Sideways Stories from the Laundry Room -- Robin

I have decided not to complain about laundry on the blog anymore. That’s my new rule.

But I couldn’t figure out what to blog about since I couldn’t talk about laundry, so I figured I’d complain about how hard I’ve been working lately and how tired I am and how I haven’t had a spare moment to even call my dear, sweet mother and also how much laundry I have to do. Oops. Sorry. Curse you laundry!!!

Anyway, now that spring break is over, I’ve gotten back into the swing of things and I’ve been a writing fool! First, I revised my chapter book, The Nitwits, based on suggestions made by an editor. I loved her suggestions and now I think the manuscript is in way better shape...like it just got a much-needed haircut. My agent also loved the changes, and now the story is back out in the world trying to be adopted by a loving, nurturing publishing house. I feel like a momma sending her son out to the big, bad world and yelling after him, “Write if you get work!”

Meanwhile, I’m still at home with my baby…my new middle grade novel that is starting to take shape. And honestly, I think it’s about to become my new favorite manuscript. (But don’t tell my chapter book. His feelings would be sooo hurt!)

Seriously, I just love writing goofy, fun books. I got hooked on the power of silly stories back in my very first year of teaching. It was fifth grade and I had the kids all day…every moment. And the moments after lunch were the worst. They were wiggly, unruly little monsters. I asked one of the other veteran teachers what to do with them after lunch and she handed me a book. “Just read this out loud,” she said. “They’ll love it. You won’t have any more problems.” It was a copy of Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar. That book is the quintessential funny middle grade book, in my humble opinion. And that teacher was right. The kids were riveted. They begged me to keep reading. Then some of them would come up to me later and beg to read the chapters I had just read to them. Now if that doesn’t tell you how powerful silly stories can be, then I don’t know what does.

But for some reason, I used to almost apologize for writing silly books. I felt maybe I should be writing something with more depth and a message since I was writing for children. However, in January of this year, Jon Scieszka was named National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, and now I’m very proud of my obsession with writing silly books. Mr. Scieszka is the author of The Stinky Cheese Man and The Time Warp Trio (among others), and when he was interviewed about being named ambassador, he talked about the need for making books entertaining. His goal is to reach those kids who don’t like to read. “It’s time for reading to be fun again,” he said. I love that guy!

Now when I tell people that I write goofy stories, I can say that I’m just following orders from the ambassador. That’s serious stuff, man!!! Now, if I can just get the National Ambassador for Laundry to make my load of whites disappear…

- Robin

Writers & Readers -- Jay

From 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., I spent this past Saturday with two different sides of this crazy business...first with writers, then with readers.

At the Los Angeles SCBWI Writer's Day, I sat in a packed gym, listening to other authors share their tips and experiences. Cecil Castelluci, as usual, was hilarious (making me slightly nervous about speaking on a panel with her at the upcoming L.A. Times Festival of Books). I also bought a couple Gail Carson Levine books and had them autographed as gifts...one being for me!

Most importantly, I discovered the theme for this summer's SCBWI national conference theme party. (Past parties are where we earned the nickname The Disco Mermaids.) Ready to hear it? Paint the Town Red. And yes, we've already started brainstorming costume ideas.

After Writer's Day, I sat in on a meeting of the Vroman's Bookstore teen galley group. The group meets monthly to discuss new and upcoming books, giving Vroman's a good idea of which books to really push. A lot of indie bookstores have teen galley groups, and I recommend that every YA writer attend at least one...for two reasons.

First, you'll get some great insight into what bugs teens about a lot of YA lit.: freshmen characters who are too cool for freshmen, the overuse of prophecies in fantasy, storylines that can easily be defined as "one of those books on divorce", present-tense narration...unless it's done really well, the overuse of sex as a plot device, and misleading covers and summaries.

And second, you'll get some good tips on which books you should read. Here are some books this group loved: Not Like I'm Jealous or Anything, My Most Excellent Year, Project 17, Life as it Comes, Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little, The White Giraffe, Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos, Fancy White Trash, and Thank You, Lucky Stars.


By the way, in the photo above, most of the group members are flashing the Awkward Turtle sign...but it's kind of difficult to describe the complex rules of its use. Just be aware that there are also signs for the Awkward Moose, the Awkward Ostrich, and a few other animals. Unfortunately, my head got chopped off in this photo. Just assume that I'm doing my own interpretation of the Awkward Turtle.

After several in the group had to leave, some stayed behind and...Wow! For about an hour, I listened to them discuss Thirteen Reasons Why in extremely fine detail. They talked about character motivation, discussed the ideas of blame, guilt, innocence, and revenge, quoted passages to prove points, and made me feel so inspired.

And then someone mentioned a rumor that the book originally had a different ending. I confirmed that rumor, and they asked me to tell them about it. I hesitated. But then, they started begging. I mean, really begging...


So did I tell them? Of course!

But when they asked what my next book is about, I told them it's a pop-up book about bunnies going through a divorce...written in the present-tense.

- Jay

Teach Me (to write like you) -- Eve

I just finished reading Teach Me by R.A. Nelson, and I need to just say, WOW! It’s an extraordinary exploration of how obsessive love affects the teen psyche and how arrested development affects the adult psyche. The second I put the book down, I emailed R.A, thinking he was a woman, don’t know why. Maybe because he seemed so cozy inside Carolina’s head, so at ease, so…girly. Turns out, he’s a guy, like a manly-guy, who’s like a rocket scientist or something at NASA. Man, that dude seriously scored in the talent genes department. I want to be him in my next life.

What I love most about Teach Me:

• It’s intelligent and profound without being pretentious.
• Nailed the yearning, angsty teen girl perfectly.
• Infuses science in a natural and compelling way.
• Language is poetic and pretty without being flowery or contrived.
• The suspense captured me from the first sentence and I could not put the book down or exhale until the final sentence.
• Funny, funny, funny! Teen funny, not too grown-up funny. (Beezle-Bob. They call their boss at “The Ground-Up Cow Face Burgers” Beezle-Bob. Hilarious!)
• Easy to read. There’s not one unnecessary word in the entire 264 pages.
• Kid-friendly, kid-friendly, kid-friendly. The teens speak like teens, act like teens, and have real teen emotions.
• Symbolism at every turn, but effortless, natural, not hit-you-over-the-head metaphors.

When I first heard about the book, I was concerned that a “passionate romance between student and teacher” would boil down to a yucky soft-soft-core porn blend of Lolita, Wild Things and the Mary Kay Letourneau story. Fortunately, it was neither yucky nor soft-soft-core porn-y. In fact, the relationship seemed quite tender and natural. At first. Then, of course, it turns into something else completely.

Teach Me is my new go-to book for learning how to write effectively. Talk about power-verbs and avoiding adjectives and adverbs to pump up descriptions! Geez! The man is a genius. When I wrote to him, my first question was, “How on earth did you learn to write like this?” His answer: Nothing. Nada. He never wrote back. Seems that R.A. is keeping his secret safely locked up somewhere at NASA. Probably in the same vault clutching all the mysteries of the universe, like what the alien autopsies revealed and which planets have intelligent life.

Ironically, I just got word that Jay will be speaking with my new literary crush next weekend at the Alabama Book Festival!!! Guess Jay will have to liquor the guy up with pink drinks until he spills all his writing secrets (and, of course, everything he knows about aliens, too).

- Eve

King of the Documentaries -- Robin

Jay has been bugging me lately to watch his new favorite documentary. But almost weekly Jay says, “You need to watch my new favorite documentary,” so I’m always a little hesitant to commit myself to his newest favorite documentary, knowing that next week it will be a newer favorite documentary.

But this last one was different. He mentioned it almost every day for weeks. And when that didn’t work and I still didn’t rent it, he rented it for me and forced it into my hands. The documentary is The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. It’s about a guy who tries to beat the record score in Donkey Kong.

I know…I thought the same thing. Please, Jay, find better things to do with your life.

But, oh-my-god, if it wasn’t one of the best documentaries I’ve ever seen. Amazing! The reason it was so amazing wasn’t the impressive editing, which is what I think makes Michael Moore’s movies so great, but because the characters (or real people, actually) were so fascinating. They were weird, quirky, offbeat, and way over-the-top. They made the characters from Napoleon Dynamite look like characters in a wax museum! The guy who held the Donkey Kong record for years was almost too hard to believe. How could someone be that conceited? That rude? That jerky? And have a hair cut that bad!?!?

I think if the movie had been a work of fiction, no one would have felt it was authentic. The characters would’ve come off as one-dimensional and pat. Which is something to keep in mind as a writer…that even though real-life people are sometimes quirky and over-the-top, their fictional counterparts have to have much more depth to be believable.

But since it was "real", the characters were completely fascinating. So much so, that my husband watched it twice. Which means Jay’s newest favorite documentary was that good.

So everyone, please go rush out and rent The King of Kong. But do it quick, because next week, Jay may have another new favorite documentary. My guess? It’ll be about the man with the world’s longest fingernails. Or maybe those guys who gulp hot dogs?

- Robin

Back to the Beginning -- Jay

When my book first sold, I had a funny conversation with my editor. Even though I’d been trying to sell a book for years, I never really considered what I would do when it happened. How time consuming would it be to promote a book? How flexible of a schedule would I need?

“Should I quit my job?” I asked. “I mean, I love my job…but if you want me to, I’ll do it.” For making my dream come true, I would’ve done pretty much anything she asked.

My editor, who was used to dealing with nervous and excited new authors, told me to take a deep breath.

“Like this?” I asked. I wanted to breathe to her exact specifications.

I work at a library, which we both saw as a positive. And I worked Tuesday through Saturday, so I was able to pack a lot of school visits into those Mondays.

But it’s all changing now. Starting this coming week, I’ll be working Monday through Friday, which means my amount of school visits are going to have to decrease a bit. And I love school visits. When I first started doing them, I was scared out of my mind. But they quickly became my favorite aspect of being an author.

My last school visit was an awesome one, though. I returned to where it all began. I spoke to three college classes taught by Nancy Hurd. When I took her class, it was called Children's Literature Appreciation. And you’ll find Mrs. Hurd listed in the acknowledgements pages of Thirteen Reasons Why, mentioned as the reason I wrote my first book.

Fortunately, the managing editor of the school paper was there to catch it...

- Jay


BONUS COOLNESS: Thirteen Reasons Why just re-entered the NY Times Best Sellers list at #5!!!

How Many Licks? -- Eve

Remember that old commercial that goes, “How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?” And then the cute pudgy little owl takes the pop and licks it, “One, two, tha-ree…CRUNCH!” Then he goes, “Um, three…”

Kids of my generation spent a lot of time trying in vain to solve that great mystery. My buddies and I cleaned out the ice cream man and the concessions stand at our softball field every weekend to take on that challenge. Unfortunately, the world may never know how many licks it takes because, for starters, licking a sugary pop all day produces disgustingly painful tongue sores, so by the time you get to about 50 licks it feels like flesh-eating bacteria is invading your mouth. I’d spend the day licking away, then at bedtime I’d re-wrap the shiny blob in its colored waxy paper so I could pick it up again the next day. Sadly, by the time I woke up, I would usually have lost count. So I’d start all over. Tenacity.

As an adult, I still have the same persistence. As a writer, I feel like I spend an extraordinary amount of time licking the tootsie pop to get to the center. Seriously, I ask myself this daily. How many rewrites does it take to really reach the heart of my story? I also wonder how many days, months, years it takes other people to finish a YA novel. I mean, really finish, to the point where every little thing makes sense and the pieces fit together seamlessly.

One prolific writer friend told me she takes one month to write a book. One month! She spends only two or three more revising. Boom! Done. I read an interview today with a successful YA author who said she usually spends about three weeks cranking out a novel. Three weeks? On the flip side, I have another girlfriend who has spent many years revising one YA novel. And she’s still not satisfied.

What I’m wondering is why some of us have to lick the proverbial Tootsie Pop for 5 full years (me) before we really hit that center, while others sit like the pudgy little owl in the tree and just bite the damn thing and get it over with. We both get to that gushy, chocolaty core eventually. But why do I take 500 painful licks when others take only 3?

Maybe I’m a glutton for punishment. Or maybe just a glutton. Seriously, my parents should have bought stock in Tootsie Roll Industries back in the day. Those dudes still produce 20 million pops daily! I guess the younger generation is continuing the quest to discover just how many licks it really takes.

- Eve
(Who is bathing her purple tongue in liquid Lidocaine as we speak!)