Keris Stainton's Blog, page 46

52 Books: The Lady Most Likely

I've blethered about Eloisa James's books before, I know. If I hadn't been sent them for review I never would have read them and that would have been TERRIBLE because I just love them so much. They're the books most likely to make me *squee* when they come through the letterbox.

I haven't read any Julia Quinn or Connie Brockway before, but after reading this "novel in three parts" I'm certainly going to give them a go. Much like every other Eloisa James book I've read it was charming, sexy, funny and a really quick and indulgent read. Loved it.

Boy Quotes (Part 14)

SuperHarry

Harry: "Last night I dreamed that Joe laid a perfectly good fried egg."

Joe is shouting from his bed: "Mama! Joe want yunch!"

Oh dear god. Harry's just told me he's watching "Dick & Dong." I said, "Um… it's Dom." "Nope. It's Dong."

Joe's favourite new game is "pretend a be a yittle cat" and then just when I'm snuggling and purring: "Attack! Yions!"

Harry: "Why isn't this country attached to Europe?" It's too early for this.

Joe's just told me to use "Daddy favourite glue." 15 years of marriage and I didn't know David had a favourite glue.

Joe thinking

Harry: "I miss the old days when I was tiny. I loved being tiny."

Joe's sitting surrounded by cushions. Me: "You stay there in your nest like a little cute bird." Joe: "Tweet tweet."

Harry: "Isn't it great having wifi, Joe?" Joe: "Yeah!"

Harry's just said, "Wifi is great. Remember the times we didn't have wifi..?" We've had it since 11 o'clock this morning.

Joe's new favourite thing to say is "What the Dickens?!" My work here is done.

Happy Easter

Celebrating UKYA

For a while now I've been beavering away on a new blog, along with fellow authors Keren David and Susie Day. I've been planning to write about it here, but Keren's beaten me to it over on her wonderful blog and since I can't possibly improve on what she's written… I've nicked her post. (Yeah, okay, I got permission.) Over to Keren: 

It started, as so many things do, with a conversation on Twitter.  A chat about the difference between teen books and Young Adult, which morphed into a wider debate about American and British books, and spawned a hashtag #UKYA.

It crystallised a feeling that quite a few of us had, that American books for teens get a lot more attention than British ones, even in the UK. We go into bookshops and see special displays of imported YA books from the US. We see publicists for UK publishers promoting the latest transatlantic buy-in. And we suspect that YA is almost defined by that Mean Girls/Twilight High School feel, the proms, the basketball games, the road trips, so that reading about British kids doing GCSEs and watching EastEnders somehow feels all wrong.

Now, there's nothing wrong with American YA books, and indeed it is we British teen authors who enthusiastically rush to buy, read and praise writers like John Green. Meg Cabot and Maureen Johnson.

But then I stumbled across a group on Goodreads where American readers were asking for recommendations of British teen books, and coming up with little more than Harry Potter. And I kept on reading American YA books set in Britain, which came across as inauthentic as those awful episodes of Friends set in London. Or British characters in American YA books who sounded as British as Dick Van Dyke. And then I saw an internet query from an American family planning to travel to London with a teenager. Which books should they read to get them in the mood? Suggestions ranged from Oliver Twist to Swallows and Amazons. Oh and Harry Potter got a mention.

Well, there is more to UK YA than Harry Potter. To prove the point (and hopefully provide something on the internet for anyone in the world looking for authentically British books) we have set up a new blog, which should be a showcase for the best of British teen fiction. You can find it here and I hope you'll follow, share and generally shout about it.

When I say we, the very wonderful Keris Stainton* and Susie Day have done all the hard work (Hurray!). We'd love to get more blog posts, recommendations and comments. Please do get in touch if you'd like to be involved.

There have been moments when I've worried that our site is a bit Little Englandy -  too parochial, too inwards looking and a bit unfriendly towards foreigners. But that's not the aim. We just want to celebrate the great fiction being written in Britain (not just by Brits either. Some of our best UKYA writers are in fact Americans, but they live here, so that's OK) and redress the balance a bit.

Right now the British children's best-selling lists are dominated by American Wimpy Kids and American dystopians. Sometimes I go into supermarkets or even bookshops and  have to look hard to find an actual British teen book. I'd love to see Waterstones or WH Smith put on a Best of British teen book promotion. In the meantime, use that UKYA hashtag and start telling the world about our blog.

* should I have edited this bit out? *blush* 

Interview with… Louise Jones (superstar teen blogger)

I can't remember how I first discovered Louise Jones. It was on Twitter, I know, but apart from that… not a clue. But I've been following her for a while, we've emailed a few times, I read her blog and she's just fabulous. She's going to be a star. Seriously. So I nabbed her for an interview.

So who are you and what do you do?

HELLO KERIS! I'm Louise Jones, I'm the terrifying age of 18, and I'm blundering my way through A Levels. I also have a blog. It's a nice blog. I quite like it.

I've been so impressed with your blog posts – how long have you been writing and how did you get started with blogging?

Thank you! I started the blog in November 2009, but I can't tell you why, because I don't remember. I knew I wanted to write though, thanks to my GCSE English teacher. I wasn't doing that well, but after handing in my Creative Writing coursework, she kept me behind and told me I could do this writing thing. Someone had told me I was actually good at something, and it genuinely changed my life. I think then I wanted to be a celebrity magazine journalist, and had possibly seen others blogging (I really need to work on the memory thing), so decided to have a crack myself. At first it started as an online diary, but has turn into something quite unexpectedly mental.

You deservedly won Channel 4 Young Blogger of the Year. Without wanting to sound like a Miss World presenter: how did it change your life? 

My life changed within hours. I went from a standard unknown 17 year old, to having thousands of people following me and wanting to know me. It was weird. I was always the unstable girl, going from social group to social group, not really having her heart set on anything, but suddenly I was being congratulated by bloody Jon Snow on national TV [watch the interview here], and ferried around for interviews. Since then, I've worked for Heat magazine, Channel 4, various journalists, HarperCollins book publishers, Big Brother, and other little projects. I think it was then that I realised I was a proper individual, who had an odd ability of making people laugh and cry simultaneously with my writing. I could play with people's emotions – BRILLIANT. I still have some secret ACE things lined up, and I could not be more grateful for all the help, support, and readers. I'm a very lucky girl.

I know you're going to study English at university, what do you hope to do after graduation?

I don't want to have set plans now, because I know I'll focus too much on them and not allow for surprises. Taking life as it comes, and expecting the unexpected, has worked for me so far so I'll stick with that notion. I just want to write, be creative, make people laugh, make people cry, make people think. I do not want an office job. Even being a journalist in an office is not for me. Structure is rubbish, so I want to work from home and write and have time to do random STUFF. Easier said than done, but we'll see eh.

What advice would you give to teenagers interested in journalism?

For journalism specifically, I would say to write and write and write, and promote yourself with it. I sent my blog to a load of writers on Twitter who I'm now friends with (in my head we're proper friends, anyway), all because I persisted in getting my writing out there. Get work experience too and NAG for it. If no one replies, email again! Be passionate and eager if you want it enough. But if you're interested in ANYTHING, don't let it go. If you're interested in something that none of your friends are then DON'T CARE. Go for it. Hold onto that thing that makes you happy and worth it.

What's been the best advice you've ever been given?

To not grow up fast. One of my teachers kept me behind last year (happens a lot, can you tell?) and scared me by telling me that, because I realised I was trying to. So caught up in trying to be famous with writing, that I was forgetting there was a whole world out there, with brilliant humans, and lots of time. I've also given myself stern advice to know I'm doing perfectly fine being me, and would do even better to remember it.

What one book would you take with you to a desert island? 

I hate this question. I hate it so much. I remember loving Let's Get Lost, by Sarra Manning years ago, but haven't read it again in a while, so would probably take that…and my diaries. Normal diary and Wreck My Journal. They don't count as books.

If you could live inside a book – but still be you – which book would you choose?

Harry Potter, obviously.

And finally… Russell Brand or David Mitchell? 

Russell Brand.

Sunny Sunday

Given that we've no idea if these last couple of sunny weeks will turn out to be "summer", we've been trying to make the most of them and so if the sun's shining there's no lounging around at home allowed – it's up and at 'em.

Yesterday, the boys wanted to go to the beach, so we headed off on one of our favourite days out. I'm usually super-cautious about the weather, taking a selection of clothing with me to cover every eventuality and while yesterday I did that for the boys, I totally failed to do the same for myself and so I stood in the playground in Williamson's Park, Lancaster, in my little cardigan and flip-flops, shivering and longing for a nice warm jumper and my favourite boots.

It was so nippy that we didn't think the beach would be much good, but after driving to Morecambe and grabbing a couple of coffees (for me and D) and muffins (for the boys) we toddled down to the sand and it was absolutely glorious. The beach was almost empty and it was actually warm.

52 Books: Finding Your Way in a Wild New World by Martha Beck

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll know how much I love Martha Beck. Her book Finding Your Own North Star quite literally changed my life and I'll happily read anything she writes.

Her latest book, Finding Your Way In a Wild New World is actually much more "woo-woo" than her previous books, but the thing I love about Martha is she knows it's woo-woo and she knows the reader will be rolling his or her eyes and thinking she lost her mind, but she doesn't care and she's totally got a sense of humour about it herself (most of the time – there were, admittedly, a couple of bits in this book that gave me pause, but I love her so I just skipped past them, merrily).

This book is, like Finding Your Own North Star, about finding your "true calling" but where North Star was about the work you're meant to do, Wild New World is about your place in the world as a holistic part of the world. If I was going to explain it in a woo-woo way, I'd say it's about being at one with plants and animals and the Earth itself, but then I don't think anyone would want to read it. I wouldn't want to read it. But I'm so glad I did. It's inspiring and, I think, important. And way ahead of its time.

Boy quotes (Part 13)

Harry's just told me he's going to work at the BBC when he grows up. Either at CBBC or on Strictly Come Dancing. Fine with me.

Joe's just said "Where's my trusty pencil?"

Just read Mummy Laid an Egg to Harry. Me: "So what do you think?" Harry: "That's crazy talk."

Joe opened a pat of butter and said, "Wow! Like fireworks!" ???

Saw a snail on the way to school. I wondered where it might be going. Harry said "I think Las Snailgas."

Just parking the car and Joe said, "Go back. Go back. Go back, Middy. Yes, Middy, fine!" #backstreetdriver

Just told Harry I needed to write a little bit more of my book. He suggested "'I want to go on the computer,'" said Harry."

Joe talking is just the best thing ever. He just ran up to me and said, "Mama bin hoov'rin' down'tairs? Yes, Mama!"

I've been up since 5.30. Harry's just come downstairs and said, "Funny time in the morning to be up!" Tell me about it…

Just shouted for Harry. Joe ran in: "Yeah?" "You're not Harry, are you." Joe: "Yes, ma Harry!"

Harry: "Me and Daddy have falled out with each other and he never wants to see my sight." Heh.

Holiday! Celebrate! (or 'Can writers do holidays?')

Harry finishes school today. Joe finished preschool yesterday. David doesn't finish work til the middle of next week, but we're all very excited anyway. We seem to have been counting down to this holiday for aaaages and for the past week we've had a tear-off countdown calendar pinned up in the hall. Much as the boys love school, they're ready for a break.

And even though I've been enjoying writing possibly more than ever before, I'm ready for a break too. But I'll still be writing. Not only because I'm loving what I'm working on, but also because writers never really stop writing…

Used with permission from Debbie Ridpath Ohi at Inkygirl.com.

{via Megan Crane}

Anniversary blossom

 

A few years ago, David bought me a cherry blossom tree for our anniversary. When it arrived, it was basically a twig in a cardboard tube, but we planted it in our front garden and we've watched it grow. And grow.

Last year, it had a couple of blossoms and even one or two cherries. This year, it's not exactly bursting with blossom, but it's looking pretty gorgeous. Definitely one of my favourite ever presents.