But apparently Winchester the cat is more longsuffering.

Not to say we haven’t tried, mind. Note the pitiful look in Tildrum’s eyes as he wears the baby bonnet my roommate made for her new niece. Note also that none of the pictures of Mogget turned out because he wouldn’t hold still long enough.
 

In comparison: the blur that is Mogget:

I’ve referred several times over the years to a talk I once saw Katherine Paterson give in Boston at the Cambridge Forum, but only now realized that it was recorded as a podcast in addition to being broadcast on the local radio. It’s a really great talk about how a writer handles the serious topics in children’s literature. Kind of in the same vein as something Madeleine L’Engle once said: “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.”

She addresses how her background as the child of Christian missionaries and how her everyday faith today affects how she writes. 

At least, that’s what I remember her addressing. Now that I’ve tried opening the file, it appears to be in a format that I can’t access. 🙁  I’ll go ahead and post this anyway, and if anyone knows what program
would play that file, let me know in the comments.

Publisher’s Weekly reports today that Madeleine L’Engle died last night at the age of 89.  From what I can tell, it was probably related to old age, and I hope that she passed peacefully.

I cannot say enough how much Madeleine L’Engle’s work affected my life. It was in the fourth grade when Mrs. Hawes gave me a copy of A Wrinkle in Time that the world of fantasy and science fiction was opened up to me. It was my gifted project for a time to read the book and underline any word I didn’t know so that I could look it up–and she had some doozies right on the first page. It’s because of Madeleine L’Engle that I know the word tangible, which I always thought sounded so interesting.

It also appalled me to be underlining words in a book–you didn’t do that to books! It makes me sad that sometime in the intervening years I lost that copy, because that old cover brings back a lot of good memories. 

I then went on that year and the next to devour any Madeleine L’Engle books I could find, especially the ones about Meg and her family. But my favorite today is A Ring of Endless Light, which I checked out again and again. I was fascinated with the idea of being able to talk to dolphins. I believe that was the book in which she had character crossover from the Austins to the O’Keefes, too, though it’s been years and I can’t remember rightly. I just bought a new copy of that book, though, and I intend to relive that experience soon. Let’s hope it’s one of those childhood reading experiences that hold up to an adult reading! I reread A Wrinkle in Time in grad school and was surprised at how heavy handed it felt at times, and yet how omnipresent some of the ideas of IT (which I kept reading as I.T., as in the I.T. department!) and the same little children throwing same little balls feel regarding today. I had no concept during my first read in 1984–yes, that seems a fun little fact for me, given the book’s few similarities to the book 1984–of how the book had been written 20-odd years before. (I wa
s also into Trixie Belden at the time; sometimes I feel like I grew up in the 50s and 60s with all the older books and comics I read!)

Anyway, I owe Madeleine L’Engle a big thank you for sparking my imagination in those years. Her books were amazing and I would be lucky for the books I help create to touch readers in the same way hers touched me.

And suddenly it’s the weekend. I got back Tuesday afternoon but it’s been a rush in the short week to get everything done that I needed to. I don’t have time this morning to tell you all about L.A. but hopefully I’ll find a spare moment later today or sometime this weekend. My doctor has cleared my shoulder for at least non-jarring exercise, though, so I might just take off and go for a hike or something while the weather is still nice. 

One quick note, though. My old friend

 just posted that his first children’s book, Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians, has shipped to bookstores a month early. (He’s the author of three adult fantasy novels, but this is his first middle grade.) It’s a fun fantasy story about a boy named Alcatraz and a bag of sand. Yes, a bag of sand. And it’s funny. Brandon (the author) doesn’t have the site up yet, due to it being a month early, so I can’t link you to the Alcatraz site which I hear will be fun, but do check out the book and Brandon’s blog.

Well, I’m off to L.A. in the morning for a mini-vacation before I go to the L.A. Public Library to speak to the YA librarians there. I’m very excited to meet everyone, and looking forward to spending the weekend with a couple friends. I’ve never been to L.A. before, so they’re going to show me around–the Getty, the beach, and apparently a surprise. I can’t wait! Now, let’s just hope that my sinus infection lets up so I can enjoy it. 🙂
Pictures will come, but they’ll have to wait for me to get a replacement power cord. I turned on my computer last night to find the power cord just up and died. I’m writing this from my roommate’s borrowed computer, which I’ve got just about long enough to be able to write this. Now I need to finish my laundry so I can finish packing before it gets too late!

So says Meg Cabot. She’s written a hilariously apt analogy of the relationship between editor and writer on her blog today:

But it would be awesome if there WERE mole people in one of my books. Only guess how long THAT revision letter would be???? “I understand how much you love the Mole People, Meg. But seriously…where do they bathe? I know that Mole People probably do bathe somewhere, but where? He must brush his teeth or his breath would be stinky when he kisses her, but where does he do this? You see? This complicates the plot in ways I fear we don’t want to get into….” See what I mean by how editors are the sheriff? Better not even to risk it….)

I’d never read any of her books before this year (strange how sometimes that gap in reading happens), but as you can see from my sidebar, I’ve been making up lost time. Her audiobooks also have some really good narrators, so that just adds to the experience.
In other news, today is a multiple book birthday! ‘s In the Serpent’s Coils has been sighted, and Nina Hess’s A Practical Guide to Monsters comes out today, too. Pictures later, when I can upload them on a computer with an SD reader.

…was that my mirrors was actually a two-way talking device. I’d have conversations with myself in my mirror, pretending that it was a friend I was talking to, even if it was an imaginary friend (I had no Imaginary Friend, named, per se, but plenty of people who could have been on the other end of that com link). As I grew older, the conversations turned into earnest rehearsals of conversations that would be stressful (or ones in which I wished I’d said something differently, thus perfecting the art of “I should have said…”). But it probably started about the same time that I started imagining that the Dukes of Hazzard were my real family, that I’d been switched at birth and that they’d come in the General Lee and take me off into the sunset to live happily ever after. (Yes, I did imagine the sunsets.) That would be a year or two before I started wishing I was born Japanese, because at the time the Japanese kids were touted as the smartest in the world and I wanted to be the smartest kid in the world. Only I would never have said “kid” because one of my mottoes at the time was “kids are baby goa
ts.” (The other was that one saying they always recited in Brownies, the one about new and old friends, one is silver, the other gold? I have it in a Brownie art book we made in the 2nd grade around here somewhere.)

Candice Ransom jokes that she needs to write me as a character in one of her books. I kind of feel like I should yell dibs. But then she went and did it anyway. (Sort of.  I’m honored! I’ll have to give you a link later when it’s available.)

I think it’s pretty important that those of us who are involved in children’s lit be aware not only of all the developmental stages and how kids read and what the kids in our lives are into, but also that we remember that sense of wonder we had when we were children, that expectation that pretty much anything could happen, if we just knew how to access it. Sometimes, it’s just so hard to remember. I can remember feelings and memories, but time has a way of filtering it to make a life narrative.

What childhood fancies did you have? Or that your friends/family had, or that your kids have/had? If you’re a writer, do you incorporate them in your books? How do you get in touch with that inner fantasist nowadays? 

And can I tell you how much I love fantasy books? Because you never have to really give up that sense of wonder.

Sometimes a writing breakthrough comes in dreams, I’ve heard, but never experienced it until I woke up this morning. I don’t have time to go into detail, but basically I had the weirdest dream that involved a party at Cheryl Klein’s house (who I’ve never met) and an old friend from Boston who I never talk to anymore. I woke up completely weirded out, but then as I was thinking about it I knew it was the key to how I would write the rest of a story I’ve been working on for a little while now. Different people and different motivations will be involved–meaner people than the utterly nice Cheryl and old friend, who laughed with me at my clumsy mistake in the dream–but it will be a key scene that, changing a few things around, will work nicely.

Anyway, weird dreams: put them to use!

Kind of a Poetry Sunday. 

Lament for Flodden*

I’VE heard them lilting at our ewe-milking,
Lasses a’ lilting before dawn o’ day;
But now they are moaning on ilka green loaning–
The Flowers of the Forest are a’ wede away.

At bughts, in the morning, nae blythe lads are scorning,
Lasses are lonely and dowie and wae;
Nae daffing, nae gabbing, but sighing and sabbing,
Ilk ane lifts her leglin and hies her away.

In hairst, at the shearing, nae youths now are jeering,
Bandsters are lyart, and runkled, and gray:
At fair or at preaching, nae wooing, nae fleeching–
The Flowers of the Forest are a’ wede away.

At e’en, in the gloaming, nae swankies are roaming
‘Bout stacks wi’ the lasses at bogle to play;
But ilk ane sits eerie, lamenting her dearie–
The Flowers of the
Forest are a’ wede away.

Dool and wae for the order sent our lads to the Border!
The English, for ance, by guile wan the day;
The Flowers of the Forest, that fought aye the foremost,
The prime of our land, lie cauld in the clay.

We’ll hear nae mair lilting at our ewe-milking;
Women and bairns are heartless and wae;
Sighing and moaning on ilka green loaning–
The Flowers of the Forest are a’ wede away.

Jane Elliot (1727-1805)

I’m sitting here ripping a whole bunch of CDs (which I picked up at the library annual sale) to my iPod. My tastes definitely run to the eclectic side–jazz from Harry Connick Jr. to Lena Horne to Miles Davis, some R&B, lots and lots of folk and bluegrass, some country (though I have always leaned toward the older stuff excepting some really great stuff in the early and mid 90s, and I’ve been an Alabama and Judds fan since I was a kid–not to say I love it all; years of listening to Conway Twitty woo Loretta Lynn in song left me not really a fan of their duets, though I love her solo stuff). I love religious choral music, too, the more classical the better–hence the University Presbyterian Church Cathedral Choir CD I picked up of pieces from Bach, Brahms, Rutter, and others.

At the same t
ime, I suddenly had a desire to reread Rob Roy, which I haven’t picked up since the big to-do over the Liam Neeson movie. I don’t remember reading it for class; I think I must just have been in a Sir Walter Scott mood back then and decided to read the book before I ever saw the movie. I highly recommend the book; don’t bother with the movie.

Picking up Rob Roy made me want to read a few shorter pieces by Scott, which I was pretty sure I had in one of three volumes of poetry from the Harvard Classics set**–also picked up at a nice price at a library book sale!–and in searching for Scott ran across two women poets of the later 18th century, Alison Rutherford Cockburn (1712-1794) and Jane Elliot (1727-1805). 

What was it about writing in Scots at that time? It’s basically a completely foreign dialect, as foreign from standard British English as modern American slang is, I would think.

I didn’t know the work of either Cockburn or Elliot before today. Both of these women’s work predated Scott, and in my evening musings that didn’t involve invoking Google, which of course could lead me to all answers, wondered if their Scots poetry influenced Scott. Or was it just a pervasive style, perhaps employed by the English, in the way that many white writers wrote slave dialect for so many years? 

(At least, I didn’t Google until I decided to put links into this entry. And then I went with the option of the the truly lazy–turn to Wikipedia, which, though not all that reliable, at least seems plausible for my purposes.) 

Elliot’s version of the poem is a tribute to the fallen men of Ettrick Forest in Selkirk (Scotland) who fell at the battle of Flodden, which I’m not familiar with, but Wikipedia says it was a battle in Northumberland in 1513. Cockburn’s lyrics were set to the same traditional tune, but apparently it’s debatable whether it refers to the same battle (according to my Harvard Classic edition), the fall of her husband’s fortunes, or a lost love (the two latter being Wikipedia’s suggestions). As you can probably tell due to my quoting it above, I think I prefer the Elliot version, perhaps most because of the heavy use of Scots. You just couldn’t use that nowadays and expect to communicate with your reader–at least, for a U.S. audience. Makes me wonder how much more easily it might be understood in any of the Commonwealth countries, especially eastern Canada and anywhere in Aus
tralia that might have a strong Scot region.

This also brings up the question of the heavy Scots in anything by Scott. I’ll have to reread and decide again what I think, because I remember it being very hard to read. But that was before I visited Scotland and got to know a few people who speak a little more like that, though not in complete Scots. It makes me want to study Gàidhlig again and go back to Scotland. (The latter is on my agenda for next year;

tltrent

, start saving up, because here’s your chance for a tour guide! 🙂 )

Anyway, these are the kinds of things I think of while ripping a Boyz II Men cd (ah, high school memories! *sniff*) and thinking of starting Rob Roy again on a Sunday evening. And neither the music or the books are at all from this time period.**** Which makes me think of really bad movies. What was that one called that used a rock soundtrack… A Knight’s Tale? What say ye all? I hated it and turned it off in the first 10 minutes, but I’ve been told it’s because I didn’t understand what they were going for. I maintain that it’s just that it was a bad movie. 🙂

If you’re interested in either of the poems, you can read them in full here and here. 

* I wanted to indent every 2nd line, but I couldn’t figure out how to do a hard space or a tab. HTML annoys me. I know there’s a code for a hard space, but I don’t want to go looking it up at midnight.

**Flipping through all these old books***, I’m starting to have an allergy attack! I sure hope my books haven’t gotten moldy in this climate, because I think that would devastate me. But these Harvard Classics were printed in 1910, so I think it’s just plain age. The same thing would happen when I was back in the stacks for too long at my college job, working for the Special Collections*** department of the library.

***Which makes me remember that I need to find a better way to preserve two relatively ancient family Bibles I just inherited. They were delivered to me in ziplock bags. Which cer
tainly aren’t acid-free, although they do seal out the air. I’m thinking an archival box for each of them. Anyone have any experience with preserving old books like this? I should call my old boss.

****I take that back. My next CD purchase, long overdue, will have to be One Voice, by Gladys Knight and the Saints. Oh my goodness. I love good gospel music, and I love beautiful hymns, and things brings them both together with an artist who I also love. And this is totally where Mormon music should be going–learn to go at a beat faster than a funeral dirge!

Just a reminder that the Mirrorstone blog is your source for announcements regarding all of Mirrorstone’s books. I’m a little biased here because, of course, I’m talking about my work in particular. But at the Mirrorstone blog we’re going to make sure to point out news that relates to all the books we’re publishing, the authors who write those books, and even all the editors. Take note of yesterday’s post in particular, if you’re in the San Francisco area and thinking about going to the local SCBWI conference next month:

A few words from Nina Hess, Mirrorstone’s Senior Editor

Thanks to everyone who has friended Mirrorstone! We’re excited to be here on MySpace and able to reach out to people across the country. %
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A few upcoming appearances, we’d like for you to know about:

I will be speaking and critiquing manuscripts at the San Francisco East/North Bay Region SCBWI conference on Saturday, September 8, 2007. If you’re in the area, please stop by! I’d love to meet you. Information available at the SCBWI site.

Stacy Whitman, intrepid Editor, has graciously agreed to step in for me to speak at L.A. Public Library’s monthly meeting on September 4 at 9 AM. (The meeting is open only to L.A. librarians.) Thank you, Stacy! I’m sorry I had to miss meeting librarians in L.A., but I’m excited to have the chance to meet with writers in the San Francisco area that same week!

If you can’t make any of our in-person appearances, meet me on the Internet! I’ll be speaking via the magic of the world wide web on September 28 at 11 AM Eastern time. This “webinar” is hosted by the amazing duo of Susan Raab of Raab Associates and Jeannette Larson of the Texas Public Library. A webinar is a speech broadcast over the Internet. You call in to a phone number to get the audio, and log in to a website to see the power point slides. Pretty fancy, huh? Here’s the write-up:

A Practical Guide to Fantasy
Nina Hess is Senior Editor at Mirrorstone, an imprint at Wizards of the Coast, where she edits fantasy fiction for children and teens. She is also the author of A Practical Guide to Monsters (August 2007), which follows the company’s New York Times bestseller, A Practical Guide to Dragons.

In her web-based seminar, Hess will discuss the popularity of fantasy for all kids and its value as a means for encouraging more boys to read. She will introduce ideas, including role-playing, costume parties, and fantasy script writing, that can be incorporated into library programs for school-age children and teens.

Though this webinar is primarily aimed at librarians, it should be of interest to any writer intrigued by the fantasy genre, or any published fantasy authors looking for ideas to use in school-visits or local bookstore appearances. There is a fee to participate, but there are discounts for groups of ten or more. Full information and registration available here.