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We've had crazy weather on Lake Champlain this week. First, it was a snowstorm that dumped about a foot of snow at my house and way more in places like southern Vermont.  And it was a heavy, wet snow that somehow managed to turn the shoreline area of Lake Champlain into a sort of slushy swirl.  This photo doesn't entirely capture it, but this was something I'd never seen before.  That's not ice...it's floating snow-slush.



Last night, it rained, and the wind blew what was left of the lake ice near our house into a sparkly sculpture on the shore.



It's beautiful in the morning sun, and almost makes up for our missing skating rink...but not quite.

I know the winter weather is continuing for many of you today. I hope wherever you are, you're warm with a good book!

When the sun came up over Lake Champlain yesterday, there was a solid layer of ice from my house to the island about a mile off shore.  This time of year, we watch the lake with great interest because if it freezes the right way -- with no ripples or snow or big chunks of ice sticking up -- then our backyard is suddenly many, many acres larger.  When the ice gets thick enough, we love skating and cross country skiing out on the lake. 

And so we watch.  And wait.  But there are some false starts.  Often, the lake freezes and then breaks up again a number of times before it stays frozen.

When I left for school yesterday, I had a feeling it would probably be one of those "not-really" days.  Sure enough, when I got home, the lake was striped with dark cracks, with water seeping up into the new snow.



We went outside for a bit and listened.  The lake was chirping as the wind picked up and the bigger pieces fractured.  Little by little, tiny waves bit away at the ice.



We listened and watched until it got too dark and too cold, then went in for dinner. And this morning...



Open water. And we start all over again.

Okay...so this isn't really Ernest. 

This is one of the many local tributes to Lake Champlain's resident monster, Champ. And the reason I am looking so happy and grateful is because my agent sold my new picture book to Chronicle Books.  ERNEST McSEAMONSTER WANTS TO GO HOME, the story of an unhappy seamonster's first day in a new school (of fish), is tentatively scheduled for publication in spring/early summer of 2011. 

For those of you who write and like long stories with happy endings, the version of this book that just sold was an 11th draft, and the editor had it in her possession for 11 months before everything finally came together this week.

I'm very lucky that my agent is good with details like contracts and clauses and things, because honestly, all I can think about is what a fun outdoor story-time we are going to have on the lake shore in 2011.  Launch party at the beach, anyone?

Big news from Lake Champlain this week... Our local media has picked up the story of a Vermont man who videotaped a mysterious-looking something apparently swimming in the lake near Burlington over the weekend.  He shared the video to YouTube.  Is it a really big dog?  A deer? Could it be Champ, Lake Champlain's resident monster?


Still from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YT49LQMxthg

People are naturally skeptical, and at least one scientist has suggested that it actually looks like a moose in distress.  I can't say for sure what's swimming through the water in this shot.  But I can say that it's very different from my own experience with the legendary Champlain monster. 

That's right...I've seen the lake monster. I don't talk about it much (because I'm afraid of getting those looks that I always used to give people who talked about seeing lake monsters).  But the creature I saw was longer -  probably 15-20 feet, with bumps along its back, and its head didn't stick out of the water so much.  I've seen it twice.

The first time was late spring of 2003.  I was making dinner, and my son called to me from the living room. 

"Mom.... What's that?"  He stared out the window, and when I saw what he was pointing at, I stared too.

"Well..."  About 60 yards offshore, I could see a series of small bumps in the water that stretched out for at least fifteen feet.  And the whole thing was moving.  Swimming.  There was a small wake behind it.

"Well," I said again.  "I think...uh...."  The thing turned in the water, and the bumps snaked around.  It straightened out and swam a little closer to shore. "Well...I think that's what people see when they say they see Champ."

We rushed outside and stood on the seawall, watching it swim back and forth for at least five minutes. Then it sank below the surface and disappeared.   About an hour later, my husband came home for dinner.

"What's new?"  he asked.

"We saw Champ," my son told him.

"Right..."  No matter how many times we insisted it was true, he shook his head and laughed.  Until the following week.

"Hey, Kate?"  he called from the living room window.  "Is that what you saw the other night?"

There it was again.  This time, we all ran outside, along with a dozen people from the birthday party that was going on next door.  The creature was just the same...bumps protruding from the water just a little...and easily 20 feet long. 

And then... a second creature appeared, looking just the same, but swimming in the opposite direction.  They crossed paths, back and forth several times, and didn't even seem to acknowledge one another.  Were they feeding on a school of fish?  What were they?  No one left to get a video camera; we were sure they were about to disappear.  But they stayed for another ten minutes, swimming back and forth. And then swam off.

Were they lake creatures left over from centuries past?  Was each long creature really just a few giant sturgeon, swimming in perfect single file?

I don't know.  And part of me... likes not knowing.  I love living here, for the mountains and cool still water, for the historical shipwrecks and musical waves.  And for the mystery.   I love that Lake Champlain still has some secrets she's not giving up just yet.

The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum is an amazing resource for lake history, so when their educators asked if I'd be part of a book club for families, I jumped at the chance.  I love the way they've scheduled the book club event to coincide with the museum's Native American Encampment so kids will get to see and touch so many of the things they read about in Champlain in the Silent One -- right down to a replica of a birch bark canoe.  Here's the flyer... Feel free to share the link if you know families that might be interested!

The ice on Lake Champlain is floating north in giant puzzle pieces today.





Some of these ice slabs are enormous -- maybe 30 feet long.

There is a tiny part of me that thinks it would be fun to put on a big orange survival suit, climb onto one of them, flop down on my belly, and float all the way to Canada. 



But all the other parts of me get cold easily and have vetoed that idea. 

"Beside," my 11-year-old said, "Waves slosh over those ice chunks all the time, and I think they'd wash you off before you got to the border."

Instead, I'll be in the big chair by the window, watching the ice float north without me while I read Eric Larson's Thunderstruck with a cup of hot chocolate.

We had a lazy morning on Lake Champlain.  When I woke up, the lake was frozen solid from our back deck to the island about a mile offshore.  When the wind picked up, it churned up the open water to the south, and the ice started talking.

Sometimes, when the ice breaks up, it sounds like a timpani drum.  Sometimes it sounds like thunder. Sometimes it sounds like a sea lion barking.  And sometimes, it sounds like something from another planet -- something that doesn't sound like an earth noise at all.

So we shivered on the porch this morning and listened.  We watched a mink that popped up from a crack in the ice and played for about an hour before she disappeared again.  And we videotaped, so you could listen and watch, too. 

Sometimes it can be hard to wait.  I'm feeling a little impatient about the books of 2008 for a few reasons.

As a writer, I'm feeling impatient because my second MG historical novel, Champlain & the Silent One,  is still seven months away from the shelves.  It's off being edited and illustrated now, so all my work is done, except the waiting.  I can't wait to see the illustrations and the cover, and I really can't wait to start talking with kids at schools & libraries about Samuel de Champlain and the tribes who guided him on his voyage from Quebec to Lake Champlain 400 years ago.

As a reader and teacher, I'm excited for a whole roundup of 2008 titles from favorite authors & friends & other writers whose work I've heard about and can't wait to read.  I've been lucky enough to get sneak peaks of some of them, like Linda Sue Park's Keeping Score, which I reviewed here. This one is so unbelievably good that I've decided it's a crime not to pass it along so someone else can read it and love it and hopefully talk about it, too.

So here's the contest.  I'm giving a way my pre-read and somewhat well-traveled ARC of Keeping Score.  I won it in a drawing on cynthialord's blog a few weeks ago and asked Cindy if she'd be okay with me giving it away again.  The ARC traveled with me to the Kindling Words retreat in Vermont last week, where Linda Sue Park (lsparkreader) graciously signed it for the giveaway.  It's not a shiny, perfect, unread-by-human-eyes ARC, but it is signed and got to hang out with the likes of Linda Sue and Laurie Halse Anderson and Sara Zarr and Katie Davis and Jane Yolen and other wonderful people.  It's an ARC with lots of good karma.

If you'd like to be entered the drawing, just leave a comment below with the title of one 2008 release that you can't wait to read.  The contest ends at 6pm EST on February 13th.  I'll figure out some bizarre and random way to choose a winner and announce it here on my blog on Valentine's Day.

NOTE: This blog is a continuing dialog between the two faces of rilla. The identity crisis is explained (if such a thing is possible) in the first edition. Click here to read: 1 -- Introduction

Rilla: WHAT?
rilla: What…what?
Rilla: What’s with the title …?
rilla: Title...?
Rilla: Uh-huh…the NIGHT ARTHUR LEVINE CAME TO MY HOTEL ROOM? Excuse me…?
rilla: Oh…that…
Rilla: Yes… that…WELL…?
rilla: Will you stop yelling in my ear…you’re giving me a headache.
Rilla: I’LL STOP YELLING IF YOU TELL ME WHY ARTHUR LEVINE WAS IN YOUR HOTEL ROOM…
rilla: OK…it’s a deal.
Rilla: How about if you start… right about… now…
rilla: OK…I was in the illustrators’ portfolio competition show pavilion at the conference…you know the SCBWI Summer Conference and…
Rilla: …and…?
rilla: Will you stop breathing down my neck…it tickles…
Rilla: …and…?
rilla: and Jim…the illustrator…you know Di Bartolo…the one who did those gorgeous illustrations for The Faeries of Dreamdark : Blackbringer…you know…Laini Taylor’s husband…
Rilla: What’s he got to do with this…I don’t want to talk about Laini and Jim…I want to hear about Arthur Levine…
rilla: Why? You have something against Laini and Jim…
Rilla: NO! YOU NITWIT…NUMBSKULL…NINNY…
rilla: Hey…you promised not to yell if I told the story…
Rilla: I’ll stop yelling IF you tell the story…
rilla: OK…all right…well Jim called me over and introduced me to Arthur A. Levine…you know…the editor of the Harry Potter series…
Rilla: I KNOW HE’S THE EDITOR OF THE HARRY POTTER SERIES…
rilla: Well…he’s also going to be the editor of a new illustrated novel by Laini Taylor and Jim Di Bartolo called Goblin Fruit…
Rilla: sniff…sniff…sob…
rilla: Now what…you’re blubbering? You’re upset Laini and Jim wrote an illustrated novel…
Rilla: You …sniff…are just sniff … a SADIST. I can’t take the suspense anymore. Did Arthur Levine come to your hotel room or not?
rilla: Yes… he did.
Rilla: And…?
rilla: You keep interrupting me…I’m telling the story…I’m the tale-spinner… you’ve got to let me tell the story the way I want to… without interruptions…OK?
Rilla: …
rilla: OK?
Rilla: ….
rilla: Well? Do we have an agreement or not?
Rilla: I don’t want to say anything you’ll construe as an interruption…
rilla: Whatever…where was I …?
Rilla: Jim introduced you to Arthur Levine in the illustrators’ pavilion…
rilla: Yes…Where’s your room, asked Mr. Levine…
Rilla: Oooh…where’s your room? Just like that?
rilla: Fifth floor I said…not far…come along…
Rilla: What?
rilla: So we hopped in the elevator…
Rilla: Bet it was packed…everyone staring at Arthur Levine…
rilla: No…no…just the two of us…
Rilla: Did you tell him about your writing…?
rilla: Well…he asked…what do you write…?
Rilla: And…what did you say…?
rilla: Fantasy… expectant look from Mr. Levine...Yes...?
Rilla: Fantasy…?
rilla: When it was clear nothing more was forthcoming...he asked... What kind of fantasy…?
Rilla: And you said?
rilla: Middle grade and YA...another expectant look...but it wore off quicker than the first... turning into one of disbelief, so I quickly interjected...
Rilla: Yeah…yeah…you interjected... you said something brilliant and hooky about Crystal Coffin with Amy the roller-blading, red-haired flute prodigy, and you talked about your YA fantasy with a flavor of India blended with the dreamscape of Australia and … Kalpa… gutsy… stubborn Kalpa and…
rilla: Ummm …I said … blup blup bluppity bluppity*
Rilla: Blup...blup...Wait a minute... are you telling me you had Arthur Levine ask you to talk about what you were writing and all you could say was blup blup…?
rilla: Ummm… we'd gotten to my room by then...
Rilla: Well at least you gave him what he came for…?
rilla: Said he’d left his at home…
Rilla: Oh…
rilla: So I pulled mine out…and he looked at it…and he said…
Rilla: Yeah… ?
rilla: Nope…
Rilla: Nope…?
rilla: Won’t fit.
Rilla: Won’t fit?
rilla: Not the right shape.
Rilla: Not the right shape?

THUNK THUNK

Rilla: Hey…stop knocking on my head.
rilla: Just trying to get rid of the echo in here…
Rilla: What wouldn’t fit?
rilla: The power cord to my laptop wouldn’t fit his…he forgot his own power cord at home.
Rilla: Oh…oh…didn’t he say anything else?
rilla: Yeah…he said, Sorry for disturbing you…to my illustrator roommate…
Rilla: Oh…what’s that you’re working on now…?
rilla: I’m writing a query letter…
Rilla: To Arthur Levine?
rilla: The same…I’ve decided to send him my manuscript…
Rilla: There’s one thing you’d better NOT say in that letter…
rilla: What’s that?
Rilla: Blup blup bluppity bluppity…if you do…he’s sure to say it’s NOT A GOOD FIT!
rilla: Nah… I’m going to let the manuscript do the talking for me.


* This is the mermaid's song in Steve's, of my writing group, amazing Mermaid Tale...and I figured a mermaid's song would work... sorry I borrowed it Steve ...I should have known... the mermaid only sings for you...;(



On a more somber note...there were two bomb explosions in my hometown of Hyderabad, India, today. I want to send my thoughts and condolences to all the families who lost loved ones in the continuing mindless violence that we humans insist on perpetrating on one another...
...taken from the New York Times

Terror Bombings Kill Dozens in South India

By SOMINI SENGUPTA
Published: August 26, 2007
A pair of synchronized explosions tore through two popular spots in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad on Saturday evening, killing at least 30 people and wounding 60 others in what state officials called a terrorist attack.
The blasts occurred just minutes apart. The first hit an open-air auditorium in a public park during a laser show about the history of Hyderabad, and the second was at a popular restaurant called Gokul Chaat.
No one immediately took responsibility for the attacks; the police gave no information about who might have been to blame.
The bombings were the latest in a series of attacks against economic targets in this country. Hyderabad, with a population of about four million, is one India's prosperous and fast-growing cities, home to many software and biotechnology companies.

NOTE: This blog is a continuing dialog between the two faces of rilla. The identity crisis is explained (if such a thing is possible) in the first edition. Click here to read: 1 -- Introduction



Susan Patron, 2007 Newbery Award Winner and John Green, Michael Printz Award Winner -- Whoa!





Rilla: Umm…
rilla: What?
Rilla: ARE WE EVER GETTING DOWN FROM HERE?
rilla: Oh…I’m still floating…
Rilla: …without a concern for my vertigo…typical…it’s all about you…all the time…
rilla: You don’t like floating? OK, I guess we can…
Rilla: NO!
rilla: Now what? I thought you wanted to get back down to earth…
Rilla: Not here, don’t come down right here…
rilla: Why?
Rilla: There’s a puddle underneath us…
rilla: A puddle?
Rilla: Yeah…all that drooling…
rilla: …drooling?
Rilla: The drooling you did over Kadir Nelson…
rilla: OH…oh…oooohhh…OK then, no problem we can just keep floating…not difficult at all…all I have to do stay up here is to read all the incredible blog posts of all the wonderful people I met and heard at the conference… Click here to go to links

John Green: All Writing is Rewriting
Author: Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines

As hilarious and wise as you would expect of John Green:
“I feel like an elephant who’s been asked to talk about how to be an elephant, to a group of elephants.”

“Writing is as much translation as it is creation.”

About boarding school in Alabama:
“It’s exactly like Hogwarts except for brooms we had beer.”

Some exceedingly vague ideas about writing:

“Never settle for catching small facts when there are bigger truths in the pond.”

“The truth does not lie in artifice.”

“The great book does not happen by accident.”


Emma Dryden: An Editor’s Guide to Writing a Novel
VP and Assoc Publisher of Margaret K. McElderry Books and Atheneum Books for Young Readers

Maintain voice, it must be consistent throughout, ring true and keep the reader hanging on.

“Dialog is action.” The character must come out through talk and action as much as possible.

“10 strong scenes are better than 10 strong scenes plus 2 weaker ones…make choices.”

The details must be memorable, poignant and particular.

Characters and setting should be clear and believable.

A felt novel is a successful novel.

Linda Sue Park and Dinah Stevenson: Beyond the Slushpile
LSP: Author: A Single Shard, Project Mulberry, When My Name Was Keoko
DS: VP and Publisher Clarion Books

Linda Sue Park’s words of wisdom: “If you want to write, you have to read, no exceptions.” So what’s in my To Be Read pile: I'm reading Book Thief, next is Holes, and Elsewhere, Twilight, Hattie Big Sky, Clementine, Beka Cooper, A Single Shard, Millicent Min, Sea of Trolls, Flipped, Sold… Thanks Linda.
More wise words:
“Finish the story.”
“Story is how a character changes as a result of the plot.”

When I’m struggling with two different ways I can resolve an issue in my writing, her smooth steady voice comes to mind: “TRY IT.” Try everything and see what works the best. Thanks Linda.
Dinah Stevenson: “Publishing is a process not an event.”

SeaHeidi

Laini Taylor

Stephanitely

Colorado Writer

Lisa Schroeder

Tammi Sauer

Kid_Lit Kim

Lisa Yee

Disco Mermaids

Day TWO:

Kadir Nelson: Words and Paintings
Illustrator – Henry’s Freedom Box, Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom

Not too many artists are more beautiful in person than their work is. Kadir Nelson is one of them. And that’s not because his art isn’t…beautiful…it’s magnificent.

Some of Kadir’s wisdom:
“When things make you angry, you have a choice of doing something negative or positive about it.” He chose to do something positive…oh yeah!
“Visualize your own success!”
For all those writers who believe they just have to get ‘there’ and then they’ll be made…they’re first book, their first contract, their first publication…according to Kadir “there’s really no ‘there’. You have to keep on working.” Mmm…
While doing research on a story about a slave who escaped in a box, he went down to look at cotton plantations in the south and found that “cotton is really beautiful if you don’t have to pick it!”
When I look back at my notes on his talk, I see a great big ‘WOW’ in red ink by his name and that sums up my impression of Kadir Nelson quite succinctly.

Dinah Stevenson: Inside Clarion
Vice President and Publisher Clarion Books

Clarion is one of the few publishing houses that is completely open to unsolicited manuscripts in their entirety. Manuscripts she is impressed by usually have the following attributes attached to them – creative, distinguished, destined to become a classic!
She says, “if I don’t respond to the work, not all the presentation and packaging can make me buy it.” Some extravagant packaging was on display – artwork that arrived in a plastic orange fish, in a green high-heeled shoe – the packaging is remembered long after the work has been returned and the sender forgotten – OUCH!

Rubin Pfeffer: A Publisher Examines the State of the Industry
Sr. VP and Publisher Simon & Schuster Children’s Trade Publishing

Revenue from sales of children’s books has been and is projected to increase through 2009, however, number of units peaked in 2006 and is declining.

“A great book,” said Rubin, “is one that sends a kid off to read another book.”
Lifelong readers decrease illiteracy.
He exhorts us as writers to follow David Diaz’s advice: “It’s not enough to be yourself, you have to be your best self.”

Rachel Griffiths: How to Catch an Editor’s Attention
Editor – Scholastic, formerly with Arthur A. Levine, an Imprint of Scholastic

Choose the editor to whom you send your manuscript carefully. Look for a match, for someone with the same sensibility as yours. You need to “work with someone you trust.”
Go to bookstores and find the books most similar to yours and look up who edited them.
Resources:
Publisher’s Lunch
Publisher’s Marketplace
Publisher’s Weekly which is free on Thursdays.

Tips for the good query letter:
-- Talk about the protagonist in the protagonist’s voice
-- Write the description of the book in the style of the book, similar to flap copy
-- Editors love for you to talk about the books they’ve done in your query letter.

Things she is interested in: “a really rotten villain,” stories rooted in emotion, voice and character driven manuscripts.

Ellen Wittlinger: How Can a 58-Year Old Write Books For Teenagers (And Why Does She Want To?)
Author – Hard Love, Sandpiper, Parrotfish, What’s in a Name

One of her tips on where to listen to teenagers talk – the Registry of Motor Vehicles!

“You must have memories not just in your head but in your heart and in your gut to sound realistic.”

“The heavy inner life” of your protagonist – the basement – is the foundation upon which we build.

On why she writes about gay and transgender issues:
“Once you know someone, your prejudices fall away.”

And then it was time to PARTY by the light of the silvery moon...

The best roomate in the world -- award winning illustrator, Stephanie Roth!

Zariah the belly-dancing illustrator from Hawaii!

My dance-partner for most of the evening...

LJ Bloggers forever!

Blue Malibu, SeaHeidi

So wonderful to meet the people you blog with. So much to say...so little time.

Stephanie Blake -- Colorado Writer -- Winner of the First Annual Disco Mermaid Scholarship!

Laini Taylor still rocks!

Marie Antionette, winner of the contest!

SCWBI LA rocks!

Gotta love em Disco Mermaids...oops...where did Robin go?

NOTE: This blog is a continuing dialog between the two faces of rilla. The identity crisis is explained (if such a thing is possible) in the first edition. Click here to read: 1 -- Introduction

Lin Oliver opening the conference...

We started out with the faculty traipsing up onto the stage and saying one word they thought important. They were funny, inspiring…, but one raised the bar and set the tone for the rest of the conference…

Susan Patron
Author of The Higher Power of Lucky, winner of the 2007 Newbery Award

“Scrotum”

Then we went into keynote speeches and breakaway sessions. Here are a few tidbits…


(Inspiring) Walter Dean Myers: A Passion for Detail
Author – Somewhere the Darkness, Scorpions, Jazz

What inspires me to write? I want to create a world – be God!
In order to do this convincingly, you the writer need to “give sufficient detail to allow the reader to recreate your world in their minds. The reader needs to recognize the details as truth.”
You must have a passion for details – search for the right details that will make your reader believe in and care for your characters.

(Awesome) Emma Dryden: Sailing Away from the Safe Harbor: Connecting Young Readers with Books in a Media-Driven Society
VP and Associate Publisher of Margaret K. McElderry (pron. Mack-el-dary) Books and Atheneum (A-then-aum) books for Young Readers – imprints of Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

We read stories to explore, to journey, to relax, to escape fear. “If we don’t explore our world with stories, we will cease.”
“Story matters most. Write what you know, write what you feel, write what you care about.”
“The confirmed sailor goes on tacking forever.”


(Hilarious...OK and anal) Tamora Pierce: Developing Cultures in the Fantasy Novel
Author – The Circle of Magic Quartet, The Song of the Lioness Quartet

On why she writes fantasy – “Well, duh, I like magic!”
“The immature artist imitates – the mature one steals!”
Details make the world you create, yet must avoid drowning the reader in them.
Tip: A great resource for researching historical costumes and customs:
Google – Amazon, Pickling and Dry Goods

(Informative) The Panel: Professional Criticism: How to Receive it and What to Do With It
Arthur A. Levine: VP at Scholastic Inc and Editorial Director of Arthur A. Levine Books, Elizabeth Parisi: Exec. Art Director at Scholastic Books, Mark McVeigh: Editor Alladin Paperbacks, Krista Marino: Editor at Delacorte Press in the Random House Books for Young Readers division.

- Think of the editor as an equal who is trying to help you improve your work.
- It is a partnership, be nice!
- Keep an open mind, critiques are meant to help
- Don’t debate.
- Don’t get defensive
- Ask them questions, pick their brain.
- Be willing to take risks.
- DO NOT WEEP!
A. Levine – “It’s not about obedience, it’s about respect”



LJ Bloggers Unite!
Lisa's Little Corner,KidLit-Kim,Tamarack

NOTE: This blog is a continuing dialog between the two faces of rilla. The identity crisis is explained (if such a thing is possible) in the first edition. Click here to read: 1 -- Introduction

Rilla: Today I am interviewing, children’s author, rilla, about a book for young adults she recently read – Faeries of Dreamdark- Blackbringer by writer and artist, Oregon dweller, Laini Taylor.
rilla: Wow, you sound good. Very professional – I think…
Rilla: Ahem. Thank you. So, rilla, what attracted you to Laini Taylor’s book other than the color of her hair?
rilla: Well, I first read about Laini’s book in a rave review on the blog of Fuse#8.
Rilla: I mean – magenta? Really…what exactly would possess…?
rilla: I love magenta.
Rilla: Magenta? For hair…? You’re not thinking what I think you’re…?
rilla: Are you going to ask me a real question …?
Rilla: Sorry?
rilla: A real question about Laini’s book?
Rilla: Umm…OK…ummm…

TAP TAP

Rilla: Will you STOP tapping on my head.
rilla: Can we get the REAL interviewer in here please. This apprentice is wasting my time…?
Rilla: I AM the real interviewer.
rilla: NOT IF YOU DON’T HAVE A QUESTION TO ASK.
Rilla: Wait, wait, I have one…Why would anyone in their right mind read fantasy?
rilla: Sheesh. I’ll just take it from here …
Blackbringer is a tale of an unraveling world – a world that was woven as a dream tapestry by the Djinn masters, where mistakes in the form of devils were locked up in bottles by the faery champion of old, Bellatrix.

So, a thousand years later, why are the bottles coming uncorked and the tapestry failing? Magpie Windwitch, alone of faeries, knows of the devastation caused to the world by a new, undreamed of species, humans. Immune to the ancient spells they are busily opening bottles in the hope of finding a magical being to grant them their wishes. Magpie must follow in their messy footsteps trying to undo the damage. But now they have gone too far.

Someone has opened the one bottle sealed by the Djinn king, Magruwen, himself. The faeries have forgotten the wisdom and lore of their kind in the long peace. They have no idea what the Magruwen thought important enough to leave his mark on. Magpie and her band of cheroot-smoking, gypsy-caravan-toting, play-acting crows must fight an evil that will settle for no less than world annihilation. Before she can defeat it, she must discover what it is, and most importantly, who she is herself. An immense task for a tiny lass – will she manage before it is too late?

Rilla: So does she?
rilla: Does she what?
Rilla: Save the world?
rilla: Read the book.
Rilla: What’s the point of getting you to review it if you won’t tell me how it ends?
rilla: The point is to get you to READ THE BOOK. I recommend it. The magnitude of Laini’s vision transported me into a colorful world of tattooed faeries and nose-picking imps, cursing crows and dastardly devils, and one small, tough faery who won’t take no for an answer. It is a powerful and imaginative creation-myth that brings home to us the destructive nature of our species and the unraveling of our own tapestry or ecosystem. Yet, it gives us the hope that the courage of a few determined individuals, no matter how small, can stop the devastation and begin the healing process. As a reader I was captivated – as a writer I was inspired to follow my own muse the way Laini has done to such effect. Dreams, she insists, are everything.
Rilla: Faeries and dreams, huh? Sounds a bit frou-frou to me.
rilla: It isn’t. The villains are frighteningly real, the tension mounts throughout, the story is every bit as thrilling as you would want. And it proves that strong female protagonists can come in all sizes even ones no larger than will fit comfortably on the back of a crow.

In short, Laini’s book reminded me once again why I LOVE fantasy…

Some of my favorite lines:
“It was an evil bramble, taller than tiptoes and dense as a mermaid’s braid…”
“Batch moved on, a pendulum of drool swinging from his lower lip.”
“It was a formless thing, unfixed, the edges of it bleeding into the night like watercolors on wet paper.”
“In the southern reaches of the great wood, Magpie and the crows sat around a fire with a clan of hedge imps, trading wind songs for scamper ballads and sipping spiced wine.”

Recommended Musical Accompaniment: Afro-Celts: Volume II and Solas
Recommended drink: Spiced Wine…preferably red and from Oregon
Recommended food: Fondue…cheese to be melted on a stick held over a campfire or over the more upmarket version of the campfire…the backyard grill…whichever way…it must be under the stars and moon followed by copious amounts of chocolate.

Laini Taylor's Blog -- Grow Wings

NOTE: This blog is a continuing dialog between the two faces of rilla. The identity crisis is explained (if such a thing is possible) in the first edition. Click here to read: 1 -- Introduction


Weigh in on the debate...leave a comment...see the SCORE so far.

rilla: Just don’t understand how so many people who write for children can say they don’t like fantasy…
Rilla: I hate fantasy…
rilla: You don’t count.
Rilla: Excuse me?
rilla: I said…you don’t count…
Rilla: Well, really, and how do you figure that?
rilla: You ARE fantasy…just a figment of my imagination…poof… and you’re gone!
Rilla: Umm…I’m still here…
rilla: POOF…GONE!
Rilla: Try abracadabra…
rilla: Still here? Oh all right…hang around then…do you like fiction?
Rilla: Of course I like fiction…
rilla: But you don’t like fantasy?
Rilla: HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO REPEAT…?
rilla: OK…I get the point…what do you not like about fantasy?
Rilla: Only the hard facts for me…reality…that’s what I like… none of this airy-fairy…
rilla: Did you say reality?...hard facts?
Rilla: You heard me.
rilla: But you like fiction…
Rilla: Is there an echo in here?
rilla: Help me out …you want hard facts and reality from fiction…can I point out the problem with your logic? Reality, fact, is the antonym for fiction …and speaking of fiction...it’s a very fine line between creating an imaginary character – your standard, normal fiction – and giving her wings and letting her fly a teensy bit farther.
Rilla: Not big on flying,either.
rilla: Huh, a hundred years ago, the idea of flying would have been in the realm of fantasy…
Rilla: Now you’re talking science fiction…not my style.
rilla: Ever stopped to think that what you consider ‘normal’ fiction today includes planes and phones and cell phones and computers and…
Rilla: So? That’s what’s real…none of this winged stuff.
rilla: If you’d lived a hundred years ago, you’d turn your nose up at today’s fiction because it’d be science fiction…but, since you do read today’s fiction, and like it at that, technically, that makes you a fan of science fiction…
Rilla: OK…OK…science fiction’s all right, I guess. Still. I like my fiction to be real.
rilla: So how do you define fantasy then?
Rilla: I like the world I’m reading about to be real…all the rules should be what I’m familiar with…change the rules and you enter the realm of fantasy…
rilla: You mentioned reading The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.
Rilla: Yes, now that’s real.
rilla: Real?
Rilla: Real scary.
rilla: But it’s an imaginary world where all the rules are different…sounds like fantasy to me…
Rilla: The setting’s real…Cambridge…
rilla: You didn’t say anything about setting…you mentioned rules…Take my trilogy for example…it’s set in what is now known as Sydney and Australia…a setting you’re familiar with…just as familiar with as Cambridge…haven’t you ever enjoyed a book set in a location you don’t know anything about?
Rilla: No, no, it’s not the setting…I love new settings…it’s the rules, just because they are unfamiliar and different, doesn’t make it fantasy…
rilla: What does make it fantasy then…?
Rilla: The rules in fantasy are not only different…they don’t have to be consistent…that’s what makes for the problem…
rilla: I see…so the rules don’t have to be real…just consistent…
Rilla: Yes…consistency is the key…real structure…
rilla: I was just reading what Wikipedia has to say about fantasy and I quote: “Within a given work, the elements must not only obey rules, but for plot reasons, must also contain limits…or the story would become unstructured.” In other words, good fantasy has both rules and structure…
Rilla: I still don’t like it…give me an unknown setting with unfamiliar rules and I’ll enjoy it AS LONG AS IT IS REAL!
rilla: Real fiction.
Rilla: Yes.
rilla: So you want your fiction to be just that…fiction.
Rilla: That’s what I said.
rilla: You’re just proving my point…
Rilla: What point?
rilla: ALL fiction IS fantasy!

Weigh in on the DEBATE...
Where do you draw the line in the sand?
Leave a comment: Do you a) Love Fantasy b) Hate Fantasy c) Indifferent d) None of the Above...

The Score so far:
Love Fantasy -- Four -- rilla, LynNerd, Laini Taylor, TBS
Hate Fantasy -- One -- Rilla
Indifferent -- Three -- Sha-do, Fog-gi, C.K.
None of the Above -- One -- LindaBudz

Wikipedia's definition of fantasy
Read about The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

NOTE: This blog is a continuing dialog between the two faces of rilla. The identity crisis is explained (if such a thing is possible) in the first edition. Click here to read: 1 -- Introduction

Rilla: What are you working on now?
rilla: LynNerd has given me an assignment.
Rilla: Is that a euphemism for being tagged with another meme?
rilla: If I say yes will you go for a loop and explode again?
Rilla: I never explode. I have a calm disposition, what they call even-tempered…
rilla: OK then, yes.
Rilla: See…no explosion…you…really…do…me…an …injustice…
rilla: Why are you holding your breath?
Rilla: not…holding…breath…
rilla: You’re going blue…
Rilla: Phoooooo...ooooooooooo...oooooooo...ooo…
rilla: Hey! Isn’t that cool? She just blew away…note to self…discovered a great way to get rid of Rilla…must try more often…OK…where was I. Yes. LynNerd wants me to describe my muse…hmm…let’s see… my muse … my muse… what does my muse look like…my muse…
Rilla: Yes?
rilla: Groan…you back? That was quick…note to self…method not very effective…keep searching.
Rilla: So that’s your ‘assignment’ is it? Your muse?
rilla: Know what a balrog is?
Rilla: A balrog? Never heard of one.
rilla: You know. From The Lord of the Rings.
Rilla: Told you once, told you twice…I don’t do fantasy.
rilla: Oh, you must be buddies with Debra Garfinkle…
Rilla: Now there’s someone who thinks the way I do…fine, fine author…
rilla: Balrogs…
Rilla: Huh?
rilla: We were discussing balrogs.
Rilla: Sigh…if you insist…what is a balrog?
rilla: Something was coming up behind…a great shadow…in its right hand was a blade like a stabbing tongue of fire; in its left it held a whip of many thongs…the dark figure streamed with fire…the shadow about it reached out like two vast wings…it raised the whip, and the thongs whined and cracked. Fire came from its nostrils… That’s from The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien.
Rilla: All right…OK…enough already. I get the picture. This balrog is an immense, winged, fire-breathing, whip-cracking monster…
rilla: That’s a lot of adjectives.
Rilla: Is that what your muse looks like?
rilla: No.
Rilla: Then why’d you…?
rilla: That’s what YOU look like.
Rilla: So now I’m a balrog? Nice. Hmm… been called worse. A balrog…not bad. Quite like the sound of it to tell you the truth…
rilla: Oh, that’s just like you.
Rilla: So this muse of yours…how does it appear to you? I’m curious now.
rilla: Hard to describe really. That’s one tough assignment there, LynNerd.
Rilla: OK. What does it feel like?
rilla: Kind of amorphous …
Rilla: Like a vast shadow?
rilla: Yeah, it is immense. A shadow that overtakes me and…
Rilla: Fills you with a fiery passion?
rilla: Fiery is right. Hot and addictive, it’s relentless…
Rilla: Driving you to write…?
rilla: Like a whip cracking over my head.
Rilla: Prodding you?
rilla: With a flaming sword…
Rilla: Does it have wings?
rilla: Oh, yes, takes me on one wild ride, flies me to places and settings and vistas on the horizon of imagination…
Rilla: Hmm…this muse of yours…
rilla: Yes?
Rilla: Either it’s something you’re on…
rilla: …and you want some?
Rilla: Or…
rilla: Or?
Rilla: It’s ME!
rilla: Huh?
Rilla: Yeah. Prodding, fiery-tongued, whip-cracking… I AM YOUR MUSE.
rilla: How? Oh…I get it…you…balrog…muse…you sure fly to conclusions…
Rilla: Yup! Face it. I…am…your…muse!
rilla: Groan…no wonder I get so many rejections…

Rilla: Just me here, today. rilla's off writing somewhere. So, I thought I'd surprise her. I'm just so tired of watching her go through that favorites list of hers, on her browser, whenever she wants to find information on a publisher or agent or a useful link tucked away somewhere in the miles and miles of links. Writers! Not a very organized bunch!

Well, here's what I did. I organized her links and put them up on a website for her so she can access them more easily and spend less time glaring at her browser favorites pulling out my hair.

I called it rCube. If you're also a struggling writer trying to find those elusive web links, you might want to see if the site can help you too. And, if you're so inclined, drop me a comment here to contribute your useful links to it, anonomously or otherwise. Appreciate it.

Oh, and yes, we are mutliplying exponentially -- scary thought -- anyone seen Shrek the Third...well you'll know what it feels like then ;)

Shh...here comes rilla. Later!

NOTE: This blog is a continuing dialog between the two faces of rilla. The identity crisis is explained (if such a thing is possible) in the first edition. Click here to read: 1 -- Introduction

Rilla: Whistling! Been a while since I’ve heard you whistling!
rilla: Mmm…
Rilla: You know what they say -- whistling girls and crowing hens are an abomination…
rilla: Who says?
Rilla: Huh? Oh never mind. Why’re you so happy?
rilla: I just put my manuscript in the mail…the one I’m having reviewed at the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Summer Conference in Los Angeles.
Rilla: You mean Squibby.
rilla: Whatever.
Rilla: So you’re excited.
rilla: Of course I’m excited. Aren’t you?
Rilla: I take it then you’ve already registered.
rilla: Yeah… obviously …get to go down with Marilyn and Marge and meet Stephanie again and see the Disco Mermaids in action…
Rilla: So if you’ve already registered…
rilla: I JUST SAID I HAD, DIDN’T I?
Rilla: …I guess you’ve decided not to enter the Disco Mermaid contest.
rilla: You mean the one where you think of thirteen reasons why they should pay your tuition to attend the SCBWI Summer Conference this year?
Rilla: That’s the one. I was kind of hoping, well… since our finances… you know…your not having signed any contracts in the recent past…OK …ever…
rilla: I don’t have thirteen reasons…
Rilla: Oh, that doesn’t matter. I can come up with them for you…if you like…?
rilla: I’d really rather you didn’t.
Rilla: How about un-reasons then?
rilla: Whatever does that mean?
Rilla: Well, for starters, how about – unpublished.
rilla: Yeah, that’s a really good one, very original…
Rilla: All right, what about – unemployed.
rilla: Hey! Who are you calling unemployed? I have told you once, I’ve told you a gazillion times…I HAVE A JOB! I’m a writer….
Rilla: OK, then how about – unpaid?
rilla: There you go again, always rubbing it in. One day I’m happy, just one day, and you want to…
Rilla: I have another one – underfed.
rilla: Now you’re either trying to butter me up by telling me I’ve lost weight or YOU HAVEN’T LOOKED IN THE MIRROR LATELY!
Rilla: Whoah! Take it easy. What about – unseen.
rilla: Huh?
Rilla: Your work…it’s unseen. Well, not seen enough…this SCBWI thing, it’s all about getting your unseen work seen by the right people, yeah?
rilla: The unseen bit is my own fault. I need to spend more time on sending my stuff out. You know I’ve been told a good rule of thumb is to have ten things out for review at any given time.
Rilla: Ten! How many do you…never mind…how about – untrained. The conference has all these people, who know the industry, coming to teach you how to get published…maybe that’ll help…
rilla: Yes! I can’t wait…I’m dying to see Tamora Pierce, for one…I loved her Lioness series, and the Circle of Magic…and Lisa Yee will be there too and…
Rilla: Yeah, yeah, whatever. What about – unrefined?
rilla: Oh great…now you’re casting aspersions on more than my writing?
Rilla: No, no. I mean your writing is unrefined…
rilla: Gets better by the second. With friends like you…
Rilla: What I mean is that going to the conference will help you learn how to better edit your work to come up with a refined, finished product…
rilla: Hmm… trying hard to redeem yourself from your foot in mouth disease, I see.
Rilla: OK then, I think I’m on a roll here, how about – unrealized? Going to Los Angeles will help you fulfill your unrealized potential. Hey, that’s a good one…
rilla: If you do say so yourself…
Rilla: Or – unplumbed, as in the depths of your ability. Going to the conference will help you determine if you have a shot at this business or not and then we can stop fooling around and get out there and find a real job. Or maybe it can help your – unfledged ideas take flight. Or at the very least speed up the process since right now you are most – unhurried about it all…
rilla: Mm…you can’t really speed up creativity. I’m already writing all day everyday…can’t get much faster than that…sure going to the conference is re-energizing and re-motivating and renewing and reassuring…
Rilla: ALL RIGHT THEN, HOW ABOUT – UNAFFORDABLE! As in we can’t keep sending you to all these conferences on our budget if you remain unpublished much longer…
rilla: Keep your lid on. You’ve just proven the one thing I am – undeserving.
Rilla: Fine then. Why don’t you take your unstable mental condition, your unrelenting passion for rejection, your unrealistic dreams of getting published, your un-comprehensible…
rilla: That’s not a word…
Rilla: Unngh!
rilla: Boy! You’ve sure come undone! How uncomfortable for you. You're uncharacteristically unnerved. At least, now I can go back to whistling my Unfinished Symphony.


For those of you deserving writers who haven’t yet heard of the wonderfully generous Disco Mermaid offer/contest and would like to give it a shot, here’s the address:

Disco Mermaids -- $$Our Most Expensive Post Ever$$
Sad to say writer-buddies, the contest is now officially closed --
Disco Mermaids -- STOP
And the winner is:
Disco Mermaids -- We're Partying With --

NOTE: This blog is a continuing dialog between the two faces of rilla. The identity crisis is explained (if such a thing is possible) in the first edition. Click here to read: 1 -- Introduction

Rilla: Where are you?
rilla: Here.
Rilla: You’re in bed? What’re you doing in bed?
rilla: Reading.
Rilla: Aren’t you supposed to be writing…? Isn’t that your job?
rilla: Oh, reading’s part of the job too. Got to read at least as much as I write, but ideally way more.
Rilla: Why? So you can steal ideas from other authors?
rilla: The term is ‘be inspired’.
Rilla: Ah! What’s that?
rilla: What?
Rilla: There’s a lump beside you.
rilla: Oh, that’s just Sha-do.
Rilla: Sha-do? But I don’t see him.
rilla: He likes to crawl under the comforter.
Rilla: Good grief! How does he breathe?
rilla: I don’t know. He just does. I guess he thinks if we’re under the comforter he can be there too.
Rilla: We don’t cover our heads…
rilla: Will you give it up already.
Rilla: OK. What’re you reading?
rilla: I’m reading about Marina Lewycka.
Rilla: Who?
rilla: She’s a Ukranian writer who lives in the UK. Her books have just become widely successful.
Rilla: How nice for her.
rilla: It took her forty years of trying. She was fifty-eight when her first book was published.
Rilla: WHAT!
rilla: Yeah…listen to this, this is what she has to say – “Lots of very good writers never get published, and that could easily have happened to me. People think that good writers will always come out in the end, but I don't believe that."
Rilla: Oh how nice and depressing…
rilla: It’s the last day of May. Another month gone by.
Rilla: Yeah. I know. I love months with thirty-one days. Don’t you? It just feels like you’ve got more for your money, more bang for your buck, when a month gives you thirty-one full days. Not like that miserly February. I hate February. And what's with that twenty-ninth day, now you see it, now you don't...Wait a minute, why are you sighing. You look…I get it. The depressing article…the inability to get out of bed… Something’s happened.
rilla: Umm…yeah. You could say that. I got another rejection from an agent.
Rilla: Ah! And you can’t face the world.
rilla: Not today.
Rilla: And that’s why you have the cat all cuddled up for comfort.
rilla: He came on his own. Isn’t it amazing, how they just know when you’re not feeling that upbeat? He’s been all purring and lovey-dovey. Oh, and here comes the other one. That’s the great thing about cats…they just know when you’re down…here Fog-gi.

Sha-do: Hey, Fog-gi. Come here. Look where I am.
Fog-gi: Where? I can’t see you.
Sha-do: Look for me you idiot. Bet you’ll never find me. All these days I’ve been wondering…and look what I discovered. This is wild! Try to find me, dolt.
Fog-gi: Where ARE you? Oh! I see you now. What’re you doing there? She’s going to KILL you…!
Sha-do: I KNOW…isn’t that cool?

rilla: OK. Time to get out of my doldrums, I guess. Come on Sha-do, let’s get you a snack. Thanks for being there for me, for knowing…Sha-do? Sha-do!
Rilla: What’s wrong?
rilla: I don’t know where he is.
Rilla: What do you mean? He’s right there beside you underneath the comforter.
rilla: Only he isn’t. Look! I’m lifting the comforter and…OH MY GOD! Will you look at that.
Rilla: What? What?
rilla: He’s not under the comforter…HE’S INSIDE IT! He’s crawled through the button flaps of the duvet cover there at my feet and wriggled his way up through it.
Rilla: How on earth?
rilla: And what’s…NO, NO! Sha-do STOP THAT! He’s chewing the feathers out of the quilt…Get down, naughty boy. And here I thought you were trying to comfort me.
Rilla: At least he got you out of bed…and in the future, if you’re looking for comfort, stick to the comforter…it doesn’t bite.




Better Late Than Never - Read How Marina Finally Had Her Dream Come True!