R.L. LaFevers's Blog, page 22

Launch Day!

You don't even know how excited I am that THEODOSIA AND THE EYES OF HORUS launches today, the first day of National Library Week! Truly the perfect alignment of the stars, as far as I'm concerned. Also? I get to spend part of the week with Texan Librarians!

As everyone is painfully aware, libraries have been hit especially hard in these hard economic times. Public and school libraries budgets have been slashed to zero lately (if not closed down altogether) and I want to do what little I can to...

Contest Winner!

I know you've all been waiting with bated breath. And the winner of a copy of THEODOSIA AND THE EYES OF HORUS is . . .

Icarus!*

Send me your snail mail address and I'll get that right out to you.

In other news, I am reading THE PHYSICK BOOK OF DELIVERANCE DANE, and am enjoying the story but LOVING the physicality of the book itself. The cover picture, the weight of the paper, the nubby texture, all of that makes me just want to hold it forever...


But really, you have to touch it to know how fabul...

Spread the Power--Donate a Book

There are so many injustices in the world, so many huge things that we can hardly get our minds around, let alone find some specific way we can help. Well, the amazing Colleen Mondor and Guys Lit Wire have teamed up with this fabulous idea, to create a cyber book fair for Navaho and Apache schools and fill their poor, starved libraries with BOOKS! It's shocking in this day and age that some kids have never owned a book, or that library shelves stand bare. One of the things I so love about thi...

Let's Talk Numbers, Shall We?

No, no. Don't groan. These are interesting numbers. Besides, I have to admit to being left-brained sometimes and every once in awhile I just have to give in to the urge.

There was a Publisher's Weekly article talking about the children's best selling titles and numbers making the rounds a week ago. First of all, I have to say how thrilled I am that this information is out there. Knowledge is power and so often these kinds of numbers and data are kept from the working writer, so it pleases me ...

Why Fantasy?

I'm going to be speaking on a panel at TLA next week, and the topic will be Fantasy for Young Readers, which has me thinking a lot about fantasy and writing and (duh!) young readers. One of the questions I come back to time and again is, Why fantasy? Why does fantasy speak to some young readers so much more loudly that realistic fiction? And why am I so drawn to that genre?

As a writer, probably the simplest answer to this question is that fantasy is closer to my worldview than realistic ficti...

Out of Words

I had intended to blog more than once this week, but the last three mornings as I sat sipping my first cup of coffee and staring out the window, waiting for words to begin nudging their way into my brain, there was not a scintilla of nudging going on. My brain was surprisingly empty of words.

Or perhaps not so very surprising. In addition to writing like a fiend for the last four months straight, my Eldest Son came home for a ten day visit--celebrating his GRADUATING FROM COLLEGE! Oops. Did I ...

The Oft Maligned Orphan

And no, I'm not talking about this blog, although I certainly could be. I always forget the sheer number of tasks I have to catch up on once I cross a deadline—so much of my real life gets put on hold while I meet it.

But I have been thinking about orphans in kid lit for a couple of weeks now, puzzled by how strongly some adult reviewers react to that archetype, calling it a trope or stereotype, bemoaning yet another orphan in childrens' literature, weak storytelling, etc. Frankly, I am puzzle...

Popping Back In--At Last!

You would think, having finally met both my deadlines, I would have been back in here, trumpets blaring with the announcement. And I meant to be, truly. But I posted over on Shrinking Violets (for the first time in months) and got busy being carried by my momentary euphoria at having finished.

The crash came the next day. I suppose it is inevitable, but it always surprises me, that absolute emptiness that follows finishing a book. It makes sense, as my life has usually been consumed with the b...

The Countdown Begins...

Okay, I'm in the final stages of Finish-The-Book-Fever. Seven more days until this puppy is off my desk and onto my editor's. Phew! Can't wait.

It's coming in longer than I had planned (now there's a surprise) and going in a hugely unexpected direction in one of the plotlines, but there you go. One of the truly great things about writing--having it surprise you.

Because I don't have much to talk about, (or more correctly, I don't have the time to talk about anything) I am going to link to Kelly...

It's Aaa-live!!

Last week (yeah, I'm waaay behind on my blog reading) Nathan Bransford raised an interesting question, talking about writing characters and the claim that some authors make that characters come to life and take over the story. Between Gaiman's talk a few weeks ago, the workshop I was preparing for, and the books I've been writing, I've been thinking about this a lot, especially as I hanker after those writing sweet spots where the characters DO come alive and write themselves.

Because for me, ...