Week in Review--BTAF, NEIBA, and a book release

In short: Best. Week. Ever.

Let's rewind to Saturday, the 3rd annual Boston Teen Author Festival, of which I was (3 adjectives):

• Thrilled
• Honored
• Humbled

to take part! Let me just say that it's so much easier to come up with three adjectives on your blog than on the spot from the moderator! I don't think I can say enough about how fantastic BTAF was. Renee and all the BTAFers did an amazing job AND they do it as volunteers, for love of YA and Boston. Thanks also go to the Cambridge Public Library and Porter Square Books for rounding out the event with a place to be and books to buy. I wanted to hug them ALL. (But I didn't, because I was raging sick and handing them my cold as parting gift would not have been nice or a good way to ever get myself invited back.) Unforgettable things:

• Meeting SO MANY readers enthusiastic about teen lit

The early crowd at @BosTeenAuthFest -- auditorium full by the end! #BTAF2014 pic.twitter.com/nY2gqVZnlO
— Cara Bertrand (@carabertrand) September 27, 2014

• Signing books for many of them
• Meeting so many fantastic authors and at least one of their moms
• Being allowed to sit on panel with MT Anderson (National Book Award winner, NBD), Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, Claire Legrand, Gregg Rosenblum, & Heather Swain
• Did I mention enthusiastic readers?
• Listening to smart ladies talk about character empowerment in the Choose Your Own Adventure panel

The insightful, funny, inspiring women discussing character agency in "Choose Your Own Adventure" at #BTAF2014 pic.twitter.com/QQz05JJpvH
— Cara Bertrand (@carabertrand) September 27, 2014

• How just incredibly NICE everyone was. I mean EVERYONE. You've never met a friendlier, more genuine group of people.

It was such a privilege to be surrounded by people who love books, love YA lit, and are not afraid to show it. I'm giddy still thinking about it. Any future events I do will have a lot to live up to! I may even have had stop halfway home and rest after the sugar from the approximately 42 cough drops I ingested and my adrenaline ran out. THAT, friends, is the sign of a good day.

Photo: Today’s haul #BTAF14 http://t.co/yQfsa4WdvV
— Cara Bertrand (@carabertrand) September 28, 2014

Next up, this past Wednesday, I was so lucky to be included at the New England Independent Booksellers Association conference as a signing author! It was basically book heaven.

I am in book heaven! #neiba14 pic.twitter.com/pulV6Mbtv5
— Cara Bertrand (@carabertrand) October 1, 2014

The delightful Bill & Ted (really!) of Chesapeake & Hudson hosted me at their table and though I was only scheduled for an hour, they let me stay for almost four!

Signing & smiling at the Chesapeake & Hudson table #neiba14 #sententiaseries pic.twitter.com/vUY9N572mY
— Cara Bertrand (@carabertrand) October 1, 2014

I met so many great book people--booksellers, librarians, publishing reps--and signed and gave away _so_many_ books! The piles, which I thought were huge when I started, were so small by the end. And though I gave away a ton of books, I came home with an amazing selection as well. Thank you, generous publishers! Some for me, and some for YOU. Many of these will be given away to readers at my upcoming events and on Twitter!

The books may or may not look like this. Which are you excited for? pic.twitter.com/ZysGQrhpII
— Cara Bertrand (@carabertrand) October 2, 2014

And last, but certainly NOT least, October 1 was the official release day for Second Thoughts. Get it while it's hot! Though some venues were already carrying them, hardcovers and paperbacks should now available EVERYWHERE! (or if your favorite store doesn't have it, ask them to order it!). And yes, like winter, the eBook is coming!

Next up for me: write thank you notes and finish Sententia 3. :)

Friday Five 05.22.2014

5 things I read this week:

• This cute list of 19 lies parents tell their kids. I might have told some of them before. Takeaway: “Santa/The Easter Bunny/The Tooth Fairy doesn’t come if you don’t poop in the potty.” is the next one...
  
• TLT killing it on YA and the media and, essentially, how not to be douche-y (in more professional terms, of course). Takeaway: Just read the whole thing. "And I know this is hard to comprehend, but most people are complex beings who are capable of liking more than one genre at a time. Teens are no different, that is why YA is full of a wide variety of genres."
  
• Sarah @ We Heart YA on changing the conversation. Great, thoughtful post that added many more things to the top of Mount TBR, but also that made me think about my conversation changers. Maybe I'll do my own post on it eventually. Takeaway: "And while everyone is saying the same thing in slightly different ways, every so often, someone steps in and says something that changes the conversation."
  
• This actually good, not at all douche-y list of top YA put out by Rolling Stone. Seriously, the whole internet is surprised. Don't yet read YA* and want some ideas where to start? I wouldn't complain if you chose from there. Read YA and want to see some classic and diverse choices you might not have hit yet? Check it out.
  
• A semi-crazy list of 50 things you can ("should") start making yourself, including baby wipes, face cream, mayonnaise, Nutella, sunscreen, mascara, and about 44 others. Most of it I'm too lazy to do myself, but you might be more inspired. I AM, however, totally going to try making my own butter with my KitchenAid. At least once. Additional takeaway: COCONUT OIL is magic.

What have YOU been reading?


*I mean, you're here, so that's unlikely, but just in case.

Friday Five 05.16.2014

5 things I read this week ending 5/16/14, or since the last Friday Five...

• This truly fabulous post from Brigid Kemmerer (whose Elementals series I LOVE, btw) on expectations vs. reality for the published author. It's so honest and open and not blowing sunshine and rainbows. It's realistic. I wish she didn't have to repeat something along the lines of I'm not complaining! but I understand that she did--literally, she had to. Without the disclaimer (or even with) it's pretty much impossible to be published, even for super small time me, and talk about the non-magical aspects of publishing without hearing, either from real voices or the perfectly self-defeating ones in your head, how every single unpublished author ever would happily trade places with you and not complain at all. So often we shut ourselves up out of fear of sounding ungrateful. But you can discuss the realities, even the occasional negatives, of something without being ungrateful. Takeaway: "Regardless of whether you publish traditionally or on your own, it generally stands to reason that writing and self-editing the book is the easy part."

• On the more pep-talk side of the spectrum, Christa Desir's blog post on backing away slowly from the Amazon ranking. Takeaway: "But then, after that first day, that first month, those first six months, you wake up to the morning when your book is ranked 700,000 on Amazon. So basically the world wants to read 699,999 books more than yours. Perfect.... At the end of the day, writers need to remember that they created something and it is a thing that some people will love and some people will hate and some people will never know even existed and really that's okay. Go about the business of being you."
  
• One of a million "life-hacks" lists, which was not what I'd call genius overall, except that Imma try the popsicle trick. Takeaway: Gelatin in your popsicles will make them less melt-y.
  
• This TOTALLY GENIUS confirming-once-again-how-I-totally-adore-teenagers where a 16-year-old shows us mainstream/counter-culture styles through the decades. Takeaway: Just look at it.
  
• The WSJ article on John Green and this sort of rebuttal from Anne Ursu. For the record, I don't think John Green in any way asks to be elevated to this savior status, and I respect that he doesn't tend to comment after the fact on how the media portrays him. He seems like a genuinely good human. The takeaway, however, from Anne's piece: "Jacobs is talking with a lot of authority for someone who has no idea what he’s talking about. He’s not alone, though—lots of people who have no idea what they are talking about believe that YA is two genres: Twilight and its imitators and John Green and those he supposedly inspired. Guess which one they think is better?... These articles about YA are based entirely on accepted truths from people who live entirely outside the field; they keep getting perpetuated, and everyone nods sagely as someone else proclaims John Green is saving poor teenage girl readers from those silly silly vampire books." And much more.

What do you think? What have YOU been reading?

Young Adult is so hot

it's even a movie with Charlize Theron.

I watched it this morning. It is NOT a comedy, no matter how they tried to market it, though there are a few darkly comedic moments. It's not really about young adult writing either. But it was interesting. (And depressing and thought-provoking.)

What happens when the Queen Bee doesn't grow up, just gets older?

It's a good question, and the movie seemed like a viable take on an answer. I didn't necessarily like the movie, but it was successful in making me think and keep thinking about it all day.

From a writing perspective, I think what I got out of it most is character fodder for parents and therefore, protagonist/antagonist influences and motivations. I'm pretty much Disney to parents in my stories, mothers especially, I know this, but even when parents aren't there, they're still influences.

Spooky for everyone!!

It's HERE!! Yay!!!!! Happy happy book birthday to 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award winner Jill Baguchinsky and Spookygirl: Paranormal Investigator! Publication date TODAY from Pengiun/Dutton. :D

If y'all don't know Violet yet, you should. Grab your copy, like, now, okay? I can't explain my level of excitement for Jill and Violet (and Buster) in words, so I'll let exclamation points do it for me!!

Aaannnd, while you're at it, also check out our other co-finalist Rich Larson's latest collection of sci-fi awesome: Datafall: Collected Speculative Fiction

Rich knows how to use the word titular. Just sayin'. 

Another YA opportunity- Agent Dinner!

Here's another heads up, YA writers! If you are in or around the Claverack, NY area (ie. the incredibly lovely section of Eastern NYS between Albany and NYC, near the MA border), your library is hosting a YA AGENT DINNER on 6/13.

Details here:
http://claveracklibrary.org/2012/04/03/dinner-with-an-agent-june-13-2012/

For $40, benefiting the library, you get to dine with fellow YA enthusiasts and FOUR YA AGENTS:
Wendy Schmalz
Miriam Altshuler
Jennifer Laughran
Liza Pulitzer-Voges

Could this evening get more awesome? I don't see how.

Registration starts 4/15 and seats are very limited. Here's the catch: you must be a library patron OR AN SCBWI MEMBER.

YA Spec Fic Open Submission Opportunity!

Heads up, writers! Do you write YA speculative fiction? Are you unagented and unpublished*? There's a fantastic opportunity for direct submission at Strange Chemistry, a new YA imprint from your friends at Angry Robot launching this fall! The doors are open April 16-30.

Read the details here:
http://strangechemistrybooks.com/opendoor/

I'm not involved in this process (though you bet my agent has already submitted our proposal!), but think it's awesome. All I can say is follow the instructions to the letter, make sure your MS and first 5 are in tip-top shape, and GOOD LUCK!

Not YA? Don't despair. Angry Robot says they're doing another open call this spring, though they don't have details online yet.

Not Spec Fic? Sorry, Charlie.

*This includes self-published. Unpublished for them means not published in any way.