JK Rowling was here

In real life, the Hogwarts Express is the steam train on the West Highland line. I have rarely seen a group of grown-ups as excited as everyone was when we went over the viaduct. Pictures to come -- I could either look or take pictures, and I chose to look. Two students I'd been chatting with DID take pictures, lots of them, and promised to send them to me when they get back to school next week.

They also showed me the pictures in their Guide book (written in Mandarin!) of the cafe in Edinburgh where JK wrote -- which now has a painting of her writing on the wall. I was very annoyed at myself for not going there -- I was in Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival and the only "sight" other than that I visited was my great-great-grandparents' house, from the outside. People say I should have knocked on the door; if I go back to Edinburgh, I will do that and sit in the Elephant House, too, as the students did.

One of them said, though, that her favorite place in the UK was Winchester, where Jane Austen died -- and after that, we talked excitedly about favorite writers. When we said good-bye, we all said how glad we were that we loved so many of the same ones -- even though we're from different generations (my comment) and cultures (theirs).

And even though JK Rowling isn't one of my favorite writers, it's fun to see how proud of her people here are. Someone told me excitedly that he'd stayed in a hotel in Mycenae (sp -- in Greece, where Agamemnon was murdered by Clyemnestra) and the hotel had a board where famous people had left their comments. JK Rowling had written:
"Simply wizard!"

The house where I stayed on Coll had literary associations, too. Boswell and Johnson stayed there and wrote about it, and "drinking whiskey from a seashell, as is the Hebridean custom." My host had done that the night before, and when, after reading the book, I asked if he thought maybe the Hebrideans had been pulling Johnson's leg (the only seashells around are cocckle and scallop shells, TINY -- from what I've seen of island drinking habits, this wouldn't be the way they'd do it). He looked so disappointed when he said,
"Probably," that I wished I hadn't said anything. He added,
"It was still fun, though."

I bet it was -- he and his family were as charming as their house. The house where Boswell and Johnson stayed is now a grey stone ruin -- they left that, so the view from the road would be the same, and added a very modern, mainly glass extension, keeping the feeling and proportions of the ruin, behind it. That's where my room was and these are the views from two of my windows.




I didn't want to leave! But, I already had reservations on Iona, where I am now, and it's beautiful, too, in a different way. I could write MUCH more about the family on Coll, but I have a feeling they may show up in a book....it's that sort of trip, even if I;m not getting inspiration by sitting in The Elephant House.

OLD BOOK, STRANGE LITTLE STORY

I meant to post this on my blog THE GOOD THE BAD THE UGLY, but sometimes I screw up and things get mixed up. This is because blogger puts the posting options for both blogs right next to each other just to confuse me. Anyway, I figure that I'll just leave this here. It doesn't quite fit with this blog but it's interesting, right?

I was at an antique store last week and picked up this book:



It's called PICTURES AND RHYMES
FOR BABY EYES AND EARS

BOSTON
LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY
COPYRIGHT 1897

And here's the first little tale. Enjoy!

radio interview

I put on my part of the interview from Ireland on my website. I should probably edit it to make myself sound better end cut out the "ums"!

Listen here.

THE HAND: A School Poem by Mary Ruefle

It’s that “back to school” time of year. I was an elementary teacher for more than three decades and a school librarian for three years. I retired in 2004. Still, these August days bring back memories of the times I spent preparing my classroom—or my library—for the beginning days of a brand new school year and the return of students.

Today, at Wild Rose Reader, I posted some original “things to do” poems about school. Here at Blue Rose Girls, I have another poem about school that was written by Mary Ruefle.

THE HAND

The teacher asks a question.
You know the answer, you suspect
you are the only one in the classroom
who knows the answer, because the person
in question is yourself, and on that
you are the greatest living authority,
but you don’t raise your hand.
You raise the top of your desk
and take out an apple.
You look out the window.

You can read the rest of the poem here.

********************

The Poetry Friday Roundup is at Dori Reads.

Advice

I recently read this article for aspiring photographers by Cheryl Jacobs Nicolai. It struck me as very true for any creative professional. Some favorite excerpts:

"Don't look outward for your style; look inward."

"Never apologize for your own sense of beauty. Nobody can tell you what you should love. Do what you do brazenly and unapologetically. You cannot build your sense of aesthetics on a concensus."

"Accept critique, but don't apply it blindly. Just because someone said it does not make it so. Critiques are opinions, nothing more. Consider the advice, consider the perspective of the advice giver, consider your style and what you want to convey in your work. Implement only what makes sense to implement. That doesn't make you ungrateful, it makes you independent."

"Excellent technique is a great tool, but a terrible end product. The best thing your technique can do is not call attention to itself. Never let your technique upstage your subject."

"Never compare your journey with someone else's. It's a marathon with no finish line. Someone else may start out faster than you, may seem to progress more quickly than you, but every runner has his own pace. Your journey is your journey, not a competition. You will never "arrive". No one ever does."

And aren't her photographs lovely?

need quick poll question answer

I'm doing a radio interview tomorrow for an Ireland radio station and the interviewer said that no one in Ireland knows about Balto - unlike here in the US where he is well known. I told him I didn't think he was that well known. What do you guys think? How many of you know or knew about him?

Fandom

Last night I saw Glee the 3D Concert Movie, and really enjoyed it--it was the perfect pick-me-up on a dreary rainy day. Now, I don't know if I'd go so far as to call myself a "Gleek," but I'm most definitely a fan of Glee. I've seen every episode, own most of the music, dressed up as one of the characters for Halloween last year:

here I am as Tina from GLEE

and yes, I've even acquired two books by one of the stars of GLEE. On second thought, maybe I am a Gleek. In fact, I'm listening to the soundtrack as I write this. But I'm not the type of fan that would scream my head off and convulse with joy just for being in the same building as the stars. I'm not the type of fan who feels that this television show has changed or affected my life in any significant way, as many of the fans interviewed in the movie believe.

On the way to the subway after the movie, my friend asked me if I've ever been a fan like that for anything, and after thinking about it briefly, I said no. I think the closest I've ever gotten to being that kind of fan was for the TV show FAME (which was the GLEE of the 80s, I suppose). I remember truly feeling like I couldn't wait for the next episode, I remember fantasizing about meeting the actors/characters, and wanting to be a student at the School of the Arts. And far after the show was cancelled, I would tape reruns to watch over and over (I still have those tapes), and now I even have the first two seasons on DVD.

And I suppose I came close in my love for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1988. I watched or listened to almost every single game that season, and after they won the World Series, I had a shrine of articles cut out of the newspaper and taped to the wall of my bedroom.

But I've never been truly geeky long-term about my passion for any one thing. I remember while editing the short story collection GEEKTASTIC, I called myself an "all-around geek" because I liked and was familiar with many of the subjects of geek affection. But I don't believe I've truly experienced true fandom. I am a fan of literature as a whole, of course, but no one book or property ever consumed my soul.

In the past ten or so years, I feel that the Harry Potter and Twilight series have created the kind of Beatlemania-esque fandom that I'm talking about. People are truly obsessed. They're naming their children after characters. They have tattoos. They know every little piece of trivia about the series. Part of me wishes that I could experience this type of consuming fandom.

So tell me--what have you been a geeky fan about? What would make you scream your head off in public? How far have you gone for a band/tv show/movie/celebrity/book/team/etc.?

***

In other news, tomorrow is my twelve-year anniversary of being at Little, Brown. And today is my two-year anniversary of joining Twitter. Happy Anniversary to me! Also, July 30th quietly passed, but it was the five-year anniversary of the Blue Rose Girls blog. It's hard to believe we've been posting together for over five years! Thank you everyone for reading.

Imagination and reality

There was one thing I didn't imagine: all the wildflowers.



So, the landscape is actually even more beautiful than I thought it would be; and yes, it does rain -- more than I thought it would. On some of the islands when the sun comes out they call it "a given day." When the sun comes out (and sometimes it does), everything sparkles, even the air, and the sea turns green and turquoise - like the Caribbean only clearer. The beaches are white sand and empty -- no one swims, it's far too cold.

I fell in love with the first island I visited -- here it is from the ferry, leaving:



There is a Scottish saying that if you want to come back to a place, kiss the corners of the room before you go. I repeated this to my English landlady (but didn't tell her I had done it). She laughed and said,
"If I wanted to come back, I'd book a return on the ferry."

I did.

My Granddaughter Was Born!!!

I'm sorry that I've only been posting intermittently on Fridays in recent weeks. I've been busy trying to get a couple of projects completed--and I was spending as much time as I could with my daughter before she became a mother.

Last Saturday morning, I was at the hospital when my daughter gave birth to her first child--my first grandchild. It was an amazing experience for me to be there to help my daughter, to give her words of encouragement, to see that feisty little baby enter the world. Doctors were monitoring my daughter late in her pregnancy. It had been thought that my granddaughter was going to be quite small. We were all surprised when Julia Anna was born. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 11 oz. and measured 21 inches.

Little Julia Anna is beautiful! See for yourself.



What I've been working on...

I've been working nontstop on a project. It's a narration of my new book, which came out yesterday. It's not at all done. This is one piece of it. And this piece isn't done either, but I thought I'd show you what I'm drowning in as of late:

GO TO THE BALTO VIDEO HERE

welcome to the new age

I haven't been posting recently mainly because my novel has been all-consuming but also because I've taken a couple days out to visit my parents in Upstate NY (and attend my high school reunion!). My older sister and her family are also visiting and it's fascinating to see how adept her kids are with technology I haven't even fully embraced.

I've thought about e-books & apps many times but have never really investigated them. But my nephew loves the iphone and I knew that the book I illustrated Round is a Mooncake was made into an app , so I decided to see if the conversion to this new digital age would be bearable:



Not bad! He was fully engaged and it was a pretty faithful adaptation of the book--it was kind of like those "read-along" books I had when I was a kid (you would listen to the floppy record while reading the book). I still prefer and love paper books but I think there's probably a place for e-books too. My illustrator friend Aaron has an app my nephew loves too. I guess I should start thinking about making some electronic book/apps of my own...but after my novel!

Posters

Jules over at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast posted a link the other day to these amazing minimalist posters for various children's classics. I adore them! Trying to decide which one to put up in Tilda's nursery (probably not The Pied Piper).

ps. Happy 5th birthday 7-Imp!

giraffes and bookshelves

I've been editing all weekend, and of course would get distracted by the wonders of the internet. Somehow (I think maybe via Facebook) I stumbled on this website, HappyPlace, and may have wasted an hour or so laughing. I take that back: laughing is never a waste of time. This is a little off topic, so I'll share one of the best posts, having to do with children.

"Unintentionally offensive test answers from young children."

Warning: much of the content is off-color. But this is my favorite one:

indeed.

These two posts about signs are hilarious as well.

Not that any of us need more time wasters, but hey, laughing is healthy.

In other news, I was admiring Laini Taylor's blog post about color-coded bookshelves, and it reminded me of an editor who in interviews always asks how the interviewee arranges his/her books. I suppose it comes from working at a bookstore, but I arrange mine by age range: picture books, Middle Grade, Young Adult, and Adult. And my adult books are further separated by nonfiction and fiction. Boring, huh?

How do you all organize your book collections?

from the BRG archives: good influences

When their children got in trouble, parents often said that the parties involved were a “bad influence” on each other. As one friend of mine put in our teenage years, laughing:
“Meanwhile the kids are having a great time.”

It still feels strange – but nice – to have friends who are fun and a GOOD influence. The Blue Rose Girls are both. When we spend the weekend together, we get to talk about children’s books as much as we want; and we inspire and reinforce each other as artists. The only bad thing we do is eat too many cupcakes. We talk about careers and jobs and other practical things and give each other the kind of advice that really helps (instead of the kind that makes you feel like a bad person).

But we’re a good influence in other ways, too: I’m getting to work earlier as a result of the visit (one hazard of being a freelancer is wasting time, especially in the morning. Too often I dawdle mine away). But this week – so far! – I haven’t. I’ve gone for a bike ride first thing, partly because of the BRGs. It was cold when they arrived, and hot by the time we decided to go for a bike ride – so instead of wearing their blue jeans, Anna borrowed a pair of shorts, and Grace decided to wear her pajama bottoms (they were flowered and looked MUCH nicer than the black spandex most people around here wear for biking).

On Monday morning, I decided to go for a bike ride first thing and accomplished this partly by wearing my pajamas (I did pull a fleece on over the top). Perhaps parents would not count this as being a good influence on each other, but I do – and maybe part of being a good influence is that we reinforce each other in being who we really are.


Originally published September 27, 2006

Awesome

"The first Penguin edition of EV Rieu's translation of Homer had a Greek sailor on the cover, with a disclaimer inside: "Not an authentic depiction of a Greek sailor". They then put a penguin on the cover instead – but forgot to change the disclaimer."

-from The Katharaine Whitehorn experience

Maybe I should start including disclaimers in my books, eg "not an authentic depiction of a rabbit photographer."

(Via Peonies and Polaroids)

Running towards -- what?

This is where I'm going -- not EXACTLY where (or maybe exactly where). As I said in my last post, I only have a general idea.....and since then that idea has expanded a little to include The Western Isles, where this picture was taken and not by me.

But it's how I feel right now -- I really don't know what this trip will be like, but I'm going.

Beyond the Book: FALLING FOR HAMLET by Michelle Ray

Beyond the Book: FALLING FOR HAMLET by Michelle Ray

Happy August, everyone! It's been a while since I've done one of these, and I have a few books that have come out this past Spring and Summer, so I'd better get crackin' if I want to catch up before the Fall releases.

Falling for Hamlet is a contemporary retelling of William Shakespeare's Hamlet from Ophelia's point of view...and in this version, Ophelia doesn't die.

The description:
Meet Ophelia: a blonde, beautiful high-school senior and long-time girlfriend of Prince Hamlet of Denmark. Her life is dominated not only by her boyfriend's fame and his overbearing family, but also by the paparazzi who hound them wherever they go. As the devastatingly handsome Hamlet spirals into madness after the mysterious death of his father, the King, Ophelia rides out his crazy roller coaster life, and lives to tell about it. In live television interviews, of course.

Passion, romance, drama, humor, and tragedy intertwine in this compulsively readable debut novel, told by a strong-willed, modern-day Ophelia.

This novel is the first (and only, so far) book I've acquired that has been published on the Poppy imprint. Poppy is home to our young women's commercial fiction. Originally the imprint only published paperback series, like Gossip Girl, The Clique, the A-List, etc, but in the past year or so the imprint has evolved a bit and also published hardcovers, and stand-alone novels. Another editor had recently acquired a modern retelling of Jane Eyre for the Poppy imprint (Jane by April Lindner) when this novel (then titled Ophelia Live!) was sent to me from agent Ammi-Joan Paquette of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency, and when I read the description I immediately though Poppy would be its perfect publishing home. Now, when this is the case I will sometimes pass the project on to another editor, but the concept appealed to me so much, I wanted to read it myself. At Little, Brown, any editor can acquire for any of our "imprints", because we're a relatively small group, and we all attend the same editorial and acquisitions meetings. Although I don't usually tend to acquire the type of books that Poppy publishes, I've always loved reading their books, and had always wanted to acquire a Poppy book.

I read this book in one sitting, and absolutely fell in love with it. I guess you could say that I was falling in love with Falling for Hamlet. I loved how clever it was in modernizing the story. I loved the narrator Ophelia, who I felt was the perfect "every-teen" of sorts--she was relatable in that she didn't always make the smartest decisions, and she was still figuring out who she was and who she wanted to be. I loved that the book was about growing up in the public eye, and for anyone obsessed with the royal family, Prince William and his then-girlfriend Kate Middleton, etc, this book gives a great peek inside what life close to the royal family might be like, from the paparazzi, the scrutiny, the privilege,  etc. I loved how it was sexy, smart, and full of juicy drama and angst.

The agent was getting other interest for the book, so as soon as I read it I asked for other editorial readers; as I felt Poppy was the right imprint, I specifically asked for reads from some of the Poppy editors, who started reading immediately. One called me an hour later just to tell me how awesome it was and how much she was enjoying it.

The book ended up going to auction, which we won, of course!

Working with Michelle has been a joy. She's a Shakespeare geek, a teacher, wickedly funny, and a great reviser--one of the things we worked on was to flesh out the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia. She added a key scene where they vacation in Florence, and I think one of the last scenes of the book she added in was of how these two childhood friends started dating in the first place. We also worked on some key scenes from the original play which weren't quite working in the modern context. One of my main objectives was to make sure that the story made sense even for readers not familiar with the original play, and I think we achieved that.

This books was such fun to work on, from the sexy cover design by the amazing Gail Doobinin (the girl's skirt on the ARC was actually even shorter than the one pictured here! We used a little Photoshop magic to make it a little less scandalous. Michelle talks about the cover design process here), to the perfect tagline courtesy of my former assistant Connie Hsu: "First comes love, then comes madness"--I came up with our second choice, which ended up on the jacket flap: "Sometimes love will make you crazy."

Coming up with a new title was a challenge. We didn't feel Ophelia Live! was working, and there was already a YA book of a few years earlier titled Ophelia. We debated whether to put Hamlet's name in the title or not--we weren't sure if that was a selling handle or if it would be a turnoff to teens. Some other title options were: Ophelia + Hamlet; Ophelia loves Hamlet; Crazy Sexy Love; and Mad Love.

Over at the blog Emu's Debuts, they celebrated the launch of Falling for Hamlet with a whole week of posts, including an interview of Michelle, Joan, and me here,

Read more interviews of Michelle here and here (the latter is in the Washington Post!) to see more behind what inspired her to write this story.

Falling for Hamlet just came out last month. It's always exciting when a new book comes out, but even more so when it's a debut, because everything is brand new and exciting. I hope you read and fall in love with Falling for Hamlet--although if you read it, you'll probably find yourself falling for Ophelia instead!