Jacqueline West's Blog

Happy book birthday to A STORM OF WISHES (Collectors 2)

Today marks the release of my tenth book. TENTH. That number feels totally unreal (…like my age, and the dwindling number of days before Baby #2 arrives). But mostly it makes me feel aware of how lucky I am. To everybody who has ever read one of my books, or who has shared them with other readers: thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you times ten.

(The cover!! Thank you, Diana Sudyka!)

If you’re in/near Minnesota, you could come and celebrate with me in person: Tonight — October 22 — at 6:30, I’ll be at Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul for the official release party. And on Saturday, Oct. 26, at 1:00pm, the Red Wing Public Library is hosting me for a hometown book celebration, complete with cookies, a book raffle, and make-your-own bottled wishes. Other than a few last school and Skype visits, this is it before baby hibernation begins. Whew.

If you can’t join me at a real-life party, you can drop in on the Book Birthday Bash hosted by fellow Spooky MG author Samantha M. Clark. Hear where I’d host the perfect imaginary party for A STORM OF WISHES, what party favors would be provided, and enter a giveaway for a signed copy! http://www.samanthamclark.com/2019/10/22/book-birthday-bash-a-storm-of-wishes-the-collectors-vol-2/

More news to come. For now, thank you again. And again and again.

LAST THINGS

My next book comes out in six days.

Look at this gorgeous thing!!

A little write-up:

New York Times–bestselling author Jacqueline West captivates readers with a dark, hypnotic story about the cost of talent—and the evil that lurks just out of sight. Fans of Holly Black and Victoria Schwab will be mesmerized by this gorgeous, magnetic novel.

High school senior Anders Thorson is unusually gifted. His band, Last Things, is legendary in their northern Minnesota hometown. With guitar skills that would amaze even if he weren’t only eighteen, Anders is the focus of head-turning admiration. And Thea Malcom, a newcomer to the insular town, is one of his admirers. Thea seems to turn up everywhere Anders goes: gigs at the local coffeehouse, guitar lessons, even in the woods near Anders’s home.

When strange things start happening to Anders, blame immediately falls on Thea. But is she trying to hurt him? Or save him? Can he trust a girl who doesn’t seem to know the difference between dreams and reality? And how much are they both willing to sacrifice to get what they want? 

Told from Anders’s and Thea’s dual points of view, this exquisitely crafted novel is full of unexpected twists and is for fans of Holly Black’s The Darkest Part of the Forest and Melissa Albert’s The Hazel Wood.

This will be my ninth published novel. My eleventh book, if you count poetry collections. It still feels unreal.

Whenever readers ask me which of my books is my favorite, I say something about how I can’t possibly pick, they’re all like my children, each one is different, bladdy blah. But from now on, I think I’ll have to give a different answer.

This one is my favorite. LAST THINGS.

I can’t wait to send it out into the world on May 7th.

Reviews have been lovely so far. A few favorite bits:

…A suspenseful tale wrought from power chords, creeping darkness, and disquieting twists.  — Kirkus

West uses evocative language, including song lyrics, to enhance the ominous atmosphere in this updated Faustian thriller; her pitch-perfect depiction of music conjures pulse-pounding concerts and Anders’ passion for metal. A dark and lovely saga, ideal for fans of Brenna Yovanoff and Holly Black.     –Booklist

The action escalates like the fast-paced chords of a heavy metal bassline when everything Anders loves is threatened… Hand this worthy addition to any YA collection to fans of mystery, music, and horror. –School Library Journal

Here’s a blogger review that I loved (thank you, Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile!): http://www.hopelessbibliophile.com/2019/05/book-review-last-things-by-jacqueline.html

Interviews about the inspiration behind the book are popping up: https://theunofficialaddictionbookfanclub.blogspot.com/2019/04/interview-with-jacqueline-west-for-last.html

http://www.literaryme.net/2019/05/blog-tour-last-things-by-jacqueline.html

…And check out the official LAST THINGS playlist, if you want to listen to the music that inspired and fueled me (you know you do): https://sweeterthantaffy.blogspot.com/2019/05/last-things-by-jacqueline-west-official.html

Instead of a solo launch, I’ll be part of an amazing YA panel at St. Paul’s Red Balloon Bookshop on May 14, where you can catch me, Pete Hautman (Road Tripped), Kirstin Cronn-Mills (Wreck), and Bryan Bliss (We’ll Fly Away) talking new books, writing habits, and all things YA. Plus there will be treats. If you’re nearby, please come hang out with us. https://www.redballoonbookshop.com/event/mn-ya-spectacular

Ooh — AND — I’ll be a guest on The Jason Show, which airs throughout MN on KMSP/Fox9, at 10:00 a.m. on May 9th. You can catch the episode on Hulu or YouTube later.

I should mention that you can preorder the book right now and make my day. Please choose your favorite independent bookstore if you can (IndieBound can help you out). Amazon and B&N have got it too, of course.

If you do read the book — and better yet, if you like it — you can give me the best writerly gift possible, and recommend it to other readers, or post reviews on Amazon, B&N, and Goodreads. All these things matter more than I can say.

Thanks so much, readers. LAST THINGS and I will see you out there.

2018’s Big Bookish Wrap-Up of the Year

It feels like I posted 2017’s wrap-up just a couple of weeks ago, but here it is, already time for another. I am every old-person-dazzled-by-the-passing-of-time cliche.

Writing-wise:

It’s been a crazy year: Releasing THE COLLECTORS with a round of school visits and amazing festivals, having CANDLE AND PINS: POEMS ON SUPERSTITIONS come out into the world (I’ve been writing, publishing, and polishing these poems for almost a decade, and all I wanted was to see them gathered between two covers at last), finishing revisions on my next YA novel (LAST THINGS, coming at you in May!), publishing poems and short fiction in Wee Tales, Mirror Dance, and Enchanted Living/Faerie Magazine, and ALMOST completing rewrites of THE COLLECTORS 2 (to be called A STORM OF WISHES). 2018 was mostly a year of rewriting, revising, and re-revising. 2019 should allow me to start some things from scratch, and I can hardly wait for the chance to sit down with a brand new, perfectly blank notebook and plunge in.

Reading-wise:

MOONGLOW – Michael Chabon (aloud to Ryan)

WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON – Grace Lin

THE DEVILS YOU KNOW – M.C. Atwood

TATTOOS ON THE HEART: THE POWER OF BOUNDLESS COMPASSION – Gregory Boyle

INVISIBLE GIRLS – Nova Ren Suma

THOUSAND STAR HOTEL (poems) – Bao Phi

THE WHITE ALBUM – Joan Didion

ARCHIVIST WASP – Nicole Kornher-Stace

BLISS – Kathryn Littlewood

MAGIC FOR BEGINNERS – Kelly Link

MAGDALENE (poems) – Marie Howe

TED HUGHES: THE UNAUTHORIZED LIFE – Jonathan Bate

THE GREAT GHOST RESCUE – Eva Ibbotson

LATCHKEY – Nicole Kornher-Stace

WALKING ON WATER: REFLECTIONS ON FAITH AND ART – Madeleine L’Engle

THE DARK DARK – Samantha Hunt

BROOKLYN – Colm Toibin

THE KEY TO EXTRAORDINARY – Natalie Lloyd

LAURA INGALLS IS RUINING MY LIFE – Shelley Tougas

BAYOU MAGIC – Jewell Parker Rhodes

THE OSTRICH AND OTHER LOST THINGS – Beth Hautala

RED BIRD (poems) – Mary Oliver

THE BLACK WITCH – Laurie Forest

A STUDY IN CHARLOTTE – Brittany Cavallaro

THE FIRST TIME I GOT PAID FOR IT: WRITERS’ TALES FROM THE HOLLYWOOD TRENCHES – Peter Lefcourt and Laura J. Shipro, eds.

CIVILWARLAND IN BAD DECLINE – George Saunders

STRANGER THAN FICTION – Chuck Palaniuk

CRACKED UP TO BE – Courtney Summers

ELSA LANCHESTER: HERSELF – Elsa Lanchester

HER BODY AND OTHER PARTIES – Carmen Maria Machado

COLD HARD TRUTH – Anne Greenwood Brown

STONEPICKER (poems) – Frieda Hughes

THE TANGLEWOOD TERROR – Kurtis Scaletta

JEALOUS WITNESS (poems) – Andrei Codrescu

THE LETTERS OF SYLVIA PLATH, VOLUME 1

SELECTED POEMS OF T.S. ELIOT (reread)

THE HAZEL WOOD – Melissa Albert

THE GREEN HOUSE (poems) – Joyce Sutphen

WE’LL FLY AWAY – Bryan Bliss

DREADFUL YOUNG LADIES – Kelly Barnhill

WE ARE OKAY – Nina LaCour

DREAD NATION – Justina Ireland

THE 2018 RHYSLING ANTHOLOGY (poems) – Linda Addison, ed.

THE ASTONISHING ADVENTURES OF FANBOY AND GOTH GIRL – Barry Lyga

AND I DARKEN – Kiersten White

BLOOD, WATER, PAINT – Joy McCullough

LONG WAY DOWN – Jason Reynolds

SING, UNBURIED, SING – Jesmyn Ward

SNOW AND ROSE – Emily Winfield Martin

CALYPSO – David Sedaris (aloud to Ryan)

THE SECRET OF ZOOM – Lynne Jonell

THE WICKED DEEP – Shea Earnshaw

SMILE – Raina Telgemeier

GOTH GIRL RISING – Barry Lyga

POPS – Michael Chabon (aloud to Ryan)

AMONG THE SAVAGES – Shirley Jackson (reread)

BROWN GIRL DREAMING – Jacqueline Woodson

THE MAD WOLF’S DAUGHTER – Diane Magras

WE’LL BE THE LAST ONES TO LET YOU DOWN: MEMOIR OF A GRAVEDIGGER’S DAUGHTER – Rachel Hanel

FUN HOME – Alison Bechdel

A COLLECTION OF NIGHTMARES – Christina Sng

AND THE TREES CREPT IN – Dawn Kurtagich

MIDDLEMARCH – George Eliot

ALL THE CROOKED SAINTS – Maggie Stiefvater

THE LAST OF AUGUST – Brittany Cavallaro (aloud to Ryan)

FURIOUSLY HAPPY – Jenny Lawson

THE GRIP OF IT – Jac Jemc

CRAZY FROM THE HEAT – David Lee Roth (aloud to Ryan)

FICCIONES – Jorge Luis Borges

STRANGE THE DREAMER – Laini Taylor

JERK, CALIFORNIA – Jonathan Friesen

BEAUTIFUL MUSIC FOR UGLY CHILDREN – Kirsten Cronn-Mills

THINGS TO DO WHEN YOU’RE GOTH IN THE COUNTRY – Chavisa Woods

THE CASQUETTE GIRLS – Alys Arden

THE LIE TREE – Frances Hardinge

THE ACCIDENT SEASON – Moira Fowley-Doyle

THE LATEHOMECOMER: A HMONG FAMILY MEMOIR – Kao Kalia Yang

THE DOLL’S ALPHABET – Camilla Grudova

THE GRACES – Laure Eve

LUST AND WONDER – Augusten Burroughs

THE MISSING PIECE OF CHARLIE O’REILLY – Rebecca Ansari

CITY OF GHOSTS – Victoria Schwab

THE STRANGERS – Margaret Peterson Haddix

DEAR SISTER – Allison McGhee

TELLING MEMORIES AMONG SOUTHERN WOMEN: DOMESTIC WORKERS AND THEIR EMPLOYERS IN THE SEGREGATED SOUTH – Susan Tucker

SPOOK – Mary Roach

A PROPERLY UNHAUNTED PLACE – Will Alexander

A ROOM AWAY FROM THE WOLVES – Nova Ren Suma

ROBIN – Dave Itzkoff (aloud to Ryan)

LIFE INSIDE MY MIND: 31 AUTHORS SHARE THEIR PERSONAL STRUGGLES – Jessica Burkhart, ed.

FLANEUSE: WOMEN WALK THE CITY IN PARIS, NEW YORK, TOKYO, VENICE, AND LONDON – Lauren Elkin

DEVILS UNTO DUST – Emma Berquist

DAMSEL – Elana K. Arnold

EVERGREEN TIDINGS FROM THE BAUMGARTNERS – Gretchen Anthony

BAD FEMINIST – Roxane Gay (aloud to Ryan)

THE GIRL WHO FELL BENEATH FAIRYLAND AND LED THE REVELS THERE – Catherynne M. Valente

THIS ONE SUMMER – Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki

HEY, KIDDO – Jarrett Kroscoczka

WADE IN THE WATER (poems) – Tracy K. Smith

THE VANDERBEEKERS OF 141ST STREET – Karina Yan Glaser

THE LETTERS OF SYLVIA PLATH, VOL. 2

LESSONS ON EXPULSION (poems) – Erika L. Sanchez

SADIE – Courtney Summers

 

My six very favorites of the year — HER BODY AND OTHER PARTIES, CALYPSO, THOUSAND STAR HOTEL, THE LIE TREE (with DAMSEL, SADIE, and LONG WAY DOWN tied for second in the YA category), SING, UNBURIED, SING, and THIS ONE SUMMER — happen to fall into six different categories (short stories, essay/memoir, poetry, YA novel, adult novel, and graphic novel). They’re wildly different from each other, obviously, but they share that thing about really great books: not only can you barely stand to put them down, but you remember exactly where you were when you read certain passages, what the light was like, where you were sitting. It’s weird that it works this way. You’re completely absorbed in the book, but at the same time, the book is changing you, making you open your eyes and notice the world around you in a new way. So a great book is like a fresh pair of contact lenses.

Happy reading, happy writing, and happy end-of-2018, everybody.

 

 

THE COLLECTORS gets ready to hatch, a giveaway, and my next YA…

Just over two months until THE COLLECTORS arrives.

The final weeks of book gestation are some of the weirdest and longest. It’s less like having a baby than laying an egg (I imagine): You’ve done all the work, and then you just have to sit there and worry and try not to lose your mind, and then, FINALLY, out hatches this thing that only sort of feels like yours, because it’s been outside of you for so long.

Now it belongs to itself. And to readers.

And reviewers.

This might be the hardest part of all: when the reviews start coming in. Luckily, the couple that I’ve seen so far have been extremely nice. Booklist called it “a brilliant fantasy adventure exploring the consequences of getting what you wish for.” And according to Kirkus, the most nervous-making reviewer of all, “Readers may not wish to leave this magical world.”

So that’s pretty great.

Speaking of reviews, the book is up and running over at Goodreads, where you can add it to your to-read list (please), review it (once you’ve read it, obviously), and enter a giveaway for one of five advance copies (do it do it do it): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34614114-the-collectors

Tour details are still being finalized, but I can share one big piece of news: I’ll be a guest at this year’s Tweens Read Festival! It will be held on Saturday October 13, in Houston, Texas, and this year’s line-up is incredible. I feel the usual mixture of honored and sheepish to be included.

Book News Pileup: UntitledTown Book Festival, New Poetry Collection, and ARCs!

First things first.

In two weeks, I get to be part of something incredibly cool: UntitledTown Book and Author Festival, a four-day literary event held annually (this year, it will be April 19 – 22) in Green Bay, Wisconsin. This year, the lineup of guests includes R.L. Stine, Christopher Moore, and ROXANE GAY (!!!!), among others. Including me. Oh–and the whole amazing thing is FREE.

My schedule, if you’re in the area (or if you’ve been planning a trip to Packerland and feel like dropping in on a lit festival while you’re at it), looks like this:

Saturday, April 21:

12:00 – Creating Characters: Writing Workshop for Kids (and adults!), Brown County Library

2:00 – Kid Lit Panel: How to Write for a Young Audience, KI Convention Center Room 6AB

Sunday, April 22:

10:00 – Dark Magic (Panel): Writing Fantasy for YA and Adults, St. Brendan’s Inn, Waterford Room

2:00 – Wisconsin Writers Invitational (Group Reading), Brown County Library Auditorium

Here’s a very handy FAQ page that will help you register for my (and other instructors’) writing workshop: https://2018.untitledtown.org/2018/04/faq-how-do-i-register-for-youth-writing-workshops/

And here’s the entire schedule. You can sign up/bookmark favorites (although you don’t need to) that you’d like to attend and sync them to your phone, if you’re techy like that.

 

Next, a moment of poetry promotion:

It’s National Poetry Month! And my brand new poetry collection, Candle and Pins: Poems on Superstitions, is now available from Alban Lake Publishing for only $1.99 in e-book format and $6.00 in paperback. Bargain, right? You can also find/order signed copies at my lovely local bookshops, Rivertown Comics and Games and Fair Trade Books of Red Wing, MN.

A little description: The poems of “Candle and Pins” are inspired by familiar—and some unfamiliar—superstitions, ranging from love charms to burial practices, parsley seeds to the evil eye. Like superstitions themselves, these poems explore the terrain where magic and everyday life intertwine, and where beauty, horror, fear, and belief combine in ways both new and ageless.

I’ve been at work on this collection for what seems like ages. Some of the poems appeared in fantasy/horror/scifi journals like Strange Horizons, Goblin Fruit, and Mythic Delirium almost ten years ago, and one was nominated for a Rhysling Award, but most of them had never ventured out in public until now. Having all of these pieces, new and old, published and unpublished, finally put together behind this gorgeous cover with art by Marge Simon is the coolest feeling.

So if you’re into dark magic and creepy poetry — or poetry in general — you could make me super-happy by reading it.

If all of this wasn’t great enough, I also just received my box of ARCs (advance reading copies) of The Collectors.

(Photographic proof!!!)

Stay tuned for a giveaway of a special sneak peek copy or two… Not sure yet if I’ll use this blog, Instagram (where you’ll find me most frequently these days), Facebook, or all of the above, but I’ll do my best to spread the word everywhere.

See you in Green Bay.

Cover Reveal: THE COLLECTORS.

 

Coming from Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins on 10/9/18.

 

Even the smallest wish can be dangerous.

Look closely.

Do you see that marble in the grass? The tiny astronaut with one arm raised? The old-fashioned key in the gutter?

Van sees them. Van notices all sorts of things. But usually no one notices Van. He’s small, and always the new kid, easy to overlook. But one day he watches a mysterious girl and a silver squirrel dive into a fountain to steal a coin.

And—even more strange—they notice Van.

Suddenly, the world changes for Van. It becomes a place where wishes are real. A place where wishes can be collected, just like his little treasures. A place where wishes can come true.

But that’s not always a good thing.

Not all wishes are good, you see, and even good wishes can have unintended consequences.

And Van is about to find out just how big those consequences can be.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My first middle-grade fantasy in four years (four years!?!) will be released by Greenwillow Books this fall, and I couldn’t be more thrilled.

To all the BOOKS OF ELSEWHERE readers who have been patiently waiting for me to write something in same fantasy/mystery/adventure/eccentric-talking-animal ballpark: Thank you. To everyone who has asked me what I’ve been working on over the past few years and oohed at my sheepish description: Thank you. And to everyone at GWB/HC who is making this story into a real paper book at last: Thank you.

I can’t wait to introduce you to Van and his world this October. In the meantime, look look LOOK at this gorgeous cover! Swirling mist! Sparkling stars! Mystery and magic! Who could ask for anything more?!

2017: The Big Bookish Wrap-up of the Year

Whew. 2017.

When I look through my files, I guess I managed to get some stuff done–books written, a poetry collection accepted for publication (!!!), a play finished and performed–but I can’t estimate the number of hours I spent reading the news with my stomach aching and my TMJ in overdrive, writing postcards and emails, leaving phone messages for politicians while clenching my jaw even harder (thanks, phone phobia!). I know it’s a privilege not to live in constant, fearful awareness of politics, but–really selfishly here–I’d like a little of that privilege back. A year or two from now, I’d love to apply the KonMari method to my brain and go through all the names of cabinet members and lawyers and congresspeople who are no longer in those positions, all the “there’s no way they really said that” quotes, and fill up a few dozen garbage bags.

I’ve got a lot of reasons to look forward to 2018 — I’ll have three (!!!!!!!!) books coming out, for starters — but for me, one of the biggest ones has to do with voting. I don’t know if I’ve ever been so enthusiastic about voting in my whole life. And that’s a positive thing, right?

So bring it on, 2018. Ready and waiting.

Writing-wise:

– Books written: 2 (YA project and Story Pirates mystery)

– Books revised: 3 (THE COLLECTORS, YA project, and Story Pirates mystery)

– Short stories written: 2 (and they’re both pretty crappy! Woohoo!)

– Short stories published 1 (“The Scarecrow” in Stinkwaves Magazine)

– Poems written: 8

– Poems published: 1 (“Yanys” reprinted in THE DRIFTLESS READER)

– Poetry collections finished: 1 (CANDLE AND PINS: POEMS ON SUPERSTITIONS will be published by Alban Lake Press this spring)

– Plays revised, rehearsed, and premiered: 1 (SNOW DAY: A Dark (and Cold) Comedy about Climate Change, performed by Red Wing’s Soapbox Players from December 1 – 9, 2017).

Reading-wise:

(Re-reads are marked with an asterisk, and read-alouds are in bold.)

THE INQUISITOR’S TALE – Adam Gidwitz

DAD IS FAT – Jim Gaffigan

LIZARD RADIO – Pat Schmatz

LET ME TELL YOU – Shirley Jackson

SCRATCH: WRITERS, MONEY, AND THE ART OF MAKING A LIVING – Manjula Martin, ed.

FREAKONOMICS – Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

THE SMELL OF OTHER PEOPLE’S HOUSES – Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock

THE POET’S DOG – Patricia McLaughlin

SHOW YOUR WORK! – Austin Kleon

MONSTRESS 1  – Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda

THE SOMEDAY SUITCASE – Corey Ann Haydu

THE NATURAL WORLD OF WINNIE-THE-POOH – Kathryn Aalto

ARE YOU LOATHSOME TONIGHT – Poppy Z. Brite

BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME – Ta-Nehisi Coates

HILLBILLY ELEGY – J.D. Vance

NOVEL DESTINATIONS: A TRAVEL GUIDE – Shannon McKenna Schmidt and Joni Rendon

AMERICANAH – Chimamanda Ngozi Adiechie

WHAT WE DO NOW: STANDING UP FOR YOUR VALUES IN TRUMP’S AMERICA – Dennis Johnson and Valerie Merians

HOUR OF THE BEES – Lindsay Eagar

ONE SUMMER: AMERICA 1927 – Bill Bryson

THE BEAR AND THE NIGHTINGALE – Katherine Arden

THE RAVEN BOYS – Maggie Stiefvater

THE NIGHT GARDENER – Jonathan Auxier

THE HATE U GIVE – Angie Thomas

NORSE MYTHOLOGY – Neil Gaiman

*THE LOTTERY AND OTHER STORIES – Shirley Jackson

WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE? – Maria Semple

ONCE AGAIN, TO ZELDA: THE STORIES BEHIND LITERATURE’S MOST INTRIGUING DEDICATIONS – Marlene Wagman-Geller

I REMEMBER NOTHING – Nora Ephron

DARK MONEY – Jane Mayer

SAGA, VOL. 1 – Brian Vaughan and Fiona Staples

PATHFINDER – Angie Sage

TALKING AS FAST AS I CAN – Lauren Graham

THE MAGICIANS – Lev Grossman

THIS IS AN UPRISING: HOW NONVIOLENT REVOLT IS SHAPING THE 21ST CENTURY – Mark and Paul Engler

BOOKED – Kwame Alexander

BAPTISM OF DESIRE: POEMS – Louise Erdrich

A FIELD GUIDE TO GETTING LOST – Rebecca Solnit

OH CRAP! POTTY TRAINING – Jamie Glowacki

DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE – Laini Taylor

ESCAPE FROM MR. LEMONCELLO’S LIBRARY – Chris Grabenstein

*THE WESTING GAME – Ellen Raskin

MOCKINGBIRD – Kathryn Erskine

COUNTING BY SEVENS – Holly Goldberg Sloan

SHIRLEY JACKSON: A RATHER HAUNTED LIFE – Ruth Franklin

VICIOUS – V.E. Schwab

SKY BLUE WATER: GREAT STORIES FOR YOUNG READERS – Jay D. Peterson and Collette A. Morgan, eds.

SOME KIND OF HAPPINESS – Claire LeGrande

BAD GIRLS GO EVERYWHERE: THE LIFE OF HELEN GURLEY BROWN – Jennifer Scanlon

CHARLIE AND THE GREAT GLASS ELEVATOR – Roald Dahl

AL FRANKEN, GIANT OF THE SENATE – Al Franken

DARING GREATLY – Brene Brown

CIRCUS MIRANDUS – Cassie Beasley

A BOTANIST’S VOCABULARY: 1300 TERMS EXPLAINED AND ILLUSTRATED – Bobbi Angell and Susan K. Pell

*BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA – Katherine Paterson

THE ANNIE YEAR – Stephanie Wilbur Ash

THE DOOR: POEMS – Margaret Atwood

SAGA Vol. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 – Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

THE BIG BAD BOOK OF BOTANY – Michael Largo

PAPER GIRLS 1, 2, and 3 – Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, etc.

THE AMERICAN WAY OF DEATH, REVISITED – Jessica Mitford

STARGIRL – Jerry Spinelli

THE MEMORY BOOK – Lara Avery

THREE DARK CROWNS – Kendare Blake

*A WRINKLE IN TIME – Madeline L’Engle

THE SPELLBOOK OF THE LOST AND FOUND – Moira Fowley-Doyle

THE HIGHLY SENSITIVE PERSON – Elaine Aron

THERE’S SOMEONE INSIDE YOUR HOUSE – Stephanie Perkins

A GOOD TIME FOR THE TRUTH: RACE IN MINNESOTA – Sun Yung Skin, ed.

THE JUMBIES – Tracey Baptiste

THEFT BY FINDING, Vol. 1 – David Sedaris

THE SECRET OF DREADWILLOW CARSE – Brian Farrey

ROLLERGIRL – Victoria Jamieson

BLACK PANTHER, Vol. 1: A NATION UNDER OUR FEET – Ta-Nehisi Coates and Brian Stelfreeze

WE ARE THE ANTS – Shaun David Hutchinson

VOODOO DREAMS – Jewell Parker Rhodes

A FIERCE AND SUBTLE POISON – Samantha Mabry

THE LIFE-CHANGING MAGIC OF TIDYING UP – Marie Kondo

THE LITTLE BOOK OF HYGGE – Meik Wiking

TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN – John Green

HOW TO HYGGE – Signe Johansen

A WALK IN THE WOODS – Bill Bryson

WISHING DAY – Lauren Myracle

Quite a bit of brutal and necessary nonfiction this year (A GOOD TIME FOR THE TRUTH is excellent, DARK MONEY raised my blood pressure by several points, and BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME left me feeling like I could barely breathe), some amazing comic/graphic novel stuff (Hello, SAGA! Hi, ROLLERGIRL!), and some books that I wanted to shove into the hands of every young reader I meet (like THE HATE U GIVE, THE INQUISITOR’S TALE, and THE SMELL OF OTHER PEOPLE’S HOUSES). My personal favorites were Bill Bryson’s ONE SUMMER: AMERICA 1927, which Ryan and I tore through on trips to and from St. Paul for critique group meetings (Bryson is always charmingly readable, but this one was extra charmingly readable, and with its confluence of amazing historical events, it felt like a way less murderous version of THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY), TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN, which has some of the strongest character creation John Green has pulled off yet, Shirley Jackson’s LET ME TELL YOU, and SHIRLEY JACKSON: A RATHER HAUNTED LIFE, which might be the best literary biography I’ve ever read.

Writing SNOW DAY and seeing it produced here in my hometown was definitely the writing highlight of my year. I’m sad that it’s done, but so happy and dazzled and grateful that it happened in the first place. (Here’s a shot of the entire cast looking up in wonder at the northern lights, the incredible old barn where Soapbox Players performs–See the lighted windows? That’s the stage!–and one of my little guy at the Christmas tree lot. Because cute.)

 

Happy holidays, merry Christmas, and a wonderful New Year, everybody. XO

Snow Day

So, I wrote a play.

I didn’t exactly plan to do this. I’m a theatre nerd, and I’ve done lots of acting, and I’ve written lots of fiction about characters who are fellow theatre nerds (see DREAMERS OFTEN LIE, “A Midwinter Night’s Dream” in STARRY-EYED…), and a few years ago I wrote a play for kids called “Under the Bed” that was premiered by a local middle school. But I’d never really thought about writing a play for adults.

And then, a few years ago, during the polar vortex, this idea hit me. And I knew this wasn’t a book or a story idea. This idea was play-shaped. It was about a bunch of small town Minnesotans, trapped indoors by a climate change-driven Ice Age, trying to deal with their new reality without completely losing their minds. I wrote several pages, and then I got busy with a bunch of other things–having a baby, releasing a book, writing a couple more books, blah blah blah.

And then the presidential election happened. I finished the play within a few weeks.

That climate change–that even basic scientific fact–has become politicized seems crazy to me. But here we are. And when we can’t agree on facts, even the most basic ones, what kind of discussions can we have? How will we all deal with what’s happening to our environment when we can’t ignore it anymore? With science? Religion? Anger? Denial? Knitting and crafting? Lots of beer?

I guess that’s what I wanted to explore onstage with SNOW DAY.

The play opens here in Red Wing, MN next week — and I couldn’t be more excited. Soapbox Players is putting it on at Hobgoblin Music Loft at Stoney End. Shows are at 7:30 p.m. on December 1, 2, 7, 8, and 9; tickets sold at the door.

It’s a funny play (at least it’s supposed to be). The cast is hilarious. There’s lots of broad, goofy stuff in it: A would-be caveman grad student. A woolly mammoth. Baby Jesus in a Tupperware tub. But I’m sure my fear for the future, and my grief over what we’re doing to the planet, and my hope that somehow collective action and love for each other will save us are woven into it too. If I’ve done my job right, people will see the show, have a good laugh, and then go home and get into big, passionate, political fights with each other. Or they’ll just have a good laugh. That would be great too.

Old News and New News

To start with the biggest and OLDEST news (and yes, it’s the same giant news I was waiting to share back in February, when I last posted here):

My next middle-grade series has a title, a publisher, and a (vague) release date!!! THE COLLECTORS is forthcoming from Greenwillow/HarperCollins, and you should be able to find it in a bookstore or library near you in Fall 2018.

Here’s the super-official Publishers Weekly announcement:

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/73056-rights-report-week-of-march-13-2017.html

If you enjoyed THE BOOKS OF ELSEWHERE, then I think this new series is for you. It’s a very different setting and a very different main character, who of course has a whole new set of problems to surmount and mysteries to uncover…but THE COLLECTORS lives in the same quirky-creepy world as THE BOOKS OF ELSEWHERE, and I hope, hope, hope all the middle grade readers who have been asking me for more stories will feel like it’s what they’ve been waiting for. (Plus, it has a talking squirrel. His name is Barnavelt. And I am very fond of him.)

Now, because I’ve procrastinated for so long, I have a double serving of gigantic news to share. Fall 2018 will bring not one but TWO middle grade novels from yours truly.

Last year, the Story Pirates–the New York-based, nationally-loved performance organization dedicated to bringing kids’ stories to life–held a contest asking kids to submit ideas that could inspire a full-length novel, to be written by bestselling author Geoff Rodkey. THE STORY PIRATES PRESENT: STUCK IN THE STONE AGE BY GEOFF RODKEY, AND ILLUSTRATED BY HATEM ALY, BASED ON AN IDEA BY VINCE BOBERSKI, AGE 11 will be released by Rodale Books in March 2018.

Now the Story Pirates are getting ready for a second book — a mystery — which will be written by ME, and which will be released in Fall 2018. So, that’s New News Item #1. New News Item #2 is that the Story Pirates is hosting a second contest right now to gather ideas for a potential mystery book!

The contest is open until July 21. The winner gets $500, ten copies of the book, their name on the cover, and other cool bonuses. If you know any kids between the ages of 6 and 12 who love creating stories (kids need a parent/guardian’s help submitting), check out storypirates.com/spark, and submit your wonderful, creepy, utterly unique ideas. We can’t wait to see what you come up with.

Between these two projects (and some other, still-secret ones!), the rest of my summer will be pretty busy — but if you’re a young writer in the eastern Minnesota/western Wisconsin area, you can catch me at a couple of writing workshops. On July 20 and 27, you’ll find me at Scott County Libraries — Jordan, New Prague, Prior Lake, and Savage, specifically — talking about descriptive writing and character creation. Sign up is now open! Here’s the link to the Scott County Library Summer Reading page; just click on the events calendar link to find more info and enroll.

And in early August, I’ll be teaching at the Summer Writing Intensive at The Shire in beautiful Stillwater, MN. Each week of this two-week intensive features a great menu of genres: fiction, poetry, graphic novels, screenplays and drama, editing, nonfiction — truly something for everyone. If you’re between 6th and 12th grade and in the area, check it out: https://www.smore.com/ft7p4-authors-lead-writing-intensive?embed=1

Thanks for your patience, everybody.

Happy summer!

 

Advice to Young Writers, from an Increasingly Old One

Do you think it’s a bad sign that you update your blog so infrequently, you essentially forget how to do it and have to relearn all the simple steps every time? I think it might be a bad sign.

Well, it’s been another shamefully long gap between posts, and I have some giant news that I’m STILL waiting to share (it won’t be much longer, I promise!), but I recently got some reader mail that was so inspiring it forced me back into blogging action.

I get lots of notes from young readers and writers. Every single one of them makes me feel lucky, and many of them come with fantastic questions. Last week, a young writer named Alana got in touch to ask for my help with her school’s Passion Project, and I said I’d do my best to answer her questions — and then she sent me an interview that was so insightful and challenging, it took two days’ worth of brain power to complete it. (When your almost-two-year-old has the stomach flu and you’re up half the night changing bedding and deliriously reading Berenstain Bears books, you have a bit less brain power than usual. That’s my excuse.)

I asked her permission to share the result…and here it is. *Note: I don’t consider myself much of an expert on anything, even the things I do obsessively/professionally. But this is my honest advice. These are some of my best tips and tricks. Use or ignore as you will.

Thanks again, Alana.

 

How do you choose or make up names for characters(first and last names), setting, objects, etc.?

For me, it tends to work in one of two ways: Either the perfect name pops into my head right away, almost like the character (or place) already knows her/his/its own name, and is introducing herself to me…or I spend a long time daydreaming, making lists, and trying out different options before I find the name that feels just right.

Obviously, the first way is a lot easier! Olive from The Books of Elsewhere turned up in my head with her name already in place, and the cats had their names from the very beginning too (because their names were stolen straight from three real cats named Horatio, Leopold, and Harvey, who belonged to friends of mine).

The second way, unfortunately, is a lot more common. Often, I’ll know a few important things about a character (or place or object)—things about their appearances or ages or personalities or interests—and then I search for a name that matches those things. With Rutherford, for example, I knew I wanted him to have an unusual, old-fashioned, scientific or historical name. Then I did a bunch of research and list-making, and when I found out that a scientist named Ernest Rutherford is considered the father or nuclear physics, I knew I had found the right fit.

 

How do you hook the readers in right away with your first sentence, paragraph, or chapter?

Ooh, that first sentence is SO important. It needs to be something that will make your readers want to keep reading. As long as it does that, it can be about practically anything.

I often try to create a first sentence that will plant an important question in a reader’s mind, or that will immediately start building a vivid picture—or both. The very first line in The Books of Elsewhere is “Ms. McMartin was definitely dead.” I hoped that this line would immediately make readers wonder who Ms. McMartin was, how she died, why it’s important that she’s definitely dead—and that it would start the book out on the right creepy/odd/mysterious note. The first line in my latest novel, Dreamers Often Lie, is “There was blood on the snow.” I thought this line would create a striking image, and that it would make readers wonder whose blood it was, what happened, etc.

A good first line needs to pull the reader in. Beyond that, anything goes.

 

How do you create characters that seem real and are relatable?

Years and years of practice!