Galleys — “advance, uncorrected proof[s], not for resale” — for my next book arrived this week! The real deal has a publication date of next April, but I’ve already begun sending these early versions out into the world. Paul Hoppe’s illustrations are too good to keep to myself…
There’s a nonfiction idea that came to me last fall that I dismissed as being too complicated and demanding for me to take on. Interesting? Yes, extremely so. But just too much for me to handle.
I responded the same way to that idea when it returned to my thoughts early this past spring. A great project, I thought — for somebody. Just not for me. Not right now.
Well, it came back to me again this week. In so many ways, it’s still not the right time. But today I sent my agent a proposal for it — a proposal that I loved writing more than anything else I’ve done lately. We’ll see if editors are any more successful at avoiding this idea than I’ve been.
Two terrific things came my way this week. One of them, I’d been looking forward to for a while. The other was the sweetest of surprises.
First came the new issue of Hunger Mountain, the journal of the Vermont College of Fine Arts. The young adult and children’s literature section alone is packed with essays, excerpts, and poetry worth savoring, and I’m honored to be a contributor.
Here’s a peek at my essay, “Voice: I’ve Gotta (not just) Be Me”:
For Can I See Your I.D.? (Dial, 2011), a young adult collection profiling ten people who pretended to be someone they weren’t, the voice I use is as much a presence in each story as the person I’m writing about. That wasn’t an accident, but it also wasn’t something I had in mind at the outset of the project or deliberately worked to come up with.
As I remember it, I had stacks of research on two of my subjects, ideas for several other candidates, and not a single word written down. Then one night it occurred to me that maybe I could write these profiles in second person, the better to put the reader behind the mask of each masquerader. I tried it and liked the results, and although the editor who had first shown interest in the project was appalled, from then on, I couldn’t imagine not writing this book that way.
So, what’s my New York Times news? Shark Vs. Train has made the Times’ list of best-selling picture books! Thanks so much to all of you who have helped put it there, and especially to the independent booksellers who have been so wonderfully supportive of the book.
Last night I wrote up some plugging-away-at-getting-published advice for a friend to include in an SCBWI presentation, but I could have saved myself those words had I known what I’d encounter on my walk this morning.
To sum up, aspiring authors and illustrators, you’ve got a hill to climb. And no matter how slow you are, you’ve still got to plan on climbing it. Maybe some nice person will swoop in and offer to carry you to the top. But it’s just as likely that he’ll just take your picture, post it on his blog, and continue on his way.
It’s too late for inclusion in my forthcoming book Can I See Your I.D.? True Stories of False Identities, but this past week’s story of how a 22-year-old basketball player passed himself off to Odessa Permian High School as teen phenom “Jerry Joseph” contains many elements familiar to me from my research.
You’ve got a person with a deep need — psychological, or professional, or simply for survival — to misdirect the people around him. And you’ve got those people around him with their all-too-human abilities to see what they are inclined to see and overlook what doesn’t add up.
My book will include ten such stories. Obviously, there were many more to choose from, and more of them being lived out all the time.
Much more about Shark Vs. Train, in fact, from the perspective of Little, Brown editor Alvina Ling.
Have a look if you ever wanted to know:
How Alvina and I connected (and how long it took) How she pitched such an off-the-wall concept for a picture book to the acquisitions committee How Tom Lichtenheld got involved What the cover was originally going to look like Pretty much anything else about SVT
…but you don’t have to go far to get it. Just pop over to Cynsations for the “Writing Across Formats” interview that Cynthia Leitich Smith conducted with me recently.
