Win A Signed Copy of Waiting To Score

I feel like giving away a book. So. I will act on my whim and do it!! To be more precise, I will give away a copy of WAITING TO SCORE.

All you have to do is leave a comment on this very blog. Easy peasy, yes??

I will draw a name on May 1. Because May is Spring. And Spring is happy. And happy means giving away a book!!!

Must SEE for Children's Writers!

This just in from BETHANY HEGEDUS, author of BETWEEN US BAXTERS and co-editor at Hunger Mountain

Manuscript critique auction on e-bay with GREAT AUTHORS/PLAYWRIGHTS!

Please join us for the Hunger Mountain Spring Fundraising Auction, featuring manuscript critiques with notable authors and agents, and limited edition letterpress broadsides. All items will be available at: http://stores.shop.ebay.com/thehungermountainstore beginning at noon EST on May 2nd. Bidding ends at noon EST on Saturday, May 9th. One-on-one critiques in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, writing for children, and writing for the stage will be conducted by phone, email or mail. This is a great way to study with a writer you admire and support non-profit literary publishing!

Not only are we offering an opportunity to work with authors such as Michael Martone, David Jauss, David Wojahn, Donna Jo Napoli and Tim Wynne-Jones, we also have a full-length children’s/YA fiction critique donated by literary agent Mark McVeigh, founding member of the McVeigh Agency, as well as a middle grade/YA critique offered by Tracy Marchini, agent assistant at Curtis Brown, Ltd. Picture book authors and illustrators Laura McGee Kvasnosky and Marion Dane Bauer will also be offering their expertise. Been toiling away on a script or stage production? Bid on a full-length play critique with playwright Gary Moore. Sue William Silverman is offering a full-length creative nonfiction manuscript critique, complete with a complimentary signed copy of her latest book Fearless Confessions: A Writer’s Guide to Memoir.

Other authors offering critiques in the auction include Philip Graham, Jess Row, Thomas Christopher Greene, Natasha Saje, Xu Xi, along with children’s and young adult authors Sarah Ellis, Martine Leavitt, and more. Also available are signed broadsides from the Stinehour Broadside Award Series including work by authors Alice Hoffman, Neil Shepard, and David Rivard and Lucia Perillo. These letterpress broadsides are all signed and numbered, limited edition, and frame worthy, making them the perfect gift for anyone who appreciates the artistry of literature! All purchases are charitable in support of Hunger Mountain's non-profit mission to cultivate engagement with and conversation about the arts by publishing high-quality, innovative literary and visual art by both established and emerging artists, and by offering opportunities for interactivity and discourse.

Thanks for your support and please pass this announcement along far and wide!

http://stores.shop.ebay.com/thehungermountainstore

Dogs in Clothes

I have mentioned Meeko.
Exhibit A.



Until recently we have been a big dog family. And we would never put clothes on our big dog. She would have been ashamed. Embarrassed. Mocked by her peers. But now we have a little dog. So cute. Not so bright. But so cute.

I have wandered past the clothing displays in pet stores. The cute little booties. The Harley Davidson Leather Jackets for Dogs. And I have resisted.

But then last night I took a t shirt off of a teddy bear and put it on Meeks, just to see what she'd look like. And she was cute. Yes...cuter even than this. If I do say so myself. Hee hee.



I haven't gone there yet. But I'm contemplating, which is half way there, right?

Maybe a shirt like this?




Better yet. I think I'll make her a shirt to promote my book! Now there's an idea.

My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters

Is this a great title or what?? In my case, it would be My Big Butt and Other Natural Disasters. But. I digress.

About My Big Nose And Other Natural Disasters

Seventeen-year-old Jory Michaels wakes up on the first day of summer vacation with her same old big nose, no passion in her life (in the creative sense of the word), and all signs still pointing to her dying a virgin. In spite of her driving record (it was an accident!), Jory gets a job delivering flowers and cakes to Reno's casinos and wedding chapels. She also comes up with a new summer goal: saving for a life-altering nose job. She and her new nose will attract a fabulous boyfriend. Jory survives various summer disasters like doing yoga after sampling Mom's Cabbage Soup Diet, enforced-mother-bonding-with-crazy-nose-obsessed-daughter night, and discovering Tyler's big secret. But will she learn to accept herself and maybe even find her passion, in the creative (AND romantic!) sense of the word?

Now for my OFFICIAL DEB QUESTIONS!!

How did you come up with the fab idea for MY BIG NOSE AND OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS and how long did it take you to write it?

My initial idea came from real life experiences--a horrible high school job disaster and my dislike of my own nose. I wrote the book during National Novel Writing Month. And then spent some time on revisions.

Nano is so great for getting stuff done Now..writing for teens must bring back alot of memories... tell us about something traumatizing and/or embarrassing that happened to you when you were a teen?

So many to choose from! At the end of my freshman year I tried out for the dance team. I'm not very athletic and I didn't have too much dance experience, but I wanted to wear one of those cute little skirts. Plus, my mom (a teacher at the time) was the coach. At tryouts, I went to ask my mom a question. For some reason, she thought I needed, ahem, feminine supplies. She handed me a few quarters. Argh! She wasn't even listening to me. I stuck the quarters in my pocket and forgot about them.

Until it was my turn. And the music started for the kick routine. Clink. Clink. Clink. Legs flying, arms flapping like a sick chicken, quarters jingling in my pocket--it was disastrous! I did not make the team.

(I did make the team as a sophomore after a humbling year of my curvy self taking ballet lessons with prepubertal girls--but that's another story.)

Well. You tried and that counts for something!!What would be the worst thing that could happen to Jory?

Having to wear a big bandaid across her nose (I know because this has happened to me--more than once).

Gah!!If someone close to you wanted to write a book, like a child or a loved one, what would you tell them?

Do it! Just start putting words on paper and don't stop until you're finished. You can make it good later on. What are you waiting for? Get started!

A woman of action, excellent. Lastly what do you think your Jory will do for a living when she's grown up?

I think Jory will do something creative--maybe graphic design. But she'd also make a great psychologist!

Thanks for stopping by Sydney. The book sounds like a must read!!! I know I've got it on my TO BUY list!!

MORE ABOUT SYDNEY
Sydney Salter held a variety of jobs before becoming a full-time writer, including her brief stint delivering pies and flowers, wrecking vans, and destroying wedding cakes in Reno, Nevada. Sydney now lives in Utah with her husband, two daughters, two cats, and two big Bernese Mountain dogs. She loves reading, writing, traveling, and, of course, baking and decorating cakes (but not driving them anywhere).

Wise Words that Aren't Mine but I Kind of Wish They Were

"When we turn away from tough material in stories that kids face every day in real life, we take ourselves off the short list of people to turn to. Kids would much rather we found ways to discuss those tough issues than to pretend they don't exist. They will always come up in real life, it seems to me we want to be there when they do. Kids say over and over that we don't understand. Why don't we see if we can prove them wrong once in a while?"

--Chris Crutcher

Friday Five

1. First of all, how can it be Friday already? Superson was home sick one day and that always results in the loss of a day (in my head, which is easily confused apparently). But --I have been making my word count goals, even the day Superson was home! Yay. JE.

2. Jill Corcoran is my new agent and she is made of awesome.

3. Superson and I got hubby a Wii for his birthday because he claimed we were the only family in the world who didn't have one. Um. No. But we got him one anyways. The only problem is that our TV has something wrong with it and everything from the DVD player or game console is blue. Undeterred, SS and Hub played Wii golf last night. In wavy, fuzzy blue. I made a Mii. Which cracked me up. I didn't even make her really skinny, but I wanted to.

4. Meeko has GROWN and is badly in need of obedience training. She is trying to convince me otherwise with her wiley ways but I wont' be fooled!


5. I am so sick of snow. I don't ski. I don't have snow shoes. I'm done with tobogganing. Snowmen are over. I want Spring. I want sun. I want beaches. I want sunscreen and hot sticky nights with no bed covers and shorts. No more mittens. No more winter boots. GO AWAY SNOW.

BETWEEN US BAXTERS, by Bethany Hegedus

ABOUT BETWEEN US BAXTERS
It’s hard to be a "Black Sheep Baxter," at least for 12-year-old Polly. From a poor white family, Polly’s best friend, Timbre Ann Biggs, is black, making them the only "salt-and-pepper" friends in town. Her mom keeps secrets, her dad turns to the "devil’s drink," and her rich, mean Meemaw makes Sunday dinners a chore. But in that fall of 1959, life in quiet Holcolm County starts to heat up. One by one, thriving colored businesses burn to the ground. When someone throws a note wrapped around a brick through the window of Biggs Repair, Polly worries that Timbre Ann will be blinded by the color of her skin and forget they were ever as close as Polly’s mom and Timbre Ann’s Aunt Henri have always been. When a tragic fire brings everything to a head, the spotlight falls on Polly’s family. Sensitively painting a vivid portrait of the Jim Crow South, Polly’s inspiring story captures the defiant spirit of youth in an oppressive small town, just as the seeds of the Civil Rights Movement begin to sprout.

ABOUT BETHANY
Bethany Hegedus has spent time above and below the Mason-Dixon Line. While she currently makes her home in the New York area, she spent her formative years in Georgia. Bethany cares deeply about kids, having once been a high school teacher and also a youth advocate. She serves as a mentor in the PEN Prison Writing Program and holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is co-editor of the Children’s and YA section of the literary magazine, Hunger Mountain. Between Us Baxters is her first young adult novel.

BTW- Bethany is my debut sister with Westside, and I adore her. She's had RAVE reviews from Booklist and School Journal Library and is an amazing speaker! Her book is perfect for schools. Now. For the questions!

How did you come up with the fab idea for BETWEEN US BAXTERS and how long did it take you to write it?

I was impacted greatly by my time teaching in the South. I taught at a high school in the mid-nineties where the Klan was still active this hit me hard. I have long been a studier of the Civil Rights Movement and when I moved from Georgia to New York City the story began to spill out of me. I started writing it when I first started writing, about 8 years ago. Then it was titled: Night Whispers, and had a completely different storyline. Timbre Ann was a boy—Damascus. Mama was dead. And Dadddy, oh that dear Daddy was quite the bad, bad man.

The storyline came from the character of Polly. She is different in Between Us Baxters than she is in Night Whispers, but she remained spunky, determined, and very, very flawed. To me the book is about her, and her obstacles in loving who she deems is her family; blood or chosen.

Such great stuff!!! So, writing for pre-teens must bring back a lot of memories... tell us about something traumatizing and/or embarrassing that happened to you when you were young?

Oh, goodness! So much. Baxters bridges that preteen gap so as a preteen…so at that age my most total mortification came when I got my first period in the middle of gym class. Our uniforms were white shorts, blue tops. We were square dancing (how is that a sport?) but we were, and my partner—A BOY—had to tell me I had something on my shorts. Scarred for life!

OH NO!! Nightmare stuff. But hey...you survived, right!!! So...what would be the worst thing that could happen to Polly?

Polly’s story is riddled with bad things happening: being ridiculed for wearing her best friend, Timbre Ann’s—a black girl’s—hand-me-downs; spraining her ankle; witnessing a series of fires breaking out; and her friendship with Timbre Ann deteriorating. The worst thing that could happen to Polly does…and she has to see her part as well as others in it.

Poor Polly. If someone close to you wanted to write a book, like a child or a loved one, what would you tell them?

Go for it! Plumb your imagination. Do the work. Study. Revise. Rewrite. Throw pages away. Don’t give up and don’t take “No” for an answer. Keep telling yourself YES and everything else will fall into place. Sounds corny…but believe it into being.

Good advice. Okay, lastly... what do you think Polly will do for a living when she's "grown up"?

Oh, love this! I can see Polly as a teacher, a lawyer, a writer, a nurse. Whatever she becomes after leaving the pages of Between Us Baxters I believe she can handle.

So that's it! A must read. Thanks for stopping by Bethany!

Between Us Baxters by Bethany Hegedus
Westside Books, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-934813-02-7

PEERS AND PEEPS

(and Johnny and Kurtis too!)

One of the unexpected bonuses of being published in 2009 for me was being able to join a group of YA Debut authors known as, THE DEBS.

We have privately shared stories, the ups and downs of being a newly published author. The fun, the anguish the exciting stuff, the scary stuff. We trade ARCS and we cheer each other on and offer tissues if ever one is needed. It's about writing, but it's also about being able to relate to each other in so many ways that also go beyond writing.

I feel so privileged to be a part of such a talented and wonderful group of writers, all with YA books coming out in 2009. There's a vast selection of stories and styles and genres within the YA/MG categories but we're united by our Debness.

It makes me so excited to see books popping up on the shelves and to say (usually only to myself but STILL) HEY! I KNOW THIS PERSON!! Yes, I do!! This book is written by someone I KNOW!!!

My excitement for my peeps was amplified today when I saw the name of TWO DEBS on the YALSA nominations.

One for Carrie Ryan, THE FOREST OF THE HANDS AND TEETH. No surprise there, Carrie is a very, very talented writer with a well woven story about ZOMBIES!!

The other for Neesha Meminger, who had hair as big as mine in high school, so how could I not love her! Her book, SHINE COCONUT MOON took my breath away so I'm so pleased she is being recognized and her work is as loved as much as I loved it.

I was tickled by how many names I "know" on the Yalsa list. Authors I share time with on blogs and on-line and feel like I know. Carrie Jones, fellow Canadian Courtney Summers, Maggie Stievfaver. Congrats "Peeps".

Happy Birthday Larry and Happy News JE!

I am thrilled to announce that I have been offered representation by a fabulous new agent! More to come later but I am excited and happy...

Plus. It's my hubby's birthday today so I get to eat cake tonight. How lucky am I??

FORTUNE'S FOLLY by Deva Fagan

In Fortune’s Folly, a girl who survives by telling fake fortunes must
make one of them come true to save her father’s life–to succeed,
she’ll have to procure a wicked witch, recover a pair of enchanted
slippers, and, worst of all, find a princess to marry the prince she’s
falling in love with herself

Welcome Deva!! I love Fortune telling and can't wait to read this book. So tell me, how did you come up with the fab idea for your book and how long did it take you to write it?

The idea for FORTUNE'S FOLLY began with the question, "What if one of those prophecies in fantasy stories that tells the hero what he needs to do was actually a big fake? Then what?" From there, I started thinking about who would make up a fake fortune, and why, and suddenly Fortunata sprang from my brain and the whole story took off. I wrote it "for fun" in just over 5 weeks, for NaNoWriMo back in 2003. Then I set it aside to return to my "serious" epic novel. I spent several years trying to sell the serious epic, failing miserably, until I decided to dust off the "fun" book and ultimately sold that as my debut!

Ohhh, a Nano Novel. Cool. So writing for teens must bring back alot of memories... tell us about something traumatizing and/or embarrassing that happened to you when you were a teen?

I think part of the reason I write fantasy is that my own teen years seem relatively boring. I was the kind of kid who was obsessed with doing well, getting into a good college, doing well on tests, and all that. Sadly I was not at Hogwarts so the similarity to Hermione ends there.

I wish I'd been like that. I was too busy brooding and being angsty. So, speaking of angst, what would be the worst thing that could happen to Fortunata in FORTUNE'S FOLLY?

For the prince she has a crush on to find out she's been lying to him.

Crushes on Princes and fortune telling! So, if someone close to you wanted to write a book, like a child or a loved one, what would you tell them?

To go for it, but to have patience and determination, and to try to find as much fulfillment in the journey as in the destination.

Good advice, patience really is a virtue. Lastly, what do you think Fortunata will do for a living when she's "grown up"?

She'll either be languishing in a dungeon, or she'll be Queen.
Thanks Janet!

No. Thank YOU!
Deva's book is available at Amazon

Richie's Picks-- Review Of Waiting To Score

I heart Richie.

Here's why....

"While there is plenty of hot action on the ice, WAITING TO SCORE is far less a sports action book than I had assumed it would be. This is foremost a realistic story of teens learning to fit in and survive, and author Janet MacLeod does a stellar job of probing every one of Zack's interpersonal relationships..."

Thanks to J.E. MacLeod, new contemporary YA publisher WestSide Books puts its first big points on the board."

Book Signing and Stuff

So I had my second book signing and thanks entirely to my sister it was fun. She let all her friends and our relatives know about it and they came and bought books and it was all good. The picture above is me and my three nieces. Hard to believe I'm related by blood to three gorgeous girls like that, but true!


Me, my sister and my Mom.

Husband and son also came along to the signing and son stayed by my side for most of the two hours, which was nice for me. I did find that in slow times if I left the table to go browse around the store THAT is when someone would show up.

One man stopped by the table, gave me a funny look and asked me if I played hockey. Ha ha. Um. No.

Things I learned:

As another author mentioned, sharpie pens really are great for signing books. The bookstore left one at the table and I used it.

Signing books is weird. Especially when you use a pen name like I do.

It's nice when people come out and gush over you, even though you don't really feel like you deserve it. Seeing people you haven't seen in a long time is nice, too.

If you're a debut author of a quieter book like mine that hasn't even hit the shelves at bookstores yet, people do not really respond to advertising for the event. Fortunately. Sisters do help.

A Couple of Reviews

A couple of reviews for Waiting to Score have come in, one from Richie's Picks and it is FABULOUS. The other from School Library Journal....

More on that and other things later.

Wednesday Again?

Gah. How did a whole week go by already?

I am heading off for Winnipeg tomorrow for the McNally Robinson Book Signing on Saturday. It only takes 15 hours to drive there. So um...yay!

My sister, Tracey is being a rock star and telling everyone about the book signing. So that's good. Big sisters should be hired as PR managers. As a bonus she will also be cooking Easter dinner on Sunday. Lucky Tracey. :)

Road trip. Back to Calgary, next week.

J

Kyle's Hockey Rant

One of the people who helped with my book is my wee brother, Kylie. Okay. He's not wee. He's been over 6ft since he was 13. And he's not Kylie, he's Kyle. And handsome too. And very, scary smart. Both my brothers are scary smart. Go figure.

Kyle gave me some of the hockey moments in Waiting To Score. Because I didn't know what it felt like to play hockey, and he shared.

Anyhow. It is a truism that the kids in my family are pretty good at writing. I use the term kids, loosely 'cause we're pretty much old farts now. But sarcastic and witty in prose old farts. I am not the only MacLeod who writes in my clan. And sadly, not the best at it.

I got to read this brilliant rant that little brother Kyle wrote. Hockey players will love it. I loved it. I don't play hockey. It has swear words. So close your eyes if you don't like them....

Copyright- Kyle MacLeod

People have gone to war and died for that puck. For fuck's sake. Pass the puck. You can't hog it. And shoot the goddamn thing. If you don't know what to do with the puck in your own end, freeze it. Take a whistle, get a line change. If you're in their end, get the puck on net, get it in deep at least. If you're going to shoot from wide out then hit the fucking net or you'll give them an out going the other way. When you have the puck keep your head up, you can't stare down at it. When you don't have the puck get in the open, don't watch the game. Go hard after the puck, chase it down. If someone else has the puck knock them off it. Hard. And hard passes, it's not an egg it won't break. And block some shots. If everything is going to hell and it's the last minute and you're up by a goal then just pick it up and eat the fucking thing.

And never trust a goalie. They'll sleep with your girlfriend just to get inside your head