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| Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 |
halseanderson
|
6:38p |
ALA Photos, Round Three and A Hero We'll start tonight's picture show with the gorgeous smiles of Kevis Lewis and Holly Black.  Yes, he's Holly's editor, too.  If you're a teacher or librarian, you want to know the good people of TeachingBooks.net. TeachingBooks " is a time-saving portal to thousands of online resources you can use to explore children's and young adult books and their authors." It has loads of terrific material about authors and their books. I particularly adore the Author Name Pronunciation Guide.But the absolute highlight of the conference was an unexpected, serendipitous meeting with an author whose books are among my very favorites. As I walked on the conference floor, the loud speaker announced that this Incredible Author was about to give a reading from her new book. I sprinted, sending librarians and publicists scattering like bowling pins. (I do apologize for an injury or loss of dignity I may have caused.) The new book?  Quakeland (for grown-ups, this time). ( That's right folks, I met Francesca Lia Block! ) |
professornana
|
6:12p |
Day #3 I did not find my 15 minutes until later in the day today. I needed to go into the office and check mail and open boxes and pack up some books to give away next week in San Angelo. But, I did write. Chapter 2 is coming along nicely. 15 minutes and 400 words: not too shabby. Now, I will go back later and winnow it down to the good words. Current Mood:  accomplished |
artistq
|
5:55p |
Day 4 It was raining today. So our tour is going to start at my own front door...... this is the only plant I have ever grown, from seed! it is about 10 years old.....  When I think of attractions in our hometown, I don't really have to look far, on an average day 6 teenagers, and random 20 somethings are entertained here... our family room......  We hope to give this room a big face lift this fall, these are BEFORE pictures I took, because this room is WORN OUT...  And last night when I went to bed at 1:30 they were hanging out here...........  So if you like playing pool, hanging out on worn furniture, and swimming in the night... you would like this local attraction too! : ) |
arcaedia
|
5:09p |
letters from the query wars - holiday edition
# of queries read this week: 108
# of partials requested: 1
genre of partial requested: urban fantasy
Dear Authors:
I wasn't really sure what to write today. I fear my thoughts may have already moved on to the holiday weekend (indeed, much of publishing seems to have taken a 4 day weekend), which may possibly be free of query-reading, though I might still end up taking a look at a manuscript or two. But I was thinking earlier (before my thoughts had flown) about how much easier it is to send an electronic query as opposed to a snailmail one -- no visits to the post office (though now one can print stamps from online), no stamps, no SASE, no paper required. But sometimes I wonder if it's made it *too* easy. The number of queries I get that are completely inappropriate for me (e.g. how-to-books, self-help books, etc.) is much higher than it ever used to be when we only had paper submissions to review. Every week I get queries that haven't even been spell-checked. Or are addressed to the wrong person (the one I just read today was emailed to me but the opening of the letter included another agent at another agency, address and all -- oops). Sure, all these things used to happen with snailmail too, but never so frequently, at least in my experience. I don't tend to hold that sort of thing against a person, but I may be more forgiving than some agents on those fronts, so please, slow down -- it really won't take all that long to check the guidelines, proof your query, and make sure all is in order. You never know when even something that small may have an effect. The devil's in the details, as they say.
Happy 4th of July to those of you who celebrate it. I hope you enjoy the company of friends and/or family, and the weather allows for a cook-out or three. To those who aren't celebrating this holiday, i hope you have a good weekend too. |
metteharrison
|
2:59p |
what revision is and isn't
I know, I post on revision a lot, but since I'm a writer, I do a lot of it, so I think about it a lot. What I thought about this weekend at ALA, while working on the copyedits to THE PRINCESS AND THE BEAR (Yeah!), was that the copyedit stage is what most beginning authors think of when they think about revision.
Change a sentence here and there. Add a paragraph maybe every twenty pages or so. Think about whether there should be a comma there. Check to make sure that names of characters remain the same throughout the book, and that generally, things are consistent (with other books in a series, or just within the one book), and that you don't look like an idiot when this gets published because you said "sword" when you meant "saber."
This is not revision.
Revision is a re-envisioning of the whole book. Revision is cutting out twenty pages in one fell swoop. It is sometimes starting over from scratch with only an idea, a character name, and if you're lucky, the realization that THIS is what you really want to write about.
Revision is figuring out the proper order of chapters. It is figuring out where to begin your story and which threads still need to be tied up. Revision is understanding--finally--what your magic system is really like. It is seeing that one main character has no arc of development, and that you will need to add that in, all two hundred pages of it.
Revision is not for wimps. When people say that writing is really rewriting, this is what they mean. It's not on the sentence level. And it makes all the difference between a book that your readers will read once and forget and will want to read again and again over the years (I hope!).
Revision, to use a sports metaphor, is going out and doing a half marathon one day, and then doing it again the next day--better. And doing that every day you can stand it for the next six months.
My copyedit looks like a disaster to a non-professional, with red, green, blue, and black pencil all arguing over a comma or a phrase. But really, it is just the last step. It is beautiful, the perfect run on the perfect day. Or as perfect as it gets. |
cynleitichsmith
|
3:12p |
Awesome Austin Writers Workshop Report Round-up Did you see Tuesday's Cynsations post about the Awesome Austin Writers Workshop? If not, check it out as well as posts by Greg Leitich Smith, Liz Garton Scanlon, P. J. Hoover, Jo Whittemore, and--these just in-- Alison Dellenbaugh, Alison's part two (AKA Coming Back to Earth), April Lurie, Shana Burg, Carmen Oliver, Chris Barton, Jennifer Ziegler, and Jennifer's part two (AKA Additional AAWW-tobiography)! Here's a sneak peek from Jenny: "Together our group could take over the world! (But not to worry. We'd rather just write about it.)." Just to recap, the participants were: Brian Anderson, Varsha Bajaj, Chris Barton, Gene Brenek, Shana Burg, Anne Bustard, Tim Crow, Betty X. Davis, Meredith Davis, Alison Dellenbaugh, Erin Edwards, Debbie Gonzales, Helen Hemphill, P.J. Hoover, Varian Johnson, Julie Lake, Lindsey Lane, April Lurie, Mark Mitchell, Jane Peddicord, Liz Garton Scanlon, Greg Leitich Smith, Jo Whittemore, Phil Yates, and Jennifer Ziegler. The pages were: Donna Bratton and Carmen Oliver. And here are a few more pics!  (Liz Garton Scanlon (back), Helen Hemphill, Jennifer Ziegler, P. J. "Tricia" Hoover, Gene Brenek). Happy (belated) birthday, Helen!  (Anne Bustard (back) and Gene Brenek--note Gene's T-shirts).  (Front row: Betty X. Davis; second row: Jo Whittemore, Julie Lake, Liz Garton Scanlon; back row: P. J. "Tricia" Hoover, Greg Leitich Smith, Shana Burg, Jennifer Ziegler, Helen Hemphill, Debbie Gonzales, Chris Barton).  Catering by Pascal's at Helen and Neil Hemphill's downtown condo; see previous post for menu.  (Erin Edwards samples the mini pastries!).  (My very cute husband, Greg Leitich Smith, who's so supportive of all my crazy schemes, although in this pic he looks a little suspicious as to what might be next!). |
docstymie
|
2:54p |
Happy Birthday, Pops! Today's my dad's birthday. Yeah, he's old. You'd think that in his old age he would have figured out by now that he shouldn't support all those conservative politicians who are making sure his retirement goes to shit just in time for him to need it. Well, maybe he'll figure it out before November and he really can retire in 3 more years. Drop by ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) papadan's place and tell him "happy birthday" and "vote Obama!!!" love ya, dad.  Current Mood:  relievedCurrent Music: LaBamba (don't ask) |
kpluta
|
1:26p |
AND THE WINNER IS ......... The results are in, and John's kid's hands down favorite was.... **************************************** *** The Bunny Mystery by Adrian Bunnies are small. Bunnies are round, Bunnies are shy and don’t make a sound. Bunnies are brown. Bunnies are white. Bunnies are quick to hop out of sight. Bunnies have ears. Bunnies have toes. Where bunnies hide, nobody knows. Bunnies have bottoms, bunnies have legs, But what kind of bunny poops chocolate eggs? **************************************** ********** The kids couldn't resist the poop part, and John would have totally loved this. Adrian please email me at kpluta-at-cox-period-net (remove dashes and replace appropriate words with punctuation). Two other poems also received special mention from the family, and as soon as I get around to it, I will send you something via email either suitable for printing and framing or using as an avatar. The first one is ..... **************************************** ************** Footprints by Diana Murray When the snow has fallen, all is still, Until white bunnies frolic on the hill. I never see or hear them, but I know They're here because their footprints mark the snow. **************************************** ******************** John's sister said this brought memories of her brother, and that she sees his "footprints" in the faces of the children everyday. The next one is ..... **************************************** ************************** God Bless J's Family and Friends" by cocoskeeperLittle rabbit, soft gray fur Whitens some in the winter brrr Snuggles close to those he loves Waits for the coo of springtime doves Tulips bud and beckon him Sniffs a blossom on a whim Ears a-twitter, someone’s near Mate and kits are who he hears Down come raindrops then the sun A colored sky for everyone Hopping, thumping, summer bliss Kits grow fast from sunshine’s kiss Autumn comes and red leaves fall Now kits are rabbits after all And they thrive as rabbits do Soft gray angels all year through **************************************** ******************** John's sister said this sounded like something John, himself, would write, and it made her think of him. And here is a note from the family: Please thank everyone for the poems. They were a pleasure to read and we enjoyed each one. Thank you so much for honoring John in such a sweet way. Hugs to you from us all! A, A, and A All winners please contact me via email. Thank you! And thank you to all who participated! I will make this and the other post private in a week or two, so that if the poets want to seek publication for their poems they won't be out dangling around on the net. |
sarazarr
|
12:03p |
neato stuff other people are doing - If you are in Utah, there's this very cool event coming up on July 19 - Writing for Charity. It's a workshoppy-type thing that is going to get you lots of up close and personal time with authors and illustrators talking about process and craft and all that good stuff, and the best part is the faculty are donating their time so that the entire registration fee (a cheap, cheap $45!) goes to The Wheelchair Project. You can read all the details and registration info at Shannon Hale's blog. It's going to be held at my favorite place - The Salt Lake City Public Library. I am just sorry to be out of town and missing this.
- The enchanting and hilarious Katie Davis has created this site where you can create your autobiography in comic form. I haven't tried it yet, because I'm not allowed to do such things until I finish my book, but if you don't have a book to finish or homework to do, you totally should. And post it on your blog and tell me because I want to see. Also, you should tell your favorite kid about this because it would be fun for them - and maybe they could wrangle some extra credit when school starts up again?
- Laurie Halse Anderson has thrown down the WFMAD challenge (Write 15 Minutes a Day), and if I didn't feel like had to write 15 hours a day right now, I would totally be doing it. You'd be surprised how much you can do in 15 minutes, for real. And, it's a great way to create a habit. Dorothea Brande would approve.
Okay, that's all I have. Happy Thursday! We are over the hump! |
davidlubar
|
12:22p |
Thursday's political two-liner Obama backs faith-based initiatives. Does this mean McCain has a prayer?  |
jbknowles
|
12:00p |
I swear, I am following the directions...  |
stacy_dekeyser
|
10:46a |
Hometown pic for Thursday Tomorrow is the Fourth of July, which means outdoor concerts and fireworks. This is the bandshell, where it all happens:  We'll be there tomorrow night. Pass the kettle corn! Current Mood:  musical |
marypearson
|
6:35a |
Back from ALA . . . Whew! What a whirlwind! Here's a quick breakdown of the long weekend! FridayArrived! I stayed at the Disneyland Hotel. Gloved Mickey Mouse hands held the sconce lamps on either side of my bathroom mirror.I guess it's to be expected when you are at the magical kingdom. And the mouse ears on the shampoo bottles were pretty cute too.  Saturday In the morning I had my signing for The Adoration of Jenna Fox. It was great to see so many LJ'ers! Thanks for coming! I also had a lot of YA book people come--bloggers, librarians, etc-- who I knew from online but finally got to meet. That night I had dinner with a dozen other authors, with the Pope in the center of our table presiding over our antics intelligent bookish conversation. The guilty shall remain nameless.  Sunday Sunday morning came bright and early. I participated in the YALSA speed dating breakfast. One of the librarians at my table videotaped the event and posted it on the YALSA blog, so if you want a taste of the breakfast, check it out. The table she recorded had Barry Lyga, moi, Nancy Werlin, Elizabeth Knox, Margarita Engle, Amy Goldman Koss, and Sherman Alexie. That night was the Newbery-Caldecott banquet. The only word I can use to describe Brian Selznick's and Laura Amy Schlitz's speeches is SPECTACULAR. They will be posted online at some point--maybe they already are. Be sure to see them. After the banquet I had the pleasure of chatting with authors Linda Sue Park, John Green, and Schneider Family Book Award winner, Tracie Vaughn Zimmer, who was receiving the award at the conference. Congratulations, traciezimmer, Tracie! Monday I did a little last minute arc gathering at the exhibits, and then an impromtu interview with Ed Spicer. I think he will be posting it at his review site before too long. That is, if it makes any sense. Nancy Werlin and I "interviewed" each other, and by Monday we were both feeling a little giddy. That night was the Printz reception where my friend, Amanda Jenkins, was receiving the Printz Honor Award for her book Repossessed. Her speech was magnificent, as were all of the award winners. Geraldine McAbercrombyandFitch unfortunately couldn't come to accept her Printz Award for The White Darkness, so her much more interesting "au pair" accepted the award for her. But her speech was magnificent too. Be sure to read them all. Tuesday Returned home loaded down with books and dead tired, but there was good news waiting that perked me up pretty fast. The Adoration of Jenna Fox sold foreign rights to two more countries--Japan and Finland! Very cool. And now, I am busy catching up and eager to begin reading all these great books that are stacked up everywhere. Also eager to get back to writing. I have had a little hiatus and I am feeling the itch to face a blank page. Wonders never cease. |
d_michiko_f
|
6:13a |
Hometown Pics 5 Plus Japantown in San Jose is only 8 miles away from our home, about a 15 minute drive. I'm allowing to call it part of my hometown since San Jose is part of Silicon Valley. Yesterday C and I stopped by J-Town and shopped at the cute stores selling Japanese plates, kimono, t-shirts, and more. I bought a black t-shirt that says, "Got Rice?" with a rice cooker on the back of the shirt. We stopped to get fresh manju and then some Hawaiian shaved ice. Yum! Below is a pic of Japantown, and three pics just for jamarattigan who will appreciate the food pics! MMmmm!
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Japantown
in San Jose, CA. |
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C's Hawaiian Shaved Ice
Half grape-half blue raspberry. |
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My Hawaiian Shaved Ice
Azuki (red sweet beans). |
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Manju
Pounded sticky rice filled with sweet beans. |
For So You Think You Can Dance fans, we learned that Katee is a local gal. There are handmade flyers with her picture asking people to vote for her every Wednesday at 8PM. She's already one of my faves! |
lindajsingleton
|
6:03a |
DEAD GIRL'S 1st REVIEW Over at kbaccellia's blog is the first view for my Sept. release from Flux, DEAD GIRL WALKING!!
Check it out at: http://kbaccellia.livejournal.com/
I hope readers enjoy my new book about the afterlife, bodyswapping and popularity. It's already up at Amazon and B/N online for preorders.
I'm writing the 3rd book in this series, tenatively titled DEAD GIRL DATING. This one is wilder because it involves two body-swaps and a wicked evil guy hitting on my heroine.
Have a great 4th of July! I'll be announcing another winner of my tri-yearly website contest tomorrow.
|
cynleitichsmith
|
8:05a |
Author Interview: Louise Hawes on Black Pearls: A Faerie Strand  Louise Hawes, a North Carolina resident, is the author of two short fiction collections, Anteaters Don't Dream and Other Stories (University Press of Mississippi, 2007) and Black Pearls: a Faerie Strand (Houghton Mifflin,2008). Her novels include The Vanishing Point (Houghton Mifflin, 2004), Rosey in the Present Tense (Walker, 2001), and Waiting for Christopher (Authors Guild, 2006). She is a faculty member of the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program. What were you like as a young adult?Introverted, achingly self-conscious, and highly romantic. I was the theater-arts, lit-mag kid who ended up, inexplicably, going to the prom with the basketball star. I could barely breathe, much less say a word all night! (We became good friends and bridge partners after graduation, but I certainly wasn't confident enough to keep up with him then.) What is it about the young adult audience that appeals to you as a writer?I never sit down to write and say to myself, "This is going to be a YA" or, "This one's for adults." I go where I need to go, take the emotional journey I need to take. I've written lots of short stories (and a collection of them) for adults, but most of my work has been focused on the place where my personal issues still resonate -- adolescence. As a writer, then, I'm drawn to protagonists who are teens, but I can honestly say I don't "write down" for a YA audience. My basic approach is the same for both adult and YA fiction, with the slight difference that I tend to want to empower younger readers. I hope my work helps them realize that, even without a happy ending, they've got the inner resources to deal with this beautiful, angry, blissful, destructive, and thoroughly confusing planet! Could you tell us about your path to publication? Any sprints or stumbles along the way?Years ago (honesty compels me to add it was more like decades ago!), I was working in New York City, directing a team of writers who composed sample reading passages for an SAT prep firm. At that time, I'd just completed a draft of my first middle-grade novel, inspired by my young son and daughter. I had also begun sending out a picture book manuscript and was particularly touched by an extremely flowery, verbose rejection letter I received from a well-known publisher. It was highly complimentary and expressed actual distress at "not being able to buy your beautiful, touching book." One day, as I was reviewing the work of a new hire at the office, I recognized in the reading passage she'd submitted, the very same elaborate writing style that characterized my favorite rejection letter! I asked her if by any chance she'd ever worked for a publisher, and if she had ever had occasion to read a certain picture book submission. She had! In fact, she told me, she'd been hired to write rejections to the slush pile, but couldn't bare not to encourage the authors of books that moved her. "What's the slush pile?" I asked, dense and naive as they come. And that's when my publishing education began. She explained that her house had a strict policy of not considering unsolicited manuscripts and that I really needed an agent. "Agent?" I asked. (I was an endless font of dumb questions.) "Yes," she replied, patiently, and proceeded to explain what this intermediary did. Then and more important, she proceeded to get me one! My new agent didn't sign my picture book, but she did sign my novel, and that was my first publication. A fluke of the luckiest sort! We last spoke in August 2005 about The Vanishing Point (Houghton Mifflin, 2005). Could you update us on your writing life since that time? Thanks for asking, she said, fluttering her lashes and grinning to the ends of her face. The Vanishing Point was issued in paperback in 2007, and I adore the new cover--feels like a whole new novel! In 2006, I finally published my first picture book, Muti's Necklace, the Oldest Story in the World (Houghton Mifflin). It's not the picture book I was working on all those years ago, but it's a story that's very close to me, and I'm thrilled to see it in print. In 2007, I published a short fiction collection for adults, Anteaters Don't Dream, with the University Press of Mississippi. That led to my visiting Ole Miss as one of the university's John Grisham Visiting Writers, a particular thrill. I got to sit at William Faulkner's desk on that trip and type him a private air letter! Then last fall, my novel, Waiting for Christopher, was selected as the first Reading Initiative novel at the Mississippi University for Women. I was on campus for a week, did readings and class visits, and got a little rush every time I passed a student or faculty member wearing her "I Read Waiting for Christopher" wristband! Congratulations on the release of Black Pearls: A Faerie Strand (Houghton Mifflin, 2008)! Could you tell us a little about this new title?Black Pearls is a collection of dark fairy tales. There are seven pieces in all, each based on an old familiar story, but each told from the viewpoint of a character we heard little from in the original tale. Initially, Houghton Mifflin, the publishers, were going to market it in both adult and YA catalogs, because of the sensual content and the dearth of happily-ever-after endings. But I think they realized that teens are more than ready for dark faerie material. What was your initial inspiration for writing this book?I've always loved fairy tales, but realized, when I sat down to read them to my children, that this love was more nostalgia than active allegiance. As an adult, I no longer took fairy tales to bed at night or read them for pleasure. Novels, you see, had come between me and those old, broadly sketched stories. I craved an idiosyncratic human being, an individual character with whose passions and hurts I could identify. So that was the challenge I set myself in Black Pearls: to find a beating heart behind the old archetypes and symbols; to do what I ask of all my students: go deep. What was the timeline between spark and publication, and what were the major events along the way?Several years ago, I read a first draft of one of these stories at a Vermont College residency. Everyone, students and faculty, were so receptive and enthusiastic about the piece, I decided then and there to follow up on it. That's the beauty of sharing writing "experiments" with a community of other writers--you find out what works and what doesn't. A year later, I had five more stories to show my editor at Houghton, Kate O' Sullivan. She asked me for one more, and she was right. The last tale, a version of the story of Lady Godiva, is a tribute to how storytelling changes us, and I love it as the end note of the collection. Both Kate and I very much wanted this collection to be illustrated. We both remembered the books of our childhood, and the wonderful illustrators who brought them alive--artists like Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, Kay Nielsen, and Maxfield Parrish. We also realized that Rebecca Guay, who had done the lush illustrations for my picture book, would be wonderfully suited to these darker, grownup tales. There's a sensuous, romantic lyricism in her work that reminds me of both Rackham and Aubrey Beardsley. We were delighted when she agreed to do the book, and a year later, her gorgeous cover is winning us new readers every day. What were the challenges (literary, research, psychological, and logistical) in bringing it to life?In most of my writing, I start with a character and let him or her lead me to their story. In this case, though, I wanted to be true to the source tale, so I had to work backwards--that is from story to character. None of these tales are contemporary; nobody speaks "American" in these stories; all the old symbols and events from the original tales are included. But in most cases, I had to back so far up to find the beginning of my character's story that the source tale is not evident until readers are well into each piece. My protagonists, you see, are not the main characters from the old stories; those familiar heroes and heroines play secondary roles in Black Pearls. My version of "Snow White," for instance, is told by one of the dwarfs; "Cinderella" is narrated by the prince; "Rapunzel" unfolds from the witch's point of view. As a result, I've had to change a lot more than the title of each story. That's because the old character's happy ending might mean the new one's total despair. On the other hand, an old character's loss could mean a new one's victory. That tangled web, that interconnection is, I think, one of the themes of the collection. It's a loop the reader completes, by comparing the familiar version of the fairy tale in her or his head, to the one in the book in front of them. If you could go back and talk to yourself when you were beginning writer, what advice would you offer?Ask questions. Ask for help. Believe in your writing enough to grow it. A great way to do this is by joining a writer's group or an MFA program. No one, at least no one I've ever met, can be objective about his or her own work. You need the support of a community of practice and the feedback from eyes and hearts you trust. What would you say specifically on the topic of writing faerie tales?So many students come to me with fantasy pieces or fairy tales they've written, and too often this work is missing humanity. It's heavy on action and plot, but light on that beating heart we all look for in fiction. When I ask the authors why, they usually reply, "Oh, that's because it's fantasy." Whoa, Nellie! Fantasy and faerie worlds require the human connection just as much, perhaps more, than other stories. Readers need a bridge between their world and the book's, and the best bridge of all is a fully developed, deeply felt character. You're a writer who also teaches writing. Could you briefly update us on your teaching history and current endeavors?Recently, I took several years off from teaching at the Vermont College MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program. I spent some of that time dealing with family issues and some teaching in various venues (especially in Mississippi, as you just heard, and at women's workshops in Maine and North Carolina, as well as at a fiction program in Kentucky). This July, I'm thrilled to be coming home (and that's exactly what it feels like!) to Vermont. I've learned I need the stimulation of a writing community and the excitement of holding my students' newly published books in my hands each year! I thought I'd write more without such "distractions," but in fact I get more done when others around me are creating and sharing and spreading the good word! What does teaching teach you?I've often been down, reached a low point where it seemed to me there was nothing new under the writing sun. And then, out of nowhere, a student's work will knock my socks off, and I'm a believer again. Plus, there's no denying that teaching gives you the precious opportunity to practice what you preach. How could I ask my student writers to ground their fantasy in the human heart without anchoring mine there as well? That's, essentially, how Black Pearls was born. What do you wish all of your students would take away from your time together?The same things I do: encouragement, faith in the work, and the knowledge that you have a story to tell and the tools to tell it with. How do you balance your writing against the responsibilities of being a published author (contracts, promotion, events, etc.)?Not very well at all. I simply can't walk and chew bubble gum at the same time. Sometimes I think I love readings and promotional events (the ex-actress in me is a big ham). But then, when I see how little my regional events boost national sales, I decide I'm best advised to focus on writing. The final word on all this isn't in, but I'm realizing that the best way to maintain balance is not to worry about it; I can do both, or not do both, but I definitely don't help either by fretting and angst. What do you do when you're not writing or teaching?I enjoy yoga and meditation--okay, make that, I need yoga and meditation. They're non-negotiable. I also love sketching, scrabble, being outdoors, and it looks like that ham part of me has found a new outlet in a NC-based stand-up venue called The Monti ( www.themonti.org). Most of all, though, I thrive on visits with my two children, who are now grown with kids of their own. I'm always astonished and delighted at how my son and daughter "turned out." Even if they weren't related to me, I'd want to count them among my friends. They and their families keep my life grounded, remind me what really counts. What can your fans look forward to next?I'm working on a fantasy novel, whose central character is a witch's daughter. And a second picture book. Neither is finished, but I hope at least one will be a wrap before the year's out. Oh, and Rebecca Guay and I are talking about turning some or all of the stories in Black Pearls into a graphic novel. I'd love to know what your readers think about this idea. All feedback welcome! |
davidlubar
|
8:56a |
Make my fantasy come true
Okay -- now that I have your attention, I'm trying to find the name of a fantasy movie I saw as a kid. It was way back, maybe in the early 1960s. I only remember three things about it, all of which might be wrong in some fashion. The movie opened with a man walking against a strong wind. Then it showed that the wind was being blown by this troll-like creature. In another scene, a ruler had his people form a human mountain. He climbed the mountain and fired a giant crossbow. There also might have been some sort of magical ring involved. It's my earliest movie memory. Ring any bells? |
melissawyatt
|
8:31a |
Daily Photo: Day Five, Six, Seven  McDowell County Courthouse in Welch. If you've seen the movie Matewan, Sid Hatfield was shot and killed on the steps of this building in 1921. I will be without internet access for the next few days, so I'm going to go ahead and post Day 6:  The Flat Iron Drug Store in downtown Welch. As far as I know, still run by Cousin Arville. In FHTC, the drug store is owned by Lisa's father. The parking garage in the background is supposedly the first municipal parking garage in the US. Day 7:  (Again, taken from a moving car.) A little ways south of Welch, on the way to War. The gravel road off to the right is what I had in mind for the entrance to Walker Hollow Road, where Remy lives. But you'd have to follow that road all the way up the mountain to get to his house. Welch is featured prominently in Jeannette Walls' memoire The Glass Castle. Not very positively, I must add. Hope you enjoyed this look into the real town that inspired my made-up one! |
kristydempsey
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9:30a |
Where I Live -- Day Five It's a one pic day because we're headed out the door to the airport for a trip to the States. Today's pic is of Praca do Papa (Pope Park), a park and monument that was erected when the Pope spoke to the masses of Belo Horizonte in 1980. It's at the top of a huge hill (one that I do repeats on when I'm training for a marathon) and there is now a playground. It's a great place to take pictures and eat popcorn. My kids love to go there. See you when I get to the States!   Current Music: John Mayer |
jbknowles
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7:35a |
Doing OK! My dad just called from the hospital and he's doing pretty well! The surgery went fine and they're actually going to get him to try to walk this afternoon. What a happy relief. Thanks for all the well-wishes. :-) Yesterday I finished my first freelance job three days early, which is a nice relief as well, since the next one was going to overlap and I was a little nervous. Also, working with the boy at home is... challenging. Basically, it involves taking a break at least every hour or less to read a chapter from The Titan's Curse, play a MiniClip game (or 5) together, or hold the cats and chat about myths and what god we would be if we had a choice. All good stuff, but it does slow things down a bit. :-) Today I need to make stilt pants for the 4th of July Parade. (Is that really tomorrow?? Dang, where is the summer going???) I hope we don't look too dorky. But, you know, when you're talking stilt pants... ah well. ~*~*~*~*~*~ halseanderson Daily 15 Keeping Myself Honest Check-In: 538 wordsHow's everyone else doing so far?? |
thru_the_booth
[ annjacobus ]
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7:00a |
SYNCHRONICITY: BE A LERT In developing your most efficient and productive writing process and attending to your muse, remember: creating requires both going deep inside and opening up to what’s outside. In both cases we need to be mindful. My younger brother had a bumper sticker on his bedroom door when we were teenagers. It read, “BE ALERT. THE WORLD NEEDS MORE LERTS.” Interestingly enough, he is now a practicing Buddhist. And has a bumper sticker that reads, BE MINDFUL. If you are having trouble, one good piece of advice may be: Pay attention.
Answers and flashes of inspiration can come from outside as well as inside; from a conversation overheard, from a book or movie or song, especially one someone recommends to you, from, ahem, a blog you read.
Follow up on something that grabs you. Be a lert. You never know where it will lead. Jack Heffron in The Writer’s Idea Book says, “Writing is an act of hope. It is a means of carving order from chaos, of challenging one’s own beliefs and assumptions, of facing the world with eyes and heart wide open. …Writing, therefore, is also an act of courage. To get ideas and to write well, you have to risk opening yourself.” And he doesn’t mean with a knife into a vein. I sincerely believe that our unconscious wants us to write. It is trying, trying to help us out. But we fight it, ignore it, and let the left brain bully us. So the write—er, right brain works to communicate with us indirectly, in CODE. Synchronicity Dreams The Collective Unconscious The hidden clues in our drafts From Wikipedia: Synchronicity is the experience of two or more events which occur in a meaningful manner, but which are causally un-related. Right, a coincidence, but more. At the Skeptic’s Dictionary (www.skepdic.com) synchronicity is explained like this: Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav JUNG coined the word to describe what he called "temporally coincident occurrences of acausal events." Jung also described synchronicity as an "'acausal connecting principle'" (i.e., a pattern of connection that cannot be explained by conventional, efficient causality). Synchronous events reveal an underlying pattern, a conceptual framework which encompasses, but is larger than, any of the systems which display the synchronicity. The suggestion of a larger framework is essential in order to satisfy the definition of synchronicity as originally developed by Jung. [They then go on to brand Jung’s work as pseudoscience, but whatever.] Underlying pattern. Larger framework. Hmmmm. What are we implying here? INCREDIBLE EXAMPLE: Jung claims that in 1805, the French writer Émile Deschamps was treated to some plum pudding (!) by a stranger named Monsieur de Forgebeau. Ten years later, the writer encountered plum pudding on the menu of a Paris restaurant, and wanted to order some, but the waiter told him the last dish had already been served to another customer, who turned out to be de Forgebeau. Many years later, in 1832, Émile Deschamps was at a dinner, and was once again offered plum pudding. He recalled the earlier incident and told his friends that only de Forgebeau was missing to make the setting complete — and in the same instant, the now senile de Forgebeau entered the room.
But what does it MEAN?
It’s a mystery. When I asked Tim Wynne-Jones, author and Vermont College of Fine Arts faculty about synchronicity, he said: “I definitely believe and pay attention to synchronicity. I've just given a talk on …the care and feeding of one's inner genius. That might seem a stretch but I think the subconscious You who wants you to write whatever it is you are trying to write -- who is using the conscious You as her scrivener [scribe—I had to look it up] -- needs attending to. And her method of talking to us is coded. She wants us to listen and look carefully everywhere around us, in the world and, more importantly, in our own writing (which is, after all, part of the world). She wants us to read ourselves seriously, because she leaves clues [my italics] there, big time. I know this is only vicariously synchronous, but I suppose what I’m saying is that what we need is always near at hand, provided we look. Oh look, a three legged dog! Now if Marty was taking his three-legged dog for a walk then he wouldn't be going so fast and he really might run into Midge!” Then cryptically, Tim said, “Plate ‘o shrimp.” In a flash, I knew what he meant.
REPO MAN!
This is a great film from 1984.
The character of Miller was played by Tracey Walter (who has an incredible filmography, including a 2008 film called Trailer Park of Terror, which sadly didn’t make it to where I live).
Otto was played by Emilio Estevez. Miller: A lot o' people don't realize what's really going on. They view life as a bunch o' unconnected incidents 'n things. They don't realize that there's this, like, lattice o' coincidence that lays on top o' everything. Give you an example; show you what I mean: suppose you're thinkin' about a plate o' shrimp. Suddenly someone'll say, like, plate, or shrimp, or plate o' shrimp out of the blue, no explanation. No point in lookin' for one, either. It's all part of a cosmic unconciousness. Otto: You eat a lot of acid, Miller, back in the hippie days? I think Miller meant the collective unconscious, which is yet more Jung, and we’ve probably covered enough Jung for one day. Oh, well, just a little more… “Mythology, Jung claimed, bases its stories on the archetypes. Mythology is the reservoir of deep, hidden, wondrous truths. Dreams and psychological crises, fevers and derangement, and chance encounters resonating with "meaningful coincidences" all gateways to the collective unconscious, which is ready to restore the individual psyche to health with its insights.” (www.skepdics.com) So, you could run a high fever to get writing again, if you can't make sense of the synchronistic events in your life. Or you can pray. Julia Cameron says, “Our creative dreams and yearnings come from a divine source. As we move toward our dreams, we move toward our divinity.” If accessing the collective unconscious or even the Divine doesn’t help you, then the only hope left is to try “mining” what you’ve already written. We’ll dig into this tomorrow (then throw in the trowel). |
annemariepace
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6:49a |
Daily Photo: Day Five One of the nice things about C'ville is that even though we have a great downtown downtown, and in the suburban ring, all the Taco Bells, Food Lions and Jiffy Lubes one might (or might not) want, it doesn't take long to get into the country. Last night we drove out to a swim meet in Greene County, just north of here. I used to teach up there. Anyway, these aren't the most interesting of shots but on Swim Meet Day, you take what you can get. I thought I did pretty well yesterday, considering. :) This is a shot of the mountains from the road. If we'd had just a bit more time, I could have driven five miles farther up Route 29 and gotten some really majestic shots, but those five minutes meant having the kids at warm-ups on time. Anyway, I used to drive through here on my way to school daily; and my historical fiction middle-grade is set just on top of those mountains.  This is the view from the club where we swam last night. Notice the contrast between this and the moonscape at our own pool. Sigh.  By the way, I'd like to thank cynthialord for the inspiration for this week. First of all, because of this Hometown Photo experience, I've carried my camera around all week, something I don't usually do; so last night at the swim meet, I got some wonderful pictures of my kids and their friends, which I wouldn't have if I hadn't been hoping to get a good mountain shot. :) And secondly, even though I haven't been shooting everything I see, I've been observing the world around me more carefully this week and noticing things I hadn't noticed before, or hadn't noticed in a long time. Sometimes, in the rush of crazy-hectic Mom life, I forget to observe. And that's something I need to step back to do more regularly.  |
halseanderson
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6:23a |
Write 15 Minutes a Day Challenge (WFMAD) - Day Three Welcome to everyone who wandered over here from Sarah Dessen's blog! (Sarah has not stopped writing even though she had a baby last year, btw.) And before I go any further, Happy Birthday, Kate Messner!I spent a big part of yesterday running errands, which is right up there with dentistry on my list of things that I hate to do. I had to take my laptop into the Apple store to see if the seizure it suffered in California was from too much sunshine or a symptom of a larger problem. The computer is going to get a physical, then a spa treatment. If I'm lucky, they'll replace the keys I've worn out, too. The other big part of yesterday was wrestling the jungle that used to be my garden. The weeds went nuts when I was away. I got two of the three vegetable beds under control, popped a blister, got dirt in it, and then poured hydrogen peroxide on it and made up new curse words. The broccoli is pretty much done for the season, but we still have lettuce. I planted cabbage yesterday and new eggplant plants (that sounds silly) because the ones I planted last month never exactly grew. The tomato plants are ridiculously huge. When did I write? First thing in the morning. I also took a notebook on my errands and when I stopped for lunch at the grocery store deli, I wrote for half an hour. I also snuck in a few paragraphs while I was waiting for the shade to hit the garden. So! Several people have written to me asking if blogging or email "counts" for this challenge. I suppose all writing counts, technically. But I'd like you to ask yourself why you're writing. Self: "Why am I writing?" If the answer is because you'd like to write a novel and have it published, then perhaps you'll reconsider having email count for your 15 minutes. If you want to write a novel, then write a novel! Write a page of it. write a paragraph. Write a physical description of a character or a snippet of dialog. The holiday weekend approacheth. You are going to be tempted away from your writing by parades, softball games, grilled hot dogs, potato salad, fireworks and parties. You can enjoy all of them. Just wake up fifteen minutes early and write. Today's advice: Don't judge, criticize, or edit what you're writing this month. (There will be time for that later.) Right now, we're concentrating on getting the words down on the page. You can do that. Today's prompt: Describe someone you know, but don't give us the typical physical characteristics like hair and eye color. Try to show some of that person's personality by showing them in action. Scribblescribble.... |
cynthialord
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5:26a |
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kpluta
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3:54a |
Day 5: Downtown OKC  This is a picture taken at Myriad Botanical Gardens. You can see the water stage where they hold the annual Shakespeare in the Park event, and to the right is the Crystal Garden.  There's a jungle in there. Literally.  And this is where OKC's new NBA team will play. Right now they are the Seatle SuperSonics, but they will be getting a new name, new colors, and a new logo. A few more pics are under the cut. ( Read more... ) |
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