Author of award-winning, adventurous realistic and historical fiction

goals

The Disaster Days is a Bank Street Best Book!

Apr 9, 2020 | , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I’m really excited to share that The Disaster Days was selected by Bank Street College of Education as one of its “best books” of 2020. From Bank Street’s website:

[The 2020] edition includes more than 600 titles chosen by the Children’s Book Committee as the best of the best published in 2019. In choosing books for the annual list, reviewers consider literary quality and excellence of presentation as well as the potential emotional impact of the books on young readers. Other criteria include credibility of characterization and plot, authenticity of time and place, age suitability, positive treatment of ethnic and religious differences, and the absence of stereotypes. Each book accepted for the list is read and reviewed by at least two committee members and then discussed by the committee as a whole.

Awesome! You can view the whole list here and grow your reading list 🙂

2018 in Reading

Jan 1, 2019 | , , , , , , , , , ,

Thanks to Goodreads (which I tend to use as a booklog, pretty much just for this purpose), I’m taking a look back at my reading stats for 2018:

These books took me from Cameroon to Moscow to Fiji to Antarctica to Topsea, and from Ancient Greece to outer space. (Can I get airline miles for this?!)

In terms of category, I read 18 middle grade books, 4 YA, 4 nonfiction, and the rest were adult fiction. And I seem to have a thing for blue covers.

In 2019, I’m switching from reading goals to a reading thesis: read to discover, read diversely, read without time pressure, read joyfully. I’m debating whether to keep tracking online–it is handy for the year-end page and book count (although I cannot figure out why Goodreads insists these 59 books are 60), but it also adds a little pressure to add, add, add books. We’ll see what I decide . . .

What were your favorite books of the year, and what do you hope to read in 2019?

2017 in Books

Jan 3, 2018 | , , , , ,

Every year, I keep a reading log in my planner–and on Goodreads, mainly because that way I can easily collect images of the covers and get a tabulation of my pages read (and other fun stats) at the end of the year, such as:

Fewer pages than in previous years, which surprised me–until I remembered that this is the first year I haven’t had a commute in a long time. Public transportation is a great opportunity to read a book! Here are the titles that I enjoyed in 2017:

(Look at those covers. Can you tell that I’m drawn to stories that involve the sea?)

By my count, 30 adult fiction titles, 17 MG, 4 YA, and 7 nonfiction–I traded some YA for nonfiction apparently. 

In 2018, I’m going to try to stay away from reading goals and challenges–other than to make sure I’m reading books by and about people whose life experiences are different than mine and that I’m supporting authors from marginalized communities. So I guess you could say my goal for the new reading year is to focus on the books and the pleasure of time spent reading. 🙂

 

My 2016 in Books

Jan 1, 2017 | , , , , , , , ,

Happy New Year! 2016 brought a lot of good–and some not-so-good–so I’m looking forward to starting fresh today. But one good thing about 2016 was the wonderful books I read. Thanks to Goodreads (which makes a great book log), here are the titles that enriched, engaged, and entertained me over the past year:

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I read 28 kidlit titles, 7 nonfiction titles, and 31 grown-up fiction titles–for my personal reading. I didn’t track how much kidlit I read at my dayjob, but I’m guessing there’s another 30 or so there.

Here’s to a 2017 full of great books! What was your best read of last year?

My Year in Books!

Dec 31, 2015 | , , , , , , ,

Thanks to Goodreads, it’s easy to step back and look at your year in reading. Here’s mine:

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So many great books, and I kept up with my personal reading goal of a book a week.

Per the handwritten book log I keep in my planner, it looks like I read 20 MG books, 9 YA, and the rest were adult. Only 5 were nonfiction–although I may have read a few more titles as research that didn’t make it into my Goodreads/booklog.

Goals for 2016? Keep trying to read more diverse books, more books in genres I don’t usually gravitate toward (like fantasy), and a little more nonfiction. I’m also planning to read the Elena Ferrante novels because I haven’t met a single reader who hasn’t gushed about them.

And I’d always love to read more, in general. But considering I revised Summer of Lost and Found twice, finally sent a shiny new manuscript to my agent, presented at a conference, and worked hard at my day job–I’m proud of how many titles I still read!

How was your year in books?

 

What’s Up Wednesday, 6/18

Jun 18, 2014 | , , , , , , , , , ,

What I’m ReadingWUW7

Last week, I finished The Interestings, which was an absorbing, funny, thoughtful character study. And even at 500+ pages, I didn’t want it to end. Next, I read Kate Scott’s YA debut, Counting to D. It was heartfelt, and it taught me a lot about dyslexia–a learning disability that I only thought I understood until I read this book. Also, there was a scene involving VooDoo Doughnuts. Yes.

Now I’m reading TransAtlantic–I loved Let the Great World Spin, so I have high hopes for this one!

What I’m Writing

I’m not drafting or revising at the moment, but I’m in the middle of a lot of research. Instead of writing page-count goals, I’m giving myself deadlines for working through various resources. I’d love to start writing this WIP next month, but I have a lot of books to get through first.

What Inspires Me Right Now

I’m getting really excited for ALA Annual! I’ve never been a library conference before, and I’ve also never been to Vegas. The Class of 2K14 has a fun trivia event planned, with Jay Asher and Josephine Angelini as our moderators.  And then I’ll be signing in the Sourcebooks booth.

After ALA, I’m heading back to the Midwest to visit some family, and I can’t wait to see my nephew. When I last saw him, he was a newborn–and now he’s almost eight months old!

What Else I’ve Been Up To

Getting back into running, making homemade ice cream (spicy chocolate was my last concoction), and enjoying the warm weather and sun.

So what have you been up to lately?

What’s Up Wednesday is a weekly meme that helps readers and writers touch base with blog friends. You can find the link widget (and cute buttons!) on Jaime’s and Erin’s blog posts.

My Word for 2014

Jan 5, 2014 | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Last year, my word for 2013 was balance. While I do think that having that word at the forefront of my mind helped me take at least a few steps toward a more balanced life, I still have a lot of work to do with that word. But 2014 is a new year, so I needed a new word.

For 2014, I’m choosing: open.

As I look back over my 2013 posts, I realize that I didn’t blog much about what’s been going on in my writing life. That’s partly because after starting a new job last January, I found I had a lot less time for blogging and social media in general (sad face). But honestly, I think it’s also that as I moved further into the publishing process, the more I found myself retreating a bit, at least online. Working toward publishing When Audrey Met Alice has been a joyful experience, by and large–but like any big life thing, it’s brought some stressors along with the good stuff. I found myself nervous about sharing both the many good things (I guess I have that Midwestern sensibility of not tooting one’s own horn) and the few things that scared me. The thing I’m starting to realize, though, is that writing with a goal of publication means putting yourself out there in the world, and that’s an okay thing. You have to be open to the possibilities. And I truly believe that the best writing comes from an open mind and an open heart, and I want to keep improving my craft this year.

Perhaps because I often felt overwhelmed by juggling day-job work, writing work, a move, and everything else last year, I found myself closing off a little in other ways. Sometimes I met invitations and opportunities with a cringe (Where am I going to find the time for that!) instead of an excited or appreciative smile. Sometimes I just got really anxious, or exhausted-cranky. I’d like to shift that attitude a bit, and show thankfulness for all of the great things in my life by approaching it by being a little more receptive.

I’ve never been super comfortable with sharing too much personal stuff online (hello, introversion), and I don’t think that’s going to change. But I feel such gratitude for all the honest posts I’ve read from writers at various stages of the publishing process the past two weeks. So in addition to trying to approach IRL things with a spirit of openness, I want to approach online life with a bit more of that, too. Like by saying right now that as excited as I am for my book to come out in less than a month(!), I’m pretty nervous, too.

So, hello, 2014. I am taking deep breath and doing a stretchy yoga move, and trying to greet everything that’s in store for me this year with . . . openness.

(What’s your word for this new year?)

On NaNo, ten days in

Nov 12, 2013 | , , , , , , ,

In the past, I’ve used the NaNo energy and camaraderie to write lots–I think last year I did about 30K in November of the project I was working on. But I’ve never done NaNo “for real” before. Truthfully, I’m not even doing that now–I had 28,000 words of the project I’m working on written before the month began. But I did decide that I wanted to NaNo to finish or hit 50K, whichever comes first. And so ever since the clock struck midnight on November 1, I’ve been working for my average of 1,667 words a day, with the 50K goal in mind. (I think finishing this project will take about that many words.)

How’s it going so far? I want to travel back in time and throw a parade for everyone who has finished NaNo in the past because WOW is this hard. When I am drafting, I typically average about 1,000 words a day–but I am not usually able to write every single day. Maybe I do 2,400 on a great Sunday and the following Monday through Wednesday I write nothing. Regardless of how often I write, the 7,000-8,000 words/week average seems to really work for me. At that pace, I’m writing fast enough that my first-draft antsiness isn’t a problem, but not so fast that I get burnt out.

Naively, I thought that upping my average to 1,667 would not be so bad. And while it isn’t terrible–I’m not crying into my pillow every night, and so far I’ve been keeping up with that pace–I’m learning a lot about what makes me a happy writer and a successful drafter, namely: This is too fast for me.* I need a little more time to think things through and to let myself recharge. Of course, there are benefits to the NaNo pace, too–when I hit the middle of my story, I didn’t have the option of muddling in it. I got creative and kept going. The choices I made in forging ahead might have created a hot plot mess, but at least I’m moving forward instead of stalling and starting to second-guess myself, which has been a problem for me in the past.

Because I’m a perfectionist type who loves goals and deadlines, I’m going to keep trying for the 50K goal (also because I want to take December off from writing to read and do holiday things). Even if I don’t make it–and some upcoming travel might derail my plans a bit–I’m proud of how much I’ve already done, and happy with what the NaNo experience is teaching me about my sweet-spot for a writing pace as well showing me how I can use goal-setting to boost creativity.

If you’re doing NaNo, how’s it going? If you’ve done it in the past, how was your experience?

*Duh, right?

On Patience and the Bottle in my Fridge

Oct 16, 2012 | , , , , , , ,

Many moons ago, someone gave me a bottle of decent champagne. I think it might have been leftover from a holiday party. I didn’t have an occasion to open it at the time, and I’m not generally fabulous enough to pop a bottle of bubbly for no reason. It was around the time I first went on submission for the first time ever, so I thought, “I’ll save this for the day I accept an offer for my book.” (Which I realize now is a slightly obnoxious but not uncommon thought pattern for newbies on sub.)

The champagne sat in the way-back of my fridge. And it sat. It sat for so long that I started Googling things like, “Does champagne go bad?”
Oh, there were times when it looked like I’d be opening it. I’d open the fridge door to get some carrots and smile at the bottle. Soon, soon. Maybe I’d pull the champagne flutes out of storage and rinse off the dust, you know, just in case.
HUBRIS ALERT. The occasion to take out the bottle never materialized, despite coming painfully close to fruition.

On some days, that green bottle mocked me from its perch on the shelf. I stuck the Brita pitcher in front of it to hide it. My husband found it one day. “Did you know that there is a bottle of champagne in the fridge? What’s that doing there?”
“Nothing.” Saving that champagne was a stupid idea, I thought. The bottle is going to sit in there forever. I’ll be packing it up for every move. Each December, I’ll debate yanking it out for New Year’s just to get rid of it. If I ever have children and then someday they have to move me into a nursing home, they’ll find it and ask, “Mom, why is there a bottle of champagne from 20– in here?” But I kept it in there anyway. Because part of me always believed that I would, in fact, have the occasion to open it someday.

That bottle became a random symbol of determination, of the hope and optimism a writer needs when working on another round of revision or a fresh first draft. Maybe someday people will read these words I’m writing. If I really REALLY work hard, if I’m patient, and if I’m just a little bit lucky. When that happens, I will celebrate. I will pop that champagne, finally.

You probably know where I’m going with this. That heavy, green, EMPTY champagne bottle went out with last week’s recyclables. The cork is sitting on my desk. Dreams do come true, hard work is rewarded. Patience pays off, and so does optimism. And this is why it’s good to never give up.

One Thing Well

Mar 6, 2012 | , , , , , , , ,

That’s my new motto, at least when it comes to weeknights. I used to try to do a lot in my off-work hours: hit the gym, cook dinner, whip up a blogpost for the next day, catch up on other social media, read, call my fam, and get in some writing time. Sometimes I’d go really crazy and try to add cleaning, laundry, or (gasp) some kind of socializing in the mix.

Shocker: I ended up half-assing a whole lot of stuff.

My new philosophy? One thing well.*
On weeknights, aside from the non-negotiables (some kind of exercise or activity to destress; healthy eating, whether I prepare it or someone else does) and quality time with fiance/catching up with friends and family, I get to do one task. And I will try to do it well.

If it’s a night on which I want to revise two chapters, I’m not going to try to write a post, too. If I need to vacuum my insanely dusty apartment,** then maybe I’m not going to finish a read-through. I know what my priorities are, and it’s surprisingly easier than I thought to balance one-thing-per-night in accordance to them. Maybe I’ll clean less if I’m trying to finish a draft. Maybe I’ll blog more once a project is off with beta readers. Etc.

And you know what is kind of great? Going to sleep knowing that maybe you didn’t get everything done, but you sure whole-assed what you did.

*Slightly different context, but here’s a nice post from Zen Habits on Do One Thing Well
**Seriously, why is dust not a form of energy; because if it were, I would be so very filthy rich. Science, please get on that.

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