Keris Stainton's Blog, page 56

LA, baby!

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"A Day in California"

If all's gone well, right now I'm on my way to LA (along with my lovely friend Stella).

This video, found via this Tumblr, gave me butterflies. I didn't know you could do tilt shift video, but I like it.

Book News (or why I'm off to LA…)

I've been hinting about this here and there (mainly there) for a while now, but I've been given the nod to announce it, so…

I'm going to have a new book out with Orchard next year (it's actually already on Amazon – no pressure!).

It's set in LA, hence the research trip I'm heading off on tomorrow, and features Emma, Jessie's best friend from Jessie Hearts NYC.

I'm really excited about it, but first… California, here I come!

Agent A, RIP

You know how I mentioned Harry dealing with difficult things by putting them in a story? I just told him our neighbour died and he asked a couple of questions and then said, "One of my agents died today. Agent A. He was an alligator." I asked how he died and Harry said, "He came face to face with an oversized crocodile… and the crocodile had a sword and it went through his heart. It was his funeral today and I saw him lying in a box, holding some flowers."

Harry "Smurfs" me a lesson

I'm pretty sure we first saw a trailer for The Smurfs movie about two years ago and I thought it looked a bit rubbish, but it has New York and Neil Patrick Harris and, you know, Smurfs, so I figured we'd probably go and see it.

But then I read some stuff about "the Smurfette Principal" and "The Problem with Smurfette" and saw another trailer in which Smurfette's skirt blew up in the manner of Marilyn Monroe's famous upskirt moment and I just thought… sod this. I told Harry I wouldn't be going to see it (and therefore nor would he) and explained why. He was fine with it (honestly, he was – we talk about gender inequality in kids TV all the time and he's actually started noticing things I've missed).

But then when The Smurfs showed up on Kids AM, Harry said he wanted to see it. And I thought about it and decided that it was pretty unfair of me to judge it without seeing it, so told him we'd go.

As we were setting off on Saturday morning, Harry said, "And now I'm going to teach you a lesson!"

"What lesson?"

"That you like The Smurfs movie!"

I told him that I never said I wouldn't like it – maybe I would – but that I had some problems with it and we could talk about that after. Actually, I said (joking, honest) that we'd discuss what was wrong with it on the way home. David laughed. Yeah, sounds like fun, I know.

So. We saw it. And, you know what? I really enjoyed it. I laughed out loud a lot. There were some good jokes for the grown-ups (I particularly liked the one about "Passive Aggressive Smurf". I'm glad we went to see it.

Yes, it has problems. Of course there's the whole 100 Smurfs and only one is female issue. There's the fact that the Smurfs are supposedly named after their personalities, but Smurfette is basically defined as "girl". Neil Patrick Harris's character is Vice President of Marketing (I think it was) whereas his wife, Grace (Jayma Mays) doesn't seem to have a job at all (at least, it's never mentioned). (In fact, Grace is a bit wet in general.) And then there's the subplot involving the cosmetics company NPH works for and how important it is for women not to lose their looks (I didn't bother addressing that with Harry – he's too young to be opening that particular can of worms). And when a dad brought a Smurf to the counter in the toy shop and asked "Do you have one in pink?" even Harry rolled his eyes. (Read more about it at Ms magazine's Smurf Girls Are Easy… and Love To Shop.)

But as well as just looking pretty (or "Smurfalicious" – barf), Smurfette gets to kick some ass. The Marilyn moment is less about sexualising Smurfette (although there is a bit of that) and more the lead-in for a kilt joke, which had Harry in absolutely stitches. And, you know, NPH is awesome.

When it finished, Harry said, "So? Did you like it?"

I said, "Yes. I loved it."

He said, "Ha! I told you I would teach you a lesson!"

So on the way home, I lectured him about being a smart arse instead.

(Not really.)

Books I've loved lately

Lauren Oliver's debut novel, Before I Fall, is one of my all-time favourite YA novels, so I was keen to read her first MG novel – Liesl & Po – and I wasn't disappointed. I hardly knew anything about it before I started reading, but I was immediately gripped by the story of a lonely little girl, stuck in the attic by her stepmother, who is visited by Po and his/her cat, Bundle. Po and Bundle have come from the Other Side, which intrigues Liesl because her father has recently died and she didn't get to say goodbye to him. Following a mix-up between a box of magic and Liesl's father's ashes, Liesl, Po and Bundle end up running away and meeting Will, the Alchemist's apprentice. This book is sweet and sad and dreamy. I loved it (and I'm in awe of Oliver's drive and imagination).

I've been meaning to read Megan Crane's novel I Love the 80s for a while because I love Megan's books and I love, you know, the 80s. Jenna's always been obsessed with the 80s band, Wild Boys and in particular their lead singer, Tommy Seer, who died in a car accident in 1987. One night, she's reaching for a lightbulb in the supply closet at her office and she falls, hits her head and wakes up in 1987. We've all been there. Inevitably she ends up working with Wild Boys and she's suprised and disappointed to find that, not only is Tommy not at all like she expected, she doesn't even like him very much. At least to begin with. I couldn't read this book quickly enough. I loved the 80s setting (there are some great details on 80s New York – it sounds horrible), I really loved Tommy Seer and I read the last couple of chapters breathlessly while Joe hopped up and down next to me shouting, "Tea, Mama! Want tea!" "Just… let… me… finish… this…" Fab.

Backpacked is Catherine Ryan Howard's second self-published travel book. I've mentioned Catherine on here before more than once. I think she and her writing are wonderful and Backpacked cemented that opinion. It also cemented the opinion that backpacking is very much not for me. Central America sounds wonderful and every now and then I got a twinge of envy, but in the main I was very much glad to be reading it at home with home comforts. A really good read.

A Tangle of Magicks was very kindly sent to me by Caroline at Portrait of a Woman. I was thrilled because I loved the first book in Stephanie Burgis's series, A Most Improper Magick. In this book, Kat and her family have decamped to Bath and Kat soon finds herself caught up in another magical scrape. I loved this book, but it kept reminding me of something and I just couldn't quite think what it was. This morning I remembered: Buffy. It's like Buffy set in Regency England if Buffy was 12. How fabulous is that?! Can't wait to read the next book.

A lovely day

{via Daily Mail. Don't judge me. Yeah, okay, judge all you like.}

Why do you write?

I was asked this a few times on a school visit I did recently (which I totally meant to blog about and then forgot). For me, I deal with things by writing about them. Not necessarily in fiction (although having just written a book about a girl who's father's died, it seems I do that too), but if I'm struggling with something, I work through it by writing about it.

I didn't actually realise that was the case until I was in labour with Harry and in a right state. I asked David to bring a notebook and pen to the hospital and sat and wrote and wrote and felt much better. Even now, if I wake up stressing about something in the middle of the night, coming downstairs and writing about it – even if it's a blog post or sometimes even a tweet – makes me feel much better, more in control. I think partly it's because my mind is hopping around all over the place, but if I write stuff down, I can impose an order on it.

I thought about this yesterday because Harry seems to be the same. We were walking home from school and a man stopped us to ask if I had a lighter. Once he'd gone, Harry said, "What did that man want?" "To borrow a lighter." "What's a lighter?" "You will have seen them. You use them instead of matches." "Why did he want one?" "Probably to light a cigarette." "What's a cigarette?" (I hadn't realised until then that Harry didn't know what a cigarette is, but we don't know anyone who smokes anymore so I shouldn't have been surprised.) I explained cigarettes to him and then he said "Miaowser smokes…"

Miaowser is one of Harry's (many) pretend friends. Harry then started telling me how Miaowser is the only one of his pretend friends who smokes and how his other pretend friends tell him not to, but Miaowser does it anyway. I've actually noticed Harry doing this before – processing something I've told him by putting it in a story – but I didn't really think much of it until yesterday. Interesting, don't you think?

Also a good excuse to once again share my favourite ever Harry video:

Why do you write? 

California, baby!

This time next week, I'll be well on my way to here

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Which means I'd better get ahead on NaNoWriMo.

But I'm too excited!

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Emily Gale's NaNoWriMo Haiku

the story opens

just a tiny crack at first

but in pours the light

Read the rest of the post here. (And then go through the archives and read the rest of Emily's blog because it's wonderful.)

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