Older log entries: 23 December 2004 This is a happy time of year! My husband got off half day today and we played with Max. My book is going well, I'm about 15,000 words into the first draft of the Razo book and enjoying it, perhaps more than any other first draft I've written (the firsts are always the hardest for me). I guess partly because I enjoy returning to these characters, and partly because cool stuff is happening. It's fun to tell the story, though I'm still discovering what the story is. May you enjoy the holiday of your choice, and here's our family's Christmas card to you! 6 December 2004 I was stunned last week to hear that writer Larry Brown had died of a heart attack. He was 53 years old. I knew Larry from graduate school days. He taught a non-fiction workshop for a semester and I had the honor of being in his class. He was kind, funny, skinny and cute, bone dry and real, hard and soft. One of my most treasured memories of that time was one night when several of us went to AmVets, a dark little downstairs bar in Missoula, Montana. I don’t drink, but Montana plus Writers equals Bars, and I sometimes went along for the conversation. Larry and I danced on that little dance floor, and he was such a gentleman and suddenly 17-years-old. Late into the evening, I somehow got on a narrow, wobbly table and tap danced (completely sober, mind you, and the only sober one in the room). This week, I’ve been digging up anything he wrote to me, and I found a letter from May 2000. He wrote, "I’m glad for your wedding news. I’m sure you were beautiful since you always were. Ah, but the tabletopdancing at the AmVet bar, that was the sh*t! Keep hoofing, girl." How can anyone not love such a man? I hadn’t spoken to him in four years, and maybe I never would’ve again, yet I mourn him. I mourn that he is no longer on this earth. His writing was sparse, often naked and brutal, like the moment I heard he was dead, like the hours afterwards when I sat alone, reading his writing. He spoke truth. I find death is personal to me now, since losing my sister almost two years ago. Over the years, I’d lost three grandparents, several pets, and many acquaintances. But when my sister passed away, death became about her, and no one leaves this earth now without bringing her to mind. And heart. I don’t like it. I don’t like that people die. I’m glad I believe that they still exist, elsewhere. I wonder if Larry has met my sister. "Ain’t life sad and wonderful?"—Larry Brown, 2000 Fresh Air on NPR replayed an interview with the writer. He reads some, then talks about his extraordinary career. Very insightful for hopeful writers. 15 November 2004 the goose girl was selected as an ALA Teens' Top Ten! I'm elated. It feels so flattering to be honored by teen readers. The numbers of people who voted were up from last year, too. I'll post reminders here for next year's voting, too. Thanks to everyone who voted! Take a look at the list of winners: Teens' Top Ten. What an excellent list of books. I haven't read them all yet and have my library reading list for the next while. As soon as I plow through Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel. I'm loving it, but it will take up my reading for some time. Ah! What a relief it is. Just emailed my next draft of princess academy to my editor. I leave Wednesday morning for New York City to do a signing and school visit and stay with my best friend. My baby Max and my sister will be coming, too. Yikes, I don't have much time left to get ready. Tomorrow I'm getting my haircut--in what style? That remains a mystery. It's getting long, down below my shoulders, growing unchecked since I first got pregnant. Now I want something short and sassy again, I think. I wonder if I have long enough hair to donate it for wigs for people on chemotherapy. I got to do that last time I cut it, which was very cool. 8 November 2004 A quick note as I'm churning in the 8th draft of princess academy. I only have one week to finish this draft so the sales folk can see an early copy, and then I'll most likely do 2-3 more drafts before it's off to the copy editor's. I love copy editors. You think you know you're [sic] grammar, you think you're being careful, but, man! Those people have hawk eyes for errors, and there are always hundreds. At least I've finally learned that adverbs go after verbs...I think. I heard Virginia Euwer Wolff speak last summer at a conference. She drew a little circle on the chalkboard and said, "When I think of a story idea, this is what I think it is." She surrounded the circle with multiple other circles like layers of an onion. "At the beginning, I cannot imagine that as I write, it becomes this." It's so true (if you can at all visualize what I just so lamely tried to explain). Just last night I discovered a layer in princess academy that has been there so clearly all along, but I just didn't see and develop it properly. I'm excited to dig in and make it happen! I hope Max has good naps this week. October 17-23 is Teen Read Week! YALSA, the teen organization at your local library, plans all sorts of events this week. One of them is the Teen Top Ten voting. This is for anyone 12-18 years old. Many of you have read some of the nominees, and this week only you can vote on your favorites. The ten top winners are named one of 2004's Teen Top Ten. You can vote now at the YALSA website. This year, everyone is shouting about getting out to vote for the president, but I want to shout about voting for books! There are some truly wonderful books on the nominee list and it's so exciting for the authors to be honored by teen readers. I've been thrilled that the goose girl is one of the nominees. For those of you who may not know, the most prestigious awards given in children's and young adult literature (Newbery and caldecott) are awarded by the ALA, the American Library Association. This is the only award associated with the ALA but chosen by teens. Last year 1700 teens voted, but we can outdo that easily. Make your vote count! Rock the vote! (apply any other voting slogan here...) And today my sweet little Max is 10 months. He is such a joy. He loves to chat, investigate his tongue and lips, try out new consonants. He crawls like a madman and stands and cruises, and will be walking any day. We're pretty certain he's a genius. Not too much of a genius, mind, but definitely smarter than his mama and papa, as all parents hope their children will be. 1 October 2004 We've added some new meat to the site. Check out mincemeat: on writing for some articles. Also, I added a couple of enna burning quizzes. I finished a 6th draft of princess academy and am finally starting to feel good about it and get excited. The first few drafts of anything I write I have to take on faith that they'll work out in the end, because I do very messy early drafts. The pressure to do a perfect first draft paralyzes me. Someone said that writer's block is the fear that you won't write brilliantly, not that you can't think of anything to write at all. I've found that's true, for me. Knowing that I can do many revisions helps remove that fear, and that block, from my writing day. While I'm waiting to hear back from my editor in this round of revisions, I've started writing a third Bayern book! This one features Razo and so far is titled city of rivers. It's exciting to start something new and fun for me to return to these characters. I've only written about 10 pages so far, but I'm feeling good about it. The story idea has been riding with me and gaining dimensions for the past year, so it feels ready to start. I imagine the soonest it would be on shelves is fall 2006, though perhaps not until spring 2007. It's hard to estimate these things so far in advance. 17 September 2004 Last Saturday was the enna burning release party. My dad’s bluegrass band played, I got to meet readers of the first book and talk with so many wonderful people. It was fabulous…except for one thing. Ack. After reading, there was a Q&A session, and someone asked, “Did you have any teachers that encouraged you?” Immediately my mind interpreted that as meaning, “Did you have writing teachers that pushed you to be a writer?” And so my fateful answer was, “No, not really.” I explained that in all the writing classes and workshops I’ve been in, I was never the star. I gave a couple of examples where in some way a college writing professor let me know I was substandard. And though I was able to get into a good MFA program, by the end of my stay there I was the only student in my year without a teaching assistantship, which are awarded based on who the faculty deemed to be the strongest writers. My point was, I'm no one special, I'm just some schmo who was stubborn and kept at it because it's what I wanted to do even though no one paved a road or praised my name, and that if anyone in the crowd wants to be a writer or do anything hard and has been discouraged by those who should know, don’t believe them. That’s what I meant, anyway. But as I blathered on, I saw my sister pointing emphatically at someone in the audience—it was Kathryn Romney, one of my English teachers in high school. gulp. I tried to explain what I had meant, but surely it seemed I was back-pedaling after seeing her there! And as I was slipping and sliding, I saw for the first time Paula Fowler, another of my English teachers in high school! You know, if they had been substandard or even decent teachers, the incident would have ended up just an embarrassing faux pas that I would retell with relish and humorous self-abasement at parties. But they were GREAT teachers. They deserve to have a former student stand up and proclaim her gratitude. It’s a little late, but I want to do that here. Nice woman in audience: “Shannon, did you have any teachers that encouraged you?” Shannon: “I did indeed! All my elementary teachers made an impression on me, Ms. Assenberg, Ms. Howell, Ms. Nichols, who let me read my silly poetry to our third grade class and enlist class members to perform my plays. Ms. Spackman, who in 4th grade started me writing stories. My school librarian who pointed me to the best books. Ms. Romney, who taught me to love words and gave us unlimited creative outlet to express ourselves, who taught not by test standards but the needs of every student, who made us all feel smart. Ms. Fowler, who taught me to love to look at a story or poem and tear apart the text, see what was bubbling on the underside, how to find a voice to talk about it. Ms. Barnes, Ms. Hunt, Mr. Whiting, Ms. White…my early years are filled with teachers and librarians who gave a lot more than they got and encouraged me to think, to express my creativity, to love to learn and…oh my goodness, look who’s here! Paula and Kathryn, I’m so flattered you’d come! What a relief that I spontaneously mentioned you earlier in my rant on all my great teachers! Everyone, if you wouldn’t mind, let’s give a hearty and well-deserved round of applause for these outstanding teachers!” That’s much better. Thank goodness I get to be a fiction writer. 6 September 2004 Some recent interviews: Authorlink.com and Salt Lake Tribune. If you read the Tribune article, one clarification: I was not "mortified" that the pig made it into my bio. I was surprised, delighted, and amused, actually. What other publisher is so cool as to include the plastic pig in the author's bio? I'm dearly devoted to that pig now, and I wouldn't dare belittle his importance in our household. (Though actually, I'm not even sure where he is at the moment. I'd had him here by my computer for a while, but I don't see him. Perhaps he was just a dream all along, a fantastic, beautiful dream...) 31 August 2004 enna burning is out! I just received an email from a friendly bookseller in Michigan who says she opened a box today. I'm so excited. It's a little scary, but also fun. Fun because it's the culmination of so much work and time, scary because I don't know what readers and reviewers will think. Of course, I'm above worrying about other people, completely impervious am I. Some fans of the goose girl will want the next book to be just like it, and it's not. I think the two books are as different from each other as Ani and Enna, their protagonists, are. I've had a few great fans of the goose girl say they liked enna burning even better, which is such a lovely compliment. And to cherry-top the day enna burning is released, I also finished my current draft of princess academy. I've put so much work into the last couple of drafts, it feels righteously good to have survived them. That will be out in 2005, August, I think. I simply adore the illustrator my publisher chose to do the cover, Tim Zeltner. You can check out his work at www.i2iart.com. I can't help peeking at my sales rank on Amazon every so often. Writers (at least, ones like me) only get sales reports from the publisher twice a year. In April I received numbers for August through December 31 2003. In October I'll get the report for January through June 2004. So you see, I really have very little idea how my books are selling. The sales rank on Amazon gives a glimpse. Right now, there are 46,298 books selling better than the goose girl. (It does NOT mean, alas, that 46,298 book have sold.) For those math wizards out there, that rank is better than a million and not so good as 1. That's no best seller, but not too shabby for the scrawny local girl! The bestsellers usually are below 100. The lowest I ever saw it was in the 2000's, but that wasn't for long. Sometimes people assume that getting a book published is a passport to riches, famous friends, and good looks (well, that last one is true, at least). There are over 100,000 books published each year in the US, and then the new books also compete for readership with the millions of other titles. Most writers don't do this for the money. Who wants to be Jo Rowling anyway? I mean, besides Ms. Rowling herself? And a few thousand hopeful writers and hopeful millionaires? Well, you get the idea... 20 August 2004 Ah, me. After the last long rewrite of princess academy, I thought that this one would take me less time. But it is not to be. Really, I only have another week and a half to turn it around. My dear editor is fully pregnant with twins and I cannot waste time if I am to abuse and exploit her editing prowess as much as possible this autumn. I thought I was on track pretty well, then on Wednesday my husband, baby and I went on a long walk and got to talking about the book. He had just read it (my husband, not baby) and thought of further insight that he hadn't mentioned before, blast him. He was right, of course, so I had to go back and work through the beginning again. I imagine this is probably the norm, but my first chapters go through many more drafts than any other part of the book. I think the goose girl first chapter when through 50 revisions. princess academy first chapter is probably on revision 20 by now. It is, I believe, the most important part of the book because that's where you catch or lose the reader. It's also the most tricky—you have to set up the story, narrator, main character, world. It's a ton of info to give and you can't take too long to do it, and you can't be too terse or it's bland writing...How does one do it at all? I'm going to take an inventory of some of my favorite books that succeed with the first chapter and list them here later. 22 July 2004 *sigh* Some drafts take longer than others. First drafts always take me the longest, of course. But I can do a rewrite (sometimes) in a week. Other times, such as right now, for instance, the changes are so intensive it takes quite a time. I'm finally to the halfway mark in my current rewrite of princess academy and I've been writing diligently for 3 weeks. 6 weeks for a draft may not seem like long to some, but I've discovered that I do more drafts than most writers I know. Rewriting is delicate business. I find myself having to turn on and off my internal editor. If I try to get it perfect while I'm writing, I can't write a word. I have to try to improve on what was there before and allow myself errors. "This is not the final copy," I tell myself ceaselessly. Until, that is, it acutally is the final copy. It seems miraculous that I ever get to a point when I'm happy with my writing. When I do a final pass, I just find myself annoyed with adverbs. Ick. They seem like such a good idea when I'm writing, but when I'm reading I strike out as many as I can. Someone quoted Richard Peck recently (this is from memory):"Use adverbs wisely and sparingly." 2 July 2004 Happy Birthday to my dear Rosi. I am so blessed with such a best friend. People often ask me if I base any characters on real people and I really don't—aspects of certain people will slip in to characters, but I could never try to recreate a real person in a character. But I do base relationships on ones in my life. The friendship between Ani and Enna (and later, Isi and Enna) is inspired by my friendship with Rosi. And in enna burning, you may note on the map the "Rosewood Sea," which is named for her. And we're back from ALA conference, after many delayed flights and a lost stroller and car seat. It was lovely—huge! Orlando has the 2nd largest convention center in the world. There were rows and rows of booths showing off all kinds of things: library furniture, library services like computer software, etc. But what I loved were the publisher booths. I love seeing all the books. I was in the Bloomsbury booth when Jane Yolen passed by, and just casual as anything I greeted her and gave her an advanced copy of enna. It was very exciting. I also got signed copies of "The Kite Runner," "An American Plague," and "A Deepness in the Sky". That night I went to dinner with my lovely friends from Bloomsbury and several librarians. It was so great! I loved hearing about what each was doing in their libraries and communities, and it reminds me again how important libraries are to any country. To me, they are the truest symbol of civilization and democracy, and any place without a library is at a serious disadvantage for progression. 18 June 2004 At last! My last day of work was yesterday. Such a relief. I will miss all the people there, but I'm so happy that I'll be able to stay home with my baby and write. Most of the past 3 years I've worked fulltime as an instructional designer for an e-learning company producing web-based training. It was my favorite job, but it certainly slowed down my writing time, and I just hate leaving my baby with sitters! He's getting so big. He now does 5 yoga poses: child's, lotus, cat, plank, and downward-facing dog. Any day he'll be crawling. He's utterly delightful. I'll be in Orlando next week for the American Library Association annual conference. No time for Disney World, however. This will be my first time at an ALA event and I'm very eager to check it out. It's so impressive what they accomplish. I'm curious to know what library systems are like in other countries. What is England's ALA? Are there libraries in each neighborhood? Do they make notable books lists? 4 May 2004 Coming soon: the goose girl audio book! Full Cast Audio bought audio rights to the book, and I couldn’t be more pleased. They do a fabulous job, use a full cast and produce the book unabridged. They have lots of family-friendly titles. We love audio books for long car rides and road trips, much better than sticking a portable TV in the back to watch old videos again and again. Last month I had a fun experience. goose girl was a finalist for both the Utah Speculative Fiction Award and the Utah Children’s Book Award. They don’t announce the winners until the ceremony, so it felt very Academy Awards. (Except no red carpet. And no media. And it was in a library, and only about 50 people attended, and I wasn’t wearing a dress, but I was wearing some pretty snazzy velvet pants.) It was very exciting when my book took both awards. I wasn’t expecting that, particularly as the other finalists for the USFA were fantasy powerhouses Orson Scott Card, Tracy Hickman, and L.E. Modesitt. It makes me very happy to see goose girl reach both young adult and adult audiences. I had never intended to pigeonhole an age group with the book. I always thought that the best books can appeal to both audiences. And nice, too, to be recognized by the hometown crowd. 6 April 2004 I just heard that goose girl has been nominated for the ALA's Teen's Top Ten Books list. Thanks to the teen book groups who selected it as a nominee! This is a terrific program headed by the American Library Association. Click here to see this year's nominees. The goal is to read as many as you like this year, then in October during Teen Read Week you vote online to select your favorite three. Only teens can vote. About 1700 online ballots were cast last year, but I know we can do better than that! Let's double it this year. I'd bet that if you're reading an author website, it means you're a reader. There are probably several books on the list that you'll love (and maybe even some that you can hate, which is also lots of fun!). Get your friends reading this summer and let's show those librarians what's what. 1 April 2004—April Fool's Day We’ve had some news on the goose girl movie. The studio gave it a green light and casting has begun. Ani will be played by the youngest Culkin girl. Demi Moore has signed to try her hand at Selia. (They’re going to do some kind of special effects to ease the age difference.) There was some debate as how to portray the horse Falada. Guillermo del Toro (the director) felt as though the bond between girl and horse wouldn’t translate on film, so he’s changing the horse to a bumbling servant to provide comedy relief, and I’m happy to report that the part of Falada the servant will be played by the legendary Bill Murray. Phyllis Diller is also set to star, but I’m not clear in what part. Production is set to begin in late 2004. They’re changing the title of the movie version to Goosed!. Most of the production will be filmed in a sound studio in Tunisia, with 12 days of filming scheduled followed by 6 months of post-production. I’ve been invited to the screening party in Sacramento, but asked to sit in the back and not tell anyone who I am. Oh, and also, April Fools. (Apologies to those who wrote to me excited by this news. It was just a joke for April Fool's Day. There are no plans currently for a movie.) 21 March 2004 We’re back from NYC, and for those of you who have traveled alone with an infant on indirect flights, you know how glad we are to be back. My baby Max was so good, though. I have to give him snaps for it, and so do the grateful co-passengers of our flights. I want to give him some special treat for being so good, but what do you give a 3-month old? I considered eating a lot of chocolate so he can get a little through the breast milk. It’d be a sacrifice, but he’s worth it. New York is such a fabulous town. We spent the morning at Bank Street with librarians, teachers, editors, writers, and agents, and the Children’s Book Committee who presented goose girl with the Josette Frank award. They read 4000 books every year. Holy cow. This is a volunteer position! These lovely women and men (and even some youth reviewers!) read all year long, narrow the books down to a few hundred, and then from there select a fiction, non-fiction, and poetry book to award. They meet once a week to discuss what they’ve read, and I imagine they have some pretty marvelous discussions. (Wouldn’t I have loved to be a fly on the wall when they discussed my book!) Some of the ladies I spoke with read 10 books a week, and they do it all for the love of books. Snaps for them, too. enna burning is coming back from the typesetter’s this week. I saw the cover and it’s gorgeous, another Alison Jay painting and jacket design by Sharon Murray Jacobs. The notorious "plastic pig" didn’t make it into my bio for this book, but baby Max has replaced him as Chief Household Pet anyway. Max is pretty much Chief Household Everything. And something else fun—the dedicatees of enna burning don’t yet know that they’re in the dedication. I can’t wait for them to see it… 3 March 2004 Many people have requested some kind of help for book groups or classes reading goose girl. Bloomsbury put together a nice guide with themes and questions. Click the link to download a pdf. Warning: Contains a plot summary, so don't read it before reading the book if you don't want the story spoiled! Start spreading the news! I will be in New York City on March 18 to accept the Josette Frank award. I believe I'll be signing books at the Bank Street Bookstore sometime that day and will post more information when I have it. 23 February 2004 Clarification on the Trilogy issue: In one review of goose girl, the reviewer made mention of this book being "the first in a planned trilogy." This isn't correct. I believe the goose girl as a story stands alone. enna burning (Fall 2004) is a story about Enna, a character from the first book, but it does not continue the story of the goose girl as a trilogy would. princess academy (2005) is completely unrelated to the other books. Speaking of princess academy, I've finished the first draft! I was so afraid I wouldn't be able to do it while on maternity leave, but the muses and my baby have been kind. I will do a few more drafts, then send it to my editor and do a few more drafts based on her feedback, and then I believe you will see it on shelves in fall 2005. Though it still needs much work, the first draft has turned out better than I'd hoped. It's such a tremendous satisfaction to complete a draft, especially the sticky, wicked, stubborn little first draft. 16 February 2004 goose girl was reviewed in February 8's New York Times Review of Books. See Reviews for a snippet from this review. (We never post complete reviews because they always include a plot summary, and I hate how they give away the entire story! I don't even look at the backs or jacket notes of books before reading them because I like being surprised.) If I happen to have any fans who are members of Noreascon Four or Torcon 3, I'm eligible for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. You can nominate eligible writers at http://www.noreascon.org/hugos/. And now back to writing while my little guy is asleep on my lap. Dang, I should've had breakfast when I had the chance. 6 February 2004 (redux) I guess it is official after all! Here's the press release: "Exciting News! Bloomsbury is thrilled to announce Shannon Hale's The Goose Girl is the recipient of the 2003 Josette Frank Award for fiction, given annually since 1943 by the Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College of Education. This award for fiction honors a book or books of outstanding literary merit in which children or young people deal in a positive and realistic way with difficulties in their world and grow emotionally and morally. Information will soon be posted on their web site." Wow! Very cool. I'm all abuzz and ga-ga mouthed. I love Bank Street. 6 February 2004 Good tidings, friends! All is well in the Hale household. Little baby growing up fast. I’m completely captivated by his every yawn, sneeze, and wiggle. The housework suffers, but he has allowed me a little time each day to keep writing, and the first draft of princess academy is coming along on schedule. I recently heard some exciting news about goose girl, but it doesn’t appear to be official yet, so I’ll wait to report. (You can see how excited I am, I guess, since I’m reporting that there’s something to eventually report. Or something.) If you have sent me an email and I haven’t replied, please know that I (a.) Didn’t receive your missive, or (b.) Replied but the email was bounced back (This happened most recently with Mietra—Sorry, Mietra, I tried!). I really do answer as quickly as I can any email I receive, and it’s so discouraging when I can’t respond. I’ve noticed by the emails I get that readers of goose girl are split fairly evenly between teenagers and adults. Who says young adult literature is just for kids?! 1 January 2004 Happy New Year! So happy to see this year sung in safely. Except for a certain Word mishap. My husband is even now trying to retrieve my last week’s of work on princess academy that was corrupted. This happened to me once with goose girl and twice with enna burning and it’s enough to make a girl cry. Every word you write when time is precious is a word I can’t afford to lose. My friend lost her 200+ page novel when her disc went sour on her and she had no back-up, so my few pages of loss are a small tragedy in comparison, but my how frustrating! I just finished reading Seabiscuit. I have never been a reader of Biography and was never interested in horse racing, and yet I loved this book. It’s another testimony to me that any story is fascinating in the hands of a good storyteller—and likewise a potentially good story can be easily ruined by a poor storyteller, as we’ve all seen too often at the movies. I think one of Hollywood’s most gifted storytellers is Joss Whedon. We bought the Firefly DVDs this Christmas and have been rewatching the episodes, and enjoying them even more the second or third time. Just hearing that theme song is enough to make me teary-eyed. The cancellation of that show is to my mind the greatest television tragedy ever. Great stories, amazing dialog, unique and interesting characters, the highest production values…I have this crazy hope that someone will realize their mistake and Firefly will continue production. I have a squirmy baby on my lap that would like a little more attention, please. My pleasure. 22 December 2003 The first week of December I delivered the final draft of enna burning to my editor, and the second week of December I delivered an 8-pound baby boy. He’s gorgeous! His name is Max and we couldn’t be more giddy to have him in our home. (I’ll tell you something, though—labor is no picnic.) I’m seeing double from lack of sleep, but who can complain when you look into the face of that little angel? I hope to be able to keep writing while Max has the occasional nap. princess academy is impatiently awaiting the next chapter, and I’m eager to write it. There’s quite an exciting part coming up. goose girl was released in the UK in November, and I got an email from a bookseller in New Zealand, which made my day. It seems all I’ve done for 2 weeks is nurse and change diapers, so the occasional word from the outside world is exhilarating. (I’m going to give myself a neck injury craning back to check on him every 2 minutes.) Happy holidays, everyone! And may the new year bring lots of good stories with great endings. 22 October 2003 This has been a loony autumn. For one thing, we’re still getting 85 degree weather, though we desperately need rain and should be expecting snow. I hate global warming. But mostly so many things have been going on at once--goose girl signings and such, editing enna burning, working full time, and getting fatter and fatter as my little wriggling parasite stretches my abdomen and insists he really is a human baby. All is lovely with goose girl. We got back on Sunday from a trip to New York where I got to do a signing at the legendary Books of Wonder bookstore with several other YA Fantasy authors. Jonathan Stroud was delightful and I’m eager to read The Amulet of Samarkand as soon as my husband can put it down. I also had an opportunity to visit the Bank Street Bookstore and sign stock, and had dinner with a host of librarians. I love librarians. I love libraries. I mean, free books! All you can read! It’s the ultimate sample platter. We like to do all our reading from library books, then purchase the books we really like to support the author. goose girl has gone back for printing numero tres, a very happy thing. The latest draft of enna burning looks to be healthy and vital, and I’m getting excited to devote my creative time to the next book. All is well in writing land, and my belly continues to bulge… 30 July 2003 It's here! the goose girl is finally live, steaming hot in your local bookstore. After such a long process, I scarcely comprehend that the day has at last arrived. It's been over 4 years since I began the first draft of this book. It's mighty satisfying to see it lovingly bound and on the shelf. Reviews have begun to appear, and I'm so relieved that they're positive. You send your baby out there, and you just never know what readers will think. One of my favorite reviews was an email from 12-year-old Chelsea in Alaska. Thanks, Chelsea! And one piece of good news even before the official release date— the goose girl is going in for a second printing. Even with the goose girl in stores, the work hasn't stopped. Besides publicity stuff for the book, I'm in the midst of editing book 2, enna burning, and working on a first draft of book 3. (Oh, and also working full-time at a day job.) It's good to keep writing, to remember that it's all about the process, and focus on the things I can control. And a bit of happy personal news—my husband and I are having a boy. We saw the little tyke wiggling on the ultrasound yesterday, and he looks good and healthy and sassy, as he should. 16 June 2003 La Fille D'Oie! We had word last week that the French publisher Universpoche is interested in buying French rights to the goose girl. How lovely to have the book in French! I would also dearly love to have a copy of La Chica de los Gansos one day. And perhaps a Sanskrit version... I received my first copy of the real, actual, live, bound book. It looks beautiful. This has been an interesting process for me. What I thought I wanted on my book cover, what I thought was important, is not at all how it turned out. But I’m very pleased. It’s a relief to have a smart editor with a great eye for covers who I can trust. It seems only appropriate that the year my first book is published we would also have a baby. My husband and I are expecting our first this winter. Already I’m pouchy and having to wear low riders and elastic waistbands. Nausea, headaches, cramps, joint pain…hopefully come trimester dos the hormone rampage will peter out and I can feel like a normal human being again—albeit a human being with a produce belly. (When my sister was pregnant, she used to sing, “It’s Joe Albertson’s supermarket, but the produce department is me!” Is that too vague a reference? Is Albertson’s regional? I don’t even know.) 27 March 2003 I’ve had so much good news and horrible news in the past two months I didn’t know what to write. Shall we start with the good? the goose girl cover is beautiful. Alison Jay, the cover artist, and Bloomsbury did a wonderful job. You can see it by going to the main goose girl page and clicking on the thumbnail. And in more good news, Bloomsbury has bought my second book, enna burning and a third unwritten book probably titled princess academy. I love working with Bloomsbury and my editor there, Victoria Arms (doesn’t she sound like an inn?). Right now I’m working with Victoria editing enna burning, an always difficult but rewarding process. And then there’s the bad news. Some things are such that they rebel against common labels like “bad news.” What can I call it? My sister was killed in a car accident in February. The last conversation we had was about the books. I was telling her the good news about the new sales to Bloomsbury, and she said, “What’s all this talk about a 2nd book? I’m still waiting for the first. And I want it, in my hot little hands, now.” She is an amazing, vibrant, immortal person and I cannot think of her as gone. Fortunately, my faith allows me peace and comprehension. It cannot, however, completely erase the heartache, and I wonder if that will ever go away. And then there’s War. My husband and I just returned from a week in Thailand. People asked where we were from, and when we said “United States,” they made gun noises. One person said, “We like you, please don’t bomb us.” It makes me very sad. I hope we are not all mourning for long. At such times, I am struck again by what I’ve believed all along--art is good. 16 December 2002 I received word that I’ve been awarded a Utah Arts Council Artist Grant based on a sample from the goose girl. This was both shocking and delightful. I didn’t open the awards letter for hours, never expecting the whole “Congratulations, Shannon, you’re a winner” line. Who knew one could get a grant for such a thing? Public support of the arts is a lovely craze, one that always seems on the brink of bankruptcy. I understand that in some countries they have artists and poets and such on their money instead of just a bunch of dead presidents. A splendid thought, but then again, who would we chose? Hemingway? Horrid thought. I might vote for Mark Twain if for no other reason than the mustache. 2 December 2002 Today my editor sent me a thumbnail sketch of the cover for the goose girl. I'm all stomach-fluttery and hand-waving thrilled. Alison Jay is such a talented artist and I'm so honored that she read the book before doing the cover. I've heard many authors complain that their cover artists just guess at what the story might be about. For me, as a new author, every bit of progress in the publication of this book is exciting, and each email I get with news or thumbnails or the like is a little Christmas present. 25 November 2002 I delivered the manuscript for a new book to my agent today. It feels so good to have a finished product! Of course, when is anything really finished? I should say that I delivered the fifth draft of a new book, and most likely will go through many more drafts before the end. I'm very excited about it. The book follows Enna, a minor character in the goose girl. (Ooh, she would hate to have me ever refer to her as "minor." I mean a "supporting character.") This new book takes place in Bayern about four years after the end of the first book. The working title is ENNA BURNING. My family (who is not allowed to read it yet, of course) keeps pestering me to tell them what the title means, but I'll never squeal...

books - news/events - mincemeat - shannon