Night Writer

Have a Marvelous Monday!

MIDNIGHT IN AUSTENLAND Giveaway

2012-01-18T01:09:00.000-08:00

Happiness is curling up with a new Shannon Hale novel. Really. One of my blogging friends shared her ARC of MIDNIGHT IN AUSTENLAND, by Shannon Hale, and I totally loved it. Not as frothy as AUSTENLAND, this one still made me laugh out loud. A lot.

I hate spoilers, so I'll keep the description short. Set in Pembrook Park, a place where women can go for a "Jane Austen experience," MIDNIGHT IN AUSTENLAND is part murder mystery (though whether the murder happened or not is part of the mystery), part romance, and part satire. If you're a fan of Austen's NORTHANGER ABBEY, I think you will especially love it. But I also think this one is more likely (than AUSTENLAND) to appeal to someone who's never read anything by Jane Austen. Charlotte was just so easy for me to relate to.

Reading the novel made me think about how it can be hard for us to say "no" to other people, and yet we tell ourselves "no" all the time. For instance, I've been wanting to take piano lessons for most of my life, but I'd always told myself that I didn't have the time or money. Well, for the most part, we determine what we have time and money for. I already had a piano, and I was signing my son up for lessons. So, I started taking lessons in August, and it's one of the best decisions I've ever made. I'm not a prodigy, but I love it. Also, when I was in college, I really liked latin dancing (one of those Spanish major things), so when one of my friends started teaching a Zumba class, I wanted to try it. But I told myself "no." Why? I'm not really sure. I started going last week, and it is seriously fun. I come out of the class humming and dancing and in a much better mood than I was when I went in.

Now, I'm not advocating debt or sugar comas, but . . . just try it. Take something you've been putting off, something that will enrich your life, and work towards it. You're worth it.

Oh, and I'm giving away a pre-order for MIDNIGHT IN AUSTENLAND. You don't have to be a follower. To enter, just tell me (in the comments) something you'd really like to do. And if you leave a link in the comments, I'll give you an extra entry for sharing. That's two possible entries per person. The contest is open internationally (as long as The Book Depository ships to your location), and it ends Monday, January 23rd (Chinese New Year), at midnight.

:o)

More or Less

2012-01-05T23:48:00.000-08:00

Amy Sonnichsen won the picture books! Congrats, Amy! You can thank Gwenyth for choosing your number. :o)

So, 2012 just happens to be the year of the dragon, and I just happen to be . . . a monkey.

Okay, not really. I am a dragon (What are you?), but by Larry's reasoning, a dragon could be a monkey. So far, this year is looking better than 2011. Dragons make everything better. Nope. I'm not prejudiced. It's true. ;o)

At the beginning of the year (or the month, week, or day) I usually make a to-do list to give me direction. I don't beat myself up for not crossing everything off. It helps me prioritize and evaluate how different areas in my life are going. For instance, last year, I crossed off nearly all of my writing goals, but I didn't do so well in the health area. Because of this, I'm taking a more aggressive stance on exercise (which apparently I can't spell when I'm tired), diet, hydration, and especially sleep. Not getting enough sleep is my worst bad health habit. I'm something of an insomniac (with kids and a day job).

I started brainstorming and came up with something I've never had as part of my "New Year's Resolutions" before. It reminded me a bit of playing "What if?" Only, I kept it simple. I compiled a "More or Less" list, and it looked something like this (but longer):

More music
More poetry
More reading aloud
More gardening
More playing with my kids
More exercising
More sleeping
Less internet
Less sugar

You get the idea. I could write whole posts explaining each of those, but I won't (not this month). I won't be on the internet as much this year (if I'm sticking to my resolutions). I'll still be around. I'll still post, but I may schedule a month in advance to let myself play hooky. My writing brain (especially the part that writes poetry) and my blogging brain don't always get along. Also, I've noticed that my kids all want more Mom Time than they're getting, and I need to do something about it. Internet time isn't essential. It just feels that way, especially when I'm tired.

You might not even notice a difference (other than I'll only be posting MMGMs once a month), but hopefully I will.

May your 2012 be filled with More (whatever yours might be).

Picture Book Giveaway!

2012-01-03T00:29:00.000-08:00

To celebrate the fact that I wrote (finished drafts of) TWO shiny picture books in December, I'm giving away three picture books I'm loving at the moment (plus a paperback).

I love all of Shelley Moore Thomas's GOOD KNIGHT books, but I just gave A COLD WINTER'S GOOD KNIGHT to my four-year-old for Christmas. I've been reading it a lot. However, it isn't the first book in the series, not that it matters if you read them out of order. If you'd like to see the first book, though, here's a video of the author reading it.

Okay, I'll include a paperback of GOOD NIGHT, GOOD KNIGHT in the giveaway.

You're welcome. :o)

HOP! PLOP! is Corey Rosen Schwartz's first picture book, but I'm already looking forward to her second, THE THREE NINJA PIGS, coming out later this year.

LEONARDO THE TERRIBLE MONSTER, by Mo Willems, has been around for a while, but it's such a great one. I'm using it in my classes, later this week.

If you already own one or more of these, I might be willing to make substitutions, BUT you only have until the end of Wednesday, January 4th, to enter. This one isn't international. I'm sorry, but the shipping for that many hardbacks would be painful. To enter, tell me one of your favorite picture books. That is all.

My Fifth Poem with HIGHLIGHTS HIGH FIVE

2011-12-22T16:56:00.000-08:00

I am at a strange place in my writing journey. I'm querying one novel and gathering feedback on another. Last night, a picture prompted me to write a picture book manuscript, and I liked it. I haven't liked one of my own picture book manuscripts this much in years. Usually I get frustrated a few paragraphs in and never finish. And the drafts I do finish rarely excite me enough to pursue them. Picture books are hard. The story I wrote last night isn't a rhyming one, and it made my kids laugh out loud. It's just under 500 words, which is about the perfect length.

I also received my complimentary issues of this January's HIGHLIGHTS HIGH FIVE, last week, as I was on my way out of town for a couple of weddings. Mary Sullivan's illustration is perfect. I never know who will illustrate my poems or what the finished product will look like, but I've also never been disappointed.

If you don't subscribe to HIGHLIGHTS HIGH FIVE and would like to see "Worm School," most libraries carry the magazine. Ours does. Or if you'd like to listen, you can follow this link to an audio version of the magazine on the HIGHLIGHTS website. My contribution is on page 30.

Whatever holiday you might be celebrating, I wish you a happy one.

Investments

2011-12-14T00:35:00.000-08:00

This is another one of those multi-layered posts, but I've buried some shiny in it. You may have noticed I like doing that. ;)

Last week, attending a couple of plays that my twelve-year-old niece had parts in, I realized that knowing most of the kids involved made watching more enjoyable than it would have been otherwise. I'd either volunteered in their classroom at the elementary level or coached a team they'd been on, and having invested myself, watching them succeed makes me happy.

It isn't about what they owe me or anything I've done. I like them. Actually, "like" might not be a strong enough word. I can't recommend volunteering enough.

It's not so different from the way critiquing another person's writing helps me see changes I need to make in my own. The benefits of investment apply here as well. One of my critique partners, after years of querying and rejection, recently signed with an agent, giving me reason to happy dance. Adam Heine's manuscript is fantastic, and he'll be telling his story all week. Please, go congratulate him.

After all, he's one of the brilliant CPs who helped me polish the query I just sent out. Yes. I just sent my first query to an agent (December 13th, 11:40 PM). Let the rejection begin!

MMGM: DRAGONSDALE

2011-12-12T04:00:00.000-08:00

This week's Marvelous Middle Grade Monday reminds me of the late Anne McCaffrey, only without the sexy. ;)

DRAGONSDALE starts out slowly, but the characterization and world building are excellent. I'm sure I'm not the only reader to note the similarity between the dragons and horses. The dragons are kept in stables. They're trained, raced, and shown in competitions. Even the way they tease and bond with people reminds me of experiences I've had with horses. At least one of the writers has to have spent time around horses. So, it's Dragon Riders of Pern meets one of those girl and her horse stories. And it's grand.

Cara's father owns Dragonsdale, but he hasn't let her ride a dragon since a broken harness resulted in her mother's death. And Cara obeys him until riding a dragon saves her life. This forces her to choose between bad choices that get worse as the story goes on.

Salamanda Drake is an obvious pseudonym, so I went digging and found the real writers. Actually, reading the bio they created reminds me of this Simpson's episode with Neil Gaiman.

So funny.

If you'd like to read about more Marvelous Middle Grades, the following people would love to oblige you:

Shannon Whitney Messenger (our founding mother)

Have a Marvelous Monday!

MMGM: BREADCRUMBS

2011-12-05T03:00:00.000-08:00

The omniscient narrator in Anne Ursu's BREADCRUMBS reminds me of the narrator in THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX. Describing it as lyrical doesn't seem enough. The story starts out gently and crescendoes multiple times until you hear ice cracking.

You'll recognize bits and pieces of other stories, especially fairy tales, but the stories are twisted. When Hazel tells a boy in the woods "I don't understand this place," he says: "You can't understand it. People think there should be rules, or order." Bad things happen to those people. Actually, bad things happen to everyone who goes into the woods, but Hazel has to go through it to save her best friend, even though everyone keeps telling her he doesn't want to be saved.

This is another one I'd like to see up for the Newbery. Hazel's struggle to be a good friend and daughter brought tears to my eyes more than once. She's a character that young readers (and older ones, too) will relate to.

If you'd like to read about more Marvelous Middle Grades, the following people would love to oblige you:

Shannon Whitney Messenger (our founding mother)

Have a Marvelous Monday!

MMGM: LIESL AND PO

2011-11-21T03:00:00.000-08:00

I love it when a book lives up to the hype. LIESL AND PO, by Lauren Oliver, had a lot of hype to live up to. Let's take a look, shall we?

"With nods to Dahl, Dickens, the Grimms, and even Burnett, the author has made something truly original."

Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Classic fairy tale elements weave throughout this spirited, old-fashioned adventure. [Liesl & Po] testifies to the power of friendship and generosity to conquer greed and depression."

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"With her third book, Lauren Oliver (Before I Fall; Delirium) creates another highly original world, this one for middle-grade readers."

Shelf Awareness

SYNOPSIS:

Liesl’s cruel stepmother, Augusta, keeps her locked in her attic bedroom. Lonely and grieving for her recently deceased father, Liesl is surprised one evening by Po, a ghost who suddenly materializes in her room. The two become fast friends, and it is because of Po that Liesl is able to escape from her attic room and embark on a journey to bury her father’s ashes beside those of her mother. However, because of a mix-up at the undertaker’s, the box that Liesl carries does not contain her father’s ashes. Instead, it contains the most powerful magic in the world. And the alchemist who created that magic desperately wants it back.

I'll be disappointed if this one doesn't win the Newbery. It was that good.

Instead of spoiling the story, I'm going to say a few things about the author's note (which totally made me cry). Lauren Oliver wrote the book after the death of her best friend, and she talks about how the world felt "gray and murky, much like the world Liesl inhabits at the start of the story." She realized, after writing the story, that Liesl's journey was her own. This resonated with me, as it will probably resonate with anyone who has ever lost someone they love.

Beautiful, beautiful story. It reminded me of Frances Hodgson Burnett's A LITTLE PRINCESS, and yet the story line is completely different.

If you'd like to read about more Marvelous Middle Grades, the following people would love to oblige you:

Shannon Whitney Messenger (our founding mother)

Have a Marvelous Monday!

MMGM: THE PRINCESS AND THE GOBLIN

2011-11-07T03:00:00.000-08:00

First published in 1872, THE PRINCESS AND THE GOBLIN, by George MacDonald, is the oldest middle grade I've recommend on my blog. I adored it as a child and pulled my beat-up copy out for another read a few weeks ago. It's one of those stories that feels like an old friend. The cover that I found on Goodreads isn't the one I remember, but mine's been missing its cover for so long that I don't remember it well.

C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien admired MacDonald's work, especially his children's stories, and credited him with influencing their writing. Lewis believed MacDonald to be the greatest of myth-makers and said that his stories shock readers "more fully awake than we are for most of our lives."

I've read and enjoyed more of MacDonald's work as an adult, but THE PRINCESS AND THE GOBLIN remains my favorite. It's the story of a princess who the adults try to keep safely locked away from the goblins that live in the mountains and a miner boy who uncovers a plot to kidnap her. The two children don't always agree with each other. In fact, the authenticity of their voices is one of the story's most charming assets. But they are there for each other when it matters.

If you'd like to read about more Marvelous Middle Grades, the following people would love to oblige you:

Shannon Whitney Messenger (our founding mother)

Have a Marvelous Monday!

A Shiny Book Giveaway

2011-11-01T22:57:00.000-07:00

It's November first, and there are NaNoWriMo posts all over the place. It kind of makes you feel left out if you're just plodding along with revisions. Maybe next year.

Maybe you know Steph Sinkhorn, and maybe you don't. She's celebrating her newly agented status with a giveaway of three prize packs that each include books (as in multiple) and critiques. You have until the eleventh to enter.

I'd be thrilled with any of these.

Seriously.

This gal has fabulous taste in books, and clicking on her name will take you to the giveaway. After cranking out 2,000 words today, you needed a distraction, didn't you? You're welcome. ;)

MMGM: THE MAGIC THIEF

2011-10-24T04:00:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure why I put off reading this series. I'd been hearing good things about THE MAGIC THIEF, by Sarah Prineas, since it came out. But waiting meant that I got to read the whole series at once, instead of reading it in yearly installments, and it's the best fantasy series I've read this year.

Goodreads:

In a city that runs on a dwindling supply of magic, a young boy is drawn into a life of wizardry and adventure. Conn should have dropped dead the day he picked Nevery's pocket and touched the wizard's locus magicalicus, a stone used to focus magic and work spells. But for some reason he did not. Nevery finds that interesting, and he takes Conn as his apprentice on the provision that the boy find a locus stone of his own. But Conn has little time to search for his stone between wizard lessons and helping Nevery discover who or what is stealing the city of Wellmet's magic.

The layout and illustrations remind me of Angie Sage's SEPTIMUS HEAP series, but the characters and setting set this series apart. Everyone is more complicated than they appear to be, especially Conn, who isn't the most reliable of narrators. I love how Sarah Prineas even turns the magic into a character. Brilliant. It gives the story an urgency that wouldn't be there otherwise.

You know how I feel about spoilers, so I'm just going to share the covers of the LOST and FOUND.

Have you read these? If you'd like to read about more Marvelous Middle Grades, the following people would love to oblige you:

Shannon Whitney Messenger (our founding mother)

Have a Marvelous Monday!

Shannon Messenger's Giveaway

2011-10-21T12:20:00.000-07:00

Shannon Messenger (co-founder of Write On Con and founder of Marvelous Middle Grade Monday) is throwing a virtual party (giving away books and jewelry and granting wishes) to celebrate her book deal with her "Wishes Come True" Giveaway. You have today and tomorrow to enter her contest, though I hope the Shannon-as-a-genie pictures stay up longer.

Have a great weekend!

My Not So Secret Life

2011-10-19T14:02:00.000-07:00

Do you ever feel like your real life and your internet life are separate? I do. There are things I talk about to people in person, things I talk about to people on the internet, and then there are the things I hardly ever talk about, even though they're part of my everyday life.

On the internet, I mostly talk about books and writing.

In real life, I spend a lot of time trying to convince kids (whether they're my own or the ones I teach) that they want to do their schoolwork. I teach three to five year olds, so the amount of time they actually spend learning to read or write is minimal compared to the time we spend on other activities. Really, it's a job that's as fun as you dare to make it.

Or I'm showing older kids drills that (if practiced) will improve their chances of putting a soccer ball where they want it to go. Our team only has one more game to go. We've won two, lost two, and tied two. I'm competitive enough that I'd love to see them win their last game, especially at the middle school level, but not as much as I'd love to see everyone on the team score a goal. It's such a boost for their confidence. I only have one child left who hasn't scored that goal. I know she can do it. She scores in practice, every week. But I can't score that goal for her. All I can do is teach her and do my best to make sure she's in the right place.

And now we're to the secret. Around the end of August, I started taking piano lessons. My nine-year-old had been wanting to take them, so he and I started taking them at the same time. I enjoy it. I'm not sure why I don't talk about it. I like practicing, but I've noticed that if I don't practice fairly early in the day, it doesn't happen. I get too busy. This usually only happens about once a week.

But it's made me wonder if leaving writing until the end of the day is such a great idea. If I wrote earlier in the day, I could still write at night. Some nights, my brain is too tired. Of course, that's true of some mornings as well, but I'm going to switch things up a bit and see if I can't get more done.

After all, the end of soccer season ought to free up time for things like housework and watching singers in elephant costumes ride unicycles. ;)

Seriously though, if I don't make time to practice skills that are important to me, I won't improve at the rate I want to. I'm still learning how to write stories.

MMGM: ICEFALL

2011-10-17T04:00:00.000-07:00

Last year I recommended Michael J. Kirby's debut novel, THE CLOCKWORK THREE, one of my first Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays. If you want to read that post, you can find it here. ICEFALL is even better. The story and characters aren't anything like those from his first novel, though. I've been trying to think of something to compare it to, and the closest I've been able to come up with is John Flanagan's RANGER'S APPRENTICE series.

Goodreads:

Trapped in a hidden fortress tucked between towering mountains and a frozen sea, Solveig, along with her brother the crown prince, their older sister, and an army of restless warriors, anxiously awaits news of her father's victory at battle. But as winter stretches on, and the unending ice refuses to break, terrible acts of treachery soon make it clear that a traitor lurks in their midst. A malevolent air begins to seep through the fortress walls, and a smothering claustrophobia slowly turns these prisoners of winter against one another.

Those charged with protecting the king's children are all suspect, and the siblings must choose their allies wisely. But who can be trusted so far from their father's watchful eye? Can Solveig and her siblings survive the long winter months and expose the traitor before he succeeds in destroying a kingdom?

Kirby writes with power, beauty, and simplicity. In other words, his prose is gorgeous without ever turning purple. Researching for this, I found a blog post where Mr. Kirby mentions that he listened to "In the Hall of the Mountain King," by Edvard Grieg, the Norwegian composer, while writing ICEFALL. Listening to it made me smile.

Have you read either of Kirby's novels?

If you'd like to read about more Marvelous Middle Grades, the following people would love to oblige you:

Shannon Whitney Messenger (our founding mother)

Natalie Aguirre
Deb Marshall

Have a Marvelous Monday!

Third Draft

2011-10-15T00:19:00.000-07:00

I finished my third draft of TBW, yesterday morning, and then delivered a hardcopy to Krista*, in Mesquite. This draft was less comprehensive than my second, mostly typos and clarification. It's still in chronological order. I know I'll have to change the beginning though; both of the male readers who picked it up put it back down and made polite noises about why they didn't connect with it.

While I'm waiting for feedback, it's great to be back in Star Swans. :o)

*If you're at the querying stage, Krista's taking entries for "An Agent's Inbox" on Monday, and this month's agent will be Kate Schafer Testerman.

MMGM: THE SON OF NEPTUNE

2011-10-10T04:00:00.000-07:00

Okay. I'm probably preaching to the choir with this post, but I just have to say that Rick Riordan did it again. THE SON OF NEPTUNE is as Marvelous as they get. Killer action sequences. Laugh-out-loud humor. He's even getting better at writing love stories, though I don't read his novels for the romantic bits. This is the tenth book I've read of Riordan's, and I'm still not sure how he keeps all of his mythology clear without bogging down the pacing. His stories fly.

Isn't that an awesome cover? It's even better after you've read the story.

If you haven't read his PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS series, you should really start there. You can read my recommendation here. If you have read the first series and liked it but haven't picked up THE LOST HERO, again, I'd recommend you read it first. But I loved the second book in his HEROES OF OLYMPUS series even more. Percy makes a comeback in this novel, though he doesn't know who he is for most of it (like Jason in the first one), and I really connected with the other two main characters. I didn't want it to end. And now, I have to refrain from quoting funnies until Ben and Robyn have read it. *sigh*

If you'd like to read about more Marvelous Middle Grades, the following people would love to oblige you:

Shannon Whitney Messenger (our founding mother)

Have a Marvelous Monday!

Writing Update: Second Draft Finished!

2011-10-08T23:52:00.000-07:00

I love finishing a draft, especially one that's been a lot of work. My second draft of The Binder's Web is finally complete at 64,352 words or 234 pages (for those of you who don't work with word counts). One of my sisters has been reading it, and I'll incorporate her notes into my third draft, which ought to be a quickie (since I'm about halfway through it). Then I'll let it sit while I figure out a better beginning and work on Star Swans.

I haven't opened Star Swans in almost a year, and writing another novel has changed the way I look at some things. So, I'm excited to see how what I've learned will affect this revision.

If you'd like to recommend books that give great advice on pacing, I'm all ears. Have a great weekend!

MMGM: THE EMERALD ATLAS

2011-09-26T04:00:00.000-07:00

THE EMERALD ATLAS, by John Stephens, reminded me of THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA and of A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS.

Goodreads:
John Stephens' aptly-titled new fantasy trilogy begins auspiciously with a nimble, fast-paced tale of three siblings. Kate, Michael, and Emma have suffered through ten years of odious orphanage "care"; now they have slipped into the care of the eccentric, disturbingly mysterious Dr. Pym. While exploring their new home, the children discover a magical green book. With that discovery, a decade of tedium dissolves into cascades of dangerous time travel adventures and struggles with a beautiful witch and decidedly less attractive zombielike Screechers. High early reader marks for strong characterization and battle scenes.

This is a great adventure story, and Emma is hilarious. I highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys fat fantasies. It's the first in a series, but wraps up the first part of the story well enough. At least, I thought so.

Also, have any of you read an ARC for LIESL AND PO? It comes out on October 4th. I haven't read the book, but this trailer for it is gorgeous.

If you'd like to read about more Marvelous Middle Grades, the following people would love to oblige you:

Shannon Whitney Messenger (our founding mother)

My computer may be going on a road trip without me, and if so, I won't have internet when this posts. But if you have any questions, I'll answer them when it comes home. Have a Marvelous Monday!

Eavesdropping

2011-09-22T16:06:00.000-07:00

Enna Isilee announced the winners to her birthday bash. If you follow this link, you can watch her video and wish her a happy birthday.

She's actually the first blogging friend I met in real life, which is pretty funny, considering the fact that she blogs under a pseudonym and never posts pictures of herself. My sisters, two of my nieces and I went up to Salt Lake for a Shannon Hale signing. So, we were waiting in line, when I noticed a girl with a copy of Laini Taylor's SILKSINGER. Technically, it wasn't even supposed to be out yet, but sometimes Amazon ships early. I'd just picked up mine at the post office the day before and hadn't had a chance to read it. The Girl with the Book was there with a friend, and, being the eavesdropper that I am, I overheard them discussing online-type stuff. The Girl with the Book went back to reading, and I introduced myself to her friend, confessed to eavesdropping, and asked her which book blogger she was. Sure enough, I'd been reading both of their blogs. That was two years ago. The three of us got together again for lunch in April.

The moral to this story is: freely confess your faults to strangers. They like it. ;)

Have a great weekend!

2011-09-19T04:00:00.000-07:00

I'm hosting a contest as part of
Enna Isilee's Birthday Bash 2011
Presented by Squeaky Books

From August 22nd until September 22nd Enna Isilee at Squeaky Books is having a HUGE bash to celebrate her birthday! There’s a giveaway nearly EVERY DAY, tons of author interviews, and guest posts from a bunch different YA book bloggers. And I get to host a contest!

I get to give away a copy of Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George! Entering is simple, just fill out the form (with optional bonus entries). You have until September 21st at 11:59 MST to enter. All winners will be announced on Enna Isilee's birthday (September 22nd) on Enna Isilee's blog (Squeaky Books). Giveaway is open to US only.

Want to know more about Princess of the Midnight Ball? Click here!

Without further ado, enter to win! Click below.

Click here to enter

Something Funny

2011-09-06T23:12:00.000-07:00

Okay. This may be even better than his "I'm Reading a Book" video. If you've never seen a Julian Smith video, you should. Really. Let me distract you. ;)

The revising went well today. If I could make this kind of progress every day, I'd be finished with this draft by the end of the week. If only.

MMGM: DRAGON SLIPPERS

2011-09-05T04:00:00.000-07:00

I've seen this one shelved both in middle grade and young adult sections, and my daughter loved it as an eight-year-old. While I've enjoyed all of Jessica Day George's novels, my favorite is still her debut novel.

From Goodreads:

Many stories tell of damsels in distress, who are rescued from the clutches of fire-breathing dragons by knights in shining armor, and swept off to live happily ever after.

Unfortunately, this is not one of those stories.

True, when Creel's aunt suggests sacrificing her to the local dragon, it is with the hope that the knight will marry Creel and that everyone (aunt and family included) will benefit handsomely. Yet it's Creel who talks her way out of the dragon's clutches. And it's Creel who walks for days on end to seek her fortune in the king's city with only a bit of embroidery thread and a strange pair of slippers in her possession.

But even Creel could not have guessed the outcome of this tale. For in a country on the verge of war, Creel unknowingly possesses not just any pair of shoes, but a tool that could be used to save her kingdom … or destroy it.

I love the characters in DRAGON SLIPPERS, especially Creel and Shardas, and I love the way Jessica Day George told their story. It's more of an adventure story than a love story, one of the reasons I think it leans more toward middle grade than young adult. There are a few love stories, however, and the one I didn't see coming hit me the hardest. Have you read this one? If so, what did you think?

And if you'd like to read about more Marvelous Middle Grades, the following people would love to oblige you:

Shannon Whitney Messenger (our founding mother)

Have a Marvelous Monday!

Party in the Green Bathtub

2011-09-03T15:41:00.000-07:00

One of my critique partners has an agent.
.
.
.
.
.

Squee! Amy has an agent. If you'd like to give her high fives and whatnots (you totally want to), you can head over to The Green Bathtub.

That's all. :o)

MMGM: NUMBER THE STARS

2011-08-29T04:00:00.000-07:00

It's been five or six years since I last read NUMBER THE STARS, by Lois Lowry, but it popped into my head last week when I was at the library. My son starts fourth grade, today, and while he'll pore over graphic novels and CALVIN AND HOBBES for hours at a time, getting him to finish the kind of books they want him to read for school is . . . well, difficult.

But at 132 pages, NUMBER THE STARS isn't terribly long. I believe the story, set in Denmark during the Nazi occupation, will hold his attention. And I love that it isn't so much a holocaust story as it is a celebration of the courage and ingenuity shown by the Danish Resistance. They smuggled almost 7,000 Jews (nearly all of them) to Sweden. It's the kind of story that stays with you (and calls to you six years later, when you need just the right book for someone).

Ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen's best friend is a Jew. When a rabbi warns their Jewish neighbors that the Germans are about to begin relocating the Jews of Denmark, the Johansen's pretend that Ellen is part of their family.

Have you read this one? If you haven't, I can't recommend it highly enough.

On a side note, the library copy I read this time around had been marked up by someone who'd gone through, crossing out words and phrases, adding their own. Not once did the mystery person improve upon Lowry's prose. I was appalled. Lois Lowry? Really? The marks were all in pencil. I erased them. I burned through five brand-new pencil erasers, but they won't be there to pull my son out of the story. Please, don't write in library books, especially children's books.

If Dax loves this one as much as I did, I'm pulling out THE GIVER next. :o)

And if you'd like to read about more Marvelous Middle Grades, the following people would love to oblige you:

Shannon Whitney Messenger (our founding mother)

Have a Marvelous Monday!

MMGM: AMULET Series

2011-08-22T04:00:00.000-07:00

I just had to share this graphic novel series I found a few weeks ago. Kazu Kibuishi's AMULET series is gorgeous, and if you need something for a reluctant reader, these graphic readers might be what you're looking for.

In THE STONEKEEPER, Emily and Navin discover an alternate reality when a creature abducts their mother. To save her, Emily becomes a Stonekeeper.

In THE STONEKEEPER'S CURSE, the Elf King sends two of his own Stonekeepers to kill Emily and Navin, but there are others willing to help and protect children who might end the tyrant's oppression.

THE CLOUD SEARCHERS adds what I thought the most sinister villain yet to the cast of characters. Emily and Navin join forces with former enemies turned fugitives to search for a city that might not exist. They'll need the Stonekeepers of Cielis.

This adventure series has elements of fantasy, manga, and steampunk. If you like BONE, by Jeff Smith or RAPUNZEL'S REVENGE, by Shannon Hale, I think you'll like AMULET. And the fourth book comes out next month. :o)

Has anyone else read these?

If you'd like to read about more Marvelous Middle Grades, the following people would love to oblige you:

Shannon Whitney Messenger (our founding mother)

Brooke Favero

Have a Marvelous Monday!

Hmm

2011-08-20T12:07:00.000-07:00

There were a few posts and comments over at WriteOnCon that changed the way I look at revising, so I'm going to share.

On Picture Books:

I don't blog about writing picture books often because, although I do write them, I've received what I thought were so many rejections that I haven't had the confidence to submit a PB manuscript in years. I write a first draft, decide it's a mess, and ignore it. This isn't something I'm proud of.

At WriteOnCon, I kept reading and hearing how important it is to write character driven picture books, and then I participated in "Shake Your PB Till It Shines," by Cory Rosen Schwartz and Tiffany Strelitzlaber. Corey polished a stanza I submitted for their "Makeover," and we both loved the result. In fact, she blogged about it (if you'd like to see the makeover). So, all I have to do is write a compelling story with just the right character in words that sing. Then I have to polish the confection until it shines. That's all. ;o)

Nothing has changed but my attitude.

On Novels:

I struggle with beginnings. Every time I pull up a document to write, I see the beginning and start to overanalyze it. I tinker with mine, completely scrap and write new ones, and they still never feel quite right. You want your first impression to be perfect.

For the conference, I posted my first five pages of THE BINDER'S WEB. I'm still working on my second draft, partly because I can't leave the beginning alone, so attracting an agent's attention wasn't even something I'd considered. I just wanted feedback. The first person to give me feedback was an agent.

"Myrna, you've sort of fallen into a common trap of epic fantasy: a huge cast of characters. There are too many people introduced in this short space, and while I was able to separate them for a while, there were just too many to be reasonable, IMO, by the end of five pages.

And your first few paragraphs are really great and intriguing, and I was hoping that something crazy terrible would happen -- you'd introduce that inciting incident -- but you didn't. I think you spend too much time on the day-to-day here, and while it's necessary for the world-building, the pacing is slow and I had to force myself not to skim. You want to filter all of this in as you go and make every single scene as proactively tense as possible, as forward-moving as possible."

This made me rethink my beginning in a major way. While I have a main character, there are two other characters that are almost as important to the story as she is. In chapter six, they all come together for the first time*, and they are the only characters in that scene. A lot of important things happen before that point, but the more I think about starting at this particular point, the better I feel about it. It's going to be a major revision. I may have to change the way I tell the story from third to first person, though I hope not. But I am so excited about how this could improve my whole story.

Robyn (my daughter) and I "attended" the conference together, this year. She even posted her first five pages for critique. I love that girl.

Have a great weekend!

*I have to give my husband credit here for telling me to start it "where the MC has a sword at her throat." Otherwise, I'd still be floundering.

WriteOnCon

2011-08-16T00:38:00.001-07:00

WriteOnCon starts today. I'm registered as Myrna Foster in the forums, if you'd like to be friends. It looks like they're hosting another great conference. :o)

A Real Pain in the Neck

2011-08-02T14:31:00.000-07:00

Actually, the pain is mostly in my head. ;o)

My chiropractor says I need to spend less time on the computer, so I haven't been reading or writing blog posts as much as I normally would. I have been revising TBW. I'm also doing funny looking exercises that will hopefully correct the problem with my vertebrae, but until they kick in, I'll probably go from a once or twice a week blogger to a once or twice a month blogger.

This is actually good news because it's something I can correct. I've been having CFS and fibromyalgia symptoms since May, and having an autoimmune relapse would be much, much worse. So, I'm just taking a bit of a time-out to get my health back in order.

I'm sorry for the lapse in blogging. If any of you need to reach me, my e-mail is in my profile.

Playing Tag

2011-06-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

About a week ago, Amy Sonnichsen tagged me with the following:

Are you hot? Well, I live in Southern Nevada, and it's almost July. I once had a friend of a friend on FB ask: "Who is this Myrna person, and where does she live? On the sun?"

Upload a picture or wallpaper you are using at the moment.

Me boyos

When was the last time you ate chicken meat? Last night, we had barbeque chicken.

Songs you listened to recently:

What were you thinking as you were doing this? I was reading through blogs and came across this song on one of them. My daughter and I listened to it twice. I love that they used a bottle for percussion.

Do you have nicknames? I have lots of nicknames, so I'll just share two that have been around for A LONG TIME and aren't as embarrassing as some of the others. When I was a kid, I looked tiny compared to the other kids my age, so just about everybody called me "Little Myrna." And even though I eventually grew into an average size/height, a lot of the boys I grew up (as a bit of a tomboy) with tease me with my old nickname, and I recently found out that some of my parents' friends still use it behind my back. The other nickname is Myrnabob or Myrna Bob, and I can safely blame the origin and longevity of this one on the boys I hung around with in high school. When we went our separate ways, after high school, they wrote out my nickname(s) (so glad some of the others didn't catch on) on every letter they sent me. Oh, and trying to explain why these boys sent me letters (to roommates who didn't know me) was LOADS of fun. Loads, I tell you. And a few weeks ago, when I asked my son if he knew what my middle name was, he went with Bob. So did his little sister.

Tag eight blogger friends (only if you want to play):

Sarah of Bookduck
Niki of Wool-N-Nuts
Catherine of Winged Writer
Sam of At the Helm of my Snekkje
Daniel of Pens and Pogosticks
Joanne Fritz of My Brain on Books
Barbara Watson of Novel and Nouveau
Deb Marshall of Just Deb

I'll be taking the next couple of weeks off (mostly). Happy 4th of July (or whatever else you might be celebrating). :o)

MMGM: A TALE OF TWO CASTLES

2011-06-27T03:00:00.000-07:00

If you've read any of Gail Carson Levine's fairy tale retellings (ELLA ENCHANTED, FAIREST, THE FAIRY'S MISTAKE and so on), you know she makes them her own. Knowing the fairy tell doesn't give away her plot lines. So, I wasn't surprised when she turned Puss in Boots on its head.

In A TALE OF TWO CASTLES, people (and fabulous creatures like ogres and dragons) aren't always what they appear to be. Gail Carson Levine mixes classic fairy tale with classic mystery (think CLUE) to deliver a story unlike anything I've ever read.

And while the ending does wrap up the mystery, it could lead into a sequel. I hope so. I would happily follow Elodie and her friends through another adventure/mystery. If you've read it, would you read a sequel?

If you'd like to read about more Marvelous Middle Grades (ones you haven't already read), the following people would love to oblige you:

Have a Marvelous Monday!

Cool Beans

2011-06-25T01:06:00.000-07:00

If you have a manuscript that you're querying or ready to query, you should check out Krista's post on her agent critiqued contest. But don't delay. The contest opens on Monday, and she's only taking the first twenty entries.

Good luck!

And if you're wondering what "cool beans" have to do with anything, the phrase is a mutation of "course bien," which means "good run" in French. I have three older sisters, and one of them says it whenever she thinks something is really cool.

MMGM: HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE

2011-06-20T03:00:00.000-07:00

I've decided to read the Harry Potter series again while I'm revising. It's been several years since the last time I read them, and yet they're familiar enough that I can put them down to work on my own stories. It's been about 12 years since my cousin's wife gave me HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE. She said I'd love it, and she was right.

I'm not going to summarize. I'd be surprised if anyone reading this isn't already familiar with the series. I'm just going to share a few of my impressions from this time through. J.K. Rowling writes fabulous dialogue. Pull a line from anywhere in the book, and I can probably tell you which character said it. And while my favorite lines usually come from the redheaded kids, something Dumbledore said to Harry hit me this time: "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that."

I'm excited to see the last movie, next month, but every time I read one of the books, I wonder why they cut Peeves. My absolute favorite part in the series is in the fifth book when Peeves salutes Fred and George. LOVE. But even without Peeves, the movies do a great job of capturing the characters and story, much better than most book-to-movie adaptations.

Did I mention I'm excited to see this? :o)

Tags: Movie Trailers, Movies Blog

What do you think? And have you seen the countdown that Rowling's new website links to? Does anyone want to make a guess?

If you'd like to read about more Marvelous Middle Grades (ones you haven't already read), the following people would love to oblige you:

Shannon Whitney Messenger (our founding mother)

Deb Marshall
Natalie Aguirre

Aly Beecher

Have a Marvelous Monday!

My Love/Hate But Mostly Love for Second Drafts

2011-06-17T00:12:00.000-07:00

Last month was rather insane due to the fact that teachers are expected to cram all kinds of evil projects and wacky fun into the last six weeks of school, so I didn't get very far into my second draft. However, this week, I am very much back in saddle (an appropriate metaphor, if you ever get to read my story).

For me, revising is the part where I notice the sparkles (love) and tar pits (hate) in my writing. I'm still not sure where the beginning of this story needs to be (hate). But I'm making improvements. Last night, I handed the power in a relationship (no, not THAT kind of relationship) between my main character and a minor villain to the villain, creating vulnerability in my MC. This makes everything that happens between them later better than it was before (love). It also gives her more depth and a problem readers can sympathize with (love) within the first couple of chapters.

Am I making any sense? I worry about losing you when I discuss examples from my own writing.

Anyhow, I've been out of school for a week now, and I'm excited to be making progress again. I love this story.

What are you excited about?

MMGM: IDA B

2011-06-13T03:00:00.000-07:00

I only had five people enter my seed giveaway*, so I decided not to draw a name. If you're one of the five and I don't already have your address, please e-mail me, and I'll send you some seeds. Everybody wins.

:o)

And for this week's Marvelous Middle Grade Monday, we have a book that was "printed on 100% postconsumer recycled paper (that means that no trees were cut down to create the paper)" and blurbed by Kate DiCamillo: "I feel a deep gratitude that Ida B exists." Kate DiCamillo!

Katherine Hannigan's IDA B made me cry. If you don't like books that tear you up before they set things right, it might not be for you. This is a story about a girl who knows what she wants, a girl who gets angry when her plans fall apart. It's an honest look at grief and how we can find healing. I agree with Kate DiCamillo. I'm grateful that Ida B exists and that I read it.

I noticed that the blurbs and jacket copy didn't give away anything about the story. In fact, in mentioning grief, I've already given more away than they did. So, I'm just going to list a few things that the author did really well: Ida B's relationships with her parents and their land, the description of her first day of school (especially of the teacher's smile, "where your mouth turns up but your eyes look pained"), the game that Ida B comes up with to teach Ronnie his math facts, and the way she feels about reading aloud. If you read the story, you'll understand why they didn't kill trees to print this book.

I loved the writing, and I will read more books by Katherine Hannigan.

If you'd like to read about more Marvelous Middle Grades, the following people would love to oblige you:

Shannon Whitney Messenger (our founding mother)

Aly Beecher
Deb Marshall

Have a Marvelous Monday!

*And for those of you who aren't sure how to use coriander, I'm linking to a curry recipe.

MMGM: THE UNOFFICIAL HARRY POTTER COOKBOOK

2011-06-06T03:00:00.000-07:00

With summer starting toward the end of this week, I'm recommending THE UNOFFICIAL HARRY POTTER COOKBOOK, by Dinah Bucholz. It has recipes that kids can make on their own and recipes that they should make with an adult.

If you've read the HP series, you can guess this book isn't chock full of healthy recipes. There are some healthy recipes, and some bizarre recipes, but everything we've tried so far has been delicious and very British. My family's favorite is Toad in the Hole (page 144). We've had it three times. I was disappointed not to find recipes for chocolate frogs and butterbeer, but since it does have recipes for things like peppermint humbugs and custard (canary) creams, I got over it. The internet has plenty of frog molds and recipes for butterbeer.

I like cookbooks that make me laugh out loud, and this one did its job. Each recipe (or sometimes section of recipes) has a snippet that relates it to the Harry Potter books and another that relates it to British history. Many of these snippets are funny. I'm sharing the historical one that goes with Hot Chocolate (page 74):

"Before Coenraad van Houten was born, people enjoyed hot chocolate with pools of grease floating on top. But then along came the Dutch chemist, who figured out how to press the cocoa butter from the cocoa beans in the early 1800's. Plus, he invented Dutch cocoa, which is leaps and bounds better than natural cocoa. We modern folk owe him a big debt of gratitude: every city should have a statue of this man, and every village and hamlet should have a Coenraad van Houten Street."

So, this cookbook has great recipes, random facts, funnies, and it will make you want to revisit your Harry Potter books. My only real gripe would be the lack of pictures. I like photos, especially in cookbooks for children, but cookbooks with photos tend to be pricier than those without.

Have you used this cookbook? What did you think?

If you'd like to read about more Marvelous Middle Grades, the following people would love to oblige you:

Shannon Whitney Messenger (our founding mother)

Aly Beecher

Have a Marvelous Monday!

Seeds (the long awaited sequel to Carrots)

2011-06-02T19:07:00.000-07:00

What? You didn't know you were waiting?

I meant to write this over a week ago, but Blogger and I haven't been getting along. Your responses to Carrots made me think how it's easier for us to see things that we're struggling with than it is to see our improvement. Life has so many ups and downs. A couple of weeks ago, my favorite editor sent me a rejection for a poem that I still really like. Today, I got one of these (hint: they don't reject people with their own envelopes) from her. I'll have a poem in next January's issue of Highlights High Five.

This post is mostly about writing and gardening, but I bet you have other strengths as well. For randomness, I hadn't made anything out of balloons for a couple of years, but when I needed one (or three), I found I could still twist a mean octopus. What are your strengths or hobbies, and how do they contribute to your happiness and, if you're a writer, your writing?

I like to grow my own herbs, and the last few years, I've been planting cilantro/coriander and poppies from seeds I've saved from my plants. Every year I've done this, my plants have grown better and produced more seed, and I've learned things without reading about them first (shocking, I know).

Cilantro/coriander attracts ladybugs.

The kind of poppy seed you use in breads has different colored flowers.

*Also, I should apply lotion before taking pics of my hands ;)

But most of mine have been purple.

As I've written, revised and critiqued for other people, I've learned things as well. For instance, an early draft might be derivative, and then with each consecutive draft, the writer imbues their story with more of their voice and whatever vision prompted them to start writing in the first place. Revising makes a good story better.

So, I'm saving seeds for stronger plants and revising for better stories. I can see improvement. Where do you see improvement?

And if you'd like to be entered in a drawing for coriander or poppy seed, just let me know in the comments by next Thursday. They're organic, and you can use them in your kitchen, if you don't want to plant them.

MMGM: JACOB WONDERBAR AND THE COSMIC SPACE KAPOW

2011-05-23T03:00:00.000-07:00

I fell in love with the premise for this week's MMGM long before I read it: "Space travel is all fun and games until someone breaks the universe." Okay, the premise I read had something in it about a boy getting a spaceship for a corn dog and then breaking the universe, but either way, you have an interesting premise. My twelve-year-old and I loved Nathan Bransford's JACOB WONDERBAR AND THE COSMIC SPACE KAPOW (though I did think there'd be more space monkeys).

The main POV belongs to twelve-year-old Jacob Wonderbar (surprise, surprise), but his best friends get to tell their side of the story as well. I don't always like multiple POVs, but it works in this case. Their voices, preferences, and actions are all distinctive, and the story isn't just Jacob Wonderbar's.

Instead of spoiling the story, I'm listing some things I love: a lying space pirate (though you'll have to figure out what he's lying about), a planet for substitute teachers, the illustrations, a planet that smells like burp breath (where they have to eat dirt), a mouse with a thing for mathematical equations, and a chronically bored spaceship. I hope there's something in there that piques your interest. Oh, I also love the names.

Have you read this one? And if you're an aspiring writer, have you visited Nathan Bransford's blog? His Publishing Essentials are invaluable.

If you'd like to read about more Marvelous Middle Grades, the following people would love to oblige you:

Shannon Whitney Messenger (our founding mother)

Barbara Watson
Deb Marshall
Michael Gettel-Gilmartin
Aly Beecher

Aly Beecher

Have a Marvelous Monday!

Carrots

2011-05-19T20:54:00.000-07:00

No, this isn't a Gilbert Blythe post. I've been planting carrots for I don't know how many years, mostly because the kids always want to. They never come up. I planted this year's carrots about the same time I planted my peas, and the peas came up. The carrots didn't. So, I planted poppies in the same area.

A few months later, I read THE CARROT SEED, by Ruth Krause, to my preschool classes and had them plant peas (carrot seeds don't come up). Later that day, as I was pulling weeds around my little poppy plants, I found wispy carrot tops.

Look at what I pulled, today.

Some things take longer for us to get the hang of than others, and sometimes you need a bit of luck. However, carrots that aren't planted will never come up.

What are your carrots?

MMGM: THE SECRET OF PLATFORM 13

2011-05-16T03:00:00.000-07:00

If Roald Dahl had been a woman, I think his books would have been like Eva Ibbotson's. Her novel, THE SECRET OF PLATFORM 13 reminds me of THE BFG.

I borrowed the following from Goodreads:

Under an abandoned railway platform in one of London's busiest stations is an old doorway covered with peeling posters. No one walking by (if anyone did) would guess that it is the entrance to a magical kingdom--an island where humans live happily with mermaids, ogres, feys, and wonderful creatures called mistmakers. Carefully hidden from the world, the Island is accessible only when the door opens for nine days every nine years. A lot can go wrong in nine days.

When the beastly Mrs. Trottle kidnaps the prince of the Island, it's up to a strange band of rescuers to save him. But can an ogre, a hag, a wizard, and a fey troop around London unnoticed? And what if the prince doesn't want to go back?

The story is told from a variety of viewpoints, but the predominant one belongs to Odge, a determined young hag. Have I mentioned before that I love strong female characters? Maybe it's because I was shy. At nine years old, I would never have had the nerve to approach a king and queen and convince them that I should be sent on an important rescue mission, but I'd have enjoyed reading about a girl that did. I still do. I highly recommend this one for fans of Roald Dahl, Cornelia Funke, and J.K. Rowling.

Have you read it?

If you'd like to read about more Marvelous Middle Grades, the following people would love to oblige you:

Shannon Whitney Messenger (our founding mother)

Have a Marvelous Monday!

Writing and Other Hard Things

2011-05-13T13:04:00.000-07:00

I spent a couple of hours last weekend writing a post on writing goals and a bunch of personal stuff that I didn't end up publishing. In the end, it was too long and too personal. Writing bits of it made me cry. I saved it in my archives because it was something I needed to write down for myself. Do you ever wonder which struggles are appropriate to share and which aren't?

Around the very beginning of March, my dad had five-way bypass surgery. It was supposed to be seven-way, but they had such a hard time getting through his ribcage and then to the places they needed to reach that two of the fixes ended up not being "bypasses." Evidently, lifting 100 lb bales of hay on a daily basis builds bone density.

Then his favorite horse, an arabian stallion he bought from Wayne Newton twenty years ago this summer, somehow managed to get his leg stuck on the top pin (holding a couple of corral panels together) of his corral. My brother-in-law and a neighbor helped Silver down, but not before he'd torn all the way through his leg. I found out about it on my way to work and called my husband to have him go out and look at it, but when I got home, I found out that Silver hadn't let anyone near him. So, I grabbed two apples (his favorite treat) and headed over to see what I could do.

I took care of Silver for over a month, lots of work and bonding, and he still had to be put down (this was the long, personal part that made me cry).

My writing went surprisingly well in March and April. I wrote 12,000 words in March and 11,000 in April to finish my rough draft (barely) by the deadline I gave myself at the beginning of the year. I'm not ready to let go of this one though (or maybe it's not ready to turn me loose). I started the second draft on Monday, May 2nd, but it's been slow going. I've also been thinking my way through the setting and plot of The Fourth Path (my sequel to Star Swans) because these stories build on each other.

My plan is to take The Binder's Web through at least a second draft before I tackle revisions of Star Swans. I promised my favorite CP I'd query Star Swans before the end of the year, and from what I understand, the querying year ends before the holidays start.

And to end this post on a funny, I'm sharing Kurt Vonnegut's lecture on the shapes of stories.

Have a great weekend!

Dainty is Overrated

2011-05-10T22:06:00.000-07:00

I wasn't going to blog this week. I've a lot on my plate. But I was taking senior pictures for a niece, earlier today, and she said she wanted to look "dainty" in them. This isn't the first time I've heard her say something along those lines, and it bothers me because there's nothing wrong with her body. I hate that the media makes girls (and boys) think that bird bones are beautiful.

My niece isn't dainty. She's strong. Colleges have been trying to recruit her for their soccer and basketball teams for the last couple of years. She'll be honored as her class's top female athlete at an awards assembly in about a week. I've loved watching her play sports because in basketball I've seen even guys get out of her way.

That doesn't happen for girls with bird bones. They get pushed all over the court. I know because basketball and soccer are my favorite sports, and my wedding ring is a size four. So, when I see my niece comparing her body type to mine (and she does), it bothers me. I went through the same thing with roommates in college. Guess what? They're married to guys who adore them. Our bodies are all different, and those differences are more than okay. They're excellent.

Yes, that is a pomegranate tree.

She's beautiful the way she is, and I will miss her tons when she leaves for college.

MMGM: HEART OF A SAMURAI

2011-05-02T03:33:00.000-07:00

Today's Marvelous Middle Grade is based on the true story of Manjiro, believed to be the first Japanese person to visit America. HEART OF A SAMURAI, by Margi Preus, begins in January 1841 and follows the adventures of a fourteen-year-old Japanese fisherman from the time that he and his friends are stranded on Bird Island (Torishima) by a storm.

If you're familiar with this period in history, you already know the Japanese had isolated themselves from the rest of the world. Not only did they kill foreigners, they would also kill any of their own countrymen who left and then returned. Manjiro has as much a chance of returning to his own country as a poor fisherman has of becoming a Samurai.

I would recommend this one for the older end of middle graders and up into YA. My twelve-year-old and I loved it, but I wouldn't hand it to my eight-year-old yet. Not because it was offensive but because of the way the main character introspects about the racism of the Americans and the Japanese and also about the slaughter of animals. On second thought, I may read it to him, so that he can ask me questions. I really liked how they took so many of the real Manjiro's thoughts from his letters ect. and incorporated them into the story. And of course I loved how, in the end, he achieves the impossible (though what that "impossible" might encompass, you'll have to read to find out). You have to read the Epilogue and Historical Note though.

HEART OF A SAMURAI has death, bullies, rescue by blue-eyed barbarians, whaling, a kind captain, school, horse racing, gold mining, a May Day poem for a girl with storm-colored eyes (which she treasured into her eighties), a parrot who speaks Japanese, a mad captain, prison, and impossible triumph. It's the most beautiful and inspiring story I've read this year.

Have you read it? If not, what's the most inspiring story you've read this year?

If you'd like to read about more Marvelous Middle Grades, the following people would love to oblige you:

Shannon Whitney Messenger (our founding mother)

Natalie Aguirre
Anita Laydon Miller
Barbara Watson

Have a Marvelous Monday!

First Draft Finished

2011-04-30T23:55:00.000-07:00

At 48,324 words, my first draft of THE BINDER'S WEB is finished. *throws confetti and goes to bed*

National Poetry Month

2011-04-30T01:00:00.000-07:00

I can't sleep because I slept most of the day. Stomach flu. And Gwen's on my lap because a nightmare woke her up. I won't be sorry to see this month of perpetual sickness end, but I would like to throw contribute something to National Poetry Month.

On Monday, April 4th, I taught a haiku workshop to a class of third graders. We read ONE LEAF RIDES THE WIND, by Celeste Mannis,

and I showed them how I try to convey emotion through images. Apparently, I was more successful at conveying humor (through discomfort) in the first poem than I was at conveying fear or caution in the second.

A herd of horses

turn long tails to the wet wind.

Rain pelts their behinds.

The metallic wasp

flickers blue in the sunlight

and works undisturbed.

It's always interesting to get reactions and questions from a large group. I've never taught a workshop on haikus, partly because I've never sold any of mine, but that's what this teacher asked for. Well, that's not true. At first, she asked me to teach free verse because she thought that was my specialty, but when I explained which forms I liked using, she jumped on haiku.

Then I turned them loose (with nature magazines) to write their own haikus, making little suggestions here and there, mostly just enjoying what they came up with.

I wish I could share the poem I wrote earlier this week, but if I did, I couldn't sell first publication rights. So, I'll leave you with Christopher Walken's reading of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven."

Did you do anything fun for National Poetry Month? And if you're feeling the urge, your haikus are welcome in the comments!

MMGM: ELLA ENCHANTED

2011-04-25T04:00:00.000-07:00

This week's Marvelous Middle Grade is one of the few books that I've flipped back to the beginning when I finished and started reading again. I've read Gail Carson Levine's ELLA ENCHANTED at least a half a dozen times. I can't stand the movie, though, because they ruined the characters, especially Prince Char. The movie lost ground right at the beginning, when it started with this cutesy rhyming narrator, instead of Ella's "That fool of a fairy Lucinda did not intend to lay a curse on me. She meant to bestow a gift." My sisters and I were so excited to see it (because we loved the book) that we actually met in a sort of halfway place and went to the movies together. None of us loved the movie.

ELLA ENCHANTED is a Cinderella retelling, but I didn't realize it until near the end. Lucinda's "gift" of obedience forces Ella to be obedient. Even with as many times as I've read it, this book makes me laugh and cry. Ella and Char both have flaws I can relate to, though my reasons for having them might be slightly different (no mad fairy at my birth that I know of). And Ella suffers so much at the hands of Hattie that her little triumphs/defiances are also freeing for the reader. Having to do things we'd rather not is something all of us can relate to. I love, LOVE her solution to being captured by ogres and how Char can't stop laughing while he's offering his wedding congratulations to Ella's father and step-mother because her family catches them . . . well, if you don't know what I'm talking about, you should just read it.

Most of you probably have. Did you like ELLA ENCHANTED? And if you have read it, did you like the movie? I'm totally fine with people expressing opinions that differ from mine. If we all liked the same books and movies, the world would be a boring snoring place. I actually picked up the book this weekend because my nieces were watching the movie, and my nieces (and nephews) are some of my favorite people.

If you'd like to read about more Marvelous Middle Grades, the following people would love to oblige you:

Shannon Whitney Messenger (our founding mother)

Annette Lyon: “Desire”
Annie Cechini: “The Spirit of Revelation”
Ben Spendlove: “The Atonement Covers All Pain”
Chantele Sedgwick: “LDS Women Are Incredible!”
Charity Bradford: “LDS Women Are Incredible!”
Jackee Alston: “The Eternal Blessings of Marriage”
Jenilyn Tolley: “What Manner of Men and Women Ought Ye to Be?”
Jennifer McFadden: “Establishing a Christ-Centered Home”
Jessie Oliveros: “Establishing a Christ-Centered Home”
Jolene Perry: “It’s Conference Once Again”
Jordan McCollum: “What Manner of Men and Women Ought Ye to Be?”
Kasey Tross: “Guided by the Holy Spirit”
Kayeleen Hamblin: “Become as a Little Child”
Kelly Bryson: “The Atonement Covers All Pain”
Krista Van Dolzer: “Opportunities to Do Good”
Melanie Stanford: “What Manner of Men and Women Ought Ye to Be?”
Michelle Merrill: “The Eternal Blessings of Marriage”
Nisa Swineford: “Desire”
Sallee Mathews: “The Eternal Blessings of Marriage”
Sierra Gardner: “The Atonement Covers All Pain”
Tamara Hart Heiner: “Waiting on the Road to Damascus”
The Writing Lair: “Waiting on the Road to Damascus”

Have a Marvelous Monday!

Unplugged

2011-04-17T15:53:00.000-07:00

I'm unplugging for Spring Break to play with the fam and get some stuff done. Have a great week!

The Clark County Fair

2011-04-15T00:12:00.000-07:00

Instead of writing two posts about the same thing, I'm linking to my post on our extended family blog. If you'd like to see pictures of my children and read a post that has nothing whatsoever to do with writing, you're welcome to pop over there and comment. Thanks!

LDS Writer Blogfest: "Opportunities to do Good"

2011-04-12T07:45:00.000-07:00

Twice a year the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints broadcasts General Conference all over the world so that we, as church members, can listen to messages from our prophet and other church leaders. As part of the LDS Writer Blogfest, I want to share a couple of (purple) quotes from Henry B. Eyring's "Opportunities to do Good. Or you can just click on the link I provided to read the original. It's better than my patchwork.

Our Heavenly Father hears the prayers of His children across the earth pleading for food to eat, for clothes to cover their bodies, and for the dignity that would come from being able to provide for themselves. Those pleas have reached Him since He placed men and women on the earth.

You learn of those needs where you live and from across the world. Your heart is often stirred with feelings of sympathy. When you meet someone struggling to find employment, you feel that desire to help. You feel it when you go into the home of a widow and see that she has no food. You feel it when you see photographs of crying children sitting in the ruins of their home destroyed by an earthquake or by fire.

This particular message struck a chord because there have been so many disasters, and of course we have friends and family out of work. A person can start to feel helpless, but there are ways to help both those who are close to us and those as far away as Japan.

I grew up on a farm, and we learned to work hard at a young age. My mom was the hardest worker I've ever met. She gave of herself at home, in the community, church, and with friends and neighbors. We had a neighbor, a single mother of three boys, who would come over to help with stuff like washing the windows. I didn't know my mom was finding jobs and paying her because she was out of work or that Mom would take her grocery shopping. Her boys came over and helped us with chores all the time, so they could play with us. They were good neighbors. She told me about it when Mom died, and there were so many others with stories.

In our church, we have a welfare system that helps people become self-sufficient. We fast on the first Sunday of the month and give what we might have spent on the food for those meals to help those in need.

President Marion G. Romney said of welfare work, “You cannot give yourself poor in this work.” And then he quoted his mission president, Melvin J. Ballard, this way: “A person cannot give a crust to the Lord without receiving a loaf in return.”

I have found that to be true in my life. When I am generous to Heavenly Father’s children in need, He is generous to me.

I have also found that to be true in my life. When I work for the good of others, I'm a happier, more confident person than when I focus too much of my energy on myself. I'm also more productive in my own pursuits, which might seem like a contradiction, but in Luke 12: 31, the Savior says "seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you." He keeps his promises.

Elder Eyring also shared the lyrics to the following song:

If you're interested in reading more, you can follow the links below. Thanks for letting me share something more personal than usual. I'd be happy to answer any questions in the comments or in an e-mail, if you'd prefer.

MMGM: THE ALCHEMYST, THE MAGICIAN, and THE SORCERESS

2011-04-11T04:00:00.000-07:00

While several people I know in real life have recommended Michael Scott's THE SECRETS OF THE IMMORTAL NICHOLAS FLAMEL series to me over the last couple of years, I don't remember having seen it in the blogosphere. Did you know that Nicholas Flamel was a real person? I had no idea that J.K. Rowling borrowed him and the philosopher's stone from history. Of course the stone was only a rumor, but he and his wife were very wealthy, and when someone broke into their tomb, they found it empty. In this series, Michael Scott blends history, myth, and legend with his own unique story.

In THE ALCHEMYST, Sophie and Josh Newman, get caught up in a very old conflict when they come to the aid of an elderly couple that they think they know (Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel). Nicholas believes they're the twins from an ancient prophecy and that it's his responsibility to train them, so he takes them to Scathach, a warrior and trainer of heroes. I don't want to give anything major away, but the villain (Dr. John Dee) might be more interesting than the Flamels. This is my least favorite book of the three (not that it's boring - just a lot about prophecies and such), but it really picks up in the next book.

I loved the addition of Machiavelli and Joan of Arc in THE MAGICIAN. She's always been one of my favorite heroines, and I felt like Scott nailed her character. Aside from Perenelle's POV, on Alcatraz, this part of the story takes place in Paris and below Paris. Paris can be such a great setting. I like the juxtaposition of the twin swords: Excalibur and Clarent. Sophie learns to use fire, and Josh finally gets to see some action, chasing Nidhogg through the streets of Paris to save Scathach (among other things).

If anything, the intensity builds in THE SORCERESS. Perenelle shines in this one. Nicholas takes the twins to London to learn how to use water from King Gilgamesh, but where Paris was Flamel's home, London is Dee's. The importance of the two swords grows more and more sinister as the story unfolds, and the opposition calls in favors from increasingly powerful entities. The end left me wanting the next book, THE NECROMANCER, even though I know the series isn't finished. THE WARLOCK comes out next month, and it won't end the series, either.

It's still hard to believe that Scott made me sympathize with Gilgamesh and Machiavelli, but there were times I did. Though I also enjoyed this: "Nor have I told them that Gilgamesh is quite, quite insane . . . and that the last time we met, he thought I was trying to kill him." Exactly. It made me snicker. Scott's interpretation of various historical figures is nothing short of delightful. I highly recommend this series for anyone who enjoyed Harry Potter or Percy Jackson.

If you'd like to read about more Marvelous Middle Grades, the following people would love to oblige you:

Shannon Whitney Messenger (our founding mother)

Have a Marvelous Monday!

MMGM: HOW TO SAVE YOUR TAIL

2011-04-04T03:32:00.000-07:00

I picked up this week's Marvelous Middle Grade because I thought it might appeal to my eight-year-old, and I was right. In HOW TO SAVE YOUR TAIL, by Mary Hanson, a rat named Bob tells stories to a couple of cats to keep them from eating him. He also feeds them cookies.

This one will appeal to younger and more reluctant readers, but my twelve-year-old and I also enjoyed it. Bob's fractured fairy tales feature his rat relatives as main characters and reminded me of Jon Scieszka's THE TRUE STORY OF THE 3 LITTLE PIGS! (one of the best fairy tale picture books ever). Almost every page made us giggle, and the cookie breaks between stories kept us wondering how Bob would outsmart the cats.

If you'd like to read about more Marvelous Middle Grades, the following people would love to oblige you:

Sherrie Petersen

Have a Marvelous Monday!

MMGM: FALLING IN

2011-03-28T03:00:00.000-07:00

A wicked fit of cover envy made me pick up FALLING IN, by Frances O'Roark Dowell, on Saturday. Not that I have a story that needs this particular cover but I hope that someday . . . you know?

I hope you see this scrumptious thing in real life. I've never known glitter to be so subtle.

But enough about the outside, the jacket flap led me to think this book would be a frothy fairy-tale retelling, kind of like THE SISTERS GRIMM, not that it made that comparison. I did. I'm quite enjoying that series, so I looked forward to reading this one. But then the librarian raved about the author and her other books in a way that made me wonder if I'd jumped to the wrong conclusion.

I had. It wasn't what I'd expected, and there's a narrator that jumps in every now and then that I couldn't decide if I liked or not. By a third of the way in, I'd shed my preconceived notions and decided I liked the narrator. I already knew I liked the main character. I'm not sure how much I should say because I suspect the publisher actually set up readers to believe the story would be something it wasn't so that readers would make the same discoveries as the main character. With that in mind, there are a few things that should be said:

1. The last half of the book makes sense of the first half.
2. There's a part near the end that brought tears to my eyes (more happy than sad).
3. This is more a girl book than a boy book, though I'm sure there are boys out there that would enjoy it.

I loved the story, and I'll be looking for more books by this author. From what I gathered, this is her tenth. I like her writing style, her wisdom, her sense of humor, and the way she pulled her story pieces together.

Have any of you read FALLING IN, or any other books, by Frances O'Roarke Dowell? Which one should I read next?

If you'd like to read about more Marvelous Middle Grades, the following people would love to oblige you:

Shannon Whitney Messenger (our founding mother)

Shannon O'Donnell
Natalie Aguirre

Have a Marvelous Monday!

Contest Winner

2011-03-25T21:10:00.000-07:00

Janet Johnson, you've won a pre-order for LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR, by the fabulous Stephanie Perkins. If you'll send me an e-mail with your address, I'll order it for you right away. Then you only have to wait until September 29th for it to arrive ;)

Thanks to everyone who entered, especially those who read my long post. Have a great weekend!

A Kind of Mother-Daughter Collaboration

2011-03-23T22:24:00.000-07:00

Some of you already know that my daughter finished her first draft of her first novel on January 5th, 72 written pages. She's been typing a second draft. We decided we'd read for each other when she finishes (my current story ought to be coherent by then).

Only, I've been cheating, reading bits from the notebook, opening her files on the computer. She doesn't mind as long as I'm not looking over her shoulder while she's actually working, something else we have in common. I don't want to make suggestions yet because I can see she's still working out her story. I want it to be her story, her style. She writes at a college level, and she managed to swing extra credit for it in two of her classes: English and Computers (typing).

And then, about a week ago, she brought me this picture with a casual, "So, do you like it?"

I didn't know she'd been reading mine.

So, now I have this visual of a scene from my work-in-progress. I love that this moment in the story moved her to create because I want readers to FEEL SOMETHING at this point, and I love that her style her reminds me of Ancient Greece. This drawing makes me happy.

I will post a winner for my contest sometime this weekend, but I'm not writing out all those little papers (after midnight) tonight. Thanks for your patience.

MMGM: THE ADVENTURES OF DANIEL BOOM AKA LOUD BOY

2011-03-21T03:00:00.000-07:00

After having to pry various books in THE ADVENTURES OF DANIEL BOOM AKA LOUD BOY series, by D. J. Steinberg, from my semi-reluctant reader's hands every day for the last week, I decided I'd better see what the fuss was about.

These graphic novels will appeal to fans of CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS. I liked them better than CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS (though I have to admire Dav Pilkey for sheer nerve) because they don't rely on potty humor and the kids get to be the super heroes*. Though in Pilkey's books, the boys control the super hero, taking the super hero fantasy to another level.

In DANIEL BOOM, the freak five (Loud Boy, Chatterbox, Destructo-Kid, Tantrum Girl, and Fidget) use their amplified behavioral problems to fight Old Fogey, Thadeus Q. Doctor, and the rest of Kid-Rid. I think I'll leave the hows and whys to those who might read the stories; I don't like spoilers, and these books are short. I read the first one in about fifteen minutes. If you're looking for a humorous book that will appeal to most boys and girls, these are great. Has anyone else read them?

If you'd like to read about more Marvelous Middle Grades, the following people would love to oblige you:

Shannon Whitney Messenger (our founding mother)

Brooke Favero

Ben Langhinrichs
Sherrie Petersen
Shannon O'Donnell

Have a Marvelous Monday!

*In reading over my post, I realized readers could interpret what I said about CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS in a way that I didn't intend. There's a lot more than potty humor in there, and I meant what I said about admiring Dav Pilkey. He's brilliant. His books made me laugh myself silly, especially the first one, but I wouldn't recommend reading them when you have morning sickness**.
**No, I am not pregnant. I read them a little over four years ago.

A Choose Your Own Pre-Order Giveaway

2011-03-16T14:42:00.001-07:00

Last week, by wild coincidence, the first three writers whose blogs I read regularly revealed covers of books they have coming out later this fall. If you've been reading my blog since the beginning, you already know who the three writers are, but most of you are more recent than that.

My introduction to the world of blogging writers began with Shannon Hale. When I finished THE GOOSE GIRL, I found her website listed at the back of the book. I'd just come home from a writer's conference where I kept hearing her name, partly because one of the agents at the conference represented her, mostly because people LIKED her. You could tell by the way their eyes lit up whenever someone mentioned her name. It made me curious. I found her blog on her website and not only started reading it faithfully, I read her older posts as well. I loved her sense of humor, her honesty, and the writing information I picked up.

Shannon's FOREST BORN finally has an Allison Jay cover to match the rest of the original hardback covers in the Bayern series, and it's gorgeous. Click here to read more about it. I already own a signed/personalized copy of this one, and I'm tempted to buy this for the cover. I've read it twice. Like all of her books, it's gush-worthy.

On one of Shannon's posts, she introduced us to a debut author named Laini Taylor and Laini's Not For Robots website. I read Not For Robots (which I've already recommended on here) and started reading her blog. I fell in love with Laini's blog before I read any of her books, but then I fell in love with her books. They're the sort of stories that sneak into your dreams, filling them with colorful adventures and, in my case, talking crows.

Laini revealed two covers for the same book, DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE. I haven't read this one, but I will. Click here to find out more.

Laini linked to Stephanie Perkins, and I had the same reaction to her blog. The main difference with Steph was that she didn't have any books for me to read, not even an agent; she wasn't any farther along the writer's path than I am now, but again: humor, honesty, and invaluable writing information. Her debut novel, ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS, didn't disappoint.

Steph's LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR looks like it will be every bit as much fun as her first. I love the purple wig and that the boy is named Cricket. Click here to read more about this one.

So, you choose which one you'd like a pre-order for. I'll choose a random winner and pay for their choice, and then the lucky one will have to wait for the book to be released. To enter: tell me which book you'd like to win. You don't have to be a follower. If you spread the word (FB, Twitter, Blogger) about my contest, I'll give you an extra entry for each link you leave in my comments. This contest is open internationally, and you have until March 23rd to enter.

MMGM: THE ORDINARY PRINCESS

2011-03-14T03:14:00.000-07:00

For today's Marvelous Middle Grade Monday, I'm recommending an older fairy tale. Originally published in 1980, THE ORDINARY PRINCESS, by M. M. Kaye is a delightfully illustrated little fairy tale, not unlike more recent ones by authors like Gail Carson Levine, excepting that Kaye's story isn't a retelling (though Sleeping Beauty might have been her great-great-great-great grandmother).

"Hmm!" said the Fairy Crustacea. "Wit, Charm, Courage, Health, Wisdom, Grace . . . Good gracious, poor child! Well, thank goodness my magic is stronger than anyone else's."

She raised her twisty coral stick and waved it three times over the cradle of the seventh princess. "My child," said the Fairy Crustacea, "I am going to give you something that will probably bring you more happiness than all these fal-lals and fripperies put together. You shall be Ordinary!"

I've no idea how many times my daughter and I have gone on Princess Amy's adventures with her, but the repeated readings have cost our poor little paperback half its cover. When Amy finds out that her parents (desperate to find a suitable husband for her) intend to hire a dragon to ravage the countryside and lock her in a tower, she runs away. I love that she works as a kitchen maid to support herself. Okay, and I love the boy. If you read the story, you'll have to tell me what you thought of him. Have any of you read this one?

If you'd like to read about more Marvelous Middle Grades, the following people would love to oblige you:

Shannon Whitney Messenger (our founding mother)