Kate DiCamillo's Blog, page 22

Two summers ago, I was working on the rewrites for Flora and Ulysses. I worked...

Two summers ago, I was working on the rewrites for Flora and Ulysses. I worked by doing lots of small sessions all day long. I started early in the morning at the table on the front porch; and then, once the sun was up and the world was awake, I moved to my desk. Late in the afternoon, I set up shop at the dining room table.
Every day, I moved through the house in this methodical way, rewriting two pages at a time.
I truly didn’t think I would ever finish.
Yesterday, I got home and discovered...

Every morning, after I write in my journal, I read poetry . . . just a few poems...

Every morning, after I write in my journal, I read poetry . . . just a few poems, enough to get me oriented and grounded. And after the poems, I read from The Pocket Pema Chodron. These short teachings and ruminations from a Buddhist nun have the same effect on me as poetry.
So this morning in the Pema Chodron book, I read this sentence: “We learn that what truly heals is gratitude and tenderness.”
I don’t know why these words struck me so forcefully, but they did; and I wanted to share them...

Mercy Watson Goes to the Moon, Mercy Watson Battles a Giant Shark and Also Some...

Mercy Watson Goes to the Moon, Mercy Watson Battles a Giant Shark and Also Some Jellyfish, Mercy Watson and the First Day of School, Mercy Watson Goes to the Doctor and Everything is Fine.
These are some of the Mercy Watson stories that kids have written, and I have been lucky enough to read.
Yesterday, I received a copy of MERCY WATSON SAVES EVERYONE by Michael who lives in Connecticut and who is six years old. The story begins this way: “Mr. and Mrs. Watson have a pig named Mercy. Mr. Wats...

Thank you for your good wishes, your love, your thoughts, your prayers, your emp...

Thank you for your good wishes, your love, your thoughts, your prayers, your empathy, your words, your hearts.
Henry is coming home.
He must wear a cone.
He cannot leap.
He has mastered several tragic looks.
The surgery helped him.
And you helped both of us.
Thank you.

Henry is not well. By the time you read these words, he will have had surgery a...

Henry is not well. By the time you read these words, he will have had surgery and hopefully the surgery will help. In the meantime, the words I have had in my head for the last few days have come from Mary Oliver’s poem “In Blackwater Woods:”
“To live in this world/you must be able/to do three things:”
And the first of those three things is to love what is mortal.
The words of a friend’s ten-year old son helped, too.
He suggested that I write a story about Henry.
I feel my heart lift every...

In the mailbag: some excellent questions. The first is from Quinn in Californ...

In the mailbag: some excellent questions.
The first is from Quinn in California. He is seven years old and says that reading is his favorite thing to do. Here is his question: “What makes you laugh?”
I wrote Quinn back and said, “Everything makes me laugh. Laughing is my favorite thing to do.”
And in writing those words to him, I realized that it is true. Laughing is my favorite thing to do. Other than reading. And eating. And writing.

Keely lives in Minnesota and is three years old and r...

I’ve been working on a novel for a while now. Actually, what I’ve been doing...

I’ve been working on a novel for a while now.
Actually, what I’ve been doing is wrestling with a novel.
Last month, I sat and thought about what the novel needed and what I needed and how we could stop the wrestling and move forward.
The answer I came up with was that I had to claim this story.
And claiming it meant that I had to let a few trusted friends read it.
The only problem was that there wasn’t (even after months and months and months of work) anything all that coherent to show.
I d...

Henry wandered into a particularly aggressive patch of weeds on Sunday. As yo...

Henry wandered into a particularly aggressive patch of weeds on Sunday.
As you can see by the photo, the weeds managed to arrange his ears into a light-hearted up-flip, and in the end, the only way to disentangle him was to remove large chunks of fur.
He now looks somewhat worse for the wear and also (because of the haphazard nature of the fur removal) distinctly off-balance.
I have taken to calling him Lopsided Joe.
I was out in the backyard with him this morning and I said, “Come on, Lops...

Answers to your questions, Aug 2013 (part 2) What are you...

Answers to your questions, Aug 2013 (part 2)
What are your favorite 5 pictures books and why? Eek. Polar Express (magical), Where the Wild Things Are (empowering), Goodnight, Moon (comforting), Knuffle Bunny (can read it every night and never get bored) and Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus (interactive). ...

FAVORITE OVERHEARD EXCHANGE OF THE SUMMERTwo older girls (seven and five) inst...

FAVORITE OVERHEARD EXCHANGE OF THE SUMMER
Two older girls (seven and five) instructing two younger girls (two year olds) in the niceties of hide-and-seek.
Seven year old: well, first you want to hide someplace.
Five year old: like in a tree! Or in a bush!
--A long silence--
Seven: okay. So. Go ahead and hide.
Five: you could hide in a tree! Or a bush!
Seven: don’t tell them where to hide. It’s not hide-and-seek if we know where they are.
Five: oh.
--Another long silence—
Seven: but you do nee...