However, it wasn't planned. It just happened. It all flowed, sort of... organically. Maybe I'm just sort of a crunchy granola when it comes to the idea of series—I have to start with a story and write it without stressing out over whether or not it's one that can be sustained over the course of three or more books. I don't want to worry that I'm going to get sick of the characters or the world and feel as if I'm trapped writing about nothing but for the foreseeable future.

I want to continue to stretch my wings as a writer—try different things, explore different worlds, and I worry that committing to a series would be like clipping my wings.

Yet... I've got an idea brewing. Just a stand-alone idea. But even so, in the back of my mind there's a little voice whispering, "You know... this has potential."

When even the voices are saying it...

Who knows? I think I'll take a wait and see attitude and just finish this one story.

What about you guys? Do you think in terms of stand alones or series? As a reader, which do you prefer?

Pick a Name, Any Name

Oh, it's not that easy!! So far, the names of characters for my books has come pretty easily. I just knew what they'd be named. But names conjur up all sorts of associations so I never know if people will feel about the characters like I do. For instance, I knew a certain girl named X growing up. She was mean and terrible. And I always associate her name with that type of person. An author could write a story with a main character named X and she could be the nicest person in the world and I'd still think, "mean girl."

My maiden name was Guli (pronounced goo-ley). So people called me Jenny Guli. And if someone met me only once or twice and I saw them again I'd inevitably hear them say, "Hi Julie!" I cannot tell you how bothersome that was to me. Very annoying. But I understood how it could happen - they took the J and the ooley and I became Julie! I hated it.

Now if I'm talking to someone on the phone they're like, "hey, you're a nice Irish girl..." But I'm not Irish. My husband's name is. I'm Italian and German. The whole O'Connell thing doesn't really mean much to me, but I know that Irish people have a very strong connection to the motherland, so to speak. To me, it's just a name.

So I'm always thinking about my characters' names and what they'll conjur up in a reader's mind - confusion? association with a horrible person? a relative? a certain ethnicity or background?

Do readers even care about a character's name?

Writing When and Where

I have not been able to get to this beloved blog as much as I would have liked to over the summer so I thought I'd write about my WRITING TIME AND PLACE. I crave writing time, it is food for my brain. If too many days pass and I don't have any time to write, I get cranky! So now that school is back in session and two out of three of my kids are in school, I am back to my writing schedule.

Basically, I designate three mornings a week to writing. I get a sitter for my baby and walk (run) off to my pseudo office at Starbucks! The comfy orange chairs are reserved for my friend and critique group partner Christina Gonzalez (The Red Umbrella) and I. Well, really they are not reserved but we wish they were. On these days I try my best to write at least 1000 words. Christina and I work on our own stories but pause to discuss ideas or gossip (I'm not gonna lie:). The other two school days I write during my baby's nap, while giving the dirty dishes and pile of laundry the evil eye!

Then when I'm editing or really in the middle of a manuscript, I sneak some writing in at night or on the weekends. At these times I either write in my home office or on the couch with my laptop. By nature I am a night owl and enjoy writing when all is quiet but since I can't maintain my college day hours, I have switched my schedule a bit. But no matter what, I am always thinking about my characters in the shower, waiting to pick my boys up at school or while making dinner.

Okay, back to my work in progress, which for now is titled, Tarnished. I would love to hear when and where other people write.
Happy Writing!

Who are your writerly crushes?

I think I develop a new writerly crush every time I read a really really good book so I have tons of them, including all of the authors I blog with here. But I will try to limit it to a few *cough* ten *cough* here.

My first big writerly crush was Sylvia Plath. She seemed to speak directly to my soul with her poetry. I spent much of the beginning of high school trying to emulate her. And failing miserably.

My next major writerly crush was on Francesca Lia Block, whose books I discovered at the end of high school. I love the Weetzie Bat series and The Hanged Man best. She writes about very real, very painful issues from not fitting in to rape, abuse and anorexia--all things that I and/or people I knew were dealing with as teens. But she wrote these stories with such lush language and imagery that they read like a fairytale. I still strive to master language the way she does. And I wish I could write magical realism like she does as well.

I was actually lucky enough to take classes from two of my biggest writerly crushes, Irvine Welsh and Joe Meno. I admire Irvine's work because he writes about the real world and pulls no punches. He writes in the dialect of his characters and he doesn't hold back when it comes to realistically depicting a situation, even if that situation is totally ugly. Joe Meno wrote what feels like the bible for kids who grew up punk in Chicago in the early 90s like me: Hairstyles of the Damned. But in that book, Joe does what Joe does best, which is gets to the heart of the character. He writes emotion and character quirks better than anyone. He just captures the human spirit on the page in every single book he puts out.

I also have major writerly crushes on those that create new worlds so masterfully. Something I would love to do and am trying to do in a project that is set aside right now, but I will get back to soon. I'd love to write something otherworldly or dystopian, but I fear I'd never get it down quite the way the masters like JK Rowling, Melissa Marr and Scott Westerfeld do. I am amazed at how lost I can get in the worlds they create, worlds that become as vivid and real as the one I live in every day. I only hope I can take the more fantastical story ideas that I have and do them some sort of justice. But those are three of the authors I will read over and over to gain inspiration.

Two of my biggest writerly crushes write the kind of fiction I do best, contemporary, realistic stories that are raw and gritty and just REAL. That's what I wanted as a teenager, stories that reflected the things that my friends and I were going through. Laurie Halse Anderson and Ellen Hopkins do exactly that. I could only dream of writing stories as important and compelling as Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak and Wintergirls. Every time I re-read Speak I know why I write. And Ellen Hopkins blows me away on multiple levels. Not only are her stories powerful, realistic tales that teens need, she does them in free verse. That's another thing I'd love to try my hand at some day, but fear I'd fail as badly as I did when emulating Sylvia Plath. So I guess I'll keep writing my edgy contemporary YAs as regular narrative. But the other thing that makes me admire Ellen so much is the way she constantly takes a stand about censorship. Her books are so important for teens to read and when someone tries to take them out of the hands of the readers that need them, Ellen speaks up. Yeah, that's huge writerly crush material for me.

Last, I just want to mention my newest writerly crush, Julie Buxbaum. I'm currently working on a book that is a little older, about a bartender mother who is approaching 40 and her daughter who has just finished her first year of college, so I wanted to read some adult fiction as I haven't in a while. I asked for recommendations on Twitter and was pointed to Julie Buxbaum's After You. It was such a powerful story about grief and the ways in which we overcome it and the writing was just SO good. Julie writes spot-on dialogue, she nails vivid little bits of description, and she weaves backstory in so well, which has always been one of my biggest struggles. So I've been using this book re-teach myself about writing. Those are my favorite kinds of writerly crushes, when I can be blown away by their words, but also learn from them.

What about you? Who are your writerly crushes?

Who are your writerly crushes?

My biggest writerly crush is Jennifer Crusie, who writes adult romantic comedy.

You may ask, "Why do you have a crush on somebody who doesn't even write what you write?" Well, I DO write adult romantic comedy. Just not very well, apparently. And for the first time in years, I'm not even working on one at the moment because I have so many YA projects.

It's not that I don't love writing YA. I do. But my plan was always to write adult and YA romantic comedy, back and forth. The YA romantic comedy, Major Crush, sold quickly, kicking off that half of my career. The adult romantic comedies never did.

Luckily I have Jennifer Crusie to write those books for me. I have a terrible habit of reading a book--even a great book, even a classic--and thinking, "I would have done this differently." With Ms. Crusie I rarely feel this way. The last of her books I read was Fast Women last Thanksgiving, and I remember reading a few pages and saying to myself, "I AM SO GLAD TO BE READING THIS JENNIFER CRUSIE BOOK!" It's a nonstop party in my mind, I tell you.

Here is how much I love her books. I don't often recommend books to my mother because she is extremely picky and very snobby about romance novels in particular. She is more of a high-falutin' literature kind of girl. But Tell Me Lies is my favorite Crusie, I had just finished it, and I loved it SO MUCH that on a whim I sent it to my mother for her birthday. A month later I checked in to see if my mother had read it, and whether she had liked it. Not only had she read it and liked it, she had proceeded in that month to read all of the Jennifer Crusie books. ALL OF THEM.

So I guess it is not just me.

Even I have not read all of them. Here is my Jennifer Crusie TBR pile:



And I am thankful I have so much left to read. I savor them.

My gosh, have I sold you yet? Are you wondering where to start? As I've said, my favorite it Tell Me Lies. People who already like Crusie seem divided on whether that book is their favorite, too, or whether they hate it with the white heat of a thousand suns. It is one of those polarizing titles. The one everyone seems to love (though it is not one of my favorites) is Bet Me. I'm also partial to Welcome to Temptation and Crazy for You. Another good place to start would be Maybe This Time, which will be published on Tuesday! Congratulations Ms. Crusie!

Mine is pre-ordered.

I'd like to interrupt regular programming to say....

My book is out! Thanks to the fantastic team at MTV Books, and to Stephanie Kuehnert for the fantastic cover quote!

Who are your writerly crushes?

I’ve had dozens of writerly crushes over the years, but I’ll limit this blog to my top six. I discovered my first crush when I was a misfit preteen who liked animals more than people. (Some days I still do!) Paul Gallico wrote lovely allegorical novels featuring animal characters who were often mistreated. The allegory flew over my head, but I fell in love with Thomasina the cat, Ludmila the cow, the Snow Goose, and his other charming creatures.

A later crush was Richard Peck. I’m a sucker for a man with a sense of humor, so crushing on him was inevitable. I laughed through Ghosts I Have Been and the rest of the Blossom Culp series, moved to A Long Way From Chicago, and spent A Year Down Yonder, giggling like a love-struck fool. What a guy!

My crush list wouldn’t be complete without Lois Lowry and J.K. Rowling. I’m in awe of their ability to create imaginary worlds down to the smallest detail. Lois Lowry’s works have sensitive characters and a mystical quality that draws me in and holds me spellbound. J.K. Rowling fashioned a world in which the setting has as much personality as the humans—and nonhumans. Speaking of world building, reading Uglies gave me a major writerly crush on Scott Westerfeld whose futuristic world blew me away.

The last crush on my short list is Michael Palmer, a best-selling author who weaves mystery, murder, and obscure medical conditions into page-turning thrillers. When I joined Facebook, I worked up the nerve to message him introducing myself and telling him about my first novel, fairest of them all, which was in publication. He sent me a gracious reply, congratulated me on being published, and invited me to get in touch if I was ever in Boston. How could I not have a crush on an author like that?

That’s my short list of writerly crushes. With so many spectacular books being published all the time, I expect many more writerly crushes in my future.

Who are your writerly crushes?

I have two writerly crushes, and I was thrilled to actually spend time with one of them only last week! My favorite author is Bret Easton Ellis and I was fortunate enough to interview him when he came to Australia to promote his new book "Imperial Bedrooms", a sequel to the debut novel that made him a literary superstar 25 years ago, "Less Than Zero."

I was a bit nervous about meeting him but he was just the most lovely person you could ever meet: kind, funny and generous. He's even more of a hero to me now because he is so supportive of up-and-coming writers. It made me feel inspired about my work again and ready to dive back into another manuscript. It's so wonderful when your heroes turn out to be fantastic people. Meeting Bret was definitely one of the high-points of my life.

My other literary crush is the gorgeous, down-to-earth, regular joe Mr. Stephen King. I started reading King when I was nine and he has been an enormous influence on my work. I'll be in New York in a few weeks and we plan on driving to Maine to see his house! Tragic, I know. Is it wrong that I want to give him a cuddle?

Who Are Your Writerly Crushes?

Writerly crushes, huh? This is an interesting question because my reading is so all over the place. And truth is, I have a lot of writerly crushes because in every book I love, I find something to admire about the writer.

However, in narrowing things down, the one that immediately came to mind is Anne Rivers Siddons. Specifically her first novel, Heartbreak Hotel.



That cover is what it looked like when I discovered it, hidden in the bowels of my high school library. I've since worn through about six different copies. I love this book and the way that Siddons writes in it, because it's so lush and alive. She brings to life within the first three pages a very specific type of heroine, that could have only existed in that place, at that time (being a college town in Alabama in 1956). It's very much a coming-of-age story, where Maggie, the heroine, learns about herself over the course of one summer, within the context of the bigger events surrounding her and what has always transported me into that world is the beauty and lushness of Siddons' language and cadences. (Yeah, I sound more than a little lovestruck, don't I?)

Another one of my writerly crushes is screenwriter Richard Curtis (Four Weddings & a Funeral, Notting Hill, Love Actually).

Even though the ending of Four Weddings completely annoyed me (I've long suspected that some American woman did bad things to him at some point, because he's not very kind in his portrayals of them, all the way back to his adaptation of Bridget Jones's Diary.) the reason I love him as a writer is because he's not afraid to make the hard choices and take the easy way out in every story he tells. He gets all of the nuances of love and humanity and isn't afraid to let his characters make mistakes. Big ones. That they can't always recover from. That's the sort of emotion I try to infuse my work with. It's a work in progress.

One more crush I should mention is Barbara O'Neal/Barbara Samuel.


And not just because she's got a great first name. She has such a beautiful command of her craft, both strong and ethereal, which is really quite a trick, when you think about it. Her lush, evocative use of language just makes me want to go back and practice until I Get it Right.


Oh, and because I wouldn't be me without mentioning some musicians, I love the stories that Sting and Mary Chapin Carpenter tell within the context of their songs. In four minutes, they can spin epics. I could go on forever, but I'll leave you with just one example from Chapin's latest CD, The Age of Miracles.



She has a song, "Mrs. Hemingway," that's an imagining of the story of the love affair between Ernest and his first wife, Hadley (about whom not much is known, comparatively speaking).

Two steamer trunks in the carriage
Safe arrival we cabled back home
It was just a few days before Christmas
We filled our stockings with wishes
And walked for hours
Arm in arm through the rain, to the glassed-in café
It held us like hothouse flowers

Just right there, in those few lines, she's drawn this lovely, poignant, vivid picture. I wish I could find a link to a recording, but there don't seem to be any, because the music really adds to the ambience-- just a lovely, gentle waltz that speaks to another time.

Okay, I'll quit waxing rhapsodic now and let someone else have a shot.

Who are Your Writerly Crushes?

When I saw this question I didn't have to think that hard. I'd just finished reading Sonya Sones' WHAT MY GIRLFRIEND DOESN'T KNOW for the upteenth time while on vacation (I'd brought a bunch of new books, was disappointed with them, stopped reading them and reached for Sonya's book because I knew it was guaranteed pleasure).

So I'm fine with admitting that my writerly crush is Sonya Sones. I love her books so much. I wish she could publish them as quickly as I read them (impossible).

What makes them so special? They're written in verse, for one thing. Sounds odd, right, they're poems! But they're not! But they are. Yet Sonya's books are brilliant. Every word counts. How she can convey so much on a single page with maybe 50 words is beyond me. And she manages to make an entire book out of it!

If you haven't read Sonya's books, please do so. Every one of them is perfect. And you will wonder how the heck she manages to do so much with so little.

What's In a Name?

I always wonder about how authors name books - or even if they do!! I've named all of my books except two.

I could not for the life of me think of names for what became LOCAL GIRLS and RICH BOYS. I thought the title BAREFOOT SUMMER would work for LOCAL GIRLS, but my editor was like, "Eh." In the end, it was my editor who came up with the titles for those books. They're short. They go together. They describe the books. Supposedly. I have to admit, I didn't, and don't love those titles. I think they sound kinda dumb. As in vapid and stupid. I mean, I do love the pictures on the covers, but when combined with the titles they look really just stupid. As in bubblegum, pop song, air bubble stupid. And I think they're not like that. The girls aren't dumb. The boys aren't dumb. It's not about silly people, yet the names sort of seem silly. But, I couldn't come up with anything better. So they stuck.

I called THE BOOK OF LUKE by its title from the start. But when it came time to submit the manuscript to my editor I wasn't sure she'd go for the biblical sounding name. So I offered up ALMOST PERFECT as a title. Turns out my publisher loved the LUKE title. And so it stuck over the alternative.

PLAN B was PLAN B from the first words I typed on the page.

My adult books were always what they were except DRESS REHEARSAL. Which I changed to JUST DESSERTS to play off the character's profession midway through. My editor loved DRESS REHEARSAL and so I changed it back.

The book I'm writing now doesn't have a title. My friend's 9 year old daughter came up with the title HEARTLESS. But that just sounds so mean, and it's not a mean book. So I'm waiting for that a-ha moment when the perfect title just pops into my head. I sure hope it happens soon. I hate not having a name. I hate looking at the first page of my manuscript and reading "Book #5." I want a title!!!

So how did you come up with your book's title? Or did you?

Let's get physical

I have a confession to make. I don't exercise.

I used to. Not so long ago I was at the gym every day, sweating it up with the best of them. But then my love of the gym was overtaken by my love of writing, and as my word count went up the daily visits with the treadmill fell by the wayside.

For a while I didn't really think about it. I'd traded one obsession for another, and I figured as long as I still ate healthy food then my lack of exercise wouldn't be a problem. But I just got a big wake-up call.

Last week I woke up with what doctor's call a 'tension headache.' It's the same as a migraine but without the pain of a headache. My head felt like it was in a vice and I could feel numbness spreading across my nose and cheeks. It felt like someone had rested a hand on my head. Oh my God, I thought, I'm having a stroke!

So I went to the doctor and he introduced me to this term called 'tension headache' which is apparently something people get when they are really stressed, have bad posture and don't exercise. When the doctor asked me if anything could be causing me stress I laughed in his face. "Oh please, I'm a writer!" I cackled, "What do YOU think??"

So he sent me off to a physiotherapist and now I have to go three times a week to fix my neck, which is the source of the tension headache. If I got my ass off the couch every once in a while this probably wouldn't have happened. I keep making excuses for my lack of exercise, like I'm too busy with my writing, but then I remember reading an interview with Augusten Burroughs, and HE exercises every day and is really buff, and still manages to churn out the odd book or two. But still I can't seem to find the time, and I'm paying the price for it.

So tell me, do YOU find time to exercise around writing, and if so, please tell me how!!!

A little bit of summer fun

Whew, it is hard to believe that it is the middle of August and summer is almost over. As usual, I feel like I missed it.

The past two years I've had a book to promote during the middle of summer and that seemed to take up all my time. Last year, I also had a wedding to plan. This year I thought I might get a little bit more enjoyment out of summer, but between constantly sick cats, severe weather that has led to two basement floods, and the race to finish my work-in-progress before my agent goes on maternity leave.... Not so much. To make matters worse, the work-in-progress does not feel like it's progressing at all and I'm not going to have the satisfaction of a finished book by Labor Day, possibly not even by the end of September. This is just not my year.

But I did have a few pleasant summer moments to look back fondly on.

First: visits with friends. I did not do nearly enough of this. I never seem to have enough free time to see everyone that I want to see. But I went on two very lovely picnics, one with my best friend on the fourth of July and one with my thirteen year-old pseudo-niece. There is just something simple and perfect about eating outdoors. And I had the chance to visit with some out of town friends. One came in from Los Angeles and we had a barbecue. And then I spent my birthday in St. Louis with some friends of ours and we went to the City Museum there which is basically like a big indoor/outdoor playground for grown-ups (well, and kids too, I guess). So I did get to go on a roof-top ferris wheel with my husband:

And tunnel through the giant indoor cave system with my friend Jenny:

Two, I was able to pay slightly more attention to my garden this year. I haven't been able to weed it as much as I would like and it kind of looks like a mess because things are either overgrown due to the extreme rain or drying out due to the extreme heat, but I'm starting to get some actual vegetables from it. Here you see a handful of green beans, some pickling cucumbers, two types of hot peppers, and a lot of tomatos:

My town also got a farmer's market this year so I've been able to buy a lot of fresh local produce as well. And speaking of fabulous things in my town, this brings us to the biggie....

Last but not least, I finally FINALLY went to my town's pool this year. So what, you are probably thinking, but you see I have wanted to go to this pool since I was a little kid when we lived in the neighboring town. My parents never took me because we lived two blocks from a pool, so why drive to one. This is the pool of my childhood fantasies:

Yep, those are two big waterslides you see in the center there. And not pictures are the drop slides, which are part slide, part free fall into the diving pool.

The weekend after the second flood, I made the spontaneous decision to finally visit the pool because really, what can cheer you up better than waterslides. I also decided to lay by the pool and read a little bit, as that was a favorite childhood past-time of mine. I'm much less tolerant of the sun than I was back then, but aside from that, it was highly enjoyable.

The pool will be at the top of my list for next summer as well along with ACTUAL VACATION. I'm hoping to have the time and money for a road trip to South Dakota or possibly all the way to Montana with my husband. We shall see. But I guess I better get back to writing that book to earn that vacation money.

How has your summer been? Busy or relaxing? And what were your favorite adventures?

The hard part

On Wednesday I turned in my next novel, which will be published by MTV Books in July 2011. This is the one I’ve been referring to as THE BOOK WITH THE TITLE SO FABULOUS THAT I DARE NOT SPEAK ITS NAME. Actually it may not have that fabulous title after all. My literary agent doesn’t like it. I am always taken aback when I find out I am not as brilliant as I thought...although it happens pretty often and I ought to be getting used to it by now. Anyway, I came up with a title that’s less fabulous but also less likely to scare the children.

Assuming my editor likes the book and accepts it (see above re: finding out I am not as brilliant as I thought), soon all will be revealed to you: the not-fabulous-but-less-frightening title, the back cover description, the glorious cover itself...and I will get a revision letter. But that’s not the hard part! I love revisions.

Okay, there was one time when I didn’t love revisions, but that’s because I didn’t agree with them. Five times out of six I have agreed with the revision letter, and it hasn’t taken me long to use the editor’s advice to create a version of the book that’s better than the one before. If writing a novel is like cooking from scratch, including grinding the fresh spices and other stuff that does not actually go on at my house, revising a novel is like popping a frozen dinner into the microwave. It’s all right there for you and it’s easy!

The hard part—for me, the excruciating part—is coming up with the next book. I’ve had so many ideas for books rejected during my little baby career that I second-guess myself, and I’m afraid to start anything at all. I did get an idea while I was on vacation in Myrtle Beach in June, and I did a lot of research for it while I was there. But I'm afraid it’s not good enough.

So I will clean the bathrooms. I will clean the garage. I will organize my closet. I will cook gourmet dinners--I mean, I am not grinding spices or anything, but it's better than the frozen chicken fingers we've been having while I was trying to finish this book. I will read a lot. And then one day about two weeks from now, my husband will say, "Why are you so grumpy? Have you stopped writing? Can you please go write something and cheer up? Jesus!" I will start writing the new book before I really think I'm ready, and that's how the hard part will end.

Basically Speaking

Last week I got an email from my brother Dan, who lives in Virginia. He’d gone to lunch with his friend “Sam” who’s writing his first novel. Sam knows I'm an author, so he was picking Dan’s brain for my secret to getting published. Like most authors, I receive lots of questions from people asking for the key to getting their books published. If I knew the answer to that, my novels would have been on the shelves 16 years ago. Even though there is no magic formula, writers can follow some steps to improve their chances:

ü Read widely in your genre, concentrating on books that have won awards for excellence. While it’s great to read the classics, be sure you read works that have been published in the last year or two. Writing trends change, and it’s important to keep current.

ü Write frequently in your genre, every day if possible.

ü Study writing techniques. Attend writing workshops, take college classes, follow authors’ blogs, visit writing chat rooms, subscribe to writing journals or e-zines, and read how-to books.

ü Join a professional writing association. On the Web you can find an association for almost every genre: mystery, romance, science fiction and fantasy, nonfiction, and children’s writing, to name a few. These associations provide almost endless opportunities for networking and education.

ü Join or form a writing/critique group. Hopefully, you will meet like-minded writers through your association, but you can also check local bookstores and libraries to see what writing groups meet there. Look for writers who are at or slightly above your level of expertise so you can pick their brains for ways to improve your skills.

ü Be certain your writing is up to professional standards by getting feedback from other writers, editors, and agents. Many writing conferences give you the opportunity to sign up for critiques from professionals at an added charge as well as breakout critique sessions with other writers that are included in your regular conference fees.

ü Be open to suggestions and criticism. All the feedback in the world is useless if you ignore it. Polish your writing until it is the best it can possibly be.

ü Research publishers through their Web sites, catalogues, and market guides. Target your submissions and follow all guidelines to the letter.

ü Keep trying, learning, and improving your skills until you meet with success!

Pictured above are some of the members of PAL of Central Iowa: Kimberly Stuart, Wendy Delsol, Wini Moranville, Kali VanBaale, Susan Maupin Schmid, me, Rebecca Janni, Mike Manno, and Sharelle Byars Moranville. We have books published in a variety of genres.

Battle of the Ideas

I thought I'd share my idea process with you since I just finished writing Graveyard Shift and am about to start a new novel. Usually when I get about three quarters done with a book, I start entertaining new ideas for my next novel, storing them in the back of my brain. Sometimes I might write a quick synopsis for the idea or share with a friend via email and then it's back to work.

Well, this time around the ideas flooded in. By the time I finished Graveyard Shift I had about five viable ideas for novels. They ranged from historical YA to funny middle grade to contemporary YA. I liked all of the ideas and really wasn't sure which one I felt most compelled to write first. I even thought about going back to an older novel that needs work but that I still love. I did put together a synopsis for one of the ideas that my editor suggested and that I intend to write as long as he's interested. But while I'm waiting to hear back from him, I thought I might take a stab at one of the other ideas.

So I let them duke it out in my head, waiting to hear which idea screamed the loudest. In the meantime, I read a couple of fantastic novels, surfed the internet for inspiration and a lovely procrastination tool too:)! But still I was not sure which one to go with.

Then a few days later I went to Macy's to get my makeup done for my last Indigo Blues signing at Barnes & Noble. I would say that I'm a diva (getting my makeup done and all) but really I hardly ever wear makeup and thought I'd let the lovely expert fix me up, instead of risking looking like a clown. Anyway, while the Estee Lauder girl asked me to look up so she could apply mascara to my eyelashes an idea hit me. I had just been reading an article on my iPhone which didn't have much to do with my idea but somehow triggered my new story plot. I'm not ready to share yet as I'm still formulating the plot points but it's a mystery YA, a little different from my other books but filed with romance and tension and high stakes.

Once this idea hit me, I knew it was the one I wanted to run with. I just had to wait for that gut feeling. So there you have it folks, for me I have to wait for the right idea to get my adrenaline pumping! And now I just have to find the time to write the book!