Pam Withers's Blog, page 22

Hiding in the library

When I was a shy, awkward teenager, I used to hide in the library of my small town (Sisseton, South Dakota, population around 3,000). (And no, the photo above isn't actually me.) The librarian was one of those kindly women who knew not to hover over me or ask me too many questions.
It was in the library I discovered two magazines that I buried my nose in regularly: The Writer and Writer's Digest. They contained articles on the craft of writing. I liked to imagine they were speaking to me, a dreamy teenager, not to older, more promising, more confident and experienced writers.
I drank in everything they said, storing it away. And guess what? They gradually gave me knowledge, confidence and practical information I could apply even to my lowly school projects or hidden-in-a-drawer short stories.
It feels odd to have people ask me for advice now. No matter how many words or books I've published, there's still a part of me that is a shy 16-year-old hiding in the library.
But now and again someone does, and the best part is reading the answers that others provide at the same time.
Here's a roundup of advice of which I happen to be a small part. Useful stuff for writers of any experience level. Thank you, Shaun Smith, for gathering it: http://www.openbookontario.com/news/fiction_craft_shaun_smith_et_al_5

A trip to Portland, Oregon

Yesterday I had the privilege of visiting Portland, Oregon to present my new young adult novel, First Descent, to 200 booksellers, librarians, publishers and other book lovers. I was attending the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association's Fall Tradeshow 2011, and I was so impressed by the attendees, I wrote a guest blog for Tundra Books' site, right here:
 http://tundrabooks.wordpress.com/2011/10/14/guest-post-pam-withers-2/

How I came to write First Descent

Did you catch my interview of how I came to write First Descent? Here's the link:
http://www.pamwithers.com/#interview
The river photo was taken in Ecuador not far south of Colombia, where my novel is set. I was there doing research for First Descent. The photo of the necklace is one I found on the Internet, printed out and kept near me as I wrote about the necklace that my character Rex is so superstitious about.

My Word on the Street Festival experience

Today I'm a guest blogger on Tundra Books' website -- all about the windy experience of presenting my new book, First Descent, at Vancouver, Canada's readers' and writers' festival. Check it out here:

http://tundrabooks.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/guest-post-pam-withers/

New Novel Now In Bookstores!

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Hey, today's the day my new young-adult novel First Descent goes on sale! It's a 240-page hardcover from Tundra Books for ages 12 and up. This is my first for Tundra Books (http://www.tundrabooks.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781770492578), which has been a super publisher to work with. And is the cover not cool?! Shortly, I'll be posting an interview here on how I came to write First Descent. Meanwhile, it's exciting to see that First Descent already has a bunch of reviews, which I feel are very objective and fair. (Let me know if you know of others I have not mentioned.):



http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/vol18/no2/firstdescent.html
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10422467-first-descent
http://birdbrainbb.net/2011/06/10/review-first-descent-by-pam-withers/
http://terriko.dreamwidth.org/75957.html
http://www.librarything.com/work/11343459
http://saralatta1.blogspot.com/2011/08/first-descent.html
I'm just starting to plan a busy fall and winter of touring, and just a reminder to schools and conference organizers that I don't charge travel expenses on top of presentation fees, or limit audience size. Basically, I'll go almost anywhere that has at least a handful of schools wanting to book me -- which they can do here: http://www.pamwithers.com/talks
I especially admire the teacher-librarians who network with colleagues in their region to ensure I come their way. My favorite cities, which I'll come to almost at the drop of a hat, are those where I have relatives: Seattle, Toronto, Washington D.C., Minneapolis and Dallas.
Meantime, here are my first few appearances. Stay tuned for more!
I will be appearing at Vancouver's 17th annual The Word on the Street Vancouver festival at Library Square, Vancouver, BC, Canada on Sunday, Sept. 25 from 1:20-1:40 p.m., talking about how my novel First Descent came about, and reading from it.

I will be in Portland, Oregon for the Pacific Northwest Booksellers' Celebration of Authors on Thursday, Oct. 13 to promote First Descent.

I will be at the Kidlitosphere Conference in downtown Seattle at Hotel Monaco from 7-9 p.m. on Sunday, October 16.

I will be part of the Inside Story presentation at 7 p.m. at the Sunset Hill  Community Association, Ballard, WA on Wednesday October 26.

Teen writers

Her name was Emmy and she had the courage to approach me after a school presentation this week and hand me her two-page typed story about a wizard. I'm guessing she was in sixth grade. She shyly asked me to read it, which I did, and I gave her my thoughts, my compliments and some suggestions. Wow, it had so much going for it: tension, mystery, great dialogue. I love that she, like many students out there, is quietly writing and hoping to continue growing as a writer. I also hope she, like any other aspiring writers out there, will check out my new website that holds a youth writing contest (enter and win, and you receive one of my books autographed to you: http://www.keenreaders.org/youth/writ...
     I was seven when I announced to my grandmother that I intended to be an author when I grew up. (She responded, "That's nice. How do you intend to support yourself?") It took me a few decades, but here I am. So keep writing, teens. It can be hard work sometimes, but I have never found anything more fulfilling.
     Sometimes kids ask me what I like best about writing. I say that going into a room and playing with imaginary characters and getting paid for it is as cool as life can get. But the real, true answer is that what I enjoy most is going to schools and presenting to students, hopefully inspiring some to read and write. Writing is a lonely profession, and being able to get out and meet people (especially kids who have actually read what I've written -- which I still find a strange concept!) is an honor of which I never tire.
     This week, after three months of being laid low with back problems, I feel like a groundhog popping out of my hole and sniffing the air with delight. After several months of being unable to write or give presentations, I'm finally doing both again, with far more appreciation for it than anyone could imagine. So, Emmy, it was super to meet you, and do keep on writing!
P.S. For those who read my entry, "The Sendoff," yes, my son returned from the Middle East safely, after some adventurous and hair-raising experiences.

The Sendoff

             He was the baby who always nodded off in the special backpack I wore while cross-country skiing. He was the toddler who especially loved tactile board books, the boy who curled up on our laps for bedtime reading and the preteen who once convinced me to buy him a ridiculously expensive coffee table book on astronomy, which he read over and over and over for years.             He was the ten-year-old for whom I wrote my first young-adult novel (which just happened to get published three years later, leading to thousands of other kids reading it and a surprise career change for me). I wrote much of it in chilly ice hockey arenas as he attended practice sessions. He was the official teen editor of my Take it to the Extreme series. (I learned to take feedback; he learned some diplomacy.)              We raced whitewater kayaks together, first in a double and later separately. We hiked and cross-country skied together. When he outgrew his snowboard boots around age 13, I claimed them because they were my shoe size. This prompted him to hand-draw a gift certificate that read, "This is good for one snowboard lesson." When we arrived on the mountain together, he gave me five minutes of instruction, said "You're good to go" and disappeared. I worked my way down the mountain by myself, then had to ask a young boy how to get on and off the ski lift with my board.            I borrowed his mountain-biking pads to play paintball last year. They failed to stop the inadvertent friendly-fire pellet that bruised my rear end.             He was the teenager who wrote heavy metal lyrics for his garage band, which I was not allowed to call a garage band, and who spent an entire family vacation with his nose so buried in one of the Harry Potter books that he barely lifted his head to grunt at us now and again. He read each and every one of the Harry Potter books four times.             And finally, he was the adventurous spirit who was more than happy to take up extreme sports I wasn't willing to when I was researching them for young-adult novels. He helped me so much with my mountain-biking book Adrenalin Ride, I allowed his photo to appear in the back of the book with mine.             He helped choose the book covers when Whitecap Books asked for my input, and it's even possible that many of my characters are based on him and his friends. (My character Peter of my Extreme series was consciously based on his best friend in elementary school, but I forbid him to ever tell his best friend, for fear that his friend would someday sue me. Of course, Peter soon outgrew his original inspiration and took on his own personality.)            This week my son Jeremy is the newly minted university graduate about to fly halfway around the world. And I'm fiercely proud and happy for him, but also just a tiny bit panicked to lose his company.
            Jeremy finished his university degree in anthropology in December. This week he leaves for several months in Syria, where he's doing an immersion course in Arabic prior to graduate school in the fall. Am I allowed to be a sentimental mom who is dreading this new stage just a little?            It's not like it's the first time he has left home, but this time feels so much more final. Two summers ago, he participated in archeological digs in Jordan through a university program. (He ended up in the hospital with food poisoning and sunstroke.) Last summer he did a solo bike trip through Sicily, Italy, Albania, Serbia, Bosnia, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Holland, France and England. He slept in farmers' fields, biked up mountains through torrential rainstorms, got invited into remote farmhouses for pasta and wine, and generally had the adventure of a lifetime. I ordered a 21st birthday cake to be delivered to his youth hostel in Rome via the internet. He said he was the most popular guy in the hostel for the ten minutes it took for the cake to disappear.             The only child of a chemistry professor and writer, did he grow up to be a keen reader and writer? Yes, but I'll credit that more to my husband reading to him a lot when he was a child, than to my own efforts or influence. That's the male role-model factor, so important for boys.             There was also his childhood asthma, which forced him to sit beside a machine for hours per day somewhere around fourth grade. It put rocket launchers on his reading abilities and inclination. Then again, that's partly because we handed him a book rather than television for those sessions.             As I prepare for the sendoff, I'll share this memory: reading chapters of my first novel Raging River every night to him as a bedtime story when he was ten years old. Like any kid trying to extend his bedtime, he'd say, "Mom, won't you read me just one more chapter?" Glancing down at my manuscript, I'd say, "No, because I haven't written it yet."             When I was finished, he told me it was "pretty good." Higher praise I'll never receive.             Bon voyage, Jeremy. You've done us proud.            

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