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The Winners of THE FIRST LAST DAY and a critique from Dorian Cirrone are…

By on June 14, 2016   /   Giveaways  

Thank you all for your sweet comments on Dorian’s interview. I loved hearing how she came up with the idea for THE FIRST LAST DAY, and how much revision went into it. She shared so much great advice! Thanks again, Dorian.

The winner of a signed copy of Dorian’s newly published middle grade novel, THE FIRST LAST DAY, is…

The First Last Day Cover

Technology Integration Director

And the winner of a critique from Dorian is…

Mia Wenjen

If you’d like to find out more about Dorian’s huge revision of THE FIRST LAST DAY and read how the first page evolved from the earliest version through several other attempts until Dorian came up with the published version, check out this awesome post on Dorian’s blog.

Congrats to the winners, and thank you all again for commenting on Dorian’s interview and entering the giveaway. Dorian will e-mail the winners soon.

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MG? YA? Definitely a giveaway.

By on June 13, 2016   /   Author Interviews, Book Lists, Diversity, Fiction, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers, MUF Contributor Books  

My new novel, “Every Single Second”,  published this month. It deals with heavy-duty issues: gun violence, post traumatic stress, race and class divides, belief in God (or not). I was ready for lots of questions about this book! It’s funny that I never anticipated one of the most interesting things I’d be asked: why did you make this middle grade instead of young adult?

every single second cover

That question rests, I think, on the assumption that some issues are just too much for MG to handle. For sure, none of my earlier books went places as dark as this new one. For sure, while I was writing it, I sometimes wished I wasn’t. Those days, I took long, heavy-hearted walks, feeling like the  girl I met on one of my school visits. When I described the book’s plot, she put her hands over her eyes.

Yet on that same school visit, and many times afterward, middle grade kids came up to me wanting to know how soon the book would be available. They helped me remember why I needed to tell this story. Ducking hard issues doesn’t make them go away. I’m pretty sure it helps them endure.

While I was writing, Tamir Rice, a twelve year old, was shot and killed by police here in Cleveland. His neighborhood is only a few miles from mine, but it might as well be another country. On paper, our city is wonderfully diverse and multi-cultural. In reality, we live in highly segregated communities. This is how things were fifty years ago, and, heart-breaking as it is to contemplate, how things still are (if anything, after the foreclosure crisis segregation is even worse here).

I don’t know how, or if, these walls will ever be knocked down. But I knew I could try to tell the story of kids living on opposite sides. No one is more passionate about what’s right and what’s wrong, about fairness and justice, than middle graders. In my book, the violence takes place off-stage. But what leads up to it, and its consequences, are (I hope) fully explored.

all rise fortowers fallingcounting thyme

More and more middle grade books are taking on sensitive issues. Just look at some of the most recent titles. Donna Gephart’s “Lily and Dunkin” features a transgender girl and a bipolar boy. “All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook”, by Leslie Connor, is about incarceration. Melanie Conklin’s “Counting Thyme” is about cancer. Nora Raleigh Baskin’s “Nine Ten: A September 11 Story” and Jewell Parker Rhodes’s “Towers Falling” take on national tragedy. Kate Messner’s “The Seventh Wish” is about drug addiction.

Middle grade kids dealing with these things in their own lives will find themselves on the pages of these stories. They’ll know they’re not alone. Their problems can be talked about without shame or stigma.  Could there be a greater gift?  Other kids  will be exposed to things they may never have thought about or tried to understand. As one of the characters in “Every Single Second” says, “I didn’t get it before. I never knew anybody like her, with a family like that, and problems like that.”

Middle grade readers brim with hope. Empathy is in their DNA. There could be no better, more open-hearted and receptive audience for books about the hard issues.  It’s such an honor and privilege to work for them!

If you’d like to win a signed copy of “Every Single Second”, please leave a comment below. More book recs especially welcome!

Tricia is lucky enough to have been a Mixed Up Files member for many years. You can find out more about her and her books at www.triciaspringstubb.com

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So, Where Do YOU Write?

By on June 10, 2016   /   For Teachers, For Writers, Writing  

I’m a fulltime caregiver these days, but I’m also a writer and an editor. Lately, with the help of a home care companion, I’ve been able to get away a bit more, and sometimes when I get away, I can do my job.

I was remembering the Happy Holidays post here on the Mixed Up Files in December, in which we shared pictures of ourselves doing what we do as writers wherever we do it. That inspired me to take you on a little tour of some of my favorite places to get stuff done.

Many authors I know write in cafes and coffee shops to get away from distractions. I understand this. I’ve tried it. I drink coffee or tea, and that makes me really hungry and I always respect the no outside food rules, and then I end up buying (and eating) something I didn’t need. Ugh.

I often prefer to stay at home, but when I do get away, it usually looks something like this. I almost always end up making my huge bottle of iced ginger tea and grabbing a bag of trail mix and some chocolate, and heading to one of three favorite places.

The Library

Yup. I go to the Library. I’m a retired school librarian, after all; it’s a lot like home anyway. There are three branches of my wonderful regional library almost equidistant from me. Sorry, no photos – I’m not a big selfie-in-the-library taker. But here is a link to their webpage, because all the branches of Sno-Isle Libraries rock.

I love writing in the library. I take my earbuds because it is always noisy – in a good, distracting way. If I can’t get a table, there is always an easy chair somewhere, and I can work in my notebook or edit paper pages. I’ve learned to take multiple tasks with me so that I can pick which one best fits the conditions when I’m there. I used to take just one thing to do, and if it didn’t fit the available opportunities, it felt like time lost.

I know not every writer works this way, but I always have multiple things in my bag besides my current largest project now, and I know that every free moment gives me a chance to make something of whatever I’ve got with me. When I get stuck in the library, I love to wander to the local history shelves and browse for new ideas and information for future stories. This counts as (blissful) work for me!

The Beach

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No computer here. Just paper pages, editing pens, and a secure document box to hold them when it’s windy. Don’t forget the beach towel, and the same big bottle of tea and some snacks.

While I can become “distracted” by birds and boats and all the activity of the world around me, it’s a distraction of peace, and the calm helps me to focus more deeply on my task.

I also take a book and relax with it when the day’s work goal is met.

The Sunroom

On a recent cloudy, drizzly day, I dressed for the weather, packed my lunch in a cooler, and headed… downstairs.

Sometimes when our home care helper comes, I don’t feel like leaving home. Those days, I run away to the basement, to our sun room. This lovely space sat lonely for a time, home for over-wintering plants and HUGE spiders, but I’ve recently reclaimed it. When I walk in, my pulse rate drops and my heart begins to sing.

On a recent day, I raced out between rain showers and planted some starts and worked some garden beds. When it started to rain seriously, I headed inside to add edits to more pages of my manuscript. Doesn’t every author dress like this to write?

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Mostly, these days, I don’t have big blocks of time to lose myself in the work I love so much. I make time, snatch moments, come to the page if even for a few minutes, or paragraphs, wherever I can. When I do have a chance, these are my favorite places to get away and write.

Where do you write? Where do you feel most productive?

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