Book Review: The Story Cure

I've been toying with the idea of writing my memoir for a few years now. I've written parts; vignettes of different moments that all lead up to the whole story. I've taken a memoir class and joined writing groups. But something always stops me. I just can't get myself to sit down and do it. I opened the pages of The Story Cure, by Dinty W. Moore and vowed to follow his instruction and finish my book.

It didn't. It is full of great writing advice and examples. I liked the writing prompts, but I find whenever I do writing prompts that are supposed to bring back vivid memories and employ all the senses in my writing, they don't help me further with my memoir at all. The prompts have nothing to do with what I need to write.

So, I'm no further along in that regard. But I did enjoy the exercises and advice contained within this book. It's a great reminder that writing is work. Writing well is an art. Crafting stories is that people want to read is our goal. Now I need to get my butt in a chair and write!


** I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review.

Deathbed Regrets of Writers

I just got an email advertisement from Writer's Digest, in which they tried to hook me into buying a book, or taking a course, or something. I didn't really pay attention to anything except the headline:

Deathbed Regrets of Writers

It made me open the email long enough to see what their Top 5 were, because I was curious to see whether it would match the thoughts that immediately came to my mind.

Their five most common answers:

“I’d never know if I could have made it.”
“I’d never find my voice.”
“I’d never get to show others what I’m capable of.”
“I’d hate not having the freedom to do what I want.”

Mine are a little more immediate and practical, I think:
"I should have parked my butt in a chair and written more often."
"I didn't get around to finishing my novel(s)!"
"I want to write down everything I'm thinking on my deathbed, but don't have enough time."

The sales pitch was silly, but it did get me thinking. I don't want to have writerly deathbed regrets. I need to put my butt in a chair, finish my novel(s), and leave time to describe my deathbed when the time comes.

What would be your deathbed regret?

Escape as Inspiration

Hemingway's desk
Key West, Florida

I'm in writing mode. I have millions of ideas for projects. I started working again on a novel that I'd abandoned. I shared it with my husband for critique, took his comments and started making pages of notes for revision. My friend is sending me bits and pieces of her novel. I make my suggestions and she sends me her rewrites to read. All of this is wonderful, except...

I am swamped at work. New management has caused frustration, low morale, and busy work. I'm putting in overtime and don't see an end in sight until May. I contemplate finding a new job every day. In short, work is miserable.

My renewed zeal for writing and job misery may seem like they have nothing to do with each other. But in actuality, they have everything to do with each other. I've turned to writing as my escape.

My novel is my way to leave work mentally and venture into a world of my own creation. All the extra projects/ideas/queries give me hope that I can do something I love for money. It gives me a sense of accomplishment and worth in sharp contrast to my perceived lack of being valued at work. Most of all, returning to my novel restores my dream of publication and living the life of a writer again. It lets me fantasize that I could walk into work and hand in my notice.

I'm grateful that my downward slump at work hasn't wreaked havoc with my creative juices. I'm almost surprised. But now I realize that writing provides something more than personal satisfaction for me. Like reading, it gives me a much-needed escape.

NaNoWriMo - the Abbreviated Version

I'll have to find some time to lock myself away and write.

It's almost time for NaNoWriMo again! This fall, I've felt more motivated to write than I have in a long, long time. I have three different novel ideas swirling in my head. I'm ready to sit down now and get started, but I won't. That would take the fun out of being part of the NaNoWriMo community as it occurs.

But, I'm not going to be able to write 50,000 words this year. I know, I know. This sounds like a lame excuse already, but now that I'm entering my 4th year of participation, I feel I know of what I speak.

I've only finished once so far. I was thrilled with the middle grade novel I wrote the first year, but quickly learned that I needed to cut about half of the 50,000 words I wrote.

The second year, I wrote 32,000 words before throwing in the towel. I wish I would have stuck with it, but the novel was spiraling out of control and wasn't even making sense anymore. I didn't know where to take it and sadly, set it aside to fix at a later date. That still hasn't happened.

Last year, I started a novel but was traveling on business for 2-1/2 weeks and barely had time to take a shower, let alone write a novel.

And this year, I'm traveling on business again. Then, right when I get back from that business trip, I'll head down to Georgia for my son's wedding!

I have a million things on my mind and plenty of exciting things happening. It's too bad NaNoWriMo happens in November. If only we could push it out to January when so many of us will have freshly resolved to write our novels in the new year. (NaNo organizers - are you listening?)

Yes, I could just write it on my own in January, but that's not the same thing. It's the community of NaNo that I like. The pep talks; the empathy from other writers; the group project of it all. So, despite the trip to Singapore and exciting wedding events afterward, I'm going to sign up.

But  -- I'm doing my own modification of NaNoWriMo this year. I'm only going to attempt 25,000 words, which is perfect since I'm writing another middle grade novel. If I can complete this, I'll be amazed. I'm going to give it my best shot. I know NaNoWriMo won't consider me a winner if I only write 25,000, but I will. Wish me luck!

Instant Gratification: Good or Bad?

Just because they don't all have ribbons doesn't mean that they're not all delicious.

I just finished reading Imperfect Birds by Anne Lamott. A wonderfully terrifying book about two parents who don't seem to comprehend how bad their daughter's drug use is getting. If you like books like that, definitely read it. But what I want to focus on today is not that story element, but a subplot and idea that the step-father in the book, a writer for NPR, brings to life.

It is the idea that as bloggers, or in his case, a weekly columnist, our writing and focus changes based on reader comments and instant feedback. If we get lots of comments, we're on top of the world. If we get little response to our writing, we deem it bad, and it often throws us into a downward slump, wondering what was wrong with our piece. I found this thought to be provocative and true. I think those of us who blog do react this way and base our merit largely on "likes" and comments and hits. But I'm wondering if this is helpful, or detrimental?

It used to be that we, as writers, would write our pieces, make our revisions, work with editors and then finally -- finally -- see our work in print. We did not get feedback on our words. We almost never personally connected with our readers. And I wonder whether that wasn't nice in some ways, because we could continue on with the assumption or grand delusion that our words were wonderful and were resonating with thousands, or millions of strangers in ways we might never know.

But now, as we share our thoughts and ideas with millions of others on the blogosphere, we almost instantly know that we haven't. And somehow, that seems to diminish what we've written.

It shouldn't be that way, but I fear it is. I am afraid that we tie our self-worth as writers on feedback now. If we have a popular post, we're on top of the world. If no one leaves a comment, we doubt our writing abilities.

Maybe it should be this way. Or maybe we need to focus on our writing and how it makes us feel as writers, rather than worrying about what the world thinks. I don't know. It's something to think about. I do love the instant gratification that blogging brings, but I also need to remember not to rely on it.

Outlining Should be a Four-Letter Word

(No picture. I don't have any of a woman whining.)

Sigh... I find myself in a writerly dilemma. I've had a resurgence in writing inspiration and motivation, but don't have enough time to get all my thoughts down on paper. I sneak away and write bits & spurts whenever I have the chance. I'm piecing them together and thinking of all the other things I want to write. My interest in freelancing has resumed again, too. Which brings me to my dilemma.

I love writing, and don't mind the sales aspect that goes hand-in-hand with freelancing, but I must admit, when an editor asks me to do something mundane -- like provide an outline -- I almost want to reply with a "never mind." That's what has happened now. I sent a query and the editor may be interested, but wants to see an outline first.

Have I mentioned how much I hate outlining?

I immediately turned to my writing group partners. They, unlike me, love outlining and revising and editing. Me? Not so much. I just want to write down my thoughts and move on. I'm sure that in part, it's laziness, but it's also that IhaveamillionotherthingsIwanttowriteanddon'twanttospendanymoretimeonthethingsI'vealreadywritten. I wanted to say that all in one breath. That's how writing feels to me; like a breath I've exhaled before starting the next one.

As ridiculous as this sounds, I almost did email the editor, respectfully declining. I would have been much happier just writing the article on spec. She could take it or leave it, whatever. Just don't put me through the agony of creating an outline!

My writing partners came to the rescue. They didn't write the outline for me (which I would have greatly appreciated. Maybe they'll get the hint next time.) But they did offer suggestions and let me know I was on the right track.

So, outline completed. I sent it off to the editor. We'll see what she says. It almost doesn't matter. I'm already off onto the next thing.

JERKs

My daughter told me this morning that her friend Elena has a boyfriend named Trevor. "But Trevor's a jerk," she said. "You know what that is?"

I nodded my head. I know what jerks are.

"A Junior Educated Rich Kid," she informed me, correctly assuming that I didn't really know what a JERK was. "I'm just a JEK," she went one, "since we're not rich."

Oh, how I savor moments like these. Not for the actual conversational content, because it usually wears me out to listen to too much of it. But I do enjoy the glimpses I get into her world and all the make-believe characters she and her friends create that change as fast as YouTube fads.

I listen to her recite the singsong chants she and her friends make up to play hand-bump games. We used to play hand-bumping games, too, when I was a kid. "Bubble gum, bubble gum, in a dish. How many bubble gums do you wish?" And other nonsense. I remember what it felt like to be that age.

I'd better, since I write for middle graders.

Listening to my daughter and her friends is a good reminder of what friendships, and crushes, and social interaction was like at that age. When they talk, I can feel it. I can remember the idealism, insecurity, and confusion that goes along with that age. Also the joys and excitement. And most of all (for me) - the fickleness. My world, my interests, my interactions with my peers, all seemed to change on a daily basis. A month from now if I ask her if she's still a JEK, she may not even know what I'm talking about. The world moves fast at that age.

I try to remember these things when I write middle school fiction. I probably won't ever use current slang in my work since it changes so quickly and would be outdated before anyone ever read what I wrote. But it's good to remember that kids make up these acronyms and slang terms and recess games on an almost daily basis. That's important to my work, much more than the actual words. Knowing this kinda makes me a SENK, don't you think? (Senior Educated Non-Kid.  I just made that up!)

Storytelling

These two look like they could tell some stories!

Over the weekend, we went to the Appalachian Festival in Cincinnati, Ohio. I've been before and have always enjoyed it, in part because of my Appalachian heritage, but also because I studied Appalachian literature in college.

One of the festival events was Storytelling. Different storytellers came each hour and sat on the stage and told stories. It seems like a simple concept, right? In some ways, it is, which is why storytelling is such a predominant form of entertainment in rural Appalachian areas. But as a writer, I listened to the storyteller with a different ear, trying to discern what worked and what didn't as our storyteller took the stage.

As it turned out, our storyteller was not that good. We were bored after his second story, and some audience members left before he finished. I still took this as a learning opportunity and thought about what went wrong with his tales. His speaking style was nice, and he used plenty of inflection in his tales. It was the stories themselves that lost our attention.

The first story was okay. He told a tale of make-believe creatures that were rumored to be hidden underground in Ohio and Kentucky. That was a good selling point: he made it relevant to his audience. He also used a lot of sound effects, which gave us some imagery to imagine. And he used plenty of repetition, which is a crucial element to folk tales and tales for children. So the story was okay, but didn't actually make much sense. We were disappointed by the end because we couldn't decide what the moral of the story, or the meaning of these make-believe creatures were.

The second story was a "Jack" story and followed the structure of folk tales such as The Little Red Hen. Plenty of repetition. It wasn't that interesting, but it worked.

It was the third story that lost the audience. Unfortunately, the story didn't make any sense at all. The storyteller included lots of detail, which you might think would make it more interesting, but actually made it more distracting. Don't include specific details like a James Taylor concert, and describe the smell of the bathroom if those details don't lend anything to the story. We kept waiting for them to be relevant and they never were. They had no place in the story at all.

Instead, the story took on elements of a dream; and like the re-telling of many dreams, it didn't make sense. This tale was clearly lacking in structure. Any writer of short stories knows that every word in the story needs to be crucial to the story. This particular storyteller didn't keep that in mind. We went off on tangents that had nothing to do with anything, and he lost his audience.

The last story he told (and I think he made it his last because he'd lost most of his audience) was a typical legendary myth-- the kind of ghost story that children like to tell around campfires. These usually involve the number three. Three rounds of things happen before the climax. The structure of this kind of tale is almost a formula, and the storyteller stuck to the formula. His big mistake on this tale was setting it up as being scary. It wasn't, even though he promised that as a storyteller, he knew how to scare us if he wanted to scare us. He set up a premise and then fell flat. I find it akin to saying, "This is going to be the greatest story you've ever heard."  No matter what you say after that, it won't be.

So, I wasn't all that entertained as I listened to the Appalachian storyteller (who also told us right off the bat that he wasn't Appalachian), but I did find his stories useful. It was a lesson in what not to do, and sometimes that's just as important as getting things right.

Endangered Meadows

My macro shot of Queen Anne's lace.

As I was walking the dog this morning, we passed a meadow. I was filled with a sense of peace in the near-silence of nature. Chipsy sniffed the grass as I listened to the birds and spied a butterfly flitting through the brush. And then, the peacefulness came to a screeching halt as my mind raced to this meadow's imminent horrible conclusion. I doubt it will exist a year from now. Even as I enjoyed the walk past it, I was on a paved path with a new subdivision of houses behind me. The meadow doesn't stand a chance.

As we continued down the path, I recalled an interview I did for the newspaper five years ago. I was assigned advertorials for a special issue and interviewed local businesses, writing 750-word stories behind their businesses and the people who owned and worked there. I enjoyed almost all of these assignments, with one strong exception: an interview I did with a local developer.

The man was nice enough. In fact, I almost admired his passion and enthusiasm for his job. But I strongly objected to what he was doing and the vision he had for our community. He pulled out blueprints and land surveys and animatedly took me through them, showing me the proposed plans for a new strip mall, a Walgreens, and a gas station on the corners of what was then a country road. He talked about the revenue this would bring in taxes, and the need for widening roads it would entail. Those developments would fund other road repair and improvements that our township needed. He truly felt he was doing a good thing for our community. He thought he was helping.

But all I could envision was another parking lot where there was currently a meadow. All I could see was another neighborhood of cookie-cutter houses stacked like dominoes down a street with no trees. All I could think of was all the brand new strip malls and office buildings sitting empty. Why not let new businesses occupy those and leave the undeveloped land as country?

It was the hardest interview I'd ever done. I wanted to argue. I wanted to stamp my feet. One thing I did not want to do was promote his work in a positive manner. But I had to. I was there to do a job, just like he was. So I did my job, just not as enthusiastically as he did his, and was not surprised when I saw bulldozers at that intersection months later.

Murder & Mayhem Again

Touring the S.W.A.T. truck at last year's Murder & Mayhem event.

No time to write. I'm off to the Murder & Mayhem Writer's Conference as part of this weekend's Write Like Mad conference. I went last year and loved it, despite the fact that I am not a crime writer. I have come to believe that it doesn't matter what genre you write in -- workshops and insight into different aspects of writing can do nothing but help.

Here's the line up of speakers today:

Forensic Artist Brenda Stewart

Bail Bond Agent Gary Good

Board Registered Medicolegal Death Investigator Justin Weber

Cincinnati Police Sergeant, Tia Miller

Forensic Anthropologist Dr. Elizabeth Murray

I can't wait! Murder & Mayhem, here I come!

Writing Group

Not surprisingly, some of my friends are writers. There are two in particular that I like to talk with about writing. I've talked with each of them separately on several occasions and we always say we should start a writing group. So we finally did. I wasn't sure how it would go, or whether the three of us would gel. I write some fiction, but mostly non-fiction. One of my friends is a poet, and the other a screenwriter, so I was curious whether it would work, bringing us together even though our writing is so very different.

It was fantastic.

We each shared a little of our writing and found that there are certain similarities, but more importantly, things we could learn from each other that might help sharpen our own writing. For instance, the screenwriter writes emotionally and sees the movie running in his head the whole time. The poet writes emotionally, too, as well as visually. The way she places her words on paper is as deliberate as the words she chooses and the effect is powerful and symbolic; something I'd like to adapt to my own work.

They both professed to think that non-fiction writing is something harder than what they do. Neither thinks they could be as concise in their writing. Funny -- I struggle with stretching things out.

Anyway, our get-together was a great success. I can't wait until we meet up again to share more work. I just know they'll be instrumental in helping me with my latest writing experiment: a long (for me) literary short story about a pig auction. (Hence the picture above.) I wonder what they're working on?

Winter 24-Hour Short Story Contest

Once again I entered the WritersWeekly 24-Hour Short Story Contest  in which entrants are emailed a topic at noon on Saturday and have until noon Sunday to write a story. Here was the opening paragraph this time:

Blue ice stretched to the horizon, fading into the blinding rays of another waning winter sun. She shivered violently as the shifting mass groaned under her feet. She instinctively glanced down, looking for cracks under the transparent sheen. Suddenly, she tensed and dropped to her knees.

Desperately clawing at the ice, she screamed.

As always, we're advised not to go with our first idea since many other people may come up with the same one. Take a moment to think about where you would take this story.



Mendenhall Glacier
Juneau, Alaska

 

My initial reaction was that she was about to fall through the ice, then just as quickly I got the idea that she saw the keys to her escape boat sinking below the ice and knew she'd be stranded. Then, like my husband, I imagined she saw a body below the surface. My daughter thought she might have seen her pet. Then my husband offered the idea that she was straddling a fissure on a glacier. I liked that one.

But part of the fun of these contests for me is sitting down and brainstorming with my daughter. So we did that and she came up with a storyline that I would have never thought of on my own. I went with that one. I'll share it on my blog in about six weeks after the contest has been judged.

Resolutions

I only made three New Year's resolutions this year. I'm sticking to two of them pretty well, but the third one, the one I thought would be the easiest to keep, is turning out to be the hard one. I'd resolved to get back to writing for publication this year. It's been a while. I've spent the last year or so just writing whatever I wanted to for this blog, enjoying the indulgence and freedom of writing what I want without worrying whether any of it was marketable.

Now I feel like I've lost touch with the world of publishing. In the past week I've come to realize that I don't think in quite the same way. I researched some writing markets and began thinking up article ideas but have yet to actually sit down and flesh out the ideas. Instead, I think how easy it would be to just post these articles on my blog.

Now I'm starting to understand why some of the bloggers I've followed have recently sent out notices that they've given up their blogs to devote their time and attention to their works-in-progress. I'd thought it was due to a lack of time and energy to do both, but maybe it has more to do with focus. I am already finding it difficult to focus my thoughts toward both approaches (blogging and article writing).

I don't want to stop blogging; I like writing daily. It keeps me on my toes. I guess what I really need to re-assess is whether publication is that important to me? I'd like to get back into magazine writing, but maybe not as much as I think I want to. I know I don't have to make a choice; I can do both. But first I want to give some thought to my motivation for doing so. Do I want bylines and money? Do I need validation that that makes me a legitimate writer? Or do I really want to write for magazines because it gives me as much satisfaction as writing a blog does?

I see that I am anything but resolute on January 9th.

Newspaper Clippings

In her memoir Why Is My Mother Getting A Tattoo, former Rolling Stone writer Jancee Dunn says that her parents habitually clipped articles from newspapers and sent them to her. She categorized them under a few separate headings, all falling within the 'human interest story' umbrella, though her father's newspaper clippings were more cautionary tales of what might happen if she weren't constantly on alert. I chuckled at this chapter in her book because I come from a family of newspaper clippers, too.

My grandmother used to mail me letters with carefully cut-out news articles inside. Hers seemed to have nothing to do with my life. She sent me articles on serial killer trials and sales flyers from the mall. I was never sure why she sent these to me, but imagined that she sent just as many clippings to her daughters as she did me. Whether they were relevant to their lives is anyone's guess. I only know mine weren't.

My mother sent me clippings too, and sometimes still cuts them out and saves them for me. But hers make sense. She saves travel articles on places I might like to go, or articles on subjects that she knows I like. Sometimes she clips articles out because it has to do with a topic we were just talking about. I enjoy these snippets for several reasons. I save them in my filing cabinet.

Secretly, I've always hoped that all families do this, and that some of the newspaper articles I wrote in my three years writing for the newspaper were clipped and saved, too. I hope that someone, somewhere, read an article about a horse getting acupuncture and sent it off to a horse owner they knew. I hope that someone read about varieties of champagne and took that article with them to the store when they went shopping for New Year's Eve. I hope that someone read my article on the 1937 flood of the Ohio River and stuck it into an envelope to send to a relative that lived through it.

I've seen some of my restaurant reviews hanging in the windows and lobbies of restaurants. I've seen a clipping displayed in a dentist's office that I highlighted once. Another human interest story; this one centered around the fact that they baked bread  in the office all day long and their reasons for doing so.

Newspapers may become extinct as we move deeper and deeper into the digital age. I hope not. I get such a rare satisfaction from them. Instant gratification when the words first appear in print and then later a second kick out of seeing that people have saved my words even when they don't know that they're mine. I don't know whether I'll ever get the same thrill if/when I manage to publish a book. The newspaper clipping is so simple and clear: someone has read my words and saved them. After all, isn't that what every writer wants? To know that their words have been read?

Marketing Books

Most writers today know that they will be heavily responsible for marketing their books. The tactics are endless for those who think outside the box. In fact, many books have been written on the subject. I was thinking about this yesterday when I opened my mailbox and found a postcard from author Starbuck O'Dwyer. Our paths have crossed a few times in the past six years, largely because he continues to market his books to me. Quite effectively, I might add, since I plan to go buy his newest books as a result of the postcard I got in the mail.

I first heard of Starbuck O'Dwyer in 2005. I was driving to work and he was doing a radio interview to promote his satirical novel Red Meat Cures Cancer. At the time, I was a book reviewer for Cox Newspapers and decided that this was a book I wanted to review. So I read it, wrote my article, and mailed O'Dwyer a clipping. He wrote back, thanking me for the review and then kept my name and address on file.

I received an email from him a few years later, keeping his name forefront in my mind. And then I received this postcard yesterday, hand-addressed to me, promoting his latest books How To Raise A Good Kid and Goliath Gets Up. I plan to read both. O'Dwyer knew what he was doing by collecting data on his target readers, of which I am one. This was an effective marketing ploy and one I'll remember once I publish my book(s).

Here's the review I wrote of Red Meat Cures Cancer:

In Red Meat Cures Cancer, we meet protagonist Sky Thorne, Chief Operating Officer of Tailburger, a bottom of the barrel burger franchise that subsists on the tastes of jail inmates, wrestling fans, and junk food junkies. In a society now dominated with low-fat, no-fat, lean and green menu options, Tailburger serves instead a “four-battered dipped, deep-fried” burger with “five generous dollops of Cajun-style mayonnaise," Enormasize fries, and their signature drink-- the Tailfrap, a beef-flavored concoction with more fat grams than several days’ recommended allowance.

Beef intake is flagging and sales are down, so Sky‘s boss Frank Fanoflincoln orders Sky to beef up market shares by 5% or lose his job. With only months to go before he is eligible for his pension, Sky is frantic.

Other fast food giants are adding healthy options to their menus, but Sky feels this route won’t gain him the 5% increase he needs. Instead, he rolls out his new “Torture Me” marketing campaign, building on the destructive tendencies of Tailburger consumers rather than trying to convert new customers.

The “Torture Me” campaign includes advertising spots on a cynical, downtrodden movie about a clown’s descent toward suicide. A basketball icon who puts away a dozen Tailburgers at a sitting endorses the product despite his heart condition. And the marketing gurus have developed tag lines to appeal to segments of their demographic market, including,

For those who’d given up on attracting a mate:
“Why Just Abuse Your Body when you can Torture it?”

Sky is pinning all his hopes on the successful outcome of the “Torture Me” campaign, but he’s facing tough opposition from an anti-red meat lobbying organization called S.E.R.M.O.N. (Stop Eating Red Meat Now) who want to make burger establishments responsible for health care costs associated with eating red meat. S.E.R.M.O.N. will eventually go after the big boys - McDonald’s and Burger King, but they’re starting small, going after Tailburger, whose political allies are small potatoes in the beef industry.

As the “Torture Me” campaign starts to fall apart and Sky’s chances for his pension and early retirement start to fade, Sky contemplates partnering Tailburger with adult entertainment, a sure-fire way to increase the market shares so he can finally get out of the business once and for all.

Meanwhile, Sky’s daughter, Sophia, demands thousands of dollars from her guilt-ridden father with each phone call home. Her requests for business school tuition and breast augmentation sink Sky deeper into debt. His son, Ethan, continually asks him to finance his fledgling dot.com enterprise, sure that at any moment he’ll be an instant millionaire, capable of retiring before the age of 30.

And Sky’s ex-wife’s widower wants his piece of the pie, too. He is suing Sky for 50% of his pension.

With characters named Plot Thickens, Muffet Meaney, and Biff Dilworth, O’Dwyer forgoes good taste in order to take a stab at our reigning pop culture. This funny, biting commentary gives us a look at the materialism clogging our arteries in pursuit of the American dream. This rich novel sizzles with wicked portrayals of family, friends, politics and free enterprise. Even as Sky engages in unethical and illegal steps to raise market shares, he moves closer and closer to career success. Which raises the question-- “Enormasize it?” 

The Kerfuffle Over Snollygosters

Newbery Honor author Ingrid Law
OKI Children's Literature Conference, November 5, 2011



During the OKI Children's Literature Conference this past weekend, Newbery Honor Winner Ingrid Law (author of Savvy and Scumble) shared her love of word play. She prefaced it by talking about the time she brought a robin's egg shell to school and exclaimed, "Look what I brang!"

Despite being criticized by her teacher for incorrect grammar, or perhaps because of it, Law grew up to love words and word play. When she comes across an interesting word, she jots it down on paper, collecting the sounds and meanings like other people collect stamps.

Here are a few of her favorites:

snollygoster - a clever, unscrupulous person; a crooked politician

sardoodledum - Dramatic works with exaggerated, contrived, trivial, or deplorable plots; soap opera; melodrama

scumble -  to soften (the color or tone of a painted area) by overlaying parts with opaque or semiopaque color applied thinly and lightly with an almost dry brush.


And a few of mine:

kerfuffle - a disturbance, a fuss, or a commotion.

bissextile - A leap year; A year having an extra day. (Okay, I like this word because my husband is a leapling, or Leap Year baby.)

gargoyle  (though to be honest, I'm not sure whether it's the world I like, or just gargoyles I like).

January  I just really like the sound of January.

Using Animals in Children's Literature



Keiko Kasza shares her illustrations at the OKI Children's Literature Conference
November 5, 2011
Thomas More College, Kentucky



When I took a Children's Literature class in college, we discussed the reasons that so many works include animals as characters instead of people. The major reason seemed to be that children can relate to animals in stories because animals are the only creatures lower than them on the power scale. Meaning, children often feel powerless, but are one level above the powerlessness of animals.

Author/illustrator Keiko Kasza offered three different reasons that she chooses to use animals as the characters in her picture books (The Wolf's Chicken Stew, My Lucky Day, A Mother for Choco, The Dog Who Cried Wolf, etc.). In her keynote address at the OKI Children's Literature Conference yesterday, she gave these three reasons:

1. They're cute and fun.
2. She says she can't draw humans as well as animals, and doesn't have to worry about figuring out
    body types and human characteristics.
3. Animals give her books universal appeal.

She may have been half-joking about the first two reasons, but was very deliberate about the third. Her books have been translated into more than 14 languages and are universally accepted. By using animals, she doesn't have to worry about depicting a certain race or culture in negative ways. She doesn't have to worry about balancing various cultures in her artwork in ways that she might need to with humans.

Plus, the animals give her artistry a sense of whimsy. Her characters are cute and fun, just as she says in her first point. The stories may feature animals, but they definitely center around issues that children may face. Her animals solve the problems themselves, empowering themselves in ways that children may learn from.

All of that is wonderful, of course, but the main reason to read her books is for the stories. They're fun and beautifully illustrated. They're everything that picture books for young children should be.

Third Time's A Charm?

NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month at nanowrimo.org) starts again today. Despite my upcoming travel and heavy workload, I decided to take part again. In fact, that's exactly why I decided to participate -- so that I do not lose sight of my writing life. Work could so easily get in the way. I'm not going to let it.

I first did NaNoWriMo two years ago when I completed my 50,000-word middle-grade novel The Witch Wore Pink. That was a huge high; a great accomplishment, and is work that I continue to be proud of.

Last year I started an alien abduction mystery I titled Out Of This World, but dropped out at the 32,000-word mark. I was stuck and couldn't figure out how to finish. I wish I'd persevered. I still want to finish that novel someday.

Today begins my third NaNoWriMo. I have no idea what I plan to write. I only vaguely know that it will be adult fiction, and I have my main character's name.  But what she does and how the novel will play out is completely unknown. I'm hoping that I will find that freeing. At least freeing enough to get me to 50,000 words of craptastic fiction. (We're encouraged to write crap. It's a first draft, after all.) We'll see how it goes. Hopefully the third time's a charm.

Write What You ___________

"I wrote my first novel because I wanted to read it."

--- Toni Morrison

Writers are often given conflicting advice:  write what you know; write what you love, and here, Toni Morrison says to write what you want to read. As a writer, I have tried all three approaches.

Writing What I Know can be difficult. As someone who primarily considers herself a non-fiction writer, I find that I am often too close to my subject when I write what I know. I can't separate what should be included in my writing and what shouldn't. I assume too much or too little knowledge from my readers. When I write what I know, I'm better suited to gearing my writing for children so that I have the freedom to explain things from the beginning.

For non-fiction, I'm much better at writing what I don't know. Then I approach the subject with fresh eyes and can see the gaps that need to be explained. However, I do incorporate write what I know in fiction. I think it adds authenticity if I write about a girl in Ohio, or a person who works at jobs I've done.

Write What You Love was my focus when I wrote my first novel. It was a children's chapter book about two boys who wanted to grow up to be Marines. It was inspired by watching my son and I had plans to write an entire series; a sort-of Junie B. Jones series for boys. I wrote two books then moved on to other things, but those 9-year-old characters still run around in my head. I think I'll write about them again someday. I still have stories to tell about them.

But first, I'd like to try Toni Morrison's approach of Writing What I Want To Read.  I believe her quote refers to her first published novel, The Bluest Eye. I loved that book and wondered how autobiographical it was? Morrison grew up in Ohio and attended a predominantly white school. Perhaps she combined what she knows with what she wanted to read.

My problem is, I read across so many genres. My favorite books are memoirs, travel narratives, and contemporary fiction. I hope to write all three. I'd like to write a memoir, but don't think I'm all that interesting and don't think I can bare my life to the public. But a travel memoir -- ah, that would be a dream come true. That's what I love to read, what I know (since the travel experience would be mine), and what I love.

Now that I think about it, it's all so obvious. Of course I need to combine all three approaches. They aren't conflicting pieces of advice at all; they're simply pieces of a larger whole. I need to write what I know, what I love AND what I want to read. I need to write a travel narrative! Now all I need to do is some extensive travel...