When Life Intervenes

The best laid plans...well, I think you know the rest.

November was National Novel Writing Month and I decided to give it a shot: writing a 50,000-word novel in one month. And things went well, until my mother landed back in the hospital.

Her particular type of dementia is vascular, which means unlike Alzheimer's, it doesn't progressively get worse on its own. Unless she suffers another stroke, she will basically stay at the same level she's at now.

But periodically, about once or twice a year, she suffers a bit of a meltdown. We don't really know why. It could be her stress levels build up, it could be an intolerance to her medications, it could be a lot of things. But when it happens, it's very stressful for her, and it's very stressful for us, her family.

This time around, she developed a sudden anger toward her caregiver and my father, the two people who do the most for her. She was extremely aggravated, agitated, and angry. And when she first went to the hospital several weeks ago, that anger carried over to the hospital staff. It wasn't fun for any of them.

But here's the deal: I hate when my mother is in the hospital. I know there's no way to expect that people there will care for patients in the same manner that their families will, but what I've seen of hospitals in the time my mother has been ill has made me scared to death to ever land in one myself. So, I worry...the entire time she's hospitalized. And I deal with doctors who are too busy to call back, staff who are too busy or too indifferent to provide information, social workers who are so overloaded they can't even remember the name of the patient they are talking about -- even with the file right in front of them.

It's scary, and it's stressful.

So, what does all of this have to do with National Novel Writing Month? You guessed it. The novel didn't get written. I *did* get 15,000 words done, though, so that's something. And I'm quite pleased with what's there.

This past November will be remembered as another bad month in my mother's long journey with dementia, and the month where I *didn't* write that new book.

But, since Mom is doing better and will soon be discharged to go home, I'm not going to sweat the book.

There's always next November. :)

A 50,000-Word Challenge

Call me crazy, but I signed up for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), daring myself to write a 50,000-word middle grade novel by the end of November. So, far I'm at 8200 words, slightly ahead of schedule. We'll see how long that lasts!

The hard part about this for me isn't the writing. It's not being able to re-write. The idea behind NaNoWriMo is to free yourself from restrictions (especially that little editor who lives in a writer's head and likes to criticize everything you put on paper). But, I'm one of those writers who likes to revise as I go. I usually go over everything I wrote the previous day and touch it up before I go on. Can't do that now. If I stop to revise, I'll never make the 50,000-word goal. So, I'm plowing ahead.

In some ways, it actually is very freeing to just write and not worry about the details, to just get the story down on paper without judging it. We'll see how I feel at the end of the month, though, when I'm faced with the monumental job of revising the book.

Ah well. However it works out, I'll have the satisfaction of knowing I can write a whole novel in a month. That's an accomplishment in itself. :)

On Getting Him to Read Fantasy Books

Looking for something new to read after finishing the Harry Potter series, I happened upon several reviews of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy and decided it was about time I read those books. I'm glad I did. They were a wonderful read for someone like myself who not only loves fantasy, but writes it herself.

I've often tried to get my husband to read some fantasy, but he always insists he doesn't like it. (Though he does willingly go to fantasy movies with me -- the Harry Potters, the Lords of the Rings -- and enjoys them.) I tell him he's nuts not to try fantasy, because we have very similar tastes in other genres (mysteries, suspense, etc.) so I know what he might like. I tell him about the wonderful Pern books by Anne MacCaffrey that he really would enjoy (science fiction and fantasy combined in one series, how can you go wrong??).

I also tell him I wouldn't recommend a book to him that I didn't think he'd like. And I tell him he should listen to his wife.

I shouldn't have mentioned that last one to him. :(

But, I guess I finally pestered him enough that he gave in and (all the while muttering under his breath) started the first book in the Pullman trilogy, The Golden Compass.

He hasn't put it down yet. And he oh-so-casually asked me the other day about the remaining two books in the series.

I'm not going to say "I told you so." I'm not going to gloat. I'm not going to tease.

But I'm sure as heck going to leave those Pern books out again where he can find them. And if he reads them, and likes them, I'm going to smile to myself and chalk another one up for the wives.

Men. What would they do without us? :)

Madeleine L'Engle

This is my all-time favorite quote by children's author Madeleine L'Engle:

You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.
Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007)

The author of the much-beloved fantasy series, the "Time Quintet" (A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, and An Acceptable Time), passed away on September 6th at the age of 88.

Though she's left behind a rich legacy of books, she will be greatly missed.

Book editors hate poetry?

Shortly after I blogged about online children's magazine, Wee Ones, I (and my fellow writers) learned that the magazine will be folding after 2008.

*sigh*

For those of us who write children's poetry, it's a sad announcement indeed.

The markets for children's poetry are few and far between. And if you differentiate between funny/humorous/silly poetry and (for lack of a better word) "serious" poetry the choices for each can practically be counted on one hand. (It is rare to find a market that publishes both silly and serious poetry.)

I must confess I don't understand this lack. Children love poetry. They love the rhythm, the sounds, the joy of it. So why are there so few markets for children's poetry?

I'm reminded of a statement I read not too long ago on an author's web site. While giving advice to novice writers, she said (and I'm paraphrasing but not by much): Picture book editors hate poetry.

On the one hand, I understand what she was saying and why. Editors, whether magazine or book, see a lot of bad poetry. A lot. And I'm sure they get tired of seeing it. It clogs up the pipelines. Turns piles of slush into mountains. Steering new writers away from submitting poetry until they know what good poetry is and can actually write it, is a kindness to all.

And yet...and yet...

Picture book editors hate poetry? Even the good stuff?

What a sad commentary on the state of the market.

Sweet dreams are made of this

I received a phone call yesterday from the editor at Blooming Tree Press. They've accepted a poem of mine to be in their new fully-illustrated picture book anthology to be called Sweet Dreams.

I haven't stopped smiling yet.

Of course, the downside is it won't be coming out until 2009 (illustrations and four-color printing take time). But I can wait.

That's a lot of smiling, but I can wait. :)

Webmasters: What are they thinking?

I just put up an article at Playground Prime that some of you may find of interest. If you own a web site that is geared toward children, you might want to take a look.

I'm still shaking my head.