Author: Katy Upperman

Off the Shelf

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I’ve finally found a reading challenge that seems to be tailored specifically for people like me: Obsessive Book Buyers. Officially, it’s the Off the Shelf Challenge hosted by BA Reading Challenges. The parameters for the challenge are simple. Read books you already own, the ones that have been sitting in your To-Read pile for weeks or months (or, in my case, YEARS!). Reviews are optional.

I’ve got fifteen books total, which puts me in the TRYING category. Here’s my To-Read list:

1. Eats, Shoots, and Leaves by Lynne Truss
2. Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum
3. Transgression by James W. Nichol
4. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
5. The Missing Girl by Norma Fox Mazer
6. Teach Me by R.A. Nelson
7. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
8. The Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond
9. Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers
10. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
11. The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting
12. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer
13. This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen
14. Waiting for You by Susan Colasanti
15. Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Stacked all pretty on my nightstand. 🙂

What about you? Participating in any reading challenges this year? What’s on your T0-Read list?

RTW: Favorite Lines

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Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival,” where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This week’s topic:  What is your favorite line from your WIP (or from a book you read recently)?

Oh, how to choose? I have lots of favorite lines from the WIP I’m currently querying, Where Poppies Bloom. Wait–is that egotistical? I mean, I have to love the lines in my WIP, otherwise I’d delete them and try again (and again and again), right?

First, here’s a little summary: Drowning in guilt that stems from her younger sister’s tragic death, seventeen-year-old Callie Ryan travels to the Oregon coast to spend the summer with her aunt. Cheerful yard boy, Tucker Morgan, manages to resurrect a glimmer of the girl Callie used to be, but she also finds unlikely companionship in mysterious Nathan Stewart, the dark and ethereal ghost bound to her aunt’s house. When Callie discovers a chilling, decades-old connection between Tucker and Nathan, she must choose between life with the golden boy who dulls her pain, and eternal escape with the ghost who may harbor sinister motivations.

And here are a few of my favorite lines:

            “You’re beautiful,” he says without a hint of embarrassment. “And you seem… sad.”

            Mystified, I choose to ignore both of his assessments. “How come I couldn’t see you those other times?”

            “Because I didn’t want you to. It’s the difference between a whisper and a shout. Just as you won’t hear me if I don’t want you to, you won’t see me unless I let you.”

            “But I can feel you.”

*****

             There is one thing I’m sure of, and it’s dreadfully selfish: I want Tucker to kiss me. The spark of life I normally feel in his presence was multiplied by a thousand with his innocent kiss on the beach earlier. I can’t stop wondering what it would feel like if we really kissed. If I’d spontaneously combust with the emotional high of it all.

*****

            He presses his lips to mine. “This is good, Callie,” he says, serious now. “You and me? We’re good together.”

            There’s no denying that. I nod, reveling in the sensation of his finger tracing the lines of my face. The slope of my nose, the bow of my upper lip, the curve of my cheek. I watch his eyes as they follow the path of his finger, his expression adoring.

            “Tell me you feel it too,” he whispers.

*****

            It’s something like sinking, being sucked into a black hole of misery and guilt, only I’m not alone. I have a companion in Nathan. When his dark, sad eyes meet mine, it’s as if we’re inexplicably linked. Nobody can break that bond. Nobody but Tucker, who is Nathan’s direct opposite. If Nathan is a black hole, Tucker is the brightest of stars, twinkling incessantly, leading me home. 

What about you? Any favorite lines from your WIP? Your favorite books?

Friday Five: What’s Up This Week

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1) Queries – I’ve sent out several. Two (at least) every day this week. It’s tedious business, but exciting too. I found a great database of middle grade and young adult publishers and agents over at Jay Eckert’s Sharpened Pen blog. Definitely worth checking out if you’re in the querying trenches like me. I found some agents on his list that, while they don’t have a huge web presence (Twitter, blog, etc.), seem to be pretty amazing. Here’s to some positive responses in the coming weeks!

2) Six Feet Under – Best. Show. Ever. (With the only exception being, possibly, Dexter.) My husband and I started watching Six Feet Under sometime around July. We started with Season One (thank you, NetFlix!) and have been plowing through the series ever since. I LOVE IT. Fully realized, terribly flawed characters. Completely unpredictable. It’s heartbreaking and funny and pushes all sorts of envelopes. Plus, it’s got Michael C. Hall, who is nothing short of fabulous. You know what cemented my Six Feet Under love, though? The series finale. The strongest of any series I’ve ever watched. Total and complete closure, which I appreciate because I’m the kind of crazy that wonders what happens to characters I love in the future. Seriously. I can’t sing the praises of this show enough. 

3) Authors vs. Writers – I read a lot about this debate… What makes you an author? What makes you a writer? When do you get to call yourself either? I’ve always gone with this: You’re an author when you manage to get a book traditionally published. You’re a writer until then. In other words, writers are the people who haven’t quite made it yet. Well, today I read literary agent Sarah LaPolla’s wise blog post, Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off, and completely changed my tune. Here’s what Sarah said: To me, a writer is a person who is serious about his or her craft and has the drive, knowledge, and skill to someday get published. An author is someone who has been published. See? I like her take so much better, and therefore I am officially adopting it. You should check out the rest of her post as well.

4) Living Dead Girl, by Elizabeth Scott – I finished this book the other day and I’m still thinking about it, though I struggle with words to describe it. Horrifying, definitely. Beautifully written, yes. Also courageous, heartbreaking, graphic and important. And the ending… Though it was a quick read, this book kept me up most of the night because I could not get “Alice” and her story out of my head. Do I recommend it? Yes… but perhaps not if you are easily disturbed.

  
5) Tangled – Rapunzel’s story might be my new favorite Disney movie (and I’m a Disney fanatic!). It is amazingly well done. My three-year-old daughter has seen it twice and is completely obsessed. The other day we bought the soundtrack and have been listening to it CONSTANTLY in the car. And you know… I don’t even mind. In fact, I’d venture to say that I enjoy the songs just as much as my Munchkin does. They are that cute. That clever. If you haven’t seen Tangled, you should. Even if you don’t have little ones. 🙂 

RTW: Best of 2010

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Road Trip Wednesday is a “Blog Carnival,” where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This Week’s Topic: 5 Best Books of 2010 and/or Sum Up Your 2010 in a Book Title

My 2010 book title is easy: A Long and Winding Road (To Nowhere). 2010 was very much a transitional year, both personally and with my writing. Though I’ve yet to reach my final goal  of publication, I do feel like I’ve made some great strides and hope that in 2011 I’ll continue to move closer to achieving that goal.

I posted my Five Best Books of 2010 on New Year’s Eve. You can find it HERE, or you can scroll down a few posts to check it out. I imagine my favorite titles might overlap with some of yours. 🙂

New Year, New Phase

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First of all, Happy New Year! Somehow I flaked on posting a friendly New Year message, but please know, I wish you nothing but the best in 2011.  

Second, I’ve just started querying again. Weirdly enough, I feel excited about it. Before I get into all that though, let me update you on my last querying effort.

It began last July, after I’d written, revised (and revised again) Loving Max Holden. I’ll be the first to admit, MAX  is what most would refer to as a “quiet book.” It’s about relationships and growing up and finding yourself. It’s not hooky or high concept. Still, it garnered several partial requests from some pretty fabulous agents, and even some full requests after that. Then the responses started to come in. I got a lot of “tremendous writing!” and “this flows so well!” and “you are so talented!” BUT that positive stuff was always followed up with something along the lines of “unfortunately, this isn’t right for the competitive market.”

So, I absorbed that (and complained about it, initially) until the light bulb in my head flickered on. I needed to write something bigger. Something that might be more appealing, easier to hook agents, and (hopefully) eventually editors. I thought hard about what I wanted to write throughout August until I started to flesh an idea out. A ghost story. A ghost story that was a flying leap out of my very contemporary comfort zone.

Still, I sat down to begin writing at the beginning of September and spent the next two months typing away, alternately thinking this WIP was the most amazing thing ever, and also the most moronic. I think my CPs thought I was nutty every time I talked to them about it. When I finished, I put it aside for several weeks, then read over it again and ended up kind of loving it. What I’m now calling Where Poppies Bloom needed some work, of course, but when my writing mentor and CPs finally read it, they kind of loved it too.

Now, I’ve taken their feedback to the manuscript and incorporated their thoughts and brilliant ideas, and this baby is finally ready to go.  I sent a few queries out this morning, and I feel cautiously optimistic about responses. In fact, I’ve already started checking my inbox obsessively. (What? I’m not the only one who does this, right?)

And in case you’re wondering, I haven’t given up on MAX just yet.  Thanks to one of my genius CPs, I’ve some ideas about how I might be able to rewrite that story in a way that’s bigger. The only problem is, I can’t decide if I want to tackle that next, or begin something completely new…

Friday Five: Best of the Best, 2010

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I can’t believe 2010 is over. Also, I can’t believe how many books I’ve read over the course of the year! If I had to guess, I’d say somewhere around 55 novels, mostly YA. There have been some definite stand outs, and with 2010 coming to a close in just a few hours, I think it’s only appropriate to showcase them in my last Friday Five of the year. All italicized blurbs are from good reads, followed by a sentence or two about why I loved each book. Happy New Year’s Eve!

1) Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker, bookworm and band geek, plays second clarinet and spends her time tucked safely and happily in the shadow of her fiery older sister, Bailey. But when Bailey dies abruptly, Lennie is catapulted to center stage of her own life—and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, suddenly finds herself struggling to balance two. Toby was Bailey’s boyfriend; his grief mirrors Lennie’s own. Joe is the new boy in town, a transplant from Paris whose nearly magical grin is matched only by his musical talent. For Lennie, they’re the sun and the moon; one boy takes her out of her sorrow, the other comforts her in it. But just like their celestial counterparts, they can’t collide without the whole wide world exploding.

One of those rare books that catches you between wanting to write as beautifully as the author and knowing you’ll never be able to. Difficult as her situation was, I wanted to BE Lennie. The Sky is Everywhere made me laugh and almost cry–a rare feat! 

2) Sixteen year old Gemma is kidnapped from Bangkok airport and taken to the Australian Outback. This wild and desolate landscape becomes almost a character in the book, so vividly is it described. Ty, her captor, is no stereotype. He is young, fit and completely gorgeous. This new life in the wilderness has been years in the planning. He loves only her, wants only her. Under the hot glare of the Australian sun, cut off from the world outside, can the force of his love make Gemma love him back? The story takes the form of a letter, written by Gemma to Ty, reflecting on those strange and disturbing months in the outback. Months when the lines between love and obsession, and love and dependency, blur until they don’t exist – almost.

Stolen left me completely torn… how could I possibly feel sorry for a kidnapper? Weirder yet, how could I WANT him to end up with the girl he took? The second-person narration is brave and disarming, and the setting harsh and beautiful.

3) Last year, all of Belly’s dreams came true and the thought of missing a summer in Cousins Beach was inconceivable. But like the rise and fall of the ocean tide, things can change–just like that. Suddenly the time she’s always looked forward to most is something she dreads. And when Jeremiah calls to say Conrad has disappeared, Belly must decide how she will spend this summer: chasing after the boy she loves, or finally letting him go.

I adore this series–read The Summer I Turned Pretty first. Belly is so perfectly flawed, and her interactions with the boys are emotional and evocative. Can’t wait for the final installment, We’ll Always Have Summer.

4) Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris—until she meets Étienne St. Claire: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he’s taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home. As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near-misses end with the French kiss Anna—and readers—have long awaited?

I know I raved about Anna in a previous post, but I couldn’t leave her off this list. She’s adorable, and Etienne is totally the-boy-you-wanted-to-date-in-high-school. Funny, sweet and true to life, even though it’s set in lovely Paris.

5) Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander’s face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate . . . until she sees Ky Markham’s face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. The Society tells her it’s a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she’s destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can’t stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society’s infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

I felt the same way about Matched that I did while reading the Hunger Games. Amazing world building, a terrifying what-if concept, and a heroine you MUST root for. I’m not a big reader of dystopians or novels set in any sort of future, but Matched is simply amazing.  

RTW: Best of December

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Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This week’s topic: What is the best book you read during the month of December?

I read some fabulous books this month. The Boys Next Door and Endless Summer by Jennifer Echols, The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff, and Matched by Ally Condie. But if I have to choose a favorite it’s Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins.

From Goodreads:  Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris—until she meets Étienne St. Claire: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he’s taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home. As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near-misses end with the French kiss Anna—and readers—have long awaited?

I’m always wary of books that get an explosion of hype on social media sites. I’ve been disappointed more than once in the past. Still, I bought Anna because I love contemporary romance AND because Stephanie Perkins appears to be an incredibly delightful person on Twitter and on her blog. I wanted to support her.   

I’m so glad I did. I absolutely adored Anna and the French Kiss. In fact, I’d say it’s about as close to perfect as a book can be. I caught myself smiling while reading more than once, and had to rein it in for fear of being judged by my husband. And when I wasn’t smiling, I was stressing–hoping that Anna and Etienne would get it together and somehow manage to meet up on the same page.  

It’s not easy to create a protagonist who is real, blemished and layered, yet still incredibly likeable. Anna is all those things and more. She’s funny and honest and still discovering who she is and what she wants. She’s like, the ideal narrator. And St. Claire is adorable in many of the ways Anna is. Not perfect, but so charming and endearing that it’s easy to overlook his flaws. Their relationship is so true to life. Full of mixed signals, what-ifs and insecurities, but still supportive and loving, if slow to develop. It felt real, like every other part of this book.

Oh, and the setting! I’ve never been a big Paris fanatic. If I ever make it to Europe, I’ve always been more interested in visiting Rome or Athens, but Anna made me fall in love with the City of Lights. Everything was described in such great detail: the food, the theater, the parks, even the school cafeteria sounded beautiful and glamorous. After I finished reading I told my husband (whose father is French) that I wanted to visit. Needless to say, he was thrilled.   

I recommend Anna to anyone who reads (seriously, it was that good!), but especially those who love contemporary romance or books set abroad.

Critique Update & A Tuesday Christmas Tune

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In case you’ve been waiting with bated breath for an update on my last post (the whole fear of critique thing), here it is:

Mentor’s critique of my manuscript was AMAZING! 

Seriously! Flattering enough to remain motivating, but full of valuable feedback that’s forcing me to take a critical look at a few flawed aspects of the story. She pointed out plenty of things she loved, and, conversely, some problem areas that I myself was unsure of. She contributed some really awesome ideas for how to address the issues. Plus, she pointed out little symbloism/motif things that I sprinkled throughout, wondering if they were right and enough. What a relief to know that they are AND that they’re doing their job. Oh, and she loved the ending–yay! 

So, today I’m going to begin my revision and I can honestly say I’m excited about it.     

I have the time to begin revising today because… I’m done Christmas shopping AND wrapping gifts! I don’t think I can properly express how happy I am about this. At the risk of sound Grinch-like, this is not my favorite time of year. I always feel so rushed and stressed and like I’m not spending equal or enough time with family and friends. Not only do we have Christmas Eve and Christmas Day festivities, but my parents’ anniversary and my husband’s birthday also fall during the next few days. Needless to say, it’s a busy time. So, the somewhat mundane tasks of gift buying and wrapping are items I check from my To-Do list with a flourish. Now, I feel like I can relax a bit and actually enjoy myself.

In that spirit, I leave you with a Tuesday Tune. And, it’s not a country song! It’s my favorite Christmas song, Oh Holy Night. While I think Mariah Carey does it best, Eric Cartman’s version always makes me laugh. 🙂

On Releasing My Baby…

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My three-year-old started preschool a few months ago. I think I can speak for most moms when I say that this was an incredibly bittersweet milestone. Pushing your baby out of the nest is one part exhilarating and two parts terrifying. Along with thoughts of It’s for the best, and She’ll be a brighter, better girl for it, comes frantic, mental begging. Please be sweet to my precious child! Treat her kindly, speak to her gently, teach her many new things!

She cried those first few days at drop off. God, did she cry. I nearly did too, but with my husband’s support, I kept taking her. The crying tapered off, morphing fairly suddenly into excitement and eager anticipation. And you know what? Preschool has become a wonderful experience, for both my daughter and me. She loves it, and is growing and changing in ways my husband and I couldn’t have facilitated on our own. And I have four extra uninterrupted hours of writing time each week. It really did turn out to be for the best.

I mention the above because as I sit here and type, a critiqued version of my manuscript (my *other* baby) sits in my inbox.

Unopened.

Because I’m a wimp.


I felt exactly the same way I felt when preschool was set to begin. Anxious. Scared. Dreadful. And, at the same time, a teensy bit excited.

I’m lucky enough to have had my manuscript critiqued by a multi-published mentor. She’s incredibly talented, wise about the industry, and isn’t afraid to tell it like it is. I’m sure she’s supplied me with tons lots feedback to consider. Which is why I’m filled with trepidation.

The perfectionist in me wants this baby to be flawless. I want it to be loved by all who read it. I want to hear, This is amazing! and Don’t change a thing! I don’t want to cut scenes and alter characters and expand on events. I want it to be deemed beautiful as is.

But, I’m not delusional. It’s so NOT perfect. It’s going to need to be revised. And then it will be read again, by my mentor, and then by my fabulous critique partners who will, undoubtedly, have more suggestions for changes both big and small.

I will mourn these changes—I know I will. The cut words. The (*gasp*) cut scenes. The big job of writing new scenes that fit seamlessly. Comments that say, This is awkward, and I don’t get it. But I will not wallow in the critique too long. I will get over myself and my solitary, perfectionist tendencies, and I will change what needs to be changed. Fix what needs to be fixed. Because as much as I want to, as hard as I try, I can’t make my manuscript perfect by myself. I need fresh eyes, honest comments, and different perspectives.


And I am so thankful I have the help and support I need.

Now, I’m off to open that email… more later!