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Take good, gentle care of yourself. You deserve your tenderness. It’s so easy to absorb negative messages from others–our parents, the media, people around us. So easy to work so hard we forget to find joy or take a moment to breathe. Or to forget sometimes that we might need some time alone, or time to read a book, look at the clouds, savor a special food and really enjoy it.

This is your life. You deserve to take gentle care of yourself, to treat yourself with kindness, tenderness, and compassion–the way you would a friend. I hope you’re gentle with yourself, and keep finding ways to take good care of you.

This can be a hard time of year for many people, so I thought I’d post more positive messages for people again–selfies along with the messages, so people can see the person (and author) behind the message. I think it helps make it more personal and real.

I will try to post photos most days of December for you all. Let me know if you like this idea.

And if you like this post, if it speaks to you, I hope you’ll share it with others.

I believe so strongly that we need diversity in books. I hope you do, too.

Join in the discussion through the Twitter Chat on May 2nd at 2pm (EST) using the hashtag #WeNeedDiverseBooks. Share your thoughts on the issues with diversity in literature and why diversity matters to you.

There are a ton of YA and kidlit authors, industry professionals, and readers taking part in this. I hope you’ll check out some of the books. There are so many diverse, important books that can help bring greater empathy to our world.

I’m honored to be speaking to Professor Cheryl Cowdy’s class this Thursday on writing LGBTQ characters in YA fiction. It’s really important to me to have a queer character in every book I write, whether it be the main character, like Kendra in SCARS, or a secondary character, like Caitlyn’s best friend Rachel in HUNTED, or Sarah’s friend Charlene in STAINED who comes out, or the walk-on characters in the older lesbian couple who help save Sarah after she first escapes. I think having queer characters who are queer where that’s not the issue in the book, where it’s not a coming out story, is really important; it helps normalize queer characters, helps reduce homophobia and increase acceptance, helps LGBT people feel less alone. We all need positive reflections of ourselves in books and movies; to not have that is to feel invisible. So, just as it’s important to me to have queer characters in every book, I try to also put people of color in every book (whether it’s a love interest or a walk-on character), and I put survivors of trauma or oppression in every book (it’s such a part of who I am). I’m sure over time I will continue to expand this.

I think LGBT people deserve to have stories where queer characters are the hero of that story–whether it be sci-fi, fantasy, suspense and thriller, or a quiet story–heroes that they can identify with and even look up to. And I think that having that will help everyone, not just the LGBT community. Because LGBT people are a part of this world, and we all need to live in harmony, accepting and appreciating each other. And i believe that books are a powerful part of change, acceptance, and greater compassion.

I will be talking about this, and other issues with LGBT characters in YA fiction, as well as answering questions from the class on Thursday. I’m looking forward to it.

Join three best-selling fantasy authors in an online video chat on Shindig.com!

In Conversation with Rachel Hartman, Stefan Bachmann, and Christopher Paolini

November 28, 2012, from 2PM – 3PM

Rachel Hartman, author of the critically acclaimed, instant New York Times bestseller SERAPHINA; Stefan Bachmann, author of THE PECULIAR (Harper Collins), and Christopher Paolini, author of the international bestselling series the Inheritance cycle and, most recently, the INHERITANCE deluxe edition, will discuss what inspires them & their characters and take viewer questions.

See Shindig for more information.

- Connect with Rachel Hartman:

@_rachelhartman

RachelHartmanBooks.com

SeraphinaBooks.com

- Connect with Stefan Bachmann

@Stefan_Bachmann

scathingjellyfish.blogspot.com/

- Connect with Christopher Paolini

@InheritanceCP

Alagaesia.com

you can still
listen in through the podcast! I LOVED how articulate, clear, strong, and intelligent YA author Maureen Johnson was!

I also called in (since Gurdon slammed Scars in her WSJ essay). I was glad to be able to say a short bit–and so grateful, as always, for all the lovely YAlit people’s support through Twitter! It really makes a huge difference.

I found it…hard…to have Meghan Cox Gurdon tell me that she pities me. Pity feels…far away from compassion, and can be condescending. I think it usually makes the person pitied feel awful. And I found it hard that again, Meghan thinks that most teens can’t relate to dark books because it’s not their experience (she thinks). I SO wish I’d been able to get in that 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 8 boys are sexually abused before the age of 18. That alone shows how many teens need “dark” fiction, and that’s just one issue. Never mind teens who haven’t been through such things but have friends who have.

But Maureen Johnson was so articulate and smart (I knew she would be), and so was the teen reader! And the Twitter support–you all are wonderful!

Check out the podcast if you want to hear it for yourself.
http://www.whyy.org/podcast/070611_110630.mp3

The wonderful Maureen Johnson, who started the #YASaves movement on Twitter in response to Meghan Cox Gurdon’s WSJ article that slammed so many good books (including Scars) will be on NPR TODAY at 11am EST!! I hope some people will call in to support her!

The radio show is here: http://whyy.org/cms/radiotimes/

And that is a CALL IN show. The number is 1-888-477-9499.

HOW to be a caller on the show: http://whyy.org/cms/radiotimes/how-to-be-a-caller-on-radio-times/

If you don’t get NPR locally, here is the LIVESTREAM: http://www.whyy.org/91FM/live.html

You can hear it live streaming here:

You go, Maureen!! I am so very grateful for strong, reasonable voices like Maureen, who know that YA books make a positive difference in teens’ lives. And that if a book doesn’t work for you, personally, just put it down!

Libba Bray, author of The New York Times bestselling Gemma Doyle Trilogy (A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, and The Sweet Far Thing), will be hosting a virtual event on There.com, a 3D online virtual world that is free for users, in promotion for the paperback release of THE SWEET FAR THING.

Libba will be doing a reading of THE SWEET FAR THING and chatting with other There.com avatars from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. EST on Tuesday, April 28th.

Did you enjoy Tantalize (YA gothic fantasy)? Want to talk with the author, Cynthia Leitich Smith–or just listen in? Then go to the ALAN Book Chat tonight–9 pm EST, 8 pm CST–for the live chat. You don’t have to be a member to participate.

Many wonderful teen authors are over at Simon & Schuster’s BlogFest, creating a sort of blog, answering 14 reader questions (that have already been chosen), one question a day, from now until March 27th. 120 teen authors will be featured. Covering yesterday and today, check out Annette Curtis Klause on bringing fictional characters to life; Judy Blume, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Sonya Sones, E. R. Frank, Rachel Cohn, AVI, and Melvin Burgess on if they hadn’t been writers; and many, many more.

This isn’t a real blog, though the idea is clearly drawn from blogs; you can comment on what the authors say, but they will not answer any questions (aside from the questions that have already been chosen), and only some authors will be commenting on the comments, or comments in general…. Still, this is an interesting event.

Girl at Sea by Maureen Johnson is about-- who would have guessed?-- a girl at sea.

Clio Ford is a 17-year-old girl with a most fabulous tattoo and, she thinks, a most fabulous summer plan. But then Things Go Terribly Wrong. Her mother, an artist (Clio is an artist as well) gets a fellowship for the summer that causes her to move to Kansas. Clio has to give up her summer job at the art store with the Cute Boy and spend the summer with her father on a yacht in Italy. Oh, the horror.

Yacht = good, right? Clio doesn't think so. Bad relationship with father + no Cute Boy + no art store = lots of teen angst. But it's all good fun. And anyway, there's another Cute Boy, and he's much more awesome.

Anyhow, there's an ancient archeological mystery, some jellyfish, and much snarkyness. Read it. Don't let the cover fool you-- it's good.*

Oh and Aiden (that's the Cute Boy-- the one on the boat, I mean, not the one from the art store) is most wonderful. And he has great hair.

I bestow upon this book 3.5 daggers, because it is enjoyable and very entertaining, not to mention well written... but it's fairly frivolous. I mean, it's not a great work of liturature, but who wants to read nothing but great works of literature?** But, I mean, it's good, but it's, er...

Okay. I'll say it.

It's a girly book.

You got a problem with that?

Laughing at headless girls, reading girly books, fearing jellyfish, and yours,

*For some reason, two other books by Maureen Johnson have covers with girls who only have half of a head. Disturbing.

** Okay, so quite a few people, but my point is NOT ME.

We had visitors swim in this past week to help Captain SeaCroft in his quest to clean up the sea: Boris Blowfish, Jasper Jellyfish, BuckStar (and you thought I was going to say Starbucks didn't you?) Clam-mity and Corabell Clownfish.

I think I'm in the sea, snail and bug mode of illustrating right now. This illo is not part of the original "captain" concept but one I've had in my sketchbook for some time. These cheery fellows were just wiggling off the page saying "pick us to be your visitors please!"

Part of a series on invertabrates, Gooey Jellyifsh presents facts about these spineless sea creations in clear short sentences... Read the rest of this post

I've been away at the beach. It's a dream here....warm water, soft sand and time resting with my husband and kids. There've been some adventures. Suffice it to say, investing in some water/beach shoes is a must at the beach. My son cut his foot on something the first day in, causing us to need to visit a local medical center for X-rays, and time cleaning it. It wasn't deep, which was a blessing, but the cut needed to be kept from the water for 2 days so that it could heal.

The second day my other son was stung by a jellyfish in several places on his leg and hands. He's got good antibodies though. In between these adventures we've had a blast though. Perfect sunny weather and wonderful waves for boarding on. We're all sunbaked and blessed.