Jennifer R. Hubbard's Blog, page 139

More of something new: Poetry Friday

I haven't done Poetry Friday in a long time, but all week I've been talking about trying new things and stretching creatively and generally not getting stuck in a formulaic rut. So I decided to share an original poem, which actually appeared in a small online magazine called Tookany Review in 2007.

I don't write much poetry, but a few years ago I took a couple of poetry classes because I wanted to try something different, to strengthen my use of description and imaginative wordplay. I wrote th...

Trying something new

I'm working on a project with a narrator whose sentence and paragraph pattern is very different from many of my previous narrators' patterns. The rhythm really suits this character.  Not having a crystal ball handy, I don't know how well this project will ultimately work, but I'm happy to be trying something new. Experimentation and new challenges keep me fresh. Are you trying anything new with your writing this week--if so, what?

National Day on Writing; Kidlit Con recap

Happy National Day on Writing! (No, that's OK, you didn't have to get me anything.) The National Day on Writing was the brainchild of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). There are hundreds of "galleries" of writing inviting contributions. I contributed a piece to the gallery called A Lifetime of Reading. You can also search other galleries and browse through the pieces, or contribute something yourself. If you want to follow the excitement on Twitter, follow @dayonwriting.

M...

The Well-Constructed Plot

Before I get to today's topic, here's a couple of links I'm excited to share:

The authors of debut2009 are giving away a collection of 46 YA and MG debut novels to some lucky library. Follow the link for details, and please spread the word to the librarians you know!

G. Neri ( gneri ) shared this Reader(s) of the Week story, which could warm the most arctic of heart cockles, don'tcha think?


Today's topic first occurred to me the other night, while I listened to the dinner-table conversation at t...

FTC Guides Update

I'm sure plenty of people will blog about this weekend's Kidlitosphere conference (it was, after all, a conference for bloggers!).  People were also tweeting live. (See the #kidlitcon hashtag on Twitter. Or check this out: Gregory Pincus posted the Twitter transcript from Saturday.)

I did want to post my own notes from the FTC session, however, since I blogged about the new FTC guides recently. The FTC representative who spoke to the conference was Mary Engle, Associate Director for Adverti...

Romance

Somewhere in cyberspace, I got involved in a conversation about romance in novels.  (It may have been one of the #yalitchat discussions on Twitter.)  Anyway, it started me thinking about the part romance plays in books.

It's not an essential element--you can certainly have a book without any romance at all--but it's very common.  In fact, people rely on it so much that there's a whole character category for it: the "love interest."  My own theory (unsupported by any scientific research) is tha...

Jungle Crossing

The latest in the series of 2009 debut launches:

Sydney Salter's Jungle Crossing, out now from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Synopsis: "The intertwining coming-of-age stories of two girls, one who reluctantly travels to Mexico with her family over summer vacation, the other an ancient Mayan royal stolen from her town and forced make the treacherous journey back home."

You may remember Sydney Salter from an earlier launch post, where I interviewed her to celebrate the launch of My Big Nose and...

Unforgettable opportunities!

At Bring YA2PA, they're doing some fund-raising auctions and having a book drive. Please check the book-drive list and see if you have any of those titles to donate. The auction site is here. Up for grabs: critiques, signed books, and other items. There aren't many bids yet, so now is your chance to get in on the ground floor and snag your favorite! "All proceeds will go towards reaching out goal of bringing more YA to PA and helping PA libraries."

My wonderful agent, Nathan Bransford, is ho...

The FTC Guides: More than Two Cents. More Like a Quarter.

I am not an attorney, nor do I represent the Federal Trade Commission in any capacity. Nor am I necessarily speaking for anyone but myself in what I say below. The following is a summary of my inexpert opinion on the FTC's new “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising” and amendments to 16 CFR Part 255. I have shared my concerns with my elected representatives.

My concerns notwithstanding, if the Guides do take effect on December 1 as planned, I intend to com...

Absurdity, exploration, and connection

Over at The Neverending Shelf, it's Alice In Wonderland week. I did a guest post on Through the Looking-Glass which contains my Absurdity Theory of Literature (patent pending). Here's a sample:

"In Looking-Glass, Alice encounters creatures who, in their vanity, vagueness, pettiness, or crankiness, model a slice of the bewildering world in which we live. This slice is not often encountered in literature. Rather, we hear it most often in anecdotes—say, when a friend describes trying to clear...