Gayle Forman's Blog, page 15

Lisa asks:

Okay, I want to know, since I'm moving from squeeze writing in when I can to making writing my actual JOB, how you work? Do you make daily goals for yourself for time or pages? Do you write in your home or do you like to go somewhere, like a coffee shop? Any tricks to stay away from the lure of the internet?

I will start with the short easy answers and get to the bigger question about discipline and balance, one of which I'm good at, the other at which I should win an Oscar for...

So a friend of mine, who is a professional magazine writer and working on her first book, informed me that she finds my writing advice actually helpful, and—I find this really funny—inspirational. News to me. But according to her, every time I give writing advice, she takes it, and hustles off to her desk and is productive. Wow!

She's probably the only one. But hey, maybe not.

And besides, I can't think of squat to blog about these days.

So, I'm soliciting writing questions. Anything you want...

Okay, perhaps I'm being a tad hyperbolic, but given that I had both girls home for the holidays, plus the mother-in-law, plus arctic temperatures, the fact that I managed to read one book, let alone a stack of them, is kind of a miracle. But I did. I got through a lot of those eight books I bought before the holidays, justifying them as Hanukkah gifts, and many of which are now being given away to those with the best resolutions (I'll wind up the contest at the end of the week).

A quick...

Part of my cultural heritage as a Jew demands that I spend at least part of the Christmas season going to the movies. Having young children gets in the way of this mandate, but I did manage to sneak out for one movie so far—two if you count seeing Up In The Air with my husband on a date during Hanukkah a few weeks ago, which I don't. On Monday, I saw Invictus, the Clint Eastwood-directed, Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon-starring movie about Nelson Mandela and the South African rugby team. That ...

So, some rumors have been flying about the If I Stay movie. I wasn't going to bother commenting on them because that just spreads more rumors, but now that it's all officially out there in the Media and the Blogosphere so, I'm weighing in.

The rumors are twofold.

One is that Dakota Fanning is going to play Mia. I have no confirmation of this being true. I get my information same as you all, from the Interwebs. But I think she'd be amazing. What has she done that she hasn't been great in? She's ...

A few weeks ago, I posted a diatribe about hipster directors co-opting children's books and turning them into self-conscious indie films, decidedly NON-kid kid films, but kid films that adult hipster parents could love.

Of course, I never claim to know what I'm talking about so I'd written the post not having actually seen the two films I was bemoaning: Where The Wild Things Are and Fantastic Mr. Fox. Nor had my five-year-old daughter seen them.

Well, now Willa has seen both of them and I've...

First off, two admissions:

1. I don't drink. Not anymore. I would like to have some really glamorous drank-to-excess-now-12-step story (which I know is only glamorous if you DON'T actually have one) but the truth is, these days, if I drink, I go straight from sober to hungover without passing tipsy. And a migraine to boot.

2. I really, really, really hate the whole mystique of the tooorrrtuuurrred writer/artist/fuckwit who is so PAINED by his art that he must drink/drug/assholize and be...

So, the 2010 William C. Morris Nominees were announced. This is the ALA Award for a debut young-adult author.

Here are the finalists:

I've been hearing such great things about Ash by Melinda Lo,The Everafter by Amy Huntley, and  Flash Burnout by L.K. Madigan, all of which have jumped to the top of my TBR pile.

The other two, I can speak personally to. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, I'm about three-quarters of the way through right now and it's amazing. It's like Twilight ...

At five foot four, I'm not sure if I qualify as a short story writer. But having never actually written a short story, as opposed to a novel, I know I definitely don't qualify as a short-story writer.

But I'd better start qualifying. A Dutch teen magazine has asked me to write an original short story for them. A romance. 1500 words. I was supposed to have it done by today. I'm too busy revising, and I haven't even thought of an idea so tackling a new genre, not gonna happen right now. What...

I'm feeling gloomy; it's gray out again. I'm sick again. Revisions are like a lead weight around my leg. So, what better time to change the subject with a list of random things I'm grateful for.

1. That I'm going to South Carolina tomorrow, where it will be in the 70s and sunny and I will be with my brother Greg, his wife Karen and their two awesome daughters, Han and Bex. And I will be stuffed with so much food. And get to go kayaking.

2. That I now own an iPhone, so I will be able to leave...