Stephanie Burgis - Magical Books for Ages Ten to Fifteen

Aww and Yum...

August 31, 2010, 7.15 pm

This article made me come very close to tearing up - especially the photos near the bottom of the page. A 100-year-old male tortoise in Kenya has adopted an orphaned baby hippo, and the pictures are incredible. This one was my favorite - but really, if you love animals, click through to see the whole series. It's worth it.

And for the yummy portion of the post, here's the teaser that's appearing on several YA author blogs today:

COMING SOON:

It just may be the most delicious contest that’s been run this year. More than a dozen of your favorite YA authors, an obsession with sweets, and a stunning array of prizes. On September 4th, details will be announced here and on Christine Johnson’s blog.

Until then, here’s a hint:

(ETA: Actually, because of international time-zone differences, it will probably get announced here a day later...but you can find out on Christine's blog in the evening of September 4th, if you're in the US!)

***

Why is it that so many kids' authors are obsessed with baked goods? Does it say something about us? Or is it true of everyone? Hmm.

Today I was good and did not buy a baked good at the café, even though the chocolate cheesecake looked INCREDIBLE. Unfortunately, I can't take too much credit, since I was busy melting all over the floor in chocolate bliss - yes, I gave in to temptation and ordered another Hot Chocolate Milano...

And then, in a weird coincidence, the book I found at Waterstones that ended up in my shoulderbag (a book I'd never heard of before, but which looks great) was Cathy Cassidy's Sundae Girl.

There's definitely something edible in the air right now...

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Bravery and cookies

August 4, 2010, 9.56 pm

Today I was brave. It wasn't in the way that a heroine in a book would be brave, but for me, in my life, this was a huge act of bravery.

See, one of the only downsides of moving to Wales was that I had to leave behind a bunch of friends in Leeds, women I really loved to hang out with. I figured I'd make new friends here...and I'm sure I would have by now if I had a day-job or if I took MrD to more playgroups where I could meet other moms.

Unfortunately (in this case), I work at home by myself, and MrD tends to go to those playgroups with his childminder, because that's the only way our schedule will work. So, while I continue to have lots of great friends who make my life infinitely better and richer, I tend to connect with them by phone or email nowadays, rather than face-to-face.

Last week, as we were driving into town, I spotted a woman with a little kid of about MrD's age walking down our street. There was something about her that made me think I'd like her - you know how those snap judgments happen, something about her face or her clothes or the way she was talking to her child...who knows? Anyway, she looked like someone who would be interesting to meet, but I figured that would just have to be left up to chance.

Then Patrick came home a few days ago having briefly chatted to her as they passed each other - it turned out she was just moving into the neighborhood this week. Ooh. Awesome excuse to knock on the door and say hi and welcome to the neighborhood! part of me thought. The other part thought: Yeah, right. I'm sure she's busy and not interested in having random strangers knock on her door to say hi. Forget it.

That second part might have won forever, but today I found myself on my own, without even MrD to look after, without anything I needed to do...and I crossed the street. All the way up the steps to her house, a whole lecture sounded in my head: If you knock on that door, she'll look at you as if you're an alien. You'll be interrupting her in the middle of something important. Just turn around. Turn around now! I rang the doorbell. I half-hoped that she wouldn't be in, so I wouldn't be humiliated.

She was in. And guess what? She was genuinely pleased to see me. It turned out that she's been wanting to meet people here, and has also been trying to get up the nerve to say hi to strangers. She invited me in, and we had a really lovely chat over tea and chocolate cookies. We'll be hanging out again, and introducing our kids.

It would have been SO easy, so much easier, for me to turn around halfway up those steps and drop the whole idea. I could have spent the next six months wishing that I'd had the nerve. I often do, in similar circumstances.

Sometimes bravery is all about leaping on a horse and risking your life. Sometimes it's just risking a moment of social humiliation.

They were really good chocolate cookies.

What have you guys done lately that scared you?

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Publication Day Party!

August 1, 2010, 2.15 pm

OK, so I know that Publication Day is just a day. Heck, it's a Sunday. A Most Improper Magick won't actually be on store shelves for at least a few more days (although at least my lovely local Waterstones already has big pictures of it all around the store, because they are AWESOME).

But officially? Today, my book is OUT: out there in the world, officially Published. That's something I've been dreaming of, quite literally, for twenty-six years now, ever since I was seven years old. And that is definitely worth a party!

So this morning, our whole family went out to celebrate...and of course A Most Improper Magick came with us. Here it is with my decadent "meal" at our local (and wonderfully child-friendly) Caffè Nero: 

Yes, that is whipped cream beside the (hot, melty chocolate) brownie. It was DELICIOUS! And sitting next to the plate is the compact mirror that Patrick got from the Jane Austen Centre giftshop as my Valentine's Day gift this year, in honor of the magical compact in A Most Improper Magick. Of course that had to come too! (Can you tell I'm a little bit giddy today?)

And here is Patrick, an hour later and in a different café (our local Coffee No. 1, which is not terribly child-friendly but a great place to write) showing off what can now be done in cafés around the country: 

Although the physical launch party (complete with party prizes!) isn't for another week and a half, today I wanted to do something online to celebrate, for everybody who can't come to my physical launch party.

So first of all, I've put up the second and third chapters of A Most Improper Magick - you can now read all of the first three chapters on my website! I really, really hope you guys enjoy them.

And secondly, if you want, you can enter to win a book-birthday party prize, no matter where in the world you are.

One person will win a signed copy of the UK edition of the book, along with a Kat postcard, Kat bookmarks, and an "Everything's Better With Highwaymen!" button. Two runners-up will get everything in that pack except the book.

This giveaway is only open for the next 36 hours, through Monday at 7pm UK time.

Here's how to enter:

1. You can get one point by just commenting on this entry to tell me that you want to enter the drawing. (I won't enter you unless you ask for it specifically, so feel free to comment on the entry even if you don't want to be a part of the giveaway! ;) I promise it won't happen by accident.)

2. You can get one more point by tweeting this:

A Most Improper Magick by @stephanieburgis is out in the UK today! Read the first 3 chapters here: http://bit.ly/Rmy1z

and then telling me you've done it, just in case I miss it. I should be able to figure it out through Twitter on my own, but I don't want to miss anyone by accident!

(And PS: if you already RT'd my earlier tweet about the chapters, that totally counts toward the giveaway. Just remind me in a comment here, okay?)

3. You can get two more points by giving that same information in a blog entry (and then telling me that you did it).

At 7pm tomorrow, I'll choose a random winner, and I'll put all three sets of prizes in the post on Tuesday!

***

OK. I know I've probably sounded fairly business-like and sensible in the last few paragraphs - or at least I was trying to...but you guys? MY BOOK HAS OFFICIALLY BEEN PUBLISHED. I am in shock...and very, very, very happy.

So I just want to share the last two lines of the printed acknowledgments in A Most Improper Magick:

And thank you to my community of friends on www.livejournal.com, who have cheered me on when I was nervous, comforted me when I was lost and joined with me in all my celebrations. You guys are the best!

I still remember when I very, very nervously went back to writing the first draft of A Most Improper Magick after my year off from it. I was convinced that I was being commercially crazy to work on it, but I just loved the book way too much to give it up...and one of the things that helped the most was the wonderful outpouring of supportive comments on this journal from people who told me to keep going - who had faith in me, and in Kat and her sisters.

You guys really are the best, and I know it. THANK YOU!

ETA: This giveaway is now closed.

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Best Mail Day Ever

July 30, 2010, 3.25 pm

Yesterday, my wonderful UK editor, Emma, told me that my author copies would arrive today. Needless to say, I was completely calm and blasé. I went about my business exactly as usual...

Yeah, right. Who am I trying to kid?

Every time I woke up in the middle of the night, I thought: they're coming today! When I woke up this morning, I thought: TODAY! And every time I heard a car outside our house, I twitched as if someone had given me an electric shock.

Still, I had to be productive. Today is the last day of the Clarion West write-a-thon and the day I'd sworn to finally send off Kat Book 3 to my American editor and my agent. So I spent the morning alternating between last-minute small fixes and historical spot-checks...and manic leaps toward the window every time I heard anything that might be a delivery.

The doorbell rang. I was mired down in manuscript paper. Patrick got there first. It was a Tescos deliveryman.

"Um...we didn't order anything," Patrick said.

The deliveryman said, "Someone did!"

And someone had. Tricia Sullivan had sent me six bars of luscious dark chocolate and a bottle of white wine, perfect weapons for fighting the Publication Day Crazy! I laughed and unwrapped a chocolate bar, set the wine in the fridge to chill, and started to chill out a little bit myself.

By noon, I was finished with the final changes to Kat 3 and was staring at the cover page. "But what am I going to call it?"

Patrick and I were both brainstorming titles when there was a knock on the door.

I lunged.

The UPS man was holding two packages: one box from Templar Books - mybooksmybooksmybooks! - and one padded bag from Atheneum Books, which I hadn't been expecting.

Patrick insisted on photographing the entire un-boxing process, which you can see behind the cut. 

Continue reading blog entry...

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Full-on Crazy

July 28, 2010, 7.21 pm

Here's the thing about having a lot of author friends, people whose novels were published long before mine:

I have seen Publishing Crazy. To be specific, I have seen Publication Day Crazy. And I always, always shook my head over it. Of course, I didn't do it in front of them - I was their friend, and they were suffering! - but I shook my head to myself. I said to myself: if I ever get published, I will not succumb to Publication Day Crazy. I will be happy and zen and centered. I will remember that this is all good! I will not be crazy.

You guys will have already guessed the ending to this story.

My book will be out in the UK in four days...and I have sooooo succumbed to Publication Day Crazy. Every time I think about the fact that A Most Improper Magick will officially be out on Sunday, my breath speeds up to hyperventilation levels. (Which is crazy! It might not even be in bookstores yet by that point. I won't have author copies by that point. Sunday is only a day, not a TERRIFYING EVENT. Right?)

Every time I look at the space on the bookshelf where my book will appear (and of course I do this, with pinpoint accuracy and unstoppable magnetism, every single time I visit my local library or Waterstones), I feel sick with panic. This is real. What if EVERYBODY HATES IT????? (It doesn't even matter that I've gotten some really nice reviews. What if they were ALL, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM, FLUKES?)

Yesterday I realized that a period (full stop) had accidentally been replaced by a comma, incorrectly, at one point in the first chapter of my book...and I had a full-on meltdown. (EVERYONE WILL THINK I'M A GRAMMATICAL KNOW-NOTHING WITH NO SENSE OF STYLE! OTHER WRITERS WILL BURN MY BOOK!)

Back on Monday, I was planning to cut down on chocolate this week and start a new regime of healthy eating.

I am in full-on Publication Day Crazy mode...but even I, it turns out, am not quite that crazy.

Today I ate half of a large chocolate-chocolate-chip cookie and drank a strong dark hot chocolate. (Heat one small cup of milk on the stove. Melt in four squares of really excellent dark chocolate. Drink. Experience heaven.)

It helped. But I am still crazy.

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Life shifts, music and chocolate chip cookies

July 11, 2010, 5.21 pm

Today I am thinking about two things: music and chocolate-chip cookies. And how I can get more of both! ;)

I had a big musical crisis (no, really) three years ago, when I resigned from my job at an opera company, officially dropped out of my music history PhD program, and lost all professional musical ties. Add in the fact that I'd started out as a performing musician (I went to the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music for undergrad and got a B.M. in French horn Performance as well as Music History), originally planning to play professionally as my dayjob...and you can maybe guess what a big life shift this was for me.

I wish I could say that I always react to big life shifts with grace. Unfortunately...no. No, no, no. Take this as one example: the week I got my degree in music performance, having accepted a Fulbright scholarship based on music history and having officially decided that I would not be a performing musician after all...I stopped playing the French horn. Period.

I'd been playing it for 12 years, devoting most of my waking hours to becoming a better and better musician, loving playing even after I realized it wasn't what I wanted as a career...but when I finished my degree and realized that I was now officially off the professional track, I just couldn't play anymore.

I wanted to play. I still miss - really, physically, painfully miss - playing the horn. I LOVED it. But every single time I've tried to pick it up again since 1999, all I can hear is the difference in how I sound now from how I sounded back when I was practicing 5 hours a day.

Not good. And I haven't found a way around that yet.

So. I resigned from my job at the opera company in 2007 because of the CFS, and I dropped out of the PhD program because, with my CFS-limited energy, I could either try to finish the PhD or I could write my fiction...and I'd already decided that I didn't want to be a professor (even if the CFS had allowed it). I've never regretted giving up the PhD except in the feeling that I was disappointing my supervisors. It was definitely the right decision to focus on the career I loved and wanted - writing - instead of the career I thought I should follow - academia - but, but, but...

For about a year afterward, I couldn't listen to classical music. And when you consider I'd been listening to it and loving it since I was tiny (my parents are both fans), playing it on one instrument or another since I was six, going to classical concerts or opera performances regularly ever since, and I was thirty when I made that second big life/career shift...

Big loss. Big, big loss. Luckily, unlike the French horn issue, I managed to mostly get over it within a year or so. I listen to it regularly again now, although I still find it painful to listen to the operas I was writing about for my PhD thesis, or to go to live orchestra concerts. (Back to the French horn again...) But for some reason I still have a hard time persuading myself to buy CDs - persuading myself that it's "worth it" - even though listening to music I love is one of the best feelings I know.

Well. This weekend, I bought a new CD. It's not classical, for once, but I adore it: Eva Cassidy's Wonderful World. (I used to own, and absolutely loved her album Songbird.) I bought it yesterday and have had it on nearly constant repeat ever since.

What about you guys? What's the most recent CD that you've bought? Have you had any major life-shifts that changed your identity? And do you have any good chocolate-chip cookie recipes to share? :)

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Giveaway winner and chocolate problems

July 1, 2010, 4.33 pm

It's Thursday, July 1st, one month before A Most Improper Magick is released in the UK - and according to Random.org, Tim (tjinkerson) is the winner of a signed cover proof!

Tim, please send me a message with your mailing address, and I'll put your signed proof in the mail ASAP.

And now that the business segment of this entry is taken care of...we need to talk about a problem. A serious problem.

A problem that Tricia Sullivan caused. This: 

Divine Chocolate's Fruit and Nut Dark Chocolate bar.

Here's the thing: I've always eaten a bit of chocolate every day. For the last year or two, I even ate some of a Divine Chocolate bar every day, usually their dark chocolate-mint flavor. (As far as I'm concerned, Divine is the Willy Wonka of the chocolate world - and not only is it the yummiest chocolate I've ever found, it's even fair trade, too! Irresistible.) But I always had self-control. I never ate more than six (small!) squares in a day.

Then Tricia came to visit, and brought me a bar of their fruit & nut chocolate.

I've never liked chocolate with fruits inside. I had Dire Suspicions. But it was a gift, and I wanted to properly appreciate it, so I took a bite, shrugged, took another...and devoured half a bar in the next five minutes.

I haven't found my self-control since.

There has GOT to be something addictive in those bars!

Sadly, although I've tried going back to the old mint-dark chocolate bars I used to like (and be able to control!), I can't stop myself. Now I always choose the fruit & nuts bars when they're available. And then...

Sigh. Something Must Be Done. But not until I finish this current bar, obviously...

What about you guys? What are your favorite chocolate (or just candy) treats?

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Unqualified Goodness

May 2, 2010, 9.43 pm

I really love this blog entry by the very awesome Karen Healey, where she orders women to stop qualifying their achievements and start taking pride in them. (And I'd personally extend that order to the men I know, as well.)

In that spirit, I am not going to focus on the fact that I started my Kat3 rewrite one day late. I am going to focus on the fact that today, despite feeling absolutely terrified, I took out the first draft and began to read, aided by three perfect pieces of encouragement and motivation:

1. This quote, which I came across on the internet yesterday, stared at in shock (because it felt SO relevant to my blocked state), and ended up saving onto my computer to keep open on my screen as often as possible over the next month:

"May I have the courage today to live the life that I would love, to postpone my dream no longer, but do at last what I came here for and waste my heart on fear no more." --John O'Donohue

2. This song, Jem's "It's Amazing", which is directly relevant to anyone trying to get up the nerve to do what they have to do to make their dreams come true:

(It's the kind of soft pop that I don't normally like, but the lyrics more than make up for it, for me.)

3. A vegan chocolate hazelnut brownie...because not everything that's good for me is healthy. ;)

I read through the first third of the novel, not stopping to make any large changes yet, but making notes where I felt things didn't work, so that I can come back to them later with a sense of how the book works as a whole.

The best part? I realized tonight that, without ever consciously thinking about it, my whole attitude had shifted since that moment when I forced myself, with so much difficulty, to start reading. This morning, when I thought about the book, I felt terrified: OMG, how will I fix the problems in the first draft?

This evening, as I settled MrD down to sleep, I spent the time thinking about the problems in the first draft - not fearing them, but thinking them through, puzzling at possible solutions with the same feeling I have when I'm working on a kakuro puzzle: calm curiosity and absorbing interest.

It's a really good shift.

What do you guys use to motivate yourself to do the things you're scared of doing? And: how has your weekend been?

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Craziness, Chocolate, and a free Kat Sample

March 18, 2010, 9.54 pm

Sigh. Still no news from either our future estate agents (to let us know whether we've been approved for the new house, and exactly what date in April we can move in) or our current landlord (to let us know whether we can stay until then, even though our contract runs out next Sunday).

Thank goodness for chocolate chip cookies. I baked half a batch on Sunday and the other half on Tuesday, and that spread-out chocolatey goodness has been absolutely crucial for maintaining sanity across the week. (I used this recipe for vegan chocolate chip cookies, which was okay - I especially liked the cinnamon in it - but I'm still looking for a better recipe. Which of course requires serious scientific experimentation - but luckily, Patrick and I are both very happy to put our stomachs to work for the cause of Science... ;p )

In better news, the Templar Books website shows the British edition of A Most Improper Magick available online for preorder, hurray! - AND, no matter where in the world you are, you can download the free sample they've posted from the middle of Chapter Two. (Click on "download a sampler" in the top-left corner of the book's page.) Hope you guys enjoy the teaser!*

(And btw, the cover posted on that webpage won't be the final UK cover - it's just a holding cover while they work on the final version. But I do think it's cute!)

Now I'm going offline to close my eyes and listen to more of Carrie Jones's Captivate audiobook. Pixies and valkyries and Valhalla, oh my! So much fun. :)

___

*And of course you can read all of Chapter One on my website

.

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I R Serious Writer (TM), and a gruesome TV side-effect

March 7, 2010, 4.47 pm

OK, there are some days, ever since I signed my first book contracts, when I can actually pretend to myself that I am a Serious Professional Writer...and then there are days when I just can't.

Here is the most recent evidence, from my Friday night of prewriting play for the Austen-y dragon novel:

Erm, yes. Well. Um... ;)

Of course, as hopelessly silly as it is, playing with the novel also really, truly works. The more playful I am, the more productive I am and the easier the novel flows. My evening of pre-writing play resulted in me finishing Chapter One today and feeling total happiness about it...

...but, well. It's not exactly the kind of thing that looks like an impressive, grown-up job, does it? Oops.

In other breaking news, dark chocolate also helps writing, in a pinch. And vegan hazelnut brownies are full of super-delicious WRITING MAGIC.

Also, I may have been watching just a few too many episodes of "Castle" lately. I keep finding myself imagining all my surroundings, wherever I am, as the setting for one of the gruesome victim-discovery scenes that open every "Castle" episode.

Eep.

Then, of course, I need more chocolate...

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Austen films and other weaknesses

January 16, 2010, 3.12 pm

So, I watched the 2007 version of "Mansfield Park" (the one with Billie Piper) last night. I didn't have high expectations (the reviews had been pretty bad), which meant that actually, I was nicely surprised. It was fun, and it was surprisingly romantic. I really enjoyed the ending. Of course, I pretty much enjoy ALL Austen adaptations no matter how bad they are (except for the recent BBC "Sense & Sensibility", which I hated SO MUCH I would have thrown things at the screen and turned it off if I hadn't been a guest in the house where it was being watched).

So it was a safe bet that I was going to enjoy it...but the one thing that really puzzled me about this version was: why on earth would someone adapt an Austen novel and leave out all the humor? Mansfield Park is a really funny book. It has my least favorite Austen heroine of all time (and I'm not the only one who feels that way - pretty much every movie adaptation RADICALLY changes Fanny Price's character to give her a spine, because it's hard for modern audiences to sympathize with her otherwise)...but I've still re-read it many times because it's so nastily funny in all the character interactions. Jane Austen was hilarious when she was writing about really horrible, self-centered and shallow people, and Mansfield Park is absolutely filled with them, in the movie as well as the book...but in this adaptation, all the humor was left out. Yes, we hated the horrible people who were oppressing the heroine, but we couldn't laugh at them...and that felt very un-Austen to me.

Having said all that? It's on my Amazon wishlist now, because I have this uncontrollable weakness for Austen films. And if I end up getting it, I bet I'll watch it many more times, even if I'm sighing over the missed comic opportunities every time. I really love humor...but I'll take Austen even without it.

And these have been a very decadent few days, because this morning, as I thought about "Mansfield Park" (and, yes, as I seriously considered re-watching the 1999 version for comparison - see, this is serious study, not fun, people! - er, yeah, right...), I sent Patrick and MrD out to pillage the local village for me. It was a pirate raid full of swordplay, drama, witty banter, and high adventure, and when they came back? They came bearing hazelnut-praline vegan brownies, handed over by a terrorized café-worker.

It's a good brownie, too. Mmm. Maybe I'll see how Austen films work for me with added chocolate goodness on the side!

This could be a good Saturday...

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Competition winners

October 21, 2009, 6.39 pm

My Regency Prize Pack competition ended last night at midnight, UK time. Thanks so much to everybody who entered! It was so much fun seeing Kat's book trailer in all those different places.

The two runners-up, each of whom gets an "Everything's better with highwaymen" button and Kat postcard, are:

Angie Frazier and Camille Peters.

Yay Angie and Camille! Just send me your addresses, and I'll send you your loot!

And the grand prize winner is: Chloe from The Book Bug: Books for Tweens and Teens.

Yay Chloe! Just send me an email or write to me through the website's contact form to let me know which Georgette Heyer novel you'd prefer (The Talisman Ring or The Reluctant Widow), and where I should send the whole package. :)

The Kat postcards and Jane Austen notepads (more to be used in future competitions!) just arrived in the mail today, and oh, they're so cute.

In other news, we are ALMOST settled into our new house in Wales. Right now I'm sitting with a (napping) Mr Darcy in a relative's house three blocks away, while Patrick and my brother Dave work on unpacking the zillions of boxes currently filling up our new house (to head-height, in some cases! It's kind of scary). We've had some of the usual traumas of moving - a bookshelf was broken, and, far more tragically, so was my Jane Austen action figure. :( But a friend from Michigan leaped into the breach to immediately offer me a new JA figure, so my blood pressure went down to a safe level again. ;)

Also, yesterday I got a library card at the really nice little public library (which has a surprisingly fabulous number of books crammed into a very tiny building), last night I got a heavenly vegan chocolate brownie from one of the coffeeshops in town, and today MrD and I both made new friends at a toddlers playgroup. So all in all...well, I haven't taken off my good-luck bracelet yet. But, without wanting to jinx anything...well, I think it might be working.

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