Pass the Luck | | Meg CabotMeg Cabot. I just got home from Birmingham, Alabama, where I got to speak at a luncheon in front of a BIG audience of Books-A-Million sales managers and buyers (hi, guys)! A lot of people think being a writer is just sitting around writing books, then jetting off to sign those books for fans, and then getting served freshly sliced mangoes poolside and going to parties. (I know I’m partly to blame for this misconception.) But lot of it is also hard work like this: And that’s only a small fraction of the books I signed in Alabama, pre-luncheon! (It was fun while I was signing though, because I was kept entertained the whole time by the hilarious Books-A-Million Ladies about the scandalous doings of the Real Housewives. Of course, I also got to hang out with Peter Lerangis, one of The 39 Clues authors (and no, he wouldn’t give me any of the clues). Prayer…it’s not just for dinner anymore.
When I saw this T-shirt I freaked out. I know, right? Or, as I started to think of it, pass the luck. This is true. Meg. Writing Space - Deva Fagan | Author. Happy Pi Day! So far, March beats the socks off February in terms of fun, energy and good stuff. I’ve been drafting away on CIRCUS2, engaging in all sorts of crazy preparations for a LARP that I’m staffing next weekend, and entertaining my Mom during her recent week-long visit (and by entertaining I mean gallivanting around Maine having fun and eating tasty food).
But one of the most exciting things this month, for me, is that I finally have my new Library set up! This is pretty much my dream writing space, which I’ve been planning and saving for since I sold my first books. I got book cases, my family helped me strip the walls and paint them purple, and then last week we finally got the crowning glory: a new desk! So here it is: I still love the purple color we chose… That burgundy chair is super-comfy (Charlie loves curling up there too) and now it is positioned so you can look out the windows when you sit in it, with a view of the Kennebec river valley. Writing Space - Deva Fagan | Author. Words on Words by Maggie Stiefvater - Children Are Weird Animals. The other day, my kids, Thing 1 & Thing 2, who are nearly 5 and nearly 6, were outside playing.
They were nominally climbing a tree, and didn't notice what I did from my vantage point on the porch: a boy from our neighbor's house watching them longingly. He made the progression from neighbor's yard, to the ditch in front of our house, to the street at the end of our driveway (we live on a quiet-ish road). It was then that Things 1 & 2 noticed them. Thing 1: Hey! You shouldn't stand in the road!! Lover invited the boy to come into the yard, and Things 1 & 2 promptly incorporated him into a game of hide and seek. Me: Do you know what that boy's name is yet? I wonder at what age we start thinking that names are important and assume that people walking by are not refugees from burning buildings. Genre Is the Best! (speaking totally objectively) So, this all starts with someone being awesome on the internet.
Nora Roberts, to be precise. I saw her talking on romance review websites, and very much admired how she was always dignified and expressed opinions I agreed with calmly and clearly. (One day I will always be a poised classy lady on the internet. Right now it's more of a monkey at a teaparty.) Now, I'd tried a few Nora Roberts books, and wasn't sure about them, but given Nora Roberts's intense coolness, I was pretty sure it was just a matter of finding the right books. I knew she'd written a crime series using the pen name J.D.
SARAH: And now for an intricate mystery, starring tough cop Eve Dallas.EVE DALLAS: This woman has been murdered by an antique weapon. Before I continue with my essay, I will say that I really like the In Death series! Which leads me to my central point. And I think a reason may be the prejudice people hold against genre. Several Bestselling Literary Novels. I'm not saying stop categorising books. Frankie, Alpha, Matthew, Names, Power, and Squee. December 14, 2007To: Headmaster Richmond and the Board of Directors, Alabaster Preparatory AcademyI, Frankie Landau-Banks, hereby confess that I was the sole mastermind behind the mal-doings of the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds. So opens one of my favorite books of all time, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by E. Lockhart. Recently I mentioned Marie Rutkoski's super fun post about good book boyfriends, bad book boyfriends, and what you can tell about a potential book boyfriend from his name.
Marie and I got into a conversation over there about our favorite male character names and what they mean -- which, of course, devolved eventually to Spike, Angel, Jayne, and Mal, but anyway -- then, this past week, I reread The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. I can't BELIEVE that I forgot about Alpha and Matthew when I was e-chatting with Marie! Talk about two larger-than-life boyfriends with names that matter. Also, just so we're clear: I don't know E. Okay. Ahem. CONSERVATIVE CHRISTIANS AND GAY RIGHTS, LIVING TOGETHER IN PEACE. Maureen,How can Christians–especially conservative ones–help people see that they’re not all hateful bigots? Or I guess another way to ask is, how can someone share opposing views and feelings without being categorized as an evil/horrible/awful person? Now my reason for asking: I admire the way you show support for LGBTQ (is that right?)
Without being unkind/hateful to those who don’t agree. The way you’ve tackled other tricky issues with common sense on your blog makes me think you could touch on this in a way that brings understanding, not hate.I’m from Utah and was raised Mormon, a very conservative Christian religion. I have many gay friends, both in Utah and around the world, and I adore them all without consideration of their sexuality. I got this letter the other day and have not stopped thinking about it since. I’m not going to be so presumptuous as to talk to you about your own religion. I think that comment about the “Nazi” requires CONTEXT. Simply imagine it. Yep, I’m gay (a public service announcement) This past weekend I left my house in the country and spent two days San Francisco to celebrate Pride. This year Pride felt especially special because, well, this is the first year in a long time in which I don’t live in a major metropolitan area where there are tons of gay people.
I am enjoying the small town I live in, but it’s not within walking distance of the Castro. Small-town life is just an entirely different experience from walking down the street and spotting half a dozen dykes with lovely tattoos peeking out of their T-shirt sleeves and/or a gaggle of gay boys with perfectly coiffed haircuts. So. Pride. It was basically the opposite of what I’ve had to do more and more this year: come out to total strangers. Me: Hi, I’m Malinda.Person I Just Met: Hi! [Note: I could leave the lesbian part out, but really, that's why my book is different. PIJM: Really! Me: Hi, I’m Malinda.Another Person I Just Met: Hi! 1. 2. Now, I do think it’s important for LGBT people to be out. Morals and Values and Lessons, Oh My! Last week I sent an email to various YA writers, whose works and opinions I respect, saying, "Frequently on my blog I get into the top of morals in literature.
I have claimed that as an author, I cannot be the bearer of morals, cannot create morals in my books but can only be true to the story and allow the reader to create her/his own morals...Many of my readers push back, parents who believe that children's and young adult writers have an obligation to have moral standards and create boundaries in their books so as not to expose children to issues/situations that are age inappropriate.
" I invited those writers to respond to this issue any way they wanted, to agree or disagree. You'll notice by their responses what a broad topic this is! Many responded to different aspects of the topic, and none saw what anyone else wrote, so this is not a conversation but a collection of individual reactions. Get ready for a long post! A.E. Mette Ivie Harrison: Brandon Mull: Lauren Myracle: Why? M.T. Graphic Violence and Dangerous Opinions. The Books of Bayern are finalists for this year's Mythopoeic Award! The goose girl was a finalist its year, but I didn't realize that the Mythopoeic Awards often honor entire series of books. I'm honored for the whole series.
It's a lovely award with a group of extremely fine finalists. Some of you have wondered about the STD stats Janette Rallison referenced on my blog two posts ago. She elaborates on her own blog for those interested. The comments on the previous posts have wandered over the topic of a book rating system. My problem is I just don't see how it can possibly work to any effect at all. Think about the books you studied in high school English class and the warning labels that would accompany those. Realistically, the kids who self-monitor their reading would put down a book themselves once they hit a passage they were uncomfortable with. I want to add, too, that I think this is a system that could be misunderstood and abused by either side of the continuum.
Comment away! Won't someone please think of the children? I'm so proud and pleased to live in a world where young girls are never sexually abused. Where women in high school or middle school aren't raped. Where teen boys never contemplate suicide (or, heaven forfend, actually attempt and accomplish it). I'm blessed to live in a world where there's no bullying, no cyberbullying, no eating disorders or emotional abuse. Where girls don't stick fingers down their throats and slide knives or blades over their skin intentionally. Where teachers don't sleep with students, where fathers don't sleep with daughters, where no one under consenting age has sex, thinks about sex, comes close to having sex, gets pregnant, gets a disease, has an abortion or has a child when they're still in their tweens.
How lovely that all girls and boys are virgins throughout middle and high school. Surely each child at every school is well loved, well nourished, well cared for. Clearly none of those terrible things ever happens in the lives of REAL teens. I get it. Why Pants Are Legal in Kansas. While writing Leviathan, I did a fair amount of research on women who passed as men to serve in the armed forces. I also checked out the laws about women wearing men’s clothing, to find out what would happen if Deryn were ever caught in her deception. Armed with this knowledge, I can inform you that this is a very important day . . . It’s the hundredth anniversary of the Explicit Legalization of Pants in Kansas! (Otherwise known as ELPK Day.) As you can see, the word “Explicit” is very important in Explicit Legalization of Pants in Kansas Day. Pants were already legal for women to wear, after all. But note that last clause: “there was no law prohibiting a woman from wearing men’s trousers, especially if she were the head of the house.”
In other words, it’s legal to dress like a man, but really only acceptable if you’re already an honorary man—i.e., a widow and a breadwinner. Research gems like this one are what makes writing historicals so strange and wonderful. Well, um, wrong. Ladies, Don't Let Anyone Tell You You're Not Awesome. So I was reading a book the other day, and in it was a heroine who described herself as plain and unappealing and unlovable. Fine by me, I thought, and waited for her to change her mind.
She did seem to feel better about her looks because a boy liked them. I waited for something else: she ended the book convinced she was nothing much. I closed the book with a slam and thought 'What--what--what is this? ' But I knew what it was. A while ago, Karen Healey wrote a post asking women to say positive things about themselves - it was shockingly hard to write positive stuff about myself without adding qualifiers: saying 'I'm quite' or 'I'm a bit' or 'But of course not as good as...' Because if I did, people wouldn't like me.
People write these heroines because they think the heroines won't be likable, if they like themselves. This is the stuff people have in their heads. Women can't think they're pretty--because then they'll be awful. There's ladies being annoying. There's ladies being 'Mary Sues.' Libba Bray's Blog - Your mileage may vary - October 19, 2010 09:13. Recently, I received a post that really got under my skin. It's from Fiona (Hi, Fiona). I started to dash off a reply and then I thought that it required a much longer, more considered answer.
With her permission, I’m reprinting her original comment below followed by my response. My response is lengthy; I apologize. But it is from the heart. “I'm in a bit of a dilemma and I made a deal with my father that I would get advice from three people: my high school counselor, my voice coach, and an author. Our ideas for my future are also a bit different. Wow.Okay.Deep cleansing breath. I thought about this a lot.
See, the trouble with answering a question like this is that it makes basic One Size Fits All assumptions about happiness and prosperity and security. I’m going to get the first thing out of the way: What the hell is the matter with your high school counselor? I will tell you a few things about myself, Fiona, things you might not know. Quite frankly, I was a hot mess. And why? Write The Change You Want To See In The World. There is a picture I look at when I am feeling generally useless, or terrible, or unmotivated, or despairing, wishing that I had depth perception so I could be a truck driver or you know, any sort of mathematical ability so I could be an accountant.
I find anger very motivating - look at that! Ms. Magazine did a piece on young adult literature and feminism in their fall edition, and they interviewed me (I felt so fancy. Mum, Ms. Magazine, check me out, are you proud?) They also interviewed smarter people than me, including the editor of the Demon's Lexicon series, Karen Wojtyla. She also edits Holly Black's books, so you can see she is clearly a fabulous editor and all mistakes I make are on me and not her. I myself am very influenced by media. (Memo: this is not to say criticising fictional girls is bad! The thing about the picture that makes me angry - it doesn't make me angry just because it's sexist, which hey, it is.
The past is another country. That's really important. Future of Reading according to John Green. MJ + future agent = good times. So, it appears that it has been about a month since I last blogged. It also appears that this is somewhat of a pattern. But there is a reason, my friends. I always have reasons. I haven’t blogged much is that I’ve been busy writing. That’s the whole explanation.* It turns out there’s only so much I can write before I start shooting off bolts of electricity and laughing like a maniac.** So sometimes I have to make EXECUTIVE DECISIONS in order to stay in optimum running condition. I have no idea if I’m going to blog again tomorrow or two months from now, but I am certainly going to MAKE AN EFFORT to come here more often, because I obviously have THINGS TO TELL YOU.
And I’ve missed you. Today, I am going to show you a picture. This picture is one of the very first—if not the first—picture of me and my (then future) agent, Daphne Unfeasbile.*** It was a long journey from roommate to agent. That was it. TIME: Approximately eight weeks after leaving college mid-1990s. Portrait of the Wolf as a Young Badass. These are my problems. Giant Rabbits in History. Children of the Corn(er of 78th and York) | Michael Northrop.
How To Make A Birthday Cake. Serial killer workplace survival strategies. You’re welcome. | Libba Bray. Meg Cabot - God. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Subway | Libba Bray. These Are the Creatures in Your Neighborhood. Trapeze = Writing Therapy. Preferences. "It's a barbarity that clarity is a rarity." In Which the Author Regales Her Readers with Tales of a Maritime Journey (And One Small Rant) Ireland Trip Report: Part III - Deva Fagan | Author. A random confession about t-shirts. Daydreams - Deva Fagan | Author. Writers' Blok by Ja¢kson Pearce. John Reviews Twilight and New Moon.