Wendelin Van Draanen's Blog, page 8

Invest A Dime

I have a lot of half-baked news which is probably best left in the oven for a while before I pull it out and offer it up.



Which is too bad, 'cause it's really fun to talk with you guys about things.



Instead I'm going to share my little revelation for the week, which is how important person-to-person talking is. E-mails and messaging have taken over as a form of contact, and for the most part I'm okay with communicating that way. But over time it does create a gap in relationships.The person behind the words fades. You can't hear them laugh, or feel the warmth of their voice. Even a hesitation gets lost in translation. So much of our emotional connection disappears when we move from in-person to over-phone. Phone to e-mail is another huge step away.



And then, oh yeah, texting.



The thing everyone uses their phone for.



Don't get me wrong. I love texting. But it's not the same thing as talking.



I bring this up because I had a really nice talk with my editor, Nancy, on Friday. We talked about all sorts of things, from our families to publishing to the upcoming Sammy Keyes party in Washington, and I hung up reminded that I really like her as a person. She is an awesome, extraordinary editor, but she's also a really wonderful person. Something that can be easily overshadowed by the manic shuffle of e-mails and publishing demands.



Nancy and I have 32 books together which is a pretty unusual accomplishment, especially in this day and age. From the outside ours is a pretty storied relationship, but as in any relationship, there have been times where things didn't go so smoothly. We've had frustrations and tears. We've had misunderstandings and pockets of uncertain silence. But we've eventually picked up the phone and talked things out. Or sat up half the night in a hotel room and talked things out. I think it's one of the big reasons we've made it through this many years and this many books together. I think it's the reason we're friends.



Our society has moved away from personal interactions in business. Conference calls substitute for meeting at conferences. Author Skype "visits" are now thought to be an acceptable substitutes for the author actually visiting. I get the financial aspect to this, but the results are not the same. Not even close.



So text and e-mail and message away, but remember to pick up the phone from time to time. The human brain is hardwired to respond to the frequencies of human speech, and when it comes to conveying emotion, nothing fully substitutes for that.



Wish you could hear my voice as I say Thanks for checking in--see you in the comments!

Opinion, Please!

Feel like giving me your opinion?



I sure hope so!



We sent a little questionnaire about the possible reissue of the Sammy paperbacks to booksellers we visited on the Southern Loop of our tour. I thought it would be nice to get your input, too! After all, who knows Sammy better than you guys, right?



There's lots I could say about this, but I think it's best for objective feedback if I just present it to you without preamble. The Overview is not necessary for most of you, but I'm including it nonetheless, and I've whittled the questionnaire down to two basic questions.



Here we go!





OVERVIEW: Sammy Keyes is a scrappy middle school
girl who lives illegally in a seniors-only apartment building with her
grandmother. People define her as a modern-day Nancy Drew, but she can be hot
headed and sassy. The 18-book series takes her from the first week of 7th
grade through 8th grade, with each book occurring about a month
later in her life. Although content and language are clean and the books are
funny, Sammy tackles serious subjects, making the books edgy and tween/teen-relevant without crossing into YA
territory.




On the left are two images—the existing paperback
cover art and a very rough, incomplete mock-up of what a realistic cover might
look like. (We’d need to have a girl with jeans and high-tops, for starters!)
As a basic concept, though…




QUESTION #1: 

Which style of cover do you think works better, HUMOROUS (the yellow one) or REALISTIC (the
mock-up)?




ADDITIONAL COMMENTS?






How about the images below? Any comments? 



  
























QUESTION #2: 

The series is presently not numbered. Would
you prefer the books to remain UNNUMBERED or be NUMBERED (and throw in a Why if you're so inclined.)






If you have other comments do express them! And if you have an image idea that you think better captures Sammy, send it to me here.






As always, thanks for checking in. Really looking forward to your comments! 

The Stars Flip Life and Art

“Life
imitates art.”  We’ve all heard
that.  And sometimes it happens.  But sometimes life – which is typically
messier, less structured, and less satisfying than well-conceived art, actually
goes beyond art in reaching a meaningful resolution.




Mark
here, writing for Wendelin.  Not because
she’s extra busy (which she is – Colton graduates from college this weekend and
we’re planning a celebration) but because sometimes things are better related
by a third party observer than by someone in the thick of it… maybe think of Nick
& Jay in Gatsby.




We
just saw The Fault in Our Stars.  This isn’t a film review, but in brief: we
liked it and thought the film did a great job of faithfully bringing the book
to the screen.  However, for me the most
interesting part of the plot was a subplot about, well… a book plot.  Speaking generically—so as not to get too spoilerish for the three among you
who haven’t yet read the book—the protagonist has a favorite book which she
absolutely loves, but the ending is open-ended and she really wants to know ‘what happens after the end of the book’.  The non-answer she finally gets might be
satisfactory for a disinterested middle-aged intellectual, but it doesn’t
really work for an emotionally-invested teenager.  (Which is part of the point, I suppose.)




Now
flash-forward (or back, or sideways, depending on where you’re standing in
time) to a small bookstore far, far away (the Midwest) at a time long, long ago
(six weeks as I write this).  We’re doing
an in-store event as part of our tour. 
Among the people in attendance are a teenage boy and his mother.  The boy has a physical challenge which—among
other things—renders his speech a bit slower than some of us (perhaps cerebral
palsy?) but he is clearly an avid reader and really bright.  And it’s also clear—from his interactions
with his mother as well as from what follows—that he’s an incredibly sweet
young man.




After
the ‘presentation’ part of our presentation, we typically take questions.  This boy has a few questions, and his final
one is basically “What happens after the end of Flipped?”  But you could tell from his demeanor that this was the reason he and his mom drove
three hours to see us.  The other
questions were just a warm-up, but this was something hugely significant to
him.




Wendelin
has been asked related questions about Flipped exactly one zillion times.  (Usually some version of, “Are you going to
write a sequel?”)  And all she typically says
is that she’s not going to write a sequel—she really likes the open-yet-hopeful
way the story ends because it makes the reader think, rather than wrapping
everything up with a nice bow.  And she usually
leaves it at that.  But this boy already
knew the above… his query was centered around the deeper issue of, “What do you—as the creator of these
characters—think might happen with Julie and Bryce beyond the last page of the
book?”  And Wendelin—in a
life-exceeds-art move—made a one-time exception for this emotionally-invested
teen regarding ‘never discussing Flipped beyond-the-ending-as-written’, and
gave him her heartfelt opinion as to what might become of Julie and Bryce.




When
she finished, the boy let out a huge sigh—he had literally been holding his breath—and just
enthusiastically nodded his thanks through his tears, over and over.  It was one of those moments—in a trip filled
with thousands of moments—that I will never, ever forget.

Gallop to Puyallup!

I did not know where Puyallup, Washington was, but I do now. The person who has put this place on the map for me is a librarian by the name of Wadham.



Dr. Wadham, I presume!



Yup. Although he prefers a simple Tim,over a professorial salutation.



Tim has been a fan of Sammy Keyes since the first book came out, and has decided the last book and series wrap-up needs a party.



Three cheers for Tim! And the  Puyallup Public Library. And the mayor. And, well, clearly the People of Puyallup, who support library programs and have hosted several big events before to support literacy.



What I know about this party is...not much. Tim's being all cloak-and-dagger. I can hear his hands rubbing in evil glee over the phone as he tells me he's not telling me a thing.



But I know there are 300 seats in the theater where they're hosting it.

And I know Nancy will be flying in from NYC.

And I know the party is being held on Saturday, October 4th.

And I know...



Well, what I'm thinking is...



You should come!



Crazy, right?



But if there was ever a, you know, Sammy-con in the foreseeable future, this would be it. And how fun would it be to all meet up?



I know, I know, I know....Seattle is way off in the upper left corner of the USA, and some of you live nowhere near the upper left corner of the USA.



But there are cheap flights to be found from the other corners of the USA.



And from the middle of it, too!



Plus the Seattle area is beautiful, with lots to do. Go to Pike's Place! The Space Needle! Sculpture Park! Ride a ferry! Or the Great Wheel! Hit Chinatown, or watch Salmon swim up locks! And on Saturday night, go to the Sammy Keyes party! What a weekend adventure you could have!



So don't say no right away.



Mark your calendar.



Think about it.



Then start rubbing your hands together, scheming about how you're going to make it happen!

Odometer Says...

Eight thousand, five hundred sixty miles!



(Actually, it says, 8560.)



Which means that the winner is...Karen from Minneapolis!



Congratulations, Karen from Minneapolis, I will send you a copy of Kiss Goodbye as soon as my author copies arrive...probably early September.



Thank you to everyone who sent in guesses...answers were all over the map (which seems appropriate, really). And I loved reading your "Sammy Keyes is..." sentences. I laughed about the ones that were unabashed run-on sentences. So funny! So Sammy!



I also have to say that one of you (okay, it was Sean from North Carolina) had me laughing out loud by signing off with "Holy smokes! Look at the time! Dive for the bushes!"



I just love this group of people. You guys are awesome.



So (switching subjects) to Kiss Goodbye.



I got word from my editor that representatives for the band Queen have denied my use of more than 14 words from the lyrics of Bohemian Rhapsody. I used 17. These lyrics were to appear in Chapter 2.



So I had to figure out what to do, and I did that (grumbling all the while that if Queen knew Sammy, they would be all over being included in Kiss Goodbye. Come on. Freddie Mercury would have loved Sammy's spunk!)



Uncomfortably, their denial wasn't communicated in a manner timely enough to prevent all seventeen words from being included in the ARC, or, it turns out, the first printing of the Killer Cruise paperback.



Yup, the paperback of Killer Cruise (which came out while we were on the road) has a two chapter (plus the prologue) excerpt from Kiss Goodbye.



Queen violation aside, I had no idea there would be a sneak-peek of Kiss Goodbye in the book so when I saw it and said, "Holy smokes! Look at that! Dive for the bushes!"



Well, something similar.



It all of a sudden felt...real.



Like, you know, THE END!



So (dropping any Queenly concerns entirely now) since the beginning of THE END is already out there for anyone to see, I thought...well, I thought...well...you may not want to read on if you don't want to know anything more than you already know about Kiss Goodbye.



Test your self control if you must! Stop here! Go back!



Because below is a (kinda lousy) scan of the first page of the "sneak peek" -- the equivalent of the prologue in all previous Sammys. My intention is not to be cruel (although it's feeling a little that way at this moment).



I'm only posting one page.



144 words (well, 150 if you break up the 6 contractions).



And absolutely no Queen rights violations!



But if you want to wait 100 days (exactly from today) to read it, do not scroll down.  The 'prologue' is titled A Warning From Wendelin, which says it all.



But I will still double warn you:



Read at your own risk!



And that's all for tonight. See you (I'm sure) in the comments!

Home! (And a Contest!)

We're home! In some ways it feels like we were gone for ages, and in others it feels like we blinked and it was over. We met a lot of great people, visited a lot of wonderful stores, saw some beautiful places, and learned a lot.



The best part was meeting "Sammiacs." I can't even describe how wonderful it was for me to meet y'all.



For you Northies who have been asking for info about the fall loop through northern states, we'll get information to you as soon as we can.  For now, I still have to unpack!



But before I do, I want to present a contest!



I know I said I wasn't going to have one for the ARC of Sammy Keyes and the Kiss Goodbye, but how about the final book? I never said I wouldn't give one of those away! So when my author copies come in (usually a week before they're available in stores), I'll turn around and mail one out to the contest winner.



Excited?



Here are the directions:



Send me an e-mail at : mail@exercisetherighttoread.org

In the Subject line, type: KISS GOODBYE CONTEST

In the body of the e-mail :




give me your guess for the number of miles our van traveled on the "Southern Loop" tour. Please round to the nearest mile. (The map image above is meant to be a helpful guide. It is not perfect or 100% accurate, but it is pretty close with the exception of not showing a beginning/end location. From things I've said here and on social media, you should be able to get in the infield.) 
finish this sentence: Sammy Keyes is... (and just put whatever she is/means to you--not a, you know, review description--write something personal, and only one sentence!)
give me your name and the mailing address where I should mail the book, should you win the contest


Thanks to everyone who followed along on tour with me, here and on Facebook and Twitter. It really was great to have you involved. And for those of you came out to an event (or drove ridiculous distances to meet me), I will always cherish meeting you.




Now get busy and give the contest a shot! Your deadline is Saturday, May 31st at midnight!

Tour, Week 7 (The Horse)

It has been a great week, with wonderful encounters and some exceptional store visits. But I'm tired, so instead of details, I'm afraid I'm going to tell you a little story about a horse.



Yes, a horse.



I don't think my parents knew much about horses. Or mules. But one backpacking vacation they rented us one of each to hike in some of the camping equipment. We kids were all for that. It seemed so extravagant!



I don't remember a lot of details about this backpacking trip, other than that the pack animals seemed really slow hiking in. There was the novelty of taking turns riding, but that wore off quickly because it seemed worse than hiking. It felt slower than walking. And it was uncomfortable. The swaying side to side. The being jostled about. Plus, it was scary being up on a horse. It seemed so big.



[image error] What is most vivid in my memory about this trip was nearing the end of the hike back out. We were a couple of miles from home base when those lumbering beasts came to life. Especially the horse. My dad tried to control it, but the closer we got, the harder that was, until, in the end, the horse just took off with pots and pans clanging as it galloped home.



I tell you this little story because tonight, I feel like that horse.

Tour, Week 6 (Punked By A Librarian!)

Over the years, I've visited a lot of incredible schools for "Author Day" but until this week I'd never had a parade.



A parade! With floats and a marching band and kids cheering as we drove down the street.



It felt like the middle school version of Coming Home week on American Idol, and it took place in Oklahoma where Central Middle School (which has hosted me several years in a row), has become a home away from home.



The day didn't start with a parade. It started with strict instructions from the school's librarian to meet her in a church parking lot near the school. (I've learned not to ask too many questions of this librarian. I've learned that she has a vision and you just need to go with it.)



And then the day really started.



We got pulled over by a cop.



At first I thought it was a prank, set up by said librarian. So I hopped out of the car.



"Get back in your vehicle," he barked. And, from his no-BS demeanor and seeing how he was fully decked with bullet-proof vest under his uniform, sun glasses, and a firearm, I got back in the vehicle.



I powered down the window. "Uh, hi?"



"Why are you here?" he asked, scrutinizing the van.



So I explained. About the librarian. And us being authors. And doing a school visit.



"This area is under surveillance," he said. "You need to leave."



Because of his demeanor, I was now totally convinced that we had to get the heck out of the empty church parking lot before we blew his undercover operation. But still. It just came out... "Surveillance?"



He frowned and beamed authority through his sunglasses. "Yes." And then he added, "I can't believe Officer Borsch hasn't told you about this."



"Aghh!' I cried and jumped out of the van and shoved him. "You totally had me!"



He laughed and was clearly pleased, and then the librarian jumped out of his police car in a Sammy Forever shirt and I immediately started crying.



Sammy Forever! Officer Borsch! What an unbelievable prank.



And then we headed for the school, with our lights-flashing police escort, where kids in high-tops and on skateboards greeted us with cheers and signs as we wound our way through nearly 800 kids, teachers, and school staff through the campus.



And then we watched as the parade--complete with marching band, cartwheelers, skateboarders, and shopping cart floats based on our books--went by.



Pictures can't capture this, video can't capture this...it was a wild post-testing day of celebration, and I know that for the rest of my life I'll turn to Mark and say, "They did a parade! I can't believe they did a parade!"



And now, even though they can't capture it, here are a few pictures anyway!



Officer Borsch's henchman!



Converse Day At CMS!







Sammy Keyes Forever!

 And here are a few of the floats, all built up around shopping carts.





A mini-Justice Jack



The Swear to Howdy float



Killer Cruise float



The float representing our crazy tour van!



And Mark got a his own life-sized display, complete with standee and outfitted "Bad Mobile"



An incredible display for ROAD RASH



Mark and the school's Bad Mobile!





Sammiacs ruled the day!











A table display in the library





Caradith Craven, the librarian behind it all.

Tour, Week 5 (Main St., USA)

You'd think that we'd be tired of living out of a suitcase by now, but, strangely, it hasn't been bad. And you'd think that we'd be kind of sick of the buggy windshield and driving, driving, driving, but the destinations make up for the long days on the road, and the scenery helps a lot. Everything is different. Every place is different. Every bookstore owner is unique.



What's also nice are the common threads, that do tie things together. We are all part of the same country. We share a history, and the viewpoints of that shared history from different regions has been very interesting.





The Indie Store in Jacksonville, Illinois

"Main St., USA" is now something I have a picture for. Before it was just a political phrase. Now it's a real place that was once at the center of town, and often still is. It involves brick or stone. Lots of it. And vertical storefronts. And buildings that have their original name and the date they were built cut into stone.



There is a reason that one out of every four of the independent bookstores we are visiting on this tour is located on the Main St. of their town--bookstores began and belong in the heart of a community.



A lot of the bookstores have had a cat. Or two. One had three.



Some have a dog. Or two.



Many are run by couples. Or sisters.



Most have been in the book business for decades, weathering changes in the industry, the economy, and the shuttering of other small businesses on Main St., USA.



All of them want to be booksellers. It's what they love. It's who they are.



At almost every stop, there have been Sammiacs. Awesome, incredible, wonderful people...males (one named Casey!), females (one named Sammy, and one named Heather!) (Yes, at different stops.)



And there's been a huge range in ages, which just goes to show you what we've known all along--Sammy cannot be held to a tidy little classification. She knows how to bust out and sidetrack!



The attendee drive record is 7 hours "for shoelaces" and the number-of-books record was broken this week by a woman from Michigan (4 hrs., one way) who had over 40 books (many of them first printings).



On Friday a girl and her mom traveled 4 hours for our 6:30-8:30 PM event, and had to drive back that night because the girl's college graduation was the next day.



Talk about feeling loved!



So the trip has been educational, heartwarming, and fun, and I'm looking forward to the coming week, which will have us traveling through Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma.



Can't wait to see who we'll meet there!

Tour, Week 4 (Reflections)

Thunder and lightning, very, very frightening!



And yesterday was a beautiful, sunny day.



But it all feels like a big, wonderful adventure, with great people at every stop (especially the Sammiacs!). Yesterday's host in Franklin, TN was a Southern gentleman (who looks remarkably like Col Sanders of KFC) and fended off blimp-sized bumblebees with a little badminton racket. You can't make up some of the stuff we've seen, which (I think) is why it's important for writers to get away from their desks and absorb the real world. I don't know if there'll ever be a guy like this bookseller in a story I write, but there he is, in the back of my mind, with his little racket. And blimp-sized bees.



Part of this week's adventure included touring Graceland, which was way better than I thought it would be. Despite Elvis appearing in the Sammy Keyes series, I don't really have a thing for Elvis, so it wasn't like I was dying to tour Graceland. I was expecting over the top opulence, but it wasn't that way. I was fascinated by how the kitchen (which was a very busy place in Elvis's time) seemed small and functional and like something out of a tract house from the seventies.



I did, however, squeal, "The Heavenly Hotel!" when we came to the mirror-lined staircase. Man, I'm going to miss that place. (The Heavenly, not Graceland.)





Anyhow...



Bonus remark from this week: The daughter of a bookseller in Georgia is a big Sammy Keyes fan and got her hands on an ARC of Kiss Goodbye and told me it was her favorite one.



Her favorite one!



It's not easy to wrap up an 18 book series, but this gives me hope that I've done it right.



And in other news...



I met a teacher this week who has 300 copies of Sammy Keyes books.



Did you read that right?



Yes! She buys them up and forces them on people. She is a believer. She came to an event and when I asked her why she liked Sammy Keyes, she launched into such an impassioned speech about the importance of the series that I wish I'd had a video recorder going. I've been explaining that Sammy is not just a mystery series--that there's something bigger and deeper there--but people like to put things in little boxes. Mark did get a little of this teacher on video after the program for a trailer we're hoping to put together for Kiss Goodbye, but if I'd caught what she said during the discussion, I could just press play and tell people, here, just listen to this teacher.



Sammiacs, I've determined have a remarkable ability to grow hair. Three of the ones I've met this week have amazing hair. And that doesn't include the long-haired boy who brought his collection for me to sign.



Tomorrow we go on Memphis morning news. The host said she wanted to interview us outside  the station to include the van, but since we're experiencing "extreme weather" that may not happen. And then we're off to Arkansas!



That's all for now. Thanks for checking in! And for those of you who came out to see us this week, THANK YOU! It has been so wonderful to meet all of you.



See you in the comments!