between retreats

Hey everybody,

While Toddler is eating pizza and watching Sillyville on TV, I'll take a moment to fill you in on last weekend's writing retreat since I'm going to another one next weekend! (In the meantime, I'm revising like a madwoman. My deadline is in a week!!!)

So, my writing retreat was in Angelfire, New Mexico. Angelfire has to be the most gorgeous town name ever. It makes me think of fiery orange-pink sunsets that look like gates to heaven. Here we are, from front to back: Leslie, Sarah, me, Molly, Kimberly, and Carrie. They are all BRILLIANT and HILARIOUS. We're on the deck of Sarah's parents' cabin, which overlooks the Sangre de Cristo mountains. So breathtakingly beautiful.


Here's the hot tub where we hung out in the evenings. Nothing like looking at a zillion stars through steam.


Here's Carrie reading The Girl in the Flammable Skirt (Aimee Bender, adult book), which we passed around. I learned more about the different kinds of magical realism out there.



There were masses of hummingbirds on the deck, attracted by the many hummingbird feeders. I have to say, these creatures can be scary when their pointy little beaks are headed straight for your eyeball, and don't veer away until the last second. (I kept envisioning the ending of a creepy hummingbird-attack story by Molly that we critiqued a few months earlier.)


Here are Molly, Leslie, Carrie, and Sarah (clockwise from top). They're doing what writers do on a retreat between reading, writing, and hot-tubbing... a heated game of Scrabble! It's so hard to find people who are not just willing to play Scrabble, but wildly enthusiastic about it... and dang good at it, too!


Sarah's ENORMOUS dog who protected us from the hummingbirds.


Goldilocks and the bears and some other creature... a wolf? I don't remember what role that other creature plays. Anyway, there were cool little folk artsy surprises hidden in corners of the cabin.



Every day, we each did whatever we felt like... some of us (me) slept late, blissfully enjoying the lack of a Toddler yelling "MOMMY!" at six a.m. Others got up at five a.m. to hike up a mountain and watch the sunrise and get an early start to writing. The cabin was gigantic, so each of us could find a little nook in which to read or write. In the evenings we gathered for yummy food like melon ball-chevre salad and basil-lemon salmon and mint-chocolate-chip-ice-cream-rice-krispy-pie. After three days together, we all left on a high from so much writing and bonding. Very rejuvenating!

On a different note, here I am with my step-cousin-in-law, Lauren, who I met via my books! One of the loveliest things about having my books out there in the world is that I get to connect with very cool relatives who I didn't even know I had. Lauren is an amazing writer. She's fifteen and is in the midst of writing a number of novels (and they're deliciously good so far!) We had lunch in Loveland a couple weeks ago. She heard an earful about my revision angst. And as she talked about her own writing, I was reminded of all the mesmerizing things about writing (which are easy to overlook when you're sweating under a looming deadline.) Lots of fun!


Speaking of revision angst (and an antidote to it), I stumbled across Cheryl Klein's blog.
She's an editor with Scholastic and full of great revision advice.


I just have to share a couple new reviews of Red Glass that I love. Kathy from Literary Livewire says this:



"Reading this book is biting into a big, juicy guava. It tastes amazing and is the most wonderful thing ever, the sticky juice starts trickling down your chin, and you realize that it’s better that way."





Yum. Thank you, Kathy!



Here's another fun review I came across recently from Pages Blog, entitled "Red Glass: Better than Twilight" (... don't you love it?!)



"Twilight sucks so bad compared to this, no offense Stephanie Meyer."



Hee hee! Okay, forgive me, but I couldn't resist quoting the Twilight comparison. (And I'm happy that Angel is deemed better boyfriend material than Edward...) Thanks so much, Kiki and Nathan! You made my day...



I also have to say that it was especially fun to read that review since every time I get together with a bunch of writers, we try to figure out exactly why the Twilight series has become such a phenomenon. As we all know, Stephenie Meyers breaks lots of the classic "rules of good writing" that have been pounded into our writers' brains. (For example, if you can say something in 10 words instead of 100, do it.) Yet her books are utterly addictive to millions. (That was one of our topics of conversation at our retreat, of course...) Intriguing.




Okay, time to go for an evening walk/bike ride with Toddler.




'Night! Thanks for reading!

Laura

A few tidbits...

Hi everyone!

So I signed up for Google alerts recently. It's nice-- it informs me of lovely things floating around out there in cyberspace, like this review of Red Glass from Kristin at her Feed Your Imagination blog:

Red Glass by Laura Resau is easily one of the best books I've read this year, and is one of the few books that has brought me to tears. Despite all of the awards it's been recognized with, Red Glass receives nowhere near enough attention considering how much it deserves. Above all, this is an exceptional story about love – love across the generations, romantic love, familial love, and love for one’s heritage. Even if it is difficult to relate to the exact situation any of the characters are in, their emotions are universal and their dignity is certainly to be admired and respected. This story teaches us about human kindness and forgiveness, even in circumstances that seem unforgiveable. And of course, the quotes from The Little Prince not only extend the multicultural aspect of Red Glass – they help make Sophie and her companions’ journey universal. Laura Resau’s writing is entrancing and this story fascinating, so everyone should pick it up. 10 out of 10.

Thanks, Kristin! I've been so wrapped up in planning out promotional stuff for The Indigo Notebook's release this fall, and revising its sequel The Ruby Notebook, that I kind of forgot that people are still out there reading Red Glass for the first time.

Revising The Ruby Notebook is hard, hard work. This is probably the hardest it's ever felt to me because it's the tightest deadline I've ever worked under. In the past, I've let myself be playful with revision ideas and brainstorming in my journal-- "talking" with the characters about what changes they'd like to see, spinning fanciful conversations, giving myself poetry writing prompts, doing all these fun things to get at the story from a fresh, sideways perspective. And in this way, I was able to tap into the source/ my unconscious, whatever you want to call it, and from there, approach the revision.

But with this deadline looming, it's hard to let myself be playful. I feel like if I'm being playful, I'm wasting valuable time (and then I feel guilty that my toddler's in daycare when I'm sitting around "playing.") Finally, yesterday, I let myself go on and on in a fun, stream-of-consciousness way from each of the characters' perspectives. I didn't force any requirements on myself, just let each character ramble a bit in my journal. And of course, all kinds of little gems came out... plus it just felt GOOD. The rambling was seven single spaced pages. It gave me that rush, that feeling afterward of Whoa! Where'd the past two hours go? And I admitted to myself that it was indeed valuable, even though I wasn't focusing with my rational mind.

I think that writing a novel is a dance between the conscious and unconscious minds, with the unconscious mind leading. I love this about writing. I love how intensely thrilling it is to create something huge this way. But it's so, SO hard for me to remember this when I know I have a limited number of hours to spend on this revision, and I want to spend them wisely. I get myself into a bit of an unproductive panic.

Much of the time I spend revising actually involves me giving myself pep talks via my journal. My daily pep talk starts like this:

Okay, Laura. You can do this... YOU CAN DO THIS!!!

On to other things now...

Fun news about The Indigo Notebook audiobook! No, it will not be narrated by Brad Pitt (sorry, Brad, I know you've got your heart set on it). After hearing how he butchered the Spanish in a Cormac McCarthy book I heard, I made my opinion clear to the producer.

Worlds better than Brad Pitt is Justine Eyre, who will be narrating the book. Here she is:

She has a lot in common with the main character of The Indigo Notebook, as a matter of fact. Zeeta has lived a very international life, and so has Justine. She (Justine) was born in Nova Scotia (Canada) to an Australian father, spent her childhood in the Philippines attending British schools, moved back to Canada, then to Florida, and now lives on the West coast. Like Zeeta, she speaks several languages and loves writing. (Zeeta writes in her notebooks, and Justine, who has a degree in English, has written a novel.) I think this is very cool, and I can't wait to hear how the audiobook turns out!

I recently read a great page-turner for teens-- Graceling by Kristin Cashore.



It's her debut book and has been getting tons of well-deserved attention. It's set in magical medieval land, where most fantasies seem to be set, but it sets itself apart with its unique and beautiful love story and the amazing superhero powers of the main characters, who are thoroughly likeable (and the villain is thoroughly hateable, I must say.) The main character's issues and emotional growth are particularly original-- basically, she's the henchman for a tyrannical king, but she begins to see the value in being a humane, kind, ethical person. The writing is great-- it flows beautifully, which is always impressive when you're dealing with a complicated plot and real character/relationship growth, too.

I'm going to bed to reread more of The Time Traveler's Wife now, which is one of my favorite adult books.

G'night!
Laura

Thanks, Nebraska! And thanks, my dear writing group!

Hi, everyone!

I'm going to squeeze in a post here before I go to my NIA class in 20 minutes. (NIA is a dance fusion thing with dance moves from different cultures, along with elements of yoga, tai chi, martial arts, you name it... it's the only organized form of exercise I'll do, since it involves cool music and feels more like dancing than exercise.)


So, first I want to thank the kids/teens of Nebraska, who nominated RED GLASS to the Golden Sower Award! It's one of ten nominated books, and they'll be gathering votes later this year and early next year. Last year's winner was Twilight... wouldn't it be cool if RED GLASS won the same award as Twilight?!

Last night my writing group-- Old Town Writers Group-- did a reading at Old Firehouse Books for Independents' Day, to encourage people to support their local indie bookstores. We had a blast! I cannot tell you how incredibly brilliant and fun the women in my group are, but I will attempt to here:



This is Sarah Ryan (on the right), who, in her spare time, flies (as in, she's a pilot!) little planes in places like the wilds of Alaska and Africa... she wrote a fabulous camping guide to Colorado, and now she has a hilarious, touching, insightful, juicy memoir represented by a great agent. She read an excerpt from it last night (about a revelation she had upon discovering a stash of Glamour mags from the eighties when she was about thirteen). She had the audience in stitches.

Kimberly Fields is on the left, and she read a very funny piece set in a coffee shop about trying to feel better about herself after a breakup... she should be a standup comedian, I've decided. AND she's great at writing about serious stuff, too-- like her experience with surviving leukemia last year. I'd link to a beautiful This I Believe essay she wrote, but the website is having issues. (Go to thisibelieve.org, and then do an author search).


Above is Carrie Visintainer, who's always hopping off to some cool locale, whether it be a pirate ship off the coast of Turkey or the used car lot scene in Thermopolis, Wyoming or a monastary filled with black-hooded monks in middle-of-nowhere, New Mexico. She's done a bunch of travel writing (she read a side-splitting piece about her experience in German sauna last night). Ever the adventurer, she's now embarking on writing a beautiful novel.


Above is Leslie Patterson, and she's published her delightfully bizzare historical fiction pieces and witty, deep personal essays in many literary journals. Now she's working on a dark and twisted novel loosely based on some really weird historical stuff involving body-snatching in 19th century London.


Molly Reid came on the scene after I took these pics (in a pizzeria after our reading last night), so I'll offer an illustration from an ancient bestiary in lieu of her photo. She's blond and pretty and always wears interesting jewelry, oftentimes featuring birds. She wore hummingbird earrings last night to fit with her sensual, haunting story involving hummingbirds. She's working on a bestiary of sorts-- a collection of short (often very short) stories in which animals reflect human emotions and relationships. So intriguing.


This is moi, who should be working right now on her/my latest revision of The Ruby Notebook. I'm on a tight deadline. Real quick, I'll tell you that last night I read a fun travel piece called "Naked in Oaxaca", which was published a few years ago in a Lonely Planet anthology.


If you came to our reading last night, THANK YOU! Having a super-enthusiastic audience made the event so much fun for us!

Okay, no more dilly-dallying for me! Off to my trailer to revise!

xoxo
Laura

The Winner and the Foreign Body

And the winner of the Red Glass creative letter-writing contest is…

Emily, age 12! Congratulations, Emily!!!! Enjoy your prize… a signed copy of the audiobook of Red Glass!!!


I loved Emily's letter—it was written from Sophie to Pablo, a year after the book ends. She fills him in on what's been going on in her and Angel's and Dika's and Mr. Lorenzo's lives—and let me tell you, there is a BIG surprise. I'll wait to post the letter until I get official permission from Emily to do so. (If you weren't aware of the contest, you can see the fun and travel section of my website for details. I'll be posting a new contest sometime soon.)

So, last Sunday, I was in a bad mood. I'd just gotten Lasik surgery (24 years in contacts was enough for me) and was assured that I would probably have a "foreign body sensation" in my eyes for a few hours after the surgery. Things were going well with my eyes for a few days, until Sunday morning, when I felt a major foreign body sensation in my eye—it felt like a giant piece of fuzz. I doused my eyeball with drops and ointments, but the feeling wouldn't go away. I was told not to touch or rub my eyes at all, and I practically had to sit on my hands to keep from doing so.

I felt too grumpy to do much-- (did I mention I had a whole big long list of owies including bashing my head on a steel jungle gym bar while playing with my son?) -- so I messed around with the Gimp (free version of Photoshop) and Windows movie maker (even though staring at the computer screen for hours is not recommended for people who've just had Lasik, and was probably not helping my foreign body sensation.)

Anyway, here is my extremely amateur book trailer for The Indigo Notebook. Please, please be forgiving! When I showed an earlier version to Ian (hubbie), he said, "Cool," and tried to leave halfway through.

"Wait!" I commanded/whined, and he watched the second minute, sighing and rolling his eyes.

"So, what do you think?" I asked afterward.

Short pause. "Cool." And he headed to the door.

I chased him outside. "Really? Any more specific feedback?"

"Well, actually, I was trying to be diplomatic, but, how shall we say this, your video might have the opposite effect to what you intend."

"You mean it would make people NOT want to read the book?!"

"Um, it's kind of boring."

I swallowed my urge to threaten to omit him from acknowledgments in future books (I've used that threat so many times he knows I'm bluffing), and told him his feedback would promptly get him kicked out of any writing group. Then I explained that he first must find some positive thing to say about my trailer before giving specific constructive feedback.

After thinking very hard, he said, "Well, the pictures are nice. And maybe you could speed it up a little."

So I went back inside and cut it down to a minute and did a few other maneuvers, and here it is. At least it's short.

(And remember, all book trailers are, as a rule, very cheesy… even the professionally produced ones, I've noticed.)

One of the things I like about my book trailer is that it doesn't have depressing and/or ominous music like many of the other YA book trailers I've seen. (I'm sorry if your book trailer has depressing and/or ominous music—I don't mean to offend you— please rest assured that overall, your trailer probably has LOTS more going for it than mine.) The music was performed by my friend Tino, whose extended family is featured in the images (that I oh-so-deftly photo-shopped). Um, anyway, enjoy the trailer, and remember, if you don't like it, join Ian's club. (And Ian really likes the actual book, so be sure not to judge the book by its trailer…)

Okay, here it is!




Giant Piece of Fuzz story continued…

Wouldn't you know it, I woke up on Monday with that same foreign body feeling in my eye. I was about to phone the eye doc and schedule an appointment because I was sure something was terribly wrong. I examined my eyeball in the mirror once more, and this time, the angle of the morning sunlight was just right, and I'll be darned—There WAS a big piece of fuzz in my eye, so big that I could pluck it out without touching my eyeball. Ah, sweet relief…

Thanks for reading!

Laura

Star in the Forest ARCS!

It's SO much fun to be clickety clacking away in my trailer and hear the UPS truck pull up in front of my house… and to see the driver emerge with a padded manila envelope. Today, when that happened, I slipped on my flip flops over my socks (my feet were cold this morning) and (feeling a little embarrassed at my footwear) ran outside to greet him. I tore open the package (leaving little bits of cardboard padding dust everywhere—I never learn) and I was greeted with two beautiful little ARCS (advanced review copies) of STAR IN THE FOREST! (I say little because they're actually slightly smaller than my other books, in length, width, and height.) And two shiny book jackets to boot! So exciting. This UPS surprise made it impossible to follow my rule of no break-taking until I revised to pg 100 on my next manuscript (The Ruby Notebook).

Um... just turn your head counter-clockwise for this picture. Note the packaging fuzz spilled out everywhere.
The little monster is from Oaxaca, and I just stuck him in the picture on a whim.

This is my first book with B/W illustrations in it—they're kind of old fashioned looking, as is the cover illustration itself… well, maybe classic is more the word I'm looking for. The illustrations remind me of books I loved as a kid, and I feel ridiculously pleased to feel part of this tradition now. I think the dog illustrations really help show his personality.

Here's a summary of Star in the Forest, which is for middle/upper elementary ages and up:

Zitlally feels so alone. Papa isn't there anymore to whisper to her in star language. Mama is always on the phone, worried. And her sisters are just as scared as she is. Everyone is thinking about that day.
The day Papa was pulled over for speeding.
The day the police found out that Papa was an immigrant without papers.
The day her family discovered that Papa would be deported.
Zitlally seeks comfort in the forest of rusty car parts behind her trailer. There, she finds a dirty, skinny dog with a star-shaped mark on his neck. Soon, she realizes that Star is no ordinary dog. He's like the magical animals in the stories Papa told her. His fate is connected to a human's fate.
To Papa's fate.
If Zitlally can keep Star safe, Papa will stay safe, too.
When Star disappears one day, it's up to Zitlally and her new friend, Crystal, to find him… and save him. Only then can Zitlally be sure that Papa, too, will make his way back home—and they'll be a family once again.

So, on a different note, in case you're wondering what I'm up to in my trailer these days… no, I'm not dozing on the comfy futon all day long (as Ian accuses me of doing). I'm revising The Ruby Notebook (formerly known as The Cerise Notebook, Fall 2010 release). I'm not going to reveal the cover yet, but I'll show you this picture of a ruby red vintage circus performer's outfit that I have hanging in my trailer for inspiration.

My master plan is to have the outfit altered into a dress or top or some article of clothing to wear for the book release party (good motivation to actually finish the book)! I found this dazzling garment for cheap at a shop in Boulder, and I fell in love with it (although it definitely needs altering—it must have been designed in the days of corsets when women's torsos had unearthly proportions.)

Oh, and another early review of The Indigo Notebook came in—this one by Sarah Miller (who is both a fabulous book reviewer and YA author)! "... multi-textured characters... a dash of the mystical... unique plot..." You should check out all Sarah's reviews, as a matter of fact-- they're fun to read.


Off to do more revising in my trailer, which I recently adorned with flowers and butterflies and a flamingo I found hanging from the ceiling of our garage!

Thanks for reading!

Laura

After the rain and hail...

Fiona and me

Hello, hello, hello!

I'm in my trailer in the cozy aftermath of a spring storm. I love the sound of the rain and hail pelting the tin roof (it's thrilling and a little scary somehow-- so loud!) I spent the morning and early afternoon listening to wild French music and writing away, trying to get The Ruby Notebook in shape (which, incidentally, is the new name for the book formerly referred to as The Cerise Notebook.)

Thank you to everyone who gave me comments on the title Cerise! I emailed my editor, Stephanie, about it, and we decided that Cerise could be a challenge to locate online or in a bookstore if you have no clue how to spell it. I do like Ruby a lot, though, even more now that we've made this decision. Although it's not a French word, it's nearly the same in French-- Rubis-- which sounds pretty much the same-- you don't pronounce the s. So, you francophiles out there can feel free to murmur it with a throaty, sexy French accent... Another good thing about the new title: I've ended up having fun including some ruby-ish images in the book (there actually already were quite a few...), so I think all's well that ends well. (Plus, ruby's my birthstone, so it's a stone close to my heart.)

Me and Allison-- librarian extraordinaire!

I had a great time at my Red Glass paperback release event at Old Firehouse Books on Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. It was so much fun talking with everyone afterward-- that's my favorite part of these readings! I was grateful and humbled that a few people drove all the way from Denver and Greeley in the rain to be at the reading. (Thank you, Kim and Allison and Alice!)

So here is the almost-final cover for Star in the Forest, which is my middle grade novel coming out in Spring 2010. I like the soft, magical lighting (remember, I'm really into sunlight through leaves...) and how Star's fluffy white fur melts into the grass.

cute dog, huh?!

More about Star later... I've got lots to say about it, but right now I want to post some pics of my ESL students and me at our recognition ceremony. This is the last ESL class I'll be teaching for a while... *sniff sniff*... I started teaching ESL eleven years ago. Last year, I started to feel overwhelmed after the arrival of Baby, but I stubbornly hung on to my last class, since I love it so much. (Teaching ESL is like traveling around the world-- complete with the music, dancing, food (we LOVE parties...) Many years ago, my students were the ones who first taught me cumbia... and a few years later, salsa... and this past year, Jo from Brazil tried to teach me samba, but I can't seem to move my hips that fast. ;) One of these days...

Me, Jo, and Wendy

Anyway, I finally admitted that it's too stressful for me to teach two nights a week while writing several books under deadlines AND spending time with Toddler (AND catching a cold from him every other week-- I'm currently recovering from yet another one) AND managing to have a conversation with Hubbie here and there AND having time to just sit and stare at sunlight through leaves (which, I must admit, is a priority for me.)

Jose Luis and me

I feel so, so grateful to all the students I've had over the past eleven years. I don't think I could have written any of my books so far without them. Many characters and scenes from Red Glass, What the Moon Saw, and Star in the Forest were inspired by my wonderful, warm, fascinating, enthusiastic, smart, funny students, and I can't thank them enough. And my book coming up in Spring 2011-- The Queen of Water-- was co-written with Maria Virginia Farinango, who I met at the school (the next classroom over)! When I was in Ecuador doing research for our book, I stumbled across stories and people that ended up inspiring The Indigo Notebook... so that's *five* books that grew out of my ESL teaching in one way or another. Thank you, beloved students!!! Gracias, queridos alumnos!!! Obrigado!!!

Me and Fernando

May is officially over, which means that my month of fame and glory with the readergirlz is over... such a great time! I'm hooked, and I'll definitely be dropping into the site to chat and comment and read about the other books they're featuring this year. They've archived all the discussion threads, including the live chat (plus the interview, book club party ideas, etc) so if you have time, check it out! Minnie at Athena's YA Book Review did an awesome job of listing the highlights of the chat in her blog-- thanks, Minnie!
Being involved with readergirlz last month had the added bonus of making me aware of all the amazing author/reader blogs out there... I could spend all day wandering around their words of wisdom (but I don't because I unplug my wireless for a few hours every day so I can get some writing done!) I discovered Laini Taylor's blog, which has fantastic essays about the writing process (plus it's got cool artwork that she did herself.) I love her metaphor for the "exploratory" draft of a novel: you've seen the jungle from above and taken notes on it from a big-picture bird's-eye view, but during the exploratory draft, you're down on the ground with your machete, sweating and chopping a path through the underbrush, feeling lost and scared and just hoping you'll survive. I recently finished that phase of The Ruby Notebook, and having survived that (thankfully!), I am now revising, which feels much less scary...

Okay, thanks for reading!

xoxo
Laura