This one might seem obvious on the surface, but writers are very good at rationalizing and can come up with all kinds of logical-sounding reasons why they should ignore it.

Three words.

What. Happens. Next.

Stories are supposed to flow like a river, not remain still while your character treads water neck-deep in a pool of exposition. One of the fun things about revising is figuring out how to make the story move forward while slipping in those little bits of backstory that contribute to the reader's understanding of the character.

For me this often winds up being a pacing issue.

Yesterday I was working on a chapter that had three scenes in it. Scene #1 transitioned from the previous chapter. Scene #2 was rather lengthy, but interesting, I thought, even though the main character was mostly observing the action around him, and that action (while based on fascinating historical evidence) only had a little to do with the larger Story of my character. Scene #3 was short short, because I blathered on so long in Scene #2.

The first option was to break off Scene #3 into its own chapter. I tried that, but it didn't work. The chapter that was weighed down with Scene #2 was a big snore. I tried cutting out Scene #2 completely. Nope, that didn't work either - the reader and character need to see what happens in it.

Just before I went to bed I figured out how to fix it. I'm going to trim back Scene #2 and add one element that has an emotional connection to my character. That will make the first half of this chapter move swiftly (I hope) and build the tension leading up to Scene #3. In that last scene, I'll have the room to craft both the external and internal conflicts, and lay the groundwork for the transition to the next chapter.

Does that make any sense? Neil Gaiman mentioned this concept in a more elegant style (sigh) on his blog yesterday. (Scroll down to his response to the first reader's question.)

Emily wrote asking when I was going to publish a book about the writing process.

Answer: As soon as my publisher asks me to. That's why all these revision tips are wrapped up in fifty layers of copyright protection and guarded by my dog. (But if you are a teacher, feel free to use them in your classroom.)

In other news. TWISTED is a nominee for the Missouri Gateway Reader's Award (along with two other books that Superintendent Daniel Freeman of Montgomery County School District in KY feels are not suitable in his high school: DEADLINE, by Chris Crutcher, and UNWIND, by Neal Shusterman). The Gateway Award is aimed at high school readers.

Missouri extended even more love my way by nominating CHAINS to Truman Award list (sorry, don't have a link yet). This one is for middle school/junior high readers.

Thank you, Missouri!

Since Laurie is running around like a Mad Woman, and being true to her inner Mad Woman in the Forest, I thought I would share, once again, her bookstore schedule for this weekend! Yes, it is time for her to travel to Philly for NCTE (no, she is NOT packed yet!). Besides the wonderful conference, she is scheduled to appear tomorrow (Friday) night at a Public Event at Doylestown Bookshop from 7PM until 9PM!! Can you be there? If you are in the area, please stop in and say hello! She would LOVE to see all her friends!

On Saturday, Laurie will be doing conference book signings and an Author Blog Panel: Please see her post here.

On Sunday, Laurie will be at an author breakfast with Sarah Dessen held at Chester County Book & Music Company beginning at 9AM until 12PM. If you plan on attending, please RSVP to their Children's Department. Come on, admit it, you always wanted to know what Laurie has for breakfast, check it out!!!

Also on Sunday, Laurie will be one author out of NINE at a super event at Children's Book World from 1PM until 3PM. The event is called "A Novel Idea", a Teen Event/Benefit for Philadelphia Free Library's Summer Reading Program. Philadelphia Free Library is faced with the possibility of NOT having it's book budget restored next year, so Children's Book World has teamed up with them to raise money for books! Go here, and scroll down to read more on the event. Seeing your favorite author and helping a local library, two great reasons to stop in to Children's Book World.

We received some awesome book award news in the Forest recently: WINTERGIRLS and CHAINS were both named to the 2010 Tayshas High School Reading List in Texas!! We send a TEXAS sized Thank You to the Tayshas Committee and the teachers and librarians of Texas!! ::Whoop, Whoop::

Believe me, Laurie would absolutely L O V E to see You at her events. Just tell her the Queen sent you! Ta Ta....

This is how to start the week off with a smile: CHAINS has been nominated to the longlist of the Carnegie Medal!  What is the Carnegie Medal, you ask? It is the top award for children's novels in England, sort of a combination of the Newbery and the National Book Awards. I am completely blown away by this - honored, stunned and very, very happy.


  British hardcover                                British paperback




I had a blast at the American Association of School Librarians conference this weekend. I signed thousands of books, met countless friendly and passionate librarians and gave a speech. Thank you to everyone who made my conference so much fun.

Half a ballroom of librarians. (The other half of the room was filled, too!)

Many people asked me to post my speech online. We will be doing that soon. Here are a couple of snippets that people responded to the most. Permission is granted to reproduce, with proper acknowledgments, of course.

I talked about the recent censorship challenges my books have faced and then said this:

"I believe that every time a library budget is cut, every time a librarian’s hours are cut -  or the position is eliminated completely -  it is another form of censorship. It is stealing from children and interfering with their education.

Taking books out of libraries and taking librarians out of libraries are just like ripping the roof off of a school. And maybe that’s how we need to describe it, in the dire, stark terms of reality. You can't run a school that doesn't have a roof. You can't run a school without librarians and libraries.

Book people – like you and me – tend to be a little uncomfortable with conflict. We value discussion, we respect other opinions. We avoid fights.

 When I was kid, I was not allowed to start fights. If I did, I knew that I’d be in a whole lot more trouble when I got home than I could ever be at school.But my mother – she of the hats and gloves and ugly purses -  told me that if anybody ever hit me first, I was allowed to punch back as hard as I could.

“Don’t you ever start a fight,” Mother said.  “But if somebody picks a fight with you, by God, you finish it.”

The people who do not value books or librarians have picked a fight with me. That was a mistake.

They are ripping the roof off our libraries, off our schools. They are exposing our children to ignorance and condemning them to poverty. When they rip the roof off of libraries, they weaken our country."

 

[I'm cutting out a little from this section]

 

"Those of us who truly, deeply care about the health and happiness of kids and teenagers have a sacred obligation to help them along their path to adulthood. We are charged to create and to find the very best books for these children.

 

To hand a book to a child or a gawky adolescent is to rescue her from the unforgiving isolation of illiteracy and transport her to the joyful and rewarding kingdom of an open mind. 

 

I cannot think of a job more difficult or more important than yours. Reading is not a subject matter. It is a survival tool, the  requirement of modern living.  Libraries are not luxuries. Libraries are the lifeblood of our schools and the foundation of our culture."

I hope my words might help, a little.

One last conference note. The other banquet  speaker was Charles R. Smith Jr. Do you know his work? Have you heard him speak? If not, go out RIGHT NOW and pick up some of his books. Then arrange to have him visit your school - he is the best speaker I have seen in a very long time.

Charles and I sitting on chairs that look like thrones.... it was approaching midnight and we had just finished signing a kajillion books and so we look a bit tired. But how can you turn down the chance to be photographed in a chair that looks like a throne?

HUZZAH! HUZZAH! HUZZAH!

The National Book Award Finalists have been announced. The finalists in the Young People's Literature category are:

Deborah Heiligman, Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith
(Henry Holt)
Phillip Hoose, Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
David Small, Stitches (W. W. Norton & Co.)
Laini Taylor, Lips Touch: Three Times (Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic)
Rita Williams-Garcia, Jumped (HarperTeen/HarperCollins)

I am super, super excited about this list for a bunch of reasons.

First, Deb Heiligman is one of my oldest and dearest friends and I am so happy about the attention CHARLES AND EMMA has received I am in tears, when I am not dancing. YAY DEB!!!!!!!!!!!

Second, it's about time Rita Williams-Garcia got some more attention for her work!

Third, I think it is wonderful to have three non-fiction books on this list!

I do have a question. Was David Small's book (which I bought and LOVE) published as children's literature or was it published as an adult title by Norton? Why do I care? Because if it was David's intent to have this book seen as an adult title (which I certainly think it qualifies as) I wonder if this award might narrow the market, or make booksellers and librarians think it should only be shelved in the children's section.

Personally, I think it is an excellent example of a cross-over title. Do you think it matters if it is an adult book crossing into the children's market or a children's book crossing into the adult section?

What do you think of this list?

Wow. You guys are incredible. I can't begin to express how much your comments and emails about the New York Times discussion board kerfuffle meant to me. Thank you, thank you!!! I am blessed to have such kind readers and friends!

Because of the stress from the past six months of travel, and losing my Simon & Schuster editor (he was laid off last week - I am still too upset to blog about it rationally), and everything else, I've been mostly gardening this week. Despite the soothing effect of attacking the boulders in my garden with an iron bar, pick axe, and rototiller, I am still having nightmares about zombies. Go figure.

But the rocks are slowly yielding, seeds are being planted, and I have no doubt that the zombies will soon crawl back to where they belong.

Cottage Update!!!

While I've been wielding my pick axe, BH and his tribe of elves have been hard at work at the cottage.

This is the interior of the north end. The windows are up high because there will be bookshelves underneath them.

They have put the Magic Window in place in the south wall, and filled in the gaps around it. The glass guy is supposed to be here this weekend. He'll install the clear, insulated, UV-filtering glass - can't afford stained glass yet - someday!!

The insulation crew did their job this week, Coler Natural Insulation of Ionia, NY. Their spray-foam insulation is based, in part, on soybean oil and is a healthier choice for both me and the environment.

Insulation guy at work! The cottage is much, much quieter with the insulation in place. Next step, along with the glass being put in place, is for BH to put up the ceiling and interior walls.

Last but not least notes!

Gail Carson Levine has started blogging. Drop by and welcome her to the blogosphere!

TWISTED won the Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award, given by the Indiana Library Foundation (and named after one of Kurt Vonnegut's characters - how cool is that!?) Thank you, Indiana!!

TWISTED was also nominated for the Kentucky Bluegrass Award. Check out the whole list!

Off to hit zombies with a shovel...

1. I picked up my laptop with the new hard drive yesterday. Since the failure of the hard drive was so spectacular and they couldn't pull any data from it, I set it up to absorb all in the info on the desk computer while I was sleeping. Now I have to configure it to be a lean, mean, travelin' machine.

I'm also going to try and perform the MobileMe syncing between the two computers and the iPhone. I haven't tried this since the updates to the MobileMe system. (I couldn't get it to work last summer, even after OfficeMouse, who is a tech geek, spent hours on the phone with Apple). Is anyone out there successfully using MobileMe to sync their Apple technology? Any tips?

2. Thank you for all of the suggestions about the roof for the cottage. A friend emailed me about a roof/roofing materials on a nearby farm we could reuse. (We've been knocking on doors of all the farms near our house in search of old lumber and anything else useful.) Cedar shakes are more expensive than asphalt shingles, but cost less than slate and have a lower installation cost. That might be the right compromise. Someone mention a thatched roof; that would be the ultimate fantasy! But there are only a dozen or so people in the US who can do the work. The closest guesstimate to the cost for a thatched roof? $24,000!!! That is not a possibility.

3. Thank you, Oklahoma! TWISTED has been named to the 2010 High School Sequoyah Book Award Masterlist by the Oklahoma Library Association. Lots of my friends' books are on the list, too, which is always fun. Thank you, Mitali Perkins, for the heads-up.

4.Thank you, Warsaw, Poland! The school I visited there a few years ago had it teachers' book club read CHAINS. Yesterday we had a Skype visit to talk about it.

Happy teachers, half a world away.

5. I figured out how to run the contest. It will be as simple as possible and fast. Watch for details on Monday.

13 days til WINTERGIRLS comes out...

Whew! I'm still in a post-announcements daze. Uncle Simon and Aunt Schuster have made images of CHAINS sporting its pretty NBA and O'Dell hardware available. I cannot resist.



Shiny!

Yesterday brought two last bits of very-much appreciated news. CHAINS was named a 2009 Notable Book by ALSC and it made the YALSA Best Books for Young Adults list. Yes! Thank you!

I spent much of yesterday corresponding with my British publisher, answering interview questions and putting in my two cents about the proposed paperback cover. (Can't wait to see what they do - their ideas are really interesting!) Ian, in charge of publicity, sent a new quote from over the pond.
 
"Chains is one of the most moving and striking books I have read in a long time; finally some thoughtful, stirring historical fiction for young adults … Anyone reading this brilliant book will be left beguiled and bewildered by her bravery as she suffers under slavery." Waterstones Books Quarterly

I've never had any books that attracted much attention in the UK, so this is very exciting.

Today brings a jumble of tasks. I am still trying to clean up a particularly thorny chapter, I have to go to a recording studio and tape some stuff that will be included in the audio version of WINTERGIRLS, I have to do some things for my mom, WebGod Theo has been patiently waiting for some content from me and - best of all - I need to pack because tomorrow is the Kindling Words retreat and I can't wait!!!!

I have finally calmed down and warmed up enough to blog. Sort of.

Where to start?

I know.

Congratulations to all of the winners and honor book winners announced today at ALA MidWinter!!! (I am looking for one page to link to that lists all of the winners. Can anyone help with that?)

I am especially happy for my old SCBWI friends who earned well-deserved awards: Hope Anita Smith won a Coretta Scott King Honor for Keeping the Night Watch and Jen Bryant, author of the Caldecott Honor book, A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams. YAY!!!

Fellow-NBA nominees Kathi Appelt won a Newbery Honor for The Underneath and E. Lockhart won a Printz Honor for The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. My sometimes-brother M.T. Anderson also won a Printz Honor for The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves. If there was an award for the longest title, I think he'd win that, too. And Jackie Woodson earned another Newbery Honor, this time for After Tupac and D Foster!

Last but not least, I am totally stoked that Neil Gaiman won the Newbery for The Graveyard Book! I have long been a fan of his writing (actually, I am one of those crazy, drooling gaimainites) and it is wonderful to see his work honored by librarians as well as fans.

And, um, yeah. I won an award too.

::cheeks blush, eyes puddle up::

The good and gracious members of the Edwards Committee have bestowed the breathtakingly stupendous Margaret A. Edwards Award, which "honors an author, as well as a specific body of his or her work, for significant and lasting achievement," on me.

::wipes eyes, takes deep breath, composes self::

The beginning of the official announcement reads thusly: "Laurie Halse Anderson is the winner of the 2009 Margaret A. Edwards Award for Catalyst, Fever 1793, and Speak. These gripping and exceptionally well-written novels, through various settings, time periods, and circumstances, poignantly reflect the growing and changing realities facing teens. Iconic and classic in her storytelling and character development, Anderson has created for teens a body of work that continues to be widely read and cherished by a diverse audience."

There's more, but it stretches the bounds of Blatant Self Promotion to post it all. Read it on the YALSA site.

And make sure you check out the previous Edwards winners.

Suffice it to say, I am honored and humbled to have my work put in the class with writers whom I admire so much. And I am particularly proud that the committee singled out both Catalyst and Fever 1793, and that they get to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Speak, instead of in its shadow.

I actually found out about the Edwards earlier this weekend and, once again, had to walk around with two hands clapped over my mouth. (This made eating difficult and drinking coffee rather perilous.) I was extremely certain that Chains would not make anymore awards lists (it's had its share, don't you think?) and I know the anguish of sitting around watching the phone not ring, so early this morning, I packed up my bag and headed for the gym. Had a wonderful, if slow, 6-mile run onthe treadmill, then I treated myself to the ultimate reward: a two-hour massage. That's right. TWO hours.

::Grrrrrrrrgggggllleee::

I came home, all relaxed and squishy, and VERY hungry. Stoked the woodstove, let the dog out, brought the dog in, locked the door, heated up a bowl of beef soup made from scratch, and reached for the book I am reading. I was one page into the book, three spoonfuls into the soup, when someone knocked on the front door. The Creature With Fangs went crazy. It was just the nice flower deliveryman, bringing me a gorgeous bouquet from Uncle Penguin. I stepped out into the vestibule to get the flowers and closed the door behind me, so the dog wouldn't eat the nice deliveryman. As his truck drove away, I reached for the door handle.

It did not open. It had locked behind me.

I tried all of our doors. All locked. This is a very secure house, did you know that? It felt like 7 degrees outside, but it was sunny so the vestibule wasn't quite that cold. BH had been down in Syracuse, but I knew he would be home soon, so it wasn't worth hiking down to the farm to use their phone.

What does one do in that situation, locked out of one's house on a winter's day, hungry, tired, with no book to read or phone to call?

If you've just been awarded the Margaret A. Edwards Award, you listen to the music in your head and dance to keep warm. So I did. A little more than an hour later, BH came home, and all was well.

I am told that the cool color to wear to the Edwards shindig is orange. Must! Find! Orange! Shoes!

Don't know about where you live, but this morning is one of the most beautiful we've had in a while. When the Creature With Fangs and I stepped outside, she looked around and said "Dang! Why can't it be like this all the time?"

So, basking in natural goodness, I make Five Friday Announcements:

1. TWISTED has been chosen as a YALSA Teens' Top Ten nominee. The list of nominees is stellar; be sure to go through it. Teens who read titles on the list get to vote for their favorites during Teen Read Week, October 12-18, 2008.

2. In related news, the paperback version of TWISTED goes on sale in 20 days! I'll be celebrating it at the river's end bookstore in Oswego, NY on May 15th, 6pm. TWISTED has also apparently been released in England. I found the cover on the Amazon.UK website. You'd think they'd let the author know about these things, wouldn't you?

3. Speaking of new releases, we're about five weeks away from the release of INDEPENDENT DAMES: What You Never Knew About the Women and Girls of the American Revolution. It's illustrated by Matt Faulkner, who did the great art for THANK YOU, SARAH, and I am so excited about it I keep skipping, which amuses the dog.

4. Harold Underdown (author of the very important and useful COMPLETE IDIOT"S GUIDE TO PUBLISHING CHILDREN'S BOOKS) has posted an extremely good page about getting an agent or artist's representative. If you are thinking that it's time, go to this part of his website before you do anything else.

5. Susane Colasanti windowlight has great photos from Viking's 75th birthday party. ETA - Publisher's Weekly noted the party, too! Note to Uncle Viking: I have my calendar out: what's the date for the 100th?

This weekend I'm researching and running and working in the garden. What are you going to do?

Go away, please. I'm writing.

No, wait! Come back!

Because TWISTED was nominated for a 2008-2009 Georgia Peach Book Award!!!! So were a lot of other great books, including a few written by friends. So I am baking a cyber-peach pie to share with Cecil, Jordan, Sherman and Gail. Somebody else better bring ice cream, 'cause we don't have any.

Don't forget to visit 28 Days Later, where today's featured author is Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, who wrote The Shadow Speaker, which just made the finalists list for the Andre Norton Award (YA category) given by The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Be sure to stop by her site.

OK, now you can go. On your way through the kitchen, please turn on the burner under the tea kettle, OK?

See you tomorrow.

Thank you, thank you American Library Association committee members!!!!

I am very proud that TWISTED made both the 2008 Best Books for Young Adults and the 2008 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers lists!!!!

This feels awesome. Excuse me while I take a moment to bask.

::baskingbaskingbaskingbaskingbaskingbaskingbaskingbaskingbaskingbaskingbaskingbaskingbaskingbasking::
Ahhh. So, so sweet.

OK, back to work. I have spent the day rewriting Chapter 19, because the same thing happened to that chapter as happened to 17 on Sunday. But it's all good.

_heartsong_ nudged me about answering a question she posted to my Facebook a while back. She wrote: Do you think that running/excersize helps your creativity/creative process?

(Truth in blogging disclosure: I just finished a carb-heavy lunch and am staring at my clothes that are laid out for this afternoon's long run. It promises to be a chilly one.)

Does my running help my writing? Yes. Absolutely. No doubt. Ja. Si. Absolutement.

If I ever write a book about writing (do you think I should do that, BTW??), it will contain long passages about how moving your body fires up your imagination. For now, here are my top five reasons why my running helps my writing:

1. Running makes me happy, thus, it is a very good reward and incentive to do my work.

2. When I write, I am a) sitting still and b) dangerously close to my kitchen. If I didn't exercise regularly (and trust me, there have been times in my life when I didn't) I eat more than my body needs. This slows down my brain and expands my rear end.

3. Running is a meditative exercise - it helps me process my stress in a healthy way.

4. My travel schedule is often grueling. Running (and weight lifting, which I don't talk about much, but I do, too) keeps me physically stronger and better able to fight off the germs that try to attack unsuspecting travelers.

5. Running has helped me develop mental discipline, which allows me to stay immersed in my stories longer. I have several writing/running mantras that I repeat in my head when I am tempted to stop writing or hit the Stop button on the treadmill.

6. Yes, this is a bonus reason. The human body was designed to move. If we want our minds and spirits to produce their best, we have to help our bodies be the best they can be, too. It's all connected.

(Thank you for the nudge, _heartsong_)

Now, I have three more pages and a long stretch of road ahead of me.

for the winners of the awards announced by the American Library Association this morning!!!

All of the critters in the Forest salute you!

The Cybil nominations are complete!

I am very proud and happy that TWISTED is one of the 123 books nominated in the robust and rowdy YA Fiction category.

"What are the Cybils?" you ask.

The Cybils were created to be "a literary competition that combined the freewheeling democracy of the Internet with the thoughtfulness of a book club. Cybils lets the public nominate books here on our Cybils blog, but then bloggers team up to pick the finalists and winners. The winning books must combine quality and "kid appeal."" (quote taken from the Cybil FAQ). They have an easy-to-read statement of purpose, too.

Nominees are chose for these categories: Picture Books; Non-fiction Picture Books; Middle Grade fiction; Poetry; Young Adult fiction; Non-fiction (YA/MG); and Graphic Novels

The Cybil organizers have been gathering the nominations since October. Now a panel of judges will read the nominated books and come up with the finalists, to be announced January 1st. Then there is another round of reading and voting, with the winners announced on February 14th.

Teachers - this might be a fun outside reading activity. Some schools and libraries have Mock Printz and Mock Newbery clubs. The Cybils have many more categories and their discussion is more open to the public. Have your students come up with what they consider to be a fair number of titles to read, then discuss the books they care about. In February, you can compare their tastes to what the judges picked. The ALA announcements will be made by then, too.

Some people are uncomfortable with awards and discussions of "the best book." The truth is, there is not one best book. There are many amazing books written each year. The value of awards like these is that they stimulate discussions about books. When books are being talked about, people seek them out to read. That increases the likelihood that each reader will find the book that is best for her or best for him.

When readers are connecting with books that speak to their hearts, we all win.

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD NOMINEES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE'S LITERATURE

Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
(Little, Brown & Company)

Kathleen Duey, Skin Hunger: A Resurrection of Magic, Book One
(Atheneum Books for Young Readers)

M. Sindy Felin, Touching Snow (Atheneum Books for Young Readers)

Brian Selznick, The Invention of Hugo Cabret (Scholastic Press)

Sara Zarr, Story of a Girl (Little, Brown & Company)

Young People’s Literature Judges: Elizabeth Partridge (chair),
Pete Hautman, James Howe, Patricia McCormick, and Scott Westerfeld.

The NBA is an incredible honor and a whale of a good time. High fives and hoots of excitement for all five!