A-B-C-D-E-F-G-Hi -- Jay

I love letters. Whether it’s an e-mail forwarded from my editor or a Good morning! note written by my wife and placed beside a fresh pot of coffee before leaving for work, I love ’em. (And if you don’t understand the title of this post, or how it relates, I’m sorry…but I like it!)

Let’s start with my wife. On most days, I’m the first to wake up because my job starts earlier. On other days, we carpool so she can squeeze in a workout before work (which sounds like self-inflicted torture to me). But on Friday, I slept in because I didn’t have to work. At least, not in my day job (the one with the regular paychecks). In order to spend more time on my second novel, I’m taking some personal leave from the library. During the next four weeks, I’ll have four-day weekends. And to help inspire me for Day 1 of my new schedule, my wife left me one of the most beautiful notes I’ve ever read. I’m not going to tell you everything it said (because tears have a way of messing up my keyboard), but it included lines like “Just take a deep breath and let yourself do what you do best…write :-)” and “...trust yourself…” and “P.S. Here's coffee for you.” And even though I woke up later than I’d planned, the coffee was still warm!

Now, onto the e-mail. When the Thirteen Reasons Why galleys went out recently, they included a letter from my editor on the first page. She also included her e-mail address in case anyone wanted to share their thoughts. Well, someone did. And once again, I’m not going to repeat everything it said for the same reason as mentioned above (let's just say that when I showed it to our head children’s librarian, she started crying). Here are a couple snippets: “I found myself trying to read faster, to find out what was going on, while at the same time trying to read slower so that it would last longer” and “…it reminded me of why I love reading.”

So what does that kind of letter do to a debut novelist? For one thing, it makes it a heckuva lot more stressful to write Book 2!

- Jay

All Mermaid and No Disco Makes Robin a Dull Girl -- Robin

I finished the rewrite of my middle grade novel. Woo-hoo! It’s off to my Super Awesome Agent and out of my hands. Which means my hands are free to do whatever they please! Woo-hoo!

The first thing I did with my free hands was hug my husband for doing the dishes and kind of doing the laundry for the past two weeks. (Thank goodness my son likes his dark blue shorts so much.)

Then I picked up the phone and called my fellow Mermaids to tell them I was finished…that I needed to celebrate…that it was time for the Disco Mermaids to hit the town!!

And how did they respond?

Jay: Can’t. Gotta write.

Eve: Um, yeah, see, you know I love you, but see, um, you know how, like, I’m rewriting my novel too, and um, you know I love you, right? For reals…seriously…I can’t. Gotta write. Love you! You complete me! Have fun all by yourself!

So there I was. Just a single solitary Mermaid out on the town celebrating her accomplishments with no one by her side. Where was the love? The support? The lack of responsibility?

But I didn’t care. It was time to party.

I happily sat down in the coffee shop of a local bookstore and sipped a lovely extra-hot latte while reading the latest Cosmo from cover to cover. (Did you know they have discovered six new ways to please your partner that will blow their mind!? Me neither.)

After I took lots of notes, I put my Cosmo away and engaged in some serious retail therapy. And $64 later, I was healed.

Now I’m off to do the rest of the laundry and hug my husband again for dragging in all those bags from the car. It ain’t like Eve and Jay will do it…

- Robin
(who really loves Eve and Jay and respects that they love writing more than a friendship that might’ve lasted a lifetime)

Agents in the O.C. -- Eve

Debby Garfinkle - Laura Rennert - Jay Asher

It was Agent-Palooza in the O.C. this weekend during the Orange County/Inland Empire SCBWI Agent’s Day. We didn’t run into Mischa Barton or Peter Gallagher, but I did get to schmooze with agents Kelly Sonnack (Sandra Dijkstra Agency), Nephele Tempest (The Knight Agency), and my very own agent, Laura Rennert. Oh, yeah, and I had the great fortune of hanging out and dining with authors Debby Garfinkle (of Storky fame) and…wait for it…wait for it…

JAY ASHER!!! (of Thirteen Reasons Why fame). That’s right, Jay broke on through to the other side (literally) of the giant conference room. He sat in the front facing us with hundreds of eyeballs locked on him, hanging on his every word. I have to say, I felt like a proud parent sitting in the crowd with my video camera, wearing my “I ‘heart’ JAY ASHER” button. After getting a little choked up while telling his success story, he had the crowd in stitches one moment and gasping in suspense the next. The highlight for me was hearing the crowd’s reactions while we read from Jay’s book. Jay read Clay’s part (the main character), and I read Hannah’s part (the deceased speaking from the dead), and I’m telling you…we should take this show on the road! But seriously, no matter how bad of an acting job I did, Jay’s prose is so intriguing; it could hook the most reluctant of readers.

Other Highlights:

Laura Rennert had so much to say, I filled my notebook with her words of wisdom, even though I’ve talked to her about all this before. Amazingly, in one short hour she defined buzzwords like High Concept, boiled down the essential elements of a good book, de-mystified Voice, simplified plot and structure, and just plain inspired us all to think big and write well. If you ever get a chance to see Laura speak, Go, Go, Go!! She’s not to be missed.

It was interesting to note how different agents operate and how varied their tastes are. Kelly Sonnack leans toward literary works, Nephele Tempest is mainly interested in commercial fantasy, sci-fi, and paranormal YA books, and Laura Rennert is known for representing the commercial-literary book.

The speakers (and I) capped off the day by sipping cocktails around a fire pit, laughing and chattering about everything from YA sex scenes to multicultural books to the evils of censorship. Debby Garfinkle told hysterical stories of her road to success (you must see her speak as well), Marlene Perez told hysterical stories of van collisions and critiques gone awry. I don’t know if Jay and I added anything to the hysterics, but we did tell stories of how we like to ding-dong-ditch hotel guests at the SCBWI annual conference. We regress back to Junior High when we hang around Kid-Lit authors, and we believe our antics help us tap into our inner 14-year-olds…it’s for research, man! At least, that’s what we told our agent so she didn’t think we were just immature.

- Eve

Reali-tease -- Jay

In Thirteen Reasons Why, as Clay listens to Hannah's recorded voice describe the events that lead to the end of her life, he also visits places she red-starred on a Chamber of Commerce map. When some librarians, booksellers, and reviewers receive the Advance Reading Copy of my book, they will also receive that map. And when I first received my copies earlier this week, I almost started crying.


My imaginary world is slowly seeping its way into reality...and it's freaking me out! When you unfold the above map, there's a full-color aerial view drawing of the Historic Crestmont Business District. Do you think Louis Sachar ever walks outside to find his front yard filled with holes five feet deep by five feet wide, dug by his publisher? No. Do you think Carolyn Mackler keeps opening packages of big round things that her publisher keeps mailing her? No! But when you're a Penguin author, all sorts of weird things happen that make you think you're losing your mind.

Not that I mind, of course.

On the backside of each Crestmont map is a page containing ads for several places mentioned in my book. Places that I just totally made up! There's the high school, the diner, the coffee shop, the movie theater, the liquor store, and the local library:


You can click all you want on the above picture, but you'll have a better chance of checking out Razorbill's new website by clicking here.

- Jay

What's in Your Van? -- Robin

Yesterday I was sitting at my computer pulling my hair out trying to finish the last paragraph of my rewrite on my middle grade novel. The problem was that I had to change the ending completely since I had altered the timeline. So the old ending just didn’t make sense. And endings are very important.

It needed to be just as punchy. Just as funny. And kinda brilliant. And thus…me sitting at my computer pulling my hair out.

Then I remembered something that my good friend Jay once told me: Don’t dance in public anymore.

He also told me another story that’s actually related to all of this. He said that he once read an article about the guy who wrote the movie Little Miss Sunshine. Apparently, while he was writing it, there was a scene that he couldn’t figure out how to resolve. Remember when they’re in the van and they get pulled over by the cop and then the cop lets them go because of something he finds in the back of the van? (I won’t say what he finds in the back of the van because it’s a little vulgar and this is a family operation here.)

Well, while he was writing it, he knew he needed the cop to let the family go, but he couldn’t figure out how to do it. Then a friend told him to write down everything that was in the van. Maybe the answer was already in there. So that’s what he did, and there…sitting in the back of the van…was his answer. Yes, vulgar, but oh so perfect!

I remembered this “What’s in your van?” story yesterday while rewriting my ending. I knew there had to be the perfect word, the perfect prop, and the perfect reason for it to end, you know…perfectly.

So I kept asking myself, “What’s in my van? What’s in my van?” (Only my story isn’t about a van, it’s about middle school, but it was still helpful.) And sure enough, when I kept digging around in the story a little more, the answer…and my ending…was already there.

So, what’s in your van?

- Robin

Okay, just for kicks, let’s see what’s in my van literally. Hang on, I’m going out to my mini-van right now to see what’s in it. Okay, I’m back inside (it was cold out there!). Here’s what’s in my van:

Chapstick, coffee mug, pens, hand lotion, CD holder, stacks of papers from work, overdue library books, a stuffed shark, jacket, shoes, backpack, sand toys, a plastic dinosaur, a bag of new clothes from Kohl’s that I’ll sneak into the house later, sunglasses, oops--more overdue library books, a dog leash, some hardened raisins, and a half empty water bottle that Evie left in there on Sunday (thanks for gunking my van up, Eve!!)

Maybe I’ll call my movie Little Miss Packrat!

Battle of the Books...Literary Versus Commercial --Eve

The “L” word and the “C” word are tossed around all the time in this business. A conference attendee recently asked an editor to define “Literary” and the editor replied, “It means (long pause…long pause…long pause), like, NOT the DaVinci Code.” I looked at my friends on either side of me. They shrugged. I shrugged.

I realized at that moment that I could not accurately (GASP!) define the two for myself. Really. No joke. How could I get this far and not know (or be able to articulate) the difference between Literary and Commercial? I mean, I get that Gossip Girl is Commercial and I get that Johnny Tremain is Literary, but what exactly does that mean?

These are some of the answers I received from author friends of mine:

“Literary books are for smart kids and Commercial books are for fun kids.”
“Literary books win awards, but Commercial books sell more.”
“Commercial means it has a big hook, Literary means it's slow and boring.”
“Literary books are pieces of art. Commercial books are trendy and fleeting.”

M'kay. (Remember, I didn't create these definitions…I'm just quoting them.) The exercise was not entirely helpful because, of course, I can argue that smart kids enjoy both L-books and C-books. Printz winners “American Born Chinese” and “Monster” both seemed pretty hook-y and Commercial-y to me, but still won the coveted award. And I consider “Because of Winn Dixie” to be Literary, but it certainly is not slow or boring (to me).

I looked up “Literary” in the dictionary. It means: Having to do with the written word. 'Kay, that just doesn't help me a bit. So I looked up “Literature.” It means: Written works (I get that part) that are recognized as having important or permanent artistic value. Ohhhhh…now I…wait. What? “Artistic value”…riiight.

Problem: Art is subjective. Which is why our small town still celebrates a massive structure built entirely of slimy used gum as a “must see” highlight on our Chamber of Commerce map…but that's a whole 'nother story. So, what really makes one book Literary and another Commercial? Is one better than the other? And can one book be both? I think about this constantly as I'm revising my book. And I wonder if adding all the figurative layers is dragging it down and taking away from its potential commerciality, or adding to its artistic value. I guess it all comes down to telling a good story. Which is what I've decided to do, no matter what category it gets thrown into.

I know Catcher in the Rye is considered completely Literary, but did people label it as Commercial when it was published back in 1945? Maybe it was the Gossip Girl of its time and everyone was all like, “Oh, that's sooo light and silly and trendy…” And now it's a major classic and J.D. Salinger is sitting there like, “Hmm…who knew?”

Eve