Jane Yolen's Blog, page 35

October 3-4, 2009:

A busy busy weekend, though no writing got done. I often have a let down when I finish a book and send it off, especially if it has been a long-term project. And so it was with CURSES. Sent off, let down, and luckily I had this busy weekend planned.

I'd already been doing some desultory packing since I go back to the States on Friday, and I spent Saturday morning doing some more. But I also am booked up with last minutes visits with friends and running a day-long workshop. But wait–I'm...

Interstitial Moment

Someone recently asked me about whether I had ever had a book censored or banned. The answer is of course. More than one book, actually. I even had a book burned on the steps of the Kansas City Board of Education building. That book was Briar Rose and the reason was there was a gay man centering the book.

However, censoring books is a good old American pastime.  And so is making sure only the proper words are fit for the children's book page. Though what is proper changes with the times. In...

October 2, 2009:

So, how did your writing day go, Ms. Yolen? Well, I got up at 5:30 a.m., settled into CURSES FOILED AGAIN, The Final Tidying Up, and except for an hour doing laundry/cleaners/a small week's worth of groceries/wine, I worked on the bloody/blessed thing till 4 p.m. Hardly moved from the chair. An Olympic champion of writing bottoms.

And then (wait for it!) finished it and sent it off to my editor, my agent, my P.A. and (of course) the amazing illustrator.

DONE. For now.

Oh–and I heard that a...

October 1, 2009:

A couple of weeks ago, my publisher at First/Second asked–rather plaintively–if it might be possible for me to have my new graphic novel, CURSES FOILED AGAIN, drafted by October 1. Te first book, FOILED, will be out Spring 2010 and I think they were eager to get going on the sequel. As the contract had just been signed (and I had not even been paid the advance yet) and as the due date on said contract was January 1, I said no. But I love a challenge. And it was enough to get me galloping...

September 30, 2009:

Onward on CURSES, to page 132. Maybe ten pages to go.

Another rejection letter. A possible new DINOSAUR  book. Working on a proposal for a new poetry anthology. Wrote a poem of my own for it (I dreamed it in several incarnation all night.)

Went to the movies with Nora to see "500 Days of Summer" which we both thought had great charm, though both found the main female character much less interesting than the main male character, and surprisingly wearing Donna Reed dresses though it is set in...

September 29, 2009:

Working more on CURSES FOILED AGAIN, I got all the way through to the place where I'd stopped my forward motion before, adding 22 pages in total. Then I moved ahead a couple of pages, and am ready to plunge over the next few days into the book's huge battle scene and wrap up. Maybe another 20 book pages at most.

Do I like it? It has moments I feel soar. And moments to make the reader laugh. But I am the last person in the world who can answer that question. For me, at this time of the writing ...

Interstitial Moment:

Debbie wrote to ask: "I think one of the things slowing me down in the process is the fear of allowing ANY passive voice or 'ly" adverbs to escape my brain and trickle onto the page.  I know there are times when these are permissible (in adult writing), but I've been "programmed" to always avoid them when it comes to writing for children.  Your thoughts?  Do you avoid using them altogether, or do you use them sparingly?"

Debbie: I let everything flow out on the first draft. I have trained...

September 28, 2009:

Well, back to form. Book-writing form, that is. After a night's sleep of TEN hours (I must have been exhausted from the trip!) I got up and started to work on CURSES FOILED AGAIN. Got up to page 102, heading into the big climactic scenes, when I decided it made more sense to go back to the beginning, to make sure that I was going to be doing the right climax for the right book! (I HATE when the opposite happens.) It is an energizing move so that I can work myself up to speed for the Big...

September 27, 2009:

One of those days NO writing got done.

What did I do instead?

I critiqued five picture book manuscripts for a workshop next Saturday.

I played fifteen games of Boggle.

I answered email.

I went on FaceBook.

I (sort of) balanced my checkbooks.

I cleaned up (sort of) my writing area.

I had tea with friends at their sitooterie by the Firth of Forth.

I did a small grocery shopping.

I managed two loads of washing.

I cleaned the kitchen.

I wrote this new post for my journal.

I lost/avoided/wasted/ignored/threw a...

September 25-26, 2009:

The trip back from London started in a fraught manner. I worked at my hosts' house and got about 10 more pages done. (That was not the fraught part.) And I called for a cab about two and a half hours before I needed them. Since my train left at 2, I asked for a cab to come for me at 1. That way I could buy something to carry onto the train as well. And I am always early for things. I HATE running late.

At 1, I was outside, having already dropped the keys through the door, waiting in the...