Archives
This is
my annual post where I sum up what happened in my professional life for the year and look ahead to what's going to happen in 2013. I do this so I can have a handy record that I can get to in seconds. (Hence the
"last day of the year" category.)
Last year was not a happy year for me so you'll be pleased to hear that 2012 was lovely. There was some huge personal changes and they were all very very good indeed. What I'm really saying is this post contains no whingeing. Phew, eh?
Books Out This Year
This is the first since 2009 that ...
Posted by Justine at 19:12, December 31st, 2012 under 1930s NYC novel, Fairy Godmother Novel, Fans & readers, Garden, Last Day of the Year, Reading, Sydney novel, Team Human, Writing life |
Recently I argued that the
best way to deal with a cranky author coming after you for writing a less-than-glowing review about their work was to delete the review but say why you had done so. My argument was that obscurity is the worst thing that can happen to an author. No reviews = no attention = no sales = no career. Bye, bye author.
Kat Kennedy (and others) responded in the comments (and on Twitter) to say that while she could understand responding that way she personally would not do it for three reasons: 1) She was proud of her reviews. 2) Some authors badgered reviewers into taking down their negative reviews. Why should they be given what ...
Posted by Justine at 8:01, August 24th, 2012 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Fans & readers, Ranting, Writing life |
StreetAngel has done it again. In fact, she is producing a
whole week's worth of fanart to celebrate Team Human landing on 2-3 July. ((Depending on whether you're in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, or the USA. I have heard rumours that some copies have already been sighted in the wild.))
I am beside myself. These are so lovely and full of so many details from the books and oh! I know, I know, I am very daggy about fan art. It's just
so new for me to have any.
I have placed the art below the cut because I know some of you want no spoilers no matter how tiny. For the rest of you---feast your eyes!
Posted by Justine at 9:05, June 29th, 2012 under Fan art, Fans & readers, Praising, Team Human, Writing life |
Since a few of you expressed mild interest in the speech I gave at
Sirens in October last year I thought I would share it with you. The theme was monsters and my speech involved me showing many monstrous images. Yes, that's my disclaimer, I wrote this to be spoken to a real life audience with funny pictures and the funny may not work so well without the kind and appreciative live audience. Or something. *cough*
Here it is:
Monsters I Have Loved
Ideas = Brain Monkeys According to Maureen Johnson
Like every other writer ever I get asked “where do you get your ideas” a lot. Today I thought instead of answering that question in the ...
Posted by Justine at 7:02, May 31st, 2012 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Fans & readers, Feminism, Ideas, Ironical (This is Writ), Listening, New York City/USA, Praising, Ranting, Reading, State of the World, Sydney/Australia, Travelling, Viewing, Writing life, Writing process |
Team Human has its first piece of fan art and it hasn't even been published yet! I am beside myself with excitement. Seriously, I screamed when
Sarah Rees Brennan tweeted it.
Unlike many of my YA author friends, my books do not attract a lot of fan art. It would be more accurate to say that they attract almost no fan art at all. Seriously click on the
fan art category for this blog and see how little there is. Now go over to Scott's blog and check out his
Fan Art Fridays. Or check out the paucity on
deviantART. ((Not that I do that and not that I weep salty tears when I don't do that.))
I've put it below the cut because it's spoilery and if you're anything like me you don't want to read anything that might even possibly lead to the vague chance of spoilification. So really don't look at it!
Posted by Justine at 9:10, April 29th, 2012 under Fan art, Fans & readers, Praising, Team Human, Whingeing |
One of the most frequent queries I get is: "Are your books e-books yet?"
For a long time, they were not and I could only respond in the negative. This was never a very satisfactory reply. Not for me, because I dreamed of having books of electrons, and piteously begged my publishers to make it so. ((Or, well, okay, I begged my lovely agent Jill who in turn. You know how it goes.)) And certainly not for the would-be purchaser of said electrificated tomes.
"No, sorry they're not," I would say mournfully.
They would demand to know, "Why? What is wrong with you that your books are only available as ...
Posted by Justine at 14:35, November 7th, 2011 under Admin, Fans & readers, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Liar, Magic or Madness trilogy |
Much of the fan mail and comments I get from adults includes this phrase "I'm not your target audience" before continuing to say how much they enjoyed one or more of my books in (sometimes) slightly embarrassed tones. As if they're a tad worried to find themselves reading and enjoying a book published for teenagers. How did that happen? they wonder. Does it make me less of an
adult?
I understand the anxiety. Before I became a published YA author, I was unaware of how disdainful many adults are towards teenagers and anything that smacks of teenager-y-ness, such as books marketed at teenagers. Looking back, I now find it weird that I was unaware of this. Firstly, I once was ...
Posted by Justine at 17:44, December 28th, 2009 under Fans & readers, Writing life, Young Adult literature |
I recently tweeted a really
interesting review of Leviathan by
Tansy Rayner Roberts. It's my favourite review so far partly because she puts into words something Scott and I have been noticing:
I find it interesting that so many people are talking about this as the latest Scott Westerfeld novel without really acknowledging that this is such a departure from his more recent work. I would not be surprised if some of the audience for the Uglies and Midnighters and Peeps books (at least the teenagers) were less interested in this new series, even as Leviathan draws in an entirely new generation of readers. It’s always interesting to see an author whose work you admire move on to pastures ...
Posted by Justine at 20:38, December 27th, 2009 under Book tour, Fans & readers, Reading, Scott's books, Young Adult literature |
Most aspiring writers ask the right questions. I worry that
my last post, which is an
echo of
many earlier posts, gives a different impression, so I feel the need to say it loud and clear: the vast majority of aspiring writers who contact me ask smart, sensible, interesting questions. It's really only the ones who are more in love with the idea of being a writer than with actually, you know, writing who ask the wrong questions. Mercifully, they are massively outnumbered by the people who love writing.
During my events at the
Melbourne Writers Festival I wasn't asked any wrong questions. My audiences were smart and full of excellent questions. The encounter ...
Posted by Justine at 6:42, August 28th, 2009 under Fans & readers, Reading, Sydney/Australia, Writing life, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, June 21st, 2009 under Fans & readers, Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 0:13, May 19th, 2009 under Fans & readers, Feminism, Research, State of the World |
I just finished going through and answering all your letters. *mops brow* Thanks so much for writing to me. I hope my responses arrive okay. But alas there were some bounce backs.
Because the volume of letters has been going up in the last few months, and I'm not getting any faster at answering, ((Unfortunately, writing my books and responding to my publishers has to be the top priorities.)) I've decided I'm going to respond to questions asked on this website first. Especially the questions asked on the
FAQs. That way the answer will be available for everyone and not just the people who email me. That's fairer, right?
Currently I have four FAQs:
There's the
Personal one: Where you ...
Posted by Justine at 0:01, April 6th, 2009 under Admin, Fans & readers |
Posted by Justine at 5:32, March 12th, 2009 under Fans & readers, Love is Hell |
Posted by Justine at 5:19, December 26th, 2008 under 1930s NYC novel, Fans & readers, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Magic or Madness trilogy, Mangosteens, Praising, Reading, Sport, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 0:25, December 14th, 2008 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Fans & readers, Praising, Ranting, Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, December 1st, 2008 under Fans & readers, Praising, Reading |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, November 27th, 2008 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Fans & readers, New York City/USA, Praising |
Scott and me are having a wee bit of an argument. He thinks I sign too slow on account of I like to chat to everyone and make my dedication as personal as possible. He thinks that's fine with a very short queue but when the line is long you owe it to the people standing in line waiting to go as fast as possible.
The argument arose because I had a big line at NCTE ((National Council of Teachers of English)) on account of the lovely
Professor Nana talked very enthusiastically about How To Ditch Your Fairy. Bless you!
In my defense
Where I was sitting I couldn't see the queue so I didn't know how long it was.
English ...
Posted by Justine at 0:37, November 25th, 2008 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Fans & readers, Scott's books, Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 13:20, November 21st, 2008 under 1930s NYC novel, Book tour, Cons & Other Gatherings, Fans & readers, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Liar, New York City/USA, Scott's books, Writing process, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 16:05, November 20th, 2008 under Book tour, Fans & readers, How To Ditch Your Fairy, New York City/USA, Publishing business, Scott's books |
Posted by Justine at 15:46, November 9th, 2008 under 1930s NYC novel, Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Excuses, Fans & readers, Liar, Whingeing, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 14:09, October 29th, 2008 under Admin, Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Excuses, Fans & readers |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, October 24th, 2008 under Fans & readers, How To Ditch Your Fairy, New York City/USA, Travelling, Vainglory, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 13:53, October 10th, 2008 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Fans & readers |
Posted by Justine at 15:39, September 21st, 2008 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Fans & readers, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Reading, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 21:20, September 2nd, 2008 under Book tour, Cons & Other Gatherings, Fans & readers, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Publishing business |
Posted by Justine at 18:22, September 1st, 2008 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Fans & readers |
Posted by Justine at 0:47, August 30th, 2008 under Fans & readers, Sport, Writing life, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 3:02, August 24th, 2008 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Fans & readers |
Posted by Justine at 0:56, August 6th, 2008 under Fans & readers, Reading, Viewing, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 1:21, August 3rd, 2008 under Fans & readers, Liar, Reading, Writing life, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 3:39, August 2nd, 2008 under Fans & readers, Publishing business, Reading |
Posted by Justine at 16:45, July 31st, 2008 under Fans & readers, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Praising, Reading, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 20:00, July 28th, 2008 under Fans & readers, Ranting, Reading |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, July 28th, 2008 under Fans & readers, Ranting, Reading |
Posted by Justine at 1:18, July 20th, 2008 under Fans & readers, Magic or Madness trilogy |
Certain writers write the same book over and over and over again. Personally, that would drive me insane. Here are the novels I have written thus far:
Novel, the first: (unpublished) is a big sweeping historical set in ancient Cambodia from multiple points of view. Third person, past tense. Adult.
The second: (unpublished) is---actually it's so bad I'm not even sure what it is---let us not think of it. First person, past tense. Young adult.
Novels, the third, fourth & fifth: (the Magic or Madness trilogy, Penguin) a medium dark urban contemporary fantasy from three povs. Third & first person, past tense. Young adult.
The sixth: (How to Ditch Your Fairy, Bloomsbury) is a light and fluffy romantic science fictional take on luck and ...
Posted by Justine at 10:37, May 20th, 2008 under Fans & readers, Reading |
Posted by Justine at 12:44, March 6th, 2008 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Cons & Other Gatherings, Fans & readers, Words & Language, Writing life, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 19:22, March 5th, 2008 under Fans & readers, Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 13:58, October 25th, 2007 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Fans & readers, Magic or Madness trilogy, New York City/USA, Young Adult literature |
Day 11 of the tour:
Tonight's appearance at Books Inc (Opera Plaza) was fabulous. Lots of rabid, smart, enthusiastic Scott fans and passionate arguments about David/Zane. For the record I like Zane better than David but prefer Shay to either one of them.
The most wonderful part of the evening for me was meeting London, who's a guy from Sacramento, who drove all the way to San Francisco (which is at least two hours!) to tell me how much he loves my books. Isn't that awesome? Also turns out he's a Sacramento Monarchs fan and has even met their big star Yolanda Griffiths. I was deeply impressed and we got to talk women's hoops which always makes me happy.
Equally happy making ...
Posted by Justine at 2:49, October 10th, 2007 under Basketball, Fan art, Fans & readers, Scott's books, Travelling |
Posted by Justine at 13:59, September 19th, 2007 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Book tour, Cons & Other Gatherings, Fans & readers, Publishing business |
Posted by Justine at 12:58, March 29th, 2007 under Fans & readers, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Liar, Magic or Madness trilogy |
This comes from Jennifer Laughran at Books Inc in San Franciso who reports:
It's on the register! And we've already sold two in the five mins its been out of the box!!!!!!!!
Woo hoo!!!!
Now since Jennifer works at a book shop I thinks it's only fair that I keep the prize open. So if you don't work in a book shop and you're the first to send me a piccie of my book out in the wild there's a signed Magic's Child and matching book marks just for you.
But you'll still get your prize, Jennifer. You were first first.
Posted by Justine at 16:18, March 23rd, 2007 under Fans & readers, Magic or Madness trilogy |
Posted by Justine at 9:17, March 9th, 2007 under Fans & readers, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Magic or Madness trilogy, Praising, Scott's books, Vainglory, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 1:02, February 26th, 2007 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Cons & Other Gatherings, Fans & readers, New York City/USA, Praising, Travelling, Young Adult literature |
Writer and artist,
Chris Howard, was so inspired by reading Magic or Madness he painted a portrait of Reason:
It amazes me that my books have inspired
some folks to commit art. Makes me all teary!
I'm also made teary ((Best segue ever, eh?)) by the awesomeness of the vast majority of librarians. The recent kerfuffle over a
dog's scrotum has led many to think that librarians in the US of A are all for banning books over a single word. This is emphatically not the case. The
American Library Association has a
whole division that goes to battle to protect
intellectual freedom in the US of A. They're the ones who bring us ...
Posted by Justine at 0:15, February 20th, 2007 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Fans & readers, Magic or Madness trilogy, Praising, Vainglory |
Posted by Justine at 11:08, February 12th, 2007 under Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction, Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Fans & readers, Magic or Madness trilogy, Praising, Vainglory, Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 23:05, December 17th, 2006 under Fans & readers, Magic or Madness trilogy, Vainglory |
Posted by Justine at 12:58, October 19th, 2006 under Fans & readers |
