Monday, March 9, 2009
Don't Adjust Your Monitor...
Yes, I got bored and changed my blogspot layout. Hope you like it. Change is good!
Enforced Jellin'
There is a mandatory period of time between when you get the spark of a great idea and when you can actually open a file and start writing something. I used to think that time was optional, that if I was really excited about a project I could just dive in and start writing. That always works until about page 10 when you lift your head up, look around and wonder what in the heck comes next.
Now I let the idea jell in my subconscious for a few weeks until all of the pieces have magically floated into place. On the current "thing I've been thinking about" I just thought of a great subtext to the story while I was drying my hair yesterday. These great ideas often come when you're doing something mundane - I thought of the project while I was on the phone talking about something completely different. It's like my brain was busy thinking about one thing, so my writer brain held up a sign with a great idea written on it, wondering if I was going to notice. I try not to get impatient with the jellin' process because if you hurry it up, you miss lots of good stuff. In the meantime, it's not called staring off into space - it's called working!
On this date: In 1941, my mom was born. Happy Birthday Mom!
Sunday, March 8, 2009
IFly
One of the editors at Asilomar was talking about her "year without fear" - which resulted in a ride on a mechanical bull for her. I liked the concept and have decided to embrace the "year without fear" - to a point. A lot of the time, you go into "Mom-mode" and sit and watch while the kids go down the waterslide or on the roller coaster. I'm not going to go crazy with it, but instead of sitting and watching I'm going to try to get involved and share the experience. Which is how I found myself in a large, plexiglass enclosure hovering about 10 feet in the air on Friday night:
Yes, indoor skydiving. I have to say, it was one of the the coolest things I've ever done. Basically, there is a giant fan below you blowing at speeds up to 200mph. At one point, the instructor went with me and we "flew" up into the chamber, about 30 feet in the air - a little scary, but doable. Plus, I figure it's all research, right? Now I just have to come up with a scene where the characters need to fly and I've got it down. As for real skydiving - uh, it's the year without fear, not the year without brains. Why would I abandon a perfectly good airplane.? But Ifly - we'll definitely be back.
On this date: In 1971, Ali battled Frazier for the heavyweight championship.
Yes, indoor skydiving. I have to say, it was one of the the coolest things I've ever done. Basically, there is a giant fan below you blowing at speeds up to 200mph. At one point, the instructor went with me and we "flew" up into the chamber, about 30 feet in the air - a little scary, but doable. Plus, I figure it's all research, right? Now I just have to come up with a scene where the characters need to fly and I've got it down. As for real skydiving - uh, it's the year without fear, not the year without brains. Why would I abandon a perfectly good airplane.? But Ifly - we'll definitely be back.
On this date: In 1971, Ali battled Frazier for the heavyweight championship.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Future Illustrator?
T has taken up drawing, and I mean really taken it up. After he "goes to bed" at night, he quietly spends an hour or two drawing bugs. Right now, it's just bugs because he's got a bug book and he looks at the book while he draws the pictures. I think I have to get him a book about something else soon.
I love this kind of stuff because I didn't figure out what I was good at until I was 38. All I had was a list of "can'ts". Can't sing, can't dance, can't draw or paint, don't like cooking, cubicles make me break out in hives and acting makes me throw up, There is a temptation to leap on every hint of talent or interest, so you have to walk a fine line between encouragement and smothering. In a way, I wish I'd figured out the whole writing thing a lot earlier and I hope they find their passion early in life.
Not bad for a (just turned on Sunday) nine-year old though.
On this date: In 1933, FDR was inaugurated.
I love this kind of stuff because I didn't figure out what I was good at until I was 38. All I had was a list of "can'ts". Can't sing, can't dance, can't draw or paint, don't like cooking, cubicles make me break out in hives and acting makes me throw up, There is a temptation to leap on every hint of talent or interest, so you have to walk a fine line between encouragement and smothering. In a way, I wish I'd figured out the whole writing thing a lot earlier and I hope they find their passion early in life.
Not bad for a (just turned on Sunday) nine-year old though.
On this date: In 1933, FDR was inaugurated.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
What I Read and How I Liked It
Okay, maybe that was lame, but I stayed up too late last night finishing this book:
Right from the start, I loved this book - great characters, a setting so real you could feel it and a twist that I didn't see coming at the end. All around, a great read for either upper MG and older YA, even those who feel that historical fiction isn't their cup of tea. So, okay, it won the National Book Award this year and it's gotten great reviews - I'm not the first one to love it. Try it and you will too.
On this date: In 1887, Helen Keller met Anne Sullivan.
Right from the start, I loved this book - great characters, a setting so real you could feel it and a twist that I didn't see coming at the end. All around, a great read for either upper MG and older YA, even those who feel that historical fiction isn't their cup of tea. So, okay, it won the National Book Award this year and it's gotten great reviews - I'm not the first one to love it. Try it and you will too.
On this date: In 1887, Helen Keller met Anne Sullivan.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Asilomar!
Whew. Just got back from a fabulous weekend retreat/conference at Asilomar near Monterey, California.
It was amazing - got to hang out with superstar authors Ellen Hopkins, Suzanne Morgan Williams and Jaqueline Woodson, agents Stephen Barbara and Amy Weiss Chilton and editors Kaylan Adair, Nancy Conescu and Emma Dryden. Every building at Asilomar has a common room with a fireplace and comfy chairs and Friday evening found (lucky!!) me in the lounge for hours talking to all of these wicked-cool people and sharing my Moose Munch bars.
The funny thing about this year was the deer - they were everywhere! I opened the curtains on my room that first morning and there were two of them eating grass about two feet from my patio. I was obviously unprepared for wildlife, because my first thought was "Why are there German Shepards running around the property?"
When I checked into my room, I noticed a lonely suitcase sitting outside of the room next door, so I knocked. Author/illustrators Ted and Betsy Lewin (of Click Clack Moo and Horse Song fame) opened the door and thanked me for rescuing it. The next day Ted commented that they needed to watch out for me as I was the notorious bag stealer. Hey, Ted and Betsy, you are welcome to call me anything you want, just call me! Their presentation was amazing - they think nothing of going to Mongolia and spending the week with the nomads and eating nothing but fermented horse milk while they sketch and photograph for an upcoming book. They don't even seem to fight. DH and I argue when we go to Disneyland, so I have no idea how they do it.
It was chill-inducing to hear Jaqueline Woodson (Feathers, Show Way, etc.) read and then tried not to be nervous when I got to talk to her about such important topics as our kids and who was the "bad cop" in our respective relationships. Ellen Hopkins (Crank, Impulse, etc.) was hilarious, and really knows her stuff when it comes to promotion and the Internet. She continued our conversation with a presentation the next day - her handouts on promotion and timeline of what you need to do before and after publication are my new bible. I got to talk to her editor, Emma Dryden and really wish I had something for Agent E to send her because she rocks - and she's close to my age! (For those of you who aren't in the writing community, editors are notoriously 25 and cute as a button - not that there's anything wrong with that...). Agent Stephen Barbara would be a great agent for any writer, even though we were secretly calling him Hollywood because he's got that little bit of cool flash even though he lives in New York.
The only downside was my roomate Cassandra who forced me to stay up talking wayyyy past when I wanted to go to bed and almost let us die from carbon monoxide poisoning from the fireplace upstairs. On the upside of the "smoky room" incident, we figured that if we died, they'd probably put a plaque on the room and might even start a scholarship in our names. We lived, so it's a moot point, but everything I took with me has that smokey, Girl-Scout camp smell.
Sunday lunch was awesome, but it was one of those times where you got into wildly interesting conversations with people right before you were set to leave. Jamie Weiss Chilton is an agent with Andrea Brown and if you are looking for a knowledgeable, earnest and very nice agent, check her out. Blogger extrordinaaire Lee Wind and I got talking right as we walked out the door and I wished I'd discovered him on Friday so I could have spent the entire weekend soaking up his Internet know-how. Frank Cesar (Ramirez) is so awesome with web-advice we were trying to convince him to run a web-building workshop next year. Frank, if you're reading this - we weren't kidding! Do it!
Even in these economic times, I'm not giving up Asilomar, so I'd better sell something soon so I can go next year. It's not just the cost of the trip, but the amount of books I buy so that I can get them signed by the people that wrote them. Hey - it's a write-off, and I get to support authors and a great independent bookstore right? I'm almost ashamed to show you the amount of books I bought this year:
Only one whole year before I get to go again!
On this date: In 1904, Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss) was born.
It was amazing - got to hang out with superstar authors Ellen Hopkins, Suzanne Morgan Williams and Jaqueline Woodson, agents Stephen Barbara and Amy Weiss Chilton and editors Kaylan Adair, Nancy Conescu and Emma Dryden. Every building at Asilomar has a common room with a fireplace and comfy chairs and Friday evening found (lucky!!) me in the lounge for hours talking to all of these wicked-cool people and sharing my Moose Munch bars.
The funny thing about this year was the deer - they were everywhere! I opened the curtains on my room that first morning and there were two of them eating grass about two feet from my patio. I was obviously unprepared for wildlife, because my first thought was "Why are there German Shepards running around the property?"
When I checked into my room, I noticed a lonely suitcase sitting outside of the room next door, so I knocked. Author/illustrators Ted and Betsy Lewin (of Click Clack Moo and Horse Song fame) opened the door and thanked me for rescuing it. The next day Ted commented that they needed to watch out for me as I was the notorious bag stealer. Hey, Ted and Betsy, you are welcome to call me anything you want, just call me! Their presentation was amazing - they think nothing of going to Mongolia and spending the week with the nomads and eating nothing but fermented horse milk while they sketch and photograph for an upcoming book. They don't even seem to fight. DH and I argue when we go to Disneyland, so I have no idea how they do it.
It was chill-inducing to hear Jaqueline Woodson (Feathers, Show Way, etc.) read and then tried not to be nervous when I got to talk to her about such important topics as our kids and who was the "bad cop" in our respective relationships. Ellen Hopkins (Crank, Impulse, etc.) was hilarious, and really knows her stuff when it comes to promotion and the Internet. She continued our conversation with a presentation the next day - her handouts on promotion and timeline of what you need to do before and after publication are my new bible. I got to talk to her editor, Emma Dryden and really wish I had something for Agent E to send her because she rocks - and she's close to my age! (For those of you who aren't in the writing community, editors are notoriously 25 and cute as a button - not that there's anything wrong with that...). Agent Stephen Barbara would be a great agent for any writer, even though we were secretly calling him Hollywood because he's got that little bit of cool flash even though he lives in New York.
The only downside was my roomate Cassandra who forced me to stay up talking wayyyy past when I wanted to go to bed and almost let us die from carbon monoxide poisoning from the fireplace upstairs. On the upside of the "smoky room" incident, we figured that if we died, they'd probably put a plaque on the room and might even start a scholarship in our names. We lived, so it's a moot point, but everything I took with me has that smokey, Girl-Scout camp smell.
Sunday lunch was awesome, but it was one of those times where you got into wildly interesting conversations with people right before you were set to leave. Jamie Weiss Chilton is an agent with Andrea Brown and if you are looking for a knowledgeable, earnest and very nice agent, check her out. Blogger extrordinaaire Lee Wind and I got talking right as we walked out the door and I wished I'd discovered him on Friday so I could have spent the entire weekend soaking up his Internet know-how. Frank Cesar (Ramirez) is so awesome with web-advice we were trying to convince him to run a web-building workshop next year. Frank, if you're reading this - we weren't kidding! Do it!
Even in these economic times, I'm not giving up Asilomar, so I'd better sell something soon so I can go next year. It's not just the cost of the trip, but the amount of books I buy so that I can get them signed by the people that wrote them. Hey - it's a write-off, and I get to support authors and a great independent bookstore right? I'm almost ashamed to show you the amount of books I bought this year:
Only one whole year before I get to go again!
On this date: In 1904, Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss) was born.
Monday, February 23, 2009
What's in a Name?
This is Steve Nash. Steve Nash is apparently a basketball player for the Phoenix Suns. This is not the Steve Nash who is a high-school character in my book Dirty Little Secrets. I am not a pro basketball fan, and just made up the name. Apparently, so did Mr. and Mrs. Nash. Thanks to J for catching it, and wondering why I had a basketball player show up in my book.
My 11 year old son is reading my book Dirty Little Secrets, which is a little weird for me. Nobody in the house reads my books - either the books are too old for them, or they've been burned by reading a version that changed dramatically after they read it. J asked to read DLS, so I gave him the copy that my editor had sent over with the little pencil marks all over it. It hasn't changed that much, and I told him where the new scenes were.
The funny thing was, the first night he came out of his room with wonder in his eyes and said, "Mom, this doesn't stink! I really like it." Imagine that! I might actually be good at something - who knew (only my agent and my editor, but apparently they don't carry weight with 11 year old boys)? I'm really glad he's reading it, because he's caught a few other things that needed changing. Not only did he point out the Steve Nash dilemma (who has since been renamed - my character that is, not the pro basketball player), he also said the band name that my boy-character plays in sounded "too girly". Duly noted and changed.
Proving once again that the more eyes on your MS the better.
On this date: In 1978, Fleetwood Mac wins the Grammy for Rumors (I loved that album!).
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