Augusta Scattergood's Blog, page 60

You gotta love New Jersey

Time for a break from my literary world. From books, writing, and reading to report on our annual return to New Jersey. Although, truly, isn't everything a story?

Each spring when we make the pilgrimage, I have a friend here waiting to take us on an adventure.
Like the 9-11 Memorial in Bayonne. With a great Italian dinner afterwards.

(blogged about HERE)  

Or the truly moving and something-I'll-never-forget, World Trade Center Lights viewed from Jersey City, soon after September 11.
(Photo courtesy of wikipedia)







This year, at least so far, I've been blown away by something pretty simple. No historical significance. Just a huge apartment complex set into the side of a ridge in Morris County, vaguely reminiscent of Chichen Itza or Native American cliff dwellings. Yes, the operative word is vaguely.


What we saw last night:


The view from the high promenade in front of the apartments:


That's NYC, way off in the distance. If you're interested, this is from the realty company's listing:

Powder Mill Heights offers a gracious lifestyle, second to none. Located on the peak of Parsippany's Watnong Mountain, residents are truly on top of the world. Apartments are carefully designed with voluminous windows to take in breathtaking views that go for miles. Many private balconies capture the vista views of the New York skyline. We offer luxury apartments with a variety of one and two level floor plans, spanning from 1,000-3,000 square feet



And this? My friend Barbara and I stare off into the distance, wondering what it would be like to live way up here, almost in the clouds.

Thanks for the roadtrips, Al!

Additional New Jersey stuff-
New Jersey in my rear view mirror blogpost.
Silly(?) Jersey Pride facts

Poet Laureate

This is my gift to those folks who stopped by my blog today.

Loved
Yesterday I caught up with a lot of radio interviews, including the news she'd just been named Poet Laureate.
(I really enjoy road trips if I can listen to nonstop NPR.)

I'd missed this one from the time she won the Pulitzer. Her prize-winning poetry collection includes sonnets about the Native Guard, a black Civil War regiment assigned to guard white Confederate soldiers held on Ship Island off the Gulf Coast.


CLICK HERE to go to the earlier Fresh Air interview.

And this, from the NPR website, by way of introduction:

Trethewey is the first poet laureate to hail from the South since Robert Penn Warren was appointed in 1986. The 46-year-old Mississippi native grew up the child of a racially mixed marriage in Gulfport, Miss. Her mother was later murdered by her estranged second husband, Trethewey's stepfather; these, along with the South and its singular ways, are recurring themes in her poetry.



Another gift: a few of her poems, also from the New York Times:
 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/07/boo...

Hooray for Kids!

Is there anything better than visiting with kids who've actually read your book? A class whose teacher has just read aloud-- as you open the classroom door-- the chapter that was hardest for you to write?

That was my afternoon yesterday with 4th graders from The Pingrey School.

Last September, Ms. Casey's 4th graders won an ARC of GLORY BE. I'd popped in to their classroom to deliver it, along with a packet or two of Elvis stickers. After they finished the book, bought their own copies at the school's Book Fair, and written me some pretty amazing letters, I popped back in yesterday. And discovered the 4th grade teacher across the hall was reading GLORY BE aloud to his class these last few days of the school year.




My visit was a surprise, last-minute, unplanned event their teacher and I cooked up. I was sorry not to have given them time to bring in their own books. Instead, I signed a ton of my bookmarks for them.







 Some of their comments reminded me of the brainstorming/ revising I did with my esteemed editor. These kids had questions! And comments!

 "I wish you'd put more detail into Glory's dad and put Glory's dad in more scenes."
 (If only they'd seen the pre-revision version! Poor ole Brother Joe hardly mumbled a word.)


"I could almost feel the grass between my fingers when Glory took a bunch of grass from Elvis's yard in Tupelo..."

"I thought Glory Be was amazing! How their friendships were either falling apart or growing stronger in every chapter."



Can I get those readers a book reviewing job, please?

When you see this hanging in a classroom, you know you've arrived at a school that values reading.




Thanks for a great afternoon, kids. I hope you have a terrific, book-filled summer. Please invite me back real soon!

My Quote for the Day

  There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm.
                  Willa Cather

It's raining again in the northeast. I love the rain. Thunder off in the distance. Somehow, this quote just seemed appropriate for today.

☛☛And click here if you'd like to read a longer post, with my very favorite Willa Cather quotation.

Butterflies!

Wow!
Check out the cover of my friend Kimberley Griffiths Little's forthcoming book, WHEN THE BUTTERFLIES CAME. Then click over to her own blog for all sorts of book giveways.

Can't wait to read this one. (Hint, hint, Scholastic people!)

Here's what I wrote about her very first novel, when I first "met" Kimberley:
CLICK HERE FOR THAT BLOG POST.

I've since come to know Kimberley, via all the ways possible to connect except in person (surely we'll remedy that one day soon. After all, we do share a publisher!). Her publication journey is amazing and encouraging. As her books mount up, so do the praises. Way to go, Kimberley!

S.L. LaNeve: Welcome, Sue!

When she was the state coordinator of SCBWI critique groups, my friend and former critique buddy, Sue LaNeve, introduced me to the children's writing community in Florida. Lucky me! A critique group is like family. When the new group she'd helped organize dissolved, we all stayed connected. Even better, Sue brought me along to her own smaller group.

(And may I just insert a word about SCBWI, and especially Florida SCBWI. If you are moving to a new place, considering writing for kids, or want to polish your craft, there's nothing better than the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Go ahead, click on those links! Rumor has it, there are even a few spaces left in the Orlando conference next month!)
Three years ago, Sue took a hiatus to earn her MFA in Writing for Children at Vermont College. Sue claims those two years of intense study were life-changing in how she viewed herself as a writer. But those of us who worked with her pre-MFA always knew she was a serious writer.

Her first middle-grade novel, SPANKY: A Soldier's Son, is now available in Amazon Kindle and  Nook editions. 
It's a heartfelt, funny, realistic look at the feelings of a middle-school boy whose dad loves him and has great expectations. When his family moves to Florida for his firefighter dad's new job, Spanky hardly has time to figure out where his new school is or what's up with the flora and fauna in this strange new town before his dad's reserve unit is sent to Afghanistan. 


Perfect for kids who have a parent in the military, a middle-schooler lost in the crowd, or anybody looking for a great story, the eBook has garnered praise from organizations involved with military kids and families whose children know exactly how the main character in this story feels. The serious themes of bullying and family dynamics are dealt with in a way that will make children think hard about Spanky and his situation. 
Sue agreed to chat with me from her newest adventure, somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico or Atlantic Ocean!
AUGUSTA: What was your inspiration to write SPANKY: A Soldier's Son?
SUE: My heart had been brewing a story about a boy who saw his dad as a super hero and desperately wanted to make him proud. I had been kicking around the idea of Spanky’s dad being a soldier when serendipitously, I met a fellow VCFA student, Trent Reedy, who had recently returned from serving in Afghanistan. Trent was thrilled to be one of my military consultants because there were few books that spoke to the experience of children with a parent deployed. 
Then an author on faculty at VCFA, M.T. Anderson, gave a lecture on the Politics of Dr. Seuss, which fascinated me. I came away from that lecture with the belief that if I had any political interests, as a children’s book writer, I must try to instill that interest in children—not by any bombardment of beliefs, but in a way that would make them ask questions and form opinions. 
The story originally was set soon after 911. But  Richard Peck reviewed a few chapters from an early version and said that Spanky’s story was timeless and that by the time the book became published, kids would have no living memory of the 911 event. 
AUGUSTA: Was any part of the book based on real-life experiences?
SUE: We writers are a crazy bunch. We often work out our issues through our writing! Sometimes it is the direct and upfront inspiration for a story. Other times, the realization of why we write a story only becomes clear after we’ve completed a draft.  Spanky’s story had a little of both.
Spanky’s dad’s job as a fireman was my homage to the 911 firefighters. My own dad had served in the Army Air Force in WWII. He never spoke to me about his experiences, but I’d overhear him tell stories to his men friends. One story still stands out about how he became a fatalist watching planes around him explode in midair. Now as an adult, I know he didn’t want me to have to share his difficult memories or make them real in my mind. 
In a twisted way, it likely affected my characterization of Spanky. Spanky refuses to talk about his dad because acknowledging his own fears in his mixed-up mind would diminish Dad, the superhero. It would also make the possibility of something happening to dad become real.
AUGUSTA: Kid readers and fellow writers like to picture you holed up in a delightful writing cottage or perhaps sitting on the beach, notebook in hand. So tell us, where do you write?             SUE:  Like most writers, I used to write literally everywhere—my office, a park bench, the couch, the car, a coffee shop. I have a small Lenovo x61 PC that I can almost fit into my purse!
AUGUSTA: And of course, now you'll be writing from the deck of your boat! I know you are an amazing editor. Any great tips? Can you tell us how you revised SPANKY?            
SUE: The wrong way. I tend to revise my first chapter as if nothing subsequent will work until it is perfect. What I know to be true is that sometimes, you don’t know what your first chapter will be until you reach the end. Sometimes it takes a complete draft to know what a story is really about.
AUGUSTA: I see heads out there nodding in agreement, mine especially. Were you inspired to become a writer from anything you read as a child? Have you always wanted to write?
SUE:  The crazy truth is I’ve read hundreds more children’s books as an adult than I did as a child. I do remember loving the rhythm of nursery rhymes. But there was one favorite book that had a cactus as a protag. I’ve lost the title and author but for some reason a memory of the cactus walking into the sunset with his friends at the end of the story is indelibly carved in my brain. I must have read that book a thousand times. Maybe one of your readers will know what it was? I’d love to find out why it touched me so.
AUGUSTA: Okay, readers! A cactus as a main character, anybody? I've heard that one of the hardest parts about choosing a non-traditional route to publishing is that you must figure out ways to get your book into the hands of readers. Can you share a bit of your journey on this path and also tips to publicize your eBook, SPANKY: A Soldier's Son?
            SUE:    I had reached the pinnacle of rejection in the traditional market, receiving personal letters and even a few phone calls from agents and editors. I could have been a few query letters away from a deal—or a few hundred. But my life changed and when we reached the decision to cruise now while we were healthy enough to do it, I knew my focus would have to change, at least for a few years.
Spanky needed to be out in the world now. While we are cruising, I will do everything I can via internet. The story would benefit any child, but it is particularly relevant to kids who are navigating life with a deployed parent. Just yesterday, I received a thank you letter from a soldier in Afghanistan. He said his kids needed books like mine.
AUGUSTA: What a great story! Thanks, Sue, for sharing your journey with us. 


 To find out more about Sue's writing, Spanky, and her journey to publication, you can follow her Vermont College MFA group blog here. Or check out her My Climbing Tree website here.
And if you have an interest in voyages, follow Sue at FreeBirditude.com






For additional books about the impact of war on military families, click here for a special Memorial Day list of excellent books for middle grade readers. 
And another blogger has created this list of books about military families, for young readers of all ages.

Thank you, Damsels!

A nice interview. And the review from two days ago, on the same blog, makes me very happy. I so appreciate my fellow bloggers. I'm meeting all sorts of new-to-me writers these days.

CLICK HERE to follow along with me and the Damsels in REgress, chatting away. 
We love historical fiction!

Coming soon! Interviewing Sue LaNeve about her new eBook

Hope everybody's planning a great Memorial Day weekend.
I grew up believing it all started in Columbus, Mississippi. Confederate widows placing flags and flowers on soldiers' graves.

Turns out a lot of people claim that honor. Here are a couple of websites if you'd like to learn more about this holiday.

http://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html

http://www.history.army.mil/html/reference/holidays/memday/

And coming soon! To celebrate the weekend: my interview with writer Sue LaNeve about writing and publishing her eBook:  
SPANKY, a Soldier's Son.

Thanks and don't forget the Book Club!

What a very nice review! I really appreciate this so much.

☛☛Click here to see what this blogger says about Glory Be. 
                     Thank you, BETH FISH READS.

And don't forget, this month Scholastic is featuring my book as its first Mother Daughter Book Club selection. Links and all sorts of other good stuff on Beth's blog, address above.

Summer's almost here!

New Jersey, here we come.
I'm packing up and heading north. And the annual debate begins. Just how much can I take and what do I dare leave behind for a few months.

Books I must read. Writing notes. Computer, iPad, all those cords.

Today I'm going through my books. This is what I'm now reading and rereading and cannot be without. Two of those are ARCs, irreplaceable. One is a book I ordered specially for potential character research. I cannot leave these in Florida. No way.



But that's only the beginning. I need my writing files. I need my Junk Poker shoebox, ready for my class visit to Pat's 4th graders. Seriously. That Buster Brown shoebox is valuable. If only to me.

                 And I need summer writing possibilities- more books, notes, character studies!



Already packed in tote bags. But there's more to come... Oh, dear.

(I may have to deep-six the clothes, but I cannot do without my books and my files. That's that.)


Possibly Related Posts: Leaving New Jersey  The Splitters