Today

Today I can't decide if I'm this:(from http://www.flickr.com/photos/80835774@N00/402535941/)

Or this:
(from http://www.flickr.com/photos/73553/194983561/)

Or this:(from http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexellaville/2899444423/)

I just know there's a scream in there somewhere.

The Power of Magical Thinking

If I use only the pink pencil, it will be a good day.

If I don't check my email until 9:30, the email I want will be waiting.

If I wear something with flowers, it won't rain.

Ever think like that?

I've been pondering superstitions lately. My new MC is very superstitious--trying, I think, to have some semblance of control where she really has very little. I admit I have a few irrational superstitious thoughts myself. When something awful happened the day I tried a new shampoo, I half-jokingly blamed it on the shampoo (but see if I used that shampoo again for a long time!). Sometimes I wear particular colors for a reason, hoping for good luck about something (hint: each book has a color).

These thoughts can make me feel a little crazy, but I've heard many other writers claim similar superstitions. Maybe, like my MC, we're in a situation we have no way of controlling, a kind of magical voodoo. Bundled with that whole "overactive imagination," it feels valid that if we've done all the WORK we can possibly do, it doesn't hurt to indulge in a few routines or bargains that might help.

Or am I alone in my superstitious insanity? Are you like me, vaguely superstitious--or even like my MC, VERY superstitious?

What kinds of things are you superstitious about?

I'm curious, but I also reserve the right to anonymize your superstitions for fictional purposes. After I hop 3 times and make the toss into the trashcan, of course. :)

A little wisdom from Child

Last night Child was suddenly a fount of wisdom. I couldn't resist transcribing a few sparkly thoughts for your enjoyment:

On reading:

"I like books best where the author writes like "I". You know? It makes it feel like the author is a character. It makes you feel like the character doing stuff."

(this was spontaneous, I SWEAR. I am not coaching her on 1st-person love. Though I admit I grinned wickedly when she said this.)

On Swan Lake, which we were watching on DVD (the ABT version):

"Why do they make boys wear those tights? You can see their bottoms."
Me: "That's just the way they do it. They've done it that way for a long time."
After pause: "When they turn around, you can see their butts. You can even see the shape of their..."
Me (quickly): "Mmmhmmmm."

(later)

"I still don't understand why you'd want someone to lift you up and hold you like that (while dancing) if you don't love them."

On our household:

"You know, Daddy is the only one in this house right now who doesn't have red toes."

A riddle, right before bedtime:

"Why are horses like humans? Answer: Because we're both alive."

Yes, we are. And enjoying the hell out of it, thank you.

What's going on here...in pictures

Because I KNOW you love pictures. Right?

Um...RIGHT?

The weather is like THIS:(from http://myweb.whitman.syr.edu/cchung/dipa_sha/)
Sometimes I feel like THIS:(from http://images.chron.com/blogs/fanblogtexans/waiting%20for%20the%20draft.jpg)

But hope for THIS (click to zoom in):
(from https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTsMdE9UG8odLOX08yxoFW1eyqGKWFxQcihxpliCUO9D2PMWn4jGyt0OnD-TlU4H0sHW9mjvuEWYKOu04CHTqkXsrQmyMCGYBHAG_TcMMFoxbt8Zs59FtoKUDxI9E2zlgAgc-40g/s400/hopeful+hard+work.jpg)

I'm not managing to get much of this done this week:

Because the grandparents are away, and Child is off school. So after morning camp, it's more like this:
(nope, that's not us. From http://www.sheknows.com/articles/805518.htm)

But in the end:
(from http://farm1.static.flickr.com/63/231130548_b5b7dbe456.jpg)

Tiara Day!!

It's Tiara Day!!

Put a tiara on your avatar (or use a picture of a tiara) and join in!!

Most of the fun is on twitter, at #tiaraday.

Sucks Rocks

Announcement: Tomorrow is Tiara Day!! Slap a tiara on your avatar and join in the celebration!

This weekend I was thinking about a few things that I really suck at. I mean REALLY suck--I just can't seem to wrap my brain around these things in a way that works, no matter how I try. But that's thinking negatively to focus just on those things--and I don't like that--so I thought it would be fun to do a balanced post. Things I can't do, but also things I do well. And how about you?

Three things that I absolutely suck at:

1. Judging distances. Seriously, if you tell me something is 300 yards away or 10 feet away or 3 miles away, I will NOT KNOW HOW FAR THAT IS. I know empirically what these things mean, and *maybe* I could judge one foot. Other than that my brain doesn't understand. My husband asked me this weekend to pull out 14 inches of fishing line for him. I just looked at him, looked at the line, and said "you tell me when to stop, mmm-kay?" :)
2. Directions. I do fine if I have a map right there in front of me while I'm navigating. But I cannot navigate on the fly like some people can, and end up at the right place. I can't hold a map in my head. And I seriously *will* get lost going places I've been a zillion times. At my age I've realized this is just the way I am. GPS helps, though!
3. Driving. Based on (1) and (2) above, you can probably see how this makes sense. Would you want to ride with someone who constantly got lost and couldn't judge distances? Yeah. I thought so.

So that's the bad news. But really, that's not awful. My husband does almost all of the driving on trips, and I'm good. I can survive pretty well without understanding how far 300 yards is.

So what's my good side? Well, let's see (I admit, these are harder to come up with):

1. Editing. Yep, that's what they pay me for, so I sure hope I'm good at it. But it's more than just editing scientific text, shifting sentences around and being able to spell obscure scientific terminology. It usually works in reading mss and query letters, etc., too: being able to read something and see what's wrong, how it can be shifted to be much BETTER. It doesn't always work with my own writing, but I think I've been able to help a few friends out.
2. Um. *thinks* I know! Losing myself in a fantasy world. This works in writing, acting, dancing (long ago when I was a ballet dancer), and reading. I can completely immerse myself in the character/world and shut everything else out. Yes, I'm counting this as a good thing. :)
3. Enthusiasm. Whether for Tiara Day or my friends or Child, I really ENJOY things. I see the world mostly in a positive way, and I try to spread that. I love.
   

Do those count?

How about you? Can you list 3 things you suck at AND 3 things you rock at, in the comments?

Raising a Reader

I love that I caught Child twice in the past day sneaking reading when she was supposed to be doing something else.

I love that we just got back from the library, and though going in she said she still had too many to read and didn't need more, she walked out with 3 new ones. "Because they look so interesting."

I love that I just asked Child what her favorite book was, and she couldn't answer. There were "too many books that I love because I love books." She ended up settling on the whole mystery category.

I love that she's currently reading TALES OF A 4TH GRADE NOTHING and a Betsy-Tacy-Tib book, both of which I adored at her age. I love that they both make her laugh. Some books endure through generations--they capture experience, and story, so well it doesn't matter when they were written. They are magical.

This is why I write, trying to create this kind of magic.

And watch out, publishing world. I'm raising a reader. You're gonna have to work hard to keep up with her. :)

Fabulosity and First Drafts

The Folk Festival was fabulous.* My favorite moments were dancing with Child and Hubby rightupfront for the Chicago blues band and the New Orleans jazz band. Those people know how to make your bones want to DANCE. I also loved lying out on the grass singing along to gospel while we made grass anklets.

Sometimes Life is just cool.

This weekend we're going to head west to the Choral Festival in Missoula. Did I say it was festival season??

In other news, I finished HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins at lunch today. Y'all were not lying. It ate my brain while I was reading it. I dreamt about it, pondered it, wanted to sneak moments to read it on the sly. I was also MAD at it when I finished, because I wasn't ready for it to end, especially like THAT. Thank God for friends who are smuggling the ARC of Catching Fire to me, because it is necessary. Unfortunately they tell me it won't be any better when I finish that one...*sigh*

I'm also going full gangbusters on my new WIP, working title FRINGE. It's a little odd writing all-new stuff shortly after doing so many soul-pounding revisions. On the one hand it's sometimes sparkly and shiny...and on the other the back of my brain is informing me (quite often) that all of this pretty new will probably eventually be cut. All. This is what I have learned--I shouldn't get too attached to any bit of it, because it will shift and need to change.

Yeah, I get attached to it anyway. It wouldn't mean anything if I didn't. So I am doing my Very Best to shut off the "this too will be cut" brain and just play. I think you have to play on first draft, or readers will be able to tell--it will be too stiff or something. Lacking spark. Yes?

Anyway, I've got quite a bit of work work I'm doing--just taking a breather. Will try to pop in a bit more often, in spite of the summer crazies!!

*I have noticed that I use the word "fabulous" too much lately. This is a good sign that I want to describe so many things as fabulous, but I think I need a new favorite word.

Catch-up

So I've been keeping busy.

I always think summer is going to be relaxing, but it's actually the busiest time of the year. It makes sense, since we *finally* have perfect weather, so everybody's outside doing stuff every minute of the day. Yard maintenance (ha), hiking, biking, picnicking, fishing, and festivals.

Butte has four festivals this summer--3rd/4th of July, the National Folk Festival (in its 2nd of 3 years here), Evel Knievel days (not my thing, but cool) and An Ri Ra, a big Irish celebration. Tonight is the kickoff of the Folk Festival, and I'm excited.

It's really fabulous to have this here in my town. It's a full weekend of FUN music--everything from Blues to Cajun to country to gospel--all outdoors, with multicultural food, dancing, and fun stuff for kids. I'll probably be outdoors just about all weekend, like last year.

Last night we also went to the street carnival that popped up down the block from us. Damn, those things are expensive now--but we got the all-ride passes and USED them. And Child won 2 fish (Danios, I think), who are still living in spite of Psycho. May you keep living, little fish!

To celebrate, this morning she drew this:


Have a wonderful weekend, everybody!

Child's poem and picture of the day

Child's blue dotted octopus sloth poem and picture, created this morning for YOU!

The Blue Dotted Octopus Sloth Poem

The blue dotted octopus
hangs from a tree
while eating a snack,
he gives some to me!

His snack is bananas,
he likes them a lot.
Although I'm a monkey,
I don't like them a lot.

So I said to the octopus,
"No thank you for now,"
and I walked off to
go eat some chow.

The end!

Imagery

My Topics of Thought right now, in picture code. Because isn't picture code more fun sometimes?


(photo from http://gardendaily.blogspot.com/2008/06/big-hole-fishing.html)


(photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/subpesca/2961251313/in/set-72157608236501550/)
(photo from http://www.youngfreealberta.com/assets/client/Image/Blog/Image/XSpotSuperstition/crossed-fingers.jpg)


(photo from http://image.examiner.com/images/blog/wysiwyg/image/fireworks(73).jpg)


What? Oh, whoops. That last one snuck in there. :)

I bet most of you can guess the rest anyway!

Playing with boxes

It's a well-known parentism that when you give a toddler an expensive toy, they'd rather play with the box.

Sometimes I want to be like that.

Because you know what that is? That's honesty, free and clear of societal expectations.

I know, we need societal norms and customs and traditions for lots of things--they smooth out rough situations, they give people something to pull from, a known way to react. When Grandma gives you an ugly-ass shirt she knitted herself, if you're over 8 or so you'll smile (falsely) and say "Thank You, Grandma, I love it!" and her feelings won't be hurt. People who don't handle social things well can be difficult to be around. You want to nudge them or something.

But learning that--how to instantly drop a mask on and pretend something you don't feel--must take something REAL out of you. Kids will just wrinkle their noses and play with the tissue paper instead, and everyone will laugh. Grown-ups aren't always allowed the luxury of being honest.

The bit I like best about playing-with-the-box syndrome, though, is the pure joy and wonder of it. How cool is that, to have a world so ripe with newness and possibilities and imagination that a box is awesome? That it can instantly be a rocket or a train or a playhouse or a turtle, or ANYTHING.

That is what I envy most. I want to remember more often how cool a box can be.

Or playing catch outside in the summer, or blowing bubbles on the porch, or stopping for surprise ice cream. Enjoying, without worrying about what's going to happen next or what's right or what so-and-so will think about it. Enjoying.

Hey, writing is like that box too, isn't it? It's possibility. Creating a story, a world, from a page.

Excuse me. I'm going to go play with my box now. And I'm not going to worry about what anybody thinks.

WINNER!

And the winner, selected by random draw, is...

Emily_YA!

Congrats, Emily! Email me which of the Shakespeare prizes you want, and I'll get it sent off to you!!

Thanks Lisa, and thanks everybody for playing!

Interview with Lisa Mantchev...and giveaway!

As promised, here's an *exclusive* interview with the lovely and talented Lisa Mantchev, author of EYES LIKE STARS. (which I reviewed yesterday) No fairies were harmed in the process of this interview. (well, MUCH)

Susan:Eyes Like Stars is based in an art nouveau-style theater, which happens to be magical and populated with Shakespearean characters. Bertie, the main character, is kind of stuck there. Would you want to live in the Théâtre Illuminata? Who would be your favorite characters to hang out with?

Lisa: I would move there in a heartbeat. Seriously... a messy bed that disappears below the stage, Mrs. Edith to do my laundry for me, food appearing in the Green Room? Sounds like a frazzled writer's dream-come-true! And I'd probably spend the majority of my time with Bertie, the fairies, the comedic characters, because I love to tell inappropriate jokes and have a good laugh. Cue Beatrice and Benedick, if you please...

Susan: One of the primary themes of ELS is Bertie's search for herself: her past, and her future. I'd think this would relate to just about any teenage girl. Did you plan that as a theme, or did it just develop through the story?

Lisa: Bertie's search for her mother and herself was part of the novel from its earliest incarnation, but I wouldn't say I thought about it in terms of "theme" when I was writing (mostly because "theme" is one of those words that got used in my high school English classes that made everyone groan.) Once I'd revised the novel four or five times, I could see the self-discovery was integral in a way that will make movie trailer voice-over guys say things like:
"A girl without a past.... *cue dramatic swell of orchestrated music* will seek the truth beyond the footlights."
*snerk*

Susan: The pirates are yummy. Tell me about the pirates.

Lisa: Oh, Nate. Well, he's got the requisite ship, muscles, accent, earring, sword, and "interesting tattoo" but he really does spend more time offstage with Bertie and the fairies than on it buccaneering and shouting "Arrrr, matey." In fact, he'd probably look askance at anyone who ran up to him and yelled that. In a conversation with Dan Bostick, who's directing the Full Cast Audio version of ELS, we discussed the need for him to have pirate-lilt rather than sounding like Long John Silver. And while I'm a huge fan of Johnny's Captain Jack, Nate's origins have more to do with the pirates in Peter Pan than those sailing the Caribbean.

Susan: Obviously you've been in the theatre a lot. What's the favorite part you've played, and why?

Lisa: I played the Stage Manager in a production of Christopher Durang's The Actor's Nightmare. Not a huge role, but I gave her this super-high Brooklyn accent that deepened when she also got shoved onstage to act; she went from Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors to a husky-voiced homage to our department's movement instructor in one line, and the transformation made everyone howl.

Susan: I've always thought there was a parallel between the ability to lose yourself in a part and in your characters while writing. Agree? Do you think the skills tend to overlap, to some degree?

Lisa: Absolutely. Nine times out of ten, when a scene is flowing, it's because all the characters in it are yammering away in my head... then I'm just transcribing the crazy. And then the writing is just limping along, it's usually because one or more of them has taken a coffee break and wandered off to the Green Room without telling me.

Of all the characters, the one most likely to disappear is Ariel. There's just something about that boy that makes me want to staple his shoes to the floor.

Susan: What would you like to tell readers, about Bertie and Eyes Like Stars? C'mon. Make it juicy. Something sekrit that happened offstage, maybe?

Lisa: Oh, there is much juice to be had... and those sorts of behind-the-scenes/offstage moments are going to be a feature at the Théâtre Illuminata website. (note: also PRIZES!) I've decided to write up some flash fiction to tide readers over until the sequel. *runs before you kill me with sticks*

Oh, all right, here's one thing I haven't shared anywhere else: Nate gets 95% of his accent from Gerard Butler. OM NOM NOM.

Susan: WHEN OH WHEN is the sequel coming out?

Lisa: PERCHANCE TO DREAM will be out in the Fall of 2010, and the third book (yes, Virginia, it IS a trilogy!) will be out in 2011.

*********

Now that you've fallen in love with the book and are dying to read it...I don't have an ARC to give you. WHY? Because I loved it so very much I promptly passed it on for others to love. Still, there's no fun doing an interview without giving away goodies. So instead of an ARC, I'm going to give the winner a choice of one of these 3 Shakespearean goodies, from http://www.shakespearesden.com.

Shakespeare Action Figure!

Shakespearean insult mug!

Shakespeare magnetic poetry kit!

Rules: Contest will be open until midnight MST Thursday, June 25th. You get one entry for posting a comment on this blog, and an additional entry for linking to the contest/interview on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog (just include the links in your post below, or send me an email at susan dot adrian @ yahoo.com)--one entry for each proved posting! Winner must be in North America, due to shipping costs.

Let's spread the word about this fabulous book!

EYES LIKE STARS review!

Tomorrow, I'll be posting an exclusive interview with EYES LIKE STARS author Lisa Mantchev.

Here's the blurb for EYES LIKE STARS:

All her world’s a stage.

Bertie Shakespeare Smith is not an actress, yet she lives in a theater.

She’s not an orphan, but she has no parents.

She knows every part, but she has no lines of her own.

That is, until now.

Enter Stage Right

NATE. Dashing pirate. Will do anything to protect Bertie.

COBWEB, MOTH, MUSTARD SEED, and PEASEBLOSSOM. Four tiny and incredibly annoying fairies. BERTIE’S sidekicks.

ARIEL. Seductive air spirit and Bertie’s weakness. The symbol of impending doom.

BERTIE. Our heroine.

Welcome to the Théâtre Illuminata, where the actors of every play ever written can be found behind the curtain. They were born to play their parts, and are bound to the Théâtre by The Book—an ancient and magical tome of scripts. Bertie is not one of them, but they are her family—and she is about to lose them all and the only home she has ever known.

Lisa Mantchev has written a debut novel that is dramatic, romantic, and witty, with an irresistible and irreverent cast of characters who are sure to enchant the audience.

Open Curtain

I thought I'd love this book. I was a dancer, then an actress, devolving into a full-blown Shakespeare nerd in college. I audited Shakespeare classes for no credit, just because I loved to study the plays. I visited Stratford-upon-Avon, saw Shakespeare in the Park in London, made a trip to Ashland to see the festival there. I try to see at least one Shakespeare play a year, if I can manage it.

Plus, it's YA! And fantasy! And it has *pirates*! But would it be a great story?

Yes. She pulled it off. The book managed to integrate the theatre stuff in a new, original way. The characters--especially Bertie--were compelling and identifiable. There is wackiness--nutty fairies, buckets of blue hair dye, an onstage Turkish bath scene--but it was always believable. Better, even though I was on vacation, I never wanted to put it down. I kept sneaking off to read it for *just a few more minutes*.

My only complaint is that it's a series, and now I have to WAIT to find out what happens. As we all know, I'm Not So Good at waiting.

*stares at Lisa* O_0

But you'll want to join in too!

Come by tomorrow and check out the interview. Plus, I'm going to be giving away a fabulous Shakespearean-themed prize from this place. Can you guess which 3 choices I'm offering?

No, really, NOW it's good

I was thinking this weekend about that perennial question authors ask themselves, and each other:

How do you know when the book is done? When is it ready to send off into the world?

My answer, for myself, has always been when it's as good as I can make it. The funny thing is, I didn't realize that was a moving target.

I wrote a book. I thought it was as good as I could possibly make it. My agent loved it and agreed to represent it. Wahoo! Done, right?

*laughs*

It didn't quite sell, but we had consistent feedback. On reading the feedback, I realized the book COULD be better. I could go farther, deeper, if I let myself. I didn't know what I was thinking before, that it was as good as I could do. It wasn't. I just *thought* it was. So I revised it.

I thought I was done. NOW it's perfect, right?

*laughs*

Then a brilliant person suggested a completely different bent to the book. ("What would it be like if THIS happened instead?")

Ohhhhhhhh. Yessssss.

I now am just starting to realize that when I have that "oh" moment, there's yet another level to go. The book was good, maybe. It could still be better. And every time, I realize that where I thought I let go before, that I really gave it all I had, there's MORE.

Some people don't understand how I can keep making revisions when I was happy with the book to begin with. "If it was right before," they ask, "why do you keep messing with it?"

Because maybe it was right before for me a year ago, or 6 months ago. I keep growing and changing as a person, keep inhaling other books and thoughts and (hopefully) wisdom. So when someone I trust says "not quite right" I damn well WILL go at it again. And again. And again.

Is it perfect this time? No. I'm sure with the right eye I could make it EVEN better. But this time, really and truly, it's the best I can do.

New Book YAY

Finally I've got my teeth into a new book.

All new. Brand new. Shiny and tempting and lovely.

Sparkly like this:

Or this:

Or especially THIS:









Though I will be keeping it close to my chest for quite a while yet, I wanted to share the GLEE.

ULTRA-MEGA Tiara Day winners!!

So the winners of the Tiara Day contest (announced on Twitter this weekend) were:

First prize (first pick): @JoanneLevy
Second prize: @DeadlyAccurate

Congrats to the winners! Books will be mailed soon. And thanks to everybody who played--that was ~*FUN*~. We should do it again sometime, y?

ULTRA-MEGA TIARA DAY!!

Happy ULTRA-MEGA Tiara Day, everybody!!!

As explained yesterday, to celebrate I'm holding an ULTRA-MEGA contest.


The prize: One of these fine books, chosen by the winner.*

You can't see all of them? Well, I tried to cover more than just YA, though it's still heavily YA. The titles/authors are:

Death by Bikini, by Linda Gerber (YA mystery)
Rebel Angels, by Libba Bray (YA historical)
Paging Aphrodite by Kim Green (um...women's fiction, I guess)
Enna Burning, by Shannon Hale (middle grade)
Heretic, by Bernard Cornwell (historical)
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, E. Lockhart (YA)
My Name is Will, Jess Winfield (really cool Shakespeare-related fiction)

But what's that one in the middle, you ask? Oh, THAT:


THAT is a highly-sought-after ARC of Eyes Like Stars, by Lisa Mantchev. I'm only giving it away because I LOVED it so much that I want to share (though you may have to pry it from me). Seriously. It is amazing. You want to read this ASAP.

The rules: Change your avatar (on twitter, facebook, your blog, etc.) to somehow include a tiara. Tiaras by themselves are okay, but it's more fun if it's you or your regular avatar sporting a tiara (Photoshop is FINE). Tweet to me (@susan_adrian) or email me (susan dot adrian @yahoo.com) or comment on this post that you've participated, with a link to the pic for post or email. Contest closes at midnight tonight, June 12th.

I'll randomly draw a winner. Sorry, I can only ship to the U.S. and Canada, but please feel free to participate anyway!

*If we get more than 25 entries, I'll randomly draw TWO winners. 50 entries, THREE winners. 75 entries, FOUR winners. Should we happen to get 100 entries, I'll draw FIVE. (and I'll stop there or go broke from postage). This means you have a great incentive to SPREAD THE WORD about tiara day, post links, and re-tweet.

Winners will be announced sometime this weekend. Ready...go forth and wear tiaras!!! Enjoy!! :)

ULTRA-MEGA Tiara Day and ULTRA-MEGA Contest Tomorrow!

*announcement* *announcement* *announcement*

Tomorrow (Friday, June 12th) will be ULTRA-MEGA Tiara Day.

Tiara Day is partly just silly--the idea is to post a picture of yourself in a tiara, your usual avatar tiara'd, or a plain old tiara pic as your avatar for the day. Can work on Twitter, Facebook, your blog, whatever.

It's also partly about celebrating good news, and creating good, positive energy. It's FUN.

So to help make tomorrow ULTRA-MEGA, I'm also going to host a contest.

Detailed post tomorrow, but the gist is that if you participate in Tiara Day and let me know, you will be entered to win one of EIGHT books I've put up as choices. All different genres. Including a particular ARC that many many people would like to have....*

Books and deets tomorrow!! Polish your tiaras!!

*At this point I'm only going to have one winner, but if I get ULTRA-MEGA participation, you never know....