Tag Archive for: THE TESTING

What is a “young adult”?

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by: Joelle Charbonneau

Last night, I was fortunate to be signing THE TESTING at the fabulous Boswell Book Company in Milwaukee, WI.  I got to meet fabulous readers, talk about why I wrote The Testing and I even got to read a few pages.  (Which I’m still not used to.  Reading aloud about a camel wearing a hat is easier than reciting some of the stuff in The Testing…but I’m getting better at it.  I think.)  During the chat, a few readers had questions.  Most, I had some kind of answer for.  But there was one that stopped me cold.

A wonderful gentleman raised his hand and asked, “What is a young adult?”

Um….good question.  I wish I had a good answer.  But I didn’t.  The conversation turned into the age appropriateness of the novel – which according to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is 12 and up.  But while I think that was mostly what he was looking for, I realized while I was driving home that it didn’t answer his question.  At least, it didn’t answer it for me.

What is a young adult?

According to the definition on Wikipedia – a young adult is a person in the stages of early adulthood.  That is the period that precedes middle adulthood.   They seem to think that young adulthood is between the ages of 20-40.  Hurray!  According to Wikipedia I’m a young adult!

When I looked up the meaning on Dictionary.com, I found two different definitions that really intrigued me.

One was: a person in the early years of adulthood…which seems to agree with Wikipedia.

The second was: a teenager (used especially by publishers and librarians.)

Huh.

Okay, now does anyone else find it strange that young adult means something completely different in publishing than it does in the rest of the world?  No wonder I had no idea how to define it to the gentleman who raised his hand tonight.  But until he asked the question, I’d never really pondered what it means to be a young adult.

I teach teens.  I’ve taught college students.  Are all of them young adults?  Well, they all fit the publisher’s age criteria, but the more I think about it the more I realize that that age range isn’t accurate.  Not all people hit adulthood (or young adulthood) at the same time.  I have had high school students who weigh decisions carefully before making choices about their future and college students who are happy to let their parents make any decisions for them.  Some students are happy to spend most of their free time paying video games in their basement while others invest extra time in their studies or work to raise money for college tuition.  They are all teens, but are they all young adults?

I have no idea.

Which is why I am asking “adults” – what is the definition of a “young adult” to you?  And teens (if you’re out there) – what do you call yourself?  Do you consider yourself a young adult in more than your reading or do you define yourself differently? Should I be calling you young adult, a teen or something else?   I’d really like to know!

Is it just me?

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by: Joelle Charbonneau

First off, let me say “I’m sorry” to everyone that reads and writes this blog.  Two weeks ago, I totally forgot to take my turn blogging because I forgot what day I was on.  Technically, I knew the date, but for a great number of reasons, this month has been a total jumble and I haven’t been able to keep much straight.

Why?  Well, part of the reason is that it is summer.  The kid is out of school, which changes the routine around here a great deal.  Suddenly, I’ve lost my 2 1/2 hours every morning to get work done.  2 1/2 hours never seems like a lot when you have them, but WOW they really add up when they disappear.  And since my students are all on summer break, I have found that the schedule we were on has also been totally thrown up in the air.  Saturday students now come on Tuesday and other students change their lesson times every week because of their ever changing summer schedule…and mine.

My schedule has been up in the air for those reasons and because of one other thing.

THE TESTING hit shelves.  Hurrah!  Not only that, it even hit some regional lists.  Thus far we’ve been #3 on the Sony e-book list, #5 and #6 on the New England Children’s Interest List and #8 on the Heartland list.  So, I’ve been doing some signing events around the midwest as well as celebrating the release and the strange and wonderful fact that Paramount optioned The Testing for film.

Yeah – I suppose that’s enough to make anyone loose track of life.  And still, despite the release of The Testing and the revisions I’ve been pushing to get done – I am thinking that summer is the main culprit behind my problems remembering what day I am on.  The new, ever changing schedule, the unusual weather (in Chicago we are just seeing some warm days) and the kid being out of school have thrown me off my game.

So, is it just me?  Am I the only one that seems to have trouble keeping life straight now that summer is in full swing or are there others out there?  Please let me know if it is just me.  If so…well, I’ll just adjust to the fact that I’m losing my mind:)

Confessions of a sort of ill, but totally in denial writer

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By:  Joelle
Charbonneau
I’m sick.  For those
that follow my twitter feed or are Facebook friends for me, I doubt this comes
as a newsflash.  In the last three
months, I have managed to come down with a sinus infection, bronchitis,
pneumonia and pleurisy.  (Who gets
pleurisy???)   I’m now on my third course
of antibiotics (this one is also used for anthrax) and my third inhaler. (Go
steroids.)
Yep.  I’m sick.
The one thing I’ve learned over the course of this
three-month odyssey is that I suck at being sick.   Not because I whine or cry or pout.  (Well, okay, the pouting thing might have
happened when the steroids wore off this last time and my breathing stopped
working so well.  Sue me!)  My problem is that I’m stubborn.  I don’t want to be sick so I try to pretend
that I’m not.  I mean, there are still
pages to be written, pages to be edited, books to be promoted, dinners to cook,
an entire house to be moved, a five-year-old to run after and…
You get the point.
Perhaps my real problem is that I like work.  (Yes, I’m deranged.) And really, when you
think about it, writing a book involves a lot of sitting.  That’s rest—right?  I mean, how much better would it be if I were
to just sit in a chair and do nothing as opposed to typing away on my keyboard?
Okay, I know I have a problem.  But I can’t help it.   So many people that I know hate their jobs. 

When they’re home sick, they love the excuse
to get away from their typical daily grind. 
I LOVE my job.  Never in my
wildest imaginations did I think that someone would ever pay me to make up
stuff or that readers would want to spend time with the characters I’ve
created.  So when someone suggest that I
stop writing in order to rest….I can’t! 
I just can’t. 

But I’m trying.  And
if you have any suggestions as to how to best do that (without giving up the
fun stuff like writing), I’m listening. 
And I’m pretty sure my mother is, too!
Oh – and in case you missed it – END ME A TENOR came out
last week!  Hurray.  Also, the trailer for my first young adult
novel- THE TESTING – debuted on EW.com in case you want to check it out.  See…who has time to be sick when such fun
stuff is happening?  (Sigh…back to
resting….)

Anticipation

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by: Joelle Charbonneau

It is so easy to get wrapped up in writing new manuscripts and the process of being published, that we often don’t take time to enjoy the anticipation that leads up to a book’s release.  Or maybe it’s just me.  I tend to be the kind that has tunnel vision.  I think about the work that has to be done, not the celebration of the work that has already occurred.

However today is a day for celebration.  In the next couple of months, I will have several books hit shelves.  The first, END ME A TENOR, will be published on April 2nd by Berkley Prime Crime.  I think it is my favorite of all of my mysteries perhaps because there is so much of my performance life hidden in the pages between those covers. 

The second book that will hit shelves is my first young adult novel – THE TESTING.  It will arrive at a bookstore near you on June 4th.  This series has been such a wonderful challenge for me.  My heroine, Cia Vale, has pushed me to consider the world around me in very different ways as has this publishing experience.  While months exist between now and the release of The Testing, lots of cool stuff is starting to happen.  The first of which launches today and I’d like to invite you all to participate.  The Testing has had several different covers.  We thought the final covered had been nailed down, but a new artist who was hired for book 2 took a whack at adding his flare to book one’s design and WOW is it amazing.  The reveal of the new The Testing cover is happening today on Facebook where Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has launched a page for all things Testing Trilogy.

Please stop by and take a peek!  I’d love to hear what you think of the cover and have you join me on this strange and wonderful adventure that I am on. 

THE TESTING – Giveaway!

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by: Joelle Charbonneau

As I am frantically typing the final chapters to GRADUATION DAY (book 3 of The Testing Trilogy), I have found that my ability to multitask has become severely impacted.  Getting to THE END tends to give me tunnel vision. Nothing exists but completing the story.  Then the fun of editing will begin. I look forward to that part a great deal and can’t wait to dig in. 

Hopefully, by the time you are reading this, I will have reached the final moments of this trilogy.  This has been an unusual project for me since I will finish writing and revising the third book long before the first book comes out on June 4th.  Hopefully, readers will embrace Cia and that I have done justice to her story.  She is a heroine I have loved watching grow and change.

To celebrate my (almost) completion of the final book, I am going to give away an ARC of THE TESTING.

It’s graduation day for sixteen-year-old Malencia Vale, and the entire Five
Lakes Colony (the former Great Lakes) is celebrating. All Cia can think
about—hope for—is whether she’ll be chosen for The Testing, a United
Commonwealth program that selects the best and brightest new graduates to become
possible leaders of the slowly revitalizing post-war civilization. When Cia is
chosen, her father finally tells her about his own nightmarish half-memories of
The Testing. Armed with his dire warnings (”Cia, trust no one”), she bravely
heads off to Tosu City, far away from friends and family, perhaps forever.
Danger, romance—and sheer terror—await. 

THE TESTING is a bit different from my adult mysteries.  No camels or angry standard poodles.  No singing and dancing or roller skating.  But I’m hoping you’ll still like it.  Please leave a comment below to enter (US and CANADA only – sorry!).  I’ll choose the winning commenter on Friday.  Also please leave your e-mail address so I can contact you if you win.   

Okay – back to racing to THE END!   



Hours in the day….

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by: Joelle Charbonneau

I’m not sure who decreed that there shall only be twenty-four hours in a day, but at the moment I need to have a serious talk with that person. I mean…there just aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything that needs to be done. Housework. Cooking. Shopping. Errands. Pre-school field trips. Playground adventures. Writing. Lessons to teach. Reading. Family stuff. Friends. Etc… Etc… Etc…

This week I’ve felt the lack of time more keenly than any other. With one set of type set pages needing to be proofed and two other manuscript needing copyedited along with lots of writing to be done, blogs to write, a tot to race after, a holiday to shop for and enjoy family during…..there just isn’t enough time in the day.

What’s a girl to do?

During weeks like these I find myself wishing that I was addicted to chocolate. Instead, I find that I keep reminding myself to breathe. In. Out. This is where my singing training comes in handy. If there is one thing I am good at it is deep breathing. Then I instruct myself to remember that I can only do one thing at a time. Like many of the Stilettos, I have taken to making lists and I am telling myself that if I cross one thing off the list in a day the day is a success.

So today, I mail back the copy edits to THE TESTING. I will cross that item off my list and call today a success.

How about you? What item on your list have you or are you planning on crossing off today? Let’s celebrate these victories together!