Cynthia Lord's Blog, page 68

Student Writing Workshop, December 29th

Bailey Island, Maine. Photo by my husband, John

A couple weeks ago, I read a post on the Maine Library Listserve from Angie at the Skowhegan Public Library saying she was offering a week-long writing program for kids in Grades 5-12 during winter break and was looking for an author who would be willing come do a Q&A with the kids on one of those days. A week's worth of programming is a big undertaking for a small library, and I was impressed with all she was doing for the kids in her community. As a child who grew up in a rural place, I would have loved something like this. 

So I wrote to Angie. I said I thought a YA author might be the best fit for that age range, but if no YA authors could come, I'd be happy to.

I got an immediate reply with a subject line that simply said YES!

If you live in the Skowhegan area, here are the details: The Creative Writing Workshop is going to be held December 27 - 30 from 1:00 - 2:30. It is a week long program of really fun writing activities for kids in grades 5 - 12 at the Skowhegan Free Public Library.

I'll be there on Thursday, December 29th (snow date Dec. 30, because this is Maine after all!). I'm going to do a writing workshop with the kids and then answer questions.

Outside the window

It's snowing, which is a surprise! 



Snow reminds me of the song "In the Bleak Midwinter," which is one of my favorites.  James Taylor sings it beautifully.

Hammy Holidays!

Book Group Trends!

The Together Book Club sent me a link to their wonderful article on book groups this week: Twenty Cool Book Group Trends You Should Try. 

Yesterday

My camera is taking really *blue* photos outside lately, so John's been trying to adjust the settings for me.  Yesterday, I wanted to see if we'd improved it, so I took a short drive and shot some outdoor photos.



Of course, it doesn't help that I'm taking photos of blue things like the ocean! But this a step in the right direction. 



This is the bridge to Bailey Island.  It's gorgeous out there, but first you have to cross this bridge.  It's a beautiful, historic bridge, made of these huge stones. They accommodate the tides by allowing the water to flow between them. 

But driving over is a white-knuckle experience!  It reminds me a little of the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff, because you have to earn your way over.

Why? Because there is just enough room and no extra.  Here's where I'm praying I don't meet a UPS truck or a school bus!


Ahhhh!

But it's totally worth it.  I drove to the end of the island and sat on the rocks awhile and watched the water.  There were huge driftwood trees and logs on the beach.  Bleached by the sun, they looked like a pile of dinosaur bones.



It was a peaceful moment in the midst of a busy season.

Who lives here?

Spruce Head, Maine. Photo by my husband, John

John had this photo up on his computer the other day. He was working on it, and I came in to tell him something. But when I saw this, all other thoughts went right out of my head!  I love the "care" shown, from the beautiful stonework under the shed to the bold paint and the flag whipping in the wind. I'm thinking about setting this morning and how details tell us something about the people who live on that land and in those buildings.  

Just from this photo, I know a few things about the person who lives here.  I know he takes pride in things.  I know he is a lobsterman from the buoys and the gear.  The flag shows me he's not afraid to stand up for things. He lives in a beautiful place, but it's a rough one, too. The flag is frayed from the wind--and I know from the color of the water how cold it is. He's traditional, but not entirely. Not everyone would paint their house and shed such bold, assertive colors.  And the two boats make me think there is more than one fisherman who lives here.  Maybe a father and a son (and the son is in school now, because one boat is out of the water)? Maybe a father and a daughter who are both fishermen?  What if it's a mother and a daughter who fish? When I do workshops with kids, we imagine our first impressions and then I ask them to imagine the opposite for conflict. I do it with names with kids, but setting works just as well.

I even do this sometimes when I'm driving. I'll see a house that evokes an emotion in me, and I will imagine the people who live inside.  In Touch Blue and the book I'm working on now, setting came first:  before character, before plot, before anything else, there was "place." 

And then I simply asked myself, "Who lives here?"    

Notes from the Shed

16 / 23 chapters. 70% done!

I'm revising my way through this draft of my next novel. I'll have another pass immediately after this one, but I keep showing up and working, and that's really the key to progress right there.

So I've been spending time every day out in my writing shed.



I always keep things related to my current book on my desk.  There's power in objects for me.  But it's probably time to clear some of it away!  It's taking over my desk.



As you can see, I'm a note scribbler. Ideas come up and I'm not in the right chapter to deal with them, so I write the thoughts onto Post-its and pads of paper and stick them in my inbox.

I've been trying some of the photography tips that I've been reading about.  One photographer suggested shooting objects with ceilings and floors as the background, because they tend to have no distractions. He also said we all have preferences when we shoot photos (a certain distance away, from a certain height, centering things, etc.). And it's good to recognize what those preferences are and purposefully make different choices sometimes.  I'm finding that many things I read about photography apply to writing, too. 

Back in October when the frosts were hitting my yard and leveling my plants, I wasn't ready to let this geranium go, so I brought the whole window box into my shed to enjoy it awhile longer. 

    For this photo, I laid on the floor yesterday and shot it from underneath, using the ceiling as the background. It was out of my comfort zone--both figuratively and literally (that floor is hard and cold!), but I did end up seeing the geranium differently, and that's the whole point.

My Assistant

   

Milo comes out to my writing shed every time I'm working. The shed is heated, but the floor is the last place that warms up. So I gave him my coat one day last week when I noticed he was shivering.



I saw these dog "Snuggies" when I was out Christmas shopping.

I don't think he'd be willing to wear one, though!

Five Things on a Friday

1.  The students on Vinalhaven Island, Maine made this amazing lobster when they read Touch Blue. As an author, it's humbling to see the incredible ways that schools and kids make my books their own. I get overwhelmed by it.

2.  Long Island, a small island in Maine with 16 students, was one of the winners in my school visit contest.  We were working out the details for that visit this week, and the teacher asked me if she could invite the teachers and children from nearby Cliff Island and Chebeague Island to take the ferry over for the day, too. I hope that works out!  It would be nice to have that shared experience together.  And it's not often that you can join three whole schools and still only have 45 kids!   

3.  My new novel is coming along.  It has crossed that line for me from "an idea" to "a book." I will have made a full pass through the entire book by the end of December, and then I'll work on deepening it all in January.  There will be lots of revising beyond that, but I'll be ready to show it to my family and my critique partners.

4.  My main character takes a series of photos in the book, and I asked my husband if he would talk me through taking each photo, so I could have the benefit of his experiences and thoughts about each one.  He said yes, so  that will be fun. 

One of the photos my main character takes involves this:

  So I ordered some this week.   

5.  One of the girls in the book group I visited in Wells asked me where I got the names for the characters in my books.  I talked about that, and then I said, "And after typing C-a-t-h-e-r-i-n-e in Rules over  and over, I made myself a promise that the main character in my next book wouldn't have a name over 5 letters! 

So Touch Blue has Tess (4), Aaron (5), Libby (5), Eben (4), Jenna (5), Grace (5). . ."   

They laughed over that. But really, if you have to type something so many times, it helps if it's short!

Wells, Maine

  On Tuesday, I drove down to Wells, Maine (settled 1640, Wow!) to meet with a fourth-grade girls' book group. The girls had all read Touch Blue, and it was a lot of fun!

Wells has a pretty elementary school, and I especially loved this stone owl near the front entrance. 

   

Karen, the librarian, had told me the girls were really happy I was coming, but I got to see that first-hand as soon as I stepped into the school.  The library was right across from the office, and as I glanced over, there were two rectangular windows in the library doors and those windows were full of happy fourth-grade faces watching me!

They had so many great questions and thoughts, but when I first came in, they were silent.  "You're never this quiet!" Karen said to them as I took off my coat.

"We're silent with AMAZEMENT!" one of the girls said.

Too funny!  I had the best time. :-)  The girls didn't stay quiet--they all had thoughts and questions and things to tell me. It was fabulous!



It was raining when I arrived, but it had stopped when I left the school. Wells has beautiful beaches, so I drove down to walk on the beach before heading back home. 

  There were only a handful of other people there, and I enjoyed watching this dog with his person.  He was so happy, just running and running.
 
   I love the patterns the water makes on the sand.

  There's something wonderfully lonely about beach cottages in the winter. 

    This seagull posed for me.

  Snail trails.

  The lifeguard stations were all stacked up on the grass, waiting for next summer.

   Thanks you to my friends in Wells for a joyful, fun, peaceful day.