Cynthia Lord's Blog, page 41

Five on a Friday

1.  This cardinal was outside in my arbor yesterday. I think he was sheltering from the wind while he watched for his chance at the birdfeeder.

2.  I loved these photos from a school in Maine where one of the children's dads came in and read Hot Rod Hamster to his daughter's class. 

3.  I gave in and wore my winter coat, boots, hat, and gloves yesterday. 

4.   I started buying food for Thanksgiving. Many years ago, I had a dream that I forgot it was Thanksgiving and all I had in the cupboard was Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. In the dream, I had to serve that to everyone who came to my house.  So every Thanksgiving, I try to make sure that dream doesn't come true!

5.  I'm starting the next phase of my revisions today.  I needed a few days off to do family things and prepare for my school visits next week, but I'm anxious to get back to work on my book today. 

*Snow*

We woke up to snow this morning. Milo went outside and spun doughnuts in my front yard. .

Wordless Wednesday

[image error]

Voting Today!

Photo by my husband, John

Even though I'm really tired of the campaigns and everything that surrounds them, I woke up excited to walk into my polling place and vote today.

Revising

Yesterday I reached the end of my first pass through this revision. I did all the things I could do quickly and wrote everything else that I needed to think about or that didn't come easily or that deserved better than my first thoughts on a Post-it for the second pass.  I have a lot of Post-its, but now having seen every one of my editor's comments and questions and suggestions, I'm excited to deepen and strenghten and tie together the things that are still to be done.  It all seems like hard work, but doable.

Now I have to work between my November and December school visits, but it'll be one chapter a day, each day I can work. 

When she saw my duckie collection for Rules, my editor said, "You should start a loon collection for Loonsong." 



I already have. 

Kate and Nate are Runnning Late!

My friend (and editor and neighbor!) Kate Egan's  new book Kate and Nate are Running Late came in the mail to me yesterday. Here I am reading it to the only 4 year old at my house.

[image error]
Milo says, "I love this part! The dog eats a whole waffle!"


"But wait!  They leave the dog home?! You didn't tell me this was a SCARY story!" Milo says.

[image error]
Milo says, "But Mommy, if 'Kate and Nate are Running Late,' maybe they should just say 'Oh well' and stay home with their cute dog?" 

"Just wait and see, Milo. It all comes out funny and right in the end."

A big hit at our house, and Kate's book received a lovely New York Times review, too! 

Five Things on a Friday

Androscoggin River after Hurricane Sandy, Topsham, Maine. Photo by my husband, John

1.  We came through Hurricane Sandy at our house with just some branches down, which was very lucky compared to so many people in the Northeast.  My heart goes out to them and to all the people who are helping to put those areas back together.

2.  I've been working hard on my revision. I start up with school visits again in a little more than a week, so my goal is to get through my first revision pass by the middle of next week. 

3. I had a great meeting with my critique partners last night and we went over the reader I had written. They were glowingly positive, so I'm sending it to my agent today.

4. Yesterday, I was thinking about this essay I wrote back in 2008.  The Concept of November.

5..  When I give Cookie a treat, I like to hide it to give him a little stimulation. 

  I smell something good.


   There it is!


   Come to me, apple!

   SUCCESS!

November Events

 


Gunn Brook, Greenfield, Massachusetts. Photo by my husband, John


Tuesday, November 13, School visit, Milbridge Elementary School, Milbridge, Maine

Friday, November 16, School visit, Burgess Elementary School, Sturbridge, Massachusetts

Thursday, November 29--Friday, November 30, School visit, Rumford Elementary School, Rumford, Maine

Happy Halloween!

Back Bay, Porltand, Maine. Photo by my husand, John

Happy Halloween!

Revising

At school visits, I often tell kids that the worst part of a big revision is right before you start it. That's when it feels like a huge, scary, maybe-beyond-you, overwhelming thing.

But after you begin, you see that the one big thing is actually a long chain of small ones.  I suspect that's true of most big projects.

When I'm past the point of receiving an editorial letter and my pages come back full of comments, my process is that I do every easy suggestion and change first. As I'm going through the pages, if I can't immediately make the change or suggestion, I rewrite what my editor said on a Post-it and stick it on that page and leave it there for my subconscious to work on while I continue forward.  I say to myself, "I will deal with this, but not now." That keeps me moving ahead.

Then when I reach the end, I print out the draft with all those easy things already dealt with. I transfer the Post-its to the new draft on the pages where they belong, and then I go through the book again, just dealing with those fewer harder things.

Yesterday I took that first step and worked my way through three chapters, turning that one big thing into a chain of small ones. And so far, I've only used three Post-its.