Big Steps and Lil' Uns

Back home from vaca!

We did our yearly migration to the summer hell hole called Flo-rida. The beach at Ft. Lauderdale was nice and relaxing. Walt Disney World was hideously crowded, but fun. And Universal was awesome, but MUST HAVE an Express Pass if you go in summer!

I had high hopes that I would have at least one day with over 30,000 steps, but the closest I got was 26,000 steps. *sigh* Oh, well. You couldn't walk three steps without having to jog around people suddenly stopping or having a family conference in the middle of the walking area. And shuffling in the lines doesn't constitute "walking steps".

Massive amounts of humanity crowding in a finite location with 95% humidity with 90+ degree days equals UGH! The issue was the same at Universal, though there were far fewer strollers that were used as battering rams.

Speaking of strollers, Disney should outlaw them in their stores. It's bad enough to miss time one's shopping and have to deal with serious crowds, but then having ankles rammed and feet run over just made it irritation.

Highlights:

• The Flight of the Banshee in Animal Kingdom was AWESOME!! The Ikran you sit on (it's like a motorcycle seat with handles to hold onto) actually breaths, and your legs feel it use its wings.
• We managed to score THREE extra fast passes one day. FIRST TIME EVER!
• Managed to get off the monorail and enter the Magic Kingdom right when the 3 PM parade was coming around the corner. Parked ourselves on the steps of City Hall. I think they kick people off this location prior to the parade, but we just lucked out with our timing.
• Butterbeer ice cream is hands down the best thing ever!
• And if you do go to Universal get the park-to-park pass (Hogwarts train experience is different both ways). AND if you are there in the summer, find some way to budget an Express Pass into your budget. We still had to wait in lines, but there were far shorter lines than the regular standby line.

We have very long, very active days while on vacation. A Golla vacation isn't successful unless your feet bleed! Mine didn't, but the others weren't so lucky . . . or in condition.

Later!

MAGs

AWOL

I confess that I've been AWOL from my blog for quite awhile.

This was for a couple of reasons, 1) I didn't really have a whole lot to say, 2) I was judging some contest entries that took a bit of concentrated time, and 3) I was busy rereading the Harry Potter books, and that, my friends, is a blog of its own.

Oh, and I also managed to go to a Q and A with Jim Butcher. I had to leave early though to pick my hubby up from the airport. Bummer, right?

Jim Butcher
Dude kept walking back and forth. I'm just glad it isn't really blurry like the other ones!

Though many of the people in the audience were Butcher fans, they were also LARPers (Live Action Role Players--the geeks you see fighting with wooden swords in the park when spring is in full swing) and asked a lot of LARPing questions.

There were a few writers in the audience and it was through their questions that I had a "Coming to Jesus" meeting that was a long time in coming to this writer.

Jim learned his lesson in college when he decided to prove his professor wrong when the prof asked him to write a detailed outline of a story, character development papers, along with the first three chapters of a story.

And thus, Harry Dresden was born . . . along with a 23-book outline.

I tried to find character sheets, but I must have no clue as to what I needed to look for.

But I did rediscover the Snowflake method of plotting and thought I'd give it a shot. I'm at the beginning stages of it, so I don't have anything to report quite yet.

I'll try to post a little more regularly, but it's springtime at the Golla Oasis, which means lots of yard work as we clean out the old and plant the new along with adding tons of mulch.

Time to fold some laundry, so to that end, I'll say adieu!

Later, Peeps!

Reading Ravenously

I want to thank Tara Hudson for turning my daughter into a reader. In early June, Tara came to our local SCBWI group and gave a talk about how she became an author. I bought the first book in her trilogy--Hereafter. Simply put, it's a YA ghost story.

 

 

I came home from the meeting and handed the book to my 12-year old daughter and said, "I thought you might enjoy this." Never expecting her to read it because she has never enjoyed reading the books that I enjoy--the Harry Potter and Percy Jackson books leap to mind.

 

She started reading it that night.

 

Within days, we were at the local Barnes & Noble trying to find Arise and Elegy. Only after asking a clerk for help were we able to find both books. (B & N's setup for YA is TOTALLY WHACK-A-DOODLE! Books aren't jus separated as New and old YA, but by subgenre, too. Very difficult to figure out where a book is located!)

 

And then, she went to a couple of camps, and stopped reading Arise.

 

I was slightly miffed, considering the hassle and money I spent on the two books (Elegy is hardbound). And told her three days ago, "No TV. I want you to read for an hour."

 

Two hours later, she was still reading.

 

She went to swim practice for almost two hours, came home, got in her jammies and started reading again.

 

We made her turn out the light at 10 PM.

 

The next morning, she told me she wanted to finish Arise . . . she was up reading until 2 AM.

 

Then she started reading Elegy . . . same thing happened . . . she kept reading and reading, and reading. Last night she was still reading at 10:30 when I went to sleep. She wanted to finish the book.

 

I think I might have created a reading monster.

 

I'm okay with that.

 

But that means I better finish City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, because I have a feeling the book will be swiped from my hands sometime today!

 

There might be another Sam's Club run this weekend to by the other books in the series. Can't beat a price of $ 8.99.

 

Well, I better finish reading because I still have the last 1/4 of the book to read.

 

Later, Peeps! 

Young Readers ARE Subjective

A few days ago, one of my writerly-type friends posted a note on FB that Parent & Child magazine listed the top 100 Greatest Books for Kids, and she wondered what others thought about it. She didn't like the idea that they called it the "GREATEST" books for Kids.

And I happen to agree.

Greatest books in whose opinion? Teachers? Librarians? Editors? Parents? Because you know they didn't ask the kids! Many of those books are read by kids because their teachers/parents force them to read them.

The greatest books tag needs to be changed to Most Popular or Biggest Moneymaker or Whatever, but not greatest.

Look at the dance show that used to be called, America's Best Dancer. They changed the name to America's FAVORITE Dancer because the best dancer doesn't always win. They might be technically adept, but if they don't have much of a personality or the ability to convey the emotions of the dance, or whatever, then the voters won't vote for them.

Again, it's subjective.

Which was my comment: Even at a very young age, children are subjective readers. What one kid likes another kid doesn't.

I loved reading the Froggy books to my daughter. She listened to them, but they weren't her favorites. THE SLEEP BOOK was, and still is, one of her favorites. I bought a dragon book for her three years ago called, THE FIRE WITHIN. I loved the book, but I couldn't get her to read past the first few pages. Now, she's devouring the series.

I love Harry Potter. She refuses to read them.

I love the Percy Jackson books. She refuses to read them.

It might be a readiness and ability to read a particular book, but if a child is interested, they will read. The key as a parent is to give them the ability to CHOOSE the books they want to read. And yes, I firmly believe this subjectivity starts at a very young age.

Fantasy stories have always talked to me. I understood them, but when my brother gave me THE HOBBIT when I was 12, I wasn't ready to read that particular book. Two years later, I read THE HOBBIT and the rest of the Lord of the Rings trilogy within weeks . . . and then read them again and again.

My sister, a double Masters, teacher/librarian for 35+ years, refused to read the Harry Potter books. I still don't know if she's read them. All I know is that she hasn't read my stuff. :-P She didn't like the "abuse" Harry suffered when he lived in the cupboard under the stairs. Actually, I find comfort in small places--kind of like swaddling an infant--it conveys the feeling of security.

I think she missed a huge opportunity by her stubbornness--

because when an author writes a series of books that manages to get a WHOLE GENERATION ALL OVER THE WORLD TO START READING, then that's a really, really good thing.

God Bless, J. K. Rowling!

Anyway, the whole purpose of this blog is to let kids read what they want to read. Who cares what they read as long as they are reading . . . within reason, of course, you don't want a 10-year-old reading racy romances, do you? You do have to play the parent, yanno. And, yes, I know I have blog readers who cut their teeth on romances, but back then they didn't have quite the same level of heat. . . unless you read Rosemary Rogers, but that's another blog topic!

Reading is wonderful. I just don't want someone to tell me that because I haven't read a particular book (trust me, there are TONS of "classics" that I haven't read) it makes me less educated or well-read.

Many people read to be educated. While others feel they need to broaden their minds. While others will only read non-fiction. Or others read only classics. Or . . .  (supply your reason here)

I read for enjoyment and escapism.

What do your read, and why?

What I learned from J. K. Rowlings--part 1

Monday was laundry/ironing day.  I wanted to watch two movies that my kiddo got from the Easter Bunny, Tangled and Megamind, but the snotty little kid wouldn't let me. Hey, if the plastic had been opened, I would have watched them, but it wasn't and I felt she should have the thrill of opening them herself.

Anyhoo, the kidlet suggested I watch the Harry Potter movies. So with the final installment due out July 15, I decided to revisit ALL the movies. Monday, I watched THE SORCERER'S STONE  and THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS. Now, this isn't to say that I haven't read the books, I have . . . a couple of times, but while I enjoyed the books I also felt that the movies did justice to the books. 

--something that doesn't always happen when the rights are sold to Hollywood (Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson's book, THE LIGHTNING THIEF, turned movie was a disaster!). I think Jo--I'll just call her Jo for ease, not because she and I are best buds or anything--was able to provide input to the creation of her stories, which is why the HP movies are so successful, well that, and the excellent acting and directing.

There are so many things that I can write about but today I'll concentrate on planting information without it feeling like author intrusion (forcing the character to do something that isn't in character or author manipulates the scene in a manner that takes the reader out of the story) or an info dump (telling the reader EVERYTHING the writer knows about X, Y, or Z). It was her subtle and delicate handling of dribbling in bits of information that shows the audience what they need to know without saying, "Hey!  Look here!  You need to pay attention!!"  Here are a few case-in-points:

From THE SORCERER'S STONE:
wand--When Harry gets his wand from Olivander's, Olivander remarks that a phoenix core resided in only TWO wands: Harry's and VOLDEMORT's wand. Olivander also plays an important, though minor, role in the later books.
cloak--the orgins of the cloak don't become known until the last book, but basically Harry's father gave it to Dumbledore for safekeeping. The cloak is part of a made up mythology Jo wrote to explain things in the end of the series.
wizard's chess--prior to Hermoine leaving for the Christmas holidays, the viewer sees Ron teaching Harry how to play Wizard's chess--this plays a role at the end of the movie. I do feel that Ron was sharper than he is written and portayed in subsequent books, because chess requires the player to think ahead.
quiddich--first snitch--Harry doesn't catch the snitch in the typical manner in his hand, instead he catches it in his mouth.  This plays an important role later on in the series as Dumbledore hids a clue for Harry and Hermoine to find.
--Comment from McGonnagall when they are late to class on the first day suggesting they get a map to find their way AND a watch--this was planted (whether by accident or on purpose, I don't know) for #3 THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN in the form of the Maurader's map and the time turner.

From THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS
Ron's wand--Ron's wand has to break to make all his spells backfire.  It breaks when they are doing something 'illegal' (flying a car and crashing it into the whomping willow--this tree also plays an important role in book #3). Jo also shows the reader the consequences of the broken wand (incomplete transfiguration of rat into cup AND the 'eat slugs' threat against Malfoy, prior to the vital scene)
mandrakes--This little scene provides characterization for quite a few characters, but the important fact is they must be used to un-petrify someone (planting the idea).
Fawkes the phoenix (probably named after Guy Fawkes. :-))--Remember: the phoenix only gave TWO feathers. Harry is sent to Dumbledore's office having to do with the petrifying of students and he 1) questions the sorting hat, 2) sees the phoenix burn up. He also learns that phoenix's tears have healing powers.
spiders--Ron hates spiders, so of course, spiders figure in #2.  Not just spiders--big honkin' spiders.
Dobie, though house elf, he and his kind have greater power than the wizards ever gave them credit for. He also goes against his wizard family to try and protect Harry, though it backfires quite a bit adding a lighter element. Plus his release plays an important role in the final book

There are tons of additional elements I could name, but it would put this blog in the way-too-long category.
But what you should take out of this is to show the reader important plot points without telling the reader about them.

Thank you, Jo!

Later, Peeps!