Persistence

Something all writers struggle with. So I just couldn't help posting this interview with Kate DiCamillo. If you write fiction for young readers and you're asking yourself, "Who is Kate DiCamillo?" then you should probably rethink your career choice.

www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/dicamillo

400 rejection letters! I'm only up to 25 or so :-)

By the way, www.readingrockets.org is a priceless website for any aspiring children's author. Interviews with successful authors are informative and inspiring. 

If you don't have time to read about how someone else accomplished what you want to accomplish, then you don't really want to accomplish what you want to accomplish.  

World's Fattest Boy

I'm currently reading When Zachary Beaver Came to Town, by Kimberly Willis Holt

Why I'm Reading It: This book has been on the shelves for quite a few years, but I never got around to reading it. Besides, I was still in college attending keg parties when it was first published.  But this quirky, small-town story falls right in line with the kind of stories I prefer to read and write. It also won the National Book Award for children's literature. 

I'm not a big concept, overblown plot thinker. Give me an intriguing main character who lives in a place the author can fully describe and make me feel part of, then I'm good to go. This book also deals with grotesqueness, a concept that young readers (and humans in general) fall for out of Society's infatuation with extreme malformation (in this case, the extremely obese).

On a side note: Maybe one of the best opening paragraphs in all of literature (as one of my colleagues says), though it took me a few chapters to get passed the story being told in present tense. This is something that really drives me crazy. It doesn't make much sense to me. I know it's told in first person, but, to me, present tense reads awkwardly from the outset. Maybe it's because I haven't read that many books written in present tense. I would love to ask Ms. Holt why she chose to tell the story this way. Maybe it just came out in present tense when she began pitter-pattering on her keyboard. The Muse works in mysterious ways like that. Whatever happened, it worked. Hence the Golden Seal of Approval on the cover.      

Other Books I've Read Recently

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie

Why I'm Reading It: Wow! Does this book take off from the first page or what! Talk about an eye opener after reading a hundred middle grade novels in a row. Jumping to YA for a split second can give you a true wake-up call. I thought I'd pick it up because I've heard so much about it on authors' sites and blogs. Glad I did. Any book that uses the word ***er, and gets away with it, has my vote. (Looks like you'll have to read the book to figure out that word)

The (Pre) Writing Process

I haven't been writing much lately. I'm still thinking about my next manuscript. I have the concept thought out in my head. It's a prequel to my current middle grade ms, the one I've been shipping here and there and everywhere for the past several months. 

Good news is that this new manuscript (the prequel) could be published before the other one if someone were interested in it. It could also stand on its own two legs, believe it or not. 

It's just that, after finishing my first manuscript, I realized there is a character in the story (he's not really in the book, he's only talked about by other characters) who has an entire tale to be told. And yes, his life, or more specifically, the tragic way he died, plays an important role in my first story. Guess I'm the one to tell it.

I'm starting the new ms soon. I've come to terms with that. In fact, I'm planning on pounding out the first few pages, maybe even first chapter, tonight. Such a great feeling to type those first chapters. The setting is new, the characters are developing, and the plot, well the plot slowly, organically unfolds, like that cheap paper napkin you so neatly placed on your dinner guests' plates. 

This is part of my writing process. I like to let seeds dig their roots deep into my lobes (frontal and whatever the other one is called) and grow into resilient trees of character and plot. Then, once the trees are solidified, I begin the first chapter. I never set out the plot beforehand. I mean, I have a general idea of where the story is going, but I don't like to paint myself into corners. Plus, I like to surprise myself every once in a while. Or every day for that matter.  

I was so happy to hear Sid Fleischman say the same about his writing process at the UCLA Sayers Lecture. He does not draw out his story before he writes it. He made it sound like he knows his characters and general plot and then lets the story take off and spread its wings... every day!

Couldn't agree more, Sid!