It's my Write-a-versary

Three years ago was my very first day as a full-time writer.  After many, many years of bosses (some great, some not-so-great, some pure evil), I struck out on my own.  I knew I had a contract coming my way for a nice chunk of change, and I knew it was now or never.

So I gave notice and packed up my emergency makeup, my snacks, my photos, and the little cup where I kept spare change.  I said goodbye to a lot of folks and tried not think to had about whether I was crazy to quit when the stock market had lost 40 percent of its value and I hadn't actually signed said contract.

It is so nice to be free of the crazy BS - reorgs, reviews, meetings with no purpose, people agreeing with a stupid idea because the person who presented it is their boss.  No traffic, no pantyhose, no paying for coffee (unless I want to), no crazy bosses, no waiting for the elevator, no "metrics."

It's not all sunshine and lollipops.  I've got health benefits from my husband, and everything else I pay for out of pocket (like retirement) or simply don't have.  I net out less than I did when I worked full-time (but I was well-paid).  There have times when I have done the math and wondered exactly how we were going to pay the mortgage.

But you know what?  It has worked out.  I've had a bunch of books out:  Face of Betrayal, Hand of Fate, and Girl, Stolen.  Heart of Ice and The Night She Disappeared are in the works.  I've got contracts for four or five more.

And I am so much happier!! All day long I get to kill people (or at least make them worried they might be killed) and it is so much fun.

Did you get an ereader for Christmas?

Did you get an e-reader for Christmas? Do you like it?  [Full disclosure: I would love to have an i-Pad, but right now that falls under the category of "wants," not "needs."]

Anyway, if you are looking for some inexpensive books to load on your e-reader, I have an immodest suggestion:  mine! All five that I've put up were originally traditionally published and got good reviews. Learning to Fly and Buried Diamonds originally came out from St. Martins.  The other three came out from Harper Collins.  I'm pricing them all at just $2.99.


Learning to Fly: A Novel has been optioned for film twice, translated into three languages (I actually made a ton of money in France), and went into four printings.  It was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award and the PNBA award, and got got two starred reviews. It's about a pregnant 19-year-old girl named Free who hates her life - and then she walks away from a multi-car accident with a dead woman's ID and a bag of cash that originally belonged to a drug dealer.


Circles of Confusionwas my first published book (the fourth I wrote, though).  Claire Montrose inherits what might be a long-lost Vermeer painting.  A Booksense pick, and a finalist for both the Agatha and the Anthony awards.  I went to a lot of banquets the year after it came out, and let me tell you, it's impossible to eat while you wait for them to announce the awards.


Square in the Face was the second in Claire's adventures.  Claire helps her friend track down the child she gave up to a secret adoption agency.  Finding the girl is the only chance for a bone marrow match for a younger sibling.  This was inspired by an experience that happened to my brother's friend.


In Heart-Shaped Box, Claire goes to her 20th high school reunion.  At the beginning, a cheerleader is found strangled to death.  In her hands is a hand carved wooden box with her photo in it.  Claire and a number of other women at the reunion have also received boxes.  Next to Circles of Confusion, this is probably the most popular book in the series.


Buried Diamonds explores a 50-year-old mystery - and reveals the hidden past of Claire's roommate.  This was a darker book.  It was a worthy end to the series.

Here's a link to all my books on the Kindle.

All these books should be available on any e-reader platform (I went through Amazon for the Kindle and Smashwords for everything else).  Don't have any e-reader?  There's a free Kindle app available for both Macs and PCs.

Cynthia Leitich-Smith gets me to spill the beans

New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Leitich-Smith has what has to be the best-read blog in all of kids' lit.  It was a dream come true when she asked me to write about how to turn up the tension in any kind of book.

Bad books!

Have you read any of these bad books?

- The Joy Luck Club
- The Name of the Rose
- The Pillars of the Earth
- The Hot Zone
- The Giver
- The Things They Carried

Those are just few of the "bad books" listed by PABBIS.org - Parents Against Bad Books in Schools.  [Full disclosure:  I think of it as Pablum.org].  People have gone through books and looked for any instance of sex, sexual innuendo, violence, swear words, and mentions of God that aren't prayer.  And then these books, with a handful of cherry-picked words or sentences, are labeled "bad."

In case you were wondering how The Hot Zone, a non-fiction book warning about exotic viruses, ended up on the naughty list, here's what's wrong with it, according to PABBIS:  "Has graphic detailed descriptions of the effects of the Ebola virus on the body [really?  in a book about viruses?  How dare they!];  4 uses of the f-word, 16 uses of the s-word, 4 SOB’s, 1 bastard, 2 Christ’s/Holy Christ’s, 1 GD; Brief mentions of pimps/prostitutes, how someone’s [testicles] swelled up “like a blue monkey’ and a statement of how a man infected his wife through sexual intercourse."

The whole idea makes my blood boil.  Check it out here:  http://pabbis.org

To learn more about book banning, click here.

What world are these folks living in?  In my world, a girl who goes to my daughter's school was given a box of 300 condoms by her mother for her 14th birthday.  An f word or an s word or GD is not going to ruin kid's ears (or eyes).

In the Bible, Lot had sex with his daughters.  Or how about "Your breasts are like twin fawns of a gazelle"?  And don't get me started on all the violence in the Bible.

Buy a gift (even for yourself) and help Bridget kick cancer!

This is Bridgett Zinn and Barrett Dowell in February, 2009, the day they got married at Emanuel Hospital in Portland.  It was at Emanuel that Bridget was diagnosed with Stage Four colon cancer.  I had met Bridget and Barrett just a few months before, at an SCWBI meeting

After receiving treatment in Portland for 18 months, Bridget and Barrett are now traveling to Phoenix one week every month for innovative treatment at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Not all of their costs for this promising treatment are covered by insurance. Bridget and Barrett's friends and family are rallying to help them pay the bills so that they can focus on Bridget's health and kick cancer. Artists, authors, and other friends and acquaintances have donated items in the spirit of love and hope.

The Bridget Kicks Cancer: Season of Love and Hope Auction is off and running. Between now and December 4, you can place a bid on 114 items and services. Get a unique gift for a loved one (or even yourself) and do a good deed at the same time.

There's:
- Jewelry
- Portrait photography
- Tutoring
- Personalized animation
- A beach house rental
- Original artwork
- Professional manuscript critiques (including one by me!)
- and of course books, books, and more books, most signed by the authors!

We've already raised about $2,500 for Bridget.  It's amazing what love can do.

To view and bid on items, visit the auction site at http://bit.ly/bridgetauction and follow the instructions for bidding.

The action ID is: bridgetkicks and the password is: cancer. (People will need this information if you send them a link to a specific item, or if they use any link other than the one above.)

Another reason to hate James Frey

I already disliked James Frey for screwing up books being a regular feature of Oprah show.  Now there’s a new reason to hate him:  he’s got a work-for-hire fiction factory to churn out YA books - and it has to be read about to be believed.

In a story in New York Magazine, a MFA graduate who was considered for one of the projects Frey was offering explains the terms:  “This is the essence of the terms being offered by Frey’s company Full Fathom Five: In exchange for delivering a finished book within a set number of months, the writer would receive $250 (some contracts allowed for another $250 upon completion), along with a percentage of all revenue generated by the project, including television, film, and merchandise rights—30 percent if the idea was originally Frey’s, 40 percent if it was originally the writer’s. The writer would be financially responsible for any legal action brought against the book but would not own its copyright. Full Fathom Five could use the writer’s name or a pseudonym without his or her permission, even if the writer was no longer involved with the series, and the company could substitute the writer’s full name for a pseudonym at any point in the future. The writer was forbidden from signing contracts that would “conflict” with the project; what that might be wasn’t specified. The writer would not have approval over his or her publicity, pictures, or biographical materials. There was a $50,000 penalty if the writer publicly admitted to working with Full Fathom Five without permission.”

This is a pretty raw deal.

Read more about Frey’s scheme here.

And YA author Maureen Johnson explains in more detail why this is so wrong.

Bridget still needs you!

Remember Bridget, this beautiful young writer who lives in Portland? Three things happened to Bridget in 2009:
1. She got a two-book offer for her young adult novel.
2. She got married.
3. She found out she has Stage Four colon cancer.

Here is the latest from Bridget:

“Everyone must be thinking, Bridget, come on, aren’t you done having cancer yet? I am totally with you. I'm ready to move on to something more fun. But cancer doesn't seem to be quite done with me yet.

“Over the past year and a half, I've had chemotherapy every two weeks, almost non-stop. There was that little "vacation" for surgery. I've been over a range of treatments. On some of the less harsh treatments (chemo is no joke-less harsh does NOT mean easy), we've had glorious little stretches of a few days, sometimes even a week at a time when we could almost pretend that things were normal. And there were some chemo regimes that didn't really give us much of that. But we found joy where we could and Barrett and I are talented at finding joy. The “Summer of Love” celebrations back in Wisconsin, all of the book signings, fifth Fridays and social gatherings we were able to attend back home in Portland were extraordinary high points.

“But we reached a stopping point with my treatments at OHSU--we had a setback but no real options left to turn to in Portland. So we decided to try Cancer Treatment Center of America in Phoenix, AZ. They showed us a good eight options to try and that was just the beginning. They are committed to providing options for their patients and their motto is "care that never quits" so they never give up on you. This, along with their survival rate for people with my type of cancer being statistically higher than the national average, really helped nudge us in this direction. This first treatment was a little rougher on me than they expected but they're going to help us continue to plan and move forward with something that works on the cancer and allows us as many of those glorious stretches of normalcy as possible.”

How can you help? It’s simple. In the spirit of Bridget and Barrett’s Summer of Love,” let’s keep it going with an online auction, “Bridget Kicks Cancer: Season of Love and Hope,” from November 22-December 4. Please consider donating an item to the auction (and bidding on items once the auction is underway). Items that have been popular and successful in previous auctions include:

· Author and writer services: critiques, help with social networking
· Autographed books
· Handcrafted jewelry
· Local services: wine tours, house rentals, wine packages
· Original Artwork: perhaps design an 8 x 10 -12 x 24 around the theme of “Season of Love” (paying homage to Bridget’s “Summer of Love”), offer to commission a piece of art, or donate an existing piece
· Handcrafted greeting cards

I am donating a manuscript critique that would be perfect for anyone who writes YA, mysteries, and/or thrillers.

If you would like to donate, go to http://bit.ly/bridgetkickscancer. Donations must be in by November 19, 2010.

Items will be listed in an online auction at http://32auctions.com/ beginning Monday, November 22, 2010. Donors will be responsible for shipping their item to the winning bidder. Since this is around the holidays, send items as soon as possible after we notify you that payment has been received. Thank you!

If you would like to follow Bridget's blog or just find out more about her, you can do so at http://www.bridgetzinn.com.