A bit of a love letter to Taylor Swift

This morning Rolling Stone Magazine tweeted out their cover story on Taylor Swift, titled The Reinvention of Taylor Swift.

Sorry to those of you who don't like T Swizzle, but I do like her, and I'm going to talk about the reasons why today.

Now I'll admit, there's a part of me that is mourning country T Swizzle a little bit. But I'm also excited to hear her latest album and see what she does with the freedom to be who she wants to be instead of trying to be kind of country like her last album, "Red," so she can please the country radio stations a little bit or whatever. And I mean, come on, an album titled 1989 that was influenced by Phil Collins, Annie Lennox, and "Like a Prayer-era" Madonna? I am all over that (especially the Madonna part). The article says when she handed over the album to the head of her record label, he was like, it's your best album yet, but can you give us three country songs? She said I love you, but nope, this is how it's going to be.

The thing is - people change. Artists change. They grow. And in Taylor's case, that's literally growing, not just figuratively. She started out writing songs about teardrops on her guitar when she was a young teenager. Trust me, the stuff I wrote when I was fourteen and fifteen is a lot different than the stuff I write today. Time, experience, maturity - that all makes a difference.

Still, Taylor's music hits the spot for a lot of teens because her music is authentic. She writes about things that matter to her and she writes music that makes you go - yeah, I relate to that. Or even if you don't quite relate to it, it's often like listening to a short little story set to music, and I would argue she is a master at this. I mean, she does in three and a half minutes what lots of authors for teens are trying to do in 325 pages. It's really pretty remarkable when you think about it.

It's risky anytime an artist wants to change it up. I know. I was so afraid of what people would say when I went from writing verse to prose in YA. FALLING FOR YOU was a departure for me, not just because of how it was written, but the content also. It's a bit...darker than my other YA novels. But it was the book that wanted to be written at the time. I'm always curious about how the muse works for other authors, but for me, when my muse decides on an idea and can't let it go, there's kind of no stopping it. Unless I share too much too soon and get funny looks or comments from people and then the idea is basically dead in the water. Which is why I share very little, if anything, when I'm working on a project. I've learned over the years it's safest to treat it like a special secret between me, myself, and I.

But I also think changing it up and challenging yourself over time is important. It keeps the work exciting. Invigorating. I know when I was writing my most recent YA, ALL WE HAVE IS NOW (coming summer 2015), which does some interesting things as far as POVs and timeline, I felt invigorated the entire time. It made me stretch as a writer, and that's never a bad thing.

Taylor gets a ton of criticism. She's also swarmed by fans all the time, everywhere. The apartment across from hers is for her security team. The amount of people it takes to keep the girl safe is unreal. And yet, she keeps writing music that comes from her heart. That is true to who she is at that moment in time. And, that makes a lot of young females across the world really, really happy.

So, this is all to say...

Dear Taylor,

You go, girl!

Love,
Lisa

Artists really can learn a lot T Swizzle. I know I have. And I can't wait for that album to drop on October 27th. In the meantime, I'll be over here shaking it off. "'Cuz the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate..."

Some poetry by Sara Teasdale

I stumbled across Sara Teasdale's poetry when I was writing Falling for You. I needed a poet that Ella, the elderly woman Rae meets and befriends, admired, and it had to be one that had work in the public domain, so we wouldn't have to deal with permissions and all of that messy stuff, because I wanted to put pieces of a couple of poems in my book. What a gem I discovered.

Sara Teasdale's poetry is so lovely. Although many of her poems can be found on the internet, I ended up buying myself a book of her poetry, FLAME AND SHADOW, published in 1928. It is in really good condition, considering it's over eighty years old, and I now consider it one of my greatest treasures. I simply adore this book.

I think everyone should have at least one poetry book they love on their shelves. There is something so comforting, to me at least, about reading poetry. This morning, I've been feeling anxious about some things. But I went to my shelf, picked up this book, and started reading. And her words just washed it all away. She writes of pain, of death, of joy, of love. It's all there, and suddenly, I have a friend who understands whatever I'm feeling at the moment. What a gift.

MEADOWLARKS

In the silver light after a storm,

Under dripping boughs of bright new green,

I take the low path to hear the meadowlarks

Alone and high-hearted as if I were queen.

What have I to fear in life or death

Who have known three things: the kiss in the night,

The white flying joy when a song is born,

And meadowlarks whistling in silver light.

EIGHT O'CLOCK

Supper comes at five o'clock,

At six, the evening star,

My lover comes at eight o'clock --

But eight o'clock is far.

How could I bear my pain all day

Unless I watched to see

The clock-hands laboring to bring

Eight o'clock to me.

THE NEW MOON

Day, you have bruised and beaten me,

As rain beats down and the bright, proud sea,

Beaten my body, bruised my soul,

Left me nothing lovely or whole --

Yet I have wrested a gift from you,

Day that dies in dusky blue:

For suddenly over the factories

I saw a moon in the cloudy seas --

A wisp of beauty all alone

In a world as hard and gray as stone --

Oh who could be bitter and want to die

When a maiden moon wakes up in the sky?

THE COIN

Into my heart's treasury

I slipped a coin

That time cannot take

Nor a thief purloin, --

Oh better than the minting

Of a gold-crowned king

Is the safe-kept memory

of a lovely thing.

10 things you may not know about FALLING FOR YOU

On December 3rd, FALLING FOR YOU comes out in paperback. Yes, that's right, for less than ten bucks, you can own it so it may sit on your lovely bookshelf in your home. (After you read it, of course). You DO have a bookshelf, don't you? I hope so. Bookshelves are awesome. I wish I had more.

OR give it to someone for a gift this holiday season. I buy lots of books for gifts. I think it's my favorite gift to give, actually.

Anyway, to celebrate this monumental occasion, I've come up with a list of ten things you may not know about this book. Because here's the thing about that cover - it really tells you nothing about the book. Some covers are like that, you know?

Okay, here you go - ten things!

1.  Rae (short for Rayanna), the main character, works at a flower shop called Full Bloom. They have a sign that says, "If your name is __________, come in for a free flower." Every day they change the name on the sign outside their shop. There's a flower store in my town that does this, and that's where I got the idea. I even went in one time when the name on the sign was "Lisa."

2. Someone buys flowers anonymously to be delivered to people around town. The envelopes with the delivery instructions always have Rae's name on them, and she has no idea why. But she does the deliveries, hoping to find out. This part of the story reminded one reader of Marcus Zusack's I AM THE MESSENGER (one of my favorite books).

3. Rae's English teacher is Mrs. Bloodsaw. She's really cool, kind of like her name.

4.  Leo, Rae's friend, likes to make videos. Kind of like John and Hank Green like to make videos. They're awesome, right? Leo's awesome too.

5. Rae writes poetry in journals. In Rae's own words: "Maybe lots of things in my life were out of control, but when it came to my words, I had all the authority."

6. Rae meets a wonderful elderly woman named Ella. I named her this after my grandma, who was Ellamae. Like Rae, Ella loves poetry too. Her favorite poet is Sara Teasdale.

7. Here's a poem of Sara Teasdale's that's mentioned in the book (all of Teasdale's poems are in the public domain).

THE COIN

Into my heart's treasury

I slipped a coin

That time cannot take

Nor a thief purloin, --

Oh better than the minting

Of a gold-crowned king

Is the safe-kept memory

Of a lovely thing.

8. At one point, Rae and Leo eat at the Melt Bar and Grill, a place specializing in grilled cheese sandwiches. Doesn't that sound good? We have a Grilled Cheese Bus in Portland and it's fantastic. No, I'm not kidding.

9. Rae drinks green tea with jasmine. It's one of my favorite kinds of teas.

10. Last but not least, Rae's favorite song is "Everlong" by the Foo Fighters. If you haven't heard the acoustic version sung by Dave Grohl, you are missing out. It is perfection, in my opinion. 

Paperbacks! And I'm thankful for YOU!

They are due to officially hit shelves Tuesday, December 3rd. Will they hit a certain chain store's bookshelves? I have no idea - we'll have to wait and see.

If you are out and about shopping this weekend, you might take a gander and see if you spot it. (Sorry, sometimes I just have the urge to talk like one of my favorite TV families, the Waltons. No use fighting it, I say. Better here than in my books, right?) Anyway, often times books do make their way out early, so you never know...

A huge thank you to all of my readers as we count our blessings this week. I'm able to do this job because of you. Every book you buy and read and share in some way is like a little vote telling my publishers I'm worth having around. So THANK YOU.

Cupcakes for you! (I did not make these, I just think they're cute. Grandma Walton would make you the best pumpkin pie this side of the Mississippi, but a picture of a pumpkin pie isn't very exciting. Eating pie, however, is always exciting. Don't get me wrong there.)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

The Monday Five

I know, it's usually the Friday Five, but I'm a few days behind with *everything* lately. Like, so many people I know have already seen Catching Fire, but I won't get to see it until this weekend sometime. I'm SO excited - people are raving about it.

Anyway, I have a few things to share, so here we go, the Monday Five, which doesn't sound nearly as cool as the Friday Five, but that's okay since I've never been, and never will be, one of the cool kids.

1. This weekend I switched out my iMac that was about ten years old, so I'm writing this on my new and improved computer and I LOVE IT! I bought a used iMac on ebay from a company that specializes in cleaning up old ones and reselling them. This one (a 2009 model) came with a ton of software loaded on it and the latest operating system for much, much less than I would have paid new. I try to buy used as much as possible in life, because it just makes sense to me in so many ways.

As I was copying files over and getting everything set up on the new one, I noticed I've been using Office 2004. 2004, people! That is crazy!! The most frustrating thing was that Blogger wasn't playing nice with the old, old operating system I was using, so I couldn't read blogs anymore. I'm a strange beast of a writer. I have a laptop I use on the treadmill desk sometimes, but other times, I want a nice big screen and a comfy chair, so I really need both a desk computer and a laptop. I've dragged my feet for so long, but I'm glad I finally took the plunge and got something newer. The speed - OMG, the speed!!! Happy, happy, happy.

2. On Friday, I got news that School Library Journal will review Frosting and Friendship in its upcoming December/January issue, and it's an awesome review! Here's a snippet:

"Schroeder’s realistic dialogue and depiction of daily dramas show her strong grasp of middle-school life. The combination of baking and bands will initially attract many girls, but it’s the short chapters and simple diction that keep the plot cooking. Readers will be drawn to the well-delineated, quirky Lily. They’ll empathize with her, ponder her dilemmas, and cheer her on to make the right decisions."

3. I saw my baby nephew, Jacob, this weekend. He is almost three months old. He had a bit of a rough start but he's doing great now! Baby cuddles are the best!

4. The fourth and final CHARMED LIFE book is due one week from today. I have about three more chapters to write. I'm hoping to finish the draft by Wednesday, and then I will spend a good chunk of the long weekend editing before I send it off to my editor on December 2nd. Eep - I'm almost there! Fingers crossed things go according to plan!

5. Finally, I discovered over the weekend, thanks to Kim Baccellia who told me the news via twitter, that FALLING FOR YOU is a paperback pick in the December 16th issue of FIRST for Women magazine. Of course I had to go out and get a copy. And, I had to take pictures because, come on, Dr. Oz on the cover and Nicholas Sparks, Maria Semple, and Shirlee McCoy featured alongside my book? So. Weird.

click on the picture to enlarge

"When my book club chose this novel about a young relationship gone wrong, I was skeptical," says Melissa Sorrells, FIRST associate editor. "But its complexity drew me in and held held on tight." It goes on to say, "Rae's courage and journey to self-worth reminded me of roads I've traveled in my life -- and of just how strong I am."

The paperback comes out on December 3rd!! Next Sunday I'll have a list of ten things you should know about the book to celebrate the paperback release.

In the meantime, have a *wonderful* Thanksgiving holiday! Eat lots of pie, okay? I mean it. I really want a t-shirt that says, "Life is short. Eat pie."

From my mail

Every few months, I like to stop and take a minute to say thank you to my readers for your e-mails and letters. I try hard to reply to each and every one individually, but I think it can be fun to give a shout out to some of the awesome notes here as well.

This is a picture a reader named Zainab sent to me a couple of years ago, and I wanted to point out that her creativity around an all-girl band was the inspiration for one of the story lines in my upcoming novel, Frosting and Friendship. So thank you, Zainab!

Here are some snippets from letters and e-mails I've received from readers recently:

"Sometimes I have problems with my friends in school, but your books inspired me to talk it out and say sorry." ~ Chelsea, soon-to-be 5th grader

"When I was looking for a book at Barnes & Noble, your book caught my eye, and once I started to read it, I felt as if I was there. My most favorite book is It's Raining Cupcakes." ~ Jessica

"My best friends and I liked Sprinkles and Secrets so much, we did a video book report on it. We had a lot of fun doing it. I wish I could send the disc to you but I can't, it's way too fragile for the mail." ~ Elly

"I enjoyed It's Raining Cupcakes because it taught me that you can do anything you set your heart to. My mom and I made the Grandma's Applesauce Cupcakes and they were delicious." ~ Brooke, 5th grader

"I have read all of your books at least three times and I own all of them. They are really fun to read. Your books are just amazing. My favorite one is your newest one Falling For You. My second favorite is The Day Before; that one made me cry." ~ Emily, 13

"Your book [Falling for You] had me in tears because I realized that I wasn't the only one who had been in a situation like that. Even though it's fiction, it made me really connect with Rae." ~ Rebecca

"I just wanted to let you know that I love your books.

The way you write,

the way you describe,

the way you understand how teens feel,

I just love it.

I have just finished Falling For You and it had me crying at the end. I'm already looking forward to your next book." ~ Xiu

~*~

Please note: In August, I will be sending out fun postcards I ordered specifically for the release of Frosting and Friendship. If you would like to receive one of these postcards with a little note from me and signed by me, I just need your address. Please send it to: lisaschroederbooks(at)gmail(dot)com. Make sure your parents are okay with giving me your address. Thanks!

Surprises and unique story elements

I've been thinking a lot about surprises and unique story elements, mostly because I've discovered how much I love it as a reader when something surprises me, in a good way.

I'm reading a contemporary novel for adults right now, Nowhere But Home, and I was enjoying it just fine and then... surprise! Something different. Unique. Something that made me go - wow, I haven't seen that in a book before. Suddenly my desire to get back to this book has increased tenfold. I'm dying to see where this new plot thread goes. I'm SO intrigued by it (I'm not going to tell you what it is, in case you want to read it).

But here's an example that might illustrate what I mean, because I realize "surprises" can mean lots of different things. One of the things I really loved about The Silver Linings Playbook is that I wasn't expecting the dance-thing. At all. It took me completely by surprise, and it kind of turned the story on its head and made it so much more fun.

In my YA novel Falling For You, I added a fun element, a surprise, in the way of secret notes to give the reader a bit of a break from what is a pretty dark story at times. I've read a few other books where secret notes or "clues" (that lead the character places) play a part, and I can specifically remember how much I loved that part of the story.

I really believe readers want to be surprised one way or another, and it is our job, as writers, to figure out how to do that.

One of the things I've started doing when I'm writing a book is to brainstorm "fun" things in my notebook. It's usually a list of random things that make me smile and that I might like to put in a book some day. Not all the things get put in *that* book and sometimes I come across an idea I save for a book all its own.

Another example of this comes via this drawing, which a reader sent to me after she read the first two "Cupcake" books and wanted to give me ideas for the third book.

Along with this picture she drew (which I love by the way), she gave me a description of every girl in the band and what she wore. It made me realize (and remember my hairbrush singing days) that most girls this age love music and probably do imagine from time to time what it would be like to be on stage, singing or playing music. This led me to putting Lily, the main character in Frosting and Friendship, in a band with a few of her friends, since she loves to sing. The girls are new at this band thing, trying to find their way with playing music and writing songs, as they would be at the ages of twelve and thirteen. But I love how this part of the story played out and how it came to be a part of the main plot.

Another way to look at this comes via my friend and NYT bestselling author Laini Taylor. She's said on her blog a few different times that one of her favorite questions to ask while she's writing is this: "What is the coolest way this plot thing might happen?"

Cool. Fun. Unique. 

Keep these words in mind, and find ways to bring the cool, the fun, the unique to your story and surprise the reader. You'll be glad you did. And so will your readers!!

Nice reviews of FALLING FOR YOU

Waiting for professional reviews to come in is a bit nerve-wracking, to say the least.

Today I thought I'd share some of the nice things reviewers have said about my latest YA novel, Falling For You.

VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates, a publication for librarians) says, "Schroeder has done a wonderful job creating teenage characters from a variety of backgrounds and using those backgrounds to influence their actions. This novel is ripe for use in a classroom or book club; discussion points include: healthy relationships, poetry as expression, relationship boundaries, and more. Readers looking for a realistic teen read saturated in emotion will love Falling For You."

Ripe for use in a classroom? That makes me as happy as this cute little guy!

School Library Journal says, "Rae is a well-drawn, strong-willed heroine, and her blossoming relationship with a homeschooled neighbor adds a sweetness and depth to the story."

Awesome! Sweetness, like a cupcake, right?

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books says, "As things get worse and worse for her, she [Rae] seeks ways to help herself and others that are faithful to her character; she's no Pollyanna, but she is determined that the messes that surround her on all sides won't define her, and she manages to convince herself and others that being honest about one's pain can bring compassion. It's a heartening message for readers in difficult situations, and the poems scattered throughout the text enhance the cathartic note of hope in hard times." 

I love that she mentioned the hope that I believe is prevalent throughout in what is sometimes a pretty sad story. Hope like a rainbow in the sky...

Thanks for letting me share! 

AMAZING, FANTASTIC, SWEET ARC CONTEST

I have ARCs to give away!

ARCs are Advanced Review Copies of books that are coming out in the next few months but are not on the shelves yet.

Look what you could win!! (All descriptions are from worldcat.org).

The Program, by Suzanne Young

"When suicide becomes a worldwide epidemic, the only known cure is The Program, a treatment in which painful memories are erased, a fate worse than death to seventeen-year-old Sloane who knows that The Program will steal memories of her dead brother and boyfriend."

***

Going Vintage by Lindsey Leavitt

"When sixteen-year-old Mallory learns that her boyfriend, Jeremy, is cheating on her with his cyber "wife," she rebels against technology by following her grandmother's list of goals from 1962, with help from her younger sister, Ginnie."

***

Let the Sky Fall by Shannon Messenger

"Ten years after surviving the tornado that killed his parents, Vane Weston, now seventeen, has no memory of that fateful day but dreams of a beautiful girl who, he now learns, is not only real, she is his guardian sylph, who harnesses the power of the wind."

***

Poison by Bridget Zinn

"When sixteen-year-old Kyra, a potions master, tries to save her kingdom by murdering the princess, who is also her best friend, the poisoned dart misses its mark and Kyra becomes a fugitive, pursued by the King's army and her ex-boyfriend Hal."

***

Sorry, U.S. residents only. I've decided to use rafflecopter to make it easier for people to enter, so one person will win all four ARCs.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Poetry Contest - Eight Cousins Bookstore

Eight Cousins Bookstore in Falmouth, MA is doing an awesome thing to promote my latest YA novel, Falling For You.

Because Rae, the main character in Falling For You, writes poetry as an outlet for the stuff she's dealing with, they thought it would be cool to have a poetry contest with me picking the winner!

The contest is open to all interested parties and you can find all the information you need, including the on-line entry form, HERE.

But hurry, the contest ends February 14th - that's THIS coming Thursday!

If you write poetry and have notebooks with poems you've written laying around the house, why not submit something? Or, write a piece specific for the contest, if you'd rather do that. It's totally up to you!

I can't wait to read some poetry entries once the contest is closed. Will it be YOURS that I pick as the winner? Stay tuned....

Thank you and where do I go from here?

It's been a little over a month since Falling For You was released into the world.

First, I want to say thank you to all of you who have done any of the following: bought the book, read the book, reviewed the book, blogged, tweeted or talked about the book somewhere, told friends about the book, asked your library to order the book, etc. etc. Every little thing helps!

Really. I mean it. THANK YOU! Here's Stormy and me giving you a virtual hug for your support!!

Lately I've been getting questions like - what's next? What are you working on now?

The thing is, I love YA. Like, I love, love, love it. But I know there are many people who write it a helluva lot better than I do. There are many days when I feel I'm not the writer I need to be to compete in today's market.

I wrote Falling For You at a time when I needed to do something different. I was tired of hearing the criticism about verse novels. A lot of people don't even want to try them, and that frustrates me SO much. It's like they hear the words "verse novel" and their brain immediately says, "well, not for me."

So I put something different out there. Reviews seem to be kind of mixed. I'm trying to stay away from them, for the most part, because it doesn't help the already somewhat low confidence. And honestly, it's FINE, not everyone is going to love every book, I know that. I've gotten some really heartfelt notes from teens, teens who needed to read this book at this time, and knowing that makes me glad I wrote the book.

But what's next for me as far YA goes? I honestly don't know. Some days I think maybe I should bow out gracefully from the YA world. Let the far more talented have the shelves. But like I said, I love YA. It's hard to leave!

Since November I've been secretly working on a YA manuscript. It's quiet and lyrical and has two characters I adore. It's part verse and part prose.

And it's all me. The question becomes, is that enough?

For a while, I thought I wouldn't finish it. I was going to walk away, and leave the YA world behind for a while. But the book won't let me leave! It keeps calling to me and calling to me. So for now, I'm writing it JUST for me. It's fun. Magical at times. When it's finished, I'll have to decide if I want to show it to anyone. It may not have a big enough hook. It may be too quiet. It might suck! For better or worse, I haven't worried about any of that. I've just tried to write from my heart, which is where my best work comes from.

At the end of the day, publishing is a business. Numbers matter. I can't control how many copies of my books are sold.

Fortunately, a great story matters too. That's what I'm going to focus on for now. We'll have to wait and see what happens next...

xoxo
Lisa

Blog tour

Gabrielle at Mod Podge Bookshelf has coordinated an AWESOME blog tour for Falling For You. I love the blog tour banner created specifically for the tour.

Lots of great stuff  happening - reviews, interviews, sneak peeks into the book, a big giveaway where someone will win a signed set of all of my YA novels, and much more.

I'm so thankful for Gabrielle's hard work and for all of the bloggers willing to participate. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Here is the schedule for the first week - more to come next week!!!

Jan 1st Giveaway at Mod Podge Bookshelf

Jan 2nd Review and Interview at Book Chic Club

Jan 3rd Guest Blog at Kelsey Sutton

Jan 4th Review at Mundie Moms

Jan 5th Fun Promo Post at I am a Reader Not a Writer

Jan 6th Review at Hobbitsies

Jan 7th Interview at 365 days of Reading

I love this review from VOYA

VOYA is "Voice of Youth Advocates" and is the leading library journal dedicated to the needs of young adult librarians.

This review of FALLING FOR YOU is in the December issue of VOYA:

"Rae lives life around the edges; avoiding the spotlight, hiding the extents of her financial situation and family drama from her friends and teachers. She dreams, though--dreams of being able to move out, of being happy, of being loved unconditionally. When a new guy, Nathan, arrives at school and notices RAe, some of those dreams seem to be within reach, but elation quickly turns to fear as Rae realizes that Nathan has a dark side. Tragedy lands Rae in the ICU floating between life and death, and in that place, she must find the courage to fight for the life she deserves.
     Obsession, neglect, abuse, friendship and love abound in Schroeder's new novel. Each chapter starts with a poem from Rae's poetry journal and the structure of the book leads readers through six months leading up to the hospital. The poetry aspect of this novel gives readers a chance to peek into the depths of Rae's soul and adds dimension to her character. Schroeder has done a wonderful job creating teenage characters from a variety of backgrounds and using those backstories to influence their actions. This novel is ripe for use in a classroom or book club; discussion points include: healthy relationships, poetry as expression, relationship boundaries, and more. Readers looking for a realistic teen read saturated in emotion with love Falling For You." ~ Rebecca Denham

Look what Santa sent me a little early...

It smells really good!

I love the excerpt my editor picked out for the back:

Only a few more weeks until you can own your very own copy.

An official countdown with all kinds of fun begins on December 22nd, 

10 days before the official release!

YAY - a new book, a new book, a new book!!

A note about Advanced Review Copies

Some reviewers have early copies (called Advanced Review Copies or ARCs) of FALLING FOR YOU (releasing 1/1/13) which is very exciting! A big thank you to those who read it with the intent of talking about it in the coming days or weeks.

If you'd like to try and win a copy, my publisher is giving away five of these early copies over on goodreads. You only have until December 10th to enter, so hurry!

I know, like every book, some will love this one, some will like this one, and some may not like it so much. And that's okay - whatever you end up thinking of the book, please know I'm thankful you took the time to read it.

I do want to mention one thing though. An ARC is NOT the final book. And it's not just typos that are an issue in ARCs, it's actual changes to the story. I made some content changes during the first and second-pass pages and those changes are NOT in the ARC.

If something didn't sit right with you, or you wanted more of an explanation about something, or... whatever, keep in mind you *might* get that in the final book.

Just something I wanted to mention, and something for reviewers to remember about ARCs. In order to get them out early enough for the professional reviewers, it's just not possible to get all changes in before they're printed up. It's not ideal, but it would be much worse, I think, to not have any early copies at all.

In the coming days, I have lots of fun things to share! In a couple of weeks, I have a fun countdown planned counting down the days for the release of FALLING FOR YOU. I have the book trailer I will share with you sometime in the next month. And there is a HUGE blog tour happening in January, that Gabrielle over at Mod Podge Bookshelf has coordinated for me.

It's going to be an exciting month!!

Thanks and Happy December! ho ho ho

Answering the question: why not in verse?

As some of you have probably figured out, FALLING FOR YOU (coming from Simon Pulse January 2013) is my first published YA novel not written in verse.

Some readers haven't wanted to know - why? Why isn't this one written in a similar style to my other young adult novels?

Before I answer that question, a little backstory.

I've written four novels in verse:
I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME
FAR FROM YOU
CHASING BROOKLYN
THE DAY BEFORE
(these are all stand-alone novels, by the way)

 If you've read one or two of my books and were hoping for more, I hope you'll check out the other ones already published. If you can't find them on the bookstore shelves, you can always ask them to order for you.

 With each of those books, the verse helped to create an atmosphere that I couldn't get with regular prose.

When I wrote my first YA novel, I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME, I feel like the verse chose me rather than me choosing the verse. That's the way the story wanted to be told. I tried to fight it, honestly, because I was so scared of doing something different. But it was useless - the story poured out of me in verse and I finally decided to go with it and see what happened. And now, I'm so glad I did!

FALLING FOR YOU has a lot going on, and is told in kind of an unconventional way. That is, most of the story is told in flashbacks, alternating with brief segments of present day every once in a while. I think it can be really tricky, and maybe even off-putting to a reader, to do more than one unconventional thing in a novel. Even doing one unconventional thing is risky! Now that I've done this for a while, I am all about taking risks and trying new things. That's how we grow and improve as authors, I think. And if the risk works and works well, the payoff can be huge. But we also have to keep our readers in mind and understand that if we go too far with the risk-taking, they may not want to follow along.

Because I am playing with the timeline a bit, and doing something different there, I'm afraid trying to also write the story in verse would have just been too much. That is, too much for me as a writer, but even more importantly, too much for you as a reader.

I still worked hard to make the story accessible and appealing to reluctant readers. The chapters are fairly short and my editor had the brilliant idea to incorporate some poetry into the story as well.  So, my readers who have read every single book and are dying for more verse will get a little bit in this book as well.

The thing is, not every idea is going to work in verse. I happen to have had four ideas in a row that worked in verse. This time, the story of a girl who works in a flower shop and has something terrible happen to her wanted, needed I would probably argue, to be told in a different way. As an author, it's my job to put my needs/wants aside and do what is best for the story.

I hope when you read the book, you find it a suspenseful, surprising, and emotional read - like I've tried to do with all of my YA novels.

That's my ultimate goal, and what I want to give you, every time, regardless of how the story is told.

ALA Recap - better late than never!

I know. ALA was a long time ago. By now, in a world where everything is posted on-line as it happens, if you wait a week to post about it, most people have forgotten about it. But I did this crazy thing after ALA. I took a vacation! A real, honest-to-goodness vacation. I did have my computer, but blogging during vacation time did not seem right. After all, when you are in Maui, you should be on beaches like this, not on the computer!

This is part of Black Sand Beach - the morning we were there we had the
place to ourselves. It was awesome!

So, back to ALA! I only did one day, but what a day it was...

Sunday morning, I was up bright and early to get ready for the YALSA coffee klatch. I love this event! Every four minutes, authors go to a different table and talk with a different group of librarians. It's like speed-dating, but with librarians. Cool, right? I did it for the first time at ALA in 2009, in Chicago. I loved hanging out in the green room before hand, where all the authors gathered. I got to meet Sarah Dessen and E. Lockhart that year. And Richard Peck! The green room is a fun place to be, trust me!

I was very disappointed I didn't get to do the green room this year. See, I didn't get to do it because I was late. I was late because I got lost. It sort of traumatized me, honestly. I found myself in a not-so-nice part of Anaheim, because I'd gone in the wrong direction, and when I went into a convenience store and called for a cab, I was told it'd be a 30 minute wait. Knowing that probably meant it'd actually be an hour wait, there was no way I could go that route. There was nothing else to do but hoof it back the way I'd come and then on to the hotel from there.

Hoof it I did. I ran through the streets of Anaheim. Literally. In tears, and in my pink dress. And flip flops I'd put on at the last second, thank goodness, stuffing my wedges in my bag to put on when I arrived. I wouldn't have been able to run if I'd worn my wedges. My prayers were answered when I came upon one of the ALA shuttles running around town. I got on and the driver took us to the convention center. Though the event wasn't at the convention center, but he was so nice and let me off so I could directly get on the bus taking people to the Hyatt. There were only 8-12 librarians on that shuttle, but they were ALL going to the coffee klatch, like me, and they were ALL late, like me! They were the nicest librarians EVER and told me it would be fine. And it was. I got there at 9:10, just as the authors were walking in to be seated.

BIG. SIGH. OF. RELIEF.

I don't know why I'm blogging about this, I told everyone I saw about my traumatic morning, and I'm sure I will not forget it as long as I live.

Okay, on to much more important things than my terrible sense of direction!

Angela Frederick, a librarian from Nashville, TN, snapped this picture of me when I was at her table and shared it on twitter. I happened to notice a couple of Morris award stickers on badges and couldn't help but mention my friend, L.K. Madigan, who won the Morris award a couple of years ago. Turns out Angela was on that particular committee, and got to spend some time with Lisa. So, for a minute, we talked about sweet Lisa. That was just one table of many - the 50 minutes went by in a blink of an eye!

Not sure what I'm saying, but I'm pretty sure I'm thinking
I'm so happy to not be lost anymore.

After the coffee klatch, I met up with the fabulous Jessi Kirby, whose YA novels I LOVE, like whoa! And now I can say I love Jessi as much as her books - so sweet! We walked the exhibit hall for a bit until my dear friend Lindsey Leavitt, arrived. Here we are at Lindsey's signing later that day, at the Disney booth (Lindsey was signing her third PRINCESS FOR HIRE book, A FAREWELL TO CHARMS, which I just finished reading. SO GOOD!).

Does it get more fabulous than this? I think not.
Wait. Unless we could find that adorable Corey Whaley...

Yes, here we are with the Printz award winner, Corey Whaley, who wrote the amazing WHEN THINGS COME BACK. Fortunately we didn't get stuck in those doors when they all slammed shut because of a fire alarm. It was like a scene out of a horror movie, I'm telling you. Amazing someone didn't get hurt.

I was sad I didn't get to hear Corey's Printz speech, which was Monday night, but I believe it will be on-line at some point. He was excited about his speech, not nervous at all. I want to be Corey when I grow up.

I signed books at the S&S booth and people waited in line and bought books in order to get an ARC of my upcoming YA novel, FALLING FOR YOU. THANK YOU to everyone who came to see me!!

Here is a picture of me and Lena (her blog is here) - a sweet blogger from Texas who said she'd waited 3 years to meet me. Yay, we met! And she's awesome.

Wow, Lena, I seem to be squeezing your arm extremely hard.
Hope I didn't leave bruises! I was just so happy to see you!

And next is a picture of me and Kelsey (her blog is here), another awesome YA blogger! 

There were many others, but these were the pictures I saw on twitter, and I know Kelsey and Lena well enough to ask if I could borrow their pictures for my post. I'm so appreciative of everyone who came by to buy books, get ARCs and say hi. Again, thank you!!!!!

She loves cupcakes like me. We look like cupcake lovers, don't we?

I ran into MG authors Sheela Chari and Mike Jung at one point, but alas, I have no pictures of them. I had met Mike before, and I'm super excited about his upcoming MG novel, GEEKS, GIRLS AND SECRET IDENTITIES. It was great to meet Sheela after all these years! VANISHED is the name of her wonderful MG mystery.

Later that day, I met up with a bunch of people for cocktails and got to chat with one of my favorite librarians, Sara Bean Thompson (her blog is here).

CHASING BROOKLYN is a Missouri Gateway award nominee
thanks, in part, to Sara's support! But I liked her even before that. :)

After that, I had dinner with the always sweet and awesome Shannon Messenger, whose books KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES (MG) and LET THE SKY FALL (YA) are not out yet but are already creating LOTS of buzz. Pretty sure it won't be long and I will have to make an appointment with Shannon's publicist in order to spend time with her. I predict big things for her. Big. Things! Neither of us took a picture, dang it. I'm pretty sure it was because I was starving after running a marathon earlier that morning trying to get to the coffee klatch I was late for.

I only picked up a few ARCs, but I got the one I wanted the most. I teared up as I held it in my hands. Yes, this is the book by Bridget Zinn, a Portland YA-writer friend who lost her battle with cancer last year. I can't wait to read it.

I'll just end this post by saying - thank you YA librarians, for all you do! I'm honored to have spent a day at your conference and to have met so many of you!!

ALA, here I come!

It is no secret that I LOVE librarians and everything they do to promote literature and put books in the hands of readers.

And I have to admit, anytime I get to attend the big librarian conference known as ALA, I am SO HAPPY!

This year, I'll be at ALA in Anaheim on Sunday only. I'm doing the YA coffee klatch in the morning, going from table to table talking to a bunch of librarians in the course of an hour. The first year I did this, I was in the green room before hand with some of my YA heroes like Sarah Dessen, E. Lockhart, Libba Bray, and many others and it was so weird to be there alongside them. I introduced myself to Sarah and said, I'm the one who comments on your blog all the time and loves Friday Night Lights as much as you do. Yeah, when all else fails, talk about a TV show, that's my philosophy.

Even more exciting than the coffee klatch, however, is that I'll be signing Advanced Review Copies (ARCs) of FALLING FOR YOU at 1:00 in the Simon and Schuster booth.

FALLING FOR YOU doesn't come out until January, 2013, so this is a chance for librarians and bloggers to read the book early. Eep! Exciting and kind of anxiety-producing!!

I know at the IRA conference, S&S was doing this thing where you had to buy a previous title for $5.00 and then you'd get the ARC for free. I don't know what they have planned, if they'll do that with THE DAY BEFORE and FALLING FOR YOU, because these things aren't up to me, but I do know that usually there are very few ARCs of my books to be had, so I'm super excited they are offering these up at this conference.

So if you will be at ALA, I hope you'll come and see me! Even if you don't want an ARC, stop by and say hi. I'll have shiny new bookmarks you can have, if you want one or two or ten.

Sunday, June 24th, 1:00, S&S booth - Hope to see you then!

About the book that is now FALLING FOR YOU

I want to tell you a little bit about this novel I wrote back in the summer and fall of 2010.

Originally it was titled CHERISH.

As is usual when I begin writing a book, I had a few seeds of ideas that I started with.

First,  I wanted to do something in and around a flower shop. I'd written two previous novels where a flower shop played a role and neither of them were ever published. I hoped that maybe the third time would be a charm. I loved the idea of the flower shop being my main character's safe place. And so, where Rae's job is sunny and bright, her home life is dark and sad.

In fact, there are strong themes of dark and light throughout the novel.

Check out this flower shop in Vienna. So adorable, yes?

I love it when there are mysterious notes or clues or something like that in a story, so I decided to add mysterious, anonymous flower deliveries to the story. Who is sending flowers to people throughout town and why do the instructions always have Rae's name on them?

Finally, I wanted to try and challenge myself, and wanted to write this book in a bit of a different format. Rae's story is primarily told through flashbacks. This is a tricky thing to do, in case you're wondering. The reader learns on the first page, something bad has happened to Rae, but it's not revealed until the end of the book what has happened.

My first draft had Rae doing a project in Language Arts called The Cherish Project (thus the previous title CHERISH). My editor had the brilliant idea that instead of the book reports she was doing, which were kind of boring to read, I could somehow have poetry play a part in the story.

And so, Rae is a poet. Through her poetry, she can express her feelings about her abusive step-father and her distant mother. And then something happens at school, and poetry begins to play an even bigger role in Rae's life. So although it is my first YA novel not written in verse, poetry still plays a part in the story.

There are also two boys in the story. A good looking boy who is new to school and takes an interest in Rae right away. They start going out. There are things she really likes about him and other things... not so much. There is also a boy who works next door to the flower shop, someone who is Rae's friend. And as time goes on, she begins to lean on her friend more and more, as Rae's affection for her boyfriend begins to turn to fear.

If you were to think of my book like a cake, the recipe for making that cake was not a simple one. There were a lot of ingredients and the preparation required a great deal of complicated steps. It's a unique kind of cake. Different. I can't even describe the cake very well, and so, I have to just tell you that I hope you'll try it, and see what you think.

It's the publisher's job to decorate the cake and make it something that will hopefully appeal to a wide audience. There were so many choices here, as you can imagine, with a book that has a lot going on. In the end, they decided to focus on the romantic aspect of the story for the cover, and I can now share that cover with you:

In December, 2010, right before my sweet friend, Lisa Madigan, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, she read an early draft of CHERISH. Her e-mail back to me, with a critiqued manuscript, had one word in the subject line.

Cherishable

Coincidentally, today is Lisa's birthday. She would have been 49 years old. (I love and miss you, Lisa).

Soon reviewers will be sent galleys. Some bloggers, teachers and librarians may read the book through Simon and Schuster's galleygrab program. And next January, thanks to my publisher Simon Pulse, the book will be available to the public to purchase.

I think one of the hardest parts of being an author is letting a book go. But it's time. The book doesn't belong to me anymore, and so, I have to let it go. To let it be what it will become out there in the big, scary, exciting world. My work, with the help of my friends, my agent, and my editor is (mostly) done.

And so, I will end this post by simply saying ~

Best wishes, dear book. My greatest hope is that you touch the lives and hearts of those who read your story.

Announcing my 2013 YA novel

YAY! We have a title! And a very, very short description.

This is supposed to run in Publisher's Marketplace one of these days:

Lisa Schroeder's FALLING FOR YOU, about a teen girl who relives the love of a dangerous boy, and unravels the secrets that haunt her family, as she hovers between life and death, searching for light amid the darkness--and a reason to hold on, to Annette Pollert at Simon Pulse by Sara Crowe at Harvey Klinger, to be published in Spring, 2013.

I worked really, really hard on this book and I hope my readers like it. It's different for me - it's not in verse, although there is some poetry sprinkled throughout. It's also sort of a mystery -- from the first page, the reader knows something bad has happened to the main character, but it's not revealed what's happened and how it happened until the end of the book.

I finished line edits last month and I'm frantically working on copy edits right now, so we're still working hard to make it the best book it can be. Stay tuned in the coming months, when I'll tell you how you can read a sneak peek of FALLING FOR YOU long before the release date!

Happy Monday!!