A Blogger's Challenge: Privacy Vs. Authenticity

Out here on the Fire Escape, I strive to be authentic, a word defined by Merriam-Webster as "true to one's own personality, spirit, or character." We could use that definition to apply also to an author's voice, and I'm convinced that blogging should offer a sample of that voice.

In this blog, however, I don't share too many details about my private life. I almost never mention church, friends outside the children's book world, or family members (with two exceptions: pets and parents).

The dictionary goes on to discern a difference between authentic and genuine:

Authentic can also stress painstaking or faithful imitation of an original (an authentic reproduction, authentic Vietnamese cuisine). Genuine implies actual character not counterfeited, imitated, or adulterated.

The blogs of authors Meg Cabot and Laurie Halse Anderson resound with personality that can't be imitated, and they talk frequently about their families, inventing on-line nicknames for their children and husband. I'm wondering if sharing more of my day-to-day life might make my own blog voice more genuine.

But what happens when I face a time of suffering or grief? How do I blog about that? Last year author Grace Lin (YEAR OF THE RAT) walked that fine line with courage and grace (she was named well), serving as an example for the rest of us. Thank you, Grace.

So here's my question: how do you balance authenticity with privacy in an on-line journal?

Poetry Friday: Driving Out The Loudmouths

Here's my goal for the summer -- silencing the raucous voices in my head that keep me from writing, as poet Ranier Maria Rilke put it so well:

She who reconciles the ill-matched threads

of her life, and weaves them gratefully into a single cloth --

it's she who drives the loudmouths from the hall

and clears it for a different celebration,

where the one guest is you.

In the softness of the evening

it's you she receives.

Excerpted from Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God, translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy (New York: Riverhead, 1996), p. 64.

The Art Versus Money Dilemma

I know I said I was done writing under contract. My agent's excited about my 2008-2009 goals to hone the craft and write a better story than I've ever written before -- I fear she's dreaming about an auction that makes headlines at Publisher's Weekly. In truth, though, we're both hoping I create a story that readers will check out of the library again and again, and the thought of climbing fresh literary heights is invigorating.

But now I've been asked to write a children's book by a start-up on-line company. They need a story that's a tie-in for merchandise they'll be selling, so they have definite plot parameters along with a deadline. The catch is that they've offered me a fairly sweet financial deal.

Suddenly, I've tumbled from the lofty peaks of art to the desert reality of money -- the two sides of my full-time vocation. What to do? Here's the strange self-talk running through my brain:

• You're not in your twenties, girlfriend; when it comes to time left for storytelling the hourglass is upside down. 

• If you pass on opportunities like this to free up time for "real art," do you even have what it takes to create a so-called "great story?" And what about your literary reputation?

• Chill out, snob, who's to say a merchandise-related story can't be defined as "great?" Heck, it could give joy to kids who read it -- why is that a lesser achievement than a starred review in the Horn Book?

• It's only 6000 words or so; you could probably write it in a couple of months starting in the fall after revising Bamboo People this summer.

• But a story, any story, takes creative energy. Is that a renewable resource?

Any advice?

Shannon Hale chats with readergirlz

We were treated to the humor and heart of Shannon Hale, author of BOOK OF A THOUSAND DAYS, during her featured month at readergirlz. Here are a few questions from teens, authors, divas, and other fans, along with Shannon's answers during her chat at the forum:

Q. Was BOOK OF A THOUSAND DAYS based on a specific fairy tale?

(It's) based on Maid Maleen, and obscure but (to me) fascinating Grimms brothers tale ... The story is so strange and yet has such amazing detail and depth, but it was the maid that caught me. After spending 7 years in a tower, she’s dropped from the narrative entirely half way through. That neglect really bothered me. I wanted to hear her voice, loud and strong, speaking up from the dust. I also chose it because of its similarity to The Goose Girl but very profound differences. I loved the dialog the two tales created with each other.

Q. Do you think of BOOK OF A THOUSAND DAYS as fiction or as sci-fi/fantasy?

I think of all my books as fantasy, and I think of them all as realism. And I’m slightly kooky.

Q. You donated a part of the profits to - what was it - the Heifer Foundation?

I didn’t want to mention that in the acknowledgments because it seemed so self-congratulatory, but then I thought it would give that wonderful organization more attention. My only regret is that you can’t buy people a yak. But water buffaloes are cool, too.

Q. Will there be a sequel to BOOK OF A THOUSAND DAYS?

I have a book outlined that takes place in the Eight Realms after B1000, though it’s not technically a sequel. That said, I have notes on lots of books. And so little time lately...I hope you’ll enjoy it in 2018.

Q. Do you plan on writing a sequel for PRINCESS ACADEMY?

I had considered doing a PA sequel. I know what happens next, but I decided against it for lots of reasons. Other stories were (and still are) more insistent in my brain I kept getting emails requesting a sequel and then describing to me what should happen in it--and it was almost always exactly what I’d intended to write. Which tells me if a reader can already imagine a sequel, it’s better left in her brain without having the author come in and intrude. I really like that particular story standing alone.

And yes, after I’d decided not to, PA did extremely well in paperback and I had the thought, "I could make some good money if I wrote a sequel." So now I won’t. If I think about the money a book could make, I’m dooming the project. It’s not really superstition so much as practicality. If I’m doing it for the money, then the story is bound to be less good than if I’m doing it because I can’t bear not to tell that story.

Q. What is it like being stunningly beautiful? ;)

It’s really, really hard. But I get by. [ ... :) ] Too bad we’re not doing video chat ... because I look FAB today. Mascara smeared under eyes, hair fleeing a rubber band, no shower in two days. I’ve swept the kitchen floor three times today and I still have to brush stuff off the bottom of my bare feet whenever I walk across it. LIFE OF GLAMOR, that’s me.

Q. Would you ever write a novel in collaboration with another author? One you aren’t related to? Like Libba Bray? ’Cause your two woman (book tour) was quite awesome.

I talked to Libba about that! And I’ve talked to Stephenie (Meyer) too. And we’re all so busy. Co-writing is more work than writing alone. But maybe someday...

Q. Read anything great lately?

Right now I’m reading THE HOST. Just read Richard Peck’s fantastic A LONG WAY FROM CHICAGO. The TRUE MEANING OF SMEKDAY was so funny. BIG FAT MANIFESTO was a great read and really thought provoking.

Q. I heard a rumor that you might be writing a YA sci-fi trilogy. Is this true?

The rumor is true, though I’m mortally afraid of revealing anything before I’ve begun to write it. I think I can say that it’s called Daisy Danger Brown, it’s contemporary, first person, and superhero/scifi. I’m very eager to start on it. Especially right now when Bayern 4 isn’t cooperating.

Q. Does it feel strange stepping out of the fairy tale world into sci-fi?

I get bored easily, so I love to move around to new places and new kinds of storytelling. My adult books and graphic novels have been a wonderful stretch for me, too.

Q. When do you find the time to write (especially now that you’re a mum)?

I find very little time, but I’ve got a babysitter coming over three mornings a week this summer! Wahoo!

Q. Would you share your writing process?

I think about a book for at least a year, often more, taking notes whenever they occur to me. If I don’t write it down, it’s gone. Then I organize the notes and start in on a first draft of whichever story is yelling at me the loudest ... I ABHOR first drafts. Actually, more accurately, I fear them with great tremblings ... I rewrite about a dozen times over about a year and a half. And I weep and declare that I’ve lost it, I can’t be a writer anymore, I’m washed up, it’s over. And my husband rolls his eyes.

Q. What is your favorite part of the writing process?

Finding that perfect sentence. And meeting people who didn’t like to read until they read one of my books, and have gone on to read many books. I don’t feel like it was me who did either of those things, but they both rock.

Thank you, Shannon! This month we're hosting author Laurie Halse Anderson over at readergirlz, and featuring (it's June, people, so what else?) her novel PROM. Stay tuned for more ...

Religious Authors and Children's Fiction

In response to yesterday's post about Stephenie Meyer and Mormonism, Pooja Makhijani asked an interesting question:

Don't you agree that an author's religious worldview MAY somehow shape his or her fiction and this is worth a critical--but non-offensive--discussion?

An author's religious worldview definitely shapes his or her fiction, but I worry about assumptions that drive such a discussion in the realm of children's literature. A story has always been a dialectic between a storyteller and the one who hears or reads it. When it comes to life-changing influence, I'd even make the case that the person on the receiving end has more power than the one who tells it -- even when the teller is an adult and the receiver is a child.

In the world of children's literature, a critical discussion about an author's faith tends to devalue the role of the child or teen reader. This can lead to talk of censorship. But a human being old enough for story is no tabula rasa. Even if a storyteller is trying to be powerful and didactic, the receiver of the story retains the right to interpret and synthesize it. 

Does that mean I'd let my eleven-year-old (hypothetical) daughter read the Clique novels or Gossip Girls (which also reveal the authors' religious world views)? Or Stephenie Meyers' Twilight for that matter? If my darling, grazing here and there during her weekly library visit, ends up clutching those novels, so be it. She might hate them. Or find them boring. But if she re-reads a story or craves the next book from a particular author, I'd definitely hope to engage her in a conversation about the themes, issues, and world views possibly driving the stories and shaping the author. A reading of Twilight, for example, sounds like good material for a long car-ride discussion about femininity, masculinity, romantic relationships, and even religion.

Let's face it -- in the parent-child dialectic, or even between teacher and student, the power swings to the adult end of the relationship. Children love stories because for once they sense equality in a relationship with a grownup. It's rare to seek therapy because an author forced a world view on us through fiction.

Is Protagonist Pride Permissible?

When one of my novels receives praise of any kind, whether it be a sweet fan letter, a good review, or an award, I feel strangely and secretly proud of my main character. Why? Because they are the daughters I never had, the friends I wanted when I was their age, the girls who are partly the me I was and the me I hope to be. 

Today I'm happy for Naima, Jazz, and Sameera (aka Sparrow). Naima's Rickshaw Girl was nominated for the 2008-2009 Massachusetts Children's Book Awards, Jazz's Monsoon Summer for the State of Minnesota's Maud Hart Lovelace Award, and Sameera's First Daughter: White House Rules is getting lovely reviews here and there. 

Six Words on Love and Heartache

My six-word autobiography was in the first book. Now they're publishing a second one. Can you sum up your story of love and heartache in six words? Here's my attempt (submitted with image of my parents, circa 1956):

Proposal. Dowry. Betrothal. Marriage. Children. Love.

Day Six of My School Visit Marathon

For some reason 8 straight days of school visits sounded like a good idea last year when I booked them. Last Monday through Thursday I started my townwide tour of Needham by visiting oodles of fifth graders, then stopped by Barbieri Elementary School's annual author day on Friday (along with Jackie Davies, Jarret Krosoczka and Barbara Macgrath, among others), and am beginning this week with two more days in Needham and Wednesday in Newton at Underwood Elementary School. As my Dad asked today in amazement: "You tell the same jokes in every show?" Yes, Dad, I do. And thankfully the kids are still laughing (at me? with me?), so I must be making some sense.

So How's My Book Doing?

Authors like to tease each other about checking Amazon sales rankings three times a day. But it's no joke. When you're stuck alone in a chair slogging along word by painful word, and royalty statements come twice a year, it's a quick adrenaline fix to see the numbers jump on The Big Lady. If it's your first book (or your seventh), your heart might actually beat a bit faster once you realize that someone hit that 1-click button and bought your book.

Okay, so it's not the most exciting profession in the world.

But what if your Amazon rankings plummet, day in and day out, falling inexorably into the six digits and perhaps even nearing that dreaded SEVEN DIGIT number?

Well, that's when you stop by your favorite indie, where faces light up at the sight of you, your books are featured in a nice display, and they tell you that sales are brisk because of a local "fan base" (a.k.a., your faithful church buddies).

Or else you turn to Worldcat, where the libraries are, and your spirits soar when you see the words "Checked Out" beside your title.



Because it's not really about the sales, right? After all, you could wait tables at a nice joint and earn more than the average children's book advance. No, you insist, vowing to abstain from Amazon visits, it's about connecting your story to the reader. Hey, does anyone know a five-star restaurant in Boston that's hiring? (Just playin' with you, people. Really.)

Happy Three Year Blogiversary To Me

It was April 23, 2005. I'd never heard of widgets, or YouTube, or blog rolls. Fighting writer's block, bored with my own brain, I stepped out to a place where a few children's book people had started to gather.

The old blogger platform.

Remember that? The whirling wheel that hypnotized you for at least a minute after you hit publish. Syndication and html coding were part of the vast unknown, and blogger error messages became as familiar as my own posts. Nonetheless, I kept blogging. And learning. And making mistakes.

Okay, I'll admit it. I'm proud of my forty-something brain for grasping an entirely new language and way of communicating. It's crazy fun, I've made wonderful friends, and I've blathered on about lots of subjects, blissfully uninterrupted and uncensored.

HOORAY FOR FREEDOM OF SPEECH!

As always, thanks for stopping by, and please do keep coming out to the Fire Escape. You're always welcome!

Katherine Paterson: Soundbytes and Speeding Tickets

Last Thursday, I skedaddled over to Primary Source (mission: promotes history and humanities education by connecting educators to people and cultures throughout the world) to listen to one of my literary heroes, Katherine Paterson. The photo was taken last year, and that's author Anne Broyles' hand --  I had to crop her out to preserve the privacy of Ms. Paterson's fridge display (sorry, Anne). 

During the event, I jotted some quotes to share with you on the Fire Escape:

On what she wished she knew during her lonely childhood:

Cheer up, little girl, someday you're going to make a mint out of your misery.

On the transformative power of bilingualism:

The language we speak doesn't just express our thoughts and feelings, it shapes our thoughts and feelings.

On the solace of fiction:

The consolation of the imaginary is not imaginary consolation.

On why media-saturated children need to read:

Wisdom comes slowly and quietly, it requires contemplation and silence ... Literature demands that children give of themselves.

On the world-changing influence of a children's book author:

It was Astrid Lindgren's writing for children that made people listen to her powerful voice.

I was late to the event because I got stopped by an officer for fooling around with my Tom-Tom instead of paying attention to the yellow-oops-red signal. Some nerve, eh? As I inspected the warning he sweetly gave me instead of a real ticket, I was intrigued by how he'd filled out the race box. In Massachusetts, apparently, I am categorized as a "Z." What is a Z?

A New Writing Season

This week Delacorte editor Françoise Bui told me that a copy editor's working on Secret Keeper (Random House, Spring 2009), the flap copy and author bio are good to go, and she's sending me cover art soon.

I've got one more revision of The Bamboo People due to Charlesbridge, but that feels more than manageable.

And agent Laura Rennert called to chat about future projects.

After almost three years of writing under contract, I'm free! Picture me on the Austrian Alps -- wait scratch that, the Himalayan foothills -- singing and whirling with arms akimbo.

My goal for the next three years? Hone the craft, sweetheart, and no signing on a dotted line before that first draft is finished.

Take Us Away, Driscoll Students

At Brookline's Driscoll School last week, I offered my Creating A Sense of Place in Fiction workshop, and once again the 8th graders took us to a myriad of places through the power of imaginative writing. Some samples excerpted below for your reading pleasure.

I sit in the car with the heated seats warming my insides. I look up through the roof at sky scrapers slowly passing by. A slight snow drifts down from the gray clouds. The car zig zags through traffic. The snow crunches under the tires and then we stop. The door opens and I step out, the umbrella shielding me from the snow.

The sun glinted off the freshly painted walls. The wind blew the curtains gently into the room. The mirror reflected the rays of sun so they fell across my bed lighting up the colorful stripes. The door hung open. Honey and fresh cut flowers spiraled up the the stairs and hung lingering in the air.

The tennis stadium filled with 70,000 people cheering, singing. My heart beating at an extreme level, my palms sweating. The whole world watching. The aroma of water, sweat and smoke in the air. The feel of the grass just cut. The taste of Gatorade bubbling in my stomach.

I strolled into the club and heard the loud music blaring. I could see the speakers bouncing. This was it alright. The largest Neptunian rager of all time. The club was huge, and I couldn't see the end of it. I could see people dancing for miles. I got a whiff of the scent of baby corn.

The night air was warm, the stars and moon smiling down on me ... Red and orange flames stained the darkness with color, and the black smoke shone in the dim patio lights. My shirt was flapping in the wind, the cool breeze wrapping around my arms ... I heard the laughing of my friends, my own laughter, and the faint popping of the wood as the flames squeezed the air out of it. I laughed again and threw another card into the bronze dish, only to have it become engulfed in flames. I smiled and backed up so my friend could throw his card.

The golden framed windows glared at me. The door was huge and made of glass and for one second I didn't want to go inside because the building seemed like an animal about to swallow me up. My knees were trembling as I walked towards the shiny golden elevator. My entire career would depend on the next half hour. My whole life, even. I had always wanted to be an actress. I loved the creak of the stage floor under my feet and the rustling of the curtains, but the best part was the applause ...

The officer pushes open the door; the cheap wood feels grainy and decrepit. As he steps onto the threshold, the reek of sewage and spoiled food makes him go to tears. The officer takes out his gun; he doesn't dare to go into the kitchen. He steps into the bedroom. To his dismay, he finds a man lying down with a knife in his back.

The soft, damp grass tickled the bottoms of my feet. A warm wind blew wrinkles in my hair ... The sun warmed the back of my legs as I let my ankles swish though the grass ... The smell of dandelions was sweet and pungent ...

On Blogging: Tips For Newbies

Taylor Rogers, Publicity Assistant at Charlesbridge Books, interviewed me for a course she's taking on marketing at Emerson College. With her permission, I share my answers to her questions about promotion and blogging with my Fire Escape visitors.

1. Why did you decide to start blogging? What purpose does your blog serve?

I love to rant and rave about all kinds of things, and I've always kept a journal. I also wanted to ruminate on my way of seeing things as an immigrant writer in the children's book world. I started the Fire Escape for fun and continue to write it mostly because I love it.

My blog's goals are to (1) SERVE educators, parents, and young readers who might be interested in reading and writing "between cultures," (2) PROMOTE books by other authors trying to stay afloat in the huge sea that is publishing, (3) INFORM visitors about my own books and events, and (4) INTRODUCE readers to my voice and heart.

2. How often do you blog? How often do you think it's good to blog?

I blog 5 days a week, M-F, at least one post a day. Providing fresh content is important, and this frequency is quite easy for me to maintain. I take breaks during vactions and holidays, but always let visitors know when I'm returning. That being said, I don't think daily posts are a requirement for everybody. Regularity is, though, so if you post, maybe do it weekly -- every Monday, for example -- so your readers know when to come back for new content. If I were posting once a week, I'd call my blog something like Mondays with Mitali, to send a message to readers: "TUNE IN EVERY MONDAY!"

3. Do you receive galleys or review copies? If so, how many? How many do you blog about?

Yes. A lot. Probably 10 books a month. I blog about 2-3 of them; the books I love and feel are relevant to my niche.

4. How important do you think blogs are to publicizing a book and why?

For one particular title, I'm not sure a blog is helpful. It wouldn't hurt, I'm sure, but I think blogging at best is an avenue to promote yourself as a professional rather than pushing a particular title.

As an author trying to establish a "brand name" in the business, a blog is a way to present yourself as a trusted voice; to give readers insight into your life and dreams and writing and thinking. The culture is hungering for intimacy and authenticity, and a good author blog can provide both. You don't have to share too personally if you're a private person, but you can still be authentic or funny or insightful. After all, we're writers, right? That's what we're supposed to be doing with words.

5. How has your blog helped you in your career as an author?

I'm not a big name and was previously known only marginally as a "multicultural" author. The blog has given me a chance to introduce my humor (or so I call it), views, and vision more widely; I'm convinced it's brought down walls, erased preconceptions, and opened hearts and minds to my voice in fiction. I've also made lots of contacts in the industry via the Fire Escape with other bloggers, authors, editors, and librarians.

6. What do you suggest to authors who want to tap blogs as a publicity outlet?

First of all, you have to ENJOY it or it becomes the pet you never should have bought but still have to feed. If blogging sounds more like an onerous chore than something that might be fun, go back to writing your next great novel, which is perhaps an author's best publicity outlet.

Second, pick your blog title carefully. "MITALI'S AUTHOR BLOG" is not as interesting (I hope) as the Fire Escape theme I use to define my virtual presence, trying with that image to convey my perspective of life from the outside looking in, and to present myself and my books as a safe place from the heat.

Third, try to make it look as professional and snazzy as possible. Blogging tools are amazingly easy to use, but if you need to, why not pay a graphic design student a bit of a stipend and credit him/her on your blog?

Fourth, practice the habit of leaving comments on other blogs and try to make them as pithy and encouraging and relevant as you can on the fly (no pressure), linking back the comment to your blog. Remember, this platform is a showcase for your voice -- it's the perfect way to convince people that they should read your books because you're making them think, laugh, or feel something intensely via your blog. Comments, too, should be in line with your voice.

Fifth, always think about serving others -- the golden rule works as well in cyberworld as in the real world.

If all this sounds too intimidating, consider teaming up with a few other authors to create a group blog. The best group blogs have a unique niche or focus that brings readers back daily or weekly. Last but not least, as in all things, don't set the bar too high, keep it simple, throw perfectionism out the window, and pat yourself on the virtual shoulder like crazy.

In Which We Create A Sense of Place

I spent two days last week doing assemblies and workshops on writing place at Pike School in Andover, Massachusetts.

When I arrived, I was totally intimidated to learn I was the second author they'd invited to come, with the first being the hilarious Jack Gantos. The librarians were extremely hospitable, though, and the kids so kind that I managed to get over myself quickly.

Here are a few excerpts from the students' (fifth and seventh graders) excellent writing during the creating a sense of place workshops, with the first-person voice being my requirement:

...The door swings open and my brother is on the floor licking a bottle of coke, my twin sisters fighting over a doll, my scared brother hugging a bear in the corner, the bathroom door ajar with the dog drinking from the toilet, and the cat skipping across the piano playing her own tune. I drop my bag and grab a mop to clean up the puke on the rug ... The twins are scribbling on each other now, I take the markers and throw them away .. From the other room, I hear the t.v. moaning as it turns on, the computer loading up to check e-mails, and the phone ringing off the hook. "Lucy, what is 2 + 4?" "6," I scream ...

...As I look out across the dark blue river, I hear the whine of the oncoming water plane. I try to peek over the snow-covered bristly trees. As the plane comes into sight a flock of bright brown Canadian geese fly from where they are roosting. The calm water instantly erupts as the water plane lands ...

The murky damp air smelled of car exhaust. The street lights were dim, barely breaking through the pitch black sky. In the distance I could hear the siren of a police car. I checked each alleyway to make sure that nothing was there ...

The DJ was playing a pathetic mix of incomprehensible raps and scratching electronic beeps ... that shook the crowded room. Strangers around me were failing in their attempts to sway their bodies in matching rhythm. The glitter of sequin tank tops blurred my eyes. I could feel sweaty arms rubbing against the small of my back, and I recognized the too-strong scent of Macy's perfume swirling in the air ...

... Lawn mowers thwacked and roller skates glided and spun. Car engines roared and gasoline hung in the air. ... I plucked a juicy red cherry tomato form the garden, popped it into my mouth, and let the taste of summer wash over my tongue ...

...The court was quiet and still. I could hear my own thoughts. The leather ball felt like an extension of my hand. I shot it. "Swish." The sound was as smooth as silk ...

The cold gray wind sliced through my thin jacket as I stumbled back home. My hands were raw and red from washing dishes all night. As I flipped my collar up and rubbed my chapped hands, hoping to get a little warmth, the wind roared and whistled instead my ears leaving a hollow echo. An empty coffee cup bounced and clattered across the dirty road ... I kicked it, watching it bounce against the grimy walls of an abandoned factory. Shoving my hands in my pickets I trudged back to the place I was forced to call home...

I rushed through the heavy iron doors and right at that second I knew crispy golden brown chicken burgers were on the grill. Sweat dripped off my face as I struggled to pull the Fudds Signature hat and apron over my curly hair. "Ahem! I would like the fajita roll with a jumbo oreo milkshake." I had forgotten to ask the grey-haired, hefty man what he would like and his clenched fists told me he wasn't about to wait ...

...Cars were jammed in a row, all I could hear was honking, and none of the noisy cars were moving. People were chasing, bouncing, laughing on the bumpy sidewalk while I tried to find a way to get through ...

I've been receiving some lovely thank you notes, like this one:

Thank you for coming to our school. I have improved my writing already. All thanks to you. I know you are a busy person, so you don't have to e-mail me back. Thanks again.

Now that's courtesy, and don't worry, I wrote him back.

Author Visit Season / Spring 2008

This is my fourth year of visiting schools, and I'm learning that most want to book an author during the fall or the spring. Brookline, for example, invited me to be their Sakar Fund author this March and April in all eight of their elementary schools. The Town of Needham, too, wanted an author to visit every school during April and May so they won a grant and invited me to come.

Schools in my home state are unusually open to author bookings. Brookline and Needham are both twenty minutes away. I drove to Thoreau School in Concord, Massachusetts last Wednesday, and am day-tripping twice to the Pike School in Andover, Massachusetts next week. I do repeat performances every year in my own town of Newton, where you have to be approved by the Creative Arts and Sciences Division to visit schools. So I may be spoiled when comparing the options available to authors based in other states, but I think the school visit soil in most places may be arable if not as fertile.

How does an author get started? In 2005, I created and offered a few (horrible, I'm afraid) presentations for free, was previewed and reviewed, improved and adapted my shows to enhance the curriculum, and slowly word began to spread. I researched, asked other authors what they charged, and put some middlish-of-the-road fees on my site in an a la carte list along with descriptions of my presentations. Some authors don't mention money on their sites -- they prefer to negotiate individual offers or use an agent. I do my booking myself (I like the control and prefer the direct access to educators), figuring that publishing my fees online might deliver me from countless back and forth emails.

Why do school visits at all? For me, as an ex-teacher who hated grading but loves teaching, it's first and foremost fabulous to be back in a classroom. Second, I get paid to be silly (and to educate, don't worry). Third, it does get the word out about my books. Fourth, I connect to the culture of my readers. Fifth, I receive awesome fan mail. Sixth, I still have time in my week for revision and promotion (if I don't waste it all playing Scrabulous). And finally, school visits leave me with an uninterrupted six months of summer and winter for writing; a nice seasonal rhythm that is beginning to shape the fleeting years.

Unique to Books: Cogency and Privacy

The argument for us glass-half-full types is that literacy isn't tanking at all. No, these days stories are morphing away from the printed page and emerging from other vessels like screens, or entering our souls through the ear rather than the eye. And it's not just teens -- I do more and more of my reading online and my consumption of podcasts is rising exponentially. We're reading, I scoff at the doomsayers, just differently, that's all.

But then I left my computer for ten days and discovered the truth of Howard Gardner's two sad postscripts in an otherwise upbeat take on literacy:

Two aspects of the traditional book may be in jeopardy, however. One is the author's capacity to lay out a complex argument, which requires the reader to study and reread, following a circuitous course of reasoning. The Web's speedy browsing may make it difficult for digital natives to master Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason" (not that it was ever easy).

The other is the book's special genius for allowing readers to enter a private world for hours or even days at a time. Nowadays young people seem to have a compulsion to stay in touch with one another all the time; one of the dividends of book reading may fade away.

The latter gift of extended privacy, which I think comes more from fiction while the gift of cogency from non-fiction, is exactly what I enjoyed during my recent reading extravaganza -- each novel was a journey to another place and time, vacations within a vacation, solitude my soul relished even while I was enjoying time with family.

So now I'm wondering how my digitally native sons are losing out. Will their click-here-and-there minds lose the capacity to understand long, complex arguments? Will their facebooked souls know what to do with extended solitude? Or in the future will those particular skills become as anachronistic as classical rhetoric or the art of courtly love?

Kid Questions and Brain Pings

I love answering questions during author visits. What I've learned, though, is that most questions reveal more about the people asking them (i.e., the kids) than about the person going on and on up front (i.e., me).

After years of fielding questions during my presentations at schools and libraries, I'm finding myself getting pinged by a variety of odd thoughts. Sometimes it's worth listening to those internal noises before I answer. Here are three questions I was asked during a visit with fourth, fifth, and sixth graders last Wednesday, for example, and the corresponding muttering in the strange place called my brain:

Q. Do you feel more at home in the California house you grew up in or in your house here in Massachusetts?

Brain Ping: This kid looks a bit wistful. She might have two homes herself. Divorce? A recent move? Tread carefully.

A. Both feel like home. That's the amazing thing. You can feel at home in many places if you're willing to be flexible and enjoy the best things about all of them.


Q. If you could go back in your life and change something that happened, what would it be?

Brain Ping: Shy kid. Boy. Took guts to ask such a deep question. Maybe has a regret?

A. I've learned that the hardest things I've gone through have made me the person I am, so I wouldn't change them, no. Now that I've survived them, I find I'm most thankful for the challenges in my life. When I regret something I've done, I try to ask for forgiveness, but there's no use letting it haunt me forever, right?


Q. How do you stand living so far away from your parents?

Brain Ping: This girl's from Bangladesh. She gets the intensity of my South Asian filial ties, even though I'm middle-aged. I can give it to her straight.

A. I can't. I hate it. I miss them every day, every moment.


I stick to the truth because the pings aren't always right, but I like listening because they remind me that it's never about me -- it's about the kids with the courage to raise a hand and ask a question from the heart.

Gotta Love Those Indies

Not only did Alison and Lee at Wellesley Booksmith bend over backwards to host my 2/3 Super First Daughter Book Launch Party without much notice (thanks to me realizing that an event before Super Tuesday might be good timing), but Lee scrambled to try and get the event listed in the Wellesley Townsman as well as in the Boston Globe.

Today the Globe contacted me about the possibility of mentioning the First Daughter books on their lit page -- all thanks to a local independent bookstore with a great reputation. I'll keep you posted, don't worry. :)

Mitali's Book News and Updates

Today's the release date of the paperback version of Rickshaw Girl, which makes me happy because more kids and libraries can afford it.

To underline the irony that defines the writer's life, yesterday I got "the letter" from Little Brown telling me that they're not going to print any more copies of The Not-So-Star-Spangled Life of Sunita Sen. A remainder notice has a different kind of sting than a rejection, and it sends me running to World Cat so I can remember that young readers can still meet Sunita in libraries. Now I have to decide how many books I want to rescue from the pit at seventy pennies a copy. Any suggestions?

Tomorrow I meet with a publicist to discuss the launch of First Daughter: White House Rules, releasing in nine days. It's the first time I'm investing in one of my titles with some cash for promotion. As an archetypical zero-gen immigrant, I usually I prefer to spend time instead of money by making trailers and blogging in my character's name. But as this is an election year, I feel I must give Sparrow her chance to be encountered in tweendom. I'll keep you informed.