For one mentally ill minute

Thanksgiving never ends for me

laurenbjorkman — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 19:19:24 +0000

I am

grateful for

heat from the sun

the way my cat’s tail curls,

cool, clean water from the faucet

a car that hasn’t broken down yet

family, friends, generous people

my son performing in a play

clawfoot bathtubs

mountain air

laughter

Nutella

writing

books

music

general

nutiness

and fun

Librarian superhero unleashed

laurenbjorkman — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 23:15:56 +0000

Welcome to LIBRARIAN SUPERHEROES–modest defenders of books

Meet Rebecca Donnelly, Youth Services Librarian in Rio Rancho, New Mexico.

I caught up with Rebecca minutes after she completed a dangerous mission, and asked her a few questions.

Flying vs. Invisibility?

Invisibility–I would be a klutzy fly girl.

Can you share a story of a librarian encounter from your childhood?

I have always hoped no one would ever ask me this question, because I don’t have any. I was a keep-to-myself kind of reader, and the greatest influence on my book choices was probably my grandmother. But I vividly remember the children’s room (house, really) at my childhood library. They had bought the house next door to the Carnegie library building and turned it into the children’s area, and a raised hallway was constructed to connect the two buildings. So going from children’s to adult was literally a passage. Not that I thought that poetically back then.

What is the best part of being a librarian?

Best part of the invisible side of the job = collection development. I love buying books for the library! There is great satisfaction in building a really good collection and seeing it get used. Best part of the public side of the job = reader’s advisory. Giving a child or teen the right book is a very special thing.

The worst?

The bureaucracy and inflexibility that comes with any government job.

What is on your TBR right now?

It’s a nice stack of middle-grade mysteries (Seventh Level by Jody Feldman; The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity by Mac Barnett; The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder) and a book about mystery writing; Talking about Detective Fiction by P.D. James. Also a book on alchemists; Perdido Street Station by China Mieville; Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor (which I’m halfway through), and Geraldine McCaughrean’s The Glorious Adventures of the Sunshine Queen (about a fifth of the way through). I’m also listening to The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai.

If you could say one thing to your patrons, what would it be?

You have more time to read than you think you do!

What books, in your opinion, still need to be written?

This is a tough one. I mean, there is almost every kind of book you could think of in YA right now. Jewish lesbian hip-hop in suburban Minnesota? Check. (Sister Mischief by Laura Goode.) Talll tales of Filipino-British basketball players? Check. (Tall Story by Candy Gourlay.) Stories of transgender teens (I am J by Cris Beam), hard-hitting stories about eating disorders, drug abuse, abusive families–these are the things we tend to think of when we consider what needs to be written. We all want books that speak to readers who are often ignored in mainstream culture, or who want a book that says that they’re not alone. This stuff is there, and I think the real challenge is getting it to the readers. Kids don’t come up to me and say, I want a book about one-legged jerks, bullying, self-hatred, and maybe a swim team, and at the end of it I want to cry. I have that book: Whale Talk, by Chris Crutcher.

What is flying off the teen shelves of your library right now?

In addition to the things you’d expect to be popular (the Maximum Ride series, the House of Night series, Alyson Noel’s The Immortals series), I’ve seen D.M. Cornish’s The Foundling’s Take (formerly Monster Blood Tattoo) series go out often, and Eva Ibbotson’s recently repackaged-for-teens historical novels, like The Reluctant Heiress. And manga, lots of manga. Chibi Vampire, Vampire Knight, Fruits Basket, Antique Bakery.

I definitely want to check out a lot of these books.

Thanks for appearing on my blog, Rebecca!

Teens spread love in the face of hate at Taos Pride

laurenbjorkman — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 23:03:32 +0000

I wish I’d brought my camera with me.

Gay Pride in Taos in KCP was a colorful event–dogs in bright sweaters, a drag queen with a full length rainbow boa, and happy dancers on the grass. I went to catch up with friends and listen to the music. My son’s didn’t really want to go with me until they found out there would be extreme religious protesters present. Maybe they could do a sneak attack with squirt guns? My husband suggested water balloons with rainbow paint inside.

When we got to the event, though, the reality of the protesters was way too intimidating. They had congregated at one end of the park, wearing matching hats and T-shirts, yelling disgusting and hostile things through their mega-phones. Police were present. Anyone coming in or out of the park had to walk right by them.

That’s when I noticed three teen boys holding up hand-made signs, welcoming people who dared to cross the line of hate. I don’t remember what the signs said (and didn’t have my camera!), but the messages were all about love and acceptance. Inspired by this, my sons went home with their friends to create a sign of their own–Jesus Proclaimeth That Hate Achieves Nothing.

How to alienate your family

laurenbjorkman — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 15:09:27 +0000

Have you ever wondered what happens when a writer models a character in her bestselling novel on a family member? I’d imagine it goes something like this:

Yeah, Dad, you’re right. The dad in my book flies model airplanes like you do, has a mustache that twirls up at the ends like yours, and trekked across Tibet in his youth like you did, but my fictional dad is a jerk, which you are NOT. He totally isn’t you, okay?

I wrote about this today at YA Outside the Lines. You can read the whole post here.

Scholarship for 15 to 19 year olds!

laurenbjorkman — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 23:13:46 +0000

I wrote this novel called My Invented Life because I wanted to. It turns out that the novel-I-wanted-to-write encouraged acceptance of lesbian, gay, bi, and trans people. Go figure.

In any case, have you done anything that encourages acceptance? I bet you have!!!

There’s a great opportunity to win a scholarship from Shooting Star Mags if you have. I’m too old *sniff*, but if you’re 15 – 19, you might want to give it a look.

http://bridgethegapx.blogspot.com/2011/05/living-beyond-tolerance-scholarship.html

researching on youtube

laurenbjorkman — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 13:37:47 +0000

Youtube is a great place to ~~spend a lot of time~~ do research for a novel. Just the other day, I needed a song for Erin in Miss Fortune Cookie–something slightly embarrassing for her to sing when she thinks she’s alone (but isn’t). Mwaahaahaa. I spent a very enjoyable hour, and added a whole dozen words to my manuscript. Very productive!

Not exactly.

But Nrrd Grrl by MC Chris totally cracked me up. I want to write about her. She’s perfect.

The answer to paranormal overload

laurenbjorkman — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 18:33:59 +0000

I asked a Maria, a fabulous librarian blogger, to write a guest post about her favorite contemporary YA novels. Read on!

Reading contemporary fiction is a fairly recent thing for me; my reading has always skewed towards fantasy, except for my great love of the Baby-Sitters Club and Judy Blume books. But, there are only so many books about vampires, werewolves and other assorted paranormal creatures a person can read before they need a break. Contemporary fiction is the perfect antidote to what I like to call “paranormal overload.” All of the books on this list were published in the past three years and can be easily found at your local bookstore or library.

A very recent favorite is Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway, in which Audrey breaks up with her boyfriend, he writes a song about their breakup, that song rockets up the charts as it becomes super popular. It’s ultimately about the fallout of sudden fame and what happens to Audrey, her friends and family. Filled with music and extremely funny moments, it was hard to put down. I found myself wanting to jump into the book just so I could be friends with Audrey, James, Jonah and Victoria. Audrey, Wait! is just such a fun book; I dare you not to smile at least once while reading.

For a double dose of music, I would pair Audrey, Wait! with Struts and Frets by Jon Skovron. A much more quiet book than Audrey, Wait!, Jon Skovron still packs a punch with Sammy, Jen5 and the stress of rehearsing for the “Battle of the Bands.” Throw in a grandfather-grandson relationship and the hope that a friendship could be more, and you’ve got a great, funny yet poignant story. I wonder what would happen if Audrey and Sammy ever met.

Who resist the call of a trip to the beach? Especially during the summer and when it comes with a pair of brothers like Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher. The Summer Trilogy by Jenny Han (The Summer I Turned Pretty, It’s Not Summer Without You, We’ll Always Have Summer) is Belly’s story, from awkward little sister with a huge crush on Conrad to something more. What I love about these books is that Belly is instantly relatable, she could easily be your sister or best friend, someone you could giggle over guys with, just don’t go after Conrad or Jeremiah and everything will be great. Jenny Han has created such great characters, that it’s so easy to imagine that you’re at Cousins Beach with them. I’ve included the third book here, even though I haven’t read it, because I can’t imagine that it would be any less wonderful than the first two.

Another book that’s set, at least in part, at the beach is Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler. This time the reader travels to Zanzibar Bay, California with Anna and her best friend Frankie. Both of them are grieving the sudden death of Frankie’s brother Matt. What Frankie doesn’t know is that Anna and Matt had started dating before he died. Twenty Boy Summer is an emotional roller coaster of a book, it tore at my heart in a way no book has done before. I wanted to hug Anna several times as I was reading and I wanted to tell Frankie to grow up, plus I cried – several times. A book that elicits those types of reactions from a reader needs to be shared.

This list wouldn’t be complete without at least one John Green book. In my opinion he is the king of contemporary YA. And while I’ve liked all of the John Green books I’ve read, Looking for Alaska holds a special place because it was my first John Green experience. Set at a boarding school, it’s the story of Miles who is looking for the “Great Perhaps.” At his new school, Miles finds friends for the first time and meets Alaska Young, who will change his life in ways he never thought possible. I love that anyone who reads Looking for Alaska can put themselves in Miles’ place. He’s a character that a lot of people can relate to. The key to this book is that John Green knows how to write characters that are so real it feels like you could meet any one of them in your own life. I would pair his books with books by Maureen Johnson, Rachel Cohn, Elizabeth Scott and Jessica Warman.

I’m sure there are lots of authors and books that I forgot to mention. So, what are some of your favorite contemporary reads?

For more great reviews, visit Maria’s blog, The Serpentine Library.

Cleopatra Literary Contest–an opportunity for young writers

laurenbjorkman — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 21:18:03 +0000

I wanted to pass along this excellent opportunity to submit your poetry, short fiction, or pages from a novel, and win amazing prizes.

Author Stephanie Dray is sponsoring the Cleopatra Literary Contest for young women aged 14-22. The deadline is March 1st.

Read about the details at her contest page.

Plotting vs plodding?

laurenbjorkman — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 19:07:54 +0000

Sometimes I stay up hours past my bedtime reading a book to find out what happens next. Other times, I just stare at the book on my nightstand, hoping it will read itself.

What makes one book a page-turner, and another not so much? It’s a mystery.

Not entirely, though. I zoom through books when I care about the main character, the writing style engages me, and the story is intriguing. That’s where good plotting comes in. I usually plot by the seat of my pants. Outlining stifles my creativity. I dread writing scenes that are mapped out ahead of time. Still, this method requires a lot of rewriting. So I’ve investigated techniques for plotting that don’t require outlines. One method in particular speaks to me–make a list of the heart clutching moments (HCMs) in your story, and then connect the dots.

You can read the article about HCMs at Writers’ Digest here.

Plus, I’ve read many excellent books on the topic, such as Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell

But I haven’t changed my evil ways entirely. Author, Cheryl Renee Herbsman (Breathing, Penguin 2009) captures my feelings exactly in this funny post called When Craft Attacks.

We love L.K. Madigan and her books

laurenbjorkman — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 21:31:34 +0000

Talented, sweet, and down to earth YA author L.K. Madigan has recently announced some heart-breaking news. You can read about it in her own words here.

The Feast of Awesome will give away EIGHTY copies her books …

the Morris Award winning FLASH BURNOUT and

the amazing THE MERMAID’S MIRROR

To win a set, visit the Feast of Awesome and leave a comment.

This is a major celebration of Lisa and her talent!! Please join in.