New digs

Tip of the day: Hallmark channel has the best cheesiest Christmas movies around and they have tons of new ones this year. Yay!

Not much to post today, but I wanted to share a picture of the house we are supposed to close on later today.


Can't wait till I can have writing retreats here! And I definitely think there might be a book of my set in a castle in the future.

--Emily, Miss Querylicious

Going to the Dogs and Cats in YA

Tip of the Day: Christmas TV listings! Oh, I love how CBS and ABC put The Grinch and Rudolph on at the same time tomorrow. Scrooges!

Writing about animals in Middle Grade is easy*. Ten-year-olds dream about spending Saturday night with a new guinea pig or kitten. Young Adult main characters have busier lives, but that doesn't mean the family pet can't be very important. The family pet may be the only one at home whose opinion your main character still respects. Look for how dogs and cats are used in the novels you read. Here are some ideas:

1. Building sympathy for your main character. Is your MC the only one taking responsibility for Doggie or Kitty? Especially if there's tension at home, showing your MC is capable of great caring casts suspicion on the other members of the family.

2. Dogs as judge of character. Aren't dogs supposed to love good people and sniff out dangerous people? If that sounds too Disney cartoon for you, think of it in terms of a love triangle. If one of your love interests needs a leg up, the approval of the family dog is huge bonus points.

3. Indicating a big change. When a beloved family pet has to be given away because of the main character's changed circumstances, it's a sure sign that very bad things are about to happen.

4. Using the daily dog walk. Does it take your MC past an ex-boyfriend's house, a graveyard, a park where something awful happened? Or does someone else know her route too well?

5. Humor. I'm thinking of adding a ninja attack cat to my tween novel on its next revision. There's a lot of room for creativity here. For example, have your MC suck up to a smelly dog only to find out it isn't owned by her crush after all, but owned by ...

-- Kate, Miss Perfecting the Pages

* Well, not exactly easy. How about more obvious? Work with me here, people, I'm trying to make an analogy.

When you just HAVE to talk about it

Tip of the day: I'm thrilled that CHASING BROOKLYN made the 2011 Texas Tayshas high school reading list! So many great books on the list - I'm truly honored to have my book amongst them. Thank you Texas librarians!!


One evening this week, my husband came downstairs and said something along the lines of, I just read the saddest article in National Geographic, about how badly women in Afghanistan are treated. (This woman was one of the ones featured in the article.) Estimates are that 90% of women in Afghanistan face some kind of domestic violence. It's bad. Really, really bad. And the details this article gives about the horrible abuse many women face really, really upset him. I think a part of him wanted me to read it so we could talk about it, but another part of him knew if it upset him, it'd REALLY upset me. I haven't read it yet. I might. We'll see.

His reaction got me thinking about why we reach out to someone after we read a book. Some books I turn the last page and it's over, and that's enough. I'm glad I read it (or sometimes not) but it's nothing life changing and I move on to the next thing.

Other times, after I read a book, I *have* to talk about it. Like if I don't, it feels like something may explode inside of me or something.

What *is* that? Because whatever it is, I want my books to have it. I want a reader to close the last page and tweet about it, or e-mail a friend, or look me up on the internet to find out if I have more books.

I actually think the "need to share" can come about from a variety of things. Here's a list I came up with:

1) A surprise ending. Maybe even something really shocking. Something you don't see coming.

2) Something that touches you on a deep, emotional level. It might be something tragic you can't imagine happening, and you watch a character go through hell and back. Not only that, she does it all with a kind of grace you admire and hope you'd have if you were faced with similar circumstances.

3) A book that makes you laugh and laugh.

4) Characters that are so rich, so well-developed, so real with unique likes and dislikes that it feels as if these people are your friends.

5) The author takes you places you've never been in a book before. He/she pushes the envelope and it's risky, but it's done with skill and it totally works.

6) A setting that comes alive for you, and makes you feel as if you've just went on a fantastic vacation.

I'm sure there's more, but that's what I came up with off the top of my head. What would you add to the list?

~Lisa, Miss Crafting a Career

Thankful Thursday

Tip of the Day: Don't be a dork and leave your turkey on the steps in your garage all day. Nasty bacteria grows on it and you'll have to throw it out. Boo.

Happy Thanksgiving!! I hope you're planning on having a fun relaxing day today! I heard somewhere this week that 66% of all families have a fight on Thanksgiving day. I'm determined to not be in that 66%! I'm already thinking about the day after. Not the Black Friday shopping (I'm swearing off that this year too) but getting ready for Christmas. I want to get our tree and start the marathon of Hallmark and Family Channel cheesy Christmas movies!

But first, things I'm thankful for right this very second:

My sweet family! Everyone is happy and healthy and silly as ever!

Warm home, food, and income! The economy is seriously depressing and I hate that so many people are struggling. We are donating to as many food drives, toy drives, coat drives etc. as we can.

Writing Goodness: Meg Cabot blurbed my book, I sold German rights to My Fake Boyfriend is Better Than Yours, the Japanese version of The Espressologist just came out, and I started writing a new book!

And finally, our big Disney trip last week went wonderfully! We survived the 20 hour drive there and back and had so so so much fun at all the theme parks. In fact, we are suffering from serious Disney withdrawal and want to go back as soon as possible. Here's just a few shots:

(The castle lit up for Christmas. Isn't it SO pretty? It changed colors too-- blue, pink, green etc. LOVED it!)

(The Osbourne light show at Hollywood Studios. This was AMAZING! Loved the "snow" falling too.)









("Germany" at Epcot. The kids loved all the different countries!)

(The tree of life at Animal Kingdom. So cool and huge!)

What are you all thankful for? Have a wonderful holiday!!

Kristina, Miss See Me on the Shelves

For YA Publishers: Bundling (or Librarians Love Read Alikes)

Tip of the Day: Want to know what books are already published that may be like your wip? Ask your local librarian! We're happy to provide read alikes and reader's advisory.

*A post inspired by the YALSA Symposium*

Guess what? Many YA librarians LOVE book lists. We make our own, steal from other libraries, compile from listservs, etc., all in the name of giving our teen readers more of what they like, and making readers advisory transactions quick and smooth -- and with more suggestions for their next library visit.

And we're not snobbish in how these book lists are organized or titled. We love to be "clever!" Zombie Books, Vamps Don't Die, Books with HEART (titles with the word "heart" in them), Make a Splash (water themed), Get A Job (MCs who work), Dead Parent Syndrome (MCs with dead parents), Jewish Themed, Asian Inspired, etc.

So what would be cool is if YA publishers "bundled" some books from their lists together for us. Not just in what is coming out by season, but maybe some backlist books that could be pushed with newer big releases ("Here's our BIG BOOK for the season! Fans of this may like THIS BACK TITLE!" (and the back title may be in paperback so it is affordable for us poor libraries)).

This would also be useful at conferences. If a big display of new releases has the BIG BOOK of the season front and center, they could provide a book list of read alikes from previous seasons to help with collection development which leads to readers advisory once the books are on the shelf.

So many times it seems that publishers jump ship from their "not as successful" books in favor of putting ALL their effort into the current BIG BOOK -- when in reality promoting the "smaller" books as read alikes to the BIG BOOK could help sales all around.

Is there a reason this isn't done?

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

Wanting just to want...

Tip of the Day: hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Yesterday I saw on the news that people are already stationed outside of several Best Buys for Black Friday. A whole five days early! Considering that all the deals are usually kept under lock and key, I find it a little odd that people are already lined up. Because they really don't even know what they are waiting in line for. They could really be wanting a cheap TV, but instead all the appliances are all sale.

Sure some stuff might have been leaked online, but most places probably don't have all there deals listed yet. So what's the point?

The woman interviewed apparently just wanted to be first in line, to say she was first in line. Well...I guess that makes sense.

I know I'm guilty of doing the same thing with my writing. Sometimes its hard to forget what you want to be published for, except that it sure would sound cool to tell people you're a published author. So I guess we'd both be doing it for the thrill of telling others.

But just like the lady sleeping in her tent outside the Best Buy, I might be wasting my time if I have that attitude. There's really got to be other reasons to write. Maybe you just like the challenge or do it for the love. Whatever it is, this thanksgiving I'm going to try to remember why I write. So I can be thankful for all the opportunities it's given me, even if I've still yet to be published. That way, I can feel like my time hasn't been completely wasted.

Photo from: http://www.newstimes.com/news/slideshow/Bargain-hunters-brave-Black-Friday-92.php

My Hands, I Can't Feel My Hands!

Tip of the Day: Since it only rains when I don't bring my umbrella to work, I think you should all pay me to carry my umbrella when you need a sunny day.

So what's with this carpal tunnel syndrome? I'm assuming most of you are writers or at least work around computers a lot. How do I know if I need to do something about the state of my arms?

The right arm has had pain shooting through the elbow towards my fingers for about 2 weeks now. And now my left hand has been asleep for 24 hours.

Normally this would be cause for concern, but it's been busy season at my day job so I just figured when things calmed down at work, this would go away. So I've been treating this by ... well, I haven't been treating it at all, unless you count swallowing ibuprofen with my morning coffee.

Obviously this has been impacting my writing, i.e. giving me another excuse to slack off.

Has anyone tried ace bandanges? Heat treatment, cold treatment? Or do I just need to suck it up and go to the doctor already?

-- Kate, Miss Perfecting the Pages