Kirby Larson's Blog, page 7
November 14, 2014
Friend Friday
Love me some Lorie Ann Grover and so glad to be able to host this dear, long-time friend here today. Her newest book, Hit, is getting all kinds of well-deserved buzz. Read it!
Lori Ann Grover
Thank you for hosting me, Kirby! My, what a journey Hit has taken, first being inspired by a horrid accident in 2004. It was then my daughter’s best friend, Sarah, was hit in the crosswalk in the predawn, walking to her bus stop. Urgent brain surgery followed. At the hospital, we sat with the family as they waited through the long surgery and even longer recovery. Following all the difficulty, it took a few years for a novel to spring from the facts, but it eventually did and was in strong form by 2007.
Originally though, the text was written in verse and was told through six viewpoints. Criticism included the belief young adults wouldn’t tolerate adult perspectives. I still have faith the readers would have been fine, but I went ahead and in following drafts reduced the voices to four. Years were passing during these rewrites, of course. I had significant help from Emma Dryden at Dryden Books and recommend her highly.
A giant, late change came with the suggestion to convert the verse format into prose. Sadly, prose is easier to place, and easier to sell, here and abroad. So I clunked along, converting line by line. I filled the gaps, fleshed out the settings, and shared what my agent calls the movie scenes in my head.
The final major rewrite was to reduce the narrators down to two points of view, Sarah and grad student Haddings. The challenge was to find a way to tell the story when Sarah was unconscious in surgery for a chunk of the plot. I didn’t want to introduce supernatural solutions. My aim was to stay grounded in reality, not allow her to roam the hospital in a spirit form to discover all that was happening with her family.
It took time to find the practical solutions, but they eventually bubbled up. I believe they are credible.It is with satisfaction from long, hard work, generous help from many in the industry, and great blessings that this title is in print. Most marvelous, it is pubbing ten years after Sarah’s accident, now, right after her wedding. Some stories have happy endings after all!
Lorie Ann Grover is an awarded YA novelist and board book author whose work includes Kirkus Prize Nominee Firstborn. As a literacy advocate, she co-founded readergirlz and readertotz. Living in the foothills of Mt. Rainier, Lorie Ann’s currently working on her next novel for Blink YA Books. Find her on Facebook or over at her blog.
Lori Ann GroverThank you for hosting me, Kirby! My, what a journey Hit has taken, first being inspired by a horrid accident in 2004. It was then my daughter’s best friend, Sarah, was hit in the crosswalk in the predawn, walking to her bus stop. Urgent brain surgery followed. At the hospital, we sat with the family as they waited through the long surgery and even longer recovery. Following all the difficulty, it took a few years for a novel to spring from the facts, but it eventually did and was in strong form by 2007.
Originally though, the text was written in verse and was told through six viewpoints. Criticism included the belief young adults wouldn’t tolerate adult perspectives. I still have faith the readers would have been fine, but I went ahead and in following drafts reduced the voices to four. Years were passing during these rewrites, of course. I had significant help from Emma Dryden at Dryden Books and recommend her highly.
A giant, late change came with the suggestion to convert the verse format into prose. Sadly, prose is easier to place, and easier to sell, here and abroad. So I clunked along, converting line by line. I filled the gaps, fleshed out the settings, and shared what my agent calls the movie scenes in my head.
The final major rewrite was to reduce the narrators down to two points of view, Sarah and grad student Haddings. The challenge was to find a way to tell the story when Sarah was unconscious in surgery for a chunk of the plot. I didn’t want to introduce supernatural solutions. My aim was to stay grounded in reality, not allow her to roam the hospital in a spirit form to discover all that was happening with her family.
It took time to find the practical solutions, but they eventually bubbled up. I believe they are credible.It is with satisfaction from long, hard work, generous help from many in the industry, and great blessings that this title is in print. Most marvelous, it is pubbing ten years after Sarah’s accident, now, right after her wedding. Some stories have happy endings after all!
Lorie Ann Grover is an awarded YA novelist and board book author whose work includes Kirkus Prize Nominee Firstborn. As a literacy advocate, she co-founded readergirlz and readertotz. Living in the foothills of Mt. Rainier, Lorie Ann’s currently working on her next novel for Blink YA Books. Find her on Facebook or over at her blog.
November 12, 2014
Wednesday Wisdom
Every great mistake has a halfway moment, a split second when it can be recalled and perhaps remedied.
Pearl S. Buck
Pearl S. Buck
November 11, 2014
Teacher Tuesday
Today's good sport is Amanda Furman, who teaches elementary English as a Second Language in rural Virginia. She blogs (when she remembers to!) here and her class blog can be found here.
Amanda, please fill in the blank:You should never read and (blank) at the same time.
You should never read and walk the dog at the same time.
If you were invited to be on Oprah, what book would you bring for her to read?
Wonder by RJ Palacio
What is the funniest book you’ve read? The Georgia Nicholson series by Louise Rennison. Laugh out loud, make sure you aren't in public funny!
What is the saddest?
A tie between Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Favorite reading snack/beverage? I usually don't eat/drink and read at the same time, but if I did, it would be a Pepsi and probably pretzels. Something that wouldn't get my pages all smudgy, like Doritos.
What’s next on your TBR list?
I don't even want to look! My personal pile is growing by the day! However, next up with my 4th graders is Captain Underpants. I'm not sure about the other grades!
Teachers, librarians, reading coaches, principals, custodians, lunch ladies, anyone with school connections: Please play along! Email me here and I'll get you the questions so you, too, can be featured on Teacher Tuesday.
Amanda, please fill in the blank:You should never read and (blank) at the same time.
You should never read and walk the dog at the same time.
If you were invited to be on Oprah, what book would you bring for her to read?
Wonder by RJ Palacio
What is the funniest book you’ve read? The Georgia Nicholson series by Louise Rennison. Laugh out loud, make sure you aren't in public funny!
What is the saddest?
A tie between Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Favorite reading snack/beverage? I usually don't eat/drink and read at the same time, but if I did, it would be a Pepsi and probably pretzels. Something that wouldn't get my pages all smudgy, like Doritos.
What’s next on your TBR list?
I don't even want to look! My personal pile is growing by the day! However, next up with my 4th graders is Captain Underpants. I'm not sure about the other grades!
Teachers, librarians, reading coaches, principals, custodians, lunch ladies, anyone with school connections: Please play along! Email me here and I'll get you the questions so you, too, can be featured on Teacher Tuesday.
November 7, 2014
Friend Friday
Michelle Houts is one amazing person and one amazing writer. We shared an editor many moons ago and got to meet face-to-face when I visited Ohio a few years back; it felt like we'd known each other forever. I've been so tickled to see her career flourish; though the post below is about her book Winterfrost, please don't miss her other new release, Kammie on First: Baseball's Dottie Kamenshek.
Michelle Houts
What do you believe in? Are you one of those “seeing is believing” people? Or is it easy for you to believe in that which you cannot see?
Faries. Ghosts. Miracles. Angels. Nisse?
When I lived in Denmark a long time ago, I heard wonderful tales of tiny gnomes, called nisse. While the nisse inhabit the Danish farms and forests year-round, they are quite celebrated during the holidays. On Christmas Eve, they are always remembered with a steaming bowl of rice pudding left for their enjoyment. And, for this simple kindness, the nisse will remain loyal all year, quietly looking after the animals of the farm or the forest.
When a writer hears such a story, she almost always asks, “What if?”
What if a family forgets the rice pudding? What if the neglected nisse became unhappy?
In Winterfrost, my newest middle-grade novel, Bettina must contemplate what she believes when her family’s Christmas Eve dinner is interrupted and important traditions are forgotten. Within hours, nothing is as it should be. Her parents are gone, everything in the barn is in chaos, and Bettina’s baby sister is missing. Bettina had once believed in nisse. When she was younger. But most of the adults in her life had long denied their existence. Except Farfar, Bettina’s beloved grandfather. But Farfar was no longer around to help Bettina sort out the mess she’d created.
As Bettina finds herself in the middle of an amazing winter adventure, she’s asked to believe in things she’d never thought possible. She learns that often faith and trust walk hand-in-hand with believing. And she chooses to believe in hopes of finding her baby sister and bringing her safely home.
So, what do you believe in?
Faries. Ghosts. Miracles. Angels. Nisse?
In the end, believing isn’t always seeing, hearing, or touching. Sometimes it’s not even knowing. In the end, it’s choosing. Like Bettina, sometimes we must choose to believe in that which we cannot see, hear, or touch.
And, very often, those choices lead us to the most wonderful places.
Michelle Houts fell in love with the nisse folk more than twenty years ago while living in Denmark, where she became fascinated with their tales of mischief and fun. Her Danish friends continue to share nisse stories and an occasional sighting. Michelle Houts lives on a farm in Ohio. She is the author of four books for middle-grade readers. Visit Michelle here.
Michelle Houts
What do you believe in? Are you one of those “seeing is believing” people? Or is it easy for you to believe in that which you cannot see?
Faries. Ghosts. Miracles. Angels. Nisse?
When I lived in Denmark a long time ago, I heard wonderful tales of tiny gnomes, called nisse. While the nisse inhabit the Danish farms and forests year-round, they are quite celebrated during the holidays. On Christmas Eve, they are always remembered with a steaming bowl of rice pudding left for their enjoyment. And, for this simple kindness, the nisse will remain loyal all year, quietly looking after the animals of the farm or the forest.
When a writer hears such a story, she almost always asks, “What if?”
What if a family forgets the rice pudding? What if the neglected nisse became unhappy?
In Winterfrost, my newest middle-grade novel, Bettina must contemplate what she believes when her family’s Christmas Eve dinner is interrupted and important traditions are forgotten. Within hours, nothing is as it should be. Her parents are gone, everything in the barn is in chaos, and Bettina’s baby sister is missing. Bettina had once believed in nisse. When she was younger. But most of the adults in her life had long denied their existence. Except Farfar, Bettina’s beloved grandfather. But Farfar was no longer around to help Bettina sort out the mess she’d created.
As Bettina finds herself in the middle of an amazing winter adventure, she’s asked to believe in things she’d never thought possible. She learns that often faith and trust walk hand-in-hand with believing. And she chooses to believe in hopes of finding her baby sister and bringing her safely home.
So, what do you believe in?
Faries. Ghosts. Miracles. Angels. Nisse?
In the end, believing isn’t always seeing, hearing, or touching. Sometimes it’s not even knowing. In the end, it’s choosing. Like Bettina, sometimes we must choose to believe in that which we cannot see, hear, or touch.
And, very often, those choices lead us to the most wonderful places.
Michelle Houts fell in love with the nisse folk more than twenty years ago while living in Denmark, where she became fascinated with their tales of mischief and fun. Her Danish friends continue to share nisse stories and an occasional sighting. Michelle Houts lives on a farm in Ohio. She is the author of four books for middle-grade readers. Visit Michelle here.
November 5, 2014
Wednesday Wisdom
We can only do well the things we like doing.
Collette
Collette
November 4, 2014
Teacher Tuesday
Melissa McNamara is a substitute teacher in Endicott, NY and would love to be a full time teacher -- some school should snap her up quick! In the meantime, she gamely agreed to be today's Teacher Tuesday guest.
Melissa, please fill in the blank:
You should never read and (blank) at the same time.
You should never read and mow the grass at the same time.
If you were invited to be on Oprah, would book would you bring for her to read?
I would bring Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs for her to read.
What is the funniest book you've ever read?
The funniest book I have read is Clementine.
What is the saddest?
The saddest book I have read is Among the Hidden, the first book in the Shadow Children series.
Favorite reading snack/beverage?
My favorite reading snack is fruit snack and I like to drink water when I read.
What's next on your TBR pile?
I have a stack of books piled up on my ‘to-be-read’ table, but I will continue reading the Shadow Children series (7 total).
Teachers, librarians, reading coaches, principals, custodians, lunch ladies, anyone with school connections: Please play along! Email me here and I'll get you the questions so you, too, can be featured on Teacher Tuesday.
Melissa, please fill in the blank:
You should never read and (blank) at the same time.
You should never read and mow the grass at the same time.
If you were invited to be on Oprah, would book would you bring for her to read?
I would bring Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs for her to read.
What is the funniest book you've ever read?
The funniest book I have read is Clementine.
What is the saddest?
The saddest book I have read is Among the Hidden, the first book in the Shadow Children series.
Favorite reading snack/beverage?
My favorite reading snack is fruit snack and I like to drink water when I read.
What's next on your TBR pile?
I have a stack of books piled up on my ‘to-be-read’ table, but I will continue reading the Shadow Children series (7 total).
Teachers, librarians, reading coaches, principals, custodians, lunch ladies, anyone with school connections: Please play along! Email me here and I'll get you the questions so you, too, can be featured on Teacher Tuesday.
November 1, 2014
Tennessee!
I am recently back from a quick trip to Tennessee with my BFF and writing partner, Mary Nethery. We spent a wonderful day with the students and staff at Winstead Elementary (thank you, Dawn Wright!) where one of the many highlights was lunch with 6 chatty and confident girls whose parents had bid on the "prize" of having lunch with the authors. After meeting those wonderful young ladies, I feel very confident our future is in good hands.
When our Winstead visit was over, we were carried to the Embassy Suites in Murfreesboro (note to non-Tennesseans: it's pronounced Murphysboro; who knew!). After an amazing dinner at Peter D's, Mary and I headed back to the hotel to practice our presentations. Here's the deal: the two of us rarely get the chance to present together. So presentations that look great on paper need tweaking when it's time to actually go live.
That night, we managed to stay up clear til 8:30 (give us a break; we were on West Coast time!).
I don't know if we could have asked for a more gracious audience for our first presentation Friday morning. I think "kind" is the perfect synonym for "Tennessee Librarian." Kind and understanding -- when a long line still remained at the end of our signing, those sweet librarians agreed to come back after our second presentation. And they did! In the same order. Talk about Southern manners.
That night, Mary and I managed to calm our nerves to deliver a joint keynote talk, spelling out the joys and challenges of creating the Volunteer State Award winning book, Nubs. Someday, we should put that whole story in writing. Suffice it to say, we persevered.
Photo credit: Sharon Draper
We love Tennessee!
To my author friends: My dearest wish is that you, too, someday win a Volunteer State award so you can also experience the love and appreciation of the wonderful librarians of TASL. And to the amazing librarians of TASL: thank you, thank you, thank you.
And Nubs says woof, woof.
When our Winstead visit was over, we were carried to the Embassy Suites in Murfreesboro (note to non-Tennesseans: it's pronounced Murphysboro; who knew!). After an amazing dinner at Peter D's, Mary and I headed back to the hotel to practice our presentations. Here's the deal: the two of us rarely get the chance to present together. So presentations that look great on paper need tweaking when it's time to actually go live.
That night, we managed to stay up clear til 8:30 (give us a break; we were on West Coast time!).
I don't know if we could have asked for a more gracious audience for our first presentation Friday morning. I think "kind" is the perfect synonym for "Tennessee Librarian." Kind and understanding -- when a long line still remained at the end of our signing, those sweet librarians agreed to come back after our second presentation. And they did! In the same order. Talk about Southern manners.
That night, Mary and I managed to calm our nerves to deliver a joint keynote talk, spelling out the joys and challenges of creating the Volunteer State Award winning book, Nubs. Someday, we should put that whole story in writing. Suffice it to say, we persevered.
Photo credit: Sharon Draper
We love Tennessee!To my author friends: My dearest wish is that you, too, someday win a Volunteer State award so you can also experience the love and appreciation of the wonderful librarians of TASL. And to the amazing librarians of TASL: thank you, thank you, thank you.
And Nubs says woof, woof.
October 31, 2014
Friend Friday
I met Lynn Brunelle on a plane a few years back when we were both headed to BEA. We exchanged cards and the promise to go to coffee but life intervened. Then Lynn popped up at the dinner lovely hostess Suzanne Selfors hosted in my honor at her home in August and I learned that Lynn was just about to launch a new book. (I also learned that black pepper, on a plate, is a great wasp deterrent; thanks, Lynn!) So of course I wanted to celebrate her; she agreed to be today's guest blogger. Go, Lynn!
Lynn Brunelle
Boo! I have always loved Halloween. I love the costumes, the night, and the candy. Gotta love the candy, but only specific kinds. Like the holiday itself, I am drawn to the darkest of chocolates with something unseen and unexpected underneath. Mostly I like the surprises. The shocks. I love carving pumpkins—turning something familiar like a pumpkin into something unanticipated. I love the fall air and the turning of leaves and the dried up piles of them scratching along the sidewalk and collecting against curbs and tree trunks. I like spooky ghost stories, dry ice fog, fake blood and spicy mulled cider. As a kid I would construct elaborate costumes. Once I was a tightly wound mummy, which left me breathless. Another year I was a bag of jellybeans. That was bad because I couldn’t go to the bathroom without liberating my beans. Once I made a giant column out of chicken wire covered with papier-mâché. I used newspaper headlines as vertical lines to indicate fluting around the column. I was a newspaper column! Another year I was invited to a surprise party for a friend whose birthday was on Halloween. I wore all black and then wound fuzzy yellow boas around my neck, waist and hips. I had wings and a tiara. I was a queen bee.When I got to the party, the door opened was greeted with a room full of laughter. No one else was dressed up except one French maid and a Dungeons-and-Dragons guy who greeted me merrily from the far side of the room. They were very happy someone else came dressed up.It was a Halloween shock and surprise of a different sort. “Didn’t I tell you it was costume optional?” my friend said.What is it with Halloween? I am loathe to give it up. This is a good thing because for a writer like me, it’s always Halloween! Every day I launch into something scary. I push back the chattering of voices that whisper and howl of worries and possible rejections and disapprovals. I light my tiny candle in my crazy pumpkin and shine out into that night. And just like Halloween it scares me, but I love it. If not for the fear of it, the reality would not be nearly as surprising and thrilling.
A four-time Emmy Award-winning writer for "Bill Nye the Science Guy," Lynn Brunelle has over 25 years experience writing for people of all ages, across all manner of media. Previously a classroom science, English and art teacher for kids K-12, an editor, illustrator, and award-winning author of over 45 titles, Lynn has created, developed and written projects for Chronicle, Workman, National Geographic, Scholastic, Random House, Penguin, A&E, The Discovery Channel, Disney, ABC TV, NPR, The Annenburg Foundation, World Almanac, Cranium and PBS.
A regular contributor to Martha Stewart Radio as a family activity consultant and a regular contributor to NPR's Science Friday, she is the creator of Tabletop Science—videos that make science fun and accessible. She has also written for several children’s and parenting magazines. She is a member of the Seattle 7 Writer’s group and is active in teaching and raising literacy.
Her newest book, a memoir called Mama Gone Geek, was released this month from Roost/Shambhala Press.
Lynn BrunelleBoo! I have always loved Halloween. I love the costumes, the night, and the candy. Gotta love the candy, but only specific kinds. Like the holiday itself, I am drawn to the darkest of chocolates with something unseen and unexpected underneath. Mostly I like the surprises. The shocks. I love carving pumpkins—turning something familiar like a pumpkin into something unanticipated. I love the fall air and the turning of leaves and the dried up piles of them scratching along the sidewalk and collecting against curbs and tree trunks. I like spooky ghost stories, dry ice fog, fake blood and spicy mulled cider. As a kid I would construct elaborate costumes. Once I was a tightly wound mummy, which left me breathless. Another year I was a bag of jellybeans. That was bad because I couldn’t go to the bathroom without liberating my beans. Once I made a giant column out of chicken wire covered with papier-mâché. I used newspaper headlines as vertical lines to indicate fluting around the column. I was a newspaper column! Another year I was invited to a surprise party for a friend whose birthday was on Halloween. I wore all black and then wound fuzzy yellow boas around my neck, waist and hips. I had wings and a tiara. I was a queen bee.When I got to the party, the door opened was greeted with a room full of laughter. No one else was dressed up except one French maid and a Dungeons-and-Dragons guy who greeted me merrily from the far side of the room. They were very happy someone else came dressed up.It was a Halloween shock and surprise of a different sort. “Didn’t I tell you it was costume optional?” my friend said.What is it with Halloween? I am loathe to give it up. This is a good thing because for a writer like me, it’s always Halloween! Every day I launch into something scary. I push back the chattering of voices that whisper and howl of worries and possible rejections and disapprovals. I light my tiny candle in my crazy pumpkin and shine out into that night. And just like Halloween it scares me, but I love it. If not for the fear of it, the reality would not be nearly as surprising and thrilling.
A four-time Emmy Award-winning writer for "Bill Nye the Science Guy," Lynn Brunelle has over 25 years experience writing for people of all ages, across all manner of media. Previously a classroom science, English and art teacher for kids K-12, an editor, illustrator, and award-winning author of over 45 titles, Lynn has created, developed and written projects for Chronicle, Workman, National Geographic, Scholastic, Random House, Penguin, A&E, The Discovery Channel, Disney, ABC TV, NPR, The Annenburg Foundation, World Almanac, Cranium and PBS.
A regular contributor to Martha Stewart Radio as a family activity consultant and a regular contributor to NPR's Science Friday, she is the creator of Tabletop Science—videos that make science fun and accessible. She has also written for several children’s and parenting magazines. She is a member of the Seattle 7 Writer’s group and is active in teaching and raising literacy.
Her newest book, a memoir called Mama Gone Geek, was released this month from Roost/Shambhala Press.
October 30, 2014
Thoughts for Thursday
I don't often get personal on my blog, but am taking time today for a little public service announcement.
This is my darling mom. She raised 4 kids (5 if you count my dad) and worked the whole time I was growing up. Though she is extremely gifted with words (a letter or card from her is a treasure), most of her jobs involved numbers; I might not have her resume completely right, but I think she worked for the gas company here in Seattle, as well as a company called Allied Electronics. When our family moved to Bellingham in 1971, she went to work for Sears.
Mom was really, really good at her job. She is patient and precise and very detail-oriented, aside from being kind. (In the sexist 70s, there was no thought of promoting her, but Sears did "allow" her to train the men who would become her managers. That's stuff for another post.) She was also incredibly dedicated. So dedicated that, when she sat at her desk one day and saw big black floaters in her eye and flashing lights, she didn't go to the ER or even to the eye doctor. She finished out her day.
The upshot of that choice is that my mom lost vision in her affected eye due to a retinal detachment. Back then, there were fewer treatment options and the surgery she underwent only messed things up more. So for the past 30+ years, she's been legally blind, seeing only shadows and shapes. Not that you would ever know that! She didn't let visual challenges keep her from cross-stitching tiny baby bonnet Christmas ornaments for each of her 9 grandchildren. She still reads, with a big magnifying lamp. And I've never once heard her complain.
As we age, our eyes do change. If you are over 50, and you are near-sighted, you are more susceptible to vitreous tears (I should know -- I have one myself). And not all vitreous tears lead to retinal detachments, as happened with my mom. BUT, if you see dark floaters in your eyes, especially those looking like a rain shower and/or flashes of light, don't mess around. Call your ophthalmologist right away. Or get to urgent care.
Mom says so.
This is my darling mom. She raised 4 kids (5 if you count my dad) and worked the whole time I was growing up. Though she is extremely gifted with words (a letter or card from her is a treasure), most of her jobs involved numbers; I might not have her resume completely right, but I think she worked for the gas company here in Seattle, as well as a company called Allied Electronics. When our family moved to Bellingham in 1971, she went to work for Sears.
Mom was really, really good at her job. She is patient and precise and very detail-oriented, aside from being kind. (In the sexist 70s, there was no thought of promoting her, but Sears did "allow" her to train the men who would become her managers. That's stuff for another post.) She was also incredibly dedicated. So dedicated that, when she sat at her desk one day and saw big black floaters in her eye and flashing lights, she didn't go to the ER or even to the eye doctor. She finished out her day.
The upshot of that choice is that my mom lost vision in her affected eye due to a retinal detachment. Back then, there were fewer treatment options and the surgery she underwent only messed things up more. So for the past 30+ years, she's been legally blind, seeing only shadows and shapes. Not that you would ever know that! She didn't let visual challenges keep her from cross-stitching tiny baby bonnet Christmas ornaments for each of her 9 grandchildren. She still reads, with a big magnifying lamp. And I've never once heard her complain.
As we age, our eyes do change. If you are over 50, and you are near-sighted, you are more susceptible to vitreous tears (I should know -- I have one myself). And not all vitreous tears lead to retinal detachments, as happened with my mom. BUT, if you see dark floaters in your eyes, especially those looking like a rain shower and/or flashes of light, don't mess around. Call your ophthalmologist right away. Or get to urgent care.
Mom says so.
October 29, 2014
Wednesday Wisdom
It is in our idleness, in our dreams, that the submerged truth sometimes comes to the top.
Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf
