Marcia Thornton Jones's Blog, page 205

THE JUNCTION OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY SNEAK PEEK (HOLLY SCHINLDER)

I've been talking up my debut MG for so long, it's hard to actually believe that the publication is at hand!  But nothing makes a release date feel quite as real as a box of books at your door:




THE JUNCTION OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY, my first real step into the MG world, is out Feb. 6th.

The book follows Auggie's journey toward becoming a folk artist; she may very well be my favorite of all my main characters, and it's a joy to hear about others falling in love with her.  THE BULLETIN FOR THE CENTER OF CHILDREN'S BOOK STUDIES recently said:

"Auggie finds inspiration in the trash hauled by Grampa Gus and in items donated by neighbors, and soon pottery shards, vivid glass, and metal sculptures transform the house’s exterior into a vibrant expression of the love within its walls. In Auggie, Schindler creates a spunky, sympathetic character young readers will engage with and enjoy."

In the spirit of revealing our "beginnings," I'm delighted to share the opening paragraphs of THE JUNCTION:

"Old Glory shimmies like she's dancing the jitterbug.  That's what Grampa Gus calls his pickup truck, anyway, the one he's always driven, with GUS'S SALVAGE printed right across the doors.  She (that's the other thing we've always called the truck, she, because Old Glory's a regular part of the family) jiggles so much, she tickles my stomach.

The cab's completely packed--my best friend Lexie's here with me, along with my neighbor Irma Jean.  We're in a giant tangle on the passengers' side of the bench seat, our arms and legs weaving in and out of each other as we try to leave Gus enough space to drive.

Our voices sound like a whole playground as we squeal and squirm.  Excitement leaks out that way--in shrieks, like air slipping out of a balloon--the day before you get sent to a brand-new school."

Pre-order the book here.  Email me at writehollyschindler (at) yahoo (dot) com to tell me about your order, and you'll be entered to win a signed bookplate. 

Monthly Theme: Begin Again

by Stephanie J. Blake

I've got the second book blues.

The middle grade novel (a companion to The Marble Queen) that I've been working on for over two years is now shelved.

I'm really struggling with the motivation. I have been drafting picture books. Seems I get an idea or two each day for a picture book.

I want to write another middle grade novel. Trouble is, I don't have any solid ideas. Well, there is this one thing, but I don't know if I can pull it off.

Here's the beginning.

Jackson Jefferson Davis Quick lounged in his video game chair in front of the only television in the house. He was very comfortable and planned on watching a marathon showing of Mythbusters on the Discovery Channel. He didn’t even hear her at first. Honest! But, when his mother screeched, “Jackson, get out there and start on the garage!” the grip on the remote control tightened ever so slightly.

BORING!

What I really need to do is open a brand-new Word doc. and just start fresh.

I'd rather play Candy Crush. Heck, I'd rather clean the oven--or stick my head in it.

I guess I'm out of practice. It's time to re-read the book The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman. I need a workshop!

  

Smack Dab in the Classroom: Librarian Stephanie Dunnewind suggests Literary Charades!

Dia Calhoun: How do you engage a group of kids with the same book? Kids who might have different interests?

Stephanie Dunnewind: I think there are many children's books that appeal to readers for different reasons. Some students might be drawn into the adventure, while others might relate to the characters. For a whole-class read-aloud, I often present two or three choices and let students vote. This helps increase excitement and if it is a close vote, the next book is all ready to go! I think it is fun to pair historical fiction with nonfiction history books so students can see what parts of the story are real.

Dia Calhoun: Do you remember a specific activity with a specific book that really set kids’ imaginations on fire?

Stephanie Dunnewind: I did a lesson on perspective/point of view with two chapters from the book "Flipped." This lesson fits with Common Core Standards. It alternates chapters with two narrators, a boy and girl. The girls read the girl narrator's take on an event, while the boys read the next chapter, which was the same event from the boy's point of view. Then they worked in small groups to compare/contrast the two narrators' points of view, and think about how "truth" is often a matter of perspective.

Dia Calhoun: Have you ever done something “outside the box” that worked really well?

Stephanie Dunnewind: We play literary charades where two competing teams try to guess the book title as one person from each team acts it out (either the literal title or what happens in the book). We also play 20 Questions where teams can ask Yes or No questions and then guess the title from the answers.

Dia Calhoun: If you could give teachers/librarians one piece of advice for engaging kids with middle grade books, what would it be?

Stephanie Dunnewind: With the Common Core focus on close reading and the ongoing emphasis on reading strategies, I think it's important students learn that reading is not always hard work. Yes, it is good to challenge ourselves as readers and do deep thinking. But not always. Sometimes it can just be fun and enjoyable!

Dia Calhoun: Thanks so much, Stephanie, for taking the time to share these great ideas!

Stephanie Dunnewind is an elementary school librarian in Bothell, Washington.

Smack Dab in the Classroom by author Dia Calhoun runs on this blog on the 23rd day of every month.

Beginnings by Laurie Calkhoven

How to begin a blog post about beginnings? I have to admit I’m feeling rather stuck, but I’m the same way when it’s time to begin a new novel. Stuck. I have an idea, but it’s vague. I don’t know enough about the characters. I’m not sure in which direction the plot should go, or if it should even go at all. I feel lost and confused and afraid. The thought always crosses my mind that maybe I’m done. Maybe I don’t have another novel in me.

I used to describe this as a kind of desperate flailing around, trying to find my footing on slippery ice. But now I try to trust that it’s just part of my process. So I put my head down and do the work I can. I meditate to get to know my characters. I do research. I make lists of scenes, most of which will never get written and included in the book.

It’s only when I know for (almost) sure what my opening and closing scenes will be that I’m finally ready to really begin. To write the words Chapter One and see what comes next.

ON BEGINNING NEW BOOKS: January 2014

In praise of whiteIn praise of possibilityIn praise of poemIn praise of pureIn praise of salt and emptiness and snowIn praise of footsteps taken and erasedIn praise of nothingIn praise of breath and bird and treeIn praise of fallingIn praise of wingsIn praise of winterIn praise of endings and beginningsIn praise of blankBlank pageIn praise of mysteryof storyIn praise of ice and sky and moonof drift and shadowIn praise of words waiting to be writtenSo many wordsWaiting in the white
Malmo, MinnesotaSheila O'Connor

Beginnings - January Theme - Kristin Levine

(This is pretty much directly from my school visit presentation.  The kids always get a kick out of hearing about how even "real" writers come up with some really bad opening lines.)

I had a lot of trouble with the first paragraph of my first book, The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had.  This is how it originally started:

I ain’t gonna tell you this story.  No sir.  No way.  I got a million better things to do than think about that dumb old stuck-up girl and all the trouble she caused.  Least that’s what I tell myself: everything was just fine in Moundville, ‘til Emma Walker came to town.   
Now I liked this opening, but there were a couple of problems with it.  It is obvious that Dit, the narrator, is lying because, uhhh, you're holding the book in your hands.  My original plan was to make Dit an "unreliable narrator," but truthfully, I had that idea on page 1 and forgot about it for the rest of the book.
Second, my editor, the dear and amazing Stacey Barney, called and said she thought this opening seemed too harsh.  The whole book was about the friendship between Dit and Emma, and he's calling her dumb and stuck-up in the very first paragraph.  "Okay," I said, "I got it.  We need a kinder, gentler opening." 
Now I'm going to show you what I came up with.  But I have to admit it is really, really bad.  I call it "the sappy" opening.  And please, feel free to laugh:
All I’ve left of her is this dang ribbon.  Pitiful sight I must be, 13 year-old-boy, moping about on the top of this mound, winding a girl’s hair ribbon between my fingers over and over again.  I didn’t used to be this way – not before Emma came to town
Stacey called me up again. “What happened?” she asked."Was it too sappy?" I asked."Way too sappy!" said Stacey."But you wanted different!" I protested."That was different, alright," she said.  "Not good different, but different!""I don't know what to do," I wailed.Stacey said, "I wanted different words, but the tone to remain the same."
I didn’t know what that meant, but I thought about for a while, and this is what I came up with.  This is the beginning of my first book:
I’ve been wrong before.  Oh heck, if I’m being real honest, I’ve been wrong a lot.  But I ain’t never been so wrong as I was about Emma Walker.  When she first came to town, I thought she was the worst piece of bad luck I’d had since falling in the outhouse on my birthday.  I tell you things were fine in Moundville before Emma got here, least I thought they were.  Guess the truth is, you’ll never know how wrong I was ‘til I’m done telling and explaining – so I’d better just get on with the story.   
Beginnings are never easy, but usually worth the work...

Radical Uncertainty (January Theme: Beginnings) by Claudia Mills

This afternoon I am attending a baby shower for my daughter-in-law, Ashley, who is giving birth to my first grandchild in March.
             A year ago today my son didn’t even have a girlfriend; he and Ashley hadn’t yet met.
A year ago I was teaching as a visiting professor at a small college in Indiana, wondering how I was going to navigate my return to a decade more of teaching at a large research university in Colorado.
Now I am counting down the final days of my last semester as a professor at CU. I ended up applying for and accepting an early retirement offer that I didn’t even know existed a year ago, so that I could devote myself full time to my career as a children’s book writer.
2013 was for me a year of surprises: massive, mega-surprises. Surprising things happened to me and my family. I was equally surprised by the things I myself did.
 Many authors report that they are constantly surprised by what happens in the books they are writing. Their characters end up doing and saying things their creators never imagined. This hasn’t happened to me all that often. The one most striking time was when I wrote my middle-grade novel Dinah in Love. I had planned on writing a novel of unrequited sixth-grade love, as unrequited love has been quite a personal specialty of mine. I sat down to write chapter 1, where Dinah Seabrooke would meet Nick Tribble and fall in love. But instead, when Dinah met Nick, she fell in hate. In fact, she hated the very “marrow of his moldy bones.” So the book became a traditional romantic comedy, where the two protagonists hate, hate, hate each other all the way through the story, right up until the moment when they . . . don’t. 
Dinah did surprise me. But more often than I’ve been surprised by my characters and what happens to them, I’ve been surprised by myself and what happens to me.
Of course, this prompts the thought that 2014 has the potential to be filled with its own massive, mega-surprises, surprises that could be either heartwarming or heartbreaking. One of my books could become a runaway bestseller (exceedingly unlikely); I could have a beloved editor vanish on me (vastly more likely). Doctors could deliver bad news. My other son could run off with a new love and blissfully start his own new family. I could find myself hankering to write a book in some genre I’ve never yet tried: creative nonfiction, poetry.
Anythingcan be written on the blank pages of this year to come.
 
It doesn’t do to dwell too much on life’s radical uncertainty. It generates too much vertigo to peer too deeply into that dizzying abyss.
Instead all we can do is take all-purpose measures to prepare ourselves for whatever comes. I know I maximize my chances of surviving life and career surprises if I write every day, walk every day, read as widely as I can, and prioritize close connections with friends and family. It’s a good idea to keep my weight under control and make healthy eating choices, to spend less than I earn, and engage in meaningful spiritual practices. I’ll never be sorry I did any of those things, whatever comes.
For the one thing I know with certainty is that I can know nothing with certainty. Yogi Berra is quoted as saying, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.”
Ain’t that the terrifying – and wonderful – truth.            

Just Begin by Ann Haywood Leal

I am from Seattle.  Every member of my extended family owns some sort of whamadine coffee device to get them going in the morning.  And even though I am halfway through my triple espresso, I am having trouble beginning this blog. 
My mind is wandering and the delete button has become my best friend.  Then I start to get anxious, because time is running out, and I have to go prepare a busy day for my twenty first graders.
Those twenty first graders don't need a jolt of Seattle mud to get going.  They jump into their day with both feet and eyes wide open.

First graders don't worry about how to begin when they are writing or speaking.  Show and Tell is performed each day with gusto.  They aren't concerned with what their readers or listeners will think, because they are for sure positive that what they are saying or writing is the absolute most important and interesting thing ever.  They boast, they brag, they shamelessly praise themselves.  Constantly.
Last week a girl stood up in front for her turn to share.  She wore a ratty used-to-be-white veil.  It hung down over one eye.  "I got this from my cousin," she announced.  "It's almost time for my first communion, so I need to wear this."  
A boy nudged her out of the way to take his turn.  He proudly wore a shiny gold medal.  "It's for being the fastest runner," he said.  "Everybody got one."
So I'm going to take the cue from those twenty wise little creatures.  I'm going to begin without the worry about what someone will think.  I'm going to turn off the doubt button in my head, put on my ratty veil and shiny medal and just begin ...

Beginnings (January Theme) by Bob Krech

Beginnings are a great place to look for a story. Think about it. New in town. First time on a team. New school. First love. Exploring a new place (cave, forest, house, castle) New friend. New phase in life (teenager, young adult, first grade). First dance, play, speech, fight. New baby in the family. New house. New job. First job. New mom. New teacher. All are encounters with a beginning of a sort. and I think all of them have great story possibilities for kids. And why is that?

There's something about beginnings. There's excitement about something new. Just because it's new and fresh and different. There's an element of danger. Things could go wrong. There's risk in a beginning. Risk of the unknown, but  also the enticement of the pleasures of the unknown. Because things could go wonderfully well. Either way, there could be quite a bit of tension.

Beginnings are rarely boring. Because you've never done it before. They might be terrifying at times, but they're not usually boring. Maybe that's why it's a good place to look for a story. You know you won't be bored. And most probably, neither will your audience.

On Beginning - January Theme by Tamera Wissinger and Guests

As I was preparing for this month’s post on beginnings, it occurred to me that over the centuries, even millennia, much thought has gone into the topic. It appears that beginning, or beginning again, are things that humans have struggled with since, well, the beginning. I decided to rely on the voices of a few of the many people who have mulled over beginning through the years:
The hour is ripe, and yonder lies the way!
– Virgil
The important thing is somehow to begin.
– Henry Moore
So what do we do? Anything. Something. So long as we just don’t sit there. If we screw it up, start over. Try something else. If we wait until we’ve satisfied all the uncertainties, it may be too late.
–      Lee Iacocca
A journey of a thousand miles must begin  with a single step.
– Chinese proverb
Do not wait for ideal circumstances,  nor the best opportunities;  they will never come.
– Janet Erskine Stuart
He who has begun has half done. Dare to be wise; begin.
– Horace
And just for fun, because starting something doesn't have to all be serious, and because I can't resist a good fishing poem: 

This one makes a net,  this one stands and wishes. Would you like to make a bet  which one gets the fishes?

– Chinese Rhyme
Let’s begin. Let’s keep going. And if need be, let’s start over.And let's have fun while we're doing it!
Blessings and good wishes to you wherever you are on your journey at the start of this New Year.


~~~~~
Tamera Wissinger is a poet and author and is almost always beginning something (or starting again). She is the author of GONE FISHING: A Novel in Verse and THIS OLD BAND, 06/14. You can find Tamera online at tamerawillwissinger.com, on Twitter or on Facebook 
Bibliography: Cook, John, compiled and arranged. THE BOOK OF POSITIVE QUOTATIONS. Minneapolis: Fairview Press, 1993.