So I’ve been working on the sequel to THE BOOK OF LUKE and I ran into a conundrum. In one version the story continues the summer after Luke and Emily’s senior year. In another version the story continues three years after they graduate. And I like both versions, so I’m curious.

If you were going to read about how Luke and Emily’s relationship continues, would you prefer it was the summer after they graduate or three years later?

Talk.

Jessi Kirby’s new book IN HONOR is out! If you’re like me, you’re looking for some summer reading. Here’s a little about Jessi’s book, which seems great for reading under a tree.

Honor receives her brother’s last letter from Iraq three days after learning that he died, and opens it the day his fellow Marines lay the flag over his casket. Its contents are a complete shock: concert tickets to see Kyra Kelly, her favorite pop star and Finn’s celebrity crush. In his letter, he jokingly charged Honor with the task of telling Kyra Kelly that he was in love with her.

Grief-stricken and determined to grant Finn’s last request, she rushes to leave immediately. But she only gets as far as the driveway before running into Rusty, Finn’s best friend since third grade and his polar opposite. She hasn’t seen him in ages, thanks to a falling out between the two guys, but Rusty is much the same as Honor remembers him: arrogant, stubborn. . . and ruggedly good looking. Neither one is what the other would ever look for in a road trip partner, but the two of them set off together, on a voyage that makes sense only because it doesn’t. Along the way, they find small and sometimes surprising ways to ease their shared loss and honor Finn–but when shocking truths are revealed at the end of the road, will either of them be able to cope with the consequences?

I had very cool parents growing up. And I knew it then, believe it or not. I’m not just coming to this realization some 20 years after I moved out of their house. They were also (in my opinion) very strict. They expected a lot – good grades, no trouble, obscene neatness, politeness and respect (I even had to answer the phone with a specific greeting which was horrifying when it was my friends calling and I sounded like the freaking butler). I was also grounded if I was one minute late for cerfew, which sucked but got me home on time.

They also told me that they smoked pot (once, really?), talked about sex (I was given the birds and bees talk at the dinner table as if it was no big deal), had a fully stocked bar and cold beers in the fridge in the garage, they swore (but I wasn’t allowed to), my mom wore bikinis and my dad wrestled with us on the living room floor, they went to concerts, went out with friends every weekend and took my brother and I out for ice cream every Sunday night. I was never told to stop watching TV (probably because I read books more than I watched TV), we ate birthday cake with amazing buttercream icing for breakfast (even though it was nobody’s birthday, we just wanted to get a cake). We drank soda with dinner, were never forced to eat green vegetables, got our drivers’ licenses the day we turned 16, were handed the keys to the car and told not to screw up. I had my first boyfriend in sixth grade and had a boy/girl party that year as well. They never said I was too young or I should wait until I was “older.” Basically, as long as I didn’t do stupid stuff, they trusted me.

So. Where am I going with this?

I’ve never related to the controlling, over protective, detatched, dense, almost invisible parents that proliferate YA books. While I understand that the stories are about the young characters, the role parents play in the life of the characters, even if off screen or in the past, is really important to me. It doesn’t have to be negative or huge, but it doesn’t have to be non-existant or non-influential, either. Parents can be normal and still have impact. In fact, in all my books the parents are there. They don’t need to lecture or teach life lessons, but their presence is felt in the person they raised, the main character. They’re the invisible thread that runs through the character, a thread that is woven tighty into the complete fabric of the person and yet a thread that is also tugged and pulled and potentially unraveled as the story and person evolves.

My parents have influenced how I write parents and how I look at the interaction between my teen characters and their parents. My own parents were three dimensional – silly, funny, strict, ridiculously anal retentive about stupid things. they were real. And that’s the type of parents I want my characters to be raised by. (And that’s them in the picture, in this year’s Valentine’s golf tournament at their club – in matching outfits. Horrifying and yet totally adorable, just like parents should be.)

I was away last week enjoying the solitude and sunshine of a little island in the middle of nowhere. It was so lovely and much needed. I brought a ton of books to read, but I have to say, I didn’t fall in love with any of them. And that kinda sucks when all you do every day is sit on a beach and read for six hours!!

Now it’s back to reality, editing WHEN YOU LEAVE and hopefully sending it off to my agent in the next two weeks. It’s raining and gray in Boston, so it’s good stay-inside-and-write weather. God help me if the sun shines, I don’t know that I’ll be able to resist the lure of warm, sunny weather!!

I was just given a heads up that RICH BOYS received nods from Rachel Harris for her “Swoon Thursday” pick.

What’s Swoon Thursday, you ask? According to Rachel’s Web site:

RACHEL: I scored a fun find at my local bookstore this past week, RICH BOYS by Jenny O’Connell. I’ve read and loved The Book of Luke and Plan B by her, so I knew this would be a fun treat…and I was right

Finally Jay pulled away, a look of surprise & delight on his face. “I wasn’t sure you were going to let me do that”-RICH BOYS Swoon #YABound

I’m sorry, but that description–a look of surprise and delight on his face–just gets me totally. Can’t you picture a total hottie staring at YOU that way????

Here’s the extended bloggy version:

Jay brushed his fingers against my face, moving my hair back, and I found myself moving toward his touch until our lips were pressed together, his tongue gently parting mine, his hand moving to the skin on my neck and pulling me against him. And instead of moving away I slid across the seat until there was no space between us, because it felt amazing and wonderful and even though every muscle in my body ached I wanted to be near him.

Finally, Jay pulled away, a look of surprise and delight on his face. “I wasn’t sure you were going to let me do that.”

We’ve had a whacky winter here in Boston. Just a few weeks ago, in March, I was wearing shorts and sitting out on my deck. Now things are back to normal, but, boy, that stretch of early Spring sure got me scared. Because I am this-close to finishing my next book. But the weather appears to be out to get me.

See, I can’t write when it’s nice out. I have zero discipline. I have never written a book during the summer. I may write some notes, type a little, edit a bit, but no really good, head down writing. Which means that every day the sun sets later and the birds wake me with chirping I’m like the writing version of Puxatawny Phil. Only in my case, when I see my shadow, cast by a warm sun, I know I’m lucky if I have a few more weeks of writing in me.

I just can’t stand sitting inside if it’s nice out. And, unfortunately, I can’t read my laptop in the sun. But even if I could see the letters on the screen, you know what kills me? When it’s nice out I want to read!! Oh, how I love sitting outside and reading – on the hammock, by the pool, in a deck chair, or lounging on a towel. I just associate warm weather with reading.

In fact, I’m heading on vacation in a week. To Anguilla, a lovely little island in the Caribbean. And, boy, you should see the pile of books traveling with me. Yes, I own a kindle, but I love having a book in my hand on the beach. I’ve been buying books for a month now in anticipation of my trip and I can’t wait to start them!

So, sun and warm weather=no writing.
But, sun=lots of reading.
Only writing=getting paid.
And reading=doing something enjoyable but not getting paid.

You’d think that’s pretty easy math to do. I should be writing. Damn Spring!!!!

Recently I was asked to judge a writing contest that a local library was hosting. There were two categories, middle school and high school, and two forms, fiction/non-fiction and poetry. I was assigned middle school.

I’m not a poetry person, I know what I like and don’t like but not necessarily what is “good” vs. “not so good.” So I just picked the top three that appealed to me. I really enjoyed reading the longer form fiction/non-fiction. All of it was good. Some of them were really good. Some content was a little disturbing and it made me think, probably like most readers, how much was “fiction” and how much was drawn from the writer’s life.

There were three other judges in my group and, mostly, we all readily identified the winners. All in a

April 1st is coming up and that means April Fool’s day! A few years ago my kids thought they’d be funny and wrap a rubber band around the hand sprayer at the kitchen sink. This way when I’d turn on the faucet it would spray me.  Ha, ha. The thing is, they didn’t know that a plumber was coming that morning to fix the water leaking from the faucet neck. So he turns on the water to see where the leak is coming from and… yep. The poor guy got sprayed with water. Now THAT was funny! He had a good sense of humor about it, thankfully.

This year my goal is to send my agent the finished version of WHEN YOU LEAVE. And I shall title my email, “NO, this is not an April Fool’s joke, it really is my manuscript!!!”

I guess we shall see if the joke’s on me. Come Sunday, we will know if it’s ready to go or not.

Today it was 77 degrees and sunny in Boston… on March 23! Insane. I had to go outside. So I got out a beach chair, plunked it on the deck and attempted to write. The thing is, laptops suck outside when it’s sunny. I could hardly read the screen and what I was typing. I I tried that for a little bit and then gave up. Enjoying the rare summer in March would have to take priority. But it wasn’t a total waste! I read. For hours. And it got me so excited to write that I kept running into the house to send myself emails with ideas. 

That’s the thing about reading when you’re a writer. It’s totally inspiring. So I can’t say today was a total loss for writing. Lots of ideas, just not lots of typed words. And sometimes, that’s okay.

I tend to get obsessed by songs. I hear something that I just LOVE and I listen to it over and over. Here is my latest obsession, Gotye’s version of Elliott Smith’s Just Somebody That I Used To Know (featuring Kimbra). Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!