Putting Chubby Checker in Your Story

Okay, I know it’s physically impossible for me to do it now without doing damage to my body (and the eyesight of people viewing me), but I used to do a mean Twist. Baby Boomers remember the dance that threw your body into a human spiral pasta.

Nathan Fillion as mystery writer Richard Castle

I was reminded of the Twist in an episode of ABC’s new show CASTLE. It was just a matter of time before I thought of a way to blog about this show. It stars Nathan Fillion, late of the ill-fated FIREFLY series, the movie WAITRESS, last season’s hero in DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, and the DR. HORRIBLE online show. I LOVE Nathan Fillion–he twinkles, to me, the way James Garner did in his younger years. (If you love Jimmy, you know what I mean.)

Anyhow, back to the Twist. Fillion’s character is a best-selling author who shadows the NYPD homicide detectives as he gets inspiration for the new lead character in his murder mystery series. He plays cards with James Patterson and Stephen Cannell in the first episode and is distracted by the case the police think they have solved. As Richard Castle recounts the details of supposedly solved murders as if they were part of the plot of a book, Patterson and Cannell ask, “Is that it? Where’s the twist? There’s no twist.” Applying the principles of story-telling to police work, Castle realizes that the murders have all been solved too easily and that there must be a twist. (Take a peek at the superstar writers’ game here.)

All of this is to say (besides saying to watch CASTLE on Mondays on ABC), remember to put the twist in your story–the surprise or truth that the reader isn’t expecting. If your story goes in a straight line, it’s going to be boring and abandoned by the reader. But your twist has to be believable and logical in the framework of your plot. To read a bit on how to decide on a twist for your story, read James Bell Scott’s PLOT & STRUCTURE, pp 106-107.

In the meantime, just write CHUBBY CHECKER on a piece of paper or print out his picture and hang it in your work space. It will be a visual reminder to make your story interesting and memorable!

Poems Bloom During Poetry Month

It’s spring–or at least it’s supposed to be–and that means Poetry Month is right around the corner.

Starting on April 1, Robert Lee Brewer of Writers Digest will host a Poem-a-Day Challenge on his poetry blog. Participants will be able to post a poem a day and the top poems each day will be considered for the top spots for the month. Thirty of the best poems will be published in an eBook. It doesn’t sound like money is involved, but it frequently isn’t where poetry is involved.

Everyone who completes the PAD challenge will receive an e-certificate and an online badge to post on their blogs or websites. Check it out on Robert’s blog.

Putting It All Together

My *Year of No Excuses* has turned into, well, a year of detours. After my mom came home from the hospital earlier this year, I still couldn’t get myself back into my writing routine. I took a detour to do taxes and my son’s FAFSA (where do they think you’re supposed to get all of this money, huh?), but still wasn’t ready to write. So over a week ago, I took two actions I hoped would get me back to work.

1. I bought a timer. It’s just a simple wind-up timer I got at the grocery store, but I can use it to keep my non-productive web time under control. An hour to check and answer mail, look up any burning questions, and search for whatever goofball thing I’m hunting now should be ample.
2. I decided to make a purse.

Okay, let me tell you upfront that I have NEVER in my life made a purse. But I’ve been searching for a new purse since the longevity of my Vera Bradley microfiber bag was relatively short and the only bag I found that was the right size, the right shape (I like east-west crossbody bags), the right color, and had the compartments I like was over $150 and it was far too pretty to use everyday. So to end this madness and get on with my life, I decided to make my bag.

Putting the pattern together

I used to sew all of the time so I had all of the equipment I needed. I just needed a pattern, which I found was not that easy. So I ended up cobbling together instructions from blogs, a purchased pattern, and handbag craft books. I improvised on the way. When one pattern didn’t do what I wanted, I jumped to another one. When I didn’t think a fabric strap would hold up, I borrowed a heavy duty strap from a bag I wasn’t using. Along the way, I figured out a million things I would do differently if I ever did it again. But I also had time to think about my MG novel that had been in hiatus and eureka! I figured out something wrong in the plot, and also got the idea for the follow-up novel that I didn’t even know I would write. Sometimes getting the creative juices flowing with one endeavor can benefit your writing.

Besides giving me a purse, a plot fix, and a sequel, the whole process reminded me of more than one important thing about writing. The most significant thing was a reminder to take my time. Haste makes waste in sewing and a similar thing happens in writing. Taking the time with the little things can pay off big time.

The other thing is that there is no formula for good writing, just as I didn’t have a pattern for my purse. A lot of newbies will come to conferences and programs looking for the template to publication. There is none.

My Asian-influenced quilted patchwork crossbody bag!

How one person works is completely different than another. Make it up as you go along. Don’t get upset that you don’t write a quota of pages every day. Don’t get upset that you write your first draft long-hand and not on the computer. Don’t get upset that someone in your group got published ahead of you. Take the time you need to put it all together–your vision, your research, your genre reading, your character studies, your rough drafts, your critiques, and your revisions–to make the best book you can.

Paying for the Free Press

Wow. That’s all I can say. I just finished doing our taxes and then my son’s FAFSA to qualify for financial aid. And like millions of Americans, I now know for sure that I have no money to send this child to school.

So like President Obama being stared at by John McCain, I’m looking for ways to cut our budget. And two things in particular caught my eye: my public radio membership and my three newspaper subscriptions.

I downgraded my memberhip to WBEZ last year so I don’t donate more than the cost of a cup of mocha at Starbucks each month. And NPR is my daytime buddy. I would feel terrible guilt if I listened without subscribing. (I am Catholic after all.)

But my newspaper subscriptions add up to more. While I read all of those papers, do I really need them all when every penny will count? For right now, the answer is yes.

Newspapers are almost disappearing faster than retail stores. Sure, you can read a lot of the papers online, but it’s just not the same. I bet the small story in our regional paper about a wife committing puppetcide wasn’t online, for example. (As Dave Barry says, I am not making this up.) You also don’t get all of the ads, and while I don’t really have any money to go shopping, I like to keep up with trends. And for every subscription cancelled, the cuts at the papers pile up. Recently, my husband’s friend who was a research librarian at a Chicago daily was let go after years of service. Reporters and editors now have to do their own research. I guess they do this instead of sleeping since I know how much time it takes to do the reporting and writing for a good story.

So something else will have to get rubbed out by my pencil. I still believe we should all pay to protect our free press. It wouldn’t be America without it.

Where No Woman Has Gone Before. . .

I dig Space. I always have. As a grade school student, I would take my transistor radio to the bus stop so I could listen to Mercury capsule launches. I wrote letters to Mission Control and got pictures of the original Mercury astronauts. I was nuts for astronauts.

Why did this ancient history come to mind now? In today’s I.N.K. blog, Tanya Lee Stone writes about her upcoming book, Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream. Unlike me, these women pushed for their dream of going to space even though it was never fulfilled. I abandoned mine after I realized even leaving the earth on carnival rides made me queasy.

But I never lost my admiration of astronauts. In high school, I used the assignment in Speech class to write about a career to discuss astronauts. Of course, I had a wealth of information and was no stranger to the library to gather more. My grade: C. My teacher Ms. Streusel (really, that was her name) said being an astronaut was not a career. NOT A CAREER?! I felt like Ralphie in A Christmas Story. We both had C’s, our dreams dashed, and our teachers were nuts.

While Ralphie eventually found out that the gun he wanted for Christmas could actually shoot his eye out, my admiration for astronauts has remained as men and women make a living (definition of a career, right?) as astronauts. But the real modern day message to me after seeing Ms. Stone’s book was that as children’s authors, we really have a duty to give children information to pursue their dreams. There may not be a parent, teacher, or older sibling who has the time or ability to support that child’s dream. But if a child can read a book and know her goal is possible, we’ve given someone hope and perhaps made the impossible seem possible.

Writing Commercial Nonfiction

I know I’ve been silent for a couple of weeks, but I’ve been:

• getting my file system setup for 2009
• serial shopping online for a new bag
• trying to get my taxes done so I can do the FAFSA for my son
• avoiding doing my taxes so I can’t do the FAFSA
• running back and forth to my mom’s to check on her and her home aides
• thinking that I should be writing and remembering that at the end of the year, there will be NO EXCUSES if I’m not done with my two WIPs.

Okay. NO EXCUSES. I’m back.

Since I just finished a nonfiction picture book last year, I thought today’s post on the I.N.K. blog (Interesting Nonfiction for Kids) was interesting. Editor Jill Davis talks about how kids’ nonfiction has changed over the years and what makes a nonfiction book commercially viable to a publisher. If you’re as old as I am (it’s not polite to ask a lady her age), you definitely remember how clinical and stark kids’ nonfiction books used to be. And now some of the most amazing books are NF.

Happy Year of the Ox!

I was so happy yesterday about the ALA Youth Media Awards announcements that I forgot to post a Happy Lunar New Year message. Imagine that–and me the Queen of New Year’s celebrations!

I was so excited that Neil Gaiman’s THE GRAVEYARD BOOK won the Newbery and that Kadir Nelson’s WE ARE THE SHIP won multiple prizes (Sibert Award for best nonfiction book, Coretta Scott King author award, CSK illustrator honor award) that I plum forgot. I was even more excited when I was checking out of TJ Maxx that afternoon and I noticed WATS on display. I really went nuts when I saw the price–$3.99! Yikes! $3.99 for an award-winning hardcover book! I turned to the woman behind me in line, who probably thought she was being assaulted by a book-waving insane asylum escapee, and said, “If you have any kids at home, BUY THIS BOOK! It just won multiple awards from the American Library Association.”

She politely looked at the book while I went to check out, but as I left the store with my copy, I noticed she was only purchasing her expensive designer handbag. I went to the car, deposited my purchases, and returned to the store to buy the one remaining copy. So Happy New Year to me–it was just too good to pass up, plus I’m sure it will make a good gift for someone.

The great thing about Chinese New Year is that the celebration lasts more than one day. So party on! Check out my web site for fast facts.

GRAVEYARD BOOK TAKES THE CAKE!

Neil Gaiman’s THE GRAVEYARD BOOK has just won the Newbery Award. You know I am in love with this book! Yoohoo!

This Just In (really) . . . CSK Award Winners

Okay, earlier this morning (before I had my coffee) I mistakenly posted last year’s Coretta Scott King award winners as this year’s winners. I should never use any heavy machinery (i.e., my laptop) before coffee.

Here are the real 2009 winners:

CSK John Steptoe Award for New Talent

• Illustrator Shadra Strickland for BIRD

CSK Illustrator Honor Awards

• Kadir Nelson, WE ARE THE SHIP
• Sean Qualls, BEFORE JOHN WAS A JAZZ GIANT
• Jerry Pinkney, THE MOON OVER STAR

CSK Illustrator Award

• Floyd Cooper, THE BLACKER THE BERRY

CSK Author Honor Awards

• Hope Anita Smith, KEEPING THE NIGHT WATCH
• Joyce Carol Thomas, THE BLACKER THE BERRY
• Carole Boston Weatherford, BECOMING BILLIE HOLLIDAY

CSK Author Award

• Kadir Nelson, WE ARE THE SHIP: THE STORY OF NEGRO LEAGUE BASEBALL

Nelson also won the Sibert Award for best NF book. Yay!

The Kindness of Strangers Rewarded

The Oscar nominations always bring a lot of buzz. But in my family, yesterday’s announcement brought a moment reminiscent of the movie ELF when Will Ferrell’s character got excited about the department store Santa: “I KNOW HIM!”

Indeed, we knew TWO people nominated for Oscars, or I should say we at home knew of them. It is my son A in Los Angeles who actually knows them.

And how would a 24-year-old aspiring screenwriter/director know TWO Academy Award nominees? When A was in college, his senior project was a short movie he wrote and directed. And being A, he wanted real professionals. Imagine a 21-year-old kid writing Meryl Streep to be in his movie. Or David Strathairn. My son did. And they wrote back nice notes, but declined.

But one of the other people he had on his *A* list was Melissa Leo. She accepted and they became friends. Another person who agreed to work with him was Tom Stern, cinematographer on many Clint Eastwood movies. Many other professionals, whose names you’d recognize, agreed to work with him. I was amazed that people would help out a senior in college make a 20-minute short.

But they did. And yesterday I’d like to think that the kindness of two of those strangers has been rewarded. Melissa was nominated for Best Actress for FROZEN RIVER; Tom was nominated for Cinematography for CHANGELING.
These two have been *in the biz* for a long time. You hear a lot about cut throats and ego maniacs in  Hollywood, but these folks were more like my fellow children’s writers to me: sharing, nurturing, and collaborative.

I don’t know if they’ll win, but in my family, they’re winners already.