Gayle Forman's Blog, page 3

some days…

Some days, I have fantasies about returning to the Pacific Northwest and having lots of room and being near family.

And then I see things like this:

And I change my mind.

I'm such a sun whore.

Winter and Spring 2012 Events Are Here!

I'll update this list as it evolves:

Saturday, January 21st

Montgomery County Teen Book Festival. Details here.

Tuesday, February 7th, 7 pm

M. Jerry Weiss Center For Children's and Young Adult Literature at NJCU. Details here.

Friday, February 17th, 10:00 a.m.

Young Adult Workshop, South Huntington Library. Details here.

Wednesday March 14-Thursday March 15th

Public Library Association Conference, Philadelphia. More details to come, but check website.

Coming soon in April, WHERE SHE WENT paperback release and tour, which will be a group tour with two other amazing Penguin authors. Guess who? More details as I get them….

armchair traveling

Here's what I've been looking at today instead of working on my book:

 

And this:

 

And a bit of this:

You might call this procrastination.
Or armchair traveling.
Or daydreaming.
But I happen to have a character who goes to Mexico.
So I call it research.
Work.
Which means I'm actually working right now.
I love my job.
Even when I don't.

the curse of cakewalks

I have been working on this book for six months. I though it was going to be easy.

Never, ever think a book will be easy. It's like thinking the guy you just met is going to be the one you marry. Inevitably, he will sleep with your best friend and steal your wallet.

Anyhow, I finally finished the first draft and went back and discovered that those first hundred pages that had given me such hell the first time around, they rewrote themselves.

Ha! That was easy. So the rest of the revision is going to be A cakewalk, I figured.

Don't ever say that. Saying any part of a revision is going to be cakewalk is the equivalent of saying some guy you met is going to be your one-and-only. Then he sleeps with your best friend and your mom and he steals your wallet and your dog. You just don't tempt fate like that.

The middle section. It is so bad.

How do you all feel about reading the first third and last third of a book? Just skipping the middle? No one likes the middles anyhow.

No? Boy, you are demanding. Fine. Back to the mines for me then.

Also, in the theme of yesterday's what-does-a-gauntlet-thrown-down-look-like exploration, today I'm wondering what an actual cakewalk looks like. Here is what I came up with:

Not exactly sure how that's a cakewalk, but it is a far more appealing image. Cakewalk stays in the stable of overused Gayle-isms!

the gantlet

My blogging has become pathetic as of late. I will spare you the boring details as to why as they all boil down to the most boring and First World problem in the universe: lack of time. Even I am tired of hearing how busy I am. Shut me up, please.

I have thought of switching to Tumblr, as if somehow this new format will allow me to do something somewhere between tweets and the long, long-form essay type blogs I tend to do.

But WTF, I can do that here, too.

I'm throwing down the gauntlet, at myself. Daily blogs. Bring the blogging back. And next year, when I am less busy (stop talking about that !) vlogs. Don't say I didn't warn you.

 

The above photo is a gauntlet [actually, it is a gantlet. A gauntlet is a thing you walk through, says my ridiculous smart friend Marjorie, so I am now stupider than I thought] thrown, by the way. I probably use the term "throw down the gantlet" at least once per novel. I am fond of it. But I never actually imagined what it would look like. It looks like when C-3P0 lost his arm. I will have to reconsider using this phrase moving forward.

Oh, blogging, it's good to be back.

 

the gauntlet

My blogging has become pathetic as of late. I will spare you the boring details as to why as they all boil down to the most boring and First World problem in the universe: lack of time. Even I am tired of hearing how busy I am. Shut me up, please.

I have thought of switching to Tumblr, as if somehow this new format will allow me to do something somewhere between tweets and the long, long-form essay type blogs I tend to do.

But WTF, I can do that here, too.

I'm throwing down the gauntlet, at myself. Daily blogs. Bring the blogging back. And next year, when I am less busy (stop talking about that !) vlogs. Don't say I didn't warn you.

 

The above photo is a gauntlet, thrown, by the way. I probably use the term "throw down the gauntlet" at least once per novel. I am fond of it. But I never actually imagined what it would look like. It looks like when C-3P0 lost his arm. I will have to reconsider using this phrase moving forward.

Oh, blogging, it's good to be back.

 

the other writer in the family

There are lots of fucked-up things about living in New York City.

Aside from the exorbitant costs and the weather (tho, hello, November, you've been soo pretty) and the 1 percent  and the double joy of the rising subway fares and cut service and the sudden ubiquitousness of the artisanal hotdog, and the snooty people, there is the bass-akward way things go if you ever want to move. You cannot simultaneously sell and buy a new place like you can apparently elsewhere in the country. You sell, which is its own brand of headache (meet your building's board). Then you pray. Or move into a rental. And try to buy.  And pray some more. Which is what we are doing. Which is why I've been, as one friend puts it, the Mayor of Crazy Town.

It was traumatic for all. My daughter Willa has written a book about it. I'm the redhead. She's the brunette. We are both crying. The book is nonfiction.

 

 

But, there is a sliver of redemption at the end of this story. And this too is true. A week after the first move, we're in a large one-room studio, all four of us, and it's okay. I'm sleeping through the night for the first time in months (for this, I would like to bless the white-noise app on the iPad. I LOVE you, gentle rain sounds). I'm closing in on a first draft of my novel and hope to have it done by the end of the month, almost like a NaNoWriMo draft. Willa nailed her book in one go. Here's how it ends.

 

Love.

Love.

Love.

 

 

transitions

Ugh, that title—transitions—sounds so ominous, like I'm going to talk about death, or my new career as the owner of a chain of Baskin Robbins franchises (wait, that doesn't sound so bad).

Actually, I'm talking about transitions like moving out of our apartment, which I am, imminently, and into another apartment, in the hopes of landing in our final resting place—no, not THAT one; why are you all so fixated on death (asks the lady who wrote the two books all about death)?

Anyhow, we're packing up to move, to a temporary apartment before we move into a house. It's not fun, but you do what you gotta do.

Well, one thing I'm not gonna do is blog. So my apologies for the total lack of activity in these parts. Hello…hello…hello. Good god, you can hear an echo in here. And has no one dusted in here? It's like a haunted house. Or one of those half-constructed Florida subdivisions. Very creepy

Another thing I'm not gonna do is visit the post office, so if you're in that second or third tier of people waiting for TEAM ADAM buttons or signed books—and your tier has to do with when you requested your stuff/sent in your address, not any kind of creepy velvet-rope judgement—then you must grant me a little more time and a little more patience. I have your goodies set aside.

One thing I'm apparently gonna do is keep writing. Like in every spare second I have. After torturing me for the first 100 pages—it's STILL torturing me for the first 100 pages but I have left those behind, like a day-old milkshake—I have sprung ahead and now I am writing this new book as though my life depended on it. As though it were due in February.  As though it were my primary happy distraction from packing boxes and fretting about where we will ultimately live. As though I myself were participating in NaNoWriMo.

There's something about writing intensely, like you're racing for a finish line—or racing from the Cannibal Moving Boxes—that is satisfying. Hopefully those of you participating in NaNoWriMo are getting into that groove. And those of you in need of a bit of help, I hereby present you with my peptalk for this year's NaNoWriMo. (I do so enjoy writing NaNoWriMo. It reminds me of Nanaimo is British Columbia and a Mecca Normal song, but I digress.)  It feels more true now than when I wrote it several months ago, perhaps because since then I have junked the entire book I thought would be my next one and have started something new.

Anyhow, transitions, it's not just about moving to new apartments or starting a new book or finding a way to segue from one sentence or idea to another. It's basically all life is. And with that reach of a transition, I sign off.

Dear Writers,

Every time I sit down to start a new book, I stare at that fresh blank computer screen and wonder: Will it happen again? Will the seed of an idea or character I have begin to sprout, planting roots in the form of backstories, shooting up a strong stem of plot, flowering with more characters and plot twists? In other words, how is it possible that this germ of an idea will grow into an actual fully realized book—and that I will be the one making that happen?

And yet, it happens. Every time I take that leap of faith, it pays off. The story opens up, that alchemical process begins, the new world unfolds, and I get lost in it.

By participating in NaNoWriMo, you are taking that ultimate leap of faith. You are telling yourself that your idea will become a fully realized story, and that you will get a draft down in a month, no less.

This requires an enormous amount of faith. In yourself, and in the writing process. So congratulations on getting this far. Many people never have the guts to do what you're about to do.

But when it comes to writing, faith can get you started, but it won't necessarily keep you going. The faith that you need to write a novel is constantly tested—and reinvigorated—by the act of writing one. You'll be sitting at your computer one morning, with no clear of idea of where a character is going or what she's going to do. And then she'll show you. And you will follow. And your excitement in the process will be redoubled, and along with it, your faith.

But that can only happen if you're writing. If you're sitting in a café talking about your story for hours on end or taking long walks in a meadow waiting for the muse to strike, I'm afraid you'll soon run out of steam, and out of faith. When it comes to writing a novel, inertia breeds inertia, and momentum breeds momentum.

In my experience, that fickle muse, she visits when you're sitting in your chair, hard at work. Which isn't to say there isn't a time and a place to talk out trouble spots with a friend in a café or to linger in a field (taking walks is actually a great writer's trick for finding solutions to knotty problems, but we're talking about brief breaks that lead to inspired sprints back to the computer). But you have a month. Spend that month wisely. If you do, I bet you will experience that magical moment of staring hard at what seems like a brick wall in your story, only to suddenly see windows, doors—options—you never saw before. That's your book revealing itself to you. That's your faith at work.

So, keep at it. Trust in the process. Trust that your story will come. Which isn't to say that every book you write will wind up a published book. I've written several novels that will never leave my hard drive. I've come to understand that even the misfires are all part of the process—that they've honed my craft or led me to the book I was supposed to be writing.

If you can come away from this month with a finished draft, congratulations! If you come away from this month with a completed draft, a burgeoning trust in the process, and maybe even a love of that process, then you are on your way to a fulfilling writer's life.

Ready to take that leap?

Peptalk over. If any of you have any moving-related peptalks, please post in comments. Or send Starburst. I believe they have mood-bosting powers psychopharmacolosits are only just now beginning to understand. And I'm out of the Reds and Pinks, down to the Yellows and Oranges (God, I sound like a Valley of the Dolls character).

This is my apartment. Or what once was my apartment. Now it is a museum of ugly boxes. The boxes seem to swallow things—things that were not packed in them. Everything is packed or missing.

 

And this is my desk drawer, once so full of life, and well,you know, crap. Now, an empty shell with a weird homeless cable and some tissues that may be from the first Bush era.

Send Starbursts!

new books!!!

So, in case you missed it, my new two books were revealed today on Publishers Weekly. JUST ONE DAY, followed by JUST ONE YEAR. Here's a slightly more specific version  of the PW announcement.

Can you fall in love in just one day? Can you become a new person? How about in just one year? In JUST ONE DAY and its companion novel JUST ONE YEAR, sheltered American good girl Allyson "LuLu" Healey and easygoing actor Willem De Ruiter are  about to find out against a guidebook-worthy array of foreign backdrops. Equal parts romance, coming-of-age-tale, mystery and travel romp (with settings that span from England's Stratford upon Avon to Paris to Amsterdam to India's Bollywood)  JUST ONE DAY and JUST ONE YEAR show how in looking for someone else, you just might wind up finding yourself.

Anyhow, here are some answers to your questions about the new books.

Are they a series?

Sort of. More like a duet. Like IF I STAY and WHERE SHE WENT, they have alternating POVs. JUST ONE DAY takes place from the girl's point of view, that would be Allyson, sometimes known as Lulu. JUST ONE YEAR is from the boy's point of view, may I introduce his hotness, Willem.

Willem? What kind of name is that?

Dutch. Willem is from Holland.

You just went to Holland and France. Was that to research this new book?

Yes. The book takes place in a bunch of foreign locales, including Paris, Amsterdam, Utrecht, parts of India, and of course, the U.S. I'm not going everywhere and I've already been to a lot of those places but I needed to see certain parts of Paris and refresh myself on Amsterdam and Utrecht.

When can I read them?

JUST ONE DAY is meant to come out in spring of 2013 and JUST ONE YEAR a mere year later. But I have to write the things first.

Does this mean that there will be no more Mia and Adam books?

Yes, that and the fact that I've been saying this for months is precisely what this means. Mia and Adam are where they need to be.

Really. Can't you write about them having babies or something?

No, because that would be boring. Unless I killed the babies and I can't do any more bad things to Mia and Adam. I'm now concentrating on doing bad things to Allyson and Willem. Bah-hah-hah-hah.

Please, a nice story about babies!

It's gonna be boring. I'm warning you. And then Mia and Adam traveled together and lived together and after a while got married and had kids and then they argued about who had to get up in the middle of the night with them but then they made up in the morning and then they bickered about whether to teach the kids guitar or cello but taught them both in the end and everyone lived happily ever after. The end.

Oh, but if you're THAT curious about Adam and Mia, keep your eyes peeled for the paperback of WHERE SHE WENT, coming out in spring of 2012 (at which time I'll be touring, too, with two other FABULOUS authors). There is some bonus material in the back that gives a glimpse of what their lives together have become. It's about as close to a third book as you're ever gonna get.

Who is hotter, Adam or Willem?

They are totally different kinds of hot. Willem is so different from Adam. No emo-core, no guitar player, but very complicated in his way. Mia and Allyson are likewise, very different. Needless to say, I like them all very much and am enjoying spending the time with my new friends. If only they would let me sleep.

How many people do you kill in this one?

Not a single person!  And, yet,  I still endeavor to make you cry. We will see how I do in 2013.

 

what IS team adam?

I just explained this as the Brooklyn Book Festival—and thanks to The Book Muncher for prompting the question.

But there have been questions about Team Adam. There is no love triangle in IF I STAY and WHERE SHE WENT, no one vying for Mia (unless you consider death the other suitor) or for Adam (well, there is Brynn, but not really). So, if you are TEAM ADAM, does that mean you're not on TEAM MIA? That you're against Mia?

No! Team Adam is more of a universal team. And by belonging, you are making a statement about your very preference for manhood. It means that you stand on the side of guys who act like men, and men who treat girls and women with respect. Who get that sexiness doesn't have to mean assholishness. Guys who aren't afraid to show a little heart now and then, but can still totally rock a guitar solo. Guys who get that being a withholding dickwad* just isn't cool Guys who want the best for you, even if it's not always the best for them. Guys like Adam.

So, are you TEAM ADAM? You want a button to show it? Here's how to get one.

1. Download the image below.

2. Use the image as your FB and Twitter profile pic

3. Email your mailing address to info at gayleforman dot com. U.S. residents only for now.

4. Be patient.

*interlude with Brynn notwithstanding.