Al Capone

September is new book time. For kids in school and for book reviewers like me. I love opening the mail and seeing my special review copies, knowing I get to have an opinion and write about it before it even hits the bookstores. Much more fun than writing about books and authors and all those other assignments from my own school days.

Whenever possible, I review books I love. And if I had my way, most would be kids' books, especially middle grade and YA fiction. And this fall there are so many to love!

My review of AL CAPONE SHINES MY SHOES appeared this weekend in the Christian Science Monitor. What a great book! The kind of story you can recommend totally without reservation to a whole host of kids. Not one reason not to love this book. Sometimes I have to frame my personal recommendations, when asked, with a clarification. There are no "yes, buts" when you describe this one. Not this one and not the other "Al Capone" story-- Al Capone Does My Shirts.

These two novels by Gennifer Choldenko are totally not about Al Capone. They just happen to take place on Alcatraz Island, the prison where Capone and his cronies were sent in the 1030s. And he is in the story. But so is baseball, autism, friendships, moral dilemma, and lots of food references. Which of course, I love. Pass the the cannolis, please!

But the story belongs to Moose Flanagan, his friends and family. Just a great voice, a funny story, perfectly told and perfect for middle grade readers, older kids, and even parents and teachers.

Go ahead. Put it on your wish list. Reserve it at the library. Buy it for your favorite niece or nephew. Best aunt/uncle/ grandma/grandpa award, coming right up!

Another September 11th

I guess there are a lot of us who will wake up every September 11th, for as long as we live, and remember what it was like, where we were, who we were worried about in 2001. Today seems different somehow. For one thing, it's dreary, and gloomy rain has been coming down steadily all morning. On other September 11ths, when the sun was bright and the flags were everywhere, I was always reminded of the day we'll never forget.

Today we turned on the TV and heard Mayor Bloomberg tell us that this will be a day of service, from now on. I like that idea and hope it works. I read all the comments from my Facebook friends, remembering people they'd lost, remarking about how long it has been. And I read the front page of the New York Times, the article about how the city never thought they'd get to September 12 and beyond. Yet, here we are.

We're going to the Museum of Modern Art, to dinner, to walk around the city tomorrow. Taking the train with friends. All those things that some predicted we'd never do without fear.

So even though I'm not seeing the sunshine and the flags today, I'm still remembering.

Related post: A Beautiful September Day

Looking for Alaska

I liked this young adult book a lot so appreciated the reminder of this quote. Kind of like my life and my bookshelves:

"Have you really read all those books in your room?" She laughed. "Oh God no. I've maybe read a third of 'em. But I'm going to read all of them. I call it my Life's Library. Every summer since I was little, I've gone to garage sales and bought all the books that looked interesting. So I always have something to read." --Looking for Alaska by John Green

Thanks to teen blogger Lexi for this. Also fun to see what books actual real-live avid readers, of the book's intended age group, are reading.

Inspiration and Imagination

Or
"What I Did on my Summer Vacation"

Remember those required writing essays? Even the youngest children know they are coming. And know, to impress the new teacher, it's good to have topics other than
Ate sno-cones, Read a lot of beach books, Cooked fish on the grill.

But, thankfully, my friend Eileen Harrell just shared this quote with me, paraphrased from Thomas Merton:

“The imagination needs time to browse.”

I've been thinking about that during these last days of summer. Labor Day weekend always marked the end of my children's and my own (grown-up) summers, with school following on the heels of the holiday. Mind you, I never knew that Labor Day was a holiday till I moved out of the South. My astute father always said that Labor Day and Daylight Savings Time were inventions of those living outside any economy that depended on farming. "Cows can't tell time," he'd remark. Nor was Labor Day weekend acknowledged by livestock where I grew up.

But here I am, in a place where this first September weekend is a big deal. The summer is ending, there's a chill in the evening air, and I've even detected a bit of color in the Japanese maples.





I've had lots of time and lots of people this past week to inspire my imagination.

All sorts of things-- from caterpillars. . .



to cute puppies . . .



And so another summer ends, with beautiful sunsets and plenty of time to let the imagination wander.


photos courtesy of Steve Marino and Jay Scattergood

Remember: Imagination needs time to browse.
And browse away!

Possible related posts: My Dad and Trains
My Life With Dogs

First Drafting

Although I've put aside starting anything longer than 1000 words while I dive into revamping and editing something old, I like this post by writer Heather Vogel Frederick about starting brand new drafts, how difficult putting your toe into the water can be.

Thanks to Jo Knowles for the Facebook heads up on it. Jo's favorite has to do with making hollandaise. Kind of.

Writing a first draft always reminds me of starting a new project with third graders, in my school librarianship days:
How long does it have to be? Can I copy this picture now? Do we need note cards? Can I use a pen? A pencil? Colored markers?

That's how I feel about early drafts. A million questions, with at least that many right answers. And a few very wrong ones you won't know about until you are halfway down the path.

How do you feel about starting something new? Putting that proverbial toe into uncharted waters?

Great Writing Advice

Really terrific Food for Thought. But not just for thought, for action. Sue Monk Kidd's Ten Most Helpful Things I Could Ever Tell Anyone About Writing. Click here for her list. I love #9:

Hurry slowly.

"Getting the pace of a story right keeps me up at night. I have a horror of sitting on a plane, next to someone reading my book, and seeing her flip over to see how many pages are left in the chapter. You want a reader so caught up in the spell of a story it would never occur to her to pull herself away and count how many pages she had to read before she could stop."

New Favorite Series (I hope)

I discovered the books of Kate Atkinson through a review in the New York Times. And rushed right out to my local library to reserve When Will There Be Good News?


After about 10 pages, I realized that I was onto something. And I returned that book and checked out, Case Histories, the first of the series. I say series with hope. So far, there are three books in what Janet Maslin terms "books that would be chronologically linked if Ms. Atkinson had a simple sense of chronology." Which she doesn't.

Series or not, I wanted to start at the beginning.

Now I've finished book #2: ONE GOOD TURN. Next, I'm back to where I started, with Atkinson's newest. These books are hard to describe, other than saying they are fabulously written and fun to follow. Shifts in Point of View don't disrupt the action. Funny asides don't seem like author intrusions. I laughed at a lot of things in the first two books.

A favorite thought from One Good Turn: Martin, a writer/oddball of a character, imagines moving his fiction away from the linear narratives about his (boring) character and "writing a Borges-like construction where each story contained the kernel of the next and so on..something with intellectual cachet (something good)."

And this, as that same writer views the receptionist at the dump of a hotel he finds himself holed up in when a murder has kept him from his own house: "She had a smear of what looked like blood on her chin, but Martin thought it was more likely to be tomato ketchup."

That's about the way these first two mysteries progress. Weaving seamlessly from story to story, with kernels of characters, places, actions showing up from one to the next. Just great writing. And fun reading. In fact, reviewer Janet Maslin included When Will There Be Good News on her Top 10 list for 2008 (Along with Dennis Lehane's The Given Day, Edgar Sawtelle, and Ron Rash's Serena, among others).

I agree with Maslin who says she very much hopes Atkinson will continue the series. Here's what another favorite crime writer (if you can call them that), Harlan Coban, has to say:
Kate Atkinson is an absolute must-read. I love everything she writes.

Ditto that, Mr. Coban.


Related posts:
Writers in Paradise: Dennis Lehane

The Last Word (Promise)

I know some of you love these postings about Julia Child and all things Julia-ish. And maybe some of you are saying Move On! Enough with the postings about cooking!

So here's one more and I think this should do it. Today's New York Times sets us home cooks straight. Here's the way to make Boeuf Bourguignon in (Gasp!) Five Steps. That Gasp! was in the title of the article.

But it's true, and it's all about a new cookbook, coming from France in October.

One More About Julia

Great article in today's New York Times. Already this morning the #1 most emailed and on the top ten list of most blogged. So I'll just add the link here, and add my 2-cents worth: Loved the ending of this article, Nora Ephron's comment about people walking out of the multiplex and into the bookstore. Great to think a movie can have that kind of impact on book sales. Way to go Julie and Julia, both of you!

Julia Child's Paris

Paris is one of my favorite cities. OK, my favorite city. And Julia Child fascinates me. I actually met her and heard her talk to the students at the school where I worked in New Jersey, and she was no less intriguing in person than she is in her larger-than-life big and little screen presence. Yes, I loved Julie and Julia, both the book and the new movie.



(Photo credit: Wikimedia)

Now I have a new reason to return to Paris. The site that gave me Henri the Existential Cat now has a post up about the places Julia lived, ate, strolled in her adopted city. Check it out here.

Related Posts: Henri the Cat
Book Review: Hungry for Paris

Food Writing

I've been thinking about food- Southern food, to be exact. And I don't mean writing about food specifically, essays about picking blueberries or missing figs. (For those, see my links to essays, on this blog, please.)

I also don't mean the kind of food my fabulous friend and fellow writer Lee Stokes Hilton celebrates on her new blog. Though after reading her recipe, I have been pondering making scones, as soon as it cools off.

But right now I'm mulling over changes, additions, edits of my book for middle grade readers that's been percolating for some time. The first draft had many references to fried chicken, black skillets, pimento cheese. Then I got cold feet and took out some of the Food Talk. A friend who'd published her kids' books with a very astute editor told me he said she had her (Southern) characters eating all the time. OK, but we do like our food, sir! Still, I held back.

Then I read Faith, Hope and Ivy June. And there was food every time I turned around. And I loved it. Mashing up Grandmommie's beans with the back of her spoon. Offering up something from the kitchen to the country doctor who comes to call. Homemade preserves. All the good stuff that came from that mountain kitchen added layers of description for me. I could just picture Mammaw in there cooking for Ivy June and Catherine, the exchange student friend from the city. Those cookies she baked drew me into the brothers' afterschool day.

So I'm adding layers, details to my novel and think at least some will be food. In the South, where my manuscript is set, that's a good piece of what families are all about. Sitting down, enjoying the stories around the dinner table.

Bring on the fried chicken. Gravy made in a black skillet. Corn bread, too. I just can't forget the family eating Sunday dinner, their stories around that table.


Related posts: SCBWI Pt. 2: Phyllis Naylor
Eating Our Way Home

Henri, The Existential Chat

Henri, The Existential Chat

OK, this just struck me as particularly funny today. Don't ask.

An Abundance of Riches

Look what's sitting on my To Read shelf. A book lover/former librarian/ book reviewer's dream. Three of the best fall kids' novels out there. And I get to read them all!

Well, as you might notice from all the blue stickies, I've read one of them and am about to write my review. I've actually read two of them because I couldn't wait to open Popeye and Elvis when the delivery guy left it on my front step on Monday. But I'm reading that one again soon, and the new Al Capone is also waiting for me. It's like Christmas and my 10-year-old birthday all rolled into one.
More to come on these. Right now, I have some serious fun reading to get to.


Related post: Book Reviewing

Funny Sandwiches!

I'm sorry. But this is just too funny not to share. I know, I know. Nothing to do with writing. Though I'm sure if I ate a Sponge Bob sandwich, I could write something really funny. Or how about that little mouse- is he cute or not? I tried to paste an image into this entry but nothing seems to work. So go ahead, click on the link.

Best Beach Books Ever

If it's not too late to read at the beach-- and for my friends in New England, I'm not sure you've had your summer yet so maybe there's time--here's a great list of books to consider.

From NPR's recent poll to listeners and readers: What's your favorite beach read?

So what have you been reading this summer? Beach or not.

Learn from the Best

I think there might actually be a famous writer who said "Steal from the best." But I'm not stealing today. Today I'm thinking hard about this, by one of my all-time favorite writers, Anne Tyler:

All really satisfying stories, I believe, can generally be described as spend-thrift... A spendthrift story has a strange way of seeming bigger than the sum of its parts; it is stuffed full; it gives the sense of possessing further information that could be divulged if called for.

That's the ticket. It could be divulged. As long as the writer knows the backstory, the character's history, what happens off-stage, readers don't need every single detail spelled out.

A Good Blog is Hard to Find

Today was my turn over at the Southern Writers Blog, A Good Blog is Hard to Find. I finally found an excuse to link to one of my favorite articles of the summer in The St. Petersburg Times. Who'd ever think there would be so much to a simple Sno-Cone...

Black Skillet as Metaphor?

I hope I never have to give up my morning newspapers, the kind printed on newsprint I can spread out on nearby tables and separate on the floor, with sections featuring Sports and Food and Local News. Newspapers I can glance up from when a replay of the 13th inning win by the Tampa Bay Rays over the Red Sox last night comes on the TV. But that's another story.

Some days my daily newspapers are filled with good stuff. Like today. Along with Frank Bruni's review of the Union Square Cafe, which sparked memories of a terrific January lunch there with a friend and a daughter, I loved today's entire food section.

Both the New York Times and the St. Petersburg Times. The St. Pete Times food editor is writing about Julia Childs, but I'm saving my comments till I've seen Julie and Julia (loved the book!).

I've been thinking about my black iron skillet as a metaphor for something- maybe for writing techniques, as my friend Sue threw out at me at our recent critique meeting. So that will be on my mind today, inspired by Sue and by Jhumpa Lahiri's article in today's New York Times.

OK, I know, she's writing about her summer vacation rentals, and Julia Moskin, in that same Dining section, takes on a similar subject. But both articles prompted me to think of tiny beginnings, an entry into an essay or a story. So today I'll spend time pondering the possibilities. And who knows what might be cooking on that metaphoric iron skillet by supper time?

Stirring the Pot

Although my cooking skills aren't legendary, there's one thing I don't mind doing: stirring. I make killer cheese grits and a mean roux. Somebody once said of making roux: You can drink two beers while you're stirring and it still may not be ready. Of course, I'd never do that. You have to watch the roux very closely, without impairment. If it burns, out goes the whole batch.

I didn't think I loved risotto, however, and I'd never attempted actually making it. Although it's OK when a restaurant sneaks risotto under the dish I've ordered, I get more excited when my shrimp is heaped on grits or polenta. But I decided to give it a try. And I didn't bat an eye reading about stirring risotto. That part didn't worry me. I'd stirred grits longer, and with grits, you have to be careful not to get scalded.

I was ready for risotto.

Some recipes insist you should stir nonstop for an hour, but I'd watched my friend Joan making it, and she wasn't a slave to her stove. We took turns stirring that night. But tonight, I was on my own. Lots of stirring. And plenty of time to think about writing, while stirring.

I decided writing is like making grits, roux, risotto-- a bit of this and a spoon of that. Stir, stir, stir. Add more broth, a pinch of salt, sample it. Stir some more. And occasionally, regrettably, toss the whole thing.

With risotto, I was lucky my first time out. Here's the pot, mid-way through stirring. With occasional breaks to write about it.



All it took was arborio rice, sauteed onions, vegetable stock, a spash of white wine, and a bit of grated parmesan cheese. And all that stirring.

Home Food

This morning's New York Times carried a story about pizza in Brooklyn, available for $5 a slice. And people are lining up. My favorite line, which must resonate with others because my friend Leslie also picked it up:

“Worth it,” said Mr. Mancino, 64, between bites on Wednesday afternoon. “It’s like they dug up my grandma and she made the pie.”

My brother and sister and I feel that way about the fried chicken at Two Sisters' in Jackson, Mississippi. If you've never been, and you long for food cooked the way it used to be, check it out if you find yourself in Jackson. Fried chicken, homemade rolls, all kinds of what my Yankee husband once insulted as "brown vegetables" (butter beans, field peas, etc.), and peach cobbler for dessert. At least that's what I remember from our last visit. And every time we go, my siblings and I think our childhood cook must have swooped down from Heaven and is back there frying the chicken.

So I totally get it about the $5 slice of pizza at Di Fara Pizza in Brooklyn.

And while I'm on food and The New York Times. Here's an article about hamburgers by one of my favorite Southerners, writer John T. Edge, in yesterday's paper. Love his books about food. (See my review of Donuts.) All you ever wanted to know, but probably really don't need to know, about the subject. He's also covered hamburgers and fried chicken, in great depth, with humor. Surely the only way to write about something so bad for you that tastes that good, on occasion.

Typing Skills

I loved the interview with Pat Conroy in the new, August issue of Southern Living. I learned he writes in longhand because his dad made him drop out of typing classes. Conroy knew he wanted to be a writer and realized typing would help. His dad had other ideas. Fighter pilot, for example. Where he'd have sergeants to type for him.

I, on the other hand, am a fast, (mostly) competent two-handed typist because I learned in 8th grade typing class and followed up with a high school class which enabled me to charge my fellow college classmates for typing their research papers (especially boys, whose fathers probably also thought typing was an unnecessary skill).

Did you know you can type more than 3,000 words with your left hand? And only 300 with the right hand alone? That's assuming you use the correct finger position, of course. Think about words like "exaggerate" and "stewardesses." Why is this? Early typists were so fast they jammed their machines, so in the 1870s, frequently-used letters like A, T, and N were separated on the keyboard.

Now you know.

Book Reviewing

Reading books, then writing about them, seems like a perfect gig, right? Opening a new book with great expectation and anticipation, a story no one else has insisted You Must Read This and then proceeded to tell me what happens- All good. But there's a lot of responsibility in this newness. And then there's the pulling together of the review. You know a lot of really accomplished writers are going to see it, and you don't want to get it wrong. Apostrophes count. Just recently someone commented on something I'd written and cautioned me to watch for typos. Typos? Me? I'm the original line editor. What I think he meant was my propensity to leave out commas in short compound sentences. I do that occasionally and I know I do it (like that).

Is that so wrong? Well, I guess not, as long as I realize what I'm doing and do it intentionally. That's my story anyhow.

Check out Barbara O'Connor's recent blog posts (scroll past the hilarious antics of her new puppy Ruby...) to see how even the most experienced writer anguishes over her latest manuscript edits. Or at least that's what accomplished writers should do. There's nothing worse than reading a book filled with grammar and puncutation mistakes. I know. I've been sent books, albeit just galleys, so filled with errors that I wonder how they could ever fix them for the actual book.

But back to my reading and writing about books. Today's Christian Science Monitor featured my review of Rebecca Stead's book When You Reach Me. That was one hard book to review! I didn't want to give too much away because the story is complicated and hinges on events that take place early in the writing but later in the story. Aha, see that right there makes no sense when I write it. You just have to read the book. It was a terrific book, well-written and accomplished and unusual. And I loved reading it.

Revision...

Quote from Darcy Pattison's book, Novel Metamorphosis.
(The book was recommended last weekend at a terrific revision workshop.)

"I can't write five words but that I change seven."
Dorothy Parker

Woe is me. Whoops.

Woe is I.

Woe am I.

See what I mean? You could make yourself crazy like this. And I thought I was The Grammar Queen.

Another Favorite Place

New Orleans and Memphis were the cities of my childhood. Memphis for the Christmas parade, shopping at Goldsmith's for Easter outfits, and the occasional Cultural Event my mother thought we needed. New Orleans, on the other hand, was where we went to have fun, even as teenagers. Or younger, if truth be told.

So today I opened The House on First Street by Julia Reed. She grew up, as I did, in the Mississippi Delta, and her memories of trips to New Orleans could well have been mine. The Blue Room of the Roosevelt Hotel was legend in our house. Our dad had gone to Tulane and loved everything about the city, especially dancing at the Blue Room. Like Julia Reed, we always stayed at the Monteleone and ate our oysters at Felix's. And I have my own Cafe du Monde late night beignet story, never to be shared. Never. With anyone. Unless one day I write about New Orleans. For now, I'm content to read abou it.

We used to be what Reed calls "regular out-of-towners," visiting often. Sadly, our trips have all but disappeared, but reading her book makes me long for dinner at Commanders or Upperline, or even alligator gumbo at Coop's. Ah, that was the life...

My Grandmother's Quilt- What's in Your Attic?

Since my workshop weekend, I've been thinking a lot about closets, attics, and family relics. When Lita Judge talked about finding the dusty box filled with foot tracings, saved all those years, relics of her grandmother's relief efforts during World War II, I started thinking about my own grandmother. She loved to show us a metal box containing "important papers." What was in the box? The pardon her grandfather received from President Andrew Johnson so that he could own land and vote, a pardon for fighting in the Civil War (AKA to Southern school children of a previous era or perhaps still - The War Between the States). Also among her precious possessions- several Confederate dollars. I'm not sure what she thought she'd do with these, but to a child, they were fascinating.

I was also fascinated with her yo-yo quilt. Small circles pieced together to make a random pattern of vibrant colors. She taught me to sew those little circles. I taught my own daughter, and we even got so far as the doll quilt size. I still have my leftover circles, and my grandmother's. Yesterday's mail brought the new LL Bean catalog and guess what you can order? A yo-yo quilt, just like my grandmother's. Only my grandmother's is much prettier. Here's the pillow from the Bean's catalog:

At our SCBWI conference, Lita Judge also talked about discovering her story Pennies for Elephants while pouring through microfilm at the library. I spent a lot of time helping people search through that antiquated format in my days as a reference librarian, and I don't remember ever seeing a story like this one. But now, if I ever see an old newspaper with a large photograph of an elephant, I'll stop and read that microfilm for sure.



Great discoveries can be made in the most unexpected places.

SCBWI, post 3, the Agents

This year's event featured three agents, all talking about the market. In addition to the two panels who also talked about selling/ marketing their books, two editors, and Harold Underdown. I guess this speaks to what writers want from a conference like this. When one of the presenters asked for a show of hands from anyone who had an agent, about 4 people put their hands up. OK, maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but still. I think there were well over 100 SCBWI members there. Probably more. So there you are.

Josh Adams, in case you've been under a rock these past few years, operates Adams Literary with his wife Tracey. They're based in North Carolina and everybody loves them. Now I see why. His presentation was terrific. "Agent Secrets" was a quick lesson in agent basics, followed by some really good advice: Don't follow trends! (exclamation point intended) First of all, as we know, it's a lagging indication of what's really happening, 1-3 years out. In their more literary subs, Adams Literary looks for a timeless quality. And you need to grab him early and follow through on that promise. What do they want? Well, of course, Award winners and bestsellers. But also a beautifully crafted story, with real voice and an emotional empact. (I took a lot of notes, condensed here. Hey, it's a blog. If you want more, let me know.)

Harold Underdown also spoke to the larger group as Sunday's keynote speaker: "The Economy and Children's Publishing." Trying to inject a note of lightness into things, he presented the glass-half-full and the glass-half-empty views. "Flat is the new up," for kids' book sales.

The last presenter was Sean McCarthy from Sheldon Fogelman Agency. He advised us about how to build a career in publishing. Well, that was his topic. He told us a lot of things. He was funny and interesting and full of info. Great presentation. A few things to ponder: Don't write for the market if it goes against your heart, but you may need to adjust expectations. If you are debating what to go with, if you have more than one idea- think about what will be marketable. You have to read everything new, not just what speaks to you or what you read in your childhood! (Shoot, no more Nancy Drew books for me...) He likes the Pigeon Books, picture books whose characters drive the story. Rhyming picture books are truly hard to do, so beware. The magic is gone if there is just one bad rhyme. He loves adventurous middle grade, especially boys in the younger part of this group, maybe 8-9 year-olds. I have many many notes from Sean's presentation, so if you're interested in details, feel free to email me. He's actively looking for clients.

SCBWI Pt. 2

This year's keynote address was given by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. Of Shiloh fame. And the Alice books. And her newest, which Coe Booth told her breakout session yesterday was one of the best examples of "voice" she's read in a while. So I must put Faith, Hope and Ivy June on my reading list. Phyllis talked to us about how her life has played out in her novels. How despite being an ordinary mid-westerner with an ordinary family of teachers, preachers and salesmen, with nobody in jail and no family photos in Life Magazine, she still manages to draw on her life for her stories. How Shiloh finally came together for her when she adopted her Mississippi relatives' dialect to tell the story. As Willa Cather says: Let your fiction grow out of the land beneath your feet.
But a problem with writing what we know so well? We assume the readers know it also. Readers need to see the history hidden in a writer's brain.

On Saturday we'd met the Longstockings. After listening to these young women, everyone at my table wanted to be in their group. Writing dates, group retreats, meeting for coffee at all hours, critiquing and supporting each other's work. Who wouldn't want to be in that group.
They talked about how to make a critique group work- techniques learned and adapted from their classes at The New School. The most important part of their technique? The writer says what she is looking for whether it's just a "keep going" for a first draft or some serious slicing to get a manuscript ready for an editor. My favorite line from the panel? When you are "in the box" (ie it's your turn to have your work critiqued by the group), you can't talk. You can't elaborate. You can't defend. After all, said one member, "You're not going to be able to go to a reader's house and explain what you mean." Their rule of feedback is give it a couple of days and think about it before changing or reacting to a critique. Great advice.

On Sunday, we heard a different panel: the Class of 2k9 talked about Group Marketing. In case you haven't heard, this Class of whatever has become a great marketing tool. Maybe it just started in 2007- But for the past few years, groups of debut YA and Mid-grade writers have banded together to speak, sell, do school visits, hire publicists. These writers live all over the country and meet via a Yahoo group, but as they talked about their books and the group, there was no doubt that this is a great tool. I was writing as fast as I could to get some of the new titles on my list. Again, everyone at my table wanted to join.

SCBWI Instant Replay

Well, maybe not completely instant. There was so much going on this weekend at McDaniel College in Westminster, MD, that it may take a few postings to get it all in. Another really well-done two days by my friend Mona Kerby and her band of hard workers.

Right off the bat, Mona told us we'd better listen up because there was a lot to take home. Three agents, two panels of writers, two editors, lots of workshops to polish our craft.

I'm going to start with the first breakout session I attended. The Longstockings are a group of bloggers who met at The New School MFA program and have now all published their first (and second, and on to great things!) books. I love their blog and was intrigued with Coe Booth's workshop: Keepin' It Real: Creating Characters that Connect with Readers. Tons of good advice, including a whole new way to start anew! Stop rewriting and editing every single page as you go along. When you finish a chapter, go back one time and correct. Then print it and put it in a binder. After that, everything you think needs changing, add stickie notes to the printed pages in your binder. After you finish the entire manuscript, go back and make the changes. After! Wow, what a novel idea. Maybe I could actually write another story if I could stop myself from endless editing.

Coe also gave us some good ways to think about characters. Look to real people. Write down how they talk, how they move. Remember the books you read as a child and why they moved you. Reread them. Put those emotions into your characters. She thinks it's the characters who move the plot along. As you discover who the character is, you determine the plot.

That morning we'd already heard from Patrick Collins, Creative Director, Henry Holt Books for Young Readers. Fascinating presentation about exactly what goes into putting a book together. Loved all the book jacket choices. (I'm putting Katie Loves the Kittens on my shopping list today! I'm a pushover for dogs with this much personality.)

And I always learn from what an editor and a writer have to say about working with each other. Lita Judge's books are truly labors of love. She shared stories of how she happens upon research, finds boxes in her attic, puts her background as a scientist to work. I appreciated her comments about her book 1000 Tracings, about how difficult it is to write about family. Her editor Namrata Tripathi (Atheneum Books) seems like a joy to work with. In case you're interested, she likes young, bold picture books and older fiction with a unique voice and diverse characters.

Stay tuned tomorrow. I'll post about Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's keynote speech and the Longstocking panel, among other goodies.

SCBWI MD

Last year I attended the SCBWI event at McDaniel College and loved every minute. This year I'm going back. So I've been reading a book or two by some of the presenters. How did I miss The Thing About Georgie when it first came out. Just absolutely the best depiction of a child with a special situation (OK, he's a dwarf in case you, like me, had been under a rock when the book was being reviewed and talked about) I've ever read.
The book has such kid appeal, is so funny, so readable. All good. Can't wait to hear what Lisa Graff and her band of Longstockings (that's a writing gang, in case you have't heard) have to say this weekend. Stay tuned for extensive blogging about the workshops.

SIBA Awards

Yet another list of award-winners! This one's from the Southern Independent Booksellers. Ron Rash's Serena is their top fiction pick. Lots of categories to choose from, including Children's Books, which this year was won by Kirby Larson's The Two Bobbies. And a Young Adult book by Kristin Cashore, Graceling.

The past winners-- it's the award's 10th anniversary-- are also worth a look.

Here's what the group says about their lists:

The SIBA Book awards were created, not just to recognize great Southern books, but to give southern readers an enviable list of books to enjoy, read, buy, and give as gifts. As of this time, the SIBA Book Award remains one of the most far-reaching and high-profile awards for Southern literature.

You Didn't Mess With Flannery..

Over on the Southern writers blog I'm a part of, the question of the month is about inspiration. Now I don't know many of these writers I share that blog with, but frequently when I stop by, I find somebody new I'd like to read more of.

The July 9th post by Man Martin is filled with much food for thought. And some funny quotes and stories about famous writers and exactly what they thought about inspiration. Click on over there to read his whole post. My favorite?

Flannery O’Connor would sit on her front porch tapping away at her manual typewriter several hours every morning. If someone came during her writing time, she would just ignore him. He would be able to see her there, just behind the screen, but though he knocked and pounded and shouted, “Yoo-hoo, Flannery!” she would just keep typing.

You think if I could just ignore the world, the birds (she kept peacocks for Goodness sakes!), the distractions, I could write even one short story like O'Connor dreamed up?

Quote for the Day

"This morning I took out a comma and this afternoon I put it back in again." --Oscar Wilde
(I seem to do a lot of this.)

If you want to read a few more writing quotes, and some fun things about books, click on over to Danette Haworth's blog. She's compiled a list of quotes that just might cheer you up if you're putting in commas and taking them out today.

The Weather

If you're writing about the South, the weather will probably be a character. I bet I could pick up any book on my shelf, especially the ones written by southerners, and open it to a weather reference. I'll try that.

James Lee Burke:
"The wind was blowing hard, and the royal palms out on the boulevard thrashed and twisted against a perfect blue sky."
"The sun looked broken and red on the horizon..."

Barbara O'Connor:
"..Randall could see the steamy heat rising up off the street in waves. The asphalt basketball court behind the school would be even hotter."

See, easy as pie. I could go on forever quoting weather descriptions.

So I've been thinking about the heat. And late afternoon thunderstorms. This morning I saw a maybe-10-year-old running calmly, a happy jog, down my street in Florida. I can barely walk down the street, even at 9 AM. So what is it that makes children so much more tolerant of the heat?

When I was growing up in Mississippi, we were required to nap on most summer days. Until we were almost teenagers. That didn't really mean sleep. Just quiet indoor time in the middle of the day. Most dads I knew came home from work for "dinner"- a huge noon meal- then promptly took a siesta before returning to work. Meanwhile, the kids kept quiet, read books, played cards under the ceiling fan. One thing I don't remember is complaining about the heat. I do that a lot now.

My writer friend Lee Hilton recently moved back to Texas. (You may be able to click that link and read some of her essays if you have access to the New York Times archives.) Today she reports in on the weather:
The average number of 100° days in Austin is 11. As of July 7th, 2009, Austin has had twenty-two 100° or hotter days.

Was it just not that hot in my childhood? Has air-conditioning spoiled us all? I can't imagine playing hopscotch outside now, but I know I spent a lot of time at the Fireman's Park in Cleveland, MS, when the slides were so hot they burned your legs. Then again, there was that shady pavilion at the Park. Maybe we just stayed under there, or rested under fig trees to ward off the heat. I know I didn't sit inside with the AC blasting. Kind of makes me want to go outside and find a shady spot to write in. Wait, it's 95 out there. Never mind.

How Soon is Too Soon?

That's what literary agent Janet Reid explores over at her blog. Click here to read and don't miss the comments. Many comments. Seems to me that this is very good advice Ms. Reid is giving. But very hard to follow?

Thanks to the Longstockings blog for leading me to "How Soon is Too Soon?"- While you're over there, check out today's Longstocking post also. Everybody's talking about Nicholas Kristof's New York Times column recommending Kids' Books. Blech. But at least he mea culpaed on his blog today. Kind of.

Numbers!

I'm holding on to this one. It sounds like an interesting tidbit that a character in a kids' book might just love to know:

Shortly after noon on July 8, check your clocks and calendars:

12:34:56 7/8/9.

PS And Check out this article with even more goodies about this date. Thanks, Susan!

Imagine..

Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.
H. L. Mencken

And who has more imagination than a 5-year-old and a 3-year-old playing with flowers and water?

Recipe for Fairy Soup
Take your sand pail, fresh from the July 4th beach fireworks. Fill with water. Add rosemary, lavender, scented geranium, and a few red rose pedals for color. Stir with a wooden spoon. Leave outside for the fairies to enjoy.

Garnish with a tiny coconut and a few sticks to help the fairies break the shell to drink the milk.

Wait till morning to see if the fairies came.

On Being Southern

For those of you out there in Mississippi Magazine's distribution area- (sorry, it's not online, you'll have to actually go someplace and buy one, visit your library, or subscribe)- Check out my back page essay in the On Being Southern column this month. Remember gliders? That's my topic. And if you think gliders might be a cousin to sliders, or something related to ice skating? Ours was green and sat on the front porch...

What to Read Now?

All you need is the latest issue of Newsweek. Talk about a list! 50 books. I'm not telling how many I've read but I'll keep the list handy because there are quite a few I've wanted to read.

Then there's another list! Best Books Ever, divided into categories. Hmm. A tad random. Chosen by writer/ quasi-celebrities. Sort of. Still, intriguing.

I'd almost let my subscription lapse and now I'd glad I didn't. My cover pictures a book, a real one, and the simple words What To Read Now. Oh, and those are book spines in the background, I do believe. Nice.

Speaking of covers, I loved the feature My Favorite Covers. These are really good. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. Yep, I agree. Twilight- another winner of a book jacket. There are five others pictured. Especially good- a book I haven't read and don't even remember seeing, but very cool: The Smartest Kid on Earth. I think you need to buy the magazine to see them though.

Oh and I forgot! The interviews with writers, including Elizabeth Stout, Lawrence Block, Susan Orlean. And I think there's a podcast you can download. Too many riches!

Don't be misled by the picture of Michael Jackson on the cover. Two covers for this issue. One for subscribers (the book thing), the other for the newsstand (Jackson). Both go with the July 13th issue.

Independent Bookstore Favorites

It's been 20 years since A Time to Kill was published. How can that be? It's still my favorite of John Grisham's books. And I treasure my hardback copy, autographed and given to me, a gift of my lawyer brother-in-law who knew Grisham in Mississippi.

I've written before about independent bookstores, and about beautiful bookstores and libraries, with pictures. I think I would be as happy in almost any store that sells books as I am wandering through libraries, and I hope we never lose those places where everybody knows what's happening in the world of reading.

Although I don't live near a great store like these, I like knowing what's the latest and who's visiting both Square Books and Lemuria so I signed up for their emails. This morning's email from Square Books in Oxford, MS, included this link to a USA Today article about John Grisham.

John Grisham wrote this first book, hiding in the stacks of the law library. Lots of independent bookstores have nooks and crannies and probably writers scribbling on legal pads or tapping on laptops. Great places to read and to write.

Surf Mules

Powerful new YA novel from local writer, G. Neri. Check out my review coming up in Sunday's St. Petersburg Times.


Neri's a writer who's on a mission to get boys interested in books. Read my former posting to see how he's doing that.

The Help

My reviews for Delta Magazine are rarely online, so this one won't be there long. Click here to read what I wrote about THE HELP. Click before July, when the new issue hits the newstands.

Flying Starts

Great story from Publisher's Weekly, re: debut children's authors. The "Flying Start" award, given to four outstanding books. Check it out!

1. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly. She got the idea for the novel thinking about the house in Austin, TX where she lives, in the days before air-conditioning.

2. Heart of a Shepherd by Rosanne Parry. Main character is a boy whose father has been shipped off to war in Iraq.

3. Gentleman by Michael Northrop. a "dark, dread-soaked mystery" (wow!)

4. Because I am Furniture by Thalia Chaltas. A Young Adult novel-in-verse.

Quote for the Day

"Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader — not the fact that it's raining, but the feel of being rained upon."

— E.L. Doctorow,
author of Ragtime and other critically acclaimed novels

Oxford American anyone?

Just when I'm thinking I have way too many magazines to read, I open my Best of the South 2009 issue of the Oxford American. Filled with more things than I can take in. It's always been the kind of magazine I dip into and come back to, but it was hard not to read straight through this issue.

Like one of my favorite food writers, John T. Edge, on cheese. And there's even a pimento cheese recipe "inspired by Mary Hartwell Howorth." I go along with his recommendation on Duke's Mayonnaise, but not sure about the chives. Ditto for dried sage. But hey, I've got a pot of chives growing so maybe I'll throw in a few for good measure. Even without the recipe, the piece is full of goodies. Goat cheese from Elkmont, Alabama?

Then there's an ode to pecan pie. (I seem to be fixating on food this morning.) Aha! A crust made with butter, and a tip to keep it flaky. And I loved the essay by Marion Field, "Ode to the Perfect Coat." Wow.

You can read the entire piece by Thomas Swick online, right here. It's all about writing, from a former editor now turned freelancer. Here's a quote:

I've formulated what I call the three rules of freelancing: If you're friends with an editor, you'll get the assignment. If you know an editor, you'll get a response. If you don't know an editor, you're basically playing the lottery.

And this, about the perils of freelancing in the age of email:

No longer do you check the mail once a day; now you can check it once a paragraph.

From an interview with one of the current issue's contributors, George Singleton, in response to the question "What else should our readers know about you?"

His response?

"I may have the largest privately owned dog graveyard in America. There are at least twenty dogs buried behind my house."

Now there's an answer I don't believe I've ever heard from an interviewed writer before.

Guess I'll be renewing the Oxford American.

A Word a Day

I wish I had more time to read my Word-a-Day emails. They often make me smile. Recently the word for the day was sanguine. Not something I often say, but I love the look and the sound of that word. Here's how AWAD defined it for their readers (color addition is mine):

sanguine (SANG-gwin) adjective 1. Cheerfully optimistic or confident. 2. Having a healthy reddish color. 3. Blood-red.[From Old French sanguin, from Latin sanguineus (bloody), from sanguis (blood).]

Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=sanguine-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)

And here is a comment that came along in today's email:

"It now feels apt that a vampire in the book Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is named Sanguin."

Winning Isn't Everything?

I'm not so sure how I feel about books that win awards. Especially those awarded by committees that change from year to year. One year you might agree with the committee, the next you think what were they thinking? So sometimes it's hard to see that special notation on a book's cover and just know you're going to love the book. All part of Not Judging a Book By the Cover, I guess.

But this list is kind of fun to pick apart. By a formula of points, the books, published since 1995, are listed in order of which ones got awarded or nominated or shortlisted or whatever for the major book awards. Since the Pen Faulkner isn't part of the deal (it would have skewed the list toward books published in the U.S.), some of my favorites didn't make the cut. But Middlesex, Atonement, Bel Canto- all books I adored-- are close enough to the top of the list to make me what to check out some of the others.

ThursdayStyles

Who is this Cintra Wilson person? Well, I know who she is. She's the Critical Shopper who writes for the New York Times Styles section. And she makes me laugh every time she critiques some snooty boutique in Brooklyn. I mean, who calls her book editor her book editrix? Cintra Wilson.

Today she's fondly describing a (probably very very expensive) blouse she owns: "I have repaired the underarms in the sweater so many times it has the love-punishment look of the blanky I slept with until age 9."

Chances are I'll never darken the door of said boutique, and I'm not even tempted by a pair of $1400 shoes that "have the tragic look of something you would find in the net of a police boat, until you look closely." But I sure do love reading about them.

Bloomsday

Yesterday was Bloomsday, the whole James Joyce thing. A few years ago, we found ourselves in Dublin on June 16th and saw all sorts of strange happenings around that date. Had no clue how big the celebrations were. Well not NYC St. Paddy's Day big, but celebratory. Bars and the like. Readings on street corners.

I've tried a few times to read Ulysses. I'm sure it was assigned in my college lit classes. And it's one of those books you think you've probably read, until you pick it up and try again. So when I read this essay by Colum McCann about trying (and succeeding- the writer was laid up in a hospital bed, for goodness sake) from yesterday's New York Times, I couldn't resist this quote:

I had brought an old copy of “Ulysses,” James Joyce’s masterpiece that takes place in the back streets of Dublin on June 16, 1904. I wanted to read it cover to cover. I have been dipping into the novel for many years, reading the accessible parts, plundering the icing on the cake, but in truth I had never read it all in one flow.

Plundering the icing on the cake- don't you just love that?

Why Read?

Over at the group blog, made up of some very impressive Southern writers, today was my turn up. Our Blog Head (now that doesn't sound very literary- I'm sure there's a better term: blog administrator?) Karin suggested a theme for the month. June's theme is "What Writers Influenced You?" Meaning, what books do you love to read for writing inspiration. Or at least that's how I took the question.

Truthfully, my list would have been way too long for one blog entry. I could have included food writer Julia Reed for her Southern essays. Or John T. Edge when he writes about donuts or barbeque-- like this article in today's NYTimes. I'd have to say Nancy Drew because that's about all I read when I was a newly independent reader. But I just read an article about how many Supreme Court Justices loved Nancy Drew and I'm not sure she's a legitimate literary influence. Had I followed that path, I could have been a lawyer, or at least a sleuth. Well, I do love detective fiction: P.D. James, Elizabeth George, Lee Child, James Lee Burke. Maybe I should be writing mysteries, instead of just reviewing them.

See, I could go on and on with the books I'd love to emulate. But I didn't because I don't think anybody would have read it, tucked into that A Good Blog is Hard to Find list of fabulous blogger writers. So I limited my influences to the kids' book writers I love to read while thinking about writing fiction. Even so, I left out a bunch.

Leave me a comment- here or there: What books or writers influence your writing today? Or, hey, if you're thinking of the Supreme Court, or any other noble profession that was influenced by your reading, what did you read when you were a child?

Food, Once Again

So maybe food is sneaking its way into my brain more than usual. Could be reading about all those French restaurants, or maybe just being in New Jersey, surrounded by great food choices.

Last night we ate at our favorite Italian place with our favorite NJ dinner companions. Zucchini blossom and goat cheese appetizer, shrimp and white beans, cheese cake! Don't get me wrong, I love grouper sandwiches and real ice tea but there are a few good things, besides not pumping my own gas, that I miss when in Florida (cannoli, broccoli rabe and sausage, BYO wine, to name a few).

Then today I read this terrific review of Artisan Cheese of the Pacific Northwest by Tami Parr. If you click on that link, you'll also be directed to her food blog.

Love this sentence, from the review:

Cheese, once you get beyond the basics of sharp, nutty, creamy, is an unusually tough food to bring to the page. Parr is one of the rare writers who have mastered the skill of translating its flavors into words.

Yes it is hard to write well about food. But what a treat to read. Think I'll check back on that cheese blog often. And can't wait to read the book. A whole book about cheese!