Jamie Swenson's Blog, page 2

5:50 a.m. on her 18th Birthday

My thoughts are circling around creativity this morning and what it means to wake up every day with your heart filled with wonder, joy, sorrow, awe – and an intense desire to share some part of this creative self with the world.

Creative selfs* are complicated. They WANT – no – They NEED public expression. What is Art if it is never shared with another person – if it’s kept in a drawer, or a closet – or worse – inside your heart – never realized? It is still ART, for certain, but it is a pale experience. 

Still, at the same time … the creative self is a fragile newborn, unaware of the dangers that lurk in the shadows – in the form of criticism, misunderstanding, anger – censorship. Too much criticism at the wrong moment kills creativity. Proper criticism, at the right moment, done with respect to the art and artist creates an environment where the creative soul thrives. But it’s tricky. You never know which comment will ignite a fire that blazes bright with creativity and which comment douses the whole shebang.

Eighteen years ago my first daughter entered the world on a -38 (real temperature) day. She, like her younger sister, has become a smart, funny, creative, empathetic, sensitive soul. She’s an artist. Her work will be on display this month in the Milwaukee Art Museum in the Scholastic Student Art Display. Her creative soul is open to the world – which is a wonder and a joy – and a danger, indeed. As her mother – I have always encouraged her to dare – to create – to share her vision. Still, as her mother, I want to protect those creative embers in her heart – so that her creative soul will burn so brightly that the naysayers will be silenced.

I have yet to figure out how to put it all on the line and yet protect it. I don’t think it’s possible. I guess the creative person must build up his/her own protections against the world.

On Tuesday, my second picture book BIG RIG rolls out. That’s an amazing thing too. My words transformed by Ned Young’s art – in a convenient book form for parents and kids to share. Wow. Leaves me a bit speechless, and I feel quite unworthy of my life. And yet I KNOW there are folks who just won’t SEE it for what it is (to me) – a joyful, playful book meant to invite young children along for a story. For me, there is nothing greater than giving a child a book that makes him/her excited about reading. BIG RIG is a part of my creative soul. And it is out there for the World to see. That’s a big, scary thing.

Last night, my hometown celebrated The Arts. Creative folks from all walks of life (actors, singers, photographers, chefs, dancers – and writers) we nominated by our peers and then a very nice fundraising celebration took place. I couldn’t be there – as I’m out of town with BIG RIG – but my husband and my younger daughter attended. There were performances and voting – and a general feeling that WE NEED our creative sides – we NEED ART. My book, BOOM BOOM BOOM received recognition in the Creative Writing category. [image error]My husband accepted this award for the book (painted by a high school art student). After the evening, Jon told me that as he looked out into the audience – he suddenly found himself a bit overwhelmed by the emotion of the evening. All the talent – in every stage – young people, adults – daring to SHARE their vision of the world. He got a bit choked up. Art can do that to you. Art brings out our spiritual/ emotional sides. Art touches our souls. How wonderful that the United Arts Alliance paused on an evening in January to celebrate creativity in our city. I hope that all involved left with their spirits renewed by the celebration.

Last weekend,  I spent three days with some incredible writers. It was a working weekend – we brought our STUFF, read it aloud – and spent hours talking about each piece, writing craft, and what it means to live your life as a writer. And you know what? – every single one of us – from the person with ten books out in the world – to the people who are anxiously awaiting publication – agreed that living the Writer’s Life can be brutal. It can be awful. And it can be amazing. That’s the complicated nature of sharing your creative soul with others. When you connect with another person through your art – it’s transformative. But, when you face unfair criticism, walls, or apathy — well, I will leave you with the words one of the writers reminded us of:

The Man in the Arena

by Theodore Roosevelt

 It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming;

but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Go out – nurture your creative soul and then dare greatly – for what else is there in this world?

 *Yes, I know it could be/should be “selves” … not feeling that word. I want it to be selfs today.

Onomatopoeia and such

*Ahhhh pooooof* Phew. There we go. Had to blow the dust off the keyboard! That’s better! Schwack, schwaaack. Thwip. (a few cobwebs). It’s been a while – I apologize. SMOOCH! (that better?)

I’ve been told I tend to use a lot of sound words in my writing – you know – the whole onomatopoeia thing. It’s true. I LOVE sound words. And I DO use them often when I write. Especially in my picture books, but I use sound words in my middle grade books as well. Why?

Because sound words are FUN! They break up text and provide white space/pacing/rhythm. Plus, they not only invite the reader into the text — they grab the reader by the ear and pull them along! Ouch! BANG! SNAP! Arrrrooooooo! How could a read resist such lovely words? And better yet — how could a CHILD not turn around and LOOK at an adult reading such silly, fun words?

I suppose that’s where it all started. In my ‘other life’ I’m an early literacy storyteller. I started out when I was a teen – going to summer park programs and reading stories to hot, sweaty, tired, often sugared-up kids. When you’re not much older than your audience, I think you tend to ham it up a bit [image error](at least, I did) in order to keep their attention on the story and not on a passing butterfly. The Big Bad Wolf HUFFED and PUFFED and BAM-CRASH! knocked those little houses down. Those pigs cried WEEEE WEEE WEEE! And don’t even get me started on Little Red Riding Hood. Sound words did the trick – I would add them in if the author had somehow missed an opportunity CREAK! SQUEAK! Swish swish. So, when I started writing my own picture books – of course I added the sound words into the text. (Why should the poor reader have to work so hard to come up w/ the appropriate sounds at the appropriate time?). Plus, as the writer – if you add in sound words – you are giving your illustrator room to play. In my first book, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!, David Walker used my sound words to enhance the illustration. Someone recently asked if I had written those words too – or if the illustrator had just done that … OF COURSE I WROTE THE WORDS! GAK! (but I answered politely – honestly, people – I’m the author – if I let the illustrator do everything, what would be left? GRIN).

I also used a lot animal sounds in BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! (there are even more in my book IF YOU WERE A DOG due out in fall 2014). Again, not only does the sound break up the text and invite the reader in — but it is an early literacy tool as well (we library types like to call this phonological awareness). Kids learn language by playing with it – manipulating it – splicing and dicing it into individual sounds – and by hearing the sounds slowed down a bit. What’s better than Arrrrooooo! or Hisssss! or YEOWL! or Squawk! or Ribbet ribbet! Kids love to make animal sounds – and they are easy to break up into syllables – if you’re so inclined. And kids are. So are teachers. So, I ask you, brave writers, why not add a few sounds in? You’ll love it. I promise. Even a ‘quiet’ picture book can benefit from a few soft sounds…. shhhhhh…. pat pat pat…. drip drip drip …. whoosh … hush hush …

My next book BIG RIG is packed with sound words too … what can I tell you — I just love me the onomatopoeia (and I think Frankie’s illustrator, Ned Young, does too!)[image error]Urrrrnnntt! Urrrrnnntt! Keep the shiny side up and the rubber side down!

BIG RIG will hit the road on Feb. 4, 2014.

 

Writing by Heart

[image error]At some point in your writing career, someone is going to suggest that you mine your own memories for the nuggets of stories. You know, list out everything you can remember.

Color of your first bike.

Favorite lunch when you were seven.

What your childhood home looked like.

It’s the whole write what you know idea. It’s pretty standard advice. It’s pretty good advice. It’s sometimes the hardest advice to follow.

Why is that? I haven’t a clue. We all have interesting lives – no matter if you grew up in a small town of 150 folks or in the middle of NYC. I think the problem is that we do not always think that our lives are worthwhile.

Did you save the world when you were ten? Invent something that has revolutionized society? Found the answer to poverty? Fixed the energy crisis? Made contact with alien cultures? No? Then hmmmm… this is going to be a bit harder than I thought.

No, actually it isn’t.

Writing what you know means putting authentic voice to universal experiences in your own unique way. HUH?

Did you lose someone you loved when you were a kid? What did feel like? How did the people around you react to the death?

Were you the smart kid? The dumb kid? The shy kid? The smelly kid? The popular one? The invisible one? The hungry one? I want to know. I know who I was when I was seven – and I was someone else at twelve – and yet a different person at sixteen. I can relate to your story, I want to relate to your story.

Did your parents have a happy marriage? A less-than-happy one? Were they even married? Did you know your parents? What did they do for a living? Did you have enough money? Food? Too much money? Food? Did your grandma like your father? Hate him? If you tell me, I will connect on an emotional level – I have parents, grandparents, brothers, aunts, uncles, best friends, enemies … I promise you, if you tell me about it, I’m interested.

Did your dad ever, out of the blue, bring home a goat? (Pam????)

Okay – you get the picture. You have stuff. It’s your stuff. It’s interesting to me because it might remind me of myself or teach me something new. I really don’t know.

When I was working on my M.F.A. a new student came into my workshop session. She had written a rather uninspiring picture book — it’s not that it was bad — it’s just — it had no heart. It seemed like any number of picture books, but it had no detail, no voice, nothing that made anyone care. I clearly remember the instructor asking this woman where she had grown up. Turns out, she and her family left her home country due to war, violence, poverty — she grew up moving around to find safe places, sometimes in refugee camps. We all sat there listening to this in awe and wonder. Why hadn’t she used any of this in her book? Not even in the vocabulary. Was it too painful? Was it too close to her heart? Maybe. But what she said was, “I didn’t think anyone would find that interesting. I haven’t seen it in any books.”

Um. Yeah. Like I said – I’m interested in YOUR story. To you, it’s old news. To me it’s amazing. Write your story. You know it by heart.

 Now – the trick is – use your emotional memories – they are yours … but unless you want to write memoire, create some fictional folks to live through the emotions you’ve already experienced. You lost your dog? Maybe your MC lost her best friend. You moved to a big city when you were ten? Maybe your MC moves to a farm. You get to use your stories — but you don’t have to stick with what actually happened. Use what works, fix what doesn’t. This is fiction afterall.

Write on, people. Write on.

 

Blog Hopping with Marsha Qualey, Lisa Bullard, and Mary Ann Scott

A week or two ago, Marsha Qualey asked me if I wanted to blog hop with her. I love hopping. In fact, I do it all the time — in storytime, in my writing, during the hectic after-the-school-day witching zone of:  “Can you give so-and-so a ride?” or “Could you bring me XYZ?” Hopping, or so it seems, is in my blood.

Of course, as in all things, there are rules to this blog hop.

According to Marsha: “The rules are each invitee answers questions and then introduces … other writers. You can hop forward and backward and sideways and learn about many good writers that are or have been writing for children.”

Hopping about has connected me with some fairly amazing writers. Case in point? Marsha Qualey. [image error]I met Marsha when I was hopping around Hamline working on my M.F.A. Marsha somehow or other got me through my critical thesis in one piece — and she promised me a ghost story. I’m waiting.

Marsha is the type of YA writer who you pray kids discover – and you recommend when they haven’t. She writes realistic teen characters set against social/political/religious/moral (I could keep going) backgrounds in a down-to-earth, this really feels [image error]like it happened – sort of way that just blows me away. Plus, the woman writes a darn good mystery. To say I am a big fan of her work would be an understatement. And now, Marsha as turned her talents toward adult fiction. This can only be a good thing. Check out her latest novel: Venom and the River

So, since I said I’d hop – let’s get hopping.

What are you working on right now?

At this very moment I am working on a middle grade novel featuring a talking dog and time travel. It’s new territory for me – a giant leap into sci fi/fantasy/historical fiction … what?! But, I must admit, I am loving the research and the characters I’m creating. I am also working a about three[image error] picture books – two that rhyme, one that doesn’t. I have also been out and about promoting my first picture book: Boom! Boom! Boom! (which has been fantastic and exhausting) … and I’m gearing up for the release of BIG RIG (Feb. 2014). So there’s that!

How is your current work different than other works in the genre?

In my mind, I am writing a weird cross between the Magic Tree House, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, and Men and Black (with a bit of Back to the Future thrown in for good measure) for seven to eleven year old kids. It’s early days, folks — so I think it’s too soon to say what this book will become. I’ll keep you posted. 

Why do you write what you write?

How long do you have? But, seriously, like most writers – I pick projects that affect me on some level. Most of my picture books come from a place of joy and enthusiasm for the topic, the words, and the eventual readers. I see the kids in my mind as I’m writing – I imagine how certain words/ideas might make them react – giggles? Smiles? Concern? What might seem very light to an adult can affect a child deeply (and I often find myself laughing or crying as I write). As for my novels – again – I tend to find characters who I know and who I believe have something of worth to share with my readers. Bottomline – if I’m not addicted to writing the book — it’s not going to happen. I can’t force it. I have to love it on some level, or I will end up cleaning my house instead.

What’s the hardest part of writing?

A  year ago I would have said, “Just doing it.” Now, with a book out in the world and two more next year – I have to say, “Keeping the marketing out of the current work.” Once you see what it takes for a book to survive – it’s tempting to work only on projects that seem to have a marketing angle built in – books that want to leap off the shelf based only on the cover image or the snazzy title. I don’t want to be that person/that writer. I want to write books that matter to someone – and that someone had better be me.

Now I invite you to check out the blogs of two amazing writers I hopped into along the way.

I met Lisa Bullard last October [image error]– she’s not only a talented writer celebrating a novel release in [image error]October: Turn Left at the Cow – but the author of more children’s fiction and NF than I can list here. Lisa supports her professional community in many valuable ways – including as a Mentor for Hire. I met her at a time I really needed a mentor. Her advice was invaluable to me. She’s a writer to watch. So start watching. Plus, she is one of the funniest folks I’ve ever met. Honestly.

I met Mary Ann Scott around 2007 (dates are a bit fuzzy) at the Highlights Foundation Workshop in Chautauqua, NY. Mary Ann [image error]was working on a historical, paranormal manuscript. I was immediately taken with her – as a writer, as a friend, and as a fellow ghost girl. Her blog is called ‘Haunting the Broken Tree’ – and it’s worth your time to check it out. Mary Ann recently received a work-in-progress grant from SCBWI (and I believe she may be off on another adventure even as I type). Watch for Mary Ann’s ghost stories in the near future.

Happy Hopping, Folks.