Kate Ristau's Blog, page 45

Shine

This year,
I want our light to shine
into the darkest places.
I want us to blaze.
I want us to be the dragon
that lights the mountain,
tangled up in stars.


But when that seems impossible,
when the darkness settles in,
I want to make damn sure
we at least keep the fire going.


One flame at a time,
building up the fire
that will keep us all warm
in the nights to come.


So that’s my resolution—
my promise to you this year:
I’ll keep the light on.
I hope you’ll join me.


Happy New Year. Shine on.

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Portland Story Theater with Kate Ristau

Urban Tellers at Portland Story Theater

As part of Wordstock, I was invited to join Portland Story Theater for a special performance — Urban Tellers: Wordstock Edition.

I had no idea what I was getting myself into. It wasn’t just one performance; it was a series of workshops led by Lawrence Howard and Lynne Duddy.

The Process

We started out by getting to know each other. I had the pleasure of working with Gigi Rosenberg, Rachel Miller-Howard, Jamie Houghton, and Jessica Tyner Mehta. Each of these women are excellent writers and profound storytellers. Throughout the workshop, I had a chance to hear their stories develop, and each evening took me deeper into my own narrative.

Lawrence and Lynne worked with us on the shape and the meaning behind our stories. They taught us to look for the moments that mattered, and to tease out the truth.

As a folklorist, I study stories. But I’ve seldom had so much time to truly consider my own work — to consider the transformative power of story.

Not as Planned

I chose to tell the story of my son, and how, since he was born, our plans have constantly changed. Throughout the workshop, I thought about the story I wanted to tell, and the story I want my son to have. The story changed throughout the workshop, but I think I finally told the one I want him to hear when he grows up.

It doesn’t have a clear arc, but life isn’t that way. It’s straightforward, honest, and true — and that’s what I think stories should be. Here’s the link to the story:

Let me know what you think. And if you enjoy it, stop by Portland Story Theater’s next show…or join them on your own journey through the power of story.

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Write a better world

Write a better world

I come from farm country. I grew up next to cows and pigs. I read paperback books that were curled at the edges. I watched Dukes of Hazard. I didn’t see beyond my rural route. I saw corn and soy. I saw debt and loss and bankruptcy. I saw anger.

Statue of President Abraham Lincoln in my hometown
Image Credit: Illinois Farm Bureau

That anger fueled me forward. It made me want to do better and be more: to help myself, to help my family, and to help my community. I worked hard, and I excelled at school. I did my homework. I read all the books. I asked for more.

It was never enough. The worlds I saw in Tolkien and LeGuin, the choices I made in those Choose Your Own Adventure novels, they were so much more than the world I lived in.

There was magic in those worlds. There was life. There was possibility.

And they brought to life that idea — that hope — that danced on the edge of my mind: that an awkward, poor, fat tomboy could make a difference. That I could wake something up inside of everyone else.

College gave me a five-dollar word for it: empathy. That was what I wanted. I wanted people to see each other, to love each other, and to know each other.

So I returned to the first place where I found darkness and wasn’t afraid. I returned to books.

And I started to write stories of my own.

Today, as we stand on the threshold of a world that is so uncertain, I challenge you to pick up your own pen. To write the world as you want to see it. To not be afraid.

Because maybe someone will read your words, and they’ll find a world that is beyond imagining, or a character who is so much like them. They’ll see the possibility in their own lives, or they’ll suddenly understand the hopes and dreams of someone else. And that’s what we need — to understand each other, to talk to each other, to know each other. To not be surprised by the polls, but to be surprised by what we find in one another.

Underneath the anger, there’s hurt, but there’s also hope. And that’s what we need. We need possibility. We need magic.

Go write more magic into the world.

A better world – that’s what we need. To not be surprised by the polls, but surprised by what we find in each other.Powered By the Tweet This PluginTweet This

Join me in writing a better world. Here’s where I’ll be this week:

Writer’s Workshop tonight at West Linn Library, November 9, at 6:30PM (All Ages). Click here for more.
The League of Exceptional Writers this Saturday at Powell’s Cedar Hills, November 12, at 2:00PM (Ages 8-18). Click here for more.
Youth Fiction Author Event on Saturday at Eugene Barnes and Noble, November 12, at 7:00PM (All ages). Click here for more.

 

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Blue eyeshadow

What a wonderful and strange week!
Selfie Alert! I fancied up for this one, friends.

We started out the week with a day full of trick or treating and so much candy (dressed up as a Lego family!). Then yesterday, I was interviewed on our local TV station, KGW, for their Portland Today show. They really liked my hair and eyeshadow. Ya’ll know I don’t wear makeup. I had to buy it for the occasion. Now I have lots. Here’s the link to the interview:

http://bit.ly/2elPsqe

The interview flew by, and after the fact, I realized I didn’t get to say the thing that mattered most to me. So, I’ll say it here.

Books should be both mirrors and windows. By creating a diversity of characters, we allow for a diversity of experiences, and help kids get a better understanding of each other. When I do a character creation activity, like the one I did in the interview, the point is to get kids thinking about perspective, and how our characters change our stories.

When kids get to read about Charlie’s experience in a wheelchair, or slide through the prose of Brown Girl Dreaming, they see the world from a different point of view…and that is a very good thing.

Upcoming Events

I have so much going on the next few weeks. Here are three very cool events.

Wordstock – I’ll be doing a Pop-up reading and a panel with awesome author Bart King and Multnomah County Librarian Diana Armstrong. Click here for the full schedule of events.
Teen Programming at the Tigard Library – starts today at 5PM, with a cool event each week.
Portland Story Theater – I’m telling my story tonight!


Get some awesome

If you haven’t yet, grab a copy of Clockbreakers, and destroy time with me.

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The Problem with Unicorns — Rowan’s Heartsong

The Problem with Unicorns

My son, Rowan, and I have been talking a lot about unicorns lately. He’s five years old, and since he was a baby, we’ve been telling him stories about our dog, Winslow. They started out simple—Winslow would smell muffins, and then he’d try to find them. He’d hear a strange sound, and he’d run off to investigate. The stories tuck Rowan in at night and fill him up when he’s feeling sad. They’re just one way we help him understand his world in very concrete, simple terms.

As he’s grown, the stories have too; not just in length, but in the cast of characters. There’s Rowantree and Star and Ralph the Dinosaur. There’sTreeton, Taco Steve, and we can’t forget Skillet Face the Dog. But his favorite lately has been Spirit the unicorn. Rowan asks for him every night now.

“One more story? Please, Dad? You didn’t do a Spirit one.”

Bob looks at me for help.

I want to hear about Spirit, too. I don’t want the quiet yet. “Please, Dad?” I repeat, smiling.

“Fine,” he says. “One more. Snuggle in. But seriously, you guys. This is the last one.”

And then we’re off to the Kingdom of the Valley of the Land of the Puppers where Spirit will vanquish the terrible and rescue everyone from uncertainty or hunger. Spirit, you see, is a unicorn who thinks the solution to any scenario is either a rainbow or sprinkles.

Winslow is sad? Rainbows!

Winslow is hungry? Sprinkles!

These stories are easy, and they’re fun. Dancing, twirling—Spirit dusts every scene with unicorn sparkles, and Rowan listens with glossy eyes. Spirit makes sense to him because he loves magical thinking—loves the gleaming power of possibility. He still looks at the world with wonder. For him, if something is wrong, if he’s sad or angry or lonely, it seems perfectly reasonable that someone might throw a cupcake at him.

The problem is…

Read more at LiteraryMama.com.

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Thank you for the awesomesauce

Thank you for the support.

Thank you for everything you did this week. You gave me so much love and so many high fives. Launching Clockbreakers was fun, rewarding, and full of YAY!

And somebody said something really cool.

One of my own favorite authors, Kathleen Lane, had this to say about Clockbreakers:

“Yes, it’s a time travel book, but it’s also a heart travel book, a book about friendship, forgiveness, courage, and the powers waiting to be discovered in each one of us. My only complaint is that the book did not come with Kate Ristau herself— a gifted folklorist and true performer who knows how to grab hold of a roomful of people and take them on a clock-breaking, world-spinning journey with her.”

Kathleen will be reading from her middle grade book on Wednesday at 7PM at Annie Bloom’s. You should go. She’ll carry you through a world of words. I can’t tell you how much you’ll love her perfect little lines.

So much more in the weeks to come, but for now: thank you.

 

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Does she have to be in a wheelchair?

I’m not an activist. I’m a storyteller. And when I wrote my middle grade novel, Clockbreakers, it was with the story in mind. I had an idea: a simple one. An eleven-year-old girl in a wheelchair gets a key to go back in time. At its heart, Clockbreakers is a story about friendship and family, and the chances we are given throughout our lives to make our world a little better.

Three years ago, I started sending Clockbreakers out. It immediately got representation. My agent was super excited about it. She liked the adventure and the story; she liked Charlie, the main character, and the way she tackled her life head on.

A lot of the Big Five publishers liked her too. Editors pointed to her “crystal clear voice” and “self-deprecating humor” that “felt so real.”

Of course, other editors didn’t like Charlie at all, and I totally understood that. Just think about it this way: you don’t high five everyone you meet on the street. Some editors found her “spunky/snarky,” and didn’t quite “fall in love with her voice.”

It’s a challenge to find the right mix for a middle grade book, and I’m not a ZOMG amazing writer. We all know I suck at description, and sometimes my settings are like an empty space with no color and no texture but with one shining silver sword stuck into the colorless carpet, because seriously you guys, that sword is IMPORTANT. So I worked with my agent on revisions with a few editors, and sent the book out again.

And it kept coming back.

With every rejection, I thought of how I might revise, where I went wrong, and what I could do differently. I changed the family dynamic. I focused in on the beginnings of friendships. I considered the villain — was he too villainy? Maybe he shouldn’t even be a villain. Maybe he should be her friend? What’s his motivation? Why is he so angry? What color is his hair?

But the last Big Five rejection, well, it made me pause.

It was couched in carefully chosen language. And I respected many of the points the editor made, but I got stuck on one line: “I’m not entirely convinced she needs to be confined to a wheelchair, however, for this story to work.”

Those words caught in my brain and clogged up my pen. They sat in my head as I read the email from my agent, where she explained how she wouldn’t be able to take the project to anyone else. She was moving on.

But I wasn’t ready to move on. I still loved Charlie, loved her story, and loved the mix of folklore and friendship.

Yet, maybe the book wasn’t good enough.

That’s the feeling that’s kept me from writing this post: the idea that it wasn’t Charlie that didn’t work, it was me. I wasn’t good enough. I needed to learn to write better.

Charlie had something though — she had power and possibility. And if it really was just me and all my clunky words, where was her story, or stories like hers? Yes, as a character, Charlie did not have to be in a wheelchair. But in 2014, I said to myself, where are the diverse characters in books for young people?

I’m not an activist. If I was, maybe I would have had the words to express this before now. Maybe all these ideas wouldn’t have lived in my head. Maybe they would be on the page. And maybe I’d be telling you a different story by now.

But here’s what I know is true: the stories we tell ourselves, and the stories we tell our children, change who they are. They change who we are. They change the future.

And I want every child to see themselves somewhere in the books they read. I want them to connect to books so they can pick up their own pens and start writing their own stories. I want to read their stories too. I want us to do better.

So today, Charlie makes her way out into the world. A wonderful small press out of North Carolina, Indigo Sea Press, took Charlie’s story and gave it a home. Then, my friend Lee Moyer brought Charlie to life on the cover.

And now, Charlie is headed to the bookstore, where maybe one kid will pick up that book, and either see themselves, or see someone else for the very first time.

I hope you enjoy Charlie’s story.

We Need Diverse Books

If you are looking for books that represent and include all young people, head over to We Need Diverse Books.

They are working on a new ap, called OurStory, that will give you access to tons of different stories and resources. They also have great reading suggestions for every age level. If you are writing books, I particularly suggest you take a look at their programming. So many stories!

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Clockbreakers Giveaway!

Clockbreakers Giveaway!

Clockbreakers comes out in 13 days! Can’t wait? Join the Goodreads Giveaway.

Reviews

I can barely contain my excitement as early reviews come in. One of my favorite YA books this year was Dormant, by LeeAnn McLennan, and LeeAnn read my book too! Here’s what she had to say about Clockbreakers:

Clockbreakers pulls you in from the very first sentence. Charles Kleis the 15th…the girl…is an eleven-year math whiz who just happens to be in a wheelchair. Her life changes irreconcilably on her eleventh birthday when she receives a mysterious key from a mysterious man and embarks on a mission through time and space to save her father. Charlie learns that the world she grew up in is so much more complicated than she could have ever imagined and almost no one is what they seem. Pulling from Greek mythology delightfully spiced with an eleven-year old’s perspective, Clockbreakers challenges you to consider how far you would go to save your family and friends Luckily for us, this is the first book in a series! 

Pre-order Your Copy

I think you’ll like Clockbreakers too. You can now pre-order a copy from Indigo Sea Press, and it will be delivered right to your door! Or…

Join me at Annie Bloom’s

You can join me on release day at Annie Bloom’s for a reading and signing! I’ll bring the exclamation marks, and we’ll break clocks together! More info here. For now, join the Clockbreakers Giveaway below, and I look forward to seeing you there!

Goodreads Book Giveaway


Clockbreakers
by Kate Ristau

Giveaway ends October 03, 2016.

See the giveaway details

at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Here’s a bit more about Clockbreakers: On her eleventh birthday, Charlie receives a key to go back in time. But before she blows out her candles, she rolls her wheelchair right into Ancient Greece with her best friend Maria and her former best friend Trent. She’s a Clockbreaker on an action-packed adventure with a mission: to save her father, and perhaps even save the world. The book is great for 3rd-7th graders!

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Pre-order Clockbreakers

You can pre-order Clockbreakers!

Clockbreakers releases October 9th! Head here to Pre-order Clockbreakers directly from Indigo Sea Press.

Want to know more? Debby Dodds, author of Amish Boys Don’t Call, had this to say about Clockbreakers:

Clockbreakers mixes fantasy, adventure, and Greek mythology into a fun, frothy mix. A plucky protagonist named  Charlie, who just happens to be in a wheelchair, and her two buddies Trent and Maria all  explore their abilities and strengths and face their challenges while on a quest to find Charlie’s “missing” dad. When reading this, I couldn’t help but to think fondly of two of my own childhood favorites, A Wrinkle in Time and the movie Labyrinth. This story is rich with dialogue and action. The kids have playful, believable relationships with each other. There’s a wonderful Minotaur character I’d personally like to hang out with, and as many plot twists and turns as paths in a maze. I’d highly recommend to fans of both The Goddess Girls and The Popularity Papers. Here’s hoping the next in the series is out soon!

I’m thrilled Debby loved Clockbreakers, and I can’t wait for her book to drop.

If you haven’t yet, Pre-order Clockbreakers, and join in the adventure October 9th!

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Shadow Girl is Back!

Shadow Girl is back in print!

It’s finally back! You can now head to Indigo Sea Press or Amazon to buy your copy of Shadow Girl! You’ll see Lee Moyer’s amazing new cover, and quite a few other changes I snuck into this edition.

Over the next few weeks, the new edition will also make its way into bookstores, including Annie Bloom’s, Another Read Through, Barnes and Noble, and many more. I’ll let you know when they’re in stock.

And, if you’re waiting for book 2, I have good news for you. The draft goes into edits in November. I can’t wait to share it with you.

But for now, get your new copy of Shadow Girl, share a review if you can, and enjoy the end of summer.

More about Shadow Girl

Shadow Girl tells the story of fairy teen Aine, who is haunted by a fiery dream, where her mother loses her mind and her father makes a devastating choice. Áine escapes into the Shadowlands to discover the secrets of her family and her past. But the moment her foot crosses the threshold, Áine is thrust into a war that has been raging for centuries. Guardians, fire fey, and a rising darkness threaten the light, and Áine must learn to fight in the shadows — or die in the flames.

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