Journey of Little Thief! Chota Chor!

I'm so excited to share my newest picture book with you all. It's Little Thief! or Chota Chor! in Hindi. Based on a real experience when I was a child in India, I wrote about it 18 years ago for my ICL Assignment 3, a description of a place we remember using all five senses. More on this later. 

So I wrote about the time I awoke in the middle of the night to my mother screaming, "Chor! Chor!" The door to our home was thrown wide open; we were terrified. The thief got away with a few things--my mother's watch, money, and a box of river rocks that my sister and I had collected. The thief also dragged a suitcase of our clothes outside and we were most worried he might've taken our American panties. Priorities! We had returned to India just a few months prior after living in the US for a year and loved our ultra-thin, ultra-comfortable, elasticized American underwear. My sister and I laughed in relief to find our precious panties, then laughed about those rocks; we imagined the thief opening the cardboard box and getting mad. Serves him right, we thought. 

Fast forward to 2017. There was a call for diverse stories on the SCBWI Blueboard from Benchmark Education. They were starting a trade imprint, Reycraft Books, with a focus on #ownvoices stories. I sent them a couple. No cigar. So I revised this memory with an outcome I've always dreamed of...and it was accepted! We went through several rounds of revision. One day I hope to do a revision workshop with Eileen Robinson, my editor. She is phenomenal. If she's ever teaching near you, sign up. You will learn so much. She asks the best questions and of course, it is in the answering that one finds the better path. My new Charleston critique partners gave me valuable suggestions too--Andrew Barton, Muffet Frische, Rebecca Ivester, and Mo Morris. Thank you! I hope we can meet soon. I miss you.

I received e-galleys earlier this year and was I blown away by the art! The colors are so vibrant. Although the story takes place at night, it's not a dark book. It's filled with light and shadows--and just look at those shadows--how menacing they can be! Now my husband finally understands why I still sleep-walk and talk. I love how the artist Nayantara Surendranath, captured the imagination of my child-self.

So about that ICL assignment 3: Memories are great but I discovered that adapting this to the present moment is a very easy way to work yourself out of writer's block, if it happens. Focus on the concrete without any judgments. Allow the words to flow and in a little while, you'll make connections with other things swirling in your head. I find that my blocks almost always occur because I have too many things on my mind and if I can tease out one thread, I can be very focused. I know that every writer is different but it's something to try. 

And now, I just have to share my wonderful instructor's response: I must confess that I was quite dazzled by this piece of work--which is more a description of an event than a place, but I'm certainly not about to quibble about that. What makes this piece especially fine is the quality and quantity of specific, concrete sensory impressions that you've woven into it; pots aren't merely stacked in a corner, they are "nested inside each other"; cockroaches aren't simply big, but are "the size of baby mice" (eeek!); Mother's purse isn't soft, but "soft as a moss growing on tree bark"--all of which provoke images in a reader's mind that stick there. 

She went on to make minor suggestions with big impact--word choice--with instructions for the next assignment, and ended with: Marvelous! I loved every word...  Such wonderful encouragement. I have learned to teach writing from one of the BEST. Pat Calvert, thank you! 

Don't be Buffaloed

My student's story, Cowgirl Morning, not only debuted in Cricket, it made the cover! Isn't it stunning? I must get a copy of it this weekend. Luckily, my local Borders carries the magazine. So after my daughter's soccer game, we shall make a stop. By the way, their team is doing awesome in the playoffs! Go Colorblind Purple Pumas! (Long story).

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Congratulations to Bryn Fleming!

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Teaching is such a joy for me. And not just because of successes like these. Every student has a deep desire to share stories and these are stories that only they can write. They are self-selected population who come through ICL -- from grandmothers to high school students. Some have a great deal of experience, others not so. But the journey they begin here, the tools they learn, will last them for their writing life. It's lovely to take a part in making dreams come true.

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A Budding Teacher

Every morning, I tidy up a little bit before sitting down with a cup of tea. Here's a piece of scrap paper that I have to share with you all. I don't have a scanner, so I will type this up, creative spelling and all. Looks like my eight-year-old daughter is absorbing the art of writing editorial letters:

Hello,

My name is Daughter. It is a plesure to be teaching you this year. I look foraward to sucsess. Your desk s will always be where they are right now. You will never be able to see my body, head, shape, or size. Right now please work on page 3 of the papers. It tells you exatly what to doo. And rember, behave! I am watching every move you make. I hope you are looking forawd to the new school year too.

Sincerly,
Daughter

Well, there you go! My budding teacher. She's much tougher than I am.

Oh, I forgot to add that when my kids were little, they'd send rejection letters to each other when they were mad. It's funny what kids pick up when they live with writer-moms.
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Teaching

I've just returned from an intensive training session at the Institute of Children's Literature (ICL). I took their basic course several years ago. Loved it. Loved my instructor -- my mentor, really. And I can see why after meeting the wonderful folks at ICL. Now I'll be joining them in making dreams come true. So bring me an apple! I'm ready to teach.

I've been teaching in some form or another since I was kid. I started teaching English to my friends who didn't speak it in India. I taught them bad words and incorrect meanings for hilarious results. But even with all the monkey business, I managed to teach my friends a decent amount of correct English. In high school, I continued to help ESL students (no monkey business) but also started tutoring kids in science and math. During the college years I taught organic chemistry. I was set for a career in academia but I never knew how much I'd want to stay home with my children. And I reclaimed an old love -- writing.

And as a mother, I'm never not teaching ... But I do regular teaching as well, writing and science workshops in my children's classes, writing workshops for adults who want to write for children. So I'm not surprised that my writing journey is leading me back to ICL.

The best part? I can do it in my pajamas.

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Conference Perspectives

I was touched to meet many people from the conference who introduced themselves to me and told me that they had written a nonfiction article or a poem or a story, that they sent it out. And now are waiting for a response. It takes courage to put your work out there. So Bravo! Some people told me of their acceptances. Thank you so much for sharing your success.

You see, last year, I did a workshop in Bellingham on writing Tantalizaing Truths. It was a small group of very talented writers, with varied backgrounds. They were eager, took notes furiously and did a number of exercises. I very much wanted them to finish what they had started, so I made sure to talk about middles and endings as well. They went home and did the hard work of finishing, polishing their pieces. And a year later ... they are published!

I presented a more general talk on magazine writing two months ago and again, I am so happy that the attendees finished what they started at the talk. One got a speedy acceptances (note the plural) from Highlights! How cool is that?

I am so happy to know that a little prod and encouragement from me has resulted in so many people finishing their pieces and sending them out. It's a big step. Congratulations!

Meeting and talking to you was another of my highlights of this conference.

Since I probably won't have time to do another post for quite some time (you'll find out why later), I will direct you to my fellow attendees at the SCBWI conference who have blogged about the conference: Molly, Rachel, Linda, and Annette.

Happy Reading and Writing.

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