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Author of the young-adult thriller Shock Point, as well as five other mysteries and thrillers.
Number of Readers that added this blog to their MyJacketFlap: 34
By: April Henry,
on 4/10/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: the girl who was supposed to die, dueling covers, Add a tag
By: April Henry,
on 4/10/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: the girl who was supposed to die, Add a tag
By: April Henry,
on 4/9/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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By: April Henry,
on 4/6/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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By: April Henry,
on 4/4/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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By: April Henry,
on 4/1/2013
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By: April Henry,
on 4/1/2013
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By: April Henry,
on 3/22/2013
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By: April Henry,
on 3/22/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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By: April Henry,
on 3/21/2013
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By: April Henry,
on 3/20/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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By: April Henry,
on 3/19/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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By: April Henry,
on 3/12/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: bridget zinn, bridget, poison, Add a tag
Maybe it would have been worth a little discomfort. She was completely exposed standing on the riverbank in her undergarments, the grass prickly beneath her bare feet.
Why did she have to be wearing these underthings?
A breeze caught at her shift and set the ribbons trembling. She briskly rubbed her hands over her arms to warm them up and bent down to her clothes.
Not only were they the most ridiculous, feminine, beribboned bit of foolishness that ever existed, but they’d been a gift from Princess Ariana.
Ariana had specially commissioned them for Kyra’s fifteenth birthday the fall before, and she’d embroidered them herself. In none-too-neat stitching the word kitty— Ariana’s nickname for Kyra—was stitched across the left bosom of the waist-length shift. On the right bosom was a horribly stitched cat. It appeared to be winking. Or suffering some sort of nervous facial tic. A ribbon wrapped around the torso and tied into a fat bow beneath the breasts, and below that was a whole panel of see-through lace that ended just beneath her belly button. And the lower half was almost worse—cut off high on the thigh and festooned with ruffles all across the bottom.
And of course you can guess that someone sees Kyra in this ridiculous and revealing outfit. Someone male.
Bridget's last Facebook post read: "Sunshine and a brand new book. Perfect."
So that’s what I’m bringing you today: A little bit of metaphorical sunshine from talking bout Bridget and Bridget’s brand new book!
Celebrate the book
By: April Henry,
on 3/2/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: napes, dueling covers, Add a tag
By: April Henry,
on 2/27/2013
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By: April Henry,
on 2/22/2013
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As the year wore on, I lost two more friends, Bridget Zinn and Craig Warner.
In 2011, I also had deadlines that I honestly did not know how I would make. I worked so hard that I didn't even remember what I used to do on evenings and weekends. I winced when it was sunny because the sunlight threw into relief just how dirty, dusty, and disorganized things had gotten
I declared February 23, 2012 the start of a new year.
I said I hoped to not go to any more memorial services. And I didn't. I did have two people very close to me diagnosed with breast cancer. A third got very sick for a month and the doctors worried it was cancer - but it wasn't. (They still aren't quite sure what it was.) where I hope to not go to any memorial services.
I said I would read more for pleasure. To be honest, I sucked. I'm trying again, though. Right now I'm reading The Tenth of December.
I said I would live out the single resolution I made for 2012: “Less and more.” I wanted to go big with my family, my friends, my books, my fitness. I did pretty good! I wrote tons, I got my orange belt, and lately I've been running as fast as I did ten years ago.
I also wanted to cut out the clutter in my life, chuck all the little things that don’t add anything. And today I went through all my closets and asked myself if honestly I would wear everything. I said no to a lot of things. I should have said no to more, but its a start.
Here’s to a new year!
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By: April Henry,
on 2/18/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: mom, life, Add a tag
My grandmother came to visit and later went for a walk. She bounded back into the house, calling, "Nora, guess what?" She was so excited that my mom thought she must have figured out some way to solve their problems. Instead, she handed my mom a rock, exclaiming excitedly over how round it was.
After she left, my mom laughed until she cried (or maybe it was cried until she laughed). She carried that rock in her purse for years, and there were times there was no money in the purse, just the rock. But she always said, if all else failed, she had a round rock.
In my family, it's an honor to go through hard times and earn your round rock. So if you're in need of a round rock today, think of this one as yours.
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By: April Henry,
on 2/16/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: death, life, dad, pain, Add a tag
No one at the hospital suggested we stop aggressively treating my 80-year-old father. Even as test after test came back negative, even as he continued to deteriorate. He asked my brother Joe where Joe was, asked my mom what time the curtain would go up, and thought it was 1902.
He had long suffered from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, his life a narrow circle from bed to living room, navigated by his walker. There were times his brown eyes were full of love, and times when they were blacker, lost, blank. Then a sudden illness began to ravage his body. In the hospital, he was put on three antibiotics. Still his skin was so clammy from fever that each new nurse recoiled when she first touched him.
I made a list of questions for his doctor – What was my father’s diagnosis? His prognosis? Why did his white blood count keep climbing? Why did he cry out whenever they moved him? And a few days later I added - What could we stop? - to my list of unanswered questions.
A series of problems
To the hospital staff, my father was no longer a person, but a series of problems. His unrelenting diarrhea indicated a bowel infection. But when the sigmoidoscopy turned up negative, the specialist only shrugged when I asked what was wrong. “Who knows why?” I wrote down carefully. The doctor who admitted Dad concentrated on getting his fever down. The nurses wanted to see if my father was ‘oriented.’ “Hank?” one cajoled him, prodding his shoulder while he stared at me with sagging, rheumy eyes. “Hank, do you know who this young lady is?”
I wanted to tell her to stop poking him, to leave him alone, to stop us both looking at each other with embarrassed eyes. Finally, my dad mumbled something like “Mary once or twice.” Or was it Merry? Or Marry?
My name is April.
He slept more and more, sometimes moaning. When he woke, he might say a few words, and I would think, I have to remember this. These might be his last words. And then he would mumble something else.
Planning for events we knew wouldn't happen
The social worker and discharge planner discussed the options with us, which I dutifully wrote down. If my father got better and seemed capable of rehabilitation, he could go to a skilled nursing facility. This was meant, the discharge planner explained, strictly to be transitional. Dad would have to be able to participate in physical therapy. At this point, my father couldn’t participate in rolling over. Parkinson’s had frozen his legs. When he was first admitted, Joe had tried to push Dad’s legs, hovering a few inches above the bed, down onto the mattress – at least until my father screamed.
If Dad didn’t meet the criteria for a skilled nursing facility, he could go to a nursing home. Or home to my mother, who had already injured her hip and back trying to lift him – from the toilet, the bed, the bath, the chair. And that was when he knew who she was, where he was.
Even as it became clear that he would probably never be coherent again, never walk again, never be anything more than a confused, bed-ridden person waiting for pneumonia to settle into his lungs, no one talked about just – stopping. Not the doctors, not the nurses, not the social worker. My dad talked about it without words. Even when coaxed, he ate nearly nothing. He closed his mouth and turned his head. His body began to forget how to swallow even water.
There was one horrible day when dad began crying out in pain - luckily my mom was at the bank getting into their safe deposit box - and I could not get the nurses to speed along the process for getting morphine. I would go out and beg, and the nurse would chirp that she had paged the doctor. Then I would have to go back to the room, go back to his muffled screams.
If you had a cat this sick...
My brother and I started to have conversations that began, “If you had a cat this sick…” and then our words would trail off. What kind of children were we?
We finally steeled ourselves to talk with my mom. She found my dad’s living will. Step by step, it spelled out all possible interventions. And in all cases, my dad had initialed that he did not want them. My father’s final gift was to take the decision out of our hands, or at least make it easier for us to release him.
Now we had to tell the hospital personnel. I found his young nurse and told her we wanted to stop everything, including the IV fluids. With wide eyes, she said, "Then your father’s going to have to drink a lot more!" Feeling like the angel of death, I explained what I meant. We wanted my father to die. The doctor grasped it more quickly. But why hadn’t he brought it up himself? He had a copy of my father’s living will. He knew my father’s wishes.
On the fourth day of no IV fluids and no antibiotics, my brother called me. The doctor had been by and said Dad’s heart and lungs sounded good. I felt awful. No matter how
A few hours later, my father died. My mother was holding his hand, with classical music playing softly in the background. I realized he died the way he would have wanted, and the way he lived, quietly and with dignity.
About the last thing my father said to me was, “You learn how to do it just by doing it.” And he was right. My father learned how to die, and we learned how to fight, not for his life, but for his right to die.
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By: April Henry,
on 1/24/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: revising, writing advice, Add a tag
If you’re a writer, what kind of things do you do when you’re revising?
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By: April Henry,
on 1/28/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: laini taylor, writing advice, Add a tag
By: April Henry,
on 1/31/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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By: April Henry,
on 2/1/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Of course, it hasn't been all sunshine and lollipops. Thank God I've got health benefits from my husband, but everything else I pay for out of pocket (like retirement) or simply don't have. This past year was the first where I made more than I did at my day job There have times when I have done the math and wondered exactly how we were going to pay the mortgage.
But you know what? It has worked out. I've had five books published since I quit, including The Night She Disappeared and Girl, Stolen. Two more will publish this year, including The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die. I've got contracts for three more. There have been foreign sales, movie options, and books chosen for the Scholastic Book Club, the Junior Library Guild, and many state reading lists.
And I am so much happier!! All day long I get to kill people (or at least make them worried they might be killed) and it is so much fun. And if some of those people occasionally bear a passing resemblance to an old boss or annoying co-worker, I’m sure that’s a coincidence...
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By: April Henry,
on 2/5/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: dueling covers, Add a tag
By: April Henry,
on 2/7/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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By: April Henry,
on 2/12/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: self-publishing, money, self-pubbed, Add a tag
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Author of the young-adult thriller Shock Point, as well as five other mysteries and thrillers.
Statistics for So many books, so little time
Number of Readers that added this blog to their MyJacketFlap: 34
By: April Henry,
on 4/10/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: the girl who was supposed to die, dueling covers, Add a tag
By: April Henry,
on 4/10/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: the girl who was supposed to die, Add a tag
By: April Henry,
on 4/9/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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I am so excited about this book. I hope everyone loves it as much as I do. About the book (releasing June 13, 2013)
“Take her out back and finish her off.”
She doesn’t know who she is. She doesn’t know where she is, or why. All she knows when she comes to in a ransacked cabin is that there are two men arguing over whether or not to kill her.
And that she must run.
This nail-biting thriller involves murder, identity theft, and biological warfare. Follow Cady and Ty (her accidental savior turned companion), as they race against the clock to stay alive.
Awards and honors
Audio rights sold to Brilliance.
German rights sold.
Turkish rights sold.
Complex Chinese rights sold.
Reviews
"A thrill-packed story with twists and turns you'll never see coming. Hop on board for an adrenaline-fueled ride!"
- New York Times bestselling author CJ Lyons
"The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die had me from the first page: a psychological mystery wrapped in a thriller with a smart and resourceful heroine. Great read!
- Alexanda Sokoloff, screenwriter and bestselling author of The Harrowing
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By: April Henry,
on 4/6/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: dueling covers, Add a tag
By: April Henry,
on 4/4/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: dueling covers, Add a tag
The first one's even one of mine (or half mine - look for name in teeny-tiny type in Lis's last L. Our girl looks more sneaky.
By: April Henry,
on 4/1/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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By: April Henry,
on 4/1/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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All I have to do before April 15 is:
- Finish writing a book. That is not nearly done enough.
- Write a blog post for the International Reading Association (IRA).
- Plan my talk for IRA.
- Plan three days of school visits.
- Book a car.
- Book a hotel.
- Figure out how to pack seven days of clothes plus two computers into carry-on luggage.
- Answer fan mail.
- Finish my taxes.
- See the doctor.
- See the physical therapist.
- See my kid's doctor.
- Do FAFSA for my kid's college.
- Take my friend to get her cancer surgery.
- At least consider going to someone's book launch party.
- Go to a free concert my friend is hosting for everyone who has helped her fight cancer.
Piece of cake, right? Or should I say write?
By: April Henry,
on 3/22/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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By: April Henry,
on 3/22/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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By: April Henry,
on 3/21/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: girl stolen, awards, Add a tag
Just got my Black-Eyed Susan award from the State of Maryland for Girl, Stolen. I think it's supposed to be a serving tray, since there's no hanger on the back. Maybe next time we have people over I'll put crackers on it and act surprised when they notice what it is. "Oh, is that for an award?"
By: April Henry,
on 3/20/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: graphic novels, Add a tag
Julie Kagawa is working with Bluewater Comics to turn her book THE IRON KING into a four-part Manga/graphic novel series.
Publishing comic books is a pricey endeavor (no surprise there), so they're trying to raise the funds to cover the costs up front. Initially, they had a very ambitious Kickstarter campaign -- but not being Veronica Mars, they didn't make it. So they adjusted the budget, found ways to cut costs significantly, and have relaunched on Indiegogo. They still have a ton of awesome prizes for anyone who contributes -- and they have a much more attainable goal. But because they lost all the Kickstarter pledges, they're having a hard time getting our numbers back up.
They need YOUR help letting readers know about THE IRON KING Manga project, and asking them to contribute whatever they can. Even $1 will help them reach their goal.
They need YOUR help letting readers know about THE IRON KING Manga project, and asking them to contribute whatever they can. Even $1 will help them reach their goal.
The Indiegogo campaign can be viewed here: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-iron-king-manga-series
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By: April Henry,
on 3/19/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: matter of trust, Add a tag
Today is the release day for the first in my new series with Lis Wiehl: A Matter of Trust.
About the book
It all starts with a phone call from the dead.
Mia Quinn is on the phone with Colleen, her best friend and coworker, when the unthinkable happens: she hears the sound of a gunshot. And Colleen's death is an eerie echo of the murder of another Seattle prosecutor who was also gunned down at home four years earlier.
Mia’s life has already been turned upside down by the recent death of her husband. Now a single parent to a teenager and a toddler, she is struggling to hold on to their house. Meanwhile, her son has turned moody and secretive, and her daughter is suffering from mysterious nightmares.
When the DA asks her to head up the investigation into Colleen’s death and its connections to the earlier murder, Mia agrees—if he’ll also let her investigate the suicide of a teenager who may have been bullied to death. Partnered with irascible homicide detective Charlie Carlson, Mia finds that many people could have wanted Colleen dead, including people in Mia's life she thought she could trust.
As Mia races to figure out who gunned down Colleen in cold blood, she uncovers more secrets than she bargained for. Has she been wrong to trust those closest to her?
Will she put the pieces together before it’s too late? A Matter of Trust is a riveting tale of love, loyalty—and murder.
Reviews
"This suspenseful first in a new series from Wiehl and Henry (Eyes of Justice and three other Triple Threat novels) opens with a bang. While Mia Quinn, a prosecutor in the King County (Wash.) district attorney's office, is on the phone with a fellow prosecutor, Colleen Miller, someone shoots Colleen dead. Mia's boss, DA Frank D'Amato, asks her to lead the investigation into Colleen's death, which could have a link to the murder of another prosecutor four years earlier. Meanwhile Mia is also working the case of a bullied teenager who committed suicide, and trying to raise her teenage son and preschool daughter, as well as coping with her husband's death. Trust becomes the centerpiece--who deserves it and the betrayal that trust sometimes leads to--in a story full of twists and turns that also offers a hint of future romance for Mia."
- Publishers Weekly
"An exciting new series with prosecutor Mia at the center. The mystery is engaging and not easy to figure out. The side storyline about bullying is timely and will hit close to home for many."
- Four stars, Romantic Times
"A Matter of Trust is a thoroughly satisfying mystery, well paced and tightly written. Mia and Charlie are intriguing characters, and readers can hope they’ll return in future novels."
- CBA Retailers + Resources
By: April Henry,
on 3/12/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: bridget zinn, bridget, poison, Add a tag
Meet my friend Bridget Zinn. 
This week marks the release date of Bridget's first book. She died from colon cancer in 2011, when she was just 33. She not only wrote about magic, but she looked pretty magical herself. She had beautiful red hair and that creamy skin you only see on redheads. The inside matched the outside. She had a sense of mischief, and a sense of joy. If I had to use one word to describe Bridget, it would be vibrant.
When she was first hospitalized but before they knew exactly what was wrong, she and her boyfriend Barrett got married right there in her hospital room. They kept getting married in what they called The Summer of Love. Everything was the occasion for a party, like the “Fatten Bridget up for Chemo Party” with all kinds of decadent treats. And Bridget kept her sense of humor, even when she was in the emergency room with some frightening complications and another woman tried to claim that SHE was actually Bridget Zinn. As they fought the cancer, Barrett and Bridget spent long hours in various waiting rooms and hospital rooms, and I’m proud to have suggested many quality online time killers, like CakeWrecks.com and DamnYouAuto Correct.com.
About the book
This week marks the release date of Bridget's first book. She died from colon cancer in 2011, when she was just 33. She not only wrote about magic, but she looked pretty magical herself. She had beautiful red hair and that creamy skin you only see on redheads. The inside matched the outside. She had a sense of mischief, and a sense of joy. If I had to use one word to describe Bridget, it would be vibrant.
When she was first hospitalized but before they knew exactly what was wrong, she and her boyfriend Barrett got married right there in her hospital room. They kept getting married in what they called The Summer of Love. Everything was the occasion for a party, like the “Fatten Bridget up for Chemo Party” with all kinds of decadent treats. And Bridget kept her sense of humor, even when she was in the emergency room with some frightening complications and another woman tried to claim that SHE was actually Bridget Zinn. As they fought the cancer, Barrett and Bridget spent long hours in various waiting rooms and hospital rooms, and I’m proud to have suggested many quality online time killers, like CakeWrecks.com and DamnYouAuto Correct.com.
About the book
Horn Book says: "Sixteen-year-old Kyra is a girl with more than her share of secrets. Living in the world of witches, dwarves, potion masters, shape shifters, and the like, she is reluctant to trust anyone, even her best friend and the future queen, Ariana. Readers learn early on that Kyra has attempted to murder Ariana, and we spend the rest of the book trying to figure out why Kyra shot a deadly potion at her…and why, when she has never missed a target, she missed that one. Twists and turns, including dramatic cliffhanger chapter endings, quick getaways, disguises, tricked-out witches, a princess-seeking pig, and one especially clever and handsome boy make this a fine rollicking adventure from start to finish. The author's use of thoroughly modern language in a magical setting adds to the charm. The characters are complicated and act in flawed human ways, making mistakes in judgment that make the plot twists all the more realistic. Kyra and Ariana are strong girls in the Vesper Holly tradition—not giving in to sexist social requirements and, thank goodness, never fighting over Fred, the love interest. Zinn has crafted a marvelous tale, more Harry Potter than Twilight. Readers will be sad that, due to her untimely death, Zinn's more-than-promising debut novel will be her last."— Robin L. Smith, The Horn Book
A taste of Poison
A taste of Poison
Here’s part of my favorite section of Poison:
Kyra stripped off her black thieves clothing, feeling like she was taking off a layer of armor between herself and the world. Her clothes had been treated with potions to repel water, but it was better not to get them wet at all—she hated the feeling when pockets of water got trapped between the fabric and her skin. She’d end up taking them off to get dry anyway.
Maybe it would have been worth a little discomfort. She was completely exposed standing on the riverbank in her undergarments, the grass prickly beneath her bare feet.
Why did she have to be wearing these underthings?
A breeze caught at her shift and set the ribbons trembling. She briskly rubbed her hands over her arms to warm them up and bent down to her clothes.
Not only were they the most ridiculous, feminine, beribboned bit of foolishness that ever existed, but they’d been a gift from Princess Ariana.
Ariana had specially commissioned them for Kyra’s fifteenth birthday the fall before, and she’d embroidered them herself. In none-too-neat stitching the word kitty— Ariana’s nickname for Kyra—was stitched across the left bosom of the waist-length shift. On the right bosom was a horribly stitched cat. It appeared to be winking. Or suffering some sort of nervous facial tic. A ribbon wrapped around the torso and tied into a fat bow beneath the breasts, and below that was a whole panel of see-through lace that ended just beneath her belly button. And the lower half was almost worse—cut off high on the thigh and festooned with ruffles all across the bottom.
And of course you can guess that someone sees Kyra in this ridiculous and revealing outfit. Someone male.
Bridget's last Facebook post read: "Sunshine and a brand new book. Perfect."
So that’s what I’m bringing you today: A little bit of metaphorical sunshine from talking bout Bridget and Bridget’s brand new book!
Celebrate the book
There's an online Shindig party tomorrow night (kind of like Skype but for an audience from all over). It's Tuesday, March 12, 8:30-9:30 pm, Eastern Standard Time : http://shindig.com/event/bridgetzinn
If you live in Portland, there's a great event at A Children's Place Bookstore on Saturday, March 16, featuring: Carolyn Conahan, Virginia Euwer Wolff, Ruth Feldman, Susan Fletcher, April Henry, Victoria Jamieson, Rosanne Parry, Sara Ryan, Lisa Schroeder, Inara Scott, Laini Taylor, Jen Violi, Emily Whitman and Johanna Wright. Purchase a book that is signed by all!
You can win the book
If you live in Portland, there's a great event at A Children's Place Bookstore on Saturday, March 16, featuring: Carolyn Conahan, Virginia Euwer Wolff, Ruth Feldman, Susan Fletcher, April Henry, Victoria Jamieson, Rosanne Parry, Sara Ryan, Lisa Schroeder, Inara Scott, Laini Taylor, Jen Violi, Emily Whitman and Johanna Wright. Purchase a book that is signed by all!
You can win the book
On Indiebound
On Amazon
On Barnes and Noble
Want to know more about Bridget or how you can help spread the word?
Then click here.
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On Amazon
On Barnes and Noble
Want to know more about Bridget or how you can help spread the word?
Then click here.
By: April Henry,
on 3/2/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: napes, dueling covers, Add a tag
By: April Henry,
on 2/27/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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What’s your favorite punctuation mark? Mine is the em-dash, although I’m afraid I overuse it. (Or should I say - although I'm afraid I overuse it?)
Read other authors’ choices here.
By: April Henry,
on 2/22/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: beginnings, Add a tag
Two years ago, February 23, 2011, was the worst day of my life (at least so far). First, I got a bad piece of publishing news. And then I got an even worse piece of publishing news. (I don’t feel comfortable sharing what these were, but I guess the takeaway is that even after publishing more than a dozen books, not everything goes your way. In the second case, I was seriously worried about my career.) I was so freaked out that I just forwarded the second piece of news to my agent instead of calling her.
A few minutes later, the phone rang. I was so sure it was my agent that I didn’t even check Caller ID.
But it wasn’t Instead, it was LK (Lisa) Madigan’s husband with the news that she had died from the pancreatic cancer that had been diagnosed just eight weeks earlier.This all happened in the space of a couple of hours.
As the year wore on, I lost two more friends, Bridget Zinn and Craig Warner.
In 2011, I also had deadlines that I honestly did not know how I would make. I worked so hard that I didn't even remember what I used to do on evenings and weekends. I winced when it was sunny because the sunlight threw into relief just how dirty, dusty, and disorganized things had gotten
I declared February 23, 2012 the start of a new year.
I said I hoped to not go to any more memorial services. And I didn't. I did have two people very close to me diagnosed with breast cancer. A third got very sick for a month and the doctors worried it was cancer - but it wasn't. (They still aren't quite sure what it was.) where I hope to not go to any memorial services.
I said I would read more for pleasure. To be honest, I sucked. I'm trying again, though. Right now I'm reading The Tenth of December.
I said I would live out the single resolution I made for 2012: “Less and more.” I wanted to go big with my family, my friends, my books, my fitness. I did pretty good! I wrote tons, I got my orange belt, and lately I've been running as fast as I did ten years ago.
I also wanted to cut out the clutter in my life, chuck all the little things that don’t add anything. And today I went through all my closets and asked myself if honestly I would wear everything. I said no to a lot of things. I should have said no to more, but its a start.
Here’s to a new year!
By: April Henry,
on 2/18/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: mom, life, Add a tag
I found this round rock today while I was running. When I was a toddler, my mom was having a difficult time. My dad was working at an all-news radio station that was going down the tubes (and would soon become an all-rock-and-roll station). My dad had chased jobs across four states, and they were so broke they couldn't even afford a stroller.
My grandmother came to visit and later went for a walk. She bounded back into the house, calling, "Nora, guess what?" She was so excited that my mom thought she must have figured out some way to solve their problems. Instead, she handed my mom a rock, exclaiming excitedly over how round it was.
After she left, my mom laughed until she cried (or maybe it was cried until she laughed). She carried that rock in her purse for years, and there were times there was no money in the purse, just the rock. But she always said, if all else failed, she had a round rock.
In my family, it's an honor to go through hard times and earn your round rock. So if you're in need of a round rock today, think of this one as yours.
By: April Henry,
on 2/16/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: death, life, dad, pain, Add a tag
Today would have been my father's 90th birthday.
Ten years ago, my family made a decision we have never regretted. Ten years ago we asked that my father be allowed to die.
Ten years ago, my family made a decision we have never regretted. Ten years ago we asked that my father be allowed to die.
No one at the hospital suggested we stop aggressively treating my 80-year-old father. Even as test after test came back negative, even as he continued to deteriorate. He asked my brother Joe where Joe was, asked my mom what time the curtain would go up, and thought it was 1902.
He had long suffered from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, his life a narrow circle from bed to living room, navigated by his walker. There were times his brown eyes were full of love, and times when they were blacker, lost, blank. Then a sudden illness began to ravage his body. In the hospital, he was put on three antibiotics. Still his skin was so clammy from fever that each new nurse recoiled when she first touched him.
I made a list of questions for his doctor – What was my father’s diagnosis? His prognosis? Why did his white blood count keep climbing? Why did he cry out whenever they moved him? And a few days later I added - What could we stop? - to my list of unanswered questions.
A series of problems
To the hospital staff, my father was no longer a person, but a series of problems. His unrelenting diarrhea indicated a bowel infection. But when the sigmoidoscopy turned up negative, the specialist only shrugged when I asked what was wrong. “Who knows why?” I wrote down carefully. The doctor who admitted Dad concentrated on getting his fever down. The nurses wanted to see if my father was ‘oriented.’ “Hank?” one cajoled him, prodding his shoulder while he stared at me with sagging, rheumy eyes. “Hank, do you know who this young lady is?”
I wanted to tell her to stop poking him, to leave him alone, to stop us both looking at each other with embarrassed eyes. Finally, my dad mumbled something like “Mary once or twice.” Or was it Merry? Or Marry?
My name is April.
He slept more and more, sometimes moaning. When he woke, he might say a few words, and I would think, I have to remember this. These might be his last words. And then he would mumble something else.
Planning for events we knew wouldn't happen
The social worker and discharge planner discussed the options with us, which I dutifully wrote down. If my father got better and seemed capable of rehabilitation, he could go to a skilled nursing facility. This was meant, the discharge planner explained, strictly to be transitional. Dad would have to be able to participate in physical therapy. At this point, my father couldn’t participate in rolling over. Parkinson’s had frozen his legs. When he was first admitted, Joe had tried to push Dad’s legs, hovering a few inches above the bed, down onto the mattress – at least until my father screamed.
If Dad didn’t meet the criteria for a skilled nursing facility, he could go to a nursing home. Or home to my mother, who had already injured her hip and back trying to lift him – from the toilet, the bed, the bath, the chair. And that was when he knew who she was, where he was.
Even as it became clear that he would probably never be coherent again, never walk again, never be anything more than a confused, bed-ridden person waiting for pneumonia to settle into his lungs, no one talked about just – stopping. Not the doctors, not the nurses, not the social worker. My dad talked about it without words. Even when coaxed, he ate nearly nothing. He closed his mouth and turned his head. His body began to forget how to swallow even water.
There was one horrible day when dad began crying out in pain - luckily my mom was at the bank getting into their safe deposit box - and I could not get the nurses to speed along the process for getting morphine. I would go out and beg, and the nurse would chirp that she had paged the doctor. Then I would have to go back to the room, go back to his muffled screams.
If you had a cat this sick...
My brother and I started to have conversations that began, “If you had a cat this sick…” and then our words would trail off. What kind of children were we?
We finally steeled ourselves to talk with my mom. She found my dad’s living will. Step by step, it spelled out all possible interventions. And in all cases, my dad had initialed that he did not want them. My father’s final gift was to take the decision out of our hands, or at least make it easier for us to release him.
Now we had to tell the hospital personnel. I found his young nurse and told her we wanted to stop everything, including the IV fluids. With wide eyes, she said, "Then your father’s going to have to drink a lot more!" Feeling like the angel of death, I explained what I meant. We wanted my father to die. The doctor grasped it more quickly. But why hadn’t he brought it up himself? He had a copy of my father’s living will. He knew my father’s wishes.
On the fourth day of no IV fluids and no antibiotics, my brother called me. The doctor had been by and said Dad’s heart and lungs sounded good. I felt awful. No matter how
much I reasoned with myself – But he can’t even swallow! But he’s too weak to even sit up! But he has a catheter and keeps having attacks of diarrhea on his bedclothes! – I would
think, maybe we should have tried harder.
A few hours later, my father died. My mother was holding his hand, with classical music playing softly in the background. I realized he died the way he would have wanted, and the way he lived, quietly and with dignity.
About the last thing my father said to me was, “You learn how to do it just by doing it.” And he was right. My father learned how to die, and we learned how to fight, not for his life, but for his right to die.
By: April Henry,
on 1/24/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: revising, writing advice, Add a tag
I am feverishly working on a revision of a book that is due January 31. This is the start of a new series, so it needs to hook readers and keep them.
Here are some of the things I’m doing or thinking about:
- If I had time, I would let the book sit. Nothing like weeks (or even better, months) to give you the distance you need to see your work clearly.
- I asked a couple of people to look it over. I knew one of the problems was pacing, so I asked them to especially think about that.
- Since there are multiple points of view, I'm reading all of one character’s sections to make sure the voice stays the same.
- Is there anything in summary that I could show?
- Could this information be better conveyed in dialog?
- Have I appealed to all five senses?
- Have I slowed down scary scenes (as opposed to speeding them up)? Slowing down is actually more suspenseful in a tense scene.
- I will spend the most time on the last third of the book, which hasn’t been as polished as the first few pages.
- Looking at each chapter, I'm asking:
- What is the exciting thing that happens?
- Are there any surprises?
- Is the character in any type of danger?
- How can I tighten it? Ideally, how can I get the chapter under (well under) 2000 words?
- Does the chapter end on a cliff hanger?
If you’re a writer, what kind of things do you do when you’re revising?
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By: April Henry,
on 1/28/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: laini taylor, writing advice, Add a tag
I love these writing tips from my friend Laini Taylor. My favorite is #2:
“Never sit staring at a blank page or screen. If you find yourself stuck, write. Write about the scene you’re trying to write. Writing about is easier than writing, and chances are, it will give you your way in. You could try listing ten things that might happen next, or do a timed freewrite.”
Read all her tips here.
By: April Henry,
on 1/31/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: bookscan, Add a tag
An article in Forbes (which seems to be a UK-version of Forbes) takes a look at Bookscan, which claims to track 80% of physical book sales in the US.
Maybe that 80% is right for some authors, but not for me, perhaps because it doesn’t count library sales. For one of my books, the Bookscan number was only 22 percent of what it really sold. That’s a far cry from 80 percent.
The article suggests that Bookscan might be becoming obsolete.
By: April Henry,
on 2/1/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Add a tag
Five years ago today was my very last day working for someone else, after having worked for a variety of someone elses for years and years. I had a contract coming my way for a nice chunk of change, and I figured it was now or never.
So I gave notice and packed up my emergency makeup (I occasionally dealt with the media), my snack stash, my photos, and the little cup where I kept spare change. I said goodbye to a lot of folks and tried not think to hard about whether I was crazy to quit when the stock market had lost 40 percent of its value and I hadn't actually signed said contract.
Of course, it hasn't been all sunshine and lollipops. Thank God I've got health benefits from my husband, but everything else I pay for out of pocket (like retirement) or simply don't have. This past year was the first where I made more than I did at my day job There have times when I have done the math and wondered exactly how we were going to pay the mortgage.
But you know what? It has worked out. I've had five books published since I quit, including The Night She Disappeared and Girl, Stolen. Two more will publish this year, including The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die. I've got contracts for three more. There have been foreign sales, movie options, and books chosen for the Scholastic Book Club, the Junior Library Guild, and many state reading lists.
And I am so much happier!! All day long I get to kill people (or at least make them worried they might be killed) and it is so much fun. And if some of those people occasionally bear a passing resemblance to an old boss or annoying co-worker, I’m sure that’s a coincidence...
By: April Henry,
on 2/5/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: dueling covers, Add a tag
By: April Henry,
on 2/7/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: success, Add a tag
When Matched came out and almost immediately became a bestseller, a lot of people thought Ally Condie was an overnight success. Many people thought Matched was her first book.
But neither of these things was true. “So, with three best-selling books in three years, it appears that Ms. Condie, 34, has just suddenly hit the jackpot. In an interview before a recent program for teens in Bethesda, Md., however, she is quick to correct the record, noting that she earlier had published five novels for teens with a small, religious-focused publisher, Deseret Book Co., in her home state of Utah before even beginning "Matched."
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/ae/books/childrens-corner-ally-condie-reached-for-success-and-finally-got-it-665817/#ixzz2GU54UNra
By: April Henry,
on 2/12/2013
Blog: So many books, so little time (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: self-publishing, money, self-pubbed, Add a tag
Some people who are self-published make hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Many more make a few dollars.
Some who buy a high-priced package of services for self-publsihing may end up losing money.
Some get a glowing review from the New York Times' Michiko Kakutani. (Who, as Annie Lamott once said:" The one little problem with Michiko, though, is that if she doesn't like your book, she will kill you -- cut your head off with a surgical knife, and play hacky-sack with it until she grows bored. Then, maybe in the last paragraph, she'll pour acid on it.") (Read more about her here.)
Most never get noticed.
And no one really knows why something like 50 Shades of Grey is a huge success.
When I got my first contract in 1997, the only people who self-pubbed were deluded fools who ended up with boxes of books in their basement. I still meet people who have paid thousands to have their picture book published with cheap materials and bad drawings. (Often, sadly enough, they seemed to be suckered in by a company that claims to be Christian.)
I've seen people break with traditional publishers, and people who have had success self-publshing happily sign with one of the Big Six (or is it Big 5 now?).
Recently, I've read two interesting articles about self-publishing.
One lengthy one in Time magaizne says, "Its an article of faith in the indie movement that writing fiction can be a way to get rich."
Here's a link to a pdf of the article called The 99-Cent Bestseller. he author they profile earned $352.70 in nine months. Not get-rich-quick stuff.
NPR also covered self-publishing, including looking at the prices people pay for help in getting their book in e-print.
I have put all my backlist out as ebooks. I seldom earn more than $300 a month. But hey, it's free money (I did the formatting and my husband did the covers), and it means that people are still reading my older books.
My ebooks and another ebook that for some reason isn't showing up when I click Kindle.
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