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You’ve Got Mail!

By on December 18, 2015   /   Book Lists, For Kids, For Writers, MUF Contributor Books, Publishing & Promotion, Writing  

One of the biggest highlights of being a writer is getting Fan Mail from kids. They are adorable, smart, enthusiastic, honest – and they LOVE BOOKS with deep, hard feelings.

Book Love

When I read these letters I can remember so vividly all the feelings and love for a particular book when I was that age. The emotional power a story gave me. The knowledge that someone out there knew my heart and mind. The feeling that I wasn’t alone in my weirdness.

I never got to meet a real, honest-to-goodness published author until I was almost thirty—and it was the amazing Newbery Winner Richard Peck—pretty darn cool for my first author in Real Life, eh?! Back when I was a kid I was waaaay too shy to ever think about writing to an author. This is also back in the days of snail mail and Authors were definitely up there on a pedestal. They weren’t ordinary people. They were Gods.

Receiving Fan Mail by email, my website, or through the post office brings home the impact books can have on kids all over again. It’s an honor to write for them as well as the child still inside me.

So here’s a smattering of fan mail I’ve received lately. Some funny, some heart-warming and one that kicked me in the teeth and made me bawl.

*******

Hi my name is Elyssa, and I’m a big fan of your book The Time of the Fireflies. I’m 10 years old. You are like my favorite author of all time. If you’re wondering I’m using my dad’s phone. I was going to send you a letter, but I didn’t know what address to send it to. How did you become an author? Please write back.

(I wrote her back and then received this):

It’s like I’m talking to a Super Hero! I still can’t believe that I’m talking to Kimberley Little!

(Wow, I just achieved Super Hero Status!)Time of the Fireflies_Cover

*******

I didn’t get any homework done because I spent 4 hours and 30 minutes reading The Healing Spell. It was so awesome. I love how you write the romance part where there’s only a little bit of it but it’s the best romance ever. I cried so much when T-Baby died.
Sincerely,
A huge fan impatiently waiting for a new book

*******

Dear Ms. Little,

I wanted to write to you to say that your book, When the Butterflies Came, is amazing. I have currently just finished reading it for the 4th time. Please don’t feel like you need to answer. I just wanted to tell you how great of an author you are.

(Of course I answer every single letter.)

When the Butterflies Came Cover Art from Erin*******

The Healing Spell is such a beautiful, book. I’ve read it 4 times now, and it’s always so beautiful and uplifting each time. I first bought this book when I was 10, now I’m 15. Thank you for this work of art! It never fails to bring tears to my eyes, it’s so hard to believe that it’s about an 11-year-old. Better than most books I’ve read, even as a teenager. One of my top 10, for sure 🙂

(It surprised me to hear this from a teenager about one of my MG books. I’m so glad she wrote, it truly made my whole day.)

*******

Dear Kimberley Little,
I have just finished your book Forbidden and I must tell you I was moved greatly. I loved your book so much. I felt everything with your main character Jayden. I cried and it is rare that a book can get to me in such a way. I’m a senior in high school, I am also a writer. I would like to know how you are able to express such emotion in your writing? How do you get your reads to feel that emotion? Please write back I understand you’re most likely busy. But it would mean the world to me.
Thank you, Cassie

(Emotion is definitely one of the hardest things to incorporate effectively as writers.)

*******

(The following letter came in 4 different emails, one right after the other. It made me laugh.)

Hi, my name is Deena and I read all 3 of your divine awesome books

I’m 9 years old and I’m in 4th grade

Please contact me back I have been trying for 2 months to get a Gmail and contact you I’m so happy I found how to contact you

I will go on my knees to beg you to message me back

(No begging needed!)

*******

Dear Ms. Little (what should I call you?),

I absolutely just love your books. I literally idolize you. I especially love Forbidden. I own both Forbidden and The Time of the Fireflies.

(Just call me American Idol)

*******

(This was an email exchange from a fan who wanted to know when Banished, Book 2 of my Harper trilogy was coming out.)

Hi I am a fan of your books I have read When the Butterflies Came { by the way amazing book super good!}

The Time of the Fireflies { also really good book!}

And I want to read Circle of Secrets.

And I have read Forbidden – amazing and this is why I am Emailing you because you should write another book continuing Forbidden because I need and want to know what happens next. Like what really happened to Kadesh and is Jayden really going to marry evil Horeb so I think you should write another book. Thank you sooo much. Your BIG fan Katie

BanishedHC_KGL (530x800)Me: After responding to her lovely words I told her that Banished would publish February 2, 2106.

Katie: Did you mean to say that it will get published in 2016 and not 2106?

Me: Yes, I’m going to let your great-grandchildren read my next book, Katie. Sorry, I couldn’t resist. 😉 Yep, you’re right 2016!! I was typing too fast!

Katie: Haha, really funny, you’ve a great sense of humor!

(Typos: All in a day’s work)

*******

(Final letter for today, the one that still pricks at my emotions.)

Dear Kimberley Griffiths Little,

Around two years ago my family experienced a traumatic occurrence. My half sister Sara was kicked by a horse and she was in a serious condition. When I first saw Sara while she was in the hospital, I felt as if I had been stabbed in the heart. It was extremely difficult for many reasons. When I read your book, The Healing Spell, it reminded me of Sara’s incident, and changed my perspective completely.

I many not have physically hurt Sara myself as Livie did to her mother, but I felt a similar feeling whenever I thought about her injury. Being her big sister, I always felt that it was my obligation to take care of her and keep her protected. I believed the only reason Sara was harmed was because I didn’t take the responsibility to watch her, to make she she did not get herself into trouble. I felt that the entire incident was my fault, just as Livie had blamed herself.

The Healing Spell paperback coverSara’s injury made me much more quiet, before I read your book that is. Livie kept her feelings to herself, knowing that . . . “deep down in the blackest part of my heart that I’d cause Mamma’s sleeping sickness.” I don’t have a “secret” like her, but I was still able to deeply connect with Livie, I didn’t want to share my true feelings about the event with anyone because I was afraid they would react negatively. I kept my emotions to myself, thinking that I was the guilty one, that I should be convicted. Then, I read The Healing Spell. The further I read the more my connections to Livie increased and I began to realize new things about my thoughts and actions from Sara’s accident. In the last section of the book, Livie comes to realize that accidents happen, and once I reached this segment, I, too, realized the same thing.

Your story caused me to comprehend the fact that the accident wasn’t my fault. The whole scenario was a complete accident, and no one meant for it to occur. I can now revisit the past and learn from the incident, and I never again need to think about how I am the one to blame. This has all come to be only because of your story, Ms. Little. The Healing Spell pulled me out of the dark, empty void I constantly felt I was floating through. I feel as if I can share my feelings any time now. I know that my family will not get upset, they will understand. Because of your book, I can maintain a higher self-confidence level, leaving behind the guilt that kept dragging me down.

Thank you.

Sincerely, Alayna

Alayna says that my book changed her life. Well, her letter definitely changed my life.

That’s the power of books.

 

Kimberley Griffiths Little has published 10 award-winning novels with Knopf, Scholastic, and Harpercollins. Her most recent MG, The Time of the Fireflies, was named a Bank Street College Best Books of 2015, a Whitney Award Finalist, a Letters of Mormon Arts Award Finalist, and was recently chosen for the William Allan White Kansas State Children’s Choice List for 2016-2017. 

Find Kimberley on Facebook. and Twitter @KimberleyGLittl. Teacher’s Guides, Mother/Daughter Book Club Guides, and fabulous book trailers filmed on location adorn Kimberley’s website.

 

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Social Media, Being a Middle Grade Author and Self-Control

By on December 16, 2015   /   For Librarians, For Teachers, For Writers, Publishing & Promotion, Writing  

IMG_0005As an author, it’s really important to have a so-called platform. What does that mean? Sometimes I’m not really sure but it sounds slightly politically with a mix of marketing thrown in. It means that when your name is out there in the public that it should be recognizable. So people can say, “Oh, I know that author. She’s the one who writes about gardening and does lots of public awareness about the value of earthworms.” Or that other author, “she’s that train person.” Or, “she’s the princess one” etc. Another words, we’re supposed to be a branded imprint like Dr. Pepper or Juicy Jeans. My immediate reaction is—Ugh! That sounds so strategic and pigeonhole-y. Like once I’m known as that middle grade author who writes about trains, that’s where I should stay, lest there is market confusion. But on the other hand, it’s not a bad thing to be known, is it? In fact, it helps our work find readers.

But what I really want to talk about how this relates to social media. Why? Because social media is a part of an author platform and it’s a good thing because it allows you to respond to important people such as your readers, librarians, teachers, booksellers, and other authors. You can create networking opportunities and provides another medium in which to express yourself.

But it can also take away from the time that you, you know, write, which is how I’m told you create books.

I’m a fan of social media. But it can be easily get a little obsessive. You can start to worry when nobody retweets your tweet or you get no likes. And then, maybe, you can start to compose a post based on what others will like. Yes, sometimes this happens to me. As a middle grade author, I want to be liked. But also as a person, I want to be liked. I actually have a new book coming out in the spring about a tween (who is obsessed with the number of likes she gets) whose parents shut down her social media and she’s got to figure out what she actually likes.

So here I am writing a story for tween girls about learning to like yourself and not to write or do stuff so you get a lot of kudos and yet what do I? I check and re-check a Facebook post to see how many likes trickle on in. A couple of times a day, I check Twitter to see how many new followers that I’ve gotten.

In other words, I am just as bad as Karma Cooper, the 12 year-old protagonist in Queen of Likes. And I should know better, much better. So recently, I’ve taken a new pledge to not obsessively check in on responses to what I post. Look, there is nothing wrong with checking, but not every fifteen minutes throughout your day! I value my writing time, but when it’s continually interrupted, it takes me far too long to re-engage with my work. So that’s why my New Year’s pledge is to use my new App, Self-Control, which allows me to determine how long I want to turn off my internet and email so I can completely focus on writing. That means, if I set if for two hours, let’s say, I can then go check my Facebook or Twitter and then use my Self-Control to get back to writing. Self-Control https://selfcontrolapp.comis a free app for Mac OS X that blocks access to distracts. There are other apps out there, as well. And PC users might want to try Freedom (I used to have it but my new Mac doesn’t work well with it).

So ultimately, this post is about time management, isn’t it? Social media is another way to communicate, a wonderful to connect to a larger community. But it also can become a distraction, no matter your profession.

I’m looking forward to continue to be active in social media but to do it more wisely, and to not let my popularity (or lack thereof) consume me, instead I want to concentrate on authentically communicating and creating community.

Hillary Homzie is the author of the forthcoming Queen of Likes (Simon & Schuster MIX 2016), The Hot List (Simon & Schuster MIX 2011) and Things Are Gonna Be Ugly (Simon & Schuster, 2009). She can be found at hillaryhomzie.com and on her Facebook page.

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Writing for the Generations

By on December 14, 2015   /   Op-Ed  

Well our fathers fought the Second World War
Spent their weekends on the Jersey Shore
Met our mothers in the USO
Asked them to dance
Danced with them slow
And we’re living here in Allentown
–Billy Joel, “Allentown”

When World War II ended, American soldiers returned home en masse to start new families. Their children were the Baby Boomer generation–the first kids to grow up with television, the first kids to encounter rock and roll music at a high school, the ones who might have watched a live Moon landing and been inspired to careers in science.

I came along a couple decades later. Growing up in the 1970s and 80s, I had Baby Boomer teachers who were the audience for my first writing assignments. The Baby Boomer authors of then-contemporary books were the models I tried to emulate. When I was first trying to break into publishing, Baby Boomers were the mentors who spoke to me about their own struggles with writing for a younger generation. Paula Danziger told me her theory that a high school generation was only four years long–which meant that eight years out of high school, I was already two generations removed from the experience!

“Wheel of Fortune”, Sally Ride, heavy metal, suicide
Foreign debts, homeless vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz
Hypodermics on the shores, China’s under martial law
Rock and roller cola wars, I can’t take it anymore!
–Billy Joel, “We Didn’t Start the Fire”

I’d always had a vague sense that many of the books in our school library weren’t really written for me. The classics of prior decades sometimes included confusing instances of 1960s counter-culture, or references to songs, shows, and movies that my friends and I had never heard of. Even the newly-published books had moments where the styles, themes, tastes, and experiences didn’t match the needs of Generation X. We needed more books about kids with working moms or divorced parents that weren’t issue books about working moms or divorced parents. And we definitely needed more computers in our books than we were getting.

Desktop computers became a big thing in the 1980s. Time Magazine’s Person of the Year for 1983 was a desktop computer–except that they weren’t yet called desktop computers because there was no other kind. Our junior high school had a computer lab of TSR-80s, and friends of mine had Apple IIs or Timex Sinclair 1000s. My first Internet experience was logging into a bulletin board with a 1200-baud modem in 1987.

But the characters in our books only had computers if the machines were big, crazy, complex things that tended to become sentient and wanted to take over the world. The Baby Boomer authors of the time clearly weren’t as comfortable with the technology as their Generation X readers.

That’s why, when I started writing, I wrote for me. For little kid me, who saw gaps in his bookshelf where there should have been Gen X adventures. My characters had computers they used for doing homework, sending email, and writing their own stories. Computers weren’t the focus of the story but they existed for my characters as they had for me.

Today, I don’t write for myself anymore. My current audience is the new generation that my children are a part of, the ones who come after the Millennials. My goal is to fill some of the gaps that exist in their bookshelves. We Need Diverse Books is a long-overdue effort to identify and fill some of those gaps to reflect the diversity of our culture, something all authors need to immerse themselves in, but there are other gaps that require us to figure out who these kids are, what they have in common, what makes them tick, and how they are different from the generations that came before them.

I was reminded of this recently when MTV took a stab at the first step in describing a new generation–tagging them with a cute nickname. Some people have been calling them Generation Z, recognizing that “Millennial” is an awful name that should be retconned into Generation Y. I once put forward Generation XII for the same reason. Others are calling them the iGeneration because of the influence of iPhones, iPads, and the Internet on their lives. MTV, after first asking the kids what they’d want to be called, is throwing out “The Founders.” Because prior generations have messed the world up so much that it needs to be rebuilt from scratch.

The Founders have never known a world without the Internet. I know kids who are so steeped in Internet culture that they identify the second in a series by the “hashtag-two” on the cover. The Founders have never known a U.S. President who wasn’t black, except in their history texts. The Founders don’t accept books that acknowledge the existence of cell phones but don’t provide characters with “enough bars” for their use. Founder activities are more heavily scheduled than mine ever were, with more sports leagues and fewer unsupervised games of stickball in the middle of the street. While we grew up with concerns about dirty water and dirty air, the Founders are growing up with the prospect of catastrophic global climate change. While we grew up with Soviet ICBMs aimed at our cities, they are growing up with terrorism.

Writing for the Founders is an honor, a privilege, and a challenge. They’re going to need some amazing books to inspire all that founding that needs to be done.

Greg R. Fishbone is the author of the Galaxy Games series of sports and sci-fi books for the Founders.

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