The Animals Take Over

We had animal visitors for the holidays.

This cute pooch (above)

pooped on the carpet

and

this cute pooch (above)

peed 

in the kitchen

and

this tired pup (above)

finally gave up

chewing the wrapping paper

and the Christmas tree

and the stuffed frog

and 

collapsed

with his buddy, the horse

and

these two mellow bears

let themselves 

be dragged and pulled

and hugged and ridden

and they did not

chew or poop or pee

anywhere

at

all.

Snow

No snow on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day

or the two days following

but when the guests - who were craving snow -

left

down came the snow.

It happens.

How to Write a Book in Four Easy Steps

1. First, choose appealing ingredients, including intriguing characters - I mean apples:

2. Next, peel away the skins and throw them all together and simmer for 15 drafts - I mean minutes:

3. Then, puree (edit in a blender), drain off the excess and reserve for another story - I mean drinking:

4. And there you have it - a book!  I mean - applesauce!

Oh well, I tried.  The analogy isn't perfect.  But what corresponds best, I think, is that if you begin with good ingredients, and have the patience to combine them and simmer them and drain off the excess, you are more likely to end with something good.  

Yes? No? Maybe?

Apples, apples, apples

This post is a nod to Lori Skoog and to Kate Jackson who regularly post enticing food photos.  Recently Lori posted a photo of an apple pie she was in the midst of baking, and it set off such hunger and yearning pangs that I went out in search of apples that very day.

At a local farm, I found Honeycrisps (shown above), an apple I'd been searching for since reading an article on apple growing in The New Yorker. I'd never eaten a Honeycrisp before - but, oh, are they good.  The name describes them well.


So, I made the pie. Here it is waiting for top crust and crimping:

And now ready to go in the oven:

And, ta da!  Warm apple pie!

It is now half gone. And I mean to tell you: it is goooooood.

Makes you hungry, doesn't it?

Makes you want to go out and get some apples, doesn't it?

Makes you want to bake a pie, doesn't it?

Mmmmmmmmm.

Geese at Sunset

Two nights ago, the scene above:

geese on tranquil lake

at sunset.

Tonight, though,

the wind is howling

the rain is pelting

the water surging

past sunset

inky black.

I had a calm scene to write tonight

but the relentless winds

are skewing the scene

tossing it

here and there.

And that's the way it goes.

Mm?

How'd you get that Twitter Name?

Time for an Explanation

"Why do you use ciaobellacreech as your Twitter screen name?"

twitter.com/ciaobellacreech

It sounds a bit vain, doesn't it? (Translation = 'Hello, beautiful Creech.' But wait! I have an explanation.  

When I signed up for Twitter and was asked to provide a screen name, I chose, simply, my own name, Sharon Creech, but was promptly informed that that was already taken. What? Really?  (Turns out there are several Sharon and Sherri Creeches around.)

I had just returned from a year in southern Switzerland, where the language is Italian, and every day when I walked through the local village, people would call out (to me and to other girls and women), "Ciao, bella!"  

Ciao, bella!  Ciao, bella!  Ciao, bella!  Such a cheery refrain bouncing off the mountainsides.

And so, when Twitter told me I couldn't use my own name, the first thing that popped into my head was 'Ciao, bella!'

Ciaobellacreech.

I've since learned that Ciao Bella is also a lingerie chain . . . and somewhere I saw it as the name of an ice cream shop.

So.  There you go.

Ciao, bella!

Tracks

Someone

has been leaving

lipstick

kisses

all

around

the

house

. . .

and it wasn't

me

and it's not

my

house

. . .

xx

Texture and Story

I love this gnarly old tree.

What a history it must have.

It reminds me of a really, really old and wise woman.

You don't want to mess with her

but you might learn a lot from her.

On my walks I am drawn to texture

and to contrasts in texture

from the rough and gnarly, nobby, bare tree above

to this:

soft and floaty grass fronds

as delicate as lace.

I appreciate intriguing texture in story

 the accumulation of details and tone

of pacing and pattern

and I appreciate contrasts in texture

that guide me from the gnarly to the soft

skillfully.

I love when I begin reading a book

and sense immediately

that I am in the hands

of a skillful writer.

Have you had that feeling recently?

What book or what writer?

Pattern and Story

I am drawn to pattern

- not rigid, symmetrical pattern - 

but to pleasing balance

In life as in story

I need to see the particular 

and understand how it relates

to the whole

It wasn't until I got home

from my walk

that I noticed the similarities

in the scenes that caught my eye

much as, in writing a story,

the patterns are not always evident

until I complete a first 'walk' (draft)

but then, once noticed,

the task is to oonch them to the surface

right?

Layers and Water

I am addicted to walks

slow, meandering walks

drawn to layers

Everything relates to story

the frozen water

 cupping frozen leaves

is a mind

holding an untold story

it waits

and waits

until

the thaw

::

I am drawn to water

water

water

and what lies beneath:

layers

of stone and silt and shell

Writing a story

is uncovering

the layers

sifting the silt

hoping there is more

than sludge

down there.

Pencils

I admit a love for pencils and pens

papers

inks

all the instruments of writing

I also admit that I bought myself a present

greedy girl

the Blackwing pencils above

a box of them 

Steinbeck wrote with Blackwings

(I learned this from Sara Zarr)

: :

they are hard and smooth

and 

will

of course

produce

elegant

words

::

(Do you have a favorite pen or pencil?)

Blog Hopping

A few times a week I go blog hopping: starting with one blog that I visit regularly, I read the day's comments and then click on one of the commentators and hop over to their blog.  From there, hop to another commentator's blog, and so on.  It's addictive, but so entertaining and inspiring.  Today I began in Vermont (above) and hopped to France and Luxembourg and Australia, etc., a great romp!

A few of the stops are pictured below:

I love the serendipity of what I discover.  

Do YOU blog-hop?

Mishmasheroni

During this post-Thanksgiving weekend, everything is a jumble - what I call 'mishmasheroni':  clearing up from the holiday, catching up with mail and chores, and creating order on the desk to return to a work-in-progress.

In the midst of this bustle, two photographs arrived. 

This first one (above) is of my six-year-old grandson being a soldier.  

That's a crab pot strainer helmet.  

Of course.

When my own son was young, I didn't buy him toy guns,

but he fashioned guns out of sticks 

and helmets out of pots

nonetheless.

The second photo (below) came from my friend Louise. Her dog had pups.  Two of them:

I mean: really.

Who could resist these?

They will be trained by Fidelco to be guide dogs.

Lucky future owners, mm?

And that is my mishmasheroni for today.

I hope you're having a good weekend, wherever you are.

Walk Two Moons Covers, Part II

(See yesterday's post for Part I)

Continuing yesterday's topic, below are additional book covers for foreign translations of Walk Two Moons:

The red convertible and turkey on the Polish edition (image 2, bottom left) are . . .surprising; the Korean cover in third image (bottom) seems to depict another story entirely.  

I tend to favor covers that do not depict a character on the cover, leaving the reader to 'cast' the character in his/her own mind.

What do you think?  Any favorites or not-favorites among these?

Walk Two Moons Covers, Part I

Original American cover for Walk Two Moons

One of the American paperback covers.

I am intrigued by alternate covers for books, especially those printed in other countries. Book covers say so much about each publisher's sense of the best market for the book. You will see, below, a range of styles.  Perhaps you will choose a favorite?  And a least favorite?

British paperback covers. 

Although I am now consulted on the American covers and sometimes the British, I don't see the others until after they are published.

To be continued tomorrow.  .  .

Meanwhile, do you have any favorites or least-favorites from the above?

November

A hawk hovering in our yard, waiting to scoop up dinner in the form of a chipmunk.

Squirrel stopping for a snack on the steps.

I am inside, writing my words, my mind half in and half out of the window.

The Eyes Have It

I am drawn to eyes

pulled in by them

This is how I know someone:

by their eyes

their eyes

their eyes

. . .

Love that Pup, Love those Kids

Roan

This is Roan, my grandchildren's new pup, a rescue dog part-Australian Shepherd and part Dachshund. 

He is the softest, sweetest, floppiest dog I've ever met. Look at that face. 

My husband and I have just returned from visiting our daughter and grandchildren. We are besotted with the grandchildren - and now - the puppy, too. But I won't blather on about it.  I don't have the right words to tell you without sounding enormously sappy.

It was hard to leave.

Walk Two Moons: the Chicago Performance

On Saturday, my husband and I attended Adventure Stage's brilliant, lively, engaging performance of Walk Two Moons at the Vittum Theater in Chicago.  Wow!

It seemed fitting and perfect that the play was opening in Chicago, for that is where I received the Newbery Medal for this book in June, 1995.

The Adventure Stage group put on a professional, polished ensemble production that moved me greatly. Laughed. Cried. Loved the actors, director, crew, playwright.  Everyone.  Full house - a beautiful audience with a great mix of students, parents, teachers, librarians and general public.  Wonderful, cozy theater.

The above shot is an attempt to capture the giant poster advertising the play. That's me and a mysterious red-hooded child in the reflection.

After the play, I joined the cast and playwright onstage for 'talk back' - taking questions, both serious and humorous, from the audience.  Following that was a reception for all (with ice cream) and book signing.

We loved it all.  The next morning, before we left for the airport, we took a walk on Michigan Avenue.

Sun, tall buildings, blue sky, people strolling and running.

And this great statue of Marilyn Monroe.

We watched as so many tourists posed beneath her . . .

and they all looked UP.

No, we didn't do it.

Too shy?

Bye, bye, Chicago.

(The play runs through December 3. More info at AdventureStage.org)

Walk Two Moons on Stage

The Adventure Stage in Chicago has adapted Walk Two Moons for the stage, opening today for students and on Saturday for the public.  I'll be there on Saturday.  Can't wait!

It is an odd experience to see your words acted out by others and to see and hear the audience's reactions. It's as if you are viewing someone else's creation - which, in part, it is - but a creation that is so intimate, so familiar, that you feel disoriented, but in a good way.

There is more information here:

Adventure Stage: Walk Two Moons

If you're in Chicago, go see it. It runs November 5 - December 3.  Ticket information at above link.

Huzza, huzza --