Goodbye, Starman

Today has been one of those days. The American Library Association made history by announcing that a picture book, LAST STOP ON MARKET STREET, had both won the Newbery and garnered a Caldecott Honor, and it was announced that David Bowie had passed away.

Stars were born, and a star died.

It happens every day, but I'm feeling it keenly on this cold January afternoon.

Taken at the "David Bowie Is…" exhibit at the AGO.

I can't remember the first time I heard a David Bowie track. I can't remember which track it was. It feels like he's always been there.

But I do remember a girl I used to look after. She lived in a house in Kentish Town, and she was eleven, and she was the biggest David Bowie freak I had ever met. She would dress up like him after school and belt out Life on Mars as if she had written it herself, and it was wonderful. Through his music and his artistry and weirdness and his sheer force of personality, he gave her a bit of his stardust. He gave a bit of it to all of us.

Goodbye, Starman.

Accountability Count: Up at 6 every day, except when I slept through my alarm this morning; one hour of writing or revision done every day; music done every other day; language not done at all, ACK; blogging done and edited, but password forgotten so can't post, DOUBLE ACK; social media time seems to be under control THANK HEAVEN FOR SMALL MIRACLES.

Reading: THE NEST, by Kenneth Oppel, illustrated by Jon Klassen

Watching: LABYRINTH. Of course.

Friday(-ish) Forward: Stones For My Father, by Trilby Kent

So, "tomorrow" turned into longer than the usual. I have no excuse other than that December is busy getting ready for Christmas, and the first part of January is busy putting everything away after Christmas and getting back into the swing of things.

But it's time for another Friday(-ish) Forward, and this week's forward is Trilby Kent's stunning and moving Middle Grade novel, Stones For My Father. Here's the blurb: Corlie Roux’s farm life in South Africa is not easy: the Transvaal is beautiful, but it is also a harsh place where the heat can be so intense that the very raindrops sizzle. When her beloved father dies, she is left with a mother who is as devoted to her sons as she is cruel to her daughter. Despite this, Corlie finds solace in her friend, Sipho, and in Africa itself and in the stories she conjures for her brothers.

But Corlie’s world is about to vanish: the British are invading and driving Boer families like hers from their farms. Some escape into the bush to fight the enemy. The unlucky ones are rounded up and sent to internment camps.

Will Corlie’s resilience and devotion to her country sustain her through the suffering and squalor she finds in the camp at Kroonstad? That may depend on a soldier from faraway Canada and on inner resources Corlie never dreamed she had…

This book was awarded the 2012 TD Children's Literature Award, so I was really looking forward to reading it. Set in South Africa during the Boer War, Stones For My Father introduces us to Corlie, a heroine with nerve, smarts, compassion, and an abundance of courage. There is a lot to recommend this book.

I found the portrayal of Corlie's relationship with her younger brother Gert, wavering between part jealous sibling and part loving caretaker, to be spot on. I also loved the description of the landscape: the sights, sounds, smells, and textures of the Transvaal came alive in this book. The development of the relationship between Corlie and the Canadian soldier was expertly handled, especially in the final chapters of the story, and the details of life in Corlie's community, and then in the internment camp where her family is sent, are fascinating and horrifying.

I did feel let down a bit by the language - there are a lot of foreign terms used that never quite get explained, and even now I am not sure what they mean, which is unsettling and, for me as a reader, frustrating. I love it when novels employ words and phrases unique to a certain time or place, but not having them explained in the moment leaves me with an incomplete picture of the scene in my mind. Additionally, I would have liked the explanation for the hostility that Corlie's mother displays so openly towards her to come sooner than it did, and more subtly. 

However, this is still a very well written book. It takes a subject that is rarely discussed in detail, and brings it out into the open in a way that had me reaching for my history books. And that, in my mind, spells success.

STONES FOR MY FATHER is available in bookstores, or online at IndieBound here, Amazon here, and for my Canadian readers, ChaptersIndigo here.

Go forth and read! Happy Sunday!

Winner, Winner, Bookish Dinner

It's winner announcement time, folks! And I don't have a lot of time, so here it is:

The winner of one signed copy of FOREVER by Maggie Stiefvater is:

ANNA!

YAY!

*throws virtual confetti*

And the winner of one copy of JACOB WONDERBAR AND THE COSMIC SPACE KAPOW by Nathan Bransford is:

PAM TORRES!

WOO-HOO!

*sets off virtual fireworks*

Email me with your addresses ASAP ladies, so I can get your prizes into the mail to you. If I haven't heard from you in TWO WEEKS, I'll have to re-draw, because I just don't have room for this stuff in my house anymore. It's too much amazingness for one office to hold.

See you all tomorrow!

Feel the Fear and Write It Anyway

First, I owe you guys a winner announcement for a copy of Jay Asher's THIRTEEN REASONS WHY. I wish I had a copy for everyone, because this is such a fabulous book, but sadly, I don't. So, by random drawing, the winner is:

Antje!

YAY!

*throws cyber-streamers*

So, check your email, Antje! I'll get your book to you as soon as you get me your address.

And now I want to open up to you guys a little bit. 

It took me a really long time to decide to write for publication. I always enjoyed writing, and I always enjoyed telling stories, and you all know how much I love books. But whenever I thought of someone else reading what I had written, my words sounded hokey and stupid to my own ears, and I got so self-conscious about it that I'd scratch it all out or erase it or throw it away. Even now, I don't always feel as if what I'm writing is "me" - I follow the rules, and I work on my craft, and I've definitely been improving, and these are all good things.

BUT: I've been using the "rules" as a way of hiding my own true style, not because there's anything wrong with my style necessarily, but because when I write the way that comes naturally to me, I feel pretentious and stupid and I worry that everyone will hate it. And that's not good at all.

I've just finished reading Maggie Stiefvater's SHIVER trilogy. I re-read SHIVER and LINGER and read FOREVER all in one weekend. (Hubbles had to do a bit more of the housework than usual. It made him a little crazy. This is understandable.) And the biggest takeaway for me as a writer was that her writing is so lyrical and poetic and UN-self-conscious, and that is the way I want my writing to be. Not lyrical in the same way or poetic in the same way, but un-self-conscious and simply "me".

So, I'm working on incorporating that principle into my work. I'm practicing the act of writing without judgement, beyond the question of "Does this tell the story the way that it needs to be told?" It's scary, but I'm trying it anyway.

And come back Wednesday for my review of FOREVER, the third and final installment of the SHIVER trilogy, where I'll be giving away a brand new SIGNED copy! (Are you excited? Because I am SUPER excited.)

Are you self-conscious about your voice in your written work? What book or books have you read that seemed utterly UN-self-conscious?

Writing Craft: Voice, and WINNER!

FIRST: I was up late into the night counting and adding and clicking and compiling the entries for my 200 Follower Lauren Oliver Giveaway, and wow, guys! The entries! You blew me away with your enthusiasm. You guys are awesome, and I really wish I could have given something to all of you. But, there can only be one winner, and according to RANDOM .ORG, that winner is:

ARI!!!

Yay! *tosses confetti and streamers*

So, Ari, check your email, okay? I want to get these books to you!

NOW: Writing craft. I've been reading a lot lately, and one thing that's been jumping out at me in a make-or-break sort of way is VOICE. We keep hearing that having a distinct voice is essential, but what does that mean? And more importantly, how do we do it?

Well, I think the most important thing we can do is make sure our character is well-thought out and fully realized. What personality type does this character have? Is she tough-as-nails, or sweet as cotton candy? Does he hold the door for his mother, or stride on through without looking back? Is he the quintessential nerd? Is she in love with her guy, or in love with love? Who are these people?

What is the framework within which their thoughts are built? (AN ABUNDANCE OF KATHERINES by John Green is an excellent example of having a well-developed mental framework for each character.) And how will they react emotionally to this situation that they're in? The answers to these questions, more than anything, will dictate their voice, and getting that right can really make your book sing.

And of course, having a distinct way of writing, a distinct cadence, is part of it, too. Garrison Keillor's work is the perfect example of this. Other examples are Roald Dahl (you know a Roald Dahl book by the end of the first page), Dr. Seuss, and Bill Bryson, travel writer extraordinaire.

But then there's the "break" part. I've come across a handful of books in the past couple of months that just haven't resonated with me. The voice was distinct, the background was there... But it just didn't feel right. Most of the time, the character was being snarky in a moment that didn't seem to call for it. I'm not against snarky teens, but there doesn't need to be a comment on every page or at the end of every scene for a reader to get it. Over a whole book, it gets to be too much, and it loses impact.

I wish I had a formula, but I don't. These are just some things to think about. How about you? What book have you read lately that had an outstanding voice? What made it so amazing?

Writing Craft: Parents in Picture Books, and WINNER!

First: the winner of TOOTER'S STINKY WISH according to RANDOM.ORG (shocking to see me use electronics like this, I know, but all those slips of paper just take too darn long to cut out) is:

Swaty!!!

*throws virtual confetti*

Congratulations, Swaty! You didn't have an email attached to your profile, so please email me (you'll find my addy right up there under my picture in the corner) so I can send you your prize. Be sure to do it soon, though - within the next two weeks at the latest - or I'll have to draw another winner.

ALSO: We hit 200 followers! WOO-HOO! I know I promised you an extra-special giveaway, so keep your eyes peeled for the announcement of that later this week. Probably on Friday, since I have a post planned for Wednesday, and Friday is a good day for that. But I might do shout-outs on Friday, so maybe there will be a special extra post tomorrow or Thursday. We'll have to wait and see. But it will be extra-amazing, so you don't want to miss it!

And now for today's topic: parents in picture books. Or rather, the absence of parents in picture books.*

Basically, they're usually not really there. And when they are there, they're not instrumental to the resolution of the story.

We all know that this is not the way things go in real life. We all know that moms and dads know what their kids are getting up to even before their kids do. (I can smell a plot hatching from a mile away, and I can see a lie coming before my son even opens his mouth. He thinks I'm psychic. I'm going with it.)

We all know that parents either stage things, or interfere with things, or subtly guide their kids. We all know that when we let our kids choose what to eat for breakfast, we're not really giving them real responsibility, because the choices never include things like fudge sundaes or jellybeans.

But here's the thing: the kids don't know that. 

Picture books, like all books for kids, are about giving them independence and power. If you want your picture book to be effective, if you want to connect with your child reader, it's a good idea to keep the adults out of the problem-solving process. Remember that this is the child's world we're entering, and in the child's mind, he is the ruler of his domain.

Can you think of good picture books that are examples of this? How about books that exemplify the opposite of this?

*Except in cutesy concept books about Mommy being magic or a special day with Daddy, but those books aren't the books we're talking about. There's nothing wrong with those books, but they're mostly concept books and that's not what we're tackling here today.

WINNERS!

I hate to tease.

Really, I do.

I should just get to posting the winners of my giveaways now, and not worry about all the buildup, shouldn't I?

It would be the nice thing to do.

*wicked grin*

Okay, okay, I'll do it!

Here we go...

(ha, ha...)

Okay, for real this time!

Ready?

The winner of a signed copy of RAISED BY WOLVES by Jennifer Lynn Barnes is...

RaShelle Workman!

(YAY!  Applauds, sets off virtual fireworks.)

The winner of a signed copy of WICKED LOVELY by Melissa Marr is...

Lynda!

(YAY!  Applauds, sets off virtual fireworks.)

And - wow, was there a lot of competition for this one, guys, and I wish I could give a copy to everyone who entered - the winner of a signed copy of DUST CITY by Robert Paul Weston is...

Paul Greci!

(YAY!  Applauds, sets off virtual fireworks.)

So check your emails, guys!  And if you don't have an email address linked to your profile, then email me - my addy is up there in the right-hand corner, where it says "Get In Touch".

And thanks for entering!

100 Followers Giveaway WINNERS!

Sorry for the late post, guys - today is Thanksgiving here in Canada, so we're taking it easy here at the Mercurio household today - blueberry pancakes for breakfast, cartoons, turkey wrapped in its bacon blanket in the oven... (Mmmm...  Bacon-wrapped turkey...)

BUT, I promised you winners, and winners we have!

The WINNER of a query/first 5/full PB critique by Yours Truly is:

Kelly!!!

(YAY!  Applause, virtual confetti!)

And the WINNER of a signed copy of SHADE by Jeri Smith-Ready is:

Jemi Fraser!!!

(YAY!  Applause, virtual confetti!)

If you have email addresses linked to your profiles, then check your emails, ladies! If you don't, then EMAIL ME! My addy is up thar in that right-hand corner thar, under my lovely not-a-headshot.

And now it's time to get back to my family holiday-ing. Have a great day, everybody! Congratulations to the winners, and thanks to everyone for playing! And if you missed out on the great prizes this time around, have no fear! Stay tuned for my Halloween contest extravaganza later this month!