IF I TELL Jon Skovron- Will he hold a grudge?

Jon Skovron has never really fit in, and has no plans to start now. After twelve years of Catholic school, he went on to study acting at a conservatory program for four years before returning to his first love, writing. Best-selling author Holly Black called his new novel, Misfit, "A diabolically delightful paranormal" and Kirkus (Starred Review) called it, "Thoughtful, scary and captivating." His first novel, Struts & Frets, was published in 2009. Washington Post Book world said, "Skovron perfectly captures that passion--sometimes fierce, sometimes shy--that drives so many young artists to take the raw stuff of life and transform it into something beautiful." Bestselling author Cory Doctorow said, "Struts & Frets will feel instantly authentic to anyone who's ever felt the pride and shame of being an outsider". Jon lives with his two sons outside Washington, DC. Visit him at jonskovron.com

Okay, I will refrain from mentioning that if I were a teenage girl I would be crushing hard on Jon Skovron. Oops, too late, but with that intriguing photo and bio and the fact that his writing is just AMAZING, well he's a pretty cool guy, yes? I loved STRUTS AND FRETS and I am reading MISFIT right now and it is SO GOOD! Kirkus Star earned. And by the way, this bio makes so much sense when you read MISFIT! But enough gushing, let's talk to Jon about SECRETS and TEEN STUFF!

So Jon, are you good at keeping secrets? Why or why not?


JON:  I'm good at keep secrets if someone tells me it's a secret that must be kept. I'm bad at picking up on subtle hints that something should be a secret if the person doesn't explicitly tell me so.

Note to self. If divulging secrets to Jon, spell it out. Ha. I think that's pretty much the way I am too. I am amazing at secrets if explicitly asked not to share. What about mistakes? Do you easily forgive friends for their mistakes? What is something you could never forgive a friend for?

JON: I can't hold grudges. It's not really that I think it's "wrong". I've tried to do it. Honestly I have. But it takes way too much effort and makes me nauseous. That said, trust is important to me. I assume a person is trustworthy until they prove me wrong. Once someone breaks my trust, I assume they are untrustworthy. They can earn back my trust, but takes a while.

Ouch. I don't want to risk it. Second note to self. Don't do something to break Jon's trust. Okay, so let’s go ahead and stereotype you for a moment. What kind of a teen were you, as in what “group” did you associate with?(cheerleader, Goth, nerd, jock , loner etc.)

JON : Goth+nerd+theater geek+punk

The fact that someone can call themselves a goth and a nerd at the same time is pretty amazing. And explains to me why you write such wonderful books. Okay. Describe your fave teen outfit.

JON: Gray West German Army Overcoat, torn jeans with long underwear underneath, black combat boots, and a cartoon character t-shirt (Pink Panther, Joker, Mad Hatter, etc).

I love the long underwear touch, and this does perfectly encapsulate the type of teen I am imaging you as.  Last question. If you could go back to high school knowing now what you didn’t know then, what is one thing you would change? What do you wish you could have told your teen self?

JON: In high school I was pretty angry in general, and impatient with others who didn't share my opinions. I said unkind things to people. Some of them provoked me, and perhaps those people "deserved it". Other people didn't deserve it at all. I should have been more generous with all of them. Meanness begets meanness, and kindness begets kindness. I could have done with a little more kindness, and offering it myself would have been a great place to start.

Wise words indeed! Thank you for your honest and thoughtful answers, Jon. And you who are reading this. Have you picked up MISFIT yet? You're going to LOVE IT!

New Book Deal Announced

This morning's Publisher's Marketplace announced the new deal that my agent, Jill Corcoran has been working on for me!

Janet Gurtler's JUST BREATHE, in which a girl struggles with boy problems and serious regret after accidentally killing a boy she barely knows when she kisses him after consuming a peanut butter sandwich, not aware he has a deathly allergy to peanuts, to Leah Hultenschmidt at Sourcebooks Fire, by Jill Corcoran at The Herman Agency.

I'm really excited about this book and Leah, the YA/Romance editor over at Sourcebooks is a dream to work with. Seriously. When I was unpublished and imagined working with an editor someday, she is the person I would have conjured up. 

This is the first book I've sold that isn't actually finished yet (it was bought on a partial and synopsis) so it will be a little different going in.  I love the story though and think it will give me lots of room to go deep and explore character emotions and complexities as I so love to do.   (And hope I accomplish sometimes!)

The title will be changing for sure as Just Breathe isn't quite the perfect one, but since I was calling it the Peanut Butter book when I started working on it, Just Breathe is definitely an improvement.

I've never made it a secret that my son has a serious peanut allergy and some people look at me like there's a screw floating around in my brain when I tell them the premise, but I think it's a great story and I've talked to my son about why I'm writing it with a death and he gets it. I know that almost every single person knows someone with a peanut allergy, especially in today's world.

Peanut allergies, like many deathly allergies, are serious stuff and scary for parents and families to live with sometimes. There are accidents. I'm going to have to take my imagination to some dark places while writing this book, but I think it will be worth it.

Wish me luck as I work on it over the next few months. I hope it's as good a story as I want it to be!!

IF I TELL FIVE- Talking Secrets with a Canadian Book Publicist

I am Canadian, so not only do I get great health care (*wink*) I'm lucky that I also get to have an extra arm on publicity from Sourcebooks and that is from the Sourcebooks Distributor in Canada- Raincoast Books! Raincoast Teen Blog

Crystal Allen is the Children's Book Publicist at Raincoast Books. She lives in beautiful Vancouver, BC with her 3 year old daughter, husband and their 4 pound Yorkie. She is also the owner and designer of Lilikoi Lane, a Vancouver based custom shirt company. You can find her on facebook at http://www.lilikoilane.info/

Crystal has been doing a wonderful job promoting I'M NOT HER to Indigo/Chapters and the amazing Independent Bookstores in Canada!

I asked her to be the first participant in the IF I TELL FIVE. So without further ado, here we go!

JG: Are you good at keeping secrets? Why or why not?

CRYSTAL:  I am, and I'm not. I'm definitely not the girl who is going to run around blabbing your secret to the whole wide world, but if I know something really big I have a hard time keeping it in. Usually if someone tells me a huge secret that I just can't keep to my self I will tell my husband (who is probably the best secret keeper alive!) or my friend Amy, who lives in Colorado and who I have never actually met face to face and knows none of the same IRL (In Real Life) people who I do so even if she blabs no one would find it very interesting since they don't know the people in question. I think it's important to be able to have someone who you trust to confide your secrets to. It's not healthy to keep them all bottled up and to yourself.

I find myself using the same techniques sometimes if it is not the kind of secret I absolutely must keep. My husband never gossips, hates it actually so he's a good person to share with. Or I'll do the tell someone who doesn't know anyone involved and don't mention names. I worry about bursting too. ;)  Now...let's talk forgiveness. Do you easily forgive friends for their mistakes? What is something you could never forgive a friend for?

CRYSTAL: My sister and I are 3 years apart. Growing up we would get into huge, monumental fights constantly and then we would have forgiven each other 5 minutes later. Now that I'm grown up it always confuses me when people hold things that they are upset about inside and hold a grudge about it. If you are upset, let me know you are upset, let's have it out and then hug and make up. I'm a pretty forgiving person. I can't think of any friend that I have had a fight with that I'm still mad at so, yes, I would say I forgive friends for their mistakes.

As for something that I couldn't forgive a friend for, I am fiercely protective of my family and friends. I can forgive people for things that they do to me but if someone were to do something that really hurt my daughter or husband, that would probably be harder to get over.

Wow. I admire your candor and totally get the protective thing. All right, so let’s just go ahead and stereotype you for a moment, okay? Okay! What kind of a teen were you, as in what “group” did you associate with? (cheerleader, Goth, nerd, jock , loner etc.)

CRYSTAL: Funny enough I didn't really fit into any of those categories. I was the type of girl that tried to be friends with everyone. I had friends that were in the "popular" crowd but I definitely wasn't one of the popular girls, I had friends who were in the "theater"group and I took a pretty heavy schedule of drama classes but again I definitely wasn't a theater girl. I had friends who were nerds, jocks, "the bad kids", artsy, etc but I don't think I fully fit in with any of the groups and I kind of bounced back and forth from one group to the next. I guess I was just me.


Great person to be. Yourself.  Good advice to teens and beyond!
Okay. Now that we're thinking like teens, can you describe your fave teen outfit?

CRYSTAL : I started working at a restaurant as a hostess when I was 14 years old. I had a HUGE crush on the prep cook who was 5 years older than me. We became very good friends and eventually started dating after I graduated from high school. When I was 16 years old my Mom bought me a red dress to wear to a wedding and it ended up becoming my Christmas Party dress. It was my first real "grown up" dress. It fit my body perfectly, had just the right amount of cleavage and was a bold color choice. Everyone noticed the girl in red. I was wearing that dress the first time my crush and I slow danced together at the company Christmas Party and when I left the party at the end of the night he kissed me (on the cheek, daringly close to the lips). The dress made me feel very glamourous and like a girl out of a book. It still makes me smile when I think about it.


You were MUCH cooler than me. I would have been terrified of a boy 5 years older than me that I had a crush on!  So, if you could go back to high school knowing now what you didn’t know then, what is one thing you would change? What do you wish you could have told your teen self?

CRYSTAL: This was a tough one for me to answer. My first thoughts were the typical "that the way things are in high school really don't matter once you grow up", or to try and "buckle down and get better grades". Honestly though I don't think either of those things would have changed anything in my grown up life.


So I think it would be this: "Crystal, I know that things are really rough between you and your mom right now. You guys will get through it. One day she will be your best friend, the person who you confide your secrets in. She will make huge sacrifices in her life so that she can help take care of your daughter. The two of them will have a bond that you weren't lucky enough to have with your own grandmas. Play nice and know that the two of you will get through it and be stronger for it."

Aw. That is SO sweet. I know Mom/Daughter relationships can be REALLY tough during teen years. Actually the Mom/Daughter relationship in IF I TELL is really a tough one, but the main character tries to deal with it the best she can. Not always easy though.

Thanks so much CRYSTAL for stopping by and sharing your wonderful answers! I look forward to working with you soon on IF I TELL!!

If I Tell Janet Gurtler

That search combination that leads a few people to this blog just cracks me up for some silly reason. If I Tell Janet Gurtler. What?? What will happen to you??? Tell her. TELL HER!

Yes. It is late. Yes. I need to get off the computer. :)

Anyhow. I am finally back from what feels like being away for the entire summer. I have been cabin building in the wilds and it's been okay and all --but weeks without Internet are hard on a writer type person let me tell you.  I have much to do and much to write and I just **may**  have some good news to share soon. Shhh. Secret.

I'm going to be talking about secrets a lot over the next couple months actually! I am going to be adding a fun new feature to the blog, where I interview writers/agents/bloggers whoever wants to be on my page to answer the IF I TELL FIVE.  This is coming soon. I hope to have some groovy people join me, so stay tuned. Well. Keep on with your life and all, but watch for it.

In the meanwhile, I must get back to real life. I'm kind of happy about that.  What's new with you??

Living with a Teenager inside My Head

I was a teenager longer ago than I care to actually do the math on. Before cell phones. Before Texting and Facebook and Twitter. I had no idea what a blog was. Man, truth be told, I learned how to type on a TYPEWRITER. I had little nail polish like tubes of white out when I wrote essays in high school and then college.

I could go on and on about the old days. But I won’t. I know there are differences being a teen today of course. It’s a faster pace, and teens are more sophisticated in many ways. They certainly have better clothes and cars! But some of things don’t change despite advances in technology or changes in social norms.

Because I write teen fiction I spend a lot of time thinking like a teen. Or trying to remember feelings that were so important to me as a teen. I purposely go there in my head especially when I’m trying to figure out how my characters would act or talk or what they would do in a situation. And of course, I read teen fiction all the time. I’m not complaining, trust me. I love teen fiction. Writing it and reading it. But one side effect is that I dream about my teen years and my teen friends all the time. And I am so not a teenager. But I remember things perhaps more clearly than people who don’t write stories about this time in their lives.

I was taken back when someone I know (my sister in law actually) told me she read I’M NOT HER and was surprised by the drinking party in the opening scene. She said things must have changed since she was a kid since she couldn’t remember the teen years being like that. My brows wrinkled and I held in a huge raspberry sound like Pssssssshaaaaaaaaaaaaawwww.

Um. This was a woman who partied A LOT when she was a teen. I know that for a fact. But I simply said, well, it certainly happens and I did when I was a teen. Then I laughed and said I was actually worse than any characters in I’M NOT HER, since I was kind of a rotten teen. And then she laughed too, and said she did a lot of things too when she was a teen that would be too risqué for books. And yeah, I thought to myself. I kind of knew hat. Hmm. So when I thought about it later, I wondered if her initial reaction was like a memory loss or if it was denial or what? I’m still not sure.

It made me think about how connected I feel to teen experiences. Not that I think I’m a just like a teen and super hip and young and could totally hang with them and stuff. God knows teens certainly don’t want me and my age spots walking up to them and trying to hang. And I’m way beyond wanting that. I’m pretty much a mom and in my mind teens are like little kids. Only bigger. With more attitude.

But I feel a rather spiritual connection to what it is like to be a teen. That transitional time when the world is emotional and raw. Everything is dramatic! I love exploring stories with a teen brain and for me that includes seeing the worlds they live in with as authentic an eye I can. Drinking, drugs and sex don’t scare me. I don’t want to preach to teens, but I do like to think that I explore consequences of actions. I try not to judge. I like teenagers. I remember being one.

Anyhow, I better like them because in three more years my house will be filled with them. Hopefully I’ll still be writing teen books and talking to the teen in my head. It should horrify me son. I’ll try to check back and let you know.

Summer, Panels and If I Tell

Yesterday I met with writer pals and blog geniuses - Angela Ackerman and Stina Lindenblatt to discuss our panel at the upcoming When Words Collide Writers Conference.

We met at the beach.  Yeah. Life is tough like that sometimes. Anyhow, while Stina and my kids roamed around (Ang's are old enough to fend for themselves) we talked about Writing YA. It was good for the soul and interesting and of course there was a *little* general conversation about books and the publishing life.

Today was a great day too! I saw a wonderful, wonderful glowing review sheet that Kay Mitchell, Publicist Extraordinaire put together for publishing people. It is beautiful and full of wonderful quotes from readers who loved I'M NOT HER. Of course, readers who did not were purposefully ignored. (kidding, kidding, kidding. Sort of.)

I also got word that I'M NOT HER was on the Sony Reader's Ebook Staff Picks. Cool beans, yes.

Best of all I got to have a conversation with my lovely editor at Sourcebooks, and we talked about a new book idea that I am SOOOOOO excited about and she loved the idea too! Yay! Great news! Now all I have to do is write it! Oh. Wait. That's kind of the hard part.

But seriously I haven't been this pumped about a new book for a long time, so let's hope it all works out and there will be some official  news soon!!! But meanwhile, back at the book store...

I am starting to realize too, that IF I TELL comes out in less than 3 months. Oh my GOSH. Less than three months. 

Please love my book world.  No pressure. But please. :)

Missing in Action

I have been completely missing in action! Yes I have. I have been to Winnipeg for my niece's grad and she is far too beautiful for her own good. Hee hee.

Niece and Grandma

I also had a wonderful book signing at the amazing INDIE - McNally Robinson. Such a great store and wonderful people who work there! Some old friends came by and I even did a reading!!

Came home for two parties and then immediately headed to BC for cabin building. And no Internet. Eek! No Internet! I painted and painted but also managed to find a couple hours to finish my short story for the Debs FIRST anthology. Whew!!


Back home now for a quick few days and then back to BC. Did I mention the pile of laundry I am facing today??? Did I mention how behind I am on all my writing "stuff"? Did I mention I haven't exercised and that I've been eating nonstop for weeks??

Oh and I also learned just yesterday that I am a new AUNTIE!!! My younger brother and his wife and son are the proud new parents of a little baby girl from China. They will be going to pick her up in China to welcome her to their family in September. So excited for them. It was a long time coming and they will be fabulous. I can't wait to meet her though we live so far away I may have to wait awhile.

Last of the good news....my review of I'M NOT HER came in for the SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL. And they liked it, they really liked it!!! Hooray!!!!!

"The author seamlessly develops complexity in all of the characters ...This quick and heartbreaking read realistically shows how one person’s illness affects an entire community"