10 Year Celebration and a Fond Farewell

Dearest readergirlz,

When we began this nonprofit organization ten years ago, readers in all demographics did not have access to authors. This access was our aim, our mission. The founders of readergirlz were driven to make those connections around the world. And we did.

Beginning in Myspace, traveling to Blogger, Facebook, and Twitter, readers connected directly with young adult authors. One such memory: midnight, October 31, 2008, readers around the world chatted with Stephenie Meyer, and we sat back with glee. Whether a best seller or not, we brought  diverse books to the spotlight, including the quiet and profound, such as No Laughter Here.

Our second passion over the ten years has been to get books into the hands of underserved teens. Readergirlz dropped hundreds of thousands of books to teens in hospitals and on Tribal Lands with the help of amazing partners like YALSA, First Book, and If I Can Read I Can Do Anything. Around the world, readergirlz celebrated Support Teen Lit Day and Teen Read Week by leaving young adult books in public places to be found by other readers. Operation Teen Book Drop and #RocktheDrop brought joy to many.

Our motto has been: Read, Reflect, and Reach Out. We have done that together. At our busiest, there were 30 volunteers from across the industry giving their time to books that featured gutsy girls and to the gutsy readers themselves. Librarians, teachers, booksellers, bloggers, and authors gave generously. Our funding was from our own pockets, libraries and schools who generously donated, and award money we garnered from The James Patterson PageTurner Award and The National Book Foundation's Innovation in Learning Prize. We never sold ad space to remain unbiased in bringing the best literature forward to you.

In ten years, we have seen girls graduate high school, enter the workforce, go to college, pursue master's degrees, marry, and have children. Together, we mourned the passing of one of our dearest. We miss her still.

Readergirlz, you have encouraged one another and motivated authors to keep writing. Some of you have grown to become writers yourselves. And we are so happy for you! You are gutsy women, strong citizens, and it is an honor walk beside you.

In light of the ease and accessibility today to find, follow, and enjoy connections between authors and readers, the co-founders, divas, and support team are returning to their own work fully, ending readergirlz. Many former contributors will continue to write the very best books for the very best readers, young adults. The readergirlz website will be active through the end of 2017. The blog is complete, archiving our past, and it will remain accessible but not active.

As an aside, I, Lorie Ann Grover, will keep the readergirlz facebook page open as I love occasionally sharing what crosses my desk and having a touch point with you in the future.

So, raise a book, to what we created together, rgz. It has been an honor to read together, reflect together, and reach out together. I speak for all who worked in our organization over the 10 years: we love you so, and we will see you soon. In person or on page.

<3 Lorie Ann Grover

with Justina Chen, Janet Lee Carey, Dia Calhoun, Little Willow, Holly Cupala, Martha Brockenbrough, Micol Ostow, Melissa Walker, Mitali Perkins, Liz Gallagher, Elizabeth Scott, Sara Easterly, Jackie Parker-Robinson, Hipwritermama, Miss Erin, ShelfElf, Jen, Kat Ogden, Bethany Hegadus, Crissa Jean Chappell, Stephanie Guerra, Rene Kirkpatrick, Judy Nelson, Sharon Levin, Lyn Miller-Lachmann, Professor Nana, Priya, Silence is Golden, Vanessa, Sarah, Enna Isalee, Jacqueline, Olivia, Alex, Marlena, Taylor, Vampire, and Nancy Pearl

Diva Delights: Seattle HOST Stephanie Guerra on DARKROOM

Darkroom: A Memoir in Black & White (The University of Alabama Press, 2012) by Lila Quintero Weaver is one of the most moving and visually stunning graphic texts I’ve seen, on par with American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang. In this memoir, Lila tells the story of her family’s immigration from Argentina to the tense, roiling South of the 1960’s. She traces her experience, beginning in girlhood, as a non-white, non-black witness of some of the painful battles of the Civil Rights movement; as a new American struggling with questions of American identity and belonging; and as a young woman perceiving deep racism for the first time.

This is an ambitious work, and it delivers on its potential. I was moved to tears multiple times as I read. Through Lila’s pencil drawings, I connected with the history of the United States and the struggle for racial equality in a new and visceral way. Undergirding the drama of the setting and period were the interweaving and conflicting mores of Argentinian and American cultural life. This memoir gave me the gift of “seeing” a vital piece of our history through another’s eyes, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Lila graciously agreed to an interview, so I’ll share her answers to some questions the book raised for me:

1. Can you tell us about the different kinds of work art and text do to tell a story in a graphic novel and your process in developing their interplay?  

I'm not the first to say it: The graphic-novel format is akin to cinema, with graphic memoir and other nonfictional treatments functioning somewhat like documentary film, wherein you get the benefit of voice-over, dialogue and visuals. Sometimes a silent scene can be quite powerful. It takes discipline to leave it untouched by words. But sometimes you need narration to segue from one scene to the next, or to explain a complex situation, enhanced through visuals. I love this interplay. Working with images increases the layers that one can offer, such as making visual puns or enriching a scene's background with details that invite the eye to linger. In Darkroom, my goals were to relate my family's immigration narrative as vividly as possible and along the way, to share some views on ethnic identity and racial conflict. It's such a boost to have illustration at my disposal for these goals. It broadens the palette. I can include a diagram or a visual analogy. I can employ ink renderings of family photos to bring faces and family history to life. 

Did you start with text and add art or the reverse? Or did you create both simultaneously?

My first draft was text-only. I needed to shake out ideas as quickly as possible and get a sense of what material belonged and didn't belong. The next two drafts included sketches and page layouts. As I got into the final version, new ideas sometimes emerged as visuals and I added whatever text they required. Back and forth like that it went through four years of work and the execution of 500+ illustrations. Whew.

2. Considering the powerful and emotional content in your book, did you experience any particular challenges or doubts during the creative process? 

 Yes! Unless you're a celebrity, you begin by wondering why the heck anyone would want to read your memoir. You're inundated with doubts about finding universal themes in your ordinary life, and once you find those themes, you're anguished about stripping away the veneer of privacy that you've always counted on for self-protection. But a memoir without emotional exposure is cold and uninviting. You have to make peace with that essential nature and do the courageous thing. Otherwise, what a lost opportunity to touch the reader!

3. Your book feels to me like one of those marvelous crossover works that is equally appealing to teens and adults. Do you have an "ideal reader" or even "ideal audience" for your book?

Thank you! Crossover is a great word for how the book has been received. During the process I tried not to write for a particular demographic sector. I simply concentrated on telling the story in my voice, including the visual aspects that make up my communication style. After the book came out, I was surprised and thrilled when librarians and high school educators latched on to it as a YA fit. It's also found its way into college classrooms, which is another fantastic outcome I didn't foresee. And some of my readers come from the older generation, I’m delighted to say. Most of them have never picked up a graphic novel, but they're drawn to personal accounts of Jim Crow and desegregation, a historical era they experienced directly or read about as it developed. A few of these older readers have hopped on board with graphic novels and that couldn’t make me happier. 

Cover Stories: Torn by Stephanie Guerra

Stephanie Guerra's 2012 debut novel has a cover that really tells a story, especially when you look at the entire jacket. Here's Stephanie (our fabulous Seattle Host!) to talk about the process: 

"I love the cover of Torn, because by some amazing coincidence, the model looks like the friend on whom Stella, my narrator, is based (see the picture of 'Stella' and me in high school, below right). I also like the model because I can see both Latina and Eastern European characteristics in her face, and Stella is biracial Mexican and Croatian..."

Read Stephanie's full Cover Story at melissacwalker.com (and see many other considered options!).

rgz Newsflash: Happy Book Birthday, Stephanie Guerra!

Today we're toasting Seattle Host Stephanie Guerra on the launch of her latest book! Billy the Kid is Not Crazy is a hilarious middle-grade novel about a kid who gets in trouble so frequently that his parents send him to a psychiatrist. 

Billy March has been grounded for 63% of the past month. Every time he almost gets his parents’ trust back, his mind wanders off, and he causes another disaster! Like the time he and his best friend Keenan decided to play droid war in a parking lot—and ended up launching a shopping cart into a car. . . . Now Mom and Dad are threatening to send Billy to a psychologist. They may even make him take brain drugs! But deep down, Billy really worries that Dad wishes he had a different son. He’ll never be as perfect as his sisters. Maybe he doesn’t belong in this family at all. But maybe, just maybe, talking to a “shrink” won’t be as terrible as Billy thinks. With generous black-and-white illustrations in every chapter and ton of heart and humor, readers will be cheering for Billy as he struggles to find his place in the world—and discovers his true talent in the process.

Wanna know the whole the story behind the book? Check out this post on From the Mixed-Up Files of Middle Grade Authors.

 And here's some great early buzz from Amazon Vine:

“My son is a reluctant reader, but Billy the Kid is Not Crazy is the first book he ever read with enthusiasm on his own. He laughed out loud a few times, and could really relate to the main character.” –Scott Sherman

“I'm considering buying ten copies to have on-hand as my friends' children age. This is great for kids and parents. It's about a boy who is totally NOT crazy. He's a typical dreamer who often makes bad decisions because...he's still a kid!” –Mage

“My third grader loves this book. It is filled with heart and humor… I love the jokes that are mixed in and the heart felt moments. Junie B watch out.” –Edward Walker

“The author has done such a wonderful job with these characters… The artwork is a great addition, delivering tons of laughs. Combine that with some truly witty dialogue and you get a book that is in turn hilarious, thoughtful, and very real.” –J. Prather

“The artwork in the book is great, lots of fun. Really adds a lot and speeds up reading--illustrations in books are almost always a plus! Highly, highly, HIGHLY recommended!” –K. Davis

“I got this book for a boy who is diagnosed with Asperger's… He sped-read through the book once and liked it so much that he's reading it through again but more slowly. He says the title character is "just like" him.” –J. Tant

Congratulations, Stephanie - we can't wait to get our hands on Billy!

rgz Seattle HOST: Stephanie Guerra interviews Jennifer Bradbury

A MOMENT COMES by Jennifer Bradbury (Atheneum, 2013) is hands-down one of the best young adult historical fiction novels I’ve read. Set in 1947 during a bloody moment in India’s history, the novel traces the intersecting lives of three teens: Tariq, a Muslim working as translator for a British cartographer; Margaret, the cartographer’s daughter; and Anupreet, a lovely and wary Sikh girl who is one of the cartographer’s domestic staff.

The Partition of India, or the division of the subcontinent along sectarian lines, was a turbulent divide which produced the predominantly Muslim Pakistan and the majority Hindu Republic of India. The three main characters are placed squarely in the crux of this struggle, fighting for their own and their families’ safety as India boils to a fever pitch around them.

Tariq is driven by dreams of Oxford—and a forbidden admiration for Anupreet, whose people are the enemies of his own. Margaret is chafing under oppressive heat and an oppressive mother, and finds Tariq’s good looks a welcome distraction. And Anupreet is hiding painful secrets as she endures the daily violence of her surroundings. Although each character is representative of a larger class in conflict, they are finely drawn, believable people with distinct and engaging voices. Margaret’s wry, humorous personality brings many laugh-out-loud moments which contrast nicely with the suspense unfolding around her.

The focus of the story is never didactic, and remains squarely on the entangled lives of the three characters—but it also illumines an important and often unknown (in our country) event in history. The ending was delicate, satisfying and thought-provoking, and left me with a sense of the tremendous impact of Partition on human history.  Also important for me as a reader, the danger and tension of the setting were captured masterfully without devolving into graphic violence. And perhaps most important of all: despite the themes of political turmoil, the mystery and depth and aching beauty of India were captured with clarity and affection by an author who has clearly lived in the country and loved its people.

Jen kindly agreed to share some insights about her inspiration for telling a story set during Partition, her research process, and what we can look forward to next. I hope you’ll check out A MOMENT COMES and Jen’s other acclaimed works, SHIFT and WRAPPED. Here’s Jen:

The story started for me in 2005 when I was teaching on a Fulbright Exchange in Chandigarh.  Chandigarh was created post-partition to serve as capital of both Punjab and Haryana and is full of people with vivid recollections of partition.  I was very lucky in that the friends I made and the students I taught were kind enough to answer my questions and share some of their stories with me.  But the more I learned, the more I wanted to know. I was sort of stunned by how little I knew about the roots of the conflicts between Pakistan and India.  The partition still stands as the greatest human migration in history, and some estimates at the loss of life rise as high as two million.  Those staggering numbers, and the fact that more people don't know about them, still surprise me. 

Years later, when the seeds of the story still hadn’t left me, I began writing the book as a means to try and find my way to a better understanding.  A few books were really helpful in that process—Alex von Tunzelman's Indian Summer and Pammie Mountbatten’s India Remembered: A Personal Account of the Mountbattens During the Transfer of Power are two that come to mind.  I was also able to get copies of Margaret Bourke White's Life magazine pictorials.  She was the field photographer for Life during the time the book takes place, and the images are haunting and powerful.

Since finishing the research and rewrites on A Moment Comes, I’ve been happily tramping about in 1838.  My next book, tentatively called Giant's Coffin, is set inside Mammoth Cave at the tuberculosis hospital that was established inside the cave.  There are mysteries, adventures, odd medical cures and river pirates.  I’m very excited about it both because it is my first middle grade novel and because it’s my first set in my home state of Kentucky.  It should be out in the next couple of years. 

Thanks, Jen - and thanks, Stephanie, for a great piece!

rgz Seattle HOST: Stephanie Guerra reports on the FREE BOY release!

Hi Girlz,

I went to Seattle Public Library’s downtown branch to see Seattle authors Judy Bentley and Lorraine McConaghy read from their new book, FREE BOY, the story of a thirteen-year-old slave who escaped from Washington Territory to freedom in Canada on the West's Underground Railroad. Charles Mitchell was the property of James Tilton, Surveyor General of Washington Territory, and this book is a twined biography of the two.

A fascinating, lightly fictionalized account, the story answered (and raised) some questions for me about my home state: In the Pacific Northwest during the Civil War era, what were the predominant attitudes toward race? How did people of the territories—not yet States, and therefore with no voting rights—feel about slavery? What might it have been like to be one of the only slaves in Washington Territory?

Written with deft, lucid prose, this book is a reminder of why lightly fictionalized biography is a marvelous genre. Without taking as many liberties as historical fiction, FREE BOY provides richly detailed settings and imagined conversations (based on documented events) that bring the story to life. This is a book for YA and upper middle-grade readers alike—and frankly, adults. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did. The author presentation was one of the best I’ve seen; relaxed and funny, but also reflective of serious scholarship.

Judy Bentley and Lorraine McConaghy will be speaking again soon:

Saturday, May 4, 1 p.m. Village Lights Bookstore, Madison, Indiana

Wednesday, May 29, 7 p.m. Village Books, Bellingham, Washington

For more information, see her site: www.judybentley.com

rgz Seattle HOST: Stephanie Guerra at ALA Midwinter!

Stephanie Guerra is here to report on the details from the 2013 ALA Midwinter conference, which took place in Seattle: 

Hi girlz!

The 2013 ALA Midwinter Conference took place in Seattle recently. For days, the city was overrun by literally all of my favorite people: authors, editors, agents, publishers, teachers, and most of all, librarians. The energy, humor and passion of these literacy professionals made for an exhilarating and transformative gathering. I had a chance to meet some of my favorite authors and illustrators, as well as some impressive new talent. I’d like to introduce you to three debut YA authors who will be making a splash in the spring. To give you a taste of what’s to come, I’ve asked each to share a few words about a writing topic close to her heart. Meet Leslie Stella, Lindsay Moynihan, and Olivia Samms.

PERMANENT RECORD by Leslie Stella is the story of a bullied Iranian-American teenager, and the unorthodox way he retaliates against his tormentors. This dark comedy explodes with an edgy attack on post-9/11 fears.

Leslie Stella on her first writing inspiration:

My mother gave me a copy of Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses, illustrated by Ruth Ruhman, when I was four. She said I taught myself to read from that book. That may be; I remember lying on the bed in the room I shared with my sister, the book open on my pillow, “reading” the pictures with my fingers. Yes: reading the pictures. It’s a gift small children have, to extract knowledge through their fingertips. The book wasn’t textured, no pop-ups, nothing unusual from a tactile sense, yet with that open curiosity that kids have—not knowing that reading pictures with your fingers was “wrong” or didn’t make sense—I drew my hands across Ruhman’s illustrations, and that brought me to the setting of each Stevenson poem. The riverbank sands of “Where Go the Boats?” and the Indian mother’s sari in “The Sun Travels” and the cold garden walls and howling dogs of “The Moon”; all of these set my imagination turning in ways I could not explain then, and really can no longer understand now that I am grown. But I felt the slick silk of the mother’s sari in my fingers—I really did!—and it made me dream of India; what was the weather like there? Were the windows open all the time? Were the mothers like mine? I touched the leaves in “Autumn Fires,” and I smelled the wood-smoke from English bonfires thousands of miles away and a hundred years before. It’s a magical ability that all children have, natural and unbounded. It was the first step in my writing history, the first step for any writer: Transport yourself. This is simple; this is beautiful; this is reading.

THE WAITING TREE by Lindsay Moynihan is about a young gay man in rural Louisiana who is “outted” to his family and community and examines his own beliefs about what love means and who he is as a person.

Lindsay Moynihan on plot and character development:

At A.L.A, I was asked some interesting questions about why I had made certain decisions regarding the plot and characters. People were intrigued. Why did I make a character this and not that? Why did I have this person go here rather than there? It got me thinking about my writing process in general. While I managed to come up with intelligent answers (well I thought so anyway), the whole time I was thinking to myself, I’m really not sure why I did that…I just did! Not to say that there was no method to the madness here. I am very aware of the message I intended this book to present to the reader and made every effort to see to it that it happened. In terms of certain character or plot details, however, I don’t always have a reason for the decisions on the tip of my tongue. Some things just feel right. That’s what I love about writing, though. You spend all this time creating people and places and lives that you know better than your own family. Then you send them out into the world so that the reader can get to know them, too. It’s exhilarating…and frightening. Maybe the next time I’m asked a “why this and not that” type question I won’t give them my own opinion. I’ll ask for theirs. After all, The Waiting Tree is in your hands now.

SKETCHY by Olivia Samms is the story of Bea, a seventeen-year-old artist with the disturbing ability to see—and then draw—images from other people’s minds. Can Bea use her talent to take down a local killer before he strikes again?

Olivia Samms on her main character:

SKETCHY (April ’13) deals with a seventeen year old edgy, artistic, recently sober girl, Bea. I firmly believe that the most sensitive, important people in society carry around demons in their back pocket, sometimes secretly, sometimes openly, and the struggle of keeping those demons at bay fuels passion, art and great inventions—and has throughout time. Bea struggles daily with “the beast” but with her newfound sobriety, discovers she has the uncanny ability to draw the truth out people . . . literally. I love Bea—her core imperfections—her being empathic and an HSP (highly sensitive person). And I love that she uses her “power” to help others.  My hopes and dreams with this series are that it resonates with those struggling—and informs others to think before they judge. Sometimes bad stuff happens to good people. And sometimes that bad stuff is the impetus for great stuff.

Thanks for all of the fun intel, Stephanie! Maybe next year we'll see you there! 

rgz Seattle HOST: Stephanie Guerra on the WA State Book Awards

Hi girlz! A few weeks ago I attended the Washington State Book Awards Ceremony at Richard Hugo House in Seattle. I’m delighted to announce that Katherine Schlick Noe’s Something to Hold won in the middle grade/young adult category—and was also named a Notable Social Studies Trade Book. I covered her launch party here, and it was a joy to see her book get the attention it deserves.

Something to Hold is historical fiction based on Katherine’s experience growing up on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. It’s a warm, provocative, poetic look at a time and place that many of us could never imagine except through stories like Katherine’s. Below, she answers a few questions about writing from real life:

What was it like living on an Indian reservation?

For as long as I can remember, other non-Indians have asked this question.   It’s always been hard to explain.   Like all of the foundational, complex questions of our lives, there are many answers.   They finally began to solidify when I started to write Something to Hold.

This work of fiction is inspired by my memories of living on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in central Oregon in the 1960’s.  Like Kitty’s dad, mine was a forester with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.  He and my mother left Iowa in 1950 to take a job on the Colville Indian Reservation in north-central Washington state.  They didn’t know then that they would spend the rest of their lives working with and living among Indian people.  My brothers and I were born on the Colville Reservation, and we moved every four years, living near Washington, DC and on the Warm Springs and Yakama Reservations.

The years at Warm Springs were pivotal for me, as they are for all children between the ages of seven and eleven.  Something to Hold is grounded in universals.  We all long to find a place to belong, to make friends, to feel connected and rooted.  The book also explores a unique perspective of a non-Indian outsider’s growing awareness of prejudice, including her own.

My writing began with one memory: In the fifth grade at Warm Springs, a classmate I both feared and admired refused to read out loud, and our white teacher took her out into the hall, shook her, and left her there.  Reading out loud, one paragraph at a time, was a normal practice in every school I had attended.  I hated it – so boring to listen to other bored kids read something boring – but I would never have refused.  I couldn’t understand why my classmate would defy this teacher, who allowed no disobedience of any kind, in this way.  That event had a profound impact on me and is one reason that I eventually became a teacher.  No child should be humiliated that way.

That event is also what moved me to write about living at Warm Springs. Having wrestled with the memory for over 30 years, I did what we encourage young writers to do -- started listing all that I could remember about it. Then I began to tell the story. I was writing in order to make sense for myself, to understand why she would dare to do something I would never have had the nerve to consider. But, of course, I couldn’t remember everything, and that’s when the fiction took over.

As Something to Hold took shape, I had a chance to meet my classmate again.  Both of us now grown, we visited over our class photo, talking about how life had turned out.  It was clear that hers had been filled with hardship, so different from my own.  When I asked her about the event that had affected me so deeply, she looked me in the eye and said, “It never happened.”  I knew in that moment that this was not my story to tell. So I took that episode apart, changed the details but kept intact the power and fear and strength of will – all of the emotions that were so influential for me -- and gave them to my two antagonists, Raymond and Jewel.  In the chapter “The Capital of Vermont,” Raymond and Jewel stand up to their teacher and triumph over humiliation.  And Kitty learns something powerful about speaking out for justice. 

Many of the events in Something to Hold are based in truth.  The only way I could begin was to build Kitty’s story around my memories:  a Bible-quoting teacher, the death of a child, a boy who fell through the ceiling of my classroom while working in the school attic, how razor blades horribly derailed an art project.   I created a series of episodes tethered loosely to reality – and then slowly wove in the characters.

This image guided me: A basket maker begins with a tangle of warps and wefts, a mess of strings held in her hand. Carefully, intentionally, and sometimes magically, she weaves them together into something beautiful, powerful, and enduring – just as a writer weaves with words. 

My goal was to create a tapestry of characters that manage to find their own way and also to help each other live with courage and hope – especially when it’s a struggle to do so.  I hope young readers will identify with Kitty, Raymond, Jewel, and Pinky and the ways in which they reach across a chasm of difference to connect with one another.   I have my classmate to thank for getting me started.

Visit Katherine at her website: http://katherineschlicknoe.com

Thanks, Stephanie, for the update, and the fantastic interview!

rgz Seattle HOST: Interview with Amy Ackley!

Our Seattle HOST, Stephanie Guerra, is here with a stellar interview! 

Hi girlz! I attended the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award ceremony in June, and had the pleasure of meeting the 2010 winner, Amy Ackley, author of Sign Language. Amy spoke eloquently about her passion and persistence, and thanked Amazon for giving her a chance to break into a very tough industry.

Did you always want to be a writer?

Growing up, I was that introverted kid that always felt like I was on the outside looking in at life.  I found the world complex and fascinating, and was always looking at a situation and thinking, “What if?”  On long car rides, I would watch out the window as farmhouses and small towns passed by, and imagined I was a girl living in that farm, who had a best friend that went to that church, and they spent hours together playing hide-and-seek in those cornfields … my active imagination ensured that I was never bored or lonely.

I loved to read and write, and, to me, English classes were my reward for getting through math.  My father was a high school English teacher and writer who tried to get his work published to no avail.  He’d send in a story to a magazine, get a rejection letter, and scrap that story to write another.  His only fault may have been his lack of tenacity, or self-confidence.  Early on, this is what prevented me from pursuing a writing career - the fear of not being good enough, and not “making it” as a writer.  That, and the belief that all authors were rich people that lived on the East Coast, or writers with connections in the publishing world. 

I was living on my own at 16.  I worked three jobs while finishing high school, and supported myself by working full time at a courthouse while attending college at night.  When it came time to choose a career, pursuing writing seemed about as practical as becoming a sunscreen salesperson at the North Pole.  I’d eaten enough Ramen Noodles to last me a lifetime, so I decided to pursue a career that would afford me stability and a decent income.  I finished undergraduate and graduate degrees in Human Resources and landed a job as a labor relations specialist with one of the Big 3 automakers.

Yet the desire to write never faded.  It only grew stronger.  When my first daughter was born, I took a leave of absence from work, and to keep my brain from turning to mush I decided to try what I’d always wanted to do: write a novel.

I wrote that first book, and it was terrible.  This writing thing wasn’t as easy as it looked.  I studied the craft, read everything I could get my hands on, and started on another book.  And another.  When I lost two friends to cancer, both of whom had left young children behind, I decided to write about my own experience losing my dad to kidney cancer when I was a teen.  It began as a memoir, but in time the characters took on lives of their own.  SIGN LANGUAGE was born.

I sent an early version of SIGN LANGUAGE to several agents, and after getting many rejections, finally found an agent that wanted to represent me.  She helped me revise the manuscript to make it stronger, and sent it in to a few publishers.  All rejected it, and the agent told me she didn’t think it was going anywhere, so we parted ways.  I wasn’t about to give up on the book, though.  I took the feedback I’d received from the editors at the publishing houses and used it to improve the manuscript.  I then set it aside until I learned that the sponsors of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award were adding a Young Adult Fiction category for 2010.  I dusted the old manuscript off, sent it in, and, long story short, it won the contest and SIGN LANGUAGE was published by Viking Juvenile in August 2011.

I now have an agent for a second young adult book, and am working on a third.  I won’t let the fear of striking out keep me from pursuing my writing dreams.  And I’ve gotten my kids used to eating Ramen Noodles, just in case.

How much of your writing is based on your own experience as a child or teenager?

SIGN LANGUAGE, while fiction, is very much drawn from my own experiences.  I lost my dad to cancer when I was 13.  Losing a parent at such a young age – at any age – is something you never get over, but learn to get through.

In other books I’d read about the death of a parent, the parent was referred to in past tense.  These books focused on the teen’s grief after the parent had passed.  I hadn’t come across a book that focused on the effects on the family when a member is dying of a terminal illness.  When writing SIGN LANGUAGE, I wanted readers to really get to know the dying character as a person, to better understand the void he left when he was gone.  When a family member is terminally ill, the grief process – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance – starts before the actual loss occurs.  I, myself, clung to denial for a long time, as does the main character, Abby, in SIGN LANGUAGE.

Some of the events and details surrounding the father’s illness in SIGN LANGUAGE are taken from my own experience, because it is what I know about cancer and how I recall the reactions of those around me.  The emotions are 100% authentic.  While writing this book, I was able to take myself back to the sad, scared, confused teen I was back when my dad was sick and, looking back through an adult lens, was better able to understand my sometimes erratic behavior after his death.  Losing a family member as a teen is especially difficult, as many of a teen’s peers have never experienced such a loss yet and cannot understand how it changes absolutely everything.  It is my hope that, for some readers, Abby can be that friend that understands. 

The other books I have written and continue to write do not so closely parallel my real life, but there will always be elements of me in the characters.  The most gratifying thing as a writer, for me, is to hear from readers that talk about the characters I write as if they are real people that they can identify with.  To me, that means I have done my job by telling the truth, my truth, in my fiction.  It is so gratifying to learn that others experience the world the way I do. 

Do you have any advice for young writers? 

While I wouldn’t suggest veering as far away from an English degree as I did, having majored in Training and Development in college, I had to write training programs and make hour-long presentations in front of large groups of my peers and professors.  It terrified me, but proved to be extremely beneficial to me as an author.  By forcing myself to gain a level of comfort with public speaking, this introvert was able to break out of her shell, and it has helped me get through, and enjoy, book signings and events.  Get yourself out there in front of others.  Push yourself out of your comfort zone, for that is where the magic happens.  Consider studying communications or marketing in conjunction with writing.  Writing a fantastic book is only half the battle … you have to let people know it exists!

Other advice?  If you’re going the traditional publishing route, try to finish more than one manuscript in a particular genre before submitting to agents or publishers.  Publishers don’t just want to find great books; they want to develop great authors.  Before winning the ABNA award, one editor at a publishing house had asked if I had a second young adult manuscript to submit along with SIGN LANGUAGE.  I didn’t have another YA book that was camera-ready yet, so they weren’t willing to gamble on me.  Having several works to submit proves that you are in it for the long haul.  And the possibility of a multiple-book deal?  You could do worse.

Finally, be persistent.  Keep writing.  Keep submitting.  Remember that every author gets rejected.  Learn to embrace and appreciate criticism.  Getting feedback of others will make your writing even better.

 Are you working on anything now?

I’ve finished a second contemporary YA novel, and am represented by literary agent Jennifer DeChiara.  If all the stars align correctly, I’ll have news about this book to report soon!  In the meantime, I’m working on two other YA manuscripts.

  

How can readers find you?

Website:  http://www.amyackley.com

Twitter:  amyackley73

Facebook page:  Sign Language, Young Adult Fiction

Thanks and congrats, Amy! And thanks, Stephanie!