squeetus

Misc.

My life this week:

• A/C broken for second time this month. Sleeping with all windows open is refreshing but also puts a fine layer of dust everywhere.
• No phone jacks working, shower flooded with first use, no water pressure so we can't use two faucets at the same time, water still leaking in basement, etc.
• 55 boxes scattered throughout our new house. I've stopped trying to find things. If it's not visible, it's lost for good. Does a human being really need this much stuff?
• Somehow wrote 5000 words of a new book in the last 24 hours (1000 words a day is good for me). That is awesome.
• And, it's a girl! Come January anyway. Little sweetie.

Large seats

(warning: the following entry contains a word that may be offensive to UK readers)

I'm sitting in my car, taking a pregnant lady rest from packing while husband and movers empty our condo into a moving van. It seems an appropriate moment to share with you something totally bizarre.

I can look at the stats for my website, such as how many unique visitors look at it each day (about 300), how long they stay (a few minutes), and the keyword phrases people used on search engines to find it. Most often it's "shannon hale" followed by "princess academy" and "squeetus". But recently, four different individuals found my site by searching for the phrase, I kid you not, "big fannys."

In the US, "fanny" is a fairly harmless, somewhat humorous word for rear end, but in the UK, I've been told that it's highly vulgar (which makes me wonder how any teacher in a UK school could teach Austen's Persuasion with a straight face [EDIT: I mean, Mansfield Park]). But no matter where you are, I find this extremely odd. How many people are out there searching for a site about big fannys? And how do they end up here?

I was afraid to do the obvious and do a google search on the phrase. I don't want to see any kind of nastiness that might pop up. But too curious, I did google "big fannys squeetus" and found the culprit text. On my book recommendations page, I list the fabulous picture book "Fanny's Dream" near the phrase "a big hit with our 1-year old." Ah-ha. But I have a feeling that those poor saps searching for big fannys and instead ended up at a YA lit writer's site were a bit disappointed. Or who knows? Maybe they took interest in my book list. Maybe they've changed their ways and are even at this moment checking out A Wrinkle in Time or Possession at their local library. Perhaps accidentally finding squeetus will change their lives for the better!

But the backlash? By writing this blog I'll forever be a prime target for anyone searching sites on big fannys. Such is my fate.

Wobbling around

I'm in a transitional place in my writing right now. My main project, book of a thousand days, is with my editor right now. My next project should be the next graphic novel, the psuedo-sequel to rapunzel's revenge. I spent a week working on it, but I just wasn't feeling it. Our house is upside-down as Dean and I start moving, packing up stuff, crazy new house/old house errands and chores. Until that settles down, most of our conversation is about house stuff, so it's hard to focus on graphic novel 2.

So because I'm completely obsessive and must always be working on a book (and because I have no time to waste before baby time), I went ahead and started the first draft of the new Bayern book. Whew. First drafts are VERY scary for me. I never feel so vulnerable as when I'm trying to lay down words on a blank screen. But it's also been fun to start revisiting the old characters, the old places. It's like going home. Since finishing river secrets, I've worked on book of a thousand days, austenland, and rapunzel, so I have a lot of moments and characters, words and scenes between me and my last trip to Bayern. It is lovely to return again.

Yesterday I received the copy edited austenland and have begun to read through it, checking all the changes the copy editor made. This part of the process is extremely important to me. It's a chance to just read the book like a reader, without making changes. But it can also be scary, because it's too late to change things and what if I'm disappointed! Fortunately, so far, I've really enjoyed the read. I think it's funny. It remains to be seen if anyone else will.

Besides austenland, currently reading: Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City. Very fun girl spy book.

Wr- words

We're in bed, I was just looking up some phone numbers I need to call in the morning (water leaking in our new home--oh, joy), when Dean says, "Can you think of any words that start with 'wr' that aren't cool?"

I think. "No, they're all cool."

Our list so far: writhe, wriggle, wren, write, wrinkle, wraith, wrath, wrest, wrack, wreak, wreck, wrong, wright. See? They're all cool. We're debating about wrist. I, personally, am a fan of wrist.

Today when we were driving (to go discover said leak in new house), I told Dean, "People who comment on my blog want me to travel to where they are so they can meet me. It's sad, really, when people meet me, they're sure to be disappointed."

Dean said, "Not disappointed. Disillusioned maybe."

Ah, the comforting words of those who know you best.

Star girl

I'm never sure about posting these sorts of things because it feels like tooting my own horn, but it also makes me so happy I want to share. Kirkus (a major review publication) reviewed river secrets and gave it a star! Review publications give starred reviews to the books that particularly stand out in their mind, so it's such an honor. Also, Horn Book reviewed river secrets favorably. They've never reviewed one of my books before, so that was also a big deal around here.

I try not to worry about reviews and that sort of thing. I really try to just stay focused on whatever project(s) I'm working on now and let the world take care of what I've already finished. But you can't help it, just a little. And I was really worried about the reactions to this one, so I'm SO relieved! Anyhoo, I'll paste in the Kirkus review below because it doesn't give away spoilers (I grit my teeth when reviews actually tell the ending...that happened a lot with goose girl). But be warned that there are enna burning spoilers.

RIVER SECRETS
«"A character from Goose Girl and Enna Burning takes center stage in this marvelous continuation. Razo becomes part of the Bayern guard that accompanies its ambassador Lady Megina to Tira. The Lady is nearly a hostage, as the mistrust and bitterness of Tirans to Bayern after their war makes for a fragile peace. Razo, 17, quick with a slingshot and with making friends, is surprised to be chosen, but warms to his role as spy. He's glad to be near his friend Enna, who has harnessed her fire-speaking abilities and whose role in the war is hidden from the Tirans. A subversive Tiran movement to rekindle the war catches Bayern's Own in attacks subtle and outright. Through it all, there is Razo's devotion to food and to his friends and his steadfast refusal to recognize his own gifts. Hale makes profound statements about war and peace, friends and strangers, men and women and all the different kinds of battle. Her language glimmers like firelight, like sunshine on water as she propels readers along a river of wonderful writing to the tumultuous and heart-tugging climax. "--Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW, August 15th

Goldilocks comes to call

So, I was just taking an afternoon nap when I hear a knock on my bedroom door. I lift up my eye mask (yes, I nap with an eye mask--I know, Dean thinks I'm a freak) and peer up when a complete stranger pokes his head in my room. Ah, the joys of selling one's house. I'd thought Dean and Max were downstairs, but they went to the park and so didn't get the call that an agent would be coming directly to show our condo. "It's like living in a fishbowl, isn't it?" the apologetic agent remarked to me after I dressed and emerged. Indeed it is.

In preparation for the move, we've been getting rid of old things we don't use anymore. One of those things was my grandpa's chair. It was an early version of the lounge chair and was most likely made in 1962. The material was an unpleasant brown plaid full of holes and the stuffing was almost gone, making it feel like I was sitting on rocks. But I was very sentimental about letting it go because it was the chair where I wrote most of my first four books. "Doesn't anyone want it?" I pleaded with my family. "NO!" came my family's rather direct reply. So off it went to the secondhand store. Funny, I don't feel so nostalgic about my first laptop.

(Ooh, I just felt the baby move!)

Saw Superman Returns last night. It's the first night out Dean and I have had in three months. Let me just say, I love Superman. I do. I love Superman. Also Batman. Who said, women want to date Batman but marry Superman? It's so true. And sometimes, I think that somehow I did.

I tried to get The Squeeter Pig out this weekend. I'd gone through about half my list of people who've signed up for it when hotmail shut me down. They think I'm a spammer because I was sending to so many addresses. I'm going to try it again today, but if you didn't get your copy, I'll link to it here tomorrow. And feel free to keep commenting on the past posts about Classics Only vs. Variety of Genres. I think the discussion has been fascinating.

A story for everyone

The belief that you should only teach the classics in high school is an assumption that has been, in my experience, largely unquestioned since before my parents went to school. I think that assumption is faulty. But I'm afraid I'm being a tad misunderstood from my last post, so I need to clarify.

If I said that NO classics should be taught in high school, that would be just as bad as the declaration that ONLY classics should be taught. The classics are the classics for a reason, and exposing kids to that area of literature is a worthy endeavor. Of course many young adults will love those books. In my current personal reading, I devour all kinds of books, including some classics (I recently read the Iliad, reread some Austen, and am pleasure reading The Tempest right now, along with the graphic novel Invincible). What I vehemently disagree with is that only one type of literature is being taught in most high schools (specifically in grades 10-12). That's stifling and creates some unwanted effects, such as a HUGE percentage of teens stopping reading of any kind as soon as they graduate.

For me, one of the main reasons to even have literature is because it creates options. Reading about different people, different situations, different words and places and emotions, creates new worlds of possibilities for the reader. The argument, "Teach the classics in high school and let kids read whatever they want on their own" is seriously problematic. Many teens don't have time to read during the school year outside of class or have any inclination. For many teens, their only exposure to books of any kind is what they're assigned. According to a recent study, reluctant readers cited their English teachers as their number one source of book recommendations. If we offer more types of books in class, more teens will find a genre they love and continue to read on their own after school and after high school.

I think it's a valid argument to say that a kid might like a book if she picks it up on her own but be prejudiced against it when it's assigned. However, I've spoken with many teachers who have had miserable success trying to interest their class in Steinbeck or Hemingway, Chaucer or Hawthorne, but when they offered a well-written young adult novel, the number of kids who finished it rose from 30% to 90% and the discussion became exciting. I don't poo-poo the classics because they're too hard for teens to read (though that can often be the case and should be considered), but because they were written in different times, for adults, and are often irrelevant to a teen's life today. Why should they care about many of these books? I think a carefully selected curriculm including some classics as well as other genres and young adult books would make a dramatic change in high school English classes.

So that you know where I'm coming from, I looked over all the assigned books from my years in high school English and here's what I found:

• every single story was generally depressing and ended badly (except the Odyssey and Dickens)
• not a one was humorous (of Shakespeare, we only studied the tragedies)
• 95% were written by white men from the US or Great Britain
• not a one could be considered any genre (i.e. horror, sci fi, fantasy, children's, mystery, detective, adventure, thriller...)
• not a one was written for teens or had a teen main character

Aren't there stunning works of literature that are also funny? Or have pictures? Or tell a crackin' good story? Or send the heroine on a wild adventure? Or involve romance? Or have been written in the past 20 years? Or include one or more dragons (why not)? Academia's refusal to allow any genres into the canon is getting tired.

The books assigned for or read in elementary and junior high schools tend to be broad and wonderful. Colleges are getting MUCH better, offering courses on contemporary literature or horror literature or graphic novels or whatever sparks the professor's fancy. But high schools are way behind. I do not blame the English teachers, not in the least. They work so hard and face incredible odds. This is a complicated issue that involves principals, those who set curriculm at the district level, irrate parents who complain if their children aren't reading the same books they were taught in high school, and a myriad of other obstacles. It will take time to change. But I truly, truly hope it will. Slowly. Book by book.

Someone asked what books I would put on a high school curriculm. Here's my stab at it.