Interview: Holly Schindler and her MG novel, THE JUNCTION OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY (Dial/Penguin)

I'm delighted to kick off the blog tour for Holly Schindler's THE JUNCTION OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY, which launches from Dial on February 6th.

Holly Schindler is a critically acclaimed YA author; her debut, A BLUE SO DARK, received a starred review in Booklist, was one of Booklist’s Top 10 First Novels for Youth, and won a silver medal in ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year and a gold medal in the IPPY Awards. THE JUNCTION OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY is her first MG. She can be found working on her next book in her hometown of Springfield, MO (or devouring a plate of Springfield-Style Cashew Chicken, the world’s best writing fuel).

Where to find Holly: Website - Blog - Twitter - Facebook - Smack Dab In the Middle - YA Outside The Lines

Synopsis for THE JUNCTION OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY:

August “Auggie” Jones lives with her Grandpa Gus, a trash hauler, in a poor part of town. So when her wealthy classmate’s father starts the House Beautification Committee, it’s homes like Auggie’s that are deemed “in violation.” Auggie is determined to prove that she is not as run-down as the outside of her house might suggest. Using the kind of items Gus usually hauls to the scrap heap, a broken toaster becomes a flower; church windows turn into a rainbow walkway; and an old car gets new life as spinning whirligigs. What starts out as a home renovation project becomes much more as Auggie and her grandpa discover a talent they never knew they had—and redefine a whole town’s perception of beauty, one recycled sculpture at a time. Auggie’s talent for creating found art will remind readers that one girl’s trash really is another girl’s treasure.

Title: The Junction Of Sunshine And Lucky

Author: Holly Schindler

Publisher: Dial (Feb. 6, 2014)

Age Range: 8-12 yrs / Grade level: 3-7

Editor: Nancy Conescu, Executive Editor for Dial Books / Penguin

Holly's agent: Deborah Warren of East/West Literary Agency

What’s your writing process / what was your writing process for THE JUNCTION OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY?

I’m really lucky—I’ve been a full-time writer since ’01. When I graduated with my master’s, my mom encouraged me to stay home, devote the entirety of my attention to my writing. It had been a lifelong dream, actually. (I was writing stories as a little girl at my bedroom desk!) In the beginning, of course, I thought it’d take a year or so to write a novel, it’d sell (I’d been lucky enough to place a few shorter pieces while in college, and was under the grand delusion that it’d be easy to sell a book), and I’d be off and running.

Oh, the naiveté. In reality, it took seven and a half years to get my first yes. That’s seven and a half years of full-time work. Seven days a week. I worked harder in my “unemployed” years than I ever had in my life.

The first book I sold was for a YA—A BLUE SO DARK. I sold it myself, to Flux, after more than 80 rejections.

THE JUNCTION OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY is my third published book—my first MG. The process was its own long journey…The book was initially drafted in ’05, and will be published February 6, 2014!

Most of my books actually start out with a scenario. A what-if. THE JUNCTION was different, in that it started with characters. The first person I saw was Gus. I swear, I saw him just as clearly as I’ve seen any person I’ve met in life. I felt like I was looking through Auggie’s eyes, straight at her Grandpa. It’s a completely different experience starting with a character and building a conflict and subplots around her. Through the whole thing, you kind of grab hold of this person and brave the world with her…You fall in love with her. When it’s all said and done, you can’t wait for the world to meet her, but you miss her, too—more than you do the characters in the books where you start with scenarios.

How did THE JUNCTION OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY get published?

It was wild, actually—after seven and a half years of full-time effort, I was beginning to feel like all I had to show for my work was a skull-shaped hole in my office where I’d been knocking my head against the wall. In January of ‘09, though, I accepted the deal for my YA with Flux…Not two hours later, I got a call from an agent who was wild about an MG I’d sent her the previous fall. I signed with Deborah Warren of East / West, and she shopped THE JUNCTION while A BLUE SO DARK was in development.

I think most people assume that getting an agent means the doors in the publishing world will automatically fly open, but it took a year and a half to sell THE JUNCTION. I also revised the book multiple times, in-between rounds of submission.

…And once it sold, it also went through still more rounds of revision. That was another real surprise to me, once I started landing deals: how much global revision actually occurs after acquisition. Even after THE JUNCTION was rewritten globally a couple of times, my editor (Nancy Conescu) still felt the themes were competing. We wound up talking over the phone—having a brainstorming session, hashing it out. The book was revised once more; this time, we tackled the book in thirds (the beginning, middle, end). At the end of it, my editor and I were both thrilled with the results.

What advice do you have for aspiring middle grade writers?

DON’T GIVE UP . I know in my own pursuit of publication, I hit a really bad time, right at about four years in. I didn’t realize it at the time, but my frustration was probably tied into the fact that I had this impossible-to-ignore marker that would ring like a gong every year: I started my full-time pursuit the day after I graduated with my master’s. Each graduation season, as caps and gowns paraded across the paper and local news, I’d think—There’s one year gone. Two. Three…I think part of the reason that four years bothered me so much was that it took four years to get through high school. Four years to get my undergrad degree. But at the four year mark during my pursuit of publication, I hadn’t really gotten many “good” rejections (in which editors offered advice). It was a real make-or-break moment.

Obviously, I decided to put my rear in the chair and get back to work. And the first thing I wrote after that decision was the first draft of THE JUNCTION OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY.

…Which brings me to my second bit of advice: DON’T BE BULL-HEADED. Accept the fact that you have a ton to learn. We all do, no matter what stage we’re in—published or not.

When I first wrote THE JUNCTION OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY, it was a picture book. Gus was the artist (not Auggie). In that first version, Auggie’s character didn’t even have a name. We were just looking through her eyes as she told the story of her Grampa Gus, a folk artist.

I got some positive response to the writing in the beginning, but no takers. Editors all told me that the concept of folk art was too advanced for the picture book audience. I was encouraged to turn the book into a MG novel.

It wasn’t the easiest thing to do, to reinvent a 1,000-word story as a roughly 45,000-word novel. But those editors said were right—the concept was too advanced for a picture book. So I plunged in. Even after I’d made the switch, though, I still had to find my agent, and after I got my agent, I still had to revise multiple times.

You’ve got to be willing to listen. You’ve got to be willing to put in the work. And then start over again, even when you think you’ve got the book nailed.

But here’s the beauty of it: Every single book is revised once it’s acquired. If you get the revision part down pre-acquisition, you’ll have a much easier time receiving editorial letters when your first book is in development.

What are you working on now? Any other upcoming events or other info you’d like to share?

I’m working on my next MG, of course, but I’m also happy to announce that my next YA, FERAL, is in development with HarperCollins! I’ll be making announcements regarding that novel (including a cover reveal and release date info) on my blog soon: hollyschindler.blogspot.com.

…If you’re interested in getting in on blog tours, or if you’re a teacher or librarian and are interested in Skype visits, be sure to contact me at writehollyschindler (at) yahoo (dot) com.

Where to find out more about Holly and her work:

Twitter: @holly_schindler

Facebook: facebook.com/hollyschindlerauthor

Author site: hollyschindler.com

Author blog: hollyschindler.blogspot.com

Holly is also the administrator of two group author blogs: Smack Dab in the Middle (smack-dab-in-the-middle.blogspot.com) for MG authors, and YA Outside the Lines ( yaoutsidethelines.blogspot.com) for YA authors.

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For more interviews, see my Inkygirl Interview Archive.

Comic: Time Vampires, Freelance Life and Finding Focus

Productivity tip: Use AwayFind to stop checking email so often

I mentioned earlier that I'd be sharing any tips and tools I've been using to help me focus. One of the biggest discoveries I made last year is a service called AwayFind.

I used to check email obsessively throughout the day. At first it was because I didn't want to miss anything important that came in, but then I realized that even if I wasn't expecting anything super-urgent, I'd STILL regularly (as in at least a few times an hour, sometimes more often) check my email, no matter what else I was doing.

It was only after I started timing myself, seeing how long I could work before I checked email, that I had to admit I had a real problem. The action of frequent email-checking was so automatic that it happened without conscious effort, making it impossible for me to sustain focus for more than a very short time. Gah.

The brilliance of Awayfind: You can set up a list of email addresses and get alerts when mail arrives from any of them. You can even customize these alerts, to avoid getting alerted for groupmails, etc. I added agent's address, for example, as well as other important work-related contacts.

There are different pricing plans, but you can try out the Personal and Pro for 30 days for free. I ended up opting for the Pro account.

End result? I no longer feel compelled to check email so often, giving me more distraction-free time to focus.

You can check out Awayfind yourself: http://www.awayfind.com

(and no, I'm not getting any affiliate fee for this recommendation)

Do you have another productivity tool to recommend? Feel free to post below!

How To Create and Write A Book In (Yes I said IN) Minecraft, plus Minecraft and literacy

Visiting Gaming Edus, a Minecraft server for educators and students; thanks to children's book author & educator Liam O'Donnell for the invite. Everyone's been super-helpful, and one of the students even built me a small stone home complete with helpful signs! You can find out more about GamingEdus here: http://www.gamingedus.org

When I was visiting with my nephews on Christmas Day, they introduced me to Minecraft. I had been aware of the game before, of course, but wasn't that impressed with the blocky graphics. Plus I had assumed it was mainly a hunt-and-shoot type of game, which didn't appeal to me that much.

But my mom-in-law had given my sis-in-law a copy of The Minecraft Guide For Parents, and while idly flipping through some of the pages, I realized that maybe there was more to the game than I had previously thought. Since then, I've also discovered that more schools are starting to bring Minecraft into the classroom (see my list of resources at the end of this post).

So far, I'm finding Minecraft more appealing than Second Life. Although the graphics are chunky, the benefit is that everything's super-fast, with no complex rendering needed. The blocky graphics have a charm of their own, and building things with them remind me of the childhood fun I used to have with Lego. (Side note: I have no idea if Lego tried to buy Minecraft but if they didn't, they should have.)

In addition to giving me another way of connecting with my nephews, it's also (depending on the server) a much more family-friendly environment than Second Life. I've already run into some parents who play Minecraft online WITH their kids.

Over the holidays, I was also invited to check out the GamingEdus Minecraft server by children's book author and educator Liam O'Donnell. With support of the EDGE Lab at Ryerson University, the GamingEdus project was founded as a way to introduce other educators to the learning potential of videogames, through the Minecraft, with a focus on equity, diversity, inclusion and student-led, inquiry-based learning.

To parents and educators who are skeptical about the potential benefits of Minecraft: I strongly encourage you to check out Liam's posts about how he uses Minecraft in the classroom, especially for students who need reading and writing support.

But back to making books...

There are many different aspects of Minecraft, including player-vs-player interactions, but the part that appeals to me the most is crafting: seeking out resources and putting them together to create other items. You can grow and harvest plants, hunt, mine for minerals, raise sheep for wool, create dyes to color that wool as well as glass. You can even create paintings, though currently any created painting becomes one of 26 canvases by artist Kristoffer Zetterstrand. Hopefully someday the Minecraft people will will let us create our own.

But look above! I recently discovered that not only can players create books, but they can write in these books and then give them to others. (An aside: you can't take items with you from one world into another, so you'd need to create the book in the same world in which you plan to use it.)

Before reading further, you should also be warned that the only way to create books in Minecraft is to kill some virtual creatures. And if you're an author reading this just to figure out a way of promoting your book to the Minecraft crowd, you may as well skip the rest of this post. 

[Edit January 13, 2014: Liam O'Donnell has pointed out that you can skip the crafting part and go straight into the writing part if you play in Creative Mode.]

For those of you who have kids who play Minecraft or who enjoy playing Minecraft yourself, keep reading...

I'm still in the midst of creating my own writeable book in Minecraft. Why am I doing it? Because I love Minecraft AND I love books, and cannot resist the challenge. In theory, a written book created in Minecraft can contain up to 50 pages, with up to 256 characters per page. You can paste text but currently can't edit/select text. You can read the tech overview on the Minecraft Gamepedia, but here's a basic overview:

You can get feathers by killing chickens:

You get ink sacs by killing Squid:

But you also need a Book, which is created with Paper and Leather:

You can get leather from killing cows or horses (I KNOW I KNOW! I did warn you), and paper from sugar cane:

You can also use paper for making maps as well. Anyway, here's my sugar cane crop:

The wooden blocks cover an underground irrigation system I set up, since sugar cane will only grow beside water.

SUMMARY:

Yes, it's a long and involved process to create a book in Minecraft. But for me, at least, it's part of the gameplay and I'm enjoying it thoroughly. I'm also hugely curious about redstone dust, which can be used to create power circuits and operate mechanism components. One of my nephews tells me that it's possible to make a simple computer in Minecraft. Lots of potential for creative fun in the future and whoa, so many potential creative learning experiences for young people.

Related Resources:

Messy Learning With Minecraft - by children's book author and educator, Liam O'Donnell 

GamingEdus - Includes Minecraft Resources For Educators and Five Ways Minecraft Can Boost Student Writing Skills

MinecraftEdu

Minecraft.net - Official site

Book: The Minecraft Guide For Parents by Cori Dusmann (PeachPit Press, Dec/2013). The Indiebound entry doesn't seem to have much info, unfortunately, but there's more on the Amazon.com book page. I bought the Kindle version. Includes basics of how to install, set up and play the game.

Happy New Year's! Plus thoughts on New Year's Resolutions, time management and finding focus

 Above: Quickie sketch experiment -- First I did the ink drawing by hand using a Pentel Pocket Pen Brush on sketchbook paper. Then I scanned it, imported into Photoshop, and digitally colored the drawing.

Happy New Year's, all! Apologies for the hiatus. Between the Toronto ice storm (we were one of the households that lost power) and work (auditioning for a veryveryvery cool book-related project; please cross your fingers for me!), I didn't have time to do much blogging.

For 2014, I've decided not to post any specific resolutions except for one: Strive for focus. 

Those of you who have been following my various blogs over the years already know that I have a wide variety of creative interests. Some come and go while others have remained constant. My challenge: there are WAY too many things I want to do and learn to do well, but not enough time. Plus I tend to be prone to the "ooo shiny" reaction when I come across cool and inspiring things. Which, um, is often.

This year, I have a pretty intense work schedule in terms of book writing and illustration work. I'm very excited about it all and want to find ways to be more productive. Don't get me wrong: I strongly believe in the importance of CREATIVE PLAYTIME, but I also think that I have way too many creative playtime interests at present. 

This year, rather than try to do them all and just feel frustrated and scattered, I'm going to deliberately cut back on my usual "going to find time to do more xxxx this year" goals as well as cutting back on related Physical Stuff.

Like:

SEWING STUFF - Back in 2008, I decided to learn how to use a sewing machine and a serger (I won the latter in a raffle and had no idea what it was at first), learn how to sew my own clothes, make all kinds of cool sewing thingies, blah di blah blah. Years later, I am having to admit to myself that I simply Don't Have Time. So I just gave away my serger, dressmaking form, and am also giving away most of my sewing notions, extra fabric, and throwing out all the partly-finished projects I abandoned a while back. Keeping my one simple sewing machine, though. :-)

CRAFT STUFF - I am a craft supplies addict, I admit it, and am inexorably drawn to the sales at local craft shops. I have accumulated jewelry-making notions, beads, glues, rubber stamps, inks, different types of paint, scrapbook stuff, glitter etc. etc. over the years. To make more room for my sketchbooks, drawing materials, mini photo studio (a Christmas gift from Jeff, for my found art doodles), higher-end printer, watercolors and other materials more directly related to my current work, I am also giving away boxes of other craft stuff.

I did a huge office purge over the holidays, and am pretty happy with the result so far.

Next step: Reduce my online clutter and distractions to improve focus and productivity. I've already found some great tools and tips, and will be sharing this over the coming year, in case it helps anyone else. 

Anyone else have a New Year's Resolution they'd like to share? Or tip on focusing?