Kelly Coon's Blog, page 2

Q&A With Bedford Junior High School

Have I ever told you that teaching is one of my all-time favorite things I’ve ever done? Now, don’t get me wrong. Teaching middle school and high school is not all candy canes and lollipops. There was a whole lot of “Hey, I really don’t wanna wake up at 5:15 and haul my butt to a classroom with bleary-eyed teenagers while we review the underpinnings of benevolence in Romeo and Juliet.”

There was some of that.

But mostly, there was a lot of love. I loved the subjects I taught - English, Reading and of course, Creative Writing. (I once taught sex education to 7th graders, which is an entirely different spectrum of teaching, and we won’t go into that.) But though I loved the subjects I was lucky enough to teach, I mostly loved the kids. I just really enjoyed talking to teenagers on a daily basis and hearing whatever brilliant or annoying or smart-mouthed or incredibly wise things they had to say.

So, when I get the chance to do a Q&A with a group of kids over Skype? I’m all in with both feet.

Bedford Junior High teachers Connie Matlow and Lauren DePorre coach a group of writing students, and assistant principal Heather Johnson asked me if I’d be willing to chat with them. I maintained my composure as I’m prone to do.

Actual proposal:

Ms. Johnson: “Would you be interested in doing a Q&A session with a group of student writers?”

Me: “I WOULD LOVE TO ARE YOU SERIOUS WHEN CAN WE GET THIS SET UP OMG”

Her: “Perfect. I’ll let Connie and Lauren know you’re availa…”

Me: “YES I AM AVAILABLE THIS IS GOING TO BE AMAZING WOOOOO”

Her: “So, does May 30th work?”

Me: “YISSSSSSSSSSS”

Her:

Me: *ahem* "Yes, yes it does.”

We Skyped one late, sunny morning in May, and the kids asked brilliant questions: “What sorts of tropes should I avoid when I write fantasy?” “How long did it take you to actually write GRAVEMAIDENS?” and “What’s the most difficult thing you’ve experienced in the process of publishing a book?” among others. I waded into a bit of my writing process and chatted about having a growth mindset and not just persistence.

The bottom line? I’m pretty sure it benefited me more than the kids, and I’m down to do it again whenever. I miss the kids I used to teach every day. This group reminded me of the passion young people can bring to an event, and I strongly suspect we’re going to get some great stories out of that classroom.

Hey Bedford parents! If you’re interested in grabbing a copy of GRAVEMAIDENS, my YA fantasy (the kids heard all about it), you can preorder a signed, personalized copy, here!

Flash Fiction Winner: Kaitlin Burkhart

Steinbrenner High School’s 1st Annual Flash Fiction Fest!

In March, I had the amazing opportunity to spend some time chatting with Steinbrenner HS creative writing students during their 1st annual Flash Fiction Fest. I talked about creating an engaging short, short story (avoid blathering on and on) and grabbing people by their emotions and reeling them in like trout.

THEN WE HAD A CONTEST!

Since I’m a lover of all things contesty, we decided to have each student prepare their very best flash fiction piece and vote for the favorite, based on some criteria established by themselves and their writing teacher, Eric Vona.

Readers, they chose a winner and I’m delighted I get to share her flash fiction piece with all of you. This young woman’s piece is dark (just how I like it), and twisty (even more how I like it) and leaves you with some questions (MOMMA LIKEY).

So, without further ado, here is Kaitlyn B.’s flash fiction piece, “When the Clouds Clear.”

When the Clouds Clear

by Kaitlin Burkhart

Relief was the shower of rain approaching the end of its descent from the sky. It coated Mona’s body and soaked through her pores, making its way to her very core.

She had not only left an heirloom at that pawnshop, she had left a part of herself. As she took each step towards her car, the force of her footsteps causing little droplets to make parabolic paths in the air, she felt like the strongest tether was being frayed strand by strand, and as she opened the door to her Honda Accord with a few too many dents and scratches, she felt that tether snap.

Mona wished she didn’t have to dispose of the rosary. It was beautiful with its golden plate and adorning pearls, all molded into a cross. But even if it wasn’t cursed, which she hoped was the case, it had too many bad memories tied to it.

Each of those bad memories had occurred after her mother had gifted it to her on her death bed, handing her prized possession to her sole child. She had cradled its cold, metal frame, knowing the rosary was her mother’s promise to watch over her.

Mona tried for so long to appreciate the rosary and the sentiment behind it. When she crashed her car leaving the hospital, she hadn’t suspected anything. But when her fiancé ended things two weeks later because he needed “space,” she began to wonder why everything had taken a sudden turn for the worse. One awful event occurred, then another: two car accidents, being laid-off from her accounting job, and a broken engagement all happened while in possession of the rosary.

Two years later, Mona was ready to discard the only difference between her past and present: the rosary.

She found a pawn shop far away, so she would never stumble upon the formidable thing again and drove to its destination, the rosary glinting in her periphery.

She didn’t care how much they gave her, even though her mother had once claimed it was worth $10,000. The pawn shop guy settled on $200, and Mona knew her mother was cursing her name in heaven.

Sitting in her car, she put her forehead on the steering wheel and let out a sigh. Before she had been given the rosary, she had experienced joyous moments, but sitting there, she couldn’t recall ever feeling this content. She remained like that, just letting the stress exude itself from her tense shoulders and knotted joints. Glancing at her phone, she lit up in surprise as her ex fiance’s name lit up the screen, asking if she wanted to grab dinner later and “catch up.” She replied with “of course,” not wanting to seem too excited.

With that, she eagerly put the car in reverse, backed out of the parking lot, and barreled down the interstate, still slick from the rain, each mile further distancing her from the cursed object.

              *****

Mona was an hour away when she got a text.

“Hey, I can’t meet for dinner anymore. I’ve been sick all day.”

Opening her phone, she read the text a few times over, wishing he could somehow feel better. She was looking forward to seeing him.

Disappointed, she took a deep breath and looked up from her phone, deciding that she wouldn’t let this shortcoming ruin the ease she developed since disposing of the rosary.

Her eyes made contact again with the road, and she realized she was an idiot for thinking her bad luck was tied to an object. She was utterly clueless for thinking objects were cursed, for letting her guard down, and for not realizing, she was the cursed one.

A silly object didn’t dictate her fate, she did, and her carelessness was what led her to all of these tragedies.

 So when she ran the red light and collided with a semi-truck, no match for her little Honda Accord, she wasn’t even mad at herself. It was deserved for her stupidity. She didn’t scream when glass shattered and her body thrashed inside the car. She didn’t pity herself when her vision faded and she was carried into death, chaos ensuing around her.

No, she was content.

 

Fierce Female Characters to Get to Know in 2019: Part 2

It’s round two of the #Novel19s Fierce Female characters that you absolutely must meet. These characters are noble and selfless, passionate and smart. Some of them brave the unforgiving cold of their icy planets to save their families while others stand tall in a sea of faces to shout their truth. Wanna learn a little more about a few of them? Take a read about each in their brilliant author’s own words!

Camille

Enchantée

By Gita Trelease

Pub date: February 5

Determined, passionate, and just a tiny bit reckless, magician Camille Durbonne risks her own safety to save her sister, all the while gambling that she may be able to transform their lives. As an impoverished girl living in Paris at the end of the eighteenth century, she must also fight to defy the limits society—and class—have placed on what she can do.

Nathalie

Spectacle

By Jodie Lynn Zdrok

Pub date: February 12

Clever. Curious. Adventurous. And if we're being honest, an appetite for the morbid. Nathalie Baudin, newspaper reporter for the public morgue in 1887 Paris, discovers a magical ability that could help track down the serial killer terrorizing the city. Bold and confident, she takes her ability, her job, and her relationships seriously--while still making time for pain au chocolat, cafés with friends, and her beloved white cat.

Kate

Opposite of Always

By Justin A. Reynolds

Pub date: March 5

Kate is ultra-comfortable in her skin. She’s most happy when she’s building others up, when she’s working to improve her community. She’s fiercely loyal but also cautious about whom she trusts. She’s funny (please don’t come for her), hella charming (just ask Jack!), and she has zero clue what she wants to be when she “grows up”; mostly because she knows she contains multitudes. She can be anything she wants.

Rhea

The Waking Forest

By Alyssa Wees

Pub date: March 12

Rhea Ravenna, eldest of four sisters, has terrifying nightmares that no one can see but her. She's always loved games and riddles, but the mystery of her visions is one puzzle she doesn't seem able to solve. As the darkness of the forest and its secrets bleed into her waking life, Rhea's determination and love for her family push her to discover a light within herself and to turn the worst nightmare into the sweetest of dreams.

Elise

Pub date: July 2

Elise Ferro is just as tough as her idol, The Bride from Kill Bill: if you cross her or hers, you'll regret it. Dangerously creative and smart, she devises perfect pranks as payback, but she only uses her powers for good, like standing up for bullied students. To her best friend, Remy, she is the patron saint of the wronged and her guardian angel--that is, until the moment Elise goes too far...

The Best Lies

By Sarah Lyu

Annaleigh

House of Salt and Sorrows

By Erin A. Craig

Pub date: August 6

Annaleigh Thaumas, born the sixth of twelve daughters to the Duke of Salann, now stands as second in line for the title. Four of her older sisters have died under increasingly mysterious circumstances. Though many in their island community believe the family to be cursed, Annaleigh suspects there is a far too real explanation for her sister's deaths and won't let anything-- even a series of beautiful balls, dazzling dresses, and handsome dance partners-- stop her from saving the rest of her sisters.

Irréelle

Pub date: August 6

Made of dust and bone and imagination, Irréelle fears she’s not quite real. But no matter how she came to be (dark magic) and no matter how strange she appears (white-haired and crooked-boned), on the inside, her hope burns sharp and bright. Full of love for her friends, her fiercely beating heart always leads the way, even along the darkest of paths.

The Bone Garden

By Heather Kassner

Toli

Rise of the Dragon Moon

By Gabrielle K. Byrne

Pub date: August 6

Toli Strongarm is as tough as it's possible to be. She hunts the deep ice of Ire with her mentor, Spar, training for the dragon attack she's sure will come. She has a fierce need to protect her Queendom--and her little sister. She longs to teach the dragons that they crossed the wrong Princess, and defies them more than once, facing outrageous odds in her journey across the wasteland to confront them. When she becomes responsible for the care of a dragon youngling, she must learn that trust is a force too, and one that is as strong and fierce as the elements around her. 

Nevaeh

Color Me In

By Natasha Diaz

Pub date: August 20

Nevaeh is a bit out of touch, but she's open to changing, even if it takes her a little while to accept the truth. She's fallen into a bit of a well of self-pity when we first meet her, but once she's set straight and has her spirit back, Nevaeh realizes she has something to say and even more, that her voice can make a difference.

Alaine

Dear Haiti, Love Alaine

By Maika Moulite, Maritza Moulite

Pub date: September 3

When a school presentation goes very wrong, Alaine Beauparlant finds herself suspended and shipped off to Haiti where her mom is recovering from a fiasco of her own. She spends the next two months completing what her school calls a “spring volunteer immersion project.” As she works to save her academic standing, she learns the truth about her mother’s meltdown—and how she might be able to help—setting Alaine on a path that she never could have imagined.

Introducing The Skeleton Crew

Writers are not islands.

Or, they shouldn’t be.

In my case, I wrote in solitude for a long time before I discovered the absolute lifeblood of a writer’s life, which is….drumroll…other people!

Today, I’m introducing you to a few of the people who have made my writing life a little more full. They’re part of “Kell’s Skeleton Crew” a street team designed to support me and lift me up and help me brainstorm nefarious deeds and precarious situations into which I can fling my characters. The following represents just a few members of the crew. Others prefer to work behind the scenes in full Slytherin mode, and for them, I am eternally grateful, as well. But for those members of the Crew who deign to look up from their hidey-holes of awesomeness to show their faces to the world, I bid you a formal, official, public welcome. Now, everyone else can see how lovely you are, too.

Vicky

the president

Vicky is a teenage book blogger, aspiring author, and artist! She is passionate about everything she does and has absolutely no chill when talking about her favorite books. You can usually find her reading under the covers or buried under a pile of homework. Find Vicky on her blog, Twitter, or Instagram.

KellyAnne

the superstar

Kelly Anne Blount is a USA TODAY Bestselling Author and Wattpad Star. Her works have racked up over 20 million reads on Wattpad and her contributions to Tap, Wattpad’s app for chat-style stories, have been “tapped” over 50 million times. Her YA dark thriller, CAPTURED, is being produced by Komixx Entertainment (The Kissing Booth) and Sony Pictures Television. Be sure to keep an eye out for Kelly’s upcoming releases! Her YA sports romance, GOAL TENDING, will be available in 2020 (Entangled) and the CAPTURED audiobook (Audible) will be coming out soon. For more information, visit @KellyAnneBlount on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook or check her out on Amazon or her website.

Tessa

the dreamer

Her name is Meredeth but everyone calls her Tessa. Dreamer, avid reader, and bibliophile. She loves hardbound books, plushies, and animals. She has her mind constantly up in the clouds, so reading is her passion and escape! You can follow Tessa on Twitter and Instagram.

Jordyn

the editor

Jordyn is a student at a high school in Florida. She writes for her school’s literary magazine and is an editor on her school’s newspaper. Reading is (surprisingly!) her favorite pastime, and she loves to write. She’s a sucker for a character-driven story and couldn’t possibly list her favorite books. She’s been blogging since 2016, and often procrastinates by scrolling through Twitter. She blogs at Jordz the Bibliophile. She can also be found on Instagram and Twitter.

Loie

the world traveler

Loie Dunn is a full-time writer of fiction, blogs, and articles. She lives on the East Coast of Canada and is currently querying her sea-faring YA fantasy. She has traveled to Ireland, Haiti, Israel, Mexico, Rome, Wales, Scotland, and England. Please visit her at loiedunn.wordpress.com. She loves to meet fellow writers and connect with them. In her free time, she likes to collect sea glass on the beach with her sparky 17-year-old Jack Russell Terrier. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter.

Meaghan

the wordsmith

Meaghan is a YA book blogger over at The Words Gremlin, and she holds a deep love of baked goods and good words (only one of which she's actually decent at making). When she isn't blogging, she's probably spending time with her three rabbits or buried under the covers with a good book. She also has a notebook hoarding problem, but just because shiny new notebooks haven't solved all her problems yet doesn't mean they never will. Obviously the solution is just to get more! You can follow her on her blog, Twitter, and Instagram!

Taylor

the talent

Taylor Fenner is a YA multi-genre author and owner of Taylor Fenner’s Bookish World Blog. When not staring at a blank word document she can be found reading and drinking her weight in coffee at her local coffee shop. Follow her on Twitter, Instagram and via her blog!

Meredith

the PR goddess

Meredith is a full-time children's bookseller and part-time publicist. She blogs at Pandora’s Books, a YA book blog she founded in an attempt to meet people who are just as book-crazy as she is. She loves to read (obviously), write, and yell “PUPPY!” at every dog that wanders into her line of sight. She’s a proud Hufflepuff residing in the Grishaverse, and is obsessed with the television show Reign. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram!

12 Fierce Female Characters to Get to Know in 2019: Part 1

It’s 2019! The #Novel19s, (we young adult and middle grade authors debuting this year), have written some FIERCE, AMAZING female characters into our stories. They’re compassionate and brave. They’re loyal and true. They’re cunning and smart. They’re strong and defiant. Some will do ANYTHING to protect their families or will stop at nothing to get their goals. Wanna learn a little more about a few of them? Check ‘em out here in each author’s own words!

Mia

Match Me If You Can

By Tiana Smith

Pub date: January 8

In MATCH ME IF YOU CAN, Mia has big goals and is always striving for something better. Sometimes she makes mistakes, but her heart is in a good place. She wants to be a journalist and she works hard to make that happen.

Jenna

When the Truth Unravels

By RuthAnne Snow

Pub date: January 8

Jenna Sinclair never met a challenge she couldn't handle. She's class vice president, an athlete, and a straight-A student. She's unapologetically ambitious and used to being the most competent person in the room. So why is she tripping-over-her-own-feet drunk on prom night?

Nari

Immoral Code

By Lillian Clark

Pub date: February 19

Nari is a white hat hacker, social justice warrior extraordinaire, plotting world domination and kicking ass while looking cute. For Nari, aka Narioka Diane, aka hacker digital alter ego “d0l0s," it’s college and then a career at “one of the big ones," like Google or Apple.  She’s smart, fiercely loyal, and isn’t about to let her friend Bellamy’s dreams of college be squashed by a deadbeat billionaire dad, so she hatches a plan to steal just enough from him to allow Bellamy to achieve her goals. 

Claire

Just for Clicks

By Kara McDowell

Pub date: February 19

Claire is a viral beauty blogger, coder, and all-around awkward human. She loves her family but is struggling to know how much of herself she should give up to make them happy.

Ames

The Fever King (Feverwake)

By Victoria Lee

Pub date: March 1

Carter Ames, or just “Ames” to those who know her best, is a snarky, smart witching with lots of tattoos and a penchant for keeping other people’s terrible secrets. Favorite tattoo: The dead flowers on her thigh Favorite band: Bikini Kill Favorite pastime: Mocking Dara Shirazi Favorite color: Anything but orange, orange is actually the worst. Favorite food: The fries you can get from that one chicken and waffles place on Main Street. Also Baikal caviar but god that’s embarrassing. Favorite human: Bethany Glennis, but like, in a “must protect” kinda way.

Victoria

The Quiet You Carry

By Nikki Barthelmess

Pub date: March 5

Victoria is smart, driven, and introspective. She doesn’t want to let the adversity of foster care kill her dreams of going to college. She’ll also do whatever she can to take care of her loved ones.

Zan

If You're Out There

By Katy Loutzenhiser

Pub date: March 5

Zan is fiercely loyal, with a stubbornness that is somehow both her best and worst quality. She's sharp with her words, and she'll deck a guy if he's a threat to someone she cares about. And, at the end of the day, she's strongest in the sense that she loves people to the fullest, bravely, no matter the risk.

Lyndie

The True History of Lyndie B. Hawkins

By Gail Shepherd

Pub date: March 26

Lyndie B. Hawkins is a history obsessed, truth obsessed 11-year-old spitfire who never takes received wisdom for granted. Call her skeptical. She *always* has to do her own digging to figure out what's what.

Revna

We Rule the Night

By Claire Eliza Bartlett

Pub date: April 2

Revna's not always sure of herself, but she's certain of one thing: her family deserves better than the lot they were given. She's willing to do anything for them, even fight a war for the country that ruined them and left them behind. With two prosthetic legs, she's used to being underestimated and she tries not to let that get under her skin. 

Annie

You'd Be Mine: A Novel

By Erin Hahn

Pub date: April 2

Annie Mathers is the almost 18yo daughter of country music’s greatest tragedy. She probably should avoid the spotlight, history being what it is, but everything in her screams for that feeling of being alive on stage, singing her soul for thousands. She’s sweet, fiery and fiercely loyal to her best friends and band mates. She’s also damaged and growing. Her faith is the solid foundation she draws from, and her charm is what draws the masses.

Elouise

Hot Dog Girl

By Jennifer Dugan

Pub date: April 30

Say what you want about Elouise Parker, but she doesn’t give up. Sure she’s sometimes a bit of a mess, but she’s also strong willed and not afraid to do whatever it takes to make things happen— whether that means concocting an elaborate plan to save a theme park, rocking a hot dog suit or going above and beyond to find her perfect match. 

Lennon

All Our Broken Pieces

By L.D. Crichton

Pub date: May 7

Insightful, smart and sassy, Lennon is the type of Queen who has to stop to tie her Converse or to straighten her crooked crown (five times of course). She wants to be a costume designer, and a confident young woman who believes in herself so long as she’s not ordinary. Because normal is boring.

The Island of Bazuli by Jordyn Dees

On November 3, I taught a world-building workshop at the University of South Florida at the Tampa Bay Youth Writer’s Conference. My room was packed with kids and young adults sprawled over the floor and standing in the back, so when I introduced my short story contest, I expected one or two entries.

I didn’t realize I would get so many!

The task I’d outlined for them certainly wasn’t easy. They had two weeks in which to write a 2-page short story based on the fantasy world they’d created in my workshop. Double-spaced. 12-point font. If you’re a writer, you know that is not a lot of space to build and develop a world, never mind throw in a main character with a desire to boot. But I wanted to limit their word count to make them focus on the very heart of the story. To develop an emotional connection that could grab the reader in just a few quick bites.

And wow, did they deliver.

I promised to publish the best of the best here on my website, so that’s what I’m doing today. The winner of my short story contest is Jordyn Dees. She’s a student at a Tampa area high school and runs her own book blogger site, Jordz the Bibliophile, too! She’s not only a wonderful storyteller as you’re about to see, she’s a lovely spirit with a genuineness about her that takes my breath away.

So, without further ado, here is “The Island of Bazuli” the winning short story by Jordyn Dees.

THE ISLAND OF BAZULI

Mama said praying to one of the gods for anything other than food, water, or health was disrespectful. And while a kiss from my long-time crush wasn’t on that list, I was asking for it anyway. The god of my choosing, Themba, who took the form of an elephant, stood before me. His trait may have been hope, but of all the gods, he was the closest one to love I could find.

Kneeling for Themba in one of the many temples in Sindwa, I strongly encouraged him to nudge Bheka in my direction at the festival tonight. In return, I promised to be the most hopeful seventeen-year-old on the island and to bring Themba an offering every week.

Finished, I reached into my worn wool sack and placed a chunk of bread on the platform before the great clay statue of an elephant, which towered above me with painted tusks and bright eyes. My bread sat next to a cob of corn, a beaded necklace, even a wedding band.

Then I stood and allowed the next person in the line of worshipers to step up and pray. I walked past lines leading to the other godly statues, sliding between blue crane Nomusa, god of mercy, and the rhinoceros Mandla, god of power.

When I made it outside, the hot Sindwa sun embraced me, the humid air welcoming. I was almost knocked down by a boy on a news cart, announcing today’s happenings. “The Festival of the Spirits is tonight!” he yelled, as he sped past. “Dance, food, and worship awaits!”

The boy, whose house was just two doors down from mine, realized he’d almost run into me a beat later and threw an apologetic look over his shoulder. “Sorry, Jabu!”

Despite the near-hit, I squealed, earning a look from a woman in a brightly patterned head wrap selling pottery and colored glass next to me. I couldn’t bring myself to care. The Festival of the Spirits was the best day of the year on Bazuli. Every summer on the solstice, the entire island came to the city. Avenues and streets were lined with merchants and entertainers, games and music, beaded banners and crackling torchlight. Though the festival started as a way to honor Bazuli’s many gods, as the years went by, it had turned into a day of general revelry and celebration.

I skipped down the steps of the temple, feeling much younger than seventeen, and cut through the bustling marketplace. Traders shouted after me as I passed, offering grapes, carrots, vases, bronze bracelets, and floral perfumes. I paused at a stand selling fresh fruit from Arenta to buy a ripe mango from an olive-skinned merchant, at odds with the dark faces of Bazuli.

Being right by Bazuli’s busiest harbor, Sindwa was a restless place, filled with merchants and visitors from neighboring nations, on a regular day. But on Festival Day the entire city pulsed. The warriors of the Mandla mountains, hunters from the Swamplands, and even the people of Setho Beach travelled here for drinks, dance and trade.

Which meant Bheka would be here, in all his dark-skinned, muscled glory. I could only see my best friend when I could make the day-long journey east to sandy Setho Beach and his warming presence, or if his family made a trip to Sindwa to buy supplies for their sea-side resort. Or, of course, when they visited for the Festival.

My stomach flipped as I imagined his eyes, silver as sea foam, tipped by a crooked smile and deep dimples. The last time I’d seen him was at the start of this summer, when I visited Setho Beach with my father for a week. Bheka and I had spent days together, him teaching me how to surf, me eating more seafood than I could ever stomach. And on the night before I left, we’d walked along the beach, talking, laughing, until the sun set and the moon rose and I was sure that he would kiss me. But he hadn’t. Tonight, I would make sure that changed.

I swallowed my mouthful of mango and headed home to get ready, imagining a million stars, drumbeats to jive to, and a cute beach boy’s lips in flickering torchlight. I sent one last prayer up to Themba. For hope, luck, and just a little bit of bravery.

Follow Jordyn on Twitter @jthebibliophile and on Instagram @jordz_the_bibliophile

What Mentoring Young Writers Can Do

When I was a kid, I rewrote stories from the Old Testament, giving them fierce female leads and setting them in modern times. I wrote free verse poetry in my room (usually centered heavily on graves and birds for some mystifying reason) along with short stories that rhymed and songs that often didn’t.

Needless to say, I wrote and I wrote and I wrote some more.

I would’ve given one of my pigtails for a writing workshop kinda like the one at which I spoke on Saturday, November 3. It was the Tampa Bay Area Youth Writer’s Conference, and the participants were all kiddos between 3rd grade and college.

Young Writers!

It was a little bit of magic mixed with lots of wiggling and flashes of brilliance.

I taught a workshop on creating a fantasy world, and gave students the opportunity to submit short stories from their worlds to me for the chance to be published right here on my website. In exchange for me talking about publishing, settings, and my life as a writer, I received something pretty spectacular in return: inspiration.

The young writers were thoughtful in their responses to my questions. They pushed boundaries, and asked the perfect question for any writing pursuit: “What if?”

What if, indeed.

What if these students crafted magical worlds with their imaginations when they left the conference? What if they sparked conversations that reflect the diverse world we all live in? What if these brave writers affected the landscape of what’s acceptable for publication?

What if their words changed the world?

What if?

That question makes me do what I do: pour into the lives of the youth so that one day, they can pour themselves into others.

Wanna help?

Parents, if you have a young writer in your house, send them to workshops like these and let their imaginations take flight. This was one of many writing conferences across the country they could pursue. Another big one besides the Tampa Bay Writers Conference is the Teen Author Bootcamp which happens each spring in Provo Utah. Nearly 1,000 teen writers gather together to boost their writing skills. Marie Lu, Brandon Sanderson, Jessica Day George, James Dashner, Ally Condie, Shannon Hale have all been speakers in the past!

Authors, if you’d like to participate in mentoring young writers, but can’t travel or show up in person, consider adding a craft post to the Teen Author Bootcamp forum here or contact Jo Schaffer (jo @ teenauthorbc dot com) to connect.

Students, if you’re interested in a writer’s workshop, but can’t make it to Tampa next fall or to Provo Utah in the spring, check out this list of writing workshops specifically for you. Maybe one will be near you and nothing says holiday presents like a class registration!

**************************

At the end of my workshop and publishing panel I was tired, but I was invigorated. And that’s the power of young people. They are so full of hope, it’s contagious. They inject optimism into their pursuits and every one of us adults could stand to get a little dosage of that, too.

We met Jerry Spinelli at the conference! Ahh!

What Sammy Yuen and Rachael Ray have in Common

Earlier this month, I got some GRAVEMAIDENS news that made my hair stand on end. 

Sammy Yuen, the incredibly talented graphic artist, is going to be designing the cover of my book. I mean, check out these ridiculous covers he's done. He has designed NYT bestsellers, crazy popular YA fiction, crazy popular YA fiction that just happened to be NYT bestsellers, and so many more that my head is reeling even thinking about it. 

So, of course on the same day I received this amazing news that had me shouting from the rooftops, I needed a swift kick in the pants to be reminded that life does not stop when things go well (nor does it stop when things go poorly, unless, of course, the thing that goes poorly is your own death). 

My nine-year-old son wanted to make dinner to help me celebrate the incredible news that Sammy was my designer. After internally rolling my eyes because although it was a nice gesture, making a somewhat complicated recipe with a kid not well-known for fastidiousness wasn't *exactly* my idea of a celebration, I swallowed my tendency to be peevish, went to the store, and procured the ingredients. He'd chosen Florentine Mac n Cheese with Chicken Sausage Meatballs, a Rachael Ray dish. Seemed easy enough. Mac n cheese. Meatballs. Piece of cake. I mean, not a literal piece of cake. But you catch my drift.  

After getting out all the ingredients, we chopped and measured, then got to the good part: the mixing. And here was my fatal mistake.

I gave my child a glass mixing bowl. He was stirring the ground chicken with fennel, ricotta, parmesan, and breadcrumbs, when he turned toward me with a big old grin and a story about something or another and pulled the glass bowl off the counter. 

It fell in slow-motion, my mouth forming the word "Noooooooo" as my Pyrex crashed to my wooden floor and....shattered. 

Glass. Bits of ground chicken. Parmesan. Eggs. The entire mess was splattered across the floor, and in my surprise, I shifted my foot and set it down on a piece of glass. I yelped, and he immediately began to cry. I told him to get away from the mess so he didn't cut himself too, gesturing wildly to the living room where his brothers stood stock still in horror that 1). Their mother was bleeding 2). Our dinner was now a glop of chicken smooshed with glass, and nobody was interested in that. My irritation flared at our predicament, but I told the demonlady inside my head to calm the heck down. We had a SITUATION HERE, and panicking was going to do nobody any good. 

I stepped tenderly around the glass, then removed the shard from my foot and bandaged it since it was dripping blood all over the kitchen floor. (Two days later, I pulled the rest of the glass out after wondering why my foot still felt twingey and weird.) Then I cleaned up the mess. An hour later, the kitchen was clean, the chicken goop was tossed in the trash, the floor was sanitized, and....we were starving.

So, despite my aching foot and general sense of "Hey, maybe we should just go get tacos," we made the meatballs again, because if there was anything I wanted to teach him, it was that when things go wrong, you don't just give up. So, with a plastic bowl (I was an idiot once and was not going to be twice), we made another batch, spilled the fennel, roasted the meatballs, and dirtied more pots and pans than I even own.  

That night, while we ate our meal (It was really good!), we celebrated not only the amazing news that Sammy freaking Yuen was going to make GRAVEMAIDENS the most astounding cover ever, but also the sweet heart of a nine-year-old boy who just wanted to give his momma a night she would always remember. 

I'm pretty sure I will. 

Write like the WIND

When the guy in the baseball cap and shorts waved me down in the University of South Florida parking garage on Tuesday night, I thought it was a college kid with a cougar thing. 

Until it wasn't. 

The "kid," who admittedly looked about 15 years younger than he actually was (not jealous of that at all) was Eric Vona, the director of I.C.E., the Imaginative Creative Explorers, the name chosen by the first group of youth writers in the Tampa Bay Area Writing Project 17 years ago. 

Eric laughed when I told him how young he looked, and said he gets it a lot.

He fits right in with his students who range between 14 and 22 years of age, all of them hungry to learn more about writing, four of them who have already written complete novels. He'd invited me to speak to his group about character development, a subject I knew very well considering I was raked over the coals for not having any of it in my first book, the novel that shall heretofore be known as JUST BURN IT because it was so horrible.

Naturally, I was happy to contribute to the conversation about character. 

With huge smiles and a palpable eagerness, the students welcomed me into WIND, the new name for the group, although "Writers in Need of Direction" is a bit of a misnomer in my opinion. Once we started talking, I was incredibly impressed with the level of knowledge they already had. They were light years ahead of where I was when I first started drafting! We talked about giving their main characters desires to propel their stories' plots and making sure their mcs have misconceptions about themselves or the world (or both) that get resolved so they have strong arcs. 

Since I stopped teaching years ago (has it really already been ten years??) I SO MISS interacting with teenagers on a daily basis, so this little snippet of conversation was such a boost to my spirits. 

I'm hopeful I gave them something in return, too. Maybe it was just some inspiration that someone like me, someone who has repeatedly failed, can chase after her dreams and grab them. Or maybe it was simply a little more information than what they already had. 

Either way, I'm so appreciative of the evening and hope to do it again very soon. Eric, thanks for having me!! And to all the students I hope you realize just how much you made my day. More than anything, keep learning and keep AT IT, even when you lack the motivation to do so. 

XOXO
Kell

A Cup That's Half Full (For the Dreamers Among Us)

Photo Credit: Rob Walsh via UnSplash

This post is for the wannabes. The dreamers. The ones who have cast their sights on a star somewhere off in the cosmos and are wondering how they can lasso it with the measly lariats in their hands.

I'm here today to specifically tell you—YES YOU!—that you can do it.

But you have to believe and set yourself up for success. First, let's chat about positivity.

"Be a positive thinker!"

It sounds like some televangelist's message on Sunday morning at 6:00 AM, doesn't it? Well, being positive and earning big rewards is not all hocus pocus and feel-good feelygoods. It's science. And I'm a firm believer in science. Hocus pocus has its place, but science is cool because someone worked really hard to prove that stuff.

Did you know that positive thinkers have more energy? It's true. Negativity wears you down, but scientists have found that since positive thinkers generate more adrenaline and endorphins, they have more energy and enthusiasm than those stuck in negativity.

And positive thinkers are more resilient, too. Bad things happen to everyone, but positive thinkers have more of a tendency to shake off those bad vibes than their negative counterparts do. Barbara Fredrickson, professor of psychology at UNC states "...positive emotions help speed recovery from negative circumstances," even if the positive thinking is self-generated.

Positive thinkers are contagious, too.

We've all experienced it: that person with the sunny disposition who somehow manages to lighten the mood, bringing the group out of a collective funk. That's because positivity is biologically contagious. Having a positive outlook toward other people can release the chemical oxytocin in the recipients' bloodstreams, while "mirror neurons," which cause us to replicate the actions of those around us, can spread positivity, too.

Basically, if you're a glass-is-half-full kind of a person, then guess what? The people around you will be, too. 

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