C.J. Flood's Blog, page 3

Infinite Sky in Toronto...

So, I'm back from North America. Who can believe it? Not me.


 
 For fear of missing my plane and the whole tour, I got to the airport for the first of my five flights stupidly early. En route, I checked I was still okay-looking.

Check.
In preparation for my big adventure I had a bag of extremely healthy and nutritious snacks, plus Emma Jane Unsworth's rude and remarkable novel, Animals.



After a feast of weird but delicious airplane food and many sitcoms, I arrived in Canada.



More specifically, Toronto. I fell in love with this place with its colourful buildings and blue skies.


I just missed a huge storm, but there was no sign of it where I was staying, in Queen West. Rita Silva from Simon and Schuster picked me up, and took me to my hotel WHICH HAD AN INFINITY POOL ON THE ROOF, but after wandering around a bit, I had to give into jetlag (which is a real thing - who knew?) draw my curtains and pretend to be in England.



Cue waking up about five o'clock every day for the rest of my trip, and not even minding. The next day was a school visit to Bowmore Public School where I talked to a couple of hundred students about how I became a writer (always preferred books to people), and where the idea for Infinite Sky came from (made it up).

Afterwards, there was a signing, and then - one of the highlights of the trip - some students showed us a dance they were learning. I wasn't such a pro in those first heady days of the tour, and so I didn't take photos of any of this. Idiot.


Suffice to say it was the best thing I've ever seen, and you have missed out in a way you can't understand. Imagine thirty teens springing around semi-enthusiastically to a mega mix of Motown into The Beatles into The Spice Girls into Nirvana into Miley Cyrus and then just enjoy it really.

After this was lots of signings at various branches of Indigos, which is Canada's biggest independent book store, and then a very delicious lunch with some of the S&S team and some of the people from Indigo at Brassai.

I then made a quick film with Hayley from The O'Deary Library, and then began my time off, during which I planned to eat everything. I did quite well at achieving this goal. Lots of people I asked for tips suggested I go to Kensington Market, which was vivid and busy.


And also had this car garden. (Carden?)

Here is the place that Felicia from S&S recommended, and which served the best fish tacos I have ever tasted.


After my day off in Toronto, it was time to fly to Los Angeles for the next bit of my trip, the Summer Lovin 2.0 tour, with Sarah Ockler, Jody Casella and Suzanne Young, which was even more fun that I had anticipated.

Come back soon to read about how me and the Summer Lovin ladies got our photo taken on the red carpet, met Steven R. McQueen from The Vampire Diaries and tried to give Ellen DeGeneres free cakes.

Summer Lovin' 2.0 Tour, California, Sarah Ockler and Good Reads giveaway!

It's just over two weeks until I go on the Summer Lovin' 2.0 tour of California with fellow Simon and Schuster writers Sarah Ockler, Suzanne Young and Jody Casella. To celebrate Suzanne's friend at Novel Novice has made this poster for us:
Last week, I interviewed Jody Casella about her writing. Next up is Sarah Ockler. Here she is, look!


And here is her bio:

Sarah Ockler is the bestselling author of several books for teens: The Book of Broken Hearts, Bittersweet, Twenty Boy Summer, Fixing Delilah, and the upcoming #scandal. Her books have received numerous accolades, including ALA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults, Girls’ Life Top 100 Must Reads, Indie Next List, Amazon Top Movers and Shakers, and nominations for YALSA Teens’ Top Ten and NPR’s Top 100 Teen Books.

She’s a champion cupcake eater, coffee drinker, tarot enthusiast, night person, and bookworm. When she’s not writing or reading at home in Colorado, Sarah enjoys hugging trees and road-tripping through the country with her husband, Alex. In addition to her website at sarahockler.com, fans can find her on Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook. Or check out her blog.


   Hi Sarah! Tell us about a typical day in the life of you...
Well... there are pajamas involved. Lots of staring at a blinking cursor. Eating chocolate. Wondering where all the chocolate went. Baking cupcakes to make up for lack of chocolate. Back to the blinking cursor. Falling down an internet rabbit hole. Some kind of social media-inspired outrage. Time to eat those cupcakes. And suddenly it's dark outside! Somehow, books get written here, but I'm not sure exactly how. Surely there is magic afoot. ;-)
 
And how many books have you written?
I've written six novels for teens: Twenty Boy Summer, Fixing Delilah, Bittersweet, The Book of Broken Hearts, #scandal, and my latest, still untitled, due out next summer.

I just received #scandal from Simon and Schuster, and can't wait to read it. So, which authors inspire you?
All of them! Seriously, anyone who can sit at a computer or notebook all day and give words and stories to the voices in her head has my utmost respect (crazy authors unite!). But I'm especially inspired by authors who were writing YA before YA was even "a thing" -- like Judy Blume, Laurie Halse Anderson, Sarah Dessen, Deb Caletti, and hundreds of others who continue to put out great works, even as the market continues to change and grow.
Do you plan your novels or make them up as you go along?
It depends on the book, but I've been known to create monster plot spreadsheets before typing a single word of story on the page. I'm trying to get away from that, though, to let the creativity flow a bit more organically. Now, as long as I have an idea of the general theme I'm exploring, and the kinds of characters who can best express that theme through their interactions and challenges, I'll write. We'll see how that works out! Basically, I try to just keep an open mind with each new project, because every book has different emotional and time demands, and what works with one won't work for another.

Do you have a vision of what the world will be like in 200 years? Could you share it?
200 years? I don't even have a vision of what I'm making for dinner! But I've read recently that we're running out of coffee and chocolate, so whatever it is, it can't be good. Speaking of coffee and chocolate... I think I've just solved the what's-for-dinner conundrum. Bonus!

Ha! I am in editing mode, which means noodles and coffee for dinner for me. Which book do you wish you had written?
The Raven Boys series by Maggie Stiefvater. 

And finally, what are you working on at the moment?
I just turned in my latest contemp YA, so I'm expecting revision notes on that soon. I'm also working on a supertopsecret project with my husband, details to be revealed in the future. But hopefully not 200 years in the future, when we're all out of the good stuff.

Thanks Sarah! The supertopsecret project sounds intriguing. Hopefully I'll get to find out more about that when we meet in California...

Summer Lovin' 2.0, California, June 2014 and Good Reads giveaway

It's not long until I go on the Summer Lovin' 2.0 tour of California with fellow Simon and Schuster writers Sarah Ockler, Suzanne Young and Jody Casella. To celebrate I have set up a Good Reads giveaway of Infinite Sky. Just click the side bar to the right of this post.
And seeing as I'm going to be spending almost a week with Ockler, Young and Casella, I thought it might be good to get to know them a bit better. So, Jody Casella is first. Here she is, look!:

And here is her official bio: 
Jody Casella is a former high school English teacher with a degree in Creative Writing from Rhodes College and a Masters in English from the University of Memphis. Her first novel Thin Space, a paranormal YA mystery published by Beyond Words/Simon & Schuster, received a starred review from Kirkus. She lives with her husband and two teenagers in Columbus, Ohio.
Hiya Jody! Can you tell us about a typical day in the life of you?  Mostly my day is a long, painful battle with procrastination and self doubt, intermixed with frequent dog walkings. Every day I wake up planning to start my writing early, and every day after doing every possible other thing, I finally break down and begin my work. Usually around 2:00.   What have you written so far?
Thin Space, a YA paranormal mystery about a teen boy grappling with his identical twin brother's death. (It's the sixth novel I've written and the first to be published.)
Congratulations on completing so many novels, and not giving up. Which authors inspire you?
Meg Rosoff, Courtney Summers, Laurie Halse Anderson, John Green, Maggie Stiefvater. On the adult side: Barbara Kingsolver and Richard Russo.
And do you plan your novels or make them up as you go along?
I make them up as I go, writing to figure out what the heck I am writing. This method of working, I've learned, requires multiple rewrites and outlining after the fact. I'm not sure I would recommend it.
I wouldn't recommend it either, but it's what I do too. Which book do you wish you had written? 
Funny that you ask. I just wrote a post about this for a group blog I contribute to called YA Outside the Lines.
And finally, what are you working on at the moment?
A rewrite of a rewrite of a rewrite. I THINK I have almost cracked the code on this one and don't want to jinx it by talking about it too much. I call it Greek Mythology Meets Environmental Disaster.
It sounds intriguing, and I hope that Jody is right about having cracked the code on it. First drafts are the worst... For those of you who might be able to make it, here are the tour dates again. Please come and see us:

  SUMMER LOVIN’ 2.0 TOUR STOPS
Sunday, June 22 at 3:00PM
Mission Viejo Library100 Civic Center Mission Viejo, CA 92691
Monday, June 23 at 7:00PM
Mysterious Galaxy 7051 Clairemont Mesa BoulevardSuite 302San Diego, CA 92111
Tuesday, June 24 at 7:00PM
Barnes & Noble210 Americana WayGlendale, CA 91210
Wednesday, June 25 at 6:30PM
Vroman’s Bookstore695 E. Colorado BlvdPasadena, CA 91101
Thursday, June 26 at 6:00PM
Book Passage 51 Tamal Vista BoulevardCorte Madera, CA 94925
Friday, June 27 at 7:00PM
Kepler’s Books 1010 El Camino RealMenlo Park, CA 94025

Infinite Sky goes to the U.S.!

Infinite Sky comes out in the U.S. tomorrow! It's so exciting. Even more exciting is that I'm going on a book tour next month. It will be the first time I have crossed the Atlantic, and I am very happy to going as a published author.



Not all of the details are confirmed yet, but the Californian stretch is, so I shall tell you about that. I will be touring with three other Simon and Schuster authors: Sarah Ockler, Suzanne Young and Jody Casella.

I can't wait to meet my fellow tourers, and hope we will bond to the extent of getting matching tattoos during our time together. (Expectations under control, as usual.)

Come back to find more about them, as I will be interviewing each of them in the weeks leading up to the tour. Also, I will be running a competition, giving away a free copy of the U.S. version of Infinite Sky. Here are the dates and times of the tour dates so far:

SUMMER LOVIN’ 2.0 TOUR STOPSSunday, June 22 at 3:00PMMission Viejo Library100 Civic Center Mission Viejo, CA 92691 Monday, June 23 at 7:00PMMysterious Galaxy 7051 Clairemont Mesa BoulevardSuite 302San Diego, CA 92111 Tuesday, June 24 at 7:00PMBarnes & Noble210 Americana WayGlendale, CA 91210 Wednesday, June 25 at 6:30PM
Vroman’s Bookstore695 E. Colorado BlvdPasadena, CA 91101 Thursday, June 26 at 6:00PMBook Passage 51 Tamal Vista BoulevardCorte Madera, CA 94925 Friday, June 27 at 7:00PMKepler’s Books 1010 El Camino RealMenlo Park, CA 94025 Do you live near any of these bookshops? Can you come and see us read, and tell stories? To make it even better, there will be pizza. But do you have any ideas about how to make our events even more marvellous?  

News round up...

Hi everyone,

I've not blogged for ages because time passes too quickly, and I don't understand it.

Last week, I won my first award. It was the James Reckitt Hull Children's Book Award, and I spent two days visiting six schools in Hull, as well as talking to the voting students before the award was given out. I had a wonderful time, meeting teachers, librarians, and the other shortlisted authors, among them my old pal, Phil Earle.



Hull was most welcoming, and I really appreciated the crumbling landscape of the old docks and harbour. I wandered around in the rain (and shine), with Morrissey playing in my head on a loop, then went back to my hotel room and ate couscous from a little tub.

And then the next day, I won the prize, and was delighted. Very un-Morrissey like. Or at least un-the-public-face-of-Morrissey-like.

Here is some audio of the crowning moment.

https://audioboo.fm/boos/2154753-hull-children-s-book-award-ks3-2014

Also, I found out that Infinite Sky has made it through to the shortlist of the Branford Boase Award, alongside my writing friend, Holly Smale. This prize is terribly exciting, since it honours the important, but behind-the-scenes work of the editor. It is in memory of a happy editor/author pairing, Wendy Boase and Henrietta Branford, who died in 1999.

The Leeds Book Award is next week, and I am looking forward to meeting the young folk at the voting event.



In other news, Infinite Sky is coming out in the US on 20 May, and I'm going on an American tour in June. The details are just being finalised at the minute, but there are a few of us Simon and Schuster authors touring together, so it's rather exciting. I'll write more about that very very soon. Until then, hurray.

"What's the author our children for a nonsense with on the road?" Electronic translation of German review.

I've translated a German review using a website for your (my) delectation! It isn't exactly a good review, but I really like it. They seem to be so angry about all the things I wanted them to be angry about, that they didn't enjoy the book. Yep, I'm definitely taking it as a win.




"Iris is the only person in the whole book, which I find appealing. All the others have annoyed me quite quickly or were simply too exaggeratedly described.
But the worst I found the fact that the drinking of alcohol has been shown as being quite normal. They drink is permanently in this story and it made me really annoyed. Above all, however, because no one even said a word.
Even Iris, yes now is only 13 years old at the end of the story, get a shot of her mother in their cocoa brandy and this makes her feel very cozy. Also your only 15-year-old brother sits in his room with a bottle of vodka, smokes and booze.
Oh yes, the Father is, of course, also permanently in the pub ... How could it be any different.
I mean, of course, there are family breakdown, in which it expires this or a similar way, but the fact that the family of Iris rather than a decent and normal, I found quite alarming. What's the author our children for a nonsense with on the road? Takes a sip and then it's like you much better? Wow, I could go on for hours about it because I get upset about it.

Too bad I was also the extremely violent hatred of the Father feels the gypsies. It can be on anything at all, not to hear his daughter and is only interested in one thing. He wants to distribute on bending and breaking these scum ... no matter what the cost.
Honestly? I could hardly bear the permanent insults. It has made me very angry and I would have liked him to get him shaken vigorously and clearly trying close that these people do not do something and the damned time he should take care to his own family.
I am also sad that this hate until the end stops. Iris, which now in the really nice (but not more) gypsies, young has fallen in love with, to the end of her father sentenced for this, although this young, in contrast to his son, Sam, nothing evil. On the contrary even ... he always wanted only to live in peace and he is also provocation as far as they could go out of the way.
Here, too, I have asked myself what the author had in mind. You should not really any people, no matter where it comes from or how he looks like a chance?
It is, in any case, what I find absolutely important and my children again and again attempts to understand.

Oh, I could continue for a long time now still complain, but I think it was sufficient.
The fact is that this book I definitely never will pass on to my children."

Blog Chain!

My writing pal Sarah Naughton (author of Costa-nominated The Hanged Man Rises) has tagged me on a Blog Chain. She says I have to answer four questions and then pass them on to the next in the chain.

Sarah's answers are here, and I'll be tagging Terence Blacker, author of the bestselling Ms Wiz series and the super popular Boy2Girl next.

What am I working on?

I'm working on a novel that although isn't a sequel to Infinite Sky shares a lot of similarities. The title is Everywhere River and here is its Pinterest page, and it's about a teenaged girl called Kit, whose soldier brother, Johnny, goes missing, and her attempt to find him and bring him home. It's set mostly in the woods where Johnny is thought to be hiding out, during a time of floods.

How does it differ from others in its genre?

When I pitched the idea to my publisher, I said it was Stand By Me for girls, and that's what I'm trying to do. Growing up, I loved adventure stories, but I realised later on in life that many of my favourite ones featured only boys.

It's important to me to show girls having adventures, and do a little bit of breaking down of very boring gender stereotypes. I wanted to write about female friendship outside of the 'Mean Girls' trope too, because female friendships are usually a lot more marvellous and complex than that.


That's not to say there aren't boys in this story. Johnny plays a big part in the book, and also his intimidating best friend and nemesis, Beast.There's a bigger cast of characters than Infinite Sky, and a lot of the fun of writing (and hopefully reading) is in the way these kids relate - and fail to relate - to each other.

Why do I write what I do?

Like Sarah said in her blog, I write what I like to read, which is emotional stories with a strong focus on the outdoors, and relationships. Plot is always a struggle for me, though I give it my best shot, and so I have to try and make readers want to turn the page by making the characters engaging enough that they want to spend time with them. I hope to write lots of different types of books over my career.

How does my writing process work?

It is a cycle of super-productivity and feeling like I will never write again. There's lots of freewriting, which means lots of new words are produced, but also that lots of words get thrown away. Unfortunately, I am a very wasteful writer, and about half of what I write seems to end up being deleted.

I am trying to learn how to outline a novel before I begin, but my imagination doesn't seem to work until I am actually writing the descriptions and dialogue and character. Hopefully in a few years, when I'm more experienced, my process will be less chaotic. Or perhaps I will just be more comfortable within the chaos.

So that's it. Over to you, Terence!

Longlists and other nice things...

Lots of nice things have happened in the world of Infinite Sky lately. First of all, it has made the next stage of the Carnegie Medal judging process, and been longlisted alongside fellow Lucky 13 Stephanie Kueh's stunning debut Charm and Strange and my pal Phil Earle's wonderful Heroic, as well as other more established writers, including Anne Fine, David Almond and Geraldine McCaughrean.

It has also longlisted for the Branford Boase Award, along with lots more writing pals and colleagues, including Emma Pass (ACID), Helen Douglas (After Eden) Holly Smale (Geek Girl), and also fellow Simon and Schusterites, CJ Harper (The Disappeared) and Costa Children's shortlisted Sarah Naughton's The Hanged Man Rises.

This is an award set up to commemorate an author and editor team - Henrietta Bradford and Wendy Boase - and as such acknowledges the work of the editor of the book too, so it's especially lovely to be able to share some of the glory with more of the book's team.



There are some marvellous books on both lists, but my favourite read so far is either Rooftoppers by Kathryn Rundell or Charm and Strange by Stephanie Kuehn. I recommend everyone reads both immediately.

Also, in the last few weeks, my good friend Nathan Filer won the Costa Award, and I am incredibly proud of him. Did you see him? He was everywhere! If you haven't read The Shock of the Fall already, then, really, it's time.

In international news, this month Infinite Sky came out in Germany where it is retitled Who Do You Love If I'm Dead? which I really adore, and here is the cover.



Please let me know what you think, as I love to hear from you, even if you hate things.

Finally, in the UK, Infinite Sky is getting a new cover, and I've seen the first ideas, and it's really gorgeous. I will share it with you as soon as I am allowed...

Good News Post

Last month, Infinite Sky was nominated for the Carnegie Medal, alongside some of the biggest names in YA, including David Almond, Anne Fine and Malorie Blackman, and some of my favourites, Phil Earle and Annabel Pitcher, as well as writing friends Holly Smale, Emma Pass, Emily Murdoch and Steph Kuehn. (Terry Pratchett's on there too)

Here's the logo to add some verve to this post.

It has also been shortlisted for the Leeds Book Awards in the 14-16 category, alongside Lucy Christopher's The Killing Woods, Nick Lake's Hostage Three, Sarah Mussi's Siege, Annabel Pitcher's Ketchup Clouds and Alison Rattle's The Quietness.

Keep your fingers crossed for me, or at the very least don't curse it.

The Arvon Foundation comes to Derby

At the end of November, I am going to be co-tutoring a creative writing course with Ross Raisin for the Arvon Foundation. In case you don't know Arvon, it's a charity that runs residential creative writing courses in beautiful, historic writing houses across the UK. The courses are a week long, and tutored by two successful writers, with another visiting mid-week.



The thing that makes Arvon so special (apart from the beautiful countryside settings in which to write, and the fact that each house has its own literary history) is that the tutors and the writers live alongside each other during the course. After a day of workshops and tutorials, everyone sits down together for dinner, and so you can chat to your writing heroes in an informal setting, as well as learning from them during workshops.

The thing that makes Arvon so special to me is that it's really had a hand in improving my fortunes as a writer. I won the opportunity to go on a course when I couldn't afford it at all (they are pretty expensive for those earning minimum wage, though bursaries are available). In 2009 the foundation gave away 41 free courses to celebrate 41 years of Arvon, and I won a free place on a Creative non-fiction course led by Terence Blacker and Andy Martin at Totleigh Barton in Devon.

Totleigh Barton

My luck continued as arriving at my cute, little room in the gorgeous pre-Domesday thatched manor house in Sheepwash, I found another opportunity on a piece of paper in my desk drawer - available only to people who had been on an Arvon course, of which I was now one - the chance to win a place on the Jerwood/Arvon Mentoring Scheme. This meant a year of being mentored by a leading writer, as well as a tutored cross-disciplinary masterclass and a writing retreat at an Arvon house.

Again, I applied, and was selected to be one of three mentees under Bernardine Evaristo. During the year, as well as the two Arvon weeks, I got feedback on Infinite Sky, and writing tips that continue to improve my work from the hugely generous and talented Bernardine. At the end of the year there was a glitzy champagne cocktail reception at the Free Word Centre to showcase and celebrate our work.

So it is especially meaningful to me to have been invited to co-tutor one of their courses myself, in my home town. Arvon have branched out into non-residential courses, and this one, all about novel-writing, will take place at The Quad, my favourite place to write (and watch stuff) in Derby.

The Quad
So, thanks very much Arvon! And here are the course details:

Have you always wanted to write a novel but feel daunted by the enormity of the task?  This three day workshop from renowned creative writing charity Arvon will allow you to immerse yourself in the art and craft of novel writing, and give you the confidence and knowledge to complete your first novel. You’ll experience a powerful mix of workshops, one-to-one tutorials with highly respected authors, the support of your fellow writers and plenty of time and space to write.

This course is part of a new programme of non-residential Arvon weekend city courses taking place in cities across England. The course starts at 11am on Friday until 9pm; Saturday 10am - 9pm and Sunday 10am - 6pm. Numbers are limited to 16. A limited number of grants are available for people on a low income.

Tutors 

Ross Raisin was born in Yorkshire, and is the author of numerous short stories and two novels, God’s Own Country and Waterline.  He has been the recipient of several literary prizes and was recently named as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists.

Chelsey Flood grew up in Derbyshire and is the author of Infinite Sky. She has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia, where she won the Curtis Brown Award. She currently lives in Bristol where she is completing her second novel
 
Course fee:  £270 (lunch and dinner included)
£60 deposit will reserve a place. Full balance payable by six weeks before course starts

Grants: Two grants of £135 ( half the course fee) are available. Please contact  suzie.jones@arvon.org for information on how to apply.