I Do School Visits! And I Like Them!

If you've ever wondered what it would be like to have me come visit your school or library, you can read all about it here.  I'm the Penguin Teachers and Librarians featured on this month's "Author Access" page.  I live in LA, but I love to travel, so don't be shy.  Check it out!  For more specific information, you can also email me directly through my website.  (Secret tip:  I've got last minute dates available this May and June!)

Now, back to that deadline...

Life of a Writer - Deadlines

Apologies for the lack of a pithy posting this week.  I am far behind current project and need to "buckle down," as my mother used to say.

Me, buckling down, except I've got differnt hair, no earrings and a laptop.

This is the life of the writer.  When I get notes from my brilliant editor, I try to give them time to breathe and sink in before I attack a new draft.  Sometimes the breathing and sinking in takes longer than expected.  And then you look up, well... then I looked up at the deadline I'd set for myself as "reasonable" a couple of months ago, and then pushed a few weeks to something "more reasonable."  And taht was yesterday.

So I am writing today and every day this week for as much time as I can.  If I write fast enough and well enough, I think a little heart will appear over my head warning people not to interrupt my narrative flow.  At least that's the theory.  I will let you know if it works.

In the meantime, spend some time perusing the options at Skulltastic, one of my favorite notebook stores.  I got this puppy yesterday, and customized it with college rule paper and a yellow coil.  That's right kids, you can design your own notebook with their cool art and all kinds of different guts-- storyboard paper, graphs, music, and more.  If you see me using this notebook in the wild, observe the glowing heart over my head. It means I am hard at work. 



And guess what, teachers? Ten percent goes to education. They even do fundraisers in an awesome school bus store on wheels. I heart Skulltastic. What's not to heart?

So, what you've just witnessed is me going of on a tangent and procrastinating, for which I apologize.  I'd better get to work. 

Thank you for your patience during this rewrite.

Sincerely,

The Management

Ray Harryhausen, Genius

Ray Harryhausen died today.  He was 92 years old.  When I think of Harryhausen, I think of my father.  The house I grew up in, on a tree-lined street in Washington, DC had a big TV in the basement.  On a Sunday afternoon, between football games, you could find me, my brother and my dad stuffed together on the old sofa watching Sinbad movies or "Jason and the Argonauts".  "Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger," the one where the witch who turns into a seagull and ends up stuck with one bird foot has haunted me all my years.  Sowing the dragon's teeth into a skeleton army—I was enough of a Greek mythology buff even in grade school to be delighted and frightened by the sight.  I loved Mighty Joe Young and wanted to take him home with me.  For all of our differences, those hours on the couch in the basement brought me and my dad together.  These are the things we had in common:  fishing, Harryhausen, Star Trek and Frank Herbert's novel, DUNE.  Oh, and half our DNA.  Sometimes it wasn't enough.

Years passed.  There was a divorce, new houses, college.  They stopped playing the old movies on TV quite as often.  My dad and I seemed to have less and less to say to each other, too.

When I found myself working in stop motion animation, I remembered Harryhausen, but I didn't give a second thought to those lazy Sunday afternoons.  When I began writing my first speculative fiction novel, I thought about DUNE and my dad.  He was ill by this point, dying of cancer.  For the first time in 20 some odd years, we were living in the same city again, a few blocks away.  I would bring him science fiction movies to watch from his hospice bed.  I would talk to him about my book.  Suddenly, those lazy Sunday afternoons were back, if only briefly.

 

My dad passed away in 2009.  He was 75.  Since then, I finished my novel.  I've even worked on a Star Trek film.  And I've thought about my father every day.  But today, when I heard of Ray Harryhausen's passing, I stood in my kitchen and wept.

Thank you, Mr. Harryhausen, for those Sunday afternoons, for the flights of fantasy that kept a girl and her father connected.  Your work lives on but you, sir, will be missed.

Class

On Saturday, I taught YA Character Collage, a characer development class with the Writing Pad here in Los Angeles.  It occurs to me that the best sight in the world just might be the top of a writer's head.  Fingers flew across keyboards, pens swam across the page, heads down, tongues tucked firmly in the corners of mouths Peanuts-style.  (Okay, that last part is not true, but I like the image.)



I was proud to see how bravely everyone dove into their character exploration.  It's always astonishing what you discover about the folks whose lives you're writing.  All you have to do is ask them a few questions and they'll open up to you.  It's magic!

Also magical, if a complete non sequiter, is the sign on this apartment building in West LA.  It's not unusual for buildings to have names here-- usually 1950s and '60s style apartments that are far less grand than the moniker on their facade.  Places like the Ogden Arms...


Or the Capri...



But what about this magical place?

 

 

That's not "Capri," and I wouldn't want to live there.  But isn't it awesome.?

TXLA!

Well, I'm back!  The Texas Library Association Conference was A-MA-ZING.  Truly.  For starters, I think it was as large, if not larger than the ALA National Conference in Anaheim last year.  Secondly, my publisher pulled out all the stops for a delicious and hilarious dinner with a group of YA librarians on Thursday night.  Then there were signings and librarian speed dating, a teen book giveaway that blew my mind, and a post-dinner stroll through the Stockyards.  I felt like a freshman at orientation for the coolest college ever.  So much to see and do.  There are pictures, all trapped on my cellphone at the moment.  I will post them as soon as I figure out what I'm doing wrong.   Photos below!

In the meantime, Thank you to everyone at Penguin for making me feel like part of the family.  Special thanks to my Penguin author buddies DJ MacHale (Morpheus Road, and SYLO!), Ruta Sepetys (Between Shades of Grey and Out of the Easy), Marie Lu (Legend Trilogy), Ashley Edward Miller and Zach Stentz (Colin Fischer), and Robert Paul Weston (Zorgamazoo), and my panel mates Jennifer Echols (Such a Rush) and John Corey Whaley (Where Things Come Back).

And thanks to the best librarians in the world.  You make me glad to be a writer!

Me and DJ MacHale (SYLO, July 2013!)

Best cast ever!  Heal fast, Mr. J!

The stacks and stacks of books at the Teen Giveway Event. Droolworthy!

Apparently the water park next to the conference center has a colorful history

It's made of hats!

In the corner of every library convention-- fabulous clothes for librarians!

 

Dinner in the Stockyards.  How cool is that?



When you can't make stars, just hang 'em on the ceiling.

Miss Ruta, my awesome editor Shauna, and me.

Meet the Author - Texas Library Association Conference 4/24 - 4/26/13, Fort Worth, TX

Thanks to everyone who swung by the Mysterious Galaxy booth and the Mrs. Nelson's booth on Saturday!  I had a blast signing along side Robin Benway (Also Known As), Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz (Colin Fischer), and Scott Speer (Immortal City).  Sadly, my little cellphone picture refuses to upload, so no visuals today!

 

Later this week I will be in Fort Worth, TX for the Texas Library Association Conference!  If you are there, please come say hello.

Friday, April 26th

12:00 pm - 1:50 pm   Young Adult Round Table Texas Tea Time, Omni Fort Worth Hotel
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm     Siging with Follet, Booth #1933
5:00 pm - 8:00 pm     Young Adult Round Table Texas Teen Event, Omni Fort Worth
                                   Hotel

Saturday, April 27th

9:30 am - 10:30 am    Signing with Penguin Young Readers Group, Author Signing Area
                                   Aisle #4
1:00 pm - 1:50 pm     Young Adult Round Table:  "Southern Stories for Teens,"  Fort
                                   Worth Convention Center, Level 1, Room 121B

I hope to see you there!

A Flygirl Moment: Letter from a real live W.A.S.P.!

Fifinella, the WASP mascot


 A couple of weeks ago, I was tickled pink to get an email from Mrs. Carla Howard Horowitz, which began, "A friend who knows about my earlier life (I was a member of Class 44W8, WASP) sent me your delightful book."

You could have knocked me over with a feather.  For all of the research I did on the WASP while working on FLYGIRL, I never had the privilege of actually communicating with one of these amazing women.  Until now.  Thank goodness she liked the book!  What followed was a string of emails with my questions and her reminisces, one of which I will now, with her permission, share with you.

In Chapter 22 of FLYGIRL, Ida Mae and Lily are tasked with flying the notoriously difficult B-29 Maurader.  The author's note goes on to credit Dora Dougherty Strother and Dorothea Johnson as the two women who actually flew the plane.  Happily, Mrs. Horowitz had this little gem to add to their true story :

A small addition to the tale of the B-29.  As I heard the story, the Army officer who was assigned the task of convincing the male pilots that the B-29 was flyable was Paul Tibbets, who later flew the Enola Gay over Hiroshima. There had been numerous complaints: the plane was too big, slow to respond, unwieldy.  I was told that it was Tibbet's choice to show the men that they would truly look wimpy if mere girls could handle the big monster. He chose two WASP who had twin-engine training, but not four-engine. And that it was Dorothea Johnson Moorman who was at the helm when she called the tower and asked permission to land as they approached an Army field.  There was no answer from the tower.  Tibbets told her to take it around again, make another approach, and call in.  Same story: no answer.  "Give me the stick" he said (or maybe it was "give me the wheel" or "Give me the plane.")  He buzzed the tower, gave the plane back to Dorothea J M and said to try again. She did, and this time the tower did respond:  "Lady, get off the air.  There's a B-29 trying to land."  She replied: "I am the B-29."  It's my favorite WASP story.

Now, it's mine too!

Thank you, Carla, for sharing your wonderful story with us.  For your years of service, many thanks from the bottom of my heart.  You are an inspiration.

(Want to see Carla in uniform?  Click here for a trip to the amazing WASP archives at Texas Women's University.  What a looker!)


On a separate note...
I will be at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books this coming Saturday, April 20th.  Swing by the following booths and say hello!
 

11:00 – 11:45 AM Signing at the Mysterious Galaxy booth (#1201).

12:00 – 12:45 PM Signing at the Penguin/Mrs. Nelson's booth (#720)