Crossing Mr. C's Chalk

I cried today. It only happens once every couple years, so thought I'd share.

A young guy who was a teaching assistant in fifth grade passed away in his sleep on Monday night. He was only 26. He had a heart condition but it was nothing thought to be real serious. He was tall and athletic and you would have never suspected he had any kind of health problems. He died of heart complications or heart failure; I don't know the details but I guess at this point they're arbitrary and provide little closure.

I worked with Mr. C for a few years when I was teaching fourth grade. Being two of the three guys in the Lower School, we always talked sports, movies, beer, and sometimes we talked about our relationships. I remember one conversation we had that covered our favorite beers made outside of the United States. That one lasted a while.

This morning I was walking from my classroom to the middle school faculty room. There is a nice walkway that snakes around the field between my room and the main middle school building, and that is where I passed an entire fifth grade class writing messages to Mr. C with sidewalk chalk:


"We will miss you"

"You were the best teacher and coach"

"We will always remember you, Mr. C"

"We love you, Mr. C"

"You will be with us forever"

I immediately teared up. You can only imagine how touching this was and how theraputic this must've been for the students. On my way back to my classroom, coffee cup in hand, I looked down and saw a yellow arrow guiding me forward. The message below it read:

"Mr. C's Walkway"

I walked passed more fifth graders who were writing messages on a cement wall. When I made it back to my empty classroom, I sat at my desk and I cried.

It only lasted a few minutes but it felt good. Like many others this morning, I needed to do it.

We will all miss Mr. C.

His chalk will forever cross our campus.

Role Models

Actor Joe Lo Truglio is in the movie Role Models, which I just watched thanks to Netflix. When Joe first appeared in the movie, I performed a well thought-out double take and racked my brain for his replica. Ahhh, then it came to me. Yes, indeed. Ben Esch, the author of Sophomore Undercover, and one of my loyal followers. And how fitting that Joe and Ben, or Ben and Joe (either way sounds like the name of an ice cream shop), resemble each other. The laugh-out-loud humor in Esch's debut novel falls somewhere between this movie and this Saturday Night Live skit, which ironically includes Seann William Scott (with two n's), who is also in Role Models. I'm putting it out there, Joe and Ben must work together. Even if it's cohosting a very serious, very formal, fundraiser of some kind.

(Above: Actor Joe Lo Truglio)

(Above: Author Ben Esch)

Writers' Wake-up Calls

Every weekend morning I wake up and make coffee for me and my wife, and it always tastes different. And really, it doesn't bother me. I don't mind the surprised, forced grimace that strong coffee causes, though I'm not fond of the smacking lips while-looking-for-taste after sipping a very thin brew. 

My morning drink of choice used to be straight black coffee, the kind that puts hair on your chest. But as I've become older (now past 30), I've gone to black coffee with a good dose of milk or cream, but never sugar. My wife will only drink coffee with hazelnut creamer, which I loathe, otherwise she won't have any at all. Talk about picky taste buds! I despise anything sweet near my morning cup and prefer coffees with strong, earthy aromas, similar to my wine preference. 

The best homegrown coffee (meaning purchased and sipped in the U.S.) I've ever had was at Philz in San Francisco. Various choices and quality beans ground just for your cup.  (Below: Philz - Mission District, San Francisco)

Every writer has something that gets them going, even if it's nothing at all. For some, it's just waking up, happy to be alive. For others, it's a beverage, running (which I also partake in), or some good ole Judge Judy reruns (this show I've never seen and do not watch).  

It seems that most writers lean toward a morning cup o' joe or at least a drink found in the same family (I guess tea counts). The warmth and caffeine really get those synapses firing. Here are some noteworthy writers and their drinks:          

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Recipe for one Neil Gaiman Coffee (found here on Neil Gaiman's journal)

1 scoop Ghirardelli dark ground chocolate
1/2 shot bitter almond syrup such as Orgeat
2-3 shots of rich espresso
steamed milk
black cherry Italian syrup (I used Torrani)

Put the dark chocolate in the bottom of a glass, add the almond syrup and coffee, then stir. Cover with steamed milk and foam, then drizzle with dark cherry syrup.

You can purchase this drink at ZubZub in Booneville, California. I'm guessing he purchased this while at the store. Wonder if he tries replicating it at home or if he drinks something else. Anyone? Neil? (I'm sure he's busy writing something intensely wicked)

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Tennessee Williams caught in the act: coffee cup in bottom right hand corner

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Hemingway with coffee nearby (spiked with some kind of bourbon?)

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Steinbeck With Coffee (and cigarette within arm's reach)

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What's your morning wake-up call? Coffee? Espresso? Orange Juice?... 

Chocolate Milk?  (that's for you, PMM)

Marcelo

Do yourself a favor and read Cheryl Klein's blog post "Behind the Book: Marcelo in the Real World." She gives an insightful, sincere take from the other side of the page. Talk about someone who is passionate about her manuscripts. Great stuff!

Internal Verbs

I recently completed a massive revision of my first middle grade novel. You can find the title of it at the top of this page. I wrote the story in close third person and early on found it difficult to get to the main character's heart. The primary problem was that the MC came out flat and one dimensional. He was acting as eyes and ears for the reader but didn't let these situations affect him.

So I set out to round out and three dimensionalize said MC. My goal was to let him become more emotional and human. During that revision I found myself using some common verbs that help express a character's feelings and emotions, ones that allowed me to go beneath the skin and relay internal information to readers.

past tense forms (clarification for the grammatically challenged):

wanted
seemed
knew
felt
held
promised
remembered
forgot
imagined
wondered
thought (use sparingly)

Any more verbs that you find useful for relaying characters' thoughts, feelings, emotions?

My Whacked-Out Poetry Phase

I wrote these two poems a few years ago. I have no idea what they're about or what I'm trying to say. Guess I was going through some sort of phase, not a T.S. Eliot phase, just a weird write-anything-down-and-call-it-a-poem phase. I have more and if my insides can take it, I'll post them. Please, don't judge.

On second thought, no one is forcing me to post these, so go ahead and judge all you want.  

Filter

Falling rays beyond the hills;

      Seeping light on passers-by.

What's the cause say you;

            We all wonder with anticipation.

Night, My Master

Canvas lit so bright;

            Rain pounds the edifice.

Sing down, oh mighty thunder;

            Pour your soul onto us, Big Sky.

Chalk Talk

I'm starting a new segment called CHALK TALK (caps make it look more important, don't they?) that will appear once a week right here on Crossing Chalk. For my thousands of readers out there, this is your chance to sound off on a variety of writing topics. Any and all comments are welcome, as long as you keep it real (real = slang meaning let the comments fly, but remember that all seven of this blog's followers will read your words). 

Okay, so for the first edition of CHALK TALK the topic is... ICE SKATING. 

Not really.

The real topic is... SETTING.  

Yes, we could start with character or plot or conflict, but these topics are overdiscussed and overanalyzed across the blogosphere.  So why not start with something a little more challenging. The overlooked and undervalued.  The underdog of sorts.  The backdrop that keeps our tales colorful and lets our readers shiver from late autumn breezes and sweat from dry desert heat. SETTING!  

I'll post my feelings on this topic later.  Don't want to steal your thunder (and lightning).      

WHAT MAKES A GOOD SETTING? 

-or-

WHAT MAKES A SETTING EFFECTIVE?

Let the comments roll...

   

Lake Tahoe - Squaw Valley

Okay, so Squaw Valley would be the perfect place for a writer's conference. Someone needs to get on that. In the winter, there's nothing to do there except ski, sled, and walk around the small village. You could also go dog sledding for a pretty penny.  I admit, I do love to ski, but if you're not the type then you could rent a cabin/condo, write in the morning, eat and take a walk during lunch, take in the fresh air, snow, mountains, scenery, etc., then write more in the afternoon. At night, you could hit the local bars and restaurants for dinner and a few drinks then call it a night. Sounds good to me. Hello? SCBWI members, are you listening? Squaw Valley would be perfect, maybe not for a big conference, but at least for a middle grade/YA fiction retreat of some kind.  I'm in.

I hear SV is a lot of fun in the summer too. Hiking, biking, walking, fly fishing, trapeze. Sounds like fun to me. 

Here are a few pictures from our trip. Yes, I did get some writing (revising) done every day while my daughter took a nap. I holed up in the bathroom with my laptop for a good hour-and-a-half from about 2:00 - 3:30 PM. Hey, you don't have much choice when you're in a room with a king size bed and a pack-n-play. Enjoy!

Shot from up top:

Cable Car going by:

 

PlumpJack decor: industrial contemporary meets Tim Burton. Inside there are very few straight lines, even the edges of the entertainment centers were cut in distinct wavy patterns.  

One of the "Tim Burton" designs: These hung throughout the halls. What is it?  The ghost of a haunted mansion? Whatever it's supposed to be, it's cool, and for me it creates visuals of a dark world where everything has movement. I highly recommend the PlumpJack.