Apr 30, 2012

Inventory! What's inside a writer's bag

If I were to clean out the bag I carry to writer's group every Tuesday,  here is what I would find:

- 3 notepads
- 3 pens
- extra pair of reading glasses
- cute little case of tiny office implements (never opened)
- a list of group members' phone numbers and addresses
- a quotation from Flaubert: "It is a delicious thing to write, to be no longer yourself but to move in an entire universe of your own creating." (Thank you, Susan)
- a copy of my first-ever submitted manuscript, attached to corresponding first-ever rejection letter, circa 1997 (Thank you, Highlights for Children).
- a small stack of Brixen Witch bookmarks to share.
- mini pack of Kleenex (empty)
- Post Office receipt from last November
- receipt for Girl Scout cookies (3 boxes, yum!)
- brochure for a local book festival (last year's)
- 3 Hersheys kisses
- paper clips
- Tic Tacs
- allergy eyedrops (kitties come to the meetings!)
- rubber bands
- a group photo from last summer's annual garden luncheon :)
- half-empty water bottle of questionable age
- 9 copies of last week's WIP chapter, with comments

What's in YOUR writer's bag??

Apr 26, 2012

Top ten reasons why I love Missouri librarians




1. They can keep a 750-attendee conference running as smoothly as if they did it every day.

2. They treat books like treasures, and authors like rock stars, even after you show them photos of yourself as a goofy little kid with a book in your lap.

3. Their passion for sinfully rich chocolate cake.

4. They can keep a tech-challenged author from fluttering around like a nervous idiot when she doesn't know how to connect her computer to the PowerPoint projector--because they know exactly how to get her connected.

5. Their cool Hunger Games necklaces.


6. Their touching stories of how their middle school students, many of them responsible for younger siblings, sympathized with Victoria in Jump the Cracks because of their common bond as caretakers for little kids.

7. They know how to dress for a party.

8. Their beautiful paper flowers made from "shredded books" (but not real books!)

9. They introduce you to other authors who you've admired from afar (hiya Kirby Larson and Lisa McMann!), and who also turn out to be lovely, fun people.

10. They value kids, and prove it, by giving them places of honor at a fancy banquet.

Thank you to MASL, the Missouri Association of School Librarians, for inviting me to your 2012 spring conference! I'll never forget it!

Apr 4, 2012

Something to think about

Here's a bit of writing advice that strikes a cord with me. How about you?

If a scene or a section gets the better of you and you still think you want it—bypass it and go on. When you have finished the whole you can come back to it and then you may find that the reason it gave trouble is because it didn’t belong there.
-- John Steinbeck