It was great fun to participate in the Delacorte Dames and Dude (DDD) panel discussion at BookPeople today. The topic was “Everything You Wanted to Know about YA Lit But Were Afraid to Ask.” Author Sarah Bird was our lovely moderator. Members of the DDD are all published by Delacorte Press, Random House and live in Austin. From right to left are: Margo Rabb, Jennifer Ziegler, Varian Johnson, April Lurie, and Me.

Before we all took our seats at the table, I told the Delacorte Dames and Dude (DDD) that the reason my eyes are puffed out like plums is because I have an allergy to mangoes, and I touched a mango just the other day. (No, I didn’t know I had the allergy at the time.)

The Delacorte Dames and Dudes started in like a Greek Chorus: “Oh, you can’t tell in the slightest.” And “No one would ever guess in a million billion years!” After becoming thoroughly convinced, I decided not to let my hair fall in front of my eyes like I had originally planned. I pulled it back in a barrette instead.

Even though I was finally looking back to normal, I wanted to go ahead with my planned public service announcement, so after the introductions I told the audience, “In case anyone’s wondering, I’m recovering from a mango allergy.” Honestly, after the sweet reassurances from my co-panelists, I knew no one could actually spot a trace of the reaction on my face anymore. But you know how people take up whatever cause they’ve been scarred by? My new cause is mangoes! I want people to know that you can really be allergic to this seductive little fruit—not just the orange flesh but the skin—so you better watch out!

With that out of the way, the five of us on the panel had a good old time discussing everything from submissions, to editing, to marketing for YA lit. We talked about how to find an agent and how subjective the acquisitions process is. And we discussed swear words and sex in books for young readers.

Well, it wasn’t two minutes after the discussion ended that I was rushed by a half dozen friends who came to inquire as to my well being. “Oh, I’m so glad you said it was the mangoes. I was worried you were in a wreck!” “I thought you’d been crying all day.” And “I was so relieved to hear you look terrible for a reason” or something to that effect.

While Delacorte Dames and Dude are some of the best people on the planet, take it from me, you can’t believe a word they say!

You can catch the DDD at the Writer’s League of Texas Conference. Our panel will be held June 27th, 10:15am.

Photo Credit: Donna Bratton

Last week I spoke to the Austin Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. My talk was about how to build a world that readers will believe and won’t want to leave. At the end, I mentioned how I hired tween editors to help me with A Thousand Never Evers. There were many questions, so I thought I’d elaborate here:

When I was teaching sixth grade, I got a grant from a local education foundation to hire a half dozen of my former students to read and critique the first draft of my book.

Now I know editors aren’t fond of hearing that children—the students you grade or the children you feed and clothe every day—like what you wrote. “Of course they’re going to love it!” the thinking goes. And that’s probably correct.

In my case, I hired my former students. I begged them to be honest and promised them they wouldn’t hurt my feelings. I meant it. Then I trained them to critique me.

First, we reviewed the basic elements of fiction, as well as a handout I put together called “Questions to Ask Myself As I Read.” Then I gave each tween editor the entire manuscript in a 3-ring binder, along with Post-It Notes, a colored pen, and this letter.

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During the past few months, I’ve had the honor of meeting with thousands of students to discuss everything from civil rights to reading and writing.

I recently returned from a visit to Foley Middle School in Foley, Alabama. Foley is on the Gulf Shores, just a few miles from some of the most gorgeous beaches I’ve ever seen!

Over two days, I met with the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students in groups of about 200 for a presentation called Civil Rights Now and Then. We examined what has changed since the civil rights movement and the distance still to go.

Foley Middle School is lucky enough to have one of those librarians who dreams up everything and anything to get kids reading and writing. Just to give you an idea of what I mean, librarian Sue Norman keeps a cotton candy machine in the library for special book events! And for my visit, she created beautiful invitations to my writing workshops that teachers delivered to select students.

In one workshop, The Power of a Question, we talked about how writers need to ask excellent questions to uncover information from sources. I shared details of the interviews I did when researching my book, and then we practiced what we learned by playing a game that left us all laughing. In another workshop called From Seed to Story, we uncovered tricks of the trade for developing great story ideas.

Not only did I have a wonderful time meeting students and teachers at Foley, but I had one of the highlights of my writing career: Sneaking into the back of firecracker educator Celeste Gill’s classroom as she taught my book, A Thousand Never Evers. Thank you, Ms. Gill.

And a huge thank you to my host, librarian Sue Norman, who truly rolled out the red carpet!

The Texas Book Festival was incredible. Seriously!

Before the event opened to the public, there were a variety of parties and activities so that authors and moderators could meet and mingle. I went to the tour of the LBJ Library, but as soon as I met David Ebershoff and Paula Yoo, I dropped poor LBJ like a hot potato. I mean, he’s not really that interesting compared to this:

David, author of The 19^th Wife, told me about how he spent four years shuttling between his home in New York and Utah, where he researched polygamy for his highly-acclaimed book.

And when someone asked the tour guide whether it was legal for LBJ’s staff to tape his telephone conversations, author Paula Yoo was fully equipped with the answer. Come to find out, Paula not only released a novel for young readers titled Good Enough, but also wrote for the hit TV show The West Wing.

The next day, Saturday, the Texas Book Festival was officially underway. Let me tell you, it was truly an honor to sit on a panel with Shelia P. Moses, author of Joseph and several other award-winning novels, and Austin’s own Varian Johnson, author of My Life as a Rhombus.

The topic of the panel was how we create protagonists different from ourselves. Our thought-provoking moderator was Don Tate, a children’s book illustrator. Don posted a detailed account of our panel discussion on his blog.

The next day, Sunday, I raced out of the house bright and early. I wanted to make sure to get a good seat to hear Kathi Appelt, a beloved Texas author whose book The Underneath was recently nominated for the National Book Award. Kathi and I had a chance to chat before her session, and I immediately understood the buzz –not just about the book but about Kathi.

During her session, Kathi made several excellent points about writing, but if there’s just one I’ll remember years from now, it’ll be this: Writers are like crows. We fly around looking for the shiniest objects we can find. We bring them back to our nests and weave them into our stories. How beautiful! How true!

After the talk, I went out to the children’s tent where I finally got my own signed copy of Kathi’s book. While there, I saw fellow Austinite author Philip Yates working diligently to sign A Pirate’s Night Before Christmas for a long line of folks.

Then my husband and son met me in the Children’s Entertainment Tent, where we listened to the most rocking band—I’m not kidding—Super Pal Universe. All the band member are in middle school or high school. There were a hoard of three to five-year-olds grooving in the mosh pit up front. In between songs, band members took turns reading to the audience from P.D. Eastman’s famous picture book, Are You My Mother?

Without a doubt, this year’s Texas Book Festival offered something for everyone, big and small. A huge thanks to Clay Smith, the Festival’s organizer, and the legions of volunteers who came out to make sure everything ran smooth as butter.