Vicki Lane's Blog, page 551

Farewell, Old Girl...

Molly was old when she came to us. We adopted her when our neighbor Eileen had to go into a nursing home. We were never sure of Molly's age -- she could have been fourteen, maybe older, when we said goodbye to her on Friday.
I blogged recently about her -- a cheerful old thing, in spite of deafness and arthritis. But for the past few weeks, she's been increasingly confused. When she became completely incontinent, the time had come. 
Never easy -- but in this case we knew it was coming. 


Someone asked a few days ago for an update on our dogs and cats. It's odd to find ourselves down to three dogs after many years of having six. 

But I'll do a quick rundown of the dogs that have been part of our lives  and this blog for the past three years. Sweet Bear ( the original of Ursa who lives on in the Goodweather books) and happy Jack have been gone about a year . Dan, the Border Collie, Maggie, the Mountain Cur (original of Elizabeth Goodweather's Molly,)  and William (Elizabeth's James) remain. Dan's the youngest -- maybe four. Maggie is twelve, William is older -- maybe fourteen.
The cats Eddie and Miss Susie Hutchins both seem ageless.

 
Often appearing in my pictures are Otis (in front) and Ali Ali. They live with Justin and Claui in another house on our farm. 


So many happy memories . . .

 

Muddy Sneakers

 Muddy Sneakers is an outdoor science program for public school students in western North Carolina, providing fifth graders regular (6 - 12 times a year) learning expeditions to nearby natral areas where, in  small groups led by trained naturalists, the students can learn about Nature through direct experience. It's a genius idea. Today's urban and suburban kids, caught up in television, the Internet  and a myriad of planned activities are often completely without experience of the natural world.  Even if it weren't for all those distractions, not many kids anymore live within walking or biking distance of natural areas.
Enter Muddy Sneakers!  They work with fifth graders, the perfect age --young enough to feel a sense of wonder and not distracted by teen age hormones and coolness.  What an excellent way to foster environmental awareness!  What's more, this outdoor classroom experience often lights a fire in mediocre or poor students, resulting in  surprisingly improved academic performance in every area.


Have a look at their website; maybe even think about getting involved!  Wouldn't it be great to see programs like this everywhere?

Snowy Feet...

 Appalachian folklore says that if you walk barefoot in the first snow of the season, you'll be healthy all year.
I've done my part.  

Thanks, Merisi!

I was in Asheville yesterday, attending a luncheon for Muddy Sneakers (of which I shall post more tomorrow) and of course I took my camera.
It's ironic -- Muddy Sneakers is all about getting city kids out into Nature and helping them to understand what they see there.

I, on the other hand, am only now beginning to appreciate what I see in a city -- and that's thanks to Merisi's blog. Without Merisi, I wouldn't have stopped to notice the delicate pastel tiles surrounding this simple but elegant carving...
And thanks to Merisi, I'm always looking up at roof lines  and enjoying the geometry of architecture. . .

 Here are some more things I saw in Asheville yesterday.  

At Autumn's End

Miss Susie Hutchins soaks up the sun... The little maple clings to its last leaf... Justin picks the last peppers before a potential frost... Kate's sleek summer coat is growing shaggy...
 And I can't resist another pear leaf -- 
with its Mondrian style ...
 

The Power of a (Threatened) Curse

About twelve years ago I had a ruptured disk and was in really severe pain. The local clinic, thinking that I had a muscle spasm, had given me the most powerful painkiller they could and it allowed me to sleep some but certainly didn't take away all the pain. I mean, I'm usually pretty stoic but I was lying in bed moaning!Finally I had an appointment the next afternoon with a surgeon (the one who eventually fixed the disk) and looking at my pills, I realized that I was one short. 

That meant horrible pain while I waited for the doctor.  I called the clinic and explained the situation. Either they had miscounted or I had dropped and lost a pill. Could I get just one more to see me through?
The woman on the phone went and asked the doctor. Sorry, no way. I'd just have to tough it out.  I explained myself all over again, emphasizing that I just wanted One Pill. (This, by the way, was a clinic my family and I'd been patients at for about twenty years. I felt they should have known I wasn't someone scamming drugs.) 
Our conversation went on, back and forth for about twenty minutes with me getting increasingly upset (it was near time for my next pill and I was really hurting.) The woman on the phone went and asked the doctor again: same negative reply.        

    And then (and I have no idea where this came from), I heard myself saying, "I don't want to have to do this but I am going to be forced to wish that this doctor feel that same sort of pain that I'm feeling right now."
There was a startled silence and then the women on the other end said. "Don't do that! Just wait a minute and I'll be right back."  
When she returned it was to say that three pills would be waiting if my husband could come pick them up.             "I only need one," I told her.
"That's all right," she said, speaking in soothing tones. "The doctor wants to be sure you have enough."
 I'm still trying to sort out the message of this story. But I promise only to use my powers for good.

FAQ - Writing a Series

Q:. What are some of the special problems in plotting a series with ongoing characters?  How do you keep from getting confused?
A:   Oh, I get confused, all right. But yes, there are, indeed, lots of things to watch out for in a series.  The following are some things I've learned:
1. Keep a list of characters and places mentioned.  With each addition to the series I add any changes to characters e.g.. hair grayer, cut off dreads, house burned, etc.
2. For ongoing characters, I've found it useful to construct family trees.  You never know when the odd uncle or cousin will come in handy.
3. Keep a time line --I put events in real time (Vietnam War, Great flood of 1916), in bold; events in fictional (Miss Birdie born, Sam dies) time in regular.
4. Remember with each new book you have to reintroduce everyone all over again -- without boring faithful readers. I keep a small check list - describe Elizabeth, her house and farm, her family, her dogs, her back-story.   
5. Be careful about how many ongoing characters you have-- it can begin to feel like you're pulling a heavy load, working everyone into every book -- or at least accounting for their absence.  (Lee Child avoids this by having Jack Reacher constantly on the move -- new places, new faces in every book. )
6.  Make sure your protagonist continues to evolve, to learn new things and reveal more and more of him or herself in every book. (My editor is really big on this one.)
(The leaves are all from the same pear tree. Such variety!) 

Putting My House(es) In Order

Things always pile up when I leave, even for a few days. Bills to pay; dog hair to vacuum; house plants to water. Time to toss out some of the inadvertent experiments in biological warfare that were growing in the back of the refrigerator. Time to organize my receipts from travel in the hope that much of it is deductible; time to critique my students' latest assignments . . .
In my on-line house, it's time to post a new newsletter, time to complete a requested on-line interview for another blog, and, at long last, time to update my website -- about a year overdue.  

My previous web mistress found herself overwhelmed with other obligations so now I have a new web mistress and she's already hard at work,  sending me proposed looks for the various pages. It's going to be, I think, fresh looking and easier to read and navigate.
I hope to incorporate the DAY OF SMALL THINGS blog -- which was no more than a stop gap measure when I couldn't get in touch with my previous webmistress -- into the updated website. And I plan to add to the recipes and folklore pages on my website.

I'm also trying to figure out how (without spending big bucks) to do a good quality recording of me reading a bit of the new book (so Joan and Marilyn in New Zealand will get an idea of what Appalachian dialect sounds like.) Any ideas? Anyone?

And speaking of ideas, if any of you take a look at the website and have suggestions for additions or improvements, I'd love to hear them.  We may already be working on it -- or it may not have occured to us. And when both my real and my virtual houses are in somewhat better order, I'll  be more able to focus on writing the next book . . .   

Eddie Is Caught Unprepared . . .

Home Again, Home Again!

Lovely to be home again after several days on the road! I had a fine time and met some lovely people.

But, virtually speaking, I'm gone again. My post for today is over at Jenny Milchman's blog Suspense Your Disbelief -- where I ask the pressing question "Are we each awaiting the coming of a heavenly messenger, naming us The Grand Hooyah and Master of the Universe??

Jenny calls this post a "Made it Moment" and asked me when I knew I'd made it. To which I replied- but you can see what I said over there.