Today is the National Day on Writing, an officially-recognized initiative by the National Council of Teachers of English to “draw attention to the remarkable variety of writing we engage in and help make writers from all walks of life aware of their craft.” In less than two weeks, more than 100,000 writers will put pens to paper to kick off National Novel Writing Month, a frenzied quest in which participants strive to complete a 50,000-word novel in a month.

For those of us who write for a living, these writing-designated events might give us the extra encouragement we need to start or finish a project; some good vibes from the collective creative energy of thousands of writers and other aspiring authors. Or, the events may pass with little notice — just a stream of #nanowrimo tags in the Twitterverse. For us, writing is such a part of our ingrained lives that on any given day, we’re probably writing, revising, outlining, book marketing, or handling the administrative details of a writing career. The time of “aspiring” seems foreign now; days so far in the past that we can’t recall whether we actually lived them or just read about them in a history book. Is this a good thing? I don’t know. I change my answer a lot.

I hear from many readers who aspire to write. Teens, adults, young kids, grandparents, teachers, students, librarians. They often share their fears that they’re too young / too old / too inexperienced / too boring / too insecure / too whatever to write a book or short story or screenplay or poem. I think all writers feel that way — even published ones. Even long after our first sale, again and again as we travel the loops of the writing and publication roller coaster over the course of our careers. I know I do. But the thing that’s most helped me overcome — or at least, accept and manage — those fears enough to keep me writing, to keep me trying, is encouragement.

Encouragement can come from my husband, cheering me on, bringing me hot tea, reminding me how much I love to write even on the most frustrating days. My proud parents, selling books to their friends or updating the family on the latest news. My agent, reminding me that I can do it. That he has faith in me and my work. My editor, telling me what she loves most about the latest draft. Even Chancho, my three-legged lucky writing pig, has been known to lift my spirits from the fog. But sometimes, encouragement comes from someone unexpected. Someone less involved in and less affected by my personal, day-to-day ups and downs. A fellow author, offering a virtual hug as we wait together for news on an acquisition or a review. A librarian, writing to say how much she enjoyed my book and how long the hold list is for a copy. A teacher who may not even realize how much she influenced and encouraged me way back when I was a student, or how much her efforts mean to me even now, decades later.

All of us who visit AuthorsNow have a connection to writing. Whether we’re authors, teachers, librarians, bloggers, parents, readers, or lucky writing pigs, we all share a love for stories. We all have an investment in the craft of writing and the creation of books. As such, we have a responsibility to nurture and encourage those who want to write. Those who want to see their words printed on pages for all of us to one day read and enjoy. So I want to declare today, and all the days in November, and all the days of every month, National Writing Encouragement Day. If you see or know a writer — aspiring, published, seasoned, just starting out, still dreaming of those first words on the page — encourage him. Give her the thumbs up or a quick pat on the back. Let him know that you’re excited that he’s writing. That you’re proud of her. That you know he can do it. It might just mean the world to someone. For those who write, a little encouragement might be the difference between aspiring and achieving.

And for all the aspiring writers out there who think they’re too “something” to write a book, I share this quote, posted today by Cheryl Renee Herbsman, author of BREATHING:

“Waiting for your life to change is like looking in the mirror and expecting your reflection to smile before you do.” ~ unknown

It’s the National Day on Writing. And it’s National Writing Encouragement Day. So… you know what to do.

~ Sarah Ockler, Author of TWENTY BOY SUMMER

Sarah Ockler

This week, we’re celebrating Sarah Ockler’s debut! Sarah Ockler wrote and illustrated her first book at age six—an adaptation of Steven Spielberg’s E.T. Still recovering from her own adolescence, Sarah now writes for young adults. After several years of wandering between New York City and Denver, she and her husband Alex now live in Upstate New York with lots of books and an ever-expanding collection of sea glass. TWENTY BOY SUMMER is Sarah’s first novel. Visit her online at http://www.sarahockler.com.

Here’s a little bit about TWENTY BOY SUMMER (Little, Brown).

While on vacation in California, sixteen-year-old best girlfriends Anna and Frankie conspire to find a boy for Anna’s first summer romance, but Anna harbors a painful secret that threatens their lighthearted plan and their friendship.

TWENTY BOY SUMMER is a debut YA novel that explores what it truly means to love someone, what it means to grieve, and ultimately, how to make the most of every single moment this world has to offer.

TWENTY BOY SUMMER by Sarah Ockler

If you had to give your book a movie rating: G through Rated R, which one would you give and why?

I would rate TWENTY BOY SUMMER PG-13. The book includes some mature content, including scenes exploring teen sexuality, peer pressure, and underage drinking, but the writing is neither gratuitous nor graphic.

What topics, issues, or themes does your book address? What drove you to write about them?

TWENTY BOY SUMMER primarily explores themes of loss and grief, the changes relationships can endure in the aftermath of a tragedy, and finally, hope. The story was inspired by my previous work with the National Donor Family Council (http://donorfamily.org), which supports families whose loved ones died and donated organs or tissues. Through the Council’s programs and events, I met many teens who’d suffered the death of a sibling or friend. When I started work on TWENTY BOY SUMMER, I wanted to share a little piece of their stories.

Name three examples of readers who would identify or like your book.

Readers who would identify with or particularly enjoy TWENTY BOY SUMMER include teen girls who’ve experienced the death of a loved one or friend; girls who’ve endured changes or breakups with best friends; and anyone who has loved and lost. However, while TWENTY BOY SUMMER deals with the heaviness of loss and grief, there is also the very real story of a summer beach vacation between two best friends, and all that a few weeks on the beach entails, including fun in the sun, sea glass, swimming, and cute boys. Life is never all good or all bad; all happy or all sad. I wanted to reflect that with this story and I hope that readers will enjoy it.

List a few statistically improbable phrases or sentences one might find in your book. These are phrases or sentences you might never find anywhere else.

• Clove-and-marzipan-frosting mouth
• Fifth Theorem on Quantum Physics and Beautiful Girls
• Voodoo magic love spell
• Anna’s Albatross
• God of Most Embarrassing Moments
• cheating on a ghost
• a lovesick mermaid who cries out pieces of sea glass

Tell us why you think this book is different from the rest.

TWENTY BOY SUMMER is different from other young adult reads in that it marries the fun and frivolity of a light summer beach read with raw, heartfelt emotion and depth. It’s great for teen and mother-daughter book clubs because readers can explore and discuss topics like teen sex, grief and loss, friendship, and choices in the context of two very different characters and how each of them changes and behaves after the death of a loved one.

Now tell us about other already-published books that readers of your book might enjoy.

• IF I STAY by Gayle Forman, BEFORE I DIE by Jenny Downham.
• THE TRUTH ABOUT FOREVER by Sarah Dessen.
• THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS series by Ann Brashares.

Now whet our appetites with a teaser.

Frankie Perino and I were lucky that day. Lucky to be alive—that’s what everyone said. I got a fractured wrist and banged-up knee, and my best friend Frankie got a fat little scar above her left eye, breaking her eyebrow into two reflective halves. Up one side, down the other. Happy, sad. Shock, awe. Before, after.

Before, all of us were lucky.
After, only me and Frankie.
That’s what everyone said.

Are you offering authors visits to schools, libraries, or other organizations?

Yes.

Are you willing to speak nationally?

Yes.

List a few example titles of presentations, talks, or workshops you might give for an author visit.

Workshops:

• Writing Techniques for Teens
• Our Creative Autobiographies: how do we feel about creative pursuits and how can we incorporate more writing, art, or music into our lives?
• From Object To Idea: finding writing inspiration in our everyday things, photos, and collectibles.

Presentations & General Discussions:

• A Writer’s Life: the day-to-days of the publication journey
• TWENTY BOY SUMMER Book Club Discussion

This concludes our interview with our latest author, SARAH OCKLER. We wish her much success with her debut novel TWENTY BOY SUMMER. To see what Sarah is up to these days, visit her website at http://www.sarahockler.com.

*GIVEAWAY ALERT*  Sarah is giving away a signed copy of TWENTY BOY SUMMER. Tell your friends and  leave a comment for the author!  Enter by August 5, 2009 11:59 PM CST.

Your email address will not be displayed publicly and will only be used to contact you if you win! And don’t forget to participate in our other AuthorsNow! giveaways.

WHAT: Win the 20 Things grand prize, including 6 autographed debut books (Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler, Fairy Tale by Cyn Balog, Breathing by Cheryl Renee Herbsman, Prada & Prejudice by Mandy Hubbard, Models Don’t Eat Chocolate Cookies by Erin Dionne, and The Great Call of China by Cynthea Liu) and 14 fun summer goodies in the 20 Things in 20 Days blog scavenger hunt!

WHEN: June 11-30, 2009

HOW: Complete clues/activities to earn points toward the grand prize. Complete all or some of the clues, in any order, any time now through June 30. Visit 20 Things in 20 Days for details and the list of clues (updated daily).

I struggled with this during the writing of Twenty Boy Summer, because sex is part of the reality of the story—one aspect of the physical and emotional journey two best friends follow in the wake of the tragedy that so defines them. I knew that I had to include the sexual content, but I also wondered how much detail I should write into the scenes. I wanted it to be realistic and descriptive without shying from it, but I was also cautious about going too far, because despite the lighthearted and flirty title, sex is not the focus of the story.

Twenty Boy Summer is officially labeled for ages 12 and up, but when people ask me which ages I recommend it for, I always suggest at least 14, and I encourage the parents or teachers to check it out first. But now that the book is on the shelves (a few weeks early!) and making its way in the world, I’ve heard from readers as young as 11 and 12 who’ve read the book at the suggestion of a parent, teacher, or librarian and loved it. On the flip side, I’ve also heard from reviewers and parents who feel that it’s definitely not appropriate for teens under 15.

So a question for our bookseller, librarian, and teacher visitors: how do you handle this issue? Do you feel that books with sexual content are okay for younger teens? Do parents or the readers themselves ever ask you to offer a rating on a book, similar to movie ratings? Have you ever intentionally withheld a book recommendation for a younger reader based on mature content, or had a parent complain about a book that their child brought home? Do you think books should come with actual ratings, like PG and R? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below!

On Amazon.com two days ago… sales rankings disappeared from two newly-released high profile gay romance books… The very next day HUNDREDS of gay and lesbian books simultaneously lost their sales rankings, including my book “The Filly.” …Many of us decided to write to Amazon questioning why our rankings had disappeared. Most received evasive replies… As I am a publisher and have an Amazon Advantage account through which I supply Amazon with my books, I had a special way to contact them.

Amazon’s reply?

In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude “adult” material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature.

In response, angry Amazon customers and slighted authors united under a common online banner —Amazonfail—and called the retailer out via a swarm of Twitter posts. They accused Amazon of stripping sales ranking and searchability, two key factors that drive recommendations and sales in Amazon’s system, from books featuring positive homosexual and transgender content while titles like Playboy’s Complete Centerfolds and books with anti-gay messages were unaffected.

When Amazon representatives finally addressed what was quickly becoming a PR nightmare, the general consensus-slash-excuse surfacing from the rubble was that Amazonfail was the result of a programming glitch affecting almost 60,000 titles rather than a new policy dictating categorical censorship.

For a full summary of the incident, check out BBC’s How Amazonfail was born.

Amazon Dissing Books? I’ll Show Them!

My initial response to what I perceived as Amazon’s anti-LGBT censorship was to replace my Web site and Facebook page links to Twenty Boy Summer’s Amazon listing with links to Barnes & Noble and Indiebound. I also posted a blog entry notifying readers about the Amazonfail debacle, my position on it, and the changes I made to my book’s links.

Following Amazon’s post-fail claims, I wondered whether my boycott was reactionary. Companies, like people, make mistakes and should be allowed to apologize for and remedy their follies. So I decided that if Amazonfail was truly perpetuated by an ill-programmed bit of code that could be identified and quickly amended, I should reinstate the links to my book’s Amazon listing and continue my almost-daily obsession with monitoring my own Amazon sales ranking.

But Amazon never posted an acknowledgment, explanation, or apology on their Web site. Of the almost-daily recommendations and promotional emails I receive from the company, none ever mentioned the Amazonfail debacle or their plan to correct the affected listings. In fact, other than their standard-issue PR statement calling the whole thing “an embarrassing and ham-fisted cataloging error,” Amazon has been conspicuously absent from their own poop-storm (yes, I said poop-storm. If Amazon can say ham-fisted, I can say poop-storm).

Furthermore, some are claiming that aggressive anti-LGBT censorship is not only still happening at Amazon, but has been in practice for more than a year. Check out Francine Saint Marie’s Amazon’s “Glitch” Myth Debunked at AfterEllen.com for a frustrating example of one author’s losing battle to reinstate the rankings and search engine listings of her Kindle titles.

Francine’s ordeal, coupled with Amazon’s MIA status, is enough for me to keep my current anti-Amazon stance. But there’s something else keeping me off Amazon—something that Amazonfail has brought to my attention with a swift kick.

Indies & Libraries: Baby, Give Me One More Chance

Whether the cause was censorship, programming glitch, or plain old stupidity, Amazonfail helped me realize that because of my former love for Amazon, I’ve abandoned the community indies and libraries. By over-relying on the ease, speed, and dependability of Amazon’s one-click-and-your-done system, I’ve erased the personal connection. No longer do I seek recommendations from my local bookseller or librarian. Don’t need to—I have Amazon’s complex algorithms to scan my buying habits and match me up with targeted recommendations based on the buying and rating habits of people Just Like Me. Why have a conversation with a store employee about her favorite YA title or the fantasy books she can’t keep on the shelves when I can just click a few buttons and wait for a shiny new stack of books to arrive, as if by magic, on my front porch? And I certainly have no use for running my hand along the plastic-coated spines looking for a random title to jump out at me from the library shelves—my nano-friends at Amazon are working behind the particle scenes and across the wireless wires to scan all the options for me.

And you know what? That makes me infinitely sad!

So I’m turning out that silver lining and using Amazonfail as a kickstart to get back out in my neighborhood and talk it up with my fellow book-lovers. The indie and the library are right down the street from me! I got a new library card last week and I already checked out Jellicoe Road (can’t put it down!). There was something very comforting in the process, handing over my card and hearing the beep of the scanner that logged my library loan. The librarian smiled. I smiled. He handed me the book and my due date printout and I took them into my hands and walked past all the old shelves, past the computer terminals and the teen section and the large print editions, out the glass front door and right into the sunlight, hands wrapped around that shiny library-bound edition. Oh, happy day!

Thank you, Amazon, for the reminder.

What Do You Think?

How do you feel about Amazonfail? Do you believe the “glitch” explanation? Do you think Amazon handled the crisis appropriately? Readers, has Amazonfail changed your book-buying habits? Authors, have you shifted online promotions to other retailers? Leave some love in the comments and let us know your thoughts!

Happy reading!

Sarah Ockler, author of Twenty Boy Summer

I know what it is to have my peers question my sanity in not-so-subtle ways. To be looked down upon. To be mocked, judged, and ridiculed.

Confession: I don’t have a TV.

I’ve never seen Lost or Survivor or Heroes or Sex and the City. And though I’ve watched an occasional episode of The Simpsons and Friends, I can’t chose a favorite or spew out witty best-of-the-best quotes. I’m not up on my celeb gossip, don’t care who wore or won what at the Emmy’s, and was never sought out as a companion for pop-cultural dishing around the water cooler.

People always ask me why I don’t watch television, like I’m depriving myself of some important entitlement to raise money for a good cause or protest the corporatizing of American media. Truly, it’s more a matter of logistics than me being a counter-culture hippie (yes, I’ve been called that and worse!). We got rid of our old TV when we moved cross-country last year and just haven’t replaced it. I’ve gone through other TV-free periods in my life, too, and each time, I’ve come away better for the experience.

Why? It’s easy. I’d much rather read a book than watch a TV show.

Top 10 Reasons Books are Better than TV

1. Books don’t convince us to buy stuff we don’t need. I just returned home after spending 2 weeks with relatives who have multiple televisions, cable, and DVR. It was easy to get swept up in the current of American Idol, America’s Next Top Model, General Hospital, What Not to Wear. But each day, I had to fight the urge to run out and buy a bunch of random crap I don’t need, like new shoes that make me fly or body wash that electrifies my skin or a mop that enables babies to eat safely from the kitchen floor. Not only does TV make us want to buy new stuff, it also makes us feel like the stuff we already have isn’t good enough! Books don’t do that. No subliminal marketing messages live between the paragraphs of my favorite stories.
2. Books aren’t passive. True, reading a book doesn’t exactly get the heart rate up like running a marathon might, but it’s still an active activity. We’re engaged with something in our hands, eyes moving over words across the page, fingers turning pages, heart and mind connecting with and visualizing the characters in a way not possible with the glowing blue IV-drip of television.
3. Books make excellent travel companions. iPods aside, television doesn’t fit in my purse. We can’t set it on our laps during a plane or a car ride. We can’t lug it out onto the beach while we soak in the sun. And why would we want to, with the world of books at our sun-warmed fingertips?
4. Books don’t dictate cultural “standards” with irrefutable visual examples. Another downside to my recent TV bender — in addition to being overwhelmed with a sudden need to consume and acquire, I felt fat, financially unstable, ugly, and otherwise inadequate. According to TV standards, I don’t fit in, and chances are, neither do you. We don’t have the right clothes or hair or things or car or overall look. But when I read a book, such details are left to my imagination. Even when the author describes the scene, I’m still creating actual images in my mind, and I don’t create images that make me feel like less of a person.
5. Books don’t suffer from pop-cultural neutralizing. Ever notice how all of the characters on television start to look the same? To say the same things, drive the same cars, eat the same food? Flipping through the channels, sometimes it’s hard to tell one show from another, as nothing stands out as unique or special anymore. But books are always unique. Authors could be given the same plot outline and still come up with wildly different takes on each story. Books don’t blur together in my mind when I try to recall them later.
6. Books are great company. Unlike television, which many people leave on all the time for the “company” of background noise, books really are good company. I love to read when I’m alone, to connect with the characters and become part of their worlds. I love thinking about them after I’m done reading, too — about what they said and how they changed and what I learned through their story. I can’t do that with background noise.
7. Books take us to new worlds. Part of a book’s ability to transport us from our world to another lies in the creative abilities of the author as she forms and invents the worlds of her stories. The other part lies in our own imaginative powers, our abilities to actively visualize what the author describes on the page through the filters of our own unique and special experiences and lives. Television, on the other hand, sucks us into the same world, over and over and over. Tune in next week for… more of the same. Yawn!
8. Books don’t pull us into a black hole, unable to account for lost hours. People ask me how I find the time to read and to write. My answer is always the same: I don’t watch television. Often, they respond with, “I don’t watch that much TV, either. Only X, Y, and Z.” But X Y and Z adds up to an average of 151 hours a month for most American TV viewers, according to a recent Neisen study. That’s more than 5 hours every day. There goes all of that writing and reading time!
9. Books don’t have commercials. Commercials that interrupt our connection to characters and story. Commercials that not-so-gently remind us of all the things we “need,” act now, don’t delay, limited time only. Commercials that propagate wanton consumerism rather than creativity.
10. Books are the soul of humanity in written form. The world of books represents the collective conscious and unconscious struggles of human life, delving into the real and the unreal, yet always seeking truth. Always seeking to impart wisdom and learning, even through entertainment. While television seeks to divide us into haves and have nots, rich and poor, attractive and unattractive, books seek to unite us. To connect us to stories and to one another through our universal human experiences. Books, like eyes and art and music, are windows to the soul.

Giving up television has freed my time, my mind, my emotions, my sense of what’s important and real. And it’s enabled me to better connect to that universal human experience, through reading, creating, and living.

So from one “counter-culture hippie” to another, I challenge you to do it! To stop turning it on and start turning the pages. You might surprise yourself! Try it for at least a week or so. Even if you can’t shut it off completely, make the decision to take back an hour or two of your life each day and pick up a book instead.

If you’re willing to take the challenge, or if you’ve cut down on your viewing habits already, I’d love to hear about your experiences!

Sarah Ockler, Author of TWENTY BOY SUMMER

Diversity, yanno? Nope, I’m not talking about showing equal love for vampires, faeries, and humans (which I never could, because in that arena I’m 100% unapologetically biased… Edward… *swoon*… I mean…  *cough*… um, where were we?) Right. Diversity. That is, consciously seeking out a great read by an author whose race, culture, or ethnic background is different from my own.

If your book-buying (or borrowing) habits are anything like mine, you probably pick up a book based on a friend’s recommendation, or its cool cover (admit it!), or your previously established love for the author, or something that grabbed your attention in the flap copy. Or maybe something is on sale, like when Waldenbooks does it’s 3-for-2 deal. When that happens, I might even indulge in something *really* different from my usual picks. Like something with a dress or a pink shoe on the cover, or something about trolls with swords.

But the ethnicity of the writers who’d penned the stories in my to-be-read pile never really entered my mind until I hung out a while on author friend Carleen Brice’s White Readers Meet Black Authors, “your official invitation into the African American section of the bookstore.” Carleen’s informative, tongue-in-cheek blog focuses mostly on black writers, but it got me thinking about author diversity in general. When I did a quick inventory of my own shelves, I was disappointed to confirm what I already suspected — my books are shamefully lacking in the non-white author department.

Diverse Books: Sarah’s Current YA & MG List

1. THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN, Sherman Alexie
2. GIRL OVERBOARD, Justina Chen Headley
3. THE KAYLA CHRONICLES, Sherri Winston
4. A SINGLE SHARD, Linda Sue Park
5. WHALE RIDER, Witi Ihimaera

Five books by authors of color. Five, out of hundreds of books on my shelves. Pretty pathetic, huh? Well… I’m working on it. Doret Canton (a.k.a. The Happy Nappy Bookseller) sent me a copy of Dream Jordan’s HOT GIRL as part of a giveaway she hosted on Carleen’s blog, encouraging readers to support minority authors by buying a children’s or YA title by a black writer. I also got some help in today’s mailbox — an ARC of Cynthea Liu’s upcoming PARIS PAN TAKES THE DARE. Now my diverse book list is up to 7.

Diversify Your Shelves

Take a look at your favorite YA and MG bookshelves. How diverse are they? If you’re white, how about checking out some Chinese or Native writers? If you’re black, have you read anything by Indian or Korean authors? No matter your race or ethnicity, I encourage you to try something new this month and pick up a book by an author of color — any color, as long as it’s not your own!

Not sure where to find books by writers of color? Here are some ideas to get you started:

• The Brown Bookshelf
• African American Children’s Books by The Happy Nappy Bookseller
• White Readers Meet Black Authors
• Check out some of the 2009 Debutantes, including Cynthea Liu (THE GREAT CALL OF CHINA and PARIS PAN TAKES THE DARE), Neesha Meminger (SHINE, COCONUT MOON), Cindy Pon (SILVER PHOENIX: BEYOND THE KINGDOM OF XIA), and Malinda Lo (ASH)
• Browse books from my list of 5 above, and don’t forget Justina Chen Headley’s newest, NORTH OF BEAUTIFUL (I have to pick that up myself!)
• And finally, leave a comment for a chance to win my copy of Dream Jordan’s HOT GIRL! I’ll select a reader at random and send it over to you as soon as I’m finished, as long as you promise to blog about it when you’re done!

Already a Diverse Reader?

If you’ve already got some YA and MG faves by writers of color or suggestions on where we can find more books and blogs like the ones listed above, leave some love in the comments and let us know.

Happy reading, all!

~ Sarah Ockler, Author of TWENTY BOY SUMMER

TWENTY BOY SUMMER

• Publication Season/Year: Summer 2009
• Publisher: Little, Brown
• Release Date: June 1, 2009
• ISBN (hardcover):  978-0-316-05159-0
• ISBN (paperback): TBD

For Anna Reiley and Frankie Perino, the ingredients for the Absolute Best Summer Ever are simple: Two girls. Two bikinis. And twenty days in Zanzibar Bay, California. The best part? According to Frankie, if they meet one boy every day, there’s a good chance Anna will find her first summer romance.

Anna lightheartedly agrees to the fun, but there’s something she hasn’t told Frankie… she’s already had her romance, and it was with Frankie’s older brother, Matt, just before his tragic death last year.

TWENTY BOY SUMMER is a debut novel that explores what it truly means to love someone, what it means to grieve, and ultimately, how to make the most of every beautiful moment life has to offer.