Cynthia Lord's Blog, page 49

Sigh

This guy is living under my backyard shed. Having gotten the skunks to move on last spring, now I have a woodchuck! He is as big as my dog, Milo. I see trouble ahead! 

Teachers Write Camp

Today, I'm a guest author at Kate Messner's Teachers Write Camp on her blog. I talk about teaching kids to plot.

Sunday

I'm working hard to get my novel in shape to send to my critique partners in time for our next meeting. I need to get it to them a week from tomorrow to give them a week to read--which seems doable.

I've hit 122 pages, so I'm getting in the ballpark for length. Rules was about 145 manuscript pages and Touch Blue was about 130.  So I should have no problem getting this one into that range.  Lots of authors have to cut pages to pull their novels into a good length, but that's never going to be my problem!  I struggle to make them long enough! 

But before I plunge back into work, I'm going to spend a moment with this restful photo my husband took recently. 
Breathe in. . . .


Port Clyde, Maine. Photo by my husband, John

Breathe out.

The Mini-Wolf

Surveying his kingdom of butterflies and bumblebees.

Five Things on a Friday

Lake Umbagog, New Hampshire

1.  I've been enjoying the Olympics every night.  Who knew volleyball had so many variations?!

2.  I was pleased to see Rules was a recommended book on Oprah.com It's a list created by ALA, but still, how fun to say "my book" and "Oprah" in the same sentence!

3.  It's August. It was very hard to turn that calendar page. I don't want  the summer to end.

4.  I cried working on the end of my book yesterday.  That's a good sign. Powerful emotion in me means a better chance of it being powerful reading. I've been dreading those hard near-the-end chapters. But in order to rise, first you have to fall. 

5.  There's one week left of "Teacher's Write," writing camp over at Kate Messner's blog. I have two lessons next week. On Monday and Wednesday, I'll be talking about how to teach kids to plot stories.   When I do writing workshops with kids, I find that's the element they struggle the most with. They don't generally have trouble creating interesting characters and rich worlds, but they do often have a hard time setting up the story, continuing it with increasing tension, and paying it off. So that's what I'll be talking about.

Lake Umbagog, New Hampshire and Maine

John and I had the chance to take our boat tour yesterday to Lake Umbagog, which sits on the border between northern New Hampshire and western Maine.  One of the scenes in my next children's novel is set on a pontoon boat, so I hunted up opportunities for me to spend a few hours on one, taking notes.  



The weather started off rainy and wet, but it cleared off before we even got to the boat.



Lake Umbagog is a National Willdlife Refuge, so there are very few camps and cabins and lots of wildlife.  We saw eagles, loons, herons, geese, ducks, and lots of little birds.  We were hoping to see a moose, and it's definitely moose territory.  But they come and go on their own terms and they stayed in the woods yesterday.



We saw four bald eagles: two adults and two juveniles.

At one point, we had a loon family with us. The male swam on one side of the boat and the female and the baby were on the other.  They called back and forth to each other, checking in because they couldn't see each other. It was hauntingly beautiful.



I took pages and pages of notes about the boat and how loud people have to talk to be heard over the engine and how the wind feels. 


And how the clouds mirrored in the lake race with the spray.

It was not only a fun trip, but a productive one, too. 


Thanks to Eric at ELC Rafting for a great day! 

Wordless Wednesday

Tenants Harbor, Maine. Photo by my husband, John

Ferry Beach

Every summer we take my son with autism on a small vacation, geared just for him.

Today, we did my son's view of a perfect vacation day:

The mall where we go in every electronics store
Ferry Beach to walk in the ocean,
The library to use the computers and look at books
And finally John took him to a flea market.

Add in pizza, ice cream, and cable TV with a bazillion channels and a pool at the hotel, and that's my son's idea of heaven.

Oh, the shame!

Milo says: I barked most ferociously at the evil mailman yesterday to keep him from touching our mailbox, and he had the NERVE to lean over the fence, smile, and say to me, "Hey, cutie!"

Grrrrrrowl.

Five Things on a Friday

Brunswick, Maine. Photo by my husband, John

1. Alas, my trip yesterday got postponed due to the weather. John and I were already in the car when we got that call, so instead we went to a Maine state park that neither of us had ever been to. It was cloudy but pretty, too. We've rescheduled our boat trip for Wednesday. Fingers crossed!

2. In the Eyecare about Reading Book Drive sponsored by VSP Vision, you can win a signed copy of Deborah Diesen's award-winning The Pout-Pout Fish or the The Pout-Pout Fish in the Big Dark. Just promise to take care of your eyes on their Book Drive tab this week, and you’re automatically entered!

3.  Our garden herbs have been wonderful this year. A few days ago, our whole kitchen smelled of basil. 

4.  For the past two years, I've had a book released in August. It's always wonderful to have a book released, but it's also nice not to have that crazy marketing energy and event schedule this summer.  Summer feels so much longer this year.

5.  I think I have a new title for this novel I'm working on. Titles are one of the worst parts of writing books for me!  I typed it on the manuscript and I'm going to live with it for a few weeks and see if "sticks."