Cynthia Lord's Blog, page 66

Go, Hamster!

Photo from Flicker

Thank you to the librarians of Iowa for nominating Hot Rod Hamster for the Goldfinch Award!  And my contracts arrived for the third Hamster book yesterday.  Yay, Hamster! Three books means it's officially a series!

NESCBWI

Photo by my husband, John

This year's New England Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators conference  is Friday, April 20, 2012 - Sunday, April 22, 2012 in Springfield, Massachusetts, but registration begins on January 23. As always, there are many great speakers and programs.  The schedule of workshops can be found here.

I'm speaking on Saturday, April 21 on a panel about second books and writing through (and sometimes, in spite of!) expectations with amazing author Linda Urban and Editorial Director at Harcourt Jeannette Larson.

Here's part of our workshop blurb:

Both Cynthia Lord and Linda Urban were surprised by the success of their first novels -- Cindy's book, Rules, received a Newbery Honor, after all, and Linda's A Crooked Kind of Perfect landed on more than 20 state award lists. Great, right? Well, yes, it was great. But how to write a second book after that? How to live up to expectations -- both real and imagined. Cindy and Linda will talk about their experiences working on their second novels (Touch Blue and Hound Dog True) and editor Jeannette Larson will join them to discuss the real expectations a publisher might have when it comes to putting out your second novel.
[Fiction, MG/YA, Intermediate/Experienced]

I will probably only stay Friday night and come home Saturday night, but I hope I'll get the chance to see those of you who are also coming! 

The View From . . . .

I use lots of different research materials when I'm writing a novel. Sometimes I even use webcams that show places at or near my book's setting. A few times every a day, I click the site. 

It's a nice reminder how the weather changes in a real place and to reflect those changes in my books.  For the novel I'm working on now, some of the webcams I check are on the top of Mt. Washington in New Hampshire. 60% of the time, this mountaintop is in the clouds, but every now and then:



There's the gift of a real moment. 

A Big Surprise

Well, I had a big surprise this week. (Mom and Dad, please sit down).  I was out in the yard, putting some things away in the garage, when John yelled to me that I had an important phone call.

It was from the US State Department.  The man told me that the US Embassy in Belarus had requested me to do a week of events with them.  Apparently our State Dept. occasionally sends artists, performers, writers, speakers, etc. to other countries to participate in various events, and our embassy in Belarus showcases American books at the Minsk International Book Fair.

The UN has recently been very active in discussing the rights of people with disabilities, and Rules has just been published in Russian. So they wanted to showcase American children's books about tolerance and disability. They are buying 500 copies of Rules in Russian to give away at the book fair, and they asked me to come speak at the fair and then at libraries and with a group of local professionals and parents of special needs children.

You can probably imagine how surprised I was. "Wow. I really have to talk to my family about this," I said.

I do a lot of speaking and traveling, but I'm also a small-town girl and this is a big stretch. It took some serious thought and weighing what will be hard against what will be wonderful, and how it will be for my family to be without me for a week.  And I have a picture book and a novel that I need to get done this month. 

But in the end, my books are going well, and the things that will be hard will be over in a week, and the things that will be wonderful will last a long time.  My family said yes, and my country hasn't asked very much of me, certainly nothing compared to what some other families have given, and I thought about that, too. 

And what tipped it for me was going to one of the websites of the organizations for families in Belarus who have children with disabilities and looking at the photos of the kids and families and the events and feeling that familiarity. They look like families here. We love our children and want the best for them. ALL of them. 

So mid-February, I'm going to take a deep breath (and probably many deep breaths!) and do my very best to be a good representative of American children's book creators and families with disabled children.

And don't worry too much, Mom and Dad.  They know I'm not a greatly experienced world traveler. I made that abundantly clear, and my contact assures me they will be with me from the moment I walk out of Customs until they deliver me back at Security. "You'll be sick of us!" he promised. 

"Good!" I said.

My brother-in-law is in government and he's sending me information and business travel tips for Belarus, and my agent contacted the Russian publisher of Rules, and Scholastic offered to help me, too. So I have quite a few people giving me help and good information. And now that I've made the commitment to go, I'm feeling excited to see a part of the world I never dreamed I'd ever see.

Here's a little slideshow of scenes of Minsk. The first slides you see (the ball-like building and the following) are of The Minsk Public Library where I'll be speaking.

Out the Window

One of the windows in my writing shed overlooks an old wooden swingset we bought when the kids were little. We have one swing still hanging there for the rare times when my son still likes to go outside at night and swing. But I've hung birdfeeders on the other hooks now. 

So it's fun to look up from my laptop and see birds--or more often, these guys:

   
Hellooooooo?

    The main character of my novel is a photographer, so I've practiced some photo techniques with them--for example, not centering a subject sometimes makes for a more dynamic photo.

    Rule of Thirds. Imagine a Tic-tac-toe grid over the photo. If you place a subject where one of those four imaginary lines cross, it can make for a more interesting photo.  Here, the squirrel's face is close to where the top left intersection would be. 

    Sometimes you just want it smack-in-the-middle centered though.  He looks so FAT this way:  Jabba the Squirrel!

  Okay, now you're just showing off, Mr. Squirrel!



And here's what they're after:

Wordless Wednesday

Photography Show

My husband has a photography exhibit at the South Portland Public Library in South Portland, Maine right now.  And he has a photo in the January edition of "Maine" magazine.  It's a nice way to begin 2012. :-)

Welcome, 2012

Things do not change; we change ~Henry David Thoreau


Maine coast. Photo by my husband, John

2012 will be a year with many changes for me: professionally, family-wise, and personally. This quote reminds me to let myself be open to the changes that will come inside me with each one.

Goodbye, 2011

I finished a pass through my new novel yesterday. I have a "deepening and details" revision ahead of me before I share it with anyone, but it feels good to reach that last page every time. 

Skowhegan Writers (and an imaginary boy from Kentucky)

Downtown Skowhegan

Yesterday, I had a great day in Skowhegan, Maine.  Angie, the children's librarian at the Skowhegan Free Public Library, was offering a week-long writing workshop for kids in her area. And I agreed to come and do a workshop and answer questions as a local author.

My daughter works at our own public library and she is applying to graduate schools for an MLS right now.  So Julia came with me. We drove up early so we could spend a little time in Skowhegan and have lunch there. 

  Skowhegan is a river town with a long history in the paper and logging industry.  I love when weathervanes celebrate a town's heritage.

It was really cold and windy!  I ended up buying Julia a hat while we were there, because it was just so cold!  We had lunch at The Bankery, a wonderful bakery that is in an old bank.  They still had the safe and the safety deposit boxes, etc. on display  We had delicious hot cream of asparagus soup and bread.  Then it was off to the library.


Brrr!  Look at the wind! 

Inside it was sunny and warm, though. Here's the room where I spoke:

  
I told the kids the first thing I noticed when I stepped into the room was the names above the fireplace. I collect names and I always pay lots of attention to names in the area where I've set my books.

I had a nice group of adults and 10-17 year old writers. My workshop was on story development. I find kids are often good at creating characters and setting up a story, but then they struggle with how to keep a story going and how to pay it off.  So that's what I always focus on in writing workshops.  We create a story together--taking it from initial decisions to a climax. I let each of the kids make some of the decisions, and they get really into it.  

I start with a list of names from my local phone book and ask them to imagine a character with that name.  I have about 30 names for them to choose from, but here are a few:

Olga De LaRosa
Jessica Yingling
Kris Quigley
Angelina Waltz
Jenny Anderson
Will Van Twisk
Molly Orf
Andrew Jewell

I model one name for them ("When I see Olga De LaRose, here's who I picture in my mind. . .") and then I say, "Pick a name and tell me who you see." Sometimes I ask a few questions to flesh the character out a little. "Is she a kid or a teenager or an adult?  Is she popular? Not popular?"

After they've had some fun telling me who these people are, I ask them to imagine the opposite.  "Now imagine the opposite for that character.  What if Angelina Waltz wasn't graceful and beautiful.  What if Angelina Waltz were clumsy and unpopular?  How does that change things? What if Olga De LaRosa were two years old?" 

Often times our first impression have a bit of stereotype to them, and the opposite is more interesting, because it comes with some conflict attached to it.  

"Okay, who wants to choose our character?" I asked, and one of the girls picked Andrew Jewell. We went around the room and they each got to decide some things: age, hair and eye color, where he lives, who is in his family, who are his friends, pets, rich/poor/between, tall/short/thin/fat, etc.  Then we moved onto what he wanted, the obstacles in his way, and what he did, trying to get what he wanted. 

Here was our basic story setup:       
Andrew Jewell is 14 years old and a freshman in high school. He has red hair and green eyes. He lives in Kentucky with his older grumpy cheerleader sister and his nutty parents, a pet turtle, and a horse. Andrew is lonely in his extroverted family and has a secret crush on Jenny Anderson, one of his sister's cheerleader teammates. He daydreams about taking her to the school dance. 

"Okay," I said. "What does he do, trying to make that happen? And remember, the ideas can't work--in fact, his ideas have to make things more complicated for him." They came up with some great ideas. "We've given him a horse," I suggested as we brainstormed. "There should be a reason for that. How can we use the horse?" 

Andrew knows that Jenny loves horses, so one day when she's over visiting his sister, Andrew asks Jenny if she'd like to ride with him. She gets on the horse behind him and he starts daydreaming about them riding on a beach with the wind in her hair. Since he's not paying attention, she accidentally falls off the horse and breaks her leg--which knocks her off the squad--and dashes his hopes of her going to the dance with him, because now she's mad at him.

"At some point in the middle of the story we have to decide, does Andrew get what he wants?" I said. It was silent and then they all shook their heads. They knew they'd made Andrew want someone who wasn't truly right for him.

"Okay," I said. "He's not going to get what he wanted, but we still want to leave the reader feeling satisfied. What can we give him instead?"

BUT there is another girl named Angelina Waltz who is on the JV cheerleading squad and who does 4-H with Andrew and who really likes him. Andrew has only had eyes for Jenny and he confides in Angelina. When Jenny says no to going to the dance with Andrew, Angelina suggests they go together.  And he realizes she's the one for him.

We laughed a lot while we put this together, but in the end, it does have the bones of a real story.


Skowhegan Library Director Dale Jandreau, Children's Librarian Angie Herrick, and me!

Thank you to everyone who came, and a special thank you to Julia for all your help and to Dale and Angie at the Skowhegan Free Public Library for such a fun day!