Discuss Amongst Yourselves -- Jay

The E.B. White Read Aloud Award was first given in 2004, then divided into two categories a couple years later (one for picture books and one for older readers). Being a rather new award, it’s still building name recognition, and not one I imagined seeing my name attached to…until now.

No, I didn’t win the award. But Thirteen Reasons Why has been nominated for it. Quick! Guess which category!

The nomination got me thinking about an aspect of writing which I never thought about while working on 13RW…or any of my previous (and still unpublished) novels. See, I always wanted lots and lots and lots of readers. Primarily, I wanted to entertain them. And secondarily (if that’s a word, and even if it’s not), I wanted to present opportunities to think about the world from other points of view…and not necessarily my point of view.

But I never considered that amazing D-word: discussion.

Because of 13RW book clubs popping up across the country, schools and bookstores and libraries are bringing teens and adults together to discuss the issues raised in the book. Those discussions allow for even more points of view than what I presented in the book. Which is amazing!

I’ve also heard from parents and children, boyfriends and girlfriends, and best friends who read the book aloud to each other (one person reading as Clay, the other as Hannah). Those discussions led to even deeper understandings among already close readers. Which is amazing!

Why this has me so excited is because it brings me back to my high school days. I remember one teacher, Mr. Miller, who often brought up “contemporary issue” discussions in his classroom. Some of the issues were controversial. But when he raised the issues, he never offered his own opinions. He simply wanted us to hear what other students thought. And I was very opinionated about some of those issues. In response to my opinions, his most common question was, “But why?” And he never accepted, “It’s just how I feel” as a legitimate answer.

After hearing other points of view in that class, my opinions changed quite a bit on quite a few issues…though I rarely admitted that in class!

So whether Thirteen Reasons Why (or future books) are read aloud among close family members and friends, or discussed by large groups in a safe environment, I am beyond thrilled…because discussion is always a good thing. At the very least, even if your opinion isn’t changed, it allows you to know why other people hold differing points of view.

And that, I know, has made me a much better person…and writer.

- Jay

It is Better to Have Loved and Lost -- Eve

…than to never have loved at all. Isn’t that the way it goes? I never really agreed with this saying when it applies to real life. I mean, losing love really sucks, and if you’ve never been in love, you don’t know what you’re missing. Right?

But I do agree with this saying when applied to books and movies. After watching Atonement the other night, I realized that all the big, great love stories end tragically. Does anyone ever really get the girl (or guy) in a drama? I went through a quick list of classics: Casablanca, Romeo and Juliet, Endless Love, Out of Africa, The English Patient, Love Story, Brokeback Mountain, Ghost, Titanic. I guess star-crossed lovers only end up together in romantic comedies.

Which, of course, brings me to my current YA work-in-progress. Yes, the same one I’ve been working on for over a year. The love story. Yes, that one. It’s strange to think about the two lovers not ending up together. After all, they adore each other, they overcome tremendous obstacles, and I really, really love them! They must be together or the world will stop spinning! But, I also know that the tone and theme of the story may call for them to go their separate ways. Waaahhh! I know, so sad, right?

In the end, maybe it’s the longing for the love that can never be that touches readers more than the acquisition of that love. I mean, I was really happy when Harry and Sally finally kissed on New Year’s Eve, and promised to stay together forever. But when Francesca decided to stay in her truck on that rainy afternoon and let Robert Kincaid drive away from the Madison County bridges forever, knowing she would never set eyes on him again…well, that image still haunts me at night. And I read the book 14 years ago!

Maybe “having loved and lost” is the key to a good romance. I looked up the word romantic in the dictionary. It says: involving a relationship that is idealized, exciting, intense, and impractical. Impractical? Hmm... Interesting. I guess that’s why we don’t see romance movies where Harry and Sally or Robert and Francesca are arguing over paying bills, or trading in their convertible for a minivan, or saving for their kids’ college fund, or folding laundry together. Practical? Sure. Romantic? Not so much.

- Eve

Oscar Thoughts -- Robin

If you’re wondering if the Disco Mermaids watched the Oscars Sunday night, the answer is “Yes!” Even though the three of us watched it separately—Eve watched it in the comforts of her home, Jay watched it lounging on the sofa at his parents’ home while eating Chubby Hubby ice cream, and I watched it while teetering on the edge of my bed, folding socks and underwear, and reminding my son and husband not to involve me in their wrestling match/epic pillow fight because, for crying out loud, Daniel Day-Lewis is speaking!!!

Yep, I’ve had a thing for Daniel Day-Lewis ever since My Left Foot. So watching him win Best Actor (again) was amazing. (Watching George Clooney wasn’t awful either.)

For me, I came away with a couple of thoughts from watching the Oscars…

• Yes, Katherine Heigl looked like a goddess.

• No, Jessica Alba didn’t look fat and pregnant and bloated and uncomfortable. (It just would’ve made me feel better, okay!!??)

• Yes, Jon Stewart’s “Gaydolf Titler” joke was freakin’ hilarious!

But really, my favorite moment was when the adorable couple from the movie Once won Best Song. If you want to hear the song, click here. (Maybe even put on headphones and crank it loud…it’s truly beautiful.) And here’s an interview for a little backstory.

I love when creative people put their heart and soul into a project and then get recognized for it. It inspires me to take my writing to that heart-and-soul level and search for that perfect phrase or perfect description to make the character and the story so much more alive. So I want to thank the Academy for inspiring me to be a better writer and for nominating George Clooney…because he’s hot.

What about you guys? Any Oscar thoughts?

- Robin

Moo! -- Jay

Stuck at home, recuperating after last week’s surgery, I decided to go through my desk and throw away things I’d been saving for way too long. But in the end, nothing got thrown away. Why? Cuz it’s all too valuable!

For example, look at this:


This is a laminated bookmark for a humorous middle grade novel I wrote about eight years ago. I made dozens of these for my trip to the first annual Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators conference in NYC. I hadn’t even finished writing the book, but I was passing these out like candy. Now, why would I do that if the book wasn’t finished yet?

I have no idea. So let’s move on...

Later that year, when I did finish the book, it won SCBWI’s Sue Alexander Most Promising New Work Award, which got me a free flight back to New York to meet with a bunch of cool editors. One of those editors even wanted to buy the manuscript, but his bosses at Simon & Schuster didn’t share in his excitement. I revised The ChocoBarn Cow for a year or so, changed the title to My Udder Life, but it still never sold…even though it’s really funny!

Here’s the deal. I only have two of these bookmarks left, but I’m willing to give one to you. Whatcha gotta do to get it? Just leave a comment on this post by midnight on Tuesday, telling me what you think the story’s about. If you’re the first person to guess correctly, it’s yours! If no one guesses correctly, the most creative answer wins.

Oh, and thanks for helping me clean out my desk.

- Jay


P.S. I'll even autograph it if you want me to!

What It’s Worth—Robin

Remember that joke that goes: You know you’re a redneck when… (You can finish the punch line in your head. Or, of course…in the comments section.)

This week, I created my own version of that joke, only it wasn’t very funny, so don’t get your hopes up. Here goes…

You know you’re a freakishly obsessed children’s book writer when…your cell phone, your iPod, and your laptop are stolen from your car and you sob like a baby, not because you’ve just lost almost $2,000 worth of stuff, but because you knew that the only version of your middle grade novel was on that laptop. And now it’s gone. Like I said, not a very funny joke, huh?

Knowing that I’d just lost my novel, I started wailing and heaving and hyperventilating…so I figured it was a good time to call my husband. It took him a while to calm me down and figure out what had happened. Once he realized no one was hurt and the house hadn’t burned down, he almost thought it was cute—that I would be THAT upset about losing my work. But I didn’t find it very cute. I was devastated.

I sniffled through the rest of my day at work, and nodded my head when well-meaning people would say things like, “Well, maybe it will be better the second time you write it.” Thankfully, Jay and Eve said things like, “Dude, that totally sucks.” (They get me.)

Now, just in case my agent is reading this and starting to hyperventilate as well, I must say that this story has a happy ending. First, our insurance is going to cover most of the cost of replacing the items. And second, I found a flash card in a drawer and prayed that I had been responsible and saved my work the last time I worked on it. And my prayers were answered! I had saved the entire thing! Woohoo!

So I think I learned a few things this week…
1. Always save your work to a flash card.
2. You should probably save your work to another hard drive as well.
3. Go ahead and save your work to a disk, too, just to be safe.
4. Why don’t you just hold your laptop wherever you go and never let it out of your sight.
5. And learn to tell a funny joke, would ya!?

--Robin

Count Backwards from 10 -- Jay

On Monday, my wife gave blood. She does stuff like this because she likes to do good things for other people (and because it was Give-a-Pint-Get-a-Pint-of-Ice-Cream Day). I don’t do stuff like this simply because I hate needles. I hate ’em! I hate anything that…I don’t know…tears through my flesh. But on Wednesday morning I’m going in for my first-ever surgery. It’s relatively minor. I’m just getting sliced and diced to fix a hernia. No biggie. I’m fine. No really, I’m fine!

So I filled pre-op Tuesday with some cool activities to keep my mind distracted (which is a very easy thing to do).

First, I spoke to two Creative Writing classes at my old high school. In each class, I did something I’d never done at a school visit before, but I think I’ll make it a regular part of future presentations. Instead of reading the intro to Thirteen Reasons Why, I started a little further into the book…which required a second reader. So one student from each class read Hannah’s lines while I read Clay’s. The reason I never did that before is because people naturally interpret words differently, and I was afraid of hearing my words interpreted in a different way than I intended. But that’s what made it so fun! So thank you, Nicole and Kacia. Those readings were the highlights of my visit (even if Robin thought I sounded like Napoleon Dynamite while reading one of my lines -- What? No!).

Then my wife and I went back into the recording studio. First, we recorded some promotional stuff for Penguin (including, this time, having my wife read Hannah’s part). Then I recorded the final guitar parts for two of her songs. There’s this one little 11-note riff in What About Me which has always given me problems and took me about fifty takes to get it right. But it’s the funkiest and most difficult riff in all of her songs…and now it’s done. Woo-hoo!

Now I’m writing this blog post after midnight because I can’t relax enough to go to sleep. Robin, to her credit, offered to write today’s post because my day was so full. But I told her not to worry…because I knew I’d need this final distraction at the end of the day. And I was right.

Well, I love you all. I’ve loved writing these little blog posts for ya over these past two years. And I’m sure I’ll write some more. After all, it’s just a hernia. It’s a very common procedure. My wife’s boss is actually performing the surgery, and he’s a really nice guy. Steady hands. Very calm. And he knows that if he messes up…even a little bit…I’m gonna blog about it!

- Jay