Hot Topic Tuesday- You’re Stressing Me Out - A Guest Post by Eileen Cook

I think anyone who tells you that high school will be the best years of your life is nuts, and possibly should be smacked around until he or she sees reason.  I spent most of high school stressed out.  I worried a lot.  I worried about how I was doing in school. I worried about my friends. I worried that the wrong guy liked me and that the right guy didn’t seem to know I was alive. I worried about getting into college and what would happen after college. I worried about my parents finding out where that strange dent in the car came from and ending up grounded until I was 35.  I worried about what other people thought of me, and I worried that I worried too much.

Anxiety isn’t always a bad thing. Anxiety is a normal response to stress and being a teen is the very definition of stressful. However, the National Institute of Mental Health reports that 25% of teens have difficulties with anxiety.  Signs of anxiety vary from person to person, some people can’t eat at all, and another goes on Oreo binges. One person lashes out with anger, and another is quiet but practically makes a four-course meal out of their fingernails. Some people find they sleep all the time. I was the opposite. I had perfected the art of lying in bed late at night staring up at my ceiling and imagining each possible awful that might happen. I had a very good imagination. It’s not surprising I became a writer.

It seems things have become even more stressful. There’s huge pressure to make sure you’re involved in all the right clubs/teams/volunteer work or you won’t get into the right college and then before you know you’ll be a washed up has been, pushing a grocery cart around, collecting empty cans for a living. There’s the stress of trying to figure out who you are and what you want out of life.  There’s stress that comes from other people’s expectations about everything from how you cut your hair, to your sexuality to what you like to read.

So if stress can’t be avoided, how do you cope? I’ve decided one of the biggest accomplishments in our life is figuring out what makes us happy and then taking time to do those things. There’s a quote that says: “The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness.  You have to catch it yourself.”  I realized somewhere along the way that I couldn’t worry about what other people wanted or expected, that there was plenty to worry about just trying to figure out what I wanted.

I vote that everyone does one thing today that reduces his or her stress. Walk the dog, take a nap in the sunshine, read a book, bake cookies, or simply sit and enjoy the moment.  If you spend your whole life worrying that you don’t have any energy left over to enjoy the good things.  From now on I’m leaving the imagining the worst case scenario for my books and spending the rest of my efforts catching happiness.

Curious to hear from people- do you think teens are more stressed than ever before and what do you do to keep your stress down?

Eileen Cook is a multi-published author with her novels appearing in six different languages. She spent most of her teen years wishing she were someone else or somewhere else, which is great training for a writer.  Her latest YA release, The Education of Hailey Kendrick came out in Jan 2011

You can read more about Eileen, her books, and the things that strike her as funny at www.eileencook.com.  Eileen lives in Vancouver with her husband and two dogs and no longer wishes to be anyone or anywhere else.

Hot Topic Tuesday: Favorite Fast Food

I know, I know, fast food isn't good for you. But let's face it, teens eat it! And so do I, from time to time. I mean sometimes, you just HAVE to have those Sonic tater tots, you know?

My oldest son just tried the new hand-breaded chicken sandwich from Carl's Jr. and he said it was the best chicken sandwich he's ever had! Yeah, he loved it with a capital L.

So tell us, dear readers, when you get a hankering (do people still say hankering anymore? I sort of love that word, hankering) for something not-so-good-for you, what do you want? What sounds good at 11:00 at night when the munchies hit and nothing in the cupboard sounds good?

Or are you one of the good ones who avoids fast food at all cost? If so, send me a little of your will power please!

HOT TOPIC TUESDAY: INTERNET SAFETY

The Internet is essential part of all our lives, ever more so for teenagers who have grown up never knowing life without it than for old fogies like me who can actually remember a time when there WAS NO INTERNETZ!



And we’re not just accessing the web from our home computers. Kids can get online while on the go from smartphones, tablets, and even in a limited way from some e-readers.

While all of this creates a wealth of wonderful possibilities for learning and education, there is a dark side. And unfortunately, this one doesn’t have cookies.



According to a Harris Interactive-McAfee study conducted in Oct 08, 52% of teens have given out personal information online to someone they don't know offline including personal photos and/or physical descriptions of themselves. Double the number of teen girls have shared photos or physical descriptions of themselves online as boys. (34 percent girls vs. 15 percent boys)

Sexting is also becoming a widespread problem amongst teenagers. Well, not just teenagers - even some allegedly bright Congressmen can show an astonishing lack of judgment, and what's crazy is that a teenager who forwards a sext of another teen would face harsher punishment than Congressman Anthony Weiner. Why? Because a teen who sends or receives a picture of a naked underage teenager is distributing child pornography. That teen could end up with not just a criminal record but the requirement that they register as a sex offender. Scary, scary stuff.

Here are some startling statistics about Sexting from a 2009 MTV/AP Research Study for A THIN LINE.org

3 in 10 young people report having been involved in some type of naked sexting

1 in 10 has shared a naked image of themselves

Females are slightly more likely to have shared a naked photo or video of themselves (13%) than males (9%)

Those who have shared a naked photo or video mostly report that they initially sent the photo to a significant other or romantic interest. However, 29% of those who have sent sexts report sending them to people they only know online and have never met in person. 24% sent sexts to people they wanted to date or hook up with.

61% of those who have sent a naked photo or video of themselves have been pressured by someone else to do so at least once.

Bearing in mind that all schools these days include Internet Safety in the curriculum and most parents have reiterated the message at home, how come kids are still experiencing such a disconnect between what they're hearing and their behavior online?
It was this question, inspired by hearing a true life story about a girl who'd left with an Internet predator and her reaction when apprehended by police, told to me by an FBI agent who came to talk at my son's school, that inspired my new novel, WANT TO GO PRIVATE?

I've created two informational websites around the book. WANTTOGOPRIVATE.COM for parents, teachers and librarians and CHEZTEEN.COM for teens. Both will have a comprehensive curriculum/discussion guide that can be downloaded in PDF form later this week.

Hot Topic Tuesday: Real? Or Imaginary?

Here at The Contemps, we're all about keeping it real, as you know. We believe that real fiction helps readers through real ups and downs in life. 

But what of that nebulous class of fiction known as "magical realism?" I'll admit, though I had a sense of the type of story that fell into that category, I didn't have a working definition of the term. My good friend Wikipedia tells me:  "magical realism in literature has been defined as a kind of modern fiction in which fabulous and fantastical events are included in a narrative that otherwise maintains the 'reliable' tone of objective realistic report." (See? Realistic! That's the magic -- no pun intended -- word!) Magical occurrences in these stories are presented by the narrator as ordinary occurrences; the reader, therefore, accepts the marvelous as normal and common. 

But why am I babbling about this today? Because today, one of my very favorite magical-realism-tinged contemp novels, Nova Ren Suma's IMAGINARY GIRLS, releases! Woo hoo! Happy release day, Nova! 

Chloe's older sister, Ruby, is the girl everyone looks to and longs for, who can't be captured or caged. When a night with Ruby's friends goes horribly wrong and Chloe discovers the dead body of her classmate London Hayes left floating in the reservoir, Chloe is sent away from town and away from Ruby.

But Ruby will do anything to get her sister back, and when Chloe returns to town two years later, deadly surprises await. As Chloe flirts with the truth that Ruby has hidden deeply away, the fragile line between life and death is redrawn by the complex bonds of sisterhood.

With palpable drama and delicious craft, Nova Ren Suma bursts onto the YA scene with the story that everyone will be talking about.

“A sexy, surreal, and touching exploration of the outer limits of sisterly love’s power.… This glittering puzzle box of a story about the exertion of one girl’s will over life and death is as moving as it is creepy.”—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

If that cover, that description, or that love letter of a review haven't piqued your curiosity, how about the book trailer? 

So what do you say, readers? If you've been lucky enough to snag an early copy of IMAGINARY GIRLS, did it strike you as contemp, supernatural, or somewhere in between? If you've read magical realism, what struck you as the differences between that genre, and proper fantasy or paranormal? In what ways does magical realism enhance reality even as it deviates from it? Inquiring minds want to know!

And in the meantime, join me in celebrating Nova's spectacular release!

Hot Topic Tuesday - Cell Phones

Tomorrow we're going to be spotlighting Micol Ostow's latest release, WHAT WOULD MY CELL PHONE DO (SPEAK, June 9, 2011). YAY! In this book, the main character, Aggie, has recently moved to Alaska, and then she loses her cell phone. She feels like she's lost her lifeline to civilization.

Lately there's been a lot of talk in the news about this article - they're saying cell phone usage could increase your chances for brain cancer.

Cell phones are now a huge part of many people's lives. Fifteen years ago, this wasn't the case. The long-term affects can't really be measured, because they haven't been around long enough. Doctors say youth are most at risk, because their brains are still developing, their skulls are thinner, and their lifetime exposure will be much greater than the exposure of current adults.

Does the possibility of cancer change how you feel about your phone? Do you see yourself using it less? Apparently they aren't concerned about texting or using hand-free devices. It's the talking they are concerned about (and I think it's probably a lot of talking on a daily basis).

I'm curious, too, if suddenly, the medical community said, it's in our best interest to get rid of cell phones, how would you react? Could you do it? Could you live without your cell phone?

Hot Topic Tuesday: Sisters in YA

I don’t know why, but I’m drawn to sister stories. I didn’t grow up with sisters, but that relationship has always intrigued me. With many of the sisters I know in real life, I see not only a bond that lasts well into their adult lives, but also a kind of competitiveness. Maybe competitiveness is not the right word—all people are not competitive by nature, after all, but I guess to me it seems like a sister is a measuring stick of sorts. For your whole life you will hold yourself mentally against that gauge to see how you measure up.

Is this true, or something I just made up? Because sometimes I do stuff like that. Like I said, I didn’t grow up with sisters, so this is all just speculation. But I love to spend time thinking about it, as I think the sisterly relationship is so incredibly complex and interesting.

I’ve just been reading BETWEEN HERE AND FOREVER, Elizabeth Scott’s new novel which releases today and we will be highlighting here tomorrow. I love this story. It is about two sisters, and through the book, the older “perfect” sister is in a coma. So it’s like the measuring stick is still there, but in a way it’s not. The main character, "second-best" Abby, spends much of her time fighting through her hatred for the measuring stick, but at the same time, recognizing her need for it.

It's such a compelling novel with deep, complex, emotional sister problems. Plus: there's an amazing boy. I'll I have to leave that for another blog post but, you know, just sayin'. 

There are so many stories, including my own, where I can see sisters measuring themselves against each other. Because I’ve never had a sister, I’d love to hear from you. Did you measure yourself against your sister growing up? Do you still?

And finally, what are some of your favorite novels that highlight sisterly relationships?

Hot Topic Tuesday: Car Talk

People who know me will laugh when they see this topic, because I suffer from some sort of car curse. It’s sort of my own fault. I need to sell my car. My Jetta spent nearly two months in the shop this year because it began growing a dangerous mold after a botched factory recall of the sunroof drain plugs (don’t ever buy a Volkswagen with a sunroof). During that time, the dealership gave me a courtesy rental car. But only for two-day time chunks. Which meant I drove a lot of cars. For some reason, driving such a grand variety of cars got me thinking about my high school wheels. Get ready. Here it comes. 

In high school, I drove a propane-powered El Camino. I mean, the propane tank just sat there, larger than life, in the bed of the car. Some people assumed that it was some sort of speed demon vehicle and that the propane tank contained super-powerful fuel. Not so. But it led to countless men challenging me to race them at red lights. Which led to countless male-driven pickup trucks squealing away from me when the light turned green.

The funny thing about my propane-powered El Camino is that I can’t ever remember being embarrassed by it. I drove the crap out of that pig. I schlepped people around in it. Picked up groceries for my mom. Went on dates to the drive-in. Beep! Beep! I loved my El Camino. (After I took beginning Spanish and learned that it meant ‘The Road’ I liked it even more.)  I guess I knew that it was funny looking, but I never felt like I was my car. I was a person. My car was just the thing I drove. But I might be in the minority here.  What do you think? Does your high school car define you? Maybe mine defined me and I wasn’t self-aware enough to realize it. Of course I was aware of the limitations. No backseat. Constant smell of chemical odorant mercaptan.  Couldn’t go grocery shopping in the rain. Could only gas it at Petrolane Stores and had to exit the vehicle and stand behind the safe yellow line until all valves were resealed and secured. (Sometimes I’d get a rebel gas attendant who’d let me stay in the vehicle during the fueling process. Then, I took it as a flirtatious gesture. Now, I’d see that as flammable laziness.)

So there’s the story of my high school wheels. What do you or did you drive? And what do you think it says about you?

Hot Topic Tuesday: When to Say When?

This week, we're spotlighting Emily Wing Smith's Back When You Were Easier to Love! 
Emily and I were in the same MFA program, and she was even in my very first workshop, so I've been a fan since before her first contract. 


What's worse than getting dumped? Not even knowing if you've been dumped. Joy got no goodbye, and certainly no explanation when Zan - the love of her life and the only good thing about stifling, backward Haven, Utah - unceremoniously and unexpectedly left for college a year early. Joy needs closure almost as much as she needs Zan, so she heads for California, and Zan, riding shotgun beside Zan's former-best-friend Noah.



Without giving any plot away, let's talk about Joy's cross-country quest for Closure. Haven't we all been in a relationship that ended against our own preferences? 


(No? Just me? Come on, people - I know you're holding out!)


Speaking personally, I can recall one relationship in particular that I was reluctant to let go of. Maybe more reluctant than I should have been: my ex was a shameless flirt, constantly getting caught cheating when we weren't out together. Unfortunately, I was too hooked to kick him to the curb, like I should of. I stuck around...and in the end, he broke up with me!


Unlike Joy, I got my Closure...for better or for worse. But in a crappy situation like the one I was in - why bother? Does Closure really make a crappy situation better? In my case, methinks not. 


But let's hear from YOU - can you think of a time when you've held on or held out - when Closure has become this all-encompassing thing? Have you ever had a problem knowing when to say when? 

Hot Topic Tuesday: Morbid Curiosity and Micol Ostow's FAMILY

Micol Ostow's latest book, Family (out today!), is loosely based on the Manson Family murders of the late 1960s. The official description:

It is a day like any other when seventeen-year-old Melinda Jensen hits the road for San Francisco, leaving behind her fractured home life and a constant assault on her self-esteem. Henry is the handsome, charismatic man who comes upon her, collapsed on a park bench, and offers love, a bright new consciousness, and—best of all—a family. One that will embrace her and give her love. Because family is what Mel has never really had. And this new family, Henry’s family, shares everything. They share the chores, their bodies, and their beliefs. And if Mel truly wants to belong, she will share in everything they do. No matter what the family does, or how far they go.

Told in episodic verse, family is an unflinching look at people who are born broken, and the lengths they’ll go to to make themselves “whole” again.

Shall we take a peek at what people are saying about this book? Let's!

♺ "Dark, mesmerizing and hazy." - Publisher's Weekly

♺ "Terrifyingly Good... And incredibly terrifying." - NY Times best-selling author LAUREN MYRACLE

♺ "Ostow's Henry is fascinating, a pied pieper hell-bent on reaching the masses, whether through love or terror. The subject alone should make this popular." -Booklist

♺ "Equal parts haunting and horrifying, FAMILY is overflowing with a sad beauty. Utterly mesmerizing from first page to last." - MICHELLE ZINK, author of the Prophecy of the Sisters Trilogy

Words like "haunting, terrifying, horrifying" go hand in hand, somehow, with "fascinating" and "mesmerizing" for these reviewers. And isn't that how the world views unspeakable events and gruesome crimes? They're so awful that we almost can't look away.

Take a look at that blood-splashed cover, and watch the trailer (below). Why do dark stories have such power to draw us in? 

I'm not sure, and scary movies still leave me sleep-deprived, but I'll be reading Family this weekend, that's for sure.

Hot Topic Tuesday: Dream Squishers, Backup Plans, and Other Things That Ruin Your Life

When I Grow Up...

I've wanted to be a writer since I first learned how to read, but the only reason I'm an author today is that four years ago, after I came home crying from a hellish workday and my MBA night class, my husband looked me in the eyes and said, in his gentle but no-B.S.-allowed way:

"You're a writer. And even though I know you'll kick ass in your MBA program and any career you follow, you're still a writer. You keep trying to run away from it, but you won't be truly happy unless you put your energy and time into finishing your book."

Well, duh. Sounds pretty simple, but after listening for decades to teachers, guidance counselors, parents, friends, and society about the importance of following "the right career path," I was pretty brainwashed. My husband's words were a mega wakeup call. I dropped out of grad school and devoted the next few months to finishing my neglected writing project, a.k.a. Twenty Boy Summer. A few months later, I sold the book, and long story short... now I get to write stories for teens every single day and work from home in my PJs. :-)

But this post isn't about my awesome husband who encouraged me to follow my dream. It's about the people who encouraged me not to -- people that many teens have or will encounter as they start thinking about their own dreams, career and otherwise.

Congratulations! Your Career Match is...

All through junior high and high school, whenever I took a "life assessment" -- those Cosmo-quiz like assignments they handed out on career day that were supposed to determine your ideal career based on whether you liked people or traveling or cooking or watching grass grow -- my answer was always the same: commercial artist or writer. Which was super cool, because back then, not only did I write reams of horrible poetry and pointless short stories loosely based on my own life, I drew all the time, too. I did at-home research projects for fun on Disney, Hanna-Barbera, and the history of animation, and I secretly imagined myself drawing cartoons for Disney Studios. A creative life that blended my inherent passion for art with my supposed career-day-approved skill set? Sounds like a match, right?

That's Nice, Dear. But What About...

Apparently, not everyone in my life thought a creative career was a good plan. In fact, whenever I'd start talking about the possibility of pursuing writing or art for a living, people would respond with things like:

• Writers and artists don't make any money.
• You should really have a backup plan, just in case it doesn't work out.
• Be serious. Writing and drawing are a hobbies, not careers.
• Don't you want to be like [insert name of wealthy, "successful" relative who is not an artist or writer]?

Fast forward fifteen to twenty years. Despite the fact that I'd shoved my creative urges into the closet and taken a very "traditional" career path that landed me in a job eerily similar to the movie Office Space, I still managed to write and sell a YA novel. How? Well, like my husband said, dreams have a way of catching up to you, no matter how hard -- and for how long -- you try to outrun them. But even after I'd done it -- followed and achieved my life's dream -- people still responded to the news with things like:

• You probably won't make any real money writing, so you'd better not quit your day job.
• Nobody reads anymore, so you can't make a serious career out of writing books.
• Why don't you finish your MBA and just "do your writing" on the side?
• I realize [insert name of wealthy, "successful" relative who is not an artist or writer] is now divorced because he spent his whole life working and neglecting his family, and now he never gets to see his grown kids, but at least he has a nice house and a lot of money.

It was the exact same naysaying rhetoric I'd heard as a teen, and now it was coming from all angles: family, friends, and even total strangers! And despite the fact that I now write full time, get paid to do what I love, and yes, sell books to people who supposedly don't read (magic, right?), I still hear some variation on the "why don't you do X instead" theme all the time. I'm not kidding.

Why Do People Hate On Dreams?

I think part of it is that some people -- even well-meaning people who love us and truly believe they have our best interests at heart -- can get so stuck in their own modes that they can't imagine a life where someone makes different (i.e., non-traditional) choices, and makes those choices work. And instead of asking questions and learning about it, or just being encouraging and supportive, or just plain STFU-ing, they become dream squishers. They try to talk us out of it, or put down the successes we've already earned (and by "successes," I mean whatever goals or achievements we set for ourselves, which often have nothing to do with money or promotions or levels or anything like that). They insist we need backup plans, because that's what they were taught. Because that's the smart, logical, successful thing to do.

But you know what I say about that?

Screw Backup Plans!

When it comes to following your dreams, screw backup plans. If you love something, and you want to spend your life pursuing it, then you must. No matter what other people say or think. If it's in your heart to do it, you have to find a way to make it happen. Don't "plan B" your dreams! And don't let other people tell you how something is or how it will be (even me, with this blog post). Find out for yourself by exploring, trying, learning, asking questions, venturing, tasting, experiencing, and maybe even screwing up a few times. When you let other people talk you out of something you haven't even tried yet, you let them eliminate your options and make your choices for you.

And when you do that, the rest of us lose out, because we don't get to experience the unique, special gifts you have to offer, whether those gifts involve writing, drawing, medicine, acting, inventing things, flying planes, designing buildings, raising children, starting a business, running for president, dancing, singing, making cupcakes, growing crops, playing football, painting houses, teaching someone to read, or any of the gazillion other things people dream about.

And that's just not cool!

Your Turn!

What about you? Have you encountered dream squishers (even well-meaning ones)? Do you have a backup plan (or feel like you should have one) for your dream? Have you ever made a choice about your education, career, or other important decision based on someone else's "warning" that your plan might not work out? Tell us about it in the comments!

Hot Topic Tuesday: Readergirlz & Figment Rock the Drop!

As readers and writers, there are few topics as "hot" - that is, dear to our hearts - as literacy. That's why we're totally down with YALSA's annual Support Teen Lit Day initiative, which is happening THIS THURSDAY!

In celebration, our friends the readergirlz (of which Melissa and I are members, FYI for full disclosure) are teaming up with figment.com to Rock the Drop.

How can you get involved?
Funny you should ask...
It's so easy!

* Snag the banner at the head of this post, created by the uber-talented David Ostow (yes, my baby bro, who blogs hilarious cartoons here), and add it to your website, linking back to this post to share the love, and proclaiming that you will indeed ROCK THE DROP next week!

* Print a copy of the bookplate above and insert it into a book (or 10!) that you'll drop on April 14th. Drop a book in a public spot (park bench, bus seat, restaurant counter?) and you’re done. Lucky finders will see that the book is part of ROCK THE DROP!

* Snap a photo of your drop and email readergirlz AT gmail DOT com with the pic -- we'll be posting lots of pictures of drops happening all over the world, and our friends at Figment will also be featuring the event!

Fun, right? Here's a little vid my hubs made of me rocking the drop with Ms. Bridget Jones for last year's event. 

One last very important point - the winner (as deemed by the rgz divas) of the most creative drop pic wins a COMPLETE SET OF RUBY OLIVER BOOKS by the inimitable E. Lockhart. 

Spread the word - and get set to Rock the Drop with us! 

HOT TOPIC TUESDAY: Alcohol Awareness Month

My kids sometimes joke about me being a "wino" because I like a glass of Malbec with dinner. This changes to a "beer-o" if I have a beer with my chili.

The irony is that as an adult, I drink wine and beer mainly as a compliment to food. But as a teenager, it, as Monty Python would say, Something Completely Different.

As a teen, I had little appreciation for the exquisite marriage of fine wine with gourmet cuisine. Nah, back then, it was all about the buzz. Thankfully, I never resorted to drinking Thunderbird or Mad Dog 20/20, but some Ernest and Julio Gallo Hearty Burgundy might have been consumed.

The probably was, as with many teenagers, moderation wasn't in my vocabulary. Drinking back then was in binges, often with unpleasant results.

I'm not alone in this. According to the Surgeon General: Adolescents Drink Less Frequently Than Adults, But When They Do Drink, They Drink More Heavily Than Adults.

Not only that, teens use alcohol more frequently than they do all other illicit drugs combined, according to the 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Rates of current alcohol use in the survey were 3.5% among children aged 12 and 13, 13.0% among 14- and 15-year-olds, and 26.3 % among 16- and 17-year-olds. More than one million adolescents needed treatment for an alcohol use problem, although the vast majority did not receive it.

The worrying thing about alcohol use among younger teens is that, according to the Surgeon General, teens who report drinking before the age of 15 are more likely
to have other substance abuse problems during adolescence than those who start later; to engage in risky sexual behavior; and to be involved in car crashes, unintentional injuries, and physical fights after drinking, both during adolescence and in
adulthood.


(photo: Greenwich Time)


The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence has declared April Alcohol Awareness Month, in recognition of alcohol's pervasive influence among adolescents, adults, and families.

Did/Does alcohol pay a role in your high school experience?

Hot Topic Tuesday: Rituals

I've been thinking about rituals. No, not the spooky witchcraft kind (though they do make good reading). But those everyday traditions almost all of us have.

I think most writers have rituals. For example, I drink chai tea whenever I write. (Well, if I’m “on” coffee, it’s a vanilla soy latte.) If I’m writing at home, I brew it in my apple-red teakettle. I also have a playlist for every book. Launching Rhapsody, pressing play, and listening to the opening notes of the first song is a ritual that plants me straight in my story universe.

Many people have rituals before they go to school or work. Every morning, I read Metafilter over breakfast – almost always, Peanut Butter Puffins – check my email, Facebook and Twitter, then start writing. I’ll bet a lot of you have that particular breakfast or hot beverage, that specific radio station, that sequence of websites to check before you get going.

There are shower rituals: the products we use in the order we use them. Bedtime rituals. Meal rituals, exercise rituals, date rituals, sports rituals. Sometimes there’s an element of superstition to them, like kissing lucky objects or reciting mantras.

Some rituals are sort of bizarre. In high school, one of my friends would douse herself in body spray every time we went out. This girl was seriously a walking miasma of Pearberry or Night-Blooming Jasmine or whatever she was into at the time. Even then, I knew it was the ritual she loved even more than the reek.

As long as your rituals don’t consume you, there’s definitely something comforting about them. Knowing exactly what you like, and doing it just for yourself, like clockwork.

Then again, the best part of rituals can be the times you break them!

What are your rituals?

Hot Topic Tuesday - Writing & Regret by Kristen Tracy

I don’t know if every writer has this problem, but I have a tough time throwing away old work. Because I might need it one day. Can my imagination really last forever? I mean, the ideas I had back when my mind was still forming might be worth something, right? Which brings me to high school. And college. And all the years after that. And the eight plastic tubs that I’ve got stacked in my living room closet that contain mounds and mounds of my formative work. (Based on the contents of my tubs, apparently I consider my formative work to be anything I created after third grade and before eight months ago.) Oh, my tubs. They contain so much. 

About a month ago I got an email that caused me to reevaluate those tubs and their contents. I was asked if I had any work (of the embarrassing variety) that I wanted to share with the general public.  I was asked to read this regrettable work at the Swedish American Hall alongside other writers who rent space at the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto. The event was called: Regreturature: An Evening of Readings That Probably Shouldn’t See the Light of Day. And I agreed. I don’t want to admit how many hours I spent digging through my high school and college writings. Was I embarrassed by what I found? Maybe. But I was also incredibly happy that I wrote so much. 

I wrote about everything. (Even my parakeet. She was such a fantastic bird!) Not only did I write about everything, I censored nothing. A lot of what I found were poems that I turned in for peer critiques. I must have been insane. When it came to the sestina I gave them way too much. Let’s just say that sophomore year I was into full-frontal honesty. Okay. This is surprising because I’m afraid of so many things. (Bears especially) And yet I look so fearless on the page. I basically handed over my heart. In letters. In school assignments. In journals. In Valentines. In doodles. I haven’t read my regrettable work at the Swedish American Hall yet. That happens April 7^th. But the process of combing through my old work made me wonder, what is regrettable work? 

Sifting through my tubs I found a lot of things that made me cringe. (Here are two lines from a love poem I wrote to a boyfriend: You give me love by teaspoon, when I want it to be poured. Too often I'm left unfulfilled. Too soon am I ignored.) Regrettable? Hmm. I’m glad I wrote them. At least I think I am. I must be, right? Because I’ve kept eight tubs of that stuff. 

What do you guys think? Is there such a thing as regrettable work? I worry that if I believed that one day I might regret my work in the future (this postulation feels very Marty McFly to me) that I wouldn’t have written it. This goes out to everybody, young and not young. 

Do you fear writing regrettable work? What would make that work regrettable?

Hot Topic Tuesday - Friends we wish we were like

Tomorrow LIKE MANDARIN by Kirsten Hubbard is released, and from everything I've read, this is a beautiful, lyrical book that at times, takes your breath away. I also like that it has a very unique premise, one I don't think I've seen in YA fiction before. In addition to that, it's set in Wyoming, which is also very different.

LIKE MANDARIN is about two girls, Grace and Mandarin, and when they're united for a project, they form an unlikely, explosive friendship, packed with nights spent skinny-dipping in the canal, liberating the town's animal-head trophies, and searching for someplace magic.

The title comes from Grace wanting to be "like Mandarin." So it got me thinking about what girl I wanted to be like in high school. I think there were a few, but the one who stands out in my mind the most is my friend Dawn. She was so beautiful in high school, but not only that, she had this way about her that was special and magnetic. Everyone wanted to be Dawn's friend. She was the type of person who, as soon as you started talking to her, you knew she would be fun to hang around with. And she was! I was more quiet and reserved, so anyone who had a fun and outgoing personality drew me in and made me wish I could be more like that.

What about you? Is there a friend who stands out in your mind who is or was the one person you wanted to be like? What qualities did he/she have that you didn't have, and wished you did?

Hot Topic Tuesday - BFFs and Boys

Tomorrow Lindsey Leavitt's debut YA novel SEAN GRISWOLD'S HEAD is officially released, and I'm SO excited! You are all in for a real treat with this book. Lindsey does humor with a big dose of heart extremely well. As School Library Journal said, "A balanced proportion of comedy and gravity... refreshing and realistic without being overwrought with angst."

There are lots of topics in the book I could tackle, but I'm going for the one I'm most curious about. I want to talk about best friends and boys. In SEAN GRISWOLD'S HEAD, there is a period of time when Payton, the main character, thinks her best friend, Jac, has a thing for Sean. She tries to tell herself she doesn't care, but she sort of does, even if she isn't ready to admit it because she hasn't quite come to terms with the fact that she's starting to fall for him. And then it escalates and, well, yeah. You need to read it and see what happens!

When I was in high school, I never liked a guy one of my friends liked. At least not at the same time. Ha, I'm kidding. We all seemed to have different taste in boys, which turned out to be a good thing. But isn't that weird? Because if friends are a lot alike, it'd seem like they WOULD be attracted to the same types of boys.

So tell me - did you ever have a thing for a boy when your friend had a thing for the same boy? What happened? Did the friendship survive?

Books I can think of off the top of my head that explore this include THE UNWRITTEN RULE by Elizabeth Scott and SOMETHING LIKE YOU by Susane Colasanti.

Hot Topic Tuesday: To Ugg or Not To Ugg

What do you say?

Are you an Ugg lover or an Ugg hater?

I've never owned a pair, for a couple of reasons. I don't live in a place where it gets really cold. But the other thing is that I pretty much think they're the ugliest shoe I've ever seen. Don't hate me Ugg lovers - I'm fine with you wearing them, I'm just not sure I want to.

Maybe I should be glad girls and women are throwing their painful high heels aside and going for comfort and warmth. But the combinations people come up with sometimes makes me wonder if the Uggs bring on a fashion disease of some kind where all common sense flies out the window. I mean, people, what would Tim Gunn say if he saw you walking around in a sundress, a denim jacket, and Uggs? I've seen some girls even wear them with shorts. Why, people, why? I don't understand.

But hey, if you are one who wears her Uggs 24/7 no matter the time or the season, enlighten me. I'd love to hear what you have to say, because in my mind, once the sun starts to shine, Uggs should go to the back of the closet because your cute little toes are ready to be seen.

Yes, toes around the world are crying out for fair and equal justice - they will not be silenced forever! I speak for all of the toes out there who say, flip-flops are the way to go!! And think of all the books you could buy with that extra cash you save, because from what I hear, Uggs are not cheap.

Hot Topic Tuesday - Rivalry

This picture cracks me up. It's like one bird is saying, get your own dang branch, this one is MINE, and you can't have it! Maybe I should have looked for two teens competing, but I like birds. So, I'm going with it.

So today we're going to talk about rivalry in high school. Because tomorrow, we're so excited that Sara Bennett Wealer's debut YA novel, RIVAL, is released!! I've heard wonderful things about her book and can't wait to read it.

On her personal blog, Sara has been highlighting famous rivalries. I've enjoyed reading about them, because I find it so fascinating. Here is one where she talked about Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding. That was big news where I lived because Tonya lived in Oregon at the time. She still might live here, but I haven't really kept track. If you know the story, you can understand why.

I wasn't a very competitive person in high school. It's not really my nature. Like, I don't know what it feels like to want to get a part in a play so badly or to earn the pitcher's spot on the softball team that you hate the person competing against you for that part or the spot.

However, there was this sophomore guy I liked my freshman year and a certain beautiful girl that made my claws come out. Is that rivalry?

I mean, the girl was SO beautiful. And she was new to our school. So every single guy seemed to have his eyes on her. And this guy I liked, who I'd gotten to know as a friend during football season, as we travelled as a group around to away football games during the playoffs, was really interested in her. And it started to feel like a competition. Can I get him to talk to me today more than he talks to her? If I ask him to the Winter Formal before she gets a chance, would he go with me? Well, I did, and he said yes. But only because his crush had asked someone else. Yes, he told me he'd wanted to go with her, but she'd asked someone else. That should have clued me in to the type of guy he was.

So... what about you? Any rivalry stories you'd care to share? Involving you, someone else, or, you know, even a couple of birds?

(Cold?) Topic Tuesday - SNOW Joke!

Michael Northrop's newest release, TRAPPED, has actually been available to a few industrious fans (like me!) for a couple of weeks now, but believe it or not, THIS week is his actual "book birthday!" We'll be Spotlighting the bejeezus out of it tomorrow, but in the meantime, how about a "cold" Hot Topic to get you in the mood to curl up with Michael's latest dark, page-turner of a thriller? 

Brr! Doesn't that cover just make you want to cuddle up to a blazing fireplace? 

“Some snow days dump so much snow that only Stephen King could enjoy them. Trapped is narrated by a 15-year-old basketball player who’s trapped with six classmates — four other boys and two girls — in their rural New England high school while it snows for an entire week. The snow knocks out power, heat and, perhaps worst of all, cellphones. The compelling plot of this young-adult novel is more The Breakfast Club than Lord of the Flies. Author Michael Northrop deftly describes teens who are tested by the endless snow: ‘It wasn’t a storm; it was whatever comes after that.’" -- USA Today

When I thought about possible topics to relate to this book, of course, I didn't have to look much further than out my own window. Climate change is here, people, and New York City has had some record-breaking snowfalls of late. 

Um, yeah. That's a taxi. COMPLETELY COVERED IN SNOW. 

And while snow days can seem like a fun break from reality, the fact is, New York City was NOT prepared to handle such an epic storm. Streets weren't plowed and people couldn't get around, not to mention that eventually, trash collection became a real stinker of an issue (literally). Public transportation all but shut down completely. 

The characters in TRAPPED definitely had it worse than we did here in New York City, where there was heat, and food, and an end in sight. But I can't help but reflect on how unprepared we were for such weather, and how, even in the wake of that last storm, I'm not convinced we're truly prepared for the next one, if and when it should come. 

So, tell us, readers - have you found yourself in extreme weather situations, and if so, did you feel prepared? Or have other natural disasters around the globe inspired you to get involved in victims' aid, and maybe increase the odds that if and when there is a "next time," the big freeze won't seem quite so much like a total meltdown?

HOT TOPIC TUESDAY: Changing Schools

I think part of the reason I'm a young adult novelist is down to a particularly dramatic- and traumatic - change of school environment that I experienced when I was twelve years old.

When I was seven, my family moved to England, in the middle of the school year (always fun). I finished that year out at the American School in London, which if any of you have lived in London, wasn't in the new (well, now it's not so new) building in ST. John's Wood. It was in the old buildings in Regent's Park.

But then my parents decided we should go for the full English experience, so I was admitted to the City of London School for Girls - what the Brits in their charming makes not one iota of sense way call a public school but is actually a private school.

It was the kind of school where you wore a uniform. A uniform that had to be purchase at HARRODS. A uniform that was so regimented, it even had regulation UNDERWEAR.



(Me, on my first day of school, Sept 1970)

It was hard at first. The uniform thing didn't bother me so much, but the fact that I went from being surrounded by other Americans to being the only American did. During my first year, the song AMERICAN PIE by Don Maclean came out. It's a great song, but can I tell you how many times girls with English accents tortured me with that song by singing it every time they saw me?





I grew to love that school though. I was young enough that I adapted by "going native." Lost the American accent pretty quickly and soon, if you saw me on the Tube, you wouldn't be able to tell me from any of the other little English schoolgirls - well, except maybe I had better teeth because my parents took me to a dentist that practiced American dentistry because UK dentistry in those days was notoriously bad.



(Before I got the bad news)

In 1975, I was 12 and practicing for my Bat Mitzvah. I'd been accepted to a special youth program at one of prestigious London music colleges for my cello playing. And then...my parents told us we were moving back to the States.

And thus my YA novelist career was born. I was supposed to go into seventh grade at Cloonan Middle School in Stamford CT, but my British private (sorry public) school education meant that I was a year ahead of my peers in most subjects. The school argued with my mom about moving me ahead until they tested me and then they just shut up and put me in 8th grade.

After being in sheltered, all-girls school with regulation underwear, life in a very mixed catchment area middle school in 1975 America was MAJOR culture shock. First there was the bus. People were smoking cigarettes and pot in the back of the bus. I hadn't even HEARD of pot until I got on that bus. (Yeah, I know, sheltered. Seriously sheltered.) Gangs of girls hung out in the bathrooms smoking cigarettes. I was so scared of them, I would literally hold it in all day.

Then there were the other things, like clothes. I'd been wearing school uniform five days a week, so I didn't have that many clothes. Suddenly, clothes really mattered. People gave you a hard time about your clothes.

And then there was my accent. I'd come back from my years in England, sounding like a proper English schoolgirl. Kids would come up to me and bark, "TALK!" as if I were a performing animal. "Say Peaches and cream with strawberries!" was a popular request.

Needless to say, my desire to fit in was WAY stronger than my desire to keep my English accent, so I lost it. FAST.

But trauma from that radical change of schools - that horrific one year of middle school and the four years of high school that followed - form the basis, the inspiration, and the heart of my career as a young adult novelist.


(Okay, maybe I don't look so traumatized here, but trust me, I was!)

How about you? Did you ever change schools? Was it for the better or for the worse?