Blog Archive: April 2008

TadMack has posted some lovely ruminations on why she writes. A snippet:

People have always starved, it's endemic to poverty -- the poor we always have with us, after all -- but things have been drifting quietly downstream for some time now, and in the distance is the roaring sound of the rapids.

Common sense suggests that paddling this canoe now won't even slightly delay our rush toward white water, but that's not why I'm still writing -- I'm writing because I believe in the power of stories.

Go and read the whole thing. Really. She writes very eloquently about questions I've often asked myself, that I know many of my friends have asked themselves.

On my dinner break I was mulling over this whole business of trying to sell my book, wondering why it's so darn important to me. This book in question is a middle grade novel about two girls falling in like. I remembered last year, when I was beginning to send it out--how when I told some of my lesbian friends about it, they said, "Wow. I wish there'd been a book like that when I was twelve."

And just like that, I remembered: Oh, yeah. That's why this is important. That's why I want this book to make its way out into the world, instead of being forever trapped on my computer. Because of all the twelve-year-olds who wish there was a book like that, for all the people who look back on twelve and wish they'd had that book. That's why, as my agent starts sending it out, I've got all my fingers and toes crossed as much as fingers and toes ever were.

Continuing the recent theme of topics no trade publisher will touch: It's Just a Plant: A Children's Story of Marijuana. This self-published tome, illustrated by a boatload of artists, aspires to educate children about the wicked weed while neither stigmatizing nor glorifying its use.

Not a terrible aspiration, in my opinion, but as is all too typical of self-published books, the product is laughable. So many retro rainbows grace the pages, you'll swear you're trapped in a Roller Disco circa 1977. A text that's ridiculous and didactic. (“What’s that, Mommy?” asked Jackie. “Are you and Daddy smoking a cigarette?” “No, baby,” said her mother. “This is a joint.”) Imponderably set on Halloween so the little girl and her mother are riding a bicyle around town in bizarro costumes. (Is she supposed to be a Samurai?!)

BUT. How many other straight-talking picture books about marijuana can you name? Yeah, didn't think so!

You can ingest (just don't inhale) a representative sample of the book online, in your choice of English, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, or Thai. Because, y'know, marijuana is a global affair.

I'm guessing the current surge in publicity is due to the ignominious occasion of April 20. Maybe all the blog posts will help them sell a few books! (Via Big A little a.)

Kelly at Big A little a passed this meme onto anyone who writes... My brain's fried, so what the hey.

Meme rules:

1. Choose any one of YOUR OWN manuscripts. It can be a picture book, MG novel, an adult novel... It makes no difference.
2. Turn to page 30 of your novel or page 3 if it is a PB.
3. Find the 5th sentence.
4. Post the next 5 sentences of text.
5. Then tag 5 writer friends to do the same.
6. Visit Your Tagged Friends and the Person who Tagged You to read their short excepts.

Here's mine:

Page 30, 5th sentence
I withdraw a couple hundred dollars from my bank account, money previously earmarked for the Red Monster, and nervously smoke a Camel on my way back to Dry Prairie Animal Clinic.

Next 5 sentences
It’s early enough that the lot is still half-full of cars. When I step into the waiting room, the pale, dark-haired receptionist asks, “How may I help you?”

“I’m here to pick up my dog.” My dog. Each time I say the words, the more I like them, the more they sound at home in my mouth.

Turns out the hardest thing about posting even such a small snippet is to not obsessively tweak!

Any more takers out there? (Eliza, perchance?) Leave me a comment, if you decide to join the game...

Bringing a smile to my face this morning was this clip from Creature Comforts USA. I love Aardman Animations, and this "man on the street" montage of animals/people discussing the meaning of art is especially funny and clever. I'd start listing highlights, but the list would be far too long; better just to watch it! (Via ShelfTalker.)

When I saw in the space of a week that both authors Elizabeth Bunce and Jenny Han consider I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith, of one of their favorite books of all time, of course I had to go looking for it myself. I loved The 101 Dalmatians as a child and still talk it up as a great family read-aloud (though I am continually dismayed at how many parents say, “No, thank you, my children have already seen the movie”; that is a whole ‘nother can of worms).

Jenny Han’s given mention to I Capture the Castle many times in her online bios and interviews, but most recently brought it up in the context of book blurbs—in particular, their value to authors and book-buyers (up to debate).

My library’s copy of I Capture the Castle has no blurb from J. K. Rowling, or from any other author, for that matter. It is a 1948 first edition, well-loved and in need of some mending tape. And it has a full-page author bio on the back jacket flap, written by Smith herself. I love this gem at its conclusion:

“I write with great misery but am even more miserable when not writing—though I do enjoy thinking about writing and thinking about having written; it is the time in between that gets me down.”

That about hits the nail on the head for me. I love the rush of a new book idea, when it’s practically effortless to fill dozens of notebook pages with fresh ideas for characters and dialogue and dilemmas. When I’m slogging through the umpteenth revision, wondering when the hamster-juggling will ever end—not so much. It is some consolation that I am in good company.

Meanwhile, ShelfTalker has a very cute post about author Linda Urban’s children’s authorial efforts. On the back of each stapled booklet are blurbs by the kids’ parents, painstakingly transcribed by the kids under the word “prase” (praise). I hope someday I’m lucky enough to have book blurbs that say “Awesome” and “Darling,” too!