Alice Blog

My Own Insecurities

Comment:

Because of the love that Patrick, Alice’s lifelong friends, and Alice’s family have for her, I am able to stop lingering insecurities of “how could anyone ever love someone so pragmatic; so prone to obsessing over little things; so fond of and attached to home, family and the familiar?  Because I recognize that someone like Alice would be deserving of love, acceptance, and belonging, I believe that I am worthy of love, acceptance and belonging.  Thank you.

Phyllis replied:

A wise woman once said to me, when she is counseling young women wondering if they are beautiful enough, smart enough, interesting enough to attract a guy, “look around you!”  Observe other couples, especially married couples, and you will see–yes, some beautiful women with handsome men.   But you will also see perfectly plain women with a great looking guy; fantastic women with unremarkable men.  You’ll see a man who is wonderful and talkative at parties with a quiet woman who enjoys staying in the background, or a gorgeous woman married to a perfectly dull guy.  Most often love comes down to what person makes you feel comfortable being yourself; what person makes you feel wanted and cherished, just as you are, and men need this just as much as women.

 

Snazzy new site!

Comment:

Love the website redesign, it’t really sharp!

Phyllis replied:

I love it too.  And I can answer emails without having to go through a third party to post them.

Living Wild and Crazy

Comment:

The beauty of your books is that you tell the honest truth of a normal girl living her normal life.  Basically, it seems to me that “you live young while you’re young, live old while you’re old.”  Youth is the only chance you have to live out your wild and crazy adventures, not because of finances or  not being tied down.  It’s because your priorities and values change as you get older.  You no longer look for life to be an ever-changing crazy adventure, you look for “simple but good.”  That’s a beautiful thing.  But all change is tinted with the sadness of leaving something behind.

Phyllis replied:

Hmmm.  Yes and no to the idea of change.  Yes, when you’re growing up, every year you’re in a different class at school, different teachers, learning new things.  You expect change.  If you get a job or go to college, you may work different hours, live in new cities, constantly meet new people.  But you can actually get tired of change; change can get “old.”  You may get tired of living alone; of meeting friends each night at the usual bar scene; may get tired of serial dating—of living out of a suitcase with so much travel.  And people who have raised families and put their kids through college may be ready for living a little crazy for awhile–traveling to places they’d always wanted to go, starting a new business, moving to a new location.  The secret, I think, is not to expect always to be “happy,” because “happiness” is reserved for big things–awards or birth of a child, or falling in love or meeting an old friend.  What you hope for is contentment.  Nobody can feel extreme emotion all the time, so reserve “happiness” for the really special things that happen and “contentment” for your day-to-day life.  And yes, change is often tinted with sadness–leaving something behind–but it’s hard to go around “sad” all the time too.

Who was Alice?

Comment:

I’ve been dreading the end of the Alice series for a very long time.  The fear was that once I finished the books, Alice’s story would become stagnant–her story would become stuck in the past rather than feeling like Alice is right there with me in every step of my life.  Now that I’ve reached the end of the series, I’m thrilled that my fear didn’t come true.  Alice lived a full and complete life, and thanks to you, I have a full record of it.   Are the Alice books autobiographical for you in any way?  How did you feel saying goodbye to Alice?

Phyllis replied:

I was both sad and relieved when the last book was done.  No one can guarantee how long she’ll live, and I SO wanted to complete the series (and write a zillion more books that are in my head).  At the same time, I enjoyed writing the series so much.  Whenever it was time to do another Alice book, it was like vacation to me, settling down with a family I felt I knew so well.  And how I loved writing those discussions between Alice and Lester!  I guess I’d have to say that the books were autobiographical in the sense that I could feel absolutely every emotion Alice was experiencing, whether the same situation had happened to me or not.  I was so into her, into her head, that I could feel what she was going to do or say next.  So it was great being 18 again, or 24, or 36.  Even 60, with a whole new career before her.

 

Made a major contribution to who I am

Comment:

I’m from Vienna, and started reading the Alice book series back in primary school due to a girl in my class doing a book presentation on one of the books.  I kept reading them passionately until there were not any more available translated in German.  I have been wanting to let you know how much I love your books for a very long time now and I truly hope this email reaches you.  Your books mean so much to me and I would go as far as saying that they have majorly contributed to who I am today.  I feel as if I have learned so unbelievably much about life by reading them. Recently, I have found out that there are some more books in the series which just have not been translated into German and I am now in the  process of reading them all.  I am at the age of 20 now and studying sociology abroad, and still every time I read more I am in awe of the life lessons it keeps teaching me.  Even though the time has changed a lot since you have written the books–one could think they take place in 2016.  thank  you from the bottom of my heart for writing the Alice book series. they will always be my favourite books, no matter how old I am.  P.S.  for Christmas I will give one of the books to my young cousin, and I am sure she will be just as hooked on them as I am myself.

Phyllis replied:

Thank you so much for your email.  I have left out bits and pieces that might identify you to friends, even though there’s nothing you might want to hide.  (I always omit or change identifying items from an email).  It’s really sad that Germany stopped publishing the Alice books about the time she enters puberty, but so many Germans speak and read English now that some of them say they enjoy the books more in English than in the German translations.  You’ll find a complete list of all the Alice book titles on my website, www.phyllisnaylor.com

 

Courage

Comment:

Alice has made my do stuff that i would never do before. When i found out about these books i can never put it down.
i love u Alice

Phyllis replied:

Hmmm.  I’m going to assume it’s all positive stuff, like standing up for a girl that the popular crowd is cutting down, taking a speech class and reciting in front of the class, listening to a viewpoint that is radically different from your own….  I  hope you enjoy all 28 of them–Alice from 8 to 60!

About You as a Teen

What Questions Do You Ask Yourself When Starting a YA book?

Comment:

I know you’ve said you often start writing a new book by asking a question.  What questions prompt some of your young adult novels?

Phyllis replied:

“How does a boy go on keeping  his dad’s mental illness a secret?”  (The Keeper)

“Should a girl risk her own life  to try to save her dad in a blizzard?”  (Blizzard’s Wake)

“What does a teenage boy have to do to escape from a strange lost-in-time  community?”   (Sang Spell)

“How does a boy triumph over his bullies?”  (Going Where It’s  Dark)

“How does a girl adjust from being part of a couple to being single again?”  (Alice Alone)

 

 

Writing by computer or by hand?

Note from Phyllis:

I’m often asked if I’d be willing to read someone’s manuscript. I truly wish I had time to do that, and to give what advice I can, but there are never enough hours in the day to accomplish all I need to do. Perhaps one way we could use this blog, though, is to explore various aspects of the writing process. One of the questions I’m frequently asked is whether it’s better to write a novel or story on the computer or by hand. I know wonderful writers who swear by one or the other. My answer is whatever seems more comfortable. I used to write each book, chapter by chapter, three times—trying to perfect it with each rewrite—before I typed it up. Because once it is set in print, it looks so nice on the screen that it doesn’t seem to need as much work. But if I have to write the whole thing over, word by word, it makes me think about each one: Is there a better choice? How does it sound when I read it aloud? Is the rhythm right? Have I already used it in a preceding sentence?   But now that my writing hand gets cramped from all this work, I’m experimenting with writing my chapters only once by hand, then typing them up and trying to think through each word as I go. Perhaps someone has a better idea….

Alice in High School

Comment:

Over the summer I grew a love for the three books about Alice McKinley, during her high school years. I could relate so much, that when something embarrassing would happen to her, I would laugh or my face would turn red. I think that’s one of the reasons you wrote this book. You knew that girls like me could relate, which would help us through our high school years. For example, when Alice was at the airport and her underwear was showing and Lester said, “The world does not revolve around you. Keep walking.”

Reading these books has helped me to embrace my flaws, realize the world doesn’t revolve around boys, and to have fun in high school. I think your message that you wanted to convey to the readers is that, it’s okay to not always have everything in control. In high school a lot of unexpected things happen, which you might not be ready for. Friends will change and leave, and in that moment, you will want to think that your life is over, but it’s not. When Alice had friendship problems that she realized she couldn’t fix, she let it go. Alice definitely spoke her mind, especially when something wasn’t right or she didn’t want to be put in a bad situation. It’s helped me to speak up when I know what’s going on is wrong.

I’ve learned immensely when I read all three books. I’ve learned to embrace life, try my best with my friendships, and to not worry so much about boys. Alice doesn’t have a mom, so when she would cry over not knowing her, I realized that I’ve taken my mom for granted. She’s done so much for me, yet I lack thanking her for making dinner, always coming to my events, and allowing me to have friends over. I’m definitely more aware of everything she takes time to do for me, and for her being in my life. This past summer, I’ve had a lot of problems with my best friend. She changed, a lot. I realized towards the end of the summer that she’s still trying to find who she is. I know that I don’t need to pretend to be someone I’m not, I already have a lot of friends who love me for who I am. She wants to be popular and be friends with fake people, I don’t.

High school is about making new friends and experiencing new adventures. I don’t need boys to be happy. I think girls in my grade think that it’s okay to let a boy shape you into who they want you to be. NEWS FLASH: IT’S NOT. You don’t need to date in high school just to date, or have someone to hold hands with. The one you are supposed to marry, heck, he probably doesn’t even know you exist. High school is about friends you’re making for life, not ditching your friends for some boy you won’t even talk to in the next 4 years. Thank you so much for making these books, they have impacted my life greatly.

Phyllis replied:

I so appreciated your letter.  Some of us girls are slow learners, though.  I can remember dating a guy for whom I really wanted to be cool.  Down deep, in my heart of hearts, I knew he was not the kind of guy I would marry.  He was actually my older sister’s age, and when I was a sophomore, and he was a senior, and he walked into my homeroom one morning, asked if he could speak to me, came back to my desk, and with others hearing, invited me to the Military Ball, I was over the moon.  I dated this guy for two years, before I met someone I did marry–my first marriage–and when I had to tell my current boyfriend I was in love with someone else, I realized for the first time that I had actually let him believe we would marry.  I still remember his crouching down, resting one arm on his knee, his head in his hand, and I felt horrible, really, really horrible, for having led him on.  He was so hurt.  Even writing this today, decades later, I feel bad about this.  So it works both ways.  All this time, both of us were probably pretending to be something we weren’t.  I wish that I had dated more, instead of feeling I had to have a “steady” boyfriend–that’s what we called it back then.  But I was insecure.  And thanks for your shout-out to let your mothers know how much  you appreciate them!