Month: June 2009

Five Things on a Friday

1. Thank you so much to everyone who answered my plea for advice for a plunge-in sort of writer working on a project that demands an outline.  The fact that I can post a note asking for help here and have so many wise and wonderful writers respond with just the kinds of encouragement and ideas I needed…well, that’s just awesome. Thank you.  And if anyone else is looking for advice about outlining, click here to get to the post – then skip my ramblings and proceed to the wise, wonderful comments.

2. Based on #1, I have taken the plunge and downloaded Scrivener, a writing/organizing/drafting program for Mac people.  As much as I feel a little overwhelmed about learning a new software program right now, the arguments were there.  I like technology.  I am a Mac girl.  And   dropped me a note with information about "the Scriv" as she calls it, and told me she used it when she was working on ONCE WAS LOST. (October 2010, Little Brown).   I read my ARC of this book  in a single sitting on the porch this week while I was home sick; it’s truly one of the best, most beautifully crafted books I’ve ever read (and you know I read a lot.)  I’m not expecting Scrivener to turn me into Sara, but if it helped her to keep all those amazing characters and plot threads organized, that’s a good reason to give it a try.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

3. Speaking of ARCs, if you’d like to be entered to win an ARC of my upcoming middle grade novel, THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z, you still have time to click here and leave a comment telling me what kind of tree you’d be if you were a tree. It’s fun, really…  Deadline is 11pm EST.

4. My list of Authors Who Skype with Book Clubs has grown by leaps & bounds this week and somehow ended up with a link on a librarians’ listserv.  I’ve gotten a  handful of notes from librarians in different states saying they’re excited to help their reading groups connect with authors for book discussions, so I’m tickled to know that folks are finding the resource to be helpful.  If you’d like to check out the list, it’s here, along with a link to some helpful information about Skype visits.

5. Including today, I have eight regular teaching days left, and then eight days of final exams, and then it is SUMMER!  Not that I’m keeping track or anything…but I’m kind of excited to have more time for bike riding and hiking and reading and writing and Scrivenering.  What are you most looking forward to this summer?

Do you believe in Champ?

Big news from Lake Champlain this week… Our local media has picked up the story of a Vermont man who videotaped a mysterious-looking something apparently swimming in the lake near Burlington over the weekend.  He shared the video to YouTube.  Is it a really big dog?  A deer? Could it be Champ, Lake Champlain’s resident monster?


Still from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YT49LQMxthg

People are naturally skeptical, and at least one scientist has suggested that it actually looks like a moose in distress.  I can’t say for sure what’s swimming through the water in this shot.  But I can say that it’s very different from my own experience with the legendary Champlain monster. 

That’s right…I’ve seen the lake monster. I don’t talk about it much (because I’m afraid of getting those looks that I always used to give people who talked about seeing lake monsters).  But the creature I saw was longer –  probably 15-20 feet, with bumps along its back, and its head didn’t stick out of the water so much.  I’ve seen it twice.

The first time was late spring of 2003.  I was making dinner, and my son called to me from the living room. 

"Mom…. What’s that?"  He stared out the window, and when I saw what he was pointing at, I stared too.

"Well…"  About 60 yards offshore, I could see a series of small bumps in the water that stretched out for at least fifteen feet.  And the whole thing was moving.  Swimming.  There was a small wake behind it.

"Well," I said again.  "I think…uh…."  The thing turned in the water, and the bumps snaked around.  It straightened out and swam a little closer to shore. "Well…I think that’s what people see when they say they see Champ."

We rushed outside and stood on the seawall, watching it swim back and forth for at least five minutes. Then it sank below the surface and disappeared.   About an hour later, my husband came home for dinner.

"What’s new?"  he asked.

"We saw Champ," my son told him.

"Right…"  No matter how many times we insisted it was true, he shook his head and laughed.  Until the following week.

"Hey, Kate?"  he called from the living room window.  "Is that what you saw the other night?"

There it was again.  This time, we all ran outside, along with a dozen people from the birthday party that was going on next door.  The creature was just the same…bumps protruding from the water just a little…and easily 20 feet long. 

And then… a second creature appeared, looking just the same, but swimming in the opposite direction.  They crossed paths, back and forth several times, and didn’t even seem to acknowledge one another.  Were they feeding on a school of fish?  What were they?  No one left to get a video camera; we were sure they were about to disappear.  But they stayed for another ten minutes, swimming back and forth. And then swam off.

Were they lake creatures left over from centuries past?  Was each long creature really just a few giant sturgeon, swimming in perfect single file?

I don’t know.  And part of me… likes not knowing.  I love living here, for the mountains and cool still water, for the historical shipwrecks and musical waves.  And for the mystery.   I love that Lake Champlain still has some secrets she’s not giving up just yet.

To outline or not to outline…?

Consider this a combination writing-process-post and request for help.  There’s always a debate about whether it’s better to plunge right into writing a new draft or to craft a meticulous outline first.  I know of hugely successful authors who do both, and I think a lot of it comes down to what works for the individual writer.  But what if you’re a plunger…working on a project that wants an outline?

I’ve never really been an outline person.  More often than not, I start a new book with a bare-bones premise and a fairly clear sense of who the characters are, and then I let them guide the story.  I write every night but usually go to bed without a clue as to what will happen next.  Then I sit down the next night, read over what I’ve written, close my eyes for a few minutes, and watch and listen until the characters do or say something.  Then I write it down.   I keep doing this over and over until eventually I can see the end. 

It’s the driving-at-night approach, where the headlights illuminate things bit by bit, but only as you move forward.  In THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z, for example, I was writing about Gianna’s grandmother for months, following her around, thinking, "Why does she keep doing things like this?" before I could see that she was showing real signs of dementia and that was what was really upsetting the family apple cart.

All of this plowing ahead and figuring things out as I write leaves me many, many messes and dangly bits to clean up in revision, but I’m good with that.  I like revision, and the whole process has worked pretty well for me.  Until now. 

Enter the  middle grade mystery project…the one that makes me bounce up and down in my chair with excitement.  The one that sent me off to Washington D.C. a couple weeks ago for research, certain that completing said research would throw open the doors and make the process work for this book, too.  The research trip was wonderful and illuminating and really, really fun.  But I have started writing this book five times now, and I’m ready to face the truth.  It wants…no…needs an outline.

So here’s the request for help part… If you are an outliner, what do your outlines actually look like?  Are they formal outlines?  Or  just summaries of each chapter, written out in a synopsis?  Do you use some fancy-schmancy outlining software that stores only sell to organized people?  Index cards? 

And are there any "plungers" out there who have needed to outline for a particular project?  I’d love to hear how it all worked out. 

Summer Reading & Win Free Books

As a teacher, I’m often asked to recommend summer reading for kids.  I don’t like one-size-fits-all summer reading lists, but I often provide "idea lists" — with lots and lots of possibilities for lots of different kinds of readers.  Along those lines, I’m trying something new on my Twitter feed… Kate’s Great Summer Reads will feature a book a day with thoughts on who might like it and a link to IndieBound.  Today’s tweet:

Kate’s Great Summer Read #1: For mystery-lovers ages 8-12, E.B. White Read-Aloud Winner MASTERPIECE by Elise Broach. http://tiny.cc/summer1

I’m KateMessner on Twitter if you’d like to follow and make summer reading suggestions of your own, too!

Now on to the free books…

If you haven’t had a chance to play the "What Tree Are You?" game & enter to win an advance reader copy of THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z, you have until Friday, and you can click here to enter.  I’m loving the comments so far.  For example, did you know that   is a purple-leaf plum,   is an aspen, and   is a Charlie Brown Christmas tree?  What kind of tree are you??

Also in the blog-world this week:

You can visit   and enter to win a copy of Linda Urban’s delightful, foot-stomping picture book MOUSE WAS MAD.

Mary of KidLit fame is just back from BEA and giving away CATCHING FIRE, SHIVER, and ALONG FOR THE RIDE over at her KidLit blog.

And Reviewer X has a bunch of contests (some ending June 3rd so be quick!) Titles up for grabs include CATCHING FIRE as well as books by

[info]lisa_schroeder

   and Elizabeth Scott.  


And one more thing…

If you have not checked out this post from   about the caterpillars/eggs in her backyard, you should go see her photos and then get yourself outside to explore your own yard.  In my little world, this is what summer’s all about.

What Kind of Tree Are You? Win an ARC of GIANNA Z!

My new middle grade novel, THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z, will be released from Walker Books for Young Readers September 1st, three months from today! 

To celebrate, I’m giving away an advance reader copy this week. To enter the drawing, I’m asking you to try out a fun game that Gianna and her best friend Zig play in the book.

Zig invents “The Tree Game” to help Gianna remember the different kinds of trees she’s supposed to be learning about for her monster school leaf collection project.  Here’s a sample from Chapter 3:

Zig points to me.  “You’re a sugar maple because they’re colorful and fluttery.  I’m…”

“You’re that big tall brown tree in front of the school!”  I get it now.

“The oak?” Zig says.  “Why am I an oak?”

“Because you’re not all showy.  But you’re important and…stable.”

Zig taps his chin with his finger. “Okay.”  He nods. “I’m an oak.  But I want to be a red oak.  White oak leaves are all loopy and weird looking.”

And from Chapter 5, when Gianna’s dad is dropping her off at school…

“Hey wait!”  Dad calls.

“Yeah?”

“You never told me about that tree game.”

“What about it?”

“Did you decide about me?”

“Umm…”  The bell is about to ring, and I haven’t used the leaf guide enough to decide what a Dad-tree would be. I flip through the book until I find a short tree that’s kind of chubby and droopy.  “How about a dwarf mulberry?”  I blow him a kiss.

“Hmph.”  Dad puts the car in gear as I slam the door. Clearly, he was hoping to be a redwood.

So what about you?  If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be? 


Is this you??  It’s a Swamp Chestnut Oak outside the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

If you’re like Gianna and need to do a little research, here’s a great online tree reference site to help you out. 

Just leave a comment about what kind of tree you’d be and why, and I’ll enter your name in a drawing for an advance reader copy of THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z.  Please keep all entries appropriate for a middle grade audience!  If you leave an anonymous LJ comment, please make sure I have a way to contact you in case you win.

The contest is open to residents of the US and Canada, and the deadline is 11 p.m. EST on Friday, June 5th.  After that, I’ll draw a random winner and send GIANNA Z your way!  (And I may give away an additional ARC if anyone makes me laugh hard enough to snort tea out my nose. You never know…)  Feel free to share the link or tweet or do whatever you do to spread the word.

Ready… Set… What kind of tree are you?