#TSOLG Paperback Palooza: Five Random Questions with Sarah Darer Littman

Sarah Darer Littman, 
strumming about Summer...

Less than two weeks to our Author Palooza on April 19th at the Huntington Public Library. YOU CAN CLICK THIS LINK TO REGISTER!

Several amazing MG and YA authors will be joining me for the fun and hands-on writers workshop, and I thought it would be nice to get to know them -- and me -- a little in the weeks leading up to the event. 

You may read all about the event HERE on the facebook event page, and even if you can't come to the event live, please join the event page and follow along in the fun.

So, over the past few weeks, I've been asking the guest authors to share their favorite piece of writing advice (or quotes that have helped or inspired them) as well as to answer five random questions from a big list I provided and I've been sharing  their answers (and chiming in with a few of my own in pink ...)

Up today with her five random answers to Five Random Questions is guest author Sarah Darer Littman, 

author of WANT TO GO PRIVATE? 

and the forthcoming BACKLASH,  

and several other amazing novels for tweens and teens. Sarah is also a smart and eloquent journalist, and you should follow and read her everywhere possible!

You can read all about Sarah HERE. 

Before we get started with Sarah's five answers, here's a favorite writing quote of hers that helps her stay motivated and focused: 

“The main rule of the writer is never to pity your manuscript. If you see something you know is no good, throw it away and begin again. A lot of writers have failed because they have too much pity. They have already worked so much that they cannot just throw it away. But I say the wastepaper basket is the writer’s best friend.” -Isaac Bashevis Singer

Now on to Five Random Questions with Sarah Darer Littman... 

1. What's one of your silliest memories from childhood? 

My late father was involved with espionage (although we didn’t know it at the time) so we had all sorts of code words and phrases. One particularly silly one was if our Pekinese, Ming (the Merciless) had pooped on a walk, the phrase was “Mr. Brown left a parcel.”

  

              

2.  What's the dumbest thing you ever did?

There isn’t enough space on this blog to list all the dumb things I have done. It’s really amazing that *I* survived to adulthood - or, quite frankly, that I am still surviving as an adult.  But the important thing is to keep learning from your dumb mistakes.

3. Okay, we can't milk specifics there, so... what's the cruelest/funniest thing you ever did to a sibling?

I put my younger sister in my doll carriage and started pushing her down our long and graded driveway. And then, oops, I let go of the handle. IT WAS AN ACCIDENT, I SWEAR! And then there was a pothole and the end of the driveway, and the carriage wheel hit the pothole and…yep, my younger sister went flying. 

But I wasn’t as bad as my older brother, who tricked my younger sister into the washing basket at the top of the stairs pretending it was a roller coaster - and then pushed her down. 

Frankly, it’s amazing my younger sister survived to adulthood. But she did - and she’s amazing and smart and funny and has two amazing smart and funny kids of her own!

4. What unique skill do you possess?

This isn’t a unique skill, but I have an extremely ANNOYING skill of having a song for every occasion, and an extremely awful tuneless voice to sing it in. This is the cross my children must bear, and they bear it with loud and frequent complaints. 

5. What did you want to be when you grew up?

The first thing I ever remember wanting to be was an airline stewardess. That’s what they were called then, because I’m old. It’s funny because now I hate flying, but I think my desire was more about the fact that I love going to new places and experiencing different cultures and meeting people who might live and think differently than I do, but looking for our common experiences. I thought about a career in the State Department when I was in college. 

In high school, I knew I wanted to be a writer but Dad said “You’ll never make a living as an English major.” 

It took me 38 years and hospitalization for a breakdown before I finally found the courage to listen to high school me and follow my dream. 

Sarah, what a brave, honest answer to share. Thank you. As for the stewardess part, me too (and me too on the ix-nay on the eyeing-flay now...) except for me, I think it was more about the outfits they wore back then. So glamorous! (I'm old too!)

So, there you have it. . . some advice and a few random things about author Sarah Darer Littman. Hope you'll check out all of her books, and if you're anywhere local, that you'll join us at the Huntington Public Library on April 19th for the reading, book signing and, if you're a tween or teen writer, the hands-on writers workshop with all these fabulous authors! 

Registration is open! 

And don't forget to order a paperback copy of THE SUMMER OF LETTING GO if you can't come to the Palooza to get a signed one!

xox gae

#TSOLG Paperback Palooza: Five Random Questions with Henry Clark

Author Henry Clark, digging for Summer... 

pssst... notwithstanding the official 3/31 "on sale" date, the TSOLG paperback seems to be available everywhere now... so please go buy your copy, tell two friends, etc.

To celebrate the paperback release of THE SUMMER OF LETTING GO on March 31st, I'm super excited to announce that I am hosting a reading and writing (!!) Author Palooza on April 29th at the Huntington Public Library.

Several other amazing kidlit, MG and young adult authors will be joining me for the fun and hands-on writers workshop, and I thought it would be nice to get to know them -- and me -- a little in the weeks leading up to the event. 

You may read all about the event HERE on the facebook event page, and even if you can't come to the event live, please join the event page and follow along in the fun.



So, on to the getting-to-know-them part of the festivities... 

I've asked the guest authors to share their favorite piece of writing advice (or quotes that have helped or inspired them) as well as to answer at least five random questions from a big list I provided. Many of their answers are quite entertaining! You'll see! 

So, over the next several weeks, I will share their answers (and may even chime in with my own answer to the occasional question in pink ...)

Up today, guest author and fellow Long Islander Henry Clark, author of WHAT WE FOUND IN THE SOFA AND HOW IT SAVED THE WORLD and the forthcoming 

THE BOOK THAT PROVES TIME TRAVEL HAPPENS! 

You can read all about Henry HERE.  And you can watch his recent interview with Betsy Bird of Fuse 8 HERE!

Henry's favorite piece of writing advice: 

"Write what you want to read. If you're lucky, other readers will have similar tastes."

I love that, don't you?

Now on to Five Random Questions... (p.s. between you and me, I'm doubting any of Henry's answers are true...)

1. Do you have a nickname? 

No. (After Dr. Julius No, the villain in the eponymous James Bond thriller. It's an unfortunate nickname, in that it sometimes leads to confusion when people ask me if I have a nickname.)

  

              

2.  What's the cruelest/funniest thing you ever did to a sibling?

I'm an only child, so the sibling thing never came up. I did once, however, put an imaginary whoopee cushion on the chair of my imaginary friend. I had to make the farting noise myself, though, so it sort of backfired.

3. Worst did you want to be when you grew up?

A writer. Instead, I spent thirty years working for the Nassau County Department of Parks and Rec. This has severely hampered my other goal, to become a motivational speaker.

4. Grossest thing you ever ate?

Squid in its own ink. I later felt remorse, realizing I had probably eaten a cephalopod with literary ambitions.

5. ... one thing we might see on your bucket list?

Live forever.

So, there you have it. . . some advice and a few random things about author Henry Clark you still don't actually know. No? Hope you'll check out his books, and if you're anywhere local, you'll join us at the Huntington Public Library on April 19th for the reading, book signing and, if you're a tween or teen writer, the hands-on writers workshop with all these fabulous authors! 

Registration begins April 6th! 

And don't forget to grab your copy of THE SUMMER OF LETTING GO. 

xox gae

THE SUMMER OF LETTING GO: Paperback Palooza coming soon!

Shiny paperbacks, hot off the presses. Ready to ship... 

So, if you follow me on facebook or twitter, you know I'm super excited for the paperback release of THE SUMMER OF LETTING GO coming sooner than you know.

March 31st to be exact!

To celebrate, I've decided to have a big party -- as big as I can -- and to give back to the local library community that's been so supportive of me when I do.

As such, on April 19th (making sure we're clear of possible major snowstorm...) from 1 - 5 pm, I will be hosting a two part, tween & teen Author Palooza at the Huntington Public Library.

Part 1 will be a 90-Second Read Event open to the general public of ALL ages! You do NOT have to be a Huntington resident to attend (but you do need to call the library, starting April 6, to register for Part 2 - details below).

I've been hosting 90-Second Read events for the past few years, and they are always a ton of fun both for the authors participating and the audience. What is a 90-Second Read Event, you ask? Well let's just say it involves a desire not to bore you, some prep and good timing on our parts, and a mean stopwatch and hotel bell, usually placed in the hands of an over-eager audience member whose finger is just itching to ding it. You can read more about them here:

p.s. Matt Blackstone WILL be coming to our Palooza on 4/19
and let me just say he is one of my favorite authors EVER to listen to read aloud.
If you're not laughing when Matt reads, we need to get you a new funny bone. 

Bits of summer swag that usually
find their way into a signed copy...

Following the 90-Second Read event, we will be have a signing where you may purchase any or all the participating authors' most recent books as a Friend of the Library fundraiser, not to mention get them signed all up pretty with your name in them, and likely jazzed up with swag.

And, then, if that's not enough...

All the super young uns and old fogies will leave (author-old fogies excluded, of course, who will stay) and we will launch into Part 2: a hands-on tweens & teens only writers workshop, where we will break up into small groups to talk craft (voice, story, character and, of course, where ideas come from) and do "five-minute" writing exercises followed by encouraging and constructive critiques, each group assigned their own traditionally published author!

And, yes, there will be cupcakes!!

In the coming weeks, I'm going to be hosting some fun meet-the-author features here on my blog, and even moreso, HERE on my facebook event page. There you'll learn more about the likes of Matt Blackstone, Sarah Darer Littman, Charlotte Bennardo, Selene Castrovilla, Henry Clark, Alan Katz, Tracey Baptiste and me, and I mean, truly important things, like the worst jobs we've ever had, our most embarrassing moments, and the meanest thing we ever did to a sibling.

Even if you can't come join in the fun on the 19th live, please join the facebook event page and follow along!

In the meantime, mark your calendars, and if you haven't read THE SUMMER OF LETTING GO yet, please preorder the paperback! Here's just some of the praise the book has garnered since its release last spring:

And even though the paperback doesn't officially release until March 31, preorders really do an author's heart and book lots of good. So please tell your coworkers and friends. Heck, tell strangers. Who can't use a little Summer right about now?

xox gae