Remember that movie What About Bob? And Bob, the main character, has this great line where he says, “I’m taking a vacation from my PROBLEMS!”

My dad loves that movie. He came to visit this week. He’s working in the northern end of the state (where I live) but he’s also doing a little road-tripping and visiting of children. And we kept quoting this line to each other (it’s probably only funny if you’ve seen Bill Murray say it in the movie).

So I actually don’t have that many problems. But I’m kind of a wimp so I like to pretend I do and think about taking vacations from them. My problems right now mostly stem from 1) my inability to write anything good this week and 2) the way I like to not clean my house and then 3) be annoyed that it is never clean.

My husband took this picture of a bookshop in Cambridge this summer. (He called me while he was there and said, “They have a first edition Dylan Thomas. Should I buy it for you?” And I said no because it was super pricey but I loved that he asked.) I think this would be the perfect place for a vacation from your PROBLEMS. Let’s all pretend we’re there right now in Cambridge reading books in a used bookshop and then going for a walk along the river Cam. Let’s. Want to join me?

It’s the running time of year right now. When the cross-country season has started and the mornings are getting cooler and the smell of fresh-cut grass mixes with fall smells– like the smell of smoke from woodburning stoves. When the grass is still green but the leaves are beginning to change colors.

Those of you who have been visiting the blog have probably noticed that I write a lot of posts about running. Those of you who have read my books have probably noticed that the characters are often runners. I joke that this is because running is the only sport I was ever any good at (and this is true)–but it’s also because running has been part of my life for so long and is so important to me.

I started when I was fourteen. This is my nineteenth autumn of running. I’m not in those high school races anymore; the state race in October goes by and it belongs to other girls, other teams. But I can’t drive by Sugarhouse Park in Salt Lake City without getting a feeling that is half anticipation and half fear. I can’t help but want to stride it out at the end of every run.

I’m still running. And it’s because of the man in the picture above. Coach Corry.

I owe him so much.

Coach Corry, who is also a medical doctor, taught us to appreciate the body for what it can do, not how it looks. He taught us to work hard but not to be stupid about it. He took us seriously, and our health seriously, and he cared about us. He is a fantastic coach–his girls’ cross country team has won the state championship many, many times–but he cheers as loudly and is as thrilled for the girl in last place as he is for the fastest girl on the team.

Everyone should be so lucky to have such a mentor.

And a good mentor, which Coach Corry was (and is–he’s still coaching, and still cheering) teaches you things that you can apply throughout your life. I remember one conversation in which he told me that he thought I didn’t have a lot of natural running ability. The way he said it was a compliment: that I’d made up for a lack of ability with hard work. It’s not like I was the fastest girl on the team, ever. But, for Coach Corry, it was all about the team and about the PR. The personal record. Running your best and winning against yourself while caring about your teammates.

I remembered his comment when I was soundly rejected in 2004 when I queried my first book. No agents were interested. And I had worked really hard and I had queried a lot of agents. “Okay,” I thought. “I’m not good at this yet. But I’m a hard worker and I’ll keep writing every day and maybe someday I will be.”

It’s six years later. There are lots of writers who are much, much better than I am. But I didn’t give up, and I think I owe a lot of that to a comment made years ago when I was in high school. To someone who told me the only value isn’t in being good, but in working hard. In trying to get better.

The best coaches and mentors are the ones who not only changed your life once, but help you change it over and over again even after the passing of years and the changing of circumstances.

Coach knows he taught me to run, but I don’t know if he knows that he also taught me to write.

Thank you, Coach. And best wishes on the upcoming season.

Check this out. Some awesome readers have put together the very first fansite for Matched. I have never felt so cool. Huge thanks to them! (And if you click on this link, you get to see a picture of me in high school. Also, Libby and Krista, you are in the picture too. You look great so I expect you not to get mad at me–please?)

Currently reading: In the Time of the Butterflies, by Julia Alvarez

1. Thanks for everyone’s great comments on last week’s conversation! I think next time we’ll talk about the most-requested topic: How do you know when a draft is “finished,” or ready to submit? The other questions on the list are discussions about revision and poetry. If there’s anything else you’d like to see, please please please feel free to post it in the comments here!

2. The Writing for Charity event was wonderful. So many people excited about getting books into kids’ hands. This is a yearly event, started by the lovely Shannon Hale, and if you are anywhere in the area, please come next year!

3. I just heard from my agent that we have now sold MATCHED in 25 foreign countries. This is thanks to the fantastic foreign rights’ team at Writers House and I am very, very thrilled.

4. I am tired today. Are you tired?

5. We’re going to be revamping the site a bit in the next few weeks, just FYI. So if you come visit and everything is a mess, just pretend it never happened and come back again soon.

Just a reminder…

Friday, August 20, 2010
11:00 a.m.-1:00 pm.
Book Signing
BYU Bookstore
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT

Saturday, August 21, 2010
6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.
Writing for Charity Evening Extravaganza
www.writingforcharity.com

The two winners of the signed copies of The Eternal Ones are:

Damaris

and

Carolyn V!

Please e-mail me your addresses so we can get those copies to you ASAP. Congratulations! And thanks to everyone who entered. What great comments. Next month’s Penguin Five feature will be Brenna Yovanoff’s The Replacement, and rumor has it I’ll get to give away copies of that as well. Excellent.

Also, one last plug for Writing For Charity, which takes place this Saturday. You can get your manuscript critiqued by a professional author, go to lots of great workshops, etc., all for a very reasonable price. All of the authors are donating their time, etc., for the conference. Authors include Shannon Hale, James Dashner, Brandon Sanderson, Brandon Mull, Sara Zarr, Bree Despain, and others. Learn more here.

It has come to my attention that you can purchase MATCHED for $10.79 at Amazon and FRESHMAN FOR PRESIDENT for $3.99 at Deseret Book.

What can I say. I’m cheap.

Currently Reading: Stones Into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, not Bombs in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Greg Mortenson

My grandmother has this wonderful saying: “If one man’s meat is another man’s poison, one man’s book is another man’s boredom.”

I love this quote (I don’t know where she originally heard it). It’s so true. Reading is a very individual, personal thing–what one person might love, another might not like at all.

So my personal policy, on this blog and elsewhere, is that I don’t review books. I might recommend books, but no concrete reviews. And here is another reason why: I am not a critic. I am a reader and a writer. What I might love, another might hate. And I like to feel safe when I give my opinions. Because I have them. I really do.

But I do try to spread the word about books. I link to other authors in my sidebar. I like to put books that I am reading at the top of my posts. And, beginning next Monday and continuing periodically throughout the next few months, I will be promoting (but not reviewing!) other books in the Penguin Five (five books coming out this summer/fall from Penguin Young Readers). We are taking turns spotlighting one another’s books on our blogs. It should be fun. And Penguin is providing copies of books for giveaways, so be sure to check back. Because free books? Always five stars.

P.S. Remember last week when I said someday I would like to be part of the Writing For Charity event when I grew up? Well, apparently I am now grown up. Because I get to be on the evening panel with Brandon Mull, Bree Despain, James Dashner, and Jessica Day George. I’m so excited. This is a really wonderful event in which you get your work critiqued and the proceeds to go charity.

Currently reading: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

Wrestling the whale is my term for revision.

Because that is what it is.

It is so big. You can’t get your arms around it. But you jump in the pool anyway and try to dodge the slaps from its flippy flippers.

I think the inspiration from this phrase likely came from a time years ago when we were eighteen and graduated from high school and all went on a long, overnight bus trip to Disneyland/Sea World and my friend Krista bought a big inflatable Shamu and when we were tired on the drive home she put it in the bus aisle as a mattress and then tried to sleep. It didn’t work so whale. HA!

So all this week I am wrestling the whale. This is the longest book I’ve ever written (400 pages! What is up with that?). Good times.

Other news:

Have you heard of this writing conference? Great price, great presenters. I hope to be a part of it someday when I grow up. Or maybe next year, when MATCHED is actually out! They’re having a great auction for charity that night and Penguin was kind enough to donate an ARC of MATCHED, so that will be just one of many items available.

I’m doing a book signing in August (click the Events page for more details). There won’t be any copies of MATCHED there, but my other books should be available, and I always like going to the BYU Bookstore. I worked there for several years in college for the best boss ever, George Satteson. And everyone there is so nice.

And, finally, the biggest news of all. The potty-training was a success. I am living in a land of rainbows and gumdrops and shiny things and now have only one child in diapers.

Books read on vacation recently:
Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro
Anna and the French Kiss, by Stephanie Perkins (ARC)
Paranormalcy, by Kiersten White (ARC)
Firelight, by Sophie Jordan (ARC)

The past two weeks have been some of those weeks where I haven’t done a lot of writing but I did do a lot of living. Cleaned out some messy closets, hosted two Fourth of July barbeques, had two sets of family come to stay, went running with my sister, shuttled Boys to swimming lessons, made lots of cookies, read a bunch of great books, wrote a letter to my grandmother, spent summer evenings out in the backyard pushing kids on swings and soaking in summer, went on vacation. It has been lovely.

Usually, it’s a little hard to let go of the routine for me. I’m really disciplined about getting the writing time in every day. I haven’t had more than a couple days off from writing/editing since last year at this time when I took a step back from MATCHED. But this time, it’s felt really good, and it hasn’t been hard to stop writing at all. I think it’s because I needed it so much. Needed a break. To recharge. To get some distance.

It’s a fine balance, isn’t it? Because discipline is what gets the books written, but so is inspiration.