YA Highway #197: Quarterly Check-in

Posted on September 11, 2013 by Stef Wade

It is quarterly check-in time on YA Highway Road Trip Wednesday and boy could I use one! Many of you have asked how the world of writing is going for me and thank you for all of your support. In the beginning of this year, I have to say that I would never have foreseen the forward motion of my writing career really take off from idle to, well…at least first gear.

My first manuscript is floating around the agent world. I have seen some great response and feedback. Nothing big to speak of thus far, but I realize more than anything that these things take time. And patience. Lots and lots of patience.

In the meantime, I am very excited to be writing my second full manuscript, currently titled THE TRUTH ABOUT THE BIRDS. I’m hoping to have a solid draft by year’s end (please hold me to that).

It has been a strange and crazy ride so far learning the ins and outs of the publishing world, but like any good student, I am taking it all in stride, reading a lot, writing, talking to people, making writer friends and immersing myself into this world I have always wanted to be a part of!

As the final quarter of the year rolls around, I wish for progress on manuscript #1 as well as completion and satisfaction in manuscript #2.

Thanks again to everyone for your love and support and I patiently await the day I have big news to share! Until then…

Road Trip Wednesday #176: National Poetry Month

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Stef Wade

April is National Poetry Month. Let me tell you – I love that poetry gets an entire month. I’ve been affected and impassioned by poetry since a very young age, with different poems inspiring me at different times. One poem that will stick in my mind forever is “If” by Rudyard Kipling. We memorized this poem in eighth grade, prior to graduation and our grand entrance into high school. (Yes, I still know the entire poem by heart) Writing young adult fiction brings me back to this time in my life with this poem being the background for making my way into the world as an adult.

If
Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build’em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

YA Highway Road Trip Wednesday #175

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Stef Wade

I’m a big fan of the site YA Highway and it’s author’s completed works (hello, Divergent series). Each Wednesday, they host a blog carnival with different writing or reading related questions. I’ve participated a bit on my old site, but will now share in the carnival on my shiny new site every Wednesday!

Road Trip Wednesday question #175: The Veronica Mars Kickstarter success makes us wonder, what YA book would you raise $2 million to see a movie version of?

For starters, let me first say, I would never raise 2 million dollars for any movie to be made. For cancer research, yes. For a movie, no. However, taking this question as “What YA book are you dying to see made into a movie?” My answer is this:

Those of you who know me, probably know my passion for poetry. I love that Ellen Hopkins has so successfully created poetry turned novel. If the poetry of Crank could be woven into a motion picture, I’d be the first to line up and see it. Crank is a story based on the author’s daughter’s personal story with her addiction to crystal meth. The story itself is a pretty standard addiction story, but the poetry and prose of the novel pulls you deeply in on an emotional level. With the right director, actors and most importantly, screenplay – this could be quite an original movie.

Runners up include: Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret? By Judy Blume and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak