Laura Manivong

1. Had a good Thanksgiving. A good weekend. Though I am ready to get back to work tomorrow... I'm the only one in my office so the peace and quiet is productive writing time for me.

2. I'm revising still. Lots to do. The wife and kids have been very gracious in letting me work a lot this weekend. Amazing what an editorial letter or two will do to inspire your family to leave you alone. Turns out I will have two seperate versions of this book now. At times I'm very stressed and panicked about all of it. I NEED them to be great!

3. I didn't go shopping on Black Friday, though I did order a few presents online. A few of my relatives went out at 2:00 a.m. in the morning, found the lines at Old Navy too long, so went back home.

4. I let my oldest twin daughters drive me yesterday. Both did very well. I forget how much there truly is to pay attention to when driving. They get overwhelmed. And we haven't even introduced the radio to them yet.

5. I know it's a little early for Christmas Cards, but my good friend David always sends his out so early. I got mine in the mail yesterday.

( An Early Christmas Card from David... )

TOMBSTONE TEA by Joanne Dahme
Jessie accepts a dare to spend the night in a graveyard, but she encounters "actors" who she's pretty sure are dead. The book opened with Jessie entering the graveyard and then all the ghosts coming out, so I didn't have a chance to care about the MC before there was too much else going on. I skimmed to page 82 then stopped reading.

FIRE by Kristin Cashore
Fire, the last human monster, has the power to read and manipulate minds, but she doesn't want to become the monster her father was even if it could save a kingdom. I read to page 120 and by that point the plot wasn't clear, so I stopped reading. I really liked GRACELING, and the vivid, pretty writing is similar in FIRE, but I didn't connect as much with the mission or journey. I think others who just want to be immersed in KC's world will enjoy the whole book.

HAVEN by Beverly Patt
After Rudy's family takes has 14-year-old Ward-of-the-State Latonya over for Christmas dinner, Rudy finds himself and his best friend fixing an old ATV that he'll get to keep if he helps Latonya run away -- if he can go through with it. This book reminded me of "A Christmas Story" mixed with THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER. Each character was fully developed, and the story of Rudy's best friend was as driving as his own and Latonya's. The subject had an original spin for an upper-MG, and the voice and setting were well-done. Recommended MG.

Welcome to the 2009 Stupid Prada Summer Van Tour! We know you’re asking yourself, “What the heck is a Stupid Prada Summer Van Tour?” Well, three debut authors–Saundra Mitchell (author of Shadowed Summer), Mandy Hubbard (author of Prada and Prejudice), and Rhonda Stapleton (author of Stupid Cupid), decided to do a super-awesome 9-day United States virtual van tour and hit some rather high-falutin important sites, as well as lesser-known locales.

See the map below to find out where we’re gonna be each day starting Monday, November 30, and drop by all of our blogs daily to get the scoop on how the tour progresses! We’ll be offering prizes throughout the tour, so make sure you follow us each day for your chance to win copies of our books, gift certificates, and other fun gifts!

Thanks, and we look forward to seeing you there!

Saundra Mitchell ~ http://www.saundramitchell.com
Mandy Hubbard ~ http://www.mandyhubbard.com
Rhonda Stapleton ~ http://www.rhondastapleton.com

Originally published at MSUFaL. You can comment here or there.

THE BOOK OF THE MAIDSERVANT By Rebecca Barnhouse
In the late 1400s, Johanna, maidservant to Dame Margery, accompanies her mistress on a pilgrimage from England to Italy. The small details about the characters' food, clothing, and religious rituals made this a very well done historical novel. The journey was interesting, and was made even better after reading the author note that tells how RB came up with the idea for this book.

THE SPLENDOR FALLS by Rosemary Clement-Moore
After breaking her leg during a recital, ballerina Sylvie Davis's mother and shrink step-father send her from NYC to rural Alabama to stay in an old-being-converted mansion owned by her cousin, but once there she senses ghosts and magic that she can't ignore or explain. The MC's one-liners made me laugh out loud, and the development of her little dog as a character was complete and spot-on. I thought the MC would've spent more time pining for the ballet she lost rather than stating that she missed it, and I wondered why her mom never called her after sending her away, but I really enjoyed this book and the paranormal twist it took.

Holidaze with the Debs: Find out what YA & MG Authors are Writing AND Reading.

Next Saturday, December 5th, I’ll be making tour stops with the Debs in Chicago and I hope to see you there!

Authors appearing:
Kristina Springer, THE ESPRESSOLOGIST
Cynthea Liu, PARIS PAN TAKES A DARE and THE GREAT CALL OF CHINA
Saundra Mitchell, SHADOWED SUMMER
Darcy Vance, THE GEEK GIRL’S GUIDE TO CHEERLEADING
Lara Zielin, DONUT DAYS
Aprilynne Pike, WINGS

BORDERS

1-3 PM, Saturday December 5th, 2009

161 N. Weber Road
Bolingbrook, IL

Signing, chatting, personalized book recommendations, and prizes.

THE BOOK CELLAR

7-9 PM, Saturday, December 5th, 2009

4736-38 North Lincoln Avenue
Chicago, IL

Signing, chatting, personalized book recommendations, and prizes.

Originally published at MSUFaL. You can comment here or there.

For today's Poetry Friday post, here is a post about a pair of epicureans, which seemed fitting to me for the day after Thanksgiving with so many people feasting (and, perhaps, overeating; also, it's possible that some of you had oysters in your stuffing). Today's pick is The Walrus and the Carpenter by Lewis Carroll, from Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, which I have posted once before:

The Walrus and the Carpenter
by Lewis Carroll

The sun was shining on the sea,
Shining with all his might:
He did his very best to make
The billows smooth and bright--
And this was odd, because it was
The middle of the night.

The moon was shining sulkily,
Because she thought the sun
Had got no business to be there
After the day was done--
"It's very rude of him," she said,
"To come and spoil the fun!"

The sea was wet as wet could be,
The sands were dry as dry.
You could not see a cloud, because
No cloud was in the sky:
No birds were flying overhead--
There were no birds to fly.

The Walrus and the Carpenter
Were walking close at hand;
They wept like anything to see
Such quantities of sand:
"If this were only cleared away,"
They said, "it would be grand!"

"If seven maids with seven mops
Swept it for half a year.
Do you suppose," the Walrus said,
"That they could get it clear?"
"I doubt it," said the Carpenter,
And shed a bitter tear.

"O Oysters, come and walk with us!"
The Walrus did beseech.
"A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk,
Along the briny beach:
We cannot do with more than four,
To give a hand to each."

The eldest Oyster looked at him,
But never a word he said:
The eldest Oyster winked his eye,
And shook his heavy head--
Meaning to say he did not choose
To leave the oyster-bed.

But four young Oysters hurried up,
All eager for the treat:
Their coats were brushed, their faces washed,
Their shoes were clean and neat--
And this was odd, because, you know,
They hadn't any feet.

Four other Oysters followed them,
And yet another four;
And thick and fast they came at last,
And more, and more, and more--
All hopping through the frothy waves,
And scrambling to the shore.

The Walrus and the Carpenter
Walked on a mile or so,
And then they rested on a rock
Conveniently low:
And all the little Oysters stood
And waited in a row.

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."

"But wait a bit," the Oysters cried,
"Before we have our chat;
For some of us are out of breath,
And all of us are fat!"
"No hurry!" said the Carpenter.
They thanked him much for that.

"A loaf of bread," the Walrus said,
"Is what we chiefly need:
Pepper and vinegar besides
Are very good indeed--
Now if you're ready, Oysters dear,
We can begin to feed."

"But not on us!" the Oysters cried,
Turning a little blue.
"After such kindness, that would be
A dismal thing to do!"
"The night is fine," the Walrus said.
"Do you admire the view?

"It was so kind of you to come!
And you are very nice!"
The Carpenter said nothing but
"Cut us another slice:
I wish you were not quite so deaf--
I've had to ask you twice!"

"It seems a shame," the Walrus said,
"To play them such a trick,
After we've brought them out so far,
And made them trot so quick!"
The Carpenter said nothing but
"The butter's spread too thick!"

"I weep for you," the Walrus said:
"I deeply sympathize."
With sobs and tears he sorted out
Those of the largest size,
Holding his pocket-handkerchief
Before his streaming eyes.

"O Oysters," said the Carpenter,
"You've had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?'
But answer came there none--
And this was scarcely odd, because
They'd eaten every one.

This is one of those poems that I don't know in its entirety, but I have parts of it committed to memory. My particular favorite lines are the following stanza, which I most often quote by saying only the first two lines, and frequently quote using the first four - only seldom do I add the final pairing, but I will point out that the "whether pigs have wings" line is related to the term "when pigs fly", used to indicate an opinion that something is impossible or at least highly improbable. This is not the first time in his writing that Carroll referred to winged or flying pigs, since the Duchess in his earlier book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland tells Alice in chapter nine that she has "Just about as much right [to think about something] as pigs have to fly...." Carroll appears to have drawn the images or ideas from a Scottish proverb, "If a pig had wings, it could fly", which predates Carroll's lines by a few centuries in usage, and at least a few years in print. But I digress. Here's my favorite stanza:

The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."

Form: The entire poem is written using the same metre, which is very song-based (and was likely sung or set to music even when it was conceived and written). The lines alternate - a line of iambic tetrameter followed by a line of iambic trimeter (a classic song form - 868686 if you're a church-music aficionado), with a rhyme scheme of xAxAxA in each stanza, meaning that the even-numbered lines all rhyme, but the odd-numbered ones (designated by an "x") do not. As there are 18 stanzas, it would run xAxAxA through xRxRxR.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We just stayed home this year. It's so nice not having to worry about what time to get on that I-15 in order to beat the traffic.

Also didn't do the whole Black Friday thing. Memories of a terrible experience I had in the Target parking lot still stay with me. What better way to kill the Christmas spirit then to have a man in his SUV try to run you over while screaming at the top of his lungs the f-bomb with his wife joining in.

No thank you. Oh, better yet his young son was in the car too. What a great example, huh?

Anyway, here's my five reads of the week. I'm still trying to get in 500 words a day on my sequel to CROSSED OUT. I'll be hitting another revision of GODDESSES sometime next week.

1. BEAUTIFUL




This is one intense story of thirteen-year-old Cassie and what she'll do in order to be noticed. Haunting, Cassie's tale is sure to stay with you.

2. NIGHTSCHOOL




When Alex's sister, Sarah, vanishes and all memory of her is erased, Alex sets out to find out what happened. She decides to enroll at the school where it all started: Nightschool. But Alex finds it's not so easy to sneak around at the school.

This Manga tale has flavors of Buffy sent to a mysterious school where not all is what it seems.

3. DORK DIARIES




Very cute story of Nikki and her journey to a new school. Told in diary form, her adventures and discoveries are sure to keep you turning the pages. One hilarious scene is when Nikki decides to mix together her own ingredients to help her barf. It works but then she finds a letter in the kitchen from her mother. Fearing she's so busted, she only finds her mother thanks her for a yummy breakfast!

4. EDGAR ALLAN POE'S TALES OF DEATH AND DEMENTIA




This graphic novel adaption of three of Edgar Allan Poe's tales is chilling. My favorite had to be The Tell-Tale Heart, a short tale of a man that believes his elderly charge has a demon eye. So he kills him and buries him under the planks of the house, little knowing that in death the man can still haunt him.

**Guilty pleasure of the week:

THE DARK DIVINE




Just when Grace Divine thinks she's over him, Daniel comes back into her life. So much is a mystery on why he disappeared. All she knows is that on the night of his disappearance she found her brother Jude collapsed on the porch, covered in blood.

Now that Daniel is back she can't deny the attraction she feels even though her brother and family want nothing to do with him. But that doesn't stop Grace who vows to find out the truth.

This is another fab Egmont read.

I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving! Here again is the place to read & share some buzz for the week. It was a great, what with NCTE in Philly featuring tons of Tenner books and all sorts of other buzzy items to be thankful for! Here's what I found. I'm sure there's other fun buzz to share so let's hear it!

---

Angie Frazier's EVERLASTING was the 'Waiting on Wednesday' pick on Frenetic Reader. And you can see Angie's beautiful cover there if you haven't seen it yet! http://freneticreader.blogspot.com/2009/11/waiting-on-wednesday-46.html

Stargirlreads chose Jenn Hubbard's THE SECRET YEAR for her "Must Monday" pick! http://booksaremylove.blogspot.com/2009/11/must-monday_23.html

Write for a Reader has WHISPER by Phoebe Kitanidis as her Waiting on Wednesday choice! http://writeforareader.blogspot.com/2009/11/waiting-on-wednesday-whisper.html

How very cool that Kami Garcia (BEAUTIFUL CREATURES) gives a shout-out to Anastasia Hopcus and SHADOW HILLS in this interview: http://darkfaerietales.com/author-interview-beautiful-creatures.html

There are some 2010 Debut Author Challenges circulating on several blogs. You will not be surprised to learn that quite a few Tenners are on the list! I love the challenge. What a cool thing! Here's one:
http://www.sharonlovesbooksandcats.com/2009/11/2010-debut-author-challenge.html , And here's another! http://www.abookdork.com/2009/11/2010-debut-author-challenge.html

The Story Siren is giving away an ARC of RENEGADE X by Chelsea Campbell!
http://www.thestorysiren.com/2009/11/contest-win-arc-of-renegade-x-by.html

And if you've spoken to me the past week, you have been the recipient of my constant buzzing about Emily Horner's A Love Story: Starring My Dead Best Friend, which I picked up in ARC form at NCTE and have been raving about pretty much incessantly. It is beautiful and touching and hilarious and absolutely perfect.

And let's not forget that Becca is still on the NYT best-seller list, last I checked sandwiched right between Kate DiCamillo & Ellen Hopkins! Hurray!

Originally published at MSUFaL. You can comment here or there.

1. I'm thankful for being able to review for YA Books Central! http://yabookscentral.blogspot.com/

2. I'm thankful for my health even though the doctor's office did call me yesterday to tell me that my cholesterol is high. I know I can beat this by changing my diet and being more careful.

3. I'm thankful for such shows as VAMPIRE DIARIES and even GOSSIP GIRLS. It's fun to watch shows that aren't all dramas and serious. VD is like addictive candy. Two vampire brothers and one girl who's attracted to both. What's not to love?




4. I'm thankful for the gorgeous cover to my upcoming YA paranormal CROSSED OUT.

5. I'm thankful for friends and family. These are people who keep me grounded whenever I might get a bit full of myself.

6. I'm thankful for such writer sites as The Writer's chatroom and Verla Kay's board:
www.verlakay.com

7. I'm thankful for those who believe in me and are there to encourage me even when I feel like saying to hell with it all.

And what's Thanksgiving without Charlie Brown? Here's a little something to enjoy!





Everyone have a great Thanksgiving!

There are many things to be grateful for, but I'm most grateful for my family and friends who share this journey with me.

Happy holidays for you & yours!

Normally by this time on Thanksgiving Day, I would have pies coming out of the oven, cranberry/orange relish chilling, bread ready to bake, etc. But, not this Thanksgiving.

My older daughter is with her family & in-laws and my younger daughter is at her house hanging out with her roommate. For the first time in years, I am not hosting dinner, because yesterday YD texted me that she'd rather just go out to eat - maybe Chinese - and not bother with the whole Thanksgiving dinner.

Well - uh - I have to admit to feeling a little lost, a tad bit at loose ends (staying away from pity party though!) I have spent the morning surfing the web, playing a few online games, petting the cats and dogs and contemplating baking a pumpkin pie.

Thanksgiving celebrations throughout my life have usually been small - with the exception in the past few years of large numbers of YD's friends coming over. I grew up in a very small family - my Gram, my older sis and me. On Christmas my mother would come to visit (so there would be four of us) - but most holidays have been people-sparse. This one even more so...

I have some things around the house I want to get done - I might even put out a few Christmas decorations - I will go get Chinese later with YD and a couple of her friends - and most important I think... I am going to start a running list of things for which I am thankful. And, I have a whole year-full of amazing things to include on that list - not the least of which is my book deal!

But, I do believe I'll start the list with being thankful for all my friends - both virtual and those I've actually met. I am indeed blest to have such kind, loving, talented, thoughtful friends - I do believe I'm the luckiest girl ever!

Heres to a happy, joy-filled and blessed day for all my LJ friends! *hugs*

Hope it's a joyous and warm one for all those celebrating same.

Been thinking about Buy Nothing Day -- which if this Friday in North America, Saturday in the rest of the world -- and why I plan to consciously celebrate it again this year.

I have sympathy for those who favor supporting Buy Local Day instead. I have a little less sympathy for those who simply cry out "jobs and the economy require we buy lots," but I'm not completely without sympathy there either. And I can't claim that I'm going to stop buying anything at all from Friday onwards, or even stop buying anything at all I don't need.

But I still think there's value in consciously taking a day off from buying, well, things. Not if one merely puts of a buying binge until the next day -- but if one uses the day to rethink what one buys, what one needs, and what one's consumption patterns are, so that one can buy less and buy more mindfully in the days that follow. I do intend to try to do that.

While businesses need to sell things, an economy based entirely on pressuring too many to buy too much that they have too little need for is already on shaky ground, IMHO. Upping the pressure to do so year after year is not going to fix this.

And the mindless stuff-buying frenzy of Black Friday is disturbing, and is something that we need to take a critical on a regular basis -- along with the ways in which we support it.

Dear Story,

Yes, your worldbuilding is pretty. I'm glad you're proud of it. But that doesn't mean you need to share every last bit of it with your readers.

It's not that I don't love you. It's just ... there's only so much room on the fridge, okay? I can't possibly hang all your pictures there.

Also, we'll talk about chapter 11 later.

Sincerely,

Me

Since I got home from NCTE Saturday night, I've been devouring books. This happens to me when I've just finished a big project (I turned in the final revision for SUGAR ON SNOW after an afternoon of work in a Philly coffee shop!) - I have a sudden need to go on a reading binge before I move on to something else, so that's what I've been doing. I've finished Cynthia Omololu's fast-paced, compelling YA debut, DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS, which comes out from Walker in February. Then it was Bonnie Shimko's upcoming MG novel, THE PRIVATE THOUGHTS OF AMELIA E. RYE, which releases from FSG this spring and has a main character with one of the greatest voices of all time. Really. And finally, Elizabeth Partridge's MARCHING FOR FREEDOM, an amazing narrative nonfiction account of the children and young people involved in the Civil Rights march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965. All of these books are wonderful in wildly different ways, and I'll be blogging about them all soon in more detail. For now, I'm just thankful to have read them.

I'm also thankful for these kids...



...who joined me for an author presentation at Dodge Memorial Library in Rouses Point, NY on their day off today. One boy, who was already waiting on the carpet when I arrived to set up my projector, looked up and asked, "So you write books?" I nodded and handed him copies of my two regional historical novels as well as THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z. He started flipping through one of the books, and his eyes got huge. "You wrote ALL THIS?" Sometimes as authors, published or unpublished, we forget what an accomplishment that really is.

And one last thankful moment...that came in my email from a teacher in Kansas. Her school library did a great project where kids got to create pumpkins that looked like their favorite book characters. Guess who this is:


Yep...it's my main character from THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z. See the resemblance?



I love the way this reader/pumpkin artist captured Gianna's crazy red curls and her creative spirit, and mostly, I'm honored that she connected with the character enough to turn her into a pumpkin. Moments like this, so wonderfully quirky and unexpected, have been the very best part of this book journey. Much to be thankful for, indeed.

I hope your Thanksgiving is full of wonderful people, good food, and great books!

Hot doggies, I ordered some super-fun swag and I can't wait to give it out! I originally started with an order for one box, just so I could contribute something to the upcoming Tenners monthly swag giveaway (coming in Jan. Will be one large collection of sweetness). But just a few Amazon clicks and the order multiplied. Four times. So now I have a lovely box of bubbles with no designated use. I smell a hoilday giveaway coming--maybe some bookmarks and my last ARC. Maybe. We'll see what baby thinks.
Perhaps I will bring these to signings--get really aggressive and blow them at shoppers until they purchase my book, then let them have the empty bottle? Good marketing, yes?

So, I saw New Moon on Monday.

Suzanne Young has the recap HERE - pictures included, because Suz was born to be a blogger and takes her camera EVERYWHERE.

I liked the movie. And I continue to be totally amazed by this phenomenon Stephenie Meyer has created. I mean, isn't it amazing?

And really, we should be thanking her because so many teens have been turned on to reading because of her. Many of them go back to the bookstore for more, which is a very good thing.

This Thanksgiving, I'm feeling thankful for family, friends, and for being a YA author. It's a fun, exciting time. So many great authors writing incredible books.

Sometimes I look around and that song from Sesame Street pops into my head that goes - One of these things is not like the other - wondering how I'm here amongst all the greatness.

But I am. And I'm very, VERY thankful for that.

Wishing you all a happy Thanksgiving with good food, good family, and GOOD BOOKS! Yay - four whole days to READ!!!!