Summer Holidays

School's OUT! My kids are happy and so am I. I love this time with my kids after a busy baseball-filled spring and all the end-of-the-year school activities. This summer I am a little bit anxious about juggling my teaching, but so far it's going alright. It helps that my kids know how to entertain themselves. Plus, I've started taking an afternoon nap ... this buys me productive writing and teaching time at night.

I've also cut back on Internetty things ... I miss it, but there's not enough time in the day to do all the things I need and want to. And reading is always high on my priority ... Here are some of the books I've been reading. No luscious book covers, but you can look them up on Amazon.

Incantation by Alice Hoffmann is set during the Spanish Inquisition. The writing is beautiful and I will have to read this again to see how she does so much in so few words. I suspect it's all the right words. I have another one of her books: Indigo. Her writing is luminous.

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams was a fascinating look into a closed polygamous community through the eyes of Kyra, a 13-year-old, who is being forced into marriage to an old uncle. I wish the book had an author's note about closed communities in general and how they function and fit into the larger society.

I'm re-reading My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. Amazing, amazing book, voice, plot, everything. Can't wait to see the movie. JP is one of my favorite authors in how she manages to look at several sides of difficult issues.

I'm in the thick of What's So Great About Christianity by Dinesh D'Souza. A wonderful book that reconciles reason and belief. If you wonder about the existence of God, read this.

Enjoy your summer ... and if you don't hear from me, it's because I'm being lazy.
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An Audio Book

My book, Flowers, is going to be an audio book! A very nice man from the recording studio called to make sure he pronounces my name correctly.

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By the way, this is how you say my name:

Vee-jay-ya Khiss-tee Bo-dack.

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I miss my given middle name: Jatindrakumar. It has a lovely rhythm and rolls off the tongue once you get used to it. Here's how: Juh-tin-druh-koo-mar.

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Drama

How I wish I could film the drama in my office. The pup lies beside my feet, occasionally licking my toes with her silky soft tongue. She's very relaxed. Until the black cat comes sauntering in. The cat has to hiss and swipe at the pup to keep her space. She settles on my desk, with the puppy looking longingly at her. It's amazing to see a little cat make this big dog submissive.

Then comes my old, old cat -- the tan one. He cries the whole time. He is terrified of the pup. All he wants is to be with me. But even he manages to keep the pup off. He sits on my lap, tries to take away my pen, but never relaxes. It's too much trouble to be down here ... he goes upstairs. Pup tries to follow. I tell her to stay. She does.

The black cat leaves as well.

The pup looks at me. I pet her. She settles back at my feet. No more drama.

I'm back to correcting lessons.

I can't believe how much in demand I am. I try to give each child, each pet some one-on-one time and there are simply not enough hours in the day and night for this. Sigh.
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Naughty Cats

No plant is safe in our home. Here is my older cat, stripping leaves off the curry plant. I discovered several chewed up ones on the counter. Apparently the taste is not to his liking. We're having lovely summer weather, so I've moved the plant outside. I love having fresh flowers from the garden in the house, but unless they are in a small container, just a wee little flower or two, the cats will find them and chew on them. I wouldn't mind it if they didn't barf it up later, along with their food. When I'm in the kitchen, I can enjoy my flowers, but if I have to leave, I make sure they are put outside on the patio or in the bathroom (with the door closed). Ah, the things one must put up with.

Here's the other naughty cat, dipping her paws in the water that is for the Drinking Bird. I believe we were doing an experiment to see whether the temperature of the water changed the rate of dipping. It did.

I love these curious cats. Their purring, kneading. Treasures. My pets.

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When The Whistle Blows

Remember all those lovely books that are coming out soon? One of them is Fran Cannon Slayton's WHERE THE WHISTLE BLOWS. And I just won a copy of it on Angela's blog! I'll have to fight my son for it, but this one is mine first.

I met Franny at Chautauqua. A lovely woman who has so much heart for stories ... check out her website for more.

My friend Bish is also a winner!

Thank you Angela for having the contest and a BIG THANK YOU to Fran for writing this book.
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New Books

Head on over to the Blueboard and check out these NEW BOOKS in the Promote Your Book section. There are far too many to blog about one by one ...

Happy reading.
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Pet Cartoons

I just came across delightful pet cartoons on Doctor Bob's blog. I'm feeling too lazy to imbed a video so will give you the link: Simon's Cat.

Enjoy!
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Rachel

I've just finished two memoirs by Jane Bernstein about her daughter, Rachel.

Loving Rachel chronicles the first years of her life, when the family discovers that Rachel was born blind. Rachel suffers from seizures and the prognosis is poor. She could be developmentally disabled as well. It is the most honest book I've ever read about raising a child with any disability. And yet, there is hope and joy mixed with the sorrow of having a child who will not do the same things as other children. I cannot imagine the will it took for Jane to write this book while facing crisis after crisis.

A child with disabilities grows up into an adult with disabilities. Rachel in the World spans her childhood, adolescence and emerging adulthood. Like any 21-year-old, Rachel yearns to be independent of her mother and her numerous rules. I didn't realize how few options there are for adults with disabilities. This book was nowhere near as charming as the first memoir when Rachel was a cute baby and toddler. This book made me face harsh realities. I cannot even imagine the worry of entrusting your adult disabled child to the world. What will happen to them? Can society be trusted to give them the dignity and respect they deserve? The love and care and companionship they crave? Or will they be cast into isolation?

I do believe that as a society we are obligated to take care of those who cannot care for themselves. In many countries, disabled children are often left alone to figure out the world for themselves or worse, left to die. It is heartening to know that in the US, there are social programs to help integrate these children into regular schools, that there are programs for adults as well. But like anything, money is short and the needy many.

If you are interested in parenting a disabled child, I highly recommend these books.
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On Plotting

At our conference, I attended two workshops that both ended up on strengthening plot. Lisa Papademetriou (Don't you just love her last name? I do.), talked about being your own editor. She is an excellent speaker, engaged us immediately and set us to work. She asked us to make sure that our stories have a backbone, a structure.

Is there an inciting incident? What is the problem your character is facing?
Is there rising action? Is your character solving the problems and getting into new ones, raising the stakes every time?
Is there a climax?
A resolution?
Denouement?

You must be able to identify the parts of the story. As storytellers, we naturally place characters in situations where they get into trouble, but the important thing is to make sure the story is logical. It's not always easy to make the ending inevitable, yet surprising. But the paybacks are huge.

She's a huge proponent of outlining. I am too. I find that outlines help me to stay on track.

Michael Stearns also spoke about plotting, particularly on generating tension. Ways to this:
Add a clock. Deadlines of any kind add tension.
Hide the why of the story. Reveal slowly.
Take full advantage of subplots.
Know what's pulling or pushing your characters.
Take advantage of the fact that everybody lies!
Follow through on every action. Action leads to reaction.
Be as mean as possible to your characters. That's right. Hurt the bunnies.

Here's a helpful sheet that Lois Peterson made using The Writer's Journey by Christopher Vogler, Brent Sampson's Nine Steps for Plotting Fiction and the classic 3-act structure.

Happy Plotting.
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Feed Your Genius!

Here I am with Peggy King Anderson. My writing journey begins with her ... she was my very first teacher (as a grown up, when I had forgotten how to write creatively) and I will always thank God for that. She brings out the best in all her students.






Here we are waiting for our wonderful Indian food to arrive, the blueboarders: Rachel, Elissa, Linda, Deb, Jeannie (I hope that's right), Denise, Laurie and Deb. So much fun to meet these ladies and talk shop. Denise has just sold her book, LOSING FAITH, and I'm looking forward to reading it. Thank you all for coming.

Grace Lin was gracious enough to stand with me right after her keynote speech so that I could have this souvenir. My kids are practically growing up on her books and I am so thankful for them and Grace.

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