So I went back to work. My second week in the Philippines was spent at Brent International School's Subic Bay campus, which holds classes in the old naval base elementary school. Students had prepared for my visit.
Finding fourth-grader Ramon in the library later in the week. "I'm the first person to check out Countdown!" Great, Ramon! "What'cha reading right now?"
Wowee. Ramon's teacher later told me Ramon has checked
out of the library over and over again. He was so proud to be sitting in the middle school library reading, instead of in the lower school library. "I like the books here," he said. You go, Ramon.
. It was fabulous!
Heading out of the Subic compound and into the city of Olangapo with librarians Angelo Fernandez and Rose Austria.
our jeepney! I sat right up front behind the passenger seat and forked over my fare.
In the past two weeks, I've worked with teachers at Harding University, and I've hung out with the 7th-grade girls at Heritage School in Newnan, Georgia, talking about Countdown. I've had lunch with Ralph Abernathy III and my friend Jane, and I have photos from all these fabulous moments.
But I've not been able to concentrate on much else this past week but the trip to the Philippines that I'm about to begin. I'm checked in. I fly to Detroit in an hour. Then on to Japan. Then to Manila. It will take me the better part of 24 hours, and I've brought:
My novel. Enough said.
My knitting. Enough for three hats, two washcloths, and a few odds and ends.
Five audio books on my Zune:
--
Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
--
Charles & Emma by Deborah Heiligman
--
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
--
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
--
The Secret Pleasures of Menopause by Christiane Northrup
(See how secure I am in my own self that I can even mention the last title? I saw that book at my library's website and said out loud, "Please, God, let there be some." hahahahaha!)
-- A movie rented from Netflix: Get Low with Robert Duvall and Bill Murray.
-- Tylenol PM and two Nyquil (a friend's recommendation, not to be taken together, of course).
-- A Bucky pillow -- neck pillow filled with buckwheat. A new purchase.
Do you think I'm ready?
It's not just the international flight that's had me pre-occupied. It's the fact that, the last time I flew internationally away from this country, I flew to.... the Philippines.
I looked like this, that year.
I don't look like that anymore.
Forty years later, I'm returning to the Philippines. I will work in Manila and at Subic Bay for two weeks, at Brent American School. On the weekend, I'm going back to Clark Air Base. To Wagner High School. I'm going back in time.
Just like I did with
Countdown, I'm revisiting my past with an eye toward a story. That's not the only reason, of course, but it's always one reason, for me. I'm going back into the eye of the story, to find out who I was in 1971, to discover what happened to that girl, that year, what happened after that, and to fig
I've been re-reading Pema Chodron's good book, When Things Fall Apart. One has time to do such things when illness falls and not much else can be done but lie abed and dream about the day, three weeks hence, when the body and mind come together enough to work well again.
I last read this book ten years ago, when my publishing career was just beginning, and my 23-year marriage was ending. My meditation teacher gave it to me. It was too dense for me then, but today it resonates, especially the advice to "lean into the sharp points," to name them with tenderness and loving-kindness. Then, to embrace the not-knowing; to give up control altogether and let concepts and ideals fall apart.
For the past ten years, I have been busy working toward the way a publishing career "ought to be," telling myself that "as soon as I'm home long enough, I can write," and "if I were home more, I'd write more and better," and "I'm really not a teacher; I'm a writer," and generally railing against the travel and time away from home, without fully appreciating the many gifts it has given me.
What has it given me? Well,
for starters: A way to make a living. Good friends. Excellent teaching and speaking practice. It has honed my skills. It has taught me that I am not alone. It has given me stories to tell. It has given me great happiness, yes it has. I can see this when I don't concentrate on the deadlines for the books ahead, therefore what's not working, instead of concentrating on all that does work, and work well.
I have worked hard and I
am a teacher. I do meaningful, useful work in the world -- it's right livelihood. I have made a difference in my own life, doing this teaching and traveling and speaking. I have given myself the gift of a rich, full life of such interesting stories, a wealth of intensely interesting people and places, and amazing teaching experiences.
These pastoral photos belie the activity going on here at the Siena Center in Racine, Wisconsin, on the shores of mammoth Lake Michigan this weekend. The Wisconsin chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators is holding their annual fall retreat here among this beauty, which includes the Dominican nuns who populate this convent.
We are surrounded by their presence as they go about their work and take care of us. It's a serene atmosphere punctuated with the sounds of writers at work, and speakers who have come to share their stories -- editors, agents, art directors, and writers, including one Atlanta author of a certain new book for young readers, Countdown.
Here's who I'm working with this weekend. Cool, eh? Between sessions and critiques and late night chats, I managed a walk to the lake with fellow Vermont alum and friend, Sheri Sinykin. This helps, too.
We set ourselves a challenge at the Langley School last month: three days of personal narrative writing with grades three through eight, each class seen each day, with a goal of getting each student to a point where he (she) understood that his stories are important and need to be told, used a notebook and storytelling devices to list memories and stories, selected and knew what clear moment in time he wanted to write about, had it clearly focused, had a great lead, knew the story inside and out, shared it with a listener (and became a good listener as well), and was prepared to move forward and write a draft.
This is the work of pre-writing, which I consider writing. It is process. It is what we often leave out of the teaching of writing, and yet it is the most vital piece of the puzzle. It makes all the rest possible. If it's done well, and understood thoroughly, the writing and revising (which has been started in the pre-writing) comes naturally.
Self-selection is an important component. Focusing that selection to one clear moment in time is crucial. Finding the just-right lead is key. Telling the story out loud is a first draft. Learning to listen to a partner's story and ask good questions is a second draft. And not one word of the actual finished story is on paper yet. It's hard work. And it's totally engaging.Whew. It was a lot. There are things I would change next time. There were lovely surprises out of the blue. And there were fabulous stories -- the eighth graders presented theirs on our last day -- some of them not yet written, but still well known. Owned. And amazing. Now teachers will take them forward with next steps. I've asked them to send their stories to me when they are done -- I hope they will.
When it comes right down to what counts, what matters, a life is measured in relationships. I know how lucky I am. Here are a few shots from Wednesday, my last full day in Mississippi, back in Jackson, a day that included schools, booksellers, friends, and family, and little literary relationship, too.
Visiting
Jackson Academy. Thanks so much to librarian Suzie Adcock, who had prepared for my morning visit... love that bulletin board! Loved those students, many of whom had music questions for me.
Can you believe this sea of children in the library at
St. Andrew's Episcopal School? What a blast... look how attentive they are! I had so much fun here, with these bouncy third and fourth graders. As I began to sing from "All Things Bright and Beautiful," they sang right along -- knew all the words -- and I was floored. I have a long relationship with that song --
Each Little Bird That Sings comes directly from it -- and was thrilled to see it shared with these students (and parents! Parents came! Hooray!)
Here are Emily Grossenbacher, children's manager at
Lemuria Books in Jackson, and Jeannie Chun, librarian at St. Andrews.
Emily and I are getting to know each other -- she has been in this position at Lemuria for about a year, and I've been coming to Lemuria for years and years. I miss former buyer Yvonne Rogers (who came to my signing -- thanks ever, Yvonne), but I am happily getting to know the very capable Emily and her tastes and ways of working. I loved working with her over the past month or two, to set up this day in Jackson.
Emily set up the morning at Jackson Academy and the afternoon at St. Andrews, AND the 5pm signing and reading at Lemuria. She is tireless, and I appreciate her so much. Thank you, Emily! And thanks, new friend Jeannie, for preparing your school community so thoroughly for my arrival!
I had a couple of hours between the last school stop and my Lemuria signing, so y'all know what I had to do, right? Right. I went, once again, to
Eudora Welty's home, where I wandered the garden and sat in the peacefulness. I never met Miss Eudora, but her work is a big influence on mine, hence the relationship -- the kinship -- I feel with her. Wandering the garden for a while was just what I needed to help me with book two of the sixties trilogy, and to help me catch my breath before my signing.
Hey, y'all. Yes, it's true. Jim Pearce on NPR this morning, with Susan Stamberg, discussing his new CD, "I'm in the Twilight of a Mediocre Career." Thanks for all your calls and emails. Remember when we did the cover shoot? Remember when you helped us decide the cover? Remember when we got the mechanicals back, and shared them with you?
How gratifying to be able to share this moment with you.
Amazon has already sold OUT of CDs, so we're sending more, but you can still order from Amazon and have them sent to you very soon. OR... go to CD Baby, where there are still plenty of CDs, or order on iTUnes.
Thanks so much for your support and love and encouragement and all-around solid friendship and fellowship. Thanks so much to the band -- Paul Fallat, Eric South, Herman Burney, Joe Gransden -- and the guest musicians as well, Rafael Perrera, and Ken Gregory.
Lots happening here -- more soon! In the meantime,
here's the link to the interview! It's fabulous, eh? We're traveling, we were asleep this morning, , and suddenly both our cell phones started ringing at 6am with congratulations. Cool! Thank you!
Thank you so much for the supportive, encouraging, you-can-do-it mail this past ten days regarding this post about starting over with book two of the Sixties Trilogy.
I have wrestled mightily this past ten days, over and up and under and out and down and through with this new story, and as I have, I have realized some truths about myself, the way I work, my resistance to killing my darlings, as well as a huge truth about the original novel for book two.
Long and short, I am going back to the original draft. But not entirely. I am going back to it in the way that I made lunch today, pictured (in part) below. Let me explain.
I am still rewriting the entire original novel. So much so, that it may as well be brand new. I am using Sunny -- my new narrator -- as my main character. I am tossing so much about the original draft that I can hardly see it as the original story. But here's the thing:
I am using the spine of the original novel as my plot for the new novel, and we are staying in 1966. If you followed my
twitter stream last week, you'll know that, at one point, I was convinced that we needed to move the entire novel to 1964 and create a new plot from the ground up.
I called my friend Diane Ross at the
McCain Library Civil Rights Archive at the University of Southern Mississippi and told her I needed her to pull together every oral history she had from Freedom Summer volunteers in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, so I could visit in the next few weeks and sit in the reading room with all those primary sources, in order to find my story.
I pulled off my bookshelves my dear-to-me books about Freedom Summer, about personalities I one day want to write about -- maybe I could include them in this novel! Yes! I was on the right track! Excited, I ordered
Bob Zellner's
book about his participation in the civil rights movement -- Zellner was the first white field secretary for SNCC, has a terrific story to tell about Freedom Summer, and is the subject of
a new film by Spike Lee. Oh, was I ever on the right track.
In fact, my first published book was a picture book,
Freedom Summer.
That book is going into its 14th printing! Still going strong. I did so much research for that book, read so much, internalized so much, that I feel I could bring 1964 alive in a heartbeat. Yes, 1964. Freedom Summer. We'd be further away from the protests of the Vietnam War, and firmly entrenched in the civil rights movement. That was the way to go.
At the same time I was feverishly gathering my forces last week, my good writer friend
Deborah Hopkinson sent me
the new biography of
Pearl Buck -- many of you wrote to me last week suggesting it as well, and I hadn't known about it; I had only known that my Sunny begins her story (as you read in that
same previous blog post) by saying, "I am reading
The Good Earth, and I am suffocating."
Hey, y'all. I'm here at the 7th annual Georgia Conference on Teaching Writing and Reading, sponsored by Dodge Learning Resources, at the Georgia National Fairgrounds in Perry, Georgia. I'm talking with teachers, and learning from them, over the next couple of days.
Even in this difficult economy, more than 700 teachers have registered for this conference.
I'm ready to dissect Freedom Summer and talk about how that book came to be, and share what I've learned about reading like a writer, through using Freedom Summer's text, and many other wonderful picture books.
And then, as always, I'll talk about accessing your story -- how do you do that? How do you help your students understand that their lives contain the magical stuff of story -- many stories, important stories -- right there under their noses? And how do you help students find those stories? How do you help them write about "one clear moment in time," and shape that moment into personal narrative?
I love this work. And I'm going to love love love learning from my fellow presenters. Just look at the company I'm keeping this week (opens in pdf). Stellar. I'm humbled, and I'm lucky.
More from the other side of this day. I hope you are writing, reading, reflecting, doing, and saying yes to summer.
It takes a mighty big incentive to get me to leave home this time of year. A working writer who wants to make her living in the arts -- that's a big incentive. So is the promise of good work, the certainty of learning, and the likelihood of making new friends. And always, there are stories...
Wait for me, Spring! Don't finish blooming before I'm back! I'm home Wed. night, back out again Friday. I've got my 1966 girls with me.
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0 Comments on overdue thanks as of 1/1/1900
100% correct but there is no solution…consumers won’t pay $50 for a graphic novel they can read in ten minutes…I mean I liked Shaun Tan’s “The Arrival” and I’m sure it took him awhile to draw…but it was certainly a poor value purchase if I was looking at dollars per hour of entertainment…so, yah, cartooning is never going to be big business for the cartoonist…they take too long to produce, are too quick to read and the market isn’t huge…that’s life…
You have to love doing work in the arts, whether you are an actor, singer, dancer or cartoonist. There are always people who will do that work for free, so you need to be exceptional to make any money at it. Supply and demand.
Man, so glad I have a day job. I feel so bad for cartoonists who are working hard and putting out material they love that just doesn’t hit an audience.
I’m eager to read it all.
Here’s another great resource about using comics to communicate ideas:
https://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/see-what-i-mean/
See What I Mean: How to Use Comics to Communicate Ideas
A $50 graphic novel you can read in ten minutes? Unless it’s a limited edition or a thick omnibus, you’re paying too much. IF it is an omnibus, you’re getting a big chunk of story, a satisfying read.
The Arrival costs $20 for 128 pages. It can be a quick read, or it can be engaging and immersive.
Live, love, work my day job, read, write, and draw.
It’s a cycle that works for me.
Being willing to work for free, in the abstract – because you love it so much? That’s fine.
Those who actually work in the creative arts for free, for all the reasons that lure in the naive? Find those people, break their fingers, and their arms, and their legs and their jaws.
The go back into the world – a world where you’re not competing with free – and you’ll have a much better ability to live off your creative skills.
“The World Is Made Of Cheese: The Applied Cartooning Manifesto” has been made available online here:
http://issuu.com/cartoonstudies/docs/appliedcartooningmanifesto?e=2572355
Wow, this strikes right through the heart, yet I am a loss for words to make a commentary.
I give up