So Many Favorite Things

My favorite GIF right now. She is perfect in every way.

Favorite of the pilot previews. Once Upon at Time in Wonderland. When I first heard of this spin-off, I was reluctant in the extreme, but this looks absolutely incredible. I adore a good insane asylum plot, and the costumes, sets, and actors are all working it. I hope this is as awesome as it looks.

Favorite class project. We made "gold" for our Gold Rush time capsules. True, the students learned nothing other than the best way to cover the entire hands in glitter, but it was fun. I'm pretty sure I still have glitter in my lungs, however.

Oh, and I just realized I haven't watered Steve Urkel, the class plant, in like three weeks.

Favorite movie right now. How did it take me this long to watch Tangled? It's a fairy-tale retelling, for Pete's sake. This movie was almost perfect. Maximus and Pascal pretty much made it for me. There's something about an insane horse that I find hilarious. 

And, finally, my favorite thing in the wooooorld right now. My niece Addie was born a couple of weeks ago and I already think she is the most amazing thing ever. I've been around babies before--but she is something else. 

Aliens, 80's Romance, and Lannisters

This post is inspired by the Friday Reads posts on Emily Lloyd Jones' blog. Let's get cracking!

I'm so stoked for Rick Yancey and all the buzz The 5th Wave has gotten. His writing is brilliant and deserves to be celebrated. I'm about half-way through and am starting to get completely engrossed. I didn't know much about the plot before I started, just that it's about an alien invasion. Rick Yancey is smart in withholding information about the aliens. It's like they say about horror films--the longer they delay showing the monster, the scarier it'll be because the viewer's imagination is worse than any amount of CGI could be. I'm also fascinated in how much of a chameleon Yancey is; the writing in this book is completely different to that in the Monstrumologist series, in a really interesting way.

I listened to Eleanor & Park on audio. I'm sure the book would've been great to read, but I really recommend it on audio. The voice actors did such a beautiful job of conveying the vulnerability, humor, and pain of these characters. I felt at times the dialogue and narration grew a little too precious in describing Eleanor and Park's love, and I found their friendship to be the most compelling part of the book, but in general I was swept up in the characters and their truly authentic voices.

And finally, I don't even know how long I've been reading Clash of Kings (*cough* months) but it's 1000 pages long so I'll cut myself some slack. I listened to the first book on audio and didn't enjoy it hugely. My patience and generosity toward books plummets when I listen to audiobooks (I think that might have something to do with the deplorable conditions of my commute). I thought the experience might be better with a physical book, and I was right. I can really appreciate the pacing, characterizations, and descriptions by reading the physical book. Also, I can skim over tedious parts, which happen...frequently.

In all, it was a good week in reading. What did you read this week? 

The Post-Deadline

My deadline has passed and I've turned in my revision of Minnow. I could sleep for a million years. I'm only now coming out of the fog of it, that feeling you get when you've stared at a piece of writing for so long you start calling people in real life character names from your book (...which happened). It was such a privilege to get to do the edits, and to have editors who understand Minnow and gave such thoughtful suggestions. I'm really happy with all of the changes. 

Writing on a deadline was different from any kind of writing I've ever done. Luckily, this wasn't the kind of deadline where it's the last time I'll get to work on the book (that deadline is July 15). The time restriction was really challenging. I spent several hours everyday after school revising, so that there was basically not a waking moment when I wasn't working. It was exhausting. I started to get really irritated whenever my roommates would say "We never see you!" because in my head, it sounded like "You suck at life! You are neglecting everything!"

This GIF is never not applicable. 

I've always felt the teaching dream and the writing dream have been a little at odds. Both want to consume every moment of your attention. It hasn't been much of a problem, though, because writing has always fit into the extra spaces of my time. I've written whole books like that, piecemeal, and I don't think the quality has suffered. 

Until this deadline. The thing about that kind of tedious editing is that, for me at least, you don't really get into the book for, like, 45 minutes. It takes that long to get into a groove. That's why lots of writers hole themselves up in cabins and hotel rooms to finish editing. You need long stretches of uninterrupted time. I didn't have that. I had small chunks after I'd already worked a full day. It was tough, and most of the time I felt like I was just barely treading water. I got ragingly sick one day around my deadline. It was a weird sickness--my entire head felt like it was being stabbed by vibrating metal needles, and I was so dizzy when I moved around, I threw up (I haven't thrown up since I was twelve). I think it was a migraine, and I'm fairly certain it was brought on by exhaustion and anxiety. I'm also certain I never want to feel like that again. Pushing your limits is great. Running headlong into them until you keel over is another thing. I'm learning these things. 

The experience has taught me so much about what activities in my life are sustainable. It's also made me ask lots of questions about what I want out of life and the direction my future will take. I'm optimistic. 

The WHYs of Minnow

First of all, can we all just stop to appreciate this baby wombat, because come on. 

I'm making my way through edits of Minnow and I've come to a strange realization. I am faced with, for the first time, the idea of Minnow being done. That thought has literally never crossed my mind before. In the past, when I've been a little dissatisfied with the cadence of a certain sentence, or can't quite find the perfect word for something, I've contented myself with the knowledge that I can always go back and fix it in a later draft. But, soon, there won't be any later drafts. Time is running out. 

As I type new things, this image has taken over my mind: the letters and words forming themselves not onto a computer screen but directly onto a printed page in a physical book. This is terrifying! This is anxiety-making! 

I know it's totally psychological. I know I've got everything I need to finish this book the way I want, so I just need to get my head right. I've been watching a crap-ton of TED talks recently, and I watched an amazing one yesterday by Simon Sinek titled "How great leaders inspire action." The title is a little misleading because it's basically about how anyone can produce a product that people want as long as they have a good reason for making it. "People don't buy what you're selling, they buy why you're selling it." Sinek argues that the why behind what you're creating is more important than the thing itself. If you don't have the why, you won't be successful no matter how awesome your product is. 

I reminded myself of the whys of Minnow and I felt immediately better. I have so many whys.

• Because I believe in the YA novel as a medium. It is ideal for me, and ideal for Minnow.  I don't believe in censoring or pulling punches, and YA is OK with that. 
• Because communities like Minnow's have existed throughout history, exist today, and will probably exist for all time. I read a lot about isolated religious groups and cults, and found that the ingredients are fairly predictable--a charismatic leader, a group of people who are motivated to follow. The results of these communities are often equally easy to predict--a disenfranchised, manipulated, often abused population, particularly young women. Minnow is my attempt to tell their stories. 
• Because I believe that a YA novel is an ideal environment to tell the stories of young people grappling with religion and faith. 
• Because there's not enough discussion of religion in YA and there really should be. For many people on this planet, religious belief or lack thereof is an important part of their lives and shapes the way they see the world. The fact that we don't address that more, in a frank and honest way, is a shame. 
• Because, at this point, I owe it to these characters to tell their story in the best way I can. 

It's sort of my Minnow mission statement. If I can keep my eye on these truths, I think I'll make it through these edits with a product I'm proud of. 

Favorite Things Today

Scowler by Daniel Kraus. Oh my god, this book, you guys. The writing is so brave, so generous, so full, so respectful of the audience. He believes we can handle everything he dishes at us, and we can. I never believe it's OK to censor difficult subjects, and neither does Daniel Kraus. I really think that it's only by staring those things straight in the face that we can push through to some kind of meaning. That's one of the most important things a novel can accomplish. I so appreciate it when an author realizes that idea to its full potential. 

I'd never listened to Tegan and Sara before, but after the 800th recommendation on Amazon and iTunes, I downloaded their newest album, Heartthrob. It's got such a genuine, non-phoney 80's-inspired feel, with really well-written lyrics. It's one of those albums that gets into your head and won't get out until you listen to it everyday for a month. Favorite song: "Drive Me Wild". 

Hagrid was hilarious

Like most of the internet, I spent a couple hours this weekend watching A Very Potter Senior Year, the final installment in the Harry Potter musical trilogy by Team Starkid. Though it was a little rough in a lot of ways, I think it may have been the best of the three. I wasn't in love with the "And now we all have to grow up and move on from Harry Potter," message toward the end (grow out of Harry Potter? The joy of Harry Potter is that anybody, of any age, can access and appreciate it. That's the beauty of any well-done MG or YA book), but I still had a lot of fun watching it. Highlights were Hagrid, Gilderoy Lockhart, and Moaning Myrtle. 

Until this week, I had never seen Veronica Mars (I say this with trepidation as I know there are certain corners of the internet where I could get crucified for that admission). But, after Twitter exploded with the news of the Veronica Mars movie Kickstarter, I had to finally check it out. It's expectedly awesome. It feels exactly like watching a YA novel come to life on a TV screen. Great characters, plots, and especially awesome dialogue. This is actually horrendous timing, though, considering the recent deadline, but it's only, what, 66 episodes? Piece of cake. 

A Deadline Approacheth

I got my edits back from my editors, Stacey and Nancy at Dial. It was a twelve-page document with questions and suggestions for changes. I knew about some of the larger changes because we'd talked on the phone when they first offered to buy Minnow. There were no big surprises in the edit letter. It's all doable and will just take some time. My deadline is May 6th. 

I've never written on a deadline, at least not since college, but I'm not that freaked out. Revision is my bag. Revision is what I'm good at. My only concern is how it'll feel revising within external guidelines, knowing there's a time-crunch, and being aware that someone will be reading it afterward. There's pressure now, but let's face it, I've always put more pressure on myself than anybody else could, so I think it'll be fine. 

And I guess that's all I can think to say about deadlines. So here's a picture of a baby gorilla getting a checkup! LOOKATHISLITTLEFACEOMGSOCUTEAWWW!!11!!

Updates

1) I've been making my way through drafting THE ARSONIST slowly and steadily. It is a massive, unwieldy beast. This is today's word count. 

Que frantic laughter.

2) My contract for MINNOW arrived from Penguin! It was twelve pages long! And filled with lots of very intimidating legal-sounding words! Once again, I'm grateful for my agent for making sense of it for me. 

3) I am absolutely in love with the soundtrack for Matilda the Musical, which just premiered on Broadway and which I would give my left kidney to see with the original cast. It's a genius adaptation of the book. The lyrics are incredibly witty and sweet, the actors are each amazing, and if Bertie Carvel, who plays Miss Trunchbull, doesn't get a Tony for his performance, there is no justice in this world. 

4) Right now, I'm reading BOMB: THE RACE TO BUILD--AND STEAL--THE WORLD'S MOST DANGEROUS WEAPON. It was a Newbery Honor book this year. It's a really fast-paced non-fiction book about the invention of the atomic bomb. Fascinating stuff. It's making me really want to go back to school to take physics classes. These scientists are like awesome, introverted superheros. 

5) And finally, Tumblr. It is my everything. I've never lived by the ocean, but I imagine Tumblr provides the same satisfaction as beach combing. You find such wonderful treasures. Here's one of my recent favorites: