IN WHICH I MENTION TWEEZERS

Diane over at The Book Resort is featuring a "Tenners Extravaganza" this month, and today I'm up! If you want to know how tweezers play into it, check it out. And while you're there, check out all the other great Tenner interviews!

Meanwhile, I am pushing my way through the last forty pages of Excellent Editor's edits on ESCAPE FROM FIRE MOUNTAIN. Huge changes going on... I'm at that point where my mind is working way faster than my fingers. This could be because I have been so busy catching up from my lovely long weekend, that I haven't had all that much time to be here, at the computer.

Today. I promise.

THANKFUL THURSDAY

1. My nephew Christopher who fell down a ventilator shaft six weeks ago comes home from the hospital today!

2. My mom is here. Fabric has been bought and as soon as possible the sewing machine will be humming.

3. We leave for Lake Guntersville today, where my amazing sister and sister-in-law will join us for scrapbooking and photography and food and other fun I probably shouldn't mention here.

4. My 2010 calendar is positively bulging! Thank you teachers and media specialists and parents who've invited me for school visits. It's gonna be fun!

5. My mouth is still garlicky from the spanakopita and other Greek wonderfulness I shared with Lindsey Leavitt and Kerry Madden at Do Di Yos. Yum!

U IS FOR US

Continuing with the Author ABCs...

As much as we writers spend time alone at a keyboard (or notebook or whatever), being an author is really about collaboration -- about taking the "me" and turning it into an "us."

This is not always easy, because let's face it, we writers generally like solitary. But when you get lucky and there's an agent whispering in your ear, or God bless you, and Excellent Editor, oh my, that is when the magic happens.

I really had no idea how much trust is involved in the Author/Editor relationship, or how the simple act of someone caring enough about my story to ask questions and make insightful comments would help that story become so much more.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, ignore that fierce desire to hold your story close to you and not change a thing. Allow the US to happen. You will look back on the experience with such joy and gratitude as you watch your story-seeds grow under all that Excellent Editor TLC.

And here's something else: as hard as it is, especially if your are introverted like me, involve others in your process. Tell people what you're doing, even when it's in the early stages. Let them be a part of your adventure. People will care about your project if only you'll invite them in...

picture found here

MEET THE CHARACTERS

Well, we have a winner of the GO YOUR OWN WAY HALL OF FAME CONTEST. But before we get to that, I want to share some pictures with you.

First, here's the whole class dressed up like characters from LEAVING GEE'S BEND. Don't they look wonderful?!

Here are some who chose to dress like Mama or Daddy or Baby Rose:

Next up, we have Ludelphia Bennett, the hero of our story:

Then Ludelphia's brother, Ruben, who has a secret:

Watch out for Mrs. Cobb and that shotgun!

Now meet Etta Mae, aka "the girl in the yellow dress":

And last but not least, Doc Nelson and Mrs. Nelson (Ludelphia meets them in Camden):


I was so touched to see so much creativity and enthusiasm from Mrs. Young and these kids! What a special day. Thank you, Mrs. Young's Yacht Club!!!

And now, drumroll please: the last ARC of LEAVING GEE'S BEND goes to... GLENDA BYARS of Gadsden, Alabama!! And I'll be sending $52 to the Gee's Bend Foundation. Thanks, everyone, for your wonderful suggestions! I will continue to invite nominations to the GO YOUR OWN WAY HALL OF FAME, and you can find the latest list here.

LAST CALL: GO YOUR OWN WAY HALL OF FAME

Mary Lee Bendolph, Bars and Blocks, 2003

Quick update, as call to nominate a character in a book or real life who goes his/her own way and possibly win an ARC of LEAVING GEE'S BEND ends November 1!

Newest additions:

BOOKS

Anne Shirley (ANNE OF GREEN GABLES by L.M. Montgomery)
Christy Huddleston (CHRISTY by Catherine Marshall)


REAL LIFE

Father James Edwin Coyle

Complete list (so far) here. Thanks, everyone, for your participation! And don't forget: for every entry I am donating $1.00 to the Gee's Bend Foundation!

LETTERS FROM MY FIRST READERS!

Mrs. Young at Inverness Elementary School has been a dear friend and champion of my writing for a long time, so it just seems right that she should be the one to introduce the world to Ludelphia and LEAVING GEE'S BEND.

Here's some examples of what they sent me:

A drawing of "The Witches of Gee's Bend"


A drawing of "The Red Cross"


And here are some quotes:

My favorite part was "When Ludelphia was in Mrs. Cobb's barn."

Something new I learned was "never ever run away from home. Gee's Bend is a real place. every Quilt tells a story."

Something I have in common with Ludelphia is "She keeps sekrets like me. I take care of my sister. i help my mom."

If I could tell my story in a quilt, I would use this kind of cloth: "1. Velvet 2. soft 3. cotten"

Sweetness, I tell you! And tomorrow the whole class is dressing up like characters from LEAVING GEE'S BEND for "Dress Like a Book Character" Day for the Anti-Drug Campaign! Will share pictures.

THANK YOU, JAN!!!!

T IS FOR TELL

Continuing with the Author ABCs...

We writers get all sorts of advice, and some of is even good. But it can also us astray.

For instance, the whole bit about action, how we've got to get in there and hook our reader, and keep things happening so they'll keep turning the pages.

Well, one of the biggest things I had to work on in revisions of LEAVING GEE'S BEND was too much action, not enough breathing space. Which is where the "tell" part of writing comes in. So my readers wouldn't be overwhelmed by all that action, so they would be able to process it and not feel like they were on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. I mean a wild ride is great and all, but you've got to take time afterward to recover. Use this space to tell the reader how your character is feeling, what they're thinking, what they see, hear, touch, taste. This is every bit as important as showing.

And it brings to mind something else on my Bucket List: take a class on storytelling. The verbal art of engaging people in a story. I want to be able to do that. Meanwhile, I'll keeping listening to Kathryn Tucker Windham. Her CD "God was Just Practicing When He Made Men" is one of my all-time favorites.