Other Stuff
Today is my dad's birthday, so my sister and I are going out to dinner to celebrate, because we miss him a lot. Here's a tribute I wrote a while ago. Happy Birthday, Dad. You would love, love, love your hilarious granddaughter June (who looks a lot like little me in that photo!). Also, love that photobombing kid in the background--great smile!
Win-It Wednesday will be back next week. Mwah!
I know that everyone has read The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith, and I need to GET ON THAT! Because I know I'll love it -- I've heard her read from it, I've seen the reviews, it's a sure thing. And the cover? I think it's pretty timeless.
Here's Jennifer to talk about how it came about:
"I’ve realized I’m not all that visual a writer, so I’m always more than happy to let the pros handle this aspect of the process. Because it’s a love story, I guess I was just hoping the cover wouldn’t be too cheesy. I think I probably mentioned my aversion to seeing a photograph of the main characters… I tend to prefer graphic covers to photographic ones, and I never like seeing the characters too clearly – I’d rather let the reader come up with their own ideas about what they look like – but beyond that, I hadn’t really given it much thought.
"When I saw the cover, I absolutely loved it! It wasn’t final at that point, but the concept was just brilliant. You could see the characters, but not their faces, and they were far enough away that it wasn’t the main focus. What I loved most was the title treatment, which gave it some quirkiness and really made that the focal point, which I thought was cool. I think we originally saw a second option with a red background (instead of the black), but we all quickly honed in on the black version and moved forward with that one.
"They were really enthusiastic about it, so I think they were happy I felt the same, and all my comments and suggestions were really just tweaks. In the original image, the girl had dark hair and was wearing a long coat, but in the story, Hadley has blond hair and it’s summer. And there were also a few too many frills to the title, so we suggested revising that slightly. But for the most part, I was just really pleased.
"The early image was used for the galley, actually (see the galley at right), just because of the timing, but they made all revisions I suggested for the final version, and I think it turned out brilliantly. The designer, Liz Casal, is a genius. She’s working on my next one too, and I couldn’t be happier.
"I know it doesn’t always happen this way, and in fact, it hasn’t for many of my books, but in this case, the first concept they showed me was a knockout, so it was a pretty easy process all the way through. I think the original image of the couple was a stock photo, and then they manipulated it to make her blond and change her outfit just slightly. The title treatment is hand lettered, which I love.
"I adore the cover. It’s romantic and cinematic and eye-catching, and I think it really captures the feel of the book, that sense of time slowing down when you’re with someone, and the way the rest of the world becomes a blur all around you. It’s a great cover – I got really lucky!"
Thanks, Jennifer! I love that the detailed tweaks got made, and the final fonts are a total win too. Little changes do a lot.
What do you guys think of this cover?
PS-Here's a sneak peek at some of the international covers for this book. See the full covers on Jennifer's website.
This happens tomorrow! Be there.
Guys, this is happening again and it's THE MOST FUN DAY EVER. Seriously.
Once again, readergirlz and Figment are going to ROCK THE DROP in honor of Support Teen Lit Day, 4/12/12. Here’s how you can get involved:
* Print a copy of the bookplate, right, and insert it into (or affix it to the front of) a book (or 20!) to drop on April 12th. Leave the book(s) in a public spot (park bench, bus seat, cafeteria table). Lucky finders will see that the book is part of ROCK THE DROP!
Just a reminder that the NYC Teen Author Festival starts on Monday!
Full info, with schedule and exciting details, on the Facebook page.
There are a bunch of great events with incredible authors. Here are mine!
Monday, March 26 (Mulberry Street Branch of the NYPL, 10 Jersey Street b/w Mulberry and Lafayette, 6-8):
Plotting Dangerously: Doing What it Takes to Find the Story
Coe Booth Jen Calonita Paul Griffin Deborah Heiligman Melissa Kantor Morgan Matson Kieran Scott Melissa Walker
moderator: David Levithan
And on Thursday morning 3/29, I'm at the Brooklyn Public Library with an incredible lineup:
Brooklyn Public Library, central branch, Grand Army Plaza Kate Ellison Gayle Forman Melissa Kantor Barry Lyga Michael Northrop Matthue Roth Victoria Schwab Melissa Walker
Sunday April 1: Our No-Foolin’ Mega-Signing at Books of Wonder, 1-4, with 60+ authors! I sign at 3:15pm.
Hope you can come to something!
Go, go, go!
Guys, like a year and a half ago, I hosted this Boat Name contest. And now I'm finally doing copy edits for this book, so I know what the main boat ends up being called. I used a LOT of the funny names that BabyGirlG provided, so I did send her the prize box. In the end, though, I stuck with The Possibility as the name of the main boat. I guess first instincts are often best! You guys ALL rule though, and I so appreciate the help. Fair warning: I will call on you again.
The "boat book" also finally has a title (and ALMOST has a cover). It's called Unbreak My Heart. Here's a description:
Sophomore year broke Clementine Williams’s heart. She fell for her best friend’s boyfriend and long story short: he’s excused, but Clem is vilified and heads into summer with zero social life. Enter her parents’ plan to spend the summer on their sailboat. Normally the idea of being stuck on a tiny boat with her parents and little sister would make Clem break out in hives, but just floating away sounds pretty good right now. Then she meets James at one of their first stops along the river. He and his dad are sailing for the summer, and he’s just the distraction Clem needs. Can he break down Clem’s walls and heal her broken heart?
Told in alternating chapters that chronicle the year that broke Clem’s heart and the summer that healed it, Unbreak My Heart is a wonderful dual love story that fans of Sarah Dessen, Deb Caletti, and Susane Colasanti will flock to.
It's out in May--hope you guys like it. Cover reveal coming soon, I promise!
Last week I did a live chat with Inkpop (transcript here) and tons of great questions got asked, plus two attendees won Small Town Sinners! But things got so hectic that I didn't get to answer all of the Qs in the comments. So here are responses to a few of those:
In case you didn't catch it on twitter or facebook, look at this:
The New York (effing) Times reviewed Small Town Sinners in Sunday's paper. And they liked it! And they compared it to Friday Night Lights!!!
Choice bits: "Walker has written a credible and tender evocation of the moment when a young person’s beliefs begin to emerge and potentially diverge from the teachings of a family’s religion... for teenagers raised in evangelical homes, as I was, the character’s spiritual life will ring absolutely true."
"Near the end, Lacey contemplates a verse from the prophet Isaiah: 'Come now and let us reason together.' It’s a good summation of what Walker asks of her characters and, by extension, of her readers."
Dream. Come. True. It's enough excitement to send a girl into labor (but hopefully it won't! Not ready!).
Happy Saturday!
This is a memoriam I wrote for a Princeton reunion book a few years ago, for Dad. Happy Father's Day, everyone!
The sweetest afternoons I spent as a little girl were among a pile of yearbooks from the 1950s. In the house at 5912 Wayne Avenue in Philadelphia, my dad, John A. Walker, Jr. ’55, told me stories of his days in high school and adventures in a New Jersey town called Princeton.
After memorizing yearbook faces, Dad and I would take a walk around Germantown, the old neighborhood, and I would ask for stories (I never did have to ask twice). I walked on the exact spot where the neighborhood bully, Bad Peggy, swung her roller skate at Uncle Mike—he needed stitches. This is the very pavement that Dad and his high school girlfriend, Jane Miller, strolled along hand in hand.
A five minute amble (not the ten miles, uphill, that Dad claims) led us to the old site of Germantown Academy, where Dad attended school for 12 years. We crossed a granite stoop, deeply indented in the center from the 230-years of students who made their way along this very path. Dad would tell me how the main office was once used by George Washington as a war planning room, but I was more awed by the idea of Headmaster John F. Godman scolding Dad here for his latest prank. “Soldiers from the Revolutionary War used these fields for practice,” Dad said. But I wanted stories of soccer games played here during my father’s high school years. “The Founding Fathers walked these halls,” Dad continued, but I pictured my father and his two best friends, Skip Salus and Bray Manchester, milling around the halls together. I wanted to see the French classroom where Mr. Basy taught, and because he could not pronounce the letter “R,” a student named Rohrer would pound on the radiator just to hear Basy shout, “Lolel, stop banging on the ladiatol!”
Dad said that when he learned he’d received an ROTC scholarship to Princeton, his usually stoic father smiled and said, “Chip off the old block!” My grandmother told me juicy stories of laundry mailed home from New Jersey—which she washed and dutifully sent back to Dad’s dorm—and a few C’s in science classes. Dad recounted a tale of a suitemate who studied his heart out all semester and was ranked third in the class; when he went home to tell his parents, they said, “Don’t worry, son. Next semester, you’ll be first!” But Dad’s yarns never focused on his own academic work (perhaps for good reason). Most of them were about nights in New York City with Vassar girls on his arm.
And in 1990, for a 35th reunion, I finally got a chance to visit the magical Princeton, the place where Dad palled around with classmates named Ed Stahl and Ralph Nader, and the reason Dad had more than one orange blazer in his closet. At that reunion, when I was about to enter eighth grade, my father danced with me under a white tent with sparkling white lights. He made me feel like I was the smartest, prettiest, most wonderful girl in the world. It was just like every other day I spent with him.
The official things about my dad—how he was a Navy Captain, a University of North Carolina professor, a business owner and a United Way Volunteer—are below in his obituary. He would have told a better story—perhaps less accurate, but undoubtedly more colorful. We sure do miss him.
John A. Walker, Jr, husband, father, sailor, officer, chief executive, coach, died June 20, 2004. Born in Philadelphia, September 26, 1933, the son of Carol Scanlon and John Alexander Walker, Captain Walker (U.S. Navy, retired) graduated from Germantown Academy (1951), Princeton University (1955), and earned his MBA at the University of North Carolina (1980). His distinguished military career included Captain of the USS Gray, service in the Royal Canadian Navy, two tours in Viet Nam, and Director of Operations Sixth Fleet. He was the Founder and President of 501Management, Inc., providing complete administrative services for not-for-profit organizations. Numerous volunteer positions include work with United Way and Landmark Education. He is survived by his beloved wife Nancy Day Walker, sons John III, and Timothy, daughters Kristi and Melissa, and grandchildren Thomas and Barbara.
