mary e. pearson

I was trying to give someone a short synopsis of what MILES was about, and I am never good at short--or synopsis either for that matter.  It is hard to wrap something you know every comma about into two or three sentences.  You always leave something out--especially since you don't want to give anything away.  So I usually resort to giving a comparison so they can have some sort of "feel"  for the story too.

There is an element of the fantastic in MILES, or maybe a sliver of magical realism.  The thing is, most magical realism elements seem to rely on the characters doing fantastic things.  In MILES, the fantastic, or magical realism elements are in the world they inhabit, not in the characters (none fly or have unusual superhuman abilities)  So for comparison I usually default to the film, The Big Fish, where the world was larger than life, but the characters were, for the most part, normal--well, as normal as any of us can be in this crazy world.

But, besides a film, I was trying to think of a book to use as a reference.  I can think of plenty of teen novels that use elements of magical realism.  Thursday's Child by Sonya Hartnett, is a story which I adore, but the fantastic where you have to suspend belief, is in her little brother who essentially transforms into a mole and everyone just accepts it.  (Think Kafka's Metamorphosis)

But I can't think of any books where the characters are essentially normal, but they live in and accept a world with a fantastic side to it.  Can you give me a title or two?  They don't have to be teen books.

This also leads to the fact that I will be at Comic Con next Friday (come by!) with a panel of other authors who are all full on fantasy writers, so I would like to have an example to offer of books that straddle that magical border between reality and fantasy.

Any ideas?  Come on, brilliant ones.  Think hard.  I know you can come up with something.

It's really nice when you see that sales of at least something, are up. 


 
I was reading in The Week that ice cream sales are up as much as 20%.  Apparently bad economies are good for ice cream because it is a "comfort food."  I eat ice cream in good and bad economies, so maybe I always need comfort.

So I have two questions for you:

1.  What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?

2  What other food is "comfort food" for you?

To answer my own questions, I am an equal opportunity ice cream lover, but my favorites tend to run seasonal.  Winter time?  Double fudge brownie chocolate, chocolate, chocolate.  Or anything in the chocolate family.  Summertime?  Right now peaches are in season so I have been on a fresh peach shake kick.  Oh yeah, comfort in abundance.

As for another comfort food,  macaroni and cheese has to be right up there.  I remember when I was a teen and my friend's parents would take us down to the beach in wintertime to surf.  They had a camper and would make us mac n' cheese for lunch, and when we came in from the freezing ocean, they had a warm bowl of Kraft macaroni and cheese waiting for us.  Over the years I've tried making fancier versions of mac n' cheese, but they just don't have that same comfort factor that Kraft  right out of the box has.

Now how about you?

You know, even after all these miles, the car is none the worse for wear.  Yeah, there's a little soda pop spilled in the back seat  (Becky, I told you to keep the lid on that cup!) and someone (Erika?  Sherwood?  Jo?) left sticky fingerprints on the steering wheel, but what's a little stickiness among friends?  And all the wonderful places we are seeing is so worth it. 

Now we are cruising into another place on our road trip to take in the local color.   That's right--we've landed in Durham, CT courtesy of Patti Holden, who is a volunteer at the local library.

She sent  me  these pictures of her hometown Durham, which is proudly referred to as Cow Town because it is home to dairies and also the Durham Fair.  So we may see a cow or two, real or otherwise while we're there.  And of course the "otherwise" perfectly fits The Miles Between.


Luckily for us, there's a great coffee shop in town (because you know, we are kind of in need of a little caffeine right now.)  So let's go on in and order at Patti's favorite coffee shop Perk on Main.  And be sure to leave a good tip--your coffee came via "wind energy."  I love that.  I'll have a latte, please.




And it is not a vacation or a road trip until you've had dessert before dinner, and luckily Durham has the best--Dari Serv!  Plus a cow with attitude and a bow tie to deliver your menu!  Cherry Amaretto ice cream?  I am SO there.  And check out the hand model holding The Miles Between.   Nice hands and great reach ; )


Patti also shared a coincidence with me:

 "I just finished it this morning.  It is by far one of the best books I've read in awhile.  It's a beautifully written story and it had me in tears by the end!  One big coincidence for me is that I, too, collect Madame Alexander dolls.  I received my first one when I was 8 years old.  I have two Scarlett O'Hara dolls, a Red Riding Hood, and others."

I haven't had much of a chance to walk around blog town lately, so it was kind of cool to discover:

Pimp My Novel - This is a blog written by someone who works in  the sales department of a major trade book publisher.  He gives you the inside scoop on all the mysterious workings of sales, bookstores, and lingo you never heard of before.  Skipped?  Let me just say, it ain't a happy-go-lucky kind of thing to do when it comes to books.

There is an ongoing and interesting discussion over at Chasing Ray about ethnicity in literature, and the blandness or homogenization of white culture in books.  Still mulling over that one.

Brenda Bowen posted a blog about her first day  wearing her hat as an agent.  She also posted a picture of a totally girly fun frilly hat that I SO wanted to try on, and it made me wish that fun flashy hats would make a comeback for the everyday person like me (my mom used to wear them!) or that someone would invite me somewhere where I could actually wear one.  My baseball cap, sigh, just doesn't seem to cut it after seeing that.  Come on, someone have a hat party.

Oh!  I almost forgot! 

On Friday our Miles Between road trip was featured in an article in Publisher's Weekly .   Love the title they used.

And OMG.  Any writer will tell you this, but there is something so wonderful when someone writes a review and they "get it" from top to bottom.  It is more than that you're happy about a nice review.  It is a feeling like you have had a conversation.  You didn't just go on this journey alone.  That's how I felt when I read this blog review by Diane Chen over at School Library Journal. 

And I have to admit, that I loved that she was "sideswiped."

Yes!  It was a long drive from Massachusetts to our next stop, but now the road trip has cruised into . . .



You will find out HERE ! 

It is a beautiful part of the country, and it was very cool to hear that The Miles Between  seemed to bring its own little bit of bright yellow "magic" along the way.  Love it!  Many thanks to our own beckylevine  for sharing her miles.

And now it's time to hit the road again . . .

Guess where The Miles Between  road trip  has taken us now?



Talk about coincidence!  How perfectly appropriate that the ARC is visiting a town where at least a billion librarians are descending this week!  (is that a hint or what?)

And OMG, our road trip blogger took some really fun pictures.  Lions and tigers and . . .  oh my!  Her pictures made me smile and sigh as I recalled my past visits to this wonderful city.  (It is also my mother's hometown so I know she would have been especially proud to see the ARC strutting down the streets.)   And I loved how the ARC fit so perfectly into . . . well, you will just have to go look.  Let her know which one is your favorite picture.

Our road trip blogger also sent me a very nice note about The Miles Between saying, "I loved the book! It made me cry, but in a good way."    Thanks, KT!  Like I've said before, only an author is happy when they make someone cry.  I hope she had a few laughs in there too.

Speaking of which . . .

Over at Presenting Lenore book blog there is a review of The Miles Between where she says, "Not only does it explore deep topics such as the nature of fate and the role of coincidence in our lives but it is also full of zany fun."  Yay for fun too! 

She also says a lot of other very nice things.  Thanks, Lenore.  There's a short interview too, where I talk a little bit about coincidence. In the comments, Lenore invites readers to share their coincidences or dream road trips.  So hop on over there and share yours.  You might win one of five free ARCS she is giving away!

And last but not least,  Readingjunky (I love that name ; ) has written a review that made me want to cry.  I guess what goes around comes around.  She says, "Mary E. Pearson weaves together an amazing and tragic tale as she turns four acquaintances into true friends. The range of emotions packed into this novel will take readers from laughter to tears and everything in between. This is a must read due out this September."    You can read the whole review over at TeenReadsToo.

I am really enjoying seeing all the places that you live and love.  This has been one of the best road trips I've ever taken.  I wonder where we will visit next.

I went to the library yesterday to get some books I needed--research for my newest book.  I came home with three.  I always joke that research is a great procrastination tool for writers.  (Or maybe it's just me?)  But I find that every book I write needs some degree of research.  I do two kinds.  One kind is the sort that can send you off on all kinds of birdwalks. You know, you only need the name of a street or a plant, and before you know it you have spent two hours online learning all kinds of stuff about this fascinating plant in the Amazon that eats people. Unfortunately your story takes place on a glacier in Alaska so the odds of needing this bit of research are a bit slim. 

Anyway, I try to put *asterisks* at these small research points in my manuscript as I write and move on so I can address them later when I am under the deadline gun and won't be so tempted to fall into the bottomless research hole--even though it is a fun ride.  The other kind of research I do is where I need to know a whole block of information so that as I am writing my story, the info can weave into it seamlessly.  I don't want to tell you what I am researching right now because I am not ready to talk about my new story, but these three books I got at the library will hopefully give me the background I need so the information will pop into my mind naturally, just as it would for my main character, or other characters in the story. 

Out of three books I will probably only be able to use a fraction of what I read, and no doubt the information I get will send me off on a few more research birdwalks--or maybe discoveries.  But that is the nice thing about this big block kind of research--once I have done it, I can forget it.  If it works, it works, and will fit into the story naturally.  If it doesn't, I have had an interesting time reading some books from the library.  It is a win-win. 

That is what I did with The Adoration of Jenna Fox.  I did tons of research and then put it away and wrote, but it was still lurking in my mind when I got to places in the story where I needed it.  I did the same on my latest book, The Miles Between, collecting a whole file on unusual coincidences.  I couldn't use them all, but a few were there when I needed them.

So today my "writing" will be reading.  And maybe a few birdwalks too.  You never know, maybe someday I wll have use for a woman-eating plant in the Amazon.

Today must be the day for road side stops and exploring.  The Miles Between  road trip has made another stop!  All the way from California, to Texas, and now to . . .

you will just have to click here to see which part of the country we are getting to see now!

I am loving seeing all these different places and the particular spots that are special to you. 

is The Miles Between now?



The road trip continues!  We are seeing the country!  All the way from Seal Beach, CA to . . .

you will have to click here to find out!

This is too much fun.  I love the--oops.  Can't give it away.  But let me just say, The Miles Between got to travel in style!

What's a road trip without a little detour?

Well, I have one for you.

A new cover!  That is, the same cover in many ways, but we've picked up some riders along the way:



I really like the tweaked perspective (it fits with the story) and it gives you some taste of the characters inside.  And as a bonus, there will be a fun surprise beneath the dust jacket.  But you will have to wait to see that.

Sometimes unexpected detours are quite lovely--and surprising.

1.  The disinegration of a marriage is not entertainment.  And if it is, will we be throwing people into a ring with lions next?  When will TV go back to hiring real writers to write real shows?  Enough already.

2. kazdreamer  has a post wondering about POV and tense.  Interesting because I was just wrestling with this myself.  I don't think there is any right pov or tense.  I really believe each story calls for its own telling and there is one best way for that story to be told, but sometimes it takes some experimenting to know which pov and tense works best.  The only pov I haven't done yet is second but I suppose one day that story might come along.

3.  Over on the Facebook AJF page they have asked the question, which three words would you use to describe yourself?

4.  The sun is on vacation if you were wondering . . .

5.  Spoke at a conference wtih teachers at SDSU yesterday.  In the face of all these budget cuts, their dedication rose to a whole new level.

6.  De mijlen tussen!  Found out that The Miles Between sold Dutch rights!  Hooray!

7.  alixwrites   has news about the Beastly movie!

8.  Book burning?  Which century am I living in?

9.  Why does everything break at once:  Car (rear-ended), laptop (dead), TV (dead, which really, is no big deal) 

10.  I received a fan letter a few days ago that made me cry.  Sometimes crying is a good thing.



 

I've had a lot of fun on this road trip tour so far. No flat tires yet, and only one soda spilled on the front seat.  It looks like the first leg of the tour is complete with all four ARCS reporting in.  We've visited . . . 

Libraries in Longview,  dairy pastures in Vermont, seals in Seal Beach, and haunted hotels in Miami.  It has been great to see all of your miles.  And the gas tank is still full--now that's my kind of road trip.

But while we're waiting for The Miles Between to make it's next stop, I thought I would send out a question to all of you:

If I were  driving through your town and I was hungry, what is the ONE place, hands down, that you would tell me to stop and eat at?

Can you tell it's close to dinner time here?

has checked in!  It's traveled all the way to . . .

Longview, Texas!  And is in the good hands of Chaney Bennett, the YA librarian at the Longview Public Library.  Chaney doesn't have a blog so she sent this picture for me to post.



I am thrilled to see her reading THE MILES BETWEEN in the library--in the teen section no less!  Chaney offered these very kind words about Miles:

"I just finished reading the ARC for The Miles Between, Mary E. Pearson's latest book, which is scheduled to be published in September!  She also wrote The Adoration of Jenna Fox, which you can find in our YA section.  You're going to love her new book, which made me cry but made me so happy that I read it."

Only a writer likes to hear they made some cry.  Thanks, Chaney!

And now I hear she has sent off the ARC on the next leg of the tour.  I wonder where in the world . . .


 

Where in the world is THE MILES BETWEEN now?



The road trip has cruised into . . .

Well, I won't tell you, but it is fun.  (Who would have guessed that ARCS could be sad?)

And this is definitely the place to keep the top down on the car.

I am so there!  Check it out!

We have another stop on the road trip!

Where in the world is The Miles Between  now? 

Here!

I'm ready to pack up and drop in for a surprise visit.    Too beautiful.

I loved reading sartorias 's post yesterday and seeing the pictures of Seal Beach.  It brought back so many memories.  I grew up just a few miles from Seal Beach and that sleepy little beach town is where I spent a lot of time during my teen years--first surfing, first romance, first car dent (sorry Mom).  Before we could drive, my dad used to drop us off with all of our surfboards at the crack of dawn (best waves) and we would spend the morning surfing and the afternoon walking up and down Main Street, popping in shops and ultimately ending up at Jack-in-the-Box to eat their dripping greasy tacos.  Yes, my arteries are probably still trying to shed those years off.

Once we could drive we would sometimes venture farther south to Bolsa Chica, Huntington Beach, or occasionally all the way down to Leucadia and what we dubbed "secret spot" but Seal Beach was always our home beach.

Assartorias mentioned, there are no seals at Seal Beach, but my dad who had lived in the area since his teens said there used to be legions of them.  Maybe it was their "secret spot" and they didn't like it when all of us humans decided to hang out there too.  (Though humans didn't seem to keep them away from The Children's Pool in La Jolla where they moved in and moved the swimmers out--to the delight of most residents.)

I also loved seeing the picture in her post of her family posing with their station wagon, ready to take off on a road trip.  Road trips and camping were all my family ever took because--well one, they simply couldn't afford planes and hotels--but more importantly, my dad loved to be outdoors and fishing.  He grew up in Arkansas and that was how he spent much of his childhood.  I heard all the stories about catfish in Arkansas that were as big as a man--plus all the other fish stories too.  There were a lot of them.  So sitting by lakes and rivers in California, waiting for the "big one" to bite was our primary vacation.  Like sartorias, we have many pictures of our family posing by cars (and  trailers) ready to embark on an adventure--two girls and a boy in my family too, though I was they youngest.  Which meant of course, you know, I got the middle seat--the bane of the third child.

Anyway, sartorias, thanks for sharing your miles.  It brought back a lot of memories.  Even the car dent makes me smile--that's the magic of a few years.

  

We have our first stop on the road trip!

Where in the world is The Miles Between now? 

Right here!

It couldn't be more fun--or more quirky!

sartorias has stirred up so many memories for me--it is one of my old haunts!

 

I found this out about a month ago, but couldn't say anything until they announced it on their website, but now I just saw the news is up so I can spill! 

The Adoration of Jenna Fox has won the  Distinguished Work of Fiction Award  from the Children's Literature Council of Southern California.  Hooray!!

And fellow Henry Holt author, Hope Anita Smith, won the Myra Cohn Livingston Award for Poetry!  Hooray again!!

Check out the other award winners -  Cheers to all!

Since we are in the middle of a road trip, I thought we should know WHERE we are going, right?  Bone up on our geography!  So, if you dare. . .  take the test, and post your scores! (and see if you're smarter than a fifth grader)


 
Sadly, I think most fifth graders will do better than me.  My scores for locating the states were:

78% correct
49 miles average error
457 seconds

That means almost 1/4 of the time I will be getting us lost!  Or at least 49 miles off course!

Whoever has the best score will be hailed the Geography Queen or King and get shotgun for the rest of the trip.