YA Junkie [& proud of it]

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A few odds and ends from the Land of YA Lit …

I joined Oblong Insider because I EVEN WANT BOOKS I DON’T KNOW THAT I WANT.  Yes, it’s true.  I signed up for a YA book subscription where someone else chooses books for me because WHY NOT.  I filled out a form that asked for my favorite books and authors so they could get a feel for what I liked, and then– voila!— the other day, I got my first package!

Look at this stuff!  I got Faking Normal by Courtney C. Stevens (a book for which I’ve read great reviews!), an awesome “I read YA” book bag, and a matching button.  Too cute!

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Yes, of course I love buying and choosing books on my own, but this is so fun and exciting, like unwrapping a birthday present!

Also, someone muttered some fightin’ words online:

fighting back

Seriously??!  What is wrong with people?

Also, thought Teen Librarian’s Toolbox posted an interesting article about how we guide teens into a safe discussion about sex in literature.  You can read it here.

Also, my friend Mary has got me thinking and dreaming about what the cover of Truest will look like.  (Note: I will likely have no say in this.)  But an author can dream, right?

Also, Maggie Stiefvater is going to be at the SCBWI summer conference.  I thought about going, but in the end, I think I’ve decided to stay put.

Also, Buzzfeed’s 19 True Struggles of Being Addicted to YA Books as an Adult.

Also, also, also … !

I love YA lit.

OCD, Medication, and Genetic Testing

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Super interesting! In my case, “trial and error” took five years and a near-death allergic reaction …

Janet (ocdtalk)'s avatarocdtalk

mrpuen freedigitalphotos.net mrpuen freedigitalphotos.net

For those of you who have been following my blog for a while, it’s no secret that my son Dan had negative experiences with medication used to treat his OCD. He was overmedicated, wrongly medicated, and improperly weaned from various combinations of ten different medications over a fifteen-month period. Medication didn’t help him; it hurt him. For him, the best meds turned out to be no meds at all.

There are, however, a good number of OCD sufferers who are helped by medication (usually in combination with Exposure and Response Prevention therapy). But even for those who benefit from taking medication it is often a long, frustrating journey to find the right medication, or combination of medications, that work. We’ve all heard it before: trial and error is the only way to find that often elusive “right combination.”

But is trial and error really the only way?

In…

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Writerly Thoughts on Predestination, Conflict, & Rescue

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I.

It’s an old debate: do humans have free will, or are “choices” predestined by God?

I have a friend who thinks the former while I lean more toward the latter (honestly, I most prefer to live in the gray area between the two), and we were talking briefly about this.  The Big Question, of course, is If there’s no free will, then why would God predestine the sinful fall of man?

My response was that I think that rescue and redemption are more valuable to God than there being no need for them, that somehow God gets more glory from saving a fallen world than from not needing to save a perfect one.

My friend didn’t buy it, didn’t think it made sense.

II.

My writing critique group met recently, and it was a great evening.  We didn’t actually critique anything, only shared about our current projects (and a couple people shed some tears, it’s true).  One of my friends is writing a young adult novel for her MFA program, and the problem she keeps running into is that she loves her characters so much that she doesn’t want to hurt them.

“It’s what I always used to yell at you for, Jackie!” she said to me.  “And now I’m doing it myself!”

If you’re not a writer, you probably can’t understand, but trust me– it can be hard to create characters you adore and then force them through hell.

But we have to.

Why?

If there’s no conflict, it’s not a good story.

Reaching_by_fotomachineIII.

I started to think about that in terms of the story of the world.  God is the ultimate creator, the supreme artist, and the universe and its inhabitants are his masterpiece.

Is the same principle at work here?  Did God as an Artist determine that the great Story of the world would not be good without conflict?  Every good writer knows that a story needs a conflict and a climax.  Could that be the very simplest of explanations for the fall of man and the cross of Christ?  God was writing a story, and he wanted it to be great.

You’re welcome to chime in in the comments!

 

Image credit: fotomachine

Resurrection Joy

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I love Easter.  This is– hands down– my favorite holiday.  This weekend, I have taken some time to reflect on the cross of Christ, the darkness of the Saturday in between, and the power and rejoicing of the resurrection Sunday.

As someone who often finds it hard to ground myself in the present time– one who is always anxiously anticipating that which lies ahead for me– I stand in awe of my savior, who knew for all eternity that the cross would be the climax of his story.  How could he bear it?  Death must have been such a relief.

Perhaps it was that he not only knew what was ahead in the cross– but even further ahead, in the resurrection.  I am unspeakably proud of my rescuer.

Blessings on your Easter, friends.  May you find deep joy in this mighty rescue, peace in knowing that God understands our deepest sufferings, and power in the realization that the spirit that raised Christ from the dead is the same spirit that desires to live and work in us.

I am so proud to say that I belong to Jesus.

Take Care, Make Care Part 3 – Jackie’s thoughts

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Hi friends! Please do check out my friend and critique partner Rachel’s blog today, where I’ve written a guest blog about self care!

Rachel Riebe's avatarFellow Passengers

You know how there are some people in your life that you really, truly ADMIRE? My friend and writing group compatriot Jackie (www.jackieleasommers.com) is one of those people. Each month when our group meets, Jackie emails us beautiful word documents full of ideas and people and story. She has made writing a practice, and turned her practice into art. She’s also learned a lot about the necessity of self-care in her creative process, and I’m really happy to share her ideas on the subject with you today.

Take CareI love to write. That love is one of the biggest pieces of my identity, and I feel so deep-seated in the will of God when I write that I experience an overwhelming peace in addition to the excitement I have over the joy of creation. I’ve been writing nearly my whole life, chasing the dream of publication, enlisting the help…

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3 Sites that Keep Me Sane

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saneI organize my life with Wunderlist.

Do you love lists?  Better yet, do you love crossing things off your lists?  If so, you’ll find Wunderlist deeply satisfying.

I use the free version, and there I keep a whole series of lists.  I have one for each book, one for calendar events, one for OCD Twin Cities, etc., etc.  Here’s a list of my lists.

sane2I love the simplicity of this site, love how easy it is to organize everything, and I love the delightful sound it makes when I electronically cross something off one of my lists!

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In addition, there is a Wunderlist app that is just as clear and simple and easy to use as the web version.

You should definitely try it.

FutureMe keeps me calm.

I can’t tell you how much I love this site.  I tend to use it frequently when I am most stressed out or when I have learned a lesson that I want to remember later.  The point of the site is simple: send an email off to yourself in the future.  You can set the date that you’d like to receive it (it must be at least one month away).  It’s so delightful, and it’s so much fun to receive an email from the past.

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See how easy it is?  During my past six-week revision that was so intense, I sent myself a note into the future almost every day.  It was a way for my stressed-out, burning-the-candle-at-both-ends self to reach out to a time where I believed I’d be calm again.  It was a way to tap into hope, the hope that life would not always be so overwhelming.

sane5I ask and answer questions on Quora.

Obviously, the internet is an amazing tool for research.  I use it every single day.  But the internet as a whole is also huge and overwhelming and sometimes impersonal.  Sometimes you want to ask questions of real people.  Quora is great for that.

On this site, you can ask questions. Anonymously, if you want.Then, you can send your question directly to people who might know answers.  Some people are “free” to ask, and some people require “points.”  You accumulate points by being active in the Quora community– and you get an allowance from Quora as well.

I love it.  I absolutely love it. And the people on Quora are amazing: highly intellectual, people who love to think, people who are capable, articulate, and interesting. The answers you get are so solid.

Truest was set in small-town Minnesota, and since that’s where I grew up, I didn’t have many questions about that way of life.  However, my next novel is set in the Pacific Northwest.  On an island.  I have no experience with these things, and it’s been so good to reach out to people who live on small islands, people who live in the Pacific Northwest, people who know details about Seattle neighborhoods and foods, etc.

Plus, you can also answer other people’s questions!  It’s so fun to be the “expert” for once!

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What websites make your life easier?  I’d love to hear your favorites!

 

Crazy Act of Faith

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This puts into words EXACTLY how I feel. Each new story is its own [beautiful] beast.

susanfletcher2012's avatarWrite at Your Own Risk

Riffing off Kathi’s “Tweenland” post…

Many years ago I had the astounding good luck of being invited to join a longstanding critique group that Eloise McGraw was in. One of the rules of the group: Always start with a positive comment. Usually we did, but one time, when Eloise read the first couple of chapters of The Striped Ships, we got so involved in critiquing that we–all of us–simply forgot to say what we liked about the book.

First of all, what gall. Who did we think we were, critiquing Eloise? But that’s what she wanted, so we just, you know, scrambled to find things we didn’t think were quite working. At the same time, though, I think we believed on some level that she wouldn’t really take us seriously. Why would Eloise McGraw pay serious attention to the likes of us?

Still, I felt kind of bad…

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Bookish Things (That are NOT Books) I’d Like to Own

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme at The Broke and the Bookish.  Today, they asked what non-book bookish items we’d like to own.  That’s all the permission I needed to dream big!

You can click each image for more details.

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Okay, I should be done now.  Though this was a lovely little activity with Deathly Hallows on in the background. 🙂

Defining My Roles

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Recently I sat down and defined my values and leadership principles, and it was a great exercise for me.

I decided to make a list of some of my primary roles and my corresponding principles too.

definitionsMay I be a courageous and humble leader who remembers that rule-keeping does not bring life. May I be a sister who loves, listens, laughs, and leads. May I be a daughter who celebrates her parents, along with the roots and wings they have given me. May I be a selfless friend who honors those whose lives are mixed with mine. May I be a gutsy and generous writer who cherishes story in all its forms. May I be a Christian who delights in her Savior, eagerly receiving and giving grace.

 

Image credit: Grace Easton