What Skiing Taught Me About Writing

With the mounds of snow right outside my door, I've been doing a lot of cross country skiing lately. It's peaceful, shushing through the silent hills. There's no houses. No people. I do keep an eye out for cougars but usually only see mouse and rabbit tracks or an occasional coyote or deer trail.

The thing about cross country skiing is, if you want to go down hill, you have to go uphill. That's right, ski uphill. There's a slight downhill trail I take from my house but it's only a matter of time before I have to make my way back up again. It's hard work. Sometimes you slide backwards. Sometimes shoulders ache from all the pushing, your legs tire from the strain.



I started out skiing as a baby in a backpack my mom wore when she downhill skiied. (Yes, that sounds horrifyingly dangerous but I survived.) Anyhow, suffice it to say that I love going downhill so I'm willing to put the work in to get up that hill for a quick ride back down.

When I'm going uphill, I rarely look up at my destination. It's too steep. Too far. I'll tell myself that I'll never make it. If I keep my eyes on the path ahead of me and keep moving forward, little by little, I can surprise myself with how quickly I make it to my destination.

Cross country skiing is a lot like writing in a way. Writing a picture book is enough of a mountain to ski up. I find it overwhelming to think that I have to write around 50,000 words to complete this young adult novel I'm working on. Then there's the revising. The editing. I may as well try to ski up Mt. Everest.

Fortunately, cross country skiing has taught me something. If I just to keep my head down, worry about the next word, the next sentence ahead. If I just keep moving, I can get a lot further than I think.

The Unread Takes a Vacation

Due to holidays and illnesses and that sort of thing, The Unread is going to take a December break but will return on January 20th. Woohoo!

My Christmas List

Christmas books are so fun to read throughout the month of December. Kid's minds are already swirling with possibilities of what is and what could be. There are lots of great Christmas books to choose from. Here's are some of the ones I read over and over again every season:

MERRY CHRISTMAS, SPACE CASE by James Marshall. This book was published in 1986(Dial BFYR) and it's just as fun today as it ever was. Buddy McGee's friend from outer space is coming to visit for Christmas, but if Space Case doesn't get there in time things could get ugly with the spoiled rotten Goober twins from next door. I want to tell you my favorite part of this story but I don't want to give it away so you'll just have to read it yourself. Suffice it to say, my boys absolutely love this book!


AUNTIE CLAUS by Elise Primavera is a newer classic--geez, it was published in 1999(Harcourt, Inc.). Time has apparently whizzed by me with this one. I remember when it came out! Okay, enough about me getting old. So, if you don't know, Santa Claus has a fabulous sister who lives in New York. Every year she goes on a mysterious business trip from Halloween until Valentine's Day. Sophie decides she is going to find out exactly what sort of business Auntie Claus is in, so she sneaks into Auntie Claus' luggage. Sophie has quite an adventure in the North Pole and when she finally meets up with Auntie Claus again she is able to figure out the meaning of Christmas. Yes, those Kringle kids are a little bit spoiled.


I'm sure I don't even need to tell you about HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS by Dr. Seuss(Random House, 1957). I will tell you that the Grinch is pretty scary to my littlest person, and he really doesn't like that the Grinch is so mean to his dog. But since the Grinch redeems himself at the end, it's an emotional roller coaster my little one likes to ride.



SANTA'S FAVORITE STORY by Hisako Aoki and Ivan Gantschev (Neugebauer Press USA, 1982) is a sweet story about the reason for the season. The animals find Santa in the forest and when they are afraid there won't be a Christmas, Santa tells them the story of a child born long ago in Bethlehem. The animals realize they were silly to think that Christmas was only about presents and they all go to Santa's to help him get ready to deliver presents because Santa is reminded of how fun his job really is. The illustrations in this book are absolutely gorgeous!


SNOWMEN AT CHRISTMAS written by Caralyn Bueher, illustrated by Mark Bueher (Dial BFYR, 2005) is a fun story about snowmen sneaking off to have a spectacular Christmas party in the park on Christmas Eve. It's fun to imagine all the snowpeople in town getting together to have a party and Mark Bueher's illustrations really bring the snow party to life.


I've saved my favorite book for last. I find this book to be pretty much perfect. PETER CLAUS AND THE NAUGHTY LIST is written by Lawrence David and illustrated by Delphine Durand (Doubleday BFYR, 2001). Peter is Santa's kid and he is on the naughty list--again. He feels bad for all the kids on the naughty list because he knows how it feels to have no presents under the tree on Christmas morning, so he decides to do something about it. Peter sneaks out with the reindeer and collects all the naughty kids because he thinks Santa needs to find out why they did naughty things before he decides they get no presents. The reasons the kids share for being on the naughty list are humorous. The things they say they will do to make up for the naughty thing they did are sweet. The illustrations are quirky and adorable. And there are some great lines in this book including, "I don't remember being bad this year." The answer,"Nobody ever does." Peter manages to save Christmas for the naughty kids and himself while making his dad, Santa, quite proud. Like Santa says, "All people do naughty things once in a while. It can't be helped."

What are your favorite holiday books? I want to know so I can check them out.

A New Adventure...

A class of third graders read my book, Chocolate, A Library Adventure, and wrote a sequel of their own. Isn't that cool! It's great to know that my book inspired kids to come up with stories of their own. Click here to see the newspaper article.

PiBoIdMo

I took part in Tara Lazar's Picture Book Idea Month in November. The challenge was to come up with thirty picture book ideas in thirty days. Sure, I can come up with picture book ideas but many times... I ignore them. Hey, I'm busy. I have other books I'm writing. I don't have to write every idea down. (Yes, I have lots of excuses.)

But wait, writing as many ideas down as possible is a great idea! This month I took my notebook with me everywhere I went. Whenever and wherever an idea started to form, I wrote it down. I realized that I get a lot of ideas when I'm driving by myself in the car. These ideas usually get forgotten by the time I get home, but not this month. I stopped for every idea, got my notebook out, and wrote it down. (This is pretty easy for me since I live on a dirt road where I don't even have to pull over since there's nobody else around.)

So yeah, I came up with 32 picture book ideas. I'm sure most of them stink, but since I was just writing down snippets of story instead of trying to write an entire thing I didn't feel pressured. I was just in it for the ideas this month while I worked on my YA, and it was fun!



I also got another feature idea for my blog that I'll hopefully find the time to fit in in 2010, (as you may have noticed I've been neglecting this poor blog a bit lately. I've been putting all my spare time into my YA.) and two YA sequel idea outlines written up during all my idea pondering. I don't know that I'll ever need those, but it's nice to know that I can come up with some ideas to flesh out.

Picture Book Idea Month taught me that if I diligently keep a notebook with me at all times I can get more things written whether they be titles, ideas, pieces of conversation, names, or playlists for my characters. (Another added bonus of my PiBoIdMo dedication this year, my YA characters have playlists and I wrote down lots of conversation I came up with while in the car.)

So, HIP HIP HOORAY! for Tara Lazar and Picture Book Idea Month!

Retold Tales

Retold Tales are fun! Most of us are familiar with classic stories and nursery rhymes, but even if we're not, new twists and retelling can be great reads. I especially love them for storytime. I went searching for retold tales on my library shelves. Here's what I found and put on display:


Hush Little Dragon written by Boni Ashburn and Illustrated by Kelly Murphy. A mother dragon soothes her baby by singing him a rhyme. A fiendishly fun play on the Hush Little Baby lullaby, this mama dragon sings about snacks of the royal kind.






Young MacDonald by David Milgram in which Young MacDonald creates all sorts of mixed-up animals on the farm while the Old MacDonalds are away. He's got to set thing straight before the Old MacDonalds, aka his parents, get home.



Goldie and the Three Bears written and illustrated by Diane Stanley. Goldie can't seem to find a friend that is just right, until she happens upon Bear's house. Both the illustrations and the story are very sweet.




The Famous Adventures of a Bird-Brained Hen is written and illustrated by Jessica Souhami. It's a simple retelling of Henny Penny's story with colorful collage illustrations.











The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon by Mini Grey. This book takes a couple of characters from the classic nursery rhyme. It's great fun. The Dish and the Spoon run away together and become vaudeville stars, of course, there is some trouble along the way.


Tom Thumb retold and illustrated by Richard Jesse Watson is a beautiful book. Mr. Watson's amazing illustrations alone make it a must read. There is so much detail! I actually have a signed copy of this book from when Mr. Watson visited our library. In it he drew a big beautiful lion for my son(amazingly quickly I might add). It's a book that we treasure.


Bubba the Cowboy Prince: A Fractured Texas Tale by Helen Ketteman and illustrated by James Warhola. Bubba is the "Cinderella" of this tale. He's the stepson of a wicked rancher and has some really mean stepbrothers and the fairy godmother is a cow. This is one of my absolute favorite stories. The voice is spot on. It'll have you talking like a cowboy in no time.

I'd love to know what your favorite retold tales are.

The Unread - Interview with Lisha Cauthen

This month I used my wonder twin powers to transform Lisha Cauthen into a person who would let me ask her tons of questions and take an actual real life picture of herself so it could be posted on my blog. Didn't you know? Lisha is my twin. But watch out she's my evil twin and things may get, well, evil. Luckily she's evil in a Doofensmirtz kind of way. What? You don't know who Heinz Doofensmirtz is? Shame on you. He does evil stuff like try to move Big Ben to the Tri-State area so he doesn't have to go shopping for a wrist watch. Yup, that's the kind of evil twin I have. Here, see for yourself:


Okay Lisha, how long have you been writing, and why in the world would you want to do such a thing?

Really? Does anybody give a rat’s patootie how long I’ve been writing? The pathetic answer is: I wrote, illustrated and submitted a picture book when I was 12, which was (mumble) years ago. That’s when we literally banged our words out on manual typewriters--the ones where you had to slap the carriage back with your bare hand. And we used carbon paper. Yes my dears, dinosaurs roamed the land, and the Earth’s crust wasn’t quite solid yet.

Would you believe several of those editors answered me? I wish I still had those letters. I made half-hearted stabs at writing over the years as I raised my kids and did all the stuff you’ve got to do in life. But when the nest began to empty and I started to have time to think about what I wanted to do, I ran across a flyer for an SCBWI conference. I figured after years of supporting everybody else’s dreams, it was my turn, baby. (Cue inspirational, slightly defiant music. Mike Jung could probably help us out here.)


What kinds of stories do you write?

Heh. You kind of caught me. If you go to my blog or read The Sunflower Scoop or read my article on the ICL website or articles in the In The Wind KSCBWI newsletter or follow me on Twitter or meet me in a bar, you might assume I write humor. I don’t.

I write older YA. Geez, let’s not argue about whether “older” YA is a genre. I write “edgy” YA for boys that girls like to read too. With an unflinching point of view. I am not gratuitous, but I am honest. If the story needs a naughty word, one will be provided for you. If sex is called for, it will happen. But it will not be porn. Violence where conditions warrant. I belong to several excellent critique groups, and they have helped me see that a lot of the stuff you think you read in my WIP isn’t really on the page. It’s only hinted at—you make the rest up in your head.

Good job.

Of course, there’s some humor in my writing, just like there’s humor in every-day life. If there wasn’t, I doubt you’d make it to the last page in one piece.


Do you want to tell us what you’re working on now?

Tell me, has anyone said “no” to this question? What would you do, if they did? Leave a big blank space? Or has anyone misunderstood the question, and said, “Well, Heather, I’m painting my toenails a lovely shade of periwinkle.” Or maybe you’ve had a real smart aleck who said, “Working on right now? These questions!” I bet Mike Jung said that. Because I was really tempted to say that.

I am about to wrap up an urban paranormal YA I’ve got going. Boy point of view. I think this is the one. I have some interest generated from first page critiques at our KSCBWI conference. My critique buddies think this MS is light-years ahead of what I’ve done before, and I agree.

(Okay smartypants, Mike Jung, he knew what I was talking about because he's one of my peeps. Anyway, I'm just trying to toughen you all up for the real world of ambiguous questions when you get famous.)


What do you think is the hardest part about writing? What part of writing do you enjoy most?

The hardest part about writing is getting off Twitter. No question. Second hardest: convincing all non-writers that I AM WORKING WHEN I AM WRITING. THIS IS MY JOB. MY JOB IS AS IMPORTANT AS YOUR JOB.

I love writing when you are totally in the zone, and you are living the story, and everything else falls away. It’s like channeling, I suppose. Your fingers tippity-type away at the vision while you live it in real-time. Then you kind of “come to” and it’s been 3 hours.

Now that’s writing.


So, how many manuscripts have you written and what have you done with them? Do you have a submission strategy?

OMG. This is like True Confessions of the Shamefully Unpublished. Fine, Heather, just…. Fine.

This will be my fourth finished MS. The first was a woefully painful picture book manuscript, a hilariously awful rhyming little ditty about a boy who redecorates his room. (Please! No more rubber hose, Heather! I’ve told you everything I know!)

The second was a first-love, love story. A genre that I am wholly unsuited to write. But I must say I am still fond of those characters. It was the first novel I wrote, and it was a great accomplishment to put together a coherent story and finish it. I boxed it up with all its permutations and there it stays. I heartily recommend that everybody start with such a book, and go so over-the-top you get a nosebleed. When you speak of it, and you will, you will remember your first writing attempt with kindness.

The third was a fantasy YA that I submitted to about 20 agents and got some good feedback. It has its flaws, however. I have withdrawn it from consideration, and have several ideas for revision. I intend to totally revamp it after marketing my current MS. That’s the thing about writing. You’re always getting better, if you’re doing it right.

I saw Kate DiCamillo this summer, and she said she never read her own books after they were published, because she found too many things she wanted to go back and fix!

(Thank you. I will put away the hose now.)


I know you’re daring. How far would you go to get your book published?

Did you all see how she slipped that little “I know you’re daring” thing in there? Goading me to be outrageous, just to sell blogs?

Well, it worked.

I would take candy from a baby.
I would eat green eggs and ham.
I would marry Edward. No, wait a minute. Some things even I won’t do. Jacob. I’d marry Jacob.
I would spend an inordinate time trying to overthrow #mikesempire @lishacauthen on Twitter.
I would perform a haunting rendition of “Proud Mary” on the nose whistle.
I would bungee jump, if I retained all foreign rights.

(You are soooo easy.)

You are the editor of the very informative Kansas Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (KSCBWI) weekly newsletter: Sunflower Scoop. How do you manage to keep so on top of the writing world?

I could tell you, but then there would be this big tornado, you would age 30 years, and you would become the new Guardian of the Sunflower Scoop. Is that really what you want? I don’t think so.

It’s just a lot easier to subscribe. Free to any SCBWI member, $5 a YEAR if you’re not.


You’re also on the KSCBWI Advisory Committee, how has being such a big part of your local SCBWI chapter helped you?

Okay, I’ll try to get through this part without sobbing like a baby.

Believe it or not, I am by nature a shy person.

Really.

I had to go to two conferences before I had the nerve to go to a smaller gathering where I would have to (gasp!) talk to someone. At a workshop Sue Ford, the Kansas regional advisor, announced that they were looking for someone to do the weekly e-letter. Having working in PTA, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, I know that the way to get to know people is VOLUNTEER TO DO SOMETHING. So I raised my trembling hand.

Sue very kindly showed me how to do all the technical stuff and set me up for success.

Doing the newsletter put me on The Committee.

Which means I met people.

And I have made some dear, dear friends.

*blubber*

All these friends are writers, who talk about writing. One of us might come across a tidbit about an agent that will help someone else market a MS. Or we help each other work out plot points, or even role-play dialogue. You can’t do this stuff with normal people. I remember one day Sue Ford, Jenn Bailey and I sat around for 15 minutes discussing the sound a dryer would make if you stood on it and the metal depressed, then you got off and the metal sprang back. Who else talks about stuff like this?

There are perks that come with being behind the scenes. When you put together conferences, you are naturally going to have more time with the editors and agents who come to those conferences. Who do you think drives them to and from the airport and their hotels? Takes them to dinner?

I have made a few presentations, one of which was in front of Bruce Coville! The other presentation turned into my ICL article.

I could go on and on, but I think I already have. SCBWI, Rah! Sue Ford, Regional Advisor, Maximus.

(I have tears.)


Okay, this is getting ridiculous. You’re also a member of Heartland Writers for Kids and Teens as well as several other critique groups! Are you superwoman? Do you ever sleep?

Hey. I can’t live by your rules, man.

Heartland Writers for Kids and Teens is a group whose roots go back to 1967. It is a loose consortium of kidlit writers.

The main critique group meets Wednesday mornings, which is how I got involved. Lots of books coming out of that group. (Elizabeth C. Bunce…A Curse Dark as Gold, anyone?) (And by the way, she is delightful, self-effacing, and talks pretty much the way she writes.)

I also head a monthly YA critique group that we had to close to new members…you get to a saturation point. It’s an interesting mix of newbies to on-the-vergers. But don’t ever turn your nose up at a newbie, writers. They may tell you three things about your MS that make you nod politely, but the fourth thing might knock you right on your ass. New does not = dumb.

I bow to your complete dedication to the kidlit writing lifestyle. Do you have any advice for those of us who aren’t such a big part of the publishing world as you?

Ummm…. maybe you aren’t as weak-willed as I am. I’ve got to surround myself with motivation, or I start to wilt and feel like publication is an impossible goal, attained only by the lottery winners of the literary world.

If you are a fellow-wilter, one way to stay motivated is to read books like Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird.

Get connected online at The Blue Boards. It’s a very knowledgeable and supportive community.

If there’s any way you can finagle it, a critique group makes a huge difference in how fast your writing will improve.


All right, I have to know, if you could live in any book which one would it be and why?

Wowzer. This is a toughie. Do I get editing privileges? And can I choose which character I am? Because if you’re in Gone With the Wind, it’s a hell of a lot cooler to be the often-married and land-on-her-feet Katie Scarlett O’Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butler than the pale, doomed, Melanie Hamilton Wilkes.



Alex, I’m going to have to go with Swiss Family Robinson. Does anybody read this book anymore? I know it’s rather stilted for today’s readers, but God, I loved this book. I probably read it three dozen times when I was a kid. Shipwrecked! Tigers! Pirates! My fantasy writer’s cottage is still a treehouse.

But then, you knew it would be something weird like that, didn’t you?

Yes I did.

Thank you Lisha for letting me torture you today. It was quite enjoyable. Besides all the amazing things Lisha does, she has a blog too, The Imaginal Realm. We should all go over there and give her a hard time.