Lara Zielin

If you live in Wisconsin or near Wisconsin or if you’ve ever wanted to visit Wisconsin (because it’s awesome!), please consider saying hello as I talk about The Implosion of Aggie Winchester IN WISCONSIN!

I’ll be in Eau Claire on September 18 at 3:00, doing a reading and signing at the Coffee Grounds, which is located at 3460 Mall Drive (just off highway 93).

Let me give you a visual:

I hope you can come! Books will be for sale on site. If you have any questions, you can email me at: new [dot] zielind [at] gmail [dot] com.

On Wisconsin!

One thing that’s great about books like Marly and Me and The Da Vinci Code is that diverse audiences can get behind them. From art appraisers to auto mechanics, from soccer-coaching dads to entrepreneurial college grads, people from all ranks can get sucked into the story.

Like so many people, I love books about dogs! And horses! And good old-fashioned mysteries. But I didn't write that kind of book when I penned Aggie.

I understand The Implosion of Aggie Winchester may not be that kind of book.

For example, Aggie swears. A lot. The F-word is practically a character in the book, so if you’re squeamish about foul language, leave Aggie on the shelf.

Aggie and her boyfriend do stuff. If you’re a fan of teen chastity and plots that don’t involve questions about sex, put Aggie down.

Aggie makes bad choices. If you want a teen with a strong moral center who knows exactly who she is and makes decisions that reflect that, Aggie ain’t her.

Aggie is flawed. She will probably frustrate you. But she’s also realistic. Aggie struggles. She falls. She effs up in the hugest ways, but she gets back up again and keeps going.

Which is, I think, true to how LIFE actually is. For me as an author, that’s part of why Aggie was worth all the heartache that went into creating her. She was difficult from the word go.

But as messed up as she is, she’s still not beyond redemption.

So maybe she might help teens who are struggling with developing a sense of self, or struggling with friends and boyfriends who don’t respect them, or struggling with finding words to express how they feel or act in ways that reflect who they really are.

Aggie isn’t right for every reader. And that’s okay.

Because I believe she’s exactly right for some readers.

In most circles I’m known for my beauty and brilliance, as well as my modesty.*

(*O_o)

Which is why it’s so hard for me to talk about what a smashing, amazing success the [first leg of the] Girls Taking Over the World book tour was!*

(*Coughs*)

But nevertheless, I’ll take a stab at it here.

HOLY WAH, IT WAS SOoooOoo AWESOME!

The first stop of the tour was Nicola’s Books in Ann Arbor. Look, they even had a display set up for us! Featuring all our books!

We did a quick talk about why it’s important to have strong female voices in teen books. Here we are trying to sound smart, which is hard when Rhonda Stapleton keeps snorting, which makes the rest of us snort.

From left to right are Christine Johnson, Rhonda Stapleton, Saundra Mitchell, me, and Aimee Carter

But you know what my favorite part was? YOU! All of you who came and packed the house!

Look at how many of you were there!!!

And some of you even wanted us to sign your books!

Dude, we had the BEST. TIME. EVER.

Thanks to everyone who turned out to support girls and books and reading and GTOTW and Aggie and shoes and cheese and … wait, now I’m just listing things I love.

Anyway. Aggie’s debut and the first leg of the tour were uh-maze-ing. Because you all made it that way.

*blows you kisses*

Thank you.

Really really.

Dude. My review from Kirkus for the The Implosion of Aggie Winchester was so brutal, a friend turned it into a black metal song. Which then we of course had to make into a video.

Awesomeness.

Rock on, readers!

UPDATE: Thanks, L.A. Times Book Review, for posting about it here!

Book reviews are like a bit like first dates. When they’re good, you can rave about them and be all like, Zomg, sooo amazing!

When they’re bad, you can shrug and say, Meh, it’s only one, we’ll see.

Either way, there’s no indication about any kind of long-term success. A good review doesn’t mean your book is going to be a best-seller. A bad review doesn’t mean your career is over.

And yet.

Andyetandyetandyet.

It sure feels amazing when you get a great review. I mean, just speaking from the heart here — as someone who really, really likes it when people really, really like my books — it feels fabulous.

And guess what?

Publisher’s Weekly — as in THE Publisher’s Weekly — likes The Implosion of Aggie Winchester!

I’ve pasted their entire review below, and you can also link to it here. Please, please do the happy dance with me because, okay, I know I can’t hang my hat on this long-term, but for right now? I am totally kicking my heels.

One of Zielin’s strengths as a writer is that she really “gets” teens: their voices, angst, and insecurities. Another is that she’s not afraid to throw her protagonists into no-win situations and watch them claw their way out. Aggie Winchester, a junior and self-professed goth, thoroughly resents her mother–who is also the principal of Aggie’s high school, which fuels her rebellious, self-destructive behavior. But then Aggie’s best friend, Sylvia, gets pregnant and is nominated for prom queen, an old boyfriend rears his gorgeous but devious head, and Aggie discovers that her mother has breast cancer. Though Aggie is not always a lovable main character, Zielin (Donut Days) keeps her real and honest. As Aggie heads ever deeper into the hole she’s dug for herself, she grapples with some tough choices. Should she have sex with her old boyfriend to get him back? Should she rat on Sylvia, who may have rigged the prom queen election? How can she make her mother actually listen to her? For teens confronting similar questions, Aggie’s realistically bumpy journey will be welcome, timely, and thoroughly satisfying. Ages 14–up. (Aug.)

Picking a winner for the Implosion of Aggie Winchester contest was tough. All those prom stories and entries? Were amazing. Just totally fabulous. And hilarious. And, okay, a little heartbreaking. You guys really jerked my heart-strings. In a good way.

So it is with much applause and fanfare for all the entrants that I announce the winner is …

Susannah!

The combination of unrequited teen love, a bad four-way date, and an aqua zoot suit totally got me. I was laughing (leaving room for the Holy Ghost, hahaha!) — and also cringing. I love that Susannah also offered a bit about what she’d do differently if she had to do it all over again: lighten up, laugh at it, realize it’s not the end of the world, even though it sure felt like it at the time.

So congratulations, Suz! You’re el winner-o! I’ll get a copy of Implosion to you asap.

Huzzah! And thanks again to all of you for bringing me into the gym and under the lights with you.

More giveaways! My next book, THE IMPLOSION OF AGGIE WINCHESTER, won’t be out until August, but you can win an advance copy now!

Much of the book centers around the prom and what a big deal it is to the small Minnesota town where Aggie Winchester lives. In the comments, please tell me a prom story — or one you heard, or even one you made up if you haven’t actually been to prom — and I’ll choose one of the stories as the winner! I will base the selection on originality and heart, which are totally subjective but it’s my blog so, uh, there.

I’ll leave the comments open until June 3 and pick the winner that day.

And, even though I’m not eligible to win, here’s my story anyway:

I went to my junior prom with my friend Chris, who is my pal to this day. He was a total gentleman the whole time, and I kept telling him he made me feel like Cinderella.

A few days after the prom was over, Chris visited my house and gave me a miniature glass slipper.

Cinderella indeed.

** Oh, oh, and for the record, Chris’s daughter just went to prom! So, like, I totally feel old but I love that his daughter went to prom the same year my book about prom (and, okay, a lot more than prom) is coming out. Yay!

FAVE LINKEY-POO RIGHT THIS SECOND: For sure it’s the movie version of Oregon Trail. For those of you reading who are all like, what’s Oregon Trail?, let me tell you, it was this totally budget video game that many of us played when floppy disks were actually floppy. Herdy herdy.

I have some exciting news! Aggie Winchester is here! Okay, not in galley form. Not yet. But look how close! Look how many clean, white, pretty pages she has!

Also, I’m super pumped because The Implosion of Aggie Winchester can now be found on Amazon.com! It’s not yet available for pre-order (*coughs*), but you can sign up to be notified when it becomes available. And, um, no — the beagle sniffing the pages above does not come with your order. Much as I wish he could some days.