Writer’s Group today. I am taking the opening chapters of my Work in Progress and am nervous about how it will be received. I’ve lost momentum with the story this past week because of traveling, etc. I need to shut the world out and dive back in if I have any hopes of making my deadline. I have to leave again tomorrow for the weekend. Nose will be reapplied to the grindstone on Monday.
Happy PROM news! PROM has been nominated for the 2006 Kentucky Bluegrass Award! It is also a Booksense Top Ten Pick, and has popped up on the New York Times Bestseller list for five weeks. A wave of the tiara and many, many thanks to all the readers and booksellers who are making these wonderful things happen!
Jessica from Sheepshead Bay writes: my english 2 teacher {she teaches the honors class} is making us read speak again i read it for that same teacher in english 1 anyway having to reread some parts of it it made me miss melinda i hope that doesn’t sound crazy to you but being a major bookworm i tend to get attached to some of the characters anyway i was wondering if you ever miss Melinda? i mean she was so funny and i’m so glad she finally found the courage to speak but have you ever thought to bring Melinda back? besides her short appearence in catalyst which by the way i loved and cried over when mikey died. i realize i’ve written you a whole story i’m really sorry Honestly! bye! thanks for the shout out.
Great question! Yes, I do miss her. I think about several of my characters: Melinda, Kate, Teri, Mattie, Nathanial, Eliza, and Ashley – a lot. They feel like friends to me. I really don’t think I’ll be writing a sequel to Speak, though. (I know, I know – never say never.) The Most Incredible Plot Idea In The World would have to hit me upside the head before I’d even consider it.
Will from Rancho Cucamonga writes: I am a high school English teacher. I have been teaching speak to my freshman students, and I noticed something I would like to ask the author about regarding the book…. My question is, on the cover of the Puffin Books 1999 edition of speak, there is a quote from The Horn Book reviewer, stating “An uncannily funny book even as it plumbs the darkness, Speak will hold readers from its first word to its last.” I checked, and the very first word of the novel is “it,” as well as the very last word. Since the Andy Evans character is referred to as “IT” in the story, were those words intentionally the same?
See, this is what cracks me up about English teachers. They ask questions like this. You got to love ’em. I wish I could say “Oh, yeah, I totally planned that. I’m so smart.” But I can’t. It just happened. (It. Ha.) However, I am a firm believer in allowing readers to take away whatever meaning they can validate in a text . If that theory works for you, Will, then I say run with it. (It again. Ha.)
Many thanks to Alexia from Waverly – Shellrock Jr. High, and to Swati, for a very touching note. Good luck, Swati, on your trilogy!