Category: Thankful Thursday

Posted in Thankful Thursday, Uncategorized

Thankful Thursday: Thoughts Inspired by a Niece

Posted on by beckylevine

Over on Facebook today, one of my nieces made a comment about how it’s just not possible to have your life planned out at her age. She’s a sharp young woman with awesome goals, energy, and commitment; since I’ve known her (okay, maybe since she started walking!), she’s decided she was going to do something, and she’s done it. At her age, I was pretty much deciding, almost every day, that I didn’t want to do…X. Or Y. Or any of the other–*counts on fingers*–23 letters of the alphabet. (Hey, B is for “book,” and I have never chosen against that!)

Plans. Or, as Terry Pratchett’s Nac Mac Feegle say, PLNS. You can’t live with them, you can’t live without watching them go up in smoke.

I used to think that was a bad thing. There are many days when I still do think that’s a bad thing. Usually, though (Beware: It’s a little trite), the more time I spend with yoga and the whole Pay-Attention-to-What’s-Happening-Now-and-Stop-Grasping-for-Something-in-the-Future thing, the more I’m glad that my life has gone the way of the planless. Or maybe the failed plan. I’ve tried not to grasp; however, I have grabbed a few times, when opportunity knocked. In fact, I’ve often pulled it inside and fed it hot chocolate and cookies to make it stay. And most of those opportunistic grabs came from hanging out, watching what was going by, checking in with myself, and–yes, I won’t lie to you–not a little panic.

I’ve been stressed, frustrated, anxious, and irritable. I’ve also been jazzed, engaged, creative, and free. And, I believe, incredibly lucky.

I have no advice for my niece, for any of my nieces or nephews. (I have plenty of advice for my son, although I do try to just trickle tiny driplets at him occasionally, rather than backing up the dump truck and burying him in it all at once!) Lives are so different, and personalities, and what comes at each of us that we can’t control. All I would say is that I’ve made plans and broken plans, written lists and torn them up. And essentially, over time, it’s all been good.

For which I am, yes, very thankful.

Posted in Thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursday: Change

Posted on by beckylevine

Yesterday, I walked with a good friend. We walked and talked, and because we talked, I barely noticed the walking–which is always nice! What did we talk about?

Change.

Well, no, not by name. But her son is six weeks into his freshman year of high school, and I wanted to hear all about it. Because why? Well, because I care, yes, but also because last year, we walked and talked, and she heard all about MY son’s first year of high school.

Changes. Or as I sometimes like to refer to it…Chaos.

What am I thankful for today? I’m thankful for this friend, and the others, who have walked and talked with me for the past decades, who have listened to me and shared with me, who have been a huge part of my dealing with and adapting to change. And I am thankful that as I get older, I’m just less timid of new things, less worried about–and this is a biggie–the unknown.

I’m in my forties. (Hint: I won’t be able to say that for much longer.) I have less free time than I used to. It takes me longer to recover from exercise than it used to (not that I DID a lot of it, even then). I have more pairs of glasses than any one person should own. There may be just a hint of arthritis starting in my fingers (yes, those fingers that get my stories out!). I have lines on my face that weren’t there before–I swear  they’ve just popped up out of nowhere. My memory…what? I’m sorry? Did you ask me something?

But guess what. I’ll take ALL of that. Because the biggest change that has come with aging, for me, is learning that all change isn’t bad. I’m not saying it’s easy, but it can be handled. It can be faced, even welcomed. And, you know, what? It can be fun.

So I’m thankful for, I guess, the experience that comes along with the wrinkles, and I’m thankful for the support and community I’ve grown right along with the aches. Between the things I’ve managed to learn and the things my friends are still teaching me, you know what?

Life is good.

Posted in Thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursday: Living Where I Do

Posted on by beckylevine

Where I worked yesterday afternoon:

We’ve been in this house almost twenty years now, which is hard to believe, except that, yes, my son is fifteen, so it adds up. We went out for donuts one morning and ended up talking to a realtor and scheduling an appointment “just to look.” We were looking at the lower end of housing in the Bay Area, which still–at that time–sounded pretty frightening. And some of what we saw was frightening.

And then we walked into this house. It was built in the twenties, which is older on the west coast than it is on the east. We think the heater is from the 40s. Insulation? Not so much. Somebody splattered a lot of yellow paint and wallpaper around in the seventies. But…wood everywhere. Old hardwood on the floors, cedar on the living room walls, and “gingerbread” trim near the ceiling. (We knew right away the gingerbread had to go, but, hey, guess what heated the house our first winter there?) An enclosed space under the house, including a canning room that was the perfect size for my husband’s office. Hey, he’s the one that said, “Can I have this room?” And a dining room that was huge. Our response? Hey, who needs a dining room? And, voila, I had an office, too.

There was work to be done. Luckily, my husband is an engineer who can both design and build, and who does absolutely beautiful work. He broke down the wall between the living room and kitchen, built an island around a “previously owned” Wolf oven,  and created a gorgeous kitchen. We got rid of lots of ugly wallpaper, did some drywall and some painting, and got settled.

That was the part I helped with…a little. My husband has never stopped. This past week he built the Adirondack chairs in the photograph, and he’s replacing the plain lamps in the kitchen with ones he’s building himself–building and cutting patterns in and painting with copper paint and adding stained-glass shields to cut the glare from the lightbulbs. They’re beautiful.

I wasn’t sure where this post was going when I started. I thought it was about Spring and writing outside and having this wonderful courtyard (did I mention my husband built that, too?) to sit in while I blog. But I think it’s turning into a gratitude post, both for the house I live in, and for the guy who said to me one day, “How do you feel about living in the mountains?”

Who knew?

Posted in Picture Books, Thankful Thursday, The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide, The Writing Path, Uncategorized, Writing Goals

Thankful Thursday: Ideas

Posted on by beckylevine

I think I’ve talked here before about how I used to be a one-idea person. I had one idea for many years, and I wrote on it and wrote on it and wrote on it and sort of revised, and–honestly–it never went anywhere.

So I was really glad when another idea came along. And that idea turned into a story I write and learned-about-revising on, and that I hope–someday–someone will love as much as I did.

But when I was done, then I was sort of staring out into nothing. No more ideas. And this, as you can imagine, was pretty scary. I’d sort of known this possibility was lurking there all along, especially as I wrote and wrote and wrote on that first book and didn’t have any story characters poking at me, asking for my attention. But I had something I was working on, and so I didn’t let myself worry too much about that something maybe not being enough. Until…it wasn’t.

What changed? A couple of things. Caro called to me from the pages of a history book, demanding a place in a real-life moment. I got the contract to write The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide, and, in the course of that project, I had to come up with many passages from “fake” stories. I used these passages to show my readers what to look for as they critiqued. When I went to think of a picture book idea, I got one–and it turned out to be one that I didn’t want to be fake. It was a story I wanted to write, for real. That idea turned into the picture book I’ve been working on this year. Which, if not done, is at least well on its way to that point.

Somehow, having two projects to work on seemed to loosen the latch on my idea door–I’m now at the point where I have several I’d love to dig into, when I have time. A friend of mine talks about “princess problems,” and I think having too many ideas fits under that umbrella-so no complaints here!

But…I’ve never been in the position of having to actually think of an idea. (I know, another one of those problems!) And I’ve decided that–guess what? I want to write another picture book. There are a few reasons behind this want:

  • I have figured out that I like writing in this genre.
  • I’ve heard recently that some (all?!) agents want a writer to have several picture books in the done pile before they’ll consider signing that writer. (No, I’m not letting this scare me, but I’m accepting it as a possible market reality.)
  • I like having not just more than one idea, but having more than one project I can actually work on at–basically–the same time. I like switching between the two. The thought of doing that with two novel projects pretty much blows my mind, but I do feel like I’ve been able to make steady progress on this picture book and my YA in the past few months. Which is good.

So…the other night, as I was heading into sleep, I let my brain drift. I don’t even know where I was sending it, just…out there. Maybe I was hoping for a visit from the muse, maybe just reassurance that I hadn’t turned back into a one-idea writer (or at least a one-picture-book-idea writer). I went to sleep without the visit or the reassurance, but I’m learning not to let that stress me out too much.

The  next day, I didn’t worry at it, but…sometime in the afternoon, I opened up a new Scrivener file and popped down the basic idea for, yes…another picture book.

Is it magic? Is it just being open to possibilities? I’ve heard this is the most frequent and challenging question authors hear–where do you get your ideas?

As of today, I have no clue. But I’ll tell you one thing–not knowing is definitely a princess problem.

Posted in Critique Groups, Thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursday: When to Say “Thanks” to a Critique Partner

Posted on by beckylevine

It’s a good time to thank your critique partner when:

  • They point out that your first chapter would be a lot more interesting if you started…there (usually a LOT further in).
  • They show you the place they lost track of which character is saying what.
  • They tell you that they laughed out loud three times when they read your scene. Especially if you actually wanted those moments to be funny.
  • They offer to do a final read-through of the whole manuscript (not the first time) when you are ready to query agents. And they promise to mark only things that make them want to scream, “You can’t send it out with THIS!!!!”
  • They circle the six times you wrote “She looked at…” on the same page.
  • They put a smiley face in the margin of your manuscript.
  • They help you brainstorm a plot problem.
  • They celebrate with you–at the end of your first draft, at the end of each revision, when you send your first query letter, when you get a request for more. And so on. You get the point. Lots of celebrations.
  • They make a throw-away suggestion that sets fire to an entirely new, perfect path for your story.
  • They say, “Of course, send four chapters instead of two.”
  • They tell you, gently, that a character is still….a…little…boring. And then they pat your hand and remind you that you can fix this problem.

Okay, I’ve got a bit of a hidden message here, although probably not too hidden. Yes, these are things you want to thank your critique partners for. They’re also things, of course, that you want them to be able to thank you for! Everybody in a critique group wears both hats–critiquer and writer. And, in a strong group, my list barely touches the surface of things to be thankful for.

So, for today–Terri, Beth, Cyndy, and Jana–Thank you!

Posted in First Drafts, Thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursday and NOT Being the Bear

Posted on by beckylevine

First, I want to say a HUGE thank you to Judge Vaughn Walker for declaring Prop 8…

UNCONSTITUTIONAL!

Yes, it seems like a big Duh! on the one hand, and I know there is more battle coming, but over here in California, many, many of us (really!) are dancing for joy at the breaking-through-the-clouds moment of common sense Judge Walker demonstrated yesterday. I have to tell you that, at election time, judges are often a category I don’t vote in, simply because I have never even heard the name of any of the candidates. Well, I will remember Walker’s name now, you can bet, and he’s got my vote for anything he wants to run for in the future.

Here’s how my heart is feeling:

And, second, the writing thought for the day: I am NOT being the bear. Did you all hear the news story about the bear who took the Corolla for a little joy ride? Here’s the photo:

Look at that bear. Despite the fact that he has probably already eaten the peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich he originally went into the car for, he does not look happy. In fact, he looks, what? Trapped. Yes, that’s what I’d say. Completely stuck, unable to turn around, unable–as my husband asked about–to break out that windshield and escape.

Yesterday, I plotted a scene that makes a big direction change in one of my story threads. Early in the story, in this draft, my MC gets very excited about something, and you can see that she is hooked to the level of serious convert, that she will be riding this plotline and making it her own. Well, in the 100 or so pages since, I have pretty much dropped that thread, even forgotten about it. So I decided it was time to bring it back, write something about it, knowing very well that I will have to add a scene or two in the middle to support things. And I took the thread away from my MC. I gave it to someone else. Of course MC will be on the thread and will, at some point, take a strand of it up for herself, but for now she’s not driving it; her friend is.

Is this the right choice? Obviously, I don’t know yet. But it feels right for today–it feels like I am, unlike the bear, maneuvering myself (and my MC) out of a trapped position. I’m one of the deputies with the long rope that opened the car door (and then stood way back, I’m guessing) to let the bear get out and go on its way.

Is there some place where you feel like you’ve, even maybe, written yourself into a corner. Should you try backing slowly out and seeing if there’s a door waiting, somewhere in another direction? Don’t be the bear–check it out and see where it takes you.

Posted in Thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursday: Mary Travers (and Peter & Paul)

Posted on by beckylevine

When I was growing up, the music in our house was folk music. Pete Seeger, The Weavers, Joan Baez, Woody and Arlo Guthrie, The Kingston Trio.

Peter, Paul, & Mary.

Mary Travers died yesterday. Here’s her obit in the NY Times. And here’s what Peter & Noel Paul say about her on her website.

I love folk music. It wasn’t albums by The Who or The Beatles that I held in my lap as a teen, memorizing the lyrics printed on the back covers. It was the folk musicians, the words from songs that had been around a hundred years and the new lyrics they were writing for the causes close to their own hearts, in their own eras. I still go back to their songs for comfort, inspiration, and–honestly–some of the best music and harmony I’ve ever found.

I saw Arlo Guthrie in concert in the eighties. Saw Joan Baez in Santa Cruz just a couple of years ago. To my loss, I never got to hear Peter, Paul, and Mary in person.

Thank goodness for recordings–albums, tapes, CDs, mp3s. Youtube.

Part of what I listened to this music for– a big part–was the lyrics. The poetry. And here’s the thing about me, listening to and singing those words.

As a child, I was a worrier. (Okay, okay, STILL a worrier!) And the lyrics of folk music–well, a lot of them did not paint such a pretty, happy picture of the world. A lot of them were filled with anger and frustration about the things happening around us. I knew, even as a kid, that the anger was important and good and necessary.

And, yet, it worried me. So I would listen to those songs, over and over, with inspiration and motivation and a little, hot core of anxiety inside me.

Except when Mary, with Peter & Paul, sang.

I don’t know why the anxiety wasn’t there, from their music. They sang about problems that needed to be changed, they sang about things we should all be doing to fix those problems, and they sang loud and strong and often. And yet, somehow, for me–in their singing was hope. That the world was, if not great, okay and definitely salvageable. That we could fix things and that, maybe, I could actually be one of the strong ones to help out on that path. They made me feel part of something possible, not worry so much about whether I could be, for instance…a Woody Guthrie. Watch some of their videos–they are smiling. Not blindly or blandly, but with confidence and strength and hope.  Somehow that hope came to me off their albums, too, and let me sing along at the top of my lungs without doubt or worry or fear.

This is what Mary Travers did for me. Not to mention standing up on stage, herself, SO strong, SO confident, SO powerful and so obviously  a true, absolute peer and friend of the two men on either side of her.

One of my favorite songs of Mary Travers was one I didn’t discover until I was older–Poem for Erika/For Baby. Take a listen:

http://www.rhapsody.com/peter-paul-and-mary/peter-paul-mommy-too

Thank you, Mary.

I’ll keep singing.