If I could turn back time

August 2; 6:31 a.m.

October 2; 6:31 a.m.

(Note the speed....and I was not sitting in my driveway - I was on the interstate.)

Correction: My husband has just informed me that that is the tachometer...not the speedometer. Who knew? Heh.... (Why do they have to make cars so dang complicated.)

Cool geek

My favorite Geek Writer Bird-Sitter Water-Sipper Person-Who-Reads-More-Books-Than-Anyone-in-the-Universe has a cool post here.

Writing Tip Tuesday

In an essay by Jack Prelutsky entitled: In Search of the Addle-paged Paddlepuss (included in an anthology entitled: Worlds of Childhood: The Art and Craft of Writing for Children; edited by William Zinsser), he says:

One of the main differences between a poet and a non-poet is that a poet knows he is not going to remember what happened. Therefore he is smart enough to carry a notebook and write it down....Another secret of writing, along with taking notes, is keeping your eyes and your ears open, keeping your mind and your heart open, and being aware of what's going on around you.

I think it's important for writers to pay attention to the extraordinary in the ordinary - to notice the small things around us that the average observer might not notice or note to memory.

And when you notice those small things, WRITE THEM DOWN.

Now, granted, I have to write down, "Get up in the morning," but, still....I try to write down the little things that catch my attention.

Example: While visiting my friend, Dolores, last week, she told me that when she was a little girl, she loved going to visit her aunt in Vermont. One of her most vivid memories about those visits is what her aunt always served her three things - one of which she loved and two of which she hated.

The three things were:

• Creamed corn (the thing she loved)
  
• Tripe
• Moxie

No matter how often she told her aunt that she hated tripe and Moxie, her aunt still served them to her when she came to visit.

Now, I don't know about you, but I find that pretty interesting.

And as much as I'd like to think that I will always remember that, I wrote it down.

Some day, I will need to draw from my well of extraordinary things and there will be that list.

Wow!

From a fifth grade boy during a writing workshop last week:

The sun-warm sand sifted through my fingers like the frayed end of a silk scarf.

Great expectations

Since I'm getting ready to start a new year of school visits, I was thinking about:

Basic Expectations

What should a school expect from an author?

What should an author expect from a school?

On the most basic level.

Here's what I came up with:

What a school should expect from an author:

1. The author will be prompt. (Prompt means early enough to meet the contact person, set up any equipment, use the restroom, and be ready to start at the designated time.)
2. The author will bring all necessary equipment. (That means any equipment that the author has not asked the school to provide, such as laptops or projectors.)
3. The author will have a well-planned, well-timed presentation. (That means staying focused on the subject and not finishing earlier or later than scheduled.)
4. The author will understand and respect the school environment. (That means the author isn't frustrated by tight schedules or less-than-perfect facilities.)

What an author should expect from a school:

1. Someone at the school will be there to greet/escort her - or at the very least, someone in the office will be aware of the scheduled visit and the location for the presentation. (And if the author has specified that she is arriving 30 minutes early to set up equipment, someone is there 30 minutes early.)
2. Any previously requested equipment will be set up and ready. (And someone will be available to help in the event of an equipment glitch.)
3. Students will know who she is and be familiar with her books.
4. Students will arrive at the presentation on time.
5. Teachers will remain with the students.
6. Teachers will take on the responsibility of disciplining students, if necessary (and not leave that to the author.)
7. Some authors (not me) expect to sell books.

Pretty basic, huh?

(Yeah, I realize that there are more expectations on the author's side, but, hey, I'm an author. Heh...)

Of course, there are lots of other things on the part of both the school and the author that go beyond the basics that make an author visit the best that it can be:

Like here
And here
And here
And here
And here

Rusty

My first day back to school.

I can totally relate to Grace Lin's nervous feelings about the first day of school.

I always have that I've-forgotten-how-to-do-this feeling - even though I've done it 3342 times.

But once I get started, it all comes back to me like I never missed a beat.

And these fifth graders got me off to a great start. Check out these samples:


... the rusty hinges making a larger complaint than usual. [showing the setting of an old attic]

The garden in her heart had found winter. [showing, not telling - the feeling of sadness]

...the calm waters interrupted only by the dolphins. [showing the setting of the beach on a summer day]

So....it's back to breakfast in my car.

(Yes, those are grapes and Cheerios...I know, kind of pathetic, huh?)

Feeling the love

Well, shucks....I got THREE I-Heart-Your-Blog awards!

In the immortal words of Sally Field, "You like me! You really like me!"

Thank you to the talented author/illustrator Grace Lin.

Thank you to the amazing book-loving team of Karen and Bill.

Thank you to the ever wonderful Empress Geek Girl, Sarah Miller.

Writing Tip Tuesday

Author Joan Aiken says, in her book, The Way to Write for Children:

If you have found a voice for your book, even if the plot and characters are still at the embryonic stage of development, your battle is half won already.

I couldn't agree more - except to maybe argue that your battle is more than half won already.

At least, that is certainly the case for me.

I am just beginning a middle grade novel.

I'm in that painful, groping-in-the-dark stage - not quite sure of exactly where the story is headed.

Not 100% sure about a couple of characters.

But I know the voice of the book.

I don't mean the writing voice.

I mean the voice of the book - its overall aura - its style - its feeling.

I'm pretty sure my writing voice is fairly consistent - but the voice of my books changes.

Moonpie and Ivy is, for lack of a better word, kind of sad (okay, that's three words).*

Fame and Glory in Freedom, Georgia is light-hearted and friendly.

Greetings from Nowhere is a bit, hmmm, nostalgic? No, that's not the right word. Heart-warming? Yeah, maybe that's better.

But those are really descriptions of mood - which I think is an element of book voice.

Other elements are the rhythm, the pace, the overall tone, the word choice - most of the same elements that make up writing voice.

My current WIP is upbeat and humorous - and decidedly boy-friendly.

I'm 100% sure of the voice of the story.

So that makes it a heck of a lot easier to move forward with the stuff I'm not 100% sure of.

So - my tip?

Be sure of the voice of your book from the get-go. If you waffle along between edgy, humorous, dramatic, sad, upbeat, etc. - your struggle will be greater and your outcome not as rewarding.



*I once had a kid at a school ask me: "Why do you write such depressing books?" So, um, maybe depressing is a better word. Heh.

I heart copy editors

Copy editors (or is it copyeditor?) are the most irritating essential human beings on earth.

I love them.

I want to be them.

Even though they can be so dang irritating.

One of the reasons they are so irritating is because they are always right.

And they are so essential.

I loved this article about copy editor Helene Pleasants.

In case you have too many other blogs to read today and are irritated by yet another link (I'm kind of irritating with my use of the word "irritating" today), this was my favorite part:

Her blue pencil struck at redundancy, at confusion, at authorial vanity, at the wrong and the false word, at the unearned conclusion. She loved good writing, therefore she loved the reader: good writing did not cause the reader to stumble over meaning.

I particularly like "authorial vanity."

I know that I am certainly guilty of that.

And I see it in the work of others.

And speaking of redundancy, at the risk of being redundant.... (now these links are really irritating, huh?)

Good copy editors are worth their weight in gold.

Here's to Paul

I was at the car races in Lime Rock, CT Saturday when I heard the sad news about Paul Newman.

That linked article says: "As late as 2006, Newman was still sneaking over to Lime Rock Park in Connecticut to race."

But they are wrong.

I watched him race last September (2007) - at the age of 82 - and he won!!

So Paul, here's to you!

(I guess I will never be a sports photographer.)

Tradition

I'm heading out to the Berkshire's for my family's traditional weekend at the races.

Definitely the start of fall for me.

(And my son-in-college is meeting us out there. Yay!)

The Stalker

If I were ever going to stalk anyone - which I AM NOT - it would be Cynthia Rylant.

For one thing, I adore her writing.

I consider her the person who inspired me to find my own writing voice.

She is notoriously introverted, which fascinates me.

I have spent unhealthy amounts of time trying to find out information about her.

Here are some things I know:

She used to have a white dog named Martha Jane who liked pizza.

She once had a cat named Blueberry.

She worked in the children's department of the Cabell County Public Library in Huntington, West Virginia when she was 23.

She has a son named Nate, who was born "in the oranges and reds of the fall."

For many years, her "sweetheart" was Dav Pilkey.

She likes to go to the movies in the afternoon.

There are 8 boxes of cool stuff of hers in the special collections department at the Kent State University Library, including "an interesting written dialogue between a TV movie producer seeking the rights to Missing May and a reluctant Rylant."

I love that: "...a reluctant Rylant."

(A side note: That library has a cool online feature where you can "talk" to a research librarian in real time. They are amazing and very helpful.)

This is part of the letter she got from ALA when she won the Newbery:

And, I'm saving the best part for last.

She has written me two letters:

(She is recommending a book called I Am One of You Forever by Fred Chappell and anything by James Agee.)

(She is telling me that my novel was "lovely." That is such a perfect Cynthia Rylant word: lovely.)

She signed the first letter "Cynthia" - but she signed the second letter "Cyndi."

See how close we've become?

(Note to Cyndi: I promise I will not stalk you. Call me. Let's do lunch.)

Had me at hello

Two reasons I am TOTALLY reading this book.

Reason #1: The cover. I mean - dog....cute dog face....say no more....I'm there!


Reason #2: This first line of the Kirkus review (which I cannot read in its entirety because I don't subscribe, so can only read the first part of it):

A motherless girl, a stray dog and a heart-tugging plot—sound familiar? Not so fast—Nuzum's talent shines through to create an original take on a potentially predictable story line

Writing Tip Tuesday

A large part of revision involves CUTTING.

DELETING.

TRASHING.

But I know it's hard to know what to cut, delete, and trash.

One thing to look for is fake dialogue.

Here's what I mean by fake dialogue: Dialogue that is inserted for the sole purpose of informing the reader of something that the characters already know.

I hate that.

Here's a made-up example:

"I'm kind of nervous, aren't you?" Katherine said. "I mean, this is our first time on the middle school bus and since we're in the fifth grade, we'll be the youngest ones."

"Yeah, I'm pretty nervous, too," Mona said. "And we have soccer practice today. We've never been on a real team before. And all the others will be better than us because they went to soccer camp while we had to stay home and babysit."

I hate that.

It's fake dialogue.

The characters already know this information.

If you've got to convey the information to the reader - figure out some other way to do it.

CUT.....DELETE.....TRASH.....FAKE DIALOGUE.

Gadgets

My mother-in-law calls me "Gadget."

Because I love gadgets.

I want them all.

Newer. Smaller. Better. Faster.

Here's my new gadget.

And here's my first video. (Okay, okay....I need a little practice to get better quality, but I'll get there.)