Susan Beth Pfeffer's Blog, page 37

PSA For Writers And Agents

I just mailed off my contracts for Blood Wounds and there's a clause in there that I requested that other writers and their representatives may not have thought of.

Life As We Knew It has been nominated for young reader awards in over thirty states. Each time I duly informed my editor and anyone else who might listen. And each time I was duly congratulated.

Writers (as writers and agents know) equate money with love and vice versa. So I decided Harcourt should prove its love for me by giving me...

I Anticipate An Epic Battle Between The University Of Southern North Dakota At Hoople and Wassamatta U

My father loved baseball and football and tennis and boxing and figure skating. He and my mother even used to watch wrestling (they both loved Hatpin Mary).

But I don't remember my father being a big basketball fan. My brother liked basketball. He used to try to teach it to me, and while I was pretty good at dribbling (at least if no one else was playing), I never could get the ball into the basket. Never. Not once. And if you can't get the ball into the basket on your driveway/garage court, y...

I Anticipate An Epic Battle Between The University Of Southern North Dakota and Wassamatta U

My father loved baseball and football and tennis and boxing and figure skating. He and my mother even used to watch wrestling (they both loved Hatpin Mary).

But I don't remember my father being a big basketball fan. My brother liked basketball. He used to try to teach it to me, and while I was pretty good at dribbling (at least if no one else was playing), I never could get the ball into the basket. Never. Not once. And if you can't get the ball into the basket on your driveway/garage court, y...

Where Endings Go To

I spent the weekend working on Blood Wounds and finished it at some point last night.

The book is about 250 pages long. My guess is the last 50 pages (aka 20%) will have to be seriously rewritten. Major major revisions.

Without having read it, my perception is my characters do a lot of talking during those last 50 pages. Fabulous talking, I'm sure, but as Gertrude Stein said, "Remarks are not literature." On the other hand, she said it about Hemingway, and maybe my remarks are literature. But I...

Where Endings Come From

Last night, Lupe posted this comment on yesterday's blog entry (I'm averaging one a day this week, although that will probably calm down once the book is finished and I don't need any excuses for not working, not to mention no more apartment flood crises, I sure hope).

Where was I? Oh yes, Lupe's question:

How do you visualize the ending? How do you know what the ending is going to be before you even know the middle of your book?

I've been frustrated by this everytime I write a story...I know...

Putting The Focus On Focus

As you know, because I've been shrieking about it for two days now, things here have been a bit chaotic. My toilet overflowed, my carpet got soaked, a giant noise making drier got placed in the bathroom doorway, and my carpet danced in the breeze, leaving me ever so slightly seasick.

Then, presumably because of bunny rabbit overload, my camera died. I immediately ran out and bought a new one, since Scooter can't go unphotographed for more than twenty minutes at a stretch.

The drier kept running...

This Video Is Rated R (For Rabbits In Action)

Part One: Figure Skating Bunny Rabbits In The Throes Of Passion

Part Two: True Love Triumphs

Soon You'll Be Clamoring For Me Never To Write Again

A few days ago, I blogged that writing fiction gives one control. Alas, I was unaware of just how much control fiction has over real life.

Over the past couple of weeks the following events have happened.

There was a series of snowstorms, including a blizzard.

Electricity was gone for the five hours before the women's freeskate at the Olympics.

Cable TV went out for the exact six hours that an Olympic figure skating retrospective was scheduled for.

A torrential rain and wind storm knocked out a...

It's A Good Thing Dawdling Is An Essential Part Of The Writing Process

Because otherwise I might not have checked my emails and found the one from my editor, quoting a very favorable review of This World We Live In in School Library Journal.

The majority of the review is a summation of the plot, so I'll spare you all that. But there isn't a single "but" in the entire review (always a relief).

My editor highlighted the last part of the review:

It is a testament to the author's skills that This World We Live In can be read as a stand-alone novel. In fact, new...

Based On A Black And White Version Of A Very Pink Cover

Google (which loves me 24 hours a day, 7 days a week) just sent me a link to something Scholastic Book Fair has put out (and seems eager to have distributed everywhere), a discussion guide to Life As We Knew It, which is one of its Book Fair books.

For those of you familiar with LAWKI, but new to the entire Great Life As We Knew It Cover Saga, here's a link to an explanatory blog entry from quite a while ago. I found it by way of that cute little search the blog feature way down on the right s...