Words and Such

I is for Interjection, J for...Judiciously?

2012-02-23T16:06:00.000-05:00

"Fudge is a noun, a verb, an interjection, and delicious!" --Jessi Lane Adams

Interjections! Wow. Hey! We all use them in our daily speech, don't we? Well, sure. But what about in our writing? Gee, what role do they play?

The subject came to my attention during a recent read-through of my manuscript. I didn't realize, until examples jumped out at me, how many times I used the word oh--as in oh, dear...oh, bother... oh, my...oh, fiddlesticks.

Oh, fudge.

Thus I proceeded to look into the use of interjections. Here's a glimpse of what I found:

1. Interjection (definition from My English Pages) is "a part of speech which is used to show a short sudden expression of emotion...(Though) Rarely used in academic or formal writing, they are common in fiction or artistic writing. Interjections are often used with an exclamation mark."

2. Interjections (Scribendi's "Guide to Using Interjections Effectively") "are an excellent way of expressing emotion within the dialogue of your prose, but you must be careful not to overuse them. Used sparingly and appropriately, interjections can breathe a true sense of humanity in your character, giving them the sort of personality that readers can connect with on a deeper level."

3. Interjection (etymology) comes from the Latin word interiacio (inter--"between" and -iacio--"throw") which means "thrown in."

4. A few examples of interjections include hey, well, hallelujeh, rats, bingo, wow, good grief, whoops, yeah, yikes, and yippee. Sites listing a variety of interjections (both common and not-so-common) include:

English Club

Grammar Revolution

So here we are. Interjections have their place in the writing of dialogue. They add emotion, help in characterization, show personality, make dialogue sound more real. Yet, somewhat like fudge, they need to be taken sparingly. Overdone, they are too much of a good thing, like that one more piece of fudge you know you should have refused. Therefore: I is for Interjection...J is for (to be used) Judiciously!

Do you eat too much fudge, whoops, I mean, have trouble overusing interjections? Or have you learned that less is more? What are your favorites?

Interjections that is. We all know you probably like fudge.

*photo:sxc.hu

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Insight on Plot: Stretch the Rubber Band

2012-02-19T09:40:00.002-05:00

"One way of thinking about the suspense in your story is as a rubber band. You, the author, stretch the rubber band gradually over time, making drama in your plot more and more taut with every event, every plot point...After each scene or sequence you write, ask yourself, 'How did this event stretch the rubber band?'"--Robert Kernan, Building Better Plots

A busy week ahead, but taking this writing tip with me as I go. What writerly words of wisdom will be on your mind this week?

*photo: sxc.hu

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This Week's Pep Talk

2012-02-16T18:16:00.000-05:00

On Glasses, Shoes and Writing Prompts

Here we go again. After a few years of status quo, my glasses' prescription has changed, and I'll be getting new frames. How many styles have I sported through the years since I started wearing glasses at age thirteen (except for the period in which I wore contacts)?

Let's see. Dark frames. Light frames. Delicate frames. Austere frames. Nerdy frames. 1980s big frames (I refused to wear the '70s granny glasses), wire-rimmed, wireless. Pink, brown, gold, silver. The girl fitting me this time offered me bold glasses, pale glasses, black Clark Kent glasses. Ones with wide temple pieces, fat corners, bling along the sides, blue, red, plum. Whew.

Then for some reason I began thinking about the different styles of shoes I've worn through the years. The list is also long. Baby shoes, saddle shoes, Mary Janes and patent leather. Slip-ons, laced. Keds and tennies. Low heels, high heels, stacked heels. Penny loafers. Moccasins. Boots. Ballerina slippers. Cross trainers, walking shoes, flip flops, sandals. Green shoes (yes, once a long time ago), blue shoes, black, brown, tan, white and silver shoes. Naturalizers. Strapped, backless, open-toed. Comfort-Stride and non-slip soles.

Leap-frog with me here for a minute. What if, when brainstorming ideas for character development, we take two such divergent lists, shake them up, pair elements of each together--and discover something totally unforseen in that character? Granny glasses and patent leather? Bling and moccasins? Clark Kent and Keds? What images might come forth? What surprising personalities who come to life and shout, introduce me, tell my story!

It might be a revealing exercise, you think? The lists wouldn't have to be limited to glasses and shoes. What about hobbies and foods? Window shopping likes and most hated chore? Quirky family members and favorite books? Anything to get to know our characters better, and with that get creative with our stories.

So I tell myself:
1. Shake it up.
2. Look through a variety of lenses.
3. Don't limit the possibilities.
4. Run the distance with eyes wide-open.
5. Explore the varieties.
6. Fuel the imagination.
7. Yet make it believable.
8. Allow for individuality.
9. Expect detours--and enjoy the adventure of it!
10. Deliver, even if you have to walk miles (whatever kind of shoe you wear) to get there.

This, at least, is my pep talk to myself for the week. And to think it started with glasses and shoes.

Have you had to give yourself a pep talk lately? What did it sound like? Any writing prompts that inspired you to move forward?

*photo: sxc.hu

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Books We Love Blog Fest (and Hundred-Up Give-Away)

2012-02-11T12:08:00.000-05:00

In honor of Valentine's Day, Rebecca Kiel, on Writing and Living, has created a blogfest that should shoot an arrow straight to the heart of the writer--and the reader--in us: The Books We Love Blogfest. Thanks, Rebecca, for the opportunity to showcase favorite books, although there are so many books on a reader's list that it's hard to choose! But here are three top contenders...

Middle-Grade: Missing May, by Cynthia Rylant (1993 Newbery Award Winner). Summer is an orphan, shifted around from family member to family member until elderly couple May and Ob choose to take her home. From there it is a story of unconditional love, loss, grief, and hope as healing begins. Oh, and beautiful whirligigs. Touching, tear-filled, beautifully written. A keeper of a story.

Picture Book: Bear Snores On, by Karma Wilson. One of my favorites to read aloud to the little ones. Bear sleeps through the party in his very own lair, until a pepper flake in the stew causes him to WAKE UP. But when "Bear gnarls, and he snarls...roars and rumbles...jumps and stomps...growls and grumbles" it's because he's upset that he missed the party! Never fear, his friends come to the rescue and the party goes on...all through the night. I love the rhythm, the suspense, the surprises--all done so well in rhyme. This story sings.

YA: Revolution, by Jennifer Donnelly. This story has stayed with me at several levels--historical fiction, which I love. Setting in 18th-century Paris, and the French Revolution, which I found fascinating. The adept handling of the contemporary character's story with that of the historical--how the two stories are woven together. The intrigue, mystery, adventure. The beautiful writing.

These are only a few of the many books I have enjoyed. And, speaking of enjoying, check out the other participants in the Books We Love Blogfest, and read about their favorites!

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Oh, and one more thing! I'm happy to announce the winners of my 100-Up Give-Away contest, having reached 100 followers. Drum-roll, please.....

Winner of The Cardturner, by Louis Sachar is...

CO, Thoughts of a Young Aspiring Writer.

Winner of Savvy, by Ingrid Law is...

Peggy Harkins.

Winner of The Tension of Opposites, by Kristina McBride is...

Lauren F. Boyd, My Path to Publication

Congratulations, and thanks for participating! I'll be contacting you by e-mail to get your mailing addresses, and the books will soon be in the mail.

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The Unexpected: 5 Tips on Plot Twists

2012-02-07T17:44:00.000-05:00

"Creativity comes from looking for the unexpected and stepping outside your own experiences."
--Masaru Ibuka

The jolt, when it hit, was palpable. Nothing really big, but a hit all the same.

I was on my morning walk, approaching the turnaround point at the curve. The scene is so familiar at this particular spot--that of an old barn that for years was a picturesque fixture of the landscape. In fact, I often told myself that I should bring my camera and get a picture of it. Admittedly the barn was dilapidated and abandoned, but it had such character built as it was on a stone foundation with weathered boards that had seen many a day. It shouted history--even a story or two. I'd even analyzed the angle from which to take the shots. Yes, one day I would do that.

This time as I approached, I looked up to see a small earth-mover nearby. I couldn't tell if it was parked on the road, and if I'd have to skirt around it. I wondered what project was about to be embarked upon. That's when the surprise hit, and the unexpected registered on my brain.

The barn was gone.

Razed. Obliterated. Kaput. The bulldozer's job had already been done. The landscape was forever changed. What a twist that revelation brought to my morning!

Well, as is so often the case, thoughts went from personal disappointment over a lost photo op to the question of how such an event could be useful in plotting our stories. How can we use the unpredictable, the unexpected, surprises, twists and turns in order to keep our readers reading? And why?

Scanning several sources, I uncovered five tips on plot twists:

1. Predictable to Unpredictable. Barbara Dunlap, autocrit, defines plot twists as: "anytime something unexpected happens in a story that changes its fundamental direction. Where the characters and the plot are moving along in a direction that feels predictable then something happens to alter that predictability, that's a plot twist."

2. But...There's No Formula. Janice Hardy, at The Other Side of the Story, gives great advice about plot twists related to reader expectations. She writes, "We're all looking for a great plot twist, right? Be it in the books we write or the ones we read. That unexpected event or revelation that changes everything we thought we knew and takes it to a whole new level. The things that make us go, 'wow, that was awesome. I never saw that coming.' Trouble is, knowing you want one is a lot easier than coming up with one. There is no formula for devising a great twist, because every plot is different and any number of things can work in a story. My trick for twisting my plot is pretty simple: Reader expectations...You want to give readers what they expect, but not in the way they expect it."

3. Murphy's Law. Ansel Dibell in his book, Plot, suggests we play with Murphy's Law. "Try to think of what, within that fundamental situation, could go surprisingly wrong, yet seem believable and reasonable, within that context, when it happens...Your twist must satisfy and improve upon what it substitutes for, not just change it to something else."

4. Connect the Dots. This from Amanda Hannah, at YA Highway: "Most surprises need to have some roots grounded early in the book--little whispers that could hint at something to come. Things that the reader might not consciously pick up on at first, but once the surprise is discovered, they can connect all the dots together."

5. Multiple Implications. Scott Edelstein, in The Writer's Book of Checklists, amps plot twists up another notch. He says, "Look for events, developments, and twists that work in two or more ways at once, or that have multiple implications, meanings, or consequences. These can be among the most powerful elements in any piece of fiction."

Maybe we won't surprise our readers with a barn in one scene, only to find it unexpectedly leveled in another, but we do want to provide them with the occasional jolt that keeps them reading. What about you? How do you plan for the unexpected in your stories? Any outstanding plot twists you've read and marveled at recently?

p.s. What fun! Words and Such's 100-follower milestone has been reached (thanks, Maria!). My 100-Up Give-Away drawing is coming soon. If you would like to be a part of the drawing, comment here. Deadline is midnight this Friday, February 10. Winners will be announced this Saturday, February 11!

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Photo-A-Day, January 2012

2012-01-31T13:55:00.000-05:00

"You'll miss the best things if you keep your eyes shut."

--Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut

I've been trying to keep my eyes open this month since deciding to pick up the Photo-A-Day challenge (I first mentioned the challenge here), and run with it. Thought I'd share the results. I'm not sure yet what will come of this, except to say I've already found myself more tuned into details, looking for patterns, appreciating textures, drawn to color, reaching back nostalgically, and recording some of those things that have special personal meaning. How will this relate to writing? Don't know yet, except to say that the right side of the brain has been engaged a bit more, ideas are starting to grow, prompts are developing, and...well...I managed to stick to a goal--at least for 31 days. And I find myself looking forward to what February might bring!

Take a peek:

Any favorites, curiosities, or attention-getters jump out at you, catch your imagination? I'd love to know which ones caught your eye!

And do you think you might attempt such a challenge? Why or why not?

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Gems of Writerly Wisdom, Richard Peck-Style

2012-01-28T21:54:00.000-05:00

Found this gem from one of my favorite authors. Thought I'd pass it along:

"I write from beginning to end, as if I'm reading the book, not writing it. I revise endlessly, rewriting each page at least six times. To show me how to shape my story, I keep other people's books on my desk to dip into when I'm growing lost in my own story--new books by my colleagues in the young-adult field and of course, always, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Writing is too hard to do alone; you need all the help other writers can give you.

"When I finish the book, I take the first chapter and, without rereading it, throw it away. Then I write the first chapter last, now that I know how the story ends. It means I write the first chapter with confidence because the first chapter is the last chapter in disguise." --Richard Peck, "A Conversation with Richard Peck," in his book Fair Weather, Puffin Books edition, 2001.

I especially like "the first chapter is the last chapter in disguise." Wow. Any thoughts? Has Mr. Peck, Newbery Award-winning author, inspired you, too?

photo: sxc.hu/

Beneath the Iceberg: Story

2012-01-24T18:13:00.000-05:00

"Conversations are like icebergs--only the very tops are visible. Most of their weight, their mass, their meanings are under the surface. Make your readers feel the tension between what is above and what's below, and you'll have a story." --Jerry Stern

Dipping into conversations this week to search for what lies beneath. Chipping away at dialogue icebergs to uncover tension. Digging deeper in the ocean of words to discover more story below the surface. How about you?

photo: sxc.hu

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Idioms vs. Cliches

2012-01-19T18:27:00.002-05:00

"It's tough trying to keep your feet on the ground, your head above the clouds, your nose to the grindstone, your shoulder to the wheel, your finger on the pulse, your eye on the ball and your ear to the ground." --Proverb quotes

Idioms. Don't you love them? They say things in quirky ways that make the point interesting. Nose to the grindstone? What hard work! Ear to the ground? What a way to keep tabs on what's going on.

What about bite your tongue, chip on his shoulder, flash in the pan, get up on the wrong side of the bed, or go out on a limb. Maybe even let sleeping dogs lie, not playing with a full deck, and put a sock in it. I love the imagery, don't you?

An idiom (n.), according to Dictionary.com is 1. "a group of words whose meaning cannot be predicted from the meanings of the constituent elements," or 2. "a language, dialect or style of speaking peculiar to a people." In other words, it's a phrase that means something else than the literal words and is a "construction or expression in one language that cannot be matched or directly translated word-for-word in another language" (Literary Terms and Definitions). Imagine trying to explain to an ESL student can't cut the mustard. Want more examples of common idioms? Check out lists here and here.

The problem with idioms, however, is that--although they might have started out as a quaint and unique colloquialism--in writing they can quickly become cliche. George Tamayo makes the distinction between the two: "Idioms and cliches are two different things, and while idioms can be cliches and cliches can be idioms, they should be kept distinct." He continues: "The usage writer E. Ward Gilman has observed that the word 'idiom' is usually positive... A cliche is a word or phrase that has been overused to the point of having lost its freshness or vigor."

Personal example here. We had a saying around this house when the kids were growing up that was unique and original, and I say falls in the category of an idiom--although when it was being bantered around, no one stopped and said, "My, what an original idiom." No, I think initially it was meant as an insult. Here it is:

"Turn the clock back to where it ticks."

None of us, hubby, Melissa, nor Keith could ever actually define its meaning, but looking back I rather suspect it came to light when one of the kids accused the other of something, and the accused flung it right back to the accusee! Loved it then, love it still. It's quaint, fresh, and will never grow trite, at least not around here. It certainly fits the definition--not predictable based on the elements, and a style of speaking peculiar to a people, i.e. this particular clan!

Got any original idioms unique to you and yours? Any classics that are favorites you feel never go out of style? How do you use idioms in your writing without them sounding cliched?

p.s. if you're so inclined, try the "Paint By Idioms Game," at FunBrain. You "help the grand master 'Salvabear Dali' finish his paintings" by identifying the correct expression. Have fun :-)

*photo courtesy of sxc.hu

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On Logos, Arrows, and Storytelling

2012-01-12T09:15:00.002-05:00

"Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it." --Hannah Arendt

We can blame my brother for sending me off on this tangent--but I'm glad he did. You see, he's the one that mentioned it first.

"Have you ever seen the arrow in the FedEx logo?" he asked. And that's when the adventure began.

We had never heard of the arrow. Have you? When we first looked for it, as we'd be out on the road somewhere and pass a FedEx truck, we'd ask each other--hubby and I--where is there an arrow? What's he talking about? I don't see any arrow. We looked every which way but up--on the truck, on the letters, around the letters. Nothing.

But. Then. We. Saw. It. Embedded as it is between the capital E of "Ex" and the smaller case x. I immediately texted my brother: "We saw the arrow!" We were on I-75 south heading toward Cincinnati at the time.

Again, did you know about this? Wouldn't we feel silly if everyone else but us knows it's there?

Anyway, the idea sent me off to explore if this optical illusion if you will was intentional in the design or just a fluke. It was intentional and it isn't a fluke.

The creator of the logo is a man named Lindon Leader. In an interview with Mr. Leader (you can read the interview here), he describes how he designed the logo, even to the point of developing a new font in order to make the arrow fit. "I thought," he said, "that if I could develop this concept of an arrow it could be promoted as a symbol for speed and precision, both FedEx communicative attributes...The power of the hidden arrow is simply that is a hidden bonus."

And that got me thinking about embeddedness (is that a real word?) in our stories. What hidden elements help communicate our purpose, our stories? I suggest these five:

1. Embedded Theme. "By its nature, theme can't be obvious. At best it's open for interpretation, thought, and discussion, an echo left to resonate long after the book itself is read. We can't present theme directly. Sometimes we have trouble grasping it ourselves." This gem comes from Martina Boone over at Adventures in YA and Children's Publishing (here).

2. Embedded Symbolism. "Symbolism," says Stephen King in On Writing, "(is) more than just chrome on the grille. It can serve as a focusing device for both you and your reader, helping to create a more unified and pleasing work. I think that, when you read you mss over, you'll see if symbolism, or the potential for it, exists. If it doesn't, leave well enough alone. If it does, however--if it's clearly a part of the fossil you're working to unearth--go for it. Enhance it."

3. Embedded Story Question. Ann Whitford Paul, in Writing Picture Books, suggests the importance of finding your story's question. "It behooves writers to think of a general question about the underlying issue they are trying to unravel in each new story...it is critical each story has a question. If not, the story probably will not be focused. Discovering your question will keep your story moving in the right direction."

4. Embedded Ending in the Beginning. A personal favorite of mine, as I try to bring this around in my stories. The idea is stated in Leonard Bishop's Dare to be a Great Writer, 329 Keys to Powerful Fiction. "Somewhere in the opening of the novel the writer should include a suggestion of the conclusion. Readers will not recognize the 'end-in-the-beginning.' How can they? But when they reach the novel's conclusion--no matter how many side journeys you have led them along--they will feel a sense of completion to the novel...If you do not know the conclusion of the novel, begin writing anyway. When you reach the end you can include some of it in the opening by rewriting. The end is already there, but it all starts from the beginning."

5. Embedded Hope. I like this concept, too, which comes from Steven Taylor Goldsberry's The Writer's Book of Wisdom, 101 Rules for Mastering Your Craft. "You can write about blood and fire, human bodies scorched like forgotten cookies, about misery, torture (etc. etc.)...But in the end there must be a glimpse of gold, the first bright feather of a rare bird reborn from the ashes of a mythical bonfire. One of the great traditions of art is that it provides hope...Make your audience gasp at suspenseful or wondrous adventures, but get them home safely. Let them breathe easy once more."

I debated whether or not to reveal the arrow, in case this is the first some of you have heard of it, and maybe you'd like to find it on your own. But like they say, once you've found it, you'll probably never "not" be able to see it again--it will pop out at you every time. And it's stuck in my head now, so I guess I'll spoil it for you. Here's the arrow.

Any "obvious but hidden" things you seek to include in your stories?

(Disclaimer: I do not, nor have I ever worked for FedEx. This is not a paid advertisement!)

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Open a Window: Thoughts on Scene

2012-01-07T16:42:00.000-05:00

"Now, what is it which makes a scene interesting?

If you see a man coming through a doorway, it means nothing.

If you see him coming through a window--that is at once interesting." --Billy Wilder

Just a tidbit of inspiration for those who might be focusing on scene this upcoming week (like I plan to do :-). Happy rest of the weekend to all who happen to stop by...

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Aim, Shoot, Bull's Eye: Targets for a New Year

2012-01-01T21:56:00.000-05:00

"It's the sheer act of writing, more than anything else, that makes a writer." --John Gardner

Call it semantics, but I've decided to set writing "targets" rather than resolutions for the new year. The "dart board"--what I'm aiming for--is to write every day. No matter how much, how little--my goal is to hit at least one of four targets every day. Each is represented by the graduated concentric circles of a dart board. (I wish I could diagram this, but such design skills aren't in my repertoire yet!)

The four targets include:
1. The Bull's Eye: Write 1000 words. I hope to hit this mark more often than not in this new year. But that is the real prize, and often hard to attain. So if circumstances--like life's challenges away from the computer--preclude this then I'll aim for...

2. The Inside Ring: Write two pages. Linda Sue Park, author of the 2002 Newbery Medal Winner A Single Shard, in an interview over at Cuppa Jolie, said: "My most valuable tip came from Katherine Paterson, who wrote in an essay about how she tries to finish 2 pages a day. I read that when I was starting work on my first novel, and it was a huge light-bulb moment. I thought, I can do that! I don't know if I can ever write a whole novel, but I sure as heck can write 2 pages a day. I've written every single one of my novels that way, and I'm positive I never would have written even one if I hadn't read that tip." Still and all, though, if time is at a premium on a busy day, I will at least shoot for...

3. The Middle Ring: Write for 15 minutes. Dan Goodwin, at Coach Creative, says: "Create every day and you get used to starting creative sessions quickly and easily. They become a routine, a habit, and you begin before you've had a chance to procrastinate. The less often you create, the harder it becomes to get started, and the more excuses and 'urgent' tasks that have to be done before you create begin to stack up...(so) start today, set aside 15 minutes, make an appointment with your creativity, and write it down. Do the same tomorrow." Yet, being realistic, on days I can't even do that I will at least...

4. The Outer Ring: Write ten words. This from Mary E. Pearson, on a guest post at Dear Editor: "When I feel like I can't move forward, I will do all kinds of things to help me keep going, like...Trick myself. I sit down to write and tell myself I only have to write ten words and then I can get up and do whatever I want guilt-free. TEN. That's all. But I have to do it every day." She says it's amazing how allowing yourself ten simple words more often than not jumpstarts the writing process and you end up writing more than you thought you would.

So there you have it, my targets for 2012. Every day, hit at least one. Now my aim might be poor at the beginning. After all, I haven't been all that consistent in the past. But with practice, who knows what will come. I'm looking forward to finding out.

What are your writing targets for the new year?

*Note: This is a repost from last year--it first ran here--and since it generated alot of discussion back then, I thought I'd share again. Hopefully others will find it helpful now, too. Does the idea of setting writing targets help? It has for me. I'm happy to report that, although I did not hit as many bull's eyes as I had hoped to in 2011, I did hit one or another target over 250 days out of 365--which equates to about 70% of the time. My aim's getting better. How about yours?

photo: sxc.hu

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Next Year's Words

2011-12-29T14:36:00.010-05:00

"For last year's words belong to last year's language

And next year's words await another voice.

And to make an end is to make a beginning."

--T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding

The new year beckons with fresh pages like a new journal. What words will we write? From this vantage point we don't know yet, but isn't it exciting to think of the possibilities?

There are three words for sure that I'm going to start with. In fact, I'm going to write them down on the year's first page, day one, and until they're internalized, use them as constant reminders from January to December. They are:

RELAX. Writing is a gift, not a competition. Time is a gift, not a race. Relish the two, and enjoy the process. Rushing through it all only adds stress and angst.

WRITE. There's nothing new here, although it often seems like we need the reminder. Get words down. In whatever form, every day if possible. Journaling, freewriting, descriptions, prompts, new stuff, revised stuff, fun stuff, serious stuff. Doesn't matter. Doesn't even matter if it's not intended for publication. Just write--practice--and keep the process going. Eventually that which is meant for publication will be published. But you have to write it first.

CREATE. Imagine. Visualize. Stir the pot of creativity and see what comes of it. Seek--and seize--new opportunities and see where they take you. Translate them into words, and keep the process energized. Will I follow my own advice? Well, there's the Photo-a-Day project at Kodak (here and here) that I'm considering doing--taking a photo a day for 365 days, designed to "jump start" creativity. Hmmm, where would that take me? Then there's the possibility (oooh, I'm really saying it, Keith!) of a trip to Spain ahead of us in the new year. Will I jump on that? We'll see. Still, no matter what, be open, receptive, curious--and create.

Relax. Write. Create. Those are my three words. I think they'll serve me well. Looking back over the past year, I see a number of postive things. Queries on my MG novel are out, final rewrites completed, a bilingual picture book (in collaboration with my daughter) on submission, targets set/many met, research, character sketches, a writer's conference attended as well as a literature conference and book fair. A moderate mix of wordplay, writing prompts, right-side of the brain exercises, to-be-read pile chipped away at. Watching the (grand)children grow, and playing right alongside them. If I take my three chosen words to heart in 2012, there's no telling what I'll be able to report this time next year! It's a goal worth working toward, you think?

How about you? What words will spur you on in 2012?

*photo courtesy of sxc.hu

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Season's Greetings

2011-12-23T23:05:00.000-05:00

"Where there is great love there are always miracles." --Willa Cather

Miracles still abound. May the meaning of the Christmas season touch hearts and spirits everywhere--and shower an abundance of hope, peace, and joy into the fresh new year!

"Then the star appeared again, the same star they had seen in the eastern skies. It led them on until it hovered over the place of the child. They could hardly contain themselves: They were in the right place! They had arrived at the right time!" --Matthew 2:10, The Message

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If You Have a Garden and a Library, Part II

2011-12-19T16:46:00.000-05:00

"And the secret garden bloomed and bloomed and every morning revealed new miracles."

--Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

Oh, the mysteries and the miracles of a garden. We were reminded of this when we--daughter, granddaughter, and I--attended a most delightful little play recently, an adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic, The Secret Garden.

My daughter chanced upon the opportunity when she saw a banner advertising the upcoming play, sponsored by a local woman's club and to be performed in a small theater downstairs in a community center. Though the stage was small, and viewers settled into metal folding chairs on three sides of the platform, the performance could not have been any more professionally done. Wow. The acting was fantastic. The setting design, for what space was available, was uniquely done. How else could you represent Mary's bedroom, Martha the maid tending to the newly-arrived spoiled and temperamental child, and a locked gate to a secret garden? Where would Mary find the hidden key? And why was Colin in a wheelchair?

The experience was made all the more rich by seeing it through the eyes of the child with us. "Why is she doing that?" Angelica asked when Mary threw a tantrum. "She found the key in that tree!" she pointed out when Mary discovered the means to enter the garden. "Where's the bird?" she wondered when Dickon's friend the robin sang out. We came away with a sense of wonder--at talent and art, performance and staging, a time-honored story, and an all-round simply fun evening in a garden. Including autographs! What a great memory-maker.

Ah. Cicero's quote again (see part I, here): If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.

Wisdom can be found in gardens, too. Additional samples from Burnett's garden:

~"Where you tend a rose, my lad, a thistle cannot grow."

~"It made her think that it was curious how much nicer a person looked when he smiled. She had not thought of it before."

~"Much more surprising things can happen to anyone who, when a disagreeable or discouraged thought comes into his mind, just has the sense to remember in time and push it out by putting in an agreeable, determinedly courageous one. Two things cannot be in one place."

~"At first people refuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done, then they begin to hope it can be done, then they see it can be done--then it is done and all the world wonders why is was not done centuries ago."

~"If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden."

Wishing you gardens and libraries galore in the upcoming new year. May your garden of days bloom, and every morning reveal new miracles.

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If You Have a Garden and a Library, Part I

2011-12-13T13:30:00.004-05:00

"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need." --Cicero

We had a splash of a time the other night when we celebrated Adrian's first birthday. At the library.

What better place to take a child, especially to the children's hour where warm, kind, energetic, and book-loving librarians read and dance and sing with the wee ones? What better place, next to parents reading to their children, fosters an early love for books that will then surge through their bloodstreams throughout their lives?

Going to the library is a regular habit for Adrian and Angelica. Mommy takes them to scheduled children's hours during morning times. Daddy takes them on Wednesday evenings to another. That's where they decided to hold the party, since Adrian's birthday happened to fall on the same day. "Why not have the party here?" librarian Miss Amy said. Miss Amy loves Adrian. She loves all the children.

So that's how we ended up having cupcakes, juice, birthday songs, Christmas picture book stories, friends and family, laughter and celebration all bubbling over together in a room full of books.

Even Nelson was there. Nelson? Nelson loves libraries, too. He's a neighbor, friend, and therapy dog who just happens to be very familiar with Adrian and Angelica's library. For he is part of a therapy program where children who have difficulty reading come and read...to him. Such dog reading assistance programs are designed to help children develop reading skills in a relaxed environment. Dogs, after all, make good listeners, are patient, and always give A's for effort. (If you're interested in reading about such programs, check out "Can a Dog Help Your Child Read?" You can find it here.)

Thus it was a special evening. As Cicero said, if you have a garden and a library you have everything you need. And the garden part? Stay tuned. There's a story there, too.

Any special stories, get-togethers, or gatherings that have come your way lately?

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For Connie

2011-12-03T14:16:00.006-05:00

May God grant you always...

A sunbeam to warm you,

a moonbeam to charm you,

a sheltering Angel so nothing can harm you.

Laughter to cheer you.

Faithful friends near you.

And whenever you pray, Heaven to hear you.

-- Irish Blessing

Words starting with "c" captured my attention on my walk this morning. Have you ever stopped to consider how many sunny, uplifting and supportive words are crafted with the third letter of the alphabet?

Care

Caring

Compassion
Calm

Concern

Compliment

Comfort

Cheer

Cozy
Comfy

Cuddle
Chuckle

Celebration

Children

Curiosity

Creativity

Commitment
Cake
Cookies
Candy

Chocolate

Coffee
Captivate
Cooperate
Cherish

Courage
Comforter

Christ

These thoughts surfaced following news the other day from my dear friend and writers' group critique buddy, Connie, who has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Certainly one of the ugliest, if not most ugliest, c-words ever. If only we could strike that one from our vocabulary.

And so, for Connie and others who may have received not-so-welcome news of late, please know our prayers are with you. May sunbeams warm you, laughter cheer you, and the God of all mercy, grace and comfort be with you.

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A Mayflower Connection

2011-11-30T15:46:00.014-05:00

"Life is lived forwards, but understood backwards."--Source Unknown

Thanksgiving Day is over for another year, but the after-effects still linger over this way. Not just that I'm still working off the extra calories I took in. Nor in the fact that I desire to be more conscious of my many blessings every day, not just one day a year. But also because of a discovery that came to my family following the day of feasting.You know how people claim that their ancestors came over on the Mayflower? Yeah, sure. Didn't everybody's?

In my case they did. Which seems to make my previous post personally a bit more significant.

I've always loved history--people's stories from the past. So imagine my delight when my dad's cousin emailed us the day after Thanksgiving with results of a genealogy search he did--one which revealed that a branch of our family is directly descended from Miles Standish. The Miles Standish of Mayflower claim, and military captain to the first Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock. Yep, that one. The line that starts with Standish carries down through the Wheelocks to the Binghams to the Harrises to my dad--and to me and my family then, too.

I think it's exciting anyway. The news makes me want to read up on this guy. I know the name from elementary school history books. Now I want to learn what I can about the man. I've already got a heads-up on my research by checking out Cheryl Harness' The Adventurous Life of Myles Standish and the Amazing-But-True Survival Story of Plymouth Colony from the library.

And I'm visualizing a family tree. Do they make templates that follow lines from six-or-more family branches? For you see, there's Miles Standish on Dad's side originally from Wales, then my mother's ancestor John Young who came from Scotland. My husband's mother's parents came from Poland; he traces his father's side to Germany. My little grandson on one side has maternal grandparents from Brazil and Japan; my granddaughter and second grandson have paternal grandparents in Mexico who trace their lines one direction to an indigenous Indian group and in the other direction all the way back to Spain.

Whew. My head's spinning. But I'm determined. Writing is still my top priority. But mapping out this family tree for my grandkids is formulating in my mind. I'd love to leave this heritage in some kind of visual form for them.

I plan to do just that. But not right away. After all, Christmas will soon be here.

But if Thanksgiving opened up such possibilities, what might come next?

Any family tree stories you have to share?

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Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-22T23:18:00.000-05:00

"The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving." --H.U. Westermayer

As we celebrate our many blessings, may gratitude run deep, flow freely, and open eyes and hearts everywhere. Happy Thanksgiving.

*photo courtesy of sxc.hu

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Writers as Sculpture Artists

2011-11-19T16:11:00.000-05:00

Illustration of Rodin's The Thinker
courtesy of Microsoft Office clipart

"Writing is not like painting where you add. It is not what you put on the canvas that the reader sees.

Writing is more like a sculpture where you remove,

you eliminate in order to make the work visible.

Even those pages you remove somehow remain."

--Elie Wiesel

Thought to ponder: keep chipping a way at those words!

Have a great rest of the weekend...

*p.s. my signed books giveaway is still open.Check here for details on how you can win :-)

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5 Insights on Dialogue, From a Bird's-Eye View

2011-11-15T19:56:00.011-05:00

"The best dialogue counters our expectations and surprises us." --Nathan Bransford

Man, the birds were noisy on my walk the other day. A flock soared overhead, fluttered, and en masse swooped onto one lone tree already bare of leaves--squawking, chattering, talking all at once. I found myself imagining one tiny little guy on an outermost twig, notebook and pen in hand, taking notes. If my imaginary writer-bird were to try to pull good dialogue out of all the confusion, what guidelines would he seek?

Consider the following:

1. The Purpose of Dialogue. Dialogue's purpose is twofold. It: a) reveals character and motivation, and b) moves the plot forward. No aimless chatter here, unless it serves to further the story. Dialogue also helps to establish tone or mood, creates/adds to conflict, and helps control pace. "Dialogue," it's been said, "is all about action and reaction."

2. The Effectiveness of Dialogue. Effective dialogue seeks to achieve a number of goals. It should drive the story forward, add to the reader's understanding of characters, and/or demonstrate the relationship between different characters. According to The Writer's Book of Wisdom, 101 Rules for Mastering Your Craft (Steven Taylor Goldsberry), dialogue should heighten drama, speed the process of discovery, and create tension. Filter out aimless squawking. Zero in on characters and plot, story and conflict--and dialogue will improve.

3. On Writing Good Dialogue. Struggling to make dialogue believable? Feel like you're out on a limb and nothing works? Try this: Listen to how people speak. Keep a journal of overheard dialogue. Read with an ear to how other authors handle dialogue. Also remind yourself to show, not tell...keep dialogue concise... make it flow...use slang sparingly...be true to the era but not stilted. Oh, and a biggie--avoid information dump!

4. On the Formating of Dialogue. Break up dialogue--through action, description, and other story elements. Use tags ("he said") correctly. Punctuate correctly. Keep those little birdies in line.

5. Test Your Dialogue. Read your work out loud. Have someone else read your work out loud. This way you'll tune in to any breakdowns in rhythm, authenticity, and characterization. What you want is for your work to sing. And surprise.

My imaginary writer-bird is sitting on my shoulder this week, reminding me of these things. In gathering the tips, I turned to the following sources and are grateful for the help:

Learn the Elements of a Novel
Novel-Writing-Help
About.com Fiction Writing
Nathan Bransford, Author
BubbleCow Copy Editing
Change the World with Words

What are some of your tips for writing good dialogue?

p.s. My Hundred-Up Signed Books Give-Away is still open. Check it out here, and join in the fun as I inch my way to 100 followers!

*photo courtesy of sxc.hu

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Hundred-Up: Signed Books Give-Away

2011-11-10T17:40:00.009-05:00

"Story is to human beings what the pearl is to the oyster." --Joseph Gold

I have some pearls to give away.

Three books. Each signed by the author. I think you'll enjoy them, each a different genre and style.

The occasion? Celebrating an approaching milestone: 100 followers. What fun! And what better way to share in the fun than to spread some neat books around. The titles include:

Savvy (2009 Newbery Honor Winner), by Ingrid Law. Goodreads: "For generations, the Beaumont family has harbored a magical secret. They each possess a 'savvy'--a special supernatural power that strikes when they turn thirteen. Grandpa Bomba moves mountains, her older brothers create hurricanes and spark electricity...and now it's the eve of Mibs's big day. As if waiting weren't hard enough, the family gets scary news two days before Mibs's birthday: Poppa has been in a terrible accident. Mibs develops the singular mission to get to the hospital and prove that her new power can save her dad...Suddenly Mibs finds herself on an unforgettable odyssey that will force her to make sense of growing up--and of other people who might also have a few secrets hidden just beneath the skin."

I met Ingrid this past weekend at the OKI (OH/KY/IN) Literature Conference. A delightful lady full of creativity, she's an author who determined she wanted to create a different kind of magic--one akin to a tall tale. She loves to collect words, and make up a few of her own. And quite the success story, when you think that this was her first book AND a Newbery award-winner.

The Tension of Opposites, by Kristina McBride. Goodreads: "When Tessa's best friend Noelle disappears right before the start of eighth grade, Tessa's life changes completely--she shies away from her other friends and stops eating in the cafeteria. Now, two years later, Noelle has escaped her captivity and is coming home, in one piece but not exactly intact, and definitely different. Tessa's life is about to change again as she tries to revive the best-friendship the two girls had shared before Noelle--now Elle--was kidnapped... and tries to balance her desire to protect and shelter Elle with the necessity to live her own life and put herself first. Tense. The constant push and pull of friendship, pain, love, and jealousy is beautifully drawn..."

I met Kristina at Cincinnati's recent bookfair, Books by the Banks. When asked how she got her idea for this book, she said she took the idea straight from newspaper headlines. Another example of how ideas await each of us, if only we keep our eyes (and hearts) open to them.

The Cardturner: A Novel About a King, a Queen, and a Joker, by Newbery winner Louis Sachar. Goodreads: "'How are we supposed to be partners? He can't see the cards and I don't know the rules!' The summer after junior year of high school looks bleak for Alton Richards. His girlfriend has dumped him to hook up with his best friend. He has no money and no job. His parents insist that he drive his great-uncle Lester to his bridge club four times a week and be his cardturner--whatever that means. Alton's uncle is old, blind, very sick, and very rich...Alton soon finds himself intrigued by his uncle, by the game of bridge, and especially by the pretty and shy Toni Castaneda. As the summer goes on, he struggles to figure out what it all means, and ultimately to figure out the meaning of his own life. Through Alton's wry observations, Louis Sachar explores the disparity between what you know and what you think you know. With his incomparable flair and inventiveness, he examines the elusive differences between perception and reality--and inspires readers to think and think again."

Though I've not met Louis Sachar in person, I feel like in reading this book, I've met a writing teacher. He not only wove a good story, he also proved to be a good study in backstory. He's a master at feeding background information bit by bit without allowing it to bog the story down--something that for me can prove to be a tricky balance. The added bonus? If you're interested in learning the game of bridge, this book can prove to be a beginner's guide.

So for the giveaway, the rules are simple--just be a follower and you'll be eligible to win one of these three books. Follow, and leave a comment with an email address where you can be reached. Note your preference for which book you'd like, too, if you want. Oh, and if you twitter or blog about this giveaway, you'll get extra points. When the smiling faces in the followers' sidebar reaches the magical 100, I'll announce the winners, and get the books right out to you.

Thanks for playing along. More than that, thanks for following. I've enjoyed meeting each and everyone of you. Writers--like books--are real pearls!

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Proclamation Inspiration

2011-11-04T16:43:00.000-04:00

Hear ye! Hear ye! I found this posted the other day at B. Streetman's Vintage Kids' Books My Kid Loves. For the love of picture books--reading, writing, and sharing--and in the spirit of keeping the hands-on PB format alive, I pass it along. Thanks to those who drew up the original draft. A quick review of the authors listed reveals a gazillion of their books I want to get my hands on!

My favorite line? "Picture books look best when their covers face outward."

Happy weekend, everyone.

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Writing Inspiration from Aesop's Crow

2011-11-01T15:09:00.000-04:00

The Crow and the Pitcher

"A crow, half-dead with thirst, came upon a pitcher which had once been full of water; but when the Crow put his beak into the mouth of the pitcher he found that very little water was left in it, and that he could not reach far enough down to get at it. He tried and tried, but at last had to give up in despair.

Then a thought came to him, and he took a pebble and dropped it into the pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped it in the pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped that into the pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped that into the pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped that into the pitcher.

At last, at last, he saw the water mount up near him, and after casting in a few more pebbles he was able to quench his thirst and save his life. Little by little does the trick." --Aesop

Doing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) this year? I'm one of those not quite ready for the challenge, but I know many have signed up. I'm wondering how this, the first day, has gone for those brave souls? A goal of 50,000 words in the month of November resulting in the rough draft of a novel is amazing to me, and I admire those who persist--and conquer. Maybe next year for those of us not yet there? Maybe so!

In the meantime, perhaps Aesop's story will serve as inspiration, no matter the stage of writing we're in. If we remember that word by word, like pebble by pebble, the job gets done and the (writing) thirst gets quenched, then we'll see our dreams come true. We just have to be sure to pack a few special pebbles for the journey--pebbles like perseverance, persistence, play, patience, pep-talks, and pick-me-ups. (Throw in some pumpkin pie, and maybe we'll be pumped for the next 30 days!)

Yep, little by little does the trick. Good luck to all in reaching your goals.

p.s. You know, there really is a crow--the rook--that has been known to drop pebbles in a jar to get what it wants? Studies have been conducted that show this to be true. See Connelly do his thing here at physorg.com. Aesop really was on to something.

*photo courtesy of sxc.hu

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Lucy Maud Montgomery, on Adventure

2011-10-28T12:06:00.002-04:00

"So ran the current of my life in childhood, very quiet and simple, you perceive. Nothing at all exciting about it, nothing that savours of a 'career.' Some might think it dull. But life never held for me a dull moment. I had, in my vivid imagination, a passport to the geography of Fairyland. In a twinkling I could--and did--whisk myself into regions of wonderful adventures, unhampered by any restrictions of time or place." --Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942), author of Anne of Green Gables, from her book, The Alpine Path: The Story of My Career

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Like Ms. Montgomery, may our imaginations take us on wonderful writing adventures. Happy weekend, everyone! Got any adventures planned (writing or otherwise)?

G is for Glee (and not the TV Series)

2011-10-24T17:03:00.004-04:00

"A child reminds us that playtime is an essential part of our daily routine." --Anonymous

Angelica has one of Alyssa Satin Capucilli's books in the Biscuit series on her shelf, and so she knew Biscuit when she saw him. We were at Books by the Banks, a book festival held here in Cincinnati over the weekend, when what do you know? Biscuit was THERE! And all the excitement of a three-year old was poured into the biggest hug ever. Can we say glee?

What inspiration for a writer, especially those of us who write for children. No doubt, this is now my picture of the week, maybe even my screen saver. Don't you just love it? The glee spilled out on all those around. I wanted to bottle it up and hoard a supply in hopes of dispelling those less-than-gleeful, rather gloomy, times that sometimes manifest themselves unbidden.

And so I play--with words.

Glee... in the greeting...in the getting to know...in the GLOW. Glee...in the going...the giving...the gathering. Glee...in the gumption...and the gratitude.

It's all there, gifts for the gleaning, whether in a child's face upon meeting a favorite book character now bigger-than-life, in the writing--and reading--of books, or in life in general (no matter the grumps, gravels and gripes that garner groans).

Glee is the chosen word of the week over this way. What might your word be? Does it start with G, too? Any ideas on how you will play this week?

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Smiles

2011-10-20T13:05:00.002-04:00

"Autumn, the year's last, loveliest smile." --William Cullen Bryant

Just a note to thank Debbie Maxwell Allen over at Writing While the Rice Boils for guest-posting me today, sharing a post I did the other day on character names. Smiles, Debbie! And if you haven't met Debbie yet, please hop on over and say hi. Her place is always a treasure trove of writing tips, resources, books, conference news and more.

Speaking of smiles, I'd like to send a few over to WritingNut at Writing in a Nutshell as well, for the shout-out in the recent Pay It Forward blogfest. And smiles, too, to all the new followers that came over from there. Thanks, WritingNut!

Speaking of followers, it amazes me to think I'm inching up toward the big 100 followers-milestone. I have so much enjoyed meeting everyone, and being a part of the writers' blogging world. It's a pretty special place. I'm thinking there should be some fun give-away to celebrate. Stay tuned, we're getting close.

And truly, what better choice for a give-away than maybe a book or two? And what better way (for me and others in our area) to select those books ( and maybe get them autographed) than to go to the Books By the Banks book festival here in Cincinnati this Saturday, October 22, from 10-4. But how to choose--the line up of authors and illustrators who will be there is awesome. It includes Alyssa Satin Capucilli of the Biscuit children's books, illustrator Will Hillenbrand, Kristina McBride, author of the YA novel The Tension of Opposites, and renown music artist Judy Collins who will be signing her autobiography, Sweet Judy Blue Eyes, and nearly 100 others. The day promises to be amazing, with lots of smiles to go around.

Finally, speaking of books and the buying of them--when you buy a book, do you consider yourself a patron of the arts? I hadn't thought about our purchasing power this way until I read Rosslyn Elliott's post this morning at WordServe Water Cooler. You might check out what she has to say in My Reader, My Patron: How Authors Will Survive in the Brave New Publishing World. Great food for thought.

Smiles, everyone!

Kaleidoscope of Words

2011-10-16T23:08:00.041-04:00

When you are describing,

A shape, or sound, or tint;

Don't state the matter plainly,

But put it in a hint;

And learn to look at all things,

With a sort of mental squint. --Lewis Carroll

Did you know that all the beauty in a kaleidoscope is made up of just three simple elements? The elements are colored glass, mirrors, and light. Sir David Brewster invented the kaleidoscope way back in 1815, and coined its name from the Greek words for beauty, form, and 'tool for examination.' Hence, the word means "observer of beautiful forms."

Writing, too, is made up of simple elements, the most basic of all of course being words. But it's how we put words together, shake them up, and bring them to light that makes a story. We mix the colors of character and dialogue, the mirror images of patterns and insights, and the light of voice to make it happen. Are we up to it?

Sometimes, like Lewis Carroll says, the effort takes a bit of a mental squint. Sort of like looking through a kaleidoscope, I guess.

But observe, we do--and listen, and take notes, and plot, and describe, and connect-the-dots, and play with words. All to make a better story and, hopefully, in a more beautiful form than not.

What about you--are you looking through a kaleidoscope of words this week?

*photo courtesy of Microsoft Office clipart

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Character Names: Have You Heard This One?

2011-10-12T20:49:00.018-04:00

"Always end the name of your child with a vowel, so that when you yell the name will carry."

--Bill Cosby

I recently came across the following statement in a book on novel writing. I'd never heard this "rule" before. Have you?

"Choose names with long vowel sounds for principal characters, shorter for lesser."

No discussion of why followed. And since I'd never heard this before (and with apologies to the author for not accepting the idea at face value), I decided to put the theory to the test by conducting an informal poll on main character names. I took the names from books I have on my shelf, particularly classics and Newbery award winning authors since they've stood the test of time. Here's my list:

                        Long                                                                            Short
Jo, Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)                                             Scarlett, Gone With the Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
Mary, The Secret Garden (Frances H. Burnett)                    Meg, A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L'Engle)
Andi, Revolution (Jennifer Donelly)                                           Anne, Anne of Green Gables (Luci Maud Montgomery)
Tilly, The River Between Us (Richard Peck)                        Miranda, When You Reach Me (Rebecca Stead)
Zola, The Unfinished Angel (Sharon Creech)                       Jess, Bridge to Terabithia (Katherine Paterson)
Abilene, Moon Over Manifest (Clare Vanderpool)             Mibs, Savvy (Ingrid Law)
Jethro, Across Five Aprils (Irene Hunt)                                    Kit, The Witch of Blackbird Pond (Elizabeth George Spears)

As you can see, the results ended in a tie.

After this, I went back and checked the last names on the short-vowel list, and found that four of the seven carried long-vowel sounds, three short. Not quite a tie there, but close.

So I asked myself, do vowel sounds carry that much weight? Or are there other considerations for choosing character names?

Actually there are. One of the best ways is get to know the characters--their personalities, quirks, and backgrounds. This way, the "ear" will be more open to the name that fits. Not only that, but names should be chosen with an ear to historical and cultural accuracy. Also, ideas for names can come from a variety of sources, like baby name books, lists of names popular to an era, movie and tv credits, business directories, old yearbooks, phone books--sometimes even cemeteries. For some writers, the name's meaning is important, for others it is simply a matter of what "feels" right. Yes, it boils down to how a name sounds, but not only because of long or short vowels.

And, unlike Bill Cosby's reason for choosing a child's name ending in a vowel, if we utilize other resources, we'll have no reason to yell. The name will carry itself.

At least that's what I think. What do you think?

p.s. for some good guidelines (not rules!) to aid in choosing character names, you might want to check out these sources:
How To Give Your Character the Perfect Name, Writer's Digest
Name That Character, Top Ten Tips, The Script Lab
Tips for Writers on Naming Fictional Characters, Baby Names
Eight Things to Keep in Mind When Naming Characters, Jody Hedlund
Name That Character, Writing World

*photo courtesy of www.sxc.hu

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October Morning Gallery

2011-10-08T15:57:00.029-04:00

We took a walk this morning, hubby and I, to the top of the hill beyond our house. We do this a couple of times a year, different times, different seasons. Thought I'd share pocket-sized views of October from over this way. It's been a beautiful day.

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience." --Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The poetry of the earth is never dead." --John Keats

"To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more

welcome than the most luxurious Persian carpet." --Helen Keller

"Climb up on some hill at sunrise. Everybody needs perspective

once in a while, and you'll find it there." --Robb Sagendorph

"The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful." --e.e. cummings

"Truly it may be said that the outside of a mountain is good for the inside of a man."

--George Wherry, Alpine Notes and the Climbing Foot, 1896

"Nature is the art of God." --Thomas Browne, Religio Medici, 1635

"Nature is a writer's best friend." --Agave Powers

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Have a great rest of the weekend! Hope your pockets are filled with beauty, too.

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On Voice, A Quote

2011-10-03T16:41:00.000-04:00

"Writing without voice is wooden or dead because it lacks sound, rhythm, energy, and individuality...Writing with voice is writing into which someone has breathed. It
has fluency, rhythm, and liveliness that exist naturally in the speech of most people when they are enjoying a conversation." --Peter Elbow, Writing with Power

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I've found this definition on voice to be very helpful--hope it inspires you, too. And now that October is here, my goal for the month is to breathe more life into writing. How about you?

6 Keys to Opening Up New Possibilities in Your Story

2011-09-29T18:13:00.016-04:00

"What makes familiar things worth writing about is that we are able to find a way to see them new, both for us and the people we write for." --Bruce Ballenger

Some years ago we had a mail-delivery problem when a bird built its nest in our mailbox. A problem with a simple solution, it would seem. Just pull the nest out and discard. But when, the next day, we observed how the bird flew down, perched on the box, opened the lid with its beak and subsequently made several trips to deposit more nest-building straw inside, we knew we had to do something. After all, how many times could we pull out the bird's work only to see it come back and start all over? We didn't have the heart for that.

Thankfully, at about the same time, we happened to hear a park naturalist speak at the local library. During the Q&A session, I asked for advice.

"The key," the naturalist said, "is to put a brick in the mailbox. It will change the space so that the bird will want to look for a new home. Hopefully a place that's a better fit for him--and you."

A brick? It was worth a try. And, happy ending, the bird soon disappeared, never again to take up residence in our box.

Remembering the incident prompted me to wonder what keys we writers might use in dealing with some of our writing problems--problems like bogging middles, lackluster writing, stories that seem to go nowhere--or that elusive, "something just ain't working" feeling. How can we change the "space" of the piece so that we look at it differently, see new possibilities? Some ideas:

1. Experiment with point of view. This is a suggestion made by Ann Whitford Paul in Writing Picture Books. "Rewrite the opening paragraph in your story," she says, "in different forms." In other words, switch things around. If you're writing in first person, change to third--or even second. Single POV? Try multiple. Change your POV character. "While you’re writing these different opening paragraphs," she adds, "be playful. Let your imagination run wild. See how your experiments will take your story in new and surprising directions."

2. "Go Topsy-Turvey." This is how Jane Yolen puts it in Take Joy, A Writer’s Guide to Loving the Craft. “Writers know that if they turn a picture upside down, the central shapes are better exposed. No longer concerned with the drawing...what comes through is the composition itself." She acknowledges that you cannot very well read a book upside down, but you can look at its composition differently. For example, "Take one of your chapters, and reread what you've written with all the modifiers blocked out. Declare war on adverbs. Change your main character's gender. Turn a prose paragraph into lines of poetry to see how you've overwritten it...When we force ourselves to go topsy-turvy, we can see anew what is on the page."

3. Play "How Many Endings?". This is a personal favorite--an exercise I did that opened up a whole new realm of possibilities in my writing. In How to Write with the Skill of a Master and the Genius of a Child, Marshall J. Cook says this: "Select a finished story—your own or somebody else’s—and play the ‘How Many Endings?’ game. How many different ways could you end that story? Don’t judge, analyze, or otherwise evaluate your endings as you jot them down. And don’t bother polishing the prose. Just capture the idea. When you think you can’t think of any more endings, think of one more." At this point I was sweating, but I did it--one more idea--and it was by far the best.

4. Vary your writing tools. This idea came from the March/April 2011 SCBWI Bulletin, in an article titled, "Rhythm and Flow in a Writer’s Life" by Pedro De Alcantara: “Writing by hand has a different rhythm and feel from typing at a manual typewriter or at a computer. And writing by hand on unlined pages is different from writing by hand on lined paper. Alternate using pens, pencils, various notebooks, computers, Post-its, and other media. Each writing tool triggers your creativity in distinctive ways."

5. Grab your camera. Bruce Ballenger, in Discovering the Writer Within, proposes taking a series of pictures of an object of choice--making each shot different by varying the angle, distance, lighting. Print the pictures, spread them out, and ask yourself, "Do any of the images help me to see my familiar object in a new way?"

6. Change your space. Again, from Ballenger: "Go for walks, swim, run, go to a movie, read. Do anything but write for a day or so...(and) don't allow yourself to indulge in negativity."

Experiment. Turn things topsy-turvey. Go a step deeper when you think you've given it all you've got. Vary your approach. Play with images. Change your own space to make room in your head for solutions. Just a handful of ideas. When troublesome birds build nests in your head and hamper your writerly deliveries, what are some of the keys you turn to?

Messy Desk Debate

2011-09-24T18:36:00.010-04:00

"If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, then what are we to think of an empty desk?"
--(attributed to) Albert Einstein

This is a true story, I'm not making it up. I found myself drowning at my desk this week, it was so cluttered with papers, folders, research notes, old photos, writing books--you name it, it was piled up. I told myself I knew where everything was, and could find it when needed. But I knew the truth. The messies had gotten out of hand. And so I began a process to clear off my desk--filing, determining what to keep, what to throw away, reordering, prioritizing. (Do I get credit for the fact that my office is very, very small?)

Can you belive what I found at the bottom of the basket? Really, I did not stage this. This is what lay there, staring up at me:

Ummm, should I be embarrassed? I do not know how long this little book has been buried...

There are different thoughts on the subject of a cluttered desk. Some say it's a sign of creativity. Some say it hampers the creativity process. Some say it's a matter of balance. You can check out some of the discussion at:

Time Management Success: "Have You Got a Messy Desk?"
About.com Management: "What's Wrong with a Messy Desk?"
Career Builder.com: "Is a Messy Desk a Good Thing?"
Ian McKenzie: "10 Tips to Help Keep Your Desk Clean"

So, what do you say? Can you tolerate a messy desk or do you have to have it cleared off by the end of the day? Me? I'm thinking I'd better study Everything in Its Place. Creeping clutter, at least over this way, has interfered with the creative process--and a new week, a new approach, is calling my name.

Day of Rare Finds

2011-09-20T19:54:00.000-04:00

"To sit alone in the lamplight with a book spread out before you, and hold intimate converse with men of unseen generations - such is a pleasure beyond compare." ~Kenko Yoshida

Photo: City Beat

We started here on a recent day out, at this Indie bookstore for children. I'd heard of The Blue Manatee before, it's in our city of Cincinnati, but it took daughter and two grandkids to prompt us to take a field trip there. A fun, energetic place--as are most Indie book stores!--where not only children can get lost in books, but adults-disguised-as-children can, too.

Imagine our delight when we discovered a picture book author was scheduled to speak: Loren Long, author and illustrator of the Otis the Tractor books. Great fun, great inspiration, great mix of people to stand in the crowd with, and a great author to draw encouragement from.

Can't forget the Blue Marble's DeCafe, a snack bar serving smooties and such, where we were introduced to the "Nutella and Banana" bagel, ordered by hubby--and shared with little Angelica. Can anyone say chocolate fingers and chocolate smiles?

Then a dash across the street, and up a looooong flight of stairs (with two little ones in tow, mind you), to Significant Books, a shop dealing in rare, out-of-print, and "antiquarian" books. A hidden gem was waiting for me: Howe's Historical Collections of Ohio, Volume 1 of 2. Through the years I've actually dipped into the pages of this book, copyrighted 1888, on the internet, but never believed I'd hold it in my hands. On the inside flyleaf of this rare find is an inscription, presenting the book to a W.T. Davies, Esq., dated 1903. Wow. A quick run-through of the almost 1000 pages shows a wealth of history, anecdotes, and details of the years 1846-1886 in Ohio. If only I can someday get my hands on Volume 2!

Finally, dear daughter was the one to spy this gem: Writing the Natural Way, by Gabriele Lusser Rico, a book on a subject I have a special interest in, "Using Right-Brain Techniques to Release Your Expressive Powers: Clustering...Image and Metaphor...Creative Tension... Language Rhythm" (copyrighted 1983). It has risen to the top of the must-read pile, bumping a few other writing books off the stack for the time being.

Ahhh, and since the store was holding a 60% off sale, we got both books for only $8.50. A rare find indeed!

Any rare finds--books or otherwise--you've encountered recently?

September Morning Snapshot

2011-09-17T20:18:00.000-04:00

"One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words." --Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Dropping in to share a September snapshot, taken along the neighborhood walking route this morning--along with wishes for a happy rest-of-the weekend. Hope it's filled with song, poetry, beauty and a few good words!

7 Writing Tips from The Princess and the Pea

2011-09-13T16:29:00.010-04:00

"Everything you look at can become a fairy tale and you can get a story from everything you touch." --Hans Christian Andersen

"Ouch!" I was almost out the door for a morning walk when I was forced to take off a shoe. "There you are," I said as I pulled out a tiny piece of grit. "I knew I felt something." The rock was so small it could hardly be seen, but big enough to cause a lot of grief--sort of like the princess and the pea.

Remember that story, The Princess and the Pea by Hans Christian Andersen? Paraphrased it goes something like this: Once upon a time there was a prince who wanted to marry a princess, but she'd have to be a real princess. He travelled all over to find her, with no success. Then one stormy night, there was a knock on the castle door. When the King went to find out who made such racket he discovered a wet, bedraggled girl seeking shelter--and who claimed to be a princess. Though the Queen doubted the girl's story, she ushered her in. She had a plan of course. She would put a tiny pea in the girl's bed that night--a bed made of a stack of twenty mattresses and twenty feather beds. After all, a real princess would surely feel the pea because everyone knows princesses have delicate skin. The next morning the girl proclaimed she hadn't slept all night. Something somewhere under the mattresses had kept her awake. See, she had bruises to prove it. The prince was overjoyed--here was a real princess! They married and lived happily ever after. And the pea? They put in in the Royal Museum where it is to this day, unless someone has stolen it. (You may read Hans' original story here at Childhood Reading.)

Hans Christian Andersen's story lives on. And, since one thing leads to another, I gave thought to this story, and how we writers might draw tips from it to aid us in our storytelling lives. I came up with the following seven:

1. Books are like princesses--the writing of them is a goal worth searching for, and pursuing.

2. Don't give up hope in your efforts to write that princess, no matter the storms that threaten to stop the progress. A King may open the door when you least expect it.

3. Squelch the Queen's doubts that say the idea will probably come up empty anyway, so why even try?

4. Let any irritating "peas" (you know, like rejections, less-than-perfect critiques, yet another late night session to make the words flow just right) only spur you on to doing better.

5. Trust through the bruises that your real jewel of a story will one day see the light.

6. Take it all the way to the altar--commmit to it, and do what it takes to make it work.

7. Preserve the memory of those irritating peas that helped get you where you are, so that you don't have to lose sleep over the same problems the next time!

Now I'm thinking of checking into some of HCA's other stories to see what I can glean (a list of his 168 titles can be found here)--like Thumbelina, The Little Mermaid, The Emperor's New Clothes, The Little Match Girl, and The Ugly Duckling. He was quite the storyteller (1802-1875)--a Danish author, fairy tale writer, and poet noted for his children's stories.

Just goes to show, writers help other writers no matter the genre, era, or number of years apart.

Got a favorite HCA story? Any writer's analogy that has struck a cord with you this week?

On Writing Prompts

2011-09-08T23:05:00.002-04:00

"I don't know where my ideas come from, but I know where they come to. They come to my desk, and if I'm not there, they go away again." --Philip Pullman

Sometimes I need a kick start. It's like I need to throw ideas, words, letters in a big bowl and pull them out at random--or string them together like beads--to see what happens. I need something to stimulate the creative side and silence the editor. When this happens, I might pick up a book on writing and do an exercise the author suggests. I might borrow an idea I've read about in a blog. Or I might play a word association game. Often I start my day with a prompt, just to loosen up.

Recently I turned to Monica Wood's The Pocket Muse.

One idea Woods presents is this: Choose ten random letters of the alphabet, and write them at the top of a blank page. Example: C W I T S N E M B R. "Using words that begin with these letters, in the same order, write an opening sentence...

Woods gives a sampling from one of her writing workshops: "Cindy's winning?" Ian teased, suddenly nervous. "Everett may be right."

Here's what happened when I gave it a try:

I S L F V B Q E Z L

(I closed my eyes and typed randomly at the keyboard to get these letters, BTW)

And? "Instinct suggested Louie fling vegetables but quiet empathy zilched lobs."

Silly, maybe, but fun. How about you? Want to give it a try? I'd love to see what you come up with. Who knows, maybe it will be the start of something new and unexpected...

Do you use writing prompts? What are some of your favorites?

(In case you want more ideas, another fun place for writing prompts is found here at Squidoo.)

*photo courtesy: sxc.hu/

8 Ideas for Getting to Know Your Character

2011-09-05T16:57:00.016-04:00

"My characters write my stories for me. They tell me what they want, then I tell them to get to it, and I follow as they run. Working at my typing as they rush to their destiny." --Ray Bradbury

I know this girl. Her name is Blanche. But I wouldn't come to know her until she was all grown up and much older.

We recently came across this picture when an aunt deposited a bag of old photos and letters with my dad and told him he could do what he wanted with them. In the stack was this picture of the little girl who would later become my step-grandmother.

And I love this picture.

Of course, I loved my grandmother first. But, growing up, I knew her at a different age, in a different stage. I'm not sure, had I thought about it, that I'd have been able to imagine her as a little girl. No, she was Grandma, busy taking care of my grandfather, the stout woman in the kitchen canning beans or freezing corn. She could drive a tractor, slop hogs, clean out barns.

But who was she as a little girl?

Another photo shows Blanche with her parents and six siblings. She's a young adult, and I get a glimpse of the woman she would become. Here I'm better able to travel along in her journey because I know my dad's story and the circumstances under which she became his stepmother. But the child? I still want to know who she was. What did she like--food, friends, books? What were her hopes and dreams? Disappointments, challenges? What's her childhood story?

If she were the protagonist in my next book, how would I find out these things about her?

Ah, suggestions abound. For example, in an article titled Changing Character in a past SCBWI Bulletin (March/April 2008), Kathryn Lay suggests (1) writing your character's biography, starting with the week before your story begins. She also suggests (2) writing a newpaper article about your character, reporting how she accomplished your story's resolution. Or (3) have your main character write you a letter. What news is she anxious to share?

(4) Interview your character. For a great list of interview questions, check out this article at Gotham Writer's Workshop. A sample question I would never have thought of: "Where does your character go when he is angry?"

(5) Go Deeper. Additional sources for finding out more about your character include the questionaires at the Character Building Workshop, character worksheets at Adventures in Children's Publishing (links in the left sidebar), and Catherine Ensley's series on the Enneagram, a personality typing system that can help in creating characters. You'll find this over at Words, World and Wings.

(6) Keep a voice journal. This suggestion comes from James Scott Bell, author of The Art of War for Writers. "A voice journal is simply a character speaking in stream-of-consciousness mode. You prompt the character by asking the occasional question, and then just let your fingers record the words in the page."

(7) Dip into your character's diary. You say she didn't keep one? Well, let's pretend she did. What secrets might she have recorded there?

(8) Write "a-day-in-the-life-of..." From Creating the Story, Guides for Writers (Rule and Wheeler): "What time does she get up? What does she eat for breakfast? How does she take her coffee? By writing a detailed account, you may discover a story."

Blanche as a child is not my MG protagonist, but she is my inspiration. As I look at her picture, I imagine the questions I'd want to ask, contents of letters she might have written me, revelations in the pages of her diary. And so I want to play with these prompts, run with them, explore--and discover--all I can about my character as we start out on this adventure together.

What techniques, tools, approaches do you use to get to know your character?

On Choosing the Right Word

2011-08-30T09:35:00.004-04:00

"A van loaded with copies of Roget's Thesaurus collided with a taxi.

Witnesses were astounded, shocked, taken aback, surprised, startled,

dumbfounded, thunderstruck, and caught unawares." --Imprint

Choices, choices, choices. How do you choose just the right word?

Got a favorite thesaurus resource? A few you might find helpful include:

Thesaurus.com
Synonym Finder
Wordnik
Merriam-Webster
The Bookshelf Muse

How much do you depend on a thesaurus to find just the right word--or are you one of those for whom words just pop, hop, materialize, appear, surface, arrive, dance, or leap into your head?

Imagination Gone Wild

2011-08-26T21:06:00.003-04:00

"Perhaps imagination is only intelligence having fun." --George Scialabba

I came home one day this week from a morning jaunt (thinly disguised as exercise :-) to an innocent question from hubby: "How was your walk?"

Well, I had rehearsed what I was going to say most of the way home. This is how it went:

"Oh, nothing unusual. Except...well, I saw a cowboy, got accosted by a bandit, was quizzed by a tax collector, and had a four-legged senior citizen teach me a life lesson."

What's that all about, you say? Did my imagination get the best of me?

Or did I run with my imagination?

Imagination: n. "the action of imagining; power of forming pictures in the mind of things not present to the senses...the ability to create new things or ideas or to combine old ones in new forms...a creation of the mind; mental image; fancy.

This is what really happened. At a point, I heard a noise behind me. I turned to see a guy riding a black horse and leading a spotted gray one across the road. Now once upon a time my neighborhood consisted of a few little farmhouses dotted randomly about, but no more. Most have been replaced by newer homes. So where did these horses come from? Where is the barn? Where was the rider going? He was not wearing a cowboy hat.

The bandit? Bandit--the name of a white yappy dog--ran toward me just after the horses passed from view. I swear this noisy thing was going to nip at my ankles. The owner, an older guy who had great difficulty walking, came out and tried to round Bandit up, all the while assuring me his dog would not bite. Yeah, right--did he get Bandit's word on that?

A friend drove up shortly afterwards, slowed down and kept pace with me for a little while. "Say," he said as he kept an eye on his rear-view mirror for any cars that might be coming, "you know your taxes are going to go up." He had noticed we recently had a new patio put in at the back of the house. "You think so?" I responded, and waved as he went on down the road. Not really a tax collector, but curious all the same.

And the four-legged senior citizen? I greeted Cindy who was walking her slow, meandering lab, Cameo. "At least she's still moving," Cindy said of her 17-year old dog. "Ha," I replied. "I think there's a lesson in there somewhere for us, too!"

Don't know if I'll try to weave a story from any of these elements or not--but it was fun to craft a draft in my head and test it out on hubby.

It's sort of like something Thomas Edison said: "To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk."

Or Dr. Seuss--"Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!"

Where did your "thinks" take you this week? Any plans to stir the imagination in a new and fun way in the days ahead?

*photo: sxc.hu/

Where Writing Begins

2011-08-21T20:53:00.011-04:00

"I always tell my writing students

that every good piece of writing

begins with both a mystery

and a love story.

And that every single sentence

must be a poem.

And that economy

is the key to all good writing.

And that every character

has to have a secret."

--Silas House

A new week beckons in which I hope to uncover secrets. What about you?

*photo courtesy of sxc.hu/

Summer Reading, Writing, and Beyond

2011-08-17T21:35:00.020-04:00

"Stories rarely jump onto your computer screen in finished form. They evolve, evolve, and evolve again. That's one of the pains and one of the pleasures, of writing." --Ann Whitford Paul

What are you reading at the moment? For me, it's not YA, and not even middle grade, tho the book I'm now querying is targeted for that age. Nope, I'm reading picture books. Might that have something to do with the company I kept this summer? The trips to our library's children's hour, the books I read to those little ones? Not to speak of the times that three-year old Angelica picked up a book and "read" to me herself--a special experience in and of itself!

But thanks to Carla over at Carla's Writing World, I was reminded of a book on writing I have that got shelved and nearly forgotten: Writing Picture Books, by Ann Whitford Paul (2009). Carla's post prompted me to not only start reading Paul's book, but to pull some of my long-forgotten picture book drafts out of the file to review, reconsider, and maybe--just maybe-- revise and submit.

And so I confess I've been immersing myself in the child's eye view of the world found in picture books, and--happy to say--reworked a picture book manuscript of my own, had it critiqued by my writer's group this week, and now have it ready to go out in tomorrow's mail.

Am I spreading myself too thin, what with querying my MG mss, plotting a second book, and exploring ideas for other things? I don't think so. After all, we writers merely need to look at one example--Jane Yolen, author of over 300 children's books. On her website recently, she wrote: "This is what I usually have out making the rounds at any one time: single poems to anthologies or journals or magazines, maybe as many as half a dozen. Short stories if I've been asked for them...Picture book manuscripts (as many as 20) going to particular editors who's editing style I admire and who's lists appeal to me. Usually between 3-8 novel proposals...While those take their long winding paths through the thorny publishing woods, I am at work on the books under contract. So I don't have to worry if what I have making the rounds takes its usual snailing way. I always know what my next day's work will be."

"And most important," she adds, "by spreading out the variety of things I can do, I am fad-proof. Yeah--I may not be the latest flavor of YA or kids's books, but at 72 I don't expect to be."

I'm breathless just reading about her accomplishments, her workload, her goals. Makes me want to explore all those subjects and ideas that have held my attention all these years. No excuses now. Age shouldn't stop us, if our creative fires are continually stoked!

So may we continue to play with words, create, open our minds to possibilities, expand our horizons--and write.

How many projects do you have going at the moment?

(p.s. My favorite Jane Yolen books? Take Joy, A Writer's Guide to Loving the Craft, and Dimity Duck, which is a darling picture book!)

English Lesson

2011-08-13T17:26:00.008-04:00

"Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire." --William Butler Yeats

"Homograph"--(n.) a word of the same spelling as another, but of a different meaning and pronunciation.

My mom sent me the following piece that would be terrifically funny if it weren't so true. It has apparently been making the rounds on the internet for years. Maybe you've seen it already. Whoever pieced this together was brilliant. Anyone know the name of the author?

You Think English is Easy?

1.The bandage was wound around the wound.
2. The farm was used to produce produce.
3. The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4. We must polish the Polish furniture.
5. He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6. The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7. Since there was no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
8. A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9. When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10. I did not object to the object.
11. The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12. There was a row among the oarsment about how to row.
13. They were too close to the door to close it.
14. The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15. A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer.
16. To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17. The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18. Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
19. I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
20. How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

"Let's face it--English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat...And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese...?

"...In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

"English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

"p.s.--why doesn't 'Buick' rhyme with 'quick'?"

Makes you want to cheer on those who have mastered English as a second language, doesn't it? I for one applaud those in my family who, for the sake of love, not only learned English, but learned it magnificently well. My 2 years of Latin in high school and a year of Italian in college (whissht--gone, don't remember any of it!) pale in comparison to those who have mastered my language.

What idiosyncrasies of English give you the most trouble?

*photo courtesy of sxc.hu/

On Hollow Sycamores, Treehouses and Writing

2011-08-08T20:02:00.006-04:00

"There is no revising a blank page. Keep going." --from Naomi Wolf's The Treehouse

What's the one thing that piqued your curiosity early on and never shook loose? That started a writing dream you can't walk away from?

For me it's the idea of a huge, hollow tree--a sycamore to be exact. A sycamore that, at the turn of the 19th century, sported a hollow trunk big enough to shelter an entire pioneer family--parents and four children--until they could build a log cabin. That had to have been a mighty tree! Upon reading the historical account some years back, the idea for my book took root. And what a journey the writing has been.

For fun, when family gathered last month--some from far-flung places--we trekked to a later version of a hollow sycamore (certainly much younger than the pioneers' tree), located in a park across town. There my dear daughter-in-law and talented photographer (thanks, Suzan!) captured this picture--one proud grandma and grandkids squirreled away in the bowels of a tree. Talk about trying to put yourself in your book's setting!

All of this reminded me of Naomi Wolf's book, The Treehouse, Eccentric Wisdom from My Father on How to Live, Love and See (2005). Though not about a hollow tree, it is about a treehouse, a family's relationship, and lessons passed on to another generation. In Wolf's case, the lessons extended to the craft of writing since her father, Leonard, was a poet and teacher. In her introduction she wrote, "I wanted to capture some of what he taught me about love, happiness, loss, and above all, about the power of the imagination, as I learned from him how to build a treehouse in the woods."

She divides the book into twelve writing lessons:

1. Be Still and Listen... 2. Use Your Imagination... 3. Destroy the Box... 4. Speak in Your Own Voice... 5. Identify Your Heart's Desire... 6. Do Nothing Without Passion... 7. Be Disciplined With Your Gift... 8. Pay Attention to Detail... 9. Your Only Wage Will Be Joy... 10. Mistakes Are Part of the Draft... 11. Frame Your Words... 12. Sign It and Let It Go.

Lots of great writing wisdom in the topic titles alone!

A sample of Leonard's advice that Wolf quotes: "Don't wait for inspiration, but sit down quietly, and begin; once you have gotten to work, shut up, even to yourself, about writers block; use your imagination; and keep working. That is your draft. The first one will always be terrible; don't worry about that; keep working. Cut anything that is not in your own voice or anything about which you do not feel passionately or anything that is not true. If you have taken a wrong turn, go back; that is part of the process. Then edit, edit, edit. Finally, know when you are done. Of all these, 'get to work' is the most important."

All of this in a volume that set out to chronicle the building of a child's dream, that of a treehouse. My pioneer family's dream started with a hollow tree. My dream started with their story.

Where did your writing dream begin?

(p.s. for fun, check out Jess's recent post at Falling Leaflets, where she shares photos of her younger self...reading up in a tree. Hands up if you identify with this child!)

The Importance of Punctuation

2011-07-23T16:19:00.000-04:00

Help save lives...

The following was sighted recently on a bumper sticker (by my lovely daughter who passed it on to me--thanks, Melissa!)

'Nuff said!

Seen any killer punctuation recently? Or bumper stickers?

Photo Op

2011-07-13T22:03:00.007-04:00

*Before*

*After*

Just thought I'd share a little of what's happening over our way--cousins Nicholas and Adrian (and Angelica, tho she isn't in the picture) are together for the first time. Before and after...sometimes it's only a matter of seconds!

Don't let the "after" picture deceive you. We're having a ball--and this grandma is soaking it all up. What first-time summer adventures are you having? Got any before-and-after stories?

"If your baby is 'beautiful and perfect, never cries or fusses, an angel all the time'

...you're probably the grandma." --Teresa Bloomingdale

C is for...Clumsy

2011-07-07T16:41:00.008-04:00

"Practice, practice, practice writing. Writing is a craft that requires both talent and acquired skills. You learn by doing, by making mistakes and then seeing where you went wrong." --Jeffrey A. Carver

It's been awhile since I went back to the basics, and started my own version of a writer's ABC's. I started here: A is for Amateur, B for Bathtub. Now, thanks to John Gardner's classic book, The Art of Fiction, I'm back with letter C.

My choice for C? Well, C is for...clumsy. Clumsy as in clumsy writing. Thank you, Mr. Gardner, for helping me see more of my mistakes, and where I still miss the mark in my writing!

"Clumsy writing," Gardner says, "is...(a) common mistake in the work of amateurs, though it shows up even in the work of very good writers...(it) alienates the reader, or at very least makes it hard for him to concentrate on the fictional dream, and undercuts the writer's authority."

Gardner goes on to identify forms of clumsiness:

1. inappropriate or excessive use of the passive voice
2. inappropriate use of introductory phrases containing infinite verbs ("sentences that begin with such phrases as 'Looking up slowly from her sewing, Martha said...' The introductory infinite-verb phrase chops the action into fits and starts and loses what effectiveness it might have had.")
3. shifts in diction level or the regular use of distracting diction
4. lack of sentence variety
5. lack of sentence focus
6. faulty rhythm
7. accidental rhyme
8. needless explanation
9. careless shifts in psychic distance (meaning "...the distance the reader feels between himself and the events in the story, e.g. 'It was winter of the year 1853. A large man stepped out of a doorway' When p.d. is great, we look at the scene as if from far away, remote, formal.")

Each of these categories is a study in and of itself, but on this latest read-through of my WIP, I'm concentrating on #s 4 and 6--sentence variety and rhythm.

Of course, there are any number of other "C is for..." words we could consider: character, conflict, crisis, craft, creativity, connection, clarity, criticism, courage, maybe even coffee. Just don't get careless (or clumsy) with coffee at the keyboard!

Is there a category of "clumsiness" in your writing that you've had to concentrate on more than any other?

*photo courtesy of sxc.hu/

Time and Summer Writing: Pickle It

2011-06-30T16:43:00.008-04:00

"Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in." --Henry David Thoreau

Maybe summer isn't really any busier than any other time of year, but it can seem that way. Vacations, visitors, needs of children off school for the summer, do-it-yourself projects around the house, gardening. Some people still can, pickle and otherwise preserve garden produce, too (something I used to do in another life). Pack one, two, or all of the above together--and where's the time for writing. How do we fit that into the schedule? Do we even try?

My answer? I say, pickle it.

Writing, not unlike the process of pickling which involves a cucumber becoming a pickle, is a process of "becoming." We don't arrive complete. Cucumber vines, after all, don't grow pickles.

Yet writing takes time--becoming a writer takes time--while time is often at a premium. So many other things to do. Therefore, I propose we protect our writing time by...pickling it.

So, without further ado (and while eating a pickle...Well, not really. I'm actually eating watermelon while I write this, but some people do pickle watermelon rinds), here we go:

P--Preserve patterns of writing, protect them, persevere in them. Give yourself permission to write, first of all, then set aside pockets of time in which to do so--whether it be short-term goals, targets, journaling, writing exercises, a half-hour here/half-hour there. Whatever propels you as a writer and puts words on paper.

I--Inhale as you go, and don't feel guilty if you miss the mark occasionally. The joy is in the becoming, not in checking off a to-do list. Breathe in the beauty around you--in your adventures, relationships, opportunities. Take time to enjoy--and appreciate. A writer is far more than that of the solitary figure up in her writing tower, laboring away and never enjoying life.

C--Choose goals wisely. Margie Lawson, in a post titled, 'Duh' Your Way to Success, says research indicates that Americans expect to complete 42% more than they can possibly do in any given time frame. "No wonder people are stressed and depressed," she says. "They continually push themselves to fail." Don't overschedule--but don't cancel out completely, either.

K--Know your personal rhythms and best times of the day in which you can squirrel away a little writing time. Anticipate the ups and downs of those cycles--and keep on keeping on. Be kind to yourself. Award kudos when you do make progress. And keep notebooks and pens everywhere to catch those elusive inspirations that will wing themselves your way.

L--Listen, look, awaken all the senses, wherever you go, whatever you do. But also linger--at the table, in gatherings, in the moment. Learn to say no, but also agree at times to say yes! Lighten up. In the long run, it's all part of the becoming.

E--Exhale. Relax. Release. Ann Roecker, in A Workshop on Time Management (Zondervan 1988), wrote: "Time...is easily mismanaged. If we want to manage our time effectively, we must also learn to manage it realistically." In her opinion, important skills to cultivate include the ability to change course, the ability to recover quickly, and the ability to forgive oneself and others repeatedly.

Certainly we all must find what works for us. Not every pickle tastes the same. But there's one thing we do have in common, and that is the challenge of making time enough to write. That's where PICKLE comes in.

How do you preserve and protect your writing time in the summer? Or do you adjust your writing cycles to seasons, and change things around?

Other quotes on time:
---"You can't turn back the clock but you can wind it up again." --Bonnie Prudden
---"Most worthwhile achievements are the result of many little things done in a single direction."--Nido Qubein
---"Procrastination is the thief of time." --Joseph Heller
---"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana." --Groucho Marx (ha!)

Winged Words Caught on the Hop

2011-06-25T20:30:00.006-04:00

We took a break yesterday--a beauty break--when we visited the "Butterflies of Brazil" exhibit at Cincinnati's Krohn Conservatory. Sharing some of the sights, along with accompanying quotes--wings of beauty, wings of words. Hope you enjoy!

"Beautiful and graceful, varied and enchanting, small but approachable, butterflies lead

you to the sunny side of life. And everyone deserves a little sunshine." --Jeffrey Glassberg

"What would a butterfly quote, on looking in the mirror? It would say, the adventure was worth it!"

--Manali Oak

"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly,

"one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower."--Hans Christian Anderson

"Butterflies...flowers that fly and all but sing." --Robert Frost

"We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes

it has gone through to achieve that beauty." --Author Unknown

"Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you." --Nathaniel Hawthorne

(*this one perched on hubby's shoulder for at least 20 minutes!)

"It is necessary to write, if the days are not to slip emptily by. How else, indeed, to clap the net over the butterfly of the moment? For the moment passes, it is forgotten...That is where the writer scores over his fellows: he catches the changes of his mind on the hop."

--Vita Sackville-West

Happy rest of the weekend with wishes for a great new week ahead--filled with sunshine, adventure, flowers, beauty, and a few winged words caught on the hop!

Blog Awards

2011-06-22T19:56:00.000-04:00

Blog awards have come my way recently and I wanted to take some time to say thanks to some generous blogging pals and participate in the fun of passing the awards on to others. Thank you, Rebecca at Rebecca Kiel, Girl Friday at Reading, Writing and Ribaldry, and Carla at Carla's Writing World for this scrumptious-looking "Irresistibly Sweet" award, and the additional "Stylish Blogger" award from Carla, too.

I appreciate your thinking of me...

Here are the general guidelines for accepting the awards:
1. Thank and link back to the person who passed on the award.
2. Share 7 random tidbits about yourself.
3. Pass the award on to 5 others (the number varies at times from 3-10!) and link to their blogs.
4. Let those people know you've given them the award.

Passing the awards on is easy, and fun, since there are so many great blogs out there to be recognized. Coming up with 7 additional tidbits about myself (you'll find earlier lists here and here) is getting harder. But they tell us writers to dig a little deeper, so here goes:

7 random things about me:
1. I love to cool off with a tall glass of equal amounts of orange juice and ginger ale, lots of ice.
2. My favorite lotion fragrance is Lemongrass Sage, from Betina Bath and Body, a local company out of Fairfield, OH that makes natural skin care products. My daughter stocks up on it for me on Mother's Day and birthdays. Thanks, Melissa!
3. I'm hooked on reading Newbery award winners. My personal collection of said winners has grown to 20 volumes and counting. That was about the only good thing about Borders going out of business here, I bought 5 titles real cheap.
4. I wish there were more hours in the day. Then I could write my books, read all I want to, AND knit, scrapbook, and update photo albums.
5. My publication credits include stories in Cup of Comfort anthologies (Christmas Prayers, Devotionals for Mothers and Daughters), and in Adams Media's My Dad is My Hero. I've had children's stories published in Children's Playmate, Children's Digest, and Boys' Quest.
6. The day will soon be here when all my grandchildren will be together for the first time. Circumstances have delayed such a gathering from happening prior to this, but it won't be long until 3-year old Angelica and 6-month old Adrian get to play with 1-year old Nicholas who's back in the States temporarily from Spain. We can't wait.
7. Hubby and I will celebrate our 39th wedding anniversary this coming Friday, June 24. There's no way either of us is that old, is there???

Now to pass on the awards. I enjoy dropping in on these sites, and I think you will, too.

Jen at Jen's Bookshelf
Cheryl at Cheryl's Musings
Karen at Musings of a Novelista
Andrea at That's Another Story
Elizabeth Varadan aka Mrs. Seraphina at Elizabeth Varadan's Fourth Wish

Kimberly at Meetings with My Muse
Megan at On Beyond Words and Pictures

Enjoy meeting these bloggers if you haven't already!

Father's Day and Tollhouse Cookies

2011-06-18T22:38:00.017-04:00

"Think what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap." --Barbara Jordan

Father's Day around here means dessert. Which favorite of the guys will we make this year? Blueberry cheesecake? Millionaire salad (marshmallows, coconut, mandarin oranges and pineapple, etc)? Mom's (as in mother-in-law) chocolate cake with fudge icing? The latter, unfortunately, is a sad story since I failed to get the recipe when I had a chance and have never been able to get the icing the right consistency. But we've sure eaten a lot of chocolate cake trying!

This year, though, the dessert of the day will be the tried-and-true Original Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate Chip cookie, except...

Yes, I have to admit, I've adjusted, adapted, and...ahem...changed the recipe. Acceptable? Well, the cookies go fast so they must be agreeable :-) My little change is to substitute 1/2 cup canola oil for half the butter amount (the recipe calls for a cup of butter), and instead of equal amounts of granulated and brown sugar, I simply use granulated. Seems to keep the spreading to a minimum--and makes for a tasty-looking cookie ( if I don't leave them in the oven too long!).

Did you know that the original Tollhouse cookie came about by accident?

Back in the 1930s a couple by the name of Ruth and Kenneth Wakefield purchased a Cape Cod-style house in Whitman, Massachusetts that, built in 1709, had been a toll house for the toll road, and also used as an inn--a place to stop for food and rest from the long road and hard travel of the day. Ruth and Kenneth turned their house into a lodge, the Toll House Inn.

The story goes that Ruth, a dietician, was baking cookies for the Inn's menu, and the recipe called for baker's chocolate. Finding herself without, she chopped a bar of Nestle semi-sweet chocolate into little chips, and added them to the dough, thinking they would melt and spread through the cookie. They didn't. One report (Her Story Network) says that she thought the cookies were ruined. Maybe she even debated whether or not to serve them.

The rest is history. Not only did she serve them, but the cookies were a great success. Ruth's Toll House cookies became famous when the recipe was published in newspapers. Other bakers copied her recipe, and the sale of Nestle's semi-sweet chocolate increased. Nestle took notice of the increase in popularity of their product.

In 1939, The Toll House Inn cookie recipe was featured on the Betty Crocker "Famous Foods from Famous Eating Places" radio series. Ruth, the smart business woman that she was (according to Facts About Chocolate) approached Nestle and struck a deal. Nestle got to print the recipe that we now know as "The Original Nestle Toll House Cookie" on all their semi-sweet chocolate bars and Ruth got free chocolate for life. Later, to make things easier on the consumer, Nestle started marketing chocolate "morsels," what we now know as the chocolate chip. The cookie, according to Facts, has gone on to become the most popular cookie worldwide, and the official cookie of its home state, Massachusetts.

And to think I'd dare mess with such a famous recipe...

Do you change recipes around, too? Is that sort of like changing story arcs and plot sequences sometimes? Do they come out better, too?

Happy Father's Day!

Discovery and Rediscovery

2011-06-14T21:02:00.004-04:00

Reading is a family affair in our house. And although our tastes differ, sometimes hubby and I will encourage one another to read outside our normal interests. History is one of those subjects I have always liked, and something he has only in the last few years developed a taste for.

Interestingly, he came across a review that caught his eye, and said he thought he might be interested in reading it: Patricia Brady's A Being So Gentle: The Frontier Love Story of Rachel and Andrew Jackson (Palgrave/Macmillan, 2011). When he read the description to me, I immediately thought of a book I had read years ago, The President's Lady, by Irving Stone. In fact, I told him, I thought we had it on a shelf somewhere upstairs. And, surprise! There it was, neglected and forgotten for how many years now? I read it as a teen, and even then it was an older book, written in 1951. We decided we would read both versions and compare.

We were not disappointed. Each book covers a fascinating period in our country's history--and the trials and tribulations of a couple whose relationship was called into question not once, but many times throughout their adult life.

Of A Being So Gentle, Goodreads says: "The forty-year love affair between Rachel and Andrew Jackson parallels a tumultuous period in American history. Andrew Jackson was at the forefront of the American revolution--but he never could have made it without the support of his wife. Beautiful, charismatic, and generous, Rachel Jackson had the courage to go against the mores of her times in the name of love. As the wife of a great general in wartime, she often found herself running their plantation alone and, a true heroine, she took in and raised children orphaned by the war. Like many great love stories, this one ends tragically when Rachel dies only a few weeks after Andrew is elected president. He moved into the White House alone and never remarried. Andrew and Rachel Jackson's devotion to one another is inspiring, and here, in Patricia Brady's vivid prose, their story of love and loss comes to life for the first time."

Of The President's Lady: "In this acclaimed biographical novel, Irving Stone brings to life the tender and poignant love story of Rachel and Andrew Jackson. 'Beyond any doubt one of the great romances of all time.'--The Saturday Review of Literature."

From the flyleaf of The President's Lady this tempting tidbit: "...Irving Stone here brings to life the deeply moving story of Rachel and Andrew Jackson. Theirs is a tender and poignant love story, and the reader will find that Rachel Jackson lived the most controversial and amazing melodrama that ever engulfed an American woman."

Both books are good reads (no pun intended!), but I have to admit I have my favorite of the two. Same subject, different perspectives. Both based on fact, but the differing styles, tone, and approach are distinguishable. But that should come as no surprise--the books were written 60 years apart!

Reading the books was both a fun discovery and rediscovery. What old book have you recently rediscovered? Any new versions of an old subject?

Is Your Motor Running?

2011-06-09T17:34:00.018-04:00

"Whether it is fiction or nonfiction, if it's of book length be sure that its motor

is running in the first three pages. The first three paragraphs would be even better.

By 'motor running,' I mean piquing the reader's curiosity about what comes next

so that he won't want to put the book down." --Sol Stein

Over the course of time that I've worked on my book, I've gone to a number of conferences, attended writer's workshops, and been privileged to have sample pages critiqued. I've kept a log of comments, from which--in each subsequent revision--I've drawn from to make improvements to my writing. Here's a sample of what's been said:

"Get them hooked then feed them later."
"Keep them turning the pages."
"Give main characters an entrance--let the reader know someone important has entered."
"Start the story with a bang--you must catch an editor's eye before you can do so for a child."
"Don't 'information dump' on the first page."
"Keep the action moving at the beginning."
"The first chapter is a bit slow and not much happens. I'd start (pointing to second chapter) here."

I've learned (I hope) when I've started slow, stalled the motor, boxed in the car of the story, lost my way. How about you? Is your story's motor running? What's some good advice you've gotten that helped you improve your work?

*photo courtesy of sxc.hu/

Mulberry Memories

2011-06-04T20:50:00.009-04:00

"What heaven can be more real than to retain the spirit-world of childhood, tempered and balanced by knowledge and common-sense, to fear no longer the terror that flieth by night, yet to feel truly and understand a little, a very little, the story of life." --Beatrix Potter, author of The Tale of Peter Rabbit

We went on our walk together this morning, hubby and I, something we try to do on Saturday mornings as a different routine than the normal weekly things. And lo and behold, we discovered that the mulberries are ripe.

The mulberry tree edges the road about a mile up the way. If you, like me, tend to keep your head down when you're walking (hubby always admonishes: "Get your head up! Look around. Don't watch your feet...") then the first sign of evidence are the purple splotches on the asphalt. But when we checked out the tree's branches, we marveled at the rich lode of berries growing there.

And the memories kicked in. I'm a child, along with a couple of neighbor kids, and we have crossed the road where it curves around the bend, skipped up the lane, and climbed the gnarled branches of the neighborhood mulberry tree. The owner doesn't care. We nestle in the crook of its branches, and stretch as far as we can to reach the plumpest, juiciest berries. The sun warms our arms. The breeze ruffles the leaves and cools our faces. We eat until we're full. It's one of my favorite summer memories.

For hubby, his memory bank kicked in as we passed a cluster of first-of-the-season daisies. "The end of the school year" flower, he says, the name he gave the daisy as a kid. He'd notice fields of daisies growing along the bus route those last few school days and know that school was just about over. Then he'd be free. Free to play ball--even if it meant just himself, with a rock and a stick and an imagination back on the hill behind the house. There he'd throw the rock up, hit it as far as he could--and pretend that the rustling leaves were his adoring fans cheering him on.

Oh, the childhood memories!

Recently, in our newspaper, columnist Paul Daugherty wrote a column about summertime ("How Summer Is Supposed to Be Spent"). In it he recalled how, as a child, his parents (who both worked) would leave a quarter on the bureau in the living room for him, and a handwritten reminder: "Have a good day and don't break anything." Armed with that 25-cents, "a bike and two good friends," he writes that he'd "throw myself at the day." He writes of being Roberto Clemente one day, Steve McQueen another, of sneaking into the tennis club pool or visiting the local pet store. He says, "Some days, we were bored. Kids need to be bored. Boredom is good."

He makes a good point as he continues: "The essential part of childhood is...being a child. Plan nothing. Risk. Extend...Loll. Dare. Engage. Run, jump, be fearless, look silly. The magic is in the day. Seize it. Find your own quarter on the bureau in the living room. One summer to a customer. This one's yours. Play."

I love his philosophy and think that we could use a bit of it in our adult lives, too. Especially those of us who write for children--as we explore such intangibles as imagination, creativity, wonder and the craft of words. What do you think? What's one of your favorite childhood summer memories--and how can you incorporate a touch of the child you were into the adult you've become?

Word for the Week: Story

2011-05-29T21:49:00.030-04:00

"People tend to forget that the word 'history' contains the word 'story'." --Ken Burns

The word for the week over my way is: story. As in querying my story, and immersing myself in others' stories in preparation for my next historical fiction book now in the plotting stages.

Story is also a fitting word as we commemorate Memorial Day.

Memorial day was originally set aside as a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service. From Memorial Day History: "Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868, by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was first observed May 30, 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery...Memorial Day is not about division. It is about reconciliation; it is about coming together to honor those who gave their all."

Think of the stories embedded in all the Memorial Days down through history. There wouldn't be enough history books to hold them.

From Wikipedia: "Begun as a ritual of remembrance and reconciliation after the Civil War, by the early 20th century, Memorial Day was an occasion for more general expressions of memory, as ordinary people visited the graves of their deceased relatives, whether they had served in the military or not."

More stories, passed on generation to generation. Beautiful stories, sad stories. Courageous stories. Hopeful stories. Stories of endurance, love, adventure, sacrifice. Multiplied over and over again. Story is a word that speaks of humanity, and of living life.

Story:

"You have to understand, my dears, that the shortest distance between truth and a human being is a story." --Anthony de Mello
"There have been great societies that did not use the wheel,but there have been no societies that did not tell stories." --Ursula K. LeGuin
"Stories are the creative conversion of life itself into a more powerful, clearer, more meaningful experience. They are the currency of human contact." --Robert McKee

Story happens to be my word. What's your word for the week?

*photo courtesy of sxc.hu/

Treasure

2011-05-24T22:44:00.028-04:00

"The secret of a happy life isn't buried in a treasure chest--it lies within your heart."--Author Unknown

We went on a treasure hunt yesterday--and ended the evening with far more treasure than a chest could ever hold.

Our granddaughter turned three (where has the time gone??) and to celebrate her birthday, we planned a treasure hunt complete with a treasure chest full of prizes--including bubbles, stickers, and books--for the little guests who had been invited along with the birthday girl. The chest was made out of a styrofoam cooler decorated with shiny yellow paper, ribbon, stickers and fake jewels purchased at the local craft store. Pretty cool, huh?

Since the tiny treasure hunters can't read yet, we printed out photos of the locations where they would find each successive clue--under the watering can, on the front steps, by Grandpa's truck. All led to the final hiding place, under the Colorado blue spruce. Lots of fun--we've probably set a new family tradition, although the idea originated with an activity we did years ago when Angelica's mommy (and my beautiful daughter) was a child, and we organized a treasure hunt for one of her slumber parties. And we wonder where traditions start!

Anyway, watching the children search for the prize made me stop and think about those things in life we celebrate as treasures. My hunt turned up the following quotes:

Home. "The home should be the treasure chest of living." --Le Corbusier

Family and Friends. "Family and friends are hidden treasures, seek them and enjoy their riches." Wanda Hope Carter

Kind words. "Many a treasure besides Ali Baba's is unlocked with a verbal key."--Henry Van Dyke

Children. "When you have a child, your previous life seems like someone else's. It's like living in a house and suddenly finding a room you didn't know was there, full of treasure and light." --Carol Ann Duffy

And, of course:

Books. "There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island." --Walt Disney

This is just a sampling. Add to that the joy of writing, the blogging community, and all those helpful writing tips so abundantly available. What treasures would you add to the box?

Does Your Title Raise Expectations?

2011-05-19T22:15:00.004-04:00

"Ask your friends what they think (about your title), and then watch their eyes. If their eyes fill with light, it means you've raised their expectations, and they're returning this joy with a tough assignment for you: Write a book as good as that title." --Steven Taylor Goldsberry

I'm excited about being in the querying stage of my middle-grade children's book. I'm excited for the character sketches, journaling, and--yes--daydreaming that I'm entering into for the second book. But I have a nagging question that keeps tugging at the back of my mind. Have I done the best I can on the title of the book now making the rounds?

Does my title convey the essence of the book? Will it help catch an agent's attention, stand out? Is it unique enough? Will it raise expectations for what's between the book's cover?

Knowing that any title goes through many revisions, and most likely will change once it's in a publisher's hands, still--can I make it better now? And if so, how?

From notes I took this week:

Steven Taylor Goldsberry, author of The Writer's Book of Wisdom: "Collect good titles (like good first lines, collecting good titles helps us better recognize what we're aiming for). Practice (writing your own). Stay away from abstractions."

Emma Walton Hamilton, in the blog post, What's in a Title?: "Titles should be catchy, short, appropriate to the material, imply what the story's about, be specific to your book, and be memorable." Some of her ideas include--
           Hidden meaning (revealed in the story).
           Character names.
           Places.
           Possessive (e.g. Charlotte's Web).
           Memorable line from story itself.
           Something intriguing (e.g. A Wrinkle in Time).

Writers Digest's Jacob Appel's Tips to Land the Perfect Title for your Novel: "Maximize your choices by making a list of at least five different titles before deciding upon one." Also, "don't forget voice and point of view."

Carol Benedict at the Writing Place, How to Choose a Good Title for your Story: "Brainstorm using a key word or phrase that runs through your story...a popular expression related to your subject...a play on words." She also notes, "An effective title should be interesting, convey the tone or central idea of the story, and be easy to remember."

I'm going to take some time here in the next few days to re-evaluate my title along these lines. How about you--any tips for choosing a good title?

p.s. for fun, you might want to put your title to the test. Lulu Titlescorer will analyze it, and rate its chances at becoming a bestselling title. You might be surprised at the results!

Making Progress

2011-05-15T21:07:00.004-04:00

"I'm writing a book. I've got the page numbers done." --Steven Wright

**********************

Looks like a busy week ahead, but at least I've made this much progress in my newest project!

How about you?

*photo: sxc.hu/

The Writer's Journey, From a Turtle's POV

2011-05-11T16:08:00.000-04:00

"And the turtles, of course...all the turtles are free, as turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be." --Dr. Seuss, Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories

I would have seen it this morning on my walk anyway, but twice I was alerted to the little turtle's presence before I got that far. First, by my neighbor Pat, who was coming the other way. "There's a turtle in the road back there," she said. "I'm afraid it's going to get hit by a car." Then another neighbor drove by, slowed down, and told me the same thing. So I was ready. And there it was, moseying across the pavement, head held high, taking the journey one slow step at a time. It was certainly in a precarious situation.

"Come on, buddy," I said, "let's help get you across." And I moved the creature into the grass at the side of the road, marveling all the while at the striking pattern imprinted across the hard shell.

Then, as we writers are apt to do, I considered the turtle's journey--and compared it to the writer's life. You probably already know what's coming, another of those corny analogies. But here goes...

The Writer's Journey From a Turtle's POV

1. You gotta' stick your neck out if you're going to get anywhere.
2. Start. And keep going, one step at a time, no matter how slow the pace.
3. Don't stop in the middle of the road. If you do, you'll never get where you want to go.
4. Stay focused, patient and persistent. A little bit of luck wouldn't hurt either.
5. Let friends pick you up when you find yourself in a tough spot.
6. Remember your pattern is unique, and you add your own little bit of beauty to the world.
7. Catch your breath and rest, if need be, when you get to the other side--especially if you get shook up (think "querying process"!). Then move on to new adventures, the next story to write.

Do you feel like a turtle sometimes? What advice would you give to a writer who's plodding along?

*photo courtesy of sxc.hu/

Tracing Those Creative Sparks

2011-05-07T22:45:00.000-04:00

"And so our mothers and grandmothers have, more often than not anonymously, handed on the creative spark, the seed of the flower they themselves never hoped to see--or like a sealed letter they could not plainly read." --Alice Walker

My grandmother wrote poetry. My mom creates beautiful artwork in quilts. I have always appreciated their eye for beauty--and hearts for good words and stories. Can you trace the seeds of your creativity to a special person in your life?

Taking this opportunity to wish all a Happy Mother's Day! And to tweak the design of my blog a bit, plus introduce myself (finally) with a head shot to my profile. Hello, all. Glad to meet you! (And thanks to my creative daughter-in-law Suzan for the photo shoot she did that day. It was such fun! Love you :-)

*photo courtesy of sxc.hu/

For Clod, Who Taught Me Something About Writing

2011-05-04T19:50:00.024-04:00

"We writers are like horsemen. Some of us climb on one horse and walk it to the finish line. Some of us

trot. Some of us gallop. Some of us are pony express riders, starting on one horse, changing to a fresh one on the way...There are even some who manage three horses. Me, I'm a mule train driver. I hitch twenty-four of those little suckers up to my wagon, crack the whip, and if one dies along the way,

I cut it out of the traces and move on. What matters is the finish line." --Jane Yolen

In college one year, I elected to take horseback riding for a physical education credit. Because I'd had little experience with horses, the grad student in charge that first day paired me up with a horse appropriately named Clod. "Clod," he said, "is the gentlest horse in the stable."

Yeah, right. He failed to mention that the only thing Clod didn't like was to be saddled. The day I was supposed to do that solo, it took three guys to saddle him, he got so agitated. Things only went downhill from there. Almost literally, since it was winter quarter and, where I went to school, there were a lot of hills on which to slip and slide, and snow and ice to go along with them.

Another thing. "Don't let him wander into the creek," they said. "You'll never get him out." He was stubborn that way.

Oh, dear--what had I gotten myself into?

Well, we managed, Clod and I, to finish the quarter together, even after the day I failed to cinch his saddle tight enough, and it began to slip to the side. And we did it all without galloping--something I told Clod I did not want to do. Ever. Others might think it fun, but not me. But Clod had a mind of his own and on the last day of class, when another rider sped past us, he took off in pursuit. And so...I galloped.

And, once I got over the initial shock, I actually found myself rather enjoying the ride.

When I came across the above quote, the memories came flooding back, and I realized that Clod is an apt metaphor for my writing life. All the elements are there--the idea of trying something new, the up-and-down struggles, the stubbornness and perseverance, the wild ride of it all. I have a little more respect for Clod now. Maybe, in an odd sort of way, our shared experience helped equip me as a writer. You think?

All I know is that I'm holding on to the writing life, and don't want to let go--slipping saddle and all.

Still, don't ask me to gallop!

Is your writing life like managing a horse or two? If so, what kind?

*photo courtesy of sxc.hu/

The Irony of It All

2011-04-30T18:47:00.012-04:00

Can you believe it? This comic strip ran in our newspaper this week, the very day I put final touches on my query letter. Oh, the irony of it all.

And now the query has gone out. I'm doing a happy dance that I've gotten this far...

...and that the mailbox is still out there.

I take that as a good sign.

Have a great rest of the weekend!

And to others who are in the querying stages, too--good luck. Don't let the mailbox scare you.

Wrestling the Octopus of Revisions

2011-04-26T17:06:00.078-04:00

"Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor." --Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird

She's done it again, Anne Lamott has--she's helped me with an aspect of writing. This time, the subject is revision. She even puts a face on it. Tell me if this doesn't describe our wrestling matches with words!

In Bird by Bird Lamott writes: "There's an image I've heard people in recovery use--that getting all of one's addictions under control is a little like putting an octopus to bed. I think this perfectly describes the process of solving various problems in your final draft. You get a bunch of the octopus's arms neatly tucked under the covers--that is, you've come up with a plot, resolved the conflict...gotten the tone down pat--but two arms are still flailing around. Maybe the dialogue (doesn't) match, or there is that one character who still seems one-dimensional...But you finally get those arms under the sheets, too, and are about to turn off the lights when another long sucking arm breaks free..."

Now I know why I feel so exhausted--I've been wrestling with an eight-legged creature here. And each of its legs needed its own bell-ringing go-round and could not be ignored. Whew. Then, about the time all seemed settled, another leg would wave wildly again, and I'd have to revisit the problem. The legs I wrestled with include:

1) Voice. Is it consistent, authentic, and appealing?
2) Characters. Do I really know--and connect with--them?
3) Tension/Conflict/Narrative. Is there a good balance?
4) Point of View. Have I stayed true to it (in my case, third-person limited)?
5) Description/Sensory Details. Have I used them effectively to help draw the reader into the story?
6) Mastery of the Craft (showing not telling, active not passive, weeding out of redundant words/phrases, etc.). Have I identified--and corrected--most of the weaknesses?
7) Plot. Have I patched all the holes?
8) Story. Is it the best it can be? When do revisions end and queries begin?

When do we know when we are done?

Ms. Lamott goes on to answer this very question: "...even though all the sucking disks on that one tentacle are puckering open and closed, and the slit-shaped pupils of the octopus are looking derisively at you...and even though you know that your manuscript is not perfect and you'd hoped for so much more, but if you also know that there is simply no more steam in the pressure cooker and that it's the very best you can do for now--well? I think this means that you are done."

So, as I finish my last few pages of revisions, I am staring down the octopus and telling him we are done. Finished. Kaput. Go away! Well, at least until the next round...

In the meantime, here, among other books on writing and the many fantastic blogger posts that came to aid me in my corner of the ring during this process, are some links that I'm sure you'll find helpful, too: "Revision Checklist," Nathan Bransford; "What the Fiction Editor Looks For, Part 1" and "Part 2," Rachelle Gardner; "Revision is a State of Mind," Mary Kohl; and "Ten Mistakes Writers' Don't See (But Can Easily Fix When They Do)," Holt Uncensored.

What arm of the revisions octopus has been waving in your face lately? Do you enjoy the sport, or have to fight your way out of the tangle?

"There is always too much: Any good book spills over the sides, overwhelms the structure created

to contain it. Now you have to have some backbone and keep the book honest to its cause." --Philip Gerard

*photo courtesy of sxc.hu/

Through the Lens of a Conference, and Critique

2011-04-21T17:48:00.002-04:00

"Seeing is a gift that comes with practice." --Stephanie Mills

Last Saturday's Central OH SCBWI conference opened my eyes to some fantastic tips. At one level, many were a review for me, but at another level something clicked. As in, Oh, now I get it!

First of all there are always too many *good* workshop sessions at a conference to choose from. But you sign up for as many as you can, glean what you can, and come home realizing you were in the right place at the right time. Not to mention the great people you meet, talk shop with, and spill water on (whoops, true story, filed under E for "embarrassing"!).

Anyway, from my notes...

Keynote speaker Mandy Hubbard, author of Prada & Prejudice, You Wish, and four other to-be-released novels for teens--and agent with D4EO Literary--shared her sometimes frustrating and nail-biting journey toward publication herself, and stressed that determination and hard work is key. "Believe in your work, no matter the numbers of revisions and/or rejections it takes."

Susan Hawk, literary agent with The Bent Agency, spoke on "Children's Books: Overview of the Marketplace," and emphasized communication and connections. "Communicate with your agent or editor. Focus on working together...And think of any connections you have that can help in promoting your book. What do you like? What can you do? Tailor your market plan to what works for you."

Mandy, again, in "Such a Pretty Flower--Catching an Agent's Attention from the First Page," read samples of first pages, noting things that worked and things that didn't. Her advice: "You need tension from the get go. Hook your reader. Open with some kind of conflict and tension."

Krista Marino, editor at Delacorte Press, titled her talk, "What an Editor Looks for in the 1st Five Pages." Among the gems she offered: "The first sentence makes or breaks your novel. The first sentence is what the book is all about. It should also pull the reader in, and should contain a person, place or problem." She also said, "Entertain your reader, that's what your book is for. Make it good."

Next came my critique session on my book's first ten pages, submitted in advance. If you ever get a chance to do this, I highly recommend doing so. I loved the face-to-face time with my critiquer, the dialogue, the opportunity to ask questions, the feedback! And I came away encouraged-- i.e. "good tension in the opening," but also challenged--"but you lose the tension after the other characters show up." Yep, a bit more work yet to be done.

But I'm getting closer to my destination. Each time I connect with people in the business, I see things a little clearer. It's like putting on a new pair of glasses...or maybe just clearing the smears off the old. Like so many things, it's just going to take a little more practice.

What tips have you gleaned from critiques of your work? How did they help you "see" better?

"Composing is like driving down a foggy road toward a house. Slowly you see more details--the color of the slates and bricks, the shape of the windows." --Benjamin Britten

"Song for A Fifth Child"

2011-04-14T21:04:00.015-04:00

I've been reminded lately of the joys--and struggles--of mothers of young children trying to juggle childcare, work, needs around the home, all the while desiring to keep important relationships strong and healthy. Add to this the love for--and the unfulfilled itch of--writing. Although my children are grown with families of their own, I remember those days.

Thus, in honor of those who are at that stage, I thought I'd share a poem that's always been a favorite of mine. You're probably familiar with it, it's been around a long time--once published, I understand, in a 1958 issue of Lady's Home Journal. But it's worth repeating. Take heart, young writers, time for writing will be there. The days of children being preciously small will not. So relax--and rock.

Song for A Fifth Child

by Ruth Hulbert Hamilton

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth,

Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,

Hang out the washing and butter the bread,

Sew on a button and make up a bed.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?

She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue

(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due

(Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew

And out in the yard there's hullabaloo

But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.

Look! Aren't her eyes the most wonderful hue?

(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,

But children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.

I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

I'm heading off for Saturday's Central Ohio SCBWI conference. Can't wait to hear from Mandy Hubbard, author and agent with D4EO Agency, Delacorte Press Editor Krista Marino, and others. I've packed the picture books drawn from commenters' suggestions to donate to the Nationwide Children's Hospital Reach out and Read program, and look forward to the critique of the first 10 pages of my manuscript that were submitted for review in advance. I'll check in later with a report of all the inspiring things the day promises to hold. See you later!

Any rocking plans you have for the upcoming weekend?

photo courtesy: www.sxc.hu/

Three Rules for Writing a Novel

2011-04-07T21:53:00.003-04:00

(photo courtesy of sxc.hu/)

"There are three rules for writing a novel.

Unfortunately, no one knows what they are."

--William Somerset Maugham

Ha, gotcha'! And you thought, 1...2...3, you were going to get a simple answer?

If it were only that easy!

Maybe this will help?

"Do not put statements in the negative form.

And don't start sentences with a conjunction.

If you reread your work, you will find on reading that a

great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.

Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.

Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all.

De-accession euphemisms.

If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.

Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.

Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague."

--William Safire, "Great Rules of Writing"

Hmmm. Maybe we're getting closer, but still...

How about this one?

"The big secret is the ability to stay in the room." --Ron Carlson

Ahhh, maybe we're finally getting somewhere. And then again:

"Successful writers are not the ones who write the best sentences. They are the ones who keep writing. They are the ones who discover what is most important and strangest and most pleasurable in themselves, and keep believing in the value of their work, despite the difficulties." --Bonnie Friedman

There you go. Rule #1, 2, 3--all rules--come back to the one that trumps all: Write, and keep writing. And keep believing in the value of your work, despite the difficulties.

Oh, maybe there is one more. A clincher that can only be said of today's day and age (at least for me):

"Being a good writer is 3% talent, 97% not being distracted by the Internet." --Anonymous

Good luck!

What's the best "rule" in your book for writing, and for getting it done?