RACHEL VAIL

Half

2012-01-25T06:00:00.000-08:00

TODAY'S MY HALF-BIRTHDAY.

As a summer kid, I always envied all those other kids whose moms would bring homemade cakes or cupcakes to school on their birthdays. We'd get to take a break from times tables or spelling tests and sing to the kid who was suddenly our class's closest thing to a celebrity.

Also, we'd have that weird world-collision of seeing that kid who was just a kid, just a friend or even not-friend -- with his or her MOM (I don't think a dad ever came; it was the 70s but still -- and also in the 70s "homemade" meant from a box mix rather than from the A&P. In the interests of full disclosure.)

Seeing a kid in class but with her -- or even weirder, since I didn't know many of the boys' moms -- his mom was jarring. Kids who seemed independent, big, even scary, were suddenly just little kids with their moms in the room. You'd see the mom smiling at the kid so lovingly and then look over at the kid she was glittering her eyes at -- that kid?! That's your BABY? Who you LOVE? Really?

It was odd and sweet and even if it was a little embarrassing to wear the classroom crown and have everybody see your MOM kiss you on your hair -- I wanted that. But there was no school on July 25. Ever.

So when my younger son was born July 28, I knew he was destined for the same awesome summertime celebrations, the glory of being a Leo -- and the lack-of-mom-in-school-on-birthday sadness.

BUT

Destiny's destiny is to be derailed.

I decided we'd celebrate half-birthdays in school. I started bringing half-cakes, with half paper plates and napkins cut in half, to school for him in nursery school. Now he's in seventh grade, though, where that will not fly.

But perhaps I will make a half-cake tonight for dinner and celebrate with the family. My guys are always up for a celebration. Especially if there is cake involved.

The other half of the day I will spend revising the book currently staring me down.

And hanging with the tortoise.

Maybe I'll call my mom, too.

What'll you do today?

Hope it's fun.

Love,

Rachel

Sometimes all a kid needs

2012-01-23T11:24:00.000-08:00

Sometimes all a kid needs to feel powerful and huge

is for somebody to see that he already is.

or, other times, maybe he needs
to climb on a tree and show his massive muscles, with the sun setting behind him

or maybe that's not what my son was doing, or feeling, or needing at all.

Maybe he was being a warrior, or a mountain lion, or just checking out the view
or dancing to the music in his head
or testing the muck beneath his boots
or something else entirely.

Maybe it was just me who had the need,
and seeing him so big -- and so little -- against the horizon,
through my camera lens
suddenly separate and far from me
and seeing him run there, his back to me,
watching how he fit into the natural world so perfectly.
Maybe really that was what I needed:
to see him like that
perfect, strong, independent, joyous
and then to see him run, again
back to me
to see how I had seen him

Or maybe it was just a happy day
and today is happy in the remembering of it

A starred review for PIGGY BUNNY!

2012-01-18T10:19:00.000-08:00

I just got this by email -- a starred review for PIGGY BUNNY!:

This review will appear in the February 2012 issue of BCCB.

Vail, Rachel Piggy Bunny; illus. by Jeremy Tankard. Feiwel, 2012 [32p] ISBN 978-0-312-64988-3 $14.99

Reviewed from galleys R* 5-7 yrs

“All the other piglets wanted to be pigs when they grew up. Liam wanted to be the Easter Bunny.” That’s a peculiar and lofty ambition for anybody, let alone a young pig, and Liam’s perplexed immediate family tries to point him toward pragmatism (“‘You are a piglet,’ said Liam’s big sister. ‘Deal with it’”). It’s Liam’s grandparents who heroically defend his dream (“They just have the imagination of a kumquat, the lot of them,” sniffs his grandmother), rustle him up a bunny suit (“We will order one on the Internet”), and see him through to the fulfillment of his fantasy. Vail’s high-spirited and highly comedic text just begs for a whole-souled readaloud with rich vocal characterization that’ll make the most of both the humor and the touches of poignancy (“This is the kind of problem,” sighs Liam, “that is called heartbreaking”). It’s a hilariously absurd story about a pig, but it’s also a cheerful championing of the kind of role play for which “pretend” seems a dismissive term and which sees little kids wearing their superhero capes to the supermarket; even beyond that, it’s a subtle reassurance about finding workable ways to explore a dream or an identity that may seem initially impossible. Tankard, author-illustrator of Grumpy Bird (BCCB 3/07), employs thickly solid yet fluid brushstrokes in figures that have a touch of Japanese graphic flavor in their streamlined cuteness; digital color makes the piglets a luscious pink that stands out against gently patterned tone-on-tone backgrounds in stripes and spots. This will be an enjoyably loopy and stealthily reassuring readaloud any time of the year, and it would make a terrifically offbeat Easter entry. Oink. DS

Piggy Bunny MOVIE!

2012-01-17T14:16:00.000-08:00

Look what Jeremy Tankard made!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2yBAQo-uv0&context=C39fed4bADOEgsToPDskJ8cp5lG1iK0Pr9v7jIDWb3

Every time I look at little Liam's earnest face, I fall in love with that little piggy bunny all over again.

School Visits

2012-01-17T13:54:00.000-08:00

I just got back from visiting 2 schools in Manhasset, NY today. I visited with over 200 third graders -- they were AWESOME. So full of ideas and enthusiasm. Thanks, all of you! Here they are.

(Okay, you can see why I did not become a professional photographer.)

Aren't they adorable?

I shared lots of secrets with them about my past adventures, current stories, and books coming out soon... and they shared some eavesdropping secrets with me, too! I'm not saying anything specific, just a word of warning to my fellow parents out there: Watch out -- they are ALWAYS listening!!! Yikes!

Thanks for a wonderful day, kids and faculty -- and parents of third graders across Manhasset: congratulations on how terrifically engaged your kids are.

As promised, here's the link for anyone who wants to purchase a personally inscribed, autographed copy of JUSTIN CASE (or any of my other books) by ordering from Bank Street Bookstore: just click here!

Love,
Rachel Vail

2011-12-22T19:27:00.000-08:00

What I Am:

... making cake pops.

Listen in...

2011-12-21T15:32:00.001-08:00

Here's the mp3 of me and the wonderful Judy Blume on the phone last week. Did I get your question in? Thanks again to booktalknation.com and Bank Street Bookstore!

http://audio.booktalknation.com/recordings/judy_blume.mp3

Busy Day

2011-12-16T10:35:00.000-08:00

I think my new Tortoise, Lightning, may be starting to write a book.

Judge for yourself:

Hiding from the world

nobody here but us shoes!

Seeming to do nothing but soak up the light

ahhh

And, occasionally, bathing.

what was that thought again?

Tell-tale signs for sure. Waiting to see if tomorrow he makes tea and then stares at the blank-screened laptop for a while before he decides the refrigerator needs alphabetizing.

good news/bad news

2011-12-14T15:43:00.000-08:00

Today some good news and some bad news:

First the bad:

I have been lying flat on my my back like a lox at a brunch buffet all day, because my back is in a spasm. So I'm missing my older son's chorus concert right now. Which he says is fine but it is not. also I'm in pain and mostly mad at myself because this is what ALWAYS happens to me if I don't do a few easy, specific stretches every day. And I haven't done them in a week. So it's even my own damn fault.

But now the good:

1. The phone interview I did last night with Judy Blume through BookTalkNation.com was so much fun and went off without a hitch. Thank you so much to all of you who emailed comments and questions, and also to those who wrote afterwards reassuring us that even though we made each other cry, in a good way, it all came through okay. Judy Blume is such a wonderful writer and an amazingly generous role model and supporter of so many of us, readers and writers alike -- and is also completely honest, smart, interesting -- and FUNNY.

2. My new tortoise, Lightning, did some good sunbathing today. Welcome to December in NYC!

3. My new JUSTIN CASE book with Matthew Cordell was selected by the Junior Library Guild!

Hooray for JUSTIN CASE: Shells, Smells, and the Horrible Flip_Flops of Doom -- and for everybody at MacKids.com -- and for the Junior Library Guild!

and 4. I think for dinner tonight we will have Ice Cream Sundaes.

Look what came yesterday!

2011-12-13T07:33:00.000-08:00

My new book!

And our new tortoise! His name is lightning. Which should be ironic for a turtle.

But this guy has so much GO in him, it actually suits him!

Oooo! Breakfast!

I am an awesome mesclun mix chef, clearly.

Thanks for breakfast!

I am getting NO work done today, just watching lightning explore. But tonight -- I am back on the phone with Judy Blume! Do you have anything you need me to ask her?

Uh-oh, Lightning just climbed onto his empty dish. What might he be trying to communicate?

Better dash. More later.

Love,
Rachel Vail

Do-Over!!!!

2011-12-09T15:11:00.001-08:00

We're back!

Judy Blume and I will have a Do-Over of our phone conversation this Tuesday, December 13, at 7PM.

If you already signed up, you are still in, and should have received an update email.

If you weren't in already, you can sign up here.. Why not? The more the merrier.

Also, to celebrate those moments when life allows you a Do-Over -- I will send somebody, chosen at random, who is signed up for the chat, a free signed copy of my book Do-Over.

Love,
Rachel Vail

Do-Over; signed books

2011-12-09T10:10:00.001-08:00

I will have an announcement to make very soon about the do-over interview with Judy Blume. If you tried to be in on that call and thought you were just technologically-too-challenged to manage, good news! It wasn't your fault!

It also wasn't mine, or Judy Blume's, or Booktalk Nation's.

As I tell my kids, assigning blame is irrelevant. (It was a glitch in the recording software!) What matters is learning from experiences and moving on with as much grace as you can muster. (It wasn't my fault! Yay!) And then doing better the next time. (That glitch has been so fixed it will NEVER have puppies.)

So -- more on that as soon as I have the green light.

But meanwhile, in the spirit of the season:

If you are planning on giving ANY of my books as gifts this holiday season (and I highly recommend giving books, especially if you can get them from your local independent bookseller -- you'll be doing so many good things ALL AT ONCE and who doesn't want to multitask these days?) I would be happy to send you a signed, personally inscribed bookplate to go with it. Just email me at rachelvailbooks@gmail.com and tell me: your name and address; which book this is for; and to whom you'd like it signed.

An alternative: you can order any of my books from my local wonderful bookstore, Bank Street Bookstore. They will yank me in off the street and point me at the books and then send them off, signed, to you right away. (and send me back out onto the street.) Click here to go to Bank Street.

Okay, gotta run -- in the midst of everything else, I am investigating the possibility of buying a pet for my kids. Can you guess what type????

And then, clearly, it is banana muffin time again. These bananas are practically jumping into the mixer bowl by themselves, despite looking all innocent -- it wasn't OUR fault! Somebody threw us in there! We were just hanging out and then WHAM, the sugar and butter were in there with us, and those eggs were totally cracked, we were all dancing this crazy whirling dance with the beaters and...

Love,

Rachel Vail

JUDY BLUME -- tonight!

2011-12-05T12:44:00.001-08:00

Tonight at 7PM EST I am going to be interviewing Judy Blume on the phone.

And you can listen in.

It's free.

All you have to do is sign up here: booktalknation.com/author/blume

Also, if you want a signed book, personalized for you or somebody you want to get a really cool, special, one-of-a-kind gift for (the holidays are lurking just ahead, rumor is) -- you can order it through this website too!

If you have a question you've always wanted to ask Judy Blume, or something Judy Blume's books taught you, email it to me RIGHT AWAY. I'm collecting such great questions from readers from all over -- I can't wait to discuss all this with Judy tonight.

But first I have to run out and buy oaktag and markers for my 12-year-old.

Here's the link again: booktalknation.com/author/blume

Back to you when the oaktag crisis has passed!

Love,
Rachel Vail

Who that blogger reminded me of

2011-12-01T18:40:00.001-08:00

I always worry when reading a review of YOU, MAYBE because readers tend to have pretty strong, not always positive reactions to it. So when I saw this review posted by a facebook friend on my page, I braced myself. I was blown back anyway, utterly unprepared. I love this kid and the power of her reaction to this book. What a reader!

I kept feeling like she reminded me of somebody, and then it hit me -- Tom, from John Steinbeck's EAST OF EDEN -- in this, one of my favorite descriptions of character in all of literature (in so few words, you know so much about these two men and how different they are, without either being good or bad -- both readers, even -- but in describing how they read, in an incredibly economy of words, 3 lines, you know SO MUCH):

Samuel rode lightly on top of a book and he balanced happily among the ideas the way a man rides white rapids in a canoe. But Tom got into a book, crawled and groveled between the covers, tunneled like a mole among the thoughts, and came up with the book all over his face and hands.

I have always kind of had a secret crush on both Samuel and Tom, and have wondered which is more like me. I think most passionate readers I know are more like Samuel. But today, I got reviewed by a girl who reads the way Tom reads.

Here's her blog, the first entry she ever wrote, and she comes out guns blazing, with the book all over her face and hands:

http://amentothathoney.blogspot.com/

Amen to that, honey, indeed.

And, thank you.

Love,

Rachel Vail

telling it like it is when it comes to love: You, Maybe.

2011-12-01T18:01:00.000-08:00

Just read this blog. I think it's the best-written, most passionate review I've ever gotten! Can't say it's a complete rave, but it is a RANT and she lived this book, read it so hard I think she scorched the pages as she went. Wa-hoo!

telling it like it is when it comes to love: You, Maybe.: Hi! This is my first blog so um... bare with me. haha Today, I went to a Boston Public Library near my school for a meeting…there I picked...

Wanna do something cool?

2011-11-30T17:24:00.001-08:00

Eavesdrop as 2 greats talk books and writing -- and get a personally inscribed book from an independent bookseller while you're at it...

Details at the link:

http://btn.cc/author/paterson

Just found some great writing advice

2011-11-30T07:26:00.001-08:00

For those who are in the last hours of NaNoWriMo -- and for anybody else searching for tips and prompts and good writing advice -- I just stumbled upon this cache of brilliance from agent Donald Maass at his Maass Agency website. Before I click over to twitter to begin following him (join me there -- I'm @rachelvailbooks) I will share them here with you:

what we're looking for this month

Writers often ask us what we’re “looking for.” Excellent fiction, of course, but what does that mean? This page is designed to tell you. Of course, we're open to any fiction that draws us in, but this page gives examples of what might pique our interest. We’ll update it regularly, so visit again.

What We’re Looking for in 2011

This year Don's been Tweeting (@DonMaass) a series of Breakout Novel prompts. You can search #Maass on Twitter...or just look here. Below are the prompts in reverse order. A new one is added weekly. Use them to power your WIP to Breakout level--and then keep us in mind when you're done.

(WIP = work in progress, MC = main character, POV = point of view)

The prompts:

58 What’s one way your MC tackles the big problem? Find another character who can do the same thing, or the opposite. Add.

57 Find a dramatic event in your WIP. Create a smaller version of it for another spot in the story.

56 What’s the most wonderful thing about your story world? Find ten new ways and spots to delight in that.

55 What do you like best about your MC? How soon can we see that on the page? How often? Add more than you think needed.

54 You are you MC’s best friend. Whether big or small, what is safe for your MC to share with you right now? Add immediately.

53 In your current scene, who’s against your MC? What’s that character hiding? Let your MC intuit, guess or see the truth.

52 In your current scene, what’s the outcome? Work backwards until the reader is sure that the opposite will occur.

51 In your current scene, what’s the sharpest line? Structure the scene to make that the *last* line.

50 At the top of your current scene what’s the mood? And at the end? Find words to sum up both, give them to your POV character.

49 In your current scene pin down the moment when things change. How does your POV character’s self-understanding also change? Add.

48 What greater issue or question does your MC puzzle over? Plant it, apply it three times, then find the moment when wisdom arrives.

47 What does you MC know about himself/herself that’s true? What does he/she *not* see that’s even more true? Hit ‘em with it.

46 What can your MC do that no one else can? What’s one unexpected benefit? What’s the biggest cost? When does it not work? Add.

45 What’s a foundational attribute of your MC? Create an odd tic or habit that implies the opposite. Add six times. Voilà: a quirk.

44 What’s the worst thing your antagonist must do? Make it against his/her principles. Make it unthinkable. Then make it imperative.

43 What does your antagonist believe in? Who else shares those values? Why are they actually right? When does your MC see that too?

42 Find three new ways and reasons for your protagonist and antagonist to come face to face.

41 What does your antagonist most want? How is it truly something that everyone wants? Explain & add.

40 What’s the best thing about your MC? Show that in a big (or small) way in Chapter 1, or your MC’s first chapter.

39 What makes your MC unique? What makes your MC exactly like anyone else? For each, show in five additional spots.

38 What miracle does your MC pray for? Make it impossible...then make it happen.

37 Your MC’s worst quality: let him/her struggle with it, provoke it 3 times, make it cost something big, then allow change.

36 Strongest emotion in your current scene: How does it change your POV character? How has the world changed too? Elaborate. Add.

35 Strongest emotion in your current scene. How does your POV char think it looks from the outside? What is now lost or gained?

34 In your current scene, what’s the strongest emotion? Why is it welcome? Why not? What’s good about it? What’s utterly wrong?

33 Find a small hurt someone suffers. What’s the big principle or hidden injustice it represents? Stir your MC to anger over it.

32 Find a corner, crossroads or dark object in your story. Invest it with eeriness, unknown portent or dread. Go there three times.

31 What’s the very worst aspect of the main problem your MC faces? Find one way to make it still worse.

30 What’s the worst thing that happens to your MC? Work backwards. Make it something your MC has spent a lifetime avoiding.

29 What’s the emotion or experience you’re most afraid to put your MC through? Go there. Do it. Now.

28 Set off fireworks between two characters. What’s the biggest skyrocket you can explode for the finale? Go ahead…kaboom!

27 What secret is your MC keeping? Who is keeping one *from* your MC? Spill the truth at the worst possible time.

26 Whom is your MC afraid to let down? What is the sacred trust between them? What would cause your MC to break it? Break it.

25 Before a new character debuts, give your MC an expectation or fear. Make the reality three times better or worse.

24 Find a strong emotion and replace it with a secondary one; find a throw-away moment and infuse it with rich feelings.

23 What does your MC know about people that no one else does? Create 3 moments when he/she spots that in others.

22 In the last inner monologue you wrote insert one insight, question or worry that hasn’t hit you (or your MC) before now.

21 In the last dialogue passage you wrote double the friction, disagreement, overt hostility or hidden agenda.

20 Cut 100 words from your last 3 pages.You have 5 minutes. Fail? Penalty: cut 200 words.

19 What principle guides your MC? At what moment is it most tested? When does it fail? Put it into action three times.

18 Give your MC passionate feelings about something trivial: e.g., cappuccino, bowling, argyle socks. Write his/her rant. Add it.

17 Who in your story has an ironclad, unshakable belief? Shatter or reverse it by the story’s end.

16 What’s the precise turning point in your current scene? Make its trigger more dramatic—or less obvious.

15 What’s one thing your MC hates as the story opens? By the end have your MC love that same thing. (Or vice versa.)

14 In your climactic scene, what are 3 details of place that only your MC would notice? Cut more obvious details, replace with these.

13 For your MC, what are the best things about these times? The worst? Create a passage of his/her take on this era.

12 During a big dramatic event, what’s one small thing your POV character realizes will never change or never be the same again?

11 Find a small passing moment in your manuscript. What big meaning does your MC see in it? Add that.

10 In your current scene, what’s a setting detail that delights or disgusts your POV character? Why? Elaborate & add.

09 What’s a place in your story where something significant happens? Switch two other story events to that location too.

08 Over what does your MC disagree with his/her boss or mentor? When does the boss/mentor prove to be right?

07 What does a sidekick or secondary character see about your MC that your MC denies? Force a showdown over it.

06 How does your POV character change in your current scene? Work backwards. Make that change unlikely, a surprise or impossible.

05 What should your readers most see, understand or be angry about? At what story moment will that happen? Heighten it in two ways.

04 Choose a middle scene: What does POV character feel most strongly? Evoke that feeling without naming it, through actions alone.

03 Find any violence in your ms. Delete any shock, fear or horror. Replace with two *conflicting* emotions that are less obvious.02 What’s the most selfless thing your MC does? What good change or effect does that have on someone unexpected? Add that in.

01 What’s the worst thing your MC does? Whom and how does that hurt? Now work backwards, set it up to hurt even more.

Occupy the Kitchen!

2011-11-28T17:01:00.001-08:00

Here is a movement I think we can all get behind!

Occupy the Kitchen!

11:11

2011-11-16T08:15:00.001-08:00

Just looked up from my manuscript and saw it was 11:11. In my first book, that was the narrator's favorite time. I later learned she was not unique in that, and that people make wishes when they see that time pop up.

Gotta figure that's a relatively new thing, since for example my grandfather never would have thought of the time being 11:11. He'd see, on his analog watch or Grandfather clock, that time as "ten past eleven" or maybe "not yet lunch."

My small wish for today (you know, wouldn't want to waste a big wish, if something were available, on something less than, like, world peace or universal literacy or civility between/among all or cures for diseases or that my kids will lead long happy productive healthy extraordinary lives -- but if only small wishes can be grated for the coincidence of spotting a digital clock on my stove at a particular minute:

Please let this manuscript be good, funny, compelling, and meaningful.

Because I have to send it to my editor on Monday, and, as the clock would say if it weren't digital: tick tock tick tock.

What do you (small) wish?

Love,

Rachel Vail

CONTEST for TEENS! plus a sure thing...

2011-10-25T08:32:00.000-07:00

YALSA is running a very cool sounding contest. All the details and rules are here: http://ow.ly/78l3g

But here's an added twist:

If you decide to use one of my books for your entry, send a copy of your photo to me. You will automatically win a signed copy of one of my other books (let me know which book you are hoping for in your email and if I have a spare copy, it is yours!) and a signed bookplate to place in the copy you used in your photo. It's like one of those carnival games -- everybody's a winner! I love those.

Except the ones with clown heads.

Yesterday I got this in the mail:

Justin Case: School, Drool, and Other Daily Disasters won a prize! It is a kind of heavy glass thing so I couldn't figure out quite how to get a photo of it. That's my floor, beneath it.

Anyway, I decided that winning stuff is awesome. Also, getting something in the mail.

So I think I am going to have a contest as often as possible so you can win stuff and get something in the mail.

You know you are probably a much better photographer than I am (see above.) Go win the YALSA prize.

Love,
Rachel Vail

...but I did not shoot the deputy

2011-10-19T20:29:00.001-07:00

Books, bans, and George Clooney

2011-10-04T08:27:00.000-07:00

A great and informative post from Meg Cabot on her blog today discusses all kinds of interesting stuff... including the horribly elegant book banning strategy I was just discussing with Meg the other day -- and also there's such a gorgeous pic of George Clooney you should not miss it.

Back to work for me -- yesterday was my son's birthday so we of course celebrated all weekend, and then tonight my husband and I are going to the taping of the Colbert Report!

So I have to get my work done right now and stop reading about censorship and George Clooney and instead get you to do it.

Love,
Rachel Vail

Like Rivers

2011-09-21T11:38:00.000-07:00

Whether I am working on a book or real life -- especially when (like right now) I am faced with making choices that test who I am and what my values are (as myself or as my character) -- it helps to keep this quote from Tolstoy in mind:

One of the most widespread superstitions is that every man has his own special, definite qualities: That a man is kind, cruel, wise, stupid, energetic, apathetic, etc. Men are not like that… men are like rivers… every river narrows here, is more rapid there, here slower, there broader, now clear, now cold, now dull, now warm. It is the same with men. Every man carries in himself the germs of every human quality, and sometimes one manifests itself, sometimes another, and the man often becomes unlike himself, while still remaining the same man.

We change, we flow. Sometimes we're shallow and mucky. All of us -- me, her, him, you. Putting yourself or somebody else in a box, with a label on it, is both stifling and untrue.

My yoga teacher talked about it yesterday in a different way -- about striving for union, or balance: trying but accepting; fortitude in working on what needs to change but serenity about what can't be changed; strength and flexibility.

Walt Whitman said, "I contradict myself? Very well, then; I contradict myself. I am large. I contain multitudes."

Everybody wise seems to agree with this basic idea. So why is it so difficult to accept how complex we all are? I guess the fact that we need to learn it from so many teachers in so many ways shows how hard it is for us to learn it.

We are all so miraculous, and so flawed.

My character is shocked by her own passion, her jealousy, her weakness AND her strength, none of which she recognizes as authentically her, though they all are. Me? I am trying to flow -- to evolve and yet remain true.

How about you?

Love,

Rachel Vail

ten years later

2011-09-09T11:29:00.000-07:00

I just spent some time staring at the blue blue NYC sky, thinking how long ago and also how not long ago another bright September day was -- and wondered what to think about the passage of these ten years.

My kids have grown up -- no longer a wordless but intense baby and a soulful, wise little kid; they are now a poetic, charming, eloquent and still intense preteen and a soulful, wise young man. Me? I'm the same as I was, is my first thought. But no, of course that's not true. I'm older too; less certain, more hopeful. A bright blue sky isn't just glorious for me anymore but tinged with memory, now.

Also I stubbed my toe last night. And other stuff, both more and less wonderful than that, has happened, too. I baked some muffins, bought a house, planted some flowers, made some friends, wrote some books, danced a bit, sang a lot, drank too much tea and not enough Champagne. Ten years. It kind of feels like a blink. When I was in 7th grade there were lifetimes between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I'll write more about memories and frustrations and the confusions and heroism of then (and now) soon. Right now there's a book to write and a kid to meet after school, roller blades to buy for the other one and a possibly broken toe to ice (? or splint? Urgh, I have no time or patience for a swelling toe!) -- all the usual and, looked at in the bright but qualified September light of remembrance, wonderfully normal stuff of the day.

For now I'll leave you to Meg Cabot's blog note, which I just read for the third time -- and which brings me back again to the trauma and the resilience of that long/not-long ago day...

http://www.megcabot.com/2011/09/ten-years/

Okay, my purple toe is throbbing and my patient, waiting book is tapping its own toes, now.

Be safe, have fun, enjoy the day.

Love,
Rachel Vail

Hooray for Justin!

2011-08-22T17:33:00.000-07:00

I'm on vacation/at the intense stage of writing my current book, so not much blogging from me right now -- but a friend just sent me a link to this lovely review of JUSTIN CASE with 2 especially wonderful things in it. First, this comment, which made me feel happy all over:

This book is seriously one of the funniest I’ve read in a long time. I laughed out loud while I was reading it, and I thought Justin was totally relatable. (He reminded me a little of myself. I’m a bit of a worrier, too.) I think anyone who enjoys the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books should definitely pick this one up. You won’t be sorry.

And also this bit of news:

2011-2012 South Carolina Children’s Book Award Nominee

Yay! Hey, anybody in South Carolina: I have never been to South Carolina but if JUSTIN wins, I promise to come visit and celebrate with you. And I will bring gummy worms. Not trying to buy your vote, of course. Just sayin'.

More soon.

Love,
Rachel Vail

PS Am thinking I should do a Back-to-School giveaway of JUSTIN books -- what do you think?

That Moment with the Scissors

2011-08-11T08:58:00.000-07:00

I am often asked what to do about writers' block. I have lots of good advice on the subject. I'll list some if you want it later. But anyway, here's the thing:

Last night I did not take any of it.

You know that moment when you are not sure what should happen next in the book you are writing, and then there you are, scissors in one hand and your hair in the other?

Do you know that moment?

Well, so, there I was, and the advice I would give somebody in that position, in that moment, is PUT. DOWN. THE. SCISSORS.

But I clearly was not in an advice-listening mood.

I grew out my bangs years ago, as my (okay, quite subtle) rebellion against my mom, who has always had bangs and who always had my hair cut in bangs.

I cut bangs yesterday as my (fine, equally subtle) rebellion against not knowing what happens in the next scene I am writing. Or against nothing happening, maybe. Or against nothing. Just stalling. Just possessed by an intense need to cut my own hair.

I am not new on the planet. I know this is a bad idea. I stood there actually thinking bad idea don't do it don't do it don't do it until I did it. Maybe even as I was doing it.

My son just woke up, saw me, had a conversation with me and didn't once scream what did you do to your hair? or Why do you look so weird today? And since he is both 12 and extremely observant -- and also therefore on a hair-trigger of horrified embarrassment at the oddness and awful awkwardness of his mother -- I am thinking either I did a good job or it's more subtle than I thought.

Also I woke up knowing what the scene maybe should be.

If I were to meet a girl who is in a fairy tale, and she were to ask me if I had any advice for her, I would definitely tell her: A girl in a fairy tale should never take the short cut through the woods. That way trouble lies.

Of course, that way is also where adventure lies. And story.

So maybe she would be better off not taking my advice. Hopefully I am better off, having ignored my advice, too.

If not, it's just hair. It will grow back. Please don't stare.

Love,

Rachel Vail

Bath Time with the Debt Ceiling Negotiations

2011-07-30T09:39:00.001-07:00

"I have a question about the debt ceiling."

"Okay."

"It needs to be raised, right? The ceiling?"

"Yup. It's not an actual ceiling. But yes."

"Everybody knows it needs to be raised?"

"Uh-huh."

"Because they are bumping their heads on it?"

"Kind of."

"Do they know how to raise it? Like, do they have the tools and stuff?"

"They just need to vote to do it."

"So why don't they?"

"Because, since it would be really dangerous to NOT raise the debt ceiling, some people are trying to get their political agenda enacted as the price of passing it."

"Oh."

"Do you know what that means, political agenda?"

"No. Is it like if you said hey buster don't open that car door while we're speeding down the highway! and I said I am opening it unless I get another cookie?"

"Yeah. Kind of."

"Woah. So did they get the extra cookie?"

"Well, at this point it's like if I said okay fine you can have another cookie just close the darn door. And then you said actually I'd like that other cookie and also my brother can't have any cookies for the rest of the year and I want a whole bag more cookies and no chores and also I want pony."

"Wow. All with the car door open on the highway?

"Yes."

"Are they grown ups or kids?"

"Um..."

"I bet their moms are gonna have a talk with them after this, with very Not Proud faces on."

the deepest secret nobody knows

2011-07-14T09:16:00.000-07:00

I don't really care that much about Roger Clemens's perjury trial but there is something here in this segment of an article just posted on the New York Times website that I absolutely love:

The federal judge presiding over Roger Clemens’s perjury trial declared a mistrial because the prosecution revealed information Thursday that he previously deemed inadmissible.

Keep up with the latest news on The Times's baseball blog.

Go to the Bats Blog

Major League Baseball

Yankees

Mets

Readers’ Comments

Share your thoughts.

Post a Comment »

The United States District Court Judge Reggie Walton abruptly stopped the trial and scolded the prosecution for playing a videotape of the 2008 Congressional hearings on performance-enhancing drug use in baseball. The part of the tape that worried him included comments made by Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, a Maryland Democrat, about the credibility of Andy Pettitte, Clemens’s former best friend and teammate, who is expected to be one of the star witnesses for the government.

Pettitte testified that Clemens had admitted to him that he used human growth hormone in 1999 or 2000.

The prosuction also played for the jury a part of the Congressional hearings in which Cummings read an affidavit from Andy Pettitte’s wife, Laura. In the affidavit, she said that her husband had told her about a conversation he had with Clemens about Clemens’s use of human growth hormone.

THERE IS SOMEBODY IN CONGRESS NAMED e. e. cummings???

And he is reading stuff aloud? Into the Congressional record?

See, and I thought I was as surprised as I could get about Congress today.

Love,

Rachel Vail

Words, words, words

2011-07-11T08:40:00.000-07:00

I just had to figure out (for a character) what the clear membrane covering a fish's eye is called. Nictitating. A nictitating membrane.

I think it's my new favorite word. Nictitating. I'm going to use it randomly, inappropriately, as much as possible today.

That's so nictitating!

Nothing, just nictitating -- how about you?

What's your favorite word?

Today

2011-07-11T07:45:00.001-07:00

so far today I ran lines with my younger son (who is in a play and man, he has those lines DOWN), went for a run, paid a bill, posted the link for the JUSTIN discussion guide here and there, and made some tea.

I know there was something else I was supposed to do and tick, tock, the day is getting away from me...

Ack! Was it -- figure out this chapter that is looming ahead of me refusing to divulge the secret of how it wants to be written???

Oh, wait, no. I think it was: put a warm compress on the sty in my eye.

Phew, that was a close one.

What are you doing today?

Love,

Rachel Vail

New Study Guide for JUSTIN CASE!

2011-07-11T07:28:00.000-07:00

Thank you to all the educators who have been asking for a study guide for JUSTIN CASE: School, Drool, and Other Daily Disasters.

Here it is!

Let me know if it's helpful to you and your kids...

Love,

Rachel Vail

Mission Optimism

2011-07-09T06:56:00.000-07:00

My almost-12-year-old son came up with a project for us yesterday.

He said he had noticed that when he was feeling grumpy or sad or worried, it was sometimes hard to rally himself out of the mood. I feel the same way, I admitted. He nodded.

He said that he had tried something recently that surprised him: he decided, mid-bad mood, to just smile. Not to think anything particularly happy, or count his blessings or whatever, just to smile. And he noticed that within a minute or two, he actually felt significantly happier and calmer.

He suggested that we try, for one week, to catch ourselves any time we feel at all crabby or down -- and immediately smile. And see what happens.

I know I have read that this has been proven to work, and that cognitive-behavioral therapy emphasizes stuff like this -- but where he came up with it, I don't know. He doesn't either. But I tried it this morning: while I was on hold with Pottery Barn trying to return my non-functional curtain rod A SECOND TIME, I smiled a huge exaggerated smile at my son -- and I actually started laughing. I felt not just marginally better but more like the way your nose feels 20 minutes after a Sudafed -- suddenly open and clear.

The return phone person answered and everything went smoothly.

So I am going to try my son's Mission Optimism for this week. I'll let you know how it goes -- for me and for him -- what our successes and failures are. Anyone want to try it with me??? Let me know if it works or doesn't for you.

Love,

Rachel Vail

How I know it's time to take a break:

2011-07-06T20:31:00.000-07:00

I've been writing with the computer unplugged, lately. I write until I am down to about 20% of battery, sometimes less, and then I realize, well, that's it, then. Ought to go run or take a yoga class or a shower or something productive to recharge, while my computer does the same.

The other prompt for break-time is when it hits me that what I have achieved so far in the current draft is the dawning realization that this is not working, and a new draft must be started from page one.

At that point I tend to put on loud music and sing along even louder; make a fresh pot of tea, and sometimes banana muffins or, if I am really tossing more than 25 pages, something stronger. Like cookies. Or a glass of Bourbon. Maybe Janis Joplin.

The other way I know it's time to take a break is if it is time to pick up a kid from someplace.

In that circumstance I generally skip the making of the tea, etc., but not necessarily the singing. Which sometimes scares the neighbors in the elevator, but it's New York. I will not be the weirdest person they encounter that day.

I tend to WANT to take a break when it hits me that I have no earthly idea what to write next, but since that is an experience I have multiple times per minute, at least during the first maybe 20 drafts of a book, I try very hard to resist it.

Some days I think I would be very good at sluggery, and must rage against the temptation toward it.

When do you take a break? What do you do for it?

Love,

Rachel Vail

What I love about summer

2011-07-05T06:58:00.001-07:00

How was your holiday weekend?

Mine was great, except that my older son went away to camp and I miss him terribly already.

But other than that it was a pretty wonderful weekend.
I went with my husband and younger son up to CT, where the rivers are flowing full and the overabundance of shades of green put Benjamin Moore to shame.

We went to a concert/picnic Saturday night. Nothing says summer like a Jimmy Buffet cover band and a cold beer on a blanket with people you love, as the sun sets...

Except maybe a boat dock. What is it about being on a boat that brings out the most mellow side of me? Somehow the world feels soothed.
Back to work, now. Trying to keep that mellow feeling but still be productive! I have a book to write...

What did you do over the weekend?

Love,

Rachel Vail

Choices, choices

2011-06-27T16:01:00.001-07:00

We decided not to get This Weeks Special Flavors.

Are you insanely gifted?

2011-06-24T09:42:00.000-07:00

Whether yes or no -- you may want to check out this great book trailer by my pal, Dan Elish!

I can't wait to read it...

Aunt Ronnie's blog

2011-06-23T09:38:00.000-07:00

The best burritos I ever made were for a Cook-Off competition at my Aunt Ronnie's house.

Aunt Ronnie is, among other things, bitingly funny, a formidably talented cook, a fiery intellectual, and a generously loving aunt and friend. Also, she writes really well. I read her blog all the time and suggest you do too -- and not just because my now-famous burritos are the featured attraction today...

Revising

2011-06-23T06:14:00.000-07:00

Turns out maybe I have been revising too much?

I don't care if my books are considered "literary" fiction, though I do kind of hate the "YA" designation -- my characters at ages 14-16 may not know everything about themselves but one thing they are all pretty certain about is that they are NOT young ADULTS.

Maybe people in the book world realize that and that's why we don't say Young Adult anymore; we say YA. Which maybe just means YA now, kind of like we're all cool Canadians ironically questioning (Why, eh?) or like the SATs. SATs stopped meaning Scholastic Aptitude Tests a few years ago when everybody had to agree the tests didn't test aptitude. So then SAT was retrodefined and suddenly stood for Scholastic Achievement Tests, but then people were like, wait, do these tests actually gauge scholastic achievement? Urgh! So everybody gave up and said, okay fine, it means SATs. SAT stands for SAT and just shut up and sharpen your number 2 pencils, wouldja, ya smartalec kid thinking you're smarter than other people?

I'm actually not a big fan of the "Middle Grade" designation either, which to me sounds more like a type of gas somewhere between Regular and Premium ("fill it up please with the Middle Grade") or a porn category ("No, Aunt Tillie, what I write isn't really Hard Core; well, no, not exactly soft focus romantic either; kind of, well, Middle Grade.") Or, most devastatingly, it sounds like a value judgement -- like, at a dinner party if Jonathan Franzen started declaiming about how what he writes is firmly in the High Art Literary Tradition, and then the host turned to me and said, "Hey Rachel! Are your books in the High Art Literary Tradition, too? Or do you write a bunch of crap just to kill trees and brain cells?" I would have to mumble, well, neither I suppose, my stuff is more, um, middle grade.

Okay, well, maybe that's fair, on second thought. Because that is totally what I would say whether I happened to be writing for kids or not.

Because while I think it's important to write the best sentences you possibly can, and to revise them as much as necessary until they are as good as you can make them (and please, no hiding behind well it's just for kids, doesn't matter if I don't get the exact right word YES IT DOES MATTER!) your words and sentences and characters and most importantly your stories should be sharp and fine and exactly right, whether your intended reader is 10 or 50, a pimply ninth grader or a gorgeous brilliant New Yorker Editor -- I also think it sucks to be a pompous ass.

Love,

Rachel Vail

Catching up

2011-06-22T05:18:00.000-07:00

Has your summer started yet? Or are you still finishing up with school, work, etc?

We're hanging out with pals here... enjoying the city...
And the country...

And the longer days...And then, also, getting down to work.

Any wonderful plans for the summer?

I am going to write a book, exercise every day, have fun with friends and family, sit in some cafes, send out books to the WINNERS of the DRAWINGS, and maybe learn to waterski.

Well, those are my goals. Not sure I will achieve all of them. Feeling pretty confident about the cafes and the fun, though... and I WILL get to the post office very soon...

How about you? What do YOU want to do this summer?

Love,

Rachel Vail

Paperback Pub Day!

2011-05-24T11:37:00.000-07:00

Look inside! (says Amazon) -- it's ready for you today!

To celebrate today, the paperback publication day for JUSTIN CASE, I am heading to a pub.

Well, not really. Or maybe later? Right now I am working.

BUT: today, to celebrate -- it is the last day for you to sign up for the drawing to win a free copy!

You can sign up right here -- all the names are going into a hat (or possibly the popcorn bowl, we shall see) tomorrow, and my kids will pick the lucky winners. You can sign up to try to win a free copy of JUSTIN or of BRILLIANT -- or, what the heck, both if you want.

You can tell a worry you have, or a cause you support, or write a haiku, or tell your favorite color/dessert/song/type of shoes/summer drink... -- or just your name and which book you'd like.

Love,

Rachel Vail

PS If you buy a copy of any of my books before June, post a picture of yourself holding the book and I will send you a FREE OTHER BOOK to go with it, automatically.

As long as I am going to the post office, anyway...

WRITING PROMPT/ GAME

2011-05-19T10:08:00.000-07:00

My friend Rima had this odd-seeming game on her facebook page. I had a few minutes to kill while waiting for my editor to call me for a phone meeting, so I tried it -- and found it not just occasionally hilarious and weirdly appropriate for me -- but potentially useful if I took the answers as NOT pertaining to me ME, but rather to my current narrator...

So here I will share it with you, for your own amusement or as a very interesting way to force your writing mind WAY outside-the-box with your current character(s).

Please let me know how it goes for you -- and if you want to be entered into the GET A FREE BOOK drawing, happening NEXT WEEK, you can post your responses here and make sure to indicate if you would rather be trying to win a FREE new signed and personalized copy of JUSTIN CASE or BRILLIANT with your response.

And, have fun with it -- tell the truth!

1. Put your iTunes on shuffle.

2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.

3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!

4. Tag 10 friends who might enjoy doing the same as well as the person you got the same from.

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?

Superboy and the Invisible Girl

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?

The Wrestler (!)

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?

What would happen (!)

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?

Something in the way she moves

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?

son of a preacher man

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?

shining like a national guitar

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?

Racing in the Street

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?

Trailways Bus

WHAT IS 2 + 2?

Terry’s Song

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?

Perfect for You

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?

Make Up Your Mind/Catch Me I’m Falling

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?

Sweet Baby James

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?

Don Giovanni (!) (k-527 Deh, Vieni Alla Finestra)

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?

Requiem - Lacrimosa

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?

Good Man, Good Woman

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?

Seconds and Years

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?

La La Love You

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?

New Years Day

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?

Somedays

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?

Abdelazer, Or the Moor’s Revenge

WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?

Ich Ruf Zu Dir, Herr Jesus Christ (I Cry to Thee, Lord Jesus Christ)

HOW WILL YOU DIE?

Shadow of Doubt

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?

Te Deum (You, God)

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?

Rickshaw Riding

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?

Air on a G String (hahahaha, never thought of it as a non musical g-string before!)

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?

Thing Called Love

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?

Somewhere in the Night

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?

Mock Song

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?

Love is Stronger than Justice

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?

Pollyanne

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?

Beautiful Boy

FREE BOOK!

2011-05-18T05:14:00.001-07:00

Back in the mid-1980's, I was in an Irish pub in NYC with my friend Leslie. Behind the bar was a handwritten sign that said "FREE JOE DOHERTY". So, of course, when the bartender came by to see what we wanted, Leslie said, "What the heck, we'll try a couple of Joe Doherties."

The bartender looked baffled. She pointed at the sign. She wasn't kidding; she wanted the Happy Hour Free Specials.

The bartender doubled over laughing and gave us a couple of free beers instead, so everybody was happy. Well, Joe Doherty was maybe not so happy. But, of course, he was in jail.

Anyway, FREE BOOKS! Not a political slogan -- just, if you want a free copy of the newly released paperback of JUSTIN CASE -- or BRILLIANT -- since both are coming to bookstores THIS WEEK!!!! -- just post here, and, on MAY (not June; June? can you tell I was ready in that last post for summer to come?) 25, I will choose a random lucky winner of each.

Since I am now including BRILLIANT as well as JUSTIN CASE, please post something (a haiku or a hello or a favorite beverage or political cause or month or snack food) along with the title of the book you'd like to be entered to win!

The drawing draws near...

Love,

Rachel Vail

Look what I got! And a free book for you?

2011-05-10T13:57:00.001-07:00

The paperbacks of JUSTIN CASE were just delivered!

They look great. I love the extras at the back -- getting to see Matt Cordell's sketch evolutions of the characters, and read about his thoughts... (mine are there, too) is such fun.

To celebrate:

I will choose AT RANDOM from somebody who posts here -- you can just put your name, or something you're looking forward to this summer, or something you worry about, or a joke, a haiku, anything you want to post.

You have until two weeks from today (JUNE 24) to post something. The winner will be notified June 25. I will send you a copy from the top of this box, signed and personalized, on June 26!

Post now!

Love,

Rachel Vail

another chance for a free book!

2011-05-10T08:59:00.001-07:00

Click here to discover a terrific blog, read a great review (and wonderful comments) and -- a chance to get a free copy of JUSTIN CASE!

Need

2011-05-09T14:55:00.001-07:00

I just spent an hour

and two hundred dollars

in the grocery store

I came home with bananas

and no milk which is what I needed

but with a memory

that a friend once spent

two hundred dollars

on a car

true, it had no floor

and no brakes

but he was young and it was a car

and he had places to go

and no need yet for a floor

or milk, or brakes

introducing my grandson

2011-05-04T07:32:00.000-07:00

My 16-year-old son's homework last night included studying for two tests, writing a paper, taking notes on a bunch of stuff and doing doing math/chem work I don't get at all, and also taking care of a baby. It's a computer-programmed doll that cries when it needs its diaper changed, or to be fed, burped, or comforted. It also coos and makes weird Darth Vader sounds and grumbles an OW in a way that disconcertingly recalls his great-great grandmother, my Nana.

Also if you abuse the baby, or forget for even a moment to support his head, or drop it down the stairs by accident as one of my son's friends did to his baby, the abuse is registered on the computer chip inside. It's a graded project. The teens in charge of the baby wear a hospital type bracelet they have to swipe across the doll's sensor -- so they are the only ones who can, for that one night, do the work of caring for the baby.

My younger son was very into his nephew, though a little worried his big brother might not be doing it right. My normally very Zen 16-year-old was a bit stressed and completely exhausted this morning. Stressed, but also psyched, and full of wonder.

My husband and I slept through all the middle-of-the-night fussing, diaper changes, and crying. We loved the whole experience. Not just because our grandson, Alexander Hamilton Vail Elkind, is obviously the smartest, cutest, best-behaved, most wonderful robotbaby ever.

Not even just because I am loving imagining the interesting looks my son got on the M4 bus rides across town from school yesterday and back this morning, as people pretended not to look at or react to the teenage boy with his baby -- and then, once they secretly peered beneath the baby's little Yankees cap and saw the truth, had to puzzle over the teenage boy with the doll...

Not just for the learning experience and reminder/warning of a possible consequence of certain behaviors... or the early bonding with us over all-nighters with baby... or the fact that the boys and the girls in his school have the identical assignment...

But also I guess for the reminder that the future is charging fast at us. The heartbeat of time between my son's being cradled in my arms and becoming a man is -- right now. Someday, someday soon, the baby he'll hold in his arms (stressed and psyched and full of wonder) will be real and breathing, pumping blood of my blood and not to be returned to room 217 by 8AM but here to stay.

I hardly have time to catch my breath.

It catches in my throat.

It's only a heartbreakingly short heartbeat of time before I turn into Polonius, doddering after my sweet earnest little boy who before my eyes is turning into one of the best men I have ever known, spouting advice he's heard or not heard a thousand times before.

Go, I want to whisper to him. Spread your wings and take to the sky as I warned myself in your nightly lullabies you someday would. Fly high. It is a glorious thing to be your mom and watch you grow up. Go and discover. Try. Fail. Survive and learn. Become.

But not quite yet, baby mine.

My arms will never lose the muscle memory of you cradled warm within them, even when someday in the future you hold your own baby in yours.

May

2011-05-02T14:18:00.000-07:00

You know what I love about spring?

Finding a bird's nest where one wasn't the day before.
Outdoor cafes.
Hikes.
Picnic tables.
More cafes.
And reading outside.

Also forsythia and eyedrops and tulips.

Know what I don't love about spring? Mud, needing eyedrops, and when it gets too cold to sit at picnic tables or at outdoor cafes or to read outside.

How about you?

Love,

Rachel Vail

PS Tomorrow is my mom's birthday. I like that, too.

today

2011-04-25T07:42:00.000-07:00

(photo credit -- Sarah Ross. I so love this picture and so want it as the cover of one of my books... don't you think that would be great?)

Today I am going to send in my new manuscript, marked "first draft" (hahahahaha) to my editor.

As a celebration, I am going to:

1. take a long walk, even if it is raining

2. either go to yoga class or do the (less fun, more convenient) yoga class on my iTunes

3. go to Meg Cabot's book club, where they are discussing my book Brilliant!

4. what else?

If you have questions -- about Brilliant or other books -- or about anything -- I will try to answer them. If you have answers, that could be interesting, too. Or comments, thoughts, suggestions -- on any topic -- please send them in. Should I get my hair cut? Bangs? What should one do when she has just sent in a manuscript in addition to a yoga class? Should I get some new pet fish? (More on my diva fish and his operatic death scenes soon.) Are you, like the members of the MC book club, wondering who the screwdriver guy is -- or do you KNOW? Do you have writing questions, reading questions, life questions?

Etc.

Ask away.

Love,

Rachel Vail

Time

2011-04-12T19:41:00.000-07:00

I remember reading on a bathroom stall wall one time long ago something like:

Time is just a way of keeping everything from happening at once.

It's not working. Everything is happening at once anyway.

Maybe I need a Stop Watch.

Happy Birthday

2011-04-12T05:16:00.000-07:00

Happy 95th Birthday to Beverly Cleary -- a great day to celebrate. Gonna treat myself to an hour of guilt-free pleasure reading, in her honor. How about you?

Book-A-Day Almanac

childrensbookalmanac.com

Why I have to steal phrases from my kids:

2011-04-10T14:50:00.000-07:00

My 11-yr-old just yelled: Oh! Mommy! I’m falling into despair! Oh, wait. Never mind. Continue.

snack time

2011-04-10T13:44:00.001-07:00

My kids just helped me brainstorm a climactic scene. Also they laughed when I read them a scene I hoped was funny.

So I will give them a snack.

You think people get snacks around here for nothing?

To Do List

2011-04-10T10:07:00.000-07:00

Last week I stayed at a haunted inn in Empire, Colorado.

After being attacked by a gorilla.

And signing books at the Colorado Teen Lit Conference.

Where I got to meet some awesome teens.
And give a speech.
And hang out with a bunch of really cool people -- teens, writers, teachers, librarians, booksellers, ice cream sellers, parents, story-tellers... including the wise and witty Pete Hautman.
And then ski with my husband -- and some great friends -- in Vail.

More fun people from the conference. (Can you tell I am having trouble organizing the photos on my website? The order is just going to have to be random.)

Also: BRILLIANT was chosen for Meg Cabot's April Book Club!

And JUSTIN CASE was chosen by Bank Street as a Best Book of 2011!

But just dealing with today:

So I was just thinking, simultaneously, that I have to blog, and also figure out the climax of the book I am writing, and also find a recipe for macaroons. I therefore went to my Aunt Ronnie's website (http://ronniefein.com) and got one of them.

So my to-do-to-day list is half done. Or, now, I guess, two-thirds!

Which brings up my advice du jour: never write "cross this off" on your to-do list.

How are you doing today?

Love,

Rachel Vail

PS Special Bonus Feature: Aunt Ronnie's macaroon recipe

(her cookbooks are THE BEST)

Incredibly Easy Macaroons

2 cups packaged, shredded coconut

1/2 cup sugar

pinch of salt

3 large egg whites

garnish: chopped dried fruit, chocolate chips, crystallized ginger, whole almonds, etc.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet. In a bowl, toss the coconut, sugar and salt together. Add the egg whites and mix the ingredients until a uniform “dough” has formed. Take heaping teaspoons of dough and shape them into about 20 balls. Place the balls on the cookie sheet a piece of put a garnish on top of each ball. Bake for about 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool on the sheet for 5 minutes, then remove to a cake rack to cool completely. Makes about 20

If you like firmer macaroons, mix 1/4 cup matzo cake meal into the dough.

To make them chocolate covered: melt some semisweet chocolate with vegetable shortening (about one tablespoon for every 6 ounces of chocolate). Use this as a dip to cover the baked macaroons.

Today

2011-03-30T19:18:00.000-07:00

Today I had to write a speech and also the climactic scene of my book.

So what I did was:

Fixed my garbage disposal.

Oh, yeah. I did. Seriously.

Well, okay. I actually fixed it halfway after I stalked a pair of plumbers on the street and got advice, and then diagnosed the rest of the problem by myself! And then I stopped myself from following the internet instructions on How To Repair An Electrical Outlet. Which was pretty smart and heroic, the stopping part, if I say so myself. I had a screw-driver in one hand and a flashlight in the other. I was ready to rumble. And I resisted, at that last second. That is what I call will-power. Or maturity. Or, maybe, coming to my senses.

But then I got an electrician here pronto to fix the outlet because I read on the internet on the page about How To Repair and Electrical Outlet that my nonfunctional electrical outlet which was under the sink not powering my garbage disposal could cause a fire. So I said actually no I don't think it could wait until tomorrow please come now I would so appreciate it because as much as I love my neighbors I do not want to meet them out on the street tonight in their pajamas.

And, voila! When the electrician -- who had many more tools than I had (just the one screwdriver, plus the flashlight and some packing tape, for me; he had a whole metal box, and a big blue bag full of more clanking stuff including a new/functional electrical outlet) -- when he got the old nonfunctional electrical outlet out, it was hot and smelled like smoke!

And he said it was a fire hazard!

So now I feel like Wonder Woman.

And therefore I am all set to write a climactic scene and a speech.

Sometimes my work thinks I am procrastinating when really what I am doing is preparing.

Love,

Rachel Vail

Spring? Spring??? also books and desserts.

2011-03-28T07:55:00.001-07:00

Yay! Look what I got!

I admit I was a little surprised and confused -- JUSTIN CASE in paperback already? And from Scholastic? But then I realized -- these are for school book fairs and clubs! Yahoo! Coming soon to a school near you? Will you let me know if you see them at your school? Take a picture of yourself (or your child) with a copy and I will send you a free signed bookplate to put inside (good for hardcovers too!) so that your copy is personalized!

So that's my happy news.

On the other hand:

(no, not going to talk about world news. My poli-sci/history nerd girl side will spend all day on THAT... and that... and the humanitarian/mom side of me will spend all day on the other aspects... so, the lighter side of the bad news only for today...)

What happened to spring? We got 1 day of it and then, what? Just kidding? Come on now.

(my driveway in CT.)

By the way, you know what else drives me nuts, in addition to freezing temps AFTER spring is supposed to have started? When people say LOL. If you are saying it, you know, Out Loud, chances are you actually are not Laughing Out Loud. And if you ARE Laughing Out Loud while we are in the room together, I already know so you don't need to say LOL.

Sorry. Rants over.

This is my sons last weekend. When I need cheering up because because winter is overstaying its allotted 3 months (right? 4 seasons, 12 months -- why does winter get 5 or more???) I hang with my guys and watch them throw rocks and sticks into the still-partially frozen lake near our house.

What could be better than that?

Can you tell I am at the end-game of my current book? It's the time when I tend to slam my head in doors and ramble about the weather...

BUT: I am writing fiction like crazy and though you know I want to procrastinate by chatting with you, I will not let myself. (Well, maybe for a minute. But that's all! And only because I got stuff to tell ya!)

I have to get a lot done on my current book (shhh, big news coming, but not yet -- don't want to jinx it) this week before I head out to Denver Colorado this weekend for the Colorado Teen Literature conference. I can't wait! It sounds like so much fun -- they even asked me, mysteriously, what is my favorite dessert.... hmmm.... I shouldn't get my hopes up, right? Probably they were just curious?

What's your favorite dessert? (hard to choose? Or obvious?)

Here's the info, for any of you who will be in the Denver area this weekend -- I hope if you are, you'll come! The other author is Pete Hautman www.petehautman.com

I can't wait to read his books (on the plane on my way there?) -- they sound really good.

http://coteenlitconf.org/

So -- back to work. Thinking about desserts, and spring, and boxes full of books. Mmmmm.

How about you?

Love,

Rachel Vail

What happened to my bananas:

2011-03-15T14:17:00.000-07:00

Writing

2011-03-15T09:47:00.000-07:00

Do you write? If you do, I'm guessing you get stuck sometimes. What to do about writer's block -- or how to move forward in the story when it stalls -- or some related phrasing -- is one of the questions I get most.

I have a bunch of techniques, and figure I'll share them with you here as I use them myself.

Today -- although my younger son is on spring break so I am mostly playing (and baking) with him -- I've also been sneaking away to write while he plays with a friend.

I'm working from the point of view of a nine-year-old boy named Justin, whom some of you may know from my book JUSTIN CASE: School, Drool, and Other Daily Disasters. Without giving TOO much away, I will just say that these days I find myself in Justin's head, during the summer between third grade and fourth -- and I want to be sure I am getting it right.

One way to avoid too much self-editing is to speed-write. So when I am checking in with a character, I like to do as many "I" statements as I can in a minute. Just start with "I" as your character, and write whatever nonsense comes. Maybe some of your statements, upon later reflection, won't work for your character. Or maybe some won't seem to but you'll discover that somehow they do because of something you hadn't fully realized before. Or maybe you'll just be listing stuff you already know -- which might remind you of something you'd forgotten, or maybe not.

Maybe it will be a waste of time. But it's only a minute. So no big loss there.

Sometimes I have to do another minute, though. So, two minutes.

Here's what I got just now for Justin:

I am Justin Case

I am not a worried kid any more

I still worry a fair amount, though

I want to get into Deep before the summer ends

I wonder what my sister thinks about when she hums and draws

I want to win a medal in something, anything

I hate the bars I can't climb across-- they hurt my fingers

I wish my heart wouldn't pound so much

I wish my counselor weren’t so mean

I feel sorry for Penelope Ann Murphy

I wish I were more like Cash

I don’t think Cash is such a good person, though

I like killing bad guys

I want to eat unlimited cookies someday

I think bus farts might be toxic

I wish Dad would be proud of me

I wonder if I am best at anything

I hate cold water, sweat that dries and itches my neck, and loud noises

I love gummy worms

I also love nothing to do all afternoon and it’s only 2 PM

I don’t have a crush on Montana C. Probably.

I don’t hate girls yet but I am still working on that

I hate when Bartholomew Wiggins pokes me when he talks

I could listen to birds arguing in our trees for an hour without getting an itchy butt

I sometimes dream the color blue and then I wake up very smooth

Now you try it -- post your character's minute (or two) of I statements if you want, but mostly do it for yourself. Did you learn anything? Did your character's voice sound in your head? Did you get surprised?

I did, a couple of times -- and I think those little eye-openers are just what I needed to spur my day's writing today. Well, that and maybe another of the banana muffins I just baked.

Do you want more tips? I'll post 'em if you want 'em...

Love,

Rachel Vail

A poem for today

2011-02-18T15:28:00.000-08:00

Writing Day

My word count is less than I started today with

but I’ll not admit defeat

though I orchestrate harmonies characters play with

my favorite key is delete

Rachel Vail

this week

2011-02-11T07:24:00.000-08:00

So much is going on.

Weather - still so darn cold. Egypt - erupting, changing every minute. My kids - in plays, getting hit in the head by basketballs. My cell phone -- getting tossed unintentionally yet athletically into the toilet (by me).

But then, in the midst of everything, I came upon this. So random and yet so wonderful.

Note: I love Pachelbel. Maybe, it turns out, because I never even attempted to play cello.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM

Love,

Rachel Vail

Good sentences

2011-02-03T11:26:00.000-08:00

A question I'm asked a lot is, why did you become a writer?

My answer depends on my mood. Sometimes I say it's because I never really learned to play my saxophone and anyway Clarence Clemmons got my spot with the E-Street Band while I was busy doing Elementary School. Sometimes I say it's because I really hate keeping my shoes on so I had to find a job I could do in socks. Or else I say what I wanted to do was read all day so I got as close as I could, or that I meant to write and direct plays but got sidetracked.

All these answers are true.

Maybe more to the point is that my ideas tend to be story ideas, specifically characters-in-subtle-conflict ideas. I was talking with my son last night about waffles and how different people eat them -- some pick them up and dip them bit by bit into syrup, while others cut them into bite-sized pieces, some along the ridges but others diagonally or haphazardly. He gave a shudder at the thought of waffles cross-cut. So I described a scene where a couple, having brunch, were trying to avoid a fight -- she felt that he was too controlling and perfectionistic; he disagreed; neither wanted to argue. But during the discussion they were trying to have instead of the fight, she would be cutting her waffle randomly, which would be driving him utterly NUTS until he finally explodes: You have to cut along the RIDGES! And there it is; nothing more needs to or can be said as the two of them stare astonished but not fully, her jagged waffle-bit dripping syrup maddeningly onto the counter between them...

If I didn't write books, I would have no place to put my ideas.

But maybe the ultimate reason I had to become a writer is that I love sentences.

In a column on Slate.com, Stanley Fish writes about best sentences. There are some great ones there:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/browbeat/archive/2011/01/24/stanley-fish-s-top-five-sentences.aspx

Check them out... but here is one (and a half) of my all time favorite sentences. It's from East of Eden, by John Steinbeck:

…well, Samuel rode lightly on top of a book and he balanced happily among the ideas the way a man rides white rapids in a canoe. But Tom got into a book, crawled and groveled between the covers, tunneled like a mole among the thoughts, and came up with the book all over his face and hands.

I think I shared it one time a few years back, and people posted their own. Let's do it again. Post your own favorite sentences here, to brighten and warm this lovely (urgh) patch of winter for us all.

Love,

Rachel Vail

PS: Welcome home to Liz Levy and Bruce Coville, who got out of Egypt just in time, seems like. Glad you are heading home and safe -- and here's hoping for progress and safety for all over there.

What I think

2011-01-11T10:50:00.000-08:00

I think it should be easier for an American to get mental health care than a semi-automatic weapon.

Don't you?

Love,

Rachel Vail

Reviews

2011-01-05T08:19:00.000-08:00

Just as I sat here shivering in my freezing apartment, despairing about ever being able to write all the books I am supposed to be writing while cursing myself

for opting for the cuter, smaller, more ecologically correct LITTLE radiators when we renovated... I got a lovely review on JUSTIN CASE from The Rusty Key. So now I am warm all over.

I think it's because of this wonderful write-up. But my new-found warmth could be also slightly

due to my three sweaters, fuzzy socks and slippers and corduroy jeggings (cordureggings? will the silliness of pants neologisms ever end?)

http://therustykey.com/Justin_Case.html

Love,

Rachel Vail

A Poem (or Invention) by me and my son Z

2010-12-22T20:12:00.000-08:00

What There Needs to Be

There should be a thing

Like Google

Where you could type in

What is that poem I was thinking of

Who is that actor who was in that thing with that guy I like who isn’t Michael Cera

And it would tell you.

Vacation-land

2010-12-20T12:25:00.000-08:00

Are you on vacation yet? Any plans? If you could go anywhere/do anything on your vacation this year, what would you do?

I would definitely go someplace warm and sandy where lovely people would bring me fattening drinks with little paper umbrellas in them.

Instead I am going someplace cold and snowy where lovely people will ask me to bring them

toast slices with peanut butter on them.

But there is something wonderful about that, too. (She reminds herself.)

Speaking of nonsequators, I got some good news today: JUSTIN CASE was selected as a Best Early Novel of 2010! Here's the link to that fantastic announcement:

http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/12/19/868330/winning-choices-for-school-aged.html

AND... it's still in the running for a ReadKiddoRead Book of the Year Award -- but it's got some stiff competition... not mentioning any names but JUSTIN's worthy competition include some of the top bestsellers in kids' books and series... so stand tall, JUSTIN! You are the new kid on the block and still hanging in there.

If you vote for JUSTIN, at this link

http://www.readkiddoread.com/uploads/kiddos.php

I'll be so happy. As happy as if I had an umbrella drink? Maybe.

And that is pretty darn happy.

What would make you happy this season? Peace, love, health, and...???

Love,

Rachel Vail

Something Else to Feel Thankful For

2010-12-02T19:42:00.000-08:00

Even post-Thanksgiving, I think it's important to retain a feeling of gratitude.

Even when your little kid is crampy and STILL not feeling like himself after WAY too long, a person must find things to feel lucky about.

Even if a person's back is in a tight knot so she is tilted 40 degrees forward, walking like her old social studies teacher from high school, one must remember that life is good.

Even when the news is depressing and the weather is crappy, and and and... no matter what, it is important to find a way to look at the bright side.

Which is why it is lov

ely to have been shown this website by my big kid. It is a whole website of Kim Jong Il Looking at Things.

Why this makes me unspeakably happy I am not 100% sure, but wow, it so does. You?

http://kimjongillookingatthings.tumblr.com/

Love,

Rachel Vail

PS I must go to sleep now. I will have to write about our own family Hanukah Miracle tomorrow or over the weekend. Meanwhile, for those who are celebrating, have a happy one...

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T06:56:00.000-08:00

What are you thankful for today?

My big things are of course my family and friends. My little guy, who's been sick for a while, is on the mend, so I am particularly thankful for that.

Little stuff I'm thankful for:

the pot of tea my husband just made

the good run we just took (despite the cccccold)

the stack of good books beside my bed

that I finally finished eating all the apple pie so there's no more for me to gobble up

that Bruce Springsteen has a new album out for me to get

parades

good food and lots of it later today

the lovely letters and emails I've been getting lately

that nobody pressures me anymore to eat turkey even though it's Thanksgiving

cozy socks

and, here's a fun one:

JUSTIN CASE has been getting some really awesome reviews, including this one which is featured on Book Daily today!

http://www.bookdaily.com/book/2013463/justin-case-school-drool-and-other-daily-disasters

... and is even up for a KIDDO Award. You can vote for it right here (please do!!!!)...

http://www.readkiddoread.com/uploads/kiddos.php

... and, as of this moment, JUSTIN is in the lead! Nobody would b more surprised by that than Justin. Vote Justin for the win! Vote every day! (And tell your friends...)

Finally, I'm thankful for today. It's the only one, ever. Pretty cool. Gonna live the heck out of it.

How about you?

Love,

Rachel Vail

PS Let me know if you vote for JUSTIN!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T19:02:00.001-07:00

How bad would it be if I steal just a bit of my kids' candy? Vote quick because I am craving chocolate...

Just saw this lovely review of JUSTIN CASE, now that I am in from trick-or-treating and my angel wings are lying, still hooked onto my black leather jacket, in the hall...

http://sliscrimsonreview.blogspot.com/2010/10/justin-case-school-drool-and-other.html

Did you do Halloween? Did you dress up? As what? Did it feel like less pressure this year than last, since it was Sunday night instead of Saturday? Or did the Halloween spirit pervade the entire weekend?

Tell me your stories...

Love,

Rachel Vail

Great Teachers

2010-10-22T07:37:00.000-07:00

I'm about to head out to DC for the weekend, for a celebration of my college mentor, Doc Murphy. I'll be on a panel at Georgetown University on Saturday, along with a few other people who were influenced by this joyous and brilliant man. He has been a professor of Theater at Georgetown, and the President of the National Theater, for a very long time and now, having just turned 80, is planning his next adventures.

I'm really excited to talk about how Doc Murphy changed everything for me -- he made writing possible, and fun. He taught me the joy and necessity of rewriting, and that the writer's job is to ASTONISH the reader. And so much more. Every day I continue to learn from him, as his advice ricochets around my writing brain.

Did you ever have a teacher like that? One who believed in you and pushed you farther? One whose lessons continue to enlighten you long after you leave the classroom? Who was it? It feels so good to give great teachers a shout out. Let's let them know. I'll start, and will add more names of my great teachers this week.

For today: Thanks, Doc Murphy!

Your turn...

Love,

Rachel Vail

If You Write Books for Kids or Teens (or want to)...

2010-10-06T18:13:00.000-07:00

... you might not want to miss this.

It's open to the public but last I heard there are fewer than 20 spots still open.

The Authors Guild invites you to a children’s book panel discussion:

Trends in Children’s Book Publishing 2010

Sponsored by the Authors Guild Foundation

Moderator: Rachel Vail, Author

Panelists:

Meg Cabot, Author

Lisa Holton, Founder, CEO, Fourth Story Media

Neal Porter, Editor, Founder, Neal Porter Books

Rosemary Stimola, Literary Agent, President, Stimola Literary Studio

Tuesday, October 19, 6:00 p.m.

Scandinavia House, The Volvo Room

58 Park Avenue at 38th Street

New York City

Free! Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Space is limited.

Please RSVP here.

Though I Am Trying Not To Blog...

2010-09-30T08:35:00.000-07:00

I am finishing up the book I’m writing, which is a pretty all-consuming activity for me. At times like this I tend to set things on fire, slam my face or fingers in doors, and drop full canisters of flour on my own head/ the floor for no apparent reason other than the fact that my brain is used up.

So I am trying not to do anything overly dangerous such as cook, or parent, or blog.

I am not being completely successful at avoiding any of those things. Which is mostly fine (well, except for the cooking, possibly.)

But anyway I just had to interrupt my non-blogging to say a very brief thing about bullying and homophobia.

You might be attracted to boys, or to girls, or to both. You may think that somebody else being attracted to boys, or to girls, or to both, is incomprehensible, or yucky, or not your thing. But IT IS NOT YOUR BUSINESS who somebody is attracted to, or who anybody else loves. So if you ever feel tempted to shame somebody for his or her sexuality, stop. Just stop. It’s mean. It can be very hurtful. And it’s not your business.

It’s wrong and immature when third graders call one another nasty names. They need to be pulled aside and taught gently about empathy and the importance of being kind. For any of the rest of us who are past third grade: if you catch yourself calling somebody a nasty epithet or shaming somebody for who they are, sit yourself down in time-out until you can pull yourself together and behave like a grown person. Come on, now.

If somebody is teasing or tormenting you about your sexuality – or your looks, your opinions, your choices, your race or gender or height or any other baloney none-of-their-business nonsense, get away from them. Please seek out somebody kind and cool to talk with or hang out with. There are many of us around. Stay strong and keep looking for us.

We might be bleary-eyed and covered with flour, but we are here, and we’re rooting for you.

Love,

Rachel Vail

On Banning and Burning Books

2010-09-21T07:10:00.000-07:00

Here's what I think:

If you don't want to read a book, don't. If it's too late and you've already read it and it was not your cup of tea, you don't have to ban or burn it -- just don't recommend it. There are definitely some books I disliked so much I even recommend that friends NOT read them. I don't like eating brisket, so I don't eat it. And I really don't recommend you eat brisket either. Yuck. But do I go around banning or burning brisket? NO! Well, okay, other than that piece of brisket this past Saturday. But that was an accident.

SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson, on the other hand, I highly recommend.

http://madwomanintheforest.com/this-guy-thinks-speak-is-pornography/

What do you think?

Love,

Rachel Vail

Mrs. Hill's Book Blog: Rachel Vail. JUSTIN CASE: SCHOOL, DROOL, AND OTHER DAILY DISASTERS

2010-08-18T22:00:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Hill's Book Blog: Rachel Vail. JUSTIN CASE: SCHOOL, DROOL, AND OTHER DAILY DISASTERS

2010-08-10T14:35:00.000-07:00

Hooray for BRILLIANT!

A 5-Star review was just posted at

TeensReadToo.com!

Here's the link:

http://www.teensreadtoo.com/BrilliantVail.html

It's been a crazy-busy week.

Last week I went, along with my husband and younger son -- and fantastic author Nick Bruel and a great crew from both Macmillan and Barnes & Noble -- to a Staten Island Yankees Game, hosted by the publisher of JUSTIN CASE, Macmillan. Here's how Publisher's Weekly covered the event:

Peanuts

, Crackerjacks, and Authors

Macmillan authors Nick

Bruel and Rachel Vail, seen here, were both in attendance at Richmond County Bank Ballpark on Staten Island last Thursday, as the Staten Island Yankees defeated the Connecticut Tigers 6-3. Vail signed copies of Justin Case: School, Drool, and Other Daily Disasters (Feiwel and Friends, Apr.), illustrated by Matthew Cordell, and Bruel autographed Bad Kitty Gets a Bath (Roaring Brook/Porter, 2008); Bruel’s next Bad Kitty book, Bad Kitty vs Uncle Murray, comes out at the end of this month.

After the game, there were fireworks, and during the fireworks, JUSTIN CASE and BAD KITTY were shown on the big lit-up

screens. This is my pathetic shot of JUSTIN being shown. Oh, well. You'll have to take my word for it. It was pretty darn

exciting.

Then my son and husband and I went to LA, to the SCBWI conference -- where I got to meet and talk to many published and aspiring writers. My head was buzzing all day long from the excitement, the inspiration, and the freezing cold air conditioning! It was a wonderful time. More info on that coming soon...

(This is a sculpture by Matisse at the Getty in LA, which we visited the day after the conference. I love it, particularly because it seems to me a fabulous and funny metaphor for how teen girls sometimes feel -- like they are really still little but lost somehow in a huger and huger womanly body...)

After that we went south, to Disneyland! Who knew I'd like roller coasters?! We walked our legs off and fell into bed exhausted each night.

(Here's my son, exhausted on Sunday morning, waiting to leave Disney to go to the airport. He was just glassy-eyed and Disney-fied, in front of the TV showing Disney cartoons in the hotel lobby...)

We flew back Sunday, and then yesterday I had a great day at Writing Camp. Yes, friends, Writing Camp, full of amazingly funny but serious kids ages 9 - 14 who love to WRITE. This would have been the camp of my dreams when I was a kid, in competition only with the 2 (count 'em, 2) Shakespeare Camps that are also, like Writing Camp, within walking distance of my apartment. Some days I just really and deeply love NYC.

Though, man, is it HOT. So I am happy, as much as I love the city, to leave it for a bit and listen to the birds chirping in my newly mulched garden.

Soon I will go with my husband and younger son down to the lake to dip our toes in -- and later this week we will head up to Maine to pick up the older boy...

But I was talking about writing camp. I've done a lot of teaching this past week -- yesterday with kids, earlier in the week at SCBWI with adults. And you know what? It's not that different.

If you want to write books for kids, I really, really recommend either. The only hitch is, for writing camp, you have be under 15.

When I went to camp there was a lot of macrame. Just saying. Also curling irons, used in getting ready for Socials. Not a heck of a lot of talk about finding layers in characters you create, and very little iambic pentameter. There was reading, but maybe that was mostly me. I had the rockin' nickname of Bookworm when I went to camp, which really intimidated tennis opponents, I bet.

Okay, gonna go sit looking at how pretty the garden has become, thanks to Garden Gurus John and Cathy.

It smells great, too, all fresh and cedar-y. Then down to the lake for an evening float.

One of my favorite things about summer is the barefootedness. How about you? What are your favorite parts of summer? Don't

even say macrame. Because, really... macrame?

Love,

Rachel Vail

2010-08-05T09:24:00.001-07:00

LUCKY, GORGEOUS, and BRILLIANT are given a shout-out in today's USA TODAY!

http://usat.me/39567382

And then, ten minutes after I found out about that, I got the great news that BRILLIANT got a STARRED review in VOYA!

Just woke up here in chilly Los Angeles, and already it's a great day.

Now I am off to Disneyland so we'll see how that goes...

Love,

Rachel Vail

About SCBWI LA!

2010-08-04T22:57:00.000-07:00

I'll post more, including writing tips, soon -- though if you want my Form to Form a Character, please email me and I will send it when I return to NYC (next Monday)...

But for now, here is a terrific blog entry with detailed notes -- thanks so much, Sherrie!

http://solvangsherrie.blogspot.com/2010/08/notes-from-rachel-vail.html

Love,

Rachel Vail

If you want a book...

2010-08-02T12:32:00.000-07:00

If you want a copy of JUSTIN CASE (or any of my other books) signed and personalized, especially if you are here with me at SCBWI and there aren't any left (sorry!) we can make that happen.

Click on this link:

http://www.bankstreetbooks.com/product_info.php/products_id/2187

When I get back to NYC next week, I will dash immediately across Broadway and sign your book, which will go out to you that very afternoon.

Love,

Rachel Vail

in LA, with my fellow bookies...

2010-08-02T12:19:00.000-07:00

My head is buzzing and my heart is exploding here in Los Angeles at the SCBWI conference. But if I don't go get some food I am going to go all woozy and '40's movie-swoony so all the details will have to wait. For now, though: I spoke this morning to a room full of a thousand new friends, many of whom were incredibly generous in coming up afterwards to share thoughts, tears, and stories of their own. I have learned so much and been so inspired at this conference. If you write (or want to write) books for kids, I highly recommend attending an SCBWI conference. What a treat. I want to get to the afternoon sessions, though, so I MUST find some food. No more blueberry scones from Starbucks!

Love,

Rachel Vail

Hooray for Justin! And Independent Bookstores!!!

2010-07-19T09:22:00.000-07:00

This just in:

IndieBound: Other Indie Favorites

From last week's Indie bestseller lists, available at IndieBound.org, here are the recommended titles, which are also Indie Next Great Reads:

Hardcover

Pray for Silence by Linda Castillo (Minotaur, $24.99, 9780312374983/0312374984). "In this sequel to Sworn to Silence, Police Chief Kate Burkholder is faced with the slaughter of an Amish family of seven. Her search for the killer takes her on a dark journey of discovery and uncovers a disturbing realm of violence and brutality. As before, Castillo keeps the pace quick, the story compelling, and her manner towards the Amish reverent."--Katherine Osborne, Kennebooks, Kennebunk, Me.

Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Place on Earth by James M. Tabor (Random House, $26, 9781400067671/1400067677). "This thrilling true-life adventure involves two men, two caves, and enough terrifying hazards to capture any reader! Tabor takes that old adage that what goes up must come down and turns it over--what goes down does not necessarily always come back up. A mesmerizing and compelling read that is best taken on only in well lit and airy surroundings!"--Jerry DeLong, Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Lyndhurst, Ohio.

Paperback

The News Where You Are: A Novel by Catherine O'Flynn (Holt, $15, 9780805091809/0805091807). "Old people, old buildings, old friends--Frank Allcroft seems to be losing all of them. He is a pun-cracking television news anchor on the brink of a mid-life crisis but lucky enough to have a young daughter, Mo, who puts his life in perspective. An honest, funny look at family, friends, career and the memories we choose to cherish or leave behind."--Karen Briggs, Great Northern Books and Hobbies, Oscoda, Mich.

For Ages 9 to 12

Justin Case: School, Drool, and Other Daily Disasters by Rachel Vail, illustrated by Matthew Cordell (Feiwel & Friends, $16.99, 9780312532901/0312532903). "Poor Justin! He is a worrier. Robbers, tests, even earning Superstars in school are sources of stress. He tells his story in a series of short journal entries that follow his third grade school year from September through June. Readers will cheer--and laugh! Justin (Case) Krzeszewski is my new hero!"--Christopher Rose, Andover Bookstore, Andover, Mass.

[Many thanks to IndieBound and the ABA!]

Bastille Day!

2010-07-14T15:17:00.000-07:00

We're celebrating Bastille Day here chez moi -- because, well, why the heck not.

Sometimes, if we can't find a holiday and we are hard up for a party, we will celebrate Tuesday Afternoon.

However, today the book I am currently writing took a surprising, but very cool, turn. This is fantastic, of course, because it yanked me into a highly productive writing day (though as a result I am kind of scrunched up, with my shoulders ratcheted up to my earlobes). This is a good enough reason to party, in my opinion. (Or perhaps do some yoga?) But I do not need an excuse to celebrate today!

Bastille Day is an actual holiday, with a lovely (though historically questionable and of course horribly out-of-touch) command regarding food. My French may be a bit rusty, but I think I have got it -- so this is what I just made for dinner tonight.

Let them eat cupcakes! (But let them wait for frosting.)

Love,

Rachel Vail

Signed books!

2010-07-09T14:37:00.000-07:00

Want a signed book?

You got it.

Click below to order one of the AVERY books -- or Sometimes I'm Bombaloo -- from my local bookstore, Bank Street Books. They'll let me know. I will dash over there that very day and sign the book just for you -- and they will mail it right out.

Lucky: http://www.bankstreetbooks.com/product_info.php/products_id/2199

Gorgeous: http://www.bankstreetbooks.com/product_info.php/products_id/2198

Brilliant: http://www.bankstreetbooks.com/product_info.php/products_id/2197

Bombaloo: http://www.bankstreetbooks.com/product_info.php/products_id/1571

Love,

Rachel Vail

Books

2010-07-09T12:04:00.000-07:00

David Brooks is so annoying.

He wrote a column in today's New York Times that I should love, because it is all about how great books are, especially for kids. But I can't fully love it, because his attitude is so darn prissy and annoying -- exactly the attitude that turns so many kids off to books.

Here's the link to his column:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/09/opinion/09brooks.html?hp

I love that researchers gave kids books -- and that the kids got to CHOOSE their 12 books, and that those kids showed real improvements in their test scores. Yay for them, and yay for books.

But contrary to what David Brooks seems to be saying, books aren't just good because they make you a better student. Or because they are somehow hierarchical. Or because a better mind than your own created them and you should just shut up and listen.

Books are interactive in most profound way: the reader's imagination completes the story created by the writer.

Books force us not to just shut up and listen but to imagine and wonder and question.

I get his point about the twitchy anarchy/lack of deep thought of the internet, and also the value in seeing oneself as someone who has books.

But books are also fun, even the classics, even the really hard and deep books. He makes them sound like drudgery to be endured if you want to climb some ladder. Ew.

Do you love books? Why?

Love,

Rachel Vail

Happy Independence!

2010-07-05T12:34:00.000-07:00

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend.

I am. (This is the crazy plant in my garden in CT. Every year it gets bigger and crazier and more tropical. But no complaints from me; I love it.)

What a whirlwind! Saturday we went to the wedding of some very close friends in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. This is the dress I tried to get. The one I actually wore was similar, but looser. Also, I smiled while wearing mine.

My sons walked the bride down the aisle; the service was completely in Polish;and the day was just perfect in every way. We had spent all morning transforming our apartment into a honeymoon suite for the lovely couple to stay in this weekend -- I hope it was terrific for them, and that the Hershey's kisses I scattered all over the bed didn't melt during the day...

Then yesterday we went to Shakespeare & Co in Lenox, MA, for a reading of the Declaration of Independence (my boys got to read a bit!) and hanging out listening to music, drinking tall cool drinks, and then, at night of course, the traditional viewing of the fireworks (not actual fireworks, though. Instead a production of Richard III. Which was great.)

Today we canoed around the lake here in CT. Mmmm, heaven.

And, my favorite soldier, Zack J, got promoted to Sergeant on Friday! Hu-ah!!!!

Gonna chill for now, but first, two BRILLIANT-related things:

AS PROMISED -- I took the Avery quiz, and here is my result: I am most like... Allison!

Have you taken it yet? I highly recommend it. I was SO surprised to come out most like her, even though in some ways I guess it makes sense... Tell me your results in the comments below! The link is right there in the post below this.

http://www.harperteen.com/contests/rachelvail/rachelvail-quiz.aspx?cm_sp=swp-_-beachbag-_-rachelvailquiz

Also -- just got word of a new review for BRILLIANT, this one from Bookchic! I met the great and hugely dedicated guy behind this site at BEA. Here's the link:

http://bookchicclub.blogspot.com/2010/07/brilliant-by-rachel-vail.html

And the review is below.

What are you doing to celebrate Independence Day?

Love,

Rachel Vail

Brilliant by Rachel Vail
"Everything is going to be fine . . . .

Quinn Avery can handle change. It's just paint, right? Bright, blinding white paint covering her once dazzling red bedroom walls. Quinn knows she shouldn't be angry at her mom—she's doing what she must to sell the house—but still, Quinn is beyond mad, and she doesn't know what to do about it.

Until now, Quinn was doing a pretty good job at pretending to be her old self—calm and brilliant Avery daughter, responsible big sister to Allison and Phoebe, piano virtuoso, girl who makes everyone proud—but without the sanctuary of her room, a new, wild Quinn is emerging. Lying, sneaking out, partying, Quinn is practically asking to get caught. When Quinn adds kissing the wrong boys—including her sister's boyfriend and her own piano teacher—to her list of crimes, has she gone too far to save herself?"- summary from Amazon

I love how Rachel Vail did this trilogy; you get the same situation with different events in each book as it's told from each sister. There's the same family situation told over several months, I think. The timeline was a bit confusing for me as I thought it was going to be the same period of time told through each sister's perspective.

But aside from that, it's interesting to see how each sister views the other two, then to read how the outer appearance is different from the inner. In this one, Quinn is seen as the perfect oldest sister but reading from her point of view, you see that she's way more than that and wants to break out of the mold. It sounds cliche, but Vail makes it more complex and realistic. To me, it's just fantastic how she crafts each character, especially the sisters.

The book flew by for me because it was so interesting. The prose was full of humor, romance, reflective moments, and heated arguments. This trilogy is wonderful for those who love realistic fiction, which can be a bit hard to find these days.

FTC: Received ARC from publisher. Link above is Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.

Is your beach bag weirdly light? Are you reading cereal boxes?

2010-06-23T09:52:00.000-07:00

Enter the HarperTeen Beach Bag Essentials for a chance to win 8 great summer reads! The Carrie Diaries, Forgive My Fins, Brusier, Lies, Brilliant -- and more!

http://bit.ly/bRO0uV

Books

Authors

Browse Inside

Contests

Gift Guide

Search HarperTeen.com:

Harperteen is giving away books from some of our favorite authors like Candace Bushnell, Sara Shepard,
Michael Grant, Tera Lynn Childs, Jason Hendricks, Rachel Vail, Chris Lynch, and Neal Shusterman.

Check out the featured books and enter for a chance to win them all!

The Carrie Diaries

By: Candace
Bushnell

Meet Carrie before
Sex and the City.

Pretty Little Liars

By: Sara Shepard

Create your own
Pretty Little Liar.

Lies: A Gone Novel

By: Michael Grant

Watch the book
trailer for Lies: A
Gone Novel.

Forgive My Fins

By: Candace
Bushnell

Alex Van Helsing:
Vampire Rising

By: Jason Henders

How much do you
know about the
world of the
undead? Take the
quiz.

Brilliant

By: Rachel Vail

What type of girl
are you? Take the
quiz.

Hothouse

By: Chris Lynch

Bruiser

By: Neal
Shusterman

Winners will be selected at random from entries received. Ten (10) winners will receive the following books: TheCarrie Diaries, Pretty Little Liars, Lies: A Gone Novel, Forgive My Fins, Alex Van Helsing: Vampire Rising, Brilliant, Hothouse, and Bruiser.

E-MAIL ADDRESS:

DATE OF BIRTH:

Sign me up for the HipLit Newsletter to receive news about upcoming titles, exclusive excerpts, author interviews, and more.

Avery Girls QUIZ!

2010-06-22T05:47:00.001-07:00

Are you most like Phoebe, or Allison, or Quinn? You might be surprised... I was.

Take the quiz at the link below -- and post your result in the "comments"section for a chance at a free signed book... from the POV of the character who is your soul mate, of course!

Winners will be selected at random next week... at which point I'll divulge which girl is most like me, apparently.

Here's the quiz!

http://www.harperteen.com/contests/rachelvail/rachelvail-quiz.aspx

First Day of Summer -- so much to celebrate

2010-06-21T19:27:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about all the ways adults try to "protect" kids and teens --from warnings about "dangerous" books to preventing best-friendships

(http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/17/fashion/17BFF.html)

... and while the part of me that fully remembers how it feels to be a kid/teen shakes my head in wonder and disgust, the parent part of me understands the (misdirected) urge. Even on some ordinary, uneventful days -- like the day I've had today, for one example -- the worry that goes with being a parent sometimes feels like a punch in the heart. Maybe there's somebody in addition to our kids we are trying to protect?

On the other hand, I have benefitted tremendously from your comments on the last

post, about trying to stop the TO DO list noise. Inspired by you all, I was able to be very mindful of appreciating the long days, this past week -- kicking back in the playground, the park, and various cafes around town with my family and friends. Isn't it odd, how hard it is to unclench? Doesn't it seem like that would be easy?

Easy... hmmm... another concept I've been thinking about. At the end of one of the basketball games last week (such great games, even though I was ultimately sad Boston didn't prevail) one of the players was asked if it was hard. I can't even remember what the specific area of difficulty being asked about was, to be honest -- maybe to play away games, or with an injury, or in the NBA finals; I was only half-listening until I heard his answer, which was so wise:

"Yeah," he said. "It's hard. But that's okay. It's supposed to be hard."

I keep thinking about that. It's okay; it's supposed to be hard. I have been telling myself that, since I heard that statement, whenever I feel stressed: Yes, it's hard, but that's okay; it's supposed to be hard. I told myself that today when I was struggling

with a scene in my new book, and then again later when dealing with camp stress with my kids. And reminding myself that it's supposed to be hard didn't crunch me up at all inside -- in fact, it gave me the room to cope, because I wasn't busy internally protesting WAIT! NO! This is HARD!

It goes along with the very sane "Keep calm and carry on" advice I keep seeing lately, which sounds like it must be a quote from Queen Elizabeth. Is it? Free signed bookplate to whoever finds the source for that one first...

Meanwhile, two other things: one is --another great review for BRILLIANT!

This one is from Bulletin:

"LUCKY featured young Phoebe Avery, GORGEOUS her older sister Allison; now the focus is on oldest sister Quinn. The solid and reliable daughter, Quinn rolls with the punches as her family's life begins to disintigrate after her mother gets fired from her lucrative job as a hedge-fund manager, but she's beginning to question her eternally accepting role. Vail has done a superb job of moving through the trajectory of connecting the backstory even as she gives each Avery girl full center-stage attention.... [spoilers omitted here]... The book also offers some neat craftsmanship in its external characterizations of Phoebe and Allison, whom readers have seen from the inside in previous titles, with the triangulated portrayals giving a fuller picture than either point of view on its own. Readers who pick this title up will definitely want to backtrack to the earlier titles to fill in the picture, and those who've heard Phoebe's and Allison's takes won't want to miss Quinn's."

And not to be left out, here's JUSTIN, with new friends Judy and Janine at my local Barnes & Noble...

Finally, happy first day of summer... and Happy Birthday to

my friend Lauren, with whom, despite all my Zen relaxation intentions, I have not gotten to celebrate yet. Soon, grasshopper, soon, I keep telling myself (okay, free bookplates for the source of that one, too!)

Don't forget to share your thoughts on any of this, or anything else, in the comments below...

Love,

Rachel Vail

PS: coming very soon -- an Avery Girl quiz!!!

PPS: Dare I ask: what exactly are we being warned is ahead here, at the Stamford CT train station???

New Review/ New Attitude

2010-06-15T11:22:00.000-07:00

Just got this great new review for Brilliant! It's from School Library Journal:

VAIL, Rachel. Brilliant. 256p. HarperCollins/HarperTeen. June 2010. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-06-089049-0; PLB $17.89. ISBN 978-0-06-089050-6. LC number unavailable.

Gr 9 Up–This final, stand-alone book in the Avery sisters trilogy that includes Lucky (2008) and Gorgeous (2009, both HarperCollins) is told from 16-year-old Quinn’s point of view. The eldest child, she has always been the dependable daughter, loyal

to her parents and a good girl who works hard and excels at everything. But her mom’s loss of her high-paying job–and her need for a lawyer–is taking a toll on the whole family, Quinn included, as they prepare to move out of their home and face an uncertain future. Suddenly her behavior is very un-Quinn-like (kissing her sister’s ex, making out with guys at parties, admitting her feelings to her longtime crush), but ultimately freeing, as she comes to acknowledge her parents’ flaws as well as her own. Good girls and rebels alike will be able to identify with this adolescent rite of passage; Quinn’s response is realistic, her friends and family are well drawn, and her happy-enough ending is hard won. A natural choice for teens waiting for their next Sarah Dessen fix.–Laurie Slagenwhite Walters, Baldwin Public Library, Birmingham, MI

Along with Quinn's rites of passage, we're having some around here... my older son just finished his first year of high school, and my younger son is, at this very moment, finishing his last day of elementary school. And though I have a lump in my throat just typing those crazy words, I am determined to enjoy and celebrate these milestones. Last year, at the end of school, we were simultaneously in the process of moving back into our apartment after renovations. One gorgeous day last June, I realized that the sun had set over the Hudson River while my younger son and his buddies were tearing around laughing and sweating in the playground, and my older son had been hanging out with his friends cracking up -- and my husband had his

arm around me while we chatted with our terrific friends... and the whole time I was mentally scanning my to-do list. My teeth were clenched. What a waste! I did not accomplish one extra thing, standing there all tight and grim; I just missed out on low-hanging joy.

So -- not this year.

This year, though deadlines loom in front of (and behind) me, and there is, as always, a list a mile long clamoring for my immediate attention, I refuse to clench. One of my best friends in the world is about to move across the country -- and I am going to hang out with her and chill as much as possible. I am going to make time to have a cup of tea or a glass of Champagne with as many friends as I can, today and tomorrow and the next day. I am going to do my 166 pushups today and my 166 situps today as well, but I am not going to stress about that or work or anything else. I'm going to get it done and then leave it alone. And then I am going to celebrate.

Today and tomorrow and maybe even the next day, I am going to watch the sun set over the Hudson River as my kids chill with me (my big guy) or tear around sweaty and red-cheeked (my still-little-guy) with their friends -- and I am going to laugh. I'll listen to my friends and my kids and the traffic and the birds. I'll kick off my flip-flops and wiggle my toes in the sand. I'll hold a cold drink in my hand and lean back against the concrete steps with the sky filling up my field of vision until one of my kids pops up in front of me, wanting my attention -- and I will give it him, completely. I am going to enjoy all of it. I am going to fully and greedily drink it in. And I will know I am, as Jed Avery, the father in the Avery trilogy said when he was thinking about his kids and his messy imperfect flawed amazing life, "rich beyond measure."

What are you going to enjoy this week?

Let me know...

Love,

Rachel Vail

InkPop -- live blogging tonight!

2010-05-28T05:14:00.000-07:00

I'll be answering questions today -- and live starting at 5 PM tonight, at Inkpop.com - come on by and ask away!

Here's the link:

http://inkpop.com/forums/threads/14341/how-to-write-a-series-live-chat-with-rachel-vail-may-28th/

In between prepping for this (so exciting!) and finishing my unpacking from Spain, I will be down/uploading some pictures from the trip... so come back later no matter what! This one is a start: it was my lunch in Girona with a new friend named Tania -- tea and cava (which is the lovely Spanish version of Champagne). The two major food groups! Lunch of champions!

Let's talk later...

Love,

Rachel Vail

BRILLIANT comes out today!

2010-05-25T00:20:00.000-07:00

... and here I am, in Spain!

It's really wonderful here. My husband and I are having a terrific time. I will post some pictures of Spain, when I get back, and I'll be signing BRILLIANT at BEA in NYC on Thursday -- so there will be plenty of celebrating to do then, for sure!

But I have to admit, it feels weird to be out of the country, and not visit my local bookstores to see my new book on the shelf. I hadn't even realized this was my Pub Day ritual until just now!

I guess I always just pop in on Pub Day to my local bookstores (how lucky am I to be able to use the phrase "local bookstore" in both plural and first-person possessive? A moment of thanks for that!!!)

The day each of my books comes out, I visit -- to check, to loiter, wondering if a random stranger will stop in front of my brand-spanking new book and pick it up. This actually happened, once, and I was unable to even approach the person to say, "that's my new book!" I just stood there, behind her, shaking. I guess she could feel me there; she turned around, looked alarmed -- or perhaps concerned? -- and put my book down to hurry away. I like to think she was going for medical assistance for me. Rather than just bolting the weirdo. She probably came back and bought the book. Later. Right?

But anyway, since then, I try to play it safe by going with a friend. It's more celebratory that way, anyway. Also I am less likely to scare off innocents if my friend is saying, "your new book!"

But here I am, in Spain! I can't go visit any of MY local bookstoreS today at all.

Can you?

Wait. that's a good idea. Will somebody go for me? Take a picture of BRILLIANT if you see it on the shelf (or get it in your hands?) and post it here for me?

That would be so cool. In fact, I will send free signed bookplates to any and all who post a picture with BRILLIANT this week.

Thanks!!!

Love,

Rachel Vail

Just over a week until BRILLIANT comes out!

2010-05-17T20:38:00.000-07:00

... and here is my first review, from Kirkus!

This final book in the Avery sisters trilogy (preceded by Lucky, 2008, and Gorgeous, 2009) centers on introverted Quinn, the oldest and most responsible of the three. On the surface, Quinn is dealing well with her family’s losing their home and many of their possessions, but her first-person narration shows a fair amount of inner turmoil. Not entirely sure of how to deal with the feelings no one expects her to have, Quinn engages in reckless boy-kissing and party-going. The only boy she’s really interested in kissing, however, is her piano teacher, college student Oliver. Her insecurities about herself and her future lead her to make poor but understandable choices about her friendships and romances. Quinn’s intelligence, which she expresses while still sounding authentic and often funny, allows for full exploration of her mixed feelings. Her calm nature also plays well against the personalities of her high-strung sisters. Vail ends this trilogy on a high note, one that should especially resonate with teens whose lives have changed with the economy. (Fiction. 12 & up)

Hooray for ending on a high note! My mom the soprano will be so proud.

Meanwhile, though the book is not yet in stores, a wonderful and very generous young woman named Julia is about to read BRILLIANT, because she was the winning bidder in the auction to raise money to send down to Nashville, apres le deluge. Don't tell her, but I will be including some extra goodies in the package I'm sending out tomorrow, to thank her for her generosity...

It's been such a crazy month, and I leave for Spain on Wednesday -- but when I get back, I think we will have to do some give-aways and contests, to celebrate: craziness, and spring, and books, and romance, and pretty shoes, and conquering worries... and whatever else you want to suggest. I am always up for celebrating. Whatcha got?

Love,

Rachel Vail

Q

2010-05-13T18:02:00.001-07:00

Q & A with Rachel Vail

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