I’ve gone back to middle school!
Does that sound like I’m telling you the nightmare I had last night? For me, it could have been. My middle school years were not pleasant, to say the least, but I haven’t been dreaming about them. Thank goodness. Middle school has come back to me recently in a couple of other ways.

1. I just read the book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman. I don’t typically read non-fiction, but this book was so gripping I practically read it in one sitting. (It kept me up way past my bedtime.) It is a must read for writers with characters in this age group, all parents (especially those with daughters,) and anyone who just wants to understand those awkward years. (How’s that for an understatement!)

2. I just visited Shepard Middle School, and will soon visit Caruso Middle School, to talk about writing. I was blown away by the talent and enthusiasm of these students! Some of them had story concepts that would make many agents and editors salivate. I think I’ll hold on to the attendance list, because I have a feeling we all might be hearing from these kids in the future.

3. In preparing for above talk, I found my writing journal! The one I kept all through middle school and high school. I thought it was lost forever. But now all that teen angst is right there at my fingertips. Every emotion that passed through my body for seven years imortalized in bad poetry. Have you ever heard anything so exciting?

exhibit a:

exhibit b:
a trusting soul
trying to find
an interlocking soul
one that is
just the same
and very different
-jenny, age 15

Any of you care to relive grades six through eight with me?

Even though the New Year began a week ago, for me, it really didn’t feel like it had begun until today. Finally a day of uninterrupted Work Time!!!

Last week was still Vacation Time. The kids were home from school. Many people were still out of their offices, but today, life is officially back to normal. My kids were grumbling of course, but I think they’ll be glad to be seeing all their friends on a daily basis again. And besides, it’s fifty-eight degrees here! It’s not like we could have gone sledding again anyway. (We don’t own one of these here grass sleds. They do look fun, though.)

Did anyone get anything done during the last two weeks?

In 2k8 news:
Check out the class of 2k8 blog today to learn all about 2k8’s first book THE OPPOSITE OF INVISIBLE, by Liz Gallagher.

This Wednesday, January 9, I’ll be leading a writing workshop entitled Crafting Voice: Make Your Writing Sing. It’ll take place at The Bookstall in Winnetka, IL, 811 Elm Street, at 7 pm. If you are around and interested please drop by. With paper and pencil of course!

And if you can’t come, then visit me at LiveJournal, if you are of that ilk. My blog is now syndicated there for your blog-reading ease.

Goodness gracious I’m just so excited! I popped over to Lisa Yee’s blog today to see who’d won her hilarious Bodacious Book Title Competition, and my entry was an honorable mention! I feel seriously, um, honored.

The contest rules were easy, pick a book title, change one word to a word that rhymes with it and give a description of what the book was about. My husband and I were addicted for about two days, then we sought help and went cold turkey. (But not before I entered, obviously.)
Here’s my entry:
Book: The Polar Express
New Title: The Solar Express
Summary: Due to global warming Santa now owns beachfront property.
(And I will receive a small portion of the fantastic booty!)

And for any moms out there, check out this blog! (It’s written by my sis.)

I just read about this great site called FutureMe.org. Quite simply, it’s a way to send an email to yourself to be delivered at some date in the future. And this is the perfect time of year for it. I just sent one to my end-of-2008-self.

It’s a great activity to do with your kids. (Whether that means in your classroom or in your house!)

And then if you want more accountability, post one of your goals for 2008 here!
I’ll start:
In 2008 I will play more board games with my kids!

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!
And to all who don’t, we can still enjoy Elf, right?

What a day I had yesterday! I spoke to the fabulous students at South Park Elementary School about writing stories. The kids were so full of questions and ideas and I met several who told me that they wanted to be authors when they grow up. I’ll have to be sure to start looking for their books in about fifteen years. (It’d be pretty young to have a book published, but I could tell from the way they helped me plan a story that these kids really knew what they were doing!) There I am right there standing in front of an oversized book filled with the giant story planning worksheets I’ve written for students.

And as I am the queen of worksheets (I’ve dubbed my own self this, but I don’t think that makes me any less royal,) it makes me so happy to know that my elementary school worksheets are going to used by kids so excited about using them! The regular size ones, that is, that I left for teachers to photocopy and use in their classrooms as they see fit.

Now I really can’t wait until my book is out! Because then I’ll be ablt to talk to students about Polly Peterson too.

I went to the library again today, though my stack wasn’t as big as usual because, you know, I’m busy revising.

Every time I go to the library, I think to myself, I should check out some fiction from the adult section, or maybe even some non-fiction, because it would broaden my mind, expand my horizons, be “good for me.” But I rarely do. And even when I do, that book usually spends three weeks on my nightstand ignored and unread. So what is the point even?

The fact is, I just love to read YA fiction. And there are already so many YA titles I want to read that I’ll never get to the end of my list, so I don’t want to spend my time reading things that I don’t really want to read.

So why do I think I should be reading these other books?

Well, the non-fiction is so that I’ll have new and interesting tidbits of information to toss into my books and into cocktail party conversations. But I guess I could accomplish this by watching documentaries, which is how I prefer my non-fiction, anyway.

But the adult fiction, what is that about? Well, I guess it’s for cocktail parties again. Most of the adults I know outside of the children’s writing world do not read books written for children and young adults. So if I don’t read their books, we can’t talk about books. But the truth is, they are missing out. Sure there are books that purely kid-centric that wouldn’t hold an adult’s attention span. But there are so many books that are ageless in their appeal, because of the quality of the writing, the likability of the characters and the level of thought and discourse the book will provoke. Movies and TV programs are cross-marketed, are promoted as appealing to entire families. I wonder why this doesn’t work with books.

Hmmm…That’s a good topic to discuss at my next cocktail party.

I know what you are thinking, but it’s not true. I’m not dawdling because I can’t figrue out a plotting problem.

I just missed you!

Plus the internet has great quizzes. Remember when you had to buy a magazine to take a quiz?

The ablility to take a quiz whenever you want is a perfect example of how technology has changed our lives for the better.

Because what would my week be like if I didn’t know that I was a Romance Novel.
Click on the What Kind of Book Are You? link below to take the quiz yourself.

What kind of book are you? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Romance Novel Congratulations, you got “Romace Novel.” You’re sweet, sensitive, and ready for love. Good for you! Just remember that life isn’t a faery tale, and sometimes your heart will be broken. Try to be a little more discerning with your love, and you’ll do fine! Romance Novel 100% Horror 55% Comic Book 45% Manga 45% Action-Adventure 30%