I'm no longer posting new things here. Come follow me over at sabodeen.tumblr.com And Happy 2015!

Read my guest post about why I think writers need to hear no, and also enter to win a copy of The Fallout.
http://www.booksnob-booksnob.blogspot.com/

I wrote a lot in 2013. A lot. 5 complete novels, about 240,000 words. But I also read a lot in 2013. A lot. Only about a third of the books ended up on my Goodreads page but by my estimate, I read about 90 books. And here's my confession: only about half were YA. The rest? Adult novels. Some were even GASP literary fiction. (I know. Dirty words among some of the YA crowd.) Here's the thing: adult fiction is GOOD. And I won't apologize for reading it and loving it. I write YA, I love reading YA, BUT my best book list of 2013 is comprised of grown-up books. In no particular order:

This one slayed me. Slayed me. "New Bremen, Minnesota, 1961. The Twins were playing their debut season, ice-cold root beers were selling out at the soda counter of Halderson’s Drugstore, and Hot Stuff comic books were a mainstay on every barbershop magazine rack. It was a time of innocence and hope for a country with a new, young president. But for thirteen-year-old Frank Drum it was a grim summer in which death visited frequently and assumed many forms. Accident. Nature. Suicide. Murder.

Frank begins the season preoccupied with the concerns of any teenage boy, but when tragedy unexpectedly strikes his family— which includes his Methodist minister father; his passionate, artistic mother; Juilliard-bound older sister; and wise-beyond-his-years kid brother— he finds himself thrust into an adult world full of secrets, lies, adultery, and betrayal, suddenly called upon to demonstrate a maturity and gumption beyond his years. "



This one was epic,gut wrenching, and powerful. "Two doctors risk everything to save the life of a hunted child in this majestic debut about love, loss, and the unexpected ties that bind us together.“On the morning after the Feds burned down her house and took her father, Havaa woke from dreams of sea anemones. Havaa, eight years old, hides in the woods and watches the blaze until her neighbor, Akhmed, discovers her sitting in the snow. Akhmed knows getting involved means risking his life, and there is no safe place to hide a child in a village where informers will do anything for a loaf of bread, but for reasons of his own, he sneaks her through the forest to the one place he thinks she might be safe: an abandoned hospital where the sole remaining doctor, Sonja Rabina, treats the wounded. Though Sonja protests that her hospital is not an orphanage, Akhmed convinces her to keep Havaa for a trial, and over the course of five extraordinary days, Sonja’s world will shift on its axis and reveal the intricate pattern of connections that weaves together the pasts of these three unlikely companions and unexpectedly decides their fate."


Larry Watson's "Montana 1948"is one of m favorite books EVER, so when I saw this, I knew I had to get it. It broke my heart. "Dalton, North Dakota. It’s September 1951: years since George and Margaret Blackledge lost their son James when he was thrown from a horse; months since his widow Lorna took off with their only grandson and married Donnie Weboy. Margaret is steadfast, resolved to find and retrieve her grandson Jimmy — the one person in this world keeping James’s memory alive — while George, a retired sheriff, is none too eager to stir up trouble. Unable to sway his wife from her mission, George takes to the road with Margaret by his side, traveling through the Dakota badlands to Gladstone, Montana. When Margaret tries to convince Lorna to return home to North Dakota and bring little Jimmy with her, the Blackledges find themselves entangled with the entire Weboy clan, who are determined not to give up the boy without a fight."
A friend had been telling me to read this for a while. Finally did. So good. "They had nothing in common until love gave them everything to lose . . .
  Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has barely been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex–Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.  Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.A Love Story for this generation, Me Before You brings to life two people who couldn’t have less in common—a heartbreakingly romantic novel that asks, What do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart?
This is the first fiction by the author of The Glass Castle and Half-Broke Horses (two of the best books I've ever read).
It is 1970 in a small town in California. “Bean” Holladay is twelve and her sister, Liz, is fifteen when their artistic mother, Charlotte, a woman who “found something wrong with every place she ever lived,” takes off to find herself, leaving her girls enough money to last a month or two. When Bean returns from school one day and sees a police car outside the house, she and Liz decide to take the bus to Virginia, where their Uncle Tinsley lives in the decaying mansion that’s been in Charlotte’s family for generations.
An impetuous optimist, Bean soon discovers who her father was, and hears many stories about why their mother left Virginia in the first place. Because money is tight, Liz and Bean start babysitting and doing office work for Jerry Maddox, foreman of the mill in town—a big man who bullies his workers, his tenants, his children, and his wife. Bean adores her whip-smart older sister—inventor of word games, reader of Edgar Allan Poe, nonconformist. But when school starts in the fall, it’s Bean who easily adjusts and makes friends, and Liz who becomes increasingly withdrawn. And then something happens to Liz.

So I could keep going, but I'll stop here. I have more grown-up books to read. Shhhhhhhhhhhh... Read the rest of this post

So no sooner had I typed The End on my NaNo book Saturday morning, than I quickly got ready to head down to my local bookstore, Chapter 2 Books. I am not a salesperson. I suck at selling things in general. I've never even been very good at bake sales, where delicious things should be able to sell themselves. But on Saturday, I shoved aside the introvert, determined to help sell some books.
Chapter 2 is a cozy store on the main street of downtown Hudson, Wisconsin, a town on the St. Croix river, just over the bridge from the Twin Cities. Their shelves are full, with as much selection as the space allows. When I left nearly four hours later, I had experienced many persuasive moments:
-A mother wanted books for her 12 year old daughter : left with a hardcover of Scarlet by Marissa Meyer, she also ordered a hardcover Cinder, and bought copies of The Compound and The Raft.
-A woman wanted a good book for Xmas break: left with a hardcover of Gone Girl
-A woman wanted Xmas presents for her parents: left with two books for her mom (forgot what I talked her into)and ordered Dr. Sleep for her dad.
-Talked my friend Bobbi into Cutting for Stone
-Talked a lady into The Silver Star by Jeannette Walls.
-A mom wanted books for her 10 year old boy: left with two copies of The Compound, one for her son, one for his class
-A mom wanted books for her two sons: left with The Compound, The Fallout, and two other YA's I convinced her to buy
-A mom trying to buy her daughter a book. Daughter is 14, reads everything, I kept handing her book after book. No luck. Finally, handed her Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo. She wanted it and they ordered Shadow and Bone. Her mom took The Compound for her brother. Then, the girl asked for The Fault in our Stars. They were sold out, but I said, "Wait!" I grabbed The F**k It List by Julie Halpern. Girl read the back. Score!
-Older guy has read everything. Was leaving empty-handed when I saw Larry Watson's brilliant Let Him Go. I grabbed it and waved it in the air. "You read Montana 1948?" Guy turned around. I said,"This is his new one. It is so good." He said, " I gotta have that."
So yay! I was not dead weight. I talked a lot of people into a lot of books,and even shamelessly sent every copy of my books out the door. Maybe I missed my calling...

Whew. Today marks November 30, the end of National Novel Writing Month. And, for the first time since 2006, I did it! I passed 50k and finished my novel this morning. Many of the words were written in airports and on planes and in hotel rooms, but the book is done. As I happily note all the NaNo'ers tweeting about their victory, I am also bracing myself for the onslaught of naysayers. The ones who say things like: "Anything you write in 30 days is crap." Well, I'm here to say that most first drafts are crap. But here's my take on it: I recently got a new book deal with Feiwel and Friends for two more YA novels, the first of which is The Detour. I sold the book based on a synopsis, so it still had to be written. Given that it is due in March, that meant I needed to start writing soon. So I did. I spent all of November drafting The Detour. That first draft will suck, yes. But I would rather spend only 30 days on the draft than have it languish over the holidays and into the new year, and then it is February and I'm still not done and I've spent 4 months on a piece of crap draft.
Guess what, naysayers? Thanks to NaNo, I have a completed draft of The Detour. And it is not entirely crap, because every day I went over everything else I had written before starting in again. So Chapter One has been revised at least 30 times, Chapter Two at least 29 times, Chapter Three at least-- well, you get it right? Yes, the last week of writing needs a lot of help, but I AM DONE WITH THE DRAFT. I can now spend the next few months revising and perfecting, versus sitting here thinking, "OMG, I have to write the draft."  So thank you NaNoWriMo! A heavily revised version of The Detour will hit bookshelves Fall 2015.

http://www.tor.com/stories/2013/08/the-fallout-excerpt

Last year when I signed on to write a middle grade series with Feiwel and Friends, billed as a cross between Lost and Swiss Family Robinson, Jean Feiwel suggested I read Swiss Family Robinson. I immediately went to my shelves to see if I had it. I thought I had a copy somewhere but couldn't find it, so I downloaded an e copy. So fast forward a year and the first book of the series is in copy edits and the second is with my editor. But believe me, I've been tuned into everything Swiss Family Robinson for over a year now. So today I was starting to pack up some of my books for our impending move in August. I have a lot of old books. A lot. So only part of me was surprised when I found this:And it had this inscription:Martin Stuve was my grandfather, my dad's dad. He was killed in a horrific accident when my dad was little, leaving my gramma with three little kids. (She then did the biblical thing and married his brother. So my Grampa Manley was actually my great-uncle.) I never knew Martin's birthday before today when I saw this. I was born two days after what would have been his 60th birthday. I think I just figured out the dedication to the first book of the series.

A while ago I got this email from a teacher:

Good Morning!
I teach 10th grade English to students with learning disabilities, mild cognitive disabilities, and emotional disabilities.  It is close to impossible to find a novel that all are interested in and will actually participate in discussion about.  I begged and begged my director and she was able to purchase me a class set of your novel, The Compound.  It's such a pleasure to teach this novel!   ALL my kids listen while I read and have much to discuss, which never happens.  They even groan and complain when we have to stop reading or class is over.  I've even had two of my copies come up missing and two students who checked it out of the library for their parents to read.  I wish I could convey to you how unusual this is!  I teach the core curriculum, the same standards, as a general education class and it is very difficult for my students.  They are now working on these standards and don't even realize it because they are so excited about his story.  THANK YOU!

A few weeks later, I had a library event in her city and she came to see me. She was so sweet and I hugged her and offered to Skype with her students. Here’s the thing: I reserve the right to charge or not charge for my Skypes. This gets me into trouble with other authors, but would you be able to get a letter like that and then not do the Skype simply because they don’t have a budget? I’m not that person and I never will be. So today was the Skype. And those kids were great. They had a million questions and made me laugh, and I made them laugh too. I was so glad I took the time. And then I got this email:

Thank you so much!   Of course, after we hung up they started talking a mile a minute.  They're such good kids and this is the first time many of them have finished a book or even liked reading.  Our system's superintendent and assistant superintendent were here also.  The assistant superintendent said she'd have to get us The Fallout so that we can read both next year.    I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone!!

I can't thank you enough for the excitement you have brought to English class.  This will be a lasting, good memory for my kids who have so few things to be excited about.

So yeah. That was pretty much a really good use of my time. And it reminded me of why I do what I do.

I'm thrilled to announce I'll be part of the Fierce Reads Tour in the fall. Marissa Meyer will be the guest on our leg. I'll keep you posted on the cities...

Check it out: www.stonecrowns.com   

Today I received this email from a teacher: I teach 10th grade English to students with learning disabilities, mild cognitive disabilities, and emotional disabilities.  It is close to impossible to find a novel that all are interested in and will actually participate in discussion about.  I begged and begged my director and she was able to purchase me a class set of your novel, The Compound.  It's such a pleasure to teach this novel!   ALL my kids listen while I read and have much to discuss, which never happens.  They even groan and complain when we have to stop reading or class is over.  I've even had two of my copies come up missing and two students who checked it out of the library for their parents to read.  I wish I could convey to you how unusual this is!  I teach the core curriculum, the same standards, as a general education class and it is very difficult for my students.  They are now working on these standards and don't even realize it because they are so excited about his story.  THANK YOU!

http://www.psla.org/assets/Documents/Awards/PA-Young-Readers-Choice/MasterList2013-2014.pdf

Yesterday was Day Nine of working on the new novel. About seven last night, just shy of 54,000 words, I typed The End. Of course, now I'll spend a lot of time revising, over and over, but I am still amazed at the fact I wrote a novel in nine days. A novel with characters that I have come to love despite only spending a week with them. ( And believe me, there are characters I spent a few years with and still can't stand.) Sunday was my biggest day, with the word tally being just under 10,000 after about nine hours of writing. My shoulders were knots of steel by Sunday night. So let me put this in perspective: Typically, it takes me anywhere from six to nine months to a year to write 50,000 words. I aim for 1,000 a day, but often do not come close to that. Which is what makes this nine day writing frenzy so absolutely out of character for me. I procrastinate. I am easily distracted by television, snacks, and books written by other people. I like to take naps. But this story just wouldn't let me go. I couldn't sleep at night because the voices were yelling out the scenes in my head. There were times when I felt the thing was writing itself and I couldn't type fast enough to keep up. (Another thing about me? Crappy typist.Horrible.) I don't know what it is about this story, but it just wanted to be told, I guess. Whether or not it ever ends up on a bookshelf remains to be seen, but I will be sure to let you know. For now, I'm hoping the voices are silenced.

Starting to write a new novel is hard for me. One reason is that I have probably just completed one, which I spent at least several months, maybe even years, writing. So to set aside that world and move on to another isn't easy. Plus there's that word count. If I just spent the last year reaching 10k, then 20k, then 30, 40, 50, etc., it is so freakin' hard to look at a blank screen and start over with zero words. So hard.
Last week, I sent in a novel to my editor. It's part of my middle grade series, but it was on a deadline, so that had been my priority the last few months. This week, I pulled out a novel that I'd written back in 2011 for a contract, but it was (very wisely) pushed aside for The Fallout, the sequel to The Compound. So this novel had been sitting with my agent and we recently had a long conversation about what it needed. It took me a few days to process his thoughts, but then I started revising, ended up adding about 7000 words, and sent it back to my agent on Monday. I kinda twiddled my thumbs, then pulled out a picture book that had come close soooo many times and spent Monday revising that and sent it to my agent as well.
Then came Tuesday...what to do?
I've had a title kicking around in my head for almost fifteen years. I had no idea if the title was for a YA or MG or what and never had any idea what to do with it. So Tuesday I typed out the title on the blank screen and started writing a new YA. This was three days ago. A little while ago, I just hit 11,000 words. I have no idea what's going on with me, but yesterday I literally typed until my vision started swimming and I knew I was gonna get a migraine if I didn't stop. This story, after only three days, is consuming me. I think about it in the shower, when I'm cooking, when I'm running. It won't let me go. So I'm gonna just keep typing and see what happens. I will let you know. 

My friend illustrator Lauren Stringer http://artistand3cats.blogspot.com tagged me in The Next Big Thing. The next book I have coming out is the paperback of:

1)      What is the working title of your next book?

The next book I have coming out is the paperback version of The Raft, my young adult novel that was released in hardcover in August.

2) Where did the idea come from for the book?

I spent about three years living out on Midway Island. To get there, we took a small turbo-prop plane, which took about five hours over nothing but ocean. I was always worried the thing would go down.
3) What genre does your book fall under? Young adult
4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

Wow, well, there are basically two characters: 15-year-old Robie, and twenty-something Max. There are flashbacks to Max in high school, so an actor who could do younger and bit older. Dreaming here, of course: I would love to see the novel be a movie and there are any number of people who would be perfect for each part.
5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Robie takes the flight to Midway, which crashes halfway there, leaving her in a raft in the middle of the ocean.
6) Who is publishing your book?

Feiwel and Friends, a Macmillan imprint
7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

About a year, I think. It was painful, I didn’t think I was ever going to finish. But I always go through that stage with my books.
8)What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I had a friend tell me, “Hey! You’ve written a female Hatchet!” Not that I would dare put my book in the same category as Hatchet, but for fun we did start calling it Hatchette after that.

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book? My experiences on Midway contributed a lot to the story. I didn’t have to research the setting because I had lived it. All the flora and fauna and wildlife was second nature to write about.
10) What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?

The book is on the 2013 TAYSHAS high school reading list in Texas and was named a 2013 YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers.

A while ago, my husband and I were hanging out and he said, "You know what? I never thought about this before, but you have to deal with a lot of crap. You have way thicker skin that I ever thought you did."  He then went on to tell me he had discovered Goodreads ( he is not much of a reader, so he went on there for the sole purpose of looking up my books) and was shocked at some of the things people said about my books. (And me personally, although they do not know me.The internet makes people brave.)  And I told him, "That is why I no longer look at my books on Goodreads."
He then went on to say he wanted so badly to reply to some of the especially mean ( yes, I used that word, because it is accurate in some cases) ones. He didn't of course, which I was glad of. Because Goodreads is what it is. It should be about people sharing opinions on the written word, but it has become a place for passive aggressive people to share all that pent up frustration or whatever, which means turning the bashing of authors and books into an art form.
Listen. I was a reader looooooong before I was an author. Loooooooong before. So yes, I post books on Goodreads. But when I don't like one, I would never consider putting something like: "This author should kill themself because they are the worst writer in the world!" ( Or as one Goodreads reviewer wrote after reviewing The Compound: "Her bio says she is a teacher. I guess what they say about teachers who can't is true!"  Yeah, that was the one that taught me my lesson about reading about my books on Goodreads.) 
Instead, I am careful to be kind and straightforward and always add something to the order of : "This wasn't for me, but I'm sure many other readers will like it..." Because that is the truth. Books I love are hated by many. And vice-versa. So this is what blows me away about Goodreads: that one person will say "This is terrible! I hated it!" And upwards of fifty people will reply with a "Oh, I'll take it off my list." Seriously? What kind of sheep...er...reader actually doesn't read a book they want to, just because someone else hated it?  Not a real reader, that's what I think. If there's a book that looks interesting to me, I treat it as a secret that I need to discover. If my forty closest friends ( I don't actually have that many close friends, but you get what I mean) tell me "Oh, that book sucked..." I will still pick up that book and read it, because I haven't been let in on the secret yet. That is what a real reader does.
So I have learned not to mind when a reader hates one of my books. But when other people, who have not even opened the fricking cover, dismiss it as well? That is where I really need the thick skin.

I'm so excited that The Raft has been named to the 2013 Tayshas reading list in Texas. The book is in some amazing company, because there are some fabulous and very much talked about books on the list.


http://www.txla.org/groups/tayshas

I was in Louisville last week, speaking on a panel at the Spalding University MFA residency. On the way home, I checked my mail at the Salt Lake City airport and discovered The Compound had won the 2011-12 Indiana Young Hoosier Award. I was born in Indiana, many eons ago, plus we lived in IN from 2000-2002, so it is very cool to win the award in the state of my birth. (Plus, The Hunger Games won last year, so there you go...)

Sometimes when you search for my books using the name I use on my picture books, Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen, this book comes up.



I have no idea why, but in the description under authors, my name is there. Once I went to a school and a teacher handed me a stack of books to sign. This book was in the stack. For the life of me, I could not convince her I had nothing to do with it. "Amazon listed it under your books." I managed to sneak it under the stack so I didn't have to sign it.
I get why she would think that. But I didn't help write it. Honestly. I would claim ownership if I had, believe me. I just feel a little bad for Mary Reed and Eric Mayer, the real authors, who probably wonder who the interloper is that always gets listed as the third author. They probably have voodoo dolls with my name on them. I know I would if someone else got credit for writing one of my books... 

Last week was a bit roller coaster, because I did get this great news before I got the bad news I recently posted about.
The Compound has won the 2011 Nebraska Golden Sower Award. Here are the winners and runners-up for all three age groups...

http://www.goldensower.org/index.htm

The Hunger Games won last year which puts me in some very fine company. I'll be heading to Omaha in October to accept the award at the state library conference. ( And they have posted the nominees for next year. I'm happy to see April Henry's Girl Stolen on the list. Great book you should read if you haven't.)

Piracy, in terms of copyright violations, "includes the unauthorized storage, reproduction, distribution, or sale of intellectual property." Which includes books. For my purposes, and this post on my blog, this particularly applies to the unauthorized distribution of the electronic copy of the galley of The Raft, which will not be released until August. Here is a screen shot from the website Share Term Papers.


As you can see, The Raft has been down loaded 61 times. Of course, this was March 7, so I can only imagine how many more times it has been downloaded since then. Share Term Papers does have an Author Opt Out list, so you can put your name on there and this will not be allowed on the general boards. Of course, this happened on the private boards, and you can see the bold-faced Please do not repost on STP or any other site.
And apparently, Net Galley denied Book_Fiend an electronic copy of The Raft ( for review purposes only) , so she went on here to get it. I don't think that's the way Net Galley intends for their review copies to be used. I did a bit of looking around, and found a book of Lauren Myracle's that had been downloaded 45 times.  Now you are probably thinking, "Oh well, 45 copies, 61 copies. No biggie." My books don't sell a million copies. I am not wealthy. Nowhere close. And I have a kid in college this year and will have two next year. But the royalties from 61 copies might buy a week's worth of groceries. Or fill up the gas tank once, maybe twice. Maybe buy a textbook for one of my kids. In this economy? That makes a difference.
Honestly? I believe with all my heart that none one of these people would have gone out and dropped $16.95 on The Raft when it comes out. Does that mean they should get to read it for free when most of my friends and relatives will wait until August? Hell no.
And I'm not going to sit here without at least letting people know this crap is going on with a  lot of people's books.

There's a website called Share Term Papers. Apparently, they are also sharing lots of books, including the PDF galley of my not-yet-released book The Raft. And plenty of other people's books. Yes, they have an Author Opt Out list. But that only applies to the general boards, and they do whatever they want on the private boards. Someone was nice enough to alert me to this and took screen shots of The Raft being offered to anyone who wants it. Did I mention the book isn't even published yet?  The board I managed to get on was requesting, and getting, books by Lauren Myracle and others. The Lauren Myracle book had been downloaded 45 times. Wow. That can't be legal, can it? Please share this with whomever you think might want to know they may be a victim. Because there isn't another name for it, is there?
An addendum: The ARC of my book has been downloaded 61 times. Half my family has not even read the book yet! 

So, this just hit Publisher's Marketplace, so I guess I can share:

THE RAFT and THE COMPOUND author S.A. Bodeen's first four volumes of a first middle grade series, pitched as "Swiss Family Robinson" meets "Lost," about a recently-blended family on a sailing trip in the South Pacific as a bonding adventure for the new step-siblings and step-parents, when things go terribly wrong, to Jean Feiwel and Liz Szabla at Feiwel and Friends, in a six-figure deal, by Scott Mendel at the Mendel Media Group (world).

A couple of years ago, I read this:


The Marbury Lens by Andrew Smith is one of my favorite novels of the past couple of years. It's dark and sinister and not easy to read. It's freakin' scary. If you haven't read it, because you've been too busy reading about vampires and witches and teenagers- that- are- dead -but -somehow -still- manage- to- narrate- an- entire- book-while-wearing-fashionable- clothing, you need to get it. Because it is a great read.
But I'm soooo excited, because my UPS dude, Kelly, just dropped this off.


Passenger by Andrew Smith. The sequel to one of my favorite books of the past few years. It doesn't come out until October. Yes, I despise when people do this. "Oh snap. Lookie what I've got. But you can't read it for three years yet, because it's not out, but I have a galley because I'm cool like that." I despise that. So here I am, doing a despicable thing. Only because I have been dying to get my hands on this ever since I heard it was going to happen. So I did what any respectable reader would do: begged my editor, who happens to be Andrew's editor, to send me one. And, wonderful person that she is, she sent me one . Along with a note saying Buckle up tight. It's a dangerous ride.
 ( I don't do this very often. Beg for a galley. In fact, I do it much less than often. Maybe once a year I beg for a galley I want to read.) I didn't do this so I could lord it over you all who don't have a copy. (Because those of you who live near me will certainly be knocking on my door to borrow it and I will let you. Maybe.) I wanted the thing so I can read it, because if I had to pick only novel, YA or other, to read in 2012? This one would be it. And I don't want to wait until October. So forgive me for doing that which I despise. But hey, may I just say, "Oh snap. Lookie what I've got...."