susanwrites

Last night we went to go look at a second German Shepherd dog to possibly add to our family. His name is Cullen and he was pulled from the pound after being picked up running on the street. He had tags and the owner was contacted. The owner said no, I don't want him anymore. Just put him to sleep. This guy was just a big old teddy bear who wanted nothing more than to snuggle up next to a human.

Today I am giving thanks to the great many dog rescue groups and their volunteers that go into the shelters and pull good dogs like Cullen from the shelter and try to find them a new home with loving owners. If you want to add a dog to your family, please consider going to a rescue group or check out petfinder.com You can go to the pound too but here's the advantage of the rescue groups - most of them place the dogs in foster homes with experienced dog handlers. The foster parent can give you a lot of insight into the dog before you bring it home. Yes, rescue dogs are often older and a lot of people think that means they won't bond with their new owners but that's not the case. And while puppies are cute and cuddly they are a lot of work. There's a lot to be said for adopting a slightly older dog from 9 - 18 months.

If you want a specific breed, as we did, you can go to a breed specific rescue group. The AKC maintains a list of breed rescue groups around the country. Sure, it might take a little while to find the perfect dog (or not) but it is worth it. 

So thank you dog lovers and rescue groups everywhere.

marivee

Bruce Coville, author of My Teacher is an Alien and Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher, delivered an awesome opening keynote speech at the SCBWI Summer Conference!  Here are some of the tidbits I was able to capture in my uber special conference notebook (it took only 16 days to get here!  Oh well, better late than never!) . . . .

One of the thoughts he opened with was how do you know you were meant to be a writer?  He said that it’s when events of everyday life become ideas for stories.  I agree with him there but I believe it’s more than that.  I believe that it’s the creative need that drives us, that makes us work so hard on our craft that it makes you feel crazy and insanely happy all at the same time!  BC quoted Katherine Hepburn, “Real work that you love” . . . so true.

BC talked about how children want to contribute and that they need heroes.  He said that children have “personality” crushes and that they are drawn to people they want to emulate.

Then he rounded out his speech by telling us his version of writerly sins and virtues (I loved this part!).  I’ll start with the seven deadly writer sins.  They are dullness, repetition, cliché, sloth, inattention, perfectionism, and clumsiness.

Dullness.  “Take out the dull stuff in your manuscript!!!” Need I say more?

Repitition. “Don’t follow the trend.  Make your own trend!  A great book is only itself!”

Cliché. “Dig out the clichés and put something in more exciting.”

Sloth.  “DO NOT BE LAZY.”  Sit your but down and write!!!  Give the reader (child/editor/agent) more than what they’re expecting.

Inattention.  “No character moves in isolation; he/she affects all people and situations around them.”

Perfection.  “Creates fear in your heart. Don’t let it stop you!  Keep chipping away!”

Clumsiness.  “Be careful with your sentences.  Make sure the sentence creates the correct image in the reader’s head.”  BC’s example was “the sea men flooded the deck”.

And here the virtues.  They are passion, sensuousness, wisdom, gile, courage and joy.

Passion.  “Great stories come from passion.  Real stories come from the heart.”

Sensuousness.  “Loving descriptions in your work; describe the senses by using your senses.”  Check to see how many senses you engage to draw the reader in.

Wisdom.  “Transfer your life experience to your story, something to give to the child.”  He gave us an interesting assignment (I have yet to do this. I’m definitely guilty of sloth!).  He said to take a piece of paper and make six columns and label it 1^st to 6^th.  Then in each column, write down your memories from that grade and you may find that the experiences you remember are the bad ones.  Interesting, huh?

Gile.  “Offer surprises in your story.”

Courage.  “We need to be bolder in what we do.  Kids need examples of courage.”  He also said that as writers, we have to have the courage to send our work out, to be willing to accept critiques and to get over the fear of rejection.

JOY.  I love this word.  BC said that the process of writing gives that to us no matter what stage of revision our books are in!!!  Yes, I know that most of that joy is felt in writing the first draft but the hardship of revision and seeing it through to the end is probably the sweetest joy of them all . . . I can’t wait to feel that! 

BC said that joy is the birth right of a child and that laughter is the first comprehensible sound we make.  He also said to “celebrate joy as the highest human emotion”.  As writers, we are the dream makers and the heart healers.  As an avid reader myself, I truly believe that!  I read Pride and Prejudice five times and have dreamed of becoming Elizabeth Bennett . . . ;)

Well, that was it.  I’m sure you’ve heard these tidbits before in one form or another but it’s nice to be reminded every once in a while how sinful and virtuous we are as writers. ;)

ttfn

susanwrites

This week's writing tip doesn't come from a writing book, it comes from me and my 20-odd years of experience in the business. 

Writing is hard enough without trying to figure out where to fit it into our crazy days. If you have young kids at home you are likely juggling nap times and play days and dance lessons or Little League. If you have day job you have to figure out where in your already packed day you you find a few minutes to sit down and write. And let's not forget things like cooking and cleaning and time with your partner. And sleep. In my house there is never enough time for sleep.

If you're anything like me there are times when you simply can't write. 

So don't. Give yourself permission to not write. Tell yourself you absolutely can't write until a certain date. Take the weight off your shoulders and say enough - I will write when I am able to again.

It's okay. Really.

Many of us start off writing by reading books about how to get started writing - or nowadays reading blogs about the business. And those books and blogs can be very helpful. 

Except when they're not.

For years I thought I had to write every day and if I didn't write every day I was no longer a writer. Now I'm already pretty good at heaping the guilt on my shoulders but every day I didn't write because a kid was sick or I was sick or in later years because life was just so darn overwhelming, well I felt worse and worse. Now I'll admit that when I don't write every day I am rusty when I get back at it. It takes a bit longer to sink into a story and I write a lot more crummy stuff before I get to the juicy stuff. But that's okay. I've sold a lot of books and articles over the years and taking some time off doesn't cancel that out.

The one personal rule I have tried to stick with for the last 5 or 6 years has been to do just one thing to advance my career or build my business every day. When I'm in writing mode that might mean to just write, to get words on the page. But when I'm in a time of upheaval as I am now it is a good time to do other things, to attend to the business side of my career.

So there's the tip for the week. Actually two.

If you are at a time in your life where you can't write for some reason, give yourself permission to not write.

And every day try to do just one thing to build your career.

Write on, right now. Or not.

susanwrites

 Some days are just filled with fun. 

Like today.

Susan at Chicken Spaghetti has started a new series in her blog called "On the Books" in which, to quote Susan, "people talk about what they're reading: books for children, books for adults, fiction, nonfiction, poetry, magazine articles—anything they'd like to recommend."  This week's entry features me! 

You never know what you might find when you "Google" yourself. This morning's Google adventure led me to this fun link! I'd love to hear from any students who got involved with my book.

And last but not least, thank you to California Readers for naming Hugging the Rock to the 2009 Collection for Middle Readers!

I'm doing a happy dance for the day.

susanwrites

(edited because I remembered more)

This week's memory challenge is inspired by the Olympics.

Many kids are naturally competitive. I don't know how much it was about the competition for me as it was to prove to someone in authority (teacher/parent/etc) that I was the best and therefore "worthy" of something. (I had a lot of self-esteem issues as a kid and brought a few of them forward with me into adulthood.) So this week I'm going to try and remember all the various athletic competitions I have been involved in. Academic ones I'll save for another time. 

My very first experience with athletics was dance class with the Art Linkletter Dance Studio. The little studio bus would come pick me up and take me to class. I tolerated ballet but I loved tap. There was some dance to a song that had "duck" in it - I can't remember.

I played on girl's softball team in 6th grade but wasn't super good at it so I quit. I played 3rd and someone stole my brand new mitt. I never played softball again.

I started riding horses in the 5th or 6th grade, not mine at first. I helped a friend keep Lady, her husband's horse, well exercised.

One day Lady horse took off with me high in the hills of Martinez on day. I slipped from the saddle, my foot caught in the stirrup and I was drug for who knows how long before I fell loose. As if that wasn't enough I rolled down the side of a really muddy hill. That was the day of my first and only ride in an ambulance. I was sore, of course, yet no broken bones. What was the most scary was that I couldn't see. I opened my eyes and saw absolutely nothing. At the hospital it turned out that I just had scads of mud in my eyes and once they were flushed out, I could see again.

After that my mom decided if I was going to get hurt on a horse it should be a horse of my very own. Enter Sparky, half Clydesdale and half Quarter Horse.

He had no personality and was used to at 6'5" 50-year-old man riding him all the time. The perfect horse for a 12 year old kid, right? Not. He wouldn't even get in the trailer for us to take him to his new home and he wouldn't let me ride him so I walked him, and I mean WALK as in holding his lead, from Martinez to Concord (with a stopover in my grandmother's backyard.) He threw me more times than I can remember when I was being ditzy about him, not paying attention, and he'd grab the bit and haul butt from wherever we were.
I had him until we were hit by a car walking down Clayton Road. A girl had just gotten her driver's license and freaked out at seeing a horse on the road. She hit us and we just happened to be in the small unincorporated section which meant there was a long block of barbed wire. I went over Sparky's head into the dirt lot but he fell into the wire and wrapped it across one hip and around the other side.

It would have been months and months of therapy before I could ride him again and we didn't have that kind of money. And truly, we had no connection at all. My mom gave him to a place in Davis that taught vaulting. His big back was perfect for 2-3 kids work off of at the same time. The horse of my heart of was Sheikh, an older Arab that came into my life as an adult. With him I played with barrel racing and pole bending (our favorite.) Man I loved that horse.

At Mt. Diablo I was on the track team. I think the coach was a Mrs. Armstrong. I was pretty fast, loved to run sprints, but Susan Hewlett was faster. For the one year I went Ygnacio Valley I got a girls track team started over there too. 

I was also on the tennis team for one year. (How could I forget that?)

But that athletic event that occupied most of my childhood was roller skating.

I roller skated competitively (that's back when roller skates had 4 wheels, 2 on each side not in a straight line.)

I skated at Skate Haven Roller Rink in Walnut Creek, CA. The rink is long gone ( I think there's a Jiffy Lube or some such thing there now.) I started skating in the 5th grade. I went to a skate party that one of my teachers had organized and really wanted to start taking lessons. My mother said no.

I was a child with constant stomach aches and an intense fear of the family doctor.

They wanted to take x-rays of my stomach.

I said no.

My mother finally bribed me with some skating lessons if I went to the doctor. They didn't figure out anything wrong (and I drank gallons of Mylanta all through childhood) but I did get my lessons. My goal was to learn how to do the "shoot the duck" move.

(not me)

After that I was pretty much hooked on skating. I took Saturday morning lessons and then stayed at the rink the rest of the day. It was a while before I was old enough for my mom to leave me there for the Saturday evening sessions. She thought they were too "rough" with all those hippie type teenagers hanging around.

Soon I joined the rink's skating club and that meant getting to attend that Tuesday night club class. There was a uniform for the class and I remember being so excited when I got mine for the first time. Classes were taught by George Hammond and Peggy Harden. Soon Peggy became my personal skating pro and I was taking private lessons. In exchange for some lessons I cleaned her house and exercised her husband's horse Lady. For all of Junior High and the first 3 years of high school I pretty much lived at the rink. Once I was a member of the club there were skating tests you could take. Every couple of months there would be a test center at our rink and if you were ready to go to the next level, you could pay a fee and try to pass. There were tests for figures, freestyle and dance. Figures and freestyle were individual events for dance you needed a partner. If you weren't already assigned a partner you could get paired with a total stranger on test night. That was hard! There was an older gentleman, I don't remember his name, but he was always a great partner for me because helped me keep my nerves under control. I still have the little metal pins they awarded us when we passed a test.

Before long it was time to compete. I started off competing in figures, which is a single event. If you've ever been to a roller rink and seen those big circles painted on the floor, that's what you use for figure skating. There were various figures you had to learn to trace and, of course, stay on the line. Forward, backward, changing feet at the intersection of the circle, three-turns at a specific spot. I was good but not great though I did like the challenge.

Next Peggy started looking around for a dance partner for me. There really weren't that many boys my age at the rink so for a while she tried pairing me with her husband Fred. Soon another skater came along that was a better match for him. (Mercury Morden) and I ended up with another man nearly twice my age, Dan Alley. Mercury and I were on again off again good friends at that time, always depending on whether or not we had a crush on the same guy.

Things I remember most about roller skating:

Dan picking me up after school and taking me right to the rink for lessons.
Skating at the rink in Santa Cruz where the floor was warped.
Having to wear nylons for competition and how much they burned when you feel on the floor.
Locking wheels with a partner which always resulted in a really bad fall.
Meeting Kevin Wilson, first real boyfriend, at the rink.
Walking up to Foster Freeze for snacks in-between skate times.
Having a wheel come loose and roll across the rink....worse yet, having the ball bearings come out.
Buying Reva's old skating costumes.

I never was a shining star at roller skating but days spent at that rink are some of my most favorite memories.

Your turn. Tell me about athletics in your childhood.