Michael Selden's Blog, page 22
January 23, 2014
National Writing for Children Showcase Virtual Tour 4th day
I posted it out of sequence, but here is the fourth day of the author’s showcase virtual tour. The question asked was how would I use THE BOY WHO RAN as a teaching tool?
Actually Theresa Picket covered this in her review as well, but this was my stab at it:
http://www.karencioffiwritingforchildren.com/2014/01/14/using-the-boy-who-ran-as-a-teaching-tool/
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January 22, 2014
Virtual Tour Day 3 THE BOY WHO RAN—National Center for Writing for Children Sowcase
Day 3 of the “The National Writing for Children Center” author’s showcase virtual tour for THE BOY WHO RAN and its author Michael Selden
The topic of the day was writing tips and I rushed through the text of the quasi interview, so it was rough and reads as such.
http://mayrassecretbookcase.blogspot.com/2014/01/writing-tips-from-childrens-author_23.html
9 total views, 9 views today
January 21, 2014
Day 2 of The National Writing for Children Center and Book Bytes Author’s Showcase Jan 20-24 2014
Day 2 of the “The National Writing for Children Center” author’s showcase virtual tour for THE BOY WHO RAN and its author Michael Selden
Day 2 is hosted by Terri Forehand, a freelance writer, critical care nurse, and the author of The Cancer Prayer Book.
The questions asked for this were as follows:
What is a typical writing day like for you? Where do you write? How long do you write each day, week, or month, etc.? Do you prefer to write on paper or on a computer?
http://terri-forehand.blogspot.it/2014/01/welcome-to-day-2.html
Content:
Welcome to Day 2 of the blog tour for author Michael Selden. His post gives you insight into his writing life.
For me, writing is not always structured the same way. I have times of intense focus when I write (or read) to the exclusion of almost everything else, and then I have times when I don’t write. Generally, I’d say I read or write three to six hours per day—that’s an average. But, I can go months without actually writing at all, especially when I am working on something else—like moving my home, for example.
I don’t have a specific time I write, I write as I find time when I want to do so. During the writing of THE BALANCE and THE BOY WHO RAN (I wrote the first drafts sequentially and revised them in parallel), I followed the three to six hour guideline, but I spent twenty hours writing one day when the momentum for THE BALANCE was high. The first draft of THE BALANCE was about 85K words and it grew to about 140K words before I started cutting. The first draft took me six weeks to write. THE BOY WHO RAN required an initial week of research on the period and its first draft of about 31K words took me three weeks to scribble out. But, first drafts are only 10% of the creative work.
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I write on a computer, exclusively now. I used to write in longhand and then struggle typing, but the word processor has been a blessing. I’m sure I went through THE BOY at least 200 times; imagine that with a pencil—I guess writers of old were better at their first drafts than me. But I write anywhere, even in restaurants if I’m eating alone and traveling.
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Day 2 of the NWFCC Virtual Tour / Author's Showcase
Day 2 is hosted by Terri Forehand, a freelance writer, critical care nurse, and the author of The Cancer Prayer Book.
The questions asked for this were as follows:
What is a typical writing day like for you? Where do you write? How long do you write each day, week, or month, etc.? Do you prefer to write on paper or on a computer?
http://terri-forehand.blogspot.it/201...
January 20, 2014
Author's Showcase Day 1
http://phyllisiturner.com/2014/01/20/...
The showcase ends in an Internet Radio Blog on Friday (January 24th) on a show called Book Bytes with Suzanne Lieurance. I'll post a link to that show later this week.
Day 1 is hosted by Phyllis I. Turner, a freelance writer & columnist with specialties in non-fiction travel, health & fitness, & in children’s stories. She also is the producer of the online radio show called Book Bites For Kids and is a member of The Working Writer’s Club.
National Writing for Children Center and Book Bytes Author’s Showcase Jan 20-24 2014
National Writing For Children Center is having an author’s showcase, where—first—different related bloggers post answers to questions that I answered on their web sites. This is a 5-day showcase and each day has a posting. Day 1 is January 20th and this is the link to the first day’s posting:
http://phyllisiturner.com/2014/01/20/meet-childrens-author-michael-selden/
The showcase ends in an Internet Radio Blog on Friday (January 24th) on a show called Book Bytes with Suzanne Lieurance. I’ll post a link to that show later this week.
Day 1 is hosted by Phyllis I. Turner, a freelance writer & columnist with specialties in non-fiction travel, health & fitness, & in children’s stories. She also is the producer of the online radio show called Book Bites For Kids and is a member of The Working Writer’s Club.
9 total views, no views today
January 7, 2014
Writing, Even on the Road
As I write this, I am in a hotel room in Matera, Italy. It’s about 9pm and I am thinking about going out after a meal since some restaurants just opened.
For me, writing is not always structured the same way. I have times of intense focus when I write (or read) to the exclusion of almost everything else, and then I have times when I don’t write. Generally, I’d say I read or write three to six hours per day—that’s an average. But, I can go months without actually writing at all, especially when I am working on something else—like moving my home, for example. I also write anywhere I can, even in restaurants sometimes when I travel, although I prefer writing at my desk with a larger monitor. I use an Apple Air laptop and purchased the commercial version of Office for my work.
I don’t have a specific time I write, I write as I find time when I want to do so. During the writing of THE BALANCE and THE BOY WHO RAN (I wrote the first drafts sequentially and revised them in parallel), I followed the three to six hour guideline, but I spent twenty hours writing one day when the momentum for THE BALANCE was high. The first draft of THE BALANCE was about 85K words and it grew to about 140K words before I started cutting. The first draft took me six weeks to write. THE BOY WHO RAN required an initial week of research on the period and its first draft of about 31K words took me three weeks to scribble out. But, first drafts are only 10% of the creative work.
I write exclusively on a computer now. I used to write in longhand (when I was in my teens) and then struggle typing on an old manual typewriter, but the word processor has been a blessing. I’m sure I went through THE BOY at least 200 times; imagine that with a pencil—I guess writers of old were better at their first drafts than me. But I write anywhere, even in restaurants if I’m eating alone and traveling.
7 total views, 1 views today
January 5, 2014
Motherhood Moment Review of THE BOY WHO RAN
The Boy Who Ran received a new positive review from Motherhood Moment. Link is provided below:
http://motherhood-moment.blogspot.com/2014/01/consumer-critique-boy-who-ran.html
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Theresa Pickett Review of THE BOY WHO RAN
The Boy Who Ran received a positive review from Theresa Picket (of TheresaReviews.com). A link is provided below
http://voices.yahoo.com/the-boy-ran-book-review-12462820.html?cat=4
Theresa’s Reviews can be found at:
http://www.theresasreviews.com
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December 19, 2013
The Boy Who Ran—A few sources of inspiration
The Boy Who Ran is a narrative tale and a parable. Besides its main purpose of telling a story, which I hope people find interesting, it also tries to inspire young readers with the principles of dedication, and also to show how taking this virtue too far can lead to inflexibility and destructive behavior.
The original inspiration for The Boy Who Ran came form a theme rather than a story. For some reason, I was thinking back to a theme from a book I’d read in 1976 called “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” and the theme was “seeking perfection”. I recalled the single-minded determination of Jonathan, a rather unusual seagull, to fly ever faster. Seagulls are not especially constructed for fast flight, but Jonathan was an exception. In the end Jonathan travels as fast as light. While not exactly realistic, the story demonstrated the application of a singular determination to be perfect. I wanted to imbue some of this characteristic into the boy, although I also wanted the boy’s needs and desires to be more complex than this.
The origin of the boy’s character was the event that changed his life, and the near unbreakable spell (of sorts) that his mother cast on him at the time. She hoped this would make him safe. The tragic event, and what followed over the next few days, forged his character in a way that would hard to duplicate, but it also wounded him, much as his alter ego in the story had been wounded at some time in the past.
There was another character with a similar level of dedication to perfection. Red Sky was initially inspired by Kyūzō, one of the seven samurai in Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 film. This samurai constantly dedicated himself to swordsmanship, to the exclusion of all else—although this also made him somewhat inflexible. But The Boy Who Ran is as much about change and anything else, not about inflexibility. Red Sky had already begun to change at the beginning of the story and the softening of his attitude was a harbinger of the changes to come for the boy, although (I hope) it was done subtly.
Some of the other characters had initial inspirations as well, but these inspirations only serve as a starting point. The characters immediately evolve into his or her own unique selves quickly. The inspirations are only an initial picture in my mind when I think about a character.
There are other less-obvious themes in the book, although the constructive use of determination did emerge as an obvious theme. The focuses on things he wants to happen, tirelessly and with dedication. In my experience as a physicist and program manager, this focus is important if you are to accomplish anything that’s difficult. I’ve said something like this to young leaders before: Complex problems don’t solve themselves and the barriers to success are countless. There is always a reason for why we can’t get something done. There is only one reason things get done: because you, and everyone working with you, are determined that they will be done and you each make a decision that you will find a way to make it happen.
2 total views, 1 views today
