The Resolution of Resolutions

25 Sunday Jan 2015

Posted by lindenmcneilly in In Real Life, Resolutions, The Writing Life, Uncategorized

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It’s January and many of us made—and happily abandoned—resolutions. I made only one, with my family, and that is to go at least three musicals. We’ve already seen one and I’m feeling pretty sassy about that.

When I was a teenager, I often resolved to exercise more. One January I headed out for my first run. Somewhere I got the idea that I’d lose lots of weight if I wrapped plastic wrap around my torso, so off I sprinted, layers of plastic squeaking under my shirt, up our street. I went perhaps 1/20^th of a mile and, panting and overheated, gave up.

I’ve never been good at sprinting. I am better at making plans, and then, when I fail to meet my goals, making new ones.

Writers are often great goal setters.

Some of my writing resolutions have been: Write for two hours every day. Or: Write 1500 words a day. And there was: Finish the novel by summertime.

Sometimes I followed the resolutions, but more often they get forgotten or deliberately, almost defiantly ignored.

I think what gets in the way is another meaning of “resolution.” A photo with high resolution is one with great clarity. The closer you look at it, the more detail it yields. You can get very, very close, and the photo still looks crisp.

But the closer you look at my resolutions, the fuzzier they become. Write for two hours a day. Which two hours? Is thinking about the plot considered writing? Does that include “research” on the Internet? What about correspondence—is that considered writing? Any self-respecting wordsmith can parse his or her own meaning here.

Write 1500 words a day. Does that mean new words? Or can you use a revision as part of that word count even though it feels like cheating? Does brainstorming or thinking out character traits count?

Finish the novel by summertime. Okay, that one feels more finite, but then we have the definition of “finish.” Crummy first draft? Revised third draft, ready for critique? And is it still summer in September? What about Indian summer, which comes to my town in October?

A third meaning of “resolution” comes to play too. How can we be done with things, bringing them to resolution, without a high-resolution resolution?

So I am mulling over how to keep myself from writing resolutions without much resolution. My work in progress is coming to a close. I could tinker with the ending for months, trying many forms and possibilities. But that wouldn’t bring the project to resolution.

I resolve: to send the draft by the date I just wrote on my calendar, February 10, 2015. Now that’s a resolution about resolution, with resolution.

News From the Hill

12 Monday Jan 2015

Posted by Ginger Johnson in VCFA, We're Inspired

≈ 11 Comments

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Adi Rule, Alan Cumyn, Christopher Hart, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Debby Dahl Edwardson, Jenny Green, Katherine Paterson, Katie Bayerl, Kekla Magoon, Libba Bray, Lyn Miller-Lachmann, Maggie Lehrman, Martine Leavitt, Tim Wynne-Jones, Uma Krishnaswami, VCFA, Will Alexander, Zu Vincent

The Writing for Children and Young Adults winter residency at Vermont College of Fine Arts is underway, and it’s so good to be back. I’m here as a graduate assistant, along with Adi Rule, Katie Bayerl, Debby Dahl Edwardson, Jenny Green, Christopher Hart, Maggie Lehrman, Lyn Miller-Lachmann, and Zu Vincent, to welcome the new class and to assist the Darling Assassins as they graduate.

Though we’re only three days into the residency, we’ve been treated to fantastic lectures and fabulous readings already. National Book Award winner and faculty member Will Alexander gave the opening lecture, a thought-provoking examination of the uses and abuses of flat and round characters. Cynthia Leitich Smith has rejoined the faculty and lectured on magic, myths, and metaphors, giving insights into world- and character building. New faculty member and VCFA alumna Kekla Magoon encouraged us to consider using alternate ways of telling our stories through narrative structures (i.e., form, different points of view, or non-linear structure).

But the highlight for me was hearing Katherine Paterson speak. Bridge to Terabithia was the first book that gave me an adult-sized catharsis in a child-size body, and I have been a devoted Katherine Paterson fan ever since. I have seen her many times — I was even privileged to have lunch with her and her husband at VCFA a few years ago. She is warm and wonderful and real, as down to earth as a person can be. I asked her if I could take her home with me. She replied that she wasn’t very portable. So I took a picture with her instead. She is the visiting writer this residency, and everyone is thrilled to have her with us.

In addition to the lectures, we’ve heard readings from several of the faculty, including one given by Alan Cumyn about a hot pterodactyl boyfriend. Some of you may remember the residency a few years ago when Libba Bray made several references to hot pterodactyl boyfriends. Alan took the challenge, and we were delighted to hear a portion of it. Hot Pterodactyl Boyfriend will be published by an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

Speaking of Alan, Uma Krishnaswami announced that her term as chair will finish at the end of this semester, and Alan will be taking on the role of department chair.

Aaaand, for a final note, there will be a study abroad component of the program offered beginning this summer in England at Bath Spa. It will be led by Martine Leavitt and Tim Wynne-Jones. Sounds like it’s time for a post-grad semester, yes?

Sending you all greetings from the hill, where the snow squeaks and the NECI cookies abound. xo

Quirk and Quill 2014 Favorite Books

29 Monday Dec 2014

Posted by Sue LaNeve in Fiction, In Real Life, Poetry, The Writing Biz, The Writing Life, VCFA, We're Inspired, We're Reading

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Annemarie O'Brien, Brown Girl Dreaming, Candace Fleming, Carol Allen, Danielle Pignataro, E. Lockhart, Eliot Shrefer, Endangered, Evidence of Things Not Seen, I'LL GIVE YOU THE SUN, Jacqueline Woodson, Jandy Nelson, Linden McNeilly, Lindsey Lane, Romanov: Murder Rebellion & the Fall of Imperial Russia, Sue LaNeve, The One and Only Ivan, Varian Johnson, We Were Liars

So many books, so little time. How does one choose?

We Kid-Lit writers read books the way voracious squirrels gather acorns, consuming the precious finds to feed our passions, spitting out the empty shells to guide and inspire our work. If you’re looking for a good book to read or give, here are favorites offered by my VCFA 2009 grad class–The Super Secret Society of Quirk and Quill, aka S3Q2.

Carol Allen

BROWN GIRL DREAMING by Jacqueline Woodson. I loved this memoir written in verse. Woodson is an award winning writer, and in this book, she managed to trace not only her own development as a writer but her family’s participation in the Civil Rights Movement. The family, split among Ohio, South Carolina, and then Brooklyn, not only witnessed televised and personal experiences with the “Movement,” but they did so from an upbringing as Jevohah’s Witnesses. Woodword’s poetic talent leaps off the page, and her references to the differences of Whites and Blacks in our nation’s history, while not in-depth, are powerful enough to take the reader right to the scene.

Danielle Pignatarro

My favorite book this year -not including any published from S3Q2- was I’LL GIVE YOU THE SUN by Jandy Nelson. It’s hard to pinpoint one thing that made it so amazing. The two different points of view, spanning years, created perfect tension that allowed things to be revealed at the perfect moments. I tried to read it slowly, but it was impossible to do so. I had to know what was going to happen next.

Varian Johnson

My favorite book of the year was BROWN GIRL DREAMING by Jacqueline Woodson. The use of poetry and well-placed line breaks allowed me to contemplate and measure each verse. The memoir was powerful but never heavy-handed. It was rightly chosen for a National Book Award, and I expect it to take Newbery gold as well.

Another favorite book is THE FOURTEENTH GOLDFISH by Jennifer Holm. The novel shows us a new take on the grandfather-grandchild relationship, but is never heavy-handed or didactic. Holm uses deceptively simple language to showcase very powerful moments for both Ellie and Melvin, her grandfather. While everyone doesn’t get what they want at the end of the novel, they all get exactly what they need.

Linden McNeilly

My top three were:

BROWN GIRL DREAMING, by Jacqueline Woodson: I loved its close take on life, her use of essential details without bogging down or getting ham-handed, and overall core message of strength and family. I am not always drawn to novels or memoirs in verse, but she sold me with her use of spare, poetic language that was not cloying, singsongy or trite.

ENDANGERED, by Eliot Shrefer: Vivid, excellent plotting, fantastic use of the political and personal to establish setting and tension, and authentic in its close look at life with the bonobos. I couldn’t put it down, and my husband, who reads almost no kidlit, felt the same way.

EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN, by Lindsey Lane: What a book. She uses many alternate voices, and a changing time period to continually spiral around a tragic event that feels unknowable, yet affected a whole town. She is an absolute master at voice, and the way she was able to move the plot through changing narrative was very admirable.

Sue LaNeve

We were liars

I’ve just begun BROWN GIRL DREAMING, and already understand why it is such a favorite. But of the books I’ve completed, E. Lockhart’s WE WERE LIARS gets my vote for my favorite. Emily’s unique voice and opening lines sucked me in with an intense gravitational pull. Her development of setting, characters, and relationships begged me to slow my pace to savor her unique plotting. But her slow reveal of what my gut screamed would grow as dark and forceful as a black hole kept the pages turning, rapidly. The twist caught me so off guard, I shouted OH MY GOD, nearly giving my husband a coronary. This was delicious fiction one and only .

A special 10-year-old in my life led me to another honoree published a couple years ago, Katherine Applegate’s THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN. This particular boy prefers non-fiction but he inhaled this tale so consider it for your reluctant or avid reader. I was drawn to its core, the power of kindness.

Annemarie O’Brien

My two favorite books this year were BROWN GIRL DREAMING by Jacqueline Woodson and THE FAMILY ROMANOV: MURDER, REBELLION & THE FALL OF IMPERIAL RUSSIA by Candace Fleming. I’ll focus on the latter since the former is getting well deserved coverage. I’ve read numerous adult books about the fall of Imperial Russia and the Romanov family over the past twenty-five years. I can’t think of a book aimed at young adults that is as thorough and engaging as Fleming’s. Her book is so well researched and written even adults would enjoy it. Unlike most of the adult books out there, Fleming’s book is the only one that also brings the peasant point of view to life with true accounts inserted in each of the chapters. If you like non-fiction, THE FAMILY ROMANOV is a gem and a story you won’t be able to put down!

If you’ve reached this point in the post, you’ll likely agree that Jacqueline Woodson’s BROWN GIRL DREAMING deserves all of the honors it has already earned and will likely continue to receive. So even as we honor the work of all the authors listed above, this post is for you, Jacqueline Woodson.

A Little Bit of Light

22 Monday Dec 2014

Posted by Ginger Johnson in In Real Life

≈ 8 Comments

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Christmas, Light

At 6:01 am on December 22 many years ago, I decided it was time to make my way into the world. It was a Wednesday, just before dawn of the winter solstice. Hannukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, had just ended, and Christmas was only days away. I left the hospital on Christmas Eve swaddled in a red stocking, and wearing an infant-size Santa hat. At least, this is what I’ve been told. This is what the photographic evidence confirms.

This is the date that has been my celebratory day ever since. Friends often said what rotten luck it was to have a birthday so close to Christmas. Having never had a different birthday, I couldn’t comment, but it didn’t seem like rotten luck to me. I had been born. The alternative might have been worse.

As I got older and my responsibilities grew, the light of my birthday dimmed. There were presents to make, Christmas letters to write, cookies to bake, gifts to wrap, stockings to stuff. The wise men in the nativity set were supposed to move closer to the baby Jesus each day. The advent calendars needed daily attention. There were songs to be sung and Christmas stories to be told.

The short days, a brief blip of light in what seemed like a sea of darkness, were never long enough. It was overwhelming. Birthdays? Just another year older. I could never remember how old I was anyway.

Then, a few years ago, I was given an epiphany for my birthday. My birthday fell on the winter solstice. Though the solstice marks the change of season, it also heralds a season of more light. Yes, the days are cold and they are still short, but more light is on the way.

Starting today, the rays from the sun won’t have to stretch so far to touch each one of us (here in the northern hemisphere). It is a day of hope in a season of hope, brimming with glorias and good cheer, with peace on earth, good will toward men. I don’t think I could have chosen a better day, if I had had the option.

I share that birthday epiphany with you. If the days seem dark and overwhelming, step back from all the clamor and commotion and see the light. It’s on its way.

Sending love and light from all of us here at Quirk and Quill.

An Author Interview with Stacy Nyikos: WAGGERS

08 Monday Dec 2014

Posted by Annemarie O'Brien in Interviews, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

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Author Interview, Quirk and Quill, Stacy Nyikos, VCFA, WAGGERS

Today I welcome Stacy Nyikos, fellow VCFA alum, to Quirk and Quill to talk about her new picture book, WAGGERS (Dec 2014: Sky Pony Press) illustrated by Tamara Anegon and appropriate for kids aged 3-8.

Who is your key dog character(s) and what kind of dog is he/she?

Waggers is a Razortail Whippet. The famed Razortail Whippet isn’t actually a breed recognized by the Westminster Kennel Club, but that might be because I made it up. Waggers needed his very own category. His tail is that unique. I have a feeling there are a lot of un-identified Razortail Whippets out there just waiting for Westminster Kennel Club to recognize them, too.

Aside from his destructo-tail, Waggers is really a sweet little man, who loves to do anything Moni and Michael want and will stop at nothing to protect their house from the most evil of all villains, the Sciuridae, also known as the squirrel.

I think you’re onto something, Stacy and the WKC should consider the Razortail Whippet as a new breed!

In 70 words or less, provide a succinct plot description of your story.

Moni and Michael are so excited to adopt Waggers. Waggers is too. His tail goes crazy. He can’t stop it. Moni and Michael don’t mind. Waggers is so sweet, and it’s just a tail. How much harm can it do?

What inspired you to write this story?

Waggers was inspired by our most recent family member, Desi, a German Shepherd/Rhodesian Ridgeback mix we adopted from the pound. She has got a tail on her that literally clears tables and pounds cracks in walls. It’s amazing it took me more than a week to realize she was the perfect protagonist for a story.

What was the biggest challenge you had writing your story? How did you overcome it?

The biggest obstacle to this story was to take reality and fictionalize it such that it works as story, not fictionalized reality. That must sound weird, but it’s sort of like the difference between a person trying to act vs. someone acting, or, say, pretending to be excited about a present vs. being skin-tinglingly excited.

What other YA/MG books have you written? Do any of them feature a key dog character? If so, which ones? What are these stories about?

This is my seventh book. Five of the seven are aquatic picture books. The sixth is a middle grade fiction with dragons. This is my first dog book, and it has been so much fun. I want to write about dogs all the time now. Maybe it’s because of Desi, or maybe it’s because writing this story has been so much fun. Either way, I think Waggers is the beginning of a new trend.

What kind of story can we expect next from you? Is it about a dog? If so, what is it about?

My next story is a picture book called Tour de Trike, and it’s about a tricycle race. There are no dogs, not yet anyway. The YA I’m working on is set in a drowning world. There are no dogs in it either. However, I have the outline for a new MG called Dogspell. Tada!! It’s about a dog and a girl who swap places. Literally.

What else would you like us to know about you or your story?

Hmmm…how about that that adopting a dog—which is what Waggers is all about—is one of the most exciting, most fun, most rewarding experiences, but it can be hard too. After all, a dog is a new family member. You have to get to know them and vice versa. There might be days when walking the dog is a drag (or you’re dragged). Don’t give up! It will get better. Or, you’ll fall in love with your dog and not care as much. Maybe a little of both. Desi’s tail has gotten better. She still clears a coffee table every once in a while, but I’ve seen her actually slow her tail when walking by one. And I’ve learned to put things up a little higher. But most of all, she’s become a part of our family. I can’t imagine a day without her.

Good advice, Stacy. Taking care of a new puppy or dog requires a lot of time and work.

Can you remember the first book that made an impact on you? And why?

Gosh, that’s a tough one. I’ve been reading since I was three. Go Dog Go was my most favorite book then. It was the book that taught me to read, the one I memorized, the one I took with me when I ran away from home at the age of 3 to go to school. I followed our neighbor to the high school around the corner, found my way to the principal’s office. He said I’d have to be able to read to go to his school. I proudly whipped out Go Dog Go and read it cover to cover. I got a tour of the school after that, and I was in preschool the next week. Go Dog Go!

Thats’ a great story and why am I not surprised that you’d want to start at high school?

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Everybody’s road to publication is different. Don’t be afraid to try anything, no matter how crazy, in your writing. And don’t give up. It can get hard, really hard some days. But the people who make it are the ones who stick with it. That advice has stuck with me through some pretty bleak moments, and gotten me through them.

I agree a 100%. It’s the writers who stick with it and struggle through the tougher times that finally see a contract.

Where can readers go to find out more information about you and/or your books?

My website is a great place to start. If they don’t find enough there, or on FB, Twitter, or my blog, drop me an email. I’d love to hear from you!

You can also learn more about Stacy and her books on Goodreads and Oklahoma Children’s Authors and Illustrators.

Thank you Stacy for joining us at Quirk and Quill!

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Fear & Killing the Muse

24 Monday Nov 2014

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Fear, Isaac Asimov, muse, Robert Frost

“My whole anxiety is for myself as a performer. Am I any good? That’s

what I’d like to know and all I need to know.”

— Robert Frost (Letter to Kimball Flaccus, October 26, 1930)

Fear. There are about a zillion different fears in the world, and many are given names. Did you know there’s a name for the fear of belly buttons (omphalophobia)? And a fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth—arachibutyrophobia. Try working that into your next casual conversation. There are writing related fears, too: The fear of books is Bibliophobia; fear of making changes is tropophobia. There’s a fear of working on computers- cyberphobia. And worst of all, the fear of making decisions: decidophobia.

So with all that trepidation around us, controlling our every anxious breath as we try to create stories, what can we do?

The list of recommendations is long: breathe mindfully, meditate, take long walks, drink soothing tea, brainstorm, draw pictures and design story boards, pick up your writing in the middle of a sentence. But we all know that these can be crumple zones of weakness when it comes time to wrestle with the muse. The muse can be amazing, but she’s fickle and she’s mean.

My solution: stop believing in the muse.

It’s a hard notion to let go of, because that muse is So. Darn. Real. You know the feeling when you are in the groove, singing along with language and emotion. The work is just falling out of you, like you’re the sky and lovely, fat snowflakes are coming out of nowhere, spreading beauty in all directions. You can almost feel her leaning in, guiding your hands over the keys imperceptibly, breathing her powerful breath into your inhalations.

But she’s not there.

You don’t like that? Okay. Let’s not fight over it. Let’s pretend she doesn’t exist, just for a moment. Let’s pretend that everything you’ve ever written or thought to write or dreamed of writing someday actually came from within you. Let’s pretend that nothing else made it happen, save a combination of grit, determination, timing, good fortune and the kindness of family members or good friends that helped pave the way. Maybe your favorite aunt gave you your first (dented) typewriter. Okay, that’s a kind of blessing, but it’s not the muse. Maybe the beauty of your newborn son’s face inspired you to write a gorgeous poem or song. That’s love, not the muse. Maybe you dreamed your plot, and it all spilled out of you before you even got a cup of coffee, you were so busy listening to the—

Don’t say it. She’s not there.

Everything you do is you and the magic of your life.

Everything you dream is yours, and you can make it true.

We are our stories, our fantasy plots, our beloved and dastardly characters. This is US. Humans were made to tell stories: We teach our young with story, we spread news, we warn of danger. Stories are the grist of our survival. Without them we would have died out before the mastodon.

I believe that the muse is really the gentle puffs of magic I make myself when I am working. It’s a mystical by-product of imagination. When I get in the zone I lose time, sound and my surroundings. I make that dream world by simply showing up to do my work.

I am not saying that every time I work I make great stuff. Some of it is junk—okay A LOT of it is junk. But I have to make the junk in order to make the good stuff. It’s all a matter of creating the most raw material possible. Isaac Asimov, back in 1981, wrote an editorial about writing and rejection for his Science Fiction Magazine, December 21, 1981. He talked about knowing that work can be unworthy, despite the effort:

That is the possibility all of us live with. We sit there alone, pounding out the words, with our heart pounding in time. Each sentence brings with it a sickening sensation of not being right. Each page keeps us wondering if we are moving in the wrong direction.

Even if, for some reason, we feel we are getting it right and that the whole thing is singing with operatic clarity, we are going to come back to it the next day and re-read it and hear only a duck’s quacking.

Despite fearing the duck, Asimov wrote and wrote and wrote.

We all should. If there is a muse, she’ll only visit when you are so hard at work you don’t notice her slipping in.

In 1939, during World War II, Great Britain’s Ministry of Information made a series of three motivational posters to stiffen resolve in the event of Nazi occupation. Though thousands of copies were printed, they were never used and eventually were lost. In 2000, a copy of the “Keep Calm and Carry On” poster was rediscovered in Barter Books, a second-hand bookshop in Alnwick, Northumberland. Since Crown Copyright expires on artistic works created by the UK government after 50 years, the image is now in the public domain. I use it as a daily reminder of where the “muse” lives.

Let’s get back to work.

Posted by lindenmcneilly | Filed under Quirk, The Writing Life, Uncategorized

≈ 3 Comments

Pomodoro!

17 Monday Nov 2014

Posted by Ginger Johnson in We're Inspired, Writing Craft

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Francesco Cirillo, NaNoWriMo, Pomodoro technique, time management

A tomato is a tomato is a tomato . . . unless it’s November and you’re in the middle of NaNoWriMo and you’re behind 12,096 words and look! There’s a post on Facebook about raisins! What a perfect opportunity to make an obscure reference to an old movie by saying they’re humiliated grapes!

Maybe you’re not doing NaNoWriMo, but instead have a deadline at the end of the week with edits due to your agent and wow! Check out that new video by OK Go! Umbrellas! Lots and lots of umbrellas. Not as good as the Rube Goldberg one though. Or cats. Maybe you should look at cats. Or tattoos. Or cats with tattoos.

Some of us are easily distracted. Some of us (ahem) may be the Queen of Distraction.

I know a lot of writers use different programs to shut down the internet while they’re working, but I can’t do that. When I’m writing (and even when I’m revising), I have lots of questions — questions that only Uncle Google can answer, like “What could someone make by weaving feathers?” or “Do mice have a paw preference?” I need to refer to old emails, or check the thesaurus to get just the right word. I can’t go offline. I’d distract myself by trying not to forget what it was that I needed to look up when I went back online.

So when I’m working I either need the willpower of an ascetic or a few tricks up my sleeve. Yes, you guessed it. Tricks.

In Rachel Wilson’s last post, she mentioned a technique that Mary Winn Heider taught us at our last S3Q2 & Friends retreat: the Pomodoro technique. It sounds fancy, but really the word pomodoro is simply Italian for tomato, and refers to a tomato-shaped timer used by the developer (Francesco Cirillo) of this technique.

In short, you set a timer for 25 minutes and work like the dickens without interruption until the timer goes off. Then you set the timer again for 4 minutes to clear your brain. You repeat this a few times until you have the mental capacity of a wet noodle, but loads and loads of work accomplished, and the rest of the day free to watch videos of dogs jumping through screens or to take personality tests (“What kind of cheese are you?” or “What’s your Santa’s elf name?”).

If you find yourself having trouble focusing on your work, give it a try.

For more information, check out this video:

Then and Now

10 Monday Nov 2014

Posted by Jen Taylor Schmidt in Uncategorized

≈ 5 Comments

As a former teacher, I tell time in school years. Last year, I had a lot of time to write. I was unemployed and waiting on a baby. I wrote every day for hours and hours. With coffee in hand and my dog at my feet, four hours was a minimum on a weekday.

I finished a draft of the middle grade novel I’ve been writing for five years. After the celebration, I sat down to read my complete draft. I didn’t like it, and for good reason. It’s not any good.

So this year, the name of the game is revision. That first full draft wanders through characters and happenings, that in the end, don’t matter to the core of my character’s story. They’re boring and blah, which is a pretty bad review coming from the author.

Now, when I sit down to work, I have my first draft on one screen and a new document on another. My focus is precision. For each new scene, I take my idea and ask myself a few hard questions.

Does this scene provide my character with a choice to make? (Is she active?)
Does the choice at hand make life harder for my character?
Does the scene propel the story forward? Or can the story go on without it?

Little by little, my blank document is filling up. Sometimes I reach over to the other screen, grab an entire scene and drop it in. Those are good moments. Easy moments. Other times, I find myself recreating so that I can answer the above questions with a resounding, yes.

Some of the original scenes play in my head like a movie. Those are the scenes that make it over. I know where they are in the first draft. They have clarity and purpose. The scenes that get left behind are so forgettable, that even I can’t remember what’s in them. And that’s okay. They helped me along the way the first time I made it to THE END.

This year, I don’t have so much time to write. This happens when I get out my computer:

There’s a generous woman from my church who watches my son three hours a week. That’s my dedicated writing time. Other than that, I take the few moments I can find here and there. I made a goal for the month of November to wake up at 5:30 and write before my son gets up, usually around 7:30. The first few nights, he woke up ten times each. I was not able to make coherent thoughts at 5:30. After that, the time change got him. Now he wakes up at 6:00. I find it kind of humorous, actually. That’ll teach Momma to make goals.

But in all seriousness, the few moments that I do find are productive. Rather than writing with abandon as I did last year, I now write with precision as the goal, both in my use of time and words on the page. My writing is better for it, and so am I.

A Classroom Visit Featuring Gayle Forman

03 Monday Nov 2014

Posted by Danielle Pignataro in In Real Life, We're Inspired

≈ 6 Comments

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Gayle Foreman

On Thursday, October 30^th, my after-school creative writing group and I were thrilled to welcome author Gayle Forman to our classroom. The weeks leading up to the visit were filled with intense excitement. Students asked in disbelief, “THE Gayle Forman? Is coming here?” and “Will she sign my book?” and “Can I tell her about my character?” The answer to all of these questions was yes.

By having the students ask “What if?” questions, Gayle and the students came up with an idea for a story. She then guided them towards developing a conflict, a character, and even a setting. The students greatly participated in the activity and didn’t want the story building to end.

When the story building was over, leaving the students with a good plan for a story that could go in any direction (let’s just say the working title is “Switcheroo”), Gayle answered SO MANY QUESTIONS! I was impressed by how insightful the students’ questions were. They asked about If I Stay, Gayle’s book (turned-movie) that is in high demand across the grades. They also asked questions about Gayle’s process and her other books. Gayle answered all one-zillion of their questions with patience and grace.

The students then told Gayle about the characters they are developing in our writing workshop, and she listened and commented on each one. To end the visit, she signed their books – some had their own copies of If I Stay, and those who didn’t had Gayle sign their writing notebooks, which I think is the best place for an author autograph.

Afterward, the students wandered around completely star-struck and in awe. THEY HAD MET GAYLE FOREMAN! SHE HAD TALKED TO THEM! ANSWERED THEIR QUESTIONS! SIGNED THEIR BOOKS! It was an unforgettable day for them. It was perfect.

Book Give-Away Contest: WRITING NEW ADULT FICTION by Deborah Halverson

27 Monday Oct 2014

Posted by Annemarie O'Brien in Book Giveaway Contest, Uncategorized, Writing Craft

≈ 15 Comments

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alana albertson, Annemarie O'Brien, Deborah Halverson, karen grove, kevan lyon, molly madams, nicole steinhaus, Quirk and Quill, robin ludwig, sylvia day, writing new adult fiction, writing young adult fiction for dummies

Some of you may know Deborah Halverson as a former children’s book editor at Harcourt. Some of you may know her through the children’s books she’s authored: HONK IF YOU HATE ME, BIG MOUTH, and LETTERS TO SANTA. And some of you may subscribe to her advice at DearEditor.com website. While well familiar with all that Deborah Halverson does with triplets in tow, I became a huge fan of her how-to-write-YA book, WRITING YOUNG ADULT FICTION FOR DUMMIES. It is my number one go-to-craft-writing-resource in the courses I teach at UC Berkeley and Stanford because she nails every point I want to cover with my students in a clear, concise, and understandable manner and simplifies my job.

Halverson has now come out with a new writing craft book, WRITING NEW ADULT FICTION no doubt because of all the buzz this new genre featuring eighteen-to-twenty-five-year-old characters is getting. She solicits NA contributors–Alana Albertson, Sylvia Day, Karen Grove, Robin Ludwig, Kevan Lyon, Molly McAdams, and Nicole Steinhaus–to give those of you interested in writing or teaching NA fiction more insight. And like she does in her YA writing craft book, she breaks down just what you need and want to know about writing NA fiction in the same clear manner with full engagement.

So if you have questions about writing NA fiction and want answers, leave a comment on this post and share this book give-away contest on any social media platform of your choice. The winner will be selected on November 8, 2015 and sent their very own signed copy of WRITING NEW ADULT FICTION.