By
Carol Lynch Williamsfor
Cynthia Leitich Smith's
CynsationsIn the early part of last year, Rick Walton, one of my best friends and a prolific picture book writer, was diagnosed with a terminal and aggressive brain tumor.
For many years before this diagnosis, Rick battled early-onset Parkinson’s disease.
Recently, the tumors returned (after a surgery that left Rick partially paralyzed) and as I write this, my friend, my hilarious, clever, word-twisting friend, lives out his last days.
I’ve wandered around the house crying far too much, visiting Rick when I can.
This world of grief is something we all experience in one way or another. No one is exempt from sorrow. It makes up a part of who we are and so grief finds its way into many of my novels. My characters grapple with love lost, death, abuse. I write about life. The sad part.
Writing about grief, telling the true story of a sorrowing character, is tremendously important.
Readers need examples of survivors. But what happens when that grief becomes too much for the writer?
These last few weeks, as Rick has become more and more sick, has found me not wanting to write unless I must. I don’t believe in the muse nor do I believe in writer’s block. Writing is hard work and we must work to get words on the page.
I do think, however, there are drags on our creativity—events that can eat up our words almost before they are formed. That’s where I am now.
Many years ago, it seemed my worlds crashed around me. I went through a divorce, lost the home I’d raised my girls in, ended up moving every few months trying to find a place for my children and me to settle. I was desperate for a place to call home.
At the same time, four people in my life died, money became more and more scarce, a close relative experienced two psychotic breaks, a drugged neighbor kept trying to break into our rented house . . . and when I thought I could bear no more, I went to two unrelated funerals in two days.
I felt overwhelmed with grief. At one point I finally cried out to my God, “I believe in you but do you believe in me?” That accumulated sorrow led to my young adult novel
Waiting (Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman, 2012).
But
but
there were other times
other events
other devestations
when my heart and my body, and my spirit even, felt unable to do
anything, including write.
There were times when I wept alone and in the open.
Times when I wondered if I could draw in a breath.
Then, I despaired.
I found myself hoping for courage and the ability to do what I had to do: write.
Here are a few things, past the hoping, that helped me get the courage to do the hard thing of finishing a novel. I:
- Prayed. Talking to God is an important part of who I am. I spent hours talking, weeping and talking some more.
- Exercised. I took off walking, and talking, alone. This exercise permitted my body to breathe and to relax, to rid myself of layers of grief.
- Shared the pain. There seemed a time when even a grocery store checker asking me how I was brought on my sharing. That speaking up lightened the load, made it feel possible for me to keep going.
- Gave myself room and time. It’s okay if the words don’t come right away. They will come.
- Trust yourself. You will write again. It will happen. The next thing you know you’ll find yourself allowing new characters in your life, then wrestling in that awkward middle part of the novel, then typing those triumphant words, THE END.
Every day since the news that Rick will soon die, I’ve gone to see him. I hold his hand, talk to him about my own life, read him messages from those who love him and can’t travel to Utah to tell him goodbye themselves.
But I haven’t written.
Nothing creative.
Not my blog, not either of the two novels I should be rewriting, not on the mid-grade or YA novel I started this summer.
I’m waiting.
For words.
For peace.
For the sorrow to not be as heavy.
I wish you all could have known Rick Walton as he was years ago. You’d love him like I do. He’s pretty darned fantastic. I’m going to miss him.
My best friend. My Rick.
More from Carol Rick Walton passed away peacefully, with his mom and sister by his side, three days after I completed this writing.
Cynsational NotesRick Walton's books included
Frankenstein: A Monstrous Parody, illustrated by Nathan Hale (Feiwel & Friends, 2012);
Girl and Gorilla: Out and About, illustrated by Joe Berger (HarperCollins, 2016), and
Bullfrog Pops! An Adventure in Verbs and Objects, illustrated by Chris McAllister (Gibbs Smith, 2011).
A legacy of inspiration, remembering Utah children’s book author extraordinaire Rick Walton by Ann Cannon from The Salt Lake Tribune. Peek: "In the end, the people Rick inspired will go on to inspire others who will inspire others who will inspire others. And because he adored people as much as he adored words, his circle was large. His influence will be felt by individuals who may never know his name." See also
How Writer Rick Walton Inspired Utah's Literary Wellspring by Rachel Piper from The Salt Lake Tribune and
Utah Children's Authors Build a Community from Publishers Weekly.
About Carol Carol Lynch Williams, who grew up in Florida and now lives in Utah, is an award-winning novelist with seven children of her own, including six daughters.
She has an MFA in writing for children and young adults from
Vermont College, and won the prestigious PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship.
The Chosen One (Griffin, 2010) was named one of the ALA’s Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers and Best Books for Young Adult Readers; it won the Whitney and the Association of Mormon Letters awards for the best young adult novel of the year; and was featured on numerous lists of recommended YA fiction.
Carol’s other novels include
Never Said (Blink, 2015),
Glimpse (Simon & Schuster, 2010),
Miles From Ordinary (Griffin, 2012),
The Haven (St. Martin's 2012), and
Signed, Skye Harper (Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman, 2015). See also
Sisterhood, Body Image, and Sexual Abuse | Carol Lynch Williams on “Never Said” by Shelley Diaz from School Library Journal.
Well the big news to come out of last week was the announcement of the titles that will be appearing on SLJ’s 2011 Battle of the Kids’ Books. If you are unfamiliar with this event, each year sixteen books and around fifteen judges are selected by Battle Commanders Monica Edinger and Roxanne Feldman with input from Commentator Jonathan Hunt. Like March Madness, each judge (a well-known teen or YA author) selects the “better” book between two potential winners. This year the list of contenders includes some favorites of mine that I wish had gotten more award attention, as well as a slew of titles that I thought got just the right amount of attention (and sometimes too much). Last year I was Team Lost Conspiracy (and we almost made it too!). This year I think I’ll be Team A Tale Dark and Grimm. And I pray it doesn’t get knocked out of the running on its first go round.
- Bah. Things change a little too much in this business for my liking. Why can’t everyone just stay in their jobs until they die? Since we’re dealing with publishing here, not the Supreme Court it’s fortunate that we have Harold Underdown to do a monthly wrap up of who’s moving where. It puts my mind to rest to think that somebody’s keeping track.
- Now some not-so-swell news. Some, to be perfectly frank, awful news. And that is all that I will say on that point. Thanks to Jessamyn West for the link.
- Oo! I love these. New Blog Alert! But before I do, I’d like to mention that if I ever have a website of my own (Note to Self: Make website), it would make me happy indeed to have a picture on my site that looks akin to this:
For those of you unaware, that is author Philip Reeve. He of the fantastic Larklight books, the Hungry City Chronicles (including Fever Crumb) and what have you. Turns out, he also blogs. This is because he is akin to all good and great things in this world. I’m calling this a “new blog alert” simply because it is new to me, but there’s so much here that I really and truly enjoy. Take, for example, the man’s opinion on Buffy. He likes i
Well, kids, here’s the deal. While I’d love to tell you that I won’t be blogging for the next few days or so because I’ll be at the Kidlitcon in Minnesota this weekend, truth be told the real reason for my sporadic bursts is that it’s my 10-year college reunion and I am in the heart of this metropolitan: Richmond, Indiana.
I may try to blog on the side while dodging rampaging Friends (mine was a Quaker school). If I fail miserably, though, here are some tidbits to tide you over.
First off, this sort of reeks of awesome. Nathan Hale (perhaps best known to you because of the art he did on Shannon Hale’s Rapunzel’s Revenge books) has paired with one Rick Walton and together the two of them present a parody of Madeline called (appropriately considering the season) Frankenstein. Each day they’ll release a little more of the story. You can see the first spread here, the second one here., and others on Nathan’s blog. Frankly, I don’t see why this couldn’t be marketable. If the parody laws allow for Goodnight Goon, Runaway Mummy, and Furious George Goes Bananas, then why not Frankenstein? The name may have to change, of course.
- Say the words “historical fiction” to a room full of fifth graders and prepare for a bit of synchronized snoring. Laurie Halse Anderson proposes an alternate name: Historical Thrillers. Works for me. Might make for an interesting series of booktalks anyway. Thanks to Margo Tanenbaum for the link.
- A Virginia history textbook for fourth graders has come under significant fire for its claim that thousands of black soldiers fought for the Confederacy during the civil war, some of them under the command of Stonewall Jackson. The Washington Post has the scoop. The author of said textbook defends the choice, having gotten much of the information off of the internet. Who is she? None other than Joy Masoff, author of Oh Yuck! The Encyclopedia of Everything Nasty and Oh Yikes! History’s Grossest Moments. Oh yikes indeed. Thanks to @PWKidsBookshelf for the link.
- J.K. Rowling just won the Hans Christian Andersen Award. Nice to see, though I don’t suppose sh
Today I'm posting about a picture book I love: "
Bunny School, A Learning Fun-For-All" by Rick Walton and Paige Miglio.
Bunny School takes the reader through a full school day with a classroom full of cute little rabbits. The story is written in rhyming verse, so it's a lot of fun to read and it has a nice 'beat'. The rhyming is very nicely done. The story does not feature one single main character, rather, the story takes you through all of the activities that the bunnies do together as a class. I like the way the story is told. It could have come off as a little chilly and impersonal because there is no main protagonist. But to the contrary, the artwork adds such expressiveness to the charaters and imbues each with individual personality that you feel like you are following each individual bunny's progress throughout their day.
The art appears to be done in colored pencil and watercolor, and proves to be a great marriage of the two. Another thing I like about the art is how the bunnies features and bodies are really truly bunny-
like, but they still have a sense of whimsy and fantasy about them. The illustrations also take up the ENTIRE spread on each page, save for the overlaid curved-edged box containing each spreads' text. So many books these days have designs that intermingle the art and the text. While I enjoy these types of books, for my money there's nothing like a good ol', old-school, full-page color picture book done in a classic style once in awhile, and Bunny School delivers this.
The compositions themselves are also really interesting and well thought out. They are easy on the eyes but they are decepitvely complex in design. I am sure it was a lot of work to make them look this interesting, but all the viewer sees is a fun illustration that is endlessly interesting but they're not exactly sure why.
Most of the spreads have many characters, and often, they are engaged in various independent activities. It's fun to see what each of the individual characters are doing on each page against each page's story text. This adds a lot to the story and it is so much fun to find new things to look at each time I look at a spread.
The book Bunny School is not really well known at all, but it is one of my favorites in my collection. It's just a total comfort read for me.
Reviewed by Carma Dutra, picture book reviewer for the NWFCC
Title: Around the House the Fox Chased the Mouse: A Prepositional Tale
Author: Rick Walton
Illustrator: Jim Bradshaw
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Gibbs Smith, Publisher; 1 edition (July 14, 2006)
ISBN-10: 1423600061
ISBN-13: 978-1423600060
Everybody and everything on the farm gets disturbed when the fox chases the mouse around the house. The chase is not only around the house, it is all around the barnyard, chicken coop, where all the chickens go cross-eyed and up trees, tractors and so on. The text is simple and precise while the illustrations are hilarious. I believe children will laugh out loud when they see the fox chase the mouse between signs and the mouse tries to hide. The exaggerated postures and facial expressions clearly support the text.
This picture book is also a language lesson for early readers. As the subtitle, A Prepositional Tale implies, the words are written in a clever way introducing early readers to prepositions. Phrases like “beside the river, over the rocks” adds to a young child’s vocabulary. There is a surprise ending that is not really an ending because the young reader will be able to use his imagination and make up more chases all around the house.
About the Author: Rick Walton is the author of over sixty books for children. His works include joke books, picture books, a collection of poetry, activity books, mini-mysteries, and educational software. He loves to read, travel, play the guitar, study foreign languages, and write. Rick was born and raised in Utah, and lives in Provo with his wife and their five children. Find out more at www.rickwalton.com
***********
Carma Dutra is a freelance writer. For children’s writing tips and reviews of award winning children’s books, visit her blog,Carma’s Window.
Around the House the Fox Chased the Mouse,
Carma Dutra,
Gibbs Smith,
Jim Bradshaw,
Rick Walton
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It’s not exactly a major publication, but Snooki-vs.-kidlit was a question on NPR’s quiz show Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me.
I think Penquin might have a copy of SMALL PERSONS WITH WINGS kicking around somewhere. I’ll check.
*happy happy dance*
If Penguin doesn’t, I do! Betsy, I’d be happy to send you a copy of SMALL PERSONS!
Aw. Thanks, Daphne. I’ve a hold on a library copy just in case. But if that falls through I’ll be sure to give you a heads up. Cheers!