Ferradiddledumday by Becky Mushko

Yesterday I received my advance reader copy for Ferradiddledumday An Appalachian Version of Rumpelstiltskin, by Becky Mushko. Even though this is her book, my hands shook when I opened it. For the past two years I've watched her labor over this and it is such a joy to see it come to fruition! It truly is a work of art. The book is categorized under juvenile fiction, but the format makes it suitable for all ages. I really like the layout. The illustrations capture my Kindergartner's attention, and yet the reading level is suitable for my ten-year-old. I love books that are versatile for family reading, and those are hard to come by. The illustrations are phenomenal. Small details such as walking sticks, bare feet, and fiddles pop off the page. To say that Bruce Rae is talented is an understatement, he's more like a magician. He beautifully captures life in the Appalachians, and his art harmonizes with Becky's words. I've read other illustrated juvenile books where the text competes with the illustrations, but Ferradiddledumday is perfectly balanced. The reader is instantly swept into Gillie's world from the beginning with words like,

Indeed, when she took her sheep down the rocky and wooded mountainside to the bottomland pasture, the ticks and chiggers never bit her, the copperheads and rattlesnakes kept themselves hid, and the wild panthers that lurked on the mountain gave her a wide berth. The sun never shone on her too hard and the rain rarely wet her.

Educators will love the fact that the book includes a discussion/study guide. It's divided into four sections, including literature, geography, science and history. The questions are thorough, and thought provoking. Yet the story is so captivating that children will be mesmerized by its poetic tale. Ferradiddledumday is published by Cedar Creek Publishing and will be available in January 2010. Congratulations Becky!

Never Stop Learning...

I don't have to say that writing, parenting, and going back to school is insane...many of you do the same routine. But sometimes it gets down right comical. If I'm not pulling my hair out while trying to make deadlines, I'm laughing about it. This is one of those weeks. The children are still trying to catch up from missing a week of school from the Swine Flu, and I'm having to stay on their backs about it. My Spanish professor decided that memorizing 200 vocabulary words a week isn't enough. So with five weeks left of classes, she introduced a new tense, and I love what it's called...IMPERFECT. For those of you who have never had Spanish, consider yourself blessed. It's not that I don't enjoy learning a foreign language, it's just that grammatically speaking, if English lived in the North Pole, then you'd find Spanish living in Antarctica. Each verb has six conjugations. For example, I said, you said, he/she/it said, we said, and they said. There is also a formal Vosotros conjugation that is used only in Spain. Go figure. Anyhow, in English we use the same verb with each pronoun...but not in Spanish. They have entirely different words. So, I said is Yo Dije, you said Tu Dijiste, He/she/you El/Ella/Ud Dijo, we said Nos Dijimos, they said Ellos/Ellas/Uds. Dijeron. And that's just in the past tense! All the words change again for the present tense and the imperfect tense. The hardest part about this class is the fact that every exam is open book, but the final will be all from memory. In other words, I have no idea as to what will be on the final. God help me! At least my Rhetorical Studies class is fun. If I didn't have at least one class that interests me, I'd be in serious trouble. And yesterday I found out that I will have to take three more math classes and two more science classes. I've reached senior status and I swear I have more credits than someone working toward a doctorate. By the time I graduate, (which keeps growing with each semester) I'll be a walking encyclopedia.
On the positive side, all of these classes provide plenty of writing material. I've met some very interesting characters who are bound to appear in future projects. I've learned the latest trends in toe nail art from the girl who sits next to me in Spanish. I heard all about the U2 concert in Charlottesville because half the kids attended. (I didn't know that U2 was still that popular, I thought that was my age group) I get to hear all about their weekend plans, and who broke up with who, and their greatest fears about graduating...so far it's between having to do their own laundry and getting the cable bill paid on time. Hmmm. Bless their hearts. Life is an education, is it not?

It's a Small World After All

Today was so beautiful and the children played outside all afternoon. That makes for a great writing day! I've been studying Elana Johnson's new book, From the Query to the Call and I highly recommend it. It's so user friendly and I like being able to look up my topic and get the answer quickly. Not only is she a talented writer, but she is wonderful about sharing her knowledge! For instance, I had a question this afternoon concerning how to submit a requested manuscript. Within the hour, Elana emailed me back with the answer. Thank you, Elana! In each section, she includes a highlighted box containing important tips, links and things to remember. For everyone who has completed their novel and is ready to submit, this is a must have book. She goes into great detail concerning how to construct the query letter and how to communicate with interested editors and agents. And she even includes sample queries to study. I'm a visual learner, and I love that part! Be sure and check out her website and her blog, I promise you'll learn something new.

The writing world is actually a small world, and I feel so blessed to have talented colleagues who are willing to share their knowledge with me. I emailed Rachelle Gardner with a CBA question this afternoon and as busy as she is, she emailed me right back. She not only answered my question, but provided me with two more sources as well. The writing world would be clueless without selfless literary agents like Rachelle. I have no idea how she makes time for people like me, but I'm so thankful she does. Thank you, Rachelle! And thank you to all my literary buddies for taking this journey with me.

Nook

I feel disconnected from the blogging world this week - please forgive me! Thank you so much for your kind words and well wishes while my family was so sick. We appreciate you so much!

It's been all I can do to try and keep up. My children have an enormous stack of make-up work from being out with the Swine Flu, and I've been working on a four page Spanish take-home exam, and a paper for my Rhetorical Studies class. Only six more weeks and this semester will be over! In between classes and homework, I've started my online Christmas shopping. In the past few years, I've finished over 75% of my shopping online. It saves so much time and around this time of year, many stores offer free shipping too.

I was doing a bit of shopping at Barnes & Noble when I discovered Nook. For some reason Kindle doesn't attract my attention but this little gadget does. It retails for a whopping $260. Anybody else heard anything about it? I must admit that I'm intrigued. I spend so much time in transit that it would be easy to cart around, wouldn't it? I know what you are thinking - you're thinking, NO! But I don't think these sort of gadgets will ever replace books. On the contrary, I believe that even more people will be reading and publishers will be buying even more manuscripts. Perhaps I'm an optimist, but technology is addicting and technology sells.

Take me, for example. I never thought I'd use an ipod in a million years. I mean after all, I have a perfectly good radio in my car - why would I use that thing? But my father in love gave me a mac-daddy Apple ipod Classic for Christmas last year and I LOVE that thing. It will hold thousands of songs, and I love listening commercial free. I think that the Kindle and the Nook will catch on in the same way. People are always going to curl up with a book. I for one love the feel and the smell of a new book. But the Kindle and the Nook make reading convenient when you're not at home, and anything that boosts our industry is a good thing. And one more thing, it sure would make my back pack lighter! What are your thoughts? Do any of you own or use one of these devices?

Feed Your Creativity

Ahhh...a new day, a new week, and a new month! After Shannon left for work, I took the children to school. By the time I returned home and sat down at my desk it was 8:30. The house was quiet, and for the first time in over two weeks, I was alone. I stared at my Spanish. Then I stared at my computer, but I couldn't focus. I can't remember the last time I got out of the house by myself, so I took the day off. It was wonderful. I drove to the mall and headed straight for Macys. I love walking through the cosmetic department just to smell everything. Call me weird, but I love how the mall smells. When I was seventeen I worked for Leggett, which is now Belk. I have wonderful memories of working at the mall...especially around Christmas time. I love the smell of new clothes, new shoes, pizza, coffee, and leather.

My grandfather used to own a formal wear shop in the mall in Fayetteville, North Carolina. When I was little, he'd take me to work with him. He had one of those antique cash registers that you had to wind up to get the drawer to open. There was a tobacco shop several stores down, and he'd take me in there when he ran out of cigarettes. I still remember the large wooden Indian Chief that stood outside the door. It was painted in deep red, navy, and brown. I suppose that would be considered politically incorrect these days. But I thought it was the coolest thing when I was little. And I suppose no one would take a child into a tobacco store either. Can you imagine if he did that today - the nasty looks people would give him? Funny, I never thought about it. Pipes and cigarettes were just part of him. Actually, it was cigarettes, coffee and fine clothes. Nobody could dress like my BigDaddy - and he always smelled wonderful. Bless his heart, - he and my grandmother both dressed to the nines until the day they died.

This time of year I always think about him. He died on October 30, 1998. I was pregnant with my son, but I didn't know it. I've often thought about how he would have loved my Ben. He's been gone for eleven years, but he will forever live in my heart. My point in sharing all of this is that sometimes it's good to take some time off. We need to refuel, feed our senses, and spark creativity. We're entering the nuttiest time of year, where everybody is running in a zillion different directions. But I think it's healthy to take a breather, gather our thoughts and experience the moment before we try to get it down on paper. If you're feeling a little burned out with blogging, writing, and querying...take a break. Better yet, I'll meet you at the mall.

Never Stop Believing

We're on day six of the Swine Flu and hopefully it will be history by Monday. We've been watching movies, sleeping a lot, and eating chicken noodle soup and jello. Shannon and I must have caught the adult version which isn't near as bad as the children's. We've experienced dizziness and extreme fatigue. I ran a low grade fever one day, but it wasn't too bad. Caroline was hit the hardest. Her fever reached 103 for a couple of days and was still 100 this morning. She caught the vomiting part too. Ben's fever broke Wednesday night and I'm hoping Caroline's will tomorrow. I emailed my Spanish professor and was told not to come to class last night. The only stinky thing about trying to spare my classmates is the fact that I missed the review for an exam. I've tried a couple of times to get the notes, but so far I haven't found anyone to respond to my emails.

I've spent the last few days cat napping and watching movies with the kids. One of our favorites is Remember the Titans. Not only is it an emotional movie, but my father has a personal memory that makes this movie even more special. My parents moved from Alexandria, Virginia to Roanoke, Virginia in August of 1971. My father taught at Howard Middle School which feeds into T.C. Williams. When he moved to Roanoke, he took a job at Cave Spring High School, teaching U.S. Government, American History and coaching the track & cross country teams. When Andrew Lewis played T.C. Williams for the state championship at the former Victory Stadium, (the old Roanoke Stadium) Dad said that he was the only member of Cave Spring High School to sit on the T.C. Williams side. He said that he knew many of the players, and he couldn't help but cheer for "his boys."

Here's another tid bit of interesting history for writers. While watching the bonus features included in the DVD, I learned that Denzel Washington, and several other members of the cast took salary cuts because no one believed in the film. The writers went through oodles of rejections because no one thought it was good enough for Hollywood. I find that fascinating since the movie is such a blockbuster hit! That speaks volumes, doesn't it? When we believe in our work, eventually it will pay off. On that positive note, have a wonderful trick or treating weekend!

The Calm Before the Storm

Isn't God the Master artist? I took these last Sunday evening. It was the calm before the storm. Both of my babies have the Swine Flu so I won't be writing much this week. Ben came down with it yesterday, and Caroline came home with a fever today. I'm not going to take her to the doctor because Ben's doctor told me last night that there isn't a thing I can do but to ride this out. In my generation it was the Chicken Pox. I remember lying on my bed, wearing one of my father's white T-shirts. I had whelps all over me, and my mother kept telling me not to scratch. I have several scars on my back from that horrible virus. Thankfully, we have vaccines for the Chicken Pox now. I suppose when I'm a grandmother, my children will tell tales to their children about how in 2009 they caught the Swine Flu. Every generation has its own idiosyncrasy, but thankfully the sun still rises and sets, and this too will pass.