In case you’re about to write a novel, but can’t find the perfect topic, the news has come to the rescue once again. You can read the BBC story here. (Thanks to Boing Boing for the link.) Couple in Sicily murders man with slab of butter.
No, really. You can thank me later on your acknowledgements page.
I’m about 10 pages away from having a finished first draft of my novel. There’s lots of work still to do — big sections to revise, issues to add, scenes (and scenes and scenes) to rewrite. But still. A draft! Almost done! I feel like I should get a Girl Guide badge. Or at least a box of cookies.
I thought I should tell you about my friend Deborah Hodge’s new book, in case you wanted to grab that one while you’re at the bookstore getting 50 Poisonous Questions.
Debbie’s one of my favorite non-fiction writers for young children, and this new book arrives just as my kids and I start thinking about what to grow in our backyard pots and baskets this spring. (Although the cover’s already making me wish I had an apple tree. And kids who will eat apple skins.)
It’s here! Please feel free to head out immediately to your local bookstore and buy multiple copies for your friends, family members, and pets.
There’s a chance I’ll be stuttering live on CBC TV tonight, sometime between 5:30 and 6. Apparently, a guy in Alberta wore his jeans for 15 months without washing them, and then the University of Alberta tested the bacteria levels. I’m the counterpoint expert on blue jeans.
Wish me luck, and blemish-free skin.
I’m having fiction vs. non-fiction issues right now, as I squirrel away at a fiction project and conveniently ignore both my own non-fiction idea and one which my publisher just sent me. My excuses for this are as follows:
The problems are as follows:
Hmmm… this is three “nays” for non-fiction and only two “yays,” by my count.
I’m glad we had this talk.
In the process of writing 50 Underwear Questions last year (to be published this fall), I learned about a woman named Amelia Bloomer. She lived in the state of New York and, in 1851, shocked pretty much her entire country by wearing pantaloons. Outside. On the street.
It had all started quite innocently, when Amelia began writing letters to her local paper, wondering why women had to wear floor-length dresses while men could wander the world in pants. Why the double standard? Shortly after, cousins Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Elizabeth Smith Miller knocked on Amelia’s door. They had an idea, and they thought Amelia might like it. They’d been designing their idea of the perfect day-wear for modern women. Basing their creations on loose Turkish trousers, they had sewn pairs of cotton pantaloons that flared modestly around the legs, then gathered neatly at the ankles.
And off went Amelia to model them on the street and give the world its first glimpse of “bloomers.”
You can’t help admiring someone who wore Turkish trousers in a sea of full skirts. It would be like deciding to go to school in your nightgown, or showing up for work in your housecoat.
So, in honor of the woman who helped make it possible for me to work in my blue jeans, I bring you this link to the Amelia Bloomer Project, an annual collection of children’s books for the young feminist.
Thank you to Kate Coombs for the link!
I love getting letters from students who have read my work. Just before Christmas, I received my favourite letter of all time, from a boy in Tempe, Arizona, who had read Truth. Here are a few excerpts:
“When I cracked the book open I felt like a spore being sucked by a black hole into a universe of pure joy and imagination.”
and…
“I can relate to Ross because he’s buff and works out a lot but doesn’t play sports and goes to a ton of radical parties. He also organizes most of the Fairfield’s parties and where ever he goes the party goes just like me, but my swag is on a completely different level. Like if he was on level 10 I would be on level one billion.”
If this was a “write a letter to an author” class assignment, I hope James got full marks.
Okay, I know I have to stop watching these Xtranormal cartoons, but this one cracked me up because I’ve had this EXACT conversation about six billion times. I think I’ve even had it with my husband. It ranks second only to the “why don’t you make your books longer so you can sell them for adults” question. Also a winner.
Incidentally, the Amazon ranking for 50 Burning Questions is #1,448,393.
Two highly talented members of my writing group are teaching courses this fall. Rachelle Delaney is teaching The Personal Narrative and Writing for Children at Vancouver Community College, and Kallie George is teaching Workshop Your Children’s Picture Book through Continuing Education at Capilano University. What better way to get your gears turning?