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local news
If you love theater, especially musical theater, you should totally go see Wasatch Theatre's production of Tony Kushner's "Caroline, or Change." I agree with the local critic, here, and am probably even a little more enthused than her. She's right about the strength of the performers. And, they were truly an ensemble. If you've gone to theater with any regularity you know that sometimes (especially in non-professional productions) you have the evenness problem. That is, two people in the cast could be amazing, five could be pretty darn good, and then there are always a couple that make you wonder what play they're in because it isn't this one. Not necessarily because their performances aren't good but because they are doing something much bigger or smaller or different from everyone else on stage. The piece itself, about which I knew nothing going in, was beautiful. This only runs through the 18th so run over to ArtTix.org before it's too late. If you love books and the people who write them, come on down to Orem today at 2 p.m. The Barnes & Noble at 330 E. University Parkway is hosting a whole pack of locally-grown (or dwelling), nationally-published authors. We'll be signing and hanging out for a couple of hours, so even if you aren't there to buy do come say hello.
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catch the wind, see us spin, sail away, leave today
I need to just create a category for my blog called "adult ADD." The things (mostly technology things) I complain about that have messed with my ability to think creatively and write and be a better reader have also affected my enjoyment of music. (And now that I'm writing this I feel like I have pondered this on my blog before, so maybe my memory is going, too.) I used to listen to albums. In the olden days, you more or less had to listen to things linearly. Especially in my olden days, when cassette tapes reigned, because it was harder to fast forward and rewind than just pick up and drop the needle where you wanted it. But even when CDs came along and dominated and you could easily skip back and forth, I still loved bringing home a new CD and putting it on. G. and I spent many an hour on the couch listening to something new all the way through, interjecting little comments..."Oh, I really liked that one," or "That reminds me of..." Now with 8 days worth of music on my iPod there's this weird thing that happens---even if a song I love has come up on shuffle, I listen to the beginning and then hit the little forward arrow to see what's next. (Something better? Something perfect?) And I download a lot of music, and pick and choose songs out of albums. Does anyone do the ritual anymore of putting on something new and stretching out with the liner notes and not multi-tasking all the while? Today my friend James Dashner posted some Led Zeppelin lyrics on his blog and that inspired me to put on Led Zeppelin II, and listen to it through twice. It's such an album album, and it's just the same if it's all jumbled up on your iPod and one minute you've got "What Is and What Should Never Be" and right after that some Beyonce comes up or a song from the Godspell soundtrack. Do you iPod people listen to albums? Or do you skip all around? Or focus on playlists? Do you think you enjoy music more that way, or less? I'm curious.
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ew. ew. ew.
I just found myself ransacking my kitchen in a desperate search for something chocolate. I stumbled upon the last remaining treat from my easter basket. The whole easter basket is a bit of a joke, because I am not religious in the least, I just like candy. ( Click here to witness the worst candy in the world! ) The verdict: a knockoff "nestle's crunch" but a thousand times more sickly sweet. Tastes like bootleg Mexican sugar-oil from a filthy street-cart is coating my tongue. There isn't enough water in the world to wash the taste of this "treat" out of my mouth. Thanks a lot, Jesus. |
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New YouTube Video and Other Assorted Madness
Okay, I know, I know. I need to post more often. But this has been a crazy week! From attending the IRA teacher’s convention to the Kentucky Derby (how come every time I watch a horse race, something bad happens? Starting in 1975 when I was eight with the whole Ruffian ... |
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The Ladies are in the House!
Having your new book - the book you've worked on for years, dreamed about, fussed about, cried over, danced with, bored your relatives to tears with ("aren't you done with that thing yet?") - having that book arrive is the closest thing possible to the moment when you give birth to a child. Without the mess and a room full of strangers wearing latex gloves and face masks. Without further ado, meet INDEPENDENT DAMES: What You Never Knew About the Women and Girls of the American Revolution.
( When you spend more than a decade on a project, you want to show it off. ) |
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I bet you didn't know about the rival poetry gangs of SLC
One thing to love about this city is The King's English, where several of my friends work, including the lovely Jenn (who may not have won the cookie throwdown, but was sooo close). If you live in town, you should subscribe to the store blog so you can know about events before, during, and after, and in case they don't make it into the Inkslinger. Here is Jenn's post about how the store celebrated National Poetry Month. Maybe it could be an episode of The Wire.
I just saw Married Life. I'm not sure what I think yet. Chris Cooper and Patricia Clarkson were great, as always. To achieve the kind of retro-noir Preminger-esque thing I think it was going for, the pace could have been picked up just a hair. Also? Pretty sad. I seem to remember one review quote including the words "darkly comic," and the preview made it look a bit that way, as well, but in truth I just found it more...darkly dark. (Speaking of previews, the more times I see the preview for Under the Same Moon, the less I want to see the movie. Which makes me feel kind of heartless, because, you know, it's about a cute little immigrant boy looking for his mommy!) The weather today is simply gorgeous.
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Welcome back ... Megan Crane!
 THE BOOK: Names My Sisters Call Me THE PITCH: Courtney, Norah, and Raine Cassel are about as different as three sisters can get. Norah, the oldest, is a typical Type A obsessive who believes there is a right way and a wrong way to do everything. Six years later she has not forgiven Raine, the middle sister, for ruining her wedding day. Raine is Norah's opposite - a wild, follow-your-bliss hippie chick who flees to California after the wedding fiasco. The only thing the two sisters have in common is their ability to drive Courtney, their youngest sister, crazy. When Courtney's longtime boyfriend proposes, she decides it's finally time to call a family truce and bring the three sisters together. After all, they're all grown-ups now, right? But it turns out that family ghosts aren't easily vanquished, and neither are first loves. Reconnecting the sisters also means reexamining every choice Courtney has made in the past six years, right down to the man she's about to marry. Whether you have suffered the angst of sibling rivalry or been one of the lucky (or unlucky, depending on how you look at it) few who just watched from afar, NAMES MY SISTERS CALL ME is a book that anyone with a sister, a sibling, or even a friend can appreciate. THE BLOG: http://megancrane.livejournal.com/ THE EXCERPT: http://www.megancrane.com/names.html THE EXTRAS: "What Kind of Sister Are You?" Quiz on Facebook: http://apps.facebook.com/what-kind-of-s-d MySpace profiles for each sister: WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: "Crane's brisk voice and knack for finding the humor in Courtney's angst keep the mood upbeat all the way to the rosy resolution.." -Publishers Weekly THE INTERVIEW: What is your favorite word? What is your least favorite word? What turns you on, creatively, spiritually, or emotionally? What turns you off? What's your favorite curse word? What sound or noise do you love? What sound or noise do you hate? What profession other than yours would you like to attempt? What profession would you not like to do? If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates? BONUS QUESTION: If someone were to make a movie of this book, who would you want to bring your characters to life? Not all! Thanks for stopping by, Megan - and congrats on your latest success! Megan Crane is a New Jersey native who graduated from Vassar and got her MA and PhD in literature from the University of York in England. She is the author of Everyone Else’s Girl, English as a Second Language and Frenemies. She lives in Los Angeles. Visit her website at www.megancrane.com. |
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feels so right it must be wrong
Whatever this breakthrough is that I've had is kind of a big deal. I'm feeling so good and confident now that it's scaring me a little. The little Scaredy Sara in me is shouting: Never trust the happy smooth sailing! Never trust the happy smooth sailing! Aiyyeee! I mean, not that it's been easy. Writing is always hard work. But the obstacles that I've always had in terms of it all feeling impossible and frightening and overwhelming seem to have been lifted for the time being. I could get use to this. But should I? Time will tell! If you're in Utah, particularly the Provo area, don't forget that this Saturday is the big exciting mass signing extravaganza in Orem. Oh, back to writing. I want to make a little writing book recommendation. I've never been a huge fan of craft/method books because everyone has a different process and I think what works for you works, and you don't want to get into a stall by reading about how someone else does things and then shoulding all over yourself, as Stuart Smalley would say. However, there's this one book I have in my library that I think is actually helpful without being at all dictatorial. I read through it during a major revision of what would become Story of a Girl, and I've been reviewing it lately: Plot (Elements of Fiction Writing) It is raining. I like it.
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Eventful
1. Hank and Maureen Johnson and I will be speaking together in Grand Rapids, Michigan this Thursday. 2. If you would like for Hank and/or I to come to your city, request us at Eventful. |
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Want to join my writing challenge?
Last month I gave the keynote speech at the New England SCBWI Conference. There were 550 people in the room. Most have them have written to me in the last couple of weeks (thank you very much - they have been sweet and much appreciated notes) commenting on what I had to say. The most frequent topic is the challenge I issued: to write for at least 15 minutes a day for 21 days. Some people loved it, others struggled. With summer coming, I thought I'd issue it again: Can you commit to write for at least fifteen minutes every day from July 1st - July 21st? Let know if you want to join by leaving a note in the comment section. You can comment anonymously, if you want. If there is enough interest, I will focus my blog posts in July on writing stuff. What do you think? Want to play? |
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Welcome back ... the inimitable E. Lockhart!
 THE BOOK: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks THE PITCH: Frankie Landau-Banks at age 14: Frankie Landau-Banks at age 15: Frankie Laundau-Banks. Frankie Landau-Banks, at age 16: This is the story of how she got that way. THE BLOG: http://www.theboyfriendlist.com/e_lockha WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: "Big ideas are an essential part of the fun in this sparkling tour de force.... Lockhart dexterously juggles a number of smart and tantalizing themes—class and privilege, feminism and romance, wordplay and thought, friendship and loyalty—and combines the pacing of a mystery with writing that realizes settings and characters, large and small, with an artist’s sure hand....An exuberant, mischievous story, it scores its points memorably and lastingly." -Publishers Weekly (starred review) Also received starred reviews from Booklist, Kirkus, School Library Journal! Dearest E, I owe you one ginormous apology, as this interview was originally supposed to run at the end of March. But even though I'm horribly late, I'm still super-psyched to blog about this book, which is the newest of my all-time favorites. I can't stop talking about how smart and hilarious it is - as I think I may have mentioned, this is exactly the kind of book that makes me wish I were a better writer. Anyway, enough with the gushing - on with the tour! What is your favorite word? I do not think I can choose. But I am in the middle of writing the new Ruby Oliver book (heroine of The Boyfriend List and The Boy Book) and I can tell you Roo's new favorite word: spankin'. As in, "That's a spankin' pair of lederhosen you're wearing, where did you get those?" -- not as in, "Stop your whinin' or you'll get a spankin', you little brat." [NOTE: Those of you who read E's blog know she's since finished the first draft of this novel - which only serves to illustrate how late I am. Oi!] What is your least favorite word? Can't. In a way, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks is all about how much I don't like that word -- at least, when applied to me. What turns you on, creatively, spiritually, or emotionally? Men in the kitchen. I think that covers all three areas, actually. What turns you off? Cruelty to animals. What's your favorite curse word? I love them all! Right now, I am saying Poo a lot. As in, "Oh, Poo! I forgot to buy lettuce!" What sound or noise do you love? I like silence best of all. But cats purring. Judy Garland singing. Laughter. What sound or noise do you hate? I live on a street near a bar. A couple times a month I awake because a drunk guy is screaming, very often at a woman, in a scary way. The other night it was so bad I called the police. I hate this little sound clip of human ugliness with all my heart. What profession other than yours would you like to attempt? For a while I attempted to write musical comedies. That's where my book Dramarama came from. If I couldn't write, I think I might like to be a baker. I get up early anyway. What profession would you not like to do? I don't play well with others. It is true. I am not a team player, I'm not adaptable, and I don't like taking orders. So really, I am ill-suited to most jobs. If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates? This way to the library. That way to the steam room. Oh, and here, you can take books in the steam room without damaging them. Love E. Lockhart as much as I do? Then check out her latest venture, HOW TO BE BAD, which hit stores yesterday! Born through a MySpace discussion board and co-written with Lauren Myracle and Sarah Mlynowski, HOW TO BE BAD - equal parts charming, hilarious, and emotional - is the story of a road trip that proves that sometimes it doesn’t matter where you’re going, since getting there is half the fun. Three girls who couldn’t be more different have one goal in mind: to get the heck out of Dodge. Well, Niceville, Florida, actually. But it might as well be called Nowheresville. Vicks is the wild-child fry cook whose boyfriend left for college and isn’t returning any of her calls; Mel, the good girl in expensive jeans who just wants everyone to like her; and Jesse, the trailer-dwelling human morality meter who’s discovered a life-altering secret - Each has her own reason for climbing into Jesse’s mom’s beat-up station wagon and hitting the highway for a weekend trip, whether she knows it or not. Armed only with Vicks’s ancient, battered copy of a guidebook called Fantastical Florida, a map Jesse picked up with her dwindling funds, and Mel’s mom’s credit card, they’re Miami bound. Hearts will be broken, friendships will be tested, and a ridiculously hot stranger could change the course of everything. And if they don’t kill each other first, Vicks, Mel and Jesse will not only have a road trip to remember, they’ll have friends for life. If you're looking for the perfect summer beach read, this book is it. So. FUN. THE TOUR: E, Lauren, and Sarah are currently on tour to support HOW TO BE BAD. So if you live in or near New York, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, California, or Connecticut, check out the calendar to see if this talented trio is coming to a bookstore near you. Thanks, E, for stopping by - and for waiting patiently for your tour! E. Lockhart is the author of The Boyfriend List and its sequel, The Boy Book; Fly on the Wall; Dramarama; and How to Be Bad, co-written with Lauren Myracle and Sarah Mlynowski. Her latest solo project is The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. Visit her on the web at www.e-lockhart.com. |
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sometimes it happens right away...
...sometimes it takes 40,000 words. Getting grounded in a project, finding the voice, having a breakthrough, whatever you want to call it. All I know is I've been fumbling around in the dark for the last 30,000 and I think the lights finally came on. I think. Which means going back to the start, but now that I can see it's not so frightening. What helped me, I think? Was spending a total of about seven hours in airports and on planes over the weekend. I'm one of those weirdies that likes airports. They are neither here nor there. While you're in them, your life as you know it sort of ceases to be. You hardly exist at all. It's like A.A. Milne's poem "Halfway Down." It isn't really anywhere! It's somewhere else instead! I get a lot of thinking done - the kind of random, flee-floating thinking that's very good for writers. Also, my airport read was Anne Tyler's Ladder of Years which happens to be about a woman who isn't really anywhere. She lives out that fantasy of EXIT STAGE LEFT, right out of life, just completely abandoning everything and everyone, doing her best not to form any attachments, not have any expectations put upon her, not need anyone. Between you and me and the Internets, that's one of my personal favorite things to dream about: walking away from everything. Is there anyone who hasn't longed for this, even for a second? Mmmm sweet autonomy. Only, that's not really possible if you are human, as Tyler's character is finding out. (I haven't finished it yet, so don't tell me how it ends!)
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Three New Books That Aren't JD5
After finishing Fourth Comings last winter, I needed to take a vacation from Jessica Darling for a few months before I could even start thinking about the next book in the series, which I have just recently announced is titled Perfect Fifths and will go on sale about a year from now. I don't have any more information about that book right now. During that aforementioned break, I contributed to three new and soon-to-be released books that are worth checking out. In order of publication... |
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home, alive & well - and What Happens Here
I'm back from my weekend away. I snuck to SF for some quality sister-and-sister-only time. I traveled with one pair of jeans, three shirts, related underpinnings, and my toothbrush - I didn't even take my purse, because I wasn't going to shop or anything. But then...I shopped. And the first thing I bought was a purse, so I could carry my wallet and thereby shop more efficiently. Ah well, I tried.
Awwyeah! (By the way, it's my first blurb actually printed on a book, and it feels very strange - like a mini version of having a novel out. I'm already editing the blurb in my head and thinking I could have done better. "Compulsively readable"? I couldn't come up with something more original than that? I mean, Tara wrote a whole awesome book and that's the best way I could describe it? Maybe some day I won't be so neurotic. But then, I wouldn't be me!)
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Happy Cinco de Birthday!
The Forest is decorated with streamers and margaritas today. Yes, it is Cinco de Mayo (and take it from me: San Jose is where you want to be on Cinco de Mayo weekend). But it is also the birthday of Stephanie, my oldest daughter. You can leave birthday greetings on Bookavore, her blog, if you want. AND it is the 50th birthday of my most very Beloved Husband, Scot. All he wants for his birthday are a few more donations to his charity run. So, yeah. This is Party Central today. It's also Catching Up from the Weekend Day. Friday morning I ran along the Guadalupe River Park Trail - it reminded me a lot of the trail that runs through the middle of Austin. After a long shower and lunch, my intrepid hosts, Dr. Mary Warner and Dr. Jonathan Lovell, drove me to Yerba Buena High School. Thanks you very, very much to Ms. Goltzer and her students for making the afternoon so much fun! After we left the school, we went to Hicklebee's, an amazing independent bookstore run by Valerie Lewis, who ought to be called She Who Knows Everything. I would love to take her out to dinner with Teri Lesesne. The two of them in the same room at the same time might be enough to fix everything that is wrong with our world.
( What San Jose, Stevie Wonder, and the Shippensburg Women's Rugby team have in common ) |
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So there I was in Los Angeles, on a balmy Tuesday night. It was about seven o’clock. We’d gone out for sushi, and were waiting, as you do in L.A., for the valet to bring our car, enjoying the balmy evening, bouncing the baby in my arms, when a man with a video camera wandered over. “Hi, baby,” he said. “What’s her name?” “It’s Phoebe,” I said, bouncing her in my arms. The man flicked on the miniature floodlight attached to the body of the camera and pointed the lense at Phoebe’s face. “Hi, sweet thing,” he crooned. Phoebe gave him her biggest, gummiest grin as he asked questions: how old is she? Where’s she from? I answered, thinking, This is awfully strange. Probably he’s a tourist, but why would a tourist want video of a random baby? Then my assistant spoke up. “Are you from TMZ?” she asked the man with the camera. “This isn’t about you,” the man said with a friendly smile. “This is HER big moment.” Phoebe was enjoying her moment, smiling and giggling, and I was thinking, Is this weird? And exploitative? Is my kid going to wind up in therapy because I let TMZ tape her? Then a car pulled up, a door opened, a long, high-heel shod leg poked out, and the cameraman and about a half-dozen of his brethren took off at a sprint down the street, cameras poised and lights glaring, to catch a glimpse of…Tia Carrerre. At which point my thoughts switched instantly from This may be exploitation to Hey, get back here you fickle bastards! Tia Carrerre! Come on! If you’re going to blow off my baby, at least do for Lindsay or Britney! Hmph. In spite of my paparazzi moment, I had a wonderful time on the West Coast. Hung out with the family. Took a few meetings. Had a wonderful reading in Santa Monica, attended by both of my brothers and fabulous Left Coast novelists Liza Palmer, Megan Crane, Julie Buxbaum and Bill Folman, whose first book is coming out soon (so of course I gave him the “Do not check your Amazon rankings every ten minutes, you will drive yourself mad!” speech). Starting Monday I’m going to be answering questions about CERTAIN GIRLS and anything else on people’s minds over at Goodreads. I hope you’ll log in and join me there. In unhappier news: a few months back I was asked, along with big-name, prize-winning, best-selling writers Susan Choi, Laura Hillenbrand, Sara Gruen, Jane Smiley, to judge an essay contest for Glamour Magazine. All of the finalists were impressive: closely observed and wonderfully written. Some of them were heartbreaking. Our winner, Andrea Coller, turned in a sharp, irreverent, moving, mordantly funny piece about getting a cancer diagnosis in her twenties. It could have been sappy, or saccharine, full of all of the typical life lessons you can find in cancer memoirs by the dozen…but it wasn’t. It was bitter and black and bracing as a double espresso, the no-holds-barred story of a woman who’d gotten hit with something she didn’t deserve and was furious, and furiously funny, in the face of it. Waking up with a hospital with a breathing tube down her throat, Coller was given a board with words so that she can communicate…and she looks at it, thinking, This will never work. Where’s vodka? Where’s Starbucks? You can read an interview with Andrea here...and the June issue of Glamour hits the stands this week. I hope you’ll pick it up and read her essay for yourself. |
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An Inadequate Recap of My Wellesley College Event
1. The ladies of Zeta Alpha could not have been better hostesses. Thank you for enthusiastic hospitality! (Not to mention the red velvet cake!) 2. (retro)blog reader Michelle requested Build Me Up Buttercup. And I sang it to the best of my ability, though I totally messed up the words. 3. When I read the excerpt from JD5, the audience laughed in all the right places, and was quiet in all the right places and made me really, really excited about finishing it and letting it out into the world...which is tentatively scheduled to happen about a year from now. 4. You know, I wish I had pictures from the event. Actually I do have pictures but they are all terrible. Candids taken of me at my appearances are almost invariably terrible because I move around a lot and talk too much with my face and hands. Expressions that come across as energetic in person are decidedly unphotogenic in pixels. An incomplete retrospective:
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book review
DEBBIE HARRY SINGS IN FRENCH by Meagan Brothers Johnny likes to party. When he OD's at a club, his mom decides that he's too out-of-control and she sends him to live with an uncle in the country. Johnny is small, artistic, wears nail polish, and totally doesn't fit in with the jocks at his new school. But though he gets beaten up, Johnny is pretty much 99.999% sure he isn't gay. Cause, you know, he has an awesome girlfriend, and he isn't attracted to guys. So Johnny isn't queer. Still, he does have a secret... he really likes Debbie Harry. Like he wants to be Debbie Harry. Tough and Glamorous. This is the story of how he gets there - and it is surprising and terrific! |
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Where in the world is Meg?
As of Monday, I’ll be in Atlanta for the International Reading Association (IRA) annual convention! I’ll be speaking there (along with some other fantastic authors) at the Scholastic Book Clubs Annual Breakfast Tuesday morning from 7:00AM-8:30AM (I know what you're thinking: Isn't 8:30AM the time Meg usually wakes ... |
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. It's way less overwhelming than McKee's Story, and written in a very direct, common sense kind of way that makes you go, oh yeah, duh, I already sort of do that, while helping you understand why you do it and how to do it in a more intentional way to the benefit of your story. I also appreciate that the author specifically addresses some plot issues that come up in short stories as well as in novel-length fiction that is more "literary" and less "genre" (if you subscribe to those labels...).
