Cate Protects Her Sisters in BORN WICKED by Jessica Spotswood

So my dad is a big YA reader and he often asks me for recommendations. Last week I texted him, "Loved Born Wicked, it's like Little Women if the girls were witches." But I realized that assessment doesn't come close to describing how amazing this book is.

In Born Wicked, Jessica Spotswood has created a brilliant and believable alternate history. New England was once governed by witches, but by the late 1800's the Brotherhood  rules the province. Women have been stripped of all rights and witchcraft is the highest crime, punished by life-long imprisonment. Before their seventeenth birthday, girls must declare their intention to either marry or join the Sisterhood, a convent of devout women.

Cate Cahill is approaching her seventeenth birthday and in making her choice she thinks only of what will keep her sisters safe. Because Cate and her two younger sisters are witches. Since their mother's death it has fallen to Cate to protect them from the Brotherhood and ensure their magic remains a secret. But when Cate falls for Finn, the subversive scholar, Cate must choose between love and safety.

I love the relationship between the three sisters. The affection and rivalry between them feels so real. I'm also a fan of the hot kissing scenes (closets! gazebos! feathers!) and Finn is definitely a swoon-worthy love interest. Oh and I loved the ending! Actually, it broke my heart, but it broke my heart so effectively. I can't wait for the sequel.

I'm most impressed with how Spotswood built the suspense and secrecy. Among the corsets, gas lamps, and horse-drawn carriages the tension was as thick as in any spy novel. Cate is compelled to protect her sisters and cannot trust anyone with their secret. Each time her magic is revealed, my heart hammered in my chest, because it was inevitable someone would betray her and every character has secrets of their own.

The Brotherhood is also eerily familiar in today's political climate. Watching Congress hearings on contraception, the Brotherhood's supremacy doesn't seem so far-fetched. And that is Spotswood's brilliance. She's given us a fun novel in a historical setting with magic, kissing, and political undertones so subtle I didn't really think about them until days after I'd finished the book. Born Wicked is first and foremost a magical and romantic read, but like all great novels, I know I'll find a lot more to think about upon rereading it.

Oh, and for those in the Houston area, Jessica will be at Blue Willow Bookshop on Wednesday 2/22 as part of the Breathless Reads Tour. I can't wait to meet her!

Writer for a Weekend

 During MLK weekend (1/13-1/15/12) I was fortunate enough to attend a Novel Revision Retreat facilitated by Darcy Pattsion at the beautiful Camp Allen.  I had heard about the retreat from Vonna Carter over a year ago. I saw her highlighted shrunken manuscript and was blown away. So when Darcy came back to Texas, I jumped at the chance to attend.



The group minus Linda Leschak, who I stole this picture from.



I had HIGH expectations for this retreat. I expected to come home with a completely revised version of my new YA ms and I expected my life as a writer to be forever changed. Well, of course those expectations were ridiculous. Only one of them was met.

I still have a lot of work to do on my revision.

For the retreat we sent in a complete draft of our manuscripts and were placed in groups of 4. I read my group members' novels along with 2 required craft books and showed up to Camp Allen ready to revise. I was lucky enough to be placed in a group with Linda Leschak, Melissa Buron, and Bettina Restrepo. Their stories are wonderful and their feedback was invaluable.

Throughout the retreat we used Darcy's workbook, Novel Metamorphosis, to dive into our stories and begin our revision. The shrunken manuscript technique is incredibly useful and what this retreat is known for. But I felt the most valuable part of the retreat was to spend an entire weekend thinking about nothing except writing my book and having three writers who had read my story available to bounce ideas off of.

The retreat was intense. If you're looking for a writerly vacation, this is not it. We started early and worked late, breaking only for food (mmmm blackberry cobbler and ice cream), coffee, and the occasional glass of wine. Darcy's jam-packed workshop coupled with Camp Allen's rustic and peaceful setting made it easy to focus only on the writing.

I left for the retreat as a girl who writes books. It was a secret ambition, this dream that is too big to say out loud. I didn't talk to my co-workers and non-writing friends about my writing very much. When I left work early on Friday for the retreat, I was coy about where I was going, making jokes about going to summer camp.

But once I arrived at Camp Allen, I was no longer Alyson-the-financial-aid-advisor, Alyson-the-former-teacher, Alyson-the-wife, Alyson-the-daughter, or Alyson-the-sister. I wasn't Alyson-whose-leaves-need-to-be-raked, or Alyson-who-really-needs-to-start-excercising. I was Alyson-the-writer.

I was a writer for an entire weekend. I took myself and my craft seriously and the other writers did so as well. It's a weird thing we do, sitting alone in a room with our imaginary characters. Spending time with other people who do the same thing was incredibly validating.

It's been almost a month since I've left Camp Allen, but the feeling has remained. I'm not a girl who dabbles or plays or scribbles. I'm a writer and my stories are worth telling.

2012 Debut Author Challenge

So, I'm excited to participate in The Story Siren's 2012 Debut Author Challenge. I'm challenging myself to read at least 12 debut MG or YA books in 2012.

I'm most excited about two books debuting in February.

Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood

and Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

SCBWI Brazos Valley Writers' Conference

As previously mentioned, I can be very awkward, and no where are my minimal social skills more tested than at a writers' conference.  But I'm happy to report that I did not make a TOTAL fool of myself at yesterday's SCBWI Brazos Valley Craft and Connections Conference, well at least not compared to the last conference I attended.

Well, I did walk in late to the pre-conference dinner just as Kathi Appelt, our gracious hostess, started a mini-speech, so everyone stopped, turned around, and stared at me as I stood there grinning and clutching a bottle of wine. And I did manage to stutter and mispronounce words almost every time I spoke to Senior Editor at Katherine Tegen Books, Claudia Gabel.  My brain was like, "Ah! She's an editor.  Quick, forget how to use English!" Thanks brain.

I also made one mistake. The night before the conference, I knew I needed to figure out how to summarize my book in a sentence.  I started to come up with a one-line pitch and memorize it, but then thought, "Nah, I know this book so well, it's SO easy to talk about it!" Big Mistake.  When Claudia asked me what my book was about, I think I said, "This girl has powers and stuff." Great.

But overall the conference was pretty fantastic and I learned a lot. I was pretty impressed with the quality of presenters for our little SCBWI chapter and a small venue.

Claudia Gabel started off with a keynote craft lesson on plot structure, characterization, and the importance of outlining.  She explained the difference between crisis and conflict in a way I wish I would have heard back when I taught English. She also flashed a bit of the proposal for Elusion, a book she's co-writing with Cheryl Klam and sounds Ah.Ma.Zing.

Next, Brian Floca, author/illustrator of some amazing picture books, did an awesome visual presentation about how he got where he is.  He included a hilarious Spiderman picture book he wrote and illustrated when he was a kid.

Local author Doris Fisher talked about breaking into the magazine market and another local writer, Molly Blaisdell gave a workshop on how to write a paragraph synopsis of your story.

Newbery Medal winning author and local legend Kathi Appelt did a gerat audio/visual presentation about the blues and how we can learn to write a character's emotional arc and sorrow by studying blues songs.  She discussed and showed examples of spirituals and the call and response structure.  She posed the question, When your main character calls, who responds? She also pointed out the role of the devil in a lot of blues music and asked, What does your main character want so badly she'd sell her soul to the devil for it?  Both questions gave me a lot to think about in terms of my main character in my WIP.

Finally, up-and-coming super star agent Elena Mechlin at Pippin Properties talked queries and answered the attendees' burning questions.  We finished off with an entertaining panel with all the speakers.

We went to dinner at Cafe Eccell after the conference and I think was the cause of only 2 awkward pauses and I'm pretty sure only said 3 stupid things, which is a total record for me.  Very proud. :)

I think it helped I already knew some the Brazos Valley writers and this wasn't a high stakes conference for me. I wasn't there to pitch anyone and I didn't get my work critiqued. I'm not an author with a book to sell, but I'm also not asking questions about queries. I felt like a writer in a murky middle area which allowed me to relax and do what I could to help out at the conference.

I can't say it enough, if you have a chance to go to a writers' conference, do it!

Waiting on Wednesday...and Thursday, and Friday, and...well you get it

So Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Breaking the Spine where bloggers discuss books they're anticipating.  And I'll get to that. But first I wanted to talk about waiting.

It's no coincidence there's only a one letter difference between writing and waiting.  Any writer seeking publication knows waiting is just part of the process.  I've experienced a bit of waiting myself recently and had a chance to reflect on the waiting process.

I did a lot of waiting and obsessively checking emails while querying agents and I heard published writers say the waiting doesn't get any better once you have an agent.  I didn't believe them.  I thought I did. I tried to believe them, but lately I've still found myself thinking, "OMG! This waiting is torturous, it's worse than querying! Why did no one warn me?" They warned me.

I've come up with some tips to help you with waiting, but this is more of a "do what I say, not what I do situation." While waiting, my day looked like this: Check email.  Check facebook.  Check twitter.  Read blogs on google reader.  Check email.  Email friend to make sure email is working.  Check facebook.  Check twitter.  Check facebook.  Check for new blog posts on google reader.  Check email.  Reply to friend. And so on.

Waiting Made Easy! Less Excruciating

1. Stay busy.  Waiting is easy if you don't have time to check your email.  The days fly by and you can't spare a second to think about it.  So take on new tasks at your day job, write like crazy, and spend time with friends and family.

2. Change locations.  I don't know why, but it helps. Sleep in a bed not your own, get away from your computer, and the days fly by. I spent last weekend at my parents and although
it wasn't a particularly exciting or eventful trip, I didn't obsessively check my email.

3. Connect with other waiters writers.  You feel like things are taking forever? Try talking about it with someone who doesn't understand the publishing industry.  My husband is constantly outraged it could take someone a month to reply to an email.  He'll say, "Just call him."  Because in his job, that makes sense.  You want an answer from someone?  You just call and ask. So talking with someone who does understand is great.  Reach out to other writers and no matter where they are in the publishing process, chances are, they're waiting too. Whine about it together.  Trust me, it helps.

4. You're not the only one waiting. I like to think of the process of making a book as a whole.  When you think about it, agents/editors have probably waited over a year for you to write the book.  So it's only fair you wait one or two months to hear back from them.  And they wait for you too!  My waiting ended yesterday and now the ball is back in my court and someone is waiting on me. Also, I try not to think of people in the publishing industry as the super-smart-speed-readers they are.  I'll ask my co-workers how long it takes them to read a book and adjust my expectations.

5. Write something new. Seriously.  There's nothing better to distract you from the last book than to get excited about the next one.

6. Magic makes everything better.  If all else fails, I like to think of NYC as this magical place, like the land of Faerie or...space, where a single day there is the same as three months here.  We're writers.  Without our imaginations to comfort us, what do we have?

Speaking of Waiting...
Here are the two books I'm most excited about in 2012.  I can't wait!

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. Not only am I fascinated by John's signing psychosis, but this book sounds amazing!  I read the first chapter here and I can't wait to get my copy!

Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood.  Isn't the cover gorgeous?  I've heard so many great things about this book.  I can't wait to read this beautiful story.

Give Away!

What book are you waiting on?  Tell me in the comments before midnight CST Wednesday 11/9/11 for a chance to win.  I'll choose one random commenter to win either a pre-order of a book not yet released or a copy of a book released in the last 2 months.  (U.S. only, sorry)