Marcia Thornton Jones's Blog, page 56

Emma Wisdom

 I've shared this before, but it seems the perfect time to share this wisdom from Emma Dryden of drydenbks. 

As we navigate grading final papers and final projects, thesis manuscripts and reports. Christmas shopping. As we negotiate family, in all its complex and messy dynamics. Cooking. Cleaning. Decorating. When ghosts of Christmas past meet the present. As we steer through pandemics and politics. Dentist appointments. More revisions and more research. Don't forget to feed the cat. Don't forget the chocolate.

Don't forget to make time for yourself.

Thinking of you, and sending you wishes for great feasting and merry making this holiday season! 

-- Bobbi Miller

Kids have the best ideas! by: Jennifer Mitchell

 As a teacher I spend a lot of time planning, but at times lessons take unexpected turns along the way, and that is what keeps teaching from year to year fun and interesting. One of the books we read in third grade is Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner.  We read it to look at character development.  Most kids aren’t familiar with the book, and don’t realize at the end little Willy’s dog Searchlight will die as he crosses the finish line for the National Dogsled Race. It is always good that kids haven’t read it so they can’t spoil it for others. It however causes shock and confusion and sadness with the kids when the story is over. When I am reading it, even though I know what happens, it still gets me every time too.

One year I had a group of kids just not satisfied at all with the ending, so we as a class decided to create our own alternative ending.  The kids were so invested in changing the story to make something that felt good to them.  If I had planned to create an alternative ending I am sure kids would have done a nice job with it, but since they had suggested it it became an engaging and authentic experience for them.  As a teacher sometimes the direction that kids want to go, instead of the “plan” for the week, can create experiences that you don’t forget as a teacher.  If you listen, and are willing to be flexible and try something new, kids can come up with amazing ideas!

Jennifer Mitchell -- teacher in the Kansas City area

An Unexpected Path by Darlene Beck Jacobson

 When my first middle grade book debuted in 2014, I was asked to provide some blurbs for the back cover. I'm sure we've all had to do this for our books. WHEELS OF CHANGE (Creston) is a historical novel set in 1908 Washington DC during the last year of Theodore Roosevelt's presidency.

 In the story, the main character Emily gets invited to the White House and meets TR. (This scene was inspired by my own paternal grandmother who actually did attend a reception at the White House and met TR. 

Around that time, I came across a book review for a debut novel written by Kermit Roosevelt, the great-great grandson of TR. Kermit is a professor of law at University of Pennsylvania and lives in Philadelphia. 

Empowered by the phrase "nothing ventured, nothing gained" I located Kermit's faculty email. I sent a message explaining my grandmother's brief connection to his ancestor and wondered if he'd be interested in reading my novel for a possible blurb.

He graciously said yes!  This is what he wrote:

Needless to say, I was delighted that my bold ask met with such a wonderful response.

When the book came out, I sent a second email letting him know I wished to present him with a signed copy as my thank you  for his kindness.

He invited my to come to his office on the U Penn campus. A place I'd never been to except for the awesome Museum of Archeology and Anthropology. (A worthwhile stop if you're ever in the University City section of Philly)

 

Not only did I get to shake his hand and delight in his office decorated with floor to ceiling books and photos of his famous great great grandfather, he graciously posed for a picture to commemorate the event.

 By taking a path unknown and being open to where it might lead, I shared a once-in-a-lifetime moment I will remember forever. 

Have faith...and don't let the voice that doubts or dismisses an idea or closes a door that could lead to something new stop you.

Follow the unknown path and see where it will lead.

Darlene Beck Jacobson is always peeking through doors and walking on paths she's never been. She enjoys sending out emails to people she's never met in hopes of learning something new. TR is one of her favorite presidents.

The Road Not Taken -- by Jane Kelley

 Here I am -- deciding which path to take.

Actually that isn't me. That's a coyote in our backyard. I thought you'd rather see a picture of that than of me banging my head against a wall. 

Because deciding which path to take is HARD.  

There are so many choices when we write. What story, what character, what will the character do, what will the other characters do––even what will they wear, for god's sake. If only there were actual roads to choose when we write. But there aren't. Writing is like hacking through a jungle. Or wading through snow drifts in a blizzard. Or staring at the swirling screen saver on our computers.

Each small step matters. A lot. Yes, one can retrace if necessary, but our resources are limited. Do I really want to spend my life rewriting this frigging scene? Of course not! So each day I try to make better choices. What's fun. What's important. What leads away from blank walls and toward adventure.

A long time ago I made an extremely important choice. Before I published my middle-grade novels, I wrote novels for adults. Three, maybe four? I've let time fade them from my memory. They weren't exactly bad. They just weren't good enough. I didn't know that until, having failed to sell them, I tried to write something else. Those first chapters of what would become Nature Girl felt like a miracle. Not because they were so tremendous––they'd need a lot of rewriting, too ––but because they had actual life.

 George Saunders, in his brilliant book A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, talks about how he teaches his students to think about what kinds of writers they will be.

"As young writers, we all have romantic dreams of being a writer of a certain kind, of joining a certain lineage. . . But sometimes the world, via its tepid response to prose written in that mode, tells us that we are not, in fact, that kind of writer." 

Even George Saunders––yes, MacArthur, Guggenheim, Man Booker prize-winning, best-selling author George Saunders, couldn't answer that question when he began his career. He wanted to write like Hemingway. It took him years to discover that he was supposed to write like George Saunders. 

Thank goodness he did! But at the moment he discovered his turf, he confesses to feeling disappointed too. "It is less than we wanted it to be, and yet it's more too." Because that place is uniquely our own. 

And if, as he says, we commit to it and to ourselves, then we can eventually make our patch of jungle into a place where other people will enjoy traveling.

That coyote, by the way, headed east across our yard. First she looked back.

Was she wondering if she had made the right choice? Or was she appreciating that she didn't have to go toward more suburban neighborhoods, with larger houses and manicured lawns. She could go where there was more woods. Where there would be better hunting. And where what she would find life.

Jane Kelley is currently rewriting that frigging scene for the umpteenth time. But she's confident that she will create more middle-grade novels like Nature Girl, The Girl Behind the Glass, and The Desperate Adventures of Zeno and Alya.

No Such Thing as The Road Not Taken by Irene Latham

 When I present to groups, I often share the "When I Grow Up, I Want to Be..." page in my Dr. Seuss' My Book About Me:

On that page, 3rd grade me wrote "WRITER"... and also circled "mother," "musician," "farmer," and "veterinarian."  I wanted to be a lot of things! And so it may look like I have a lot of "roads not taken." 

book with a zoo vet!
Here's the great part, though, about the choice I DID make. As a writer, I can "be" all of those things I didn't pick in real life! 

I can write a farm book, and have, several times! 

I can create a character who's a veterinarian (and have!) so that I can walk around in that skin for a while. 

Being a writer is a way to take ALL the roads.

And now, I must get back to traveling... thank you so much for reading!

---

Irene Latham is a grateful creator of many novels, poetry collections, and picture books, including the coauthored Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship, which earned a Charlotte Huck Honor, and The Cat Man of Aleppo, which won a Caldecott Honor. Irene lives on a lake in rural Alabama.

The Road Not Taken

 

The Road Not Taken

 

In 2005, I decided to leave journalism. Temporarily, I thought. I was about to have a baby and I wanted to spend time with him. And my father and I had long been discussing an idea for a book that we were going to co-write. So I said goodbye to my job as an editor for a Capitol Hill-based newspaper, and plunged into motherhood and book-writing. The baby, fortunately, had a good disposition and enjoyed sitting in his portable playpen turning pages in--and eating--his board books, so I was able to get work done.

 

But the book, instead of taking two years, took six. By the time it was published, in 2011, my son was finishing kindergarten. The economy had collapsed. And journalism had changed. Most of my friends had left for other, related fields—freelancing, public relations, consulting, book writing. Those that remained were doing the job of several people, working around the clock to accommodate the 24-7 internet-based news cycle. I had taken some time out—and during that time, my profession, where I had spent close to two decades, had crumbled. In what would have been mid-career, I had to reinvent myself professionally.

 

And I’m still doing that, a decade since that book came out. In a way, I still consider myself a journalist. In 2012 I started a blog where I interview authors. I’ve continued my freelance work, mostly editing reference books. But I’ve also been able to write three children’s books, and have various other manuscripts I’m hoping to get published. Do I miss the daily excitement of running around Capitol Hill, cranking out several stories a day? Sometimes. But would I still have the energy to do that all these years later? Probably not.

 

So here I sit, in this Covid-ravaged, politically damaged world, waiting. Hoping. And thinking, on occasion, of that journalistic road not taken.

 

--Deborah Kalb, author of The President and Me middle grade series for kids, and co-author of Haunting Legacy: Vietnam and the American Presidency from Ford to Obama.

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News

 

Reviews are coming in for historical verse novel AFRICAN TOWN (Penguin, Jan. 4, 2022) by Irene Latham and Charles Waters:

"The voice of the characters is strong and... the journey itself is not to be missed"
—School Library Connection, ⭐

"A thoughtful portrait of how trauma informs and inhibits identity making.”
—BCCB



Writers, you're invited to Irene Latham's new weekly vlog series: Tuesday 2-Minute Writing Tip! Episodes so far:

1 "We are Cups" - inspiration from a Ray Bradbury quote

2 "Call Me Ishmael" - on how we identify ourselves as writers, poets, artists

3 "It's Not About You" - on social media/self-promotion

We all need a little bit of inspiration... New subscribers welcome!

Reconnecting with Home (Holly Schindler)

Everybody thinks their dog is the best. Even if you're a lifelong dog owner, whatever dog you currently have is also the best.

This is Gus, my current dog:

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A post shared by Holly Schindler (@hollyschindler)

Gus isn't exactly easy to take care of. He's kind of a dog for people at the advanced pet ownership level. I'm grateful I'd already been around animals my whole life when I got him. Gus has epilepsy, which involves pretty strict adherence to a med schedule and knowing how to handle seizures (ice packs, ocular compression, etc.)

But: The thing about every creature in your life is that for every hardship there is also a payoff in equal proportion. 

Gus is friendly. Almost to a fault. By far the friendliest dog I've ever had. He loves to talk to other dogs and people. He goes on walks not to sniff funky grass stinks but to find out who's outside. 

Because of Gus, I now know all of my neighbors on a first-name basis. And that's really saying something, considering I've lived in the same neighborhood my entire life. 

It's kind of a beautiful thing, reconnecting with the neighborhood. Being able to wave and have conversations with everyone on the block. 

If I'm not online as much these days, it's because Gus has me outside, talking to a neighbor. I'm under a tree somewhere or he's running circles around my legs while I help to string Christmas lights or he's tugging on his leash, hurrying me along as I bring someone that cliched cup of sugar. 

I'd say Don't worry, we'll be home soon--but then again, the whole neighborhood pretty much feels like home anymore.

Going Beyond Reconnecting...

By Charlotte Bennardo 

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood from Pexels

The theme is reconnecting. It's a popular one around the holidays and the end of the year, and especially after the Covid pandemic. I've stayed connected with family and friends via Zoom and social media, so there was no 'reconnecting.' However, I've 'reconnected' with my love of learning- and am enrolled in graduate school, working on my Master's of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. It's always been a dream of mine to get my MFA. With low and now no residency required, I can achieve this goal. I'm nearing the end of the first term, and if all goes well, I will graduate in July, 2023. There's a long road to go, but it seems that reconnecting to academic reading, doing research, writing papers, and discussing topics with the class is like riding the proverbial bike- once you learn, no matter how many years are in between, it's not hard to pick it back up. 

So don't just reconnect- realize a dream, right a wrong, take a bold step. Go for it.

When it's graduation day, I'll be walking that stage to accept my diploma and check off one item on my 'Dream, Accomplished' list.  

 Photo by Stanley Morales from Pexels

Charlotte writes MG, YA, NA, and adult novels in sci fi, fantasy, contemporary, and paranormal genres. She is the author of the 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. Currently she is working on several novels for both children and adults. She lives in NJ with her family, two demanding cats, and a crazy squirrel couple who just moved into her backyard oak tree.

Entering the Time Machine

I've never been to any of my high school reunions. Most of my friends from school wouldn't be present for various reasons or weren't in my graduating class. I'm not even sure where my best friend from high school is now because she seems to be off the grid, which is mysterious and cool in a way that likely would have greatly pleased the teen versions of ourselves.

Another reason I don't go to my reunions is because a lot of the best times in my youth happened in Mississippi instead of the town in Alabama where I went to school. Luckily, my cousin has been my best friend since I was 14, so I still have someone to share those memories with me. We've often wished we could go back in time and relive a few of those moments.

It finally dawned on me that we can...because, DUH! I'm a writer!

My current work in progress takes me back to old friends and great memories from the 80s (even though my book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental). I'm fortunate that I have my cousin and a couple of our other friends from back in the day to help fill in the gaps of things I've forgotten (but for the most part, my memories of decades ago are clearer than things that happened last week--isn't it funny how that works?). 

When COVID shut down schools, my husband set up a desk for me back in our bedroom so that I could close the door and get some quiet writing space while the kids were home. Now that schools are open again, I'm mostly back to my "office" (a corner of our kitchen), but I kept the other table set up. Now when I close the door to our room to work, I tell whichever of our kids happens to be around, "I'm entering the time machine. I'll see you when I get back to 2021." 

It may sound silly, but this has been great for my headspace as an author. When I close that door, I really do mentally put aside everything from now and fully immerse myself in the world of my book. 

I'm hoping that once my book is finished, it will be its own time machine, set for 1986. I've been hanging out in '86 off and on for nearly a year now, and it's a wonderful time to be alive. 

Ginger Rue's current book, Wonder Women of Science, is co-authored with rocket scientist Tiera Fletcher, who is currently working with NASA on the Mars mission. The book profiles a dozen amazing women (besides Tiera!) who are blazing new trails in their respective STEM fields.