Jacqueline West's Blog, page 6
August 9, 2012
In which I am Spellbound
Originally published at Jacqueline West. You can comment here or there.
A few months ago, I posted pictures of an incredible work-in-progress: Artist Tiffany Vincent’s hand-crafted recreation of the McMartin grimoire, as described in Spellbound. Now, I have the real (almost) finished book right here in my very own office, and it is DAZZLING, as you can see.
In what might be the very best twist of all, Tiffany left the pages blank and unbound, so that I can bring the book to schools and book events to have young (or not so young) readers concoct and contribute their own McMartin spells. I can hardly wait.
(Happy author, with book.)
If you would like hear and see more of the creation process (and I know you would), visit http://www.curiousgood.com/?p=858
Another wonderful gift: This review of The Second Spy, which appeared in the Star Tribune’s summer roundup of teen/tween books by Minnesota authors.
Two other reviews have recently–and belatedly–come to my attention. This review of Spellbound comes from a blogger in France, and this write-up of The Shadows is thanks to a blogger in Indonesia. From what I can decipher/translate/guess, they both seem very positive. Fly, my little world-traveling books! Fly!
July 25, 2012
Several spectacles and one sasquatch
Originally published at Jacqueline West. You can comment here or there.
New Orleans in mid-July was awash with flash floods, mayflies, and 30,000 Lutheran teenagers on a leadership convention. This made for a rather different visit from our last one–but it was just a wetter, crowded-er kind of marvelous. We ate too much, bought too many books, and walked too many miles to count. One of my favorite stops on this trip: The fascinating, slightly stomach-turning pharmacy museum on Chartres, in the Vieux Carre. Aldous McMartin would have been right at home in this place.
(Why stomach-turning? Well– I’m not showing you the jar of live leeches, the antique syringes and bone saws, or the trepanning device.)
I came home to some great news: THE SHADOWS has been nominated for the 2013 Washington Library Media Association’s Sasquatch Award, which might be the best-named award its been up for yet. Thank you, Washington readers! (Just so you know, I’m always looking for reasons to visit the Pacific Northwest…)
A new interview and a very kind review of THE SECOND SPY have been posted at the beautiful book blog Cracking the Cover; go and visit!
Finally, Wisconsin/Minnesota folks (Minnesconsinites?), remember that I’ll be at the Valley Bookseller in Stillwater this Saturday–that’s July 28th–at 2:00 p.m. to read, chat, and sign books. I’d love to see you there.
July 16, 2012
Great SECOND SPY contest and release party pictures
Originally published at Jacqueline West. You can comment here or there.
First, because there’s a deadline:
Head over to Novel Novice! One lucky entrant who submits a favorite line of dialogue from THE SECOND SPY (before the end of July) will win a $25 Barnes & Noble gift card. Go now!
I’m typing this entry from the corner of Bourbon and Conti in New Orleans, so it’s going to be short on words and long on pictures. Thanks again to all the readers, friends, and family who came to the Red Balloon for THE SECOND SPY’s release party. You make a girl feel awfully lucky. If you couldn’t make it to the event, but you’d like a signed book, the Red Balloon should have copies of THE SHADOWS, SPELLBOUND, and THE SECOND SPY in stock (at least for a while).
(In answer to your questions: Marble, and delicious.)
July 13, 2012
In the Water
Originally published at Jacqueline West. You can comment here or there.
Tonight’s the night of the release party for THE SECOND SPY at the Red Balloon in St. Paul. (7:00 p.m. Cake. Come on down.) It will be great to pause and celebrate a completed book for a little while, because I’ve been in Revision Land for so long, moving back and forth between BoE Four and the YA/Shakespeare project, that I’m starting to forget how it feels to start or finish anything. Okay–I know how to start things, and returning to that phase usually feels exciting and fun, but finishing things is another thing entirely.
Maybe this is because I’ve started thousands more writing projects than I’ve finished. Maybe it’s because I’m not sure what ‘finished’ means, when we’re talking about a story.
Writers ask each other this question all the time: How do you know when a book is done?
I’ve heard some snappy answers. Answer 1: When your deadline arrives. Answer 2: When your editor says it’s done. Answer 3: When you can’t imagine changing one more word without crumpling onto the floor in a drooling, wailing ball.
Here’s my own non-snappy answer: I’m not sure a book is ever done.
Revision Land isn’t land at all. It’s a river, a pool, a sea. Story is fluid. You can see it taking shape as it ripples around you; you can shift it and separate it; you can solidify parts of it, freeze it in place. But you can always open that folder, or that notebook, or that file, and let the writing melt again. It can take on any shape or color or speed or temperature. It can flow in infinite directions. Sometimes you manage to capture a line that feels just right…but then something next to it changes, and that line isn’t just right anymore, so you alter it again. And you realize that the line you thought was perfect could be perfect in a thousand different ways.
Deciding, too soon, that a piece of writing is DONE sets you up for trouble. You freeze it all in place and back away. You’re afraid to touch it. The thing you’ve created feels brittle, fragile, tenuous. Changing a single word seems impossible, and removing a line–or a whole chapter–would bring the whole thing crashing down.
Thinking of your work this way makes revision terrifying. Or impossible.
When you’re working on a book, you rewrite on your own, for months or years. Then you revise with an editor, for more months or years. Then you work with a copy editor. Even after galleys are printed, there are more little changes to make. When at last the book is published — then, yeah, it’s ‘done,’ in that you don’t get to change it any more, even if you want to. (At least that’s how it usually works in publishing. I recently talked to a self-published author who entirely rewrote and re-released his first book after its original printing because he wasn’t happy with the story. I can’t even wrap my head around this type of freedom. It’s probably a good thing that I don’t have it.) At that point, you just hope that all of your work and thinking and changing and dreaming have coalesced, and that the story you’ve caught on paper feels real and whole to someone who reads it.
The more I’ve learned about writing and rewriting, the more liquid it all becomes. I’ve rewritten the entirety of that YA/Shakespeare project nine times now, and changed it in huge ways, and with each rewrite, I’ve liked it more — it’s felt closer to right, closer to done. But I know I could write it nine more times, or nine hundred more times, and capture new shapes and colors and glints of light in the water.
Then, on revision 901, I would crumple up in a drooling, wailing ball.
July 5, 2012
THE SECOND SPY
Originally published at Jacqueline West. You can comment here or there.
The wait is over — The Books of Elsewhere, Volume Three: The Second Spy is now available in a bookstore (or on a website, or via an electronic device) near you!
Here’s one place to start shopping: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780803736894/jacqueline-west/second-spy
Make sure you look under the dust jacket:
And here’s a release day interview at the blog Novel Novice: http://novelnovice.com/2012/07/05/celebrating-the-second-spy-with-jacqueline-west/ Please read, comment, and share it with anyone who might be (even vaguely) interested.
Tomorrow, it will be back to work on Volume Four…but for now Ryan and I are heading to St. Paul for a celebratory sushi dinner.
June 29, 2012
Release events! (Just 6 days to go!)
Originally published at Jacqueline West. You can comment here or there.
Here’s the final Friday clue about the contents of THE SECOND SPY:
Now, on to the events!
OFFICIAL RELEASE DATE: Thursday, July 5.
ONLINE RELEASE PARTY: Thursday, July 5th. Keep an eye on the blog Novel Novice; they’re planning some surprises to celebrate the release of THE SECOND SPY. Read the announcement here…and then please join us for the big day!
ART FESTIVAL: Saturday, July 7th, from 12:00 – 6:00. You can find me at Red Wing’s Anderson Center for the annual Summer Celebration of the Arts. I’ll have all three volumes of THE BOOKS OF ELSEWHERE (and Cherma too) with me to sell and sign. I won’t be giving a reading or a talk, but if you feel like spending that Saturday wandering around a gorgeous estate, listening to live music and browsing local art, please stop by my table and say hello.
BOOK RELEASE PARTY: Friday, July 13th, at 7:00 p.m. I’ll be at the Red Balloon Bookshop (891 Grand Avenue, St. Paul), and I would love it if you were there too! There will be an art contest for kids, I’ll read from the THE SECOND SPY, I’ll chat and answer questions, books will be available for purchase and signing, and there will be CAKE. That’s right. CAKE.
BOOKSTORE EVENT: Saturday, July 28th, at 2:00 p.m. I’ll be visiting the beautiful Valley Bookseller in Stillwater, Minnesota to read, talk, and sign books. Join us!
June 22, 2012
12 days – and a Friday photo clue
Originally published at Jacqueline West. You can comment here or there.
First things first:
I have a slew of good news to share…
- SPELLBOUND has been selected as a Midwest Booksellers Choice Award finalist! You can read the list of amazing nominees here: http://midwestbooksellers.org/book-awards/. Winners will be chosen in October. Whee!!
- THE SECOND SPY made the Summer 2012 Kids’ Indie Next List, where it’s in incredibly exciting company (See ‘Ages 9 – 12′): http://www.indiebound.org/kids-indie-next-list
- A new interview, conducted by Anne Nesbet (author of THE CABINET OF EARTHS) is available for your reading and commenting pleasure at The Enchanted Inkpot. Please check it out, and then wander around in the inky depths for a while. There’s a lot of great stuff to discover.
I’ve just wrapped up a revision of the soon-to-be-titled Shakespeare-ish YA project, which taught me not only how many different ways I can approach and reassemble one story, but how many words I can type in a single day without starting to misspell EVERYTHING. (Apparently my maximum is around 20,000. Then my arms start to go numb, and I can’t remember how contractions work anymore.) Now, I return to Volume Four of THE BOOKS OF ELSEWHERE…
June 8, 2012
Friday photo clue (and 27 days to go!)
Originally published at Jacqueline West. You can comment here or there.
Just got back from a fantastic visit to Fairfax Villa Elementary School here in northern Virginia; tomorrow we head for home. Thanks again to all the students and educators who made this week possible!
Now, without further ado, your Friday SECOND SPY photo clue:
June 7, 2012
A glass of Dandelion Wine
Originally published at Jacqueline West. You can comment here or there.
Ray Bradbury died yesterday. The thought of him being gone followed me throughout the day, turning the whole world a different, darker color. I never met him in person, but his work had such a profound impact on my life that I’m not sure I could separate it from myself now, from the way I think, the way I write, the way I look around me.
There’s the powerhouse that is Fahrenheit 451, of course, and the gorgeous nightmare of Something Wicked This Way Comes, and the classic Martian Chronicles. “A Sound of Thunder” is still one of the most memorable short stories I’ve ever read, and “Zen in the Art of Writing” is packed with inspiration and wise advice. But it was Dandelion Wine, which I first read when I was twelve, that turned me upside down. The way it depicts the inner and outer worlds of a child growing up in a small Midwestern town (just like I was), and makes those worlds so rich with magic and danger and romance and wildness, was a revelation. It showed me that everything–a new pair of running shoes, a jar of fireflies, an unusual flavor of ice cream, playing shadow tag, even mowing the lawn–was layered with life and meaning and possibility. I reread it every summer, and when I’m done, I look around with brand new eyes.
Thank you for this, Mr. Bradbury.
I’m currently in the middle of week of school visits in Fairfax County, just south of Washington D.C. (Eagle View and Laurel Hill: Thank you! Union Mill and Fairfax Villa: I’ll see you soon!) This means I get to visit with wonderful relatives and wander the city in between book events. Here I am on the National Mall…
…and at the Hirshhorn Museum, about to be eaten by one of Ai Weiwei’s Zodiac Heads.
Yesterday afternoon, I stopped by Politics & Prose to sign their in-stock copies of The Shadows and Spellbound. If you’re in the D.C. area looking for a signed book of your own, this is the place to find them (and you should stop in even if you don’t want my books, because the store is absolutely amazing). While you’re there, you could pre-order The Second Spy. Just 28 days to go…
June 1, 2012
34 days – and a Friday photo clue
Originally published at Jacqueline West. You can comment here or there.
Voila.
Readers may already know what this is, but it will be important again, in a whole new way. (I know you can’t see me, but I’m smiling with knowing smugness.)
