Random musings

Follow my sausage?

sashikaufman

Last night I was unwrapping a package of my favorite “all natural,  ex-vegetarian guilt free, chicken sausages” when I saw on the label a facebook and twitter logo.  “Follow us on twitter, ” it said.  “Like us on Facebook.”  I never knew my groceries could be so needy.  Really, what could my chicken sausage possible have to say in 140 characters or less?  So of course I started to imagine the tweets….

Cold here in the freezer

Garlic and basil variety is hogging (ha hogging) all the space

Into the cart we go!

Whew 4.95 down the drain…suckah!

Sashi needs to clean her fridge, reorganizing doesn’t count.

Big night tonight.  We are grilling!

Ok, so here’s where it would probably get ugly.  As in:

Ah help we’re splitting our skins.

Help us we’re bubbly (but so delicious)

Ouch, Ouch the grill marks, the grill marks!.

The bottom line; my food probably doesn’t need to be a part of my social network.

Reading

Summer reading

sashikaufman

Here is my own summer reading list.

Adult:

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet  by David Mitchell

Bossypants by Tina Fey

Ten  Thousand Saints by Eleanor Henderson

Waiting for Birdy by Catherine Newman

Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

YA

East by Edith Pattou

Runner by Carl Deuker

Plain Kate by Erin Bow

Now that I look at it, I’m way more excited about the adult titles.  I think I read more YA during the school year.  Any good suggestions for must read YA for the summer?

Random musings

Squirrely

sashikaufman

I can’t deny it.  Having the summer off is a great perk of my job.  However, I’m a teacher in part because I like school.  I like community, and I like structure.  So there’s something about the first few days of summer vacation that makes me a little squirrely.

I have projects in mind, books I want to read, a house that could use cleaning, and a one year old to take care of, but no official structure for these activities (gasp!).  It will probably take me a few days to get my summer legs.  After that I’ll be in full enjoyment mode.

What makes you squirrely?     

School

Spell-check Hall of Fame

sashikaufman

Spelling can be one of the dreariest parts of teaching, and for some kids, one of the most dreaded parts of learning.  It just seems to be something that you do well, or you don’t.  Using spell check correctly is also a skill, believe it or not, and does not replace a fundamental sense of how to  spell words correctly.  Take as evidence; two of my most recent “spell-check gone wrong” moments.

“The scientists were worried that the clones they created might go rouge and destroy the rest of humanity.” -No one likes a clone gone rouge.

“The doctor was unsure of the patient’s dingoes.”    I would be too.  Where were the dingoes?  Chewing at his leg? Were they rabid? -Still not sure what the student intended?  This one took me a while too.  Diagnosis, not dingoes.

love it.

School, Writing

Voices from the middle

sashikaufman

I’ve been getting some really great feedback on the voice in my new novel; The Freegans.   The voice in this case, is that of a 16 year old boy, so I take it as a really high compliment when someone says that my thirty-four year old female self has really captured that voice.

A lot of writing is about listening and observing and some of my greatest listening and observing comes at work.

Me: So we’re almost done reading this novel and since it’s the end of the year we probably won’t start another one.

Student: So what are going to do?

Me: I thought we might to a short unit on reading poetry.

Student: Who invented poetry anyway?

Other student: (heavy eye roll)  Somebody with absolutely nothing to do and no life whatsoever.

Reading, Writing

The essential hook

sashikaufman

I’ve been hearing this phrase a lot lately.  A book has to have an “essential hook” which I interpret as a reason to keep reading.  What makes this story essential?  What makes it the one you have to keep reading because you have to know what happens.

In the YA book I’m reading right now, Trash by Andy Mulligan, the main characters; boys who live and work in a landfill, find a mysterious parcel that may be worth a lot of money.  So far the book is about their decision to withhold the package from the police and solve the mystery on their own.

This is an essential hook as far as I’m concerned.  Nothing like a mysterious package pulled from the trash to keep me reading.  But a hook doesn’t have to be a physical object.  A hook can be a relationship between two characters, or an internal conflict within one character.  The key is that “essential” part.  It has to be essential to the character and the plot, and it has to feel essential to the reader.   It’s easier to describe and recognize as a reader than it is to accomplish as a writer.

Random musings

Man peeps

sashikaufman

You may know them as those cute little yellow marshmallow treats, but I’ve always thought that some people (specifically men) were like peeps.

How so?

Sugary, pretty and cute on the outside, but lacking any kind of  real substance or flavor.  Keep eating and you’re guaranteed to get a gut ache.

How would it be used?

“Oh we went out on a couple dates.  But he turned out to be a real man-peep.  Really cute but not much going on upstairs.”  Kind of like a bimbo, but for men.

Enjoy your Easter holidays!

Reading, Writing

The truth about YA fiction?

sashikaufman

Last weekend the NY times book review featured a few children’s reviews, as they do every few weeks or so.  In one of the reviews was the following line:

“As expected inYA fiction, Lina has both a love interest and a special skill.”

I was kind of horrified.  Really?  Can the whole genre be boiled down so simplistically?  As a test, I decided to look at the last five YA fiction books I read.

1. If I Stay by Gayle Forman.  Main character has a love interest (her boyfriend Adam) and is a virtuoso cello player.

2. 8th Grade Superzero by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich.  Main character has a love interest and is a comic book artist.

3. Dancing on the Edge by Han Nolan.  Main character DOES NOT HAVE A LOVE INTEREST (but is also a bit younger than typical YA main character) but is a talented dancer.

4. Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin.  Main character has a love interest and can understand the speech of animals.

5. The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl by Barry Lyga.  Main character has a love interest and he’s a comic book artist (yet again).

Ok, so that’s a pretty good fit.  But what books don’t have “love interests”?  It’s a pretty big part of life at any age.  As for the special talent thing.  That’s true.  There are an abundance of especially talented and powerful teenagers populating YA.  But I think that’s due to the particular desire of young people to feel singled out and important.  They’re just on the cusp of being adults and being taken seriously in the world.  They’re desperate to be noticed for the “right things”.  It doesn’t surprise me that having a special skill or talent has become a trope of YA fiction.  However, there are many great YA books where the characters are just ordinary kids.

Writing

Winners!

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Congratulations to Sister Mary Edna and Misty Peaks (My two most frequent Blog commenters!)  You know who you are ladies, and you shall be receiving your very own copy of Brain Child magazine, complete with my article, in the mail shortly!

Keep up the good karma friends!  You never know when you’ll reap the rewards.