Erica O'Rourke

Shine Winner!

You are all awesome -- what a fabulous response to the SHINE giveway! The fact that so many of you spread the word and expressed your support for Lauren and SHINE is a remindes that the universe is actually a pretty decent place.

And the winner is...Ruth Knafo Setton! Ruth, if you can email me your address, I'll pop both copies of SHINE in the mail on Monday, when I gather up my strength to face the post office again.

And if any of you are looking for more complete coverage of the entire situation, here are the links I've found most useful:

Libba Bray's spot-on analysis

NPR's All Things Considered interview

Vanity Fair's interview

Lauren's guest post on Huffington Post

And for good measure, here's the link to the Matthew Shephard Foundation's statement; Lauren strongly suggested that the NBF make a donation after this whole debacle, so that some good could come out of the situation. Because again, she is a class act and an inspiration. (As stated on their website, the Matthew Shephard Foundation tries to raise awareness and promote human dignity for everyone by engaging schools, corporations, and individuals in dialogues.)

Thanks again, everyone, for being involved. I truly believe that, as horrible as this situation was, great good will come out of it as the word about this novel and its message continues to spread.

No Takebacks -- Win TWO copies of SHINE

I am a firm advocate in not being reactionary online. There's always two sides to every story. It's best not to throw things onto the interwebs when one is in high dudgeon. It's better to wait until all the facts are known and cooler heads have prevailed and all manner of anger-management techniques have been applied.

However.

I am furious and sick at heart over the National Book Foundation's treatment of Lauren Myracle and her novel, SHINE. There are articles going up all over the web as we speak, and I'll come back and link to them later, but here's a brief summary. Last week, the NBF nominated five books, including SHINE, for the National Book Award's YA category. A short while later, they announced a sixth nominee. 

Now, the gracious thing to do, the classy thing to do, the RIGHT THING TO DO, would have been to say, "Heavens, there's a lot of quality YA literature out there. Six nominees won't hurt anyone and will bring recognition to an additional outstanding book. Carry on."

This did not happen. Instead, it is looking like the NBF called Lauren Myracle and said she should withdraw her book from consideration. And she did. Because she has class. And because, I would assume, that being told that the committee did not actually want her book in the running made the whole thing a bit less appealing. Like being told someone's mom MADE them invite you to the party, and they don't really want you, but since their mom said the HAD to invite you, well, okay, fine. Show up.

I'm outraged, and my heart is just bleeding for Lauren right now. When I was nominated for the Golden Heart, my first reaction was disbelief. "Are you sure? There has to be a mistake. Are you absolutely sure Am I delusional?" But...it was in print! It was on the RWA website! All my friends were congratulating me! It was public knowledge! But there was always a fear that someone would turn up and say, "Oh...sorry. Math error. We got the wrong Erica O'Rourke. There was a mixup with the paperwork."

I wasn't the only finalist who felt that way, either. It's a natural reaction, when something really wonderful and unexpected happens, to think that you're dreaming, or that there's been an error. But eventually, you let yourself believe it's real. And for the NBF to do this...to essentially tell Lauren she had earned this well-deserved accolade, and then yell, "PSYCH!" in the most public and humiliating way possible...it's cruel. It's cruel and it makes my vision go all splotchy with rage.

So. Here's the thing. SHINE is an amazing book. It's an IMPORTANT book. I want people to read it, and I want Lauren to write more books. Hence, a giveaway. I have two copies of SHINE. Comment here, and I will draw one name on Friday. You win BOTH copies, but there's a catch: one copy of is for you. One copy is for the library or youth organization of your choice. Is there a teen center in your town? Give it to them. Homeless shelter? That works too. Is there a teacher at your school with a classroom library that needs a copy? Perfect. I'm not going to check up on you (though a picture or an email would be lovely). My goal is to get this book into the hands of as many people as possible.

Recap, for those of you who like bullet points.

• National Book Foundation is behaving very badly indeed.
• Lauren Myracle is a class act who wrote a beautiful book.
• Comment here by noon, central time, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21 to win two copies of SHINE.
• One copy goes to you. The other copy goes to the library or youth organization of your choice.
• You don't have to retweet or reblog or re...whatever, but I'd love it if you did.

Recovery and an Event and a Question

If you follow my twitter feed, you know that last Monday, I sent the first draft of BOUND to my editor. And promptly developed some sort of post-book aphasia that prevented me from carrying on conversations longer than five minutes. It's not a new phenomenon for me, this need for a week-long decompression upon finishing a book, but I've never needed it quite so badly. Maybe it was because it was the conclusion of the trilogy. Maybe it was because the draft was longer than usual. Maybe it's because the week before it was due, Big Marshmallow was home and barfy and needy, instead of at school, so the only time I could work was late at night. Regardless, I took a little time off.

I had grand plans. A list, several pages long, of what I hoped to accomplish. But frankly, I was so tired, I couldn't do it. Instead, I watched some TV. Sadly, I remember nothing of what I watched, with the exception of Doctor Who and Prime Suspect, and also some Inspector Lewis. I went to the post office. (Hate the post office.) I went to the library. (Love the library.) I tidied my office, though you can't really tell. I went to parent teacher conferences. (BLARGH.) I procured my favorite, hard-to-find-in-the-north beer and drank two. (This is a lot for me.) I bought myself a sweatshirt. (Pictures to come.) I attended sports events and family gatherings, picked apples, walked through a corn maze, and moved furniture. It was not relaxing, in the way that a week-long nap would have been relaxing, but it was good.

Now, however, it's back to work. Even though BOUND is with my editor right now, there are still things I need to work on. I have been threatening to write an epically long blog post about why I am so enraged about the TV show BONES, and I want to put that up before the premiere airs. I've also got some events coming up that require some preparation and planning.  The most pressing of these is next week, when I'll be speaking to the local chapter of SCBWI about my journey as a writer.

I'm always a little leery about discussing My Journey As A Writer, because I worry that people will interpret it as the only way to get published, or the best way to get published, when in fact, it is simply the way I got published, and your mileage will vary. So I'm asking you guys for help: what do you like an author to talk about at these sorts of things? What's the most useful/helpful/interesting thing they can include? What do you HATE at author events?

If you're interested in stopping by, here are the details, by the way

Lake County Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI)
7pm, October 19th
Barnes and Noble, Westfield Shopping Mall, Vernon Hills, IL

I will be signing books after the chat; the meeting itself is free and open to all.