An Homage to Writing God Chris Crutcher

I received a little gift a couple of weeks ago. Not in the usual way – wrapped up and beribboned. It came as a reminder. I was accepted as a reviewer for the Sacramento Book Review. When the list arrived for me to choose my first books, I found a new Chris Crutcher book and requested it along with three others. When it came, I dove right in. My review hasn’t been published yet, so I won’t write about that book here until after the review has appeared, but the gift was I was reminded what an incredible writer Chris Crutcher is. From my perspective, in the world of Young Adult writing, Chris Crutcher is a god. Maybe even THE GOD. I’m serious.

When I was still teaching, I always cruised the room, checking to see what kids were reading on their own. I found some good stuff that way. When one of my students said to me, “You should really read this,” I not only listened, I read. Those kids opened a lot of doors for me. Along the way, I ran across a book by Chris Crutcher called Ironman. One of my students hated to read, but loved bicycling. That’s all he could think about. Book report time was an agony for him, so when he told me I should really read Ironman, I paid attention. I suspect a librarian who was a good listener helped him find it. I read it and fell in love with the writing. It is so real. The characters are real. The dialogue is real. The situations are, oh, so real. There are layers of realism that reach kids in ways not many writers manage to do. And what a deft hand he has. He uses humor the way smart kids in pain do – to deflect and defend – and it’s brilliant and real.

I went in search of other Chris Crutcher books and found Whale Talk, Chinese Handcuffs, Staying Fat for Sarah Byrne, and Running Loose. Most of his books and stories are sports based and he covers quite a few. A little something for everyone. Like football? He's got a book for that – Running Loose. Are you a runner? Try Chinese Handcuffs. Is swimming your passion? Pick up Whale Talk or Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes. What more could one ask? Well, how about a hockey book? Hockey is my favorite sport, after all. But then I haven't read all his books yet. Maybe he has one waiting for me.

I started recommending Crutcher's books to my students. Then I bought multiple copies and used them for my end-of-the-year novel projects and kept copies in my classroom library. They disappeared and I bought more. I understood. Kids didn’t want to return them. They wanted to have them and read them over and over. Great writing will do that for kids.

His new book, about which I will write when my review has been published, revisits some characters from earlier books. It sure was nice to see those old friends again, but I realized I had more reading to do. I met some characters I hadn’t met before and wanted to know them better. I picked up copies of Athletic Shorts and Deadline because characters from those were reprised in his new book. Next on my list will be The Sledding Hill for the same reason.

The first story in Athletic Shorts, a collection of six well-crafted, tight short stories, “A Brief Moment in the Life of Angus Bethune,” will introduce you to an extremely intelligent young man with problems hanging off his problems, like love handles hanging over a tight belt. His parents are divorced, gay, and remarried to gay partners. And he, like his parents in one way, is big. Not just big. Enormous. At least from his point of view. And since his is the only point of view we have, we are convinced he is huge. “Really, I’m surprised someone in my family doesn’t have a trunk. Or a blowhole.” And, he is quick to point out, he is named after a cow. A cow! Chris Crutcher just cracks me up. Through a nasty trick by a handsome, rich, perfect football star (who maybe isn't so perfect after all) who hates him, Angus is elected Prom King. And the girl of his dreams, all of his dreams forever, is elected Prom Queen. He arrives at the dance and, “eyes straight ahead on the band, walking lightly on the balls of my feet, like Raymond Burr through a field of dog-poop sundaes” he makes his way into the dance. I won’t ruin it for you. It’s worth your time to get the book and find out what happens. I just wanted to give you a taste. Give yourself a break and read Athletic Shorts.

Reading books is the best way for me to become a better writer. I'm working on a re-write of my first book, Family Matters, and since it's YA, reading Chris Crutcher is the best (and most fun) thing I can do to make that book the best it can be. I’ll be reading Deadline next, and I’ll let you know how it is, although I think it’s safe to say, it will be time well spent.

Some Helpful Places to Visit

Nearly every day something appears in my email inbox or I run across something on the internet that is helpful to my writing. I’ve been thinking about how I really need to share this with other writers, so today is my day. Make sure you read to the end for a special treat.

Today I received an email from Jon Bard. He and his partner, Laura Backus, put out a newsletter called Children’s Book Insider. I’ve been a subscriber for a number of years. It’s a most helpful newsletter for those who write for children of any age. Through an article in the newletter, I made my first sale recently. They also have a free e-zine that arrive via Jon’s emails. Today’s has several videos chock full of helpful info. You can view them here: http://www.youtube.com/cbiclubhouse.

Hope Clark is another favorite person in my writing life. She has two free e-newsletters full of information on writing contests, places to sell writing, as well as interesting articles and links to other helpful places. If you go to http://www.fundsforwriters.com and click on the link to newsletters, you can sign up for free e-newsletters. I receive the Funds for Writers and FFW Small Markets newsletters, and I think they’re great. I had a short story accepted to an anthology that I read about in one of her newsletters.

Some of the outfits I receive things from are trying to sell me something, but as an old salesperson, I know the way to a customer’s wallet is with giving her something of value for free. Gotham Writer’s Workshops hopes I’ll sign up and buy a class someday (maybe I will), and they send me e-newsletters with lots of free fun and useful information such as contest info and links to other good writing stuff. You can sign up to receive the newsletters too. Go to: http://www.writingclasses.com/index.php?gclid=CPSmqeDq56cCFQtPgwodNi9Oag. The latest issue has a mini-interview with Wally Lamb, a wonderful author with some interesting things to say. This issue also included a link to The Writer Magazine on line and their free newsletter. Check it out: WriterMag.com.

Going to a writer’s conference any time soon? I know I am – April 2^nd – the Spring Spirit Conference put on by the local SCBWI region. Before you go, give this a read: http://donnabowmanbratton.blogspot.com/2011/02/dos-donts-and-stuff-of-attending.html.

Worth your time. (I know – her blog looks like mine, but that’s just because we have the same great taste and used the same template.)

Writing non-fiction? You should know about this: http://www.hbook.com/magazine/articles/2011/mar11_stone.asp

 

Someone (wish I could remember who!) put me on to Wikimedia Commons – a place to find pictures and photos you can use for free to dress up your blogs. It’s easy to navigate and, while some things require giving credit to the artist, a lot don’t even require that. You can find it here: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page.

Jane Friedman, former Writer’s Digest publisher and editorial director has a blog at http://blog.writersdigest.com/norules/. You can subscribe to receive notice when she posts. You might want to wander through her archives. Great stuff.

I have some friends who write blogs about writing and some blogs I’ve found to be particularly interesting and useful. I think they are all good. Take a look.

http://thefirstgates.com/

http://elizabethvaradansfourthwish.blogspot.com/

http://enterthebetween.blogspot.com/

http://thewholemegillah.wordpress.com/

http://tmarchini.wordpress.com/

http://emusdebuts.wordpress.com/

http://twonerdyhistorygirls.blogspot.com/

I hope all this is helpful to you. And now, in case you haven’t had a laugh lately, try this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9fc-crEFDw  Every writer should see this. In fact, every writer has probably met this guy!

Thinking about Writing or Writing About What I'm Thinking

I so admire people who have the kind of discipline I think writers should have. My friend Morgan Mussell is one of those. He reads – no, studies – a lot of writing books, as well as studying the business of writing, and shares his knowledge with those of us lucky enough to be in a critique group with him or readers of his wonderful blog, The First Gates. He’s an excellent, disciplined writer, as well and one of the best editors I’ve ever run across. Drop by his blog sometime and soak up a little of his very accessible knowledge. What amazes me is the discipline he brings to his writing. He works very hard at learning his craft and even writes synopses before he writes the books. I suspect he even outlines. He always knows where he’s going.

Another writing friend, Margaret Duarte, also shows amazing and resilient writing skills. She has completed four novels. FOUR! In addition, she was the first to receive a Creative Writing Certificate offered by UCDavis extension. She has been blogging five days a week for quite some time, and her blogs are interesting and useful. When I need to know how to do something new on my blog, I visit Margaret’s blog, Enter the Between and check her archives for the answers. She has also posted story samples and novel excerpts. Go there and have a taste of her wonderful work.

As inspiring as these people are, I return to Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones for inspiration and to assuage my guilt.

Don’t worry about your talent or capability: that will grow as you practice. Katagiri Roshi said, “Capability is like a water table below the surface of the earth.” No one owns it, but you can tap it. You tap it with your effort and it will come through you. So just practice writing, and when you learn to trust your voice, direct it. If you want to write a novel, write a novel. If it’s essays you want or short stories, write them. In the process of writing them, you will learn how. You can have the confidence that you will gradually acquire the technique and craft you need.

I have studied writing off and on for years: taking creative writing courses at San Jose State, both undergraduate and graduate, taking the initial writing course from the Institute of Children’s Literature , which was surprisingly good. I’ve attended conferences, joined writing associations, taken many workshops, read some books, etc., etc. All those had some value, and I probably built little compartments of writing knowledge in my mind. Sometimes I find the doors cracked open, and I can re-visit them. Sometimes I can’t find my way back to some of that information to save my soul (which could probably use a little saving, by the way). It isn’t easy getting old.

But the one thing that has worked for me is putting my butt in the chair and writing, just like Natalie Goldberg said. I’m not terribly disciplined about any of it. I have a few sticky notes where other writers have pages and pages of outlines and synopses. I don’t outline because, to be perfectly honest, I have little idea, at least with my novels, what is going to happen. For picture books, articles, and other non-fiction I have a good idea and do storyboards and other planning, but not my novels. In fact, I don't even feel as if I'm in charge. I sit down with an inkling of an idea and characters walk into my head, fully formed and usually named, and tell me their stories. I write in fits and starts, sometimes madly writing long hours for days in a row, followed by little or nothing for a while so my batteries can re-charge. Or I might stop working on my novel for days or even weeks while I work on other things, all the while letting my story percolate through the soil of my mind and pick up nutrients. But I always get back to work and let my characters lead me along.

I’ve written two novels this way. The first, I started from a writing exercise in a text book, and it turned into a young adult novel named Family Matters. I had the good fortune of having two sophomore classes read and critique it. They liked it. A lot. I was at the school a couple weeks ago and some of the kids from those classes (now seniors) talked about the book, even naming the characters – two years after they read it. How cool is that? Anyway, I learned a lot about writing books by writing that first book. I hope it will be published someday and am now revising it to that end.

I read an article a while back that said the way to get your first book published is to write your second book. So I did. I had learned a lot writing the first one; mostly I learned to listen to my muse and trust my characters to tell me their stories. My second book is called The Incredible Journey of Freddy J. and I’m really proud of it. I’ve had it critiqued, revised it, had many beta readers, and gotten great feedback. One of my beta readers described it as being much like the serial stories that used to be shown at Saturday matinees in the theatres when we were young. I liked that. Since it is really written for young boys, it was good to hear that. That's the kind of thing kids like. Another beta reader was a thirteen-year-old boy (grandson of a friend) whom I've never met. All I know is he read it three times. THREE times. Amazing. I’ve arranged for some sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students to read it and am awaiting their comments. I’m just beginning the agent hunt, so it may be a while before it’s out there, but that’s the nature of the business. Fingers crossed.

So even though I’m not the most organized person in the world, I know I can write and I know how to do it in a way that works for me…and makes real books, books that people like. Now, if I can just get the publishing world to listen…

If you already write, maybe you’ll leave a good tip for the rest of us. If you want to write, I say do it. Sit down with a pen and paper or in front of a blank computer screen or whatever works for you, and just do it. Natalie Goldberg would approve.

A Book for Writers and Lovers

I’m a bit late with my post, but have been busy with out-of-town visitors and getting some writing work done. I have my first sale (YAY!!). It’s small, but still, it’s a sale. I sold two children’s poems to High Five magazine (sister publication of Highlights), and I am thrilled. I’ve also been working on an article I hope to sell to Highlights and just put it into the mail yesterday, so back to your regularly scheduled blogging!

Some years ago, someone at a writer’s conference mentioned a book “every writer or aspiring writer should read” – Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg. I went on Amazon and ordered a used copy. When I received the book, it was a tiny thing – about the size of a cigarette pack. It is a Shambhala Pocket Classic. Never heard of them before. But I have to tell you, it’s been kind of a gift. Most of the time, I keep it in my purse. If I get stuck waiting on line in a store or, God forbid, the DMV or Post Office, I pull it out and read a few pages.

It seems no matter to what page I open, I find something useful or helpful or inspiring or affirming. Let me give you an example. I opened the book the other day and ran across this:

 Writers are great lovers. They fall in love with other writers. That’s how they learn to write. They take on a writer, read everything by him or her, read it over again until they understand how the writer moves, pauses, and sees. That’s what being a lover is: stepping out of yourself, stepping into someone else’s skin. Your ability to love another’s writing means those capabilities are awakened in you. It will only make you bigger; it won’t make you a copy cat.

I love that. It encourages me (and gives me permission) to take the time to read good writing, to immerse myself in it, to scoop it up slowly with a small spoon, and taste every word. I have met some writers over the years who have sucked me in completely with their extraordinary art and I have, indeed, immersed myself in all I could find by them and savored the works. This experience with writers really began for me quite early.

Laura Ingalls Wilder was likely the first. I must have been in second or third grade when I read Little House in the Big Woods, then found the rest and read right through them and read them again. I re-read them as an adult after my daughters were born and found them every bit as engaging as I did as a child. I re-read some and discussed them with my grandson as he read them. That says a lot about the writing.I always find her work inspiring.

Lucy Maude Montgomery followed close on Laura’s heels. The Avonlea series is simply heartbreakingly good. I revisited them more than once, savoring the strong movement of words across the page.

 The first writing lover for me as an adult was John Steinbeck. He has become a life-long love of mine. I believe I have read every piece of fiction Steinbeck wrote, most of them many times. My first encounter was when I was about twelve or thirteen. One of my best friends was a girl named Julie who had the most cool parents in the world and lived in an incredible house – modern and unlike any other house I’d been in. They had a large, circular living room. Floor-to-ceiling windows made up about half the walls, and most of the rest was a floor-to-ceiling book case filled with hardcover books. It had a ladder that ran on a track across the front. Yes. A rolling ladder, just like in those libraries in the homes of dukes and lords. One day while I visited, Julie’s step-dad climbed the little ladder and pulled a book from a high shelf. He handed it to me and said, “I think you’re ready for this. Let’s talk about it when you’re done reading it.” I was astonished to have an adult loan me a book, but more astonished to find he was interested in talking with me about it.

The book was Of Mice and Men. I would guess I have read it at least forty times. I taught it for many years and always told my students I considered it a perfect novel. It has everything in it I wanted to teach students about literature – great characters, incredible descriptive writing, literary allusion, imagery, foreshadowing, irony, strong symbolism – all packed into a great sweeping story. And the names. I could talk for hours about the names in this wonderful little book. This book, and especially how it came to me, truly changed my life. I proceeded to read every piece of fiction I could find by Steinbeck, even Cup of Gold and Burning Bright, which I don’t recommend, by the way. Every writer has experiments that shouldn’t see the light of day. And I don’t think Of Mice and Men is Steinbeck’s best, but it surely cannot be overlooked. The distinction of being his best, in my mind, belongs to East of Eden. If you haven’t read it, my goodness, what a treat you have in store.

I’ve gone through short-term love affairs with other writers but always return to Steinbeck. His short stories are little gems. My soon-to-be-son-in-law, Eric Baldwin, recently called me to discuss The Chrysanthemums, one of the short stories from Steinbeck’s collection published as The Long Valley. Now I have to tell you, Eric made a lot of points with me that day. Not only was he reading and appreciating my favorite author, but he gave me the gift of reminding me of that superb little story and to remind myself to spend some time with my first great love, gobbling up his words and drawing inspiration from his brilliance. You may also visit my writing lover. No jealousy here. I love to share him with others. Go ahead. Pick up some of his work. Steep yourself in it. Step out of yourself and into John Steinbeck’s skin. Fall in love with him if you like. Natalie Goldberg and I would approve.  

Who are your reading or writing lovers? How did you discover him or her? Inquiring minds want to know.

Playing By the Rules

I remember when I took my first creative writing course at San Jose State sooooo many years ago, the professor, Robert Burdette Sweet, said to us, “If your character is going to kill himself on the last page, the gun better be hanging over the mantelpiece on the first page.” Good advice for any kind of writing. It’s really important, and only fair, for the writer to leave a trail of breadcrumbs for the reader to follow. This is especially important in whodunits. I’ve got a whodunit knocking around in my head I expect to start working on soon, so this blog is a way of reminding myself to follow that important rule.

In my last post, I raved about John Hart’s spectacular novel The Last Child. As I read that wonderful book, I spent a lot of time muttering to myself and even shouting “Holy Cow” and other such phrases at the ends of chapters, but not once did I find myself saying, “Whoa! Where did that come from?” There were a few chuckles followed by “I should’ve seen that coming.” It was all there. Not that there weren’t red herrings enough to keep readers guessing, but the bread crumbs were there. And when you finished the book, it was with the same satisfaction one has finishing a big, tough jigsaw puzzle. All the pieces are there. You just have to put it all together.

Now, I have read some books that didn’t follow the rules. A couple of years ago I picked up a James Patterson book. It’s the only one I’ve ever read with his name on it. I’m reluctant to say “by him” because I’ve read Patterson comes up with story ideas and outlines them, then farms the project out to a whole stable of writers who do the heavy lifting. But if he has his name on the books, you’d think he’d read them and make sure everything that should be there is there. This book was called Beach Road and when I finished it, I remember saying, “You have got to be kidding me. Where the heck did that come from?” The only good thing about the book was that I bought it at a garage sale and only paid a quarter for it. After reading that one, I’ve never been able to use any of my hard-to-come-by reading time for another Patterson book. So I have to admit, maybe Beach Road was an anomaly, but I’ll never know for sure.

I remember feeling the much the same way about Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane. It wasn’t as bad as Patterson’s book by a long shot, but when I finished I still felt Lehane had cheated. Maybe it was particularly disappointing because two of my favorite books are Mystic River and The Given Day. Both are spectacular books, brilliantly written. Time permitting, I would read them both again. Unfortunately, time isn’t permitting these days. Mystic River is perhaps the best whodunit I've ever read, although thanks to John Hart, there is another contender for first place. Maybe it's a tie.  If you haven’t read these two by Lehane yet, find some time and give yourselves a treat, but don’t bother with Shutter Island. I’ve read a few of his other books and liked them pretty well. His detective novels are quite smart. So I will say here, anything by Dennis Lehane, with the exception of Shutter Island, is probably worth your while.

One of my critique partners, Robert Gordon, has decided to add an element of mystery to the book he’s working on at present. He has introduced a spy into his WWII historical novel.  I watch with interest the journey he’s taking with this book, going back to dot his Is and cross his Ts, dropping a few more crumbs, rewriting and rewriting. It’s coming along nicely and I admire his perseverance. I think mysteries must be the most difficult form of writing. There are so many balls to keep in the air, so many clues to be planted, so many facts to be checked. I’m looking forward to the idea of writing a mystery, but realize it will probably be the toughest task I could set for myself. I’m still in the thinking-about-it stage and have a way to go before I start writing. I sure don’t want people slapping their foreheads at the end of my whodunit and muttering, “Whoa. Now where the heck did that come from?”

It Doesn't Get Much Better Than This: a Review of John Hart's The Last Child

I’m doing more reading than writing now, but after the marathon of finishing my second novel, I don’t feel too guilty. Besides, it’s part of the training. I was at a workshop put on by Michael Larsen and Elizabeth Pomada of the Larsen/Pomada Literary Agency last week, and they gave us Ernest Gaines Six Golden Rules for Writing: Read, Read, Read, Write, Write, Write. Now Ernest Gaines is a writer for whom I have great respect. He’s written some wonderful novels – The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and A Lesson Before Dying – to name just two. This is a man who knows something about writing, so if he says I should read, read I will.

Donald Maass of Donald Maass Literary Agency and author of the seminal book on contemporary writing, Writing the Breakout Novel, talks about a novel needing to have tension on each and every page. That is a tall order. In my novels, I feel like I get good tension on most pages, but all? Not quite. When I first read that, I thought about books I’d read and could honestly only think of a precious few books I would describe in that way – The Day of the Jackal, Jaws, and one of my all time favorites, Kindred by Octavia Butler. Oh, there are probably others, but that’s what came to my mind.

This week I read a book that certainly fills Maass’s “tension on every page” maxim. I don’t remember where I heard about this book – read a review or heard something on the radio about it, I think. I scribbled it on a scrap of paper with a note to pick it up. That note rattled around my purse and car for a while, then last week I picked up The Last Child by John Hart. Holy Smoke, what a book! Unfortunately for me, I didn’t have a good chunk of time this week to just sit down and read it. I had three sub teaching jobs this week, a couple of appointments, a day of a thousand errands, etc. You know how it is. Anyway, I grabbed a little time here and there, but once I started the book, I put off what I could and read. I found myself praying for long stop lights on the way to and from school so I could read a page or at least finish a paragraph. I carried the book into stores in hopes I would have to stand on line. I stayed up too late reading. I got up early and read a few pages over breakfast. Every time I thought I’d have an hour or two, something came up.

Today was to be my day. The phone rang at 6:15 a.m. “Do you want to sub today.” “Oh, gosh, sorry. Can’t. The dentist.”  Okay. Not the dentist. Just an absolutely delicious book. I saw clear reading time. Just some obligations in the morning, but by ten, the time would be mine, all mine. At 11:30, Dave said, “How about I take you out to lunch?” Not even one of my favorite mini-dates – lunch out with my hubby – was going to get me away from that book until I finished. I hope Dave had a nice time.

This is a book that is more convoluted and well-written than almost anything I’ve ever read. It has mysteries inside of conundrums wrapped in enigmas. And the writing is simply wonderful. Hart takes you to North Carolina and you don’t want to be any place else until the last word. You feel the suffocating heat and the mosquitoes nibbling you. The smell of death fills your mouth and gags you. You hear the voice of God speaking to Freemantle. It’s all there. His characters are perfect – damaged, vulnerable, sympathetic people pursued by black-hearted, malevolent evil-doers of the first order. Holy Guacamole! How does he come up with this stuff? John Grisham pales in comparison, and trust me, I love John Grisham.

So, if you don’t have a bad ticker, and you do have an open day or so on your schedule, pick up a copy of The Last Child by John Hart and enjoy. It does not disappoint.

Rachel Dillon Making a Point

I am working on writing an article on spec for a children’s magazine about a friend who is a phenomenal artist and writer. Her name is Rachel Dillon. She has a spectacular book of her paintings and poetry already published and another will be published next year. Her subject is endangered species and her passion shows in every bit of her work. Her book, Through Endangered Eyes: A Poetic Journey into the Wild,  has been out for about two years. If you haven’t seen it, you should. It’s quite wonderful.

Rachel has a style of painting unlike any I’ve ever seen. She calls it “dot painting.”  I thought for a long time it was pointillism, and that I would be researching Seurat  for background and influence. Imagine my surprise when Rachel said she had been launched on her artistic journey when she visited Australia and saw the dot painting done by the Aboriginal artists. She explained to me that pointillism is really about color – the juxtapositioning of primary colors to fool the eye into seeing another color entirely. Dot painting is just what it says – one uses dots of paint to make a picture.

The Aboriginal dot paintings are rather simple, flat, and straightforward. Rachel’s paintings are extremely elegant and have tremendous texture. You can get a sense of it on her web page, but when you see them close up and hold them in your hand, as I did, they are stunningly alive and three dimensional. I will post here when Rachel has a showing so you can experience what I have.

When Rachel was in middle school, an uncle gave her a book about endangered species. A later trip to a zoo where she noticed the signs indicating which animals were endangered (lots of them!), had a profound effect on her. When she had her first child, she wasn’t able to find any books on endangered species she would want to read to her own children. There you go. The old adage: Find a need and fill it. Rachel created a book of amazing pictures and charming poems that tell a story of the tremendous losses we all face if we don’t pay attention to the needs of the planet. Unfortunately, the number of endangered species cannot be covered in one slender, beautiful book. Fortunately, there is a second book on its way, equally beautiful and important.

Building Bridges -- a Review of The Cardturner by Louis Sachar

In my on-going training as a writer, I took the day to read a young-adult book by Louis Sachar. He is the person who wrote a wonderful middle-grade novel called Holes, a Newbery winner, that was quite popular a few years ago. I read and enjoyed it greatly, so much so I bought several copies and kept them in my classroom for my students. I know it was a good book because my copies kept disappearing and had to be replaced!

His new book, The Cardturner, is delightful – an old-fashioned term that might put off young people, but somehow I think it’s just the right word for this book. Like Holes, The Cardturner has parallel stories, generations apart. In The Cardturner, the stories weave together to quietly deliver a pretty powerful message about real love, the kind that grows out of mutual respect and friendship.

Alton Richards is facing a lousy summer. His girlfriend dumped him for his best friend, he has no job, his father has been laid off, and now his mother tells him he has to spend his days driving his old, blind (but very rich, his mother reminds him) uncle, Lester Trapp, to bridge tournaments and turn his cards for him. Someone else has been doing that, and Alton’s mother thinks that person, a distant step-relative named Toni (and she’s crazy!, Alton’s mother says), is after the money. Alton has no idea what cardturning means and has never played bridge. He only knows it’s a card game that was popular back in the day. Bor-ing! His uncle is not only old and blind (and don’t forget rich, Alton’s mother would say), but demanding and not particularly pleasant. At least, that’s the way it seems at first.

Alton’s uncle seems pleased Alton knows nothing about bridge. He wants someone who will do just as he’s told and not think for himself. But Alton can’t help himself. He pays attention and begins to learn the game. He practices with his little sister Leslie, a very mellow, intelligent eleven-year-old. He also starts hearing some pretty interesting stories about the good old days around the bridge table. This is where the parallel story comes in. It’s all about the love of the game and the communication and trust between partners.

One day, the infamous Toni shows up as Trapp’s partner. She’s actually pretty good at the game and – BONUS – she’s beautiful and the same age as Alton. As the two stories unwind, Sachar builds a bridge between the two generations, and Alton and Toni see the strength and beauty of the friendship Trapp and Toni’s grandmother had as partners from many years ago. We see the parallel lives of the two sets of bridge partners – Trapp and Toni’s grandmother and Alton and Toni – and learn some things about friendship and trust and bridge.

Sachar weaves bridge lessons throughout the book and tricks the reader into learning about the game by A) giving them a way to skip those sections and B) making the sections too fascinating to skip. My only complaint is Sachar depreciates one of the great books in American literature and one of my personal favorites – Moby Dick. He uses a graphic of a whale to signal the “boring parts” that can be skipped, like the “boring whaling chapters” in Moby Dick. Maybe this is another trick. Maybe Sachar is planning on tricking young readers into reading Moby Dick all the way through. When they realize there were no boring parts in Sachar’s book, maybe they will think there are no boring parts in Moby Dick. At least I hope that’s what he had in mind.

If you’re looking for a fun, quick read, pick up a copy of The Cardturner. I recommend it. I’m hoping to see a resurgence in bridge playing after plenty of young readers discover the game through this well-crafted book.

Some Thoughts on Creativity

When I was in high school, I was cast in the play Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie. I was the old lady who would die from a “bee sting” in the second act. “It would be good if you could knit while you sit on stage. Can you knit?” I was asked by the director. Well, how hard could it be? My grandmother could knit. My mother, some cousins, some aunts could all knit. I set about learning and ended the run of the play with a long, lumpy, holey gray scarf. No point in knitting after that. I wasn’t good at it and I didn’t particularly enjoy it. But I have to say, I truly admire people who can knit.

Some years ago, when my kids were little, I decided to take up needlework. I bought a crewel pillow kit with an absolutely gorgeous picture on the front of what my pillow would look like when I finished.  I worked diligently in my spare time for, oh, probably six months. This is a very complex pattern, I told myself. I’m learning new things. It’s supposed to take time. I completed about a fifth of the pillow in that six months. My mother came for a visit and said she had forgotten her needle work. Did I have anything she could work on? she asked. I figured she could do a little work on my pillow that week – give me a little boost in completing it. She finished it that afternoon. Perhaps crewel wasn’t for me after all.

I was at Border’s a couple weeks ago and bought a drawing kit. It has a drawing pad, charcoal pencils, and a book about how to draw. I am famous with my former students for my basic stick figures. Why, you may ask, would I buy a “how-to” sketching kit at my age (approaching 65 at the speed of light)? I looked at it once on the clearance rack and nearly bought it, but knew that I would get a coupon in my email any day, so waited. When I got a 50%-off-any-item coupon the next week, I picked it up for a whole five bucks. I didn’t just buy it because it was cheap. I bought it because I was stuck in my writing, and when that happens, I decide I need to learn something new.

In the fall I got stuck in my writing – had a dry spell when I couldn’t seem to write a sentence, let alone a story or article. I headed to the fabric store to find the cure. Maybe it was time to try needlework again. This time, knowing myself, I bought the Embroidery for Dummies kit and spent several days trying to make French knots that didn’t look wads of used dental floss. I did not prevail. If you know someone who might need a barely-used Embroidery for Dummies kit, let me know. I moved onto sewing gifts for Christmas. I can actually sew, but I make sure I stick to things like pajamas so no one would ever be expected to wear what I make in any public place. I know my limits. I worked my way through that dry spell and am working again.

I think a lot about the process of creativity. Our daughter Maggie is overtly creative in many ways, something that amazes me and that I admire. She is an accomplished actor, singer, songwriter, knitter, writer, and on and on. It all seems to come so naturally to her, but I wonder if she doesn’t work as hard or harder than most people, and has great discipline, confidence, and innate talent as well.  I guess I should underline “discipline,” because I’ve come to believe that’s the real key. You have to work at it, regularly and thoughtfully. You have to study it and practice it. I want to do many creative things, but find myself perhaps talented enough only in writing to feel hopeful of succeeding in that, but the discipline isn’t where it needs to be. I need to work on that. So I think I’ll stick with writing and skip the artsy stuff – at least until I hit another dry spell, with any luck just in time for those beautiful Christmas pajamas.

My Award-Winning Blog

My granddaughter came for an overnight this weekend, always a delightful time. She brought with her a popular video called “How to Train Your Dragon.” It’s a very clever film, follows the hero cycle perfectly, and has fabulous animation and a great deal of charm. I related to the young character, Hiccup, because he had to overcome what seemed an insurmountable challenge. That’s the way I felt when I started my blog. Okay, okay, that’s a little bit of an exaggeration, but I’m still fumbling around trying to train my blog.

I thought when I asked friends to click on the “follow” button, they would receive an email each time I posted, but that doesn’t happen. I’m not sure just what it means to follow a blog, but it doesn’t mean that! I persevered and asked questions and poked around the site. Now you can receive an email notification if you like. Look to the right and under the “About Me” section is a line that says “Subscribe to The Write Stuff by Email.” Click on that and sign up please!

I worked hard at writing things I thought might be interesting and fun. Even though I have posted only twice before this, a very kind and encouraging fellow writer awarded me the Stylish Blogger Award! 

The way this works is I am supposed to tell you seven interesting things about myself, then choose blogs I think are worthy of the Stylish Blogger Award and pass it along. The truth of the matter is I don’t follow many blogs, but I do follow a few and think highly of them. So I will tell you seven things about myself I hope you will find interesting, then share the stylish blogs with those of you reading this, and hope you will check them out.

First, seven things about me I hope you will find interesting.

1. I tend to change careers about every fifteen years. If that stays the same, I only have about eleven years left to write the great American (kid’s) novel.

2. When I received my “How did I do?” questionnaires at the end of each school year, my students most often described me as “organized.” None of those students had ever seen my office at home.

3. If I had it to do over again, I would not have spent ten years in advertising. I would have skipped right to teaching, which would have gotten me to writing ten years sooner and with less mental impairment.

4. My favorite place in the world is wherever my grandchildren are. My second favorite place is Pacific Grove, California. It charges my batteries and inspires me to write. I think it is the proximity to Steinbeck’s spirit.

5. My guilty pleasure is TV crime shows. My new favorite is “Castle” – a cop show with a writer as the main character. It’s funny and smart and goes well with a glass of good bourbon. I think the best crime show is “Southland” for pure grittiness and great acting and writing. I waste far too much time on crime shows (or Murder and Mayhem, as my husband calls them).

6. I think the best American book ever written is East of Eden by John Steinbeck. If you’ve never read it, there is a great treat in store for you. I think the second best is Moby Dick. Nothing I write even vaguely resembles those in any way, and not because I don’t want it to.

7. If I won the lottery, I would still write, whether people want me to or not.

Now, for your reading pleasure, and in no particular order, the blogs to which I award the Stylish Blogger Award:

Elizabeth Varadan’s The Fourth Wish

http://elizabethvaradansfourthwish.blogspot.com/

Elizabeth (or Mitty as we fondly call her) writes about the writing process, reads voraciously, and shares her insights about what she has read. She generously awarded me the Stylish Blog Award and has given me much encouragement.

Morgan Mussell’s The First Gates

http://thefirstgates.com/

Morgan writes about so many things – interesting things he’s read, interesting places he’s been, what has inspired him, the writing process – and is so thoughtful and eloquent. It’s always a treat when I get a notice he has posted.

Maggie Hollinbeck’s Wandernest

http://wandernest.wordpress.com/

Yes, she is my daughter, but she is also a talented writer and a woman of the world with much to say and all of it fascinating.

Margaret Duarte’s Enter the Between

http://enterthebetween.blogspot.com/

Now Margaret is organized! She writes daily and once each week she writes about social media and blogging. When I begged her for help finding a way to put an email subscription gadget on my blog, she sent me to her Nov. 17, 2010 blog and there it was. It didn’t even take me five minutes. She also has some of her short stories and excerpts from her novel available for your reading pleasure.

Bud Harrington’s Daily Journal

http://bharrington.xanga.com/

Bud is one of the funniest people on the planet and is never shy about telling it like it is. What a treat to read. Stop by and visit the world according to Bud.