Before the Split Charity Auction

 As you can see on your left, I donated to Swati Avasthi's Before The Split Blog Tour and Charity auction.  I made two donations, actually.  One is a signed ARC of my new YA novel Jumpstart the World, and the other might be of particular interest to newer writers:  a critique of a synopsis, query letter and the first 30 pages of your manuscript.

To honor National Domestic Violence Awareness month, Swati Avasthi (YA author of Split, a terrific debut novel) has combined a blog tour with a charity auction. Over 40 authors, agents and editors have donated manuscript critiques, personalized books, and more to an online auction that anyone--reader, writer, book lover--can bid on and buy.  All proceeds go to the Family Violence Prevention Fund. In addition to the auction, Avasthi is donating $1/comment

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16 days to Jumpstart the World!

Updated on Sunday, September 26, 2010 at 1:00PM by Catherine

But who counts.  Right?

On the 12th of October, my new Young Adult novel, Jumpstart the World will...well, hopefully it will do what the title suggests.  In a small way.  Or a medium way.  Or...well, I don't know what it will do out in the world.  I just hope people will find it and read it.

It's a novel about a teenage girl who falls in love with an older guy before realizing he's transgender.  Which means, as a sort of follow-up for my "Speak Up About Speak" blog post, it's the kind of book the Wesley Scrogginses of the word would probably love to see banned.  I'm not sure how someone would go about banning it, as it's about emotion, not sex.  But I wouldn't be surprised if someone tried.  But I'll cross that bridge if and when I come to it, heartened by the knowledge that the book community stands up and speaks loudly for

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Erin and Betty Ann

Those of you who are reading the Sainsbury's Book Club edition of Second Hand Heart will already know Erin and Betty Ann.  If not, a brief background.  Betty Ann is a living kidney donor, and Erin is the recipient of her incredible gift.  I wrote about their experiences in a true donor story as an exclusive for the Sainsbury's edition. Betty Ann was Erin's third donor, and Erin's situation was quite desperate by the time the third kidney arrived. And Erin and Betty Ann barely knew each other then.  But they sure know each other now.

I also mentioned in the story that, after six long years of waiting due to her health issues, Erin and her finance, Joe, were finally planning their wedding.  Imagine my delight when Erin's mother sent me wedding photos, including one of Erin with all three of her donors!

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Speak Up About Speak

Updated on Sunday, September 19, 2010 at 11:32AM by Catherine

Who could possibly think the YA novel Speak is pornography? Unfortunately, there's an answer to that question.  He's a guy in Missouri, Wesley Scroggins.  In an article called Filthy books demeaning to Republic education, he mischaracterizes Laurie Halse Anderson's classic YA novel Speak, the story of a young rape victim, and says it should be classified as soft pornography.  Because it contains two rape scenes.

Is the suggestion here that the purpose of writing about rape is to entertain and excite?  Because that's a pretty sick sentiment, Mr. Scroggins.  In a world where the statistics on child sexual abuse are so shockingly high, does he really think the solution is not to utter a word about the problem in books?  It's better if they don't read about someone who survived it, even if it's happening to these readers right now?

Such dangerous logic.  But then, all censorship is dangerous.  If you think a book is

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Second Hand Heart

Well, it's here!  Second Hand Heart has been in stores in the UK since Thursday.  The blog reviewers have been wonderfully positive in their reception of the book (I just added a big bunch of review quotes to the Second Hand Heart book page) and I'm already beginning to hear from readers.  That's what makes this all worthwhile.

A quick note for those of you who are reading the book, are just about to read the book, or who have read it.  On the Second Hand Heart book page, I have some original photos that I took myself.  You see, Vida and I have been to some of the same places.

The photo you see here on this blog is the memorial stone at Manzanar.  The one Vida visited with Victor and Esther (and Jax).  But I also have a photo of Mt. Whitney from

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Chasing Windmills Book Discussion

Yesterday I appeared on a KCBX Public Radio book program called BookWaves.  It's a collaborative live program between KCBX and the San Luis Obispo (California, my home county) Public Library.

The book we discussed was Chasing Windmills.  If you've read the book, or are interested in learning more, you can listen to the hour-long program at:

BOOKWAVES KCBX