I'm in Love! (Again)

So if you scroll down a bit, you'll see that the main character of my work-in-progress, Hope, has been giving me FITS.  I mean, the girl was downright nasty.  Well, I'm happy to report that I've undertaken a major overhaul of this story, and she is now a rather pleasant person to spend time with!  It's a good thing, too - after all, I take time away from my family to write.  When Hope was buggin', I began to question why I was doing this.  I'd walk away from the story feeling bitter and short-changed, like I was covering for a lazy co-worker.  These feelings are difficult to relay to a 16-month-old:  "Sorry Mommy's cranky, sweetie.  The people who live in my head aren't playing nice."  

But now Hope gives me hope.  I received some fantastic feedback that has helped me figure some of the things that just weren't clicking.  That, and I've been doing more research (it's historical fiction), and am positively stoked about some of the things I've uncovered about this era (1910).  So - yay!  I'm in love with writing again.  And *that* feeling is easy to carry over to my family.

 

Update on the Class of 2k8

Here it is, mid-April, and I have yet to give some major shout-outs to my fabulous classmates in the Class of 2k8.  If you'll scroll down to the "Class of 2k8" entry below, you'll see all the folks who are in this marketing group with me, and their wonderful books, too.  And of course, you can always hop over to the Class's blog:  www.classof2k8.blogspot.com. 

As of right now, the following books are available:

-A Difficult Boy by M.P. Barker.  Just released earlier this month.  On my "must-read" list.  Gotta love historical fiction, yo!

-A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce.  Currently reading it and LOVING it.  Nominated for an ALA/YALSA best book of the year.  A retelling of "Rumplestiltskin."  It's glorious.

-The Gollywhopper Games by Jody Feldman.  Ditto that nomination of best book of the year from ALA/YALSA.  This one is on my nightstand now.  I'm getting my pencils sharpened so I can play along with all the games and riddles inside.

-Braless in Wonderland by Debbie Reed Fischer.  Out this week, folks!  Gotta get this one; it's a behind-the-scenes look at Miami's modeling industry.  Yummy fun!

-The Opposite of Invisible by Liz Gallagher.  A Spring 08 Booksense Pick.  I devoured this one in two sittings.  Alice, the main character, is my kind of gal.  Get it, y'all.  You're gonna love it.

-I Heart You, You Haunt Me by Lisa Schroeder.  A novel-in-verse, which I adore.  And so do others, as it was just named an ALA Quick Pick.  Yip!

-The Lucky Place by Zu Vincent.  Just out earlier this month, so I haven't read it yet, but it's also on my "must-read" list.  It sounds positively lovely.

More updates later, as the accolades continue and the launches keep coming!  Yay, Class of 2kgr8! 

Thought for a Monday Evening...

I believe myself to be the only person in America who is inconvenienced by the fact that Gossip Girl and Antiques Roadshow air at the same time...  

Peace!  

My First Review!

It's official, y'all:  I have a review!  A real, live person (who isn't my editor, my mother or my husband) has read my book and wanted to comment on it!  Gaaaaaa!  Click here to read the full review.  

I feel like a debutante, minus the pounds of hairspray and awful pantyhose.  

Thank you to Susan Sales Harkins for taking the time to read and comment on Autumn.  And for, well, making me a reviewed author.  I'm having to restrain myself from casually tossing it into conversation:  "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that your favorite brand of shampoo is giving you the hives.  Do you know who doesn't get the hives?  Susan Sales Harkins.  Yes, yes, the woman who reviewed my book..."  

I'm pathetic.  But I'm reviewed!  :-)  

The Best Synopsis Advice Ever

I've been lax in posting lately due to, well, my life.  :-)  It's tax season, after all.  I am *not* known for my organizational prowess.  Doing my taxes takes me the better part of a week of evenings.  Lax and tax rhyme... coincidence?   

But ever since I've returned from the Most Fabulous Conference Ever (SCBWI-New York in February), a statement made by an editor there has been banging around in my head.  At the Friday workshop, one of the participants at my table offered a synopsis as her 500-word sample, as opposed to 500 words from a WIP.  Her synopsis was, by all accounts, what I've always heard a synopsis should be:  a direct account of the plot.  It was clean, single-spaced, and on one page.  But it was also, unfortunately, dry.  

Why is this, we writers asked.  She did everything right, so why wouldn't this synopsis catch an editor's eye?  Our guru responded that while yes, a synopsis should briefly summarize the plot, what is most important is the story arc of the main character.  Smaller plot lines and secondary characters have no place in a succinct synopsis.  You should first show where your character is in the beginning of the story (not physically - mentally.  Is she sick of her mom?  Does she want to overhaul her image? Is she counting the days toward a big event?).  Next, show a few major plot points, and how those IMPEDE your character's goal.  (And they must, of course, impede.  Otherwise, there is no story).  Then, wrap it up by showing where your character winds up.  (Again, mentally here.  She reconciles with Mommy Dearest, or she accepts who she is, or she realizes that she should not base her social status on the prom alone.)  

The editor said, (and I'm paraphrasing here):  "A synopsis is a summary of your CHARACTER'S story, not a summary of the story itself."    

Wow!  It's such good advice, it almost makes me want to dash off a few quick synopses, just for fun.  

Almost...  :-)

An Interview with Rae Ann Parker

My friend and fellow writer, Rae Ann Parker, asked me to answer a few questions about the SCBWI conference held earlier this month in New York.  Please, jump on over and check it out! 

www.raeannparker.blogspot.com

Happy Birthday to Me!

I went to the SCBWI conference in New York this past weekend, and to quote my new favorite celeb, it was totally fierce!  Thursday, the day I landed in NYC, was my thirty-mrrmm-mhhrmth birthday.  I arranged a visit with my fabulous editor, who graciously introduced me around the Delacorte offices. Everyone was wonderful, thoroughly delightful.  "And now," said SuperEditor, "I'd like to introduce you to our Publisher."  Now, this woman is a legend in kid lit.  An aura of respectability radiated from her.  I sat across from her, asking as many questions as I could cram in before she discovered that I was a debut novelist and was inevitably dismissed as such.  As we chatted, the Legend's assistant poked her head in:

"I'm sorry to interrupt, Legend,  but Judy Blume is on the phone."

Legend paused. "Can you tell her I'll call her back?  I'm with *another author* right now."

Gaaaaawwwwkkkk!  I believe I turned to SuperEditor and asked, "Did that just happen?"  It was quite the birthday present.    

Needless to say, I'm more delighted than ever that I'm working with Delacorte.  They made me feel like a *real* writer.  And I'm still floating!  

More on the rest of the conference later, after they scrape me off the ceiling...  

I got my co-VER! I got my co-VER! Tra la la la la la la...

A sneak peak at Autumn Winfred Oliver Does Things Different is over there.  I hope you like the cover as much as I do!  LOVE IT!  

Getting a cover for this book is about one of the coolest things that's happened to me as a writer.  I've been working on this story since 2001, and to see it come to life like this is, well, like watching those tiny bulbs you planted in October bloom into fabulous tulips in March.  

And that about covers it!  ;-)  

The Class of 2k8!-

Happy New Year, and Welcome to 2008!  I am honored to be a member of the Class of 2k8, a merry band of 28 authors who have a debut middle grade or young adult novel scheduled for release in 2008.  I've seen the book blurbs, people, and lemme tell ya, there are going to be plenty of noses in books this year!  Yeah!

The Class of 2k8 is a spinoff of sorts; last year, several authors banded together under the umbrella of the Class of 2k7 to further their own promotional efforts.  We, the Class of 2k8, have already found that promoting ourselves as a group has given our buck that much more bang.  We've already been given a nod by Publishers Weekly, Fuse #8, and others.  Our blog will fill you in on all the details - please visit!  (And coming soon - an AMAZING 2k8 website.  Stay tune...)

So here's your list of Must-Reads for 2008:

-A Difficult Boy by M.P. Barker.  Historical YA available from Holiday House April 15.

-The Unnameables by Ellen Booraem.  Fantasy MG available from Harcourt Children's Books October 1.

-Shift by Jennifer Bradbury.  Mystery YA available from Atheneum/Simon & Schuster this summer.

-Read My Lips by Teri Brown.  YA romance available from Simon Pulse June 3.

-A Curse Dark As Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce.  YA historical fantasy available from Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic this spring.

-Sleepless by Terri Clark.  YA paranormal romance available from HarperCollins in August.

-Bewitching Season by Marissa Doyle.  YA historical paranormal available from Henry Holt April 1.

-The Gollywhopper Games by Jody Feldman.  Contemporary MG available from Greenwillow March 4.

-Braless in Wonderland by Debbie Reed Fischer.  Contemporary YA available from Dutton Children's Books April 17.

-The Possibilities of Sainthood by Donna Freitas.  Contemporary YA available from Farrar Straus & Giroux in September.

-The Opposite of Invisible by Liz Gallagher.  Contemporary YA available from Wendy Lamb Books January 8 (THIS WEEK, Y'ALL!  Run!)

-The Kulak's Daughter by Gabriele Goldstone.  Historical MG available from Blooming Tree Press in August.

-Alive and Well in Prague, NY by Daphne Grab.  Contemporary YA available from Laura Geringer Books/HarperCollins Books May 20.

-The Emerald Tablet by P.J. Hoover.  Fantasy MG available from Blooming Tree Press October 21.

-Third Grade Baby by Jenny Meyerhoff.  Contemporary MG available from Farrar Straus & Giroux this Fall.

-Bringing the Boy Home by N.A. Nelson.  Adventure MG available from HarperCollins June 11.

-Dragon Wishes by Stacy A. Nyikos.  Fantasy MG available from Blooming Tree Press in March.

-The Magic Thief by Sarah Prineas.  MG fantasy available from HarperCollins Children's this Summer.

-I Heart You, You Haunt Me by Lisa Schroeder.  Contemporary paranormal from SimonPulse this January.  (THIS MONTH, FOLKS!  Get thee to a bookstore!)

-La Petite Four by Regina Scott.  Historical YA available from Penguin Razorbill this July.

-My So-Called Family by Courtney Sheinmel.  Contemporary MG available from Simon & Schuster October 21.

-Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains by Laurel Snyder.  Fairy tale MG available from Random House Books for Young Readers this Spring.

-I So Don't Do Mysteries by Barrie Summy.  MG mystery available from Delacorte Press/Random House this December.

-Undone by Brooke Taylor.  Contemporary YA from Walker/Bloomsbury available July 22.

-Autumn Winifred Oliver Does Things Different by Kristin O'Donnell Tubb (ahem! :-) )   Historical MG available from Delacorte Press/Random House this Fall.

-Samantha Hansen Has Rocks in her Head by Nancy Viau.  Contemporary MG from Abrams Books for Young Readers available this September.

-The Lucky Place by Zu Vincent.  YA from Front Street Press this April.

-A Horse of Her Own by Annie Wedekind.  Contemporary MG from Feiwel & Friends available in June.

There you have it, folks.  Please, keep an eye out for these wonderful books.  2008 is going to a be GREAT year for young readers!  

Peace!

I Don't Like My Character!

I'm re-reading Stephen King's On Writing right now - the best book out there on writing, IMHO. It's wonderful because he discusses actually being a writer, not just the craft. Two different animals. One thing he said that has really stuck with me these last few days: he never really liked Carrie White (of Carrie fame.) At least, he didn't at first. He grew to understand her, to appreciate her motives, but she wasn't someone he'd likely count among his friends. He only stuck with her because his wife liked her. ("Honey, I know you don't want to have dinner at the Whites again. But you can do this for me, can't you?")

I'm in this same predicament. My newest character is, well, not one of my best friends at the moment. She seems to simply float through life with no consideration of others, of how her actions have consequences. She's not evil. She's just immature. But I'm sticking with her. Professor King says you don't really know your characters until you finish that first draft. I agree. Once Autumn (of my middle grade novel Autumn Winifred Oliver Does Things Different) was steered through that first draft, it was much easier to see what kind of person she was, and what kind of person she'd become. So I'm sticking with Hope, and keeping my fingers crossed that she becomes the fascinating young lady I so desperately want her to be.

King stuck with Carrie, and she made him millions. You hear that, Hope? Millions! Now, shape up, missy!

Time to Write

I have two small kids, ages three and nine months. People often ask me where I find time to write.

Find time? I wish I could "find time." Like when you reach in your jeans pocket and pull out a twenty. Found time. "Hey! Look at that! There's the twenty minutes left over from last week."

I've caught myself replying that I "make time." This sounds as if I, a kid lit writer from Arrington, TN, have sole discretion over the space-time continuum. As if I can merely create the two hours I need to finish Chapter Three.

The most accurate description, I suppose, is that I allocate the time I need to write. I have a babysitter who comes three times a week, four hours each day. Twelve hours a week for me to write. If I don't use them for writing, if I use them for cleaning or laundry or holiday shopping, I start to feel itchy. Those twelve hours a week when I'm a vaudeville actress in 1910, or a pompous preschooler with a penchant for half-birthdays, or an over-protective guardian angel who back-sasses The Big Guy, those are the sanest twelve hours of my week. :-)

Project Runway

I have so few vices these days, but one of them, without question, is Project Runway. I adore this show. It's "fierce," as that new scrappy little kid likes to say. "Fierce." (Such a great word!) There's just something so fascinating about watching people make something from nothing, and so quickly. I suppose I identify with those designers and their creative processes (all except for that crazy one who spits - what's up with THAT?!). So I started thinking: what if there was a Project Novel?

Host Stephen King: "Okay, contestants. You have thirty minutes to write your opening chapter..."
Contestant One: "No way. Can't be done."
King: "This isn't about precision. This is about getting words on paper. Thirty minutes is plenty of time to..."
Contestant Two: "Excuse me, Mr. King? Where are the outlines?"
King: "The what?"
Contestant Two: "The outlines! I can't write without one!"
King: "There aren't any - c'mon folks! Thirty minutes! Just write!"
Contestant Three: "Thirty minutes is no problem."
King: "That's the spirit!"
Contestant Three: "Tomorrow. I can write an opening chapter in thirty minutes if I can ruminate on it tonight."
King: "Ruminate? RUMINATE? One opening chapter. Thirty minutes. Go!"
Contestant Four: "I could maybe do it if it were the opening sentence. Thirty minutes for an sentence. Maybe."
All contestants nod and mumble in agreement.
King: "Whatever. I'm out of here. If you guys don't want me to teach you how to crank out both quantity and quality, I'm out." Exits stage left.
Contestant One: "Starbucks?"

I'm Not Dead!

The good news is... I'm not dead! Yes, it's been nearly two years (really?! GULP!) since I posted to my blog, but I have some really good excuses. Pick one of the following:
a) a new baby
b) a new house
c) a book deal, complete with three rounds of revisions
d) all of the above.

You guessed it - d! So see? Busy, busy!

The new baby - a wonderful Baby Boy, now nine months old. Crawling, into everything - an absolute and total joy.

The new house - love it! In the country, wild turkeys wandering about - just lovely.

The book deal - omg! My middle grade historical fiction novel, Autumn Winifred Oliver Does Things Different, is due out in Fall 2008 from Delacorte Press. Since most of you who visit this site are my writing buds, I'll expand more on this one.

The scene: Early February, 2007. My editor, Wendy Loggia, calls my cell phone. I am nine months pregnant. I am AT THE OB/GYN.

Wendy: "Hello, Kristin? It's Wendy Loggia from Random House."

Me: "Oh my gosh! It's so good to hear from you! I'm at my gynocologist's office right now."

Wendy: silence

Me: "Oh, um - I should say, I'm not in the office right now - I mean, I am, but I'm checking out. I'm done." Shut up Kristin. "I mean - I'm scheduling my induction for my new baby. I was newly pregnant when we met, remember?" Shut UP, Kristin. "Everything's great! Healthy baby! I'm scheduling his arrival right now. That's why I'm at...my...OB's office..."

Wendy: laughing "I think this is a first for me."

Me: unbelievably mortified "Uh, me too?"

Wendy: "So I wanted to talk to you more about this wonderful story you sent me..."

And that was that! There, in my OB/GYN's office, I was offered my first book deal. Two weeks later, my son was born. It was one heckuva month.

I'm playing catch up in every aspect of my life, but I'll post more often now. I promise. Because I'm not dead. Just busy. :-)

Writer's Block

I don't believe in writer's block. Or at least, I didn't. But lately I just can't seem to get anything on paper. This past fall I finished a huge writing project that I'd been working on for two years (from research to "The End" - it's historical fiction). I also had the sweet chance to work on some new licensed character stuff, and my last deadline was December 7. Then came the holidays, or as I like to call them, the hellidays. (Not true, actually. I'm a big softie when it comes to Christmas.) And did I mention I have a 19-month-old daughter (The Bean) whirling around in there?! :-) Somehow or another I've convinced my subconscious that all of these things piled into a single psyche and whirled together like a big, fat stress smoothie allows me the luxury of writer's block.

But I don't have time for stupid writer's block. I have these three characters who've been banging around in my head for four years now, and their project is finally on the chopping block. These girls are in Etiquette School, and of course, they are the least likely charm schoolers ever. These girls WOULD NOT SHUT UP when I was working on other projects. "Pssst!" they'd whisper to me over a tedious re-write of my last book. "We're MUCH more fun that that old hag! Come over here and hang with us. We won't tell those other goody-goody characters of yours that you came by. Your secret's safe with us." Giggle-titter-sputter-giggle.

So now here I am, weeks later, desperately trying to get these girls to return my calls. Nada. Have I missed my chance at hanging out with the IN crowd? Did I pass up my shot at A-list superstardom? I certainly hope not. In the meantime, I'll keep hanging out, slurping stress smoothies, clamoring for a glimpse of these bad girls. Maybe, just maybe, they'll shoot me a dirty look soon. A girl can dream...

Payoffs

Whew! My family threw a big ole Christmas party this past weekend - we throw it every year. Every year, during the planning/cleaning/marathon shopping that takes place beforehand, I dread the whole shebang. Yet every year, I have a GREAT time at the party and I remember why we throw it. So I got to thinking...what other things are temporarily horrible but SOOO worth the payoff?

-Dental surgery.
-Plastic surgery. OK, so I don't really know if this one's true. Anyone who's seen me in person can tell I've not gone under the knife.
-Perms. Though it's been years since I've sat through one of these stinky messes. Thank God the 80s are over!
-Waxing of any body parts. Though some are quite worse than others.
-Tattoos.
-OK, so, physical transformations of any sort.
-Having a baby. A physical transformation, to be sure, but so much more!
-Buying a new car.
-Finding a new job. The glory moment here? Quitting the old one! Take that, you Lumbergh look-a-like!

Please note I deliberately did NOT add the following to the "high payoff" list:
-Piercings. Some are, some aren't, but I suspect any piercing that's not done in the center of an earlobe is NOT.
-Hazing/Hell Week. Greek life is fun, but it's not all that!
-High school.

Free Martha!

Martha Stewart got robbed. Okay, well, I suppose I see the irony in that statement - her being an ex-con and all. But I'm not talking about Martha's jail stint. I'm talking about her show! "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart" has been cancelled after this, the first season. What a gyp! So maybe Martha doesn't have the bling of The Donald or the grit of a Survivor or the flash of an Amazing Race. But the woman's done Hard Time, for heaven's sake! Until now, Martha Stewart was untouchable. I mean, who among us has kayaked to a meadow in Norway, shorn our own sheep, spun our own wool, then knitted our own sweater?! But now, FINALLY, I can relate. Don't get me wrong - I've not logged any time behind bars. But I've made my fair share of flubs. The only way to get past them is to keep plugging away, to climb back on that horse, to exhaust all applicable cliches. Martha did just that, and how do we reward such pluck? With a big old pink slip, that's how! So I say, Free Martha! Free her from her houndstooth-checkered past! Subscribe to her magazine! Watch her daytime show! Visit her website! Buy her wares! And keep Martha in our lives! Keep her around if for no other reason than to satiate our desire to finally feel Holier Than Thou.

O Christmas tree!

My family decorated the Christmas tree tonight. I sit by the twinkling lights (the blasted buggers are not SUPPOSED to twinkle, but alas) and I'm taken back to the Christmas trees of my youth...


insert cheesy flashback music here

"Helen? HELEN! Is it straight or not?"

"Godblessit, Jack, I can't exactly tell from here, can I? Can you hurry it up - this tree must weigh 80 pounds!"

"Can I hurry? Well, why didn't you just say so? I'm down here getting carpet burns on my face for giggles, but now that I now you're in a hurry... KRISTI! Get in here and tell me if this *&^**&^^ tree is straight! KRISTI!!! Where is she?!"

"Right here, Dad. Looks good."

"What's that? I can't hear you. I've got a Fraiser fir in my ear."

"LOOKS GOOD!"

"OW! Stupid tree stand! Nothing more than a pie tin and a coupla thumb tacks! You'd think by 1978 they could make a tree stand that could hold a... hold a... a..."

"A tree, Dad?"

"Enough outa you. Let's see you get down here and - OW! Stupid tree stand!"

"It's leaning now, Dad."

"Towards the kitchen?"

"Nope - towards the front door."

"HELEN! Can you at least hold the tree straight while I - OW! There. Done."

"It's a great tree, Dad."

"Thank your mother. She always picks a winner."

"Thanks, Mom. Great tree."

"Best one ever."

insert cheesy flash-forward/end-of-sequence music here


We have one of those fancy-schmancy tree stands that pops onto the tree base, swivels around in a huge bowl until it's straight, then locks into place. It's easy and clean and relatively pain-free. Progress and a capitalist economy has built a better mousetrap. But what will my daughter - the Bean - take away from her hall-decking youth? Alas, those blasted twinkling lights never disappoint.

Guten tag!

I don't know German, danke shein very much. I don't know thermonucleardynamics, either. I don't know how much I don't know. Guess that's why I'm such a happy person!

Writing is my hobby and - lucky me! (and I don't mean that sarcastically) - my job. Love it love it love it! There's nothing quite like that zen place where the writing flows and the characters come to life and push your fingers around the keyboard like ghosts moving a planchette around a Ouija board.

It can be hard, though - rejections aplenty are the norm. You gotta have thick skin. I don't have thick skin. I sunburn under a 60-watt bulb. I've personally racked up 286 rejections in the three years I've been a "writer." (To date - ask me tomorrow for my new total. Thin envelopes = bad. Emails from editors = good.)

Seems like an oxymoron (moronic?) - a happy, thin-skinned reject.

But that's me!