Sure Signs of Crazy -- Author Interview, Review, & Giveaway

Thought for the Day:


“The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.”  ~Ernest Hemingway in A Farewell to Arms~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

You will find a terrific post on weaving back story into your novel if you click HERE. 

 

My friend Morgan Mussell who blogs at The First Gates always has something interesting or thought provoking or charming on his blog (click HERE). He recently posted a link to Flavorwire which has “10 of the Greatest Essays on Writing Ever Written” available for your edification and entertainment. Click HERE to read these great writings. There is certainly something here for every writer. Morgan also posted the link to the interview on the PBS NewsHour with Kate de Camillo. Very nice! Click HERE to find that. 

Ruth Harris did a guest post on Anne R. Allen’s blog that will give you great resources for finding answers. You might want to set aside a half day to poke around these sites. There is so much here of value, you simply won't believe it. Click HERE to see it. 

Last week, I offered an ARC of Lord and Lady Bunny -- Almost Royalty to one of you who left a comment. Our winner this time is Patty Hawthorne. Congratulations, Patty. I will get the book out to you this week. I have another giveaway this week, a very special giveaway you simply won't want to miss. Make sure you read to the end for this one. 

Last year, I won a book on a blog drawing. I'm embarrassed to say I can't remember which blog. I'm even more embarrassed to say I didn't get around to reading it until a couple weeks ago. Then to find out what a great book it was, I wondered how I could have waited so long. I LOVE this book. I think everyone who reads it will love this book. It is Sure Signs of Crazy by Karen Harrington. Let me tell you a little about it, and then I have a special treat.

Sarah Nelson is in sixth grade. The school year is nearly over and she is dreading the seventh-grade project. It includes a family tree. Maybe her father would decide they should pick up and move before the summer was over. It happened every time there was a news story about some woman killing her children. Then, it seems, everyone in town figures out who they are, so off they go.

Sarah's father is a college professor and a pretty serious drinker, and Sarah sometimes has to be the grown up in their home. It is just the two of them. Sarah's twin brother is dead. Their mother drowned him and tried to drown Sarah when they were two. Sarah often watches herself carefully for signs that she is becoming crazy like her mother. 

The last day of the school year, Sarah's English teacher gives everyone in class a composition book and tells them that over the summer they are to write letters to someone, anyone, even fictional characters. Most of the kids just groan and toss their composition books away after they leave the class, but not Sarah. She writes. She loves words -- discovering new words, using new words, and writing. She chooses to write her letters to Atticus Finch. He's a wonderful father, wise and kind, so talking to him through letters, she just might figure some things out in her own life. She particularly would like to figure some things out about her mother, a subject she has trouble discussing with her father. Her life is, well, complicated. 

I don't want to give anything away about this wonderful story, but I do want to emphasize how much I love it. Sarah's voice is pitch-perfect and this story is so compelling and well-written, I can only recommend that you get it and read it as soon as you can. I was so taken with the book, I contacted the author and asked her some questions which she kindly answered. I'm sharing that here today as well. 

I think ideas are so hard to come by. How did you come up with the idea for this wonderful book?

Karen Harrington

KH: For SURE SIGNS, the story came about because of a letter from a reader of my first novel, JANEOLOGY. The letter pondered what would become of Sarah Nelson, the daughter of the main character in JANEOLOGY. As it happened, this question nagged at me and I started writing a little from Sarah’s perspective. It took off from there. It’s funny because a lot of reviewers have commented, “I wonder why Harrington chose to write a children’s book following such an intense adult mystery.” The thing is, I just wrote a story about a girl with a secret and it found its way into the world. That’s how stories happen.

All writing takes research. What did you do to prepare for writing Sure Signs of Crazy?

KH: For Sarah’s story, it was really a matter of getting to know her. My first research began with a simple spiral notebook. I began writing diary entries in the notebook as if it was Sarah’s journal. I’d coax her into telling me about her days. Then I reread TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee as well as all the books written about Ms. Lee’s life.

I absolutely loved Sarah Nelson and her voice. She sounded very real to me. How did you discover your fictional characters? Are they based on real people?

KH: Thank you! Sarah was one of those rare characters that began to talk to me after I’d written several journal entries. I think we all remember a little of what it was like to be 12 and curious. We all still carry a little of our childhoods within us.

All the other characters in the book were completely fabricated, although Mrs. Dupree reminds me of so many older female mentors I’ve had the great blessing to know in life.

Writing can be a lonely business. Do you work with critique groups or critique partners? Maybe you could talk a little about your writing process.

KH: Yes, it can be lonely. I’m fortunate to have a network of writers I can call or email and get a little support. This is so essential. Every writer gets to a stage in her writing where she thinks it’s all completely terrible. It’s good to have a writer friend talk you off that ledge! I’m writing my eighth novel now and I recognize that the “my work is horrible” phase will be a part of every manuscript. Also, I have a very sweet dog who allows me to read sentences out loud to her.

Has there been a book on the craft of writing that has been really useful to you? What was it and why?

KH: Anne Lamott’s BIRD BY BIRD and Stephen King’s ON WRITING are two books I return to every year.  These are the books that feel like writing coaches to me. This year, I also discovered THE ART OF WAR FOR WRITERS by James Scott Bell and I’m loving it, too.

What were your favorite children’s books when you were growing up?

KH: I really loved LITTLE WOMEN by Louisa May Alcott and WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS by Wilson Rawls. I can still picture the room where I read both of those books. They stay with me.

What is the last book you read?

KH: THE ORPHAN TRAIN by Christina Baker Kline

What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given as a writer?

KH: Write the first draft with your heart, the second draft with your head.

Pantser or plotter?

KH: Certified pantser for life!

Chocolate or vanilla?

KH: Chocolate.

Coffe, tea, or something else altogether?

KH: Coffee

What’s next for you?

KH: My next book is titled COURAGE FOR BEGINNERS (Aug 2014/ Little, Brown), another coming of age tale about finding your own strengths and your own voice. It features a girl whose mother is agoraphobic and afraid of the world. Will she choose to be like her mother or push on?

What advice would you most like to pass along to new writers?

KH: You have to develop a writing muscle and you do this by setting a routine and writing every day or week. Don’t doubt yourself if every sentence or scene isn’t beautiful. You have to do the work the same way athletes or musicians or dancers practice every day for a big performance. If you do practice, you’ll be ready to capture the right idea at the right moment.

Thank you for so generously sharing your time and thoughts. Is there anything I didn’t ask about that you’d like to tell us?

KH: Thanks so much for inviting me to your blog. Folks can visit me at www.karenharringtonbooks.com

I promised you a very special giveaway and I will not let you down. I have a very gently-read hardback copy of Sure Signs of Crazy SIGNED by the author to give to one of you. This offer is for U. S. addresses only. You need to be a follower and leave a comment on this post. If you would like an extra chance or two in the drawing, you can tweet about this giveaway with the link, or you can post the link on Facebook or on your blog or any other social media. Let me know what you have done and you will have extra chances. 

If you are interested in finding more Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday books, check out Shannon Messenger's wonderful blog by clicking HERE.

Take Care of Yourself - You're All You've Got

Thought for the day:

 “The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true.”  ~John Steinbeck~

A gift for my writer friends:

 

 Here are a couple of links I think you will find valuable.

A good post on getting tension into your writing: http://kathytemean.wordpress.com/2012/11/20/tension/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+WritingAndIllustrating+%28Writing+and+Illustrating%29&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail

On problems seen digging through the slush pile: http://misssnarksfirstvictim.blogspot.com/2012/11/bakers-dozen-observations.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MissSnarksFirstVictim+%28Miss+Snark%27s+First+Victim%29&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail

For my fabulous giveaway, the winner is Elizabeth Varadan! (Cue the rabbit to pop out of the magician’s hat!) Congratulations, Elizabeth. I will be sending you a hard-cover copy of The Amazing Harry Kellar. It is a fascinating and beautiful book. Elizabeth is also a writer. Her magical book, The Fourth Wish, is available on Amazon as a paperback or Kindle book. Click the title to be linked to her book. She also blogs. You can read her blog by clicking HERE. There’s always something interesting there to read. I do have another giveaway for today, so stay tuned.

One of my critique partners, JaNay Brown-Wood, and I have been working on a collection of children’s poems for more than a couple of years. We’ve been close to ready to start submitting for quite awhile, but felt it needed just a little more work. It seemed we couldn’t find the time to finish it up and ship it out – until this nice, long holiday weekend. We had a couple of marathon sessions and put it in the mail Saturday afternoon. Wish us luck! I’ve also just finished another draft of my middle-grade and have started submitting it. Fingers crossed. That said, I’m trying to find inspiration for a new project to start. I’ve been feeling kind of wrung out. Maybe there’s nothing left for me to say, I think on some days.

One of the things I’m doing is taking an e-retreat that will at the very least help me stop beating myself up about not having an unending flow of brilliant ideas, but I also believe it will get my creative juices flowing again. You can read about it by clicking HERE.  I think it sounds like a terrific thing to do. If you hurry, you can sign up too.

I also dug out my copy of Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott. Isn't that a great title? You can open to just about any page and find something inspirational or downright funny or thought-provoking. This is what I turned to:

“You get your confidence and intuition back by trusting yourself, by being militantly on your own side. You need to trust yourself, especially on a first draft, where amid the anxiety and self-doubt, there should be a real sense of your imagination and your memories walking and wool-gathering, tramping the hills, walking all over the place. Trust them. Don’t look at your feet to see if you’re doing it right. Just dance.”

Thank you, Anne Lamott. I’m going for a long walk and try out a few dance steps while I’m at it. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

Anyway, with the holiday and all that work with JaNay and my crisis of inspiration, I don’t have a new review for this week, but I promised you a book giveaway, so here we go. A while back, I reviewed a middle-grade book called Lone Bean by Chudney Ross for the Sacramento Book Review. Here is what I had to say in that review:

Bean was named for a flower, but it’s a big, long name and no one calls her by that name unless she is in b-i-g BIG trouble. She’s starting third grade and can’t wait, even if her older sisters, Rose and Gardenia, who are m-e-a-n MEAN, have to walk her to school. Bean is excited about her new teacher and seeing her best friend for the first time since summer vacation. But her best friend, Carla, seems to have made a new best friend and Bean is left with no one. While Bean struggles with feeling left out and lonely, she also struggles with her mother working long hours and her father, a music instructor, insisting she take up an instrument. In her effort to have someone to hang out with, Bean spends time with Terrible Tanisha, the local bully, and Bean’s mean side shows. She starts getting in trouble, and she doesn’t seem to know how to get back to normal.

Good writing, but it’s hard to cheer for the protagonist who is bratty, mean, and selfish through much of the story. She finally gets her act together, but it’s a long time coming. Little girls may like it though.

You might win my gently-read ARC of Lone Bean. I will put your name in my proverbial hat. Link this post on your blog or Facebook or Tweet about it, let me know, and your name will be entered twice.

On the book giveaway, this is for U.S. only. Sorry, but it would be too expensive for me to send books out of the country. But please leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you. Remember, if you have trouble leaving a comment, click on the title of the post and it will give you just this post with a comments section on the bottom. Also, if you haven’t signed up by email, please do. Just look in the upper right-hand corner of this page, pop your email address in, and you will receive an email each time I put up a new post. Your information will not be shared with anyone.