You may recall that we left off Chapter Three with a cliffhanger of an ending, with Anne in the thicket (actual and emotional), thinking that perhaps he might soon be walking there. Today, in Chapter Four, we learn who he is:

He was not Mr. Wentworth, the former curate of Monkford, however suspicious appearances may be, but a Captain Frederick Wentworth, his brother, who being made commander in consequence of the action off St Domingo, and not immediately employed, had come into Somersetshire, in the summer of 1806; and having no parent living, found a home for half a year at Monkford. He was, at that time, a remarkably fine young man, with a great deal of intelligence, spirit, and brilliancy; and Anne an extremely pretty girl, with gentleness, modesty, taste, and feeling. Half the sum of attraction, on either side, might have been enough, for he had nothing to do, and she had hardly anybody to love; but the encounter of such lavish recommendations could not fail. They were gradually acquainted, and when acquainted, rapidly and deeply in love. It would be difficult to say which had seen highest perfection in the other, or which had been the happiest: she, in receiving his declarations and proposals, or he in having them accepted.

A short period of exquisite felicity followed, and but a short one. Troubles soon arose. Sir Walter, on being applied to, without actually withholding his consent, or saying it should never be, gave it all the negative of great astonishment, great coldness, great silence, and a professed resolution of doing nothing for his daughter. He thought it a very degrading alliance; and Lady Russell, though with more tempered and pardonable pride, received it as a most unfortunate one.

Austen manages to make most of her female readers good and in love with Captain Wentworth themselves in this chapter, and I posit that she manages it using the following devices:

1. He is described in glowing terms, and, since Anne is the one person introduced in the novel so far who readers can attach to without feeling like they're rooting for a numbskull (Elizabeth) or a popinjay (Sir Walter) or someone on the make (Mrs. Clay and, to some extent, her father, Mr. Shepherd) or someone who places improper emphasis on rank (everyone I've just mentioned except Anne, plus Lady Russell).

2. Anne has already earned reader sympathy by being somewhat of an underdog - her father and her sister Elizabeth have been set up as fools, and they don't value Anne. Lady Russell, who is intelligent but a bit too fond of titles and money, adores Anne and has helped us to see her as a person of good character and real value. So if Anne loved - and still loves - Wentworth, then we sympathetically attach to him as well.

3. Wentworth himself is established as an underdog. Despite all his heroic traits (physically and intellectually), he is sneered at by Sir Walter (which can only raise him in readers' eyes) for his lack of fortune and rank. He is disliked by Lady Russell for traits that are presented as good traits - ambition in his career and a positive outlook that he'll soon make his fortune.

4. We learn that Anne deeply regrets having broken the engagement, that she still harbors feelings for Captain Wentworth, and that she wishes she had not done so.

How can we not all be inclined to love Captain Wentworth, under those circumstances? And, I might add, it's a good thing, too, or else we might not care for him all that much or bother to try to explain or understand his behavior when he and Anne eventually meet. And no, I don't consider that a spoiler, because if you've read any Austen or know anything about her work at all, you're already expecting it to occur.

Lady Russell's role

Lady Russell has essentially appointed herself Anne's fairy godmother, without the magic wand or gifts of nice clothing. And while I found myself exceedingly pissed at her for interference the first couple of times I read Persuasion, I believe it worth the time to examine her reasoning.

1. Anne was the daughter of a landed, titled gentleman; Wentworth is an aspiring naval officer with neither land nor money. Sir Walter had already said he'd do nothing for Anne, meaning no dowry and no support after her marriage.

2. Anne was only 19, and, at the time, quite pretty. She could make a more stable match, rather than attaching herself to a man who would be at sea all the time and, given his daring nature, willing to take a lot of risks in order to advance his career and his winnings. (Men in the navy split up the "winnings" when an enemy ship was captured, just as pirates did, frankly. So a daring officer willing to take lots of risks in engaging the enemy could gain a large amount of wealth, but in doing so, he was risking death on a regular basis.) Anne would be alone quite often, without any support from her father, and might face difficult times financially, to say nothing of the great risk of her being made a young widow.

3. Lady Russell didn't fully grasp the depth of Anne's affection, and thought it was merely an infatuation. She believed that with Wentworth gone, Anne would readily find someone else. Instead, she faded away. But Lady Russell didn't know - and couldn't have known - that when she advised Anne to break the engagement.

Why Anne broke it off

You will note that Anne was willing to proceed with her marriage despite her father's disapproval, since he did not outright forbid or oppose the marriage. Lady Russell, however, who was for all intents and purposes standing in the role of mother to Anne at that age, did outright oppose the marriage, offering quite a number of reasons as to why the match should not proceed. In deference to Lady Russell's pseudo-parental role, Anne allowed herself to be persuaded to call off the match due to Wentworth's lack of funds. This brings us to one of my favorite sentences in the book:

"She had been forced into prudence in her youth, she learned romance as she grew older: the natural sequel of an unnatural beginning."

Back to Chapter Three.

This made even me laugh today. I especially love Nicolas Cage as Rosie O'Donnell and as Mr. Rogers.

It's been a momentous 12 months here at LiveJournal. We crossed a capital T at Ten years young. And, like most precocious pubescents, we celebrated turning double digits by publishing our first book! Needless to say, we've experienced some major changes, both inside and out. Before we recap, we'd like to thank you for bearing with us as we've struggled through ungainly growth spurts, identity pangs, and, yes, the occasional blemish. We hope you'll continue to stand by us: We're gaining wisdom with maturity.

Stuff you liked

• Back in February, we placed a call for entries for our ten-year anniversary anthology in lj_turns10. In December (less than a year later!), we officially announced the publication of Live Journal: The First Decade. Featuring an inspired collection of writing, photographs, and artwork from the pages of LiveJournal history, the book has been selected by Blurb.com as a top staff pick! We are proud to have played host to so much talent over the years, and we thank our contributors for sharing their extraordinary work.
• We all love quirky surprises, but not when it comes to managing our account settings. This year we streamlined settings into one central account management area. No more pouring through FAQs to figure out how to control privacy settings, modify notifications, adjust mobile settings, or update contact information!
• Being users ourselves, we realize our own mothers couldn't find us on LiveJournal based on our usernames and userpics alone (*heaves heavy sigh of relief*). But since there are times when we actually want to be found, we created a search tool--Find Your Friends--to help locate people by email address (it's in the Friends drop-down menu).
• Spam counter-attack: The war against vicious malware and spambots reigns eternal, but we've been making serious inroads to ensure your online security. We've established new protocols, such as requiring email address validations. We've grown more savvy about ferreting out suspicious behavior. We've added features, like whitelisting, to help you protect your communities. Our valiant (i.e., overworked) spam avengers (a/k/a the LiveJournal ops team) are standing on red alert so you can sleep safely at night.
• After an intensive beta, we launched My Guests at the end of the year, which lets you see who's been hanging around your journal. A number of you have even discovered secret admirers (not all of whom are creepy)!
• Last, but by no means least, we want to thank our volunteers for providing invaluable support and feedback. Their Herculean efforts enable us to answer your questions more efficiently, identify spammers, reduce abuse, and deliver better features (through tireless testing). On behalf of the staff and the larger LiveJournal community, we are truly grateful for their diligence, intelligence, loyalty, and passion.

You got your fix

• We recently debugged a number of the oustanding issues with the rich text editor so your entries look great regardless of whether you know html. You can read more about text editors here.
• In response to user demand, we brought back international voice posting. For more info on voice posting, read here.
• At long last, we revived TxtLJ with Verizon. For more info on TxtLJ, check out the FAQ.

Paid features you enjoyed

• In December, we introduced My Stats, which provides detailed data on who's been viewing your entries as well as statistics on commenting, RSS requests, friending history, and more. Despite a few early glitches, the response has been extremely favorable.
• This year, we launched and improved Notes (i.e., the feature formerly known as Alias), which lets you add private comments on friends and commenters (it's in the Profile drop-down menu). This way you won't be caught red-faced when you strain to remember details about that wonderful LiveJournal friend who sent you a birthday vGift. For more info, read the FAQ.
• When we first announced View friends pages by date, we thought it would be a quiet, minor enhancement. The rave reaction floored us, which made us all very happy. We gave it a fine tuning in February of 2009, so it's even better!
• How embarrassing! It appears pingbacks have gone back to the shop for service. We’ll keep you posted. We didn't know just much you liked pingbacks until it went in for service. It's back and, judging by your irritation when it wasn't available, this is good news. FYI, pingbacks send instant notifications (via screened comments) whenever someone links to one of your entries on LiveJournal. For more info, read this entry in paidmembers or check out the FAQ.

Mixed reviews

• The search is still on. Some of you have reported getting more comprehensive results for keyword searches using the new Yandex search engine and like the ability to search within content categories (like entries or comments). Others have not been satisfied with the relevancy of search results. Please be patient. We're still tweaking this product.
• This past December, we wanted to try out a new holiday promotion. Given the crap economy, we decided to offer our Paid/Permanent users a stack of $10 coupons to send to Basic/Plus users for paid account upgrades. We hoped you would like it. And some of you did, but many were disappointed that we didn't offer Give More as well. We want to thank you so much for letting us know. Your input will help us plan better in the future. Just FYI, Paid/Permanent users can continue to send out coupons through January 15th. Coupons can be redeemed through January 31, 2010.
• We were pretty excited about Your Journal Your Money, which allows Paid/Permanent users to earn extra cash by displaying Google ads to Basic/Plus and logged out users. A number of you tried it. Some of you really like it. Others, not so much. (Just FYI, Paid/Permanent users who do not participate in this program will not view ads on journals. Participants will see ads on their own journal, but won't see them on other journals unless they specifically opt in.) For additional details, visit here.
• We relaunched m.livejournal.com, our mobile app. While it offers a nicer UI and enhanced functionality, some of you think we can do better on load times. Like most of us, it's a work in progress. You can customize your mobile settings here. For more info, please read the FAQ.

Missing Inaction

• We shudder to bring up the neon purple elephant squatting on our heads, but, yes, we didn't give you those a la carte userpics. We've been making radical improvements to our backend in order to support them. But no excuses. We know you want them. We cringe every time you mention them. We're sorry we dropped the ball on this, and we promise to do our best to get them to you in 2010.

Stumbling points

• Back in early August, we experienced outages related to a series of DDoS attacks. We are proud to report that we were down a total of one hour over the course of a few days. We thank our heroic ops guys for getting us up sooner and more consistently than any of our less fortunate social networking friends. We apologize for leaving you temporarily stranded.
• A couple of months back, we offered a free, unrestricted vGift, which induced a snowflake cookie avalanche. This resulted in backed up/delayed notifications, which, in turn, led us to reboot systems, rendering scrapbooks unavailable. It took a while to shovel free. Apologies for the inconvenience. We learned a valuable lesson that should keep us calamity-free in the future (fingers crossed while knocking on wood).
• That darn Best Buy ad. First off, we're sorry about the audio auto-play (we got it turned off as quickly as possible). While it's true that we'll continue to show this type of ad to accounts that normally see them (never to Paid/Permanent accounts), we'll make sure the sound defaults to off moving forward. We promise to do our very best to keep ads to a minimum on LiveJournal, while keeping a roof over Frank's head.

Full steam ahead!

As we plunge headfirst into the next decade, we want to take a moment to look back and thank all of our employees, both past and present, who have worked so hard to create our unique and magical universe. We couldn't have made it this far without you: Your contributions brighten our path everyday. We also want to extend our heartfelt appreciation to each and every one of you. Whether you've been around for ten days or ten years, your humor, intelligence, talent, and creativity are what makes this the most vibrant global community on the Internet (the best place on the Web, in our humble opinion). Here's hoping that 2010 will be the greatest year yet! We thank you for joining us as we embark upon another glorious decade of LiveJournal history!

You ever have a week so horrible that the only way it could turn out decent overall would be by winning the lottery and a Pulitzer prize and discovering the fountain of youth?

Off to buy some lottery tickets and go exploring...

Yesterday was so lovely. I asked for a writing buddy, and I got a writing posse! Awesome.

Thanks SO MUCH to:

jenny_moss
annemariepace
arialas
seeyouupside
sachielle
suzdc
slatts
ttrent
lisamantchev
artistq
reallyginnyf
lorrainemt
motherhoodtales
heatherwpetty
edithspage
jongibbs
nandinib
and
Donna Gephart (http://www.donnagephart.blogspot.com)

...for stopping by, giving a cheer and/or working together. That was FANTASTIC. Positive peer pressure at its finest. Yes indeed. :-) I revised 6 chapters!

I'm working now until 2:00 if anyone wants to join me.

Thanks again you guys!!!! xoxoxoxoxoxo

Cynsations will be on hiatus from now until sometime shortly after Jan. 22 while I teach at the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults winter 2010 residency in Montpelier.

I look forward to working with fellow faculty members Kathi Appelt, Margaret Bechard, Alan Cumyn, Sharon Darrow, Sarah Ellis, A.M. Jenkins, Ellen Howard, Uma Krishnaswami, Julie Larios, Martine Leavitt, Laura McGee Kvasnosky, Leda Schubert, Shelley Tanaka, Rita Williams-Garcia, and Tim Wynne-Jones. In addition, Carolyn Coman will be matched with post-graduate students.

Kimberly Willis Holt is the writer in residence. Sarah is leading the picture book certificate program, and the visiting author-illustrator is Lynne Rae Perkins.

Our graduate assistants will be Marianna Baer, Debbie Gonzales, Sarah Sullivan, and Zu Vincent.

Cynsational Notes

Children's-YA writing enthusiasts should watch my Twitter account! Beginning Sunday, I'll be tweeting the occasional faculty quote from the winter residency. Note: you do not have to be registered at Twitter or to "follow" me to read the tweets. You can just go to my Twitter page, and they'll all be displayed there, in descending order, from most to least recent.

For those holiday vacationers who may have missed it, last week I posted my Cynsational Books of 2009. I'd like to highlight just a couple more: The Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S. King (Flux, 2009) as well as The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod series by Heather Brewer (Dutton, ongoing). Read a Cynsations interview with A.S.

Here's the book trailer for The Dust of 100 Dogs:



Here's the book trailer for Tenth Grade Bleeds (Dutton, 2009). Note: Heather is also highly recommended as a speaker. I had the pleasure of being on a panel with her in Westlake, Texas, last fall and was absolutely wowed by her savvy, smarts, and ability to connect with tweens.



This just in! Here's the new book trailer for Eleventh Grade Burns (Dutton, Feb. 2010).



Likewise, here's a quick recap of the interviews posted from Dec. 21 through the end of the month. Texas debut author Jill S. Alexander discussed story in country music; Jessica Blank wrote a guest post on adapting a novel into a screenplay; David L. Harrison talked about professional and artistic success, Michelle Markel shared her insights on taking writing risks, and debut author Penny Blubaugh reflected on early reading influences and her MFA.

New Releases

This Week's New Releases from Teenreads.com Blog. Highlights include books by Gordan Korman, Susanne Dunlap, Jordan Sonnenblick, Julie Ann Peters, Delia Ephron, Courtney Summers, Angela Johnson, Dia Reeves, Mari Mancusi, Jennifer R. Hubbard, Tim Bowlar, Lisa McMann, and Jacqueline Woodson.

Eighteen-year-old author Noni Carter talks about her novel, Good Fortune (Simon & Schuster, 2010). Note: Noni is a student at Harvard University.



Here's a book trailer for Chasing Brooklyn by Lisa Schroeder (Simon Pulse, 2010). Read a new interview with Lisa by Tabitha Olsen from Writer Musings. Peek: "Because I started with picture books, where you need to be succinct as possible, I do think it helped me with the verse. I seem to do well in getting to the heart of a scene and figuring out how to get the emotional truth with just the right choice of words."



Here's a book trailer for Captivate by Carrie Jones (Bloomsbury, 2010). Read a new interview with Carrie from Fantastic Book Review. Enter to win a copy of Captivate.



Welcome YA Rebels

Vloggers YA Rebels describe themselves as "seven young adult authors giving you the behind the scenes drama!" Notes: now posting regularly; video includes cameo by John Green.



More News & Giveaways

Cover Stories: Prada & Prejudice by Mandy Hubbard from Melissa Walker at readergirlz. Peek: "A few weeks later, they had a photo shoot, and they sent me the three best options--and they let me pick (my choice at left)! There were two styles of jeans and two types of red high heels. It was super exciting to be able to have some input at that point, and I'm grateful that the folks at Razorbill shared it with me." See also Cover Stories: Far From You by Lisa Schroeder and Cover Stories: Shrinking Violet by Danielle Joseph.

Manuscript Blindness by Brian Yansky from Brian's Blog: Writer Talk. Peek: "You have to look at the worth of your scenes in terms of the whole. Do they all belong? If they do belong, have you devoted the right amount of emphasis to each?" Read a Cynsations interview with Brian.

Top Ten Questions Dutton Editors Ask Themselves When Looking At A Manuscript from Kathy Temean at Writing and Illustrating: Sharing Information About Writing and Illustrating for Children. Peek: "Does the action of the story move at a good pace and hold our interest? Does tension build as the story moves forward?" Source: Janet Reid, Literary Agent.

10 Things I've Learned about the Writing Biz by Charlene Teglia from Genreality. Peek: "Don’t discount your business abilities and leave that up to other people because you’re 'just a writer'. You're also an independent business person and uniquely gifted with the ability to come up with solid ideas." Source: Elizabeth Scott.

Win an ARC of Everlasting by Angie Frazier (Scholastic, 2010) from Angie Frazier: Adventures of a YA Novelist. Deadline: midnight EST Jan. 8. Learn more about Everlasting.

A Diamond in the Slush: What Picture Book Editors Are Really Looking For by Melanie Hope Greenberg from SCBWI Metro NY News. Peek: "In developing a project, however, they [Alexandra Penfold of Simon & Schuster and Alisha Niehaus of Dial] recommend that authors keep looking for ways to broaden its appeal." Source: Tammi Sauer.

Interview: Melissa de la Cruz by Little Willow at Bildungsroman. Peek: "The supernatural stories are easier. For The Ashleys and The Au Pairs, it was fun but I found it exhausting after awhile to keep up with all the trends and incorporate them in the book in a new way." Read a Cynsations interview with Melissa.

Six Word Resolutions & Goals! A Book Giveaway! And a New Year's Poem For You! by April Halprin Wayland from Teaching Author's: Six Children's Authors Who Also Teach Writing. Note: "April posted a follow-up to the contest we held last fall asking readers to post their goals for the new school year. Now it's time for readers to report on how they did. Those who didn't make their goals are invited to post a revised goal. And anyone who missed the original post is welcome to share a new writing resolution for 2010. One lucky participant will receive an autographed copy of April's award-winning picture book, New Year at the Pier: A Rosh Hashanah Story, illustrated by Stephané Jorisch (Dial, 2009)."

How I Got My Agent by Anna Staniszewski. Peek: "Sometimes you have to be willing to put one project aside, as I did, and realize that it might not be the one that's going to get you an agent/get you published/etc. That's why you should never stop writing, because you never know which manuscript will grab someone's attention."

Congratulations to David Lubar on the release of Dead Guy Spy (Starscape, 2010), the second book in his Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie series! Peek: "Nathan Abercrombie is getting used to his rotten life as a half-dead zombie. The good thing is he doesn't feel any pain. The bad thing is his body can't heal, so he has to be really careful not to break anything. But that's hard to do when his wrestling-obsessed gym teacher, Mr. Lomux, matches him up with Rodney the bully, who's looking for any excuse to break his bones. Then one day, Nathan is approached by the secret organization B.U.M.—aka the Bureau of Useful Misadventures—which offers him a cure in exchange for his help. Nathan jumps at the chance to become the world's first zombie spy, but soon discovers that B.U.M. isn’t quite what it seems. Can Nathan trust them?" Read a Cynsations interview with David.

Melanie Kroupa to Join Marshall Cavendish by Lynn Andriani from Publishers Weekly. Peek: "Kroupa will be joining Marshall Cavendish Children's Books as an editor-at-large on Jan. 1, reporting to publisher Margery Cuyler. Kroupa will work for the publisher, which is located in Tarrytown, N.Y., from her office in Dedham, Mass."

Mary Cole of Andrea Brown Literary Agency on Urban Fantasy by Parker Peevyhouse from The Spectacle. Peek: "Believe it or not, some of the most successful urban fantasy stories are also some of the funniest, and that has everything to do with voice. Without humor, personality and wit, 'dark' and 'gritty' will soon become 'bleak' and 'grating.'"

Marvelous Marketer: Nathan Bransford (Literary Agent) by Shelli at Market My Words. Peek: "Traditionally it wasn't really the agent's job to promote books, but I think that may be changing somewhat with the times."

Katherine Paterson Named National Ambassador for Young People's Literature from School Library Journal. Peek: "Katherine Paterson, a two-time Newbery medalist and two-time National Book Award-winner, replaces Jon Scieszka as the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, a two-year position created to raise national awareness of the importance of lifelong literacy and education." Note: Yesterday, Candlewick Press announced the upcoming publication of an illustrated middle-grade novel from Katherine. The Flint Heart is a retelling of the story by the late British fantasy novelist Eden Phillpots, written by Katherine and her husband, John Paterson. It will be illustrated by John Rocco and is slated for publication in March 2012.

Channeling My Inner Boy by Mary Atkinson from Crowe's Nest. Peek: "I’d write scenes like these and wonder, where did that come from? Do those boys really live inside me? Who are they? What do these scenes say about me? Am I crude, nasty, and violent?"

The First Sentence or Three by Rosalyn Schanzer from INK: Interesting Nonfiction for Kids. Peek: "In honor of finding some firsts in nonfiction, I thought I’d try to dig up a few books with great first sentences or first paragraphs; the kind that surprise you at first glance and pull you into a first-rate story right away."

The Longstockings: a new site from Coe Booth, Daphne Grab, Lisa Greenwald, Jenny Han, Caroline Hickey, and Siobhan Vivian. Don't miss 12 Months of Workshop: an opportunity to submit 25 pages of your work in progress to be workshopped by the Longstockings. Peek: "that writer will receive a document compiling the helpful notes, suggestions and (surely) lots of praise from The Longstockings!" Note: this contest will be held every month of this year.

Successful Queries: Agent Ted Malawer and 'My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters' from Chuck Sambuchino at Guide to Literary Agent's Editor's Blog. Peek: "Sydney's largest paragraph sets up the plot, the conflict, and introduces some exciting potential love interests and misadventures that I was excited to read about."

MG/YA SFF Virtual Conference by Tiffany Trent from Eudaimonium: Finding the Gold. Peek: "So, I want to try an experiment. I'm planning on holding a one-day virtual conference sometime in late March or April. I want this to be a truly useful conference to writers and aficionados of MG/YA SFF. Many of us see the same panels over and over again at conferences, making us feel like we've wasted time and money. How might we do it differently? What panels would you like to see that you haven't seen?"

Featured Sweetheart: Cailin O'Connor by P.J. Hoover from The Texas Sweethearts. Peek: "You may recognize Cailin as the genius behind the Bridget Zinn auctions in the past year."

Revision by Brian Yansky from Brian's Blog: Writer Talk. Peek: "...there's a time during revision where you have to be more analytical. The story is in place and the characters are real, and your manuscript feels like all the elements are fitting together. To get to this evolutionary moment in the manuscript, you had to depend on your creative side: instinct and imagination and inspiration. But now you need the analytical side that evaluates." Note: Brian shares a scene-by-scene list of questions to consider for revision. Read a Cynsations interview with Brian.

Comment Challenge 2010 from MotherReader. Peek: "Since it is said that it takes twenty-one days to form a new habit, we’re going to run the Comment Challenge for the next three weeks — starting Friday, Jan. 8, and running through Thursday, Jan. 28, 2010. The goal is to comment on at least five kidlitosphere blogs a day."

Author Interview: Natalie Standiford on How To Say Goodbye in Robot (Scholastic, 2009) from Teenreads.com. Peek: "Once a real story starts to gel, I write a loose plot outline. Some books have complicated plots and require a more detailed outline. I always end up changing things as I write anyway. But I like to know what's going to happen so I can keep the story focused and sharpen every detail into an arrow that points toward the end."

Congratulations to fellow Austinites Lila and Rick Guzman on the release of Lorenzo and the Pirate (Blooming Tree, 2010)! Peek: "The fourth book in the Lorenzo series, it is set on the high seas in 1779 and tells the story of Spanish participation in the American Revolution." Source: Writers' League of Texas. Read a Cynsations interview with Lila.

Is Your 'But' Too Big? by John Gibbs from An Englishman in New Jersey. Peek: "Be wary of such people. Many of them carry a virus, Excusitis, a mental affliction which can kill writing dreams by causing the person suffering from it to doubt themselves and their ability. Symptoms include excessive use of the phrases like 'I wanted to be a writer, but...', 'I’ve always thought I had a book in me, but...', 'I love writing, but...'"

Matt Phelan is the winner of the 2010 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction for The Storm in the Barn (Candlewick, 2009). Source: Read Roger.

Congratulations to Sharon Draper, E.B. Lewis, Tanita S. Davis, Kekla Magoon, and the other nominees for the 41rst NAACP Image Awards in "Outstanding Literary Work - Children" and "Outstanding Literary Work - Youth/Teens!"

Writing Links from Cynthia Leitich Smith Children's-YA Literature Resources features lots to know about agents, book design & art direction, editors & publishers, education, illustration, promotion, publishing, and writing. See also Inspiration in Writing Children's & YA Books and Perspiration: Self Study.

R.J. Anderson talks about Rebel, the sequel to Knife (Orchard UK)(titled Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter in the U.S. from HarperCollins). Source: The Enchanted Inkpot. Read a Cynsations interview with R.J.




Kidlitosphere Diversity Discussion

PaperTigers Reading the World Challenge 2010. Peek: "Choose one book from/about/by or illustrated by someone from each of the seven continents – that’s: Africa; Antarctica; Asia; Australasia; Europe; North America; South America. Have the books read aloud to you or read them yourself; share them as part of a book-group or in class. Combine your choices with other reading challenges. The books can be picture-books, poetry, fiction, non-fiction...the choice is yours."

Reflecting on the Great Mosaic of Humankind by Jane Kurtz at The Power of One Writer. Peek: "I tend to be disappointed with consumers more than editors because I've seen what it's like to have authors, editors, illustrators, art designers, sales reps, and others on the publishing team pour their hearts into a book that only sits in a warehouse because people–by and large–weren't adventuresome enough (or openhearted enough) in their reading tastes."

Demand Diversity in Publishing by Colleen Mondor at Chasing Ray. Peek: "Think about balance in your reviewing--think about books for kids with black skin or brown, kids who attend a Mosque or Synagogue, kids who go to school on a reservation or Native village in Alaska or that had grandparents from Asia or the Middle East or India or Kenya or Haiti or Cuba. Think about everyone else as much as you think about yourself."

Kids of Color in Middle Grade Science Fiction and Fantasy--a look back at the 98 books nominated for the Cybils from Charlotte's Library: Fantasy and Science Fiction Books for Children and Teenagers. Peek: "Here are the kids of color I found, the ones who got enough page-time to be memorable."

More Personally

My holiday highlights included reading Nightshade by debut author Andrea Cremer (Philomel, Oct. 2010). It was my great pleasure to send in a blurb for the novel, which you can read here.

Look for a screen shot and recommendation of my picture books bibliography from Cynthia Leitich Smith Children's & Young Adult Literature Resources in "Web Monthly: Picture This--Websites About Picture Books" by Greg Byerly on pg. 35 of the January 2010 issue of School Library Monthly (formerly School Library Media Activities Monthly.

OH HAI GUYS I FORGOT TO MENTION I'M DOING A SIGNING IN TORONTO TODAY:

January 7, 2010 @ 7 p.m., Yorkdale Mall Indigo Books
with Megan Crewe (author of Give Up The Ghost)
and Neesha Meminger (author of Shine, Coconut Moon)

Both Megan and Neesha's books are beautifully written and they are also lovely people, so even if you are justifiably sick of me waving Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter under your nose, you might want to come out and say hello to them and pick up some great new reads in the process.

Or, you know, you could say hi to me and get me to sign your books and stuff. Whatever.

***

Also, today is the OFFICIAL release date of Rebel in the UK which means it should now be freely had at all good bookstores (including the noble law-abiding ones in Ireland who have been clinging fast to that embargo notice). Yay!

 
 

Photo: Joshua Tree Rock Climbing School

I've never been rock climbing, beyond the climbing wall at the gym. I confess that I enjoy the physical act of climbing, but the idea of dangling far off the ground does not excite me. The opening scene of Cliffhanger, in fact, is one of the scariest movie scenes ever. Forget Halloween or Scream. (OK, don't forget them. They're scary, too.)

This image makes me think of a human sundial. It also makes me think of what the Mt. Rushmore monument would say if it could talk while people scramble over it to clean/repair it. And finally, it makes me think about what stranded mountain climbers must think about while wondering if anyone will rescue them. Do they regret the risks they took? Do they have hope? Despair?

What does this picture make you think of?

Take one of your answers to that question and write a quick 15 words or less poem and leave it in the comments below. Have fun! Click here for guidelines if you've never played before. The poem doesn't have to describe this image. Just use the picture to get your poetry brain working and see what comes out!

From Act II, sc. 3, among the many lovely lines spoken by Juliet while she was out on her balcony. You may recall that we discussed Romeo and Juliet during Brush Up Your Shakespeare Month.

Here's a great quote, and one that is known to come up in everyday conversation:

What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet[.]

Sorry it's so late in the day - I've got a cold and it's kicking my ass. But I'll be back tomorrow with Chapter Four of Persuasion by Jane Austen, wherein we learn the object of Anne Elliot's affection.

Just FYI, this has absolutely nothing to do with books.:D

Okay, this entry is a little late, but super picture-laden. One of my very favorite Christmas traditions in the Pike household is making hand-dipped chocolates. I learned the basics from my fabulous mother-in-law, and I've kind of gone overboard with it over the last few years. But hey! No one has complained yet that I made too many kinds of chocolates.:) But Carrie Ryan wanted me to take pictures of the process, so if you find the following totally boring, blame her.:D

I'm going to start with my favorite, which is pinoche. (Pin-oh-chay.) (Lots of people say Pin-osh, and they are welcome to, but the recipe we finally found that we liked the best insisted that the pronunciation is pin-oh-chay, and who am I to argue with the most perfect recipe on earth?) Pinoche is a brown sugar fudge that we make really soft so I actually have to freeze it to get it out of the pan and then re-freeze it after I've cut it in order to keep it from dissolving when I dip it in chocolate. Frozen pinoche looks like this:



Then I dip it in melted chocolate and the irregular pieces look quite ugly. But they are sooooo good.



And once they are dipped and thawed, they look like this, with the soft, brown sugar/mapley centers barely hard enough to not drip out. Mmmmmmmmm.



The next easiest is truffles . . . actually, they are probably the easiest. But I like the pinoche the best, so it gets to be explained first.:D Truffles are actually super simple. I think they are best that way. The key for truffles for me, is to use European chocolate. They really melt in your mouth that way! So in my truffles, I use melted chocolate, scalded cream, and a touch of vanilla. That is it. Period.



Oh, and that bowl on top of a pan? That is me being too stubborn/cheap to buy a double boiler. Works like a charm!So I get those three ingredients mixed and I put it in the fridge until it hardens enough to scoop into balls. I have a teeny little scooper just for this purpose!



Then, like the pinoche, I have to freeze them in order to dip them without them melting to pieces in the warm dipping chocolate.:) (I'll show you a pic of them dipped in a second.)

The really tricky part of making chocolates is making my flavored creams. I make them out of fondant from scratch so there is much boiling and stretching.:D Basically I boil the snot out of a mixture of sugar, cream, sugar, Karo syrup, and sugar. Then I lay out parchment paper in 9x13 pans and pour the boiling hot liquid into them.



Usually this works like a dream. This time one of my pans cracked under the pressure.



Then I have to cool it to the perfect temperature. I can't let it get too cold or it will crack, but if I don't let it get cold enough, it won't set up. I'm finally getting a feel for it.

After it is cool, I plop it into my bosch. (You can do this by hand, but it is way, way hard.)



Then I use my dough kneading attachment and stretch the fondant for about ten minutes, at which point it changes. Seriously, check out this before and after. It always excites me!



Cool huh! Then I flavour and color it and scoop it out into perfect little sherbet looking balls!



Then freezing the centers again, so they can be soft inside the chocolate, but hard when I dip them.

And when they are done they look like this! With all kinds of interesting splatters to differentiate between the flavors!



I also dipped several kinds in white chocolate this year, but totally spaced getting pictures.

So there are my chocolates!!! Wish I could give a few to each of you, but pics will have to do.

Ciao!

Patrick Rothfuss, author of THE NAME OF THE WIND, is holding his second annual prize lottery for Heifer International, and I’m pleased to say a signed copy of Shadowed Summer is one of the prizes.

There are hundreds of books, CDs, DVDs, and schwag from Neil Gaiman, Katherine Kerr, Lauren Bjorkman, the folks at Subterranean Press, DAW Books and Joss Whedon. That’s a lot of neat stuff, and Patrick is matching 50% of your donation! Find out more here, and get your ticket today!

Originally published at MSUFaL. You can comment here or there.

Beth Kephart will be chatting live at the readergirlz blog TONIGHT, Wednesday, January 6th. The chat will begin at 6 PM PST/9 PM EST and last for about an hour. Please join us in thanking Beth for her work as our first ever readergirlz author-in-residence!

Anyone out there want to write with me today? I could really use a swift kick to help me stay focused.

Just leave a comment and we'll check in every half hour or so.

Pretty please???

Sometimes when I'm updating my journal I get so sidetracked by the kids that I forget what I'm trying to say and end up writing with half a brain. Actually, most of everything I do is done with only half a brain. Case in point, my last entry, where I hastily scrawled down my very vague goals.

Actually, I do have more goals than that! And okay, I know it's barely a week into the year, but so far they're going well. For example:

Exercise! I have always been big into working out. But with my two difficult pregnancies I wasn't able to. For the past two months I have been finding the time to exercise while simultaneously watching the kids, and am back to my pre-pregnancy weight! Though I may have to stop in between lunges to kiss a boo boo, it's lots of fun, especially when my 3-year old screams, "DON'T FORGET TO BREATHE!" at me.

Make Healthier Food. I have had a hard time making it to the store with the two kids in tow, so often I send my husband and we would end up having pasta or chicken nuggets for dinner. These seem to be the only things he can find in the store. Sooo... for Christmas I got the Sneaky Chef cookbooks. These are amazing. My family is very picky when it comes to eating, but they ate baked ziti with tofu, carrots, and yams in it, and cupcakes with spinach and blueberries! I've been making the recipes for awhile now and they are all so good, and I already feel a lot healthier. Yesterday my daughter ate her entire meal (mashed potatoes with white beans, carrots, and turkey meatloaf stuffed with oatmeal, wheat germ, and sweet potatoes!). This is a rare thing. And I actually find making the purees for the meals kind of fun. My food processor is my new favorite toy!

Write Two More Books. This is more important, I think, than actually selling two more books, which I wrote in my last list of goals. Yeah, selling would be nice, but the hard part is actually writing them! I am totally not a night owl, but I have been working at nights, after the kids are in bed. And amazingly, this works for me! I'm averaging about 1,000 words a night and am halfway through with a new novel, DREAM KINGDOM. I am having so much fun with it I haven't yet (knock on wood) hit that sagging middle that I dread so much.

Finish HARRY POTTER. My sister-in-law bought the box set for me for Christmas and I have read the first two books. I keep saying I am going to do it but when all 7 books are placed in front of you it seems like this huge, daunting task. I liked the first two books, yes, but there are so many other interesting books out there vying for my attention. Anyway, I vow to finish, no matter what! And then I think I will watch the movies, since I've never seen any of them.

Speak at at Least One Writer's Conference.  Eee this makes me nervous.  But I need to continue to improve my public speaking, and the only way to do that is to do more of it, right?  So I will be presenting two workshops at the Pennwriters Conference in May this year, on writing YA and hooking your reader.  Should be... mortifying?  Er, I mean fun. ;)

Get Ready for Vermont.  Did I mention I am going to Vermont College for my MFA?  I was supposed to start this month but I had some personal issues that held me back.  Since my brother-in-law is getting married smack in the middle of the July residency, I had to defer for an entire year, until next January. I am so excited to go, and really bummed I had to put it off.  So I'll just put my ducks in a row and make sure I have the time to devote to it. I can't wait for 2011!

How are your New Year's resolutions coming along? 

Learn about Melissa Walker.

When and where do you write? Why does that time and space work for you?

I write in the bay window of my garden-floor brownstone apartment in Brooklyn. We don't get much light on at this low level, but what light does come in dapples my overstuffed pink flowered chair each morning through early afternoon. I sit right in the middle of it so I can create.

My schedule is steady when I'm on a book deadline (like I am now!). I usually start the day with yoga or a gym class or a walk outside to get iced coffee (cream and sugar, please). After I've had a little interaction with the world, I sit down in my chair and begin.

In this sunlit seat, with stillness all around me, I can lose myself in a character's thoughts. There's some noise from the street—people walking to the nearby park, children's laughter, an overheard snippet of cell phone conversation, the rattle of glass as someone comes to collect the cans from my recycling bin—but mostly I'm alone with my fiction. The ambient noise may even help things, and it has entered my writing on more than one occasion.

For example, there was a day when a package arrived at my door. I had to stop writing to sign for it. I had been in the middle of writing a long phone dialogue scene, and I couldn’t figure out how the character would get off the phone when the emotional pitch of the conversation was so high. Then the doorbell flusters her in the middle of it all. A perfect exit strategy.

I don't let my butt leave the chair until I have 1000 words written. They don't have to be good words, but they have to exist on the page. Sometimes I get hungry, but that just spurs me on. I try to be done by 2 p.m., and usually that works just fine.

Then I have a lunch break, often set to "The Oprah Winfrey Show," and move into magazine writing or work for iheartdaily.com (a daily newsletter for teenagers which I run with co-founder Anne Ichikawa). Those are the other hats I wear in this creative life.

The timing works for me because once I have my fiction work done, the rest feels like cake. In my non-fiction writing, I don't have to call on so much of myself, I don't have to plunge into emotions or imagine reactions of characters whose motivations are different from my own.

So the hard work is done each day by early afternoon (ideally), and then I sit down in the chair again, this time with the phone at my side in case I have to conduct interviews or talk to my editor. My very posture is different when I work on magazine writing—I sit more upright, ready for action and very much in the present, not as sunken into another world.

I’ve gotten so attached to my chair that even though we plan to get a new couch soon that absolutely will not go with this upholstery, I can't get rid of it. One day I may move into a bigger apartment and hide it in a guest room, but this seat will always be part of my writing.

Why is your agent the right agent for you?

When I got an offer on my first idea for a novel, Violet on the Runway (Berkley Trade, 2007), I was without an agent. I had contacted an editor directly, told her about my idea, submitted two sample chapters along with many published magazine clips, and been offered a deal.

It was a whirlwind fairy tale, but I knew that before signing, I wanted to find an agent—someone to guide me through this new part of publishing.

I talked to friends, who recommended people they’d worked with and liked, and I ended up whittling my choices down to three. There was one newcomer who was very Hungry, one Power Player who talked like Ari Gold from "Entourage," and one Doug Stewart of Sterling Lord Literistic.

Doug met me for a drink at a local bar (we live in the same neighborhood in Brooklyn) and brought me two young adult novels he’d represented. He told me in very thoughtful terms what he liked about my submission and why he thought we'd work well together. It was all very calm (unlike my interactions with the Power Player and the Hungry one).

The books he gave me were both wonderful—really well written. That made me feel like Doug knew quality material and represented the best authors he could find. It also made me feel flattered that he thought my writing was in the league of these other authors he represented.

After I signed with Doug, the Violet deal turned into three books, and the money went up significantly (it had started very low). I was instantly happy I’d decided to get an agent. Phew!

He also knew how to hold onto foreign rights, which earned me more than my advance in the case of Violet (it has sold in France and Russia), and also dramatic rights (it has been optioned for television). In the initial contract I was offered, none of those rights remained with me. It takes a good agent to negotiate those parts!

All through my book-publishing life, which spans three years now, Doug has been there to hold my hand and be the bad guy if I need him to (with late checks or publicity snafus or other incidents that fall into the category of "things I want to fix but don't want to handle!").

He's also been the good guy. He’s been there to advise me on new book ideas, how to build myself as an author who's here to stick around for more than her first book, how to figure out when less is really more with an editor or contract. Doug is responsive to my every question, and though I try not to bug him with things, I have a feeling he'd be infinitely bug-able just because he's so accessible and open to my queries and musings about the publishing world.

Not to get all self-help-y, but in the end, Doug Stewart is the right agent for me because he believes I have talent and he believes I'm a valuable part of the YA book scene. And when he believes it, publishers believe it, too. And maybe, just maybe, I can believe it.

What can your fans look forward to next?

My next book will be out in early 2011! It's called Small Town Sinners (Bloomsbury), and it's the story of Lacey, 16, who's grown up in a Christian community and always wanted to star in her church's Hell House, a haunted house of sin. But when a childhood friend reappears, she begins to question her faith and all she's been taught.

Cynsational Notes

The Craft, Career & Cheer series features conversations with children's-YA book creators about positive aspects of their creative and professional lives.

It’s been a nice two weeks of smelling evergreen indoors and hanging out some, watching Glee and seeing a few movies with my daughter.And star appearances from Zach, Colleen, and Sara. I finished up one big project and have been pecking at blank pages with ideas for a new one. I’m heading back into the everyday, but the tree is still up, I've got a stash of books still to read, and I’m not entirely ready to leave a season of warm moments, including one at the dining room table on Christmas, when the family started talking about blogs, trying to convince my brother-in-law Bruce to start one to showcase his art. I brought up the good company here on LJ, and about half the table said at once, “I love reading the comments on your blog!" "Your friends are all so nice!”

Oh yes you are! And I’m really grateful.

Today my daughter will be packing to get on a plane tomorrow. I’ll mope a bit, ponder some beginnings for my new book, and let it sink in that January is here, which means I’ll be teaching in two weeks. Last night I dreamed about handing out chocolate to the class who grabbed, gobbled, then started to leave while I tried to remember what book we’d be reading next to shout out. Dr. Seuss? Laura Ingalls Wilder? C.S. Lewis? Um, maybe it’s time to put away the yellow pads and get out the semester plans.

I have a classic active, really over-active, brain. When ever I take a shower, lots of things cruise through my synapse. We had our house built and when it was done, we decided that it was built mostly by unskilled house building people. Bugs have emerged from behind the cultured marble that makes up my shower. I hold my breath, expecting the armored claws of a scorpion to emerge. One time an earwig squirmed out and gave me a start. That earwig was the closest thing to a scorpion to worm out of the wall...until TONIGHT!

There I am washing my hair and minding my own business, concentrating on getting clean and staring at the top edge of the shower as I scrub, scrub, scrub. Circular motions following a map of my head so that every inch gets clean. Swirling up the body of the hair so that it can get clean too. Thinking, at this point, is this the first wash or the second? Damn, I hate it when I lose count. I would really hate to wash it a third time. Of course a third time would be better than only one time washing. Don't forget to condition it, I can't do anything with it if it isn't conditioned. Wow! That's a nice head full of suds...I could make a really great hair sculpture with it. But no one else would see it. I could look at it in the mirror. But then I would get cold and I don't want to see myself anyway. Remember making soap hair sculptures with the boys when they were little, oh! That was so much fun!

Happy in my own little wet world, movement from that top edge of the shower catches my attention. A bug! Oh no, it's a scorpion! No! It's never a scorpion! Creepy horror movie slow motion ensues, I can hear the foreshadowing music playing softly in the background. A little clicky armored claw emerges, grasping at the air, trying to find enough purchase to pull it's exoskeleton body through the gap to freedom, followed by a second grasping claw.

When the tail curled up through, I had a heart attack and died. Sons#1, #2 and Husband#1 will never get over finding me like that. My naked soaped up body half eaten by a scorpion. Before the scorpion turned on them, our cat Pickles jumped into the path of the scorpion, taking it down and killing it. It will be front page tomorrow, film at eleven.

Okay, so far the scorpion hasn't worked it's way out. In fact, the claws disappeared back into the wall and I have no idea where it went. I think this is the third scorpion post that I've made with scorpions in my bedroom/bathroom. The last one was IN MY BED!

I don't know if I'll be able to crawl into that bed tonight. In my mind, I can STILL SEE THE CLAWS....CLAWING!

Me: A scorpion is crawling out of the wall!
Son#2: Do I want to see it?
Me: No!

Me: It was there, but I don't know where it is now.
Son#2: We saw a movie today with scorpion like creatures crawling up out of the primodial ooze. They've been here quite a long time.

Me: They creep me out. I'm okay with most bugs, but I just can't take scorpions.
Son#2: These scorpions were this big! **holds hands out two feet from each other**
Me: EEEEK!

Son#2: I'm teasing you because you always tease me over things like this.
Me: **rubbing thumb and forefinger together** Do you know what this is?

Son#2: The world's smallest violin?
Me: Yep, playing just for you.

Son#2: **holds thumb and forefinger up to lips like he smoking** You know what this is?
Me: ???

Son#2: The world's smallest clarinet and it's playing just for you.....off key.


....I'm putting him up on Craigslist tomorrow. Along with my shower...and my bed....and my whole house! I'll include the kid for free.

ETA: This is the following evening and our friend the scorpion has found his way out of the wall!!!!!



We did the capture and release method as opposed to the death penalty this time. I hope this one finds a happy home SOMEPLACE ELSE!