Where Do I Begin?

The theme of how I start a new writing project comes at the right moment for me because I’m asking myself the same question:  How do I start a new writing project?

First, I’ve got to let go.

My new book has finally been released and I’ve got to move on to another project.  But it isn’t easy to do.  I’ve lived with the enslaved people I wrote about in Buried Lives: The Enslaved People of George Washington’s Mount Vernon for the past five and a half years.  I’ve researched, I've thought deeply, and worked hard to write about them in a meaningful way.  But now a new phase has begun for my book as it faces the world on its own.  It reminds me of the feeling I had when I took my kids to college and left them there.  I knew they were ready to go.  I wanted them to go.  It was time for them to go.  It was hard to let them go-but I did.   

Image from Burst.

Since the first of the year, I’ve been doing as much marketing as possible for Buried Lives-but soon I’ll be at the end of my long list of things to do.  Once those tasks are done, I’ll clean my office.  I'll find a place (though I don't know where) for the piles of papers and books that at this moment look like a tornado has touched down. I need to see a clean desk before I can think seriously about what to do next.  

Because I write long nonfiction, each project is a time commitment of years.  I must be willing to invest that kind of energy—mental, physical, and emotional—to the topic.  For me, I must believe the topic is worth what it will cost me, and that this is the book that I’m supposed to write.  

I sometimes think the books choose me, rather than the other way around.

Yes, I know that sounds melodramatic.  But the truth is that it takes so long to write my deeply researched books, that there won’t be that many books by the end of my career.  I will never be one of those authors whose bios say they have written 200 books.   Therefore the topics I choose to write about are crucial to me.  

So many books, representing so much work!  Image from Burst.

So now that I’m letting go of Buried Lives, what is next for me?  I do have a topic that has been in my mind for a couple of years that might become my next book.  But at this point, the possible topic is only a starting place.  From here, I’ll need to do market research to see what else has been written on the topic.  The next step will be to write a book proposal.  Sounds easy, right?  It isn’t. I do a lot of research in order to understand the topic so I can figure out how a book could work.  I need a fully realized concept for the entire book before beginning to write a book proposal.    

After lots of research, and after I know what the book is really about, I craft the most powerful book proposal I can.  I keep in mind that the proposal is a sales tool.  My goal is for the editor to think—I love this idea!  I want this book on our list! 

The next step is signing a contract.  Once I sign my John Hancock on a contract, I put everything I’ve got into writing that book. 

The process is slow and challenging.  The process is also exhilarating and fulfilling.  

What will be the focus of my next book?  Image from Burst.

Carla Killough McClafferty

In the Beginning…

My fellow TeachingAuthors and I begin this new year sharing our thoughts about our stories’ beginnings.
What do we do once a glimmering idea snatches our attention?
Bobbi focuses on first lines.
Mary Ann gives the idea room to grow.
April (most poetically) weighs her options before investing.
I begin by falling in love.

  The thing is, I have no choice. Since the start of my Writer’s Journey, each and every story I’ve given my all and best to - whether eventually published or now boxed on a shelf – began with a “something” read/heard/overheard/seen/felt that inexplicably grabbed my heart.
The meteorological truth of weather proverbs as noted in a Chicago Tribune article.
Competing chicken soup recipes reported in a Jewish Exponent feature.
A plaintive Klezmer melody replaying in my mind.
A winter in Chicago that never saw snow.
There was that modern young man living the life of a long-ago artist whose painted boxes caught my eye at an Art Fair.
And those tethered preschool kiddos traipsing across Lincoln Park.
And my current love - a little-known antebellum woman whose quiet philanthropic efforts continue today.

Not to get all hormonal about it, but yes, while rolling out an idea’s story possibilities, day after day, wandering, wondering, What-if-ing, imagining, reading, listening, viewing, researching, my body’s dopamine rises, my neuro-transmitters go nuts. 
Soon, I’m intensely single-focused, some say even driven! The sky becomes bluer! Dreams permeate my sleep! I ooh, ah and sigh with unabashed abandon.  I’m euphoric, exhilarated, invested, all in!
In other words, I’ve fallen in love.

The Good News is: having fallen in love with heart-grabbing story ideas numerous times, I know Reality demands eventual commitment.
Yes: I’ll need a format, a structure, a time and a place.
Yes: I’ll need a Narrator, a tone, a voice.
Definitely YES: I’ll need a star for my story, a character with whom my readers can connect.
Absolutely YES: I’ll need to discover my connection to that star.
To quote Katherine Paterson: “… one heart in hiding reaching out to another.”

The Even Better News, though: I can do all of the above – the carving out of story elements, the probing of my character’s heart, the telling of the story, because once upon a time, when the idea first grabbed my heart, I’d fallen in love.

I’ve learned the hard way how important it is to have a record of that first romantic encounter.  Now I journal a story’s spark and how I fell in love.  I make my students and writers do the same.
Whenever I’m stuck or have lost my way, when a no-holds-barred critique knocks me flat to the floor, I re-read that journal entry and before I know it, I’m recalculating, moving forward on my plotline, my heart once again fully engaged.

I’m delighted today’s Poetry Friday host is THE OPPOSITE OF INDIFFERENCE.
When I first visited Tabatha Yeatts’ site on January 16, knowing full well the content of the post I’d be writing today, all I could do was smile.  Her post was titled “Getting Started.”
Even better, she’d closed with a poem by Mary Oliver, presciently, it turns out, because Mary died the very next day.
Mary Oliver’s words are the perfect close for this post and a lovely way to remember this life-affirming poet.

    “When it’s over, I want to say all my life
      I was a bride married to amazement.”

Happy Beginnings!

Esther Hershenhorn

WHEN THEY SAY I HAVE A STORY IDEA FOR YOU

.
Howdy, Campers ~ and Happy Poetry Friday! (original poem and PF link below).

2019's first topic rumbling around our TeachingAuthors' treehouse, is How Do I Start a New Writing Project? Bobbi launched our new year asking What is your first line?; Mary Ann followed by blowing my socks off with her poetic description of beginning a new story.

You know the feeling when you read something and it's so good, there's nothing left to say on a topic? That's how I felt after reading these posts. I simply wanted to bow to my fellow TeachingAuthors and tackle some other topic...

Me, curtsying to Bobbi and Mary Ann

 I lied. It's Cissy Fitzgerald, curtsying. 

Photo by W.M. Morrison, 1895 

from the Library of Congress

...until I remembered my Hot Idea Files, which, like Mary Ann's journals, are filled with lines of dialogue, quotes that at some point stirred my insides, a misheard word, an item from my gratitude list, ideas that flew across the room and hit me like a rock, a remembered dream, a word or definition from Wordsmith.org's A.Word.A.Day ..like borborygmus (...look it up).

Here's a random jot (as Mary Ann calls them) from February, 2014:
Teaching feels as if I'm careening down on of those Olympic ski racing courses--you know, that 1½ mile downhill course where they hit speeds of 85+ mph? Yeah, that feeling. Like I'm going to hit a bump and skid off the course and die any minute. And then...the three hours of class are over and I had them. Cowabunga! GOLD MEDAL!

And here's one from June, 2017:
I think my sleep is deeper...I'm having lots of dreams. It feels as if I'm catching up on dreams that have been stacking up.

Speaking of stacking up...have you ever had someone say, "Heck, I can write a picture book on my coffee break!"?

When I hear that, I think about the process of choosing an idea for a poem, a picture book or a novel and decide that the person who just said this...
is an alien.

So—what do I do to start a new writing project? I open the door and listen to my stacks of ideas calling, "Pick me, pick me!"...choose one, and simply begin.

WHEN SOMEONE SAYS,“I HAVE A STORY IDEA FOR YOU!”

by April Halprin Wayland

I say, “How nice. 

Would you like to come inside?”
Then I walk her up the concrete steps of my brain,

open the door and move ten heavy boxes,

walk around letters stacked to the ceiling,

shove aside bulging brown bags with string.

We make our way to the back bedroom

past piles of Federal Express packages

where I stick a butterfly net

out the bedroom balcony doors

and catch a few more ideas

as they fly past.

In the kitchen, cases of canned ideas

line the worn wood floor,

unpacked sacks of fresh-picked ones

are piled on the counter.

We hold onto the paint-chipped banister

and walk down the wobbly stairs

to the cold, cement basement.

The sulfur smell surprises as I strike a match.

“Where is there room for your idea

between the wooden tennis rackets,

the rusty bird cage,

the folded music stands

and trunks of family stories?” I ask.

Crouching behind a trunk

is the one that creeps upstairs at night

to slink along the hall near my bedroom.

It's almost too heavy to pull to its feet.

This is the one I am working on now.

“Would you be kind enough to take your idea

to my storage locker downtown, near the pier?”

I say, handing her a small tin key.

“Perhaps you'll find room there.

Best to stand back as you roll up the aluminum door.”

drawing & poem (c)2019 April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved.

What's in your Hot Idea File?  C'mon...tell us one thing. We are dying to know.

Thank you, Tara, for hosting Poetry Friday today!

posted with hope for this brand new year by April Halprin Wayland, Eli-the-dog, and Snot-the-aging-cat.

Beginning a Story or Populating Your Beach

    Beginning a new story is like sunrise at the beach.  Slowly, light appears over the horizon. Brighter and brighter to reveal....an empty beach.  Well, not quite empty.  The light is an idea, a glimpse, a voice, a detail, flitting though my head.

Quick! Catch it. Catch it right NOW before it flies off to join the bog of other ideas in the back of my head...the ones I forgot to write down.

I grab my jot journal--the one full of disjointed phrases and conversation bits that make no sense to anyone but me.  I scribble down whatever the light revealed to me...in a way that I will remember it the next time I read it. (My first jot journal contained all kinds of cryptic notations that made no sense when I looked at them later.)

Let entry marinate a day or so.

Go back to jot journal. Decide if what seemed brilliant a couple days ago, still shines as brightly. Assuming it does, find other journal where I Work On Things. I write down as much as I know about that tiny bright spot on the empty beach of my mind. Sometimes it's a sentence (on rare occasions, the FIRST sentence...which was the case with Yankee Girl and First Grade Stinks). Sometimes it's a character description, or a disembodied character carrying on a monologue. I write it down. I write until I run out of stuff to say. I stick a Post-It note on the page, with the date, and shorthand for the idea, sticking out like a book mark.

Then I put it away for a couple of months.

At some point I will 1) remember that idea or 2) find the idea in the IWOT journal while I'm looking for a DIFFERENT idea. I will either decide that the idea is too thin to bother with, or discover that in the intervening months, more ideas, themes, and characters have bubbled to the surface, begging to join the original thought.

Thin ideas stay where they are. I never throw anything out. Some of those turn into something more, years later (Camp K-9 and A Tree for Emmy are two of those). Sometimes not. You never know.

I look at the idea I am now married to for the next year or so, and do an inventory. How well do I know these characters who have moved into my life?  What other information do I need for this story? Then follows three or four months of basic research.(Amazing the number of facts you need to know to write even a picture book,),

I also get to know my characters. They obligingly show up at odd moments (the back seat of the car, or the foot of my bed...in the middle of the night) and want to talk to me. Or to each other.

After a couple of months of nailing down facts and talking to characters, I take another look at my beach.

Wow. It's full of people meandering around...little groups here and there, engaged in a scene. The beach is also littered with piles of props (my researched facts) I know my characters need, but they don't seem to be using them. It's up to me to show them their props, and tell them how to use them. I need to put those scattered groups acting out scenes in some sort of sequence.

My beach is full, but chaotic. This chaos is called pre-writing. Now it's time to get my ducks and characters and facts in a row. Time to write that first draft.

And that's how I start a story.

Happy 10th Birthday, First Grade Stinks! (Join Our Giveaway Celebration)

I've celebrated the 10th anniversary of one of my books (blessedly, still in print) each spring/summer for the past two years.  In 2014, it was Yankee Girl (Farrar, Straus and Giroux). 2015 marked ten years for My Best Friend (Viking). This Wednesday, June 29th, First Grade Stinks! (Peachtree) hits the Big Ten milestone.

How I write and sell my books baffles me. Mysterious forces seem to gather when the time is "right." Here is the story behind the story of First Grade Stinks!

Lily, off to her first day of First Grade

My daughter Lily loved, loved, loved kindergarten. She adored art (her favorite subject), recess (tied with art), and "student chores" (watering plants, handing out paper.) Her classroom was a carnival of color;  bean bag chairs for "share time," multicolored "learning" rug, plus bird and hornet's nests, seed pods, African violets, rocks, shells and other please-touch-me items. Soaring over it all, a Chinese dragon kite dangled from the ceiling.

Lily was a happy kindergartner.  She had no reason to believe that first grade would be any different. If I had used my head, I might have warned her.  

I didn't.

Off Lily went that first day, toting her new red-blue-and-yellow backpack. She sang along with Destiny's Child on the radio. At school, she swaggered through the doors. She had this.

At 2:30, a different little girl dragged herself to the car. She shrugged off her backpack as if it contained the weight of the world, and hauled herself up into her safety seat.  Destiny's Child still sang on the radio, but they sang alone.  Dead silence from the backseat. If Lily wasn't in a talking mood, I'd have to wait until she was.

At home, she slouched out of the car and up the walk.  I opened the door and went in, Lily behind me.  Slam!  We don't slam doors in our house.  Ever.  I turned to see my daughter, back to the door, sliding to the floor.

"That's it," she shouted. "I'm never going back. Ever, ever, ever. I hate First Grade.  First Grade stinks!"

Even as my Mom Brain lined up the words to tell Lily that she had to go back tomorrow and every day for the next twelve years, my Writer Brain thought, "First Grade stinks! What a great title for a picture book!"

As I listened to Lily's recital of grievances, I realized that at that the heart of it was First Grade is different.

There's a story there I thought.

Every day that year, Lily came home with yet another complaint.  There was only one recess, not enough art, the kindergarteners had first lunch and took all the chocolate ice cream.

I wrote it all down.

Lily survived First Grade, but just barely. I learned that her teacher was about to retire, due to ill health.  All Lily knew was this:  first grade is different.

With Lily's on-the-spot reportage, my book slowly took shape.

Now for those mysterious forces . . .

Mysterious occurrence number one. I submitted FGS to be critiqued at a writer's conference in Wisconsin.  The editor who read it, loved it, and wanted a copy when we got home.  Turned out she was from Peachtree Publishers and lived fifteen miles away from me.  I doubt we would've found each other had we not gone to that Wisconsin conference.

Serendipitous occurrence--My fairy godmother/art director at Peachtree paired my words with Beth Spiegel's art. Beth found humor and detail with her illustrations that I hadn't noticed when writing. She is still one of my favorite illustrators.

Personal note--The original manuscript had only four named characters; Hayley and her best friend, Ryan, and the two teachers, Ms Lacey and Ms Grey.  The rest of the characters had "names" like "Boy in Red Sweater" and "Girl with Cornrows."  The day the book was to be typeset, my editor called, minutes before I was to meet Lily at the bus stop.

"I need names for these characters," said my editor. "Real ones. Not Boy-in-A- Sweater.  Call me back in half an hour.

Those characters had descriptions instead of names; I stink at choosing names.  Back then, I used baby name books for that purpose. (Now I use websites.) I didn't have time to thumb through a couple of books. I had a half an hour. My creativity's wheels spun in the mud as I trudged up to the bus stop.

The bus squealed to a stop. Thunk-thunk. The doors opened. I was still churning possible names as part of my brain automatically tallied the kids coming down the bus steps.  Kirk. Erica.  Sasha.  

Hey, those are names!  Chanting the chain of names, so I would remember them.  I called my editor as soon as I hit the front door.  Those first kids off the bus were thrilled they were "in a book."  The kids who got off after the first five, complained "how-come-we're-not-in-your-book?" (Answer: You should've gotten off first!") Most of those "kids" have now graduated from college...and they still gripe about not "making the book."

Join me in celebrating First Grade Stinks' 10th anniversary.  Please enter our Book Giveaway--details below.  I will be giving away a signed, hardcover first edition trade hardcover.  This edition is no longer available.

Here's the giveaway info:

Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter to win an autographed First Edition copy of First Grade Stinks! (Peachtree). You may enter via 1, 2, or all 3 options.

If you choose option 2, you MUST leave a comment on TODAY'S blog post below or on our TeachingAuthors Facebook page. If you haven't already "liked" our Facebook page, please do so today! 

(If you prefer, you may submit your comment via email to: teachingauthors [at] gmail [dot] com.)

Email subscribers: if you received this post via email, you can click on the Rafflecopter link at the end of this message to access the entry form.

The giveaway ends July 15 and is open to U.S. residents only.

Please note: the TeachingAuthors team will begin our summer blogging break this Friday. Our posts will resume on Monday, July, 18. We plan to be able to announce the winner in that post.

Posted by Mary Ann Rodman

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Dear Younger Me

I only recently discovered the Dear Teen Me site, where young adult authors post encouraging, honest, heartfelt letters to their teenage selves. For this series of posts, we Teaching Authors are writing to our younger selves, inspired by those letters.

When our kids were still small, I started writing for children—poetry and picture books, fiction and nonfiction. I carried a pocket notebook around to keep track of ideas. The notebooks piled up in my desk drawer until I dumped them all into a box that I’ve been slowly weeding out.

Here’s what I’d say to that young mother:

Remember the notebooks! Yes, you carry one around most of the time. You’re always jotting down a favorite word or a quick observation or something funny one of the kids said. From time to time—especially when you’re stuck—stop and see what treasures you’ve gathered. Ideas and stories and poems are in there! Go back and find them!

The same thing with pictures. Look through them once in awhile. Remember the silly, wonderful, brave things you did. In another unsorted box, I just found this one of me and our (little!) boys on a camping trip. Priceless, right?

More weeding ahead!

Charlotte S. is the winner of our latest Book Giveaway, the autographed copy of Write a Poem Step by Step. Congratulations, Charlotte! Your book is on its way!

This week’s Poetry Friday Roundup is at Poetry for Children. 

Enjoy!

JoAnn Early Macken

A Writer's Potpourri of Clippings

I confess: I clip articles almost daily from printed newspapers and magazines delivered to my address.

(Home-delivered newspapers?  How about THAT for dating myself?!) 

Article-clipping is a Family Thing.
My mother clipped.  My sister still clips. 

My nieces and cousins do too.

Recipes. Advice columns.  Interviews.  Book reviews.  Movie write-ups.  Funny cartoons.  Touching quotes. 

Oh, and death notices and marriage announcements.

In other words, anything and everything that when sent says, “I saw this and I thought of you!”

I and my family’s current generation of women use – with great optimism, the U.S. Mails to share our clippings. 

The younger generation sends link-bearing emails or attached scans.

For obvious reasons, many of the articles my family sends on to me pertain to writing, children's books and authors.  Those clippings have a pile all their own, a pile I, the Happy Clipper add to often.  I call it My Writer’s Pile and it’s totally separate from my Story Ideas Pile.

Sometimes when I’m clipping an article, or truthfully, unevenly tearing out a section of a page, I have no idea WHY. 

The piece or item simply spoke to me and I think, “I bet I could use this someday.”

Sometimes, though, I know the recipient instantly– a fellow writer, a former student, a school class I’m about to visit, or even my TeachingAuthors readers.

Thinking Spring, I titled this post “A Writer's Potpourri of Clippings."

In checking the correct spelling and definitions, however – “a mixture of flowers, herbs, and spices that is usually kept in a jar and used for scent” and “a miscellaneous collection,” my eyes slipped down the page to discover the word’s 1749 origin – the French words -  “pot pourri” for “rotten pot.”

Which got me thinking…

I often liken the writing process and that of growing a story (as well as a career) to the process inherent in maintaining a compost pile and its clippings.

Maybe magic of sorts is going on within My Writer’s Pile and I don’t even know it!

Toss the following three clippings into your Writer’s (Compost) Pile and see what happens.

FLORAL NAMES FOR BABIES

HAS BECOME A BLOSSOMING TREND

By Nara Schoenberg, Tribune Newspapers – March 4, 2014

 “Plant-based baby names for girls overall are on the rise, and 10 previously low-profile botanicals – Lily, Violet, Willow, Hazel, Ivy, Olive, Dahlia, Juniper and Azalea – have risen rapidly.

 These 10 fast-rising names were given to a total of 19,500 baby girls in 2012 – more babies than received the No. 3 girls’ name, Isabella (18,900), according to data from the Social Security Administration."

I sent the original of this article to Cousin Jane in New Jersey whose first-born granddaughter is named Violet – after - I scanned and filed the article on my computer’s Hard Drive.

FYI: apparently there’s no parallel botanical trend in naming boys although the nature name “Canyon” has had recent traction (No. 1,462).

Naming characters is any writer’s job!

(Photo courtesy of Morgue File/mirabbi249-37-0)

WRITTEN IN INK

An eclectic blog uncovers the tales behind strangers’ tattoos

By Lauren Morrow, O Magazine - April, 2013

I loved reading about and visiting illustrator Wendy MacNaughton’s and writer Isaac Fitzgerald’s blog Pen & Ink which reveals “the often hilarious, sometimes poignant stories behind these permanent remnants of our fleeting opinions, passions, and phases.”

Apparently I wasn’t alone.

This Fall Bloomsbury USA releases the two bloggers’ book PEN & INK: TATTOOS AND THE STORIES BEHIND THEM.

I haven’t used the idea or passed it on – ’til now.

Don’t you wonder sometimes, when you see an inked dolphin peeking out above a neighbor’s collar, “Why a dolphin?”

Or just what tattoo you might choose, if you haven’t already, and you want to break loose?

A character’s tattoos are a great way to come at knowing your Hero and knowing your Villain.

MIXED-MEDIA MAVENS

Artists’ book celebrates the

freedom and craft of art journaling

By Heather Schroering, Tribune Newspapers – April 20, 2014

Another two-partner idea – this time by Jenny Heid and Aaron Nieradka: scrapbooking with more layers and textures.                                                                      

Another blog: Everyday Is a Holiday.

And another book: MIXED MEDIA MASTERPIECES WITH JENNY & AARON (Page Street).

When speaking to Young Authors, I advocate Journaling every chance I get.

I liked the fun idea this article suggested of adding Ephemera – such as handwritten letters, maps, vintage photos, fabric, movie and concert tickets, old game pieces, you-name-it.

I bet kids would like it too!

And instantly they’d SEE the value of concrete details.

I also think it’s yet another way for writers, young and old, to come at knowing their characters – and that’s why I scanned this article and emailed it to two of my writers.

For the record, and though a Luddite at heart,

I do actually read newspapers, journals and magazines online daily and find myself more and more (sigh) cutting-and-pasting, copying and/or scanning and emailing myself links to fascinating articles.

I hate to waste an interesting idea!

Esther Hershenhorn

Poetry Picture Book Giveaway! Poetry Friday! Who Am I? A Mask Poem

.
Howdy Campers!

Happy Poetry Friday..and...today is the (gasp!) last day to win TeachingAuthor Jill Esbaum's brand new rhyming picture book about a hyper baby killdeer,
I HATCHED! All the details of how to enter are here! 

PF is at The Miss Rumphius Effect today--thanks,Tricia!

Earlier this week poet Joan Bransfield Graham stopped by on her blog tour to offer a terrific Wednesday Writers' Workout based on her new book, The Poem That Will Not End—Fun With Poetic Forms And Voices. 

She reminded me how much fun it is to write mask poems--poems from the point of view of  something else.

Here's one...an idea I've been tossing around for decades... 

 

photo by Dorothy Brooks Photography from morguefile.com

Gardenias Ask The Night
by April Halprin Wayland

Sky,
if we send
our scent high

will
Sister Moon
bloom?
  
poem © 2014 April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved

 photo  from morguefile.com

Now it's your turn: who will you become?  Please share!

Remember, today, Friday, January 31st, is the last day to win our very own  
Jill Esbaum's wonderful, rhyming picture book about a hyper baby killdeer, I HATCHED! All the details of how to enter are here!
 
posted with love by April Halprin Wayland and the moon, who says she will.

Wednesday Writing Workout

Meet my pal, Linda Skeers:

Linda's picture books are filled with humor and heart.

She's one of those naturally funny people, a popular speaker who even leads workshops to teach others how to write funny. For today's writing workout, Linda has agreed to share an exercise she's used with both children and adults. Enjoy!

---------------------------

Kids love to laugh. Editors love to laugh. Heck, everyone loves to laugh! But what do you do when you sit down to write something that will have everyone giggling and you just stare at the blank page, feeling anything but funny? Here's an exercise that will help you create some silly situations, crazy characters, and get you laughing out loud in no time.

First, get three paper bags. Label one CHARACTERS, another PROBLEMS, and the third SETTING. Next, cut paper into strips.

Now, let the fun begin! Quickly write down possible characters on slips of paper. For example:  pirate, walrus, alien, dentist, zookeeper, and cowboy. Drop them in the appropriate bag.

Move on to problems or situations:  lost, new school, hungry, broken leg, digging for buried treasure... don't censor yourself, just jot down whatever pops into your head. Put them in the PROBLEMS bag.

Now for settings:  deserted island, Mars, playground, bathtub, snow fort, jungle. Add them to the SETTINGS bag.

You don't have to come up with ideas on your own. Ask family, friends, other writers, kids, your mailman... for things to add to the bags.

Now, draw a slip out of each bag and tell a story with those three elements. Mix and match until you get the giggles, and then that blank page won't look so scary!

--------------------------

Thanks, Linda! Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all!

Jill Esbaum

Finding Inspiration from Life

Last week, when Esther introduced her brand new baby board book, Txtng Mama Txtng Baby (which you can still enter our drawing to win!), she explained how the book was inspired by her yet-to-be born grandson. As a follow-up, the other TeachingAuthors are sharing our own examples of how real life has inspired our stories. On Monday, Mary Ann talked about how the ideas for several of her books came from things that happened to her, her daughter, or family friends.

I've blogged before about how my novel, Rosa, Sola, was based on personal experiences, experiences I'd never considered writing about until I was working on my MFA at Vermont College. I don't want to bore our long-time readers by repeating that story. (If don't know it, you can read this blog post from 2010.) Instead, I'd like to share a bit about the inspiration for the first children's short story I ever had published, which appeared in the August 1999 issue of Pockets magazine.

I've talked before about why I think Pockets is a great market. One of the reasons is that their theme list is posted online, along with submission deadlines. That theme list inspired me to write a story specifically for them.

The theme I chose to address was discrimination. On reading that word, the first ideas that came to mind had to do with discrimination based on race or some other physical trait. But the magazine's theme description encouraged writers to think beyond the obvious forms of discrimination. That's when I turned to real life for inspiration.

At that time, my husband helped out with a ministry at our church that picked up surplus items from a local Hostess Foods thrift store to share with the needy. My husband's assignment was to bring the extra bread, fruit pies, and Twinkies to a nearby youth home/correctional facility. One day, the box of surplus food he picked up consisted almost entirely of Twinkies. When he carried the Twinkies into the youth home, one of the kids said, "Hey, look. It's the Twinkie Man!" That soon became my husband's nickname at the facility.

The children there began to look forward to my husband's visits. One day, as he dropped off another box of goodies, one of the boys in the home asked my husband to pray for him. When my husband came home and told me that, my heart went out to the boy. Before that request, I hadn't thought much about what it was like for the children in the facility. Part of me assumed that the kids sent there had to be "bad kids." For the first time, I realized that they were simply kids that had made bad choices. They were no different from my own son, who was around 10 years old at the time.

My son occasionally went with my husband to the Hostess thrift store to help him load up the food. Because of the correctional facility's rules, my son wasn't allowed to go into the facility with my husband. But I began to wonder: What if he was allowed inside? What if he looked down on (in other words, discriminated against) the kids there and thought he was "better than they were." And what if a boy incarcerated there had surprised my son by asking him for prayers?

The answers to those questions became the inspiration for my short story, which I called "The Twinkie Man." It's about a boy who helps his father make deliveries to a youth home and learns that the kids there are really no different than he is. I was happy and honored to have Pockets magazine accept the story for publication. However, I was a bit disappointed when they changed the title to "The Cupcake Man." That just doesn't have the same ring to it. J

The first paragraph of the published story reads:

They call my dad the Cupcake Man. It's not because he likes cupcakes. I've never even seen him eat one. He got the name because of his volunteer work.

(See what I mean about the title change--the third sentence would be more believable--and entertaining--if it was referring to Twinkies and not cupcakes!)

I want to emphasize that, even though I based this story on real-life events, I never would have written it at all if not for the theme idea and deadline set by Pockets magazine. So I'm as grateful to the magazine editors as I am to my husband, the original "Twinkie Man," for inspiring my story. And, like Mary Ann, I continue to take note of interesting and unusual dialogue, characters, and settings I encounter that may help shape and inspire my fiction.

Don't forget--time is running out to enter our giveaway for a chance to win one of two copies of Esther's terrific new board book, Txtng Mama Txtng Baby. See her blog post for details.

And when you're finished entering the giveaway, head over to check out the terrific Poetry Friday round-up at Steps and Staircases.

Happy writing!
Carmela

Real Life Fiction

     I am a thoroughly unimaginative writer. I had this pointed out to me by a second grader (!!), during the Q & A part of a school visit.

     "Where do you get your ideas?" is always a favorite question.  This particular day I was explaining the origins of My Best Friend and First Grade Stinks (my daughter, Lily), Yankee Girl (my own childhood) and Jimmy's Stars, (my mother's family).  When I finished another little hand waved from the back of the pack,

    "So you just write about your own family?" said the student.

     I had to take a beat before I answered "yes."

     It had never occurred to me before,  All of my stories up to that point did have their origins in family stories.  I come from a family of storytellers, and I grew up always looking for stories of my own to add to the family collection.

     Since then, I have broadened my scope a little.  A Tree for Emmy is based on Lily's best and oldest friend. The Roller Coaster Kid came from the father of my next-door-neighbor.  I am currently working on a short story based on two of Lily's friends,  But try as I may, my stories always seem to begin with a character or situation that I have encountered in my own life.

However, starting off with something that happened in "real life" does not mean that I am merely narrating an actual occurrence.  Life is not so tidy as fiction. Life does not have opening scenes, exposition, a climax and a denouement.  Sometimes life does have those elements, but it also has a lot of extraneous stuff as well.  Fiction has filters.  Fiction has to be shaped.

    Yankee Girl is the book that hews closest to the events of my life.  The first draft was around 400 pages.  I included every detail and incident that happened when I moved to Mississippi as a fifth grader.  While I wrestled to get this sprawling mess into something that resembled a story, I learned a cardinal rule of fiction writing:  Just because something happened, doesn't mean it is important to the story.  For example, your Irish setter may have been in the room when you had a monumental fight with your best friend.  You may have been wearing a pink sweatshirt and matching high tops.  Unless your dog plays an active part in the scene (she jumps on your friend to break up the fight) or what you wear is essential to the character,  these are details that can be cut. They clutter your story.

     Or, as one of my mentors at Vermont College told me over and over, "Because it 'really happened that way' is not a good enough reason to include it in your story."

     She usually followed this admonition with "How does (this detail, character, plot point) move the story along?"  The answer was usually "It doesn't."  And another page of perfectly good but pointless prose would disappear into the "Delete and Save" file.

   I have yet to write a story beginning with a character totally imaginary. I have edged a bit away from the side of the pool, venturing deeper into the wholly fictional end of writing. My current work-in-progress is based on an event that happened to someone my daughter knows.  She doesn't know him well, or any of the details of what "really" happened.  It doesn't matter.  My mind is creating characters, envisioning scenes and hearing conversations. All of this from the offhand remark "Mom, there's this guy at school who..."

    To celebrate the arrival of Esther's new book, TXTNG MAMA TXTNG BABY, in the warehouse, we are extending our giveaway of the book through August 20, 2013. Click here for details.

Posted by Mary Ann Rodman

:) A New Baby Board Book - and Giveaway! :)

OMG!                              
I M Byond :)
2day’s the day I shout to the World:
this week Sleeping Bear Press
releases my baby board book
Txtng Mama Txtng Baby!

You read that title right:

Txtng Mama Txtng Baby.

Thanks to their parents’ hand-held devices, tablets and computers, Babies everywhere are tapping or thumbing keyboards and finger-swiping screens, honing digital skills while living their Baby lives.

What fun I had bringing this newest of worlds to the sturdy pages of the ultimate hand-held device: the baby board book.
What fun it was adding that human touch to Touch Technology.

Be sure to read to the end of this post to learn how two TeachingAuthor readers can win a free copy of Txtng Mama Txtng Baby.

I love so many things about this 4” x 6 ½” book, starting with the cheery cover and the ♥ key on the keyboard.

I love the story- a playful through-the-day conversation between Mama and Baby that invites interaction.
I love the telling – tunefully-ordered familiar text phrases, such as I C U and xxooo, that beg to be repeated.
I love the illustrations – baby-friendly emoticons that instantly bring smiles.
I love the smart-phone-look-alike design, so readers and listeners can turn (or swipe) the pages.

Most of all, I love the book’s dedication:  “2 n 4 Gabriel.”   

In truth, my grandson gifted me with this book before he was born.

Awaiting his arrival, my Baby Antennae rose far and wide. Everywhere I looked I saw Mamas thumbing their hand-held devices and nearby, Babies finger-swiping the same.
Texting Mamas, I said to myself.
Texting Babies.
What was up with THAT?

In time I read the handwriting on the wall and it was written in text!

Cartoon ©2013 Harry Bliss; Used with permission.

Fortunately by then, the four words texting Mamas texting Babies had become a refrain that book-ended a dialogue that eventually gave birth to a baby board book.
The vision and efforts of my Sleeping Bear Press publisher Heather Hughes, editor Amy Lennex and art director Jennifer Bacheller contributed immeasurably to the book’s singular look and telling, not to mention its caring delivery.

Of course, anyone who knows me, and not even well, knows I am The Least Likely Person to Have Created This Book.

(I texted my very first message January 18, 2013, at 2:13 pm, three years after entertaining the idea behind this book.)
Research uncovered my Techy ID - “digital immigrant.”
I have the heart of a Luddite. 
Technology and I don’t play well together.

Ironically, my very first foray into children’s book writing was another baby board book, inspired by my grandson’s Poppy, my then one-year-old son, in 1976: THE A TO Z OF ME.

I’d created a personalized ABC book, with plastic inserts for renewable photos, to capture a baby’s loves and life.
Publishers and toy companies embraced the abecedarian story but regrettably turned it down due to my telling’s exorbitant manufacturing costs.
“The technology simply isn’t available,” one company executive told me, “to produce this book and make a profit.”
Who knew what was coming down the pike?!
By the early part of this 21^st century, the Internet offered any parent free software and POD opportunities to help create and publish a personalized ABC book for his or her child.

So here’s one more thing I love about Txtng Mama Txtng Baby: 2day’s Techy-Techy World is my story!
And my message remains the same: Mama ♥ Baby.

Be sure to return Wednesday, for a Writing Workout that utilizes this newest of languages - text, then again on Friday when I share not only a text-written poem to honor Poetry Friday, but truths I gleaned from my research on Babies, Toddlers, Texting and Technology.

10 Q 4 letting me share my Good News.

Feel free to tweet it 2 and add it to your Facebook page. J

C U Wednesday 4 a WWW!

Esther Hershenhorn

                                                       * * * 

And now, for the Book Giveaway Details!

Once again we’re using Rafflecopter to give away two signed copies of Txtng Mama Txtng Baby (Sleeping Bear Press)! 

If you've never entered a Rafflecopter giveaway, you may want to read HERE about how it words.  And click HERE to learn the difference between signing in with Facebook vs. signing in with your email address.

You’ll see you have three different options for entering the giveaway: you can pick one or up to all three.  The more options you choose, the greater your chances of winning. (If you received this post via email, you can click on the Rafflecopter link at the end of this message to enter.) 

If you enter via a comment to this blog post, please tell us your favorite emoticon--think the : and ) that create a smiling face, or an initialism, such as OMG.

The giveaway will run from today, August 5, through August 13, 2013. To celebrate the arrival of the book in the warehouse, we've extended the giveaway through August 20, 2013! Winners will now be notified August 21, 2013.

Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway