No mercy

When I first read the comments from the editor who judged my middle grade novel in a contest, I was at a loss as to what to do. I wanted to take her recommendations, I wanted to have an open mind, I wanted to be a writer who can revise beyond making cosmetic changes, and I really wanted to send her a partial because she’d taken the time to provide her thoughts. I just didn’t know how.

A good friend and fellow writer very gently suggested that I trim some of the musical details that the editor thought would not appeal to most kids, and that alone may re-balance the various elements well enough.

But trimming didn’t do it.

Ruthless chopping and slashing: that’s what had to take place. I felt occasional pain, but not as deep as I’d thought. During the process, I realize that I couldn’t have done this a few months ago when I first heard from the editor. Perhaps it’s the emotional attachment to the manuscript. Perhaps it’s the discouragement that came from thinking you mean all those revisions are still not enough? Perhaps it’s the need for a stronger validation. I don’t know. I wish I approached my writing (and while I’m at it, all of life) with a detached, objective stance. Everything would be so much more efficient.

Or maybe efficiency is over-rated.

In any case, I now have twenty pages that I’m preparing to send. I am still too close to it to decide how improved this version is. But I know that despite all the changes, I have stayed true to the characters and their story.

Poetry Friday

My daughter and son bickered just before they started their bedtime routine last night, over some shared toys. An hour later, little brother found his sister's stuffed tiger that she'd been searching and quietly placed it in her bed.

Ah, siblings!

This poem by Naomi Shihab Nye captures that bond, seemingly fragile and easily threatened by the most insignificant little nothing, but in reality, strong and robust.

Supple Cord

by Naomi Shihab Nye

My brother, in his small white bed,

held one end.

I tugged the other

to signal I was still awake.

We could have spoken,

could have sung

to one another,

Read the rest of this gentle, bitter sweet poem here.

The Poetry Friday Roundup is at Charlotte's Library this week.

So that's what abdicate means!

The Washington Post invited its readers to submit words that they have altered and provided definitions for. Here are some of my favorites:

Giraffiti : Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

Sarchasm : The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

Inoculatte : To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

Caterpallor ( n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.


Here, the readers are invited to submit alternate meanings for common words:

coffee , n. the person upon whom one coughs.

flabbergasted , adj. appalled by discovering how much weight one has gained.

abdicate , v. to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.

negligent , adj. absentmindedly answering the door when wearing only a nightgown.

lymph , v. to walk with a lisp.

balderdash , n. a rapidly receding hairline.

oyster , n. a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.

Solipsism, times three

I came across the word solipsism for the first time last week, in Jerry Spinelli's newest book, Smiles to Go. (I love it when I learn new things from reading kidlit, don't you?) Found out that it is, according to wikipedia, an epistemological or metaphysical position that knowledge of anything outside the mind is unjustified. Very cool.

That night at dinner, my husband wanted to tell me a joke, but first, he wanted to know if I've come across the notion of solipsism. I almost sprayed my mouthful of rice at him. That was weird, to have come across a word for the first time in my life and to have it be brought up on the very same day!

Okay, fine. Coincidences happen.

Later that night, my husband showed me a article he had been reading, and there it was, a company named Solypsis.

Cue Twilight Zone music.

Book Reivew: Smiles to Go

Will is sensible. He plays chess, runs cross-country, and plays Monopoly every Saturday with his two best buddies. Like many of his peers, he is trying to figure out Life; big, universal problems, such as proton decay and solipsism, as well as everyday, down-to-earth problems, such as a pesky little sister and the changing nature of his friendships, especially with Mi-Su. The middle section of the book is spent on his planning to kiss his formerly purely-platonic girl best friend. The climax of the book is surprising, but inevitable and so is Will's reaction.

The thing that I appreciate most about Jerry Spinelli's writing in this book is that he doesn't adopt the super-chummy or I'm-so-up-to-date-with-kid-lingo attitude that I find condescending. Instead he writes with understanding and respect for the way young people view their world. It's no wonder his books have been one of the mainstays in the crowded shelf of YA lit.

Poetry Friday

It's Poetry Friday again. Today it's being hosted at Read. Imagine. Talk.

Maybe it's because I am in a midlife crisis, I mean, mid-career diversion, band, but it spoke to me. I like the straightforward style, and the line " a beautiful belief in answers" delights me.

Memory as a Hearing Aid

by Tony Hoagland

Somewhere, someone is asking a question,

and I stand squinting at the classroom

with one hand cupped behind my ear,

trying to figure out where that voice is coming from.

I might be already an old man,

attempting to recall the night

his hearing got misplaced,

front-row-center at a battle of the bands,

where a lot of leather-clad, second-rate musicians,

amped up to dinosaur proportions,

test drove their equipment through our ears.

Read the rest of the poem.

You say inane and dull, I say...

To continue what I started yesterday about things to avoid in our work, today I offer ten qualities that will doom our manuscripts. Even though this blog focuses on mysteries, the content applies to all writing.

Agents' pet peeves

I haven't been querying for the last couple of months, focusing mainly on re-writing, and summer stuff. This morning, I went over to check out the guide to literary agents blog and found this post. In it, different agents explain what turns them off in a first chapter. Quite a few of them are familiar: too much exposition/world building/telling, clichés, dream scenes, but I found a few that are new to me, such as characters named Isabelle who go by Izzy.

Might be fun to see if any of the pet peeves mentioned are in your first chapters.