Tiny MeRL

I must start with this old lady question: how the heck do I make a tiny URL?  I feel like I miss all of these revolutionary computer things, and it makes me feel old.  Well, I am half way to seventy.  That's what I thought my friend meant when she turned thirty-five and she said she was "half-way."  She probably meant half-way to forty, but that's how my mind works.

I heard back from the librarian who posted the scoop on the public library that tossed GET WELL SOON in the trash.  Now I know the actual library name.  I emailed the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual freedom, in hopes that they would help me pursue some sort of action on the book dumpage.  I haven't heard back.  Is it because it's summer and no one's in the office?  Is it because the ALA conference is later this week [and I won't be there :( ], so they are busy?  Is it because I am but a meager non-best-seller of an author, unworthy of the attention?  Can you tell I'm feeling a bit insecure today?  The real question is: should I call instead of email?  And when?  Here is a delightful poll for you to enjoy.  And answer.

What should I do about this public library throwing my book in the trash?
	Wait ___ days, then call the Office for Intellectual Freedom.
	Find the library, and throw a cryptic note in their drop box.
	Contact the library's YA librarian, and try to get her to raise hell.
	Weep in my bowl of Frosted Mini Wheats (with the Toy Story 3 prizes).
	Visit the library with a group of rabble rousers with giant protesting signs.
	Call the local news network (and tell them what???).
	Other (please elaborate in the comments).
Free polls from Pollhost.com

GET WELL SOON... In the Dumpster?

First off, I am extremely tired, since I have not had a good night's sleep thanks to this weird sound I keep hearing outside of my house, a sort of whistling that wakes me up at all hours of the night.  Then this morning, all I had were dreams-- interrupted by the sound-- where I explained this sound and my lack of sleep to people over and over again.  What am I going to do?  I needed to tell you this because I am not my chipper self at the moment, but I did want to post this blog.  While searching for "get well soon" "halpern" (I do that to see if there are any new posts about the recent challenge), I found THIS.  It's a very thorough account of GET WELL SOON being challenged, but not only in Fond du Lac.  The more thorough piece of the post is a horrid story about how GWS was removed from a public library in Indiana by ONE PARENT while the teen librarian was out of town.  And it was thrown out.  Into the trash.  Not given to someone who could use it or sold to earn money for the library.  Tossed away.  Makes me want to toss my cookies.  Once I wake up a bit more, I am going to try and get in touch with the blogger to see if I can get the actual identity of the teen librarian, so I can write to her.  What will I say?  Not sure yet.  But this is really gross.  People are out of their minds.  Delusional.  Like those people out there who think we don't need any reform to our insurance system.  I'm going through that right now, so that I can take my year off from work.  Will I have to pay $23,000 for my COBRA?  Will I get insurance in time, with all of the hoop jumping and form-filling?  And will I ever get a good night's sleep again.  Stay tuned...

GET WELL SOON Saved!

Yesterday, GET WELL SOON was saved from banning at Theisen Middle School in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.  Huzzah!  I have to say, Ann Wentowrth did not think highly of my book at all.  I guess I shouldn't care, since I don't think very highly of Ann Wentworth, but it's still hard to read negative things about my work.  In the article where I learned of the verdict (yeah, no one called me or anything.  Is that the norm?) on fdlreporter.com, a second person was quoted saying things PRO-challenge:

Ruth Ann Elizalde of Fond du Lac, who is a grandmother and great-grandmother, said she is "old school" and disagreed with the disrespect for authority shown in the book.  She believed it would be appropriate reading if a counselor wanted it for a patient who contemplated suicide or was depressed but not "any kid who wants to read it for entertainment."

This is sort of a perfect time for me to read that quote.  You see, I am having a hell of a time starting the GET WELL SOON sequel.  Normally, I start a book, and it just flows.  It's fun to write.  I had no idea when I proposed GWSII (not the actual title) that it would be so painful.  I have started it several times.  I have changed the voice back and forth.  And I have begun to outline the story, which I never do.  I guess I was not thinking about the fact that writing a story about being depressed, including group therapy, the awkwardness of acclimating to real life, and the cruddy relationship between the parents in the book, would be hard.  Duh.  But that quote from Ruth Ann got to me.  Because that was the whole point of me writing GET WELL SOON.  Or at least one of the points.  The adults in Anna's life, my life, didn't deserve respect because they didn't offer any respect to me.  It's that simple.  And Anna, me, was finally able to gain her own strength to get out of her depression not by the help of the adults but by the help of her peers.  You have to give respect to get respect, Ruth Ann.  And the same goes to you, Ann Wentworth.  Respect these kids.  Respect your poor daughter.  Because after three unsuccessful attempts to ban books from your daughter's school, goodness knows your daughter needs someone to show her some respect.

Get Well Now

I am almost finished reading GET WELL SOON before I leap into writing the follow-up.  I am surprised by how much I like it.  It's funny because it's very much a younger version of me.  Not that I was so much younger when I wrote it, but I was a little younger, and it really is written as me, teen-style.  So it's interesting, to say the least, to read it.  I am happy to find that I really like the book, the characters, and the writing (although of course I am finding a million ways that I would tweak.  S'all good).  Next week: the writing begins!

Ironically, next week is also when GWS will be brought up for its big, official challenge.  I don't know if I should share this because I always feel like a tool sharing "official" things I write (like resumes and cover letters when my friends want advice in that area), but here goes.  Below is the letter I sent to the superintendent of the district where my book is being challenged.  Please don't say anything negative about it or tell me to change things because it's already in his hands.  Sonya Sones gave me some tips on writing a response letter to a challenge, so I'm hoping mine is top notch.  Peep it:

Dear Dr. Sebert,

Thank you for this opportunity to express my thoughts about the recent challenge by Ann Wentworth of my novel, GET WELL SOON.  It is a novel that belongs on the shelves of Theisen Middle School’s library.  My story tackles the issue of depression with a respect and sense of humor that your capable students deserve.   The language, while colorful at times, reflects the natural dialog of teens.  I am certain that the words are no different than those heard in the halls of Theisen Middle School every day.  How do I know this?  Not only am I the author of several books for young adults, but I am also a middle school librarian.  On a daily basis, I encourage my students to find books that speak to them, inspire them, and help them in their journey to become life-long readers.  I also hope that my own books will lead to a sense of self-discovery and understanding.  

GET WELL SOON has been a blessing in my life, as I was finally able to put into words my own experience with teenage depression.  I was thrilled and honored when the National Alliance on Mental Illness awarded GET WELL SOON the Ken Book Award because I knew that would help the book get into more hands of those who need it.  And that is just what happened.  I receive letters and emails weekly from kids who are dealing with the same issues that I once had to go through. 

With GET WELL SOON, a fictional, funny account of a teenager dealing with depression in a mental hospital, teens are able to laugh, the best medicine for getting through a tough time.  More directly touching to me is the effect I have had on my own students who come to me after reading GET WELL SOON, checked out from the shelves of my library, to share their experiences with depression.  These children are comforted by the fact that they know someone who not only lived through what they are living, but made it through to become someone successful and happy.  That is what I aimed to do with writing GET WELL SOON, and that is why I believe it would be a loss to the students of Theisen Middle School to not have the book available.

I applaud your courage in confronting this book challenge and commend you for putting the students’ interests and needs first.  Please don’t let the ideas of one parent steal the freedom and dignity from all the students at your school.  I am certain you will do everything in your power to convey the message to your students that it is unacceptable for one parent to be the parent of all.

The bright light of this book challenge is that it will very likely cause more children to discover my book.  It is the icing on top of the literary cake.  As Michel de Montaigne wrote so long ago, “To forbid anything is to make us have a mind for it.”  Thank you, Ms. Wentworth, for giving so many children this mind.

Sincerely,

Julie Halpern

Challenge and Dress-up News

Two things:
The GET WELL SOON challenge in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin continues!  Ann Wentworth, who has already challenged Sonya Sones's WHAT MY MOTHER DOESN'T KNOW (and failed) and one of the SISTERHOOD books (and failed-- read about it here) is bringing GET WELL SOON up to the plate next Monday, June 14.  This day is a bizarre choice, seeing that it is Flag Day and my recently divorced parents' wedding anniversary.  Not that knew this when they chose the date.  Whatever happens, I hope it lands me in the next edition of this:

ALA puts out this book every few years, listing all challenged or banned titles, where, why and when they were attacked.  Am I too late for this year's edition?

The second order of business is that I have no adult clothing to wear.  Tonight is the eighth grade graduation at my school, and I tried on all of my appropriate dresses (not like I have inappropriate dresses, but dresses appropriate for a middle school graduation are not the same as ones for a wedding.).  None of them fit me.  Not one.  I know, I know, I have no right to complain, since they were all too BIG, but still.  I hate to look like a freaky, bad-dressing librarian. The only dress I could find that fits nicely is this dress my mom made for me to wear when I was an extra in the John Cusack movie, High Fidelity.  It's super cute and made out of an alien fabric.  A fabric covered with aliens.  Not fabric from another planet.  I don't think.  That prompted me to sing a song to Romy last night that went like this, "I am an alien.  I wear an alien dress."  It sounds really good, trust me.  You can see this dress (barely, since this is a crappy clip that I found on YouTube that is also in Spanish) as I walk behind John Cusack, Jack Black, and the other guy in "High Fidelity," holding a fake boyfriend's hand.  It's at 2:40.  The scene is when Lisa Bonet sings that awful Peter Frampton song at the glorious, and sadly defunct Chicago club, Lounge Ax, where I used to be a regular at their karaoke night hosted by Fred Armisen.  Random, I know.

The Sequel

I am about to embark into sequel territory.  It's not necessarily a sequel in the sense that you have to have read the first book, and there's no mega cliffhanger in the first one demanding a second.  It's a sequel in that the story takes place after the events of the first book (GET WELL SOON) with many of the same characters.  The setting is very different (outside of a mental hospital, as opposed to inside), and the story is different (coping with life post mental hospital, as opposed to in mental hospital).  So maybe it's just a follow-up?  Whatever the label, I have to write it this summer.  And I'm nervous.  I think there are bigger expectations--from me, yes, but now from other people who have read the first book and want to hear the same voice and revisit the same characters.  I don't want to disappoint.  And I'm also nervous about revisiting those depressing feelings from high school.  I am kind of kicking myself for taking on such a tough novel.  I didn't think it would be tough at first.  A sequel?  Same characters?  Picking up where I left off?  How could that be difficult?  But I'm scared.  This is the character that is as close to me, in my depressed high school state, as it gets.  And here I am, inserting myself back into her ratty Converse and tragic brain.  The first step is to re-read GET WELL SOON (which brings up a million changes I'd make now, as an author with three novels under her belt instead of none), make a list of characters and stuff to remember, and then I'll start writing.  Next week.  Anyone out there who has written a sequel have any advice to offer?

Duh

I just sent off the mostly final changes of my third novel, DON'T STOP NOW, to my editor (I still can read it through once the pages have been made to look like a book and see if I need to change anything).  It was the revision with all of the copy editor's marks on it.  I had written down some hilarious notes as I read through the manuscript to include on my blog, but those notes are nowhere to be found.  I believe they said something to the effect of, "That person must think I'm a freakin' idiot, with all of the red pencil they used!"  What I want to know is, do other authors have this issue?  Do their manuscripts come back to them looking like a B- student's term paper?  Does the copy editor laugh at my mistakes?  Shake their head?  Wonder how I made it into writing in the first place?  Or are they happy to have something to do while reading my book?  Is finding errors like finding little treasures?  The copy editor did make two positive comments about the actual story content, which doesn't usually happen.  So that's got to be a good thing, right?  I think I'm just fishing for clues because I literally only went through ONE revision (with my editor.  I did three or four on my own), plus this most recent one, which only about ten pages that needed changes made.  So that's not even one and a half revisions!  How is that even possible?  I'm so freaked out by it.  I guess I lack the confidence to be like, of course it barely needed revisions-- this is my third book, and I know what I'm doing!  But, even if one knows what they are doing, that doesn't necessarily mean the book is that close to being ready to go.  Does it?  Or do my editor and I work so well together that the process is smooth and easy, and this is the end result?  I can't wait until it's actually in a format that other people can read.  I'd like to know what people think.  I really liked the book as I wrote it, and I enjoy it every time that I read it.  That's got to count for something, right?  Right?  Hello?