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Today's high five come from wonderfully weird Salvador Dali.



His artwork was about taking risks and seeing things in a new light.


Salvador Dalí. (Spanish, 1904-1989). The Persistence of Memory. 1931. Oil on canvas, 9 1/2 x 13" (24.1 x 33 cm). Given anonymously. © 2008 Salvador Dalí, Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Dali was not afraid to make mistakes. He seemed to invite missteps. He was searching for the surprises that seem to spring out of chaos.

Don't be afaid today to try something new, something different. Stretch in a way you've never tried before. open yourself up to the possiblities, the happy accidents, and the unpredictable providences. Yes, it might be a mess. It might not work. But today let yourself be wild. You might be surprised at the results.

Mistakes are almost always of a sacred nature. Never try to correct them. On the contrary: rationalize them, understand them thoroughly. After that, it will be possible for you to sublimate them. Salvador Dali

Last, another Golden Coffee Cupper is the talented Mr. Kevan Atteberry. He is the illustrator of the very first Children’s Choice Book Award picture book, Frankie Stein, written by Lola M. Schaefer. His skewed sense of humor is refresing and inspiring. He is certain to create something earth-shatteringly original.

Hey, I know stuff is getting done out there, so SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! Keep going Coffee Cuppers we are almost half-way there.

I'm taking a few posts to share some thoughts about novel writing. This week, these thoughts are going to come up close and personal. I've been fearful of moving forward with my current project. I'm writing a big fat sci-fi epic. I'm on schedule with my plan but a certain terror has formed in me. This story has turned a dark corner, and that is not a welcome surprise. I find that my character is in more trouble that I thought she was. I think someone close to her is going to die. Someone I really love.

It's awful. I'm at the place where I have to be willing to follow my character. I have to be willing to follow my story. A novel gains momentum at some point. The impetus for the story is like a reservoir of water that grew and grew and then broke the dam. I thought about so many what ifs and what might bes. The writing is letting the water flood move forward across the plain, but unusual consequences are resulting. Things are getting uncovered that I did not expect.

I had a good conversation about floods this week with Janet Lee Carey. Yes, part of the process is discussing the ins and out of what you are doing with other writers. It's an absorbing, wonderful thing to me. Non-writers would probably find it boring. I also had an online chat with Pink (guess who?) and then Judy Gregerson. All their thoughts are swirling inside me and helping me embrace the true shape of my story. I must be willing. Oh, brave new world.

I have to do a shout out here at the end. The talented Mr. Kevan Atteberry is a member of my picture book critique group and he has been honored. He is the illustrator of the 2008 Children's Book Council's Children's Choice Award, K-2, "Frankie Stein" written by Lola Schafer.

Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others.
Aristotle

National Children's Choice Book Awards Announced...

You may have spied the Children's Choice Awards widget on the right side of my blog. Well the results are in for the award, announced last night at a Children's Book Council dinner in NYC hosted by Jon Scieszka. Here they are (in non-widget form), reinforcing for all of us that kids dig scary stuff, precocious pigs and boy wizards (drumroll please...):

• Kindergarten to Second Grade Book of the Year: Frankie Stein written by Lola M. Schaefer, illustrated by Kevan Atteberry (Cavendish). I'm posting the cover of this one, because I really dig Kevan and his book. (Murray loves it too, but he's too young to vote.)
• Third Grade to Fourth Grade Book of the Year: Big Cats by Elaine Landau (Enslow)
• Fifth Grade to Sixth Grade Book of the Year: Encyclopedia Horrifica by Joshua Gee (Scholastic)
• Illustrator of the Year Award: Ian Falconer, Olivia Helps with Christmas (Simon & Schuster)
• Author of the Year Award: J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Scholastic)