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Sorry for posting so late today. I just finished a fun Skype visit with 5th graders from Upton Elementary School in Upton, Wyoming. The kids had all read CHAINS and had oodles of questions about the book and about FORGE (which comes out in September, 2010, BTW.)

This is what the kids looked like to me.

And this is what I looked like to them! The kids each came up to the computer camera and microphone to ask me their questions, which was nice because I was able to see them so clearly.

I wish the Skype technology were a little better; the three visits I've done have had annoying bursts of pixelation issues. It has to improve soon, right?

Pixelation issues aside, I love Skype visits. Why? My publishers don't want me visiting schools right now. They want me to stay home and write. But I really miss connecting with my readers. Skyping allows me to have the best of both worlds.

Are you interested in having me Skype with your students? Email Queen Louise to set it up: [email protected]. We are really interested in doing more of these, so pass the word!


In other news, Professor Jim Blasingame of Arizona State University brings up the TWISTED censorship In Kentucky in his Washington Post blog. I am not thrilled with the headline (which Jim did not write) because it vastly overstates the issue, But the column is great, especially when he references the wise words of (United States Library of Congress Living Legend Award winner) Katherine Paterson.


Revision Tip #8

Read each scene and highlight each mention of a sense other than sight. Any scenes that only have visual details need to be revised to sneak in one or more of the other senses. If you are having a hard time with this, picture the scene in your mind. Now imagine you are the character, and close your (the character's eyes) what other sensory information is still available?

With budgets being frozen and cut, it can be hard to find the money to host a traditional author visit. Here are six tips to connect with authors – virtually and in person – for little to no money.

1. Piggyback: When you book an author, you don’t just have speaker fees. You also need to pay for travel, lodging, and other expenses. One way to cut costs is to piggy back on book tours. When Jeff Kinney came to our local Border’s, one of our elementary librarians contacted his publisher who put her in touch with his agent. She was able  to schedule a school visit between his other engagements. While this visit was not exactly cheap, it was cheaper than it might have been.

2. Buy Local: Another way to avoid travel fees is to book a local author. YALSA has a wiki which lists YA authors by state. Local authors may be more willing to work with your budget constraints since it is a way for them to support their community.

3. Skype: Author Kate Messner wrote about Skype visits with authors recently for SLJ. As she points out, many authors will do a Skype visit for free as long as the participants have read the book.

4. Let Teens Ask the Questions: At my library, I have started a blog to provide a forum for teens to interview authors. Another way to facilitate interviews is via podcasts. Check out the ones by the librarians at the Mount Kisco Public Library for good examples. How do you get interview subjects? Ask them. Most author websites list their contact information. For the AuthorView blog, so far I’ve made two interview requests. One said he was too busy. Another, Sarah Ockler, gladly agreed, and you can read her interview online now.

5. Promote Author Sites: Individual authors offer opportunities for readers to connect to them via their websites. The most involved site I know of is Nerdfighters, a community started by John Green and his brother Hank. Community members chat, share pictures and videos, and blog. The content ranges far beyond Green’s work, but does have a literary focus. Other authors, such as Maureen Johnson, Melissa Walker, and Justine Larbalestier have lively blogs which encourage comments and participation from teens through contests, advice columns and more. Link to these blogs and communities on your library site.

6. Take Advantage of Author Group Offers: Authors are joining together in groups to reach out to readers, including teachers and librarians. The Class of 2K9 has a program called Authors2Go. They plan on offering the program through the end of this school year. You’ll get a signed copy of the book, plus the opportunity to interact with an author online or in person. The Class of 2K10 plans to offer a similar program in the coming year.

There are six tips to get you started. What would you add to the list?

A few weeks ago in the advanced creative writing class that marjorielight and I co-teach, one of our 7th grade girls had a question about writing novels in verse that stumped us. "Is it better for me to just write these poems as they come to me, do you think? Or should I have an outline first?" Having never written a novel in verse, I wasn't sure how most people approach the process, but never fear... a talented author and Skype came to the rescue!

Lisa Schroeder, the author of I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME, FAR FROM YOU, and the soon-to-be-released CHASING BROOKLYN, woke up bright and early on the West Coast to join us for a 9AM class in Northern New York.



Since Skype is already installed on my desktop computer, we didn't need to do anything special to prepare. When Lisa called us at the appointed time, we projected her onto the big screen, and the kids came up to the computer one at a time to ask their questions.



Lisa chatted about her writing with my 7th grade writers with a genuine thoughtfulness and warmth that stayed with the kids long after their Q and A session was over. (In fact, I saw the girl from this photo in the library later on. "That Skype chat was awesome!" she said. "I was thinking about it all through math class.")

Some highlights? Lisa shared her process for writing novels in verse, including the fact that music plays a role. She mentioned bands like Lifehouse and Evanescence that help to inspire her words. She encouraged our young writers to read and read and read some more and shared some of her favorite authors, too -- like John Green, Laurie Halse Anderson, and Sarah Dessen. I saw a couple of our kids smile great big smiles when Lisa admitted that she doesn't always know all the answers when she starts writing a book. It felt like she was giving them permission to do that "discovery draft" as well, to figure things out along the way and then go back to revise.

After our Skype session, our students tweeted what they felt were some of the key points on our class Twitter account (@MessnerEnglish), so that schools that haven't tried Skype chats could get a sense of how valuable (and fun!) they can be. Thank you so much, Lisa, for sharing your time and talent with our kids!

If you're a teacher, librarian, or author looking for more resources on how all this works, here are a few links to check out:

Lisa Schroeder's Skype an Author page (And she's fantastic with kids!)
The Skype an Author Network
School Library Journal technology feature on Skyping authors: "Met Any Good Authors Lately?"
An updated list of authors who Skype with Book Clubs

          THE final day of a short stay on the California coast I was taking my last beach walk. Just off shore came leaping dolphins, diving pelicans and birds by the hundreds, their long lines wavering like blue velvet ribbons out to sea. Still, the waves had yet to give up a single, unblemished shell. So I made a wish.

          Just let me find one whole and perfect sand dollar!

          And there it was. As the water pulled back. One delicate, white, whole and perfect sand dollar. Excited by the gift, I lifted it gingerly, took a few steps and, incredible luck, found another one. I carried my little cache down the beach and stopped. Here were three more sand dollars. And here three more. And three more!

          On it went until my hands were full of delicate shells. Then my pockets. Perhaps on this beach such finds are as common as sand. But it was a thrilling few minutes for me. A gluttonous adventure. More sand dollars than I could carry!

          Back at my cabin I lined them up outside the door along a weathered redwood rail. I admired their beautiful feathered designs. Each with a sea flower delicately etched. As if some artisan lived beneath the Pacific, working shells with her tiny chisel.

          BOOKS are not unlike sand dollars. At least to those of us who cherish them, books are like treasure from the sea. We collect them. Study their beautiful designs. Admire their craftsmanship and hope, if we are writers, to carve out something just as fine. Our own whole and perfect sea flower design tossed into the sea to later be drawn in, a gift for someone else’s pocket.

          About a week ago I flew to the Midwest to speak at Oklahoma’s EncycloMedia conference with a group of fabulous authors (Suzanne Morgan Williams, Stacy Nyikos, Barrie Summy, Jenny Meyerhoff, P.J. Hoover, Jessica Anderson, Donna St. Cyr, Cynthea Liu and Eileen Cook). We were met with an equally fabulous audience of educators and librarians. Copies of our novels sold out at our signings and we were filmed for a reader’s broadcast. I went on to a packed and appreciative school visit.

          As a writer you couldn’t ask for more. It was a wonderful affirmation of the world of books, and what an honor it is to be included in this circle of writers, readers, librarians and educators who are looking for the next good read.  

          Which got me thinking. This week I want to celebrate (to paraphrase YALSA’s press on the upcoming Teen Read Week) “the possibilities that exist within a library’s doors, and within the covers of books.”

          I’m excited to have a thoughtful interview with author Laura Resau. Her newest novel Indigo Notebook is launching this October and it’s an amazing read. Resau’s writing is both beautiful and honest, and she brings that same integrity to her thoughts on the writing life, the meaning of story, and how she’s found her niche by moving between cultures.

          Then expert librarian Cathy Ensley from Idaho talks about her years in the stacks and her brand new blog. She has some surprising insights into teen readers and shares her latest venture to foster the love of books—helping rural libraries hook up with authors via SKYPE.

          And just an END NOTE to my sand dollar days.

          Isn’t it gratifying to know it’s not so out of reach—that whole and perfect shell? Something to remember if, like me, you carve your designs as you go.

          And to those of us who walk the beach waiting for what the artisan might reveal, may we find what we’ve been looking for in the sand. 

                                                                   --z.v.

I am writing this from beautiful Ocean Isle, North Carolina, but I don't think that was what we had in mind when we set up the "out-and-about" category of blogs. But since I haven't been to any writing-related events lately, I will tell you about two "techie" related projects I am currently working on. Or maybe struggling with would be a better way of describing it. Anything that involves the

I am starting a list of authors who offer free 20-minute Skype chats with book clubs.  My agent literaticat , also a super-powered indie bookseller, got me thinking about how to get that information to bookstores so they can get it to customers.  I'm going to start by creating a list of names with links, and we'll see where it goes from there.

If you're an author of a traditionally published book and you'd like to be on such a list, please comment below with your name & website (which presumably has contact information).  Or you can email me (kmessner  at kate messner dot com with no spaces).  If you're a publicist and would like to send a list of all your authors who Skype with book clubs, that's fabulous, too.  Thanks!

Authors Who Skype With Book Clubs
The following authors offer free 20-minute Skype chats with book clubs that have read one of their books!  Visit the authors' websites for contact information and more on their books. 

Kate Messner
Jo Knowles
Jessica Burkhart
Neesha Meminger
Mitali Perkins
Brendan Halpin
Carrie Ryan
Mary Rose Wood
Saundra Mitchell
Gwendolyn Zepeda
Crissa-Jean Chappell
Cynthia Leitich-Smith
Julie Berry

Note: I'm updating on my lunch hour here and will add more authors/websites tonight, so don't worry if you contact me to be added and don't see it appear right away!