tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34591027721553473382024-03-13T05:21:12.421-04:00Ten Block WalkA children's book editor wanders & ponders.Molly O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14812748747208236745noreply@blogger.comBlogger131125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3459102772155347338.post-74271099566646739042013-07-19T15:35:00.000-04:002013-07-19T15:36:04.050-04:00A Quick FAQ About My New JobI've gotten a lot of questions in the past few days, so am doing my best to briefly address them here. Obviously, it's been a time of busy transition and my priority has been helping to make the smoothest possible transition for my authors and their books, so if I was unable to respond personally to an email, tweet, post, or message, my apologies!<br />
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1. <b>I know you're leaving HarperCollins, but where are you going again? </b>To <a href="http://www.storybird.com/">Storybird</a>, a visual storytelling platform. There's more info about the change <a href="http://blog.storybird.com/2013/07/good-golly-its-molly/">here, on the Storybird blog</a>.<br />
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2. <b>When is your last day? And w</b><b>hen do you start at Storybird, and where will you be based? </b>My last day is today (Friday, July 19th)! I start at Storybird in early August, and will be based in Brooklyn.<br />
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3. <b>So if I send you an email today, will you still get it?</b> Nope. My old HarperCollins email is shut down. (It's the end of an era!) If you're someone I accidentally omitted giving my new contact information to, my apologies! Please send me a private message via Facebook or Twitter, or leave a message in the comments here, and I'll follow up with you.<br />
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4. <b>But wait! I sent my manuscript to you after an SCBWI Conference, and you haven't responded. What happens now?</b> My excellent colleague, <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexYArnold">Editorial Assistant Alex Arnold</a>, has generously agreed to read and respond to the conference submissions that I've left behind. It's going to take her awhile to catch up, though, so please extend your patience to her--as with any editor, submissions-reading is secondary to her daily responsibilities and the existing projects under her care. And, hey: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/21/books/21dica.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0">similar hand-offs have been known to lead to very happy literary success before!</a> Please also note that this is NOT an invitation to submit directly to Alex (like all editors at HarperCollins, she is closed to unsolicited submissions); she will only be reading and responding to the pile of submissions I handed over, not any future submissions. If you were meaning to submit but hadn't done so yet, I'm sorry--the offer has necessarily expired, now that I've left the company. <br />
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5. <b>Speaking of SCBWI, will you still be at SCBWI-LA in August? </b>Alas, no. I'll be starting my new job instead. But my super-fun and brilliant colleague, <a href="https://twitter.com/claudiagabel">Executive Editor Claudia Gabel</a>, will be stepping in for me, and she's already got a more exciting talk planned than I did, so you're in great hands!<br />
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6. <b>I'm an agent who had a submission out with you--what now? </b>I'm sorry if I didn't touch base with you before leaving. Any submissions that were with me can be resubmitted to a different HarperCollins editor, whomever you think might be the best fit. I did not hand-off any agented submissions to colleagues, as I presume that agents want to make their submissions decisions themselves.<br />
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7. <b>Where are the submissions guidelines for Storybird? How can my agent and/or I send you a manuscript for consideration at your new job? </b>Storybird works on an entirely different model than HarperCollins or any of the existing traditional publishing houses. I won't be acquiring projects in the way I've done previously, so there aren't submission guidelines to be had.<br />
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8. <b>So, I've looked at the Storybird site and it's cool, but I don't really understand what you'll be doing there.</b> That's probably because I'm not there yet, plus I'm the first person ever to hold this role at Storybird. As an editor of books, my job was to look at the existing story and see ways that it could be strengthened--but often even more important, was looking at the existing story to see what things <i>weren't </i>there yet, but maybe could or should be. That's part of why I'm going to Storybird--to help a really cool company continue to grow in all the ways it's already exciting, but also to help envision new developments and possibilities, and bring them into actuality. In other words, keep watching Storybird--there's much more to come!<br />
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9. <b>Will you continue blogging?</b> Well, some. As you have surely noticed, I'm not the type who blogs on a constant/regular schedule. But I imagine I'll keep it up in some form. And in the meanwhile, you can always <a href="https://twitter.com/molly_oneill">find me on Twitter</a>, where I'm much more present.<br />
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10. <b>This is a big change. How are you feeling?</b> Excessively grateful for the career I've had to-date, and the amazing relationships I have as a result. Understandably sad that I can't clone myself and continue working with my great colleagues and authors/illustrators at HarperCollins AND take this new opportunity. Intensely curious and excited to see what's ahead.<br />
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11. <b>Storybird's all about art-inspired, visual storytelling, and this blog post's pretty bereft of images.</b> You're right. Here you go. And here I go, too:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjRg8PfK-_G5waEg2xkutnpgEKWbpb14l8wrvSB2-0dw_eCK5dLpVBKIR80_YnVd5U_y4mzWe2rndEk2Q6cK7czmfbFInumVQj7zp_ovrv_UP5asVnHAwcKw9pF4ku4S6lUA6N34H41vY/s1600/Coragem%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjRg8PfK-_G5waEg2xkutnpgEKWbpb14l8wrvSB2-0dw_eCK5dLpVBKIR80_YnVd5U_y4mzWe2rndEk2Q6cK7czmfbFInumVQj7zp_ovrv_UP5asVnHAwcKw9pF4ku4S6lUA6N34H41vY/s1600/Coragem%5B1%5D.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">See you on the other side of this jump!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Molly O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14812748747208236745noreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3459102772155347338.post-53782316237703976162013-07-11T11:23:00.000-04:002013-07-11T11:23:12.140-04:00News, Change, and a Tribute of Sorts<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I have some news. You probably
didn</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">’</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">t see it coming. I didn</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">’</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">t either, exactly. But I perhaps should have,
because, as my author </span><a href="http://kathrynfitzmaurice.com/" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Kathryn Fitzmaurice</a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> taught me with her oh-so-wonderful
middle grade novels, </span><i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://harpercollinschildrens.com/books/Year-Swallows-Came-Early-Kathryn-Fitzmaurice/?isbn13=9780061625008&tctid=100">The Year the Swallows Came Early</a> </i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">and </span><i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://harpercollinschildrens.com/books/Destiny-Rewritten-Kathryn-Fitzmaurice/?isbn13=9780061625015&tctid=100">Destiny, Rewritten</a>, </i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">if we stay open and “expect the unexpected,” it allows us to
embrace chance encounters that can lead us to, “something wonderful and
different that [we] might not have thought of”—in short, toward thrilling new
versions of ourselves.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of
change, but I am slowly learning that with the right attitude and the right decisions</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">, transitions can feel
a bit like this: one of </span><a href="http://sarahjanestudios.com/blog/" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Sarah Jane Wright</a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">’s perfect illustrations for </span><i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://harpercollinschildrens.com/books/Christmas-Goodnight/?isbn13=9780061664915&tctid=100">A Christmas Goodnight</a></i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">—full of a
gloriously expectant hopefulness on the horizon.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Vn3ZWkVhlV_IJrT19xiHonYbFMWJEJivb93lwK0NDMCL174KUGe7w0J9Xhfiw1_pB4W1QbCQRG98NldJYzWpFXD3S60tNNYs5_idCkISo3mNMBvu1u6GqakjBxMQ_sjsCeMxaBZ3ukE/s1600/wr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Vn3ZWkVhlV_IJrT19xiHonYbFMWJEJivb93lwK0NDMCL174KUGe7w0J9Xhfiw1_pB4W1QbCQRG98NldJYzWpFXD3S60tNNYs5_idCkISo3mNMBvu1u6GqakjBxMQ_sjsCeMxaBZ3ukE/s400/wr.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">And horizons make for such vivid
imagery, in art and in writing. They just stir something so evocative up in us
as readers, you know? Like one of my favorite passages from </span><a href="http://sjkincaid.com/" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">S. J. Kincaid</a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">’s
stellar </span><i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://harpercollinschildrens.com/books/Vortex-S-J-Kincaid/?isbn13=9780062093028&tctid=100">Vortex</a></i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">, the sequel to </span><i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://harpercollinschildrens.com/books/Insignia-S-J-Kincaid/?isbn13=9780062093004&tctid=100">Insignia</a>,</i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> where, “Everything Tom had
ever feared seemed to shrink for this instant as the universe expanded for him.
He wished every single person on the planet could have this chance, just once,
to see the horizon from above rather than from below. Maybe they’d all see that
the universe didn’t end…but rather that this incredible, infinite stretch of
possibilities existed beyond them.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And speaking of horizons and
possibilities—when I asked a long-time friend what he thought about the new
possibility that had appeared on <i>my</i>
horizon, he listened patiently to my lengthy pro/con list and then said simply, </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">“</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">It depends. How willing are you to take a risk?” And right there and
then, I pretty much knew what my choice would be, because </span><i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://harpercollinschildrens.com/books/Divergent-Veronica-Roth/?isbn13=9780062024039&tctid=100">Divergent</a></i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> and <a href="http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/tris">Tris</a> and the remarkable <a href="http://veronicarothbooks.blogspot.com/">Veronica Roth</a> taught me that
sometimes we simply have to “be brave” and jump, even if that means changing
everything. </span><i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Especially</i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> if that means changing everything. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://twitter.com/brainbliss">Bryan Bliss</a> professes something
similar, in what I hope will be one of your favorite new YA books of next summer, his superb 2014 debut, <i><a href="http://www.bryanbliss.com/meetmehere">Meet Me Here</a>—</i>that
sometimes you have to do the thing that scares you the most, and then embrace the transformation that follows, “In that
moment, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">when
your heart is ready to break out of your chest and you can barely breathe,
that’s when you get a chance to <i>live</i>.”
</span><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Strange
but true,” (that’s the favorite observation/declaration of the protagonist of <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=mollybburnham&src=typd">Molly B. Burnham</a>’s hilarious and heart-warming illustrated middle grade debut
(due out in 2015), <i>Teddy Mars: Almost a
World Record Breaker)</i>, you’re probably sensing a common theme to this blog post.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">So what’s the
big change? It’s that I’m leaving HarperCollins, after an incredible seven and
a half years. I’m taking a side-step into a slightly different realm and
heading over to <a href="http://storybird.com/about/">Storybird</a>, a visual storytelling platform, where I’ll be their
Head of Editorial, focusing on creative strategy and product/program
development. It’s a chance to use many of the skill sets that I’ve cultivated
over the past decade in publishing, while also learning to think in exciting
new ways about how technology, stories, and culture can intersect. And I’ll be
working with an amazing and innovative team, which makes leaving my great
HarperCollins colleagues a little less painful. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In <a href="http://www.hilarytsmith.com/">Hilary T. Smith</a>’s utterly
gorgeous <i><a href="http://harpercollinschildrens.com/books/Wild-Awake-Hilary-T-Smith/?isbn13=9780062184689&tctid=100">Wild Awake</a></i>, the main
character concludes that, “The universe, I realize, is full of little torches.
Sometimes, for some reason, it’s your turn to carry one out of the fire—because
the world needs it.” In a way, I hope that</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">’</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">s what I</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px;">’</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">ll be doing as I make this
transition: carrying a torch from the world of publishing that I’ve known and
loved into a new venture that’s full of excitement and possibility. Along the
way, I’ll hopefully be uncovering new paths for story-makers and story-lovers
and stories to connect and find each other. Because I am convinced that stories are one
of the things we need most, as human beings in this world. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As <a href="http://www.bobbiepyron.com/">Bobbie Pyron</a> wrote in her pitch-perfect,
southern-tinged “new classic,” <i><a href="http://harpercollinschildrens.com/books/Dogs-Way-Home-Bobbie-Pyron/?isbn13=9780061986741&tctid=100">A Dog’s Way Home</a>,</i> “Most folks got a north star in their life—something that gives
their life extra meaning.” I think for a lot of us who share this corner of the
internet, one of our north stars is stories—because of the way they allow us to
express ourselves and understand others, because of the way they connect
people, because of the way they help us learn to live. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">To all of you who have entrusted
your words and art and stories to me, at conferences and via literary
agents and even just through the simple tales we tell each other every day via Facebook and
Twitter . . . thank you. To those of you (teachers, librarians, booksellers,
parents, book bloggers, publishing industry pals, friends in the media, and fellow book-lovers of all
sorts) who have worked to connect my authors/illustrators and their books to Real!
Live! Readers!—I am intensely, endlessly grateful. And most of all, to the many
authors and illustrators that I’ve worked with while at Harper, most especially
those mentioned above—thank you for all you have taught me, and the ways you’ve
inspired me as we’ve worked together. I will always consider myself lucky to
have been one of the earliest fans of your books, and to have had the incredible privilege
of watching your stories transform and take shape and then courageously go out into
the world to find their readers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And to everyone reading this: I hope
you’ll all keep an eye on things <a href="http://storybird.com/">over at Storybird</a>. It’s going to be a thrill,
and a lot of fun, and I’d love for you to come and be a part of it. </span></div>
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Molly O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14812748747208236745noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3459102772155347338.post-49646061875483759412013-07-02T12:32:00.002-04:002013-07-02T12:33:16.990-04:00VORTEX: An Editorial Love Story<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 10pt;">(I don't blog much about my authors' books while
they're in-progress toward publication. In part, this is out of respect for the
writing/editing/revising/ publication process: a lot can change for a story as
we work on it. It's also out of respect for readers—because I think it's mean
to taunt you with tales of fantastic books you can't yet buy! Thus this series
of publication-day "Editorial Love Story" posts was born: to
celebrate the fact that, at long last, an author's book is out on shelves, and
to offer a glimpse of each book's
unique "making-of" story. I hope you'll enjoy and be inspired by
this post, and that you'll soon have a chance to read this great book, or
share it with a reader who might enjoy it!</span></i><br />
<i style="background-color: #54c06a; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-align: start;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></i>
<img alt="Vortex (Insignia, #2)" height="320" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1350942650l/16101515.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="210" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;">The impossible was just the beginning. Now in their second year as superhuman government weapons-in-training at the Pentagonal Spire, Tom Raines and his friends are mid-level cadets in the elite combat corps known as the Intrasolar Forces. But as training intensifies and a moment arrives that could make or break his entire career, Tom’s loyalties are again put to the test.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">Encouraged to betray his ideals and friendships for the sake of his country, Tom is convinced there must be another way. And the more aware he becomes of the corruption surrounding him, the more determined he becomes to fight it, even if he sabotages his own future in the process.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">Drawn into a power struggle more dramatic than he has ever faced before, Tom stays a hyperintelligent step ahead of everyone, like the exceptional gamer he is—or so he believes. But when he learns that he and his friends have unwittingly made the most grievous error imaginable, Tom must find a way to outwit an enemy so nefarious that victory seems hopeless. Will his idealism and bravado cost him everything—and everyone that matters to him?</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">Filled with action and intelligence, camaraderie and humor, the second book in S.J. Kincaid’s futuristic World War III Insignia trilogy continues to explore fascinating and timely questions about power, politics, technology, loyalty, and friendship.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19px; text-align: start;"><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.harperteen.com/books/Vortex-S-J-Kincaid/?isbn=9780062093028">VORTEX</a> is out today! Those of you who have already read the first book are surely celebrating; those of you who are new to the series have something wonderful in store for you. Just like the taglines ("Beyond The Impossible," and "The Impossible Was Just the Beginning") on her books, S. J. Kincaid has achieved the nearly impossible: she's written a second book in a series that's inarguably even stronger than the first. And I'm not the only one who thinks so! The impossibly-hard-to-please Kirkus Reviews had this to say about VORTEX in a starred review: "</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 19px; text-align: start;">Kincaid lays a lot down, twining her increasingly complex plot and characterizations with Tom’s growing awareness. Action fans, fear not: For all the deep thinking Tom and readers undertake, pace, adventure and fun are not compromised one whit. A surprisingly and satisfyingly rich middle volume.”<br /><br />Shelley's books are masterful feats of imagination--and as an editor and as a reader alike, I am in awe of the way she so casually carries around entire galaxies in her mind! The INSIGNIA series is spot-on in its characterizations; phenomenally creative in its plotting and world-building, and startlingly vivid and alarming in its insights of how the near-future could unfold. INSIGNIA and VORTEX (and the prequel novella, ALLIES) are also some of the most genuinely humorous YA books in the market today, I think. Her characters are intensely real: full of the awkward mishaps, bumbling idiocies, and gleeful pranks of early teen life, but also acutely sensitive; occasionally flawed; deeply concerned with justice; and truly devoted to one another. In short, Tom and his comrades Vik, Wyatt, and Medusa, are characters that are so alive that I want nothing more than to be friends with them.<br /><br />For the last year, as Shelley and I worked on the manuscript that would become VORTEX, Tom & Co have made me repeatedly laugh to the point of snorting/choking in coffee shops and on airplanes and at my desk and on the subway, much to the confusion and consternation of strangers sitting beside me. Each time a new chunk of the story, or a revision, would pop into my inbox, I'd find myself grinning with delight. You know that feeling, when you're a kid and it's the first day back at school after a long summer and you get the first glimpses of everyone you haven't seen in weeks and months? VORTEX is a little like that. It makes me bubble over with excitement and glee and the thrilling sensation of "Hey, look, it's all my friends! We finally get to hang out together again and I don't know what exactly what we'll be doing, or what all's going to happen, but I just know it is going to be SO MUCH FUN!" That Shelley can offer readers <i>so much fun</i> while also giving them profound geopolitical commentary and incredible plot twists and meaningful emotional development is just further proof that she's written a second novel that's deserving of rich praise and "favorite book" status.<br /><br />So how can you help celebrate the publication of VORTEX? You <a href="http://www.harperteen.com/books/Vortex-S-J-Kincaid/?isbn=9780062093028">can order a copy</a>, for yourself or a sci-fi lover or gamer in your life (note: guys and girls both love this series), or request a copy at your local library. You can <a href="https://twitter.com/SJKincaidBooks">follow the author on Twitter</a> (and wish her a happy book birthday!) or <a href="http://sjkincaid.com/">check out her website</a>, or f<a href="https://www.facebook.com/insigniaseries">ollow the series on Facebook</a>. If you've read and enjoyed INSIGNIA, you can help spread the word to fellow readers by getting a copy into their hands (note: <a href="http://www.harperteen.com/books/Insignia-S-J-Kincaid/?isbn=9780062093004">INSIGNIA is newly-available in paperback</a>) or <a href="http://browseinside.harperteen.com/index.aspx?isbn13=9780062092991">by sending them the link to the Browse Inside sample</a>. You <a href="http://www.harperteen.com/books/Allies-Insignia-Novella-S-J-Kincaid/?isbn=9780062285096">can download a copy of ALLIES, the prequel novella to the series</a> if you haven't already done so. And this week, you can join other book lovers in the Epic Reads Re-Readathon of INSIGNIA <a href="http://www.pitchdark.com/blog/join-the-insignia-re-read-a-thon/">http://www.pitchdark.com/blog/join-the-insignia-re-read-a-thon/</a> in preparation for VORTEX--a great way not only to celebrate a fabulous book series but also to meet other avid readers--who knows, perhaps a friendship as great as Tom-Vik-Yuri-and-Wyatt's could emerge!</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 19px;">Happy book birthday to VORTEX, Shelley! Thank you for the "impossibly" wonderful INSIGNIA and VORTEX and ALLIES--the world of books is much richer for your stories and characters, and I feel so privileged to be a part of the process that brings them into the world!</span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 19px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span></span></td></tr>
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<i style="background-color: #54c06a; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></i>Molly O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14812748747208236745noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3459102772155347338.post-44572203590571533112013-05-28T17:56:00.002-04:002013-05-28T23:08:44.822-04:00WILD AWAKE: An Editorial Love Story<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">(I don't blog much
about my authors' books while they're in-progress toward publication. In part,
this is out of respect for the writing/editing/revising/ publication process: a
lot can change for a story as we work on it. It's also out of respect for readers</span></i><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">—</span></i><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">because I think it's
mean to taunt you with tales of fantastic books you can't yet buy! Thus this
series of publication-day "Editorial Love Story" posts was born: to
celebrate the fact that, at long last, an author's book is out on shelves, and
to offer a glimpse of each book's
unique "making-of" story. I hope you'll enjoy and be inspired by
this post, and that you'll soon have a chance to read this great book, or
share it with a reader who you think might like it!)</span></i><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<strong><span style="background: white; color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;">Things you earnestly believe will happen while
your parents are away:</span></strong></div>
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 9.0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;">1. You will remember to water
the azaleas. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;">2. You will take detailed, accurate messages. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;">3. You will call your older brother, Denny, if
even the slightest thing goes wrong. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;">4. You and your best friend/bandmate Lukas will
win Battle of the Bands. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;">5. Amid the thrill of victory, Lukas will
finally realize you are the girl of his dreams.</span></span></div>
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</span>
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<strong style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;"><strong style="font-size: 9pt;"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Things that
actually happen:</span></strong></strong></div>
<strong style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;">
</strong>
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">1. A stranger calls who says
he knew your sister. </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">2. He says he has her stuff. </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">3. What stuff? Her stuff. </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">4. You tell him your parents won’t be able to— </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">5. Sukey died five years ago; can’t he— </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">6. You pick up a pen. </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">7. You scribble down the address. </span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">8. You get on your bike and go.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt;">9. Things . . . get a little crazy after that.*</span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;">
</span>
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;">*also, you fall in love, but not with Lukas.</span></span></div>
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</span>
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<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 9pt;"><span style="font-size: 9pt;">Both exhilarating and wrenching, Hilary T.
Smith’s debut novel captures the messy glory of being alive, as seventeen-year-old
Kiri Byrd discovers love, loss, chaos, and murder woven into a summer of music,
madness, piercing heartbreak, and intoxicating joy.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 9pt;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This editorial love story post--and it’s a long one!--is about connections. One of the most amazing parts of being an editor
(and I suspect it’s much the same as a writer or artist of any sort) is that
the ideas and experiences that intrigue/fascinate/perplex you inevitably find
their way into the art that you help shepherd into the world. Which is kind of
the point of my job, really: it’s when a book connects with you as an editor that you, in
turn, ask yourself if you can see it doing so on a larger scale, for thousands
of other readers, too. If the connections the story has captured are
vivid and new enough that they’ll seem as magnificent to the whole reading world as
they did to you.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It’s 1997, the start of my sophomore year of college. After
a year of living with a horrid assigned roommate (seriously, the only thing we had in
common was that we had the same first name), I’m finally living with a friend,
in a dorm room in a cool building near all our other friends. We’re no longer clueless freshman. It’s
going to be great.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And it is, at first. But partway through the year, something
unexpected happens. Almost overnight, my roommate unravels in front of my eyes.
At first I just think she’s being annoying; that she’s being weird; that maybe
she’s been drinking too much or is enamored with some odd guy or is trying on
new personalities the way you kind-of do in college, and that’s why she’s
acting strangely. But then it intensifies. She doesn’t sleep. She
hallucinates. She talks about meeting people I know she’s never met, but she believes
these encounters like they are real. When I leave our dorm room for class, I
come back to increasingly bizarre scenarios. My friends and family recount confusing stories, outright crazy lies
they’ve heard from her when she’s answered our phone. She’s losing weight,
rapidly. My R.A. is no help, so finally a friend and I call her parents. They
swoop in, take her home for a weekend, and return her to a few days later, announcing
that she just needed more rest, and a good family dinner. They suggest that
maybe we’re not a good match as roommates and she’ll move into a single room next semester.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">My roommate’s only been back for a week when her off-kilter
behavior turns downright scary. This time my R.A. listens, sees the signs. We
call her parents together. They swoop in again, this time taking her and all of her things home in one afternoon. This time, she doesn’t come back. Months
later, she starts calling: medicated, painful phone calls. She’s been diagnosed.
She’s trying to piece together what happened in that crazy month because she doesn’t
remember any of it. I remember it all too well, but am afraid to tell her. The
phone calls are hard for us both, and slowly, we drift out of touch altogether.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">But the experience isn’t one I can shake. I tell my family
and friends that if I weren’t so sure of being an English major, I’d probably
want to become a Psych major, to study mental illness, instead. Because I don’t
understand what happened, but I want to. I want to know how it could be that what was true inside her head was so different than the reality around
her. I want to comprehend what it felt like for her. I want to understand the inexplicable. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Fast-forward. It’s 2009. I’m an junior editor at HarperCollins, and
it’s the era of anonymous blogs. A new one has popped up: INTERN SPILLS. It’s the blog of an anonymous intern in publishing, and everyone’s reading and chattering about it—authors and publishing folk alike. No one can figure out who
it is, or where she works, which intrigues us all the more. This blog defies
the standard style of anonymous blogs, though—there’s snark, but there’s more
to it than just that. <a href="http://www.hilarytsmith.com/2009/06/publishing-process-o-rama-part-1.html">There’s real wit and smarts and heart, between the snarky observations and the salacious insider-y tidbits about working in publishing.</a> There’s
a voice. And it’s a hell of a voice. And it gets stronger with every post.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It’s 2010. INTERN <a href="http://www.hilarytsmith.com/2010/06/of-unicorn-hunting-and-hamster-wheels.html">has started talking on her blog, occasionally, about her own writing efforts.</a> INTERN <a href="http://www.hilarytsmith.com/2010/06/from-annals-of-ya-clichees.html">has also begun talking on her blog, occasionally, about reading more YA books.</a> All the while sustaining a voice
that’s clearly put-on: an exaggeration of the author’s own voice, perhaps, or maybe an altogether made-up one, but it’s exceedingly controlled and well-sustained regardless.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I’m still a young editor, but already I’ve been trained by
my editor-bosses to pounce, when your instinct tells you to do so. Cautiously, <i>and without promising</i> <i>anything at all</i> <i>on behalf of your company,</i> but to pounce all the same. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">So I shoot an email off into the ether, introducing myself to this INTERN
persona, asking if, maybe, perhaps, INTERN is writing YA? Hinting that, if so, I’d maybe, perhaps, love to see it. INTERN responds. She doesn’t give a clue to her identity, but acknowledges
that she’s trying her hand at writing YA. She’s still polishing, she says. It
may be a little while. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It’s okay, I say. I’m happy to wait. Editors are good at
being patient, once they’ve found a voice worth waiting for. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It’s 2011. INTERN and I have kept up an occasional, still-half-anonymous
correspondence. I try hard to keep myself from asking in each email about the
book, about its progress. I am learning that books come ripe when they’re ready, and never before.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And sure enough, before the year ends, there’s a manuscript
in my in-box. It’s from an agent, one who has taken on a new client. She has a
name, the agent explains, but she’s perhaps better known as INTERN. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And this manuscript. <i>This
manuscript</i>. It is raw, still. Still on its way to becoming a wholly book-shaped
thing. Right now it’s all specificity and not quite enough universality. But
there are lines in it that give me chills ("<i>When
she died, it was like my house burned down.")</i> I don’t know it yet, but
these lines are going to haunt me for two more years, until others finally read them too.
And perhaps well beyond that point, perhaps forever, the way the best lines in the best books do. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And that <i>voice</i>. It’s
a thousand times more powerful as a narrative tool than it ever was on a blog (and it was pretty darn effective back then). This author has an
ability to craft a stunning metaphor that combines the two unlikeliest of things,
drawing connections I’d never imagined, making me see things anew. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And the story—it shakes things up inside me, in a way that
scares me and stirs me all at once. It’s the story of a girl, caught
off-guard by a spiral of mania and mental illness. It puts words to the things
I thought were inexplicable. It helps me understand things I have wanted to
understand for almost 15 years now, and I know if it does that for me, it can do that for
other readers, too. It terrifies me, and it challenges me, and most of all, it
connects, deeply. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">But this manuscript is also bigger than just being a book about
a single thing. It is a book about <i>everything</i>.
About love. About loss. About grief. About family. About change. It makes me
laugh and cry and see hope-squirrels and love-bisons everywhere I look, even though I didn't know that such things existed until I read this story. It
makes me feel things, deeply, which is probably the greatest compliment I can
give to a book, whether it’s one I’ve experienced as a reader or an editor or
both. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And so I pounce again. <a href="http://www.hilarytsmith.com/2011/11/midnight-unmasking-ceremony.html">I buy INTERN’s book. This one, and her next one, too.</a> We work, together, until her story has transformed into one
I wish I could time-travel and give to my nineteen-year-old self, sitting in a half-empty dorm room. Because it gives
words to the things that I had no words for back then. But it also gives words
to something more important—the simple experience of being human. Which, I
think, is the pinnacle of what a book</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">—</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">any book</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">—</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">can do. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">***<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">INTERN has a name now. </span><a href="https://twitter.com/HilaryTSmith" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It’s Hilary T. Smith</a><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Her book has a
name, too. </span><a href="http://www.harperteen.com/books/Wild-Awake-Hilary-T-Smith/?isbn=9780062184689" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It’s <i>Wild Awake</i></a><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, and it
comes out today. It is powerful, it is profound, it is startlingly funny, and
though it is fiction, <a href="http://www.hilarytsmith.com/2013/05/a-torn-map-candle-stub-writing-mental.html">it is also deeply personal</a>. It has brilliant passages and lines full of truth: stark and gorgeous and chaotic and painful and real. It is a book about
connections: about finding them, about releasing them, about recognizing them
for what they mean at every point in your life. I hope you will read it. I hope
you will read every book that Hilary T. Smith ever writes. Because </span><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">that voice</i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. It is magnificent, and it is only just the beginning.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">***</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Friends: Want to help Hilary celebrate her the debut of WILD AWAKE, her first novel? Buy a copy for yourself or a teen reader you know (especially the ones who are craving contemporary realistic reads, or stand-alones instead of trilogies, or love interests of an entirely different sort than the hott-boy-with-abs-and-blue-eyes-sort); or for an adult you know who likes remembering what it felt like to be a teen; or especially for a teen trying to make sense of mental illness. You </span><a href="http://www.harperteen.com/book/buy.aspx?isbn13=9780062184689" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">can get it from your favorite bookseller</a><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, or check it out at your library. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Also, <a href="https://twitter.com/HilaryTSmith">follow Hilary on Twitter</a>, or <a href="http://www.hilarytsmith.com/">read her blo</a>g, or <a href="http://heyireadyourbook.tumblr.com/">peruse her delightful Tumblr and send her a photo of yourself with WILD AWAKE</a>. And if you're reading this on 5/28, join in a WILD AWAKE-themed rap battle at 7pm Central Time (details <a href="http://realmenreadya.blogspot.com/2013/05/rap-battle.html">here</a>), and <a href="http://thesavvyreader.ca/2013/wild-awake-week-day-1/">check out the plan for a week of WILD AWAKE celebrations here. </a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Happy publication day, Hilary and WILD AWAKE! May your book find countless readers and make powerful connections for them, and may it live for a long, long, time. </span></div>
Molly O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14812748747208236745noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3459102772155347338.post-32957709115487569302013-02-19T13:34:00.001-05:002013-02-20T00:44:05.165-05:00DESTINY, REWRITTEN: An Editorial Love Story<i>(I don't blog much about my authors' books while they're in-progress toward publication. In part, this is out of respect for the writing/editing/revising/ publication process: a lot can change for a story as we work on it. It's also out of respect for readers<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">—</span>because I think it's mean to taunt you with tales of fantastic books you can't yet buy! Thus this series of publication-day "Editorial Love Story" posts was born: to celebrate the fact that, at long last, an author's book is out on shelves, and to offer a glimpse of each book's unique "making-of" story. I hope you'll enjoy and be inspired by this post, and that you'll soon have a chance to read this great book, or share it with a young reader that you know!)</i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Des·tin·y: destinē/ (noun) The hidden power believed to control what will happen in the future; fate.<br />
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Eleven-year-old Emily Elizabeth Davis has been told for her entire life that her destiny is to become a poet, just like her famous namesake, Emily Dickinson. But Emily doesn’t even really like poetry, and she has a secret career ambition that she suspects her English-professor mother will frown on. Then a seeming tragedy strikes: just after discovering that it contains an important family secret, she accidentally loses the special copy of Emily Dickinson’s poetry that was given to her at birth. As Emily and her friends search for the lost book in used bookstores and thrift shops all across town, Emily’s understanding of destiny begins to unravel and then rewrite itself in a marvelous new way.<br />
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In her third novel, Kathryn Fitzmaurice again weaves a richly textured and delightful story about unexpected connections, about the ways that friends can help us see ourselves for who we truly are, and about the most perfect kinds of happy endings: those that happen just on time.</td></tr>
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That charming cover alone should sweep you into the story, but if you're the sort of person who's more interested in the words inside of a book than its cover, then I'll start by saying this: in many ways, Kathryn Fitzmaurice is my touchstone for wonderful middle grade writing. Perhaps this is, in part, because Kathryn's first book (<em>The Year the Swallows Came Early</em>) was also the very first manuscript I fell in love with as a newly-minted assistant editor. <br />
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Back then, I'd just moved over to the editorial side of the business after five years of working on the Marketing/Publicity side of the industry. I'd been working for my new boss, the ever-brilliant Brenda Bowen, for only a few weeks, when I took a long weekend to visit my older brother's family. On my way out the door, Brenda said to me, "You know, I'm reading a manuscript that I think might be something special, but let me get a little further to be sure. Check your email later this weekend and if I think you should read it, too, I'll send it to you for the flight home." So I dutifully checked my email from my brother's work computer later at the end of the weekend and sure enough, there was an email from Brenda with Kathryn's manuscript attached, saying that I should get to reading. Now, Dear Reader, this was in the archaic days before e-readers, when reading a manuscript meant carrying around actual printed pages. So I have a very vivid memory of printing out that manuscript on brother's utterly ancient, practically dot-matrix work printer, page by <em>slooooow</em> page. ("This is probably going to be a book," I bragged to my brother, a staunch environmentalist. "With all that paper? It better be," he replied.) And once I picked it up and started reading? I fell into the story, head-first, and realized there was really no "probably" about its being a book, because it was already close-to-perfect. By the time I stepped off the plane back in NYC, I knew what it like to have editorial goosebumps<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">—</span>that tingle that sweeps over you and runs all the way up your arms and turns into a stupid grin, because you've discovered that you are reading something <em>wonderful</em> that almost no one else in the world knows about yet, and that you might be one of the lucky ones who gets to help the whole world find it. And that, my friends, is an incredible feeling. But....all of that is the story of <em>The Year the Swallows Came Early,</em> and of Kathryn's first book, and while it's a wonderful story, it's not really the one that belongs to today. <br />
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Fast-forward five years after those first bookish tingles and I'm honored to have moved beyond being an assistant to become one of Kathryn's editors. Over the years of working with her, I've often heard Kathryn tell <a href="http://www.childrensliteraturenetwork.org/magazine/bookscope/tag/kathryn-fitzmaurice/">the story of her grandmother, a novelist herself who inspired Kathryn greatly</a>. And I've learned, through lovely tidbits and treats in my email and in my mailbox, that Kathryn has a poet's heart. So when it was time for her to write a new novel, I was not at all surprised<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">—</span></span>but oh, I was delighted!<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">—</span>to learn that she'd threaded some of the dearest things from in her own world into a brand-new story, and then filled it up with utterly wonderful characters. (And yeah, this manuscript gave me editor-tingles, too.) <br />
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I often tell people that Kathryn has a particular magic as a storyteller that is incredibly well-suited to her audience of middle grade readers. Remember that period of your life when the world first started opening up and you began to glimpse and understand and fully grasp the connections between yourself and the rest of the world in sometimes-electric, sometimes-heart-breaking, sometimes-wondrous ways? Those are the moments that Kathryn captures in her stories, and she makes them shine, building magic out of a collection of (at-first) seemingly unrelated, and sometimes-even-tragic, things. We all love to imagine the life of a writer, and so I often picture Kathryn walking beside the ocean in California with her dog Holly, thinking about all sorts of interesting things, and collecting and gently discarding ideas, much the same way one collects and discards shells and rocks and other bits of wonderment from a beach<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">—</span>until at last she has gathered up an assortment that she can see connections between in a way that no one else ever has<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">—yet</span>. And then she gets to work turning those connections into a story, one full of meaning and charm and life. <br />
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In <em>Swallows</em>, Kathryn's initially-disparate handful of story elements included cooking and the Pacific Ocean and swallow migrations and the challenges of immigration and incarceration and friendship and family and disappointment and hope and love. In <em>Destiny, Rewritten, </em>she explores family and the poetry of Emily Dickinson, and the romance novels of Danielle Steel and red rubber boots and protesting treesitters in Berkeley, CA and a lost dog and loyal friends and haiku-writing during Poetry Month and used bookstores and a military-obsessed cousin, and a very particular sort of long-awaited happy ending. Artfully, and unobtrusively, Kathryn finds a way to weave together all of those once-unrelated things, until the reader can see the links between them, and the story they've created, and perhaps even between the story and their own lives, too. But (and here's where the second part of her magic as a writer comes in) you don't realize Kathryn's the one doing all this, because her characters are so very alive, so very <em>human</em>, that the story belongs whole-heartedly to them. A good writer is a conduit for hope and for discovery, both in her characters, and in her readers. Kathryn and her books are exactly that. It's impossible to close one without feeling just a bit better: like you've discovered a little more clarity about being alive in the world, a little more reason and understanding about its ways, and a little more inspiration about what it means to dwell in it as a person both inspired and inspiring, a good friend, a courageous human being<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">. A</span><br />
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What I am trying to say<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">—</span>much less perfectly than a masterful writer like she could, I'm sure!<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">—</span>is that my former boss used exactly the right word for Kathryn's writing all those years ago when we read her first manuscript. In a word, Kathryn's storytelling is <em>special</em>. And heartwarming. And magical. And lovely. And vivid. And memorable. And gentle. And oh-so-good-let's-read-it-again-shall-we? <br />
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But enough of my chatter! Want to help Kathryn celebrate her third book's debut? Buy a copy for yourself or a young reader (or anyone else you know who loves the poetry of Emily Dickinson or the romance novels of Danielle Steel) <a href="http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/books/Destiny-Rewritten-Kathryn-Fitzmaurice/?isbn13=9780061625015&tctid=100">from your favorite bookseller</a> or check it out at your library! Follow Kathryn on <a href="http://www.blogger.com/"><span id="goog_643516358"></span>Twitter(@kfitzmaurice)<span id="goog_643516359"></span></a> or <a href="http://www.facebook.com/KathrynFitzmaurice">friend her on Facebook</a> or <a href="http://kathrynfitzmaurice.blogspot.com/">take a peek at her blog</a>. And don't forget to check out Kathryn's website, where you can <a href="http://kathrynfitzmaurice.com/discussion-questions/">download a discussion guide</a> or watch <a href="http://kathrynfitzmaurice.com/books/">her book trailer</a>;
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Happy publication day, dear <em>Destiny, Rewritten </em>and Kathryn Fitzmaurice! I'm so excited for readers to find and love this book. Molly O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14812748747208236745noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3459102772155347338.post-90353818131988985602013-01-22T07:07:00.000-05:002013-01-22T08:57:24.600-05:00TEN YEARS.<br />
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Ten years<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">—</span>a decade!<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px;">—</span>ago today, I started my first full-time job in publishing.<br />
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<i>Wow. </i><br />
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A tremendous amount has changed since then, but the heart of this business endures steadily the same beneath it all, and for that I am truly grateful. I suspect that we all<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px;">—</span>editors, writers, illustrators, agents, marketers, publicists, educators, booksellers, librarians and so many others in this business<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px;">—</span>choose to do the work we do because we ourselves have lived lives shaped by stories. Because once upon a time, each one of us was a child mesmerized by picture books, or a kid magicked away on summer afternoons by wonder and possibility, or a teen who found solace or solidarity in fictional characters . . . so we know how much stories can and do and must continue to matter.<br />
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Some of the best friends and influences in my life have been books, or because of books. And for the past ten years, many of the most meaningful people in my daily world have been the people who <i>make</i> books. So thanks to all of you: you brilliant, insightful, dedicated, witty, wonderfully firey-minded people, for being an inspiration every single day.<br />
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Here's to many more decades of creating and sharing stories, friends.<br />
<br />Molly O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14812748747208236745noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3459102772155347338.post-2121041877531683392012-12-20T13:15:00.004-05:002012-12-20T13:19:23.231-05:00Winter Comfort Reads<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">'Tis the season for cozy blankets, hot chocolate, and holiday comfort reads. Are there books that you re-read every year because it's part of your winter tradition? Fellow editor pal Martha and I talked about this a few years back , and she posted </span><a href="http://marthamihalick.com/tag/comfort-books/"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">this</span></a><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> and ever since then I've been accutely aware that there are certain books that just FEEL like Christmastime to me. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>The Christmas Dolls. </em></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">This one's top of my list, because despite the fact that I'm not nine years old any more, my inner reader often is. I'm not even sure when or where I acquired this book (which is long since out-of-print, though you can still find it on used book sites), but it's battered from years of re-reads. As it 1980s-tastic cover makes clear, this is a tale of orphans, snowstorms, dolls, & a very special Christmas Eve mission. It's also got a perfect--if utterly implausible--happy ending that arrives just in time, with a touch of Christmas magic. I can't really explain why out of all the books, THIS is the holiday story that imprinted on me as a lifelong favorite, but there you have it--it makes me suspend all disbelief & just believe in the goodness of people, & what more could you wish for in a holiday story, really?</span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">(This is the copy I had as a kid.)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">(This is the current cover. Much better!)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Angels &Other Strangers</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">This short story collection was on my family's bookshelves when I was a kid. Each time I re-read it, I'm reminded all over again of Katherine Paterson's incredible power as a storyteller &observer of the world: novel or short-story, she delivers honest, timeless truths about how important hope is, &how much, as people, we need each other. </span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></div>
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<em><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Little Women</span></em><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">The first line couldn't be more engaging, could it? <em>"'Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents,' Jo grumbled, lying on the rug."</em> It's Victorian-era Christmas warmth and miracles and hope and family love in all its glory!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">(I do confess that some years I skip the re-read and go for one of the movie versions instead.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">And finally, one of my own! <em>A Christmas Goodnight</em> is a modern classic in my mind; the perfect hybrid between <em>Goodnight Moon</em> and the familiar Nativity story. <a href="http://sarahjanestudios.com/blog/2012/12/christmas-goodnight-giveaway/">My illustrator Sarah Jane Wright shows some of her wonderful interior artwork here</a> (though her contest mentioned in that post is no longer live), and <a href="http://10blockwalk.blogspot.com/2011/09/christmas-goodnight-editorial-love.html">I talk about the process from the editorial side here</a>. The thing I perhaps love most about this book is that ever since I first began working with this text over 5 years ago, it unconsciously runs through my mind over and over at Midnight Mass each year. I'm a biased editor and all, but if you're looking for a new Christmas picture book to add to your family's collection, it's pretty perfect for sharing, reading aloud, and for talking with kids about the connections between the long-ago Nativity story & their own lives.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times;">What are YOUR holiday/winter comfort reasons? Share them in the comments!</span></div>
Molly O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14812748747208236745noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3459102772155347338.post-322422258164558182012-10-16T17:48:00.000-04:002012-10-16T18:03:31.166-04:00You Tell Me: The Home Library DilemmaAt the SCBWI-Rocky Mountains Conference I spoke at a few weeks ago, organizer Todd Tuell posed a great dinnertime question that I've been chewing on ever since.<br />
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Imagine that your entire home library is destroyed (anguish! woe!) in a fire or flood or some such disaster. None of the books are recoverable. When it's time to start rebuilding your library: what are the very first two books (one picture book, one novel) that you'd want to put on your new shelves?<br />
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After much internal conflict and mental re-shelving, I think mine would be <i>Blueberries for Sal</i> and <i>Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy</i>. With a veryveryclose third being <i>Charlotte's Web</i>. <br />
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What about you?<br />
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<br />Molly O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14812748747208236745noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3459102772155347338.post-57296532264075181222012-10-02T17:00:00.001-04:002012-10-02T17:00:35.570-04:00Thought(s) for the dayI'm just back from two weekends of SCBWI Writers' Conferences (great to meet you, new friends in Colorado and the Carolinas). While creating my presentation for last weekend's conference, I found a couple of sharp, smart quotes from writerly "greats" that I love:<br />
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“Lots of interesting things happen to people, but they don’t all make good stories. It’s a writer’s job to know which is which.”—<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Lowery_Nixon">Joan Lowery Nixon</a>, <em><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/497607.The_Making_of_a_Writer">The Making of a Writer</a></em><br />
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“A book for young readers has to tell a story. This may seem self-evident, but the truth is some people ignore it because plotting is very hard work.”—<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Paterson">Katherine Paterson</a>, <em><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1126679.Gates_of_Excellence">The Gates of Excellence</a></em><br />
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Do you have a favorite quote about writing? Leave it in the comments!<br />
<br />Molly O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14812748747208236745noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3459102772155347338.post-57844574925031350372012-08-14T16:23:00.000-04:002012-08-14T23:38:52.637-04:00Craft exercises<br />
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Hello! If you're here for the first time <a href="http://writeoncon.com/">via Write On Con</a>, welcome! (And if you're a faithful reader, I like you a lot, too. Thanks for being here.)<br />
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<a href="http://writeoncon.com/2012/08/the-importance-of-craft-by-editor-molly-oneill/">Over at Write On Con HQ today, I waxed lengthy and opinionated about the importance of craft in a writer's life.</a> (It read something along the lines of the below, but with more words, and a particular focus on craft).<br />
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You can <a href="http://writeoncon.com/2012/08/the-importance-of-craft-by-editor-molly-oneill/">read the whole post</a> (and a lot of other great posts, too!) <a href="http://writeoncon.com/">over there</a>. But if you're here now, ready to turn abstract thoughts about craft into reality for your own writing, I thought a few practical craft-developing exercises might help. So, read on! Tweak, adapt, and adopt as you see fit for your own needs and own goals: And then write on!<br />
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1. Pick an ordinary object, or an ordinary view, or an everyday experience. Now describe it using five analogies or phrases that are entirely fresh, not clichés or familiar ideas. In other words, create an image that's entirely new, out of your words and perspective, and give it to one of your characters to speak. <br />
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2. Read a book that you admire aloud. Pay special attention to what’s NOT in the text as well as what is. Return to your own writing and see, as a result of your study, what you can remove and how the reader might actually benefit as a result—from a more compelling pace, from a more streamlined plot, from tighter writing, from more suspense. <br />
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3. Find a book that achieves some of the same things you’re trying to achieve in your own work. Take it apart. Dissect it. Turn it into a chapter-by-chapter outline, or even a scene-by-scene outline. Then study that outline to pieces, noting things like when subplots are introduced and woven in and resolved, and where the action rises and falls (and how often it does each), and the balance of dialogue and prose, and the sort of emotion each chapter opens and closes with, and where in the story's telling unexpected things happen and how that affects the overall pace, and the arc of each key character’s growth across the book. <br />
Don’t try to do all this in a day. Spend days on it, even weeks. Use it as a warm-up exercise before your day’s writing. Or stop writing for a little while, and devote yourself to this study intensely: whatever works for you. But eventually, go back to your own book, armed with new knowledge, with the ability to better master your own craft having studied another’s mastery. <br />
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4. Try writing from a different point of view than you’ve ever tried before; a different voice than ever before; a character who on the surface shares nothing in common with you. What might that previously untried-voice or perspective make fresh in your writing, set free in your writing? What will you learn from your foreign-seeming character, as a writer, and as a person? <br />
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5. Share what you know: leave some of your own favorite craft-developing practices in the comments below so that others can try them, too!<br />
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<br />Molly O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14812748747208236745noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3459102772155347338.post-31221320925276738402012-08-06T21:39:00.005-04:002012-08-06T21:39:59.611-04:00Hello, AugustI've come to accept--and so rather hope you have, too--that in the summer this blog is mostly about being out frolicking and avoiding too many deep thoughts. (Shouldn't we all be doing that, in summer?) But I'm pausing the summer funtimes (and sweating!) to pass along a few links:<br />
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1. Soon-to-be-published author Claire LeGrand has a fun blog series up in which she asks fellow writers and publishing folk about one of their favorite books as a middle grade reader. You can <a href="http://claire-legrand.com/2012/08/01/middle-grade-memories-editor-molly-oneill-giveaway/">read my entry over there now</a> (AND enter to win a giveaway for an advance readers' copy of Kathryn Fitzmaurice's next novel, <i>Destiny, Rewritten</i>.)<br />
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2. Speaking of <i>Destiny, Rewritten</i> and the spectacular Kathryn Fitzmaurice, want a sneak peek at the cover of its cover? (It's out in March 2013!) She revealed it recently, <a href="http://kathrynfitzmaurice.blogspot.com/2012/07/cover-reveal-for-destiny-rewritten.html">over on her blog</a>. Go take a peek; our designers have really outdone themselves!<br />
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3. I L-O-V-E-D listening to <a href="http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/470/show-me-the-way">this recent edition of This American Life</a> (the segment is called "South of Unicorns," and suspect many of the bookish among you (especially fantasy-lovers) will feel the same way.<br />
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4. SLOTH. OLYMPICS. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lucy-cooke/the-sloth-olympics_b_1732643.html">The pictures</a> will slay you with cuteness.<br />
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5. <a href="http://writeoncon.com/">Write On Con</a>, the 100% totally free, totally online, totally awesome 2-day conference for Children's & YA writers is fast approaching--it's August 14th & 15th. In its third year, this conference is designed especially for those who can't get away from home for an in-person conference, or who just need an inspiration boost. It makes use of lots of digital tools to present dynamic offerings from publishing peeps, literary agents, authors, illustrators, and more, and though some of the presentations and forum offerings are most valuable during the actual days of the con, if you can't make it then, lots of the content will be archived.<br />
As we've done for the past two years, <a href="http://marthamihalick.com/">editor friend Martha Mihalick</a> and <a href="http://publishersmarketplace.com/members/hroot/">agent pal Holly Root</a> and I will be doing a video, in which we answer YOUR questions. Which means we very much want to hear YOUR questions that you'd like answered about kidlit, publishing, YA, cute baby animals....etc! The best way to get your question to us is on Twitter, using the hashtag #askhmm, but if Twitter's not your thing, you can leave your question here in the comments section, too. Either way, we're only taking questions through THIS WEDNESDAY AT MIDNIGHT, so don't dally!<br />
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Back to frolicking!<br />
<br />Molly O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14812748747208236745noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3459102772155347338.post-380375056918320332012-07-10T16:08:00.002-04:002012-07-16T02:30:48.650-04:00INSIGNIA: An Editorial Love Story<i>(I don't blog a lot about my authors' books while they're in-progress toward publication. In part, this is out of respect for the writing/editing/revising/ publication process: a lot can change for a story as we work on it. It's also out of respect for readers--because I think it's mean to taunt you with tales of fantastic books you can't buy yet! Thus this series of publication-day "Editorial Love Story" posts was born: to celebrate the fact that, at long last, an author's book is out on shelves, and to share a bit of the "making-of" story of that book, too. Hope you'll enjoy and be inspired by this post, and that you'll soon have a chance to read this great book!)</i><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>More than anything, Tom Raines wants to be important, though his shadowy life is anything but that. For years, Tom’s drifted from casino to casino with his unlucky gambler of a dad, gaming for their survival. Keeping a roof over their heads depends on a careful combination of skill, luck, con artistry, and staying invisible. </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> Then one day, Tom stops being invisible. Someone’s been watching his virtual-reality prowess, and he’s offered the incredible—a place at the Pentagonal Spire, an elite military academy. There, Tom’s instincts for combat will be put to the test, and if he passes, he’ll become a member of the Intrasolar Forces, helping to lead his country to victory in World War Three. Finally, he’ll be someone important: a superhuman war machine with the tech skills that every virtual-reality warrior dreams of. Life at the Spire holds everything that Tom’s always wanted—friends, the possibility of a girlfriend, and a life where his every action matters—but what will it cost him? </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> Gripping and provocative, S. J. Kincaid’s futuristic thrill ride of a debut crackles with memorable characters, tremendous wit, and a vision of the future that asks startling, timely questions about the melding of humanity and technology. </i> </span><br />
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<a href="http://www.harperteen.com/books/Insignia-S-J-Kincaid/?isbn=9780062093011">INSIGNIA</a> by <a href="http://www.sjkincaid.com/">S. J. Kincaid</a> hits shelves today, and it marks an awesome YA debut: as a bookseller who read an early draft of the manuscript said to me, "This author is the real deal!" and I couldn't agree more: it is a thrill to watch an author launch, knowing she is talented in endless ways!<br />
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S. J. Kincaid is an incredibly skilled world-builder, one who uses science and history to ground a tale of the future, making for a brainy, smart, totally plausible story. The plots that she brings to life are genius: full of sneaky twists and turns and high-stakes moments that make your pulse pound all the more because you're aware as you read that every bit of her story feels uncomfortably possible. And her ability to create characters and genuine relationships between them is perhaps her greatest talent of all. I want to climb inside this book and be friends with these characters! Tom Raines and his friends are hilarious and fiercely loyal; they have an endless capacity for having fun, and they belong to each other in a way that makes a reader somehow feel that same warmth of belonging, too. That's a rare writerly talent, and a special one. Each time I read this manuscript anew, it felt like I'd skipped work for the day and was hanging out with friends, scheming pranks and enjoying inside jokes--and being that girl laughing too hard in public, whether on the subway or in a coffee shop, editing, because this story is high-stakes and thrilling, but it is also wickedly, wonderfully funny! We don't see enough humor in YA, I think, for what a key part of life it is for teens, but these characters are pitch-perfect in the way they never miss a moment for sly wit or full-on hilarity.<br />
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It's easy to assume that an author like this comes out of nowhere, but I think one of the things that awes me most about S. J. Kincaid is knowing just how hard she worked to become an author. INSIGNIA is her debut novel, but it's actually the <i>seventh</i> manuscript she wrote. Along the way, not only was she incredibly perseverant, but she let those six early manuscripts teach her a ton about writing, about storytelling, and about craft. As a result, she is one of the most confident writers I've ever met, and one who is willing to drastically tear apart and rebuild elements of her story if she can see that doing so might make it stronger. I am convinced that she has entire epic universes in her mind, and I am so pleased that she's willing to share some of them with us, as books.<br />
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<a href="https://twitter.com/sjkincaidbooks">S. J. Kincaid</a> found her way onto my list in a distinctly modern way: she and her literary agent responded to an appeal I'd made on Twitter: that I was hungry for stories that asked interesting "what-if" questions. The first manuscript they sent me wasn't even INSIGNIA. But I am delighted that the next novel she wrote *was* INSIGNIA, and that I've had the privilege of working with her on the series, ever since I read INSIGNIA for the first time over Christmas, two years ago, at my parents' house, and ignored my entire family for the better part of two days as I did so. INSIGNIA creeps up on you as it steals its way into being one of the most engaging stories you've ever read. It's about a gamer kid, and I am decidedly not a gamer, but by three pages in, that no longer mattered because I was hooked, and totally on the side of intensely likable mischief-maker Tom Raines. I think Tom's character taps into something that exists in all of us: a universal desire to *matter*, and to make a difference in the world somehow, by using the talents we're proudest of in ourselves, which makes it a story that a fascinating variety of readers will enjoy.<br />
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Want to help S. J. Kincaid celebrate her INSIGNIA's debut? <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVQ3bcYKpp0">Check out the book trailer </a>for INSIGNIA; <a href="http://www.harperteen.com/book/buy.aspx?isbn13=9780062093011">buy a copy</a> for yourself or a teenager or a gamer you know from your favorite bookseller or check it out at your library; <a href="http://www.facebook.com/insigniaseries">"Like" Facebook.com/insigniaseries</a> to follow news about the series; or if you're in Huntington Beach (July 10th, B&N Huntington Beach; Salt Lake City, UT (July 11th, The King's English Bookstore); Houston, TX (July 12th) Blue Willow Books) or attending San Diego Comic Con, you can meet the author while she's on tour this week. Finally, you can <a href="https://twitter.com/SJKincaidBooks">follow the author on Twitter (@sjkincaidbooks)</a> or <a href="http://sjkincaid.com/">read her blog</a>.<br />
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Happy publication day, INSIGNIA and S. J. Kincaid! I'm so excited for readers to find and love this book!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">P.S. I posted this from my phone while out of town, so forgive any weird typos or formatting issues, please!</span>Molly O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14812748747208236745noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3459102772155347338.post-60718957442039441302012-05-22T22:10:00.000-04:002012-05-22T22:10:20.385-04:00The universe is big. And full of tiny fascinations.Get your own profound realizations (and lessons in scale) <a href="http://htwins.net/scale2/">here.</a>Molly O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14812748747208236745noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3459102772155347338.post-54968556628809499112012-05-08T22:03:00.001-04:002012-05-08T22:05:33.829-04:00Thanks, Mr. Sendak<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/09/books/maurice-sendak-childrens-author-dies-at-83.html">for all the books</a>, but especially for Little Bear, whose stories and pictures I pored over and over and over, until I learned how to read.<br />
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</div>Molly O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14812748747208236745noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3459102772155347338.post-59369647974416776332012-05-01T09:59:00.000-04:002012-05-01T10:03:03.451-04:00INSURGENT: An Editorial Love Story <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="color: blue;">From this.... </span></strong><br />
<span style="color: blue;">(that's about one-third of the rounds of editorial & production passes of INSURGENT, FYI.)</span></td></tr>
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Sometimes, less is more. So this post will be short, but deeply-felt (yep, my faction would be <a href="http://divergent.wikia.com/wiki/Candor">Candor</a>). <br />
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It is an incredible thing to watch a book take wings and find resonance with so many readers, as <a href="http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/books/Divergent-Veronica-Roth/?isbn13=9780062024039&tctid=100">DIVERGENT</a> has done. <br />
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It is an incredible thing to watch readers waiting with such enthusiasm for a book, and to know what awaits them (being an editor has its perks!), and to be so, so excited for the moment when readers and the story get to connect again. <br />
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And it is an incredible thing when an author outdoes herself and creates a sequel like <a href="http://www.harpercollinschildrens.com/books/Insurgent-Veronica-Roth/?isbn13=9780062024046&tctid=100">INSURGENT</a>, one that is even more compelling, even more powerfully written, than its predecessor. <br />
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<a href="http://veronicarothbooks.blogspot.com/">Veronica Roth</a>, you continue to amaze us all with this story. Thank you so much for creating it. Today (and every day), I am a lucky editor, and we are all lucky readers<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: blue;">...TO THIS!</span></strong></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Happy reading, friends!</span>Molly O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14812748747208236745noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3459102772155347338.post-17705288716775900782012-04-24T17:00:00.002-04:002012-04-24T17:01:30.529-04:00Everything You Wanted To Know About Middle Grade: The FinaleOver the past month or so, <a href="http://www.dystel.com/staff-e-mail/michael-bourret-personal-essay/">agent pal Michael Bourret</a> and I have held <a href="http://www.dystel.com/2012/02/whats-up-with-middle-grade/">a series of back-and-forth blog conversations about what makes great middle grade books</a>. We finished up last week, and you can read our final conversation <a href="http://www.dystel.com/2012/04/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-middle-grade-the-finale/"><strong>here</strong></a>. <br />
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You can also backtrack and read <a href="http://www.dystel.com/2012/03/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-middle-gradeand-were-willing-to-ask/">the first installment</a> here. <br />
And <a href="http://10blockwalk.blogspot.com/2012/03/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know.html">the second installment</a> here. <br />
And again, <a href="http://www.dystel.com/2012/04/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-middle-grade-the-finale/">the finale of our middle grade trilogy (ha!) of posts is over here</a>. <br />
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Thanks to all who have read and shared the series, and who also share our love for middle grade readers and books. As you may have guessed, we're both on the hunt for more great middle grade stories to represent (Michael) and edit/publish (me), so cross your fingers that some memorable middle grade comes to us soon! And if you're a writer, we hope you found inspiration amidst our musings.Molly O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14812748747208236745noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3459102772155347338.post-1013187040866560162012-04-11T00:38:00.002-04:002012-04-11T00:39:41.791-04:00Inspiration of the day/week/month/yearSo, you guys remember how we've been talking about middle graders, and their sense of wonder, and possibility? Yeah, all that. Captured right here, in one of the best 10-minute films you'll see all year:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="300" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/40000072?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="400"></iframe><br />
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<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(via <a href="http://boingboing.net/2012/04/09/9-year-olds-diy-cardboard-ar.html">Boing-Boing</a>)</span></div>Molly O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14812748747208236745noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3459102772155347338.post-20149250682471360902012-03-29T19:54:00.000-04:002012-03-29T19:54:15.217-04:00In case you were wondering<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5JBgmbhxUok0JUiZSitS8MPbjNu4nqva0_rLCAsxXiWW28oiJBr0cjPGjVWXQH-P59kqYtBErIgj3IliMLlhJdiorEzFPyQZSINf2VF_YISxC07SgA7nFVUcUDxl8KsxUw8Fj2SeaMmk/s1600/out+sick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" dea="true" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5JBgmbhxUok0JUiZSitS8MPbjNu4nqva0_rLCAsxXiWW28oiJBr0cjPGjVWXQH-P59kqYtBErIgj3IliMLlhJdiorEzFPyQZSINf2VF_YISxC07SgA7nFVUcUDxl8KsxUw8Fj2SeaMmk/s200/out+sick.jpg" width="169" /></a></div><br />
So there's been an utterly wicked Publishing Plague going around: last week I had it, and this week literary agent Michael Bourret has it, even though we're on opposite sides of the country. (The Evil Publishing Plague is undaunted by geography, apparently.) All to say, we haven't forgotten about our middle grade conversation blog series; it's just been waylaid, b/c if we'd tried to have a conversation in the last two weeks, it would have been all hopped-up on Sudafed and miserable and most likely incoherent, too. Anyway, we promise we'll get back to it soon! And thanks again to all who've read and contributed questions and shared the conversation thus far. You writers rock.Molly O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14812748747208236745noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3459102772155347338.post-20091244993912456272012-03-20T23:44:00.006-04:002012-03-20T23:49:07.626-04:00New favorite article of the week<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2010/01/seeing_red_in_the_sky/arcturus_med.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2010/01/seeing_red_in_the_sky/arcturus_med.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The <i>New York Times</i> has begun what promises to be <a href="http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/category/draft/">a *fantastic* series called "Draft,"</a> on the art & craft of writing. (Please go check it out, so they get good traffic/stats and choose to continue it!) </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Here's an excerpt from one of the pieces, by Pulitzer winner </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jhumpa_Lahiri" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Jhumpa Lahiri</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, who is a master of powerful, evocative writing: </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: 'Bell MT'; font-size: large;">“For surely it is a magical thing for a handful of words, artfully arranged, to stop time. To conjure a place, a person, a situation, in all its specificity and dimensions. To affect us and alter us, as profoundly as real people and things do. . . .</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: 'Bell MT'; font-size: large;">We encounter books at different times in life, often appreciating them, apprehending them, in different ways. But their language is constant. The best sentences orient us, like stars in the sky, like landmarks on a trail.”</span></div></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Bell MT';"><br />
</span></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ahhhh....isn't that all just so perfectly captured, so elegantly true?</span><br />
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</span>Molly O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14812748747208236745noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3459102772155347338.post-54005773748299271142012-03-18T15:56:00.005-04:002012-03-18T16:04:54.500-04:00Five articles worth reading this week1. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/the-neuroscience-of-your-brain-on-fiction.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&smid=fb-share">This great article</a> that talks about the neurological effects of reading. If you're a brain science nerd like I am (for me it boils down to a fascination with understanding the things that make us human), or simply someone who likes when reading/storytelling make news, you'll probably appreciate this, too.<br />
Sample: <i>"A psychologist...concluded that there was substantial overlap in the brain networks used to understand stories and the networks used to navigate interactions with other individuals — in particular, interactions in which we’re trying to figure out the thoughts and feelings of others. Scientists call this capacity of the brain to construct a map of other people’s intentions “theory of mind.” Narratives offer a unique opportunity to engage this capacity, as we identify with characters’ longings and frustrations, guess at their hidden motives and track their encounters with friends and enemies, neighbors and lovers." </i><br />
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2. <a href="http://theamericanscholar.org/solitude-and-leadership/">The text of a commencement speech given to West Point grads</a> three years ago. It's long, but offers a really compelling definition of leadership by way of also discussing the critical roles of vision, solitude, courage, introspection, literature, and friendship.<br />
Sample (which isn't talking about writing fiction, but oh, how it could be!): <i>"I find for myself that my first thought is never my best thought. My first thought is always someone else’s; it’s always what I’ve already heard about the subject, always the conventional wisdom. It’s only by concentrating, sticking to the question, being patient, letting all the parts of my mind come into play, that I arrive at an original idea. By giving my brain a chance to make associations, draw connections, take me by surprise. And often even that idea doesn’t turn out to be very good. I need time to think about it, too, to make mistakes and recognize them, to make false starts and correct them, to outlast my impulses, to defeat my desire to declare the job done and move on to the next thing."</i><br />
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3. <a href="http://shwood.squarespace.com/news/2009/9/21/14-years-ago-the-day-teller-gave-me-the-secret-to-my-career.html">A legendary magician offers his career secrets</a> via an email exchange with a young admirer. I want to quote like six different passages from this, so really, you should just go read it, even though it, too, is lengthy. It's not about writing, but it IS about the creative life and I suspect you'll see the links just as I do. After all, making magic and making stories have a lot in common.... <br />
Sample: <i>"Surprise me. That's it. Place 2 and 2 right in front of my nose, but make me think I'm seeing 5. Then reveal the truth, 4!, and surprise me. Now, don't underestimate me, like the rest of the magicians of the world. Don't fool yourself into thinking that I've never seen a set of linking rings before and I'll be oh-so-stunned because you can "link" them. Bullshit. Here's how surprise works. While holding my attention, you withold basic plot information. Feed it to me little by little. Make me try and figure out what's going on. Tease me in one direction. Throw in a false ending. Then turn it around and flip me over."</i><br />
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(Aside: like many of my best internet discoveries, items #3 and #4 on this list came to my attention via my pal <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/brainpicker">@brainpicker</a>. If you're not following her or <a href="http://www.brainpickings.org/">reading her blog</a>, you should be, as she is a constant treasure-trove of interestingness and inspiration.)<br />
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4. I don't always agree with Laura Miller's Salon.com articles about publishing, but <a href="http://www.salon.com/2012/03/18/the_making_of_a_blockbuster/">this look inside publishing the juggernaut otherwise known as <i>The Hunger Games</i></a> is one of the best journalistic looks I've seen at the strategic, carefully-layered work it takes to build success in the kids' book world. Even more importantly, it emphasizes what I tend to think is and always will be the most important truth of the industry, no matter how it morphs: the children's book world is a business built on personal relationships.<br />
Sample: <i>"It’s hard to imagine the first book in any adult series being greeted with a comparable level of grass-roots hoopla: buzzed, booktalked and big-mouthed for months before it appeared on any bookstore display table . . . "We got it in the hands of the right people. That’s what publishers do,” van Straaten said. "You’re leveraging one thing to build the next thing. You need the enthusiasm internally to convince that first layer of gatekeepers. Once you have the kudos of <i>those</i> people, you can get <i>these</i> people, and so on.'"</i><br />
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5. Um, actually, my list only goes up to number four today. So you tell me: what article did you find recently that others should read? Leave links in the comments, and thanks!Molly O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14812748747208236745noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3459102772155347338.post-25126963450346448212012-03-07T15:38:00.008-05:002012-03-07T16:32:50.380-05:00Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Middle Grade, Part 2: Technology and Gender and Marketing, Oh My!<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is Part Two in a series of online coversations between</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1917535675">Dystel & Goderich l</a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/#!/michaelbourret">iterary agent Michael Bourret</a> and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/#!/molly_oneill">myself, HarperCollins Children's Books editor Molly O'Neill</a>, about middle grade books. If you missed the first part of the conversation, you can <a href="http://www.dystel.com/2012/03/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-middle-gradeand-were-willing-to-ask/">read it here</a>.</span></i><br />
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<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px;">MO:</b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px;"> Zoinks! (Michael, we're going to get sooooo many submissions with that little joke from now on. I hope it was worth it!) Thanks to everyone who read/commented on and/or shared our first MG chat, and for coming back to read more. Your response definitely affirms something we've both been feeling: that the industry is definitely on the look-out for GREAT middle grade.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px;"> What does "GREAT" middle grade mean, though? I guess like any sort of fantastic writing, great middle grade rises above the present moment and hopefully establishes itself as not just meaningful for readers today, but as a lasting part of the literary landscape. Sure, technology is changing the way we promote and even read books--though for middle graders, e-readers aren't quite as pervasive as they are for teens or even adults, just like the way it took a while for cell phones to trickle down into tween hands, once upon a time. And it's harder for us to market directly to younger readers since </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children's_Online_Privacy_Protection_Act" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px;">COPPA laws</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px;"> limit the ways we can target that readership, so I suspect that we're always going to be reaching out to gatekeepers (parents, teachers, librarians, etc.) as much as our ultimate readers for this genre. Which makes sense, because as a middle grader, the people in your life who model a love of reading can be a big reason a kid becomes a reader. And if the emotions and situations and relationships in a story ring true, and the creative imagination behind it transports reader after reader, that's part of what makes a book great--and why it will endure through generations of readers, no matter what format or delivery system or marketing vagaries might exist.</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px;">MB: </b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px;">Zoinks, indeed! That's my reaction to trying to define "GREAT" middle grade. There's such a diversity in middle grade that it's hard to pinpoint the things that make it great. But I'll agree with Molly that the truly great books (for any age) touch on universal truths that don't depend on trends, fads or gimmicks. One of the great things about middle grade is that it seems much less susceptible to big trends--you don't have the same sort of vampire, werewolf, dystopian waves that you see on the YA side. Because middle grade typically gets less media attention (more on that in a second), I think there's a lot less groupthink and a greater degree of creativity and, dare I say, effort. To me, middle grade always seems so open and full of possibility; is there anything you can't do? In particular, I'm taken by the many books that combine realistic, relatable stories with the fantastic. Kids are so open to that, and it allows the writer to tell a story about real kids that also has high stakes (see our last post).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px;"> Back to the marketing for just a moment: Molly makes such an excellent point about selling to kids. While middle grade novels are written for children, publishers can't market directly to them, so much of what we do goes through gatekeepers like parents and educators. It necessarily changes the role of the author in promoting the books, as well, since they aren't reaching their readers in the same way that they do on the teen side. In my experience, that can be a surprise for authors who are so keen to use their social networks to reach readers. It's not that social networking is any less important, it's just important to remember that while the audience for your book might be kids, the audience for your tweet is probably an adult.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br style="font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-size: 13px;"><b>MO:</b> I, too, love the potential for possibility and sky's-the-limit creativity that middle grade allows--and that it's so much less trend-driven that our current YA market. Middle grade readers are some of the most voracious readers, I think, and though some are highly influenced by what their peers are reading, or firmly decide they only like one kind of book, many others are willing to sample widely, skipping across genres and loving them all in a way that teens and adults aren't always willing to do. I think middle grade readers are reading a lot less for status (though they do seem to find it cool to lug a big book around) or out of the need to be part of a collective conversation, and more for personal satisfaction.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"> Michael nails it, though--while the genre seems wide-open, it's also about blending the right combination and balance of the relatable with the infinitely fantastical. Middle grade readers are miles away from being English majors, and are rarely interested in the author's bold stylistic choices or the reasons behind them...they just want a story that satisfies them! My own inner middle grade reader is drawn to the sense of wonder that can be found in so many great middle grade books. Sometimes that's the sense of wonder that rich friendship and powers of imagination can bring about, like in the classic <i>Bridge to Terabithia</i> or in the more recent <i>When You Reach Me</i> or <i>Breadcrumbs</i>. Or it’s the awe and wonder of otherworldliness that fantasies like Shannon Hale’s deliver, or it’s the wonder of a kid who gets to experience the utterly fantastical that's also somehow reminiscent of the world they know, like the cat clans of the <i>Warriors</i> books that aren't so very different than the cliques of middle school, or <i>The Mysterious Benedict Society</i>, which gives kids an opportunity to put their ordinary-seeming talents to use in extraordinary situations. And sometimes the wonder comes from a simpler place, like the “ahhhh” of recognition that comes from pitch-perfection depictions and articulations of the universal experiences and emotions of being human, and growing up: like the stories of Deborah Wiles, or Lisa Yee, or Gary Schmidt.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"> We got some interesting questions about point-of-view for middle grade, but unfortunately, as with so much of writing, there's no single right answer. It's all about what the story demands, and what will allow readers to access the story most fully. For some books, a sweeping, omniscient storyteller voice is absolutely fitting, or a boisterously humorous and clever one is. For others, the closeness of a first-person voice makes the main character's victories and heartaches that much more real, or makes a long-ago time feel more accessible, or a third-person narration makes the setting come alive with details. The trick is that the perspective/point-of-view should bring the reader in close to the story AND also make the story’s telling feel effortless, not labored. You'll notice that I keep talking about things (often extremes) that need to be done simultaneously! I think balance is a HUGE part of good writing and storytelling. In a perfect book, to me, nearly every scene, if not nearly every single line of text, serves multiple purposes, moving the story forward but also revealing things about the characters, their relationships, the setting, the unfolding plot, etc., etc. When a writer is that deliberate and thoughtful about their writing and storytelling (and the revising that leads them there), the result can be a story that’s layered and nuanced and that has a sort of texture and richness that leaves readers feeling oh-so-satisfied throughout the whole reading experience. It’s not unlike the sensation of having eaten a meal that combined flavors you’d never imagined blending together, even if you’d encountered them all separately before—it’s memorable precisely because of the craftsmanship and daring and creative delight that went into conceiving and creating it. In great middle grade, the sum is always more than the seemingly-ordinary and often-familiar parts…but HOW the writer arrives at that sum is the thrilling part!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br style="font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-size: 13px;"><b>MB: </b>What's interesting to me is that your list of middle grade titles that you mentioned above are some of the very titles I was thinking of: <i>Bridge to Terabithia, When You Reach Me, Mysterious Benedict Society</i>. The former has to be one of the best middle grade books ever written--it gets so many of the elements we've been talking about just right. And what a perfect segue to discuss gender! Several questions in the comments addressed the question of gender in middle grade novels, specifically asking if boys are willing to read books with female protagonists. It's a fair question, and something I know that gets discussed often, both by writers and publishing professionals. I have to say, I'm very curious to hear Molly's take on this. Gender (along with race, ethnicity, religion and sexuality) is often difficult to discuss, as what we as people believe or espouse doesn't always neatly line up with what the market wants or expects. While unfortunate, I do think that books with male protagonists, on the whole, tend to fare better in middle grade. Why that is, I can only speculate about, though I'm finding it increasingly difficult to believe that boys don't want to read about girl protagonists--I'd like to believe that gender politics, especially for kids, are much better than they were. There are many books, of course, with both a male and female protagonist, which is one way of avoiding the issue altogether, though it does limit the voice and POV of the book. All of that said, I've never gotten a submission, thought, "Oh, this has a female protagonist and therefore I cannot sell this middle grade novel." It's really only in the context of questions like this, which often come up at conferences, that it really crosses my mind. As with anything else, my advice is to write the book you want to write, write it the best you can write it, and try to find it a home. Worrying too much about what's going to happen in the marketplace (either of editors or readers) will surely drive you mad.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br style="font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-size: 13px;"><b>MO: </b>You know, I wonder if when people say, "boys don't want to read books about girls," if that's actually shorthand for something slightly different and harder to articulate: that boys and girls look at the world through slightly different lenses, and care about different things, especially at this age. For example, middle grade boys rarely seem to go through the same endless catty frenemy drama that is so common for middle school girls--so would reading books where that theme is central be vastly appealing to most boys? I suspect not. Ditto books where pivotal parts of the story revolve around popularity or lots of details about clothing and crushes. Likewise, girls who read books in part to study/understand/identify how friendships and relationships work for other people may not find it compelling to read about survivalist stories where relationships don't play a big role, or about non-stop adventure with little character development. But you know, even as I type this, I too, am hating the way it sounds like stereotypes being perpetuated, even though I'm just trying to give illustrative examples. I think what it boils down to is that readers--boys and girls and adults, too, for that matter--subconsciously want to IDENTIFY with a book's characters and experiences. We want to see ourselves in a story, right? If there's a hero/heroine, we'd like to feel like we have some of those same heroic traits, and if there are problems, we might tuck away the character's solution/victory to try it out in our own lives when similar dilemmas arise. So I think it's worth asking yourself if there are ways to make your characters as dynamic and relatable to as many different readers as possible.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px;"> Like Michael, I don't in any way find myself excluding books that skew to solely one gender--but as an editor, I also have to be realistic from day one about my expectations for a book, and I think writers have to do the same. A book with both a male and female protagonist does potentially have more reach than a book that hews to only one side of the gender divide. That means that more kids may be drawn to it, which means more word-of-mouth may spread more widely, or that teachers will have an easier time incorporating it into classroom use--all of which can help it find a bigger audience of readers. But you also have to be true to the story you're writing. Inserting a character that doesn't belong or ring true, simply in attempt to broaden marketability, could destroy an otherwise great book, which will limit its potential in a much more serious way than skewing to a specific gender. It's like </span><a href="http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Aesop/Aesops_Fables/The_Man_the_Boy_and_the_Donkey_p1.html" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px;">the Aesop fable about the miller and his son taking their donkey across the river</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13px;">: in trying to please everyone, you might end up pleasing no one--not readers, and not yourself as a writer, either. And if you're not delighted and pleased by the writing that you're doing, then what's the point? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br style="font-size: 13px;" /><span style="font-size: 13px;"><b>MB: </b>I love when we agree. Which is a good place for us to pause, because boy, can we go on. And we will, next week! We'll be answering more of your questions in the next couple of weeks (so leave new ones in the comments if you have them), and we thank you so much for reading, commenting on, and tweeting what we've written. We sincerely appreciate your appreciation.</span></span>Molly O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14812748747208236745noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3459102772155347338.post-5787250961471431402012-03-01T10:01:00.001-05:002012-03-01T11:17:42.791-05:00"Zoinks, bud!" And other thoughts on middle grade novels.As promised in my last post, <a href="http://www.dystel.com/staff-e-mail/">literary agent Michael Bourret</a> and I started a chat about middle grade fiction. You can read the first part over <a href="http://www.dystel.com/2012/03/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-middle-grade-and-were-willing-to-ask/">on his agency's blog</a> today. We hope you find the conversation as interesting as we did! <br />
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P.S. Check back here on my blog in a week or so for a second installment!Molly O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14812748747208236745noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3459102772155347338.post-16665549813735138492012-02-23T08:00:00.004-05:002012-02-23T13:50:14.405-05:00Let's Talk About Middle Grade!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbDVJefB1UHRkkbsXDMMVeAF_ktHMpJg3pgFuoKHE3LN71Hu1DaUktgZODVGprhyhQPigbRWkbJRXR_flcJX8jPZ-JGAghE4iGdly6NGVHsUG4HZAulg8OB54h-jySVSfkeHN0cQYnQ8k/s1600/coming-soon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbDVJefB1UHRkkbsXDMMVeAF_ktHMpJg3pgFuoKHE3LN71Hu1DaUktgZODVGprhyhQPigbRWkbJRXR_flcJX8jPZ-JGAghE4iGdly6NGVHsUG4HZAulg8OB54h-jySVSfkeHN0cQYnQ8k/s200/coming-soon.jpg" width="200" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>A couple days ago, <a href="http://www.dystel.com/staff/mike.html">literary agent pal Michael Bourret</a> and I got to talking about middle grade books--about what makes the great ones so great, and about how we're both eternally hungry to discover that kind of memorable middle grade for our own respective lists. And the more we chatted, the more we thought it would be an interesting conversation to have "out loud."<br />
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So in a week or two, we're going to have a two-part blog conversation about middle grade (or as some folks call 'em, tween books); the first half on <a href="http://www.dystel.com/">the Dystel & Goderich Literary Agency blog</a>, and the second half right here on 10 Block Walk. In other words, exciting bloggish times are ahead, oh readers!<br />
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But first, we want to know: what curiosities and questions do you have about the writing and craft (and publishing) of MG books? Leave a comment here, or <a href="http://www.dystel.com/2012/02/whats-up-with-middle-grade/">on Michael's post today on the D&G blog</a> (or <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/molly_oneill">tweet me</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/michaelbourret">Michael</a>) and we'll use some of your comments as jumping-off points for our upcoming chats. <br />
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P.S. No question's too big, too small, or too silly!Molly O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14812748747208236745noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3459102772155347338.post-67035433180348621232012-01-26T18:42:00.000-05:002012-01-26T18:42:47.980-05:00So it's 2012...and my blog has been sorely neglected! (For excuses, I offer you a bout of bronchitis-turned-to-near-pneumonia that took me down for most of November and December; NCTE; Thanksgiving and Christmas travel; general holiday madness; and an enormous pile of submissions that only gets larger, no matter how much reading I do.) So sorry, dear friends. Mostly, I have been busy, busy, busy making books. But I've been writing lots of blog posts in my head of late, so I hope to share some of those with you very soon.<br />
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But in the meanwhile, here are a few assorted (and some much-belated) tidbits from this editor's life to catch you up to date.<br />
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1. I bought two amazing books from The Intern, and cannot wait to introduce her incredible voice to the YA world! Here's the "official" write-up from Publishers Weekly, or you can hear more about it <a href="http://internspills.blogspot.com/2011/11/midnight-unmasking-ceremony.html">on her blog</a>.<br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-small;">In a two-book pre-empt, Molly O’Neill at HarperCollins’s Katherine Tegen Books bought North American rights to Hilary Smith’s YA debut, Midnight at the Radio Temple. Laura Rennert at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency said the novel, which is scheduled for summer 2013, is a coming-of-age story about a teenage musician who uncovers shocking family secrets during “an unforgettable summer of love and chaos, music and madness.” Smith was behind the formerly anonymous publishing blog, The Intern (www.internspills.blogspot.com), in which she chronicled toiling away as an unpaid laborer in the editorial department at a nameless publishing house; the blog became something of an industry phenomenon in 2009, drawing, at its height, 10,000 visits per month.</span></div><br />
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2. The exceedingly lovely readers of Goodreads chose <a href="http://veronicarothbooks.blogspot.com/">Veronica Roth's</a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/DivergentSeries">DIVERGENT</a> as their <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/326-the-best-books-of-2011-announcing-the-goodreads-choice-award-winners">favorite book of the year</a>, the top award in the annual Goodreads Choice Awards. Cue a beaming editor. (Speaking of <a href="http://www.facebook.com/DivergentSeries">DIVERGENT</a>, did you know <a href="http://www.harperteen.com/books/Insurgent-Veronica-Roth/?isbn=9780062024046">it's only 95 days till INSURGENT</a> comes out?)<br />
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3. I have some amazing books coming out in 2012, and I'm working on some fantastic projects for 2013 right now, too. I'll tell you about them in due course (i.e., I won't torture you too much by telling you about things you can't read yet), but in the meanwhile, I've just got to say that my authors and illustrators are some of the hardest-working and most brilliant and talented people I know.<br />
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4. My beloved alma mater <a href="http://www.marquette.edu/">Marquette University</a> just did a career profile on me in their alumni magazine, which makes me feel ridiculously grown-up and reminds me just how lucky I am to have my dream job. If you'd like, you can <a href="http://marquette.edu/magazine/recent.php?subaction=showfull&id=1326385038&archive=&start_from=&ucat=8&">read it here</a>. <br />
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5. I'm thinking about starting a (semi-) regular blog series higlighting books about the craft of writing. I get asked for recommendations a lot at writers' conferences and thought it might make good blog fodder. Would that be of interest? Shout-out in the comments if so. <span style="color: #444444; font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
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Okay, more soon, I pinky-swear! And until then, you can find me on a much more regular basis <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/molly_oneill">on Twitter</a>.Molly O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14812748747208236745noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3459102772155347338.post-24233696734283124852011-11-17T11:52:00.000-05:002011-11-17T11:52:00.205-05:00Writing Motivation<a href="http://writtenkitten.net/">This site</a> is pure genius. Enjoy!Molly O'Neillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14812748747208236745noreply@blogger.com3