Tag: writing

Sunshine and Through lines

The rain that caused major flooding throughout Northern Maine stopped Monday morning and we have had two straight days of Sun. I do not live in Northern Maine and I send my good wishes through cyber space to those who are dealing with loss in this difficult time. To those who might want to donate you can follow this link to the Pinetree Red Cross.

Rain and reading go well together. I love to curl up in my living room next to a good light. We even have some new chairs. I’ve been reading The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, by Michael Chabon.  We took this on for my bookclub last month but I missed the meeting and have renewed the book twice. The book is 400 pages long and takes on a noir murder mystery, a love story, an alternative history that requires creating a believable Sitka, Alaska populated by Jews resettled in 1941, and a new Messiah.  The writing is so poetic that I tend to reread the paragraphs to take in the strings of metaphors. This is definitely me reading as a writer. Another observation. Grown-up books have so much back story. Most of my children’s writing friends know the backstory of their characters. They create journals for their characters, pictures, notes, maps, but they don’t include it all in the book. Chabon gives you everything. I look forward to this book as a movie. The Coen brothers are working on it but I don’t think there is a release date.

Sunshine brings me back to work on my own writing. Huge thanks to my writing buddy Katie who helped me plot out the ending of my novel. I’d like to say that was all I needed to get me chugging along the first draft track. But I also looked to Nancy Lamb’s, Crafting Stories for Children. Her chapter on the mid-story crisis, was quite helpful and made me refocus on the through-line of the book. This made me think of my main character and his concrete and abstract wants. I feel that these are not clear in my book, probably because they are not clear to me. More on this when I revise. For now, I’m plugging away at getting the first draft done.

Stuck in the middle

I haven’t disappeared. I’m here, but working. Writing each morning from 5:30 am until 7:30 then getting my kids out the door. But right now I’m stuck and I figure that if I just keep my fingers moving an idea might come. I’m in the middle of my novel. Page 55. That middle point just before the climax where I need to start ramping up the action but I’m not exactly sure what the climax is so I’m typing, but not really liking the results.

This week I’ve been leading a poetry workshop for a first grade classroom. I love being with them, their excitement is infectious. This class is my son’s class and his teacher is fabulous. She spends the entire month of April celebrating Poetry Month. I am the finale to their month of reading and writing. This week we’ve looked at their own class-written poetry noticing figurative language that they are already using to “paint pictures in the reader’s head.” We are focusing on metaphor and alliteration and the writing process. I explained how I am constantly revising my work. I showed them drafts and notes and drawings in my sketch book that informed my poetry. When I  got the kids settled at their desks for some writing time, Mrs. K leaned over to me and said, “First graders don’t really like to change things.” I had to laugh. As a substitute teacher I know that first graders are the most inflexible of creatures. They always correct you explaining that, “That’s not the way we do it, Mrs. Boll.” So getting them to revise has been difficult.

The other thing is that they have been working all year on writing complete sentences. Their poetry tends to be a couple of really nice sentences without the rhythm or song of poetry. They can find rhyme and alliteration and metaphor in poetry that is already written. Now they need to be able to transfer that knowledge into their own writing. Anyone who writes poetry knows that is no easy task.  Now they have two rough drafts. One done on a rainy day and one done on a sunny day. I’m hoping that they can take their ideas and build it into a piece they feel proud of.

Tomorrow is poetry Friday. I’ll post the sonnet I made for the Prairie Home Companion contest. Happy writing and re-vising.

Almost two weeks?!

I’m shocked that it has been almost two weeks since my last posting. Shocked, but not surprised. My fingers have been tingling like crazy. Do you get that? That, oh-my-gosh-I-haven’t-been-writing feeling. So there it is. The admission. I haven’t been writing, when I was most charged up to do so. We have been on a long coastal journey which I will tell you more about in paragraph three, but it includes 1400 miles, a job interview, and matzah.

I have been drawing and revisioning my Roar, dummy…AGAIN.  Actually I got a great brainstorm while on my recent journey. Another secondary character, a mouse, who watches the action unfolding. I’m excited to finish this up and get it to my agent. Secret agent man has given me permission to put aside the Ballet project for a while.  He says that it is best not to put too much work into a non-fiction work lest it be changed by the publisher who is interested in the proposal and first chapter. Instead, Secret agent man has advised me to get to work on the novel that the editor at the conference wants to see. That is all good with me. The characters have been calling to me as I re-read Bird by Bird this week and I am eager to see what they have to say.

The journey started on Friday 18th when we drove from Maine to Pennsylvania to visit with my parents. We admired their forsythia bushes and awoke to lovely birdsong. On Saturday we had Passover Seder #1. It was very casual as we really made it our own, inviting comments and linking the traditional with current events and issues of the day. I love including everyone in the Seder, especially kids. I & E were great and had a lot of wise things to say. Passover Seder #2 was at my cousins’ home. Thanks Robin and Bob! A much bigger and more traditional event, it was great to see the whole fam damily.

Monday we drove to St. Mary’s county where Chris had an interview. Things went well and we are awaiting an offer from the company. Assuming this all goes well we will move from our wonderful home in Maine to a new adventure south of D.C. (Anne Marie are you out there?) I grew up in Northwest DC and I’m looking forward to being closer to my parents, cousins, sister and one of my brothers. It will be tough to leave our home that Chris built for us and our community of 14 years. However, we are planning on renting out our current home for a couple of years until things are clearer. The best thing about blogging is that I know that I will still be connected with all of my writer friends when and if we move. LiveJournal and writing are portable.

But wait, there’s more!

Five things on a Saturday

1. It is amazing how normal things continue to happen even though extraordinary things dot the landscape of life. Preparing dinner, cleaning up after, walking the dog, carpooling children… these things still need to be done even though I’m staring at a contract from a lovely agent.
2. Because of snowdays and Martin Luther King Day my children will end up with only one full week of school in January. Those luck dogs. No wonder I’m behind on my blogging duties.
3. Anne Marie is right. (Of course) Just having the agent offer has given me a sense of purpose and time to create. No longer do I have to worry about where the proposal is going next or running to check my mailbox for rejections. I can concentrate on the project that is most important now and give it my full attention. I got so much done on Ballet yesterday.
4. My trip to NYC is fast approaching and I am so excited. If you are going to SCBWI-NY I hope to meet up with you. Leave me a comment. While I’m there, I’ll be able to meet with “my agent” (oooo, that sounds so sweet) and hopefully do more Ballet research at American Ballet Theatre and School of American Ballet. I’m crossing my fingers that I get to meet Angel Corella. (swoon)

5.When I get up at 5 am on a Saturday to work, my children (who refuse to get up at 7 am on school days) manage to wake up by 6:45 needing me.

The muddy middle

I’m working hard to break through the middle of my novel manuscript. It seems that the characters need me take a break so that they can reconvene and figure out where they’re going. I won’t let them rest for too long though. I’ll be plugging away again tomorrow. For now, a joke. Where do fish keep their money? Answer: In a river bank. I. told me this one but my answer was “In off shore accounts.” I laughed hysterically but he didn’t get it.  I need to make portfolio appointments in NY for the week before the national SCBWI conference. Anyone else going? Let’s meet!

10889 / 30000 words. 36% done!

Hello 2008

Dear Friends:
It seems that it is 2008. Funny that. I’m just going along, writing, mothering, and drawing… and planning conferences, submitting manuscripts, researching agents, job hunting, developing adult ed classes… that another year has come and gone. It is true that 2007 was a busy year and I’ve come a long way but it was not as fruitful as I’d hoped. Looking back on my 2007 journals it seems that some goals never seem to be complete. I keep saying I’ll write the first two chapters of my non-fiction but never do. My Roar book is a like a millstone around my neck. I keep revising and reworking getting farther from the original vision of the book.

What a downer. Who wants to read that? Okay… 10 highpoints of 2007!
1. The awesome feeling of possibilities when I started my novel for JoNoWriMo.
2. Fall Folio Feast 2007. Third time was a charm. Great speaker, great event and I was relaxed enough to enjoy it.
3. Volunteering for Meals on Wheels. I love what I do there and it makes me feel great.
4. New Friends and old. The schmoozes at Tami’s, the amazing LJ community, Botherhood 2.0, (The Project for Awesome was indeed awesome!)
5. Go SOX! Go Patriots!
6. Proposing classes for adult ed and being accepted.
7. Being asked to direct the NESCBWI conference and getting to know Janet and Francine.
8. My family is healthy and happy. My boys are growing into very nice people that I like to spend time with. My parents and siblings are well.
9. The satisfying feeling of doing interviews for various projects.
10. Travel up and down the east coast and through NY State that allowed me to see people and places I don’t usually see.
11. (Okay 11) I read A LOT this year and loved it.

Hope that is better reading for you. Finally, a question. What do you think of getting and MFA  in Writing for Children? Is it all for the experience? Do the contacts and crits help you get published? Or do you feel that the experience made you a better writer and THEN you got published?

Six things on a Wednesday.

1. I am a master procrastinator.
2. The world is wintery white and cold as icicles.
3. I would like to curl up and crawl into the clothes dryer.
4. Chocolate brownies make me happy.
5. My husband makes awesome soup. Today is pumpkin soup.
6. I got a bike for Chanukah last night. How cool is that. I’m not too old to get a bike for a gift!

I’m writing, I’m writing.

3:00 Yeehaw!

7797 / 30000 words. 26% done!