The Cover Reveal for Becoming Madeleine

My grandmother, Madeleine L’Engle, has always been a source of inspiration for me -- from my own writing, to my obsession with the metaphysical, and to my teaching and mentoring. I’d always wanted to tell her story, and had fooled around with different ways of telling it - (at the end of her life I was writing my own version of The Summer of the Great-Grandmother) but I knew I needed my sister Charlotte to help me write it. She didn’t want to, thinking that we were too close to the subject. And perhaps she was right: Gran had become her ethereal self, while here on earth grief and perspective took a long time to settle.

Yet here we are, ten years after her death on September 6th, announcing the cover reveal for our book, Becoming Madeleine. How did that happen?

Two years ago we started thinking about her hundredth birthday, coming up in November of 2018. She LOVED celebrating birthdays. We wanted to give her a big tribute to honor her. But what to do? A grand party? The release of thousands of doves, or balloons? A constellation in the heavens made in her honor?

“Some kind of biography?” I suggested, ever hopeful.

Charlotte hesitated. “Maybe... What about a picture book? It can open with Gan’s first memory of being woken up and taken outside to look at the stars.”

The publisher, though, was interested in a biography aimed at readers who had loved A Wrinkle in Time.

“We can do this,” I whispered. “It should be us.”

“A ‘Madeleine L’Engle was born…’ narrative?” Charlotte asked. “Let someone else  write it.”

“Someone else might, at some point! But that doesn’t mean we can’t write one too - and we have such a unique relationship -- it will be like a love letter to her.”

I kept whispering. Charlotte kept resisting. She worried that the more scholarly distance required would change our relationship with our grandmother. Besides, the work involved in carefully looking at old letters and journals was daunting. So much material! And while collaborating on a project sounded like fun, there could be  pitfalls. “But if not us,” I asked, “who?”

“Okay,” Charlotte said, finally giving in (after listening to “Hamilton” -- “who lives, who dies, who tells your story” convinced her where I couldn’t) “Oh! What if we start it at that moment when she was abandoned at boarding school...” I squealed with joy, because once Charlotte commits to something, she’s in it two hundred percent.

I started writing, fictionalizing that moment, imagining dialogue and the young Madeleine’s inner-most thoughts. Charlotte started reading her journals from the 1930’s, and we felt a deeper, more intimate connection with Gran than we had in years. She had been such a large part in helping US become, we felt we could successfully write about her becoming with distance,perspective, and great love.

I stopped fictionalizing, and we both wrote straight, trading back and forth, I writing the first draft of one section, Charlotte editing and then writing the first draft of another. Our voices blended like a running backstitch. We began to read her journals and letters from her girlhood, and I realized why Charlotte had been so daunted. “And this is only from when she was a teenager!” Still, we found moments that added to the narrative and incorporated them into our draft..

We quickly came up with a very rough draft and took it to Margaret Ferguson from FSG who said, “You have a book! But you have work to do.”

Thrilled, we rolled up our sleeves and went back to work, reading her journals and letters up to 1963 when A Wrinkle in Time won the Newbery Award. We were writing the book I had always wanted us to write --  one voice together in harmony -- we who loved our grandmother fiercely, whose presence made the world a better place, and whose work lives on.

Becoming Madeleine will be published in 2018, the year she would have turned one hundred.

Happy Birthday Gran - we wouldn’t be us without you!

Lena Roy is Regional Manager and instructor at Writopia Lab.

Visiting the set of A Wrinkle in Time

There was something more meaningful than I could ever have imagined about visiting the set of A Wrinkle in Time this past Monday on the heels of this crushing election. It wasn’t just because I have been waiting almost 40 years for this to be adapted. It wasn’t just basking in the warmth of the LA sun. It wasn’t just that we need the story and themes put forth in Wrinkle just as much now as we did in the early 1960’s. It was as simple as recognizing I still have faith in humanity and I refuse to be a misanthrope. It was as simple as the relational warmth of Ava DuVernay and the common purpose and diversity of everyone on set, from the cast, crew, and three hundred “extras”.

Movies are still being made, books are being written, people are still saying “I love you” and the sun rises and sets. People are organizing solidarity marches, and recognizing the political battleground in themselves. People are waking up. People are working harder to find meaning in their lives, and that comes from creative and critical thinking, and being of service. Participating in something larger than oneself.

We all need meaning.

Especially when you feel crushed. Maybe the tower does need to be destroyed in order to be rebuilt. But be part of the rebuilding. Be a part of the retelling. Ava DuVernay and Jennifer Lee will be retelling Wrinkle in their own unique ways.

Don’t be afraid of your voice, don’t be afraid to use it.

"This is my charge to you. You are to be a light-bearer. You are to choose the light."

-- Madeleine L'Engle, A Ring of Endless Light

And this is bipartisan - nobody has the corner on being a lightbearer. Maybe this is where we can come together, where we can empathize with each other.

Many years ago, there was a time in my life when I felt so marginalized that I didn’t think my life was worth anything, that I was just a waste of space. I didn’t think I had any choices, let alone the power to choose the light.

But I did, and I continue to have to make the choice (especially when crushed) and you can too.

Thank you Ava -- and the cast and crew of Wrinkle -- for being lightbearers.

No more walls.

On Seeing Ava DuVernay's 13TH

13TH opened the 54th NewYork Film Festival at Alice Tully Hall on Friday night and I had the good fortune escort my amazing, politically conscious and thoughtful 15 year old niece Magda.

It is the first documentary ever to open the film festival, and was chosen for its compelling narrative. It had been made very quietly under the radar, by film director, Ava DuVernay (who also happens to be directing the upcoming adaptation of my grandmother's book, A Wrinkle in Time) and "13TH" refers to the 13th amendment:

“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

This documentary comes at an important time in our political history, after eight years of our first black president, where some of us have hoped we would be able to live in a color-blind world.

Our myopia is shattered as wishful thinking: Ms. Duvernay explores through interviews and archived footage, how the 13th amendment re-enslaved African-Americans and criminalized a whole segment of the population of the United States. The documentary as nothing less than astonishing, infuriating, and galvanizing and at times I was moved to tears. Drawing a line from slavery to counter-reconstruction, to Jim Crow, to The Southern Strategy to The Crime Bill, "13TH" tells a compelling story that demands a response.

This New York Times Review sums up her argument: "The United States did not just criminalize a select group of black people. It criminalized black people as a whole, a process that, in addition to destroying untold lives, effectively transferred the guilt for slavery from the people who perpetuated it to the very people who suffered through it."

Magda, who can fairly represent the views of every teen I know (and as a teacher, I know a great many!) is as troubled by this as I am, so everyone needs to see this movie (available on Netflix October 7th) with their families before going to the polls on November 8th so that we can begin to have deeper conversations about this. And also make some necessary institutional changes.

Don't forget to vote on Tuesday, November 8th!

Help Me Celebrate Five Years of Working with Young Writers!

Greetings my loves!

I’d like to enlist your help in promoting young writers.

As you all know, I started wading into the world of writing as a child and have been swimming with words ever since. I believe in the power of creating, of linking disparate concepts together, of healing through words, through developing, conjuring, and discovery. I believe in the power of writing to transform and help us grow into empathic, compassionate human beings.

Most of you also know that Rob and I run a not-for-profit writing program called Writopia Lab in the suburbs of New York City in Westchester and Fairfield Counties. Our mission in life is aligned with the mission of Writopia Lab: to foster joy, literacy and critical thinking in ALL young people from all walks of life. Contrary to the stereotype of the suburbs, this area includes small cities hit with urban blight and pockets of rural poverty.

Just over five years ago, I was introduced to innovator and thought-leader, Writopia Lab founder Rebecca Wallace-Segall by Susan Cain (NYTimes best selling author of Quiet). Not only had I met another kindred spirit, but I found the program I had always wanted to be part of, a program to give structure and context to my passion for writing and for teaching.

Three years ago we became the affiliate for the scholastic Writing Awards in nine counties north of New York City. This means that we encourage and promote teen writing by both providing a ceremony and by adjudicating the awards regionally. It is the nation’s longest-running, largest, most prestigious recognition program for creative teenagers. Over the past 92 years The Awards have given teens involved in the arts a level of recognition and reward typically reserved only for athletics.

I didn’t know about the Scholastic Writing Awards when I was a teen, nor did I have access to a program like Writopia Lab. How I would have thrived! But I remember my third grade teacher, Mrs. Fitzhugh, who believed in me. I channel my grandmother, Madeleine L’Engle, a wonderful writer, teacher, thinker, who alway claimed that I was an artist, “like her”. And I think of my mother and father, who passionately championed that I could be anything I wanted if I followed my own path.

Well this is my path folks! So I invite you to help me celebrate my fifth anniversary of working with Writopia Lab by donating $5 or more  to this Indiegogo campaign to fund three scholarships to graduating seniors who are regionally recognized by the Scholastic Awards for an essay/memoir piece, a fiction piece, and a poetry piece.

As my young colleague Gaby Boland says: “To me, funding these scholarships isn’t even about the money. It’s about recognizing the light inside a young writer. About saying, you have a voice and we hear it. You have a skill, a gift, and we want you to go forth and use it.”

And if you are so inclined as the fiscal year comes to a close, Writopia Lab itself is a wonderful place to support. Writopia Lab is a 501(c)3 non-profit that operates with limited resources, relying heavily on support from the community to sustain our programs--over 95% of our funding comes from the community in the form of these workshop and membership fees. Go to www.writopialab.org/donate to find out more.

Fondly,

I Held Hands with Judy Blume!!!!!

There aren't many people I would drive through two hours of bumper-to-bumper traffic to see, but when my sister suggested I meet her at the main branch of the New York City Public Library on 42nd Street and 5th avenue to see Judy Blume and Eric Carle for a special reading and panel discussion celebrating the NYPL's first ever list of 100 great children's books of the past 100 years, of course I said YES!

(And yes, my grandmother's A Wrinkle in Time is on that list . . .)

And . . . I was late. (Because of said traffic.) But what a treat! The woman is 75 years old and looks thirty years younger. Every fiber of her being is attentive and completely engaged. She talked about the joys of revising - yet another reason why I love this woman! (Not just for Are you there God, It's Me, Margaret, Deenie, Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great and the mind-blowing FOREVER.) She read a snippet from Double Fudge and every word was GOLD. She had us in the palm of her hands!

Leonard Marcus as the moderator was fabulous as usual. Eric Carle was adorable, and read his brand new book called Friends, but Judy was a childhood idol. Judy wrote for ME. She understood - she knew what it was like - she could read minds!

And I never got to meet her, to hold both of her hands and tell her what a difference she made in my life.

Until this morning. (She kept holding onto my hand as she high-fived the elementary school kids who were in the audience. So gracious!) I did not not ask for a photo or an autograph -

The hand-holding was more than enough!

Afterwards, my sister and I were treated to a private tour of the NYPL's acclaimed exhibition The ABC of it: Why Children's Books Matter which I urge you all to RUN to. It was also curated by Leonard, and he and the librarians and the conceptual artists did an amazing job. (Yes, A Wrinkle in Time is included, in the Banned Books section.) Look! There's the car from the Phantom Tollbooth! And the Wild Thing! And the Secret Garden! And, and, and . . . Just GO! You won't regret it. Tell them I sent you!

PS Whose hands would you like to hold?

xoxox

Joys of Love Study Guide!

Hey there!

I am super excited to share with you all the new Joys of Love study guide on the Madeleine L'Engle website. It went live today! It has a very special place in my heart as it was my sister's and my "secret" as children - our grandmother's unpublished book that was just for us.  It had everything a young reader could ask for - three different manuscripts with three different endings, theater, romance, and a hint of the adult world to come.

I love this particular study guide because although the book was written and is set in the 1940's, we are asked to reflect on today's world as well. Literature helps us to question the world that we live in and to see our place in it. I wish that more books had study guides, don't you?

So what are you waiting for? Get thee over to yonder Madeleine L'Engle website!

xoxox

The Little Book that Could

First you write. And then you rewrite and rewrite.

Then you query.

You are rejected.

Rewrite, query, reject and so forth. Multiple times.

Agent Edward Necarsulmer wants more!

Rewrite, submit.

Ding, ding, ding! FSG buys it on first round of submissions!
hard copy AND an ebook. Random House's Listening Library buys the rights to do an audio book.

You've made it! Right?

Then there's the waiting for two years for an actual BOOK to be produced, high expectations, more writing, then marketing-induced psychosis.

For realz. You make a God box and keep putting the book in there. It's the only real thing you can do - take deep breaths and get out of your own way.

But it doesn't become a best-seller and you have to accept that. Being published by FSG, you, your agent and your editor were hopeful that Edges would be an award-driven book  - but it did not get on anyone's radar. You are not John Green.

Book #2 is loved, but ultimately rejected because the sales of book #1 are not high enough.

Okay.

You stop worrying about sales and focus on writing new stuff and teaching writing.

Almost two years later, the rights revert back to you, and you buy out the Macmillan warehouse, so they can make room for shiny "new" things.

That's okay with you - they weren't marketing you anyway. This is what happens, and it's not personal, it's business.

And yet.

You are still asked to show up at events, speak on panels. And you've just been tweeted that your book, Edges, is on the syllabus for a class called YA Lit at The University of Utah. (And guess what? John Green is there too, along with your grandmother.)

And yes grasshopper, you go back to the work of writing, knowing that it's not about sales, but about communicating and finding the voice of the particular story. And that it's all about connecting you to the human race.

And you love your day job just as much: empowering kids and teens to find their own voice through creative writing.

Life is AWESOME!

A Prayer for us from Madeleine L'Engle

My grandmother, Madeleine L'Engle, was known to be a woman of great faith. This greatness of faith came from her own struggle with it.  Indeed, I believe that she wrote what she needed to hear, hope, believe. In A Wrinkle in Time, we all identify with fear of the threat of darkness, and wonder who or what is going to stand between us and IT.

It is the same in the books following. This poem below is St. Patrick's Rune from A Swiftly Tilting Planet, which is itself an adaptation of The Lorica of St. Patrick. (Of which it is said that God turned St. Patrick and his followers into deer when they were pursued.)

Who comes between you and the powers of darkness? I can't even begin to write about what happened on Friday morning, but I can share my struggle and my DESIRE for faith with you - indeed, maybe that is how we can help each other, and hug our own children tighter:  Children lean toward hope and away from cynicism. Let us be childlike, and place this prayer between us and despair.

St. Patrick's Rune

At Tara in this fateful hour
I place all Heaven with its power
And the sun with its brightness,
And the snow with its whiteness,
And the fire with all the strength it hath,
And the lightning with its rapid wrath,
And the winds with their swiftness along their path,
And the sea with its deepness,
And the rocks with their steepness,
And the earth with its starkness:
All these I place
By God’s almighty help and grace
Between myself and the powers of darkness!

Lions and Tigers and Contests, Oh My!

'Tis the season of giving and stressing over what to give, how much to give, where to give. It is a mixed bag of excitement and finding lights in the darkness through story,  yet who among us doesn't get caught up in presents over presence at times? Thinking of light as an entitlement instead of focusing on the being, experiencing, creating light.

Can I help relieve some of that with giveaways during the holiday season? I just put all of the names from last week's contest for a 50th anniversary copy of A Wrinkle in Time into Random.com and . . . the winner is . . . WriterAmI!!!! Thank you everyone for participating - you all really deepened the definition of tessering!

Two years ago on Tuesday, December 7th, my first book Edges was published by FSG. So to celebrate my book birthday, I am going to give away FIVE copies this week!

How to win?

In Edges, Cin has a number of animals tattooed on her body as a way to integrate them into herself. I have a tattoo of a tiger on my back, not because I think I have the personality of the tiger, but because I need the tiger energy in my life. (I'm more of a cuddly bear or an old cat really.)  Indeed, my Higher Power speaks to me in many different ways through different mediums if I am open enough to listen.

I see you're getting worried. Is she going to make us come up with what our power animal is?

No way - nobody needs to believe what I believe, my patchwork spirituality of different traditions. The only thing that's important is that we all view life as a glorious mystery, and we all want to deepen our relationships with each other and with the world. You read my blog because I am authentic, yes?

So. just tell me about one of your lights to see the world by . . . do you remember this scene in Wrinkle?

Mrs. Who's spectacles shone out at them triumphantly, "And the light shineth in darkness;                and the darkness comprehended it not."

"Jesus!" Charles Wallace said. "Why of course, Jesus!"

"Of course!" Mrs. Whatsit said. "Go on Charles, love. There were others. All your great Artists. They've been lights for us to see by.

"Leonardo da Vinci?" Calvin suggested tentatively. "And Michelangelo?"

"And Shakespeare," Charles Wallace's voice called out, "And Bach! And Pasteur and Madame Curie and Einstein!"

Now Calvin's voice rang with confidence. "And Shweitzer and Ghandi and Buddha and Rembrandt and St. Francis!"

And of course, the bigger you make this contest, the more chances you have of winning! (Does that even make sense?)

Tesser Well!

Tesser Well!

Tomorrow is my grandmother's birthday. She would have been 94. She gave herself to the world and we loved her back. She inspired us - her family, friends and fans to embrace all parts of ourselves and live life to the fullest with conviction and imagination. She encouraged us to "tesser well".

"Tesser Well" is how she signed copies of A Wrinkle in Time. It references not only the fourth dimension travel through time and space, it also alludes to her basic philosophy that whenever we open our minds and heart - whether it is mind-travel through reading, or spiritual-travel through being vulnerable and loving, we and the planet are better off.

Madeleine was one of the most accessible writers of her time. If she were alive today, she would be all over social media and interacting with her fans in new and fun ways. We have been mourning that she can't do this herself - we have been feeling the pain of her loss.

But what if we got together as a community to keep her legacy shiny and golden? Hmmmm . . . well guess what? There IS a new fan page on Facebook called Tesser Well that launched just yesterday! It's that virtual place where Madeleine we can all share, interact and gather information.  You can also have more access to all things Madeleine by following her on twitter @tesserwellMLE.

In Madeleine's honor, let's have the phrase "tesser well" join the ranks of "May the force be with you", and "Live long and prosper". Join the revolution!

To celebrate my grandmother's birthday, and the upcoming holidays, I will give away one beautiful hardback copy of the 50th edition of A Wrinkle in Time. How to enter? There are five ways! (If you do all four things I will put your name in the lottery five times.)

1) Comment below on your favorite way to tesser
2) Follow this blog!
3) Follow me on Facebook
4) Follow me on twitter @lenaroy and retweet!
5) Share this blog post on Facebook!

The random winner will be picked and announced next Wednesday, December 5th.

Tesser Well!

Redefining Success

I was such an asshole when I was younger. I had this dreadful combination of inferiority/superiority complex, where success was defined by external things.

Oh, that's society you say? So I'm not alone?

The definers of success were my grandmother, a famous novelist, and my father, a rock star priest. Everybody else was a loser, including me. If you weren't making a major impact on the world, you just sucked. What about doctors? Lawyers? Nah. They didn't have a big enough of a captive audience - my dad's preaching drew huge crowds and my grandmother's words were read by millions - they both had a similar philosophy/theology and they WERE ON MESSAGE. What about teachers then? Surely they have a captive audience. They were the biggest losers of all. Those who can't do, teach.

The standard of my grandmother and father's success was impossibly high for everyone. (See, I told you I was an asshole.)

Well, what was the MESSAGE of your grandmother and your father then? That we ALL matter, and that we're not losers! Basically, we're all children of God, or we all have God within us, however you want to look at the semantics of it.

I see you scratching your head. Why then, couldn't you internalize this? 

(And then there's the whole money issue - you not only have to captivate an audience, you have to make money too! Because everyone knows success is about money, right? )

I internalized everything - there was good stuff of course, but a lot of BAD stuff, and my foggy brain couldn't sort it all out. I had to grow up and have my own struggles with this ethereal notion of "success". I continue to grow and the more I am in touch with the Divine, the more in-love with the world and my life I am.





I am not my grandmother and I am not my father, but like them, I am a writer and a teacher. I have internalized their message, and I share it with you as you share with me.  I write to remind myself of who I really am, because this is the best way I know how to think clearly.

I needn't define myself by their success, or by anybody's. My definition of success is the ability to embrace and appreciate life, and having the physical and spiritual space to do the things that make you a better person, and bring you more toward your authentic self.

Which is what writing and teaching do for me. It's not making me rich for sure, but I am solidly middle class.

And best of all, my life is right sized, no better or worse than anybody else.

(This is the good part about getting older folks!)

What about you? Do you struggle with any of this?

Camilla Dickinson by Madeleine L'Engle: the Movie!

I just got back from the West Coast where I saw the premiere of Camilla Dickinson, the film adaptation of my grandmother's first YA novel at the Seattle International Film Festival.

When we think of Madeleine L'Engle's body of work, CD may not jump out at you as the most cinematic.  However, my grandmother first wrote Camilla Dickinson for the stage and then decided to write it as a novel.

It is Madeleine's third published novel, and came out in 1951 just on the heels of J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye. Camilla at the time was  deemed Holden's female counterpart, at a time when the world was more ready for a young and struggling MALE protagonist. Madeleine L'Engle wouldn't become well-known until 1962 when readers identified with her flawed protagonist Meg in A Wrinkle in Time.

I love my grandmother's earliest works - it's where I really feel her essence and her own struggle toward the light that mirrors my own.

So of course I had been looking forward to seeing Camilla in film since 1999 when my grandmother gave the script to one her many godchildren, the film-maker Cornelia Duryée Moore and told her to "have at it."

I wasn't disappointed.

Moore went through twenty seven revisions of the script before finding both the right tone and the funding to help her make this dream a reality. Armed with Larry Estes as a producer and a wonderful cast, Camilla has made her way onto the screen. It is a character driven book and remains a character driven movie. This is why the team had their choice of many brilliant actors to play these rich and complex roles, where all of the drama needs to be shown internally.

No, this is not a Hollywood, commercial film by any stretch of the imagination. It retains it's dark, coming-of-age themes, but has more of a sweetness at it's core. The character of Frank, dynamically  played by the very handsome British actor Gregg Sulkin, is not as dangerous as he appears in the book but we love him for it. Camilla herself is played gorgeously by Australian Adelaide Clemens as an icicle of a girl who is triangulated by her upper-class parents. She is an icicle who breaks out into her own personhood. Camilla's best friend and sister, Luisa Rowan is played flawlessly by Meisner specialist Colby Minifie. The emotions that these young actors are able to express through subtle changes in facial expressions was impressive.

And then of course, there was Cary Elwes and Samantha Mathis, expertly playing the roles of Camilla's detached father and emotionally fragile yet narcissistic mother.


It was a thrill to be there, and to watch Cornelia - who I have known since I was a struggling teen myself - present her labor of love to the world. We were able to have lunch with three of the actors before the premier on the boat that Corrie's dad built: Gregg, Colby, and another young actress named Rachel Grate who played the role of Pompilia. They are all so funny and down to earth - actors whose careers I will be watching closely. Actors who love to act, who challenge themselves to completely embody a role other than themselves.

I know what you are all asking yourselves: how can I get my hands on this? Well, the movie industry seems even crazier to me than the book industry - the way for you all to see this movie is for it to get bought by a bigger distributor. (Anybody know somebody who knows somebody?)

LiterHottie Award (Beautiful Blogger)

Yup, that's me. A Literary Hottie.*

That is, according to Anne Chaconas and Tracey Baptiste, both fabulous authors who have given me the honor of nominating me for the latest and greatest blogger award. Blogger Awards, for those of you who don't know,  are a way of extending and growing our on-line community. I have received several in the past, and the rules are always to nominate more people and spread the love. The rules for this award are to name 7 random facts about yourself and then to name 7 other bloggers.

*Full credit for LiterHottie goes to Reading Rambo, the coach for Suburbia Roller Derby's Backyard Bullies. You can read about my new love of Roller Derby here. (And have a chance to win a copy of my book, Edges.)

1. I am flying to Seattle today to attend the premier of Camilla Dickinson at the Seattle Film Festival. Camilla Dickinson is my grandmother's first YA novel, and now there's a lovely indie movie! (Of course, we're hoping for world domination. ;-)) How is this a random fact about me? Well, I have NEVER been to Seattle before! AND I am bringing only one of my kids - they are taking turns going on trips with me. I promised them that I would always take one of them with me wherever I get to go. AND I finally get to meet in person one of my favorite people and favorite new author - the fabulous Lish McBride who had me howling with laughter with her debut, Hold Me Closer, Necromancer. Her follow up, Necromancing the Stone is coming out this fall! Stay tuned . . .

2. I love peanut butter. And I mean, LOVE. I also love Dr. Who. (Now that's random!)

3. My extravagant self-care ritual is a spa pedicure once a month.

4. Even though I haven't had a drink or a drug in over 18 years, I am still the life of a party, unless . . .

5. I sometimes don't sleep very well. I've had insomnia ever since I can remember. It is much better now than it used to be, but I still have bouts. It is genetic. My grandmother, Madeleine suffered from it, as did her mother - also Madeleine. (And guess what - my legal name is Madeleine too, so the Madeleine's in my family have it.)

6. I had two aliases in my 20's - Venus de Velcro and Tallulah Trip. Both were High Priestesses of Cocktail Music and one was sexier than the other. Can you guess who?

7. I still have to pack for my trip. I am leaving in two hours, but I want to get this done - for Anne and Tracy. First thing's first!

My blogger shout outs:

1. Anne Chaconas 
Anne is a very funny writer that I met through Novel Publicity, which goes to show you (me) that not all social networking is a waste of time. She is very funny and has thoughtful, empathetic posts on the writer's life and how to navigate social media.

2. Tracey Baptiste  
Author of Angel's Grace and a short biography of my grandmother.  She writes inspiring tidbits on her blog like this:

"From Cynthia Ozick:
“One must avoid ambition in order to write. Otherwise something else is the goal: some kind of power beyond the power of language. And the power of language, it seems to me, is the only kind of power a writer is entitled to.”
It’s hard to avoid ambition, isn’t it? We all  aspire to be something more–and that’s a good thing. But to be something specific, best-selling author, for instance. Wanting to be that, desiring only that, well, that’ll eat you alive."

3. Deborah Batterman
This lovely lady is the author of the short story collection, Hair, Shoe, Nails AND she is also a Bedford/ Katonah resident. She is a beautiful writer. Reading her work always makes my hands itch to write myself!

4. Elizabeth Cassidy
Her posts are guaranteed to make me laugh. AND they are poignant - how does she do that? She is also a creative writing coach - maybe I'll ask her!

5. Jayne Martin
very funny new friend I have made on-line. Her posts are always compelling and helpful. Her book, Suitable for Giving, has been a real hit with readers!

6. Gae Polisner
Publishing House sister and author of The Pull of Gravity, soon to be out in paperback! She is the real deal - lovely, funny and authentic. She tells it like it is, the highs and the lows. AND she is a great hugger! I heart you, Gae!

7. Christa Desir is amazingly funny on her blog while exploring the toughest subjects in her novel writing. I can't wait to read Trainwreck which is forthcoming from Simon Pulse in the fall of 2013. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to get an ARC? Seriously folks, this is someone to watch for!

A Wrinkle in an Hour's Time: Censorship and Adaptation

Censorship and A Wrinkle in Time? What???? Yes, this classic by my grandmother, Madeleine L'Engle is on many top ten lists of most censored books in America.

Okay, now that I've got your attention, my experience is not as crazy as all that. I was recently asked to do what I thought would be my Wrinkle in an Hour's Time workshop the other day at a local library.

What it turned out to be was an intense learning experience.

Wrinkle has been criticized from both ends of the spiritual spectrum - from the intellectuals for being too overtly religious and then from the evangelical Christians for being downright pagan. (Those rascally Mrs W's!)

Yes, our society is a beautiful and rich tapestry of different cultures, but Christianity is still the dominant religion. It isn't surprising that we see some sensitivity around this subject.

The librarian had set it up with me months ago to correspond with the first day of spring. We are on the heels of the 50th anniversary of Wrinkle - and the librarian had put it in the calendar as a "celebration". No problem - just add cupcakes to the mix and voila! You have an instant party situation.

Okay, what does this have to do with censorship and adaptation? Well . . .  I sent the librarian - who I really like and respect as a deep thinker - the outline of my workshop including the passages that I use.

She wrote back saying that it was great, but could I please not quote anything religious. I frowned at the email. It confused me. I am not "religious". I personally would never dream of pushing a religious agenda.

Could she mean the passage that I base the whole workshop on? The one that posits that it is our creativity that fights darkness?

    “Who have our fighters been?” Calvin asked.
    “Oh, you must know them, dear,” Mrs Whatsit said.
Mrs. Who’s spectacles Shone out at them triumphantly, “And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.”
    “Jesus!” Charles Wallace said. “Why of course, Jesus!”
     “Of course!” Mrs Whatsit said. “Go on, Charles, love. There were others. All your great artists. They’ve been lights for us to see by.”
     “Leonardo da Vinci?” Calvin suggested tentatively. “And Michelangelo?”
    “And Shakespeare,” Charles Wallace called out, “And Bach! And Pasteur, and Madame Curie, and Einstein!”
    Now Calvin’s voice rang out with confidence. “And Schweitzer, and Ghandi, and Buddha and Beethoven, and Rembrandt and St.Francis!”


Okay, so, there's Jesus and Buddha and Michelangelo. Is that religious?

Oh. There's that part where Mrs Who quotes the bible.

The librarian said that she would love to have a discussion about this, but that she didn't think the library was the proper forum.  I could have pushed, and I could have at least asked why, but I didn't. I wanted to act my way into flexible thinking.

I focused on loving the challenge of  adapting, of improvising. My original workshop closes with the above passage, and I like to give out a certificate to participants with that quote and their own name scrawled at the bottom. Of course it went over well for the Cathedral of St. John the Divine where I originally created it. And down South in Alabama, where folks are predominantly Christian.

I see that passage of the book as the ultimate interfaith message, and I know my grandmother. She saw the act of creating something, be it in the arts or sciences as an act of faith. And not limited to Christians. So do I.

Yet I have to give props to the librarian for knowing her patrons, and for making me think outside of the confines of my own experience. Yes, me, the free thinker.

But I still have to cop to being uncomfortable with not including that passage. For me it encapsulates the message of the book: that we ALL matter, regardless of our race, creed or religion. My grandmother was a devout Christian, so of course her beliefs informed her work. I am not, but I can't escape my upbringing, and the fact that I value faith as I seek to understand many religions and many points of view. I read stories to learn alternate ways of thinking and being. To teach me.

The arc of the workshop became more focused on the characters as archetypes and how we use books to learn more about ourselves and the world. We still did some group brainstorming and individual writing exercises. And I asked the kids to start looking at books, at stories, at characters differently. How does the protagonist view the world? How do you view the world?

Yes, thanks to the librarian, I looked past my own point of view, stretching myself and learning something through adapting.

It's certainly something to keep thinking and talking about.

Writers Fight Darkness

Yes we do! This concept is something that crystallizes for me the more I practice the art myself and the more I meet other writers through the workshops I lead.

Although I am back in New York,  part of me is still in Mobile Alabama, and maybe it always will be. Those Mobilians touched my heart!

Those writers from all different walks of life who have a story to tell and have the right to write.

I spoke my truth about writing and life to the Mobile Writer's Guild last Thursday night and then on Saturday I led two workshops: the first being sponsored by the library and the Metro Mobile Reading Council. It was a 50th anniversary celebration of my grandmother's opus, A Wrinkle in Time  where I led a workshop for kids, tweens and teens and asked to think about not only Wrinkle, but every book they read and everything they write themselves in an introspective way.

Betsy Gillespie, president of the Reading Council writes: "Thank you for such a wonderful Young Authors' program today in Mobile! In just a few minutes you took the students from apprehensive to engaged! You captured the hearts of a very diverse group of young adults and had them all writing and participating! This was one of our best programs ever!!! Many thanks to you and to the Mobile Writers' Guild. All of us in the Metro Mobile Reading Council were delighted with the workshop!"

We did some group and individual writing and dramatic exercises, culminating in a poem or short piece about fighting darkness. Morgan Grable and Natasha Novikov, both 8th graders, agreed to let me publish the poems they wrote, here on this blog!

Uncover The Darkness

My encouraging words light the darkness, it strikes every corner every crevasse.
My fearless words rewrite the words of extraordinary power that were never spoken never written. 
As I speak with these words the darkness retreats.
As the light shines through the darkness it's time for me to find who I am.
It's time to uncover what's hidden behind all the anger.
It's time for our lights to shine and over power the darkness.

This young author is pretty incredible, don't you think? But wait - you haven't read Natasha's!

Fear

When I'm doing something scary, fear comes to me,
Fear goes straight to my head and tells me, "You can't do it,"
Although we think fear is bigger than ourselves, it really isn't.
Some people run away from fear, while others run toward it.
Why do the others run toward fear?
Because the only thing standing in the way is fear itself.

Amazing emerging authors, huh?

In the afternoon I led a three hour professional workshop called Mining Your Life for Your Fiction for adults (and one teen) where I asked participants to go deep into themselves and their subconscious in order to bring their own truths to light. We stayed late so that everybody had the chance to share and receive feedback. I was blown away by participants' willingness to uncover themselves, for writing really is about stripping down and revealing ourselves, isn't it? We fight our own darkness.

I made some new friends and solidified a few "internet" friendships into "real life" friendships.

I had to write this morning to ground myself back into my own life, here in New York. Now I can hit the ground running, but first, for this writer, it is best to hit the ground writing!

Sweet Home Alabama

Good Morning! I am much more relaxed than yesterday, where I almost had two heart attacks, but traveling will do that to anybody. The first was when I thought that we weren't going to make it to the airport on time. The second was when I thought that we wouldn't make the connecting flight.

But made those flights we did. Where? To Mobile, Alabama. With who? My eldest son Cooper. Why? To speak to the Mobile Writer's Guild about Edges and my publication trials and tribulations.

Underlying that external anxiety was something more pervasive that has been gnawing at me for a while. It goes hand in hand with worrying that Madeleine L'Engle fans will be turned off when they find I am not her.

Would I be able to be myself in the South? Did I need to try to make people "like" me?  Did I need to pretend that I was something I wasn't? Would Carrie (Cox) be happy that she worked so hard to get me out there? Alabama is in the bible belt - it would be easy for me to play up my Christian background - a sure winner - but that wouldn't be my whole truth.

So dudes and dudettes, I told it like it is. Fo' sho'.

Told it like is, for me.

Because I had to give these peeps the respect of being myself. Here is a group of people, a GUILD no less, who are committed to writing and creating community. The best thing I have is my authenticity, and you know that I LOVE meeting people, I love being part of the human race.

Okay, so maybe I had a little diarrhea of the mouth. But it was so freeing! I got up in front of Southerners and talked about my belief in humanity, my own brand of spirituality, and my fascination with religion, the fact that it took me forever to say that I am indeed a "writer".

I sold a bunch of books, and got people really excited about the workshops I'll be doing all day on Saturday. How? Simply because I myself am really excited and passionate about leading workshops - I can guarantee a good time. For reals.

Today Cooper and I are going to Dauphin Island with our host Carrie and her son, and tonight we will meet with some more Mobile Writers for dinner on the Causeway.

Bring it!

Alabama on My Mind

I'm almost there!

Day after tomorrow, my eldest son and I will making our way towards Mobile, Alabama where I have been invited to speak as a guest author and workshop leader.

One of the most exciting things about this lit life has been speaking, leading workshops, and being open to new friendships via social media.

 Just over two years ago, after being nagged by my agent, I started blogging. Carrie (Cox), president of the Mobile Writer's Guild was one of my very first followers, and she has watched my journey from pre-published to published author and has become a friend. She has been putting the wheels in motion for this trip ever since Edges came out. The Mobile Writer's Guild has kindly paid for my plane ticket, and their library is putting me up in a hotel. I will be speaking on Thursday night and leading workshops all day on Saturday.

This morning she posted a Q & A with me on the Mobile Writer's Guild website. She asks me:

What are the perks of leading workshops?
When reading for pleasure, what attracts you to a book?
Who are your biggest literary influences/heroes?
Are you picky about where you write?
What are the pros and cons to being Madeleine L'Engle's granddaughter?
What are some of the best ways to get reluctant writers to try their hand at storytelling?
How do you balance working, writing, and family responsibilities?

Great questions, huh? Hop on over to their site and read my answers. I'll just sit back and listen to some music while I wait.

Hi again!

I've never been this far South. The farthest I've gone is to Panama City Beach Florida, when I did that reality TV show called Into Character and went to a cheerleading camp. (Twilight Zone!)

My son and I will take a plane to Georgia, and then another one to Alabama. We land at 2PM, and Carrie will be waiting for us. I am going to hug her so hard! I also have a few friends I've "met" on-line who are coming to my professional workshop on Saturday afternoon including Anne Riley, another writer from Birmingham. I can't wait to finally meet them too!

Can you tell I'm crazy excited? Yes, this lit life is a rollercoaster ride baby, and this trip will be one of the highs.

Vacation, Crosswicks, and Re-Vision

Vacation: a period of suspension of work, study, or other activity, usually used for rest, recreation, or travel; recess or holiday

I don't write when my kids are on vacation, and I am out of my routine.

Therefore, I am on vacation too: a vacation from my vocation.

I have to remind myself that writers need "a suspension of work" too: after all, we are with my mother up in Crosswicks, the family homestead in Northwestern Connecticut. This is where my grandmother set A Wrinkle in Time and the early Austin books. (And even she needed time to decompress and let things marinate.)

The winter has been strange with nary a snow flake - the trees are bare and the grass a yellowish-brown.  Climate change brought us a white Halloween and then sixty degrees in February.

We always have to keep what we think we know in check.

Crosswicks has undergone so many permutations since I was a child, running in the fields. There have been additions and renovations. In my mind's eye, I still see the weeping willow that was in the front yard during my childhood.

This picture, above, shows me that another tree has been in it's place for the past twenty years.

Vision is a funny thing. Can I really see what is in front of me, here and now without my whole life intervening?

This is why re-vision is so important, changing our perspective, our point of view. We have to deal with what's in front of us and accept it. The willow tree isn't there anymore, my childhood is gone but I have so much more than I ever dreamed.

And the author Patricia O'Brien finally makes it under a pen name at the age of seventy.

Who is Patricia O'Brien, aka, Kate Alcott? I was blown away by this article in the New York Times yesterday: this author has thirteen rejections of her sixth book, in large part because her previous books don't have a stellar track record. Her agent sends the same manuscript out under an alias, and voila - she gets a 6 figure deal in THREE days! Talk about a book being judged by it's cover!

The fear-based state of today's publishing industry had Patricia O'Brien re-visioning her career. She (and her agent) gave her book a chance to judged on it's own merit.

This post comes about because I have a very big revision of a manuscript looming large, one in which I am taking a "vacation" from, and will relish sinking my teeth into.

Related articles

• Patricia O'Brien (as Kate Alcott) Sells 'The Dressmaker' (nytimes.com)

Celebrating A Wrinkle in Time

In February of 1962, fifty years ago this month,  a little book called A Wrinkle in Time was published under the radar by two up and coming publishers, John Farrar and Roger Straus.

The author, my grandmother Madeleine L'Engle, had fiercely believed in her book and suffered through 26 rejections, before luck had brought her to John Farrar. He agreed to publish it, but warned my Gran that it wouldn't sell very well.

Thankfully, he was wrong about the book, and very right to publish it.

Now A Wrinkle in Time is still one of the business' top sellers and the forward thinking team of Farrar Straus became Farrar, Straus, Giroux: the créme de la créme in the publishing industry.

Yesterday afternoon on February 11th, FSG put on a "celebration" at the distinguished Symphony Space, and live video-streamed the event to 85 book stores across the country. My family and I arrived to a packed house, and I was thrilled to see friends from our old neighborhood, as well as some of my Writopia Lab students in the audience. We had reserved seats in the second row with my brother Edward, right in front of my sister Charlotte and her family.

The event kicked off with a screening of the 90 Second Newbery Award video of A Wrinkle in Time, the brain-child of YA author James Kennedy, who hosted the first festival of kid-made videos last November. Betsy Bird, the fabulous children's librarian from the main branch of NYPL came out as the host for the afternoon and gave us some lovely words about her own connection to the book, and introduced us to the book trailer on the screen, followed by my sister Charlotte who spoke beautifully about the importance of community celebrations.

I was caught off guard by the amount of video and aural footage they had of my grandmother, hearing her voice fill Symphony Space, either from interviews or reading aloud from her book. Indeed, it made me feel as if she was in the room with us, and I remembered seeing her at Symphony Space LIVE, many times.

Betsy curated a panel of Newbery award winning authors Lois Lowry, Katherine Patterson, Rebecca Stead and R.L. Stine. It was an interesting panel because neither Lowry, Paterson or Stine had read Wrinkle as a child, so their perspective was much different from Rebecca's who is younger and was tremendously impacted by Wrinkle as both an author and a human being. (Just read When You Reach Me to find out why!)

Rebecca really shone on the stage, and even wore a 1960's dress with dark blue and green circles on it, reminiscent of the original cover. She completely rocked that panel!

You may think that would be enough for the event, but we were treated to more! The actress Jane Curtain did a stellar reading from WIT - the scene in which they tesser for the first time. Then we had another amazing performance from Greenwich Academy students, taking us through Meg's father saving them from IT but leaving Charles Wallace. And last but not least, the astute Leonard Marcus read us an excerpt from his forthcoming biography on M L'E entitled Listening to Madeleine, in which he compiled a book through a series of interviews. I already was excited to read it, but am even more now that I heard him read part of his interview with Sydney Offit - about what a remarkable speaker and performer my grandmother was.

Charlotte, Edward and I were whisked off to a table at the back of the theater where people could say hello while they were on line to get books signed by the authors from the panel, and we signed some posters and book plates as well. A lovely reception followed in the Thalia Café downstairs where it was fun to hob nob with lots of people from the publishing industry, and where my daughter Scarlett was the belle of the ball in her Wrinkle in Time tee shirt. (She was asked to be interviewed about Wrinkle by the publishers and immediately jumped up and down in glee, my little actress. Her favorite part of the evening? Why, the party and being interviewed of course!)

My favorite parts? Hearing my Gran's voice fill the room, seeing my sister on stage, my buddy Rebecca, Leonard Marcus, and the feeling that it really was a celebration.

If you were there, what were some of your favorite moments?

Turning Points & a Giveaway!

Last December, I was asked by the lovely writer, Nova Ren Suma  to participate in her blog series called Turning Points and I unhesitatingly said yes. It was such a wonderful exercise for me, in that I really took my time writing it, thinking about my struggle to honor my and commit to my passion for writing. (And yes, I honor my grandmother, Madeleine L'Engle!)

All of these stories are fascinating.

Without any further ado, let me lead you over to Nova's blog: Distraction99, where you will not only find out about the author of the tremendous Beautiful Girls, but you will find inspiring posts from some very distinguished writers, and I am so honored to be included!

And there are LOTS of giveaways - Edges too!

xoxox