The Best YA Books You Haven’t Read

Here it is, the spectacular January 21st project celebrating unsung YA books! Special thanks to Yannabe for this initiative. As per her suggestion, I’ve used my LibraryThing account to hone in on which books are underappreciated. The following are books that I gave a four or five star rating (and I rate tough), but that fewer than 500 folks own in LibraryThing.

1. I Know It’s Over by C.K. Kelly Martin – I honestly cannot believe that less than 100 people own this book on LibraryThing. This book may ring a bell with those who know me. That’s because, not only is it the best book about teenage pregnancy that I’ve ever read, but it’s one of the best YA books I’ve ever read, period. I’m a YA Librarian, and I recently ordered a copy of this book for my library. It hasn’t stayed on the shelf since it arrived.
2. Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan – This book is my newest literary obsession. If you want the short version, it’s a retelling of Snow White and Rose Red. But it also probes the deep question of whether living in the “real world” is worth all the pain that goes with it and doesn’t shy away from the violent, sexual, and bizarre undertones of fairy tales.  This book is not for the faint of heart, but the hope woven into the wretchedness offers enough relief to make the book not only bearable (no pun intended), but beautiful.
3. The Realm of Possibility by David Levithan – This book was the first, and remains the best, novel in verse I’ve ever read. It follows the interconnected stories of several high-school classmates, and I stayed up all night even though I had a migraine to finish it. That ought to say enough.
4. Behind the Attic Wall by Sylvia Cassidy – This is one of those YA books I actually read when I was an adolescent. I started it three times and was put off by the main character’s emotional disconnect and the grittiness of the writing. I finally finished it when I decided to read it aloud to my younger sister. Part ghost-story, part story about a girl finding connection again, don’t let the early-pages description of vomit put you off from finishing it.
5. The Secret Keeper by Mitali Perkins – An honest, heartbreaking look at sisterly devotion and first love, this book should be on far more bookshelves. I’m glad I have it on mine.
6. Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn – There was nary a girl in the 80s who didn’t stay up all night terrified by this book. It’s time for this ghost-story-of-all-ghost-stories to be enjoyed by a new generation.
7. Anna to the Infinite Power by Mildred Ames – OK, so probably very few folks own this book nowadays because it’s out of print. Which is a darn shame, because it somehow manages to seamlessly blend clones, futuristic computers (in the 90s!!), and the Holocaust for a whole lot of creepiness and thought provocation.
8. A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass – A sensitive look at adolescence, synesthesia, friendship, fitting in, and cat ownership. Especially the last one. Kitty lovers, be prepared to melt.
9. Catch by Will Leitch – If you’re like most females, you won’t love Tim and his lecherous nature when you first start reading this. By the time his heart is broken, he’s a lot more likeable. A first love story with a twist and a bit of scandal (an older woman), but not a bit trashy.
10. M or F? by Lisa Papademetriou and Chris Tebbets - A modern-day retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac with a gay and Internet-ty twist, this is both a fun and sweet read.

Other honorable mentions: Daphne’s Book by Mary Downing Hahn, All Alone in the Universe by Lynn Rae Perkins, Look for me by Moonlight by Mary Downing Hahn (Yes, there WAS vampire romance before Twilight), Winter of Fire by Sherryl Jordan, One Lonely Degree by C.K. Kelly Martin, and  Letters from the Inside by John Marsden.

You can read the uber-list compiled by Yannabe here.

What are you waiting for? Get thee to the teen section of your local library or bookstore now — and give these unsung books the love (and readership) they deserve.

Yannabe Super Secret Blog Project

Young adult literature enthusiast and blogger, Yannabe, is hosting a blogging event — post about the “five best YA books you’ve never read.” The purpose is to give some much needed kudos to the wealth of brilliant YA books out there that don’t get a lot of sensationalized hype like, um, some YA novels do (no need to name names). I can’t wait to post about my favorite underappreciated YA books this Thursday. If you have a blog and read YA literature, I urge you to do the same!

Vote for Meeee!

Preditors and Editors has their anthology readers poll up until January 14. If you don’t see your favoritest anthology on the list there, vote for mine: Queer Dimensions!

And while we’re on the subject, QD is currently taking submissions for Queer Light, an anthology of stories featuring queer angels. Does this guy have a direct link to my stories folder or what? (Actually, my angel isn’t necessarily queer, but my angel novel does have gently queer undertones.)

Writing Resolutions!

A New Year is here once more, which brings new writing resolutions. This year’s goal is modest, but one I think will sufficiently challenge and satisfy me. I want to have my YA novel polished enough for submission by this time next year. I’m almost done with the second draft, and the third draft will be much, much less messy. Although it’s a novel, it’s short enough that doing a whole ‘nother revision by next year isn’t totally daunting.

Bonus resolution: to write at least two short stories. Finishing “Closeted,” the one I’m currently working on, counts.

What are your New Year’s writing resolutions?

Snowstorms = reading time and musings on short stories

Despite waiting on the edge of my seat for it, I failed to announce its arrival here as I’d intended. While I was gone in Europe last month, my contributor copy of Queer Dimensions finally arrived. It wasn’t until I had it in my hands (without paying for it) that I truly could accept it: yes, this is my short story in a real book.

A snowstorm kept me stranded at my parents’ place from Christmas Eve day until this morning (quite happily, I might add, except for missing my kitties, who I’d made provisions for before leaving). Rather than visiting relatives on Christmas Day like we usually do, we hung around the house being lazy and eating sweets and leftover Christmas ham. And I finally got the chance to start reading Queer Dimensions.

I told myself I wouldn’t allow myself to read the printed version of my story until I got to it by reading through all the stories before it, so that I could experience it “in context.” I felt quite apprehensive about starting this collection, knowing that the quality of the work would directly reflect on the quality of my own submission. I’m a little dismayed by the editorial errors in the book (missing words or punctuation here and there, errors any way you slice them, in addition to some stylistic choices that are different from those I would have made). This seems to be a fairly common drawback of small-press publishing, in which editorial resources are limited (usually to the owner of the press). However, I’ve been impressed by the quality of the short stories themselves — so many different ways to approach both queer fiction and science fiction, with strong, talented voices and characters and images that linger in my mind. When it comes to the quality of the writing, I feel quite honored to be included amongst these pieces.

It’s also served as an interesting addition to my quest to better understand the short story genre. Each story seems to contain a little “aha!” moment for me — ah, so that makes a short story! And what do you know, so does that? I’m still so enmeshed in the novel genre that I think my own short stories arrange themselves a bit like “mini novels,” with a string of events building up to bigger events before the resolution. One thing I’m continually in awe of is the fact that, in a short story, only one thing really needs to happen — one moment to justify the existence of all the other words in the story. I’m still working on understanding these moments, on knowing exactly when I have one, and how to encase it within the rest of the story. It’s a new challenge to my writing practice, and a refreshing change in my reading one. It’s a journey that I’m enjoying very much indeed.

Novel, I Believe in You

This email from Chris Baty, founder of NaNoWriMo, was so cute that I just had to share:

Dear Writer,

I ran into your 2009 NaNoWriMo novel yesterday, and it said that you two are currently “taking a break.” I offered my condolences and mentioned that I’d probably be seeing you today. It quickly scribbled out a note for me to give you. The note seemed kind of personal, so I didn’t read it. Here it is!

“Hi! Come back to me. I’ll be better this time, I promise!”

Okay, so I accidentally read it. Wowza! That book loves you! And this is really none of my business, but if it were my business, I would tell you that you’ve been smart to let things cool down this month. November was a wild, tumultuous time, filled with expectations and hopes—some met, others unfulfilled. Before any of us had a chance to work out exactly where things stood with our books, the clock ran out and we were swept back into the flow of our busy lives. Our books, meanwhile, have been working themselves into a funk over their plummeting standing on our “recently accessed documents” list.

No pressure, though! You’ve got a lot on your plate right now, and you can’t be expected to drop everything and rush back into the arms of some moony novel you just met last month.

I would, however, love to see you guys get back together in January.

Again, this is none of my business, and I’m really not one to talk. Every November, I happily abandon the long-suffering novel I’ve been rewriting for years to chase after a new book. Always with the secret hope that I’m going to write the Great Effortless Novel—that fairytale book where the stars finally align and everything comes out mostly right on the first go-round, and I don’t have to work so much to make things right.

After 11 NaNoWriMo’s, I have yet to meet that fairytale novel. I’ve met some great, potential-filled books that I’ve loved and learned a ton from. But “the One” still hasn’t shown up.

This is a good thing.

Because if our novels tumbled from our imaginations in tidy, ready-for-the-bookstores packages, we would be denied one of the greatest pleasures and challenges on the planet: Novel revision. Through rewriting, we get the opportunity to take the best parts of our books and build a truly awesome story around them. In doing so, we also get to improve our shortcomings as writers, and take November’s sparky fling and turn it into something fiery and enduring.

So here’s my proposal. What if we pick one of the promising stories we’ve started and set aside, and then spend 2010 finishing it up and making it great?

Yes? Yes! And in case you’d like a public place to renew your vows, I’ve started a thread in the NaNo forums:

http://www.nanowrimo.org/node/3476157

Come by and let us know about the book you’ll be revising: How you met, what you love about it, and what’s currently not working. And, most importantly, let us know where the two of you will be by the time NaNoWriMo rolls around again in 2010. Second chapter? Second draft? Book tour?

Then please drop in periodically and tell us how it’s going! The rest of us will serve as cheerleaders and couples counselors as you navigate the next step with your manuscript. (If you need us to serve as divorce attorneys, we can’t talk about that in the springtime.)

Let’s give it a shot. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

And like your book said: It’ll be better this time. Much better.

Wishing you a restful holiday and an adventure-filled new decade,

Chris
NaNoWriMo

Although I’m not doing so at the NaNo forums, I am ready to renew my vows. Yes, “Wings,” “Covenant With an Angel,” “Ever This Day,” or whatever the heck your name is, I believe in you! Someday, you will be the novel you were always meant to be.

My Solstice Resolution

I’m making my resolution a little early this year, because I’m in need of discipline. New Year’s resolutions, like many holiday traditions, can be traced back to early Solstice celebrations, which were a time to “plant the seeds” of intention for future fruit. I’m usually very good at keeping New Year’s resolutions. Let’s see if I’m as good at keeping Solstice ones.

My resolution: if I am at home, I shall not go to bed without having written something.

Several months ago, I wrote about how pets and writing complimented one another nicely. I failed to factor in the “adjustment period,” which I’m still undergoing with my new, canine addition to the family, Syrus (I’m also suddenly and acutely aware that I’m outnumbered by critters three to one). This is my latest excuse for lack of writing, but now I proclaim, no more!!

I have four “serious” writing projects on the go right now: my YA novel revisions, a short story, this blog, and a personal blog about my transition to a rural home. I cannot keep up with three-ish jobs and three-ish pets and all four writing projects. However, working on one a day shouldn’t be too much to ask.

This post counts, of course, so I’ve already got Day 1 covered.

Confession: Good for the Soul

Growing up Catholic, I certainly learned the value of a good confession. I’m invoking that power right now.

My confession is this: I haven’t written in over a month.

• Not a single blog post (I keep three blogs and contribute to two others)
• Not a single scene on my novel, or my short story
• Not a single entry in my dream journal

I’ve written a handful of Facebook status updates. A couple emails that were not work related. A few book reviews.  Some critiques. A few notes jotted in my paper journal. All together? It adds up to not enough writing. Not at all.

For me, routine is key to writing well. And stability and predictability are key to routine. I need to stop instigating transitions and adding new things to my life, or else.

Or else, I’ll no longer be truthful when I refer to myself as a writer.

A few entries ago, I posted a poll about why we write, and was surprised that the majority of respondents responded the same way I did: that they write because they feel crappy when they don’t.

I don’t have more time today than I did on all those other days when I wasn’t writing. I just finally got to the “breaking point” I always reach when too much time goes by without putting real words to paper (or, more often, screen). Here’s to breaking bad patterns. Here’s to no longer feeling crappy.

Happy Anniversary, LL Word

Well, today is the exact one-year anniversary of this blog; I began it on November 3, 2008. At that time, I was only a few days into my life as a full-time freelancer, full of questions and fear and enthusiasm. That first month, I definitely bit off a little more than I could chew — working far more than 40 hrs a week for my two main clients at the time, participating in NaNoWriMo (a year later, I’m still untangling the messiest first draft I’ve ever written!), updating this blog daily, and running around to conferences and election events. My life has definitely balanced out quite a bit since then. I’m always busy, but my life no longer has that “working-all-the-time” feeling. This is a very, very good thing.

I started freelancing last year with two clients: my previous employer, New Moon Girl Media, and a self-publisher. On my first day as a freelancer, the self-publisher I worked with dropped the rates they paid their freelancers by 25%. Yikes! It sent me into a minor panic, which also motivated me to find more reliable clients (in true worry-wart fashion, I’d worked for the self-publisher for four months at decent rates before I made the decision to transition to a full-time freelance lifestyle, only to have that security shaken within the first day “on the job”!)

The lowered rates, along with an increasingly unreliable payment schedule, urged me to drop that client as soon as I had more reliable work, although I enjoyed the work very, very much (in case you’re wondering, I’m not naming them because for the most part, I feel like, if you can’t say something nice on the Internet, be vague — or privacy protect your entries). In January, I started working for Scribendi, which I’ve loved. The work is varied and steady, the pay schedule is regular and reliable, and overall, they maintain their business with the utmost professionalism.  I also wrote a handful of articles for Demand Studios when things with my other cients slowed down and pursued my  publication goals, which resulted in . . .

• A sell to the Unsent Letters anthology, forthcoming (and my only work published under a pen name)
• A sell to Queer Dimensions of my short story, “The Man in the Mirror”
• Acceptance of my essay “Where I First Met God” by Unruly Catholic Women Writers II and a so-far unnamed anthology about lesbianism and Catholicism
• Publication of my article, Spiritual and Virtual, in ChurchWatch
• Initial interest in an article on head-hopping by Writers’ Journal

I also received a few rejections, but surprisingly, fewer than my acceptances. They still sting. But I’ve learned a lot about the value of submitting something a market wants, when they want it. A lot of my acceptances came from writing something new specific to the call for submissions, rather than digging through my repertoire for something that might fit. I’m still pursuing “my own things” with hopes that the markets will come later, but this has been an invaluable way to actually build up my list of publishing credits.

Although frightened by the “insecurity” of full-time freelancing, I resolved when I began not to jump ship too quickly, to try to give it at least a year before pursuing more “traditional” employment in any concerted manner. I did apply to one full-time position during that year because the opportunity was too good to pass up; I made it into the “final round” but didn’t get an interview. Last night, on the eve of my one-year anniversary, I was offered more “traditional” employment once more, and I accepted. My orientation starts tomorrow for a part-time teen librarian position.

I’m excited about a lot of things — the chance to work in a library!, another source of steady income, enough time and flexibility to continue doing freelance work. I’m nervous about a few things, like not being able to work in my jammies, having to drive in Minnesota winters again, and finding a way to balance it all. The position is temporary, through January, so I’m going to keep everything on my plate until then, and reasses as necessary when January rolls around.

I’ve also reflected a bit on what role I want LL Word to play in my future. I started this blog as something of an experiment, to see whether I could find enough to say about writing-related topics to update it three times a week (preferably every weekday, however), to keep me accountable to my goals, to chronicle this scary adventure I was undertaking, and to give me a home on the web to refer potential clients to. I’ve very much enjoyed the conversations with my regular readers, and have been pleasantly surprised by the occasional lurker who comes out of the woodwork.

As for LL Word’s future: I plan to continue blogging here, although I expect to be a little less “hardcore” about it in its second year. I love blogging, but at least in these next few months as I adjust to my new job, something may have to give. I don’t want that to be my other clients or my novel — or my relationships. So, please keep your bookmarks active, as I’ll continue to be around. I’m just not going to let myself wallow in guilt if it goes unupdated for a stretch here and there (a note about me: my work personality type is “finisher,” which means I hold myself pretty tyranically to self-set goals, even without any “outside” motivating factor like money or publication. Usually, this pays off. Sometimes, it just wears me out).

Speaking of unupdated stretches, you can expect things to be pretty quiet around here during my upcoming European adventure (November 9 – 25), but I invite you to check out my friend Jenn’s chronicle of her NaNoWriMo-ing adeventures over at CoveredInInk. Bonus: her posts sometimes include pictures of her kitty!

My Halloween Costume

As promised, here is a photo of me in my Halloween costume — I went as Little Red Riding Hood, one of my favorite figures in Fairy Tale lore. Although I’ve loved fairy tales since forever, this is the first time I’ve actually dressed as a Fairy Tale character. I’m already thinking of ways I’d like to improve the costume next year. Maybe I’ll go as Fairy Tale characters every year.

This has me remembering that I submitted a personal essay, “Why I Hated Little Red Riding Hood,” to the Fairy Tale Review’s Red Issue back in the spring.  The submission guidelines said notification would come by August 15, but they also said the issue would be out in Fall of 2010, which it isn’t. Apparently they received over 2,000 submissions — I must not be the only one who loves Little Red Riding Hood! (Yup, I love her now. I hated her as a kid.)