Patting myself on the lower back
I'm off on Friday for the beginning of the Book Babes Tour. (A secret truth about touring--we only post the public events, but there's lots of other stuff besides book store events, like conferences, school visits, stock signings, lunches and dinners and such.) I plan to do a photo log of me and Libba in all our crazed glory. And I'll be announcing here the winners of the princess academy contest on January 26. (my birthday. Isn't that cute that Bloomsbury chose that day to announce? Actually, I'll be spending my birthday in airports and airplanes, so I may have to wait and post on the 27th. I'll have to see...Um, why am I still inside a parenthesis? Hello? Anyone? It's so cold in here, so cold...)
Ah, that's better. Okay, so after my pathetic wallowing on Monday, I get to report that book of a thousand days has been earning some lovely recognition of the un-stickered form. It's a CYBILS award finalist (I think they vote next month) and a teenreads.com best book of the year. Also, it's an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. It's so lovely to make this list--my first time. Tons of good books chosen (and a few missing, in my humble opinion), but I want to give a special shout out to those author friends of mine who appear as well.
Brande, Robin. Evolution, Me, and Other Freaks of Nature
Castellucci, Cecil. Beige
Ellis, Ann Dee. This Is What I Did
Miller, Sarah. Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller (K, I don't really know her, but she posted here once, which surely means she's totally cool)
Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (what, you didn't know that Jo and I are buds? ...k, I'm lying.)
Selznick, Brian. The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Zarr, Sara. Story of a Girl
Also, austenland is a Salt Lake County Library System Reader's Choice Award nominee. This is so cool! So, there is a special rack for the award nominees in the libraries, and then patrons read them and vote on their favorite. So if you just happen to be a frequenter of the Salt Lake County Library System (as I am) and you just happen to have enjoyed austenland (as I did)...I'm not telling you how to vote, of course. You must answer to your own conscience. After all, you're the one who has to live with yoursef. All I'm sayin' is, Rock the Vote, baby! (so, would it be unethical for me to vote for my own book?)
And so easily, we return to the topic of my pitiful yearning for recognition... Ah, to be able to put on a beret, sip sparkling water (gag), and intone with a Doris Lessing British accent--"Awards? i care not for such petty concerns. I am an ARTISTE and only care for the creation! It mattereth not to me if anyone likes my work or pins upon it some tawdry blue ribbon. I exist in a sphere above that of the unskilled humans--the realm of art!" That would be nice (except for the sparkling water--gag). But it just ain't the truth. I do care about having readers, and I'm so honored and giddy when others (List Makers, Awards Committees) recognize one of my labors. But that said, 90% of it all really is about the writing. I don't want to misrepresent myself or the book world by putting too much importance on awards. The story creation, the turmoil, the searching the discovery of the Perfect Word, the character discovery, is what it's really about. What happens after I finish my last draft is out of my hands. And that can be at times wretchedly disappointing, but most often exhilarating, surprising, and incredibly wonderful.