Hannah Rae's Blog, page 38

What must it be like...

...to exist among fictional characters?

I had the most wonderful dream last night. Want to know what happened? I'll tell you. Some friends and I went to a Flannel Lobster concert and got invited backstage.

Who's Flannel Lobster, you ask? That's Sebastian Porter's band, and Bas Porter is my favorite fictional character who lives in my head. Coincidentally, we share a birthday, a love of cats, and a great appreciation for To Kill A Mockingbird.

Anyway, my dream got me to thinking... if YOU had an opportunity to interact with the characters in The Way Back, would you want to?

I've been trying to get the word out about my novella. I'm looking to add more readers and have therefore been trying to promote The Way Back on all sorts of social media. I mean, I even made a TikTok. [Insert eyeroll here.] Fortunately, my efforts are working -- it's so fun to look at the map on my website and see that I now have people from other countries checking in on what I'm doing! -- but after hanging out backstage with Bas last night, I had this thought:

,What if I could give my readers an opportunity to be ,in, my book while at the same time gathering some new readers?

Hence, this contest.

There are two ways to enter:

Share this post on your Facebook page and let your buddies know about ,The Way Back,. It'll earn you an entry into the contest. Tag your friends in this post. For each one who likes/follows my page, you'll earn an entry into the contest. Do both.

Okay, so that's technically three options. I've never claimed to be good at math.

If you win, I'll name a character after you and you'll experience fictional fame for (possibly) the first time in your life!

The contest starts now and will run until 10:00AM on Sunday, August 28th.

Good luck!

Now that I'm a veteran teacher...

Tomorrow I will have students for the first time since June. Am I excited? Not really. I know I'm supposed to be, but the first week of school -- the first day of school, especially -- really stresses me out. I know it will be fine. I know I will survive. I just struggle to learn all those names and feel as though I have a connection to these people wandering into my room and hanging out with me for the next 42 minutes.

With my sophomores, I'm planning to jump right into a lesson. I know some of them from having them as freshmen last year. They're good kids and know what to expect. We'll begin with one of my favorite short stories, Daphne du Maurier's "The Birds." If you haven't read it, you should. It's what the Hitchcock film is based on, but the story is sooooooo much scarier. It sets a supremely disturbing mood, which is what we'll be focusing on. And then on Friday, we're going to color birds. There's a small bit of research that will accompany this, but I think the kids and I will all be tired by Friday.

There will be no napping for me after the final bell, though. Want to know why? Because I'm going to a concert! Dispatch and OAR! My friend Kristin and I got online approximately 5 seconds after tickets went on sale last winter, I believe it was, and secured spots right in front of the stage. Dispatch is one of my most favoritest bands ever and I've seen them several times and they are always incredibly awesome. OAR is good too. I've also seen them a bunch, but Dispatch is better.

Anyway, here's something crazy: My friend Erin texted the other day to find out what Phil, Brock, and I were doing on Friday and I was like, "Hmm... I wonder what she has in mind..." BECAUSE I LEGIT FORGOT ABOUT THE CONCERT! I thought it was next week!!! So I've been very excited ever since I was informed of the show's actual date. I'm going to make my students listen to Dispatch and OAR while we color on Friday.

That's all for today.

Funday Sunday that happened on Saturday

I've been editing a novel all weekend and haven't thought much about my blog. However, a humorous occurrence happened yesterday.

I'd been texting with my friend Phil all morning. Phil is my concert husband, just so you know. He's also a regular on my trivia team, The Educated Friends. Anyway, he was planning to come over to help me with something in the morning, but then things happened and it didn't work out. We texted about it quite a bit, so when I later received a text from him asking if I owned a large men's tank top or tee, I was surprised to learn that he WOULD be coming over after all!

I used to have MANY large men's tees, but my supply has dwindled to include primarily smalls and mediums. Nevertheless, I own a frog t-shirt that my friend Emily gave me (poisonous dart frogs -- it's cool), a Hawaiian shirt with surfboards on it, and some sort of apple-related tee that I acquired from Biglerville's FFA. I once tore the sleeves off this because Arlo developed a spontaneous ear infection and wouldn't quit shaking his head. I didn't want him to give himself a hematoma, so I tore the sleeves off my t-shirt and used them to wrap his head. Inventive, huh? Try that if your dog starts manically shaking his head in the middle of the night and you don't want another vet bill.

Anyway, Phil needed a shirt because he was feeding his aunt's dog and picked him up and he was covered in urine. That meant Phil was covered in urine! He showed up at my house moments later, shirtless, and opted for the apple-related Biglerville FFA shirt. "I just wanna be able to go to the grocery store," he explained.

And that's my story.

Trivia Recap: 8/18

Oh, boy! Wait 'til you hear what The Educated Friends chose as next week's opening category...

Spoiler Alert: We won!

Opening category: Squirrels

Hint of the day: Someone kicking a football

The players: Hannah (English teacher), Darren (math professor), Mary (English teacher), Brock (something with design and computers and other things I don't understand), Phil (also something I don't understand), Alex (coffee-shop owner), and Ben (social studies teacher)

Round One

We bombed the squirrel question, which asked about which continent the smallest squirrel (3.5", I believe it was) came from. The answer? Africa. What we guessed? Asia. Right out the gate, we were down 3 points. Fortunately, we were able to dig ourselves out of the shallow hole and earn some points with categories like Name That Invention, US Cities, Triple 50/50: Snoopy or Scooby? (this was our bonus category and we aced it!), and Zoological Terms. Did you know that a group of male lions (not female!) is referred to as a "coalition"? We didn't, but we were wishing Kristin was with us because she and her kids actually have an idea for a book that involves all the funny names that groups of animals are called.

Side note: To any of my Educated Friends who may be reading this... A group of elephants is called a "herd," as you suspected. A group of owls is called a "parliament." Let's keep that in mind for the future, just in case.

Round Two

Choosing a bonus category that required us to identify which film scores went with each movie, we were off to a strong start and earned 16 points on the first question. We also did well with Occupational Clothing, TV Dramas (thank you, Darren!), Cocktails, and Pro Sports Team Commonalities (it took Ben all of one second to figure this one out). No wrong answers that round, and I believe we got all the bonus points as well.

This week's half-time sheet required us to identify the boss of the featured character on the top half (there was a name bank) and match alternate names for musical instruments on the bottom half. We scored 20/20 and were only one point behind the leading team, Sexy Abe Lincoln, going into the third round.

Round Three

We Share a Last Name was fun! The answer was Chamberlain, but we got all the first names too. That gave us a two-point bonus. Also, shoutout to my mom for making me read and then watch The Thorn Birds when I was a teenager. I still love that storyline! Car Models came next (Phil and Ben took care of this one), Hip Hop Artists earned us a whopping ZERO (but we only wagered one point), Units of Measurement was fine, and Female Authors was great too.

6-4-2

Did you know the original title of the movie Alien was going to be Star Beast? Neither did we, which is why we didn't earn six points. But we did get it on the second clue, which earned us four points. Hey, it's better than two!

Round Four

We made our bonus category Video Games for this round because none of the categories sounded especially good. Fortunately, we knew the answer! And because of Mary, we even got the bonus! I wanted to wager nine points here, but Darren wasn't as confident as I was. He did allow us to go with seven points, though, so we got the five bonus points for it being our chosen category and the two bonus points because of Mary's random knowledge about subtitles, so we ended up earning fourteen points. Not too shabby! Next was South American Geography. Ben drew this map.

Let's pause here and spend a moment talking about Ben's artistic ability. I don't really believe he considers himself to be an artist, but his maps are absolutely incredible! The man can just sketch out a shape that vaguely resembles a continent, fill it in with random squiggles that loosely resemble countries, and accurately label the entire thing! In mere minutes! I've started to save his maps and hope to one day either create a shirt that features them... or maybe a coffee-table book. I'll let you know when these things are available for purchase. Stay tuned.

Round Four, continued

World Religions was next. We got it, but not the bonus. Reality TV Shows was fine and Notable Athletic Achievements was surprisingly fine too. For the first time that I can remember, the hint of the day (kicker) was the very last answer to the very last question. I mean, unless you count the Final Question, which I don't.

Final Question

I was in the bathroom and the whoosh of the hand dryer prevented me from hearing the category, but it was something about films. And now that I'm writing this, I can't remember the actual wording of the question, but the answer was Heath Ledger and Ben got it right away and I guess Sexy Abe Lincoln didn't because when Adam (that's the d.j.) announced the winners, he said, "In first place, The Educated Friends!"

Ben leaned across the table looking mischievous and whispered to all of us, "Venereal Diseases" as a suggestion for next week's opening category. He'd suggested this last week as well, but we only came in second. So I went up and told Adam that would be next week's opening category and Adam laughed and laughed and laughed. I believe Ben said he was going to research viruses and the rest of us are responsible for bacteria. Darren refuses to research any of it but I think it will be quite interesting!

Until next week...

Contest

I'm hosting a contest (which is also a poll) on my Instagram page if anyone is interested.

@heyheyhannahrae

You could win a free copy of my novella, The Way Back, when it's released later this fall. All you have to do is...

1. vote on a dog breed you'd like to see represented among the pages,

2. and tag a friend when you comment.

Easy-peasy.

Nice things people say about my writing

I'm sure everyone knows the stories of J.K. Rowling and Stephen King and their ten bajillion rejection letters from agents. I'm also sure that unless you've ever queried agents in the attempt of securing representation, you probably don't realize that "ten bajillion" is not an exaggeration. Finding a literary agent is, I have come to determine, harder than finding a needle in a haystack. If looking for a needle in a haystack, it can be assumed that a needle does in fact exist in the haystack, but I might NEVER get a literary agent. There's simply no guarantee.

That being said, I think it's important to let the people who do read my writing know how very, very, very much I value their words. So, in today's blog post, I'm going to share some of my favorites!

A few of my friends are currently reading my novel RUNNING THROUGH THE WORDS. This is being shopped to agents right now, and if no one snatches it up, I may have to self-publish it because I'm really sad the world doesn't have an opportunity to know Bas and Bert like I do. Annie sent me an article the other day about a little leaguer showing compassion to a player on the opposing team. Her comment regarding the exchange was "This reminds me of Bas and Bert. We need more representation of men showing feelings and that being our norm."

Shortly after receiving that message, my other other mother Theresa texted to say "I'm loving Bas and Bert at the moment!! I'm just so incredibly amazed at your talent and creativity and VISION as I read this! You are SO talented, Hannah Rae!!"

My friend Dani is reading my serial novella, THE WAY BACK, as it's being posted online and a few days after the first chapter went up, I got a text from her that read "Hannah! Chapter 1 is sooooooooooo good. I am hooked!"

My other friend Annie (not the one already mentioned; this Annie is married to my friend Crazy) sent me a message through Instagram to say "You need a book deal! The people need sequels and new characters!!!" I absolutely loved that!

And one of my younger readers, Grace, got in touch via Instagram to share "I read the first chapter of your novel. I love it!!! When does the next chapter come out?"

A former student, Maddi, follows me on Facebook and after reading the opening chapter of THE WAY BACK, said "Can't wait to read more." That right there is an English teacher's dream!

I recently attended a Peacocktail Party (yes, there were peacocks and cocktails) and Audrey, whom I hadn't seen in ages, said "When are you going to write another book? You need to get on that." She was very matter-of-fact about it. Oh, Audrey... I have at least four novels that are ready to go! I'm just trying to get an agent to believe in one of them!

And then there was this one from Joanna, which is one of the nicest compliments I think I've ever received: "I've been reading it today and it just keeps getting better! I’m soo happy and proud of you for doing what you love and are passionate about! You’re a role model to all the girls that might be afraid to take a chance. You’ve broken that ceiling!" I took a screenshot of that one; I want to keep it forever!

Anyway, with this post, I wanted to let all of you know that your words really do matter because pursuing this particular dream has resulted in decades of disappointment. It's never easy to receive rejection... and I've received rejection letters from at least eight bajillion literary agents at this point. With each one, I question whether or not I should just give up. Fortunately, however, there are people like YOU who send me encouraging words just when I most need to hear them. My Pat-and-Patti Fan Club consists of two of the best motivators out there! (Seriously, ladies: don't be surprised if you're mentioned in the Acknowledgments when THE WAY BACK goes to the self-publishing press!)

Guess what I did last night.

Had a book club for my novel RUNNING THROUGH THE WORDS!

I'm currently shopping this one to agents (no luck so far), but would like to self-publish it if I can't secure representation. That would allow you guys to finally get to know Bas, Bert, and Lucy... whom I love every bit as much as the tangible people in my life.

My favorite part of the evening happened early on. Let me tell you about it!

So I had this idea to ask my friends to bring a bottle of wine with a label (I regularly shop for wine by the label) representative of part of the plot or a thematic element in the novel. My friends did NOT disappoint! And they splurged... many of the bottles were upwards of $18 each! They tasted expensive, too. Yum!

The winning wine was a red called Lost Poet. Theresa's explanation of why she chose it was ASTOUNDING. She used to teach language arts so she knows a thing or two about evaluating a text. She zeroed in on Sebastian's love of To Kill A Mockingbird and the poetic elements of Flannel Lobster's lyrics (Flannel Lobster is the band Bas is in) and there were other things too. It was brilliant!

Anyway, Theresa's prize was a collection of stationery that feature my brother's "bar monsters" that I've recreated with cut paper. Each card has a funny quote inside that was, at one point, spoken by one of my friends. Things like, "I mean... I can make an egg salad!" (Kathy) and "Disney Channel movies got me messed up. I thought by my senior year of high school I'd be tall and hairy... have a cool girlfriend..." (Nate). Just random things like that; they don't necessarily make sense, but they sure are funny! So Theresa won a pack of six cards and three really super-cool pens, but because everyone did such a nice job of choosing wine, she divvied up the cards and everyone went home with one! Isn't that kind? She's a wonderful and kind human. I love that lady.

The food was delicious, if I do say so myself. I made two quiches (one had mushrooms, the other did not), a tomato salad, shrimp, and marinated green beans. My buddy Nicoleo, whom I generally just refer to as "Buddy," brought delicious fudge with raspberry liqueur in it. The raspberry liqueur was not cooked off.

Funny thing about Buddy: she has to make the recipes in her cookbooks in order, and she can never repeat a recipe because this is a rule that exists in her head. She once made a really delightful cookie that I liked very much (I feel like it had espresso in it... and was then dipped partially in dark chocolate) and I asked if she'd ever be willing to make it again. She said "No." I wondered if she would if I were on my deathbed and those cookies were the only thing that would save me. She still said "No," but did volunteer to give the recipe to my mom who could make the cookies for me, thus saving my life. She's a gem, that one. I do love her.

I won't tell you the suggestions I received because they won't make sense to you (since you obviously haven't read the book), but I did get some valuable feedback and that was the point of the evening! Yay!

Trivia Recap: 8/11

Darren told me not to bother with a recap of Thursday's game, but I told him that wasn't really an option. I've made a commitment and I can't falter the second week into it. Admittedly, trivia wasn't that exciting this week. We did place second... but it was no no thanks to me! I spent the day at the pool with my beach-lady friends, rolling into the brewery (that's where trivia takes place) about 15 minutes before go time. I was sunbaked and a bit buzzed... but just a bit.

Opening category: Tiki drinks

Hint of the day: Marionettes

The players: Hannah (English teacher), Ben (social studies teacher), Darren (math professor), Brock (something with design and computers and other things I don't understand), Victoria (veterinarian)

So I had this great idea to make tiki drinks our bonus category because a lot of the time the opening category is easy. It wasn't. We lost 8 points up front. Have you heard of a drink called a "scorpion bowl"? And do you associate the word "scorpion" with zoology? It was a bit misleading, in my humble opinion. Nevertheless, we went on to do well in the rest of this round. Darren knew things about Batman and Vincent Price, Ben made some great associations regarding Mexico City and the Olympics, and the other questions were answered too.

Round two began with an audio clue; the songs played had alliterative titles... a repetition of the B sound. "Black Better" (we all got that), "Barely Breathing" (Darren got that), and "Ballroom Blitz" (Darren got this too)." SIDE NOTE! When I was in high school (or maybe early college) my most very favorite band Reel Big Fish was featured on a ska album that redid music originally recorded by metal/hair bands. RBF did "Kiss Me Deadly" (it's a REELY good cover!) and I obviously needed the album. So I ordered it. This is back when CDs were a thing. The CD I wanted (it was called Metaliska) was on backorder so the company sent me a grunt whistle to hold me over until I got my music. "What's a grunt whistle?" you ask? It's a whistle used to call things like deer and elk and other wild creatures. My friends Biz, Laura, Justin, and I used it to cause mayhem in the neighborhood where we lived. We'd drive around late at night in Biz's father's business van with the windows down and the grunt whistle a-blowin'. Once we stole a toilet that was out for trash pickup and relocated it to another house. The people who acquired it used it as a planter for a while. Someday, if you're really lucky, I'll tell you the story of an old chair and Rita's Italian Ices, but I digress...

We aced the half-time bonus sheet (actors on the top, frontwomen and their bands on the bottom), but I might mention that in round two, I actually knew the answer to a movie question. I forget the question, but the answer was Dead Poets Society. My team was unimpressed that I knew the answer--"It's a film about an English teacher and you're an English teacher!" Ben said--but I don't watch movies! I was impressed with myself; that's what matters.

We did a mediocre job of round three, missing a question about board games (Pour House Trivia is obsessed with Risk, apparently; we had a question about that game last week) and celebrity relationships. Who cares how many women Orlando Bloom has impregnated? It was a stupid question and it cost us 3 points.

Round four was good. We didn't miss anything and this is where the hint of the day came into play. Master of Puppets/marionettes. Whatever.

The final question was gotten by Ben because he is a smart cookie.

Oh, here's a funny thing: the winning team tonight was a couple who'd never played before and their team name had the word "Squirrels" in it. I forget what was in front of "squirrels," but when they won, they didn't realize they get to choose the opening category for next week and so when they were told this was a thing, they chose squirrels! So I will be reading about squirrels this week. It's a very vague topic, but hopefully it's an interesting one. Perhaps there will even be a blog post in the future about squirrels.

Stop/Go Animation

So... I started a TikTok. I literally have four followers. My friend Mary told me that I need to get on TikTok and create a #booktok for The Way Back. So I did. I've been experimenting with stop/go animation in order to promote it. My followers on Instagram seem to enjoy them; I can't tell what Facebook peeps are thinking about 'em because they haven't commented, but I guess what matters is that I'm having fun making the mini trailers, right?

Today, after I bathed my dog Augusta (because she rolled in something absolutely revolting while we were weeding the garden this morning), I came inside and created a trailer for Ansel's chapter, which is chapter four. I think I'm getting better with each one. It's just kind of neat to be able to take paper and make it (sort of) move around like a cartoon.

I'm sure all these little book trailers will go by the wayside in a week or two because school will be starting up again and there will be other things to do. Granted, I'm going to try to keep making them... but I may not be able to promote every chapter with a stop/go animated commercial. Fair warning. Enjoy them while you can!

The music playing in the background of this is #Caamp, by the way, and the song is called "By and By."

I love this band.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/58cc22_658fb4d3e37d4d5a9233dff6143dfe90/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Life With Arlo: Art Edition

I follow an Airedale group on Facebook and have come to realize that my dog Arlo is the same as all the other male Airedales in the world. However, that doesn’t negate the hilarity* of his antics.

In today’s photograph, you’ll notice three pieces of art. The top one is a cut-paper piece that I triplified and took to Florida when I went down there for a week with my other mother Amy and other other mother Theresa. We all have this 6x6” wave crashing in the sunset.

The bottom piece is another 6x6” canvas on which my brother created a random monster with teeth that demand “CALM DOWN.” Both the teeth and the eyes are cut from another canvas and glued on top of this one. I love it.

The last piece is a 4x4” that is part of a series. Each canvas contains a daffodil, a tulip, and an iris. The flowers represent my friendship with two of my high-school friends, Kathy and Erin. Kathy’s birthday is March 3, Erin’s is March 25, and mine is April 8. Because daffodils bloom first, the daffodil on Kathy’s piece is the largest flower. Erin, logically, has an extra-large tulip, while I have the iris as a focal point on mine.

You might also notice that my art is chewed up. Kathy’s and Erin’s pieces (fortunately) are not. But this is what it’s like living with Arlo… If a painting falls off the wall (I’ll own that; I hung it with poster putty) and onto the kitchen counter (that’s all Arlo; he should not be stealing things from the kitchen counter), then there’s a good chance the art will be destroyed.

When I initially came home and found this piece missing from the wall, it was a rainy night and the only immediate remains of the artwork were a few splinters and a staple littering the kitchen floor. I really and truly believed Arlo ate the entire thing! But the next morning I found the canvas in the yard, face down and sopping wet, and I managed to salvage it.

If I’m being honest, I sort of prefer the Arlo alteration. It was never one of my favorite pieces, but now it has a real story to go with it!

The other “Arlo art story” that’s since gone down in history is the night I came home and found the kitchen floor covered in X-acto blades and blood spatter. He had stolen a box of unopened blades (100 of them) from the kitchen table and proceeded to tear it apart. The vet’s office was of course closed at that hour, so this is what I did:

Checked his mouth. Other than a cut or two on his gums, he was fine.

Counted the X-acto blades. There were 100 of them.

Counted the X-acto blades again. Still 100.

Counted the X-acto blades one more time. Yup, 100 of them. He didn’t consume any.

Now I always use nails to hang art that I truly love and never leave anything within reach of my dog. I only hope that when Arlo is reincarnated, he comes back as something very tall and/or with two legs… like a giraffe or a flamingo. He so desperately wants to be taller than he is!

*Hilarity, in this instance, is nearly synonymous with obnoxiousness.