Beth Kephart's Blog, page 315

Meet me at the Philly Book Festival

I'm going to assume that it will be spring (wouldn't it have to be?) by the time the Philadelphia Book Festival rolls around on April 17th and 18th, so I'm thinking iris colors. I'm also inviting you to come meet me and two fantastic YA writers—Elizabeth Eulberg (The Lonely Hearts Club) and Patrick Carman (Skeleton Creek and Trackers)—on the Sunday, April 18th YA panel. Elizabeth, Patrick, and I will be on an outdoor stage that afternoon, 2 PM. Sun, I'm thinking. A sprinkling of clouds. ...

The Abacus of Snow

(it keeps coming)

Kim Yu-na, Mao Asada, and Joannie Rochette: What they taught us

Last night, so many of us waited for the final flight of Olympic skaters to perform, and when they entered the ice, I held my breath. So much is at stake, always, for these athletes—for anyone who has named a dream and held to it.

I don't need to report the scores; they're known. Kim Ya-na's record-breaking, cobalt blue performance. Mao Asada's steely, silver triple axels. The sweeping extensions of bronze-medalist Joannie Rochette over elastic knees. And let's not forget the American, 16...

Eva and Me

This is me, with one of the most beautiful girls in the whole wide world.

Tell me: Don't you love her?

And isn't the photographer, Mike Matthews, something else?

Standing up beyond the critique

Sometimes (it's intermittent), American Idol is on in this house; a few weeks ago, while photographing that precarious icicle, I walked by the screen and snapped this photo. It's Simon, obviously, disagreeing with Ellen, while a singer who has just left her heart on the stage awaits some kind of verdict: Is she good? Does she have a future as an artist? Should she defer her dream, or hold on?

Who is the expert? Whose voice matters? To whom do we-who-are-striving listen to? These are age...

Win a copy of The Heart is Not a Size

Yesterday, Ruta Rimas, who has been seeing The Heart is Not a Size through its pre-publishing days at HarperTeen, wrote to say that an early copy of the hardback has arrived at her office.



Contest, I thought.



And so here is a question for any of you who might like to win a copy: Where in the world do you hope to go next, and why? Leave your answer in the comments section here, and I'll choose a name at random by March 10th.



Heart, for its part, takes place partly in...

The Heart is Not a Size: Read an Interview/Get a shot at an IPod Touch

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[image error] Many of you have been participating in HarperTeen's enormously popular 28 Days of Winter promotion, and tomorrow (February 25) The Heart is Not a Size will be the featured book. Stop by the site to read an exclusive interview in which I talk about best friends, making a difference, romance (hmmmm), and travel. Answer the day's poll, and get a shot at winning a pretty grand prize.

Much of Heart focuses on Georgia's desire to somehow make a difference. Those of you who follow this blog know t...

Joannie Rochette

Today I would like only to honor Joannie Rochette, the Canadian figure skater who lost her beloved, 55-year-old mother to a heart attack on Sunday and who skated a flawless and love-filled short program last evening at the Vancouver Winter Olympics. Rochette did not grow up rich. Her parents lost their first child before Joannie was born. With her father working extra shifts at a metals factory to help pay for his daughter's skating, Joannie herself took on employment, as a 16 year old, as ...

All day, in this winter rain, writing of heat and Spain, revising this

Miguel heads for the jeep. I climb in beside him and slam the door and he drives—past the house into the fields of bleached-out grass, over earth rising and collapsing, into the thick of the dust. There are check points—that's what he calls them—and at each, Miguel hops out, turns the key in a lock, swings open the gate, hops back in, drives forward, stops, then locks the gate behind us, until finally we are out among the bulls, jerking along like some African safari. He...

Enormous Frustrations and No Such Thing as the Real World

Sometimes writing is just so hard. This morning I would almost say it's too hard. The only hours I have to give to it are the hours I should be sleeping. I force myself to my desk in the 3 AM dark, and nothing works, the rhythms are off, I can't get my footing, I ask myself, Have you not worked this very page at least four dozen times before? Should you not already hear its music? Don't you get it? Can't you? What is it going to take? I read a page or two from a novel I love, the work...