Showing posts with label Memes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Memes. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

What I Write, Why I Write, How I Write: The Meme

I blame Sarah Reinhard for this since she tagged me. Talk about something that makes me reveal a part of myself that I don't think anyone cares about.

I suppose I am a writer but I don't really embrace that description. That's like calling myself a "breather." It's what I do but I don't know if I do it well enough to define me.

Heaven only knows that I never read these when other people write them.

Curmudgeonly sounding I know, but it is simply honest.

So ... here we go.

1. WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON?
Imagine my surprise to realize that I have 5 books in the works.
  1. A movie book about how to see below the surface and find Catholic themes whose sample did not excite any publisher ("we can't make money on those"). Just last week I decided I'd finish it anyway ... sometime ... and self-publish. My friends want to read it.
  2. A devotional following the liturgical year. It combines art and text to show how our calendar year and liturgical year go hand in hand. No one wants this one. They all love it. But "we can't make money on those." I amuse myself by working on it and perhaps an art house would pick it up. But it is unexpectedly large at this point. The Fall book is about 100 pages. (I love it. It is my baby. My friends actually pester me about buying this one.)
  3. Historical Fiction. This one is a mission from God and I don't want to talk about it really. But it is harder than hell, people, because it is something I never ever do. Use my imagination! What? But I have no doubt this has been assigned by the Divine Editor, whether or not I do it well or it ever gets published. And as a consequence I've been dragging my feet and feeling guilty for not working on it because ... you know ... it's harder than hell.
  4. A book about reading spiritual classics, but with my twist of luring you into it with a popular book and a movie, all of which have related themes. No sample written yet but the person I ran the idea by was not thrilled. Outline and sample in the works for that person, for other publishers maybe, or for self publishing later.
  5. An idea that a publisher IS interested in and which I should be working on instead of this. If they like it, then you'll know later. But for now mum's the word. My priest really wants this book, by the way.
2. WHAT MAKES YOUR WORK DIFFERENT FROM OTHERS’ WORK IN THE SAME GENRE?
Let's see. Why am I wonderful?

(Gee, I don't know why Catholic authors would find that question awkward.)

Maybe because I say it like it is. (Much more charming when I do it on paper than in person, I can assure you! Rewrites are essential and then you can make it funny.)

Maybe I'm funny. Not sure how well that comes across. But I make myself laugh sometimes.

Maybe because I range wide and throw everything into the pot from pop culture to everyday life to nature and somehow make it all go together, with God always just under the surface waiting for us to catch a glimpse? As Rose would say, my auteur moments.

I don't know. You tell me. I've got nothin'.

3. WHY DO YOU WRITE WHAT YOU DO?
Blogging: it just comes out.

Ghostwriting: I have an assignment.

Book: I've only done one and I came up with something the editor wanted that was also a reflection of me (evidently). The devotional mentioned above was an idea I was captivated with which has become a sort of spiritual reflection as I work on it.

The other ideas began as ways I could maybe earn more of a living by writing, but since I seem to be told, "we'd love to work with you, but not on that" while never being told what they actually might want me to work on ... this is not as clear to me. And, to be fair, I pursue it in fits and starts rather than determinedly full-bore.

4. HOW DOES YOUR WRITING PROCESS WORK?
Process. Hahahahahahaha ... oh, you were serious.

As Rob Long of Martini Shot podcast has affirmed, the worst part is beginning. Not beginning a book. Beginning to write anything. Sitting down. Starting. Not stopping to check email because writing is ... you know ... work.

Once I make myself do that then I just do it. And I'm getting better at doing it in different locations, at different times, and so forth. As long as I do it as if it is work, instead of extra curricular activities (still how I tend to label it), then I'm ok. I tend to combine techniques of hand writing in front of the tabernacle and when putting that in the computer then I take off and continue from there.

Except for blogging. That is: sit down, turn on computer, log in ... and blast off.

And when I think to write books that way, as a blog post, it is magic.

Hey, thanks guys! I wouldn't have remembered that without doing this.

=======

If you want to pick this up, just let me have the link and I'll put it below.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Newbery Medal Winners Meme

From Mrs. Darwin, purveyor of so many good book-ish things, comes this meme. I'll just say that I have a special place in my heart for Newbery Medal winning books. Why? My great-grandfather's book won this award in 1925.

Keep in mind that my kids haven't been small enough to pay attention to this category of book for a while. So I have less exposure to the new ones than I'd like. Unless they're by Neil Gaiman because c'mon. It's a book by Neil Gaiman.

Bold means I've read it

Italics means I haven't read it but STILL have an opinion. You know that's how I roll.

** means I love it enough to own it (or loved it enough when I was a kid to own it and then hang onto it long enough to push on my own kids ... Dr. Doolittle, I'm lookin' at you here.)
  • 2013: The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate (HarperCollins Children's Books)
  • 2012: Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos (Farrar Straus Giroux)
  • 2011: Moon over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool (Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children's Books)
  • 2010: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (Wendy Lamb Books, an imprint of Random House Children's Books)
  • 2009: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, illus. by Dave McKean (HarperCollins) -- loved it! **
  • 2008: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz (Candlewick)
  • 2007: The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron, illus. by Matt Phelan (Simon & Schuster/Richard Jackson)
  • 2006: Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins (Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins)
  • 2005: Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata (Atheneum Books for Young Readers/Simon & Schuster)
  • 2004: The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo (Candlewick Press)
  • 2003: Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi (Hyperion Books for Children) 
  • 2002: A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park(Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin)
  • 2001: A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck (Dial)
  • 2000: Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis (Delacorte)
  • 1999: Holes by Louis Sachar (Frances Foster) My kids had to read this one and I avoided it like the plague after hearing their reactions.
  • 1998: Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse (Scholastic)
  • 1997: The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg (Jean Karl/Atheneum)
  • 1996: The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman (Clarion)
  • 1995: Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech (HarperCollins)
  • 1994: The Giver by Lois Lowry (Houghton) liked it well enough
  • 1993: Missing May by Cynthia Rylant (Jackson/Orchard)
  • 1992: Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (Atheneum)
  • 1991: Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli (Little, Brown)
  • 1990: Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (Houghton)
  • 1989: Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman (Harper)
  • 1988: Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman (Clarion)
  • 1987: The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman (Greenwillow)
  • 1986: Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan (Harper) Ok - this is how important book covers are. I took one look at that cover and swore I'd never read it.
  • 1985: The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley (Greenwillow)**  Not my favorite McKinley, but The Blue Sword which was written before this, remains a favorite. 
  • 1984: Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary (Morrow)
  • 1983: Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voigt (Atheneum)
  • 1982: A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers by Nancy Willard (Harcourt)
  • 1981: Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson (Crowell)
  • 1980: A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal, 1830-1832 by Joan W. Blos (Scribner)
  • 1979: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (Dutton) Began it ... never got further than two chapters in
  • 1978: Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (Crowell) 
  • 1977: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor (Dial)
  • 1976: The Grey King by Susan Cooper (McElderry/Atheneum) Listened to the audiobook and liked it well enough.
  • 1975: M. C. Higgins, the Great by Virginia Hamilton (Macmillan)
  • 1974: The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox (Bradbury)
  • 1973: Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George (Harper) (I think I've read this.)
  • 1972: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien (Atheneum)
  • 1971: Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars (Viking)
  • 1970: Sounder by William H. Armstrong (Harper)
  • 1969: The High King by Lloyd Alexander (Holt)
  • 1968: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg (Atheneum)
  • 1967: Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt (Follett)
  • 1966: I, Juan de Pareja by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino (Farrar) 
  • 1965: Shadow of a Bull by Maia Wojciechowska (Atheneum)
  • 1964: It's Like This, Cat by Emily Neville (Harper)
  • 1963: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (Farrar) ** A classic for good reason. Are there households that don't have a copy of this book?
  • 1962: The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare (Houghton)
  • 1961: Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell (Houghton) 
  • 1960: Onion John by Joseph Krumgold (Crowell)
  • 1959: The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare (Houghton) I know I read this but I recall nothing of it. Which speaks for itself.
  • 1958: Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith (Crowell)
  • 1957: Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen (Harcourt)
  • 1956: Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham (Houghton)
  • 1955: The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong (Harper)
  • 1954: ...And Now Miguel by Joseph Krumgold (Crowell)
  • 1953: Secret of the Andes by Ann Nolan Clark (Viking)
  • 1952: Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes (Harcourt)
  • 1951: Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates (Dutton)
  • 1950: The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli (Doubleday)
  • 1949: King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry (Rand McNally) Oh, Scholastic Book Club, where would I be without the many fine books you lured me into buying and reading? This was one and I still recall a lot of it.
  • 1948: The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pène du Bois (Viking) 
  • 1947: Miss Hickory by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey (Viking) 
  • 1946: Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski (Lippincott) 
  • 1945: Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson (Viking) I know I read it. But that's all I know about this book.
  • 1944: Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes (Houghton) This may well be the book that began my love of historical fiction. A damn fine book.
  • 1943: Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray (Viking)
  • 1942: The Matchlock Gun by Walter Edmonds (Dodd) 
  • 1941: Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry (Macmillan)
  • 1940: Daniel Boone by James Daugherty (Viking)
  • 1939: Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright (Rinehart)
  • 1938: The White Stag by Kate Seredy (Viking)
  • 1937: Roller Skates by Ruth Sawyer (Viking)
  • 1936: Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink (Macmillan) I seem to recall this as a different sort of "Little House" book. And Laura Ingalls Wilder owned that category for me. So this book was just annoying.
  • 1935: Dobry by Monica Shannon (Viking)
  • 1934: Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women by Cornelia Meigs (Little, Brown)
  • 1933: Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze by Elizabeth Lewis (Winston)
  • 1932: Waterless Mountain by Laura Adams Armer (Longmans)
  • 1931: The Cat Who Went to Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth (Macmillan) 
  • 1930: Hitty, Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field (Macmillan)
  • 1929: The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly (Macmillan) 
  • 1928: Gay Neck, the Story of a Pigeon by Dhan Gopal Mukerji (Dutton)
  • 1927: Smoky, the Cowhorse by Will James (Scribner)
  • 1926: Shen of the Sea by Arthur Bowie Chrisman (Dutton)
  • 1925: Tales from Silver Lands by Charles Finger (Doubleday)** Not the easiest read these days because the language is old fashioned. But still we all dutifully read the stories when I was a kid since he was a relative ... and they weren't half bad! In fact, I read a couple of them on Forgotten Classics.
  • 1924: The Dark Frigate by Charles Hawes (Little, Brown)
  • 1923: The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting (Stokes) ** How I laughed at the Pushmepullyou ... and all the various adventures the doctor had.
  • 1922: The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem van Loon (Liveright)

Thursday, May 17, 2007

8 Random Things About Me

Nick tagged me with this one. I'm not sure how random these will be because y'all already know a lot of my random stuff but here goes:
  1. I always preferred real food for breakfast ... soup, sandwiches, leftovers ... and still prefer a quesadilla or bagel with pimiento cheese to cereal or pancakes.
  2. I read around 700 words per minute ... if I'm pushing it for the test it will go up to around 900.
  3. You can read while washing dishes ... and knitting ... and brushing your teeth ... and cooking ... I do it all the time.
  4. I'm a Jayhawk
  5. I have green/brown hazel eyes
  6. I had pneumonia for two weeks when I was in 6th grade.
  7. I'm afraid of the dark.
  8. My favorite color was blue for most of my life but for about three years ago it changed to green.