Happy February!

I am trying to like February more than I have in the past. It's always a tough month for me, because my body is ready for more daylight. I long for less rain and more sun. And when February rolls around, it starts to feel like the grayness and the rain will never leave, and it can make me kind of cranky.

But I also believe that so much of how things go is partly influenced by our attitude at the outset. So today I'm trying hard to say - hooray, February is here! Can you see that pained smile on my face as I say it? Maybe I just need to fake it 'til I make it - that's what I'm trying out, I guess. We'll see if it makes a difference this year.

Kind of related - did y'all see this list of goals that author Octavia Butler made years ago? (Sorry, sometimes I just become Tami Taylor for no good reason. Texas Forever, y'all.) Anyway, Octavia Butler is the Queen of Goals, for sure. What's that saying - Believe it then you will see it? Mkay, I'm gonna believe February will be awesome and hopefully it will be so. If halfway through I give up and just want to curl up into a ball and have a Friday Night Lights marathon, well, at least I tried.

If I had my way, I'd just go to Maui for the whole month of February and be done with it. Now THAT would definitely affect a change in my attitude. (Here is a picture of me hiking through a bamboo forest a few years ago). Ahhhh... I miss you, Maui.

January wrapped up with with more good news. THE BRIDGE FROM ME made another list - it's a nominee for Iowa's teen book award. Thanks to the librarians there!

I have a bunch of promo work to do this month to get ready for the release of THE GIRL IN THE TOWER. (Speaking of which - if you're on Goodreads, there is a giveaway for FIVE Advanced copies. But hurry, it ends Friday!) And I need to start writing a contracted book that's due in a few months. So it will be a busy one, but it's all good. I'm constantly reminded how fortunate I am to be doing this writing thing for a living. Yes, there are frustrations and heartaches, but there are also celebrations around books and reading - two things I've loved my whole life. To be a part of the business of putting books in the hands of kids and teens is pretty incredible.

I'm wishing y'all a wonderful February. Eat lots of chocolate which the shelves are full of right now. I've heard it helps.

Good news times two!

First bit of good news - I reached the end on my manuscript over the weekend! Did you hear my cheers across the miles? Oh, I was so happy! And I'm really pleased with it, in general, which is always a good feeling.

I revise a lot as I go along, it's what works best for me, so by the time I reach the end I have a pretty clean draft. (Please note if you are a writer and you do NOT work this way, it's okay - we all have to figure out what works best for ourselves. There is no "right way"). Still, I will be going through it this week and doing some revision before I send it off to my agent to see what she thinks.

The other bit of good news is that THE BRIDGE FROM ME TO YOU is a South Carolina 2016-17 Junior Book award nominee. Making state lists is always great because it means more kids will find your book.

I was thinking I might go do a little shopping to celebrate. I still have a bookstore gift card I haven't used yet from Christmas - ack! But first, I better finish those revisions...

A story of not giving up and some gratitude

I'm off to the farmer's market in a little while and after that, to visit the Pittock Mansion with my family and hike one of the trails nearby. The Pittock Mansion plays a part in my YA novel coming out next year, so I've been meaning to make another visit before the book is put to bed, so to speak, to ensure there's nothing I want to change.

The mansion was built in 1914 and various members of the Pittock family lived in it until the 1950s. They put it on the market and tried to sell it, but they weren't successful. They almost demolished it after the Columbus Day storm in 1962, which caused extensive damage, but the community came together and raised $75,000 to help the City of Portland purchase the property, because it mattered to them. The city bought the mansion in 1964 and went on to refurbished it, and since then, it's a place the entire city can enjoy.

The thing about the Pittock mansion is the incredible view. It sits up high in the west hills and it's just a gorgeous piece of property. You can also tour the mansion, which we're also going to do today because my boys haven't been through it since they were little.

Here's what I love about the Pittock mansion story. It was almost destroyed. Its owners almost gave up on it, but there were other people who said - this place has value. We WANT it in our community.

There are times when I want to give up on a book. Sometimes when I'm drafting it. Sometimes when I'm revising it. And sometimes, even when the book is out in the world and a horrid review or two comes in. It's easy to throw my hands up in the air and say, I give up. 

But then I'll get a nice e-mail from a librarian telling me how her middle school students are taking turns reading THE BRIDGE FROM ME TO YOU and she can't keep the two copies she has on the shelves. Or someone will tweet me with kind words about one of my books. Or I'll remember that every day, the things that make me the happiest, besides my loved ones, are the things created by other people -- books, music, movies, art. 

Art matters. Stories matter. I love being a part of that. 

And, I really do LOVE writing.

One of the hardest things we have to do as writers is to separate the business side of writing from the creative side. I have to continue to write stories, somehow, without worrying about whether slow sales of the current book might affect the next book. It's hard some days to do that. To see other authors on twitter who have legions of fans and sell a gazillion copies and to know that will probably never be me.

Around release time, when things can be particularly stressful, I try to step away from the computer more. To get outside and spend time doing things that I love, and I try to constantly remind myself that there are many other things worth thinking about/stressing over than one teensy tiny book. 

For those of you who have bought or read the book, I do want to take a moment to say THANK YOU. Every book that makes it out into the world at some point, could have been demolished. When doubt and fear creeps in, as it so often does, it takes effort to push it away and to keep going. But I do it because there are people who do like my books. Who tell me my work matters. 

Over the years, I've learned a lot of things, but one of the most important things is this -- there are big successes and there are small successes, but they are successes all the same.

Have a great weekend!

2 books and some acknowledgments

Today there are not one, but two new books in the world. Yes, besides The Bridge From Me to You, the third CHARMED LIFE book is out (Libby's Sweet Surprise).

I always try to take a moment on release date to be grateful for this incredible job I get to do. It's not always easy - I often feel like a very small fish in a vast ocean, but the writing brings me joy. And connecting with readers is rewarding in a way I can't even describe. Knowing something I wrote touched a reader - there's just nothing else like it.

Scholastic mistakenly left out the acknowledgments I had written up for The Bridge From Me to You, so I'm posting them here, to say thanks to the people who helped with the book, and also to those who have supported me over the years!

~*~

First and foremost, thanks to Cheryl Herbsman who read an early draft of this book and gave me invaluable feedback. A huge thank you to Chris and Jenny Martin, as well as my friend Frank, for their help with my football questions. Any errors I made are mine and mine alone. A big shout out to Coach Wegner and the 1982 LUHS Warrior football team who gave me some of the best Friday nights of my life.  The “I believe” cards were Coach Wegner’s brainchild, and I couldn’t resist making them a part of Colby’s story. Thanks to Amanda Maciel and the entire team at Scholastic for the care they put into this book. Rachel Hawkins, thank you for your country living tweets that put me on the right path as I searched for a new story to write. Lindsey Leavitt, thanks for being you and for a fun and memorable retreat. I’d be remiss if I didn’t send my love and thanks to my “friends” in Dillon, Texas – y’all were a huge inspiration for this book. And finally, to the teachers, librarians, booksellers, book bloggers and readers who help make it all possible – I am so grateful for you!

Quote of the day

This was actually yesterday's, but that's okay. I'm not very consistent about posting one everywhere every day.

Quote of the Day

I'm giving away an Advanced Review Copy of the book on twitter - you can find the tweet to retweet at http://www.twitter.com/lisa_schroeder.

Happy Wednesday!

The Bridge From Me to You - Question 3 - Why half verse, half prose?

We are just a week away from the official release date, although I've had one report of an early sighting, which happens quite often when you're a mid-list author like I am. If they get shipments early, they only hold back the highly anticipated books. You know, the ones that are going to make a million dollars, haha.

SO, each day between now and then, I'll be posting a quote from the book. It's like pulling the spatula out of the bowl of frosting and having a little taste before you eat the cake.

Here's today's quote, and then I'll get to the answer to the question.

Until now, I've written four novels almost entirely in verse. I say "almost entirely" because THE DAY BEFORE has some letters sprinkled throughout.

FALLING FOR YOU was my first foray into regular prose (as far as YA, all of my MG novels are written in prose), because the story called for it, I think. With lots of characters and lots of dialogue required, it can be difficult to make verse work well. I never want to try and MAKE something work because that just isn't how it's done. The story has to flow for me in a natural way. It's like floating down a river rather than trying to paddle upstream, if that makes sense.

So when I started writing THE BRIDGE FROM ME TO YOU, Lauren's voice came out easily in verse. But Colby's just... wouldn't. I tried a few different things, and it wasn't working. Once I wrote a short chapter in prose from his point of view, it felt right. Half verse, half prose is different. Whenever I do something outside of the norma, I'm not gonna lie, it scares me a little because there is some risk in that. Too different, and it might be hard to get a contract.

Fortunately, my editor liked how it turned out, as did the rest of the team at Scholastic. Sometimes you have to go with your gut and hope for the best!

Only one more week!!!

The Bridge from Me to You - Question 2: Why Small Town Life?

When I was in 8th grade, my mom, my brother and I all moved to the farm where my grandparents lived. We lived in the little white house where my great grandparents had raised their two daughters, next door to my grandparents' house they'd built sometime during the late fifties or early sixties. My mom was going back to school to study computer programming, and living on the farm allowed her to save a lot of money.

Here's the old barn that my great grandparents built when my grandma was a little girl. When she was just eight years old, her parents sent her down to the river bed with a buckboard and she gathered rocks that would be used for the barn's foundation. I love old barns - there's just something about them that are cool.

"Town" as my grandma called it, was six miles away from the farm. If I wanted to go see friends, I had to get someone to take me, or ride my bike (which I did a lot the summer before my freshman year).

Sometimes it's fun to write about places you don't know. It's fun to do research and learn about interesting things about faraway places. And sometimes it's fun to write about places you do know. Writing The Bridge From Me to You was a little bit like going back to high school - revisiting the fun parts. Because the thing about small town life is that if you can't find any fun, you make your own. And there is something pretty special about that.

I hope that teens from small towns enjoy reading a book that probably feels a little like the place they live. And I hope teens who don't know what small town life is like have fun "visiting" somewhere different from what they know.

Next time I'll answer the question - why half verse, half prose?

The Bridge from Me to You - Question 1: Why Football?

Over the next two weeks, before the official release date of July 29th, I'm going to answer some questions about my upcoming young adult novel, THE BRIDGE FROM ME TO YOU. Questions people might have as they consider whether they want to read the book, or maybe while they're reading it, or even when they're finished with it.

The answers to these questions will mostly be just little peeks inside of my brain that may or may not be interesting to you. If not, it's okay. My brain is a little odd sometimes, I get it.

Okay, so the first question is - why football?

Colby, one of the main characters of the book, plays on his high school team, so football plays a part in this book. I know not everyone loves football. I like football when I'm watching a team that I'm invested in, for whatever reason, and somehow have a personal connection to one or more of the players. It's the reason I like the Green Bay Packers, for example. Aaron Rodger's mother took care of my son when he was two years old in her home daycare. I can still remember watching Aaron and his two brothers throw the football around in front of their house in the street. If only I'd had fortune telling abilities, I could have gotten his autograph at the ripe age of 12 and been rich in fifteen years!!

It's also the reason I enjoyed watching football in high school. We had a good team, a great team actually, and I knew some of those boys on the field. Some of them I didn't know, but I saw them in school, obviously, and I might have crushed on one or two of them. Maybe. Okay, actually, I'm not telling.

Our team made it all the way to the state playoffs two years in a row. My sophomore year, a bunch of us caravanned around the state and watched every playoff game. We slept in cheap hotels and even a church one time when the game was on the other side of the state. The year I went to the championship game, it was a nail biter, but in the end, we lost. Still, so many wonderful memories from that season. This is me (the one with the blonde hair) cheering for our Warriors at the championship game. If you can't tell, we really wanted our team to win. More than we wanted our hair to look good, obviously.

So why football? This book is about small town life, and I think in a lot of small towns, like the one I come from, the high school games are something a lot of people look forward to on Friday nights. It's a social gathering for the entire community. The games bring people together and for a couple of hours, everyone can forget their problems and focus on the players on the field.

The TV show Friday Night Lights will always be one of my favorite shows, ever. I miss that show. I miss Eric and Tami Taylor, Julie and Matt, Landry, Riggins, Smash, Vince, Lyla and Tyra, and the rest of the gang. Even though football was a part of the show, again and again you'd hear from people who watched, "But it's not about football."

I think it's the same for my book. It's not about football, but football is a part of the story, the same way football was a part of my high school experience. The same way football is a part of many teens'  high school experiences. Can you read the book and enjoy it if you don't really care about football? Yes!!!

So there you go. Next time I'll answer the question - Why Small Town Life?

(in case you missed it - there's a pre-order contest going on over at the Novel Novice blog. Check it out HERE!)

Awesome Pre-Order Contest thanks to Novel Novice

It's just a little over a month until my new YA novel is released!

What's it about? It's about small town life, about family and friendship, about dreams, about a boy named Colby who is burdened by his future and a girl named Lauren who is burdened by her past. It's gotten some good reviews already from Publisher's Weekly, School Library Journal, and Kirkus! This book is appropriate for people ages 12-92. Okay, maybe even 93.

What I most want to tell you today is that one of my favorite blogs, Novel Novice, is doing a pre-order contest. I've signed 25 super cute bookplates with some artwork that totally goes with the book (you'll see when you read it), so the first 25 people to submit your receipt to Novel Novice will get a bookplate along with a bookmark.

But that's not all! You'll also be entered into a drawing to win some amazing books Novel Novice is giving away.

The post with ALL THE DETAILS is here: Pre-order Contest

Many, many independent bookstores take pre-orders on-line. I've listed some of them below with DIRECT links to my book to make it really easy for you. Once you get an e-mail receipt for your order, you can forward that to the e-mail address given for the contest details - please CLINK ON THE LINK ABOVE to read how to officially enter the contest! If you don't see your favorite bookstore here, just look them up and I'm sure they'll be happy to take your pre-order. The Novel Novice page has links to other on-line retailers, too. I'm just trying to make sure you have lots of options.

Please note if you are in the Portland-Metro area, I will be signing books at Powell's Cedar Hills Crossing on August 14th, and I would love to see you there!


Books Inc., San Francisco, CA
(415) 221-3666

A Great Good Place for Books, Oakland, CA
(510) 339-8210

Pages A Bookstore, Manhattan Beach, CA
(310) 318-0900

Vroman's Bookstore, Pasadena, CA
(626) 449-5321

Tattered Cover Bookstore, Denver, CO
(303) 436-1070

Anderson's Bookshop, Naperville, IL
(630) 355-2665

RJ Julia Booksellers, Madison, CT
(203) 245-3959

Book Cellar, Chicago, IL
(773) 293-2665

Lake Forest Bookstore, Lake Forest, IL
(847) 234-4420

Eight Cousins Bookstore, Falmouth, MA
(508) 548-5548

Red Balloon Bookshop, St. Paul, MN
(651) 224-8320

Water Street Bookstore, Inc., Exeter NH
(603) 778-9731

Bookworks, Albuquerque, NM
(505) 344-8139

Northshire Bookstore, Saratoga, NY
(518) 682-4200

Oblong Books, Rhinebeck, NY
(845) 876-0500

Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill, NC
(919) 942-7373

Powell's Books, Portland, OR
(800) 878-7323

Doylestown Bookshop, Doylestown, PA
(215) 230-7610

Blue Willow Bookshop, Houston, TX
(281) 497-8675

BookPeople, Austin, TX
(512) 472-4288

Northshire Bookstore, Manchester, VT
(802) 362-2200

Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle, WA
(206) 624-6600

Boswell Book Company, Milwaukee, WI
(414) 332-1181

Thank you!!

Reviews for THE BRIDGE FROM ME TO YOU

People who aren't authors probably don't understand the anxiety that comes along with waiting for the professional reviews to come in.

The thing is, we know that teens who read our books mostly don't care about reviews. But the gatekeepers - the librarians, the teachers, maybe even the parents - often do care. Some of my books haven't been liked by all of the professional review publications, but I still have teens who enjoy my books. A review is still just *one* person's opinion, and I totally understand that. I really try NOT to let a bad review get me down (easier said than done when you first read the biting words -- chocolate helps).

Still, when a library only has a limited budget every year to buy new books, they are going to have to be careful about how they spend that money. There are SO many YA novels published every year and a good review is going to help a book stand out from the crowd a little bit.

So we fret a little in the months leading up to the publication date, hoping the book gets at least one good review. Because it really can make a difference in getting noticed.

So far, Kirkus, Publisher's Weekly and School Library Journal have all reviewed THE BRIDGE FROM ME TO YOU and have some nice things to say. Thought I'd share a little bit of those reviews with you.

Release date: 7/29/14

Publisher's Weekly has this to say about Lauren and Colby - "two kind, generous teens -- one burdened by her past, the other burdened by his future."

School Library Journal says, "the alternating chapters of Lauren’s poetry and Colby’s conversational prose are well written and help reveal the characters refreshingly unique perspectives, as well as their growth in positive ways."

Kirkus says, "Lovely in its details."

If you'd like to enter a goodreads contest to win one of twenty Advanced Review Copies that Scholastic is giving away, you can go HERE TO ENTER.

Stay tuned for an exciting pre-order giveaway later in June coming from my friends at www.novelnovice.com.

Did I mention that it's highlighted in the fall online Scholastic preview? You can check out the video at http://www.scholastic.com/onlinepreview/ (scroll down the page to find the Young Adult portion, if you don't want to watch the whole thing.)

Have a great weekend!

Some fun stuff - THE BRIDGE FROM ME TO YOU

My next YA novel comes out in a little over two months. Eep!!

You can read some more about the book HERE.

A couple of fun things happened this week. The first professional review is in, from Kirkus, and it's a good one! The review itself is a teensy bit spoilerish, so if you don't like being spoiled about anything, don't click over. Some people don't mind, so if that's you, you can go HERE and check out the review. The reviewer seemed to really get the book, which isn't always the case, so I'm happy about that. The main pull line from the review is "lovely in its details."

I love the word lovely, so yay!

The other thing is it's featured in the Scholastic online fall preview, which is made with librarians and booksellers in mind. It is so fun to see editors sitting around books and a plate of cookies talking about my book. Pinch me!

I can't embed the video here, you have to go to the page and watch it. If you click on the complete preview video, you can go to about the 28:00 mark to watch. Or, scroll down the page to the YA only video and click that.

http://www.scholastic.com/onlinepreview/

I believe there will be a giveaway soon on goodreads for an Advanced Review Copy or two, so stay tuned for that!

Cover for THE BRIDGE FROM ME TO YOU

It's up on Amazon for pre-order, so I think it's safe to share here.

There was a different cover for a while, and Advanced Reader Copies got printed with that cover, but Scholastic didn't think it was quite right, so they went back to the drawing board. That happens sometimes.

Anyway, here is the new and improved cover! The story takes place in small town Oregon, which I know well, and this cover does a fantastic job of capturing that, I think.

What you can't see is that the back is kind of a continuation of the front with somebody else walking along the fence behind her. :) It's pretty cute, I have to say.

I got an awesome quote about the book from an amazing YA author whose books I LOVE, but I'm not sure if I'm supposed to share that yet. Hopefully someday soon.

YA novel coming in 2014

Publisher's Weekly announced my latest YA news last week, so thought I'd share with my blog readers.

To see the official announcement, go HERE and scroll down a bit.

I call it my small town, big sky, driving aimlessly, football is king novel. Yes, football is a part of it, but it's not really a football book. As I told someone on twitter, I had to do something with all that Friday Night Lights love in my heart. The official short summary says, "It is told alternately by a 17-year-old girl who is new to a small town with a family secret, and the star football player she meets who is having a tough year and has big dreams beyond the field."

So for all the fans of Chasing Brooklyn who liked how the story alternated between Brooklyn and Nico, this one alternates between Lauren and Colby (Lauren's part is told in verse, Colby's part is told in regular prose).

There's actually a lot of my own high school experiences in this book, and I'm sure I'll talk more about that as it gets closer to publication. In the meantime, I went looking for some images that convey a little bit of the feel of this book, and here's what I found (all images courtesy of morguefile.com)

You can add the book on goodreads if you're into that kind of thing: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18520398-the-bridge-from-me-to-you

I'm really excited about this one and hope you are too!!