Kirby Larson's Blog, page 60
November 22, 2011
Read. This. Book.
It has been a long time since I've read such a lively, genuinely funny book. Please don't tell the author, but I think I may love this book even more than I love his Origami Yoda series! Horton is the kitchen boy who cannot break M'lady's extremely unfair rules but when he meets Celia, the wealthy young lady one manor over, all bets are off. In this rollicking tale, smelly stable boys best world renowned detectives, corsets are loosened and much mud and mire is spattered about. A sweeter Series of Unfortunate Events married to Matilda, this book should be placed in the hands of as many readers as possible. This would be the perfect winter holiday read.
Excuse me but I must go reread.
November 18, 2011
Fan Letter Friday
Hard to feel low after reading a letter like this!
November 15, 2011
Open Your Hearts (and Wallets) for Ethiopia Reads
What are you doing December 17? How about joining the fun and festivities to raise money for a new library in Ethiopia? Here's the scoop from Ethiopia Reads:
Help support our goal of raising $25,000 to fund a library and literacy program for a grade school in the Mercato neighborhood of Addis Ababa. Join us for a night of art, travel, books, dinner, and learning. Featured speakers include famed children's author Jane Kurtz, writer of American Girl's Lanie series; Minilik Yewondwossen, an award-winning young poet from Ethiopia; and acclaimed Ethiopian Artist Yadesa Boija, who grew up in the Mercato neighbor and designed the African Union flag.
Great auction items included are a week in a house in Greece, a weekend in an apartment in Paris, a piece of Yadesa's artwork, autographed books by Jane Kurtz (and Kirby Larson!) and much more. Enjoy Ethiopian food while enabling Big Dreams.
Don't live in the Seattle area? No worries! You can celebrate/donate on-line. Easy-peasy.
November 14, 2011
On the Road Again
Winston says, "Don't forget to pack me, Mom!"On Wednesday, I'll be heading for NCTE in Chicago, via Little Rock, Arkansas. Our book, Two Bobbies, won the Arkansas Diamond (Young Readers) Award and Mary Nethery, Jean Cassels and I get to receive this lovely honor in person at the Arkansas Reading Association conference on Thursday. Can I just say how excited I am to experience that amazing Arkansas librarian love and to stay once again at the Peabody Hotel with its charming and famous ducks?
In Chicago, I'll be on a panel with fellow history afficionados, Deborah Hopkinson and Jim Murphy. Our topic: Reading Old Stories and Writing New Stories: Ideas for the Classroom From Authors. Come on Friday, November 18, from 9:30 to 10:45 and get some great tips. I plan to talk about growing story from family history.
Planning to be at NCTE? Let me know -- maybe we can meet up!
November 12, 2011
Fan Letter Fun
When I was doing that Scholastic webcast with Lois Lowry and Andrea Davis Pinkney (and our lovely Dear America editor, Lisa Sandell), Lois mentioned getting fan mail addressed, "Dear Lois Lenski."
As I was walking Winston this morning, I was thinking about that and thinking about authors, living or not, whose fan mail I'd love to receive. If Frank L. Baum had gotten fan mail, don't you think it would be lively? And what about Betty MacDonald, for her Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books?
How about you? What famous fan mail would you like to find in your mailbox?
As I was walking Winston this morning, I was thinking about that and thinking about authors, living or not, whose fan mail I'd love to receive. If Frank L. Baum had gotten fan mail, don't you think it would be lively? And what about Betty MacDonald, for her Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books?
How about you? What famous fan mail would you like to find in your mailbox?
November 11, 2011
November 10, 2011
Revisions
Do you know how many times people shrug in the manuscript I'm revising? Far too many! They also do a lot of wobbling, tugging and don't get me started on my bad habit of inserting "just" just about every other paragraph.
You know I love Scrivener. As I've dived into what I hope is the last (or one of the last) revisions of the present WIP, I've discovered its word frequency tool. I ran that statistic on my 50,000 word ms. and discovered that I used miss 148 times, not 222, and but a whopping 310 times.
That report was fascinating but (!) what ultimately seems most helpful to me are two old tricks of the trade. First, I do a "find" for words I suspect I've overused (like shrugged). When I see them highlighted in yellow, sometimes only paragraphs apart, it makes it easier to find alternatives.
Second, you can't beat reading the manuscript aloud for catching clunkers. So that's what I'll be doing for the next few days. THEN, I'll email the whole shebang off to my incredibly patient editor.
Whew!
You know I love Scrivener. As I've dived into what I hope is the last (or one of the last) revisions of the present WIP, I've discovered its word frequency tool. I ran that statistic on my 50,000 word ms. and discovered that I used miss 148 times, not 222, and but a whopping 310 times.
That report was fascinating but (!) what ultimately seems most helpful to me are two old tricks of the trade. First, I do a "find" for words I suspect I've overused (like shrugged). When I see them highlighted in yellow, sometimes only paragraphs apart, it makes it easier to find alternatives.
Second, you can't beat reading the manuscript aloud for catching clunkers. So that's what I'll be doing for the next few days. THEN, I'll email the whole shebang off to my incredibly patient editor.
Whew!
November 9, 2011
Birthday Girl
Today is a dear writer's friend's birthday. Can you guess who it is from this photo?
Yoo Hoo boat
(Hint: she is crazy about Cafe Francais).
Yoo Hoo boat(Hint: she is crazy about Cafe Francais).
November 8, 2011
A salute to the 442nd
Shiro Kashino earned 6 Purple Hearts and now the Congressional Medal of Honor (posthumously)I often get asked why I wanted to write The Fences Between Us, and about the War Relocation Camps of WWII, and the 120,000 Nikkei who were sent to them.
Here is one answer. You can read the full story about these courageous men here.
November 7, 2011
Thought for the Day
"When people keep telling you that you can't do a thing, you kind of like to try it."
― Margaret Chase Smith
― Margaret Chase Smith
