I promised some writing news, and here it is!

This is Book 1 of BEEN THERE, DONE THAT, a forthcoming collection for young readers. From the BEEN THERE, DONE THAT website:

2013 has skidded to an end so fast that I know I’ll be writing the wrong year on checks (yes, I still use checks) for weeks — or, if I’m honest, months — to come.

It’s been a year of massive revisions and small beginnings.  I started a new play (yeah, I’m surprised too), wrote the first several chapters of a new MG trilogy, revised THE BOOKS OF ELSEWHERE, VOLUME FIVE: STILL LIFE, edited some short stories, dug back into an old MG stand-alone, and rewrote the lumbering YA project for the eighth time, longhand, and am just now typing it in its nearly (I think…) finished form.

I appear to have written just four poems this year, which makes it the least poetic year of my life since 6th grade.  I wrote zero new short stories, which saddens and surprises me, but I should be back in the short story saddle soon.  I saw one novel published — THE BOOKS OF ELSEWHERE, VOLUME FOUR: THE STRANGERS — in July, and an anthology — STARRY-EYED: 16 STORIES THAT STEAL THE SPOTLIGHT — released in October, and I completed a novel — and series — with VOLUME FIVE: STILL LIFE.  I’m looking forward to some new adventures and some fresh starts in 2014. Lots more news on those fronts soon.

Between revisions, travel, and school visits, I plowed through about a third of the books that had been waiting in increasingly dusty piles all around my house.  Here’s 2013’s reading list.  As before, titles in bold are rereads, and asterisks denote books that Ryan and I read aloud together.

THE MARRIAGE OF STICKS – Jonathan Carroll
ARCADIA – Lauren Groff
*CINDER – Marissa Meyer
THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET – Brian Selznick
THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD – Charles Dickens
ROMMEL DRIVES ON DEEP INTO EGYPT – Richard Brautigan
STUPID FAST – Geoff Herbach
HOW TO BE A WOMAN – Caitlin Moran
AMERICAN ISIS: THE LIFE AND ART OF SYLVIA PLATH – Carl Rollyson
UNDERWORLD – Don DeLillo
TOM’S MIDNIGHT GARDEN – Phillipa Pearce
A GATE AT THE STAIRS – Lorrie Moore
LAURA LAMONT’S LIFE IN PICTURES – Emma Straub
ODD GIRL OUT: THE HIDDEN CULTURE OF AGGRESSION IN GIRLS – Rachel Simmons
ALABASTER: WOLVES – Caitlin R. Kiernan
OUT OF THE EASY – Ruta Sepetys
TOUCHING FROM A DISTANCE: IAN CURTIS AND JOY DIVISION – Deborah Curtis
HOCUS POCUS – Kurt Vonnegut
THE BLOODY CHAMBER AND OTHER TALES – Angela Carter
NEW ORLEANS STORIES: GREAT WRITERS ON THE CITY – Andrei Codrescu, ed.
THIRTEEN REASONS WHY – Jay Asher
PRODIGAL SUMMER – Barbara Kingsolver
THE FLORABAMA LADIES’ AUXILIARY AND SEWING CIRCLE – Lois Battle
MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY – Winnifred Watson
A PROUD TASTE FOR SCARLET AND MINIVER – E.L. Konigsberg
STORYVILLE, NEW ORLEANS – Al Rose
NUTCRACKER OF NUREMBERG  – Donald E. Cooke
A GOOD HARD LOOK – Ann Napolitano
STIFF – Mary Roach
WHITE TEETH – Zadie Smith
THE PENDERWICKS – Jeanne Birdsall
A WRITER’S GUIDE TO EVERYDAY LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AGES – Sherrilyn Kenyon
*THE HOBBIT – J.R.R. Tolkien
AN EXALTATION OF LARKS – James Lipton
SHIPBREAKER – Paolo Bacigalupi
THE CLOISTER WALK – Kathleen Norris
THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN – Simon Winchester
TRUMAN CAPOTE – George Plimpton
SLOUCHING TOWARDS BETHLEHEM – Joan Didion
*LET’S EXPLORE DIABETES WITH OWLS – David Sedaris
THE SHADOW OF THE WIND – Carlos Ruis Zafon
BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY – Ruta Sepetys
MIDNIGHT MAGIC – Avi
DE PROFUNDIS AND OTHER WRITINGS – Oscar Wilde
FOUNDING MOTHERS: WOMEN OF AMERICA IN THE REVOLUTIONARY ERA – Linda Grant DePauw
STAG’S LEAP – Sharon Olds
SAVING CEECEE HONEYCUTT – Beth Hoffman
JOHNNY AND THE DEAD – Terry Pratchett
THE JEDERA ADVENTURE – Lloyd Alexander
BELLS IN WINTER – Czeslaw Milosz
THE RESURRECTIONIST – Jack O’Connell
ADVENTURES IN THE SCREEN TRADE – William Goldman
*THE WITCHING HOUR – Anne Rice
THREATS – Amelia Gray
GOING CLEAR: SCIENTOLOGY, HOLLYWOOD, AND THE PRISON OF BELIEF – Lawrence Wright
DAUGHTER OF HOUNDS – Caitlin R. Kiernan
ZEN IN THE ART OF WRITING – Ray Bradbury
THE FANTASY WORLDS OF PETER S. BEAGLE (LILA THE WEREWOLF, THE LAST UNICORN, COME LADY DEATH, A FINE AND PRIVATE PLACE) – Peter S. Beagle
*A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES – John Kennedy Toole
NO CONTEST: THE CASE AGAINST COMPETITION – Alfie Kohn
*BLINK – Malcolm Gladwell
GUSTAV GLOOM AND THE PEOPLE TAKER  – Adam-Troy Castro
GUSTAV GLOOM AND THE NIGHTMARE VAULT – Adam-Troy Castro
GUSTAV GLOOM AND THE FOUR TERRORS – Adam-Troy Castro
SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES – Ray Bradbury
*OUT OF THE EASY – Ruta Sepetys
*PRIME – Poppy Z. Brite
*THE DARK THIRTY: SOUTHERN TALES OF THE SUPERNATURAL – Patricia C. McKissack
THE BOOKLOVERS GUIDE TO NEW ORLEANS – Susan Larson
ETIQUETTE (1960 edition, orig. 1922) – Emily Post
THE 13 TREASURES – Michelle Harrison
TALES FROM THE HOUSE OF BUNNICULA: INVASION OF THE MIND SWAPPERS FROM ASTEROID 6 – James Howe
THREE TIMES LUCKY – Sheila Turnage
STARRY-EYED: 16 STORIES THAT STEAL THE SPOTLIGHT – Ted Michael/Josh Pultz, ed.
THE BRONTES: CHARLOTTE BRONTE AND HER FAMILY – Rebecca Fraser
ELEANOR & PARK – Rainbow Rowell
SMASHED: STORY OF A DRUNKEN GIRLHOOD – Koren Zailckas
MARCH – Geraldine Brooks
THE ILLUSTRATED MAN – Ray Bradbury
WRONG THINGS – Poppy Z. Brite and Caitlin R. Kiernan
*THE SEX LIVES OF CANNIBALS: ADRIFT IN THE EQUATORIAL PACIFIC – J. Maarten Troost

Not counting much-loved rereads (looking at you, Bradbury and Tolkien), the books that really stuck with me this year are the fascinating GOING CLEAR: SCIENTOLOGY, HOLLYWOOD, AND THE PRISON OF BELIEF, by Lawrence Wright, the un-put-down-able ELEANOR & PARK, by Rainbow Rowell, Peter S. Beagle’s heartbreaking A FINE AND PRIVATE PLACE, Geraldine Brooks’s luminous MARCH, and Lauren Groff’s gorgeous ARCADIA, which is the sort of flawlessly constructed, richly layered, utterly and frighteningly believable book that pulls you into itself and sends you back out into the real world tinted and changed.

Wishing you a 2014 rich with stories, satisfying work, and good surprises.

A snowy night in Red Wing.

Now that it has its own website and Twitter feed (Books these days, she says, in grandmotherly wonder), I can officially spread the word here:

This is STARRY-EYED, a forthcoming anthology from Running Press Kids, and I’ve got a short story in it.

The book is all about the performing arts; essays from performers like Clay Aiken and Lea Salonga and Jesse Tyler Ferguson are intermixed with short stories by the likes of Alex Flinn (Beastly), Kiersten White (Paranormalcy), Claudia Hand (Unearthly)…and me.  Mine’s called “A Midwinter Night’s Dream,” and it’s a twisted little YA piece that I’m actually rather excited about–so if you know any young readers with a love of music and theatre, please point them in our direction.

STARRY-EYED will be released on October 8, but you can already pre-order it from IndieBound here or from Amazon here.  You can add it to your lists on Goodreads and read the first (glowing!) reviews too.

And now, on to the slightly less happy news.

My agent, the utterly fabulous Chris Richman, has decided to leave the agenting world.  He’s setting off on new adventures in PR and Philadelphia, and I’m sure he’ll be just as utterly fabulous at whatever he does next.  (You can read Upstart Crow’s announcement about Chris’s departure here.)  And I’m going to miss him.

Back in 2008, I had been sending out query letters one at a time (exactly what you’re not supposed to do) to literary agents, waiting for months for their it’s-just-not-quite-right-for-us responses, and growing ever more certain that no one was ever going to say yes anyway, when I got an email from Chris.  He was a junior agent at Firebrand Literary, and he had found my submission — the first few chapters of The Shadows — in the slush pile.  And he loved it.

I sent him the rest of the book.  He loved that, too.

I remember his very first phone call, when he offered to represent me and my book.  I paced around and around the kitchen of our old rented farmhouse, clutching the receiver, absolutely overwhelmed with disbelief and terror.  Of course, this was before I learned that Chris was a total Salinger/Vonnegut/Dahl nerd with an encyclopedic knowledge of The Simpsons, just like me.   But I could already tell that my book was in the right hands.

I was Chris’s very first client.  Within a few months, he had five major publishers interested in The Shadows… And that’s how my life changed completely.    I’ll never stop being grateful to him for being one of the very first people to believe in me.

Upstart Crow Literary, the agency where Chris (and I) eventually moved, has been extremely good to me.  This summer I signed on with another Upstart agent, the marvelous Danielle Chiotti.  I know that I’m in good hands once again.

Well, another year is over.  I’m a bit more well-read, a bit more well-traveled, and a bit better at using my cell phone (now I can take photos AND email them to myself!).  Most of my 2012 writing energy was expended on drafting and revising and re-revising Volume Four: The Strangers, re-re-revising the Shakespearean YA project, and embarking on Volume Five.

According to my files, I wrote eight poems this year, but I don’t remember doing it.  (Hmm.)  I also saw my kids’ play, “Under the Bed,” performed.  I wrote/rewrote a couple of short stories and had a few accepted or published by various exciting places (BTW: My odd little story, “Paper Dolls,” is available in the new issue of American Athenaeum: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1480290270/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_9S2Zqb1SWDRRQ).   I also traveled around several parts of the US and got very good at packing a week’s worth of clothes in a weekend-sized suitcase.

And still–for some reason–I feel as though I didn’t get enough done.  But I did manage to read a few books.

Here’s what I accomplished, reading-wise, in 2012:
(Titles in bold are rereads; asterisks mark books that Ryan and I read aloud together)

THE RED AND THE BLACK – Stendhal
* MOCKINGJAY – Suzanne Collins
THE SCRAPBOOK OF FRANKIE PRATT – Caroline Preston
AMERICAN GODS – Neil Gaiman
BREADCRUMBS – Anne Ursu
CHIME – Franny Billingsley
THE NIGHT CIRCUS – Erin Morgenstern
ANGRY HOUSEWIVES EATING BONBONS – Lorna Landvik
* FOOD RULES – Michael Pollan
THE NEW YORK TRILOGY – Paul Auster
THE JOY OF HOBBY FARMING – Michael and Audrey Levatino
THE BIG CRUNCH –  Pete Hautman
OKAY FOR NOW – Gary D. Schmidt
THE PARTICULAR SADNESS OF LEMON CAKE -Aimee Bender
SO MANY BOOKS, SO LITTLE TIME: A YEAR OF PASSIONATE READING – Sara Nelson
THE NAME OF THIS BOOK IS SECRET – Pseudonymous Bosch
THE RED TREE – Caitlin R. Kiernan
REVOLUTIONARY ROAD – Richard Yates
NOTES FROM A SMALL ISLAND – Bill Bryson
THE PARIS WIFE – Paula McLain
LIFE AND DEATH – Andrea Dworkin
WITH OR WITHOUT YOU – Brian Farrey
THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY – Henry James
AMERICAN PIE – Pascale la Draoulec
UNWIND – Neal Shusterman
THRESHOLD – Caitlin R. Kiernan
THE DROWNING GIRL – Caitlin R. Kiernan
GARLIC AND SAPPHIRES – Ruth Reichl
IF ON A WINTER’S NIGHT A TRAVELER – Italo Calvino
A TALE DARK AND GRIMM – Adam Gidwitz
ZIP – Ellie Rollins
ALL THE PRETTY HORSES – Cormac McCarthy
SATURDAY NIGHT: A BACKSTAGE HISTORY OF SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE – Doug Hill and Jiff Weingrad
SURVIVOR – Chuck Palaniuk
* MURDER OF ANGELS – Caitlin R. Kiernan
SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED – Anne Lamott
SOMETHING RISING (LIGHT AND SWIFT)  – Haven Kimmel
THE GLASS CASTLE – Jeannette Walls
LOW RED MOON – Caitlin R. Kiernan
JAZZ – Toni Morrison
LIES (AND THE LYING LIARS WHO TELL THEM) – Al Franken
AN ACCIDENTAL ADVENTURE #1: WE ARE NOT EATEN BY YAKS – C. Alexander London
MAMA MAKES UP HER MIND (AND OTHER DANGERS OF SOUTHERN LIVING) – Bailey White
THE GRAPES OF WRATH –  John Steinbeck
SLEEPING AT THE STARLITE MOTEL – Bailey White
A PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES – Howard Zinn
* RAMBLES AROUND NEW ORLEANS – Roy Blount Jr.
* GONE GIRL – Gillian Flynn
LOOKING FOR ALASKA – John Green
SPARROW ROAD –  Sheila O’Connor
DEAR GENIUS: THE LETTERS OF URSULA NORDSTROM
DANDELION WINE – Ray Bradbury
* DOWN RIVER – John Hart
STANDING IN THE RAINBOW – Fannie Flagg
GEORGIA BOTTOMS – Mark Childress
* MY NEW ORLEANS – Rosemary James
CLOUD ATLAS – David Mitchell
ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD – Kendare Blake
THE SOLACE OF LEAVING EARLY – Haven Kimmel
THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES – Ray Bradbury
CHASING VERMEER – Blue Balliet
LITTLE HOUSE IN THE BIG WOODS – Laura Ingalls Wilder
LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE – Laura Ingalls Wilder
THE MAGUS – John Fowler
BETSY-TACY – Maud Hart Lovelace
BETSY-TACY AND TIB – Maud Hart Lovelace
MONEY – Martin Amis
SAVING GRACE – Lee Smith
THE SINGER – Cathi Unsworth
WONDER – R. J. Palacio
BLUEFISH – Pat Schmatz
WINESBURG, OHIO – Sherwood Anderson
I, CLAUDIUS – Robert Graves
RED CARPETS AND OTHER BANANA SKINS – Rupert Everett
* INSIDE OF A DOG – Alexandra Horowitz
THE FAULT IN OUR STARS – John Green
THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN – Katherine Applegate
BETSY AND TACY GO OVER THE BIG HILL – Maud Hart Lovelace
BETSY AND TACY GO DOWNTOWN – Maud Hart Lovelace
TITHE – Holly Black
ANYA’S GHOST – Vera Brosgol
HEAVEN TO BETSY – Maud Hart Lovelace
MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN – Ransom Riggs
BETSY IN SPITE OF HERSELF – Maud Hart Lovelace
BRINGING UP BÉBÉ – Pamela Druckerman
THE TIGER’S WIFE – Teá Obreht
BETSY WAS A JUNIOR – Maud Hart Lovelace
THE WOLVES OF WILLOUGHBY CHASE – Joan Aiken
KRAMPUS: THE YULE LORD – Brom (not the dog)
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN – Lionel Shriver
* VISITING TOM – Michael Perry

Several of the books I read this year were the ones people raved about–the ones on every bestseller list, the ones mentioned for every award and honor, the ones being made into movies as we speak–and with just a few exceptions, I found myself either disagreeing strongly with the raving people or scratching my head in bafflement.  Among the few I didn’t disagree about are John Green’s THE FAULT IN OUR STARS, which was just as beautiful and as near-perfect as everyone says and CLOUD ATLAS, which not only drew me (slowly but entirely) into its story but dazzled and awed me with its craft.  There are many other special, wonderful books on this year’s list (WITH OR WITHOUT YOU, THE TIGER’S WIFE, THE GLASS CASTLE, OKAY FOR NOW, THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN…), but the ones that really shook me up were THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES — a reread, but one I fell in love with even more deeply this time around — and WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN, which I started before the shooting at Sandy Hook and finished afterward.  Its characterization is brilliant, the questions it raises are  terrifying and fascinating, and the added resonance of current events actually made my hands shake while I turned the pages.

Also, every writer and editor in the world should read the letters of Ursula Nordstrom.

Happy 2013, everybody.  I hope you spend it with good books, good health, and good people.

And here it is:

THE BOOKS OF ELSEWHERE, VOLUME THREE: THE SECOND SPY.

Gorgeous, isn’t it?  Poly Bernatene just keeps making me happier and happier.  Check out the three volumes, all lined up together–

THE SECOND SPY will be released on July 5, 2012.  It’s already available for pre-order from Amazon, but I hope you’ll buy or pre-order it from your favorite local bookstore.  (BTW, Here‘s an interesting blog about one of Amazon’s latest schemes, written by an independent bookstore owner.)  Of course, you could also order a signed copy through my own local bookshop, Best of Times, once the book is released…

When I visit schools, kids often ask me which of my own books is my favorite, and I always say that it’s the one I’m planning to write next, which is still pure dream and excitement and potential, without any flaws in it (yet).  And this is the truth.  But it’s also true that I had a ridiculous amount of fun while writing THE SECOND SPY, and I can’t wait until it’s out there in the world, being read by people I’ve never met.

My copies of the Greek and Catalan translations of THE SHADOWS recently arrived — and here they are, atop my Christmassy tablecloth.

(It’s a wonderfully odd thing not to be able to read a single word of your own book.)

In other fiction news, I’ve just sold a short story, “The Emperor’s Nightingale” (a sort of dystopian/environmental retelling of  Anderson’s fairy tale) to Aoife’s Kiss, and am looking forward to seeing it published next summer.

Tomorrow is the Anderson Center’s Holiday Celebration of the Arts.   I’ll be there from noon to five, signing and selling copies of THE SHADOWS, SPELLBOUND, and CHERMA.  If you’re in the Red Wing area and are looking for unique Christmas gifts, come and visit; the beauty of the Anderson Center itself makes it worth the trip.