Wednesday Friday Reads: "Just One Day" and "Just One Year" by Gayle Forman

Friday Reads on a Wednesday! This past Friday (and the start of this week!) got away from me, so here we are. Last week I raced through Gayle Forman's newest YA duet, Just One Day and Just One Year. The former came out in January, while the latter came out...last week. I've had Just One Day sitting on my shelf for a while, and when we got close to the release of the companion book, I figured I might as well wait to read them both in succession! And I am so glad I did, given that I finished Just One Day last Wednesday and immediately ran to Barnes & Noble to pick up Just One Year. I couldn't wait even a day to start it!

So what are these books about? They both tell the story of a year in the life of Allyson, a straight-laced American who has just graduated from high school, and Willem, the Dutch actor/wanderer she meets on the European tour that was her parents' graduation present to her. In Just One Day, Allyson and Willem spend a whirlwind day together in Paris—a day that is completely unexpected and life-changing for Allyson, normally a rule-follower who is averse to adventure until it runs her over. Willem is more used to adventure, but the day is special to him for other reasons that aren't revealed until Just One Year. The catch: when that magical day is over, Allyson finds herself alone in Paris. Willem has vanished. She'll spend the next year recovering from the abandonment, and then (mild spoiler?) searching for him. Unfortunately, she doesn't know his last name or anything about him; even worse, he only knows her by a nickname he gave her: Lulu.

Just One Day is told from Allyson's point of view, and Just One Year is told from Willem's. (It's a device Forman has used before, in her previous book duet: If I Stay and Where She Went.) With these two books, it was great to experience Allyson's wonder, her confusion, her pain, and her ultimate growth, and then to see Willem's journey in turn. You see first how he affected her, and then the impact she had on him. And the great thing is, it's not just about the love story—though that's certainly reason enough to pick up the books. (It's pretty swoony!) Allyson and Willem both have lives of their own, issues to face, and growth to do as individuals. Their meeting, powerful as it is, is just the catalyst for what's next.

I know I'm being a little vague (though again, I hope I haven't already spoiled too much!), but part of the joy of these books is experiencing them as they unfold. That said, I have to talk about the settings, and the travel, in these books!

In college, I was lucky to get to spend a semester in London. That semester immediately followed a summer internship in NYC, so I was used to making my way around a big city and beyond excited to try a different country. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life—living in central London, meeting fellow students from across the globe, hopping on the train on a whim to visit Stratford-upon-Avon, Oxford, Rochester, even Paris and Amsterdam... the list goes on. Of course, I was operating on a student's budget in one of the world's most expensive cities, so I wasn't able to travel nearly as much as I would have liked. When I say I went to Paris, I mean I was there for...two one-day visits on two separate occasions. Amsterdam was a two-day visit, shared with The Hague. But still—I hopped on a train, and I was there.

I can't wait to go back to London, to Paris, to Amsterdam. I know there is so much more to see. And I know it won't be the same a decade later, now that I'm a jaded New Yorker (ha!) and married, no longer a student on a budget, but I can't wait to recapture the magic of being in those cities. I can't wait to share that magic with my husband. 

One thing I loved about Just One Day and Just One Year is that the characters often travel off the beaten path. The closest I've come in recent years is when my husband and I went to Italy, on our honeymoon. We visited Rome, Siena, Florence, and Venice, and of course we hit all of the tourist destinations—but by the time we reached Venice, we were tired of being tourists. In Venice, we wandered. We got rid of the map. We followed tiny alleyways that emerged onto main canals. We walked in circles. And it was amazing. In Just One Day, Allyson and Willem explore Paris by picking a Metro station at random and seeing what's there. That reminded me of how we experienced Venice. On foot, and without making too many plans.

Anyway. If you love romance, and realistic characters dealing with realistic issues, pick up these books. If you love travel, or if you dream of traveling, pick up these books. :)

~Kathryn

Title Change Ahoy!

It's time to make a book-related announcement! I officially have a new title! My book, which you will be able to read in early 2015, is now called... 

*drumroll* 

THE DISTANCE BETWEEN LOST AND FOUND

What do you think? I pretty much love it. That's not to say that I didn't have a mourning period for THE CREATION OF HALLELUJAH CALHOUN, but the more I think about this new title, the more right I think it is. It reflects the physical journey my characters go on as much as their emotional/spiritual journeys. It sounds nice. Kind of rolls off the tongue. And it will—I hope—draw readers in. 

I don't generally find titles easy (aside from coming up with punny headlines for freelance dance articles!). This latest titling process was no exception. (As an aside, the only fiction title I ever came up with easily was THE CREATION OF HALLELUJAH CALHOUN.) That said, with brainstorming help from my agent, my editor, my husband, and a few trusted friends/readers, we found the right answer remarkably quickly. I'm hoping I can learn from our marathon brainstorming session the next time I have to title something! 

In the meantime, I'm getting used to my book's new title. I'm saying it out loud a lot, to practice: "This is my book, THE DISTANCE BETWEEN LOST AND FOUND." I can't wait for the next phase of Wow, this is starting to feel like a real book—seeing this new title on a mocked-up book cover! Whoa. (And yes, I know finding the right book cover can be just as difficult as finding the right title, but I'm still excited. Don't burst my bubble!) 

That's all for this Wednesday... 

~Kathryn 

The Draft Is In! (Plus Some Friday Reads...)

Yup. I turned in my book draft on Tuesday, which felt really, really good. I can't wait to get back more notes on the changes I made and make the book even better—okay, actually, I can wait. I'm definitely looking forward to a few weeks with a little less on my mind! But at the same time, I'm eager to hear my editor's thoughts. In a few weeks. When I've recovered. In the meantime, I had a birthday on Tuesday, I have rehearsals for my dance performance that's coming up at the end of this month, I took a quick freelance assignment from Dance Spirit, I'm catching up on other freelance work, my husband and I are seeing Matilda The Musical on Broadway tomorrow night (yay, birthday and yay, book deal!), we're going to visit his family next weekend, and... I know my free time, such as it is, is already completely booked up! But at least, for now, the draft is in.

One thing I was thrilled to do a lot this week is READ! I made my way through two really spectacular books, and since I haven't done a Friday Reads post in eons, I thought I might do one today.

First up, I read David Levithan's newest, TWO BOYS KISSING:

Admittedly, I'll read pretty much anything David Levithan writes. Not only because I was lucky enough to have him as a professor in grad school, but also because I just really enjoy his work. Plus, TWO BOYS KISSING has gotten a lot of hype lately—including making the longlist for the National Book Awards.

Luckily, this book lived up to its hype. It's so gorgeous! TWO BOYS KISSING is actually about eight boys. Craig and Harry are trying to break the Guinness World Record for longest kiss. They're doing it on behalf of their friend Tariq, who was brutally attacked for being gay. Peter and Neil are in a happy long-term relationship, and are figuring out what that means. Avery and Ryan just met, and have instant chemistry. And Cooper is alone, barely interacting with the world outside his computer. While all of these stories are told thoughtfully and realistically, it's the narration that really sets this book apart. TWO BOYS KISSING is narrated by a chorus of men who died during the AIDS crisis. They watch over the current generation, commenting on how different the world has become—and how similar it still is. The narrators' memories about their lives—and deaths—and their pleas to the characters to cherish the lives they have were so powerful. The ending moved me to tears.

When I set that book down, I picked up the other new release I was dying to read, Rainbow Rowell's FANGIRL:

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you might remember me raving about Rowell's last book, ELEANOR & PARK (post HERE). Because I loved that book so much, I absolutely couldn't wait to read FANGIRL, which about a freshman in college, Cath, who is a shy, slightly nerdy writer of fanfiction about Simon Snow (a Harry Potter–esque fantasy series). Well... I loved this book. So much. I actually went back and reread a few scenes when I was done because I wasn't ready to leave these characters and their world yet. Also, because I wanted to swoon some more. There is a lot to swoon about in this book...

What you need to know about teenaged Kathryn is that ... I wrote fanfiction. About The X-Files. I discovered the fanfiction section on Fox TV's official X-Files Internet message board when I was 16, and almost immediately got sucked into these amazing stories people were writing about the characters. I started writing my own. I wrote short scenes and a few full-length "X-files" by myself. I co-wrote a few stories with friends I met on the message boards. I even started working on a crossover fanfic in which Agents Mulder and Scully found themselves hunting for a mysterious artifact that was also being chased down by the characters from the TV show La Femme Nikita.

I was really into it, for several years, is what I'm saying. My screenname was XKitty.

So reading FANGIRL brought all of that back to me. The nerves of being a college freshman and not knowing anyone. The lure of my online friends and fans, and the excitement of knowing there were people actually waiting to see what I'd post next. The thrill when I shared my first full-length story with a new college friend who also happened to love The X-Files. Oh, and the not-so-positive response I got from a creative writing professor when I mentioned that I hadn't written a lot of original fiction, but I did write fanfiction...

All of that said, you don't have to have written fanfic to appreciate and love FANGIRL! It has family drama, an adorable love interest, fish-out-of-water college shenanigans, and characters you genuinely care about. I really, really recommend this one. I am a Rainbow Rowell fangirl.

Wow, that was a long post. I guess it was all that time away from blogging...it got backed up.

Until next time!

~Kathryn

Another Dispatch From the Revision Cave

It’s been two weeks since I last checked in, so here I am! I’m still chugging along on my revision, still juggling work commitments and dance rehearsals and other responsibilities while my head is filled to the brim with thoughts about my book. Revising is still going smoothly—though as I approach my deadline, the nerves are starting to kick in. Am I making the right choices? Will my editor like the changes I’ve made? Am I getting closer to having the final version that will be on bookshelves in a little over a year? I know this draft won’t be my very last, and I know that my editor’s job is to guide me along the path. Still, I’m feeling pressure to Get It Right. The good news is, when I take my editor and the publication process and potential future readers out of the equation and just look at the BOOK, I do feel that it’s getting stronger. My editor is pushing me to dig deeper, to fill in the gaps, to make my characters as three-dimensional as possible and the world that they live in as realistic as possible. To draw readers in from page one and make them care. And I think it’s working.

Over the weekend, I was thinking about a revision like this as a closet cleanout. In particular, I was thinking about the last time I had to go through my closet in my old bedroom at my parents’ house. I’m a bit of a packrat when it comes to things that have memories attached to them. Or things that I haven’t used in ages but might one day need or want again. At the same time, I don’t love clutter, so I like to keep packrat things out of sight, filed away in boxes or drawers or baskets so the whole area looks relatively organized and neat.

It’s easy enough to do a surface clean when you keep your clutter organized. It’s easy to dust and vacuum and straighten the shelves. It’s also easy to open a box or a drawer, poke around in it, and say, “Eh—this stuff isn’t bothering anyone. I’ll deal with it later.”

This revision has been about the stuff inside those boxes. This has been the nitpicky, meticulous revision. The one where I have to open each drawer, set out all of the items stored inside, and decide if I truly need those things. In some cases, I do—but I have to justify why. In other cases, they’re just not necessary. Right now, I’m doing editing work I avoided—or didn’t yet realize I needed to do—in earlier revisions. I’m doing work that I couldn’t have done without the organizing and sorting and surface cleaning of previous revisions. When I finish, I will have the neatest, most organized, most streamlined closet—er, manuscript draft—I can produce.

And then my editor will come in and ask me if I really need those cross-stitch patterns from when I went through my sewing phase in middle school, and I’ll hem and haw, and probably ultimately decide she’s right. And the book will be even better for it.

Did this metaphor get away from me? I blame revision-brain. (And I didn't even get to the part where, when cleaning out a closet, you have to make the mess much worse before it gets better!)

So back to work. This manuscript won't be done until it's done—and I can't wait until I get to share the final product with all of you. :)

~Kathryn

Dispatch From the Revision Cave

Last time I blogged, I mentioned that I was waiting for my editor's notes on my manuscript. Well—I got them! And I've spent the past week and a half deeply engrossed in revisions. I can't stop thinking about my book. It's in my head when I wake up in the morning and as I lie in bed trying to fall asleep—and so much of the time in between. I am so excited about taking my editor's notes and finding ways to make this the best possible book it can be. And...yeah, okay, it hasn't all been easy. I don't believe it will all be smooth sailing for the next month. But it's rewarding work! (And you have my complete permission to remind me of the enthusiasm in this post if I start to complain or freak out in the weeks to come!) Considering that this is the first time I've had to revise a book with a deadline, I feel like things are going pretty well. I have my to-do list of edits. I'm working my way through the biggest, most wide-reaching changes first, asking big questions about my characters and their motivations. I'm revising a few hours a day, almost every day. I have a lot of momentum, and I hope I can keep it up.

There have been a few downsides to spending so much time working on my book revision. One, it's kind of hard to focus on my other work when all I want to do is write! Two, I haven't been able to fit in my usual full roster of dance classes. (Especially because rehearsals for my dance performance in October are also picking up speed!) And three, our apartment is kind of a mess. When I need to procrastinate, picking up the house is one of my favorite ways to do it. When I'm wrapped up in work I'm enjoying, on the other hand, cleaning is the first thing to fall by the wayside. I'm trying to decide how little housework I can get away with until my draft is due in a month. Or if I just have to suck it up and squeeze in an hour with the vacuum, the dishes, the toilet cleaner, etc...

Oh, and the fourth downside: fewer blog posts! I've been saving my creative time and energy for my revision. But I promise, when I turn in this draft, I'll get back to posting Friday Reads and other updates on writing, reading, and fun stuff. So please stick around for my eventual return to regularly scheduled blog posts!

For now, back into the revision cave I go. Wish me luck! More dispatches to follow...

~Kathryn

The Multi-Tasker's Dilemma...

I was never one of those people who could read multiple books at once. I read a lot of books as a kid. (A LOT.) I still read a lot of books. My current tally for 2013 is 63 books. But I have always preferred to read them one at a time. I'd rather race through a book in a day and move on to the next one the next morning than try to switch back and forth. I've recently learned that I'm pretty much the same way about writing. Up until the past month, I've never attempted to work on two books at the same time. I had THE CREATION OF HALLELUJAH CALHOUN dancing around in my brain while making revisions on the first novel I wrote, WINK, but I didn't start first-drafting HALLELUJAH until WINK was done and being queried to literary agents. I devoted almost a year to writing and revising HALLELUJAH alone. This book filled my thoughts.

But since mid-July, I've been trying to pull double-duty. I've been thinking about revisions on HALLELUJAH, anticipating my editor's notes and the things we've already discussed changing or tweaking. Meanwhile, I've been fleshing out the first draft of my new, as-yet-untitled YA novel. And it's hard. I feel a little bit like the characters are all crying out for attention in my brain at the same time. While reading over HALLELUJAH last week and making notes to myself in that document, I did an interview and some brainstorming for the new book. When I sat down to sketch out some scenes for the new book, all I could think about was how I'm going to rework the beginning of HALLELUJAH.

I've been thinking a lot about moving forward into what I hope will be a career writing books (if I'm very lucky!), and I'm betting that this multi-tasking, multiple-projects-at-once thing is a skill I'm going to have to hone. After all, if I wait until one book is completely done before ever starting something new, the time between books could really stretch out (not to mention the lulls while my agent, editor, and/or beta readers are reading a draft!). So I figured I'd crowd-source a bit. Get your opinions/advice/experiences.

As a reader, do you read more than one book at a time? As a writer, do you work on multiple projects at once? Why do you like doing this? How do you keep things straight and devote your full attention to each thing while it's in front of you?

I'd love to hear any thoughts you have, readers! I'm diving into serious revisions of HALLELUJAH as of today, but I know this will be something that will keep coming up in the years to come. :)

~Kathryn

Slideshow Time! (Or, "How I Spent My Summer Vacation")

Putting this out there up front: If you're not the "look at pictures other people took of their travels" type, you might want to skip today's post. But I wanted to share some pictures from the second half of my California trip—the vacation part! So here goes.

At the end of the SCBWI Los Angeles conference (recap HERE), my husband flew out to join me. He grabbed a rental car, picked me up at the Hyatt, and we set out on the road. After a stop for dinner in Santa Barbara, we spent the night in San Luis Obispo. The next morning, we drove up to the magnificent Hearst Castle, which is in San Simeon. It was so cool to see how one of the richest men in the country in his time, William Randolph Hearst, created this amazing home—even more amazing considering that Hearst thought of this space as his casual getaway. He actually called it "The Ranch," because it was built on land he used to camp on with his family when it was completely undeveloped coastal mountain country. One of the coolest things about the whole complex is how he worked with the architect to bring together so many different historical styles and artifacts. The place is a museum, filled with centuries-old art and architectural features from all over the world.

On our way back to San Luis Obispo, we stopped in the town of Harmony—we were intrigued by the sign that proudly proclaimed "Population: 18." We also stopped to walk around a few different beach areas. Depending on where we were, the day went from sunny to overcast pretty quickly, but we had to get our feet in the Pacific despite the chill!

Tuesday was road trip day. We wanted to drive Highway 1, the Pacific Coast Highway, from San Luis Obispo all the way to San Francisco. We'd heard that Highway 1 is one of the most beautiful drives in the country, and we didn't want to miss it—especially since we had the luxury of having an entire day to do the drive. We saw elephant seals lounging on the beach at San Simeon. We slowed for hairpin turns where the edge of the road was a cliff dropping down to the waves crashing against the rocks in Big Sur. We mingled with (fellow) tourists and ate fried calamari on the boardwalk in Monterey. We drove past farmland and vegetable stands around Monterey Bay, cut through Santa Cruz, and hit Half Moon Bay just as we were starting to get hungry for dinner. We dropped our car off at San Francisco International Airport, hopped a shared van into the city (one of the trip's few frustrating moments), checked into our hotel, and met my friend Caitlin for dinner. All in all, a pretty fabulous day.

Wednesday was our first full day in San Francisco, and we made the most of it! We were the ultimate tourists, renting a GoCar (thanks for the recommendation, Ghenet!) to putter around the city streets. Our GoCar (basically a tiny go-kart-like vehicle that had GPS and gave us a guided tour as Justin drove) took us through the Marina district, up to the base of the Golden Gate Bridge, through the Presidio, down Lombard Street, which is known for being one of the most crooked streets in the country, through Chinatown, and into the bustling Union Square district. We went back to Chinatown for lunch, then went to Market Street and rode one of the famed San Francisco Cable Cars to Ghirardelli Square for some well-earned chocolate milkshakes. Finally, we had dinner with Caitlin and her awesome boyfriend, Brendan.

Bored yet? I hope not, because here come the redwoods! On Thursday, we borrowed Caitlin's car to head to Muir Woods, one of the state's redwood forests. These trees were nothing short of breathtaking. We got there at 8:30 in the morning, before the tourist rush hit, and the woods were so quiet and secluded. Aside from worrying about poison oak, Justin and I loved walking those trails. Then we got back in the car to drive up to Sonoma to experience a little bit of wine country. We had a great afternoon, one of the warmest of our entire trip, driving around and enjoying the sunshine. We tasted some wine, ate some delicious food, and made it back to the city before dinnertime. Dinner was In N Out Burgers, which we felt we couldn't head back to the east coast without trying.

FINALLY, on Friday, our last day, we took a boat cruise around the San Francisco Bay, including around Alcatraz Island and under the Golden Gate Bridge. Then we walked to the Ferry Building (Chelsea Market with more natural light?) for lunch, walked down Market Street, took a vintage trolley car back to Fisherman's Wharf, played with vintage coin-operated games and automatons at the Musée Mechanique, and tried authentic Irish coffees. After delicious Mexican food in The Mission neighborhood with Caitlin and Brendan and a stop in Dolores Park (which I was STOKED to see because of Lola and Cricket from Stephanie Perkins' book LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR), it was off to the airport.

Such an awesome trip! We saw a lot, but I still felt rested and ready to tackle the "real world" when we got back. Once we recovered from our red-eye, that is...

Thanks for sticking with this travel/photo-heavy post! Next week, I'll be back to my regular blog shenanigans—some writing on writing, some writing on books, etc.

~Kathryn

SCBWI LA Recap — Sharing the Inspiration!

In looking back over my notes from the Los Angeles Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators conference, I started getting inspired all over again. Not only is that a good mindset for writing a recap blog post, I think it's a sign of an excellent conference! I had such a blast over the conference's three days of speeches, workshops, networking, and parties. I met a lot of wonderful people, both aspiring authors and published ones, and I left feeling more excited about writing than ever. Yay! I got into LA in the late afternoon and immediately headed to dinner with a fabulous group of writers—some of my Write Night buddies from NYC, and a group of super-cool west coasters I am glad to know now. After an early bedtime (after all, to my east coast body, 10pm was 1am!), I was ready to get up Friday morning and absorb everything the conference had to offer. And I knew from Laurie Halse Anderson's inspiring opening keynote speech, in which she gathered us around her "fire circle" to talk about being storytellers and pushed us to "be brave today," that I was in the right place. I was surrounded by my people: writers (and visual artists, though I am not one of those!) who can't help but create, and who truly love our audience of kids, tweens, and teens (and the grownups who love books for kids, tweens, and teens).

Over the course of the weekend, I giggled through speeches by Jon Scieszka (author of The Stinky Cheese Man and many, many other hilarious and subversive books) and Mac Barnett (a McSweeney's alum who writes hysterical and inventive kids' books). I pondered putting fantasy/sci-fi elements into contemporary worlds in a workshop with Mike Jung (author of Geeks, Girls & Secret Identities—and a talented ukelele player!) and listened to Matt De La Peña (author of Mexican WhiteBoy, We Were Here, and other amazing YA novels) talk about writing with patience and restraint and trusting your readers. I heard Middle Grade author Kirby Larson speak about books as palimpsests, each carrying the whispers and pencil tracks of the authors and books that came before. I dug deeper into the plot mechanics of my current work-in-progress in a workshop with editor Krista Marino and I laughed along with SCBWI founder Lin Oliver and her writing partner Henry Winkler in a session on writing humor. (Yes, that Henry Winkler—and yes, he did the Fonzie voice!)

Every speech or session I attended was relevant to me in some way. It didn't matter that I don't write picture books, that I'm not a visual artist, that I already have an agent and an editor and am about to start my revisions on my debut novel. Everyone said something that stuck with me, and I want nothing more than to carry this momentum on through the next phase of my writing life!

And now, a few photos from the weekend:

Now that I'm back, I'm kicking myself a little that I didn't take more photos in the various sessions—or grab pics with more amazing authors! But at the same time, I was busy soaking it all in and enjoying myself, and not worrying about photo documentation. You'll just have to take my word for it that I met and/or sat in a room with all of the above-mentioned people. :)

I'm so glad I made time and budget room to attend this year, and I'm already thinking about and looking forward to next year's conference. I hope I can make it! I know I'll have a whole new perspective (and a host of new things to learn) as I get closer to the publication of my own book. At the same time, no matter how many books you've written, there's always room to grow and there's always the need to be inspired and renewed. So thanks, SCBWI, for an absolutely wonderful experience!

~Kathryn

California, Here We Come!

On Thursday, I'm hopping on a plane to Los Angeles to attend the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators summer conference! And I can't wait. It's not only my first SCBWI LA conference, it's my first conference of this sort PERIOD. I am excited to meet lots of other aspiring and soon-to-be-published writers, to learn from and be inspired by the roster of amazing speakers, and to come back to NYC energized and ready to tackle my own book revisions. I'm also expecting to be a little overwhelmed, which is why I am thrilled to be going to LA with most of my Write Night crew. Several are conference veterans, but a few are relative newbies, like me, so we can figure everything out together.

After I've absorbed every bit of knowledge the conference has to offer and have networked my buns off, I'll be heading up the coast for a little R&R. Justin is flying over to meet me and we'll be driving from LA to San Francisco, with a couple stops in between. I'm more than ready for a vacation, and I know we'll have so much fun. Not only will Justin and I get to spend some time exploring the West Coast, I also have a close friend from college, Caitlin, who lives in San Francisco, and who I don't see nearly often enough. So I am over the moon to get to spend time with her.

What does all this mean for my dear blog? I most likely won't be posting from the conference or while on vacation (though if you know me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you'll probably see your share of updates). But I WILL be writing up a most excellent recap of this California trip when I'm back! Probably two recaps, actually — one for the conference and one for the vacation part. Full of photos and other good stuff. Check back two weeks from today for my next update.

And thanks, as always, for stopping by my blog. This is my 51st post, which is another milestone (like the blog's six-month birthday) that I am so happy to have hit. While it's nice to have a place to jot down my thoughts, it's even nicer to know that there are a few people reading!

Happy Tuesday, and see you in two weeks,

Kathryn

Friday Reads: "A Clash of Kings" — plus a plea for book recs!

So I finally finished George R. R. Martin's second Song of Ice and Fire book, A Clash of Kings! While I loved the first book, A Game of Thrones, it was in reading this one that I truly realized what a great writer Martin is. Some passages from A Clash of Kings were just incredibly beautiful. There were certain passages of prose—particularly Bran's wolf dreams and some of the descriptions of the world beyond the Wall—that I read more than once because I wanted to experience them fully. It was that slow, savoring reading style, combined with the sheer length of the book and depth of the storytelling, that made this a two-week read. (Luckily, har har, I still had something to blog about last Friday...)

I am in awe of Martin's world-building. The appendices at the back of the book alone are astonishing. He lists every member of every House, from the lords and ladies and their descendants (living and deceased, including certain bastards) down to the squires and maesters and many other servants. And read as a companion to the TV show, which I LOVE, the books provide so much nuance and depth. I spent a lot of time telling my husband, "So, you know how in the show, this character does this? In the book, this character actually has that same interaction with this other character, but then the characters come together again at this other place, and also there's this character that isn't in the show... Oh, and these characters that weren't on the show until Season 3 first appear in Book Two..."

Anyway. I really enjoyed this book and am sure I will enjoy the third in the series when I get around to it! But in the meantime, I've got a stack of books to read that's growing ever taller. And here's where you come in! I need you to add to my list.

In particular, I am currently interested in reading YA books that show the main character in therapy—individual or group. I recently read Dr. Bird's Advice for Sad Poets (thoughts on that book HERE) and I have picked up the first two Ruby Oliver books by E. Lockhart. I want to see more examples of teens interacting with a therapist, so if you know of one I must check out, please tell me in the comments!

I also want to read YA books about teens at camp. I'll take any camp books, fun or serious (or both!), but I'd especially love to read about camps that are not your typical summer camp. For instance, I've picked up The Miseducation of Cameron Post and am eager to see how the book's "gay re-education camp" works. Got any other recommendations?

Why am I looking for therapy books and camp books? Let's just say it has to do with a book idea I'm hashing out, and leave it at that. :)

Happy Friday to all!

~Kathryn

Expecting the Unexpected

Hi, folks. First and foremost, a friendly reminder: Back up your computer! Do it now! Seriously. I'll wait.

All done? Good.

So yeah. My computer crashed on Wednesday. And the Apple Geniuses had to wipe my data and restore factory settings. I wasn't too panicky in the moment, because I was sure we'd backed up my computer fairly recently. In fact, I remembered plugging in the external hard drive this past weekend. But then I got home, restored the last backup, and discovered that I'd lost everything since February 1. Needless to say, that was a LOT of stuff. The good news first: I had a version of my current work-in-progress on a zip drive that was only a week out of date, so I lost a grand total of 1500 words. And my agent had the most recent version of my book deal book, THE CREATION OF HALLELUJAH CALHOUN, so she emailed that back to me. The bad news: I still lost a lot of stuff.

Like many writers, I'm a bit of a packrat. Now that the world is pretty much digital, I have become a digital packrat. But I'm an organized one! I have folders and files for so many things. I keep all of the backup materials for my freelance work—research and notes and interview transcripts. I save multiple drafts of the books I'm writing, just in case I want to look back at that old version of whatever it is at some point in the future. I keep various sticky notes on my computer desktop with bits of information I want to have close at hand: book ideas, revision notes, travel itineraries, even songs that remind me of my book in case I ever want to make a playlist in the future.

And now much of that from the past few months is gone. I have final article drafts (because I submitted them via email), but no interviews or research materials. I have the most recent draft of HALLELUJAH, but I lost a complete set of revisions and notes before that final draft, which I worked on during February and March. My desktop sticky notes are no more. And yes, it could be MUCH worse. I'm supremely thankful that I didn't lose anything devastating. I have my new book draft, and I have HALLELUJAH ready when my editor sends my revision letter, and I didn't actually lose any current work projects. But still.

So that's my PSA for the week, in lieu of a new Friday Reads post (as I am still reading—and loving—A Clash of Kings). Back up your files! Don't make the mistake I made of assuming you've done it recently. Learn from my frustration!

On the bright side, it's otherwise been a pretty good week. Dance class and rehearsal, yoga, writing, watching junk TV (SharkNado, anyone?), and trying to stay out of the heat wave. This weekend, Justin and I are so excited to have our six-year-old nephew, Max, staying with us from tomorrow evening to Monday morning. We have fun Brooklyn plans... And our California trip (SCBWI LA for me, and then a drive up the coast to San Francisco with Justin) is only a few weeks away! More on that soon...

Stay cool! (And plug in your backup drive. Do it.)

~Kathryn :)

Friday Reads: "I Hunt Killers" by Barry Lyga

This is kind of cheating, because I actually read Barry Lyga's YA thriller I Hunt Killers two weeks ago. However, I'm currently only about halfway through George R. R. Martin's A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, book two), and thus I don't have much to say about that book today (other than that I'm enjoying it!). Besides—I just did a Game of Thrones post fairly recently. No need for another one. Yet... So I'm backtracking to a book I loved and haven't written about yet!

I Hunt Killers is about a boy, Jazz (nickname for Jasper), who is the son of the country's most famous and horrifying serial killer, Billy Dent. Jazz was raised by Billy after his mom left when he was young (or did she?), and "Dear Old Dad" basically imparted all of his rules for being a killer to his young son. Needless to say, it was a traumatic childhood. Billy was caught and arrested when Jazz was 12, and since then Jazz has lived with his senile, racist, angry grandmother. (Since the alternative is foster care or a group home, Jazz actually stays with his horrible grandmother by choice.)

Jazz has been trying to learn how to live a normal life. He has a girlfriend, Connie, and a best friend, Howie. He's trying to do well in school. But his father is a shadow that looms over him. Jazz is terrified that serial killing runs in the family, that one day he'll snap and pick up where Billy left off. He's never sure if the emotions he's feeling—affection, friendship, fear, sorrow—are real, or if they're something his father taught him how to fake in order to fit in. And since no one at school really can understand the world Jazz grew up in, the things he was forced to see and do, he is set apart, and he does have to fake certain emotions to get by.

Then a body is found in his small town. Jazz is sure the killer isn't done, and he takes it upon himself to solve the crime. He's sure he is just as qualified to handle the job, thanks to his upbringing, as the police are. As he becomes more and more obsessed with stopping the new killer, Jazz realizes that it isn't just about saving lives—he also has to prove to himself and everyone else that he is NOT his father.

I went through a major mystery novel phase in high school. I wasn't very discriminating, reading everything from so-called "cozy" mysteries (mystery-solving cats, mystery-solving pastry chefs, mystery-solving quilters, etc.) to the dark, scary, gory, and sometimes creepily sexy realm occupied by Patricia Cornwell and the like. I sped through series, setting one book down only to immediately start the next one. Some of them—especially read one after the next—were pretty formulaic. A few gave me nightmares. But I loved them.

I Hunt Killers reminded me of that period in my reading life. This book was creepy and scary. The mystery was plotted brilliantly—so much so that I don't want to give any more details away, for fear of spoiling the experience. But I Hunt Killers is also something new, a murder mystery written from the point of view of a killer's child—the collateral damage of a life of horrifying crime. My husband and I watch "Dexter" (no spoilers for seasons 7 or 8, please!), and Lyga has written a twist on the serial killer genre that is just as fascinating. I can't wait to pick up the second book in the series, Game, which just came out in hardcover!

If you like mysteries, check out this fascinating glimpse into the head of a boy who has all the tools he needs to become a killer—and who desperately wants to avoid doing just that.

~Kathryn

Summer Writing (aka: The Second First Draft)

I have been having so much fun writing lately! I am chugging along on my new novel-in-progress, keeping myself busy and productive until I get my revision letter for THE CREATION OF HALLELUJAH CALHOUN. And after getting off to a sputtering start, I am now really happy with this new project, which is exciting. I just passed 28,000 words, so I'm about halfway through my first draft! Part of my spurt of productivity is that now that I've found my groove with this story, I can't seem to get the scenes down fast enough. Another element at play is that I want to have as much of a first draft done as I can before I shift focus to revise HALLELUJAH with my editor, so that when I've finished working on HALLELUJAH in a few months, this new book will be ready for me to jump back in. And I have to give some credit to my wonderful Write Night friends, who have banded together to do our own version of Camp NaNoWriMo this month, which includes digital s'mores, '80s music, and a LOT of encouragement for each other's various writing and revising goals.

If you're a regular blog reader, you might remember me posting about my first-draft blues back in early May. The funny thing is, I've completely reworked the plot of the book since then—and I'm pretty sure in retrospect that the main reason I was having trouble launching into that first draft is that I knew on some level, deep in my gut, the plot and voice weren't quite right. I actually got 30,000 words into that version, all the while feeling that it wasn't working yet but if I could just keep going, I'd figure it out. It took a well-timed comment from my agent, after I sent her some sample chapters, for me to set that version aside and move in a different direction.

So that synopsis of the book in that post from May? Thrown out the window. I'm still working on a book about a teen ballet dancer with body image issues, but it's pretty much completely different. And I am so excited about it, I can't stand it. Yesterday, in the shower, I finally figured out what one of the climactic scenes will be, and I skipped ahead and started writing that this morning. It was the final puzzle piece that I needed, at least for the first draft. (Of course, during revisions many, many more puzzle pieces will appear. I feel like the first draft is one of those kiddie puzzles with the big wooden pieces that can obviously only fit in one spot. Revising is like suddenly shifting to a puzzle with several hundred pieces, and it's a picture of nature where for a while you're just looking at lots and lots of leaves...)

And I'm going to be a tease now and NOT tell you the new direction for the book! One, because I want to keep it under wraps a little longer, and two, because I shared my first vision for this new book and that...didn't work out so well. Until I share the new idea with my agent and get feedback from some writer friends, there's still that lingering worry that maybe I've gone off on another tangent... Such is the life of a writer!

Anyone else first-drafting out there? Have you ever scrapped half a draft after having to admit that it wasn't panning out? Did you rework the same idea, or start something completely new? Inquiring (first-drafting) minds want to know!

~Kathryn

Happy Six-Month Blog Birthday to Me!

July is here! That means it's really hot outside, and I pretty much start sweating the moment I step outside. But that's not all it means. My blog is officially six months old! It's rolling over. It's grabbing its toes. It eats solid foods sometimes. It's smiling and giggling and ... enough with the baby metaphor. Basically, I feel like I've met my first big blog milestone. I started in January with great intentions, and making it to July feels like I've actually done what I set out to do. Yay me! Ha. :)

I've had a crazy busy few weeks, and I don't really expect things to slow down over the next couple of months. I'll be getting my first editorial letter sometime soon, so I'll be back to revising THE CREATION OF HALLELUJAH CALHOUN. I'm finishing up some freelance projects I was assigned before the book deal fell into place. I'm rehearsing for my performance with Becky Radway Dance Projects in October. It's all good stuff, and I'm excited about all of it, but that doesn't mean I won't cherish every bit of downtime I can find.

Starting with this coming holiday weekend. Justin and I are flying to Nashville tomorrow night to see my family (including my ADORABLE nephew, who is also turning six months old this month!). We plan to relax, soak up some southern sunshine, and eat lots and lots of delicious southern food. We also have a few awesome things to celebrate: my mom's birthday, my brother having completed his first year of medical residency, my sister's teaching contract being renewed, and of course, my book deal. Some things don't feel official until you celebrate them with family and friends, and I can't wait to see everyone.

Because of the long weekend—and thus the short work-week this week—I'm keeping today's post short. But I couldn't let the start of July slip by without mention! Thanks to all of you who've been reading from the beginning, and to those of you I've picked up along the way. It's nice to feel like there are some people out there who are interested in my ramblings! I hope the second half of the year just keeps getting better and better.

Happy 4th of July! Hope you have all the fireworks and barbecue (or peace and quiet and rest) you're dreaming of. :)

~Kathryn

Friday Reads: Catching Up!

It's been (gasp!) several weeks since I posted a Friday Reads, so I have a lot of catching up to do! And I've read a lot of great books in that time. So rather than write in depth about one book, I'm going to do a quick roundup of awesome things I've read lately. Ready? First up, I read all three Infernal Devices books by Cassandra Clare. This series is the companion series to the Mortal Instruments books, which I blogged about HERE. I actually read the first Infernal Devices book, Clockwork Angel, more than a year ago, before reading any of the Mortal Instruments books, which was a mistake. At the time, I didn't love it—and I think that's mostly because I didn't understand the world Clare had set up as well as I could have had I read the Mortal Instruments books first (that series started first). But anyway—I picked up Clockwork Angel again, ready to give it another try...and got completely sucked in. So sucked in that the day I finished it, I squeezed a visit to The Strand into my schedule so I could buy the next two in the trilogy, Clockwork Prince and Clockwork Princess.

The Infernal Devices series is set in Victorian London, and one of the things I loved about it was that the whole magic element includes automatons (the "infernal devices" of the series' title). The danger felt all the more terrifying because these characters had seen just about every kind of demon and monster imaginable—but now they're fighting machines the likes of which they could never have imagined, given the technology of the day. The romance, meanwhile—ignoring the slightly frustrating love triangle that only redeemed itself fully at the VERY end of Book 3—was steamy and dramatic despite the constraints of the Victorian Age. And it was great to see all the ways in which these prequels tie in to the modern-day series.

Two thumbs up! (But read The Mortal Instruments books first!)

After that, in the mood for something pretty different, I picked up Melissa Walker's Small Town Sinners. This book is YA contemporary set in a conservative Christian community, and the action centers around a Hell House—an evangelical version of a haunted house showcasing various sins along the road to hell. The narrator, Lacey Anne, is a good girl who finds herself falling for a new boy in town—a boy her parents don't approve of. At the same time, events are leading her to question some of the truths she's been raised to believe, and she's wondering what her faith means in the face of truly difficult circumstances. And one of the things I loved about this book was that Walker let Lacey Anne ask those questions without preaching, on the one hand, and without condemning faith, on the other.

I've been interested to read this book for a while now, in part because my debut novel, The Creation of Hallelujah Calhoun, is set in a southern Christian world. Though the plot is very different, my characters grapple with some of the same issues that Lacey Anne finds herself struggling with. I wanted to see how another author handled setting her story in that world, complete with youth group drama, adults who don't "get it," and the occasional prayer. That said, I didn't want to read Small Town Sinners until I'd figured out the story I wanted to tell in my own book, so I waited to buy it until a few weeks ago. I went to an event at Powerhouse on 8th bookstore in Park Slope featuring Walker, Barry Lyga, and Michael Northrop, and ended up buying lots of things—and getting Walker to sign my copy:

Two thumbs up, again!

After finishing that book, I picked up Level 2 by Lenore Appelhans. I'd heard great things about this book, and it was on my to-read list, so imagine my excitement when during my meeting with my editor at HarperCollins, Alexandra Cooper, she handed me a copy from her stash! Level 2—soon to be retitled The Memory of After—is about Felicia, who died and has found herself in a sterile white version of the afterlife where everyone plugs into a network to view and relive their memories of life. Her routine is blown to pieces when one of her few friends in this strange place goes missing—and no one else remembers she existed. Then she is "rescued" by a boy from her past, a boy she thought she'd never see again...

To say much else about the plot would be giving too much away! I have to say that this book surprised me several times, both in the world that Appelhans created and in how events played out. The characters Felicia meets in the afterlife are all fascinating mysteries, while the characters in Felicia's former life, who we meet through her memories as she watches them on the 'net, feel real and difficult and sympathetic and flawed. And unbeknownst to me until Alex handed me the book, a lot of Level 2's flashback action takes place in church youth group settings—another chance for me to see how another writer tackled this world and its beliefs in a compelling way.

Another two thumbs up!

Finally, I just finished another recommendation and gift from my editor Alex, Morgan Matson's Second Chance Summer. This book was already on my radar—Matson is a New School MFA grad, and I loved her debut, Amy & Roger's Epic Detour—so I was pretty sure I was going to love this one when I got around to reading it. And I completely did! Even though I cried and cried at the end, and then wanted to go hug my dad (and my mom, and my husband, and my siblings...).

Second Chance Summer is about Taylor, whose father has just been diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. There's nothing the doctors can do other than try to make him comfortable, and so the family returns to the lake house where they used to spend every summer—until five years ago, when life started getting in the way. They'll have one last summer together as a family. But upon returning to Lake Phoenix, Taylor discovers that it's not so easy to pick up where she left off. Her childhood best friend Lucy won't speak to her, while Henry, the boy she shared her first kiss with (and maybe still cares for), is chilly, at best. As her father gets sicker, Taylor has to face up to her tendency to run away when things get tough and learn how to seek support through hard times, rather than pushing it away. Even though you know from the start where the book is headed, at least in terms of Taylor's father, it's a beautifully written, heartwrenching, powerful read.

Two more enthusiastic thumbs up! (But bring the Kleenex...)

That catches you all up on my reading habits, which is a good thing because my thumbs are getting tired!

What are you reading? Any recommendations? With some travel on the horizon, I'm always looking for the next great read...

~Kathryn

From Coney Island to the Bronx Zoo—in Pictures

The blog is back, after a week off! I just couldn't bear to move "Announcing...My Book Deal!!!" away from the top slot. But after the weekend I just had, I knew my blog hiatus was over. I have to share pictures from one of the most epic NYC Adventure Weekends my husband and I have had in a while. (Also, one of the first completely work-free weekends I've had in far too long!) So prepare yourself: Pictures Ahead! On Saturday, Justin and I went down to Coney Island to check out the Mermaid Parade. I've wanted to go for years, and this year the timing actually worked out. We were prepared for crazy costumes and crowds, and we weren't disappointed! We got there early to snag a prime spot. I slathered myself in sunscreen. And then we proceeded to have a great time. The pictures below are only a fraction of what I took, and a fraction of the awesomeness we saw! But you'll get a taste:

When we were all paraded out, Justin and I rode rides at Luna Park and walked on the beach. This was Justin's first visit to Coney Island, so I wanted to make sure he got the total experience! The only things we missed were the Cyclone (couldn't get there around the parade crowds) and Nathan's Hot Dogs (the line was so long, and we were so hungry...). But since Coney Island is only a subway ride away, I'm sure we'll be back.

On Sunday, we joined some friends for a trip to the Bronx Zoo. I didn't take nearly as many pictures—the Mermaid Parade's costumes were, let's face it, a lot more exciting than some of the hot, sleeping animals—but we still had a blast. I love going to the zoo! Here are a few highlights from the day:

Justin and I will be out of town the next two weekends, so it was great to spend a full weekend enjoying some of the awesome events and attractions NYC has to offer! Meanwhile, as I write this post, I am enjoying the couch and the air conditioning. :)

~Kathryn

Announcing...My Book Deal!!!

About a year and a half ago, I had an idea for a book. About 13 months ago, I wrote the first words of the first draft of that book. Three drafts (and many, many query letter revisions) later, I was offered literary representation by the amazing Alyssa Eisner Henkin, who has been nothing less than the best agent I could have asked for. And about a month and a half ago, my book went out on submission to editors at various publishing houses. Now...

I am so excited to announce that my debut novel, THE CREATION OF HALLELUJAH CALHOUN, has been acquired by HarperCollins! And sometime soon (most likely early 2015), my book will be on the shelves in bookstores across the country (and on digital platforms) for everyone to read!

As you might imagine, I am over-the-moon excited. This is something I've been dreaming about and working toward for years. I'm so proud of this book and I can't wait to find out what my editor, Alexandra Cooper, has in mind to make it even better. I know there is more work ahead, but I am so ready to tackle it—and to eventually share this book with all of you. Yay!!!

But first, some thank-yous:

Thanks to my family, who always believed I could do this and who have supported me along the journey. Thanks especially to my wonderful, smart, sweet, kind husband, who is always willing to be a sounding board and a cheerleader and a shoulder to cry on, and who is easily as excited about this big next step as I am. Thanks to all of the friends and friends of friends who have listened to me talk about writing for years, and who have encouraged me to keep at it. Thanks to every single person who read HALLELUJAH in draft form and offered thoughts; you helped shape the book in so many ways. Thank you ALL for listening, for commenting, for caring, for critiquing, and for understanding when I can't do social things because I have to write. And finally, my heartfelt thanks to Alyssa and Alexandra, for believing in me and my manuscript and for helping guide me to this exciting moment. I couldn't have done it without any of you.

I am truly lucky.

THE CREATION OF HALLELUJAH CALHOUN is about a 16-year-old girl who gets lost in the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, along with two other teens. Even as they're fighting to survive in the mountains with no supplies, Hallie is fighting to overcome her own personal issues—in particular, the fallout from a lie told about her by a popular, cruel boy about something that happened between them a year ago. Hallie has to find her voice and her strength—and let go of her past—if she wants to make it home alive.

I can't wait to give you more details about the book! In the meantime, please enjoy this gif of Lucille Bluth from "Arrested Development"—and imagine me doing this:

~Kathryn

A Perfect Day for a Big Apple BBQ

On Saturday, Justin and I went with two friends to the Big Apple BBQ Block Party, which takes place each summer in Madison Square Park. (I wrote a little more about it HERE.) We brought our appetites, our sunscreen, and our FastPass to skip the longest lines. The sun was shining, it was warm but not too hot, and we even landed prime park benches to enjoy our spoils. We were prepared to pig out. And pig out we did! The Big Apple BBQ is one of my favorite summer events. I've gone six times since I moved to the city—by myself, with friends and roommates, and with my husband. Almost every time, I've gotten a pulled pork sandwich from Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q, which is based in Decatur, AL. (The one year we didn't get Big Bob Gibson's pulled pork was because they had so many customers that day they ran out of pork. Seriously!)

My family grew up on Big Bob Gibson's. My dad (an Alabama native) ate there all the time as a child, and talks about the original owner, Big Bob Gibson himself, who'd give the kids bubble gum as they went out the door. When I was growing up, we'd eat at Big Bob Gibson's when we drove down from Tennessee to Decatur to visit my dad's mom. If we could, we'd take her out to lunch and have barbecue and slaw and lemon icebox pie. My brother had Big Bob Gibson's pulled pork at his wedding reception, and I imported several cases of their Championship Red Sauce (which is AMAZING) up to Brooklyn for my wedding (which had pulled pork on the menu). So the first time I saw the chance to eat this incredible barbecue, a connection to my childhood and to my dad's childhood, in the middle of Manhattan, I jumped on it. And I've tried to take advantage of the opportunity every year since.

Because we had the FastPass on Saturday, we sampled a few other BBQ restaurants in addition to Big Bob Gibson's. We had pulled pork from Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint in Nashville (which was excellent) and St. Louis-style ribs from Memphis Barbecue Co. in northern Mississippi (also excellent). If you're ever interested in tasting some of the best barbecue the country has to offer without leaving NYC, keep your eye out for the Big Apple BBQ next year!

And now, the photos:

Is your mouth watering yet? Do you have a favorite barbecue joint in NYC—or in the country? Do tell! As a barbecue lover for life, I'm all ears. :)

~Kathryn

Friday Reads: "Dr. Bird's Advice for Sad Poets" by Evan Roskos

This week, I'm so happy I read Dr. Bird's Advice for Sad Poets by Evan Roskos. I'd heard a lot of buzz about this book online—several people I follow on Twitter have reviewed it and/or interviewed Roskos about it—and so I picked it up on my last trip to Barnes & Noble. This debut YA novel is unique, heartfelt, heartrending, and honest. It has a teen boy voice I haven't read before and a bittersweet ending that left me both wanting more and completely satisfied with how everything did (or didn't) resolve. I highly recommend this one!

So what's it about?

Dr. Bird's Advice for Sad Poets is about a boy, James Whitman, who loves Walt Whitman. A boy who sings his very own barbaric Yawp! each morning. A boy who hugs trees and writes poetry. A boy who struggles with depression and anxiety. A boy who has imagined a pigeon therapist named Dr. Bird—and has talked to her for months. When the story starts, James is reeling from recent family drama that resulted in his sister, Jorie, being kicked out of the house by his abusive parents. He's trying, mostly unsuccessfully, to put his broken family back together. To hold his fracturing self together. In short, James is having a rough time. But with help from his best friend, Derek, a new friend/crush, Beth, an actual, real-live therapist, and even Dr. Bird, James might be able to find the strength he needs to keep going.

There were many things I loved about this book. James is a fascinating character. He jumps from narrating his life like your average teenage boy (if there is such a thing) to speaking/thinking in Walt Whitman-esque odes—to himself, to the people in his life, to the natural world. He literally does wake up in the morning with a loud Yawp! (Partly to get himself amped up for the day, and partly because he knows it irritates his father...) He is thoughtful and kind and sad and hopeful and angry and funny, all at the same time. It was a pleasure to spend time with him, even as my heart twisted and hurt for what he was going through. I wanted James to succeed, even as I was pretty sure he wasn't heading in the right direction and that he wouldn't get the answers and the absolution he craved.

A lot of the joy of this book is in seeing it unfold, so I don't want to say much more about the plot. But I will say this: an imaginary pigeon therapist named Dr. Bird! Who coos and cocks her head and gets her feathers ruffled and uses her beak to groom herself, all while dispensing sage advice! Genius.

Definitely check this one out!

~Kathryn

To Read or Not to Read? (the book of the movie/TV show, that is...)

I've been thinking about this topic A LOT since Sunday night. On Sunday, for those of you who aren't in the know, "Game of Thrones" blew our collective minds with a major plot development (which I won't spoil too much here for reasons delineated later in this very post!). As a writer who understands foreshadowing, and as a person who has read books and watched TV and movies before, I was expecting something bad to happen—but what did happen shot my expectations out of the water. My husband and I actually watched the scene in question with jaws dropped, hands over our mouths—the kind of physical reaction to something shocking that almost looks fake, but is all too real. (If you've seen Sunday's "GoT" episode, look up the reaction videos on YouTube to see examples of the gasping, open-mouthed stares, and yes, cursing that this scene caused.) I dreamed about this scene on Sunday night. I woke myself up thinking about it. Now that I've recovered somewhat, and have seen everyone else's responses online, one of the most interesting things about this whole experience is that I managed to make it to that shocking scene completely unspoiled. Why is that interesting? The book that this season of "GoT" is based on came out in 2000. That's 13 years ago. And these books aren't exactly under the radar. I consciously avoid spoilers, but I've been burned before by people who couldn't wait to post their knowledge of "shocking" TV twists on Facebook. And yet, for this one big event—possibly the biggest shock in George R. R. Martin's entire Song of Ice and Fire series—it was like the people with foreknowledge simply agreed to let us non-readers find out as it happened. (And then film our reactions as their reward...)

That's pretty freakin' cool, if you ask me. The idea that people generally seemed to feel that the non-book-readers deserved to experience the same shock and awe and horror while watching that the book-readers experienced when they read the scene. The idea that some things are just too important to post spoilers all over the Internet. (Which is why I am not posting spoilers for this event here—in case there are any of you left who haven't watched and want to experience it, ahem, Unsullied!)

I usually like to read the source material first, before the movie comes out or the TV show hits it big. I like seeing how my favorite characters and scenes will be interpreted on film. I even kind of like griping that "the book was better." I started watching "Game of Thrones" mid-season-one, and didn't want to read as I watched, but read Book One between seasons one and two of the TV series. And then I stopped. While I enjoyed getting the backstory filled in, seeing the depth of George R. R. Martin's vision of the world he'd created, and even noting the things that had been changed from book to show, I wasn't in a hurry to read Book Two. In fact, it's sitting on my desk behind my computer as I type this blog post. I'll get to it. I will. But season three of the show has been so surprising, and I have been so enjoying not knowing what's coming next, that I think I'd rather stay behind on the books. At least for now.

But enough about me. (And enough about George R. R. Martin!) Do you read books before their movie/TV show comes out? Do you like spoilers? Or do you prefer to be surprised, even knowing that apparently everyone around you knows what's coming?

~Kathryn