A year ago

I started this blog. Back in March, when I was thinking about this, I had some ideas about how I would celebrate my first anniversary. But today crept up on me and caught me unprepared. Things in my family and my writing are converging right now, demanding full attention.

So instead of celebrating today, I am starting the weeklong celebration on my One Year + One Week + One day Anniversary.

Please check back on April 22nd to find out more about contests and freebies and confetti!

Good is not good enough

Talk to someone pursuing a big goal:getting accepted into an Ivy league school, landing a contract with a record label, being hired as first horn by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and you'll hear how crazy difficult and competitive it is.

Getting my novels published feels as crazy difficult. I realize there are lots that are outside my control: the state of publishing industry, trends, the economy, so I concentrate on what writers are suppose to do, write: revise my first novel, draft scenes of my second, and jot down thoughts about my third. I am also doing what writers who want to be published do: send off queries and submissions. (Can we say roller-coaster emotional rides?)

A sensible sentence caught my attention this morning. It is from Tami Brown at the Through The Tollbooth blog. She says:

But your writing ... must be as good, and in most cases, better than writing you see in published books. Why? The authors of books in print already have relationships. You are new. It takes something extra to break through.

Not a thought that most people who consider encouraging, but strangely, it's encouraging me to keep plowing and polishing so my work will be better, hopefully better than good.

(It's pretty obvious that I was procrastinating. I should be writing, not reading blogs? But hey, every once in a while, those tactics do bring us back to what we're supposed to be doing.)

Quick Reviews

Scat by Carl Hiaasen
Hiaasen's first foray into YA, Hoot, was an excellent book and a huge hit. Scat continues his tradition of writing about the eco-system in Florida. The usual elements are there: young and resourceful protagonists who are passionate about the environment; odd adults, a few of them sympathetic; greedy big corp guys; and endangered species. And great writing.

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher
A mark of a classic is that it feels current and timeless simultaneously. Can a book published in the early nineties be considered a classic by 2009? I believe it can in the current publishing landscape. And Sarah Byrnes is one in my opinion. The questions raised and arguments presented are honest. The characters feel authentic. And Mobe is the best. Nit pick: the bad guy is too despicable to be believable.

The Magic Thief by Sarah Prineas
Brilliant opening: A thief is a lot like a wizard. I have quick hands. And I can make things disappear. But then I stole the wizard's locus magicalicus and nearly disappeared myself forever. Nit pick: the age of the protag seems to make a leap in the middle, from 11 or 12 to about 15 or so.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks
A glimpse into an intriguing world, that of the American Blue Bloods. But even within the exotic setting of a prep school, we see the same type of players at work. I admire the author's very sure hand in writing. Nit pick: Frankie's motivations aren't always clear. I am never sure if her plotting and actions are driven by revenge, or a desire to prove girl supremacy, or a way to keep her boyfriend, or simply because she can. This is a character I can't relate to very well even though her capers are interesting.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Just as imaginative as the first one. Nit pick: why would Ron seek out Lockhart after they've figured out how to get to the chamber? Percy as red herring is a bit obvious, but the real chamber of secrets opener is a surprise.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Raw, honest, haunting. Not a hint of the whiny, self-absorbed, and self-righteous teenage narrator in some YA books, especially those dealing with Issues. This narrator doesn't seek sympathy. She is struggling to understand not only the people around her but her own motivations. She lets us in on her journey, which can be difficult at times, but I'm glad to have gone along with her. It's be one to read again.

Give me embarrassment any time!

Recently someone told me I was brave.

That took me completely by surprise. I've long resigned to the fact that I'm chicken about many things. When I read of courageous acts in books, I'm always filled with admiration and longing. I tell myself I need to overcome at least some of my fears, and have, in fact, taken a few baby-steps toward this goal.

But I know I am far from being brave. Which is why that statement gave me pause. After mulling over it, I realized that the reason I did that supposedly-brave thing is that I prefer embarrassment over regret.

I've sabotaged my own successes many times out of fear. Those events have gnawed at me over the years, giving me pangs of regret. I know how to deal with them more effectively now, but the intensity of these pangs haven't subsided.

In contrast to that, there have been times when I've subdued my fear enough to do something brave. Some of those times have resulted in embarrassing moments, a couple of them spectacularly so, like when I had a full-on brain freeze on my very first piano competition and couldn't continue beyond the first page of my Chopin Ballade and so I just stood up to bow--bow!!!--as the audience clapped politely to signal their relief I was about to leave the stage.

But the effects of the embarrassment, unlike those of regret, die off. Apparently, Time does heal, the pain of embarrassment at least.

This is a timely reminder, as I am sending off another round of submissions. I've received a few encouraging responses, but the rejections are coming in as well. But I know now that I can live better with having tried without succeeding, than not trying at all.

I wish you courage.

Mouse? What happened to the Dragon?

Some of you know that I am a fan of Jeff Stone's Five Ancestors series. I love the story, the main characters, the kung fu, and as a writer, I am extremely impressed by the opening of the first book in the series, Tiger.

The premise: four young and highly-trained martial arts masters are forced out of their temple home when one of their former brothers burnt it down and killed their master in search of a special scroll. Each book in the series is devoted to one of the young masters, whose style of martial arts is based on one of these animals: tiger, monkey, snake, crane, and dragon. If you look that covers of the books, you'll see the insignia of these five animals.

After devouring the first four books in the series, I eagerly awaited the fifth, which I had anticipated to be about the dragon and the last book in the series.

But that fifth book was Eagle, not dragon; and it wasn't the last book. So I grumbled a little, but accepted Eagle because the errant brother was originally trained in the eagle style kung fu even though he wants nothing more than to be a dragon.

At the library the other day, I saw the newest installment of this series, and not only is it still not the last book, its title is Mouse, a character who was introduced only in book 5! Can they create detours like that?

What am I to do? Can't not read it! So I grumbled: where is the kung fu? And why is the dragon scroll now so insignificant when it propelled the earlier books? And just where did that jade armor come from?

Mouse redeemed himself towards the end with some well-placed snot, an over-ambitious imitation of a kung-fu move, and lots of spunk.

All right, Jeff Stone, the next one had better be Dragon (an ad at the back of Mouse says it is but I"ll believe it when I see it) and there had better be more kung fu (not more violence though) and no more introduction of an extremely powerful and important artifact that was not mentioned before.

End of vent.

Poetry Friday

Welcome to the first Poetry Friday of National Poetry Month.

I have chosen a poem by Jack Gilbert for all my writing friends who work diligently at their craft everyday, steadily, and sometimes--who am I kidding--more often than not, are in a state of discouragement and disappointment, overwhelmed by the daunting task.

Take heart, fellow toilers! Heed Jack's words, that

courage is not the abnormal
Not the marvelous act

and that

It is the normal excellence, of long accomplishment.

Enjoy his poem, The Abnormal is Not Courage

(Instead of a poetry archive site, I've linked to a blog. This particular post includes two other poems by Gilbert and a couple of interesting first-hand stories by the blogger.)

Poetry Friday Roundup this week is at ayuddha.net

Call me Ish-a-geek

A new public library branch opened last weekend in my town. Now there are three public libraries within very reasonable driving distances from my house. I am so thrilled to live in a town that values books!

Here are some pictures of the new library:

The children's section
[Incidentally, I saw a friend there and she seemed amused that I had brought my camera to the library.]

Look whose book I found displayed prominently in the children's poetry section?

The book of yet another of my Poetry Friday cohorts!

Happy second day in the National Poetry Month. Just from the poem-a-day I have received in my email inbox, I'm learning so much more about different types of poetry (new one for me: language poetry) and poets. You can sign up for it too.

National Poetry Month

I know it's April Fool's day, but I'll leave the tricks and jokes to the pros. Instead, I'm focusing on the other big event of the day: the start of National Poetry Month.



At the poets.org website, you can find out how you can participate. Sign up for a poem a day. Read a poem to your child, your children's class, your mother. Write a haiku, a sonnet, a limerick.

Here are some other events taking place that you may want to check out:

If you love children's poetry, as I do, poet and professor Sylvia Vardell will be reviewing a children's poetry book a day. Anastasia Suen has collected school poems from students and will share them at Pencil Talk. Tricia at Miss Rumphius Effect will be posting her interviews with children's poets daily.

Read, enjoy, laugh, celebrate!