Marcia Thornton Jones's Blog, page 75

Planning beyond 2020...

 

When I thought about this month’s blog topic, planning, the first thing that jumped to mind was the old Yiddish saying, “Man plans, God laughs.” This year has upended plans for so many people all over the world. A year ago, I had all kinds of plans: writing, editing, researching. Did any of them come to fruition? No. 2020 happened.

 

So…what to do? By way of introduction, I write middle grade fiction, specifically a series about a group of fifth graders who travel back in time and meet the early presidents while also dealing with 21stcentury concerns like being the new kid in town or being part of a blended family.

 

What might one of those early presidents have to say about planning? I took a look. I’ve been thinking a lot about Thomas Jefferson, because he features prominently in my new MG novel, Thomas Jefferson and the Return of the Magic Hat. Another main character is Madison Hemings, the son of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, who grew up enslaved on his father’s plantation, Monticello. 

 

So I perused the Monticello website. “Never put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day,” Jefferson advised. Okay. I often tell myself something along those lines, but lately it hasn’t worked.

 

Moving into the 20th century, I found a quote by Dwight D. Eisenhower: “Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.” I’ve thought about that quote often because I used it in an unpublished mystery novel I’ve been working on for years. The quote has nothing to do with the plot of the mystery novel, but my character (and I) attempted to figure out exactly what Eisenhower meant. 

 

While I haven’t come to a definite conclusion about the quote, I’ve decided that I should try to be better organized. And another presidential quote would seem to agree: “The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining,” John F. Kennedy said in his 1962 State of the Union message. 

 

And here’s one attributed to a transformational First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt: “It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.”

 

Looking ahead to 2021, I will try to wish, hope, and, yes, plan. I have many ideas and fictional characters eager to make their way onto the page. And as a new participant in this wonderful blog, I would like to thank my fellow bloggers for including me!

 

--Deborah Kalb

 

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Smack Dab News

 Darlene Beck Jacobson's novel-in-verse WISHES, DARES, AND HOW TO STAND UP TO A BULLY (Creston) received an award by the NCTE2021 for Notable Verse Novels in 2020.

You can view the entire listing here: https://www.google.com/search?client=...

...Thank you, Maureen Daly....

 by Charlotte Bennardo

This month, the theme, appropriately, is gratitude for authors. Many of my colleagues are posting thanks for specific authors and the impact they had on their lives. While I had favorites as a child and middle grader, I can't remember them, so I can't argue they had an impact on my life. I think the one author that opened up a whole new world for me was Maureen Daly. 

Who? 

She is credited with writing the first true Young Adult book, Seventeenth Summer (1942). When I read that book, I felt as if this person understood what it was to be a teen, (especially a teen girl) even though I read it when I was just barely into my teens- 12 or 13 years old. I was grateful that someone wrote a book that I could identify with- it wasn't my mother's book or my little sister's. Looking back, it seemed as though this book opened the genre up not only to me, but to many other readers and the publishing world. 

There were other YA reads before Daly's- Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet could be classified as YA not only because of the age of the protagonists, but let's face, it's got almost every teen drama: parental disapproval, rebellious teens, substance abuse (i.e. 'sleeping' poison), gang fights, and family squabbles, but it may have been mostly read by adults, scholars, and English students. Others considered YA are The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton (1967) which has stood the test of time. Books like the Nancy Drew Mysteries and Hardy Boys Mysteries (40's-50's) ghost written by various authors, Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (1951), and Lord of the Flies by William Golding (1954) were books I never cared about, nor thought about once I read them. Zero impact or love for them. Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews (1979) horrified me with its themes of incest, filicide (parent killing one's child), and child abuse. Never got past the first book.

There are other early YA books, but another pivotal one for me was Go Ask Alice by Beatrice Sparks (1971). I read the book after the movie came out and for me, the book showed me a different possibility for why Alice died. I felt like I was inside her head more while reading the book. The horror of drug addiction made me leery of being around people who used, promoted, or praised drugs. It forever stayed with me. 

I'm grateful for all the authors who contributed to the YA genre mostly because there have always been books for children and adults, and it seemed as though prior to Maureen Daly's book, Young Adults had little to read specifically for them. Now, lines are blurred; adults read YA and have picture books for themselves, older YA readers have the sub genre of New Adult, and really it seems like everyone is reading whatever they wish, but there is still a genre specifically for them. 

And that's the way it should be. 

 

"She Talks to Us Just Like We're Real People"

When I was a teenager, I worked occasionally as a babysitter for three sisters. They were all so sweet and fun that it was hardly like a job at all. Amy, the oldest, especially loved hearing my stories about people at my high school and which boy had asked me out on a date and what I'd said and so on and so forth. Her dad told me that after one night of my stories, Amy told him she and her sisters liked me because, "She talks to us just like we're real people!" 

 I've always held that comment dear to my heart because that was the feeling I got when I discovered Judy Blume books. When I read Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret, I remember thinking, "She gets it. She really gets what it's like to be this age." So when I began to write for tweens, I tried to keep in mind Amy's comments and how I'd felt about Blume's books.

Fast forward to many years later. My father-in-law was on a sailing adventure taking him through Key West. I asked him to stop in at Judy Blume's bookstore if he had the opportunity. He did. AND HE MET HER. Can you imagine?

And because he's the best FIL ever, he brought me back a very special present. Thirteen-year-old me never knew I'd hold such a treasure in my hands! 

 

So here's to Amy, Judy, and Quinn (my father-in-law)...and to writing for kids just like they're real people...because they are.

 

 

Grateful for Judy Blume (Schindler)

 I guess you always remember your first, and this one's mine:

It's a picture book about two siblings, both of whom are absolutely convinced are loved less by their parents. It's simple and it's honest--which is a big part of the reason why so many of us '80s kids have such a strong connection to Blume, I think. 

Not only did I connect with the feelings in the book when I was little, the characters were similar. (Some of this might be a bit different depending on the illustrator for your edition). But the book as a whole was about a little boy, an older sister. (Just like my family.) The girl is depicted playing the piano (I had just started taking lessons). The boy was a rascal who liked to destroy his sister's tower blocks. (Oh, yeah.) They even had a cat. 

I saw myself in that book. It was the first time it had ever happened. Blume knew what it was like to be me. That was a comfort like nothing I'd known before. 

I think often that this is the book that did it--sold me on storytelling. I'll always be grateful that The Pain and the Great One came into my life. Because it very well may have shaped my life. Made me not just a reader but a storyteller as well. 

Reimagine the Holidays: Smack Dab in the Imagination by Dia Calhoun

 This Thanksgiving I am grateful I have an imagination. With COVID-19 and the trouble in our country, this holiday season will be different from all the others. We will not be with family or friends celebrating in traditional ways or places. So this year, I am using all the powers of my imagination to reimagine the holidays.

Here is the first and most important step in doing that. Imagine the 2021 holiday season, the 2022 holiday season, and onward. I will reimagine this holiday season so that (with luck) I can have holidays next year and the next and the next. I must hold fast to the picture of celebrating in those future years so I can have the strength to celebrate this holiday in a different way. That takes imagination, seeing into the future to sacrifice something important to me now, holding the long view.

As a culture, we aren't trained to do this. We want instant gratification. With extroversion being the primary value in our society, we have difficulty imagining how we could celebrate the holidays, just this once, in a more intimate and inner way. I am trying to use my imagination to explore what that looks like. My hope is that it can be a unique experience.

Stay tuned. I will let you know in December how well this goes.

Thankful for These Authors

Authors inspire me, and I am thankful for their dedication to creativity and craft.

Here are several that have left a long and lasting impact on my writing and my life:

Beverly Cleary - Who doesn't love a character like Ramona and all the kids who live on Klickitat Street?  These characters inspire me to find and develop the authentic realness of the characters in my own books.

Kate DiCamillo - Is there a better example of the beauty of words than the ones DiCamillo chooses to tell the story of The Tiger Rising?  I don't think so.  Her heartfelt story meets creative word choice, and I am inspired to endeavor to do the same when I write.

Joan Bauer - Do characters and stories full of hope and courage inspire you?  They inspire me, and Hope Was Here is one of the best!  Bauer's writing takes everyday, real-life characters and tells stories full of heart and soul.

Anne Lamott - Do you ever need encouragement when a task seems too big?  Lamott's Bird by Bird reminds readers that every project, big or small, is accomplished little by little by little.  When I'm in the midst of an overwhelming rough draft or frustrating revision, and I've lost my way, I remember I can do it if I just go "bird by bird."

Martha Alderson - What writer doesn't need reminders about creating compelling plots?  My copy of Alderson's The Plot Whisperer is always nearby, especially when I am beginning a new project.  Her training on craft is not just inspiring, but her expert advice is extremely practical and helps me turn my creative, rough-draft thoughts into workable manuscripts with strong, defined plots.

So this Thanksgiving month, I highlight these authors in a gesture of gratitude and appreciation!  Check out their books, and you'll probably want to thank them too!

Happy Reading & Writing,

Nancy J. Cavanaugh

www.nancyjcavanaugh.com

Do or Do Not: It's Okay

 Emma D. Dryden

I am grateful for these words.

I’ve written about all the ways I try to keep my head in the game. I continue to take classes, read craft books, and just read in general. Take walks. And garden. I also teach. But it can be dispiriting. I confess, there are moments of late that I have no feel for my writing. Then I find myself feeling all sorts of convoluted messiness that I, as a working writer, should write some pages every day. And when I can’t, I feel like perhaps I never will again.

Everyone knows Emma D. Dryden, whom I value as my own Dumbledore. Emma is a long-time indomitable presence in publishing. Working thirty years in the field, she was Vice President, Publisher of Atheneum Books for Young Readers and Margaret K. McElderry Books, imprints of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, a position she held until 2009 when she launched drydenbks.

No one knows more than Emma the ups and downs that each writer faces in pursuit of their craft.

Recently, Emma sent this wisdom. This is my favorite quote of the entire year! It seems so apropos for the struggles we as writers and teachers are facing during these trying times. I thought you may need to hear these encouraging words.

How are you doing, by the way?

--Bobbi Miller

Gratitude and My Grandma -- by Jennifer Mitchell

The topic this month had my mind going in a million different places, I am grateful for so many authors.  Books have transported me to different times and places over the years and each holds a special spot in my heart.  There is something about a true story, especially an autobiography, that always draws me in though.  After reflecting on it I kept coming back to one book/author that I read to my class every year,  Peg Kehret’s book Small Steps:The Year I got Polio.  This book was an accidental find after reading one of Peg Kehert’s fictional books to my class.  As a class we searched for other books written by her, and I stumbled across Small Steps.  I was instantly drawn to this story because my grandma was stricken with Polio as a young child.  For the rest of her life she wore a leg brace, but you would have never known she had a disability, because much like Peg Kehert, she didn’t let her disability define her.  

To me this book is not only a wonderful historical lesson, because children do not have a knowledge base of what Polio is, it is also a wonderful discussion tool for perseverance.  Reading this book gave me a better insight into what my grandma’s struggles must have been like growing up, she was never one to share her difficulties.  I am grateful that Peg Kehret shared how she overcame her own struggles, it shows students that you can accomplish anything even if you have to endure bumps along the way.  

Finding this story eventually led me to sharing it with my grandma, and though she didn’t go in-depth about that part of her life (or struggles), she acknowledged the similarities between what she and Peg both went through.  I am grateful that this book could not only help me understand how Polio affected people’s lives, but also gave me a glimpse into what my grandma lived though as a child.  It was eye opening to realize how complex Polio was, it didn’t just go away after you left the hospital, it had lasting effects for the rest of their lives.  

Each year when I pull this book off the shelf to read to a new group of students I always feel a little bit closer to my grandma knowing that I am sharing a piece of history, and thankful others are no longer afflicted with this disease.   It also gives me plenty of time to share with my students what an amazing lady I had the privilege to call my grandma. Books have the power to help us understand the generations that lived before us, and inspire us to reach for our dreams.

My grandma

Practicing Gratitude by Darlene Beck Jacobson

 Every morning, weather permitting, I begin the day taking a walk around the schoolyard walking path across the street from my neighborhood. Before the noise and rush of the day begins, I take in my surroundings, talk to God and count my blessings.

It is a perfect way for me to practice gratitude. It is also a way for the writer in me to pay attention. There have been many times when I am stuck and can't move forward in a story. So out I go on a walk. It not only clears my head, it opens my eyes and the rest of my senses to possibilities.

Paying attention to what is in my path can open up a whole new world of gratitude, writer's style.

On a walk I took this morning, I discovered these amazing mushroom flowers.

Isn't this a perfect opening for a story? Who would grow mushroom flowers? What kind of creature lives under the umbrella of them? Is this the hidden opening to Wonderland and maybe I should wait here for the Rabbit or Alice to make their appearance.

Take a walk and be grateful for curiosity and imagination.