Jen Klein's Blog, page 2

Got a book coming out?

Dear YA & MG* authors with a traditionally published book debuting in 2015,

Heads up!  Please consider joining the FEARLESS FIFTEENERS.**  We are a group of authors banding together to promote, support, and help each other… and we’d love to have YOU join us!

We are open for applications TOMORROW, and you can check it out right here.

Trust me — it’s going to be fun. ***

xo,

Jen

 

* YA = young adult; MG = middle grade

** In the tradition of OneFourKidLit and The Lucky 13s and the Apocalypsies and the Elevensies…

*** You might want to stop by just to find out what freaks me out… and what doesn’t.

Five Supremely Random Things

See, this is what happens when your kids are on summer vacation, and then you have a ton of travel and there’s family drama and you’re gonna owe someone a movie script and you do owe someone else a book draft and then you get some animation work and a bunch of meetings and next thing you know, there’s a wedding and some MORE travel and your husband has to work in France and you have to work in New York, and your kids go back to school and everyone has tons of homework, plus you’re responsible for getting small people to drum lessons and soccer practice and flag football practice and Odyssey of the Mind practice, and BTW everyone still has to eat and shower and occasionally do something social…

… which I recognize is not much of an excuse now that summer is WAY over and, even in southern California, it’s starting to get cold and my kids are trying to figure out what their Halloween costumes will be.

Side note: last year, the oldest one was “Zombie Elmo.”  It was great because adults got the irony but little kids just were excited to see Elmo.  The youngest one, however, wanted to be “hair.”  Yes, hair.  Like the hair on your head.  I bought a dozen headbands with attached locks of nylon hair at the dollar store and began sewing them to a sweatshirt and pair of jeans…

… and then the younger one went to the party store with his father and realized that what he REALLY wanted was a crown and a shield.  Thus, for Halloween last year, he was “The King of Hair.”  It was quite a sight (and resulted in a LOT of explaining to people).

But back to my poor, poor neglected blog.  I know, I suck.  In honor of my sucking and blog neglect, I present to you: FIVE SUPREMELY RANDOM THINGS.

I have finally paid someone to clean my house, even though it makes me feel guilty and over-privileged and lazy.  That might tell you something about how bad it had gotten.
Do you know about OneFourKidLit?  If not, you should.  It’s the official group of MG and YA debut authors whose books publish in 2014.  If that’s you – if YOUR first traditionally published book will come out next year – I strongly urge you to get involved with this group.  They’ll support you and invest in you and be your advocate and cheering squad.  BUT HERE’S THE RUB: they are only accepting applications for new members through 10/31/2013.  That’s right around the corner so if your book is coming out next year, GET ON IT!
Since there’s a 2014 group, there must be a 2015 group… right?  Right!  The group is named the Fearless Fifteeners and I volunteered to be one of the admins.  This was either a brilliant move on my part (so many new friends! their books! camaraderie!) or the worst choice ever (the work! egads, all the organizing and work!).  We will open for membership soon… VERY soon… so watch this space for details.  Here’s what I can share thus far: already, I have learned that the other 11 admins are thoughtful and generous and friendly.  I can’t wait to read and support their books.
Over the summer, during the great dearth of television, I watched three new (to me) series that were all freaking fantastic.  Thus, I present to you my latest recommendations:

ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK on Netflix.  Yes, it’s about women in prison.  Yes, there are boobs and swearing and drugs and sex so it’s not going to be for everyone, but HOLY CRAP the writing is amazing.  It’s SO different and fresh, and like 90% of the actors are women and – get this – almost none of their storylines revolve around men!  I know, right?  As it turns out, women can be complex and interesting, with fascinating histories and choices and relationships.  World, I hope you’re paying attention!
ORPHAN BLACK on BBC America.  Super weird, super smart, and like nothing you’ve seen before.  Plus, one actor – Tatiana Maslany – plays a whole bunch of different characters, and every single one is specific and genuine.  I can’t tell you much more without spoiler alerts going off, so just do this: check out the pilot episode.  You’ll be hooked.
SCANDAL on ABC.  Somehow we missed it when it first came out, and then we had other shows to watch (be addicted to) so we never got on board UNTIL this summer (great dearth) when my husband said he wanted to check it out.  We ended up binging through the existing two seasons, finishing up right before the new season – season three – started just a couple weeks ago.  So now, although we’re thrilled to be appreciating the drama and politics and achingly painful love story at the same time as the rest of the world, we’re also bummed when an episode is over and we have to wait a WHOLE WEEK instead of just arrowing through to the next one.  I know… tough life, huh?


It is KILLING me (although not LITERALLY killing me because that would be using the word incorrectly and I don’t do that… ahem!)… KILLING me that i can’t blab about this movie I mentioned about a zillion months ago.  It’s coming, I promise!  As soon as I can, I’m going to tell you ALL about it, and especially about the cool, smart, IMPORTANT source material it’s based on.  Special secret hint: it’s a YA book!
I know, I know I said only five, but this just occurred to me: I cut all my hair off! New headshots coming soon…

Whew!  Okay, I’m back in the game, people.  It feels good to be here.

SUMMER VACATION: Here we go again.

Is it wrong to have a picture of wine in a YA blog?

I am writing this from a very hip and trendy wine bar in Los Feliz, which is a hip and trendy part of Los Angeles.  The friend I am meeting is a writer on a CW show and is finishing up what I can only assume is a day of sparkling conversation and hard-ass work.  Such is the life.

Such is my life that even when purportedly relaxing over a glass of crisp California rosé at a hip and trendy wine bar, I am working… if you consider blogging to be working, which I suppose one shouldn’t, really.

BTW, the last time I was here, the friend I met that evening was all hopped up because Jon Hamm was sitting at the bar.  I don’t watch MAD MEN (oh the shame!) so I’ve never fallen prey to Jon’s particular charms.  My friend, however, was all kinds of goo-goo about it.

What’s funny is that, months later, I realized that I should have been goo-goo too.  Since I know nothing about celebrity gossip (seriously, nothing; it’s amazing I’m aware of Brangelina), I had no idea that Jon Hamm’s girlfriend is Jennifer Westfeldt.

Wait, wha–?!

Okay, so she may not be the household name half of the couple, but I totally would have fan-girled out over her.  In case you don’t know, JW is this sharply insightful, brilliant and witty writer who just happens to act in her own movies.  I mean, who does that—and does it well?!  Her characters are beautifully defined and her stories are passionate and poignant.  And she’s not afraid to GO THERE.

Extra-awesomely, Jennifer Westfeldt just so happens to be currently onstage in New York City in a production called The Explorers Club along with one of my dearest friends in all the land.  If only I could rearrange life so I could make it out there during the run…

Speaking of rearranging life, you’ll notice that it’s summer.  Also known as Dead Baby Gerbil Season.  Also known as The Most Difficult Season Of My Year.  My ever-present maternal guilt means that I don’t like to plan too much for the kids because it seems like we’re SO over-scheduled and crazy during the school year.  In Dream Life, summer has the kids frisking about in grassy fields or happily collecting seashells at the beach.  Actual Life, however, has them squabbling over Legos at the kitchen table.  This particular summer brings with it a particular set of career-related circumstances: I have a book due at the end of it.  And a movie (yes, I sold a movie!).

I’m thrilled and excited and amazed (because, as my Jen says, it’s “champagne o’clock!”), but also a little overwhelmed.  Especially because, for those who don’t know, this is the way being a screenwriter/author works: you write constantly.  You come up with ideas and you go to meetings and you flesh out pitches and you revise pages and it’s ALL THE TIME and yet, get this: a lot of it—like a LOT—is for free.  Crazy, right?  Totally, until…

Everything happens at once, which is what appears to be going on right now.  Book sold, movie sold, going out with that TV pitch with a studio, going out with that other TV pitch with a different studio, working on anime project with producers and foreign partners, script due for a project at Scholastic, etc.  I’m so happy, in that way that you can be so happy while you’re also emotional and spinning and exhausted (kinda like when you have a new baby).

***

So.

My friend eventually arrived at the hip and trendy wine bar, meaning that I put all utensils of writing away and focused on her.  Thus, it is now several days later and I am finishing this blog post from the comfort of my house.  More specifically, from my own BED.  Yes, we are three weeks of summer vacation down (seven to go) and my husband is taking the kids out of the house for the day.  My plan is to spend these hours of solitude in heaven.  In this case, heaven = my bed, pajamas, computer on lap, coffee nearby.  The animation script can wait until Monday.  The housework can wait until someone cares enough to do it.  Today, I get to dive deep into my book.  This, my friends, is heaven.

What is your heaven?

Sometimes they give you gifts.

File this under the heading of “Isn’t this so lovely?”  My new editor Daniel Ehrenhaft just sent me a pile of books from other Soho Teen authors.  Extra lovely is the fact that it arrived yesterday — the same day I was scheduled to have dinner with Margaux Froley and Risa Green and Amy Talkington.  Look, Margaux’s book is right on top!

What are you excited about reading?

Coming to a bookstore near you!

 

 

It has been KILLING me to keep this under wraps for the last couple weeks, so I am BEYOND stoked to finally make this announcement:

My debut YA novel — JILLIAN CADE: (fake) PARANORMAL INVESTIGATOR — will come out from Soho Teen in Spring, 2015!