Buy Indie Books!

I'm probably preaching to the choir today, but I'll say it anyway. Buy your books indie please.

I'm saying it again because I know (really, really know) how tempting it can be to just swing by Barnes & Noble or get on Amazon.com to find a book you want for quick and dirty immediate gratification. I get it. But it really makes a difference if you  check out the indie bookstores in your town first.

Yesterday I had to locate some copies of a local author's book for a school book club (Farwalker's Quest by Joni Sensel) and I needed them ASAP. I was lucky enough to find the copies with the courteous help of a few indie booksellers.

This process always goes smoother if you just give them a call first and tell them what you're looking for. If they don't have it, chances are they can order it in quickly, or may even refer you to another store! I have never had customer service so good as when I've gotten it at one of Seattle's great little book shops. All For Kids is gone, but Ravenna's Third Place Books is awesome (not to mention the great food at the in-store restaurant, Vios and the rockin' pub downstairs), Mockingbird Books in Green Lake is a new favorite (with café too), the University Bookstore has an amazing selection and well read staff, and an old favorite is The Secret Garden Bookshop in Ballard. I love, love, love that store and only wish it were closer to home. The people there are as great as the books they carry and they also do the wonderful service of showing up at the monthly SCBWI meetings to give us the word on the latest hot material on the shelves.

All of these stores have helpful and knowledegable staff (will help you find a good read for that tough customer on your list), convenient services (pre-signed copies or copies signed to order), and often have superb lineups of authors and events (more than I can attend!). Besides these benefits, buying indie supports your local economy in immeasurable ways. It's just the right thing to do.

Bone crushing, back smashing, keyboard melting fun

Just back from the Western Washington SCBWI Fall retreat. Whew. Intensive is right, but with the stellar editors Cheryl Klein and Ruta Rimas headlining, we were well taken care of. Also, many thanks to the the amazing women who organized the weekend: Jolie, Laurie, Kim, & Joni. Hope I didn't miss anyone.

Now back at the keyboard, in my cold office, I'm scrambling to catch up in NaNoWriMo, but it's no big deal. I'm high on all the awesome information absorbed over the weekend. Cheryl and Ruta went over writing basics, then went deeper to really examine what makes an excellent novel. We studied the relationships between and components of PLOT, CHARACTER, and VOICE and how we as writers can use different techniques to make our stories successful.

Big compliments to Cheryl for her repeated encouragement to NOT listen if someone dictates HOW to write, because it is an intensely personal process, and to Ruta for challenging us to experiment with different writing techniques and structures until we find what works best for our story.

And now, back to NaNo.

WWA SCBWI Writer's Conference 2009

Wow! That was a great weekend of amazing speakers. Every year of going to the SCBWI conference gets better.Just wrap your head around the idea that it's more about networking than pitching your goods to an agent or editor. Meeting other writers is great fun and reassuring. I met real beginners and had an opportunity to encourage them to keep going, I met published authors and got to ask them questions about their career path and how they get/got things accomplished. Always an interesting answer.

It's always humbling to hear the success stories of local author panel and what they have to say about their backgrounds; how they achieved their dreams. Motivating too. This year I was particularly pleased with the selection of agents. Nathan Bransford is not only a stellar agent, but he's humble and generous, straightforward and efficient. If I could be so lucky.... Also Steven Malk from Writer's House gave a great talk on how writers should have a career strategy. It was very welcome information.

Ellen Hopkins, Patrick Jennings, and Lisa Papademetriou were three of the authors I was lucky enough to see speak. Ellen is a ballsy woman with the guts to closely examine the most difficult of subjects in teens' lives: meth addiction, incest, rape, suicide and more. Not exactly uplifting, but exactly what teens want. Honesty. Patrick Jennings gave a talk on school visits and demonstrated how he captures the attention of hundreds of elementary school kids at a time: subversive manipulation. Of course! Much the same techniques of another one of my favorite authors, Jon Scieszka (keynote speaker). Lisa Papademetriou was really a hoot. She's an unrepentent fantasy geek and spoke on world building. Very entertaining.

There are always a few fun games to play during the weekend and this time I participated in the haiku contest and got an honorable mention with a haiku about Michael Stearns (agent at Firebrand!!) after seeing his talk about plotting on Saturday:
Thirteen points of plot
for Michael Stearns to cover
good thing he talks fast

And that's all for now!