Time-Waster #435

How I Spent My Winter Vacation
by
Barbara O'Connor

This is kinda cool...

How to Make a Journal of Your Life

For those who love words

And what writer doesn't?

Depressing

I walk 30 minutes to an hour EVERY DAY.

I lift weights three times a week - EVERY WEEK.

I'm SORE from playing Wii.


What's up with THAT?

Awww.....

For Christmas, I got a new silver baby cup for my collection.

This one has little teeth marks on it!

Christmas pleasures

Phoebe loved her Christmas present.

Uh oh...

That didn't take long.

Christmas

Christmas was wonderful. Just the three of us hunkered down in our cave. Stopped the world and got off.

I got a Wii! Yay! (I suck at tennis in the real world. I suck at tennis in the Wii world. No fair.)

My favorite part of the day is Christmas dinner.

Here I am basking in the glow of the infamous leg lamp.

Matty enduring holiday humiliation:

Writing Tip Tuesday

One of the most critical elements to master in writing children's books is PACING.

Children's books must move quickly.

Good pacing is achieved by:

• Good story structure (setup, development, climax, resolution)
• Variety (a mix of dialogue and narrative, large and small jumps in time, balance of tension with no tension)
• Good use of chapter endings and beginnings
• Eliminating unnecessary sentences, paragraphs, scenes, chapters

Chapter endings are, in my mind, one of the writers greatest tools. Use the chapter ending to create tension or suspense and to arouse curiosity (which keeps the reader reading).

Use chapter beginnings to jump forward in time, to introduce a new story element (such as a character or a situation), or to change setting.

Unnecessary scenes (or sentences or paragraphs, etc.) include repetitive or too-similar scenes.

Repeat after me:

Resist the urge to repeat yourself.

Repeat after me again:

Resist the urge to repeat yourself.

Repetition dilutes your writing and causes the author to intrude on the story by drawing attention to the writing. Repetition is self-conscious writing.

On the subject of repetition, Sol Stein says, "One plus one equals a half."

If you think the reader won't "get" something unless you repeat it, then maybe you haven't written it right the first time.

On the subject of unnecessary scenes, Kurt Vonnegut says, "Don't put anything in a story that does not reveal character or advance action."

Repetitiveness can also apply to characters. Do two characters fulfill the same purpose?

Is every character necessary? Does each character fulfill a purpose?

And one more time, repeat after me:

Resist the urge to repeat yourself.

Personal experience:
Like everyone else, I learn many of these things through personal experience. In my first novel, Beethoven in Paradise, the main character loves to walk. In the first draft, he went on a LOT of walks. It was a perfect chance for him to think - so I could throw in lots of meaty interior monologue. When all else failed in the story - Martin went for a walk.

My editor commented about that first draft (and I paraphrase here): I thought if that boy went on one more walk I'd go crazy.

I cut out about four good walks and replaced them with four good action scenes.

So, to wrap things up here, repeat after me:

Resist the urge to repeat yourself.

Dog lovers

Five reasons to like the dry cleaning delivery guy:

1. He is consistent as all get-out - always there - every Tuesday and Friday - hasn't missed a day in four years.
2. He is punctual as all get-out. You can set your clock by this guy - no lie.
3. He ALWAYS has a smile. Through rain and sleet and snow and hail - he has a smile.
4. He brings lots and lots of dog bones for my dogs every time. If they aren't outside, he leaves them in little hiding places in the garage for them to sniff out.
   
5. THIS is his Christmas card:

I mean, how can you NOT like a guy like that?!

And with that, I'll take this opportunity to say SEASONS GREETINGS to all.

Roar!

Well, dang! When the President, Queen, Empress and Big Kahuna of the Bashers World (that would be Sarah Miller, as if you had to be told) goes and gives me the Roar for Powerful Words award, I'm morally obligated to pass it along to other worthy bloggers.

Opting to choose bloggers who have not yet received this award (that I know of), I present the Roar for Powerful Words Award to the following:

Lisa Yee - because she is rip-snorting funny and hangs out with Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt and all those guys.

Professor Nana (Teri Lesesne) - because I enjoy her book reviews.

Deborah Wiles - because she is a Southern soul sister and has good school visit stories.

Kerry Madden - because she is my Smoky Mountain soul sister and has a fairy-loving daughter and has SUCH interesting family stories and good book recommendations.

Jama Rattigan - because she has great energy and spreads cookie love.

And Cynthia Leitich Smith - because, well, how could you NOT award that blog!!!!

I know I've left out tons of worthy blogs - but I'll leave it to someone else to spread the love.

Critique group holiday dinner

I have the most amazing critique group ever. We started SEVENTEEN years ago!

We've been through it all together, both professional and personal: joys, sorrows, frustrations, triumphs, contracts, no contracts, mistakes, embarrassments, recognitions, awards, no recognitions, no awards, acceptances, rejections, hallelujahs, gosh-darn-its, ups, downs, ins and outs.

Here we are at our annual holiday dinner:

(l to r) Carolyn DeCristofano, Wiesy MacMillan, Valerie Kerzner, Kim Marcus, Delia Weikert, Leslie Guccione, Mary Wisbach, Brian Lies, Deanna Garland

Same group except far left (back row) is me instead of Wiesy.

(l to r) Kim, Delia, Leslie

Wiesy (back to camera) Kim, Delia, Leslie, Brian, Mary's shoe

(l to r) Mary, Me, Valerie

(l to r) Deanna, Mary, Carolyn

(l to r) Delia, Leslie, Brian's shoe

Wiesy

(l to r) Wiesy, Mary, Brian, Deanna, Valerie, Kim

A cool website for book lovers

Came across this website recently. Pretty cool....although, alas, it does not include children's books.

It does, however, include YA.

I had a feeling...

Uh, oh.

I had a feeling I knew what this was when the unhappy delivery guy schlepped it up my icy driveway.

I was right.

It even came with a night light version.

Check this out

A friend of mine made this!

Isn't it beautiful?

Writing Tip Tuesday

You can have the most fabulous opening ever.

You can have the most riveting story ever.

You can have the most wonderful characters ever.

But if you blow the ending....well, then, it's like serving brussel sprouts for dessert after the gourmet dinner.

Here's a story about an almost-blown ending.

(Warning: If you haven't read Moonpie and Ivy, this post will most likely mean nothing to you.)

I don't like fairy tale endings. I like realistic endings. But I also know that the ending of a child's book should at least be hopeful in order to be satisfying.

Here is the original ending of Moonpie and Ivy (prior to revision):

Then she lifted the shoebox and dumped the postcards out the window. They fluttered in the wind like butterflies, then drifted slowly to the ground, leaving a colorful trail on the dark road behind her.

I LOVED that! Those butterflies...that colorful trail on the dark road....

Lucky for me my editor is more brilliant than me and is not easily moved by fluttering butterflies and colorful trails.

She called me and told me no, no, no. That ending isn't right. First of all, she can't throw those postcards away. She needs them (i.e., kill the butterflies).

Second of all, metaphorically speaking, the dark road isn't behind her. The dark road is ahead of her (i.e., kill the colorful trail).

In addition to that stroke of genius, my editor made one small suggestion that gave the ending exactly what it needed: hope. She suggested that Aunt Ivy give Pearl her phone number.

That phone number gave Pearl a connection that she desperately needed - and left the reader feeling better about things and not so hopeless about Pearl's plight.

Here, then, is the revised ending, as it was published:
She opened the scrap of paper and squinted at it in the glow of the dashboard lights. "Ivy Patterson" was scrawled in big, hurried letters. Underneath, circled in red, was a phone number. Pearl closed her eyes and said the numbers in her head again and again and again and again. She put the envelope back in the shoebox. Ruby droned on and on. "Wait till you see..." "You're gonna love..." "I was thinking we could..." But Pearl wasn't listening. She hugged the shoebox, thinking maybe she could already feel that hope starting to grow inside her. Then she whispered Ivy's phone number over and over while she stared out at the dark road ahead.

Here are some of the reviews:

"O'Connor provides no magical happy ending for Moonpie and Ivy, but it is a hopeful one."

"What I most admire here is the author's courage with the plot, particularly the ending..."

"...the ending was very brave, tinted with hope but with the weight of reality hanging heavy within. I admire that [she] didn't tie it up with any pretty ribbons."

And two reviews from children:

"I hope you all have a chance to read it because I thought it was great even though at the end it's very sad. At the end I loved it"

"The ending, although not happily-ever-after style, left me feeling good."

So there - saved by an editor.