Caroline Leech Young Adult Author |
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Welcome to my newsletter! Each month, I'll include: - News about my books and events
- A slice of history – an interesting story or fact I discovered while researching
- A writing craft tip
- An excerpt from WAIT FOR ME, IN ANOTHER TIME, or my Work-in-Progress
- A GIVEAWAY of great new YA read
You are receiving this email because at some point you have subscribed to my mailing list, either online or at an event. I hope that you will enjoy keeping up with my news, but if you'd rather not, you can unsubscribe down below. |
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IN ANOTHER TIME Another blurb "In Another Time enthralls with strong and compassionate characters. Maisie McCall is the heroine we all need!" I am so thrilled to have received this wonderfully generous blurb from Jessica Brockmole, another of my favorite WW2 authors. Jessica's LETTERS FROM SKYE is an epistolary story, ie written completely in the form of letters. The story links both WW1 and WW2 in a beautiful love story, and the sweet relationship of a mother and daughter. I've read it more than once (the audiobook is fantastic, btw!), and I cannot recommend it, and Jessica's other books, highly enough. |
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BACK TO SCHOOL - VIA SKYPE! Thanks to the wonders of Skype, I went back to school this week. I had so much fun visiting the girls in S2 and S3 at the Mary Erskine School in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was slightly strange, being back in a classroom with everyone wearing those oh-so-familiar school uniforms, all while sitting in my own office in Texas. We talked about WAIT FOR ME, and about Aberlady, the village in which the story is set, a place some of the girls know well. I did share with them a photo of me in my last year at school, but I think I'll refrain from sharing it here! |
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We also did a writing workshop in which we looked at ways to create an atmospheric setting for a story by using specific details to make the time and the place clear. Each class collaborated on the opening paragraphs of a new story, which I hope they will each continue on with so I can read the results. Huge thanks to Miss Smith, the girl's English teacher, who invited me to join the class, and I really hope to visit again soon. Skype visits are a great way for authors to connect with young readers and writers in schools, or adults in book clubs and libraries, in places too distant to visit in person. I have more Skype visits set up for this month - including with a high school in Alaska! So if you have a classroom or a book club you'd like me to visit, by Skype or in person (within Houston), please get in touch via the Contact form on my website, and we'll get some dates in the calendar. |
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MEET MY EDITOR! As promised, I'm excited to be introducing you to some of the most important people in my writing life. This month, please say hello to my wonderful editor at Harper Teen, Alice Jerman. Alice was the judge in the YA category of the Romance Writers of America 'Emily Contest', which I won in 2015, after which she requested my full manscript. She offered me a two-book deal only a couple of weeks after getting it. It has been such a privilege to work with Alice on my books. She is insightful and generous, and I think she loves the kissing scenes even more than I do! |
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POCKET BIO Where are you from? New Jersey Where do you live now? NYC What genre do you read for pleasure? YA Fantasy, true crime, graphic novels Favorite book ever? The Winner's Curse trilogy, by Marie Rutkoski How did you get to where you are now? Did you always want to edit books/work in publishing? I loved books and writing, but my favorite part was always talking about books. So I knew I had to be an English major in college. It wasn't until my sophomore year, though, amidst generalized "what will I do for a career" panic that I realized "Oh wait, there are people who make the books. I would like to do that!" I got an internship at an agency and after working there for a few years, decided I'd like to be an editor, so I can talk about books and their intricate inner workings and character motivations and everything I loved from English class (minus the tests) for the rest of my life. Click here to read more from my interview with Alice |
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FOOD RATIONING One of the themes which runs throughout WAIT FOR ME is the wartime food rationing. Lorna and her family are better off than some. Living on a farm they do have freer access to fresh foods than those in the cities, but even so, they were still expected to use their ration books for most things. As a supplier, they were very aware of not wasting anything |
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The Minister of Food introduced food rationing in January 1940. Bacon, butter and sugar were the first restrictions, with every person, rich or poor, receiving the same ration allowance each week (extras were given to those working in very physical jobs, like miners and farmers, to pregnant/nursing women, to sick people and there was extra milk for babies, children, and young people). A typical weekly allowance was: - 1 fresh egg
- 4oz margarine and bacon (about four rashers);
- 2oz butter and 1oz cheese;
- 2oz tea;
- 8oz sugar
- Meat was restricted and measured by price, so many people opted to buy cheaper cuts.
- Cereals, tinned goods, dried fruit, biscuits and jam were also bought using the coupon system.
Luxury items such as alchohol and cigarettes/cigars were never actually rationed, but they were in short supply, and therefore very costly. Other things like clothes, shoes and fuel were also rationed, and I'll tell you more about them in future newsletters. It took until 1954 for all restrictions to be lifted (and in fact, bread only became rationed in 1946 after the war had ended, because of a poor wheat harvest), meaning that some children were as old as 15 before they had an unrationed diet. SEE FOR YOURSELF - Sweets/candy were rationed from 1942 through to early 1953, eight years after the end of the war. As you can see from this fantastic British Pathé newsreel film, the government attempted to end sweet rationing in 1949, but demand outstripped the meagre supply so spectacularly (just look at these kids stuffing their faces for the first time in their whole lives!), that rationing was brought back after only four months, and it lasted for another four years. |
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KEEP LEARNING This may sound obvious, but no writer can sit on their laurels and think they know it all. Yes, it can be hard for any writer, especially those who are under pressure of a deadline, to set aside precious writing time to keep all the tools in their writing toolbox honed, (and I will certainly admit to buying craft books and never reading them, and subscribing to writing webinars, and weeks later I've still not actually watched the tutorial), but no writer can keep their writing fresh and sharp without some concentration on the craft involved. This point (or perhaps, I should say, this guilt-trip) really struck me last week when I attended a book launch at Brazos Bookstore for Michael Noll's THE WRITER'S FIELD GUIDE TO THE CRAFT OF FICTION. |
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Michael Noll is the program director for the Writers' League of Texas, where he organizes more than fifty classes a year and moderates a podcast on writing and publishing. His blog, READ TO WRITE STORIES, is used by dozens of writing programs across the country, and thousands more aspiring and published authors. His WRITER'S FIELD GUIDE is very readable and accessible. It takes excerpts from published books - by authors such as George Saunders, Roxane Gay and Gillian Flynn - and turns them into craft lessons, with exercises and writing prompts. He also gives his own personal account of learning to read like a writer. At his book launch, Michael introduced us to his approach by inviting a live reading of an excerpt from a forthcoming book, THE WEIGHT OF A PIANO, by my good friend, Chris Cander (January 2019, Knopf). Michael and Chris then discussed in detail how she had approached her plotting and characterization, and gave suggestions on how the audience could use her methods in their own writing. Why is ongoing learning important to any writer? Well, you would not want to be operated on by a surgeon, or flown by an airline pilot, who had not kept up their professional development skills, would you? In the same way, no reader wants to spend time on the work of a writer who gave up their learning at their high school or college graduatio. Reading widely, and doing excercises suggested in books such as Michael's will certainly keep your writing tools sharp. You can win a signed copy of THE FIELD GUIDE by signing up for my newsletter. More details down below |
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FROM ONE OF MY BOOKS . . . |
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GIVEAWAY Here's your next great read! |
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The Writer’s Field Guide to the Craft of Fiction offers one-page excerpts from contemporary novels and stories, with short essays revealing the techniques used by the authors and exercises that allow anyone to use them in their own writing. Excerpts are drawn from bestselling, award-winning literary authors such as T.C. Boyle, Alexander Chee, Roxane Gay, Marlon James, Karen Russell, George Saunders, Zadie Smith, and Jesmyn Ward and genre writers such as Gillian Flynn, Daniel José Older, and Jennifer Weiner. Michael Noll's craft-of-writing blog Read to Write Stories, is used as a resource in dozens of colleges, universities, and high schools around the country. |
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CONGRATULATIONS! The winner of the March giveaway of two copies of AM Rose's ROAD TO EUGENICA and lots of bookswag were Lindsey Palka and Jessica Pressley To be in the draw to win next month's great new read, please subscribe to my newsletter using the link under FOLLOW ME just below. |
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Thanks to Instagram bookstagrammer Veronika Krátká at Bookish_Friendship for the beautifully relaxing photo above. |
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