Jennifer Brown

I've been kinda waiting for the official announcement to be made by the Michigan Library Association before springing the news, but after seeing that the Grand Rapids branch has announced, I just couldn't wait any longer.

Hate List won an award!!!

It's the Michigan Library Association's Thumbs Up! Award, and the winner is selected by a committee of YA and Teen Librarians and teen readers.

I'm so excited about this win! And proud. What an honor.

Anyway, THANK YOU, Michigan librarians and readers!

It's officially summer break! We've already had a sleepover (7 boys), gone to the swimming pool 6 times since last Thursday, been bowling (I bowled a 108 and a 101! Woohoo!), signed up for the library summer reading program, bought bags and bags of paperbacks at a used book sale, and played more baseball and tee-ball games than I can count!

Because it's been so busy, I've had precious little time to update my blog, so I'm just going to drop in with some notes.

*I have been tirelessly working on copyedits for my next YA book, right now called Bitter End. I'm so excited to be at this stage of the process, and I've learned so much. Did you know that "Dumpster" must be capitalized? Neither did I! Copyeditors amaze me. Right now I have a tentative release date of May 1st. What a perfect birthday present this will be!

*Hate List has been chosen by the John Carroll School for their Summer Reading Program. This is seriously one of the proudest moments I've had since the book came out. I am so honored.

*Hate List has made VOYA's Perfect Tens list, a list of books that has received a rating of 5Q for literary quality and 5P for teen appeal. 

*Hate List has also been nominated for the 2011 New Hampshire Flume Award! This is a teen reader's choice award, and what I'm loving most about this nomination is that my book is on the same list as some of my favorite books EVER! So even if I don't win the award... dude, I totally win just by being on the list.

*I have found out that my whirlwind German reading tour this fall will include the cities of Munich, Stuttgart, Speyer, and Frankfurt, where I'll get to be a part of the 2010 Frankfurt Book Fair! Words cannot describe the excitement I feel about this. (Okay, some words can. Words such as terrified, scared-to-death, nervous-as-hell, hyperventilation...). I simply cannot wait to meet my German publisher!

That's it for now! Back to the pool!

I'm so excited to see the tour bus rollin' through, because today I'm talking with Sydney Salter, the only Deb whom I've actually met in person (and, for the record, I adore her!), and author of  the YA novel, SWOON AT YOUR OWN RISK.

About SWOON AT YOUR OWN RISK:

You’d think Polly Martin would have all the answers when it comes to love—after all, her grandmother is the famous syndicated advice columnist Miss Swoon. But after a junior year full of dating disasters, Polly has sworn off boys. This summer, she’s going to focus on herself for once. So Polly is happy when she finds out Grandma is moving in—think of all the great advice she’ll get. 

But Miss Swoon turns out to be a man-crazy sexagenarian! How can Polly stop herself from falling for Xander Cooper, the suddenly-hot skateboarder who keeps showing up while she’s working at Wild Waves water park, when Grandma is picking up guys at the bookstore and flirting with the dishwasher repairman? 

No advice column can prepare Polly for what happens when she goes on a group camping trip with three too many ex-boyfriends and the tempting Xander. Polly is forced to face her feelings and figure out if she can be in love—and still be herself.

3 Qs for Sydney Salter:

1) What non-writing activity most inspires you to write?

Traveling. I love the adventure of packing up my suitcase and discovering someplace new. Visiting an unfamiliar city, country, or even a place I've been before gets my creativity going.

2) Do you keep your rejection letters? If so, what do you do with them?

I treasure my rejection letters and store them in my Notebook of Rejection. I show pre-published writers and students how many people said no way before I got published. I also share my meanest rejection letter with the audience.

3) What was the moment where it really sank in that you are officially "an author"?

Seeing my book at the bookstore felt almost too surreal so I'd have to say that doing school visits made me feel like a real author--the way kids look at me with awe. I quickly try to make myself very real to them because I strongly believe that anyone with enough drive can be an author.

Pick up a copy of SWOON AT YOUR OWN RISK here.

About Sydney Salter:

Sydney Salter has never had an ex-boyfriend or worked in a water park, but she did once babysit a bulldog. Sydney now lives in Utah with her first and only boyfriend (now her husband), two daughters, two cats, two dogs, and a pair of tortoises. She loves reading, writing, traveling, and really tall, really twisty water slides. She’s also the author of My Big Nose And Other Natural Disasters and Jungle Crossing. www.sydneysalter.com and www.mybignose.blogspot.com

NOTE: For whatever reason, I can't get images and videos to upload today. As soon as I fix the problem, I'll have SWOON's cover image, book trailer, and a photo of the Notebook of Rejection for you. So check back soon!

Look what showed up in my mailbox today!

I can't tell you how excited I am about this! (And somewhat freak-out-ish because this makes my trip to Germany this fall All the More Real and Terrifying).

And this is super nerd-alert, but one of the things I just lovelovelove about this book?:

It has a built-in bookmark! I love built-in bookmarks!

Happy Day! Happy happy German bookmarky day! Wahoo!

I just received my Little, Brown Fall/Winter catalog, and it's official: the Hate List paperback comes out in October! And it'll have a new cover! Check it:

Sweet!

So... anyone wanna play the Who's on the Cover Game? Is that Nick and Valerie to you? Or Jessica and one of her friends? Stacey and Duce? Two random students? What do you think?

And it's already available for pre-order HERE!

Tomorrow morning I'll be heading up to the Kearney branch of the Mid-Continent Public Library for a Book Talk. There'll be cookies, copies of Hate List for sale, and a Q&A! Come on out and see me.

Details:

What: Book Talk about Hate List

Where: Mid Continent Public Library, Kearney Branch (click here to get directions)

When: Friday, May 7th at 10AM

See you there!

If you follow me on Twitter at all, you might have noticed that I haven't tweeted in a couple weeks. True, I've never been a great tweeter. But lately I've been flat-out lazy about it and am finding myself facing a Twitter crisis.

I want out.

See, I never really got the Twitter thing. Never really understood how to best use it to my advantage. I never uploaded tweetdeck or any of the other gabillion whateveryoucallems that make your twitter experience streamlined and fun and somehow useful. I never "connected" with friends, got much of a word out about anything, and I felt like most of my time on twitter was spent listening to a bunch of disjointed half-conversations and sales pitches.

And I'm way too verbose to ever get the 140 characters thing.

Somewhere along the line, I decided that my time was best used for learning more about writing, and not for learning more about Twitter. So, for me, tweeting was always nothing less than screaming into the wind and hoping someone, somewhere was listening.

So, empowered by my friend Sarah Ockler, who recently quit Facebook, I'm taking a break from Twitter, and I don't know when or even if I'll come back.

No more screaming into the wind for me. Well... unless I'm screaming for one of my kids... but that's a whole different blog post altogether.

Tonight I got to "meet" (Skype) a very special friend of mine for the first time ever. Her name is Camille, and she was my 5th grade writing partner this year, a program I got involved in thanks to my amazing author friends, Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (if you haven't read BEAUTIFUL CREATURES yet... you totally need to stop reading this now and go get your hands on a copy. Seriously.)

Camille didn't know that she was part of my journey through my first year as a published YA author. She was just swapping stories with an unknown author out there, hoping her assigned author wouldn't be a boring dud. (Moi? Boring? As if!)

At first I gave her snippets of a MG novel I was working on. But the story seemed draggy, and I could tell from her writing samples that she was, like me, a girl who craved a bit of the humor in her writing. So I started sending her my columns, and from there we really started to click.

We sent each other photos of the various animals in our lives. Sometimes with hats on them. I sent her photos of the massive amounts of snow we got this year, and she showed me how to make a rose out of symbols on the keyboard.

Today was our "big reveal." She got to finally find out who "her author" was, and I got proof that her smile was as big and gorgeous as I thought it would be. We laughed as my cat, George, pranced back and forth in front of the webcam, and she ooh'd and aww'd appropriately when I turned the cam on Aragorn and Ursula (sans hats this time).

Anyway, Camille told me in her last letter that the best part of 5th grade was the writing partner program. I think it was definitely one of the best parts of my debut year as well. Fifth grade rocks! And my 5th grade writing partner rocked socks!

So here's my shout out to the BEST 5th grade writing partner a gal could ever have: Hey, yo, Camille! Keep writing, girl, 'cause you've got talent! And remember, you promised me a swim in your golden pool when you make that first million! *hugs*

So last week was probably the whirlwind-iest week I've had since Hate List came out (with the possible exception of Teen Read Week last October, but that would only be because I stupidly arranged a vacation to Disney World the week before). I not only had two school visits, talking to five different groups of students (both visits went awesome and I think I'm finally really starting to get a handle on this school visit thing), but also was presenting a humor-writing session and a writing for young adults session at the Missouri Writer's Guild annual conference in St. Louis, followed by a meet & greet at the MASL conference in Osage Beach. Lots of driving, lots of talking, little sleeping.

By Saturday morning, running on just a couple hours of sleep, I was puddling out. I'd discovered, suddenly and very surprisingly, that I'm kinda sick of coffee. I was feeling bloaty in my suitcase-wrinkled "nice clothes." And my throat felt strained.

I needed a nap, and was unable to absorb the dreamy motivation factor that makes these conferences so awesome (the last workshop I attended gave me the a-ha breakthrough moment that ended up with me writing Hate List).

When I should have been soaking up inspiration, I was worrying... are my handouts good enough?... will I sound like an idiot up there trying to tell people how to write YA when I'm new to it myself?... will I forget everything I was going to say? Go too long? Or worse, too short? And in the back of my mind I was fretting that I wouldn't get enough sleep again Saturday night, which would make my combined 6 1/2 hours of driving on Sunday grueling and dangerous.

Things went well. MWG put on another great conference. And I got to meet lots of fantastic writers, and reconnect with others I hadn't seen in months... or years. Lots of laughter, lots of ideas tossed around, lots of cool people, and a dinner keynote that was amazing.

Still, by the time I arrived at the Lake of the Ozarks on Sunday, I was sweaty and unprepared and feeling cranky and a little crispy around the edges and all I could think about was finding a place of solitude, where I could read for a couple hours. Alone. In silence.

Dude. I needed Burger King.

But the second I hit the top of the stairs that would lead me to my Whopper and quiet reading table, a woman shoved some papers in my hand and directed me to a room, where an author was giving a talk. I stood outside the doorway for a few seconds thinking... honestly, I'd heard enough talking for one week. I needed quiet. But I stood one second too long, and the woman came back. She nudged my shoulder and whispered, "Go in," so I did.

Okay, you ever have one of those moments where you feel like someone or something led you to a specific spot for some purpose or another? Call it fate, call it serendipity, call it cosmic intervention, call it God... call it whatever you like.

I'm telling you, this was one of those moments for me.

I sat down and listened, and within seconds was totally absorbed into what this guy was saying. He talked about dreams. About following your dreams. About living your dreams. About sharing your dreams. He sang a song about dreams that honestly had me weepy (part low blood-sugar, but part just... wow).

Turns out, the author is from KC. His name is Shane Evans, and he's one of those all-around artists (artist, singer, author...).

I got him to sign a copy of his book, Olu's Dream, for me, and while he signed I nervously and bumblingly sputtered about how amazing he was and that I felt he was speaking to me directly and that I felt that someone or something had led me up to his lecture because it was exactly what I needed to hear at exactly the moment I needed to hear it. I also implored him to not add me to his "creepy stalker" list, because I swear, I'm not normally all fangirly and bumbly and stupid. Okay, well I'm stupid and bumbly pretty often and I have been known to get fangirly on people (Kristin Chenoweth, John Green, Gail Giles...), but I'm not usuall all three of those things at once.

But, you see, it doesn't matter. Because today I totally have my inspiration on! I'm ready to follow that dream!

Oh, and if my story doesn't inspire you to check out this guy, this video sure as heck will:

I know, I know, it's a bit early for lunch. But I have to eat early today -- lots to do! This weekend I'm teaching a couple workshops at the Missouri Writer's Guild annual conference, and also doing a meet & greet and signing at the MASL conference! Woohoo! Big weekend! So we'll call this an early lunch (or late breakfast, if you prefer), because I simply wasn't going to go about my weekend without getting a few words in with Violet Ambrose (Best. Character. Name. Ever.), the main character of Kimberly Derting's YA novel, THE BODY FINDER.

About The Body Finder 

Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability. While the sixteen-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her "power" to sense dead bodies—or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes that the dead leave behind in the world... and the imprints that attach to their killers. 

Violet has never considered her strange talent to be a gift; it mostly just led her to find the dead birds her cat had tired of playing with. But now that a serial killer has begun terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he's claimed haunt her daily, she realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.

Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet on her quest to find the murderer—and Violet is unnerved to find herself hoping that Jay's intentions are much more than friendly. But even as she's falling intensely in love, Violet is getting closer and closer to discovering a killer... and becoming his prey herself.

Wow, this one sounds gripping! I can't wait to talk to Violet! Here she comes now!

Hey, Violet, where are we eating?

The school cafeteria

Cool! It's a well-known fact that I dig school cafeteria food (despite Jamie Oliver's attempts to make me hate it). What's on the menu?

The usual: greasy pizza, soggy burgers, gray applesauce. It's actually quite disgusting.

Mmmm... greasy pizza... I think I'll pass on the gray applesauce, though. Gross! Looks like you've invited someone else to join us. Who is it?

Jay Heaton, of course.

Hi, Jay! (psst! He's cute... I'll try to be on my best behavior. And speaking of... what subject should I not bring up?)

Dead girls.

Yeah, I'll bet that's a subject you're kind of wanting to get away from a little bit, huh? Okay, no dead girls. What do you want to talk about instead?

The Homecoming Dance.

Oooh! Fancy dresses and matching shoes and a lame middle-aged DJ trying to sound cool! Sounds fun! So you've been getting tons of attention from fans. How do you feel about this limelight?

Fans? Weird!

Yeah, I could see that. Well, it looks like our time is almost up. Here, have some candy for dessert. How do you eat a Reese's?

Between two graham crackers with a roasted marshmallow...it's called a S'moregasm!

*snickers* ...S'moregasm... But damn, that sounds delish! I'll have to try that sometime!

Thanks for having lunch with me, Violet, and good luck, Kimberly, with your book!

To find out more about THE BODY FINDER, click here.

About Kimberly Derting 

Kimberly lives in the Pacific Northwest, which is the ideal place to be writing anything dark or creepy...a gloomy day can set the perfect mood. She lives with her husband and their three beautiful (and often mouthy) children, who serve as an endless source of inspiration for her writing.Visit Kimberly at her website: www.KimberlyDerting.com