Author: rachelhartman

Happy (USA) Thanksgiving!

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We already celebrated Thanksgiving here in Canada, but I wanted to be sure to wish our southern neighbours a merry day of feasting as well. We need some kind of late November holiday up here, I think, because the stretch from October to Saturnalia is unrelentingly grey and grim. Of course, I say that every year, and the answer always seems to be, “Yes! Now organize something, Rachel!” And of course I don’t, due to being massively busy (and lazy, simultaneously).

However, in the spirit of the day, I would like to say how very thankful I am for you, my readers. I know that’s cheesy, but y’know what? I love cheese. What to do? There’s no getting around it.

I am thankful for all the people who’ve taken the time to read the odd products of my wee tiny brain, for all the people who enjoyed it and took the time to tell me so, for all the super interesting people I’ve met on this journey, for all the wonderful individuals in publishing and bookselling who helped Seraphina be the very best it could be.

Okay, whew! Gorgonzola!

I now return my nose to the grindstone. Someone was just asking me about the sequel: I am still writing it. My books are built in layers; the first layer of this one was structurally sound, but pretty dark. This second has a lot more texture and some glimmering glimpses of light. I’m loving it and finally (I think) understanding the book. (yes, I know, I’m a weirdo, but I don’t always know what I’m writing about until after I’ve done an awful lot of writing. I mean, I think I know. I go in with an idea. But the subconscious wants what it wants, and it doesn’t always like to tell me what it wants. It likes to make me work for it. I try to be easy-going about this, because there seems to be little I can do to change it.)

Happy German book birthday!

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Hurrah! Serafina – Das Königreich der Drachen: Band 1 is out today! Here’s the beautiful cover:

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I really think I should get come cake on these birthdays, don’t you? Hm… I should see about fixing that.

Don’t ask how I got here

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Because I’m sure I don’t know. I think I was looking for spinet videos, as one does. I ended up at this, however: Handel and Scarlatti in a harpsichord duel to the death.

I assume the cheeky fellow with the moustache is supposed to be Handel, but I wouldn’t swear to it. I’ve never seen a picture of either of these gents with a moustache. The wigs, though. One wonders why those ever went out of fashion.

All right, one doesn’t wonder very hard.

The season of lists is upon us

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And Seraphina has made Amazon’s Top 20 YA Novels of 2012! It’s #13, no less, which I find highly amusing.

That particular article also lets you know which ones were John Green’s favourites, in case you were burning with curiosity about that (follow the link to Omnivoracious to learn what they all are).

I have to admit, I tend to read older books. I mean, I feel guilty reading newer stuff when I haven’t even finished my TBR list from the 80s yet. How can I have any pudding if I haven’t eaten my meat?

I will say, though, that the few 2012 books I read IN 2012 were some of the best books I read all year. Code Name Verity tops the list, along with The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Nielsen and Bitterblue. It’s wonderful that there are so many good books being published, particularly in YA. We’re having a little YA Golden Age, here, and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.

Updated to Add: And here’s another list, from Library Journal Reviews, Best Books 2012: YA Literature for Adults. I was about to claim Seraphina is #3 there, but it looks like it’s actually my surname that is #3 in alphabetical order. Still, another informative list, just in time for the holidays. I imagine that’s not a coincidence.

Congrats to Susin Nielsen, and others!

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A big congratulations to all the winners of the 2012 Governor General’s Literary Awards!

As you probably already gleaned, this list does not include me, but y’know what? It’s fine. I read Susin Nielsen’s winning book, The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen, and I knew as I read it that here was a powerful contenda indeed. Here’s my review on Goodreads, and I really, really hope that the G.G. award leads a lot more people toward reading this worthy, painful, hilarious, wonderful book.

Goodreads Readers’ Choice nominee!

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I was pleased and surprised this morning to see that Seraphina has made it to the semifinal round of the Goodreads Readers’ Choice awards! They put a lovely orange badge on the book page and everything.

“Pleased” is, I’m sure, self-evident. “Surprised” is because the book wasn’t on the main page in the opening round. If people wanted to vote for it, they had to write it in. Looks like a few people must have done just that. Thank you all so much!

 

And a lovely Wednesday to you!

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I will say exactly this about the US elections: I’m glad they’re over! I couldn’t stand the suspense.

I am still in suspense about one thing, however: the Governor General’s Literary Awards. Here’s a lovely article at CBC Online profiling the five nominees for the English Language Children’s Text award.

The only other nominee I’ve read is Susin Nielsen’s The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I would be perfectly content and feel there is justice in the world if I lost to her. I’m sure the other three are also great. Mostly, though, I’m ready for the suspense to be over.

(I’m not in suspense over the Carnegie Medal because March is very far away. Ask me again in February.)

In other news, NaNoWriMo proceeds apace. I have been logging time and falling short of my goals, which is all pretty much par for the course. You’d think, since I have already announced I’m cheating, I could just cheat myself ahead, but apparently even cheaters have principles. I’m a cheater but not a liar, perhaps, although I realize that’s cutting it fine.

Really, it means I need to go put my bum in the correct chair. Like, now. Toodle-oo!

Let the bum-in-chair-athon begin!

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It’s November, darlings! Anyone doing NaNo this year? If you want to buddy me, I’m “amyunbounded”.

I’m only sort of NaNo-ing, though. To be perfectly honest, I’m cheating most egregiously. I’m not really counting words, because I’m revising and I CAN’T. I’m logging hours spent, only I have to convert them into words (through an algorithm of my own devising) or the graph won’t graph it properly. If I work for the (arbitrary) number of hours I’ve set for myself, I credit myself as having made par on the word count. Today I worked longer than my goal. Woo Hoo.

I am, as always, in it for the camaraderie and whining. Also, a little public accountability is nice. Also, also: keeping track of how much I work helps me see that I really am working, even on days when it feels like I got nothing done. Which is distressingly often.

And look, I exceeded my goal AND there’s time left over to blog and go to the store! OK, so I got started ridiculously early because I have a cold and couldn’t sleep, but still! It feels good to be off to a roaring start!

Anyway. Camaraderie! Whining! Who’s writing this month?

My favourite musical creepsters

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Blue Oyster Cult! As promised, here are some creepy classics from the oyster boys. First up, a great favourite in our household, a song we play every Halloween, “Harvester of Eyes.”

Second, as anticipated by Lisa in the comments yesterday, “Joan Crawford.” This is a fan video made from real clips of Joan Crawford, which I like much better than the official music video (even though that featured zombie schoolgirls; that sounds cooler than it turned out to be in execution).

And last, but far from least: “Godzilla.”

Happy Halloween, everybody!