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total constant order - LiveJournal.com
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Miami Book Fair pictures and words
Paper fans decorated with dead poets.
Human swarm around the Crayola-colored tents. A diamond-bright day, the air smelling of hot dogs and spray paint.
A girl smoking a cigarette while flipping through a paperback in the shade.
First in a long line for Jonathan Lethem, who read about eagles and skyscrapers.
Listening to South Florida YA authors: Gaby Triana, (who took pictures of the crowd with her iPhone), Danielle Joseph (who read about her DJ-obsessed heroine as a hiphop beat thumped in the background), Alex Flinn (who shared Beastly movie gossip), and my literary fairy godmother, Joyce Sweeney (who once met an angel on a motorcycle).
Listening to the Miami Poetry Collective read, bucket brigade-style, then sign their anthology like a yearbook on the last day of school. Talking with their patron saint, Campbell McGrath, while he autographed the fold-out broadsheet.
Outside the wedding-style tents, a woman posing with strap-on wings.
Riding the MetroMover home, arms loaded with brand new books, surrounded by smiling strangers, doing exactly the same thing.
Teen Read Week
At Books&Books in Coral Gables, the teens wore top hats and waistcoats. They carried pocket watches and dog-eared copies of Scott Westerfield's paperbacks. The members of YAthenaeum, a "community of readers and writers of all things Young Adult," met at Miami's coolest indie bookstore for the Teen Reads Forum.
When asked, "Why do you like to read?" the number one response = to escape from reality, experience another person's life, and learn that "villains can be conquered." Scott Westerfield joined the conversation, adding, sometimes it's not about escaping. It's about being transported (either from the "noise" of your everyday life in school...or the cramped space inside an airplane).
What makes teens pick up a book? Yes, the cover art is "really important." But first lines matter most. Scott says, "The writer makes a promise that something interesting is going to happen." He quoted the first line from Charlotte's Web ("Where's Papa going with that ax?") The audience agreed. Weird is always better than boring. And when it comes to endings, the writer better deliver. Readers want to feel what writers describe. Even if the rest of the book is stale, a strong ending can change a reader's view of the entire story.
Local teen novelist, Alex Flinn, said, "Every teen story is a step. A YA mystery isn't just about solving a mystery. It's about growing up...and helping people see someone make changes in their life." Every choice in a YA novel has a consequence. This is the age when you start questioning the world ("Why do bad things happen to good people?") When writers tackle big issues, readers see: It's okay to make mistakes.
With the giant boom in YA literature, Scott believes, "It's fun to be at the beginning of something that's wide open." He turned to the audience and said, "The world doesn't know how to handle you guys yet..."
On Saturday, I spoke at the Boynton Beach Library. We worked on a writing exercise together and the teens shared their journals with me. Sonida wrote, "I'm like MC Hammer. You can't touch this." Her diary came with a bookmark shaped like a wolf. She talked about being strong, even when there's violence all around you. I said, "When you write something on paper, it's like taking a burden off your back."
Sonida asked if my next book has "violence" in it.
"Yeah," I said. "It does."
She grinned. "Excellent."
It reminded me of a conversation from YA-LitChat, earlier in the week. How "dark" is "too dark" in teen literature? I truly believe that scary stories create a safe place for readers to explore their fears. We can't censor these kinds of stories--not when the Sonidas of the world need them so badly. They're out there...listening.
Virginia Is For Readers
The bell rings like a war siren. A hundred sleep-deprived kids shuffle into the library. They slump in their plastic chairs, just as a police officer marches through the door. Everybody snaps awake. They can't stop staring---not at the man with the badge, but at Leda, his K-9.
The German Shepherd curls up on the carpet. Every so often, she lifts her head and blinks, as if listening to a secret. Alan Krugel, her handler at the LAPD, talks about the "awful, frightening, hollow feeling--that terrible, dreaded feeling of being alone."
When Alan lost his family, he also lost his hope. Then he met Leda, a dog doomed to be "put to sleep," all because she wouldn't chase the bad guys. Alan calls Leda his four-legged angel. Alan grins. "She's a coward," he says. But she's also a gifted sniffer. Now she helps him find the things that go boom...all because she got a second chance.
When Officer Mark Kearney invited me to BOOK EM, an event to promote literacy as a form of crime prevention, I volunteered to speak with other authors at local schools. I met Alan Krugel and Leda at Robert E Lee High School, along with Jonathan Queen, a motivational speaker who transformed his life after spending ten years in prison. He spoke about "change reaction" strategies from his new book, Are You S.A.N.E. (Setting A New Example).
I also visited Stuarts Draft High School, where I had a blast, chatting over lunch with the Writer's Club. They asked a lot of questions: How do you start a chapter? (in the middle of action). Where do you get good names for your characters? (the phone book) And the question that stabbed me in the heart: What if your parents don't believe you can make it as a writer?
Prove them wrong.
Kaitlyn has a "vision" of writers typing masterpieces in a log cabin. She giggled when I said, "I've got a laptop in my bedroom. That's it." She said it's "painful" when she breaks away from her imaginary world (especially at dinnertime). I said, "Sounds like you're meant to be a novelist," and her face glowed. I also spoke to the "poet's corner" and met a recently-published student who had returned, just to visit her old English teacher. "He's the reason I wrote my book," she told me. I met Tessa, who loves "funny zombie fan fiction," and on Friday, I talked with Drew, who created an alternative universe, based on the planets in our solar system.
On Saturday, at BOOK EM, I sat beside Kathy Erskine (author of the brilliant teen novel, QUAKING). We spoke on a YA panel about "The Power Of Words" and met the kids at Kate Collins Middle School (including a trio of giggly girls who kept petting their friend's armwarmers). The event lasted all day. Kathy had decorated her table with bookmarks, temporary tattoos, and candy. We spent the afternoon smiling at the same things (like the smirky boys who ran up to the microphone in the auditorium and played a disco ringtone on a cellphone).
The book sales raised money to fund crimefighting and literacy programs. Officer Mark said he'd never seen so many young people at the event, which is sponsored by the local police. I hope more cities will get involved with their own version of BOOK EM-style literacy campaigns. So much fun to see kids grabbing paperbacks off the table and lugging them like gold--not to mention, all the hardworking teachers and librarians who snagged books for their collections (special thanks to Catherine Morris, Darren Ralston, and Sue Simmons).
Afterwards, I stopped at Stone Soup, an indie bookstore down the block. It looks like a farmhouse on a hill and it's packed with a great teen selection upstairs. I wanted to pack my bags and move into the attic.
In Virginia, I stayed in the historic district of Staunton--a town that reminds me of those miniature villages that come with train sets. Or maybe a Thomas Kinkade sculpture: all brick Colonial houses with buttery lights. The Stonewall Jackson Hotel was smack in the middle of everything (including "fork to farm" restaurants that could rival any organic-inspired plate in NYC: check out the Staunton Grocery and Zynodoa).
On my last night in the city, I took a ghost walk with the Staunton Paranormal Investigators. They showed us their spirit-hunting tools, like an electro-magnetic field detector, and audio recordings they had captured of whispery, little girl voices in graveyards. One of the haunted buildings is now an Italian restaurant (sometimes diners get a whiff of cigar smoke on the stairs). I ducked inside and climbed to the roof, where a dredlocked band was blasting funk and reggae classics. A waiter scooted past me, turned around, and said, "You came to my school." It was Colton, who had shared a conversation with me about OCD.
I was so busy thinking about ghosts, I didn't notice the police officer. He marched upstairs, looking amused in his uniform, and told the band to "shut it down." I waved goodbye to Colton and headed back outside. The wind stung my cheeks. It was two in the morning. I wanted to stay there, with the Halloween lanterns winking in the stores, and write a novel in a log cabin. But that will have to wait.
Annual Book 'Em literacy event planned for Oct. 17 | newsleader.com | The News Leader
Annual Book 'Em literacy event planned for Oct. 17 | newsleader.com | The News Leader
Hey people in Virginia. Please come out and support Book Em--an event that connects literacy with lower crime rates. More than 50 authors will sign books on Saturday (including me!)
Book Em
9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Oct. 17 at Kate Collins Middle School
1625 Ivy St. More
Waynesboro, VA
he wrote back
Santa Ana, CA
1992
Dear Crissa:
Thanks, belatedly for the wonderful letter. Sorry I took so long to respond. My only advice about writing is that it generally takes years of failed attempts and rejection before there’s even a small success. So don’t give up! And keep reading my books. Somebody has to. Thank your mom for me.
Cheers,
Jim Blaylock
Miami, FL
2009
Dear Jim,
Thanks for taking the time to write me, back when I was seventeen and doodling stories about dragons in my algebra notebooks. It blew my mind, that someone I admired (a real life author) would send a postcard to a high school kid. I tacked it on my bulletin board, where it stayed for years (even after Hurricane Andrew smeared the ink with ocean water). My mom first introduced me to your books, starting with The Elfin Ship. She found this postcard in a photo album. I asked her to keep it for me, just in case I forget what it says.
I'm still reading.
((hugs))
crissa
Bar Harbor Book Festival (thanks Maine and Carrie Jones)
The taxi filled with the smell of woodsmoke, even when we didn't roll down the windows. The driver twisted the radio dial, landed on a classic rock station, I-95, like the highway that stretches all the way home. I watched rows of pointy-roofed farms whiz past. Almost all of them flickered blue with big screen TVs. We sped around cemetery stones that glinted like teeth in the fields, buildings that reminded me of barns--the houses, the hotels, even the Dunken Donuts.
"How long you staying in Maine?" the driver asked.
"Forever," I wanted to say.
At the Bar Harbor Book Festival, a slew of authors (25 total) met at the (possibly haunted) Municipal Building on Cottage Street to talk about the things we love best: reading, writing, and imaginary friends. We sat in a semi-circle upstairs in the sun-flooded hall. Local author, Carrie Jones (NEED), hosted the event with the help of the police department. Carrie skipped between the tables like a pixie in a plaid skirt, handing out gift bags filled with Play-Doh and miniature sailboats.
I listened to Kelly McClymer (MUST LOVE BLACK) talk about writer's inspiration for a panel called "How Did You Think of That?" First she thinks of a title, then builds a book around it. She pulls her ideas from words and phrases and often fills a drawer with them. "Something personal calls to you," she says. You may not see a "message" until the story is finished. It depends on the timing, the market, and a little bit of luck. The hardest part? Convincing others to see what you see.
A trio of ladies in princess tiaras--Deva Fagan (FORTUNE'S FOLLY), Erin Dionne (MODELS DON'T EAT CHOCOLATE COOKIES), and Megan Frazer (SECRETS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY) spoke for the panel, "Chocolate and Coolness." Heaps of cupcakes, Oreos and candy kisses surrounded them.
The bold-faced words on Deva's t-shirt said, "Self-Rescuing Princess." She mentioned that many books feature heroines who try to prove, "Anything a boy can do, I can do better." Deva wanted to create a strong female character, "Not a "Xena princess warrior."
Megan grew up playing in the woods and longed for books about girls she could relate to...not the stereotypical dramas of gender-specific battles: issues that revolve around a girl's physical appearance. "It's time to question those archetypes."
Erin believes that in our society, there's a lot of focus on performance and pleasing others. Her characters achieve confidence in themselves, not for somebody else. "It's all about inner strength."
On Sunday, the editors of Hunger Mountain literary journal, Kekla Magoon (THE ROCK AND THE RIVER) and Bethany Hegedus (BETWEEN US BAXTERS) explained their strategy for school visits. They formed a team, working as a pair, which plays off the thematic similarities in their Civil Rights stories. This works well in a classroom setting (and bookstores often do joint signings based on a theme). Kekla and Bethany perform "reader's theatre" in schools, inviting the audience to reenact scenes and become the characters.
"That's the fun part about writing," said Kekla. You get to approach the world, teaching kids how to find their own voices.
Robin MacCready read from her debut novel, BURIED, and talked about the need for older teen books, especially realistic fiction for boys. I read from my work-in-progress and closed the day at Lompoc cafe, where a small group of us met for drinks (surrounded by a stump-sized owl statue and kids playing bocce ball in the garden).
During the weekend, I hiked the Jordan Cliffs in Acadia--a mountain path so steep, the trail featured iron rungs. I tasted lobster ice cream (like vanilla, studded with tasteless, frozen chunks of meat), sunset-sailed on a pirate ship replica, watched finback whales and harbor seals play hide-and-seek, and crammed my pockets with pinecones, rocks and acorns. Most of all, I loved hanging with other writers. We're all dreaming the same dreams, and like the smiley-faced signature that Carrie scribbled in my book, they are my "writer hero people."
c.
Uspeak reading
The USpeak podcast is up on iTunes.
Catch me reading snippets from the cutting room floor (stuff that didn't make it into my book)
and new scenes in progress.
Thanks to Matt Gajewski for the audio magic!
Click on the icon to hear the reading.
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=330695343
Miami - Riptide 2.0 - Young Adult Author Crissa-Jean Chappell Returns to UM
I'll be reading at the University of Miami tonight. 6:30pm. @Oasis.
Check out this cool article from the New Times:
Miami - Riptide 2.0 - Young Adult Author Crissa-Jean Chappell Returns to UM
notes from the underground
First day of school
10th grade
1991
Our teacher is really young (wanna-be adult). I had him last year. He always talks about his life and even passes around pictures of himself, his wedding, his baby, etc. But do I really mind him getting off the subject?
How many times can you write the word BORING? Right now, Tony is saying (hopefully, like he's happy) "I got a few Ds on my report card."
Here's what people are saying:
"I love it when they write F+ "
"I might be able to play tennis because I like hitting people."
"I don't have the mental capacity."
"What's that show? Going Life?"
"Hey folks. I'm a Roman citizen."
Pauline moved in front of me just now but I doubt that Mr. Berry will let her stay there. She is sneaking chips that she bought from the Spirit Shop before class. Chris just fell out of his chair. Pauline got a lunch detention for sitting in the wrong seat.
When teachers say, "That's a good question," it means they don't know the answer.
Rachelle just said, "Some lunches are too long."
There's this girl and this kid calls her, "Space," because she's never paying attention. You get the idea.
I'm not supposed to be in here. I was going to switch classes and the teacher was like, "Do your best while you're in here."
Is it just me or do I sit in the same area in every class? There is music coming from next door (Higher Love) and everyone's laughing at it.
We are reading King Arthur (1000 x better than Romeo and Juliet). This lady is really into being a teacher. The worse thing about this class is Vocab. This note must be even longer than your neighbor's phone bill.
Art Saves!
In high school, I used to draw comics during 6th period geometry class. I sketched with Pigma pens and watercolor paint. The stories (from time-travel epics to swoony vampires) were typed on Bank Street Writer (pre-Microsoft Word), cut and Glue-sticked onto paper. After the first page, I often tossed them out and started something new.
My mom saved a few of my old sketchbooks, along with a battered copy of The Watercolor Painter's Solution Book. Today I'm more into pen-and-ink (although pencil, as seen in the smaller doodles above, was my weapon of choice in Art class).
Last week, the Sun Sentinel book critic, Chauncey Mabe, visited my college. He talked about sneaking into the library as a teenager, staring at the stacks, and thinking about the power in the books. (Does anybody know what's in these stories? he wondered. Politicians would close the place down). He said the artist's job is not to imitate the way things look...but to create new ways of seeing the world.
In that spirit, Readergirlz is hosting Art Saves: a program to encourage creativity in schools and libraries across the country. Teens can download the Art Saves template on the Readergirlz website and contribute with their own sketches and photographs.
Scan your artwork as a JPG and send it to Little Willow:
artsaves(at)slayground(dot)net
mental spotlights
At Sweat Records, the music labels are hand-scribbled in magic marker ("Portishead is named after a town in England.") Last Wednesday, a group of wordsmiths, painters and poets got together in the record store. We talked about merging pictures and words. It was the first meeting for Miami Book Arts. The goal is to team up and create broadsides: (old-timey illustrations adorned with prose. Think: London's Telegraph in the days of Charles Dickens).
We stood on a stage, surrounded by a burbling fishtank, rock posters and velvet couches. A projector flashed our names on the wall in alphabetical order. I read before John Dufresne, one of my local literary heroes.
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