Mette Ivie Harrison's Blog, page 110

a day in the life

Monday August 2, 2010
6:30 wake up
6:40-7:40 run on treadmill
7:40-7:50 help 16 look for driver's license--fail
7:50-7:25 finish run on treadmill
7:25-7:55 check email, write blog entry, facebook, twitter, etc.
7:55-8:40 shower, dress, breakfast
8:40-9:00 deal with sick child, 8
9:00-12:00 write at computer
12:00-12:45 make lunch
12:45-1:45 serve as slave for 14, driving her on errands, and to pick up friends
1:45-3:45 write at computer
3:45-5:30 slave for 14 again, taking her to cello lesson through bad...

race report Layton Tri 2010

This Saturday I had three kids and my husband racing with me. It was a sprint tri for me and my husband, but half that for the kids. It's not the best organized race ever, but it's great for beginners. For people doing the full sprint, you do a swim, bike, run and then you "reswim, recycle, and rerun" for two total loops. Lots of transitions. Good for practicing those, if you need practice, and just about everyone does.

10 had originally signed up for the kids' triathlon, which was a 100 ...

July 2010 monthly stats

Books Read and Recommended:
The Unwritten Rule by Elizabeth Scott
Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore
Punkzilla by Adam Rapp
Mistwood by Leah Cypress (i)
Paranormalcy by Kiersten White
You by Charles Benoit
Numbers by Rachel Ward
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
The Song of the Nibelungs translated by Frank G. Ryder
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
Scott Pilgrim Vol. 1 by Bryan Lee O'Malley
On the Beach by Nevil Shute
Writing Magic by Gail Carson Levine

Projects:
Two Magics—28.5
Irongirl—35.5
MKT—36
SNOW—1
ZH (Zig and ...

rejection letters

I reread my rejection letters since 2000 this week, just for kicks. No, really it was to help 14 see how often people get rejected on the way to success. What surprised me on this end was how many of the rejection letters were personalized. Somehow, in my memory, almost all of my rejection letters were form letters, with a few personalized letters peppering the bunch. And the personalized letters felt so painful then, telling me either that they liked the manuscript, but it "didn't fit th...

borrow the future

I cannot count the number of times that truly talented writers that I know have given up. After several years of rejection, they simply decided they didn't want to deal with that anymore. It breaks my heart when I think about all the wonderful books they will not write. But of course, it is their decision.

I also cannot count the number of times that people I thought were bad writers have been published. And more often than not, they are writing good work now. They became better writers. ...

parenting

I was listening to friends talk about the importance of following through on consequences with children and ended up thinking that I must have the easiest children in the world to parent. I am not saying they were always easy. They weren't. But the age that they are at now, I feel like I am more a consultant than a parent. That is what it is, to be the parent of a teenager, in my opinion. It is not about laying down the law. It is about explaining your best guesses, and offering your ex...

race report Stansbury Tri 2010

I got into the water feeling fast on Saturday. I have no idea why this happened. It is one of those things that I try to control in my training, but I actually control it a lot less than I wish I could. I haven't been feeling fast for months, since before the Ironman, really. Maybe I've been still recovering? Anyway, the water was 73 degrees Fahrenheit, which didn't hurt, either. The last two races I've done have been 53 and 59, so this felt very, very comfortable. And somehow the wate...

LAWKI month update #5

We are out of:
all fresh fruits
most vegetables (except for some sad looking celery)
most frozen vegetables except peas and corn
meat except for some fish and a few chicken nuggets
soy milk is on the last box
cold cereal
canned tomatoes
canned black beans

What we have lots of:
oatmeal
white rice
wheat
dry beans
TVP
oil
salt
sugar
pasta

Last night, after my race, I treated myself to a feast of:
the last of the red cabbage and a half of a green pepper plus onions made into egg rolls with honey for dipping
the last ...

Never take a day off

Yesterday was my day off, because I had spent the last three weeks doing some massive drafting of a new project and was feeling creatively exhausted. So I thought I would just do some reading.

Big mistake.

All of a sudden yesterday afternoon I started to have a rush of ideas, some for new projects, some for old projects that need to be reinvented. It felt like my head was exploding. While this is always exciting and you'd think that I would invite such a thing, the problem is that I have no ...

turning the ugly into something beautiful

Kadir Nelson spoke at Books for Young Readers at the Provo library last weekend and I loved his talk about artists turning ugly things into beautiful things. I had never really thought of my writing in this way. I mostly think about it in terms of trying to tell a story that the reader will enjoy, but of course it is true that little bits of my life sneak in, and more often than not, it is the difficult parts that I am using.

Nelson's most recent award winner is WE ARE THE SHIP, a picture ...