The Olden Days

Even though T is seven (newly minted) now and can read on his own, sometimes he likes to drag out a book from when he was little. One of these books is a lift-the-flap book called The Plane Book by Angela Royston. We were reading the other night and got into an interesting conversation.

Me: Look at those people climbing the stairs into the airplane. That's how we used to board planes in the olden days.
T: You didn't go through the tunnel?
Me: Nope, just out on the tarmac with all of the other planes, even in the rain.
T: That would have been so cool! I wish I could walk out there. What's that in this picture?
Me: That's a picture of an airline meal. Back in the olden days, you would get hot food on airplanes.
T: You didn't have to bring your own food?
Me: No. They'd actually bring it to you in your seat. It wasn't always good, but at least you weren't hungry. Look at this picture of the kid in the cockpit.
T: Wow! They really let you do that? You could go and see where they drove the plane?
Me: Yup. I remember doing that a couple of times.
T: Things were sure cool back in the olden days.

Curious, I checked the copyright to see when this "olden days" plane book was published. 1993. The olden days ain't what they used to be.

On this date: In 1926, the first Book of the Month selection was published.

Feeling Springy

Wheee! I include this photo only because it's been a few days since we've had one and it felt very springy. We are feeling very springy here and the weather should hold for the whole weekend. Hope the weather holds wherever you are.

Being that it is not cold and not raining, I've discovered a new exercise - walking to the library to work. This kills two birds; this gets me dressed sometime before noon and gets me working somewhere where there is no email for me to check obsessivly every few minutes. I started to realize that I was spending entire days looking like a bit of a slob, not talking to any actual people in person and that my a** was getting a severe case of writer's spread. 2.5 miles round trip ought to help just a little. When you start to refer to the Green brothers as "my friends" because you never miss a video blog, you know it's time to reevaluate.

On this date: In 1936, the first stock-car race was run at Daytona.

The Voices in My Head Have a Mind of Their Own

Don't you hate it when your characters won't listen to you? In my work in progress, I had intended to have my MC have a touch of OCD. Not a lot, mind you, just a little. Well, instead of OCD, she's turned into a bit of a slob. She only wears ratty college sweatshirts and tends to toss her backpack and clothes around her dorm room. OCD is out the window (or maybe under the bed - the room is so messy it's hard to tell), so I have to go back and take out the few references to OCD that I'd put in the beginning of the book.

This happened with my last book. I love the name Olivia and hadn't been able to use it in real life (my boys - and husband - had issues with it), so I named a minor character Olivia. Apparently she didn't like the name so much, because everytime I typed it came out as Nina. After a while I got tired of fighting it and Nina she became (and seems very happy with it).

I guess that this is all part of the magic of writing fiction. It's like I'm not really creating anything; just writing down the movie that is going on in my head. I can't even glorify my position to that of director - more like directed. It's not so bad until I start verbalizing the conversations that my characters are having - usually in the car, at a stoplight with the people in the next car staring at me. Thank goodness for cell phones because now you can just pretend you're on the phone and not sitting by yourself in a closed car acting out the confrontation between a college freshman and her would-be boyfriend.

On this date: In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone.

PS - Thanks for all of the blog comments! It's nice to know that people are out there.

Totally Spent

Whew! I've just spent the past couple of hours writing up a NF proposal for a really cool project that I want to try (thanks Chris B. for the sample - not that I copied it exactly or anything ;). Agent E is going to take a look and tell me if she thinks it's a go - and I hope hope hope she does because the more I research, the more I've fallen in love with my subject. Is that bad? Not like he's still alive or anything so I'm not really cheating on DH.

You know how you feel when you've just spewed out every last ounce of creative energy? Satisfied but drained. Yah. That's about it right now. Bathtime is calling, but a very good night all in all.

I'll keep you posted.

On this date: In 1899, Bayer patented aspirin.

Asparagus Pee

So...we're eating dinner and J won't eat the asparagus because it makes your pee smell and T loves the asparagus because it makes your pee smell. Can't win for losing.

At the moment, our main kitchen cabinet is held closed by rubber bands, the drawer front for the utensils falls off approximately once a week and I had a dream last night that the motion from the washing machine spin cycle caused it to crash through the floor. Which could actually happen pretty easily. I think we're in the market for a new kitchen. I have to go and write something brilliant - baby needs a new Viking range.

On this date: In 1963, the Hula-Hoop was patented.

Love This Book!

Zen Shorts by Jon J. Muth. T brought this home last week and we've read it every night since. I'm not going to review books very often - I'll leave that to other experts like Big A little a and The Edge of the Forest but when a great book comes across my lap, I have to share.

Okay, I realize I'm not alone in the liking of this book, because it won a Caldecott Honor, but maybe that just shows that they have good taste too. The watercolor drawings of the main text, mixed with the black and white illustration of the embedded zen stories really work. I personally fell in love with Stillwater the panda bear, who speaks with a slight panda-accent. The best part is that T loves this even more than I do. He likes to talk about the issues raised in the tales (if you've read other posts, you know that he is a bit of a "big thinker"). While I was writing this, he came in to snatch the book back from me so that his dad could read it with him for bedtime. That is the best endorsement of all. The book has to go back to the school library on Friday - I have a feeling we'll be buying our own copy before then.

On this date: In 2005, Martha Stewart is released from prison.

Copyedit Heaven

So, I'm sitting here surrounded by the copyedited marked-up pages of my first picture book. As I look at the red and blue pencil marks that wind their way through the text I get a shiver up my spine. There is even a mock-up of the title page with the copyright info and ISBN numbers. Whoo Hoo! It's finally becoming real. My editor wants it back ASAP so that the illustrator can work on the final pages. I'd better get to work!

Watch for Six O'clock in San Francisco at a store near you, Spring 2008.

On this date: In 1932 the Lindbergh baby was kidnapped.