Writing

So, Where Do YOU Write?

By on June 10, 2016   /   For Teachers, For Writers, Writing  

I’m a fulltime caregiver these days, but I’m also a writer and an editor. Lately, with the help of a home care companion, I’ve been able to get away a bit more, and sometimes when I get away, I can do my job.

I was remembering the Happy Holidays post here on the Mixed Up Files in December, in which we shared pictures of ourselves doing what we do as writers wherever we do it. That inspired me to take you on a little tour of some of my favorite places to get stuff done.

Many authors I know write in cafes and coffee shops to get away from distractions. I understand this. I’ve tried it. I drink coffee or tea, and that makes me really hungry and I always respect the no outside food rules, and then I end up buying (and eating) something I didn’t need. Ugh.

I often prefer to stay at home, but when I do get away, it usually looks something like this. I almost always end up making my huge bottle of iced ginger tea and grabbing a bag of trail mix and some chocolate, and heading to one of three favorite places.

The Library

Yup. I go to the Library. I’m a retired school librarian, after all; it’s a lot like home anyway. There are three branches of my wonderful regional library almost equidistant from me. Sorry, no photos – I’m not a big selfie-in-the-library taker. But here is a link to their webpage, because all the branches of Sno-Isle Libraries rock.

I love writing in the library. I take my earbuds because it is always noisy – in a good, distracting way. If I can’t get a table, there is always an easy chair somewhere, and I can work in my notebook or edit paper pages. I’ve learned to take multiple tasks with me so that I can pick which one best fits the conditions when I’m there. I used to take just one thing to do, and if it didn’t fit the available opportunities, it felt like time lost.

I know not every writer works this way, but I always have multiple things in my bag besides my current largest project now, and I know that every free moment gives me a chance to make something of whatever I’ve got with me. When I get stuck in the library, I love to wander to the local history shelves and browse for new ideas and information for future stories. This counts as (blissful) work for me!

The Beach

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No computer here. Just paper pages, editing pens, and a secure document box to hold them when it’s windy. Don’t forget the beach towel, and the same big bottle of tea and some snacks.

While I can become “distracted” by birds and boats and all the activity of the world around me, it’s a distraction of peace, and the calm helps me to focus more deeply on my task.

I also take a book and relax with it when the day’s work goal is met.

The Sunroom

On a recent cloudy, drizzly day, I dressed for the weather, packed my lunch in a cooler, and headed… downstairs.

Sometimes when our home care helper comes, I don’t feel like leaving home. Those days, I run away to the basement, to our sun room. This lovely space sat lonely for a time, home for over-wintering plants and HUGE spiders, but I’ve recently reclaimed it. When I walk in, my pulse rate drops and my heart begins to sing.

On a recent day, I raced out between rain showers and planted some starts and worked some garden beds. When it started to rain seriously, I headed inside to add edits to more pages of my manuscript. Doesn’t every author dress like this to write?

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Mostly, these days, I don’t have big blocks of time to lose myself in the work I love so much. I make time, snatch moments, come to the page if even for a few minutes, or paragraphs, wherever I can. When I do have a chance, these are my favorite places to get away and write.

Where do you write? Where do you feel most productive?

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Happy Endings

By on May 20, 2016   /   Book Lists, Fiction, For Kids, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers, For Writers, Writing  

I’ve read some sad middle-grade books lately.

I mean sad.  Books about war, separation, poverty, judging, death.

It’s no secret that today’s middle-grade books tackle some serious topics, that authors aren’t afraid to stare down the very same monsters our readers face every day. After all, if children must be brave enough to travel life’s imperfect road, we must be brave enough to write about their journeys.

I used to believe that sad subjects were okay in middle-grade literature as long as there were happy endings. You know, all’s well that ends well.

But some of the books I’ve read lately didn’t have happy endings. And, since some of the books I’m going to talk about are very new, I won’t say any more than that in an effort to avoid spoiling anyone’s reading experience.

Just last week, I finished Lauren Wolk’s Wolf Hollow.

 wolf hollow

Not since William March’s The Bad Seed have I met a child antagonist as deceptive and wrong as Betty Glengarry.  Like anyone caught in the web of a narcissist’s lies, the narrator Annabelle can do little to break free of Betty’s ever-worsening cruelty. As I read, I found myself pleading for justice, fairness, and for Annabelle and others to prevail. But literature – and life – doesn’t always deliver justice and fairness and good over evil.

I also recently finished Pax by Sara Pennypacker.

pax

Okay, let’s talk sad. The book was passed along to me by an author friend I was visiting in Kansas City. I started reading in the airport and started crying on page six. Six. The heartbreaking separation of a boy and his pet  (Pax is a lovable and loving cross between man’s best friend and the most adorable house cat you can imagine  – but he’s a fox) at the very beginning was enough to make any reader believe that redemption would eventually come at the end. But literature – and life – does not always offer redemption.

So, does that mean I didn’t like these books? Or that I didn’t like their endings?

Not at all.  There’s more to a “happy” ending than joy. More than joy, I believe an ending must offer hope. And it must ring true.

Above all, it must ring true.

I can clearly remember having detailed discussions with my editor Claudia Gabel (then with Delacorte Press, now with Katherine Tegan Books) as we worked out the ending of my first middle-grade novel, The Beef Princess of Practical County. It’s a story about Libby, who raises cattle to show at the county fair. In the end, Libby’s beloved steer boards a livestock trailer for the slaughter house. It’s not the hoped-for Charlotte’s Web ending. But it has all the truth in it of a Midwest farmer’s daughter’s experience growing up on a cattle ranch. It rings true.

I promised not to talk about the endings of Wolf Hollow and Pax, so I won’t – except to say that both endings ring true.

And when we, as authors, pledge to traverse life’s imperfect road with our readers, offering truth is – in the end – the best that we can do.

Michelle Houts has written four books for middle-grade readers.  Her books have garnered an International Reading Association Award, Junior Library Guild selection, and inclusion on the Bank Street Best Books of 2014 List. She’s currently completing the first three books in a new science-minded series for younger readers, titled Lucy’s Lab (2017, Sky Pony Press).

 

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Time

By on May 4, 2016   /   For Writers, Writing  

It heals all things.
It is a conqueror.
It is of the essence
It flies.
It stands still.
It is fleeting.
It is an illusion.
It can be begged, borrowed, or stolen.
It can be lost, found, or wasted.

Time.

As writers, we all are well aware of time. It can be one of our biggest pains in the derriere. There is never enough of it, it seems, so we must constantly be aware of how we manage time to write, time to research, time to market, and time to be human.

We fight time, sure. But, we can also use time to our writing advantage. Understanding the value of time and an awareness of time in our writing is an essential and learned skill.

The classic story structure, with a beginning, a middle, and an end, is a timeline. We, as readers, are pretty much hardwired to this three-part structure and the most satisfying stories we consumed usually follow this structure. Certain narrative things happen at certain narrative times and we expect it. We’ve been grounded in this timeline for stories. We can use this structure of a linear time scale to help us create resonance in our stories and connect with our readers.

Another integral function of time is pacing. Pacing/timing can be an effective tool in any story, but is especially important to middle grade stories. Finding the proper beat of the story keeps it flowing in rhythm and helps establish the essential middle grade character voice.

At the other end of the writer/time spectrum is an awareness of middle-grade time and how it differs from the adult time. Perception of time changes with age. My 50+-year long view of time has to be reigned in and corralled when the perspective of a 10-year-old is what’s necessary. This can sometimes be a tough thing to do, but it is also a very rewarding thing to do. We get to step outside of our “oldness” and be a kid again. Do you remember time as a kid? Completely different from the hustle and bustle of adulthood.

For the old man me, time ticks by like flaps of wings, in rapid succession always moving forward. When I was a kid, time had a life of its own. Sometimes it flowed like ice-cold molasses. The slow drag of the school year or the long, dog days of summer, or waiting for the holidays. Sometimes time was a snap of a finger, like at recess or lunch, or skateboarding down the big hill at the church. Sometimes it even seemed to stand still, like night swimming or fishing with your Grandparents, or getting the game-winning hit.

So remember, time is on your side.

Use it to its maximum potential in both your creative works and when you’re working creatively.

Speaking of time, it’s time for me for get back to work on this draft.

Because, as the saying goes, “Time and tide wait for no man”. Nor woman. Nor middle grade writer.

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By User:S Sepp – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2949887

 

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