Yesterday, my sister sent me this picture of my niece, Ella, with a text:
"It's Ellaniss Everdeen"
I immediately took a picture of myself at work and sent back:
"Oh, yeah? ;-)"
"It's Ellaniss Everdeen"
"Oh, yeah? ;-)"
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"It's Ellaniss Everdeen"
"Oh, yeah? ;-)"
I want to tell you about a book that I wrote for part of 2010 and almost all of 2011. It is a story that I never expected to tell, and with less than five months until this book is be published, I am equal parts thrilled and terrified that I did tell it.
(Okay, that's kind of a lie. The thrill is definitely there, but the terror is much higher than 50 percent.)
As you can easily guess, the book I'm talking about is Live Through This, which is coming out October 2, 2012 from Simon Pulse.
I haven't really talked a lot about this story online. One major reason is that because of the way I structured it, I'm afraid of saying too much and giving away what happens! (Although, I will be saying a bit more in interviews and such as the release date gets closer. Also, I've written a letter about why I decided to write this book. It appears in the Advance Reader Copies and it is my understanding that this letter will also be released online in the months to come.)
Very happily for me, three authors, whose writing I respect and whose personalities I adore, got to read the book early. They shared some wonderful words of endorsement that made me cry and jump around and nearly explode with happiness and gratitude:
"Live Through This is by turns harrowing, sad, funny, and romantic. I couldn't put it down." --Stephanie Perkins, author of Anna and the French Kiss
"Intensely emotional and beautifully crafted, I savored every word." --Amanda Grace, author of In Too Deep
"An honest and realistic portrayal of what it is to live with secrets and shame." --Jo Knowles, author of Lessons From a Dead Girl
Intrigued? Well, Live Through This will be released in hard cover, paperback, and ebook on October 2, 2012. (So many choices!) It is available for pre-order in all formats NOW. I very much hope that you'll check out it this coming fall,and that Coley's story will move you.
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Preorder links:
Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, IndieBound, iTunes, The Book Depository, or Amazon
Sometimes hiding the truth requires more than a lie . . .
From the outside, Coley Sterling’s life seems pretty normal . . . whatever that means. It’s not perfect—her best friend is seriously mad at her and her dance team captains keep giving her a hard time—but Coley’s adorable, sweet crush Reece helps distract her from the annoying drama. Plus, she has a great family to fall back on—with a stepdad and mom who would stop at nothing to keep her and her siblings happy and safe.
But Coley has a lot of secrets. She won’t admit—not even to herself—that her almost-perfect life is her own carefully-crafted façade. That for years she’s been burying the shame and guilt over a relationship that crossed the line. Now, Coley and Reece are getting closer, and as Coley has the chance at her first real boyfriend, a decade’s worth of lies are on the verge of unraveling.
Mindi Scott offers an absorbing, layered glimpse into the life of an everygirl living a nightmare that no one would suspect in this unforgettable powerhouse of a novel.
But Coley has a lot of secrets. She won’t admit—not even to herself—that her almost-perfect life is her own carefully-crafted façade. That for years she’s been burying the shame and guilt over a relationship that crossed the line. Now, Coley and Reece are getting closer, and as Coley has the chance at her first real boyfriend, a decade’s worth of lies are on the verge of unraveling.
Mindi Scott offers an absorbing, layered glimpse into the life of an everygirl living a nightmare that no one would suspect in this unforgettable powerhouse of a novel.
My critique partner, Michelle Andreani and I are co-writing a Young Adult novel. This week, we launched a new joint blog called WE HAVE WORDS where we will share our experiences writing together as well as talk about books and other things that we adore. We will love it if you'll take a look! http://we-have-words.com/
I'll still be using LJ for posts specific to my solo writing and myself. I haven't really liked using LJ for a while because I like to be able to schedule posts in advance. As it turns out, this is a feature that has existed for a few months on LJ? And I didn't know?!!!!
Last night, Dwayne (my husband) and I ventured out to Roosevelt High School in Seattle where Stephanie Perkins, Gayle Forman, and Nina LaCour had a fabulous joint author event!
For me, this was an author event like none other because I'd already read (and loved, loved, loved) at least one book by each of the authors. As if I could have not attended, right?
[Quick backstory: Stephanie and I first met at a writer's conference here in Seattle several years ago. It was before either of us had book deals or agents, but we both had books in progress. (Hers became Anna and the French Kiss and mine became Freefall.) Later, Steph and I ended up accepting agent offers on the same day, and got book deals within weeks of each other. Our debut novels came out two months apart. Add to all of this the fact that we both have drummer husbands and a bazillion things in common, and you can probably guess why I was super excited to get to see her in person again for the first time since that conference.]
For the event, Sarah and Sandra from Clear Hearts Full Shelves made the drive up from Portland, and it was lovely to get to hang out with both of them. (And, Sarah, we AGAIN forgot to take pictures together! What's up with that?) I also got to talk with a few other readers and book bloggers, whom I often see around on Twitter and Facebook, so that was very fun!
For the panel itself, Stephanie, Gayle, and Nina were all lovely and it was such a pleasure to get to hear them talk about why they write what they write. I also enjoyed learning their (short) answers to the question "Which is your favorite scene from each of your own books?" (I would tell you what they said, but after I smiled in recognition for most of them, my mind kind of erased the information. Damnit!) They each read short excerpts (from page 69, dude) and shared how they worked to establish their characters in each of these scenes.
[Sidenote: Dwayne is in the middle of reading Gayle's book, If I Stay right now, and I'm going to start Where She Went very soon, so we both plugged our ears a few times while Gayle was talking to make sure we didn't get spoiled. Because you just never know!]
At one point during their talk, Nina pointed out her critique partner in the crowd (Carly, I think she said), who has a book coming out in 2013 (yay!!!). Steph then announced that Carly and I need to meet since we are both Simon Pulse authors in the Seattle area. (We absolutely do! Unfortunately, I missed getting to talk with her after the event. Email me, Carly! I Googled, but I can't seem to find you. Maybe I misheard your name.)
Steph then told the audience that my editor had given her an early read of Live Through This, and that she highly recommends it!!!!!!! She had so much enthusiasm and said such complimentary things about my books that I had to dab my teary eyes on Dwayne's sleeve. Ahhh, that Stephanie! ♥
Here's a picture of me with Steph during the signing portion of the event:
Despite the fact that Dwayne had to get up early today, he was happy to wait with me until the very end so that we could chat with Stephanie for while afterward. So we did that, and it was lovely, and then I snuck into this picture with all three of the featured authors:
In all, it was a fun night for me, and I'm so glad that these amazing authors all made the trek to Seattle!
About three years ago, I met Justin Ordoñez through the company where we both worked. My first novel, Freefall, had just sold and Justin was working on a novel of his own called Sykosa, so we starting meeting for lunch every so often to talk about writing.
Recently, Justin made Sykosa available for purchase as an ebook and a paperback. His website has lots of interactive content including chapter excerpts, videos in which his talks about the story and characters, and other fun stuff, including this helpful chart that might help you determine if you want to read Sykosa. (Take a look at the bottom of this entry!)
Today, he's answered a few questions for me:
At age eight, what did you want to be when you grew up? And at age eighteen? And while you’re at it, what about at age twenty-eight?
JO: At age 8, I wanted to be Marty McFly from Back to the Future. Since the original movies had built-in cliff-hangers and intended sequels, I coordinated my friends and we all worked on a second trilogy—movies IV, V, and VI. The best part? My elementary school had a Publishing Center where we would submit our story, then pick a trim, a size, and a fabric for the cover. Volunteer mothers would use rubber cement to fasten the fabric to cardboard, type out the pages, and the sow them along the center. It was a most fantastic experience and I was addicted to going down there with a new story. (Photo courtesy of Justin’s Mom, who kept all his publishing center books!)
At age eighteen, I was desperately in love with two things—my writing and my girlfriend (at the time). It was the most romantic period of my life. I had a decent job, my own apartment, and I used to spend my nights in my non-air-conditioned living room with all the windows open, hearing the distant roar of the 696 freeway and enjoying every subtle gust of wind, while I jammed on the keyboard, drinking too much wine from a box and talking to my girl on the phone, telling her I loved her and needed her and how beautiful she was. (We only saw each other on the weekends). I’d relive that stretch of my life in a heartbeat. A whole bunch of factors came together at the right time for me and things were good, probably better than I’ll ever experience again, so I cherish it, but I also understand it’s over now.
At twenty-eight, which was only two years ago, I was trying to finish Sykosa. I had initially planned to publish the novel in 2010, but I delayed it so I could go back and reconceive the middle of it, called an interlude. It was not a very positive process for me. In fact, I think I’m still actively suppressing the experience, but I stand by it, the new Interlude was exponentially better than its former. In fact, it seems that when people mention something they liked about the book, it’s always from the interlude!
Which Breakfast-Club-style label would have best fit your teenage self?
JO: I was a criminal, but in the cheesy, spoiled, privileged and angry about it upper-middle class white-boy sense. That’s right. My parents were guilty of being solid, reliable folk who wanted me to succeed at life and were willing to sacrifice to provide me every opportunity to do it—so naturally I had to constantly challenge their clear love for me. During high school, I smoked like a chimney, drank recklessly, swore endlessly, refused to smile in pictures, spent all my time in the hotel room during family vacations, stole from my classmates and lifted cigarette packs from my employer, was under the hysterical impression that I was some kind of talented race car driver, and I never talked to the most beautiful woman you’ve ever seen because she always looked over for her shoulder at me—for 2 straight years—and I enjoyed the power. Yeah, I was a turd, but I’m glad to report that, as a grown-up, I’ve come to realize that having a good family, good parents, a good education, and a generally agreeable existence are things to be grateful for, not shunned and unappreciated.
Without giving away too much from your book, which character or scene from it are you the most pleased to have created, and why?
JO: Hands down, it’s “Detour Two: Mother Superior.” What’s a detour? Well, Sykosa is not written chronologically, so three “Detours” take you into the past and the future to fill in the story and create intrigue. From the moment I wrote Detour Two, I despised it, and did so for good reason. It was terrible. Over the years, I’m gonna say it logged 250 drafts and was trashed 7 or 8 times. At one point, I worked on nothing else for 45 days. I sat in a dark room, by myself, and didn’t talk or engage anybody—just wrote it. At the end, I had nothing beside mostly marginal sentences that represented semi-developed paragraphs with huge, unwritten gaps between them. When all seemed lost, and I was about to concede, I visited New York City, specifically the Lower East Side, where I stayed with my sister for a much needed vacation. I swore to myself I wouldn’t write during this trip. As it so happens, the first Monday I was there, my sister—who took most of the week off to hang with me—had to work, so I was alone in her apartment. It was smolderingly hot, and I was in my boxers and an undershirt with all the lights off cause I didn’t want any residual heat to be created. I thought to myself, “Just try it, just try it and if it’s not working, you can stop.” I opened my laptop, and six hours later, I had a completed Detour. At 6,000 words, it was too long and I ended up cutting it to 3,000, but more importantly, it accomplished everything I needed it to, and it was gorgeously written and Sykosa was pristine in it.I’ll always remember that day.My first thought after I finished was, “This book’s gonna be good.
Which are your favorite movies to watch again and again?
JO: Okay, this is when people stop laughing with me and start laughing at me. Believe it or not, I’m hopelessly addicted to Roland Emmerich movies. He is the guy who made the grandiose disaster flicks “Independence Day,” “The Day After Tomorrow,” and, “2012.” Sometimes, for months, I’ll watch nothing but these three movies on repeat, especially 2012, which speaks to me since John Cusack’s character is a struggling writer who’s passion for writing has devastated his personal life. I can provide you no logical explanation for my powerlessness to these films, but it’s safe to say, at this juncture, I’ve probably developed some co-dependency issues in regards to them.
And, now, the most important question of all: Beatles or Elvis? Please support your answer. ;-)
JO: It’s gonna be the Beatles, by default. I’m shamefully unacquainted with Elvis’s discography. Though, the Beatles were super-talented musicians. They personified the idea of artists who made incredibly complicated things look easy. The way they played guitar made you feel like you could do it. The way John sang his songs made you think, “There’s nothing to this.” The problem? Try to sing a Lennon song at a karaoke bar, you mess up half the song, you can’t handle the note changes, your voice gets tired and starts to crack, also he sometimes manages to fit a whole lot of words in a very short time span, so it’s hard to even sing at all, and you just start talking, then mumbling, then wishing you had picked any other song to sing but this one. There’s a reason the Beatles are frequently imitated, but never duplicated. It sounds cliché and tired to say this, but they were legends.
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Sykosa is Justin Ordoñez’s debut novel. It’s a raw, serious novel about teenage life that can be light-hearted, goofy, and extremely funny at points. At one time, he dreamed of ruling the world and getting everything done his own way, now he just wants a mutually satisfying love life and a few spirited dogs. Check out these links below for more on Justin!
The Kindle and the paperback versions of the Sykosa.
His acclaimed (and hilarious) blog on marketing.
Sykosa’s website.
Sykosa’s facebook page and Justin’s Goodreads profile
