Why blogging makes me a better writer (I hope)

Sometimes, in the midst of a comment drought or after I lose a follower or when I'm just plain sick of blogging, I wonder if Maggie's Bookshelf is worth it. I calculated once, and averaged out, I spend about forty-five unpaid minutes a day in front of my Blogger compose screen, not to mention the time I spend arranging guest posts and interviews, emailing publishers and authors, reading ARCs I hated by the end of the first page, the time spent reading and commenting on other blogs, and the time spent self-promoting through memes.

Plus the time spent earning the money for giveaway prizes and donations to charities and purchases of books I never would have bothered with if I hadn't started blogging, if you want to get nitpicky.

Plus the tweeting. Lots of tweeting.

It's that I don't enjoy blogging immensely, because I do. I love reading, I love the community, and I love being treated like an authority on something by professionals, when as a teenager I'd probably never get that anywhere else. It's thrilling to be a part of something that is revolutionizing the the way books are bought and sold. And, of course, the authors. Even though you deal with some frustrating ones, 95% of the time authors are fantastically big-hearted people that have literally made me cry with their generosity with time, books, mentoring, and comments.

It's just...the time. All that time that I could have spent on a thousand other things that might not leave me feeling so frazzled and vulnerable on a regular basis. Sometimes it feels like such a waste and distraction, especially when I've got hours of homework and family time That '70s Show marathon catch-up to do. Like right now.

And then I remember that I'm a lazy emo kid at heart who after that first poem rejection might have dissolved into a puddle of tears and bruised ego and never sat down at the keyboard to write again if she hadn't known she had a publisher waiting on a review. And hadn't opened her email inbox to find a lovely thank-you note from an author for a review already written. And hadn't been forced to remember how freaking much she loves to write.

I don't write poetry anymore (which, come to think of it, is probably an excellent thing until I leave hormonal angst behind me), but I do write short stories and essays and articles and novels and any other format and genre that strikes my fancy. Hardly any of them have anything to do with blogging. But that fact that I've finished them at all, I think, is a testament to the write-till-you-drop-even-if-you're-in-tears-of-frustration-by-the-end-of-the-godforsaken-post mentality blogging has instilled in me.

Or at least that's what I tell myself when I look at the clock and see that 64 minutes has gone by since I first sat down to write this post.

Commence emo freak-out.

Now Listening: To the crazy Alfred Hitchcock shrieks of my brain.

Review: The Princess of Las Pulgas

The Princess of Las Pulgas by C. Lee McKenzie
Find it at a local indie!

• Why I read it: A very, very kind request from the publishers; real teens doing real things.
• Disclosure: Received a review copy from the publisher, WestSide Books. Thanks!

After her father's slow death from cancer, Carlie thought things couldn't get worse. But now, she is forced to confront the fact that her family in dire financial straits. To stay afloat, her mom has had to sell their cherished oceanfront home and move Carlie and her younger brother Keith to the other side of the tracks to dreaded Las Pulgas, or "the fleas" in Spanish. They must now attend a tough urban high school instead of their former elite school, and on Carlie's first day of school, she runs afoul of edgy K.T., the Latina tattoo girl who's always ready for a fight, even on crutches. Carlie fends off the attention of Latino and African American teen boys, and one, a handsome seventeen-year-old named Juan, nicknames her Princess when he detects her aloof attitude towards her new classmates. What they don't know is that Carlie isn't really aloof; she's just in mourning for her father and almost everything else that mattered to her. Mr. Smith, the revered English teacher who engages all his students, suggests she'll like her new classmates if she just gives them a chance; he cajoles her into taking over the role of Desdemona in the junior class production of Othello, opposite Juan, after K.T. gets sidelined. Keith, who becomes angrier and more sullen by the day, spray paints insults all over the gym as he acts out his anger over the family's situation and reduced circumstances. Even their cat Quicken goes missing, sending Carlie and Keith on a search into the orchard next to their seedy garden apartment complex. They're met by a cowboy toting a rifle who ejects them at gunpoint from his property. But when Carlie finds him amiably having coffee with their mom the next day -- when he's returned her cat -- she begins to realize that nothing is what it seems in Las Pulgas.

Because none of you have anything better to do than read my blog (har har), I'm sure you remember a Waiting on Wednesday post awhile back in which I, perhaps a little mean-spiritedly, picked on this book for having the dad die of cancer. Not that people don't die of cancer - on the contrary - but people also die of heart disease, diabetes, and as one commenter pointed out, undiagnosed sleep apnea. Parents/significant others who die of cancer and/or car crashes are so common in YA lit they're tropes. (DAMN IT. DAMN IT ALL TO HELL, NICHOLAS SPARKS.) Despite the ribbing that also extended to the cover, which I'm still not a fan of, the publisher was kind enough to send me a very kind and personal review request, which I accepted. And believe it or not, this book was a pleasant surprise.

Sure, there are tropes. For some reason, there are a lot of awesome teachers in YA novels that like to shake things up. They're usually drama teachers, so they choose to shake things up by putting on a classic play. They cast our lead in one main role, and cast either the our lead's desperate crush or their worst enemy in the as the love interest. There are awkward kissing scenes and much confusion of real life and the play and much drawing of parallels between the play and our YA novel. Also, drama-teacher-who-likes-to-shake-things-up usually has a tragic past or comes from the wrong side of the tracks. Hmmmmm. I've read this trope so many times I can't even name all the titles. There's also the don't-judge-a-book-by-its-cover trope, but that's a given. There are a few reverse tropes that have been thrown in to shatter stereotypes, too. Beneath all that, though, there's a layer of both sweetness and authenticity that's truly a delight to read.

Why is it a delight? C. Lee McKenzie's surprising subtlety with our protagonist, Carlie. Carlie is a spoiled brat. We hate her for much of the novel. But there's such a clear arc here, so much pain and betrayal and genuine if misguided desire to be accepted, that even when you want to throttle the girl you're cheering her on. Even during ishy dialogue scenes with her dead father. (TROPE.) Most of the rest of our cast is handled just as well, even if we are occasionally hit over the head with their earnest diversity. There's a bit of Bella Swan-esque why-the-heck-is-every-teen-guy-in-the-vicinity-swooning-over-Carlie going on, but ultimately Juan makes for an adorable love interest so the author is forgiven.

But what about the cancer? Actually, because the story starts with cancer's very sad and bitter end that never, ever works out as peacefully as it does in a Nicholas Sparks book or movie, it was surprisingly moving. It's not a story about cancer. It's a story about what happens to the people around cancer, after the fact. And the very real and trope-less fall from riches to rags hits home, too. I was never as privileged as Carlie, but a similar thing happened to me and I'll admit I sniffled a bit in certain scenes. It's just a sucky experience all around and McKenzie captures it perfectly.

In short, maybe I need to come into novels with low expectations more often. Sure, I still had problems with it, but the enjoyment I ultimately got out of it was well worth it, and it was great to see an author handle characters so well. Four out of five stars.

Now Listening: "Buddy Holly" by Weezer. I don't even like Weezer that much but this has been stuck in my head ALL DAY and you know the only reliable way to get a song out of your head is to listen to it 20 times, right?

In My Mailbox/Read This Week

In My Mailbox is a meme hosted by Kristi of The Story Siren. It's also insanely popular Due to my screwed up sleep schedule, it looks like I might actually make it into the top 100 on the Linky this week. It's a historic occasion! Anyway, I decided to log on and request some titles from NetGalley for the first time this week, seeing as I have an eReader and all, and boy did publishers deliver! For the first time ever doing IMM I think I got enough that trying to load all the covers and descriptions would make this post longer than it needs to be, so I'm going with the straight up list:

Bluefish by Pat Schmatz (Goodreads/IndieBound)
What Can(t) Wait by Ashley Hope Pérez (Goodreads/IndieBound)
Two Moon Princess by Carmen Ferreiro-Esteban (Goodreads/IndieBound)
This Girl Is Different by JJ Johnson (Goodreads/Publisher's website)
Getting Played by Celeste O. Norfleet (Goodreads/IndieBound)
Dragon Chica by May-lee Chai (Goodreads/IndieBound)
The Goddess Test by Aimée Carter (Goodreads/IndieBound)

A couple of those covers I want to share, by the way:

Wait, WTF? They actually put a girl of color on the cover? Of a romance novel? Dressed in pink and looking girly? Okay, so she's still doing the angsty "this is an issue book" face, and this is from an imprint of Harlequin devoted especially to publishing African American romance. BUT I still have high hopes for this one. Also:

Okay, so she still has an issue book face. Still, it's a gorgeous cover, and I would definitely be drawn to these at my local bookstore by virtue of the fact that the publishers took that kind of "risk" on the cover. Bravo for not whitewashing, publishing peeps. (And I say that with the utmost respect.)

Can I also say that I am super excited to see, as a homeschooled counterculture kid, how This Girl is Different handles the whole homeschooled counterculture thing, and am also excited as a Greek mythology addict to see if The Goddess Test lives up to its hype and somehow surmounts the challenge of its saccharine, very bad-middle-school-lit name? Stay tuned, folks. I sense a serious read-a-thon in my future.

Anyway, what did everyone else get in their mailboxes this week? Please share in a (thoughtful) comment!

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Read This Week

Right Side Talking by Bonnie Rozanski

Outspoken by James Vachowski

Two Moon Princess by Carmen Ferreiro-Esteban

Now Listening: "Hello and Welcome" by Enigma (on A Posteriori). I was thrilled when I found this album at a secondhand store for cheaps because the album art is beautiful and the song tracks sounded cool, and I figured I'd give electronica another shot, but I'd forgotten how ishy I find faux-alien noises and ethereal vocals. Not crazy about it. Oh well.