Cat Jordan's Blog

One of the most exciting things to happen to a writer is to have her work translated into another language. It's only happened to me once before when THE LEAVING SEASON was translated into German by a HarperCollins subsidiary, HarperCollins Germany. It was translated by a German writer into DER SOMMER DER UNS TRENNTE, which in English is, THE SUMMER THAT SEPARATED US. Very romantic, eh? It was tremendously exciting to watch readers in another part of the world discover the book and to read their reviews (they really liked it!), and I made my Google translate work overtime so I could know what they were saying about it. (Although the number of stars translates pretty easily!) The cover was gorgeous! Check it out below:



This past December, my novel EIGHT DAYS ON PLANET EARTH, was published in its Turkish edition, DUNYA UZERINDE SEKIZ GUN, which means EIGHT DAYS ON EARTH. That's a pretty close translation! The cover was so different! Check it out below:


Now, I have been able to get Google translate to do some minor translations here and there but some reviewers did video blog reviews and YouTube didn't have translation available so I have no idea what they said! I think some of it was nice. At least I hope it was! The Turkish publisher was Hep Kitap.


In just a couple of weeks, the German edition of the book will come out. Its title is NICHTS ALS LIEBE IM UNIVERSUM which translates to NOTHING BUT LOVE IN THE UNIVERSE. Talk about a swoonworthy title! Wow! And here is its cover:

Its publisher in Germany is Reihe Hanser and dtv (I think for the ebook and Kindle edition). Already I have seen a few blog posts in German from readers who are looking forward to it. I can't wait to see what they think! Gotta fire up the Google translator soon.

If you've read the books in these languages, I would love to know what you think. Are they true to the original? Are they different? Makes me want to learn new languages. Happy reading!

Last week I had a great time chatting about books and ballet and all the cool things I want to write about (or the books I wish I'd written!) with Melissa Dee over at Universal by Design.

Melissa interviewed me as part of her Spotlight on writers series - thank you SO MUCH! I had a blast talking to her and it was really great to do it live rather than by email. Most interviews I have done have been via email which is great because you definitely have a chance to think about the answer you are going to give but a live interviewer gets right to the heart of your interests and goals.

There's no editing your true feelings!

Come take a listen at Melissa's website, Universal by Design, and be sure to let me know in the comments if you had any questions you want answered, like--

Will you write a sequel to The Leaving Season or Eight Days on Planet Earth?

When can I see your zombie ballet?

What was it like hearing famous celebrities praise your creative genius? (Ha! No they didn't do that, but they did have nice things to say.)

And anything else you want to know!

http://www.catjordanbooks.com/blog/po...

And while you're there, be sure to give a listen to Melissa's interview with Voiceover Artist Miles Carr, who also read an excerpt of my novel, EIGHT DAYS ON PLANET EARTH. Miles has a great background, really interesting to know more about him too.

It's been a while since I've hosted a book giveaway so let's do this!

I have a copy of EIGHT DAYS ON PLANET EARTH that I would love to sign and send out to a reader (US only, please).

Just sign up with your email and Facebook (that's how I'll reach you to let you know you've won!) and do it before August 31.

Did I mention FREE?

Did I mention SIGNED?

Did I mention HARDCOVER?

Yep, a beautiful hardcover book. I just love this cover. The colors are gorgeous and the inside jacket is just as stunning.



So how do you win? Enter right here:

https://www.subscribepage.com/Eight-D...

Or go to my blog:

http://www.catjordanbooks.com/blog/bo...

Thanks for entering! Good luck!

This week, I'll be attending the Southern Kentucky Book Festival and participating in two panel discussions about young adult literature. I'm super excited to attend. For one thing, I've never been to Kentucky and for another, I've never been invited to a book festival so this is a major thing for me on both counts!

SOKY will be located at the Knicely Conference Center on the South Campus of Western Kentucky University, 2355 Nashville Road, Bowling Green, KY 42101. And it's FREE!

The first panel I'm on is Friday, August 20th, 9:00-9:50am: "IRL? Contemporary Fiction" will be held in the Regency Room. I'll be there with authors Courtney Stevens, Mike Mullin, Cat Kim Savage, & Helene Dunbar.

This first day is called Children's Day and the festival will be open from 9AM-2PM. There are so many wonderful panels and workshops being held throughout the day.

The second panel is on Saturday, August 21st, 1:00-1:50pm: "Out of This World (Young Adult Fantasy and Sci-Fi Panel)" will be in Room 163C. This panel will feature Melissa Landers, Sharon Cameron, Olivia A. Cole and Michael Moreci.

This second day is not just for kid and teen lit but also for more general fiction and nonfiction. Check out the day's events here:

Also on Friday will be a Meet the Author reception, which will be a great time to chat! Register for this online by Monday, 4/16! I'll be there and I would love to hang out with you!

Illustrator Loren Long is just one of the many people you could meet there. He illustrated the beautiful and touching LOVE written by Matt de la Pena as well as OF THEE I SING, written by President Barack Obama.

Hope you can make it. (Did I mention this festival is FREE? It is!)

Hey everyone! HarperTeen is giving away 5 copies of my brand new novel EIGHT DAYS ON PLANET EARTH! I hope you'll enter to win a copy for yourself. Ends October 18th! Cheers and good luck~



https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...

Ah the Green-eyed Monster. It's a rare person, especially an insecure writer, who can resist the urge to compare herself to her peers - and find herself utterly lacking.

Other writers are:

1. More successful
2. More prolific
3. More talented
4. More sociable
5. More popular

And probably better-looking with a nicer computer, a dog that doesn't bark at skateboarders, and a spouse or partner who does all the gourmet cooking/grocery shopping/laundry/toilet cleaning.

It's incredibly tempting to look at someone else and think, "That should have been my book deal!"
"That should have been my spot on the NYT Bestsellers list!"
"That should have been my..."

And so on and so on.

But even if you resist, that competitive urge can creep into your reading of their books. You might have read an awesome review from a popular blogger or saw that a trade mag gave it a star or perhaps a good friend who isn't a writer recommended it to you.

Naturally you're curious so you grab a copy and reluctantly/eagerly dig into it. I say reluctantly because if it's really good, you'll find your work lacking. And eagerly because deep down, you're a reader and you want to inhale a great book. God knows I do! I love sinking into a good book and getting to know new awesome characters.

A. You finish and you love it.

Great! Tell the world, meaning your friends and fans and maybe the author herself. Authors love to hear positive feedback.

B. You finish and you hate it.

Do you report this to the world too? To your Goodreads account? To your Twitter followers? To your friends on Facebook and your fans on Instagram?

The Green-eyed Monster wants you to tell everyone when it's bad. Of course he does. He wants you to feel better about yourself.

But you have to listen to your Inner Reader, the one who drives you to write because you love books and you love stories and it's your fondest desire that other people love your books.

Your Inner Reader says "Shhh..." Say nothing.

When I read a book, I will absolutely happily tell Twitter and Facebook and people IRL and when I hate it, I tell no one. That's not fair to the author. That's not fair to her fans. Especially if it's a super popular book and a super popular author. How do I know that my reading of the book wasn't colored with a green hue?

So you're not going to read reviews from me. I don't want to judge other writers, those I know and those I don't. Did I read a certain book? Check my GR shelf and you'll find out. Did I like it? Well, you'll just have to contact me personally and ask.

Happy reading!

I'm about to start revising a new book based on feedback from my editor. I've revised many (many many!) books before but it's different when there's a publication date and you have actual deadlines to get certain things to certain people.

Which makes revising this book much more nerve-wracking: someone - perhaps multiple someones - is waiting for it in the very near future.

Before I allow myself to slip into panic mode, I thought back to previous revisions and how I'd approached them. I also reminded myself that a new draft, especially when a seasoned editor has provided feedback on it, is pretty much always better than the first draft.

The very first novel I wrote, back in 2001 when I was completely and utterly clueless, was 800 pages long. They were double spaced pages but there were 800 of them. It was just about 100K words, which is a-okay when you're well-known or are writing a fantasy novel, but for an unknown, it was wayyyy too long.

The first agent I approached told me to cut it in half before he would even look at it. My reaction was shock and indignance! How dare he ask me to cut it in half. Cut certain parts? Certain characters? Okay, I could understand that but to randomly ask me to chop my labor of love in two? What is this, Sophie's Choice?

Ultimately I did just that and it worked out splendidly, eventually, but at the time I thought, "This is a house of cards with everything perfectly placed just so." I believed that if I removed a card here and there, the whole thing would collapse.

In reality, very few books are like that. Unless you're writing a complex mystery or something truly unusual like the film, "Memento," your first draft is probably very, very muddy. You may think that card on top is a crisp, sharp-edged Ace of Hearts but it's more like a Joker that you found sticking to the bottom of your shoe. You need to clean it up, give it a buff and shine, and maybe find it a new home on a different level of your house.

Now that I've been through a number of these things, I think of my first draft as a lump of clay that only looks like a house. I might think my story, my characters and their motivations are clear to the reader, but in all likelihood, they are not. They may be there but hidden within a scene; they may be obviously in the scene but the scene is in the wrong place; they may not even be on the page at all.

Time to sculpt!

I love being thanked.

In a store when I fork over some cash.

When I hold the door open for someone.

If I donate to a charity or sign a petition.

In the car, I love being the person who waves someone else in. "Go ahead," my gentle wave says, "please merge in front of me." I will leave for work especially early *just* so I can do this.

I like to be the one who lets someone else take the really awesome parking spot in the grocery store lot. "No problemo," my smile indicates, "I could use the walk."

Back in NYC, I gave up up my subway seat to a thousand old people and pregnant women and gave directions to confused tourists on subway platforms. I'm sure I would do the same thing in LA if the Metro here went anywhere and I could actually use it.

I give free advice, whether it's requested or not, and *most* of the time people thank me. That's okay. I know they forget sometimes. At least, I'm pretty sure they forget. Yeah, let's go with that.

But I also love the flip side of appreciation.

I LOVE to thank people. Note the ALL CAPS.

Mom, Dad, significant other, dog. Friends and followers. Most especially: readers. I love when people take the time to write a review on Goodreads or post one on their blog. It's nice when they're positive but okay when they're not. There are so many books in the world that to even acknowledge one or 2 or 10 exist and comment on them is a big deal.

I thank you. And you. And you. And you.

Thank you for reading my book. Thank you for liking it. Thank you for telling someone else about it. I see you.

~Cat