DAREDEVIL Q&A

Read Q&A about my new book Daredevil on authorof.blogspot.com

Here's one of the questions and answers:

Question: You've written about bubble gum, a legendary racehorse, a life-saving dog, among many other topics. What inspired you to choose the life of little-known aviation pioneer Betty Skelton?

Meghan McCarthy: I actually struggled with this topic at first because Betty seemed to have an awe-inspiring life. When I write a biography, I like to include a little struggle—something to give the story a nice arch. But Betty was such a positive person that I couldn’t find any struggle! She put a positive spin on everything! I know it seems odd that I, a writer for children, would be looking for some sad drama, but I kind of was. I couldn’t find any. Even when Betty wasn’t chosen to go to space, she was okay with it. She seemed to enjoy the experience and said she loved working with the astronauts. She’d followed the career of John Glenn her whole life and wrote him letters but said he never wrote back. She just laughed about it. She was such a good-natured lady.

Why is Betty Skelton the person to write about? Because she didn’t care if girls weren’t supposed to fly planes or race cars or jump boats or be advertising executives. She just did what she wanted to do. As a kid I was like that. I played on an all boys baseball team. I distinctly remember running home and telling my dad that I needed a glove and socks and a “cup.” My dad sheepishly explained why I didn’t need one of those! Betty did things bigger and better than I ever could and that’s what I think is so awesome.

Online Book Party!

I'm having an online for Ling and Ting Share a Birthday on my blog! All day long, I'll be posting fun things to celebrate the book! So far, there's a podcast interview with Katie Davis' Brain Burps about Books (and an opportunity to win a free book!),  a downloadable party kit and I just posted a fun little game which feature some of the books by the Blue Rose Girls! There's more to come, so please check all day and have a good time!!

We Art Boston

I am so proud to be part of We Art Boston, a fundraiser for the Emergency and Trauma Fund at Boston Children’s Hospital. Original illustratons from over 40 children's book artists (including Grace!) will be auctioned off beginning October 10th. 

On the 20th there will be a fabulous celebration on the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston, with art activities for kids, a stuffed animal portrait station, book signings, and book making station, among other things. Come by and say hello! I will either be signing books, manning the book making station, or sneaking my daughter's stuffed lamb over to get her portrait drawn...

Here is the piece I donated, from Abigail Spells: 

Happy Birthday, Ling and Ting!

Yes, the book is now out!  In celebration, here is the book trailer!!!


Hope to see some of you at the birthday party on Saturday!

(there will be a belated online birthday party later on, stay tuned...)

Mystery explained

One of the nice things about living on this island is that there is no ageism (you have to be over a certain age, I think, to know how prevalent this is in America). When someone turned 18, I was one of the people she invited to the pub on the night of her birthday.  Having your first drink there is a big deal, and I was honored to be included.

It was also a really fun night. Some of us were talking about the Lord of the Rings, and when the conversation turned to Harry Potter, I asked someone who had grown up with the books -- he is 19 -- why he thought they were so popular. I've asked lots of children why they loved them so much, but no one has ever articulated an answer.

He said he liked the mixture of the realistic writing and Hogwarts:

"Because when you turn eleven you think you might get the letter," he said, with a delighted, wondering smile (at the memory, I think, not the question.)

If that sounds unbelievable, or too fanciful, or not something American children would think, I remember once -- in the early days of the Internet -- getting an email from a child saying mine was the only author's email addresss she could find (it was at the back of BOTM) and did I know how she could write to Hogwarts?

"It is my hope that it exists," she wrote.

I think the line between what's possible and what isn't is blurrier when you're young; you can know something is not true and yet hope, almost believe, that it IS true.

A generous author

Authors rarely seem FRANK in their advice to other writers -- maybe because those who are sometimes lose their mystique. Trollop, for example, admitted in his autobiography that he had trained himself to write one of his pages every 15 minutes (he did all his writing before he left for his job at the Post Office!) and critics have looked down on him ever since -- for that and other admissions. So maybe it makes sense that most authors talk a lot more about inspiration and characters just appearing etc.

Nevertheless I love to read writers' autobiographies, for many reasons: the differences between their lives and their books,  the experiences they've had, the descriptions of their writing processes. But I don't expect to get advice I can use or even, really, believe what most say about writing.....so Diana Wynne Jones's Reflections -- not an autobiography, but a collection of essays and talks and interviews -- was a real treat.



What she said about writing felt true -- and she was so generous with her advice, said lots that really helped! Some but not nearly all:

She thinks about her books for a long time before she writes them, but doesn't plan them out. Usually when she begins she knows only the beginning, the end, and something in the middle -- until she can see this scene in vivid detail, she doesn't start writing. Part of the fun of writing is learning how the characters got from the beginning to the middle.

She knows ALL her characters -- even the minor ones -- really well before she starts. She says that if you do, you'll rarely get stuck: when you need a character to be somewhere doing something you will remember that someone else, say, owns a grocery store and...You don't tell the reader NEARLY everything you know -- she, for example, knows exactly what all her characters look like, but rarely describes them: if you know, she says, their looks will come through to the reader.

She writes her first drafts in what she describes as a "white heat" -- just pours them out. Then in the second draft she gets very analytical and critical.

This was especially helpful to me -- I often get bogged down in being critical, and it really hampers the flow of ideas. The more the two processes can be separated, the better.

She advises  modeling villians on people we know; there is no need to worry that they will recognize themselves, she says, because few people think of themselves as bad...unfortunately I was unable to do this -- none of the people I wanted to use were quite right for the things they had to do -- but it's a good idea.

NEW DAREDEVIL VIDEO

book party! you're invited!

So, the Ling and Ting Share a Birthday comes out in September! That is next month!

Usually, by now I am knee deep in booklaunch plans with a date already set. This time, if you haven't noticed, I've been hemming and hawing.

That's because with the move, I'm in a new area. I don't know that many people in the area and I don't think that many people know me. I honestly don't know if people will come to a book party. And it's no fun to plan a party that people don't show up to.

But I am proud of the new Ling and Ting book--it's already received two starred reviews!--and I love the characters of Ling and Ting. As you know, I'm already hard at work on the third book and my dream is to make Ling and Ting into a real bonafide series. I think it's a book worth celebrating.


So I'm going to give the book party a shot! Please come! Ling and Ting would love to share their birthday with you!

Come with a friend in a MATCHING OUTFIT... 
and get a special-limited-amount-which-will-be-very-limited-since-I'm-unsure-how-many-people-will-come-so-best-come-early-it's-only-while-they-last-handmade prize!! (I won't exactly say what they are but some new edition Pocket Pacys might be interested in traveling...)

Saturday, September 14th
 5-6 pm
White Square Books 
86 Cottage Street
Easthampton, MA 01027
413-203-1717

 Cake, balloons and other goodies! What are they? You'll have to come and see...but I promise they'll be good! They were last time, weren't they?

 Please sign up for a free ticket HERE if you can make it, but you are WELCOME to come last minute! (The tickets are just so the store has a rough idea of how many people are coming). Invite your friends, spread the word! The more the merrier!

 Not local? Do you want your book autographed plus some free, exclusive goodies? Pre-order from White Square Books and they will get signed and sent to you right after the party. Keep your eyes open here or my facebook page for online launch fun!

studio update and event on Sunday!

So, I am still setting up the studio. I admit I have pretty high standards for it, which is why it is taking so long. One of the things I want to do is have the stairway wall going up to it set up like a gallery, a la salon style like this:

found on Pinterest

This is actually rather difficult to achieve. You need two people and neither can be afraid of heights. Lucky for me, the Sasquatch is not afraid of heights. He just doesn't like them. He doesn't like them a lot. But he does like me! So, we have been hanging frames:

 of some of my favorite moments:

the menu of  the Newbery Honor celebration luncheon

my seat reservation card at the Geisel Award ceremony

as well as my proudest:

my one and only math award, given to me in 5th grade!

We are almost done:

But there's still more to go...and that's just the wall of the staircase! I still have the whole studio to address!

IN the meantime....

This Sunday is White Square Books (in Easthampton, MA) is having a Starry River of the Sky book club meeting and I'm going!   With the move and Rain Dragon, I haven't done too many public appearances this summer and I looking forward to meeting new (and familiar) readers!

White Square - Fine Books & Art
86 Cottage Street Easthampton, MA 01027
Sunday, August 18, 2013 from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM (I will arrive at 3pm)
Moon cakes and green tea will be served!

The event is FREE, but the store does ask that you register and have read the book. Send an e-mail to whitesquarebooks@gmail.com or call the store at 413-203-1717.

I hope to see you!!!

Next Big Thing Global Blog Tour: Now I'm it!

 

1. What is the working title of your next book(s)?

I am currently revising a draft of my first chapter book, tentatively titled The House on Oak Street. This title will change, it's more of a place holder right now until the right title sparks.

2. Where did the book idea come from for the book?

I've always loved animal stories and stories about friendship; this book is both. Once the characters formed in my head, the story sort of flowed out of their relationships with each other as I wrote about them. I am not usually the writer that says "the story wrote itself!" (I can't imagine that happening *and* my work being any good) but this might have been similar in that the ideas came when I needed them.

3. What genre does your book fall into? 

It is a young chapter book.

4. What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?

Five friends live in an apartment building together teach eachother about friendship.

5. Who is publishing your book?

Alfred A. Knopf Books

6. How long did it take you to write the first draft?

Before I conceived of the idea for the book, I wrote one of the chapters as a picture book, maybe 3 or 4 years ago. When I came back to it in 2011, shortly after my daughter was born, I realized it was part of a larger story, and began writing other chapters around it. In total that first draft took about a year to complete, but I was also part-time at home with my daughter.

7. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I would love if it were compared to The Wind in the Willows or Winnie-the-Pooh, thought it is a very different book from both. Still, I took inspiration from the cozy worlds of both books, and the way the characters learn deeper truths about themselves through everyday events.

8. What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?  

It is going to be heavily illustrated, with illustrations on nearly every page, and a lot of fun for young readers! It will be in bookstores spring of 2015.

Now I tag Meghan!

a working studio

Even though the studio is not completely set up (note the empty book tower in the back), work cannot wait for my perfectionist aspirations. Work has begun on the third Ling and Ting book (right now titled "Twice as Silly!") and, just like when I was working on the last book, my "assistant" is ever devoted:

her rabbit might make a cameo in the book

But I'm excited! I think it's going to be a fun follow up to Ling and Ting Share a Birthday (which comes out in September!!).

"I'm trying to think of the less obvious ones" (an eleven year old's recommendations)

   




One of the things that has been discouraging me lately about writing is that so many children on this island who USED TO read are now obsessed with computer games -- especially Mine Craft. "Obsessed" is their word -- they play it (though over the summer holidays many parents have banned screen time either completely or from 9 to 5) and talk about it with each other when they can't play it.

So I was more interested even than I would normally have been to meet a visiting eleven year old girl who passed on watching a movie with all the other kids so she could finish a book. Later I asked about her favorites, saying I was without ANYTHING good....and we liked so many of the same books that I have high hopes of her list.

It contains no classics, not because she hasn't read them (she has!), but because she assumed I had, too.

"I'm trying to think of the less obvious ones," she said when she paused.

Books we had both read and loved include Howl's Moving Castle, Five Children and It, Matilda, The Hobbit, A Little Princess (which she liked better than The Secret Garden), the Little House books (though she had been unable to get any 'after the fourth one' -- I think she gets most of her books from the library), all the Mary Poppins books (though she hadn't been able to get the 4th), The Little Book Room by Eleanor Farjeon...

She had never heard of Harriet the Spy or Saffy's Angel and the others in that series or Homecoming. Here is her list -- I've already purchased several of them on Kindle (going to a bookstore means spending one night on the mainland if I leave here Monday morning, two nights if I leave any other day; getting physical books online waiting at least 5 days) and one as a used book. So yes, of necessity I have become a screen reader. I'm even thinking of buying a Kindle, since people say it's easier on your eyes than an ipad.

Bracelet of Bones by Kevin Crosby Holland (Viking times)

The Flask by Teresa Sweet

Wonder

The Silver Curlew (retelling of the Cinderella story with illustrations by Ernest Shepherd -- paid £14 for this -- in an "acceptable" condition, copies in good condition cost up to £125!) by Eleanor Farjeon

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place

Firespell "really really good, about a girl who's turned into a puppet" Hmmm....I did not mention Pinncohio and did buy it

Sky Hawk

The Silver Bead

Wolf Brother (I really like the Kindle cover...)


War Horse by Michael Morpurgo

This long list reminds me of what our (BRGs' -- not the editorial we!) Alissa said once:
"I think sometimes editors forget how many books little girls who love to read do read."

Over a visit of only a few days Elizabeth finished at least 3 books.

Now that is also encouraging.

The point -- or a point

It's easy to get discouraged in this business -- and it IS a business, that's one of the discouraging things! But there are many others, so many that sometimes I wonder what the point of writing for children is.

And then something happens that reminds me. Last week was my birthday,


and the Internet and phones were down on my end of the island, so I couldn't talk to or even email anyone from home (which much as I love it here is still America and always will be!)....and then I remembered that if I walked to the telephone exchange at the top of the hill, I could get a WIFI signal there (thanks to someone who told me a secret password). So I did, and read all the emails and messages on FB (thank you all!)....the view is where I was sitting when I read them.

One of the people who posted on FB was a child (WAS a child, now she is in college!) who read my book Blow Out the Moon and wrote to me about it all those years ago. And she still remembers me and it.

THAT is the point, or a point, of writing for children, and I hope I remember it the next time I'm discouraged. If any of you have things that you find encouraging, I'd love to hear them!

A Better Story from CNN

An interesting article from CNN last week on the subject of getting published: A better story than J.K. Rowling's

BYE BYE CEO

I can't say that I'm sad to see him go. 

Ha! That rhymes. 

I'm it (Grace tagged me -- see below)

   

1. What is the working title of your next book(s)?

Tibbie Macgregor and the Scottish King

--a partly true story

2. What genre does your book fall into? 

Middle grade novel.

3. How long did it take you to write the first draft?

I can rarely remember much about first drafts. They happen pretty unconsciously. I THINK I started this sometime in 2011 but I’m not sure – I know I worked on it while I was in Scotland last summer,  and rewrote it when I came back. I am now on what I hope is the final draft -- at least until my agent submits it.

4. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I'd be honored if people compared it to The Hobbit which  children on the  Isle of Barra told me – perhaps completely inaccurately – was inspired by the landscape of these islands. The language the Elves speak is like Gaelic (pronounced Gallic in Scotland and related to, but not the same as, Irish Gaelic); the runes the Dwarves write in are like the runes on stones here.....and I know it  may sound weird to mix such different books, but I’d also be honored if the cozier, more girlie bits reminded people of Ballet Shoes and the way the heroine relies on herself and figures things out  reminded them of Harriet the Spy.

5. Who or what inspired you to write this book?

A trip I took to the Western Isles of Scotland in 2011 and a legend I read about a box that was given to someone to keep for the true King of Scotland – without telling anyone he had it, without opening it. I started to retell that -- but almost immediately abandoned that idea and wrote my own story instead, keeping the box.

In my story, which is set in the future after all Europe has been taken over by a group of international bankers, the box was given to the heroine's ancestress,  to be passed down from mother to most-trusted daughter until the rightful king needs it.

I tag Anna Alter.

Next Big Thing Global Blog Tour

So, I was tagged by Ann Downer to participate in this blog tour. It's chain-letter tour of sorts where I answer questions about my books and then pass it off to other author/illustrator friends. I actually don't usually participate in these types of things (I always feel like I don't have anyone else to tag) but I am trying to get my baby-filled world a little more balanced with work and I thought this might help get me back into the right (write?) mindset:

1. What is the working title of your next book(s)?

 My most recent book is Starry River of the Sky (companion book to Where the Mountain Meets the Moon), which came out last fall. My next book is  Ling and Ting: Share a Birthday, a sequel to my first early reader  Ling and Ting: Not Exactly the Same. It comes out in the fall. 

2. Where did the book idea come from for the book?

I guess I will talk about the book that is upcoming, Ling and Ting Share a Birthday.

In general, I want the Ling and Ting books to address the unique experience it must be to be a twin. I, myself, am not a twin (I did long to be one when I was younger) so I interviewed a half dozen set of Chinese-American twins when I was writing the first book. During one interview, one of the mothers mentioned something about making two cakes for one birthday and even though I didn't know how I was going to use it at the time, I knew it was something to remember. Slowly, I realized that sharing a birthday is an experience pretty unique to twins and decided to make the next Ling and Ting book about that. 

3. What genre does your book fall into? 

early reader

4. What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

I'd definitely want it animated with an unknown voice actor.

5. What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?

Ling and Ting share a twin-tastic birthday!

6. Who is publishing your book?

Little, Brown & Company

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft?

3-6 months. But early readers are HARD to write. They are faster for me to write than novels (which take me 2-3 years), but they are brain- squeezing-like-the-last-bit-of-toothpaste hours. Novels are like marathons, picture books are like sprints and early readers are like running hurdles. 

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I'd be honored if people compared my book to Frog and Toad or George and Martha.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?
Well, I've written about the inspiration of Ling and Ting before, but I will repeat it. 

Just like how Year of the Dog was an homage to the Betsy books, this early reader began as an homage to the Flicka, Dicka and Ricka books I used to read.

(I had to paint Ling and Ting in the same dotted dresses!)

But even though my vision was for identical girls, I felt a tad uncomfortable-- would I be encouraging that whole "All Asians look alike" stereotype? So I put the story away and let the idea sit and sit. For years.

And then in 2005, a group in Portland, ME put on a play of the Ugly Vegetables. There, I met the cutest Asian twin girls I've ever seen. As I watched them share cookies but eat them in completely different ways, a light went off in my head. Suddenly, I knew how the book should be written and that I needed to give the early reader another shot.

So I went home and scratched and rewrote and resketched, with a different outlook. The shift was subtle, but important--as it finally justified (to me) why the characters had to be identical.

Because, whereas the theme of many of my other books have been how even when people look different, there are many similiarities--the theme of this book is how when people look the same, there are many differences. This is a theme that I continue in Ling and Ting: Share a Birthday. 

10. What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?
I'm working on a third Ling and Ting book! Right now it's called "Ling and Ting:Twice as Silly!" It is a little less about Ling and Ting being twins and more about them just having fun as twins (though I resisted the typical "switching places" story line). I'm hoping this can be a series!

So now I'm suppose to tag someone else...and I tag BRG Libby Koponen, whose newest book, Mmm, Let's Eat! is one of Rain Dragon's new favorite books:

Island diary -- or, the less romantic parts of life on a remote island

4.00 a.m. Hear ba-ing and think, even in my sleep, that it’s not on the road but in my garden.

4.02 run to door (can’t look out window because they are all blacked out with my “panels” – more on those another time) – yes, sheep in garden. Run out.

4.03 sheep (single, one semi-grown lamb) leaps over fence – later in day, someone (staying on hill on opposite side of village, about half a mile away!) says . when topic of sheep-chasing comes up, “I saw you outside in your pajamas this morning and wondered what you were doing.”

4.04 – 5.30 or so – go back to bed, try to get back to sleep but mind is racing with gardening and other plans. Today is the day Roy is going to fill in the holes he has dug around my hut (so it won’t blow away), and finally, I can really plant my garden. Plus he has promised me timber for the raised beds (boards are hideously expensive and hard to get here) and someone else has promised to help me make them.....but of what use is any of that if the sheep break in and get it all?

5.30 – decide to hang fishing nets over all the places where the stone wall is broken....in the one place I have done this, it has worked. So I cut the net I have, manage to make it stretch over other gaps:

8.30? – go in for tea, morning pages, begin planning garden

9.00—people deliver their children to school. I see friend, run out,

“Sorry to waylay you – but do you have any rylock [very good wire fencing, keeps rabbit, sheep out of garden] I could buy?”

He doesn’t – needs it all for HIS garden. Own lambs ate entire mint crop. Smiles delightedly as he says how much he is looking forward to eating said lamb.

“With mint sauce!” I add.

“The bit he didn’t get.”

We look at my stone wall, more of which falls down each day,  he shakes head.

“You’ll never keep them out.”

Sheep are owned by sole crofter on island, who prides himself and them on being aggressive – just HOW aggressive they are constant topic of conversation. Friend and I discuss it, difficulties.

He suggests dry wall mender, I say he has already promised to do it, but –

 “He didn’t commit to when,” friend finishes for me. I say I don’t like to nag, he gets that, but says I don’t want to be overlooked, either. Suggests I say something like,

“Am I moving up your list?”

work in progress: the new studio

One of the caveats of our move was that I had to have a new studio. And what was more, the new studio had to be dream studio, a new oasis...or at least better than my old one.

So, when I saw the top floor of our house, I was smitten. The previous owners used and staged the room as a master retreat:

But I knew it was made to be my workplace! All it need was a change of paint:

And some bookshelves...okay, a lot of bookshelves:

my favorite storage idea--the staircase bookshelf! Idea stolen from HERE (thanks, pinterest!)

with a window seat! this helps take the sting out of leaving the old bookshelves

 and my favorite anthropologie knobs:

I like the bird ones the best!

And the studio transformation has begun. Stay tuned for more...

the maintenance year

travelers on our own journey!

So, this is the time of year when publishing world is all abuzz with their national conferences and award ceremonies--none of which I will be attending. As I read my friends' and colleagues' facebook feeds and twitter streams, I do feel slight twinges of envy. However, the emotion I feel in spades is anxiety. I wonder if somehow my work, my books, are being forgotten, left behind--that all I have tried to build is fading away.

But truly, my biggest fear is not that I've been unable to promote or network. My biggest fear is that I will never be able to do my best work again. For creating a book--at least for me-- is a very selfish  endeavor. It needs great chunks of alone time--thinking time, goofing time, as well as writing time.  It also needs very focused brain power.  All of which has been in short supply since Rain Dragon's arrival. Which is why my plans for novel #3 have remained just that--plans. No drafts, no outlines, no sketches.  My ambitions have been forced to take a backseat as the most I could manage this past year was keeping afloat!

I read somewhere that working moms should shift their attitude towards their careers for the year (s?) after their baby's birth. Instead of trying to achieve ambitious promotions, they should, instead, look at this time as "maintenance."

Even though I know I would've cringed at those words last year, I now embrace them.  It's much more comforting to chalk up this past year to maintenance instead of facing the possibility that I've peaked. 

 And if it was a maintenance year, then that also gives me the power  to decide that it's is over. We're now moved into the new house, I've hired a babysitter to help out and the studio is almost in a working state. Hope springs eternal, and hopefully this spring (er, summer) I can start everything anew. Cross your fingers for me!