Sarah's Journal

Lots of Links about Writing

2012-01-24T22:14:00.002-05:00

I am going to a writing retreat in Vermont called Kindling Words this weekend. An entire weekend of nothing but writing and talking about writing! I am so so so excited. For one thing, the people are fantastic. For another, this retreat comes at the perfect time for me with my work-in-progress. I'm in the produce-as-much-as-possible stage, and I intend to write a stunningly tremendous amount this weekend.

Since I'm about to head off to think, talk, and do writing, I thought I'd share with you some writing-related links that I recently bookmarked. (Note: I don't agree with everything in all of these, but I did find them all interesting.)

Just-Do-It General Advice:

"25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing" by Chuck Wendig

"25 Things Writers Should Start Doing" by Chuck Wendig

"So You Want to Be a Writer... Advice to a 10 Year Old" by Ron Marz

Finding Inspiration:

"What Inspires" by Sara Zarr

"Where Do You Get Your Ideas?" by Neil Gaiman

Avoiding Pitfalls:

"Measuring Success" by Mette Ivie Harrison

"Oh, the Internet" by Kiersten White

Personal Experiences:

"Turning Points" by Gayle Forman

"You Have Mentioned Several Times..." by Sarah Rees Brennan

"Starting a New Book" by Kate Messner

"What's Your Favorite Anecdote About Learning How to Write?" by S.C. Butler

"Writing for Writing's Sake" by Rhonda Stapleton

Techniques of Super-Fast Writers:

"How I Went From Writing 2,000 Words a Day to 10,000 Words a Day" by Rachel Aaron

"The 10,000 Word Day" by Zoe Winters

"Kicking Out a Fast First Draft" by Anne Greenwood Brown

Sites with Lots of Great Writing-Related Posts:

Nova Ren Suma's distraction no. 99

John Scalzi's Whatever

Chuck Wendig's Terrible Minds

For a list of older links to writing-related posts and articles, please click here and here.

Happy writing!

My New Muse

2012-01-19T00:38:00.001-05:00

"I want to be your muse!" Annie announces.

Annie is a fictional character without a story. She visits me sometimes while I'm trying to write.

"I think I would be an awesome muse," she says. "Whenever you're stuck, I'd sing to you to comfort you. Or perform interpretive dance." She lifts her leg in the air and waves her arms like a deranged chicken.

I try to think of a delicate way to say "no." "I always pictured my muse as more like Tim Gunn," I say. "You know, 'That sentence doesn't speak to me. I'm concerned. Make it work!'"

She pouts. "But I've always wanted to be a muse!"

"Really?" I hate to crush her hopes and dreams. She might be a disruption but she's otherwise harmless. Plus she brings snacks. I can see a bag of yogurt-covered pretzels stuffed in her pocket.

"Actually, no," she said. She hops onto my desk, crinkling the latest print-out of my work-in-progress. "I wanted to be a hero. But it didn't work out."

Despite knowing better, I ask, "What happened?"

She beams at me, hands me a yogurt-covered pretzel, and says, "Well, if you really must know... I was born to be a hero, seventh daughter of a seventh daughter. There were prophecies about me and everything. Some of them even rhymed. One involved an interpretive dance..." She flaps her arms in the air again.

"What were you supposed to do?" I ask.

"Find the Lost Acorn of Eternal Peace."

"So what went wrong?"

She shrugged. "A squirrel ate it."

"Seriously?"

"Would I lie to you?" Annie asks. She points to my computer screen. "You know, that sentence doesn't speak to me. I'm concerned..."

Annie Tells Me About Squirrels

2012-01-14T21:56:00.001-05:00

Annie is a fictional character who visits me sometimes. She lives in a deadly forest with killer squirrels. I made the critical error of asking her about the squirrels. You should never ask an imaginary person to tell you about anything, especially if you are trying to concentrate on writing a chapter that has absolutely nothing to do with rodents, homicidal or otherwise.

So far, after half an hour, all I've written is two sentences of my work-in-progress, and all I've learned is that the squirrels make cute, chittering sounds before they drop out of the trees on their victims' heads. She demonstrated this sound for a solid twenty minutes before I finally convinced her to stop.

"That's why I have antlers," Annie says. "Any killer squirrel that drops on me will find itself impaled." Annie has a pair of deer antlers growing out of the top of her head. She wears her hair in pig tails around them. Very stylish.

"So you're telling me your horns--"

"Antlers," she says primly.

"Your antlers are natural selection to protect against killer squirrels?" I know I shouldn't be encouraging her, but I can't help myself.

"Yep," she says. She crunches on a tortilla chip. "Hey, do you have any salsa? These would go great with salsa. Maybe some guacamole. I loooove avocado."

"I don't have any," I say. "What happens to people without antlers?" I self-consciously touch the top of my own head and imagine it has a squirrel-size bullseye on top.

"Oh, the squirrels horde human heads for the winter."

On that note, she hops off my desk and heads off in search of salsa and guacamole. And I am left with a new fear of squirrels. Luckily, I haven't completed my writing quota for the day, so I won't have to go outside and face the vile creatures. I am safe... at least until she returns.

A Visit from Annie

2012-01-11T22:58:00.001-05:00

Annie is visiting. She's a fictional character, but I haven't written her story yet. This makes her impatient.

She stands behind me and points at the screen. "What's that?"

"Chapter six," I say. I keep typing. I have learned that you can keep the distractions away if you keep your fingers moving over the keyboard. It's the second that you pause that you're tempted to click on the Internet, fetch a snack, clean the linen closet, or talk with an imaginary girl with antlers on her head.

It's slightly more difficult to maintain focus when the imaginary character brings chips.

Crunching in my ear, she squints at the screen. "I don't think that word means what you think it means."

"First drafts are supposed to be rough," I say.

"Then congratulations," she says. "You've succeeded. I've seen white water rapids that run smoother than your prose."

"Thanks," I say. I don't look at her as I type.

"I've seen dirt roads that are smoother."

"Thanks," I say.

"I've seen mountain ranges...

"Got it. Thanks. Can you... Be somewhere else for a while?"

"Nope," she says. She hops up onto my desk. Her antlers scrape the ceiling. Flecks of plaster rain down on my keyboard. "I don't have a 'somewhere else.'"

I pause typing. "Well, where are you from?"

She grins at me, as if aware that she has won. "A forest. A forest of endless night."

"Stupid," I say. "Can't have a forest without sunlight. Chlorophyll."

"Fine." She pouts. "It's a forest where the trees are alive..."

"Trees are alive."

"These talk. And sing. And kill."

"Huh," I say. "Killer trees?"

Annie grins at me. "You don't know the half of it. You think the trees are bad? You should see the squirrels." She holds out a tortilla chip. "Wanna chip?"

I take it. "Tell me about the squirrels..."

A Conversation with a Character

2012-01-10T00:06:00.002-05:00

A character sits on a chair. She swings her legs back and forth, scuffing the tips of her sneakers on the floor. They squeak like Styrofoam, and I wince. I hate that sound.

"Are you planning to sit there all day?" I ask her.

"Could be," she says. She sticks a lollipop in her mouth. I have no idea where she got the lollipop. "Are you planning to write my story yet?"

"Could be," I say. "Have you developed a personality?"

"Nope. You?"

"Ouch," I say. "Harsh."

She shrugs and looks around my writing room. "This place is a wreck. You should clean it. And your books are not alphabetized."

I look at her suspiciously. "You want me to write, don't you?"

"I want you to write MY story. Not that." She pokes the lollipop at my computer screen.

"But I don't know your story yet," I say.

"That's because you haven't written it yet."

I can't argue with that logic.

She offers me the lollipop. It has some cat fur stuck to it, but it's green apple flavor. So I take it, stick it in my mouth, and start typing.

When I look back, the character's hair has turned brown, and she has antlers. She says her name is Annie...

Hello 2012!

2012-01-02T22:58:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year!!!

I love when the calendar switches to a fresh year! Reminds me of the Anne Shirley quote about tomorrow being fresh with no mistakes in it.

This clip does not include that quote, but it makes me smile. You're welcome.

Of course, I have already broken one New Year's resolution (sorry, exercise bike!). Coincidentally, I broke the very same resolution last year just as quickly. Maybe breaking it will become a new annual tradition. I do love traditions.

Our New Year's Eve tradition is AWESOME. We go to the supermarket in the morning, buy every kind of appetizer we can think of, and eat nothing but hors d'oeuvres from noon to midnight.

But really, the thing that makes it wonderful is simply being together. I think that's the perfect way to start a new year: with people I love. Also, chips and salsa.

And that's what I wish for all of you in 2012: time with the people you love, health, happiness, and all the hors d'oeuvres you wish to eat!

Best wishes for a wonderful year!

Drink, Slay, Love in Australia and New Zealand!!!

2011-12-06T00:02:00.005-05:00

Some cool news... Drink, Slay, Love is now available in Australia and New Zealand!!! The AUS/NZ edition, published by Allen & Unwin, was released just last week!

I absolutely love the idea of Pearl (my protagonist) going someplace that I have never been. It feels... magical. One of the things that I always say at school visits and other book events is that being a writer is the closest you can get in this world to being a wizard.

I know, I know, that sounds totally cheezy. But I 100% believe it. When you write, you are trying to cast a spell that will take someone out of his/her life and pull him/her into a world that doesn't exist. You're trying to achieve a moment of telepathy, to put a dream from your head into the head of someone you've never met (and may never meet) purely by your choice of words on a page. You're trying to take a stranger on a journey.

I love that Pearl has now journeyed to Australia and New Zealand!

In case you're curious, the cover of the AUS/NZ edition is similar but not identical to the US cover. Check it out:

If you're in Australia or New Zealand, please do keep an eye out for Pearl! I believe you should be able to find her in Angus & Robertson, Dymocks, or whatever your local bookstore is. And if you see her, please say hello for me!

Happy journeying, Pearl!

Cover Art Reveal: VESSEL

2011-11-13T22:41:00.006-05:00

Got the loveliest present from my editor... cover art for VESSEL!

I am so excited to share it with you and to introduce you to my next book, VESSEL, a YA fantasy novel coming in September 2012 from Simon & Schuster / Margaret K. McElderry Books.

In a desert land where serpents made of unbreakable glass fly through the sky and wolves made of only sand hunt within storms, Liyana is destined to be a vessel, to sacrifice herself so that her clan's goddess can inhabit her body... but her goddess never comes.

I was in the parking lot at Dunkin' Donuts when the email with the cover art came in, and I waited for my husband to return with Munchkins so we could open the jpg together. (This was either sweet or cowardly of me. You can judge which.) When he returned, we opened the email... and I nearly swooned. I am absolutely in love with this cover. Look at the way the scarf moves! And the tattoos on her arms! And her fierce expression! And the sand! And the moon! *swoon*

I had a hint that this sort of awesomeness was coming when I ran across a journal entry on Deviant Art by photographer Jaime Ibarra about the cover shoot. There's one photo of the model practicing whooshing the fabric and another of the makeup artist painting on Liyana's tattoos. (The tattoos identify her as her clan's vessel. You really, really don't want a deity to possess the wrong person.)

The photographer is the fantastic Jaime Ibarra. (Visit his website to see more of his stunning work. I especially love the photos in the Movimiento gallery.) According to his Google+ page, the others involved in the shoot were:

Makeup & Styling - Mirabai Wagner
Additional Retouching - Solstice Retouch
Additional Makeup & Whooshing Coach - Jessa Peters
Model - Kristin (BMG Model Management)

The amazing team at Simon & Schuster then did their magic, and the result... Liyana lives!

So, what do you guys think?!?!?!?

My Novel in Pictures

2011-10-18T23:40:00.008-04:00

Imagine that this is a sixteen-year-old vampire girl. Absolutely gorgeous. Absolutely evil.

One night, she's feeling peckish. So she goes to the local ice cream store. Snacks on the ice cream boy.

She finishes and then notices that across the parking lot, between the dumpsters, there's a unicorn...

She mocks the unicorn for its sparkling shininess. When she's bored with that, she turns to go home. And the unicorn stabs her through the heart.

That's where Drink, Slay, Love begins.

This reenactment is courtesy of the Avenging Unicorn play set, a gift from my fantastically awesome agent, Andrea Somberg. It comes with four different horns and three figures to impale, including a mime.

It's entirely possible that this is the best thing anyone has ever given me. I'm thinking of bringing it to my upcoming events.

Speaking of which... here is my schedule for the next two weeks:

On Thursday, Oct 20th, I'll be participating in the Earthsea Group Read at the Center for Fiction in NYC. A slew of writers, actors, and others will be taking turns reading A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin as part of the Big Read honoring Le Guin. It will be streamed live online.

On Saturday, Oct 22nd, at noon, I will be reading and signing at Books of Wonder, a fabulous children's bookstore in NYC, with six other fabulous authors: Alison Goodman, Jeff Hirsch, Jon Skovron, Scott Westerfeld, Maryrose Wood, and Gabrielle Zevin.

On the following Friday through Sunday, Oct 28th through Oct 30th, I will be at the World Fantasy Convention in San Diego, CA. Schedule TBA.

The unicorn and I hope to see you soon!

Drink, Slay, Love Playlists

2011-10-05T21:59:00.002-04:00

It is a truth universally acknowledged that vampires love music.

Okay, my vampires love music. When Pearl (my vampire "heroine") hops into a stolen car at the start of Drink, Slay, Love, the first thing she does is switch the radio to "Bohemian Rhapsody."

"I can drive," Jadrien offered.

"I’m sixteen," Pearl said. "By human laws, I’m allowed." She flashed him a grin as he climbed into the passenger seat. It occurred to her that she’d never driven with Jadrien in the car. He was in for a treat. She stuck the key into the ignition and turned the car on.

The radio blared to life, country music.

Pearl winced and flipped the station. She stopped on "Bohemian Rhapsody." Smiling, she cranked up the volume. Shifting into drive, she said, "Seat belts."

"I’m immortal," he said. "Why do I need a seat belt?"

Pearl floored the gas, and they whipped through the parking lot. Jadrien grabbed the door and the dashboard to brace himself.

"Cute," Jadrien said.

"Always," she said.

"Do you know how to drive?" he asked.

"Sure," she said. "This one is the gas."

A bunch of people have asked me about the music in Drink, Slay, Love. So in case you're interested, here's the full list of music in the novel, in the order in which it is heard:

"Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen
"Don't You Forget About Me" by Simple Minds
"Bloodline" by Slayer
"Paint It Black" by the Rolling Stones
"Greensleeves" (traditional)
"People Are Strange" by the Doors
"Celebrate" by Kool and the Gang
"Blood Roses" by Tori Amos
"Bela Lugosi's Dead" by Bauhaus

You can listen to the songs here.

I listened to a longer playlist while I wrote Drink, Slay, Love. (My normal iTunes library just didn't cut it. For instance, "Puff the Magic Dragon" by Peter, Paul, and Mary... not exactly the right mood. So I created a playlist just for working on this novel.) In addition to the songs above, here is my writing playlist, in no particular order since I listened to them on shuffle:

"They" by Jem
"Ramalama (Bang Bang)" by Roisin Murphy
"Walkin' on the Sun" by Smash Mouth
"A Little Less Conversation" by King Junior
"Rockstar" by Nickelback
"Fable (Rave Mix)" by Robert Miles
"Stray Cat Strut" by Stray Cats
"Don't Let Me Get Me" by Pink
"Terra Firma" by Delerium
"Walkaway Joe" by Trisha Yearwood
"Footloose" by Kenny Loggins
"Sweet Sangria" by Tori Amos
"Mesmerizing" by Liz Phair
"Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" by KT Tunstall
"All or Nothing" by Athena Cage
"Calling All Angels" by Train
"Pretty Little Thing" by Fink
"Combat Baby" by Metric
"Somebody to Love" by Queen
"Can't Fight the Moonlight" by Leann Rimes
"Mambo No. 5" by Lou Bega
"Blood Roses" by Tori Amos
"Mad World" by Adam Lambert
"Not Ready to Make Nice" by Dixie Chicks
"Who Will Save Your Soul" by Jewel

You can listen to these songs here. (Note: the rave version of "Fable" wasn't available on Playlist.com so I included the original version. Ditto with "A Little Less Conversation.")

Enjoy!

More Trade Reviews of Drink, Slay, Love

2011-10-03T00:14:00.002-04:00

Over the weekend, two lovely new trade reviews of Drink, Slay, Love appeared!!!

School Library Journal
Gr 9 Up -- How refreshing to find a stand-alone vampire book with a real twist. Pearl is a typical teen vampire-typical in her world, that is. She is heartless and mostly evil, thinking of humans only as snacks and toys. Then she meets a unicorn, who stakes her with his sparkly horn. When she awakes, she finds that things have changed a bit - for starters, she can now be in sunlight without bursting into flames, and she has started to develop something unthinkable -- a conscience. Timing is bad for Pearl -- her family has just been chosen to host the fealty ceremony for the king of the New England vampires, and she has been nominated to provide the feast in the form of local high school students. The story has plenty of great setups, and Durst does not disappoint in her follow-through. There's catty and dark humor, romance, blood, danger, and, of course, there's the unicorn, whose secrets are revealed. The story transitions easily between the vampire and human world, creating characters, settings, and situations that are quite believable and often funny while still maintaining a respectable level of darkness. Fans of vampire fiction will be pleased to find this one on the shelf. -- Angela J. Reynolds, Annapolis Valley Regional Library, Bridgetown, NS, Canada

VOYA
Pearl is a typical teen vampire, avoiding sunlight and preparing to become a full-fledged vampire following a ceremonial feast with the vampire king. One night, after enjoying her regular snack of an ice cream shop clerk's blood, something downright...magical occurs. A unicorn appears from behind a Dumpster, piercing her with his horn. Pearl recovers from her injuries, but oddly, she can now endure the effects of sunlight. Her family seizes this opportunity to enroll her in the local high school to lure her new classmates to the vampire king's feast as snacks. As Pearl acclimates to high school life, she becomes less bloodthirsty and more concerned about her new human friends. She joins forces with several erstwhile vampire hunters and a were-unicorn, and finds herself at a defining crossroads as the feast of the vampire king approaches. Offering a nicely skewed twist on the teen vampire genre, this book features a young bloodsucker enduring a crisis of conscience that causes her to be torn between the traditional vampire way of life and that of a normal high schooler. Pearl is an engagingly written, deeply flawed character, and readers will enjoy her sarcasm-fueled search for the unicorn that altered her life. There is a bit of romance and the requisite love triangle of supernatural beasts, but Pearl is a strong female character who does not lose herself to her suitors. This book will likely appeal to young horror fans who enjoy a snarkier, smarter, distinctly less sparkly brand of vampires. Reviewer: Sherrie Williams

Yay!!!!!

The Best Present Ever

2011-09-30T11:49:00.008-04:00

Every September, I embark on a grand quest to find a birthday present for my brother John that could win the title of Best Present My Brother Has Ever Gotten. Current record holder (purchased by our mother) has held the title for the last twenty-one years.

It was a box of cereal.

Specifically, it was the sugariest cereal ever sold (or at least that our local grocery store sold). We had a strict no-sugar-as-the-first-ingredient policy in our house, and this gift skyrocketed to the number one spot with ease.

For twenty-one years, no one has beaten the sugar cereal. Until now. (I dare to hope.)

I had dedicated Drink, Slay, Love to John. (Drink, Slay, Love is my latest novel. It's about vampires and were-unicorns.) So for this year, since his actual birthday was the same week as my book birthday, I sent him a signed copy of Drink, Slay, Love, as well as a plush vampire doll that makes slurping sounds when you press it against someone's neck...

... and also a can of unicorn meat that has a dismembered unicorn doll inside.

I am crossing my fingers that this entry FINALLY beats the cereal. But I'm having second thoughts. Perhaps I should have also tossed in a set of Uni-Corn-on-the-Cob holders:

Or a taxidermy unicorn:

Or perhaps an Edward Cullen manllow (half-man, half-pillow -- it watches you while you sleep):

Or maybe what I REALLY should have given him is this:

What's the best birthday gift you've ever gotten/given?

Good News and Bad News

2011-09-18T21:16:00.005-04:00

My mom called this morning. "Sarah, I have some good news and some bad news."

Of course, I immediately imagined the worst. Oh, no, someone died! And then I thought, But there's no good in that... unless it was a long-lost relative and we've inherited a portal to a parallel universe full of friendly telepathic dragons.

"The good news is that your books arrived!"

My mom had ordered two copies of my new novel DRINK, SLAY, LOVE through Amazon. She thought they were going to arrive later in the week, so this was unexpected and good news. She continued...

"The bad news is that the dog ate them."

You see, my mom has a long and checkered history with dog training. I remember when I was a kid, my mom would return from Dog Obedience School, and our dog Lucky would leap out of the car, dive into the mud puddle that we affectionately called "the pond," and run to the neighbors' house to eat their cat's food.

She found this new dog about a year ago by the side of a dirt road -- thin, filthy, and flea-infested. Mom took her home, washed her up, fed her well... and the dog repays her by routinely eating UPS packages.

She emailed me a photo of the remains. Brace yourself. It's gruesome.

I will pause while you compose yourself after the horror that you have just witnessed.

Feel better? No? I'll fetch some smelling salts... (What do smelling salts smell like? I've read tons of novels with them but never actually encountered them...)

She also emailed me a photo of the culprit.

Her name is Blondie. Note that while she looks much better than she must have as a poor abandoned pup, she also doesn't look very contrite.

But don't worry. Blondie does not have access to any other copies of DRINK, SLAY, LOVE. In fact, I have proof that copies elsewhere have not been ravaged by exuberant canines. A few days ago, I went to see my book at a nearby Barnes & Noble (you know, because it's nice to visit your babies when they go out into the world) and saw this:

I am pleased to report that there was not a single bite mark on them.

DRINK, SLAY, LOVE Comes Out Today!

2011-09-13T00:05:00.004-04:00

Pearl, meet the world.

World, meet Pearl.

Pearl is a sixteen-year-old vampire, fond of blood, allergic to sunlight, and mostly evil... until the night she is stabbed through the heart by a were-unicorn's horn and begins to develop a conscience. And today is the publication date for her story, my new YA novel DRINK, SLAY, LOVE!

Here's a rough transcript of how this novel came about:

MY BRAIN: So, what are we writing about next?

ME: I really like unicorns.

MY BRAIN: What are you, four years old?

ME: What's wrong with unicorns?

MY BRAIN: Unicorns are not cool. Unicorns are sparkly.

ME: My unicorns would be cool!

MY BRAIN: You just miss your Lisa Frank sticker collection from your Trapper Keeper.

ME: I loved those stickers.

MY BRAIN: Think of something else.

ME: Okay.

*crickets chirp*

MY BRAIN: I'm waiting.

ME: I really like vampires.

MY BRAIN: No. Also too sparkly.

ME: You're just mad because you had that dream again, the one where you're convinced you're at a carnival and it's dark and the clowns are scary and you can't find the bathroom.

MY BRAIN: I'm not mad. And clowns are scary.

ME: So are vampires.

MY BRAIN: We are not writing about vampires! Everyone writes about vampires! You can't write about vampires!

ME: Unicorns could hunt vampires.

*crickets fall silent*

ME: Think about it. Built-in stake. Unicorns are badass vampire hunters.

MY BRAIN: We're writing about vampires.

ME: And unicorns.

MY BRAIN: Vampires and unicorns. Go! Write, write, WRITE!

And I did. I wrote this novel in a frenzy. Every day. Every weekend. Late at night. Early morning. I'd pass by my computer on the way to brush my teeth, and I'd dart in to add or edit a paragraph or bit of dialogue because Pearl, my vampire girl, would not stop talking in my head. She wanted her story to be told. She wanted to come out of the darkness and meet the world.

Usually, my writing process involves ups and downs and doubts and wrong turns and all the typical writer angst that you hear about. But not with this book. I loved every second of writing this book. Hanging out every day with Pearl and Evan and Bethany... And of course, Matt and Zeke...

From DRINK, SLAY, LOVE:

Behind her, she heard two voices.

"Dude, you ask her."

"Nuh-uh, you ask."

"Rock paper scissors?"

"You cheat, man," Matt said.

"How is it possible to cheat at rock paper scissors?" Zeke asked.

"You game the system," Matt said.

"It's not my fault you always choose rock."

"My manly strength will not allow me to choose a less unyielding material," Matt said. "I have rocks for muscles. You fear my strength."

"Whatever," Zeke said. "You never choose scissors."

"Sometimes I choose paper," Matt said. "You can't predict me. I'm cagey."

"You always choose rock or paper," Zeke said. "So long as I always choose paper, I can't lose."

"See, I knew you gamed the system."

Pearl did not turn around.

"On the count of three?" Zeke asked. Together, they said, "One. Two. Three." There was a brief pause. "You should have chosen scissors."

"That would have been too obvious," Matt said. "You just said I never choose scissors so you had to know I would choose scissors so I couldn't choose scissors because you'd know it. Hence, the rock."

"Hence the paper, covering your rock. You ask her."

"Well played, my friend," Matt said. "Well played."

I miss those guys.

But I am excited that you can now meet them and the rest of Pearl's friends (and enemies... I haven't forgotten about you, Antoinette! How could I forget to mention a vicious vampire with a passion for Molly Ringwald movies?).

So, please, join me in saying hello and welcome to all of them. Today is their first day in the sun.

My Muse

2011-09-09T22:58:00.003-04:00

I don't believe in waiting for the muse.

Left to her own devices, the muse is easily distracted by shiny things and will waste an entire day in the contemplation of a butterfly. Or a leaf. Or a piece of cheese. I have it on good authority that the muse of writing really likes cheese.

I believe that if you show up to your desk every day and write, then the muse will see you there, be curious about what you're typing without her, and come along to join you (usually munching on a wedge of cheese).

At which point, you can seize her by the throat and insist she stay.

Eventually, she'll start showing up earlier, knowing that she can depend on you to be there. Sometimes the two of you will arrive at the door to your writing room simultaneously, and there's an awkward, "You go first." "No, after you." "Really, I insist. You first."

This awkwardness is compounded by the fact that the muse has no corporeal form and is therefore incapable of holding open the door, though she thinks she can because the muse is an eternal optimist.

I like to give the muse a corporeal form to inhabit while she's visiting. This form varies from book to book. For DRINK, SLAY, LOVE, here is what she looked like:

My muse and I find this form hilarious. What a lucky coincidence that she and I share the same sense of humor. And a fondness for cheese.

4 days until DRINK, SLAY, LOVE!

Drink, Slay, Love Author Video

2011-09-07T22:42:00.008-04:00

Look! Me! Talking! *flails arms like muppet*

Earlier this summer, I visited the Simon & Schuster offices in NYC to film an author video about Drink, Slay, Love. And now it's done! Check it out!

So... what do you think??? How did I do? Did you notice that I'm wearing a unicorn necklace?

Every year, my husband buys me jewelry to match the theme of my next novel. For Drink, Slay, Love, he found these necklaces:

I went with the unicorn. It seemed just a wee bit more subtle.

6 days until DRINK, SLAY, LOVE!

TARN and a Scene from Drink, Slay, Love!

2011-09-05T21:43:00.002-04:00

8 days until DRINK, SLAY, LOVE!

On Wednesday, September 7th, at 6pm, I will be participating in the Teen Author Reading Night at the Jefferson Market Branch of the New York Public Library, along with Coe Booth, Paul Griffin, Jeff Hirsch, David Levithan, Jonathan Farmer, Jon Skovron, and Adrienne Vrettos. We'll all be reading from our latest YA books. If you're in the area, I hope you'll come!

If you're not able to come... please wipe your tears, quit rending your clothes, and cease wailing your eternal disappointment to the unyielding stars. I have a present for you that I hope will console you: a scene from DRINK, SLAY, LOVE!

It features Pearl (our vampire-girl heroine) sparring with her vampire boyfriend. FYI, she was stabbed through the heart by a were-unicorn only a few hours earlier and nearly died. Enjoy!

FROM DRINK, SLAY, LOVE:

"I suppose you think you're good enough to be my escort to the ceremony?" Pearl asked.

"Of course." He charged toward her, swift as a blur. She swung up as he sliced toward her head. The wood hit as she blocked the blow, and the staff shuddered from the strength of the impact. She swayed as pain rippled through her, but she shoved.

He stumbled backward.

"I have heard there's waltzing," Pearl said.

"All the more reason you need a handsome prince to complement your stunning beauty."

"Your brothers are handsome as well," she said. She swept her leg out, caught his knee, and yanked. He twisted away before her foot could pull him down. "And perhaps more coordinated."

He smacked her side with the staff, and her breath hissed through her teeth. Clearly, she'd misjudged Mother. Mother had indeed intended this as punishment. She knew that Pearl would never admit weakness to Jadrien, and she knew he wouldn't hold back. Of course, there was a way to escape the intended beating: kick his ass first.

He struck again with the staff. Right, left, down, left. "You are destined to be with me," he said. She blocked. One, two, three, four. She spun and landed a second strike on his side. He swore as he danced away. "You are the most beautiful creature in all the state," he said as he swung his staff toward her neck. She bent backward as the tip pushed against her jugular.

"Just the state?" Pearl asked. Continuing to bend backward, she reached out with one hand to touch the floor and then kicked up hard as she flipped over. Her feet caught Jadrien on the chin, and he reeled back.

"Let's see how well you clean up before we invest in too many superlatives," he said.

"I think I'll 'clean up' right now," she said. She swept her staff low, aiming to sweep his feet out from under him.

He was too fast. He leapt over the staff and struck out with his fist. It caught her in the solar plexus, and pain from her wound lanced through her. Another blow came at her, and she was a second too slow to react. It knocked into her stomach, and she flew backward across the room. She slammed into one of the wood pillars.

"Slow today," he commented.

"Just lulling you into a false sense of complacency." Pearl sprang away from the pillar and attacked. The spinning staff whirled into a blur. She struck at his neck, his legs, his shoulders, his arms. He ducked as she rained blows down on him.

Jadrien struck back, and she raised her staff over her head with two hands, catching his staff dead center. Crack! Her staff split in two. Splinters rained down. She withdrew, holding half a staff in each hand.

"Surrender," Jadrien said.

"Oh, I don't think so." With one stick swirling in each hand, Pearl leapt through the air and attacked. With each hit, she felt stronger. She felt a smile tug at her lips. Her torso ached and burned, but she could think through it. She could do this. She'd survived a near-staking. She'd been chosen with her family to host the Connecticut Fealty Ceremony. She could do anything! Her breath raked her throat as she swung the sticks faster and faster. He blocked. Each strike became as loud and rhythmic as drum beats. "Our ceremony will be spectacular," she said. "I'll make sure of it." No human, no hunter, no mythical beastie with a day-glo horn was going to ruin this for her. "Better than spectacular, it will be perfect."

Catching her waist with one hand, he drew her tight against him. "I believe you," he said. And then he kissed her. The sticks dropped from her hands and clattered to the ground.

Mid-kiss, she yanked his staff out of his hand, hooked her foot around his ankle, flipped him to the ground, and pinned him down with his staff pressed against his throat. "Surrender?" she said.

"To you," he said, "I surrender my heart and soul."

She rolled her eyes. "Very romantic, considering you have neither."

Countdown Begins

2011-09-01T22:51:00.002-04:00

Still no electricity, thanks to hurricane Irene.

I am typing this by candlelight on a borrowed iPad powered by the equivalent of a car battery. It feels like Little House on the Prairie... if Laura blogged. And had an iPad. And a car battery.

On the plus side, I was in California while the hurricane was in New York. Also on the plus side, no trees fell on my house, which is a minor miracle. Our yard has approximately three trees for each blade of grass, and the trees loom ominously above our sad strip of lawn.

At any rate, the reason I'm going to such lengths to blog is because it is September and that means... DRINK, SLAY, LOVE is coming soon!!!

So I'd like to officially start the countdown to pub date. Since I have no electricity, it will have to be a manual countdown. First, I'll put the neighbor's hedgehog in a hamster wheel. He'll turn the wheel, which will power a lightbulb. My cat will then use the light to create shadow puppets, all of whom will point to the calendar on the wall, which I will then read and say...

12 days until DRINK, SLAY, LOVE!

ETA: Power is back!!! Guess I'll need to return the hedgehog...

Publishers Weekly Review for DRINK, SLAY, LOVE

2011-08-09T21:27:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, I got the loveliest present!!!

No, it was not a winged pony.

And no, not my own pet unicorn. Close, though.

Hmm, no, it wasn't a pet unicorn for my cat. She already has one.

Another guess? Did you say "a lovely review from Publishers Weekly for DRINK, SLAY, LOVE"? If so, you're correct!!! Congratulations, you are a skilled mind-reader. Or else you read the title of this blog post. Either way, check this out...

DRINK, SLAY, LOVE
Sarah Beth Durst
S&S/McElderry, $16.99 (400p) ISBN 978-1-4424-2373-2

Having her way with the conventions of the genre, Durst (Enchanted Ivy) crafts a fresh, modern, and humorous twist on the vampire novel. At 16, Pearl adores life as a vampire; everything humans have to offer, from their cars to their blood, is hers for the taking. Out prowling one night, Pearl is staked by a unicorn, discovering soon after that she has a reflection and can bask in the sunlight. Sensing opportunity, Pearl's family sends her to high school so she can line up students as the main course for an important party, but Pearl develops a conscience and -- caught between her friends, family, and that pesky, sparkly unicorn -- tries to find the least bloody way out. Durst's snappy dialogue and vivid prose are entertaining (in the cafeteria, "The noise was nearly deafening, as if several flocks of seagulls were fighting over a whale carcass. It also smelled not unlike a whale carcass"), and the straightforward plot moves at a good clip, scattering enough clues to heighten anticipation without spoiling the fun. Lively characters and a sweet romance are icing on the cake. Ages 14–up. (Sept.)

-- Publishers Weekly

ICE German Cover Reveal

2011-07-31T22:15:00.003-04:00

I recently caught my first glimpse of what will be the cover art for the forthcoming German edition of my novel ICE! This translated edition comes out in Germany in February 2012, published by Lyx, an imprint of Egmont. They gave it a lovely new cover as well as an awesome new subtitle. It's called Ice - Hüter der Seelen, which means, acccording to Google Translate, "Ice - Keeper of Souls". Oooooh. I love that! And here's the cover art, which I love as well.

To me, Germany will always be the place where I saw my first real castle.

My dad had a business trip to Germany when I was ten years old, and he took me along. This was a Big Deal because (a) it was a trip to Europe (my first), (b) my dad had never taken me with him on a business trip before, and (c) it was a trip to EUROPE, which to me meant fairy tales and witches and werewolves and knights and castles!

I was a wee bit obsessed with castles. Pretty much, if you had offered me a choice between a decked-out mansion with sixteen swimming pools in Hawaii and a drafty, tumbled-down castle in Scotland, I'd have been on the plane to Glasgow. Unless the mansion had sixteen libraries instead of swimming pools. Then, we might have had to talk...

But back to Germany. While my dad did businessy things, I stayed with a family he knew. The family asked what I wanted to do, and I said, "See a castle." I may have even swooned from the thought of it.

Unfortunately, this was translated to German as the equivalent of "palace" and they took me to see a decked-out mansion.

I remember being terribly disappointed but too polite/shy to say so. But my dad noticed, and the next day we drove until we found a real castle! I remember it was yellow and in ruins and did not have a moat or a dragon or jousting knights, but I loved it. In my mind, I peopled it with kings and queens and wizards and talking animals. It was one of those special moments when reality and fantasy intersect.

Coincidentally or perhaps not-so-coincidentally, age ten was also the year that I decided that I wanted to become a writer.

The Shape of Stories

2011-07-19T22:18:00.001-04:00

I think about story shape a lot.

Apparently, I am not the only one. I found this video on the SFWA website of author Kurt Vonnegut talking about the shape of stories:

Sometimes I describe my writing process as building a creature from the inside out. In the first draft, I'm constructing the skeleton. Then I add muscles so it can move. Lungs so it can breathe. Heart so it can feel. And then last, I layer on the skin so that the reader doesn't see all the goop underneath.

But it's that first draft, the skeleton draft, where I am discovering the shape of the story.

My personal favorite story structure goes a little like this:

La-la-la. AHHHHH!!!! Oh, no. Oh, no. OH, NO!!! Yay? Yikes, yikes, YIKES! Phew. AHHHH!!!! Go, go, go! Wheeee!!! Ahhhh.... Smooch.

I wonder sometimes if my preference for story shape has been determined by the kind of books I read, OR if the kind of books I read (and write) is determined by my preference for a particular story shape...

What do you guys think? Is story shape something you notice as you read/write? Do you have a favorite story shape?

To Punctuation, With Love

2011-07-14T21:24:00.002-04:00

The serial comma suffered a serious blow the other day. The University of Oxford Public Affairs Directorate deemed it unnecessary. This disavowal carried weight because the serial comma (i.e. the comma before the "and" in a series of nouns, such as "dragons, unicorns, and were-llamas") is nicknamed the Oxford comma.

I like that a punctuation mark can have a nickname. I think I shall call semicolons Fred.

Fred is one of my favorite punctuation marks; he holds a special place in my heart... a place right between two independent clauses... :)

But I digress.

Anyway, I am a strong supporter of the serial comma. Think how its absence changes this infamous, yet apocryphal, book dedication: "To my parents, Ayn Rand and God."

Really, though, I love all commas. And all punctuation. Commas, periods, semicolons, dashes, ellipses... they are the silence between the notes. Just as essential to the music as the sounds.

Do you have a favorite punctuation mark? What do you think about Fred?

Kirkus Review for DRINK, SLAY, LOVE!!!

2011-07-06T07:39:00.002-04:00

Eeeeeeeee!!! Look what my editor just sent me -- the very first trade review for DRINK, SLAY, LOVE! And it's good!! Eeeeeeeeee!!!

Please excuse all my eeeeeeeeeee-ing, but I'm just so happy about this. (And relieved...) And HAPPY! (And RELIEVED!) It's hard to describe the intricate blend of emotions that authors experience when a new book is coming out. For me, there's a feeling of great accomplishment and joy, certainly, but no matter how proud I am of my work, there's always some anxiety too. And by "some anxiety" I mean TOTAL PANIC!!! Will they like it? Will they?! WILL THEY?!?! So when the first big trade publication comes out with their review, it's a tense moment to say the least. I hope for the best, prepare for the worst, and then... gritting my teeth... crossing my fingers... I... I... I totally wimp out and make my husband read it first. :) But I digress.....

Check out what Kirkus Reviews had to say about my new precious:

DRINK SLAY LOVE (reviewed on July 1, 2011)

A unicorn gives new life to the now-tired teen supernatural romance—kind of literally.

Being a teenager really sucks. But life is carefree for Pearl, 16 years old, beautiful, a born vampire with a hot boyfriend and tasty pickings at the all-night ice-cream stand. At least it seems carefree…until she’s stabbed by a unicorn. Suddenly, she can walk in the sun without burning up. She can attend school, make friends with kids who used to be prey and maybe even have a life away from her very scary mother. Her vampire kin can’t understand it—but they can hardly wait to take advantage of it. With the King of New England coming to initiate new members of the local clans into vampire aristocracy, Pearl’s family has been chosen to provide the feast. And what makes a better feast than the junior class? If only Pearl weren’t beginning to develop a conscience. What to do…stay loyal to family or preserve the life of her new BFF? Decisions, decisions. Combining a sense of humor with dark appeal of supernatural romance, this book is funny, scary and thought provoking all at once. Pearl is a feisty heroine who meets her match in the unicorn, who refuses to give up on her.

Even jaded fans of the supernatural will find fun in this one. (Paranormal. 14 & up)

-- Kirkus Reviews

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! Today, I am a very happy Sarah.

Australia and New Zealand

2011-06-20T23:05:00.003-04:00

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oi, Oi, Oi!

I would like to take this opportunity to profess my deep and undying love for the nations of Australia and New Zealand!

Okay, I have never actually been to Australia or New Zealand. But I have heard that they're both amazingly beautiful and that, upon arrival, every visitor receives a baby koala of his or her very own to take home as a souvenir. And I have also heard that this fall, visitors and residents alike will be able to read my new novel Drink, Slay, Love while they cuddle their complimentary koalas!!!

That's right! I am thrilled to report that the Australia/New Zealand rights to Drink, Slay, Love have been purchased by publisher Allen & Unwin, which means the book will be coming out in Australia and New Zealand around the same time it comes out in the US and Canada! I believe the AUS/NZ edition will have the same cover as the North American edition and will be released sometime in October 2011.

Sadly, reports about the complimentary koalas have yet to be confirmed.....

Website Redesign and DRINK, SLAY, LOVE Excerpt

2011-06-15T00:03:00.002-04:00

I revamped my website! (Get it? ReVAMPed. Ah, so many puns, so little time...) Check it out in all its vampirey splendor:

www.sarahbethdurst.com

What do you think???

Also, I am very excited to share with you the first chapter of my upcoming novel DRINK, SLAY, LOVE! You can access it through the Excerpts page of my website, but here's how it starts:

"One hour until dawn," Pearl said. She leaped off the roof and landed catlike on the pavement. "Oodles of time, if we steal a car."

Her boyfriend, Jadrien, stretched out on the roof of Outback Steakhouse. He was a shadow, a lovely shadow, against the green tin. "Come back up, Pearl," he said. "I'll compare your eyes to stars, your lips to rubies, and your breath to industrial-strength air freshener."

"Your charm and sincerity overwhelm me."

Rolling onto his knees, Jadrien clasped his hands to his heart. "Oh, Pearl, jewel of my heart, light in my darkness, grace me with your nearness so I might feast upon your loveliness."

Pearl laughed, even as she admired his silhouette. His silk shirt rippled in the night breeze. "I want to feast on mint chocolate chip. Or maybe Chunky Monkey."

"You can taste the difference?"

"Mint chocolate chip, sharp and clean like an ocean breeze. Black raspberry, rich and smooth as a summer night. Bubble-gum ice cream..." She faked a shudder. "Oh, the horror, the horror."

Click here to continue reading.

Enjoy!!!

BEA 2011

2011-05-26T23:00:00.004-04:00

I had a fantastic time this week at BEA (Book Expo America, an enormous annual convention focused on forthcoming books) as proven by the contents of my suitcase:

*sighs with delight*

But BEA is about more than the books. It's also about eating mashed potato martinis:

And greeting childhood icons:

(The only thing I could think of to say was "I admire your work." Really, Sarah? Mrs. Brady, I admire your work??)

Okay, so it's really about books. And talking about books with other people who love books. I had so many great conversations with so many fantastic people that I feel literally dizzy when I think about it. Here's me with Laini Taylor and Marie Rutkoski, two absolutely awesome writer friends of mine:

I can't wait for next year!

Reading About Writing

2011-05-22T22:25:00.002-04:00

I love reading about writing.

When I first decided that I wanted to be a writer, one of the first things that I did was empty my hometown library of every "how to write" book I could find. I poured over those books, taking copious notes as if I were unlocking the secrets to the universe.

I was ten years old, and I believed that books held the answer to every question, the solution to every problem, and the map to every dream.

Okay, I still believe that.

These days, one of my favorite things to do online (along with checking out cake wrecks and fashion commentary) is read about writing. In case you're interested, here are a bunch that I bookmarked recently:

"The Ever-Popular I Suck Playlist" by Libba Bray

"How Not to Bug the F*** Out When Writing a Novel" by Chuck Wendig

"'Don't listen to them. They're both wrong.' And other reasons I love Steven Tyler" by Jo Knowles

"Making Story Happen" by Laini Taylor

"How to Steal Like an Artist" by Austin Kleon

"Writing Better" by Megan Crewe

"Choose Your Own Adventure" by Jessica Tudor

"And the Magic Begins" interview with Terry Pratchett

"Love What You Love" by Ray Bradbury (via Boing Boing)

"Our Best Advice for Writing Fantasy" on Enchanted Inkpot

"How Science Fiction Movies Can Help You Write Novels" by John Scalzi

"How to Survive a First Draft" by Delia Sherman

"Writing Weirdness" by Carrie Jones

"The Things That Save Us" by Terri Windling

Anyone have any writing-about-writing links you'd like to share? Any favorite writing-related sites or blogs?

In addition to reading about writing, I've also learned a lot about writing and publishing by hanging out with all manner of bookish people every chance I get, which is exactly what I'll be doing this week. I'm headed to Book Expo America (BEA), a huge gathering of booksellers, publishers, authors, etc at the Javits Center in NYC. Really looking forward to it!

Awesome Quiltiness

2011-05-18T22:18:00.004-04:00

I am on a quilt! Not sitting on a quilt, but in the quilt itself. And not literally me... though I am suddenly picturing a little quilt Sarah frolicking across an applique meadow beneath embroidered clouds. And then I'm chased by geometric triangles that want to chomp me up like Pac-Man, but I defend myself by brandishing the Magic Needle of...

And this is exactly why I outline when I write. Stay on target, Sarah.

Speaking of Pac-Man, why was the ghost Clyde changed to Sue in Ms. Pac-Man?

And speaking of quilts, I want to show you a photo of the quilt I'm in. First, though, a little background:

Last Saturday, I visited Northboro, Massachusetts -- my hometown and the setting of my debut novel, Into the Wild -- for the dedication of an Author/Illustrator Quilt to celebrate the Northborough Free Library's newly renovated Children's Room. Ten authors/illustrators are featured in squares on this quilt: Jan Brett, Marc Brown, Andrew Clements, Tomie dePaola, Sarah Beth Durst (hey, that's me!), Jack Gantos, Modricai Gerstein, Lois Lowry, Lane Smith, and Jane Yolen.

Here's my square (with images based on my novel Into the Wild):

And here's the whole quilt:

How cool is that?

This library is the place where I fell in love with books. Very cool to know that I have a presence there even though I now live in another state. Thanks, Northboro Library, for the lovely day, the lovely quilt, and the lovely memories!

Northborough Free Library Author/Illustrator Quilt

2011-05-10T00:57:00.004-04:00

I love libraries in the way that a chocoholic loves a Godiva Easter bunny.

I blame my mother, who took me to the library so often that I was literally the poster child for Kid Obtaining First Library Card:

This photo was taken at the Northboro Library (or more accurately, the Northborough Free Library -- the town has become fancier since I left it, restoring the more formal "ugh" to its name and requiring all citizens to wear cravats).

This is the place where I discovered Diana Wynne Jones, Lloyd Alexander, Ruth Chew, and Tamora Pierce. I remember exactly where the shelves were that held all the Encyclopedia Brown books, and I remember sneaking into the grown-up section to find Watership Down. (I really did sneak. I assume I was afraid an adult would spot me, shout "Under Age Reader!", and a team from the Militant Branch of the ALA would rappel from the windows to capture me.)

This same library appears in chapter 7 of my debut novel, Into the Wild. Julie hides from Cinderella and Goldilocks here, and the Three Blind Mice live in the Children's Room. (The Children's Room actually did have hamsters. I don't think they talked, though. Perhaps after hours...)

Over the past couple years, the Northboro Library underwent major renovations. And now that it's all new and fancy, they've planned a lovely event where they will dedicate an author/illustrator quilt and hang it in the brand new Children's Room. The quilt was created by a group of talented local quilters who incorporated scenes from ten children's books along with quilt pieces signed by the authors or illustrators. I had the honor of contributing my signature when I was last at the library and am absolutely thrilled that a scene from Into the Wild has been included on the quilt.

The Author/Illustrator Quilt Dedication is this Saturday at the new Northboro Library. I'll be there, as will Andrew Clements, the author of Frindle as well as many other wonderful books. Here are the details if you'd like to join us:

Saturday, May 14, 2011 from 11am to 1pm
Author/Illustrator Quilt Dedication
Northborough Free Library
34 Main Street, Northborough, MA

Refreshments will be served (though I cannot promise any Godiva bunnies).

If you're in the area, I hope to see you there!

Royal Wedding

2011-04-28T23:31:00.004-04:00

I think I need to watch the royal wedding tomorrow. Really, I hadn't paid any attention to the hype and hoopla and hullabaloo surrounding the event until this morning, when my brain made this startling connection:

Kate = Bride = Princess = The Princess Bride!!!

And as everyone knows, The Princess Bride is the best movie ever. (Well, with the obvious exception of Star Wars, which also has a princess. But now that her planet's been blown to bits, can she really still be regarded as a princess? What's she the princess of? It's a gray area, certainly. But I digress...)

And as everyone knows, the wedding scene from The Princess Bride is the best wedding scene ever. So my brain expects that Kate and William's wedding will be pretty much like this...

Which would be AWESOME!!! Though, perhaps unlikely. So congrats to Kate and William! May you have a lovely wedding tomorrow and a long and happy mawage.

And by the way, I totally want this t-shirt:

Writing and Music

2011-04-25T23:12:00.003-04:00

I love to listen to music when I write.

I used to be strictly an instrumental writing-music kind of girl: Debussy's Reverie, Ray Lynch's Celestial Soda Pop, Ravel's Bolero. Sometimes I listened to more fantasy-mood type music: Enya, Loreena McKennitt, Neverending Story soundtrack, or the scores from various Cirque du Soleil shows. While I wrote Ice, I listened to "Arctic Echoes" by Dan Gibson. It includes walrus noises. I'm betting there aren't many songs out there that include walrus grunts.

Drink, Slay, Love was the first novel that I wrote with an actual playlist, which I'll share closer to the book's release.

Lately, I am loving starting my writing sessions with "you can do it!" anthems, like Katy Perry's Firework, Athena Cage's All or Nothing, or Eminem's Lose Yourself. But my current favorite is:

I am mildly embarrassed to adore a song by a man who inserts punctuation into his name.

Do you work to music? If so, what kind?

NYC Teen Author Festival Signing at Books of Wonder

2011-03-19T22:36:00.003-04:00

If you're in New York City tomorrow afternoon (3/20/11), you might want to think about stopping by Books of Wonder. There is a MASSIVE book signing event at that lovely bookstore as part of the NYC Teen Author Festival. I'll be there from 3:15 to 4:00 pm. Below is the full list of authors with their latest books. We are appearing in reverse alphabetical order because we're just that cool.....

NYC Teen Author Festival Book Signing:

1:00 - 1:45pm

Lizabeth Zindel - A Girl, A Ghost, and the Hollywood Hills
Maryrose Wood - The Hidden Gallery
Suzanne Weyn - Empty
Danette Vigilante - The Trouble with Half a Moon
Maggie Stiefvater - Linger
Natalie Standiford - Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters
Mark Shulman - Scrawl
Alyssa Sheinmel - The Beautiful Between
Kieran Scott - She's So Dead to Us
Leila Sales - Mostly Good Girls
Patrick Ryan - Gemini Bites

1:45 - 2:30pm

Marie Rutkoski - The Celestial Globe
Lena Roy - Edges
Michael Northrop - Trapped
Sarah Mlynowski - Gimme a Call
Neesha Meminger - Jazz in Love
Terra Elan McVoy - After the Kiss
Lisa McMann - Cryer's Cross
Kimberly Marcus - Exposed
Melina Marchetta - The Piper’s Son
Torrey Maldonado - Secret Saturdays
Barry Lyga - Archvillain

2:30 - 3:15pm

E. Lockhart - Real Live Boyfriends
Sarah Darer Littman - Life After
David Levithan - Dash and Lily's Book of Dares
Melissa Kantor - The Darlings Are Forever
Carla Jablonski - Resistance
Gwendolyn Heasley - Where I Belong
Kim Harrington - Clarity
Christopher Grant - Teenie
Margie Gelbwasser - Inconvenient
Elizabeth Eulberg - Prom & Prejudice
Helen Ellis - The Turning

3:15 - 4:00pm

Daniel Ehrenhaft - Friend is Not a Verb
Sarah Beth Durst - Enchanted Ivy
Matt De La Pena - I Will Save You
Brent Crawford - Carter Finally Gets It
Eireann Corrigan - Accomplice
Susane Colasanti - Something Like Fate
Alexandra Bullen - Wishful Thinking
Marina Budhos - Tell Us We're Home
Kate Brian - Book of Spells
Philana Marie Boles - Glitz
Judy Blundell - Strings Attached
Cathleen Bell - Little Blog on the Prairie

Dreams

2011-03-06T23:16:00.002-05:00

I've been thinking about dreams lately. Not dreams as in the life-long wishes/hopes/aspirations of someday becoming an astronaut/princess/superhero variety. Just actual dream-dreams. Nocturnal hallucinations. Bedtime brain entertainment. You know what I mean.....

This is probably because I saw the movie Inception this weekend. Cool movie. Could have been even cooler. But very cool nonetheless. Though I have to say, my dreams rarely have such detailed scenery. They tend to be much more plot and character oriented.

For example, last night, I dreamed I was a vampiric Cinderella, complete with a ballgown and fangs. In the dream, my real-life human husband and I had to sit on a concrete bench and watch a soccer match between humanoid dinosaurs (as in, they wore shirts and sneakers) for one hundred years in order to complete a spell that would turn him into a vampire too so that we'd both be immortal and could live together forever. It was all kind of romantic, except that every once in a while, one of the dinosaurs would eat the goalie.

Sometimes I do have more realistic dreams. When I'm stressed, I dream about transportation issues, like being late for a train. Such a waste of good dreaming time. I've also had many dreams interrupted by scenes where my dream-self has to leave the telepathic dragon/unicorn/whatever to find a toilet.

But typically, my dreams involve visiting with or being attacked by aliens, dragons, Lego-zombies, Ewoks, or killer M&Ms from outer space. (Those M&Ms haunted me for years. Don't even get me started about the Skittles.)

Studies have shown that people who aren't allowed to dream go crazy. I rather like the idea that soccer-playing dinosaurs and Lego-zombies are actually preventing me from losing my mind!

But sometimes I do wonder what my subconscious is trying to tell me. My current theory: it's just trying to keep me amused. It likes the same kind of fiction that my conscious mind likes!

Have you all had any cool dreams lately? Please do share in comments.

Any theories, thoughts, pet-peeves about the movie Inception? I've been bugging my husband with my theories ever since we watched the movie.....

Valentine's Day and Voracious Reader

2011-02-09T23:39:00.001-05:00

I have a love/hate relationship with Valentine's Day.

On the one hand, I believe in true love and think it's thoroughly appropriate to have a day devoted to telling your soulmate that he is the phoenix of your heart, or whatever. On the other hand, I resent that a greeting card costs nearly as much as a paperback book. (I ran out of clever non-card small-yet-meaningful gift ideas ages ago. Sorry, dear phoenix of my heart.)

Best Valentine's card ever was the one where we jointly bought a single card then covered up half as we each wrote our message to the other. I also loved the year where we both bought the same exact card for each other, proving how in-sync we are (or how poor the card selection at the supermarket was).

Anyway, this Friday, to console me while I suffer through the traditional card-buying angst, I will be participating in a very fun book event with four other awesome authors at The Voracious Reader, a wonderful bookstore in Larchmont, NY. Here's the description from the bookstore's website:

Won’t You Be My Paranormal Valentine?
Friday, Feb. 11th, 2011
7:00 - 9:00 PM
Meet FIVE thrilling authors of the paranormal: Cynthia Leitich Smith, Daniel Nayeri, Jen Nadol, Sarah Beth Durst, and Shannon Delany. Discover your destiny, find your heart's desire, or a book you can sink your teeth into. Come in costume (there will be prizes!), semi-formal (there will be photos!), or casual-as-you-like-it. Teens and YA fans welcome!

Hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Kindling Words 2011

2011-01-31T23:37:00.002-05:00

Last weekend, I attended Kindling Words, an annual writing retreat for writers, illustrators, and editors that takes place in northern Vermont. This was my second time going, and I loved every second of it.

One of the highlights was the Saturday night bonfire. Dressed in our warmest clothes, we all trekked out behind the hotel and clustered around a campfire. We each brought a wish or a resolution or a dream that we'd written on a piece of paper -- the idea is that if we burn the paper, our wish will come true.

After watching a few other people toss their dreams into the flames, I crumpled mine and threw it into the fire. Wind blew it out onto the edge of the embers. I darted in and snagged it. Second try, I tossed it harder toward the center of the logs. Wind tossed it out, and it skittered over the ice. Third try, I tried an underhand toss. It rode the smoke out to land next to a smoldering log. Fourth try, I scooted around the campfire and threw it onto the fire with the wind at my back. The paper uncurled so that the words were facing the sky, and the flames ate it from the outside in.

I retreated back to the circle of writers and illustrators and editors, and I said that I was worried that maybe it meant my wish wouldn't come true -- the fire didn't seem to want it. And the person next to me said don't worry. Maybe it meant that my wish would come true but I needed perseverance.

I liked that. I liked that very much.

Certainly a much nicer interpretation than my being an idiot for throwing it into the wind three times before it occurred to me to move to the other side of the fire.

Anyway, I think it's a nice metaphor for writing. We're tossing our dreams into the fire and hoping they burn true. Sometimes it takes a LOT of tosses. Important thing is to keep trying.

Also, if the wind is in your face... MOVE.

Cover Art for DRINK, SLAY, LOVE!!!

2011-01-17T23:26:00.003-05:00

Got an email from my editor with the most gorgeous present ever -- the cover art for my next YA novel, DRINK, SLAY, LOVE! I am deliriously in love with it, and I can't wait to share it with you. So without further ado...

(Please pat your hands on your lap so we have drum roll sound effects. Also, imagine a red velvet curtain raising up. And maybe a few trumpets.)

... the cover art for DRINK, SLAY, LOVE!

*swoon*

I love, love, love it! It fits the novel so perfectly! That's Pearl with her never-seen-the-sun skin and beautiful black hair and sardonic smile. You see, this is how the book opens:

"One hour until dawn," Pearl said. She leapt off the roof and landed catlike on the pavement. "Oodles of time, if we steal a car."

This cover is totally her.

DRINK, SLAY, LOVE is about Pearl, a vampire girl who develops a conscience after she is stabbed through the heart by a unicorn's horn. It's coming out September 13, 2011 from Simon & Schuster / McElderry Books.

I don't know the names of the cover artists/designers yet, but whoever you are... I think you are brilliant!!! Thank you (and everyone at Simon & Schuster) for this gorgeousness.

So... what do you guys think??? Do you like it?

Icy Research

2011-01-15T23:43:00.002-05:00

There is a lot of snow outside here. A LOT of snow!!!

All the snow makes me think of the time that I spent listening to the whisper and crackle of the crumbling frozen sea and plotting the journey of the sun as it circles the horizon at the top of the world.

I wasn't in the Arctic in person. I've never been there. But for months at a time, I lived there in my head.

One of the things that I love about being a writer is that you have a legitimate excuse to immerse yourself in another world. While I wrote my novel Ice, I listened to Arctic-themed music. I watched documentaries about the Arctic. I plastered my desk area with photos of the Arctic and covered the floor with maps. And I read and read and read.

I devoured everything that I could get my hands on that had to do with my new world -- dozens of nature guides, survival guides, polar bear books, and explorer memoirs. I'm the only person I know who owns a North Slope Barrow dialect Inupiaq-English dictionary.

My favorite research books were:

- A Naturalist's Guide to the Arctic by E. C. Pielou
- Walking on Thin Ice by David Hempleman-Adams
- The SAS Survival Guide

And the most inspirational book was:

- East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon, illustrated by P. J. Lynch

There is a common misconception that research isn't necessary for fantasy novels. After all, it's made up. But you're asking readers to believe in the impossible. If you build that impossible dream in the middle of a sea of real details... well, then your ice castle won't be standing on air. You'll be able to walk inside.

I'm often asked about the research that I did for Ice. So for those of you who are interested, below is a bibliography of the books that inspired and influenced the world of Ice:

- Abridged Inupiaq and English Dictionary by Edna Ahgeak MacLean
- Arctic Daughter by Jean Aspen
- Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez
- The Boy Who Found the Light: Eskimo Folktales by DeArmond
- Camping and Wildernness Survival by Paul Tawrell
- The Dancing Fox, Arctic Folktales ed. by John Bierhorst
- Dictionary of Native American Mythology by Sam D. Gill and Irene F. Sullivan
- East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon by P. J. Lynch
- East of the Sun and West of the Moon by Laszlo Gal
- East of the Sun and West of the Moon by Nancy Willard
- East of the Sun and West of the Moon by Mercer Mayer
- East of the Sun and West of the Moon by Kathleen and Michael Hague
- The Encyclopedia of Native American Religions by Arlene Hirschfelder and Paulette Molin
- The Eskimo Storyvteller, Folktales from Noatak, Alaska by Edwin S. Hall, Jr.
- The Girl Who Dreamed Only Geese, and Other Tales of the Far North by Howard Norman
- Handbook of North American Indians, v.5 Arctic edited by Sturtevant
- How to Speak Alaskan edited by Mike Doogan
- How to Stay Alive in the Woods by Bradford Angier
- How to Survive on Land and Sea, 4th edition, by Frank C. Craighead, Jr. and John J. Craighead
- Julie of the Wolves, Julie, and Julie's Wolf Pack by Jean Craighead George
- Icebound Summer by Sally Carrighar
- The Iñupiat and Arctic Alaska by Norman A. Chance
- Kingdom of the Ice Bear by Hugh Miles and Mike Salisbury
- The Last Wind Edge by Susan Zwinger
- Mountaineering Medicine by Fred T. Daville, Jr. MD
- Native American Myth and Legend, An A-Z of People and Places by Mike Dixon-Kennedy
- A Naturalist's Guide to the Arctic by E.C. Pielou
- The Nature of North America by David Rockwell
- Northern Tales edited by Howard Norman
- Names, Numbers and Northern Policy: Inuit, Project Surname, and the Politics of Identity by Valerie Alia
- Over the Edge: Flying with the Arctic Heroes by K.C. Tessendorf
- Over the Top of the World by Will Steger and Jon Bowermaster
- Polar Attack by Richard Weber and Mikhail Malakhov
- Polar Bears by Ian Stirling
- Polar Bears by Nikita Ovsyanikov
- Polar Bears: Living with the White Bear by Nikita Ovsyanika
- Running North by Ann Mariah Cook
- SAS Survival Guide
- A Snow Walker’s Companion by Garrett and Alexandra Conover
- The Survival Handbook by Peter Darman
- To the Arctic by Steven B Young
- Up North by Doug Bennet and Tim Tiner
- Walking on Thin Ice by David Hempleman-Adams
- White Bear by Charles T. Feazel
- Wilderness First Aid by William Forgey, MD
- The World of the Polar Bear by Norbert Rosing

To the authors of all the above books: Thank you for sharing your world!

Hello 2011!

2011-01-06T22:58:00.001-05:00

Snoopy Dance of Joy! Revisions are DONE!!!

This week, I sent off the revised manuscript for DRINK, SLAY, LOVE, my next novel. Cue dance music.

To be honest, I'm always a little bereft when I finish revisions. I adore revising, and I particularly adored working on this novel. This one was fun from start to finish. I am going to miss Pearl and Evan and Bethany and Jadrien and Antoinette and Matt and Zeke... But I can't wait to introduce you to them!

I have a date for that introduction: the official pub date for DRINK, SLAY, LOVE is September 13, 2011. It's on Amazon already, as well as GoodReads, which makes it feel a lot more real.

Still feels futuristic to write 2011. We're only four years away from the future date in Back to the Future II. And I still don't possess the skills to handle a hover-skateboard. Or, you know, a regular skateboard.

Anyway, these revisions are my excuse for my absence from this blog for the last month. I received the revision letter from my editor just after Thanksgiving. Given the way my family does holidays (sprawled across the entire month), the end of 2010 was VERY busy. But it was busy with family and writing, my two favorite things.

Also, lots of cookies.

Perfect way to end a year (and start a new one!).

So goodbye, 2010! Hello, 2011! And happy New Year, everyone! Wishing you all a year filled with health, happiness, and all of your favorite things!

Tangled and Princeton Book Signing

2010-11-28T21:47:00.001-05:00

I love Disney.

Just the silhouette of mouse ears makes me smile. I think it's because so many of my favorite memories -- family vacations where we laughed so much our cheeks hurt -- took place in Disney World. For me, it is the happiest place on Earth.

Also, it's so very clean. You drop a straw wrapper, and Cinderella's mice pop out of the sewers and sweep it away. Little birdies assist with your personal hygiene. And woodland creatures select your wardrobe.

Combine my Disney obsession with the fact that my debut novel (Into the Wild) is about Rapunzel's daughter, and of course I had to see the movie Tangled.

Overall, I loved it. The use of her hair was magnificent (also the use of frying pans). I adored the montage of Rapunzel's torn emotions when she leaves the tower. The floating lanterns were lovely. And the horse was awesome.

But I can't help thinking that Disney missed an opportunity with the witch Gothel. If she had genuinely loved Rapunzel (rather than only using her for the regenerative properties of her hair), it would have instantly deepened and complicated the story. She could have been an overprotective parent gone wrong, which would have been interesting. Maybe it would have made the story too dark, though.

I also saw Harry Potter 7 (part 1) this weekend, which was plenty dark, both in plot and palette.

In addition to seeing movies this weekend, I also did two book signings at the Borders in Meriden, CT, and the Borders in Stony Brook, NY, and I had a great time at both. Thank you to everyone who stopped by! It was great talking with you!

If you happen to be anywhere near Princeton, NJ, this Wednesday Dec 1st..... I will be signing books at the Barnes & Noble at Princeton Market Fair starting at 6:30pm. A portion of sales will benefit The Pennington School's book fair. Since Princeton University is the setting for my latest book, Enchanted Ivy, I am hoping that numerous gargoyles and were-tigers will be in attendance. Hope to see you there too!

Let Them Eat Cake

2010-11-14T21:44:00.004-05:00

Last week, there was a lovely article about Enchanted Ivy in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette -- the newspaper in central Massachusetts, where I'm from! Yay!

I am particularly enamored with the title of the article, "Novelist takes an excursion to magical world," since that is exactly how I view the writing process.

Please help yourself to a virtual slice of cake while you read.

Mmm... cake...

This cake was created by Rolling Pin Bakery for Enchanted Ivy's book launch party at Book Revue in Huntington, NY. It's vanilla with raspberry filling. Yum. Special thank you to everyone who came and shared non-virtual cake with me last Sunday!

Mmm... books...

Also, for those of you who are in the NY-NJ-CT tri-state area, I have added three new book signings to my schedule:

Friday, November 26, 2010 at 1pm
Borders - Meriden
470 Lewis Avenue, Meriden, CT

Saturday, November 27, 2010 at 3pm
Borders - Stony Brook
2130 Nesconset Highway, Stony Brook, NY

Wednesday, December 1, 2010 at 6:30pm
Barnes & Noble - Princeton
Princeton Marketfair, 3535 US Route 1, Princeton, NJ
(with a portion of sales benefitting The Pennington School's book fair)

Hope to see you there!

Enchanted Ivy Book Launch Party

2010-11-05T00:07:00.005-04:00

Hello, Long Islanders! Please join me this Sunday at 2pm for a reading/signing/book launch party for Enchanted Ivy at Book Revue in Huntington, NY. As you may have surmised from my calling it a reading/signing/book launch party, there will be reading (by me, from Enchanted Ivy), there will be signing (again by me, of, you know, books), and there most certainly will be partying (by all in attendance, to celebrate the launch of Enchanted Ivy -- though honestly, if you have something else to celebrate, I'm game to celebrate that too).

Once all the reading and signing is done, we'll have yummy cake -- decorated with Enchanted Ivy's cover art!!! We got a BIG cake, so come hungry!

Here's all the info:

Book Revue
Sunday, November 7th at 2pm
Reading/Signing/Book Launch Party (with cake!!!)
313 New York Avenue, Huntington, NY

Hope to see you there!

World Fantasy Convention 2010

2010-11-01T00:03:00.006-04:00

I can sum up World Fantasy Convention 2010 in one sentence:

I talked to a LOT of people.

Or to be more accurate: I talked to a lot of really wonderful, awesome people, starting the moment I checked into the hotel on Thursday night and lasting until I boarded the plane home, with brief pauses to sleep and use the bathroom.

I am going to resist the urge to mention names because I might forget someone, and I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. (I love you all. Really. Especially YOU, person with whom I had a wonderful conversation. Yes, you. You're great.) But I did remember to take a couple pictures so I'll show those...

On right: Melissa de la Cruz, Me, Jim Frenkel
On left: Inara Scott, Cinda Williams Chima, Elizabeth Bunce

Me and Cinda Williams Chima

Beth Bernobich and Me

Yes, I know, I should take more photos. Here's one more:

Learned today: Books are heavy

These are all the books that I brought home from WFC. I took everything carry-on, and I am so pleased that I didn't knock myself unconscious while lifting the suitcase into the overhead compartment.

Anyway, the convention was fantastic. I'm already looking forward to next year.

Special thanks to everyone who came to my reading! You guys rock.

Enchanted Ivy Campus Tour: Stop Six

2010-10-26T23:04:00.011-04:00

Enchanted Ivy Campus Tour Stop Six!

To recap... my new novel Enchanted Ivy is about magic at Princeton. So I've been doing a virtual tour to show you photos of the spots on campus that either appear in or inspired the novel. This is the final stop on our tour. Please step lively, and watch out for the squirrels...

Forbes College

Princeton divides many of its dorms into six residential colleges: Rocky, Mathey, Forbes, Butler, Wilson, and Whitman. Years ago, only freshmen and sophomores lived in the colleges, but that's changed now -- some are for all four years now.

(Ahh, change. Years ago, sophomores used to run around naked during the night of the first snowfall. This event, called the Nude Olympics, lost its luster when the university decided to improve safety by shining floodlights down on the runners. You can draw your own conclusions as to why this lead to the demise of the tradition...)

I was in Forbes College.

Forbes is this sprawling old hotel on the edge of campus. It has a golf course behind it and a distant view of the gothic spires of the grad college. In winter, we used to "borrow" cafeteria trays from the dining hall and sled on the golf course.

I met many of my closest friends at Forbes, including my husband, who was my next door neighbor in Forbes New Wing our freshman year. (Everyone say, "Awwww...")

So I show my affection for the place in Enchanted Ivy by making it the backdrop for a major battle scene. Nothing like a little blood and gore to show your love.

1879 Hall

If you walk down Prospect Avenue (a.k.a. the Street, campus tour stop five), it will end at Washington Road. Directly across from you, you'll see 1879 Hall. It has steps leading to an arch that you can walk through to enter the main part of campus.

This is the spot where Lily first learns that her dream college might have a few nightmares in it...

"She climbed a set of steps that led to a brick archway. Above her, the arch was decorated with stone gargoyles. Little carvings of monkeys curled into rosettes. One side of the arch had a fresco carved into the shape of a tiger's head. Four stone monkeys crawled over the tiger’s face.

"One of the monkeys turned its stone head and looked at her.

"Lily lost her footing on the stone steps."

Here's the fresco that Lily sees with the monkey who looks at her:

And here's another equally-freaky carving on the opposite side of the same arch:

For some inexplicable reason, 1879 Hall is crawling with monkeys. Some of them are even looking back at you...

University Chapel

We end our tour at the University Chapel (to the right in the picture below).

I can't tell you what happens here in the book without giving away a dozen spoilers, but key plot stuff happens on these front steps. Also, inside the chapel. Picture a tiger pacing on the railing of the choir box:

I always loved this chapel. It has really beautiful blue stained glass windows. I used to sit in the pews after class sometimes and write really truly terrible poetry.

But the inspiration for this novel didn't come from inside the chapel. The little guy who played a big role in shaping this book lives on one of the arches outside. To end this tour, I would like to introduce you to my favorite gargoyle on the whole Princeton campus: the Chained Dragon.

Watch out. He eats people.

Thanks so much for joining me for this campus tour! If you'd like to see stops 1-5, please click below:

- Stop One (FitzRandolph Gate and Nassau Hall)
- Stop Two (East Pyne Courtyard, Unseeing Reader, and Firestone Library)
- Stop Three (En Route to Blair, Goblin With Shell, and Dorm Door)
- Stop Four (Dillon Gym and Other Gargoyles)
- Stop Five (Eating Clubs and Prospect Street)

Or click here to view all my campus tour blog posts at once.

Girls Write Now

2010-10-24T21:24:00.003-04:00

On Saturday morning, Libba Bray and I were the guest speakers at Girls Write Now.

Girls Write Now is a nonprofit organization that provides a creative-writing-focused youth mentoring program for girls in New York City. High school students are paired with mentors who are writers, educators, publishing industry professionals, etc. They meet weekly on their own, and then all the mentors and mentees come together once a month for an intensive writing workshop. It's an awesome organization.

This month's workshop focused on fantasy (hence Libba and me). We were scheduled to speak in the middle of the workshop, in between writing exercises and discussions -- the ham and cheese in the workshop sandwich.

Not that either of us were hammy or cheesy. Okay, I was a little cheesy. It's my firm (and admittedly cheesy) belief that being a writer is the closest you can get in this world to being a wizard -- you're trying to cast a spell with your words. But maybe I should have picked another sandwich meat for that allegory... Turkey? No, that's not right either. Chicken? I am a bit of a chicken, but that's irrelevant... Ooh, tomato, mozzarella, and basil on a baguette with balsamic vinegar... *trots off to kitchen*

Seriously, I had a fantastic time! Our wonderful host Maria Romano asked us great questions for our interview/talk, and Libba was, of course, absolutely brilliant and hilarious. (Really, I think that should be added to her name: "Libba Bray the Brilliant and Hilarious.") I think I avoided saying anything too inane, though I did admit to the fact that when I was a kid, I used to memorize the location of my stuffed animals before I left the room so I'd notice if they moved in my absence. This can either be seen as a sign of my budding writerly imagination or, more likely, my first step on the road to insanity...

At any rate, it was a great day. I had a blast. And I think the students had fun too. If you're interested in learning more about this wonderful organization, click here to take a look at their website.

Enchanted Ivy Author Video

2010-10-19T21:00:00.005-04:00

Look at what the awesome folks at Simon & Schuster made for me!!! A video! Of me! Talking about Enchanted Ivy!

I went into the S&S offices in NYC to record this and was somewhat petrified that I would forget everything I wanted to say and start clucking like a chicken. Fortunately, they managed to edit out most of my clucking.....

Sooooooo, what do you think? Did I do okay???

Grover + Old Spice Man = Awesome

2010-10-18T21:35:00.008-04:00

This. Is. Made. Of. AWESOME!!!!!

Enchanted Ivy Campus Tour: Stop Five

2010-10-17T22:31:00.006-04:00

Enchanted Ivy Campus Tour Stop Five!

Eating Clubs

Eating clubs are... well, the name pretty much says it all. Basically, they're clubhouses where you hang out with your friends, go to parties, and eat your meals -- all the Froot Loops and cheesesteaks you can eat!

You can join them junior and senior year. (Technically, you join halfway through your sophomore year and then are members for your last two years.) Some of them are "bicker," which means the existing members need to vote you in (like for a fraternity/sorority), but most you can join with your friends via a lottery (which is what I did -- I was in Quadrangle Club, wherein I consumed an impressive amount of Froot Loops and cheesesteaks).

For Enchanted Ivy, I invented an eating club that I dubbed Vineyard Club. It's the only building in the novel that isn't real, but it is inspired by existing clubs. I pictured the library where Lily meets the Old Boys as a cross between these two rooms:

The Street

All the eating clubs are located on the Street (as in, "Dude, are you going to the Street tonight?" "Dude, yeah, it's Thursday night!").

The Street is Prospect Avenue. You'd think it would be known as the Avenue. But no. It's the destination of many students on weekend evenings.*

It's also the site of a major battle in Enchanted Ivy. So if you visit the Street, watch out for what's lurking behind the stone walls and hedges and perched above you on the rooftops...

* Weekends start on Thursday. Sometimes Wednesday. Occasionally Tuesday.

Stop six coming soon...

To see stops 1-4, click below:

- Stop One (FitzRandolph Gate and Nassau Hall)
- Stop Two (East Pyne Courtyard, Unseeing Reader, and Firestone Library)
- Stop Three (En Route to Blair, Goblin With Shell, and Dorm Door)
- Stop Four (Dillon Gym and Other Gargoyles)

Or click here to view all my campus tour blog posts at once.

Enchanted Ivy Campus Tour: Stop Four

2010-10-13T23:01:00.008-04:00

Stop Four of the Enchanted Ivy Campus Tour!

Dillon Gym

Dillon Gym looks like this:

See those three arches? One of the characters in Enchanted Ivy lives between the center and right arches:

"She bent sideways to look underneath the gargoyle for a microphone and speaker. She didn't see one. 'Mr. Ape,' Lily said in an even voice, 'are you talking?' She wasn't going to let the Old Boys rattle her this time. They'd rigged the gargoyle somehow.

"'Professor Ape, if you please,' the gargoyle said in the same soft as sand voice. 'I have tenure.' He chuckled as if he'd made a joke."

Next to him are three other gargoyles who don't talk. This one seems very surprised about that:

Inside the gym is, you know, gym stuff.

I once took a tae kwon do class upstairs in the gym (in the same room that Lily uses to climb out the window, not so coincidentally). I lasted until the teacher paired us up, and then my self-preservation instincts took over and I booked it out of there, thus shattering my childhood dream of being the next Karate Kid.

Other Gargoyles

One of the things that I love about writing is that it forces you to see all the hidden gargoyles. For most books, that's a metaphorical statement. For this book, it was literal. Here are a few more of the gargoyles that I discovered on my visit that I had no idea were there before I walked in Lily's footsteps:

I love this last little guy. He seems so angry, yet so eager to reveal his belly button. He doesn't appear in Enchanted Ivy, but I'd love to know more about him. What do you think his story is? Let me know in the comments!

Stop five coming soon.....

To see stops 1-3, click below:

- Stop One (FitzRandolph Gate and Nassau Hall)
- Stop Two (East Pyne Courtyard, Unseeing Reader, and Firestone Library)
- Stop Three (En Route to Blair, Goblin With Shell, and Dorm Door)

Or click here to view all my campus tour blog posts at once.

Happy Book Birthday Enchanted Ivy!

2010-10-12T00:09:00.004-04:00

Happy book birthday to you,
happy book birthday to you,
happy book birthday, dear Enchanted Ivy,
happy book birthday to you!!!

*cheers and throws confetti at book*

Today is the publication date for my newest book, Enchanted Ivy, as well as the paperback release of Ice!

Enchanted Ivy is my magic-at-Princeton book.

While visiting the campus of Princeton University, sixteen-year-old Lily discovers a secret gate to a magical realm and must race against time to save herself, her world, and any hope she has of college admission.

It is 100% autobiographical.

Okay, it's not at all autobiographical. But it is true at its heart. It's about that pivotal (and terrifying) moment where you know that the decisions you are making will forever change you and your future -- the college application process.

Junior and senior year of high school, I was obsessed with getting into college. I saw college as this huge turning point that would shape who I became and what I did with the rest of my life. So I was utterly consumed with the pressure of making the "right" choice. This novel grew out of that obsession.

It also grew out of my love of Princeton. I'm not exactly sure what it is in my psyche that causes me to acknowledge that love by morphing the place into some magical bizarro world and then ripping it apart. But whatever. It's all done with love. Seriously.

I think Princeton is a magical place. You enter campus through an arch of elm trees and cross a shimmering lake into a gorgeous patchwork of verdant fields, beautiful brick buildings, modern buildings that look like sculptures, and gothic buildings edged in ivy and wisteria. In other words, it's pretty. Plus, it has gargoyles.

One gargoyle in particular caught my attention. He's a little fellow, curled between stone vines on an arch above a side entrance to the University Chapel.

Once I saw him, he began to haunt me. (Well, not literally but... I digress.) The look in his eyes just seemed to say... TELL MY STORY.

So I did. :)

Special thanks to my awesome agent Andrea Somberg, my wonderful editor Karen Wojtyla, and the fabulous team at Simon & Schuster. You guys rock. (No pun intended with the whole gargoyle thing...)

To my Princeton friends... I love you, and I'll see you at Reunions!

And yes, I am totally wearing my Princeton tiger tail all day today.

Enchanted Ivy Campus Tour: Stop Three

2010-10-10T21:48:00.007-04:00

Continuing on to Stop Three of the Enchanted Ivy Campus Tour of Princeton...

En Route to Blair

After the harrowing [redacted to avoid spoilers] in the East Pyne Courtyard, Lily runs in this direction:

To the right is the sculpture known as Richard Nixon's nose. I think it's actually called "Oval with Points" or something like that, but from the right angle, it bears a shocking resemblance to Nixon's profile. Students sometimes sit inside it and read. I never did. Not so comfy. But I digress...

Beyond the sculpture, also on the right, you can see Alexander Hall, which is said to be an architecture student's failed thesis. It looks like a cathedral with the bottom half chopped off.

At the end of this path is Blair Hall, one of the dorms. On Reunions weekend, this is the location of the 50th Reunion tent. (In Enchanted Ivy, Lily accompanies her grandfather to his fiftieth college reunion.)

Princeton Reunions are... well, imagine a three-day carnival where everyone wears orange and black outfits and pretends they're twenty-years-old (even if they're actually eighty).

Goblin with Shell (Blair Arch)

The most prominent feature of Blair is the arch.

Very pretty, but my favorite part of Blair Arch is the bizarre gargoyles.

And my favorite gargoyle is this guy, called Goblin with a Shell.

"Monkey-like, the animal was hairless and green. It wore half-shredded children's clothes draped over its leather body. The creature snarled, exposing shark-like pointed teeth, and then it lurched toward them. "Behind you!" Lily cried. Clawed paws scraped over flagstones."

Dorm Door

One thing I wanted to do in this novel was show how the magic and the real can both blend and clash. In order to achieve this, I tried to make the real world as accurate as possible. So on my visits to Princeton, I took a LOT of photos of doors and steps and sidewalks and shrubbery. Here's one example:

Lily goes through this door with Jake to find her mother.

Coming soon... Stop Four!

For those interested, here are links to prior tour stops:

- Stop One (FitzRandolph Gate and Nassau Hall)
- Stop Two (East Pyne Courtyard, Unseeing Reader, and Firestone Library)

Or click here to view all my campus tour blog posts at once.

2 days until Enchanted Ivy!

Back-to-the-Future Box and Books of Wonder

2010-10-09T23:46:00.004-04:00

Two lovely things happened this week: my Back-to-the-Future box arrived and I had my first book event for Enchanted Ivy!

Back-to-the-Future Box

Remember that scene at the end of Back to the Future where Marty's dad receives a box of books -- books he's written -- in the mail? Okay, maybe you don't. But I always saw it as the highlight of the entire movie. I wanted that box.

In a recent interview, I was asked what has surprised me the most about being a published author, and one thing is that publication isn't a single moment. It's not all about that "yes" on the phone or the pub date. There isn't a day when the elephants parade through your living room, hot-air blimps throw confetti over your house, and Ewoks play timpani on Stormtrooper helmets for you. Instead, it's smaller moments, which I think I like better because the smaller moments can sneak up and surprise you, like receiving the Back-to-the-Future box.

Not sure why this surprised me, because one thing I've learned time and time again is that life is all about the smaller moments.

Anyway, my Back-to-the-Future box (a.k.a. my author copies of Enchanted Ivy and the paperback edition of Ice) arrived this week. My husband and I opened the box together and stacked all the books in giant towers. Then we sat on the floor and admired them for a long time.

We also noticed that the floor badly needs vacuuming. Ah, the glamorous life.....

Books of Wonder

The other cool moment of the week was the "Fantasy for Teens" book event at Books of Wonder in NYC last Thursday. I spoke and read with two awesome authors: Cinda Williams Chima and Yvonne Woon.

I also accidentally said I hear voices, but we'll gloss right over that.

Here's a photo of Cinda and me with the lovely display of books:

I LOVE doing events at Books of Wonder. For one thing, it's a fabulous bookstore. For another, they really do events right. Very organized, very enthusiastic, and all-around wonderful. Thank you to Peter and the Books of Wonder staff, and thank you to everyone who came out to the event! You're all awesome!

Coming soon: Stop three of the Enchanted Ivy campus tour...

3 days until Enchanted Ivy!

Enchanted Ivy Campus Tour: Stop Two

2010-10-07T23:33:00.007-04:00

Stop Two of the Enchanted Ivy Campus Tour!

A little background... I wrote a book about magic at Princeton. It's called Enchanted Ivy, and it's coming out on Oct 12 from Simon & Schuster. This tour illustrates its world. (Cue the dun-dun sound effect from Law & Order.)

East Pyne Courtyard

This is the arch into the East Pyne Courtyard, the foreign languages department. In this courtyard:

"A weight smashed hard into the center of her back. Lily lurched forward and slammed down knees-first on the slate flagstones."

This courtyard is also the place where some friends of mine streaked the campus tour during our senior year. The man in this photo was not one of the streakers.

Unseeing Reader

If you look up... a little higher... not that high... you can see the gargoyle from chapter two of Enchanted Ivy. She's called the Unseeing Reader. Here's a close-up:

She's supposed to illustrate that the purpose of the university is the enlightenment of the students. Or a serious misunderstanding of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey.

Firestone Library

I really, really love libraries.

That said, the stacks of Firestone Library are, well... creepy. Sure, you enter in this warm wood sunlit lobby. But then you take the elevator down into dark, silent catacombs.

Seniors have carrells, basically closets, that they can use to write their theses. So when you're in the stacks, you hear the click, click, click of laptops from people you can't see. Kind of like Poe's tell-tale heart. It's also dark. Each row has its own light, which means the overall lighting for the floor is minimal. And in some areas, the bookshelves are pressed together. They separate with the turn of a crank, and when you turn the crank, there's always the risk that you'll discover the skeleton of some student who was trapped there long ago... (Cue spooky ghost music.)

Coming soon... stop three! And click here to read stop one, or view all Enchanted Ivy Campus Tour blog posts at once.

5 days until Enchanted Ivy!

Enchanted Ivy Campus Tour: Stop One

2010-10-05T22:52:00.007-04:00

Welcome to the Enchanted Ivy Campus Tour!

A little background first... Enchanted Ivy is a my new YA fantasy novel. It's coming out October 12th, and it's about magic at Princeton.

I love the theme of magic in the real world. I am fascinated by the intersection and interplay of reality and fantasy. (Yes, I was totally that kid who played Wizard's House instead of ordinary House. I also included "magic wand" on my birthday wish list every year. And I'd record the positions of my stuffed animals before I went on vacation so I could tell if they had a party. A creative child. Or crazy. Your pick.)

Anyway, I like the real-world part of my novels to be as accurate as possible. So while I was writing this novel, I visited Princeton and took myself on a tour of everywhere my protagonist Lily would go. Now let's begin the tour. We're walking, we're walking.....

FitzRandolph Gate

Princetonians have a superstition about the main campus gate: If a student walks out the FitzRandolph Gate before commencement day, he or she won't graduate. Of course, no one really believes it, but still... my friends and I wouldn't even walk in the gate for fear that we'd trip, fall backward out the gate, and never graduate.

This superstition provided the key inspiration for Enchanted Ivy. What really happens when you walk through FitzRandolph Gate? What magic lies beyond? *cue cool music*

One hint: You see those eagles? They talk.

Nassau Hall

Nassau Hall is the oldest building at Princeton. It has a cannon ball imprint inside that dates to the Revolutionary War. And it's not really open to the public.

I went in anyway. Oh, yeah, baby, I'm a wild woman.

But Lily enters Nassau Hall to meet the Council (which, incidentally, includes a were-tiger) so in I went. Apologies for the lack of photos of were-tigers.

She also sees these stairs. I love thinking about how many feet must have stepped here to make these stairs look like this. (I mean, not that I love thinking about feet. Feet are fine, but... oh, never mind.)

"As the stone man dragged them downstairs, Lily clutched at the railing. Her feet slipped on the worn steps. 'Please, you have to listen,' she begged the stone man."

More soon.....

7 days until Enchanted Ivy!

Touring Princeton

2010-10-04T22:51:00.002-04:00

Princeton calls its campus tour the "Orange Key Tour," and it's filled with stories:

- Students used to steal the clapper from the bell on top of Nassau Hall to prevent the start of school. The clapper was later removed after a few too many students fell off the roof. (I find myself wondering how many is "too many"...)

- In a fit of spite, an architect (a Yale graduate) added a gargoyle of the Yale mascot (a bulldog) to the University Chapel. (This one is doubtful because the gargoyle is actually on a gutter -- not the best homage to Yale.)

- The half-buried cannon in Cannon Green was once the treasured prize of an inter-college rivalry. After it was stolen (and stolen back) multiple times, Princeton students half buried it to protect it.

- On the night of the first snowfall each winter, Princeton sophomores used to disrobe and run the Nude Olympics. (Oh, wait, that one's true.....)

You can always spot the tours on campus because the guide walks backwards.

One of my closest friends, Rick, was an Orange Key Tour guide, and on his final tour of our senior year, some of my other dearest friends streaked his tour in East Pyne Courtyard. (I'm not going to name names. You know who you are. Don't worry, though -- your butts do not appear in my book.)

But what does appear is a lot of the Princeton campus.

While I was writing Enchanted Ivy, I used the virtual Orange Key Tour as an initial guide, and then I took two trips to Princeton with my camera and notebook to fill in the details. (Yes, I know I lived there for four years and should know the campus backward and forward, but you see a place differently when you look at it through a character's eyes.) I traced every step that Lily takes.

So I thought that I'd do my own version of the Orange Key Tour here on this blog and show you some of the places that either appear in or inspired my new novel... Please join me tomorrow for the start of the Enchanted Ivy Campus Tour!

8 days until Enchanted Ivy!

Upcoming Enchanted Ivy Events

2010-10-03T17:59:00.005-04:00

You know, I actually did a little dance when I flipped my calendar to October. And that's not just because I fully intend to wear fairy wings for Halloween, though that's admittedly part of it. (I have no idea how I went through my entire childhood without owning a pair of wings. Really a massive oversight. Must be corrected. As soon as I can figure out where to purchase said wings... Suggestions?)

The real reason for my dance will be obvious to anyone who has been reading this blog for a while:

October is the release month for Enchanted Ivy!!! Just 9 days left until pub date!!!

I have some book events coming up that I'm really excited about. Details are below, as well as on the Appearances page of my website. If you're in the area, I hope you'll come!

First event is this Thursday at one of my all-time favorite bookstores: Books of Wonder in NYC. I'll be appearing with Cinda Williams Chima (author of The Exiled Queen) and Yvonne Woon (author of Dead Beautiful). Here's the lovely poster:

Upcoming Appearances:

Books of Wonder
Thursday, October 7th from 6-8pm
Fantasy for Teens Reading/Signing with Cinda Williams Chima, Yvonne Woon, and Sarah Beth Durst
18 West 18th Street, New York, NY

Bay Shore-Brightwaters Public Library
Tuesday, October 26th at 7:30pm &
Tuesday, November 9th at 7:30pm
2-Part Author Visit & Writing Workshop
One South County Road, Brightwaters, NY

World Fantasy Convention 2010
October 28th-31st (Thursday to Sunday)
Hyatt Regency Columbus, 350 North High Street, Columbus, OH

New York Public Library
Wednesday, November 3rd from 6-7:30pm
Teen Author Reading Night with Rachel Cohn, David Levithan, Sarah Beth Durst, Barry Lyga, Lena Roy, Kieran Scott, and Scott Westerfeld
Jefferson Market Branch, 425 6th Ave (at 10th St), New York, NY

Book Revue
Sunday, November 7th at 2pm
Reading/Signing/Book Launch Party (with cake!!!)
313 New York Avenue, Huntington NY

In My Mailbox: Enchanted Ivy and Ice!

2010-09-27T21:38:00.003-04:00

Look what my editor sent me!!! Finished copies of Enchanted Ivy and the paperback of Ice, both of which are coming out on October 12th.

I'm so thrilled with how these turned out and I'm so grateful to the publishing magicians at Simon & Schuster who turned my manuscripts into these beautiful books.

You can't really tell from the photo, but the Enchanted Ivy cover is all shimmery!!!!!

I'm a very lucky Sarah.

15 days until Enchanted Ivy -- and the paperback of Ice too!

Drink, Slay, Love

2010-09-21T00:26:00.006-04:00

I have BIG news!

You know that Top Sekrit Project that I've been talking about? Well, it's not top secret anymore! Here's the announcement in Publishers Marketplace:

Children's: Young Adult
Sarah Beth Durst's DRINK, SLAY, LOVE, about a vampire girl who develops a conscience after she is stabbed through the heart by a unicorn's horn, to Karen Wojtyla at Margaret K. McElderry Books, in a two-book deal, by Andrea Somberg at Harvey Klinger (world).

Words cannot express how excited I am about this. So I shall resort to sounds:

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

I have had the best time writing this book. Seriously, it has been so much fun that I have felt secretly guilty for enjoying the process so much.

Most of that is due to Pearl, my vampire girl. She's kick-ass. And, you know, mostly evil. I love her. I wouldn't ever want to meet her in a dark alley, but I love her.

I also love my unicorns. These are not your run-of-the-mill fluffy My Little Pony unicorns. These are were-unicorns who slay vampires (because who better to hunt vampires than someone with a built-in stake).

So. Much. Fun. To. Write.

And I am so thrilled to finally be able to tell you about it. I have been sitting on this news for a while, but now it's official!

DRINK, SLAY, LOVE will be out from Simon & Schuster in fall 2011, followed by an untitled second book in fall 2012. I am sooooo happy that I get to continue working with my wonderful editor, Karen Wojtyla, on these books. And I am sooooo grateful to my amazing agent, Andrea Somberg, for putting this deal together.

I shall now commence the Snoopy Dance of Joy!

Enchanted Ivy Excerpt

2010-09-20T00:00:00.003-04:00

Got a present for you. Close your eyes...

Cancel that. Forgot you can't read with your eyes closed. Okay, eyes open but imagine yourself unwrapping a box. Inside the box is... a new puppy!!!

Okay, no, just kidding. It's Chapter One of my new novel Enchanted Ivy!

"Almost there," Grandpa said.

Pressing her nose against the car window, Lily frowned at the strip malls, gas stations, and industrial parks as they rolled by. "Really?" she said. She'd expected to see something a bit more picturesque than Walmarts and Home Depots en route to her dream school -- at least a stately forest or a field with a few photogenic cows. And she should hear trumpets playing, plus a massive choir announcing in verse the approach of her destiny.

Maybe she'd built up this moment a bit too much.

Click here to read the rest of the first chapter.

Go ahead. I'll wait. *drums fingers* Are you back yet? No? *attempts to whistle and fails* How about now? Or now?

You're back! Yay! So, did you like it?!?!!?!?!?!?

Danke Schoen

2010-09-15T22:23:00.002-04:00

Sprechen sie deutsch?

I don't. Or really, any other language besides English, though I do know how to say "turtle" and "squid" in sign language. A full semester of it in college and that's all that stuck. Anyway, I am filled with this desire in learn German because I just found out that... (and here is where you can insert a drumroll, if you like)... a publisher in Germany has licensed the German language rights to both Ice and Enchanted Ivy! There are going to be German editions of my books! In, you know, German!

My German publisher is EGMONT Verlagsgesellschaften.

I think I will spend tomorrow learning how to spell that.

I am so over-the-moon thrilled about this that all I can say is...

Danke schoen!!!

Kirkus Review of Enchanted Ivy

2010-09-12T23:37:00.002-04:00

Kirkus, Kirkus, KIRKUS!!!

Kirkus is one of the big trade publications that review books. It has a reputation for tough reviews. It also has a name that's fun to say loudly while bouncing on your desk chair after receiving the news that KIRKUS LIKED ENCHANTED IVY!!!

Here is the full review:

"Blithe and flighty at the beginning, the protagonist and plot quickly darken and deepen in this fantasy and magical coming-of-age story set at Princeton. During Reunion weekend, a mysterious group of alumni offers high-school junior Lily Carter admission if she can find the Ivy Key and pass the Legacy Test. With the help of her dueling love interests -- tiger-haired Tye and knightly Jake -- and the gargoyles on campus, Lily finds the key, along with unexpected information about her late father, her addled mother and her esteemed grandfather. Discovering the key also triggers a war between the group that recruited her and the fantastic residents of a parallel world, whose battles engulf the campus. Durst deftly layers in mythologies, drawing upon the vaunted status of the Ivy League schools, students' stories and superstitions, common tropes of fantasy literature and the propaganda of war. A refreshing entry in the urban-fantasy field and a solid adventure tale." -- Kirkus

YAY!!!

30 days until Enchanted Ivy!

Working on my Project

2010-09-09T21:55:00.003-04:00

While attempting to work on my latest writing project, I wandered over to Laini Taylor's blog, where I found this video by Levni Yilmaz. It is genius and must be viewed by all humans. That is all.

Choosing the Right Place

2010-09-07T23:16:00.004-04:00

Junior year of high school, my parents told me that I could only apply to five colleges. This was entirely for my own good. Left to my own devices, I would have applied to five hundred colleges. (I was a wee bit anxious about the whole thing.)

This limitation didn't stop my obsessing, of course. I needed to pick the "right" five.

My dad and I visited a total of 22 colleges during my junior and senior year of high school. We even video-taped our visits (though most of the time, we'd forget until we were driving away, and I'd just stick the camera out the window and roll film -- unsurprisingly, my mom couldn't watch those videos without getting seasick).

It's not like college campuses are so different from each other. Classrooms, check. Dorm rooms, check. Gym. Student center. Really, your college experience is going to be shaped a lot more by what you are like than what your college is like. Also, who lives on your hall freshman year and whether your roommate is awesome or a raving lunatic.

(My roommate and neighbors were awesome. Also, some of them read this blog. *waves*)

Anyway, when I walked onto the Princeton campus, it felt RIGHT. As I've said before, it was the trees that wooed me: the elms, the oaks, the sycamores, and especially the flowering magnolia-like trees that fill the campus with their perfume every spring.

Picking a setting for a book is a lot like choosing the right college. You agonize over it. You do some research. You visualize your characters in that setting. You try to anticipate how it will change your story and the impact it will have. And in the end, you bite the bullet and decide based on a hodgepodge of actual fact, pure conjecture, and a large dose of random chance.

Once you make that decision, the ramifications are HUGE. Setting shapes both plot and characters, often in ways that surprise you. Eventually, the setting becomes so integral to the story that you can't imagine ever having considered another choice.

I chose to set Enchanted Ivy at my alma mater because I love adding magic to places that I love. It's basically wish fulfillment for me. (I did a similar thing in my debut novel Into the Wild by setting it in the town I grew up in. It's one of the perks of the writing gig.)

The campus quickly became my inspiration and an integral part of the characters and plot. I used the gardens, the eating clubs, the gargoyles, the front gate, even the mascot. The story would literally not be the same if it were set anywhere else.

35 days until ENCHANTED IVY!

College Obsession

2010-08-29T23:07:00.001-04:00

Junior and senior year of high school, I obsessed about college. I swear I did not have a single conversation over those two years that did not touch on the topic of college in some way. Of course, this was not helped by the fact that when one is that age, everyone begins every conversation by asking, "So where are you applying?" And as soon as you can answer that, they begin asking, "So where are you going to go?" And as soon as you can answer that, they ask, "So what's your major?" And then, "What are you going to do after you graduate?" Really, it's enough to make anyone high-strung, and I was high-strung enough to begin with. (I am, after all, the person who had a mid-life crisis at age ten because I didn't know what my career goals were yet. Incidentally or not-so-incidentally, that's when I decided to become a writer. But that's another story.)

I had stacks and stacks of brochures from colleges. I sent away for the promotional videos. I made endless lists of pros and cons... You see, I knew that this was a Big Moment. Whichever direction I went, it would influence what I would do and who I would become. A lot of times, we have Big Moments and have no control over them or don't even recognize them as they happen, but I knew this was one and I had at least the illusion of control over it. Hence the freaking out.

My new novel ENCHANTED IVY is about Lily Carter, a 16-year-old caught in that pre-college obsession. Unlike the 16-year-old me, she knows where she wants to go: Princeton University. She just doesn't know if she's going to get in.

She also doesn't know that Princeton is a portal to a magical realm. If I'd known that, I totally would have done Early Decision.

As it was, I didn't end up deciding where to go until April of my senior year, a few days before the answer was due. After all my careful research and all my lists of pros and cons, I chose Princeton because of the trees. Seriously. I saw the arch of elm trees over Washington Street, and I was sold. In retrospect, this is perhaps not the best way to choose a college. But I loved it there. And it led to this book. So feel free to draw whatever moral you'd like from that. :)

44 days until ENCHANTED IVY!

Freshman Year Sarah

2010-08-24T08:08:00.004-04:00

It is now 50 days until the release of my next book, ENCHANTED IVY. I'm excited! And I'm thinking about college. (The novel is about getting into college. Also, talking gargoyles and were-tigers.) This is me in my dorm room freshman year of college:

Nearly everything I brought with me was a memento: the tall glass cylinder by the window contained dried roses from prom and from various recitals and shows, the gray lamp was my dad's from his college days and the stickers on it were from my elementary school sticker collection, the sunset painting on the wall was painted by my brother, the mug was from my friend Gillian (of INTO THE WILD fame), etc.

Looking at this photo, I think about how much I've changed...

Hmm, I still have that cylinder of dried roses (though the roses in it are newer), and I still have a dead plant on my windowsill (though this one is a geranium). I still have those sandals and wear them every summer. I fill that same mug with hot chocolate every winter. (It's the perfect size for a packet of Swiss Miss.)

Okay, fine, I haven't changed much.

*sticks out tongue*

I do have longer hair. And the cassette tapes (see far left on my desk) have been replaced by iTunes. Also, several years ago, a mover lost that sunset picture. (I'm still annoyed about that.)

I'm more comfortable as me. I'm happier. A lot of that has to do with the person who was on the other side of the wall in that photo. Six years after this photo was taken, I married the boy who lived on the other side of that wall.

As the countdown to pub date continues, I'll be talking more about college, about getting into college, and about my new novel. I'll also be posting an excerpt from ENCHANTED IVY soon, so stay tuned!

Jedi Fireworks

2010-08-15T22:17:00.002-04:00

Only thing I don't like about Return of the Jedi: the fireworks.

In a galaxy far, far away, why would the fireworks look like 1990s Earth fireworks? Fireworks technology changes. Also, why does everyone have fireworks displays at the ready? It was a surprise attack by the Rebels (or it was supposed to be). Have they been keeping the fireworks prepared for the last few decades? Seems a bit optimistic of them. Like keeping confetti in your pocket for years in case you find yourself in the middle of an unexpected surprise party.

Aside from that... BEST MOVIES EVER.

I hear a single line of dialogue from Star Wars, and I feel instantly comforted, as if I've bitten into a chocolate chip cookie or sunk into a bed with a dozen pillows. The first movie in particular (A New Hope, of course, NOT Phantom Menace) is, for me, the ultimate in storytelling and the obvious answer to "What's your favorite movie?"

I also like The Princess Bride, The Dark Crystal, and Labyrinth. But really, Star Wars tops them all. And for the record, Han MUST shoot first.

The trilogy was on TV last night as I was working on polishing my Top Sekrit Project. I'm at the scrutinize-every-sentence-for-clarity-and-poetry stage, which is one of my favorite stages because I love playing with language. Only thing I don't like about this stage is that I means I'll be done soon.

I used to look forward to finishing a novel, thinking there would be some great sense of accomplishment. Or a parade. Or at least a few elephants in fancy hula outfits. But after writing several novels, I now know that I feel a bit bereft after I finish. I miss my characters. I miss my world. I miss writing the novel that I've been immersed in. So I've stopped looking forward to finishing and have just been enjoying being immersed in the novel.

I think there's some deep life lesson in this: enjoy the ride or it's all about the journey or keep the fireworks ready or whatever.

Top Sekrit Project

2010-07-18T23:56:00.001-04:00

Brace yourself. I'm about to begin this post with the most cliched opening possible:

So sorry I haven't blogged in a while!

But I have a very good reason: I've been writing. A lot.

I'm working on a brand-new novel. Can't tell you about it yet. Top sekrit. Shhh... I may have already said too much. *ducks and hides*

Seriously, though, I'm having the BEST time writing this book. All I want to do is write it. I resent having to sleep because it's perfectly good writing time wasted. (Plus I've been having these tremendously boring dreams. Other night, I dreamed we ran out of paper towels. Ooh, exciting. Go, subconscious, go.)

I think my writing process has changed a bit with this novel. I used to speed through the first draft as quickly as possible so I could get to the fun part of writing -- revising -- where the story comes to life. My rule was always: write to the end and don't look back. This time, though, every time the writing slows, I stop, backtrack, and restart from the point at which it started to slow. It feels sort of like a two-steps-forward-one-step-back kind of dance.

At any rate, it's working, and I'm working hard, and I can't wait to tell you guys all about my new Top Sekrit Project!!!

Writing Advice

2010-06-24T00:05:00.002-04:00

I love reading articles about writing advice, especially when that advice comes from other writers, and lately I've come across a flurry of great advice online. So I thought I'd share a few of the articles and blog posts that I've read and enjoyed lately:

"Be Stubborn" by Lilith Saintcrow

"Time Management" by Maggie Stiefvater

"Things I Cannot Change" by Sara Zarr

"Time Lost and Found" by Anne Lamott

"Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing: Speed" by Dean Wesley Smith

"What Do I Wish I'd Known" by Gregory Frost

"Real Life Writing" by Michelle Zink

"Hurry Up and Wait" by Melissa de la Cruz

"On Love and Writing" by Billy Coffey

And here's my two cents... I received an email the other day from a reader who wanted to know how to start writing a book. Here's my response:

Excellent question... For me, the trick to starting any writing project is a bit like the trick to starting a swimming session. If you build it up to be a big deal (telling yourself that the water will be cold or that you’re a lousy diver or that you hate having water in your ears), then you’ll discover that it’s very hard to get yourself into that pool. But if you tell yourself that all you have to do is stick your feet in and if you feel like going further, great, and if not, that’s fine too, then you stand a much better chance of actually swimming (and also enjoying yourself).

In other words, don’t wait until you have the perfect day or the perfect story or the perfect inspiration. Just sit down and write some sentences about one of your ideas. Next day, write a little more. It’s okay if it isn’t good at first. It’s okay if you end up abandoning the story and switching to something else. The key is to write every day whether you feel like it or not, whether you love the story or not. That’s the way to become a writer: by writing.

Good luck! And have a great summer filled with lots of words!

Happy writing!

Percy Jackson and the Free Essay

2010-06-09T23:11:00.003-04:00

Until midnight on Tuesday (6/15), Smart Pop Books is offering my essay about Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series for free on their website!

From my essay "Percy, I Am Your Father" in Demigods and Monsters:

Note to self: Do not become a parent in a fantasy novel. Seriously, have you ever noticed how disturbingly often parents in fantasy novels are dead, kidnapped, missing, clueless, distant, or unknown? Kind of makes me want to round up all the authors, sit them on those pleather psychiatrist couches, and say, "Now, tell me about your mother..."

On the other hand, it works very nicely as a storytelling device: Get the parents out of the way and then something interesting can happen. I think of it as the Home Alone technique. You see it in books by C. S. Lewis, Lemony Snicket, J. K. Rowling... and you definitely see it in Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. All the kids at Camp Half-Blood, including the protagonist Percy, are separated from their parents.

But are the parents really gone from the story?

Click here to read more

BEA 2010

2010-05-31T22:52:00.003-04:00

My trip report for Book Expo America 2010:

I talked to a LOT of people.

Yep, that just about sums it up. :)

Book Expo America (known as BEA) is a convention for booksellers. Publishers have booths, and booksellers, librarians, teachers, authors, illustrators, bloggers, agents, and others wander between them and talk about books. In a word, it is AWESOME.

This year's convention lasted either two days or two months, I'm not sure which. I walked into the Javits Center in NYC at 7am, and when I came out in the evening, it was suddenly 90+ degrees. It felt exactly as if I'd entered the convention center in May and emerged in August. (Not impossible. You do lose track of time in there.)

In actuality, my BEA Adventure lasted almost a week. Monday night was a party at Books of Wonder. Tuesday night was the Association of Booksellers for Children "not-a-dinner" event. Wednesday was... actually, Wednesday felt like three days. It started with the Children's Authors Breakfast, it continued with exploring the exhibit floor, and it ended with 3 different parties around Manhattan. Thursday included a meeting with my agent, more prowling through the exhibit hall and talking to people, and then the long schlep home with three bags stuffed with books.

I also brought home a quote from Richard Peck's speech at the Wednesday breakfast: "The only way to write is by the light of the bridges burning behind you."

From the context of the speech, he didn't mean burning bridges in the sense of alienating people. (That's never a good idea, IMHO.) He meant it in the sense of making career choices. If you want to be a writer, you have to choose NOT to be a lot of other things. You have to burn the bridge that could lead you to a life as a... I don't know.... insert other career goal here.

On one hand, I think that statement is less true about being a writer than being, say, a neurosurgeon or an astronaut. You can have a day job and be a writer. You can also have one career and then become a writer as a second career, or vice versa.

But on the other hand... Everyone has twenty-four hours a day, and every time you choose how to spend those hours, you are also choosing how NOT to spend them.

For me, the writer bridge is the only one that I ever wanted to cross. And I'm happy for the light of the other burning bridges -- it keeps me from tripping over my feet as I walk across. But I'm curious what you guys think of that quote. Do you think it's true?

Happy Birthday to Me

2010-05-24T00:41:00.007-04:00

Today is my birthday. (Well, technically yesterday, since it's after midnight... but I digress...)

I love birthdays. And not just because I can wear a "birthday princess" crown (which I totally put on this morning and then pretended to forget that I was still wearing it for the rest of the day -- "oh, silly me, is this still on?").

And not just because I can eat Carvel ice cream cake. (No birthday is complete without Carvel ice cream cake -- this is actually a tradition to the point of being a superstition with me. I am half convinced that I will not age if I don't eat the cake, which come to think of it may not be such a terrible thing... hmm...)

I love birthdays because it means lots of hugs and kisses and phone calls from the people that I love.

And I won't deny it: birthdays also mean presents. To be clear, it's not that I care about getting stuff. I don't. What I like is the thought behind a clever present. "It's the thought that counts" is not a cliche. Well, yes, it's a total cliche, but it's TRUE.

Awesome Gift #1

It started with a box.

Husband said, "Don't look in the box in the closet."

I didn't.

But I did open the closet door just to see what kind of box I wasn't looking in. (This was totally legit because looking "at" a box is not the same as looking "in" the box, right?) Well, I was looking at a BIG box. Way too big to hold a book. Way too big to be wrapped. He'd cleverly covered it with a bed sheet.

Predictably, this became all I could think about for the last two days, leading to many reenactments of the classic DUNE moment:

"What's in the box?"

"Pain."

I failed to guess what was in the box. Unicorn? No. Dragon? No. Griffin? No. Gryphon-spelled-fancy? No. But as it turns out, I was pretty close. It was a magical present.

This morning (my birthday morning), out came the box. Here's what it held:

And here, after a few hours of assembly that included (oddly enough) a sledgehammer, this is what it transformed into:

My very own wishing well! How perfect is that? For one thing... INTO THE WILD! For another... my husband knows how much I love to make wishes. During our vacation in Disney World, I made a point of visiting the wishing well next to Cinderella's castle just so I could make a few wishes at the well.

Anyway, we placed this wishing well next to our very own Wild (a completely overgrown hill), and I'm planning to plant lots of flowers all around it. Also, I'm planning to make lots of wishes. Already started, in fact.

First wish in the well: 100 unicorns.

Second wish in the well: enough food for 100 unicorns.

Third wish... can't tell you that or it might not come true. (I'm okay with jinxing the unicorn wish. I have no idea where I'd put a herd that size. Things are already crowded enough around here with all the gryphons.)

Awesome Gift #2

Okay, this next gift wasn't a birthday present. It was a thank-you present, but I'm going to tell you about it anyway because it was awesome (and the timing was close enough to pass for a birthday present)...

Last March, I did a virtual school visit to Randall Middle School in Lithia, Florida. It turned out to be one of my all-time favorite visits. When the video conference kicked in, I saw the best sight: 65+ kids all wearing golden crowns and waving magic wands at me.

All the kids had fantastic questions, and the hour flew by so fast that I think I made them late for their next class. I closed out the video conference thinking, "Wow, really cool."

I'd now like to amend that to say, "WOW, REALLY COOL!" Randall Middle School students (led by their fabulous media specialist Darlene Meginnis) deserve all caps. This week, a giant box arrived for me. In it was a T-shirt from their book club, three of my very own magic wands (which I promptly used to turn my husband into a frog -- don't worry; he got better), and a wonderful collage that included the cover art from Into the Wild, a picture of their library, and a poem written by one of the students. On the frame's matte, all the students had added notes in gold ink. I absolutely treasure it.

How awesome is that? So awesome. Thank you to Darlene and the students at RMS! You guys rock!

Nebula Awards Weekend 2010

2010-05-17T00:06:00.009-04:00

I'm writing this in the airport en route home from Nebula Awards Weekend, held this year in Cocoa Beach, Florida. My novel ICE was nominated for SFWA's Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy.

You want to know the best part of being nominated for an award from SFWA (the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America)?

Free unicorn.

Once you arrive at the event, you are spirited away to a secret room, which you must access by aligning a series of steampunk-esque locks. You are then asked a series of questions, ranging from "What is the answer to life, the universe, and everything?" to "Would you like jam tomorrow or jam yesterday?" If you answer correctly, you may proceed. If you fail, you are dropped into the Pit of Eternal Stench (or the Great Pit of Carkoon on Tatooine, depending on your preference, which you stated during the registration process, along with your beef, fish, or veggie choice for the banquet). If you succeed, you are presented with your unicorn.

As I write this, mine is attempting to bust his way out of my carry-on luggage. I'm hoping my unicorn will fit under the seat in front of me. If he doesn't... well, I don't relish the idea of explaining to the flight attendant why the overhead bin is full of unicorn poop.

Okay, okay, there was no secret room or unicorn-as-swag. But there was a space shuttle launch, which is as awesome as a unicorn. (In fact, I think that should be NASA's new motto: "Space, as awesome as unicorns.") The awards weekend (aka the Nebs) was planned to coincide with the third-to-last space shuttle launch, the final flight of the shuttle Atlantis. Launches are visible from Cocoa Beach.

I nearly missed the launch due to the tremendous traffic -- everyone else in the state of Florida was also attempting to drive to the coast to see the launch. But I arrived at the hotel ten minutes before launch, dropped my suitcase at the front desk, and booked it out to the beach.

Lots of people were already there. All of them were standing (as if that would bring you closer to the shuttle than sitting) and looking north. Kind of looked like everyone was waiting for an alien invasion.

At precisely 2:20, I saw a fat firecracker rise above the palm trees and hotels to the north. I was pretty sure it wasn't the shuttle because I thought that the water tanks in the distance were the launch pads. (Not so much.) Also, I'd expected applause or a collective "oooh" from the watchers. (Everyone was busy taking photos.) But I figured out reasonably quickly that fireworks aren't that fat. This was a long fat orange flame followed by billowing white smoke.

The Launch

It looked like the orange fire was giving birth to a huge cloud snake. After a while, the snake ended, but you could still see the shuttle as a white dot. Eventually, it vanished, and the snake slowly coiled in on itself and drifted away.

Really magical.

Cloud Snake

Before the launch, I'd noticed a group of people near me were wearing SFWA Nebula Awards Weekend name tags. I was too shy to say hello at first, but I reminded myself that I'd earned my unicorn (so to speak) and introduced myself. I spent the remainder of the weekend in pretty much constant conversation.

Really, the best part of the Nebs is talking to all the people. The science fiction and fantasy community is filled with some of the nicest, friendliest, smartest, funniest, and most interesting people that I've ever met. *waves at everyone*

Each evening had a great event. On Friday night, there was the mass book signing, followed by the ceremony to honor the nominees. For the book signing, I was seated between Allen Steele and Peter J. Heck. (Does anyone have the photo of me at the signing with Allen in which he is wearing glow-in-the-dark vampire fangs, courtesy of Lucienne Diver?)

For the ceremony, the nominees were called on stage by Russell Davis (current SFWA president) and given a special pin and certificate by Neal Barrett, Jr. (this year's author emeritus).

Later that night, I discovered that if you press the pin and spin around, it will open a portal to another dimension.

Totally kidding. The portal goes to Schenectady.

The Pin

On Saturday night, there was the Awards Banquet. Honestly, I wasn't the slightest bit nervous until I walked into that banquet hall. Once I was inside, I promptly started imagining that either (A) I'd win and forget to thank my husband, who is the heart and soul of everything I do, and then have to spend the next several decades trying to win something again so that I could have a do-over, or (B) my dress would inexplicably fall off.

Which reminds me... the DRESS. As is now a tradition, here is the requisite slightly-tilted self-portrait of me in a purdy dress:

The Dress

I even wore makeup for the occasion (which is shocking considering that I can count on one hand the number of times that I've worn makeup).

Also wore my polar bear necklace.

Best dressed for the night goes to Mary Robinette Kowal who wore an Oscar red-carpet-worthy gown, James Marrow who wore Godzilla slippers, and Bud Sparhawk who wore all his Nebula pins as buttons on his tux.

The event itself was extremely cool. Lots of wonderful speeches. Catherynne Valente, who won the Andre Norton Award, gave a particularly lovely speech about how this book was like a fairy tale, saving her at a time when she needed saving, but how she never expected a glass slipper at the end of it. Connie Willis gave a very funny and sweet introduction to Joe Haldeman, the Grand Master. David Levine showed fantastic photos of his two weeks inside a Mars simulation. And Allen Steele kept everything moving as toastmaster.

The Banquet

But my favorite moment (other than when Tom Doyle announced the nominees for the Andre Norton Award -- totally felt like the Oscars!!!) was when Eugie Foster won for novelette. She and her husband Matthew were sitting next to me for the banquet, and the absolute stunned joy on her face when her name was called... and the look of love and pride on her husband's face... I totally got tears in my eyes. The two of them were radiating joy.

Eugie and Matthew Foster

My favorite line of the night was after the banquet, after Paolo Bacigalupi had won the Nebula for Best Novel, he said, "I'm embarrassed to be this happy." Like Eugie, he was radiating happiness. He was even still smiling the next morning, despite total lack of sleep.

My favorite non-awards-related time of the convention was drinking pina coladas at the outside bar with Laura Anne Gilman with a view of the ocean in front of us and a very stubborn yellow butterfly behind us.

And my favorite totally unrelated to SFWA or the Nebulas moments were my two morning walks down this beach:

The Beach

Lastly, my favorite take-away from the event... I came away from the weekend feeling inspired to write, write, write! So thank you, SFWA. You're all awesome. And the unicorn is great too.

Boston Authors Club Award Ceremony

2010-05-07T23:51:00.003-04:00

So I'm driving down the Mass Pike, heading back from Boston, and my cell phone rings.

BROTHER: Hey.

ME: I'm so sorry that I didn't get to see you! Really short trip.

BROTHER: Where are you?

ME: Driving on the Mass Pike.

BROTHER: Where on the Mass Pike?

ME: Near the Framingham rest stop. Where are you?

BROTHER: On the Mass Pike. Are you in between some 18-wheelers?

ME: Um, yes. Closest one is called Iron Mountain.

BROTHER: I'm five cars behind you.

So we both turn off at the rest stop and have a mini family reunion right there in the parking lot. It was so lucky as to be nearly freaky.

Also by crazy coincidence, earlier that day, while walking around Newbery Street, I heard someone call my name, turned, and saw my cousin, whom I hadn't seen in years.

Either Massachusetts is suddenly a LOT smaller than it used to be, or I was having a very lucky day.

I'm voting the latter because the reason I was in Massachusetts at all that day was to receive this:

ICE was named a 2010 Finalist for the Boston Authors Club Award for Young Readers!!! And now I have this lovely certificate to prove it!

The ceremony was held in the Boston Public Library, which was cool because BPL is one of my favorite libraries. When I lived in Somerville, I used to fill up giant bags of books and nearly break my back hauling them home on the T. Somehow it never occurred to me while I was in the library that I'd have to lug the books home...

It was a really lovely ceremony. The members of the judging committee took turns introducing each book and explaining why they had chosen it, and then several of us talked about why/how we'd written our books. The honored books covered quite a wide range (see list below or click here) -- nonfiction, poetry, and a short story collection, in addition to novels spanning various genres -- and it was fascinating to hear how the different books came to be. I love hearing about other writers' processes.

In case you're curious, here is approximately what I said:

Thank you so much! This really, really means a lot to me.

ICE is a novel that's very close to my heart. I wrote it as a love letter to my husband. It's about true love. Not the fairy-tale love-at-first-sight kind of love where the girl dances with the prince and he doesn't bother to find out anything about her other than her shoe size... but it's about real love, the kind of love where you face the world united as a team, where you'd go beyond the ends of the earth for your love.

One of the reasons that I write fantasy is that it allows you to explore themes like true love in an extreme sort of way. You can explore what sort of person, what sort of relationship would lead a person to literally go east of the sun and west of the moon, beyond the known world.

Another reason that I write fantasy is pure wish fulfillment. I want to ride a talking polar bear! Through writing, I can experience things that aren't actually possible. Growing up, I was the kid who always wanted something magical to happen. I was always searching for dragon's eggs in the backyard or waiting for the portrait in the hall to speak. Every year for much, much too long, I would put on my wish list for Santa: magic wand. (Though I have to say, I still think this was more practical than my brother, who at age six, would put Ferrari on the theory that he could just save it until he was sixteen.)

The third reason that I write fantasy is because I believe that fantasy literature is a very important kind of literature. It directly fulfills what I see as one of the primary purposes of books, which is: escape. To take you someplace else, someplace you will never go, could never go. To let you live inside the skin of someone who is utterly unlike you.

I think that being a writer is the closest you can get in this world to being a wizard. You... we... try to cast spells. You try to create this kind of telepathy where you put your dream into the head of someone you have never met and will never meet: you try to create a shared dream. You shape the reader's imagination. You take them on a journey.

ICE took me on a journey to the Arctic. I've never actually been to the Arctic. I'm a lousy traveler. I always overpack. I don't like to be too hot or too cold. I hate bugs. But I've always thought of the Arctic as a magical, dangerous, beautiful place, and by writing this book, I got to go there.

I did a TON of research for this book. I read nature guides, explorer memoirs, polar bear books, everything I could get my hands on. I think I can safely say that I am the only person I know who owns a North Slope Barrow dialect Inupiaq to English dictionary. At one point, I could tell you what kind of lichen were on the rocks that Cassie would walk past as she trekked across the Arctic. I could tell you where the sun would be on a particular day at a particular time at a particular latitude. It varies that far north, you know. In the middle of summer, at the top of the world, the sun just circles above the horizon all day and all night.

I learned details like if you cry in the Arctic, your eyelashes will freeze and break off, and I got to explore what that would do to a person's character, learning to hold that emotion in. And things like if you walk across the ice of the Arctic, you're walking over frozen sea, not land, and any minute, the ice could shift and drop you into water that could kill you in fifteen minutes -- how that would affect a person.

One of my favorite things about being a writer is that it is the ultimate in armchair traveling. I got to travel vicariously with Cassie.

I'd like to thank you for traveling with me. Thank you for liking ICE. And thank you for this wonderful honor!

And after we all spoke, we ate sandwiches. :) All in all, it was a lovely, lucky day.

If you're a member of the Boston Authors Club and you're reading this, thank you so much for giving me such a nice memory along with such a wonderful honor! And if you're my father and you're reading this (hi, Dad!), thank you so much for coming! It really meant a lot to have you there. Lastly, if you're one of the other authors who was honored on Thursday, congratulations!!!

THE BOSTON AUTHORS CLUB BOOK AWARDS

YOUNG READERS BOOK AWARDS

First Prize:
Jacqueline Davies for LOST

Finalists:
Pat Lowery Collins for HIDDEN VOICES
Sarah Beth Durst for ICE
Francisco X. Stork for MARCELO IN THE REAL WORLD

Highly Recommended Titles:
Pam Bachorz for CANDOR
Liza Ketchum for NEWSGIRL
Glenna Lang & Marjory Wunsch for GENIUS OF COMMON SENSE
Grace Lin for WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON

TRADE BOOK AWARDS

Julia Ward Howe Prize:
Nancy Rappaport for IN HER WAKE

Finalists:
Jay Mathews for WORK HARD; BE NICE
Ann Snodgrass for FIELDS ACROSS WHICH NO BIRDS FLY
Tracy Winn for MRS. SOMEBODY SOMEBODY

Highly Recommended Titles:
Janice Y. K. Lee for THE PIANO TEACHER
Ben Mezrich for ACCIDENTAL BILLIONAIRES
Matthew Pearl for THE LAST DICKENS
Francine Prose for ANNE FRANK
John J. Ronan for MARROWBONE LANE

Boston Authors Club Award Finalist

2010-04-21T00:04:00.002-04:00

Happy news here!!!

ICE has been selected as a finalist for the Boston Authors Club Young Readers Award!

So exciting! I get to attend a fancy awards ceremony and everything -- May 6th at the Boston Public Library. Until then, I'll be doing the Snoopy Dance of Joy:

This is yet another reason for me to love Boston. With no disrespect meant to my current home, I'm a Massachusetts girl at heart. I grew up near Worcester. (That's pronounced "wis-tah." Also, sprinkles are jimmies. Water fountains are bubblers. You pahk the cah in Hahvahd Yahd, and it's all wicked good... though I should point out that no actual Massachusetts person would ever say "pahk the cah in Hahvahd Yahd" because everyone knows it's virtually impossible to find an open parking spot in Harvard Square. Much better to just take the T.)

After college, I lived in the Boston area for five years, and I loved it. I loved the Au Bon Pains on every block. I loved the Make Way for Duckling statues in Public Garden. I loved all the bookstores in Harvard Square. And of course I loved the Boston Public Library. I used to take an enormous LL Bean tote bag to that library and lug huge piles of books all the way back to Somerville. I think my arms are still sore.

Anyway, I am very, very excited and thrilled. Thank you so much, Boston Authors Club!

Adventures in Cooking

2010-04-12T21:24:00.002-04:00

I have decided to learn how to cook.

(Okay, family, you can stop it with the spit-takes. It's not THAT funny.)

Just to clarify, I don't mean "learn to cook" in the sense of braise a roast or whatever. I don't even know what "braise a roast" means. Sounds like two verbs to me. I mean very basic feed-yourself-to-avoid-scurvy cooking.

You see, I lack the kitchen equivalent of a green thumb. I have shattered glass and melted dish drying racks while attempting the oh-so-complex task of cooking pasta. I have transformed hard-boiled eggs into oozing globules. I have failed to toast toast.

You're probably wondering how I've made it this far in life without cooking. I can answer that in five letters: PIZZA. Also, chocolate.

Anyway, I started this adventure a few days ago by declaring my new resolution on Twitter, and one bit of advice that I got was that learning to cook is like learning to write -- more art than science.

So I've decided to test that as I learn how to cook.

First lesson: You have to know the rules before you can break them.

Obvious enough advice in writing. For example, in general, you want to avoid the passive voice. But sometimes, if you use it sparingly, a sentence in the passive voice can pierce with as much power as a sword strike. Or, conversely, it can soften something that might have felt too much like a sword strike.

Apparently, this advice is also true in cooking. My first real from-scratch meal was supposed to be Thai peanut butter pasta with chicken, broccoli, and mushrooms. But I kind of didn't pay attention to the amounts of ingredients.

Turns out "heaping tablespoon" is not the same as half the jar of peanut butter. You know how they put peanut butter on the top of Mr. Ed's mouth so he would move his jaw as if he were talking. That's how I felt while eating this dish.....

Another unfortunate side effect of my cooking: this song is now stuck in my head

Also, the verb "mince" means more than "chop garlic in half." Who knew?

Since my first attempt was such a disaster (or perhaps "a teachable moment"), I thought I should turn to you guys. How do you all feed yourselves? Do you have any recipes you'd recommend that I try?

Please keep in mind that it MUST be quick and easy. If you tell me to poach an egg, I'll think that I'm supposed to steal one from the king's royal forest. Thanks!

Tweeting the Tales: Hans Christian Andersen

2010-04-05T22:08:00.002-04:00

Hans Christian Andersen created some of the most enduring characters and stories ever written. In honor of his birthday, I am now going to trivialize his monumental achievement by retelling his most famous tales as tweets...

TWEETING THE TALES: HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN (in 140 characters or less)

The Little Mermaid: Young mermaid gives up everything to be with man she loves. Dies after he marries less fishy-smelling bride.

The Snow Queen: Young girl embarks on epic quest through winter and woods to save annoying boy. Also, cool ice castle.

The Ugly Duckling: Swan suffering from case of mistaken identity learns that it's more important to be pretty than loved.

The Little Matchgirl: Poor girl freezes to death, but it's okay.

The Emperor's New Clothes: Nude emperor; observant child; rich tailors.

Thumbelina: Small girl is propositioned by inappropriate animals.

The Nightingale: Live birds are better than mechanical birds.

The Tinderbox: Dogs with really huge eyes are cool. (And other stuff happens, but really, their eyes are HUGE.)

The Wild Swans: Girl saves 11 brothers by sewing. Yay for Home Ec!

The Steadfast Tin Soldier: Angst-ridden toys have doomed romances.

The Princess and the Pea: Prince considers fussiness to be reasonable litmus test for suitability to wield supreme executive power.

Happy (belated) birthday, Hans!

If you'd like to read these tales in full, as well as others by Andersen, I recommend the beautiful and fascinating Annotated Hans Christian Andersen, edited by Maria Tatar.

Rocky Point, Teen Author Festival, and I-Con

2010-03-22T22:32:00.009-04:00

Been a busy little Sarah here...

Rocky Point Middle School

I did a school visit on the 12th at Rocky Point Middle School (in Long Island), and here is the first sight that greeted me when I walked into the school:

Amazing Wall Mural of ICE Cover Art

Is there anything more awesome than that? And to those of you who reply that an actual polar bear waiting to greet me would be more awesome, I say, "You are incorrect, sir." An actual polar bear would have eaten me.

This mural was surrounded by the three winners of the poster contest:

Sooooo cool.

The rest of the day was similarly awesome. I spoke with the 8th grade first, then the 6th grade, then the 7th grade, and I had lunch in the library with the book club, the winners of the poster contest, and several faculty members.

Thank you to everyone at Rocky Point Middle School, especially their fantastic library media specialist Cathy O'Connell and wonderful principal Scott O'Brien!

NYC Teen Author Festival

The NYC Teen Author Festival rocked.

On Friday, I participated in the symposium at the New York Public Library. After saying hello to the lions...

... I was part of the panel on "Genre and Adolescence" with Judy Blundell, Lauren McLaughlin, Diana Peterfreund, Sara Shepard, Maggie Stiefvater, and Robin Wasserman. I had a tremendously fun time.

I also learned a valuable lesson: when participating in such events, choose socks with care. Sitting on stage, without a table to hide behind, my ankles were very visible to the audience. On Friday, I had managed to dress like a grown up in every respect except my socks. My socks had these ridiculous fat Garfield-esque cats on them.

I'm so not good at this looking-like-a-grown-up thing.

On Sunday (wearing polar bear socks), I signed books along with 60+ other authors at Books of Wonder for the final event of the NYC Teen Author Festival. It was like a whole afternoon-long cocktail party (minus the cocktails but plus a slice of Coe Booth's birthday cake) with tons of fantastic and fascinating people to talk to. Here's a photo from the event, courtesy of author Courtney Sheinmel:

Courtney Sheinmel, Natalie Standiford, Me, Elizabeth Scott

Huge thank you to Books of Wonder, NYPL, and David Levithan, who organized the entire festival!

Upcoming Event: I-Con

Next weekend I'll be a program participant at I-Con, a science fiction and fantasy convention at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, NY. My schedule is:

Friday 3/26, 8pm - Reception - "Meet the Pros(e)"
Sunday 3/28, 12pm - Reading
Sunday 3/28, 2pm - Panel - "Varieties of Writing"

Hope to see you there!

2010 NYC Teen Author Festival

2010-03-15T00:56:00.005-04:00

The 2010 NYC Teen Author Festival is this week!

Organized by the always-awesome David Levithan, the festival runs from March 15-21, features 70+ YA authors, and includes readings, panels, and signings all over New York City. You can see the full schedule here.

I'll be participating in two of the events:

FRIDAY, MARCH 19TH
NYC Teen Author Festival Symposium
New York Public Library (South Court, 42nd Street -- the one with the lions)
2:10 - 3:00 "Using Genre to Tell the True Story of Adolescence" with:
Judy Blundell
Sarah Beth Durst
Lauren McLaughlin
Diana Peterfreund
Sara Shepard
Maggie Stiefvater
Robin Wasserman

SUNDAY, MARCH 21ST
NYC Teen Author Festival Signing
Books of Wonder (18 West 18th Street)
2:00 - 5:45 Massive Book Signing
We will be signing in shifts. I'll be signing at 2:45 - 3:30 with:
Tom Dolby
Heather Duffy-Stone
Sarah Beth Durst
Elizabeth Eulberg
Gayle Forman
Aimee Friedman
Jenny Han
Alice Hoffman
Carla Jablonksi
Melissa Kantor
Kristen Kemp
Michelle Knudsen
Peter Lerangis
David Levithan

I'm very, very excited about this. The signing on Sunday is at one of my all-time favorite bookstores and will include more authors than you can shake a stick at. (Not that you should be shaking sticks at authors. That would be an odd thing to do.) And the panel discussion on Friday is at the main building of the New York Public Library.

When I found this out, I said to my husband, "It's at the one with the lions! Yay! I'm so excited! Lions!"

My husband said, "That's great!" He paused. "Wait. You're expecting the lions to talk, aren't you?"

"Of course not!" I said.

"Good," he said.

"I'm expecting them to sing."

Cover Art for ENCHANTED IVY!!!

2010-03-07T23:01:00.003-05:00

Look, look, look!!!

Cover art for ENCHANTED IVY!!!

*flails*

I am very, very excited to share with you the cover for my next novel, ENCHANTED IVY, coming from Simon & Schuster / Margaret K. McElderry Books on October 12, 2010.

ENCHANTED IVY is a story about getting into college. You know, taking the campus tour, talking to the gargoyles, flirting with the were-tigers, riding the dragons... While visiting the campus of Princeton University, 16-year-old Lily discovers a secret gate to a magical realm and must race against time to save herself, her world, and any hope she has of college admission.

I am absolutely in love with this cover. Yep, head over heels with a jpeg. I can't stop staring at it. The art was created by the extremely talented Sam Weber. (You can see more of his work here.)

Thank you, thank you, thank you to my editor and everyone at Simon & Schuster for giving my book this lovely cover. Snoopy dance of joy!!!

Sooooo..... Do ya like it?

Whose Fault Are You?

2010-02-28T20:55:00.002-05:00

Whose fault are you?

Tiffany Trent talked about this the other day on her blog in response to an open letter by Neil Gaiman to Michael Moorcock about author influences.

I am primarily the fault of Tamora Pierce, specifically her Alanna quartet. I discovered those books right around the time that I decided I wanted to become a writer. Not sure which came first, making that decision or reading those books, but I do remember thinking: if Alanna can become a knight, then I can become a writer. Both were impossible dreams, and mine involved a whole lot fewer sit-ups.

Always a fan of fewer sit-ups.

I'm also the fault of Robin McKinley's The Blue Sword. Read that book so many times that I think I could close my eyes and visualize it scene by scene. And I think Deep Wizardry by Diane Duane is imprinted on my soul. (Oh, Ed! You are the most awesomest shark ever!)

Anyway, these books (and others like them) illustrate the primary reason why I think fantasy is important: it's a literature of empowerment.

The other weekend at Boskone, I was on a panel about "Why Adults Love YA," and this was one of the things that we all agreed on: YA fantasy/SF tends to embrace idealism and optimism. It's okay to feel joy. It's okay to hope. Love will conquer all. The little guy can conquer the massive evil. Etc.

Growing up, I whole-heartedly embraced this message, and I think it shows both in the stories I love to read and the ones I choose to tell. I'm a glass-half-full kind of girl, optimistic to the point of idiocy. If I were a gazelle loose in the wild, I'd totally be the one saying, "Oh, look at that cute little lion! Such a fluffy mane! Bet he needs a snuggle! Here, kitty, kitty... AHHHHH!!!" *chomp*

How about you? Which books and authors are to blame for you?

Olympics

2010-02-24T23:23:00.002-05:00

Are you watching the Olympics?

I've developed a real fondness for curling. My husband read me the rules the other night, and I've stayed up until 1am several nights in a row shouting, "Sweep! Sweep! Sweep!" at the TV.

Considering my aversion to cleaning the house, this isn't a cry commonly heard around here.

I also rather like the biathlon because it's such a random pairing of skills. Kind of like, "Look! I'm good at crocheting and cartwheels! Let's link them together and score it!"

And I love ski cross because it's just crazy: four people flying down the mountain, barely in control, and oh, yes, let's give them poles because clearly, what they were lacking in the snowboarding version of this is weapons.

But what I love most of all is the ice skating.

I think Olympic-level ice skating is one of the primary things that separates humans from other animals. You might find a polar bear sledding down a slope or a penguin practicing a dive, but where in nature do you find a creature strapping a blade of metal to the bottom of his or her paws and then competing to see who twizzles better?

It is such a tremendously unnatural thing to do that I think it is absolutely awesome. Seriously, it's taking something that people aren't designed to be able to do and transforming those unlikely skills into moments of breathtaking beauty.

Really, I find all of the Olympics to be inspiring. Night after night, my TV is filled with images of people who have worked hard to achieve an impossible dream. I love that. I love the reminder that if you work hard and if you believe in yourself (and if you don't break your ankle in a horrific fashion) that you can do what you love on the world stage and create moments of beauty and excitement and joy.

So to everyone out there with an impossible dream... sweep! Sweep! SWEEP!

ICE is an Andre Norton Award Finalist!!!

2010-02-19T10:20:00.007-05:00

Eeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!

Snoopy Dance of Joy!!!!!!!!

*pant, pant*

*composes self to look more professional... pats down hair, straightens shirt, pinches cheeks, sits up straight, puts away noise-makers and maracas*

I haz news. :)

I am very pleased (and very, very excited) to report that ICE is a finalist for SFWA's 2009 Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy!

It will appear on the final ballot with the following books:

LEVIATHAN, Scott Westerfeld
EYES LIKE STARS, Lisa Mantchev
ICE, Sarah Beth Durst (me!)
ASH, Malinda Lo
WHEN YOU REACH ME, Rebecca Stead
ZOE'S TALE, John Scalzi
HOTEL UNDER THE SAND, Kage Baker
THE GIRL WHO CIRCUMNAVIGATED FAIRYLAND, Catherynne M. Valente

Members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America will vote throughout the month of March to select a winner, which will be announced as part of the Nebula Awards Banquet, held this year at the Cocoa Beach Hilton in Cape Canaveral, FL, on May 15th. (Click here for information about the event.)

I will be there. I will sooo be there. With bells on. Or at least a pretty dress.

Coolest part about being shortlisted was how I found out...

On Wednesday, my phone rang. (This was remarkable because no one ever calls me except my family and some dude who refuses to believe that the previous owner of our house doesn't live here any more.) I answered, "Hello?"

"Is this Sarah Beth Durst?" a woman's voice said.

Telemarketers don't know my middle name. Only people who are contacting me because of my writing use my middle name. Everyone else calls me just Sarah. (Or, if you're the dude who keeps calling, "Cho-Chang.") So I knew immediately this was writing-related, and I wittily said, "Yes, it is." And then I worried that I should have said, "This is she," and then I decided that that sounds a bit too formal so what I said was fine... By this point, of course, she'd moved on in the conversation.

She said, "This is Madeleine E. Robins, calling on behalf of the Nebula committee, to inform you that ICE has been nominated for the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy. Do you accept the nomination?"

To which I should have said, "Yes, I would be delighted to accept the nomination."

But what I really said was more like, "What?! Really? Yes, yes, YES! Whoo-hoo!"

Smooth, Sarah. Very smooth.

At that point, the words "Andre Norton Award Finalist" started flashing inside my head like some garish Las Vegas hotel sign... which caused me to promptly forget my caller's name.

(This is rather inexcusable because it's not like I didn't know the name -- she wrote THE STONE WAR, which I'd read and enjoyed and was sitting on my bookshelf about two feet away from the phone.)

As a result, when I then called my husband a few minutes later, the best I could do was, "I got the CALL! Andre Norton! Yippee!"

"Who called?" he asked.

Long pause.

"I have no idea," I said.

"Are you sure they didn't call for Cho-Chang?"

We then spent the next ten minutes searching the SFWA website with me going, "Maybe Darlene? Arlene? Robinson? Rob-Something?" My clever husband figured it out, thus confirming that I hadn't hallucinated the entire thing. Always a relief.

After that, I began my Snoopy Dance of Joy, and I have been dancing ever since.

Congratulations to all my fellow Norton finalists, as well as to all the finalists for the Nebula Awards! Hope to see you in Florida!

For those who are interested, here's the official press release from SFWA:

The Nebula Awards are voted on, and presented by, active members of SFWA. The awards will be announced at the Nebula Awards Banquet the evening of May 15 at the Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront, just 20 minutes from the Kennedy Space Center in Fla. Other awards to be presented are the Andre Norton Award for Excellence in Science Fiction or Fantasy for Young Adults, the Bradbury Award for excellence in screenwriting and the Solstice Award for outstanding contribution to the field.

Short story
"Hooves and the Hovel of Abdel Jameela," Saladin Ahmed (Clockwork Phoenix 2, Norilana Press, Jul09)
"I Remember the Future," Michael A. Burstein (I Remember the Future, Apex Press, Nov08)
"Non-Zero Probabilities," N. K. Jemisin (Clarkesworld, Nov09)
"Spar," Kij Johnson (Clarkesworld, Oct09)
"Going Deep," James Patrick Kelly (Asimov's Science Fiction, Jun09)
"Bridesicle," Will McIntosh (Asimov's Science Fiction, Jan09)

Novelette
"The Gambler," Paolo Bacigalupi (Fast Forward 2, Pyr Books, Oct08)
"Vinegar Peace, or the Wrong-Way Used-Adult Orphanage," Michael Bishop (Asimov's Science Fiction, Jul08)
"I Needs Must Part, The Policeman Said," Richard Bowes (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Dec09)
"Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast," Eugie Foster (Apex Online, Nov09)
"Divining Light," Ted Kosmatka (Asimov's Science Fiction, Aug08)
"A Memory of Wind," Rachel Swirsky (Tor.com, Nov09)

Novella
The Women of Nell Gwynne's, Kage Baker (Subterranean Press, Jun09)
"Arkfall," Carolyn Ives Gilman (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Sep09)
"Act One," Nancy Kress (Asimov's Science Fiction, Mar09)
Shambling Towards Hiroshima, James Morrow (Tachyon, Feb09)
"Sublimation Angels," Jason Sanford (Jason Sanford, Nov09)
The God Engines, John Scalzi (Subterranean Press, Dec09)

Novel
The Windup Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi (Nightshade, Sep09)
The Love We Share Without Knowing, Christopher Barzak (Bantam, Nov08)
Flesh and Fire, Laura Anne Gilman (Pocket, Oct09)
The City & The City, China Miéville (Del Rey, May09)
Boneshaker, Cherie Priest (Tor, Sep09)
Finch, Jeff VanderMeer (Underland Press, Oct09)

Bradbury Award
Star Trek, JJ Abrams (Paramount, May09)
District 9, Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell (Tri-Star, Aug09)
Avatar, James Cameron (Fox, Dec 09)
Moon, Duncan Jones and Nathan Parker (Sony, Jun09)
Up, Bob Peterson and Pete Docter (Disney/Pixar, May09)
Coraline, Henry Selick (Laika/Focus Feb09)

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy
Hotel Under the Sand, Kage Baker (Tachyon, Jul09)
Ice, Sarah Beth Durst (Simon and Schuster, Oct09)
Ash, by Malinda Lo (Little, Brown & Company, Sep09)
Eyes Like Stars, Lisa Mantchev (Feiwel and Friends, Jul09)
Zoe's Tale, John Scalzi (Tor Aug08)
When You Reach Me, Rebecca Stead (Wendy Lamb Books, 2009)
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In A Ship Of Her Own Making, Catherynne M. Valente (Catherynne M. Valente, Jun09)
Leviathan, Scott Westerfeld (Simon, Oct09)

For more information, visit www.nebulaawards.com or www.sfwa.org

About SFWA

Founded in 1965 by the late Damon Knight, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America brings together the most successful and daring writers of speculative fiction throughout the world.

Since its inception, SFWA® has grown in numbers and influence until it is now widely recognized as one of the most effective non-profit writers' organizations in existence, boasting a membership of approximately 1,500 science fiction and fantasy writers as well as artists, editors and allied professionals. Each year the organization presents the prestigious Nebula Awards® for the year’s best literary and dramatic works of speculative fiction.

Ottoson and Boskone

2010-02-17T17:16:00.002-05:00

Ottoson Middle School Visit

Ottoson Middle School, you guys rock!

Thank you to all the students, teachers, and librarians who listened to me babble. You all asked so many great questions. I had a fantastic time! (Extra thumbs up to the boy who suggested the attack-potato story.)

You guys now have the distinction of being the largest audience I've ever addressed. (Each grade was 300+ students.) A decade ago, if you'd told me that I'd be talking to that many people at once about writing, I'd have looked at you as if you'd transformed into a pink talking pony with a sparkly tail. But I loved it. (And if you'd told me a decade ago that I would love it, I'd have looked at you as if you'd transformed into the Supreme Ruler of the Pink Sparkle-Ponies.)

Rocky Point Middle School Visit

The day before my Ottoson visit, I'd been scheduled to visit another school, Rocky Point Middle School, but we were snowed out!!! Fortunately, my visit has been rescheduled for March 12th. I'm crossing my fingers that it won't blizzard again. Looking forward to meeting all of you Rocky Point students soon!

Boskone 2010

This past weekend, I was a program participant at one of my favorite conventions: Boskone. If you're in the Boston area and you like fantasy and science fiction, you really should come to this. It's every year around Valentine's Day, and it's filled with people who love books (like yours truly). It's also well-organized. Plus the hotel has soaps shaped like leaves, which makes me happy. I like cute soaps.

Highlights included meals, of course. I had a fun dinner on Friday night with Lev Grossman and Ethan Gilsdorf. On Saturday night, I had a lovely time at dinner with Bruce Coville, Jane Yolen, and Andrew Sigel. (The rest of the meals consisted of loaves of bread provided for free by the con. I inhaled those. Man might not be able to live by bread alone, but with bread and books, this girl can get pretty darn close. Throw in some chocolate and I'm all set.)

I also had some fantastic programming items, including a panel on "Why Adults Love YA" with Bruce Coville, Michael Daley, Margaret Ronald, and Navah Wolfe (in which we waxed poetic and effusive on why YA fantasy/SF rocks the kazbah) and my kaffeeklatsch (in which many awesome people woke up alarmingly early on Sunday morning to chat with me -- thank you!).

And the hallmark of any good con: lots of great conversations with great people throughout the weekend. Especially enjoyed talking with Liz, Sarah, and Emily after my first reading. And I had a ball chatting with fellow admirers of Thundarr the Barbarian!

Nebula Deadline and Boskone Schedule

2010-02-07T22:55:00.002-05:00

Nebula and Andre Norton Award Nomination Deadline

Attention SFWA Members: The deadline for nominating books for the 2009 Nebula Awards, including the Andre Norton Award for Outstanding Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy, is rapidly approaching -- February 15, 2010. Under the new rules, any active or associate member of SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America) may nominate books. And for the Norton, any YA fantasy/SF books published between July 2008 and December 2009 are eligible.

If you're a SFWA member, click here and enter your name and password to start nominating!

There are lots of wonderful YA books in the running for the Norton this year -- including one that is particularly dear to my heart :) -- so if you're a SFWA member and you love YA, please head over to the nomination site before it's too late.

Boskone Schedule

In other news, I'm very excited to be headed up to Boskone next weekend! Boskone is a wonderful fantasy/SF convention held every February in Boston. This year it takes place from February 12-14 at the Westin Waterfront hotel. I've been attending for many, many years and have been serving on panels and such ever since I got published. Really love this con. I think it's my favorite one. Very well organized, great panels, great people, and lots of fun. And I recently got my schedule! Check it out:

Friday 6pm Schools for Magicians
Bruce Coville
Sarah Beth Durst
Ethan Gilsdorf
Lev Grossman (M)
Jane Yolen
A Hogwarts degree isn't the only path from mundanity to magicianhood. Let's consider how writers have portrayed schools, including Roke, Unseen University, Brakebills, and more. Why a school setting (well, besides innate familiarity for both reader and writer, plus a built-in rationale for info-dumps? How do these fantastical academies compare to SF's schools for space cadets. As we look beyond (and before) Harry Potter, we'll examine the continue fascination with such sorcerous scholastic settings.

Saturday 10am Reading (0.5 hrs)
Sarah Beth Durst

Sunday 9am Kaffeeklatsch

Sunday 10am Autographing

Sunday 11am Reading for Kids (0.5 hrs)
Sarah Beth Durst

Sunday 1pm Why Adults Love YA
Bruce Coville
Michael J. Daley (M)
Sarah Beth Durst
Margaret Ronald
Navah Wolfe
Are grown-ups just trying to recapture their misspent youth, or is there something either more compelling about this kind of fiction? If so, what?

So in preparation for my Boskone panels, I pose the above questions to you. Any thoughts about wizard schools or adults reading YA? Please do share. My goal, as always, is to avoid sounding like an idiot. And tapping into the collective wisdom of all of you is a great way to do that!

Kindling Words 2010

2010-02-02T00:31:00.002-05:00

Last weekend, I attended my very first writer's retreat: Kindling Words East. It's held in northern Vermont and is specifically for YA and children's book writers, illustrators, and editors.

Here's reason #1 that I loved it:

Yellow walls. View of snow. Candle in the window. It's the perfect writer's nook. Midday, a sunbeam traveled across the desk. I started writing when the beam hit the left edge of my manuscript and stopped when it crossed over the right edge.

Here's reason #2 that I loved it:

The people. (I didn't take any photos of people so please imagine a picture filled with so much awesomeness that it sparkles.)

I walked in late on Thursday (at the end of dinner), saw everyone chatting away, flashed back to that middle-school cafeteria moment when you see full tables and don't know where to sit, and promptly fled under the guise of "oh, I just have to check in." But I gathered up my courage and went back in there... By the end of the weekend, I'd met almost everyone there. Everyone was immensely nice and friendly. Plus every single person there loved books. I had so many great conversations and talked to so many awesome people that I want to go back every year.

For those of you wondering... yes, I did eat s'mores at the bonfire! (The marshmallows were a wee bit frozen due to the fact that it was 3 degrees outside, but it still brought back lovely memories of Girl Scout sit-upons and of my dad dressing up in a gorilla costume to scare all of us at the campground as we told ghost stories... Still not exactly sure what gorillas have to do with ghosts, but whatever.) We also sang Kumbaya because, you know, it had to be done. For a song that repeats so much, I know shockingly few of the lyrics. Also, we made wishes for the year by writing them on scraps of paper that we threw into the fire. And one of the other writers nearly burnt her shoe...

Thank you to everyone who was there. You guys made the weekend so special. Hope to see you again next year, if not sooner!

Pictures That Make Me Happy

2010-01-27T22:22:00.005-05:00

Lots and lots of writing going on here. I am closing in on the end of revisions for my next novel (my magic-at-Princeton book). This weekend, I am going to my first ever writers' retreat (Kindling Words), and I have high hopes of major progress. And s'mores. That's right, I'm told there will be a bonfire with s'mores! So. Very. Excited.

Anyway, while I play with words, I wanted to share with you some pictures that make me happy.

This beautiful bear was drawn by Realm Lovejoy to accompany her interview with me on her blog. She draws pictures to accompany each author interview. Very cool.

And this gorgeous piece was created by Katie of Sophistikatied Reviews. I think it totally looks like a real movie poster. Check out all her fan art. Quite awesome.

Lastly, my friend Cathie sent me this photo from a store window on Madison Ave in Manhattan.

Now that is one snazzy polar bear!

Newbery and Printz 2010

2010-01-18T22:10:00.004-05:00

Snoopy dance of joy for Rebecca Stead and Libba Bray!!!

This morning, Rebecca Stead won the 2010 Newbery Award for her beautifully crafted novel WHEN YOU REACH ME, and Libba Bray won the 2010 Printz Award for her brilliantly hilarious novel GOING BOVINE.

I love it when nice things happen to nice people. Both Rebecca and Libba are awesome people in addition to being fantastic writers.

I first met Rebecca when we were both members of a debut-author group called the Class of 2k7. (Her excellent debut novel FIRST LIGHT came out the same year as my debut novel INTO THE WILD.) She's always been so friendly and sweet and gracious. I was so excited to hear she'd won the Newbery. Bet she was too!

Libba is simply hilarious, both on the page and in person. I've had the pleasure of hanging out with her at various teen author events in Manhattan, most recently at a Teen Author Reading Night where we both read from our books. While the rest of us read our scenes in the usual chronological order, Libba asked the audience to call out page numbers and read a selection of random pages from GOING BOVINE. It was the best reading I've ever heard. And of course, there's this.

So please join me in dancing for Rebecca and Libba, as well as all the other winners and honorees of today's American Library Association awards. See the full list here.

Sometimes the universe gets things right. Well done, ALA.

Happy New Year

2010-01-08T07:20:00.003-05:00

Since it's been a while since my last blog post (sorry!), I'd like to begin by saying something profound...

Yeah, I got nothing. You?

I spent the bulk of December with my family, which was wonderful and very happy-making. I also dove into revisions on my next novel (coming fall 2010), also happy-making. I promise I'll tell you more about it as the year progresses. (Hee-hee!)

For now, just wanted to wish you all a happy new year! Hope you have a wonderful 2010 full of dreams come true!

More soon.....

300th Post and School Library Journal Review

2009-12-02T22:08:00.004-05:00

This is my 300th blog post!

*blows horn and throws confetti*

Please have a slice of cake.

I started this blog in September 2006 with these words: "Have you ever had a dream come true? Welcome to mine. I'm Sarah Beth Durst, and I'm about to be published."

Now it's 3 books and 300 posts later, and I want to thank all of you for continuing to join me on this journey!

It seems that the universe knew this would be my 300-blogiversary because this week I got a wonderful present: a lovely review of ICE from School Library Journal. This makes me very, very, very happy. Here's the review, from the December 2009 issue of School Library Journal:

"Novels with a fairy tale at their center are ubiquitous, but even in this crowded market, Ice, based on "East of the Sun, West of the Moon," is a standout. Cassie is the daughter of an Arctic scientist and lives in a research station on the ice. Her mother is dead, according to her father, but Cassie remembers a story her grandmother used to tell her about how her mother was the daughter of the North Wind and was stolen away by the trolls. As the story opens, the teen is pursuing a polar bear when it steps into the ice and disappears. Drawn by her feeling that there is something special about the animal, Cassie ventures out after it. The bear is a munaqsri, a keeper of souls for the polar bears. Cassie agrees to be his wife if he will rescue her mother. Although initially fearful, she develops a relationship with Bear based on real love and companionship. All is well until she ignores the prohibition against looking at his face while he is in human form at night. Bear becomes a prisoner of the trolls, and Cassie, now pregnant, begins her quest to travel east of the sun and west of the moon to rescue her beloved. This is a unique and cleverly spun romance for an older readership than Edith Pattou's East (Harcourt, 2003), with a splendidly courageous and smart heroine. Durst flawlessly weaves together romance, adventure, and a modern sensibility to create a highly inventive and suspenseful story of a girl on the cusp of adulthood. Readers will take Cassie and Bear to their hearts." -- Sue Giffard, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, New York City

As I started saying 300 blog posts ago... Snoopy Dance of Joy!

Double Interview: Jessica Day George

2009-11-30T00:21:00.005-05:00

Got a special treat for you today: Author Jessica Day George!

Jessica and I have a cool bond. (No pun intended.) We both wrote novels inspired by the Norwegian folktale "East of the Sun and West of the Moon" -- Jessica's SUN AND MOON, ICE AND SNOW and my ICE. Together with Edith Pattou's EAST, another wonderful retelling of this folktale, it seems that we're building up a lovely little sub-genre around East of the Sun. To date, our numbers still pale in comparison to the legions of Cinderella retellers out there, but I hope that our contributions will help spread the word about this beautiful, icy tale.

A few weeks ago, Jessica and I exchanged signed copies of our books. I was extremely excited about this, as it meant that I would finally get to read her book! (I'd been resisting the urge to read other East of the Sun retellings until ICE was released.) We were both fascinated by how tremendously different our books are. Despite the same inspiration, we focused on very different aspects of the original tale and took the story in very different directions. In the end, we wound up with two novels that are nearly (must resist another pun, must resist... cannot resist...) polar opposites.

To explore this further, we decided to interview each other on our blogs. If we've gotten our timing right, my interview of Jessica (below) and Jessica's interview of me should appear on the same day. So check out her blog to read the other half of our double interview.

Before I start her interview, though, I want to say that I loved, loved, loved Jessica's book. SUN AND MOON, ICE AND SNOW is a beautiful novel. It's beautifully written, and it has such a perfect fairy-tale-magical feel.

Jessica deepened and expanded all the elements of the original tale, keeping the original Norwegian setting and all the characters but infusing the tale with back story and emotions. She also added wonderful minor characters, such as Erasmus and Mrs. Grey (castle servants who provide both clues and suspense) and the fabulous wolf Rollo (a new sidekick), and she created a magnificant backstory with Hans Peter (the "lassie's" brother) and his love Tova. She further enriched her tale with great details like the troll language and the pervasive stench of the trolls. The end result is simply wonderful.

Now, without further ado, here is the fantastic Jessica Day George talking about her experience with bringing this tale to life:

1) Why did you choose to retell East of the Sun, West of the Moon? What drew you to this tale?

Having loved this story for years, I decided in high school that I would do a retelling of it. It needed so much more! I wanted to travel east o' the sun and west o' the moon with the young lassie, and see what she saw! I loved Norway, and polar bears, and there just weren't enough books out there to suit me.

2) How did you first discover this tale?

I found the P.J. Lynch illustrated picture book at a bookstore when it first came out, and since he draws the lass as a redhead, I had to have it. I recognized the story, I don't know when I heard it first or where. But the Lynch version is what made me think, I want to turn this into a novel.

3) What was the writing process like for Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow?

After years of making little notes here and there when inspiration struck, and studying Norwegian, and fairy tales, and even Old Norse, one day after I had finished Dragon Slippers I just thought, "Am I ready? Will I ever be ready? I'm going to take the plunge. . . " My heart was racing and I felt a little queasy that I would screw up after all these years of planning the book . . . and then the rest was just a big blur, frankly.

4) How did you choose what to keep of the original tale and what to change?

I tried to keep it all! I wanted a completely faithful retelling of the story, beginning with Long ago, and far away, and moving on through the polar bear, the strange man in her bed at night, the candle wax, the trolls, all of it! I wanted the reader to think that they had been dropped right into the original, just now in Surround Sound!

5) I loved the addition of the Hans Peter storyline. What was the inspiration for that backstory?

I wanted her to have this hero, this older brother who was kind to her when some of her family wasn't, and I loved the idea that he had seen strange and horrible things that changed him . . . and then I smacked myself on the head and thought: He's been through it, too!

6) You also added multiple wonderful minor characters in the castle, as well as the wolf Rollo. Can you tell me about the decision to add them?

Having secretly always wanted a pet wolf, and one that could talk, Rollo just leaped onto the page. The servants in the palace of ice, and the palace of gold, were a little different. In versions of the fairy tale there are invisible servants -- but that always freaked me out! Are they watching her in the bath? Creeeeeepy! But I didn't want them to just be polar bears, because polar bears . . . well, they're not known for their cooking, now are they? So I decided to have other mythological creatures manning the kitchens. My favorite was Mrs. Grey, the gargoyle housekeeper.

7) What inspired the personalities of your lassie and bear? How much of yourself appears in your characters?

I usually feel like my main character is a little piece of me, but not so with the Lass. To me, she really was part of a fairy tale come to life. She's much meeker than I am, and much more uncertain. She was resigned to her lot in life as an unloved youngest child, doomed to toil on the family farm indefinitely. When something fine was given to her: riches, love, she hardly dared to reach for it. The bear was fun to write because I tried to give him a good sense of humor. I figured that he'd have to have one in order to survive being turned into a bear without going crazy. He's a pampered prince suddenly cursed, and dealing with it the best that he can.

8) If a polar bear asked you to marry him, what would you say?

That depends: does he have a palace? Because I am not living in a snow cave!

Thanks so much, Jessica!

Double interview continued on Jessica's blog..... Click here to read her interview of me!

Polar Bears and Penguins

2009-11-18T23:48:00.006-05:00

I developed a somewhat odd pet peeve while writing Ice: I can't handle cute illustrations of polar bears frolicking with penguins. It causes me to start ranting.

Polar bears = Arctic = top of the world. Penguins = Antarctica = bottom of the world. Even if those cute little flightless birds wander up to South America, we're still talking opposite hemispheres. Seriously, these creatures could not live farther apart without leaving the planet. Seeing a polar bear with a penguin would be like walking into your backyard and seeing a chipmunk frolicking with an elephant. It doesn't happen. They don't live together!

*deep breath*

I adore this cartoon, by David Farley, poking fun at all this.

Also, polar bears don't catch fish. Oh, they'll happily eat a fish if they find one laying around, but they don't sit by a hole in the ice and scoop fish out of the ocean with their fuzzy paws. That's grizzlies, and they're scooping out of streams where the fish don't have a whole lot of room to escape. Polar bears live on the sea ice, above the Arctic Ocean, which as the name suggests, is an OCEAN, where the fish have plenty of room to swim and little reason to hang out at the surface next to holes in the ice. Scooping one out with a fuzzy paw would be much like catching a fly with chopsticks a la Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid -- a fun trick for parties but by no means a viable way to feed a species. No, polar bears eat seals. Cute, adorable, fuzzy-whiskered seals. Unlike fish, seals are mammals and have to swim up to holes in the ice to breathe. And when they do..... Dinnertime.

This one, by ARG! Cartoon Animation Studio, is rather awesome too.

I will forgive an illustration of a polar bear holding a fish though, because a bear holding a bloody seal is not nearly as cute and charming.

But polar bears and penguins frolicking together..... No. Just no.

Okay, I'm done with my rant now. Off to drink a Coke.

Book Revue and The Voracious Reader

2009-11-10T23:08:00.005-05:00

Last week, I did a wonderful book event at Book Revue in Huntington, NY. Thanks so much to the fabulous booksellers and everyone who came by to listen to me babble. I read from and talked about ICE, and then we ate Cassie and Bear:

How cool is that?

Yummy too.

I love edible photos. I love that someone sat down and said, "You know what this world needs? The ability to eat a photograph."

And you know what? I think he or she was right. The world does need things like edible photos -- things that exist purely to make someone smile. I think that is a noble purpose. Honestly, it's one of the reasons that I write. I love the idea of creating a story that can touch someone, make someone smile, take someone out of their worries and problems for at least a couple hours...

My next book event doesn't involve edible bears, but it does involve two other fabulous authors. This Friday, I will be at The Voracious Reader with Carolyn MacCullough (Once a Witch) and Delia Sherman (The Magic Mirror of the Mermaid Queen). Here are the details:

The Voracious Reader
Friday, November 13th at 7pm
1997 Palmer Avenue, Larchmont, NY

Hope to see you there!