Marcia Thornton Jones's Blog, page 12

The Feeling of Color by Darlene Beck Jacobson

 I don't know about you, but thus time of year...in the Northeast where I live, the landscape tends to various shades of grey, dull green, and brown. I crave color.

 

I welcome the flash of red or blue from a cardinal or bluejay at the bird feeder. I smile at a bright green door on an otherwise muted house. A bouquet of pink and yellow flowers makes my heart sing.

Color not only lifts my spirits, it opens up my mind to creativity. it makes me think of how we writers can metaphorically add color to our writing.

 

 

One trick is to think of color and how it makes us feel. If you're trying to flesh out the personality of a character or enrich a scene, have your character choose a favorite color and let that color determine her personality. Perhaps yellow might make her more hopeful and determined. Seeing a bright, warm, sunny solution or answer to a problem that seemed unsolvable.

Remember the feeling you got as a kid whenever you wore a certain outfit or your favorite color shirt? You just knew the day was going to be great. One of my favorite outfits was a hot pink, yellow, green, teal, and purple striped shirt (think sherbet shades) that I ALWAYS wore with polka dotted shorts of the same color palate. NO ONE could convince me that stripes and polka dots clashed (even in the early 60's when color was celebrated). I only knew that when I had that outfit on, it felt like anything was possible.

 

What makes a character choose a specific color? How can that influence his behavior throughout the story? Should color play a minor or more major roll in the story? How we answer these questions can help determine how our character develops as the story unfolds. 

Be bold. Let color enter your character's lives in new ways this year. You may be surprised at what you and your character discover.

Darlene Beck Jacobson wishes she'd taken a photo of her favorite childhood outfit for inspiration. While she surrounds herself with all kinds of color, she is always drawn to yellow in particular.
 

The Color of Fire

When kiddos ask me to name my favorite color, I cannot give a one-word answer. I, personally, gravitate to color combinations rather than single shades. My two favorite combos:

*Truest sky blue against any of the greens in nature. They provide peace, calm, a breath of fresh and vibrant air to both my psyche and my writing.

*Then there are the reds, oranges, yellows. Fire colors shower my senses with vibrancy, urgency, jolts of excitement. 

EXCEPT, right now, I’m not too pleased with the color of fire, not when millions of people are in or near harm’s way in Los Angeles. In fact, the photo was taken by a loved one. moments before they evacuated to safety.

YET, it’s beautiful. 

And while my concern can be overwhelming, these colors also light a fire in me to do more, to be more, to go for the goals often born in those still moments when the blues and greens allow me to breathe in an exhilarating freshness. 

Jody Feldman (The Gollywhopper Games series and The Seventh Level) loves sharing different perspectives with students and writers of all ages. She’d love to hear from you.

COLOR MY WORLD by Jane Kelley

This is what I saw last October.

After we heard that the Northern Lights would be visible, my husband Lee and I drove to darker skies. We joined lots of other people on the shore of Lake Michigan. 

The sky had a little shimmer of green and pink. It was amazing. But it was nothing compared to what I saw in this camera screen.

I tried to keep my focus on the actual sky, and not that small computer. I spend far too much of my life looking at screens!

But it was hard to resist. Why was the image in the screen so much more vibrant? How come the whoozeewhatzit enhanced the whachamcallit and made the colors pop?

I felt cheated. I felt fascinated. I took a photo of the photo--as a comment on the absurdity. How could real life not be as good as this image?

And then I realized. This isn't just technology. This is what any artist does. Writer, painter, sculptor, photographer, composer--we all heighten reality. We deepen the color. We emphasize the contrast. We brighten the hues. We make people pay attention to something they might otherwise have missed.

Northern Lights are literally out of this world. The shimmering sky reveals particles that came from the sun, sneaked past the Earth's magnetic field at the north and south poles, and slid along the ribs of the field, where they interacted with our atmosphere. This is always happening. Only the intensity of a solar storm makes manifest what we don't usually see. 

So be the storm! The surge of energy! And don't be afraid to add your particular whoozeewhatzit to the whachamcallit to MAKE PEOPLE SEE COLORS.

JANE KELLEY is a great lover of astronomical events and storms that make her stories shimmer.

Book HIghlight: How to Fool Your Parents

A fun way to spend your book-related gift cards!

Filled with tricks and history both: short bios of magicians, histories of some of the most well-known tricks (like saw-a-person-in-half), and some really fun intro to magic. 

Kwong emphasizes the performance throughout, as he schools young magicians on slight-of-hand and clairvoyance. He introduces young magicians to the cross cut force card trick and simple maneuvers like "reading" the vibrations of a crayon and guessing the color picked by your parents by digging a small piece of the crayon under your nail while it's behind your back. 

Some tricks do require adult supervision (one involves baking a card into a cookie), but overall, these are fun, easy tricks to perform on parents, grandparents, and friends. Young readers will use this book until the pages fall out.

The Color of Resilience / 2025 One Little Word: SISU

 For 18 years, I've selected One Little Word as my muse, focus, and guide. 

Last year I chose “Beauty,” and what a beautiful year it was! 

I was reminded again and again how beauty is everywhere, and everything is beautiful—if you choose to see it that way. At some point during the year I received a fortune cookie with the following words:

Beauty surrounds you because you create it.

I love that! Whether it's in my garden or cello studio or writing, it's certainly my desire to create beauty.

And now it's a brand-new year, and I've got a brand-new word.

Sisu (see-soo) is a Finnish word that proves difficult to translate. I was introduced to it in the picture book I Feel That Way, Too! By Maria Ivashkina (Reycraft, 2022), which defines sisu as "demonstration of determination and resilience in difficult life situations. Your ability to handle anything."

So...sisu has to do with courage, resilience, and an inner fortitude. It makes me think of my father, who, in his last months selected the word “thrive” as his One Little Word for 2016.

The way I understand it, sisu is about more than just surviving; it's surviving beautifully, creatively, on many levels. Thriving!

If sisu was a color, I think it would be the Northern Lights. Brilliant. Fleeting. Unforgettable.

And it makes me think of a bit of wisdom I received from one of my teachers Michael Singer, who said if you could only have one affirmation, it might be: "I can handle it."

Whatever happens, I can handle it. Fears dissolve, the mind quiets with this kind of inner faith! Sounds like sisu to me. This year I want to cultivate more sisu in my life.

Some Links to Learn More:

video - What is Sisu?

Psychology Today article about Sisu

article - Finnish key to life, love, success 

book - Everyday Sisu by Katja Pantzar

It's tough times out there in the writing biz. I don't know what the future holds. But I am here. I am writing. I am thriving. SISU!

Wishing you sisu, too!

Colors of Light and Darkness

 

Last night, we lit the eighth Chanukah candle, marking the end of the Jewish holiday--on the first night of a new year. That's unusual enough--it's rare that Chanukah starts on Christmas and runs through New Year's Day. But in a way it was fitting. The bright flames, the colorful candles, all part of a holiday of light at a time--at least in our hemisphere--when darkness has the upper hand. Every winter, I take solace from the colors that light up the night. Neighbors' holiday lights, breaking up the nighttime shadows. I appreciated Chanukah's rare appearance in January. Perhaps, though I fear for much this year, the lights will lead us through.

--Deborah Kalb

News

The first reviews are in for If I Could Choose a Best Day: Poems of Possibility, selected by Irene Latham and Charles Waters, illus. by Olivia Sua (Candlewick, March 4, 2025)

Publisher's description:

An ode to imagination and the power of “if,” this exhilarating poetry collection features the voices of thirty-one diverse poets.


If I could choose a best day
it would be sunny
it would be summer
and I would be with you.

Imagine what you could do with if. Build a tree house, ride your bike back in time, catch a firefly like a tiny star in the palm of your hands and let it go to make a wish—anything, when it starts with if. Because if is where your imagination begins, where the impossible becomes possible, if only you imagine. And if you do, just think of how much better our world could be. Thirty-one poets, selected by “poetic forever friends” and frequent collaborators Irene Latham and Charles Waters, begin each of their poems with the word if and imagine the possibilities the gift of if can hold. Olivia Sua’s cut-paper and painted-mosaic illustrations add warmth and meaning to the poems, allowing the reader’s mind to soar with possibility. In an end note, the anthologists offer insight into their selection process, aimed at gathering a comprehensive and representative collection of poems.

With poems by:
Lacresha Berry • Robyn Hood Black • JaNay Brown-Wood • Joseph Bruchac • Siv Cedering • Emily Dickinson • Rebecca Kai Dotlich • Nikki Grimes • Jolene Gutiérrez • Georgia Heard • Anna Grossnickle Hines • Irene Latham • Renée M. LaTulippe • Nancy Tupper Ling • Sylvia Liu • Rebekah Lowell • Vikram Madan • Guadalupe García McCall • Lilian Moore • Eric Ode • Bob Raczka • Lisa Rogers • Sydell Rosenberg • Laura Purdie Salas • Janice Scully • Teresa Owens Smith • Gabi Snyder • Sarah Grace Tuttle • Amy Ludwig VanDerwater • Charles Waters • Janet Wong


And here are the early reviews!

"Sua’s charming mixed-media illustrations, which make wonderful use of collage, echo and extend the poets’ imagery, depicting oft-joyous children with varied skin tones and hair textures. A fresh, appealing anthology that celebrates the freedom inherent in possibility."
—Kirkus Reviews

Full Kirkus review here


"This hopeful poetry collection edited by The Mistakes That Made Us collaborators Latham and Waters examines how one builds self-confidence through adventure (and a little bit of magic). "
- Publisher's Weekly

Full Publisher's Weekly review here

The Success Journal (Holly Schindler)

I'm terrible at journals. Usually. I'm one of those people with about a thousand journals stacked in a corner than run through January 14--never another entry in any of them. 

Last year, though, I got one of those five-year journals. The idea (if you haven't heard of them) is to write only one line a day, and each page covers the same date over five years. I love this idea--especially being able to see in a glance where you were over such a long period of time. So much can happen to a person in five years. People come and go. New hopes are born. Fears are overcome. (And I did it! A whole year. I actually kept a journal.)

One thing I think we're really bad at as writers (certainly I am) is tracking the small successes. After you've been in the writing game a while, you only track the biggies: book deals. Starred reviews. End-of-year lists. But so many little success have to be racked up before any of that can happen: plot holes filled, queries written, revisions started.

This year, (since I'm in the journal groove) I'm going to start another journal to track my successes--all of 'em. All the steps that would not usually be celebrated. Anything I overcome that makes me breathe a sigh of relief or smile. Those things that will be months in the rearview mirror when the next New Year rolls around. 

I hope you'll join me.

~

Holly Schindler is the author of the MG novel The Junction of Sunshine and Lucky

Success- By However You Determine It

 by Charlotte Bennardo

One person's success is not another's. We all have different perspectives-and those perspectives change over time.

Photo by Anna Shvets: https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up...

When I first started writing, getting a book published was my ideal.

Then I got the first, and second, then a third published. Success! 

But then, sales weren't spectacular. And I had no more book contracts and my agent dumped me. 

There was a drought of several years. While I continued to sell books by hand at fairs and festivals, I had nothing new. So I decided to independently publish my middle grade trilogy. One cover won a gold award, and another book won a bronze award. Success! 

Sadly, sales weren't spectacular. Back to querying and writing and volunteering for the SCBWI.

Stuck in a hold pattern; query, reject, write, revise, query. 

The pandemic struck and there were no more in-person events. Feeling untethered, I decided to go for my Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. I graduated, achieving a goal. Success!

After a year of physical injuries and illnesses, I've finally recuperated and regained my physical health. Success!

My Master's thesis is under consideration by a publisher! (Almost success!) 

My children are all doing well (shared success with them and the hubs).

So success comes in many forms; personal, professional, shared. 

And it comes in its own due time, wherever it wants. 

Charlotte writes MG, YA, NA, and adult novels in sci fi, fantasy, contemporary, and paranormal genres. She is the author of the award-winning middle grade Evolution Revolution trilogy, Simple Machines, Simple Plans, and Simple Lessons. She co-authored the YA novels Blonde OPS, Sirenz, and Sirenz Back in Fashion. She has two short stories in the Beware the Little White Rabbit (Alice through the Wormhole) and Scare Me to Sleep (Faces in the Wood) anthologies. Having finished her MFA, she's applying what she learned and is working on several children's and adult novels, along with some short stories. She lives in NJ with her family and her floofy cat. When they trimmed the backyard tree, the crazy squirrel couple had to move out, but she is happy to report she has a new squirrel tenant along with a pet rabbit (Bad Bunny).

Wishing You a Creative Holiday!

 In celebration of the season, I found this on Pinterest, a lovely shape poem by  Brian Bilston  (2024) ❤️❤️...

Wishing you a creative holiday!

--Bobbi Miller