Snow in Maine

Almost wordless Sunday:

Snow in Maine

12-30-12

xx

Faces: Father, Daughter

My father

one of the youngest photos of him I've seen

At first I didn't recognize him

because I knew him, of course,

when he was older.

Perhaps this is a high school photo.

Something about it seemed

so eerily familiar.

And then I remembered this photo:

Me, at twelve.

In-ter-est-ing, mm?

(With thanks to Cousin Harry for my father's photo.)

The Great Unexpected: Idea? Fear?

It is not easy to answer the question: "Where did you get the idea for this [or any] book?"  A book is not one idea. It is thousands.

But: What was that very first spark? 

Recently–prior to the Sandy Hook tragedy–I attempted to answer that question for an interview about The Great Unexpected:

    Aware that so many children are more fearful now than when I was young, I hoped to create a story in which the unexpected could be something great instead of something to be feared.  Two other notions wrapped themselves around this idea. One was how closely the 'real' merges with the imaginary in the lives of young people. Another notion was the intricate connections between people–some obvious and some not. . .  

   And so evolved this story of two young girls: in whom the real and imaginary merge; who discover intricate connections between people and places; and who learn that the unexpected can be great.

Now, post-Sandy-Hook-tragedy, I am especially mindful of the fear so many of those students and teachers must have felt, and of the fear which the survivors continue to feel.  I wish I could ease it. I hope that 'intricate connections' in their lives will sustain them; I hope that the living and the dead will unite in their minds and hearts; and I hope that one day the survivors will again be able to look forward to the unexpected. 

Buoys

Buoys

out of the water

for the winter

dangling

on the fence

in

Maine

xx

Once I Was Young

Recently received this pic from my sister

(via a cousin):

me, with three of my four siblings.

Which one am I?

Third from left

with pigtails, bangs

and squirt gun.

Uh huh.

xx

Vagabonding . . .

I'll be here December 9.

Where will you be?

Mm?

xx

Bag Head

Seen in Rockland, Maine, recently.

Did not get close enough to read

writing on the bag.

Appeared to be a lure

for petitioner/interviewer

with clipboard.

(She'd already snared

seated woman.)

My husband said

if he had to choose

between being the bag guy

and the petitioner

he'd choose to be

the

bag

guy.

You?

xx

Thanksgiving

High on a hill

between Camden and Rockport, Maine

stands this non-denominational

Children's Chapel

a coveted site

for weddings, gatherings

celebrations

and 

contemplation

From here:

wishing you all a

Happeeeee Thanksgiving.

How will you spend the day?

xx

The Lightness of Becoming

There is a point

in the writing of a story

when ideas and images

burst open

and fling themselves

here and there

and you scurry

to 

catch

them

before they fly

away.

Wrapped Schooners

Schooners

like giant white caterpillars

wrapped for the winter

Camden Harbor, Maine

Ms. Millay and Moi

It is good to look

through the eyes of another writer

to see what she sees

to know her terrain

(Me and Edna St. Vincent Millay, Camden, Maine)

xx

Meeting Ms. Millay

Today outside the Camden Public Library

I came upon 

Edna St. Vincent Millay - 

head turned toward Camden Harbor

I followed her gaze

(I tried to post a third photo here,

of me beside Ms. Millay

but it does not want to upload.

Maybe tomorrow . . .)

xx

Settling In

Beginning to feel 'official':

have license plates and driver's license!

Zipping down the 'to do' list, changing:

health/auto/home insurance

doctor, dentist

address 

email

phone

internet server

utility companies

yada yada

(half of those to be done again

in the spring when we move

to more permanent quarters

but still here in Maine)

But in the midst of to-doing

have the chance to

bake a pie with granddaughter

and that is yummmmmm.

You bake anything this week?

With anyone?

xx

Maine Move, continued

The main reason we moved

to Maine

was to follow

the beloved grandchildren

who also recently moved

to Maine

and another good reason

was

this:

a seemingly endless

coastline

of

endless beauty.

I think we're going to

love

it

here.

Have you moved lately?

Do you want to?

Are you already where you most want to be?

xx

Welcome to Maine

Maine!

We made it

officially

our new turf.

Having a little challenge

updating emails

so if your comment has not yet been posted

that is why.

My blog is not yet talking to me.

Maybe it didn't want to move.

I will convince it.

Stay tuned.

xx

The Fullness of Emptiness

We thought our home

emptied of its contents

would feel hollow

but

instead

it feels open and inviting

we feel like dancing

in its rooms

and 

we wonder:

why do we need

any "stuff"

at all

?

xx

The Move, continued

Yesterday, the moving van arrived

Today, it was loaded

and

left.

Bye, bye, stuff!

xx

The Impending Move

Where have I been?  What have I been doing?

See last post for book tour hopping details.

The tour for The Great Unexpected was mostly awesome:  amazing students and librarians and teachers and independent bookstores.  I mean:  a-maz-ing! I'm so full of all that book love and wish that those who want to cut school library budgets would step into these schools and see the beauty of what can happen with a great librarian, a 'real' library, and 'real' books.

The hardest part of the tour is always the travel - the airport and airplane slog - the sneezing, coughing crowds; the long lines; the delays; the wait, wait, waiting.  My body revolts.  It takes weeks to recover.

But now I'm home and here is what is happening:

We are packing, packing, packing!  It's crazyville here.  We've sold our house in western New York state and are moving to Maine.

Maine!

We are following the grandchildren, who have recently moved there.  (With their parents, yes.)

Here are three things we have discovered:

1.  We have way too many books.
2.  Boxes of books are very heavy.
3.  We have a hard time getting rid of any books.

You, too?  Too many books?  Hard time letting them go?

xx

Book Tour

Tour schedule for The Great Unexpected

September 19     Wellesley, MA: school and library

September 20     Dedham, MA:    Blue Bunny Books

September 21     Dedham, MA:    school 

September 30     Downers Grove, IL: Anderson's

October 1           Naperville, IL:    school event

October 2           San Jose, CA:     Hicklebees
                                               + school event

October 3           Petaluma, CA:    Copperfield's
                                                        2 schools

October 4           Irvine, CA:          Whale of a Tale 
                                                         + school event

October 5           Los Angeles:       Children's 
                                                         Book World 
                                                         2 school events

October 12         Nashville, TN:     Parnassus Books 
                                                          school event

October 13         Nashville, TN:     Southern Festival 
                                                 of Books

December 9       Pittsburgh, PA:     Black, White 
                                                           and Read

Maine!

So:

it looks like we are

moving

to

Maine

!

xx

Judy Blume

A pause today

to salute

the one and only

Judy Blume

xx

Step Into My Garden . . .

Step into the garden

of the book

and see what lies within . . .

I really love looking at the beginnings of books (and this is not the first time on this blog), fascinated by the variety of styles and tones that greet you there. Some entice, some frighten, some bore, some beckon, some puzzle . . .

Here are a few beginnings pulled from books at hand, chosen randomly:

"I thought I'd been to Africa. Told all my class I had."

     --Small Island, Andrea Levy

"Our house is old, and noisy, and full."

     --Life Among the Savages, Shirley Jackson

"When the MS Irish Oak sailed from Cork in October 1949, we expected to be in New York City in a week."

     --'Tis, Frank McCourt

"On a time there lived a king and a queen in Erin, and they had an only son."

     --Myths and Folk Tales of Ireland, Jeremiah Curtin

"The candleflame and the image of the candleflame caught in the pierglass twisted and righted when he entered the hall and again when he shut the door."

    --All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy

"The old bus is a city reject. After shaking in it for twelve hours on the potholed highway since early morning, you arrive in this mountain county town in the South."

     --Soul Mountain, Gao Xingjian

Would any of these entice you in? Are you able to choose a favorite and a least-favorite among them?

xx

Other Writers Websites

On this Thursday late in August, I offer you the inspiration of two other writers.  (Clicking on their names takes you to their websites.) 

Lois Lowry:
Her newest book, Son, extends The Giver trilogy to a quartet.

Eoin Colfer:
Colfer's latest book is Artemis Fowl and the Last Guardian. Although I have not yet read Colfer's books, I've been on two panels with him and am completely charmed by his wit.

Any author websites you particularly enjoy?

xx

Connections

I am fascinated by connections

by seeming coincidences

by intricate design

and serendipity

You pass a window and see

two silhouetted figures

You don't know that they grew up in

the house you now live in

You watch a young girl climb a tower

and admire her dexterity

You don't know that she is the daughter

of the woman who will be your boss

In a diner you see four men on stools

You don't know that

one was  your high school math teacher

who advised you to hang out with

a better crowd

You see boats bobbing in a harbor

You don't know that one of them

belongs to the boy (or girl)

you had a crush on in third grade

You stop and photograph a jewel box of a house

You don't know that the owner is

the grandson of a famous painter

and that one day

he will marry your granddaughter

As the narrator of The Great Unexpected asks:

"Did a delicate cobweb link us all, 

silky lines trailing through the air?"

xx

Real or Not Real?

Usually a book begs to be written when several ideas clump together. Yes, I wanted to write a story about how the unexpected could be great (see earlier post), but also I'd been thinking a lot about the importance of story and imagination and the beautiful wildness and freedom of children's imaginations.

I thought about two conversations I'd overheard between my grandchildren and their parents (these are also reprinted in the preface to The Great Unexpected):

Father:  Did you brush your teeth?

Son:  Yes.

Father:  Really?

Son:  Yes.

Father: Tell me the truth.

Son:  What is 'truth'?

-and -

Daughter:  I'm going to be a dolphin.

Mother:  Is that so?

Daughter:  Yes. I will live in the ocean.

Mother:  For real?

Daughter:  What is 'real'?

I loved those conversations. I loved being reminded that 'truth' and 'reality' are learned labels.  When we are young – or when we are writing a story – characters are as vivid as 'real' people. Reality and fantasy, past and present and future all dwell easily together. 

I wanted to explore those blurred regions.  Maybe I dance around the edges of these regions in many of my books (Fishing in the Air and  Replay come first to mind here), but in The Great Unexpected, I took these notions up (or down?) one more level.

(One young reader diving in . . .)

xx

Something Great and Unexpected

In a school a few years ago, when I was introducing The Unfinished Angel, I asked the students to imagine discovering "something unexpected."  I was going to refer to the character in that book who discovers an angel living in a tower.

But as soon as I said the word unexpected, the audience collectively shrank back in their seats. They looked fearful and anxious. That surprised and bothered me.  When had the unexpected become something to be feared?

I thought about this for some time. I wanted to write a story in which the unexpected was something great, something that might alter someone's feelings about the unexpected. Perhaps, then, that person's whole view of the future might also be altered.

That was the central impetus for this newest book, The Great Unexpected:

I've had my own great and unexpected event:  a call one cold, gray February day in 1995 when I was home alone in England, ready to throw a manuscript-in-progress out the window.

The phone rang.  "Walk Two Moons has received the Newbery Medal."

"Cut it out, Tom,"  I said. (I thought it was my brother playing a joke.)

Shortly thereafter, my publisher phoned. I asked her how many of these medals were awarded each year?  "500? 300? 100?"

There was a long pause while she, no doubt, considered my ignorance.  At last, she said, "One, Sharon. One."

I can assure you that this was completely unexpected–and very, very great. . . and it took me a long, long while to believe that it was okay to accept this good fortune.

Other Writers' Blogs and Websites

I love to hear what other writers have to say on their blogs and websites.  Every now and then I'll highlight some here.

For today, here are three writers whose works I admire and who offer thoughtful, interesting, insightful posts on writing and life. (Click on their names for links.)

Karen Hesse

Karen Hesse's blog is new. She and I both like to offer you photos with our words . . . or words with our photos. . .  Safekeeping is her newest book, due out mid-September, and it's another Hesse gem.

Kate DiCamillo

Clicking on her name above leads you to Kate's official Facebook page, containing touching bloggish posts. She has another lively Bink & Golly book out, Two for One. Try her website, too.

Karen Cushman

Clicking on her name (above) leads you to her website, but also check out her Facebook page, with its nice bloggish posts. Her newest book, Will Sparrow's Road, will be published in November.

Love these writers!

xx

Drafts

Above:

three years of work

six drafts

of one book:

The Great Unexpected

(due out 4 September)

By the time

I reach this phase

it's a bit like having been pregnant

for ten months

maybe eleven

and I am thinking

I did the best I could do

I love it

but

GET IT OUTTA HERE!

xx

Still Got It

Purging bookshelves

I came across a keeper:

Honey, I Love and other love poems

by Eloise Greenfield

(HarperCollins, 1978)

In it is one of my favorite poems:

Things

Went to the corner

Walked in the store

Bought me some candy

Ain't got it no more

Ain't got it no more

Went to the beach

Played on the shore

Built me a sandhouse

Ain't got it no more

Ain't got it no more

Went to the kitchen

Lay down on the floor

Made me a poem

Still got it

Still got it

xx

Endings

(see last post for the 'before' pic)

After all the mess

after all the ripping

and shredding

and wondering

and worry

and planning

and 

more ripping and shredding

ta da!

The ending:

so smooth

so seamless

so satisfying

and pleasing

you have to sit back

and marvel.

Well:

ideally.

xx

Middles

Sometimes 

you have to rip out

big chunks

of the story

in order to

fix

lumpy, bumpy bits.

(Meanwhile, this is what our driveway looks like today.)

Beginnings

Until you turn on the faucet

the bowl is empty

Until you read the first line

the story is empty

Here is a first line I like:

On a continent of many songs, in a country shaped like the arm of a tall guitarrista, the rain drummed down on the town of Temuco.

--from The Dreamer by Pam Munoz Ryan

Do you have a favorite first line?

The Great Unexpected

Some people fear the unexpected

but

sometimes

the unexpected

can be

great.

For some time, I've been wondering if we adults are passing along too many of our own post-911 fears to children, making them too wary of the unexpected, diminishing much of the joy in childhood.

That was one of the seeds for this book . . . 

Trees

Trees appear in most of my books

from the 'singing tree' 

in Walk Two Moons

to the blackbird trees

in The Great Unexpected

My characters, like me,

climb them

hide in them

hug them

kiss them

swing from them

leap from them

and

on one occasion

(do you know which book?)

chop one down

(sorry)

I

love

trees

Tall ones

short ones

skinny ones

fat ones

young and old

green and yellow

flowery and plain

Love those trees!

From every writing corner or room

I've ever worked in

at least one tree

has stood outside 

my window.

Last week in Maine

I entered the most beautiful gallery showing:

Joyce Tenneson's

Trees and the Alchemy of Light

Mixed media pieces:

photographs transformed 

with gold leaf

About thirty in all

at the Dowling-Walsh Gallery*

in Rockland, Maine

*Although the show has ended, some pieces remain in the gallery;

you can also learn more about Joyce Tenneson here 

Camden Harbor

Camden Harbor, Maine

Who owns these boats?

Who travels on them?

Families, friends?

Where do they go?

How did they learn to sail?

Each boat has so many stories

and if you are curious about them

you might be a writer.

Mm?