So, are you watching the Oscars tonight? I am. I like seeing clips of movies, even though I usually haven't seen many of the movies yet. The problem is that I'm cheap. A movie ticket is way more expensive than ordering through Blockbuster online or Netflix. So, I see all the movies way after the awards are awarded.
This year, I saw all the movies in one category--animated. Grin. I guess that says something about me. I wonder, though, how much of the awards is subjective. Sure Wall-E was great, and I predict will win, but Kung Fu Panda was a total riot, and kept me laughing all the way through. Which was the "best?"
I saw Slumdog Millionaire yesterday, and although I liked it I really didn't think it was worth all the hype. I wanted to see Benjamin Button instead, but it was only on at 5:00 and 8:00 and is such a long movie that my movie companion (that would be my spouse) would have fallen asleep, thus wasting the price of a ticket!
It makes me think about book awards. How many times does something win an award (or NOT win one) and there I am, scratching my head, thinking, HUH?????
It's all a little subjective, don't you think?
Ah well, subjective or not, political or not, I'll be glued to my set tonight. How 'bout you?

Honestly, our local tv station gets soooo excited about the weather. A major snowstorm means they suspend daytime programming to do hours and hours and hours of snow watch reporting. It gets a little old. Yup, still snowing...still snowing...uh huh, more snow...
And then, during my much anticipated evening shows (like Idol, Supernatural, Bones--important stuff!) they have a streaming feed at the bottom of the screen about all the delays and closings. This shrinks my screen to a wee little window, and drives me nutty.
So I was happy today, in one way, when the predicted three to five inches just didn't happen. But, darn it, I'd been looking forward to SNOW. It's that ugly end of winter here. The snow is gone, the grass is gray, the first crocuses haven't pushed out of the ground (I checked.) Today's meager snowfall, a greasy, thin, slick coating, did nothing but make driving tricky.
Ah well. I set a vase of tulips where I could see them, lit a leftover Christmas candle,put on some music, and got on with the job of writing.
Five pages so far today--not bad! God, but I hate first drafts...I never know if I'm on the right track or not.

Can you recognize your favorite authors by their words? If you were handed a manuscript with no name, would you know who wrote it?
My husband and I were watching a movie on Valentine's day. It had an unsatisfying ending, one where the lovers don't get to stay together (one dies.) It wasn't surprising though. The author who penned the novel often kills off one of the lovers. It's as though he believes that we can have happiness only for a short time before fate steals it from us.
Another author I read starts her books with an exciting beginning, and she keeps the pace going well through the middle of the book. But, her endings are rushed, with new characters and new situations introduced late in the book. Her endings are happy, with everyone getting what they want, but I find them unrealistic.
Graham Salisbury once came to an SCBWI event, said that authors often struggle with an issue or theme that runs through all their books. (Apologies if I mangled that, or misquoted!) He gave the example, in his own books, of the father/son relationships. I think he said that we work out our own issues, like his father/son relationship, in our writing, in order to work out unresolved issues in our own lives.
In my own books, I work out issues of growth through struggle, people pretending to be someone they are not, and living with the consequences of our choices.
So, do authors reveal more of their own selves in their books than they realize? Do we project our own needs--the need for a happy ending, the need for a poignant story of discovery and loss, and so on? Could you recognize a favorite author's work by reading their book?

This is the face of hope.

Okay, so it's just a half-dead flower. But isn't "the face of hope" a lot more poetic?
After frost clipped a few of my impatiens last fall, I took a cutting or two and rooted them in water. This one grew roots, so I planted it and set it in a sunny window.
It bloomed for Christmas.
I thought it was surely a deader after that, but look--another bloom!
I know, I really DO know, that this plant is only fulfilling its biological imperative of reproducing before it dies. I mean, it's an annual! But look at that flower! So pretty, even though the rest of the plant is clearly riddled with disease, shriveled, dying. Remarkably, it has two more buds. That's hope.

It's like someone who keeps going, through everything, still producing, still living, even when death is near.
Speaking of which, I just read BEFORE I DIE, by jenny downham.
Two words--read it! (but have a box of tissues near by...)

So I was having a coffee with my writing friend, Shawn, when I looked out into the parking lot. An elderly woman made her way slowly to her car, leaning on her walker. A few moments later, I glanced back to see her drive away...with her trunk wide open. Should I run out and tell her?
Nah...it was cold outside, and warm inside, and my coffee was only half finished and...
So, yeah, I ran out, dressed in a top, jeans and running shoes. She didn't see me waving. She pulled out of the parking lot, and stopped at a red light.
Across the parking lot I ran, over a snow bank (sinking to my knees in the snow), and across the road. I tapped on her window, and pointed to the open trunk.
"I know!" she mouthed at me, clearly annoyed, gave me a dirty look, and then gunned the engine and took off as the light turned green, leaving me standing in the middle of the road.
So, here's my question: do you still get karma points if you do a good deed, but the recipient of the good deed all but flips you off for your troubles?

Mess? What mess? Just because there are:
two gubby bathrooms
ten mile-high piles of dirty laundry
a dining room table covered in grant application stuff
a couch smothered by a scattered printout of my work-in-progress
a kitchen table with an avalanche of unpaid bills and junk mail
a coffee table with more bills, and stuff to be filed
The other day I made dinner. "Want to eat in front of the TV?" I asked hubby. He agreed. After all, once I cleared away the throw fleeces and a sweater or two, it was perfectly easy to sit down!
I wonder--if I worked outside of the home, would my house be this messy? I remember working--you leave the house in the morning and it looks the same when you get home. A clean up on the weekend lasts all week (except if you have kids, then all bets are off!)
It's a matter of priorities. I DO cook a great dinner most nights. (See how modest I am?) No, seriously, I do make nice dinners. Last night was bay scallops in a brothy, stewy, vegetably, spicy kind of soupy sauce, with brown rice and asparagus. The night before, butter chicken, a hot curry concoction that hails from India, along with fresh raw vegetables and homemade tzatziki, with a choice of quinoa or riced cauliflower.
Maybe that's why hubby doesn't complain about the mess???

I'm not feeling much like posting about anything today. I received the news that one of my aunts died. It saddened me, though she'd lived a full life and died at the age of 94. It's all you can ask, really.
Just the same, it made me think of all the aunts and uncles, and parents, who are no longer here. My memories of them are like watching an old movie, where the actors are in their prime. You don't want the movie to end, and the illusion to fade away.

Today I participated in Author Mania at a local bookstore. Fun stuff. I sold a few books, which is always good, but I learned a lot.
To back track, when I do my presentation for new participants at our SCBWI retreat, I have a theme: "We are all teachers; we are all students."
As a student today, I learned:
1. Younger kids are attracted to my books (like 10 to 12!!!) Older teens are too cool to stop and talk to me.
2. It takes a ten-year-old to effectively use my quill pen. I suck at writing with it. She was doodling with it within three minutes. Beautiful doodles.
3. People like candy. There is no age limit on this....trust me.
I'll post some pics tomorrow.
(It's November 23. I'm thankful that my daughter will be home for Thanksgiving. She wasn't sure she'd get the time off work. I'm also thankful that my son and dil will be here. Guess I should cook a few pies, eh?)

Tomorrow I'll be participating in Author Mania at Martha Merrell's Books in Waukesha, Wisconsin. About 22 authors will be there, to sign books and help shoppers get into the Christmas spirit.
This is part of Waukesha's Holiday Stroll, with businesses having special events and the town hosting its Christmas parade.
It'll be fun to see some of my writer friends at the event, and I know I'll have a great time meeting new people. Still, there is something about appearing at a public event that I find a tad intimidating. I know other writers sometimes feel the same way. Writing is such a personal and introspective thing. Selling and signing books means putting on a different hat becoming someone else. It's okay, in fact it's great. It's just...different.
Today, I am thankful for independent bookstores, like Martha Merrell's.

So, I was feeling kinda glum today, and I stopped by my library. I owed them money, for one thing, and had overdue materials for another, and I was running a bit low on books to read.
I'm a big fan of libraries in general, and my town's library in particular. Free books, right there, for the asking!
My dad took me to a library once I could read, and I got my first library card. I was a weekly visitor, leaving with as many books as I could carry. Reading was an escape, a refuge, and a form of entertainment that pre-dated video games or even rental movies! In a way, that library card said "I exist." It was before I had a student card, or a driver's license, or a passport or a job! It was my identity, ME, right there on a little card that said I was old enough and responsible enough to be a citizen--and a reader!
Today, the library was just what I needed--a refuge, an escape and entertainment. I left with a bunch of books, both fiction and nonfiction. I also spent some time looking over the latest Pop Sci, which was relevant to my work-in-progress.
Today, I am extremely grateful to free public libraries, to towns that support them, and, most of all, TO ALL THE WONDERFUL LIBRARIANS out there.
Thanks, guys.

Omg, I can’t believe this. You wouldn’t believe what Hotmail threw into the Junk file. I’m RICH.
Listen to this:

· Republic of Nigeria has chosen you by the board committe on appropriation and finance
as one of the final recipients of this new year contract and inheritance file to
celebrate the fiscal 2008 an ATM CARD has been issued out $5,500,000.00 (HMMM, MUST BE HOW THEY SPELL COMMITTEE IN NIGERIA.)

· The Russian Foundation for basic research
(http://www.rfbr.ru), would like to notify you that you have been chosen by
the board of trustees as one of the final recipients of a cash
Grant/Donation for your own personal, educational, and business
development. (HA, YES, I'M RECOGNIZED OVERSEAS. IT WAS JUST A MATTER OF TIME)

· I have been waiting for you to contact me for your Confirmable Bank Draft of $700,000.00 United States Dollars, but I did not hear from you since that time. Then I went and deposited the Draft with NEXT DAY XPRESS, West Africa, I travelled out of the country for a 3 Months Course and I will not come back till end of December. (CONFIRMABLE? IS THAT A WORD? I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY WERE KIND ENOUGH TO WRITE BACK, AFTER I DIDN'T RESPOND THE FIRST TIME)
·
Congratulations, you have just won yourself £750,000.00
(Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds Sterling) in the satellite software
email lottery conducted by UK National Lottery. (HUZZAH! GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!)

And there was MORE. WAY MORE. AND, I got a phone call today from somewhere in Louisiana, and I didn’t understand much of it but I did catch the word “DINERO” and we all know what that means. MORE MONEY!!! WHOO HOO.

Now I can give up writing, right? RIGHT?
So, today, Nov. 20, I'm thankful that I'm not that gullible.

Remember Shakespeare In Love? Where the guy says, "you need a bit with a dog" and so young Shakespeare puts a dog into the play? Originally, I envisioned a dog as a character in my wip. But, when I started writing, I didn't include him. I think I was more focused on the plot, and the main characters, not the secondary characters.
Have you ever noticed how many ya novels don't include a lot of siblings or pets? When I wrote Powers, the character Gwen was an only child. Her cousin was like a sister, though, and so had to be fleshed out as an important character. Adrian, in Powers, had a older brother who we never saw--he was already married and living in another city.
In Choices, Kathleen had an older brother, but, since he dies in the first chapter, we only see him in the briefest of flashbacks. He is still "there" however, in photographs around the house, in the clothing that's left in his closet, etc.
Every sibling needs their own story. Even a pet needs a personality! But every extra character, be it a sib or a pet, needs to be fleshed out in their own right and integrated into the story. That's a lot of work!
On the other hand, siblings and dogs can add layers of depth to a story.
I think I need a bit with a dog...
(today, I’m thankful for my critique group!)

There are a few things I'm trying to quit.
One--donating to police associations/sheriff associations, etc. Now, I seem to be on EVERY list in the state. And I DO appreciate the good work they do. I just can't afford to donate to every association that calls. (It's like one a day, I swear!) A few days ago I finally said NO.
Guess what? NO doesn't work.
"I can't this year" doesn't work.
"I'm putting my money into other causes" doesn't work.
What works?
"Take me off your phone list." (said politely but firmly!)
Yup, worked like a dream.
Two, canceling my contract with my TV provider. Every time I try (3 times now) they offer a better deal. Makes me wonder why I was paying so much before! But the bottom line is that we've gone back to antennae. You know, that metal thing that picks up signals from the air. Only now, it picks them up in clear, perfect HD. We don't get a lot of channels, but we get what we want and need.
Now tomorrow, I will call and cancel it once and forever.
Well, maybe. Who knows what deal they'll offer...
(so today I'm thankful for a working furnace--it's COLD out there.)

So today was an okay writing day. I wrote three pages, which certainly isn't stellar, but I worked out the next few scenes on paper and figured out the next big plot point. I also did some research, which is essential to this particular wip.
One thing I realize is that the process can't be rushed. Not for me, anyway. I was writing a scene and feeling stuck. It just wasn't working. I needed "think time." I ran a bath, and deliberately did NOT bring a book in to read. Instead, I brainstormed, then ran to my notebook (the paper kind) and jotted down my ideas. I'm hoping tomorrow I'll hit the ground running.
Often, I can brainstorm while going for a walk, but today all that I could think was "cold, cold, bloody cold!" Why is it that we get a blasting wind now, when it's 20 degrees out, but no breath of air in the summer when it's 90???
I think I need a treadmill.
Today, the 17th of November, I threw a chicken in the oven for dinner. I was doing my usual "eeew, yuck, I hate handling raw chicken" grumble, when I realized that I was thankful to have a chicken--a nice big plump chicken-- to cook.
It's an odd thing, deciding to name one thing each day this month that makes me thankful. I grumble less, and enjoy each day more.
It's not a bad habit to get into, eh?

I DID blog yesterday, on NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) but didn't copy it here. For the record, here's Nov. 15th post.
". We are contrary creatures, I suspect. During the week I write. On the weekends, I do stuff around the house. So, why is it that I sneak away to write on the weekend, and sneak away to do stuff around the house during the week? Very contrary."

And, here is today's post:

This reminded me of high school, when I never could come up with a snappy rejoinder. I'd always think of a response about three hours later, and kick myself for being so slow.

With writing, this doesn't matter so much. You can put "add snappy comeback here" and wait for said comeback to occur to you.

After several hours of outside work, I had it! The perfect comeback! I rushed inside and typed it in. Take that!! Ha!

Am I living vicariously through my characters??

I forgot to add a Thankful note yesterday. Okay, so on Nov. 15 I was thankful that I had the strength and energy to do a whole ton of work outside.

Today, I'm thankful for the Internet--it's a world of information at our fingertips. I wonder what I did without it!

Okay, so today I struggled with posting on yahoo answers, and finally got it the way I wanted to, with my screen name as Debbie, and my id as...actually, I'm not sure my id shows up publicly. Anyway, here was my response to, "did Deborah Lynn Jacobs copy Twilight?" (see below)
Today, Nov. 14, I am grateful for my kids. They turned out to be amazing people, despite any mistakes I made as a parent.
Okay, so here's my response:

Hi. I hope it's okay for the author to comment on questions like this!
First of all, thanks for reading Powers. I hope you'll enjoy my next book, Choices. (I saw your posts through Google Alerts.)
About Powers--nope, I didn't copy Twilight. I started writing Powers in 1994. I put it aside, picked it up, and so on, rewriting, reworking the story line, changing the ending and so on.
In 2002, I sent it to my agent. After two major revisions, we sold it in Dec. 2004 to Roaring Brook Press. The hardcover came out in 2006, and the paperback edition in 2008.
Stephenie Meyer, on her website, states she began writing Twilight on June 2, 2003. This was one year and one month after I handed Powers over to my agent to sell!
I think the novels may seem similar in a way because they are both romances. Oddly, I had no idea I was writing a romance until I got the contract for Powers, which read, "a romance between two teens with powers." Hmmm...
Powers is about two teens who develop psychic powers, and use them to manipulate and use each other. It's the old "power corrupts" idea. It's written in two voices, the guy's and girl's. The one similarity I see to Twilight is the dynamic tension between the characters--but that's common to most good reads.
Thanks for reading, analyzing, and posting. It made my day!
Deborah Lynn Jacobs
www.deborahlynnjacobs.com

Today, the 13th, I am thankful for readers, particularly readers who read ME.
I woke up to a google alert, on a yahoo forum. A reader asked (speculated?) that I copied Twilight when I wrote Powers.
My first reaction was: hey, cool, someone who reads Meyer's stuff reads mine.
My second reaction was: well, NO...my book came first. I started writing Powers in '94, gave it to my agent in 2002, then rewrote it twice, and we sold it in 2004. Stephenie Meyer states on her website that she started writing Twilight in 2003.
I tried to post on the yahoo site, but couldn't seem to set up an account as Deborah Lynn Jacobs.
Maybe tomorrow! (sometimes I hate technology....)
Anyway, I'm thankful for people who read my books, analyze them and post about them.

Today, the twelfth day of November, I am thankful for hot running water.
This is not as random as it sounds. In my last home, in Kenora, we pumped all our water up from the lake. When the pump failed, in the middle of winter, it wasn't great. You try digging through three feet--yes, three solid feet--of ice, trying to find the damn pump!
After that, you don't take running water, especially hot running water, for granted.
And now, for our regularly scheduled blog--
Recently, I was at our Wisconsin SCBWI retreat, a weekend filled with fantastic speakers, insightful breakout sessions, and the usual late night talks with other writers and illustrators.This year, we had the great pleasure of spending the weekend with writers Linda Sue Park, and Holly Black,

illustrator Henry Cole, editor Stacy Cantor (Walker Books) and agent Steven Chudney.
I also met two fellow clients of Steven's: Julie Bowe and Lisa Chellman. Please note that we all got the memo to dress in purple. I would post a pic of the illusive Steven Chudney, but, oddly, it didn't turn out. (Steven is camera shy and hates having his pic posted!!!)

And, finally, met Stacy DeKeyser, whom I've talked with online but never in person. (She's the one on the right.)

Linda Sue Park did my critique, of my wip. She was kind and encouraging (as you might expect, if you’ve ever met her!) and urged me to finish the book. She suggested I might try, just for an experiment, to rewrite a bit in third person. It’s currently written in first.
So, yesterday, I took a scene that I was having difficulty with. It just didn’t POP if you know what I mean. The words were stale, the images boring, and so on. Big yawn.
Feeling skeptical to say the least, I rewrote it in third. Wow. It POPPED off the page.
Today, I thought okay let’s go for it. Rewrite in third. I looked at my first chapter and gave it a go.
It didn’t work. Just didn’t work at all. I lost the voice, the freshness, the POP.
What was going on?
I decided first person worked best for this work, but then went back to the scene I’d reworked in third yesterday. I kept the same language, but put it into first. Now, I had a scene written originally in first person, translated to third person, and translated back to first person.
POPPAGE! I mean, major popping. It was the same scene, but the language was better, fresher, more poetic.
So, thank you Linda Sue! I don’t think I’ll rewrite my wip in third, but because of you I know have a powerful technique to kick up a scene that isn’t working, and language that isn’t popping.

It's Veteran's Day here, and in my native Canada it is Remembrance Day.
Canadians take Remembrance Day pretty seriously, with ceremonies taking place in cities, towns and villages across the country. For a week or two, everyone wears a red poppy for remembrance. (The origin of this is the poem, In Flanders Fields--you know, the poppies grow, row on row, to mark the dead....)
There was a great clip on the nightly news last night, called the Highway of Heroes. Here's the link. It's about ordinary Canadians, honoring their fallen.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#27651384
If the link doesn't work, go to
www.msnbc.com, click on Nightly News, scroll down to the bottom and click on Highway of Heroes.
So today, November 11, here's the next item on my list of thankfulness.

11. I'm thankful to be Canadian, and grateful to have found a new home, and new friends, here in the states.

Here's a challenge. Can you list one thing you are thankful for each day from now up until Thanksgiving? You'll need to list ten things today, as it's the tenth!
Here's the start of my list:
1. My family.
2. Cheap long distance rates, so that I can keep in touch with my family! Also cell phones, email, text messaging, etc. for the same reason.
3. My laptop, so that I can write anywhere.
4. Chocolate.
6. Being a writer. I never thought I'd have the chance to write novels. I'm thankful to the breadwinner in my family, for giving me that opportunity.
7. The mute button on my TV.
8. Fan mail.
9. Email lists and writing communities, so that I am not writing in isolation.
10. Good wine, good food and chocolate! (Oh, did I mention chocolate already?)
So, what are you thankful for?

I used to be amused by my mil's habits--getting up at the same time every day, eating lunch exactly at noon, having a coffee mid-afternoon with one cookie. And then I realized I had fallen into habits without being aware of them, and that I was just as much a creature of habit as my mil.
Blogging daily, thanks to National Blog Posting Month, is my new habit. It's a good one, in terms of stretching my writing muscles a bit before I get down to my wip. I'm finding I'm becoming more aware of some of my other habits and am working to change them.
About my wip--I've given up worrying about daily word counts or writing a certain number of pages a day. It was too mechanical, and sometimes the quality of my writing suffered. So, for now, I'm letting the story carry me along.
O

Thanks all for the comments about the poison ivy. Remember how I said Halloween was held here the Sunday before Halloween? Well, pumpkins don't last forever...
Here's what happen when good pumpkins go bad:

So, I need an opinion. Is the first pic one of poison ivy, or the last two pics (the last two are pretty in their fall colors.)
I suspect it's the pretty stuff. Hubby has a nasty rash after clearing it out of the back yard.

Well, one very good reason is that I posted yesterday to sell something, and got five replies by this morning! How cool is that?
The other reason is this: when I tried to post at first, I got an error statement and an apology that totally thrilled me. Here it is:

Full many a glorious morning have I seen
Flatter the mountain tops with sovereign eye,
Kissing with golden face the meadows green,
Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy;
Anon permit the basest clouds to ride
With ugly rack on his celestial face,
And from the forlorn world his visage hide,
Stealing unseen to west with this disgrace:

How cool is that? It's taken from Shakespeare's Sonnet 33. Gotta love that wordsmith!

So, yes, I was pretty much glued to my TV last night. Mostly I had the sound on mute, while I did some outlining on my wip. Besides watching TV, I was following the results online on CNN.com and on CBC.ca (Canadian) When the final result was announced, I texted my daughter, then called her on my cell.
It occurred to me how interconnected our world has become. Yeah, that's not an original thought. So sue me.
I googled "first election covered by tv." It seems the first tv coverage was in the 1950's.
Here's a link to a website covering TV and politics in the U.K.
http://www.election.demon.co.uk/pt1.html
And a quote from that website:
"Butler‘s contribution to the 1950 programme was felt immediately in his suggestions for graphics to help explain the results, and in his bringing along a small group of students with slide-rules who could work out the percentages and the swing for each constituency within seconds of the result arriving."
You have to check out the site to see the cool graphics.....(um, not so cool...)
As far as I could find, the first U.S. political TV campaign was by Eisenhower in 1952. The new 'computers' were used to predict results. (The UNIVAC)
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/11/dayintech_1104
We've come a long way, eh?