Month: October 2010

Burlington’s Great Pumpkin Regatta (In which my husband paddles a giant pumpkin in Lake Champlain)

"So what do you have going on this weekend?" my parents asked during a recent phone call.

"Oh, not too much," I answered. "We’re just busy Sunday. Tom has to paddle a pumpkin across Burlington Harbor."

"Paddle it across, like in a rowboat?  Or what?"

"No…he’s getting in a giant, hollowed-out pumpkin and then paddling it around as if it’s a kayak."

There was laughter on the other end of the phone line.

But it’s true.  And I now have photographic evidence from the Great Pumpkin Regatta hosted by the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce. 

For those who may not know, Tom’s the local TV meteorologist, so he was part of the celebrities race.  It went very well…until he got close to the finish line and encountered a reporter from a competing TV station splashing & blocking his way.

Then things got ugly.

And look…he was still smiling even after being dumped in the lake!  (Note the special-occasion, Doppler radar swim trunks. That is high fashion for meteorologists…)

The crew had to bail out the capsized pumpkins for the next round of racers.

It really was a perfect fall day for the event.  And you have to admit…

…Burlington knows how to celebrate Halloween in style.

Questions for a Tuesday Afternoon…

Warning: These are random, and some are more meaningful than others. I’ll start with the most important one…

1. What happens when kids with autism aren’t kids any more?  My nephew Danny, who has autism, is 16 now, so my brother Tom and his family have that question on their minds a lot. It’s prompted them to become more active with the Organization for Autism Research. Tom has run in the Marine Corps Marathon for the past couple years, and this year,  Danny is running the 10K along with his dad to raise money for OAR.  They have a fund raising site set up – it’s here, if you’d like to help, too.

2. Will the Dewey Decimal System still exist in some form in the year 2050?  I’m trying to decide because there’s a library scene in my dystopian set in that year. I’m betting yes…kind of.

3. Do you have any healthy crock pot recipes that you love?  I bought my first crock pot today, mostly because my kids’ schedules now require that they be picked up and dropped off places when I’d normally be cooking dinner.  So I have the crock pot now. What should I put in it?

4. I got a final book jacket for SUGAR AND ICE in the mail from my editor. Do other authors run around the house wrapping their book jackets around every hardcover within striking distance when they get the first copy, or is that just me?

5. THE CANDYMAKERS by Wendy Mass is up next in my to-read pile – can’t wait! What are you reading right now that you love?

Dystopian World Building Worksheet – Part III

This is the third in a series of posts about the world-building process I’m revisiting as I work on edits for my 2012 dystopian novel EYE OF THE STORM. Part one of my dystopian world building worksheet– with an introduction to the concept of world building — is here.  Part two is here. And here’s part three…

What social ladders exist? Who has power and why? What are the tangible symbols of that power? Who is at the bottom of this society’s social ladder, and why?

What kind of ethnic diversity exists?

What role, if any, does religion play in this society? What are the dominant religions? What religions are marginalized?

What do international/inter-group relations look like? What wars are going on?  What countries or groups are fighting, and why? Which ones are allies? Which are enemies?

What climate and weather patterns are prevalent?

What does agriculture look like? Where do people get food?

What foods are considered standard fare? What foods are delicacies, and why?

In working on EOTS, a book with monster tornadoes, that weather question was obviously one that I spent a lot of time with before I ever started writing. But I’m going far beyond climate and weather in this new round of world-building (Can I still call it world building? I did that before I wrote…  Perhaps this is world-remodeling.)  And it’s interesting to me to explore how that climate & weather issue would shape the rest of this society’s world.

More world building questions soon.  Back to the colored markers & Post-It Notes now…

Super-quick post on a Wednesday: Revising, Reading, and More

1. I’m revising.

I was up way top late with colored markers and lots of timelines and notes and critique comments and lists and scribbles. This is my favorite part of writing, so even though the kitchen table looks like a tornado hit, I’m happy.  Sleepy…but happy.

2.  I’m reading this right now –

It’s funny and awesome so far.

3  And did you enter my Marty-McGuire-illustrator-announcement-win-a-book contest?   You have until Saturday!

4.  My SCBWI group meets at our local coffee shop, Koffee Kat, tonight. Then I’ll be revising again, fueled by the best mocha lattes in the history of lattes.

More dystopian world building stuff later on. Have a great Wednesday!

Dystopian World Building Worksheet – Part II

This is the second in a series of posts about the world-building process I’m revisiting as I work on edits for my 2012 dystopian novel EYE OF THE STORM. Part one of my dystopian world building worksheet– with an introduction to the concept of world building — is here.

Even though my editorial letter for EOTS arrived a week ago, I haven’t touched the manuscript yet. Instead, I’ve been writing answers to the questions on this world building worksheet I created to get myself thinking in the right direction for this revision.  Here are some more of the questions that I included:

What are the non-negotiable rules of this world?   Are there any exceptions?

What laws does society impose?  What happens to people who break them?

What rules or laws does the main character break or challenge?  Why?  What are the consequences?

What kind of government is in place?  Consider local & national levels as well as international cooperation. How does government impact citizens’ everyday lives?

What official document is in place to define that government? If it is a future version of a current document (i.e.Constitution), how has it changed? What amendments have been added?

What rights do people have?  What rights are they denied, and why?

What are this society’s most closely held values?

It’s interesting to note that when I created this worksheet, I was pretty sure some of the questions had nothing whatsoever to do with my novel. I answered them anyway, and it was actually one of those questions that led me to one of my best ideas for the revision. It’s not a huge change, but it’s a tiny detail that fits perfectly and resolves an issue my editor had raised. Had I not journaled about that "irrelevant" question, I doubt that idea would have surfaced.Tomorrow, I’m printing out my completed worksheet document with major breakthroughs and ideas highlighted, and it will be time to get back to the manuscript.

I’ll share another set of questions soon — the bunch that deals with diversity within the society. 

MARTY MCGUIRE’S Illustrator (and a giveaway!)

Last spring, I was in line at my local coffee shop when my cell phone rang.  It was Anamika, the editor of my MARTY MCGUIRE chapter book series with Scholastic, and when I answered, she had three words for me.

"He said yes!"

I screamed.  And the whole coffee shop turned. One lady startled and spilled her tea. I apologized profusely, finished talking with Anamika, picked up my latte, and proceeded to my local SCBWI group meeting feeling as if I’d just swallowed fifteen canaries because I couldn’t tell anybody the news about the project’s illustrator just yet.

But now I can.  You probably already know him…

It’s Brian Floca, the author/illustrator of Sibert Honor books MOONSHOT and LIGHTSHIP and the illustrator of this year’s incredible BALLET FOR MARTHA: MAKING APPALACHIAN SPRING, which I just bought last week at Flying Pig Books, and it’s absolutely stunning.  I was a fan of Brian’s work long before his name rose to the top of our Marty illustrator wish-list, so I am just over-the-moon to share this news.

At one point while I was waiting for news, Editor Anamika emailed me: "He’s reading the manuscript this weekend!"  I cheered. Then I spent the entire weekend asking my husband, "What page do you think Brian is on now? How about now? Do you think he likes it?"

I am so very glad that he did. MARTY MCGUIRE, the first book in the series, comes out in May 2011.

I took my daughter to Brian’s ALA conference signing back in June, introduced myself,and snapped the photo you see up there.  I also bought a copy of MOONSHOT for Brian to sign as a giveaway on my blog for the day I was able to share the good news about Marty.

We’ll have a drawing next weekend, okay? To enter, just leave a comment by midnight Friday night. If you are under 13, please have an adult enter for you. On Saturday (10/9) I’ll draw a name – so be sure I have a way to get in touch with you if you’re not on LJ.

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