tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86329569807820083342024-03-06T12:01:30.553-08:00Writers at WorkSandy Asher and David Harrison chat about writing in general, and writing for young readers in particular.Sandy Asherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08311778466602117713noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632956980782008334.post-6557084482856774252018-11-15T11:25:00.000-08:002018-11-15T11:25:52.421-08:00Topic 18 -- Making It Easy to Stay in Touch<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
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<span style="color: #1d2129;">Part 1, Sandy: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129;">"Do you know (fill in your favorite author's name here)?" That's a question I'm often asked by children when I visit schools -- and by adults as well. Sometimes, the answer is "Yes," but, often, it's "No, our paths haven't crossed yet." I then explain that authors tend to work by themselves, usually in their own homes, and if we meet one another at all, it's usually at the kind of event where readers can meet us as well -- school and library programs, book signings, literature festivals, that sort of thing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129;">One place where David and I have met many wonderful authors is the annual Children's Literature Festival in Warrensburg, MO. But the cast has changed over the years, and we're not seeing some of those folks as often as we'd like. So, David has created a list of our colleagues with contact information to keep us all in touch. As with those other public meetings, readers are invited to use this list as well. All of the authors are still creating terrific books, plays, and poems for you to enjoy, and they're still out on the road from time to time, presenting their exciting programs at schools, libraries, book stores, festivals, and so on. Want to meet them? Invite them to a program near you!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129;">Here's David's list, an excellent resource for doing just that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129;">Part 2, David:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129;">Hello to all our friends who have met us at past Warrensburg’s Children’s Literature Festivals. We’ve loved being with the kids, teachers, and parents who attend that wonderful event. As we move on to make room for other authors and artists, we don’t want to lose touch with you! Here’s who we are and how you can continue to follow us and our work or get in touch for conference appearances and school visits.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Collectively, we’ve written or illustrated hundreds of your favorite books and visited with young people all over the United States and beyond. Although some of our out of print books are hard to find these days, they are worth the effort! The list of honors our work has received would fill pages, but our purpose here is to make it easier for you to find us. You are an important part of our lives. We look forward to staying in touch.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u>Alexandria LaFaye<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><a href="mailto:a@alafaye.com" style="color: purple;">a@alafaye.com</a></span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">501-259-9982<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.alafaye.com/" style="color: purple;">www.alafaye.com</a></span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">a link to my school visit video: <span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://youtu.be/7KZFNdo44i8" style="color: purple;">https://youtu.be/7KZFNdo44i8</a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">On Facebook<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">@alafayeauthor<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">On Instagram and Twitter<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">@artlafaye<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u>Brenda Seabrooke:<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="mailto:brendaseabrooke@aol.com" style="color: purple;">brendaseabrooke@aol.com</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.childrensbookguild.org/brenda-seabrooke" style="color: purple;">www.childrensbookguild.org/brenda-seabrooke</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u>Cheryl Harness<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="mailto:cheryl@cherylharness.com" style="color: purple;">cheryl@cherylharness.com</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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816.461.4034<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u>Claudia Mills:<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="mailto:cmills@colorado.edu" style="color: purple;">cmills@colorado.edu</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.claudiamillsauthor.com/" style="color: purple;">www.claudiamillsauthor.com</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u>Carole Adler:<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="mailto:csawrite@comcast.net" style="color: purple;">csawrite@comcast.net</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u>David L Harrison:<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="mailto:DavidLHarrison1@att.net" style="color: purple;">DavidLHarrison1@att.net</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://davidharrison.com/" style="color: purple;">http://davidharrison.com</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://davidharrison.wordpress.com/" style="color: purple;">http://davidharrison.wordpress.com</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u>Dean Hughes:<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="mailto:deanhugh@gmail.com" style="color: purple;">deanhugh@gmail.com</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Dean Hughes, Author, Facebook Page<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u>Gloria Skurzynski <o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="mailto:notification+zo2a90t6@facebookmail.com" style="color: purple;">notification+zo2a90t6@facebookmail.com</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/gloria.skurzynski" style="color: purple;">https://www.facebook.com/gloria.skurzynski</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u>Jane Kurtz<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="mailto:jane@janekurtz.com" style="color: purple;">jane@janekurtz.com</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.janekurtz.com/" style="color: purple;">http://www.janekurtz.com</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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@janekurtz <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u>Janie (J.B.) Cheaney<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="mailto:jbcheaney@windstream.net" style="color: purple;">jbcheaney@windstream.net</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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P.O. Box 634, Bolivar MO 65613<o:p></o:p></div>
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Facebook: J.B. Cheaney<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u>Jan Greenberg<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="mailto:jngreenb@aol.com" style="color: purple;">jngreenb@aol.com</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u>Joan Carris<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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1318 Pendleton Court<o:p></o:p></div>
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Charlottesville, VA 22901<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="mailto:joancarris@gmail.com%0dwww.joancarrisbooks.com" style="color: purple;">joancarris@gmail.com<o:p></o:p></a></span></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="mailto:joancarris@gmail.com%0dwww.joancarrisbooks.com" style="color: purple;">www.joancarrisbooks.com</a></span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u>Judy Fradin<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "tahoma" , sans-serif;"><a href="mailto:yudiff@fradinbooks.com" style="color: purple;">yudiff@aol.com</a></span></span><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "tahoma" , sans-serif;">website: </span><span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "tahoma" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://fradinbooks.com/" style="color: purple;">http://fradinbooks.com</a></span></span><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u>Kristi Holl<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.kristiholl.com/" style="color: purple;">https://www.kristiholl.com</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.kristiholl.com/blog/" style="color: purple;">https://www.kristiholl.com/blog/</a></span><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u>Lois Ruby<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica";"><a href="mailto:loisruby@comcast.net" style="color: purple;">loisruby@comcast.net</a></span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica";">8223 Grape View Ct. NE<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica";">Albuquerque, NM 87122<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica";">505-293-5478 (home)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica";">505-288-2194 (cell)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica";"><a href="http://www.loisruby.com/" style="color: purple;">www.loisruby.com</a></span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u>Marsha Diane Arnold<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="mailto:marshaoak@mac.com" style="color: purple;">marshaoak@mac.com</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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707-292-1171<o:p></o:p></div>
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Facebook - <span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/marshadianearnold" style="color: purple;">https://www.facebook.com/marshadianearnold</a></span> <o:p></o:p></div>
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Twitter - <span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://twitter.com/MarshaDArnold" style="color: purple;">https://twitter.com/MarshaDArnold</a></span>]<o:p></o:p></div>
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Website (currently being updated) - <span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="mailto:marshadianearnold@mac.com" style="color: purple;">marshadianearnold@mac.com</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u><br /></u></b></div>
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<b><u>Mary Downing Hahn<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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<b><u>Mary Jane Auch<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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<b><u>Naomi Williamson:<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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Naomi Williamson, Professor Emeritus, Library Services<br />
Warrensburg, MO 64093<br />
Telephone: 660-238-8784<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u>Sandy Asher:<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://usawrites4kids.blogspot.com/" style="color: purple;" target="_blank">http://usawrites4kids.blogspot.com</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u>Stephanie Tolan<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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<b><u>Teri Sloat<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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Website for books: <span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://terisloat.com/" style="color: purple;">terisloat.com</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Website for art: <span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://terisloatfineart.com/" style="color: purple;">terisloatfineart.com</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u>Veda Boyd Jones<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="mailto:veda@vedaboydjones.com" style="color: purple;">veda@vedaboydjones.com</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u>Vicki Grove<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="mailto:vikgrove@gmail.com" style="color: purple;">vikgrove@gmail.com</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u>Vivian Vande Velde:<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="mailto:VivianV@Rochester.rr.com" style="color: purple;">VivianV@Rochester.rr.com</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.vivianvandevelde.com/" style="color: purple;">www.VivianVandeVelde.com</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/VivianVandeVeldeBooks" style="color: purple;">https://www.facebook.com/VivianVandeVeldeBooks</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u>William Anderson<o:p></o:p></u></b></div>
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810-667-2012<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span class="MsoHyperlink" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.williamandersonbooks.com/" style="color: purple;">www.williamandersonbooks.com</a></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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Sandy Asherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08311778466602117713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632956980782008334.post-35048086820091435832018-03-16T04:24:00.000-07:002018-03-18T13:13:01.344-07:00Topic 17: Rule 1 -- Show Up <b>February 6, 2018<br /><br />Part 1: David</b><br /><br />Talent -- being capable of producing a publishable manuscript -- is the basic ingredient for writing and illustrating success. Sandy Asher and I have talked about numerous other topics in past series of WRITERS AT WORK. But in this set, which we’ll post each Tuesday this month, we want to talk about “Rule 1: Show Up.” Another title for this topic might be, “Help Make Your Own Breaks.” Either way, we’re talking about the merits of taking positive action. We never know what might happen when we place ourselves in “fate’s way,” but odds of something good happening in our careers improve when we do.<br /><br />My first picture book, THE BOY WITH A DRUM, was published in 1969 by Western Publishing in Racine, Wisconsin. My editor was Betty Ren Wright. Not long after that I decided I wanted to meet my editor so I flew from Kansas City (our home at the time) to Racine for a visit with Betty Ren and other Golden Book and Wee Wisdom editors, one of whom was Dorothy (Dee) Haas.<br /><br />When Dee moved to Chicago to become a Childcraft editor at Rand McNally, she stayed in touch. I flew to Chicago on Hallmark business but made a date with Dee while I was in town and left with an assignment to write the first 95 pages of the annual issue called ABOUT ME, which led to CHILDREN EVERYWHERE (1973), a 62-page nonfiction book about children growing up in twelve countries; which led to writing two stories for THE WITCH BOOK anthology (1976), which led to WHAT DO YOU KNOW? (1981) a 255-page book of questions and answers about questions asked by upper elementary students. <br /><br />Another editor I met in Racine was Kathleen Daly, who subsequently moved to American Heritage Press in New York City. Within a few months of my trip to Chicago I was in NYC to negotiate a contract and interview writers for Hallmark so I made an appointment with Kathleen. I left her office with an agreement that I would send her some ideas for stories about giants. I did. She liked them. THE BOOK OF GIANT STORIES (1972) won a Christopher Award.<br /><br />Sandy, these books all came about the same way. I had previous publishing experiences with each of the editors. And in each instance I took advantage of a trip already planned for other reasons to “show up.” But there are other ways of applying Rule 1.<br /><br />On a vacation trip up the Amazon River in Peru, I took hundreds of notes. Not because I meant to write a book but because writers take notes and fill journals. We never know when something might develop. Three years after that trip, sure enough I began thinking about a book of poetry. I fished out my notes, which ran 86 pages when typed, and eventually SOUNDS OF RAIN was published. Seventeen years after the trip the same thorough notes produced material for another story, a middle-grade novel. Who knew that showing up on a river in the rain forest would result in two new projects?<br /><br />Sandy, at times there may be a fine line between “showing up” and “finding ideas,” but to me, Rule 1 involves some sort of action on the part of the writer or illustrator that goes beyond the norm. It means an act we do on purpose that may lead serendipitously to something positive we don’t anticipate. Whether we “show up” metaphorically or with suitcase in hand, it pays to place ourselves in fate’s way. I look forward to hearing your thoughts about Rule 1.<br /><br /><b>February 13, 2018<br /><br />Part 2: Sandy</b><br /><br />All kinds of ways to show up, David, and, yes, I've managed more than a few: I attend, present at, and often develop workshops and conferences. I do programs at bookstores, libraries, and festivals. I submit work to contests and publishers. I visit schools occasionally as a guest author and weekly as the nearly invisible human being at the other end of Gracie the Reading Dog's leash. I adjudicate contests. I started and maintained for years the American Alliance for Theatre and Education's Directory of Award-winning Plays and its New Plays by Members List. I speak up at professional meetings and in discussions even when I'm not on the panel. And, on March 1 of this year, I helped launch American Theatre for the Very Young: A Digital Festival as founder and co-chair, showcasing children's plays coast-to-coast, including my own. Oh, yeah, and you and I have done reading-focused TV spots, David, and we ran the America Writes for Kids and USA Plays for Kids websites together. Oh, and we co-write this blog.<br /><br />Though it doesn't always lead to publication, all of this showing up is related to career development, even being the largely ignored observer as first graders regale Gracie with their favorite books. Some of it is hard work; much of it is undeniably great fun. And every once in a while, it does lead to new ideas, a flurry of writing, and publication. <br /><br />More often than not, such opportunities happen in ways that are totally unexpected, ways I could never even have imagined. "Life," John Lennon is said to have observed, "is what happens while we're busy making other plans." Indeed.<br /><br />One example: While serving on the faculty of an SCBWI workshop some years ago, I was sitting in the audience with the other participants listening to editors talk about what they were looking for. It's always a good idea to show up at SCBWI workshops and listen to editors, agents, authors, and illustrators, but in this case, what one of the editors had to say really ticked me off. She raved on about how picture books used to run 1000-1500 words in length, but how nowadays 500 words is really the preferred limit, and 250 words would be even better.<br /><br />That triggered a concern of mine: I think we are systematically depriving children of language at the very age -- 0-5 or so -- when they are programmed to soak up as much language as possible. They need it to think! They need it to speak! They need it to understand! They need it to read and write and reason! I could go on. I have gone on, in presentations and posts elsewhere. But for now, I'll just say that there was steam coming out of my ears as I listened. I decided to use my fury as fuel. Okay, fine, I thought, you want books with very few words? I'll write a book with as few words as I can. With that impetus -- can I call it inspiration? -- CHICKEN STORY TIME happened, a process of elimination almost as much as it was a process of creation. The manuscript sold quickly, the book got published, and, since then, I've written a stage adaptation that's being performed around the country. Go figure!<br /><br />Showing up is important, but it can be a bit of a challenge. Rising to the challenge -- ah, that makes all the difference. <br /><br /><b>February 20, 2018<br /><br />Part 3: David</b><br /><br />Of course nothing beats talent and we can all think of geniuses who famously stayed home and made fate come to them. But alas, Dickinsons and Salingers are rare. Most of us fall into the mere mortal range and must find our breaks by showing up where they tend to hang out.<br /><br />In my own case an example is the time I showed up in Ronne Peltzman Randall’s office at Ladybird Books in Loughborough, England. Sandy and I were in London and I decided to buy a train ticket and go see my editor friend who was publishing a story of mine called LITTLE BOY SOUP. It was great fun to see Ronne and we have remained lifetime friends. She honors me by dropping by my blog now and then. Ronne took me down the hall to meet her editor-in-chief and that’s where I met Christine San Jose, also a visitor there that day. Christine was born twelve miles away in Leicester and was home for a visit. She had lived in America for a long time and worked for Kent Brown at <i>Highlights</i>.<br /><br />For the previous three years I had been learning how to write poetry for children and didn’t know what to do with the one hundred poems I’d accumulated. When I mentioned this to Christine, she invited me to send my poems to her at Honesdale, Pennsylvania. Kent was creating a book division which included Wordsong, an imprint for children’s poetry. Editor-in-chief of Wordsong was Bernice (Bee) Cullinan, a professor at NYU and former president of International Reading Association.<br /><br />When Christine received my poems, she handed them over to Bee. Bee got in touch to say how much she liked my work and wanted to publish me. Shortly after that, Kent called and invited me to Honesdale to talk. I flew to New York, hooked up with Bee, who lived there, and together we were driven to Honesdale where I sat down with Kent in his office. When I left, Kent and I had a handshake agreement. I was free to continue publishing my other work anywhere I chose, but he wanted an exclusive on my poetry until such a time that either of us felt otherwise. <br /><br />Bee went to work arranging my poems into categories: school, family, etc. We agreed to go with school first. SOMEBODY CATCH MY HOMEWORK was illustrated by Betsy Lewin and published in 1993 with a starred Kirkus review and went into its third printing within months. After that came thirty or so books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction with Boyds Mills. I currently have two more in process.<br /><br />Sandy, this may fall in the “too much information” category, but my point is that my showing up in Loughborough, England to see Ronne started a chain reaction of fortunate circumstances that eventually led to my career as a poet, as well as the publication of numerous other books. Would I have become a poet anyway? I like to think that sooner or later I might have figured it all out and discovered the right editor, but who knows. I was green and didn’t know if my poetry was any good. I might have grown discouraged and quit without the encouragement of Christine San Jose, the enthusiasm of Bee Cullinan, and the handshake with Kent Brown. <br /><br />Your turn, Sandy.<br /><br /><b>February 27, 2018<br /><br />Part 4: Sandy</b><br />
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I can't tell you, David, how many times I've tried to make "showing up" work for me without reaching my intended goal. I network. I meet editors and directors. We talk about projects we might take on together. We may even assure one another that these projects are exciting and have enormous potential. Yes! Yes? No. We part company. Time passes. Aaaaand . . . nothing. Sometimes it feels like being the kid who can't get anyone to dance with her at a party. Everybody else is dancing (or so it seems from my forlorn perspective). What am I doing wrong? Am I trying too hard? Am I not trying hard enough? <br /><br />Invitations to dance often seem to come out of the blue, out of left field, out of who-knows-where? Someplace I am simply not looking. Still, I have to show up to receive them.<br /><br />Case #1: I served on a panel at an American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE) conference. I also attended other presentations and spoke up during the discussion periods afterward. No agenda, just voicing opinions, sharing what I'd learned that seemed applicable to the topic at hand. Then a director I'd never met approached me and asked me to join her for coffee. Of course, I accepted. "I think you're someone I'd like to work with," she said, basing her conclusion on my comments in the sessions she'd attended earlier in the day. I never knew she was in those rooms or listening to me, but coffee led to a commission to adapt "Little Women" for her youth theater, and that led to a visit to Lancaster, PA, which soon became my home. Who knew? Who could possibly have known? But I was there, actively there, and the future found me.<br /><br />Case #2: I attended the opening reception of a new art gallery in town and was stunned by the images on the walls and the journal entries that accompanied them. I approached the gallery owner, who was an acquaintance, and suggested the story conveyed by the exhibit deserved a wider audience. Might I read the journals and think about writing a play? Permission was granted, and the result became both a stage and film version of "Death Valley: A Love Story." I did not walk into the gallery intending any of that. It was waiting there for me to show up.<br /><br />Case #3: My interest in TVY (Theatre for the Very Young) led me to the first meeting of AATE's special interest group dedicated to that topic. Which led to a conference call among members, during which someone bemoaned the fact that American TVY practitioners almost never get to see one another's work. In Scotland and Denmark, we'd heard, practitioners are able to visit one another's theatres and learn and grow together. We're separated by too much geography and too little affordable transportation. That casual phone comment gave me an idea: What about a digital festival? Fast forward: I gathered a steering committee, wrote a grant proposal, got the grant, and American Theatre for the Very Young: A Digital Festival debuted on Vimeo on March 1, 2018, with a first offering of 11 performances from around the country, including Pollyanna Theatre's production of my play based on my own picture book, CHICKEN STORY TIME, and more to come.<br /><br />Case #4: The Dramatists Guild announced the formation of an Institute that would offer various courses for playwrights. I sent the director (whom I'd never met) an email stating my hope that courses for playwrights working in theatre for young audiences would be included and pointing out that our field is not often given the attention it deserves. The director assured me such a course was under consideration and invited me to come in and talk about it. I did. And guess what? I'll be teaching a "Weekend Warrior" course in writing plays for young audiences at the Guild offices in New York City on April 4-6, 2018. <br /><br />A panel, a reception, a conference call, an email -- all ways to show up. And sometimes to join in the dance.<br /><br />Sandy Asherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08311778466602117713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632956980782008334.post-49288533585829599592017-11-02T08:18:00.002-07:002017-11-02T08:22:21.542-07:00TOPIC 16: Wait for It!<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS FINALLY COME</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">David, you've inspired this exchange of thoughts with your recent comment about finding an old manuscript in your files that seemed to be asking you to come back and work on it. Thank you!</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That reunion with an old manuscript really struck a chord. It's something that's happened to me many times over the years. I'll bet it happens to most writers, at least now and then. And yet we hardly ever hear it mentioned in advice articles or courses or workshops. Sure, we're told to put a new manuscript away for a few days or weeks so we can revise it with fresh eyes and renewed energy. But what about manuscripts that have been lying around for years?</span></div>
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<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They don't get enough respect!</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In fact, they're kind of a secret, aren't they? Maybe we're not comfortable admitting there are incomplete or unsuccessful manuscripts languishing on the back burner -- or off the stove altogether?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well, let's shout it out here: I don't throw anything away! Not even if it seems hopeless and I think I never want to look at the useless thing again, let alone spend another minute of my precious writing time wrestling with it. I hang onto it, anyway. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One just never knows when that idea's time may come. Circumstances change. Markets change. Editors change. But perhaps most importantly, WE change. Sometimes we just have to live a little bit more, learn a little bit more, grow a little bit older and wiser -- or do a whole lot of that stuff -- to solve the puzzle certain pieces present. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some ideas simply knock on our door too soon, but they'll wait until we're ready to answer. The very first of my successful file-digging finds is probably something of a record holder. It was a story I wrote for a college creative writing course. It earned a respectable grade at that time, but it wasn't until 18 years later that I hauled it out, revised it, and sold it. Yes, you read that right: 18 years! </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fresh out of college, I tried sending it off to what I thought were appropriate publications, but it never found a home. No doubt, that's because I was aiming at literary journals. I just didn't know enough to understand what I'd actually written, or even what kind of writer I was meant to be -- a children's author. After the story collected a depressing number of rejections, it went into my file cabinet and there it stayed, abandoned and, eventually, forgotten. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some years later, I enrolled in elementary education classes at Drury College (now Drury University) where my husband was teaching. (I've always enjoyed working with kids, I just didn't know I was supposed to be writing for them!) One required class changed everything: Methods of Teaching Children's Literature. It was there that I first read young adult novels. Suddenly, I felt as if I'd been wandering all my life and had finally found home. My whole approach to my work -- and its marketing potential -- shifted. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Not long after that epiphany, I read about an educational publisher looking for stories about teenaged protagonists for a graded reading series. I found my old college story, reread it with new perspective, and sent off the requested query. There was interest. BUT. There were also a few requirements for this series: I had to count not only word length, but average number of syllables, and I had to work in six new vocabulary words twice each. Considerable revision was in order! </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The ensuing labor only made the story better. After it was accepted, I enjoyed a long, productive, and profitable relationship with that publisher. Plus, with each story needing to comply with stringent length, reading difficulty, and vocabulary requirements, I honed my revision skills. Big bonus!</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, in 18 years, my focus changed, and my writing improved. I also learned something about patience. Sometimes an idea just has to wait for its time to come.</span></div>
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<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 9.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And, now, David, your time has come!</span></div>
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<br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">***</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">October 10, 2017</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Part 2: David</span></div>
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<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well, Sandy, you’re younger than I so I hope you’ll forgive me for having a story that tops your 18 years by three. But my tale is slightly different from yours so we may both claim the title in separate divisions.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I made my first trip to New York City for an editorial visit in 1969, the same year my first children’s book was published. Forty-eight years later I can look back on many such trips, but that first one led me to write THE BOOK OF GIANT STORIES. </span></div>
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<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">From March through April, 1969 I wrote three stories in forty-seven days for the collection: The Secret, Little Boy Soup, and The Giant Who Threw Tantrums. When the stories were sent to the artist, Philippe Fix, he had an idea for his own story to add. I said no to that but agreed to write the story he wanted to illustrate, which I called, The Giant Who was Afraid of Butterflies. I didn’t realize until it was too late that Little Boy Soup had been pulled from the group and replaced by the butterfly story.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I couldn’t complain. I loved my editor, the book was gorgeous, it won a Christopher Medal, and contracts for translations started pouring in – from Denmark, Japan, Italy, Africa, Finland, Germany, and half a dozen others. But what was I to do with the single story, Little Boy Soup? I guess I didn’t know. According to my records, I never sent it anywhere else to see about placing it as a picture book on its own. Maybe my contract prevented me from publishing another giant story at the time. That was long ago and I don’t remember.</span></div>
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<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 1988 I finally sent Little Boy Soup to my friend Ronne Peltzman, who had become the children’s editor for Ladybird Press in Loughbourough, England. The picture book was published in 1990, twenty-one years after I wrote it.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As we all know, Sandy, these late bloomers sometimes come with additional rewards. In 1989 my Sandy and I took a trip to England and while we were there I caught a train to Loughbourough to see Ronne. Another U.S. visitor was at Ladybird that day and we were introduced. Christine San Jose explained that she worked with Kent Brown at Highlights. When I told her I’d been focusing on poetry the past three years, she urged me to send my work to Kent because he was starting a book publishing division called Boyds Mills Press and one of the imprints, given entirely to poetry, was Wordsong.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The story of my growth as a poet as Wordsong grew is a tale for another time. The point here is that a story that lingered in my files for nearly as long as it takes an infant to be born, grow up, and graduate from college finally made it into print. Between 1969 and 1990, I left my position as editorial manager at Hallmark Cards in Kansas City to become president of Glenstone Block Company in Springfield, Missouri. In 1969 I had published two books. By 1990 I’d published thirty-nine. In 1969 I had a nine-year-old daughter and a five-year-old son. In 1990 my children were college graduates. Sandy and I had our first grandson. Sandy had left her teaching job in Kansas City, earned her master’s degree in guidance and counseling, and become a high school counselor in Springfield.</span></div>
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<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Could I have written Little Boy Soup in 1990 the same way I did twenty-one years earlier? Impossible. I don’t know if a later version would have been better or worse, but it would certainly have been different as a reflection of all the changes in my life during those years. What I can say for sure is that I’m glad I hung onto the story that got squeezed out of THE BOOK OF GIANT STORIES!</span></div>
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<br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">***</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">October 17, 2017</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Part 3: Sandy</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">WAIT AND SEE</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My story "Who's Ready to Ride?" appeared in the September, 2016, issue of the Highlights magazine for 2 - 5 year olds, HIGH FIVE. Who's ready to ride, indeed! This story took its good old time getting ready to appear in print.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It all began at a child's birthday party in the DC area. My great-nephew, then about six years old, was invited to attend. I happened to be in town, so I accompanied him to the park where the party was being held. As a point of reference, I should mention that this same great-nephew will begin college this fall. So at least a decade passed between inspiration and publication. Not quite the record-setting 18 years I wrote about in my last go-round, but a considerable delay none-the-less.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Back to the party: Much to my great-nephew's delight, pony rides were included in the festivities. A cheerful young woman with a notably patient pony did the honors, and my great-nephew, one of the first to hop on, immediately dashed to the back of the line to wait for another turn. Again and again and again. He was fascinated and fearless.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But what if he hadn't been? What if there were a guest who was not quite ready to mount that pony? Someone just a little bit nervous about the whole situation? A character took over for my great-nephew, far more shy than he, and the hesitant, gently humorous steps toward self-confidence began to take shape in my imagination. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I liked the story a lot. I still do! It's fun, and it has something important to say about new experiences. I thought the children, the park, the party, and the pony would provide ample opportunities for illustration. I sent it off to my agent. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She was not interested. I put the story away.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Time passed, and I found myself temporarily between agents. I sent the story out to book publishers on my own. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They were not interested. I put the story away.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">More time passed, and I signed on with a new agent. I sent her the story. She --</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Oh, never mind, you know what comes next.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Things you can count on: (1) Time will continue to pass, and (2) I do not give up easily! Faced with a dry patch and a drop in confidence of my own, I signed myself up for a number of on-line writing challenges just to keep writing. My own version of "get back on the horse." (You can read all about this in the July, 2013, WRITERS AT WORK posts called "Making On-Line Challenges Work for You.") </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As a response to one of the on-line challenges, the pony story was among those I pulled out of my files to revisit. By that time, I'd discovered a new market for the kind of stories I enjoy writing -- quiet ones, often not "edgy" enough for book publication. No zombies, few dragons. In this case, just a pony and a little boy with "a tickly, tumbly feeling" in his tummy. HIGH FIVE suited me just fine, and in short order, I placed 9 stories and a poem with them, including "Who's Ready to Ride?" One more revision to bring it into compliance with their length preferences, and it finally WAS ready.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Do I wish it had become a picture book? Oh, maybe a little. But I love Robert Dunn's illustrations, and the HIGH FIVE readership is huge. I found a copy in my local library just the other day! So I'm pleased, without complaint or apology, that the story finally found its proper home.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Time will tell," in writing as in life. You'd think things would cloud over as they fade into the past, but often they snap into focus with astounding clarity. Sometimes when we wait, we truly see.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">***</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">October 24, 2017</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Part 4: David</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Today I thought I’d share a couple of experiences in which filed ideas came back to life, one as a book and one as a magazine article. I’ll begin with the book.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In 1979 I wrote a story about a little boy who keeps hearing and seeing things in his bedroom one night when he is trying to go to sleep. His patient father comes in each time he yelps for help and explains that sometimes furnace pipes can make noises and limbs in the wind can scratch against the window and toys left on carpets can indeed resemble a face. I called the story THE SNORING MONSTER and confidently fired it off to an editor right away.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In due course the editor confidently fired it back. My records don’t show why I neglected to send it anywhere else that year or during the entire year that followed. For some reason I didn’t send the story out to a second editor for eighteen months. Not that it made the outcome any different. It was “no” again the second time as well as another five times after that. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The last time I submitted THE SNORING MONSTER was to an editor at Western Publishing on August 15, 1981. She passed on it. I gave up and filed it away. Sixteen months later the same editor sent me a query. She was planning a series of spooky books and wondered if I might want to submit something. Without comment I sent her the story she’d rejected the year before. She loved it. I loved that. The book was published in 1986, almost seven years after I wrote it. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sandy, this second example may not fit the mold exactly, but I’m going to talk about it anyway because goodness knows when or whether another opportunity will come along! This one started with a phone call. At the time I was the editor for children’s cards at Hallmark Cards in Kansas City. The caller identified himself as a psychiatrist whose specialty was working with children. Someone had recommended me to him. He wanted to meet to discuss the potential for publishing some of his experiences in magazines. He wondered if I would be interested in ghost writing the articles.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We met over lunch while he outlined his plan. He would provide me all the information I needed after first deleting or changing names and removing all other clues about true identities. My articles would focus on examples, not on individuals involved. I explained that anything I wrote would include my byline and we would divide the money 50/50. He agreed. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Weeks passed without further word. Eventually we visited a second time and he spoke about the difficulties of treating two or more siblings in the same family alike. No matter how hard parents might try to deal with each child fairly and equally, changing conditions always make it impossible for their children to have the same experiences. Income changes. Health changes. Jobs change. And so on. I jotted some notes and told him that as soon as he provided the specific examples, I could start writing. He wondered how much money we were going to make from this project. When I told him the going rates, he was clearly disappointed.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He also stopped corresponding with me. By now I had invested quite a bit of time and thought in this doctor’s brainchild. His silence became a roadblock. I moved on to other work. Most obsolete materials in my files are stories and proposals I haven’t sold. This was the first time an undeveloped idea for an article had found its way into the never-never file.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then one night some time later I pulled out my notes and asked myself a pertinent question: How much did it matter if I didn’t have specific case histories to prove the point of the article? After all, the names and other key information would be changed anyway if the doctor ever got around to sending them. Rather than give up on the idea, I would write a draft and send it to him for a response. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Based on common sense, a little research, and a few key points in my notes, I wrote the article and called it, “Are We Treating Our Children Fairly?” I mailed it to the psychiatrist to see if he liked the approach and asked again for some case histories. I figured he would be unhappy that I had gone ahead without him. Low and behold, he liked my effort. He tweaked it a bit and mailed it back within two weeks, still without the promised examples. I submitted the piece to Parents Magazine and it was rejected. I was in too deep to quit now. I sent it to five magazines at once: Family Circle, Good Housekeeping, McCall’s, Redbook, and Woman’s Day. Family Circle published it. That was in 1971. We divided $150 and called it quits.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So this isn’t really about a story that was resuscitated and found a market after all. It’s about a basic idea that almost didn’t get written. And that, friends, is why sometimes we simply have to WAIT FOR IT. </span></div>
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Sandy Asherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08311778466602117713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632956980782008334.post-35876224652629137302016-12-06T08:12:00.000-08:002016-12-06T12:55:42.301-08:00Topic 15: Loving Libraries<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-family: arial; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;">November 1, 2016</b></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Part 1 -- Sandy</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You'd think it would be a natural partnership: local authors and neighborhood libraries. But it's not. Many libraries don't reach out to local authors. Why not? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Certainly, librarians are busy people. In addition to everyday services, they organize numerous special events of other kinds. Perhaps authors slip their minds? </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Or maybe they're hesitant to approach authors, figuring they, too, are busy? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Oh, and there's the money thing. Librarians don't have massive discretionary funds at their disposal, and authors do prefer to be paid for presentations. They don't earn salaries, after all, and time at the library means time away from the computer.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Still, there's the gratitude thing. Hard to imagine an author who doesn't feel it. There is a debt to be paid.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I think of the library, I get a feeling that's close to worshipful. A source of books? Sure. A research center? Absolutely. A fount pouring forth surprise, delight, inspiration, and encouragement? Always. But also a sanctuary, a safe place to think, wonder, dream, be still . . . and just be. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I've felt that way since childhood, when I spent hours in the Children's Reading Room of the Free Library of Philadelphia at Logan Square, deposited there by parents needing an afternoon with adult relatives or friends. Left alone, I was not lonely. The library was my shelter, companion, nanny, teacher, and mentor. Sitting on the floor between stacks, I'd breathe in my favorites: well-worn editions of fairy and folktales of every kind, all dog and horse stories, any book written by Louisa May Alcott or L. Frank Baum. Peter and Wendy. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. A host of friends as near and dear as any of the flesh-and-blood variety. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I dreamed of returning to that children's reading room as a grown-up and seeing my own books on those same shelves, nestled among my favorites. I've lived that dream. And I remain ever grateful. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So how do I love the library? Let me count the ways: </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most recently, I've set my latest picture book, CHICKEN STORY TIME, and its stage adaptation, in the Children's Reading Room of a library. Granted, I all but bury a librarian in chickens, but she prevails, and the love shines through.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Back in Springfield, MO, where I lived for 36 years, and now in Lancaster, PA, I've been involved in creating many programs for the library. David, I'm not sure how many years you and I ran MISSOURI WRITES FOR KIDS and AMERICA WRITES FOR KIDS together, but we certainly shared a lot of happy visits to the TV studio to spotlight our colleagues' books and invite viewers to "Check it out at the library!" </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then there have been on-site writing workshops and story-hour readings, plus visits to schools to encourage first graders to sign up for library cards, and events that have brought other authors and illustrators in for workshops, book signings, and presentations. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Also, Springfield libraries provided free space for performances of my plays, "Little Women: Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy" and "In the Garden of the Selfish Giant." Another script, "Walking Toward America" packed the community room and served as a fundraiser for the system.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Talk about win-win situations! Libraries, patrons, colleagues, and I have all benefitted.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So I encourage reaching out -- in both directions. Local authors are available for writing workshops, presentations, readings, signings, fund raisers, special events, and to help create unique programs. Neighborhood libraries are ideal locations. For libraries looking for authors, a Google search will lead to their websites, and many are listed on the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators site at http://scbwi.org, which links to regional SCBWI websites as well. For authors looking for libraries, the Public Libraries site provides contact information state-by-state at http://www.publiclibraries.com. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If ever two groups should be on the same page, it's authors and their libraries! And if ever an author has served his library system well, it's David L. Harrison. Tell us all about it, David!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>November 8, 2016</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Part 2 – David</b></span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thanks, Sandy. When I was in elementary school we didn’t live close to a public library and my school didn’t have a library except for a modest collection of books that my mother and other volunteers placed on shelves in a converted storage closet. A bookmobile came on certain days of the month and I remember waiting in line for my turn to mount the steps and enter between floor-to-ceiling shelves packed with books. Then as now I loved anything about wild animals, from the smallest insects to exotic forms found a continent or two away. I had books at home to feed my need for fiction and adventure. The Hardy Boys were a particular favorite. But my link to learning about snakes and birds and butterflies – interests that would lead me one day to college degrees in biology -- was that bookmobile.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Writing came later for me so as a kid I had no dreams about becoming an author. Public libraries were my trusted source of knowledge. During my astronomy phase I checked out books on the solar system and marveled at the complexities of the universe. Later on I haunted library shelves to identify the latest addition to my collections. To a 12-year-old entomologist it’s important to know if the swallowtail he just captured is a large blue swallowtail or a variation of a female giant swallowtail. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Flash forward to my mid-thirties. Sandy and I returned to Springfield to live. By then I had published a number of books for children. I ran for the school board and won. And right away I learned that libraries in Springfield public elementary schools were in dreadful shape. The board and the superintendent worked shoulder to shoulder convincing the community to pass an enormous bond issue to pay for new school libraries throughout the district. Later on, when construction was completed, it was a great pleasure to walk into an elementary school to visit students in their brand new libraries and know that an author had something to do with making that happen. I’m sometimes credited for leading the charge but of course it took the whole board, the superintendent, and key people throughout the district to get it done. If to some extent I became a spokesman for the cause, I have to think that the kid who used to get his books from a bookmobile had a sense that it was time for the community to do better. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And of course one thing leads to another, Sandy. In 1996 you and I teamed up to create MISSOURI WRITES FOR KIDS with sponsorship support from Drury University and library support from Springfield-Greene County Library District. We featured a lot of books by good writers and always ended our programs with the tag, “Check it out at the Library.” Six years after that I found myself co-chairing a successful campaign to pass a 5-cent tax levy increase for Springfield-Greene County Library District, its first increase in 22 years.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sandy, you mention how busy librarians are with their responsibilities and I want to second that. Children’s librarians put in busy days and not all of them think to initiate contact or generate programs with authors. And not all of them understand the dynamics (financial and otherwise) of inviting an author to come in and present a program. I’ve received e-mail invitations from a state or more away asking if I would consider driving to their location to talk to a group of children for story hour. But it’s really a two-way street and the author can certainly be more active in reaching out to his/her libraries within a working distance. More about that in my next segment on November 15. I’ve never met a children’s librarian who wasn’t extremely helpful. I’m with you, Sandy. We do love our libraries. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>November 15, 2016</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Part 3: Sandy</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Recently, I spearheaded a gala that brought Lancaster County librarians and patrons together in the beautiful atrium of Millersville University's Ware Center in downtown Lancaster City. This was my culminating event as the county's first Children's Laureate, an appointment by the Lancaster Literary Guild. My goal was to celebrate libraries -- and also to create an event that could be duplicated elsewhere. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Maybe where you live? With high hopes for that, I'll share the details:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Each displaying projects their patrons created in response to my challenge to show appreciation in some unique way -- poetry, stories, posters, photos, whatever. My favorites included one library's first steps toward interviewing area elders about donated historical photographs and a video created by first graders about a librarian's most unusual day.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you for your interest in participating in the Celebrate Libraries project culminating in a gala event at the Ware Center on April 1, 2016. I look forward to working with all of you in any way I can to make this a success.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is meant to be a “celebrate libraries in any creative way you like” project. My poems may be used as inspiration, a jumping-off point to show one way to celebrate, but poetry is definitely not the only way. The challenge is to see how many unique and wonderfully creative ways we can come up with.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My hope is that each of you will respond to this challenge in a manner that is comfortable for you and fits your constituency. Perhaps a group of young people will want to get together and create a short play or video or collection of photographs or a dance, musical number, or puppets, or maybe a scroll with all their reasons to love the library written on it. Perhaps families will want to put together their own books of writing and/or illustration or create a poster or a performance piece of their own. Perhaps individual young people will want to write a story or song or take photos or draw pictures or build dioramas or sculptures or – yes – even write poems.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The only “rule” I’d offer is that folks take into consideration that whatever they create will need to be brought to the Ware Center on April 1 to share with others. We can certainly arrange wall space, tables, a stage, computers to show DVDs, and so on, once we know what that creative outpouring will include. Perhaps we can set March 10 as the deadline for declaring project entries, so we’ll have time to plan how best to share them? They wouldn’t need to be finished then – unless that would fit YOUR needs. A list from each library with brief descriptions would do for planning.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Please note: It’s important that this NOT be a competition in any way, but one, big, inclusive and joyous celebration of libraries. Everyone’s enthusiasm is welcome!</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Finally, I am happy to visit each library for an hour in January or February to inspire and brainstorm responses to the challenge. If your constituency particularly wants a writing workshop, I can do that, but not everyone will want to celebrate with writing – and that’s fine! Also, if you want to do a local culminating event to display projects before the Ware gala and you’d like me to participate, I would be delighted to do as many visits of that sort as I can fit in.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Please do not hesitate to contact the Library System of Lancaster Youth Services office if you have any questions and they will pass those needing my attention on to me.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Happy celebrating!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>November 22, 2016</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Part 4: David</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sandy, I love your celebration of libraries event and its potential to be duplicated and spun off in other towns and cities. You’re a shining example of how authors and libraries are a perfect fit. I hope your idea catches on and is picked up by authors and illustrators elsewhere!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In this segment I want to touch on the mutual benefit of presentations and programs that bring kids to the library. Libraries already have all sorts of excellent programs on their regular menus to do just that, but adding an author to the mix can be fun for everyone concerned. These days I take advantage of our district’s beautiful facilities every chance I get. The meeting rooms are available for speakers so when a new book, NOW YOU SEE THEM, NOW YOU DON’T, came out earlier this year I chose to introduce it first with a program at The Library Center on South Campbell here in Springfield.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kathleen O’Dell, the district’s Community Relations Director, worked with me at each step of the planning. We contacted Melinda Arnold, then Public Relations/Marketing Director for Dickerson Park Zoo and arranged to have several animals represented in my book to be brought to the library. We contacted Donna Spurlock, Director of Marketing at Charlesbridge Publishing and asked for black and white pictures from the book that the young set could use for coloring. Donna contacted the artist Giles Laroche and asked him to take some of his glorious full color paintings and render them in black and white outline for my event – no easy matter. We sent copies of poems to neighboring schools with a challenge for students to write poems of their own. We encouraged students to be prepared to read poems aloud with me. The library set up panels to display the kids’ poems and coloring sheets for a week after the event. We featured a musical group that plays arrangements of my poems. The newspaper published a notice about the event. Barnes & Noble provided books for those who wanted to purchase copies. The evening was publicized in the library’s Bookends program of coming events. I must say a fine time was had by all.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve done a number of programs like that over the years. In one variation, students bring poems and are prepared to perform them individually or in groups. Sometimes the fun is having them stand beside me and read with me. We’ve invited singers to perform and actors to read. There are many ways to celebrate books and libraries and kids and their families. When librarians and authors put their heads together and combine their resources, the result can produce memorable events.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We have talked about school libraries and the vital role they also play in the lives of children. In homes where there are no books or few and getting to a public library is a challenge, the school library may provide a child’s only chance to hold a book. Many districts across the country recognize the value of bringing authors to their auditoriums and libraries to inspire students to read more as well as to write. But last year I sat in a school library and didn’t have to say one word. I was there as a guest. The entertainment was presented by student actors at Missouri State University, coached by actor/teacher Michael Frizell, as part of a program that traveled from school to school (eighteen of them) throughout the year to perform readings. They had selected poems and stories from my work to feature so I got to lean back and hear my words brought to animated life by a group of talented and energetic actors. Michael and a group of his peer equity actors performed my work at two of our public libraries too. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, Sandy, do I love libraries? Oh, I do! </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>November 29, 2016</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Part 5 </b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>David and friends</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hi everyone,</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sandy Asher</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and I have discussed, there being five Tuesdays this month gives us a chance to add a 5th post to the November WRITERS AT WORK series, “Loving Libraries.” We’ve invited blog visitors to pitch in some of their own experiences and we’re delighted to feature them today. With thanks to our contributors, here we go.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Although my first real job (not counting babysitting) as a teen was working Saturdays at the county library, my big library experience started when I was a mother and took my boys to story hour on Wednesday mornings. Of course, the other mothers were readers or they wouldn’t have corralled their kids and hauled them to story hour. Through three moves to three different towns, I took the boys to story hour. In each library, I met women who became lifelong friends. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Veda Boyd Jones</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><a href="http://vedaboydjones.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://vedaboydjones.com/</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">New ebooks:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Ranger’s Christmas Treasure</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That Sunday Afternoon</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">***</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hey, David and Sandy — here’s my library story:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Back in my days as a children’s librarian, a girl about 12 asked me if the library had a copy of The Jellyfish Season. As I led her to the shelf, I wondered if I should tell her I wrote it. I handed it to her, took a deep breath, and asked her if she knew it was my book. Looking me in the eye, she said, “I thought it was the library’s book.” Already sensing I’d made a mistake, I told her I meant I’d written it. She stared at my library name tag and said, “Your name is Mary Jacob. The writer’s name is Mary Downing Hahn.” She held up the book and pointed to my name on the cover. “Well, yes,” I said, “but I remarried and my last name changed to Jacob.” Giving me a look that clearly said she wasn’t born yesterday, the girl walked away, leaving me to wonder why I felt compelled to tell a 12 year old stranger my marital history. After that, I never told any kids I was the writer of a book they’d chosen. This turned out to be good decision the day a boy asked about Wait Till Helen Comes. When I started to tell him the plot, he said, “Oh, yeah, I read this book, but you’ve got it all wrong.” As I stood there listening to him tell me about my own book, I was very glad my name tag said Mary Jacob.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mary Downing Hahn</span></div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mary-Downing-Hahn/e/B000APO5S8" style="text-decoration: none;">https://www.amazon.com/Mary-Downing-Hahn/e/B000APO5S8</a></span></div>
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***</div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have been involved with the Baxter County Library (1999-2016), then continued when the new Donald W. Reynolds Library was built in Mountain Home, Arkansas. I was a member of the Friends of the Library (FOL), hostess, and served as a board member. I have helped for several years with the FOL yearly auction, book sales, as a volunteer elsewhere when needed, helped bring authors and illustrators in the children’s library, and sometimes performed as photographer. The library supported my different writers groups and the yearly “Holiday Authors Book Sale.” I have spent a lot of time at this library and if I had my way I would live at it and be one happy camper. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mary Nida Smith</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">marynida@suddenlink.net</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><a href="http://marynidasmith.blogspot.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://marynidasmith.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">***</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was visiting a school in Evansville, IN and a little boy was crying outside the library. When I asked the librarian what was wrong she told me he was upset because Eddie, Melody, Liza, and Howie were not visiting. He had been expecting the characters from the Bailey School Kids series-not one of the authors. It really brought home to me how beloved story characters can be and how important our stories can be to children.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<span id="docs-internal-guid-88e329c3-d4e2-1642-9bbb-13d88ac15c38"></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Debbie Dadey</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Debbie Dadey is the author and co-author of 162 books, including The Adventures of the Bailey School Kids series and Mermaid Tales</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><a href="http://www.debbiedadey.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.debbiedadey.com/</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
Sandy Asherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08311778466602117713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632956980782008334.post-25784968323015165732015-04-30T12:23:00.000-07:002015-04-30T14:33:03.382-07:00Topic 14: What We Did for Love<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For this series of posts, we asked several authors to tell us about the
research adventures they’ve had on their way to creating new work. This idea was inspired by Debbie Dadey’s
astounding feats, so she gets to go first.
David follows with his cave exploration, and then Sandy chimes in with
her volunteer stint at the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp. Finally, a bevy of guests take us to all
sorts of unexpected places, from a Jewish ghetto memorial in China to 3000 feet
into a deep sea trench in the Bahamas.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Debbie Dadey<br />
</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">April 7,
2015<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’ve always heard, write what you know. Perhaps it
should be write what you DO. I’ve always wanted to experience what I write
about if it is at all possible. So, unless it’s dangerous I do it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ooops, wait
a minute that isn’t true, because some people would say sliding into a shark tank
or sky diving is dangerous and I’ve done both to help me write stories.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I guess this ‘doing’ thing all began when I was
writing a Bailey School Adventure book with my friend Marcia Thornton Jones.
When we first started writing the series, we actually sat side by side and
worked out the story together. We were stuck on a scene when the kids were in a
classroom. We wanted Eddie to do something a bit wild, but what? So we were
‘doers’. We went into a third grade classroom and sat down at a desk. Scraps of
paper were spilling out, which we included in our story, but that wasn’t wild.
It wasn’t the pencil stubs, but the scissors poking their blunt points out of
the mess that gave us the idea. Eddie was sitting behind Liza and her long
blond hair was swinging. Can you guess what Eddie was going to do? (Or try to
do?)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So when we were writing the story, Hercules Doesn’t
Pull Teeth, it made perfect sense for us to go to the dentist to do research.
Sure, I’ve been to the dentist more times that I can remember, but I’d never
really paid attention. So, going to the dentist and taking a few notes really
helped bring the dentist’s office to life. The same was true for bringing
karate practice alive in the book, Angels Don’t Know Karate. What better way to
write about karate than to actually do it? It was a bit embarrassing though
since my son was a higher belt and I had to bow to him. (He loved it!)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I think the key to being a ‘doer’ is to put a
limited number of details into the natural flow of the story. I didn’t want Mrs.
Jeepers in Outer Space to become a non-fiction book about space camp, but I did
want kids to feel like they were really there. So I hustled myself off to
Huntsville, Alabama to experience what it was really like. Spinning around to
the point of nausea on the multi-axis trainer was worth it because I could
write about it with a bit of authority. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For Whistler’s Hollow, I drove eight hours so I
could sit on a coal train. I took notes so I could write one paragraph about
what it felt like. It must have worked because when that book came out, the
publisher of Bloomsbury USA told me, “It felt like I was really on that train.”<br /><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I also slid into a shark tank for Danger in the Deep Blue Sea, book number four
in my Mermaid Tales series with Simon and Schuster. But probably the craziest
thing I have done for writing was to fall out of a plane! I wrote a story, that
I’ve never sold, where a grandmother wanted to go sky-diving. So, I figured to
be able to write about it I should experience it. Big mistake!! You can see me
scream on my website, </span><a href="http://www.debbiedadey.com/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">http://www.debbiedadey.com</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Some folks might think being a ‘doer’ is an
unnecessary extra step and perhaps it is. Probably researching or watching
videos will suffice in most instances. And I’m sure going to see a real live
reindeer for Reindeers Don’t Wear Striped Underwear, getting a scooter of my
own for Pirates Do Ride Scooters, and creating a mess making cookies for Slime
Wars wasn’t totally necessary. But for me, it’s hard to pass up the chance to
be a kid again. And if it can help me write better, then I’m all for it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Currently, I am writing a story about a mermaid who is injured and can’t
swim. I wanted to write it because I think kids deserve to see their mirror
image on the covers of books. I don’t see many books with handicapped children
on the front. I hope Mermaid Tales #14 will feature a mermaid on the cover in a
‘wheel-chair’ of sorts. So what do I need to do? I need to experience it.
Anyone have a wheelchair handy?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">David
Harrison</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
April 14, 2015<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Debbie, I loved reading about how you prepared to
write your stories. Such adventures you’ve had in pursuit of the truth and the
firsthand experiences that breathe real life and meaning into your work. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Leaping from a plane! Swimming with sharks! Young people who read your
descriptions are learning valuable lessons about what goes into writing before
one word is put on paper.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So now it’s my turn. I, too, have gone to some
lengths to prepare for my subject – flying to England, boating up the Amazon —
but today I’m going to take a slightly different track. I’d like to talk about
books that spring from the adventure itself. That is, instead of having a book
idea and setting out to learn about the subject, sometimes a writer has an
adventure and realizes that there’s a book to be written because of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Here’s my example. On the morning of September 11,
2001, when terrorists attacked America taking thousands of lives in New York
City, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, a cave was discovered near Springfield,
Missouri by a road construction crew. Not long afterward I was invited into the
cave.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’ve had a lifelong fascination with caves. I was
carried into my first cave on my father’s shoulders at age four and explored
one on my own as a boy of twelve. From that one I brought home a skull from an
extinct form of black bear. I wrote a book about caves in 1970 (THE WORLD OF
AMERICAN CAVES) and another in 2001 (CAVES, MYSTERIES BENEATH OUR FEET). After
spending a day going through the newly discovered cavern, I posed in the
welcome sunlight with my three companions. Smiling for the camera, covered from
head to foot in sticky red clay, what was running through my mind wasn’t that I
was filthy and needed a bath. I was thinking that I was going to write a book
about this cave. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It didn’t take long to learn that no one involved
with the discovery of the cave knew the whole story. Everyone had a piece of
the puzzle but no one had the whole picture. I began interviewing people who
had a role in discovering, saving, or exploring the cave: the road construction
crew foreman, the guy who set off the dynamite blast that uncovered the cave,
the geologist who led the exploration team, the paleontologist who discovered
valuable ancient fossils inside, the engineer who rerouted the road to one side
to save the cave, the cartographer who mapped the cave, the speleologist who
repaired and cleaned damaged formations . . . . Eventually I put the story
together.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now I could almost imagine that quiet day when the
blast tore a hole in the earth and ripped off part of the ceiling in the cave
below. Almost. I had everything but the sound it must have made! What did that
blast sound like? I called the guy who set off the blast and asked if he had
any blasting to do, and he did. I met him at a quarry, walked along the
limestone bluff where he was working, looked down into the holes that would
soon be packed with explosives, and then, from a safe distance, I heard and
recorded the sound of dynamite blasting rocks into powder and small chunks. It
sounded like – ready? – a waterfall! Like water pouring over a cliff onto rocks
below. Who knew? I did! Now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So I had my story and the sound of discovery. Back
into the cave where I spent hours walking, slipping, crouching, and crawling
through red clay that sometimes came over shoe tops. Marveling over tracks left
by peccaries thousands of years ago that were still moist. Sitting beside
wallows scooped out by enormous short-faced bears that became extinct more than
ten millennia ago. Gazing in awe at claw marks left by American lions, saber
tooth cats, and the bears. Holding a fossil peccary’s foot bone that had been
crunched off in an attack.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then I wrote the 48-page book. Piece of cake.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sandy
Asher</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
April 21, 2015<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Most of my research over the years has dealt with
folklore or history and has involved the library, Internet, and vast store of
knowledge preserved in my historian husband’s books and brain. Although the
development of my play “I Will Sing Life: Voices from the Hole in the Wall Gang
Camp” began with the book of the same name, it was in every other way an
out-of-the-ordinary experience. And not just because I met Paul Newman.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It all began with a visit to a children’s theater in
NYC, where the artistic director asked if I’d be interested in writing a play
about children with cancer. Everything about that previous sentence is
out-of-the-ordinary. I was living in Springfield, MO, at the time, did not get
to NYC often, had never been to this theater, had not met this artistic
director previously, and don’t receive these kinds of invitations often. Top
that off with a visit to a NYC bookstore later that day and the discovery of
the above mentioned book, propped up on a table as if intentionally placed
there to attract my attention. Serendipity!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As you may know, The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp is a
summer retreat founded by Paul Newman for children with life-threatening
illnesses. For their book, I WILL SING LIFE: VOICES FROM THE HOLE IN THE WALL
GANG CAMP, counselors Larry Berger and Dahlia Lithwick ran a summer-long
creative writing program at the camp and also lived for a month with each of
seven campers, observing their daily lives and interviewing each of them and
family members. The book pulls together those observations and interviews, plus
a wealth of poetry, stories, and plays written by the seven highlighted campers
and others who participated in the creative writing program. It is so
jam-packed with wisdom, humor, joy, and drama, I immediately wanted to share it
with the world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The artistic director, on the other hand, did not
feel this was the basis for the play she needed. Too late, I was hooked. I had
to write it. I’d find a theater to produce it later. (As it turned out,
theaters were leery – a play about children with cancer? — until I produced it
myself.) First step: I wrote to the camp office and received permission to
adapt the book – and a warning that others had tried to make it stageworthy and
failed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I remained undaunted. Or maybe just driven. But no sooner did I start
writing than I realized I needed to experience the camp for myself. I applied
to be a volunteer for an 11-day session. A detailed written application, several
references, and two long phone interviews later, I was accepted. Now, I was
terrified. What did I imagine lay ahead for me that summer? A kind of
sepia-toned movie ran in my head: gloomy, slow-motion images of desperately
sick kids and their grim caretakers struggling to make the best of a tragic
situation.<br />
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<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I could not have been more mistaken. Bright sunshine, brilliant colors,
frenetic activity, funky music, endless chatter, and shrieks of laughter filled
the Wild West-themed bunks and buildings and spilled out across the spacious
green areas and deliciously heated pool. Sure, there were catheters, crutches,
and wheelchairs here and there, and a few children who needed to be carried
from activity to activity. But whatever each child needed, that is exactly what
he or she got. And more. And every minute. The boundlessly loving staff never
wavered or weakened in their dedication to giving those children a great camp
experience. The overall mood was one of pure, unstoppable celebration. I took
my place assisting the creative writing teacher and helping out with a bunk of
pre-teen/early teen girls and received far more than I gave. I learned what it
meant to “sing life.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I wished that experience for everyone, so that’s
what I tried to put into the script. I’m happy to say that it’s been produced
and published and that a percentage of the royalties are returned to the camp –
small payments on the huge debt I owe those counselors and children for their
lessons on appreciating the gift of each and every day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Oh, and I did meet Paul Newman, a small, quiet man
in his early 70s riding a no-speed bike to and from his home on the premises,
eating meals with the children, watching them rehearse a play, and mostly being
ignored. I introduced myself as a volunteer and thanked him for the opportunity
to participate in such an amazing program. “It is nice, isn’t it?” he replied,
softly.<br /><br />
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Yes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">GUEST
BLOGGERS<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">April 28, 2015</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">VEDA
BOYD JONES</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For Nellie the Brave, an historical about the Cherokee Trail of Tears, I went
to Tahlequah, OK, to the Cherokee Nation headquarters and saw objects that were
brought to OK on one of the wagon trains from the Indian removal. I also took
the tour of the grounds to learn more about Cherokee culture.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For First Cousins (out later this year from
Schoolwide) I went to Washington D.C. and toured the White House and other
historical sites.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Because I write for adults, I’ve researched
occupations I’ve given my heroines. When I wrote about a newscaster, I spent
two days at at TV station, interviewing folks with different jobs and going
into the studio, the engineer’s booth with at least 30 screens, even crawling
into the remote van. When I wrote about a professional baseball player, I
toured a ball stadium, even going into the locker room. When I couldn’t go to a
place, I interviewed people with the jobs of my main characters. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The book I’m just now planning for this MFA thesis
will be set during the Vietnam era and in Vietnam. I’ll have to trust Jimmie’s
memory for some scenes, but I’ll research the historical time instead of
trusting to my memory about what was going on here in the States, and I’ll
interview other Vietnam vets, too, and read tons of books about that war.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">That
Sunday Afternoon</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://vedaboydjones.com/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">http://vedaboydjones.com</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">JANE
YOLEN</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /><br />
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Since for many (most) authors a trip to Hawaii or Egypt would be at least as
much and probably more than they will get–IF they get–any advance on the book,
and might be more time than they can reasonably take away from family duties,
we have to consider other imaginative ways to get into the blood and bones of a
book.<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I haunt old bookstores where I found a travel book on Edinburgh datelined
1929 which slots nicely into a 1930s graphic novel set in that very place.<br />
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<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I joined a friend who was doing a paid-for article for Yankee Magazine as
she went around the Shaker Village in New York State just as I was writing a
novel about Shakers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I had an Indian colleague of my husband’s read a manuscript set in India
in the 1920s.<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A friend just back from a trip to Poland brought me photos and travel
brochures, post cards and snapshots from there because I was writing a novel
partially set there. And I used her interesting take on the Polish airport that
I got from her when I took her out for lunch.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Stone
Angel<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<a href="http://janeyolen.com/"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">http://janeyolen.com</span></i></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">MATT
FORREST</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /><br />
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I just thought I’d share a short example of diligence in creating authenticity…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A year and a half ago, I had an idea for a counting,
rhyming picture book – but no way to write it. That’s because the concept
involved 12 different languages – only one of which I knew fluently (English)
and one I knew partially (French). But these needed to be diverse languages
from all corners of the Earth, from English to Chinese to Navajo. So what’s a
guy to do??<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">First, I searched online for educational material on
speaking each language. Then I needed to search that language’s use of numbers
– specifically, natural numerals (1, 2, 3…) and not ordinal numerals (first,
second, third…). I needed to figure out what the numbers looked like AND what
they sounded like (in order to provide phonetic pronunciations). Interestingly,
many numbers of the same language are written differently and even spoken
differently, depending on dialects and accents – so what I thought was going to
be moderate amount of research turned into a major, MAJOR effort, watching
videos of natural citizens speaking their native tongues, watching them draw
the characters, and comparing and contrasting the differences and similarities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I finally got it done and am quite proud of it – of
course, I’ll be prouder if it gets picked up! – but the research was
mind-boggling. It probably took me 10 times as long to research it as it did to
actually write it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><u><span style="color: blue;">http://www.MattForrest.com</span></u><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">CYNTHIA
GRADY</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I am the author of one book so far: I LAY MY STITCHES DOWN: POEMS OF AMERICAN
SLAVERY. It came out to starred reviews in 2012 and is illustrated by Michele
Wood.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Each poem is named for a traditional quilt block
pattern and each references/recalls slavery in one way or another. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For example, “Log Cabin” is a poem depicting what
archeologists have found excavating the slave quarters near a plantation. To
research that idea, I went to Mount Vernon, Virginia and took notes as the
historians gave us a tour of the actual dig that archeologists were working on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For the poem “Anvil” I went to several blacksmith
demonstrations at arts and crafts festivals in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and
Annapolis and talked to them about their work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I listened to the WPA interviews with former slaves
and their children and grandchildren, not just for the information, but for
cadence, their rhythms of speech in order to get the sound right in my poems.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I also researched the history of the quilt blocks
themselves and spoke with quilt historians and museum curators about their
quilt collections, the variance in quilt designs and names. And finally, I made
by hand, a queen-sized quilt including all of the quilt blocks I wrote about in
order to get a sense of each block, of hand-piecing, and working with a limited
color palette.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://www.cynthiagrady.com/html/books.html"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">http://www.cynthiagrady.com/html/books.html</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">LOIS
RUBY</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My husband Tom and I made two trips to China during the years I was researching
my book, SHANGHAI SHADOWS, which is about the resettlement of eastern European
refugees during the Hitler years. In the Old City of Shanghai there is a small
park sandwiched between two crumbling buildings that had been part of the
ghetto where 20,000 Jews lived from 1939 to 1945. They weren’t mistreated, or
worse, as they would have been had they not escaped from Europe. But they were
confined in the Hongkou Ghetto to starve along with everyone else during the
Japanese occupation of Shanghai. We walked into this little park peopled by
Chinese retirees taking their graceful morning exercise. Suddenly everyone
stopped and watched us conspicuous westerners wend our way to the back clump of
trees in front of which stands a monument inscribed in three languages —
English, Chinese, and Hebrew — dedicated to the “Stateless Jews of Europe.” Tom
and I trembled as we read the monument in the two language we could, running
our fingers over the other words as if they were in Braille. We were profoundly
moved by the fact that 20,000 people, who might well have been our own
ancestors, survived the war and gave breath to all their descendants, because
of the generosity of the Chinese people. Tom and I held one another as tears
slid down our cheeks. And finally, we turned to go, and were stunned to see
that all the people in the park had formed a semi-circle behind us in silent
sympathy. They’d probably never noticed the monument before and maybe had never
even seen westerners, but they were clearly curious about our reaction to this
odd piece of granite, and we felt cradled by them 65 years after the ghetto had
emptied. None of my research moments has equalled this experience. Thanks for
letting me share it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Steal Away
Home</span></i><br />
http://www.loisruby.com </div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">CLAIRE
RUDOLF MURPHY</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As a writer of many nonfiction books, I too have gone to great lengths to
conduct research, from studying 100-year-old journals and letters from the northern
gold rushes to holding in my hand Susan B. Anthony’s actual 1896 letter to
California suffragist Mary McHenry Keith. I never fail to get the shivers
reading the words of real people. In the past few years I have been doing
research about current events in my own lifetime and my favorite is to
interview these participants by phone or even better, in person. So my most
memorable research experience was my November 2014 interview with my hero Rep.
John Lewis. Long before he served in Congress he was one of the early civil
rights’ activists, a Freedom Rider, the youngest speaker at the March on
Washington, a leader of the voting rights march in Selma when he was beaten
senseless on Pettus Bridge. The last remaining civil rights activist in
Congress he’s been interview often during these anniversaries and recent events
in Ferguson and New York City. So I knew his face and voice well. But nothing
prepared me for his generosity, his kindness, his belief that America can move
forward toward a better country for all of us. I will never forget those 60
minutes with John Lewis, a highlight of my writing life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My Country
Tis of Thee: How One Song Reveals the History of Civil Rights<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<a href="http://clairerudolfmurphy.com/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">http://clairerudolfmurphy.com</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">GUEST
BLOGGERS<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">April 29, 2015<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">SNEED
COLLARD III</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Deep Research<br /><br />
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Like many writers, I’ve had the good fortune of exploring the world by
researching my books. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Writing has allowed me to hike through Costa Rican cloud
forests, scuba dive on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, watch a tallgrass
prairie burn, and airboat through the Everglades. However, the experience that
left the, ahem, deepest impression on me was the opportunity to dive to the
deep sea floor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Back in 2001, just after 9-11, I was invited to
accompany Dr. Edith Widder on a cruise to the Bahama Islands. By then, Dr.
Widder had already earned an international reputation for her work on
bioluminescent organisms—animals that can make their own light. At the last
minute, she had received a few extra days of time using the four-person
submersible Johnson Sea Link. Remarkably, she invited me to come along.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For four days, the submersible carried Dr. Widder,
me, and other writers, scientists, and students to the bottom of a deep-sea
trench 3,000 feet deep. For me, it was better than going to the moon. Why? Even
though the deep sea—like space—is cold and dark, it is full of life. At the
bottom and in the water column above, we passed hundreds of strange creatures:
ctenophores, viperfish, siphonophores, giant salps, angler fishes, and many
more. Not only did these dives astonish me, they changed how I felt about the
world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sitting in total darkness on the sea floor, I
realized, “This is what most of the world is like—not the sun-drenched,
landscape we humans are lucky enough to live in.” It made me appreciate that
much more how fortunate we are to live on Earth and enjoy what really is an
almost perfect world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The dives also highlighted how much we take this
world for granted. In addition to the problems we humans have created such as
global warming, toxic pollution, and more, I saw that we have used the ocean as
one giant garbage dump. Looking out the porthole of the submersible, I saw beer
cans, plastic bags, and other trash every few feet. I’d known that humans
dumped garbage into the sea, but my submersible dives showed me the vast extent
of the problem.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My experiences aboard the Johnson Sea Link resulted
in my book In the Deep Sea (Marshall Cavendish, 2005). That book is long out of
print, but its effects on me have been permanent. I returned from these dives a
changed person, not only with a new appreciation for life, but a new dedication
to encourage people to take better care of this amazing gift we all share.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Fire
Birds—Valuing Natural Wildfires and Burned Forests</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><a href="http://www.sneedbcollardiii.com/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">http://www.sneedbcollardiii.com</span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">J.
B. (JANIE) CHEANEY</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /><br />
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ideas for novels or stories come with a ray of sunshine and gleam of
possibility. The inspiration for my upcoming novel about the early days of the
Hollywood silent movie industry came from a statue outside the entrance to
Universal Studios: a circa 1930s sound stage with actors and technicians. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What
would it be like, I wondered, to be present at the beginning, soon after the
industry had moved from the east coast to the west and filmmaking was still
something you cold get into just by showing up?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The inspiration stage is fun. But sooner or later,
when constructing a plot, an author comes up against the cold hard facts—or
rather, lack of cold hard facts. A bunch of kids making a movie would need some
technical know-how and equipment—chiefly, a camera. And more specifically, a
camera that two teenage boys of not-especially-prepossessing size could haul
all over Los Angeles County without attracting much notice. Books couldn’t give
me that information; I needed to talk to somebody. Aftrer stabbing around in the
dark (my research methods are not what you’d call professional) I decided to
see if I could get in touch with someone at the Smithsonian. Further online
research got me the name of Shannon Perich, a curator specializing in
photography in the Division of Culture and the Arts at the National Museum of
American History. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Smithsonian is called “the nation’s attic,” and
if the nation is looking for a particular object in connection with a
particular project, it is welcome to come in and rummage around. Ms. Perich
connected me with John Hiller, then retired, whose long career had included
studio work in the film industry as well as cataloguing for the Smithsonian. On
a lovely day in July, I met Shannon Perich and Mr. Hiller at the entrance to
the American History Museum in D. C. and we drove together out to one of the
many Smithsonian storage facilities in Maryland. The reader will be gratified
to know, as I was, that the entire Smithsonian collection (at least ten times
the amount that is on display) is painstakingly catalogued and carefully stored
for maximum preservation. It’s possible to find the location of every single
item—unlike your backyard storage shed—at any given time. We signed in at the
door and went downstairs and walked by stacks and stacks of storage cabinets
until we came to the particular aisle, stack, and shelf where the item was
supposed to be. There I found the Prestwich Model 14 in its cherry-wood case, a
motion-picture camera light and compact enough to carry to the battlefield
(World War I forms part of the background for my novel), as well as to a dozen
“on location” filming sites. I touched it, took pictures, explored its iron
innards. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Even without the camera, talking to John Hiller was
worth a trip: he was a wellspring of the sort of little-known facts and telling
details historical fiction writers absolutely adore. At least three of these
found their way into the novel. I complain as loudly as anybody about some of
the uses my tax dollars are put to, but I can’t help but have warm feelings
about the Smithsonian. Shannon and John didn’t just share information, but set
aside valuable time to take me out to the storage facility and show me the
actual item I was looking for—and I didn’t even have a book contract at the
time! Many thanks for the kindness of these two strangers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Somebody
on This Bus Is Going to Be Famous</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
</span><a href="http://jbcheaney.com/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">http://jbcheaney.com</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b>WILLIAM ANDERSON</b> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /><br />
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I write non-fiction; so far 25 books, and over 100 magazine articles. My
subjects are mostly historical, biographical, or travel-oriented. I’ve delved
into archives and trekked through three continents doing research, but my best
fact-finding has come through live interviews.<br /><br />
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The interview process was key when I wrote The World of the Trapp Family. Later
I re-told the same story for children in V is for Von Trapp, “the Cliff’s Notes
version,” a reviewer wrote.<br /><br />
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As a 1960s kid, I saw The Sound of Music. On family vacations we visited the
Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont many times. There, Von Trapp reality
collided with the Hollywood version.<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The current media blitz marking the 50th anniversary of The Sound of
Music reminds me that the Von Trapps’ flight from the Nazis is called “one of
the best known escape stories ever.” Maria, Captain Von Trapp’s third child,
told me the authentic story of her family’s departure from Austria.<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Maria said the Von Trapps’ butler, a closet Nazi, tipped off her father
that the family was in danger. They had said no to the Nazis too many times.
Refusing to sing for Hitler’s birthday, it was imperative that they leave
before the borders closed. So they packed up, all eleven of them, as if they
were going on a hiking trip. They simply took a train to Italy’s northern Alps,
and didn’t return.<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Contrary to the movie, no Nazis were in pursuit, no nuns disabled German
vehicles, and there was no climbing of ev’ry mountain into Switzerland.
“Geographically impossible!” Maria laughed.<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Von Trapps made it to New York, with work visas for a USA concert
tour. Theirs was a classic immigrant story. They continued concertizing for
twenty years.<br />
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<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Yes, I spent weeks pouring over the Von Trapps’ personal archives. I
traveled to Austria for more research. But the interviews with members of the
family are what enriched my writing. Woven into my texts are the actual voices
of the Von Trapps. I discovered a quiet heroism about each of them. I hope I
conveyed this in the books I wrote.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Laura
Ingalls Wilder: A Biography</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<a href="http://www.williamandersonbooks.com/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">http://www.williamandersonbooks.com</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">CHERYL
HARNESS</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The first books that I wrote and illustrated, The Windchild and The Queen With
Bees in her Hair, were purely fiction, just my imagination’s authentic
children. But then I wrote one about the Pilgrims, those poor seafaring pioneers
who had to make themselves at home in the New World wilderness. Sure, I pored
over photos of the 1957 replica, the Mayflower II, and costumed reenactors at
Plimoth Plantation, </span><a href="http://www.plimoth.org/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">http://www.plimoth.org</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> but I
thought, if I was going to nail these illustrations, I’d better GO THERE. And I
did. It turned out to be the first of many gallivants. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Besides all of the libraries and museums, I went to the former homes –
all the places I visited are ‘former homes’ as all my subjects have been dead
for years – of John & Abigail Adams, their firstborn, JQA; Abraham Lincoln,
Washington Irving, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. I’ve
walked about in the White House, wishing I could go upstairs, but that museum’s
personnel carry FIREARMS. I did stand in Susan B. Anthony’s upstairs office
& peered in at her bathtub. I walked about in the little house in Seneca
Falls, where Susan’s buddy, Mrs. Stanton once lived. I marveled, horrified at
Teddy Roosevelt’s glassy-eyed hunting trophies at Sagamore Hill. For all TR’s
love of the natural world, he sure as hell blasted a LOT of creatures clean out
of it!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My dad and I drove along the old Erie Canal. Never would I have thought,
back during the Reagan Administration, when I was trying to break into books,
that the profession would turn me into a time travel tourist, but so it did. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Flags Over
America</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">http://www.cherylharness.com </span></i></div>
Sandy Asherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08311778466602117713noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632956980782008334.post-28764437727442183682014-10-01T06:41:00.002-07:002014-10-01T06:43:57.427-07:00Topic 13: What Else Is Out There?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="OLE_LINK2"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="OLE_LINK1"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">WRITERS
AT WORK</span></span></a></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Topic 13: What Else is Out
There?</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Introduction: David</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">September 2, 2014</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Hi
everyone,</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">It has
been a long while since Sandy Asher and I added to WRITERS AT WORK, the series
in which we visit informally about various aspects of being writers. To refresh
everyone’s memory of previous conversations, here’s a list of topics.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;">WRITERS AT WORK </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;">September 2010<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The Care
and Feeding of Ideas</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;">October 2010<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Obstacles
to Writing<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;">November 2010<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reality of
Rejections</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;">December 2010<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Editorial
Suggestions</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;">January 2011<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Perils
and Joys of Writing in Many Genres</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;">February 2011<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Pros and
Cons of Having an Agent</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;">March 2011<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Wrestling
with Endings</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;">May 2011<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Dealing
with Speaking Engagements</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;">June 2011<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>We
Get Letters – and Lots of Email, Too</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;">January 2012<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Regarding
the Emperor’s New Clothes</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;">March 2012<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>About
this Business of Internet Publishing</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;">June 2013<span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Making
On-line Challenges Work for You</span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So now we take up a new topic: WHAT
ELSE IS OUT THERE? And why is this timely? Because even during the short span
of these chats the publishing world has undergone changes that impact writers
around the world. Living by the philosophy that there will always be a need for
good writing in some form, we find ourselves constantly contemplating the
market, seeking ways to peddle our peaches (as folks around here used to say).</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">We hope that you will join us on each of the
next four Tuesdays as we post Parts 1-4 of our conversation. As always, it’s an
open forum that invites comments and shared experiences. I’ll go first next week
on September 9. Hope you’ll join us.</span></span></span></div>
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*<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>*<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>*</div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">WRITERS AT WORK</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Topic 13: What Else
is Out There?</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Part 1: David</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">September 9, 2014</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Sandy</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">, I think there’s more to surviving as a
writer than reacting to perceived changes in our niche markets. Maybe it has to
do with our need to communicate about something that feels important. In
previous WAW sessions I described how I began as a short story writer and
segued to writing for children, beginning with picture books and, over the
years, adding nonfiction, poetry, and educational books.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In this first part of WHAT ELSE IS OUT
THERE, I want to talk about my journey into educational books that began in
1997. At the time many teachers were expressing concern that they were expected
to teach poetry but had little or no personal or professional experience in
writing poems. After several such conversations I wondered if I might write a
how-to-write-poetry book for classroom teachers. This, I think, is an example
of two principles: write about what you know, and write about what interests
you.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">But guess what? I had no more idea how to
write an educational book for teachers than many of them had about writing
publishable poems for trade books. We loved the same kids but spoke to them in
different languages. I had never been a classroom teacher. Had never taken a
course in education. Never read a book written for teachers. The only teachers’
conferences I’d attended were to speak, not to listen and learn. Did I have a
lot of nerve or what!</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Many years earlier I’d gone to England
to research a book I meant to write about English history. I came home
discouraged but wiser. I didn’t know enough about my subject to ever write well
about it. I scrapped the project. In this case I knew my subject but wasn’t
sure how to translate from “writerly” to “teacherly.” </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I needed to partner with a teacher, someone
with national name recognition. Then I thought of Bee. Bernice Cullinan. Dr.
Bernice E. Cullinan, professor at NYU, former president of International
Reading Association, Poetry Editor-in-Chief for Boyds Mills Press, the
publisher of my books of poetry. Bee loved my work and I loved her. I spoke
with her about partnering on a book to help teachers teach poetry. She agreed.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Then I thought of Wendy
Murray, my editor at Instructor, a publication of Scholastic.
In 1994, Wendy had published a poem of mine with a brief article on writing
poems. Since then Wendy had left the magazine side to join the educational book
group. Next time I was in New York
I pitched the idea and Wendy liked it. Back to Bee to outline a table of
contents and agree on what I would write and what she would do. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">We each wrote an introduction. For the
sections that followed I introduced and explained various elements of poetry.
Bee provided commentary and activities for use in the classroom. So far so
good.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Then we came to the part of my outline that
dealt with verse. Bee struck it out, explaining that elementary children were
not ready for verse and only free verse would work in the classroom. I put it
back in. Children, I insisted, are perfectly capable of playing with rhyme and
rhythm and most of their favorite poems are structured language rather than
free verse.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">She said absolutely not. I said absolutely
yes. She said she would not have her name on a book that had verse in it. I
said I would not have mine on a book that didn’t. We called for a meeting with
our editor. Poor Wendy!</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Back in New York we met in a conference room at
Scholastic. Wendy sat midway along one side of a long table. Bee and a doctoral
student of hers sat at one end. I sat at the other end. The meeting was
stressful but it eventually ended with an agreement that verse would be
included in the book if teachers (to be consulted) thought it was a good idea.
They were, they did, and it was.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">When I sent my next poetry manuscript to
Boyds Mills Press, Bee was still too upset with me to edit me. Instead, my
friend Jan Cheripko was thrown into the breach and edited my book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wild Country</i>. He did a fine job.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">My “Bee” book came out in 1999 as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Easy Poetry Lessons that Dazzle and Delight</i>.
Our long suffering editor felt compelled to write a note to go on the credit
page, something you seldom see. Here it is in full.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“Four years ago David Harrison and Bee
Cullinan decided to write a book together, going on the hunch that their
different perspectives – that of a poet and of a teacher – would complement
each other nicely. But they quickly discovered in this arranged marriage of
authorship that their views on teaching poetry were remarkably different – and
that they sometimes clashed. Bee favors free verse and questioned introducing
too many details of structured verse to children, while David doggedly defended
his belief that teaching iambic pentameter and the like wouldn’t turn children
into staunch poetry phobes. Faxes, Fed-Exes, and phone calls flew back and
forth between the three of us, revision upon revision towered like stacks of
Saltines in our offices. Teachers were called upon to read drafts and give
their views. Poems and lessons were added, deleted, tweaked, and debated until
days before the production deadline. In the process, we reexamined our beliefs
about teaching poetry and wound up with richer, broader perspectives. And in
the end, Bee and David wrote a book that offers an eclectic mix of their
sensibilities. This is its beauty and its strength. Too often in educational
publishing we deliver one school of thought on a topic, and tune out others.
Working with Bee and David taught me a lot about the wisdom of editing with an
open mind and about the power of sticking to one’s convictions. Their passion
as educators and poetry lovers is remarkable, and it produced a fine book. (And
a whopping strain on my fax machine.) – Wendy Murray,
editor”</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Our book has done well. Bee and I kissed and
made up long ago. She told me she had learned that verse is not a bad thing for
children to write. I told her I had learned that teachers want less philosophy
(from me) and more information with direct application in the classroom. Bee
and I remain friends. She invited me to write the poetry chapter for the 3<sup>rd</sup>
edition of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Children’s Literature in the
Reading Program</i>, co-edited with Deborah Wooten (University of Tennessee),
and published by International Reading Association. I’m currently working on
the poetry chapter for the 4<sup>th</sup> edition of the book. These days I
belong to the major educational organizations and read their journals. I often
present on educational issues at state and national conferences.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So, Sandy,
my story has a happy ending. But there is a lesson in it. Be careful what you
wish for. Or at least be prepared to take a few lumps along the way when you
choose to investigate WHAT ELSE IS OUT THERE!</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">WRITERS AT WORK</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Topic 13: What Else
is Out There?</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Part 2: Sandy</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">September 16, 2014</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“Historians don’t
hug.”</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">That was my husband
Harvey’s observation when he joined me for one of my conferences years ago and
realized why I couldn’t wait to get to my events while he simply trudged off to
his as a professional obligation of his long career as a professor of history. </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">People who write
for young people hug.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We don’t read one another’s work with an eye
toward getting published by refuting it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We do respond to one another’s work, usually in small groups – and,
okay, sometimes with an editor as mediator – but the goal is never self-serving
or competitive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can’t write one
another’s books, poems, or plays, and we’re enthusiastic audiences and
readers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So when we get together, we aim
at making the dream each of us dreams for each of our own creations come
true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Respecting children
and their literature, understanding the challenges and frustrations of our
chosen field, working toward the same goals, we get close.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Close enough to hug.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s an excellent perk of the job, don’t you
think, David?</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">That closeness
takes on a slightly different importance in playwriting, which is my main
“what-else-is-out-there.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I majored in
English and only minored in Theater, so I was never fully in the loop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we moved to Springfield, MO,
I worked alone and mailed scripts out, much as I did with stories, articles,
and poems.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Winning a few playwriting
contests helped get those particular plays produced once, but what about other
productions in other theaters?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
were many long dry spells.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It took me
years to uncover the big secret:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>theatrical producers and directors tend not to take chances on new
scripts unless they feel a personal connection to the playwright.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Why?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because theater is a community effort.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sure, as book-writers and magazine-writers,
we encounter editors and art directors and marketing people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But we rarely get to meet them, and we
certainly don’t interact with them on a daily basis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They go about their jobs, sometimes with our
approval and often without it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In live
theater, the cast and crew are in one another’s lives for hours a day, every
day, for weeks, months, even years of rehearsal and performance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The four members of the Children’s Theater of
Charlotte’s Tarradiddle Players just spent an entire school year traveling the
southeast together in one van, doing 110 performances of my adaptation of “Too
Many Frogs” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">plus</i> other plays for
other ages, day in and day out, weekends included.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can you imagine the in-your-face closeness of
that?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A cast has to be chosen for
compatibility, patience, and endurance as well as talent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And often with a new script, the playwright
is in the room from auditions through rehearsals through at least the opening
performance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not much will be accomplished
if everyone gets on everyone else’s nerves.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">It wasn’t until I
began participating in theater conferences that I learned how the business
really works.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I do mean
“participating,” sometimes as a panelist but often less formally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At conferences dedicated to children’s
theater, sessions tend to be hands-on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
technique is presented and then everyone stands up and does it, as if they were
children in a class or audience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At this
summer’s American Alliance for Theater and Education conference in Denver, for instance, I
found myself wearing a rooster mask and enthusiastically greeting a series of
imaginary mornings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You just never know!</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">And you never know
where such antics will lead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve had
more than one director whom I’d never met before come up after a session and
tell me, “I like what you had to say in there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’m interested in working with you.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One such occasion springs immediately to mind because the ramifications
went way beyond being commissioned to write one new script.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It involved the director of a children’s
theater in Salem, OR.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Our casual conversation during the break between two sessions led to a
plan for working with senior citizens and middle-school students to create an
original script about growing up in Oregon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The deal included two trips from Missoui to
the Northwest, which just so happened to be where my son was living.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nice perk (and, yes, more hugs).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This experience also led to commissions from
other companies for other community-based scripts that have taken me to Omaha, Salt Lake City, Pittsburgh, and Chicago
. . . so far.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Another serendipidous<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>AATE meeting was with the director of a
children’s theater in York,
PA.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I’ve been watching you,” she said, after
inviting me to lunch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I’d like you to
do an adaptation of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Little Women</i> for
my theater.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apparently, directors are
constantly running auditions, even when no one in the room knows they’re
auditioning!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This director and I have
been friends ever since (hugs!), and working with her in York, PA, meant
visiting a mutual friend in neighboring Lancaster, someone we’d both met at
conferences (more hugs!).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that led
to my moving to Lancaster after Harvey retired – and
working on three new plays with these two friends since.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Showing up, as we
know, is Step One of success in any field, but more so in theater, I think,
than almost anywhere else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Networking at
these conferences make a huge difference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Participating in more than one each year means really getting to know
both the regulars and the newcomers and getting thoroughly inside the
loop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Besides AATE, there’s One Theatre
World, New Visions/New Voices, Write Now, and more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Getting involved with local theater groups,
onstage or behind the scenes, is another great way to show up, learn, and
network.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I’ve long suspected
that one could be a hermit living on a mountain top and maintain a book or
magazine writing career, as long as there was some way of getting one’s
manscripts off the mountain and into the hands of editors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one would care how long one’s beard had
grown or how often one took a bath.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not
so in theater, where a certain amount of hugging is practically a
requirement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a matter of getting
out there to become part of “what else is out there.” </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Willingness to don
a rooster mask and crow on cue is considered a definite plus.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">So, David, what <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">else</i> is out there for you?<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">WRITERS AT WORK</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Topic 13: What Else
is Out There?</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Part 3: David</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">September 23, 2014</span></div>
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“Don a rooster mask and crow?”
Really? Sandy,
I think I’ll stick to poems and stories! But I would like to hear a recording
of a roomful of playwrights limbering up their barnyard chorus. Hmmm. Maybe you
could make a recording and play it as background music for a staged sequel to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Too Many Frogs</i> called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Too Many Roosters.</i> Just a thought.</div>
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So now it’s back
to me. In Part 1, I wrote about my decision in the late 90s to break into the
educational market. I had a reason, a plan. My logic was to become better known
among the university folks who teach children’s literature and write about
authors and poets who create it. I wanted to go to the source so that new
teachers would already have an idea about my work. I got my share of <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="OLE_LINK4"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="OLE_LINK3"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK4;">comeuppances
</span></a>along the way but teachers are above all generous so I had plenty of
help and encouragement as I toiled along unfamiliar pathways. </div>
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It didn’t take
long to learn some important differences between writing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">for</i> kids (via trade books) and writing to teachers <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">about</i> kids (via educational
publications). For example I learned that trade book authors “speak” at
conferences while educational book authors “present.” The way in which national
conferences treat trade book authors has changed during the past fifteen years.
These days fewer of us are featured in conference programs. Looking back, I
made the transition almost without realizing at the time that I’d made a lucky
choice which gave me a second option.</div>
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Sandy, as we’ve mentioned before, nothing is
easy or uncomplicated about this business no matter whose yard we’re playing
in. One of my early initiations into the educational market was learning how to
write and submit a proposal to present at a conference. I went online,
downloaded a submission form, blinked and swallowed rapidly, asked myself,
“Why? Why?” and tackled the blanks. Who was I? What did I propose to present?
In what way would my presentation be useful to classroom teachers? What credentials
could I offer germane to the occasion? Who should attend my sessions? And on.</div>
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On my first
submission, I was accepted but conference planners paired me with another
presenter and told us we’d each have half of the allotted time. The other party
and I were strangers. She was repelled by the requirement of sharing,
especially with a trade book writer! After a terse exchange, she contacted the
conference chair and refused to appear. I got the whole hour. Nanner nanner
nanner. Next I was paired with a different professor, again someone I didn’t
know. We met for the first time a few minutes before going on. We got through
it but it wasn’t the most professional act you ever saw. </div>
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Then came a
conference where I met Mary Jo Fresch at an authors’ reception. She’s a
professor of Teaching and Learning at Ohio State University and loves children’s
literature. Our friendship was immediate and it wasn’t long before we not only
started presenting together but writing books too. We now have five titles in
print and are working on a sixth. Our presentations draw well. Our current
proposal, which includes two others, is already submitted for IRA in St. Louis next year. There
is never a guarantee of acceptance. One year at NCTE (National Council for
Teachers of English) Mary Jo, Margaret (Peggy) Harkins, and I packed a large
room. Every seat was taken and people sat on the floor along the walls while
others in the hall craned to look in. The next year NCTE turned down our
proposal which, by the way, included one of the big names in education, a man
who is a frequent keynote speaker. </div>
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I sometimes remind
myself that this was my “what else is out there” plan to find new work and
become better known in educational circles. It has taken on a life of its own
but in the beginning I envisioned it as a way to promote my name and my trade
books. On with my story. There’s the matter of money to pay for these
conference trips. By the time I learn if I’ve been accepted, many of my
publishers have completed their author support budget for the year. If I don’t
present, they won’t help me. But if I don’t tell them in time, they can’t help
me. If I present at more than one conference during the year, they may not be
able to help me. Universities tend to provide conference funding for their main
professors as part of the “publish or perish” big picture. Trade authors have
no one to turn to if our publishers can’t help. Sandy, I’m not whining about this. Okay, I’m
whining, but not BIG whining, just LITTLE whining. If we want to play in
someone else’s neighborhood, we have to play nice and accept their rules. I’m
glad I made the effort and happy to have become part of the educational
publishing crowd.</div>
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Sandy, I’m about ready to pass this back to
you, but there’s one more point I want to make. It’s another aspect of the
educational writing business. I find myself doing a lot of pro bono work. I am
delighted, flattered, and honored when asked to contribute something to a
journal or book. Recently I wrote a chapter in a book for classroom teachers.
Of the twenty-one authors, I was one of two not involved directly in education,
mostly at the university level. The other author was James Cross Giblin. Did I
work hard on that 20-page, 5,600 word manuscript? You bet I did! I wanted it to
be my best effort and I worked hard on it for a good many weeks. How much was I
paid? Not a dime.</div>
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Not long ago I was
invited to write an article for a planned issue of a respected journal. Four
professors and a number of others were involved and everyone worked hard. Chalk
off another several weeks. When all was ready, we had a nasty jolt. The
journal’s editor resigned and was replaced by someone with different ideas
about the direction the journal should take. Our issue was cancelled. I have a
good article now, taking a long nap in a file.</div>
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That’s it. What
else is out there? Plenty. Writers write and we’re a curious lot to boot. Over
the years I’ve gone from fiction to nonfiction to poetry to how-to books to
digital publishing to educational publishing. The list of possibilities is
long, my friend. I wonder what we’ll try next?</div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">WRITERS AT WORK</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Topic 13: What Else
is Out There?</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Part 4: Sandy</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">September 30, 2014</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Uh-oh, David.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sounds as if you’ve wandered awfully close to
the Forest of People Who Do Not Hug at those academic gatherings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You’ve accomplished great things there, but
hold tight to your map so you can find your way back out!</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">As for me, my
latest adventure in discovering “What else is out there?” has taken me deep
into hugging territory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, it’s
all about hugging experts: very young children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And it was my granddaughter, a hug specialist, who led me down this
marvelous path when she was three years old.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">It all began in
December of 2008.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My daughter and
son-in-law had been offered free lodging in London
over the holidays while U.K.-based friends traveled back to the United States
to visit their own family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their house
had a spare bedroom, airfares to England were affordable in the dead
of winter, and the grandkids would be in residence, so, of course, off we went.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">But before leaving
home, I went on-line and booked tickets for three shows being performed during
out stay by theater groups who specialized in work for young audiences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My daughter, granddaughter, and I would attend;
the grandson was still too young for live theater, so he would spend that time
with his dad and granddad.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">All of the
performances were professional, and each was unique.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One was almost wordless, but visually
beautiful as it explored nightfall, bedtime, and falling asleep from a child’s
point of view.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another was a raucous
adaptation of a Raold Dahl story I’d never heard of, “The Giraffe, the Pelly,
and Me,” complete with huge puppets and a Keystone Cops kind of frenetic
energy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">And then there was
the third, “How Long Is a Piece of String?” created and performed by Tim Webb’s
astonishing Oily Cart Theatre.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other
performances were excellent and well attended.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This one was a life changer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
was “What else is out there?” with frosting and jimmies and a cherry on
top!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It featured a kind of theater for
the very young that was new to me, but not to Oily Cart and their Artistic
Director, Tim Webb.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’ve been
creating and touring new works for 30 years now, specializing in theater for the
very young (0 – 3 and 3 – 5, mostly), and in theater for young people with
special needs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">No, that is not a
typo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They do theater for children under
a year old, and their parents, of course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In small groups.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They also do
theater for no more than a handful of seriously challenged children and their
caregivers at a time, and I believe they’ve done one piece where the audience
consisted of one child at a time, plus caregiver(s).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No need to take my word for it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Visit their website at <a href="http://www.oilycart.org.uk/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">http://www.oilycart.org.uk</span></a>, follow them
on Facebook, and, to see clips of
actual performances, search for them on YouTube.com.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I recommend starting with “Oily Cart + String
Trailer,” “Oily Cart + Air Trailer,” “Oily Cart + Blue,” and “Oily Cart + Blue
Balloon” for examples of their work with and for all of those populations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can also see interviews with Tim Webb,
Artistic Director and resident genius.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Okay, so there we
were – daughter, granddaughter, and moi – on a cold, crisp December afternoon
in London, excited about going to the theater but completely unaware of what we
were about to experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When about 15
children, mostly 3 – 5 year olds, and their accompanying adults had assembled
in the lobby, we were instructed to put one hand on a red string and follow it
to where the play would be taking place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This took us to a cavernous black box theater space.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew immediately something extraordinary
was about to happen because there were all sorts of string-related gizmos,
designs, and contraptions on the walls and a musician was singing us to our
seats while playing – what else? – stringed instruments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What followed was something called “full
immersion” theater, an approach in which children become an integral part of
the play and fully experience the world of the story through their senses –
sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">At first, I was
holding my granddaughter’s hand and leading her into the experience, but within
five minutes, all of the children had left their adults behind and taken up
residence in the world of the play.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
Pied Piper has nothing on the Oily Cart company!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then the magic took over for me,
too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Seated with the rest of the adults
in the center of the room as the action moved around us in all directions, I
realized this was great theater for everyone, child and adult.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had everything: a clever story well-acted,
delightful music, and spectacular visual imagery – heightened by the
breathtaking sight of our own little ones totally enjoying themselves as they
learned to care for yarn doll babies, worked the Rube Goldberg-style gizmos,
rowed a boat while being spritzed by water, crossed a rope bridge, bathed their
babies in cascades of multi-colored bubbles, and finally tucked them into a
caravan of cribs to be reunited with their String Parents.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I fell madly in
love – with Oily Cart, with “How Long Is a Piece of String?” and with the
concept of full-immersion theater for the very young.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I returned home determined to write that kind
of play.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My picture book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Here Comes Gosling!</i> seemed a good place
to start – children could join Froggie and Rabbit in a variety of activities
involving their senses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(We’re more
restrictive about serving children food here in the U.S., so “taste” ended up as
pretend-eating rather than actual ingesting.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At an American Alliance for Theatre and Education conference, I read the
book at a Playwrights Slam session and announced that I needed a theater group
to work with me on developing a full-immersion script for the very young.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Patricia Zimmer, a professor at Eastern Michigan University,
came forward immediately, saying she’d worked with a large Head Start school in
her area before and could see this as a great match.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">It was!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We took Patricia’s university students into
the Head Start classrooms to test out my ideas with real, live 3 – 5 year olds
and later performed the finished play for them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I will never forget the moment when the children were gathered around a
red-and-white picnic blanket, playing “Dance and Freeze” with Froggie, Rabbit,
Goose, Gander,
and baby Gosling and giggling madly while their parents and teachers grinned
ear-to-ear in the background.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I did
it!” I thought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“They’re experiencing
this dance at this picnic in this imaginary world because of the words I put on
a page.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then I thought, “How can I
ever again write a play in which preschoolers don’t get up and dance?”</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Well, I calmed
down, of course. And so did they, sitting quietly to listen to Froggie read a
story before filing out through the greenery-decorated archway that had led
them into this new world and would now take them back to their everyday
lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After other productions in Austin, TX and Bentonville, AR,
the stage version of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Here Comes Gosling!</i>
is headed toward publication by Dramatic Publishing Company. I hope it keeps a
lot of little people dancing for a very long time.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I’m now working on
a new script for the same age group, “Chicken Story Time.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Through “full-immersion theater,” very young
children discover “what else is out there.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And so do I!</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Hugs, everybody!</span></div>
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*<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>*<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>*</div>
Sandy Asherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08311778466602117713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632956980782008334.post-49299081966026679612013-10-16T17:45:00.002-07:002013-10-16T17:48:59.741-07:00Topic 12: Making On-line Writing Challenges Work for You<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Making On-Line Writing Challenges
Work for You</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Part 1:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sandy</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tuesday, July 2, 2013</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Lora Koehler’s and Jean Reagan’s
Picture Book Marathon . . . Julie Hedlund’s
12 X 12 in 2012. Laurie Halse Anderson’s Write Fifteen Minutes A Day Challenge
. . . Tara Lazar’s Picture Book Idea Month . . . Maureen Thorson’s National
Poetry Writing Month . . . and more. The Internet is awash in writing
challenges, many of them well-organized, encouraging, free, and all but
guaranteed to increase productivity for those who participate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">How to choose?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where to begin?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Much to my surprise, my answer
turned out to be, “Why choose at all?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Begin everywhere.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that’s
exactly what I did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From January of 2012
through April of 2013, I took on and met every one of the above challenges, one
after another and often more than one at a time.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Which might have been impossible,
except that I added a twist:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Do it your
own way.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Why?” you might ask.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, I had my reasons . . . </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As 2011 came to a close, I found myself
wondering whether I had anything left to say to the readers and audiences I’d
been sharing my work with for nearly 50 years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Behind me stretched a publishing record of 30 books, more than three
dozen plays, and well over 200 articles, stories, and poems in magazines and
anthologies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ahead of me loomed a
significant birthday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A feeling of dread
settled over me as I recalled a colleague’s announcement:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I haven’t written anything in a long
while.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe I’ve retired and just don’t
know it.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But how does a writer retire?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Writing has always been far more than a job
to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s been a way of experiencing
life itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I write, therefore I
am!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If I stopped writing, I’d be . . .
?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whatever that was, I didn’t want to go
there.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So when a message arrived by email
describing the on-line Picture Book Marathon – a pledge of 26 drafts in that
February's 29 days, I signed up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps
this would be the very thing to nudge awake my snoozing brain cells, assuming
they’d only dozed off and weren’t actually dead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But as February approached with no further
word from the Picture Book Marathon folks, I decided to sign on for Julie Hedlund's 12 X 12 challenge of a dozen PB
drafts, one a month for all of 2012. No sooner had I begun January's
effort for the 12 X 12 than confirmation came through for my
participation in February’s Picture Book Marathon, with the starting gun about
to go off. I was now entered in two races running at the same time!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Okay, I thought, I'll do both.
And then I added Laurie Halse Anderson's August event AND the well-known
Picture Book Idea Month challenge of brainstorming a new idea every day in
November.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>AND THEN, with all that behind
me, I took on the National Poetry Writing Month challenge to write poem a day
every day in April, 2013. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I completed them all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>BUT, with the exception of Anderson's writing prompts, which simply had
to be addressed as posed, I tailored each challenge to meet my own
needs. Nothing against the original guidelines, mind you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were all impressively well thought
out and, as each blog’s posted comments attested, all successful in helping
writers get motivated and stay motivated, myself among them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Call it cheating, if you will, but I had a
personal agenda I couldn't ignore: Along with various interrupted
plays and one bogged-down novel, I had 50 years of short-form fiction
manuscripts filed away in my cabinets, each of them carrying the promise, “I’ll
get back to you some day.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So my 26 Marathon drafts in February began as fresh revisions of
some of those manuscripts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I looked them
over (finally!), all 37 of them, narrowed them down to the 26 most hopeful and
set out to tackle one a day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">To my happy surprise, reworking my
ideas-gone-stale began sparking new ideas, so my daily output for February became
a mixture of the brand-new and the old-becoming-new-again. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Meanwhile, back at the 12 X 12
challenge, my one picture book draft per month became an opportunity to tackle
the 12 most-likely-to-succeed pieces out of the 26 I'd generated or revived in
February -- a full month of focus and further revision for each. The
new ideas took additional leaps forward; those that had fallen asleep in my
files long ago began to stir, stretch, sit up, and take a look around.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Did I feel guilty not doing the
challenges exactly as they were designed to be done? Well, yes. A
little bit. But how bad could I feel when I was writing each and every
day, looking forward to that with renewed eagerness, and generating a wealth of
material? Retired?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Heck, no!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was recharged!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Did the on-going advice and
encouragement offered by each challenge host still apply to me and help
me? ABSOLUTELY! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And reading
about what others were up to as they met the challenges added to my options for
and approaches to my work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll talk
about one particular inspiration I received in my next post.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For now, I’ll just say that it was amazing
how the sound of strangers cheering out there in cyberspace really did keep me
going.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The challenge organizers were
that good at communicating their encouragement and keeping their blogs lively
with guest bloggers, participant comments, writing tips, mini-contests, and so
on. They offered daily reminders that I'd made a pledge -- maybe not the
pledge they’d originally asked for, but very much the pledge I needed to make
and keep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With their help, keep it I
did.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">More specifics about how I did that
next time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But now, it’s your turn,
David.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m curious about how on-line
challenges look from the point of view of the challenger!</span></div>
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*<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>*<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>*</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name="OLE_LINK2"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/null" name="OLE_LINK1"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span></a></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Making
On-line Writing Challenges Work for You</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK2;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Part
2: David</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Tuesday, July 9, 2013</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Well, dear Sandy, dear Sandy, I’m glad you asked how on-line
challenges work from the point of view of the challenger. So far I haven’t been
much of one to accept challenges but boy can I dish ‘em out. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My challenge-tossing habit began in 2009 when I became
sole owner of a brand-new blog thanks to the devilishly clever Kathy Temean
who, upon finishing the nifty website she’d created for me, said that I had to
have a blog and, in spite of my manly protestations, proceeded to make me one
anyway.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">After some stuttering starts, I settled into the routine
of searching for material to post. I didn’t want to talk about what I had for
breakfast, as utterly fascinating as that might be. Besides, some mornings I
skip breakfast so where would that leave me? I began to think about worthwhile
content that would justify the time of anyone who happened by my speck of
space.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One of my favorite exercises is to take a word – any word
will do just fine – and see where it takes me. I’m hardly alone in doing this.
What reminded me of it at the time was something I’d just heard Billy Collins
say when he lectured in Springfield.
One of his poems, “Hippos on Holiday,” sprang
from those three words. First came the title, then the poem inspired by the
thought.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I issued my first challenge, which I called, WORD OF THE
MONTH POETRY CHALLENGE, in October 2009. It has continued each month since
then. Again enlisting Kathy Temean’s help I created one category for adults and
two for students (grades 3-7 and 8-12). Each month a number of poets, some in
other countries, think about the word until a connection occurs that starts
them off writing a poem. Long ago I stopped tracking how many poets, poems, and
countries have been represented on WORD OF THE MONTH during the forty-five
months since it began. Maybe one thousand poems? I get contributors from United States, Canada,
U.K., Italy, Australia,
Philippines, South Africa, Germany,
France, Sri Lanka, India,
Malaysia, New Zealand,
and many others. I always accept my own challenge so I’ve now written
forty-five poems for WORD OF THE MONTH.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The challenge hasn’t been as successful with students
although we’ve attracted quite a few. Partly it’s a matter of time. Rules call
for teachers to select up to three poems per month per class to post. But if a
teacher is into a nonfiction unit or bearing down on math or preparing for
testing or a million other things, spending time with young poets has to slip
down the list of priorities.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Over the years I’ve thrown down the old gauntlet a few
other times too. Now and then I’ll respond to some spontaneous urge. A year ago
the lake behind our house was “turning.” Scum from the bottom was rising to the
top as the weather changed and caused the semi-annual cycle. I moaned on my
blog about my ugly lake and issued a plea for help in couplets. They came in
serious numbers from poets who seized the moment to dash off a bit of sarcasm
or encouragement.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Linking up with my friend and partner in two books (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bugs</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Vacation</i>), I occasionally prevail upon Rob Shepperson to provide
one of his wonderfully witty drawings, which I post with a challenge to caption
it. The idea is borrowed from the weekly contest on the last page of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New Yorker</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I see it as a way to exercise a different
writer’s muscle and many of my visitors apparently do too.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On several occasions I’ve enjoyed posting challenges
issued by others. J. Patrick Lewis has come on my blog with such interesting
challenges that poets leap into the game. Steven Withrow suggested a challenge.
So have Joy Acey, Jeanne Poland, and others. I’m happy to act as host when
these opportunities come along.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sandy, for some reason the challenges I’ve issued so far
have all involved poetry. I think I know why. There are many good bloggers who
keep writers challenged with writing novels, picture books, creating story
ideas, and so on. I also know of some who challenge their visitors to write
poetry. Laura Purdie Salas posts a picture on Fridays and asks poets to write
something in fifteen words. But poetry keeps me amused so I tend to stick with
it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My most recent addition, May 2013, is something called
THEME OF THE MONTH POETRY CHALLENGE. The twist here is to help writers focus on
one basic theme, very much like they’d probably need to do if working with an
editor in hopes of being published. For this one I asked visitors to suggest
themes and I got a lot. The first one I selected was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">fishing</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For June, the theme
was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">food</i>. This month it’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">relatives</i>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sandy</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">, I
think I’ll wait for my second act to talk about the responses I get from those
who accept my blog challenges. By then maybe I’ll have some new comments from
participants that I can pass along. So for now, back to you!</span></div>
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*<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>*<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>*</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Making On-line Writing Challenges
Work for You</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Part 3: Sandy</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tuesday, July 16, 2013</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Wow, David, so much to think about
in your post!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thank you!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Besides the fascinating insight into
challenges from the challenger’s point of view, I note two points that resonate
in important ways with my experience:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>First, all those “others” who’ve influenced your decisions – Kathy
Temean, Billy Collins, Rob Shepperson and the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New Yorker</i> cartoon contest, and all your guest bloggers – are
absolute proof that writers do not and should not work alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We encourage, inspire, read, respond, and,
yes, CHALLENGE one another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Good for
us!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Second:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The line “See where it takes me.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You’re talking about allowing a single word
to lead you into a poem, but that’s exactly the approach I took to the on-line
challenges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were a starting point
that led me down unexpected but highly productive paths.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And isn’t that the creative approach to
everything?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whatever presents itself,
see where it takes you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That requires a
certain amount of courage, doesn’t it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But, oh! The places we go!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So, where was I?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Twenty-six picture book manuscripts
in February.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Done.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A draft of a picture book each month
in 2012.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Check.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Fifteen minutes a day of responding
to writing prompts in August.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes,
ma’am.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Although, as Laurie Halse
Anderson warned it might, this one did take until August 43<sup>rd</sup>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And as she assured us, that was just fine.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I was on a roll!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then along came Picture Book Idea Month
(familiarly dubbed PiBoIdMo), soon to be joined by National Poetry Writing
Month (aka NaPoWriMo).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By now I was not
only a writer emphatically and energetically still writing, I was a pro at
taking on-line challenges and making them work my way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Did I really need to sign on for
PiBoIdMo?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With 26 first drafts and 12
second drafts in progress, I now had more than enough work to keep me busy for
the foreseeable future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would any of it
actually be publishable?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had no idea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could already see that some of the stories
I’d generated were better suited to magazines than the book market, but – hey!
– I was generating something, a lot of somethings, and enjoying the daily doing
of it the way I’d enjoyed myself as a very young writer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was writing for the sheer fun of it, because
there was simply no time to worry about anything other than the writing itself.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Still, I couldn’t resist taking a
peek at what was going on at PiBoIdMo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>How were folks generating an idea a day?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There were posts from those who had taken the challenge before and
parlayed an idea or two or three into actual publishable manuscripts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had contracts in hand to prove it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In describing their process for the benefit
of the rest of us, they showed how they’d generated ideas willy-nilly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nothing censored; everything gained:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A Picnic with Monkeys, A Picnic with Rabbits,
A Picnic with Ants . . . each and every one admissible as a day’s work.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Oooh! I thought, as another
unconventional modus operandi hit me:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For years, I’ve wanted to write a cycle of poems around one topic –
maybe even a book’s worth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Full
disclosure:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve loved David’s poetry
books and longed to try one of my own.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So how about my idea a day becoming not one for a picture book, but for
a poem?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Around the topic of . . . um . . . let’s see
. . . well, I was up to my eyebrows in book ideas, how about around the topic
of libraries?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I was off on a new brainstorming
frenzy and accumulated my required number of ideas right on schedule, plus a
dozen or so extras, because once you start brainstorming, you tend to keep on
going.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In keeping with the storm
metaphor, “It never rains but it pours.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Short pause, deep breath, and then
BOOM!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A post on Facebook
about National Poetry Writing Month!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
was too late to sign up, but that didn’t stop me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With my ideas already written down, I was
ready to begin my long-awaited cycle of poems, one a day and sometimes two, to
catch up with those who’d left the gate before me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Which brings me to today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After considerable revision, I just sent off
my collection of library poems.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wish me
luck, and stay tuned!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plus I’ve got a
couple of PBs out there knocking on doors, a magazine story submitted, and a
bunch of other promising drafts awaiting my attention. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Does every on-line challenge fit
everyone’s needs?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is
very strict in its procedure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Write a
full-length work of fiction in one month from scratch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Excellent!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But not for me, thanks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not this
year, anyway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Laurie Halse Anderson’s August
challenge prompts are heavily weighted toward novels and therefore probably not
well-suited to those with PB or poetry dreams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Still, in my challenge-taking mood, I was interested in whether this
wise and wonderful author had anything to offer me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My responses to her varied prompts began to clear a path back to that
novel I’d set aside years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Am I
ready to pick up the manuscript and dive back in?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not yet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But I did write all those 15-minute snippets Anderson called forth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m thinking I may take the same challenge
this coming August and see what more I can learn about my unfinished
piece.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And maybe the August after
that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Bottom line?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A writer writes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On-line challenges – adjusted to fit my needs
– have restored my confidence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am
undeniably still a working writer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So
thank you, Laura and Jean and Julie and Laurie and Tara and Maureen and David
and Kristi and everyone else out there giving back to the profession in this
clever and uplifting way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Much has been
said about writing alone, but much can also be said about writing together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It helps!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Back to you, David, master of the
poetry prompt . . . </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Making On-line Writing Challenges Work for
You</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Part 4: David</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Tuesday, July 23, 2013</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Hi again, Sandy.
I’m astounded by the number of challenges you seem to handle without breaking
stride! On occasion you have mentioned that you think I possess a lot of
energy. But REALLY! You make me feel like taking a nap after reading about all
the projects you’ve been working on. You also are the personification of a
writer at work. As you so succinctly put it, “A writer writes.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Some of us may accept writing challenges and/or propose
them because writers sense a constant need to test our mettle, stay fit,
compare our work, get it out there. Some highly successful writers, such as
you, also provide a service as role models for writers who may be a rung or two
down but actively engaged in improving their craft.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jane Yolen, for example, occasionally jumps on my poetry
challenges with one or several poems. It invariably causes a burst of energy
that attracts other poets to join in. Others have lent their talents as well:
J. Patrick Lewis, Joyce Sidman, Laura Purdie Salas, Sara Holbrook . . . the
list is much longer. One surprise visitor was Gregory Maguire, author of
WICKED: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE WICKED WITCH OF THE WEST.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As I mentioned earlier, not as many student writers have
been represented on the Word of the Month challenge as I’d like, but we’ve had
quite a few. Two in particular who stand out in my memory are Rachel Heinrichs
and Taylor McGowan. They were both 4<sup>th</sup> graders when they first began
posting their poems. In those days we held a vote-off at the end of every month
to determine the Poet of the Month in each category. The girls mustered so many
backers for their cause, some from other countries, that my total count of
visits for the day – something over 1,600 – remained a record until early this
year. It has been fun to keep track of Rachel and Taylor as they’ve grown,
developed additional interests, and entered middle school; an unexpected bonus
for issuing a challenge that young people can also take on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In another case a teacher began sending poems written by
her high school kids. These were students with various learning issues and much
of their work was not of the highest quality, but they loved the idea that they
could write poems that would be published on my blog and they were proud of the
encouraging comments they received from other visitors there. Their teacher
wrote me a note. “When I introduced poetry, my students were interested.
At first, they tried to act cool and aloof, but I knew them... When I showed
them poetry, they were a little interested. When I taught them to read
poetry, they were more interested. When I told them to write poetry, they
thought I was crazy. When they wrote poetry, they came alive. Were
the poems good? No, not technically. But they poured their hearts
into them and they loved seeing their names on your blog. And that is when
their reading scores went up.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sandy</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">, I
can see that my challenges may be different from those that come with specific
rules and guidelines. You have had success accepting the challenges but making
them work to your advantage by adapting them to your own needs. In my case,
Word of the Month Poetry Challenge merely tosses out a word for anyone to
accept or not. Some months most of the poems come from regular contributors but
along the way new names are always joining in the fun. There is no long-term
commitment involved so people come and go depending on whim, time, and energy.
Some of the first devotees of Word of the Month continue to post their poems
while others have dropped out somewhere along the line.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">From a challenger’s point of view, I take pleasure in
watching a community of writers come together around a central issue such as
writing a poem inspired by one word or writing something that is theme related
or, well, writing anything at all. What invariably happens is that the sense of
community serves like an extended family to welcome in newcomers and develop
ties with everyone involved. People get to know one another. They exchange bits
of personal history, express their concerns about an unruly line or a rhyme.
Sometimes they even ask for advice although an unspoken guideline is never to
offer unless asked.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So what do I make of these challenges? I think they serve
an important purpose and you’ve already stated it: Writers write. No one ever
said that writing is simple, fast, or easy. It takes work. It requires
patience. It demands passion. Whatever it takes to keep us exercising our
writing muscles can’t be a bad thing. I don’t take credit for the marked
improvement I’ve observed in the writing of many who routinely post their work
on my blog where I can see it, but I believe that those who write on a regular
basis are going to get better. That’s how it works.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And now – drum roll please – Sandy and I are delighted to
announce our special guest for next week’s concluding essay on this subject of
“Making On-line Writing Challenges Work for You.” Our mutual friend Kristi Holl
has agreed to join us on the 5th Tuesday so be sure you are here on July 30 to
learn what she has to share. Until then here’s a way to get better acquainted
with Kristi and her wonderful work. <a href="http://www.kristiholl.com/">http://www.kristiholl.com</a>
.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Thanks, Sandy!
It has been good fun as always.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Kristi, the floor is now yours.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">*<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>*<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>*</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Making On-Line Writing Challenges
Work for You</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Part 5:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kristi Holl</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tuesday, July 30, 2013</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“I
Challenge You!”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In April, I ran two 30-day challenges from <a href="http://kristiholl.net/writers-blog/">my writing blog</a> based on
Dorothea Brande’s classic book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dorothea-Brande/e/B001KIV6E0/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1369063061&sr=1-1"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Becoming
a Writer</i></b></a>. She claimed that unless you could do two certain types of
writing every day, you’d never have a career as a writer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Structure of the Challenges</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One type was <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">early
morning writing</b>—the kind you do as soon as you get up (after necessary restroom
visits and letting the dog out.) I make microwave hot chocolate to have while I
write. But within ten minutes you are to be at your keyboard, even if you have
to get up half an hour early to avoid those you live with. You write whatever
you feel like writing, a lá Julia Cameron’s morning pages. It might be creative
writing, a gripe session, a planning session…anything.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The second type of writing Brande called <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">scheduled writing</b>. You study your day’s
schedule in the morning, decide where you would most likely have 15-30 minutes
free to write, and schedule your writing for that specific time. When that time
comes, you stop whatever you’re doing and WRITE. No excuses for skipping, other
than maybe the house is on fire. You change the time from day to day, depending
on when you have available times to write.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I kept the challenge groups to eight or nine people.
(There were four groups.) I wanted them to get to know each other; with bigger
groups than that, it’s too impersonal. And when it becomes impersonal, the
accountability is lost. (In a huge group of strangers, “no one will notice if I
check in today or not, so I guess I won’t write”…is common.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Challenges, Improvement and Progress</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">From January through March, I had done a “30 minutes per
day” accountability exercise with another writer. She had read that it took
three consecutive 28-day periods of writing to make a solid writing habit, so
that was our goal. After just doing the challenge for six weeks, I had seen a
significant change in my writing, especially in three areas: (1) my enthusiasm
for my writing went up, (2) my procrastination went down, and (3) the actual
word count increased significantly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I blogged at <a href="http://kristiholl.net/writers-blog/">Writer’s
First Aid</a> about how much the accountability was helping me, and many
readers made comments like, “I wish I had someone to do that challenge with.” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Voilá</i>. I decided to set up the group
challenges for April. I said participants could sign up for one or both
challenges. Four people signed up for both. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Each group mentioned different difficulties when they
checked in throughout the day. The <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">early
morning</b> “dump it on the page” groups had the highest number who completed
the challenge. At first they had a hard time putting the writing first, feeling
like they were squandering time they didn’t have to waste. Gradually they
realized that the early morning “dump” writing was clearing the decks—priming
the pump—for the more structured writing later. As Heather W. said, “I forgave
myself and wrote what I needed to write in the morning to get into my day. The
‘real writing’ is always waiting for me.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">scheduled</b>
writing groups had more challenges because they were trying to squeeze the
writing into their already crammed days of small children and day jobs. At
first, many scheduled their writing session late in the evening, after their
day job ended and the kids were in bed. If they got the writing done, often
they were exhausted from staying up too late. Gradually, over the month, I
noticed a number of them shifting to writing during newly discovered “down”
times during the day: waiting room times, sitting in the car pool lane, sitting
in bleachers, while cooking supper, etc. They became better at noticing
previously wasted times throughout the day, and consistently they reported at
the end of the week that they couldn’t believe how much writing they finished
just by fitting it into odd “unused” times in their busy days. That was a major
paradigm shift for many of them.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Another big benefit was
reported by McCourt T. “During the challenge I attended a writing conference,
and I really appreciated how writing every day boosted my confidence. I felt
that I could confidently talk about my works-in-progress because I was actually
spending time on them!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This confirms
what professional writers frequently say: nothing makes you feel more like a
writer than writing.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">One surprising result
was that one participant decided she didn’t want to write professionally after
all. As Kim T. said, “I stopped checking in 2/3 of the way through the month
because I realized that I don’t want to force my writing. I
don’t want to schedule it in my day and be held to that… I have realized that I
don’t want to be a full-time author. I want to keep writing as a hobby—to
write what inspires me when I am inspired to do it.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Did the challenges actually help the participants?
Heather W. thought so. “I signed up for the early morning challenge. The theory
was that if you wrote in the morning before your brain really kicked into gear
that, when you sat down to write later, there wouldn’t be as big a struggle to
focus and find the right words for your story. I hoped that would be true. It
was… I initially felt I wasn’t ‘doing it right’ because my early morning
writing was a more of a diary, a place to vent frustrations, count my
blessings, organize my day, etc. I thought I wasn’t really ‘writing.’ Well it
turned out that the ‘non-writing’ was one of the best things I could do with
that time. It just made the rest of the day better.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Many participants noted that even writing fifteen minutes
daily reactivated the feeling that they truly <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">were</i> writers. As McCourt T. said, “<span style="color: #222222;">I
was surprised that some days were so busy, I really only had about 15 minutes
to write, but those 15 minutes made a difference. Just focusing on my writing
each day, even if for only a small amount of time, made my writing seem like a
priority again… this challenge helped me realize that writing every day is good
for me—not just for my writing itself, which definitely improves the more I do
of it, but also for my mental well-being and sense of personal accomplishment.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The participants exchanged email addresses when the
challenges ended so that those who wanted to could continue. Many expressed the
concern that Jennifer R. voiced here: “I would love to continue to stay
involved in an accountability group. I have never written more consistently
than I did while participating in this challenge. I am afraid that without the
accountability group I will fall back into my old habits and writing will only
happen when I get a chance instead of making time for it.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I can understand that because I’m exactly the same way. I
really need someone to “report” to. Many of us are truly helped by these daily
check-ins. I hope my writing accountability partner never wants to quit!<span style="color: #222222;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Kristi Holl is the author of 42 books, including <a href="http://www.writersbookstore.com/Writers_First_Aid.htm"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Writer’s First Aid</i></a> and <a href="http://www.thewritersbookstore.com/as711/"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">More Writer’s First Aid</i></a>, as well as the new e-book <a href="http://www.kristiholl.com/Boundaries%20for%20Writers.htm"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Boundaries for Writers</i></a>. Go to <a href="http://kristiholl.net/writers-blog/">her blog</a> to sign up for her free
e-book <a href="http://kristiholl.net/writers-blog/"><span style="border: none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">Managing Your Writing Space and
Your Writing Time</span></a></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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Sandy Asherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08311778466602117713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632956980782008334.post-60318183513780015972012-04-01T20:10:00.002-07:002012-04-01T20:13:59.084-07:00Topic 11: About This Business of Internet Publishing<div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b>Response 1: David Harrison</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"> </div><div class="MsoNormal">Okay, Sandy, here’s a subject on everyone’s mind these days: the publication of e-books and books printed on order. In other words, technology-assisted self publishing. Do you remember the first time you heard authors talking about electronic publishing? I do. We were at one of the annual Children’s Literature Festivals in Warrensburg, Missouri. After a day of talking to students, some of us were relaxing in one of the rooms where we were staying when the conversation turned to e-books. No one in the group had tried one yet but there was lively interest in the potential. All I could do was listen. I knew so little about this newfangled kind of publishing that I was afraid to open my mouth.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">As in any new field, someone has to go first. A lot of you know Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell and are familiar with their pioneering efforts to publish e-book collections of poetry for young people. My toe-in-the-water experience came last year when they invited me to be one of thirty poets represented in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">PoetryTagTime</i>, the first anthology of children’s poems published as an e-book. They also invited me to participate in two other collections before the year was up, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">p*tag</i> (for teens) and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gift Tag</i> (for the holidays). To learn more, here’s the <a href="http://www.poetrytagtime.com/">link</a>. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So what led to my decision to publish my own e-book? Since 1989 we’ve lived beside a small lake that supports a rich variety of plants and animals. I’ve dubbed it Goose Lake. As an old biologist it pleases me greatly to watch and take notes. Two years ago I wrote a book of prose and poems about the place. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">My wife liked <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Goose Lake</i> (always a good sign!) and said it was my best work ever. I sent it out. Editor One said, “Absolutely lovely. I’ll buy a copy for myself if you get it published but right now my sales department would lynch me if I take on any more poetry.” Editor Two: “Your writing is quite wonderful. These poems are not simply gorgeous reflections on the beauty of nature, but rather active stories of animal observations and interactions. Unfortunately, nature poetry collections are sadly not at the top of my list.” Editor Three: “Your poetic prose and image-rich poetry complement one another in giving a multifaceted view of the many creatures, indoors as well as out.” And so on.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">After two more such experiences I became a prime candidate to try an e-book. I knew I had a good manuscript and five editors had turned it down. I asked Janet Wong for advice. She took a lot of time to explain the procedures and nudge me in the right direction. Through her I was introduced to Sladjana Vasic, the talented artist who agreed to illustrate <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Goose Lake</i>, and her husband, Milos, who formatted the finished book for uploading onto the Amazon and Barnes & Noble store sites. I’m skipping most of the details involved because one e-book hardly makes me an expert and any effort to try to describe them would take far more room than I have here. I hope it’s needless to say that I’m not encouraging people to go fogging over to Janet’s site with pleas for help! (Janet, if you’re reading this, let the record show that I’m trying to save you!)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">On December 15, 2011, <i>Goose Lake</i> was published as an e-book on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Goose-Lake-Year-Life-ebook/dp/B006MGDDHS/ref=zg_bs_155213011_1%20">Amazon</a> and <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/goose-lake-a-year-in-the-life-of-a-lake-david-l-harrison/1107998233?ean=2940013876583&itm=8&usri=goose+lake+%20">Barnes & Noble</a>. I don’t have it up yet on iTunes but hope to master that trick one of these days. The process (exclusive of the writing), from my first note to Janet to the day the book was e-published, took 46 days.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">You may be more interested in sales than in the details, so here’s the report to date. As my own publisher, I’m paid 70 percent of net income from Amazon and 65 percent from Barnes & Noble. And I get to do all of my own promotion. (You’re supposed to smile.) If you read Writers at Work in January, you’ll remember our discussion about how hard it is for many of us to pound our own chests. It doesn’t get easier when your book exists only if you download it onto a reading device or computer. In the books that Janet and Sylvia did, there were thirty poets, and therefore the potential for a lot of promotional oomph on the order of thirty times more than one person might do. Furthermore, children’s poetry is considered by most publishers to be difficult to sell in the best of circumstances. The niche is further restricted by its small foothold in the world of e-books. I could be wrong, but I bet the market is better for picture books and longer stories. </div><div style="background: white; mso-outline-level: 5;"><br />
</div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">During the first week or so after <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Goose Lake</i> came out, I e-mailed notices to quite a few friends and colleagues. I mailed letters to neighbors around the lake. I posted the news of my first e-book on my blog. I mentioned the free apps you can add from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=sa_menu_karl4?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771">Amazon</a> </span><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">or <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/free-nook-apps/379002321">Barnes & Noble</a> </span><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">so you can download the book onto your computer. A friend of mine also sent an e-blast to friends on her list. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Goose Lake</i> debuted well. After five days it ranked #1 on Amazon’s Kindle Store for e-books of children’s poetry and #44 for general poetry. I was feeling gooood. Uh-huh!</span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><br />
</div><div style="background: white; mso-outline-level: 5;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">But that was all I knew to do. And when I stopped touting my book, it began sliding down the scale rather quickly. It went from 1st to 20th to 50th in a matter of weeks. Now and then it would shoot back toward the top when someone out there bought a copy, but we’re talking about small numbers making big differences. I just now checked the rating on Amazon.com and I’m back in 14th place so I’ve had a few more sales. It drives you crazy if you look too often. I think they change rankings every hour. </span><b><span lang="EN" style="color: #333333; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></b></div><div style="background: white; mso-outline-level: 5;"><br />
</div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I’ve been delighted to have interviews and features lately on some wonderful blog sites such as <a href="http://www.robynhoodblack.com/blog.htm?post=828175">Robyn Hood Black</a>’s</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">, <a href="http://wp.me/pBU4R-T2">Roxie Hanna</a>’s, and <a href="http://laurasalas.wordpress.com/2012/02/09/poetry-friday-is-here-at-goose-lake">Laura Purdie Salas</a>’s. Such exposure helps very much. I’ve also received great advice on how to promote one’s e-book from <a href="http://www.barbaragregorich.com/">Barbara Gregorich</a> about selecting potential markets and seeking write-ups in special interest newsletters. God knows when I can get to such time-consuming activities, but I can easily understand the absolute need to try.</span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><br />
</div><div style="background: white; mso-outline-level: 5;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">So, Sandy, my conclusions about this grand experiment so far? Hmm. Well I’m a long way from breaking even but it’s still very early. I enjoy the fact that I’ve able to bring my work to readers who might never have seen it otherwise. I appreciate (always did) what traditional publishers do to help promote their authors’ books. I’m admittedly still close to the bottom of the learning curve about e-books and how to make them work. Would I consider trying another one? I won’t rule it out but for now I need to get better at promoting <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Goose Lake</i>. Then we’ll see…</span></div><div style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b>Response 2: Paula Morrow</b></div><div class="BodyA" style="text-align: center;"><b>Independent Editors: What We Do and Why You Need Us</b></div><div class="BodyA"><br />
</div><div class="BodyA"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Self-publishing, e-publishing, and self-e-publishing have rightfully been hailed for breaking down the barrier between authors and publication. We're seeing a sea-change in the world of books and reading, and like the tide that drenched Canute, it's not going to go away. </span></div><div class="BodyA"><br />
</div><div class="BodyA"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I'm not worried that books might disappear, any more than movies disappeared when everyone bought televisions. My concern is about the effect self-publishing and e-publishing will have on the literature of the future. Are we seeing a rise to new literary possibilities? Or a decline to the lowest common denominator?</span></div><div class="BodyA"><br />
</div><div class="BodyA"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The internet teems with sites eager to publish your e-book and with advice from bloggers and self-publishing veterans. "You should write an e-book," declared a typical blog. Reading on, I learned that these are the Steps to Take<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">:</b> </span></div><ol><li><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Get the software for you to create an electronic book.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Write your e-book.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Use the software to convert your document to the electronic book format.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Make your e-book available from your website. Note that even if you wish to sell your e-book, you should still have a sample available freely to whet the appetites of your prospective customers.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Publicize your e-book.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></li>
</ol><div class="BodyA"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">What ingredient is missing from this recipe? Alas, the instructions tell you how to publish your rough draft. Too many eager authors rush to publication before their manuscript is ready. </span></div><div class="BodyA"><br />
</div><div class="BodyA"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">"But I have a critique group..." That's a good thing. Critique partners will give useful feedback during the creative process of writing your book. But how many of the group members have the time for multiple careful readings and the expertise to evaluate every aspect from voice to structure, not to mention page-by-page grammar and mechanics?</span></div><div class="FreeFormA"><br />
</div><div class="FreeFormA"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Most self-publishing companies claim to use professional copy editors. Okay. If you're reading this blog, you no doubt know about LinkedIn, an online site for business and professional networking. As of February 2012, LinkedIn has 824,000 users who list "editing" as a skill, marketing themselves as editors. I'm sure that most of these 824,000 souls know how to run spell-check and know something about grammar and punctuation. I'm afraid I don't consider fixing the mechanics to be enough. </span></div><div class="FreeFormA"><br />
</div><div class="FreeFormA"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A friend of mine self-published a children's book and paid for "professional editing" as part of the publication package. When I started reading the book, my heart sank. The interest level was junior high. The point of view was adult. The supplementary activities were just right for a five-year-old. The "editor" either didn't know or didn't care about giving feedback to make the book artistically satisfying (or even coherent) and marketable.</span></div><div class="FreeFormA"><br />
</div><div class="BodyA"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">So what exactly does an independent editor do for you? That varies with the editor, of course, so be sure you understand what's offered before you make a commitment. </span></div><div class="BodyA"><br />
</div><div class="FreeFormA"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My own preference is the "forest and trees" approach. The forest is the big picture: structure, language, logic, emotional content, overall quality, and marketability. I pinpoint any problems and give the author specific feedback on how they could be fixed. The trees are the details, not only mechanics but also more subtle line-editing: word choices, stylistic inconsistencies, and the like. I also point out facts that need checking (important even in fiction!), although I leave the actual research to the author unless we contract for that separately.</span></div><div class="FreeFormA"><br />
</div><div class="FreeFormA"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A book edit is a time-consuming process requiring many, many hours of intense concentration. Before taking on a new client I read the manuscript, and sometimes I return it with a note that I'm not the right editor for this project. If I feel it's a good fit, I send a proposal and quote. I offer a choice of several levels of feedback, from a one-time critique to multiple revisions before final editing, and we contract in advance for a specific level and a specific time frame. Up to this point there's no reading fee and no obligation to continue. If the writer and I agree to work together, I determine a flat fee depending on what that particular manuscript needs.</span></div><div class="FreeFormA"><br />
</div><div class="FreeFormA"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Before contacting a private editor, look at your manuscript yourself, have a rough idea what help you want, and decide what your final goal is. If you have no idea what you need, start by reading a good book on writing for children (such as Barbara Seuling's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">How to Write a Children's Book and Get It Published</i>) before you spend money on an outside consultant.</span></div><div class="FreeFormA"><br />
</div><div class="FreeFormA"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Once you have an idea what you expect from the editor, look for someone with experience and expertise in that area. Find out what the person's credentials are. In checking references, look for specifics: not "She helped me fix my story" but "She put her finger on the place where my plot went astray and gave me clear suggestions for getting back on track." Expect the person to ask you questions before agreeing to take on your project, so that you're both aiming for the same goal. </span></div><div class="FreeFormA"><br />
</div><div class="FreeFormA"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">An author friend of mine does private manuscript critiques. Not long ago she plaintively commented that she is seeing more and more manuscripts that she describes as "trainwrecks." New authors are completely disregarding the basic tenets of writing for children. What's going on?</span></div><div class="FreeFormA"><br />
</div><div class="FreeFormA"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I believe what we're seeing is fallout from self-publishing. Folks go to press without being edited, others read their stuff and think, "Gosh, it's published, it must be right," and the snowball grows. </span><span style="color: #002ba2; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></div><div class="BodyA"><br />
</div><div class="BodyA"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For new authors, editing is an essential step in the self-publication process. Even established, successful authors can benefit from an external perspective. (See Sandy Asher's book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Writing It Right </i>for lots of great examples of the creative conversation that a relationship between author and editor can spark.) Several years ago a dear friend who has published more than sixty books with traditional publishers decided to try self-publishing and asked me to edit the new manuscript. Our collaboration led to many exciting literary experiences—for both of us. But that's another story.</span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b>Response 3: Michael Wilde</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b>Why an Editor?</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Wondering what to write on this timely topic, I was instantly struck by two things: this recent <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/business/media/e-books-on-tablets-fight-digital-distractions.html?hp">article</a> in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The New York Times</i> about e-books on tablets—a primer on the future of how we read; and a letter I received from a potential client. In the article, the conclusion looks grim: instead of providing that long-sought-for solace and comforting retreat from the world’s insane distractions, a book must now compete with every kind of addiction-forming instant gratification: “[T]he millions of consumers who have bought tablets and sampled e-books on apps from Amazon, Apple, and Barnes & Noble have come away with a conclusion: It’s harder than ever to sit down and focus on reading.”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So here is the not-so-distant future of how a book will behave: it will reorganize itself to accommodate every digital temptation—a dark current that flows under a lot of professional conversations these days. What happened to focusing on one thing at a time? The editor in me is constantly asking, By the time you reach the end of this sentence, have you already gone to Twitter? How can a book possibly survive?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">It will, and the why and how came in a query I received only yesterday, four days after the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Times</i> article had me ruing not only the demise of books but the death of meaning itself (the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Times</i> is good at that). Having surveyed the poor quality of self-published books, the writer decided to seek out an editor. “No matter what the future of the book industry is,” the person writes, “editors are still crucial.” Apart from the obvious validation (that in fact means everything to me), this brief, simple statement gives me hope and a galvanizing optimism: here is understanding, at its core, of a fundamental relationship, an age-old calculus, that determines how a book comes into being and why it acts as it does, no matter the medium or how the end result is marketed.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">A writer needs an editor and vice versa; that simple. The disparate activities take place in different sections of the brain, I’m convinced, and the writer is not well served should he or she attempt to do both at once. In the same braincase, the editor inhibits the act of writing until the flow is dammed to a dribble. One of them has to be switched off for the other to function properly (i.e., disinhibited, not easy and not recommended). What does all that have to do with publishing, self or otherwise, you might ask? It turns out, everything. Now, in the e-universe, a writer needs an editor more than ever (assuming, of course, the editor knows what she or he is doing, another subject for another day’s blog)—and nowhere is this more emphatically true than in children’s books, which are deceptive if not downright treacherous from an editorial point of view.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I don’t have space to go into the particulars, but generally speaking, of all the levels and genres of writing and reading out there, children’s books come closest to poetry in style and composition—and are therefore that much harder to write. In children’s, as in poetry, every word is important—and even more, the order all the words are in, on every page, in every sentence. I can’t stress it enough. There isn’t any wiggle room at all. The text must engage at once and entertain. A first-time author—even a brilliant one—might not automatically know this. A sweat lodge worth of effort and draft after draft may yield a pile of rejections for want of an active verb, a musical phrase, choice of voice, a character’s disposition, any of a thousand factors; then, of course, it has to be somebody’s cup of tea. A grown-up first has to love it. Frustrating, I know. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">An editor can help.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Michael provides all manner of editorial services and help with writing. <a href="mailto:michaelwildeeditorial@earthlink.net">Email</a> him or visit this <a href="http://www.wordsintoprint.org/">website</a>. <span class="profiletextleft1"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b>Response 4: Sandy Asher</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Reading the posts by Paula and Michael has made me want to wax poetic about editors. With apologies to Elizabeth Barrett Browning: “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.” I love editors for their intelligence, insight, and instincts. I love editors for their enthusiasm and encouragement. I love editors for their tenacity, which has so often roused me out of my natural laziness and forced me to do more and better. I love editors for not allowing me to publish anything that did not meet their standards. (Yes, I am referring to my file drawers filled with rejected manuscripts that fully deserved to be rejected. I’ve just spent a month rereading nearly forty such manuscripts. Thank goodness there were editors who prevented me from going public with them. Fortunately, I have the rest of my life in which to revise.)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">There was a time, very early in my career, when I balked at editors’ detail-oriented, nitpicky thoroughness. Now I worry they may be too busy with other projects to give my work the full attention it needs. Even after many years of experience, I’m really nervous about publishing anything that hasn’t been vetted by a professional editor. We’re all far too close to our own work to see it as readers will receive it. Editors help us bridge that gap.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">And so, my only experience with self-publishing has been to reissue—twice—<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Teddy Teabury’s Fabulous Fact</i>, an already well-edited middle-grade reader. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Teddy</i> was originally a Dell Yearling Book. It had a good going-over—or three or six—for content and style by my then-editor Bebe Willoughby, as well as meticulous attention to mechanics, typos, and other details from an in-house copyeditor and proofreader at Delacorte/Dell. When the book went out of print and the rights reverted to me, I could reissue it by simply having it set up in a print-ready manner by my son Ben, a freelance professional copyeditor and proofreader. Together, we kept a keen eye out for late-blooming typos. (See Ben’s info <a href="http://www.beneasher.com/">here</a>.)</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">That first reprinting of five hundred copies was done with a clear marketing plan, though this was long before social media began providing world-wide exposure. School visits, children’s literature festivals, and teacher and librarian conferences were the main marketing opportunities, and I was doing lots of those. With a reissued <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Teddy</i>, I could continue to go forth armed with the dramatic and amusing story behind the book’s dedication “To the children of Otterville, Missouri, who asked me to write it and made sure I did.” I already knew from experience with the Dell edition that kids loved hearing the story <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and immediately wanted to read the book. </i>I was confident I could sell five hundred copies. And I did. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">Then I got tired of listening to myself tell the story. Five hundred copies were enough.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">Time passed, and the whole self-publishing picture changed. With all the choices offered by technology, and writers doing so much of their own marketing anyway, it’s become quite an attractive way to go. Plus, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Teddy</i> has appeared a couple of times as a nineteen-part newspaper serial, and the illustrations commissioned by the serial licensing company were available. (The original illustrations by Bob Jones were not; my first reissue had no illustrations—not a good way to go with a middle-grade novel.) My agent mentioned that she’d checked out CreateSpace and was recommending it to her authors who wanted to reissue their own books. And there you were, David, all excited about your e-book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Goose Lake</i>. So I decided to give self-publishing another try. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Teddy Teabury’s Fabulous Fact</i> seemed the logical choice for my plunge, since I knew how to market it. I’m ready to tell the story behind the dedication again—not here, because it’s too long, but anywhere I’m invited to speak (hint, hint). </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">Wow! This has been a very different experience from my first foray into self-publication. Back then, I used a general printer who did a nice job the old-fashioned way, following my directions but offering little guidance. With CreateSpace, I’ve had a steady flow of phone calls and email messages, an online account, a dashboard that alerted me to when I needed to take action and now tracks my orders and royalties, and helpful directions every step of the way. I got to alter and approve the jacket and proofread everything online first and then in hard copy, twice. And six days a week, there were <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">real people</i> to talk to, attentive, competent, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">cheerful </i>people with satisfying answers to my questions.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">I was impressed!</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">My personal “project team” at CreateSpace did an attractive design job and worked hard to get everything just right. Since my book had already been edited at Dell, I bought a simple and less costly package, but there are various options from do-it-yourself-for-free to full-service, in-depth editing. There’s a motive, of course, behind their perfectionism. CreateSpace books are automatically offered on Amazon.com and there’s a sizable cut for the company out of each copy sold. It’s to their benefit to create a superior product. I have no problem with that. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt;">The books are print-on-demand, which means I don’t have a basement full of copies I don’t immediately need. (Will I ever forgive the long-ago cat who once used a carton as a litter box?) I can order copies wholesale for presentations as I go. I could pay a little more to have an e-book edition as well, but I don’t quite trust the time lapse between my presentation generating interest and the listener’s opportunity to order the book online. I’d rather have hard copies right there with me. I’m fairly confident I can earn back my investment before once again tiring of the story, but even if I don’t, there’s Amazon.com selling the book online for me. Easy enough to email the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1467945153/ref=cm_sw_r_fa_dp_zUgBpb0JEDDV5">link</a> to family and friends and post it on Facebook. Best of all, print-on-demand guarantees that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Teddy Teabury’s Fabulous Fact</i> will never go out of print again.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So, do I recommend self-publication? Under certain conditions, I do, with these caveats: Have reasonable expectations, know your market, and devise a plan for reaching that market. Self-publishing isn’t right for all books, and, no matter how they’re published, books rarely sell themselves. Last but definitely not least: Do not venture out there alone. See above for how I love editors!</div>Sandy Asherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08311778466602117713noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632956980782008334.post-84404081264761702502012-02-02T17:05:00.001-08:002012-02-03T15:05:34.437-08:00Topic 10: Regarding the Emperor's New Clothes<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Part One: Sandy</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Back in the day—you young’uns need to know this—book publishing followed a predictable path: Writers wrote. Editors acquired, edited, guided, supervised, and championed writers and books, thereby carefully building careers—their own and those of their writers. Given the editors’ choices, designers designed. Publishers published. Marketers marketed. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Writers, the foundation supporting everyone else’s work, could be out and about or they could be hermits who lived in mountaintop caves and delivered revisions by homing pigeon or trained burro. Writers could be old, young, attractive, homely, or complete mysteries writing under pen names, unbeknownst even to their nearest and dearest, let alone the reading and/or media-viewing public.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">While children’s writers were rarely sent on book tours, they were encouraged to visit schools and libraries and to present at teachers’ and librarians’ conferences and writing workshops to help boost their book sales. <span style="text-transform: uppercase;">(</span><i>Encouraged</i> is the operative word here; not <span style="text-transform: uppercase;"></span><i>forced</i> or even <i>expected</i>.<span style="text-transform: uppercase;">)</span> A book that garnered three or four good reviews automatically got an ad in the professional journals. An author who placed three books with the same publisher got even more attention. Often, invitations to present came through the publisher’s marketing office, and the publisher paid the author’s travel and lodging expenses, especially to attend large conferences, where autograph sessions at the publishers’ booth were a given. So was dinner.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Children’s books stayed in print for many years because publishers knew it took a long time for reviews, awards, and word of mouth to move a title from shelf to librarian to teacher to parent to child. Publishers also knew there’d be a new audience of children coming along every few years as each group aged and moved on. Backlists were valuable assets.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Enter the corporate “tailors.” (Young’uns, here’s where it’s all about what you’re up against. But David and me, too. We knew the emperor before the tailors took over and we’re still here.) While writing, editing, and reading have remained pretty much the same, and while librarians, teachers, parents, and children haven’t changed much, publishing has been turned upside down. Marketers now make the choices formerly reserved for editors—and then insist that writers do their own marketing. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Writers are expected to maintain ornate, enticing, and ever-changing websites, blogs, and Facebook pages. It’s strongly suggested that they create and distribute bookmarks and postcards, produce trailers for each of their books, and tweet. Maybe hire publicists or join speakers’ bureaus. Publishers pay for none of this, neither the expense nor the time involved; it’s all out-of-pocket. Oh, and there are still those school and library visits, conferences, and workshops to do, also generally unsupported by the publisher—except for best sellers, top award winners, and celebrity authors, who also get the journal ads and the dinners. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">While honoraria may offset some of the PR costs writers are asked to bear, one cannot help but wonder whether they really do, and how much time is left for writing more books—still the foundation on which the industry rests. Never mind time left for family. Or health. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Meanwhile, books that do not immediately sell briskly go out of print in the blink of an eye, and writers who don’t generate enough “firepower” for brisk sales of their first and second books don’t get to build careers. So writers-who-market are under far more pressure than marketing departments ever were—they had years, remember?—to get the word out and to get it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">way</i> out, in front of the hordes of other writers attempting to friend, blog, and tweet their way to fame and fortune. Or, at the very least, to earning out their advances, seeing future royalties, and publishing more books.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Is it me, or is there something wrong with this picture? It is what it is, and it’s not going back to what it was. I understand that. But, David, I have to ask whether the emperor is really wearing any clothes. Is this furious effort on the part of writers—especially the young ones—actually selling enough books to keep their work in print and their careers on track? If so, at what cost? And if not, or if the cost is too high, what alternatives do we writers have? I plan to speak to those questions next time, and I look forward to hearing what your own experiences are telling you.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Our wise friend and colleague Kristi Holl once remarked that the best way to sell your current book is to write the next one. I can’t get that advice out of my head. We’re writers. Writers write.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Part 2: David </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Sandy</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">, thanks for framing this conversation so colorfully. I’ll pick up with the growing expectation among publishers that authors work harder at marketing their own books.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I’ll start by suggesting that people who write are not generally known for successfully promoting themselves or hawking their own goods. Marketing is a profession taught at the college level. I’m sure that it comes more naturally to some than to others, which is true of writing as well, but most of us really don’t have a clue of how to make a difference.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My first effort, waaaaaaaaaay back, was to concoct a simple little flyer to hand out wherever I had a chance. I went through my files, pulled some background that seemed fairly impressive, and took it to a printer. I came home with 1,000 copies, confident that I would need more soon. That was probably thirty years ago. I threw out the remaining copies a few months back. There were a lot left.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">About the only other thing I ever thought to do was have some business cards printed. These I shyly placed in a small stack at the corner of the table when I was signing books. So much for visual aids. Oh, wait! I dabbled in overheads too! But I soon tired of carrying around files of overlays to put on the machine and tinker with until people in the audience behind me started creaking their chairs. Besides, no one past the third row could read them, which only underscored my amateurism.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Over the past few decades I’ve grown increasingly aware that some authors can brag on themselves and some cannot. I don’t know about you, but my parents would not approve of a son who beat his chest and leaped around like Captain Marvel telling the world what a writing genius he is. I have met a few Captain Marvels in our industry but most of us are Walter Mitty types.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Sandy, I know that you have been involved in technology longer than I have but this recent life-changing transition from flyers and business cards to websites, blogs, tweets, and the rest is drastically underscoring the difference between those who can and those who cannot tout themselves.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">When our son went into computers, I was proud of him but cautioned that computers are only a tool, not an end. Boy was I confused! I have, over the last three years, taken measures I never dreamed of to bolster my sense of what marketing myself might be.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">First came the website. I got a good one, which cost a lot more than flyers, I can tell you that. Then came the blog. A blog doesn’t cost much money. What a blog demands is what a writer cherishes most and has least of to spare: time. Give a writer a stage, he may or may not be comfortable speaking from it. But give him a magic tablet that he can write on every day for folks everywhere to read, and he’ll go for it. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For nearly two years I rarely missed posting on my blog on a daily basis. My wife, the one who asks pertinent, practical questions, asked why I was spending two or three hours a day blogging instead of writing. She asked if my books sales were up. She questioned the time on Facebook and Twitter. Now that stung because I don’t know if my book sales are seriously tied to any of it. And the original reason I got involved in these technological opportunities was to promote myself and my work.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Kristi Holl is a friend, a smart lady, and a good writer and teacher. She’s right. We’re writers and writers write. But these days there is a caveat in that truism. Writers write with the time left after blogging, tweeting, Facebooking, and in general spending time in front of a screen. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Sandy</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">, I’ve recently taken a hiatus from daily posting on my blog. I enjoy doing it and have met many fine people in the process. But right now I have more than a dozen book projects on my desk with deadlines flashing toward me. When these books are written, maybe I can figure out how to help promote them. For now I have to write. No one else will do that for me. And to speak to your point, when writers stop writing, it causes problems from the bottom up. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Afterthoughts:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I’m rereading my remarks and wondering if I’m sounding more discontent than I am. The issues we’re discussing are real for sure. But I’m lucky. Not everyone gets to do what they love most. Writers participate in the hallmark activity of our species—communication. One way or another all humans reach out to others. We dance. We sing. We paint, invent, keep records, teach, and by hundreds of other means express how we feel and seek responses to verify our existence. I think writers are the luckiest of all because we use language itself to touch readers in their hearts and minds. Years ago when Boyds Mills Press published its first titles, publisher Kent Brown took a box downtown, set them on a table, and stopped people on the sidewalk to promote his new line. When I feel sorry for myself, I remember Kent and figure, “What the heck. Maybe I could do a little more.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Sandy</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">, back to you!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Part 3: Sandy</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">David, I think you put the key to sorting out our feelings about this writers-as-marketers situation right there in your Afterthoughts, where you said, “But I’m lucky. Not everyone gets to do what they love most.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Many moons ago, Beverly Cleary became a much-discussed legend among teachers, librarians, authors, and event planners, not only for her wonderful books but for her absolute refusal to speak to groups of children. Finally, she wrote a piece for the <i>New York Times</i><span style="text-transform: uppercase;"></span> explaining why: As a child, she’d loved a series of books—until the author showed up at her school and completely ruined them for her. As an adult, she had no desire to come between her readers and her stories. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Good for her! Knowing herself and her limits, she bucked the prevailing author visit trend and went her own way, doing what she did best: writing books for children. Of course, she’s Beverly Cleary, creator of Ramona, and, gossip about her though they might, nobody else could come between children and her books, either.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">You and I love to write, David, but we also love to visit with children, teachers, librarians, other authors, and anybody else who wants to talk about writing and books and young readers. So that part of marketing is a nice fit for us. But sharing what we do and know and love is one thing, and tooting our own horns is another. The latter makes us very uncomfortable. You rarely distributed your brochures; I made several stabs at designing one, but never printed any copies.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I actually do have experience in PR. My first job out of college was copywriter at an advertising agency. So I’ve got plenty of ideas. Not all of them fit me very well, though, and those that don’t rarely get done. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The question has become, “Are we having fun yet?” And fun, for me, is promoting the entire field, with myself as one small part of it. Hence, my ten years as SCBWI Missouri Regional Advisor, organizing annual workshops at Drury College (now University) that brought in other authors and editors to talk to emerging children’s writers. Hence, also, the America Writes for Kids website, which began small as Missouri Writes for Kids, and has grown to include links to the websites of nearly 500 published authors and playwrights. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">And, David, remember our brief period of TV stardom? Fifteen, 30, and 60 seconds at a time? As you’ll recall, after being interviewed on TV for some event or other and not passing out from sheer terror, I found myself thinking about how TV could be used to bring Missouri children closer to Missouri authors. School and festival visits with young people had shown me how much they adored having “their very own” authors and how they went on to read books by authors they’d met with a real sense of friendship and ownership. It seemed important to me that young readers realize more authors than the few they met in person were neither dead nor stranded on a distant island, but living and writing nearby in hometowns just like theirs. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">But could I see myself going on TV alone to advance this cause? Absolutely not. So I ended up in your office, laying out my plans, and you hopped on board. Together, we read excerpts from other Missouri authors’ books (and, now and then, from each other’s books), gathered books from authors to give as prizes to kids who wrote to us about their favorite authors, went library-to-library giving after-school programs about Missouri authors, and roped a few of our colleagues into doing 15-minute TV spots themselves when they visited Springfield.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">We offered our idea—free—to other authors in other states, receiving much approval but no takers. Nobody else opted to do all the work we were doing—also for free. But we were having so much fun! I don’t know about you, David, but it never seemed like work to me. How many retakes did we do because we couldn’t stop laughing?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Trading blog spots with you is also great fun. And I’ve just recently created a Facebook page and am enjoying reconnecting with old friends and making new ones. But what motivated me to join Facebook? The possibility of promoting my husband’s blog, my son’s editing service, and America Writes for Kids, along with my books and plays.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I am who I am, and marketing pressures notwithstanding, that has to be taken into consideration. I have a friend who recently published a book and went whole hog with the self-promotion bit because the small publisher he’s with no longer has a marketing department. He’s invested a good deal of time and money in a publicist, a book trailer, Facebook, etc. When I asked if sales were affected by his efforts, he said he couldn’t be sure. Then he added that HE was being affected, negatively, with feelings of anxiety because he felt he was supposed to be a writer and writers write, they don’t crow.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">We may have been left on our own to market our books, David, but we’ve also been left on our own to nurture our writing, which means nurturing ourselves. So I’ve reached some conclusions that seem right for me and may be helpful to others: </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">1. Life is short. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">2. I need to write. Emphasis on the “need.” Not “should write.” I need to write because I am very unhappy if I don’t write. (Ask my husband.)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">3. Marketing, as my play publisher once said, is a happy thing. It means you have something to market. But it’s not a happy thing if it means doing something that makes me seriously unhappy. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">4. The answer is to find—or invent—ways to meet the demands of the current publishing situation that are fun. Fun is energizing. That energy can then be used to fuel the writing. </span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">You’re the one with the science background, David. What say you about my recycled energy theory?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Part 4: David </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Good grief, Sandy! Recycled energy theory? I’m going to need help from readers on this one! But off the top I’ll say that I love lists and yours is brief, to the point, and provocative. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">So the answer to the author’s self-promoting dilemma, as you say, is to discover ways to promote ourselves that feel comfortable and are fun to do. Hmmm. Well, everyone is different and comfort levels are going to differ too. A list of options that are available to enterprising and energetic authors isn’t all that long. One can visit schools; speak at PTAs and other local groups; hand out business cards and flyers; attend conferences to meet, greet, and sign books; get interviewed on local radio and television stations; be reviewed or interviewed by local magazines and newspapers; and ask at local book stores and libraries about signing and speaking opportunities. The list should include sending letters and e-mail notes to those who might like to know about an author’s latest accomplishment. One can also enter a variety of contests and, for the higher rollers, there’s the possibility of renting a booth at conferences and selling wares directly to the conference attendees. That’s a little like standing behind a fruit stand hawking your own melons, but what the heck. For some, it’s the very ticket. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">And these days there’s a host of Internet-based social media options: websites, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs, podcasts, videos, YouTube, Skype and so on. Sandy, so far I’ve tried several of these so let me tell you more about my experience with blogging. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">When Kathy Temean created my website in 2009, I was proud of the way it looked and glad to finally join the rapidly growing number of authors who present themselves to readers who routinely search the Web for people who write and illustrate books. When Kathy urged me to establish a blog presence, I said no but it didn’t take her long to persuade me to give it a try. I never imagined how time consuming and exhausting it can be to maintain a decent, ongoing blog.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">For one thing, writers write. So give us a blog, it’s like handing out free paper to write on each day and share with an audience of mostly anonymous readers who might or might not drop by to check out what we have to say. It doesn’t take long to begin to feel pressure to make the most of the opportunity. This isn’t Twitter. You have more than 140 characters. It isn’t Facebook. Blog readers don’t want to know what movie you like this week. A writer’s blog is about content and the merit of the content says a lot about the writer. I may write my blog in my pajamas and robe, but I want what I write to be decently dressed and have its hair brushed.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Early on I established a series of interviews of people I know or want to know who are in the business of writing or illustrating or editing or publishing or agenting or teaching or professoring. It has been a fascinating experience and I’ve learned much along the way. But fun though it is, interviewing someone is neither simple nor quick. So far I’ve done about five dozen and look forward to adding others when my time is less restricted than it is at the moment. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I also started a program for poets of all ages called Word of the Month Poetry Challenge. Until recently, I recruited judges who agreed to read entries and select their picks for monthly winners. These days, poets continue to post their work on my blog but we’ve dispensed with judging. In addition, I’ve posted writing tips on poetry, fiction, and nonfiction and, of course, you and I have engaged in several months of chatting in our Writers at Work series.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">All of this takes time—hours of it. Sandy, you may observe that these blog activities have little to do with promoting my work. Like you, I usually find it far more comfortable to cheerlead for others than to wave my own baton and hope there’s a parade behind me.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The benefits of social networking (yes, I also tweet and have a Facebook page; sigh) include the meeting of many fascinating people. If you call this a “circle of influence,” then I suspect that mine has grown. I hope that some of my words and those of others who have appeared as my guests or left comments have been beneficial to readers who drop by.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Am I selling more books as a direct and measurable result of my blogs and tweets and LinkedIn connections and Facebook friends? Sandy, it beats me. I want to say yes but I don’t have a yardstick (blogstick?) for this situation. I think the answer is yes. Certainly I’m busy with books to write. I’ve made meaningful contacts with additional publishers. My publishers know that I’m out there trying to do my part. The price of the effort? It can be hours a day. I’m fortunate in that I have no “second job” to go to and can spend up to twelve hours on good days working at my trade. But not everyone can afford to give up an hour or more of their writing time to add Internet-based efforts to their marketing campaign.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">So, my friend, we’re back where we started. Every author is expected to help promote his or her work. The trick is to choose ways that feel comfortable and fun so that it generates energy. Then, according to Sandy Asher’s theory, we can use that energy to fuel more writing! I’m good with that. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div>Sandy Asherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08311778466602117713noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632956980782008334.post-33476139931137233152011-07-03T16:34:00.000-07:002011-09-06T13:11:07.541-07:00Topic 9: Letters, We Get Letters—and Lots of Email, Too <style>
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<div style="text-align: center;"> <b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Response 1: Sandy</span></b> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Mail, David.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Think about what an important role it plays in the life of a writer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">You and I remember the days when we sent manuscripts off by First Class Mail (it was not yet called snail mail, or even Priority Mail) and waited impatiently each day for the sound of the mailman approaching our door (they were mailmen, not letter carriers).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our hearts sang when we found a white #10 business envelope holding an acceptance letter (and maybe even a check), or they plummeted at the sight of a large manila envelope bringing a rejected piece home to roost.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After many (many, many) of those manila disappointments, the prized #10s showed up with more frequency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And a while after that, our work appeared in print, and a happy day’s mail included complimentary copies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">And after <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that</i>, a new kind of mail began to arrive—letters from readers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">As a playwright, I sometimes get to attend performances of my plays and observe audiences responding to them—laughing at the funny parts, falling silent at serious moments, and applauding at the end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s encouraging!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It makes me want to rush home and write another play.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But authors of books never get to watch their readers enjoying their stories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, that’s not entirely true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I once saw a little girl sitting cross-legged in a supermarket cart, completely absorbed in <i>Teddy Teabury's Fabulous Fact</i> while being pushed up and down the aisles by her mom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">once. </i>(And, no, I did not disturb her by introducing myself.) Normally, unless we’re in a classroom reading to children ourselves, we don’t hear the laughter or the attentive silence, and it’s not likely that even observed readers like the little girl in the cart would burst into applause upon finishing a book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I don’t know about you, David, but sometimes I wonder:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is anybody really out there?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If no one takes the time to drop me a note, I have no idea how my stories are being received.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So when someone <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">does</i> write, it’s absolutely thrilling.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">And sometimes funny.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or touching.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or . . . puzzling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Whenever I speak to groups of children, I ask them how many have written to the author of a favorite book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a great day when more than three raise their hands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We laugh about the fact that when I was their age, I thought all authors were dead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d never met a live one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like dinosaur bones in museums, authors left books behind on library shelves that proved they’d once walked the face of the earth, but I no more expected to meet a live author than a live dinosaur.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So why would I write one a letter?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Then I tell them that’s why you and I developed the America Writes for Kids website, David—to show that real, live authors do still exist, and to provide access to information about them, including email addresses—so much easier than the old letter-to-the-publisher, and almost guaranteed to get a response.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After each of these heartfelt pleas for improved correspondence, sometimes to hundreds of children in a day, I generally get one email the very next morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe two.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I tell myself other children in that group are writing to other authors linked to America Writes for Kids.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Good for them!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I tell myself that TV executives once concluded that every letter they received represented 20,000 people who felt the same way, 19,999 of whom never bothered to write.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Small comfort, since authors deal in considerably smaller numbers, but comfort all the same.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Whatever I tell myself, the fact remains:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That one child’s email means a lot to me, and I promptly reply.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know each letter and email means a lot to you, too, David, so I thought it might be fun for us to share some especially memorable examples of mail we’ve received over the years, electronic or snail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope other authors will chime in with favorites of their own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I hope readers of any age will be inspired to drop a line to their favorite authors and prove that readers really are out there, enjoying their books.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I’ll lead off with a few examples of Most Unusual Correspondence this time, and move on to Most Touching Correspondence next time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the Most Unusual category, I must begin with an email received very recently from a woman who has so enjoyed sharing my book <i>Too Many Frogs!</i> with her fiancé and her 7-year-old daughter that she’s decided to make it the theme of her upcoming wedding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can you imagine my surprise and delight when I turned on my computer that morning and opened that message?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Froggie and Rabbit have been in books, onstage, and on tape and CD, even on tabletops during my presentations, but this will be the first time they’ve attended a wedding.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Somewhere at the other end of the spectrum lies a postcard received from someone who was planning to review another picture book, <i>Stella's Dancing Days</i>, but decided not to and wanted me to know why.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“This book depicts irresponsible pet ownership,” she declared, “because Stella is allowed to roam free, meet another cat, and give birth to kittens.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All true, except the irresponsible part.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">real</i> pets are always neutered and never roam free.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This book was my opportunity to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">pretend</i> to raise a houseful of kittens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stella’s babies will not add to the world’s cat overpopulation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Sometimes, letters come in packets sent by teachers, usually after an elementary school visit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Most Unusual, so far, had a bit of an edge to them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Thank you for coming to our school,” announced the first.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I enjoy visits from authors, and you are one.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I passed muster just by writing a book and showing up!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The other thank-you gave only qualified approval: “I enjoyed your visit, but I doubt anyone else did.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Both letters arrived in the same packet, so I had reason to believe this writer’s doubts were unjustified.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Bring them on, dear readers, emailed or scribbled in pencil, with or without hearts and flowers and characters from my books and portraits of yourself and your pets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I love them all!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I’ll bet you do, too, David.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let’s hear it for readers who write!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Response 2: David</span> </b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thanks, Sandy! I love to hear from readers too. Who doesn’t? They tend to come in three categories. One is the packet of notes required by the teacher after a school visit. “Get out your paper and pencils and think about what we learned today when Mr. Harrison visited our class. What did you remember about what he said? Which poem did you like best?” A second group is from individuals who find something in a book that makes them want to write a fan letter to the author. The third category, which usually comes via the Internet, is from those who not only like our work but seek our help in getting published. That category is probably worthy of another day. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">But back to the teacher-generated notes from students. “Dear Mr. Harrison, thank you for coming to our class. I remember when you dug up your dead pet parakeet and whacked off its wings. Your poem I liked best was ‘Life’s Not Fair’ because it was about running out of toilet paper and it was short. Your friend, Joe.” I read every note. I bet that every author fortunate enough to hear from a child takes the time to read the note and try to respond in an appropriate way.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I dig my way down through the stack, mining for the gold of originality. Every now and then a real voice speaks out and tickles me. When I least expect it, some kid makes me snort out loud and interrupt my wife to read the note. A few years ago I did a book with two voices called <i>Farmer's Garden</i>. It did well so I collaborated with the same artist, Arden Johnson-Petrov, on a follow-up title called <i>Farmer's Dog Goes to the Forest</i>. In both books, Dog stops to examine and interview the things he sees, which results in two-way chats in rhyme. A teacher read the second book to her class and asked her students to write about their thoughts. Here’s what one honest kid had to tell me.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Dear Mr. Harrison,</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Your book is weird. First, the dog is talking to inanimate objects. For example, the dog was talking to a tree, some grass, and the brook. Clearly you can see the book is kind of out there.”</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Sandy</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">, what can you say when someone that young pins you to the wall with such a valid point! In another case, I wrote a poem about a dead wasp I found on a windowsill in our house. “Death of a Wasp” is sad. I visualized the tiny creature’s futile efforts to escape, bumping against the window over and over until it eventually died on the sill. My editor told me she cried when she read the poem. When I read it to groups of adults, all eyes turn solemn. That’s true of most kids, too, except this one. I love his note.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Dear Mr. Harrison,</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">On the wasp poem, I saw my teacher about to cry. I didn’t see why everybody about cried.”</i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">What can I say? If dead insects don’t jerk your tear ducts, they just don’t! Which reminded me, as these notes so often do, that everyone reads with his or her own ideas about what’s good, what makes sense, what’s right, what’s funny, and even what is worthy of tears!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Sandy</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">, do you save your notes from young readers? I do, not all of them, but the ones that really grab me. Sometimes they come in handy, for example, right now. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><ul><li><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Being new:</span> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“I’m new so I relate to the part</i> (in a school bus poem) <i>that says some kids are new but you wave at them too. That’s exactly what happened to me.” </i></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Being rejected:</span> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“I know how it feels to be rejected. I entered in the poetry contest in my school in third, fourth, and fifth grade but I never won. I plan to enter this year. It's my last chance.”</i></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Cursive writing:</span> <i>“You were just like me when I was learning how to write in cursive. I had trouble with the letter </i>X<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">.”</i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Being embarrassed:</span> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“My favorite poem was the one with you falling off the risers. When you fell off the risers I bet you were embarrassed. I have embarrassing moments too.”</i></li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Years ago I was waiting to see an editor at Random House. On the floor by my chair were stacks of boxes of letters from kids addressed to Berenstain Bears. When I asked about them, I learned that letters arrived in such volume that responding sometimes became a problem. Sandy, may I live long enough to receive so many letters that responding becomes a problem! For now, I remain grateful every time a child writes, even when he thinks my book is weird and kind of out there.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Back to you!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">David </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Response 3—Sandy</span></span></b></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK1;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Here are two more correspondence categories to add to your list, David:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Homework Assignment Request</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In the (good?) old days, I’d receive these inquiries forwarded from my publisher, all too often long after the poor student needed the information to meet a deadline.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I felt awful about that!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what can you do other than apologize and hope the young person understands the delay didn’t happen at my end of the slow process, since then aptly named “snail mail.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Nowadays, these requests come by email.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The speed, alas, has resulted in a new kind of problem:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Dear Sandy Asher, I have to write a report about you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tell me all about your life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My report is due tomorrow morning.”</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Dear Author, I have to write a book report.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What’s your book about?”</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Sigh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not much we can do about those either, except explain, politely, that specific questions are welcome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Deflected homework assignments are not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Then we have . . . </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The Deeply Moving, Never-To-Be-Forgotten Personal Letters</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 97.5pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">These are the ones I’d like to talk more about this time around because they’re so important to those who write them—and to me, reading them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also because I think they point to a very special relationship, not so much between reader and author as between reader and character.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Three poignant examples:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My second YA novel, <i>Daughters of the Law</i>, about the child of Holocaust survivors, brought a long, thoughtful response from a middle-school student in Canada.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was quite impressed by her insights and told her so in my return letter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus began years of correspondence—often more than 20 handwritten, two-sided pages from her end—filled with the loneliness of being the shy, sensitive child of foreign-born parents in a not very tolerant environment, plus some charming short stories of her own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Our pen-pal friendship lasted all the way through her high-school years and on into the first few months of college, when the thick envelopes from Canada with their familiar handwriting abruptly stopped arriving in my mailbox.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn’t feel it was my place to inquire further.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believe that for this young woman, as for so many other bright, creative students who don’t fit into their hometowns or their high-school environments, college finally offered a safe haven rich with new opportunities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My support was no longer necessary.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">During the span of the long Canadian correspondence, another YA novel, <i>Just Like Jenny</i>, was republished in Great Britain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The story is about two best friends, Jenny and Stephanie, who find themselves competing against each other in their chosen field of dance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How do you maintain a best friendship with your worst rival?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Across the big puddle came a heartfelt, handwritten letter from a young teenager who told me about a similar situation in her own life, claiming that she felt she couldn’t talk to anyone else about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was “scared, really scared” of losing her dearest friend, and begged for help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I responded as best I could, suggesting that, instead of retreating, she share her concerns with her friend, who might be feeling similar stress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A second letter revealed that this was indeed the case.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“It’s not always perfect, but I feel a lot better now. Thank you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was much easier when I felt someone was backing me.”</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">More recently, I received a letter and a packet of poems from a young woman, mother of four small children, who had read another of my YA novels, <i>Summer Begins</i>, some time earlier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The writer had little in common with Summer, the daughter of an Olympic swimming champ and a university professor, but explained that she’d carried the book around with her for years and had taken heart from the way Summer learned to stand up for herself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The poems included with this letter were a heart-wrenching account of the abuse this reader had endured in her home and in foster care before also standing up for herself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As you know, David, in this case, the reader and I have become lifelong friends, and I’ve been privileged to witness with awe her continuing courage and healing.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">While it’s true that those letters were addressed to me, and I answered them, I’ve always suspected they were not really written to me at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think they were written to Stephanie and Ruthie and Summer, the characters in my books.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was Jo March who told me I could be more than the wife and mother my parents expected of me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She may have come from Louisa May Alcott’s pen, but she was far more real to me than her creator.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Characters in books <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">understand</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They tell us we’re not alone, not in our fears, not in our hopes, not in our nightmares, and not in our dreams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A character who assures a young reader of that can be the best friend that child has, and the one he or she turns to, time and again.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There are days in my writing, when it’s going really well, that I feel as if I’m taking dictation from my characters.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They become that real to me, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They need me to get their stories written down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, sometimes, they need me to answer their mail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do both with pleasure and deep gratitude for their trust.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Response 4: David</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Sandy</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">, as we conclude June’s four-part chat about the correspondence authors receive, I confess that this topic has brought back more memories than any of our others. And I know why, at least in my case. We’ve both said many times that the first thing an adult reader must do when presented with something written by a child is to celebrate the gift. One of my favorite quotes is by Susan Ferraro who writes, “To a great extent, we are what we say and write. Laugh or sneer at how we express ourselves, and we take personal offense: Our words are all about us.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">It’s easy to forget to appreciate the gift of a beginning writer, whose work is disjointed and filled with errors, when our first impulse is to suggest how to make it better. Teachers know this and remind themselves all the time to look past the mistakes to the vulnerable child who is holding his or her breath, hoping for a kind word of congratulations before the red ink comes out. Professional writers, when confronted with less than professional efforts by emerging writers, have to resist the same temptation to make judgments before seeing that adults have the same vulnerability that children do. We may think we’re tougher, but Ferraro got it right: “Laugh or sneer at how we express ourselves, and we take personal offense.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">So, Sandy, back to me, and why I think those letters from fans of all ages mean so much to an author. It’s because they represent unsolicited affirmation that our words are good. We got them right, at least this time, and so maybe we’ll get them right again on something we do in the future. They are, often, among the few positive remarks an author receives. Most editors are good about complimenting what they like, but during the course of editing a book, getting it ready on time to ship off to the copy editor or artist, exchanges between writer and editor become mostly about the business at hand. Adults who buy books for children rarely take time to send fan letters of their own and most children are not likely to think about writing a letter to anyone these days, or an email to someone they don’t know.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">That’s why those letters, notes, and emails that manage to make it to my mailbox or computer screen are meaningful. They got here to my house against some pretty serious odds and are all the more appreciated because of it. Recently a little girl wrote to say, “I like your poems. They are fun. I enjoy reading your poems a lot. Your friend, Camrin.” Camrin took the time to tell me specifically which of my poems she liked best. That made me smile. I got those poems right! She printed her letter on a piece of lined paper, addressed it herself, and (I can imagine) placed it in her mailbox so the postman could pick it up and send it on its way to me.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Sandy</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">, I mentioned last time that people who write asking for information about getting published are another category of an author’s correspondence. Sometimes such letters come from kids but more often they are written by young adults or adults who love the idea of becoming a published author and wonder how to go about it. Such letters can be time consuming to answer, and sometimes the temptation is to rush through them and keep them short. Why can’t these people figure it out on their own? But then I remember how confused I was in the first few years of struggling to get the words right, and how much I appreciated any encouragement and help I could get. And I realize that to be asked how to do it is a form of flattery. The person asking must have decided that I do indeed, at least on occasion, get it right. And so I do my best to see the vulnerable person behind the question who wants very much to become published, and I take a little longer to give a response that might help.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">So, Sandy, it’s a wrap for June’s topic about letters and emails. I’ve had a good time and know that you have too. We’ve also been blessed with a number of warm comments from readers, which are appreciated! </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Folks, Sandy and I are taking off the months of July and August before considering what to do this fall. We are both swamped with work and have travel plans as well.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">David </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Sandy Asherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08311778466602117713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632956980782008334.post-67837761679169413122011-06-01T17:30:00.000-07:002011-06-01T17:33:03.593-07:00Topic 8: Dealing with Speaking Engagements<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Response 1: David</b></div><br />
Hi Sandy! I missed our weekly chats during April but judging from our calendars, those chats weren’t likely to happen and taking a month off was a necessary idea.<br />
<br />
I know that we both have busy Mays as well, but let’s rev up another topic for Writers at Work—our eighth—and hope for the best. Okay? Away we go. Let’s tackle one of the important side benefits of being a writer. We occasionally receive invitations to speak before live audiences about who we are and what we do. These opportunities can be scary for the unprepared so I’ll tell you about my first one and I’m betting that a lot of our readers will have their own first-time experiences to share. Most of us who speak also have some horror tales about being abused and mistreated at the hands of inept festival, school, or conference folks, but I think we ought to save those stories for another episode. No doubt there will be juicy ones to share for that session too!<br />
<br />
Sandy, do you remember our visits with Berniece Rabe at the Children’s Literature Festival in Warrensburg, Missouri? She’s a fine writer of young adult fiction and in 1973 her first <i>Rass</i> book had just been published. My picture book, <i>Little Turtle’s Big Adventure</i>, came out four years earlier so we were both pretty new to the trade. The year that <i>Rass</i> came out I was invited to speak at Lindenwood University in O’Fallon, Missouri to a group of students, teachers, and librarians. The invitation came from Nancy Polette, a powerhouse professor of education and advocate of children’s literature. At that time she may also have been director of the lab school on campus. I think she paid me $50 and I was pleased. It was my first check as a speaker.<br />
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On the big day I drove to Lindenwood and found myself sitting in the auditorium listening as the speaker before me, Berniece Rabe, was introduced. At that moment I became painfully aware that I had no prepared remarks. Nancy had said to talk about my books and say what came naturally. It seemed like good advice over the phone a few months back. Now I wasn’t so sure.<br />
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Berniece walked onto the stage with an engaging smile and made eye contact with everyone in the room. In a charming, confident, poised, prepared, professional voice, she enchanted the audience with the story of her journey as a writer. She then threw herself into long excerpts from <i>Rass</i> in which she became the characters, assuming their voices and acting their parts. As she moved about the stage we were all mesmerized by her performance. She was amazing.<br />
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I was toast.<br />
<br />
“And now our next speaker, David Harrison . . .” <br />
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I’ll spare you the details of what followed. Berniece herself plucked me from the dumps later with her warm encouragement, and Nancy was right there to shore up my defeated ego. Maybe I wasn’t as bad as I thought. Nah, I was. But lessons learned that way do stick with one. <br />
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After all these years I’m still flattered when someone invites me to speak. I’m most at home in front of students in a classroom but these days I’m prepared when I stand before a group of any kind. Maybe I’ll never be Berniece Rabe but no one has tossed a tomato either.<br />
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Sandy, you are, in addition to all your other talents, an actress. Your voice always comes from somewhere that makes me believe what you are saying and hope for more. I’m still not comfortable with a script because I tend to wander off the page now and then and find myself adlibbing my way back to my point. I can’t do PowerPoint presentations for that reason. What works best for me is to have notes or an outline to follow, think about what I want to talk about before the big day arrives, and then sail forth with all the canvas up.<br />
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On formal occasions such as keynotes, commencement addresses, and dedications, I do write out my speech. But before I read a speech to an audience, I read it aloud fifteen or twenty times until I essentially have it memorized. Sandy, I’m eager to hear how you deal with your own speaking engagements. Over to you!<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Response 2: Sandy</b></div><br />
Hello, David and friends. I missed our chats as well. I’m glad we’re back on track. This topic is going to be great fun, what with our many road warrior stories to share. I’m looking forward to having lots of other folks chime in.<br />
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I do remember Berniece Rabe reading from <i>Rass</i>—I was in the audience at the Children’s Literature Festival in Warrensburg when she performed her magic. What I remember best is what a kick she was getting out of doing it, and that’s probably a good rule of thumb for presentations: Enjoy yourself, and others will be happy to join you.<br />
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I also remember the first time you and I presented together, David—or in tandem, actually—also in Warrensburg, but not at the Children’s Literature Festival. It was a graduate class in children’s literature, I believe, and we were invited to speak by the late, great Festival founder and director, Phil Sadler. You went first—and, believe me, by then you had become every bit as hard an act to follow as Berniece. I looked out at that sea of faces, all gazing after you adoringly as you stepped away from the podium, and, before I’d even said a word, I promised myself I’d never speak to a group in your wake again. Next to you, sure. Before you, of course. Down the hall from you, no problem. But after you? Uh-uh. Not until I’d learned to juggle live chickens or levitate or something. I don’t believe I ever have, either. (Not counting this blog, anyway.) <br />
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It’s odd, when you think about it, that published authors are invited to speak to live audiences. If we were such great orators, we probably wouldn’t need to sit alone at our desks and wrestle our thoughts down to the page one word at a time. And then revise them. And then revise that. And then revise it all again before feeling ready to share what we have to say with readers—who are definitely not in the same room with us. <br />
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You mention my theater training, but actors are also not necessarily great orators. If you’ve ever watched one of your favorites struggle through a TV interview or award acceptance speech, you know what I mean. They need writers! Actors contribute a great deal of thought, energy, research, analysis, memorization, and rehearsal time to a play, and they’re brave enough to trot right out there on stage and perform it, but always with the safety net of a prepared script.<br />
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So even with my writing experience and theater training, I knew I was unprepared when my first invitation to speak arrived. I didn’t even have a clue about how to get prepared. I had no idea what writers were supposed to say to anyone—outside of their writing, that is. Fortunately, I was able to ride up to Warrensburg (so important in our lives!) with a couple of Springfield teachers to attend a luncheon where Richard Peck was the presenting author. I could not have found a better role model. He had a prepared speech that was insightful and funny. He referred to it often, but had obviously rehearsed it enough to have it nearly memorized. He spoke with dignity, warmth, and humor about his readers, their needs, his hopes for them, his concerns about them, and the importance of reaching young people through books. He charmed, enlightened, and entertained us, made his point, and sat down. Not one syllable too many, not one moment wasted—his or ours.<br />
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Well. That set the bar pretty high, but at least I knew what clearing the bar looked like. I’ve been striving to do that ever since.<br />
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I hope I’ve come a long way in quality over the years, but I know for sure I’ve come a long way in confidence. My very first talk was to a group of Springfield writers meeting for lunch at the Heritage Cafeteria. When I arrived, I was invited to go through the line and order whatever I liked. Too nervous to eat, but not wanting to offend my hosts by not eating, I selected a little dish of cottage cheese with half a canned peach on top. I figured I could manage to slide that down my throat without choking to death before my presentation. I survived the event, but honestly don’t remember much beyond carefully managing that little dish of food. <br />
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Couple of years later, without giving it a second thought, I found myself chowing down a delicious dinner—complete with a glass of wine—before stepping up to the podium to give a talk about my second book for young readers, <i>Daughters of the Law</i>. As I arranged my pages on the podium, I suddenly remembered the cottage cheese and canned peach—and I had to smile. Here I was, relaxed and eager to share what I had to say with my audience. Had I ever even imagined such a day would come? I was enjoying myself! <br />
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I like to think they were enjoying themselves, as well.<br />
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Your turn, David. Let’s hear it: the good, the bad, and the ugly . . . <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Response 3: David</b></div><br />
Ho-ho-ho. Now we come to the fun part: complaining. Sandy and I have addressed the problems of showing up prepared for the gig. Unfortunately, the person who invites us needs to prepare, too, and the failure to do so can lead to some memorable experiences.<br />
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Here’s one from my bag of nightmares. I was invited to a school in Jefferson City. We agreed on payment and expenses. My contact would reserve a room and provide a map. There was no follow-up correspondence, which should have been a red flag. Today it would be!<br />
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I arrived at the hotel on a frigid January dusk the evening before my visit. There was no reservation and every room was taken. I called my contact. She had forgotten to book a room. The hotel clerk finally found a vacancy in a row of tiny cabins some miles away. It was as frosty inside as out. I lay on the bed in my coat, staring at the lone lightbulb hanging from a cord, thinking, “They’ll find me frozen here in the morning.” Back to the hotel. I offered to lie down on the floor in front of the desk. They found a room. Needless to say, things did not improve the following day. Teachers didn’t know I was coming or why I was there. Some graded papers during my presentation. One left me alone with her kids who promptly treated me to a rousing version of good old-fashioned pandemonium. <br />
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I don’t know which memory is worse, that one or the conference in Boulder, Colorado where I flew from Kansas City to speak and no one knew I was coming. The person who invited me failed to tell the program chair or get me on the agenda. Ah well, I enjoyed sightseeing around the area for a couple of days. It’s very nice there if you don’t have to stop to go speak. <br />
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Sandy, I can hear someone saying, “Didn’t you check with these people? Didn’t you have a contract?” My indefensible answer is, “No.” But both experiences happened more than thirty years ago and times are definitely different now. For one thing, e-mail is better than letters when it comes to keeping in touch with one’s host and pinning down who is doing what for whom. I think a lot of speakers do like contracts up front and invoices after. I probably tend toward a less formal arrangement but everything each party will do is spelled out in my correspondence well ahead of the event. But let’s face it, folks, there are some deplorably incapable people in every profession and once in a while one of them will be holding the other end of our string.<br />
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Oh! I nearly forgot about book signings! Has anyone ever sat behind a table in a hallway or bookstore or auditorium, books stacked at hand, pen at the ready, and watched the dust settle on your shoes? I have. And again, it’s usually a matter of planning ahead to make sure that all parties agree on assigned duties before the event. I remember one bookstore signing that turned out to be a row of authors, each assigned a table. (I thought I was to be the only one.) A woman beside me was selling a book she had self-published and she was just plain serious about hawking her wares. No one could come within twenty feet of her without exciting her into a stand-up routine spieled off at 80 decibels, gobs a’ plenty to kill off every conversation in sight. <br />
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I’ve had great to good experience speaking in schools, festivals, and conferences, probably 90 percent of the time. Another 5 percent have been so-so. But oh, my, that last 5 percent will make you wish you had talked more and planned better. What do you think, Sandy? Are you a member of the 5 Percent Club too? Anything we can do to reduce the dreaded number?<br />
<br />
David <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Response 4: Sandy</b></div><br />
Complaints! I had to dig pretty deeply into my supply of suppressed memories to come up with anything in the same league as your flight to nowhere, David. I can’t imagine the horror of showing up in a distant city only to find out you’re not on the program.<br />
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Rummaging around in that dark corner of the attic of my mind, I did come up with a doozy, though. Wayne, Nebraska. Did you know Wayne, Nebraska, is the home of the annual Chicken Cluck-off? Yup. Happens every July. But I was not there in July. I was there in the dead of winter, and I do mean “dead.” All was bright and clear as my plane landed in Omaha. I was met, right on time, by a friendly gentleman in a pickup truck. I was eager to get to our destination, looking forward to two days of school visits, plus a couple of presentations at a regional teachers’ conference. Amazingly, over the past few months, the teacher who invited me had ordered first 100, then another 100, then a third 100 copies of my latest paperback, <i>Teddy Teabury’s Fabulous Fact</i>, perfect for the elementary-school kids I was going to meet. Apparently, they thought so, too!<br />
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About halfway down the two-lane highway toward Wayne, we hit a wall of snow and sleet. Suddenly, we were fishtailing back and forth across black ice, narrowly avoiding ditches on either side of the road. Finally, my companion got his four-wheel drive switched on and we settled into our own lane—just as a huge semi roared past in the lane we’d just slid out of seconds earlier.<br />
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That was for openers. It snowed, and it snowed, and it snowed. By the time we got to my motel—a Super 8—you couldn’t tell where the sky ended and the earth began, in any direction. It never stopped snowing, the whole time I was in town. School went on, though, and the principal maneuvered his car over snow-packed roads each day to pick me up and deliver me door to door. But with delayed starting times and early dismissals, my classroom visits were reduced to a quick “Here’s the author. We have time for a couple of questions. Bye.” <br />
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The teachers’ conference was canceled. And all those books? Never saw a one of them. Apparently, they never made it out of my hostess’s garage. She hadn’t sold a single one, let alone 300. She’d simply forgotten—twice—that she’d already ordered books, so she kept on ordering them. <br />
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During my stay, I was taken to the same little restaurant for an early dinner and then left at the Super 8 until the next morning. When I finally couldn’t stand my room anymore—or gazing out at the unrelenting whiteness all around me—I wandered down to the tiny lobby. There, I found a single tourist brochure, announcing the annual Chicken Cluck-off. In July. Missed it!<br />
<br />
About halfway back to the airport in Omaha, the snow suddenly stopped, and all turned bright and clear again for my flight home, leaving me to believe that the blizzard never touched any other part of the state—only Wayne.<br />
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But let me end on a more cheerful note—concerning Warrensburg, again. That’s where a little boy taught me an important lesson about how much children appreciate honesty. As you know, David, Children’s Literature Festival participants visit one author after another throughout the day. In one of my groups at my very first Festival was a skinny boy in a faded T-shirt who waved his hand madly as soon as I asked for questions.<br />
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"How old are you?" he wanted to know. <br />
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There was some tittering around the room and a few dirty looks from teachers, but we both did our best to ignore that. "Thirty-eight," I replied, which was true at the time. "How old are you?" <br />
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"Ten," he said. <br />
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"A good age," I told him. "Mine is, too." <br />
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He seemed satisfied, and I went on to answer a wide variety of questions from the rest of the group. Toward the end of the session, the same boy's hand shot into the air again. "Do I dare call on him a second time?" I wondered. "Oh, what the heck." I did.<br />
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"You're very good at this," he announced. "The other lady only got one question."<br />
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We can only guess what that question might have been—and who asked it.<br />
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As for those book signings, David, a bookstore owner once told me the national average for books sold during a signing is two. That’s right, two. So any time I sell three, I announce that I’m above average and rejoice! And those events where no one shows up? Have you ever thought about attending something, decided against it, and then imagined everyone who DID go really enjoyed themselves? That’s the way I’ve come to look at it. The PR goes out announcing the event, always a good thing. Everyone who doesn’t show up thinks everybody else DID show up and had a terrific time. It’s a “virtual success.” Not so bad.<br />
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Life on the road is very educational, don’t you think? And not just for the kids we go out to visit with—in rain, snow, sleet, but so far, not dark of night.Sandy Asherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08311778466602117713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632956980782008334.post-23588383066971119742011-04-11T20:25:00.000-07:002011-04-12T18:44:57.152-07:00Topic 7: Wrestling with Endings<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><i>Facing a month with five Tuesdays, we were very fortunate to have our much-admired colleague Jane Yolen offer to choose a topic for us and lead off.</i><i> </i> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Response 1: Jane Yolen</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">“Endings,” the conference director directed. “Talk about endings.” She was assuming that after almost 300 published books I had some idea of how to make an ending. Assuming that elves don’t sneak in at midnight to finish each and every book for me. Assuming that the editor doesn’t write all my final pages. Assuming that I have more to say than just: “A good ending is one that is both inevitable and surprising,” which is really all that you have to know. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Besides, how can I talk about endings without first saying a word about beginnings? They are the poles of a book, story, even an essay. They balance one another out. If the beginning holds the DNA of the story, the ending has to be able to prove that. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The traditional ending solves the problem, dilemma, or conflict of the main character. The loose bits all tied up. Usually (especially in children’s books) the ending is happy or at least satisfying. Once Max is home his supper is still hot; once Charlie gets to live in the Chocolate Factory his life is good; once the LittlePrincess finds her father, the book is done. Finished. Over. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">But think of this: The ending without the beginning is simply a block, a stoppage, a single bookend, one side of an equation, omega without an alpha. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I am better at beginnings. Can write them all day—and I do. I can show you a file cabinet full of beginnings. Nowhere do I have even a small folder of endings. Most authors don’t write endings to start a book. But it is the endings that people leave the books with, so in some ways the endings are the most important part. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">As I thought about endings—and being a lover of fairy tales—I knew immediately that the deeply rooted last line in folk stories, “And they lived happily ever after,” is the core of what we <i>think</i> we know about endings. We hear it always in our hindbrain because it’s the last line most of us in the West have grown up with. That line stops the story at the point of greatest happiness. The wedding, the homecoming, the mystery unraveled, the villain disposed of, families reunited, babies born. If we went on in the story <i>Cinderella</i>, she might be whispered about in court: after all, her manners are not impeccable, she always has smudges of ash on her nose, and no one can trace her bloodline back enough generations. Perhaps she has grown fat eating all that rich food in the castle, and the prince’s eye has strayed. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">If we went on in <i>The Three Little Pigs</i>, the brother who builds with bricks will have kicked the other two layabouts out of his house, or hired them to run his successful company and they—angry at their lower status—would plot to kill him. But, having little imagination, they would do it the only way they know how, by trying to boil him in the pot that still holds the memory of the wolf’s demise, so of course the brick-building pig would find them out. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">But modern books pose a different problem. They present harder choices. It’s no longer fairy-tale endings we are talking about, but the other stuff, more realistic, stronger, difficult, and maybe not happy-ever-after stuff. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The biggest three problems for me about endings are: </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> 1. I don’t know how to plot, and how do you have an ending without a plot? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 28pt; text-indent: -28pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 28pt; text-indent: -28pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> 2. You have to get over the great wall of Middle to get there, and I hate Middles. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> 3. What happens if the character insists on a different road than the one you </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> thought you had planned? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Whether I think I know the ending before I start, or think I really know it halfway through the book, the right ending always surprises me as much as any reader. And what surprises me the most is how inevitable the ending really is. Even if I hadn’t known how things were supposed to go, the story had known it all the time. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">When I wrote the historical novel <i>The Gift of Sarah Barker</i>—“<i>Romeo and Juliet</i> in a Shaker community” is what I called it to myself—I expected the boy Abel and the girl Sarah to fall in love, which they did. Have adventures, which (in a way) they did. And leave the Shaker community, which they certainly did, because the Shakers did not believe in any boy/girl or man/woman (and certainly no homosexual) pairings at all. Shakers were meant to be as asexual, as innocent, as angels. But I also expected that the two would get married, have a child, and Abel would go off to fight and die in the Civil War, leaving Sarah to return to the Shaker community with her baby, there to become her baby’s “sister” as her own mother had done with her. It was a perfect arc for the novel. In the beginning is the ending. But it was not the arc my novel wanted to take. When I reached the end, I so loved my characters and what they had gone through to earn their love, I knew the book couldn’t turn into tragedy. Not even a <i>Cold Mountain</i> kind of transcendent love tragedy. Sometimes a book earns a powerful tragic ending. But not this one, it needed a positive ending. Actually, it insisted on such an ending. So Abel lived a long, good life with Sarah, helped raise their child, not only because I couldn’t bear to kill him young, and not only because I knew that Sarah would never go back to the Shakers dragging a child with her, but because the story wouldn’t allow it. So I discovered the ending as I began to write it, as it turned away from tragedy into the proper love story it was meant to be all along. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">So perhaps one way to look at endings is a process of discovering what the book itself wants and needs, and in that way also finding the ending that you—the author—wants. Maybe the moral of this is that sometimes you have to write the wrong ending many times till finally, by a process of elimination or sheer fatigue, the right one gets written. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I want my novels to end with what I call “the getting of wisdom.” Authors have major themes in their lives that they tend to hit over and over again, even when they don’t realize that’s the story they’re telling. So Hannah/Chaya comes home to the future with an understanding of the past in <i>The Devil’s Arithmetic</i>. Young Merlin at the end of *The Young Merlin Trilogy knows that he has a destiny, and a child to care for, though he is barely out of childhood himself. Marina and Jed in <i>Armageddon Summer</i> find out that they have to and can make choices for themselves, and not get carried willy-nilly into their parents’ craziness ever again. The getting of wisdom for the characters—and I must admit, for this author as well. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Because make no mistake about endings: though in real life they are final, and we have no do-overs, in fictional life this may not truly be The End. Especially not when the publisher waves a rather large check in your direction, and promises much marketing. . . </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Here are three things that you should NOT do when you get to that END: </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 28pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">1. No deus ex machina ending. No glorious messenger arriving with the king’s pardon out of the blue. Your characters, and what they have done throughout the book, must be the ones to have set in motion what happens at the end. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 28pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">2. No changing horses or plot or conflict in midstream in order to make things more exciting at the end. You have to have everything grow organically to earn the ending. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> 3. Don’t give us 300+ pages of a book in which we are totally invested in the </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 28pt; text-indent: -28pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> story, only to give us the climax offstage. Because after that, no ending will seem worth the hard ride. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Here are three things you SHOULD do when you get to that END: </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 28pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">1. Deliver what you promised. This means you must be true and logical to what has gone on before. The last page, the last line is not where you give us a Glasgow kiss. (That’s a head butt, for those of you who don’t do Things Scottish.)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 28pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 28pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">2. If the book is meant to be really and truly over (not just a set-up for books 2–7) tie up the loose ends, offer the explanations, and then leave. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 28pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 28pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">3. Brevity in an ending is to be desired. Not forty more damned pages while you let us know what EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER will be doing for the rest of their lives, not to mention their children and grandchildren. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 28pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Oh and that last line: the kicker, the killer. Make it sing. Make it memorable. Let it rise to the numinous. Have it break out into the ether. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 28pt; text-indent: -28pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> From <i>Where the Wild Things Are</i>: Max gets home, finds his dinner waiting—<i>And it was still hot.</i> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 28pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 28pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">From George Orwell’s <i>Animal Farm</i>: <i>The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.</i> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 28pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> From Orwell’s <i>1984</i>: <i>He loved Big Brother.</i> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 28pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">From <i>Charlotte’s Web</i>: <i>It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both.</i> (Okay, I cheated on the last as it’s two lines.) But that’s what you aim for. THAT kind of last line. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Response 2: Sandy</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">“Hear! Hear!” I say to Jane Yolen’s comments about endings. “I agree!” “Ditto!” And “What <i>she</i> said!”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Her advice on what endings must do and be is so insightful, I have to admit she left me wondering what I might add. “Hold on,” I told myself, “this is a blog about personal experiences in the writing trade, and nobody else—not even Jane Yolen—has had a single one of your personal experiences.” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">“True enough,” I answered myself, and proceeded to recall my personal experience of the wrestling match known as finding the right ending. The first thing that came to mind is a common plaint I hear when I speak to groups of very young aspiring writers: “I’ve been writing this story and it just goes on and on and on and I don’t know how to end it.” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">“Take a look at these three ingredients of a story,” I suggest. “Character. Problem. Resolution. Who is your main character? What does she want? What’s standing in her way? What does she do about that? How does it all turn out? It’s that simple. When you know what your main character wants, you know your ending. Either she gets it or she doesn’t. The middle is all about when and where and how and why.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Okay, it’s not exactly “that simple.” But it is simpler than writing incident after incident after incident of a never-ending saga. In theory, anyway. The right ending grows organically out of the right beginning and the right middle. In practice, things can get complicated again.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">So here I sit with twenty-five early drafts of <i>Here Comes Gosling!</i>, an eventually published picture book. Ten of these drafts have completely different endings from one another and from the final version. The story, in brief: Froggie and Rabbit eagerly prepare for the arrival of guests—Goose, Gander, and especially new baby Gosling. Froggie can hardly wait to meet her! But babies rarely respond as anticipated. Froggie’s enthusiastic greeting inspires horrendous honks of discontent. Froggie retreats, discouraged, while the others try in vain to placate Gosling. Now Froggie is perfectly content to wait as long as the honking persists. While he waits, he hums . . . and then sings . . . and then dances. A captivated Gosling stops her honking to watch, and their friendship begins. The visit culminates happily with a picnic, a story, and a sleepy farewell.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Basically, it’s a story about waiting. How hard it is to do. How what you’re expecting isn’t always what you get. How patience can eventually pay off.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In my first draft, there wasn’t even a Gosling. Instead, Froggie and Rabbit needed to head out of town to meet a new baby bunny. After some frustrating preparation and much delay, they arrive. Froggie announces his gift for the bunny is a story he will read to her himself. Last line: <i>And he did</i>.<i> </i>Yes, the beginning and middle were just as dull flat. It was a story about waiting, all right. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I tried again, with basically the same beginning and middle about getting ready to leave town. Beginning: <i>“I’m taking a trip, Froggie,” Rabbit said. “Would you like to join me?” </i>Well, that’s not too bad. Trips promise fun. Of course, Froggie says yes. Middle: Again, there’s much tidying up and packing and fussing about. The ending? (Please forgive me. I usually don’t share this dreadful stuff with others.)<i> “Let’s go!”</i> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">They never even get to leave town, let alone meet the new bunny! A clear case of a hopeful beginning defeated by a nonexistent middle that then leads to a flop of an ending that’s trying way too hard to convince the reader something exciting is going on here.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I hope you’ve forgiven me. I forgave myself and pushed on. Many times. Eventually, the bunny disappeared, the trip was abandoned, the geese showed up at Rabbit’s house instead, and the honking began. All very nice, but this time I got myself tangled up in a fancy-schmancy, quasi-poetic beginning: <i>The sun was still half asleep when Froggie heard a tap-tappity-tapping at his door. </i>In spite of everything else finally falling into place, that beginning eventually trapped me in another deadly ending: <i>The sun was already half-asleep when they all headed home. “Shhhhh,” Froggie said.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The sun is not—and should not be!—a character in this story!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">It was never a matter of just reworking the ending. The whole story needed to be revised and revised and revised until it flowed. Until everything it needed to flow was included and everything that kept it from flowing was gone. And when it flowed, it flowed right from the beginning through the middle to the ending it couldn’t live without. As Froggie progresses from eager anticipation to confused disappointment to renewed enchantment, Gosling also changes. When we first meet her, her honk of dismay is loud and frightening. Then, as she comes to enjoy Froggie’s antics, her honk becomes <i>“a soft, sweet sound.”</i> And finally, the last line, the only possible last line after a long, hectic, hard-won happy day comes as Froggie finishes reading her a story: <i>And the new baby Gosling snored a goosey snore, “HonKKKKkkkkKKKKkkkk . . .”</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">And on that quiet note, David, I hand wrestling with endings over to you.</span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal;"><b>Response 3: David</b> </span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal;"></span></b></div><b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></b></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> <br />
</span></b><b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Thank you, Jane and Sandy, for bringing so much wisdom and practical advice to this month’s subject. Sandy, you lamented following Jane’s grand opening. How do you think I feel following both of you?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">But name me one writer who doesn’t have an opinion about writing and I’ll show you where he’s buried. You want good endings, how about the one in Barbara Robinson’s fabulous story, <i>The Best Christmas Pageant Ever</i>? In the beginning we meet the six Herdman kids, who lie and steal and smoke cigars and disrupt school and traumatize kids, parents, and teachers alike. They take over the annual Christmas pageant at school and threaten to wreck it. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">But things change in surprising ways. The last sentence in the book could only be uttered by a Herdman, and you wouldn’t “get it” if you hadn’t just witnessed a remarkable transformation in Gladys Herdman, who stands there yelling at the audience, “Hey! Unto you a child is born!” I’ve read that book a number of times. Every time I get goose bumps and tear up with joy. That’s what a good ending can do.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Jane and Sandy, you both give good examples of how authors struggle to find just the right way to end a story. Part of the mystery of writing is that we don’t always see the whole vision when we set out. It’s like working a jigsaw puzzle and getting down to the last, odd-shaped hole in the picture, before the final piece, the ending, falls into place.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Jane spoke about novels and Sandy brought in picture books. I don’t write novels but occasionally write long nonfiction books. I think in my next response it might be fun to talk about endings to nonfiction books and maybe even poetry. But this time I’ll pick up on Sandy’s comments about picture books.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Sandy</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">, I think what makes the ending of a picture book important is that it can trigger the reaction in the young listener that authors love to hear: “Read it again!” Some endings are sad but as Jane points out, children’s literature abounds with happy endings, or at least ones that seem fair and fulfilling and maybe inspiring. I loved Pat Brisson’s book, <i>Wanda’s Roses</i>. Her heroine cleans up a junky lot and enlists the help of the adults she meets, all of whom know that the thorn bush Wanda keeps calling a rosebush will never bloom no matter how hard she tries to encourage it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In the end, Wanda’s enthusiasm and trust inspire the adults to do more than help clean up. The last sentence says it all. <i>And later that summer the whole lot was filled with the biggest, most beautiful, sweetest-smelling roses that anyone had ever seen—just as Wanda had always said it would be.</i> With such a satisfying ending, the only thing left for a child to say is, “Read it again!”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I remember other books like that, stories that left our daughter Robin and her brother Jeff begging for another reading, and another. What a great way to expand vocabulary and engage thinking and imagination in children. Of course the whole story has to be good but the ending matters hugely.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The thirtieth thing I wrote, in 1967, was a picture book called <i>Little Turtle’s Big Adventure</i>. A small turtle loses its home by a pond when a road is built through it and must set off in search of another place to live. The journey is long and lonely and sad. Eventually a pond is discovered and the turtle settles into its new life. I knew all that would happen before I started writing. What I didn’t know was how I would end the story. At the end of the first draft I still didn’t know. I don’t remember how many drafts it took before the final piece of the puzzle revealed itself but, eventually, it did, and it seemed totally inevitable and right. <i>He closed his eyes and took a nice long nap in the warm sun.</i> It was a happy conclusion to a desperate adventure that ended well. Captain Kangaroo read the story on his show.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Sandy, Jane, have you ever used the kind of ending that I call, for lack of a better term, the boomerang? The beginning returns as the ending. The first sentence in <i>When Cows Come Home</i> begins, <i>When cows come home/At the end of the day.</i> The last sentence is, <i>Farmer winks/And milks away/When cows come home/At the end of the day.</i> Between the first and last lines the cows go off on a rambunctious holiday behind the farmer’s back but, in the end, I needed to bring them back to reality, back to the barn, home to be milked. I tried all sorts of endings before I realized that what I was trying to say is that some things don’t change. No matter what, cows come home at the end of the day. I think young readers and listeners feel reassured when they can count on the day ending the way it should.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Okay, dear Sandy, back to you for your second hitch at this wrestling business. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Response 4: Sandy</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Yes! David, I couldn’t agree with you more about the sheer perfection of Barbara Robinson’s last line in <i>The Best Christmas Pageant Ever</i>. It’s the perfect ending to a perfect book. Tears of joy, indeed.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In fact, I ran downstairs—okay, limped downstairs with my recently bashed knee—to my autographed-copy bookshelf to read it again. Then I remembered I’d lent it to a friend. (I really need two copies of that book, one to lend and one to keep in case the other never gets returned.) But here’s what I was looking for: Is that unexpected but totally appropriate shout of “Hey! Unto you a child is born!” really the last line? Don’t the other characters react? Doesn’t Barbara want to say a few words about the religious and social significance of that line? To me, that line in that context has its traditional meaning, but it also applies to our need to wake up and pay attention to all children, including the very challenging Herdmans of this world.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Nope. There is nothing after that line. There is no reaction from the other characters. There is no speech from the author. It’s not surprising to learn that Barbara Robinson has a theater background. She knows that when the problem is solved (the pageant is uniquely saved), the tension of the story drops and there’s only one thing left to do—<i>get off the stage</i>!<i> </i>By doing so without so much as a backward glance, Barbara accomplishes exactly what you’ve advised, David: Want to think more deeply about what the other characters’ reactions might be? Want to explore the meaning of the story further? <i>Read the book again!</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Oh, my. You really sat us down at the feet of a master, David. Now there’s an even longer line of wise words for me to follow. What can I possibly add?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Well, I can answer your question about the boomerang ending. Yes, absolutely, I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again. For example, there’s my second book about Rabbit and Froggie, <i>What a Party!</i> My original title for that book was <i>What a Day!</i>, and I wish the marketing folks hadn’t messed with it. (But that’s another topic we can take up later.) For me, this is a story about the fullness of a day. Froggie wakes up in his comfy bed in his cozy home, wildly excited about attending his grandfather’s birthday party. Off he goes, and, indeed, he has a wonderful time. But the party ends. Everyone’s tired. It’s time to go home. Froggie doesn’t want to leave—<i>ever</i>! Eventually, he does go home, as we all must, and rediscovers the comfort and coziness waiting for him there. It’s a fine place to be at the start and at the end of a lovely day. If the reader wants to linger a bit longer at Grandpa’s party, of course, he or she can read the book again.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Since you’re moving on to nonfiction and poetry endings in your next post, David, I think I’ll say a bit more about plays. In fact, I’ll talk about boomerang endings AND plays. Right now, I’m working on a new script called <i>Walking Toward America</i>. It’s based on my dear friend Ilga’s experiences in Europe during World War II. When Ilga was between the ages of 10 and 17, she and her family fled their home in Riga, Latvia; spent time in a forced labor camp in Germany; walked over 500 miles in two wintry months; spent several years in Displaced Persons camps; and finally sailed to America through the worst Atlantic storm in many years. Ilga has written about these events in a series of short stories and also in a longer essay for a community life story project. So I have plenty of material to draw from. More than enough, as you’ll see.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">After much thought and shifting around of those jigsaw puzzle pieces you mention, David, I’ve decided to start the play with Ilga on the ship; then, as the storm is at its worst, cut back to a joyful time in Riga; go through the labor camp and the long, treacherous walk westward; and finally cut back to the ship again as the storm ends and Ilga and her family arrive in New York harbor. The end. That leaves out about six years in DP camps. It also leaves out Ilga’s delightful story about her family’s final destination of Oak Lawn, IL, where they’re introduced to the wonder of Wonder Bread. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Why omit such rich material? Believe me, it hasn’t been an easy choice. But even though there were challenges in those DP camps (two or more families to a room, for instance) and great humor in that loaf of Wonder Bread, at those points, the family is safe. And “safe” means a drop in the story’s tension. Recognizing that, I feel I have to stick with the high-tension moments, mention the DP camps in passing, then get her to America, and <i>get her off the stage</i>. By using “the boomerang ending,” I’m able to do that. No P.S. about the Wonder Bread, just as there’s no P.S. after Barbara Robinson’s final line. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">That said, I’ll get off the stage myself. And that’s your cue, David.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Response 5: David</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Sandy, you and Jane have covered endings of fiction very well. For my second go at the subject, I’ve decided to tackle endings for nonfiction and poetry. These share much in common with fiction but there are differences.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My most recent nonfiction title, <i>Mammoth Bones and Broken Stones</i>, tells of the archaeological quest to identity the first people to migrate to the North American continent. One advantage of writing nonfiction is that we frequently know how our narrative will end before we begin. In my case, the answer was that we still don’t know with certainty who the original settlers were, which means that we also can’t be sure of where they came from or how and when they arrived. Swell! So how, I wondered, can I end a book for a quest that hasn’t yet succeeded?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Sandy</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">? Jane? You publish nonfiction too. How do you handle this situation? If it were fiction, I might introduce the character(s) and the situation; struggle through various efforts to resolve, improve, or accept it; and look for a perfectly timed, dynamite ending. As a reader I figure I deserve a reward at the end, something to keep me thinking about what I just read.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I decided to treat the beginning and ending of <i>Mammoth Bones</i> like bookends, sandwiching the story of the search between them. I went back to my beginning and strengthened early statements about how hard it would be for scientists to ever determine the absolute, irrefutable answer. That set up my ending scenario, at least in my head, long before I got to it. Once there, instead of ending with one memorable sentence—sorry, Jane, I really tried!—I went with a cluster of concluding thoughts:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Who were North America’s first people? We still don’t know. It may have taken thousands of years and wave after wave of new arrivals from different locations to finally settle here. Whether they came on foot or by boat, they came. Our quest goes on.</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Do you ever tear up during the closing scene of a movie or play? I do. Sometimes I need a minute or two before trying to speak. A good ending gets me every time. This goes for poetry too. I want to mention poetic endings before wrapping up. Poems that end memorably tend to be the ones we go back to reread. Poems in rhyme and meter can be harder to manipulate than poems in free verse, but even so it’s always good for readers to feel that the poet left them at the right place and time.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Sandy</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">, I know that you and Jane can quote great examples from your own work but here are three examples. One is mine; the other two are not bad either. (Me winking.)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> 1. From “Introduction to Poetry,” in <i>Sailing Alone Across the Room </i>by Billy</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> Collins</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> Subject: How to enjoy a poem.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> Ending: <i>They begin beating it with a hose</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> to find out what it really means.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> 2. From “On the Road,” in <i>Delights and Shadows</i> by Ted Kooser</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> Subject: Picking up a pebble on the road</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> Ending: <i>Put it back, something told me,</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> put it back and keep walking.</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> 3. From “Making Ready,” in <i>Pirates </i>by David L. Harrison</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> Subject: Pirate captain watching green recruits loading ship</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> Ending: <i>They’ll learn soon enough to be pirates,</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> for now let ’em count and dream.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Perfect endings are rare and good ones are hard to come by in any genre. They can’t all be blue ribbon winners. Whether delivering a speech, writing a picture book, finishing a novel, creating a play, or composing a song, writers sweat more over beginnings and endings than anywhere else in their work. In the end, it’s worth it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Jane, thanks for bringing this one to the table. Sandy, as always, it has been a pleasure. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">David </span></div>Sandy Asherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08311778466602117713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632956980782008334.post-60600927407506243932011-03-01T18:21:00.000-08:002011-03-04T15:11:32.293-08:00Topic 6: Pros and Cons of Having an Agent<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Response 1: David<br />
</b></div><br />
Sandy, I know that writers with agents are asked why they have one and writers without are asked why they don’t. I don’t so I’ll go first.<br />
<br />
That’s not quite accurate. I share a fine agent—Wendy Schmalz—when I work with you. Wendy has represented you, and therefore me, on <i>Dude</i>, the collection of stories, plays, and poems for boy readers that we did with Dutton.<br />
<br />
Nor can I say I’ve never had an agent of my own because somewhere in the dim past, twenty-five or thirty years ago, I tried an agent for about a year. We weren’t a good mix and went our separate ways. More about that shortly.<br />
<br />
There are certainly pros to having a good agent. Many publishers don’t want to look at manuscripts from authors they don’t know. Dealing with agents cuts down on the mass of unsolicited submissions to read and in these days of bare bones staffing, an agent who sends quality material might be more of an asset than ever. So yes, an agent can open doors.<br />
<br />
But I’m pretty sure an agent can’t sell pap. I still shake my head remembering some of my early manuscripts. I was writing short stories still so protoplasmic they sort of flopped about from page to page in search of a backbone, a beginning, an ending. I didn’t get that, of course. I was in my twenties, convinced that each story was original and issued from my soul. <br />
<br />
I don’t remember why I didn’t seek an agent in the beginning. I’m not sure I knew to consider the idea. I wonder if most writers these days automatically start the search for an agent before they’ve written more than one or two manuscripts. I’ve heard that finding a good agent is roughly the equivalent of getting published without one, but maybe that’s because agents have to plow through a lot of unpolished manuscripts. Again, I’m guessing.<br />
<br />
On my own I soon developed the habit of grinding out one masterpiece after another and setting them off in all directions like cheap roman candles. By the time I sold my first story, I had been winging it for six years, the no-agent habit was established, and I had managed to acquire a modicum of writing skills the hard way.<br />
<br />
Years and books later, my muse took early retirement. Nothing for the ages was emanating from my trusty soul. Obviously, I needed an agent! Given that I was well published, I found one soon enough. The problem was that in a twelve-month period he placed one manuscript, a picture book that I had presold before we met.<br />
<br />
Bad agent? Maybe, but probably not. I wasn’t writing well and knew it. I didn’t blame the guy for being unable to place stories that weren’t my best work. We split ways, I coaxed my muse out of retirement, and I’ve been placing my own work ever since.<br />
<br />
Sandy, you have far more experience with agents than I do so I look forward to your comments. I hope we’ll hear from agents and authors willing to share their own thoughts and experiences. <br />
<br />
Back to you.<br />
<br />
David <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Response 2: Sandy</b></div><br />
Experience with agents? Yessiree! I’ve had six of them over the years, including, most recently, the aforementioned and mighty fine Wendy Schmalz. And the dear, departed Claire M. Smith, whom I’ve quoted more than once. And Craig Tenney, who took over my contracts at Harold Ober and Associates when Wendy left to form her own agency. And three others, who shall remain nameless.<br />
<br />
But more about that in a moment.<br />
<br />
Like you, David, I’ve placed a lot of my work on my own—all of my plays as well as the articles, short stories, and poems that have appeared in magazines. Back in the day, there wasn’t the pressure for children’s authors to get an agent that writers feel now. Children’s book editors were open to reading unsolicited manuscripts, advances weren’t big enough to attract many agents, and contracts were maybe a single generation away from a trustworthy handshake. There were no corporate lawyers involved; no electronic rights, either. I think my first book contract was maybe four or five pages long. Contracts for a three-page picture book these days might easily run to twenty single-spaced pages of legal gobbledygook, including references to means of communication not yet invented. (Books by telepathic distribution, anyone? Buy your subscription now!)<br />
<br />
My first agent, later quite successful, was at the time of our meeting as much a beginner as I was. A friend of mine had published an adult novel and found an agent for himself. That agent had a new associate who wanted to handle books for young readers. That new associate took me on, on the strength of my magazine and play publications. For a year she tried to sell early drafts of <i>Daughters of the Law </i>and various incarnations of my picture book ideas and failed. Finally, she informed me—gently, but honestly—that we were not doing one another any good, and she recommended a more experienced agent. <br />
<br />
That one <i>also</i> took me on—and placed me in the very last stall of her very large stable of authors, some of them impressively rich and famous. She rarely visited my stall. She rarely answered my phone calls or my letters. No e-mail in those days, but I strongly suspect she would not have answered my e-mails, either. Looking back, I suppose her theory was that I showed promise and eventually I'd send her something she could easily sell. No hurry. When that time came, she'd trot me out to the starting gate. <br />
<br />
In the meantime, I sent her manuscripts—revisions of <i>Daughters of the Law</i> and a string of those ever-hopeful picture books. As far as I know, she never submitted a single one of them to publishers. Two years passed. I grew so angry, frustrated, and sick at heart, I stopped writing. The woman was, for some of her clients, wildly successful, and for others, like me, toxic. I finally called her secretary and said, "Gather up everything you can find and mail it back to me. Whatever this relationship is, it's over."<br />
<br />
At about that time, my brother-in-law had hopped onto a low rung of the publishing ladder as an editorial assistant. He had also written a novel. He decided he could be an agent on the side and peddle both of our manuscripts. A year passed, he rose quickly through the publishing ranks as an editor, but couldn't sell either of our books, disproving once and for all the myth that it helps to know someone in the business. He knew <i>himself</i> in the business, and it didn't make a bit of difference!<br />
<br />
If a manuscript is not marketable, it's not marketable.<br />
<br />
But he did meet Claire Smith, and finally suggested he send both of our books to her. A few months later, Claire accepted me as a client and eventually sold my first novel, not <i>Daughters of the Law</i>—that was still one draft away from ready—but <i>Summer Begins</i>—after five or six revisions and the same number of rejections. <br />
<br />
As you supposed, David, an agent cannot sell a book before it’s ready. Even with an agent—and a good one; she was Judy Blume's agent as well—there are still rejections. <br />
<br />
Lesson learned: Finding an agent does not mean living happily ever after. Any more than getting married means living happily ever after. Neither relationship is guaranteed to solve all your problems. In fact, each can present you with a whole new set of problems! And both work out most happily when you're really ready and you find someone you can respect and work with comfortably.<br />
<br />
Next time, I’ll talk about why I’m glad I have an agent and how we’ve worked together. But now, David, I’m eager to hear more about how you’ve managed so beautifully on your own! <br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><b>COMMENT POSTED BY JANE YOLEN TO SANDY’S ARTICLE:</b></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Ten years ago—maybe even five years ago—I was still telling my students that a GOOD agent was wonderful to have but not necessary. Now I am saying just the opposite, all due to the change in the marketplace.</div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Unlike Sandy, I have had the same agency (though two agents since my last agent died and her assistant took over) for all but my first five books. I bless the day I joined forces with Curtis Brown Ltd. I couldn’t possibly have produced as many books as I have without them. I can concentrate (mostly) on writing and they on the business side of things, especially in this ever-changing market. Though I am still very aware of changes, always read my contracts, and ask a lot of questions.</div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">That’s the important thing to remember. Having an agent is like having a doctor. You still have to take responsibility for keeping up on what is affecting your health—personally and professionally.</div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Jane</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Response 3: David</b></div><br />
If you read Sandy’s response last week, she ended by asking me to describe how I’ve gotten along without an agent all these years. Jane Yolen supplied her position, which is that having an agent has played a key role in her ability to stay on task writing and not have to worry as much about placing her work. Good points well made.<br />
<br />
Gulp. Where do I start? I’m going to start with the way I started. I was a pharmacologist working in a laboratory. My job was science. I brought home journals to read at night. I published and presented at conferences years before I knew what NCTE or IRA or ALA stood for. When I sat down to work on a fiction story, it always came late in a long day. I was nearly always tired and sleepy.<br />
<br />
I was young, uninformed about writing, and knew no one who could mentor me. I read in a <i>Writer’s Market </i>how to write query and cover letters, how to type a manuscript, how to submit a story. That was my education. I almost stumbled into a vanity press offer on a novel I wrote and couldn’t place. I agonized over the pros and cons of spending the $1,200 it would cost me to see my book in print. This at a time when my salary with a master’s degree was under $6,000.<br />
<br />
Could I have used an agent? Probably. Could I have obtained one? Probably not. I didn’t try. Sandy and Jane, I bet you were better writers at an early stage than I was in the infancy of mine. I went on sending out stories. I’ve always been a record keeper. I count things. As I write this, four crows in our hackberry tree are eyeing the fresh birdseed in our feeders. Part of my job in the lab was to keep records. By night at my desk in the bedroom I kept records about my fruitless writing efforts—word count, where submitted, cost of postage.<br />
<br />
My first story, “From Day to Day,” was 5,600 words long and cost 16 cents to mail to <i>Atlantic Monthly</i> in 1959. I also sent it to <i>The Virginia Quarterly Review</i> and <i>Arizona Quarterly</i>, both in 1961, before I gave up on it.<br />
<br />
Seven years later I sold something (to <i>The Young Crusader</i>). I put a star by the title in my record book (“Jule Learns to Ride”), the amount I received ($5.03), and went on with the business of representing myself.<br />
<br />
One year later I sold my first picture book, <i>The Boy with a Drum</i>.<br />
<br />
A year after that Random House accepted <i>Little Turtle</i>, which was read on national television (<i>Captain Kangaroo</i>).<br />
<br />
When an editor in Chicago expressed interest in a nonfiction book I proposed, I bought a plane ticket to Chicago. The meeting resulted in <i>The Book of American Caves</i>. <br />
<br />
The following year I flew to New York for the first time to meet with an editor at American Heritage Press. We agreed that I would write a picture book with three stories about giants. <i>The Book of Giant Stories</i> was out in 1972 and won a Christopher Award.<br />
<br />
Over the 39 years since then I’ve made numerous trips to New York City to meet with editors with whom I’ve worked or hope to work. I spend part of nearly every day exchanging e-notes with editors. These are generally business-related exchanges. Editors know I won’t waste time, theirs or mine. When I have questions about a contract, I ask for clarification. If I don’t like something, I point it out and we discuss it. Sometimes I win the point, but not always. On occasion I’ve negotiated bigger advances, higher royalty percentages, and improved escalation clauses.<br />
<br />
Am I better off representing myself? I don’t know. I don’t begrudge what an agent earns for his or her efforts on a writer’s behalf. Undoubtedly an agent can open doors and a good one can reach hard-to-reach editors at major houses. I know that Jane is right. Doing it on my own takes time away from my work. My way is just my way. It’s how I got started. It feels natural. I keep doing it. Now I have confessed all.<br />
<br />
Sandy my friend, back to you.<br />
<br />
David <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Response 4: Sandy</b></div><br />
David, I remain in awe of your perfectly matched skills as writer and businessman. I had to smile at your admitting to your lifelong numbering of things. You always know exactly how many topics we’ve covered and which response we’re up to. My number set consists of one, a couple, a few, quite a few, a whole lot, and a gazillion. Not really useful for negotiating purposes.<br />
<br />
True story: Some years ago, the artistic director of what was then the Emmy Gifford Theatre in Omaha, NE, took me out to dinner. He’d produced a couple of my plays and had invited me to town to see one of them, <i>A Woman Called Truth</i>. A lovely, totally professional production. The restaurant was lovely, too. After our meal, this gentleman informed me that he wanted to commission a new play for his company. “What would you like to write about?” he asked.<br />
<br />
Now this is not a common occurrence, at least not for me. Most of the time, I write and then hope I can find someone who wants to produce or publish what I’ve written. Here was the highly respected artistic director of a first-rate professional theater telling me he was hiring me to create whatever I liked—before I’d even thought of it, let alone written a single word! In an attempt to slow my racing heart, I looked down—and happened to see the medallion on my necklace, a wolf howling at the moon. I’ve been a wolf enthusiast ever since reading Jean Craighead George’s <i>Julie of the Wolves</i>, a book that also influenced my future as a YA novelist. “Wolves,” I said. “I’d like to write a play about wolves.”<br />
<br />
“Fine,” came the reply. “How much do you think you’ll need?”<br />
<br />
Brace yourselves, David and friends. You’re about to be bowled over by my incredibly poor business acumen. “Um. I don’t know,” I said. (Wait. It gets worse.)<br />
<br />
“Well,” he said, “my dream is to support playwrights so they can do their best work without worrying about money. So how about $8,000?”<br />
<br />
Eight? Thousand? Dollars? That was a lot of money in those days; in playwriting terms, it’s still a lot of money. My response? (Here it comes, folks.) “Why would you pay me so much money to do something I’d be happy to do for free?”<br />
<br />
Clearly, I need an agent to protect me from myself. If this tale isn’t enough to convince you, just ask my husband. I do what I do because I love doing it, because I can’t NOT do it. After 40+ years in this business, it’s still hard for me to believe others are supposed to pay me to do it, are EXPECTING to pay me, even ENJOY paying me. After 40+ years of marriage, it’s still hard for my husband to believe I’m wired this way. He doesn’t seem to find it endearing.<br />
<br />
So having an agent is as important to my marriage as it is to my career. I’m free to write; someone else worries about the money. Someone else bugs publishers when checks don’t show up. Someone else untangles snafus about subsidiary rights. Someone else keeps an eye on which editors are looking for what I do best, and which will never be interested in anything I do. Someone else keeps track of the numbers. <br />
<br />
Yes, she takes a percentage of what I earn. She’s well worth it. And, yes, she’s not a guarantee of eternal success. There have been manuscripts she’s felt weren’t ready to submit and therefore would not submit. She has a reputation to protect, too. And there have been manuscripts she hasn’t been able to sell, even when we’ve both believed in them. <br />
<br />
There have also been times when she’s successfully placed a book with a publisher I’ve found myself and suggested to her. And there have been times when I’ve sold books myself, directly to an editor. That was the case when I approached Benchmark about writing for a nonfiction series. When either of those scenarios occur, I still want her handling the contract. I owe her that, for all the good she’s done me and for all the hard knocks she’s weathered with me. And also because...well, see the true story above for another good reason.<br />
<br />
On more true story: On a later trip to Omaha, I gave a copy of my first picture book, <i>Princess Bee and the Royal Goodnight Story</i>, to the young daughter of the above-mentioned artistic director. When I came back for the premiere of <i>The Wolf and Its Shadows</i>, exactly one year later, he greeted me with the report that he’d read that book 365 times since last we’d met. “She’s asked for it every single night,” he said. <br />
<br />
Really, people, can you believe we get paid money for this, too?<i> </i><br />
<br />
<i>And here’s a flashback to our first topic, “The Care and Feeding of Ideas,” from our friend and colleague Patricia Hermes. We hope this serves as a reminder to other authors to feel free to jump in at any time with your personal thoughts on topics old and new, including those we haven’t even thought of yet!</i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPTeTmCe6O6QyJvwhR5itnz1PodRHEocEDBrR0hgt-pEq2UA0A1GTziGNDeWg7-6ImF8SsiS9b4c4wHkD8jke0AdqfsgZYmU-GwT5BXPLJh6Xfwq2tuKthPAHpY0N6rpMuFaM7-CvsJVQz/s1600/patricia-hermes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPTeTmCe6O6QyJvwhR5itnz1PodRHEocEDBrR0hgt-pEq2UA0A1GTziGNDeWg7-6ImF8SsiS9b4c4wHkD8jke0AdqfsgZYmU-GwT5BXPLJh6Xfwq2tuKthPAHpY0N6rpMuFaM7-CvsJVQz/s320/patricia-hermes.jpg" width="258" /></a></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Where do you get your ideas? I think kids ask me that more often than any other question: Where do your ideas come from? Well, my honest answer is this: I don’t know! It just happens. But I know this: I have to be quiet. I have to listen for the voices inside my head. Some people think hearing voices is a sign of insanity, but for authors, it is not. It is, rather, a crucial part of our lives. So I’m quiet, and I hear the voice of a character speaking to me. It’s most often a girl, probably because I am a girl, but sometimes my main character is a boy. (I have one daughter, but I also have <i>four</i> sons, so I know quite a bit of what boys are all about.) And so the character in my head begins to come to life for me. You might find me, during my writing time, staring out a window. I do that a lot! But I am not simply staring. I am creating, writing, or maybe it’s better called “pre-writing.” I daydream. I listen for that voice. What is she trying to tell me? What’s she concerned about? What kind of kid is she? Because you see, you can’t write a story with plot, until you know what the characters are like. If she’s spunky and noisy, then the plot probably won’t concern a kid who lives quietly in an attic reading books, or talking to her pet mouse. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">And now, as I am writing this, I think: <i>There’s an idea for a story!</i> It just came to me. Maybe I should write about a kid with a pet mouse. Now what will I call her? Why does she have a pet mouse? Does the mouse have a name? Does she have any other friends besides her pet mouse? Where does she live? Does she really live in an attic? Why? Hmm. Does she have a mom, a dad, any siblings? Maybe she’s poor. Or maybe she’s sickly. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Ah! Now comes a little bit of truth to the story: When I was a child, I was sick frequently. I had something wrong with my heart, and I spent a long time in a hospital. Maybe my child with the mouse has been sick and isn’t allowed to run and play. (I wasn’t allowed to run and play because of my weak heart.) So I know how sad my pretend character feels at times. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Hmm. Good start. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">But now, I’m thinking: Now <i>that</i>, is a stupid story line. Who wants to read about a sick kid with a pet mouse? Forget that idea, that voice.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">But I can’t. I’m stuck with her. Every time I sit down at the computer—and yes, I write on the computer—she comes back to me. I can even begin to see her now. I think she’s wearing white, a long white dress, or maybe it’s a nightgown. She always wears white, and . . . </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">So do you see how story ideas develop? My newest venture is a series of books called <i>Emma Dilemma</i>. Emma gets into all sorts of mischief and trouble, though she’s a good kid at heart. Emma is very much like I was as a child. She loves animals. She has a gazillion pets. And sometimes those pets cause trouble. Sometimes, Emma causes trouble, too! My newest book will be called <i>Emma Dilemma and the Best Horse Ever</i>—because Emma is trying to persuade her parents to buy her a horse. They won’t. But Emma has her own plans for getting this wonderful horse Rooney. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">And...? </span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><i><span lang="EN">Patricia Hermes is the author of almost fifty books for readers from early middle grades through young adult, as well as two nonfiction books for adults. Her books have won many awards and recognitions: American Library Association Best Book, Smithsonian Notable Book, C.S. Lewis Honor Book, IRA Children’s Choice, as well as many state awards, four of them for the novel </span></i><span lang="EN">You Shouldn’t Have to Say Goodbye</span><i><span lang="EN">.</span></i></div>Sandy Asherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08311778466602117713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632956980782008334.post-45701595023969848942011-01-31T17:18:00.000-08:002011-02-01T15:16:47.119-08:00Topic 5: The Perils and Joys of Writing in Many Genres<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Response 1: Sandy</span></b></div><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">When I chose this topic for our next conversation, David, I thought I’d devote my first entry to all the perils of writing in many genres and use my second turn to focus on the joys. Then I realized I could think of only one peril! Maybe you’ll come up with more, but mine is a very short list. The one and only peril, as I see it, is that writing in a variety of genres is no way to get rich and famous. And, really, that’s only a peril if riches and fame are your primary goals. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">David, you’ve heard me say this before, but I think you’ll agree it bears repeating. The road to riches and fame is a direct one: Do one thing, do it well, and do it over and over. This applies to almost any field. There are always exceptions to the rule, of course, but when you think about the rich and famous, do you have doubts about what you expect of each of them? I think not. Oprah is Oprah every day. Her fans count on it; her sponsors bank on it. Riches and fame depend on building a huge fan base, and that’s done by delivering the goods so consistently that folks can and do keep coming back for more, bringing their friends and relations with them. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The same holds true if your forte is hamburgers, ice cream, or a particular kind of writing. When readers pull up in front of a familiar name at a bookstore or library, they don’t want to find chocolate fudge ripple when their mouths are watering for another juicy hamburger! </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I like Oprah. I also like great hamburgers and premium ice cream. And when I reach for Jane Austen, I’m in no mood for Ernest Hemingway. And vice versa. So I’m not putting down anyone who can do something well and do it time and time again. It takes talent, hard work, discipline, and something I can’t even define let alone pull off myself. A strong personality, maybe, one that permeates the product, whatever that product happens to be. In children’s books, I’m thinking A.A. Milne. Dr. Seuss. Judy Blume. Each one is a mighty fine writer in his or her own unique, recognizable way. So I’ve concluded the road to riches and fame is traveled best by the mighty fine who also happen to be unique and recognizable.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My road, on the other hand, has zigzagged all over the place. I’ve published plays for adults, children, and teens; poetry for adults and children; short stories and articles for various ages in magazines and journals, nonfiction books for all ages, YA novels, middle-grade novels, beginning chapter books, and picture books. Oh, and I’ve edited five anthologies. Forty-plus years into this writing business, I show no signs of reduced zig or lagging zag. In fact, I’ve just recently added blogging to the mix! </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Why do I do it, when I know every bend in the road makes riches and fame less likely? Am I determined to sabotage myself? I don’t think so. It’s just that I write best when I’m deeply interested in what I’m writing about, and I’m rarely interested in the same thing twice in a row. Also, I like setting up and conquering new challenges: Can I write convincingly from a male point of view? (Been there.) Can I write a sonnet good enough to be published? (Done that.) Can I write an effective full-length play for a solo actor? (Working on it right now.) And then there are the assignments: I’ve been lucky enough to be asked to write things I never would’ve thought of myself but, once invited, happily can’t turn down. (More about this when I get to “the joys” next time.)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Finally, most ideas seem to dictate the way they want to come into this world: This story’s shaping up as a novel. That one absolutely begs to be acted out onstage. And the feeling behind this other one over here is so intense, it’s exploding into a poem. That’s the way it is for me, anyway. Is that true for you, too, David? Or for anybody else out there? I’d like to know!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Back to that looming peril: Anyone who enjoys a helping of my ice cream and stops by for another scoop may be disappointed to find me flipping hamburgers. That’s no small thing. It does make some readers unhappy, and it makes editors and marketing people unhappy, too. But as far as I can tell, David, it’s the ONLY peril. And I don’t seem to have much choice in the matter. For better or worse, I write the way I write because I am the way I am. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Don’t we all?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">David, I’m eager to hear your take on this, perils and joys alike.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Response 2: David</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Hi, Sandy. Thanks a lot for saying everything I wanted to say in your sterling piece last week. I gave some thought to cutting and pasting your comments here and sticking my name on them. But I guess I’m stuck with my own thoughts on the matter of the peril(s) of writing in many genres. Here goes.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">First, I am in total sympathy with you and anyone else who feels compelled to stray off the path, any path, to write what needs to be written the way it wants to be written. I’ve gone so far as to take the same idea and write it as nonfiction and fiction to see which approach was a better fit. Sandy, do you think the tendency to write in more than one genre reflects, in some cases, how a writer developed in the beginning? My first success as a children’s author was with picture books: <i>The Boy with a Drum</i> (1969) and <i>Little Turtle’s Big Adventure</i> (1969). I stuck with what was working. <i>The Book of Giant Stories </i>(1972) won a Christopher Award. BUT . . . </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Then my manuscripts started coming back. Failure brought more failure. Talk about a short career! I think I lacked that strong, singular voice; the consistent point of view; the familiar theme that characterizes so many writers who succeed in a single genre over time. I didn’t stand for anything. I felt like Dumbo without his magic feather. If my picture books had continued selling, maybe I would have stuck with them. BUT . . . </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">An editor who knew of my science background invited me to write a nonfiction chapter on anatomy and physiology for a new edition of a Childcraft book: <i>About Me</i> (1969). I was flying again thanks to a different kind of feather. I followed with other books of nonfiction: <i>The World of American Caves</i> (1970); <i>Children Everywhere</i> (1973); <i>What Do You Know!</i> (1981). Sandy, I worked hard on each one, but they were all different: geology, anthropology, questions/answers. It was a scattergun approach that reflected my range of interests rather than an ability to find a niche and stick with it. What was missing was a cohesive plan to pursue a specific track. Oh, I sold books, BUT . . .</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There came a time in the mid-80s when neither genre was taking me where I wanted to go. Once again a new form came to my rescue. Over an eight-year period I produced only one picture book of merit (<i>Wake Up, Sun!</i> has sold more than 1,000,000 copies) but I discovered my love of poetry. At this point I’ve published more than a dozen poetry titles, but even here I can’t stay stuck. My work vacillates from verse to free verse, humorous to reflective, nature to pirates to . . . </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I started out to say that if one genre had worked for me, and I could have controlled my wanderlust, I might have remained faithful to that one forever. Maybe I would be rich and famous for my picture books about cows by now. But something about the way my mind works seems to need a change once in a while. I think my muse gets bored or arthritic or needs more sleep than I give it. Whatever it is, I know I’ve had a lot of books published, BUT . . . </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Not even I can define what I do. Or exactly why. Or worry about it. Sandy, I pass the baton back to you. Let’s spread a little joy!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> <span lang="EN"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Response 3: Sandy</span></b></div><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Hi, David. You posed a question and a challenge in your last post on this intriguing topic of writing in many genres. The question was, “Sandy, do you think the tendency to write in more than one genre reflects, in some cases, how a writer developed in the beginning?” And the challenge was, “Let’s spread a little joy!”</span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In my case, the two are closely related. Starting way back in childhood, when it came to things literary or stageworthy, I’ve always wanted to be part of whatever was going on. Need a volunteer to pretend to be a tree, or choose-a-card-any-card, or be hypnotized and eat a lemon as if it were an apple? Here I am! I’ll do it! Choose me! In the market for a newspaper, yearbook, senior play? Yo! I’m your girl! I was always restless as an onlooker. If fun was being had, I wanted to be out there or up there or over there having it. And as recently as this past October, in a gypsy cave in Spain, when volunteers were called for to join the flamenco dancers, my far more retiring husband just sighed, reached over without a word, and took my purse so I could stand up. </span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">So, yes, the tendency to write in more than one genre reflects the way I developed in the beginning. And yes, jumping right in there and trying new things that look like great fun has certainly brought me joy. As it was with the flamenco dancers, so it is with my fellow writers. I read, see, or hear something fresh and exciting, and it sure looks like fun to me. I can’t resist giving it a try. My first play for children was written after I attended a delightful show in which an actor friend was performing. My first successful YA novel followed readings of <i>Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret</i> and <i>Julie of the Wolves</i>. I never planned on having a blog, but when I read a few by friends that I really enjoyed, yours included, I began wondering what I could blog about. Et voila! <span style="text-transform: uppercase;">Writers at Work</span>. And, David, ever since your poetry-writing adventures began, I’ve been wanting to come up with a topic around which I could write a cycle of poems. Haven’t done it on my own yet, but I did write half the poems that eventually became the play <i>Jesse and Grace: A Best Friends Story</i>. And wasn’t that fun?</span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Is this being a copycat or indulging in a mild form of plagiarism? Not at all. It’s finding inspiration, and I thank you, David, and many other colleagues for pointing me toward new paths.</span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">But, yes, some of my many switches in direction were matters of chance and/or sheer necessity. For years, I thought of myself as a “short distance runner,” publishing poems, stories, and articles in magazines as well as short plays. Then an editor asked for and accepted a nonfiction book proposal and I discovered I could write longer forms. When the YA market dried up (for me, anyway), I took a chance on pulling together anthologies. And when everything seemed to be slowing down at once, I inquired about a nonfiction series and signed on for books about China and Mexico. </span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Some of those changes were made in tough times. But you’ve got to admit, David, that even then there’s a bit of joy in knowing you can adapt. </span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Uh-oh. All this thinking back has uncovered a couple more perils: When you start down a path you’ve never taken before, you eventually have to figure out how to keep going. It may be a lark at first, but before long, it becomes work. Hard work. Harder than work you already know how to do. Also, when we launch ourselves into a genre we’ve never tried before, there’s absolutely no guarantee we’ll be able to pull it off. No track record. We may not be afraid of hard work, but can we do this particular kind of hard work? Who knows? We’ve never done it before!</span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I’ve often compared starting a new project to taking a bungee jump without knowing whether anyone’s bothered to place the protective band around my ankles. Never is this image more clear and terrifying than when I’m attempting something in an as-yet-unexplored genre. Yet I go on taking those plunges. Like the little girl of long ago, hoping to be chosen to come on up and pose as a tree, far preferring that to sitting around watching someone else pose as a tree, I tend to ignore the perils. I think I know why. More often than not, when I’ve put in the required effort, I’m rewarded with the joy of finding out once again that whatever strange and wondrous new thing it is, I can, indeed, do it!</span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">And now, my multitalented and inspirational friend, back to you . . .</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Response 4: David </span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">And here we are on the final response to our fifth topic. If I’m counting right, Sandy, this will be the 21st episode of WRITERS AT WORK. Plus, there have been a number of comments and longer work shared by readers who have added significantly to our conversation.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">So here I go with the joys of writing in many genres. For one, I share your sense of frightened exhilaration when an editor suggests something I’ve never tried and I hear those five familiar, crazy words flying from my mouth: “Sure, I can do that.” The closest sensation I can think of is that slight pause at the top of a roller coaster an instant before your car goes screaming down a slope you can’t possibly survive. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Jane Yolen says that writing is the more precious because we have to steal time to get it done. I offer a corollary: Writing in a new genre is the more invigorating because you have to survive to get it done. Such is the lure of the unknown and the chance to prove oneself (again) that draws writers toward the flame. Sandy, I can’t decide if I have that much confidence in myself or simply need to add that survival word—no—to my vocabulary: You’ve accused me of that before but it takes one to spot a fellow sufferer.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Back to the subject. I began as a short-story writer. But in my heart I knew that I could handle nonfiction. Thinking about that possibility gave me pleasure. I knew something that no one else knew. Lurking beneath my fiction writer veneer was a yet to be discovered writer of nonfiction. When I eventually found my wish coming true, I was very proud, but I had already enjoyed the idea for a long time before the fact.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">But by then I was sure that beneath the nonfiction writer beat the heart of a poet. I knew I could write poetry. I thought about it, read about it, planned to do it, for a quarter of a century. I think of that long incubation period with its growing sense of anticipation as a joyful experience. It was a secret locked inside, exhilarating because I knew the day was coming when I would be done with putting it off. The day was coming when I was going to do it!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Sandy</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">, do you have similar secret goals that you just simply know you can achieve when you get around to doing it? As you know, I’m a big fan of your plays and have been privileged to work with you twice on projects that have now been published and produced on stage. You’ve even offered to work with me on one of the plays. I couldn’t do it then, and perhaps I’ll never try, but I have long thought I <i>could</i> write a play. Who knows? I think I could be a sculptor, too, and a surgeon and an architect and a marine biologist. Maybe one day . . . </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Until then, I will continue to find pleasure in the dreaming and joy when a dream comes true. Sandy, this has been a good topic. I’m eager to tackle the next one to be announced shortly.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The floor remains open for comments and other opinions.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">David </span></div>Sandy Asherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08311778466602117713noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632956980782008334.post-48540033642175152942010-12-31T21:03:00.000-08:002010-12-31T21:17:47.569-08:00Topic 4: Dealing with Editorial Suggestions<div style="text-align: center;"><b> Response 1: David</b><br />
</div><br />
If an emerging writer sends out enough manuscripts, sooner or later an editor may jot a brief note on the rejection slip. Hopefully, it will be a helpful note even if it’s nothing more than, “Keep trying us,” or “Better,” or “If you rework this for more action, I would read it again.”<br />
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Harry Mark Petrakis taught the art of the short story one summer when I attended his workshop at Indiana University in Bloomington. He told us about his early days when he set his sights on getting a story accepted by <i>Atlantic Monthly</i>. He submitted one story after another for years and every one came back without comment. At some point when he was growing discouraged, a brief editorial comment re-energized him and kept him going. I think the comment was, “This one is better,” or maybe it was, “Don’t give up.” Anyway, he went on to publish numerous stories with <i>Atlantic Monthly</i> and elsewhere and loved to recall how much that editor’s note helped him along the way.<br />
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But let’s get back to the type of comment that offers specific suggestions. I’m not talking about editorial direction given after a contract is signed. Sandy or I will deal with that scenario later. For now I’m sticking with the kind of free advice that comes back with a rejection. What if the comment you receive suggests that your masterpiece is too long or too short or needs more dialogue or the second chapter needs to be thrown out entirely and a new one written? What if this person you don’t know, sitting at a desk in an office you’ve never visited, offers advice that requires you to rethink your basic premise or essentially rework your entire piece without any assurance that you’ll be accepted when you’ve finished?<br />
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Such dilemmas happen. If it hasn’t happened to you already, your turn may be coming. What should you do? How much should you trust this stranger who seems to mean well and takes the time to tell you how to make your script more acceptable, at least to that house? Other authors may respond to this differently, but my rule was always simple. If an editor opens the door the barest crack, go for the light. If you have a real, live person on the other end willing to give you some advice, take it. Not out the window. Not if it’s something you simply find too repugnant to do. Not if it goes against everything you stand for and you would lose sleep over it and feel compromised. Not if standing on pride is more important to you than getting published. I don’t remember ever suffering from any of those objections. I figured it was an opportunity to be published and I had nothing to lose but a few more hours and a few more words. <br />
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My position was that I knew more about myself than the editor but the editor knew more about my manuscript’s chances for being published than I did. If you follow the same practice that Sandy and I have suggested in earlier segments of WRITERS AT WORK and keep a list of houses where you’ll send your manuscript if it comes back from its current reading, then you may decide to ignore the helpful editor’s advice long enough to try a few more houses. Or you may choose to jump at the chance to work with the editor before she or he moves on to other projects and becomes too bogged down to get back to you again before your hair turns gray(er). <br />
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Remember that not all editors are equal and not all houses look for the same kind of work to publish. Before you agree to give your story a complete overhaul, it will pay to seek a bit more assurance that this editor of yours is fairly serious about the free advice you keep holding in your hand and biting your lip over. But as a general rule, I prefer to have a positive relationship with that person at that desk in that office. Many of my books have developed because of such relationships. I say go for the light.<br />
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Sandy, over to you.<br />
<br />
David <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Response 2: Sandy</b></div><br />
Ah, yes, David, those sometimes thoughtful, often cryptic messages that editors tack onto rejection slips. Those are the rejection slips I save, because those editors have noticed me and I may just want to notice them back.<br />
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I talked a bit in our last go-round about how to interpret those comments and suggestions. But that was all about reading between THEIR lines and figuring out what THEY’RE trying to say. There’s also the challenge of reading between my own lines and making sure I know exactly what I’m trying to say. Then I can decide whether those particular comments and suggestions are going to help me clarify what I’ve written, or discover I really should be writing something else (it happens!), or mess up what I want to say entirely.<br />
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I realized long ago that a story is only half written when I’ve put it down on paper; the other half is created out of what each reader brings to it from his or her personality, tastes, and life experience. Sometimes what a reader brings, even a highly experienced reader, is not helpful. Sometimes it’s very helpful. I’ve learned that I need to be the judge of that.<br />
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True stories that illustrate my point: The first has to do with a YA novel I was writing just about the time the bottom fell out of the YA market. Editors were becoming very cautious and, for the first time in my experience, were insisting that even established authors do considerable revision before a contract could be offered. In fact, the contract often didn’t arrive even after the considerable revision. (Sad to say, though the YA bottom has been in good repair of late, this is a trend that has not gone away.) <br />
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My novel centered on a young teenager dealing with an aging dog while also mourning the loss of her mother and adjusting to the changes in her sister and her father. Over time, the manuscript went to several editors. Each saw enough strength in it to offer detailed suggestions and an invitation to resubmit. One liked the mourning strand of the story, but disliked the dog strand. Another wept copious tears over the dog, but didn’t care for the sister and father situations. A third related strongly to the father but not to the sister or the dog...You get the picture. Eager for publication in hard times, I revised. And I revised. And I revised. Until I could no longer remember what the story had meant to me in the first place. Though there was one more “If you revise, I’d like another look” editorial letter, I didn’t have the heart or the will to go on. The manuscript has long been buried in my basement. R.I.P.<br />
<br />
The other story makes me smile to this day. It’s about the genesis of <i>Too Many Frogs</i>!, possibly my most successful book ever. As required by contract, my agent submitted the manuscript to the editor who’d done my previous picture book, <i>Stella’s Dancing Days</i>. She liked it. Not enough to offer a contract right off, but she saw room for improvement. I agreed with her suggestions and rewrote accordingly. Yes, she felt it was better, but not quite “there” yet. Still in agreement, I rewrote again. Yes, yes, much improved, but maybe...? Sure, why not, said I, and went at it once again.<br />
<br />
The Surprise Ending: Yes, yes, yes, it was improved, and it was good. But it just “wasn’t for her.” Can’t argue with that. So my agent sent the manuscript off to Philomel, where editor Michael Green snapped it up. Some time later, I was in New York City and stopped by his office to say hello. “You know,” he said, “this is the first time I’ve ever received a manuscript that didn’t require any editing or revision.”<br />
<br />
I didn’t say a word. Just smiled. Smiling still.<br />
<br />
Which brings me to one last word, David, about that list of publishers appropriate to each manuscript. In this era of multiple submissions, it’s tempting to send the story to everyone at once. I say, “Resist that temptation!” One or two or maybe three at a time are enough. That way, if Editor A or B or C writes a really helpful comment on a rejection slip, a comment bound to do your story—and your heart—good, you can use that insight to revise and impress Editor D!<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Response 3: David</b></div><br />
Hi, Sandy. I liked your closing advice last week about not sending to everyone on our list before we’ve given ourselves a chance to benefit from editorial comments and suggestions that might improve our story and our chances. I don’t know about you, but one way I can tell that I’ve grown more patient and open over the years is that I’m more willing now to think carefully about the pros and cons of advice from an editor (or anyone else for that matter).<br />
<br />
One of my writer friends questions the merit of attending writers’ conferences. I think it’s always a good idea to put ourselves in places where we have opportunities to visit with editors and hear more about what they seek in a manuscript. I bet at one time or another we’ve all been guilty of sending a story to an editor who is not in that market. Or an editor who just recently published a similar story. Or an editor who simply doesn’t like animals that talk. Remarks from editors who are basically not interested are likely to be short and to the point, and not necessarily aimed at improving our work.<br />
<br />
On the other hand, when I go to New York each year to make appointments with editors with whom I’m working on a project, I always come away with a clearer sense of what is going on in their world. Once I have a contract on a book, things change from general comments to specific ones. At this point I’m even more likely to follow advice when I’m working with my editor-partner. Recently I completed a manuscript, submitted it, and received my editor’s suggestions.<br />
<br />
His general comment was filled with enough praise to send me strutting around the house for a few minutes feeling the rush. Then I opened the attachment and took a long look at those specific and inevitable critical suggestions. Why that! Who does he...How? No I can’t do that!...Impossible! Hmmm. This makes me so...Hmmm. Well that makes sense. I’ll be darned. Oh come on! Hmmm. I do like that better. Huh. Oookay, let’s start at the beginning.<br />
<br />
Sandy, I don’t know what percentage of the editor’s ideas I eventually adapt into the revised manuscript. It’s a significant number. And not all of the good ideas come from the editor. One time I wrote a poem about a ladybug with a beard and made the crack that I could tell it was no lady bug. The copy editor sweetly reminded me that some women do indeed sport quite a lot of hair and that her hirsute daughter was sometimes teased by the boys. I apologized for my thoughtlessness and insensitivity and wrote a different poem. <br />
<br />
I guess the issue of how we respond to suggestions about our work—whether from an editor, a spouse, or writing buddy—boils down to this: Does the suggestion make sense to me? Will I like the work better after making the change? And do I think the quality of the story will benefit?<br />
<br />
Back to you to wrap up.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Response 4: Sandy</b></div><br />
Editorial suggestions AFTER the contract is signed? Who knew?<br />
<br />
We all thought that after “yes” came “and they lived happily ever after.” Right?<br />
<br />
Uh...’fraid not.<br />
<br />
David, you described that head-spinning response to editorial communication so well—euphoria (She loves it!), disbelief (She wants me to change it?), and slow realization (Well, maybe she does have a point there...or two...or three...). <br />
<br />
My personal favorite example is a four-page, single-spaced letter I received from Bebe Willoughby, the editor who worked with me on <i>Just Like Jenny</i> and many other books back in the days when such letters were delivered by snail. I still carry the letter with me to show around at workshops. <i>Just Like Jenny</i> was my third YA novel, but it was Different. Or so I thought. It inspired a bit of an auction among publishers, a head-swelling, once-in-a-lifetime situation that led me to believe the book was already as perfect as perfect could be. The first page of Bebe’s letter confirmed that it was, indeed, pretty darn good. The next three pages (single-spaced, remember) were filled with questions and suggestions for rethinking and revising it. <br />
<br />
I went ballistic. “What is wrong with these people? They said they loved the book! They gave me a two-book contract! And now they want me to change the whole thing? That’s crazy! I can’t do it! I won’t do it!” <br />
<br />
My agent, the late, great Claire Smith, heard me out and firmly instructed me to calm down, reread my manuscript, and then reread the letter. So I did. And slowly but surely, I came to understand that Bebe wasn’t forcing me to make a wrong manuscript right. She was helping me to make a good manuscript better. As only a totally objective, experienced, knowledgeable reader—not a friend, teacher, spouse, or neighbor, not even a colleague—can do. <br />
<br />
So now when editors are busier than ever and not always able to give each and every manuscript their full attention, I worry. I’d rather have an editor call my attention to problems before publication than have a critic or, worse yet, reader catch me out later. I’ve learned to cherish that objective response, not just the opening love letter, but the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, every single-spaced page of it. <br />
<br />
That doesn’t mean I follow every directive slavishly, or even willingly and joyfully. I tend to adore the ones that turn on spotlights in my head, illuminating quick and easy fixes that make the story amazingly better. I tend to balk and grow sullen over the ones that show me something’s got to be done but leave me in the dark, trying to figure out exactly what and how all by myself. (Have I mentioned earlier in these chats that I’m basically lazy?) <br />
<br />
I’ve also been known to defend my words, politely, against suggestions that make no sense to me at all. If I can make a good enough argument as to why not, the editor will usually accept my preference. An example: In my picture book <i>Stella’s Dancing Days</i>, Stella starts off as a kitten who loves to dance. Time passes, she grows up, gets busy with other things, and dances less. The human beings in her life miss her dancing days. But, I wrote, “Stella did not miss her dancing days.” The editor asked me to revise that sentence so that Stella would miss her dancing days, too, because not missing them sounded harsh. I thought about it, as I do all editorial insights. Finally, I said, “No. First of all, Stella is a cat and cats are not nostalgic about their kittenhoods. They live in the moment. Second of all, Stella represents her young readers, who are not nostalgic about their babyhoods. They won’t find it harsh that Stella doesn’t miss her dancing days. They’ll understand she’s simply far more interested in growing up—just as they are.” <br />
<br />
The editor understood. The children understood. And Stella eventually has six kittens—three boys and three girls—who all love to dance.<br />
<br />
Speaking of dancing, David, it’s my turn to lead! If you agree, I’ll tackle “The Perils and Joys of Writing in Different Genres” next.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Topic 3: The Reality of Rejection</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>What I Love about Rejections</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>by guest Mara Rockliff</b></div><br />
<b>Okay, nobody really loves rejections.</b><br />
<br />
But when that storm cloud of rejection drives its icy needles down my neck and soaks my socks, here are the hints of silver lining that I spy: <br />
<br />
<b>Rejections are fun!</b><br />
<br />
Okay, not always. But sometimes they can be pretty hilarious, like the time I sent out a picture book story and it was rejected—two and a half years later. (With a form rejection!) Or the agent who turned me down, saying she didn’t think she could sell my manuscript—even though I’d told her I already had an offer on it from a major publisher.<br />
<br />
<b>Rejections are educational!</b><br />
<br />
Think of a rejection letter as a free bit of professional advice. Six editors say the same thing? If it’s “the plot is thin,” maybe you should consider working on the plot. Six editors say six different things? No point revising now, unless one of the comments really clicks. Otherwise, keep submitting. Even a form rejection tells you something: that whoever sent it wasn’t interested enough to spend much time. Twenty form rejections is a good hint that your manuscript needs lots of work—or that it should be put aside while you move on to something else.<br />
<br />
<b>Rejections are terrific practice—for rejection.</b><br />
<br />
Every aspiring writer dreams of that magic moment when a manuscript is accepted for publication. Break out the bonbons! You’re a real writer now! You’ll never be rejected and ignored again!<br />
<br />
Then months go by with no word from your editor. Or years. Or she calls to tell you that the illustrator they were hoping for turned down the project. In fact, every illustrator on the planet has turned down the project. Your editor points out cheerfully that scientists may still discover life—and illustration talent—on Jupiter’s moons.<br />
<br />
Your book is published, but no one reviews it. Or it’s reviewed, and the reviewers hate it. Or reviewers love it, but the big chain bookstores decide not to carry it. Or they carry it, but no one buys it, so the books get sent back to the publisher and eventually shredded to a pulp.<br />
<br />
Luckily, you’ve learned how to deal with rejection! So you don’t waste time dwelling on these setbacks. You go straight back to your writing desk. After all, the sooner you finish another manuscript, the sooner your mailbox will start filling up again with more fun, educational rejection letters.<br />
<br />
<b>Rejections are The Way.</b><br />
<br />
As Lao Tzu pointed out, there can be no light without dark. (I’m pretty sure he said that when the twenty-third editor finally called with an offer on the Tao Te Ching.) And if you eat nothing but ice cream, it loses its taste. So as you choke down those bitter rejections, just think: without them, the good news you’re waiting for could never be so sweet.<br />
<br />
<i>Mara Rockliff’s recent titles include </i>Get Real: What Kind of World Are You Buying?<i> (Running Press Teens) and the picture book </i>The Busiest Street in Town<i> (Knopf). Visit her online at <a href="http://www.mararockliff.com/">www.mararockliff.com</a>.</i>Sandy Asherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08311778466602117713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632956980782008334.post-38849158352703348432010-12-03T01:32:00.000-08:002010-12-31T21:12:47.720-08:00Topic 3: The Reality of Rejection<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Response 1: Sandy</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Rejection. Huge sigh. The very word picks at the scabs of ancient schoolyard wounds. The myth, the hope, the dream is that literary – and perhaps even personal -- rejection will end once we’ve “got our foot in the door.” That may be true if the foot belongs to J.K. Rowling, but it’s not true for most of the rest of us. I’ve had my foot in the publishing door for well over 40 years now. Rejection continues to graze nearby, raising its beastly head from time to time to charge my way. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">If it’s okay with you, David, I’d like to talk about dealing with rejection BEFORE it happens in this first part of our chat and dealing with it AFTER it happens when I chime in later.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My favorite pastime during the first 10 or 15 years of my writing career was reading other authors' comments in writers' magazines about the numerous times their work had been rejected before it finally got published --10, 15, 20, 25. After a while, I didn't need those reports anymore, because I had my own war stories to tell, but I <i>believed</i> in the happy ending: Those folks did, eventually, get published. I <i>clung</i> to that happy ending with all my might. I was willing to battle my way through any forest of tangled and thorny vines to get to it. What I wasn’t willing to do, at first, was acknowledge that our field has rules and that I need to play by those rules if I hoped to get anywhere.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There were no marketing skills taught in my college creative writing classes. I happened to see a copy of <i>The Writer</i> on a newsstand one day, bought it, and submitted a poem I'd written in class to a tiny literary journal I found listed inside. I sent the poem off without requesting a sample copy of the journal to study first, and without enclosing a self-addressed, stamped envelope for its very possible return. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A few weeks later, I received a postcard telling me the poem had been accepted for publication. A dream come true, and possibly the worst thing that could have happened to me at that stage in my development. I thought, "Oh, this is easy! All I have to do is write stuff down, mail it off, and they'll print it up and send back money." (Well, okay, not money -- but two contributor's copies and that's a start!) </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">So I sent out all the poems, stories, plays, and articles I could think up, as fast as I could get them down on paper. Never mind rewriting -- I was clearly a genius. Never mind studying the markets. If publications had rules, and <i>The Writer</i> hinted that they indeed might, they'd break them for me because everything I wrote was divinely inspired.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">About ten years into this vigorous and arrogant attack, I had indeed published quite a few pieces, but when I finally paused to take account, I realized that for every 50 envelopes stuffed with brilliance I was sending out, 49 stories, poems, plays, and articles were coming back rejected, and ONE was getting accepted for publication. Chimpanzees typing randomly could probably have done as well.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The moral of this story reflects ten years of trial and error on my part. May it spare you much effort and time: <i>Study the market</i>. When editors state their requirements in a market guide or in contest rules or at conferences -- <i>believe them</i>. I can’t promise that will stop rejection in its tracks, but it’ll definitely slow the beast down.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=8632956980782008334" name="OLE_LINK3"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></a></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Response 2: David</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Sandy</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">, I enjoyed your remarks, all the more because they sound so déjà vu-ish. I hope that someone reading this has a better story to tell than yours or mine, but early, easy success, as far as I know, is rarer than a joke book from Kirkus.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My quest for publication began as a college science major. I took a creative writing class and the professor told me I had a knack for writing. Being unfamiliar with the market (Oops, was there a class in that?), I dreamed of instant recognition, which would save a lot of time and work. My voice was so singular, so remarkable, so undiscovered that somewhere an insightful editor was going to read my story, slap his forehead, and gasp incredulously. Okay, that last part was over the top. But I’ve always wanted to write, “gasp incredulously,” and not be engaged in purple prose. Whatever, it didn’t happen.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">During the following six years in hot pursuit of that head-slapping editor, I read that writers keep more than one story in circulation. Also, writers keep lists of places to send each story, on the remote chance that it comes back with its tale dragging, before rigor mortis of resolve sets in.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I followed both pieces of advice. I devoured <i>Writers’ Market</i>; made lists of “friendly” sounding publishers; copied names of editors and mailing addresses; laid in a supply of 9x12 envelopes, address labels, and reassuring rolls of stamps; maintained detailed records of each story’s history of submissions and rejections; and churned out new stories with a sense of impending destiny. I took pride in having at least a dozen stories out at all times. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">During the next half dozen years I averaged ten submissions per year. I averaged ten rejections. Net gain: zero. This was not the best time of my life. But it was the most necessary. Now, after dozens of books on my belt, I can laugh and say, “Ha-ha-ha, no more rejections for me!”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">But, of course, that would not be true. Rejection is always with us. As Sandy points out, it’s not unusual to get turned down. There can be lots of reasons: Ignorant editor, the stupid economy, out-of-touch editorial board, backward sales force, malicious promotion director, clueless art director . . . Okay, sometimes maybe the story is a teeniest weeniest bit shy of the mark. These are obstacles we live with. Emerging writers may feel rejection a bit more personally than beat-up old pros. At some point a writer becomes more philosophical about rejections. He or she learns to roll with them to a certain extent. They still smart and frustrate and aggravate. But editors, some claim, don’t really hate us. They work for companies that hope to show the stockholders a profit at the end of the year. How mundane. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Here’s my advice to emerging writers. Frame your first rejection letter. Choose a nice frame and hang it where you can see it every day. It may only be an impersonal printed slip but it’s still important enough to keep. The first rejection is your ticket into the fraternity of eternally optimistic folks who make up stories, write nonfiction, or pour out their hearts in poems. There is no sin in being rejected. The only sin is in quitting because the big boys kicked sand in your face.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Response 3: Sandy</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">“...Ignorant editor, the stupid economy, out-of-touch editorial board, backward sales force, malicious promotion director, clueless art director...” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">David! What a delicious incantation! I think I’ll post it above my computer and chant it out loud – with gusto! – whenever another rejection rolls in. Take that and that and THAT! I just know I’ll feel cleansed, cheered, and most importantly, energized.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Anger has its upside. It tells us our needs are not being met. It provides the adrenaline rush needed to get them met. Earlier I mentioned “revenge” as a response to rejection. Sounds destructive, but guess what? Properly employed, revenge can be quite a healthy and productive response. I figured that out just about the time the steady waves of rejection finally began denting and rusting my faux armor of ignorant self-assurance. (For more about that, see Response 1.) As I tore open more and more dreaded envelopes containing returned manuscripts, I took to sprawling on the sofa for long, sometimes tearful, sulks. My husband and children would wander by, murmuring words of sympathy and encouragement. Sort of.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><b>Me: </b>Whatever made me think I could publish my work? What made me think I could even write? Never again. I give up. I mean it!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><b>Them:</b> How long is it going to last this time? Are you planning to cook dinner or what?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Eventually, even I would grow tired of my own self-pity. That’s when the second tsunami would wash over me: REVENGE! </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><b>Me:</b> I will revise this thing until it’s so wonderful the next editor to see it will snap it up – and it will be so successful the rest of them will eat their hearts out that they didn’t grab it when they had the chance.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><b>Them:</b> Okay. So what’s for dinner?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I’m not a vengeful person normally, but I do have an older brother, so I learned early to stop sniveling and fight back. My current household confirmed that sniveling would get me nowhere. But thoughts of literary revenge gave me the energy I needed to stand up and get back to work. And cook dinner, too.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">These days, I’m less of a drama queen. No kids at home means a reduced audience anyway. “Self-pity Meets Revenge” is a short one-act instead of a full-length play, and it’s performed mainly inside my head. But that “I’ll show them!” impulse still gets the adrenaline flowing.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Not everyone needs to face rejection. Writing is a good thing. Writing for oneself, one’s family, one’s friends – all valid and worthwhile endeavors. Writing for professional publication is a whole other challenge. As I’ve often told my students, “It’s art when you create it; it’s art when your audience receives it. Everything in between is BUSINESS.” Rejection is an unavoidable part of that business. But no one’s required to go there. If you can be happy doing anything else, do that other thing and write for the joy of it. But if you can’t be happy without sharing your work through professional publication, figure on spending considerable time wending your way through the Big Business Forest that stands between you and your audience. Prepare to meet lions and tigers and bears. Oh, my.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I don’t remember which Hollywood mogul said it, but an agent passed it on: “If I’d known I was getting into this business, I never would’ve gotten into this business.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Well, I’m in it. If you decide publication is the way you must go, learn to read between the lines of those rejections. The standard form says, “Not for us at this time.” Okay, that’s a “no.” But it does leave open, “Maybe for someone else at some other time.” The handwritten note, even a “Sorry” scribbled at the bottom of a standard form, means “Not for us, but, busy as I am, I still want to let you know you’ve impressed me.” The more extensive personal comment means, “Not for us, but likely for someone else, and I’m hoping we connect with another piece soon.” And if an editor’s comments end with “If you’re willing to revise along these lines, I’d like to see this again,” you’ve got an open door. Walk through it! </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Hang onto those personal comments. Editors do not make them lightly. I keep a collection of them and was able to remind an editor of her former kind words when submitting something entirely different to her years later, after she’d moved to another publishing house. She remembered. That’s how much those comments mean to a busy editor taking the time and making the effort to write them! </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Oh, and given her new job and my new material, she was able to offer an entirely different response: “Yes.” So, burn no bridges behind you. David’s incantation is strictly for home use only. Repeat as needed, then forge ahead!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Your turn to wrap it up, David.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><b> Response 4: David</b></span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal;"> </span></div><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal;">So I’m attending a major convention. This morning I made a presentation about Word of the Month Poetry Challenge which, I think, was well received and might result in more teachers introducing their students to the project. Not ony that, I'm signing books at the Scholastic booth and last hour I signed books at the Boyds Mills Press booth. In both places, I greeted many old friends and met a number of new ones. When I finish here, I’ll attend the Authors Luncheon and sit around a table of teachers, each of whom will receive a copy of my latest book. They will ask me to sign their books and I’ll do it with pleasure. It’s hard not to feel good about this day. Until</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> I check my e-mail just prior to the luncheon. And there I find</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> a r-e-j-e-c-t-i-o-n.</span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">And I am bummed.</span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Never mind how grown-up we all try to be about having our work turned down, it still stings when someone says, “Not for us.” As Sandy says, we gradually reach a point where we take these rejections in stride as being part of the job. Maybe our sulk time shortens and the hysterics diminish. But come on, I’m having a Rejection Moment here. How about a moment of silence?</span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Okay, I’m back.</span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Today I visited with several other writers, among them some of the brightest and best. And guess what? One of them just got turned down twice; same for another. Others mention how hard it has been lately for them to get approval for new projects. These are STARS for Pete’s sake. I also talked with editors and they, too, lament how difficult it can be these days to get a book accepted. I mentioned earlier in my conversation with Sandy that I developed a habit years ago to keep a list of potential publishers for every new manuscript so that I could get a rejected manuscript back in circulation as soon as possible after it came back. The tactic still works. </span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">We’ve talked about dealing with rejection before the fact and how to handle it after it happens. Here’s my executive summary.</span><br />
<div style="border-color: -moz-use-text-color -moz-use-text-color windowtext; border-style: none none dotted; border-width: medium medium 3pt; padding: 0in 0in 1pt;"><div style="border: medium none; padding: 0in;"><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">1. Write something.<br />
2. Polish it until you can’t read it without sunglasses.<br />
3. Study the market.<br />
4. Make a list of potential publishers.<br />
5. Submit to the one at the top of the list.<br />
6. Remind yourself that there is a strong chance you’ll be rejected.<br />
7. Be prepared to hold the briefest pity part possible before going to #2 on your list.<br />
8. See #7.<br />
9. See #7.<br />
10. See #7.<br />
Etc.<br />
11. If you sell something, bask in the glow, but don’t get used to the idea that you are now invincible.<br />
12. See #7<br />
Etc.</span></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Topic 2: Dealing with Obstacles to Writing</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> On Being Distracted</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">by guest Joan Carris<br />
</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0xswOZGSZEKIGzgEIaWUK96fPDcqnwf29c9eqgPLAHu2Dh5gZWgUejUWTEJXTwMvw-qHutSGN955iFE0GbCvOqpWXuhzJLHnBtzuASzkmitbg3p79WPKHJRZJSCWw4H4TNVmP-Q_Mj-iK/s1600/joan3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0xswOZGSZEKIGzgEIaWUK96fPDcqnwf29c9eqgPLAHu2Dh5gZWgUejUWTEJXTwMvw-qHutSGN955iFE0GbCvOqpWXuhzJLHnBtzuASzkmitbg3p79WPKHJRZJSCWw4H4TNVmP-Q_Mj-iK/s1600/joan3.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I have been writing something or other since 1976. My first writing assignment was a plea from the Unitarian church in Princeton for an original play celebrating the BiCentennial. Having no idea of how difficult that could be, I said YES. At the time our kids were 14, 9, and 6. “When I’m writing,” I told them, “don’t bother me unless you’re bleeding.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I settled down at my typewriter with a ream of paper and rolled in the first pristine sheet. Instantly heard a terrified screaming outside my workroom window. I flew outdoors just in time to see our 6 year-old son hit the ground under the neighbor’s giant willow tree. He and I had a red-hot discussion right there. “But I stopped myself by grabbing a branch,” he said. “See? I’m hardly bleeding at all!”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">That was the beginning of my distracted life as a writer. Over time I have managed to learn a little something about the craft—mainly that it is a heckuva lot harder than it should be. As Hawthorne wrote, “Easy reading is damned hard writing.” I believe it’s hard because we keep expecting more of ourselves. We intimidate ourselves, and then call it writer’s block.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Fran Lebowitz, an extremely funny essayist (<i>Social Studies</i>, 1981), was quoted in the online <i>Writer’s Almanac</i><u> </u>as saying, “Most writers have a hard time writing. I have a harder time than most because I’m lazier than most…I would have made a perfect heiress.” She is now at work on a novel that was commissioned more than 20 years ago.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Okay, so writing IS HARD. Clearly we deserve not just a room of our own, as Virginia Woolf said, but some peace and quiet, dangit. The world should tiptoe away. It <i>should</i>, but it won’t. Some damn fool will ring your doorbell. Your back left molar will start throbbing. The cat will meow to be let in.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Real life and writing simply are not compatible. Life is always interrupting. I tend to feel lucky if it isn’t interrupting with an illness or a new litter of kittens. Long ago I decided that writers must become more devious. How? Try running away. Ask your church for permission to write in an empty classroom. Ask a friend if you can write at her place after she leaves for work. Some writers work at a public library table in a nearby town, not in their own library where people know them. I like the study carrels at our community college.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Most of the time, though, I write at home. I let the bloody distractions go on, run a fan for white noise, and force myself to focus. That’s easier with a good outline, by the way. In a long, lean period in my past, when I was the only one stoking my fire, I began talking to myself. I said, “This is who I am and this is what I do. Now shut up, Joan, and get to work.” I still tell myself that.</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Recent books include <i>Welcome To the Bed and Biscuit</i> (2006), <i>Wild Times at the Bed and Biscuit (2009), and Magic at the Bed and Biscuit </i>(January 2011), all from Candlewick Press.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Website: <a href="http://www.joancarrisbooks.com/">www.joancarrisbooks.com</a></span></div></div></div>Sandy Asherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08311778466602117713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632956980782008334.post-25196888883724604342010-11-02T00:11:00.000-07:002010-12-31T21:13:07.829-08:00Topic 2: Dealing with Obstacles to Writing<h4><span lang="EN"></span></h4><div class="MsoNormal">Greetings from <i>Writers at Work</i>, the ongoing chat between Sandy Asher and David Harrison about, well, writers at work. Rules are simple. We select a question that is often posed and take turns (two each) responding to it. We also welcome guest blogs from published authors. For example, you’ll see comments below from Veda Boyd Jones, Amie Brockway, and Kristi Holl. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">We also welcome and will respond to comments, questions, and topic suggestions from all.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Now we turn to our second subject. It’s about obstacles to writing, things that writers often have to jump over, sneak around, or tunnel under to reach that goal-on-high: finding time to write. In other words, “What kinds of obstacles—external, interpersonal, internal—get in your way and how do you deal with them?” It’s </div><div class="MsoNormal">David’s turn to lead off. Here we go.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><b></b><br />
<b> Response 1: David</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal">First, the external issues. Oops. Excuse me. Someone’s at the door. Okay, sorry. I’m back. Great. The phone. The phone is ringing. “The phone is ringing! Can’t somebody get the phone?” Sorry. The thing is, writers don’t have real jobs. Ask anybody. “Will someone get that phone!” Every thought we think comes at peril of instant annihilation by barking dogs, TV commercials, or the UPS guy. It’s nobody’s fault, really. Writing something well is the goal, but writing something at all is the best many of us can muster on any given day.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">If the creative part of your mind is as sensitive to interruptions as mine, you know there is little room in there for your dog needing out or your neighbor firing up his lawnmower in the middle of a paragraph. Jean Kerr (<i>Please Don’t Eat the Daisies</i>) set up writing headquarters in her car to get some privacy to work. Another author, I don’t remember who, built a pulley-rigged platform in his living room and literally rose above the distractions below. A friend of mine went to even greater extremes to protect herself from external obstacles. I don’t know if she’ll tell you about it, but it makes a great story.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I used to stay up late to write after my family went to bed. When the kids were older, and so was I, I switched to getting up early to beat the crowd. Whatever you have to do to write is up to you to work out. Just realize that few writers ever have the luxury of an obstacle-free environment. Somehow we all need to figure out how to answer the phone and still finish the same sentence we started.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">How about those interpersonal obstacles? Families are probably the writer’s main obstacles. After all, families live together, share time and space, play together, depend on one another. When one of us – that would be the writer – keeps sliding down the hall toward the computer like Gollum sniffing for his precious, the scene is set. Feelings can be hurt on both sides. Chores that should get done don’t. Evenings that ought to be planned aren’t. Writing does take its toll. For that matter, so does painting, composing, sculpting, or any other endeavor that requires extended periods of concentration, quiet, and isolation.</div><div class="MsoNormal">Too bad we can’t have it all. The world loves beauty created by those who have the gift to make beauty by human hands. It’s the process that ticks off so many people. It’s not the principal of the thing. It’s the TIME it takes. Think compromise. Think establishing “safe zones” for your writing. Good luck on this one!</div><div class="MsoNormal">Sandy I’ll save the third section until my second round. So, over to you.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://davidlharrison.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/sandy-asher.jpg"><br />
</a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b> Response 2: Sandy</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Hey, David –</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">“A friend” with a story to tell, huh? Okay, I will, but let’s back up a little first. Phone calls and ringing doorbells are obstacles to writing, of course, along with the dog scratching to go out and then scratching again to come back in. But these days I’d put email and the internet at the top of my list. Because there I am – at the computer, alone at last and with time to write – and the sirens start singing in cyberspace. Passing minutes turn to lost hours with amazing speed.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Next, there’s family. When the children were little, I was a stay-at-home mom and learned to write during nap times and then preschool times and then school times. As the hours expanded, so did my word count – poetry, very short stories and plays, longer stories and plays, and, finally YA novels and full-length plays. That was fine, because I was learning from the kids and the forms as I was growing as a writer. Obstacles can become challenges, which then become learning opportunities.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Then off the kids went, launched into their own lives, and Harvey continued leaving for work in the early a.m. and not returning until dinner, five days a week. Bliss!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Fast forward many years, and here comes the “friend’s story” to which you alluded, David. Harvey became a stay-at-home retiree. We moved to our small, historic townhouse in Lancaster. (People didn’t need as much personal space in the 1800’s. Jane Austen wrote on a tiny table in the parlor with her nieces and nephews running around.) In my office on the third floor, I could hear the microwave beeping on the first floor. If I wandered downstairs for a cup of coffee, still thinking about the writing at hand, I found my concentration shattered by the sight of another human being. Even one deservedly enjoying quite reading time in his beloved recliner.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">How to explain to that non-writer that his mere presence was ruining everything? What to do about it, short of ending an otherwise happy marriage? The answer to the first question came with a Lancaster Literary Guild presentation by Francine Prose. She mentioned a grant she’d received that included a year’s office space at the New York Public Library to work on any project she liked, and she said she knew it would have to be a nonfiction project. She didn’t say why, but I understood. I waited until the Q&A and asked her. “Every day at noon,” she said, “a friend with the same grant who worked in a neighboring office poked his head in and asked if I wanted to go to lunch. Since I was working on nonfiction, that was no problem. I knew my notecards would stay on my desk, awaiting my return. But if I’d been working on fiction, I would’ve had to kill him. Nonfiction happens outside of you. To write fiction, you completely enter another world and any intrusion from anyone in your real life instantly destroys it.” I turned to Harvey. He got it.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So what did we do about our problem? We bought a second townhouse! Two doors away. This one’s really tiny, but big enough for Harvey to relax, read, watch TV, beep the microwave, and even do some writing of his own.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">And they lived happily ever after.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Your turn, David. Let’s hear about the battles that go on <i>inside</i>, even when the outside obstacles take a break.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b> Response 3: David</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Hi Sandy,</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Good point about the difference between writing fiction and nonfiction. Up to a point, that is. When I’m into reading for a nonfiction book, making notes is fairly routine and allows for a certain amount of interruption to the process. But good nonfiction is far more than reporting, of course. To hold any audience’s attention for long, the writer must find ways to weave the nonfictional information into a narrative that interests the reader and keeps him or her turning pages. That’s when the storyteller in me takes the lead, and that’s when the usual need for peaceful thinking time clicks in.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Okay, now for the third part of our question about obstacles to writing: internal ones. For many of us, this is the worst culprit of all. Self-induced problems run the gamut and I’ll bet that everyone reading this will have his or her own list of reasons not to write. (If you have your own particular demons, let us know so we can share them.)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Here are some of mine. I need to clear my email. The inbox must be empty. Ditto the Sent box and the Delete box. I want my time clear of such obligations before I turn to my day’s work. I also check my blog about 200 times a day to make sure I don’t owe someone a response to a comment left there. By the way, Kate Klise suffers from the same need to clear her email as a requisite to writing. I drink coffee most of the morning from 6:00 on. It might surprise me to keep track of the time I burn between my computer and the kitchen, pouring or warming cups of coffee.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">As the day progresses I wander the house to check on this or that. Maybe to look at the lake to see if the swan has returned. I’ll dig into a box of crackers and wonder if the salt is really all that bad for me. I suddenly remember that I owe someone a response so I stop for that. I make a list of things I need to be doing, like WRITING SOMETHING.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I check for email. Maybe an editor has responded to a query or someone has invited me to speak somewhere or . . . sigh.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I get down some words. Oh yes! Wow does this feel good. Why didn’t I put off all those other things and do this first? Will I ever learn? Sometimes at this point I take my pad to some other part of the house, outside even, to get away from this computer. But you know what? As disorganized as my system appears to be (even to me!), it’s my system, and it has been working out for some time now. I’m often congratulated for being so prolific. I smile and want to tell people, “If you only knew what I have to overcome each day before I write my first word!”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Before I send this back to you, Sandy, I want to share the remarks of Guest Author Veda Boyd Jones, a prolific author and frequent speaker on the subject of writing literature for young people. Veda, the stage is yours.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9lo6FyHwtEwMO4Y1j8EA0-lWv2AnXRoxmgVWaAcO2ZYnxpBLOQz8UjO6sM61E9CpDQnssCf2pmOdOuP1Q3BfM7E0k-0GWZf0mCN-qPaH06xzhebpUcDbRC3ujEg9m__darYLTY0yl-ujj/s1600/veda-boyd-jones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9lo6FyHwtEwMO4Y1j8EA0-lWv2AnXRoxmgVWaAcO2ZYnxpBLOQz8UjO6sM61E9CpDQnssCf2pmOdOuP1Q3BfM7E0k-0GWZf0mCN-qPaH06xzhebpUcDbRC3ujEg9m__darYLTY0yl-ujj/s1600/veda-boyd-jones.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://davidlharrison.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/veda-boyd-jones.jpg"><br />
</a></div><div class="MsoNormal">Sandy and David,</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Great idea to keep a running conversation going by working writers. When I first started writing, I could only write from 1:00-3:00 in the afternoon. Jim came home from work for lunch, then headed back, and I put the boys down for their naps. Anyone with kids knows you can’t think when kids are tugging on you needing this or that. I needed silence and alone time to think and write. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So, I learned early on that there’s no waiting for inspiration to write. I’d read what I’d written the day before and then I’d start from there. It’s like listening to a book on tape in the car. You pick right up where you left off. I guess you just get in the zone, focus.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I also learned quickly to take pen and paper to Little League practice. In the car I was alone, even thought chaos reigned on the baseball field.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Once all three boys were in school, I set a routine. Do the breakfast dishes, laundry in the washer, sweep the kitchen floor, plan supper, all those everyday things, then I’d be at the computer by nine. Pre-caller ID, I’d answer the phone because it could be a family matter, but if it was a friend, I’d talk a bit, then say I had to get something finished.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I agree with David that everyone perceived that I didn’t work. (Did they think I just ordered books in the mail with my name on the cover?) Of course, I was a room mother, and I got stuck with the worst-behaving kids on field trips since I was used to three boys (although such good sons they are). Still, family does come first, to a degree. There’s such a thing as overindulgence that keeps kids from becoming self-sufficient. It’s absolutely a balancing act.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">You can see that I had the luxury (and fatigue) of being an at-home mom, and that let me carve writing time out of the day. When I’m asked how to become a successful writer, I usually answer, “First, marry an </div><div class="MsoNormal">architect.”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Veda Boyd Jones, author of <i>Nellie the Brave</i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://davidlharrison.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/sandy-asher1.jpg">www.vedaboydjones.com</a> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><br />
Response 4: Sandy</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Hey, David –</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">It’s nice to know I’m not alone, even though it’s the answer-all-your-emails-first club I belong to. Not only answer them, but hop to it and deliver anything anyone asks of me in those emails. But, like you, I get a lot done in spite of my email addiction, so I guess we club members could free up at least a little of our time if we spend less of it feeling guilty!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The internal obstacle I’d like to talk about is something like a taped message that goes on in my brain during the writing of first drafts. I start out each project in a state of high optimism: “This is a fabulous idea. It’s going to be easy, too! And everyone’s going to love it.” Off I go, then, scribbling or typing away with a big smile on my face. Roughly halfway, maybe less, into the first draft, the tape begins: “This is not going to work. This is garbage. Whatever made you think you could write? This is awful. Stop! Give up! STOP!”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I don’t know where that message comes from, but I do know other writers hear their own version of it. Another club we joined unwillingly, but there we are, in it together and wrestling with another obstacle to our writing. Some writers do stop and give up. As for me, I’ve come to think of that moment when the negative message clicks on as something like the wall that marathon runners talk about. Somewhere in the race you feel as if you will drop in your tracks if you take another step. But if you keep putting one foot in front of the other, sooner or later a “second wind” will kick in and carry you to the finish line.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So I keep putting one word in front of the other, with the message repeating on a relentless loop in my head, and eventually, I get an entire draft done. That entire draft, I’ve found, is a critical milestone. It’s easy to throw away the first few paragraphs of a story or even the first couple of chapters of a book. But an entire draft? Uh-uh. I’ve lived with the characters too long. I know them, I care about them, and I’m not going to toss them in the trash without at least trying to do their story justice.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The taped message in my head hates it when I get on with the second, third, fourth, or nth draft of a piece. It slinks away. Until the next project. It’s been visiting me for decades now, with no signs of weakening — a formidable foe, but not an unstoppable one. I just write it down!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">My turn to go first next time, David. I’ll be taking on “How do you deal with rejection?” And do I ever have experience in that area!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">But before we go there, let’s hear more about obstacles from Amie Brockway and Kristi Holl.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisfZN5IsCWoI786qv8kh2OFPDr7FfSgAzOQWH5BvpIbA-DUpnxH-63ALFMny0mq0p5Om1mSurgSZsW6-k-psRzWGD40_bZoiam8BhMyQbWISbvHa6Dm6vz432gauYg0UP2VO1zCavwaaHy/s1600/amie-brockway-hensen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisfZN5IsCWoI786qv8kh2OFPDr7FfSgAzOQWH5BvpIbA-DUpnxH-63ALFMny0mq0p5Om1mSurgSZsW6-k-psRzWGD40_bZoiam8BhMyQbWISbvHa6Dm6vz432gauYg0UP2VO1zCavwaaHy/s1600/amie-brockway-hensen.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://davidlharrison.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/amie-brockway-hensen.jpg"><br />
</a></div><div class="MsoNormal">Hi Sandy and David,</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I would love to figure out how to make use of your new venture. What gets in my way? </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Today, it’s 327 emails that have to be answered, deleted, or otherwise dealt with. I keep meaning to tell you, Sandy, that I’m reading your book about writing and rewriting. I read it while I eat–that’s multitasking, right? It’s a wonderful book, and I’m sure it will help me.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I’m trying to get to my two writing projects, and I thought I had pretty much the whole day today to focus on them. But, here it is 4:30, and I still have 21 unread emails and a whole stack of emails for which I have promised to try to get this or that done today.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I don’t know.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I made up a time budget, and it has 34 hours in a day. I tried multiplying that times 5 days and spreading it over 7 days, and if I remember correctly I ended up with 4 spare hours.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Guess I won’t be trying to blog anytime soon.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Amie</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Amie Brockway is producing artistic director of The Open Eye Theater, Margaretville, NY. Her plays include adaptations of <i>The Odyssey</i> and <i>The Nightingale</i> (both Dramatic Publishing Company). The theater’s website is</b> <a href="http://www.theopeneye.org/">www.theopeneye.org</a>. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv_ApGSru5C4UhThvIvipISYWOB9ygvFxR-nLNXtkai_VW4Nd6ING2VPQ83fMVkU8AguLNjyv4M0u28Z-vKy8eSwHjOMxLElVKRJBB-wxiCMt4HpsaD88pqoeYXX3PcZOTba4CmKz3uOLI/s1600/kristi-holl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv_ApGSru5C4UhThvIvipISYWOB9ygvFxR-nLNXtkai_VW4Nd6ING2VPQ83fMVkU8AguLNjyv4M0u28Z-vKy8eSwHjOMxLElVKRJBB-wxiCMt4HpsaD88pqoeYXX3PcZOTba4CmKz3uOLI/s1600/kristi-holl.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Dealing with Distractions</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">During the early stages of a writing project, when you’re gathering ideas and deciding on your approach, it’s useful to daydream and be unfocused in your thinking. However, there comes a time to focus, to fully concentrate on the work, as if you were putting a beam of sunlight through a magnifying glass to concentrate its power until the paper it touches bursts into flame.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Why focus? When you focus, you’ll accomplish writing projects in half the time, and your concentrated efforts will produce better work. Focusing also builds momentum and enthusiasm, urging us to move steadily toward finished stories, articles, and books.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Being able to focus is critical. As Stephen Covey (author of <i>The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People</i>) says, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b>Getting Sidetracked</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">What keeps us from focusing? Distractions. They have always been with us. Agatha Christie once said, “I enjoy writing in the desert. There are no distractions such as telephones, theaters, opera houses, and gardens.” While our modern-day distractions may have changed a bit (emails to answer, faxes coming in, the World Series on TV), the result of being sidetracked by them remains the same. We don’t finish our writing. We don’t study guidelines and mail that manuscript. We don’t follow up on marketing tips. If we stall long enough, we may quit altogether.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So how do we deal with things that take us away from our writing? Try adapting the Serenity Prayer for this purpose: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the distractions I cannot change, courage to change the distractions I can, and wisdom to know the difference.”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b>Wisdom to Know</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">What are some distractions you cannot change or ignore? Sometimes it’s a sick child or spouse or a crisis with a friend. Sometimes your boss gives you an overtime assignment with a “now” deadline. There may be a project that needs to be attended to without delay, like your teenager’s last-minute college entrance application. This type of interruption or distraction you have little control over. You grin and bear it.</div><div class="MsoNormal">However, we need wisdom to know the difference between the distractions that are unavoidable and those we allow. Chances are, you’re your own worst enemy when it comes to distractions that keep you from writing. So take courage! Change what you can in order to focus on your writing.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">1. Use an answering machine to screen calls. Better yet, turn the ringer off altogether so you’re not tempted to pick up when you hear your best friend’s voice. Then return calls at lunchtime or when you’ve finished your daily writing stint.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">2. Isolate yourself as much as possible from the traffic flow. I now have my own office, but I’ve written in family rooms and bedrooms and dens. The family room was the most difficult with constant interruptions of TV, kids, and doorbells. The more you can shut the door on distractions, the easier you’ll find it to focus.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">3. Take note of your own personal distractions. The blinds in my office are pulled because I look outside every time a car/garbage truck/motorcycle/UPS truck/bus/delivery truck goes by. I also remove all chocolate from my workspace. Even hidden in the back of a drawer, it calls to me while I work and distracts me, whether I stop to eat it or not. Nice weather tempts me to go out for a while, so I don’t put on makeup until late in the day. I know I won’t show my face in public without it – so I’ll stay home and write instead.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">4. Leave the mail alone. Reading letters and email and surfing the Net can be a major distraction. It interrupts your flow to stop and sort the mail. And if your mail contains rejection letters, bills, and bank statements, it can create an instant slump. So get the snail-mail if you must, but stash it in a basket until the end of the day when you’re done writing. The same is true for email. Leave it unopened and unread till late afternoon (unless it’s a response from an editor!).</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">5. For non-emergencies, make your family wait. Barter with your family for writing time. When you’re finished, you’ll make popcorn. When you’re finished, you’ll play catch. When you’re finished, you’ll go rent a movie. (Just be sure you actually follow through on your promises!)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">6. Leave home. If home is too chaotic sometimes, take your work to the library or a park or a cafe, somewhere quiet with no phone and a minimum of distractions.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">7. Organize your workspace first. Arrange your workspace before you begin writing, to ensure that you have everything you need. Don’t run out of paper halfway through typing your chapter. Keep things within reach. Even finding a new ink cartridge or box of paper clips in your supply closet can distract you. Before you know it, you’ve spent half an hour rearranging the closet shelves.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">8. Silence can be golden. Are you as distracted by noise as I am? I run a fan on high speed for white noise, and during school vacations I also use earplugs. If traffic bothers you – or if you’re in a quiet neighborhood where twittering birds distract you – close the windows during your writing time.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">9. Change your schedule. Get up earlier and write when the world is still asleep. Phones don’t ring. Kids don’t interrupt. Your spouse is still snoring. (This works equally well if you’re a night owl and can write after the world shuts down for the night.)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">10. Eat healthy meals at regular intervals. Avoid the distraction of a growling stomach or a hunger headache. If you’re always thirsty, keep cold drinks within reach. A mini-refrigerator in your office, filled with bottled water and fresh fruit, an keep you from constantly running to the kitchen.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Focus!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Take time to study yourself, discovering your own favorite distractions. Once in a while we have absolutely no control over interruptions. However, most of the time, we (consciously or not) use distractions to keep us from having to face the work and anxiety of putting words on paper.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The next time you sit down at your keyboard, close your eyes and imagine yourself as that concentrated beam of light focused by the magnifying glass. Then open your eyes, hit the keys, and set the world on fire!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Visit Kristi’s website at</b> <a href="http://www.kristiholl.com/">www.KristiHoll.com</a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<b>Over 40,000 subscribers at Kristi’s Writer’s First Aid blog:</b> <a href="http://institutechildrenslit.net/Writers-First-Aid-blog">institutechildrenslit.net/Writers-First-Aid-blog</a></div>Sandy Asherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08311778466602117713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632956980782008334.post-8276100228498504632010-09-26T14:12:00.001-07:002010-12-31T21:13:47.334-08:00Topic 1: The Care and Feeding of Ideas<div style="text-align: justify;">We begin, appropriately, at the beginning with “The Care and Feeding of Ideas.” Other questions on our ever-growing list include the following:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">"What kind of schedule do you set for yourself and what do you do to keep it going?"</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">"What kind of obstacles—external, interpersonal, internal—get in your way and how do you deal with them?"</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">"What are the plusses and minuses of collaboration?"</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">"You write in so many genres. How come? And what are the pros and cons of doing that?</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">"What do you do when you get stuck and can't figure out how to proceed?"</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">"When is it time to revise and how do you know?"</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">"When is it time to let go?"</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">"What are the pros and cons of having/not having an agent?"</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">"How do you deal with rejection?"</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">"How do you deal with editorial suggestions?"</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">"How do you deal with speaking engagements?"</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">“How do you feel about being your own P.R. person in this current marketing climate?" </li>
</ul><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">And so on. But now . . .</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Here is Sandy to lead off our first discussion for WRITERS AT WORK. The question is a broad one about ideas. Technically, it’s a family of questions. Do we go to our desks every day expecting an idea to greet us there? What do we do when he have a fresh idea to consider? Do we jump in and start writing? Mull it over for a time? In short, let’s talk about the general care and feeding of ideas.<b> </b></div><div align="center" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" style="text-align: center;"><b>Response 1: Sandy</b> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I do mull over ideas, as long as I possibly can. I have two good reasons: (1) I’m lazy, and ideas aren’t hard work at all if you’re just thinking about them; and (2) the best ideas tend to grow and change and get even better during the mulling time, while the glow fades from the worst ideas and they reveal their inadequacies and slink away.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">When everything is going just right for me, I have a lot of projects in various stages of development at once, and I’m working on one while mulling over another. Or more than one other. So it doesn’t matter if something mullable comes to me every day. I’m working on whatever’s most pressing at the moment and making notes—mentally and physically—on something else as the ideas present themselves. New ideas have a way of trying to push to the head of the line when I’m busy working on something else.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
But everything doesn’t always go just right! As mentioned, I often mull something over only to discover it’s not worth pursuing. Sad to say, that realization has been known to hold off until I’ve written several drafts. And there are times when nothing is presenting itself at all. It was a great comfort to me to hear Richard Peck say that he has one idea at a time and, while writing his current book, is always quite sure he’ll never write another.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I don’t go to the desk hoping something will happen. Writing doesn’t always happen at the desk anyway. Typing happens at the desk. And when I go to the desk, it’s because I’ve got something planned to do there. That’s why when people ask me if I write every day or how many hours I write, I say “24/7.” They’re thinking hours spent at the keyboard; I’m thinking what goes into the work itself. My whole life! That’s where my ideas come from. It’s all I’ve got. It’s all grist for the mill.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">How about you, David? </div><div align="center" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" style="text-align: center;"></div><div align="center" style="text-align: center;"><b>Response 2: David</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I love what you say about new ideas wanting to crowd in at the head of the line. They’re a provocative lot and it’s tempting to let them. A new idea seems fresh, vibrant, filled with hints of brilliance that urge me to forsake all others and set out at once to woo the newbie. When I first started flexing my teeny writer’s muscles, I chased everything that crossed my mind, like a kid swinging his butterfly net in all directions. These days I’m a good deal more selective.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Still, the ideas come. They must. They just don’t always materialize on command or arrive at convenient times or places. I try to keep notepads in places where my ideas seem most prone to hang out: by the shower, in my car, in the bedroom. I often guess wrong and must make do with whatever writing material lies at hand: paper napkins, backs of bills, toilet paper, envelopes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I also agree with you that good ideas have a longer shelf life than those shallow wannabe notions that flit through the crowd in my head and soon blink off like fireflies with no notion of where they’re going. You speak to the need to pause with an idea long enough to get acquainted and see if it’s sincere or just a kiss-and-run sort of tease.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">One way I learn to tell the difference is to jot down a new idea the way it comes to me, keeping it brief but with enough description to help me remember it later when I come back for another look. When I review some of my cryptic notes in my idea files or journals, I have no earthly recollection of what excited me so in the first place. Others, though, are right where I left them, winking as brightly as ever, and I know I have something worth developing to at least the first draft stage.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I see my desk as my office rather than an incubator for ideas. I report to work each morning, coffee in hand, check e-mail from the previous night, make sure the latest blog post is up, reread notes to myself about the day’s tasks, and get started. The funny thing about new ideas is that, like Bo Peep’s sheep, leave them alone and sooner or later they’ll come home.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now, back to you, Sandy.<b> </b></div><br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;"><b> Response 3: Sandy</b> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Hello, David—</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I totally relate to the notepads everywhere—and the random scraps of paper when a notepad can’t be grabbed quickly. I must say I’ve never tried writing on toilet tissue. But I don’t rule it out. So far, my most unusual stand-in for a notepad has been the back of one my son’s Bar Mitzvah invitations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I also second the motion for writing those notes in enough detail that you recognize the idea when you come back to it. I once found a scrap of paper in my “ideas” file that said, “Laura—brown hair.” I had no memory of having written it, or of anyone named Laura, or of why her brown hair might have been significant. But even this snippet has come in handy, as a prime example of too little information!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">It occurred to me when I reread my comments on “mulling” that I’d never mentioned where those ideas come from that I mull. From my life, of course. What else do I have to draw on? But my life is more than just what happens to me directly. What I observe about others counts as part of my personal experience, and that includes what I read about in books and newspapers, what I see on TV and in the movies, what I overhear on subway platforms and in waiting rooms. Whatever the source, the best ideas grow out of things that hit me hard—that frighten, worry, anger, amuse, surprise, intrigue, or fascinate me. Those are the ideas that won’t turn loose until I make something of them and share what I’ve made.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In my book WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR IDEAS?, I compare writers to oysters and ideas to the grain of sand that gets under an oyster’s shell. The sand irritates the oyster; the oyster deals with that irritation by coating the grain of sand. The result is something others consider beautiful and valuable—a pearl—but for the oyster, it’s relief.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I consider it a good sign when a possible project scares me a little. Or even a lot. That tells me I’m moving beyond my comfort zone and taking on a real challenge rather than playing it safe and repeating myself.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
Back to you, David!<b> </b></div><div align="center" style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div align="center" style="text-align: center;"><b>Response 4: David</b> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sandy, we’ve both pointed out how much we rely on the ready presence of pad and pencil to capture those ideas when they appear unannounced. I don’t want to bloody the point, but many a delicious plot, scrap of dialogue, perfect description, or fantastic rhyme has slipped into that murky river of our subconscious and lodged somewhere out of reach—all for the lack of a piece of paper. Some ideas speed off like a hit-and-run driver. When they’re gone, they don’t want to be found.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Today I was refilling my hummingbird feeder. While I stood outside the kitchen, empty container in one hand, teapot of fresh sugar water in the other, a hummingbird materialized beside me. It hovered two feet away, sizing me up and down, while I stood transfixed by my good fortune. When the tiny feathered dart vanished across the yard, I knew I had to capture the moment as quickly as I could return to the kitchen. I did better than make myself a note. I shared it with all of you too. I tell young people that to be a writer they must believe they are a writer, think like a writer, and behave like a writer. Writers love ideas. They feast on them.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">They don’t let many good ones get away.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sandy, this wraps up “The Care and Feeding of Ideas.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Next month we’ll pose another issue, and it will be my turn to go first. See you then.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">David<i> </i></div>Sandy Asherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08311778466602117713noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8632956980782008334.post-9667151198118472622010-09-26T14:11:00.001-07:002010-09-26T14:13:22.730-07:00Writers at Work: An Introduction<div style="text-align: justify;">On August 31, 2010, the two of us—David Harrison and Sandy Asher—launched a new feature on David’s blog called WRITERS AT WORK. Longtime friends and colleagues, we started a public conversation about writing—not the technique or marketing aspects, but the day-by-day nuts and bolts of doing it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
Nothing fancy or formal. We simply made a list of some of the most frequent questions we’ve received from readers and fellow writers over the years (see below) and began tackling them in an online conversation. Our remarks continue to be published individually—“he said” one time, “she said” the next (and vice versa)—as a weekly feature each Tuesday on David’s blog at <a href="http://davidlharrison.wordpress.com/">www.davidlharrison.com</a>. Here, they’ll be reposted in larger chunks, all of our exchanges addressing one particular topic each time. Instead of a weekly schedule, we’ll update monthly.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
Readers are encouraged to chime in on any of the topics at any time—and especially to suggest new topics they’d like to see addressed. Selected comments from readers will be posted each month.</div>Sandy Asherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08311778466602117713noreply@blogger.com0