“With literature, as with the arts, as with faith—and life—there is really no good stopping place.”
–Dr. Richard H. Cracroft

I took the quotation above from an article published in my alumni magazine by a former professor of mine, Dr. Cracroft. As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, he taught the Wallace Stegner senior course, and that class shaped me as a person, a reader, and a writer.

I love this quote because I think I expect, or hope for, good stopping places. A nice photo finish to an event; a clear and natural tapering to something, an obvious denouement. But it’s not like that in life. It’s not even like that in books.

Even after we close a book, or finish writing a novel, the story goes on in our minds; we turn it over as we try to sleep; we move it forward as we wipe the counters, change the diapers. We leave it alone but come back to it and pick it up again.

I have crossed paths with Dr. Cracroft several times since I took that class. He lives close enough to me that sometimes I see him in our church building; I am always delighted, as I think we all are, when we see a teacher who truly changed our learning and our lives.

Recently, I’ve been thinking about letting my teaching license expire. I’ve kept it up for eleven years and right now there are many demands on my time (and keeping up a license requires taking classes, tests, etc.). But it’s hard to let go. For years, I dreamed of becoming a Dr. Cracroft or a Marilyn Fotheringham (seventh grade reading) or a Jeana Rock, Louise Durham, Joyce Oldroyd, Jon Ostenson, or Karen Brown (teachers who mentored me when I was a beginner). Reading this article made me realize that perhaps there never really is a good stopping place for the things we love.

As always, Dr. Cracroft has given me a great deal of food for thought.

The article by Dr. Cracroft can be found in its entirety here at BYU Magazine.

P.S. I’ve responded to all the comments on the last post. Many thanks for sharing what you love right now!

Besides my husband and kids (of course!), here are some things I love right now:

*These cookies (above), which my dear friend Josie brought me all the way from London. I love them almost as much as I love Josie. Work is so much more fun with these Hob Nobs at my side. I have been addicted to these things ever since my days studying abroad in London when I was in college.

*The song “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye, which I have listened to all weekend long. My husband heard it on the radio, downloaded it onto my computer, and told me I would love it. He was right. He is a much better musician (guitar, singing, piano) than I am (no guitar, no singing, atrophied piano skills) but we do often enjoy the same things in a song: clever lyrics, beautiful voices, a melody that builds, and unexpected but still musical phrasing. I think we can consider it an official addition to the playlist for Book 3 (which I haven’t revealed in its entirety yet, but which also includes the song “Red” by Natalie Walker).

*The fact that my youngest little guy is now potty-trained (happy holidays to us!). For the first time in almost nine years, there are no diapers in my house. Which is a little sad, but mostly awesome for now.

*The world’s nicest babysitters, who for security reasons I shall not name here. But their names both begin with M and they are both amazing with my kids and they both are smiley and pretty and sweet and everything that is good about high school/college students today. See also: my cousins, who fall into all the same categories.

*Burt’s Bees shimmery lip gloss.

That is all for now. What do you love right this minute?

photo credit Brook Andreoli

I spoke about this little tin heart in a keynote address earlier this year. It’s from the story of the tin soldier and how, at the end of everything, this was all that was left of him. The tin soldier story is one of those Job-like tales where everything keeps going wrong, over and over again, and you think, “Things can’t go on like this!” but then they do.

2011 was a very wonderful year in many ways and a year that in other ways marked the beginning of difficult things that will likely not end soon.

One curse and one gift from this year is that I feel like my little tin heart is on fire all of the time. I have become more observant of all the little cruelties people perpetuate upon each other, but I have also become deeply aware of all the kind things that people do for one another. Earlier this month, I went to the mall with my youngest boy. I dread going to the mall during Christmastime–I’m not a big shopper any time of the year, and it’s so busy during the holidays. But it had to be done. And I found myself on the verge of tears several times over the course of those few hours, as I watched several acts of kindness where the person performing the act had no idea they were being observed. I might not have had the time to see them, had I not been moving at a three-year-old’s pace with my little guy. His eyes were wide with wonder and delight at everything, and I was fragile, in a good way for once, a walking assemblage of pieces shattered and put together again, broken and humbled and then made whole again by good people doing good things.

I can’t watch when people are being mean to each other. I get no joy in reading snarky blogs or mean reviews or in writing them myself–I don’t do any of those things. I’m not talking about honest, thoughtful criticism or parody etc., just meanness. Don’t get me wrong: I love well-done satire, my sense of humor tends toward the sarcastic, sometimes I come across as distant or blunt because I’m thinking about other things, those that haunt my mind and heart. Sometimes I am just plain grumpy. I make many, MANY mistakes and it is the ongoing goal of my life to be more patient and kind, and one I will probably never fully achieve. But I have to keep trying.

I believed before this year, and even more firmly believe now, that all that matters is whether or not you loved and were loved. That little heart, to me, represents what is left when everything else about you has been taken or burned away.

My wish for my little family, and for all of you, is an increased measure of love and kindness in 2012.

The lovely folks at Penguin Teen have declared October to be “Re-Read Matched Month.” And I will say that it is a great idea to re-read MATCHED to be ready for CROSSED because the story picks right up again in Chapter 1 of CROSSED.

To celebrate Re-Read Matched Month, Penguin Teen has made an awesome tumblr of Matched Facts to help refresh your memory. They’ve posted a bunch already and will be adding a new fact each day up until the release of CROSSED. You can find the tumblr here, with the most current fact at the top. Scroll down to see more (the ones that are marked SPOILER are spoilers for those who haven’t yet read MATCHED, but won’t ruin anything for CROSSED). So, if you can’t re-read the book, this is a fast way to remind yourself of some key facts!

There are also Matched-related discussions taking place over in the Re-Read Matched in October forum on Goodreads.

In other MATCHED news, the MATCHED paperback made the New York Times Bestseller List (Children’s Chapter Books) for paperbacks, debuting at #5 its first week out and staying on at #7 this past week! Thank you all so much for your continued support of this book. I got to sign copies of the paperback for the first time last week on the Smart Chicks Tour and it was so much fun. That cover is gorgeous. I love the added green and shininess.

Speaking of the Smart Chicks Tour, it was a really lovely experience. Though I was only gone for about 24 hours and didn’t get to see/talk with the other authors nearly enough, it was so fun to hang out with them even for a bit. And MANY THANKS to all of you who came to the event. I loved meeting each of you. And Portland is GORGEOUS.

While at the Smart Chicks tour event, I got to meet the AWESOME Audra, who runs one of the fansites (the-society.net). She is giving away some great MATCHED swag over on the fansite right now, so head on over to enter! I have links to the fansites in the sidebar and they are amazing. Sometimes they know things before I do! So if you haven’t checked them out yet, be sure to do so.

Also, I’ve chosen the winner of VARIANT (via the random number generator)! It is Jessie Humphries! Congratulations, Jessie!

I hope you are all having a wonderful October so far. This is the best month in a lot of ways–best month for running here in Utah, best month for being outside during the day and then curling up with a book at night, best month for apple cider and pumpkins on porches. Happy fall!

BIG NEWS.

We received our first major professional review for CROSSED and it is from Kirkus. And it’s a starred review!

(!!!)

I am giddy, giddy, giddy about this. Here is a little of what they had to say:

“Cassia and Ky grapple with secrets, wilderness and the tumultuous meanings of love in the second installment of this addictive, layered dystopic trilogy…

“Both rich and easy to digest, this will leave fans hungry for the third book.”

They said more nice things, too, but I didn’t include them JUST IN CASE there are those of you who prefer to avoid all things spoilery.

I am absolutely thrilled. CROSSED is the most personal book I’ve written, for a variety of reasons. I care so much about these characters and their story and the setting–I had to get it all right, and it took a lot of work. My editor, Julie Strauss-Gabel, was patient and wise throughout this collaboration. I’m deeply grateful to her.

November 1 is coming up so quickly…less than a month left before CROSSED is out in the world. I can’t wait!

image courtesy Utah Festival of Books

I’m presenting at the Utah Festival of Books this Saturday, September 10th, in Salt Lake City! I’ll be speaking on the Children’s & Teen Stage at 10:50 and then signing for an hour beginning at 11:20. Click here for more info. I’d love to see you there! I’ll have free MATCHED bookmarks and some awesome ENTHRALLED cards to hand out (also free). And you’ll be able to bring/buy books and have them signed.

Also, I was very honored to be a guest over on the Wordplay Podcast, hosted by authors Nathan Bransford, Jeff Savage, and James Dashner. You can listen to the podcast here. James sings at one point. I do not sing at any point. You’re welcome.

And, finally, I have mentioned this before, but my carpal tunnel issues are always at their height when I’m writing a new novel. So I am very, very behind on e-mail and also responding to blog comments and I’m very, very sorry. But I do read them and truly appreciate your taking the time to write/comment. THANK YOU.

I’m so excited that MATCHED is nominated for the YALSA Teens’ Top Ten List! It’s a huge honor to be nominated and there are so many great books up for the honor this year.

You can vote here–but only if you’re a teen!

And since I am linking to things in today’s blog post, I thought I’d send you in the direction of three of my favorite blogs to read.

Brodi Ashton, author of the upcoming EVERNEATH, blogs here. You guys. She writes the funniest blog in the world. I laugh out loud while reading every single one of her posts. Often I laugh more than once. This is big for me. Because I think I am quick to laugh in real life, and there is NOTHING I love more than laughing, but sometimes I feel like it takes a lot to crack me up when I’m reading something. I smile a lot when I’m reading funny things, but guffawing? Doesn’t happen much. Unless I’m reading Brodi’s blog.

Becca Wilhite, author of BRIGHT BLUE MIRACLE and MY RIDICULOUS ROMANTIC OBSESSIONS, has what I think is the best slice of life blog, where she talks about writing, but also things she likes to cook and fun experiences substitute teaching and her cute kids and happiness and all the little good things in life. I love her blog because Becca is a writer–but she is also many other things (mom, teacher, chef) and she is completely unapologetic about it and glories in it (in a fun, non-gloating, you-want-to-be-her-friend-way). You can find Becca here.

Chelsea Parsons is a photographer in Tasmania and our paths crossed when we both lived in Ithaca for several years. Chelsea is one of those people who is incorrigibly creative in every aspect of life and she has the most beautiful blog. I like to go there when I want to see unique, pretty, different things. Click here for Chelsea.

Enjoy! And now I am going to go freak out about the first day of school, which is today, and which I am not entirely sure we are prepared for. Although I did make the traditional baked oatmeal for breakfast, so at least there’s that…

All the kids are home for the summer, which is very fun, and also a bit crazy. I guess only one of them is actually in school all day normally, so in a lot of ways it’s not much different. But summertime just FEELS more laid-back. My agent couldn’t believe it when she found out that my kids are here all the time when school’s out. “Don’t they go away to camp?” she asked. But that seems to be an East Coast thing (correct me if I’m wrong) and, at least in our neighborhood, the kids are just running rampant all the time all over the street. I kind of love it. It’s like our neighborhood truly comes alive in the summer, especially in the evenings and things get cool, and the kids are all this big gang that runs from yard to yard to yard with bare feet and popsicle stains on their faces. Summer evenings are my favorite time of the year.

Summer afternoons can get a little long though–I won’t deny it. Around 4:00 p.m. we often run out of steam. So I’ve started flopping on the floor or bed closest to the air conditioning and reading this book, just a chapter a day, to the kids. I’m sure a lot of it goes over my toddler’s head but he loves to do whatever his brothers are doing. It’s such a beautifully written little book. We’re all excited to keep going and find out what happens at the end.

What summer kid reads are you enjoying/have you enjoyed in the past?

Just a little plug: I will be on KUTV’S Fresh Living show today (Wednesday, July 13th). I’m told the show will be on air at 1 p.m. So if you feel like tuning in, please do!

I know I said I was taking a blog break, but I couldn’t resist the chance to be part of Dystopian Week over at the Hollywood Crush blog at MTV.com. My post is on “Why Dystopian Novels Rock” and you can find it here.

Many thanks to Hollywood Crush for having me!