Anna Staniszewski

I’m in the midst of end-of-the-semester grading and don’t quite have the brain power to put together a coherent post. So instead, I’m going to bombard you with adorableness. Enjoy!

And a little something funny:

[I was really excited to be featured in my hometown newspaper recently. Go here if you'd like to check it out.]

I’ve been working on revising a tween novel on and off for a while now. My main focus has been on character and pacing, but I had a realization the other night when I was having trouble sleeping. I’d written the story in past tense, but what if it actually needed to be in present tense?

When I rewrote the first chapter in present, I was excited to see the character’s personality pop. That was the good news. The bad news? Having to rewrite all 46k words in present tense. Ugh. But I decided to dive in, and so far I’m liking the results.

An added bonus is that going through and changing the tense is making me really pay attention to each scene. I’m hoping the process will give me a new perspective on the overall story and help me fix some of the other issues.

How are you all doing with your WIPs? Anyone else embarking on a tense change?

It feels like I’m all over the interwebs today! I have my first ever post up at YA Outside the Lines in which I talk about my 2012 writing goal, mainly my quest to Just Write. And I’m also talking about my love of “light fantasy” over at the Enchanted Inkpot. Stop by and share your thoughts!

I’ve been in picture book land recently, partly because I’ve been working on a new picture book project and also because that’s what my writing class has been focusing on for the past few weeks. So in case you’re curious about some of my favorite picture books, I’ve put together a list of five titles I often recommend to people:

Shark vs. Train

This book is hilarious! I love how the title alone draws you in. The way the story escalates in terms of intensity and humor is just brilliant.

It’s a Book

Again, hilarious and really smart. For anyone who’s worried about the influence of technology on children, this is the book for you.

Officer Buckle and Gloria

This is an older title that still holds up compared to newer books. I love the humor and the relationships in the story.

Bark, George

I use this book in my class and some of my students are put off my how bizarre it is, but that’s part of why I love it! The ending makes me laugh every single time.

The Red Book

I’m a big fan of wordless picture books, and this one is so fascinating. I love that it’s not only a good story, but it’s one that makes you think in an abstract way.

What are some of your top picture books recommendations?

Now that my book has been out for over a month, it seems like a good time to reflect on how things have changed (or not changed) now that I’m officially an author.

The past few weeks have been filled with such amazing things: seeing my book on shelves, doing events, meeting young readers, making a million origami frogs. I’ve definitely had moments when I’ve thought: “Is this really my life?”

But the truth is, that new part of my life is probably only about 10% of it. The other 90% is still exactly like it was before: writing, teaching, walking the dog, avoiding cleaning the house, etc etc etc. Most of the time things don’t feel all that different at all. It’s been an odd balance, and I’m still getting used to it.

After all those months (years, really) of anticipating having a book out in the world, I almost expected to feel like a different person once the book was published. While doing events and things has forced me to become a little bit more self-confident, ultimately, I still feel like the same old Anna. And you know what? I think that’s probably a good thing.

And now, because it’s Friday, it’s time for a funny animal picture. Behold, alien dogs:

Have a great weekend, everyone!

If you have a minute, swing by Joy Preble’s blog to read an interview from the point of view of my main character. Find out how Jenny really feels about me, and enter to win a signed copy of UnFairy Tale Life.

I’ve been working on revising a manuscript, focusing primarily on fleshing out the character. I’ve realized that what I’ve essentially been doing is “weirdifying” her. What does that mean? Well, think about all the odd little things you do and think that you might never admit to anyone else. The joy of fiction is that we can see everything about a character; we can get to know them even better than we know ourselves.

So I’ve been trying to really dig into my character and find out all the weird, quirky things about her, the things that will make her interesting and relatable and real. It takes time to get at a character’s layers, and I know I tend to get impatient and not dig far enough. But I have to remember that it’s actually fun to find all these odd things about my character, things that I didn’t even realize were there. It’s all part of the game.

Anyone else working on weirdifying your characters?

It’s time to announce the winner of the August/September Debut Giveaway! Ready? It’s:

Evie!

Thanks to everyone who entered. It was fascinating to hear about your favorite reads this year: Divergent definitely seemed at the top of everyone’s list!

And now on to a couple random things.

Frogs!

Over the weekend, I did a couple of fun events, one at The Book Shack in Kingston, Mass. and the other at Wellesley Books in Wellesley, Mass. If you’ re on the hunt for a signed copy of UnFairy Tale Life, just contact either store. I’ll be taking a little bit of a break from doing book events which is probably a good thing since I was actually dreaming about making orgami frogs last night.

Books!

I mentioned on Friday that I was reading Legend by Marie Lu. I finished it on Saturday, and I have to tell you that it kept me sucked in the whole way through. I love books that do that! Now I’m reading Incarnate by Jodi Meadows; I’m fascinated by the premise and can’t wait to see how things play out.

Puppy Pics!

First, so you don’t think I’m a cruel person, here’s a brief explanation: Our dog Emma has a lot of energy and has a hard time staying focused during walks when there’s so much around her to sniff/see/bark at. A friend suggested putting a backpack on her with some canned goods inside (as advised by Cesar Milan). This helps the dog focus by giving her a sense of purpose during the walk, and it also helps to tire her out. After all, a tired dog is a happy dog.

So this is what Miss Emma looked like before we set out for our walk this morning:

She wasn’t thrilled at first, but she quickly got used to being a camel. I couldn’t stop giggling, especially when she’d shake and make a clanging sound. But now she’s nice and tuckered out, so all is good.

Have a great week, everyone!

It’s Friday already? How did that happen? Time for an assortment of random tidbits!

1. I just started reading Legend by Marie Lu the other day. I’m only a few chapters in, but already I’m totally engaged. When you have interesting strong-willed characters and high-stakes situations, it’s easy to get sucked in! I can see why this book has been getting so much buzz.

2. For those of you in the New England area, I’ll be reading/signing at the Book Shack in Kingston, Mass. a 2pm tomorrow, and doing a fun craft-filled event with Ammi-Joan Paquette and Deva Fagan at Wellesley Books on Sunday at 12pm. Hope to see you there!

3. So my publicist at Sourcebooks is awesome. She sent info about my book launch to Publishers Weekly, and this happened (scroll to the bottom). My little launch party on the same page as the Hugo premiere? Yup, I’m pretty big news. (Ha!)

4. You might have seen me cackling about this on Twitter last night, but someone found my website by searching for “staniszewski genius.” I guess my secret’s out.

5. Fellow debut author Stasia Kehoe had me answer this toughy on her blog: “If you could be any magical character, who would it be?” I’ve love to hear your answers!

5 1/2. I haven’t had a chance to pick a winner for the Aug/Sept Debut giveaway yet, but I’m planning on announcing that on Monday.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

If you have a minute, swing by Emu’s Debuts where my awesome editor, Aubrey Poole, talks about the process of bringing UnFairy Tale to life!

I haven’t done a WIP update in a while, mostly because I’ve been a bit stuck. But the past week I’ve managed to get back into the swing of things. I’ve been revising a funny tween novel, focusing on pacing and stakes. Fun stuff.

I thought I was making progress until I heard back from a beta reader who’d read a slightly older version of the story. She had a lot of good points…which made me realize I still have a lot of work left to do. Sigh. But at least I know, and knowing is half the battle. (Though, as someone on Twitter said the other day, what’s the other half of the battle?)

How are you all doing with your WIPs? Anyone else doing a two steps forward, one step back dance with your project?

If you have a minute, swing by Emu’s Debuts where I talk about revising UnFairy Tale Life. And then check back on Wednesday when my awesome editor will discuss the editorial process behind the book.

Also, today is the last day to enter my August/September Debut Novel Giveaway. (It’s international!)

Last week I talked about how I needed a kick in the butt to get back into the swing of writing. But when I went back to a project I’d been revising, I still felt a little stuck. I knew that something was missing, but I didn’t know exactly what.

Finally, I followed my husband’s advice again (he’s a smarty!) and picked up a book I loved. Even though there are books that I like to come back to (Jane Austen, for example) I haven’t been rereading much recently because there are so many new books to catch up on. But I decided to take a break from all that and go back to the last Harry Potter book which I’d been meaning to reread for a while.

Giving myself a break from revising and letting myself get lost in a great read seemed to shift something in my brain. After a couple days, I started to think of ways to make my manuscript better. When I read a new book, I’m focused on what’s going to happen next and on the technical aspects of the story. But rereading a favorite book is like curling up with a warm blanket.

I’ve still been thinking about craft while I’m reading, but I don’t have to work as hard since I already know the story. I think that process has allowed my brain to keep working in the background and brainstorming new ideas. The power of rereading! So if you’re feeling stuck, try picking up a favorite book and letting it inspire you.

[If you have a minute, swing by Peter Salomon's blog where he's asked me three short yet insightful questions.]

Now that my book is out in the world, the past several weeks have been filled with lots of exciting things. Book-wise I’ve been feeling motivated and excited, but writing-wise I have to admit I’ve been a bit defeated. The new projects I’ve been working on haven’t quite been clicking, and it’s been frustrating to feel like I’m not making progress. I’ve been finding myself letting other parts of my life intrude on my writing time.

I didn’t realize how bad it had gotten until my husband mentioned it the other day, and I realized he was right. I’d let myself get lazy with working on new things because it had gotten hard. Realizing that was a total kick in the butt. I wanted to smack myself upside the head and yell: “Hello! Writing is always hard! You can’t just give up!”

So now it’s back to work. I had my time to wallow and feel sorry for myself, but the writing isn’t going to get easier and it certainly isn’t going to do itself. Now I need to focus, pick one of those projects that have been dragging me down, and figure out how to make it work. No more excuses and no more complaining. Who’s with me?