Augusta Scattergood's Blog, page 57

Writing tips via Kirby Larson: 3x5 cards!

Yes, I started out as a librarian in the Dark Ages. The Card Catalog days.
Those 3x5 cards: Subject, Author, Title.
Carefully filed in a big old wooden card catalog. You remember those.

                                                                                                      (photo courtesy of PhotoBucket)

I even remember seeing catalog cards that were beautifully hand-written, in ink.

So when I see the words 3x5 cards, I must read on.

I love this tip from Kirby Larson's blog. Character thoughts into scene-writing!

Or this, also via Kirby:    When you use analogies, examples, similes and/or metaphors, couch them in terms your main character would understand. Click here to read more.
Scroll around her blog and you'll find more really great ways to dig deeper.

Since I'm writing a bit away from my computer and my beloved Scrivener software with its built-in 3x5 cards, I'm rushing down to CVS for a packet.

Oh, wait, I bet I have some of those old discarded catalog cards around here someplace.
My public library had STACKS of them sitting out for scratch paper.


 Voila!
How about you?
Now, off to take some notes!
(Thanks for the great writing tips, Kirby. )

Biggest and Best Yet!

Thanks to everybody who entered. These 4 great books are going to-
(drum roll please)



Amy L. Sonnichsen 
Thanks for entering, Amy. Now if I can find an address, the books are in the mail!

Liar & Spy

I'm a fan of Rebecca Stead's books. If your middle schooler, or young teen, wants a novel that surprises, Liar & Spy, just out this month, is it. CLICK HERE for my review in the Christian Science Monitor.






And while you're here, friendly reminder: ONE more day to enter for a big box of the latest, greatest middle-grade novels. COMMENT right here or just scroll down a few more entires, and be entered in the giveaway. Yay for brand new books!

Lucky You!

Greetings from the land of slow internet. Instead of endlessly checking Facebook and email, I've been tidying up shelves and closets.

And guess what I found. My "extra" copy of THE FALSE PRINCE.
So much has been said about this book that I don't think I can add a word. Except somebody's in for a real treat. Lots of action, a surprise, a true adventure story- the first in a series yet-to-come!


And I'm sharing, adding it to my Giveaway.

Leave your comment on this post.
Or HERE, on my previous blog
listing all the new middle-grade novels in the drawing.

Deadline? August 15th. Hurry up and enter.
(Great choice for the new school year.)


I forgot to mention, U.S. addresses only, please. This package just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Elvis Week!

In honor of ELVIS WEEK, I share with you a piece of my childhood.
I almost titled this post Things I Love. But truly, I don't love 45s of Elvis all that much anymore. 


I am delighted to re-discover My Platter Box
from the days my sister and I shared a room.
She found it and returned it, but I suspect some of these are hers.

At least one of records is going straight to my Junk Poker box. 


If the kids I share my treasures with don't know what this is...




do you think they'll have a clue what a record is?


Related Posts: Junk Poker
Me as Elvis Impersonator (Now that got your attention, didn't it!) 

And if you're still reading, here's a little something to make your day.


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Free Books!

In honor of a certain birthday, I'm going to spread some gifts around.
I have some of the BEST books of the year on my shelves.
Mysteriously, I have more than one copy of a couple of them.
And I'm willing to share.

Since I'm taking a forced break from blogging as I head to the land of pitiful internet where I'll read and reflect and stay off Facebook and blogs for a bit, this giveaway will last a week.

And here are the goodies I'm going to mail to one lucky winner.

1. DOUBLE DOG DARE. If you don't know Lisa Graff's books, this is the perfect back-to-school place to begin. And teachers? It's bound to be one of the most fun read-alouds. I'm particularly fond of the dare involving green hair. But there's a lot of depth to the story, the characters, the writing.

Here's a link to a really good interview with Lisa on Barbara O'Connor's blog.  Complete with pictures and videos.


2. Scholastic sent me two copies of Carole Geithner's IF ONLY.  I'll include one in your winning package. Click here for a link to the author's website , including an excerpt from the book. A serious topic, well-handled.

3. Last but far from least. My Baltimore connection, Natalie Standiford's newest: THE SECRET TREE. The bloggers at Waking Brain Cells called it the "ideal summer read."  I agree.
Check out their review right here.

All that's required of you is a comment. Feel free to share this.
The books will be whisked off anywhere in the USA.
Winners announced on August 15, when I re-enter the world of connectivity.

Next Up

 Laura Lippman's newest. Out in 10 days!
She was one of the instructors the year I did Writers in Paradise.
 She's a gem of a writer and such a great teacher.  

CLICK HERE for a blogpost I wrote after a session with her at that amazing conference. (January in St. Petersburg- what could be better?)



What an excellent review she got in the New York Times.
Read it right here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/02/books/and-when-she-was-good-by-laura-lippman.html

("“And When She Was Good,” with its title reminiscent of a spooky, overlooked 1967 gem from the Philip Roth archive... "
Surely Janet Maslin knows about the nursery rhyme --And when she was bad she was horrid?)

Putting it on my To Be Read list right now. Perfect book for the end of Summer.

If you're not convinced, check out this, from her publisher's page:

Her brilliant stand-alone novel, And When She Was Good, only reinforces the fact that she stands tall among today’s bestselling elite—including Kate Atkinson, Tana French, Jodi Picoult, and Harlan Coben (who raves, “I love her books!”). Based on her acclaimed, multi-award-nominated short story Scratch a Woman, And When She Was Good is the powerfully gripping, intensely emotional story of a suburban madam, a convicted murderer whose sentence is about to be overturned, and the child they will both do anything to keep.

Cold Curry Soup

A recipe diversion from reading and writing- Perfect for a summer weekend.

Yummy soup I had the nerve to serve to two of my best foodie friends, Ivy and Barbara. I'd enjoyed it at another terrific cook's Annapolis Book Group luncheon for Glory Be this summer. So I knew I couldn't miss.




AND then I discover it's featured on my NJ writer friend Lee Hilton's food blog, right here:
http://spoonandink.blogspot.com/2011/02/book-group-soup.html

 (That's Lee, all done up in her chef outfit, from her blog photo.)






This is what my soup looked like. The flamingo is an extra added attraction, courtesy of a Birthday Girl.

FYI. My friend Ivy and I have known each other since before we were born.
Our grandparents were friends. Her mama and my daddy grew up down the street from each other.
Have we always enjoyed sharing and talking about delicious food?






My friend Barbara in my Chatham kitchen one winter eve.
We've spent many an evening cooking and talking here.




Aren't friends the best? And isn't sharing a meal something to be savored and remembered?

Here's the recipe.
(At her Book Group lunch, my friend Nancy served it as a first course, in demitasse cups. Perfect!)

For more tips, click on over to the Kitchen Goddess's website.


One-of-Each Soup(adapted from Gourmet magazine, December 2001. Nancy got it from her aunt, who wasn't so precise with the measurements and it tasted just fine!)
1 large boiling potato (½  lb), peeled and coarsely chopped1 medium onion, coarsely chopped1 celery stalk, coarsely chopped (½ c)1 large apple, peeled and coarsely chopped1 firm-ripe banana, coarsely chopped1 pt chicken broth1 c cream1 rounded tsp curry powder, additional curry may be added, as to taste1 tsp salt, pepper to tasteChopped fresh chives for garnish
Simmer vegetables and fruits in broth in a 3-quart heavy saucepan, covered, until very tender. Stir in cream, curry powder, and salt/ pepper and heat just until hot (do not boil). Refrigerate.
Purée soup in a blender until smooth. Serve sprinkled with chives. Makes 4 to 6 main course servings.

What an honor! I've heard Anita Silvey speak at Children'...

What an honor! I've heard Anita Silvey speak at Children's Lit conferences since I first began writing over ten years ago. I knew her reputation and her own books way before that. So to be included as today's BOOK-- wow, Glory Be is honored and awed.

Thank you, Book-a-Day Almanac!

Subscribe here for her daily updates. Get a new recommendation every day!

Read what she says about my book HERE.

Everybody needs a mentor. Or, how it all began.

A long time ago.
Okay, let's start again.
Exactly eleven years ago, I decided it was high time to pursue my dream of being a writer. I didn't have a clue what that might mean. But I did know somebody who wrote funny essays in the newspaper, maintained a great website about the South LONG before anybody coined the word Blog--at least in my existence. And she'd written books!

Besides, I was a librarian. I read books. How hard could it be to write one?

Oh, boy. I had a lot to learn.

But my friend Beth Jacks decided I could take baby steps.
She invited me to become her website USADEEPSOUTH's book reviewer. Now that was a whole lot of fun! I began reviewing for a couple of others places and sites. I got free books, and occasionally a small check in the mail.

Beth never stopped encouraging me. All the way to the publication of my first book and the fabulous GLORY BE party last spring in my hometown of Cleveland, MS.



So I guess I can forgive her for remembering the piano recital. And even for writing about that recital.
The one that I fainted dead away off the piano bench and had to be helped from the stage of the Women's Club's gathering room. Hey. It was summer. It was the South. It was hot.

I've been thinking a lot about piano playing. It figures in something I've worked on perfecting for a while now. But I'd totally forgotten about that recital until Beth's essay appeared in her Snippets column in newspapers all over the South.  I can't send you to the link but I can quote from the funny piece. Here's a bit of the ending.


SNIPPETS
By Beth Boswell Jacks

Piano recitals test fathers and fortitude

“Historians may argue that Patrick Henry said, ‘Give me liberty or give me death,’ but personally, I think it was first uttered by a daddy sneaking out of a piano recital.” ~ Anon.
(here's where I entered the essay...)

But the comedy at my beloved piano teacher Gladys Woodward’s 1957 recital was not funny at the time, at least not to my sister Kathy, then 11 years old.

Our dear friend Augusta Russel Scattergood preceded Kathy on the program. Gusty exited the cramped, hot “waiting room” behind the stage and walked to the piano to play (probably) “To A Wild Rose” or some other piano recital classic. As Gusty’s fingers hit the keys, so did her head. Kerplop. She fainted. Dead away.

Two of the daddies jumped up to haul the faintee back out the stage door into the cubicle where the other terrified pianists hovered in their dotted swiss. The men lifted Gusty gently, one daddy holding her shoulders, the other her white stockinged legs. The girl had nary a foot on the floor.

As the comatose body passed through the door, undaunted teacher Gladys pushed sister Kathy onstage to play (what else?) “Fur Elise.” Kathy recalls her fright, saying, “I stared at Gusty’s body and thought, Wow, if the folks in the audience did that to her, what are they going to do to me?”

Feeling there was no escape and ever the trouper (but not the pianist), Kathy positioned herself prettily on the piano bench and began.

Da dee da dee da dee da da da . . .

In the following minutes, the audience would hear these notes again and again and again. There was no getting past those first nine notes of “Fur Elise.”

Where did the music go next? Kathy didn’t know. What’s more, she didn’t care. She played the equivalent of three pages of those same nine notes, got up, bounced her saucy self back out the door, and told Mama later she’d jump in the Mississippi River before she set foot at another piano recital.

For a long time Kathy blamed her catastrophic performance on Gusty’s fainting spell, but personally I think the fault lies entirely with Beethoven.

Nobody should have to play “Fur Elise” or listen to it. Ask a daddy.

Oh, and while I have the floor. It wasn't quite as bad as Beth described it.
As a child, I fainted frequently. Usually in church. Always in the heat. I think my grandmother's generation called it The Vapors. My head did not kerplop onto the piano keys. I'm sure I was much more graceful than that.


This is NOT me playing. But it is the piece I can now play without a mistake.