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30 Day Shred: All You Ever Wanted to Know*

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CASTLE

* Lest you worry: this is a review of the workout DVD, and because I was asked repeatedly to talk about what I was doing, I thought I’d share my experiences with anyone who might be interested.

Twenty days ago (technically, 21 days ago), I embarked on something I’ve tried to do before and failed mercilessly at multiple times: Jillian Michaels’s 30 Day Shred. If you don’t know who Jillian is, she’s well known for being one of the trainers on The Biggest Loser and has earned a reputation for being, how to say, tough.

That’s one of the nicer words I can think of for her. At least, it was back in the earlier days. Now, I think I kind of love this woman for that very reason.

A friend convinced me to join in with her to do the workout video. As I mentioned before, I’ve failed at doing this numerous times. Usually, I get to day 2 or 3 and say I’m not strong enough, I’m a failure, I’m way too out of shape, [insert other excuse of choice here for why I quit]. But I thought, well, I can try again. I mean, I’ve failed before and I’ve come to accept that as part of how things roll.

Before I explain a whole lot more, here are some things you should know about me. If the average US woman is a size 14, I am slightly larger than that. Over the last couple of years I’ve really changed a lot of my habits in terms of eating and fitness, and as a result, I’ve lost something like 50 pounds (it’s hard to say precisely since I am something like 70 or 80 pounds lower than my highest weight in 2008). I eat fairly healthfully, meaning lots of fruits and vegetables, very little white meat, no red meat at all, little processed food, and I gave up drinking all forms of pop (though I do like a natural pop once in a while and do not tell myself no on it). I talked about how I incorporated a treadmill desk into my routine, and I made a habit of walking on it most days for at least a mile (usually at a 20-25 minute/mile pace). I don’t have any health issues, aside from a pair of weak ankles from injuries way back in the day. The short version: I’m a healthy but shapely lady.

The 30 Day Shred is set up in three different levels, each building upon one another, and each level lasts for 10 days. Each level consists of three circuits, and each circuit is made up of three different sets of work outs. You do 3 minutes of strength training, 2 minutes of cardio, and 1 minute of abs in each of the circuits, for a grand total of working out roughly 25 minutes. This includes a warmup, which is essential, and a cool down that I found pretty worthless. Jillian leads the work outs, but she has 2 girls who help her out throughout, one who does modifications to the moves and one who does advanced modifications to the moves (my advice is to ignore her — though she cheats more than once and so that might help with your own self esteem). To do the workout, you should have a pair of hand weights, but they are not essential to the video if you do not have them. I began with 2 pound weights.

Level 1 of Shred looks like this:

  • Warm up: arm crosses, windmills, jumping jacks, hip circles, knee circles, jumping jacks.
  • Circuit one strength (3 minutes): 30 seconds of push ups, 1 minute of squat and press and repeat
  • Circuit one cardio (2 minutes): 30 seconds of jumping jacks, 30 seconds of jump rope, and repeat
  • Circuit one abs (1 minute): 30 seconds crunches, 30 seconds reverse crunches
  • Circuit two strength (3 minutes): 30 seconds dumbell row, 1 minute static lunge with bicept curl, and repeat
  • Circuit two cardio (2 minutes): 30 seconds butt kicks, 30 seconds punches (my favorite!) and repeat
  • Circuit two abs (1 minute): side crunches
  • Circuit three strength (3 minutes): 30 seconds chest flies, 1 minute anterior raises and side lunges, and repeat
  • Circuit three cardio (2 minutes):  30 seconds of each of the previous cardio moves
  • Circuit three abs (1 minute): bicycle crunches

If you want to actually see what it looks like, the video is on youtube, but obviously, I don’t recommend using that as your video (legalities, etc., and really, the thing is $7 on Amazon so just spend the cash).

So while it sounds unintimidating (because come on: jumping jacks, anyone can do those!), I’ll be honest: I did not make it through the entire work out on the first day. I quit at the start of circuit three, feeling like I was going to keel over on the floor and never get up again. I felt awful physically because everything hurt and awful emotionally and mentally because I could not get through the first level. I took it at that, got mad at myself, and put it away for the day. My thinking was that I at least DID a work out, which is more than I was doing before. Even if it sucked.

And then I spent the next day in horrific pain, hardly able to walk, and absolutely dreading day 2 of the work out (which is the same thing). I worried I’d be completely defeated again, unable to get through the workout, and then I’d give in to one of those excuses and quit all together. When I say I could hardly walk, I mean I could hardly walk. I won’t tell you how ugly it was trying to move around the house, let alone getting in and out of chairs. Everything hurt. Every. Thing.

I started day two though, and after talking with a friend about how she modified some of the moves, I decided that rather than feel completely defeated by the things I could not do during the circuits, I was going to make modifications on them and be okay with it. I could not do a pushup for the life of me. Not even a modified one (you know, knees on the ground, only lifting some of your weight). I decided to do wall pushups instead. It’s still an exercise with resistance, but it wasn’t going to require quite as much of me and would make me feel like I was doing something even if it wasn’t quite what they were doing on the video.

Day 2, I got through the entire level. I was absolutely dead at the end, but rather than let myself get defeated by something like being unable to do a modified pushup, I just did something I could do. Same went during the first circuit of cardio: although I could do all the jumping jacks and could do the jump rope, I had a very hard time doing them in conjunction with one another. Like, my muscles couldn’t coordinate them right. So rather than be frustrated, I substituted the jogging in place for the jump rope. Much better. Day 2 was still ugly, and the resulting feeling the day after of pain, pain, and more pain didn’t go away. The worst pain on that day was in my quads, followed by intense knee pain. Just so you know where we’re standing at now.

But something clicked about day 3 for me. I think it was the fact that I knew I was in so much pain that quitting would feel like I was in pain for nothing and the fact that I’d given myself permission to tackle things as I needed to tackle them, but day 3, I got through the whole work out. And I even did a couple of pushups on the floor without the wall (not all of them, just a couple!). But that was more than the day before. I also made sure to wear good shoes while working out which helped significantly with the knee and quad pain in subsequent days.

After day 3, the work out got easier for me. It didn’t ever get easy through the next few days of the first level, but I felt immediate differences in my endurance and in the ability I had to get through the things I failed spectacularly on in the first days. Let me repeat this and make it very clear: I was in a lot of pain. This is not an easy work out. A good friend of mine who is a runner said that she prefers running three miles to doing 20 minutes of Shred because it is easier. So contextualize that.

The physical changes though were near immediate for me. I knew going in that I wouldn’t lose much, if any, weight during the program (despite the claims on the box, I have a hard time believing anyone could actually lose 20 pounds on this). But I weighed myself, and then I took measurements on day 2 of the program. I measured my upper arms, my chest, my waist, my hips, and my upper thigh.

At the end of day 5 of the circuit — three days after my initial measuring — I had lost an inch in my arms, one in my chest, half an inch in my waist, one in my hips, and half an inch in my thigh. Not too shabby. For me, taking those measurements was incredibly motivational. I felt my clothes fitting a little bit better, too. But it was at the end of day 10, which is the final day in level 1, where I found myself actually somewhat eager for level 2. I’d lost two inches in my arms, one in my chest, one and a half in my waist, three in my hips (!!) and an inch and a half in my thigh. I had to buy new pants. It was pretty fantastic.

More than that, though, I felt great. I could get through the entire level without dying (it still hurt like hell, but I made it through). My endurance had definitely increased throughout, and I could do all of the pushups (modified on the floor) by the end. Maybe most exciting for me was how awesome my skin looked. I’ve always had less-than-amazing skin, but my skin had a really nice glow to it and was very clear and bright. Talk about a huge ego boost.

I took a day off to rest between levels, and then when I started level 2, I found myself back where I was with level 1: I could hardly make it through. It sucked. It was awful. I felt like all I had done in level 1 was for nothing and I wrote a teary email to more than one person about how I felt like a failure and I wasn’t strong enough.

OF COURSE I WAS, but being thrown back into that insecure, weak place in level 2 was a reminder that there was still a lot I could improve on. But knowing what I knew about how I worked in level 1, I decided that day 2 of level 2, I would be making modifications as needed. I won’t lay out the movements in level 2, but they are significantly more challenging than level 1, and many of them involve plank pose (which if you have weak wrists, well, they’re tough is all I can say). As I made those plans for modifications, though, the other thing I did was set goals for myself. By the end of day 4, I told myself I would be doing 70% of the plank twists (which is the last ab movement in circuit three of level 2). By day 5, I would do them all. Setting those mini goals within the bigger goals motivated me, and I achieved them.

Today is my last day of level 2, and aside from moving up from the two pound weight to the three pound weight in this level, I feel like I learned a lot about how much I can push myself. The pain, I will say, has been non-stop during this level, but it’s an entirely different kind of pain than in level 1. This time, it feels like there is constant tingling in my abs, in my hips, in my thighs and my back.

But the results? As of earlier this week when I measured — and I plan on measuring when I finish day 10 of this level today — I’d lost 3 inches in each arm, 2.5 in my chest, 3 in my waist, 5 (actually, 6, since I did measure there yesterday) in my hips, and 3 in each of my thighs. I guess if you measure that all up, it’s over 24 inches total.

In 20 days.

There are ten days left for me, and I am not going to lie: I’m terrified of what I’ll feel like after the first day of level 3. I am prepared to suck at it, prepared to cry at the end when I feel like I’ve just sucked it up. I’ve already given the heads up to my support folks they’re going to probably hear me whining about how I can’t do it. Except, I know that after doing this for 20 days, I can do it for another ten. I just have to make the modifications I need to make when and where I need to make them because it’s as simple as this: any movement is going to be better than no movement. Moreover, I know that by day 4 or 5, I’ll turn a corner again and by day 10, I’ll feel like I’ve got it. I’ll also measure again and hopefully see some movement, even if it’s simply in the way my clothes fit.

Now the part everyone probably really wants to know. I’ve laid out how I did it, but I have a ton of caveats for anyone who wants to do this:

  • Jillian is tough as hell, but she is ultimately very encouraging. She will tell you she wants you to feel like you are going to die. But she does it because it is MOTIVATING. It is normal to feel like you are going to die. That means it is working.
  • Follow the movements. I previewed the levels before doing them, and I tried out the moves before doing the entire level. This helped ensure I was doing the movements correctly with good form. It would be VERY easy to get hurt if you hurry through things without making sure you are doing them right.
  • This is killer on the knees, on the joints, and on every muscle you can imagine. Be prepared to hurt. Be prepared to pop pain reliever (I found myself taking them before working out, which helped). You will be working things you didn’t know could hurt. That’s normal. But also pay attention to your body’s cues — if you know you’re hurting more than simply workout pain, take it easy on yourself. Don’t kill yourself. Not worth it. Modify, modify, modify, and take a day off here and there if you need to. Take breaks (short ones) during the circuits if you need to.
  • Hydrate. I drank a glass of water before and a glass of water after, and obviously, plenty of water throughout the day. I work out first thing in the morning, on an empty stomach, and it works for me. But other people might find themselves feeling ill because of this. If that’s the case, eat.
  • Be motivated by other people’s progress but do not use it as a yardstick. My results are huge. Your results might not be the same in terms of numbers, but you have to find out what it is that will be a measurement of success for you. Is it fitting into smaller clothes? Is it getting through the entire level without dying? Is it simply working out every day? Pick something and use it. Then be surprised and pleased with the other outcomes (like the amazing skin!). Note here: I did not lose a single pound on this work out. In fact, I gained a couple pounds.
  • Choose how hard core you will be. I chose not to diet at all. I chose to eat what it was I wanted to eat, when I wanted to eat it. I have had insane cravings for peanut butter and saltines (which makes sense — the protein and salt). I ate them. You can choose to overhaul your entire diet, too, but for me, that felt more like punishment than a commitment to fitness. Your mileage may vary.
  • Be okay with making modifications. This is insanely important. Do not berate yourself if you have to change things to make them work for you. I am very easily demotivated by things like this. But changing that attitude was key. Also? If you need to stay on a level longer than 10 days, there is nothing wrong with that. If you need to go back to a level since the next one is simply too hard? No shame.
  • Maybe the most important thing is this: have support. I do not know what I would do if there were not other people doing this with me that I could vent to and celebrate with. This is not easy. Jillian will tell you that. But what made the difference for me this time against all of the other times I’ve tried this and failed was that there were people who could cheer me on and tell me I wasn’t a failure when I felt like one. For me, that was enough push to do it the next day and the next day and the next. Of course, if you’re getting support, give it back. I personally find giving pep talks as encouraging, if not more encouraging, than getting it.

I’ve never been public or open about health/fitness-related things, so writing this out and talking about it openly (and even privately via many of those support-related emails) has been incredibly scary. That’s part of why there’s not a picture here openly to show off the differences in my body over the last 20 days. The thing is, being open about it has opened up some incredible discussions with other people, and I have been utterly shocked with how many people want to know what I’m doing and how I am doing it. I hope this helps someone decide to step up and do something — whether it’s Shred or not — because frankly, it has changed me in the last few weeks. I feel incredible, strong, and I feel like I can take on the things that are challenging. Maybe the biggest thing for me is that I don’t feel shame and I’m really coming to accept how I look isn’t as important as how I feel and how much I know I can do. The mental and emotional well-being is as crucial, if not more crucial, to me.

There are ten days left in the program for me, and I’ve been asked what my maintenance plan is when it’s over. Almost as if this is the end of things. But it’s not. I feel so encouraged by my progress that I don’t want to stop at all. I bought Jillian’s Ripped in 30, which is similar to Shred and I plan on tackling that next. Then maybe I’ll move onto one of her other videos. As much as I hated the woman at the beginning of this, I have found her to be the right level of what I need in a video instructor: she’s tough but she pushes because she knows that’s effective. At least for me. I’m motivated by being told I should feel like I’m going to die (there’s something comforting there).

Now that you’ve made it this far, the long and short of it is this: I think it’s worth it. It’s not going to be for everyone, though. It’s tough, and it’s a killer on the body, especially if you have any health/physical limitations. The thing is, if you’re willing to put in the work, even via making modifications, it is absolutely worth it. It’s only 25 minutes of your day.

I say it with utter sincerity: if someone in my shape can do it, I suspect most people can do it. Jillian has worked with people on all sides of the weight and fitness scale. I trust her ability to know what works and what doesn’t, and I never felt like there was something impossible in the work out. Just very challenging and maybe not achievable for me — just yet.

 

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Updates:

 

 

 

DVD dusted off from my shelf at home. 

Guest Post: Two New-to-YA Publishers Worth Knowing

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Last month, I talked about how you have to put in the time and effort in order to become knowledgeable about something and I highlighted the publishers and imprints working with YA fiction. In that post, I mentioned two new-to-me publishers, Strange Chemistry (an imprint of Angry Robot) and Entangled Publishing. After posting, I had authors from both contact me to talk about what their publishers are doing, and both were eager to share a little more about that. Welcome Gwenda Bond and Amy Spalding, who will talk a bit about their publishers, the process in working with new YA publishing endeavors, and, of course, their forthcoming titles.

Gwenda Bond & Strange Chemistry

I fell into almost everything I know about publishing by loving books first. (I think this is true of most people who write and/or work in any capacity in publishing–and definitely true of most people you’d want to work with as a writer.) Anyway, I was always a writer and a reader, and then at some point I also started blogging, which in a roundabout way led to me covering publishing in features for Publishers Weekly and then later some reviewing, and so on. So while I was working toward becoming a published author, I also got to talk to lots of people in the big six and outside it (and still do), about their business and how it works–something I find fascinating, and one of the reasons I was excited when Kelly invited this guest post. 

Up front I’ll also say I don’t know much about non-traditional publishing. Big or small, part of a giant publishing conglomerate or an independent house, the traditional publishing model is what I’m talking about here. I’d define that broadly as a publisher with a means of distribution, buying a certain set of rights for publication and paying an advance, including a fair royalty rate, and the rest of the things entailed by that as part of a business enterprise.

So…the new imprint Strange Chemistry. Who are they and how did my debut YA novel Blackwood end up as one of their launch titles, and what has that been like?

(One last caveat: I speak only for myself, not my publisher, obviously. Though I *blow kisses to them*. )

Strange Chemistry is the YA imprint being started by Angry Robot Books, a science fiction and fantasy publisher owned by the Osprey Group that burst onto the SFF scene and took it by storm with beautiful design, a fresh perspective on how they did things, and some truly marvelous books (Lauren Beukes’Zoo City, Adam Christopher’s Empire State, and Chuck Wendig’s Blackbirds are all excellent starting points, to single out a few Angry Robot titles). The publisher is based in England, but their books release simultaneously in the U.S., the UK and Australia, in paperback (usually) and as e-books (with DRM-free versions always available), along with audio for select titles. Their U.S. distribution is through Random House. (Who are the best sales team! I might have a biased opinion based on how wonderful they’ve been, and I now definitely have a greater appreciation for how crucial sales reps are. *blows more kisses*)

In 2011, Angry Robot announced they were launching Strange Chemistry, to be headed by Amanda Rutter. My agent–the divine Jennifer Laughran–and I immediately emailed each other; this could be a good place to submit the Roanoke Island-set gothic fantasy/nerd romance/thriller I’d been working on. Blackwood is about two smart 17-year-olds–Miranda Blackwood and Phillips Rawling–who are drawn into the investigation of a mass disappearance on modern-day Roanoke Island and uncover their own connections to the original history of the Lost Colony as they work to save the missing people and themselves.

Once Amanda started reading submissions, in the book went and we heard from her not that long after–she wanted it and she was really excited about it, though the Editorial Board (dreaded by all writers) still lay ahead. But the ed board said YES. Hallelujah, heavenly choirs, the usual. As a debut author at a small publisher, you can’t expect a “shut up, you’re buying this round”deal. BUT that’s also true as a debut author–or a midlist one, for that matter–at many larger publishers. Giant deals are far fewer than it seems. Really. What giant deals also result in is immense pressure for everyone involved to deliver big sales numbers, something which is very hard to make happen even with a huge marketing budget. But, regardless, those marketing dollars can be very loud, and sometimes drown out other voices–one reason Kelly’s excellent post on finding out about non-bestsellers and books from smaller houses was so great.

This is something I really and truly believe, having witnessed many triumphs and tragedies among author friends: the most important thing is that the editor is behind your work, and the best scenario is that the whole team is. One thing I knew going in was that Strange Chemistry was building an imprint. That’s not done haphazardly. And having since gotten to listen to my editor, Amanda, describing the launch list in meetings at BEA, I can say that she advocates for every single book on her list strongly, passionately. I am definitely not saying this isn’t the case at other publishers, just that it may be a little easier to accomplish when a list is smaller. (You can read more about the vision for the imprint and its expansion plans in this SFX interview with Amanda.)

Because this is a brand new imprint and I’m lucky enough to have Blackwood be one of the first two titles coming out this September (alongside Kim Curran’s excellent Shift), we have all been working very intensely since the sale–first rounds of edits, then copy edits, ARCs going out, and etcetera. Only, in this case, on a timeline with wayyy less slack in it–new imprint and all.

Cover art is undeniably important and I couldn’t be happier with Steven Wood’s gorgeous artwork as mine–and which I was consulted on the concept for. While some people might prefer to debut in hardback, I’m actually happy to have my first book come out in trade paperback. I know I’m personally more likely to try a new author in paperback–I feel it’s a smart strategy, and the reason why (it seems at least) there have been more YA paperback originals in recent years. As I already mentioned, the Osprey and Random House sales teams have been amazing, going out and, well, selling the book to the places where people buy or look for books. At the same time, the publisher has been doing a great job of building an identity for the imprint and starting to communicate directly with readers via twitter, the blog, Facebook, their mailing list, etcetera, as well as working to make ARCs available to more reviewers through NetGalley. They’ve set up and/or helped set up events and other launch activities, and talked me down from the occasional panic attack every new author has from time to time. There is also a real sense of camaraderie among us first Strange Chemistry authors.

My next book–unrelated to Blackwood–will be out next year. It’s a near future urban fantasy called The Woken Gods, a title we all spent a considerable amount of time to arrive at and a direction I’m beyond happy the publisher was on board with. I’m grateful that I never felt a smidge of pressure to force a Blackwood sequel, when it was always meant as a standalone. (If I ever do another related book, it’ll likely involve different characters, and a different mystery, but I suppose never say never.)

So, in short (okay, in loooong), my experience with this small publisher has been all I could’ve hoped for. The book’s out soon (September 4! eek!), and fingers crossed, some of you will read it and like it. I hope this post will also encourage some of you to keep an eye on Strange Chemistry, and look at the other wonderful books they have coming. I’m grateful to be a part of this imprint as it starts up, and no matter where my career may wander in the future, that won’t change. Having a mix of big and small publishers in the world is good for all of us; it’s good for books.

I’m happy to answer any questions I can in the comments, and thanks so much to Kelly for the invitation to soapbox and letting me ramble (on and on…).

Amy Spalding & Entangled Publishing
My experience with Entangled started early this year. My agent told me she’d sent both of my manuscripts to Entangled, and provided me with a link to a story in USA Today about them. When I saw the link, I didn’t know what to think. All the books pictured were adult romances, with glistening abs and pecs on the covers. That was about as far from my contemporary YA novels as you could get. I freaked out a little and emailed a bunch of other author/publishing types to see what they thought.
 
Their answers were unanimous, and a little surprising. Everyone said I’d be lucky to be with Entangled, that they really had new and exciting ideas about publishing, their teen line wasn’t about glistening dudes (well, not entirely…) and they’d just hired an amazing editor, Stacy Cantor Abrams, who apparently I’d be lucky to work with.
 
Suddenly I couldn’t believe my luck because that was exactly who my manuscripts were sitting with. Now I figured I was set for rejection because I’d never seen so many people proclaim love for an editor before. So what were my chances?
 
But a few weeks later, I got an offer. For both books. And my phone call with Stacy was just phenomenal; she clearly got what I’m all about, and I knew she’d provide me with amazing editorial guidance.
 
My main concern with Entangled was that I wasn’t sure if they could actually get books into brick and mortar bookstores. And despite Amazon’s hold on the publishing industry (sigh) I knew bookstore presence could really make or break my career. The great news was that Entangled had recently partnered with Publishers Group West, and had great distribution possibilities. The even better news was that for particularly the Entangled Teen line, this was going to be a priority. Teens are buying books at bookstores, so it’s vital to be there.
 
After this assurance and my call with Stacy, I was happy to relay back to my agent that I wanted to accept the offer. Since then I have been continuously impressed with Entangled. I listen sympathetically as other friends wait weeks and even months beyond when they were promised editorial notes. Mine came in exactly as promised.
 

For me, Entangled is a great place to be. I don’t write big, high-concept books. I’m interested in girls and their families and their friendships and, of course, the boys with great hair that intrigue them. As of now, at least, there is no vampire or mermaid book within me. So being at a small publisher that has a lot of time and attention for me even at the start of my career has been an incredibly positive experience. I work in indie film, so being at an indie publisher has been an appropriate fit for me.

My first book with Entangled, The Reece Malcolm List, will be released February 12, 2013. It is about family, musical theatre, and boys with good hair. Ink Is Thicker than Water will be available late 2013. You can visit my web site at www.theamyspalding.com and follow me on Twitter at @TheAmes. If you want to check out the behind-the-scenes of the cover design (which Amy had a ton of input on!), then check out the stops along the cover reveal blog tour.

August debuts at The Hub

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I’m over at YALSA’s The Hub today talking up this month’s ya debut novels. I changed up the format of how I am doing the posts there so if you have any thoughts on that or have read any of the titles I talked up, I’d love a comment. This is begging, I realize, but I won’t bore you with how much work goes into putting those posts together. Alas — at least it keeps me up-to-date.

What I’m Reading Now

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Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
I’m one of those people who reads a lot of reviews before I read a book. The reviews of this one have been very, very mixed. I think the author’s story to publication is fascinating – she originally wrote the story online at fictionpress.com before being picked up by Bloomsbury. The story is about a teenage assassin, punished as a slave in the mines but freed in order to compete to be the king’s personal assassin. I am a sucker for a good old-fashioned fantasy epic, and I hope this will fit the bill. After reading the first few chapters, I can tell that my teenage self would have thought this was the perfect book; I’m not so sure about my adult self.
Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is one of my favorite middle grade reads and one of the most beautiful books I’ve held. This story is set in the same world, but it focuses on a boy called Rendi, who has run away from home and gets taken in by an innkeeper as a chore boy. Unlike Mountain, this story has almost zero adventure: it all takes place in the same town, most of it in the same building. Like Mountain, though, it incorporates smaller stories told by the characters within, and these stories go on to have greater meaning near the end. I read the review copy, but I plan to get my hands on a finished copy so I can see the artwork, which blew me away in Mountain.
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
This book is proof that Kelly is the best co-blogger a person could ask for, since she’s the reason I’m able to read it. I like the direction Meyer has gone with this sequel: it focuses on Scarlet, but it also follows Cinder’s story. Scarlet is a French girl who must rescue her grandmother, kidnapped by a gang of humans with wolf-like qualities. One of the wolves, a deserter of the gang, decides to help. Cinder and Scarlet haven’t met up yet, but I’ve a feeling it will happen soon. I’m curious to see how Meyer (presumably) plans to juggle four girls’ stories in the last installment. The pace of Scarlet is slower than Cinder, but so far it’s just as enjoyable.
Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
You know how sometimes the jacket copy of a book appears to only reveal the very first, small section of the story – just enough to get you interested – but in fact that section takes up the first 70 pages of the book? That happened here. I read those first 70 pages knowing Aria would be exiled, and it was painful to read about her optimism: “Oh, they’re going to take me to see my mother!” No, no they are not. That little annoyance aside, I am really digging this dystopian tale about a society that lives in environmentally-sealed pods and the girl who gets into trouble with the wrong people and finds herself exiled into the wilderness, full of savages and aether storms. (Sorry I just ruined the first 70 pages for you.)
Review copies received from the publisher (and Kelly!). Under the Never Sky borrowed from the library.

Links of Note

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I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve spent the last two weeks glued to the best reality television in the world: the summer Olympics. I don’t even care what the sport is, who the athletes are, or what country they represent, I just enjoy watching people do amazing things. All of this is to say this biweekly roundup of links is a little less meaty than usual. And it may include non-book stuff. I don’t apologize for that.

  • Have you read any of the Top 10 Most Difficult Books yet? I read parts of both Spenser’s The Faerie Queen and Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake, the first in a Lit Survey class in undergrad and the second as part of a creative writing class (because as much as it’s hard to understand, the language is something!). I perused the Woolf title on the list the few times it was assigned to me but I never actually read it. 
    •  Joan Rivers is not immune to the challenges of having her book stocked. In fact, she was so irate about Costco choosing not to stock her new book, she handcuffed herself to a shopping cart to protest. I wanted to include a link from Sarah Rees Brennan in this bullet point too, but it appears the post she wrote this week about her forthcoming Unspoken not being stocked on the Barnes and Noble shelves is no longer on her blog. Although I have little sympathy for Rivers in this case, these examples highlight something kind of big, and that’s that not every book published will be stocked everywhere. There is probably a blog-length post here about how librarians, bloggers, and other book lovers have an opportunity/responsibility in spreading the word about books that matter. When it’s not on a bookstore shelf, it’s impossible to discover. But via word of mouth, readers can speak up and demand the titles, thus helping give them some space in the future. Ideally, at least.
    • So NPR’s popularity contest ended, and here are the “100 Best-Ever Teen Novels.” It’s a super misleading title, since it should be called “Favorite Maybe-Maybe Not Teen Novels as Voted on by NPR Listeners.” Either way, that’s not the story here. For me, the real story is in this piece from The Atlantic, asking why female authors dominate YA fiction. I didn’t plan on reading the article, but then I did. It’s very poorly written and connects many things together it shouldn’t, and I walked away with this lingering and problematic thought: if YA books are about optimism, joy and escapism and they are the books that feature female MCs so prominently, what does that say about females in adult mainstream fiction? I do not think that was what the intended message was but that is what I walked away with and have been chewing on for days. 
    • Are we too nice on social media? Are we giving up critical reviewing and criticism in favor of being cheerleaders? Note those are two separate links, but the first refers to the second. When I read these, I rolled my eyes. First, the suggestion that readers cannot be both fans/supporters of writers and then still read with a critical eye is insane. It sure makes readers look like they’re one-dimensional and suggests that they can’t separate art from artist. I was glad to see this very thoughtful response from Salon about how social media isn’t killing books or reading culture at all. I’d argue that social media has made me a more critical reader, connection to authors or not, and I think it’s incredibly important to be supportive and encouraging if you believe in a person, whether or not you always find their art works for you.     
    • Have an idea for a 2,000-4,000 word short story and you’re unpublished? Saundra Mitchell has a hell of an opportunity for you then, as you could have your work published in the anthology she’s editing for next year called Defy the Dark. All of the details are on her blog. 
    • Did you know it is FREE to attend this year’s Kid Lit Con? All of the details are here. Also, you still have a few days to get in a proposal for a presentation, too. I submitted one with one of my dream co-presenters so fingers crossed! If you’re in the NYC area or can get there, I highly recommend this event. It is, hands down, my favorite conference. 
    • I’ve been thinking about this post since it went up early this week, and I think it was really brave of Justin to write it: what is your librarian identity (and even if you’re not a librarian, this post is relevant to identity more broadly). 
    • I’m not sure I buy into all of the conclusions and assumptions that come up in this piece, but it is worth the read and worth thinking about: why do female crime writers explore such gruesome topics? The suggestion is it’s about something ingrained in women and fear and violence, but the takeaway I got was that women should stop because it will make them and male readers more immune to violence. Also we really have to stop using the word “porn” to describe anything that is visual, gritty, or somehow taboo/outside our cultural norms. It devalues the word itself and what it is truly meant to be. 
      • Rather than bombard you with a ton of bullet points to interesting non-book related stories, I’ll round up all the things that caught my eye in one place. And yeah, most are Olympics related. Here are Olympic gymnastics as told through Legos. If you missed out on Samuel L Jackson’s Olympics tweets, here are some of the real gems. Then there’s this, my favorite piece to come out of the Olympics/gymnastics: why McKayla Maroney is not a mean girl. I have admired her since the start because she wears a game face and competes with a fierceness that is hard not to respect. But what that story does is really get to the heart of it: she defies what we expect of a female athlete, particularly someone so young. She expressed sheer disappointment in her shortcomings and did so without disrespecting someone who did better than her. While she got a ton of slack for her appearance and in her supposed attitude on the medal stand, it wasn’t because she was angry. It was because she was disappointed in herself. It’s something we don’t expect to see.          

      Now I ask a favor, if you’ve made it this far! I’m working on my portion of a presentation for YALSA’s YA Lit Symposium. If you’re aware of any dark contemporary YA being published between November of this year and March/April of next year, I’d love to hear from you. You can comment here or contact me privately.