So my book is now out a whole day! Wahoo! To continue with the celebration, my  friend Shaun interviewed me on his blog. Via modern technology he put his video questions alongside my video answers, and it’s like we’re there together! Pretty cool. So if you still can’t get Pieces of Us out of your head or want to know more what’s behind the story and the characters, check out this video interview on Shaun’s blog. Enjoy!

And I am also grateful that I will be joining a lot of them at this year’s NYC Teen Author Festival, created by David Levithan (one of those awesome envelope pushers). Imagine so many teen authors all in one room! For a week!

Here are the deets: From Monday March 26 through Saturday, March 31, authors of Teen Lit will be reading from their books, discussing issues they write about, saying what makes their characters tick. All will culminate in a MEGA author signing on April 1 at Books of Wonder. Check out the full schedule for all events here on the NYC Teen Author Festival FB page (and please re “like” the page even if you have before because there was some cooky FB stuff that erased the first page). I’m also posting it below if you want to scroll through.

Want to know what I’ll be doing there? Glad you asked! I’m so psyched to be part of the Saturday (March 31 from 2:50-4) symposium at the NYPL on 42nd street. The topic is Moments of Truth: Characters at a Crossroads about defining moments that changed our characters, and not only does the panel put me in amazing company (see the fab authors I’m with below!!) but the wonderfully talented E. Lockhart will be the moderator. What more can a girl ask for?? And, if you want a signed copy of PIECES OF US, I’ll also be at the Mega BOW signing on April 1 (I’ll be signing 1:45-2:30). Hope to see everyone there!

2012 NYC Teen Author Festival

Monday, March 26 (Mulberry Street Branch of the NYPL, 10 Jersey Street b/w Mulberry and Lafayette, 6-8): 

Plotting Dangerously: Doing What it Takes to Find the Story

Coe Booth
Jen Calonita
Paul Griffin
Deborah Heiligman
Melissa Kantor
Morgan Matson
Kieran Scott
Melissa Walker

moderator: David Levithan

Tuesday, March 27 (McNally Jackson Bookstore, 52 Prince Street, 7-8:30):
The Mutual Admiration Society Reading

Madeleine George
Ellen Hopkins
David Levithan
Jennifer Smith
John Corey Whaley

Wednesday. March 28 (42nd St NYPL, Bergen Forum, 6-8): 
Things Fall Apart: World Building and World Destroying in YA

Anna Carey
Sarah Beth Durst
Anne Heltzel
Jeff Hirsch
Andy Marino
Lauren McLaughlin
Lissa Price
Jon Skovron

moderator: Chris Shoemaker

Thursday, March 29:
The NYC Big Read

NOTE: SPECIFIC MANHATTAN LIBRARY LOCATIONS TO COME

Queens – Long Island City branch of the Queens Public Library (37-44 21 StreetLong Island City, NY 11101)

Tara Altebrando
Brent Crawford
Gina Damico
Jeff Hirsch
Andy Marino
Jon Skovron
Alecia Whitaker

Manhattan – Locations to come

Jen Calonita
Anna Carey
Matthew Cody
Jocelyn Davies
Melissa De La Cruz
Hilary Graham
Christopher Grant
Leanna Renee Hieber
Anne Heltzel
Gwendolyn Heasley
PG Kain
Kody Keplinger
Lauren McLaughlin
Sarah Mlynowski
Eugene Myers
Micol Ostow
Stephanie Perkins
Jessica Rotherberg
Lena Roy
Erin Saldin
Leila Sales
Eliot Schrefer
Samantha Schutz
Mark Shulman
Arlaina Tibensky

Brooklyn – Brooklyn Public Library, central branch, Grand Army Plaza
Kate Ellison
Gayle Forman
Melissa Kantor
Barry Lyga
Michael Northrop
Matthue Roth
Victoria Schwab
Melissa Walker

Bronx — Bronx Library Center – 310 East Kingsbridge Road, Bronx
Elizabeth Eulberg
Paul Griffin
Alissa Grosso
David Levithan
Sarah Darer Littman
Kieran Scott
John Corey Whaley

Friday March 30, Symposium (42nd Street NYPL, 2-6)

2:00 – Introduction

2:10-3:00: Being Friends With Boys

Elizabeth Eulberg
Jenny Han
Terra Elan McVoy
Stephanie Perkins

moderator: Sarah Mlynowski

3:00-3:50: The Writer as Time Traveler: Writing the Past While Sitting in the Present

Judy Blundell
Matthew Cody
Jennifer Donnelly
Leanna Renee Hieber
Suzanne Weyn

moderator: David Levithan

3:50-4:40: No Ordinary Love: How to Create a Satisfying Love Story and a Satisfying Supernatural World at the Same Time

Andrea Cremer
Melissa de la Cruz
Jeri Smith-Ready
Victoria Schwab
Margaret Stohl

moderator: Barry Lyga

4:40-5:30: New Voices Spotlight

Emily Danforth
Kate Ellison
Lucas Klauss
Carley Moore
Aleica Whittaker

Friday March 30, Barnes & Noble Reader’s Theater/Signing (Union Square B&N, 33 E 17th St, 7-8:30)

Andrea Cremer
Emily Danforth
Lucas Klauss
Stephanie Perkins
Siobhan Vivian
John Corey Whaley

moderator: David Levithan

Saturday March 31, Symposium (42nd Street NYPL, 1-5)

1:00 – Introduction

1:10-2:00 – Rising to the Challenge: YA Characters Facing Down What Life Throws Them

Tara Altebrando
Matt Blackstone
Susane Colasanti
Kody Keplinger
Siobhan Vivian
K.M. Walton

moderator: David Levithan

2:00-2:50 — Killer Instincts: Death, Murder, and the YA Novel

Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Gina Damico
Kim Harrington
Barry Lyga

moderator: Marie Rutkoski

2:50-4:00 — Moments of Truth: Characters at a Crossroads

Natasha Friend
Margie Gelbwasser
Jennifer Hubbard
Stewart Lewis
Sarah Darer Littman
Jess Rothenberg
Daisy Whitney

moderator: E. Lockhart

4:00-5:00 – Looking Forward to Fall

David Levithan
Marie Rutkoski
Eliot Schrefer
…and more authors reading from their upcoming books

Sunday April 1: Our No-Foolin’ Mega-Signing at Books of Wonder (Books of Wonder, 1-4): 

1-1:45:
Jennifer Barnes (Every Other Day, Egmont)
Matt Blackstone (A Scary Scene in a Scary Movie, FSG)
Caroline Bock (LIE, St. Martin’s)
Jen Calonita (Belles, Little Brown)
Anna Carey (Eve, Harper)
Susane Colasanti (So Much Closer, Penguin)
Andrea Cremer (Bloodrose, Penguin)
Gina Damico (Croak, HMH)
Emily Danforth (The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Harper)
Jocelyn Davies (A Beautiful Dark, Harper)
Sarah Beth Durst (Drink, Slay, Love, S&S)
Elizabeth Eulberg (Take a Bow, Scholastic)
Gayle Forman (Where She Went, Penguin) 
Natasha Friend (For Keeps, Penguin)
Kim Harrington (Perception, Scholastic)
Barry Lyga (I Hunt Killers, Little Brown)
Daisy Whitney (The Rivals, Little Brown)

1:45-2:30
Margie Gelbwasser (Pieces of Us, Flux)
Alissa Grosso (Popular, Flux)
Jenny Han (We’ll Always Have Summer, S&S)
Leanna Renee Hieber (Darker Still, Sourcebooks)
Anne Heltzel (Circle Nine, Candlewick)
Jeff Hirsch (The Eleventh Plague, Scholastic)
Jennifer Hubbard (Try Not to Breathe, Penguin)
Melissa Jensen (The Fine Art of True or Dare, Penguin)
PG Kain (Famous for Thirty Seconds, S&S)
Melissa Kantor (The Darlings in Love, Hyperion)
Kody Keplinger (Shut Out, Little Brown)
Lucas Klauss (Everything You Need to Survive the Apocalypse, S&S)
David Levithan (Every You, Every Me, RH)
Stewart Lewis (You Have Seven Messages, RH)
Sarah Darer Littman (Want to Go Private?, Scholastic)
Elisa Ludwig (Pretty Crooked, S&S)

2:30-3:15
Carolyn Mackler (The Future of Us, Penguin)
Andy Marino (Unison Spark, FSG)
Wendy Mass (13 Gifts, Scholastic)
Terra Elan McVoy (The Summer of Firsts and Lasts, S&S)
Lauren McLaughlin (Scored, RH)
Sarah Mlynowski (Ten Things We Did, RH)
Carley Moore (The Stalker Chronicles, FSG)
E. C. Myers (Fair Coin, Pyr)
Michael Northrop (Plunked, Scholastic)
Micol Ostow (What Would My Cell Phone Do?, Penguin)
Stephanie Perkins (Lola and the Boy Next Door, Penguin)
Jessica Rotherberg (The Catastrophic History of You and Me, Penguin)
Marie Rutkoski (The Jewel of the Kalderash, FSG)
Erin Saldin (The Girls of No Return, Scholastic)
Leila Sales (Past Perfect, S&S)
Kieran Scott (He’s So Not Worth It, S&S)

3:15-4:00
Melissa De La Cruz (Lost in Time, Hyperion)
Alyssa Sheinmel, (The Lucky Kind, RH)
Jennifer Smith (The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, Little Brown)
Jeri Smith-Ready (Shift, S&S)
Jon Skovron (Misfit, Abrams)
Victoria Schwab (The Near Witch, Hyperion)
Mark Shulman (Are You Normal?, National Geographic)
Margaret Stohl (Beautiful Chaos, Little Brown)
Arlaina Tibensky (And Then Things Fell Apart, S&S)
Siobhan Vivian (The List, Scholastic)
Melissa Walker (Small Town Sinners, Bloomsbury)
K.M. Walton (Cracked, S&S)
John Corey Whaley (Where Things Come Back, S&S)
Alecia Whitaker (The Queen of Kentucky, Little Brown)
Maryrose Wood (The Unseen Guest, Harper)
Natalie Zaman and Charlotte Bennardo (Sirenz, Flux)

Join Cheryl Rainfield (SCARS, HUNTED) and me for a Twitter Chat Monday, March 5 at 7 PM, as we discuss the need for realistic YA, writing about painful issues, the importance of breaking the silence and more. We’ll be using the hashtag #BreakSilence, so if you use something like TweetChat it’ll be easy to follow along. Ask us questions during the chat, or send your questions ahead of time to twitterchat @ jkscommunications (dot) com.

5 lucky #BreakSilence Twitter chat participants will win 1 of these 5 prizes:

PRIZES:
1 signed copy of PIECES OF YOU + signed bookmarks
2 signed copies of HUNTED (paperback Canadian version)
2 ebook review copies of HUNTED

Tweet #BreakSilence and help spread the word.

When Margie Gelbwasser wrote her first YA novel, INCONVENIENT (Flux, 2010), her dad said, “The writing is nice, but there are very few Jewish alcoholics.” A Russian woman who read it said, “Yes, to Americans it may seem like the mom is an alcoholic, but she isn’t really.” And then there were those who thanked her for telling their story. Too much of real life is kept behind closed doors, with victims thinking their plight is 
the norm or that this only happens to them. Margie’s second novel,PIECES OF US (Flux, March 2010), deals with cyberbullying, abuse and dating violence.

She’s been told “These things may happen, but they shouldn’t be written about.” It’s the silence that causes cycles to repeat. “Too dark” for some, is another’s reality. By allowing the “too real,” victims gain strength. Confront the realistic in YA and #BreakSilence.

Visit Margie at her website.

YA author Cheryl Rainfield is an incest and ritual abuse survivor. Her abusers frequently told her that they’d kill her if she talked, and since she’d seen them murder other children, she knew they could kill her, so became became terrified to talk. Writing became her safe way of “speaking”, her way to have a voice. Books, too, helped her survive–helped her escape the abuse she living, helped her dream and hope, and in some small ways helped her know she wasn’t alone. But she never fully found her own experiences reflected in books, and that’s why Cheryl wrote SCARS and HUNTED. She wrote the books she needed as a teen, and couldn’t find. She talked about the things others never seemed to talk about–self-harm, sexual abuse, being queer (in SCARS) and cults, torture, bullying, and homophobia (in HUNTED).

Meghan Cox Gurden in the WSJ called SCARS (and many other YA books) “too dark.” But Cheryl lived “too dark.” Many teens now are living “too dark.” We need reflections of our own experiences to know that we’re not alone, and to give us some hope that things can get better. Join us and #BreakSilence.

Visit Cheryl at her website.

“Since Valentine’s Day is around the corner, I think it’s only appropriate to pay homage to those we love. But instead of our better halves, family members, and friends, this blog chain will be all about loving the haters:write a love letter to your favorite literary villain/villain-ish character. It can be short, long, serious, funny. You can use song lyrics or poems instead. Choice is totally yours

I love the idea of writing to a villain, and here is a letter to one of my faves. Be sure to check out Tere’s before me and Jon’s next.

My dearest Gargamel,

As a child, my sister and I watched you every Saturday morning while you pondered and planned for yet a new way to destroy the smurfs. A part of you detested their jolly, smurfy demeanors (which I get; I mean how can things be smurfy all the time?), and another just wanted to eat them. It’s the latter emotion that confused me. Why? Why did you think they would be tasty? To each his own, of course, but then you had to get poor Azrael into it. I think your motives confounded her too. After all, why would a cat want to eat a smurf?!

The thing is, dear Gargamel, your frustration amused me. There you would be trying to create one contraption after another, only to be foiled again. After a while I started to wonder if you were sabotaging yourself on purpose. Don’t feel bad. You wouldn’t be the first to fall for the prey. But what else could I think? Every time you’d catch smurf, you’d spend precious minutes muttering threats when you could have just eaten it there on the spot.

I hope you had a good Valentine’s Day, Gargamel. And don’t give up hope. One day you’ll get to taste the smurfy ones–that is if you really want to. If you want to know the truth, though, I think it’s all an act. They need an enemy; you happen to be it. You can let the idea go and just be friends with them. I won’t tell anyone. Promise.

Your friend,

Margie

Today is one month to the release date of PIECES OF US!! Wahoo!! To celebrate and get everyone hyped up (or to spread my hype….), I’m throwing a contest! Winners will receive a signed ARC of POU and a signed copy of POU! Contest will run until February 29. Here is how it works.

1. Go to Flux’s website and read the excerpt from PIECES OF US. This is from the final copy and it’s different than the ARC! So some of it has never been seen before!

2. THEN, come back here and leave a comment about what you read.

3. And that is it. Canada and U.S. entrants only, please. Oh, and please spread the word!

And now I wanted to share my story. When I was in high school, some boys thought it would be funny to call me a whore, slut, harlot (we were studying Chaucer and the 1200s that year)–I hadn’t even kissed anyone yet. I ignored it at first because I knew they were just being stupid. My friends thought it was funny because of my inexperience and told me I shouldn’t care. I didn’t. For a while. But one day, I just broke down crying because it was too much. They stopped, and I let the incidents pass. A few years later, I started college. I was excited to start fresh with new kids who didn’t know me or my small town. I met great people, went to some parties, kissed a few boys at said parties. Apparently, this last thing gave people new ammo. I heard from friends that people from back home had asked them if it was true that I had become easy and a slut. My friends found the whole thing amusing because “it isn’t true, so who cares?” They were only words, right? Why should it matter? But it did. Eventually, other things proved more exciting to gossip about, and eventually, I put all of that to the back of my mind.

In the last few years, however, with bullying–especially digital–on the rise, I thought about this stuff again. I thought about how lucky I was that this was 1990s and not 2011. How lucky I was that the words disappeared after they were uttered instead of living forever in cyberspace or people’s phones. Of traveling by phone or mouth from person to person, instead of to hundreds or more with just one click. That’s sobering, isn’t it? If I was a teen now, all of the above would have been much worse. There would not just be rumors of me kissing boys at parties, there would be photos as “proof” spreading like wildfire, posted on people’s FB pages.

My next novel is called PIECES OF US and will be published by Flux in March, and my experiences and those of other teens were the inspirations. In it, one of the main characters–Katie– is told to perform sexual acts or risk the release of another damning video. Bullies bank on victims’ fears, rely on the victims not telling, not fighting back. Victims think they can’t. They think they CAN’T tell anyone or say no. Or they think they are left without a choice–fight back or have a video/text/sexy pic exposed. It doesn’t have to be either or. There is another MC in the book–Alex. He is a misogynistic, crass, abuser. He is also Katie’s boyfriend. He is the type of guy who puts virgins on a pedestal, who defines worth by what a girl will or will not do. He abuses Katie and she keeps going back to him because she feels she deserves it. He was hard to write, and from what readers said, equally hard to read. So why did I do it? Because there ARE guys like that. I’ve known guys like that. Many women have known guys like that. It is important they don’t stay hidden. It is important people can recognize them and point them out. It is important they are fought.

It is a different world today than in the ’90s, but people are not all that different. Victims need support and need to know people will listen. That no amount of bullying is ok. That nothing is too small. If it hurts you, it’s not OK.

“Post pictures, songs, movie clips, poems, or novel excerpts that make you feel. Feel what, you ask? Feel anything. Happy. Sad. Angry. Nostalgic. Hopeful. Hopeless. Jealous. Joyful.

I have read in several different places that YA novelist John Green said of his latest novel, The Fault In Our Stars that he wants to make his readers “Feel All The Things.” I would love that someone could go through this blog chain and through what we all choose to post have that same Feel All The Things feeling.”

Before I post, I want to say I completely agree with Green. I would say most–if not all–writers do. I’ve had some issues (uh, like needer a thicker skin issues) with some reviews for PIECES OF US, my YA novel that’s coming out in March. Seems like those who like it, REALLY like it, and those who hate it, uh, they REALLY (and I mean REALLY) hate it. So after I penned yet another e-mail to two of my close friends about this, they both wrote back the same thing. “You want this. You’re making people react. You’re really making them feel.” And isn’t that what I wanted? It says something when people react.

Here are some pics that make me feel happy and maybe you.

How cute is this loris? It looks a little scared and makes me want to hold him.

This is my kid (4) dressed up as Wolverine and me dressed up as Batgirl. I love the pic of him because his imagination is awesome and he LOVES dressing up as superheroes, pirates, you name it. And the pic of me? Well, it makes me happy because it was fun doing it and the way my little guy looked at me (like I was all kinds of awesome and amazing) makes me want to wear this for him all the time.

The Breakfast Club is one of my favorite movies ever and the song from it rocks.

The Breakfast Club on YouTube

I loved the ’80s and nineties too. So here are some ’90s trends too. Ah, nostalgia.

The Nineties on YouTube

That’s all for now…. For more emotional stuff check out Tere’s post before mine and Jon’s post next.

“Imagine the home(s) where you grew up, and start drawing a floor plan. As you draw, memories will surface. Grab onto one of those memories and tell us a story.”

When I was in my late twenties, my parents sold the house I spent most of my life in and moved to another one in the same town. Shortly after, my husband and I bought a house in this town as well (my sis and her family live here too and I guess all of us can’t stay away from each other), and it’s a few blocks away from my childhood home. While I haven’t been inside it since my parents sold it, I pass it often on walks and show my son the outside of the house his mommy grew up in. The new owners changed the siding and put a garden in the back, and removed the rose bushes–one of my favorite things about this house–from the front, but I still think of it as mine. And while I’m sure there are changes inside as well, in my memory, it will always look as I remember it. Join me on a tour….

The backyard has a deck overlooking the grass, trees, and flowers. I practiced my cheerleading cartwheels on that grass. At my sweet sixteen, two of my friends shared their first kisses with boys they liked behind the trees on that grass. Beyond the fence surrounding the backyard is the bike path I used to walk on my way home from junior high and high school. On that bike path, I first learned to ride a two-wheeler. Past the bike path is my elementary school and the most amazing grassy hill. For years, we went sledding on that hill. Now, teens go snowboarding, and I took my now four year old on that double hill for his first sledding experience. He was much braver than me, moving his sled to every possible ramp and bump.

Ready to go back inside? The first floor has my older sister’s room. The wallpaper has stars, and the bed, while not the sturdiest one in the world always welcomed me whenever I was scared to sleep on my own. Upstairs, was my parents room, and the powder room. I was not into make-up, but that room was amazing. It had lights around the mirror like a movie star’s and I spent many hours twirling around on the spinny chair and checking out that mirror. No photos, please. Attached to the powder room is my bedroom. It was an addition to the house, and I had my first sleepover (6th grade) there. The carpet was baby blue, and I had my own bathroom. And for my 18th birthday, one of my best friends stopped by while I was at work and left roses on my bed. He was the first boy to ever give me roses. Before we go back downstairs, take a look out the window to the trees outside. In the fall, the colors of the leaves look so pretty.

Let’s pass the kitchen on the way out. If my grandma is there, there is a plate of homemade sugar cinnamon cookies by the stove. Grab one or two or three. Come again, and don’t forget to check out the chalk drawings on the sidewalk outside. Today it’s a hopscotch board.

Thanks for joining me today. If you didn’t visit Tere’s house yet, please go there, and then take a tour of the rest of the chain if you missed it.

“So here’s my topic: What conditions do you need to get your best writing done? Closed door, crowded coffee house? Computer or notebook? Can you just sit down to write, or do you need to wait for the time to be right?”

When I was in high school, I picked up my journal when angst hit. Friend troubles, parent issues, boy heartbreak–my journal was my go to place for poetry or short stories (I was never the write down bare thoughts kind of girl; all had to be said through poems or a story). I also never just wrote anywhere. In those down moments, I’d go to my room, close the door, turn out all lights except for a reading light, wrap myself in blankets and write. My family knew not to bother me (but they did anyway). Sometimes, I’d be there for hours, and when I was done, while I never felt better immediately, it usually sparked something within that eventually got me out of my funk.

These days, I can’t do that. I have a husband and a four-year-old and neither would be thrilled if I just picked up and went to write in my room because the mood struck me. Too bad. So I have to plan. I write when my son is in school or if I arrange for a day ahead of time with hubby so he knows he’s on duty. And deadlines are great because they motivate me. With the schedule above, I try hard to produce when I have the set time, but my brain wanders and I can’t always focus. When I have a deadline, I always focus, usually because I have consecutive days where I write.

I did start carrying a notebook with me, though, and when a thought strikes (like when I’m waiting for my son to be done with gymnastics or if his pre-k is running late or Hubby is driving us somewhere) I write it down immediately. Writing by hand has also cleared my head when I’ve been stumped.

But what would I really love? The best way I can perform if given the choice? A weekend writing retreat. I LOVE these and it’s been so so long. It doesn’t have to be formal. Usually, it’s just a friend or two getting together at a hotel or shore house to write, write, write. I want another so badly. Maybe I’ll plan for one soon….

How about you? Share your ideal writing situation then check out Shaun’s post from yesterday.

This is the month in creating writing goals and making big accomplishments. What is your greatest accomplishment — in writing, your life or perhaps something incidental that had a big effect on you?

For once, I didn’t have to think before coming up with answer. Hands down, my son is my biggest accomplishment. He turned four in July, and teaches me things daily. He has a terrific sense of humor, is very silly, focused, smart, athletic (yep, don’t think he got that from either me or my husband), kind, persistent, and a host of other things. Before I had him, my main goal was getting published. Succeeding as a writer is something that is still very important to me, but being there for my little guy, guiding him, letting him teach me, is EVERYTHING. And, because of him, my professional successes gain new meaning. I want him to know he can accomplish anything he desires as long as he works at it. I want him to know he doesn’t have to settle for one thing–he can be so many things. Right now, he wants to be a construction worker, fireman, policeman, landscaper, ambulance worker, and most recently a cowboy. I’m sure tomorrow there will be a new profession added to the list. Why not?

As for me, I tell him I’m a mommy, a writer, a teacher. I started adjuncting at a college this fall, something I always wanted to do. My first YA came out in Nov. 2010. My next YA will be out in March. He’s been to bookstores with me and has gotten excited when he saw my book on a shelf. And I’m excited too. But not just because the book is there, but because my little man thinks it’s awesome, and HE’S proud of ME. And that makes me feel more accomplished than anything.

Share your biggest accomplishment, and then check out Tere’s post from yesterday and Shaun’s post tomorrow.

“Who is your favorite monster?”

I always liked watching scary movies, but can’t say I loved those monsters. But the monster who always creeped me out was The Rack from Buffy. That’s the dude who got Willow hooked on drugs. What freaked me out about him was that he was real as opposed to monster. Yes, he existed in some different realm, in an area that moved constantly and only those who needed the “magic” could find him, but he looked human. And, he was symbolic of a drug dealer. I always found “monsters” who could exist in our world far scarier than those like Freddy or Jason.

Want more creepy? Check out Tere’s fave monster here and tune into Shaun’s spooky pick tomorrow.