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Do you need a wordcount challenge with some leeway?
Check out the challenges below:
250 wds/day | 500 wds/day | 1000 wds/day

So how did you all do with your daily wordcount challenges since the last check-in?

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So for this revision round, I have sixteen scenes left — where everything starts to converge together and pushing toward the end — which in the draft form is still cloudy (but that’s for another post).

One thing I’ve been noticing with my characters — the antagonist Kendra is just really all shades of bad, which is boring and one-dimensional. I’ve made notes on the manuscript where I need to go back and fix that. All-bad villians are no fun. I need to find something to make her more human or at least give a reason why she’s such a witch.

Then there’s my main character, Grace, who right now is a little too goody-goody. I just finished some scenes where she isn’t so nice but even then I held back. I didn’t want her to be selfish and think only of herself — I didn’t want her to be flawed. Perfect is sort of boring as well.

That’s the thing with characters. Sometimes you can make them too flawed (all bad) or not flawed enough (too good). And sometimes to make your characters real means they must make mistakes, hold grudges, or do things with bad intentions.

The tricky part is figuring out the delicate mix. From being able to make a one-dimensional character into a rounded character with emotional dimensions. A character with flaws. A character who a reader will show empathy. A character who will jump off the page into the reader’s heart and become a real person.

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 I leave for Japan this week (!!!!!!!!!) and of late I've been getting the last of our personal hostel/hotel/ryokan stays booked for the family trip we're going to take once my work at the American School in Japan is over. Check out some of the more, um, eclectic offerings at the Matsuyama Youth Hostel:

★ a course on "bending spoons"　(for 2 persons or more. \300 for each)
★ a course on "ecology" (free)
★ consultation of "reforming color vision"(free)
-in Japanese only-
★ How about taking a photograph of your "aura"?
aura for your whole living body : \2500
aura for your fingers only : \1000
-in Japanese only, Reservation is required.-
★ Why not join "President Hirano" in our discussions on…
space and dimensions, the moon and the aliens,water and foods, fortune telling and other curious topics.
-in Japanese only- 

The hostel's motto: "You meet wonder life...maybe."

Good enough for me.

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Nonfiction Monday: Happy Birthday: The Story of the World’s Most Popular Song @PelicanPub http://ow.ly/1p62G #nfmon #kidlit #6traits

Filed under: News

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If you’re traveling west, you’ll end up in California. Go East, and you might land in New York instead. The direction you choose determines your destination. 

But what makes you choose one direction over the other? For most people, it’s whatever grabs your attention. If warm beaches and surfing snag your attention, you’re more likely to head west than east. As your attention goes, so goes your life.

What does that mean for your writing life? It means that when distractions come along–and they will–these distractions can snag your attention, pull you off course and change your direction if you’re not careful.

The Formula

Whatever grabs your attention determines the direction you head. And the direction you head determines where you end up. This is true for everyone. For every area of your life, the formula is the same:

               Attention –> Direction –> Destination

How can you make this “principle of the path” work for you instead of against you in your writing life?

This? Or This?

You can remember that we have choices. We don’t have to be ruled by the things that initially grab our attention. (Attention-grabbers include pop-up ads whenyou surf the web, commercials for food on TV, new cars as you drive by a car lot, a fight with your teenager, and being snapped at by your boss.) We can choose to give our attention to these things. Or we can remove or disentangle our attention from something and deliberately place it somewhere else.

According to Andy Stanley in The Principle of the Path, “Whereas emotion fuels the things that grab our attention, intentionality fuels our decision to give certain things our attention.” In other words, distractions excite our emotions and snag us almost against our will, but we can intentionally choose to give our attention to something else, like a goal.

Death to Distractions

This is good news for writers! We all need a strategy for dealing with things that distract us from our writing goals. Distractions do more than rob us of our writing time that day or that week. They can set us on a path that will lead us to a destination we don’t want.

You don’t think so? Does it sound melodramatic? Well, look back on your life. Are there areas you now wish you’d given more attention to? Maybe you wish you’d paid more attention to your health or your marriage or the way your handle money. Things might be better for you now if you’d given more  attention to those areas then.

Fork in the Road

The same thing is true of your writing career. If you are consistently turning away from unwanted distractions and choosing instead to give your attention to writing and writing-related activities (reading, studying, networking with other writers), you’re heading in a good direction. You will end up at a different destination five, ten or fifteen years from now.

Each time a distraction tempts you to veer away from your writing, you’re at a fork in the road. You will choose one path or the other. I hope you choose the writing path!

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I see that Britain's poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, has written a poetic tribute to David Beckham, the soccer superstar who tore his Achilles tendon (ouch!) in a game last week. She said she was moved by images of Beckham on the sidelines, in tears after his injury. In this heroic ode, she touches on lots of details specifically about Beckham's life, which is cool. It's not just an ode to any soccer celebrity. 

Achilles

Myth’s river – where his mother
dipped him, fished him, a
slippery golden boy flowed on,
his name on its lips.

Without him, it was prophesied,
they would not take Troy.

Women hid him, concealed him
in girls’ sarongs; days of
sweetmeats, spices, silver songs …

But when Odysseus came, with an
athlete’s build, a sword and a shield,
he followed him to the battlefield,
the crowd’s roar,

And it was sport, not war,
his charmed foot on the ball …

But then his heel, his heel, his heel …

--Carol Ann Duffy, all rights reserved

You can read more about this poem here. 

I love the fact that Beckham injured himself on March 14, and by March 17, Duffy had immortalized it! OK, wouldn't it be fun to have a poet who penned odes about all celebrity mishaps? Forget E or wherever you get your entertainment news. Just read about Lindsay Lohan's latest arrest or a certain Oscar winner's crumbling marriage in poems. At least our scandal-hungry population would get some poetry in with our sensationalism. 

What do you think? What recent celebrity event would YOU like to see poetic tribute to?

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In At Yellow Lake three young strangers—Etta, David and English runaway Peter—take shelter in a North American lake cabin. Etta’s escaped the clutches of her mother’s dangerous boyfriend, Kyle; David’s living out his Native Indian heritage; grieving Peter’s there to bury a lock of his American mum’s hair. When their sanctuary is shattered by the arrival of Kyle’s gang, the teenagers must overcome their differences and their demons to stay alive.


Hi Jane and welcome to tall tales & short stories. 
Would you like to tell us a bit about yourself and your experiences since finding out you were one of the winners?

At Yellow Lake is set in a very specific place—an isolated area in the Northwoods of the United States—and some of the characters and plot details in the book were inspired by the time I’ve spent there. That rugged, but beautiful, landscape also helped define some of the themes in the book—the search for belonging, the struggle for identity, the desire for a family that will keep you safe and secure.

At Yellow Lake is my first novel. I’ve been writing for about 20 years, though, with short stories published and “interest” generated by screenplays and radio dramas. My background is in performance—drama and music—and I began writing at the time my children were born. I’m not sure why writing for younger people appeals to me. It may be that the spare style and urgency required of the short story form also suits young adult fiction (at least I hope it does!) and that the visual style needed for screenwriting also helps. It may be that, at heart, I never really moved on from being 14! As I work with teenagers, and am the parent of young adults, I’m constantly reminded of the rawness of these years. Life is fresh and exhilarating, but has terrors, too—as a writer, it’s exciting to try to channel that energy and fear.

To say that being included in the “Undiscovered Voices” was a surprise is an understatement. I was so thrilled to learn that my novel’s opening was actually going to be published—I’d been secretly hoping for an honourable mention, but even that seemed over-optimistic!

I can’t thank the SCBWI British Isles or Sara Grant and Sarah O’Connor, the organisers and editors of the anthology, enough. I feel so honoured to be included in a book which features such fabulous writers, and I wish all the 2010 “gang” much success in their work and in their lives.


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I was thrilled when I heard that Philippa Stratton is this year's Outstanding Educator in the Language Arts. This award is given each year by NCTE's Elementary Section Steering Committee. The recipient is celebrated at the Annual Convention's Elementary Get-Together--a great way to kick-off the conference each year.

Every year, when the NCTE Outstanding Language Arts Educator is named by the Elementary Steering Committee, I want to cheer! Every one of them has impacted my learning and thinking in some way. We are so lucky in the field of elementary literacy to learn from so many amazing people.

This year's award winner, Philippa Stratton, is the editorial director at Stenhouse Publishers. We LOVE Philippa. Mary Lee and I both know her through our work with Stenhouse but, before we began writing and before we knew Philippa, we learned so much because of all that she did for our learning as teachers. The announcement on the NCTE website states, "In many ways, Philippa essentially created the idea of the 'professional book' for teachers, an innovation that has had an enormous impact on how teachers learn and view themselves as professionals for nearly three decades." Philippa has worked with many authors including Donald Graves, Lucy Calkins, Ralph Fletcher, Georgia Heard, Harvey Daniels, Stephanie Harvey, Marie Clay, and Regie Routman.

Anyone who has worked with Philippa feels very lucky to have worked with her. She seems to bring out the best in people and has worked her whole life to bring the voices of teachers out into the world. Her belief in teachers and teachers as learners and professionals drives all that she does. And the philosophy she has about classrooms is clear in all of her work. If you have ever read a professional book, you've most likely been impacted by Philippa. I have learned more from professional books and teacher-authors than I have learned from anything else throughout my teaching career. Before Twitter and Facebook, these professional books connected me with the people who were thinking about the same things I was thinking about in the classroom. These professional authors became my first Professional Learning Network--one that I continue to rely on.

Can you imagine the world as teachers without professional books as we know them? Can you imagine your classroom without the influence of people like Regie Routman, Donald Graves, Lucy Calkins and Ralph Fletcher? Can you imagine your professional life without the anticipation of the next professional book that will help you grow as a teacher? I certainly can't. Philippa has had an incredible influence on my work and the work of almost every teacher I know. Her work has helped us stay grounded in what we believe and helped us to trust ourselves as learners and professionals for the last 3 decades.

I can't wait to join in the celebration at NCTE's Annual Convention in Orlando this coming November! I am pretty sure it will be a standing-room-only event!

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Booklist's starred review of the upcoming City Dog, Country Frog is quite flattering about my collaboration with Jon Muth. They say:It’s hard to imagine a picture book that more consistently (and touchingly) hits all the right notes. Willems, never one to overwrite, is gracefully spare here, making every word count. That leaves room for Muth’s watercolors, richly seasonal, which fill each page.

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This week’s children’s literacy and reading news round-up, brought to you by Jen Robinson’s Book Page and Scrub-a-Dub-Tub, a Reading Tub blog, is now available at Jen Robinson's Book Page. This week Terry Doherty and I have collected plenty of content for you about literacy & reading-related events; literacy and reading programs and research; 21st century literacies; and grants, sponsorships & donations.

Events

Terry and I skipped the roundups the past couple of weeks because we were busy with the Share a Story - Shape a Future Literacy Blog Tour. In case you missed it, Terry has just put up a post at Share a Story that includes links to all of the posts from around the literacy blogosphere in one convenient location. Many thanks to everyone who participated!!

How fun is this? The Wavepaint Gallery, Ipswich MA is hosting "The Illustrator Show," a display of works by children's book illustrators Jarrett Krosoczka, Ed Emberley, Jamie Harper, Andy J Smith, Mary Jane Begin, Pat Lowery Collins, and Julia Purinton. The exhibit includes original illustrations will be presented beside their printed books. The exhibit runs from March 1 to April 23. There is an illustration lecture/reception on April 17, 2010, from 4 to 7 pm). The Gallery Della-Piana in Wenham will have their own exhibit of children's book illustration at that same time, so grab the kids and have a fun afternoon traveling up or down route 1A admiring art for children's literature.

Lois Lowry reports that Scottish Football clubs are promoting literacy and reading among children, via the SPL Reading Stars programme. The idea of the program is to use the football players "as positive role models to capture the imagination of families".

April is going to be a VERY busy month. Here are a few highlights.

All month long there will be poetry and poetry celebrations galore for National Poetry Month.  Like these (with thanks to the Kidlitosphere Yahoo Group for the links):

• Gregory K. will once again host 30 Poets/30 Days with previously unpublished poems by favorite children's authors
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The three movies that I am most excited to see this year were all based on comic books. The first one opens on April 16th. The second one will be a summer blockbuster:

Iron Man 2

owes as much to a comic called The Ultimates (also written by Mark Millar) as it does to the original Iron Man comics created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Lee and Kirby imagined Tony Stark as a playboy weapons designer who creates an “invincible” iron suit to escape capture from terrorists and to save his own life from a mortal wound. In The Ultimates, Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch extrapolated the character into the quick-witted hedonistic genious that Robert Downey, Jr. brought to life so beautifully in the first Iron Man movie.

To be honest, I don’t know much about Iron Man 2. The first film was handled perfectly though and all of its key creators have returned for the second. I’m sure this continuation will be fun. Also, Iron Man 2 will be followed by a historic cinema experiment:The Avengers (2012) will be a sequel to four Marvel movies: Captain America (2011), The Incredible Hulk (2008), Iron Man 2, and Thor (2011).

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I’ve been getting a lot of questions about sources lately, so I thought I’d post this article I wrote for Writer’s Digest a few years ago. One resource I don’t talk about in the article is Help a Reporter Out (HARO) because it didn’t exist when I wrote this piece. HARO is another good resource.

You landed an article assignment from a women’s magazine, and you need to interview moms in their thirties who have anecdotes about dealing with their children’s gymnastics coaches — oh, and the moms have to be ethnically and geographically diverse. Or you’re working on an article for a pet magazine and need to find a vet in Montana who specializes in holistic medicine for parakeets. Sheesh…the editor may as well as you to interview an interplanetary being (female, in her 20s, with at least two kids and living within twenty light-years of Sirius).

It’s a real conundrum (that’s Latin for “annoying writing problem”): Good quotes can make an article, but it can be difficult — especially for beginning writers — to find sources to interview.

Don’t toss that keyboard out the window just yet. Here’s an inside look at the places where the best sources hide out.

* Associations

Y’know that Yellow Pages ad that goes, “If it’s not in here, it probably doesn’t exist”? Well, if there’s not an association dedicated to it, it probably doesn’t exist, either. From the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor to the Thumb Wrestling Association, if more than three people have done it, they’ve most likely formed an association for it.

It’s the job of associations to promote its industry and members, and many keep lists of media-friendly members who can serve as experts. As someone who writes often about nutrition and fitness, I’ve gotten plenty of sources from the American Dietetic Association and the American Council on Exercise. When I wrote an article about sleep snafus, I found my expert through the National Sleep Foundation. When I was working on a piece that included information about salt, I contacted the Salt Institute.

To find these groups, do a Google search on “association” or “organization” plus the topic you’re working on, such as “automobile.” You can also search the directory on the American Society of Association Executives Web site: www.asaenet.org. When you find an appropriate association, call and ask for the media relations or public relations department; be aware, though, that some smaller associations may not have these departments. In that case, you can ask the receptionist who would be the best person to help you.

* Expert Source Sites

Yearbook.com and ProfNet are sites whose mission is to connect journalists with experts. Yearbook.com lets you search for sources by topic and is a quick, easy resource. ProfNet does the same, and it also lets you send out a call for sources (what ProfNet confusingly calls a “query”) to its thousands of members, which include hospitals, think tanks, businesses, government agencies, PR firms, and more. The only drawback is that to use ProfNet, you have to register (it’s free) — and to register, you have to be a published journalist.

Don’t forget that experts and PR people are regular joes, too, and that they can be good sources for people-on-the-street anecdotes. I once sent out a ProfNet query requesting women in their 20s through 40s who had a diet problem the

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....stop by and see me.

(That's at the library in Farmington Hills, Michigan, on March 24.)

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Today from our friend Sateen we learnt about yet another horrific fact about junk food … its not even food! Well, at least its not the kind of normal food that would decay over time. This picture below is a McDonalds Happy Meal after one year sitting on a shelf.

The photo was taken by Joann Bruso, author of Baby Bites, aimed at toddlers. Like us at the Secret Seed Society, she is trying to get children to develop good eating habits from the start. This is what she had to say about her Happy Meal experiment:

” My Happy Meal is one year old today and it looks pretty good. It never smelled bad. The food did not decompose. It did not get moldy, at all. The next time you’re tempted to purchase a Happy Meal for your child, think about these photos. Food is supposed to decompose, go bad and smell foul…eventually. Flies ignore a Happy Meal and microbes don’t decompose it, then your child’s body can’t properly metabolize it either. Now you know why it’s called ‘junk food’.” Read more…

Surely we’re smarter than flies, ants, and mice! They don’t touch this stuff, maybe we shouldn’t either.

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I worked the garden yesterday. I spoke with friends. I did not work, on purpose.

Here is something I have learned: When you are holding on too tight, too tight, too tight to people or projects or things, ease up on your grip. Eliminate the force fit. Unwhiten your knuckles.

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It's been wonderful having so many different guest bloggers drop by this month, and today is no exception. My visitor today is Lorraine Marwood, fellow verse novellist and poet extraordinaire. Welcome Lorraine. Over to you. Children's poetry can enthral an audience just as readily as a picture book. Recently I taught and read poetry across an R-7 school and the teachers were amazed that the

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STATUS: A rainy start to the day.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? KIM THE WAITRESS by Material Issue

Well, I do foresee a few problems with blogging this week but I will try my best. I will be spending the majority of my time in the Agents Centre and it does not have wifi. Yes, you read that correctly. Nor can I plug my computer in for the internet. It just doesn’t have it.

And the hotel’s definition of “high speed” internet greatly differs from mine. Working on my network is physically painful it’s so slow. I’ve also looked around for an internet café and geographically they are not handy. So we’ll muddle long as best as possible. In good news, the vino rosso is lovely and the formaggio even more so.

So this morning I’ll be heading over to the Fairgrounds around 11 a.m. to visit the Agents Centre and have my table assigned. I spent 2 weeks trying to figure out when they would send me my table number. At London, you get your assignment when you registered. Finally an agent friend took pity on me and mentioned that the table doesn’t get assigned until the fair begins. Aha. Seems a little inconvenient for the people trying to meet with me but when in Bologna….

Today is the SCBWI Bologna Symposium. I’m participating in a first pages agent panel. This is the workshop where the conference volunteer reads the first page of a variety of submissions and the agents then comment on it.

Hey, writers wanting to be gluttons for punishment is international! Grin. Seriously though, just remember that no matter how an agent responds to your pages today, this is not the make or break moment of your career. The greatest thing about writing is that you can grow and mature in your ability.

Since the fair hasn’t actually begun, I have very little to report but I do have two fun pics to share:

From a bookstore on Via dell’Indipendenza, the Italian bestseller, which is currently sitting at #7 on the list, IL GUSTO PROIBITO DELLO ZENZERO:

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Diaries are all the rage. Between the movie release of Diary of a Wimpy Kid to the continued popularity of one of my favorite series, Dear Dumb Diary, I can’t seem to escape those little journals filled with secrets, sketches, and silliness.

So for today’s writing prompt, let’s pretend you are writing a brand new diary — only you’re writing it from the future. Say, 2040. That’s 30 years from now! Who will you be? Where will you be? Maybe writing from the first colony on the moon. . . or from the front seat of your flying car! What will you be doing? What secrets are you dying to reveal?

Try it out in the comments!

Dear Diary, I am writing from the year 2040, and I have lots to fill you in on. . .

— Morgan, Scholastic staffer

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Spring is finally here! Can you feel it?

Everything Spring by Jill Esbaum (National Geographic Kids, 2010), is the perfect little gem to bid the new season a cheery hello! Welcome, warmer days, we're so happy you're finally here!

This is Jill's third title in the Picture the Seasons Series, which consists of 16-page paperback originals full of gorgeous color photographs just right for kids ages 4 to 8.

Everything Spring captures the excitement and wonder of the natural world awakening after a long winter's nap. "Spring tiptoes in, stirring up earthy smells, coaxing color from the winter-brown woods." We see green stalks poking up through snow-covered ground and leaves unfurling on the trees. Dandelions are scattered over a hillside, and a tadpole feels "froggier" in a clear, sparkling stream.



Best of all are the adorable baby animals -- velvety bunnies with their noses "twitch-twitch-twitching," fuzzy ducklings' webby feet "piddle-paddling," lambs with wobbly legs, and piglets rooting for breakfast. "Squeet!"

I love Jill's simple, evocative language, which allows us to feel the warmth and cuddliness, drink in the color of flowers and field, and hear every chirp and peep of brand new life. Wonderful for classroom sharing, Everything Spring will make a nice addition to home or school libraries. With its very affordable price point, it makes sense to get the other titles in the series as well. Check out Apples for Everyone and Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin, Pie. And there's another book coming out in October: Winter Wonderland! Yes, you'll want them all ☺.



On shelves now except Winter Wonderland, which will be released
October 12th.

For more of a peek inside the book, click here. Have a wonderful Spring! Get outside and celebrate!

Today's Nonfiction Monday Roundup is at Books Together.

Did you think I'd forget the cupcakes? Enjoy!

Orange Blossom Cupcakes by Sugarbloom Bev;o).

Copyright © 2010 Jama Rattigan of jama rattigan's alphabe

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