Students on Fire... and Back-of-the-Book Blurb #32

         Next Tuesday my students--6th, 7th and 8th graders--will be starting NaNoWriMo. A few of them are not happy. (These students would be happy if they didn't write another word for the rest of their lives.) Some are willing. And some are on fire.

      Here are some of their kernels/story ideas:

• a swarm of mosquitoes, armed with rusty needles... they're attacking and killing humans
• a teenaged girl with an eating disorder
• a teen who's in a coma
• a time traveler who tries to prevent Bruce Lee from dying
• a story of two WWI soldiers

     One 8th grader said, "I'm so excited we're doing this. I've always wanted to write a book." Others got into drawing what their main character looks like. Many of them are digging into the research and creating files labeled "NaNo." It's exciting.

    It's exciting because I never dreamed of writing a book. Never one for such lofty aspirations, I wanted instead to be a journalist. A poet. The next Emily Dickinson... without all the never-famous-until-she's-dead thing.

     When I was 13 and in 7th grade, I made people laugh with my school newspaper feature articles. That was heady stuff--getting people to chuckle over my words. But these kids. These kids are already dreaming of writing a book.

     I love it.

     So think of me in the next month as I'm writing before school and after school with my students (but probably doing more suggesting and prodding than I am writing). And keep your fingers crossed for me that I'll be able to at least get something started for NaNoWriMo. I'm embarking on a historical fiction project (which is NOT what I normally do). The only hint I'll give (and it's a big one) is that it centers around a Tulsa event in 1921...

    And now onto back-of-the-book blurb fun:

• Look at the photo below. That is the cover of your book.
• You choose the genre. A frothy romance? (Ugh.) A tall tale? A coffee table book on statues? You choose the genre.
• Write an enticing blurb--150 words or less. (The title doesn't count in the word count.) Lisa Ricard Claro was the original creator of this project  and this past summer, her third novel Love to Win debuted. Currently, Lisa's too busy to host Book Blurb Friday anymore. She's still recovering from her daughter's wedding... still poring over pictures where she looks mahvelous and everyone else looks lovely and happy as well.
• Include your blurb in a blog post. Include a link to this post. 
• Link your post to Mr. Linky. Mr. Linky is easy. You don't have to buy him a drink or anything. If you've never done it, you'll be impressed with how simple he is.
• Check out the other blurb(s). It's interesting to see the different directions writers take, given the same photo.
• And have fun with it. Think of it as a way to take a break from the truly important writing you do... like a bit of a warm-up.

      Here is the book cover and my blurb (as lame as it is):

     

The People Who Inspired the John Mellenkamp Song:  Does Authority Always Win?

The statue had been commissioned to trumpet the importance of censorship across the land. The hunk-of-a-man, made out of a huge hunk of granite, had part of his face covered in bandages, the sculptor’s nodd at subtlety. Our words, our opinions:  they should be judged and if deemed unfit, should be shushed. Our stories: censored.

But the town folk, a quiet, hard-working group, got disgruntled. Their hard, sideway glances at the towering statue… their muttered complaints… They didn’t believe in anything high-falutin’ but they also didn’t believe in anyone telling anyone else what to say, or how to say it.

One morning, the early-rising newspaper readers ventured out, and instead of the daily headlines, they found a toppled head. A headless statue, now without a brain.

The way the town covers up the true culprit turns one man into a hero… and another into a man whose life is endangered. (150 words--whew!)

     And for those two or three who like to play along, here's the photo for the next week:

• 
  

5,000 Words in the Hole

        My students (some of them) think I'm crazy. Some of them are excited--they can't wait. And some are planning on using a reeeealy big font, along with using series of "very very very very very very verys" and "really really really really really really reallys" (they think I won't notice)... even though I've told them over and over it's not the number of pages that matter but instead, the word count.

       My middle-schoolers are going to do NaNoWriMo. They're lucky. They can make their own goal (not gonna happen, since many of them will choose 0 as their goal). They're not saddled with the monstrous 50,000-word mountain to scale. (I've set a 5,000-word goal for them, hoping it's challenging but also attainable.)

      I've told my classes, "You might start with a kernel of an idea, and then get stuck wondering What is going to happen next?  However, if your characters are fleshed-out, your characters will start telling the story. They will drive the plot for you."

     A writing friend, Kim, outed herself. She came out of the closet. She admitted on her blog that she's a closet writer, but has decided to do NaNoWriMo this year. If you're curious what she's going to be working on, go back a post or two. Her project is chilling. Seriously. Serious as a serial killer... a female serial killer.

     She wrote in her most recent post, "Fake it until you make it," and that's what you have to do when writing a novel. You have to take that leap. You have to take that step off the cliff, having faith that on the way down you'll find your wings and can start soaring.

      What are your goals in November--writing or otherwise? Ambitious minds want to know...

A New Poet's in Town... and Back-of-the-Book Blurb Friday # 31

          If you ever wonder what the youth of today are up to, you might be surprised.

       At least one teen is blowing the minds of adults. And she's doing it with the confidence and skill of someone way beyond her years.

       Bisa Adero is St. Louis' first Youth Poet Laureate. She's a junior in high school. And she's amazing.

      On Thursday, Miss Adero graced a couple of hundred young writers with some slam poetry. Unfortunately, she only has this one video available--where she's speaking in a foreign accent (and making it sound genuine)--but hopefully that will soon change.

       Keep an eye out for Bisa. She's going to be doing speaking engagements and performances all over during the next two years, and has a book deal.
       

          And what is this book blurb stuff? Here's the particulars: 

• Look at the photo below. That is the cover of your book.
• You choose the genre. A frothy romance? (Ugh.) A tall tale? A coffee table book on statues? You choose the genre.
• Write an enticing blurb--150 words or less. (The title doesn't count in the word count.) Lisa Ricard Claro was the original creator of this project  and this past summer, her third novel Love to Win debuted. Currently, Lisa's too busy to host Book Blurb Friday anymore. She's exhausted from too much fun. She's still basking in an overabundance of joy. Her daughter got married, Lisa's got photos--check 'em out.
• Include your blurb in a blog post. Include a link to this post. 
• Link your post to Mr. Linky. Mr. Linky is easy. You don't have to buy him a drink or anything. If you've never done it, you'll be impressed with how simple he is.
• Check out the other blurb(s). It's interesting to see the different directions writers take, given the same photo.
• And have fun with it. Think of it as a way to take a break from the truly important writing you do... like a bit of a warm-up.

      Here is the book cover and my blurb (as lame as it is):

Some Like ‘em Big and Stiff

Never married. It was the ladies’ loss, not his. Of course.

Paul’s dog, an overgrown blue-heeler named Babe—that’s all he needed as far as companionship. His joy came from simple things: physical labor (like cutting down trees) and hearty meals (like pancakes that were so huge, he joked they were six-feet across).

But then when Paul was in town one day, he met a woman. As usual, he looked down his nose at her… and expected her to fall down and worship at his enormous feet. But this lady was different. She stared up at Paul, muttered, “You’re one huge jerk. You’ll no longer work. You’re bad to the bone… Now you’ll be still as stone,” fluttered her fingers in his directions and strode off.

In her wake was left Paul, who was now a statue.

Will the spell ever be broken? Or is Paul stuck there forever? (148 words)




And for Val and Pat and anyone else brave enough (or bored enough) to play along, here is the photo for next week:

Who has wowed you lately? Astounded minds want to know...

Courageous? Stupid? Ever Hopeful?

           It takes courage to be a writer. It's either courage or stupidity. I vacillate between the two...

          It takes courage to not accept offers from writer friends. "We would be glad to look at your manuscript," they say. I'm worried that I'm just seeing the trees and not the forest. I'm afraid my friends will say, "That's a lovely birch," and "What a fabulous pine,"  and won't say--out of kindness--that the forest is a tangled mess of vines and rotting stumps.

          It takes courage (or stupidity) to send a manuscript to a fierce writer. An unflinching critic. A poet who knows the difference between something that's decomposing and something that's green and growing.

         It takes something--courage or stupidity or eternal optimism--to keep writing. To keep submitting even though the odds are not good. (Chicken Soup gets thousands of submissions for each anthology... and still I submit.) To keep revising and talking about the craft and believing in a piece.

         It's something. I'm just not sure what it is... 

          

Two Years Later... and Back-of-the-Book Blurb Friday # 30

A little more than two years ago I finished this... It was a second or third or fourth draft, depending on how you look at it.  Since then it's been through another couple of revisions and a rejection.

      A little more than two years ago we got this. He makes sure he's never rejected. If you have a hand, he's nosing it and nudging it and backing his butt up to it, all in an effort to get petted.

      Two years can bring a heap of change.

      In two years I endured some awful experiences as a teacher. Frustrated, I retired. I've recently found a dream-come-true job in a fabulous school. Every day is a delight. 

      In two years my husband survived some heart procedures and a diagnosis of congestive heart failure. Now he's making some wiser choices, sodium-wise.

      In two years I finished a manuscript--my first novel-length one--and discovered that writing can be quite healing. Some family dysfunction--worthy of being highlighted in the Guinness World Book of Records--had been weighing me down for the past five or six years. However, I wrote about it in my manuscript, changed the ending, and found forgiveness...

      What a difference two years make.

      And now, onto fun with book blurbs...

• Look at the photo below. (Whoops! Blogger is not allowing me to insert a photo right now. You can go to this link, scroll down to the end of the post, and you'll see the photo.)That is the cover of your book.
• You choose the genre. Chick lit? A romance? Nonfiction? You decide.
• Write an enticing blurb--150 words or less. (The title doesn't count in the word count.) Lisa Ricard Claro was the original creator of this project  and this past summer, her third novel Love to Win debuted. Currently, Lisa's too busy to host Book Blurb Friday anymore. Her baby girl is getting married. Perhaps the wedding will inspire Lisa to write a novel where a Florida wedding--in the middle of a hurricane--is the centerpiece?
• Include your blurb in a blog post. Include a link to this post. 
• Link your post to Mr. Linky. Mr. Linky is easy. You don't have to buy him a drink or anything. If you've never done it, you'll be impressed with how simple he is.
• Check out the other blurb(s). It's interesting to see the different directions writers take, given the same photo.
• And have fun with it. Think of it as a way to take a break from the truly important writing you do... like a bit of a warm-up.
• 
  

The Stalker and Their Prey

Emmylou Harris was an international folk singer goddess. She toured all over the world… except for Michigan. The European continent. Asia. South America. Africa. Her bell-like voice filled halls night after night. But never in Michigan.

A certain poet had set their sights on Emmylou and the stalking ensued. Letters. Love poems. Epic pieces pining for her. Flowers. Bottles of Bolthouse Chai tea. Photos of an adorable dog. The songstress got deluged with things in the mail and packages delivered backstage.

Harris’ agent refused to even let her consider doing a concert in Michigan, since the FBI was reasonably sure they’d pinpointed the stalker’s location, and Emmylou was content to be safe rather than sorry.

But then the stalker made an offer Emmylou could not refuse… and life as she knew it changed. Forever. (134 words)



And for those who want to work ahead, here is the picture for next week:

It's in the Eye of the Beholder

               Last Friday my day was full of art.

            First off, I spent most of the morning and afternoon at the art museum. The middle-schoolers had a tour led by a docent for part of the time. The rest of the afternoon (after a picnic lunch outside) I led the students in some guided writing activities.

            Here is one piece that caught my eye:

            I think it was the dripping fountain pen that initially did it...

            Then after school I got to a sculpture event in time to see Lynn's daughter's award-winning sculpture. (Jessica won second prize.) All three of Lynn's children are gifted artists. Jessica is a sculptor and had to weld (the mold, I think) to create this piece.

            I arrived as the sun was at the perfect angle, because the 3-piece sculpture actually glowed. It was luminous but unfortunately, my photographic skills failed to capture its beauty.

         Here are a close-up:

                  And another close-up:

                   What is one of your favorite pieces of art--whether it's a painting, a sculpture, a song or a book/poem/play? Curious minds like mine want to know...