Welcome to 2014!

Happy Monday, and (belatedly) Happy 2014! Justin and I got back from Israel a few days ago, and I'm starting to get over the jet lag and get back in the swing of real life. This week, I'm officially diving back in—to my regular workload, to dance classes, and to writing. Yup—now that I've finished my revisions on THE DISTANCE BETWEEN LOST AND FOUND and the book has gone to copyedit, it's time to jump back into my next manuscript! I'm a little nervous, like I am each time I haven't first-drafted in a while, but I'm also excited. I woke up yesterday morning thinking about an important scene and wanting to jot down notes to myself. I can't wait until I hit that point where it's all I can do to get the words down fast enough! (I hope I get to that point soon!) So here goes…with updates to come, I'm sure.

In the meantime, I wanted to share some of our photos from Israel! We took SO MANY, so this is just a sampling, but I think it captures many of the amazing things we saw. We spent one night in Caesarea, where we saw the ruins of Herod the Great's seaside palace and city; three nights in Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee, where during the daytime we toured all over northern Israel—Megiddo, Zippori, Capernaum, Dan, Beit She'an, and many more; one night at the Dead Sea, with stops at Qumran, Ein Gedi, and Masada; and four nights in Jerusalem, where we toured all over the city as well as crossing the border into Bethlehem, in the West Bank. We saw so many Canaanite and Israelite and Greek and Roman and Byzantine and Crusader ruins with so much historical significance that it was hard to process how amazing it all was after a while. We climbed rolling green hills and drove through harsh deserts and floated in one of the saltiest bodies of water on earth. We ate so much hummus and falafel and shawarma and shaksuka (a new favorite: eggs poached in a rich tomato sauce). We ate so much delicious dessert—guilt-free, because of all the walking up and down hills. And we were introduced to Turkish coffee, which is wonderful and strong, basically French press without the press.

All in all, it was a pretty fantastic trip, and we hope to get to go back at some point in the future! Click past the jump to see the highlights (and if you're not a "look at other people's travel photos" person, feel free to come back later in the week when I blog about something else!).

Still with me? Not feeling like I'm that family member who always wants to show you a slideshow of old vacation photos on an actual slide projector? Good! Because I honestly didn't mean for this post to get this long, but I wanted to share some of the adventures we had. I promise, next week, I'll talk lots about writing, writing, writing. Or something.

So Happy New Year, again! Here's to a 2014 full of excitement, adventure, momentum, and joy.

~Kathryn

Looking Back at 2013...

As you're reading this (if all goes well with the scheduled autoposting on Wordpress…), my husband and I are touring around Israel! This amazing trip, which I'm sure you'll hear all about on the blog in a few weeks, was my parents' wedding gift to us, and we're finally able to go (we just had our two-year anniversary in November). An adventure like this feels like a fitting way to end what turned out to be a pretty great year! 2013 had its ups and downs, for sure, but the ups were, well, very up. :)

• I started this blog! I'd been wanting to blog for years, and hadn't gotten around to it. Now, with almost a full year of blogging under my belt, I'm so glad I took the plunge.
• My newest nephew was born! He's almost a year old now, and he is a delight. You can see some pictures of him HERE and HERE.
• I signed with a fabulous literary agent! This was the culmination of several years of blood, sweat, and tears, and when it finally happened, I was over the moon. Of course, that was only the first step along a journey that included...
• Selling my debut novel to HarperCollins! And I thought signing with an agent felt good. 2015, when my book is slated to be released, can't get here soon enough.
• I attended my first writer's conference, SCBWI LA! It was fabulous to meet more kidlit writers, as well as to hear some true legends in our field speak. Also, my husband and I took a fun vacation in California when the conference was done.
• I revised my book. And revised it. And revised it again. That might sound frustrating, and at times it was! But my editor pushed me to make the book the best it can be, and it has become something I'm so proud to send out into the world.
• I had a dance performance that was fun and challenging and really well received by our audience—all you can ask for, really!
• I joined the Fearless Fifteeners and the YA Buccaneers!

My word for 2013 was PATIENCE, and I couldn't have chosen a better one—because even as I'm working to be more patient with myself, I've seen my patience pay off in some big ways. And I'm not just talking about the book deal, though that's the obvious one. I've also, in the past few weeks, finally hit some of those yoga milestones I've been chasing. Remember when I posted about trying to be patient as I worked toward arm balances? I now have Crow Pose and Headstand in my bag of tricks! Am I perfectly stable in those poses every single time I attempt them? No. But after spending a year building toward being able to do them consistently, I know that with patience, I'll get there. Oh, and here's the photo evidence of a year's work:

A few other random blog-related stats from 2013:

• My most popular post ever is, to the surprise of probably no one, the post in which I announced my book deal (see link above)!
• My second most popular post, to my great surprise, is… *drumroll* THIS ONE: my thoughts on Lauren Oliver's Delirium series. This is the Energizer Bunny of blog posts! Just in the past week, it surpassed my agent announcement post, my "About Me" page, and a few other key pages in number of views. So, Lauren Oliver fans who keep finding their way to me: Welcome! Look around. Stay awhile.
• I reviewed about 50 books on the blog this year, and you can scroll through those posts using the Friday Reads tag. You can see my top 10 out of all of the books I read this year HERE. I'm going to continue reviewing books on the blog in 2014, though I probably won't be as formal with my Friday Reads posts… so keep an eye out!
• I have 83 blog followers—not too shabby for my first year! I'm happy so many of you are interested in what I have to say.

So I guess all that's left to say is, thanks for a great 2013, and here's hoping that 2014 brings even more good times and good news! Happy New Year, everyone!!

~Kathryn

2013 Rewind: My Top 10 Books for the Year

Over on YA Buccaneers, the theme for the month of December is "2013 Rewind"—and as we're all writers (and avid readers, obviously), what better thing to look back on than the books we've read this year? Each of us will be sharing our Top 10, and you can find links to all of my fellow pirates' picks on the YAB blog HERE. We'll also be sharing playlists, to go along with the theme of "2013 Rewind"! On my playlist, I've included a sampling of music that meant something to me this year. Most of the songs are directly related to my writing—either they go along with certain scenes in THE DISTANCE BETWEEN LOST AND FOUND, they made frequent appearances on my go-to writing station on Pandora, or they're just inspiring to me for one reason or another. Click HERE to check out my playlist—I hope you enjoy it!

And now, without further ado, here are my Top 10 books of 2013.

As of the writing of this post, I've read 87 books in 2013. Frankly, I'm pretty astonished by that number; it far exceeds my goals and expectations! And I have to say, choosing a Top 10 out of all of the wonderful books I read this year was really challenging. There were a few that I knew HAD to be on the list, no question…and then a LOT of amazing runners-up. What you need to know about this list: It runs the gamut from middle-grade to young adult to adult, genres from contemporary fiction to fantasy to scary sci-fi to memoir. The books are listed in the order I read them this year, rather than as a true Top 10 counting down to number one. Some are 2013 releases; others have been out a while and I just found my way to them this year. And, um, the obvious caveat: I read a lot this year, but I haven't read everything, so if your favorite isn't on the list, please tell me about it in the comments!

A Girl Named Zippy

My friend Cassie loaned me this book back in February because she was astonished I'd never read it. (Here's my original blog review!) Even now, months later, I'm smiling just thinking about author Haven Kimmel's infectious voice relating various hysterical and touching stories from her childhood in the midwest. This book made me laugh out loud. It made me think about all of the everyday absurdities of my own childhood, the things that you take for granted as normal because they're all you know at the time—but in retrospect, you can only shake your head and laugh. Most of all, it reminded me how much I enjoy memoirs.

The Diviners

I wrote about Libba Bray's THE DIVINERS back in March (HERE), and I am still thinking about this sassy, fun, creepy, beautifully written book! This supernatural story about ghosts, psychics, and other paranormal phenomena in 1920s New York City has it all: flappers, speakeasies, Ziegfeld girls, bobbed hair, and loads of period slang. Plus, there is a truly scary murderer on the loose, threatening our heroes and heroines. Much to my chagrin, the second book in the series isn't slated to come out until next August. Wah-wah.

Lovely, Dark and Deep

Amy McNamara's LOVELY, DARK AND DEEP was my first real Wow book of 2013. (I gushed about it in this post!) I adored everything about this book: the breathtakingly beautiful language, the harrowing portrayal of deep grief, the sweet relief as the main character, Wren, started to find her way out of the darkness…I could go on and on. (And on…) Just writing this paragraph is making me long to pick up this book again. And as a side note, in my initial meeting with my editor at HarperCollins, the brilliant Alexandra Cooper, I discovered that she'd edited this book (in her previous position at Simon & Schuster)—and I immediately knew I was in excellent hands.

Eleanor & Park

Let's get this out of the way up front: 2013 was the year of Rainbow Rowell. In addition to the luminous ELEANOR & PARK (which I first blogged about HERE), her second YA novel FANGIRL is below on this list, and her adult novel ATTACHMENTS didn't fall too far short of my Top 10 for the year. I love Rowell's way with words. She describes things in ways I haven't heard before, and yet that ring so immediately true. Her characters feel so honest and real to me. In the case of ELEANOR & PARK, I fell hard for the budding love story between the two title characters, but I also fell for them as people. I wanted to hang out with them as long as possible, and I was sad when the book ended simply because I wanted more time with them. This one will be a reread for years to come, whenever I want to feel swept away like I did when I first read it.

Wonder

I picked up WONDER by R.J. Palacio at the recommendation of my agent, the amazing Alyssa Eisner Henkin, who also represents Palacio. Alyssa couldn't stop talking about this book when we met for lunch back in April. I'm so glad she encouraged me to read it! The story of Auggie, a fifth-grader dealing with extensive facial deformities, is challenging and uplifting. It's narrated by Auggie himself, as well as by various people in his life who are also affected by his condition. The book (which I initially reviewed HERE) succeeds spectacularly at presenting a well-rounded view of what it's like to be a child living with a major (and highly visible) health problem, but it also succeeds on a personal level. Auggie is a charming, intelligent narrator. It's impossible not to root for him.

Two Boys Kissing

David Levithan's latest book (original post HERE) is beautifully written and moving. It's also important, and it has experienced its share of controversy. (And just a few days ago, I wandered through the Teen section at Barnes & Noble and discovered that someone had turned TWO BOYS KISSING backward. I turned it face-out again, hoping that how I found it was an accident rather than deliberate…) The book is primarily about eight boys who are gay, two of whom are attempting to break the world record for longest kiss. But because it's narrated by a chorus of gay men who died during the AIDS crisis, TWO BOYS KISSING becomes so much more than these individual teens' stories.

Fangirl

Rainbow Rowell makes a second appearance on my Top 10 with this delightful and honest story about a college freshman, Cath, who is trying to navigate issues with her twin sister, Wren; concerns about her dad being left at home alone; a demanding creative writing professor; feelings of alienation and loneliness; and, ah yes, a frustratingly outgoing, cute guy who keeps appearing in her dorm room and bothering her while she's trying to write Simon Snow fanfiction. I related to this book so much. Not only did it have Rowell's trademark beautiful writing, I completely and totally got Cath (down to the fanfiction writing, of which I used to do my share...) And can we talk about how swoony Levi is? More in my original post HERE...

Just One Day/Just One Year

In October, I raced through Gayle Forman's JUST ONE DAY and JUST ONE YEAR (read more HERE). I know I'm kind of cheating because these are, in fact, two separate books, but because they tell one complete story—and because I read the pair in, oh, two days—I'm including them as a single unit. Forman excels at book "duets," and it's so much fun to get to experience love interests Allyson and Willem's journeys from both sides…especially given both books' endings. (No spoilers here!) JUST ONE DAY and JUST ONE YEAR are romantic, exciting, and heartfelt. Plus, I loved all of the traveling and wanted to see the world with the characters!

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

I love pretty much everything Neil Gaiman writes, and this book was absolutely no exception. A slim novel that packs a wallop, THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE is a creepy and beautiful fairy tale narrated by a middle-aged man who returns to his childhood home for a funeral. When he visits a farm near the house where he grew up, he falls into the memory of a magical and terrifying sequence of events that happened when he was seven. The magical elements—a trio of ancient, powerful women; a horrifying nanny who isn't what she seems; an endless ocean disguised as a lake next to a farmhouse—are vintage Gaiman, but the book feels like his most mature yet. It's a story of innocence lost, a story of regret and of the things that are too big and painful to remember.

The 5th Wave

This book snuck in under the wire—after having heard great buzz about it for months, I picked it up on a whim at the start of December, and couldn't put it down. Rick Yancey's THE 5TH WAVE opens mid-alien invasion, when the human race has already been pretty much decimated and those people still alive don't know who to trust. Our main narrator (of four) is 16-year-old Cassie, who is managing to survive but is convinced she's the last person on earth. Still, just in case, she's setting out to try to find her little brother, who she last saw boarding a school bus that was supposed to take him to safety. And…I refuse to spoil any more of the plot, because the twists and turns are half the fun. If you like science fiction page turners, equal parts fast-paced action and gut-wrenching emotion, this is one of the best ones I've read in a long time.

So there you have it! My Top 10 Books of 2013. Do you agree? Did I miss any books you adored? Let me know, so I can get a jump on my 2014 reads… :)

~Kathryn

Ahoy, Mateys… It Be Announcement Time!

So, remember last week when I mentioned having a fun announcement this week? It's time to share! And the title of this post is a pretty big clue.

I've been invited to join the crew of the YA Buccaneers!

What does that mean? Well, the YA Buccaneers are a group of Young Adult writers who formed a blog together: YABuccaneers.com. Each month, the crew shares book reviews, author interviews, writing tips, book giveaways, and so much more! I'm thrilled to be able to join this cool team of ladies—er, I mean, fearsome pirate wenches.

I'll be blogging on the site as:

Go HERE to read the post announcing the new YA Buccaneers (including me). Then, check YABuccaneers.com tomorrow for my official new crew member interview on the site! (I'll add the link into this post, as well.) All you need to know about tomorrow's interview is…it involves a kraken. 'Nuff said, right?

[[UPDATE 12/11: HERE is my new crew member interview! Enjoy.]]

I've been lucky to get to know so many awesome YA (and Middle Grade) writers in 2013, and I can't wait to keep building my community through YAB. Writing can be such a solitary pursuit, and it helps so much to have other people in the same boat (har, har) to share in the excitement and anxiety and frustration and joy—and every emotion in between. So go check out YABuccaneers.com! You won't regret it.

~Kathryn (aka Bonny Kitty Cutlass—and you'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out where that name came from...)

The December Check-In

Um, y'all? It's December already! I'm not quite sure how that happened. The most wonderful (and busiest) time of the year seems to have snuck up on me! I blame the book revisions. I just got back from seeing my family for Thanksgiving, where I ate too much and sat around too much and didn't do much work. What did I do? As we say in the south, I "visited." Because where I'm from, "visiting" isn't just the act of traveling to someone's home. It's the sitting and chatting part, as well. It's the catching up on everything you've missed in each other's lives and sharing coffee or sweet tea and dessert. I.e., "Sit and visit with me for a while." I was able to see my entire family while I was there, including my almost 11-month-old nephew, who is a hoot and a half:

It's such a pleasure to get to see my parents, my sister, and my brother and sister-in-law and nephew all at the same time. That doesn't happen nearly often enough (though thanks to the late Thanksgiving, it will happen again in just a few weeks at Christmas!).

But now I'm back in Brooklyn and back to the grind. My book revision is due on Monday, so I am chugging away, putting the finishing touches on the draft. I've made all of the big changes at this point and am rereading and finessing a few sticky spots. I'm starting to reach that "oh no, almost time to turn it in, it has to be perfect!" anxiety point, but I'm forging ahead. Things that help: my supportive husband, my wonderful family, and my amazing friends—with whom I'm having not one, but two Write Nights this week to make sure I'm ahead of the game.

A bit of blog business—we're about to hit the one year mark! I know, right? Who'da thunk? So for the rest of this month, you'll see some Year in Review–type things. I want to look back at the books I've read, as well as at all of the amazing things that have happened this year. I'll take a look at my most popular posts, as well (including one surprising post from earlier this year that just keeps going and going and going…).

And stay tuned for a fun announcement next week!

In the meantime, hope everyone's staying warm out there. Thanks, as always, for reading!

~Kathryn

The Friends and Family Guide to Book Publishing

That's so awesome that you sold your book! When do I get to read it? What?! 2015?! How could it possibly take that long?  I've been hearing some version of the above from a lot of my friends and family lately, so I thought I might fill you in en masse on what's going to happen over the next year! But first, let me say up front: I can't say thank you enough for your enthusiasm and encouragement about my book deal. Your support means the world!

I know I've posted a lot about the process so far—signing with my agent, selling the book, signing my contract, changing my title, revising the manuscript—but I thought you might be interested to hear a little more about what else goes into making this thing that I imagined and wrote into a real, honest-to-God book that you can hold in your hands and buy at Barnes & Noble. So, here it is! The overview. "The Friends and Family Guide to Book Publishing." (With the caveat that I obviously haven't done most of this yet, so you could get more detail down the line…)

Revisions

Right now, I am in the middle of my second round of revisions with my editor. When I'm done implementing her notes, the book will be very close to its final version! We'll most likely do one more round of line edits to make sure we're happy with every word in the book (time to nitpick!), and then, if all goes well, my book will be "accepted" by the publisher. That means my main role in writing and editing it will be done!

Copyedits

At the start of 2014, my "finished" manuscript will go to copyeditors, who will read through it and make lots of edits that I will then have to read through and accept. The copyeditors will catch typos, make sure names and other facts are consistent throughout the book, standardize style elements (like how TV shows and movies are written, for instance), and do loads more. Copyeditors are very important people—they help to make the text polished and professional!

Cover Design

Meanwhile, over in the art department, someone will be designing possible covers for my book. Before you ask, I will not get to dictate what my cover will look like. There are people far more qualified to do that job, who are already employed by my publisher. That said, when they've tinkered and redesigned and finally gotten down to a top choice or a few choices, they'll send it/them to me to check out. Cover designs are a collaboration between the editors, the art department, and the sales and marketing teams, because everyone wants the book to sell its best. When my book's cover is finalized, I'll be given the go-ahead to share it with you. And believe me—I will be making a big deal of it!

Page Proofs and Galleys

When I've sent back the copyedited manuscript, it will go into layout—which basically means it will start to look like a proper book. Then I'll get sent the manuscript again to read over and make sure nothing got, say, cut out accidentally while the text was being flowed in. I'll probably do several passes in the page proof phase, over the course of a few weeks or months. The book will also be made into galleys, as well as advance reader copies (ARCs). These advance copies are often sent to reviewers, booksellers, and other people in the industry who need to see books before their official release date.

Sales and Marketing Stuff

Once my book has a release season (and, eventually, an actual date), I'll get slotted into the publisher's catalog, so I can be promoted to booksellers. I'll probably also get assigned a publicist who will help me come up with the best ways to promote the book. A lot of people have already asked about my book tour plans. Hopefully, I'll get to do at least a small tour! But that isn't the only option these days. For instance, a lot of authors do blog tours, or visit bookstores, libraries, and classrooms via Skype instead of in person. Trust me, when we're a few months away from my book's release, you'll start hearing me talk a lot more about this part of the process.

The Next Book

What's my job while all of this is going on behind the scenes? I'll be hard at work on my next manuscript. After all, I'm doing all of this because I love to write, and because I want this to be my career. Having a single finished book on the shelves will be amazing and mind-blowing, but having two books there, or three, or more… that's the dream. So I'll be hard at work with my agent and editor planning out what's next while Book One is in production. And you'll probably hear about that, too.

Whew! So that's the nutshell version of what I'll be dealing with in 2014, and why you won't see a finished book until 2015. I hope it was interesting to get a glimpse into the inner workings of the publishing machine. I know I can't wait to reach each point in the process!

~Kathryn

Book Revisions, Take Two :)

It's that time again… I'm back to revising THE DISTANCE BETWEEN LOST AND FOUND! I received the second round of notes from my editor on Monday, and so I'm getting ready to dive back in. I'm pretty excited! Especially because my editor really liked a lot of the changes I made in the first revision, which means I won't have nearly as much to change this time around. In fact, most of what I'm down to is the nitpicky stuff—those tiny tweaks that can make such a big difference in the overall story. In general, while I was reading over the editorial letter and thinking about how to tackle her requests, the coolest thing was realizing how close the book is to its final version—the version that will be published. PUBLISHED! There's a part of me that still can't believe that's happening. So picture me cracking my knuckles and doing some shoulder rolls in front of my computer, loosening up. I have coffee…lots of coffee. Maybe some snacks. Definitely chocolate. I have Pandora set to the right station for this book. (Want to hear some of what I listened to while writing THE DISTANCE BETWEEN LOST AND FOUND? Make a Pandora station using the band The Civil Wars.) My desk is a mess, but my computer desktop is organized and ready for action.

Here goes!

Oh, and I know blogging has been sporadic this fall, but I promise not to disappear for the next month. There's too much awesome stuff going on and too many books to talk about for me to let the blog languish. So keep an eye out for updates!

And thanks, as always, for reading. :)

~Kathryn

Friday Reads: Let's Talk About "Allegiant"

You may remember that my last Friday Reads post was a recap of DIVERGENT and INSURGENT—and that I was super excited to read the final book in the trilogy, ALLEGIANT! Well... I finished it. And it was good! But I have thoughts. And feelings. And I want to share them with you! But I also don't want to spoil anything for those who haven't finished the book, so here's what I'm going to do: After the picture of the book, the spoiler area begins. On the main page, I'll hide the spoilers below a break, so you don't accidentally scroll past a spoiler. So don't scroll down! This is your warning! Also, please comment with your thoughts! And know that the comments are a spoiler area, too, so don't read them if you don't want to know how ALLEGIANT ends!

Enough due diligence? I hope so. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Still with me? Seriously, if you haven't read the book yet, and you think you might want to, stop reading now!!

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So let's talk about ALLEGIANT. Overall, I thought it was a successful conclusion to the series, and the thing that happens at the end...

Okay, who am I kidding, analyzing this like it's just a normal plot development? Tris, the protagonist, DIES AT THE END. It's not that I wasn't expecting someone to "pay the ultimate price," especially when Tris and Four were so happy and in love 100 pages from the end and said they'd see each other soon. I just expected it to be Four that died, rather than the other way around. And yet, the more I thought about it, the more it made sense for Tris's character. She'd always been self-sacrificial to the point of putting herself in harm's way. And throughout the book, she'd been learning the value of real sacrifice—when sacrifice truly means something, as well as why life is worth living. When she put herself in her brother's place and saved him, sacrificing herself, after having discovered why she wants to live and the difference she can make in the world, it made sense to me. It was sad, but it worked. And in an interesting way, it flipped the entire trilogy on its head.

Because unlike the first two books, ALLEGIANT had dual narrators. Getting Four's point of view in this book, and then having him be the one left standing at the end, dealing with the fallout and the recovery and moving forward, made me look back at his journey more than I might otherwise have done. It made the trilogy as much his story as Tris's, which gave it more depth to me.

I know that the decision to kill Tris has been pretty unpopular among Veronica Roth's readers, with some people saying that it ruins the whole series for them. For me, it makes me a little less likely to reread the series over and over, knowing where it's ultimately going, but at the same time, it does, as I said, kind of reframe things in a way that's worth looking at. Maybe in a year or two, when I've recovered. (Though it WILL be weird to watch the movie knowing what's going to happen to Shailene Woodley! I wonder if she knew when she took the role...)

All of this is not to say that the book was perfect! I had some trouble distinguishing between Tris and Four as narrators. Their voices were really similar, and in certain chapters where it wasn't clear from the action who was narrating, I lost track. Not having tried to write in multiple points of view myself, I can't speak to how difficult it is—but in this case, it slowed me down as I read when I had to go back and reassess after realizing I'd been attributing motivations to the wrong character!

I also felt like the middle of the book dragged a little, which was especially noticeable given how quickly I was turning pages in the first two books. The scenes and characters in the compound were a little dry. I almost wished Tris, Four, and the others could have taken the knowledge they'd gained in the compound and gone immediately back into Chicago, where the action was! I know that part of the point of removing them to the compound that was studying their city—their LIVES—as an experiment was to show that everything they knew was wrong. Unfortunately, that separation from the first two books (and the introduction of a new conflict, between the "divergent" genetically pure individuals and the genetically "damaged" people) only served to distance me as a reader. I wanted Chicago back. For me, the world got too big, and a little less interesting.

Phew! Clearly, I had a lot to say about this book, and I'm really hoping some of you do, too! Want to hash it out in the comments? Let's do it!

~Kathryn

Dancing Onward and Upward

I spent the past five months or so rehearsing for a set of dance performances that happened this past weekend, so this week I'm dealing with a vague sense of post-performance letdown. Don't get me wrong: the shows were GREAT. I had a blast dancing with this cast, and we rocked out onstage. The audience loved it. I couldn't have asked for things to go better. But still, it's hard to transition from rehearsing several times a week, every week, to...not.

It's one of the hazards of dancing project by project, rather than working full-time with a specific company: you often finish a show with no idea when your next performance will happen. Or even if there will be a next performance. My friend and choreographer Becky Radway (learn more about her work HERE!) has applied to be part of a dance festival in summer 2014, but we won't know for a few months whether she got in. We'll probably also have a one-night-only short performance in April. But until then, it's back to class.

And that's where the other bit of dance-related upheaval that happened in October comes in: Dance New Amsterdam, which was my dance home in NYC for the past eight or so years, had to close its doors for good on October 13. It was the end of a long, drawn-out battle with the landlord over back rent and other issues, and frankly, it was probably time to let go and move on. But most of the final classes—and many of the celebrations honoring DNA and its teachers—happened when I wasn't able to be there (due to rehearsals for this past weekend's show, as well as being out of town and otherwise unavailable) and so I didn't get to say the goodbye I would've wanted.

Luckily, my teachers have transitioned pretty seamlessly into teaching at other NYC studios, and so their classes live on. Now that I'm done rehearsing and my schedule has opened back up, I'll be able to figure out how to shape each week around my favorite dance classes in their new homes at their new times, just like I used to shape my week around the classes I took regularly at DNA. I've already started going to one class in its new location—Laurie De Vito at Mark Morris Dance Center—and it's been fun to see the mix of longtime attendees and new faces, and to feel the energy that comes from being in a different space.

2013 has been full of changes, not the least of which being my book deal and the beginning of what I hope will be a career as an author. I've been busier than ever juggling freelance work, book revisions, dance classes and rehearsals, and other commitments. But one thing won't ever change: I always want those dance classes (and rehearsals!) to be there. Dance isn't just the activity that gives me a break from sitting in front of my computer all day. It's not just about exercise. It's also the other way I express myself, aside from words. It's emotional release. It's an intellectual challenge as well as a physical challenge. It's been a part of my life since I was three, and I want it to continue to be a part of my life as long as possible. So whether that's onstage or not, at the studio I loved and am still sad to have lost or somewhere new and exciting and fresh, I'll be there.

And now... I'm off to dance class!

~Kathryn

Introducing the Fearless Fifteeners!

Fun news today! I'm excited to introduce a fantastic new group and website for 2015 debut Young Adult and Middle Grade authors, the Fearless Fifteeners! I'm lucky to get to be on the admin team that has been putting together this group, and today we are officially launching and accepting new members.

Do you have a book deal for a YA or MG book that is scheduled to come out in 2015? Are you an avid reader who wants to get the scoop on awesome upcoming books months (or more than a year!) before they're scheduled to release? You definitely need to go to FearlessFifteeners.wordpress.com. 

On our website, you'll be able to:

• Apply to be part of the group, if you're a 2015 debut
• Read blog posts spotlighting our various authors and their fabulous books
• See cover reveals and more behind-the-scenes action
• Get a glimpse into everything that goes on in the months leading up to book publication
• Find tons of great authors and connect with them on social media
• And more!

Personally, I can't wait for the ball to get rolling. It's so exciting to meet more authors who are in the same boat I am (2015 is SO FAR AWAY!), and to know that we'll get to help each other spread the word about our books, commiserate about the ups and downs of the publishing process, and most of all make new friends in the book world. I'm also pumped at the prospect of adding so many books to my "to-read" list... :)

So here's to 2015, and to the wonderful books it will bring with it!

~Kathryn

Friday Reads: Reread Edition: "Divergent" and "Insurgent" by Veronica Roth

The third DIVERGENT book, ALLEGIANT, comes out on Tuesday! So I am currently rereading the first two in the trilogy, DIVERGENT and INSURGENT. I finished DIVERGENT last night before bed, and will be diving into INSURGENT today as soon as I get enough work done to relax with a book for a while. I can't wait. Who else is excited for ALLEGIANT's release??

If you're someone who hasn't read any of these books, here's the nutshell version. Society has been divided into five Factions, each prioritizing a different quality: Dauntless (courage), Candor (honesty), Erudite (knowledge), Amity (peace/kindness), and Abnegation (selflessness). When DIVERGENT begins, 16-year-old Beatrice, raised in Abnegation but never quite feeling like she fits, is about to make the choice that will define the rest of her life. All 16 year olds are tested to determine their primary aptitude, and then must choose either to stay in the Faction in which they were raised, or to transfer to another. In the testing process, Beatrice learns that she's Divergent—she doesn't fit easily into a single Faction's box. And during the choosing ceremony, she gathers up every bit of courage she has and transfers to Dauntless, where she renames herself Tris and launches into a brutal initiation process.

But it isn't just about Tris's personal journey to discover what it means to be Divergent and to make it through Dauntless initiation in one piece. There are rumblings throughout the book that this seemingly perfect society is on the verge of collapse. Erudite has been publishing articles accusing Abnegation government leaders of corruption. There's tension between the groups on all levels, from government to families to between the initiates themselves. The Factions have strayed from their initial noble goals, and the cracks are starting to show. Being Divergent, Tris is about to find herself smack in the middle of all of it.

Oh, and there's a boy, Tobias (also called Four), Tris's initiation leader who pushes her and protects her and has secrets and vulnerabilities of his own...

I devoured these books when I first read them. They are true page-turners, even the second time around. And I love this version of a crumbling utopian society, where it gradually becomes clear that courage, selflessness, honesty, kindness, and knowledge shouldn't be at war at all—and yet you can totally see how a society like this could develop. As in Lauren Oliver's DELIRIUM trilogy (where society tries to create a more harmonious world by eradicating the "disease" of love) and Ally Condie's MATCHED trilogy (where society takes away free will in everything from careers to relationships in order to promote peace and maintain order), DIVERGENT's society clearly started out with good, if flawed, intentions. Unfortunately, human beings are messy and complicated. And that's what makes a compelling story.

On Tuesday, I'll be picking up my copy of ALLEGIANT—and probably devouring it, too. I'm hoping for an ending that I'll be happy with, that makes sense and is emotionally satisfying while also tying up all the loose ends. I know with trilogies like these, the ending can be controversial. (For instance, I liked how the third DELIRIUM book, REQUIEM, ended, but I know many readers did not! Meanwhile, I didn't completely love REACHED, the third MATCHED book...) Regardless, I know I'm in for a ride.

Who's with me?

~Kathryn

Wednesday Friday Reads: "Just One Day" and "Just One Year" by Gayle Forman

Friday Reads on a Wednesday! This past Friday (and the start of this week!) got away from me, so here we are. Last week I raced through Gayle Forman's newest YA duet, Just One Day and Just One Year. The former came out in January, while the latter came out...last week. I've had Just One Day sitting on my shelf for a while, and when we got close to the release of the companion book, I figured I might as well wait to read them both in succession! And I am so glad I did, given that I finished Just One Day last Wednesday and immediately ran to Barnes & Noble to pick up Just One Year. I couldn't wait even a day to start it!

So what are these books about? They both tell the story of a year in the life of Allyson, a straight-laced American who has just graduated from high school, and Willem, the Dutch actor/wanderer she meets on the European tour that was her parents' graduation present to her. In Just One Day, Allyson and Willem spend a whirlwind day together in Paris—a day that is completely unexpected and life-changing for Allyson, normally a rule-follower who is averse to adventure until it runs her over. Willem is more used to adventure, but the day is special to him for other reasons that aren't revealed until Just One Year. The catch: when that magical day is over, Allyson finds herself alone in Paris. Willem has vanished. She'll spend the next year recovering from the abandonment, and then (mild spoiler?) searching for him. Unfortunately, she doesn't know his last name or anything about him; even worse, he only knows her by a nickname he gave her: Lulu.

Just One Day is told from Allyson's point of view, and Just One Year is told from Willem's. (It's a device Forman has used before, in her previous book duet: If I Stay and Where She Went.) With these two books, it was great to experience Allyson's wonder, her confusion, her pain, and her ultimate growth, and then to see Willem's journey in turn. You see first how he affected her, and then the impact she had on him. And the great thing is, it's not just about the love story—though that's certainly reason enough to pick up the books. (It's pretty swoony!) Allyson and Willem both have lives of their own, issues to face, and growth to do as individuals. Their meeting, powerful as it is, is just the catalyst for what's next.

I know I'm being a little vague (though again, I hope I haven't already spoiled too much!), but part of the joy of these books is experiencing them as they unfold. That said, I have to talk about the settings, and the travel, in these books!

In college, I was lucky to get to spend a semester in London. That semester immediately followed a summer internship in NYC, so I was used to making my way around a big city and beyond excited to try a different country. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life—living in central London, meeting fellow students from across the globe, hopping on the train on a whim to visit Stratford-upon-Avon, Oxford, Rochester, even Paris and Amsterdam... the list goes on. Of course, I was operating on a student's budget in one of the world's most expensive cities, so I wasn't able to travel nearly as much as I would have liked. When I say I went to Paris, I mean I was there for...two one-day visits on two separate occasions. Amsterdam was a two-day visit, shared with The Hague. But still—I hopped on a train, and I was there.

I can't wait to go back to London, to Paris, to Amsterdam. I know there is so much more to see. And I know it won't be the same a decade later, now that I'm a jaded New Yorker (ha!) and married, no longer a student on a budget, but I can't wait to recapture the magic of being in those cities. I can't wait to share that magic with my husband. 

One thing I loved about Just One Day and Just One Year is that the characters often travel off the beaten path. The closest I've come in recent years is when my husband and I went to Italy, on our honeymoon. We visited Rome, Siena, Florence, and Venice, and of course we hit all of the tourist destinations—but by the time we reached Venice, we were tired of being tourists. In Venice, we wandered. We got rid of the map. We followed tiny alleyways that emerged onto main canals. We walked in circles. And it was amazing. In Just One Day, Allyson and Willem explore Paris by picking a Metro station at random and seeing what's there. That reminded me of how we experienced Venice. On foot, and without making too many plans.

Anyway. If you love romance, and realistic characters dealing with realistic issues, pick up these books. If you love travel, or if you dream of traveling, pick up these books. :)

~Kathryn

Title Change Ahoy!

It's time to make a book-related announcement! I officially have a new title! My book, which you will be able to read in early 2015, is now called... 

*drumroll* 

THE DISTANCE BETWEEN LOST AND FOUND

What do you think? I pretty much love it. That's not to say that I didn't have a mourning period for THE CREATION OF HALLELUJAH CALHOUN, but the more I think about this new title, the more right I think it is. It reflects the physical journey my characters go on as much as their emotional/spiritual journeys. It sounds nice. Kind of rolls off the tongue. And it will—I hope—draw readers in. 

I don't generally find titles easy (aside from coming up with punny headlines for freelance dance articles!). This latest titling process was no exception. (As an aside, the only fiction title I ever came up with easily was THE CREATION OF HALLELUJAH CALHOUN.) That said, with brainstorming help from my agent, my editor, my husband, and a few trusted friends/readers, we found the right answer remarkably quickly. I'm hoping I can learn from our marathon brainstorming session the next time I have to title something! 

In the meantime, I'm getting used to my book's new title. I'm saying it out loud a lot, to practice: "This is my book, THE DISTANCE BETWEEN LOST AND FOUND." I can't wait for the next phase of Wow, this is starting to feel like a real book—seeing this new title on a mocked-up book cover! Whoa. (And yes, I know finding the right book cover can be just as difficult as finding the right title, but I'm still excited. Don't burst my bubble!) 

That's all for this Wednesday... 

~Kathryn 

The Draft Is In! (Plus Some Friday Reads...)

Yup. I turned in my book draft on Tuesday, which felt really, really good. I can't wait to get back more notes on the changes I made and make the book even better—okay, actually, I can wait. I'm definitely looking forward to a few weeks with a little less on my mind! But at the same time, I'm eager to hear my editor's thoughts. In a few weeks. When I've recovered. In the meantime, I had a birthday on Tuesday, I have rehearsals for my dance performance that's coming up at the end of this month, I took a quick freelance assignment from Dance Spirit, I'm catching up on other freelance work, my husband and I are seeing Matilda The Musical on Broadway tomorrow night (yay, birthday and yay, book deal!), we're going to visit his family next weekend, and... I know my free time, such as it is, is already completely booked up! But at least, for now, the draft is in.

One thing I was thrilled to do a lot this week is READ! I made my way through two really spectacular books, and since I haven't done a Friday Reads post in eons, I thought I might do one today.

First up, I read David Levithan's newest, TWO BOYS KISSING:

Admittedly, I'll read pretty much anything David Levithan writes. Not only because I was lucky enough to have him as a professor in grad school, but also because I just really enjoy his work. Plus, TWO BOYS KISSING has gotten a lot of hype lately—including making the longlist for the National Book Awards.

Luckily, this book lived up to its hype. It's so gorgeous! TWO BOYS KISSING is actually about eight boys. Craig and Harry are trying to break the Guinness World Record for longest kiss. They're doing it on behalf of their friend Tariq, who was brutally attacked for being gay. Peter and Neil are in a happy long-term relationship, and are figuring out what that means. Avery and Ryan just met, and have instant chemistry. And Cooper is alone, barely interacting with the world outside his computer. While all of these stories are told thoughtfully and realistically, it's the narration that really sets this book apart. TWO BOYS KISSING is narrated by a chorus of men who died during the AIDS crisis. They watch over the current generation, commenting on how different the world has become—and how similar it still is. The narrators' memories about their lives—and deaths—and their pleas to the characters to cherish the lives they have were so powerful. The ending moved me to tears.

When I set that book down, I picked up the other new release I was dying to read, Rainbow Rowell's FANGIRL:

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you might remember me raving about Rowell's last book, ELEANOR & PARK (post HERE). Because I loved that book so much, I absolutely couldn't wait to read FANGIRL, which about a freshman in college, Cath, who is a shy, slightly nerdy writer of fanfiction about Simon Snow (a Harry Potter–esque fantasy series). Well... I loved this book. So much. I actually went back and reread a few scenes when I was done because I wasn't ready to leave these characters and their world yet. Also, because I wanted to swoon some more. There is a lot to swoon about in this book...

What you need to know about teenaged Kathryn is that ... I wrote fanfiction. About The X-Files. I discovered the fanfiction section on Fox TV's official X-Files Internet message board when I was 16, and almost immediately got sucked into these amazing stories people were writing about the characters. I started writing my own. I wrote short scenes and a few full-length "X-files" by myself. I co-wrote a few stories with friends I met on the message boards. I even started working on a crossover fanfic in which Agents Mulder and Scully found themselves hunting for a mysterious artifact that was also being chased down by the characters from the TV show La Femme Nikita.

I was really into it, for several years, is what I'm saying. My screenname was XKitty.

So reading FANGIRL brought all of that back to me. The nerves of being a college freshman and not knowing anyone. The lure of my online friends and fans, and the excitement of knowing there were people actually waiting to see what I'd post next. The thrill when I shared my first full-length story with a new college friend who also happened to love The X-Files. Oh, and the not-so-positive response I got from a creative writing professor when I mentioned that I hadn't written a lot of original fiction, but I did write fanfiction...

All of that said, you don't have to have written fanfic to appreciate and love FANGIRL! It has family drama, an adorable love interest, fish-out-of-water college shenanigans, and characters you genuinely care about. I really, really recommend this one. I am a Rainbow Rowell fangirl.

Wow, that was a long post. I guess it was all that time away from blogging...it got backed up.

Until next time!

~Kathryn

Another Dispatch From the Revision Cave

It’s been two weeks since I last checked in, so here I am! I’m still chugging along on my revision, still juggling work commitments and dance rehearsals and other responsibilities while my head is filled to the brim with thoughts about my book. Revising is still going smoothly—though as I approach my deadline, the nerves are starting to kick in. Am I making the right choices? Will my editor like the changes I’ve made? Am I getting closer to having the final version that will be on bookshelves in a little over a year? I know this draft won’t be my very last, and I know that my editor’s job is to guide me along the path. Still, I’m feeling pressure to Get It Right. The good news is, when I take my editor and the publication process and potential future readers out of the equation and just look at the BOOK, I do feel that it’s getting stronger. My editor is pushing me to dig deeper, to fill in the gaps, to make my characters as three-dimensional as possible and the world that they live in as realistic as possible. To draw readers in from page one and make them care. And I think it’s working.

Over the weekend, I was thinking about a revision like this as a closet cleanout. In particular, I was thinking about the last time I had to go through my closet in my old bedroom at my parents’ house. I’m a bit of a packrat when it comes to things that have memories attached to them. Or things that I haven’t used in ages but might one day need or want again. At the same time, I don’t love clutter, so I like to keep packrat things out of sight, filed away in boxes or drawers or baskets so the whole area looks relatively organized and neat.

It’s easy enough to do a surface clean when you keep your clutter organized. It’s easy to dust and vacuum and straighten the shelves. It’s also easy to open a box or a drawer, poke around in it, and say, “Eh—this stuff isn’t bothering anyone. I’ll deal with it later.”

This revision has been about the stuff inside those boxes. This has been the nitpicky, meticulous revision. The one where I have to open each drawer, set out all of the items stored inside, and decide if I truly need those things. In some cases, I do—but I have to justify why. In other cases, they’re just not necessary. Right now, I’m doing editing work I avoided—or didn’t yet realize I needed to do—in earlier revisions. I’m doing work that I couldn’t have done without the organizing and sorting and surface cleaning of previous revisions. When I finish, I will have the neatest, most organized, most streamlined closet—er, manuscript draft—I can produce.

And then my editor will come in and ask me if I really need those cross-stitch patterns from when I went through my sewing phase in middle school, and I’ll hem and haw, and probably ultimately decide she’s right. And the book will be even better for it.

Did this metaphor get away from me? I blame revision-brain. (And I didn't even get to the part where, when cleaning out a closet, you have to make the mess much worse before it gets better!)

So back to work. This manuscript won't be done until it's done—and I can't wait until I get to share the final product with all of you. :)

~Kathryn

Dispatch From the Revision Cave

Last time I blogged, I mentioned that I was waiting for my editor's notes on my manuscript. Well—I got them! And I've spent the past week and a half deeply engrossed in revisions. I can't stop thinking about my book. It's in my head when I wake up in the morning and as I lie in bed trying to fall asleep—and so much of the time in between. I am so excited about taking my editor's notes and finding ways to make this the best possible book it can be. And...yeah, okay, it hasn't all been easy. I don't believe it will all be smooth sailing for the next month. But it's rewarding work! (And you have my complete permission to remind me of the enthusiasm in this post if I start to complain or freak out in the weeks to come!) Considering that this is the first time I've had to revise a book with a deadline, I feel like things are going pretty well. I have my to-do list of edits. I'm working my way through the biggest, most wide-reaching changes first, asking big questions about my characters and their motivations. I'm revising a few hours a day, almost every day. I have a lot of momentum, and I hope I can keep it up.

There have been a few downsides to spending so much time working on my book revision. One, it's kind of hard to focus on my other work when all I want to do is write! Two, I haven't been able to fit in my usual full roster of dance classes. (Especially because rehearsals for my dance performance in October are also picking up speed!) And three, our apartment is kind of a mess. When I need to procrastinate, picking up the house is one of my favorite ways to do it. When I'm wrapped up in work I'm enjoying, on the other hand, cleaning is the first thing to fall by the wayside. I'm trying to decide how little housework I can get away with until my draft is due in a month. Or if I just have to suck it up and squeeze in an hour with the vacuum, the dishes, the toilet cleaner, etc...

Oh, and the fourth downside: fewer blog posts! I've been saving my creative time and energy for my revision. But I promise, when I turn in this draft, I'll get back to posting Friday Reads and other updates on writing, reading, and fun stuff. So please stick around for my eventual return to regularly scheduled blog posts!

For now, back into the revision cave I go. Wish me luck! More dispatches to follow...

~Kathryn

The Multi-Tasker's Dilemma...

I was never one of those people who could read multiple books at once. I read a lot of books as a kid. (A LOT.) I still read a lot of books. My current tally for 2013 is 63 books. But I have always preferred to read them one at a time. I'd rather race through a book in a day and move on to the next one the next morning than try to switch back and forth. I've recently learned that I'm pretty much the same way about writing. Up until the past month, I've never attempted to work on two books at the same time. I had THE CREATION OF HALLELUJAH CALHOUN dancing around in my brain while making revisions on the first novel I wrote, WINK, but I didn't start first-drafting HALLELUJAH until WINK was done and being queried to literary agents. I devoted almost a year to writing and revising HALLELUJAH alone. This book filled my thoughts.

But since mid-July, I've been trying to pull double-duty. I've been thinking about revisions on HALLELUJAH, anticipating my editor's notes and the things we've already discussed changing or tweaking. Meanwhile, I've been fleshing out the first draft of my new, as-yet-untitled YA novel. And it's hard. I feel a little bit like the characters are all crying out for attention in my brain at the same time. While reading over HALLELUJAH last week and making notes to myself in that document, I did an interview and some brainstorming for the new book. When I sat down to sketch out some scenes for the new book, all I could think about was how I'm going to rework the beginning of HALLELUJAH.

I've been thinking a lot about moving forward into what I hope will be a career writing books (if I'm very lucky!), and I'm betting that this multi-tasking, multiple-projects-at-once thing is a skill I'm going to have to hone. After all, if I wait until one book is completely done before ever starting something new, the time between books could really stretch out (not to mention the lulls while my agent, editor, and/or beta readers are reading a draft!). So I figured I'd crowd-source a bit. Get your opinions/advice/experiences.

As a reader, do you read more than one book at a time? As a writer, do you work on multiple projects at once? Why do you like doing this? How do you keep things straight and devote your full attention to each thing while it's in front of you?

I'd love to hear any thoughts you have, readers! I'm diving into serious revisions of HALLELUJAH as of today, but I know this will be something that will keep coming up in the years to come. :)

~Kathryn

Slideshow Time! (Or, "How I Spent My Summer Vacation")

Putting this out there up front: If you're not the "look at pictures other people took of their travels" type, you might want to skip today's post. But I wanted to share some pictures from the second half of my California trip—the vacation part! So here goes.

At the end of the SCBWI Los Angeles conference (recap HERE), my husband flew out to join me. He grabbed a rental car, picked me up at the Hyatt, and we set out on the road. After a stop for dinner in Santa Barbara, we spent the night in San Luis Obispo. The next morning, we drove up to the magnificent Hearst Castle, which is in San Simeon. It was so cool to see how one of the richest men in the country in his time, William Randolph Hearst, created this amazing home—even more amazing considering that Hearst thought of this space as his casual getaway. He actually called it "The Ranch," because it was built on land he used to camp on with his family when it was completely undeveloped coastal mountain country. One of the coolest things about the whole complex is how he worked with the architect to bring together so many different historical styles and artifacts. The place is a museum, filled with centuries-old art and architectural features from all over the world.

On our way back to San Luis Obispo, we stopped in the town of Harmony—we were intrigued by the sign that proudly proclaimed "Population: 18." We also stopped to walk around a few different beach areas. Depending on where we were, the day went from sunny to overcast pretty quickly, but we had to get our feet in the Pacific despite the chill!

Tuesday was road trip day. We wanted to drive Highway 1, the Pacific Coast Highway, from San Luis Obispo all the way to San Francisco. We'd heard that Highway 1 is one of the most beautiful drives in the country, and we didn't want to miss it—especially since we had the luxury of having an entire day to do the drive. We saw elephant seals lounging on the beach at San Simeon. We slowed for hairpin turns where the edge of the road was a cliff dropping down to the waves crashing against the rocks in Big Sur. We mingled with (fellow) tourists and ate fried calamari on the boardwalk in Monterey. We drove past farmland and vegetable stands around Monterey Bay, cut through Santa Cruz, and hit Half Moon Bay just as we were starting to get hungry for dinner. We dropped our car off at San Francisco International Airport, hopped a shared van into the city (one of the trip's few frustrating moments), checked into our hotel, and met my friend Caitlin for dinner. All in all, a pretty fabulous day.

Wednesday was our first full day in San Francisco, and we made the most of it! We were the ultimate tourists, renting a GoCar (thanks for the recommendation, Ghenet!) to putter around the city streets. Our GoCar (basically a tiny go-kart-like vehicle that had GPS and gave us a guided tour as Justin drove) took us through the Marina district, up to the base of the Golden Gate Bridge, through the Presidio, down Lombard Street, which is known for being one of the most crooked streets in the country, through Chinatown, and into the bustling Union Square district. We went back to Chinatown for lunch, then went to Market Street and rode one of the famed San Francisco Cable Cars to Ghirardelli Square for some well-earned chocolate milkshakes. Finally, we had dinner with Caitlin and her awesome boyfriend, Brendan.

Bored yet? I hope not, because here come the redwoods! On Thursday, we borrowed Caitlin's car to head to Muir Woods, one of the state's redwood forests. These trees were nothing short of breathtaking. We got there at 8:30 in the morning, before the tourist rush hit, and the woods were so quiet and secluded. Aside from worrying about poison oak, Justin and I loved walking those trails. Then we got back in the car to drive up to Sonoma to experience a little bit of wine country. We had a great afternoon, one of the warmest of our entire trip, driving around and enjoying the sunshine. We tasted some wine, ate some delicious food, and made it back to the city before dinnertime. Dinner was In N Out Burgers, which we felt we couldn't head back to the east coast without trying.

FINALLY, on Friday, our last day, we took a boat cruise around the San Francisco Bay, including around Alcatraz Island and under the Golden Gate Bridge. Then we walked to the Ferry Building (Chelsea Market with more natural light?) for lunch, walked down Market Street, took a vintage trolley car back to Fisherman's Wharf, played with vintage coin-operated games and automatons at the Musée Mechanique, and tried authentic Irish coffees. After delicious Mexican food in The Mission neighborhood with Caitlin and Brendan and a stop in Dolores Park (which I was STOKED to see because of Lola and Cricket from Stephanie Perkins' book LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR), it was off to the airport.

Such an awesome trip! We saw a lot, but I still felt rested and ready to tackle the "real world" when we got back. Once we recovered from our red-eye, that is...

Thanks for sticking with this travel/photo-heavy post! Next week, I'll be back to my regular blog shenanigans—some writing on writing, some writing on books, etc.

~Kathryn

SCBWI LA Recap — Sharing the Inspiration!

In looking back over my notes from the Los Angeles Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators conference, I started getting inspired all over again. Not only is that a good mindset for writing a recap blog post, I think it's a sign of an excellent conference! I had such a blast over the conference's three days of speeches, workshops, networking, and parties. I met a lot of wonderful people, both aspiring authors and published ones, and I left feeling more excited about writing than ever. Yay! I got into LA in the late afternoon and immediately headed to dinner with a fabulous group of writers—some of my Write Night buddies from NYC, and a group of super-cool west coasters I am glad to know now. After an early bedtime (after all, to my east coast body, 10pm was 1am!), I was ready to get up Friday morning and absorb everything the conference had to offer. And I knew from Laurie Halse Anderson's inspiring opening keynote speech, in which she gathered us around her "fire circle" to talk about being storytellers and pushed us to "be brave today," that I was in the right place. I was surrounded by my people: writers (and visual artists, though I am not one of those!) who can't help but create, and who truly love our audience of kids, tweens, and teens (and the grownups who love books for kids, tweens, and teens).

Over the course of the weekend, I giggled through speeches by Jon Scieszka (author of The Stinky Cheese Man and many, many other hilarious and subversive books) and Mac Barnett (a McSweeney's alum who writes hysterical and inventive kids' books). I pondered putting fantasy/sci-fi elements into contemporary worlds in a workshop with Mike Jung (author of Geeks, Girls & Secret Identities—and a talented ukelele player!) and listened to Matt De La Peña (author of Mexican WhiteBoy, We Were Here, and other amazing YA novels) talk about writing with patience and restraint and trusting your readers. I heard Middle Grade author Kirby Larson speak about books as palimpsests, each carrying the whispers and pencil tracks of the authors and books that came before. I dug deeper into the plot mechanics of my current work-in-progress in a workshop with editor Krista Marino and I laughed along with SCBWI founder Lin Oliver and her writing partner Henry Winkler in a session on writing humor. (Yes, that Henry Winkler—and yes, he did the Fonzie voice!)

Every speech or session I attended was relevant to me in some way. It didn't matter that I don't write picture books, that I'm not a visual artist, that I already have an agent and an editor and am about to start my revisions on my debut novel. Everyone said something that stuck with me, and I want nothing more than to carry this momentum on through the next phase of my writing life!

And now, a few photos from the weekend:

Now that I'm back, I'm kicking myself a little that I didn't take more photos in the various sessions—or grab pics with more amazing authors! But at the same time, I was busy soaking it all in and enjoying myself, and not worrying about photo documentation. You'll just have to take my word for it that I met and/or sat in a room with all of the above-mentioned people. :)

I'm so glad I made time and budget room to attend this year, and I'm already thinking about and looking forward to next year's conference. I hope I can make it! I know I'll have a whole new perspective (and a host of new things to learn) as I get closer to the publication of my own book. At the same time, no matter how many books you've written, there's always room to grow and there's always the need to be inspired and renewed. So thanks, SCBWI, for an absolutely wonderful experience!

~Kathryn

California, Here We Come!

On Thursday, I'm hopping on a plane to Los Angeles to attend the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators summer conference! And I can't wait. It's not only my first SCBWI LA conference, it's my first conference of this sort PERIOD. I am excited to meet lots of other aspiring and soon-to-be-published writers, to learn from and be inspired by the roster of amazing speakers, and to come back to NYC energized and ready to tackle my own book revisions. I'm also expecting to be a little overwhelmed, which is why I am thrilled to be going to LA with most of my Write Night crew. Several are conference veterans, but a few are relative newbies, like me, so we can figure everything out together.

After I've absorbed every bit of knowledge the conference has to offer and have networked my buns off, I'll be heading up the coast for a little R&R. Justin is flying over to meet me and we'll be driving from LA to San Francisco, with a couple stops in between. I'm more than ready for a vacation, and I know we'll have so much fun. Not only will Justin and I get to spend some time exploring the West Coast, I also have a close friend from college, Caitlin, who lives in San Francisco, and who I don't see nearly often enough. So I am over the moon to get to spend time with her.

What does all this mean for my dear blog? I most likely won't be posting from the conference or while on vacation (though if you know me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you'll probably see your share of updates). But I WILL be writing up a most excellent recap of this California trip when I'm back! Probably two recaps, actually — one for the conference and one for the vacation part. Full of photos and other good stuff. Check back two weeks from today for my next update.

And thanks, as always, for stopping by my blog. This is my 51st post, which is another milestone (like the blog's six-month birthday) that I am so happy to have hit. While it's nice to have a place to jot down my thoughts, it's even nicer to know that there are a few people reading!

Happy Tuesday, and see you in two weeks,

Kathryn