The Dry Grass of August

Today is the official publication date. Already Amazon has a great deal on both the original paperback and the Kindle edition. Scoot right over and get a copy. Or even better, if you don't have an eReader, hustle out to your Independent Bookstore and buy it.

(I have no affiliation with the author or the publisher and knew nothing of the book until I opened it. Just so you know. ☺)

Delta Magazine sent me this book to review. And I loved it.

From what I've read, the author is a first-time novelist who has been writing, revising and starting over again for quite a few years.

Good for her!


Click here for a great interview, up now on Amazon. Or check her website, here, and maybe you'll be lucky enough to hear Mayhew speak about writing the novel in Atlanta, Greenville, Chapel Hill- all over the South. Wow, AJ Mayhew is one busy lady!

Easily compared to Secret Life of Bees and Queen of Palmyra because of the young narrator and the subject matter, The Dry Grass of August is set in the 50s in Charlotte, Pensacola, and South Carolina.

Here's a bit of my review, posted on Amazon and Goodreads:
The narrator's voice is perfect, not so innocent that the events around her are missed. But so much of what happened in that part of the country was just plain hard to figure out for anyone. What at first glance might seem like another "Help" knock-off, is far from it. A lot happens to the family, in deep denial that anything is wrong. A summer trip to the beach has many layers, the characters are so real, the story, ultimately, heartbreaking. I predict you'll want to read this more than once.

Although some of the events are certainly sensational and remarkable, they are never sensationalized. Just a terrifically told story about race, family, first love and so much more, set in troubling times.

One Week and Counting

One week till I fly to NYC (make that Get Flown). One week from tomorrow= My Scholastic Speech.

So I'm getting organized. And all those years of hanging out in elementary schools taught me a thing or two.

Like- Bring props! We only have 5-10 minutes to talk about ourselves and our debut books. I'm going to squeeze in a little Show and Tell. Sharing Time. Visuals.

This is my Buster Brown shoebox (Thanks for the fab purple ribbon, Amanda!). My main character, Glory, and her big sister created a game, basically Blackjack, that they call Junk Poker. Of all the things in my middle-grade novel that are really true, Junk Poker is possibly the truest. My sister and I saved old skate keys, wax lips, bubble gum--all sorts of treasures-- and we bet against each other. My parents did not object. In my novel, Glory's daddy, the preacher, probably would. If he finds out. Which he won't.

Inside this shoebox are true artifacts that Glory might really have had in her Junk Poker box.

Stay tuned! I'll share soon! (hint: Elvis has not left the building.)

Cookin' With the Oldies

Today, for some strange reason, I had an overwhelming desire to pop my iPod into the speakers and listen to Oldies while making my mother's chicken spaghetti casserole. (Aside: in the South, we do NOT call our sauces "gravies"- those are saved for what tops rice, served with fried chicken or country fried steak or pork chops.)

My childhood pasta dishes combined chicken or ground beef, canned pimentos, lots of cheese. Oh, and spaghetti broken into little pieces before cooking. (OK, Lisa, I can see you out there cringing. You the Pasta Purist who warned us not to put pepper on our dishes that night at Rocco's... You were right. I promise I don't pepper the spaghetti or break it up any longer.)

The casserole recipes in my mother's church's cookbook (c. 1969)  mostly call for canned soup--mushroom, celery, etc.-- depending on the cook. But I don't keep that dreaded ingredient in my cupboard these days so I decided to upgrade. Or downgrade, depending on your POV.

Here it is-

Mama's Good-for-You Chicken Spaghetti Casserole.

Cook two chicken breasts, bone-in, in stock until done. Cut in bite-size pieces.

Cook a handful of thin whole wheat spaghetti until al dente, preferably in the leftover stock.

Saute one onion and a couple of small sweet peppers.

Mix the whole thing up, adding stock to keep it moist. Add a can of Rotel tomatoes if you're lucky enough to live where they can easily be found. Throw in some cheddar cheese, if you'd like.

Season to taste.

Put in casserole dish, top with more cheese. Bake till the inside is hot.

That's it!

(These days a lot of my recipes remind me of the first cookbook I ever owned. My grandmother gave me a copy of The I-Hate-To-Cook Cookbook. The grandmother who had no clue how to cook.)

Of course, there's a writing connection to my forthcoming children's novel. Chicken spaghetti makes an appearance at the dinner table, along with this, spoken by the young narrator:

"She'll like your chicken spaghetti. 

Don't all Yankees like spaghetti?"

10 Days and Counting

And yes, I'm counting.

In ten days I'll fly (make that BE FLOWN ) to New York for a presentation to the sales people at Scholastic. My editor and my agent tell me this is a coveted invitation. I'm sure I would have totally coveted it had I known about it. But now that I've been invited, I'm preparing. The theme is "Debut Authors" and I am one of four honored guests. And yes, I'm thrilled and impressed. More on this as we count down ten days.

Here's my first step: New business cards. My old ones looked like ladies' calling cards, circa 1950s. No blog address. Old snail mail address. Would not do.

(This is not a commentary on whether business cards are obsolete, about to be replaced by cellphone info or those little bumping logo things featured in the newspaper last week. For now, let's just say I need a few cards with my current info, okay?)

For these new beauties, I can thank Eileen Harrell of Artline Graphics in Atlanta and my fabulous Living Social offer (meant for the DC market but mistakenly came to me).


Eileen had earlier responded to my worries that my cards were blah and outdated by fiddling around and coming up with something quite spiffy. The problem was, I didn't understand a word she emailed, re: design. Color bleeding? Paper stock? Huh?  So how on earth was I to order new cards on my own? All I told her was that I'd like a design thingey, very lowkey.

She responded that design thingey is not really an art term.

Oh, dear.

Then, as I was cooling my heels waiting for a flight,  a coupon for Vistaprint arrived in my email box. I googled Vistaprint. There were some sketchy remarks. But I shot the email to Eileen and she played around with their website and mastered it completely. Yay for commercial artists!

So we did all this via email and they arrived today and I'm sure I'll be passing them to anyone who asks at the Scholastic luncheon. They are gorgeous. They feel just right. Thanks, Eileen!

Here's her funny emailed comment, when the order seemed to be going swimmingly and computers were actually working as promised.

It is pretty damn cool, when you can DO a business card with a friend from Mississippi in Fla, and NJ while in an airport on a Sunday morning, with a coupon from Washington purchased from Atlanta to be sent to a different address!

On some days, I do love computers.

Doodlebugs?

Yes, there is in fact a doodlebug. And Harvard University documents the usage.

In their terrific, oddly fascinating  Dialect Study.

Complete with map.
Here are all the connections to Mississippi. In case you were wondering.

I needed to be sure my childhood memories of calling doodlebugs from their homes was truth or fiction. Truth!

Now, don't ever ask me whether I'm doing scholarly research. Of course I am. Click that link up there and see if you don't think it's scholarly.
Writing historical fiction for kids requires a lot of research. Promise.

Started Early Took My Dog

Yay! Today's the release day for the latest in this series of mysteries featuring detective Jackson Brodie and very fine writing by Kate Atkinson.
 Janet Maslin reviewed the book last week, but I avoided reading the New York Times review. I prefer to form my own opinions on this one!

As I said in an earlier post here, be sure to start with Book #1.

I've been anticipating this book for over a year. It's been out in England for that long. Can't wait.

FYI: Book 1- Case Histories
        Book 2- One Good Turn
        Book 3- When Will There Be Good News?

Letters of Flannery O’Connor: the Habit of Being

Recently a friend and I wondered together what will happen to the study of history—be it literary or social—with no letters to document what we think of the world. She and I are were letter writers. So it’s probably not much of a stretch for us to bemoan the loss of letters that were a reflection of the times (John and Abigail Adams, etc.) or a commentary on writing.

This conversation sent me right to a fat book sitting on my shelf: the letters of writer Flannery O’Connor. Although there isn’t a lot of mulling on world events, or even local goings-on here, reading about O’Connor’s writing and her editing and submission process makes me think how the more things change, the more they remain the same. (As my grandmother used to say.)

Also noteworthy, Flannery O’Connor was a poor speller, and she knew it. Even if we save our emails forever, there’s not much chance the spelling won’t have beeen corrected. Reading some of this writer’s (and there truly weren’t many) funny, Southern, exaggerated spellings just made her seem like she was somebody you knew well, writing to a friend. And that friend could be you.

So I offer up a few tidbits, written between 1948 up to her death in 1964, back and forth with her agent, publisher, friends, strangers. Straight from O’Connor’s letters:

After submitting her manuscript to a publisher:

“I had a note…asking how the book was coming. This seems to be a question that extends itself over the years.”

Later, upon her publisher re-issuing the novel, asking if there are revisions she’d like to make:

“I can’t even make myself read the thing again. I am just going to say NO there ain’t any. You can’t rewrite something you wrote ten years ago. And there will be no introduction, as I can’t even read the book, I sure can’t write an introduction.”

Remarking on a student’s letter saying she would appreciate it if Miss O’Connor would explain what enlightenment she should get out of the stories assigned by her professor, as she couldn’t read them:

“This is the kind of letter that leaves me beyond exasperation. I finally wrote her a note and said that my expectation of anyone’s getting enlightenment out of them was mighty limited and I’d be glad if she could just enjoy them and not make problems in algebra out of them.”

Of course, the student showed the letter to her professor.

“Apparently they had a big argument about it…I had this same trouble in Texas. Every story is a frog in a bottle to them. I suppose it has to be that way…”

With the absence of TV and internet in my house this week, I’ve been filling my time with reading. I highly recommend this giving up of technology for a few days, though in the interest of full disclosure, I do have an emergency iPhone. I have been checking occasional emails and Facebook posts.

But mostly I’ve been reading and writing. And loving it.

Tales from the Standby Lane

My recent travel adventures have not been noteworthy. No missed flights, no unplanned overnights in exotic locales. Mostly good stories of standing by for flights or pass riding and actually getting where I want to go. It wasn’t always that way. But that’s not this story.

This week’s travel was all good.

My college classmate, letter- (now email) corresponding friend Patty lives in Chicago. Her mother’s delightful abode is in Charlotte, N.C. The perfect halfway point for us. And when an invitation to the Queens University Friends of the Library Book and Author Dinner arrived in Mrs. DeLaney’s mailbox, Patty called.

Our meeting was auspicious on many levels. The 40^th anniversary of an event that Patty’s mom had been instrumental in organizing. Cherry blossoms in bloom for a flower-deprived Chicago dweller. Best of all, a St. Paddy’s Day birthday for one witty, gorgeous, energetic 91-year-old lady!

And the event’s speaker? My Mississippi friend Minrose Gwin, to talk about her novel Queen of Palmyra. Minrose’s book was published last summer to terrific reviews and high praise. Our table mates had all read it, discussed it in book groups, loved it. One said she sat outside the dining room, finishing the last pages before the dinner began because she couldn't put it down. Another felt it was very sad, but so beautifully written she didn't mind. If you've missed this book, this is your reminder: you are missing a real treat!

Before Minrose read (from my favorite part—how did she know?— early in the book, when Florence and her mother make their trip to the bootlegger for two tallboys), she spoke about “voice” in writing. A topic editor Cheryl Klein once remarked is sort of like the air of the story- hard to define, yet necessary. Minrose reflected that voice is located in time and place. So obvious, yet that’s really it, isn’t it.

(That’s why it’s hard to write until you know exactly when and where the tale is set. Something I’m struggling to uncover in a new story. I know where, but when? Harder to pinpoint this time.)

So these Tales from the Standby Lane, are very happy ones.

Unless you count that my seat was 26F, the last seat in front of the lav, in the back. Or that the TSA guy was clueless. And there was no gate available when we landed.

But I’m not complaining. I had my Kindle, my seatmates slept, the flight was on time. And what a treasure waited at the other end!

 Related post: Writing About the 60s

Touch Blue

I love it when a book delivers a little something extra!

I've been following the Story Sleuths' current discussion of Cynthia Lord's book, TOUCH BLUE.  In this this post they write about non-fiction elements in fiction. What the Sleuths are pointing out is how intriguing facts planted seamlessly into a story make a book so much fun that kids don't even realized they've learned something. Unless, of course, they wanted to know that particular fact. Like what are those birds and why do they sit with their wings open to the sun? (Cormorants, drying wings.)

Such a bonus! And such a good thing for a book. And for the lucky kids who read those books.

The Story Sleuths always give me a lot to ponder, as a writer. Like this one, from the author of One Crazy Summer.




Related Post: Cynthia Lord, speaking at the Maryland SCBWI event about the Pluses and Perils of Writing What You Know.
(An event I have very good memories of, since it's where I met my agent!)

Crooked Letter Crooked Letter

I was all set to review this book. I finished it last night, closed it with a big old sigh, remarked to myself-- it was very late at night-- how much I really loved the book. Then this morning, I saw this review:
Tom Franklin: Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter Review :: Books :: Reviews ::


It's really all you need to know about the novel, literary fiction, additional reading choices.
But of course, I'll add my two-cents worth in case you don't feel like doing a lot of clicking and reading.

Most school children should know exactly what the derivation of the title of this book is. That rhyme we all learned: M-i-crooked letter crooked letter- i- crooked letter crooked letter- i- hump back hump back - i.
Right?


So Tom Franklin sets the story in south Mississippi, with such amazingly appropriate characters.
Larry Ott, a sorry character if I ever saw one. Mechanically disinclined.
Larry's automotive-shop owning father, irked by his seat-belt wearing brother-in-law, with his "low sighs, how he'd shut his eyes and shake his head at the idiocy of something. Or someone." Just an all-around unpleasant fellow, in my book.
And of course Silas, the high school jock back in town all these years later. Now a constable with plenty of police work for him to stick his nose in.

Oh, how differently Silas and Larry's story could have turned out. If a mother had made a different choice. If Silas had spoken up. If Larry didn't need a friend, and make all the wrong ones. If I'm making this book sound like a downer, that's wrong. It's a mystery. Detective story. Family saga (though a short one). Southern literary fiction at its best.
Not one unnecessary word in that entire book.
And did I say it's a mystery? Highly recommended.

Now I guess I'll return my copy to the library. But I'll keep my eyes open for something else by Tom Franklin. Great Mississippi writer. Great writer!

Kirkin' o' the Tartans

Now I'll just wager if you saw that in your local newspaper's listing of activities for a Sunday afternoon, you might pass right over it. Or perhaps you'd stop and say Huh? But I'm a bit of a bagpipe freak, so I ripped out the notice and showed up yesterday at the First Presbyterian Church for a kirkin'.

My family has lived in Mississippi for longer than any of us could remember. But as I child, when I asked about our heritage, if the answer wasn't "Virginia," it was Scotch-Irish. I was too young to know or to care what that meant. I assumed it was across an ocean, a country called Scotch-Irish.

Recently, I read Curtis Wilkie's account the history of that immigration, and it cleared things up considerably. In DIXIE, Wilkie theorizes how southerners may have come by their rebellious nature. In Chapter 2, "Natural Rebels," he traces the area's connection to the Scots.

Which is a long way of saying, I now know why I love Scottish bagpipers. It's in my blood.

In fact, there's a clan named for my family: The Russell Clan. We have our own tartan. Who knew? But I saw it on parade yesterday at the Kirkin' or should I say, at the Kirk.
It's that 4th Tartan in line, marching to be Kirked.

Yesterday I learned a Kirk is a church, and the Kirkin' ceremony started during World War II at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington DC, to honor our comrades in the British Isles.

Here's a clip of these same bagpipers, from a few years ago, at another church. Same music, same ceremony.









And here we all are, among the palm trees, yesterday at the concert they gave outside the church.

Somehow my family must have diverted along the way, married into English, Anglican stock. Because I only know about the Presbyterians and my Scottish connection from what I've read, from friends I attended PYF with because they totally outnumbered us Episcopalians in the tiny towns of the Delta. And their meetings were a lot more fun than ours, though not nearly as much fun as what was going on over at the Baptist or the Methodist youth groups.  But that's another story. And I've digressed, big time, from my love of bagpipes.

If you're a fan, if you've a Scottish bone in your body, maybe you'll happen upon your own bagpipers lining up with tartans, all ready to be Kirked. If so, you're in for a treat.

 (Procession of St. Andrews Pipes and Drums, and tartans, First Presbyterian Church, St. Petersburg, FL)

Related post: A Walk on the Beach

Historical Fiction Challenge

I'm taking the bait. I hope it will not be difficult. My To-Be-Read stack is toppling over, but I notice there are at least two on there that will qualify for this Book Challenge, so I'll bite. My first review will be of a middle-grade Newbery Honor book of recent vintage: The Wednesday Wars, by Gary Schmidt. Set during the Vietnam War.

Stay tuned.

And wish me well.

Wordle!

I'd totally forgotten what fun Wordle is. Then it turned up on a search for Titles. As in, HELP! I need to find a title! One suggestion was to put your entire manuscript in Wordle and see what emerges.

Well, nothing emerged. Title-wise.
But I sure wasted enjoyed a lot of fun time changing colors and fonts all afternoon. Here's the Wordle for my novel:

Go ahead. Click on that Wordle link. And see what fun you'll have. Try it for a chapter. Your kid's book report. An essay you've just written for The New Yorker. ☺    Whatever strikes your fancy.


Related post: Title Picking

Delta Magazine

Those of you who don't live in the Deep South may not have seen this one. I review books and write the occasional backpage essay for the magazine.

Occasionally, I've noticed they post content to the internet. So, if you don't know Delta Magazine, here's your chance. Book reviews! Including a really good read you'll have to wait a month to buy.  Recipes! (and also a link to where you can buy the magazine.)

What Did We Do Without Blogs?

Scouring my resources for blog info this anniversary week, I've been thinking about my Pre-Blog world. Or, more precisely, the Writing World Before Blogs.

The first writer I hosted at a school book fair, very early in my career (S. Byran Jennings Elementary School, Orange Park, FL, in case you're wondering) was Elaine Konigsburg. She signed books, talked to kids, breezed in and out and was absolutely terrific. She also lived nearby. Even in a public school where a large portion of our students didn't have a lot of pocket money to buy books, the Book Fair was very successful, an exciting day for kids and teachers alike.

Back then, computers were unheard of, except where they filled an entire room on a college campus, so there was no internet. No Blog Tour. No websites for authors. Still, success in terms of books sold.

Later, in other schools, other authors visited. Katherine Paterson (I lived in Maryland, and so did she), Cynthia Voigt, Gail Carson Levine-- my list could go on and on. I moved again; my library was a train ride from New York. Our resources were plentiful.

But that's not the case with all school libraries. And thankfully, blog tours have emerged, right up there with Skyped author visits. Schools now have the ability to know writers via cyberspace. How exciting that must be for kids!

But somewhere, deep down inside, I wonder if it's the same for kids. Is sitting on the edge of their desk, peering up at a manuscript stack as tall as the author (granted, Cynthia Voigt isn't terribly tall!), listening to her explain how many times she revised Homecoming, the same as seeing her on a computer screen? Will students miss the sparkle in Wendy Mass's eyes as she rolls out a zillion rejection letters, now laminated and turned into a long stretch of "Nice but not for us" letters, to show young writers how hard she worked? Can anything match being in the very same room with Katherine Paterson as she apologizes for missing the annual 5th Grade Newbery Lunch the previous week-- because she had to fly on the scheduled day- to the real Newbery announcements. Now that's excitement!

Still, I suspect blog tours are a close second to those real live visits. A great way to get to know a book. Terrific publicity, especially for a new writer. Would I like to move back to the pre-blog world? No! Would I trade sitting next to a real-live author, in a classroom, with kids lining up to have actual books signed? Never!

More Blogging about Blogging

Continuing with this week's Blog Theme-

Something for fellow bloggers to consider when leaving comments, this post by Writer's Digest's Jane Friedman is worth noting.

I'll lift two of her suggestions. You can click the link above to read the entire post. She always has good advice for writers, so it's worth a click in that direction.

To really impress, offer a targeted resource. Some of the best comments I've ever received pointed me to a very specific blog post or resource that I hadn't seen before.

Ask questions. If you didn't understand something that was discussed, there's a good chance someone else didn't understand either. So bring it up in the comments. Get clarification. Most people love the chance to elaborate, or they can address the question in a new blog post.


So, comment away, folks! Here, there and everywhere in Blogsville.

It's My Party I'll Invite Who I Want To!

(okay, okay WHOM just doesn't have that certain ring...)

I'm three and I get to invite three friends to this party, right?
Here are some of my Blog Buddies. My Writing Blog Buddies.

A Good Blog is Hard to Find

(Yes, that's my group blog. And here's my recent post. But if you love southern books and their writers, scroll around and you'll be delighted and impressed.)

From the Mixed-up Files of Middle Grade Authors
Great posts, always consistent. Interviews, giveaways, writing tips.

And because I never was very good at narrowing guest lists, I'll cheat and share the granddaddy of all blog lists. You can pick your favorite. Check out Jen Robinson's blog, Shelf Elf, Fuse #8, Brooklyn Arden, Cynsations- See, I could go on and on with my birthday party!

Best Book Blogs for Kids, Tweens and Teens

Blog Birthday #3: The Trouble With Blogging?

Blogging every day is hard work!
But what three-year-old wouldn't love celebrating a birthday for a whole week? So I'll keep up the pace till I run out of blog topics about blogging. At least for birthday week.
Today I'm ruminating on the bad things about blogging, the Anti-Blog post.

Three years ago when I first considered starting a blog, I consulted my writer friends. Without naming names, let me say that a certain one I love and admire shared with me an exchange with another, unnamed but articulate writer about The Trouble With Blogging...

It went something like this:

Compared to the studied seduction of the novel, blogging is literary pole dancing. Anyone can stand naked in the window of the public’s eye, anyone can twitch and writhe and emote over the package that was not delivered, the dinner that burned, the friend who forgot your birthday.

So right then and there, I decided I would never do this. Never rant about a burned dinner or forgotten birthdays. OK, so those things don't really matter to me anyhow. But I promised, as my friend and fellow blogger Lee cautions, never to navel gaze. And I've tried really hard not to.

Except I've already admitted I've had a tad too many food posts, for somebody who is not a food writer.
And I'm guilty of filling a few blank days with travel adventures, with book connections. But I honestly try to stick to my topic. With a minimum of Navel Gazing emoting.

Here are two that came close... But even these had a passing connection to writing or books.

(food)
Our Way Home

(sunsets)

A Place to Write

What's Up With Blogging?

Wishing Joyeux Anniversaire! to my blog all week, while wondering if blogging will be obsolete in another three years.

Check out this New York Times article- Facebook replacing blogging? Yes, possibly I am more likely to read a blog post if one of my Facebook friends posts the link. Kid bloggers (bloggers who are under the age of 18?) giving up and just tweeting? Hmmm.

Happy Anniversary to my Blog!

Three years old!
My, my.
And I almost missed it. But while searching for a book title in the recesses of my blog, there it was-- my very first post.

I started this blog after a discussion following a Media Bistro class taught by editor Joy Peskin on Writing for Children. All present agreed that writers needed an internet presence. Prospective agents and editors do google!

(image courtesy of Eileen Harrell, Artline Graphics)


My original intent was to write book reviews and the occasional post about writing, writing activities, and the journey to publication. And I'm still here.

Maybe I have overwritten about a few things- Food, specifically pimento cheese...
And yes, I love quoting writers. I'm a big Eudora Welty fan. Sometimes I combine the two, like in this quote from Miss Eudora:

"When asked what kind of art would be for 'everybody' there can only be one answer: the best." 

I've blogged about libraries. I've blogged about my hometowns. I've done those book reviews and I've talked about writing conferences I attended. I got a ton of hits when I blogged about The Help. I got quite a few comments when I wrote about my dad. I've mostly tried to keep on topic so every post usually has a story attached.

Thanks for reading and I hope you'll stick around.

More Things to Love

Here's a thing I really love. But it's not resting beautifully in a corner of my kitchen or blooming on a windowsill.

February is Library Lovers Month! 
Come celebrate! Click to find out more!
(I discovered this via Anita Silvey's website, Book-a-Day Almanac.)

It goes without saying that I'm a Library Lover. Right now there are at least 5 branches of my county library that I frequent on a regular basis here in Tampa Bay.

And my New Jersey librarians are no slouches. Check out this- great tweets from NJ to keep funding alive. One example?  “Grab the book. AND the cannoli."
Another? "Woke up this morning, got myself a library card..."

Love it!

I've been a fan of libraries since I was so young that I was only allowed to check out one book at a time. I've also had some great librarians in my life. So hats off to libraries and here's hoping they don't go away anytime soon.

Click here to read a post about someone who greatly influenced me to follow my career path to school librarian.

 Click here to see more of the world's most beautiful libaries.

(Pictured, Dublin College Library)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Something about those little conversation hearts has always appealed to me. So when my favorite 4-year-old presented me with this Valentine- and she only sampled a tiny taste- well, let's just say it cracked me up.

Sunday New York Times

Often I whip through the paper in no time flat. Today I couldn't stop reading. Here's what I liked most:

                                                                         (Photo by the New York Times)

How e-readers try to look like the Real Thing- Love that picture!

And so many more! Check the Most Emailed list. Check the Sunday Styles.

Funny dogs at the dog show, No cussing day in Middle School, Personal e-signatures for iPhones, J.C. Penney first in Google search?, great article on why marriage negotiation is like Adam Smith (or something like that).

And I haven't even gotten to the magazine or the Book Review.

Fictional Character

Thanks to my friend Eileen for sharing this image from the Oxford American, a terrific publication that's always filled with good things. In fact, it's the magazine that sits longest near my reading chair. And if you want to stroll around town wearing a teeshirt that says Fictional Character, go right ahead. Be forewarned, you might be followed by a writer, observing your every gesture.

(fictional character t-shirts from Zazzle.com)

Related post: Oxford American, anyone?

Google's Newest: Books Ngram Viewer

I heard about this on the radio. I'd even read a couple of articles about it. But it seemed like more of an intriguing thing to play around with than anything I'd ever actually use.

Then today, I had the perfect question for Google's word database. The idea is that you can track how often a word was used (in books), when its usage peaked, when it first came into the book world.

I needed to know whether characters in the mid 1970s would have said Backpack or perhaps Knapsack. And I sure couldn't remember.

Yes, I could have asked my newest writing friend Lisa, who tells me she was 11 just about the time my work-in-progress's character turned that age in 1976. Or maybe my long-term writing buddy Teddie will know.

But how much fun is it to check it out on this site.

Here's a short LA Times blogpost explaining everything you'd ever want to know about Books NGram Viewer.  

Here's the link to the actual google site- With some good info.

And here's a picture of Knapsack vs. Backback, for the decade of the Seventies!

OK, that was my break for research and development. Now back to my new writing project.
(And thanks again, Joyce and Jamie, for your weekend inspiration.)

Raring to Write! (to paraphrase my dear grandmother...)

Just back from an amazing, nonstop, totally productive, idea-filled, inspiring workshop with two remarkable writing coaches, Jamie Morris and Joyce Sweeney. This weekend's topic was Scene and Structure, just what I needed to make me think I won't toss my next Work-in-Progress into the bottom drawer, or worse yet, out the window. At least not until I play around with some of Joyce and Jamie's suggestions.

I don't think I've ever felt this enthusiastic about ANY writing event before. Well, scratch that. The SCBWI event where I met my agent would have to trump anything.

But as far as running a workshop with the perfect mix of writing prompts, craft lectures, sharing, advising, these two women have this process nailed. Just the best.

Here they are in a fuzzy photo, at the very end of two solid days and one long evening of coaching 12 writers sitting on the edge of our comfy chairs waiting for inspiration. And we got it in spades.

Oh, and did I mention we were at a divine beach house on St. Augustine Beach. With food and drink a mere inches away at all times?

As my dear grandmother would say to five-year-old me: You're raring to go. Slow down!

Not in a million years.

A Thing I Love

Uber-writer Barbara O'Connor recently started posting something she loves on her blog each Thursday, along with a little story. She calls it-- ta-da!-- Things I Love Thursday. You can click that link and search for other similar posts of hers.

I'm not promising things I love enough to make a whole year of Thursdays. But there is something in my kitchen that every time I pass close to it (often), I think to myself: That's the best thing in my house and I love it!

Since I'm copying from the best, I'll do what she does and tell the story.

My daughter and I were trapped in front of her TV for long periods of the past hot summer. We watched Giada cook. Enjoying ourselves, mostly. I casually remarked that I thought the fruit/ veggie basket holder/ thingie in Giada's kitchen was very cool.  My daughter researched it, and she gave it to me for my August birthday.

It's made by Chilewich, in Chatsworth GA, and they call it a "3-tier tray." It came in many parts with a design flaw that needed tweaking. Fortunately, I have the world's cleverest tweaker in the family. Eventually it was assembled. The tray fits perfectly in my kitchen, and it's something I definitely, truly love.

I had to move it to a sunny spot to take that picture. Here's a view of the basket where it lives in the corner, from a couple of weeks ago, posing with my Mississippi State cheese. Which I also love. Hey, maybe there's something to this Things I Love Weekly.

(I just don't like this photo so much. Maybe it's the ugly garlic. But those little tomatoes are growing in my garden, and the basil is now twice that big, in a sunny window. Maybe I should call these blog posts Things I Love in the Kitchen. Or maybe I should get back to blogging about books and writing... What do you think?)

As promised. More Book Reviews

Bloodroot by Amy Greene




In anticipation of a January paperback release, the publisher sent a copy of this story set in Appalachia. Having nothing to read on a trip, I grabbed it up, hoping for the best, but I was worried. There's nothing worse than being stuck on an airplane with a dull book. I needn't have worried.  It was the best, and more.



Different characters, spanning generations, interweave their stories in such distinct voices that the novel just sings. For example, here's Byrdie whose granddaughter Clio has her worrying about the company she keeps: "I reckon nary one of them has ever set foot in a church house, but they sure do spend plenty of time in the jailhouse."

Now, that one line just says so much.



This is Amy Greene's first novel. I can't wait to read her next. Great book.



View all my reviews

Catching up on my Reading today...

"Naw, y'all is in-between people...  Part southern and part Yankee. And the part that's Yankee is good Yankee."

I just love that line. 

From Mama, in Teresa Nicholas's amazing upcoming memoir of growing up in Yazoo City: BURYIN' DADDY: Putting My Lebanese, Catholic, Southern Baptist Childhood to Rest (University Press of Mississippi, March, 2011)

The book's not out until March, but the publisher sent me a review copy for Delta Magazine's next issue. And what a terrific, funny, poignant book. Just so much to rave about here! Trot on over to your independent bookstore or public library and be first in line for this one.

Seen on a Bumper Sticker- I love it!

(Car parked in shopping center.)

Related posts: A Scene,

More Bumper Stickers

Writers Search Engine

For all the time I've wasted on Facebook, finding something like this makes it all worthwhile (OK, there are other things that make it worthwhile, too, but I'm writing about writing now).

A Facebook friend actually created this amazing way to search a huge database of articles, blogs, what-have-you about writing.  
Click here for the link to Writer's Knowledge Base.

Since I'm working like crazy to get my revision back to my editor today, I searched a couple of words that I thought might be helpful. Wow! Tons of great links. I could have read all day about "Humor," "Titles" and a few other topics of interest. Great new site. Way to go Elizabeth Spann Craig!

I Love Scrivener, Pt. 1

My critique group must tire of my ravings about Scrivener. I think I'm such an admirer of this writing software because the first time I tried it, I gave up in failure. This time I was more persistent. And considerably more motivated. Now I'm Scrivener's biggest fan.

I am revising historical fiction and there's just not a better way to keep track of all the photos, web pages, lists, books-- you name it-- than Scrivener. Not to mention your entire manuscript, and all those note cards.

Today I vaguely remembered notes from a hymnal of very old songs, a book I'd seen during a faraway summer but not one I'd owned. I'd carefully printed titles I loved, but where was that notebook? Where was my hymn list? When you've been writing at a story for almost ten years, off and on, you have way too many notebooks.

But I found it. And now I wanted to be sure it was someplace handy for reference. I took a picture, saved it to my computer and imported it right into my "research" notes in the binder.

Never to be lost again! By the way, I chose #5, Rock of Ages, from the list. Now I know all my hymn-ish stuff may not make this revision cut, but for now, I can't get the words out of my head, or the tune.

For my next novel, I will begin with Scrivener. I will transcribe into Scrivener as soon as I write a note on the back of a recipe card, scribble reminders with my grocery lists, or photocopy something from a book. Yes, I do love Scrivener.

Related post: Click here for a cool picture of my corkboard with note cards, from a previous posting.

Martin Luther King Day

This piece from today's Christian Science Monitor-- and the picture-- sent me back to my first year of teaching. I was a school librarian at the Harris Street Elementary School in East Point, Georgia. A suburb of Atlanta, in Fulton County-- one of the best counties in the country for novice librarians-- the school's population was entirely white, considerably working class, largely terrific kids. We were under federal order to desegregate at the time, which basically meant the county transferred three of its best, most experienced African American teachers to the school.
But that's another story.

Today I'm remembering the little girl in a class where I shared a book about Martin Luther King. He had been killed a couple of years before, but that day, no one in the group knew who he was. As I explained what he'd done for our country, the little girl's hand went up. "Is he the man whose casket was carried by a mule train?" she asked shyly. She'd watched the funeral with her family and it had made a tremendous impression on her very young mind. Her parents had told her what a great man he was, and she hadn't forgotten what they said, even if she couldn't remember his name.

I suspect no child forgets his name anymore. I often wonder what happened to students of mine who are now old enough to be parents themselves. I hope today that little girl, and her grown-up classmates, are remembering their own stories of Dr. Martin Luther King.

Quotes from Dr. King, from the Christian Science Monitor:

“Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.”

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” –Letter from Birmingham Jail
King wrote the "Letter from Birmingham Jail" on April 16, 1963 after being jailed for taking part in nonviolent demonstrations around the city.

Writing Quote for the Day...

"Revision is one of the true pleasures of writing. I love the flowers of afterthought." 
~Bernard Malamud

(and for a link to lots more writing quotes like this, click here)

Related post: Richard Peck

So Many Books!

I fear my To-Review stack has far surpassed my ability to read and write about these books. I'll admit I've been a tad distracted with revising. I love love love revising my own novel, don't get me wrong. But books are beckoning!

Here's what I plan/hope to write about very soon:

The book that just won the Newbery Medal: MOON OVER MANIFEST. True confession. I read half of it and got bogged down and gave up. It's not that I don't like the book, I was just very distracted. In fact, I think I'll like it a lot, and not just because on Monday it won the biggest deal in the world of kids' books.

A fabulous Southern novel, out in paperback this week: BLOODROOT by Amy Greene. Absolutely adored this book! I will review this one, top of the list. Top of the pile. Way up there.

A book being overnighted to me for review by Delta Magazine, written by a fellow Mississippian. Stay tuned for more about this, but the title really has me. (haha- a teaser!)

And last but not least. I was sent an ebook of Frances O'Roark Dowell's upcoming novel, a Galley Grab her publisher is calling it. So as soon as I download the app, I can read that one, but it's not compatible with my IPad sadly. Reading on my computer just isn't the same. Though I've loved Dowell's other middle-grade novels, I'm not sure when I'll get the process completed for this one.

So far, I've not evaluated a true ebook or a kids' book app. I'm sure they are in my future.

As Roger Sutton remarked on his Horn Book email today:
For book reviewers, evaluating these new forms of “books” presents a challenge to our criteria and critical vocabulary (a phrase such as “moves right along” acquires new meaning), one that will remain in flux just as the media continues to change.

Happy Birthday, Elvis!

When I was quite young, a Rock and Roll King began his career just up the road from where I lived. Even as pre-teens, my friends and I adored Elvis.

In the draft I'm revising of my middle-grade, to-be-published novel set in the early 60s in Mississippi,  Elvis plays a tiny part. Of course, my truly brilliant editor might cut all the Elvis references out. I'll have to wait to see. And that would be OK. But for now, this is my main character, eavesdropping on her big sister. Any clue who this big sister is loosely based on?

“I love Elvis Presley. I have every one of his records,” my sister was saying.

I heard a voice answer, “My mama loves Elvis better than anything. I’m named after him. Robbie, short for Robert Aaron Presley. Elvis Aaron Presley? Did you know Aaron was Elvis’s middle name?”

As if my sister didn’t own a scrapbook full of Elvis stuff and even a plaster of Paris Elvis statue. In fact, Jesslyn was liable to stand up and start singing Love Me Tender right about now.

See, I loved Elvis a lot. And once when we were ten, three friends and I did an Elvis impersonation. With an audience. A few years ago, I rounded up my courage and wrote about it. It was hard to admit to this oh-so-brief career choice, but my critique group thought it was a fine essay and the Christian Science Monitor published it.

So in honor of The King's birthday, here it is. You can click right here to read about our group's winning TV performance. In Memphis. When Elvis was in town.

Cheese Glorious Cheese!

Each year my sister sends me the most delicious cheddar cheese, straight from the cows at Mississippi State University. Within a couple of weeks, we will have worked our way through this entire block. We started last night with saltines and summer sausage. For breakfast I made cheese toast. And the list goes on.

Perhaps Southern writers are food-obsessed, even those of us who write books for children. Using my handy-dandy Scrivener search tool (have I said enough how I adore writing in Scrivener? Check out the new widget, top right of my blog), I realized this morning that I had no fewer than 6 references to pimento cheese in a middle-grade novel, a book for kids, not about food. I sliced 3 of them right out.

Unlike some of my friends, I'm not a fabulous cook. I don't pretend to throw parties like my friend Ivy's or write about food with the flair of my friend Lee. But it's hard to describer a July 4th picnic or Dinner on the Ground without pimento cheese sandwiches. So happy to have this cheese as inspiration today. Good food for thought and great hors d'oeuvres. Thanks, Sis!

Watch These Words!

Each year Lake Superior State University picks words they'd like to see banned from the English language. Click here for the complete list, with usage.

I'd agree with quite a few:
Viral
Wow Factor (Should have been banned about 4 years ago, IMHO)
BFF (Hmmm. I kind of like this one, but overused? Probably.)
I'm just sayin'


There are more! And we could probably add some they haven't considered...
I'm thinking. (But I'm not just sayin'.)

Related posts: Words Each Day
Even More Words

The Great Boxing Day Blizzard- HoHoHo?

I hope everybody had a great Christmas. I'm snowed in, warm and toasty, with my family in New Jersey. Yes, I know, the blizzard of the decade and all that stuff. Don't ask.
But we survived and now it's time to hunker down with a good book. Or maybe a thought-provoking blog entry.

 Here's a suggestion- my turn over at A Good Blog is Hard to Find, that great group of Southern writers that are such fun to follow.

Click right here for my thoughts about eBooks. And Book Spying. And a few other things.

Merry Christmas in Florida

Yes, we are walking around coatless and mittenless. There's no fireplace for stocking-hanging with care. But last night we walked along the waterfront in downtown St. Petersburg and the moon could take your breath away, low-hanging and orange. We saw the huge-- well not quite Rock Center or White House huge-- but a plenty big enough Christmas tree. There were ice skaters! (was that a plastic rink?) Holiday cheer to go all around!








 And today's paper announced we've been named (by whom? but it's true!) the Sunset Capital of  (what- World, Country, State?) Something good.
Beautiful sunsets trump snowstorms, I do believe.

As we strolled back to the car, we passed the new Chihuly gallery. Another fine reason to live in or visit Tampa Bay. 

Merry Christmas, good reading, happy cooking and eating, to all!
Check back for more great books, writing tips, and whatever else I can find to share with you in 2011.

Mock Newbery Awards

December is a time for family, Christmas trees, baking and eating, right? And it's followed by (my least favorite holiday, really) New Year's Eve and those dreaded resolutions.

But to me, January will forever be the time of Newbery and Caldecott Awards. And December the time for reading lots of new books.

At the last two schools where I was the librarian, we focused much of January on these award-winning books. For the younger children, it was all about the best picture book of the year. While the 5th graders read new, potential Newbery contenders. Having spent a lot of time reading and discussing past winners and the criteria for the award, and even having guest speakers who'd been on the committee, my students voted on their favorite and listened with great interest to the announcement from the American Library Association's Mid-Winter Conference.

Once they even traveled to D.C. from our school in Baltimore, dressed in costume and wearing signs supporting their choice, to be present at the actual announcement. Now, traveling would not be necessary! I think the announcement is streamed live for schools to hear.

And now, instead of discussing our favorite choices, together with young readers, I follow blogs and email fellow writers about our favorite books. Here's the original Newbery Blog, picking its shortlist.

FORGE by Laurie Halse Anderson

KEEPER by Kathi Appelt

SUGAR CHANGED THE WORLD by Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos

THEY CALLED THEMSELVES THE KKK by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

SIR CHARLIE by Sid Fleischman

THE KNEEBONE BOY by Ellen Potter

THE DREAMER by Pam Munoz Ryan

DARK EMPEROR by Joyce Sidman

A CONSPIRACY OF KINGS by Megan Whalen Turner

COUNTDOWN by Deborah Wiles

CITY DOG, COUNTRY FROG by Mo Willems

ONE CRAZY SUMMER by Rita Williams-Garcia

Remember, that's just one blog's opinion!
Although there is no nominated list, and only the committee knows what books are truly under consideration (anything nominated must have been published in the previous year and published in the U.S.), bloggers don't let that stop them! It's fun to speculate. Let the games begin!

Any favorites of your own so far?

My December reading. Am I nuts?

I'm truly enjoying the book my neighbor shared with me. I've been wanting to read this for two years, since the amazing guide (thanks, Julie!) at Chartres Cathedral told his tourists that Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett was THE book to read about the building of the cathedral. So I'm just going with the flow and enjoying the story. And it's taking me to a whole new place. I'd stopped reading books that were this lengthy for various reasons, but so far I'm not ready to abandon this tome.




 However, when this quote popped up on my google page this morning, I paused to wonder if there's a message here I should consider...

The covers of this book are too far apart.
  - Ambrose Bierce

Heading to the Bookstore

The bricks and mortar kind. On Sunday, I tried my local Borders, but the line was out the door and I gave up. A good sign for us booklovers? I hope! Today I'll visit "Florida's largest bookstore"- Haslam's-  for the few gifts remaining on my list. If you're not finished shopping, check out these  suggestions. Happy reading everybody!                                                                             

Although right this minute, I can't think of anyone to give one of my new favorite holiday novels to, if you have a teen reader, or even older, may I suggest DASH AND LILY'S BOOK OF DARES. Told in alternating voices, these two teens send readers on an adventure that's great fun. A mysterious notebook! A girl and a boy! New York  at Christmas! Here's Lily, on spending the holiday alone: "In the future, I decided I would tackle the solitude thing more enthusiastically, so long as solitude meant I could also walk in the park and pet a few dogs..."

Another book, already purchased and presented- Brian Lies' BATS AT THE BEACH. I've already written about this new picture book, but it was road-tested at our house this weekend. (When the grownup reading it continues the story even after the two-year-old lapchild wandered off, you know the book's a winner.)

I've read so many middle-grade novels this year that it's impossible to choose a favorite. But for gift-giving, I know just the kid who'd love The Red Umbrella, which I reviewed for The Christian Science Monitor this summer. Oddly enough, the only vacation my family ever took when my siblings and I were very young was to Havana, Cuba, pre-Castro. Although I was too young to remember many details, my mother's budding skills at the movie camera produced a record of the trip that we still smile about. Cuba made a big impression on me. I couldn't have imagined a more exotic place. Christina Gonzalez's account of the children whose parents sent them away from their homes to live in the United States, via "Operation Pedro Pan," is compelling and highly readable.

So Ho Ho Ho to all. I'm bundled up and off to shop!

So true...

Stocking stuffer anyone?

(post co-opted from another fabulous writer's website)

Quote for the Day: from The Round Table

The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.

Dorothy Parker, founding member of the famed Algonquin Round Table.

(I still remember having tea at the Algonquin with one of my favorite people, LePoint Smith, who swore we were sitting at the exact table where all these great writers had once shared their libations and creations.)

Related Post: One Good Librarian

Love at First Sight?

I truly never thought I'd say this, but I love my mobile device... 
And this article in today's New York Times, in the special Personal Tech section, kind of says it all. But I disagree with the writer at the end. I don't equate my IPhone with teenage love. I'm not planning to swap it for a new or completely different model in a year or two. In fact, it's a year old now, and I'm still devoted.

(Plus, I learned a new word. Even if it's one I may never use again, I like the look and the sound of CHAMFER...)

Real Y.A.?

Way back when I first had a glimmer that writing for kids might be something I loved, the first publication I subscribed to was the newsletter of the Children's Book Insider, Write4Kids. In fact, I still have many, quite old and well-read, back issues. Now a monthly update arrives in my inbox with some regularity and I read it when I have time, though I no longer subscribe to the actual newsletter.

So I'm a little behind the times with following their new 13-year-old contributing editor. Yesterday's email brought an update, and her article on "Keeping it Real" intrigued me.
(Being a huge, adult fan of Glee-- and I agree about Glee seeming like those kids aren't really in high school- this comment in particular makes me wonder:

I watch Glee. I like Glee. But it doesn’t seem like a show about a high school—perhaps a college. They don’t even really use slang—they just have pithy insults, usually said by the adult characters on the show. Although I like the show a lot, it doesn’t feel like it’s even about teenagers.)

True? Well, she's the teenager here. She sure knows her slang, and her point about getting it right, regionally, makes sense.

So if you have a spare moment today, click on over and share with me what you think about her take on teen slang.

One thought comes immediately to my mind. Be careful of the latest. What's "in" today is gone tomorrow, before your manuscript sees the light of publishing day...