A zoological excursus:
We have an enormous oak tree in our front yard, and every year, the squirrels sit in the high branches and hurl half-nibbled acorns down upon our heads. Last week, as I was leaning over to get into my car, I felt a sharp, wet sting in my ear. After I recovered from the shock, I fished a shard of acorn shell (still damp with squirrel spit) out of my ear. I didn’t glare up at the squirrels cackling amongst the leaves, however, as I was worried I’d catch the next missile in my eye.
Yesterday while I was reading out on my balcony, I witnessed one of these squirrels fall twenty feet from its perch onto the concrete. After sitting there dazed for several minutes, it scampered cheerfully away, its will to live buoyed up by its desire to launch another aerial assault.
They say a group of squirrels is called a scurry, but I prefer to call it a nuisance.
Pub News:
Not a whole lot to report here except that we’ve received all our blurbs from middle-grade authors, and I’ll be sharing those on the socials over the coming months. I also got a glimpse of the full jacket spread. The cover designer did a great job of wrapping the front art around to the back.
ALSO I found out today that Thief is now available to request on NetGalley! It already has a very kind review from one bookseller that I’ll share here in case you don’t have NetGalley and can’t see it:
The Second Greatest Thief drew my attention simply by the title. Why was this the second greatest thief? Who was the first? From the start I had difficulty putting down the book. There were so many twists and surprises that my attention held. Lira is a convincing protagonist - she is emotional, smart, capable, and human. She questions herself, but also relies on what she was taught by her brother. I found myself trying to figure out the time period, since there is such a blend of religious fanaticism and steampunk gadgetry. I suspect it is based on the late 19th century. This is a wonderful book for middle school because the focus is on the young people in the story and how they perceive the world. I enjoyed the finely detailed characters and those who were more broadly portrayed. I could picture the priests and the mechanical creatures easily. I think this book will do very well upon publication and I am interested to know if there willl be a sequel.
What I’m Working On:
August kicked off with a 3-night camping trip nearby followed closely by a 7-night trip farther away in the Sawtooths, and as we returned home covered in dust and campfire smoke and blisters, I realized we only had a week before school started. I became a one-man scurry of squirrels trying to gather school supplies and uniforms, mouthguards for football and kneepads for volleyball. We did it, but only barely.
With the kids back in school, I’ve been focusing on grading Camperdown assignments and brainstorming how to prepare for book launch. I even created a Discord server for my street team, and if you are just now hearing about this and would like to be on it, shoot me an email!
I’m also still doing prep work for a new novel idea, which mostly involves a lot of staring off into space interspersed with jotting down ideas. I strongly believe that you won’t know if your idea will work until you’ve talked it out with a few people. Nothing exposes handwavery quite like someone looking blankly at you while you try to explain a concept that has only ever floated in the serene and unperturbed waters of your brain. Today, I tried talking it out again with a friend, and he pointed out a few big flaws that need addressing before I get started (thanks, Jake).
What I’m Reading:
(with affiliate links and the reminder that some of these will have content warnings!)
I started off the month reading Katherine Arden’s The Unicorn Hunters (this one is definitely adult!) which was an alternate-historical take on Anne of Brittany. I thought the beginning worked really well.
I also finished Speak, Memory, which was our August book club pick. It was lovely in parts and insufferable in others. Probably much like Nabokov himself.
On my long camping trip, I read The Feast by Margaret Kennedy, which is easily one of my favorite reads of the year. A cliff collapses on seven people in a bed and breakfast, each of which is exhibiting one of the seven deadly sins. Kennedy had fantastic insights into human nature.
To end the month, I reread Ella Enchanted to dissect some plot movements and Future Women by Nancy Wilson for parenting encouragement (it was fantastic).
A Writing Tip:
A writer wrote in with a character development problem. She says:
I find myself making my characters loyal and brave at the beginning, giving them very little room to grow
Here are two ways to tackle that problem.
The first is to remember that we aren’t all made up entirely of flaws (thank goodness). So, you can have a character who is very loyal and brave but who also struggles to control her temper. When you’re constructing a character, you’re always weighing their strengths and weaknesses. If they’re too perfect we won’t find them relatable; if they’re too flawed, we won’t want to follow them on their journey. So, don’t make them loyal, brave, incredibly skilled at everything, handsome, honest, and without a care in the world. (Yawn). But also, don’t make them traitorous, cowardly, an absolute klutz, homely, a liar, and stunningly introspective. (Yikes).
The second way you can tackle this (and maybe the better way) is by thinking of how those virtues might become disordered in a person’s life. If they are loyal, make them loyal to the wrong cause (or too loyal to their family at the cost of what’s right, like Cora in The Winter King). If they’re brave, make them borderline reckless or unwilling to listen to someone who they think is being cowardly. Usually our greatest strengths have the potential to be our biggest weaknesses.
That’s all for August, see you in September!
