So far so good

I am 2 1/2 days into my first "writer's retreat" and so far so good.  

Did you like meeting Alma yesterday?  How many of you want to be Alma?  I know I will be quite happy if I can scale a stockade fence when I'm her age.  Don't worry.  She's still there in all her grumpy glory.  She just doesn't get to open the story any more.  

Alma may have been toned down a bit but Ella Grace is rising to the top.  She is the youngest of four children and the little girl her mother dreamed of.  Sort of.  You can dress Ella Grace up in ribbons and bows, smocking and pinafores but you can't hold her back.  She is in kindergarten yet she can trade paint pretty well with her 4th grade brother Leo and her 3rd grade cousin Arnold. 

Chapter Three of The Stolen Swarm popped out of the printer around 10 pm last night.  

Notes for Chapter 4 fell into the bath tub around 11 pm but it's all good.  This is why an ultra fine point Sharpie is my favorite pen in the whole wide world.  

The nice perky blue Sharpie I bought yesterday and the new creature mug my sister Catherine gave me are keeping me from taking myself too seriously as buckle down and churn out the chapters.    

I have a day and a half left in my retreat and 11 chapters to go.  Let the self bribery begin!  As soon as I finish Chapter 5 I get to go Mama's Coffee House and work on chapters 6 and 7.  

Writer's Retreat

Vi loves the idea of a writer's retreat.  She hates to share.

The stars aligned and I managed to get four days to myself for a writer's retreat.  Hurray!

Putting this weekend on the calendar was a great way to clear off my desk.  I finally got the Science Time trunks inventoried.  The Titus and Annie revisions are done at long last.  Now I can focus on a big task and see just what I can do with a big chunk of time.

Inventory is a Fancy Nancy Word for cleanning up.

I'm taking another run at The Stolen Swarm, Leo and Arnold and the Mysteries of the Vinyl Village.  Last night I outlined the chapters and solved the mystery.  Today I am putting flesh on the bones.  This means that some parts of my first attempt are getting savagely cut away.

My first pass at this project was too "Penderwicky."  It pains me that this is and adjective for long winded and almost purple prose because I absolutely adore the Penderwicks.  They are such a joy to read outloud to the children and I can't wait for Jeanne Birdsall to come out with the fourth book.

But the Penderwicks are not chapter books and I am trying to write chapter books.

With this second pass, I'm aiming for more something more Marty McGuire and Clementine.  The goal is to end up around 10,000 words with 14 chapters not to be more than 700 words each.

Before I delete the "Alma Introduction" forever, I feel I have to honor her and share.

My junior beekeeper inspired the story.

Enter Alma

Alma Pearson stood in the woods behind her house staring at a section of stockade fence. She was carrying a metal bucket and being careful not to spill its contents.

Alma was sure this was the way she needed to go. She just wasn't sure how a 5 foot tall woman with 75 years behind her was supposed to climb that 7 foot tall fence. Never mind the bucket in her hand. To the left and right of her were only more sections of fence in varying shades of stain, each one just as high as the next.

She snorted in frustration. Going around was not an option. That would take too long. Alma did not want to lose the trail.

“At least they put this fence in backwards,” she grumbled. “Small courtesy, that.”

Alma tucked the handle of the bucket securely into her elbow and grabbed hold of the fence as high as she could reach. This wasn't very far. Even for 5 feet tall, Alma was small but she was wiry. There wasn't much of her to haul up and over.

“Used to be folks put the pretty side of a fence facing out to the neighbors. Put your best foot forward,” she growled, even though the fence's discourteous installation was making it easier for her to climb. Three horizontal boards holding the pickets together made a rough ladder.

“Now everyone wants the best for themselves. Let the neighbors deal with the backside of things,” she puffed as she rested astride the top of the fence.

The bucket clanked and sloshed as she started down the other side. Alma swore under her breath. The bucket was almost empty but she couldn't turn back. There was no way she could climb up the smooth side of the fence.

Across the street in the Meyer's front yard, Bobo woke up from his nap with a snuffling start.

Bobo was a six year old hound dog of mixed sorts and in his world, loud metallic clanks meant food scoops plunging into buckets of kibble.

Drooling, Bobo lumbered to the end of the driveway sniffing the air. His fourth grade master Leo watched.

“Where you going Bobo?” Leo dribbled a basketball, waiting to see what his four legged best friend would do next.

“Hey, look.” Leo's cousin Arnold pointed to the house across the street. An old lady in baggy overalls was closing the gate to the neighbors backyard.

Leo looked. He had never seen the woman before but this wasn't such a big deal.

He and Arnold lived in the same neighborhood, Worthington Flats, but his house was on another street. So even though Leo had been more time at his cousin Arnold's house lately, he didn't know everyone on the street.

Leo looked at Bobo to see if he should be concerned. He considered his dog to be an excellent judge of character.

Bobo didn't care. He was already asleep again, sprawled on his side at the end of the driveway. No food means no eating which means more napping. Bobo's life was simple. He hadn't even bothered to wander back to his spot in the grass.

“So?” Leo shrugged and passed the ball to Arnold. “Want to play Around the World or HORSE?”

“Whatever,” Arnold bounced the ball back to Leo without looking. Not only was the person across the street a stranger, she was starting to act strange.

The woman stood in front of the gate with the bucket at her feet and her hands on her hips like she was expecting something. She was staring straight at the boys yet she did not seem to notice them. There was something else she was looking for. She must have found it because suddenly she snatched up her bucket and walked out into the front yard.

“What do you think she is doing?” asked Arnold.

Leo stopped dribbling and turned his attention to the old woman. Now she was standing in the neighbors lawn just looking off into space. She grunted at something, grabbed the bucket and marched right towards the boys.

Arnold gulped. He was in third grade but still, he was glad Leo was here. This was the type of strange that starts to get scary.

Bobo lifted his head up hopefully when the bucket clattered down in front of the Meyers' mailbox.

Alma noticed the dog.

“Don't even think about it,” she growled at him.

Bobo sighed and put his head down on his paws.

“Good dog,” Alma nodded at him. She knew dogs.

“Excuse me?” Leo was the older of the cousins and, having two big brothers, he was also the bolder. “What are you doing?”

Now Alma noticed the boys. She blew a half snort half sigh before answering. She was better with dogs than children.

“I'm lining bees,” she snapped.

A bee flew up to her bucket and hovered around the rim. When the bee flew off, Alma followed with her bucket.

“Why?” asked Arnold when she put the bucket down near the tree in his front yard.

“Never you mind.” Alma kept her eyes on the bee. If she didn't look at them, maybe the boys would go away.

“What does that mean?” challenged Leo. No one blew off his cousin.

“It means . . . Leave me alone and I'll be on my way.”

“No,” persisted Arnold. “What does lining bees mean?”

Alma gave the boys her best withering look. The little one looked away but the tall one held her gaze. That meant she had to answer him.

“It means,” she spat reluctantly, “that someone stole my bees.”

With that she made her halting way up the street.

My bees bearding on a hot day.

Reintroduction

Yes, the cat clinging to the window screen is a mea culpa for falling behind on the blog. It's been so long I feel the need to reintroduce myself.

Welcome to the Garden of Good Intentions.  

I live with a husband, a son, a daughter, a beagle brained German shepherd mutt, three cats, one lonely fish in a large tank, seven turtles and two preying mantis oothecas soon to hatch.

I used to work in the cataloging department of a university library, covet dishes and sell fun kitchen gadgets at a Mom and Pop William's and Sonoma type store and teach Composition and Humanities courses at the University of Central Florida.

Now, when I'm not herding cats and parenting two kids 8 and 10, I write for elementary aged kids.  

At the moment, I have three main works in progress.  

Titus and Annie is a chapter book about two precocious only children, 3rd grade and Kindergarden. They are a lot of fun and if you scroll through some of the older blog entries you can see pictures of the characters drawn by my talented sister Catherine Gurri.

I'm almost done with the latest revisions so look forward to muttered and veiled comments about being in the throes of the query process.

The Stolen Swarm is another chapter book featuring Leo and Arnold, 3rd and 4th grade detectives who run around solving mysteries in their vinyl village.

This project stalled out for a while until I heard some great advice at SCBWI Carolinas. If you're not sure about the point of view in a project, try switching it. I put the first two chapters into first person and the text started to sing. Awkward moments melted and the pace quickened. Can't wait to roll up my sleeves and finish the first draft.

My latest WIP is a picture book, The Papalote Magico, I am ghost writing for Rosalia Torres Weiner, a wonderful muralist and co founder of Project Art Aid. She has more irons in the fire than I do. The book is to be a companion to her Papalote Project workshops that bring art therapy and understanding to children who have suffered a loss due to deportation.  Learn more at http://www.papaloteproject.org/.

I finished the first draft of Papalote Magico yesterday. Tomorrow I meet with Rosalia to story board the illustrations and liposuction 1000 or so words out of the text.

Rosalia and I met at Mama's Coffee House. Eli said I needed to meet Rosalia because we should write a book together. Boy was she right. Always listen to Mama.

Queen City Soup voting tokens. 

Through Rosalia, I joined Project Art Aid, a non profit organization dedicated to community service through the arts. According to the PAA website, I am their Director of Communications and one of the organizers for PAA's microgrant program, Queen City Soup. However, I prefer "Word Nerd" or "Props Department."

This is me, at the moment. Who knows what 2013 will bring.

One of my New Years Resolutions is to formalize my blog a bit more. For now this means I'm going to sign off each time with a list of the books on my night stand. Feel free to chime in with what your reading.

From the Nightstand:

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Garment of Shadows by Laurie R. King

There's A Boy In The Girls Bathroom by Louis Sachar

Salamandastron by Brian Jacques

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

Marty Maguire Digs Worms! by Kate Messner  

Happy New Year

It was a great Winter Break but gosh I'm glad the kids are back in school today.  Time to make coffee and get to work.

Taxonomy 101

The school year has now truly begun. I taught my first Science Time classes on Monday and Tuesday. The weekly routine is complete and I don't have any more excuses to prevent me from submerging into this whole writing business. So here I blog.

Science Time started when my friend Peggy called two years ago and asked if I wanted to teach an after school preschool science program. Sure. Why not? Sounds like a good endeavor for someone who wants to write chapter books for children.

Now Peggy and I are business partners going into our third year of Science Time. My study is littered with plastic specimen jars, bug cages, googley eyes and pipe cleaners.

Usually Boxer and her children star in the first class because even the most teary eyed hesitant young three year old will crack a smile and laugh when a box turtle poops in their hand. I know my audience.

I gave the turtles a break this year because Boxer is a.w.o.l. and I hate pausing class to wash my hands.

Peggy and I taught Taxonomy 101. Can three's and four's get this? Yes. Scientists study things by sorting. So do preschoolers. We sorted each other and sorted crayons before moving on to the good stuff: cold blooded vs. warm blooded animals.

The secret to a successful Science Time class is a bullet proof message. No matter what, some part of the message needs to make it home to the parents. Even if a turtle did poop on the teacher and that's all the kids want to talk about.

This week we made a set of animal cards cut from brown paper bags with pictures glued on them. Not only is this material recycled it is durable. We punched holes in the cards and reinforced them just in case.

While the kids colored, I handed out the cards one at a time. Repetition is the key. Each time we went over what makes that animal warm blooded or cold blooded.

When we were done going through all 10 cards, the children strung them on a pipe cleaner, making a nice neat package to carry home.

The rest of the class was filled with playing the game. I would ask them to go through their cards and find a two legged warm blooded animal or a cold blooded animal with no legs. They loved it.

Next week we are teaching All Turtles Great and Small whether Boxer comes back or not.

Rules for Falling Behind on a Blog

The first rule for falling behind on your blog is don't talk about falling behind on your blog.

No one wants to hear why you are behind.

The second rule for falling behind on your blog is don't talk about falling behind on the blog.  

Just admit that you stumbled into a worm hole and get over it.

The third rule for falling behind on your blog is post a picture of a cat and move on.

Boxing up the Herb Garden

The backyard is slowly undergoing a total redo.  The end results will be an undulating patio with a pergola, grilling station and scattered seating.  

This means I finally get to tear down the weird detached deck built by the previous owners.  It is more dock or dais then deck.  Standing on the vile thing, I feel like I'm on a watch tower looking into the neighbors yards.  

Before the despised deck can go, I need to make a temporary space for the grill and table.  We don't want to sacrifice nice evenings outside for a prolonged construction project. 

Step 1.  Move the herb garden.  This will let me use pavers to extend the small patio off the back door. 

But I don't know where the new herb garden will be.  So I am building moving crates out of garage scraps.  Lining the crates with newspaper let's me easily shuffle my homeless herbs around or give them up for adoption.  

If you need mint, lemon balm, oregano or catnip, let me know.