just another bronx girl

I know, I know. I'm been AWOL from LiveJournal again. But this time I have a good reason! I've been busy traveling and having guests visit me here in Basel.

First I went to Berlin. I share a house here with an artist who was having a show there, so I used that as a perfect opportunity to get to see the city.

There's art everywhere in Berlin:



And a cool world clock:



And some guy posing for pictures at what used to be Checkpoint Charlie:




When I got back from Berlin, Scott and Justine visited me as part of their six week/six country European adventure! We had a lot of fun exploring the metropolis of Basel (well, that only took about 45 minutes!), but it was great seeing some familiar faces from back home. Here we are on my block!




The day after Scott and Justine left, Mama Booth and Aunt Juliette arrived. Here they are at the Rhine:


(Aunt Juliette & my mommy)


A couple of days later my friend Angela came to Basel and we all took off on our own little mini-European adventure. We took the train from Basel to Paris. It was my second time being in Paris, but since it was everyone else's first time there, I got stuck doing all the touristy things:


(me at the Eiffel Tower)

After Paris, we took the Eurostar train to London. It was my first time in London, and what I discovered is that the English love their creepy castles:


(The Tower of London)

and their big clocks:


(Big Ben)

It's a beautiful city, but it made me miss New York!

After we had seen all London had to offer, Angela and I were off to Rome. (Yes, we ditched my mom and aunt in London!)

Ahhh, Roma! Now that's my kind of city. Wow! I still can't believe I saw the Sistine Chapel! And yes, my friend took pictures even though there were signs and warnings everywhere that pictures were not allowed.






And here I am at The Vatican in front of Saint Peter's Basilica:



Rome is now one of my favorite places! I mean, the art, the food, the architecture, the food -- oops, did I say food already?

Ha ha.


Well, I'm back in Basel now and back to writing. Vacation is over -- for real this time!

Oh yeah, without further ado, here's the cover to KENDRA!




:-)

The podcast I recorded with Randy Cohen, AKA "The Ethicist," is now up on the New York Times website and on iTunes. Here's a quick link.

Recording this podcast was, as they say in Switzerland, ZUPER! I don't really like the sound of my own voice, though, so of course I cringed whenever he played it back for me. I was like, "Do I really sound like that???"

But I guess I do. I have to accept that!

A few years ago I tried my hand at being a voice-over "actress," but I ended up converting every bit of commercial copy I received into a "sistah-girl" kind of woman, kind of like the black woman from the Pine Sol commercial. I would take the most boring copy and record it like, "Girl, let me tell you, you need to get yourself Quaker Oats, know what I'm sayin'?"

Needless to say, my "career" never quite took off! Ha ha.

But I'm on the New York TImes today!!! Take that, Pine Sol lady!!! ;-)


(Zuper-cool Randy Cohen & me)

I saw this quiz on E. Lockhart's blog today. So I wondered, what kind of New Yorker am I?

I'm not so sure about the results though. I mean, really, why do I have to be a Hood Rat? That ain't even right! Know what I'm sayin'?
Ha ha.
:-)

It's my birthday and I'm back in the Bronx for a little vacation. My second book KENDRA is finally finished, so this is a much-needed break from writing. Really.

For my birthday, I'm going out to lunch with my editor and friend David Levithan. Then I'll be off to meet Randy Cohen, AKA The Ethicist from The New York Times. (I'm really excited about meeting him and getting to record the podcast version of his weekly column!) Then my whole family will take me out to dinner. (Our family birthday dinners are usually extremely chaotic and LOUD! I have five nieces and nephews between the ages of 2 and 10... Need I say more?)

Then tomorrow I'm going to see Spring Awakening with my friends Leslie and Faith. I've really been looking forward to seeing this musical, especially since I love the soundtrack so much. (Truth be told, I'm a major Broadway junkie!!!!)

So I'm very thankful to be back in the U.S. with my friends and family. And to be home for Easter, too!

It should be a great birthday weekend!!!
:-)

As part of the ALAN Book Club, I will be doing my very first online author chat tonight at 9PM EST. Of course I am both excited and filled with anxiety about this.

Why the anxiety, you ask? (You did ask, didn't you?)

Well, the first reason is I'm a little insecure about my typing speed and my spelling. Spelling has never been my strong suit! I use that little dictionary program that came with my MacBook ALL THE TIME! So I'm hoping I don't completely embarrass myself tonight.

(And yes, I did just look up the spelling of "embarrass" in the dictionary. Ha ha!)

The other reason for my anxiety is I'm afraid I will be sleeping during my author chat. 9PM EST is 3AM Swiss-time and I'm sooo nervous that I will fall asleep and miss the whole thing. I thought about taking a nap, but what if I don't wake up in time? So I might just try to stay awake and see what kind of answers I come up with in my sleep-deprived state. If nothing else, they should be interesting!

So please click on the ALAN website and chat with me tonight... if I'm awake!!!
:-)

I'm still in the middle of heavy-duty writing and revising (thus my absence from LJ), but I wanted to let everyone know that my interview on The Brown Bookshelf is up today. The Brown Bookshelf has been spending February (Black History Month) spotlighting authors and illustrators of children's and YA literature, people of color who are doing their thing and creating wonderful books.

I've been reading the interviews and I'm kind of embarrassed that I haven't heard of every author or illustrator before. And that's the beauty of this kind of campaign. Bringing awareness. So if you haven't been checking out The Brown Bookshelf this month, all of the interviews are still up, and maybe you'll be introduced (as I have) to some new people and new books!

But before I go, let me give a shout-out to two of my friends and fellow Longstockings who have brand-spankin'-new books out this month: Lisa Graff for her second novel, The Life and Crimes of Bernetta Wallflower (hilarious!) and Siobhan Vivian for her debut, A Little Friendly Advice (captivating!)

So please check 'em out! :-)

64 words

I always thought I typed about 35-40 words per minute at the most! Yes, I'm pretty fast sometimes, but I make tons of errors that I have to go back and fix. Learning how to type back in seventh grade was the worst! All of that "fff space jjj space" nonsense! Ugh. But I'm glad I learned. In college I made a fortune (a dollar per page!) typing my dorm mates papers. And that was big bucks back then! :-)

Recently, I thought about buying one of those dictation-typing thingies, but I don't think I could actually write like that. It would feel kind of weird, I think. Even though I write in a very "in-the-character's-head" type of first person, there's still a difference between talking and writing. So, typing is still the best way to get the story written!

The only thing is, now that I know I type a whopping 64 words per minute, I realize I should have finished my book a long time ago!

Isn't Basel beautiful at Christmas?


(Christmas shopping on Freie Strasse)


(The church on Barfüsserplatz)


(The view from the Rhine)

I was planning to stay in Basel for the holidays, but I received a gift -- frequent flyer miles! -- so I was able to come home to be with Mama Booth and the family. Today we will finish decorating the house (and try to figure out a way to keep the lights from falling off the window!) Ahhh, the joys of the season!

Frohe Weihnachten to you all!!!

I'm back in the U.S. -- well, just for a little while. I'm here to attend the NCTE Convention this weekend where I'll be speaking on a panel with Alan Sitomer and Walter Dean Myers!

If you're going to be at NCTE, check us out tomorrow morning:
Boys & Books: Three Acclaimed Young Adult Authors Share Their Strategies for Engaging Teens and Advancing Authentic Literacy Skills for the 21st Century
Jacob Javits Convention Center – Room 1E19, Level 1

I'll also be signing copies of TYRELL at the Scholastic Booth (#510) from 11:00 - noon.

In anticipation of this panel, I've been thinking a lot about boys and books lately. Why don't more teenage boys read? As writers, is there more we can do to engage them in literature? What's missing in the canon of YA books?

I wrote TYRELL with reluctant readers in mind, and it's so good to get e-mails from boys who tell me that they hardly ever read -- that they'd rather be hanging out than reading -- but they started reading TYRELL and actually finished it! Then they ask me when the sequel will be out!
:-)

Greg Neri (gneri) put together a wonderful list of "boy books" on his website. There's even a section on graphic novels. Every time I go to the bookstore, that's the section where all the teenage boys (and girls) are camped out... reading!

Hope to see all of you NCTE-ers tomorrow!

Man, oh, man. What can I say about life in Switzerland so far?

Well, the truth is, there's too much to say, but I'll try to keep it simple.

This place is breathtaking!!!


(me on a bridge over the rhine)

I only arrived about a week and a half ago, not when I was originally scheduled to get here. The two weeks before I left were very, very difficult due to two deaths in my family. So I decided to push my trip back so I could stay home with everyone a little longer.

Now that I'm here, I guess I've just been trying to settle in and figure things out. Oh yeah, and write!!! I don't yet have the luxury of being a real tourist since I have a deadline, so I've just been staying close to home, writing in coffee shops and libraries. Well, I haven't been all that dedicated. I have gotten out a bit, hanging out with a new friend who is a grad student here in town. We've gone to an art show and a couple of clubs, which were fun and a great way to meet people in a new country!

Basel is really, really beautiful. And as my friend siobhan_says_so says, I seem to have found the place on Earth that is the exact opposite from the Bronx! The streets here are ridiculously clean and there doesn't seem to be any crime. People ride their bikes everywhere, and just leave them in front of stores or restaurants without locking them. They even leave store bags in the bike's basket, and their stuff is still there when they get back! And nobody locks the doors to their homes or their cars. (Now that would be unheard of in the Bronx!)


(my new block)

Last week I opened up a Swiss bank account. (I thought it would be a whole lot cooler and mysterious than it actually was. It turns out, though, that Swiss banks are just like any other normal bank. They're not even all that secretive!)


(colorful swiss francs with pictures of miserable-looking people on 'em)

The shopping here is okay, even though I haven't yet found a clothing store for, let's say, voluptuous women!!! (Which is kind of good because I don't need any clothes anyway.) Most of the people here are thin and fit despite the fact that in every supermarket there are rows and rows of Swiss chocolate. I mean, you would think chocolate was another food group or something. I've never seen anything like it! My favorite so far: the new Toblerone Fruit & Nut bar. Yum!

The only thing I really miss about the U.S. (besides my family, friends and writing group, of course) is American TV. The television here is really awful. I mean, who could sit and watch somebody play pool? Ugh. Here there are lots of game shows I can't make sense out of and sappy Lifetime-esque movies with crying women. So what do I end up watching? American shows from two years ago that have been dubbed in German, which I don't understand at all. But I tell you, if you've never seen Ice-T (from Law and Order: SVU) speak in dubbed German, you don't know what you're missing!!! Hee hee.

All in all, I'm extremely grateful to be here! (I'll write more soon...)


(the rhine)

Yes, I know I've been AWOL for a long time (a fact that's been brought to my attention by both sarazarr and gneri), so I thought I'd pop in here to say hi. :-)

Part of the reason I've been absent here is because I was away last week on a seven-day cruise with my family. We went to Bermuda (AKA the hottest place on earth) and I came back with a vicious sunburn (which I didn't really think black people even got!) The cruise was great though. Lots o' fun and relaxation. Lots o' delicious food. I'm sure I gained five pounds (even though I've refused to get on the scale and find out for sure... just in case I gained more!)

Now, I'm back home and I'm overwhelmed and highly stressed because I'm leaving for Switzerland in TEN DAYS!!!

Man, trying to move to the other side of the world is hard work. Right now I'm surrounded by boxes and clothes and books and STUFF! I'm trying to decide what I need to take and what I can store at Mama Booth's house. And I'm trying to use this as a good opportunity to de-clutter and donate books and clothes and STUFF to worthy organizations. It's all a little too much.

But I'm really really excited about this move. I've been in contact with the people at Laurenz Haus (where I'll be doing my residency) and everything seems to be falling into place smoothly. I've gotten photos of the house that I'll be sharing with a visual artist from the UK. The house (haus?) is very cute. Simple and spacious. I'll have my own floor, and I'll share the living room and kitchen with my housemate. Sounds good. I just need to actually get there!

In other news, I have a short essay in the September/October issue of The Horn Book. They asked a whole bunch of authors to write on the topic of "boys and girls" and how our gender influenced our writing. I wrote about wanting to grow up to be the "black Judy Blume." Ha ha. Some of the writers who participated are: John Green, Cecil Castellucci, M.T. Anderson, Lisa Yee, Emily Jenkins, David Levithan, and many, many more! You can read some of the essays online, but you gotta buy the magazine to read mine!

And there's still more news: TYRELL is now available in paperback! YAY!!!

Okay, let me get back to packing...

Have a nice weekend! :-)

clipped from www.jimmyr.com Funny Student Exam Answers

I spent last week in Detroit attending the NAACP National Convention. I'm involved with a wonderful program they sponsor called ACT-SO, which stands for the Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological, Scientific Olympics! Whew!

The program is intended for high school students of color. It was founded in 1978 by a Chicago journalist Vernon Jarrett (who was just the greatest man ever!) after noticing that smart and talented African American students were not receiving as many accolades as their athletic peers, and he wanted to do something to reinforce and reward those students who work hard in school and show great promise. There are 25 categories in ACT-SO, everything from science to humanities to art to entrepreneurship. It's really great!

ACT-SO is in just about every city in the country, including Alaska and Hawaii. Some cities have bigger programs than others, though. In NYC, we have mentors for all 25 categories, and the teens spend Saturdays with us working on their projects. (I mentor the Essay and Short Story categories.) When their projects are completed (usually the day before the local competition!) the students compete, and the gold medalists from NYC travel to nationals where they compete against all the other local gold medalists. I can't tell you how good it feels to be around these kids. It's so much fun supporting them as they prepare for their BIG MOMENT in front of the judges!


(Here's our NYC ACT-SO team right before the National Awards Ceremony)

This year my essay student Makaya won the National silver medal! It was so exciting when they called her name. Her mom and I were hugging and screaming like lunatics when she walked up onto the stage.


(Here's Makaya. Check out that MEDAL around her neck!!! -- BTW, we think that's Canada behind her in the distance!)

In all, NYC took home three medals. In addition to Makaya, Brian won the gold for filmmaking and Brendren won the silver for architecture.


(The winners!)

The winners get: $2000 (gold), $1500 (silver), and $1000 (bronze). And ALL of the winners receive a LAPTOP COMPUTER!!! Needless to say, it's a great program! Unfortunately it's considered one of the best kept secrets because, even though it's been around a long time, a lot of kids still don't know about it.

I'd like to do what I can to change that.

If you know a student of color who needs to be challenged, and who can benefit from meeting other teens who are ALL college bound, tell him or her about ACT-SO!

***

Oh yeah, while we were in Detroit, the ACT-SO students were treated to a private screening of HAIRSPRAY. The movie opens today and it is freakin' awesome! The students didn't think they would like it, but we dragged them anyway. And all through the movie I watched them laugh, clap their hands to the music, and even applaud at the end of the movie. HAIRSPRAY is a lot of fun, so if you weren't planning to see it, definitely reconsider! You will have a great time.



(Some of our ACT-SO students chillin' with the cast members of HAIRSPRAY. Okay, they're really just paper fans, but still...)

NOTE: This picture was taken LONG after the movie. Pay no attention to the sleeping girl. HAIRSPRAY is great!

:-)

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Drama Nerd   You sure do love the spotlight and probably have a very out-going and loud personality. Or not. That's just a stereotype, of course. Participation in the theatre is something to be very proud of. Whether you have a great voice for musicals, or astounding skills for dramas/comedies; keep up the good work. We need more entertainment these days that isn't television and video games (not that these things are bad, necessarily.)
Literature Nerd
Social Nerd
Musician
Gamer/Computer Nerd
Science/Math Nerd
Anime Nerd
Artistic Nerd
What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace

I am a bit of a drama nerd, but more as a spectator than a performer. Yes, I've done way more than my share of high school musicals and -- confession -- I even liked the movie HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL!!!

And yes, I like to be entertaining. But I don't think I'm the wanna-be-in-the-spotlight type. No, not me. I prefer to do my entertaining in small groups, thank you very much! :-)

I saw this quiz on seaheidi's journal and since my WIP is taking so long to write, I couldn't help but wonder if there's another writing career out there for me!

But I don't know about this:

You Should Be a Joke Writer

You're totally hilarious, and you can find the humor in any situation. Whether you're spouting off zingers, comebacks, or jokes about life... You usually can keep a crowd laughing, and you have plenty of material. You have the makings of a great comedian - or comedic writer.

You ever think there are too many quizzes out there?

[Hanging head in shame!]

From now on I will make a concerted effort to get my rating up to (at least) a PG-13. C'mon, now! I wrote TYRELL. I know I can do this!
:-)

In other news, my writing group is leaving today for another one of our writing retreats! And I sooo need this one! Three days of uninterrupted writing -- perfect!

Well, what I mean is, our writing time will only be interrupted by delicious meals, time in the jacuzzi, swimming in the pool, and lots of general silliness!

And speaking of writing groups, please check out our blog, The Longstockings, today. Sarah Beth Durst has stopped by to answer our question of the week: What is the best pet in a children's book? (And of course she answers it in her own hilarious style!)

And while you're there, let us know your favorite pet, too!

Well, gotta run...

I'm jealous of everyone who's going to ALA this weekend!

I had so much fun last year! Oh man!!!

But even though I'll be sitting home (not meeting all the authors I love and not picking up galleys of all the books I want to read!) I'd still like to tell everyone who is going, "HAVE A GREAT TIME!!!"

(Just know that I'm sooo going to be borrowing your galleys as soon as you get back!)
:-)

If you get the chance, stop by The Longstockings blog. We were honored today to have the one and only Justine Larbalestier answer our question of the week: You're about to be stranded on a desert island and you can only bring three books with you. Which ones will you bring?

Check out what she has to say, and give us your three books... if you can decide what to bring with you on that island! I mean, it's not often you get advance warning that you're about to be stranded somewhere...

in honor of beginning my german class, i have changed the language settings on my computer and now i don't know what i'm doing anymore. i thought only the menu items would change, but evidently websites feed off the language settings because now my livejournal thinks i know how to speak german, which i don't. even my google is in german.

why am i making my life so difficult? because i'm forcing myself to learn this language. the thought of moving to a country for a whole year and not knowing what anybody is saying is kind of, um, unsettling.

ich bin schriftstellerin -- that means, i am a (female) writer. well, my writing has been so all over the place lately that i'm not sure i can really claim to be a writer. not these past couple of weeks anyway. since my wip wasn't working for me, i took it and put it in a blender, figuratively speaking, of course. now i have to make it make sense in its new order!

i've also been asked to write a short essay for a magazine. that kind of scares me, but i like the idea of including "essayist" on my imaginary resume, so i said yes.

oh well. it's after midnight and i need to do my german homework and finish writing the chapter i've been working on all day.

auf wiedersehen!
:-)

I started this livejournal a year ago today!!! Looking back, it has been quite an interesting year, let me tell you!

On June 3rd, last year, I wrote about hanging out with a lot of teen authors, and how we'd had fun doing karaoke the night before. Well, it's deja vu all over again!!!

Last night, I met up with David Levithan, Rachel Cohn, E. Lockhart, Robin Wasserman, Kate Morgenroth, Bennett Madison, Gordon Korman, Robyn Schneider, Billy Merrill, Nico Medina (and lots of other fabulous writers!) for drinks. Most of them had attended the BEA convention, but I was just there to hang out and have fun. I also got to meet Jen (Literaticat) from Not Your Mother's Bookclub and Jo Knowles. It's so funny, but whenever I meet people whose livejournals I've been reading for a long time, it's really like I know them already. I just mentally put a face to their journal icon and I'm good to go!

After drinks, we cabbed over to a karaoke place. David and I got the ball rolling with a duet of Regina Spektor's Fidelity, but the highlight of the day (for me, anyway) was a stirring rendition of Midnight Train to Georgia. Newcomer/superstar singer/fantasy writer Alaya Dawn Johnson was Gladys Knight, and Jen and I were two of The Pips. We had some hilarious moves and we "whoo-whooed" whenever we didn't know what else to do. It was very funny! I've only done karaoke twice in my life and both times were great!

It was after midnight when we left, and Robyn Schneider and I wandered around midtown trying to find a pizza shop that was still open. We were both starving! Blocks and blocks later we found a place. Worst pizza in NYC, but we didn't care. In that moment, it was fan-freakin'-tastic!!!

So, I didn't quite have the BEA experience a lot of other people have been writing about. But I did have karaoke and bad pizza. And really, what more can a gal want?
:-)

Oh yeah, my VOYA interview is finally out. It's called "Not Your Average After-School Special." You can check it out here!