searching for a great unexpected.

Listening To: Birmingham by Shovels and Rope. Seriously -- have you heard this band?! So good.
Line Obsession: "Is it possible for home to be a person and not a place?" - Stephanie Perkins, Anna and the French Kiss

Happy Friday, friends! :)

As I mentioned in my last post, I recently had a chance to attend The Southern Festival of Books in Nashvegas. I've pretty much been prancing about the house, making up showtunes about it ever since.

Nashville!!

The whole event was positively magical, bringing in authors from all the different kingdoms of literary awesomeness. Some authors banded together and participated in panel discussions. Some authors utilized solo sessions to talk about their work; what inspired them, what challenged them, and their entire gritty process from spark-of-an-idea to wildfire-of-a-book.

It was inspirational and fun. Next year, I'm planning to rent an RV and park it beside the capitol building so that I can attend the whole thing. Or I might just get a hotel room. Whatever.

This area was full of university presses.
To the right, a tent was set up for people who wanted to share their poetry.
Lots of live music.
And food trucks.
Parnasus was set up just past the stairs,
selling copies of all the authors' books.

While I didn't get to take in quite as many sessions as I'd hoped, one session I was determined to attend was Sharon Creech's talk for her new novel The Great Unexpected.

I wish you could have all been there too (... were you there?!), because I know you would have loved it. And then we could have walked a few blocks to SATCO (through the Zombie Apocalypse!) and chatted over tacos.

These are my observations:

- Sharon Creech is inspired by her readers, and it shows. During her talk, she mentioned a bit about the various kinds of inspiration that kick-started her novels.

But she also said that, ultimately, she's "inspired by kids." This was obvious from the start. Before the session even began, while we were still waiting in the hallway, Sharon Creech was out there too, sitting against the wall and chatting with some of her young fans. And even though she was charming and articulate throughout her talk, she seemed to become particularly excited when she shared snippets of poems that her readers have sent over the years (most poems were churned up thanks to readings of Love That Dog).

Which brings me to ...

- She's great at connecting with her readers both on page and in person. Obviously, she's an extraordinary writer. And I'm pretty sure there wasn't an age group unrepresented in her chat. Her stories might technically be for middle grader readers, but the stories don't seem to know that. :) She's great at connecting to a reader's heart through her writing. But she's great at connecting with people one on one too. Before the event began, I watched one sweet dad walk over with his daughter to say hello. The Dad kept his hands on his daughter's shoulders. The daughter kept her CreechBooks hugged tightly over her heart. She smiled, shyly. I didn't eavesdrop on the conversation, but it looked like Sharon C. easily engaged her in conversation and, undoubtedly, made her feel like the coolest kid in the world for five minutes.

Any time I've ever met an author, or seen an author interacting with readers, I've never been let down by the kindness, warmth, and professionalism. Writers are (in my limited opinion) a savvy bunch.* But there's something about watching children's authors interact with young readers that I find particularly enchanting. I think it's because I know exactly how I would have felt if that had ever happened to me. Middle School was the era when I:

1.) wore lots of airbrushed unicorn sweatshirts and slap bracelets

2.) became a chronic, obsessive booknerd and 

3.) started sharing my writing with people besides my parents and grandparents. I still some have the poems I wrote back then. Most of them are covered with Popples stickers. My middle school poems were love-like-a-dove awesome. (By which I mean: mostly silly but still very fun.)

Even back in The Era of The Glittery Unicorn Shirts, I knew I wanted to be a writer. So meeting an actual *whispers* writer would have been more awesome than Fruit Roll-Ups and Fridays. I think I wrote at least fifteen fan letters to Ann M. Martin, but I was too shy to even mail a letter.

- Sharon Creech understands the weight of her words. I guess that's the best way to describe what I want to say. Explanation: I'm still thinking about that Arthur Levine quote that I shared on here a while back. Do you remember how he said that you never know when you're writing the book that might change someone's life? Obviously, no author can know if he or she is doing that. But Sharon Creech seems dedicated to portraying childhood in a true, sometimes heartbreaking, always wonder-filled kind of way. She said that she remembers that part of her life very vividly. I think it always shows in her books; in the humor, the relationships, and in the fears her characters face. Anybody can glue together the bones of a story, but she gives her stories a heartbeat. There's no way she can know how a book will connect with a reader, but I think she's intentional about giving her readers the absolute best and most beautiful story she can write every time. She clearly loves what she does, and finds lots of joy in the writing process. But there's a seriousness about what she does as well. I like that. 

Other Random Observations:

- She didn't know what the Newbery Medal was when she won for Walk Two Moons. She said that, of course, she'd seen the golden sticker on books that she read with her sons. But she thought it was a stamp of approval that a committee of parents awarded to a bunch of books. When her publisher called, flipping out (obviously), and explained that, in fact, there is only ONE Newbery Medal each year!!!, she said she was in a fog for weeks. She said that winning the Newbery Medal of Honor was her "great unexpected." So sweet. (And such a funny story.)

- This was one of my favorite quotes: "In my books I 'm trying to move from the chaos to calm ... to a place of understanding..."

- I also loved this quote: "I write to take things that were deeply troubling and change them, so I can deal with them." She shared this quote after reading an excerpt from The Great Unexpected. One of the scenes in the novel was inspired by a moment she shared with her brother when he was dying of cancer. It was sweet to hear her share about the actual conversation that happened, and then listen to the way she processed that conversation through her story. (And I love that she was so candid about such a touching, personal moment.) 

- She said that she came up with the idea for The Great Unexpected while doing a classroom talk about another novel. She asked the students how they would feel if they climbed a staircase into a tall tower and discovered something unexpected. And they all gasped and, essentially, said that they'd freak out. She realized they'd all assumed that "unexpected" was a negative thing, and she wondered what it would be like to create characters who discovered a GREAT unexpected, something positive.

- She said that she sometimes has a hard time with revisions. She enjoys drafting a story, because she's still surprised, still figuring out what happens next. But she said that somewhere around the 3rd or 4th revision, she always gets a little bit frustrated. This was all so encouraging to me. Sometimes I assume really truly great writers never have a moment of doubt, and never feel like they'll crackle apart under the self-doubt and fear and frustration. And revisions and re-writing ... oiy. Eventually, I really do enjoy that process. But figuring out where exactly to jump in and start untangling and reworking and reshaping ... I think that's very hard. Knowing that she'd felt that way too gave my heart a little jolt of hope.

- Someone in the audience thanked her for writing so many adult characters in her stories, and for making the adult relationships so real. Sharon C. said that she especially likes to write elderly people into her books. She said that she writes lots of orphans so she can remove the parent-factor and have kids interacting with an older generation. (I love grandparents in stories too.)

- In addition to talking about The Great Unexpected, she talked about some of her other books as well. She shared a bit of what she talks about when she does classroom visits. (She said that students love to see the foreign editions of her books.) She showed pictures - of her grandkids, of the gorgeous view out her office, of each of her books, and of sweet things kids have sent along. She mentioned that, at first, she didn't think she'd like blogging or twitter. But someone (...her editor or agent, maybe) encouraged her to try it, and now she loves both things.

You can find her website here.
Here she is on Le Twitter.
And here's her newest novel.

My favorite souvenir!
 That cover is beautiful.

So, at the risk of sounding like a cornball (as if I ever sound like anything else on this blog), having an opportunity to hear Sharon Creech speak felt like a gift. 

And all week long, I've been thinking about the concept of a "great unexpected." Even though I consider myself a mostly positive person when it comes to other people, I have a tendency to be a real Eeyore about personal issues. Admittedly, I don't like surprises because I assume the "unexpected" will probably be something bad. I don't know what (if anything) propelled that kind of thinking. I can't imagine my seasons of rejection have been any worse than anybody else's. But I do know that negativity is the kind of thing that can become so much a part of you that you don't realize how it effects every single thing you do. (Fact: I am in favor of being a realist; but pessimism and realism are not the same. I think there's such a thing as optimistic realism, don't you?) Life is too short and too sacred to wander around assuming the worst. One of my favorite mottos lately, via Joy's awesome blog, is ATB = Assume The Best. I don't want to face the day with an, "Ugh, what now...?" attitude. I'd rather choose to be positive, embrace the day with a hopeful "Yay! What next...". Because maybe the best day is today and the best days are still ahead. 

And maybe, when I least expected it, something wonderful will sneak in and surprise me. I don't want to miss that. Wearing your heart wide-open is a great way to get it broken, but how else will you catch your great unexpected, right? 

Thanks for being so awesome, Sharon Creech. Please write a thousand more books! :)

Random note: I think I might have recognized a few authors just roaming around. I'll write more about my almost-embarrassing-author-encounter later.

The Nashville Public Library is the most gorgeous library I've ever seen.

Here's my question for y'all (and I'm super excited to see your answers!), what was your favorite book, or who was your author, when you were in middle school? You don't just have to pick one favorite, btw. I'm going to answer in the comments too ... and I have a feeling I'll have a short list. :) Happy weekending to you! 

* Disclaimer: I interned at a small-ish, regional publishing company several years ago. One day, my job was (no joke) to scurry about town and find a place that could make a cardboard cutout of an author. The author wanted her cardboard likeness to prop up at her upcoming book signing, because she thought people might want to have their picture made with the cardboard cutout. Of course, my question was, "...They can't just have their picture made with ... her?" But that was a nonsensical intern question, apparently. Thus, I didn't voice my other suggestion, which was to utilize a Chewbacca cardboard cutout instead. But seriously. Why would you need a cardboard cutout of yourself available at your own singing?! I'm perplexed. So, 99.99% of the time ... authors are a savvy bunch. ;)