Sharon Creech's Blog, page 5

Names

The beautiful names in today's batchof fan mail:
Aaliyah, Aidan, Alex, Armani, Asira, AsiaCaroline, ChrisDanielle, Dionel, DeclanEmmali, IanJulia, JadonKemiya, KatrinaLilyManeya, MichaelaNikhilRuthie, Robert
Sebastian
and
Sophie.
If you say them aloudthey form a poemofsorts
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Radio Interview

Being interviewed is not easy for me, but Dana Sheridan at Princeton University, put me at ease:

http://www.princeton.edu/cotsen/gallery-programs/bibliofiles/#comp000053c0f5a500000018157e41

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Contrast

I am still swooningin the garden

in this riotof color

and fragranceand texture:

rock and lichenand moss and petalsand leaves
each offsets the other
as in a storythe smooth softens the roughthe muted balances the boldthe fragile offsets the stronghumor tames the serious
mm?
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Bookbinder

Last week I met
bookbinder and book conservatorAlison Kullergenerous with her timeand studio


and now I am hookedand want to know moreso I'm taking a courseat Maine Media Workshopsin August.
A little more about Alison Kuller here.More about Maine Media Workshops here.

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Maine is Busting Out All Over

Four weeks agothis was a leafless, bare, brown landscapeand nowwhat an explosionof greeneryand flowery

so dense and lushit knocks outyour eyeballs
you can't take it all inat once
you have to focuson small pieces

and even thenyou can hardly believesuch bounty exists

so casually

so delicately


you could lie down hereand say'ahhh. . .'
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Story Focus, II

In the last post, I tried to compare shaping a story to focusing a camera, beginning, say, close up to a person or place and then pulling back to show the context or wider setting.

You could also do the reverse, as above: there's a stone patio, a stone wall and dense trees beyond.  What sort of place is this? What might happen here? Then move in a little closer:


The wall is carefully crafted, hand-built, hmm . . . who built it? Why is it important?  And if you go closer:

Well, well, well . . . look what was there amid those stones all along. Is that critter the subject of the story or a sign of . . . what?

Guess you've got to write the story to find out . . .

Mm?

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Story Focus

Writing a story is like aiming a camera and focusing: do you want the wide landscape, the faraway shot, or the closeup? I often begin up real close, in the narrator's mind or with a close look at one or two characters in the midst of something . . . and then . . .


 . . . pull back . . .. . . to show where this takes place and who else is central to the story.

The focus usually moves in and out then, throughout the story: sometimes close in, sometimes further back.

Someone recently asked me how I choose which sort of focus to use, and the answer is that I simply follow how the scene is playing out (like a movie) in my head.  I don't feel as if I'm manipulating the 'camera'; I feel as if I'm following it, instinctively leaning in and pulling back.

Occasionally when I feel bogged down in the story, it is often because the focus is stuck--too close or too removed for too long--and a simple change of lens revives the movement.

Or something like that . . .
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4-H

Here in Mainewe're learning a lot about 4-Hand farm animals.


Jupiter (above)

4-H-ers take on the feeding, grooming and training of the animals.They also muck out the stalls and learn about showmanship, breeding, diet and health care.

So much to love here.

So very much.
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For more about 4-H, click here.

Mom and Dad

My parentsbefore they became parentsoffivecrazeeeekids
Look how calmthey seem here
ahhhh
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Granny Torrelli Makes Soup: collage

An art teacher and book lovermakes a collage-soupfor Granny TorrelliatSketchbook Wandering 
(Click on link to hop over there. . .)
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