Favorite Books of the Year: A Recap of the December 2015 Westside Writers Mingle

by Westside Mingler Rebecca Light

In the last session of the year, Westside Minglers convened to share their top picks in kid lit released in 2015.

Or 2014.

Or 1911.

Close enough, right?

I’ve included a blurb about each book because, well, that makes it more interesting! It also makes this blog post longer, so feel free to skip those if you like. And each book title is linked to its publishers page should you wish to purchase for yourself or a gift. 

Without further ado—the list!

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson (Middle Grade, Graphic Novel)

Nimona is an impulsive young shapeshifter with a knack for villainy. Lord Ballister Blackheart is a villain with a vendetta. As sidekick and supervillain, Nimona and Lord Blackheart are about to wreak some serious havoc. Their mission: prove to the kingdom that Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin and his buddies at the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics aren't the heroes everyone thinks they are.

The Game of Love and Death by Martha Brockenbrough (YA)

Flora and Henry were born a few blocks from each other. Years later they meet again and their mutual love of music sparks an even more powerful connection. But what Flora and Henry don't know is that they are pawns in a game played by the eternal adversaries Love and Death, here brilliantly reimagined as two sympathetic and fascinating characters. Can their hearts and their wills overcome not only their earthly circumstances, but forces that have battled throughout history? What is more powerful: love? Or death?

Another Day by David Levithan (YA)

In this enthralling companion to his New York Times bestseller Every Day, David Levithan tells Rhiannon’s side of the story as she seeks to discover the truth about love and how it can change you.

In this enthralling companion to his New York Times bestseller Every Day, David Levithan (co-author  of Will Grayson, Will Grayson with John Green) tells Rhiannon’s side of the story as she seeks to discover the truth about love and how it can change you.

Every day is the same for Rhiannon. She has accepted her life, convinced herself that she deserves her distant, temperamental boyfriend, Justin, even established guidelines by which to live: Don’t be too needy. Avoid upsetting him. Never get your hopes up.

Until the morning everything changes. Justin seems to see her, to want to be with her for the first time, and they share a perfect day—a perfect day Justin doesn’t remember the next morning. Confused, depressed, and desperate for another day as great as that one, Rhiannon starts questioning everything. Then, one day, a stranger tells her that the Justin she spent that day with, the one who made her feel like a real person . . . wasn’t Justin at all.

SEE LESS

 In this enthralling companion to his New York Times bestseller Every Day, David Levithan (co-author  of Will Grayson, Will Grayson with John Green) tells Rhiannon’s side of the story as she seeks to discover the truth about love and how it can change you.

Every day is the same for Rhiannon. She has accepted her life, convinced herself that she deserves her distant, temperamental boyfriend, Justin, even established guidelines by which to live: Don’t be too needy. Avoid upsetting him. Never get your hopes up.

Until the morning everything changes. Justin seems to see her, to want to be with her for the first time, and they share a perfect day—a perfect day Justin doesn’t remember the next morning. Confused, depressed, and desperate for another day as great as that one, Rhiannon starts questioning everything. Then, one day, a stranger tells her that the Justin she spent that day with, the one who made her feel like a real person . . . wasn’t Justin at all.

SEE LESS

The eagerly anticipated companion to David Levithan’s New York Timesbestseller Every Day

In this enthralling companion to his New York Times bestseller Every Day, David Levithan (co-author  of Will Grayson, Will Grayson with John Green) tells Rhiannon’s side of the story as she seeks to discover the truth about love and how it can change you.

Every day is the same for Rhiannon. She has accepted her life, convinced herself that she deserves her distant, temperamental boyfriend, Justin, even established guidelines by which to live: Don’t be too needy. Avoid upsetting him. Never get your hopes up.

Until the morning everything changes. Justin seems to see her, to want to be with her for the first time, and they share a perfect day—a perfect day Justin doesn’t remember the next morning. Confused, depressed, and desperate for another day as great as that one, Rhiannon starts questioning everything. Then, one day, a stranger tells her that the Justin she spent that day with, the one who made her feel like a real person . . . wasn’t Justin at all.

SEE LESS

I’ll Give you the Sun by Jandy Nelson (YA)

Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. The early years are Noah's story to tell. The later years are Jude's. What the twins don't realize is that they each have only half the story, and if they could just find their way back to one another, they’d have a chance to remake their world.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart (YA)

A beautiful and distinguished family. A private island. A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy. A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive. A revolution. An accident. A secret. Lies upon lies. True love. The truth. We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart. Read it. And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

Evermore Dragon by Barbara Joosse, Illustrated by Randy Cecil (Picture Book)

In a game of hide-and-seek, Girl wanders too far. Dragon looks everywhere—every here, every there—but Girl is lost. With the special connection between truly devoted, very special friends, Dragon hears the beating of her trembly heart. "Evermore, evermore, I am here," he assures her. Any child frightened by the night or feeling a tad lonely will relish the feeling of being wrapped in the protective wings of friendship.

Waiting written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes (Picture Book)

What are you waiting for? An owl, a puppy, a bear, a rabbit, and a pig—all toys arranged on a child's windowsill—wait for marvelous things to happen in this picture book by the New York Times–bestselling and Caldecott Medalist Kevin Henkes.

Sparky! by Jenny Offil, illustrated by Chris Appelhans (Picture Book)

 When our narrator orders a sloth through the mail, the creature that arrives isn't good at tricks or hide-and-seek… or much of anything. Still, there's something about Sparky that is irresistible.

 

Hairy Harold & His Extraordinary Trip to New York written and illustrated by Andres Quintero (Picture Book)

Clara the Rabbit realizes she is tired of her small town and looks for an opportunity to escape to the thrilling New York City. Her hairy friend Harold (a gorilla) goes along on the adventurous trip that pushes him to face his biggest fear.

The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander (Adult, Non-Fiction) 

[Note from Lori S: While this isn’t kid lit, it is one of the most uplifting and inspiring books I have read in the past five years (even though I’m not the one that brought it to the Mingle). Check it out!]

The Art of Possibility combines Benjamin Zander's experience as conductor of the Boston Philharmonic and his talent as a teacher and communicator with psychotherapist Rosamund Stone Zander's genius for designing innovative paradigms for personal and professional fulfillment. Through uplifting stories, parables, and personal anecdotes, the Zanders invite us to become passionate communicators, leaders, and performers whose lives radiate possibility into the world.

What do You do With an Idea? by Kobi Yamada, Illustrated by Mae Besom (Picture Book)

This is the story of one brilliant idea and the child who helps to bring it into the world. It’s a story for anyone, at any age, who’s ever had an idea that seemed too big, too odd, too difficult. It’s a story to inspire you to welcome that idea, to give it space to grow, and to see what happens next.

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson (Middle Grade, Memoir)

Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Woodson’s eloquent poetry also reflects the joy of finding her voice through writing stories.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by David Levithan and John Green (YA)

Will Grayson meets Will Grayson. One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, two strangers are about to cross paths. From that moment on, their world will collide and lives intertwine.

From the Mundane into the Magical (author unknown, Adult, Non-Fiction)

This book is a bibliography of photographically illustrated children's books in the field of American and international juvenile literature from 1854 to 1945.

The Jaunts of Junior by Arthur B. Phelan (picture book, published 1911)

The story of Junior, a tiny boy living in Weenyland, who visits Big, Big Land and is dwarfed by everything there. 

(This book was published in 1911 so it might be hard to track down. Check your local library!)

My Southern Journey by Rick Bragg (Adult, Non-Fiction)

From the celebrated bestselling author of All Over but the Shoutin' and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Rick Bragg, comes a poignant and wryly funny collection of essays on life in the south. 

All Over but the Shoutin’ by Rick Bragg (Adult, Non-Fiction)

This recollection of a life on the American margin is the story of Rick Bragg, who grew up dirt-poor in northeastern Alabama, seemingly destined for either the cotton mills or the penitentiary, and instead became a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The New York Times. Rick Bragg brings home the love and suffering that lie at the heart of every family.

The Hired Girl by Laura Amy Schlitz (Middle Grade)

Fourteen-year-old Joan Skraggs yearns for real life and true love. But what hope is there for adventure, beauty, or art on a hardscrabble farm in Pennsylvania where the work never ends? Over the summer of 1911, Joan pours her heart out into her diary as she seeks a new, better life for herself. Newbery Medalist Laura Amy Schlitz takes readers on an exploration of feminism and housework; religion and literature; love and loyalty; cats, hats, and bunions.

Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke (Middle Grade)

The masterful conclusion to the epic New York Times-bestselling Inkheart trilogy. The Adderhead has ordered his henchmen to plunder the villages. The peasants' only defense is a band of outlaws led by the Bluejay. But the Book of Immortality is unraveling, and the Adderhead again fears the White Women of Death. To bring the renegade Bluejay back to repair the book, the Adderhead kidnaps all the children in the kingdom, dooming them to slavery in his silver mines unless Mo surrenders. First Dustfinger, now Mo: Can anyone save this cursed story?

Thank you to everyone in the Mingle who shared their favorite books. What a wonderfully eclectic list. Have a favorite you don’t see here? Share it in the comments! Happy holidays, and we’ll see you in the New Year!

Writing & Overwhelm: Finding Time to Write. A Recap of the November 2015 Westside Writers Mingle

by Westside Mingler Rebecca Light

This month at the Westside Lit Mingle, we took on the topic of Writing and Overwhelm. Lori and Laurie framed the discussion from this jump-off point:

We live in a culture of busy and overwhelm, with constant demands on our attention. Within this, how do we find space—both in our calendars and in our psyches—to create?

To start, Lori led the group in a fabulous activity that she learned from Laurie Halse Anderson at an SCBWI workshop: first, write down the five things you care most about in your life. Subsequently, write down the five things that took up most of your time the pervious week. Then compare. This was illuminating!

This exercise is meant to inform, not punish. The simple act of articulating how we spend our time, and what we care about, can help overwhelm drop away. Is there anything that can fall away from how you spend your time to make more room for things you care most about? There were some obvious suggestions, such as cutting back on TV. Laurie Halse Anderson had suggested an interesting idea: stop volunteering. Maybe it’s okay to let someone else save the world in that way so you have time to write your book!

The ensuing discussion was a combination of helpful tips and shared struggles, making two things very clear: First, we are all in this together! And next,  in working with overwhelm, there is no golden ticket. For example, writing every day made some minglers feel more overwhelmed, while the same committment helped others prioritize writing in their busy schedules.

Lori spoke about the issue of overwhelm as a large one in our culture right now, and not one unique to writers. The word “busy” has become a form of currency, a shorthand to let the world know that we are important.  As a culture, we scoff at leisure time. Perhaps changing the way we speak about it (for example, not using the word “busy”) can help change the feeling of overwhelm.

On the subject of accountability, Laurie shared an anecdote about a writer who would create consequences for missing a deadline. This particular writer was a democrat so she decided that she would donate to Mitt Romney’s campaign for every deadline missed. Accountability indeed!

Alternatively, Greg shared the value of forgiving himself when he isn’t able to write. He prefers to focus on the end goal of getting the task done, rather than on creating a consequence for missing a deadline, which only contribute to his feeling overwhelmed.

Toward the end of the meeting the group touched on the importance of not just writing, but living. This includes how to find time for your loved ones while balancing a day job, a long commute, and a solitary writing habit? Minglers had some great suggestions, such as being creative about places to edit and brainstorm (Standing in line? Jot some notes on your phone!) Or get to work 10 minutes early and use that time to write. Try dedicating two nights a week to writing, the other nights go to your family. Or split the night into an hour or two of writing time, and the rest for family.  Most of all, be gentle with yourself. Know that there is a time to write, and there is a time not to write.

Here are links to the books, websites, and resources that minglers suggested during the discussion.

750words.com – Inspired by the morning pages in The Artist’s Way, this website is a writer’s tool to nurture the habit of writing every single day.

Book – Overwhelmed: Work, Love and Play When No One Has the Time by Brigid Schulte

Blog – Zen Habits by Leo Babauta. This link includes the Stress Assess activity which Laurie handed out in the Mingle.

Book – Tweak It by Cali Williams Yost

Getting Paid for your Craft: Can You Make a Living as a Writer? A Recap of the Oct 2015 Westside Writers Mingle.

When Laurie and I met after doing our initial research for this topic, our moods were pretty different. I came in excited about all the odd ideas I had found, and she came in finding the results pretty depressing.

The difference? She Googled, “Can you make a living as an author,” while I Googled, “Strange/fun/unusual ways to make a living as a writer.” And, unsurprisingly, the results were widely different. If you are someone who wants to write for a living, and you don’t care so much what kind of writing you do, there are perhaps more options out there than you might have realized. Consider starting a business where you write:

• wedding vows

• obituaries

• online dating profiles

• query letters and synopses for other writers

Or consider pairing a talent/skill/ability you already have with writing. For example, I also used to teach English and I still currently teach yoga. Now I have a freelance editing business where I edit yoga-related writing (for teachers and studios) and I also lead writing and yoga retreats.

If you want to focus your writing on books, the finances can be a little daunting. The coveted six-figure advance, once broken down into agent percentage, taxes, and how much you actually get and when, doesn’t translate into a living wage. But don’t forget that being published opens doors for revenue that might not have been there before: school visits, panels, classes, etc. And there are also sub rights, which include foreign and audio book rights, each sale of which brings more income.

Here are a few of the links we found most helpful.

On the realities of what you get paid as an author (Laurie Y.’s links):

https://d.moonfire.us/blog/2015/01/06/writing-monies/

http://literaticat.blogspot.com/2015/02/real-talk-ix-figure-book-deal.html

http://www.jimchines.com/2015/01/2014-writing-income/

http://www.barbarakanninen.com/career

https://writeitforward.wordpress.com/2014/04/29/so-you-want-to-make-a-living-writing-13-harsh-truths/

On some possible other ways to make money as a writer (Lori S.’s links):

http://www.aliventures.com/make-a-living-writing/

http://www.alexandrafranzen.com/2014/12/08/50-ways-to-make-money-as-a-writer-send-this-to-a-wordsmith-you-love/

http://www.thepennyhoarder.com/make-money-writing-online-13-sites-pay-articles/

https://thecollegeinvestor.com/16898/the-ultimate-side-hustle-14-ways-to-get-paid-to-write/

You can probably see why Laurie Y was depressed and Lori S was excited!

Oh, and as an aside, this is about how book sales rise when you add an image to your social media:

http://buildbookbuzz.com/social-media-images/

If thinking about the financial side of writing leaves you drained or overwhelmed, then join us at the next Mingle for some inspiration!

NEXT MINGLE: Writing and Overwhelm

“Many of us feel stress and get overwhelmed 

not because we're taking on too much, 

but because we're taking on too little of what really strengthens us.” 

~ Marcus Buckingham

We live in a culture of busy and overwhelm, where how much we have on our to-do lists has become the new currency. Within this, how do we find space—both in our calendars and in our psyches—to create? And for a lot of us, as we approach the holidays, this becomes even more difficult. Bring your thoughts, frustrations, suggestions, and ideas. Will also include some simple mindfulness techniques from Lori and new ways to look at time and creativity. 

  

DATE: Wednesday, November 4

TIME: 7 pm – 8:45 pm

LOCATION: Ocean Park branch of the Santa Monica library.

If you feel so inclined, we would welcome any baked goods to share!

Can’t wait to see you all –

With love & books,

Lori & Laurie