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Out and About: Elkhorn Slough

Posted on by beckylevine

With my parents visiting this weekend, I thought it would be good to get out of the house for at least one day. I’ve been to Elkhorn Slough before, but it was in a kayak, and I thought I’d see if they had any walking trails. Why, yes, they do. And with the new that it was going to be over 90 degrees at our house today, heading toward the coast sounded even better.

So we drove down Highway 1, turned left at the power plant, and found our way to the visitor’s center parking lot. We stopped in for a look around and a day pass, and I did a quick look through the gift shop, noting the t-shirt I’d talk my mom into buying herself on the way back out. We brushed off our shoes and stepped into their lye solution, so we’d avoid spreading Live Oak disease in the preserve. (The ranger looked a bit worried when we talked about the oaks that have died on our property the past few years and added a very determined PUH-LEASE to her reminder not to forget the lye! Obviously, we were glad to oblige.)

Then we strolled. It was a beautiful day. Those of you who familiar with the California coast know that, when it’s hot inland, you have a high chance of running into a pretty thick fog bank at the ocean. Not one wisp of fog did we see. The sun was out, the weather was in the seventies with a nice breeze, the trails were wide and comfortable, and the views were pretty darned spectacular. For a relaxing, holiday blog post, I thought I’d share a few shots.

I did not get a shot of the huge flock of white birds that was lazily circling and circling in the sky above us. At first we thought they must be egrets, but it didn’t feel right–not with the clump of them. Eventually we figured out that they were white pelicans. The sun was reflecting off their wings and they looked as white as if they’d been through a bleach cycle, except for the bits of brown on the tips of their wings. They were having as much fun as we were.

We topped the day off with a late lunch at the Sea Harvest restaurant & fish market. Sea Scallops and Chips, plus a big glass of iced coffee–delicious. I’m not honestly sure we’ll need dinner tonight!

Hope you’re all enjoying your holiday weekend!

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Monday Magic

Posted on by beckylevine

This morning, I heard our cat meow, in that weird “voice” she usually reserves for letting us know she’s caught a mouse. Not thrilled, and ready to call my husband (he does mouse duty around here), I went to see what was up. She was standing at the screen door looking out. And on the other side, looking in, was one of these:

I didn’t recognize what it was at first. Here’s what went through my mind:

1. Okay, looks like we may be getting a kitten sooner than I’d planned.

2. Oh, I really don’t want to deal with a feral kitten.

3. Wait a minute. Those are tufts in its ears.

4. And those spots don’t really look like a tabby pattern.

Me out loud, at this point, to the kitten: “What are you doing here?”

Kitten scampers away.

5. Okay, yeah, that’s a pretty short tail.

6. I hope its mom is somewhere near.

7.  Maybe not too near.

We’ve been in our house for something like 18 years, and this is only the second bobcat I’ve seen on our property. The first was much older and I barely noticed it, because it camouflaged so well against the dirt, leaves, and sticks on the ground. That one was motionless for-just-about-ever, before it moved with lovely stealth up the hillside. The little guy this morning was either lost and lonely or bold and adventurous. I’m hoping for the second and that it found its mom quickly and is even now being scolded for venturing so close to the humans. My cat, I’m pretty sure, is just happy its gone.

Yes, we live in the hills, but we’re not as far out in the boonies as people often think. Today, though, I’m realizing that we’re also a little further out than I’d believed.

Either way, it was a pretty cool way to start the day.

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Summer Writing

Posted on by beckylevine

Well, we’re not even a week into summer vacation, and I can already feel the shift in patterns–the patterns of the day and the patterns of my writing. Things are slowing down, which is wonderful, but which I also have to remind myself to roll with–let my brain unwind along with the schedule. We’re not taking any big trips, but we’re scheduling plenty of Summer Fun around the bay area, and that takes a different kind of planning. There’s sleeping in and staying up later, board games and reading in the sunshine. It’s all good.

As long as I don’t let the writing drift away on the clouds of relaxation. 🙂

  • I thought I’d throw out a few tips for keeping the writing going during the summer and invite you all to drop your ideas into the comments. Between all of us, we can manage to have a fun and productive summer. Sleep in, but not too long. If we don’t have anything planned, my son will sleep till 11:00 at least, and, oh, there are so many mornings where I could just lie in bed and daydream or read. I’m working on getting myself up and about an hour or so later than usual, and letting myself move more slowly than I do during the school year. I figure I’ll get better at this as the summer goes along!
  • Take your work to a new place. I’m getting outside a lot more this week. I’ve got a nice new laptop, with a more powerful battery, and there’s always an extension cord if I need it. Maybe you’ll need to schedule a few evenings out a the coffeehouse to write–maybe I will, too. There are a couple of Netflix movies still lying around the house that I”m not that excited to see–maybe the guys need a movie night without me around!
  • See about reducing some of that social networking. This one is big challenge for me, especially when summer can feel more like tiny pockets of time that lend themselves to dawdling, more than to intense productivity. But I’m working on it. I’m going to try & chunk out the time I spend on Facebook & Twitter and keep it away from my concentrated writing. I’ll probably also reduce the number of blog posts I put up–it’s writing time, yes, but it’s not BOOK time.
  • Don’t wait for kid-time to just come along and rear its head. Around here, that leads to a lot of gray time where I and my son aren’t really doing anything–separately or alone. If I make the tiniest effort to pull something together for us–guess what? We both have fun, and whatever we’re doing adds that little bit of structure to our day that lets us relax and enjoy the rest of the day. (Hey, kind of like plotting!) Like I said, we’ll play board games, get our books out together, do some easy outings, and–yes–check off a few chores on the list. And I’ve decided that one summer goal for me is to get better at Mario Kart. Since this pretty much entails learning to keep Yoshi on the road, improvement should be possible. Hand-and-eye coordination, folks. And video games together are more social than video games alone.
  • Stay present. Again, this is a biggie for me–since I tend to live a good percentage of my life in the future: worrying, planning, just thinking “out there.” If you’re one of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld characters, there’s probably some value in this, or at least humor. Not so much in this world. My goal this summer is to enjoy what I’m doing while I’m doing it, and move as gracefully and happily from one thing to another as the day rolls. And one of those things will be writing.

What about you? What tricks do you use to enjoy the summer and get your writing done? What works best for you?

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Five Signs Summer is (Finally!) Here

Posted on by beckylevine

1. No alarms were set this morning.

2. Doors and windows are being left open. Fans are being contemplated.

3. Son’s band met after school yesterday for the first time in weeks.

4. The pitter-patter of bare feet is being heard.

5. Responsibility for complete meal-prep has fallen off my shoulders, with a loud thunk. Summer motto: “Let them eat cereal!”

Happy Summer!

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Writing the Scene You’ve Been Avoiding

Posted on by beckylevine

We all have it: that scene the plot is going to demand, or the one that history requires, or the one that really will push your hero to a new place. Sometimes, it’s fun and exciting, the scene we’ve been waiting to get to, that’s been simmering in our brains all along as we work our way toward it.

And, sometimes, it’s not so fun. Sometimes, it’s stressful.

Maybe it’s a romance scene, and you’re not so comfortable putting that stuff on the page. Maybe it’s an anger scene, and it pushed the buttons on your own emotions and self-control. Maybe it targets something from your childhood, maybe even something that’s the reason you’re writing this book–but that doesn’t make it easy. And maybe it’s a matter of putting your character in a place she needs to be, but a place that you, yourself, would never go.

What do you do?

I’m facing one of those scenes this week. For me, it’s one of the ones that history–the history I’m writing about–is making me write. I’ve known all along that I would probably be writing this scene, but I’ve pushed it away. I didn’t touch it during the first draft. It’s actually an okay situation for my hero, who she is, to be in; it is not a situation I would ever choose for myself. It’s a situation different people in my life have told me I perhaps SHOULD have chosen, or be choosing, so there’s a bit of resentment and resistance to add to the complication. The scene has been in the back of my mind, not ever letting itself be completely ignored, pretty much waiting till I got to the point to say, “Fine. Okay. You’re in.”

Or to the point where the story said…”Here.”

I’ve written up to the point where the scene needs to be included. It’s the right time, I think, for my hero to participate. Does that make it easier? Well, actually, yes. Because now the scene has a plot and character purpose; it’s going to do more than just layer in an element of history. And waiting until I got to this point, until the story caught up with the idea, has given me (I think!) a way in. I can see what the scene will do for my character, and how it will complicate her life, instead of mine. I can see her attitude about things, which–yes, has a piece of my attitude, but is most importantly going to be true to her. I think. Waiting…and writing until I was ready, has given me time to get to know my hero and to at least find a point where I can understand and empathize with what she’ll be feeling. And how she’ll be acting.

A point where it won’t be all about me. 🙂

So if you’ve got one of those scenes looming, even in the distance, try not to fret too much. Don’t force yourself to drop it in somewhere just because you know it’s necessary, and don’t spend too much time arguing with yourself about whether to include it at all. Let it sit out there for a while. At some point, I believe, your scene and your story will intersect.

And that’s the time to write it.

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What Writing Process? Or…When Your Second Draft Feels More Like a First

Posted on by beckylevine

I’m working on the second draft of my historical YA. Last week, I passed the 50-page mark and did a little dance of joy. Partially because of the page count, but in a big way, because the writing of that week’s scenes had gone so well. As in fast. With the words pouring out.

Yeah, like a first draft.

It’s the second draft, so maybe you’re thinking you should be asking me this: But aren’t you revising? Well, yes. And, no.

Back here, when I finished Draft 1, I talked about the big discovery of that draft-that I had two stories going, not one. With, very possibly, two different heroes. In other words, two books.

So, yes, in a way, I’m revising–I am working with a seriously different plot. My hero’s goal has become much more sharply defined. (Um, maybe because she’s not as confused as I was during the whole last draft?!) So, story? Yes, that’s in the revision stage.

Scenes? Not so much. Yes, my plot has my hero going to some of the same places, meeting the same people, having similar arguments as she did before. But the focus/angle/slant/WHATEVER of these scenes-the why she’s there and the where she needs to go after–that’s all different. So different that I’m not opening up a single original scene to make changes in. I’m writing new.

Could I beat myself up about this? Oh, yeah, I so could. I could tell myself that I should have written that first-first draft ten times as fast. I could tell myself that I still haven’t done reasearch to the point I thought I needed to, to make myself happy writing this draft. I could tell myself that I didn’t learn a thing about who my hero was the first time through; I only learned about who she wasn’t. I could look at the calendar and beat myself up for how soon this draft isn’t going to be done. I could do all that, if I let myself get sucked into the idea that there is one way to write a book, even just one way for a particular writer to write a book.

Which, of course, there isn’t.

So, I’m diving back into scenes this week, and I’m going to write my somewhere-in-the-middle-of-a-first-and-second-draft version of story. And you know what else I’m going to do? I’m going to enjoy the ride.

Here’s to you and whatever your writing process may be…this week! 🙂

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Darkness Too Visible: My Take on Meghan Cox Gurdon’s WSJ Editorial

Posted on by beckylevine

Okay, so I don’t always weigh in on these attacks on YA novels as too dark, too grim, but the talk around the Internet and the #YAsaves hashtag on Twitter caught my attention, and I clicked over and read the article. Which, obviously, is the first thing to do. So here’s the link for you, if you want to check it out.

Darkness Too Visible

I don’t always weigh in, because I don’t feel like I have been “saved” by young-adult lit. I had a safe, sheltered, happy childhood. I had safe, sheltered, basically content teen years, marred only by my struggle with shyness. I did not go through any of the experiences that, yes, the authors Gurdon cites do write about. So I don’t, as others have, recognize myself or my circumstances in these books–not in that big, important, life-saving way.

I thank my parents and my luck for that, pretty much every day of my life.

I actually read Gurdon’s editorial a couple of times, going back and giving a few paragraphs a third pass, because I was struggling to figure out her point. I wasn’t sure what she wanted.  I felt a bit like when I’m critiquing, and I ask the author what their MC’s goal is, what they’re after. Because, while Gurdon criticizes the things being written, complains about the covers on those books; honestly, the article felt like a book review. A non-complimentary book review, but still. What’s her purpose in all these put-downs?

I think, ultimately, she is saying we shouldn’t share information about what really happens in life with our kids, at least not through novels. She doesn’t deny that the world YA often (not always, for pete’s sake!) depicts exists. She doesn’t deny that there are nasty people out there doing nasty things to kids. She even uses the example of a Lauren Myracle book that depicts “the aftermath of an assault on a gay teenager.” Well, unless we’ve been living as ostriches, we all know this kind of assault is happening to gay teens all too often. Guess what: my son knows it’s happening. And, again, I am thankful for that–because it’s important. He should know. Do I force him to read about it? No. It’s his choice.

Choice, people. This is where I get confused about the whole editorial. Because Gurdon’s last line is this: “No family is obliged to acquiesce when publishers use the vehicle of fundamental free-expression principles to try to bulldoze coarseness or misery into their children’s lives.”

Duh. No family is obliged. So…um, let it go.  I don’t buy pink-covered books with sparkly hearts all over them for my 15-year-old son, just because someone wrote that book, someone published it, and someone put that cover on it. I buy him books I think he’ll like and respond to. And, guess what, I let him pick out his own books, too. Because…he’s a teenager. And, much as I might wish I did, I don’t know everything that’s going on in his life and his head, and I can’t take care of and solve his every need. Not. Going. To. Happen.

And, really, I haven’t seen any publisher trying to bulldoze a reader, anyway. I think they’re smarter than that. Cuz, really, what happens when you try to bulldoze a teen? You lose. The covers Gurdon is complaining about? The ones she worries are tempting kids to read things they “shouldn’t?” I think those are probably about marketing, sure, but I’ll take marketing if it means a kid who is in trouble doesn’t have to hunt and dig to find something she needs, something that can help her do what I didn’t need to: recognize that she isn’t alone, recognize that maybe she could talk to someone. I’ll take anything that stops this stuff being buried and kept secret, that stops the victims from feeling like they have to stay hidden. If it was my son–please, no–who had something like this to deal with and didn’t feel like he could share it with me, I’d want him to find that book. I’d want him to get help.

For me, YA isn’t all about the bad stuff. I read and write YA, because for me, it’s about a time in life that is and should be amazing. It’s a time of opportunities and choices and freedom to figure out who you are and do something about it. It’s a stage in life that, for me, came later-because of that shyness I talked about above. I read YA with awe at the teens who have a strength and power I could have only wished for at that age. Does Gurdon not SEE the strength in those characters? Does she not SEE how those teens take on the worst that can possibly happen to a person (and that does happen) and how they survive? I guess not. Which, ultimately, makes me feel sorry for her.

But still mad. Oh, yeah, still mad. Mostly, I think, because of that book-review feel the editorial has. Gurdon is a good writer; she knows how to organize her thoughts, how to analyze a book and pull examples out of it, how to write a clear sentence. But I feel like she’s used this writing, this review structure, to pretty up what is still a nasty, narrow vision of who our kids are and what they have the right to read…to choose. Basically, I don’t like how she’s wrapped up her views. I don’t like her cover. And I don’t much like what’s inside it.

But guess what? I didn’t tell her not to write it. And I made my own choice about whether or not to read it. Because that is how it’s supposed to work.

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Friday Five: Back into History

Posted on by beckylevine

When I’m researching, I (hopefully) am answering questions. On the other hand, one of the ways you know I’m actually writing, is when I’m coming UP with those questions. Just to prove that I did actually get back into my historical YA this week and write two new scenes, here are a few questions that I have yet to answer. And that make me happy for the existence of brackets and critique-partners who are more than patient with placeholders.

1. Did teenage girls in 1912 keep handkerchiefs handy for wiping tears away? And was my MC that kind of girl, or would she–you know-just use her sleeve?

2. Did blackboards (not called chalkboards yet!) come with actual erasers in 1912? Or would the teacher use a cloth of some sort? No, probably not a handkerchief.

3. What was a German/German-Jewish comfort food (for dinner) that would have come over to America with immigrants in the 1860s? And, yes, this probably means a reread of 97 Orchard for me. Oh, darn.

4. In what way would a toy train in the 1900s/1910s break frequently and be quickly re-fixable? You know, with something handy like a darning needle?

5. Did girls in 1912 high schools pass notes back & forth? Okay, yes, I probably know the answer to that already, but wouldn’t it be fun to find a scene in someone’s memoir for proof?

Fun stuff. Not stopping writing to fill in the details yet. One new research book on the way, and only half a dozen or so unread on the home shelves. I’ve really missed Caro the past few weeks, and it is SO good to be back in her world. Even if I don’t know all about that world…yet!

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Letting the Story Flow

Posted on by beckylevine

There are days, like I’ve had this week, when the words come. When you have an idea of what  needs to happen and who might be doing it, and you open a scene, and you write that scene.

It feels great.

If you’re not careful, though, that evil editor is going to be hanging around saying, “Are these the right words? Is this really what needs to happen here? Will this scene connect up with the rest of the story.”

My thought for the day: It’s okay to say, “I DON’T KNOW.” Loudly. And with pride.

It’s really just another way of accepting Anne Lamott’s shitty first draft. (Or, as in my case, a second draft with lots of new material!).

There’s a reason, I think, why the words that are coming out of you feel good, even if they’re not words you’ll ultimately keep. It’s because they’re something. They’re the mess you’re making that you’re going to be able to work with later, that you’ll pull pieces out of to keep and throw away big piles of.

So let yourself enjoy the feeling. Don’t question it more than you have to, and don’t let the little worrying voice in your head tell you to stop. Do. Not. Stop.

Write.

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Writer Mama: Final Week of Every-Day-in-May Book Giveaway

Posted on by beckylevine

If you follow Christina Katz, The Writer Mama, or read her blog, you’re already up on the fact that she’s been giving away a book a day this month. Well, she’s heading into the final stretch, and if you haven’t dropped by yet, it’s worth going over and seeing what’s on offer these last few days.

Christina’s giving away my book, The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide, on Saturday, May 28th. If you don’t have a copy yet, or know someone else who needs one, drop by and leave a comment to enter. And make sure to check out the other days, because, well, there are just a lot of good books being handed out!