Small Circles

I am a surfer! I twitter, blog and surf the net to study the current status of the writing industry, to find websites that inform my love for writing...but mostly to seek and find the footprints of those that are successfully becoming published in these turbulent times. Like it or not, this is the way to go these days. If I want to find my audience, I have to help them find me a bit first. I have to prove my viability in terms of networking in this wireless world. I don't mind it, but I know I can get lost in it too. And so...I keep coming back to my goals for this year. If I want to get my two books out there...and the third and fourth that I'm currently working on (it's a disease, this writing, honestly!), then I have to do what I've done all my life. I have to continue to rely on the small, but varied circle of friends that are out there...my army of good friends who know that I'd do anything for them as well. I didn't have this figured out when I was a young adult...trying to deal with all the crises and dramas of life, that's for sure! But over the balance of my life, I've learned to lean in and let my friends carry me sometimes...and at other times, stand strong and let them lean in on me. I travel in small circles, but they...are the best of the best people this world has to offer! As my circles travel...the network grows, and so, in turn does mine. For all my friends that are out there now...I have not lost my mind! I'm a blogger, a twitterer...but first and foremost, I'm a human and to me, it's more important that I hear YOUR ideas than for you to hear mine. My dad's highest compliment of a person was..."He'd give you the shirt off his back!" Well, dad...that's a scary thought! But how 'bout the last chip in my bag...my last french fry, or the last sip of my latte? These days, I think time is the proof of real friendship! So...to those of you that have been a part of my circle forever, or those that have just recently joined, thank you for helping me find my way each day. You are welcome to my time, the coat off my back and anything else that matters to me at this moment in time.

Inspiration

   Ah, the wisdom of Snoopy. Thank you, Charles Schultz!             "Learn from Yesterday. Live for Today. Look to Tomorrow."

My life is a confluence of writing and story these days, and boy am I loving it. I'm finding inspiration in the darkened mornings in that dim light of my computer screen. I've connected with many others out there who are, like me, working the craft...and doing the day-job to keep the lights on at home too! Jill Corcoran's blog is loaded with all kinds of information related to marketing, writing, and life in general (http://jillcorcoran.blogspot.com/). Grace Lin's comments on the "Blue Rose Girls" blog (http://bluerosegirls.blogspot.com/) have also evoked a great deal of thoughts and ideas for me too. What I love most, though, is the fact that so many in the field of writing avail themselves to each other in such a giving way. Honestly, where else in the world do you see that? Could it be that our work is so satisfying, we don't feel the urge to pull the maneuvers we see in the all-too-political world of 8-4/9-5 out there? I love writing. I love writers. Edgy writers, corny writers, silly writers, sarcastic writers too. I'm blown away by the many out there, who, like me, live by that blue light, eagerly awaiting the arrival of that invisible critter...the morning muse that shows up with my morning coffee each day. This morning, I swear, there was a faint smell of coffee on his breath too. 

Meanwhile...back in the classroom~where the other hat lives:

Today I went off to work...to my classroom where we're immersed in a study of story. I told my kids their homework tonight will be very simple. These sixth graders are home scouring their shelves, looking for all the favorites that enchanted them or lulled them to sleep long ago. We've read Harold, the Mouse and his Cookie, Where those Wild Things Are, Brave Irene...and many more. They clamor for more...but I've got to get THEM writing. Tomorrow, we'll compare story arcs, plots and problems and then we'll comb through all my picture books. Following that, they'll start on all the favored novels that stack my shelves. All the while looking at the patterns they find there. They, like me, are searchers. We're looking to find what works, what doesn't and how we, as authors, can reach an audience. The process...the people, the writing, all of it flows together, and right now...it's all good! Writing and thoughts about writing encircle my life and make me eager to get up and look to tomorrow for more! Let's hope that Mr. Muse brushes his teeth before he joins me, though! ;)

Back to Basics

Getting Back to that Little Gray Shack

Some call it a cottage, some call it my little

gray shack. My son Tim calls it 'the cabin.' I call it my home away from home, but I haven't been out there too much lately. I've been out in the world shopping, baking and making myself crazy.

I've had my nose into politics and sports...work and the comings and goings of my kids.

I've read a multitude of resolutions lately and that is just not my thing. But I will make myself one promise and that is...that I'll use it, so I don't lose it. Recently, a friend told me I should rent that space out...pay my taxes. Imagine that.

When I was a very little girl, my friend Nancy Steck had a barn in her back yard. As barns go, this one was pretty nice with a loft and none of the animal smells that other barns in our neighborhood had. It was the place of many a clubhouse meeting, and the place I went to escape from the world. The Stecks didn't care...it was an open door to my imagination. I spent hours there, setting up teddy bears and talking to myself while I waited for the other kids to join me.

We had weddings and communions...we even baptized my dog, Lucky (how original!). I loved it there.

Now, I've got my own writing cottage...and inside that cottage is a desk and a fireplace, a bed, a couch and a small bathroom. I can escape for hours at a time if I choose, such is the circumstance of my life at this point. Last year, a family of sharp-shinned hawks built a nest in a pine tree above the roof of my cottage. I was entertained all spring while the babies learned to fly...flopping sometimes from branch to branch rather than springing forth into the open air. This year my two babies Thin Skinned and Walking on Eggshells are going to take flight too. 

I'm going to put them out there into the world of middle grade and young adult fiction and let them flop around on their own. Who knows what might happen.

In the meantime, I write. Sometimes in my pajamas, sometimes in my jeans, but always, I write. When I'm not writing, I'm thinking about writing. My right-wired brain juggles a million thoughts at once, sometimes driving my kids (and me) crazy! 

Right now, I'm writing a teaching memoir and another young adult book too...first chapter...no title, but I know, if I build it, it will come. The main character is African American and I'm lily white...go figure. Who knows where it came from. I never know...I let it be. Time and space are all that I need. And both...to my absolute good fortune, are covered!

2008: Everything changed...a new spring is coming, and life feels good all over again! The sharp shins will be back, the nesting turtles will too...and America has a second chance to get it right too. All is well.  And in my little gray shack, anything is possible, that's for sure!

Writing for Life

I sometimes wonder what I would do in life if I couldn't put my thoughts down on the page...well, really the screen. Having just finished another great session with Pat Giff, and spending the evening hanging out with my writing friends, I realize that this is how I want to spend the rest of my life! Funny how it took me over half a decade to claim that, but there it is. My favorite time of day comes at 5:30 in the morning, when often a few leftover stars, a small lamp, and a computer screen are the only lights in my home. My coffee cup sits next to me and this time of year, I've got my small woolen blanket which came straight from Ireland (Foxford Mills) over my lap...of course, I'm still in my pj's and my eyelids are half-open. But...I've heeded the words of Stephen King, who mentioned the fact that the brain is trained to dream at night (although I don't often sleep after reading his fiction), so I've trained my brain to write in the mornings. I've finally given in, and done what Pat Giff has told me to do for so long. This is so counter-intuitive for me, really. I've never claimed to be a morning person. I write at this hour before my crazy brain gets cluttered with all the ideas that crowd it in planning for eleven and twelve year olds or the politics of work, or even the random needs of the world around me. I've always had that before school anxiety...after all, that job requires constant preparation and attention to detail. But now, my right brain starts my day...and that, for me, brings peace. That is how in the past two years, Thin Skinned and now Walking on Eggshells have found their way out of my head and into the world. Mornings are now, for me, a little slice of heaven.