Gae Polisner's Blog, page 20

Friday Feedback: Putting Our Writing Fears On (the) Line

This is me.
Sometimes I'm upside down. First of all, TGIF, and welcome to my TeachersWrite! campers! (And hi to my regular readers, who I love and adore. :))

Star Wars and Steinbeck
guide two teens on a journey
to keep a promise
to their dying friend.<--- This is me,

and


this is my book ----------------------------->



and,

THIS

*motions around the place like she's Vanna White*

is Friday Feedback.

Are you ready? Well, good. Buckle up for safety, and let's go!

As Kate Messner and Jen Vincent (Teach Mentor Texts) and I geared up for Kate's Uber-Awesome Virtual Writing Camp, I read a lot about fear. About how scared or intimidated many of you are to put your words -- your creative souls -- out there for all the world to see.

Well, duh, people?! ;)

I'm not going to repeat all the true and wonderful things Kate already said here, except to say I agree wholeheartedly. Each of us is pretty much scared every time we hand a draft off to a friend; every time we submit to our agents; everytime we go out on sub to a publisher. And, don't get me started on waiting for the Kirkus Reviews! Or when our book goes sailing off into the big, cold, cruel world. . .

All I can offer is what my mom used to say to me growing up: "Feel the fear and do it anyway!" (<--- I'm pretty sure that was the title of a book she read, but it helped).

Because if you don't, you're never going to get published, and you're never going to know what it feels like to have your words and your stories out there, to have readers connect and feel moved.

FYI, it feels good! It's worth all the fear and rejection.

And, I remind you of my mantra: "ART IS SUBJECTIVE." Not everyone loves my book (I know, I know, hard to believe. . . ). Not everyone loves my voice. Not everyone gets the story I was trying to tell:

Michelle, if you happen to be here, I love you for this review. No worries. :)
See? :) At least she got some sleep. ;)

But seriously, it's okay . Not everyone loves The Great Gatsby or Hatchett or Harry Potter, either. Yes, that's true. Not everyone loves Harry Potter. And, btw, I've told my writer friends this: if everyone did love my book and my writing, if everyone gushed and there was never a negative review, I would never believe the good ones.

So. Enough of that. Let's get to Friday Feedback!!! ( please click that link and read that post if you don't already know what we do here, and what the rules are).

As some of you know, I recently sold my next YA manuscript to the wonderful Algonquin Books -- a ms currently called "Frankie Sky." Since I'm steeped in revisions for my editor, I thought I'd throw up a section I was working on yesterday. This is the very end of Chapter 7.

As per our rules, feel free to tell me if it hooks you (it's the end of the chapter, so the hope is you'd want to read the next), and what works and/or what doesn't, and why. If you want the same feedback (from me and any readers who may chime in), please post your brief excerpt in the comments as well.


And, fyi, in the weeks to come, there will be some special announcements for my #TeachersWrite crew about a few fun perks and bonuses for participating in Friday Feedback.

So, stay tuned here, or on my facebook author page.

Thanks for being brave.

- gae





My heart races as I walk toward Peter at the door. Did he rat on me? I rehearse the story about Michelle Greenhut in my head. This is all I need, to have to tell Mom what I’m doing here, and why. To explain what I thought Dad was doing.
Peter yells for me again. “Seriously, Schnell, I don’t have all day! You’re wanted inside, pronto!”
I pass Mrs. Merrill’s cabana, second-to-last, the end closest to the rear entrance of the Club. Cabana #2. There’s no sign of life in there. Either I missed her come out, or she’s dead or napping inside. With my mind on Simon, I’d lost all track of watching for her.
When I reach Peter, I don’t like the look on his face. Smug, like he’s happy to see me get hanged. Then again, he’s the one who let me in here. I could take him down, too, if I want to.
“What’s up?” I try not to sound guilty or scared.
 “Search me. I don’t ask questions. You’re wanted inside, is all. Mr. Habberstaad’s office. First door there in the corner.” He waves me through. I walk quickly, not looking back, trying to keep my mind from freaking. “That’s it,” he calls when I reach the dark wood door, gold name plate, black engraved letters. H. Habberstaad. I turn back to Peter. “Just knock,” he says. “He asked for you. And good luck. Dude owns this place, you know.” - gae

p.s. all: I will be in the city Friday evening/night at a screening for the Fat Kid Rules the World movie, book written by one of my YA idols, K.l. Going, then taking my usual Saturday a.m. long swim. So you may not get feedback until later Saturday and Sunday. I promise it will come!

Friday Feedb... Ah, Who Am I Kidding? :)

Me *cough* writing today... Okay, so I am TOTALLY distracted by summer.

You may not think it's summer yet, but my regular (daily) open water season has started, my pool is open and (as of Saturday) will be swimmable, and the weather has been in the 80's.

See? Summer.

That's what I'm saying.

I don't care what the date says.

Or that I have a gazillion other, non-summery things to do.



I'm not a total slacker in the writing department, if I am a bit schizophrenic.

My writing spot today...
I was working on that new thing (that I was posting bits of here), but I am meeting my new editor in person next week (!!!) and panicked that I should probably be focused on all things Frankie Sky, so went back to my revisions on that.

I'll post a little "Frankie" for Friday Feedback this week and open the floor (or comments as the case may be) to you all just posting whatever you want - since I'm clearly scattered and brain-vacationing this week.

Before I do, here are two pieces of news:

Adorable Kate who is a force to be reckoned with
in MG writingThe first: For those of you who haven't seen me tweeting and/or facebooking this, starting NEXT WEEK, Friday Feedback will be an integral part of a very cool project for teachers -- a Virtual Summer Writing Camp -- being run by uber-awesome Picture Book, Chapter Book and Middle grade author Kate Messner (Over and Under the Snow, Sugar and Ice, etc...), http://www.katemessner.com/announcing-teachers-write-a-virtual-summer-writing-camp-for-teachers-librarians/.

I will be collaborating with Kate along with amazing teacher and blogger (Teach Mentor Texts) Jen Vincent, who you may remember from HERE.

So hopefully, on Fridays during the summer, you'll find LOTS of posting action here, and I'd love you to chime in, following the basic Friday Feedback Rules: Post no more than 3 - 5 paragraphs (3 if long, 5 if short) and we will tell you:

• Does the piece "hook" you and make you want to keep reading? • What works for you, and why?

• What doesn’t work for you (if something doesn't) and why?

The second bit of news: I've seen a sneak peek at the THE PULL OF GRAVITY paperback cover! It's different and it's pretty awesome. It's too soon to post it -- plus, they're still tweaking some stuff -- but I really like it and it's making me pretty excited! I'll bring you a glimpse when I can.

Anyway, scattered or not, it is FRIDAY FEEDBACK, so get your excerpts out, and go ahead and tell me what you think of this little bit from Frankie, Chapter 5:



My hand moves reflexively to my throat, to my half of our shared heart pendant, but, of course, it’s not there. At the start of high school we agreed they were babyish, and not to wear them anymore.  
Still, the empty spot makes me nostalgic for the way things used to be.
Like this one time at Lisette’s house. We’re like 13 and it’s a long weekend, and I’m sleeping over a second night in a row. So, it almost feels like I live there. I remember this – how I keep thinking, I can pretend I live here, and I’m a Sutter now, not a Schnell. I have two older brothers who love me, and not a baby brother who has drowned.
Anyway, for most  of the day we’ve been playing this really dumb game we love even if we’re probably too old to still be playing it. The game is that we’re grown-up and married, and we have jobs and make-believe husbands. When we’re done with work, we come home and cook and clean for them and pretend talk to them the phone. We even pretend to make out with them, and, once, Lisette even pretended to have sex. I didn’t pretend out in the open, but I did in my head, which was exciting, even if I wasn’t brave enough to act it out like ‘Zette was. - gae

The Pull of Gravity Goes to School(s) #4

Hey, kiddos!

It's almost summer.  And you know what that means? Summer reading!

I hope someone makes you read my book this summer and you hate me for it.

Okay, fine. That's a lie. I hope someone makes you read it and you secretly love me for it (I pretend to be tough, but I'm not. We all want to be loved, you know).

Anyway, one more TPoG school visit before I part this feature for the lazy, hazy days of June - September. I'll try to bring it back in the fall. Friday Feedback will be kicking strong through the summer. :)

Today I'm sharing  share some of the responses I got from the 9th graders in Mrs. Stotz' class at Windham Christian Academy in Maine. I'm so honored that Mrs. Stotz read TPoG aloud to her students this past winter/early spring. So, without further ado, here we go:

Q: What made it a good read aloud? Or what didn't... if it wasn't?

A:  What made it a good read aloud was the fact that we read it as a class. The only downside was that our teacher stopped at crucial moments in the book. - Christopher

A:  I really enjoyed the book, although the teacher seemed to enjoy reading until she got to an exciting part. - Alex

Hah! - gae

A: ... My teacher has a good narrator voice, and sometimes, she spent the whole class time reading. It was bad when she stopped at crucial cliff-hanger moments in the story. - Lauren
Hmmm... Mrs. Stotz, I see a theme developing. ;)

A: This was a very good read aloud because we would stop at the most exciting times. This made the book suspenseful and more enjoyable. - David

A: Mrs. Stotz read it with awesome different voices for each character. The book has many irony parts. - Sunny

and,

A: I did enjoy it because it was read in a narrative tone. When it was read aloud you could feel the emotions of the characters. And at funny parts, it was emphasized and made it funnier. - Seyya

So, let me just take a second to say how amazing I think it is to constantly get feedback from students as to how well (or, um, awesomely!) their teacher reads aloud.  Middle schoolers and high schoolers alike. What a great gift to continue to share with your students!

So, next question:

Q: Did you have a favorite (or least favorite) part or character?


A: My favorite character would probably have to be Scooter a/k/a "the Scoot." His Yoda impressions always seemed to make the moment exciting. "Great you are, young Scooter." The world needs more Star Wars geeks! - Alex

See, Hyesu, totally separate rooms. :) A: Least favorite part: When they were in the hotel. Well, I think that is illegal...? - Hyesu 

*author coughs* Hyesu, they, um, had adjoining rooms. I think that's okay. Except for the part where their parents didn't know. But, um, yeah. *slinks away*


A:  I like Jaycee the most. Some of the ways she dresses -- crazy jewelry, cool clothes -- reminds me of me. I thought she had a really cool personality and depth to her. My least favorite was Nick's dad because he walked out on his family. - Lauren

A: My favorite character was probably Jaycee because she seemed kind. Jaycee was also weird. Troll necklaces??? - David

Um, you mean like this, David:

That was at my book release party, and, yes, my troll
is gold, glittered and bejeweled. My sister made it for me.
A: I didn't like when Nick found out about his dad. - David too.

A: I liked Jaycee. She speaks really fun and honestly. It was fun she knows everything that Nick thinks. - Sunny

Q: Mrs. Stotz class read The Pull of Gravity after they read Of Mice and Men. I asked them, "How did you feel about the references?"


A: I really liked the Of Mice and Men references. The Pull of Gravity was kind of like a modern day version of the novel in several ways. - Alex

A: We had read OMAM before, and it was funny to recognize the references. - Lauren

A: It is more cute. - Hyesu

A: The Pull of Gravity helped to explain some of the things that were happening in the book (OMAM) and added a touch of humor to the book. - Christopher

And, last but not least, my most favorite question:

Q: Did any part of the story make you laugh?

A: Made me laugh quite a bit. - Christopher

A: Yes, many parts ... I believe there was one part about Nick thinking he was being chased by a giant noodle? If so, I thought that was funny because it seemed like giant food was really taking over the world (reference to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs). - Alex

and,

wait for it...

come on, we had to bake them for someone,

drum roll....................... and brownie points go to........................

A: When you asked if any part of the story made us laugh, it totally sounded like a trick question. Our whole class was literally laughing out loud whenever we read the book. I loved how you are so good at mixing in humor and drama, and it really made an enjoyable read. Thank you! - Heather

What can I do but give Heather the last word? Thanks to all the awesome 9th graders who participated from Windham Christian Academy! And a HUGE thank you to Mrs. Stotz for choosing The Pull of Gravity as a read aloud.

- gae

Rochester Teen Book Festival, Super Speed Recap

Oh. my. goodness.

Goodness being the operative word.

Just got back from TBF -- my first official author festival ever -- and let me just say it was probably a dumb and crappy way to start things.

Because, seriously, I imagine it can only go downhill from here.

As rumor had it, the dedicated organizers of TBF treat their authors like rock stars, and, let me tell you, in this case, rumor was true!

I'm doing a super-speed recap because I have a thousand other things I need to be doing, for example, finishing my unpacking, dealing with my parental stuff that's piled up, getting my ass to some yoga, and reviewing my contract that just came in from Algonquin!?!

look at my shiny new ISBN number! :D
But, if I don't do this now, real life will seep in, and I want to hold on to the glory long enough to share it with you.

So, without edits, and with apologies to anyone I left out (you were all so nice and amazing!), here goes:

Friday evening, we (my hubby and my older son -- my younger son stayed home due to a heavy load of travel baseball games) arrived to warm greetings in the lobby of the Radisson Riverside Rochester.

They must know how I feel about water because my room had a river view!

We went from there to a meet & greet dinner at the Rochester Library, where I got to meet all sorts of wonderful people I had only read, or been introduced to virtually:


I was especially excited to see my panel sister and fellow Class of 2K11'er, Amy Holder, again, and to meet to-date-only-virtual-writer-pals Shawn Goodman and Paul Griffin (link below).

Funny aside: during an early email exchange, Paul and I had figured out that Paul (who used to live on Long Island) was treated by my father, a pediatric orthopedist, for a broken wrist when he was a freshman in college!

Truth be told, I was a tiny bit star struck by some of the usual suspects: Laurie Halse Anderson, A.S. King and *swoons* Matt de la Pena:

sooner or later, Matt is going to get sick of me spreading rumors
about our love affair... or, more than likely, he's not paying me any attention...After dinner, we returned to the hotel where we were given keys to the hospitality suite, where, I'm pretty sure I accosted Matt too fast and furiously, and where, having had my magic number of glasses of red wine (um, one half of one), I proceeded to insinuate myself into the presence of such amazing peeps as James Kennedy, Brent Crawford, Jennifer Roy, Terry Trueman, and AS King. *silly bathroom photo to follow if I ever get my hands on it...*

Let me just announce this to the world now. All Matt-jesting aside (and he is too adorable for words), Terry Trueman is my new (yes, yes, come on, we all know I am fickle) one, true author love, for now:

This is the back of Terry's head with a TBF tattoo. He is crazy,
wicked, funny, energetic and has a heart of gold. And check out his
incredible book (I'm in the middle of it) Stuck in Neutral.Seriously, Terry is some kind of wonderful, and he'll NEVER get rid of me now.
Saturday morning bright and early, the TBF crew had us met by a fleet of classic cars, where Amy Holder and I were whisked to the venue (Nazareth College) olde- Hollywood-glamour-style in the back of a 1960 Buick Eddy:



where we were then greeted first by the sounds, then by the surreal view, of hundreds of screaming throngs:


... then by a red carpet...

and then by our walk of stars.

can you see the happy overwhelm on my face?!
A meet and greet breakfast gave us a chance to get to know our moderator and "handlers" who were all awesome, then we proceeded to the gymnasium for a riotous (especially thanks to James Kennedy's raucous, off-the-cuff, way-too-long and enthusiastic rendition of Oklahoma!) game show-style introduction:

Photo of the audience from the stage thanks to another one of
my tbf faves: Cat Patrick!
If I can ever get my hands on a video clip, I will bring it to you here, I promise. Until then, can I just say show-stoppingly, stupidly HI-larious?!?!

We spent the next two hours in small (well, ours was small...) panel workshops, which went swimmingly, and then were treated to a yummy lunch where I managed to pal around with some of the hot guys,

James Kennedy, Paul Griffin and Brent Crawford, total posers... :)
and then on to the signings.

My signing line was, to say the least, modest *coughs* and humbling... reminding me I still have dues to pay and many goals left to accomplish. Never a bad thing, not that I, um, necessarily needed reminding... ;)

After it all, we were treated to one more dinner, where I had the incredibly lucky honor of being seated with Laurie Halse Anderson who is as nice and generous as she is successful, which is saying a great big lot!

Then, it was one more raucous and memorable late night in the hospitality suite, where I had some more quality, wonder-and-laughs-filled and, yes, still a bit surreal, time with some of my personal favorites from the festival: James Kennedy, AS King, Brent Crawford, Paul Griffin and Jennifer Roy, just to name a few.

The next day, I dragged my patient family around downtown Rochester to try to catch a few of the places Nick and Jaycee go to when they are there (in my book The Pull of Gravity):

This is the Trailways bus station Nick and Jaycee come into
when they arrive in Rochester

... and this is the news station they go into which leads them to
the climax of the story! :D


All in all, it was a crazy-memorable weekend.

Huge props, awe and thank yous go out to Stephanie Squicciarini, the organizer of the Teen Book Festival. She and her team are a warm, energetic and amazing group of people.

If you are a YA author, I highly recommend you try to weasel your way into this festival. BUT DON'T TAKE MY SPOT!!!

It was one of the highlights of my life so far.


- gae

Friday Feedback: Rough Writing and Whacking Back the Muse

Hey, peeps, it's Friday Feedback time once again!

In case you haven't heard *coughs* I finally got a book deal for my next YA, currently titled Frankie Sky, and I'm "supposed" to be working on my revisions for my new (shiny, fabulous) editor.

Any of you who have been here before, have seen snippets of the book that sold on Friday Feedback.

Trust me, I love the manuscript.

And I lurve my new editor.

And I'm totally excited about the revisions.

In fact, I've started them and they're going pretty well.



And, yet.

This week, my damned muse came a-knocking (tugging, pulling, screaming, bugging, noodging).  


And, sprinkled her musey-magic fairy dust all over my fingers, my brain,

and my laptop screen.

"Work on that other thing," she whispered.

You know, the one with the boy, and the angel girl and 9/11.

The one you keep changing and playing with because you have absolutely no IDEA what its really about.

You know, the one you have barely started.

The one that may be going NOwhere.

That one! Work on that one!


Yeah, I don't know who this dude is,
but he's got a machete, and I need him
to whack back my muse. I tried to ignore her. I picked up a machete and tried to whack her back.

The thing about my muse is she can be tricky,

and particularly fickle.

She's led me up plenty a dead-end, overgrown, fruitless path.


And, I have more pressing, sure things, I should be doing.

And yet. And yet.

And yet.

So, I put down the machete and caved in.

I wrote 15 or more pages yesterday and already she's calling to me today. I'm pretty obsessed. I don't know if the story will amount to anything, but it's weird and quirky and a sad and magical, and there are bits of writing that enthrall me:

     Uncle Matt pushes his plate away with his dead fish hand, and mumbles again. "Ace of Spades on the subway tracks.” The angel girl’s eyes shoot up to him. Dad and I both see it. I look over at Dad, but he shakes his head and shifts his gaze away. Just a coincidence. We both know nothing Uncle Matt says means much of anything anymore.

It's rough. Really, really rough. But there's something. . .


She nods. “I think so.” She gets up and walks to the window. She looks heartbreakingly pretty in my pajamas. “It’s weird, Kyle,” she says. “I remember little things, parts, bit of stuff like movie clips. Like I’m watching them, through gauze bandage.”  “Which parts?” I swallow.“I don’t know. Not much really. Some guy talking to me on the street. Walking down the steps to the train.” “Where are your parents?”“I don’t know.”“Your name?”              She shakes her head.
             "Do you know why you did it?” My ears burn red. I’m embarrassed for asking, for prying where I have no business.
“No,” she says. “And, I’m not sure I want to know, either.”Maybe I just need to get to the hard part (the part where I hit a wall because I have no effing idea where the story is going or what I am actually writing about) so that I can put it away. But, in the meantime, I'm driven, delirious, typing frantically as the hours whoosh by.

So, I told my muse: "Rough, fast, and furious, you hear me? Get it down and get back to what you need to be doing. NO editing. NO MAKING IT PRETTY!!!"

My muse is hard-pressed to listen.

It's why I've never Nanowrimo'ed well. I can't tell if my art is working unless it's, well, arty, unless the words are reading the perfectly right way to me.

Still, I'm trying my best. To keep moving. To start and end chapters.

To ignore HUGE plot holes and logistical problems.

To ignore the fact that I have no freaking idea about some of the things I am writing about (say, cops' lives for instance).

To not worry where things are versus where they should be.

To just get all the thoughts and images and concepts that are calling to me committed to paper, so I can whack back my muse and move on with things.

Dumb muse.

She seems awfully unphased by my machete.


Got some rough writing you want to share with us? It's Friday Feedback. You know the rules.

- gae

p.s. I'll be at Teen Book Festival in Rochester this weekend, so if you post and I don't respond, I will... gimme a few extra days. In the meantime, maybe a few of my loyal readers/commenters will chime in. I know you're there. I see you. :)

Friday Feedback, New (new, new) beginnings

One of the best pieces of advice I can give new writers is, don't waste too much time on the beginning. When you set out to write a novel, don't keep fixing up the opening scene, spinning your wheels to make it pretty. Get it down, move on, and go back to it when you are done with the whole story. Because, most of the time, it's not until you've seen the middle and end, that the true beginning will reveal itself to you.

It may be a mere paragraph later, or a whole chapter later, or maybe you haven't written it at all. Maybe the first sentence stays, and you gut the opening from there.


there are frogs of relevance in Frankie Sky...
     As some of you may know, I just (finally! *tosses confetti*) sold my next YA novel, Frankie Sky.

Prior to the sale, no opening of any of my manuscripts changed more than the opening of that one, Frankie Sky.

There were definite reasons for these changes, for starters, the original version I set out to tell morphed completely as I wrote. The protagonist, Francesca "Beans" Schnell, started out much younger in the original draft, and the story spanned a much longer time. The central focus was her relationship with the boy she meets, Frankie Sky.

Here's one of the original opening's from 2010:


The first time I see Frankie Schyler, he’s diving into the deep end of the Lawrenceville Country Club pool. All around the pool, clear as day, are big white signs with black letters that say, “NO DIVING,” but, then, he can’t know about those.
     As I made my way into the story, I knew I wanted Francesca to start a little older, and for the book to span a shorter time. It became more a story about Francesca and her best friend Lisette (not to mention a love triange) and, so the opening morphed to here:


It’s not even noon in not even July, yet already the sun bakes down hot and steady making the air in front of me waffle like an oily mirage. I hate summer, and it only makes it worse that I’m here at the Lawrenceville Country Club pool without Lisette because, since school ended, she’s never around. I sit up and adjust my bikini top, trying to stretch it across the spots it barely covers. It’s snug only because it’s old – one of Lisette’s hand-me-downs – and not for better reasons. Lisette had lent me it last spring for a school carwash, and I grabbed what I could this morning. It’s not like I have a fresh supply of bathing suits.Fast forward. The book sold (*makes another squeaky happy noise*) and my new editor commented that she wanted to see Francesca's relationship with Lisette sooner - though not necessarily in the opening. In the version that sold, we don't see Lisette until the third chapter, although Francesca referenced her in the first paragraph. Based on that feedback, and a few other editorial requests, I started to play with this new opening, which is where I am now: It’s not even noon in not even July, yet already the sun bakes down hot and steady making the air in front of me waffle like an oily mirage. I hate summer to begin with, and it’s looking more and more like I’m going to spend this one being a third wheel.Lisette walks ahead of me with Bradley, her blonde pony tail bobbing happily, the stray, static strands of her hair lit gold by sunshine that spills down through the fresh green canopy of leaves. Bradley holds tight to her hand, ducks to avoid the low-hanging branches. Prickles of sweat appear between his shoulder blades, dark gray dots through the pale blue cotton of his t-shirt that mesmerize me. So, what do you think? Does one of these openings hook you more than another? What makes an opening work for you? Do you have a favorite opening line?You know the rules for Friday Feedback (and, if you don't CLICK HERE). Let's use the most recent (last posted) opening of mine: does it hook you? If so, why? If not, why not? Tell me in the comments and, if you want, post a brief excerpt from something you're working on. It can be a poem, a short story, a novel, and I (and maybe some of my readers) will give the same feedback back to you.
p.s. If you're in Mr. Wyzlic's class, please let me know! Look forward to chatting with you guys on Tuesday! Happy Friday.- gae

The Pull of Gravity Goes to School(s)!! #3

This is Sarah Andersen.
She's a high school English teacher at Clio High School in Michigan, and she's a wonderful ball of dedication, energy, and so much more.
FYI, she won Teacher of the Year in her district this year.
She runs a terrific book blog called Y.A. Love (with several great features including Books Guys Dig and Students Want to Know).

I "met" Sarah through Twitter - she's one of the many super-involved teachers who are working so hard to really forge a connection between her students and reading, enhancing that through direct connections with authors, wherever possible.
I've also had the pleasure of virtually "meeting" some of her past students who confirm how much she influenced their continued love of reading.

Sarah told me early on that she really wanted to bring more contemporary YA fiction into her school, but that the administration still swayed toward the classics. She thought my book might be an opportunity to mesh the two, and, on her own initiative, went to her principal and brought The Pull of Gravity into her school as part of the core 9th grade curriculum, where it is now taught as a companion to Of Mice and Men.

I am eternally honored and grateful for this. :)
She also prepared the terrific Teachers' Guide to TPOG, which you may find on my website here.

At any rate, I am happy to have a bunch o' Sarah's awesome students here this month for The Pull of Gravity Goes to School(s) #3.


So, without further ado, here are some of Sarah's students' from Clio High School answering stuff about reading The Pull of Gravity:

So, what made it a good read?

I could picture what was actually happening in the book. –Justin

It was good because the book was never boring, there was always something happening. --Allie

If you read it at home as an assignment, did you enjoy it? Why? Why not L?


***Brownie Point alert***

I read ahead in class because I liked it so much. –Todd 



Yay! There you go, Todd. Eat up.


Who was your favorite character? Why?

Jaycee because she was odd and mysterious. –Deanna

Nick because he was awkward. –Ciara

The Scoot was my favorite character because he was strong and happy, even with all the bad stuff going on. –Shaylyn

Jaycee, she’s hot. –Jared

Nick’s older brother because he acts like me. –Josh              

(Hah!)


Scoot’s mom because she sounded hot. –Todd

(oh, Todd, Todd, Todd... I just gave you Brownies... ;))

Jaycee because she knew exactly what to do and when. –Daymon

Nick and his older brother—their fight with the spoon was hilarious. –Justin

Scoot because he wasn’t afraid of anything, not even death. –Brandon


Who was your least favorite character? Why?

Nick’s mom because I felt like she should have been more involved in the story. –Deanna

Nick’s dad because he was a coward and reminded me of a lot of people I know. –Shaylyn

Nick because I didn’t like the way he acted and how he relied on Jaycee so much. –Madi

My least favorite character would be Nick because he’s a wuss. --Ashley  
(Aw, Ashley, he is NOT! >:( ;))

Nick’s dad because I believe that no parent should walk away from their family. –Justin

Nick’s dad because he left his family. –Brandon


Did any part of the story make you laugh?

Yes, when Nick described his hallucinations. –Madi
Most of the story made me laugh. –Todd

(you mean that in a good way, right, Todd?!?)






So. What, if anything, did you learn from The Pull of Gravity?

That true friendship is more than it seems to be. –Todd

Nothing goes as planned. –Daymon

Friends are important. –Ana

Kids can do adult things and be adventurous. –Tyler

Did you have a favorite part? Least favorite part?

My favorite part was when the bus * blah, blah, blah, author-inserted spoiler alert*   and they didn’t know it. My least favorite part was when they skip over * blah, blah, blah, author-inserted spoiler alert* . –Billy

My least favorite part was when they *blah, blah, blah, author-inserted spoiler alert* –Madi

(Hmmm. Maybe this question was a bad idea...)

My favorite part was when they got to the white trash house.  My least was when the Scoot died. –Ashley
My least favorite part was the end. –Allie

My favorite part was *blah, blah, blah, author-inserted spoiler alert* . –Na-Kiayha

When *blah, blah, blah, author-inserted spoiler alert! ;)* (favorite) and when the Scoot died (least). --Brandon
And, more brownies for Alicia:

The whole book was all together my favorite part J--Alicia



Thanks, all! A HUGE shout out to Mrs. Andersen, and all the kids at Clio High School. :)

- gae

The Pull of Gravity Goes to School #3

This is Sarah Andersen.
She's a high school English teacher at Clio High School in Michigan, and she's a wonderful ball of dedication, energy, and so much more.
FYI, she won Teacher of the Year in her district this year.
She runs a terrific book blog called Y.A. Love (with several great features including Books Guys Dig and Students Want to Know).

I "met" Sarah through Twitter - she's one of the many super-involved teachers who are working so hard to really forge a connection between her students and reading, enhancing that through direct connections with authors, wherever possible.
I've also had the pleasure of virtually "meeting" some of her past students who confirm how much she influenced their continued love of reading.

Sarah told me early on that she really wanted to bring more contemporary YA fiction into her school, but that the administration still swayed toward the classics. She thought my book might be an opportunity to mesh the two, and, on her own initiative, went to her principal and brought The Pull of Gravity into her school as part of the core 9th grade curriculum, where it is now taught as a companion to Of Mice and Men.

I am eternally honored and grateful for this. :)
She also prepared the terrific Teachers' Guide to TPOG, which you may find on my website here.

At any rate, I am happy to have a bunch o' Sarah's awesome students here this month for The Pull of Gravity Goes to School(s) #3.


So, without further ado, here are some of Sarah's students' from Clio High School answering stuff about reading The Pull of Gravity:

So, what made it a good read?

I could picture what was actually happening in the book. –Justin

It was good because the book was never boring, there was always something happening. --Allie

If you read it at home as an assignment, did you enjoy it? Why? Why not L?


***Brownie Point alert***

I read ahead in class because I liked it so much. –Todd 

Yay! There you go, Todd. Eat up.


Who was your favorite character? Why?

Jaycee because she was odd and mysterious. –Deanna

Nick because he was awkward. –Ciara

The Scoot was my favorite character because he was strong and happy, even with all the bad stuff going on. –Shaylyn

Jaycee, she’s hot. –Jared

Nick’s older brother because he acts like me. –Josh              

(Hah!)


Scoot’s mom because she sounded hot. –Todd

(oh, Todd, Todd, Todd... I just gave you Brownies... ;))

Jaycee because she knew exactly what to do and when. –Daymon

Nick and his older brother—their fight with the spoon was hilarious. –Justin

Scoot because he wasn’t afraid of anything, not even death. –Brandon


Who was your least favorite character? Why?

Nick’s mom because I felt like she should have been more involved in the story. –Deanna

Nick’s dad because he was a coward and reminded me of a lot of people I know. –Shaylyn

Nick because I didn’t like the way he acted and how he relied on Jaycee so much. –Madi

My least favorite character would be Nick because he’s a wuss. --Ashley  
(Aw, Ashley, he is NOT! >:( ;))

Nick’s dad because I believe that no parent should walk away from their family. –Justin

Nick’s dad because he left his family. –Brandon


Did any part of the story make you laugh?

Yes, when Nick described his hallucinations. –Madi
Most of the story made me laugh. –Todd

(you mean that in a good way, right, Todd?!?)






So. What, if anything, did you learn from The Pull of Gravity?

That true friendship is more than it seems to be. –Todd

Nothing goes as planned. –Daymon

Friends are important. –Ana

Kids can do adult things and be adventurous. –Tyler

Did you have a favorite part? Least favorite part?

My favorite part was when the bus * blah, blah, blah, author-inserted spoiler alert*   and they didn’t know it. My least favorite part was when they skip over * blah, blah, blah, author-inserted spoiler alert* . –Billy

My least favorite part was when they *blah, blah, blah, author-inserted spoiler alert* –Madi

(Hmmm. Maybe this question was a bad idea...)

My favorite part was when they got to the white trash house.  My least was when the Scoot died. –Ashley
My least favorite part was the end. –Allie

My favorite part was *blah, blah, blah, author-inserted spoiler alert* . –Na-Kiayha

When *blah, blah, blah, author-inserted spoiler alert! ;)* (favorite) and when the Scoot died (least). --Brandon
And, more brownies for Alicia:

The whole book was all together my favorite part J--Alicia



Thanks, all! A HUGE shout out to Mrs. Andersen, and all the kids at Clio High School. :)

- gae

Fanfare.

So, it's official. You can all un-shhh.
The cat is out of the bag. Or, in the case of Frankie Sky, maybe the frog.
From Publisher's Marketplace today:


I'm delighted.
And, honored.
And, grateful.
As ee cummings once said, in just spring the world can be mudluscious. Today, it certainly is.
- gae
p.s. blogger, I do not like your new format. Just saying.

Assorted, Discombobulated Things...

So, remember this blog post
in which I compared my publishing life to a game of
Chutes & Ladders?

I know, I know...

It's hard to remember that far back, I mean, that was like, four hundred years ago...


And, yes, I've spent the last few months slipping down

lots of seriously long and

ego-crushing chutes.




But, guess what?



Um. Yep.

That's all I'm saying right now, because I'm not really at liberty to discuss more right now. Or, probably even that, for that matter. But no one reads this blog anyway, right? ;)

And, well, I've known for like two weeks, and I'm missing enjoying the fanfare with you guys. ;)

Here's the truth though, it's good to learn not to always need the fanfare. I think it's good for me. I should work harder on that.

Anyway, I'm writer-happy. And, well, that's all I'm going to say on that for now.

In other news, I am totally obsessed with this Goyte song.


 In fact, I had to stop and listen to it again before I kept working on this post.

The song is huge, so it's not like I'm Miss Original, or telling you anything you don't already know. But still. Tell me this doesn't strike a chord? #needthissong #eventhoughowitkillsme #couldlisten24/7

And, last, need to share this one last thing. Here, there, everywhere.

Why? Because it's brilliant, simple, and so VERY true.

I'm convinced if everyone could hold on to this, the world would be a gentler, happier place:
Hold onto that. That's some really smart stuff right there, I'm telling you.

- gae

p.s. No Friday Feedback. Hope this suffices instead.

- gae