Author Shaming via Goodreads & Amazon--and a GAME with prizes

Should I care where my novel
ranks on Goodreads'
Most Popular Books of February 2014 list,
or the longer
YA NOVELS of 2014?
Should I wonder how many pre-sold copies moves a book from Amazon's millions ranks to the lofty 10,000s? Well, I do.  It's rough getting incessant statistical confirmation of your midlist status.
It's like officially getting NOT ASKED to homecoming in public! As I draft this post, the #1 slot on GR's 2014 roster is Cassie Clare's latest (47k+ votes). My book sits at #164.

Here's a game:  Wanna try to help move my baby up the charts? Click & vote via one of the two BIG links above. I'll Tweet and Facebook stats daily through next Sunday, so other struggling authors out there can get data about this effort. If you start a similar experiment on your site, please leave a comment below so I can stop by and click my gratitude right back to you!

Also: If you PREORDER THE SOUND OF LETTING GO ON AMAZON during this week, send proof (a screenshot of your Amazon preorder confirmation) in the body of an email, along with your address (US/CANADA only) to stasiakehoe (AT) msn (DOT) com and I will mail you a signed postcard and pack of super-pretty TSoLG sticky notes by way of thanks.

AND: If I have at least 15 comments, I will give away a signed copy of my first novel, AUDITION. All commenters will be automatically entered to win. This one IS open to international addresses! (Details: Deadline for entry 12:01 AM Pacific Time on 11 November 2013. Winner (drawn at random) will be announced on the blog by the end of the same day (11/11/13) and must contact me by 12:01 AM Pacific Time on Friday, November 15, 2013 to claim the prize.)

Finally (long post)...a Goodreads giveaway for a signed, annotated Advance Review Copy of THE SOUND OF LETTING GO begins on 11/10.  So, the gifty fun will continue!

You Are Invited to SCBWI INSIDE STORY - SUNDAY in Seattle!

I'd be delighted if you'd join me at...
 

 

Local Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators share the "stories behind the stories" of new and upcoming books! 4:00 PM on Sunday, November 3, at Mockingbird Books (7220 Woodlawn Ave, NE, Seattle).  Librarians, teachers, writers, bloggers & book fans are all welcome! Presenters include Dana Sullivan, Karen Lewis, Patrick Flores-Scott, Jaime Temairik, Roy Kindelberger, Elizabeth Rose Stanton, Nina Laden, Kathryn O. Galbraith, Dia Calhoun, Craig Orback, Brenda Z. Guiberson, Suzanne Williams, Richard Jesse Watson, Samantha R. Vamos, Stasia Ward Kehoe, Lorie Ann Grover, & Matthew Porter.

 If possible, please RSVP to info@mockingbirdbooksgl.com

Happy Halloween!

 

Hubs, dear friend and me. Halloween circa 1993. Scary enough for ya?

I don’t write POETRY either

I don’t think I’ll ever forget the writing conference I attended (quite a few years back now) where an editor read aloud a page of my work then made a rather sharp comment about being “careful about the difference between poetry and split line prose.” Truth? It gutted me. I went back to my work and tried to figure out a way to weed out the split line prose. I reviewed my favorite poetry collections…checked all the poems magnetized to my refrigerator…reread favorite verse novels by Sharon Creech, Jacqueline Woodson, Sonya Sones, Ellen Hopkins, Caroline Starr Rose, Guadalupe Garcia McCall…delved into my beloved Paul Fussel’s POETIC METER & POETIC FORM for the zillionth time…

Here’s what I discovered.

There’s split-line prose in a great deal of poetry. And LOTS of it in verse novels. Because, to build an entire novel, you may want the reader to be able to hold onto plot, syntax.  That requires the incorporation of prose elements. THE ART LIES IN…

• where you choose to break each line
• creating subtle internal rhymes and motifs, and sometimes even poems within poems (see Hopkins’ work)
• the juxtaposition of abstract verses with strong, linear text
• choosing only the best words, unobstructed by grammar traditions but constricted by holding onto the verse format, to get close to the bone--to depict raw, visceral emotion
• using the freedom and flexibility of the verse structure to reflect shape, movement, music, the act of reading, and other abstract creative notions through form

• understanding the value of structure, white space...choosing what words to leave off the page

It’s funny. I think of myself as both a POET and NOT-A-POET. I do not know whether this is because I am afraid to commit; because I’m really not sure; because I fear I won’t be fully accepted by either more definitive poets or more traditional novelists; or because I am happy in this nether-space called VERSE NOVELIST—it’s where I sing.