Catherine Ryan Hyde's Blog, page 29

Cover Reveal for When You Were Older

I've hinted recently that, with no disrespect to the UK cover, our US edition of When You Were Older is going to have a cover I just love. In fact, I chose the image myself. And here it is!

The book has been out in the UK since spring. Look for it in late November here in the US, looking like this. It will arrive in both ebook and paperback format.

And, of course, if you subscribe to my blog, or just stop in now and then, I'll always keep you up to date on the latest news and releases.

Thanks for being my reader!

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A Post About Posture

An unusual topic, I guess, but I feel compelled to write about the spine. In a literal sense.

When I was a teenager, I had deplorable posture. It’s still nothing to write home about. But, you know, when you’re young you’re under the thumb of your parents. And my posture wasn’t good enough for mine. So they sent me to this special doctor, this bone specialist. To see if there was something seriously wrong with me.

I took offense to that. I took it to mean that whatever I was doing was somehow not acceptable. That they suspected me of being defective. I could have told them exactly why I had bad posture, but I didn’t choose to. It’s because I had no self-confidence. I rounded my shoulders and carried my head down in a human version of a submissive gorilla, not wanting to meet anybody’s eyes.

Lots of tests later, the doctor said there was nothing wrong with me except bad posture.

I’ve done some work on it over the years, but it’s not easy. When your shoulders have rolled forward for years, you can’t just pull them back again. The muscles don’t work that way. They’re too stretched out in back, too foreshortened in front. But for the last several years I’ve added stretches and strengthening exercises to my morning Yoga that are designed to reverse that a little at a time. And it’s getting better.

Many of you know I lost my mom in March of this year. She was about 90, just a few weeks short of the big decade birthday. She was in robust health throughout her final years in almost all ways. The flaw in the system—and I saw this about a year before she died—was her curvature of the spine. It was quite severe, the condition that was once called a “dowager’s hump.” Sounds like something that would be cosmetic only, but late in her life I saw the writing on the wall. The rest of us balance our heads and shoulders on our skeletons. My mother’s head and shoulders were thrust forward, and she had to hold up the weight of them with the muscles in her back, and with her spine. As her muscles and spine neared ninety, they were no longer up for the task. Soft tissue injuries became an everyday occurrence, and her spine was riddled with hairline fractures. But she resisted pain medication until the very end, because of the fall risk. Her spine was the weak link in an otherwise healthy system.

The condition ran through her family. She once told me a heartbreaking story of a female relative who broke off an engagement because she knew she would soon be hunchbacked, and I guess she didn’t want her prospective husband to see her that way. And she never told him why, so of course he was devastated. Amazing how we let these issues rule our lives.

A few months before she died, I asked her when she’d known for sure she’d inherited this curvature of the spine. I guess I wanted to rest assured, at 57, that it had missed me.

“Oh, I knew in my thirties,” she said. Then she went on to tell me that this is why they sent me to the doctor all those years ago to have my spine checked. Not because I had failed them by not standing up straight enough. Because she was afraid she had failed me by passing along a congenital spinal condition.

For what it’s worth, I’ve begun to stand up straighter. I sit up straighter, and I notice when I’m being lazy with my spine. I have the ability to hold my spine straight, and I should use it. It would behoove me to be grateful for that. Not everybody on my mother’s side of the family was so lucky.

Part of me thinks it’s a strange thing to write about. Posture. But every time I talk publicly about something like this—my cuticle biting habit, for example, which is thankfully still in remission—I find many more people than I realized are going through similar issues. And that everyone comes out feeling a little more human.

So…tell me. Is posture an issue in your life? What does it mean to stand up straight?  

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The Blurb and Me

I have some news to share, and I hope I can open a conversation with it. And I hope other authors—and readers—will comment. Please do tell me what you think.

I’m completely stepping out of the blurb game. That is, I’m no longer going to write endorsements of other authors’ books. This is not because I don’t want to help other authors succeed, and find a wider audience. I very much do. As a result, this has been a difficult decision. But two incidents brought it to a head.

A couple of months ago, I picked up some tweets to and from a blogger I very much like, respect and trust. (He is one of the bloggers I interviewed for my Blogger Wednesday series.) In other words, someone tweeted to him, and he tweeted back, and I saw the conversation because I follow both of the people involved. It was a little bit like being a fly on the wall. The gist of the conversation was that he was being asked to make time in a very busy schedule to read and review a book…because I had endorsed it. I had no idea which book, and I immediately ran through all my recent endorsements in my head, with a sick feeling in my gut—because, if I am to be absolutely honest with you and with myself, not all of them were books I would feel great about putting into his unusually busy and discerning hands.

Yes, a lot of the blurbs I’ve done have been along the lines of wanting to help the author. Someone, almost always a stranger, wrote to me asking for help. And I wanted to help. And the book was good. Enough. Certainly would be enjoyed by many. And the words I said about the book were true enough. But the offering of the blurb was done as a favor.

Now. I will clarify that statement very carefully. I don’t mean “favor” as in giving something of value in return for something else for myself. I never benefitted in any way. I never did that favor because someone else had done a favor for me. I never blurbed a book I didn’t like. Just some that didn’t so blow me out of the water that I would be proud for the vast majority of people I know to take time out of a busy schedule to read it based on my endorsement alone. And even if I loved the book, which in many cases I did, who am I to suggest that you will?

And…if I did, would you believe me anyway?

Most of you know that there has been quite a scandal going on in the book world surrounding reviews. Paying for reviews, trading reviews. Authors opening accounts under false identities to praise their own books and slam those by “competing” authors. None of which I have ever done, or ever would do. But one more point was raised during this debate. The idea that blurbs are widely seen as favors, therefore nobody takes them very seriously.

Now, the use of the word “favors” in the above paragraph is much stronger than the way I used it above. They meant a quid pro quo resulting in false endorsements. Which I never did. Yet it brought my growing discomfort with the blurb system to the level of a fever breaking. Yes, every blurb I ever offered was extremely honest compared to the complaints set forth during this controversy. But if a new author writes to me, needing help, and I understand how they feel, and I want them to succeed, is that enough to sway my opinion even slightly? I’m just concerned enough about the answer to draw a stronger line for the sake of integrity.

I will no longer write blurbs,  because I no longer feel right attempting to sway the sales of some books over others, based on my opinions.

Now I’ll take it a step further than that. I would like to propose that the system of author endorsements is broken, and we should perhaps move beyond it. More and more new authors are being told to aggressively gather blurbs, at the same time as the reputation of the blurb as a whole is more tainted—as the blurbs are less and less likely to do any good. Blurbs are becoming, I’m afraid, the loose equivalent of that glowing 5-star Amazon reader review from someone you suspect has ties to the author. I think we can find better ways to choose our books, and I’m open to suggestions. The system of honest, thoughtful book bloggers (who tell you exactly why they did or did not like a book, helping the reader choose in a way the blurb does not) seems the best thing we currently have.

Meanwhile I will continue to explore new and different ways to help new authors. I do want to help. I just don’t want to prop up a system that seems to be in a state of increasing decay.

So…comment section below. Please discuss with me. What are your thoughts on author blurbs? Am I making the right decision? 

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YA Outside the Lines

Several months ago, I became a contributor to YA Outside the Lines, a great blog for those who love young adult fiction. I realize I've been remiss by not announcing that affiliation in a noisy way on my blog.

A big reason I signed on was Holly Schindler, a terrific YA author (A Blue So Dark, Playing Hurt) who I'm honored to count as a friend. But there really are scads of terrific authors on YAOTL, including, but by no means limited to: Lauren Bjorkman, Brian Katcher, Stephanie Kuehnert, Wendy Delsol, Julie Chibarro, the aforementioned Holly... I could go on for a long time, but better, I think, if you go check for yourself.

I'm also pleased to say that one of my favorite debut authors, Jenny Torres Sanchez (The Downside of Being Charley) has just joined the team. You may not know who she is (yet) but you owe it to yourself to find out.

We each post monthly. If you are a fan of YA fiction, I hope you'll give YA Outside the Lines a try.

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Don't Let Me Go Blog Tour

It starts Monday. It lasts until the 24th of September. It includes three guest posts, two interviews, four excerpts from the book, a $25 Amazon gift card giveaway, and more reviews than you can shake a stick at.

It's all going on here at CLP Blog Tours. And I, for one, plan to have fun.

To make it more fun for others, we're going to kick it off with a little bonus for those who want to give the book a try. Monday, Labor Day, September 3rd, the price of the Kindle ebook of Don't Let Me Go will drop to $0.99. But this is a one-day-only event. For that day only, $0.99, then back up to $3.99 on Tuesday. But...you know what? $3.99? Still not bad. You can drop more than that on a single drink at Starbucks.

Here's the tour schedule, and of course I'll tweet and Facebook all the individual stops. Hope you'll visit some of the blogs. Or all of the blogs. Hope you have half as much fun as I will.

Cover Reveal Times Four

In early October, my four older backlist titles, Funerals For Horses, Earthquake Weather and Other Stories, Electric God, and Walter's Purple Heart are coming back into "print." Figuratively speaking. They are coming back as ebooks. And they will never go out of print again.

For those of you who love physical books, there's a reason these are being released as ebook only. Because there are plenty of new and good-condition hardcovers floating around on the web. It didn't make sense to create a $15 paperback when you can find a new hardcover through a used book service for just a few dollars plus shipping. In general, I'm not going ebook-only with my new titles. But for these four, it was the perfect way to bring them back to market, and introduce them to a whole new audience of readers. (Hello and thank you, brand new audience of readers. And if you've been my reader all along, thank you for that, too.)

So this is my cover reveal. These are the four brand-new covers for the new releases. Compare them to the original editions and tell me what you think! 

I've revised the book pages for these titles and put a lot more information on each one, so you might go take a look. I'll definitely sound the horn when these are available. 

Thanks for staying tuned!

When You Were Older Giveaway!

Seems it’s been a while since I’ve given books away on this blog. And it’s been even longer since I gave away paper books. Ebooks are a fun and easy giveaway for me, because they’re inexpensive, and I don’t have to mail them. But…

Yesterday I got a shipment from my UK publisher. A carton of paperback copies of When You Were Older. It’s my newest UK title. It came out in the spring in hardcover, and it’s coming out at the end of August in paperback. And…now for the really exciting news: the US edition will be arriving soon. It’s about three months down the road. I just saw a mock-up of the cover this morning. I wish I could show it to you, but it’s definitely not final. As soon as it is, I’ll do a reveal on this blog. Nothing against the UK cover, but…wow. Our US edition is going to have one terrific looking cover!

So…while you’re waiting…would you like to win a copy of the UK edition? The text is the same, and you can be the first on your block to read it. With respect (and love—seriously, I love you guys) to my UK readers, I’d like to make this one North America only. My fabulous British fans can buy it in stores right now, and they can buy it inexpensively at the end of this month. But my fabulous US readers have more of a wait on their hands.

Here’s what to do: Leave a comment, and I’ll enter your name once in the drawing. Leave a comment and tweet a link to the contest so others can join and possibly win, I’ll enter your name twice. Put the contest link on your Facebook page, in your blog…use your imagination. You get an extra chance in the drawing for every act of word-spreading. And since I’m asking you to spread the word about winning something for free, it’s different than having to ask your friends to buy something. They probably won’t mind.

But tell me in your comment if you post the link elsewhere, otherwise I might not know. And do enter your email address in the comment form. It won’t show publicly, and I won’t use it for anything else, but I’ll need to contact you to get your address if you win.

Final thought: I have a nice big carton of these, so I’ll give away six. So even if you see quite a list of entries as time goes by, your odds will be pretty good. I’ll choose a winner on August 30th, the day the paperback releases in the UK.

Thanks, and good luck!

Remember Hiking and Travel?

Ella at Tomales BayMe, too, though it was a distant memory for a while there. I used to post blogs about my hiking/camping/outdoor trips three or four times a year. Sometimes more. But it's been a tough year. Most of you know my mom passed away in March, and I've managed not to get out the door since. That means last time I went somewhere fun in the motor home was my failed Grand Canyon hike last November.

This is not said to elicit sympathy, not am I feeling sorry for myself. It was just time to get back out there.

It's summer, and it's hot inland, so I headed up the coast. I stayed two nights at Dillon Beach north of San Francisco, and on the in-between day Ella and I hiked to the East Peak of Mt Tamalpais. Then we headed up to MacKerricher State Park, north of Fort Bragg. I'd been up there before, but never stayed. So this time I hiked the old Haul Road into town, and Ella and I went down to Glass Beach at 6:00 in the morning to beat the crowds. We stayed for an hour, took tons of photos (well, I took photos, anyway--Ella takes very few) and never saw another soul. We had the beach all to ourselves. 

After hiking Mt TamSo I added three new albums to my photo pages. And it's been a while since I have. I added an album for the Mt Tam hike, one for Glass Beach, and another album of miscellaneous photos of Dillon Beach and MacKerricher.

I have to say, in all honesty, it was hard to take a trip without my mom along. I'm sure that's part of why I put it off so long. But life goes on, and my life is better when I get outdoors.

Hope you enjoy the photos. 

Glass Beach, Fort Bragg

Gifts That Give blog

Check out the new online blog and zine for Gifts That Give. You might see some author you know there.

I'll be a regular contributor to the blog, sharing small bits of inspiration.

If you follow this link to my first post, you'll learn (if you don't know already) the story of how I was inspired to write the novel Pay It Forward, on which the movie was based. And if you choose to use the Gifts That Give website, you can choose the Pay It Forward Foundation to receive your 20% contribution!

Here again is the link to their InspireMe U blog, and my first post, Kindness is Contagious. But check back, because there will be many more of my stories to come.

Blogger Wednesday: Maggie of Bibliophilia—Maggie’s Bookshelf

I first met Maggie through John of Dreaming in Books (who I interviewed in a previous Blogger Wednesday). (Link) I mentioned in that interview that I’d done a giveaway on his blog. It was a copy of my novel Jumpstart the World. And Maggie won it. And that was a lucky thing for me. Because Maggie has a great blog, Maggie’s Bookshelf. And Maggie liked Jumpstart a lot. Not just enough to write it an incredible 5 out of 5 stars review, but enough that it kept turning up on her yearly favorites and such. Which was fun.

Face it. That’s a sure-fire way to my heart.

But it wasn’t just because Maggie raved about the book (though, granted, that’s lovely). It was the level of personal honesty that came through in that review. I was blown away. Impressed in a way I wouldn’t forget. I guess I’ve mentioned that I value emotional honesty. Don’t be surprised if I mention it again.

So that’s how Maggie got to be one of my favorite YA book bloggers.

Now. For the interview part of the interview.

Me: Maggie, not sure why I’m choosing to start here, but…you’ve had some pretty serious issues with your health lately. Can you tell my readers (and me) the short (or medium) version of what was going on? I kept picking up bits and pieces on Twitter, but I always felt like I’d missed the beginning of the story. Which I probably had. How were you able to blog and go to school and feel so bad all at the same time? Feeling better now, I hope?

Maggie: As good a place to start as any for me, as being sick has taken up so much of my time and energy this past year! It started with a severe concussion last July, and they’re weren’t sure exactly why I had so many complications—for a while they thought I might have Lyme disease, which is pretty common up in the Minnesota northwoods where I live—but now it looks like a lot of the symptoms were actually caused by bipolar disorder, which I was diagnosed with back in February.

Book blogging has always been so much fun for me, so that was never really a difficult commitment to keep up, even when I was feeling so down. School, though, was a lot harder—being manic or depressed all the time made it difficult to study, and I missed a lot of school for doctor’s appointments. I still managed to graduate with my Associate in Arts degree with honors this spring, and I’ve never been prouder of anything. I’ve been so lucky to have a wonderful support network in my friends and family. I couldn’t have done it without them cheering me on.

Living with bipolar has taken a lot of getting used to, but I’m getting better at it all the time. It’s going to be nice when it’s just background noise instead of the all-consuming endeavor it’s been lately.

Me: Which leads me to the most epic get-well-soon card of all time. Which I want to talk about, because it’s such a terrific example of how authors can support bloggers, and how the online book community can do something other than snark. So please do tell my readers about it. Who signed it? Do you have any idea who organized the project or how it came to be? How excited were you (and anything you care to share about why)?

Maggie: I was so disappointed to miss out on the ALAN convention (due to aforementioned health problems), where I was supposed to be a panelist, so my wonderful co-panelists (Ari of Reading in Color—Edi of Crazy Quilts—and Lyn Miller-Lachmann, author of Gringolandia) decided to put it together. So many of my favorite authors signed: John Green, Sarah Dessen, Rita Williams-Garcia, M.T. Anderson, Lauren Myracle, Francisco X. Stork, A.S. King, and many, many more. To say I felt like a million bucks would be an understatement.

Me: Did the epic get-well-soon card offset other less positive experiences you’ve had with authors? Or have you been lucky right down the line?

Maggie: My experiences with authors have been almost entirely positive. The YA community is so wonderful and supportive, and I think most people know that if you don’t play nice, word gets around. I have had some run-ins with authors who didn’t like my reviews, especially early on, and I had one memorable experience where an author accused me of being an adult masquerading as a kid to get more review copies. My mother offered to send her pictures of me with braces on my teeth. It’s pretty funny in hindsight, seeing as a lot of people I know in real life have mistaken me for older, too.

But really, the card just confirmed what I already knew—authors are awesome!

Me: When you reviewed Jumpstart, you stated as one of your reasons for reading it “author’s Twitter presence.” Which of course made me happy, because now I know I’m not wasting my time on Twitter (I sort of knew that already, but it was still good to hear). What do you get from following an author’s Twitter account? Does it give you a look into whether you’d like their books? Does that impression usually bear out?

Maggie: What I’m looking for in an author’s Twitter account is two things: personality, and community involvement. You don’t have to be as witty as all those other guys, and you don’t have to respond to every single review and @ message you receive, and you definitely don’t have to participate in #FollowFriday and #WriterWednesday every week, but I definitely want to get an idea of who you are, and I definitely don’t want to feel like you’re in an ivory tower. Find your voice. This should go without saying, but don’t get bitter or mean. And definitely engage with other authors, reviewers, and book bloggers in the YA community.

Actually, some of my favorite author Twitter accounts have very little to do with their books. The reason I tend to buy books by authors I like on Twitter is familiarity, and the desire to support people whose online company I enjoy, just like I prefer to shop at a store whose owners I know and chat with behind the counter.

Me: This is a very pet-oriented blog, because I’m an animal lover. Usually I feature dogs and cats, because that’s what most of my readers and fellow authors have (along with the occasional bunny or what-have-you). Now…you live on a farm. And I remember you were pretty shaken, not too long ago, over the death of two farm animals. Or was it three? So please tell us a little about specific cows, goats…whatever animals you share your life with, and what they mean to you.

Maggie: We actually lost seven goats in a recent barn fire, and in the blizzard that followed, we lost four more. One of our beautiful baby calves was born pretty weak, and she died yesterday, despite us bringing her into the house and staying up with her for hours. It’s the circle of life, I guess you could say, and it’s not something you ever get used to—all of our animals have names, and there are lots of tears shed every time we lose one.

On our farm we have cows, ducks, chickens, sheep, turkeys, water buffalo, dogs, cats, guinea hens, horses, and rabbits (whew!), but I have to say, it’s our dairy goats that have a special place in my heart. Good thing, too, since I spend about two hours every day milking them by hand!

In this picture you can see April, Lauren, Brandi, Oreo, and Cazanovia. Right after this was taken they started chomping on my hair, which was pretty gross, but also pretty funny.

Me: I wasn’t going to talk too much about your personal comments in your Jumpstart review, because I didn’t want to seem like I was trying to put you in any kind of a box. But then I read another blog post of yours, the one about your favorite LGBTQ books for National Coming Out Day. The thing I like about what you said is the way you resist labels and boundaries. And, well…that’s a compliment, not a question. But if you want to speak to it, please do. If not, that’s okay, too.

Maggie: My blog accidentally ended up as a diary of my gender identity, and it’s interesting to see the evolution. I read and reviewed LGBTQ books from the start, but stated pretty adamantly all the while that I was straight (mostly because I was afraid friends and family would be reading). In truth, I’d been questioning ever since I was old enough to know what a sexual orientation was, and finally came out last year on my blog as questioning, gender-queer, and then finally bisexual. It was a lot easier to say it online than it was out in the real world, but I did eventually come out to my family and friends, too. I still don’t really feel comfortable with any labels, and I’m not sure exactly where I fall on the continuum. I’m sure I’ll be figuring that stuff out my whole life. But one thing I’m sure about is that  Jumpstart the World made me face a lot of the questions about my identity that I’d had all along, and I don’t know how long it would have taken me to come out as queer otherwise.

Me: I notice on your Review Policies page you have a very blunt slam on book piracy. You say, “Book piracy is stealing an author's hard work. Buy it, borrow it from the library, or suck it up. End of story.” Which I like, because I’m an author, and I seek to pay the mortgage in return for my work. But a lot of people online these days feel quite entitled. Do you get arguments on your strict policy? Or are people too inherently ashamed (I hope) to try to justify their piracy to you?

Maggie: I’ve never had anyone bring up the piracy part of my review policy, actually. I wrote it as more a statement of my manifesto than anything else. And while none of my friends have pirated books (that I know of), we definitely have this conversation about music all the time. If I can’t afford something, I listen to it through a legal service like Spotify or Pandora instead, and a lot of people make fun of me for that. But as an artist, I think it’s important to pay other artists their due.

That said, I think the copyright system is broken, and I love collaborating under public domain and creative commons licensing. I have a lot of respect for artists who use pay-what-you-think-it’s-worth systems. I think we’ll see a lot more of that as social media evolves. But just because the big picture is messed up doesn’t make flat-out stealing an artist’s hard work okay, and I stand by that.

Me: You write. In fact, you’ve gotten published, and won an award or two. Care to brag on that a bit? What do you get from writing, and sharing your writing, that keeps you going down one of the hardest roads in the world?

Maggie: Writing’s been my passion ever since I could hold a pencil, and I’ve written dozens of little stories and poems and even a couple of epic fantasy novels. I seriously tried my hand at getting published when I was thirteen, and got pieces in a girl’s magazine and a sci-fi magazine. I took a few years off from submitting to work on other projects, and I’m glad I did, because it really forced me to grow as a writer. After I started college I didn’t have much time to write, but I did submit to my college’s writing awards and won the second-place fiction prize twice, which was wonderful. Two composition classes, a creative writing class, and a literature-centered ethics class later, I’m ready to dive in again.

As far as why I do it? I’m not really sure. I can’t imagine doing anything else. I’m very shy, so I think it’s my own way of sharing my voice with the world. It’s a good thing my drive to keep going comes from the storytelling voice inside my head that won’t shut up, and not from the outside, because so far I haven’t gotten very much outside recognition at all. Hopefully that will change someday!

Me: What are your plans for the future, and how do books fit in?

Maggie: Oh, boy. Since I started Maggie’s Bookshelf, my plans from the future have ranged from being a botanist, to a politician, to a sociologist, to a neuroscientist, but the only thing I’ve really stuck with so far is writing. So I hope I’ll be lucky enough to make a career out of that someday. But as a backup plan I’m getting my English degree and getting my editing certificate or another publishing certification, because if I can’t make a living writing books, then I’d love to make a living helping others get their voices heard.

Me: Will you recommend a few other book blogs you think are worth visiting?

Maggie: I always love to give a shout-out to my fellow teen bloggers, so here goes—my ALAN co-panelist Ari of Reading in Color, Emma of Booking Through 365, Jessica of Shut Up! I’m Reading, and John of Dreaming in Books. We’re teens, we read, and we’re taking over the world. Let’s just hope we use our collective powers of awesome for good, not evil!

Me: If I were a betting woman, I'd put some money on good. Thanks so much for the interview, Maggie. In addition to her blog, you can catch up with Maggie on Twitter.

Next week on Blogger Wednesday...

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