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o brother, now i am hungry and must raid the pantry. what an excellent post, and what a super chef to whip up that meal for scott. i think i must bookmark this post for when we visit rome again.

justine, you once mentioned in passing that all this traveling you’ve done has taught you how to find the good food in any city. perhaps you could (in a distant future, when you’re between books, and bored) tell us of your food-hunting skillz so we learn from you? i’d love to know any tricks you have!

Justine, “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” isn’t from the 1990s *or* from a girl band…

My grandmother died two years ago - during ConFusion, actually - but the Alzheimer’s had taken her away years before. It’s been at least 10 years since she was able to cook her family’s traditional Italian food. Her mother was Neapolitan and her dad was Piedmontese, so the recipes were a mixture of northern and southern Italian.

I miss that. I’ve never been able to find an Italian restaurant to match it.

Marrije: Thanks. Those were just my faves but we honestly didn’t have a bad meal in Rome.

justine, you once mentioned in passing that all this traveling you’ve done has taught you how to find the good food in any city.

I said that? What hubris. What I prolly meant is that I’ve gotten good at doing research on it. I know who of my widely travelled friends I can trust for food recs and which guide books. Time Out’s suprisingly good. Zagat’s hit and miss. Etc. Etc. And beyond that it’s really obvious stuff like avoiding restaurants in the super touristy areas, or that are full of tourists and not locals, so places that are full to bursting with locals are often worth a shot (if you can get in). When I get chatting with locals I suss out how they talk about food and if we seem to be on the same wavelength. I also keep an eye on the annual top one hundred restaurants list and stuff like that. Cause, you know, if you don’t eat you die.

Dave H: Sorry to hear about your nonna. I don’t think any restaurant—no matter how good—can ever come close to a home cooked meal eaten with the people you love. I’d often rather cook for family and friends or have them cook for me than go to even the best restaurant in the world.

This is skewed by the amount of time I’ve spent in them… but Tokyo and Los Angeles have fantastic food. Tokyo is probably better overall but Los Angeles has more variety of cuisines. And also, in both cities you can spend a reasonable amount of money (full meal under $25 for dinner or $15 for lunch) and get truly delicious food.

New York has great eating too, and I’d probably rate it equal to LA if I’d spent more time there and had more opportunities to ferret out the best restaurants.

In Japan you can even get good food at convenience stores. I miss the packaged egg salad sandwiches from Japanese 7-11s right now. Generally, excellent food seems very easy to find all over Japan.

I didn’t have great luck with restaurants in Italy but the gelato and mozzarella were fantastic everywhere I went.

I was in Bologna for about three days in 1971, and gained about ten pounds. The food was wonderful — and I was eating at the low end.

It was possible to find bad food in Bologna; for example, at the youth hostel. But much easier to find very good food.

My Poppa is 1/2 Italian, and although my family hasn’t spoken Italian for generations by tongue, our food still speaks fluent Italian. I live in SoCal and I still haven’t found an Italian restuarant that measures up to at least my Poppa’s lasagna. I didn’t even know I was 1/8 Italian until this Easter, I thought I was 1/20, and that I just really liked Italian food much better than most other foods. I mean, really, vegetarian-ise just about any of their dishes.

Hm. I think Rome is actually too big for me. *gasp* Well, not big… Small, in a way. What I’ve seen of Europe just seems too crowded for me. However, Australia I could see myself living in.

Ah, you’re making me hungry. D: It doesn’t help that I’m watching Top Chef, which is showing some yummy looking food, right now either. NEED FOOD.

And I need to go to Rome. It sounds amazingly awesome.

Like everyone else, I am now starving! I was already hungry, but now, my tummy is sooo grumbly!!!

My favourite food places, are places where they aren’t necessarily restaraunts, but stalls. Like Thailand. they make the world’s best noodles, and chicken and stuff there… this isn’t helping my hunger problem either. only ten more minutes until dinner.

we tend to get a Time Out guide whenever we go on holiday to a new city too, they are the best city guides we’ve ever found.

Barcelona is great, as a city and for food, we had all sorts from tapas and local sea food dishes, to fantastic mexican, pizza (nicest I’ve had ever, in a really cool neighbourhood restaurant with v stern head waitress), and excellent modern european (also with cute, friendly but confused young waiting staff).

I was also amazed at the food in Flanders/East Belgium - we visited Ghent, Bruges and Antwerp, and everything we had was lush, however simple or straightforward it looked on the menu. Antwerp is the only one I would want to live in, as the other two are v small. but Ghent is very nice too. Everyone go to Ghent!

hope you had nice food in London, there’s lots to be had - as a yokel I could have given you some recs if only I’d checked your blog earlier…

I’m making a completely wild guess here, but your awesome tomatoes with the striping on them sound like heirloom tomatoes.

I ate like a fiend when I went to Italy. I miss it.

Rome is the most romantic city in the WORLD. (And there are awesome drinks in the Piazza Navona.)

I love the food in Florence (smoked salmonnnnnnnnn) and Osaka. (The rivalry between Osaka and Tokyo over okonomiyaki — a sort of Japanese pizzaish bread-based thing — is fun.) The quality of the food in Jerusalem is outstanding. I felt healthy.

I’m quite comfortable with the food in New York (and London for that matter), though.

write the novel!! can’t wait for new novels!!

i was in antwerp, belgium for a few days last week and the food was excellent there, too.

i’m jealous of you in london. hope you have a good time!!

Have fun in London, but I’m more envious of Rome. I love gelati icecream! In Rome, because we were on holidays, we had icecream for dessert after every meal or so… My favourite is Limoncello and the Italian strawberry (the word begins with an f but I can’t remember what it is at the present). I’m glad you’re holiday is fabulous. xox

Let me get this straight - you really think that NZ can make 331 to win in a day with only 5 wickets left? And in the process setting a 4th innings total that is Only bettered in the Timeless Test? I know the English can be pretty hopeless at times, but somehow I don’t think they are quite that bad.

Haha, when I travel the food is always my major point of interest too! XD (well, it can also be my biggest gripe..haha)

Do we get any hints on what this new novel is about?
And say hello to Maureen Johnson, and tell her I should be on Scarlett’s Eleven!

You’re there now - in Harrod’s. And I’m here in my house just back from the school run. If I hadn’t moved house 5 months ago I’d be living in a place 40minutes from Central London and my kids would be on their Easter vacation and you can betcha we’d be there, in line, in Harrod’s.
Poo!
Sorry Cheryl - didn’t understand a word-must get English husband to translate. We never learnt to speak cricket in Ireland.

Hope harrods went well. I was dying to go but it’s still term time and 3pm is rush hour for schools here!

I’m jealous! Is the weather being nice to you?

*sigh* Justine must love England. No snow. And London doesn’t get much rain at this time of the year. I would know because I live in the outskirts of London. If it rains in London, it rains here (most of the time).

But the temperatures weren’t too bad. I’m annoyed i never got to go!

Unfortunately the wounds were deeper. Not sure how NZ lost the series - I wuz looking at the stats and honours were shared 50/50 for the 10 highest run scorers, tho England did get 4 wickets more than NZ. Fairplay to the English for winning, but they’ll have to do better if they want to regain the Ashes

BernieNZ: Tim Southee almost pulled off a win single handedly. I was dead impressed. From what I saw England and NZ seemed pretty evenly matched.

*screams and hits head*

I’m in school then. I’m really pissed off now. School ruins EVERYTHING.

Sorry Justine, I won’t be there. Instead, I will be in school.

So, if one of you has an event does that mean that the other of you will be there?

I have 2 theories about internet in Europe–something that’s driven me absolutely batty four years in a row:

1) Everyone has internet at home now, so there’s no need for the internet cafe.
2) Internet cafes were seen as terrorist meeting places and policed too frequently to be viable.

All I know is that it is really frustrating for travelers used to being online for everything. I’ve heard I need to switch to some sort of internet phone to catch up with the Europeans.

Is European internet bad then???

I love Rome. Best place in the world. I can’t remember if I had the Internet though–don’t think so. I think I’m getting confused with Greece. Sigh. I don’t think I would’ve used it much even if I’d had it though.

Have you seen any unicorns around? I think Diana was just there looking for them, too.

If only it wasn’t half way across the world, I’d be there.

Okay, Patrick, since Justine is suffering from an acute loss if internet access, I will chide you in her honor. How dare you mention uni*****?! Shame on you!

~Mary

Ah - bad old italian internet. Is that your excuse for not replying to my emails? And yes i know, email is SOOOO last century.

BUT BUT - MARY ELIZABETH!!!

Diana DID go to Rome for Unicorns.
http://dianapeterfreund.blogspot.com/2008/03/all-roads-lead-to-rome.html

which six countries will you be visiting, and will the netherlands be one of them? even though my silly compatriots have still failed to buy your books…

How ’bout London?

Have an awesome (and productive) trip! I’m reliably informed that it there is no other way to describe Bologna than ‘a crazy week’. (If it’s sane, ur doin it wrong.)

Have a GREAT trip–and by the way, LOVE the new author photo!

Yay Europe! Looking forward to reading your blogging.

HAVE FUN!

Also, if you are EVER in need of a youthful companion, you should pick me. cause i’m awesome (and modest)!!!

Haha

Don’t forget to buy candy from every country, that stuff is TRIPPY!

have the best time, and I expect postcards to all your avid blog readers.

HAVE AN AWESOME TOUR!
You look SPECTACULAR in your boots!

Are you coing to the UK by any chance????

Ah, figures you’d be enroute to Italy as I return.Sigh. Try to swing by the archeological digs in Ostia if you have time…mosaics, castles,thermal baths, pix of Neptune and Tritons & such. Love that Tiber river…think East Side & the Hudson. And a beach town near Rome, who’d a thunk?

xx

CC

[…] Maguire (simple, informative, current) Justine Larbelestier (great example of an author blog) Jeff Gomez (informative, up-to-date, blog content relates […]

I hear Scott’s doing a signing at Harrods in London next week. Will you be there too? If I bring your books along as well, could you possibly sign them for me…?

If you wear that dress, no one will care (or even notice) what color your gloves are.
No question about it. Go for it!

ack! in another life i lived in michigan. for awhile i even lived in a detroit suburb! but now, when cool people are going to be there, i’m in germany. *sigh*

have buckets of fun!!

(and what’s with caps being allowed again? it just seems wrong!)

va va va voom! you must buy that dress!

have you confirmed that’s not what scalzi is going to wear?

i’m just saying… it’d be embarassing if both you and john wore the same dress.

Patrick: It’s cool. I checked. Scalzi’s going with sequins.

that’s going to be a challenge to wear on the plane. not that i am speaking from experience or anything. no. none.

Patrick: Don’t be silly! Tracky dacks on the plane; posh frocks are for when you land.

I would kill (figuratively speaking) to be there! But, sadly, I am in Phoenix, Arizona and have no killing license (figurative or otherwise), so I will be missing it. *sadness*

You must be sure to go about having a really marvelous time for the sake of all us would-be-attendees who can’t get in on it.

~Mary

You’d better not be joking about that dress. If I don’t see photographic evidence of you wearing it, I’m going to be very disappointed. Also, wheat sucks. That’s right, I said it.

i am open to that dress, a purple jumpsuit, a gold lame suit, or this: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/518AGAS8EHL._AA240_.jpg. i do require pictures, though. and now i want more sequins . . .

also, when are you going to do an event in ny? and please announce it here, so i can find out!

that is so not your type justine!!! just joking!!!!!!!!!! i want proof of you in it.

Darn it, Justine, I was going to wear that!

if you wear that dress, i will give you ONE MILLION DOLLARS.

Rebecca: Coincidentally that’s about how much the dress costs . . .

it looks like it is made of green plastic table cloths, like the disposable ones

i will pay you TWO MILLION DOLARS to wear that dress and post pictures of it. pretty please?

You might add this:

The Juvenalia Panel is ON!

Its on Saturday at 1 PM in Salon G

Juvenilia: Writers dust off the storage trunks, turn off the shame meter, and read from their 5th- through 12th-grade works of unalloyed proto-genius. A great way for young writers in the audience to feel much better about their own efforts Justine Larbalestier (M), Scott Westerfeld, Merrie Haskell, K. Tempest Bradford and Marcy Italiano

[…] forget the dress piccies here and […]

That’s gorgeous.

edgar allen poe-esque

so beautiful!!

we were supposed to holiday in switzerland, but my surgery pretty much put an end to that. oh well.

again..so beautiful!!!

sorry for the double post, just wanted to add that scott has a fantastic eye for photography.

lovely! I want to go there!

Purty. I guess snow and ice don’t ruin everything….

looks so peaceful and romantic. happy new year’s!

where waz here?

oh, mohonk. mohonk! i loves that place!
minnewaska = my childhood.
new paltz = mom and dad’s alumni you get dragged to every weekend
hey wait that’s really random. i was actually there just yesterday visiting people. very oddly random.
i love that park. it so awesome.

looks deadly icy though.

Hey Justine,
don’t worry, I say sorry all the time, and my friends get so mad. i’ve even had complete strangers at work tell me that I say sorry too much. oh well. what are you going to do?

1. when i was learning german I had to make myself say “excuse me” rather than “I’m sorry”, e.g. when trying to get someone’s attention.

2. You’re right that this is far more prevalent among u.s. southerners than those from elsewhere. i noticed this when I lived in new york (i grew up in alabama, tennessee, and texas), and it comes through loud and clear when you encounter northerners in southern settings (e.g. at south by southwest). Not that the northerners are always brusque or unfriendly, just that they don’t put so much energy into the nicey-niceness.

Rebecca: I don’t feel remotely sorry about saying sorry. It’s not me—it’s cultural conditioning!

Yes, it’s true. You are not alone. The sorry disease also plagues those of us with southern (or, in my case, southern-ish) U.S. backgrounds.

A friend of mine once made me start a “sorry jar.” Had to put a quarter in every time I said it….

I learned about this “phenomenon” in one of my university classes dealing with business and communication. One reason women say sorry a lot to compensate for assertive behaviour and avoid coming off as ‘masculine’ or worse, a bitch. The other reason, which, for some reason, I can’t word this early in the morning, is something about needing forgiveness for mistakes or errors (Men don’t do the asking for forgiveness thing, they just assure they will fix whatever problem it is).

Not to say it all belongs to men and women as separate categories, etc etc. I’m just relaying what I was taught X.x

An exboyfriend and I decided, after I drove him crazy with too many sorries, that there are two kinds of sorry: sorry #1 (sorry, my fault) and sorry #2 (sorry, that sucks). Every so often i still have to specify which one i’m using so people don’t get annoyed about sorries!

A conversation I keep having all the time with someone or other who is having a shitty time in general right now:

me: “I’m sorry.”
them: “Why did you say sorry? YOU didn’t do anything!”
me: “That’s NOT why i’m saying it! i’m not saying it because I did something to you, I’m just sorry you’re going through crap!”

argh.

“I’m sorry

We say ’sorry’ for everything all the time up here in Canada! Fortunately, because most of us say it we don’t get mad at one another for doing it.

It’s interesting to experience speech quirks in different places. The one that really got me when I was in southern NY/Pennsylvania was the use of ‘uh-hunh’ instead of ‘you’re welcome’.

heheh, I have a friend who does this too!

Owldaughter: yes, it’s a very Canadian thing, even in the biggest urban centers. I’m constantly apologizing to people when they bump into me!

I say sorry so often it’s not even funny. Someone could knock me over and I’d say “sorry” out of instinct, but then I’d get pretty mad. My friend on the other hand says “excuse me” so often, she says it when she bumps into walls. i say “thank you” and “please” way too much because of my parents conditioning me too. I also hold open the door for people so often that I end up late. It’s not me being polite (only for a small amount of the time), it’s the conditioning! I’m from upstate NY. Maybe I’m just different.

Justine, you should have taken photos of your desk, before and after.

OOH! i say it all the time. (from the south) and when i don’t, i can’t stop thinking that they’ll think i’m rude, even when its not my fault. And the same with thank yous. If like someone walks away before I say thank you i feel bad..
lo siento

not me!

My impression is that Australians and Brits (male as well as female) often say “sorry” where I would say “excuse me.” I don’t think it should be interpreted literally as an apology — I think it’s just an idiom. I mean, if you said “pardon me” all the time, people wouldn’t think you were literally asking to be pardoned, though they would probably think your English was weirdly formal or archaic.

The kind of sorry I’m talking about usually isn’t an apology nor is it an expression of sympathy. It really is just a verbal tic.

Kenina-Chan: I have taken an after photo just for you. Will post soon.

Ally: ¡Discúlpame!

This is a tangent, but when I was in Italy a few months ago I had an odd exchange with an Italian man who claimed that English-speakers never say “please,” whether they’re speaking in English or Italian. He was quite adamant about it, and he thought it very rude, which was funny coming from a man who eavesdropped on the conversation of some total strangers and then interrupted and harangued us about our manners and those of our compatriots. All of which goes to show that manners are not only cultural, and not only idiosyncratic, but also that it’s much easier to notice other people’s bad manners than your own.

I thought it was just us Canadians! (As I see Owldaughter and Stacy have already mentioned.)

Yay! An after photo!! Thank you! (<–I meant that one)

i used to say it way too often. i’ve cut back recently.

TOtally true. I say sorry to everything. even if it’s what somone did to me, like walk into me or something, i’ll apoligize. i don’t know why. i think it’s like a habbit…

i just…naturally say it. it drives people crazy. i say it as in “sorry, that sucks” but people think i’m apoligizing. i am trying to stop though.

my friend does that all the time!!!!!!! sometimes i start yelling at her becuase she says it too much. it kind of goes along with her personality though (she is an excedingly nice person who doesn’t even hate horribly annoying people). i live in ny, so its probably not regoinal. just her personality.

canadians — of both sexes — do this, too. i consider it quite normal to apologize when someone bumps into me on the bus … which is probably pretty weird, now i think of it …

i always thought this was the domain of Canucks. we are notorious for being polite. now you tell me it isn’t just us? another assumption blown to bits.

Kevin is always getting mad at me for saying “sorry” too much. Naturally I apologize for doing it.

So wait… saying sorry to a random person you bump into is considered weird?

dang! hehe
i also use the word ’sorry’ just like an everyday phrase. i’ve never actually thought about it before, because everyone else i know (here in australia) does the same. in fact, i find it odd when people don’t give even a brief ’sorry’ when they bump into you.

i say sorry all the time - and i’m completely unapologetic about it (pun intended). it’s considered good manners in the culture i grew up in.

my pet peeve is when someone snaps at me: “it’s not your fault!” sheesh. adults should be able to read context and tell the difference between accepting blame and the other myriad uses of the word “sorry.”

I have two stories of my over-usage of the words sorry and thank you.
Last year I went to get tutoring for Algebra 2, every time I got a problem wrong I’d say ‘Sorry!’and my tutor (who was a really cute Russian guy) all of a sudden got really really really angry! I was so shocked. He told me to stop or he’d stop tutoring me, he said he felt that he wasn’t doing a good job in tutoring me, and I said sorry yet again. Then I told him not to worry because he was doing a better job than my teacher.

And just last month I got my first detention ever! It should have been a Saturday school but because I’ve never had one he was lenient, so when he gave me the little pink slip I took it and said thank you. He was so confused. You could tell that no one had ever said thank you to him before for gettinhg a detention. But I did.
Oh, and I did used to say pardon me alot when I didn’t hear what someone had said to me. But my friends got me to stop, so now I say “Come again?”

i realized this summer how often i say sorry. i think i over-use it to seem less threatening. i was taking an online class and my little subgroup had one discussion area that we kept using. this meant i kept having to scroll through the old conversations where i was always starting out by saying sorry. i think i was trying to placate them while i pushed my agenda to control our group projects.

hehe. i dont say sorry that often. usally i say “well soooorrry!” all sarcastic-like. hehe.

-Lizzy-wa OUT!

I say sorry A Lot. I’ve also been told that it’s very annoying…and then I apologize for being annoying.

I can’t help it!

I take a lot of attitude from my girlfriend about how often I say sorry for things that aren’t my fault. I must be an Australian girl too!
-Jack

Jack: Indeed, there is a certain kind of Aussie boy who also does it. But we girls outnumber you in the sorry-ing.

Wow. that’s a lot of scott.

I like it! Sweet!

is that at every city you guys were at?

Kadie-Wa: I think that’s most of them. But I really just chose the photos I liked best. It was amazing how many people came out to meet Scott.

i wish scott could have come to houston.

Kim: We were in Houston in February! Can’t go to the same place twice in one year.

I wish you were in Socal instead of Nocal.

do you know if you are ever going to do a signing in pennsylvania? namely anywhere near philly? you should.

Okay, look at those picutures. Scott sooooo doesn’t have a lumpy nose!

lol, dess. how about the twin cities??

yeah. where is that lady getting off saying he has a lumpy nose. i’d hate to hear what she would say about my nose. (i broke it in preschool when i ran into a tree. i was amazingly coordinated back then. )

yeah. his nose isnt lumpy. i mean, theres nothing rong with having a lumpy nose. or being short. like me.

and you shood see my coordination. youd think i have too left feet. i’ll go one way, and my pinky toe goes the other. im surprised i havent broken it yet.

-Lizzy-wa OUT!

ha ha! did you ate them?!

Lol Thats so random! Little fishies going on the airplane! hehe

I LOVE FISHIES! I hope you didn’t eat them:(

Now, that’s a renewable fuel source for jet engines! Gotta wonder about the smell of those jets, though it can’t get much worse than they already are.

That is so jokes. Live fish. Wow.

hhmmm. ok im wondering. it says “live fish”. but after a plane ride, wouldnt they like, die of boredom or sompthin? hhmmm. suspicions. my friend is out of scool for a hole week killing fish in idaho. yepyepyep.

Justine-la! i like the book so far. she just found the teeth. sorry im not that far yet, for some reason, all of my teachers seeme to have decided “oh, lizzys done with EXTRAS, she’ll not possibly have any more books to read. lets pile on the homework!” stupid brain-missing teachers!

-Lizzy-wa OUT!

better than a box saying “dead fish”?

that’s kind of creepy-making. but still lol

oh my god! the fish are flying the plane!

oh wow. what has this world come to? fish. in a box. on a plane. and now..on the internet. thank you justine.

now they are flying fish.

reminds me of hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy: “so long and thanks for all the fish.” (live, in this case.)

They were actually snakes, but to say so would cause panic and/or copyright violation.

live fish? on an airplane? wow…

^^ teehee snakes… they probably were. a mass panic epidemic at an airport would not be pleasant.

haha..snakes on a plane. oh my god. i would be so paranoid that whole flight just thinking about that movie.. woahh

I agree with shausto-la. funny. luv it.

what if they escaped their box? scary!!!!

YUCK.

my, what big sushi they’re serving.

too true. well, i’ve never been on a book tour, but i would say those are the golden rules of any traveling. or life, really.

lol. So true…soooo true.

You forgot “never volunteer for anything.” Oh, wait, that’s infantryman’s wisdom.

sounds like a road trip. i hated those when i was kid. always had to pee and always hungry.

you forgot one justine
“sleep whenever and wherever you can”

The second one especially is my rule on all trips. Good luck!

words to live by…

Wow…that sounds like…fun?
Glad you guys are having a good time.

hehe. yeah. i do that a lot. dont go pee when i should. yeah that really stinks when that happens. and i mean it really stinks. those airplane restrooms are not pleasant.

-Lizzy-wa OUT!

I once read an interview with Prince Philip (who I am fascinated by in a totally odd way), and he was asked what he had learned being Prince Consort. His answer: “Always use the bathroom whenever you can, because you never know when you will have another opportunity.”

These are my exact rules for riding the Greyhound! If I ever get a book published, it’s good to know I’ll be totally prepared.

Yup, I hear it also applies to jewel heists and prison breaks.

Just try not to combine those two activities — yes, it may save you some time, but it’s still wrong…

really? so, what was the book called? who was it by? are there adult books good? i’ll have to read it to make sure it really does stink. that way i can make sure non of my friends read it. i hate it when an adult athor decides to rite teen or kid books and they are like ten million times as bad as there adult books. *sigh*
it was fawesome seeing you last nite Justine-la! cant wait to read your books. gotta go finish EXTRAS so i can start on yours. bye!
-LIzzy-wa OUT!

I actually think that it’s harder to write YA, mainly because if teens hate a book, they’ll openly say so. I think that they’re much less likely to keep reading something that isn’t interesting, and far more likely to tell other people about how they feel about particular things.

Teenagers definitely aren’t stupid!! In some ways, they’re far more perceptive than adults.

your faithful blog readers are willing to wait for the long, detailed rant. take your time. rants are often best when fully marinated, slow-roasted, and then served cold on a bed of freshly cut righteous indignation.

now i’m just making myself hungry . . .

The other thing i hate is when people come up to me and say, “oh, you’re a young adult author? when are you planning on writing something for grown ups?” like writing for teens is somehow a stepping stone to someday writing for adults.

like being a pediatrician is a stepping stone to treating adults.

I can’t wait to hear which book this was. Can you give us any hints?

I like my rants served hot, but…mmmmmm….righteous indignation. Yum!

maybe people get all wistful about their teen years being a ’simpler time’. they forget all the angst and the heartache and the way as a teen you laugh and love harder than you ever will again in your entire life. when you forget all that, ya books must seem super easy to write.

Ursula Le Guin, circa 1973:

Sure it’s simple, writing for kids. Just as simple as bringing them up.

All you do is take all the sex out, and use short little words, and dumb little ideas, and don’t be too scary, and make sure there’s a happy ending. Right? Nothing to it….

If you do all that, you might even write Jonathan Livingston Seagull and make 20 billion dollars and have every adult in America reading your book.

But you won’t have every kid in America reading your book….Kids will devour vast amounts of garbage (and it is good for them), but they are not like adults: they have not yet learned to eat plastic.

Unfortunately, I think that in the intervening years, some kids have learned to eat plastic under the pressure of relentless marketing, but I think the basic point stands. And “just as simple as bringing them up” is absolutely my favorite statement about the difficulty of writing for kids.

i strongly suspect that some editors are to blame—saying to well-known authors they think might sell big, “Oh you can do it, nothing can be easier! Just channel your inner kid…I’ll hold your hand through the process…’

The other culprit is agents who say, “But YA is so big right now. You can do it—nothing easier, and watch the gigantic advance. Channel your inner kid, and I’ll hold your hand through it…”

I’ve come to this conclusion after seeing several blogs, conversations, interviews and other embarrassed references from authors, “Oh yeah, well, I jumped on the YA bandwagon. I mean if Rowling can do it, how hard can it be?”

Oh dear … perhaps this was a *bad* day to send you that email …

uhh you’ve probally already noticed this, but in magic lessons the editor missed the typing error, “Reason took took.”

I LOVE ALICE HOFFMAN! SHE IS SO FEXCELLENT!!!!!!!!!

I agree with Adrienne Vretos. And I want to know !WHY! we feel things so much more than adults? WHY do emotional things hurt more? WHY?! I don’t understand my feelings anymore!

i read the dreamhunter books by elizabeth knox. they were pretty fawesome.

and that reminds me of a certain book which i will leave unnamed here to prevent this comment getting deleted.but in it, the main character was just a horrible teenager. she made all these quote unquote witty observations about teenagers and cliques and bad fashion in a way that i suppose was meant to be sarcastic and amusing, but to me just seemed cruel. and i am one of those people who spends a lot of time laughing the misery of my enimies—i’m not all over-sensitive about cruel-but-funny. but this book was just sad. she made all these horrible observations about all her brand-new “friends” that she supposedly liked. and they weren’t even genuinely funny. just like a mean girl looking for stuff to mock. wow, long rant. but i also note that same obnoxious heroine was also rather out-of-touch with current culture and mysteriously unaware of her own flaws.
and another thing i’d like to mention is that, as a proud ya and ya reader, most of the people i know don’t read at all. not the ones i hang out with, but the majority of people in my school have forgotten what a book is. and while there are a lot of people chewing on plastic such as a certain name-dropping series whose letters alliterate and a certain other serieses (is that a word?) set in unrealtistic high schools in la, most people i know will put down books they hate. i think it’s such a concious choice for them to be reading, they take a lot less crap. and not to generalize but it seems like adults are far more likely to pick up and stick with a book because it’s a best seller, even if they don’t like it. no offense, quality-first readers.

wow, this comment is far too long. back to westerblog before i come up with another rant topic.

i don’t like those kind of books either. teachers don’t understand why alot of the kids stop reading books so much. it’s only because you can’t get into them!!

I have to agree with Serafina zane on the point that adults seem to read a lot of books just because they are bestsellers. Or picked by oprah or any number of other things which have made the book a little more famous. And even if they don’t like it they read the entire thing anyway. I mean, I understand that to criticize a book and make good points of why it’s bad you might want to read the entire thing — but really, who wants to read a book that isn’t interesting or well-written? I’m more likely to put it down and find a new one if I get bored or if I don’t like it.
It just seems to me that a lot of adults read books by the same author, or only that author, or books that are seen on TV shows or on bestseller lists. Sure, I’ll read books like that, but usually I go and look for books that seem interesting. If a bestseller doesn’t sound the least appealing I’m not going to read it.
And as for writing books like teens are stupid, I just don’t understand it. Just looking, generally, at a good YA section in a library or bookstore supplies anyone attempting to write YA with so many well-written and smart books to look at and see what teens will read and enjoy. We’re not stupid and all too often I find books which make us seem that way. Urgh. It’s just so annoying!
Ooh. That’s a bit long, isn’t it?

Are you being mean to Dan Brown? is that who’s book you have?

I *so* agree with you! What makes me even angrier, though, is the publisher who publishes the book. Surely to god the editor *knows* the book is drek. Why then doesn’t said editor help the author make it better? Or better yet, say *no* to publishing it?

Here’s a good analogy:

an old teacher of mine got moved to the high school to teach. Her mother thought that she had got a promotion. (You know, moving up.)

But, either way, it isn’t a promotion if you stop writing YA or you stop teaching middle-schoolers and you go up a different level- it’s just a different job.

I’ve read too many books where the teenagers act like college students and think like 5-year-olds. It’s really awful. First you get mad at them for doing things way above their age, and then they make horrible, horrible decisions to cope with their overblown lives. It’s as if the author wants to use ‘oh, they’re teenagers’ as an excuse to further plot developement. However, the real thing is that it’s the cheesy, soap-opera plot that’s developing, while throughout the whole book, non of the characters develop at all!!
Personally, I think that every teen in those types of books have major personality flaws. They all know what to do (except for the cheesy ‘which guy should I choose?!’ twist) and just worry, while the whole point of teenagers is that they’re awkward! As a teenager myself, growing up is awkward! Don’t just make things happen! Give us reasons, secrets or magic! ‘Things happen just because’ is reasoning coming from someone who doesn’t know what to do!

Make these authors immerse themselves in teenagers! Do the research before trying to be something you’re not. If you’ve done the research, chances are that most of the readers will enjoy the book.

(on the plus side, I just bought a book by Alice Hoffman yesterday. Freeeaky.)

i agree with capt. cockatiel. most of the adults i know won’t go to a book store the day it comes out for that long awaited book after staying up till midnight to watch the countdown stop. i’ve only done this once people. and im not insane, im an insomniac. they only read one or two authors or only read self-help books or stuff like that whereas yound adults will read anything they find interesting. i think writing ya lets you write a wide variety of stuff and it will still get read because thats what we like, a variety of good books.

I often hear a further extrapolation of this–people find out I like to write YA and middle-grade and say, oh, why don’t you write picture books, too? I’m sorry, I think writing a picture book is even harder. I have read many, many awful picture books and many great ones. I don’t know if I’m a good enough wordsmith to write something brilliant in 32 pages.

ironic, because i recently got a rejection letter — a really lovely one, by the way, which i was happy to get, in one way — from an agent who said s/he thought my ms sounded great but didn’t think the writing would fly in the ya market. i am forced to wonder whether having suited the language to the setting (early-nineteenth-century britain) has made the book unsellable — not to readers, i mean, but to agents and/or publishers.

drecky ya is an enormous pet peeve of mine (as is drecky kid-lit — i have a five-year-old, you see). publishers should not market dreck to readers just because they’re not yet old enough to vote; there’s certainly no shortage of *good* ya and kid-lit out there, so why?

to be fair, however, an awful lot of dreck is published for adults, too…

jaguar?

Some excellent comments here. Love the pediatrician analogy, and that ursula le guin quote is utterly perfect. I read a YA book this year by an extremely successful, internationally renowned adult writer, and I couldn’t quite get over just how dreadful it was - I kept going waiting for it to improve but it didn’t and in the end I stopped reading. the main character was just so blank and boring and tedious, as if being young is simply being an unformed adult, an empty vessel into which a personality is yet to be poured. Someone should have held her hand better that’s for darn sure.

“You have to write whichever book it is that wants to be written. And then, if it’s going to be too difficult for grown-ups, you write it for children.”
— Madeleine L’Engle

I’ve often felt that adult writers who publish YA are doing it for the market. YA is hot now and teens will spend money to purchase a book. I was worried about Sherman Alexie’s new book - thankfully it’s awesome. But I do have to say as much as I loved Francine Prose’s AFTER, I’m not liking BULLYVILLE.

whoops! I flubbed my url.

Agreed on the shorts thing—blech. I wrote about this once.

I just got back from Japan so right now i am crazy about this one particular look where you basically paint your face like a panda! it’s hot.

What are formal shorts? I’ve heard rumors about German businessment wearing gabardine suit shorts with Birkenstocks back in the 70s, but I’m pleased to say I’ve never actually seen proof of such an abomination…

Lauren: Show me the links to the panda faces! And, well said on the formal shorts.

David: Here are some examples for you.

At our school, we have lots of layers. anything that you wear has to be layered to be “cool”. but i like the layered look. i think it looks cool. but you get really hot somtimes, if you have too many layers on.

i like plaeted skirts.

Personally, I never wear any type of shorts. But dress capris I love. (Actually they’re semi-formal capris. But whatever. At least they’re not shiny.)

Because of my school’s dress code, we can’t wear shorts. At least, not really short ones. So, girls wear footless tights underneath those dress shorts to get by the dress code. It’s a 2-in-1 abomination.

HAHAHA! Sadly I love the whole punker’80’s look. I know, it’s quite sad. But most of the time I like what lokks good regardless of wether or not it’s ‘in’. I still love the whole ’70’s flare look.

Formal shorts - or dress shorts, as i call ‘em - are an abomination. i used to have a coworker who wore them and it made me angry. which isn’t fair, but whatevs. they were formal short shorts, no less. ugh!

as for nice things i’m liking right now? a friend of mine just bought this coat and i am, um, red with envy.

i am still in search of the bestest black knee-high boots ever, but this is an ongoing quest that i begin to believe will never be resolved.

I have decided that the only type of shirt that looks decent on me is a button-down shirt with darts or some other sort of shaping. I should really purge all other types of shirts from my wardrobe. I wear my shirts untucked because I like to pretend that this camouflages my butt.

I have a toddler, and these days I think about her clothes a lot more than my own because they are always needing to be replaced due to being outgrown and/or stained. Also, Alice usually goes through more than one outfit per day, so I’m always having to think about what I’m going to put on her. Leggings actually do look good on little kids, and they are eminently practical because there are no cuffs or loose fabric to get caught on things as the child scampers and crawls and climbs.

What I really hate are “skorts” (a pair of shorts with a little drapy panel in front so that it looks like a skirt). Alice has a few that I think were hand-me-downs, and I just loathe them. What is the point of these garments?

Sorry but I have recently embraced footless tights. I heart them. i plan to go out and buy scores of them so I can still wear them when everyone else wakes up and realises the eighties were crap the first time round. It’s a whole I had babies, got girth and wobbles and suddenly realised i needed something under a skirt that wouldn’t add bulk because I still have quite a small head thing.

I loathe and detest and detest and loathe and also detest stirrup pants and body suits (for anyone over the age of two). You know those tops that button up at the crotch. Ugh. I mean okay, the eighties were silly, but the early nineties were just so blah - why would we want to go back there??

I don’t really believe in tucking in unless you are Josh Lyman.

i honestly love leggings with skirts, just not macro-miniskirts/jeanskirts. it looks really cute!
that being said, never, ever, ever wear brightly colored legging or leggings with just a shirt. also, not a really baggy shirt. its okay if its just long and you belt it, but not baggy.
also. if you are over 40, do not wear a deep v-neck shirt. you are not 20 any more! give it up! no one wants to see your cleavage! it just looks really nasty.

since we are talking about fasion here,do you think that colored highlights (colored as in blue, purple etc) look good at the ends of your hair? only the last couple inches.

calliope: that’ll be shocking news to Salma Hayek! She looks great when she wears v-necks.

Kadie-wa: coloured highlights can look fabulous.

kaide-wa: i think it would look better if you died a few strands of your hair colored, not the ends. just my opinion.

justine: celebrities are exempted from fashion rules that involve age/how you look at that age. salma hayek does not look 40: she looks gorgeous, so she an wear stuff other people can’t.

I saw this guy at the TINA (This Is not Art) festival in Newcastle. He was wearing a business suit, but with shoulder pads made of nails. As in, he’d turned his suit inside out, driven a whole lot of nails through the shoulders, then turned it inside in again and put it on.

It looked really cool, but he didn’t seem to appreciate how dangerous it was.

You know, Calliope, you might want to think twice before describing the bodies of a particular class of people (as opposed to their fashion sense or clothing) as “nasty.” You might offend someone. Not me, of course, because I know a lot more about my cleavage than you do, and I’m confident that it isn’t nasty.

janet, skorts are a wonderful thing when your girl gets a little older and wants to hang upside from the monkey bars without either showing her underwear or giving up skirts. my girl is girly but she loves to play hard so i always try to find compromises that work for her. by the way, of course little girls look good in leggings. they look good in gunnysacks too.

calliope, i hope when you turn 40 your cleavage is as juicy as mine. I reserve the right to flaunt it.

i am packing for england and have decided to only take two outfits - I concur with joan juliet buck in July’s Vogue “the truth is that women don’t want single garments, they want a system to live by” BUT as Dave Graney says there are “no pockets in a jumpsuit” - once you go there you cannot go back.

Come to think of it, I like pockets. I like a simple tunic top with pockets for my keys and snacks …

also - can someone explain diane keaton’s wardrobe to me?

mmm reading about fashion *and* watching america’s next top model… i think that messes with a girls mind…

i feel so *cool* to be mentioned *again* haha!!!!
here’s a pic of me and scott

i was so ***star struck*** that i forgot to take one with you justine! AHHH!!! not cool…

but yeah, i’m 18 and in college (sfsu) so that whole policy doesn’t really apply! (and yes i know, i look 14 not 18…!)

also, my hair *is* blue… not green… -_-

and last but not least, i have formal shorts, and i think they’re cute… but they’re not shiny or anything, just grey and plaid. also 10% cause i bought them at mervyns where i worked! oh yeah!!!

aw my picture didn’t work…
here’s a linky though…

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd171/sourking/ATT00001.jpg

hopefully that works…

Whenever anything is “the new black” so that I can find inexpensive shoes and slacks that are not dead boring not black.

Also, if they let you off the leash long enough in Seattle, Romy skirts are to die for.

If my Mighty Mite’s cough doesn’t turn out to be fun-shattering event (as opposed to “childhood cold. again. poor sod.”, I’ll wear one to the Lafferty lecture tomorrow.

Heh. It looks like my strikeouts are also all yours. oops.

for instance: http://glauser.com/2007/07/04/dayrobber-ganguro-style/

Thanks justine for the comment about hair highlights. i really want to get blue at the ends of my hair, but not quite so sure of how it will look. but loads of people are telling me it’ll look cool!!

Hearing you read your book was nine kinds of cool! I can’t wait for it to come out! By the way… I want a fairy…

Also, I’m glad you liked your gift! I think the girl is from an album cover…. tehe, hooray for glueing!

Awesome! your so cool liset!

I like Zane better too. Definitely.

oh gee… thanks…
i’m really not though… i’m kinda lame!
lol

zane’s my fave too. there’s something about david i don’t like. ijust can’t put my finger on it.

Wow!! That’s amazing. i too prefer zane. i have nothing wrong with david but, i like zane better.

i love that picture!! It’s soooo awesome!

how come my link didn’t work?

wait, i see never mind

Aaaah! Justine, you’re reading ufb at signings? when will you post an excerpt on your site?!

i do not understand the hatred of tally. i never thought she was that bad. shay could be an ass too.

oh wells. i like aya better than all of them.

that is some pretty awesome art. i would just like to argue on your point about zane. David is soo much more ahmazinger than zane and, to be honest, just perfect for tally. oh, but i do loveee shay. she should totally hook up with fausto- thus shausto.

I don’t hate David. I think he’s perfectly fine. I just like Zane better. I don’t hate Tally either! It’s just that Shay and Aya are my favourites.

I’ll talk to my publishers about when they want me to post an excerpt from the UFB.

oh thats the madina lake album cover. I love that band

I just read Cassandra C’s book, and I cannot wait for the next!

I was in the bookstore, looking for a book to buy. I recoignised her name from your blog and decided to buy it based souly on that (and the fact the blurb sounded pretty cool)!

Not only that, but I can see Alison Croggon’s lovely series poking out in the bottom left hand corner! I think I owe my reading of The naming to one of your recommendations as well…thanks!

will you rub my head for luck?

Oh, I loved 13 little blue and enveloppes! I never connected the book/author with the stories you mention about ms johnson XD

also I have no idea where that and came from o.o

Again, I must mention how insanely jealous I am that they’re all your friends. I love them all! I want to be friends with you all! It’s not fair sometimes.

By the way, I know you’re touring and insanely busy, but you should watch John’s video for yesterday. There is a bit of a heated debate about zombies and Un****ns.

Wow sweet!! I want to read one of her books now!

IN response to dawn…

Wow. I don’t believe it. and I don’t believe the number of responses! Justine has really created a monster!

Ooh. Is that a new Land of Elyon book I see off on the left? I’ll have to get that. Haha.
I absolutely love City of Bones and Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes. They’re made of awesome.

Sure looks like Oakland. In fact, I know exactly where Scott is standing.

I recommend the Cockadoodle Cafe for breakfast; if you’re staying near the waterfront, it’s in the neighborhood. I had breakfast there this morning — lemon ricotta pancakes, omg! http://www.cockadoodlecafe.com/

[…] Space man costume wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptPut the “signed by” sticker on several of his books upside down (worst jacket monkey ever),… […]

Oh my… sounds like a dangerous day. That was very kind of the waiter…
don’t wory, tomorrow will always be better

at least it was sunny when you were there! it would have been bad if it was rainy and gloomy.

i love that picture of scott. it’s so funny!

3 cheers for san francisco!

can’t wait to see you both on TUESDAY!!!
that is,
if i don’t get lost on the MUNI…hmm

And I’ll try and find a hole in my schedule to see you on Tuesday also. That bookstore is only about four miles from my house; it would be inexcusable not to come see you!

I am going to miss your Tuesday appearance. Sad! But I will look at the calendar and see if I can catch you elsewhere while you’re in town.

– psychotically lucky !!!!

I wish I could drive 4 miles to the book signing.

UGGggg

Laura, drive four miles and wait for the booksigning to come to you.

That’s wonderful, Justine!!! Congratulations!!!!

Yay!

While manga, kurosawa, and kimba are awesome…There are other wonderful things that come from Japan, Justine! Pocky! Don’t you like pocky? And strange chocolatey cookies shaped like panda heads? And cream filled koalas or pandas playing sports?

?? (thats congratulations in Japanese) Just wanted you to know I ordered massive quantities of the magic or madness trilogy for our store (well 3 of each- thats massive for us at the Reading tree!) AND….I picked up my first Manga - Naruto. I cant wait to get reading! I also wondered if you were able to get to Alinea in chicago?

Yay!

sweet!!

hey! I so met you yesterday! i’m kayla top right, jez’s sister, oh and toop left is Jackie, and bottem left is jess. you were so cool to meet, I was upset though because I had nothing for you to sign, but being on your blog is so cool!

Kayla beat me to commenting, o well. It was great meeting you, the event was so much fun. I can’t wait till I finish reading everything.

I loved the darkangel too!

What are they putting their hands up for in the first photo, Detroit?

Have a lovely day!

I see my friends found your blog before I could link them when I got home from work today

Was great meeting you too! And I consider myself honored to be featured on your blog. It was really nice to find a comment from you on my LJ when I got home from work too

Hehe, I’ve read the darkangel trilogy… mostly because meredith pierce is next to tamora pierce, and the tamora pierce book I wanted to read was out from the library XDD

captioning the photos:

everyone named scott please raise your hand

everyone! get down on the floor and look up at me and my awesomeness. excellent

It was so lovely to meet you all!

Patrick: You’re not far off. The actual question was, “Who checks their Amazon rankings every day?”

Naperville, yet! I lived there for four years (went to high school there), but that’s so long ago that I don’t remember if that book store was there then. Regardless, great town, and it still apparently has some great people.

Ah. My other guess was “who has recently been tackled by John scalzi?” but I figured there would be more hands up if that was the question.

I envy thoes people SO much.

I always wanted to meet one of my idols.

have fun! i hope the airports don’t suck any more than usual.

i am so excited for extras but i have a problem. another really really exciting book is coming out on the same day. gah! i wonder if it’s possible to simultaneously read them….hahahahahaha.

Not from personal experience, but gleaned from reading many a tour report:

1. Eat when you can
2. Sleep when you can
3. Bring something large/expandable to events (to schlepp home gifts in)
4. Anti-septic wipes (to prevent what the making light crew call ‘con-crud’)

I’m really excited for extras!!! I wish I could see you guys on tour, but you’re not going to be going any place that’s even remotely close to where I am. Maybe authors are scared of Utah. Who knows. Have fun, though!!!

maybe you can tell scott to post everyday that ya’ll are there. he does not post enough. and we want to know that ya’ll are doing while you are there.

Have fun you guys! You will be missed.

Advice? Avoid the room service cobb salad. Every hotel has it and it is always bad.

I’m so glad you’ll be along! I’ll be at the Naperville event on release day–with the book club I run and with the school’s bookclub too (we combined them for this event).
Is there any chance that you’ll be signing books too? Like, can I bring my copy of Magic or Madness and get it signed?

Eat whenever you can because there will probably be lots of times when you’ll go long stretches without being able to eat anything.

rebecca: it really is possible to read more than one book at once. kind of. I’m reading 3 books and listening to an audio book. it’s taking me forever. i have to say that I love audio books because it’s like having someone read to me until i fall asleep every night. except they are crap at keeping track of what page we’re on. because i usually fall asleep before the disk is over.

I can’t wait for extras!

Thanks for all the eating advice. We’ve lucked out at our first hotel—the room service is actually good. The shock! Just as well as there’s no where else to eat around here.

Jez: I’ll make sure I’m at the Naperville event so I can sign your book.

It’s not supposed to be out until October 2? Hell, I saw it on display at my local store last night!

God willing and the creeks don’t rise (we mean that literally around here), I’ll see you at the Shoreline event.

Waterproof shoes/boots are probably a good idea come to think of it.