No Video Equipment Allowed

I have been doing Tae Kwon Do for a while now, and I have my second degree black belt test coming up in a little over a week.  I'm worried about the usual... that I'll freeze up and forget what I'm supposed to do, or the universal worry, that I'll make a fool of myself.  

A couple of years ago, I took my first degree test.  It went pretty well, except for that special part that my husband caught on tape and set to music.  It was the second half of the test, and I was sparring.  I was exhausted at that point, and I got side kicked pretty hard and went down. The soft mat was feeling quite good, but I made myself get back up.  I was so happy for that part to be over, and it didn't occur to me that I'd have to relive it via videotape.  

I should point out that my husband is somewhat of a computer genius, but he doesn't always use his knowledge for good.  This was one of those times when his computer genius went to the dark side.  He made the video repeat several times in a row; I just kept falling on that mat... over and over again.  To make things so much more delightful, he added a nice cartoony sound effect.  I could hear him, on the upstairs landing, in front of his computer, laughing really hard at his creation. 

      

He's going to be frisked at the door of next week's test.  No video equipment allowed. 

    

An Interview with 2k9 Author, Sydney Salter

Today is the first in (I hope!) a series of interviews with my FabulousAuthorFriends.  My first interview is with fellow 2k9er, Sydney Salter.  

Sydney's recently released debut young adult novel is MY BIG NOSE AND OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS.  I'm not sure if she actually sleeps, because her middle-grade novel, JUNGLE CROSSING, will be on the shelves in September!

I actually caught up with Sydney (virtually!) on the ferry as she was traveling to Lopez Island.  And yes, she was writing on that ferry ride...

Me:  I fell in love with your main character, Jory, from page one.  Is she based on anyone in real life?

Sydney:  While Jory is completely her own unique self, I did give her my biggest insecurity from my high school years (I hated my nose!).  Some of the things Jory does with her friends are things I did with my friends during my Reno High years.  And, yeah, I did wreck a delivery van and a wedding cake on the same day.  Except I'd only had the job for four days!

Me:  Do you have a special writing place?

Sydney:  I work at a messy table in my living room, overlooking my bookshelves, while gazing out at my neighbors walking their dogs.  I also love to write away from home--at the bookstore, a noisy cafe, a ski lodge...Writing under deadline often means writing in creative locations.  Yesterday I revised a chapter on the ferry boat to Lopez Island, Washington on my way to visit my brother's family.

Me:  How do you manage your writing day?

Sydney:  I race my two daughters to school, peek at a few emails, and then dig into writing or revisions until the end of the school day.  If I'm working on a first draft, I aim to write about a chapter a day and I try to write seven days a week.  If I'm revising, I try to work just five days a week.  I also meet my writing group at our local bookstore once a week for tea, chat, and a bit of critiquing (although I don't share my work until I've completed an entire draft).

Me:  Do you remember the first story you wrote?

Sydney:  My mother saved My Fish Book, a nonfiction picture book I created as a child, but I really don't have other early stories.  I still cringe at the awful story I wrote in a creative writing class after college about professional football-playing brothers.  Shudder!

Me:  What is one book that you hope your own children will read?

Sydney:  I always resisted my mother's reading suggestions, so I've been reluctant to recommend books to my own daughters.  I just want them to love reading!  I do try to read books that they love so we can talk about them together.  And we have a large selection of books to choose from...I rarely say no to adding a book to our collection.

Me:  Do you have a mentor?

Sydney:  Oh, wouldn't that be so nice?  I have friends who have been with me since the beginning when our writing group met in the bookstore's children's section so our preschoolers could play (we've now happily graduated to the cafe area).  Every few weeks I meet another group of writers for dinner.  My agent also gives me a lot of support, and my editor makes herself available, too.  And, of course, I have my online friends from the Class of 2k9!

Me:  I love hearing stories about "The Call".  Can you tell us what that was like?

Sydney:  My agent called me while I was in the airport waiting to board my flight to the SCBWI Conference in LA.  I loved sharing my good news with so many writers!  My husband flew out for the weekend and met me in the hotel bar with champagne.

Me:  Can you describe your works-in-progress?

Sydney:  Right now I'm revising another humorous YA called SWOON AT YOUR OWN RISK.  It's about a girl who has broken up with five boyfriends over the past year, so she's afraid to risk falling in love again.  But, of course, there's this guy... The girl also has to deal with the repercussions of having her grandmother, a famous advice-columnist, move in with the family for the summer.  If all goes well, it should hit the shelves in 2010.

Me:  You have a second book coming out soon.  Is it anything like MY BIG NOSE?

Sydney:  My second book is a middle-grade novel called JUNGLE CROSSING.  It's a coming of age story about a thirteen-year-old girl who reluctantly travels to Mexico with her family on vacation, intertwined with an ancient Mayan story about a royal girl who is stolen, enslaved, and must find her way back home.  Both books share a sense of humor and themes about family relationships.

Many thanks to Sydney Salter for stopping by The Backstory.  So drop by your local bookstore and ask for MY BIG NOSE AND OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS.  I think you will be drawn in, just as I was, by her great voice and sense of humor.  

Going on a Bear Hunt

I'm always afraid I'll forget, so I write down what they say on stray Post-it notes and in the margins of my teacher plan book.  

We were back at the first grade reading table with another non-fiction book which seems a bit ironic, since such great fiction comes out of our non-fiction book talks.  The books were open to a picture of a large brown bear.  

"Once my dad shot a bear," my favorite fiction talker said.  "Right in the butt."  (I let him keep going, because it was getting good...)  "I think it was in North Carolina."  He leaned back in his chair, thoughtfully.  "Or maybe it was at his house, 'cause there are all those woods back there."  (Tons of bears in the woods of suburban Connecticut!)  

Then, since he had our attention, I think he was starting to have regrets that he hadn't claimed to be the one to have shot the bear.  So he upped the ante:  "I've been in training for a BB gun," he said.  "A shock gun."  Then, just in case we were unclear about the "shock gun"..."The shocking pellet has a message that it sends to the brain and it tells it not to come back."

I'm not really a gun person, but that shocking pellet idea sounds kind of cool.  I might have to get me one.

Keep the Dream Alive

"I'm playing baseball."  

He always starts talking to me when the line is coming in from the playground, before he's even crossed the threshold of the classroom.  This tells me he plans what he's going to tell me each morning near the four square court.  He always repeats himself a few times, because it's important and I might not have heard.

"I'm playing baseball and I'm going to get one hundred dollars for every game, 'cause that's what they get."

"This spring?" I ask.

"Yep.  A hundred dollars.  That's what you get."

I've volunteered at the snack bar for Little League, and I know what they get per game.  I can only hope that his mom will clear things up before the first game is over.  I hate to see him looking at the real after-game compensation--a paper cup with lukewarm orange soda.  

I take the coward's way out and nod my head vigorously and say, "Wow!  Cool!"  

The teacher can't be the one to crush their hopes and dreams.   When I was in the sixth grade, I was on my way to swimming lessons.  It was our neighbor's turn to drive.  He wasn't my teacher, but he was the Assistant Superintendent of Schools.  I had just finished my first novel It was a hundred pages written mostly on colored notebook paper.  I told that Assistant Superintendent that I was going to have it published.  I was so proud.  And then...he laughed.  Real nice.  Luckily, my amazing sixth grade teacher, Mary Rinear, said, "Of course you'll have a book published.  You're a writer."  

I didn't bother calling the carpool driver when ALSO KNOWN AS HARPER was published.  But I did call my old teacher.  I found her, still teaching at a school 3,000 miles away from me.  She said, "I'm not surprised.  You were always a writer."  

Chatting with the Middle Schoolers

Yesterday, I went to talk about ALSO KNOWN AS HARPER with a group of kids at my daughter's middle school.  "Do you want to go with me?"  I asked my daughter.  

"No.  That's okay."  She said it politely, but firmly.  

I was thinking that writing a middle-grade novel might put me up a little higher on the coolness meter....but...well, you know.  It's middle school and I'm her mom.  Would it help if I was Stephanie Meyer? I asked myself.  Probably not.

The book club kids at her school were great.  But the best thing about them, was they were kids just like me a while back.  (Only they called it Junior High way back then in the Dark Ages...)  They lived and breathed books, just like I had (okay, like I still do!).  They were smart and well-spoken and they listened so intently.  My favorite part was toward the end of my spiel when I said, "Do you have any questions for me?"

"Actually, we have nine," one of them said.  

The rest nodded in agreement.  You gotta love that.  Not "ten", or "I don't know", or the ever-popular shoulder shrug.  Nine.  They were curious, they were thoughtful and they were readers.

One of their teachers asked if they'd like to take a picture.  We were in the library and one of the girls points to a prominent area of shelves.  "How about in the Twilight Zone?"  

Stephanie Meyer, you're killing me...

But a teacher so gracefully said, "I think the light might be a little too bright over there."  She pointed to the bookshelves next to the circulation desk.  "How about over there?" she said.  "...under that big sign that says NEW..."

The Library Book

When I walked into the soup kitchen from the parking lot, I knew people would be lining up early.  With the New England wind chill as intense as it was, the director always opened the doors before the usual time.  The cafeteria area became their crowded living room, and people arrived early and stayed late.

One thing I've noticed in the past few months is that tempers seem to flare easier.  There is more than the usual amount of tension in the air.  

But there is one guy who always seems the same.  He always takes the time to come to the counter and thank me.  He tells me about job leads, and he always has a smile for the clients and the volunteers.  But one big thing I've noticed about this guy is that he almost always has a book in his hand.  

It's a library book.  This guy has practically nothing, but he has the library.  That's one thing that hasn't changed for him.  

The library.  It's free.  It always has been.  How lucky are we?

I Was in Love With Moose Freed

I was in love with Moose Freed.  You remember him.  He mowed the lawns in the neighborhood in Are You There God?  It's Me, Margaret.  Margaret loved him, too, which made sense, because in my mind, Margaret and I were best friends.  So it was just logical that we'd have the same taste in men/older teenage boys/neighborhood lawnmowers.  

Moose was an easy one for both Margaret and me.  We could worship him from afar, Margaret from the other side of the lawn, and me from the safety of a book.  Margaret was new in town, much younger than Moose, and a bit on the shy side--all distinct disadvantages.  I was at a distinct disadvantage where Moose or anyone like Moose, aka, a boy was concerned.  I had glasses and braces.  And they weren't those nice little stick-on braces that they have now.  The kind they have now can be practically invisible, undetectable.  Let me assure you that if there was any hint of a light source nearby, my braces were plenty detectable.  Those shiny silver bands went around each and every one of my teeth and they came with something really special:  headgear.  And mine wasn't the semi-acceptable kind that was somewhat hidden around the back of your neck.  Nope.  Mine had a form-fitting cap of sorts that rested on the back of my head and fed two giant wires to my mouth.  I guess you'd have to see the "before" picture of me on my website (www.annhaywoodleal.com, if you don't believe me...it's the picture of the kid with the yo-yo) to fully appreciate the severity of my orthodontia.  I didn't have to wear the headgear for the full twenty-four hours in the day...but it left a beautiful imprint on the back of my hair to make it look as if I was still wearing it.

Each of the fifteen plus times I read Are You There God?  It's Me, Margaret., I waited for Moose to really notice Margaret, as if Judy Blume had magically changed the story on me.  If there was a chance for Margaret, maybe there was a chance for my 13-year-old self!