Category: Writing

Writing

Writing Conference Part II

sashikaufman

Okay, admittedly I was a little cranky in that first post. I’ll chalk it up to re-circulated hotel air. Here are some of the writing and learning highlights of my weekend.

Sara Zarr‘s keynote in which she referenced and read from Arnold Lobel’s classic Frog and Toad stories was a definite highlight. Sara managed to pull gems about self-discipline, (Frog and Toad make cookies and can’t stop eating them) self aggrandizement, (Toad has a dream in which the better and more impressive he becomes, the smaller and more insignificant Frog becomes) and surprises (Toad loses his “to-do” list and can’t figure out what to do with himself) into a wonderful speech that was both wise and accessible at the same time.  So that was good. Plus Sara Zarr is one of my personal writing heroes so I was pretty psyched to just sit and listen to her talk.  I also went to her workshop called “Author Charm School” and had her sign my book. *bats eyes, heart flutters*

If you haven’t read her books, I recommend them all.  Particularly this one and this one.

Another highlight was a workshop on revision by Kate Messner. This workshop was exactly what a workshop should be; great ideas, intermittent times to try them out in short writing exercises, and chocolate. Kate is a wonderful children’s author and former middle school teacher. Nuff said.

Kate also shared her TED talk with the conference and an incredible resource she’s creating called Kid Sourcing.  Kid Sourcing provides ways for kids to get involved solving real-world problems and participating in actual scientific research.  Teacher friends pay attention -this could be an excellent classroom resource!

One final highlight was a workshop on developing character using improvisation activities by Jen Nails. This workshop got us up and moving and doing all manner of ridiculous activities.  It was a terrific energizer and a good reminder that we humans (writers too) are more than just brains on a stick. Plus I got to sing “It’s a Hard Knock Life” in front of 50 strangers. -You know I hated it 🙂

Lastly, I  walked away from the conference with a few good books including  Cheryl Klein’s Second Sight.  Klein is an Children’s book editor who has compiled her best talks, blog posts and advice into a (so far) fabulous resource.

Best of all, when I got home the kitchen was clean, there was a fire in the woodstove and a wonderful greeting from husband and daughter!

Writing

Writing Conference Part I

sashikaufman

For the last 2 and a half days I’ve been immersed in the world of the New England Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. It’s a mouthful and it’s equally ridiculous as an acronym NESCBWI. Anyway! Being here, and being completely immersed in a world where everyone writes books for kids has been luxurious and unbalancing all at the same time. Here are a few things I’ve learned (without breaching the rights of the presenters which I was sternly warned against in the conference’s blogging policy.)

I should probably have business cards. (Although, other people’s business cards just collect in my bag along with various pens that don’t work and a bag of crumbled cookies I’ve been hanging onto for 9 months just in case.) Mostly I just remember people’s names and then find them on twitter. I’m @sashikaufman by the way.

A workshop is only as good as the presenter. A workshop can sound incredible on paper and be as dry as the chocolate cake they served at lunch on Saturday. (And believe me, my standards for chocolate cake are not that high.)

Shmoozing at conferences is a good way to meet interesting people who share your interests.  -I met some great people from Maine who are kid lit. writers.  It’s also exhausting as hell and sometimes I’m just as happy to eat an eggplant parm sub in my room and watch the Amazing Race on my laptop.

Gosh, this sounds a little negative so far. It’s not meant to be. So far this weekend has been eye-opening and creativity-sparking. I feel lucky to be here and I’m looking forward to one last day of learning. Perhaps that will be the focus of part two.

Writing

Word Fool

sashikaufman

It’s been a little while since I posted and happily that’s because…I’ve been writing.  A lot! I joined up with some writer friends to participate in a writing goal challenge (called wordfool) orchestrated by the fabulous Bria Quinlan.  The challenge was to pick a writing goal and try to meet it 6/7 days a week for 3 weeks. There were points, and incentives and a lot of silliness on twitter. But the most important part was that there was community.

If you’ve ever set any kind of goal for yourself (writing, exercise, flossing) you know that it’s always better to do it with someone. It’s called accountability.  And oddly enough one of my challenge buddies posted recently about it here.  But more than just accountability, it’s nice to have the community.  You know that someone cares if you put off watching tv, or bathing your kid so you could get your 500 words in.

My goal was small. I committed to a page a day, knowing that I had parent-teacher conferences and both my husband and daughter’s birthdays in a small period of time.  And I didn’t make my goal every day.  But I did pretty well. 6/7 the first week, 5/7 the other two weeks.  But most importantly I got through a confusing section in my current wip which had me stuck for quite a while.  And I think I did it because of goal-setting and good old fashioned Butt In Chair -see my post on potty training.

What goals have you set or accomplished lately?

 

Reading, Writing

Voice versus volcanoes

sashikaufman

I recently checked out two YA books from the library.  Both have been on my “to-read” list for a while, though admittedly one is by a favorite author.  I had high hopes for the first one.  It was a post-apocalypse survival story that begins with the eruption of a super-volcano!  I don’t know what happens next.  I put it down after about 15 pages.  It didn’t matter how exciting or action-packed the premise was.  The writing wasn’t there for me and neither was the voice.

Nothing much happened exactly in the first few pages of the second book.  A girl gets on to a train.  Another girl is angry about the loss of her father months before.  But the voice is there.  Two voices, in fact since the book is written from alternating perspectives.  I’m immediately drawn right in.  I tear through the book over the course of the next 3 days.  I need to know what’s going to happen to these characters.  What will they realize?  How will they grow and change?  There are no volcanoes, but when someone writes about life in a way that is so universal and yet specific and detailed to the characters they create, so that the reader feels they are somewhere new and somewhere familiar all at the same time it’s better than a volcano or an earthquake or a vampire zombie attack…..at least for me it is.

Writing

Mystery man in my life

sashikaufman

Many of you have asked questions about my publisher Carolrhoda Lab and editor, Andrew Karre.  All things Carolrhoda are being featured on this blog this week; February 27th- March 2nd, starting with a great interview with the amazing Andrew.   Yup, it’s called Bite My Books.  Nice.

Sneaky Motherhood, Writing

Potty training and writing

sashikaufman

There may be a lot more overlap between parenting and writing than I’ve stopped to consider.  I’m sure there are people way more qualified (more books, more kids) than me to draw the comparison.  But recent experience with potty training made me realize something of huge import to both processes; sitting in the chair.

Butt in chair, is a piece of writing advice I’ve heard often enough that I have no idea whom to credit with coining the phrase or making it famous.  It is the ultimate truth about writing, the most obvious but unavoidable truth.  It is the answer to all those people who ask you, “How do you find the time?”  Butt in chair is what separates people who write books from people who talk about writing a book.  Perhaps more than talent or other circumstances.  Butt in chair is a great equalizer.

My daughter is experimenting with using the potty.  She loves the praise she gets even for trying but what she really lacks at this point is the focus and desire to sit down and get the job done consistently.  Too often she’s distracted by flushing the big potty, reading a book, a wayward toy left by the tub, or just a glimmer of sunlight in the window.  She hops up, declares she’s all done and is on to the next task.  I’m not worried.  I know that when she’s ready, she’ll commit.

When she’s ready, I’ll explain to her the importance of Butt In Chair for accomplishing those things that are truly important to you.

Reading, Writing

These are things

sashikaufman

This is going to be a longer post.  WAIT!!!! Don’t click away just yet.  I promise it will also include life-changing wisdom and book recommendations.  At the very least, book recommendations.

The title of my blog; Ideas in Things figures into today’s post.  William Carlos Williams (so much depends on a red wheelbarrow -guy ) said this in a poem he wrote.  A lot of other people have taken it on as an idea about good writing.  What I take it to mean is that the things you write about; the purple plastic hairbrush with the rainbow sticker that your character always has in her purse, should tell you about the character more than any adjective or passage of description.

That said, I’ve just recently read three of Jennifer Egan’s books in reverse order from their publication.  I finished up her debut The Invisible Circus a week or so ago.  I find it fascinating to read an author this way and observe how their plots become more twisting and complex, their characters more multi-layered and original.  This was certainly true for Egan.  I enjoyed The Invisible Circus but found in unsurprising in the same way that sometimes in a predictable movie, I can picture the lines written on the script as the character recites them.  I noticed how often she described people’s faces falling in reaction to the events of the story; her face fell, his face sagged, her face sank imperceptibly, that sort of thing.  The book is good, but nowhere near what she achieves in her later books.   Once I read Egan’s brilliant National Book Award winning  A Visit from the Goon Squad and cosmic surrealist The Keep, I felt, in reading her debut, that I was witnessing the learning process that is inevitable with all art (with anything really).  It’s good to remember that art has a learning curve too and the writers I admire weren’t birthed with this breath-taking ability.

These are ideas (not so much things) I find hopeful and encouraging.

Writing

I love to learn, even if I kick and scream a little along the way

sashikaufman

Big dork alert.  This post is about how I love to learn.  But it’s true and it’s a big part of why I love teaching.  I especially love to learn when things are easy for me (duh).  When things are hard, I sulk and avoid a bit more.  But in the end I’m usually happy I stuck with it.

Things I’ve been avoiding include any kind of New Year’s resolution type post.  I just don’t think I have anything to say on the matter that hasn’t been said better and before by someone else.

However, one goal I do have for this year (goal, not resolution) is to attend a writing conference.  I’ve participated in a number of writing conferences before and found them to be invaluable in one way or another.  A writing conference taught me what point of view really was, and what it meant in my writing.  Writing conferences taught me that you really can learn about your own writing through editing and discussing other people’s writing.   Writing conferences have made me appreciate the sheer delicious indulgence of devoting yourself completely to one subject for a week or a weekend or a day.

Something I’ve been learning lately, is that just because you write one book, it doesn’t make writing the next one any easier.  I was really hoping it would, but it turns out it’s just as hard but in a different way.  So now seems like a good time to do some learnin’.

Registration for the NESCBWI (New England Society of Children’s Book Writer’s and Illustrator’s) Spring conference opens in a couple weeks and I intend to sign myself up. (One of my writing idols -the incomparable Sara Zarr will be speaking.  If you haven’t read her books, you should.) Hopefully I’ll learn something, even if it means I kick and scream a little along the way.

Writing

Names have been changed to protect the innocent

sashikaufman

I’ve been fielding a lot of fun questions about Go West since Wednesday’s big announcement.  One of the things people often ask is whether anything that happens in the book actually happened to me.  And while I’ve never been a sixteen year old boy, and I was more of a nerd than an under-achiever in high school (shocked gasp), there are some incidents in the story that are culled from my own life experiences.

Running around town in my underwear covered in body paint?  Check!

Seeing someone mix an enormous bowl of  pasta salad topless?  Check!

Watching people throw rotten food at riders during a bike derby?  Check!

Don’t worry college friends, like I said, names have been changed to protect the innocent.