Category: Musing (Page 31 of 31)

…and it’s been too hot. The temps in the south have been smothering…95 degrees with 99 percent humidity. For a SoCal girl from the great past when LA was in perfect climatic harmony, this is tough. But enough about me.

I’ve got lots of excuses as to why I don’t write, but I need to swallow them and move on. I’ve thought about a post on Harry Potter. But I was so sad that there would not longer be this huge world wide phenomenon that would make you salivate at the thought of a new HP story coming out. Was it a good movie? Yeah. Were the books good? Yeah. They were amazingly brilliant in their concept, design, characters, setting, plot. Wow! Were they that well written? Probably not. But they were good and the fans loved them. And, like any series, you were riveted to the outcome for Harry and his pals.

I also wanted to write about Captain America. I liked the movie, up until the ending. Captain America was all about this *ideal* macho hero who was also self-effacing because he knew what it was like to be the underdog, the weakling. Captain America would say things like “You’re a brick.” And it wouldn’t sound hokey. But then to bring him into the 21st Century. Nope. Don’t want to see it. Somethings deserve to stay in their own place.

Or. I could talk about politics. Yeah. No. All this discord is so American. Although all the ‘crisis’ talk makes me nervous, I sort of wonder if, not too dissimilar from probably millions, if we really need to have all this news all the time. I wonder if that’s why the ‘dark and disturbing’ children’s lit is so popular, because we’re all so negatively charged by the constant news cycle we never have time to think about happy. Just happy.

Wednesday it’s out to LA for the SCBWI conference. I’m excited to see everyone. Packing today so I can already feel my neck tightening up in anticipation. I think I’ve picked some excellent sessions to attend and I’m so up for the Monday intensives programs. Yeah, yeah, this was sort of random. Must get used to writing in this often. Now off to get Aaron off the top of the fence and down into the action. Sheeze. Always a problem with a twelve year old 🙂

hmmm…time to pick what sessions I want to attend at the SCBWI LA conference this coming August so that the fabulous, amazingly organized and charming Patricia Wiles can schedule RAs/ARAs working assignments.

Sheeze, first I have to get my own manuscript consultation in the mail, finish the  planning for the SCBWI Carolinas conference, one wedding, critique submissions AND then, I go to the conference. Feels like that’s eons away.

What in god’s name will I want to hear in August. Do I want to hear Melissa Stewart talk about non-fiction, or Liesa Abrams talk about Middle Grade Commerical Fiction? Bonnie Bader’s on the program, I could always learn something from her, always. Then come Saturday, will I be ready for Emma Dryden talk about the new models for publishing or do I want to hear Alessandra Balzer talk about what editors want? By this time I’m expecting the information monitor I keep on the right side of my brain to start buzzing, telling me that I’m nearing the failsafe point, because, you see, I haven’t factored in all the keynote speakers; Bruce Coville, Jerry Pinkney, Libba Bray, Emma Dryden, David Small, John Green. Is your head beginning to hurt? My brain is threatening to shut down just thinking about this.

And, I’m not even up to Sunday yet! <she said with a slight shrill edge> And, more choices. The good news is that there are choices. The exceptional good news is that IF I pay attention AND stay engaged for the full three days, I will walk away with knowledge. Maybe not something I can use immediately. But something I can use. Yeah me!

Serendipity.

Let that roll around your tongue for a while. It’s a great word. And it has a lot to do with writing.

Encarta defines it: a natural gift for making useful discoveries by accident. Synonyms would be destiny, karma, fate, which are all great words.

I like to think that it falls more towards Whimsy [the art of being quaint or playfully humorous in an endearing way], that’s why I have paired the word with Fortunetelling.

Fictional characters develop serendipitously.  Yes, they come from me, out of my experience or imagination or, sometimes, frustration.  But in many ways it’s very accidental the way they become three-dimensional. A program on the radio inspires an idea. The way my daughter categorizes friendship becomes a relationship. An observed scene in a hotel lobby illuminates the conflict of a story.

So. What about fortunetelling?

We storytellers, by whatever medium we chose to use, are seers. We sit pompously in Delphi and predict futures.

The only time we have to come down to earth is to make it all believable to our readers. LOL. Sounds so simple. Yeah, right!