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Shhh… Writer at Work!

By on February 11, 2015   /   Book Lists  

One of the best things about being a writer is getting to work at home, amirite? You know, we can work in our pajamas! No annoying commute! No office politics! Endless chocolate and coffee!

Okay, maybe not so much. Maybe it’s more like I’m working in pajamas because I’m on deadline and haven’t had a chance to touch that massive pile of laundry in my bedroom. And I’m obviously not commuting anywhere because I’m not dressed. And chocolate… well, thank heavens for leftover Halloween candy or I might starve. A Snickers bar is okay for breakfast, right? It’s got peanuts in it and I’m pretty sure those are healthy.

(Full disclaimer: I’m not really in my pajamas. I can’t function unless I shower and get dressed every morning. I am, however, pleading the fifth on the Snickers bar. And the laundry situation.)

That said, it’s true that working at home isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be. And it’s not just because of that shiny thing called “the internet” that keeps distracting me. Or my laundry piles. Or the dishwasher that needs unloading. (I’m actually quite good at ignoring housework. It’s something of a specialty of mine.)

No, the thing that always derails me is this little distraction called… other people. Don’t get me wrong — I love my family. I love my friends. I love spending time with them.

I just don’t like it when they interrupt my work.

And even though I know they all mean well, it can be hard to get the point across that despite the fact I am home, sitting on my sofa with a laptop looking all relaxed and happy with chocolate in my teeth — I. Am. Working.

I mean, I know for a fact if I happened to be in a ditch operating a jackhammer, my kids wouldn’t come over to ask what was for dinner. Just like I’d never dream of walking into the operating room while my brother was performing surgery to see what we should get Mom for her birthday.

But hey — writer on sofa. Fair game.

Sometimes I dream about renting myself an office somewhere with an assistant to screen all my calls and fetch me stuff. But then, that thoroughly defeats my plan to work at home in my pajamas eating Snickers bars and ignoring the dishes.

Now, I know I’m not the only writer to suffer from other-people-distraction syndrome. At a retreat with some of my agency-mates last year this very topic came up, as well as some clever ways to deal with it — i.e. hanging a curtain in front of the desk to indicate Mom’s off limits (unless there’s blood, then well, go find Dad anyway); a figurine on the computer — if he’s facing out, okay to talk; in, keep it to yourself, unless, well, blood.

I myself haven’t come up with any good tricks — other than to inform my family when I’m working that I’m in my “cone of silence,” which I envision looking like an invisible version of one of these:

dog collar

(Actually, come to think of it, maybe I should put one of those on my head whenever I’m busy. At the very least, my family and friends would think I’d completely and finally lost it and would stay away long enough for me to get something done.)

So, how about you? Do you suffer from other-people-distraction syndrome? How do you deal with it? Tell me in the comments below! Right now, I’ve got to run… I’ve got a whole load of laundry to not do…

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THE JAGUAR STONES–a giveaway x 4

By on February 10, 2015   /   Giveaways  

Jon Voelkel grew up in Peru, Costa Rica, and Colombia, all the while dreaming of a boring life in suburbia. Eventually, having survived monkey stew, an attack by giant rats, and a plane crash in the jungle, he rolled up his hammock and decamped to Europe. Meanwhile, growing up in a sedate seaside town in northern England, Pamela Craik Voelkel was dreaming of travel and adventure.  The authors’ first book in the Jaguar Stones series, Middleworld, was an Al Roker Book Club pick. The rest is history!jaguar 1

Jon and Pam dropped by the MUF to talk about what it’s like to finish the last book, The Lost City,  in their Jaguar Stones  series. As it turns out, their book coincides with the end of something else as well.

JagStones_LostCity_jkt_FINAL

When we first started writing the Jaguar Stones books, our son was about the same age as our main character. Max. Before I go further, I am honor-bound to tell you that our son, wary of exactly this type of article, has forbidden us to ever say that Max’s angry outbursts in the first book, MIDDLEWORLD, were modelled on his own. But I can tell you that there were times when I deliberately riled up our son to watch (and record) his reaction. We even plunked all three of our children down in the jungle to see how they (and Max) would cope in the wild. In many ways, Max became our imaginary fourth child. Then we got to know some modern Maya kids better and Lola, Max’s feisty Maya sidekick in the books, became our imaginary fifth child. Whenever something happened at home, I’d be thinking: “What would Max and Lola do in this situation?”

Our son is now a charming, even-tempered senior at college. And Max has grown-up too. Only one year has passed in the story, where seven years have passed in real life, but Max has learned a lot about connecting with other people. Lola was always more self-assured, but even she’s been tested to her limits. And we hope that, in trying to present the story of her people, particularly the true story of the Spanish Conquest in Book Two, THE END OF THE WORLD CLUB, we might persuade readers to rethink what they know about the Maya.

Jon and I have grown too. When we started, we were unsure that we could pull this off. In between reading books on the Maya, we read books on how to write books. For Jon, it was sometimes uncomfortable because plotting the story involved revisiting episodes in his childhood in Latin America that he’d rather forget, such as a terrifying plane crash in the jungle that’s recreated in Book Three, THE RIVER OF NO RETURN. He’s also learned to read and write Maya glyphs. It was this obsession with authenticity that led him to become an illustrator. He was determined that the illustrations in our books would help children to understand the Maya world. If glyphs were involved, as they often are, he wanted to be sure that they said what they were supposed to say.

For me, the experience of researching the books was life-changing. I used to travel with heavy suitcases, a hairdryer and an adaptor plug. Now I’ve learned to survive with a small bag and no electricity. But more than that, like Max in the books, I’ve shed some other baggage – such as my preconceptions about the Maya.

Our children, who’ve accompanied us on almost all our trips to Central America, are weary of climbing pyramids and glad the books are done. Our youngest campaigns almost daily for her dream vacation in Hawaii. But like it or not, along the way, she’s learned enough to singlehandedly man a table at Archaeology Day in the Boston Museum of Science, while her dad and I were speaking in the theater.

If I’m honest, it’s astonishing to me that we’ve been lucky enough to have four books published. Book by book, I grew in confidence, and felt more like an author and less like a charlatan. I’m hugely proud that the finished series is as funny and action-packed and sneakily educational as we hoped it would be – thanks in no small part, of course, to our editors at Egmont USA. They even allowed us to expand our trilogy into a quadrilogy (is that a thing?) when the story overran.

But now it’s really done. In fact, we wrote the last paragraph years ago when we were working on the first book. But if there’s one thing we’ve learned since then, it’s that real life cannot be planned as easily. Just this week, for example, Egmont USA announced they were closing their doors. So for us, the release of THE LOST CITY and the end of the Jaguar Stones series is about sadness and happiness and gratitude and uncertainty and hope for the future. Just like real life, really.

(Publisher’s note: The books will still be available from your favorite retailer.)

Congrats, Jon and Pam, and best wishes on your next ventures! To win paperbacks of the first three books AND a hardcover of the new one, please leave a comment below.

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Middle Grade Reads for your Valentine

By on February 9, 2015   /   Book Lists  

There are numerous picture books for Valentine’s Day, but not as many in the middle grade category. Valentine’s Day begins to take on a whole new meaning during the middle grade years, with crushes, body changes, and parties.

The following ten humorous and sometimes poignant Valentine-themed stories are sure to hit the sweet spot with middle grade readers.

51AbrQ9WvdLSweet Treats & Secret Crushes by Lisa Greenwald. When a blizzard threatens to ruin Valentine’s Day, three seventh-grade friends make and distribute fortune cookies to their lonely neighbors, and confront the secrets they’ve been keeping from each other.

 

51sz3Paq-jL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_The Candy Smash by Jacqueline Davies. Jessie and Evan Treski, of Lemonade War fame, are back in this story of Jessie’s determination to get to the bottom of the mysterious candy hearts that appear in their classroom.

 

5171PlXrmOL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_My Weird School Special: Oh, Valentine, We’ve Lost our Minds! by Dan Gutman. New in the Weird School series, it’s the week of Valentine’s Day and A.J.’s class is getting a foreign exchange student from France, Pierre. There’s a duel over a cute girl and lots of hilarious antics, plus Valentine’s Day themed trivia and puzzles.

108890Ready, Freddy #10 Super Secret Valentine by Abby Klein. Freddy wants to make a special Valentine’s Day card for his friend Jessie but is afraid he’ll get laughed at. He secretly tries to cut and paste his way into Jessie’s heart.

 

9781416949442_p0_v1_s260x420Valentine’s Day Secret (Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew #12) by Carolyn Keene and Macky Pamintuan. Nancy’s best friends Bess and George are in a huge fight on Valentine’s Day and Nancy is caught in the middle.

 

9781479559589_p0_v1_s260x420Kylie Jean, Valentine Queen by Marci Peschke. It’s almost Valentine’s Day and Kylie Jean is helping her parents throw a fiftieth anniversary party for her grandparents. Between party planning and her school’s Be Sweet project, there’s a lot happening, but Kylie Jean is still determined to be the Valentine Queen.

alexiss-cupcake-cupid-9781481428644_lgAlexis’s Cupcake Cupid (Cupcake Diaries) by Coco Simon. A new book in the series. Alexis makes a special Valentine cupcake for her crush and leaves it by his computer but he starts acting really uncomfortable around her. With no certain Valentine in sight, Alexis ends up leaving a surprise gift for her BFF.

n193028Junie B. Jones and the Mushy Gushy Valentime by Barbara Park. Of course, no Valentine’s Day book list would be complete without this classic. Junie B gets a big, mushy card from a secret admirer on Valentine’s Day and she’s determined to find out who it is.

 

w514611The Annoying Crush (Galaxy Zack) by Ray O’Ryan. A little guy humor. The Super Advanced Robotic Assistant (SARA) develops a huge crush on Zack. He has to figure out a way to fix this mixed-up robot or he’s doomed to a life of her annoying robot love.

 

Xxx-russell-dork-diaries-bo-3_4_r560Dork Diaries #6: Tales from a Not-So-Happy Heartbreaker by Rachel Renee Russell. Love and crushes are in the air for Nikki Maxwell. She’s hoping her crush wants to take her to the big dance but what if he doesn’t want to go with her? Or worse, he ends up taking Mackenzie! OMG!

 

Happy Valentine’s Day, and happy reading!

Michele Weber Hurwitz is the author of The Summer I Saved the World in 65 Days (Wendy Lamb Books 2014) and Calli Be Gold (Wendy Lamb Books 2011). When not eating candy hearts, she can be found at micheleweberhurwitz.com.

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