Saturday Progress Report

Yes, there has been progress!  I'm about a 1/3 of the way through a chapter book. When I get stuck on a big project, I often switch to a smaller one, sometimes a much smaller one such as a poem or very short story. Why? 1. sometimes switching genres .. say from a mg novel to a short funny poem dekinks my brain 2. When I feel frustrated over not being able to work through a story point, I can be encouraged by working out something smaller. "See you did THAT, now go do the other." Maybe it's something like doing Soduku puzzles to exercise your brain before you tackle quantum physics or something. 

This afternoon I'll be meeting with my local critique group. It's been awhile since all five of us could be together. 

The Chameleon Blog

Um yes, I am fiddling with the blog layout/colors. And no, no, noooooooo...it's not a way to procrastinate. Of COURSE not!

Deep Thought Sunday 7

Since it's Monday, I chose procrastination as the topic for Deep Thought Sunday. Here's a gem from Will Rogers:

"Even if you're on the right track - 
you'll get run over if you just sit there." 
Will Rogers

Saturday Progress Report

Okay, so it's Monday .. but Saturday was a HOLIDAY !  The temporary seasonal day job ended on Thursdays, so I'm back to writing. I've been doing some 'crafty' stuff lately .. reading and outlining chapter books and fiddling with fairy tales in an attempt to improve my plotting ability. And of course that all led into another project.  

Also I'm working on focusing on one thing at a time, writing wise - choosing one writing task and making that the goal for the day. Yeah, I'm a little scattered, ADD, whoopsie-brained, that's for sure. The same method has been working on the gardens. Each morning I decided which part of the garden I want to work on, and I limit myself to just that spot. I know .... this probably seems so simple to other people.

Even though I'm also prepping a house to put on the market, I hope that I'll have more writing time in the day, and that my Saturday progress reports will be more exciting.

Music Monday - Starry Starry Night

Here is Don McLean singing Starry Starry Night, the theme song of my youth.

Happy Monday!

Two For Friday July 3

Formerly known as Juxtaposition Friday.

I give you two seemingly unrelated things as a writing prompt. You write something using both images.  Have fun!

a nursing home

a watermelon seed

Some people ask me how I come up with these. Both of the above came to me when I thought of the word independence.

Music Monday - Lisa Hannigan - Splishy Splashy

I've posted a Lisa Hannigan video once before, but this one is even more magical with accompanying music being pinged out on glassware on the beachside table. Enjoy Splishy-Splashy.

Happy Monday.

Deep Thought Sunday 6

I have never had so many good ideas day after day as when I worked in the garden.  John Erskine.

From Wisdom Garden.

Saturday Progress Report

Not a lot of writing on THE project, but some fiddling around with plot exercises and playing with writing ending lines. Seasonal day job lasts another week. Decided to drop the themes on the blog for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Working on cutting the message board addiction. Stayed off my three most visited sites for over six days, then visited each for under ten minutes a piece. Have vowed to only visit message boards on Saturday. Canceled my Twitter account. Facebook is my only remaining vice.

Juxtaposition Friday 4

Okay, so it's Sunday. But still ... I'm catching up.

This is a writing prompt wherein I throw out two seemingly unrelated words or phrases and you write something which includes both things.

eye of a potato

eye of a needle

Have fun!

Scents and Sensibility

One rough crit. One meh rejection. One misguided comment. Any of these can bring a writer's work to a screeching halt. It's funny how one opinion -- ONE --- OPINION --- can totally change perspective.

Yesterday, on a rare trip to the mall, I stopped by the Stinky Bath Stuff store. I rarely buy this kind of stuff, but it was deeply discounted, and for some reason I do like scent when I'm stressed. I strolled around the store and sniffed. Usually I prefer to smell like produce, choosing scents like orange and cucumber. But this time I was entranced by the big five dollar bottles of Sandalwood Rose lotion and body wash labeled STRESS RELIEF. I sniffed. Ahhh. Heaven. A whiff of home mixed with a whiff of someplace exotic which promised peace and tranquility. I continued browsing, while occasionally popping the top of the bottle to take a whiff of paradise. I made my selections, checked out, and walked away quite pleased that I had gotten the GOOD stuff for considerably less than my usual drug store brands. I met up with my husband and the progeny, and still excited about my buys, I handed the bottle of Sandalwood Rose to my husband and said, "Here, sniff."

He sniffed. He recoiled and made some kind of snuffly ewww-y noise. I was crestfallen. "You don't like it?" I asked. He shook his head no.

And then instantly, as quickly as I had fallen in love with the scent, I decided it reeked. It was too strong, too terrible, and it gave me a headache.

This is what we do sometimes with our writing. We love it. We think it's crafted well. It's all good. And then one opinion changes that. What we thought smelled divine, now reeks like garbage.

When this happens, you have to do what I did with my big ol' green glass bottle of Sandalwood Rose. You go off by yourself and sniff again. Maybe you did over romanticize it, maybe you didn't see the flaws. Maybe it is a mite heavy in the scent department, and you should only put it on your ankles. Or maybe after taking another sniff, you can smell what's right with it again. 

Input from others is important, but you have to sniff that out as well. Don't let one comment, one opinion, make you turn away from that which you know is good.

Music Monday - Lyle Lovett - Don't Cry A Tear

This is one of my favorite Lyle Lovett tunes.  Lyle sang it right after they shot Hunter Thompson's ashes out of the canon. 

Even when the song is sad, listening to Lyle always makes me happy. I kinda plan to sing this when I load up the moving van next time. Or maybe I should sing "This Traveling Around Will be the Death of Me."

Signboard Blogging

Yes, I realize I'm cheating at blogging by calling a quote, a music video, or a photo a blog entry. But the way I figure, it's like those magnetic signs outside churches or liquor stores with pithy sayings on them. Sure the message is short, but it gets your attention and maybe makes people smile. More importantly, it's a glimpse into who or whatever put up the sign, and gives you a hint as to what may be inside.

Deep Thought Sunday 5

If the English language made any sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur.   Doug Larson

Saturday Progress Report

Well, I've managed to get a blog entry up every day! But since I've been working on my temporary, seasonal, part time day job this week .. there's not much to report on the writing front.

Still working on one mg with another nipping at my toes or brain or something. It's haunting me, poking me, trying to get my attention.

Juxtaposition Friday 3

I haven't done one of these in a long while. On Juxtaposition Friday, I present you with two seemingly unrelated words, images, or pictures, and then leave you to your own devices as to how to work these TWO things into one whole something or another.  Have fun!

Here are your two things for today:

1.   A tattered pink ribbon

2.  An abandoned fishing boat

Birdy Thursday

I leave you with this image to be used as a writing prompt or a smile and a giggle if you need one. Haven't we all felt like that little fellow on the end before?

Whatever Wednesday

A picture is worth a thousand words or in other words (far less than a thousand) I don't have time to blog today, so groove on the quote. 

Enchanted Rock

There is no real reason for this entry except that I thought the whole blog was pretty bland without pictures. This is a view of the Texas Hill Country from about halfway up Enchanted Rock. Everyone has magical places to which they long to return. This is one of mine.

Be Current

On Tuesdays I bring tips for folks who are just getting their toes wet into the world of writing for kids. Warning: I'm pretty straight forward, and the advice given here is short and to the point. This isn't the Fuzzy Bunny Sunshine School of Kiddy Lit. This is the truth.

This morning I'd like to talk about picture books. It seems like everybody wants to write a picture book, especially since there is a misconception that they are so easy. They aren't. It's more like trying to paint on the head of a pin. Just because the books are short and small and cute, doesn't mean they're easy to do.

Today I want to focus on one problem I often see with beginning picture book writers, and that is the tendency to write the book of yesteryear. And for those of us who remember life before MTV, yesteryear is getting a little moldy and tarnished.

I often run into beginning writers who write very long picture books, over 1000 words. Sometimes these stories don't have a strong plot or storyline; they are quiet books. Often they aren't kid centric; a parent or other adult figure solves the problem. In addition, these stories tend to be description heavy. And when new writers ask for critique  and people point these things out to them, the first response is often, "Well, it's LIKE (insert name of old classic picture book here.)

Okay, I know styles in everything change and tend to be cyclical. But whether you are making stories or bicycles or dinner dishes, if you want to sell the things you make, it is wise to keep up with the fashion of the day.

New writers are bombarded with the advice to read, read, read, and I will add to that: especially concentrate on reading picture books which came out in the last five years. Look for bestsellers, ones with starred reviews, and ones which have received awards. 

The world of children's books is always changing, and over the decades picture books have become more clearly defined. The picture books of yesteryear wouldn't necessarily be picture books by today's standards. 

If you wanted to make dresses and sell them in today's marketplace, you probably wouldn't use fifty year old patterns. Sure, some people would love them and you'd have a niche market. But if you wanted to sell to a broader market, you'd need to keep up with what is selling in current times. The same thing holds true with picture books.

Tune in next Tuesday for more newbie tips. 

Music Monday - Hazmat Modine

Need a Monday morning pick up? Here's some Hazmat Modine. They defy definition ... jazzy ... bluesy .... is the best I can do. Although, I've heard them described as Swamp Gypsy by a reviewer.

Deep Thought Sunday 4

I bring you back to the regularly scheduled programming of this blog.

1. Deep Thought Sunday - I share a quote

2. Music Monday - I share a music video

3. Newbie Tuesday - I offer tips to writers new to the kid lit field

4. Free Day ... Anything or Nothing

5. Same as above

6. Juxtaposition Friday - my warped writing exercises

7. Saturday Progress Report - in which I tell you how much I accomplished for the week or not.

So here is your Deep Thought for today.

What I like in a good author is not what he says, but what he whispers.  ~Logan Pearsall Smith, "All Trivia," Afterthoughts, 1931

Saturday Progress Report

My middle grade novel is fun to me again, mostly because I found the previously written ending which I forgot I had. The middle is still in pretty sad shape. The first nine chapters are polished. I put about 1500 words in on it today, some of them old. I'll work on it some more before the night is over. My goal is to have it in "showable" shape by the end of the month.  It helps that I joined this contest to "finish your book" in June, and I have a couple of really lovable but naggy friends.

Most manuscripts end up as boomerangs. They come back. But every once in a while you get one  in the basket.

Oooooh ... how I love mixed metaphors.  :) They're so silly!

On Rejection

First off, please do not respond to this post with condolences, or "I'm sorry's" or "awww, geeze's." If you do, I'll be forced to practice voodoo or something else dire, because I just refuse to weep over rejections and when people weep for me, I get irritated.

Yes, I got a rejection, yesterday. No, I'm not broken up over it. I have other things to worry about right now. Maybe somewhere deep down I do care, but I just don't have time to deal with the emotions of a piece of paper that says no. Maybe it's because the spouse is on the roller coaster of job hunting, and I'm getting so used to ups and downs and no's, that I just consider it all part of the ride. There's no need to pump me up. I am not deflated.

The only thing that remotely bothered me about it is that dh and I have a pattern of receiving some kind of rejection on the same day. But it didn't happen that way yesterday, so whew!  But yes, for a moment I got the feeling of "Oh crap, now dh will get bad news."

So, it was a good rejection as rejections go. And now I know I have a better focus and idea of what I need to do. 

So that's that. No condolences. No weeping. No sadness. There's not any of that here. Now off to clean out the attic, while the morning is still cool.

June

It's June and a brand new beginning for my family. My husband retired from the USAF last Friday, and the best way I can describe a formal military retirement ceremony is a cross between a wedding and a funeral with a lot of saluting thrown in the middle. Of course, we're not "retired" retired. We are still young, and the husband is ready to embark on his second career. The kids are middlish school age, and it's time to stop the moving around. I'm ready for roots. I'm tired of being a potted plant.

So, what am I doing now? Looking for an agent. Finishing up a fun boy mg. Twiddling with more absurd picture book ideas, and trying to get my house ready for market. Oh yeah, and taking care of my two sons and my three cats.

Right now I want to stop and wave at all my Nebraskan friends who have found me. Thanks Nona, for getting the word out. It's so great to reconnect!

And now .. back to work .. because I told the husband I was working on the novel. 

On Flavor

I just don't like the word brand. It makes me think of two things .. a searing mark left on livestock and designer labels. Neither one brings a pleasant image to my mind. 

So you know, same concept - different name. Flavor. Are you vanilla? Mocha? Raspberry Swirl? What?

I think I'm organic, natural, fudge ripple with nuts and caramel.  And sometimes I'm kiwi-strawberry.

What's your flavor?

Note: If you are reading this on LJ, you can comment and I will see it.

Twitter

I tweet here.  http://twitter.com/lillpluta

On Themes and Writing Girl Stuff with Boys in the House

I think I've given up on the ideas of "theme days" around here. I should have known better than to try something so coordinated.

I have started querying agents with my tween verse novel, and I'm finishing up revisions on my boy middle grade. The latter was written with my boys in mind, but if I don't get cracking on it, they'll be beyond the targeted age range soon.  However, they are happy to see me back to work on the boy book. They weren't too happy to look over my shoulder to see me working on "girly" stuff.

"What's that one about, Mom?"

"A first kiss."

"Ewwwwwwwwww."  And then they would run off to build something out of Legos and leave me to my work.

Happy Birthday Son One

Today I have become the mother of a teenager. That must be why I feel so exhausted. The other one crosses the threshold to his first double digit year on Monday. 

Taking Off and Landing

My husband's military career is ending, while my writing career appears to be on a climb. It's a funny juxtaposition, he and I, sitting in our shared office lit with the glow of our respective computers. He is looking for a civilian job. I am looking for an agent. There in the late and the early hours, we share our yes's and no's and maybe's .. the possible and the impossible .. and most importantly, the hoped for.

It's an adventure. That much is certain. About a month from now we'll have a ceremony with plaques and barbecue and important people in sharp blue uniforms with lots of shiny dangly things. And then we'll be free to pursue Act II of our lives together.

Off we go .. into the wild blue yonder!

Lost In the Crayon Factory

Oooopsies .. It has been nearly a month since I posted. Sorry. I've been busy on my day job, plus I've just started to send out queries on the free verse novel.

I will be able to come up for air sometime around Tuesday, I think. But it will be brief.

Life has really turned into a roller coaster as of late, so I will try to post during the slow climbs, but just bear with me when I disappear through all those unexpected upside down whooshes.

A Boo-Hiss Moment

Our family goes to the library every Sunday after church. Today as we were "self-checking" out, the librarian asked if the movies we were getting were non-fiction. I'm thinking uh-oh ... is there a limit or something? She explained that there had been a lot of theft in the movie section lately - ten movies missing on Friday. People have been stealing the discs and leaving the cases on the shelf.  She wanted to make sure the movies were in the box, but she said they weren't really hitting the non-fiction section.  I guess Cuttlefish isn't a big seller on e-bay.

This makes me ill. For a small town, we have a lovely library. When other libraries are cutting services, ours is expanding.

The librarian said, "They're going to wipe us out," and "Don't they realize they are stealing from everybody." She wonders how they can sell them .. they have the library's initials across the disc in Sharpie .. and they don't take the cases. They must be selling them somewhere. She told me to be on the lookout if I went to any garage sales.

It's just really sad. I know we aren't the only family leaning on the library more because we have to cut spending. And our library is so super and thriving.

A pox on you thiefs! Boo! Hiss!

Look, My Inner Child!

I apologize for not posting in a month. I've been revisiting my childhood.

Not really, I've just been busy. Very, very busy, like a seven year old in a crayon factory.

Deep Thought Sunday 3

My spelling is Wobbly. It's good spelling but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places. 

A.A. Milne

Juxtaposition Friday

Today is the day I give you a writing prompt consisting of two words which you normally wouldn't find in the same sentence. Have fun.

corduroy     flamingo

Fun or Not

Ha! Themes! Who would have thought I'd be a theme blogger.

Anyway, each Tuesday I will bring a tip particularly geared toward the person just starting out in the wonderful wacky world of children's publishing.  But I do suspect that writers beyond the newbie stage might now and again find the tips useful.

Today's Tip:  

Even though this blog carries the subtitle Writing for the fun of it,  if you want a career as a children's book writer you have to keep on writing even when the process is not even remotely similar to an amusement park. Sometimes,  the fun isn't all that obvious ... you know with balloons, pony rides, and the fortune telling booth. Sometimes you just have to keep going through the dark until you find the jacks and ball in the corner. Nothing flashy, but a bit of fun, nonetheless.

Music Monday - Thea Gilmore

For today's Music Monday feature I bring you a live recording of Thea Gilmore singing Crazy Love.

Publish Post

Music Monday - Wailing Jennys

Music, language, poetry ---- it's all entwined. So each Monday, I will be sharing a video of one of my favorite musicians or musical groups.  Ummm, yeah ... I'm heavy into  folk, Americana, adult acoustic alternative, and alt. country. But every once in awhile I may throw something different at ya.

This morning I bring you the Wailing Jennys.

Deep Thought Sunday 2

This is the day of the week when I bring you a quote. It's also the day of the week I stay home from church to meet a deadline.  Well, okay .. not ALL Sundays .. just this particular one. I'll make up for it next month when I have Sunday School and Altar Guild duty. The sky is cloudy today. Perhaps I should watch out for lightning?

Here's a quote I found on BrainyQuote

All writers can do is keep trying to say what is deepest in their hearts.  Lloyd Alexander

Juxtapose on Friday

Juxtapose means to put two things side by side. Long, long, ago a college professor praised my use of "ironic juxtaposition" in my writing.  I suppose that's pretty much in line with what people say about my writing now:  "You can make a metaphor out of anything." "You have a unique way of looking at the world."  I interpret that all to mean - I put things together funny.

Putting things together funny is FUN!  So as one of the regular features on this blog I'm going to give you two words which normally wouldn't be seen together. Use them as a writing prompt for a poem, story, whatever. Or just use them in a metaphor or simile.

Have fun.

dandruff             diamonds

Parking Lot Poetry

I spend a lot of time toting kids back and forth, and waiting on them for this and that. Sometimes in those moments - poetry happens. Here's what I came up with today. It sounded fun, so I decided to share.

I buzz to the bee

and it buzzes back to me

as it flits and it zips

past my Granny apple tree

while the brown bird chirps,

and the dragonfly drones

and the teeny frogs ribbet

in their creaky, croaky tones.

Music Monday - Lisa Hannigan

Every Monday I will share a bit of my favorite music. Here is Lisa Hannigan, complete with pop-up book. Be sure to click the view in higher quality button below the you-tube box.

Deep Thought Sunday

Consider the postage stamp: its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing till it gets there. - Josh Billings

Meet my new writing mascot

I went into Tuesday Morning to purchase a pair of ceramic birds that I saw a few days ago. Then I spied this warped cat. I had seen the same figurine in Hallmark, but this was one was 70% off retail. Whoo-hooo, discount tacky!

I decided she'd be my new mascot. Her name is Boxina (box EE nuh), because she's well... squarish. And she'll remind me to think outside the cat. Do you think she can scare away my inner critic? Oh wait, my inner critic will just fall over laughing looking at this thing. 

But she is sooooooooo me. 

Thoughts on Free Verse - finished

Although, free verse is "free" of the constraints of meter and rhyme, it cannot be free of poetic elements altogether. If it were, there'd be no sense in calling it verse. It would merely be prose in bits. Word kibble.

Okay ... I've heard of prose poems ... and I'm not sure what kind of critters those things are. I will be honest ... I can be rather persnickety about poetry. I fell in love with modern poetry in my college years. Maxine Kumin, e.e. cummings, and the lot. I still have my well worn, blue paperback, thick as a church cornerstone Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry around here somewhere. 

Verse novels are playgrounds for figurative language. Metaphors, similes, symbolic imagery, assonance, consonance, alliteration  --- it's like a fireworks store filled with literary devices. Boom! Sizzle! Flash! You can do so much more with so much less in a verse novel.

Verse can and should still have a sense of rhythm even when it does not follow a strict metrical pattern. Each word counts and should be carefully chosen. Line breaks also contribute to the rhythm. I usually make a line break where the speaker would naturally pause. Sometimes I may isolate words on a line for emphasis. Sometimes my line breaks are solely practical and done in a way to get the whole dang poem to fit on one page.

So, here concludes my brief sputterings on verse novels.  I suppose I should end with something profound or witty, but I have work to do.  For someone who resisted this genre for a long time, I have one out, one bubbling on the stove, and the recipe for a third on the table.

where i live by Eileen Spinelli

Used to be, most verse novels were angsty issue laden YA fare. Now, more and more verse novels for the younger set are cropping up.

This morning, I had the pleasure of reading where i live by Eileen Spinelli and illustrated by Matt Phelan.  The story is about Diana, her love of stars and poetry, her best friend, her sister, and a big change that causes poor Diana to start all over again. It's the stuff  middle childhood is made of, told in sweet free verse, accented with heartwarming sketches. This book may especially be comforting to children who are faced with a move due to a parent's job loss. When they see how Diana bounces back, they will know that they can to0.

Thoughts on Free Verse cont'd

Note: I don't write long blog posts because ... oh look at the cat ... I don't read long blog posts...   has it stopped snowing? ... because I have a touch of A.D.D. ... I think I'll make pancakes for breakfast.

Also, when I talk poetry I tend to talk about it in very simple layman's terms. I mean I CAN get into all the high falutin' artsy fartsy stuff, after all I'm a dagnab card carrying English major, but usually I just keep it well you know ... down to earth and slightly bizarre.

For me, it takes a LOT longer to write free verse than prose. It's not about the words you put in. It's about the words you leave out. Free verse is raw, concentrated, several pages contained in one verse of a hundred words or so. As in picture books, every word in a verse novel counts. Every word has to carry a lot of weight. Think of verse as sun-dried tomatoes, all that flavor, all that tangy bite shriveled down into something tiny that comes to life in your brain, the way the flavor of the tomato comes alive in your mouth.

More tomorrow. :)

Thoughts on Free Verse

There is more

to writing a verse novel

than making

wonky

line 

breaks.

                                         You

        can                      even                  have           fun

                  with                       your                tab

                                                 key

However,

if you take out all the extra line breaks and spaces

and all

you have

is an ordinary paragraph.

Then you do not have verse.

You

have 

creative

ty

pi

ng

skills.

More tomorrow.  :)

Life is a Roller Coaster

Life can change in an instant. So often we become comfortable or even bored with the way things are, and we expect them to stay that way day after day after day. And then in a split second, something's gone that leaves an aching empty spot, or something's gained that solves an enormous problem or fills a void. And that's what we have to do in our stories. Keep that roller coaster rolling. Our stories need those heart wrenching dips and quick free falls.

Writing For the Fun of It

Although we do have to be mindful of the business end of writing, I think it is important to not let go of the fun and joy of creating. It's hard. It's tough. It's darn right exasperating at times, but when the work is done - polished, threads cut, edges sanded, lumps smoothed - we can look back and marvel at this thing we have made, with help from Providence (God, the Almighty, the Universe, the voices in your head, whatever drives you.)

And that's what I aim to make this blog about. Having fun in the middle of the ups and downs of the business.

I also tend to be irreverent and sarcastic, so I'm just warning you before we get started.

It's 2009!

Happy New Year. If you add all the digits in 2009, you'll get 11, which is one of my favorite numbers. So that would mean luck, eh?

For the first time, I subbed a novel just at the close of 2008. It's a verse novel. I find I have an objection to the word "free" for some reason, and scattered verses in this book have calculated near rhymes and a definite rhythm. I think a better name for it would be squooshed novel. Because in verse, you take the equivalent of I don't know.. a huge chunk of chapter and squoosh it into about 100 words.  Of course squooshed does not sound flattering, so I suppose verse novel is much the better name for it.

Happy New Year to you all.