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A triumphant story of friendship from two girls who seem worlds apart.

When Abigail’s dreams of becoming a pom pom girl are dashed, she finds herself in the unlikely situation of having to choose between her two best friends and the school’s biggest outcast.

Abigail and her two best friends, Alli and Cami, (aka AlliCam) are poised for a long life of pom poms and popularity.  But for Abigail, her own insecurities and lack of confidence coupled with her bad luck at being assigned to a different homeroom than AlliCam make for a rough start to sixth grade.  Abigail uses her list writing to calm herself down and keep her anxiety at bay. Even worse, her language arts teacher assigns Abigail to be friendly letter partners with Gabby Marco—the biggest outcast at Crestdale Heights.  Being partners with Gabby is something that could ruin a person’s life.

When she doesn’t make the team, Abigail’s dreams are crushed in an instant, and, in the days that follow, she loses touch with AlliCam as they begin spending their time practicing and hanging out with the other girls on the squad. But through her letters and interactions with Gabby, Abigail discovers that she has more in common with the least popular girl in school than she thought. Bullied by other students at school, Abigail is the only one who knows how badly Gabby needs a friend, but will she find the courage to do what she knows is right? 

Amie: Welcome Nancy! It’s great to have you back at MUF! The last time you were here we talked about your first book, This Journal Belongs to Ratchet (which my daughter loved, btw).  How was writing/publishing your second book different than your first?

Nancy: Actually ALWAYS, ABIGAIL was written before THIS JOURNAL BELONGS TO RATCHET.  My agent Holly Root and I submitted it to several publishers.  We were getting lots of great feedback about the book (then called SIXTH GRADE LISTS AND LETTERS AND LOTS LOTS MORE), but we weren’t able to find its perfect home.  We then began sending out RATCHET and were able to sign it with Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky and soon after, Sourcebooks also acquired ABIGAIL.

Amie: I love stories like that! Somehow it gives me hope for all the unpublished manuscripts I’ve written. Both of your books are MG. Do you think you’ll venture out to YA or even PB? Or is your heart and solidarity to MG?

Nancy: My heart is very close to MG.  I love reading MG.  I love writing MG.  It’s definitely my comfort zone.  That said, in my early endeavors at writing children’s books, I wrote several picture books.  Though none have been published, I believe that writing experience taught me a lot.  Picture book writing has to be VERY tight – every word has to pack a punch because you have to tell your story in so few words.  Writing those books helped me practice making my writing precise and powerful.  I hope that at some point I’m able to go back and resurrect one or two of those manuscripts and someday have a picture book published as well.  As for YA, not to sound too much like a middle schooler with low self-esteem, but I’m not sure I’m cool enough to write for that audience.  YA is so edgy and gritty and honest in such a raw way.  For me that sounds like jumping into shark infested waters.  Not sure I could muster that kind of courage.  That said, I do have an idea in my works-in-progress file for a YA book, but we’ll have to see if I am ever brave enough to jump off that cliff.

Amie: *laughs* I totally get where you’re coming from! Tell us a little about your inspiration for Always, Abigail.

Nancy: The character of Abigail and her long-time desire to be a pom pom girl was where the book began for me.  And then, the idea for the format came.  I asked myself, “Could I tell an entire story through lists and letters?”  A lot of middle schoolers, especially girls, like to jot their thoughts down in different ways.  Telling Abigail’s story this way really gets readers inside her life (her thoughts and her experiences), and writing the book this way made it very creative and fun for me as the author.  I enjoyed the process of figuring out how to tell a story in such a unique format.

The story of Abigail is close to my heart because I was a lot like Abigail.  I almost always knew the right thing to do, but I often had a difficult time choosing to do it, especially when something big was at stake.  I think lots of young people struggle with this.  We talk to students all the time about bullying, and I think that’s good, but sometimes we forget that “knowing” what to do is not the same as having the courage to do it.  We also forget how much courage that takes and how much is at stake for young people faced with these kinds of situations.

Amie: One last question. NYC or Virginia horse country?

Nancy: Definitely NYC – I love the Broadway musicals and the fantastic Italian restaurants.  A dinner of crunchy Italian bread and pasta with sauce so good I want to lick the bowl followed by a musical to which I know all the lyrics by heart is just about as good as it gets.

Amie: Thanks for joining us again Nancy! Best of luck to you with Always, Abigail!

Nancy J. Cavanaugh is the award-winning author of This Journal Belongs to Ratchet, the Gold Medal Winner for the Florida State Book Awards. She has a B.S. in education and an MA in curriculum and instruction with multiple published works. She was a teacher for more than fifteen years and currently works as a Library Media Specialist at an elementary school near Tarpon Springs, FL.  Website  Twitter Facebook Goodreads Buy Links:Amazon | B&N | BAM | iBooks | IndieBound | !ndigo

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Amie Borst is the co-author of Cinderskella. Her second book, Little Dead Riding Hood, releases October 14th, 2014! Find her at her blog, facebook, and twitter.

Lately I’ve noticed my focus has been a little, well, um…wait, what was I saying? Oh yeah. I’ve noticed my focus has been somewhat…how to put it…GONE. Actually, I’ve become constantly unfocused. Anyone with me here?

At first I chalked it up to summer, a houseful of noisy kids, my aging brain…but then I read about a syndrome called “continuous partial attention.” And it turns out I — and probably you — have it.

On Facebook and Twitter multiple times a day? Liking and posting and sharing never-ending content? Checking your phone every few minutes for texts, emails, Instagram photos? Watching way too many videos online? You know you are not alone.

Call it social media overload or living in a virtual reality — researchers say that people today are finding it increasingly difficult to focus on tasks because of chronic and constant interruptions from screens.

Not good for a writer. Not exactly good for anyone.

According to a recent article in Toronto’s Globe and Mail, we sprint through our days in a state of super-charged distraction and it’s taking a toll on our brains. In one study I read, workers stopped the task they were doing because of a screen disruption every three minutes.

Writers especially need quiet contemplation in order for ideas to form and gel. Time when nothing is beeping, beckoning, begging for our attention. Not quite conducive to today’s world, is it?

Desperate times, as it is said, call for desperate measures. My focus was floating somewhere out there and I needed to get it back. Who else to turn to but my fellow writers? I texted, posted, sent messages (and yes, I am fully aware of the irony here), pleading for help. What are your secrets, I asked, for avoiding the evil temptress of the Internet in order to get in some focused writing time?

Now I realize, some of these suggestions may seem radical, but I’ve compiled them here because I have been assured they really work. (Disclaimer: If you choose to try one of these, you are proceeding at your own risk.)

1. Accidentally “misplace” your phone. Some excellent places to “lose” it include: the bottom of a laundry basket full of smelly socks, under the sofa, somewhere in the backyard, under a seat in a friend’s minivan. Preferably one with fast food remnants and candy wrappers.

2. Journey to a remote mountainous location with no WiFi, cell towers, or sign of human life, and write. Siberia works, but a tree house will do in a pinch.

3. Give yourself a one-hour challenge. Set a timer and write for one hour without checking any electronic device. This will be similar in nature to detox so be prepared. Drink a lot of water.

4. Let a baby borrow your phone. (They need to text too.) Within minutes, it is guaranteed you will have no Internet connection.

5. Find WiFi free zones in which to write. Suggestions include the beach, a canoe, while skydiving, or on a roller coaster, preferably while upside down.

6. Walk and dictate into an ancient device found in antique shops and on archeological digs: a tape recorder. An added bonus here is that people will stay far away, believing you are a lunatic.

7. Write while walking on a treadmill, with all electronic devices stowed in another room. Do not get off until you’ve written one thousand words.

8. Pile up any and all devices, put them in your car, and park it around the block. Walk back to your writing space and go.

9. Give your Smartphone to a teenager so he/she can install all updates and add a variety of cool, new apps you’ve never heard of. You will not be able to figure anything out when it is returned to you.

10. Find Thoreau’s cabin in the woods. Knock.

Good luck, fellow writers. May the focus be with you.

Michele Weber Hurwitz is the author of two middle grade novels, The Summer I Saved the World…in 65 Days, and Calli Be Gold. She will check her Twitter @MicheleWHurwitz when she returns from Siberia. In the meantime, find her virtually at micheleweberhurwitz.com.