Agent Mary Kole of Andrea Brown Literary Agency had a great post yesterday on "The Promise of the Novel," where she gives great advice regarding writing the opening pages of a manuscript, based on her experiences in critiquing manuscripts at recent writers conferences (http://bit.ly/zFei5w). In it, she talks about the point in an opening chapter where readers have a strong sense of where the novel is going to take them, both in terms of the plot and the emotional experience they'll have while reading the book. "Make a solemn promise to your audience that you will tell them the story they think they've settled down to read," Kole says.

I thought about her words not only as I prepare short excerpts from my work to share at a writers conference this Friday, but also as I reflected on Lauren Myracle's young adult novel 'Shine' (I posted a review of the book here: http://exm.nr/yuJUDc). In 'Shine,' 16-year-old Cat has tried to hide inside herself ever since that horrible day three summers ago when her brother’s best friend took advantage of her in her living room. She separated herself from everything good in her life, including her best friend, Patrick, “which was like dying, since losing Patrick was nearly the same as losing myself.” But now Patrick is lying in a hospital bed in a coma, after someone beat him up outside the gas station where he worked, jammed a gas nozzle down his throat and wrote a slur in his own blood across his chest. And now Cat, who knows the sheriff’s department will be useless in finding Patrick’s tormentor, is determined to find out who in her town would do such a thing.

I'd heard Myracle speak at an event last November (http://exm.nr/tla7FG), and I knew, based on hearing her speak and based on listening to other readers describe 'Shine' as a truly extraordinary book, that I wanted to read 'Shine.' But there's a point in the first chapter, on pages 19 and 20, where I knew I was emotionally invested in this book. It's a scene where Cat is sitting under the crawl space of Patrick's home, just like she and Patrick used to do when they were small. They'd spread out a tarp, sit on milk crates, and eat snacks by candlelight while they talked and talked. Seeing it again, all those years later, was like seeing a postcard from her childhood, Cat says--"and it made me ache."

"Because Patrick wasn’t a child anymore, but he wasn’t yet a man," Myracle writes in 'Shine.' "Because someone beat him up and jammed a gas nozzle down his throat. Because on top of everything he’d already lost, he was seventeen years old and more alone than I’d ever been, trapped in the deep sleep of a coma.

"It enraged me.

"But I’d lost out, too, and the realization fed my rage. I lost the strength to face the world head on. I lost my friends, I lost my brother, and I lost Patrick, which was like dying, since losing Patrick was nearly the same as losing myself. And what if Patrick never woke up? What if I’d lost him for good?

"My fury sizzled and popped until I wasn’t just mad, but crazy mad, as if I’d struck a match and lit myself on fire. What happened to Patrick was wrong. What happened to me was wrong. Every single thing was wrong, and when that great blaze of wrongness reached my core, my heart swelled and roared and cast it back out, leaving a white-hot clarity like nothing I’d ever experienced" ('Shine,' pages 19-20).

And that was the moment when I knew I was holding a story that was so much more than I could have envisioned when I read the jacket copy. That was the moment when I was truly caught up in the story--the moment when I knew I wouldn't be able to put this book down.

What book has the best opening chapter that you've read lately?

What do you think?

Congratulations to Jack Gantos, and to all of today's award winners! So many great books.

What is the picture above? you might ask. Why, that is "a giraffe fairy talking to a mouse." My four year old is obsessed with art these days, and comes up with all these great stories to accompany her drawings. Meanwhile my 2 1/2 year old narrates conversations between her stuffed farm animals, and my son, 15, is working toward his dream of playing baseball in college one day. All around me, it seems, there is dreaming and energy, especially of the creative kind.

Next Friday, I'll get to do something I've dreamed of doing for three years: attend the SCBWI conference in New York, something I've wanted to do since I was seven months pregnant with my youngest daughter. I hung onto the SCBWI flier advertising the conference all that month, knowing I couldn't go, but imagining what it would be like if I could go, and what it would be like when I finally did get to go. And this year, amazingly, is the year.

I nearly talked myself out of it, saying we couldn't afford it.

But I realized that I could very well use that as an excuse every year. And my husband, who is doing some freelance work on top of his full-time teaching schedule, found a way to make it happen. We'll go together, since neither of us has been to New York City before: He'll go sightseeing during the day while I'm at the writers intensive on Friday and in class on Saturday and Sunday morning, and we'll go out together at night. How perfect is that?

So I wondered: For those of you who have been to an SCBWI writers intensive before, what tips would you offer?

I asked my friend Kimberly Sabatini this question yesterday--Kimberly, whom I'll get to meet in person for the first time at the conference, and whose book 'Touching the Surface' comes out this fall (http://kimberlysabatini.com/blog/)--and she had many great tips, including these three:

* Take business cards with your name, email address, and website or blog address, and pass them out to those in your critique group, to the moderator, if you feel comfortable, and to friends you make at the conference, to keep in touch afterward.

* Bring more than one sample of your work to share, in case someone at your table reads something similar to the passage you'd originally intended to share. This tip could also be handy if, say, you'd intended to share a middle-grade excerpt, but the editor or agent at your table specializes in young adult. If you have writing samples from more than one category (such as picture books and young adult), bring them, just in case.

* Be a sponge. Take in everything you can. Meet as many people as you can. Prepare to be inspired.

What advice might you have for a first-time writers intensive attendee?

“Elephants can detect danger. They’re able to detect an approaching tsunami or earthquake before it hits. Unfortunately, Jack did not have this talent,” Jennifer Richard Jacobson writes in her middle-grade novel ‘Small as an Elephant.’ But even if Jack had known danger was approaching, nothing could have prepared him for the morning he awoke at a campsite in Acadia National Park in Maine—where he and his mother had driven late the night before from their home in Massachusetts, two states away—and found his mother had left him, taking the rental car, her tent, and all their food and supplies with her.

It was supposed to be the best weekend of summer—and the last, with school starting that Tuesday. Instead, Jack is left with only his sleeping bag, a flashlight, his Hubba tent, $14 and a cell phone—and the determination to find his mother or find his own way home, before his grandmother or child protective services figure out what happened and take Jack away from his mother forever.

So begins Jack’s journey in ‘Small as an Elephant,’ an exquisite middle-grade novel that is one of the very best children’s novels of 2011. He yearns for the promises of the vacation he and his mother had envisioned—with red snapper hot dogs, the ones his mother said he’d be able to bite into and hear a snap; with visits to Sand Beach and Thunder Hole and all the other fantastic places she’d circled on their map—if only they hadn’t gotten into a fight on the drive to Maine. “He wished they hadn’t argued in the car last night. He wished he’d tried to be a little more understanding,” Jacobson writes, as Jack pushes down the anger and fear he feels at being left on his own and focuses on trying to find his mother, or at least find his way home.

But as the details about what happened during their car ride to Maine the day before are slowly revealed, and as the weight of what has happened sinks into his being, Jack wrestles with the desire to protect his mother and the rage he feels at being left behind by the one person he should have been able to count on more than anyone (“Dang it! These were supposed to be the best three days of his whole summer. The ones that were going to make up for all the boring days he’d spent in their nothing-to-do apartment”). Read the full review: http://exm.nr/AuMSLz

In an interview with Kirkus Reviews, Jacobson shares why she chose elephants as such an integral part of the theme of her book: “Elephants are extremely maternal. Elephants won’t leave their young behind,” she says (http://bit.ly/gmSedv). She also says she "didn’t set out to write a book about difficult issues, but I didn’t shy away from them either."

What I liked most about this interview was learning about the writing process behind 'Small as an Elephant.' The first draft of the book was written from her armchair, she says, with maps tracking where Jack would go. But what was missing in that first draft were the rich descriptions of setting that make the reader feel as if he's taking part in the journey, too--smelling the ocean air ("like warm olives"), sitting in the shop where Jack eats his first red snapper hot dog, the one his mother had promised him before they'd left. When an editor marked several areas where the details about the story's setting could have been stronger, Jacobson embarked on a trip throughout Maine through Jack's eyes, writing from the locations where he would have spent time and recording the details as Jack would have experienced them. I admired the approach--and fell in love with the story.

What was your favorite children's book from 2011? Which are some of the books you'll be cheering for next Monday, when the Newbery & Printz awards and more are announced?

Some days, my writing space looks like this:


(area to the right of my desk at work, where I write during my lunch break)

And some days it looks like this:


Or this, the kitchen island (without the bottle of wine):


But lately--maybe because of the season; maybe because when I am in these places, there are other things pulling at me--I yearn for something more like this:


Which, in some ways, seems silly: I mean, author Kristi Holl, who has written 34 books for kids and has four children, wrote from her driveway when she needed to step away from all things parenting related for a while (http://www.kristiholl.com/). And maybe the parenting things weren't the only reason she sought a queit place in the drive; maybe she needed to get away from the laundry and the dishes that might otherwise have called her name, too. She sure didn't have a Starbucks nearby when she began writing for children.

But I'm taking my writing on the road this week, in an effort to find what works for me. And these are the places I've gone so far:

* A cafe near my son's Saturday baseball practice (there was nowhere to sit inside the pole barn where his team practices). Pros: Good coffee, nice word count. Cons: They make you purchase more than coffee at that restaurant, and there were no desserts. I ended up buying the cheapest sandwich on the menu--for $8.95. Add in coffee and a tip, and it was a little expensive.

* A Starbucks near my son's four-hour Sunday practice. Pros: There were outlets everywhere; I had a giftcard, which cut the cost to 14 cents; and I got to listen to a high school couple on what I think might have been a first date. And the word count was high. Cons: No cons.

* The sushi restaurant next door to the place my son goes for tutoring in Geometry. Pros: Spicy tuna roll for $4.95 made it a reasonable meal, and since I'd just driven an hour home from work, it was nice to just sit and relax and write, as opposed to writing in the lobby of the tutoring office. Cons: The lighting wasn't great. The word count, at 250 words in an hour, was just okay. But the words I wrote then made me want to write more later.

* This morning, after dropping three kids off at three separate places (high school, preschool, and day care): Wendy's. Pros: Great music; cheap breakfast (biscuit and gravy for $2); nice lighting. 500 words in an hour? Not bad. Cons: If I keep eating like this, I am going to get fat.

And the upside to all of this? When I take that time for myself, outside the home--45 minutes to an hour, even--I come back refreshed. And later, when the kids are in bed and I've tended to all I need to tend to at home, I'm in a better place to tackle the story I'm writing or the one I'm revising from my own home.

This type of plan may not work all year long, but it works for now. And I'm grateful for that.

What does your writing space or time look like this new year?

I've been having trouble with coming up with a plan for my New Year's resolutions, which in some ways sums up the feelings I had as 2011 ended.

I need to make a change. But I'm not sure what type of change is needed. What I want is to stop feeling quite so harried, in lots of areas of my life (work and home and writing, parenting and partnering), and to have more time to truly enjoy what I'm doing, whether it's spending time with my kids or my husband or taking joy in the words I create (because these past several weeks, it seems as though the time I've had to create them has been squashed between so many other things--and some of those other things have taken on more importance than they should).

I know you've probably all been there. I know I've been here before, probably when my son, now a teenager, was 2--and since my youngest is 2 3/4, it probably makes sense that I'm in this place again. And I want to find my way out again.

So my biggest resolution is just to focus on what I can do each day--one step at a time--to find more joy in the time I spend with my family, the work that I do, and the life that I live. And I know that some of that joy will come from making time, each day, to create, in some way. And to make that time "my time"--to view it as something I need, not just something I want, so that it isn't pushed aside for things that can be taken care of some other hour, some other day, or by someone else, even.

If you're feeling like this, too, you might especially enjoy a post today by YA author Sarah Ockler, "One Writers' Resolution to Rule Them All: Just Make the Freaking Bed" http://bit.ly/wq1AfO. There's a lot of truth in this post, and a lot of humor, too.

Yesterday, I came upon this quote via an interview with author Aimee Bender by Gotham Writers Workshop: "Write every day what you feel like writing that day and the writing will never be dutiful" (http://bit.ly/odRnfc). Holding this one close each day, too.

But perhaps the words I'd most like to have as my motto for 2012 are these, from debut YA author K.M. Walton, whose book 'Cracked' was released on Tuesday: "Believe it will happen. Envision it happening. Make it happen" (http://bit.ly/wMGAF3). There is magic in those words, isn't there?

My other goals, in a nutshell:

* Complete another revision of the 'Emily' middle-grade novel.

* Finish the YA novel I've been writing.

* Toilet-train my youngest before her 3rd birthday this March. We thought she would be the easiest to train. She's proven to be the most stubborn.

* Try at all costs to take a shower each day. This sounds gross, doesn't it? It's not meant to be. It seems like each morning, I get so caught up in getting the kids ready for school/to school and day care/getting a million other things done before work that in order to make it to work at a reasonable time, I can, at best, count on time for a shower every other day. And I'm wondering if part of the solution in putting a little more joy back into my life begins with something as simple as making time for a hot shower before I take on all the other things I need to do each day. So yes, my resolution is to take a shower each day.

* Write a short story for adults. I did this last August, a little romance, and am still thrilled by the result. It's nice to try something new and run with it. I entered that story in a contest; if it doesn't win, I'll post it here sometime for fun.

* Try a new recipe each month. I should probably share that I have tried three new recipes this week and I am zero-for-three on creating new meals that taste fabulous. :) When I told my husband, after the third try, that I was going to try to make potato and leek soup this week for the first time, too, the poor man looked scared. I ended up defrosting the leftover ham from Christmas and serving that instead. My family devoured dinner that night. But I'm still game.

* Read to my girls each night, a practice I fell away from a bit last year. We're having a great time this week reading "Birdie's Big Girl Dress" and "Marcel the Shell with Shoes On." And if you have not yet heard of Marcel, let me leave you with this video.



What is your motto (or favorite resolution) for 2012?

I think I'll hang the "2012 Toilets of the World Calendar" up at work.

Happy Wednesday! Happy writing!

"Each waking day is an empty vessel; how wonderful to arise each morning with the option of how to fill it."-Walter Dean Myers, the new national ambassador for young people's literature. Read an interview with him in School Library Journal: http://bit.ly/sml5DD.

I'm coming up with a plan, this week, for how to achieve my new year's resolutions, three of which center on writing at their core. I had intended, of course, to have a plan before New Year's Eve. But maybe it's okay that I'm a few days late. Maybe those few extra days spent developing a plan that will work and that will bring me joy will make all the difference. I'll be holding Walter Dean Myers' words close to my heart today.

Wishing you much joy in all things in 2012.

Jeni

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and Happy Almost New Year to each of you.

Today I paused for a sweet moment while reading Jo Knowles' beautiful poem (http://jbknowles.livejournal.com/443089.html?mode=reply), and I'll pause this afternoon when I take my laptop to the Panera nearby for a few hours to write while my daughters play at their grandmother's house and my son takes an overnight trip to Milwaukee for a Christmas celebration.

I found myself thankful yesterday for Elana Johnson's inspiring post that will touch writers who are published and unpublished alike (http://bit.ly/vF1Uf8), which I found thanks to another LJ friend, Jennifer R. Hubbard. I highly recommend it, if you have time between now and the end of the year.

This post also spoke to my heart: a Cynsations interview with Joy Preble, author of 'Dreaming Anastasia,' where she talks about how she went from the mindset of "I think I want to write" to "I'm going to write a novel and finish it" http://bit.ly/sddIi0. I think my favorite part of this post is when she talks about how mind-numbingly frustrating her full-time job was at the time--exhausting to the point that she was too tired to think about applying for another job--when she began writing 'Anastasia.' "I wrote because somewhere around page 50, I realized I couldn’t imagine my life without writing," she says.

So today, I'll finish work at my full-time job before taking a week's vacation. I'll spend time at Panera writing my way out of a chapter that has given me much trouble, so that I can write lightly again as I keep moving forward, one step at a time. I'll make Chex mix and butter cookies and wrap gifts while watching "The Help." And I'll snuggle the puppy you see above, who is not such a puppy anymore (10 years old next month), and who has had a rough week: He escaped the backyard the other day and was gone for 45 minutes, and his stomach has not felt the same since. He's lost some of his spunk, that Spunky the Wonder Pup. If you can spare good thoughts or a prayer for him, I'd really appreciate it. Hoping he's feeling better soon.

Happy holidays to you and your family!

Jeni