Speaking of NaNo...

We're nine days into NaNoWriMo and I'm less than a day's word count off the schedule. I'm very proud of myself! It's a great feeling to have 50 pages of a manuscript after a little over a week of work. The only problem is that NaNo asks you to write a 50,000-word novel in a month, whereas the sort of book I'm writing needs to be 100,000. So even if everything goes according to plan and I'm declared a NaNo winner on November 30, I'll have another month of NaNo-esque work ahead of me before this book is finished.

The book I'm writing isn't a Simon Pulse Ro-Com. I just turned one in, and I write a lot faster than YA publishers want to put out my books. So this one's a paranormal romance for adults. However, this idea did start life as a Simon Pulse Ro-Com. In 2006, after MAJOR CRUSH came out, I needed to write another ro-com. I pitched this idea to my editor, who said she liked it but I couldn't write it because it was set in Las Vegas. Micol's GETTIN' LUCKY was set in Las Vegas, and her book would come out only two months before whatever I wrote next.

Of course, none of this was Micol's fault, so I never thought a single unkind or jealous thought about her. I played with what I had. I tried setting the book in New Orleans or Savannah or Key West. And when none of that worked, I whined. I told my editor that Las Vegas is very popular right now and it was perfectly okay to have two Las Vegas ro-coms back to back. She told me to stop whining and combine the plot of a second ro-com I'd pitched to her with the setting of a third. Thus THE BOYS NEXT DOOR was born.

I've always loved the idea for my Las Vegas book, though, and I'm glad I'm finally getting the chance to explore it. Some lessons about writing we can draw from this experience:

Lesson #4,329,160: IT'S NOT MICOL'S FAULT.
Lesson #4,329,161: WHINING DOESN'T WORK AS WELL AS YOU WOULD LIKE.
Lesson #4,329,162: NEVER THROW ANYTHING AWAY--IT MIGHT COME IN HANDY LATER.

Is it just my imagination or is NaNo all over the blogosphere this time around? Do you have friends who've practically disappeared this month to work on their novels, or are you NaNoing yourself? How are you doing?

I Haz NaNo Brain

For those who haven't heard of it, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It was dreamed up to encourage all those people who want to write a novel "some day" to step up and write it. Lots of people do.

I've participated in NaNo several times, won some, lost some, but always came away with more knowledge about myself and my writing. (You win NaNo by writing 50,000 words on your novel -- good, bad, or incoherent).

My SALEM WITCH TRYOUTS novel was drafted in a NaNo. I had a lot of fun that NaNo.

This NaNo isn't going quite as well. I'm working on my newest book right now. I don't like to say much, so as not to jinx it, but I can drop a few hints... tornadoes, high school, a girl who doesn't like to be touched and a boy who just wants to be left alone. Yeah, probably doesn't tell you much, does it? You'll just have to read it one day.

I got a late start because of other work I had to finish to clear off my desktop. But I expect to be up to speed by Wednesday. (Up to speed means have the appropriate word count suitable for being 12 days in ... which would be 20,000 words...yipes!!...thankfully, they do not have to be coherent).

What I like most about NaNo is that it frees me from writing the perfect sentence/action/scene. Instead, I just go where the characters lead me. After writing fifteen novels, I know I can handle revising and redrafting, so I let myself play with the NaNo draft. That playing has always rewarded me with a little something-something in terms of my writing, even in the times I didn't win NaNo. In SALEM, I freed my inner comedian for the first time, which astonished even me!

This time (for another hint) I'm finding that I'm connected with the emotions of first crushes. I guess you could say I'm freeing my inner heartache. Not quite as much fun as my inner comedian. It has been a long time since my first crush...but that's a subject for next month. Right now I have to go write...I have a date to go break someone's heart this afternoon -- fictionally, of course).

Kelly

Corn Crib

Since it's National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), and writing a novel really scares a lot of people, I figured I could use this space to share something I'm afraid of. It's not writing. My recent harrowing experience took place at an apple picking place (see photo reference A).

A:


While at this apple orchard, I followed my little girl into something called a "Corn Crib", which is a structure whose floors are made of 1mm-thick plywood (under-exaggeration) and walls were straw (or something like that). There were approximately three thousand (major exaggeration) little people between the ages of one and nine running around inside this three-story human-sized cage. The Corn Crib had a single set of stairs that led up to a second level, then another set of stairs (really, more of a ladder) leading from the second to the third level. See photo reference B for a visual of the Corn Crib.

B:


Once you went up the stairs to the top level, I discovered, you could never get down again. Because there was a constant stream of small people storming up the ladder and without getting past them, there was no way to get back to solid ground. The Corn Crib was shaking and shuddering in the wind, tossing me from straw-wall to straw-wall (in reality, it was maybe swaying 1/2 an inch or so). Here's me at the top of the Crib (photo reference C).

C:


Yes, I was freaked out. I was one hundred feet above solid ground (okay, ten feet), held up by only a few scraps of particle board. Freaked out by a Corn Crib.

What scares you?

Later,
E.

Let's hear it for the teachers!

 I have been doing an unusual amount of school and bookstore visits these days.   (Which of course means I've been doing an unusually small amount of writing, but don't tell the editors, okay?)  I like doing the visits because it means I get to connect with the readers, and hear what they like and don't like about the books.  (And no one tells you what they don't like quite like kids do!) But last week I visited a Barnes and Noble in my old hometown of Cherry Hill, NJ, and spent the evening being the guest speaker at an Educator's Reception.  What an interesting night!

First of all, let me say that it is humbling being in a room of teachers.  These are the folks in the trenches, working with kids every day. Teachers have it hard these days.  The whole No Child Left Behind thing, with its endless tests, has made it hard for the teachers to impart any real knowledge. They have to teach for the tests, and that makes it hard to keep the learning fun.  And yet, they keep on trying, searching for new ways to reach students, particularly those who don't ordinarily want to read.  Teachers really deserve to be making a whole lot more than they do.  What's up with a world where a single baseball player earns more than a whole school system's worth of teachers, anyway?

My job at the Barnes and Noble that night was to explain to these teachers how they could use my books in their classrooms.  That was a tough one for me, since I don't exactly write "message books."  My stories have very few morals at the end. I just want kids to learn to read for the fun of it.  So I keep the humor flowing, throw in a few personality and romance quizzes (in the How I Survived Middle School series) and try to make the characters as fresh and realistic as I can.  And that's what I told the teachers.  I just want kids to feel like the characters in the books are people they know, and want to keep in touch with.  For some reason, the teachers seemed to feel those were the kinds of the books kids needed these days.  Like all the rocom writers who blog on this site, they wanted kids to know that reading was something that could be fun, not just something you had to get really good at for the  statewide tests.

So, while you are sitting there at your computers, wondering if anyone really appreciates the fact that you can give a kid a good laugh, or a good cry, or an afternoon where she feels a little less lonely, know that the teachers do appreciate what you do.  And take a little time to appreciate them, too.  Okay?

xxoo

N

Boo!

Sometimes I think my brother is a genius. On his Facebook profile, under interests, he lists "Halloween."
Maybe it's an Ostow thing.
My mother grew up with thirteen brothers and sisters (total, not each--BUT STILL!), and learned very very very quickly how to bury herself in her schoolwork while distractions raged in the background. It's a habit that stuck, and while *I* was growing up and she was in grad school, I'd often wander into the den to find her finishing up her schoolwork while the tv flickered silently in the background.
Her backdrop of choice? Horror movies.
I was raised against images of old 50's monster movies and 70's slasher films, and when my mother took me to the local library, I eschewed the children's room (Sweet Valley High notwithstanding) for Stephen King.
While most of the stuff I write is cheerful and girlie, I definitely have a dark side. Whenever N goes out of town, I curl up with a glass of wine, the doggie, and a horror movie. And like my brother, Halloween is my favorite time of year.
This year, we're hosting our annual bash, and I've got my costume ready--zombie bride (perfect for someone recently engaged, no?). And in the spirit of the spookiest season, here's a list of creepy books I've been reading lately that I totally recommend. They are screamingly good:

1) BLISS, Lauren Myracle: Bliss moves from a hippie commune to a wealthy suburb and quickly discovers that evil spirits haunt her idyllic private school.
2) RHYMES WITH WITCHES, Lauren Myracle: the dark underside of popularity.
3) BOY HEAVEN, Laura Kasischke: three girls ditch cheer camp for the day with dark consequences
4) GENERATION DEAD, Daniel Waters: the arrival of a zombie population divides a small-town high school community.
5) ZOMBIE BLONDES, Brian James: the truth about the cheerleading team.

Hope that list helps to get you in the holiday spirit. And happy reading!

Lions & Tigers & Public Speaking...Oh My!

In the spooky spirit of Halloween, I thought I’d share my terrifying tale.

Okay, so thrillers like “Sixth Sense” and “The Others” creep me out. And there’s a 99% chance I’ll get super startled if you sneak up behind me and shout, “Boo!” But what really scares the bejeezus out of me is public speaking. I admit it, I get terrified. I mean, Shaggy-and-Scooby scared. It’s not even fun fright like a Ouija board séance. There’s nothing amusing about butterflies with tin wings flapping around in your tummy! (Here I am speaking at a high school a few months ago--cue eerie "door creak" or "cat screeching" sound effect.)

I’ve had this fear issue for as long as I can remember. Getting picked to read aloud in the 5th grade? Gulp. Holding the floor in weekly ideas meetings at my old magazine editing job? Redrum! But over the years, I’ve found ways to work around my condition. For example, back in 2004, a few magazine writers and I were invited to read our contributed essays (from “Transculturalism”) at Barnes & Nobles in Manhattan. I asked Claude the editor if I can be the first reader. Defense #1 in this fright fight: Go first to get it over with, otherwise the torture of the wait could be spine-tingling. Thankfully, he obliged.

And then there’s always inspiration from stage fright role model Beyonce. To combat her notorious nerves, the fierce entertainer becomes “Sasha,” the fearless alter ego. Nice strategy—but I’m more likely to take a page from author Alison Larkin’s book. Alison is both a writer (of novel “The English American”) and a performance artist (She had a one-woman show!), so her author appearances are like mini performances. Oddly enough, I loove performing. I've been in local theater musicals, and I used to be a dance troupe member. So, I’ve patterned my talks after Alison. This has worked for me. One surprising result is that people have told me how fun and funny I am in front of groups/audiences.

But my real breakthrough came a few years ago when I was asked to speak at my cousin Malou's wedding. Throughout the church ceremony, I couldn’t concentrate on anything but my nerves. When it was time to stand before the congregation and read the selected passage, that familiar anxiety attack took hold—shortness of breath, quivering voice, dry mouth. The fear was rapidly escalating until I took one look at the bride and groom. They were kneeling side by side, and seemed to me to be listening with their hearts. That’s when I had the sobering thought that instantly halted the anxiety attack: This isn’t about me. I’m just the messenger and mouthpiece. The message is what’s important.

Today I remember that moment every time I face a group. Sure, I still go into every talk feeling like an extra in “The Invasion of the Nerve Snatchers” or something. But I stay mindful of the important fact that I'm there to connect with readers.

That thought alone is strong enough to turn any "Boo!" into "Boo-yah!"

Leavin' the Laptop Behind!

As promised, Korea pics! I left the laptop behind for the first time ever, but apparently I did not leave the guilt. I THOUGHT I had, since I made a conscious decision to make the Korea trip a total writing vacation. But then, as I was window shopping in Insadong, Seoul, I saw this:



I'm sure it says "Starbucks", but the instant I saw it, a little voice in my head translated it to, "Why are you shopping when you should be writing? In here? With a venti nonfat latte nearby and oodles of words flying onto the page?"

But since I refuse to write by hand (it's completely illegible, even to me), and the laptop was a few thousand miles away, I marched right down the street and plunked down some Korean Won for a funky green pot to put on my desk. Then the next day, I visited the DMZ, which I highly recommend doing if you're ever in South Korea. It is the ultimate way to NOT think about whatever writing/cleaning/other project you should be doing.

Other trip highlights: Visiting three different Buddhist temples (one at 4 am so I could be there when the monks rang the morning bells), three different palaces, and two local markets (mostly so I could check out the food, which is sold by friendly people like this):



The highlight of the trip, however, was completely unexpected. While walking in Namdaemun Market, I was approached by a group of teenage boys who begged me to take a picture with them. So I did!



Yep, I'm the blonde one. Also, the only one not wearing Converse. Go figure!

And now for something completely different.

You can't judge a book by its cover, but you can make an educated guess. You can tell by looking at the cover of Going Too Far, my new novel coming from MTV Books in March, that it's a lot darker than my Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies. If you're only interested in reading my ro-coms, you're in luck--The Ex-Games will be published by Simon Pulse about a year from now. But I hope you'll follow me over to the dark side just for a visit. Every once in a while I like to shake up my writing by trying something new.

And that's why I'm participating in National Novel Writing Month during November. You can participate too by signing up at NaNoWriMo.org. It's free--all you need is an e-mail address. If you're under 13, there's a children's division where you can set your own writing goals for the month. If you're an adult, you must pledge to write a 50,000-word novel in November. (To put this in perspective, Major Crush is about 55,000 words, and The Boys Next Door is about 62,000.) If you're between 13 and 17, you can choose whether to be a child or an adult (for once!).

Some people participating in NaNoWriMo have actually had their novels published. Recently I read a wonderful book called No Plot? No Problem! A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days by Chris Baty, the founder of NaNoWriMo. I was surprised to find a testimonial by one of my favorite writers of adult romantic comedy, Lani Diane Rich. She says she wrote her first book during NaNoWriMo and sold it to a major publishing house! If I recall correctly, this is the same book that won the highest award for a romance novel, the Rita (which our own Niki Burnham has also won!), and Lani wrote the entire thing on Post-It notes. Hey, whatever works.

Most people writing a novel for the first time won't get it published. But they will gain the satisfaction of having written a novel. It's one thing to take creative writing classes and write short stories and poetry and talk about writing a lot. It's quite another thing to sit down and write this tome, and a lot of us will never do it unless we're given a little push. My push was taking a creative writing class in which we had to write part of a novel, and after the class was over, I just kept going. This could be your push.

For those of us who have written novels before, NaNoWriMo can be an opportunity to clear our minds of our usual plot patterns and write something completely different. This worked for my friend Christy Reece. She'd written novels before, but she hadn't gotten one published. Then she wrote a novel very quickly--not for NaNoWriMo but for an even shorter, two-week program--and was surprised to come up with an adult romantic suspense novel, a genre she hadn't considered writing before. That novel and its two sequels will be published by Ballantine next spring.

I hope you'll give NaNoWriMo it a try. If you finish a novel in November, (1) congratulations!!! and (2) please don't send it to Simon Pulse on December 1! Mike the Romantic Comedies Czar will come find me! Just because you can write a novel in a month does not mean that you can write a good novel in a month. NaNoWriMo works because you have to turn off your internal editor, the nagging voice telling you that your writing isn't good enough and you should just give up now--or that you should keep rewriting the first paragraph over and over until it is perfect and then move on to the second paragraph five years from now. You simply can't write a novel in a month with your internal editor on because you don't have time. You turn the editor off and let the words flow, and that's what allows you to finally get the novel out, or to free yourself from your usual rut. BUT, it's very important that when you've finished your novel, you turn your internal editor back ON and let her run rampant across your manuscript with her red pen and her fairy-dust of self-doubt. That's the only way to shape these 50,000 words into something worth showing to other people. And if you can survive writing a novel in a month, you can definitely survive your own internal editor.

Are you with me? Sign up and then feel free to add me as a writing buddy. My user name is "jenniferechols." My critique partners Catherine Chant and Victoria Dahl are also participating, so I look forward to a fun-filled month of moral support and, you know, taunting.

Tell us about your writing experience. Have you finished a novel? Do you want to? Are you participating in NaNoWriMo? Leave a comment here before October 17 and you're automatically registered to win a copy of No Plot? No Problem!

Vacation ... All I Ever Wanted

I just had a nearly unprecedented experience. I went on vacation. An actual lock-up-the-house, head-out-of-town-for-more-than-a-weekend, leave-the-computer-behind vacation.

Did you notice the “leave the computer behind” part? I know!

When your family lives all the way across the country, you tend to spend your free time going to the exotic destination known as home. And though I grew up in a historical tourist destination, I lived there for the first twenty-one years of my life. It’s not like I get some kick out of visiting the Liberty Bell for the umpteenth time. Seriously. There’s a bell. It’s got a crack. Wheee! So previous "vacations" always turned into working vacations in what I fondly refer to as the East Coast Office.

For my first actual vacation in forever I started out in Seattle where I visited the birthplace of a true American institution: Starbucks. For some writers, going to the very first Starbucks is like visiting the motherland. Sad, I know. But oddly thrilling. I also checked out the coolest independent bookstore you ever did see. The Elliot Bay Book Company has more nooks and crannies to explore than a Thomas’ English Muffin (not that I go around exploring breakfast pastry, but you know what I mean). But the highlight of the trip was a tour of the Seattle underground. I’ve wanted to do that ever since I saw the episode of Scooby Doo where those meddling kids unmasked the scary red demon terrorizing the city. There were no demons in the underground, but the comic tour guides made up for the lack of costumed villainy.

From Seattle I went further north to Vancouver and Victoria. There were many touristy highlights in Canada, but my trip will be remembered mainly for one thing. As I’m sure the other writers here will attest, there’s nothing cooler than seeing your book in your local bookstore. You’ve been going there for years, dreaming of the day your own work would be on the shelves. Suddenly, it’s there! I assume it’s kind of like singers hearing their songs on their favorite radio station.

Do you know what’s almost as cool? Seeing your book on the shelf at a bookstore in a foreign country. (If it hasn't already been clear, Canada is about as foreign as I've traveled, but someday I hope to cross an ocean.) The Chapters bookstore in downtown Vancouver has a very nice representation of the Romantic Comedies. All of them front-faced! (Before I even got there! I had nothing to do with it … though I would have, had they not already been that way.)

But now that I’m back on my computer I should really get to work.

Have to make some money if I ever want to cross that ocean.

September morn

 As I write this, I know it's morning because I hear the hungry metallic sound of garbage trucks munching their way through the trash on my block and the blare of angry drivers honking their horns as they beg the trucks to move a little faster.  I can see the sun struggling to make its way up from the East River and over to the west side of town where I live.  I can smell the coffee as it begins to perk all on its own (amazing, modern technology!) And no matter how hard I try, I can't block out the sounds of the kids moaning about the location of their notebooks, folders, sneakers, and Ipods.  Somehow the fact that those things are missing is all my fault.

Ahhh just another New York morning.  We are back in the routine!

The beginning of school always has a sense of excitement and anticipation about it.  Even those of us who haven't been in school for a long, long, long time seem to call September the beginning of the year.  I don't know if it's the back to school ads, or the emergence of the fall fashions in the store windows, or just some internal calendar we all develop after 16 or so years of starting fresh in the ninth month of the year,  but there is always something exciting about September.

At least for the first week or so after Labor Day.

And then I get to the point where I am now.  The point where I realize that summer is officially over.  There is no vacation in the foreseeable future.  And the morning I am currently experiencing will be replayed over and over until the four-day Thanksgiving break.

This is the time of year that I really have to push through, and keep the positive energy up, despite the crisper temperatures in the morning, and the changing of the leaves.  After all, as any writer knows, deadlines come in all seasons.  And when you are currently writing three book series (and planning a fourth--am I crazy or what?) there is always a deadline.

But Fall also brings new opportunities for school visits, and signings, and readings.  I love those opportunities, because I get to see my readers in person.  I get to talk to them, hear the rhythm of their language, and remember just how little some of them are.  (In addition to the rocoms, I am currently writing books for kids in grades k-5, so some of them are really little.)  I get to hear about their day-to-day lives, and inevitably I get inspiration (for both plots and life!) from them.

I love the questions kids ask.  They're so open and curious.   Did you always want to be an author?  Where do you get your ideas from? Are you famous? How much do you make?  (No. From my kids, my childhood and kids like you.  To some people.  Not as much as I'm worth.)  And most of all they make me laugh.  This time of year, I can always use a good laugh!

I am happy to tell you that next week I will be able to come face to face with my readers  in a hugely exciting setting.  This year, once again, I am honored to have been asked by Target and the New York Times to participate in the Great Read in the Park.  It's taking place on October 5  at Columbia University and I'll be there at 10:55 reading from the newest Katie Kazoo Switcheroo book, and running a fun audience participation program.  Right afterwards I'll be signing.  So if you're going to be in the area, or you want to come into the city to be part of a really fun day, please stop by. The Great Read is a terrific event! 

Think of it as a break in the routine.

Anyway, I've gotta go.  Apparently, Ian needs me to print out one more copy of his English paper and he's already running late for school.

xo

N

Love is in the air!

Hi friends!
First off, I need to apologize. I have been a very bad blogger of late. As some of you know, from the 8th to the 13th, I ran a cyber-launch party on my author blog to celebrate the launch of my newest book, POPULAR VOTE (and though POPULAR is not technically a Simon Pulse rocom, it is a romantic comedy in the same vein, so by all means, check it out!). Since then I have not only been derelict in selecting the prizewinners from that party, but I'm also quite late checking in to this blog (I usually post here mid-month, for those of you keeping score at home).
But I have a good excuse! I swear! In addition to literally being buried under deadlines (schoolwork went in two weeks ago, new manuscript in the Bradford series--eek!--tomorrow), last weekend my loverly N surprised me by popping the question!

Yes, it's the truth: this hopeless romantic is going to get hitched. Squee!

The pic you see is the flowers with which he proposed, and a Scrabble board and a Noah and Micol Mad Lib (random inside jokes). Aren't the roses pretty?

And as if that weren't enough romance permeating the atmosphere, this weekend we're up in Toronto at the future brother-in-law's wedding. It's been a lush, lavish weekend filled with love and well-wishes. If it weren't for the book deadlines, I wouldn't want to go back home!
(Meh--on second thought, forget the book deadlines. I can always write from the EXTREME comfort of this hotel).

It's a good thing I write romances, since I seem to be drowning in it of late. Next on my reading list: SOMETHING BORROWED by Catherine Hapka, of course.

The Skinny on TV

There's been a lot of internet discussions going on these days about the superskinniness of the girls of the new 90210, namely Jessica Stroup (who plays "Silver", pictured on right) and Shenae Grimes (who plays "Annie", pictured on left). Having very thin TV stars (not to mention movie stars, rock stars, models, etc.) is nothing new, but I think it's an issue that still deserves attention.

It makes me sad when a young lady compares herself to one of these celebrities and is depressed that she'll never look like that or, worse, dives into unhealthy habits in hopes to obtain that certain look. There are, as always, many factors to take into account, including: metabolism, bone size and structure, genetics, diseases, etc. On the other side of the coin, there are certainly health problems with people who are overweight.

I think the best thing is to find your own personal healthiest weight and through food, exercise, and other lifestyle choices, learn to love your body. I know it's easier said than done, but I get excited when I hear someone say she/he loves Beyonce's or Venus' or (fill in the blank with a celeb with a curvy, muscular, or otherwise healthy-looking body) or see a whole line of clothes or soaps and lotions that praises not only superskinny people, but people of heathy sizes.

Anyone want to weigh in?

P.S. As you can see, the main character of my upcoming (Feb. 2009) Simon Pulse Ro-Com isn't superskinny. Isn't she darling?!?

Allow Myself To Introduce...Myself

Yay! and Hello!
I thought long and hard about what the first words of my very first post on this fine blog would be. And considering the corny-and-proud girlie that I am, I think the ones I went with are appropriate. Thank you, Jenn, for inviting me on board! I’m super excited (!) to join this community of talented authors. Still (for now), I promise to keep the exclamation points to a minimum.
A little about me—I’m a magazine writer turned YA author. My very first Pulse Ro-Com—tentatively titled PERFECT SHOT—is scheduled to hit bookstores in the Fall of ’09. As of October of 2007 I’ve been living overseas in Bermuda. The hubby got hired by a company based out here, so mere weeks after our wedding we made the move. It’s been an adventure adjusting to the high cost of living (gas is over $8 a gallon!) and learning to drive on the left side of the road, but we’re enjoying it.
The move has also given me the opportunity to write full-time from home. Other writers have drawn inspiration from this mid-Atlantic island—most famous of them was Mark Twain. While I don’t propose to have one-tenth of his creative genius, it is nice to know that this is a magical place to be a writer. And talk about inspiring—if the turquoise ocean or unique architecture don’t move you, the island’s pleasant people will. Bermudians are dynamic folk. Through school visits and youth organizations, I’m beginning to learn that being a teen in Bermuda is similar to being a teen in a conservative, cosmopolitan place with a very small-town feel. Imagine every local in your town knowing you or your family.
I think of Karina Pasian’s hit song “16 At War”—the refrain is “I’m 16 on the block” and she paints a vivid picture of what it’s like to be 16 in an urban environment. In a few ways, being 16 here in Bermuda is different from Karina’s 16. For one, it’s nothing like when Karina sings, “Bad air in my lungs—man, I can't breathe; My eyes burning from all the dirt in the debris.” The fresh air out here is nice. Pollution is low—although this 21-square-mile island has about 66,000 people, it’s considered densely populated. (They should visit my 4 square mile, NYC area hometown of East Orange, NJ with its 66,000+ residents.) Being 16 here means you’re now able to get your scooter—not vehicle—license, so you most likely ride your scooter to school (Yamahas instead of Vespas seem to be popular with kids). Whether you attend a public or private institution, you wear uniform to school. There are only a handful of movie theaters in the whole country and no major mall, so you hang out at places like the beach, parks or eateries. You can catch the CW, MTV, BET and all other current American TV fare on cable so you’re up to speed on most music and trends. Some of your friends are already attending high school at boarding schools abroad. Entering college means you’ll be living oceans away from your family—most Bermudians attend schools in Canada, the UK or US because the local college is a two-year one. Your passport has lots of stamps in it and you’re no stranger to the idea of making a wardrobe shopping trip to the nearby US.
That’s a little about what 16 looks like here. So tell me, what makes being 16 unique where you live?

This Time Next Month...

I'll be in South Korea! My husband needs to go for work, so of course I cashed in the frequent flyer miles to go along. Though I'm pretty well-traveled (side effect of being an Army brat), I've never been anywhere in Southeast Asia. I'm completely pumped--I'll have three and a half days to soak in as much of Seoul as possible. I think I could easily find a month's worth of things to do in Korea, but I'll take the three days in Seoul.

Here's what I like most about visiting somewhere entirely new to me: I get to use a different part of my brain than I do tapping away at the keyboard in the cocoon of my home office. I've spent the last few weeks reading everything I can online and in travel guides about Korean history, various historic sites, Buddhist temples, royal palaces, fortresses, the DMZ, shopping districts, and even Seoul's fish market. It's like going back to high school and taking a specialty history course. And though there won't be a test, I'd like to know enough to make it from point A to point B comfortably and to get the most out of touring all of Seoul's historic sites.

I promise to post pics when I get back, so stay tuned. And when Korea pops up in unusual ways in my next book, you'll know why!

Why YA Fiction?

There's an interesting discussion going on in the blogosphere about the irony that some perfectly good books that adults would like to read are being consigned to the ghetto of YA (my very loose paraphrasing, read more from the YA author Jennifer Lynn Barnes' perspective here).

In following the conversation, I realized that I've formed a conviction, over the years of being a teen, raising teens, and writing for teens, that YA fiction is an important genre because it focuses on the formative years of human beings. Those years where boys and girls become men and women, figure out (or fail to) what they're going to do with their lives, and how they are going to choose to live them. YA -- from Holden Caulfield to Harry Potter -- is about taking on the mantle and power of individuality, responsibility, and autonomy.

Is is unsurprising that such powerful subject matter should be of interest to adults? Ummmm...no! But that it grips and fascinates those who are actually living through the transition? Ummmm...duh!

When I was a teen, I loved to read about characters living very different lives from me -- much harder lives, much easier (on the surface) lives, lives full of important choices that really mattered. Because, really, even though I was a bookworm non-sports nerd, I recognized that all the choices I made in those years mattered. I agonized over quitting band in high school (right decision, because it opened up the ability to join the bowling team...yes, really). I pushed myself to get involved with school plays (not in them, actually, just makeup artist and general dogsbody). In short, I tried a lot of things that I wasn't sure I was suited for, merely because I had "practiced" them in the pages of a book beforehand. I also avoided a lot of problems because of what I read, too.

It isn't really surprising that a lot of YA is told in first person. And it isn't really surprising that adults, accidentally visiting the YA ghetto, find themselves transported to the time when they were sixteen and stood on the edge of their future willing for the courage to dive into it.

I think the Simon Pulse RoComs capture this feeling perfectly, don't you? Where else can you, the reader, work in a theme park as a costumed character, try on fashion design, date a prince, join a band, star in a play, work behind the scenes in Hollywood...and so much more?

I know, I know, that sounds like a commercial. But...every so often the truth sounds like a commercial, so what are you going to do? Maybe that's the secret appeal of YA to those living the teens, and to those of us who remember them well?

Kelly

A visit to my alma mater

Last Saturday I attended a football game at Auburn University, where I went to school. I am pretty sure the football stadium at my high school was bigger than the stadium at many colleges (the editors for Major Crush questioned me on this: "Your high school stadium held 5000 people? Do you mean 500? Please check") so I thought you might enjoy a little tour of Southeastern Conference game with 87,400 spectators.

The first event of the day was Tiger Walk. Fans line up outside the stadium for a chance to see the coach and the football team parade by. Here is a picture of what Tiger Walk apparently looks like. But I am short, so this is what I saw. Please note that Elvis was in attendance.



Then we entered the stadium for the pre-game show. Someone at Auburn is having a lot of fun making music video-style clips to show on the JumboTron. There's one for the university itself, one for the football team, and one for the MARCHING BAND!!! With apocolyptic music in the background, it starts with the drum majors stabbing the ground with maces, then continues to make trombonists and tuba players look like warriors from a movie trailer for 300. I wish somebody had made a video like that for me when I was drum major in high school, because I was totally that cool.



Maybe not. Moving on, here is the very awesome band spelling out something that was not legible from the eighteenth row:



And, lest we start having too much fun and forget why we are all at college, here's a shot of the ten-story Haley Center peeking over the top of the stadium:



Almost every class I took while at Auburn, and every single class I taught, was held in Haley Center. I also made the mistake of taking the GRE (the college equivalent of the SAT) in Haley Center during the Tennessee game. If George paints the house red on Tuesday and Betty paints it green on Friday...*CROWD SCREAMS FOR TOUCHDOWN.* I honestly can't remember whether this was the time I aced the GRE or the time I pretty much flunked it, because I have done both. At any rate, if you are ever in Auburn, you should definitely take a tour of Haley Center. Architecture students across the U.S. study this revered building as one of the nation's premier examples of Ugly.

Wait. I forgot to take picture of the football game itself. Until a sudden downpour in the fourth quarter.



We got soaked, but we are die-hard Auburn fans, so we stayed until the end. Then we walked up to Toomer's Corner, where people throw toilet paper into the trees at the entrance to campus whenever the Tigers win.



Because this is Alabama, and we are fancy like that.

What are some of the fun traditions of your college, or the one you hope to call your alma mater?

Drive Me Crazy

Good news! I just turned in a first draft of my next Romantic Comedy (slated for next summer), and as a reward my editor sent me the cover! Here it is - cute???? (The answer to that question is "yes".)

Cyber-launch party this week!

Hi all:
In honor of the the release of my new book, POPULAR VOTE, I will be hosting a "cyber-launch" party all week at my blog: http://micolz.livejournal.com. Come by to read Q&As with some of your favorite kitlit folks (including some RoCom-types), post a comment, win a prize, and make me feel popular. Hope to see you there!

Here's the roster:

MONDAY
Taylor Morris
Jill Santopolo
Claudia Gabel

TUESDAY
Marjetta Geerling
Jeanine LeNy

WEDNESDAY
Liz Gallagher
Tricia Rayburn
Jen Echols

THURSDAY
Nancy Krulik
Kelly Parra

FRIDAY
Paul Ruditis
Erin Dionne

What's in a name?

Sorry, I have been so out of the loop all summer. It's been crazy around here. I just finished my latest ro com, LOVE OFF LIMITS (October 2009). I will write more about the book in my next blog. Just peeked at the cover art yesterday and love it!!
For those of you who don't know, I also have another deadline coming up -- the end of my pregnancy. Both of these big due dates seem different in many ways. However, I've realized that writing a book and being pregnant actually have one thing on common -- picking out names. Finding just the right name for characters and for my child has been no easy task. Would you all agree that certain names seem to go with a particular type of person? For instance, you wouldn't name a wild child Mary. Roxy might be more appropriate for the free spirit. Certain characters are meant for a particular name.
The other thing that makes picking out names difficult is that when you meet someone with an undesirable personality it can really ruin the name. One of my characters in LOVE OFF LIMITS was originally called Spencer -- this was before I realized I cannot stand Spencer from The Hills. I had to change his name. Sorry, if you like the name Spencer. I like the name too -- it's just that particular person who has kind of shadowed my feelings toward the name.
My husband and I settled on a name for our baby early in the pregnancy -- Lyla. It shares the same meaning as my maiden name, Lyles, meaning "from the islands." Please spare comments if you don't like the name or know someone else named Lyla. I've already gotten enough grief from my mom who told me that she once had a trashy cleaning lady named Lyla. Funny, no one in my family remembers this cleaning lady. Obviously, my mom's not a fan. And ever since we told friends it was our number one choice we've been flooded with opinions and stories of ten million other people who also just named their baby Lyla. We have a runner up name and for a while there I was literally changing my mind every other day. I guess I have to actually meet the babies. As I said earlier, characters go with certain names.
Will keep everyone posted on both deliveries. Hope you all had a great summer!
Hugs,
Whitney

Distraction = State Fair

Last time I posted on this blog, I said I would be done with my next Romantic Comedy the next time you heard from me.

I lied.

I am one kiss shy of done, and I can't get that last page or two written. It's making me crazy! I WILL be done by next weekend, as I am booked up with a very important social event: celebrating my twins' first birthdays.

One of the things that has pulled me away from my last few pages this week was the Minnesota State Fair (see photo reference of me and my little girl in the Sky Glider). Paw, you say. A State Fair. Who cares. Well....Minnesotans take their State Fair very seriously and it is a major annual event here (which I am just rediscovering, given that I relocated from NYC last fall).

Perhaps you've heard of our State Fair because of all the food-on-a-stick? For instance...cheese on a stick, alligator on a stick, key lime pie (dipped in chocolate) on a stick, reuben on a stick, spaghetti and meatballs on a stick, hot dish on a stick. Total items on a stick? 63! (Check this out!)

This year's new addition to the MN State Fair food roster: chocolate covered bacon!

And all I had was cotton candy.

Later,
E.