In Which Kelly Asks Dolly Parton, "Are They Real?"

One funny lady and a truly good sport!

The Best Book Light!

As a person who reads into the night, I've tried out and tossed out many a book light. But I've found one that I love--the Mighty Light. It's the perfect stocking stuffer for your favorite someone who reads when they should be sleeping.

(This is the color I have!)

SNL Parody "Michael Buble Christmas Duets"

In Which I Open the Christmas Season

Mom: Are you going shopping Friday?
Me: NO! NO WAY! NEVER EVER EVER ON BLACK FRIDAY JUST SAY NO!


In honor of the Christmas season's soft opening in October, I join retailers in starting my elfin activities on (pre-)Thanksgiving. Even YouTube knows how much I love this video--I'd typed only BRU when YouTube filled out Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band--Santa Claus Is Coming To Town! (Start at 1:10)

After Midnight (well, almost)

It's almost tomorrow.

Confound and Conquer on Thanksgiving (Scrabble Tips)

Well, most of us like Scrabble, and if you're anything like me, you like to win. My sister-in-law played on Words with Friends a word with no vowels. In preparation for turkey day, I am committing to memory a few words with no vowels; these are especially important because not only will you score with a challenging rack of letters, your opponents will likely challenge you and lose their turn, heh heh.

If you search the Internet for "words with no vowels," you'll find quite a few lists. Don't be hasty, though. Double check these words to see of they're in your dictionary, otherwise, you'll be the one taking a zero. If you come other across words you want to use, make sure they're not abbreviations, acronyms, proper nouns, or hyphenated words.

Here, from MW Eleventh Edition, are words to confound and conquer your loved ones with:

• crwth
• nth
• sh
• tsk

Good luck, my friends.

What's Not Cool Anymore and What Is

It's getting toward that time of year when lists start popping up: what's in, what's out. Let me be among the first to put up my List of Words and Phrases and Ideas that Don't Need to be Used Anymore:

List of Words, Phrases insert Oxford Comma and Ideas that Don't Need to be Used Anymore
--really? (intoned sardonically)
--"ish" (overused, not fresh)
--Not so much. (Not so clever.)
--Derisive comments about Twilight and the actors. (Hasn't everything been said already? Get over it.)
--Obama's birth certificate (Please, not four more years of this.)

 List of Always Cool 
 --the word "cool"
--"Live long and prosper." Also, the Vulcan hand greeting/farewell, the Vulcan nerve pinch, and--if you can achieve it--the Vulcan mind meld
--William Shatner
--Leonard Nimoy
--Star Trek
--allusions to Arrested Development
--Mitch Hedberg
--playing guitar
--physically/mentally strong female characters who are also nice, such as Sarah Walker in Chuck. I want to kickbox like her.
--my brown boots, twelve years old. They are so cool.

Barnes & Noble Rep Gives Tips for Author Visits

Barnes & Noble CRM, Geoffrey Shoffstall talks about in-store author events: how store personnel prepare for the visit, and what authors can do to make their visit successful before, during, and after the event. Please check it out!

Chatting with Chris Tozier, middle-grade Fantasy Author

Middle-grade author Chris Tozier and I had the pleasure of participating in Lake Forrest Prep's Book Fair at Barnes & Noble Colonial Plaza. By the way, if you didn't have the chance to make it, the store has signed copies of Chris's Olivia Brophie and the Pearl of Tagelus and signed copies of my books, A Whole Lot of Lucky, Me & Jack, The Summer of Moonlight Secrets, and Violet Raines Almost Got Struck by Lightning.

Chris has an unusual story behind the inspiration for Olivia Brophie. Enjoy!

Rejection Letter

My son's teacher tasked the class with writing poems. My son, child of a writer, composed a poem rejecting a poem. I am so proud.

Why Keep Your Wedding Dress?

Growing up Air Force (and BTW, I've learned you're not supposed to cap AF in certain contexts, but for me, Air Force will always be capped), I grew up not holding on to things, space-taking memorabilia that ends up needing to be dusted every now and then--the only attention you'll ever give it later.

This is part of the pragmaticism that flows in my Air Force dress blue blood.

My daughter has more remnants of her short life than I do of a life lived in three countries, including seven different US states before I was fourteen. My sister marvels at the stories I tell of our childhood. She doesn't remember this stuff, and she's older than I am. But my head was the only container I could keep my mementos in: the bear, chain around his neck, who walked down the main road--a dirt road, traveled by as many donkey and carts as by autos--he walked down the dirt road with his owner on Sundays and if you threw money in their general vicinity, the bear would dance for you. That was in Turkey. I remember the bear and the dust and the dirt road.

I remember England, too, and to this day I don't know why I had to share a room with my brother when it made more sense for me to share a room with my sister. We rode the train from Ipswitch to London to see Buckingham Palace and I waited for the queen to lean out of a window and wave to me, but she never did. The changing of the guard was boring to my five-year-old self. Better was my dad's shrill whistle, two fingers in his mouth--he stopped traffic with that whistle. The double-decker bus stopped for us and we ran, happily climbing to the top. This was even better than that boring old castle with a queen who never came out.

I'm all grown up now, with children of my own. I can't stand clutter. My wedding gown, dry cleaned at a fee almost the cost of the gown itself (though not to worry, I had no train and my mother taught me to be frugal), lies unseen, shrouded in blue plastic, boxed in cardboard, tucked away, forgotten in our closet. There is no one in the house who has any sense of curiosity about it. I weigh the same as I did then (not bragging, it's just the way it is); I feel no need to try it on, admire it, or gaze at it with feelings of any sort.

But in my head, oh, in my head: my mom had pleurisy when she flew down early to help me the week before my wedding. She spray painted and beribboned a hundred and fifty tiny candy baskets. She took birch tree branches and laced them with white Christmas lights and placed them around the reception hall. Even though they were divorced, my dad flew down about the same time. I remember how that felt, the wishing that they had never divorced because I knew, we all knew, my dad still loved my mom. He had a bad back, so he got the guest room and my mom got the couch. This was when I rented a house with my brothers and sister. One night, my dad talked about grandkids. It wasn't embarrassing. I wanted him to have grandkids--he was going to be a great grandpa. To this day I remember THAT conversation and I remember him crying over the phone two years later when I called late one night to tell him his first grandchild had just been born and I remember him sending me an airplane ticket when she was five months old just because he heard her laughing on his answering machine, and I remember he died three weeks after our visit.

I still have the shells from his twenty-one gun salute.

I never look at them.

I rarely visit my brother's grave. He is not there.

Photos are painful.

My daughter isn't going to wear my dress. Why am I keeping it? I threw out the portion of cake we kept because by our first anniversary, it was freezer burned and tasted awful. The dress is a dress; it isn't the fabric of my life--just a couple hours of my life, a costume, almost.

I got married. I am married. I plan to stay married.

But I need room in my closet for other things.

Good Words on LUCKY from BCCB, a nice way to end the week!

My editor sent me this nice review for A WHOLE LOT OF LUCKY from BCCB:

You’d think winning the lottery would solve all your problems in an instant, but sixth-grader Hailee finds out it isn’t that easy. She has to go to a posh new school, for one thing, a circumstance that she did not foresee or desire, but her parents want her to have a better education than they had. Her new cell phone also brings new conflict with her parents, as she immediately becomes addicted to texting and checking her Facebooks updates. Her biggest challenges, though, are moral ones—now that she has access to the popular girls who live in the big houses, will she continue to do what she knows is right for her, like joining the Library Club, or sacrifice her principles to earn the favor of girls who don’t share her values? Hailee has a fresh, quirky outlook, peppered with wryly humorous observations that ring both wise and age-appropriate. Her direct questions to the reader as she ponders moral questions create a friendly intimacy, and readers will be gratified that she doesn’t always make bad choices, even when it’s tempting to do so. She’s got a down-home relationship to church on Sundays that threads through her decision-making in ways that many readers will relate to, and the changes that the lottery win makes in her daily life are small enough to insert a healthy dose of reality into that cherished fantasy. She also bookishly sets her emotional troubles in the context of familiar middle-grade novels, a trait that amps up both her likability and her credibility. Readers will definitely feel as though they have made a new friend in Hailee.

Loss of a Black Flip Flop

Loss of My Wedged Black Flip Flop

O, wedged black flip flop
to all you did match
That's why I packed you
and closed the latch.

Suitcase open
still early dawn
left was there
right was gone.

I called the airport
I filed a claim
They said they didn't have you
and that is my pain.

Right is still missing
Left is now home
I look for you always
The web I do roam.

Wedged Black Flip Flop

2011-2012

An Email from Riley

i love the book me and jack so much i am doing my book report on it so if you could write back that would be so cool i love the book me and jack--Riley, age 10

BOOKLIST likes A WHOLE LOT OF LUCKY!

Hailee Richardson is on the lower rung of her neighborhood’s economic ladder, but things take a turn when her parents win the lottery. Though Hailee sees big houses and a horse in her future, the story plays out more realistically. While three million dollars is a lot of money, it’s set up to come in installments over decades, so a new lifestyle isn’t in the works, except for one thing. When Hailee learns that her parents are transferring her to the exclusive Magnolia Academy, she tries to fight it, but soon enough she becomes intrigued with what it offers, even as she tries to redefine her relationship with her neighborhood BFF.

Haworth does an excellent job of portraying the modern kid’s life (cell phones, Facebook) mixed with evergreen problems like trying to fit in with the popular crowd and cheating on tests. She also makes the smart decision to have the lottery win be a plot point that propels the story into places that will interest kids most, rather than be its center. The fact that religion plays quietly and comfortably into the narrative is another plus. Booklist

From My Son's Journal

When you live in a tropical state, this kind of entry doesn't actually surprise you:

The Ice Cream, the Spider, and Me

We sat by the window after getting our ice cream. Peeling green paint revealed an old peach underneath, and a spider. I let coffee and chocolate ice creams mingle in my mouth. I wonder, I thought, if he's a jumping spider.

Boing!

He jumped like a flea, his trajectory my direction.

Why are daughters always so embarrassed when their mothers scream in public places?

Bargain price for Me & Jack!

The Kindle edition of Me & Jack is &1.99! Get it while it lasts!

At Jack Kerouac's House, Writing Poetry

At Jack Kerouac's House, Writing Poetry

I remember staying up too late the night before, watching an episode of a detective show on my laptop, and then a second, and

I wanted to watch a third but

I told myself No, it's almost two a.m. You'll be too tired in the morning.

I remember I accidentally woke up before seven. Six shots of espresso moved like sludge through my veins.

I remember Jack's house was on the Christmas tour a few years ago. I asked the host to show me where Jack sat when he worked. The floor slants down in that room. His mother slept in a cramped bedroom just off, and he slept on a cot near his work, I think. I remember I sort of felt sorry for Jack. I could feel him hemmed in that room, his success hemming him in. That day was hot and sticky even though it was December, and I wanted to absorb Jack but too many people coming in and out and the walls closing in, the blinds were closed, and I didn't know how Jack could work like that.

I remember the first poem the writer-in-residence had us write was an "I remember" poem.

When I remembered my bossy sister and my grandma's ten brothers and sisters throwing money at us, the other writers at the workshop laughed and that made me feel good. I remember other people wrote about sad things and that made me cry, which made me feel good, too.

I remember the big white dog with brown eyes who looked into mine and made me miss my own dog, even for those few hours.

And I remember driving home, climbing the stairs, closing my door, and secretly rereading my first poem just so I could hear the laughter again.

Behind the Scenes: Scraps of LUCKY Turn into a Novel

For me, the writing of a story almost always begins with voice, a voice so strong that it carries with it the gender, age, location, and disposition of the character. All I have to do then is think of what could be the worst thing that could happen to that character. If the voice is strong enough, I can drop the character into any situation and know how she’ll react. That’s where the real work begins: finding the right situation to exploit the voice in my head.

While I was in line edits for Me & Jack, I got hit by this image of two girls and a bike. Not just a snapshot image, it was like a short video of an old memory. The girls were in a driveway. I saw lots of trees, and it was that kind of warm/chilly day you get in spring. The main character had just convinced her reluctant best friend to let her ride her new bike (a new bike, and it wasn’t even her birthday!) by agreeing to pay a dollar and a pack of Smarties. As the MC rides away from her friend’s shouted instructions and warnings, she feels as free as the honeysuckle air wafting under her nose, yet she can’t help but compare her friend’s flashy new bike to her own embarrassing old red boy bike, bought for three dollars at a garage sale last year.

The image of these two girls was so strong, I picked up a scrap of paper and wrote down the main character’s viewpoint of that scene, dialogue and all. The words flowed like water from the tap. Other thoughts popped up over the next few days and I wrote them all down. Later, I nixed some of them and expanded others, but what remained were those first words spoken by twelve-year-old Hailee Richardson, owner of the red boy bike. She didn’t know it then, but her whole life was about to change.

The first three chapters are available on my website. If you compare them to the scraps—and if you can decipher my scratchy writing!—you’ll see that the first few published pages don’t differ much from the first scrappy words spoken by my then-nameless main character.

Parts of this book were written on the backs of old grocery receipts, a must-have for every writer’s purse.

I hope you get the chance to enjoy A Whole Lot of Lucky! Keep reading and writing!
This post first appeared in From the Mixed Up Files, July 31st

Great Stone Face Award, Me & Jack and more!

I've discovered more about New Hampshire's Great Stone Face Award and I can't help but feel excited!

From Kid's Books 101, written by Matt: "The Great Stone Face Award is an award that is given out every year to around 25 new 4th through 6th grade books  by the GSF Committee. It is sponsored by the Children’s Library of New Hampshire. The name “Great Stone Face” comes from the Man in the Mountain, which is the most historic landmark that was in New Hampshire. This year’s Great Stone Face books are really, really good."

The voting takes place next April, and the winners will be announced May. I'm proud and humbled to find my book, Me & Jack, in such notable company:

2012-2013 Nominees

• Benjamin Franklinstein Lives by Matthew McElligott
• Bigger Than a Bread Box by Laurel Snyder
• Cheesie Mack Is Not a Genius or Anything by Steve Cotler
• Dragon Castle by Joseph Bruchac
• Flyaway by Lucy Christopher
• Hothead by Cal Ripken, Jr.
• Liesl & Po by Lauren Oliver
• Me & Jack by Danette Haworth
• The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
• Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes by Jonathan Auxier
• Pie by Sarah Weeks
• Saving Arm Pit by Natalie Hyde
• The Silver Bowl by Diane Stanley
• Small as an Elephant by Jennifer Richard Jacobson
• Take Me to the River by Will Hobbs
• Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George
• The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann
• Wereworld: Rise of the Wolf by Curtis Jobling
• Wild Life by Cynthia DeFelice
• Wild Wings by Gill Lewis
• With a Name Like Love by Tess Hilmo
• Wolf Storm by Dee Garretson
• Wonder by R. J. Palacio
• Wonderstruck: A Novel in Words and Pictures by Brian Selznick
• Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke

STARRED Kirkus Review for A Whole Lot of Lucky!

A WHOLE LOT OF LUCKY [STARRED REVIEW!]
Author: Haworth, Danette

Winning the lottery does not turn out as sixth-grader Hailee Richardson had imagined. Yes, she does get the new bicycle and cellphone that were high on her list of needs, but she also gets sent to a different school, prestigious Magnolia Academy. New and nervous, Hailee becomes consumed with Facebook and is targeted by an older risk-taking classmate who threatens to get this previously good kid, who doesn’t even swear, into trouble. Soon she’s alienated a new friend and said something terrible to an old one. Dramatic and imaginative, Hailee is both quick-witted and quick to justify herself. In her first-person, present-tense narration, she promises to tell readers the truth, and she does, in her lights. But readers will see through this unreliable narrator, recognizing her jealous moments and her social insecurity. They may even be relieved by her father’s “intervention,” which curbs her cellphone addiction. Hailee’s love for the hard-to-control bougainvillea vines and the ever-changing swamp maple outside her Florida window reflect her own issues. Her parents’ sensible approach to their newly acquired wealth contrasts nicely with their daughter’s exaggerated dreams. Haworth effectively captures the self-consciousness, self-absorption and limited experience of a preteen, and the seductive charms of Facebook friendships for that age. Realistic, modern and still familiar, this is a middle school story both children and their parents should read. (Fiction. 9-12)
 Kirkus Reviews

 

Ten ARCs for A WHOLE LOT OF LUCKY on Goodreads!

OMG, Internet people! I just listed my little giveaway of one ARC for A WHOLE LOT OF LUCKY on Goodreads and discovered my publisher already has a giveaway listed--TEN ARCs ARE UP FOR GRABS ON GOODREADS! Eleven, if you count mine! Check out my website for a sneak peek of the first three chapters. Enter here to win! Enter both! I just put mine up today, so it'll be active in a couple days. Good luck!

Read A WHOLE LOT OF LUCKY free!

The first three chapters of my upcoming middle-grade novel, A WHOLE LOT OF LUCKY, are up on my website. Come visit! And don't forget to enter to win an ARC on Goodreads!

www.danettehaworth.com

Sinbad in October, Hard Rock Cafe, O-town!

It was announced, then cancelled, then sent to me by special email--Sinbad the comedian is coming to Orlando this October!

I sweated it out buying my tickets on Ticketmaster--a stopwatch appears on the sidebar and counts down how many seconds you have left to fill in your information before T-master decides you're taking too long and zeroes you out. I was upstairs and had the wrong credit card! I slid down the banister, took the stairs in a flying leap, and blurred my fingers, tapping in my name, rank and serial number.

Hey, Sinbad, we're coming to see you!

iPhone Video Interview with Donna Gephart

Conference Tip #4: Enjoy! And What to Bring

Hi conference goers!

I'm excited because I'm attending the SCBWI FL Mid-Year Workshop tomorrow. I'm excited because I can't wait to rub shoulders and talk shop with other writers. I'm interviewing Donna Gephart tomorrow for my second iPhone video, and Christina Farley is interviewing me. I'm critiquing manuscripts, and later I'm going out for dinner.

If you're going to a conference, anywhere, anytime, you've got to be prepared, no matter what stage of your career you're at. I say, stick to the basics. This is what you should have in your laptop bag (in addition to your laptop), because you won't always have time to run back up to your hotel room:

• breath mints!
• any medications you have to take during the day
• bottled water
• energy drink (if you need caffeine)
• small snacks to eat during breaks (I'm talking protein bars or peanut butter crackers.)
• chocolate never hurts
• phone and phone charger
• books you want other other authors to sign
• bookmarks or business card
• hair brush
• basic makeup
• cash and debit/credit card
• pens/pencil/tablet
• copies of your first ten pages, your first page, your query

Clean out your purse and/or bag before going to the conference; you don't want to be flustered during the workshop, trying to find a pen.

Dress business casual. You want to be comfortable, but you should also look professional--you'll be in the same room with people who make this whole industry happen.

You are a brave person! You're taking an excellent step toward furthering your career as a writer! I hope whatever conference you're going to gives you what you need. Make sure you eat! Don't get low on blood sugar! Take care of yourself and have fun, and remember, no matter how nervous you might feel, you're crossing a threshold!

Good luck, conference goers! See you on the other side.

Conference tip #3: DON'T BE A STALKER Part 1 and Part 2

There are some people in publishing so well known to us online or through reputation that they are rock stars at conferences. I'm pretty sure Nathan Bransford and Kristin Nelson have wigs and fake noses in their laptop bags--how else to get through the madding crowd? I sat at the same table with Arthur Levine for dinner after a conference and he asked to look at my book. He touched it! This was like nirvana for me. I told my own editor about Mr. Levine's and my little exchange and she reacted the same way I did!

It's exciting to recognize people in publishing, but it's important to remember that although you feel like you know them, you don't, and they don't know you.

Conference tip #3: DON'T BE A STALKER, part 1

Now I'll be the first to tell you if I saw Nathan Bransford walking down the conference hall, I'd probably go over to him and tell him how much I've enjoyed his blog and his thread on Absolute Write. I'd mention one or two specific things he's said that helped me and of course I'd ask for a picture with him for my blog!

But that's different from waiting for him to emerge from the men's room, following him, cornering him (haha! I've captured my prey!), and saying, "Hey, I know you used to be an agent. I write X. Who in your former agency should I send it to?" That's just using people. And you can't disguise this kind of opportunist. "Hey, I read your blog. Can you read my manuscript?" WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!

Conference tip #3: DON'T BE A STALKER, part2

Don't reduce people at the conference to your means to getting published.

Now all that said, if you should be eating lunch and suddenly discover you're sitting next to a BIG NAME IN PUBLISHING, it's perfectly fine to introduce yourself and enter into small talk. If BIG NAME asks you what you're working on, WOW! YES! go ahead and talk about it--but briefly--key word--BRIEFLY. Return the favor--what are they working on? What was the last book  they read and loved? How do they like the city you're in and have they had time for sight seeing? Basically, treat them like another person, because that's what they are.

Good luck, conference goers!

Conference tip #2: Be Friendly!

One of the greatest things about attending conferences is getting to see all your writer friends. Maybe you're lucky enough to have a local group with whom you're going to the workshop with. So much fun! You get to talk, encourage each other, eat together. It's comfortable and easy to stick with people you know, but be careful not to err on the side of being exclusive.

Conference tip #2: Be Friendly! Don't Be Exclusive!


Many other writers are attending the conference alone. Be open to conversing with friendly people who approach you, even if they're not in your circle. They only want the same thing you do--a pleasant exchange, relief in knowing they're not the only one who feels nervous/intimidated/excited. You're talking to someone who might become a great friend, a strong supporter, a good critique partner. This person you don't know might even be on bookstore shelves one day--you don't know! (Not that you should befriend people for the potential benefits they might extend to you, but writing is a solitary act--the pecking at the keyboard and such--and it's nice to take a break and visit your friends, even if it's online.)

Remember the golden rule (lifted from the Bible): Treat others as you would have yourself treated.

Go forth and have fun, conference goers!

Going to a Conference? Tip #1 PARTICIPATE!

The season of going to a conference is upon us, and many of you are attending a conference for the first time. Hooray for you!

Going to a conference can sometimes be intimidating. I went to my first conference by myself. It was a small conference in a small town, and all the other writers seemed to know each other, greeting one another by name as they trickled into the little hotel. I felt so alone.

But I shouldn't have. The other writers were friendly--they asked me my name, where I was from, and then this question: "What are you working on?" I didn't know how to answer! What if they stole my idea? I hugged my laptop bag closer and bluffed my way with words that provided no information; after all, my material was proprietary!

Well, I've been to quite a few conferences since then, and I'd like to share some tips with you this week so you can get the most out of your conference experience.

Tip #1 is the biggest and most important tip of all: PARTICIPATE!

 At my first SCBWI conference, the middle-grade track was divided into three or four groups, each with an editor or agent heading the table. An editor headed up my table, and she wanted to help us with our query letters. If anyone wanted to read theirs aloud, she said, the group could provide feedback. My blood raced through my veins at 500 mph. As the first couple of people read their queries and the editor critiqued them, I could hardly concentrate on what they were saying. This was my first query letter and NO ONE had seen it. Ever. No feedback or critique group--I was flying solo. What if my letter broke all the rules, didn't make sense, or worse--what if it was boring?

But I knew I couldn't leave the table without putting my letter up for inspection.

My hands shook so badly when I read my letter, I had to lay the paper on the table so people couldn't hear it rattling. My throat had suddenly dried up. My voice cracked and wavered. When I finished, the editor thought for a moment. Then she pulled a phrase from my second paragraph and said that phrase arrested her attention. The group agreed. She suggested I rework my query to get that phrase in the very first sentence of the letter.

I loved her suggestion and implemented it. That query was for the first book I ever wrote, which eventually became my third book published by Bloomsbury/Walker--ME & JACK. Now the point here isn't asketh questions and be ye published, but rather become a better writer by taking risks to get the information you need. That's one of the reasons you're attending a conference--to learn! So if you can read from your piece, do so! If you can provide a comment or critique, open your mouth! When you can ask questions, ask them! You'll walk away from the conference with so much more if you brave it and speak up! Good luck, conference goers!