Good news

The other day I had an email from Caren, one of my fellow Muskrats from when I was in Jane's workshop.  For years now she has been working on a non-fiction book about a woman who was a child in Nagasaki when the atomic bomb was dropped.  It is a story that will both break your heart and give you hope that good can be made out of even the worst of tragedies.  For several years I listened to this story, and the story behind the story as its pursuit led Caren down some unexpected paths.

Last month Caren's book was sold to a publisher, to be published in 2016.  I wish I'd been there at Jane's when she was able to share the news, and I can't wait to see it in print.

Many times after Caren read a chapter at Jane's and we discussed it, it came my turn to read.  And more than once I wondered what on earth I was doing.  Compared to a story about a woman who endured one of the most horrific events imaginable, what can a rabbit in a cape offer?  Last fall at the StoryMasters workshop I had a similar moment of crisis.  Caren brought me back to earth.  As we talked about our stories during a break, she reminded me "Carrot is important too."  Critiquing on the fly is not my strength.  I usually need to sit and think about a piece for a while first.  But I hope I've offered Caren at least a fraction of the encouragement she has given me.

A book in print.  How many people who don't write understand the countless hours, the years of toil that go into a book without we the authors knowing if that moment will ever come?  Congratulations, Caren.  If ever a book, if ever an author, deserved this, it is you.  I can't wait to read it in print.

Rejection

Yesterday my book was rejected.  Earlier this year I sent The Mighty Carrot off to the first round of agents.  Once responded right away and asked to see the entire manuscript, along with a couple of my picture book texts.  And then I waited, and waited, until yesterday I finally had a reply.  It wasn't what I had hoped for.

It was a no.  Or rather, more accurately, it was a "not for me."  As a writer, rejection is part of the game.  I've learned that to a certain extent this is a numbers game.  To get that one yes sometimes takes hearing no a hundred times.  There are rejections, sometimes, that make you wonder what on earth you're doing, why you're fighting this uphill battle in the first place, why you put yourself in the position to be rejected over and over.

And then there are rejections like this one.  It was kind.  It was encouraging.  It said "you're a great writer" and ended with "I'd be happy to consider other work from you in the future."  In brief, this was a rejection that said keep going.

And so today I worked on Carrot again, looking for ways to sharpen it as I regroup for Querying Agents: Round 2.  There will be more rejections.  Probably a lot of them, actually.  I can't control that.  All I can control is making the story better and getting it out there.

It might sound strange, but I appreciate this rejection.  I appreciated the time and thought that went into the decision, and the honesty to say it's not for me, but someone else will feel differently.  In the end, I want an agent that falls in love with Carrot as I have.  And so, I keep going.

Tell me a story...

"Tell me a story, Daddy."

We'd just visited the Currituck Lighthouse on the Outer Banks of Carolina.  The Little Scoot was in the habit of asking for "pretend stories," by which he meant he wanted me to make one up.  It can be mentally exhausting when he wants several in a row, but I have to say that it's a great exercise for a writer.  Can you make up a story on the spot with a coherent beginning, middle, and end?  Bonus points for incorporating whatever random elements are thrown at you by a three-year-old.

Currituck Lighthouse
(Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons)

After our visit, naturally, he wanted one about a lighthouse.

"Once there was a lighthouse who lived alone..."

When I finished the story the Coffee Queen urged me to write it down, so when we returned to the hotel, I did.  It didn't come out quite as well on paper as it did in the telling, but at least I captured it while it was fresh.

Fast forward several months.  With "Carrot" and one of my picture books just about ready for submission, I've been fighting with a second picture book I wanted to have ready.  But after banging my head against that story for several weeks, I decided to put it aside and work on the lighthouse story instead so I'd have something ready to read at Jane's workshop.  

After I read it on Tuesday Susan B. said it's the first time I've brought tears to her eyes.  Kristin said she felt like she'd heard a classic story.  To be sure, there are parts of the story that still need work, but I felt that they're more about sharpening what's there, that what's at the heart of the story is connecting.

It's humbling as a writer when you succeed at hitting that type of emotional chord.  I don't know that you can do it by consciously trying, but it's something special when it happens.  After banging my head against CJ's story for a while, it was good to switch gears and work on a story that's cooperating.  Now to polish it up.

And it all began with "Tell me a story."

At the top of the Currituck Lighthouse - it's windy!

Story Masters Workshop

This past weekend I spent 4 days at the Story Masters Workshop, put on by Free Expressions.  Several people from my writing group went to this last year in Seattle and they lobbied hard to have it brought to the Twin Cities this year.  How glad I am that they did.

Based on their recommendation nearly everyone from my writing group attended the workshop this year (including those who went last year), as well as several others from Jane's groups, the Hamline MFA program, and many other area writers.  The workshop consisted of one day each with Christopher Vogler (Author of The Writer's Journey; it's awesome, read it), James Scott Bell, and Donald Maass.  On the fourth day the three of them together led a discussion of To Kill a Mockingbird.

I've never had a time like this when I was able to dedicate days to writing: learning and thinking about my own stories.  It was amazing.  Each of the three had a different approach to writing, but I found that they all complemented each other and that they offered a variety of tools to use, depending on what most needs work in your story.  It allowed me to better understand why something works or doesn't work, and if it doesn't, how to go about fixing it (not to mention I have a better understanding of what's going on when something does work).  I also left with a long list of movies to add to my Netflix queue. :-)

I was impressed too by how approachable each of these men were.  They took questions during break, and they shared an attitude of "Here's what I've learned, now you can use it too."

All through the workshop I had ideas about how I can take The Mighty Carrot even further.  I have notes about rewriting the beginning, about how to fix the climax, and other moments that will add to the story as a whole.  One of my top takeaways was what Donald Maass said about not writing objective description - instead, give us the sense of place through the impressions and emotions of the character.  I struggle with description and I can already see that this is going to be a powerful tool.  (And he's right, I do as a reader skim over those long paragraphs of description!)

Another common thread was of the importance of emotion.  I think it was Donald Maass who said, "A story isn't the plot."  Rather it's the emotional journey of the protagonist, which is externalized in the events of the plot.

Several of us from my group met the other day to talk and debrief about what we had learned.  I spent a lot of my time during breaks and at lunch with those I knew discussing these ideas in the context of our stories.  I found it was very helpful to have those discussions with those who knew what I was writing, as it helped make the ideas more concrete.  It's going to take awhile for me to think through all of this, and apply it to Carrot, but I'm excited to do just that.

PiBoIdMo!

I've done NaNoWriMo before, but this year, as I've started to write picture books, I'm participating in PiBoIdMo - Picture Book Idea Month.  The concept is simple: come up with an idea for a picture book every day for 30 days.  It's hosted by author Tara Lazar over at her blog.  So far it's day 2 and I've come up with 4 ideas, so here it goes for the rest of the month!

"The Wind in the Willows" in La Crosse

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to drive down to La Crosse, Wisconsin to see a production of my adaptation of The Wind in the Willows put on by the La Crosse Community Theatre.  This was a youth production comprising a total of 39 kids on and off stage, ranging in age from 8 to 16.  And they did a beautiful job.  LCT just recently moved into a new space and they made great use of it.  The sets, lights, and costumes were all gorgeous and really helped created the world.  The cast too did a wonderful job.  I was impressed with the level of acting they demonstrated, from the loyal faithful Rat to the menacing Chief Weasel (who had perhaps the coolest costume) to the younger forest animals who through their transitions between scenes created the bustling river community.

The director, Rebecca Seflow Hartzell, was recently hired on at LCT to further develop their youth program and is clearly doing a great job.  The kids were responsible for areas behind the scenes as well, stage managing and running the light board, for example.  I think whenever you given kids this kind of ownership over the production they will rise up to the responsibility  They all took their roles seriously and it paid off in a polished production.

Rebecca and the theater's executive director David Kilpatrick invited me to do a talkback with the cast, crew, and audience after the show.  The kids all asked great questions (sometimes better than the answers I could think of!) ranging from how the show differed from what I had envisioned to how long it had taken to write to how I started writing plays in the first place.  They were a fantastic group and I appreciated how welcome everyone made me felt.  So congrats to everyone involved for a job very well done.  I hope it will not be the last time my words are brought to life in this theatre.   It really was a treat to see my play in such good hands.

Sometimes this is what a play looks like

Normally I'm not much of a plotter, not in the first draft, anyway.  Once I find the starting point of a story I like to follow where it leads and it can be a surprise to me too to discover how it ends.  Further drafts will of course then require a great deal of reshaping, but I've learned the advantage of having a lot of raw material to work with even when much of it will be later tossed aside.

Not so the mystery play I'm working on.  The first draft was loosely plotted, enough to get me to the end, but when I tried to make headway on the second draft I kept getting stuck, not knowing what needed to happen next.  After reading Christopher Vogler's The Writer's Journey I decided to apply the steps of the Hero's Journey to each of my six characters (there were originally seven, but strangely one never seemed to enter into the other characters' journeys and so we'll see how the play does without her).  After identifying the key moments for each character I wrote them down on post-it notes and then arranged then and re-arranged them until I had this:

I have to turn this into what???

This is a level of plotting I've never attempted before, but when I wove together the journeys of these six different characters I discovered holes I wouldn't have otherwise been aware of until I had tried to write the scenes.  Instead I was able to iron out many structural issues before setting down a single word.

Well.  Now I just have to write the thing.

We all need a hero

For the past couple years I have been working on a children's book called "The Mighty Carrot" about a rabbit named Carrot who finds a red handkerchief, puts it on, and becomes a superhero. About a year and a half ago I was fortunate to land in a writing workshop run by Jane Resh Thomas. It was pure serendipity and I greatly appreciate being a part of such a talented group of writers. To have a group such as this to laugh with, learn from, and to be supported by is invaluable.

At last night's meeting Laurie gave me this little fellow, wrapped in red tissue paper:

The Mighty Carrot!

He's the perfect Carrot, captured in motion while off to foil some nefarious scheme. He now sits next to my computer and will be there to help inspire me and remind me of how far I've come.

These writers, the "Muskrats," are my heroes. They are tackling all manner of stories from a young Norwegian immigrant in Minneapolis to the devastation of Nagasaki, stories make me laugh and cry and fill me with wonder (I will never look at crows the same way again). And they remind me that a little bunny with big dreams is important too.