A Quiet Novel...

As I was writing my first novel, the professional editor I was working with explained that my manuscript would be considered a quiet novel. Although I understood what she said, I was still confident in my story's underlining theme as I plugged along in my learning, processing information, rewriting, and revising process. After all, some of my favorite contemporary books are quiet, but those stories speak loudly in the area of human experience.

For example, I loved Rules by Cynthia Lord and Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson. The main characters perspective is shaped around how they interact with another character. In Rules, the main character is stuck looking after her autistic brother when all she longs for is a friend. In Feathers, the main character Frannie observes the treatment of a new boy in school whose dubbed "Jesus Boy" because his skin color is lighter than the other children at her school. Family plays an important role in both of these stories. Is it because theses stories are for a middle grade audience?

 Here is a snippet of a recent rejection: 

I didn't get a clear sense of stakes or goals for the main character. I feel that 33k is very low for YA. I have found that authors who can double that word count have a strong plot, stakes and goals for their main character. 

In Jacqueline Woodson's YA novels, The Dear One or Behind You, the plot and stakes aren't loud and the goals reside with the family relationship and human experience. Even Sarah Zarr's Story of a Girl or Rainbow Rowell's Elenor and Park (although these word counts are higher) share the plight of children dealing with dysfunctional family relationships.

At the last five SCBWI conferences I've attended, the feedback on my story has been excellent and I've been picked as editor or Agents' choice at each one of them. The critique advise given is... make your character fifteen, or this story needs to be YA. So that's what I did. I rewrote my story line for a slightly older audience, but now in my submissions the rejections emphasize the quietness of my theme.

My current plot and theme are strong. Adding words or chapters won't be particularly hard, but the problem is the same. My main character lives with a mentally ill mother who hasn't been properly diagnosed as having manic depressive episodes. Her whole life she's had to be the adult, appeasing a mother whose mood swings create chaos within the family dynamics. How is a fifteen-year-old girl supposed to act? Most likely in a passive-aggressive way. Especially when her father uses business trips to get out of the house and her seventeen-year-old brother comes home drunk or gets high at school.  Wouldn't she feel like she's crazy anytime she interprets her behavior is becoming like her mother whenever things are out of her control?

It's time to go back to the drawing board. Do I fork out the dough and hire another professional editor to take a look at my story line?  Or tuck my manuscript in a drawer for a while, like Stephen King did with Carrie, and forge on with my current novel?

The stakes are higher in my new novel and the plot is definitely loud... death of parents leads to nineteen-year-old sister trying to keep fifteen-year-old sister out of foster care. When she can't make enough money as a waitress, she turns to stripping. After a co-worker dies on stage from a drug overdose, she chooses surrogate parenting for a homosexual couple, which enrages the religious members in her small, Southern town. But are the stakes too loud or too controversial? Someone from a Dallas critique group thought so when he got up and left the room during my synopsis.

Berry, Berry, Quite Contrary...How does our garden grow?

From zucchini seeds,








but please, no weeds.

And tomato plants all in a row.

One of two blackberry bushes. 

Hot Potato...

That was Then... 

 This is Now.

And as of July 2nd 2014, this is even nower.

We added another board to our box and covered up the stems so that the potato plants are tricked into thinking they need to grow taller. This way, new spuds grow in the second level of dirt. Eventually our box will have layer upon layer of spuds.

Book 'em Danno (I know another bad pun)

I just received a text from the Zula B Wylie Public Library in Cedar Hill. It reads as follows:

Your library registration will expire in 10 days.  Please contact the library to renew your registration.

What is so humorous is that if I apply for renewal at this library I will be denied if I have to show residence identification. My zip code is shared by the City of Glenn Heights which is two miles from my house. Glenn Heights is in the boundaries of the Zula B Wylie library and there is a better selection of YA books than my city's library--although my library has a fantastic genealogy department. To borrow from another city's library I'd need a TexShare permission card from my local library.

The reason for my fib is simple. In order to get a Tex-Share card, I'd have to wait ninety (90) days. OMG... we'd just moved to Texas and I could get a gun permit faster than I could check out a freakin' book. My full monologue rant is in a post on Thursday, July 4th, 2013. Currently, I am in good standing with my local library (though I may not be after posting this entry) so I will be able to get a temporary TexShare card that must be renewed every ninety days--what an unnecessary hassle.

Come on Texas Legislature... a concealed gun permit is renewed every four years. I kid you not: Here is the statute:

GC §411.183. EXPIRATION. (a) A license issued under this subchapter expires on the first birthday of the license holder occurring after the fourth anniversary of the date of issuance.

I'd love to have someone comment on this subject if your state or country's library rules are just as lame.

Little Jenny Lynn...

My niece Jenny Lynn--the little three year old I'd would sing Once Upon a Dream from Disney's Sleeping Beauty--is all grown up with a little princess of her own.

                 

Meet Sophia Ann Walker

Six lbs, six oz/18" long

Born Tuesday, June 6, 2014

A Dog's Life...

 Right after lunch.

                            Five minutes of play.   

Seven minutes after lunch... 

                             After a five minute nap.

Preserving What's Right (I know... bad pun at jelly humor)

I realize the world changes, but sometimes I don't think big conglomerates understand the meaning of tradition. Let me explain.

One of my favorite theme parks growing up was Knott's Berry Farm located in Buena Park, California. Since I don't have full knowledge of the original owner's history, here is a great link if your interested: Knott's Berry Farm History .

On to my beef... Last year the company sold its jam and jelly rights to Smucker's. I found this sad fact last year when I could no longer purchase the preservers at Costco, so I began to order the product directly from the park itself.

Then, when a friend visited the park this year, he brought me some of my favorite jam. What a huge disappointment. How ugly is the new packaging? Am I right? I haven't opened my new jar, but when I do there will be hell to pay if they changed the recipe. I might even write them a letter (probably not).

From this... to this ... 

Also, at every grocery store in my area, I case the shelves of the Smucker's section and the company doesn't even offer a  Boysenberry jam. 

Everything's coming up Texas...

I've never seen a place as "Staterotic" as the Lone Star State. Maybe, coming from California, my ideas would seem foreign to citizens here, but sometimes I feel like I'm on a whole different planet--don't get me started on open carry gun demonstrations on street corners. The Second Amendment is a topic for another blog post.

The point I'm trying to stress is the fact that Texans come first in Texas, which is the reason why my husband's company opened an office in this grand ole' state. People here support Texan products. Companies stamp the Texas logo or a Lone Star on everything. Here is an example:

Advertisers specifically mention Texas in television commercials.Even Dairy Queen ends their commercials with a jingle that says, "Dairy Queen... that's what I love about Texas."

News broadcasts throw in any correlation to the state in their stories. For example, CBS Station's President was at the Final Four basketball game when the announcement was released that Steven Colbert would replace David Letterman on Late Night.

The funny thing is "Statiortisim" is contagious. I'm starting to realize that I'm becoming contaminated with Texan pride, especially when I watched Matthew McConaughey give his Oscar acceptance speech for the Dallas Buyers Club.

Waffles at the Best Western 

Texas Drought...

Texas is experiencing another drought year, which makes it the third in a row. Our water troubles can't even compare to California's woes; although this is no laughing matter, Jimmy Kimmel had a funny bit a few monhts ago about the rain.  Jimmy Kimmel on first California Rain. 

But the water shortage effects us, too. In a town Northwest of our home, the city has a water recycling plant that filters their water, including black water waste--yes, poop--back into drinking water.

This morning there was a thunderstorm down pour for about two hours. Eventually, Lorne and I would like to purchase some barrels for rain collection to water our garden, but until then we are making do. During the storm I collected the sixteen, three gallon sized bottles of rain water.

 Twelve gallons from back porch.

Front porch water collection  

Front porch has eighteen additional gallons, and Lucy's old toy bin for collection. 

The collected water will bath our veggies for a week or two.

Oh Christmas Tree

 As was our tradition in our California home, we planted our 2013 potted Christmas Tree--the first Christmas tree in our Texas home. Only, I planted the pine to soon and a wicked cold snap in February nearly killed the poor thing. I pleaded with God to save the little booger and, low and behold, new life grows green from the once brown, frozen branches. 

When we moved from our California house, we had to say good by to two 25+ ft plus trees planted in our yard twenty years earlier, along with several other pine trees from Christmas pasts. So, pray for our little Tannenbaum to grow strong and proud.

There are photos of our old trees in a prior blog.

Texas State Flower Bluebonnet

Texas Bluebonnets from March - April

Lucy, Dezzy, PW, and Blue

A few months ago, the back fields around our home were covered in a purple-blue wildflowers. The sight was spectacular. Bluebonnet flowers blanketed almost every field surrounding freeways causing people to pull of to the side of the road to take photos. (Not a bright idea, but people did it.)

Davis Demographics Company Cruise April 2014

Lorne's boss paid for all of the employees and their spouses to go on a three day cruise to Ensenada a month back. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the time with my husband. Dad and me collapsed on our cabin bed after the five hour flight from Dallas Love Field to LAX.

 Everyone says how wonderful the food is on the ship, but I wasn't too impressed. The formal dining was the best part because my husband's coworkers and their spouses enjoyed each others company. We sampled foods that I would not have tried before... I.E. frog legs and alligator. The portions were small and the dinner menus had four or five appetizers listed and the same amount of entrees to choose from. Every night the waiter would ask, "What can I get you?" And we would hand back the menus, nod, and answer, "Yes."

  Cottage Cheese Plate 

                                                             Fruit and Veggie Plates

                                              Mini Golf on the Ship 

Turn Down Buddies 

                                      Carnival Inspiration Library

Little Boy Blue and His Book Fetish

Every morning, I rise at five a.m. to let our three boxers outside to pee after a long night being couped up in the house. This morning, I was too tired to drag myself out of bed so I nagged my hubby to get up and let the dogs out for me. After numerous slaps on his shoulder with the backside of my wrist, along with a promise of some hanky panky later that morning, he finally got out of bed at five-twenty-two. Sleepily my hubby plodded through the dark house, opened the screen door, and returned to bed.

I arose at seven a.m. and fixed the dogs breakfast. Even as early as seven, the Texas humidity began to seep into our house, so I stepped outside to pull the door closed. What I saw on the back porch raised my blood pressure thirty points. There on the concrete step was the jacket flap of Eleanor & Park (at least my book was safe) by Rainbow Rowell.

Immediately, I knew the culprit was our newly adopted pound puppy Blue. He's a three-year-old boxer and, as any boxer owner can tell you, boxers are troublemakers until they're about five. When Blue saw me bring in the jacket sleeve he put himself in self-imposed time out.

The rest of the morning went swimmingly, I thought, until my fourteen-year-old daughter, Lucy, went looking for her book by John Green titled The Fault in Our Stars. Upon further inspection, we found the YA fiction novel laying in the side yard with the front cover torn off and the first hundred pages pock-marked with canine bites.

It took Lucy all day to forgive Blue as he shadowed around her feet. Lucy was upset because she suffers with word/sentence tracking issues and dysgraphia. She's only read one other book cover-to-cover (The Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum) by herself, and that was in the summer before seventh grade.

Lucy was proud of herself because she had just a few more chapters untill she'd finish The Fault in Our Stars, which she was determined to finish before the movie adaption will be released in a couple of weeks.

A side note:  Lucy's auditory skills are exceptional and she reads through audiobooks, acting out the facial expressions and gestures the second words are expelled from car/stereo/ear bud speakers. Watching her listen is always entertaining. Currently, her favorite author is John Green and she listened to An Abundance of Katherines and Looking for Alaska in one sitting--that's six audio CDs (90 minutes each) per book. 

Back to Blue... Since we have motion sensor cameras around our home, we rewound the tape to catch the criminal in the act. From 5:59 a.m. to 6:09 a.m. there was Blue on Candid Camera. First, he circled the book she left of the couch, trying to decide what would be the best way he could get a hold of it. Next, we watched as he stood on his hind legs and stretched his neck just enough to snag the book in his jowls. 

One-by-one each motion camera he passed shows the book in his mouth. Once he knew he's safe on the side of the house, he gently set the book on the grass, nudged the cover open with his nose, and began to enjoy every word.

We copied the ten minutes of footage from the security DVR onto a flash drive, but we weren't able to make it compatible with Microsoft Media Player or condense the file small enough to post to YouTube. However, I hope you can see from the photos above how much our Little Boy Blue enjoys a good book.

Photos of Blue and our other boxers are posted on a blog post a few months back.