Alyssa Sheinmel's Blog, page 2
August 1, 2012
The Stone Girl – Blog Tour and More!
I never wanted to write a book about eating disorders, but I guess I always knew I would, since there was a time when they were a big part of my own life. But I certainly didn’t think there was anything to say about eating disorders that hadn’t already been said in the books I’d read for as long as I could remember: The Best Little Girl in the World, Stick Figure, Fasting Girls, Hunger Pains, and more recently Unbearable Lightness and Wintergirls, to name just a few. I couldn’t tell you exactly when I started reading these books, only that I read more and more as my own body-obsession intensified. I read Marya Hornbacher’s haunting memoir Wastedso many times that there are lines I can still, today, recite verbatim. There was a time in my life when I wanted to have an eating disorder: I wanted to be skinny and an eating disorder seemed like the only way. I loved eating disorders so much that I even wrote my senior thesis about them. In a way, I’d been researching The Stone Girlsince long before I knew I would write it.
The Stone Girl is not, I know, a traditional story about eating disorders. Sethie’s is hardly a typical case, though maybe there isn’t really such thing as a typical case with such personal diseases. Sethie is the girl who, at least initially, skates on the precipice of her disorder, not quite diving in. She is the girl who will never say she has an eating disorder because she’s too ashamed – not ashamed because she is sick, but ashamed because she’s not sick enoughto deserve the title.
Eating disorders are, of course, a very sensitive topic. They affect everyone so differently, so personally, that I know there are as many people who will not relate to Sethie as there are people who will. Some people won’t like the way I’ve portrayed her; some people might not believe she could be real. Some people might simply read the story for the story's sake, a tale of one girl's experiences. But some people might recognize themselves, their friends, their classmates in her; maybe they will recognize someone in their lives who needs help.
And maybe, just maybe, those people will begin to talk; maybe a conversation will begin and take on a life of its own. When I was in the throes of my body-obsession, I always wanted to talk about food – how could I help myself, I was so hungry! But I didn’t want to talk about whether you thought I was sick or not. I didn’t want you to offer me advice, because I knew that no matter what you said to me, you’d be wrong. You couldn’t possibly understand what it was like to be trapped in my body. You couldn’t possibly be interested in hearing just how fat I felt.
Today, I wonder if I might have made it to the other side sooner if I’d allowed myself to talk about it, if I’d had people around me who talked to me about it. Maybe they would have understood. Maybe they would have known what it was like. And most of all, maybe they would have helped.
I had many reasons for writing The Stone Girl, but I like to think that if it reaches the right audience – reaches the right girl – it might spark some conversations. A blog tour is a one way to start a discussion, and I hope you will follow mine. Details are below!
The Stone Girl Blog Tour Thursday, August 2: Emily’s Crammed Bookshelf
Friday, August 3: Literary Rambles
Monday, August 6: YA Romantics
Tuesday, August 7: The Book Addict’s Guide
Wednesday, August 8: Book Club Chic
Thursday, August 9: A Tale of Two Bookies
Sunday, August 12: The Teen Book Guru
Monday, August 13: The Teen Book Guru
Tuesday, August 14: Itching for Books
Wednesday, August 15: Random Acts of Reading
Thursday, August 16: The Children’s Book Review
Friday, August 17: Isabel Bandeira
Monday, August 20: YA Romantics
Tuesday, August 21: Taking It One Book at a Time
Wednesday, August 22: Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers
Thursday, August 23: Confessions of a Bookaholic
Friday, August 24: The Compulsive Reader
Monday, August 27: Almost Grown Up
Monday, August 27: A Chair, a Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy
Tuesday, August 28: A Chair, a Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy
Tuesday, August 28: Letter Blocks
Saturday, September 1: Distraction No. 99
Sunday, September 2: Literary Escapism
Monday, September 3: Dear Teen Me
March 21, 2012
2012 Teen Author Festival March 14-20!
Hope to see you there!
Teen Author Symposium Saturday, March 31st 1pm-5pm South Court, New York Public Library, Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street 1pm: Introduction
1:10-2pm: Rising to the Challenge: YA Characters Facing Down What Life Throws ThemTara AltebrandoMatt BlackstoneSusane ColasantiKody KeplingerSiobhan VivianK.M. Waltonmoderator: David Levithan
2-2:50pm: Killer Instincts: Death, Murder, and the YA NovelJennifer Lynn BarnesGina DamicoKim HarringtonBarry Lygamoderator: Marie Rutkoski2:50-4pm: Moments of Truth: Characters at a CrossroadsNatasha FriendMargie GelbwasserJennifer HubbardStewart LewisSarah Darer LittmanJess RothenbergDaisy Whitneymoderator: E. Lockhart
4-5pm: Looking Forward to FallDavid LevithanMarie RutkoskiEliot SchreferAlyssa Sheinmel
Book Signing Sunday April 1, 1pm-4pm Books of Wonder, 18 West 18th Street (between 5th and 6th) 1-1:45pm:Jennifer Barnes (Every Other Day, Egmont)Matt Blackstone (A Scary Scene in a Scary Movie, FSG)Caroline Bock (LIE, St. Martin’s)Jen Calonita (Belles, Little Brown)Anna Carey (Eve, Harper)Susane Colasanti (So Much Closer, Penguin)Andrea Cremer (Bloodrose, Penguin)Gina Damico (Croak, HMH)Emily Danforth (The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Harper)Jocelyn Davies (A Beautiful Dark, Harper) Sarah Beth Durst (Drink, Slay, Love, S&S)Elizabeth Eulberg (Take a Bow, Scholastic)Gayle Forman (Where She Went, Penguin)Natasha Friend (For Keeps, Penguin)Kim Harrington (Perception, Scholastic)Barry Lyga (I Hunt Killers, Little Brown)Daisy Whitney (The Rivals, Little Brown)
1:45-2:30pm:Margie Gelbwasser (Pieces of Us, Flux)Alissa Grosso (Popular, Flux) Jenny Han (We’ll Always Have Summer, S&S) Leanna Renee Hieber (Darker Still, Sourcebooks) Anne Heltzel (Circle Nine, Candlewick)Jeff Hirsch (The Eleventh Plague, Scholastic)Jennifer Hubbard (Try Not to Breathe, Penguin)Melissa Jensen (The Fine Art of True or Dare, Penguin)PG Kain (Famous for Thirty Seconds, S&S) Melissa Kantor (The Darlings in Love, Hyperion)Kody Keplinger (Shut Out, Little Brown)Lucas Klauss (Everything You Need to Survive the Apocalypse, S&S)David Levithan (Every You, Every Me, RH)Stewart Lewis (You Have Seven Messages, RH)Sarah Darer Littman (Want to Go Private?, Scholastic)Elisa Ludwig (Pretty Crooked, S&S)
2:30-3:15pm:Carolyn Mackler (The Future of Us, Penguin) Andy Marino (Unison Spark, FSG)Wendy Mass (13 Gifts, Scholastic)Terra Elan McVoy (The Summer of Firsts and Lasts, S&S) Lauren McLaughlin (Scored, RH)Sarah Mlynowski (Ten Things We Did, RH)Carley Moore (The Stalker Chronicles, FSG)E. C. Myers (Fair Coin, Pyr)Michael Northrop (Plunked, Scholastic)Micol Ostow (What Would My Cell Phone Do?, Penguin) Stephanie Perkins (Lola and the Boy Next Door, Penguin)Jessica Rotherberg (The Catastrophic History of You and Me, Penguin)Marie Rutkoski (The Jewel of the Kalderash, FSG)Erin Saldin (The Girls of No Return, Scholastic)Leila Sales (Past Perfect, S&S)Kieran Scott (He’s So Not Worth It, S&S)
3:15-4pm:Melissa De La Cruz (Lost in Time, Hyperion)Alyssa Sheinmel (The Lucky Kind, RH)Jennifer Smith (The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, Little Brown)Jeri Smith-Ready (Shift, S&S)Jon Skovron (Misfit, Abrams)Victoria Schwab (The Near Witch, Hyperion)Mark Shulman (Are You Normal?, National Geographic)Margaret Stohl (Beautiful Chaos, Little Brown)Arlaina Tibensky (And Then Things Fell Apart, S&S) Siobhan Vivian (The List, Scholastic)Melissa Walker (Small Town Sinners, Bloomsbury)K.M. Walton (Cracked, S&S)John Corey Whaley (Where Things Come Back, S&S)Alecia Whitaker (The Queen of Kentucky, Little Brown)Maryrose Wood (The Unseen Guest, Harper)Natalie Zaman and Charlotte Bennardo (Sirenz, Flux)
March 5, 2012
I Joined Twitter Today!
December 20, 2011
The Stone Girl – Coming August 28, 2012

Sethie will not allow herself one slip, not one bad day, not one break in concentration. Her body is there for her to work on when everything and everyone else—her best friend, her schoolwork, and Shaw—are gone. From critically acclaimed writer Alyssa B. Sheinmel comes an unflinching and unparalleled portrayal of one girl's withdrawal, until she is sinking like a stone into her own illness, her own loneliness—her own self.
May 1, 2011
The Lucky Kind: On Sale May 10th!
For those of you in the New York area, I wanted to share all the details for my upcoming events at Style.Licious – up in my old neighborhood, the Upper East Side – and in Brooklyn at Book Court. I'm also participating in a Teen Author Reading Night on June 1st, with a bevy of amazing authors (including my sister, Courtney Sheinmel).
And, thanks to the wonderful ladies at The Teen Book Scene, you can follow my blog tour, starting May 1 at http://ReadingTeen.net/. The full tour schedule is below as well.
I will also be visiting RandomBuzzers.com on Monday, May 9-Friday, May 13, to answer any and all of your questions!
Hope to see you – and hear from you – soon!
Alyssa's Event Details Thursday, May 19, 2011Style.Licious1418 Second Ave.
(at 74th Street)New York, NY 100214pm-6pm
Saturday, May 14, 2011Book Court
163 Court StreetBrooklyn, New York 112016pm
Wednesday, June 1, 2011Teen Author Reading NightMulberry Street Branch of NYPL (Corner of Mulberry and Jersey)
6pm-7:30pmFeatured Authors:Susane ColasantiDan Ehrenhaft, Jodi Lynn Anderson, and Andisheh NouraeeKatie FinnCatherine GreenmanMegan McCaffertySarah MlynowskiCourtney SheinmelEmily Wing SmithCaisse St. Onge
The Lucky Kind Blog Tour Sunday, May 1: Author Interview at http://ReadingTeen.net/
Monday, May 2: Book Review at http://agoodaddiction.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, May 3: "When I'm Not Writing" at http://www.pageturnersblog.com/
Wednesday, May 4: Book Review at http://www.hopelessbibliophile.com/
Thursday, May 5: An interview with Eden Reiss at http://thebookscout.blogspot.com/
Friday, May 6: Book Review at http://totalbookaholic.blogspot.com/
Friday, May 6: Writer Unboxed at http://writerunboxed.com/
Saturday, May 7: Top Ten List at http://bloggers-heart-books.blogspot.com/
Sunday, May 8: Book Review at http://thebookscout.blogspot.com/
Monday, May 9: Nick's Top Ten List at http://www.hopelessbibliophile.com/
Tuesday, May 10: Book Review at http://ReadingTeen.net/
Wednesday, May 11: "This Or That" at http://totalbookaholic.blogspot.com/
Thursday, May 12: Book Review at http://www.pageturnersblog.com/
Friday, May 13: An Interview with Nick Brandt at http://agoodaddiction.blogspot.com/
Friday, May 13: Writer Unboxed at http://writerunboxed.com/
Saturday, May 14: Book Review at http://bloggers-heart-books.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, June 1: The Contemps at http://www.thecontemps.com/
February 18, 2011
2011 Teen Author Festival March 14-20!
The 2011 Teen Author Festival is upon us! You can find the full schedule here, and below is the list of events in which I'm participating, along with many amazing authors. Hope to see you there!
Teen Author Symposium
Saturday, March 19th 1pm-5:30pm
South Court, New York Public Library, Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street
2:00 – 2:45: The Ties That Bind, Part Two: Family Bonds
Melissa Kantor
Melina Marchetta
Alyssa Sheinmel
Natalie Standiford
Danette Vigilante
Book Signing
Sunday March 20th, 1pm-4pm
Books of Wonder, 18 West 18th Street (between 5th and 6th)
Author Signing
1-1:45pm
Lizabeth Zindel (A Girl, A Ghost, and the Hollywood Hills, Penguin)
Maryrose Wood (The Hidden Gallery, Harper)
Suzanne Weyn (Empty, Scholastic)
Danette Vigilante (The Trouble with Half a Moon, Penguin)
Maggie Stiefvater (Linger, Scholastic)
Natalie Standiford (Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters, Scholastic)
Mark Shulman (Scrawl, Roaring Brook)
Alyssa Sheinmel (The Beautiful Between, RH)
Kieran Scott (She's So Dead to Us, S&S)
Leila Sales (Mostly Good Girls, S&S)
Patrick Ryan (Gemini Bites, Scholastic)
1:45-2:30pm
Marie Rutkoski (The Celestial Globe, FSG)
Lena Roy (Edges, FSG)
Michael Northrup (Trapped, Scholastic)
Sarah Mlynowski (Gimme a Call, RH)
Neesha Meminger (Jazz in Love, Ignite)
Terra Elan McVoy (After the Kiss, S&S)
Lisa McMann (Cryer's Cross, S&S)
Kimberly Marcus (Exposed, RH)
Melina Marchetta (The Piper's Son, Candlewick)
Torrey Maldonado (Secret Saturdays, Penguin)
Barry Lyga (Archvillain, Scholastic)
2:30-3:15pm
E. Lockhart (Real Live Boyfriends, RH)
Sarah Darer Littman (Life After, Scholastic)
David Levithan (Dash and Lily's Book of Dares, RH)
Melissa Kantor (The Darlings Are Forever, Hyperion)
Carla Jablonksi (Resistance, First Second)
Gwendolyn Heasley (Where I Belong, Harper)
Kim Harrington (Clarity, Scholastic)
Christopher Grant (Teenie, RH)
Margie Gelbwasser (Inconvenient, Flux)
Elizabeth Eulberg (Prom & Prejudice, Scholastic)
Helen Ellis (The Turning, Sourcebooks)
3:15-4pm
Daniel Ehrenhaft (Friend is Not a Verb, Harper)
Sarah Beth Durst (Enchanted Ivy, S&S)
Matt De La Pena (I Will Save You, RH)
Brent Crawford (Carter Finally Gets It, Hyperion)
Eireann Corrigan (Accomplice, Scholastic)
Susane Colasanti (Something Like Fate, Penguin)
Marina Budhos (Tell Us We're Home, S&S)
Kate Brian (Book of Spells, S&S)
Philana Marie Boles (Glitz, Penguin)
Judy Blundell (Strings Attached, Scholastic)
Cathleen Bell (Little Blog on the Prairie, Bloomsbury)
September 24, 2010
Banned Books Week is Here! September 25 - October 2, 2010
A few months ago, however, I received a note that really threw me for a loop. A reader didn't approve of some of the language used in the book, and wrote that this was not a bo...
September 10, 2010
Videos
May 13, 2010
The Coolest Cake in the World
But Monday became even better that afternoon because the f...
May 10, 2010
The Beautiful Between: Readings & More
Well, May 11, 2010 is nearly here and The Beautiful Between hits bookstores tomorrow! I'm waiting until tomorrow night to check out the book at my own local bookstore. My boss had the idea that we should get to the bookstore at 5:11p.m. (it being 5/11/2010), and take a picture of me holding the book with a clock showing the time. I don't know if we'll be that precise, but if we do end up taking any pictures I'll be sure to post them here.
Most importantly, I have a few book events coming up...