Posts Tagged ‘events’

Multimedia

01
May
2011

The good news is, I’ve fallen deep into my current writing project and I love it to bits and I am just about to get to the really good part (Good for me. Not the characters. Heh.) where everything falls apart and there’s betrayal and broken hearts and epic deeds and a first kiss.

The bad news is, I’m at the stage where all my words are going there, and I can only sit and stare blankly at twitter/Facebook/this blog. So here’s a miscellany of nifty stuff in the meantime:

SEE: These paper doll sets are whimsical, creepy, and fascinating. My favorite is A Walk into the Night, for the owls, of course!

LISTEN (and WATCH): Not only are Terje Sorgjerd’s videos utterly amazing to watch (See? And that’s all nature’s special effects!), but they also feature some fantastic music. I had never heard anything by Ludovico Einaudi before, but after watching The Mountain I had to download “Nuvole bianche”.

READ: Lavanya and Deepika, a beautifully rich and magical fairytale by Shveta Thakrar up online now at Demeter’s Spicebox in the Cabinet des Fées. This is a lovely variation on the Tatterhood story of twin daughters, one “ugly”, one “beautiful”, who go on adventures together and love each other (a refreshing change from the ugly/evil stepsisters, yes?). The language is rich and layered and gorgeous. Though you may, as I did, find yourself craving the scent of roses and dying to sample saffron cream when you’re done!

EAT: We had outstanding weather this weekend, which meant that after my morning writing, I spent much of my time outside, running, walking Charlie-the-dog, and battling my nemesis, the Grape Vine of Doom. So it was a good thing I’d just made a batch of these 5 Minute No Bake bars to keep me going. I used almonds instead of sunflower seeds, no flax, millet puffs rather than rice, and sunflower butter in place of peanut, but they were still delicious and so easy.

DO: Last but not least, the Diversity in YA (and MG!) tour starts off next week, as Malinda Lo and Cindy Pon travel the US to promote conversation about books for young readers featuring diverse characters. The full schedule is here. I am thrilled and honored to be participating in the Cambridge/Boston event, Thursday May 12 at 7PM, at the Cambridge Public Library, along with Cindy, Malinda, Holly Black, Sarah Rees Brennan, and Francisco X. Stork, and moderated by Roger Sutton. I’d love to see friendly faces in the crowd! If you attend, say hi!

Miscellany

04
March
2011

First, a reminder: there’s still time to enter the giveaway for faery books here!

Second, some events: I’ll post more details later, but I’m attending an event here in my hometown of Hallowell on Saturday April 9th at the Harlow Gallery from 1-3PM, with other local artists of all sorts. And on Thursday May 12th I will be at the Cambridge Public Library at 7PM as part of the Diversity in YA tour, along with Malinda Lo, Cindy Pon, Holly Black, Francisco X. Stork, and Sarah Rees Brennan. EEEEE! I would love to see some friendly faces in the crowd!

Third, a PSA: There’s been internet chatter about a YA Mafia. I, of course, belong to the MG Mafia, where we get together to drink butterbeer and exchange tips on how to train your dragon, but I did want to answer author Janni Lee Simner’s call for folks to stand up virtually and say “hey, go ahead an review my books, whether you like them or not.” So there it is. I generally try to avoid reading reviews of my books unless my editor sends them to me, but I’m grateful for every thoughtful review anyone does care to put out there. I don’t like every book published, so I don’t expect every reader to like mine either!

Fourth, food: I think that at least a third of the posts I have starred in my google reader are recipes. Here are two I am thinking of trying in the near future: salt-crusted chicken and lemon-meringue cupcakes.

Fifth, travel: Sadly there is no space or budget for a big trip this year, but next spring Bob and I are really hoping to travel to England & Wales (first time for me). Until then I content myself reading travel books and blogs like this. I must say I am very envious of the green… everything here is still covered in several feet of snow!

Sixth, writing: I just passed 50K words on my current project (of a projected 80-90). It is so strange to me now to remember starting it on January 1st of this year, struggling for hours to get down 600 words. The blank page is one of the scariest things in the world: the feeling that you have to strain and struggle to pull something out of nothing. But now that the book has some heft to it, though, it is starting to pull me along. Whew! It’s a nice reminder that the little steps really do add up…

Onward!

Poetic Miscellany

23
July
2010

A few tidbits on a Friday…

I think Trix (the main char from my CIRCUS books) would be a fan of La Roux. Especially that green eyeshadow! This video in particular is getting me excited to plunge into revisions on book 2 next week! (And thanks to both Megan Frazer and Malindo Lo for making me aware of La Roux)

In the meantime, here are two things that I have tacked at the top of my virtual corkboard as inspiration for the new project (THE BROKEN SKY) that I’m brainstorming:

First Fig

My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends–
It gives a lovely light!

~Edna St. Vincent Millay

You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.

~Mae West

The lovely Shveta has an interview with me up on her blog here where you can read about why I like the fiddle and what recent multicultural MG books I’ve enjoyed. Thank you Shveta!

And lastly, one quick reminder that I’ll be at the Toadstool Bookshop in Milford NH this Sunday, July 25, from 2-4 along with a bunch of other YA and MG fantasy writers for this. I’d love to see folks there if you’re in the area!

I’ll meet you at the Toadstool

11
June
2010

I actually have toadstools growing in my garden, just under the roses. They aren’t fetching little white-spotted redcaps, but still, I like imagining the fairies that masquerade as columbine settling down there at night for a rose-scented snooze.

And isn’t Toadstool Bookshop a great name for a bookstore? Prunella would definitely approve. They’ve got a lovely little logo of a gnome sitting under a toadstool, too!

Why do I bring this up? Because on Sunday July 25th from 2-4PM I’ll be at the Toadstool Bookshop in Milford NH with all these other fine folks:

Ellen Booraem (The Unnameables)
Chris Brodien-Jones (The Owl Keeper)
Leah Cypess (Mistwood)
Marissa Doyle (Betraying Season)
Angie Frazier (Everlasting)
Kate Milford (The Boneshaker)

We’ll be presenting a panel called “Writing Fantasy for Children and Teens: Insights from Seven Authors” and also signing. I would love to see some familiar faces there, so if any of you all can make it please come out and say hi!

In other news, PRUNELLA has a couple new reviews. Here’s my favorite part of the BCCB review:

Hints of Southern folklore echo throughout Fagan’s fictionalized swamplands, making a setting that is at once eerily familiar and disarmingly tricky to navigate, as two-faced villains and creepy creatures jump into the mix at every turn. Fortunately, our plucky set of heroes manages to successfully dodge the more foul elements, albeit just narrowly at times, and their daring escapes will most certainly have young readers turning the pages to uncover their next foolish opponent.

And VOYA also thinks the heroes are plucky:

This is a delightful coming-of-age story about two plucky misfits who elicit readers’ chuckles with their escapades, while gently reminding us not to judge a person by appearances alone.

I’ll take plucky! Thank you BCCB and VOYA!

And now I am wondering: What is the opposite of plucky? Pluckless?

More ALA Midwinter

19
January
2010

I already posted the short version of my ALA Midwinter daytrip, but here are a few more highlights (and pictures!):
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ALA Midwinter

17
January
2010

I’ll hopefully post something more detailed tomorrow, but for now here’s some nifty ARCs I managed to get while I was there:

ALA2010Booty

I had a fantastic time, and am very glad I went, even if I had to leave home at 5:30 AM and didn’t get back until 11PM (whew!). It was wonderful to meet some of my online friends in person, and to see those I’d met before again. I met Inkies, Debs, fellow Betsy-Tacy fans, and a host of other cool librarians, authors and publishing people.

All that conferencing was fun, but it sure wore me out. After I crawled out of my extrovert costume I slept in to the extravagent (for me) hour of 8, and spent the day goofing off, working on LARP plot, and playing with my beeyootiful new MacBook. I also discovered something I must do to celebrate next year when CIRCUS GALACTICUS comes out (discovered via this blog post by author Kristin Cashore): Trapeze Class!

And now back to revising!

NYC Escapades

09
December
2009

Wow, I was only away for four days but it feels like a week! The adventure started on Saturday, when Bob and I (and our patient dog Charlie) braved the oncoming snow to drive south. We stopped in Cape Elizabeth Maine for a fantastic visit at the Thomas Memorial Library, where I got to speak with a bunch of kids who had read Fortune’s Folly in their book club. They asked such good questions! I had a blast. Thank you Rachel, for inviting me!

Fortified by caramelized banana pancakes and a bagpipe marching band rendition of jingle bells (courtesy of the annual Christmas parade) in Portsmouth NH, we forged onward into the snowstorm coming up the coast and finally made it to my parents’ house in NJ in the wee hours of the night.

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Upcoming Events

01
December
2009

If you’re anywhere near NYC this coming weekend, I’ll be signing books with 7 other debut authors from the [info]debut2009 community at Books of Wonder on Sunday, December 6th from 1-3pm. There will be prizes, readings, Q&A and holiday festivity. We’ve got books for all sorts: middle grade and YA, contemporary and fantasy, humor and drama! We’d love to see you there!

The participating authors are:
Megan Crewe (Give up the Ghost)
Sarah Cross (Dull Boy)
Deva Fagan (Fortune’s Folly)
Neesha Meminger (Shine, Coconut Moon)
Kate Messner (The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z)
Shani Petroff (Bedeviled)
Jon Skovron (Struts and Frets)
Michelle Zink (Prophecy of the Sisters)

If you can’t attend but would like a signed book anyway, you can pre-order one from Books of Wonder.

There’s also a facebook page here.

And if you can’t make it to NYC check out the other Holidaze with the Debs signings in Chicago, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Toronto. Click here for more info.

Or, if you’re a Mainer, you can also see me on Saturday, December 5th at 3PM, at the Thomas Memorial Library in Cape Elizabeth Maine!

Lastly, if you are interested in winning a signed copy of Fortune’s Folly (as well as a TON of other fabulous books) check out the amazing giveaway we are running over at the Enchanted Inkpot! I’m loving reading all the comments about what books people are interested in reading, and what fantasy books remind other readers of the holidays (for me it’s definitely The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe!).

PRUNELLA Cover!

08
October
2009

Woohoo! I just got a peek at the cover art for my second book THE MAGICAL MISADVENTURES OF PRUNELLA BOGTHISTLE, due out in the spring of 2010. The cover is not finalized and may still change a bit, but I have the okay to share it here:

I love it! The artwork is by Brandon Dorman, which I find particularly thrilling as he is also responsible for the covers of several books by one of my all time favorite authors, Diana Wynne Jones. Check out his beautiful website for dozens of other gorgeous and magical art. You can also read Betsy Bird’s interview with him over on her Fuse #8 blog (he’s doing the art for her own forthcoming picture book).

Things that particularly delight me about the PRUNELLA cover: the jewel-like colors, the fireflies glittering among the trees, that Barnaby and Prunella are wearing the sort of clothing I envisioned (I particularly like Prunella’s shoes and socks), that the scene depicted is full of action and adventure (because I like to think there’s a good helping of that in the book), and most of all that there’s a GIANT ALLIGATOR on it (there is a giant alligator in the book too, by the way).

In other less bogwitchly news, I am happy to report I had a lovely visit at the Prince Memorial Library in Cumberland Maine earlier this week. It was a very small crowd, but all the adults were librarians, and since librarians are my heroes, I was perfectly happy chatting with them. Many thanks to the fabulous Jan Hamilton for inviting me!

And in addition to some other upcoming library visits, I am also now very excited to have joined in on the Debs of 2009 Holiday Tour Stop in New York City! If you are in the area, please come to Books of Wonder between 1 and 3PM on Sunday, December 6th to say hello! I will be posting more details when I have them, but we’ve already got quite a crowd of debs who will be in attendance. Thank you Michelle Zink for setting it up!

And last of all — I have officially signed up to do NaNoWriMo this year. If you are doing it too, feel free to add me to your buddy list. My handle there is “devafagan”. I am excited and a little scared, but eager for the chance to dive into drafting the second CIRCUS book and live and breath writing for a month. Whee!

Bar Harbor Book Festival

16
September
2009

This past weekend I attended the first (but hopefully not last!) Bar Harbor Book Festival, and I had a blast!

I went into the weekend expecting a good time just based on the fact that I was going to meet some of the wonderful writers I’ve met online in the past few years, and that we would be talking about one of our favorite topics: Books! And indeed, that was probably the best part of the festival. All the authors I met were wonderful and I wished I had had more time to talk with everyone.

It was particularly exciting to meet Carrie Jones (NEED) the rockstar organizing force behind the festival, and her smart and awesome daughter (who helped out a LOT). Carrie had ARCs of CAPTIVATE (sequel to NEED, coming out this winter) at her table and I think many of us were plotting ways to abscond with one. They were beautiful!

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