Two Things on Tuesday

Thing One

Dear Barbara O'Connor:

You are the best writer in the world. I promise that is not a joke. 

Thing Two

Dear Barbara O'Connor:

 I really appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to tell us about your book How to Steal a Dog. I learned that some of Mookie's quotes are real but some are fake and are from your brain.

Two Things on Tuesday

Thing One

 Thing Two

 

Two Things on Tuesday

Thing One

A great letter from a school librarian:

Dear Mrs. O'Connor:

Is there anything better than a classroom of second graders begging for The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester? Yes - two classrooms! 

[Thank you Mrs. Vonk, for taking the time to write that.)

Thing Two

I loved the fantastic secret of Owen Jester. My favorite character is Travis. Because he has a temper and I have a temper. I live in Georgia.

 

Two Things on Tuesday

Thing One

Some days I fear writing dreadfully, but I do it anyway. I've discovered that sometimes writing badly can eventually lead to something better. Not writing at all leads to nothing.

--Ann Quindlen 

Thing Two

Came across this from School Library Journal during a recent office cleanup. I made a gazillion Yoohoo boats for this.

  

Two Things on Tuesday

Thing One

Dear Barbara O'Connor:

I really like Me and Rupert Goody. My favorite part was the chicken hair. 

Thing Two

Writing for children is murder. A chapter has to be boiled down to a paragraph. Every word has to count. 

--Dr. Seuss  

Two Things on Tuesday

Thing One

Viola is coming to Owen. She is gonna blow there minds. Viola is mean.

Thing Two

Isn't this an awesome way to thank an author after a visit?

Click here to see

Two Things on Tuesday

Thing One

I am so looking forward to going to one of my MOST favorite schools tomorrow. And how can I not love seeing this as the students prepare?

Thing Two

Don’t sit down in the middle of the woods. If you’re lost in the plot or blocked, retrace your steps to where you went wrong.

—Margaret Atwood 

 

Two Things on Tuesday

Thing One

Next week, I'm heading to Bentonville, Arkansas to visit 11 schools in conjunction with their amazing One District One Book program.

This year's book is The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester. 

To get in the spirit of things, Apple Glen Elementary School recently celebrated "Support Viola Day" to honor the character of Viola.

Here is librarian, Amanda Sleeper.

Love this!

The students at Bentonville High School are putting on a play of the book! I mean, um, WOW!

This is a poster for the play designed by high school senior Kelly Wells.

Thing Two

While cleaning out my office recently, I found this picture my son drew for me years ago. (Sniff sniff) He chose all the things that he thinks represent me. (I like "Organized.")  So perfect. (Except, um, that map is North Carolina, not South Carolina, but who cares?) Love that boy!

  

Two Things on Tuesday

Thing One

A big shout-out to Ms. Sager's 5th graders!

 

Thanks for the gifts, y'all!!

 

Thing Two

All the kids at this school sat on big bouncy balls. Love that!

Two Things on Tuesday

Thing One

"Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them — in order that the reader may see what they are made of."

--Kurt Vonnegut

Thing Two

From the 4th graders at Killam Elementary in Reading, MA

 

Two Things on Tuesday

Thing One:

"Other people's books are the greatest teachers of writers."

--Rosemary Wells

Thing Two:

Because I visit 1,245,677 schools a year, I keep records to help me remember them. (I usually return to the same schools each year when working locally).

I make notes about everything from weird parking issues to equipment needs to reminders to stay away from the chicken nuggets on Wednesdays.

I was recently going through my records from past years and came across this one: 

"Parent volunteer brought me a sandwich. Teacher with a hyphenated name was fantastic."

(Goes to show you how much that sandwich must have meant to me. Heh...)

 

Two Things on Tuesday

Thing One

Okay, confession time: 

Sometimes I get tired of all those jaunts to schools.

The long, tedious commutes at the crack of dawn.

The airport hassles.

The motels and bagels and vending machine dinners.

Schlepping my suitcase of materials through slushy snow.

Talking, talking, talking.

But then I posted my annual Year-in-a-Minute for 2013 and a dear friend and amazing teacher (I'm looking at YOU, Patrick Allen) left this comment:

All those kids--the lives you've touched! This was a great post to see today!

And all my kvetching flew out the window faster than I can say: I am so blessed to have this job.

So I will say it again:

I am so blessed to have this job. 

Thing Two

I've been in a bit of a funk lately trying to balance writing and life (and not doing it very well). 

I yearn for long, uninterrupted time for writing. 

I'm a writer.

I want to write.

But then the dog gets sick and the cupboard is bare and the sheets need washing and the car needs an oil change and.....

You get the picture.

But I recently read this quote from author William Styron (of Sophie's Choice fame):

...every writer since the beginning of time, just like other people, has been afflicted by what that same friend of mine calls “the fleas of life”—you know, colds, hangovers, bills, sprained ankles, and little nuisances of one sort or another. 

Fleas of life???!!!!

I mean, how perfect is that?

And now, oddly, I feel better.

We all have fleas of life.

We just have to get over it and move on, right? 

  

Two Things on Tuesday

Thing One

I'm still grappling with writing a very rough first draft without obsessing over making it perfect. (Discussed here.)

I found this perfect quote on the internet. (Sorry, don't know who said it. Whoever you are, thank you!)

Get it done now. Get it right later. 

Thing Two

I've spent a lot of time here lately.

Two Things on Tuesday

Thing One

Dear Barbara O'Connor:

Since you live in Duxbury, Massachusetts, have you ever seen Pilgrims?

Thing Two

The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester puppet show!

 

Two Things on Tuesday

Thing One

Mantra for children's authors:

Minimum words; maximum impact.  *

Thing Two

Author Alice McDermott defines literary fiction this way:

We are surrounded by story. Story is very accessible to us, more so than ever. But what I think literary fiction [does] is raise the level of the sentence to be as important as the story the sentence tells. 

The rhythm, the beauty, the music of it is as important as character and plot.

* Thanks to THIS BLOG for that quote

Two Things on Tuesday

Thing One

Merry

Thing Two

Christmas

   

Two Things on Tuesday

Thing One

Thank you, thank you, thank you for this, my hero and idol and inspiration.

Sometimes I'll just find any way at all in the world to avoid writing a book. I think it's because I think every single word is so important; I find it daunting to write. And so I couldn't do it every day. …  Cynthia Rylant (click HERE to read about my obsession)

Thing Two

Dear Barbara O'Connor:

I really really really like your craft move of repeating words three times. 

Two Things on Tuesday

Thing One

Received from a teacher:

My 3rd grade students made cards for you after we finished reading aloud your fabulous book, The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis...  

I admire your writing very much and thank you so much for hooking my reluctant boy readers. That Spit and Swear Club was their favorite!   

Love that!!!

Thing Two

Word by word, sentence by sentence, page by page....it's growing

Two Things on Tuesday

Thing One

I love this.

Good Morning, Wonderful Writers! Today we will not have Morning Meeting. Instead we will go to a presentation by Barbara O'Connor. This will be from 8:40-9:40. She will also come to our classroom from 11:10-12:10. From, Your Teachers. Are you excited to meet a real published author? Yes, Kind of, Not sure (I'm glad they didn't get the choice of "No". haha

Thing Two

Alas, the weather is getting cooler and I'm having to abandon my outdoor office.

So I'm moving indoors.

I read a great interview with Roald Dahl's daughter. She described  his lap desk. 

 

So I decided I should use a lap desk, too. Maybe I'll write books as great as his. (Or maybe not)

Two Things on Tuesday

Thing One

Great advice to writers from Anne Lamott:

Don't bog down on transitions. They're hard. Mark with "TR" and move to next passage. Do parts you can do without strain first, like Pick Up Sticks

Thing Two 

I collect state map tablecloths.

I already have New Jersey.

But I just couldn't resist this one.