Cabin Daze

Spent the last few days at our cabin -- nice! Hubby went fishing early Saturday morning. Can you still call it "fishing" if you just feed them worms and don't catch any? He says he's doing that to lure them into a false sense of security and then one of these days -- BAM! he'll catch one! I don't think the fish are worried. In fact, I think they were giggling at him. While he was on the sandbar he saw a bald eagle munching on a fish carcass just a few yards away. Incredible sight! We've been seeing more bald eagles along our river in the last year or so -- nothing compares to an eagle soaring overhead. Takes my breath away!

The problem with being away for a few days is all the stuff that needs to be done when you get back home! Laundry, weed pulling, boring chores... Oh, and I need to squeeze in some writing too! I'll put that on my To Do List ahead of weed pulling...

On the Hunt

Tomorrow I'll be posting wondrous and amazing writing prompts and exercises on the KidLit Blog. Legions of writing fans will gasp with joy as their brains are tickled and delighted by the creative selection of prompts to choose from. Oh, yeah, it's gonna' be a mind meld of authors. A larger than life celebration of words in their purest forms. Or it might just be one silly limerick where you fill in the last rhyming line... I thought it would be easy to come up with some clever prompts and exercises to help stretch our imaginations. Maybe mine stretched too far and snapped! But I'm on a mission -- a mission to uncover at least one interesting and helpful writing exercise. Failure is not an option. Tune in Tommorrow...

Workshop Time Again!

I'm getting all my materials ready for the Whispering Woods Picture Book Writing Weekend Workshop that Jill Esbaum and I teach. I've added a new handout about Fantastic First Lines (that was fun to research!) and piling up picture books... I love spending the whole weekend with other writers concentrating on picture books. But, it does pull me away from the mg novel I'm supposed to be working on... except this October, the Iowa SCBWI chapter is having a novel retreat -- ah, the best of both worlds!

Even though I'm teaching at this retreat, I learn something new every time. Something just "clicks" in my brain differently or the participants bring up something insightful... it's a win-win situation for everyone. And one of the high points from the last WW workshop? Playing Cranium late Saturday night -- what a BLAST! I'm still trying to figure out how to act out "gravity."

To Show or Not to Show...

Yes, that is the question. I'm still pondering my new pb idea and have lost count of how many times I've been asked to talk about it. But, something keeps me from saying anything about it. I'm not ready to actually talk about it yet. Will it jinx the project? Probably not. Will it sound half-baked and illogical coming out of my mouth? Probably. Will I lose interest if someone thinks it's a dumb idea? Yep. I want to let this idea simmer some more in my brain before it hits the paper. After I write a first draft, after I revise it, THEN I'll be happy to share it. But for now? I'm keeping it tucked away in my brain!

Everyone's a critic!

I like to read out loud when I'm writing -- especially dialogue. I can catch a lot of problems in a first draft that way. Usually the cats don't pay any attention when I'm sitting at my desk talking to myself. But today, this is how Toby (aka Big Orange Fluff) reacted. He stuck out his tongue at me! I don't know if he was critiquing my work (and finding it lacking) or if he'd had a bit too much catnip and was hungover. As a critique, this ranks right up there with licking yourself where the sun don't shine. And yea, he's done that before when I was reading to him! I'm playing to a tough crowd.

Cleaning Day -- the sequel

I started cleaning my office yesterday but it turned into a 2-day project. I can't believe all of the non-writing stuff that finds its way here! There are shoes, a vaccuum cleaner, bag of granola, assorted cat toys, and cats, stacks of books, piles of papers... Yowzers! I hate not being able to put my hand on the paper I need because it's buried somewhere. I've read books on getting organized but obviously they haven't sunk in. I probably have a book on organizing your workspace somewhere in this room but I can't find it! Sad. But true.

Honeymoon Phase

I have a new home here now for my blog and so far, I like it! This has been a wild and crazy weekend -- I have the glimmer of a new idea for a pb and that's all I can think about! Ah, those glorious first few days are wonderful when the idea seems so perfect in my brain... just like a honeymoon. And then after I do some more research I'll put the amazing idea down on paper and it might not seem quite so perfect. Kind of like after the honeymoon when the bills start coming in or you realize your new husband snores. Loudly. Like a freight train. But until then, I am in LOVE!

I'm also in the dreaded waiting phase. As a writer this is the hardest thing I have to deal with. I sent my mg novel to my editor 9 weeks ago. Not that I'm keeping track. Who am I kidding? OF COURSE, I'm keeping track! I jump every time the phone rings and cross my fingers when I check my email. How long does it take to read a mg novel? That sounds like the beginning of a great joke. Too bad I don't have a punch line.

I'm also waiting for more sketches of my next pb. I have 3 pencil sketches so I know what my main character (Emma) looks like but I can't wait to see color artwork! The pub date is Spring '10 so it could still take awhile.