Posts for category ‘appearances’

• Teen blogger Robby interviewed me over at his site, Once Upon A Book. His blog is a big “nuh-uh!” in the face of all the hand-wringing there often is about how teen boys “don’t read.” Thanks for having me, Robby, and keep up the great work!

• Jacksonville, here I come! This weekend is the big Much Ado About Books festival in Jacksonville, Florida. I will be there, giving two (two!) sessions during which I’ll talk about my books and writing YA. These sessions are a great option for those interested in being published in YA—plenty of time for Q&A during which I will reveal my PUBLISHING SECRETS. (Okay, I don’t actually have any, but I do promise to tell you anything you want to know. About publishing.) The details:

Saturday, Feb 27 – Jacksonville, FL – Much Ado about Books

Free and open to the public! At the Main Library on Laura Street. All the info here.

11 a.m. at the Teen Library of the Main Library, ground floor

11:45 – 12:30 signing

12:45 – 1:00 signing

2 p.m. – Session off-site from the festival, at the Mandarin Library Branch (I will also be happy to sign afterward)

• Panic in the industry? Please. Some book lovers simply will not be stopped. For example, Michelle Witte is gearing up to open a new book store here in Utah, specializing in children’s and YA books. When I heard about this, I got very excited. The location, just north of Salt Lake City, is perfect as there is not a lot up there serving book buyers, and told Michelle to let me know what I could do to help. Right now, Michelle/Fire Petal Books is holding an auction to raise money for the venture. I’ve contributed a manuscript critique. And there are lots more great things for readers and writers, from signed books to a phone conversation with editor Molly O’Neill. All the info is here—bid early and bid often! Auction closes March 20. (Though some of the auction items are location-specific, you do not have to live in Utah to participate.)

Saturday, February 13 @ SLC Main Library – 1 p.m. (that’s tomorrow!)

400 S / 300 E

“Young Adult Authors You’ll Love to Meet.” Yes! You will love to meet us, and we will love to meet you. It’s a panel with me, Paul Genesse and Bobbie Pyron. Whether you’re a writer yourself, an aspiring writer, or a fan, the discussion should be great. We will answer anything you ask. Within reason. There will be a signing afterward.

Friday, February 19 @ Aromas Coffeehouse, Omaha, NE – 7 p.m.

Fan meetup! This is my totally experimental/guerrilla/crapshoot thingie. I’m going to be in Omaha for the evening on this last-minute trip, and while it’s too late to line up any store events, I know authors don’t often come your way and I’d be happy to hang out. If you are in the area, come by to say hi and have a chat and a latte (and I will bring my good signing pen in case it become necessary). We’ll see how this goes…I for one am going to bring a book in case it’s just me, myself, and I.

11th and Jones in the Old Market Lofts building

1033 Jones Street, Omaha, Nebraska 68102, 402-614-7009

I will stay there until 8:30 for sure.

Now, Tomorrow, Six Months from Tuesday – The Comfort of Your Own Home

It’s the Glen Online!

Whether you’d like to improve your writing in a particular genre, or have a specific project in mind, the Glen Online offers the perfect opportunity to set reasonable creative writing goals with a mentor’s guidance, all while working at your own pace.

I’m teaching a YA fiction class—I know many of you have already contacted me saying that you wish you could do this if you had the money. If all goes well, I’ll be doing this well into the foreseeable future, so maybe it will work out for you later. If you’re not into YA, TGO also offers classes in beginning, intermediate, and advanced fiction, poetry, and memoir. All the info here.

Some may say February is a good month to stay home, live in your pjs, and continue to eat winter comfort food. That’s fine for that groundhog in PA, but not for me. I’m going to be out and about and, for the pajama portion of this announcement, teaching a new online class on YA fiction. Read on:

Saturday, Feb 13 – 1 p.m. - Salt Lake City Public Library

Appearing with Paul Genesse and Bobbie Pyron for a panel discussion, followed by a signing. (What a good chance to get a copy of Sweethearts for your Valentine, eh?)

Friday, Feb 19 – Evening – Fan meetup somewhere in Omaha

Okay, this is totally experimental. I made last-minute plans to take a short research trip that includes a stop in Omaha, and I have a free night while I wait to get on a train. It’s short notice to put together an awesome book store appearance, but I know it’s rare for authors to go out that way. SO, I want to try this semi-guerrilla thing that I’m calling a fan meetup right now, though I’m tempted to call it a town hall meeting or fireside chat or a whistle stop tour, just because that sounds cool. Location TBD, and partially dependent on me getting idea how many of you there might be. One? Three? Seventeen? I don’t know. Most likely it will be at a coffee shop somewhere not too far from the train station. If you live in that area and think you might like to come out, please let me know, either in comments here or email (link on the right side of sarazarr.com).

Saturday, Feb 27 – Jacksonville, FL – Much Ado about Books

Book festival! Free and open to the public! At the Main Library on Laura Street. All the info here. My details are:

11 a.m. at the Teen Library of the Main Library, ground floor

11:45 – 12:30 signing

12:45 – 1:00 signing

In between I will pee.

2 p.m. – Session off-site from the festival, at the Mandarin Library Branch

Right Now or Whenever You Want – The Glen Online

You know I’ve been raving about The Glen Workshop for years, and how my going to it for the first time in 2002 changed my life? And how I’ve gone almost every year since? Now, IMAGE is offering The Glen Online for those who can’t make it to Santa Fe in the summers, or would rather stay home in pjs eating comfort food, working at their own pace. And, unlike at the Santa Fe workshop, TGO is offering a class on YA Fiction. Guess who is teaching it? That’s right! (Me, in case you didn’t get that…)

Now, The Glen Online is really more in a correspondence course format than a class, so you won’t be workshopping the pieces of classmates (though you can engage in discussion with others doing TGO through the IMAGE forums), and there won’t be the give-take group energy of that particular environment. On the plus side, you get one-on-one with the teachers, you can start any time, and work at your own pace. If you check out the TGO site, you’ll notice some classes have the “tutorial” option, which is basically mentoring through large chunks of a manuscript. You won’t see that option for YA, but if that’s what you’re interested in, we can work that out within the format of the class. If you think The Glen Online might be for you but you have questions about the YA class, feel free to contact me.

Whew, I am a busy lady! Back to work…

- If you’re interested in registering for the Writing & Illustrating for Young Readers conference and want to take my class but don’t know if you qualify (or are just not sure which class to take), contact the conference through its site. I don’t decide who is in my class, and they will help you figure it out. By the way, did I mention that my beautiful and talented editor Jennifer Hunt will be there?

- I read two books on my trip to Houston—one on the flight there, and one on the flight back. (Good thing I took the actual books and not the Kindle, because, as a slow reader, I needed every second of reading time, including taxi-ing and the time it takes to get to 10,000 feet!) The books aren’t out yet: Matthew Quick’s SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR and Andrew Auseon’s FREAK MAGNET. Two uniquely beautiful YA books coming later this year, both about love if different kinds.

- At the SLC airport I also picked up Jaron Lanier’s YOU ARE NOT A GADGET, because I’ve been reading about this book all over the place and it sounds exactly like what I’m tryin’ to say myself, yo, only I barely grasp how the phone works so it’s been hard to articulate why, though I love technology, it worries me so. I just started the book and, whoah. So far it is more like philosophy than anything (it is a manifesto, after all); a philosophy we need to give real thought to right now. If you don’t know about Lanier, he was a pioneer of open source culture, so this is a critique is coming from within, not from a hysterical outsider. I want you to read it so we can talk about it. I believe it is a manifesto that I will be signing onto. Also it has a cool cover:

Shop Indie Bookstores

- Read Laurie Halse Anderson’s post about book piracy. Even successful authors like Laurie are not rich enough to give away books for free. But, really, it’s not about that. Though it pains me to say it, even authors who are bajillionaires and write slasher pulp with the help of a staff need to be paid for their work. That’s how it works. Piracy is stealing, and stealing is wrong. Borrowing, however, is perfectly legal, and that’s why we have libraries. “But my library doesn’t have your book.” Ask for it! You can request that your library system acquire the book. Get a few friends to do the same and chances are good it will eventually get into the collection. Meanwhile, there are thousands of other books to read while you wait! Hey, I am not nearly rich enough to buy every book that we want to read. I usually have 10-15 books checked out from the library at a time. The free library system is one of the things that makes this country great! No matter how poor you are, if you’ve got a library card and you can read, you are one powerful person.

I’ll be at the Montgomery County Teen Book Festival this weekend. Saturday, to be exact, with Melissa Marr and Cassandra Clare, and Joy Preble, Charles J. Shields, Shirlene Obuabi, and Nick Abadzis.

Here are all the details.

First: Thanks all for your responses to my last post. Group hug.

Second: I really like this review of Once Was Lost over at Elle Strauss’ blog. Among other things, she writes (when taking a moment to reflect on how religious people are often portrayed), “[The] characters are flawed because they are human, not because they choose to have faith in God.”

Third: Happy 40th birthday to Mark Miller, who was the inspiration for Cameron Quick in Sweethearts. You don’t look a moment over 39! Here we are in Feb 08 at our old elementary school:

And now, the details about my time in Philadelphia this weekend. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you’re probably not registered for the conference, and if you’re not registered you can’t see me! Unless you stand on the street outside my hotel, which would be creepy.)

Sunday

10:30 a.m. – Signing at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers booth #613

11:30 a.m. – Signing at Anderson’s Bookshop booth

Evening – ALAN/Joint Publisher Reception

Monday

2:45 p.m. – Panel – “Veterans in the YA Lit Business: Successful Authors & Their Editors” (I’m not sure three books makes me a veteran, but I’m looking forward to being a part of this.)

If you see me, signing or at the panel or walking the floor or loitering by the coffee stand, please say hello. I’m friendly.