Keris Stainton's Blog, page 26

Friday favourites

A few things that have made me happy this week:

This video about not putting off your life.

What the internet was invented for: Instant Cosby (via Diane)

I’m not religious, but Anne Lamott’s “three essential prayers” make perfect sense to me.

Marcus Chown is one of my favourite tweeters and this post – 10 things I’ve learned from science books – is fantastic. I think No.4 is my fave.

An excellent explanation of why I love Parks & Recreation so bloody much (via Diane again!)

I bought this Seattle poster to go with the Coastal California one I bought a couple of months ago. I also want the New York in Autumn one. And San Francisco. And Chicago. Just for starters.

Writers I am thankful for…

I saw a few ‘Authors I’m thankful for posts earlier this week’ but I wanted to do mine today, since I’ve decided we’re celebrating Thanksgiving this year. (I really should have celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving, since me and the boys are Canadian and all, but I didn’t think of it until it was too late.)

So here are some authors/writers I’m thankful for:

1. Armistead Maupin – for writing the books that helped me through a shitty time in my life and for creating characters that are so real that I cried when I met them again in his latest novels. Also, for making me smile like this.

2. Susie Day – Susie doesn’t know this, but when I read Big Woo! I thought, “She’s so cool and hilarious! I want her to be my friend!” And now she is. (That’s not creepy, is it?) Plus the two books she’s had published this year have been two of my favourite books of the year.

3. Nora Ephron – She wrote my all-time favourite film. I have a framed photo of her on my office wall. I still can’t think about her without crying.

4. Anne Lamott – Honest and hilarious and inspirational. I’d love her if only for ‘shitty first drafts’ and ‘take it bird by bird’, but there is lots more to love besides. (Writers: if you haven’t read Bird by Bird, you really must.)

5. Russell T Davies – I wouldn’t call myself a Whovian (I’m still only part of the way through Tennant’s reign, so I don’t think I’d be allowed to), but Doctor Who: The Writer’s Tale is the best book on writing I’ve ever read. Comforting and inspiring. Oh and hilarious, obv.

6. Catherine Newman – I love Catherine’s writing so much. She’s the only writer on this list I’ve actually sent a fan letter (okay, email) to. And she replied. I re-read her book, Waiting for Birdy at least once a year (it was partly responsible for convincing me to have a second child, so I’m extra grateful for that!).

9. Soraya Chemaly – Every article I’ve read of hers has been brilliant. Often difficult and upsetting to read, but clear, passionate, and incredibly important.

8. Luisa Plaja – Luisa and I met on an online writers’ forum years ago. We started writing YA at the same time. We founded Chicklish together (although she does ALL the work). She’s been there right from the very beginning and, although we don’t get to chat/email/IM as often as I’d like, I don’t know what I’d do without her.

This was an off-the-top-of-my-head list and I know there are lots more writers I could have (and should have) included, but that’ll have to do for now.

Who – or what – are you thankful for?

Homeschooling Harry: Preconceived ideas

I was reading through all my homeschooling posts the other day and I realised I’d started three in very similar ways:

When I tell people we’re homeschooling, they say ‘What about…’

What about maths?

What about friends?

What about the stuff you don’t know?

And it made me think about our preconceived ideas about home education. In response to another post, someone on Twitter (sorry, can’t remember who it was) said that until I started homeschooling Harry, they’d assumed that the main reason for home educating a child was because s/he had been bullied at school. They’d never thought of it as a positive decision, only a response to an untenable situation.

I never thought that, but I did always think of home educating families as different. You know… a bit hippy, anti-establishment, knit-your-own-granola type people. As my friend Susan has pointed out to me, between homeschooling, Joe at outdoor preschool, and our camper van holiday, I’m well on the road to being that kind of person myself. And I’m absolutely fine with it. (Also, I had granola for breakfast this morning. But it wasn’t knitted.)

I also had an idea of home educated children as being a bit… off. Eccentric. Different. One day we rushed out to get something from the supermarket and Harry grabbed his old school shoes instead of his trainers. As we got out of the car, I looked at him – he was wearing a his favourite t-shirt (a threadbare Kermit number), a stripy cardigan, tracksuit bottoms and school shoes. And I thought “He already looks like a homeschooled kid.” And I’m fine with that too. I love this Meg Rosoff post: Be the Weird Kid. And while I was too self-conscious, too desperate to be a cool kid when I was at school (I mostly blame the Sweet Dreams books for this), my friends were the weird kids. The ones who didn’t care what they wore. Who pretended to be American and called each other Goose, Maverick, Iceman. Who helped me translate the Postman Pat theme tune into French (“Facteur Pat, Facteur Pat, Facteur Pat et son chat noir et blanc”). Who didn’t laugh at me when I cried over the Bucks Fizz coach crash. (Shut up. Mike almost died.)

But the thing is, just like all children are different and all families are different, all home educating families are different. Of course they are. I can’t quite believe I ever thought otherwise. How about you?

Days 16, 17, 18, 19

I’m sorry to say that the last few days have been more of the same, i.e. stuff I just can’t do. One of them talks about adding dialogue to the outline. Dialogue? Before I start writing? No.

So all I’m doing is going through my outline and adding stuff from research or random stuff that’s sprung to mind. Actually, that’s not true. That’s what I’m thinking about doing. What I’m actually doing is reading, watching TV, and eating. But I’ll get on it today. Probably.

If I die, just delete it, ‘kay?

I mentioned day before yesterday that I’d finished the first draft of Lilly’s Wish, the book for younger readers that I wrote about here.

When I started writing I had next to no idea of the plot. I knew the central premise, but very little else and, at the end of the first draft, it shows. It’s all over the place. The structure I’ve been working on in First Draft in 30 Days? Doesn’t exist.

There are maybe two turning points in the book, but everything else is flannel and waffle and filler and blether. But that’s okay. Because I’m cautiously confident that I’ll be able to sort it out in the rewrites. Eventually.

The most important thing is that I’ve got something to work with, as messy and embarrassing as it currently is. And it is messy and embarrassing. Anne Lamott – who calls her first draft the “shitty first draft” – says she always worries she’ll die while writing a first draft and people will read it and think she’d lost it. But at least it’s done. And I get to ignore it for a few weeks and read lots of books I wouldn’t allow myself to read while I was writing it. And then I get to delve back into it and try to fix it. I’m looking forward to it already. Sort of.

{I took this photo earlier today, when the boys and I had an impromtu picnic lunch in the park. The leaves underneath were so deep and yellow and gorgeous that I wanted to take my shoes and socks off and paddle around, but Harry was horrified and so I didn’t. Pah.}

Day 14-15: the evolution of your story

Keep your plot sketch in mind as you fill out the story evolution worksheet. By the time you complete this worksheet, your plot threads should be firmly enmeshed with the story evolution framework.

I don’t understand the words in that second sentence. I mean, I understand each word individually, but ‘your plot threads should be firmly enmeshed with the story evolution framework’? Not so much.

I really don’t know how to go about doing any of this without actually writing the book. I do think it could be quite useful for structuring the book and making sure the pacing works, but that’s not something I’d look at until I started writing – I think it might work trying to write to each target (I remember Lani Diane Rich saying she finds writing to each turning point easier than the idea of writing a whole book), so for the middle section:

1 Characters design short-term goals to reach the story goal

For each main character, introduce short-term goals that will assist that character in reaching the story goal. Give a brief description of each goal and how each character is attempting to reach it. Use your plot sketch (Worksheet 4) as a springboard for this section.

2 Quest to reach the story goal begins

In this section the characters put their first short-term goals into action. Sketch out what they go through during this time.

3 First short-term goals are thwarted

The first short-term goal proves impossible. What events take place to make this failure come about?

4 Characters react with disappointment

Characters react differently to disappointment, and these reactions show the kind of people they are. Provide insight into each major character’s reactions.

But Wiesner has 17 points for the middle section – 17! – and there’s no way I could plot them in advance. Could you?

Homeschooling Harry: Brothers

This isn’t the post I planned to write today. But today we went to soft play again. I promised the boys in the summer holidays that we would go once a week and we seem to have carried on doing that since Harry’s been home. I don’t mind it because it’s quiet during the day, the boys love it, and I can write (or read) in relative peace.

Today, as soon as we got there, Harry and Joe yanked their shoes off and took off running. I shouted at them to stick together because Harry often goes off onto more difficult climbing things, leaving Joe wailing. I switched on the computer and got on with finishing writing my book. (More on this tomorrow.)

After a couple of minutes, I looked up and they were both on the trampoline. The Ketchup Song was playing and the two of them were bouncing up and down, holding hands and laughing their heads off. Harry kept trying to pick Joe up and not managing it and falling over. Then they’d roll around for a while, still laughing, then get up and bounce again.

I watched them for the whole length of the song and I couldn’t stop grinning. They were so happy together, having so much fun, enjoying each other’s company.

No, they don’t get on as well all the time. They snipe at each other and fail to share and Harry pretends he’s putting CBeebies on the TV for Joe and then says, “Oh sorry. It’s Spongebob now. I don’t know how that happened…” and Joe shrieks and belts him with whatever’s to hand. But most of the time they get on brilliantly. And I think – I really hope – they’ll remember this when they’re older and appreciate the amount of time they got to spend together, just the two of them.

Killing Us Softly

via Lucie Simone on Twitter (ages ago, but I’ve been going through my saved items).

52 Books: Going to Sea in a Sieve by Danny Baker

Until a couple of years ago, I thought of Danny Baker as a slightly annoying ‘laddish’ TV presenter who once went on a bender with Gazza and Chris Evans. But then David introduced me to his Saturday morning radio show on Five Live and I loved it. Turns out Baker is funny, clever, incredibly articulate. Who knew? (Yeah, I know. Lots of people.)

But it was when I heard him on Desert Island Discs that I was really won over and I think I preordered this book the same day. (You can listen to it here.)

The book is just as good as I expected – Baker’s voice comes through perfectly. It’s laugh out loud funny, inspiring, full of behind the scenes info and gossip about the 70s music scene and more. (The chapter about Michael Jackson is enlightening and heartbreaking and reminded me of the Onion’s article after Jackson’s death: King of Pop Dead at 12.)

Going to Sea in a Sieve actually ends at the end of the 70s (or thereabouts) and where that would normally annoy me in a memoir, in this one it thrills me because it means there are more volumes to come. Can’t wait.

 

A year ago today…

… I was in LA. (Or at least, on the way.) #tinypoem

This was one of my favourite moments of the whole trip. (I mentioned it in Emma Hearts LA, I’m pretty sure. Although it may have ended up on the ‘cutting room floor’. #anothertinypoem)

I went with my fab friend Stella. She wrote about LA for Bea earlier this week.