FORTHCOMING SPARK TOUR - THE IRISH BANANA REVIEWS

This Thanksgiving, I have much to be grateful for--family and friends, a fulfilling creative life--and, more than ever, readers and bloggers.

I'm delighted to announce Hannah at Irish Banana Reviews is organizing a blog tour for my forthcoming YA, SPARK!

I've loved the blog tours for my previous traditional releases, and can't wait to find out where this tour will take me as well...

In thanks for all the support my readers have given me over the years, I'm also planning a special December release. Find out all about it via my newsletter.

READERS' TOP THREE PET PEEVES ABOUT SEQUELS

Reader feedback has been utterly invaluable throughout my writing career--at times, I would argue, even more illuminating than some feedback I've received from industry insiders.

As I make my way through the rewrites of PLAY IT AGAIN (the sequel to PLAYING HURT), I decided to ask readers for a bit of feedback before my book released.

Specifically, I asked, "What's your biggest pet peeve about sequels--and, conversely, what do you love about them?"

The top three most frequently mentioned pet peeves were:

1. The dreaded info dump - Giving a giant synopsis of the previous book right at the beginning of the sequel, rather than funneling bits of information or reminders regarding previous plot points throughout the text.

2. Rehashing the same plot - Refusing to put your characters in a new set of circumstances, relying instead on a retelling of the previous story.

3. Forgetting who your characters are - Readers often indicate it's the characters that bring them back to a sequel, rather than the story line. They want to spend more time with the people they fell in love with in the first book. Bringing back characters who have changed too drastically since the last installment can be jarring and disappointing for your readers.

My absolute favorite response came from a reader who said she knew a sequel had been a success when it felt both "unexpected and inevitable." What a great point to keep in mind as I work on my rewrites...

WHY I WRITE: ST. FRANCIS XAVIER SCHOOL

I got the absolute LOVLIEST email yesterday, from a librarian at St. Francis Xavier School. Her incredible fifth grade readers discussed THE JUNCTION OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY, and made their own "congregation" out of junk, just like Auggie.

As writers, we always say, "If I can touch just one reader in a profound way--if I can inspire just one person--I'll be happy forever." To see readers loving and and interacting with THE JUNCTION, making found-object art just like Auggie...it literally brought a tear to my eye. THIS is why I write:

Sincere thanks to the St. Francis Xavier artists, for sharing your "shine"!

Please do view the full post on their project at the St. Francis Xavier site.

THE RUMPUS LETTERS FOR KIDS

Does anything in this world feel quite as special or personal as an actual physical letter arriving in the mail?  I'm a big fan of the handwritten, of stationery and funky pens.  Of Christmas cards and thank-you notes that require a stamp instead of an "@" to arrive at the intended destination.

So of course I love this program.  THE RUMPUS / Letters for Kids allows your young reader (or your entire classroom of young readers, if you've got one of those) to get letters straight from MG / YA authors.  Sometimes the letters are illustrated or handwritten; often, they come with a return address so you can reply to the author.  (Becoming pen pals with an author!  How cool is that?)

This week, those in the program will get a letter from yours truly.  Auggie in THE JUNCTION collects old stuff from her grandpa's rash hauls and reinvents them; I love old stuff, too.  My office is brimming with cool thrift store / auction finds and collections: an old enamel bookstore sign, Enid Collins box bags, art...One of my favorite pieces is a '30s-era King Kong movie tie-in figurine.  Those who receive my letter will get photos of some of my crazy collections.

Be sure to get your own kids involved with THE RUMPUS / Letters for Kids program...and let me know about your own collections.  Have you been collecting since you were a kid?  Do you have an office overflowing with cool finds?

THE JUNCTION OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY GIVEAWAY!

I'm having an utter blast meeting young readers, whether they're in a summer writing group, reading class, or are part of a story group at a bookstore.

My virtual visits are, in fact, the most rewarding part of releasing THE JUNCTION OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY.  And I'd love, love, LOVE to meet your own young readers.  Are you a teacher looking for a great classroom read and a Skype (for a summer class or even to start the school year off with a bang next fall)?  Are you a librarian looking for a way to get your youngest patrons engaged?  A tutor or parent who needs to keep your kids' reading skills up this summer?  A bookseller who would like a virtual visit?

Fill out the forms below to win a Skype visit and / or a copy of THE JUNCTION OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY:


For US / Canadian Residents -
a Rafflecopter giveaway
International -  
a Rafflecopter giveaway

REVAMPED HOLLY SCHINDLER'S MIDDLES

I've revamped my site for young readers, Holly Schindler's Middles.  The idea for Holly Schindler's Middles came from the fact that I loved being able to interact directly with my YA readers (usually via Facebook, Twitter, or the book blogging community).  Being able to interact with readers, actually, was my favorite part of becoming a published author.  But I didn't really have a place online where I could interact with MG readers...so I had to create one! 

Click to visit Holly Schindler's Middles

Parents, grandparents, teachers and librarians: Get your young readers ready!  I'm most excited about the page I'll be devoting to reader reviews...I can't wait to hear what they all have to say...

BIRTHDAY REFLECTIONS

I can't tell you guys how much I appreciate all the Happy Birthdays you sent last week.  You broke your own record!  I literally received hundreds of well-wishes this year.

 



Birthday Flowers - Aren't they cool?  I think they look like paintbrushes.

 

I've got a ton of new Birthday Goals, too, aimed at making 36 the best year ever...and many of those goals involve producing my best work yet for my fabulous, loving readers!

 

In the meantime, you can head over to Books a la Mode to win a signed bookplate.  (The giveaway is international.)

 

 



UPDATED MAILING LIST

Here she is: the updated form to join my mailing list!

My previous form listed a blog as a required field; I realize not all fans have blogs, though, and I didn't want anyone to miss out on all the exciting announcements that will surely be forthcoming, with two books in development!  You'll see here that the only required fields are your name and email; if you have a blog and / or participate in social media, please do let me know, but it is absolutely not a prerequisite.  Any and all readers are more than welcome to sign up:


If you have trouble filling out the form above, click here.

WHEN I DON'T MAKE A DIME ON MY BOOKS

You might expect me to cringe at the idea of my books hitting a used bookstore.  When copies move from the shelves of second-hand stores, I won’t see a dime, after all.  You might even expect me to cringe a bit at the idea of my books being housed in a library, where a single copy can be checked out and read until the book falls apart completely.  Again, all those reads, and the only money I’ll see comes from the purchase of one copy.

 

But in all honesty, I love knowing that my books are being sold second-hand.  And librarians—sure, I appreciated librarians before my books released.  Now?  Librarians have a special place in my heart.  (Especially my own local librarian, Sarah of GreenBeanTeenQueen.) 

Here’s the deal: times are hard.  And I mean, hard.  (Newscasters can tell me all they want that the recession is over, or improving.  When I look out my window, at Southwest Missouri, I just don’t see much—if any—evidence of that.)  And novels aren’t exactly the cheapest things in the world—especially when you’re an absolute book junkie, and the written word is your drug of choice.  Think about it: buy one hardback ($20) book a week, and you’ve spent over a thousand dollars in a year.  And most readers I know consume far more than one book a week. 

Readers have to be choosy about what they actually purchase.  And a new or emerging author is usually not going to make the cut. 

Enter second-hand stores and libraries, which provide a cheap (or free) opportunity for readers to become acquainted with my work.  Enter booksellers and librarians, who have fallen in love with my books and recommended them to readers, who have in turn picked up copies and become fans as well.

I’ve actually heard from fans who discovered my books in their local libraries—and then wound up loving my work enough to blog about it.  Some who discovered my books in libraries later ordered copies of their own for their personal bookcases or to give to friends.  A few readers have used my books for English assignments, and have given my books to teachers, who then made their own recommendations.  I've even heard from bloggers who stumbled upon my books, then purchased copies so that they could host giveaways on their blogs.  Now, that is incredible.  All of that word-of-mouth activity, and to a great extent, it originates with someone picking my book up off the shelf of a library or a second-hand store. 

As writers, that's ultimately what we're out to establish—a readership who already knows us, who recommends us to friends and followers, wants to invest in us when our latest books release.  And that’s what second-hand stores and libraries provide—a way to establish our readership.

HE-WHOS AND INTERNAL GRATIFICATION

Shortly after inking my very first book deal, I began to meet them: the dreaded He-Whos (enter demonic, minor-sounding organ chords here).

Yes, the He-Whos. What, exactly, is a He-Who, you might ask? Not to be confused with a yahoo or a nincompoop (although, according to some sources, the definitions overlap somewhat), a He-Who is a very sneaky creature whose natural habitat is a would-be author’s personal life. In most cases, said He-Who has been in a struggling author’s life for quite some time—years, some of them—playing the role of Supportive Confidant. Upon the announcement of an author’s long-awaited book deal, the face of said Supportive Confidant melts into a giant fiery pile of slime, exposing the dreaded, nasty, much-feared He-Who underneath.

A He-Who takes many different forms. The He-Whos I’ve encountered fall into three basic categories:

1). He who shows some initial interest when you announce your book sale, but when you disclose that it’s a YA or MG, he raises his lip off his teeth, lets out an, “Ew,” and explains, “I only read high-quality, serious works of literature. I do not read children’s books.” This statement is expressed rather emphatically, while rolling the “r”s, puffing on an antique scrimshaw pipe, and gesturing wildly to flash the professorly suede elbow patches on his coat. (This He-Who also has the same reaction to any other subcategory of genre fiction: romance, sci-fi, mystery, etc.)

2). He who does not have any interest in your book, but—OMG! He just happens to have a manuscript himself! And it’s awesome! And you should read it—and while you’re at it, rewrite it! And then give it to your publisher! Wouldn’t that rock???

3). He who is just so busy, he does not have the time to read your book—even though the book was released three years ago, and this particular He-Who has also watched every single episode of MY BIG REDNECK WEDDING, sends you emails with links to “hilarious” YouTube vids three times a day, and has repeatedly called to inform you that he has discovered the best way to mow a lawn: with manicure scissors.

Okay, all right, so I’m being a bit flip in my descriptions…But honestly, these people really do exist. These reactions—or some version of them, anyway—really do happen. I can’t say I understand it, two years after my first book hit the shelves, two years after the He-Whos started showing their faces. I might even think I was alone in the whole He-Who thing, had I not run into articles online and in print in which authors described similar experiences. Knowing this is an unfortunate part of the gig, I slowly began to develop a methodology for dealing:

Treat He-Whos the same way you treated early rejections. Okay, so a personal rejection stings worse than a professional one. But the point is, you didn’t let one professional “no”—or, if you’re like me, more than a thousand professional “no”s—derail you. You screamed at times, you shed a few tears, but then you put it away and you went back to work. You didn’t dwell on one response. You also didn’t let it convince you that your pursuits weren’t worthwhile. You didn’t let it convince you that everyone would have the same reaction to your work. You didn’t stop trying, and you didn’t stop sharing. And, most importantly, you didn’t let a few—or hundreds—of rejections dim your own internal gratification. Not the internal gratification you felt for having created a novel you loved. You were proud of yourself then, regardless of the final external response from an editor or agent. You maintained your own internal gratification while letting those rejections push you increasingly closer to your first “yes.”

There’s no predicting how people will react to anything—as authors, we spend so much time with complete control over our characters and our internal worlds, it’s a surprise when our external worlds don’t quite behave like we’d expected or hoped. But the great part is, though, that not everyone is a He-Who. And just as your rejections pushed you closer to finding the right “home” for your work, always allow the He-Whos to push you closer to those who are supportive, are truly happy for you, every step of the way. In my case, unending support and cheering wound up filtering into my life from all sorts of different corners. It came from my mom and brother, who had supported me all along the journey, and it came from some (now infinitely appreciated) old friends, from fellow authors, fantastic local librarians, from bloggers and reviewers—and eventually fans! It even came from some unexpected sources (like old classmates who sent messages through my website to congratulate me).

The ability to maintain your internal gratification is one of the most important skills for any author to master. That internal gratification—that self-pride—will get you through most anything, in your writing career. It will get you through any of the inevitable low points: rejections or less-than-glowing reviews or lower-than-expected sales numbers, etc. That internal gratification will often be your lifeblood, as an author, and is far too precious to ever, ever be handed off to some old He-Who.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY + INSPIRATION

My hometown of Springfield was recently named one of Amazon's most romantic cities! In honor of both this distinction and the upcoming holiday, a vlog post:



Instead of giving out chocolate hearts to my followers, I'm offering another treat: I'm rerunning a guest post, which recently appeared on Adventures in YA & Children's Publishing. The post, which details my long road to publication (and how, in the course of two hours in one day, I suddenly had both an agent and book deal), got quite a bit of attention online. I'm running it here in the hopes that it will continue to offer sweet bursts of inspiration, to those still chasing their first publication:


When I got my master’s in ’01, my mom invited me to stay home and devote full-time effort to getting a writing career off the ground (my lifelong dream). I figured it’d take a year or so to write a novel, then it’d sell (I was lucky enough to have placed poetry, short fiction, and literary critique in journals when I was in college, and was under the grand delusion that selling a manuscript would be a breeze for me), and in oh, two years or so, I’d have money in the bank, and I’d be off and running.

Okay, seriously. You can stop laughing now.

The truth is that I spent the next seven and a half years writing and submitting manuscript after manuscript…after manuscript. In that time, my friends from college finished up PhDs, started teaching, doing research, became professionals. I often felt like all I had was a deep gash in the drywall where I’d spent months upon months banging my head against it. And rejection slips. Hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of them—more than a thousand in all.

Enter the holiday season of ’08. That’s when my YA, A BLUE SO DARK, was under submission at Flux. I spoke to Brian (Farrey, acquisitions editor at Flux) for the first time just before Thanksgiving, and though I tried to play it cool, I spent Christmas on pins and needles, tied up in knots, hoping that finally the acceptance I’d been working toward for so long would appear.

Appear it did, just a few days after the new year. And literally two hours—I swear it’s true—two hours after I accepted the offer from Flux, the phone rang. On the other end of the line was an agent who was raving about a middle grade book I’d sent earlier that fall. With an offer of representation.

I accepted (Deborah Warren later sold my debut MG, THE JUNCTION OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY, to Dial, and is still my agent). After that initial phone call, though, in the winter of ’09, I just stood in my kitchen, dazed, wondering how it could have happened. Seven and a half years I’d been seeking a book deal, seeking representation. And in the course of two hours in one day, I had both.

The thing is, though, I can’t attribute that incredible day to luck or holiday magic. That day is the result of hard work. Period. That day happened because I really did read every single one of those thousand-plus rejection letters (more than eighty of them were rejections for A BLUE SO DARK). Painful as it sometimes was, I didn’t just toss those rejections in the trash, insist I was right, and continue to submit the same book over and over. I digested the critique and I dove back in, revising before submitting again.

For the most part, though, I really think that’s what luck is really made of: the ability to recognize your own shortcomings, the willingness to listen to advice, and the sweat of some insanely hard work.

JOB SHADOWING + INTERACTING WITH READERS

Now, this is the kind of author-reader interaction I just adore...My neighbor, Alex, is an aspiring author. So when her class began work on a job shadowing program, she came over to talk about what it takes to be a full-time writer. And the discussion was just a delight.

Sure, signings and readings are a ton of fun, but in those scenarios, I don't get much of a chance to really interact with my readers. At a signing, we say hello, I scrawl my name, and the reader waves goodbye. But with an interaction like this, I get a real chance to touch base...I've said it before, but that's a big part of the reason why I really can't get enough of the blogosphere. Through social networking, etc., I get a chance to develop ongoing relationships with readers; for me, those relationships are absolutely priceless.

...The vid's a bit longer than most I've posted, but Alex just asked such great questions, and I had such a great time, I couldn't bear to cut out another second of footage...Check it out, as we discuss how long it takes to actually get started, and what a joy it is to stick with a dream through the hardships, long enough to see the dream start to come to fruition:

THE RELATIONSHIP I NEVER THOUGHT I'D HAVE

I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t writing, and I can’t think of a moment growing up when I didn’t dream of being a full-time author. I just always imagined myself making money doing the one thing I loved more than any…

But I never imagined, in all those years of dreaming, that I’d ever have a relationship with my readers. I mean, come on, writers aren’t rock stars—they don’t fill auditoriums with throngs of screaming fans who pass out at the mere thought of breathing the same air.

Sure, I figured I might sign a few books here and there. Shake a hand once or twice. But never did I ever think I’d ever know any of my readers by name.

Imagine my utter thrill, then, to find the book blogosphere. (I honestly didn’t know it existed before I sold my debut, A BLUE SO DARK, to Flux in early ’09.) Not only do I know many of my readers, but my readers are also some of my very best publicists! (Whoulda thunk?)

Throughout the PLAYING HURT Blog Tour, my readers posted reviews and book recommendations, passed copies of PLAYING HURT on to their friends, and hosted giveaways.

So I might not be a rock star, but my readers rock…

To find out just how much my readers rock, check out my video below (during which I run the “credits” for my PLAYING HURT Blog Tour)…

CONVERSATION WITH A BALL PLAYER

Okay, so it's more than well documented at this point that though I've written about ball players, I'm definitely not an athlete myself.

Imagine my thrill, then, when a ball player signed up for the PLAYING HURT Blog Tour! Yes—a book nut and an athlete, all rolled into one! I was absolutely delighted to get a chance to interact with Caitlin at Scarrlet Reader, to discuss PLAYING HURT and athletics in YA literature.




HS: Hi, Caitlin! Can you tell us a bit about yourself—and your sports history?

C: Hey Holly! Thanks so much for having me here. Now, a bit about myself? Well, I’m a 15 (almost 16!) year old sophomore in high school. I’m a very active and competitive person and I have a great love for reading. My sports history goes all the way back to when I was about 6 years old when I started playing soccer, but now a day, I’m a strictly softball only player. It really is a passion of mine. I’ve played from my town recreation team for seven years to a tournament 16U travel team. While reading Playing Hurt, I was wondering if it was a love of playing a sport that helped inspired the book.

HS: Oh, if you only knew…I’m really, really not an athlete. I’m a bit of a klutz, actually. (I swear I can fall around corners!) I’m really flattered, though, that the depiction of sports felt authentic enough to you that you wondered if I played / loved sports.

I definitely have a much stronger appreciation of athletics now that I’m older—I realize now just how mental sports are. I can’t imagine what it must be like trying to come back to the game after an injury—or even after surgery, as is often the case with athletes who have overused their bodies.

I believe you’ve had some experience with a sports-related injury yourself. Can you tell us about that?

C: Well, I’d first like to thank God that I have never had as severe injury like Chelsea (*knocks on wood*), but I have definitely had my fair share of sports injury in my years. One of my most serious injuries from over the years happened when I was pitching for softball. It was just a regular game while I was pitching. A girl comes up to hit, I pitched the ball, and it all happened really fast. The ball had hit off the bat and came straight back at me, towards my face. I had enough reflexes to try and bring my mitt up to block the ball, but I was only able to reflect it a bit and it hit me on the side of my face right next to my left eye. I remember hearing the gasp from the people in the stands and the pain on the side of my face. I was kind of in shock and just fell to a knee. My coach ran out and they took me off the field. I was examined and ice packed. I honestly just like to shake these kinds of things off but people love to make a bigger situation out of things then needed and they didn’t let me play for the rest of the game. I ended up coming out of it with minor scars, but I did have a giant, nasty purple bruise on my face for two week (not fun, lots of cover up).

It just shows how easily you can be hurt and how suddenly. I’ve had teammates with broken legs, strained wrist and angles, and even a few knocked out teeth and, it’s scary thinking about all the possibilities of injuries that could happen. I’ve been hit by pitches (once really bad in the head, but thank Lord for helmets), ground balls, aching shoulders from pitching too much. I’m use to those pains, but a permanent pain like with Chelsea’s hip is something that I’m not sure I could deal with. Which leads me into asking – Why was it a hip injury you chose to have happen to Chelsea? I know with basketball players sprained ankles or wrist would be pretty severe too, so a hip injury was something I wasn’t expecting.

HS: First of all, I’m so sorry to hear of your accident. Though I’m a bit of a klutz, I’ve never broken a bone…I can’t imagine how much your injury must have hurt…

When I came up with the sports subplot (which didn’t come about until the very last rewrite…about five years after I wrote the first draft!), I immediately imagined Chelsea as a workaholic. Somebody who lived basketball—who felt guilty when she wasn’t working out, or practicing, or engaged in visualization techniques…

I also knew I wanted to show the scene of Chelsea’s accident, and wanted a dramatic impact—I tried to picture scenarios of Chelsea falling, and what it might look like from the stands—or from the screen of Chelsea’s bedroom TV, as she watched the DVD of her last game over and over…

Of all the scenarios I imagined, none seemed quite as dramatic as Chelsea coming down from a jump, into the splits—and breaking her already-stress-fractured hip.

What kind of impact has being injured had on your ability to play? Do you find yourself hesitant now in a way you weren’t before? What’s the mental healing process been like?

C: Well, being physically hurt, believe it or not, causes me more mental pain then being in actual physical pain sometimes. There have been times where my shoulders are killing me or my elbow feels like it’s got to burst, but I never like to let it on so it’s always a mental battle with myself to push past the annoying pains. There have been times where injuries have affected my playing, like when I sometimes twist my ankle the wrong way and can’t run as fast as I want or my shoulder starts to hurt and I can’t pitch as consistently, but I would say I have never been hesitant towards going right back into it (unless for some reason I’m really nervous about playing a certain team!)

Though, it was actually just a few days away during my softball practice that I was hitting off the machine when one of the balls I hit spun weird and hit me in my leg. It stung real bad so I had to sit down, and as I was doing so I was thinking about how funny it was that I was talking to you about the injuries I’ve gotten from sports and how often they happen. Though, I have to say that I haven’t really experienced any emotional injuries relating to sports like Clint or Chelsea did.

So, I was wondering if you thought that emotional injuries (like with Clint’s past and Chelsea’s loss of basketball) have a stronger impact then physical injuries?


HS: I think the mind is the toughest “muscle” to heal. Once you know the pain of an injury—emotional or physical—it’s got to be really hard to put yourself in line to be hurt again. I really admire athletes who get back in the game after an injury.

I do understand why athletes would want to get back out there, though…In order to write Chelsea, I just imagined that she felt the same way about sports that I felt about my writing. If something happened to me that made it impossible for me to continue writing, I’d be devastated. My sense of self would be shattered. It’d change my life completely.

What are your thoughts on sports in literature? Do you find, as an athlete, that they’re presented accurately? Do you see holes that you’d like filled—even holes you hope to fill yourself (if you have any interests in pursuing writing)?

C: I must say that if an author uses sports in literature well, it can really capture reader’s attention, especially younger readers and boys. Sports are a huge part of the world today and if used correctly it can broaden your reader audience.

Though I must say that there are sometimes I’ll read a book and the author will use a sport in a negative way and it will really get on my nerves. Let’s just take the universally unrated sport, cheerleading. I’ve read dozens of books where the cheerleaders are the stupid, clueless girls who don’t know how to add or the super bitchy girls that are weak sluts. Whoa, hold on a minute, have you ever even tried to cheerlead? Do you know how much upper and lower body strength you need? How much hand-eye coordination you have to have? And let’s not get into how flexible you need to be. Just think about it. If an author writes for young adults you are writing for teenagers who do these sports you are insulting. You are possibly losing an entire category of readers by insulting one’s sport. I know I would not feel friendly towards a book that insulted softball.
Getting off my rant, there are really great books that accurately represent sports (Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes and Deadline by Chris Crutcher, Oh. My. Gods. by Tera Lynn Childs, and, of course, Playing Hurt by Holly Schindler). All these books bring feeling into the sports they talk about and I feel like any sports lover would enjoy then. As for holes I see in the writing of sports, I’m really no expert on all sports I read about (except for maybe softball ^^). I’m not sure that if I did pursue writing that I would write about sports. Softball is something that I do out of enjoyment and for myself. If I ever were to pursue writing, it’d probably be fantasy and I’d invent my own sport, haha.

I loved talking about my love of sports with you Holly and just from reading Playing Hurt I could tell you took great care into reading about Chelsea and Clint’s sport history. You think you’ll write a book with sports in it again?

HS: I love what you just said about cheerleading. That’s so incredibly spot-on—both about the amount of strength and focus it takes in order to cheerlead, and about the way a negative depiction can limit an author’s readership…Very intuitive…

As for my own writing, I’d love, love love to write more physically-oriented books. Not necessarily just about sports, either…

What I mean is, what comes easiest for me as an author is the internal dialogue and metaphorical, poetic writing that filled much of my debut, A BLUE SO DARK…In fact, when PLAYING HURT was in development, my editor sent me a copy of the manuscript with all the metaphors highlighted, telling me I HAD to prune some of it back!

What’s tough is to write something physical as it’s happening—and make the scene feel real. I so admire authors of genre fiction—mystery, adventure, horror—who can write dramatic scenes that you can see, hear, smell, feel.

…That’s what I’d love to do more of, as an author: dramatic, physical writing.

How’s your softball season been this year?

C: Sadly my school season has ended. We had our last game this week. The seasons go by so fast that I barely felt like we played all the games! It was a pretty good season, but now I can concentrate on my travel team I'm on for the summer. I play for a 16U tournament team that goes through the end of July. It really a wonderful thing to be a part of if you're really into the sport. I know I have a great time with my teammates over the summer playing in different places. I've also had a great time talking with you, Holly, about your book and softball. Thank so much for having me on my blog and thank you all for reading!

Thanks so much, Caitlin, for taking the time to talk about sports, and for your insights and love of literature…Best of luck this summer—and be safe on the field!

THE REACHOUT INTERVIEW

Okay, so sometimes, technical difficulties aren't such a bad thing after all. When the audio refused to cooperate for my USTREAM chat with ReachOut Reads, I suggested gathering up the questions from ReachOut, along with additional questions from readers via Twitter, then filming the answers in a not-so-live video. I'm really pleased with the results, and hope you are too:

TOTAL. OBSCENITY.

Catherine Ryan Hyde recently put up a post about Jake and his favorite toy of all time, 'Roo. Not that he's (ahem, cough) spoiled or anything, but I felt compelled to show you guys the full picture of Jake's toy collection...Here's Jake (toys in background)...

Here's a close-up of the ever-expanding pile...

...But has there ever been a better toy than a TP tube???

...Of course, Catherine's Ella's got her fair share of toys, too! Looks like Catherine and I are both guilty of picking up a new plaything every time we go to the store:

And the great toy-off is on! Who do you think has the biggest collection: Jake or Ella?

The week in review at the PLAYING HURT Blog Tour:


Reviews at Bringing The Epic, Preturnatural Primer, Fragments of Life (where you can also enter to win a copy of PLAYING HURT), and Dreaming in Books; interviews at Melody's Reading Corner, Snowdrop Dreams of Books, Things Liz Loves, Books by Their Cover, The Bookshelf Detective, My Overstuffed Bookshelf, and Cafe Saturday.

Also, be sure to check out the full 4-1-1 of Fiction Folio's PLAYING HURT Tour!

CHATS 'N HATS...

I had the absolute best time last night...at my very first live author chat! Thanks to Read. Chat. Love, I got a chance to connect with my readers in real time...The thirty-minute scheduled talk about PLAYING HURT was incredible...then became an informal chat during which we dished on everything...Including our collective love of hats, in honor of the Royal Wedding!


(Yep, I've been up since three watching the wedding festivities. What can I say? I'm a girl...Love the dresses. Love the hats. Wish I had my own "fascinator.")


Thanks much to the readers who attended the chat...and hung out for more than an hour and a half, from start to finish!


...In addition to the chat, I've been all over the place online this week. I'm really not joking. Check it all out:


Interview at MarjoleinBookBlog; Emilie's Book World interview and PLAYING HURT review; guest post on "safe" college degrees at Lucid Conspiracy; a guest post on revision at Tina's Book Reviews; and PLAYING HURT reviews went live at Midnight Bloom Reads and Fragments of Life. You can also check out the full info on Fiction Folio's PLAYING HURT Tour, and review the entire Read. Chat. Love Event, with an author interview, letters to and from Clint, a guest post on how Project Runway can make us all better authors, and a convo with Clint himself!


My favorite post this week, though, is at Catherine Ryan Hyde's blog...she's got my buddy Jake and his 'Roo...


And while you're at it, don't forget to check out my very first post at my MG Author Blog, Smack Dab in the Middle!

IN MY EASTER BONNET

For some reason, I just can't get enough of spring this year. Seriously. And I'm not the only Schindler who feels this way...I'm pretty sure we've planted just about every flower known to man around the house...

Today? I'm listening to the rain on the window of my office, and am working up the remainder of the posts for my PLAYING HURT Blog Tour...and generally just feeling pastel-tinted and spring-like inside, because of the beautiful support I've received from my bloggers. I can't tell you guys enough how important you are to me.

...A full run-down of the week's posts are below.

Happy, happy Easter, everyone! May you get lots of chocolate bunnies...

PLAYING HURT Tour:

Princess Bookie,

Confessions of a Bookaholic,

Crazy Bookworm,

A Life Bound by Books: interview and review,

The Book Sp(l)ot,

and (as part of the Philippine Tour) One More Page

READING NOW VS. THEN: CATHERINE RYAN HYDE’S JUMPSTART THE WORLD

I’ve been so wrapped up in the release of PLAYING HURT—and the super-fun corresponding blog tours—I haven’t had much time to blog about anything else! (I can’t even begin to describe how truly cool bloggers have been about the release of PLAYING HURT. I’m not joking. My readers? The best. I’m so, so lucky…)

I’ve been wanting to write a post for some time about Catherine Ryan Hyde’s JUMPSTART THE WORLD. Thing is, every single time I start to write it, I get a woosh of all sorts of images: me sitting in the movie theater when I was in grad school, watching PAY IT FORWARD (I was already a fan of Catherine’s)…I remember the insanely exciting, scary, stressful months leading up to the release of A BLUE SO DARK, and the hope and—okay, intimidation—I felt approaching Catherine for a blurb. I think of all the exchanges I’ve had with Catherine via email and online in the months—good grief, A BLUE SO DARK is actually nearly a year old!—since she sent her incredibly encouraging blurb…

As for JUMPSTART, I loved it—as I absolutely knew I would. Some novels (I’m thinking of Anderson’s WINTERGIRLS or Suzanne Phillips’s BURN) you read because they instantly put an off-kilter feeling in your gut. You’re propelled forward to find out how the protagonist’s knotted-up mess will finally untangle. Although the storyline is equally as compelling, JUMPSTART has a vulnerability about it, a more gentle tug that draws the reader on to its conclusion. The sweetness is what I wanted to return to, each time I had to put the book down.

As for me, anytime I cracked the cover of JUMPSTART, I also thought about Catherine. I saw her hand in the pages…

Before I began writing full-time myself, authors were truly distant, almost sacred creatures. I saw novels as objects—as things. As I was growing up, and as I entered adulthood, authors seemed, for the most part, somewhat unapproachable. Not Catherine, though. And because of that, as I read JUMPSTART, I truly felt that the novel was living. Breathing.

I don’t think I’ll ever pick up a book again and think of it as a thing…

Thank you, Catherine…

How about you? Has meeting an author online or in person changed how you read?

(Aaaand...because the PLAYING HURT Tour is still rolling: Check out the interview at Yay! Reads. I'm also in the midst of a couple of international PLAYING HURT Tours...Check out my guest post on world building and the review posted at Amaterasu Reads (as part of the Philippine Tour). And, as part of the Canadian Tour, check out the interview and review at YA Booklover, as well as my guest post on Clint, my last-minute addition, and the review at Moonlight Gleam...)

ONE OF MY MOST ANTICIPATED READS + BLOG HOPPIN'

I cannot wait to dig into Medeia Sharif's debut, BESTEST. RAMADAN. EVER. As a fellow Flux-er, I feel I've gotten to know her a bit over the past several months. She's been an incredible supporter of my books, and just one of those people I'm soooooo glad to have bumped into in the blogosphere. I'm telling you, if the book is half as cool as the author, I'm going to have BER on my shelves of all-time favorites!

Speaking of Medeia, she's got a super-fun interview up on her blog today, which includes a PLAYING HURT playlist...

And speaking of cool people I've met online, I had to recap last week's festivities at Bookgoonie. She spent the entire week highlighting PLAYING HURT! I'm not joking. Check it all out:

Music Monday,

Teaser Tuesday,

Words of Wisdom (Wednesday)

Book Review (Thursday),

Hot Guy Friday

And two great reviews have also just gone live: Michelle and Leslie's Book Picks and The Crazy Bookworm.