Things that make a writer excited- part 2

This has been a fantastic day! I just received word that my proposal, "Learn from the Masters: How Creating a Fictional Character Enhances Reading Instruction" was accepted for the 2008 IRA convention in Atlanta, next May. This is quite an honor, particularly for a new author like me. On top of that, my article "Show, Don't Tell: Classroom Activities for Image Driven Writing" was accepted for a forthcoming issues of Middle Ground. As if that wasn't enough, my editor told me that my blog (the one you guys are helping to make popular) was rated 42 out of 150 useful, educational, and inspirational blogs for writers.

I'd include a video of myself jumping up and down in celebration (a la' my first attempt at Zumba yesterday) but I'll spare you that unnecessary visual litter!

Things that make a writer excited

My new brochure just arrived and it looks superb! If any of you are looking to have brochures printed, I'd highly recommend Willy Walt Printing services. They were fast, economical, and very professional. How fun!

Gems from Greenville

For those of you who were unable to attend the SCBWI/Emrys conference this past weekend in Greenville, I thought I would share some highlights. It is impossible to recreate the jam-packed Saturday, but here are a few gems:

• From Melinda Long, author of How I Became a Pirate and Pirates Don't Change Diapers: Use your childhood memories. Keep a running list of memories for possible story ideas.
  
• From Stephanie Greene, author of Queen Sophie Hartley and many, many other books: The beginning of your book is the writer's promise to the reader. (Will there be excitement? Humor? Pathos?) The opening is the point at which the character's life is changing.
  
• From Eleanora Tate, author of Celeste's Harlem Renaissance, Thank You Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and tons of other books. When editing, pull out "weedy" words.
  
• From Lindsay Davis, junior agent with Writer's House: Make sure that your cover letter shows you are familiar with the agent's work. Look at their website for a client list. They also are attracted to books in which the character has a unique voice and which jump from the page and effect the reader. Make sure that you as the author believe in your character.
  
• From Donna German, publisher of Sylvan Dell Publishing: Read her website totally before submitting. She can always tell if someone has followed submission guidelines or not.
  
• From Mark Johnston, author of I Love to Smell my Daddy's Socks and The Secret Agent: When you write, be aware that some things (like bodies of water, time, fire, color, buildings, clothes) are symbols. There are no right or wrong symbols, but they must ring true in your story. Pick the details that will matter to you; from specifics move to more specifics.
  
• The efficient coordinator of the conference, Jo Hackl, has agreed to make available several resources which she assembled for this conference. E-mail me at cbaldwin6@carolina.rr.com if you are interested in receiving either a sample cover letter or sample letter to an agent. I will let you know as more become available.
  
• Amy Thomas has an excellent handout "Fun Tips for Manuscripts" on her website at: http://www.amynthomas.com/manuscript%20format.html.
• One further clarification from Stephanie Greene (who is also the regional advisor for SCBWI-Carolinas) about picture book length. She notes that the current accepted length for a picture book is between 300-500 words. She states, "Shorter is better in the picture book world."
  

Audio Books

Since I am such a fan of books on CD, I was happy to read local teacher and columnist, Kay McSpadden, tout the merits of audio-books in the Charlotte Observer on August 11. As readers of this blog know, I'm a big advocate of reading books this way—since (unfortunately!) my time seems too limited to be able to sit down and read--as much as I love books. After McSpadden heard Jim Dale, the actor who has read all seven of the Harry Potter books for audio-books read, she wrote:

"…Before they are readers, all children learn by listening, and audio-books such as the ones narrated by Jim Dale can be a gateway to literacy. Granted, Jim Dale is a talented impersonator and mimic who has spent great care making each character's voice in the Harry Potter books distinct, and the Harry Potter books are so compelling that most fans read them more than once. But even an average parent reading a simple bedtime story aloud is giving her child practice in listening, memory, vocabulary, and imagination--skills that lead to fluency in reading later on."

Her column went on to discuss how TV watching has replaced reading and imaginary play—both so necessary to creative childhood development. She quoted a University of Washington study which indicated that, "For every hour per day spent watching videos targeted to them, babies had six to eight fewer words than babies who did not watch the videos."

She went on to say that many students who are considered reluctant readers might be hooked into reading by first listening to a story. Storytelling has been around since time began and well told stories, as McFadden concludes, speak to us all.

And speaking of audio-books…I look forward to telling you all about my latest great read: Peter Pan in Scarlet.

The Higher Power of Lucky

What child doesn't fantasize about running away in order to get the attention that he or she deserves? And what child hasn't worried that their mother/father/guardian/caretaker is considering leaving because of something the child fears he has done wrong? These themes, like the beautiful knots that Lucky's best friend, Lincoln ties, are intertwined throughout this 2007 Newberry Award winning book by Susan Patron. Through the course of this short book, 10-year-old Lucky also comes to grips with her mother's death and her father's abandonment. I found the description of Lucky hiding new thoughts and observations into different "crevices of her brain" to be poignant and true-to-life. Which one of us hasn't been confronted with a new reality without filing it in our mind to "think about later?" This would be a good book to use in a classroom to show how an author shows not tells characters and setting; the picture of this tiny town at the edge of the desert is outstanding.

I would recommend this book for readers 10 and up, although some parents may object to the use of the word "scrotum" on the first page. The word within the context of the story is just another part of adult life that Lucky is learning about. For comments about the book, you might want to read the review written by the New York Times which presents some interesting thoughts on authors and censorship. (Simon and Schuster, 2006)

Books on CD

For those of you who like me, can never find enough time to read, a friend recommended that I label the books which I review here that I have found on CD's. I went back and added that as appropriate and so now you can search for them under "Recorded Books." Hope this helps.

Reaching for Sun

I recommended this book to a friend who is writing a story through poetry and she recommended it back to me; now I'll recommend it to all of you. This is Tracie Vaughn Zimmer's second book of poetry (Sketches from a Spy Tree is for a younger audience) and both show a great grasp of language through terrific imagery and word choice. I can't help it. I'm a sucker for word pictures and this book is full of them! Savor this segment from the final poem, "reaching:"

"Even after summer

packs her bags,

the garden blooms:

holly drips berries

for the birds;

the river birch

peels back

to show its pale heart."

Although this is a story of a young teen coming to grips with cerebral palsy, Zimmer doesn't hit the reader over the head with that theme. Instead, the main character grapples with all of the normal angst which middle school students face: acceptance (or the lack thereof) from peers, gaining and then feeling like she has lost a new best friend, disappointment in a mother who doesn't seem to understand her, and fear over losing her beloved grandmother, to name a few. I highly recommend this book for readers in 5-7^th grade.

Harlem Summer

Since I'm in the middle of working the kinks out of writing a juvenile historical fiction novel, I'm impressed with Walter Dean Myers' ability to convey a sense of history and place, through a believable character living in Harlem in 1925. Both boys and girls will enjoy reading about the "life of crime" that Mark Purvis inadvertently slips into—and will cheer along with him when he finds his way out. I would recommend this Newberry Honor Winner for students in grades 5-8. Check out this interview with him for background information on where he gets ideas for his stories, his feelings about poetry, his relationship to his family, and more. (Scholastic, 2007)

P.S. The back of the book includes a pictorial directory to the "real" people and places in Harlem Summer. This is an added bonus for kids (like mine) who always want to know what "really" happened.

Betcha Didn't Know...

Call me a nerd, but I find word origins pretty fascinating. At the Atkins Library UNC Charlotte while researching my juvenile novel that will take place in Charlotte, NC in 1951, I experienced two word origins “hands on.”
We all take the term “cut and paste” pretty much for granted. You double click on the correct icon with your mouse and you move text in less time than it took to write this sentence. Well, in the “olden days” that wasn’t quite so easy. Today I ran my hand over the surface of a Sanborn map that was first printed in 1929 and continually updated until 1952. These GIGANTIC maps (we’re talking the size of a small end table) were used by fire insurance companies to determine the degree of fire hazard associated with a particular property. They include such details as the construction of the buildings, type of roofs, and the size, shapes and types of the building. These are handy to get a picture of a town or city during a particular time period but also demonstrated this whole “cut and paste” principal. As buildings were added or changed, the map makers literally re-typed the information, cut it out, and pasted it onto the old map. At first glance, the surface of these maps looked smooth, but on closer inspection (and feeling) you could see where new information had been placed over the old. Pretty cool.

How about a horn book? Besides being the name of the magazine that every children’s author strives to get a positive review in, do you know what it is? ( I didn’t!) At Atkins, I saw one. The original hornbooks were smaller than a sheet of notebook paper and were made from metal with a wooden paddle for a child to hold. Often the “lesson sheet” was covered by cow's horn and held in place with a metal frame. The lesson sheet had the alphabet (both upper- and lowercase), at times included numerals 1-10, and the Lord's Prayer. The one at the Atkins Library is from the 18th century, appears to have little nails holding the horn on the wood, and displays the alphabet and then a few words or letter combinations at the bottom.

So, now you know!

Here, Bullet

Poet and soldier. Those two nouns usually don't march down the road hand in hand. But in the case of Brian Turner, author of Here, Bullet, (Alice James Books, 2005) both are apt descriptions. If you want a book that vividly paints a word picture of the Iraq war, then I highly recommend this collection of poems. In the classroom I would use it as a read- aloud so that I could pick the poems appropriate to my group of students. The poems are intense and require maturity in the reading audience. Here is a sample from the poem, "Iraqi Policemen":

The explosion left a hole in the roadbed

Large enough to fit a mid-sized car.

It shattered concrete, twisted metal,

busted storefront windows in sheets

and lifted a BMW chassis up onto a rooftop.

The shocking blood of the men

forms an obscene art: a moustache, alone

on a sidewalk, a blistered hand's gold ring

still shining, while a medic, Doc Lopez,

pauses to catch his breath, to blow it out

hard, so he might cup the left side of a girl's face

in one hand, gently, before bandaging

the half gone missing.

This book would be a great supplement for a high school language arts class on the importance of word choice, or for those of you who teach history, social studies, or government and need to supplement your curriculum with reading activities.

The Looking Glass Wars

If you're looking for an entertaining, incredibly clever, and thought provoking book for boys and girls from age 11 and up, then check out The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor (Dial Books, 2006). Falling into the category of "Why couldn't I have thought of that?" Beddor's book is built on the premise that Alice Liddell "fell" into this world from her world of Wonderland. Alyss's world (her "real" name) is full of castle intrigue, power politics, cards that are soldiers with amazingly effective weapons (I was partial to the AD52 that carried quite a punch), battles between good and evil, and even a hint of romance (but not so much that boys will gag!). Adult and young adult readers will enjoy the wordplay which Beddor threads throughout the book: both card and chess metaphors are seamlessly interwoven into the plot. The author does such a good job of creating this fantasy world, that by the end you will wonder which world is truly real. And in fact, the chronology at the end of the book comes as a surprise. There are so many more layers built into this book then I first realized, that readers may have to start all over again. Fortunately, this is the first book in a trilogy and I am hooked. I can't wait to get my hands unto Seeing Redd which is due out in August, 2007.