Marcia Thornton Jones's Blog, page 156

Leap! (February Theme - Sarah Dooley)

In looking around my writing space for inspiration, I see three things:

1. A coffee cup. (At this point in my day, it has usually been refilled several times and is now half-empty and going cool.)

2. A window (and all the things outside it that I must be strong and ignore, even though some of those things are horses)

3. A cat wiggling its butt, about to pounce on a curtain tie-back.

Now, the coffee, that's liquid inspiration. Inspiration in a cup. A ceramic mug of black, lukewarm, heartwarming gumption. But there's only so much I can say about coffee before I start to bore the nonbelievers.

The window is the most obvious place to look for inspiration. There are beautiful things outside ... tall, brown grasses blowing in the winter wind ... horses grazing serenely ... clouds rolling across the mountaintop ... water buckets needing filled ... stalls needing cleaned ... hay needing stacked ... fences needing mending ... Okay, yeah, I'm closing the blinds.

And that leaves the cat.

The cat who is frozen in place, gathering energy, ready to

LEAP!

That's me. That's the way I write. I gather myself into one small space, draw in my energy, let it build until I can scarcely contain it. "Hibernation" sounds like a peaceful slumber, but this is not that. This is a closing off from the rest of life, a focusing inward to find the thoughts, to find the words, building up and up over days, until --

LEAP! The words are ready to spring forward onto the page, sometimes as graceful as a cougar, other times as clumsy as a half-grown kitten chasing a curtain tie-back, but always a release of pressure after the quiet and the gathering.

Hibernation by Bob Krech

It was very cold in New Jersey this past weekend. Polar vortex and all that. But, I went out and hibernated somewhere on Friday night because sometimes you have to go outside to go inside.
Inside was the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia where Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band were performing. It was a great place to hunker down for the evening with 19,000 other like-minded folks while the wind swept snow flurries around outside and the temperature dropped into single digits.
I hadn’t seen Springsteen live since 1982. It turned out to be well worth the Friday evening rush hour traffic, parking, and playing computer roulette with Ticketmaster. For three and a half hours Bruce sang, played, explained, crowd surfed, danced, and made merry with us. By the finale where the house lights were up and the 19,000 were on their feet singing along, bouncing in place to Shout, it was not only a nice, warm place to be with your friends, but it was pretty much on fire.
In wise recognition of the median age of his audience, Bruce alternated periods of frenzied rocking with a string of ballads, giving everyone a chance to sit down and recoop, because there wasn’t going to be any intermission, that was for sure. While we sat and listened to The Boss alone in the spotlight during these interludes, it gave him an opportunity to talk a little about his songs.
One song he sang during the time on stage out there alone was Independence Day. I’ve heard it many times before and always as a story (and Springsteen is quite a writer) of a young man’s leaving his home and saying goodbye to a father he can no longer get along with. The young man must go out and pursue his dreams, but still loves and now must part from, his father. We get the impression from the song, things have not been especially smooth between the two.
Springsteen explained a little bit more before he sang last night. He said something along the lines of this, “We write songs when we’re young before we know much. We may see a father at that time of our lives as someone who has given up on his dreams, who has compromised and settled, and we see ourselves maybe ending up there, and we see it as weakness, and we want none of that.” 
He paused and then continued. “Then as we get older and live life some, we come to realize just what those compromises actually gave our families and friends." He paused once more before beginning to play, saying finally, "The beauties of compromise.”
For those of us juggling writing dreams, day jobs, editors, marketing, and family, it's a thoughtful reminder.

PRODUCTIVE USE OF THAT EXTRA DAY February Theme by Tamera Wissinger

This winter has turned out to be busy and productive. Over the holidays I worked on the end matter for my verse novel that’s arriving next year and on February 2nd I welcomed a new picture book into the world. Now my focus is shifting. I want to think about what I’d like to work on next. I need to organize, clean, repair things around the house, and I want to create an art or craft project. So I’m arming myself. I’m making a list of those house projects, looking at new crochet patterns, thinking about what creative projects I’d like to jump into. I went to Target for supplies. I wandered past the crafts, coloring books, crayons. My heart skipped a beat when I came across this 64 pack of Crayola Pip Squeak Skinnies markers. (That never happens in the cleaning-supply aisle.) I have an eight-pack of these little gems at home that I’ve nearly doodled dry, but now I have 64 lovely new markers ready for any doodle project! Tamera's Pip Squeaks.
(This is not a paid endorsement,
I just love 'em.)
I’m ready for leap day. Sure, I want to spend that extra day doing something useful around the house. And I will. Honestly I will. But first I must doodle. The good news is, whenever I doodle, other creative ideas bubbles up. Of course, the same thing happens when I clean. But what fun would it be to do my work first and play later?  
Cheers to you and whatever you decide to do with your leap day!~~~~~ W for Writer, or Woo Hoo!
(or maybe filling the well?)Tamera Wissinger writes stories and poetry for children including Gone Fishing: A Novel in Verse, This Old Band, and her newest picture book: There Was An Old Lady Who Gobbled a Skink. Her verse novel Gone Camping arrives next year. You can connect with Tamera online at her website, on Twitter, or on Facebook.

INTERVIEW WITH MARGARET CHIAVETTA, AUTHOR OF THE ALCHEMIST'S THEMOREM

 Today, we're joined by Margaret Chiavetta, author of THE ALCHEMIST'S THEOREM, a novel that recently got this impressive Kirkus review:

"Chiavetta employs a gale-force imagination in conjuring her alchemical realm... While immersed in this crowd-pleasing adventure, young readers should marvel at Chiavetta’s Alice in Wonderland vibe, and adults should appreciate the sweeping mythos.” —Kirkus Reviews

1.      As an author myself, I’m always intrigued by other author’s bios. It seems as though your own journey to writing was long and winding (anthropologist, academic, etc.) Was the process of writing THE ALCHEMIST’S THEOREM long and winding as well? How long was Mendel’s story in your mind before it got down on the page?

The story of The Alchemist’s Theorem got in and out of my head relatively quickly, but I think that’s because of the long, winding journey. I was in my mid-twenties when the first universe exploded in my head. It was about angels and demons. For years that was the only story I had, and I was convinced it was the only story I would ever have. When I finally decided to take the plunge, change careers, and start my MFA in the fall of 2012 (at age 29) I spent the summer before with nothing to do but write. Due to the reprieve from career restlessness and doubts, there was an outbreak of universes and stories in my head. Having the time, focus, and inspiration was perfect for creative incubation. That’s when Mendel and Sir Duffy showed up. I wrote the first dozen pages, which I carried into the first year of my graduate program, but I didn’t work on it at all that year. I had so many stories I wanted to write, but I couldn’t decide which to pursue. Finally, a good friend told me the story I was most animated about was The Alchemist’s Theorem. That following summer I worked on it a little more, but during my second and final year I completed the first draft. After graduating spring 2014, I picked at it a little, until the beginning of 2015. I finally set the goal of finishing, crowdfunding, and publishing the book by the end of the year. And I did it!
2.      How did your scientific background contribute to the process of worldbuilding?

My background in science and animal behavior has been invaluable to me as a writer. People always laugh when I say this, but it’s true. Studying monkeys as closely as I did gave me real insights into the human condition. And isn’t that what stories are mostly about? Understanding ourselves better? I used to work on this island full of monkeys, and the researchers would always accidently refer to the monkeys as people. Everyone did it. Once I got to know how complex other species of animals are, and how layered their personalities are, it was second nature to build animal characters into the book. So not only did my experience and expertise help me develop my human characters, but the plant and animal characters as well. And when it comes to building the rest of the world, I mix and match attributes from all the different creatures I’ve learned about over the years.
3.     Independent publishing has been drawing a wider array of authors in recent years. What drew you to the independent platform?
First, I don’t like being told what to do. When I started looking into the writing industry I encountered a lot of directives. There is this linear, rigid, impossible process everyone must go through, and even then their chances are slim. Whenever people told me that I have to do something, otherwise I shouldn’t bother, my knee-jerk reply was always, “The hell I do!” Second, I think my time and effort is valuable, and I should be paid accordingly. The unchanging 15% royalty just isn’t enough for me. It used to make sense when the publisher did everything for the author, but these days a publisher won’t even look at your work unless your manuscript is finished, professionally edited, and you already have a platform/audience built around it. And then if they do take you on, you are expected to do a lot of your own marketing. Which brings me to the third reason: I have an inner entrepreneur. I get it from my father. If I’m expected to do that much work, I might as well try and do the whole thing myself.
4.      It sounds like the Kickstarter experience filled you with positive feelings and helped fuel your writing—please tell us all about it.
I put many long, grueling hours into planning, managing, and executing that Kickstarter last August. When I fantasized about it being successful, I imagined the campaign getting picked up by a good media outlet, and bringing in a ton of strangers to back me up. I was not only surprised but emotionally overwhelmed by the community of people I didn’t even realize had been there all this time, watching me, ready to support my creative ambitions. I grew up in a small farming community, the town of Brant. Half my backers came from that community. It definitely gave me, and still gives me, a ton of momentum that keeps me going. When I went home for Christmas I signed a bunch of copies of my book. It just warmed the cockles of my heart.
5.      What do you read for fun—are you a fantasy junkie? How did your reading background influence your writing?
I used to either avoid this question or straight up lie, but now that I am more confident as a writer I can answer honestly. I’m not a voracious reader, I never have been. Reading has always been difficult for me. I don’t know why exactly. I know that my father has a difficult time reading, too. I can blow through a book in a couple of days if the story grabs me, and grabs me fast, but when it doesn’t grab me, reading is a struggle. I don’t read a lot of fantasy either, especially high fantasy. I got nervous about this while writing The Alchemist’s Theorem since it’s considered a high fantasy book. I felt better though when I found out that Terry Pratchett didn’t read fantasy books. Apparently he felt he’d just be re-writing other peoples’ work if he did. When I got the idea for my book, though, I was binge-reading the Harry Potter books, and playing a ton of the video game Skyrim. And whilst in the process of finishing the book I was reading Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, which is a masterpiece. Because of my atypical reading practices combined with my alternate methods of consuming story (video games, TV, movies etc.) I think my writing has a pleasant undercurrent of quirkiness.
6.      I love the idea of being able to step into a new environment where our perceived physical and mental faults are viewed as pluses. Do you believe we need to make a better effort to recognize autistic students’ gifts and abilities rather than focusing on the things they struggle to learn?

Yes. I have two nephews who are on the spectrum. They are amazing for so many reasons. But for whatever reason, people are always focusing on the aspects of who they are that don’t mesh well with our culture. The memoir written by Naoki Higashida, The Reason I Jump really helped me understand what it’s like inside the mind of spectrum kids. FangirlNation reviewed my book and really hit on what I was trying to do with Mendel:
"Chiavetta avoids showing autism as either an entirely crippling illness or a special gift in and of itself. Mendel has autism and he has to learn ways of coping with the world . . . It becomes one aspect of who he is, not the sole defining quality of an inquisitive and inventive young man.” —Fangirlnation
I think it is important to let spectrum characters be characters like any other.
7.      What drew you to the MG audience?

When I turned 12, life suddenly got really hard. Middle grade years are the hardest in my opinion, and I think that’s when we need the most help. Stories at that age kept me afloat.
8.      THE ALCHEMIST’S THEOREM is the first book in a series. How are you approaching the series? Did you have a complete outline from the beginning?
There are going to be four books in The Alchemist’s Theorem series, plus one prequel about Sir Esther and Sir Mostly’s adventures during the mistake. George R.R. Martin says that there are architects and there are gardeners. I am a gardener. I don’t create outlines. I know the main premise of every book, major events, twists, and how it’s all going to end, but the rest gets filled in when I write. If I ever get stuck I make sloppy bubble maps to help me arrange the plot. And once I see the scene in my head I can recall it like a movie clip. It’s really like having an alternate universe in my head that I can visit whenever I want.
9.     I find teachers are continually seeking read-alouds for their classroom. Did this in any way play into your word choice? (Babylump bushes, gargoyle vines, etc.) How important do you find humor to be when writing for this age group?
I didn’t know teachers seek read-alouds. The reason I use easier names is because I can’t stand complicated, hard-to-pronounce, made-up fantasy names. It’s part of the reason why I don’t like to read a lot of high fantasy. I like to take recognizable names and mix and match them.
Humor is very important. My science and monkey background taught me that we can stand a lot of stress if we have ways to counteract it. That’s why I wrote a fart into my story. Because farts are funny.
10.  Can you give us a hint or sneak peek as to what will happen in the next installment of THE ALCHEMIST’S THEOREM?
I’ve had a number of readers tell me they want the next one to be longer, and have more of everything. The next book will definitely be longer, dig deeper into the characters and mythos, and I will reveal a lot of the mystery from the first book. For example, I thought it was obvious what the creature from the mistake was, but apparently it is not. So readers will find out more about it in this next installment. But I will also be introducing all new mysteries (Mwhahaha). There is a new character and animal companion being added to the main characters, too, who I absolutely adore. And I’m stopping there. 
~
THE ALCHEMIST'S THEOREM can be ordered wholesale through Ingram as well as Baker & Taylor.
~
Links:

Amazon
Nook
The Seattle Book Company
Margaret's blog

Leap Day February 29: by Darlene Beck Jacobson

2016 is not only the Year of the Monkey on the Chinese calendar, it is also the year we get an extra day.  February 29 was first introduced into the calendar by Julius Caesar over 2000 years ago.  Since then, customs and cultures have attempted to make the most of this once-every-four-years day.

IRISH legend has women proposing to men on February 29th.  A man is expected to pay a penalty -a gown or cash -  if he refuses the proposal.

The GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS has one family producing 3 consecutive generations born on 2-29.  GREEKS consider it unlucky to be born on this day. And - depending on what country you live in - those born on 2-29 on a non-leap year will celebrate their birthday either 2-28 or 3-1. (There really are laws about this in some countries!)

That brings me to February 30th.  Never heard of it?  It happened once in Sweden in 1712.  And, February 30 existed in the SOVIET UNION in 1930-31.  It was introduced there in a revolutionary calendar in 1929.   This calendar featured 5 day weeks and 30 day months for every working month. The remaining 5 or 6 days were "monthless holidays".  The calendar was intended to improve worker efficiency.  It failed because it was too hard for people to give up the popular Sunday rest day.  Still, it wasn't until 1940 that the original 7 day week was restored.

Now that you've had a "mini" lesson on LEAP DAY, how will you spend your extra day this year?

A Good Week, a Good Time, a Good Reason to Hibernate

by Jody Feldman
For the last three days, I have neglected most of my email, I have not put on shoes, my dust bunnies are riding on dust horseback, and it’s just a great coincidence that the weather here looks like this and feels even worse.
I have been on winter writing hibernation. And this book—I’m calling it TSN for now—is taking me through a totally different process than I’ve ever used. The reason?  I don’t know if I’m smart enough to give this grand idea its due.

Yes, I’ve said this before. Yes, I’ve pulled it off. This time, though, I’m feeling it even more strongly, which is why I’ve been so slow to start. For the past couple months, the only real writing I’ve done shows in several thousand words of notes, thoughts, and strange meanderings in four computer documents. Plus there are these papers. 32 surfaces (purposefully blurry and swirly; don’t want to give anything away).
Lots of great ideas, but they don’t make up a book. This week, though, I got brave, I summoned energy, I found myself ready to charge out from the starting gate. And so I’m hibernating from the world and the cold and the snow, but I’m fully awake, excitedly alert in TSN’s town of Lower Mayze.

February Theme: Winter Survival For WritersBy Marcia Thor...

February Theme: Winter Survival For Writers
By Marcia Thornton Jones
In order to survive the gray days of winter when conditions are harsh and food scarce, animals migrate, adapt, hibernate or seek shelter. As a writer, I, too, often face seasons of scarcity--when ideas melt faster than snowflakes and words freeze before reaching the page. When that happens, I thought I might learn a lesson from nature and migrate, adapt, hibernate, and seek shelter.
·         Migrate—treat myself to artist dates, take field trips, write in different locations, shop for writing supplies, plan a vacation, go on a retreat ·         Adapt—modify my process, adopt a playful journaling attitude toward writing, adjust goals, write with different tools, release attachment to expectations and outcomes·         Hibernate—relax, rest, meditate, take a break and use the downtime to read books, study craft, and watch movies for plotting and character development·         Seek shelter—cultivate a support system, join writing and reading groups, take classes, sign up for a seminar, go to a conference
It’s worth noting that some animals sleep so deeply during hibernation that their heart rates fall to four beats per minute and they appear dead. But they are not dead. They eventually awaken to another season of abundance. They—and I—just have to migrate, adapt, hibernate, and seek shelter in order to survive these harsh gray days of scarcity.

Emerging from hibernation--with a new book! by Jane Kelley

Hibernation: the condition of an animal spending the winter in a dormant state.

The groundhogs sleep in their special winter burrow. It's deeper than the other one––below the frost line––so that the temperature will be moderate. The groundhogs have bulked up before going underground. In cold climates, they won't wake up for six months. They'll be thin and hungry. But the world has tilted in their favor and they can find food again. Groundhogs are one of the few species that undergoes a TRUE hibernation.

Writers are another. We spend the summer and the fall building up our reserves. Creating the idea. Finding the voice. Adding details to our characters. Researching and rewriting. Discovering the arc. Incorporating feedback. We are completely obsessed with our characters and their world. Every thought circles back to our heroes. How to raise their stakes. How to describe that moment. How to end that scene. It's a fun, intense time. Thank goodness the days are long because there is so much to do. After the manuscript is turned in to the editor, there’s a new period of frantic fixing. The copy editor approves. Hooray! The cover is revealed. It’s all so exciting.

And then there is nothing. For months. And months. 
But it's okay. Really. Because, like our friends the groundhogs, we have stored up what will sustain us. Our vision for our books. Our belief that they matter. Our love for what we do. 
Finally it's Pub day. We come out of our burrows and introduce our books to the world.

Hello, everybody! Meet Mary Jemison, a courageous young woman who lived during the French and Indian War. She was captured by French and Shawnee warriors. Her family was killed. After she was adopted by the Seneca, she had to learn how to live with them. It wasn't easy to adapt to a new way of life, but she did. Could she love them enough to want to stay in their world?
I share the pseudonym E.F. Abbott with three other amazing writers who have also written books BASED ON A TRUE STORY.  For more information about the series, click on this link.

Write What Only You Know by Ann Haywood Leal

In February we are given a day of possibilities at the beginning, with an extra day at the end during a leap year.  My challenge for everyone this month is to combine Groundhog’s Day where anything can happen, with that gift of an extra day, and write without caring what anyone else thinks.  Write with abandon.  Write as if you have all the time in the world, because you sort of do.  You have that extra day, that anything-can-happen day.  But here’s the only rule:   
Write What Only You Know.
Annie Dillard said,  “A writer looking for subjects inquires not after what he loves best, but after what he alone loves at all.  Strange seizures beset us.  Frank Conroy loves his yo-yo tricks, Emily Dickinson her slant of light….” 
She also asks the thought-provoking question, “Why do you never find anything written about that idiosyncratic thought you avert to, about your fascination with something no one else understands?  Because it is up to you.  There is something you find interesting, for a reason hard to explain.  It is hard to explain, because you have never read it on any page; there you begin.”
You can make something interesting to your readers because of your own fascination with it. 
What are the everyday things that intrigue you?
Think about sitting in a restaurant or in a train station, or on the subway.  What makes you give a person a longer-than-usual look?  Why are you drawn to that person?  Is it their distinct, unusual beauty?  Maybe.  But more likely it’s something else—because you are a writer.  Maybe they have a bald spot on the side of their head that they are trying to cover.  But it’s not a man’s comb-over.  It’s a woman’s.  You take it one step further, because you are a writer.
What foods are you drawn to?
What places fascinate you so much, you want to stop your car—even though it might not be a convenient or a safe place to stop it?
You take the everyday--something you encounter or pass each day, and point it out in your writing. 
Chances are, you have no idea why you are drawn to certain foods or people or places or events.  You just are.  But that draw is your key.  You write about it, and you make these fascinations your readers’, as well. 
(Remember, you’ve got that extra day here.  You can take your time.)  Dare to take the mundane and sneak it to the forefront.  But do it as only you can do.  Forgive me for massacring a line from “Field of Dreams”, but … If you write it, they will read.

Inspiration from a Groundhog by Deborah Lytton - February Theme

When I think of hibernation, the first thing that comes to mind is my friend Susanna Leonard Hill's wonderful book, PUNXSUTAWNEY PHYLLIS. 

[image error] Phyllis is a little groundhog who is told over and over that she can't follow her dream because she is a girl.  But Phyllis never stops believing in herself.   How many of us limit our dreams because we aren't _______ (you fill in the blank) enough?  Sometimes the voice we hear telling us why our dreams will never come true is from someone we admire or even love.  And sometimes, the voice telling us we can't is the most powerful voice of all--our own.  Hibernating would be the easy way.  Giving up on the manuscript that challenges us and admitting that we aren't ______ enough after all.  But Phyllis didn't give up.  She never let the voices stop her.  Don't let the voices stop you either.  Every time you think you can't write the book in your heart, think of Phyllis and the little groundhog who never gave up on her dream.