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May 5, 2009 Happy cinco de mayo! Well, okay, it's been a long time. Sorry - I actually believed myself when I vowed to blog twice every week no matter what.
Just like I completely believe myself now that I am absolutely, without fail, no excuses going to exercise at least 5 days every week from now on forever.
Yes, but, all you doubters: I have worked out seven out of the last eight days. So far so good. And now here I am, blogging. I no longer sound like I'm about to cough up a lung every few minutes. Things are definitely getting back on track. And all that is because. I finished the first draft of BRILLIANT! Hooray! For those of you who have read Meanwhile, the second Avery book is coming out this month. I just got my free copies and I have to say, they actually look GORGEOUS. Phew.
I have had some less than gorgeous covers in my storied past. Ack! But on to bigger and better and beautifuller things. So - should we have a free GORGEOUS giveaway? What would the contest be? Email your ideas to me at RachelVailBooks@gmail.com and maybe I will blog again very very soon (at least once a week - between workouts, of course) and announce something fun, with free books and maybe a quiz or, hmm, nail polish?
Or else, we could just chat. Crushes? Writing? Spring? Shoes? Kissing? Swine Flu (oh, just wash your hands, come on now)? Friendship traumas? Summer plans?
You tell me; we'll discuss it. Love, Rachel Vail
March 29, 2009 Okay, back to the "I am at the dangerous point in my current novel" issue. Not just dangerous for the characters (though for them, too) but to myself. My head is so full of the book I sometimes have trouble coping with nonfictional life when I get to this part, which is best described I think as deep in but not done.
As per your question, here are some of the most embarrassing things I have done at this stage of writing:
- boiled eggs for lunch, but forgotten about them until there is no water left in the pot and the eggs actually explode, which scares the jelly out of me and sends my chair flying out from under me. Despit the fact that this has happened in almost every one of my books (the novel I am currently writing is my sweet sixteenth) I never have any idea what could be triggering missile attacks in my kitchen.
- dashed out to pick up my son from school, printed-out manuscript pages in hand because there is something in the current chapter just barely eluding me, something that needs my attention as I head down the sidewalk - but a wind whips the pages out of my hand and while I race in circles to corral them, I drop my pencil, too, and then realize my overalls have come unhooked and, because I have followed some of my suicidal pages into the middle of Broadway, I am about to get run over with my pants around my ankles.
And at the same moment the realization hits that overalls really are no longer cool and have not been for quite a few years. (Note: this only happened the one time.)
- wandered round and round my apartment, like a dog chasing its tail, in search of the thing I put down in the last room when I found the other thing I needed (lather, rinse, repeat.) (Note: this happens more than once a day.) - The most embarrassing one: back when we were newlyweds, I was at a restaurant with my husband and another couple. I went to the ladies' room. I was thinking about my book. I lost track of where my head was as I went into the stall. Yes, I am aware that my head in generally right there above my neck, and it was there at that moment as well. But I lost track. It is hard to explain. But anyway I closed the door on my own head. Slammed it hard into my eye, in fact. I could feel the eyes swelling and bruising immediately. While in the stall, I tried to come up with a possible excuse to give when I returned to the table: somebody tried to attack me but I chased him away? Uh, no. Horrible legal consequences for that kind of lie. Feign innocence - what do you mean? How weird, really? No, not plausible. I caught a glimpse in the mirror as I washed my hands. It was a full-on shiner. I rearranged my hair in a brilliant last-minute maneuver to hide the evidence.
As soon as I got to the table, all three people gasped and ask me what had happened to my face. An epiphany: truth? "I slammed it in the door." Everybody seemed concerned, though less with the black eye than with what the heck was wrong with a person who would slam her own face in a door? "I'm writing a book," was my feeble explanation. "By slamming your face with a door?" the woman asked. "It's a process," I said. We have not seen that couple ever again. So, for all of you who want to be authors, I have this advice to add: Get (and use) a timer when you cook, and beware of doors.
Love, Rachel Vail
March 27, 2009 I am at the crazy point in writing my book - crazy mostly for me, because my brain feels all swabbed out and used up - almost exactly as it did when I walked out of the SATs the one and only time I took them. I remember thinking I was so emptied out I would fail a test that asked only WHAT IS YOUR MIDDLE NAME? I realized I wouldn't just not know my middle name, I would not understand the question. And then I thought, WHAT? WHAT QUESTION? And then I fell asleep.
Luckily I was not driving the car I was in at the time, both because of the falling asleep and the having no idea where I lived. Now that I am an adult and have two kids, one husband, a sweet bird and an obnoxious fish all depending on me (to say nothing of editors, etc) it feels kind of dangerous to be in such a state.
And yet that is my state of residence. In my next blog I will tell you some of the highly embarrassing things I have done while in this state. In this blog, in celebration of some good news I can't share yet (but will very soon) and also the beginning of getting psyched for the late May release of GORGEOUS
I have an announcement to make: FREE BOOKS! I am going to give away some free copies of YOU, MAYBE this week.
Send me an email with your snail mail address - and the first 20 responders will each get a book. But wait - there is a contest. And it has to do with both YOU, MAYBE and also GORGEOUS. This is what you have to do to win the free book. You have to tell me, um, your favorite thing to eat for breakfast. And if you do so before 20 other people do so, you win. (Don't you think words like do and so should rhyme? I'm just saying.)
Here is the email to send it to, with YOU, MAYBE in the subject line: Ready? Go! Love, Rachel Vail (PS Go should also rhyme with do. Flow should not. It should rhyme with now. Okay. That's all. Now go.)
March 16, 2009 This is the week! It's the NYC TEEN AUTHOR FESTIVAL. I'm attaching the whole whomping list of events here - so you can plan accordingly. But speaking of planning - I need your advice!
At my reading on Thursday (MANHATTAN: 67th St Branch, 328 E 67th St . LUCKY, which is already out,
Or the sequel, GORGEOUS, which is coming out in a few weeks?
Please email your advice ASAP to RachelVailBooks@gmail.com ! And see the list below to make your plans. Love, Rachel Vail PS Happy Birthday to Nina and my Grammy on St. Patrick's Day. PPS for more info: Check out the NYPL at http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-York-NY/The-New-York-Public-Library/21557622350 NYC TEEN AUTHOR FESTIVAL SCHEDULE Juvenalia Smackdown Join Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, Alaya Johnson, Justine Larbalestier, David Levithan, Diana Peterfreund, Scott Westerfeld as they read some of their (ahem) less accomplished work from their middle school and high school years. Hosted by Libba Bray. I Have Seen the Future.and It Sounds Like This Teen authors are notoriously stingy about reading from their works-in-progress. But for Guest of Honor Joe Monti, authors Libba Bray, Rachel Cohn, Eireann Corrigan, Justine Larbalestier, Barry Lyga, and Scott Westerfeld are willing to share a little bit from their future books. Hosted by David Levithan. The Five-Borough Read BROOKLYN: Central Library, Dweck Center, 10 Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn Gayle Forman BRONX: Bronx Library Center, 310 E. Kingsbridge Road, Bronx Coe Booth MANHATTAN: Countee Cullen Branch, 104 W 136th St Matt de la Pena MANHATTAN: Jefferson Market Branch, 425 Avenue of the Americas David Levithan MANHATTAN: 67th St Branch, 328 E 67th St . Lisa Ann Sandell QUEENS: Far Rockaway Branch, 2002 Cornaga Ave, Queens Tara Altebrando STATEN ISLAND: St. George Library Center, 5 Central Avenue Kate Brian Rock Out with TIGER BEAT! By day, Libba Bray, Daniel Ehrenhaft, Barney Miller, and Natalie Standiford are upstanding authors. But by night, they turn into . TIGER BEAT, the first ever YA author rock band. Tonight is their debut public performance . and it's sure to go down in legend. With opening act The Infinite Playlists (Rachel Cohn and David Levithan reading a litany of musical references, but mercifully not singing). I Love You, New York: Teen Lit in the City Join authors Coe Booth, Paul Griffin, Maureen Johnson, David Levithan, Cecily von Ziegesar, and Rita Williams-Garcia in a spirited reading and discussion about teen novels set in New York City - from the glamour of the gossip girls to the grit of the Bronx projects, from the everyday battles of the high school halls to the extraordinary events of 9/11. Stuff for the Teen Age Ceremony This new list only has the best of the best, and includes books, music, movies, and video games. Featuring a keynote by Walter Dean Myers Teen Authors Celebrate Teen Readers Over a dozen authors salute teen readers and teen advisory board members from around the city, including Blake Nelson, reading from his upcoming novel Destroy All Cars. The Biggest Teen Author Signing EVER Join over 40 authors for a signing extravaganza as they take over Books of Wonder, sign books, and converse with fans new and old. An incredible event that is sure to go down in book-signing history. Authors include: Nora Baskin
Friday the Thirteenth of March, 2009 Happy Birthday, Dad! (And, looking ahead, Happy Birthday tomorrow, Nana!) Somebody asked me what's new the other day and I almost burst into tears. Luckily I gave up stress for Lent (despite the whole not being Catholic thing) or I'd likely be a mess. I am finishing the writing of the third book in my Avery Sisters Trilogy, revising and starting a few other books, while looking forward to the next two weeks (!) during which my younger son has vacation (two weeks?! When I have a book due?!) and in the midst of it all - renovating my apartment.
I have looked at every bathroom faucet
and light fixture that exists on the web or in the world
and, though I actually don't (well, didn't) have any real opinion of bathroom faucets or light fixtures, when you look at thousands, two things happen: 1. You develop an unhealthy level of knowledge and opinion about bathroom faucets and light fixtures. 2. You begin to recognize what is wrong with each bathroom faucet and light fixture you see, and then to feel that this crazy investment of time and effort will feel utterly stupid (even stupider than it will anyway feel) if you get just any bathroom faucet or light fixture instead of the perfect bathroom faucet or light fixture.
Okay, a third thing, if you are, well, me: 3. You become obsessed with bathroom faucets and light fixtures. To say nothing about drawer pulls, kitchen islands, or the question of where to put the garbage.
A good thing to do, I have discovered, when you are becoming obsessed with anything - whether it is a play or movie or book or new band or project -- is to talk to somebody smart and funny who has gone through something similar. It is practical, in that you can learn from their knowledge, mistakes and successes; it is a way to connect with people without having to pull yourself fully out of your obsession; and it can get you in off the ledge. I figured this out last night after I talked with my cousin Meredith. She had called because her baby wanted to talk with my kids on the phone; afterwards, Mer and I chatted. She made me laugh and think, as usual. It was great. She was so smart and funny, I asked her to write a guest blog about it. (Luckily the drive to procrastinate runs in our family.) I think her advice applies way beyond apartment renovation. you'll see:
March 6, 2009 Sometimes people write to me asking for advice about writing. Some ask, How can I get an agent? Others say, I don't like to read so I never read any of yr stuff (no offence!) but anyways I would like to get rich and famous so I would like to publish my book can you help me pls??? But sometimes I get questions that stop me in my tracks and make me think, like: what mood are you in when you're writing? And, What do you think is most important for me to do now, while I'm a kid, if I want to be a writer someday?
One I got recently that really made me think was: What kind of person should (or could) be a writer? I decided to take this not as an insulting rhetorical question but as I think it was meant: honestly, questingly. I kept thinking about it: what kind of person should or could be a writer?
I considered being scientific about it: I know lots of writers. What kind of people are they? It didn't help. Among people I know who are writers there are extroverts and introverts, kinetic and phlegmatic types, serious and hilarious, loquacious and nearly silent. Then I realized one thing we all have in common: Writers love a good sentence.
A good sentence can make my whole day. I can spend hours deleting and cursing and growling at my computer, then alphabetize my refrigerator, wait on hold for twenty-three minutes only to be told "If you want to make a call please hang up and try again," rearrange all the furniture in my apartment and break three (seriously, three) nails. but if at 4:15 I come up with a sentence that captures something true and right about my character, that moves my plot in some perfect way, all is bright and beautiful. I don't even have to write it myself for a good sentence or two to make my day. Reading or overhearing a good one works, too. I even collect them. Do you? Send me your favorites. Here are some of mine: My son Z, age 3, staring at his roll at a restaurant, when asked what are you doing?:
"I'm just staring at my bump of bread." Charles Dickens, GREAT EXPECTATIONS:
"Give me," said Joe, "a good book, or a good newspaper, and sit me down afore a good fire, and I ask no better. Lord!" he continued, after rubbing his knees a little, "when you do come to a J and an O, and says you, 'Here, at last, is a J-O, Joe,' how interesting reading is!" From my son Z's homework about a turning point in science and technology (14th - 15 th century):
Johann Fugger establishes trade in fustian cloth. (I could say that one a hundred times and still enjoy it. I have no idea what it means; I just love it: Johann Fugger establishes trade in fustian cloth.) Ulysses S Grant:
I know only 2 tunes. One of them is Yankee Doodle and the other isn't. My son L, looking at the full moon over the ocean one night when he was 4:
Mommy, let's swim to the moon. Looks like we could do it. Might take all night but Mommy, let's swim to the moon." John Steinbeck, EAST OF EDEN:
Samuel rode lightly on top of a book and he balanced happily among the ideas the way a man rides white rapids in a canoe. But Tom got into a book, crawled and groveled between the covers, and came up with the book all over his face and hands. Ann Patchett, BEL CANTO:
If there was ever such a thing as a second chance he would have his coffee outside in the morning. Some girl standing near me on the subway:
I'm Lincoln Center, man. I'm symphonies and museums! And he's play video games and smoke some pot. But I let him back in and he's sleeping and I'm in the other room blasting my music. I'm writing such excellent stuff. I hate it but it's true: the bastard has become the muse. Can't wait to read yours.
Love, Rachel Vail
February 10, 2009 Here it is, as promised - the cover picture for my new book, GORGEOUS!
The book is the second in the AVERY SISTERS trilogy (LUCKY was first and I am writing the third now), and is narrated by the middle Avery sister, Allison. Allison feels like the odd-looking, difficult, bad girl in the family. Until, well - I'm not going to ruin it (yet). But she is faced with a question, right there on the front of her book jacket: What would you give to be beautiful? So today, just because Allison hates quizzes, here is a quiz for you: 1.What would YOU give to be beautiful? 2. How do you think your life would change if suddenly everybody thought you were gorgeous? 3. Have people ever reacted to you (positively or negatively) because of how you look? 4. How much time do you spend on your appearance? Do you think you should spend more? Less? 5. Do you think looks matter, really? Do you judge a book by its cover? How about a person? 6. Does your cell phone ever act possessed?
7. Do you like nail polish? Are your nails polished now? What color?
Allison's answers - and some of yours! -- will be posted soon. Love, Rachel Vail PS Thanks to Mer for corrections in the wall quotes from last week's post. She and Rima are the winners in that quiz, and both get many extra credit points! Corrected quotes: Mr. Gorbachev, Tear down this wall! (This one I got right) Something there is that doesn't love a wall O wall, O sweet and lovely wall
February 5, 2009 How do you write a story? I get asked this question all the time. I often avoid answering. Especially when the person asking is me. But today I am going to answer, with some help from my son, Zachary. We are doing a renovation in our apartment, so for one day, he and his younger brother were allowed to draw on a wall that was about to be, as my younger son said, "deconstructed." We made lots of designs, a few wall-themed quotes*, many doodles of snails, and one story. This is Zachary's story, and it illustrates (!) the major steps you should take, when you want to write your story. First you need to commit to writing a story. This is an underappreciated step. If you don't commit to writing a story, you may find yourself in the kitchen, making a sandwich instead. You also need somebody who will be making choices in your story. That somebody is called the protagonist.
When your protagonist does something, and it can seem like a totally benign something, his world suddenly changes.
This might be a good time to introduce the antagonist.
The antagonist doesn't have to be a badguy, or even a bad guy. He (or she) just has to act in some way that foils the protagonist.
Twists are useful in moving the plot along in surprising directions.
Your protagonist must react to whatever happens. Acting, as they say in theater, is mostly about reacting.
But the protagonist's reactions should surprise the reader - and even, at best, the protagonist himself.
The crisis comes when the protagonist must make the most difficult choice, a choice that will cause him to take an action that will change everything.
After that action comes the resolution.
And that is how your story ends.
See? Easy. Now go write. (Make a sandwich first if you must, but then commit. Sit. Write.) Love, Rachel Vail *wall-themed quotes: Mr. Gorbachev: Tear down this wall! There is something that doesn't like a wall O wall! O sweet and gentle wall! (virtual prizes to anyone who identifies the authors/speakers of these quotes; extra credit for multiple correct answers on the last one)
January 19, 2008 I wrote a book for kids. It's going to be called. JUSTIN CASE: My Life as a Third Grader And it is about a boy who worries his way through third grade. I didn't know when I started if I knew how to write books for third graders, so I did a very smart thing: I read about a hundred books for third graders. I read the best-sellers and the award winners, the sleepers and my old favorites from when I was a third grader. I studied the ones I liked best, outlined them, took notes on their structure, their characterizations, their vocabulary and their humor. I could have taught a course on What Makes a Successful Book for Third Graders by the time I was done. Then I threw that all away and wrote the book Justin needed to tell. I love, seriously love this book. One of the happiest parts for me about working on it is working again with one of my favorite editors, Liz Szabla, who edited Jibberwillies at Night (rumors swirl that she actually dressed as Bombaloo one Halloween - a free signed book to anybody who sends me a picture of that!) Another of the happiest parts of doing JUSTIN CASE is getting to work again with Matthew Cordell, who illustrated
RIGHTY & LEFTY: A Tale of Two Feet - so brilliantly, and with such heart. I write the book with his style of drawings in mind, and I can't wait to see what he does. So the big news, the news that has me blogging about this a year or more before the book is due to be published is. Liz (the editor) emailed me that Matt is sending in his first character sketches this coming week! I am having trouble concentrating. This is what I just emailed Liz about it: And now my heart is pounding. I can't WAIT to see Matt's sketches. It has, weirdly enough a feeling kind of like that first sonogram of your baby -- you just [need] to get a look at this little guy who's been growing and kicking inside you so much!
Justin's least favorite word is "calm down" but I am telling myself that word anyway, and trying to get on with all I need to do. Meanwhile, when I need to smile, I can always just watch the giggly babies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkB9uoBFbZY Love, Rachel Vail
January 16, 2009
The cable guy came to pick up our cable box on Wednesday. The thing is, he was supposed to come Monday. He was supposed to come Monday because he never showed up for his first appointment, 2 weeks ago. But okay, second appointment. Monday, sometime between 9 AM - 7 PM. (They call that the "window." If I had windows that big I could never throw a stone in my life.) But he never showed up. I hadn't budged from the apartment. I didn't even shower. My husband posted a note downstairs at the front door in case our buzzer malfunctioned - listing my cell phone number and our regular phone number. I kept both phones with me at all times all day Monday and managed not even to drop either in the toilet (Don't ask. You write a book about a girl whose cell is possessed by the devil, you are asking for trouble, is my hard-won explanation to myself about past cell-phone dunking disasters.)
But no cable guy came all day Monday. I was not just unshowered; I was pissed. Two days later, I was writing Quinn's book, BRILLIANT, the third in the AVERY trilogy - when my buzzer buzzed. Who could it be? Probably a mistake, what a pain. It was Wednesday around noon, not expecting anyone. It was the Time Warner Cable Guy. Here to pick up my cable box. So I got ready to unload on him. I was by then showered, but beyond pissed. ME: You were supposed to be here two days ago. TWCG: (smiles ruefully, and nods a little) ME: I stayed home all day, from 8 in the morning until 8 at night! TWCG: (nods sympathetically) Mmmm. ME: I didn't even shower! TWCG: Yeah. ME: And you just show up today? Randomly? It's just chance that I'm even here! TWCG: You weren't expecting me today. (Compassionate eye contact.) ME: No! I wasn't! I was expecting you two days ago! TWCG: Yeah. (nodding empathically) Sometimes life is like that. He was so calm about the whole thing. Didn't explain, argue, or interrupt. The audacity of his lack of engagement was so extreme, it left me literally speechless. I gave him the cable box, the modem, the remote control. Sometimes life is like that? I repeated the phrase in my head as the Time Warner Cable Guy slowly, amiably left with my stuff, two days after he was supposed to.
I wasn't even left with my righteous indignation, never mind my premium channels or a way to turn on the TV from the couch. But it felt, oddly enough, okay. I felt. wiser. Calmer. I realized suddenly, as I closed the door behind him: The Time Warner Cable Guy is a Zen Master in disguise! I was just in the presence of Master Oogway and Yoda and Buddha, all rolled into one!
Sometimes life is like that.
January 1, 2009 Happy New Year!
Did you make any resolutions? Did you break them yet? Every year, for as long as I can remember, I have resolved to be more patient . When I was younger, I always added the phrase, especially with my brother .
So far I have never been successful. I was in a yoga class the other day, trying to do a pose that gives me a lot of trouble (crow pose) and I guess the yoga teacher, who has a lovely calm and perceptive demeanor I am trying (failing) to emulate, came over. She gently touched my shoulder, reminded me to breathe, and counseled patience, saying, "Just be there with where you are with the pose for now" or some such wisdom that sounds teeteringly close to nonsense when it's repeated outside the yoga studio.
She's right, I told myself, chugging air and also trying desperately to just be there with where I was with the pose (which was hands on the floor, knees on elbows, butt in the air and face dangerously close to the floor) and not think too much about how the sentence Just be there with where you are with the pose for now would be diagrammed. Instead I silently yelled at myself: Why am I so impatient? What is wrong with me? I know this about myself already! Why do I have to be reminded that I need to breathe, which is supposedly autonomic? People in comas remember to breathe! But me? No! I am constantly bumping up against my impatience! This has to stop right now! I have to start being patient this instant!!! And then I fell forward, onto my face. Because I was laughing at myself.
But maybe that is progress. Wishing you a wonderful, surprising, successful, healthy, joyful 2009.
Love, Rachel Vail
December 20, 2008
I'm looking out the dirty window of our temporary apartment (more about that soon) at the snow, realizing it really is about to be gift time.
Ack! This was going to be the year I was organized and had all the gifts I needed early. I even made a list. I thought about all the people I love and all the people I need gifts for, and made a Venn diagram. Well, not actually. But I should have. I love Venn Diagrams and am on a quest to find their usefulness outside a classroom setting.
But I did shop early! Then we moved (I'll get to it), and good luck finding the gifts now. But! I was smart this year. (All things are relative.) I mostly bought books. They should be easy to find even in piles of boxes;
they will be easy to wrap (once I find the wrapping paper);
and they will, best of all, be loved by those who get them! Bookstores, like every other kind of store, and the publishing business, like every other kind of business, are struggling this year. Roy Blount Jr., the president of the Authors Guild, sent out a plea: this year, buy books. You can buy something life-changing, spiritually challenging, laugh-out-loud-funny, useful and/or thought-provoking - all for $5 - $25. Show me the scarf, sweater, or 753-piece wrench set that can be all that!
Well, some sweaters can be funny, I'll give you that. Okay, I do admit that sometimes you get a gift you remember forever that is not a book. When I was about 8, and a bookish vegetarian-in-both-training-and-obscenely-long-collars, my Uncle Harvey bought me a large meat-carving knife for my birthday.
It may have been wildly inappropriate, but I do remember it. For our wedding, some friends bought my new husband and me something about which I wrote the following thank you note: Thank you so much for the very unusual ceramic pitcher and matching other ceramic object. We know they will bring us so much pleasure in the years to come.
You know what? I don't even know where those hideously unclassifiable ceramic somethings are, but they continue to bring us untold pleasure, to this very day. So you could go that route. Or you could buy books. Here are some hints, but don't limit yourself.
Love, Rachel Vail PS If you requested a free JIBBERWILLIES CD
or book, it'll be coming soon. If not - email me by Monday morning to make your request! Some of your shopping could be taken care of right now, for free!!!! And you will be smack dab in the middle of my Venn Diagram.
December 10, 2008 The question I keep getting asked this week is: On what grounds would a librarian ban Jibberwillies at Night ?
Here is my answer: I don't know. Um, on the grounds that it is my LEAST controversial book? It's a picture book, for goodness sake. It doesn't even have penguins in it. (Apparently people love to ban the book about the sweet penguin family. What they could have against penguins is beyond me, too, by the way.) Meanwhile, all my teen novels are outraged, grumbling on the shelf like, hey! We have kissing! And drinking! (Well, not that much, but a little.) And lying to parents! And sarcasm! And other really objectionable teen-ish stuff in us!
But are we getting banned? No! It's that sweet picture book about a basically happy kid getting calmed by her loving mom before bedtime! That's the book that gets banned? Are you KIDDING us? I shrug at my teen novels. I don't get it, either, I say. If they had eyes, they'd roll them at me. My other answer is this: Chocolate chip cookie cake. Which is an excellent invention, and what I gave my children to eat before dinner tonight. Because really, if you can't decide what to have for an appetizer, and the carrots are way dried out to the point of having become wood, and the kids are really hungry but the dinner is still half an hour from ready, so you are going back and forth on the appetizer possibility chart between chocolate chip cookies
and cake
--doesn't it make sense to have chocolate chip cookie cake?
And isn't chocolate chip cookie cake a better answer to life's worries than banning a book?
Love, Rachel Vail
December 5, 2008 "I'm with the Banned" My new book, Jibberwillies at Night, is being banned.
There are so many weird things about this fact, I don't even know which to think about first. First, it is a picture book. I hadn't realized there was anything controversial about it. It's gotten starred reviews and raves from all the major review publications. Yumi Heo did a magnificent job of illustrating it. It is the sequel to SOMETIMES I'M BOMBALOO.
Also, the person banning the book from her school in Long Island, NY, is the school librarian.
This is so odd, I didn't even realize it was actual censorship until after the fact. Let me explain: I am biased. I am a librarian lover. Librarians are my heroes. They are on the front lines every day, fighting for kids' rights to read. They are the actual freedom fighters among us, battling for our first amendment rights, often at the risk of their own jobs. (In addition, I have learned through going to every single librarian conference that I am ever invited to, librarians tend to have wicked senses of humor and a deep love of partying that leaves me almost as in awe of them as their whole free-speech stand.)
Why in the world did she ban my book? JIBBERWILLIES AT NIGHT is about a really happy kid, who has a really happy life
She describes her worried feelings as "Jibberwillies" and when she can't get rid of the Jibberwillies herself, she calls in mom for help, and together they come up with what one review (in a journal called Kirkus) called " an ingenious solution to conquering children's nighttime fears" and then Katie settles down happy in her bed.
That review concludes, "With its clever resolution and understanding tone, this vibrant tale is a terrific antidote to things that go bump in the night." I was supposed to visit this school (grades K - 5) on December 10. The visit was planned last July. But then a month ago, when I talked with the librarian, she told me that although she loved BOMBALOO, she would not allow the sequel, JIBBERWILLIES to be added to her collection, or allow it to be sold at her school by the PTA in conjunction with my visit, because she was concerned that a book that talked about fears or worries would cause the children to develop fears or worries. She was serious. She thought the book would cause, rather than acknowledge and validate, and maybe even point a way toward coping with, the problem of worries in kids. In a starred review, Publisher's Weekly said, Exuberant and self-proclaimed "really happy kid" Katie Honors, the tantrum-thrower from Sometimes I'm Bombaloo , now explains what happens when she gets an attack of night terrors, otherwise known as "the jibberwillies." When her own coping mechanisms don't quite work, her mother comes to the rescue by suggesting she catch the jibberwillies in a bucket. As they refine the strategy together, Katie finds the team approach both calming and empowering. Children (and parents) are certain to pick up that same vibe and will come away with new approaches for facing their own anxieties. But my visit to the school was cancelled. JIBBERWILLIES AT NIGHT is not welcome in that school and now, apparently, neither am I. So what am I going to do about this? 1. I talked yesterday, after I found out I was dis-invited, to the good people of the National Coalition Against Censorship, who are already on the case. You can go to their site, NCAC.org to learn about censorship issues, and their blog at ncacblog.wordpress.com for even more. 2. I am going to give away free copies of JIBBERWILLIES AT NIGHT! Any school librarian or principal who wants a copy of this now banned book for their collection can send me an email request at RachelVailBooks@gmail.com with the subject line "I get Jibberwillies about censorship!" and I will send you one. If you are a parent or a student, get your school librarian to email me before December 22! 3. I am going to give away free CDs! Scholastic has made a CD recording of me reading JIBBERWILLIES AT NIGHT, cover to cover. If you already have the book, this is a great companion to it - but you can have a CD just for the asking, for your own private collection, or to donate to your school along with a book. whatever you want. Email me, again at RachelVailBooks@gmail.com , with the subject line "JIBBERWILLIES CD". 4. I am not sure what else to do about it. Any suggestions??? Love, Rachel Vail Thanks to all (including many librarians) who have already raised your voices in support of me, of this book - and much more importantly in support of kids' right to read.
November 26, 2008 I'm thinking about gratitude today, in preparation for tomorrow. Thanksgiving is a pretty cool holiday like that. I like a pause to think about what I feel grateful for. I'm coming around to appreciating Thanksgiving, after years of hating it. Why did I hate it? Not because of family stress - one of things I feel luckiest about is that my family, while chock full of big personalities, is actually really fun and loving. I hated the food.
The stress of the food! There was just so much of it, and so much was not easily classifiable. Also, because I was an undiagnosed vegetarian and a kind of scrawny kid, my grandmothers both believed this one meal was their big chance to pack in the year's worth of calories I had yet again managed to avoid.
It was horrible. I was used to being the good girl, the kid who made people proud. On Thanksgiving, I was the big disappointment. But now I am an adult so people care less about what I eat; also I'm not scrawny anymore and have come out as a vegetarian so nobody offers me anything but the yummy side-dishes. Also, as has been noted pretty much everywhere, food has improved since the 1970s. A lot. So I am thankful for that.
Of course I am most thankful for the health and happiness of the people I love, that I get to get to do work I feel passionate about, that the crappy state of the world seems temporary, somehow - like there are brighter days ahead of us, even if they come after some dim ones. But what about the little things? What little silly things are you feeling thankful for? I was just sitting here on my couch, typing away while listening to Bruce Springsteen and also my kids giggling down the hall, and the sun came in strong through my window and warmed my arm.
I'm thankful for that. Also for the milky tea in the cup beside me and the dark chocolate bark my husband brought me.
I'm thankful for examples of small generosity I see all over the place. Here's a story I wrote that has to do with a generosity of spirit. It is dedicated to my friend Howard and his friends who, out of love and devotion, saved his life. You guys know who you are; you continue, along with Howard's glorious smile, to light the world. The Reason I Will Love John McFarlane, Jr. Until the Day I Die So for all that, and for the lack of canned cranberries, I give thanks.
What are you thankful for? Love, Rachel Vail
November 21, 2008 Saw a really weird/fun thing on my friend Tracy's Facebook today. It is called, "What's on Page 57?" Here are the rules: * Grab the book nearest you. Right now. NO CHEATING BY PICKING SOMETHING TO MAKE YOU LOOK SMART! The book NEAREST you. Mine: "I laughed, feeling a wave of surprising relief flood through me." Admission: My sentence came from the book that was about one inch from my computer as I read this. In fact, it was in my left hand. It comes from GORGEOUS, by, well, me, or rather from the not-yet published advance reader's copy of my new book GORGEOUS - coming out this spring - which I was rereading as a help in starting to write the sequel to it. The sequel, the third in my trilogy about the three Avery sisters - this one called BRILLIANT -- is going about how the beginnings of most of my books go, which is to say, not particularly going. That is why my apartment is strangely clean right now,
and why I made soup from scratch yesterday,
and why I was reading people's posts on Facebook this morning. But I am going to have lunch and a glass of wine with my editor Elise on Monday,
so everything will be solved and I will probably finish BRILLIANT by Thanksgiving. New Year's at the latest. But for now, back to the fifth sentences on pages 57: Already people have posted a great variety of sentences. It is actually very interesting to read. If you are on Facebook, you can go to my page and post there. Otherwise, email me with your sentence and I'll post it here. Remember, no cheating! And, just to be clear - usually the book nearest me is not one written by me. I read other stuff, too. I am in the middle of A Leg to Stand On (which is really, really good) by Oliver Sacks, about to start Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson (which I am sure will be awesome, because she is so funny and honest), and just finished The Comfort of Strangers (which I HATED) by Ian McEwan, who I loved until now.
But now I must pack because we about to go up to our house in Connecticut. And you know what I have to pack, don't you? The dead fish. Who, in better days, looked a lot like this:
Which is how we will remember him. Have a great weekend. Love, Rachel Vail
November 17, 2008 Our fish died. Well, one of our fish.
It is a betta fish (so my older son named it "Alpha") and it had lived a surprisingly long time. We got fish in the first place because our apartment is very dry (as so many apartments apparently are) and our doctor suggested putting bowls of water out, to increase the humidity.
I sat there for a moment in the doctor's office picturing random bowls of water scattered around the apartment. Weird, I thought. It would look like we'd had fish, but they'd all died and we hadn't quite gotten over it, or around to cleaning up after the deaths, or something. So asked the doctor, "Would it be okay if we got fish to put in the bowls of water?" She said she thought that would be fine. So the whole point of the fish was to decorate the bowl of water so it wouldn't look like fish had died.
But then, sadly, and as is the course and curse of life, the fish died. I considered covering up the situation, scooting out and buying a replacement fish to avoid the trauma of telling my children the fish had died. But I already did that once, and got busted when my older son figured it out and confronted me by asking, "Did something happen with this fish that is similar to the bird in a short story you wrote?" In fact, yes. There was nothing for me to say at that point but, "What? I, I, what, when did, well, go to your room!" (Here is the short story, called Thirteen and a Half.) After I gathered myself a little, I had to both come clean on my fish-replacing deceit and also ban my kids from reading anything written by me from then on. So this time I decided to forge ahead and break the news to my sons. Anyway, I told myself, part of why you get pets for kids is to help them cope with life and death, mourning and recovery. This would be a good parenting moment. My younger son, whose fish was still swimming around unperturbed in the neighboring bowl, burst into tears of mourning. I wrapped my arms around him. The older son, whose fish was floating sideways, shrugged. "How can you be so heartless and uncaring?" wailed my younger son. "It was just a decorative fish," his older brother answered. My tender-hearted little guy insisted that no watery grave (toilet flushing) would do for poor Alpha. We would have to bury him and have a funeral. We live in New York City. There is no dirt outside our 8 th floor window (well, there probably is, somehow, but not enough to bury a fish in.) And I just don't think heading out to the park at dusk with a shovel and a dead fish was a smart idea. And knowing my son, there would be guests to invite, appropriate funeral attire to iron, eulogies to write. and we still had homework and dinner ahead of us. Um, good parenting moment? We stared at each other across the abyss of flummoxed mom and heartbroken but trusting nine-year-old. "Cryogenics," I said to my child, in a burst of inspiration. So the fish is now in a baggie, in the freezer, awaiting an upcoming trip up to the country where we have a house beside a lake and some dirt of our own. Funeral to come for poor dead Alpha. And now we have an empty bowl of water humidifying our apartment, looking like a fish has died and we just haven't dealt with the fact yet.
Which, I suppose, is accurate. Love, Rachel Vail
November 14, 2008 Here's another reason I hate shopping: I was trying on a dress, in the dressing room of an out-of-my-league store. Why not, I had told myself. I could be glamorous, I like to wear pretty dresses, I can totally do this up. I have a picture of a fabulous dress on the cover of my book, for goodness sake - I should wear fabulous dresses all the time, now. (Except when I am writing, when I wear as close to pajamas as possible.)
I should have known the dress I chose was not the dress for me right away. My first clue should have been that when I first managed to get it on, I was completely damp with sweat from the effort and my head was poking oddly through the arm-hole. I should have abandoned the whole thing right then and gone off to a bookstore or café like a normal person.
But no. I persevered. Mustering my courage, I managed to withdraw my head from the arm-hole and get it through the correct opening. Unfortunately, my arm had followed my head, perhaps believing the head was a sleeve-finder (due to its most recent activity). So there I was, like a submarine caught with my periscope up. My hand, dangling high above the rest of me, managed a little wave to me in the mirror. That's when I heard two awful sounds: 1) a stitch ripping out, somewhere on this horrible torture-device of a dress 2) a knock on the dressing room door "Are you okay in there?" the saleswoman who had told me her name which I had instantly forgotten, called.
"Great," I lied. The decision was before me: to try again to get my various sticky-outy bits into the proper holes, or abandon the whole enterprise? I decided to try to see if the dress was even pretty. It was, honestly, hard to tell. My arm going straight up above me through the neck hole made everything a bit asymmetrical. But really, I was starting to realize, it was not even that fabulous a dress. And something down around my waist was starting to itch. I suddenly felt that intense GOTTA GO feeling you sometimes get when you are at a very bad party. So I decided to just take the thing off. Unfortunately, I had started losing feeling in my right hand, and, up there doing its giraffe imitation, it was no help to me anyway. I ducked my head down and, using my left hand, tried to hike the dress up. I'm not entirely sure what happened next. All I know is that when the saleswoman banged on the door again, she sounded more concerned than before, perhaps because I had smashed into the walls a couple of times. Which wasn't my fault, because I couldn't see where the walls were. I had the dress over my head by then. Both arms, in separate exits, were pinned up next to my ears. I was trying desperately to step on the inside-out hem of the dress by bending over double, but it was dark inside the dress and I apparently stepped on a pin. It felt like my foot was bleeding but I couldn't see, of course. "Do you need help?" the saleswoman asked, but it sounded like an accusation, like she was thinking I had taken a dress above my ability level and would need a rescue. "No," I lied. What was I going to do, if I told the truth? Walk out into the store in my underwear, bleeding from the foot with an inside-out dress attacking the entire top half of my body? No way. I have some dignity, you know. Not a lot. Obviously. But some. Well, anyway, I eventually got a non-bleeding foot onto the hem, wiggled myself out of the dress, flipped it right-side-out, hung it up, and gratefully pulled my old unglamorous, beginner-level clothes back on. My cheeks were flushed and my hair was mussed and I was drenched in sweat, but I didn't care.
I was out of there and fast, on my way to a bookstore where I could sink onto the floor between stacks and get caught up in a story, instead of a dress.
Phew. Do you like to shop? Just for books, school supplies and shoes? Or for dresses? Why??? Love, Rachel Vail
November 12, 2008 Yes, the rumors are true. I fed my kids ice cream for dinner last night, and then pancakes for dessert.
I just think sometimes life needs a night like that. Don't you? But what will I do tonight? Twizzlers for dinner and peanut M&Ms for dessert? (Nuts are very, very good for you.) Oh, wait, before I plan dinner. I have to decide if I want to focus my next book on a) forbidden romance, Of course the answer is always all of the above. But the real question is, which (of a - d) is my main focus? Well, which would you most like to read about? Free entrée of Twizzlers for the first five answers!!!
Love, Rachel Vail PS Not even kidding - include your address (first get parental permission)
November 10, 2008 I just emailed my editor's assistant the latest, perhaps the last, round of edits for my new book GORGEOUS, which will come out this spring. It is the sequel to LUCKY, and (in answer to a question I get asked all the time) GORGEOUS just might be my favorite of all the books I've ever written. Which does not make me any less thrilled to be DONE with it. (If I am. You never know with edits. Just when you think you are free, to badly paraphrase Michael Corleone, they pull you back in.) I admit that my favorite book is usually whichever book I have recently finished. Okay. But I really mean it this time. (I mean it every time. But that does not make it untrue.) So anyway, now I am free to lounge around on my couch and eat bon-bons for a while, because my next book is not due until January, and now that I am very experienced at writing books, and since this next one will be the third in my Avery sisters' trilogy and should therefore be easier (unless it's harder) to write than earlier books in the trilogy, it should only take me 8 - 9 months instead of my usual solid year to write the thing! So I have. wait, having trouble with the math here. I have, um. I have at best negative five months to lie on the couch eating bon-bons? This is me, upon figuring out that math problem from hell:
Well, I guess I will start. Writing. Hmm. This should be easy. I'll just, like, plot out the book today, and then tomorrow. wait! I have to make tea. Okay, back from making tea, during which time I realized: I have a free book to give away! I am going to email the winner right now. Do not despair if you didn't win this time. I have a book to write! There will be many lovely contests and games etc coming up very, very soon, never fear. Because I am proud to announce I have discovered a deep and abiding talent in myself. Yes, I am putting aside any pretense at humility and shouting loud at the sky: I am GOOD at procrastinating! (How about you?) (Emailing is good for procrastinating; have you noticed? Email me now with "Jibberwillies" in the subject line and something you stress about on the inside -- maybe I'll pick another free book winner. That will give me a chance to wait in the line at the post office again. oooh, I am so good at this.) Love, Rachel Vail
November 6, 2008 Okay, I should just stop wearing mascara for a few days. People keep telling me about their experiences election day, and as the most nerdily patriotic person I know, I burst into tears every time. While I am still walking around looking like a jilted prom date, I will share with you my own election day story. (Then, tomorrow, back to book stuff, contests, etc.!) After voting at 6:30 AM so my older son, who had school, could vote with us, my husband and I took both our sons out for a celebratory breakfast, NYC-style. We sat on a bench in the middle of Broadway eating our bagels and watching the voters stride proudly toward the polls. Then my younger son and I got in the car with some friends and drove down to Bristol, PA, to get out the vote. Here is part of what my 9 year old wrote about that experience: ".In the car on the way home, about 9 hours later, I felt like that was a tiny bit fun but mostly boring. I felt like I didn't do any real help in the election, and there were many other options I could have done with my day instead of walking around Bristol PA telling strangers to vote. My mom was telling me about how it's like Penny Harvest, every penny counts, just like every vote counts and every volunteer makes a contribution, which adds up to a lot. But, I argued, at least a penny has worth. We didn't do anything that has even a penny's worth. We didn't get any voters. "We pulled into our parking lot and stumbled home on our tired legs. We turned on the television to watch the results. As the first states started coming in, I waited eagerly for the answer from Pennsylvania. Finally, the time came. "And Pennsylvania goes to Senator Barack Obama," Wolf Blitzer announced. "I still don't feel like I did anything that amazing. Maybe I did help a little, maybe somebody saw the door hangers we hung on the doors and thought, "Oh, yeah, I should go vote for Barack," and then went. Maybe only one person, maybe two. But if everyone contributes, then you get a lot of help, so maybe our campaigning really did help Barack Obama win in Pennsylvania." In fact, when Pennsylvania was called for Obama, my son's face lit up, and he shouted, "We did it!" I nodded at him, thinking, my child will remember this feeling of empowerment and responsibility for a very long time, and feeling grateful for the gift so much more valuable than a penny's worth. Then they called Ohio, and, knowing the electoral math, I started really smiling, and finally put the Champagne in the fridge to chill. When 11 PM came and everyone announced Obama had won, I was literally speechless, just shaking and crying. After the speeches, when it was clear there was no possibility of sleep for us, my husband and I went out and met a friend and together we wandered around our neighborhood, Morningside Heights, in New York City where Columbia University is located. People were screaming, shouting, hugging one another. We walked up to the Columbia campus where students were literally jumping for joy, shouting Obama! Obama! and then USA! USA! And then, oddly, beautifully, this huge spontaneous wildly happy group of students on the Columbia campus -- which 40 years ago was shut down by student activists shouting anti-government, anti-administration, anti-everything chants -- they started singing, almost shouting, the national anthem. There was no irony, no cynicism in it all... it was so patriotic, so full of joy and celebration and yes, hope -- I smiled, then cried the remains of my mascara off, then stood at attention and sang along. What a stunning, amazing thing this is. What did you do? How do you feel? Does this election change anything for you? What will you remember about it? Tell me. I have a little more mascara to cry off. Love, Rachel Vail
October 24, 2008 I got back from campaigning in Richmond VA last night. It was really cool - and I will definitely blog all about the interesting experiences I had and fascinating people I met. but I realized that before I get to that I have something I need to get to first. (Even before I can share some exciting news I just got about LUCKY and also JIBBERWILLIES AT NIGHT!) I usually try to keep this blog open and light and apolitical, but I have now mentioned more than once which candidate I am supporting in the upcoming election, and maybe even that I am feeling very passionate (some, okay my husband, might even say obsessed) with what is going on in politics these days. I know that many of you are too young to vote, but I also know that a person's age does not create a barrier to intense feelings or negate her (or his) ability - and need - to influence the world. So, since I have come out to all of you as an Obama supporter, I believe that I owe you some explanation of why. Why I Support Barack Obama (by Rachel Vail ) I am patriotic. I always have been. I didn't just cry at the National Anthem when it was played during the Olympics (though I did do that, standing at attention on the green shag carpet in our den, tears streaming down my face); I barely held it together during the Pledge of Allegiance each morning in school. (I was especially moved by the metaphor of that first line, which I thought was "I led the pigeons to the flag," referring to my responsibility to spread the blessings and philosophy of liberty, symbolized by the flag, to all the people who lived oppressed or unenlightened - the pigeons. I was kind of crushed when I learned the other, more common version of those first words.) I have never missed a vote in a presidential election, and have never voted dry-eyed. I stand in the voting booth and take a moment to think of all the people who fought, suffered, and even died for my right to be standing there, and pay tribute to them. I think of all the people around the world for whom the right to choose their own government, to pick their leaders, is a distant fantasy, if it can even be imagined. I read the names of the candidates one last time, and flip a lever next to the name of the person I choose to represent me. I love this country. I feel so lucky that my great-grandparents struggled and risked everything to come here. I know that not every decision the leaders of this country make is wise or ethical. We have a history of terrible injustices, waste, and hypocrisy. But we also have a history of progress, and of learning from our mistakes; acknowledging when we are wrong doesn't make us weaker - in fact, it does the opposite. My favorite phrase in the Declaration of Independence is the statement of belief that all people are created equal, and "that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Talk about a radical idea. seriously? The pursuit of Happiness? The French were all like, yeah, life and liberty, but the third thing, to round it off? Gotta be property. But those crazy Americans - at the moment of their self-creation, they said it is every person's right that nobody can take away to go for whatever that person defines as his (or her) path to - capitalize it - Happiness. Even if your pursuit is different from my pursuit. Your pursuit of happiness is your inherent right, just because you exist as a human being. That's what we stand for. What a kick-ass country. But in the past 8 years, I have felt ashamed of this country I love, much too often. My president can barely speak coherently. People who differ with the official positions of the administration are demonized or worse. We have attacked a country that didn't attack us, while allowing real bad guys who attacked my country, my city - killed thousands of innocents down the street from where I live - we have let them get away because we were distracted by that other unnecessary war. Our economy has fallen apart, largely because truisms - free markets; deregulate! - were used as bludgeons over good sense. Education has suffered as it must when anti-intellectualism masquerades as virtue. Our environment is imperiled and attempts to make our air and water cleaner are met with mocking by the leaders who should instead be convincing us to do the right thing even if it is hard, even if we have to pitch in and sacrifice. We have dissed our allies, enraged and riled up our enemies, broken our treaties and international law. We've become what we were made to fight against. There have been moments when I told myself to grow up already. Maybe patriotism is naïve. All countries suck. Including my own. It is a dirty world and everybody has to fight for any advantage. Taking the high road is for priggish losers. But then I heard Barack Obama speak. I heard him in 2004 and was inspired by his biography and the way he spoke - demonizing nobody, recognizing the inherent good in all of us, despite our disagreements. It was more than pretty words, though. I watched him give interviews: when he was asked a softball question, one set up for him to hit a fast and easy homerun insult about President Bush over some boneheaded thing he did or said - so easy I had three good zingers on my tongue, any one of which would have landed Obama on every news show - he resisted. He took the high road. He acknowledged the argument Bush was trying to make, and the reasonableness of part of it, and then made his case for thinking about the problem in a different way, a more practical way, a more ethical way. It was inspiring not just because you could follow the man's reasoning and diagram his sentences, or because he sounded good, no matter what he was saying. It was more than that. Barack Obama was appealing to what was best within us. Not what is worst. And so it has continued, throughout this long campaign. Obama has stayed remarkably consistent in message and even-keeled in temperament. He has bet his entire campaign, from the very beginning, on empowering and including people. The motto at the top of his campaign website is
It's not just words. That is the guiding principle of his entire campaign, and the reason so many of us are so passionately involved, giving time, money, and support. We want to believe in this country again, and all that it stands for. We are tired of being treated like a bunch of gullible idiots, manipulated by playground bullying tactics. The fact is, I agree with many of Barack Obama's positions on vital issues of domestic and international policy. I probably don't agree with him on every issue (I don't even agree with myself 100% of the time) but I appreciate the respect and dignity he shows to the other side, always. He is a person I'd be proud to have represent me, because more than any one issue I could choose to highlight, I appreciate the dignity he is bringing to his campaign and the inclusive spirit of empowerment he is spreading throughout our country. He isn't interested in pitting us one against the other but in bringing us together to make this country - and the world - a better place. Idealistic? Absolutely. Patriotic? Definitely. His positive, idealistic, pragmatic, common sense message is the American idea. I am still patriotic. I still believe in it. Don't you? Love, Rachel Vail PS This blog may also appear at YAforObama.ning.com - a site that is so full of excellent writing from some of the most talented writers in the biz today, you must go read it for yourself.
October 21, 2008 Since I finished a first draft of one book and a final draft of another last week, I am trying to catch up on stuff this week. It's not really working. Though it did get my nails polished. I don't bother mid-book (which is pretty much 50 weeks of the year) because I type so much I make a mess of my nails within a day and then walk around looking like a four-year old, with the little splotches of polish in the middles of my nails. but right now my nails are a very lovely shade known as "chocolate kisses" - you can see why I couldn't resist. Of course, now, an hour after my manicure, I am typing. I want my nails to stay pretty for tonight! I am going to a benefit for NCAC - the National Coalition Against Censorship - with some of my favorite people, including my husband, Judy Blume, and Carolyn Mackler. I'd honestly be excited to go out for dinner anywhere with these people, but it's doubly exciting to go in support of freedom of speech. Judy Blume is hosting us; she is a heroic champion for our right to read and write and speak freely, and is my role model in this as in so many things. Then tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn I'm heading down to Richmond, VA to campaign. Only a few days until the election! What are you doing to get involved? Whatever your views, I hope you are reading about the issues and speaking up - I'll write soon about my days as a passionate (though I fear only semi-coherent) young campaigner. for now just know that we adults need to hear from people too young to vote. It's your country, your world to inherit. Where do you stand? On a lighter note (kind of): do you have worries? I have an activity page for you! You'll get to use scissors and tape. and who doesn't love scissors and tape? Love, Rachel Vail
October 19, 2008 So many of you have been emailing to ask for tips on writing and publishing your stuff. well, I have an idea: What if I do a monthly writing contest, here at my website? MY PART: I would give you a writing prompt, and some thoughts/tips on how to develop your idea within the context of the challenge - whether it's on character development or honing a powerful moment or revealing a turning point. YOUR PART: Write it, submit it by email. THEN: Winning entries would get published right here on my site. What do you think? If you are interested, email me. And you have friends who might be interested (or even teachers - extra credit anyone?) tell them to let me know, too. If enough of you are in, we'll start it up soon. Love, Rachel Vail
October 18, 2008 What a crazy week I had! Monday morning, which was still Sunday night as far as I could tell, since I hadn't gone to sleep, I emailed my first draft of my new book to my editor. It was 3 AM. I went to bed feeling relieved the thing was off my desk/shoulders, excited to talk with my editor about it (we had lunch planned for, ahem, Tuesday - not that I was cutting it close or anything), and scared, as always, at the idea of somebody I respect first reading what I had written. Especially when I did my final proof-reading after midnight. Am I a college Junior again? But lunch Tuesday was great, starting when Liz the Editor greeting me with the words, "Oh, Rachel, I LOVE IT!" and continuing on from there. Then I spent Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning doing my final edits on GORGEOUS, the sequel to LUCKY. If I am scared every time I turn in a first draft, I am terrified every time I sit down in front of a huge stack of type-set pages that are the last chance for me to make changes in a book. What if I start reading and realize it is stupid? Or it makes no sense? Or the whole plot falls apart in chapter 14? Or the main character gets on my nerves? But I got lucky again - because I adore this main character. Allison Avery (the middle Avery sister; you met her in Phoebe's book LUCKY) is sarcastic, obnoxious, tough, vulnerable, and funny. She sells her cell phone to the Devil, who is also quite cool. I went down to HarperCollins to turn in the manuscript and got to see another of my favorite editors, Elise, and her awesome assistant Rachel - who handed me a sample cover for GORGEOUS! I can't show it to you yet, but I promise I will as soon as I am allowed. I really like it - those Harper designers are incredible. Then Wednesday night, Maureen Johnson, the bottomless pit of energy and wittiness, asked me to live-blog the final presidential debate on YAforObama.ning.com - which was really fun. Our friends Carin and Thea came over with clementines, I provided the cookies. and a grand time was had by all. But I was so energized by the whole thing, I didn't get to bed until 3 AM again. So Thursday I was a wastie. My couch and I had some serious bonding to do. Then Friday I went downtown to a recording studio and did an audio recording of my new picture book, JIBBERWILLIES AT NIGHT. I got to stand in the recording booth with the headphones over my ears and pretend I was about to sing my new hit single. it was so much fun. The recording will be available soon - more on that as soon as I know anything - check back for how to get your own copy (maybe free!) soon. Afterwards, my publicist and I went out to lunch and cookies. Now I am up at our house-by-the-lake in CT, looking at colorful leaves and wild turkeys, listening to music, and steaming some artichokes. Because nothing says glamour girl like steaming a pair of artichokes. What did you do this week? Love, Rachel Vail PS Keep those contest entries coming! You still have a chance to win a free book!
October 6, 2008 Welcome to my new website! What do you think? I love it - and all thanks go to my brilliant and creative webmaster, Magda. THANKS!!!! This has been a crazy week. I ended up in the Emergency Room after scaring my sweet husband half to death by collapsing quite glamorously Tuesday night - I'll spare you the details but I seem to be on the mend, thanks to loving care by that hot husband, my sweet boys, wonderful family and amazing friends (who sent over deli food and flowers and chocolate and gossip magazines. the REAL penicillin to be sure!). But the fun didn't end with ambulance rides and afternoons on the couch. No, no, no, no. We also had a party with a dozen 13 year-olds (and one 14 year old), a fireplace fiasco, a speech to cancel in Greenwhich CT (so sorry, you guys!), a college friend to host for a sleepover, a debate to watch, and the PUBLICATION (on Oct 1) of my newest book! Hooray for Jibberwillies at Night! Also, another starred review: Advanced Review – Uncorrected Proof The effusive heroine of Sometimes I’m Bombaloo(2002) returns in this appealing look at confronting night-time fears. Most of the time, Katie Honors is a happy kid. She wakes with a smile, is known to twirl when she walks, and doesn’t even mind making room for her little brother when her family cuddles on the couch. But at night, after Katie has put on her pajamas and curled up in bed, the trouble starts.
I will be writing (from my bed, alas) more in the next few days, I hope, about how I came to write Jibberwillies, and why. it's not an easy story to tell but I think it's kind of important, especially in these incredibly stressful days, to remember what we can achieve, when we are there for each other. But for now I think I will go nap again. I am such a fun girl! But you, who are not napping - keep in touch: tell me what you think of the new website (put "New Website" in the subject line) or, if you feel like winning something for free, go right here. I can't wait to hear from you. Love, Rachel Vail
September 22, 2008 I'm so excited today to celebrate the launch of YA for Obama!
I'll be blogging on it soon. Today's blog is by one of my favorite people on earth, Judy Blume.
So what the heck is it? Check it out: http:/ /yaforobama.ning.com / Or get info here first, from me. Well, sort of from me. Good ol' cut n paste from the website should answer better than I can, courtesy of the wonder woman writer who started the thing, Maureen Johnson :
YA for Obama is a community of YA writers and readers and friends who have joined together because of our commitment to Future United States President Barack Obama. We think he's the right person for the job. This is a social networking site, which means that when you join (it's free! easy! takes about a minute!) you can do LOADS of stuff around here. You can make your own page, contribute to the forum, upload your own photos and videos, and make friends who love Obama as much as you do. (Presuming you do. You probably do if you are here. Even if you do not, you are still welcome.) There's going to be LOADS of amazing stuff going on here. Pretty much every single day, there will be a new blog post from an author. (And we have some amazing authors, like Judy Blume, John Green, Scott Westerfeld , Meg Cabot, Megan McCafferty , Holly Black , Libba Bray . . . forget it. The list is too long to put here.) Come EVERY DAY. Because there are so many writers contributing, you're going to hear a LOT of different points of view. Some you may LOVE. Some you may not agree with. The idea is that there are a lot of ways of looking at issues. Lots of contexts. Lots of things to consider. One of the most important things on this site will be the content YOU create. We're looking to get people talking, and to figure out ways that we can ALL help Barack Obama become the next President. Even if you can't vote, there are plenty of things to be DONE! We all have to get out there and make this happen! Now let's answer some more detailed questions. WHAT IS YA? YA stands for Young Adult, specifically in the context of books and authors. All of the authors contributing blogs to this page are Young Adult authors. (Including me . Hi.) YA books are generally written for people between the ages of about 12-20-ish. Or something. YA readers actually come in all ages. Basically, what it means is that we all write novels with teenaged main characters. I AM NOT YOUNG. CAN I JOIN? Yes. EVERYONE is welcome. I AM NOT AN ADULT. CAN I JOIN? Yes. EVERYONE is welcome. I AM NOT AN AMERICAN. CAN I JOIN? Yes. EVERYONE is welcome. I DO NOT SUPPORT BARACK OBAMA. CAN I JOIN? Yes. EVERYONE is welcome. Just don't be surprised if you catch OBAMA FEVER while you are here. I AM A KIND OF SPONGE-CHEESE HYBRID THAT HAS DEVELOPED SENTIENCE. CAN I JOIN? You are especially encouraged to join. WHAT'S THE FIRST STEP? Click on that sign up link, just to the right. See it? Again, it's FREE and EASY. From there, you'll be guided through the steps. You can do as much or as little as you like. If you just want to sign up and read the articles, great! If you want to make a tricked-out personal page and make loads of friends, do it! WHAT ARE THE RULES OF THE FORUM? The forum rules are right here , but I can sum them up very quickly. Anyone can express any point of view. The only request is that you respect each other. If you start hating on someone in a really mean and aggressive way and I find out about it, I will toss you out on your e-butt. You know like The Claw in Toy Story ? How it comes down and plucks the toys up by the head and takes them to a new world? It will be JUST LIKE THAT. Be nice. Don't make me go all Claw on you. Otherwise, DO WHAT YOU LIKE. HOW LONG WILL THIS SITE BE AROUND? Until the election, baby. We are in it for the win. Back to Rachel Vail: Visit the YA for Obama site (http://yaforobama.ning.com/) often, and keep coming here for updates, too. I'll be blogging about my early attempts at political activism, and why I am obsessed this time around. Love, Rachel Vail PS Thanks for all the enthusiastic responses to Jibberwillies at Night!
Pub Day is upon us, so more on that soon, too. But first I have to take my two sick boys to the doctor so they can have Q-Tips shoved down their gag holes. The fun never stops around here!
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