creativity

In the pause: Happy 8th birthday to my dog and writing companion, Phineas

Christa Avampato

Phineas 8th birthday7 years ago today, I adopted this sweet, brave, and loyal boy. Phineas was just 1-year-old, and someone had dumped him in the woods to fend for himself. His howling saved him, a policeman found him, and thanks to New York Dachshund Rescue, I became his mom. Today on his 8th birthday, I wish him a bottomless bowl of food, a mountain of treats and toys, a soft, cozy bed, and plenty of long walks, grass rolling in the sun, and tummy rubs. After all he’s given to me, this is the very least he deserves. Happy birthday, buddy. May we have many more. I love you.

 

creativity

In the pause: An unlikely life

Christa Avampato

Yesterday I spent some time talking to a friend of mine who’s a real estate agent. She’s helping me get on a path to homeownership here in New York, which is not a task for the faint-hearted. After talking about my financial picture, we talked about the idea of willing dreams into existence. This last set of years have at times been extraordinarily difficult for me and greatly blessed. All in, they have led me to the place I am now: in my favorite neighborhood in my favorite city, starting what I have high hopes will be a dream job, and a book 8 years in the making about to be published in just over a month. A year ago, this scenario was unlikely. Hell, it felt flat-out impossible. Today, it’s my everyday life, and I don’t take a single moment of it for granted. It’s not perfect, but I’m extraordinarily grateful for it, even in the moments when I’m most challenged. With effort and a belief in the wisdom of what we don’t yet know or understand, life becomes exactly what we imagine it can be. Every difficulty and blessing I’ve had was needed; each one played a role in making my life today possible. Perspective is a beautiful thing.

creativity

In the pause: Mike Bloomberg and Carl Pope give cities, business, and citizens hope

Christa Avampato

“Call me a cynic, but I’m not basing Verizon’s strategy on anything happening in Washington.” ~ Lowell McAdam, Verizon CEO, and the Bloomberg Live event Sooner Than You Think

Between reading the book Climate of Hope by Mike Bloomberg and Carl Pope and attending Cornell Tech’s opening on Roosevelt Island, it’s becoming clear to me that even though Washington seems unable to get out of its own way, individuals, cities, and businesses can and will make all the difference in this world. Washington will continue to spin for the foreseeable future, and while that’s incredibly unfortunate, it’s largely unimportant. With the exception of military action and international relations, cities, businesses, and each of us are the ones who will really make a difference for each other, not the federal government.

We’re already seeing so much evidence of this here in New York in our education system, infrastructure, and local economy. Cornell Tech, our tuition-free college program, and the reconstruction of LaGuardia airport and Penn Station are all examples of a city, a state, and individuals implementing solutions that improve quality of life. I feel very fortunate and proud to live here, and I’m excited to be a part of it. Rather than continuing to wring my hands about the fiasco in our federal government, I’m going to double down on doing the best I can with what I’ve got right where I am—through my city, my company, and my writing.

creativity

In the pause: Cornell Tech campus opens on New York City’s Roosevelt Island

Christa Avampato

Yesterday’s event at Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island filled me with inspiration and possibility. It was quite a testament to what can be achieved through private – public partnerships with tech CEOs from IBM, Qualcomm, Verizon, and startups, investors, journalists, Governor Cuomo, Mayor de Blasio, Mike Bloomberg, and the President of Cornell all in attendance.

The spaces, indoors and out, are incredibly thoughtful and stunning. Best of all, it’s been built as an inviting setting for the public. Bring your laptop, book, or sketch pad, grab a coffee at the cafe, and take it all in with plenty of wi-fi and collaborative space. This is a place of community, and the hope is that companies and projects started by students and incubator sponsors (yes, your company can get space here!) will diversify and grow the NYC economy. Already, Cornell Tech has spun out 38 companies, 94% of which are based in NYC.

Graduate and doctoral studies as well as Executive Education courses comprise the student body here and it will also be a stage for events at the cross-section of tech, business, art, and social impact.

Grab the F train, bus, ferry, or tram, and go check it out!

creativity

In the pause: It’s amazing what you hear if you listen

Christa Avampato

As a writer and business leader, I have one superpower: I’m a tremendous listener. I take in people’s stories and perspectives like I take in air. I listen for what’s said and what’s not said. I pay attention to body language, posture, tone of voice, emotion, and intonation. It’s a skill we don’t celebrate or value enough, and one we should all hone. I’ve found teachers, mentors, friends, and heroes by being a good listener. It’s an action that’s changed my life for the better, and one I’m proud to be able to do every day.

creativity

In the pause: A 5-star review from Readers’ Favorite for my young adult book, Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters

Christa Avampato

It’s with so much joy that I’m proud to share the first professional review of my book, Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters. Thank you to Readers’ Favorite and to writer Romuald Dzemo for this 5-star review across the board in the categories of Appearance, Plot, Development, Formatting, Marketability, and Overall Opinion. I am humbled and honored!

“This is a fascinating story deftly told, a tale of courage and a gritty investigation, featuring a young protagonist who will take readers by surprise. The plot is fast-paced and readers are pulled into an exciting world filled with mystery and exciting stuff. Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters features excellent writing, brimming with vivid descriptions and dialogues that are compelling as they enhance the different elements of the story. Here is a story that will enthrall both young adult readers and adults, a well-plotted story with powerful themes seamlessly woven into its fabric. Christa Avampato was able to win my heart from the very beginning of the story with a powerful hook, and managed to keep my eyes glued to the pages, unable to stop reading. The prose is excellent and seduces the reader right off the bat. This story is engaging. A huge success for a novel!”

creativity

In the pause: 9/11 turned me into a writer

Christa Avampato

“Your word is your wand.” ~Florence Scovel Shinn

On this day of remembrance, I’m reflecting on the power of our words as writers. In many ways, September 11th gave me the urgency to write. I wanted so much to be a writer all my life. Buried somewhere in the grief of that day and the many days that followed, something rose up and said, “You must do this now. Right now.” And so I began to write things down. Ideas and stories and reflections at my then very young age of 25.

I didn’t know where it would lead, but I felt that I needed to leave something behind, something that would survive long after me. It would be many more years before Emerson Page entered my mind, many more years until a life-threatening tragedy of a different kind would literally meet me at my doorstep and spur me to find and stand in my own light.

Watching how precious and fleeting life can be, for reasons completely out of our control and out of the realm of what we even imagine to be possible every morning, 9/11 brought into irrefutable focus that we have to live every day. To honor those we lost. To honor all of those forever impacted by it in countless and unchangeable ways. To not wait. To not let the days slip away but to grab them, hold them, and treasure them. To live out loud. That’s what they would have done. That’s what they would have wanted for all of us.

On this day of remembrance, I wish you peace and love and light. And I wish you the energy to embrace your passions that make this world so rich and vibrant. Your story, every story, matters. To someone, somewhere. Write it down so that others may know you even if you never get the chance to meet them. You never know what difference your words will make to someone who needs them. You may have just the magic they need to keep going in their own lives.

creativity

In the pause: Meet the 826NYC teaching artist cohort bringing creative writing to NYC public schools

Christa Avampato
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826NYC’s first cohort of Teaching Artists

I’m so excited to be a part of this program!

Press release: 826NYC is proud to announce its first-ever cohort of Teaching Artists! These dynamic and experienced writers and educators will be running our in-schools and partnership residencies across New York City. Each residency ranges from 4-8 sessions in length and culminates in an anthology of student work, which is professionally designed and printed for distribution.

The cohort includes writers and artists from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, the Watermill Center, the Minnesota Prison Writers Workshop, and more.

Learn more about Christa Avampato, Maryann Aita, Cameron Crawford, Joss Lake, Jason Leahey, Fatima Farheen Mirza, Krystal Reddick, and Helena Smith. Learn more about them here!

creativity

In the pause: Enter my giveaways of the books The Girl Who Drank the Moon and Wonder

Christa Avampato

To celebrate the launch of my young adult book, Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters, I’m doing a series of giveaways of books that inspire me as a writer. The first one is The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill. Enter the sweepstakes on Amazon in just a few clicks!

I’m also giving away the book Wonder by R.J. Palacio. Enter that sweepstakes on Amazon.

About The Girl Who Drank the Moon:

Winner of the 2017 Newbery Medal
The New York Times Bestseller
An Entertainment Weekly Best Middle Grade Book of 2016
A New York Public Library Best Book of 2016
A Chicago Public Library Best Book of 2016
An Amazon Top 20 Best Book of 2016
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2016
A School Library Journal Best Book of 2016
Named to KirkusReviews’ Best Books of 2016
2017 Booklist Youth Editors’ Choice

Every year, the people of the Protectorate leave a baby as an offering to the witch who lives in the forest. They hope this sacrifice will keep her from terrorizing their town. But the witch in the Forest, Xan, is kind. She shares her home with a wise Swamp Monster and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon. Xan rescues the children and delivers them to welcoming families on the other side of the forest, nourishing the babies with starlight on the journey.

One year, Xan accidentally feeds a baby moonlight instead of starlight, filling the ordinary child with extraordinary magic. Xan decides she must raise this girl, whom she calls Luna, as her own. As Luna’s thirteenth birthday approaches, her magic begins to emerge–with dangerous consequences. Meanwhile, a young man from the Protectorate is determined to free his people by killing the witch. Deadly birds with uncertain intentions flock nearby. A volcano, quiet for centuries, rumbles just beneath the earth’s surface. And the woman with the Tiger’s heart is on the prowl . . .

About Wonder:

SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING JULIA ROBERTS, OWEN WILSON, AND JACOB TREMBLAY!

Over 6 million people have read the #1 New York Times bestseller WONDER and have fallen in love with Auggie Pullman, an ordinary boy with an extraordinary face.

The book that inspired the Choose Kind movement.

I won’t describe what I look like. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s probably worse. 

August Pullman was born with a facial difference that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school. Starting 5th grade at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid—but his new classmates can’t get past Auggie’s extraordinary face. WONDER, now a #1 New York Times bestseller and included on the Texas Bluebonnet Award master list, begins from Auggie’s point of view, but soon switches to include his classmates, his sister, her boyfriend, and others. These perspectives converge in a portrait of one community’s struggle with empathy, compassion, and acceptance.

“Wonder is the best kids’ book of the year,” said Emily Bazelon, senior editor at Slate.com and author of Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Character and Empathy. In a world where bullying among young people is an epidemic, this is a refreshing new narrative full of heart and hope. R.J. Palacio has called her debut novel “a meditation on kindness” —indeed, every reader will come away with a greater appreciation for the simple courage of friendship. Auggie is a hero to root for, a diamond in the rough who proves that you can’t blend in when you were born to stand out. 

Join the conversation: #thewonderofwonder

creativity

In the pause: Being a writer makes me a better product developer

Christa Avampato

Being a writer makes me a better product developer. The daily practice of writing across genres for the past 10 years has helped me understand the art of brevity, the science of engagement, and the power of inspiration. High-quality products and books, and the marketing and promotion behind them, convey their intrinsic value in simple, elegant terms. At the very heart of great writing and great products, there must live the ability for them to improve the quality of life for those who consume them. I am proud and honored to stand in the parallel worlds of product development and writing. Both acts of creativity are more than a career to me; they are a part of my soul. They are who I am.