First, I did a Skype visit! I had not done one before, but I certainly hope to do more because it was so fun, and so easy! Author and teacher and generally amazing person Kate Messner invited me to visit her Advanced Writing class to answer questions. And they were some GOOD questions! We talked about beginnings, since all of us were at the start of new projects. You can read Kate’s account here (she also talks about what sounds like a fantastic in-person visit by Newbery-award-wining author Rebecca Stead).

Things I learned about Skype visits:

• Kate is an awesome host. Everything went smoothly, she had the setup ready to go, and she organized her class so that each student came up to introduce herself and ask her question in front of the camera.
• It’s just so cool that I can be talking with students in another state, about books and writing! This kind of thing makes me grateful I live when I do.
• I should try not to wave my hands around like a maniac (I talk with my hands a lot when I get excited, and writing excites me).
• My dog is perplexed when strange voices start emanating from my laptop.

Thank you so much for inviting me, Kate! And thank you to the students as well!

Second good writing thing: After struggling to find my footing in the first draft of the sequel to CIRCUS GALACTICUS (working title: CIRCUS SPECTACULAR) I think I finally found it. Fortunately I have learned to recognize my own patterns, so I know it’s not unusual for me to flail around writing several different first chapters, throw them out, stick them back in, etc before finally finding the right one. It doesn’t make the flailing any more fun, but it makes me a little less prone to despair.

This weekend I had one of those moments I covet when I really fall into the story. I had written a good chunk in my morning session, but when I came home after running errands and walking the dog I didn’t want to just flump down and watch my new netflix video (She-Wolf of London — did anyone but me ever watch that?). No, I wanted to go back to the circus world. I even (shockingly!) ignored my vegetable sushi dinner in order to finish the scene I was on. It was the best feeling! I know there is slog to come, but moments like that are what give me the strength to get through the slog.

Third good writing thing: my new writing office furniture is on the way! Soon my new bookshelves will be in place, and I can put away the piles of books trying to take over the guest room. Even better, I will have a roll-top desk. With cubbyholes! I still don’t know what I will put in the cubbyholes, but I am excited to have them, because I’ve always dreamed of having a cool roll-top desk with cubbyholes, in a room with bright walls lined with books, and sunlight streaming through sheer-curtained windows.

I’m very grateful for all my dreams that have come true.

I did miss the connections to my online friends

I did not miss having to filter massive quantities of data to strain out the few things I really care about.

I am much happier not reading reviews. Especially Goodreads reviews.

The cute new shop that just opened two blocks from my office is selling TEA and CUPCAKES. I am doooooomed! But it was so much fun to go in on a rainy day and have my beautiful china pot of Assam and a delicious lemon cupcake on a pale green etched glass plate, with Enya playing and flowers in the window.

So today, here’s Kristin to talk a little about her debut!

Q: Tell us about a scene or character from your novel that was especially easy (or especially difficult) to write.

A: Sam’s character was really easy for me to write, probably because I’ve been around kids pretty consistently for the past 15 years.

Q: What is your favorite (or one of your favorite) myths or fairy-tales, and why? Or alternately, what fairy-tale or myth do you dislike, and why?

A: The Seven Chinese Brothers is one of my favorites. I’ve always liked the theme of people using their separate, specific talents to work together toward a common goal.

I also love the Maori folktales about Maui. I have a special affinity for all things New Zealand, since I lived there as a child.

Q: So, what has been the most exciting part of selling your book(s) and getting published so far?

A: Besides getting the offer of representation from my agent, and getting the offer of a sale from my publisher, I’d say it was holding the ARC of MATCH in my hand for the first time. Then later, seeing them lined up on a shelf. That made it all tangible and real.

About A Match Made in High School
When a mandatory marriage education course forces Fiona to “try the knot” with super-jock Todd Harding, she’s convinced life could not possibly get any worse. Until moments later, when her long-time crush is paired with her arch-enemy (otherwise known as Todd’s obscenely hot, slightly sadistic girlfriend). But that’s nothing compared to her best friend’s fate – a year with the very shy, very goofy, very big Johnny Mercer.

A series of hilarious pranks and misunderstandings leave Fiona wondering: is there something her supposed “best friend” hasn’t told her? Could there be more to Johnny Mercer than a deep voice and an awesome music collection? And perhaps most intriguing of all, is it possible that Todd Harding could actually have a heart – and a brain – beneath his pretty-boy exterior?

About Kristin Walker
Kristin Walker grew up roaming the Pennsylvania countryside. She finally landed at Penn State, where she earned a BA in Theatre Arts. In addition to being actor, Kristin was many things on her way to becoming an author, such as a lifeguard, a nanny, a beginning ballroom dance instructor, a library circulation clerk, and very nearly a nurse. A Match Made in High School (Razorbill/Penguin Group) is her first novel. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Ladybug, Wee Ones, and two Chicken Soup for the Soul books. Kristin lives in a Chicago suburb with her husband and three sons.

Learn more about Kristin at her website.

A Match Made in High School is available now! I encourage you to shop at your local independent bookstore!

From Publisher’s Marketplace:

International rights: Children’s Deva Fagan’s CIRCUS GALACTICUS and CIRCUS SPECTACULAR, the sequel, to Tick Tock, for publication in Spring 2011, by Heather Baror at Baror International

Woohoo! CIRCUS GALACTICUS is coming to the UK! With a sequel! This is my first foreign rights sale ever and I couldn’t be happier about it. But the best part about it, for me, is that it means I get to write the sequel I’ve been dying to work on. I love this world and these characters, and I really wanted to tell more of their stories. The original US sale was just the first book, though I’m keeping my fingers crossed that CG will do well enough here that the sequel will see print in the US too.

Thank you to my fantastic foreign rights agent Heather, and to Tick Tock!

This is making it even more exciting to plan a trip to the UK in summer 2011!

And now back to my internet vacation…

Then there’s the fact that I’m planning to start seriously working on the Circus Galacticus sequel tomorrow. It’s the first day of the month AND a Monday. It must have good project-starting mojo!

So I’m taking inspiration from author Laurie Halse Anderson and embracing Blog-Free February. No blogging, no twitter, no facebook, no goodreads (other than adding things I read), no google reader. Also, no self-googling and no worldcat stalking. And hey, I don’t have to worry about Amazon ranking anymore!

I haven’t quite worked up the guts to say no livejournal friendslist reading, but I will restrict it to a small subset of close friends so I don’t miss urgent life stuff.

Wish me luck! I’ll be back March 1 (or, um, sooner if I fail to control myself) to blog about how it went, and if I learned anything. And before I ride off into the blogless-sunset, here are some tidbits…

First, I have an essay up in the latest edition of Hunger Mountain (the journal of the Vermont College of Fine Arts) called “Proactive Princess: Re-imagining the Fairy Tale. Stop on over to read it and leave a comment if you like! Then go read Erin Dionne’s companion piece here. There’s a lot of other great stuff in this issue, which is dedicated to the memory of author Norma Fox Mazer. Check it out!

Second, I’ve been in a scifi state of mind lately, and thus was quite excited to see the trailer for this new short (20 min) scifi film by Kenyan director Wanuri Kahiu:

Third, here’s a poem that’s inspiring me at the moment:

An Adventure Begins

An adventure begins,
when the one who was grimacing
suddenly grins.

An adventure begins,
when the one who was losing
suddenly wins.

An adventure begins,
when the one who acts saintly
suddenly sins.

When the smooth surface pops up with circling fins,
when soft drums surrender to bold violins,
when the light of the moon starts to shine on our skins,

an adventure begins.

~by JonArno Lawson, from Black Stars in a White Night Sky

And now I’m going to take inspiration from my goofy dog and go sit in the sun and just enjoy being.

I’ve been speaking in support of buying books from good local independent bookstores for some time now, and this sort of thing is just another reason why I urge you all to consider how you use your purchasing power. Amazon (and the chain bookstores too, for that matter) have a huge amount of power and influence over what you are offered to read, what the covers look like, etc. If you don’t deliberately go out to libraries, independent bookstores, online book blogs and review magazines you are likely to miss out on vast swaths of fantastic books. So I am once again asking everyone to really consider where you buy your books, and just how much that deep discount is saving you in the long run.

You can still order my books from various other places online, including Powell’s Books (they offer a discounted price as good as Amazon’s, and an ebook too!), or you can find them on Indiebound.

Edited to add: And duh, I really ought to add a plug here for one of my favorite way to read new books. The library! A lot of states have inter-library loan programs now, so you can almost always get any book you want from somewhere. I do try to buy my own copies of books I really like (or give them as gifts) but the library is such a fantastic way to try out books you aren’t sure about, or that you don’t have the $$ to purchase.

Worldcat is a great website to search for books in libraries all around the world.

Q: Tell us about a scene or character from your novel that was especially easy (or especially difficult) to write.

A: The tarot card reading scene was surprisingly easy to write…in fact, it’s the only scene my editor didn’t bleed all over. LOL

Q: What is your favorite (or one of your favorite) myths or fairy-tales, and why? Or alternately, what fairy-tale or myth do you dislike, and why?

A: I am fascinated (and super saddened) by the little mermaid–the original one, where she turns into sea foam. Wow, how awful is that, really?

Q: So, what has been the most exciting part of selling your book(s) and getting published so far?

A: Getting my final author copies in. It’s really real now!! How crazy is that?!?!

About Stupid Cupid
Felicity Walker believes in true love. That’s why she applies for a gig at the matchmaking company Cupid’s Hollow. But when Felicity gets the job, she learns that she isn’t just a matchmaker…she’s a cupid! (There’s more than one of them, you know.)

Armed with a hot pink, tricked-out PDA infused with the latest in cupid magic (love arrows shot through email), Felicity works to meet her quota of successful matches. But when she bends the rules of cupidity by matching her best friend Maya with three different boys at once, disaster strikes. Felicity needs to come up with a plan to set it all right, pronto, before she gets fired…and before Maya ends up with her heart split in three.

About Rhonda Stapleton
Rhonda Stapleton started writing a few years ago to appease the voices in her head. She has a Master’s degree in English and a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing. Rhonda works as an editor for a legal publishing company and enjoys offering editing workshops. Rhonda lives in Northeast Ohio with her lovely, energetic family, who are more than enough to keep her busy when she’s not writing.

In the twelve minutes of free time she has each day, Rhonda enjoys reading, photography, writing poetry, singing in the shower (and in the car, at work, or basically anywhere that provides oxygen), drinking chai tea, and playing on the Internet.

Learn more about Rhonda at her website.

Stupid Cupid is available now! I encourage you to shop at your local independent bookstore!

“Oh, don’t ask me to do math. I was an English major.”

Or other variations of the same. I wonder what the folks who say this are thinking. Is it that you have to have some special arcane Mathematics degree to be on speaking terms with numbers? Is it that people who love words or history or music can’t also love triangulation and differential equations?

Another thing that makes me sad? When people make the assumption that everyone finds math tedious or boring or hard. When they say things like: “Okay guys, I’m sorry, but it looks like we’re going to have to do some math now.” Like it’s a chore, something nasty that could never be cool or fun.

I do understand that a lot of folks out there find math weird and scary, or mind-numbingly dull. The thing is, there’s all sorts of mathematics. There’s number theory and geometry and algebra and statistics and topology and that’s not even getting into disciplines that use math like astronomy and chemistry. In my opinion, saying you hate math is like saying you hate reading. There are a lot of folks out there who think they hate reading because the only books they’ve been exposed to were the classics force-fed to them in school (that’s not to say classics are bad, but they aren’t necessarily the best thing to encourage a love of reading in all people).

Anyways, the point of this post is not to rag on people who don’t like math, especially if they’ve actually given it a fair shot. But I would like to encourage folks who think they “aren’t good at math” to give themselves (and math) another chance.

That’s part of the reason I’m always thrilled when I find a character in a book who is good at and/or enjoys math. Here are some books with main characters who like math and/or are good at it:

The Magic or Madness series by Justine Larbalestier

The Midnighters series by Scott Westerfeld

Into the Wild Nerd Yonder by Julie Halpern

What am I missing? I know there are others…

Also, what books are there that show a character who doesn’t think she or he can do math, who learns otherwise?

And what about you folks? Do you feel intimidated by math? Do you think you’re good at it? Do you think it’s cool? Boring? Terrifying? I created a poll over on my livejournal if you would rather click buttons…

I’ll end with a (to me) beautiful and awe-inspiring video that I discovered via APOD that captures the feeling mathematics gives me: That the universe is absolutely, mind-blowingly enormous. That there is SO MUCH out there and we can’t even see or understand. That we can see the patterns and we can try to understand the rules. And that success isn’t finding the answers; it’s seeking them. It’s asking the questions.

For now, I’m just going to say thank you:

To the folks who are making these conversations happen. I’m glad people are raising their voices and talking about this, even though it might not be a comfortable discussion. We need to talk about this.

To the people who are taking action: writing letters to publishers who put white faces on books that feature non-white characters. Or super-skinny models on the covers of books about normal or overweight characters.

To the writers from all backgrounds working on putting more diversity into their books. I’m grateful there are people willing to risk getting it wrong (no matter how hard they try), in the hopes of getting it right. I am grateful to the writers who are giving readers of all colors and backgrounds the message that it’s okay to be who they are. That they are not less than others.

To my editor, my publisher (Holt) and artist Brandon Dorman for creating a beautiful cover for my next novel that accurately depicts my brown-skinned main character.

To all these people for the positive steps they are taking to create change. I hope we can all keep it up.

As I was walking from South Station along Summer Street I noticed two women ahead of me and wondered if it was just my imagination that they seemed to be giving off a cool, book-loving vibe. It turned out they were in fact librarians on the way to the convention, and they graciously consented to let me follow them to registration (otherwise I might still be wandering as that place was huge). Thank you Anna and Margaret! I hope you had a great convention!

More synchronicity cropped up as I headed for the entrance to the exhibits. I spotted a familiar yellow coat and recognized Susann, a lovely fellow Betsy-Tacy fan I met in NYC in December! Susann introduced me to another B-T fan and librarian, the delightful Lizz. We went in and converged on the Charlesbridge booth to get signed ARCs of BAMBOO PEOPLE by author Mitali Perkins, who is also a B-T fan (do you sense a theme here?) and is in fact writing the forward to the new reissue of EMILY OF DEEP VALLEY (yay, Mitali!). Here they all are:

After that I hooked up with some of my fellow debs, Erin Dionne and Megan Frazer, to check out the exhibits. We ran into another fellow deb, Kate Messner, who was on a scavenger hunt for book photos with her adorable daughter.

I had fun meeting wonderful fellow book-lovers, but I will admit I also had a lot of fun just wandering around ogling the rows and rows and rows of BOOKS:

There’s THE TOTAL TRAGEDY OF A GIRL NAMED HAMLET by Erin, and another deb book, Shani Petroff’s BEDEVILED!

And here’s SHADOW by Jenny Moss:

Lots of great ARCs on display at the HarperCollins book, including new Diana Wynne Jones (eee!), the third Magic Thief book by Sarah Prineas, and MISTWOOD by fellow Inkie Leah Cypess:

I joined forces with another rabid DWJ fan (Hi Madison!) to ask about ARCs, and woohoo, they had some left!

I also stopped in at the Macmillan booth and saw these two gorgeous covers on display: Lisa Mantchev’s EYES LIKE STARS and PERCHANCE TO DREAM. Go Bertie! Go Fairies! Go Lisa!

It was also a big thrill to see ARCs of my own forthcoming release, THE MAGICAL MISADVENTURES OF PRUNELLA BOGTHISTLE on display. A big thank you to the Macmillan folks working the booth!

Sadly, around this time my camera batteries died, so I couldn’t document my encounters with all the other wonderful people I met. Fortunately fellow Inkies Anna Staniszewski and Nandini Bajpai posted recaps of our lovely Enchanted Inkpot Lunch at Legal Test Kitchen (fantastic food! Mmm, vegetable pad thai…)

One of the big events of the day was the Tweetup organized by the unstoppable Mitali Perkins and Deborah Sloan. I’ll admit I was kind of overwhelmed when I walked up to the bar and saw the huge crowds. Especially when I started noticing all the famous bloggers, respected literary agents and award-winning authors. Yikes! But I plunged in and ended up having a very fun time. And if I hadn’t gone, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to sample one of Grace Lin’s delicious red velvet cupcakes, so that I can now proudly claim to have eaten cupcakes baked by a Newbery Honor winning author!

I also enjoyed finally meeting author Ann Haywood Leal, my editor-sibling (we both work with the extraordinary Reka Simonsen at Holt). Ann was lovely and sweet and also a Betsy-Tacy fan (we’re everywhere!).

Last but not least, I wound down with a delicious (if abbreviated) dinner at Channel Cafe (corn gnocchi! Nomnomnom!) in the company of a warm and wonderful bunch of Maud Hart Lovelace fans. I wished I could have stayed longer, and I look forward to hopefully attending some other NE events this year. Big thanks to Constance for setting that up, and for hanging out with me during part of the afternoon at the convention.

But alas the time was fast approaching when I, like Cinderella’s carriage, would turn back into a pumpkin (or rather, an introvert early bird up past her bedtime). So I had to run off to catch my bus, which whisked me back to Maine where my wonderful husband welcomed me home with a bouquet of roses. All-in-all a fabulous day!