Robert reports:
My pal Polly Shulman (New York literary whiz, book reviewer, and freelance science writer/editor extraordinaire) has just turned her jaw-dropping talents to something new: YA fiction. Her book Enthusiasm, which comes out on February 16, looks like just the sort of thing some MuseBloggers should ♥ to the nth power.
I’ll try to get Polly on the blog to talk about books, the writer’s life, and those wild parties at Lemony Snicket’s house. Meanwhile, you can find out more about Enthusiasm from her publisher, Penguin Books.
Added February 8: NEW! Read Polly’s interview in Newsday.
Hmmm, looks like it could be interesting. Of course, it’ll have to be good to satisfy me. I’m rather a book snob. I hated Little Women. I have a very select list of authors that I truly consider great. I hope she’s good, and can pull it off. If she can, I’ll love the book. If she ends up making it into a drippingly teenagerish and predictable modernization, I’ll detest it. Here’s hoping it’s the former!!!!
what’s YA fiction?
OMG!!!
YA fiction is the section of the library that you spend your life in. ok… maybe thats just me. anyway its young adult
Young Adult Fiction.
YA fiction is a twenty-minute browse thing. Once you get past the “Hazel’s best friend even liked her boyfriend. All Hazel wanted to do was buck her braces, zap her zits, help her hair and snare Robby Idiot, the hunky captain…” stuff, it’s hit-or-miss. You know?
I will watch for it with bated breath. It looks like an excellent read. Nice cover, as well. In the library I’m normally in science fiction, adult fiction, or CDs.
must….read….book…because….I….am….a….book….worm…..
-KitKat, a museblogger
NOOOOO
I totally agree about the YA fiction thing, but sometimes you get good ones. The Island on Bird Street is amazing and meant for young adults, and so is Heartbeat, along with almost all other Sharon Creech books with the possible exception of Granny Tortellini Makes Spaghetti or what ever it was, which has a sappy plot.
I might read that, I love Jane Austen.
You people live in places with bad libraries. There is the kind of thing that you described, and then there is a whole lot of other good stuff.
hey robert have you gotten that Polly person on here? have you finally convinced some adult to actually acknowledge our presence? it’s a miracle!!!!!!
Where i live the library has an entire floor of YA stuff. it probably has everything. for example probably all of the adult sci fi stuff. It’s huge.
Lucky! My library is tiny for a library, only one floor. One shelf and two racks of YA fiction, two shelves and two racks for high fantasy and sci fi, and almost everything else is stupid pointless adult stuff or reference. Okay, the referance section takes up half the library and is really great, but I don’t sit and read biographies in my spare time, y’know?
well, me living in NYC might have something to do with it…
Hello, Musophiles! I’m delighted to make your acquaintance, and I hope you like my book.
Hey, what’s wrong with reading the books in the reference section? I’ve spent many happy hours among the encyclopedias and dictionaries. I especially recommend “Brewer’s Phrase and Fable”–the older edition, if you can find it.
If you do read Enthusiasm, keep an eye out for the Secret Sonnet. Almost nobody notices it, not even people with Ph.D.’s in English–but I bet Musites will.
PS: I’ve never met Lemony Snicket. But he’s pals with a great friend of mine, does that count?
Queenie J (5) – Heh, you sound just like me. YA was good for the few months after I turned 11 or 12, but I gave up on it after seeing those Sunny Valley High books.
Hail, Polly! Now that you’ve found your way here, I hope you’ll come back often. And I second your endorsement of Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. It’s been one of my favorites since I was Muser-age myself.
All others: you’re right to be skeptical. But I can assure you that, whatever else Polly might do in the course of her book, she will not insult your intelligence.
Oooh, I just looked on Amazon for Enthusiasm. It sounds really cool, from the little paragraph they’ve got up there.
The library in Hilo is big, but not very good. I miss my small library back in Grinnell where I used to volunteer.:sad: It was so cozy.
hey polly you’re here!!!! we knew you’d find your way to insanity soon enough!!!!!!
Thanks for the welcome! I’m no stranger to insanity–just ask Robert.
Hey!!!! Welcome to our world. We always welcome understanding adults (Nonunderstanding adults, however, are quickly banished from our kingdom. Of course, if an adult even comes here, it proves they’re understanding. That’s the only reason I know you are. So really, our nonunderstanding policies are null and void. Just thought you’d want to know.) The book sounds cool, and if Robert endorses it, and you’re a cool enough person to visit us, I’ll probably pick it up when my library gets it in. Sounds like it could be fun.
The only things I read are adult fiction, or some nonfiction. Unless it be L. M Montgomery, which might count as YA fiction. I guess part of that has to do with the fact that I don’t read much besides classics, and they’re almost always adult. YA fiction never was my thing. I read children’s books until I was eleven, when suddenly the bright world of adult opened up to me. Other than classics, I read Christian fantasy/suspense, which is adult. I read some nonfiction, but only Ann Coulter, Dave Barry, and C. S. Lewis. My literary veiws are very strict, but high quality.
Complex but spiffy reasoning, MontgomeryGurl! If I understand it, does that make me an understanding adult?
If you want to make sure your library gets Enthusiasm, you could ask your librarian for it.
Librarians can be very cool. When I was in high school, I used to work as a page in the New York Public Library at 42nd Street, the big research library with the lions in front. It’s a closed-stack library, which means they don’t let the public get their books themselves–they have student pages do it. It’s such a big, complicated library that if someone puts a book back in the wrong place, it’s basically gone for good. When they discover a book is missing, they put a place holder where it’s supposed to be: a book-size, book-shaped wooden block with a label saying what book is supposed to be there and when they noticed it was missing. On slow evenings, we used to comb the shelves for misshelved books. Once I found a book on the wrong floor. My supervisor showed me the block from where it was supposed to be–it had been missing more than ten years.
One of the supervisors was a very nice man named Charlie Brown. He was born before Peanuts cartoons.
What was the first adult book you read? Mine was Jane Eyre.
I’m not exactly sure what qualifies as “adult”, I guess L. M. Montgomery doesn’t, since it’s about an eleven year old girl. I read the “Anne of Green Gables” series between the ages of eight and nine. I guess the first real adult book I ever finished was “Pride and Prejudice”. I read it the summer I was eleven. I loved it so much, I couldn’t put it down. I found it absolutely hilarious. It took me four days to finish it.
Wow, that library sounds awesomely cool. I would love to wander the shelves of an enormous library, picking up odd books along the way, recongizing titles and authors, lackadaisically perusing mounds of information and entertainment. I do that sometimes in my library, just wander around the adult fiction section, picking up anything that looks interesting. It’s my idea of a good time.
librarians rock. All hail.
I shall read! Yes yes! fun times!
You know what i love? Reading in the library. Just going to the library for a couple hours and just sitting there reading a book. Libraries are awesome places.
Yay another musedult! Or musadult…or adulmuse…hmm…
We should give you a nickname too. Yay naming time! Any ideas people?
Anyway…
Pride and prejudice rocks. soooooooo funny!!!
I don’t remember the first “adult” book i read…but then i’m not really sure what constitutes an “adult” book either. Like terry pratchett! Half his books are in the adult section and half are in the children’s section! (which gets really annoying sometimes) Or there are also a lot of books where one copy is in adults, and the other is in children’s. And i see books all the time where i’m like “why isn’t that in the children’s section?” (or the adult section…)
Oh yes and libraries-i just got a columbus library card! (no i don’t technically actually live in columbus so you don’t have to delete that GAPA) Wow. tis big. And amazing. And yeah…
Well ramblings over…
You know who does live in Columbus? Naka, a.k.a. Nancy Kangas, inventor of Ble and quite possibly the coolest Musedult of all.
the book does sound really really cool, i dan’t wait until it comes out!! 2/16/06 right?
That’s right, February 16–at least, that’s when Amazon says they’ll ship it. My publisher told me it’ll be in bookstores by February 20. But it might arrive a little early, you never know.
I can’t wait to find out my new nickname.
yeah!!!!!!!!!! You can be PP – Polly the Parrot…. no no that isn’t right…. someone help me out here!!!!!!! I know!!!!
GBW- Genius Book Writer
is that good?
In Ble she’d probably be “Posh” (though she isn’t really–she’s actually very down-to-earth).
Or how about Polyhymnia?
Polyhymnia. Yes, that sounds good. Hello, Polyhymnia. I’m not that big of an Austenite, but I can work a little trivia once or twice.
What was my first adult book? Ummm…probably Marguerite Duras’s The Sailor From Gibraltar. HG2G doesn’t count, does it? No. I love Sailor. However, no one else I know does. I’m all alone. *sniff*
Attention, Earthlings!
I have a funny library story. In my local library, you have to climb stairs to get from the kids’ floor to the adult floor. The stairs are just steps, and they don’t have a connected vertical plank under them. Underneath the steps are lighted fountain pools people toss coins in. So when I was about six (I was a small kid) I slipped through the cracks, got stuck, and had to get a librarian to come help me out. I was just the right size to get my hips stuck there and flail around w/my arms. And I lost the books I was carrying.
Hey- I luved those sweet valley high books!
(32)…are you serious?
And poor little Queenie J. Did the books fall in the pool?
what is “sweet valley high”?
YA contains ALL terry pratchet books.
i like fantasy. is there any “adult” fantasy that s halfway decent besides issabella allende? If there it, i have never noticed it. Also, most sci fi is in the YA section. that is why i like it
I think my first adult book was “Little Women” when I was, I don’t know, about seven or eight.
I read one sweet valley high book and…ran away fast. (sry Fantagirl) Not my type of book at all.
*gasp* was my earlier comment deleted???
whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy???!!!
I thought i had a comment up there anyway…
GAPA! You’re forcing me to question the reality of life! Soon i will be completely convinced that the world is made of green cheese and that we are all giant hot pink slugs!!!
Tsk tsk.
Ebeth, I don’t think we deleted your message. If either of us did, it was unintentional. What did it say?
Sweet Valley High are a series of books about teens who go to Sweet Valley High. They’re, uh, not very good. At all.
Hello, Fellow Library Fans.
I love that story about getting stuck in the library steps.
My current favorite fantasy for adults is “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell,” by Susanna Clarke. Have any of you read it?
It’s my birthday today. Want to know what my dear, sweet, wonderful husband gave me? He always teases me that I love Jane Austen and chocolate more than I love him. So for my birthday–and to celebrate the upcoming publication of Enthusiasm–he had my favorite chocolate shop (Li-Lac Chocolates, for any New Yorkers out there) make a bust of Jane Austen out of chocolate for me! They had to manufacture a special mold for it, which he designed–he’s a graphic designer.
Mmmmmm!!!!!
Yours,
Polyhymnia
Is Little Women considered adult? Just for the record, I thought that book completely insulted my intelligence. It was some of the sappiest mess I’ve ever read. Come on, the girls are always trying not to be “cross”, and if they say anything remotely not fawning (doesn’t make much sense, I know), they’re reprimanded, and end up apologizing. They were always so drippingly sweet, or else transparently and manipulatively “cross”. Come on, they called their mom “Marmy”. Plus, none of the characters were really believable to me, I didn’t like any of them. They were all charicatures, stereotypes. Meg was…. terrible. The cliched older sister. Jo was such a tomboy, transparent and unrealistic. Beth was flat, and I didn’t believe her. No one is that sweet. Amy was such a little brat, I could’ve killed her. Even if it had been a good book, she would’ve just about ruined it for me. I hated how everyone loved her so much. All the characters were purely one dimensional. It was a terrible book, through and through.
I’ve heard such good things about Mr. Norrell! Would you recommend it for teens, too?
Depends on the teens. It’s a very long book; some people might find it hard going. It’s set during the Napoleonic war; some might find it old fashioned. I don’t think there’s any horrible sex or violence in it–at least, I don’t remember any, so if there it, it’s not very prominent. It has a wonderful otherworldly atmosphere and I found the characters riveting. I know I would have loved it when I was a teen. Of course, I wasn’t the most typical teen ever born–but neither are you guys, I bet.
Polly (#42),
Wow, what a Darcy! Milk chocolate or dark?
Awesome! I love Napoleonic War stuff, esp. Count of Monte Cristo. I think I’ll go pinch it off my mum’s bookshelf….
Queenie J. (#31), I have been afraid of that kind of staircase for as long as I can remember. When I walk on them I just know that I’ll slip through, just like you did! So far it hasn’t happened to me. Knowing that it happened to you and you seem to have survived without too much trauma makes it less scary. Thanks for the story.
I ♥ jonathon strange! yes me loves! I borrowed it from mr. hawkins (or my dad did and then i stole it from him) and read it like three times. The first time i read it was at night (of course. I love reading at night) and it kind of freaked me out. It wasn’t really scary until the part where he eats the rats and stuff trying to go insane. That was freaky.
Count of monte cristo is cool except i haven’t read the unabridged version!
Me wants to! (It’s not like one of those “child edition” things where they cut everything interesting out and totally butcher the word choice, it’s like the real book with a few chapters gone. BUT STILL!)
I am a firm believer in the unabridged. yes yes precious. Know what i found yesterday? It was Ivanhoe (awesome book) but it was for kids and it was like 20, 30 pages at the most!!! AND it was big print AND it had random pictures stuck in at parts! *shudder* It was horrifying.
Yes, those abridged versions are terrible. I’ve read a few of Dickens that way, and let me tell you it was horrifying. With David Copperfield, it cut out all but the basic plot, most of the sub-plots were gone, and it just heavy handedly told you what was going on, as opposed to Dickesn way of hinting at it. Now, Dickens was good at a lot of things, but plots were not his forte. You can’t tell someone the basic plot of a Dickens and expect them to get any kind of feel for the book. It was one of the most horrible things I have ever read. And what was odd, a lot of times the abridged version would say one thing, and when I read the real book, that wouldn’t be what it said at all!!!!
That said, I’ve seen some good comic-book (or “graphic novel”) versions of Shakespeare’s plays and such. They would be perfect for somebody who needed a general sense of what is going on before tackling the real thing.
There is a difference between a stylized version of something, where the abridgement was an art in itself, and those little books that strip everything away and completely insult our intelligence.
Well put, and indisputably true.
When I was in college, I decided to save money by borrowing my grandfather’s copy of Gulliver’s Travels instead of buying a new one. Bad idea! When the professor discussed the scatological parts of the book, I had no idea what he was talking about. Apparently Grandpa had a nice, clean, abridged version.
Oh! hey! I didn’t see that up there GAPA!
Erm…well…i can’t actually remember now. I rambled on about a few books and made random name suggestions that i will try to remember now…and i think i had a rant in there somewhere…about something…
eh…names…i think i said Polly the Posh Parrot…or Polyhemnia the Posh. And then of course there was the acronym which i seem to have temporarily misplaced inside my brain. uuuummmmmmm…idk. i shall remember soon. maybe. oh vell.
I’s off to books+movies now to rant about everything is illuminated. omg there were maybe five people there today. wait…no six i think. three of which were teachers. How sad is that? So then we were all remembering when we did harry potter, and we had literally about fifty people and we had to push four tables all together in the library and there were still people squished outside the tables…
Anyway. yeah.
You know, I used to like Little Women.
Then I found Jane Austin’s stuff.
And I suddenly realized that Louisa May Alcott’s stuff was horribly preachy and saccerine.
Is there by any chance a sample paragraph/chapter of Enthusiasm to be found on the web?
Why hello there, Polyhymnia! The book…must read. I repeat Lizzie’s question except louder. But still politely. I liked Little Women. But maybe I just can’t appreciate good characterization. Or maybe I’m shallow. Okay, Beth was too perfect, but she did die. Does that make up for it? And Amy was a little brat in her younger years. In her older years too. Every one has their flaws… Laurie was a pretty good character i guess. He reminded me of someone I know. Why is there a Young Adult section and no Old Chidren’s section? People always seem to be squeezed into the oldest age group possible. Like a Senior Citizen at 50?! How do they expect people’s life life expectancy to increase if they treat them like that? So ends the rant of Moose.
Our library is pathetic. I go to the same one as Pheonix. I’m always making my mom take out books for me from the New Yrk library.
I doubt our library has your book, but I’ll check.
Phoenix: For the last time, it’s Phoenix. Not Pheonix. Got it?
Sphinx: Well go easy, Mr. Pheonix!
end of Newsies parody. And no, in real life I am not as fat as Weasel. Actually, I’m quite thin. So stop thinking those evil thoughts.
What Newsies parody? That’s real life, that is. Least for me, ’tis.
In Newsies that approximate dialogue goes on between Jack and Weasel on the first circulation showed. Just replace Phoenix whith Weasel.
Mr. Pheonix? Is there something I should know?
It’s a quote, okay? a QUOTE. Sheesh.
The first adult book I read was Flowers for Algernon, when I was nine or something. A bit young.
There is a little-known book series by Jasper Fforde that is really excellent. Nice, long, British books set in an alternate 1980s. They are about Thursday Next, a literary detective, who travels through time and into all sorts of classics books like Jane Eyre and Great Expectations. She has a pet dodo that she cloned at home with a do-it-yourself kit, an uncle who invents things like a chameleon car, a dad who can travel through time, and a husband that she may or may not have. They are adults’ books, and there is some bad language, but no graphic violence or anything else. The first book is called The Eyre Affair, and I strongly suggest that you read it.
Buena suerte con tus novia, Presidente Grant. (Chocolate es siempre bueno.)
Mer
Lizzie (56) and YKM (57),
There’s an excerpt from chapter one of Polly’s book on Penguin’s site.
NEWSIES! iwas for apsalutly no apparent reason, watching dr. dollitle. i saw dr. talk to an animal who was a weasal nad stated such. my instant and udiable comments was “Wisel, Wisel ya little gimp.”
I know it’s a quote from newsies, Pheonix. Sheesh. Replace Pheonix with Weasel and Sphinx with Jack (Although Spot’s way better). I was kidding. Gosh.
‘Ello, all! More specifically, ‘ello Zyviva, because she apperantly drifts on and off of this site without rhyme or reason and I should take the chance to greet her while I can.
Zyviva, please forgive me humble self for suggesting that you read over what you type before you submit it. We lowly serfs don’t always understand what “udiable” means.
Hehe, Zyviva got her spelling dissed! I would have done it but she has access to weapons and knows where I live.
I can defend myself. I have a sandwich.
Hey! Watch it with that sandwich!
I adore the Jasper Fforde books (64).
True, Little Women can be preachy–but you should see the stuff they made girls read before that. For its time, Little Women was revolutionary, with rebellious Jo and Amy the artist. The earlier books for girls make angelic Beth and proper Meg look like biker vixens. Believe me, I’ve read a lot of them. Most recently, one called “Helpful Susan: the Story of a Girl Who Made Herself Useful.” She makes herself useful by talking her uncle out of taking the family to the circus. Instead, they use the money for new frocks so they’ll look proper in Sunday school.
Ha ha, okay, so it’s not as bad as that. But that doesn’t make it good. Wonderful, Little Women revolutionized books for young people, I’m grateful to it. That doesn’t mean it’s a good book. I’m not upset about the preachiness, but rather how all the characters were completely one dimensional. There was no believability, no depth. Just because earlier books were even worse doesn’t mean it’s worth reading.
I hate Louisa May Alcott! Reading one of her books is like eating sacharrine, arsenic and cyanide all in one go. Ugh. *shivers*
The Jasper Fforde books are good, but never really made it all that well with me. I don’t know why.
The bust of Jane Austen sounds SO cool…the mold was a good idea. I would have chiseled it out of a block, but only because I could have eaten the shavings. Great, now I’m hungry. Fabulous.
I couldn’t get through Little Women. I just kept getting stuck on it. I’d put it down and not pick it up again.
i swear, i shall read all these threads, i promise! but YA fiction is YF in my library. it’s probably the smallest section in there. i enjoy walking out of the childrens section, past the youth section, through the adult section, the refrence section, and the classics section (i always stop and run my hands over the watership down books, even though i own one now and have no need to check one out. i used to have to check one out every time i walked by them. there are eleven of them now, a whole bunch of new ones. 9 are paperbacks that i love and 2 are these humungous hardbacks that i wouldn’t read if you paid me)and come to the adult fiction, where i would check for mostly harmless (persistantly absent, maybe i’m looking in the wrong place) and terry pratchet (there were 4 today!!!) then i would scowl at the mercedes lackey and the anne mccaffrey. then i would wander around feeling as though there was some book i needed to find, but there are just too many of them so i can’t. eventually i would wander back to the youth section and despare over it’s size (or lack of it) where i would be found by my parents and brother who would drag me outa there, w/ me still feeling as though i were missing something.
Em, it’s easy. Go through the adult section, pick out a couple of books that look good, read the other two WD books, and then go back and pick out some more adult books. Wodehouse especially. You’ll like him, he’s accessible.
but there are just too many of them! plus people recommend stuff to me constantly. and all of those WD books are the same book, i just like to read them again. and i have to reread everything else 5 times too, which leaves a minimal amount of time to read stuff for fun, or things people recommend me, or do my hw, or to blog.
Wow! Not many people have heard of Jasper Fforde! I am continually surprised by you Musers’ experience.
I always have at least five books out from my school library. I get a big stack on, say, Monday, then on Tuesday or Wednesday I return them and get another stack at the same time. Books = :D.
I read Little Women and was not impressed. It struck me as being kind of lukewarm. How could a character like simpering Beth be a “biker vixen”? Seriously, I’m glad I live in the 21st century.
Attention! Polly has just been interviewed by the New York newspaper Newsday. You can read the whole thing here.
Ig!
8 days…
(58) does that mean that you &phoenix live within 100 miles of New York ?
EEEEEEEEEEEEEMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Honestly, baby, you’re not being very adventurous. Stop rereading, it wastes time. Go out into brave, unknown worlds. It’s only a book, it won’t hurt you. You are hereby forbidden from rereading anything until February 18th at midnight. It’s for your own good, darling.
5 days…
rereading’s fun! Ok so if i don’t get a new book to read in a week i go into withdrawal and annoy everybody within annoying distance until i get permission to go to the library (or until the library opens.
) but i like to reread stuff!!!
I read the interview! The book sounds awesome. I’ll make sure to read it.
We have half an ostrich egg shell. My dad split it with his brother (my uncle) when they went to Australia thousands of years ago as children. My grandparents (paternal) have a whole one.
My husband (Mr. Chocolate Jane Austen) is very glad they mentioned our Victorian painted ostrich egg in that interview. He says, “At last, now you’ll have to stop torturing your friends.” I’d been driving him crazy by making everybody play Twenty Questions about the ostrich egg.
Do you guys ever play Twenty Questions? The way my family always played it, one player thinks of an object, and the other one asks 20 yes-or-no questions to try to guess what the object is. The only non-yes-or-no question allowed is the first one: “Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral?”
Unfortunately, different people have different opinions about what constitutes an animal, vegetable, or mineral. For example, I consider a piece of paper “vegetable” because it’s made of wood pulp. But some of my friends thought it should be mineral because it has chemical dyes in it.
One of my friends hung up on me after the following exchange:
David: Animal, vegetable, or mineral?
Me (thinking of the ostrich egg): Animal.
David: Is it alive?
Me: No.
David: Is it dead?
Me: No.
David: How can an animal be not alive and not dead? You’re cheating! [click]
An ostrich egg is smaller than I thought it would be. It’s smaller than a (human) baby’s head.
Oooh! Me loves twenty questions!
except we don’t count the first non-yes-or-no question as one of the twenty. And we say person, place, or thing, not animal, vegetable, or mineral.
But yeah. Fun game. Wheeee!
oh dear, queen j i didn’t see that so i went and checked out wild magic and reread it. i also checked out a whole bunch of new books, though. something by hilari bell, and 2 things by terry prachet, one of which i have read, and my friend has loaned me another terry prachet. i still haven’t finished dune, though.
4 days…
(not counting today)
3 days…
(ok so it’s on the calander now but i’m gonna do my own countdown anyway cuz i feel like it so there.
)
oh deer i totaly spleled calendar rong…
2 days…
(I should be re-reading pride and prejudice right about…now, but i have a terrible habit of doing all reading supposed to be done on a certain date the night before. Or in the case of harry potter or other series books, a night for each book. Yes i enjoy being sleep-deprived.
lol)
I hope Enthusiasm actually shows up in bookstores the day it’s supposed to! A friend of mine asked one when it would arrive, and they told her, “the 16th, give or take a week.”
Supposedly Amazon is shipping it out on the 16th, though.
I wish I had to reread Pride and Prejudice! I love having an excuse to reread it. Every so often I get an assignment that requires me to, like the time I wrote about the Indian movie musical version, “Bride and Prejudice.” Did any of you see that?
nope.
why do you need an excuse???
well ok sometimes you do need an excuse motivating you to stay up all night….
but i often do that for no reason at all.
or very little reason anyway. I suppose you can’t count that it’s a good book that’s worth staying up for…
1 day…
OOOH i beat the calendar! Ok so technically it’s 2 days. I just wanted to beat the calendar…
maybe if i’m still up at midnight i’ll run down and beat it.
i doubt it though.
erm…
i’m kinda just rambling on now…i still have half a page of math to do and i really don’t want to…oh yeah and some latin too. national latin exam and all. On the ides of march. they probably planned that. whoever does the exam i mean…my dad’s class has it’s midterm on the ides of march…but they didn’t plan that. (it’s an editing class so it really has nothing to do with it unless they edit a story on roman history or something…) puella est defessa. puella iam finishes homework. Maybe. If there’s nothing else interesting on here.
Ok i shall pretend it’s midnight and go upstairs now cuz me tired. dunno why, i had a late day today and all, but still. Yup.
Oh yah and my dad got that zorro book!!! the new one…if anybody knows what i’m talking about…anyway me wants to read. Dad never told me he had it. Probably cuz he knew i’d steal it.
So yeah i steal that…hoom, maybe tomorrow or the next day and read it and give you people a rant. Has anybody read that yet? I think it’s just called Zorro. It’s by some weird lady who dressed up in a mask and all and has a giant Z behind her in the pic. Pretty sweet costume. Yeah.
That should probably all be in books+movies but i’m lazy and i’m going to bed now so bye people.
And yes, i’m sure it’s midnight somewhere on the planet. Use your imagination. I did beat the calendar so there!
lol
ok so i’m 5 min late. Not my fault. Technical issues. So without furthur ado…
LET THE HALF-HOUR COUNTDOWN BEGIN!!!
because i have nothing else to do, i feel like staying up, and just because i can.
So…MB time-3 hours. Ebeth time-2 hours.
I’m counting down to midnight, which is theoretically when it should be out, but i’m guessing you have to get the book when the store actually opens instead of breaking in and taking it (leaving money on the counter of course!!! *halo* lol)
Whether this will actually go until midnight or whether i’ll give up and go to bed is a question deserving of careful consideration. I await the answer with impatience.
MB time-2 and 1/2 hrs. Ebeth time-1 and 1/2 hrs.
K i’m leaving now so i guess u don’t get every half hour. i might come back tonight sometime though. Bye peoples…
SNOW DAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*moves on to next thread*
Tis out! Huzzah!
EMOGRL U SO LUCKY!!! GRRR!!!
it’s getting up to 61 today. SIXTY @(#*&#$ ONE!!!!!!!!!!!! No snow at all!!! AAAH!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! *despairs*
Yay!
tank yew!
no bookstore today.
maybe tomorrow though cuz i have NOOOO SKOOL!!! happy days!!!
no bookstore?!?! *gasp*
Snow day? I wish it would warm up enough to snow here. It’s freeeeeeeeeeeeeeezing!
But they finally have Enthusiasm in my local Barnes & Noble. It’s prominently displayed on the “New Books–Teens” shelf. I was so excited that I said to a girl and her mom who were shopping in that aisle, “Look! It’s my book! I wrote that book!” They looked at me like I was crazy, so I ran away and hid in the picture books section.
I know, embarrassing! But I bet you all do the same thing when you have YOUR first books published.
how long did it take to write Enthusiasm? because I’m writing a book ( I am going to be the youngest author to get a book published if I can finish this year!!! ) and it’s taking me forever!!!! maybe that’s because I left it at skool…. oh yeah… it’s in my locker….
Hm, well, it took me exactly a year from the time I started working on it seriously. However, it took me a long, long time to get to the point where I was able to work on it seriously. I spent years doing the equivalent of leaving it in my locker.
Here’s my advice for people who want to write a book:
1. Write a book you would want to read, not one you think other people would want to read.
2. Keep at it.
3. Don’t worry about when or whether or how it’ll get published until after you’re done writing it.
4. Don’t compare it to other people’s books, especially not while you’re writing it.
Speaking of writing books really quickly, we should totally do a Museblog NaNo attempt next year. A 50k novel in a month=much fun.
thanx for the advice!!!!!!!!
*off to go scream pointlessly because my novel i’m writing is stuck in my locker*
Don’t let that stop you! Start writing the next scene. If you forget anything vital, you can always fix it later.
but i don’t exactly have the story with me so how am i to write the next scene? i didn’t really type all of it in the computer… hehe… ummm… do you want to read the part i typed into the computer?
Prologue
Silently, the old man stepped into the circle, and, lowering his eyes to the ground, started to mutter incantations. The trees suddenly sparkled with an unearthly light. The old man took no notice. The trees began swaying so much that they looked like they were dancing. In fact, they were dancing Faster and faster they spun around the old man yet still he took no notice. Suddenly a loud crack interrupted his mutterings. He looked up just as raindrops the size of your fist came pouring down onto his astonished face. He knew what was happening. Horrified, he instinctively took a step back.
“No,†he uttered. “NO!â€
Then he quickly turned and ran as fast as he could out of the circle. After a few steps, he looked behind him and was horrified to see a lighting bolt the size of Consket racing after him. He ran faster yet he knew there was no escape. Just before the bolt reached him he yelled, “Awaken Lady of the Woods, awaken!!!!†Then the bolt struck him dead.
* * *
Miles away in a forest almost identical to the one the old man died in, the trees sparkled. A weeping willow standing dead center in the middle of the forest swayed gently. Then it began to change. Branches melded into arms and legs while flowers and leaves molded into hair. What was once a weeping willow was now a beautiful lady with long brown hair and forest green eyes. She looked around and disappeared with a soft twang like the sound you hear when you shoot an arrow.
The Lady of the Woods was back.
Chapter 1
Lana sighed unhappily as she loaded her luggage into the carriage. Ever since they had moved from Tinca she had been sulking for over a month. It figures that right when she had finally settled into their home in Tinca they had to move. Again. Consket was their next destination.
“Come on Lana! We got to go!!!†called Mom from inside the carriage.
“Coming!†Lana called as she began to walk briskly to the car. However, before she even got a few steps, a voice made her turn around.
“Lana, wait up! I got to give you something!!†huffed Rachel. Lana paused in her stride waiting for her friend to catch up to her, smiling a little at the sight of the plump girl come running over to the carriage.
“You could have told me when you were leaving,†puffed Rachel accusingly. “I thought I was an hour early!â€
“Sorry, Rachel. At least you made it.†Lana tried to keep from laughing a little.
“I got up extra early just so I could wrap this thing.†Rachel said slowly regaining her breath.
It was then Lana noticed the package in Rachel’s hand. “What is it?†Lana asked.
“Open it!†exclaimed Rachel.
Lana concentrated with her mind on the wrapping paper. Suddenly, the wrapping paper flew off the package and landed in a neat pile at Rachel’s feet.
“Hey, no witchy stuff!†pouted Rachel, but Lana wasn’t listening.
“No way! Two dragon scales!†breathed Lana with excitement. “How’d you get those? I hear they’re worth 500 gold coins each!â€
“I got them at the local flea market in Allagan for 20 silver coins for them each.†Rachel puffed out her chest. “Good deal, huh?â€
“You bet! Are these the communication ones?â€
“Of course! How else am I supposed to keep in touch with you?†Rachel asked teasingly.
“But why give me two?†Lana asked puzzled.
“Well the way I figure, when you make a new friend in wherever you’re moving to, give this to her and we can all talk together.â€
“I don’t know who I’m supposed to make friends with in Consket, though…â€
“You’re moving to Consket!! But that’s where all the magical creatures live!â€
“I know. I’ll be lucky to even meet a girl my age. Even one with powers.â€
“Well, at least we’ll be able to talk. I’m sure you’ll be able to find a girl your age there. Don’t worry1†said Rachel half-heartedly.
“Lana hurry up! We have to go! Your father’s getting angry,†called Mom.
“Well, I guess this is good-bye. I’ll miss you.†Lana said sadly.
“What do you mean? You haven’t forgotten about our dragon scales now have you? Rachel said feigning shock.
“It still won’t be the same.†Lana sniffed.
“LANA!!!!†yelled Dad.
“I got to go. See you later… or not.†Lana smiled sadly then ran off to the waiting carriage and a very impatient father and cabby.
“Finally! Now we can go,†Dad said signaling to Joe (the cabby) to go.
The journey was long and treacherous, and by the time they got to the halfway point night had fallen. They made camp and Lana, Joe, Mom, and Dad all took shifts to keep watch for the night.
Fortunately the night was quite uneventful and all except for Joe woke up quite refreshed and cognizant of the treacherous day ahead.
Unlike the night, the day was rather quite eventful. Joe fell asleep several times at the reins, and Lana, who had insisted to sit next to him, was just able to steer the horses back on track. Around mid-day they came to a bottomless (literally) trench. Joe stopped the horses just a few feet from the trench. Lana looked around and gave a shout of surprise. Scrambling down from the carriage she ran over to a sign a few feet away from them. Her mom cautiously poked it with a stick to make sure it wasn’t a trap. Nothing happened so they assumed it was safe and went over to read it. The sign read:
Welcome to the city of Consket.
Normally we would welcome you in but times have changed.
To enter Consket you must have one magical person in your group.
This person must prove their abilities by moving a pile of rocks to the other side of this trench.
Good Luck!
You have 20 seconds.
Go.
Lana glanced at her feet and was surprised to find a pile of rocks there that hadn’t been there before. Suddenly a voice rang out.
“20â€
“19â€
“18â€
“Lana use your powers!†cried Joe.
“17â€
Lana reached for the power deep in her mind.
“16â€
She felt it pulsing through her veins.
“15â€
“Come on,†she thought.
“14â€
Her teeth clenched; her muscles tightened.
“13â€
The magic was stronger now; she could feel it.
“12â€
“Come on,†she muttered under her breath.
“11â€
Her family waited anxiously for the magic to work.
“10â€
“Just a little more,†she growled.
“9â€
Then one by one the rocks began to move slowly across the trench.
“8â€
Lana’s eyes began to glow and her wispy white hair began to fan out.
“7â€
The rocks began moving faster across the trench.
“6â€
Lana began to rise a few inches above the ground, her hands now glowing a brilliant purple light equal to the one in her eyes.
“5â€
Suddenly the whole pile of rocks began to glow and picked themselves up and zoomed to the other side.
Lana sank back to the ground and struggled to her feet.
“Bravo, bravo!!†exclaimed a voice. Lana looked up in surprise.
Out of nowhere (as it seemed) stepped a little brown man wearing an enormous top hat on his tiny head.
“Who are you?†Lana sputtered.
“I should ask you the same question,†piped the little man looking at Lana’s family. “You’ve brought quite a party, now haven’t you?â€
“My name is Lana and this is Joe, my mom, and my dad.†Lana said gesturing to the speechless people behind her. “Now who are you?â€
“I’m Peddercongoga, your guide and guard to and from Consket,†announced Peddercongoga. “But you can call me Ped.â€
“Okay Ped. How do we get to Consket?†Lana wondered for her speechless family.
“Watch,†Ped said, then turned to face the other side and clapped his hands in a way that would take us years to learn. Suddenly a bridge that led to the other side appeared.
“Shall we go?†Ped asked politely. Lana’s family nodded. They crossed the bridge and on the other side Ped whistles and the bridge disappeared.
“But there’s nothing here!†Joe said speaking up for the first time since Ped arrived.
“Is there?†asked Ped mysteriously.
Lana puzzled over what he said for a moment then gaped in astonishment. For gold and silver light flowed over her milky white hair, naturally pale face, and pastel purple eyes. Where there had been nothing before, now stood the golden city of Consket.
End of Chapter 1
The Lady of the Woods looked on as Lana moved the rocks with curiosity. In all her days (and there were a lot of them) the only people who had that power were moon people. This girl wasn’t a moon person, she could tell that from looking at her eyes. As Lana crossed the bridge over to Consket, the Lady of the Woods made up her mind. She would follow this girl and find out who she was. Having made her decision, she disappeared so quickly that it looked like the ground its self had swallowed her up. A soft twang filled the silence. The Lady of the Woods had entered the city of Consket.
Chapter 2
Lana could only stare as; Ped led her into the golden city of Consket. The city was beautiful! The houses and streets looked like they were made of gold and silver though when she asked Ped about them; he said that it was just an enchantment. Ped directed them to a large golden building that held all the housing information in it. As they walked down the street towards the building, Ped explained that this was where they could find out where they were to stay. On the way they passed a lone silver house where Ped said that moon people lived in.
“What do Moon People look like, Ped?†Lana asked buzzing with curiosity.
“Trust me,†Ped said. “You’ll know them when you see them. They sort of stand out, if you know what I mean.â€
Finally after a few minutes of walking, they reached the golden information building.
“Wait here while I go check whether you’re registered or not. I’ll be right back.†Ped walked into the building, tipping his hat to the guard troll.
A few minutes later he returned tipping his hat, once again, to the troll. Shaking his head, he walked up to them and announced, “You guys aren’t registered yet, I’m afraid,†he said resignedly. “While we’re waiting, how ‘bout I give you a tour of Consket?â€
“Sure, why not?†Lana said challenging anyone to say otherwise.
“All right, then just set your stuff here and park your horses over there,†Ped said waiting as his directions were carried out. “Now onto the tour!â€
There never was such a tour as the one Ped gave them that day. They went into shops, wandered around in museums, and once Lana swore she saw a centaur. One of the museums stood out in particular.
“Ped, what’s that?†asked Lana’s mom pointing to the museum.
“Why that’s the museum of magical items and creatures. Every magical creature and item is displayed inside. Oh, don’t worry,†he said noticing the look on Lana’s face. “They’re not alive; they’re just statues. Do you want to go in?â€
Lana just nodded. She wondered if she would see what the Moon People looked like as she walked through the doors. Then she looked up. Lana gasped. The museum wasn’t gold inside like she had imagined but scarlet like the shirt her mom had gotten her last week. A large sign indicated that all magical creatures ranging from A-M were in this section of the museum.
“Where are the Moon People?†Lana asked full to the brim with wonder and awe.
“When I said all the magical creatures, I didn’t mean the Moon People. They refused to have their statues on display ‘like an animal in a cage’ they say.â€
“Oh.†Lana said disappointed.
They wandered throughout the room and Lana recognized many of them such as a centaur, a dragon (she had the fortune to see one fly over Albitra one day), and a messenger owl (only for the witches and wizards ages 11-20, the others used ravens). Lana also saw many things that she didn’t recognize such as an equatolope (an animal so bizarre even a picture couldn’t describe it), a griacle (a sort of deer with eyes popping out of its body everywhere), and an indjellu (a shape-shifter that sheds ink out its jet black skin). She was just reading the description of an indjellu (no statue due to it has no original shape) when a cawing sound was heard. As she whipped around, she saw the doorman holding a large raven with a note tied on its leg by the beak.
“Found it in the hallway blabbing ‘bout some message to Ped & company,†said Ted (the doorman) gruffly. “Thought you might want it.â€
He threw the raven at Lana who barely managed to catch it before it fell and left the room. Lana quickly put the raven on the ground before it pecked her. Then the raven got up, straightened his ruffled feathers, and said, “Message for Ped & company!â€
“Right over here,†Ped said kneeling down to look the raven in the eye. “What’s the message?â€
“I don’t know,†said the raven crossly. “Do I look like someone who reads other peoples letters?â€
“Yes,†Ped & Lana said in unison.
“All right, so I do,†grumbled the raven. “It’s your house assignments.â€
“Oh goody, I was wondering when they would get here,†Ped said enthusiastically. “I’m sure we’re all excited about that, right?â€
“But Ped, I thought that we were to go to the records building to receive our housing placements,†Joe said confused.
“Well it looks like they came in early ‘cause they sent them with me,†replied the raven.
“Okay, Joe, Mom, and Dad’s assignment,†the raven announced. “Are they here?â€
“Yep, we’re here,†replied Lana’s dad.
“Okay, you guys are in house 301,†the raven said looking at his sheet. “Joe, you’re supposed to put the horses in the stable out by the house.â€
“Where am I?†asked Lana breathlessly.
“You’re Lana, right?†When Lana nodded he said,†Okay, you’re boarding with… oh my tail feathers.†The raven gasped. “You’re boarding with… Stella!â€
“She is?!?!†Ped gasped loudly. “Wow, Lana, they must think a lot of your power or you’d be boarding with someone else and not the most powerful Moon Person in Consket.â€
“I’m boarding with a Moon Person!!!†breathed Lana in astonishment. She took in a little gasp of excitement, then asked the raven, “ Thank you so very much…. Wait, what’s your name?â€
“My name? Call me Ray,†Ray answered apparently embarrassed.
“Well, thank you Ray. Here, I knew this mini scarf would come in handy one day,†Lana smiled as she pulled out a rainbow woolen scarf that was just the right size for Ray out of her pack.
“Oh, you don’t have to give me anything,†Ray said blushing (now that is a sight to see!).
“No, I insist! Take it!†Lana smiled at the blushing raven whose cheeks were the color of roses already.
“Well, all right. If you insist,†Ray said taking the scarf and wrapping it around his shoulder as he hopped towards the door. “If you ever need anything, I’m your raven!†The he was gone.
A long silence followed the raven as though he had taken all the sound with him when he left. Then, unexpectedly, Ped burped a loud roaring burp. Lana giggled. Then she burst forth into a roaring laugh, which of course set the whole group off. Even the doorman started to laugh. Without knowing it Lana had put the whole city into a boisterous mood from the grumpiest old codger to the saddest little baby. Still laughing, they exited the museum and set off, though they didn’t know it, towards destiny.
End of Chapter 2
The Lady of the Woods looked on in wonder as the whole city erupted in good spirits. She watched as Lana came out of the museum laughing a deep roaring laugh. The Lady of the Woods smiled and laughed a girlish laugh. She remembered when she had been so young and carefree. Her name had been Kimika back then before she had become the Lady of the Woods. Dimples appeared in her cheek and she looked radiant as she watched the young girl laugh with her family and friends. In that moment she knew that the girl was special. Smiling even more, the Lady of the Woods disappeared from her vantage point with a soft twang.
Wow! That’s some story. Very exciting. Definitely worth continuing with, even if you left it in your locker.
So do you write longhand in a notebook and then type it into a computer?
yes. I write it in my notebook that my reading teacher gave me last year. then i type it into the computer. my english teacher says that if i finish it while i’m still in middle school then he may be able to help me publish it!
i remembered to bring it home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!