A Beautiful Poem

Children's poet, and author of 50 books, Karla Kuskin, died August 20th, 2009 at the age of 77. My agent shared one of her poems with me today, and I thought it was absolutely beautiful... why is it so very touching?

What separates each one of us
from all the beasts and bugs and birds?
Well, they have feathers, fur, and wings
but we have words, and words, and words.

Roald Dahl's tips for writers

Happy Fall, Everyone! I have a bushel of really good apples from the orchard, and a stack of books...perfect companions. Okay, so I love Roald Dahl, and I'm also just a teensy-weensy bit afraid of him, too, if that makes sense. (His photo has a slightly creepy feel, don't you think?) The guy (now dead) had a wicked, twisted streak, but he was a phenomenal, fully unique, often hilarious writer. Yesterday, I finished reading "The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar", which is a collection of his short stories. I believe they're geared for middle grade/young adults, but they lean toward young adults for sure, and in my case, middle aged adults. There is one true story and the rest are fiction, and the collection includes the story of his journey from a child in the meanest, cruelest boarding schools you can imagine-- a place where he was thought to have no writing talent whatsoever, to his first published story as a young man in the Saturday Evening Post and beyond, to his acclaim. In this same chapter, Dahl gives tips to those wanting to write for children... and I decided to include them in this blog, as they were very good.

1) You should have a lively imagination.

2) You should be able to write well. By that I mean you should be able to make a scene come alive in the reader's mind.

3) You must have stamina. In other words, you must be able to stick to what you are doing and never give up, for hour after hour, day after day, week after week, month after month.

4) You must be a perfectionist. That means you must never be satisfied with what you have written until you have rewritten in again and again, making it as good as you possibly can.

5) You must have strong self-discipline. You are working alone.

6) It helps if you have a keen sense of humor. This is not essential when writing for grown-ups, but for children- it's vital.

7) You must have a degree of humility. The writer who thinks that his work is marvelous is heading for trouble.

Got a favorite Roald Dahl book? I'm thinking "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", but I'm partial to "Matilda", too.

Sentences with Sticking Power

How do some authors do it? Shape a few words into a sentence that pierces through the reader's mind, and stays put. For years, sometimes. Just read Laurie Halse Anderson's book, "Chains", and there is a scene where a young slave girl (set in 1770s) with a cruel "madam" for an owner, is branded on the cheek with the letter "I". This is to remind her of her "insolence", as her madam unfairly charges. After the branding, the girl, "Sal" walks to gather buckets of water each day. With her head down, and utterly ashamed, she approaches the well. An elderly, kind "grandfather" reaches out to her, kisses her cheek where she is branded, and says, "A scar is a sign of strength. The sign of a survivor." I got chills when I read that!

Another incredible book, "Out of the Dust" by Karen Hesse is about a young girl, Billie Joe, growing up in the Dust Bowl. After her father leaves a bucket of kerosene by the stove, her mother grabs it and pours some if it on the stove, thinking it is water. This causes the bucket to burst into flames. Billie Joe, trying to help, but unaware that her mother has turned to come back into the house, flings the burning kerosene outside, covering her mother with the flaming fuel. The mother, and the baby born soon after, dies. Billie Joe is racked with guilt and grief. Family and friends gather, and while they are cordial and respectful to Billie Joe, Karen Hesse writes this line, "Under their words, a finger pointed." I've carried that six word sentence in my head since.

On a lighter note, how about this one from Eloise Greenfield's marvelous little book, "Honey, I Love"... "Love don't mean all that kissing, like on television. Love means Daddy saying keep your mama company till I get back, and me doing it."

Or Ruth Kraus, in "Open House for Butterflies"... "A screaming song is good to know in case you need to scream."

What about you? Any unforgettable sentences you've got knocking around in your psyche?

Bad Guys

Entering this world of middle grade fiction, I've found that bad guys, villains, etc. are so hard for me to develop as characters... what makes them tick, what motivates them, etc. I think it comes down to the adage of "write what you know". I know a lot of really great men, and the while I've met some seedy characters, too-- it's much harder to figure out what makes them tick, what motivates them, what draws them left of center. J.K. Rowling is the master at developing shadowy characters...not all bad necessarily, but full of little twists and turns, personality-wise.

August

The locusts are buzzing. I noticed it about a week ago, and according to farmer lore, that means it's 6 weeks until first frost. Which means my tomatoes should freeze before they ever ripen. Like summer's curtain call, the sound of locusts fills me with a kind of pensiveness over what's behind... and a restlessness to get moving on what's ahead.

Ignoring the locusts, I do get energized by school supplies. New crayons. Colored spirals, pocket folders and those fat, pink erasers. We bought supplies for 5 kids today at three different schools, and man, it was fun! This sounds super corny but aren't those school supplies symbolic? Don't they hold promises and dreams, hard work and creativity? Who knows how many maps will be drawn with those colored pencils? What kind of stories will be written with those newly sharpened pencils? Oh, the way new crayons smell...(yes, I'm the weird lady in aisle 9 sniffing the crayons) I love a fresh notebook, a new black pen, a writing tablet. Thermoses are pretty cool, too, but we didn't need any of those today.

***

I've been working on mountain stories. It's a simple recipe, really... characters, setting, a goal, three attempts to reach the goal (picture a mountain range with three mountains) but running into problems, and a solution. It's not hard coming up with characters, setting, a goal, and even three attempts-- but the trick lies in making the solution satisfying to the child reading the story. Writing with this formula is good practice-- kind of like playing scales on the piano, or stretching before a run (should a person play the piano or run). They may not turn into books, but they help me focus on story structure, plotting, and pace.

***
Three other tidbits...

1) "Julie and Julia" is a wonderful movie...it's one you can even take your mother to, if she doesn't mind a few hilarious, yet mild zingers.

2) The Marengo Public Library (had a gig there last night) is one of the most beautiful libraries I've ever been in. It's a Carnegie library-- the town of Marengo was given $10,000 from Andrew Carnegie in 1903 to build a library. The town then committed $1,000 per year in support of the library as their part of the agreement. It's the smallest town in the U.S. to boast a Carnegie library, and the photos on their website don't do it justice. Brick, marble, oak, stained glass, and a reading room with leather furniture and fireplace. If you happen to pass through town, ask for a tour from the very hospitable and knowledgeable women who work there.

3) We visited a vintage clothing store in uptown Minneapolis last week. Will likes old t-shirts, bowling shirts, etc., so this is where he wanted to do his school clothes shopping. You know you're old when "vintage" means stuff YOU used to wear. I recognized the white patent leather boots, floral sleeveless shirts, embroidered chambray, izod polos, Gunne Sax dresses, etc.

Happy start to the school year, all you students, teachers and volunteers!

Finishing vs. Faithfulness

Sometimes a sentence is read and it grabs hold of my thoughts for days. This is the jist of one I've been mulling over... "Life isn't always about finishing-- it's about faithfulness." I love finishing-- in fact, I love finishing so much that I avoid beginnings for fear that I won't be able to finish. Make sense? But the thought that faithfulness trumps finishing is so darn freeing! If faithfulness is required, then I'm free to take on, and continue on in seemingly "un-finishable" things... Faithfulness also means approaching life one day at a time-- another concept I'm working on. : )

Happy Anniversary!

Saturday was our 26th anniversary...we kicked it off by an early morning 5 mile hike out at Hickory Hills State Park. The park seemed empty, and we decided to get off the beaten path and explore the side trails. At one point, the trail went uphill, with prairie on one side (in full-bloom) and dense woods on the other. We were totally alone, and the view was so pretty. Think Julie Andrews/Sound of Music but set in Iowa. So I started running ahead, throwing out my arms and singing, "The hills are alive..." while Darwin smiled and oh-so-subtley rolled his eyes. Just as we came over the hill, my heart still alive with the sound of music, we saw it. 20-30 BOWHUNTERS. Moose, bear, turkey targets set up all around us. Full camo. Mad faces. They started yelling at us to get off the trail-- one guy firmly escorted us, saying it was really dangerous to be out on the trails during a bowhunting event. I told him it was our anniversary and we had no idea that the park had been reserved. I also told him I appreciated him leading us out of harm's way-- after all, an arrow through the spleen might not be the best way to start a special anniversary day. We had a great laugh about the kinds of pickles we seem to always find ourselves in. It's been 26 years of them, and I wouldn't trade one!