New Year News - BCCB Blue Ribbons Announced!

I am thrilled to announce ORLEANS is a Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Blue Ribbon selection for 2013!  What a great way to start off the new year.  My thanks to the dedicated readers of the Bulletin staff for pouring over a mountain of great books and choosing my novel as one of the top!  Congrats to all of the other authors on the list.  I'll consider this the place to start spending my Christmas bookstore giftcards!

Well, I owe you bigger post, one with lots of pictures and a great story-- my return to New Orleans after almost seven years.  Over the holidays I got notes on my manuscript and I'm in the attic with my writing cap on, but stay tuned.  There'll be a new post next week.

Until then, here's to a happy, bookish new year!

Comic Con 2013!

It's that time of the year again!  I'm off to Comic Con and I've got an exciting line up this year.  Thanks to ORLEANS finally being a considered genre enough for Con, I'll be doing a couple of panels and signings, in addition to my usual crafty presence in Small Press with Tired Girl Collective.

The Schedule:

·         Wednesday, 7/17 – Sunday, 7/21/13 – TIRED GIRL COLLECTIVE, Small Press Table O-12

 

Visit Sherri and her pals at their arts, crafts and jewelry table known as the “pinkest booth at Con!”  You can see a preview of some of this year's wares below.

      · Thursday, 7/18/13 – AUTHOR SIGNING,2pm to 3pm, Penguin Booth 1028/1030

· Friday, 7/19/13 –PANEL: PUBLISHING SF/F IN THE DIGITAL AGE, 7pm to 8pm, Room 25ABC

Moderated by Timothy Travaglini (Open Road Integrated Media); authors Kevin J. Anderson(Dune) and Rebecca Moesta (WordFire Press), Cory Doctorow (Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, Little Brother, Boing Boing), Andy Briggs (Hero.com, Villain.net, Tarzan: The Greystoke Legacy), Sherri L. Smith (Orleans, Flygirl), and Nick Cole (The Old Man and the Wasteland, The Savage Boy), and bookseller Maggie Tokuda-Hall (Books, Inc) discuss impact of the digital age on writing, publishing, reading, bookselling, and the traditional book as we know it.

· Saturday, 7/20/13 – PANEL: WHEN GRRLS FALL IN LOVE, 11am to 12pm, Room 23ABC

From The Hunger Games' Katniss to Divergent's Tris, no one knows how to give a solid ass-kicking like a YA novel heroine. But when these young ladies aren't saving the world, overthrowing powerful regimes, or slaying everything from zombies to dragons, they still find time for romance. Ally Condie(Matched), Veronica Roth (Divergent), Holly Black (The Coldest Girl in Coldtown),Marissa Meyer(Scarlet), Lissa Price (Starters), and Veronica Wolff (The Watchers) discuss the delicate balance between killing and kissing, and what it takes to properly woo a YA heroine. Moderated by Sherri Smith (Orleans).

· Saturday July 20, 2013 – AUTHOR SIGNING, 1:30pm to 2:30pm, Sails Pavillion – Autographs

With When Grrls Fall in Love Panelists Ally Condie (Matched),Veronica Roth (Divergent), Holly Black (The Coldest Girl in Coldtown), Marissa Meyer (Scarlet), Lissa Price (Starters), Veronica Wolff (The Watchers), Sherri Smith (Orleans).

 

Now, if you're wondering what Tired Girl Collective is, it's a crafting co-op I started with a couple of friends back in the dark ages of 2006.  Comprised of my odd random crafts and jewelry (as Miss Smith's Miscellany and Bookish Press),

 

What I get up to when I'm not writing...



... or working....

...or sleeping.  This is a hairclip!

my partner-in-crime Ren of Karen Lucrece's beautiful art (she designed the look of my webpage!),

 

and a rotating cast of other exhausted women who stay up late making strange things because we think they are funny or cute. This year we have Melanie of Belle Pottery with us. she's got AWESOME jewelry this year.  You must come see it if you can! 

 

Okay, that's enough self-promotion for one day.  I hope to see you in San Diego.  If not, I'm sure I'll come back with some good stories.  See you next week!

 

 

 

 

 

Throw Me Something, Mister! Fat Tuesday 2013

Tomorrow is Mardi Gras!  The pub date for ORLEANS is less than a month away and down in the Big Easy, there's a party going on.    My mom was from New Orleans so sometimes we would take an early spring break and go to visit my grandparents during Mardi Gras.  The parade scene in my second book, SPARROW, is a pretty good illustration of the festivities.  Picture hundreds of people shoving and pushing at edge of a parade as giant floats roll by with costumed riders tossing plastic necklaces and coins called doubloons into the crowd.

Our favorite parade was Zulu because, while far from being politically correct, they had the best loot.  In addition to doubloons and necklaces, Zulu throws coconuts and hair combs.  Which sounds dangerous and kind of lame perhaps, but trust me-- it was awesome. 

Photo courtesy of MuffyJenkins-Andrews's Twitter pic (@_yungNwreckless)
 

 People really want these things.  In fact, Zulu coconuts are more than a tradition, they're a cottage industry.

Photo courtesy 610 Stompers Facebook Page

So, go out and grab yourself a coconut to decorate today.  If you're in NOLA (that's New Orleans, Louisiana for you uninitiated) then, Laissez les bon temps roulez!  And if you sit tight for two weeks, you'll get the ORLEANS version in a short story called "Carnivale" that will post on the Young Adult Readers Network blog.  (I'm so excited!)

 Happy Lundi Gras, everyone!

 

New Year's Eve 2012

I am notorious for asking people to reflect on New Year's Eve.  I want to know what they thought about the old year, what they experienced.  I want to hear it all distilled into a simple conversation.  And then I want to know about their aspirations for the new year.  What will be remembering 365 days hence.

Everyone hates it. 

To a person, there is a shifting, leg-crossing and un-crossing discomfort, as if I'm about to give them a pop quiz on successes and failures in their life.  I've been told, "I don't like thinking about that."  Or "I dunno," or "Why do you do this!"

The reason is simple.  I'm a writer.  I tell stories.  I'm a reader. I like to hear stories, too.  What is a year but a clearly marked chapter in a life?  That doesn't mean that every chapter has to be scintillating.  We've all read books that pull you along and then, suddenly you can't wait to stick a bookmark in it  (I'm thinking Prince Caspian chapter 2 or so, From Hell chapter 4).    You are done.  You don't have the attention/patience/love to give it anymore.  Until an hour or so later, when you do.  And you keep on reading.

So, if you think your year has been dull, or miserable, or not worth mentioning, think again.  So much has happened in this last chapter that you might have forgotten.  Think about it.  And then, as with all good writing, every chapter ends with a little (or a big) cliffhanger.  What.  Happens.  Next? 

That's 2013 calling.  What will you do to answer it?

 

Happy New Year, Everyone!