Johanna's Spillworthy Thoughts

Responsibility

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 09 Oct 2020 16:52:00 +0000

As we move forward dismantling the systems of the past, for the good of all, the absolute least we can do is refrain from creating additional systems that our children and grandchildren will have to dismantle.

We should not be engineering the Supreme Court to further the systemic abuse of others.

This is how abuse, racism and other harmful practices become systemic. We vote in ways that place abusive people into the system. They then make decisions to appoint or hire others who will further legitimize or justify those ideas.

When it gets to this point (and it IS to this point), it takes a monumental, collective effort to dismantle the many systems that support inhumane behavior.

Those who disagree with that dismantling will call us destructive, but those are the very individuals who benefit from systemic cruelty. No worthy human being thinks caring for others is a threat to democracy. Just the opposite: we see caring for others as imperative for a functional democracy.

We have too many people screaming about rights and entitlement, and not nearly enough people discussing our responsibility to future generations. We will not be here forever, but the systemic damage we are doing to the earth and to others will outlive us by generations.

Even as we live in this bleak point in history, we can imagine a future that makes a difference.

Please vote, but don't stop there. Stay involved. Work on helping others, while insisting that the systems change so that it's not so damn hard to help others. Use your personal skills and abilities to advocate for continued change.

Do not allow others to drag you down as you move forward to advocate for justice and truth. Their words are like water on the back of a duck. Let them say what they will, because they will--and there's nothing you can do about it--but do NOT take those words to heart. When you are focused, cruel words cannot stop you.

Your path does not have to look like anyone else's path. You are powerful because you have your own skills and abilities that are unlike any other person's. The world needs you. We all need you.

Choose a way forward that takes responsibility for others, generations into the future. Advocate. Build houses. Comfort people. Be present with your legislators. Work with others to purchase the medical debt of those who are trapped. Register voters. Get your flu shot. Wear a mask. Speak kindly to strangers. Grow a garden. Donate food. Write letters and mail them. Drink water. Make sure others have clean water to drink. Eat healthy food. Help feed people in food deserts. Volunteer regularly. Listen to the concerns of children.

Jot down ideas that work for you. When you're feeling down, go to the list and do something.

Much love.

Learning By Doing and The Development of Bad-Ass Skills

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 29 Nov 2015 17:05:00 +0000

I've been thinking a lot about the learning-by doing model of 4-H programs and why this means so much to me. On first glance, it brings to mind the kind of traditional skills that can be modeled and learned through muscle memory--the feel of rising bread dough or the lathe turning just right for a skilled craftsman. And while I adore 4-H for the preservation of traditional skills, I also realize there's more to learning-by-doing than craftsmanship.

This is the diagram of learning-by-doing that we always see in 4-H curriculum:

And this second chart is from a recent article in Mind/Shift, showing the value of mistakes in various situations:

I like seeing the second image as a progression from the first, helping us to process the experience of making mistakes.

When I consider my own background in comparison to these charts, I realize I spent most of my traditional schooling believing that every situation in my life was high-stakes. I didn't take risks and I didn't stretch. When I made sloppy mistakes, I was too upset with myself to find the learning moment in them. Any aha revelations left me feeling like my mistakes were so obvious that everyone must be laughing at me. If someone had suggested I sit down and consider what went wrong, I would have perceived this as a lecture, intended to punish me by making me feel even worse about what had happened.

The result? I stopped doing any activity at which I was not already accomplished. I quit trying to make any kind of music. I quit drawing. I quit painting. I quit chemistry. I quit math. I quit engineering.

The more things I quit, the more high-stakes it became for me to do well in the areas that remained. I had to do well in English and biology, not necessarily because I loved them, but because they were all I had left.

This is one reason I love 4-H so much for the kids in my life. Yes, 4-H can be very competitive. And yes, there are kids who treat every 4-H situation as high-stakes. That happens. Still, at the core of the program, each project requires that kids set their own goals. Why are you taking this project? What do you want to learn? And then? List the steps you're going to take to get to where you want to be!

I did not learn this in my childhood. It never occurred to me that I could develop a step-by-step process for meeting my own goals. Honestly, it never occurred to me that it was okay for me to have my own goals. I was too busy trying to meet the expectations of others to even consider this. In 4-H, kids have the opportunity to learn how to learn what they want to learn.

This is a serious bad-ass skill.

Of course, in 4-H, we call this a life skill. Just know that, in your head, you can substitute bad-ass every time 4-H uses life as an adjective--and then the words start to pop.

In fact, 4-H has an entire chart of bad-ass skills:

And this skill, about which I have been gushing? It's listed quietly on this busy, little chart as, "learning to learn."

It's just buried there, as if it's something that should be important--and therefore is not--like an ingredient on the label of a healthy cereal.

But think of it! Honestly, this is the heart of education.

Anything you want to learn? This is how you do it. Break it down. Set goals. Practice. Learn from mistakes. Start from where you are. ANYTHING YOU WANT TO LEARN.

Can you feel the optimism?
The hope?
The excitement?

ANYTHING.

The world is your oyster.

(Yes, kids. That's a real phrase. Look it up just because you can!)

And what if we still want to limit ourselves to things we already know?

Well, that's when we start projects off the beaten path, things that sound too fun to miss. Dutch oven cooking. Photography. Guinea pigs. Robotics. Gardening. Poultry. Filmmaking. First Aid.

We don't always have to play to win. Sometimes we can play to learn--and when we find that awesome, creative, learning space, we can begin making sense of (even delighting in) our own mistakes. And then? The world just opens up. (Like an oyster, yeah?)

Anything is possible.

My Problem With Banned Books Week

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 16:29:00 +0000

Book banning offends me because it assumes readers are not intelligent enough to make their own decisions about reading materials.

The correct counterbalance for book banning does not involve exchanging one should for another. As in, "You should read banned books."

The correct counterbalance to book banning involves encouraging readers to develop their own evaluative skills.

It's okay to like and dislike books. Even when it feels like everyone else in the world loves a book, it's okay to dislike it. Likewise, it's okay to be madly in love with a book that others find disdainful. We don't all have to agree about books.

Traditional press is problematic in the discussion of banned books because what they really want is continued respect and acceptance for the limited canon of books they have chosen to publish. They are not asking readers to decide for themselves what is good or bad; they are asking readers to react against those who would challenge their canon.

When individuals buy into the idea that there is an acceptable canon, it's not surprising that they want input into deciding what is in it (required reading) and what is not (banned books).

The antidote to the problem of banned books is not reading a banned book and supporting the traditional canon. The antidote is tearing down the very idea of the canon. Be brave. Read widely. Make your own judgements.

*

Image is a Federal Art Project poster, created by Albert Bender and published in 1940. Available through The Library of Congress.

Saving an Ecosystem

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 12 Aug 2015 12:22:00 +0000

Why does the Soda Fire make me so sad?

Let me try to explain.

Our entire sagebrush steppe ecosystem is in trouble. We're not just talking about protecting sage grouse. We're talking talking about protecting more than 350 species of plants and animals (including mule deer and pronghorn antelope), and protecting a way of life for ranchers who depend on the land for their livelihood.

I recently attended a 4-H Wildlife Habitat Education Program contest in Alabama and learned that prescribed burns are a necessary part of maintaining habitat for quail. In many places, where forests replace cotton fields, quail are thriving in the low brush and shrubs. As the forests continue to grow into dense stands of hardwood, the population of quail decreases. To restore habitat for quail, the first thing land managers do is thin and burn.

When we talked about preventing fire in sage grouse habitat, the idea was not intuitive to our audience. Both here and there, we're talking about smallish birds that love shrubs, right?

Well, yes, but our ecosystems are entirely different. In Alabama, if you choose not to plant cotton on your acreage, the forest comes back.

The sagebrush steppe my Idaho grandparents cleared to create farmland will never return to sagebrush steppe. If the land were left fallow, it would be covered by cheatgrass.

Our beautiful big sagebrush simply can't compete with cheatgrass.

When sagebrush burns, the nitrogen level in the soil increases for 3-4 months--and cheatgrass loves nitrogen. (Native plants? Not so much.) So the cheatgrass gets a foothold ahead of the native plants. And then? Right. Cheatgrass also loves to burn. Where once we had fires every 60 years or so, now the same land burns every 3-5 years. The more it burns, the more nitrogen we have in the soil, and the more the cheatgrass grows. It's a horrible cycle.

Every time healthy sagebrush steppe burns, cheatgrass moves in. Because it takes 50-60 years to restore the habitat, and the ground burns every 3-5 years when covered with cheatgrass, we will lose the entire ecosystem without intervention.

We're working on breaking that cycle, but the Soda Fire makes my heart ache. We're losing ground.

Fire and Sage Grouse: http://www.nifc.gov/fireandsagegrouse/outreach.html
Restoring Sagebrush Steppe: http://fresc.usgs.gov/products/fs/fs-126-02.pdf
Some Hope for Alabama Quail: http://blog.al.com/outdoors-alabama/2009/04/some_hope_for_alabama_quail.html

Writing Workshop Tomorrow!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 24 Jun 2015 12:25:00 +0000

Writing with Kids!

June 25th, 10am-noon

Slocum Hall, 2nd floor

Weiser, Idaho

Tomorrow, June 25th, I'll be teaching a writing workshop in Weiser, during the National Oldtime Fiddlers' Contest & Festival. The workshop will be one of a series of workshops held in Slocum Hall--a wonderful space being renovated for creative workshops and retreats.

We'll be workshopping in the 4-H tradition of learning by doing and the topic is writing with kids. Cost is $10/person or $20/family. Half will go to Slocum Hall renovations and half will be donated to send 4-H kids to camp this summer.

The full workshop description:

Tell It Like You Mean It - Writing Stories with Kids

Techniques for growing a story through local characters, familiar settings and plots so unbelievable they must be true.

Patricia Behring Teacher of the Year Nominee Announced

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 06 Jun 2015 13:07:00 +0000

Patricia Behring Teacher of the Year Nominee Announced

WASHINGTON, D.C. – National History Day (NHD) announced today a teacher nominated to receive the Patricia Behring Teacher of the Year Award. Nominees have shown outstanding creativity, commitment, and inspiration in developing student interest in history. Each state winner is awarded $500, and is eligible for the National Patricia Behring Teacher of the Year Award. Two national winners, announced on June 18, 2015, will receive $10,000 in recognition of their outstanding efforts.

Johanna Harness of Nampa, Idaho, is one of only two winners from the state. Middle and high school teachers are nominated by their administrators, peers, or themselves for the award. Each participating state is allowed to select one high school and one middle school teacher to receive the state award and consideration for the national award.

“National History Day firmly believes that quality teachers are the best educational tools that students have,” said National History Day Executive Director Cathy Gorn. “The teachers selected as Behring award recipients are a credit to their discipline, and exemplify what it takes to be a quality educator.”

Patricia Behring Teacher of the Year Award winners are NHD participating teachers who have demonstrated excellence in the classroom. Their work must clearly illustrate the development and use of creative teaching methods that interest students in history and help them make exciting discoveries about the past; award-winning teachers also demonstrate a commitment to helping students develop their interest in history and recognize their achievements.

Harness' students are currently fundraising to pay for their trip to nationals. Contributions can be made here: http://gofundme.com/idahonhd.

###

NHD is a nonprofit education organization in College Park, MD. Established in 1974, NHD offers yearlong academic programs that engage over half a million middle and high school students around the world annually in conducting original research on historical topics of interest. These research-based projects are entered into contests at the local and affiliate levels, where the top projects have the opportunity to advance to the National Contest at the University of Maryland at College Park. NHD also seeks to improve the quality of history education by providing professional development opportunities and curriculum materials for educators. NHD is sponsored in part by Kenneth E. Behring, Patricia Behring, HISTORY®, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Park Service, Southwest Airlines, the Joe Weider Foundation and the WEM 2000 Foundation of the Dorsey & Whitney Foundation.

For more information about NHD, visit www.nhd.org.
TWITTER: @NationalHistory
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/nationalhistoryday

Thank You, Dorothea Dix Think Tank

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 06 Jun 2015 11:59:00 +0000

Many thanks go out to the Dorothea Dix Think Tank for their generous contribution to help Virginia travel to compete at the National History Day competition at the University of Maryland. Virginia has immersed herself in understanding the work of Dean Brooks over the last year, and receiving this donation is a huge honor.

The Dorothea Dix Think Tank was created by Dr. Dean Brooks to decriminalize mental illness. It was established as a donor-advised charitable fund with the Foundation for Excellence in Mental Health Care.

http://www.dorotheadixthinktank.org

Virginia and Paul leave for National History Day a week from today. They are nearly 75% of the way to their goal, and donations will be accepted through the end of their trip.

http://gofundme.com/idahonhd

Fleece to Benefit National History Day Travel

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 19 May 2015 13:36:00 +0000

Gulliver is a blue Babydoll Southdown ram. He's a registered yearling and Virginia Harness bought him as a lamb, as a gift for her brother's 4-H sheep project. The first photo shows him in full coat, just after we took off his jacket.

He was shorn on May 3rd by Daren Withers (an excellent shearer for growers concerned with fleece quality). Today we skirted the wool really well and rolled the fleece for sale. It weighs a mere 1 lb, 13.7 ounces.

The wool will be sold at the Annual Fleece Contest & Sale! through FiberTrain Wool Festival 2015, and the proceeds will go to help the kids travel to National History Day competition in College Park, MD.

More about this fleece type, from mylittlesheep.com:

"Babydoll wool is one of the finest wools of all the British breeds. It is short (about 2 to 3 inches) and springy, soft and bouncy, with a surprisingly strong underlying disposition. The micron count typically ranges from 23 to 29 which means many people can wear it comfortably next to the skin. It is easy to spin and produces yarn with a lot of cushion and elasticity. Since it has more barbs per inch than other wool types, it is also ideal to blend with angora or other slick fibers since it clings so well. Its ability to wet felt is very low, although it is fantastic for needle-felting! Babydoll wool is great for socks, mittens, hats, blankets, and sweaters. You will find it has good durability."

And finally, a link to the kids' fundraiser, should you like to donate, but don't know what you'd do with a fleece: http://www.gofundme.com/idahonhd

Author Talk Tonight!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 13 May 2015 11:41:00 +0000

Tonight is my author talk at Garden City Public Library! I'll be discussing writing and publishing and staying true to yourself as you navigate the two. I'd love to see you there!

Author Talk!
Garden City Public Library @ 6:30pm

Meet the author!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 23 Feb 2015 17:00:00 +0000

Making Peace: A Photography Experiment

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 22 Nov 2014 13:46:00 +0000

Many of you will remember me taking selfie classes from Vivienne McMaster a few years ago. I posted selfies on Twitter and shared the spirit of playfulness with others.

Vivienne is offering a special photography experiment *at no cost* during Thanksgiving week. I'm so excited about this!

She's invited other bloggers to play along during the week, sharing thoughts and self-portraits, and I'm taking the leap. You can play along as Vivienne describes below or just play along through this blog, posting your photos in the comments.

Here is Vivienne's description of the experiment:

Here’s how it is going to work:

Next Monday through Friday I’ll be sharing a post about ‘Making Peace with My Smile’ on the Be Your Own Beloved blog. I will (of course) include a selfie activity for you to try. As well, I’ll be including a question that might spark a blog prompt for you to combine with your selfie!
You can blog along with the prompts on your own site. Or you could share your smile selfie of the day with us on Instagram in the #beyourownbeloved community. Or you could keep your photo to yourself and honour it as a personal journey of making peace with your smile.
It’s kind of like a free mini class! But with no expectations. I’ll be sharing it over 5 days but you could take it slower if you’d like and try one per week for the next 5 weeks or start with the first one and know that there are other activities awaiting you when you feel ready for them.
I’m also consciously calling this an experiment because I hope that for all of us it will be something we can approach with curiosity. We aren’t expecting ourselves to love our smile in only 5 days, but I have a feeling if we open heartedly experiment with making peace with it, shifts will happen (I’m always amazed at how much things start to shift for people in Be Your Own Beloved within the first few days).

Spillworthy Sale Starts Today!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 20 Nov 2014 12:30:00 +0000

The SPILLWORTHY sale starts today! The ebook is just 99 cents through November 26th. At the stroke of midnight, we start celebrating Thanksgiving and the sale is done. http://bit.ly/kindleworthy

Read the book and love it? This is a great opportunity to release the book to someone else.

Sending the ebook to 20 people with a short note of Thanksgiving? That's a fairly inexpensive gift of love. You can gift the book right from your Amazon account.

Also? The audiobook version is coming soon! I'm so excited with the way Mark Blowers performs this book. I know you'll love it. I'm hoping it will be ready to buy on December 1st. :)

Spillworthy Featured in National Press Release!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 08 Oct 2014 12:16:00 +0000

==========================
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
==========================
Contact: Jim Barnes, Awards Director

Lifelong Reading, from the Womb Onward

MOONBEAM CHILDREN'S BOOK AWARD WINNERS FOR ALL AGES

(Traverse City, MI - Oct. 7, 2014) The Moonbeam Awards program is dedicated to reading at all levels and to children of all nationalities, races and faiths. Now in its eighth year, the contest is known for its diversity and inclusiveness, and this year's medalists range from a book for pregnant mothers to read to their unborn babies, to a young adult novel dealing with homelessness and human trafficking.

The Moonbeam Awards are designed to bring increased recognition to the year's best children's books. The winners are chosen for their commitment to children, literacy and lifelong reading. Judging panels of book reviewers, librarians, teachers, and students chose 166 medalists from over 1,300 entries, and medals will go to books representing 37 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, five Canadian provinces, and Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Japan, Singapore, Scotland and Spain.

See the complete 2014 Moonbeam Awards results here:
http://www.independentpublisher.com/article.php?page=1862

This year's gold medalist in the Board Book category is Can't Wait to Show You (Preliteracy Partners), and this charming book is not only meant to be read to babies in utero, it's shaped to fit the curve of a mother's pregnant belly! Alas, not everyone receives the gift of reading: My Dad Couldn't Read (See a Book Take a Look) explains how a reading disorder turned into adult illiteracy -- but through tutoring and perseverance father and daughter learned together and earned their high school diplomas together.

Probably the ultimate example of courage and perseverance in this new millennium is the story of Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani girl who in 2012 survived an attempted assassination by the Taliban for speaking out about girls' rights to education. Out in Front (Morgan Reynolds) is author David Aretha's stirring biography of Yousafzai, the "girl who wouldn't be silenced," whose dream is for "every child to go to school," and who someday wants to become the prime minister of Pakistan.

The Religion category gold medalist is another example of girl-power, inspired when author David R. Weiss's daughter asked him to tell her a story about When God Was a Little Girl (Beaver's Pond Press). He explained how Creation was like one of her art projects, done with joy and love, and even with all the different colors, shapes, and sizes, it looked "just right."

Spillworthy, the self-published gold medalist in the Mature Issues fiction category, not only deals with homelessness and human trafficking, but gives voice to the young victims who rise above their trials through the powerful magic of words. Idaho-based author Johanna Harness proves that reading, writing and communication truly does heal and can save souls -- and books like hers, along with the rest of this year's Moonbeam winners -- can change the world.

* * * * *

The Moonbeam Awards were created in 2007 by northern Michigan-based book marketing firm Jenkins Group, and the winners represent the best books published for children and young adults during the previous year. Jenkins Group has been involved in book packaging, marketing and distribution since 1988, and the growing influence of their children's and grandchildren's love of books inspired them to launch the Moonbeam Awards and the Traverse City Children’s Book Festival.

Learn more about the Moonbeam Awards at http://www.MoonbeamAwards.com
Learn more about the book festival at http://www.TCChildrensBookFestival.com
For more information about the Moonbeam Awards and the winning books, or to interview their creators, contact Awards Director Jim Barnes at 1-800-644-0133 x 1011 or jimb@bookpublishing.com.

Moonbeam Awards!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 04 Oct 2014 14:18:00 +0000

Spillworthy won a Moonbeam Children's Book Award! And it's a gold!

I'm so excited and honored. I still don't quite know how to process this. It's amazing.

I look at the Moonbeam books and realize that this is exactly the kind of list that made me want to start writing, and it's exactly the kind of list that made me fall in love with independent publishing.

Pre-Internet, these were the books I would search for in catalogs and on pilgrimages to huge, urban booksellers. Today these books can be just as difficult to find because they get lost in the noise of publishing.

It's difficult to describe the feeling I get from these books.

Have you ever savored a magazine with images selected because they did NOT look like stock photography? An old Mothering magazine? Or an old New Moon Girls? I'm not talking about sloppy or unprofessional. I'm talking about real.

That's the feeling I look for in independently-published books. I'm looking for ideas that aren't changed to fit a preconceived idea of what an audience wants--the literary version of photoshopping. I'm looking for stories and ideas that certainly could have been changed to make them more marketable, but they were tumbled into something organic and real instead. They include a variety of characters, like those who actually exist in the world, without slimming or whitewashing or idealizing of dominant culture. And the covers reflect the guts of the novels! They are beautiful not in spite of being real, but because they are real.

I already have a huge reading list shaped from Moonbeam lists from multiple years. Now I must talk to librarians about getting more of these books on the shelves because my budget is too small and my list is too big.

Thank you, Moonbeam, not just for this award, but also for your dedication in bringing independent books to the attention of serious readers. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Writer Questions Answered

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 03 Sep 2014 11:32:00 +0000

Ev Maroon tagged me to answer a few questions about my writing. I seldom participate in these tagged-blogger things because I think about them too much. I read other writers' answers and start feeling self-conscious about anything I could possibly say. Someone else tagged me to respond to this some time ago and I dodged it. Inelegantly. As usual.

I promised Ev that this time would be different. And so here goes.

1) What are you working on?

I have three completed novels I should be editing for publication. I'm not working on those.

I have a story planned for a short story contest. I'm not working on that either.

I have a calendar I created for myself, planning out all the publishing deadlines I should meet. I'm not working on meeting any of them.

I am working on a prequel to one of the novels I am not editing. And when I'm done with this prequel, I know it will change the trajectory of my Claire Morgane series. Completely. And the two books in that series, already written, will be mostly scrapped and the prequel will not be a prequel, but Book One.

I am also working with a really talented actor to record and release a Spillworthy audiobook.

And I'm doing writing workshops for kids, something I love doing with all my heart.

2) How do you think your work differs from others in its genre?

When I write books for middle graders, I'm thinking about how to tell the stories in a way that won't exclude kids. If I were writing for adults, I'd be telling the same stories from different points of view, including different language and scenes.

For instance, in Spillworthy, I tell the story as an assortment of kids who leave their journals for each other to find. If I were writing this for an exclusively adult audience, I might tell the story from the point of view of Gem's dad. This man spent his entire adult life worrying he would lose his daughter, so his narrative would have a much darker tone and the resulting story would detail many of his fears. It would be the same story, but not at all appropriate for kids.

Because the central stories interest people of different ages, my books end up getting categorized differently by different readers. When young adults read Spillworthy, they often give it a YA label, because they liked it. When adults read the book, they'll give it a label that includes adults. I'm okay with that.

3) Why do you write what you do?

I guess this question is asking, "why those stories?" If I'm compelled to write a specific story, regardless of audience, what is it about that story that interests me?

I'm always drawn to narratives about parents and children. I went through many years of infertility and pregnancy loss before finally having kids, so I'd already spent an unusual number of sleepless nights considering how my identity might be shaped by absent children. It was only after my dad died that I started thinking about how my identity might be shaped by absent parents. Many of my stories right now revolve around the way we build lives around those who are absent.

4) How does your writing process work?

I don't think I've ever used the same process twice. When I first started writing, I thought I would come up with the perfect methodology. Now I realize that I change my writing process to match the story. My goal then is to keep learning new skills and methods, adding to my writer toolbox, so I always have new combinations to try.

My only consistency is that I write in the mornings, before the sun comes up. When I was younger, I was a night owl, but I didn't find the real peace and stillness of the night until 2 or 3 in the morning. Now I realize I can get up early and enjoy that same calm right up until sunrise. It's a glorious time to be awake.

And now--who to tag? I know these questions have been circulating a while, so it's likely many have already answered. I'm tagging J.C. Rosen, Jenn Spiller, John Ross Barnes, and Kristina Martin. If you've already done this or you're crazy busy, just disregard. It's not a chain thing. Answering or not answering will not appease or anger the gods of our cumulative superstitions. They're still in shock that I answered, so they're not paying attention.

Spillworthy Writing Workshops

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 31 Aug 2014 14:50:00 +0000

In Spillworthy, Ulysses takes his best writing and transfers it to pizza boxes to display in his neighborhood. For this Hermit Festival workshop, I chose a smaller form--playing cards repurposed as trading cards. Spillworthy says a medium pizza box is about the right size for a short essay. For our group, the trading card turned out to be a great size for micro-poetry.

Kids created all their cards around Hermit Fest observations. If their cards referenced anyone in attendance at the festival, they could go get signatures on the cards. The performers and vendors responded to the kids with such joy. It was a gorgeous thing to see.

We're heading back to Indian Creek Winery for a second workshop day today, starting at 12:40 by the stump stage. Any kids who can't make it to the stage on time, can find me and I'll set them up with a notebook and blank trading cards.

Five Years of #Amwriting

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 03 Aug 2014 06:01:00 +0000

Today the #amwriting hashtag is five years old. In some ways, I can't believe the last five years have flown by so quickly. And yet, when I think of where I was in my life five years ago, so very much has changed.

I began writing six months after my dad died, suddenly feeling the incredible urgency of my own mortality. If I didn't begin writing in earnest right then, I might never do it. In truth, writing was also an escape from the pain of losing him, a way to begin healing a past that lingered incomplete.

I didn't know how to develop plot lines then and every new technique seemed like the one I would stick with forever. It took me a couple years to discover that I plotted each story using techniques particular to that story. My favorite technique was always the one I was currently using.

I talked about blocking action with toys--especially my vintage Little People.

I put sticky notes up on an entire wall.

I used a tri-fold board, writing scene after scene on sticky notes I could then move around. And the whole thing folded away when I no longer was using it!

I fell in love with arcs for a while. I had plot arcs and character arcs and risk arcs.

I did phase drafting--where the whole story was quickly written out in short scene notes, to be fleshed out later.

I made flow charts for writing and revising.

I had a clothes line with index cards pinned up for every scene.

I used mind-mapping and clustering techniques, using a method I called cluster plotting.

Today I am mapping out my current book using a large, artist clipboard with a light-weight, manilla poster board attached. For some reason it's very important to me to do all this work in pencil and I'm using a kid's jumbo pencil to create bold lines. I also have vintage yardsticks and rulers which are somehow integral to creating the lines for my chart.

I'm no longer drawing arcs, but I'm aware of them in the background. I'm no longer using Little People, but I still see them on the page. I no longer phase draft in a disciplined way, but I run through scenes in my head and I know I learned that technique through phase drafting.

Patterns exist within patterns.

I started writing six months after my dad died. I started publishing six months after my mom died. I'm still burning the candle at both ends, still learning, still working on the way the words fold together and the way the plot takes shape.

Just as I learned from various approaches to plotting, so did I learn from various approaches to publishing. I signed with an agent and I fired an agent. I evaluated contracts and actually signed a couple. I experienced professional editing, both by a publisher and by an editor I hired myself.

Today I hear all those voices in my head, evaluating the writing and the market, evaluating the ideas. Today I'm committed to independent publishing, but I'm forever influenced by a traditional path that alternately nourished and suffocated my spirit.

It's strange to me to realize just how indebted I am to traditional publishing. Without years of rejection forcing me to improve my craft, I would have published work not ready for print. Without the extraordinary limitations of traditional publishing, coupled with ridiculously low advance offers, I would never have been brave enough to turn toward an independent path.

When I think of those who started using the #amwriting tag years ago, I see people learning from the paths they've chosen, adapting as the industry changes, deciding how to move forward, but all the while telling stories. Industry changes and will continue to change, but writers are people with stories. We'll find the right way to plot each story we need to tell. We'll find the right way to reach people with that story. I can't wait to see what the next five years will bring.

*

Next on the #amwriting birthday blog hop: http://uncoveredmyths.blogspot.com/

#Amwriting Birthday Party!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 01 Aug 2014 13:18:00 +0000

Wow. I turned the calendar page this morning and realized #amwriting turns 5 years old on Sunday.

This seems like reason to have a party, doesn't it?

Anyone up for a blog hop party?

The rules are simple. You must be a participant in the #amwriting community on Twitter. This is a party. Please don't be that guy who thinks we've never seen a rant about people tweeting rather than writing. This is not the place for it. This is also not the place for a page-long advertisement for your work. It is fine to include links to your work after an insightful article. Do not simply put up a page of buy-Buy-BUY.

Prepare a post for your own blog about one of the following topics: 1) what the twitter group has meant to you as a writer ~or~ if you've been posting here for years, 2) tell us about your own development as a writer since you started using the hashtag. This can include tasteful links to buy your work or a compendium of the most useful writing sites you've discovered over the years. (Please make sure the links are still active.)

In the comments below, tell us that you plan to participate and include 1) The topic for your post and 2) your blog address.

On Sunday, include a link to the next post in the comments. Make sure your link goes to a live post that adheres to the above rules. If it does not, then link to the next post in the comments. (If it's the last post, link to the first.)

The last time we had an #amwriting blog hop party, participants had some of their highest traffic ever. I know this doesn't give you much prep time, but short and spontaneous posts are perfect. We want time to catch up with old friends and meet new friends in the process, so we don't have a lot of time to spend on each post. Raise a glass, open a present, release some balloons, provide a link or two, and then give us the next link.

*This blog uses G+ comments. If this doesn't work for you, you can email me your topic and web site address and I'll post it here for you. johanna@johannaharness.com

Congratulations to Mariam Kobras!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 06 Jun 2014 10:00:00 +0000

I'm so happy to be celebrating with Mariam Kobras today! Her new book is out she's stopped by today to tell us more about it. Welcome, Mariam!

* * *

Naomi Carlsson and Jon Stone, the heroes of the Stone Trilogy, have been a part of my life for so long that I find it hard to not just break into a wide smile and start telling anecdotes about them when I’m asked to write a blog post about the new book, Waiting for a Song, Naomi's Story.

“So what’s the new book about?” you might ask, and I’ll just lean back and go.

“Oh, you know. It’s about that time in their lives when they meet for the first time. Naomi has just sent Jon some lyrics she wrote. Now she's waiting, and hoping, and going completely around the bend because she has no idea what will happen, if anything. And there, on the other side of the ocean, on the other side of the world, is Jon, and he reads what she’s written, and he goes totally crazy, too. He feels as if she’s talking to him, as if he can hear her voice in the rustle of the jasmine bushes in his garden.

And Naomi, in Geneva, can’t sleep or eat or even think clearly, listening to Jon on the radio and on his albums. It’s as if the universe has conspired to create them for just this one purpose, to have them meet and fall in love.
When they meet in that hotel lobby, they know each other right away: it’s a meeting of fates, an inevitable force that pulls them toward that great and all-consuming love.

But there are also the little things, the entirely human and funny things, that happen around this cosmic moment.

Naomi, barely more than a teenager, gets caught by her mother as she desperately tries to decide

what to wear to meet Jon. There she is, standing in her underwear amid mountains of clothes, uncertain, and this uncertainty mirrors her fears about what she’s going to do a short time later when she walks out of her parents’ home and meets this stranger, this young man who has been following her into her dreams with his voice and his music.

All she knows about him, she has gleaned from an article in a fashion magazine, and all she’s seen of him are the photos in this article. She doesn’t know if the image she has created is in any way close to the real person.

Fearful, doubtful, she decides to wear flat sandals, just in case Jon isn’t the tall man she wants him to be, and she dresses in jeans and a white top to appear unassuming, just another girl, an accidental poet who sent those lyrics to a stranger on a whim, and nothing more.

So that’s how they meet.

Two young people, in awe of each other, yet impatient, almost hungry to know about the other, to lift the veil of their instant connection through the music and the rhymes.”

Yes. That’s what Waiting for a Song is about.

It’s about the headiness of first love, about dreams, music, and sunrises on a faraway beach. It’s about enchanted gardens, soft songs in the first light of dawn, ball gowns in dusty rose, and a love that’s deeper than the sea itself.

It’s about the moment when Naomi discovers her talent for writing, and about a young Jon who isn’t yet the self-assured rock idol he will become.

So–that’s about it. Waiting for a Song is a love story, a story about dreams and hopes, and about how sometimes, if you close your eyes and wish upon a star, your wish might just come true.

* * *

This was the third stop in Mariam’s Book Launch Blog Hop & Giveaway to celebrate the release of Waiting for a Song, Naomi’s Story. Don't miss the next stop on June 9th on Lauri Rottmayer's blog where she will be interviewing Mariam.

GIVEAWAY: ONE LUCKY WINNER will receive a red leather journal with cream pages and a ribbon marker—like the one Naomi used when she wrote the lyrics that won Jon's heart. To en-ter, just leave a comment below (US and Canada residents only please). Prize courtesy of Bud-dhapuss Ink LLC.

For more chances to win, please visit the Buddhapuss Ink or Mariam's author page on Face-book and click on the Giveaway Tab!

Thank you so much for hosting me, Johanna!

a Rafflecopter givea-way

Spillworthy Sale!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 01 Jun 2014 15:53:00 +0000

Spillworthy on Kindle will be 99 cents for one week, starting tomorrow! Yay! bit.ly/kindleworthy

Thank you!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 16 May 2014 14:31:00 +0000

Thanks so much to all of you who made the release of Spillworthy a success!

Everything during release week was so much MORE than I imagined it would be. The reviews were better than I let myself dream they'd be. Sales were better than I expected. Social media coverage was amazing. Local support continues to blow me away. Along with this, the amount of work involved in a book release has been much more than I pictured it would be.

It's time now to take a couple weeks to help the kids catch up with homeschool--and to get new animals settled in at our house--and to get ready for National History Day.

I'm reading some fresh work from a friend, re-reading some Flannery O'Connor, and working on a new story.

I'll be doing a book signing and reading on June 12th at 7pm at Caldwell Public Library. I hope some of you will be in town that evening and will come see me. I'd love to see you.

Life is good.

Available versions of Spillworthy

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 13 May 2014 16:12:00 +0000

Spillworthy released on May 1, 2014 and there are currently four versions of the book available. Why the four versions? Read on.

Amazon paperback, ISBN 0991381025

This is the version I call fun-size. The book is 5" x 7.5" and was my first choice for all printings. The book is not available for distribution through Ingram in this size, so it's exclusive to Amazon.

Fun Size, 5" x 7.5"

Kindle eBook, AISN B00JZ6PHKI

I'm enrolled in the Kindle Direct program through Amazon, which gives Amazon exclusive rights to distribute the eBook for the first three months. There are significant advantages for authors with this program.

Kindle eBook

Hardcover, ISBN 0991381009

This is the 6x9 hardcover with dust jacket. I created this version especially for bookstores, libraries, and serious fans. It is available through Amazon, but it's published through Ingram, so there's a bit of a wait.

Available through Amazon and Ingram.

Dust Jacket for Hardcover

Trade paperback, ISBN 0991381017

This is the 6x9 trade paperback (thus it is the same size and pagination as the hardcover version). Like the hardcover version, the trade paperback was created specifically for distribution to bookstores and libraries through Ingram. It costs more than the fun-size version because Ingram requires a greater discount for wholesale distribution. When I typed in the price I wanted to charge, Ingram informed me I would be paying people to buy my book, which is not a very good business practice (and also not allowed). This version is available through Amazon, but there is a significant wait. For those purchasing through Ingram, it's a great option.

Trade Paperback

About the Book:

A Spillworthy is an idea so good, it has to be shared and ten-year-old Ulysses Finch doesn't let being homeless get in his way. He scrawls his best thoughts on pizza boxes, releases them into the wild, and relishes every response. After moving to Idaho, Ulysses finds Gem Rost's journal and dives into reading it. She must be a kindred spirit! Or is she?

Catch and Release Results!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 13 May 2014 14:36:00 +0000

If you find a tagged book, please leave a comment!

In SPILLWORTHY, the main characters release words into the world to be read by others. In that spirit, we're having a Catch & Release Party to celebrate the release of this book into the world.

Starting May 1st, tagged copies of the book will be released into the wild at various places around the world.

Tagged Book #001, Released by Zehra,

May 2, 2014, Horniman Gardens, London

Number #1 of @johannaharness 's book Spillworthy has been released

& can be found near the Extreme exhibition in the @hornimanmuseumgardens ! Happy reading!

Tagged Book #002, Released by Linnie, May 11, 2014,

on the train from Groningen to The Hague.

Released on the train from Groningen to The Hague, wagon 9545, first class upstairs.

Tagged Book #003, Released by Mariam, May 2, 2014, Germany

"I gave my copy to my best friend's daughter Connie,

who is a Middle Grade English teacher, because I think that

Spillworthy belongs in every school library, and in classrooms."

Book Released by Johanna, May 5, 2014, Florence, Oregon

Copy of Spillworthy released at Periwinkle Station in Florence, Oregon. Ask for it at the counter!

Tagged Book #005, Released by April, May 11, 2014, Kentucky

My thoughts for my releasable copy of Spillworthy were for a special neighbor.

As for the young neighbor, she is enjoying the novel,

and looking forward to finishing it and sharing it with friends.

Tagged Book #006, Released by MaryBeth, May 6, 2014, Howell, New Jersey

Book 006 has been released at a Starbucks in Howell, NJ!

Book Released by Ezzie, May 4, 2014, Cambridge, Massachusetts

"SPILLWORTHY by @johannaharness instills hope.

Released in front of Cambridge City Hall. #homeless #youth" --Ezzie

Tagged Book #007, Released by James, May 4, 2014, Atlanta, GA

This Spillworthy was released in Atlanta, Georgia. This is at Pinckneyville Sports Park.

From +James Huskins: "That would be #Spillworthy numbered release 007 :D
Props to +Johanna Harness for the spy grooviness !! My name is Worthy, Spillworthy."

"Look for the MG'ers playing baseball near the flag pole. #Spillworthy007. It won't last long."

Tagged Book #008, Released by Carla, May 2, 2014, Helena, Montana

Tagged Book #009, Released by Kristina, May 1, 2014, Jamaica

Tagged Book #009

"Your copy is in the possession of our lovely bartender, Amay.

She started reading it but is giving it to her niece, Janeesa.

It may never leave the island, but it will be passed to many, many Jamaicans." ~Kristina

Tagged Book #010, Released by Kristina, May 2, 2014, Atlanta, Georgia

"Due to a change in itineraries, book 10 was released not in Brooklyn, NY, but the Atlanta, GA airport.

So who knows exactly where Spillworthy #10 will land?" --Kristina

Tagged Book #011, Released by John, May 5, 2014, Beaverton, Oregon

Spillworthy #11, released to the info kiosk inside Cedar Hills Crossing, in Beaverton, Oregon, near Powell's Bookstore.

Tagged Book #012, Released by Taylor, May 9, 2014, Texas

Spillworthy #12 released in Texas, to Taylor’s favorite teacher, Mrs. Elkins. Awesome.

Tagged Book #14, Released by Elizabeth, May 5, 2014, Wilmington, North Carolina

Released along the Riverwalk in downtown Wilmington, NC--near the Best Western!

Tagged Book #016, Released by Sara, May 5, 2014, Ithaca, New York

"#16 released into the cultivated wilds of Ithaca, NY.

After I took this photo, I tucked the book between Virginia Woolf and Annie Proulx." --Sara

Tagged Book #017, Released by Angie, May 10, 2014, Reading, PA

Spillworthy #17 has been released! It's at the Goggleworks community art center in Reading, PA.

Tagged Book #018, Released by Linda, May 7, 2014, Rochester, MI

As a participant in the "Catch and Release" project, I released my copy of SPILLWORTHY in the RARA recreational center in Rochester, MI. The Rochester Avon Recreational Authority is a hub of activity for adults, teens and children. The building is home to the main office and the dance studios, and has two rooms with tables for students (and their siblings) to do homework while waiting for dance classes. They are teeming with kids just about every day. While I was taking this photo, there was a young lady watching me with great curiosity, and I have a feeling that, the moment I walked away, she would be checking out the book I left behind. I hope that she, or whoever takes the book home, will log in to Spillworthy.com and report that it's been caught!

Tagged Book #019, Released by Marty, May 6, 2014, Snellville, Georgia

Emory Eastside Medical Center, Snellville, GA.

Tagged Book #21, Released on behalf of Shari, May 11, 2014, Stonehenge, U.K.

At Stonehedge. Spillworthy Released In coffee shop.

Tagged Book #22, Released by Johanna, May 1, 2014, Boise, Idaho

This copy was left by the statue I affectionately call, "The Big Lincoln."

We left it there around 7pm and I tweeted, sent a message on Facebook, and also posted on G+.

When we returned two hours later, it was gone.

This is so much fun! Happy reading!

Tagged Book #23, Released by Johanna, May 2, 2014, Bend, Oregon

Today is the first day of the Spillworthy road trip.

I consulted my twitter followers and we decided Bend, Oregon was the right place.

Book Released by Johanna, May 4, 2014, Newport, Oregon

Book #25 Released by Johanna, May 5, 2014, Newport, Oregon

This book was released at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, Oregon.

The finder of this book checked in on g+. She will re-release. Yay!

Book #26 Released by Johanna, May 7, 2014, Newport, Oregon

Released copy of #Spillworthy at Yaquina Head Visitor Center. It was gone before I could get this posted. Awesome because a middle grade kid took it to a ranger not even a minute after we'd left the room. I heard the ranger's explanation: "It's a way of sharing books! Kind of like a geocache." Parent and daughter were both happy. Me too.

The Golden Hour

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 04 May 2014 13:54:00 +0000

I was a child of the seventies. I grew up watching Schoolhouse Rock as the filler between Saturday morning cartoons. My school books were filled with bell-bottomed kids with long flowing hair. I grew up when the "just say no" message was, "No, man, I'm not stoned. I'm high on life."

No one had invented car seats yet, so our parents crammed three or four giggling kids into the cubby hole at the back of our Volkswagon bug. On a hot day, that cubby would get hot, so we'd go through the soft-serve ice cream place. By the time we got to our destination, we'd invented ice cream hair gel and my cousin's hair was spiked.

I didn't know a lot about Vietnam then, only that people came home injured and they often drank a lot. Right after one of my dad's friends came home, I remember being swooped up, sitting on his muscled arm, one of my hands in his. A cigarette dangled from the corner of his mouth and he danced me around the room while Johnny Mathis sang, "When will I see you again," from the grooves of vinyl.

I was at the end of a generation that believed individuals had power to change the world, that just being alive was reason to be ridiculously happy.

When I think back on those childhood memories, seeing those sparkling eyes from my parents' generation, I'm struck by the fact that so many of those people are gone now. I remember when my grandmother's generation started dying, she kept obituaries in a notebook. I was browsing through this odd book one day and asked her why she stopped collecting them. She shrugged. "Most of the people I know are dead," she answered. She started to say more, but stopped.

Sometimes I get lost in my memories and her words come back to me. "Most of the people I know are dead."

Time passes so quickly. I remember, like a dream now, one summer evening when I was eight or nine years old. I'd fallen asleep lying on the shag carpet in front of the television set. All was still when I woke up--no television, no thrum from the swamp cooler--just birds chirping and frogs croaking, and the sounds of quiet conversation.

The room glowed with the last golden rays of the day. All the doors in our small house were open, and a breeze played in the curtains, making strange shadows dance on the ceiling. Time seemed to stretch out forever as I lay there, listening. My parents sat on the front step of our house, talking about their dreams.

They dreamed of a camper. Maybe a Travelall. Time to go fishing together. Maybe a first vacation.

My dad had been hauling milk cans since before I was born and he'd just sold his route. He hadn't had a single day off for more than ten years. He hadn't called in sick because dairy cattle didn't know what that meant.

"The kids are growing up," I heard my mom say.

"Your folks aren't getting any younger," said my dad.

Sometimes I wish I didn't have this window of memory. Only yesterday I was the one saying, "the kids are growing up." And now here we are in my mom's favorite spot on the Oregon coast and I can feel her here with us even though she's been gone for over a year.

I've been talking about dreams a lot lately too.

I released a book this week, a goal I've been working on every day since my dad died--over five years ago now. I've written six novels, but this is the first to make its way out in the world.

A few have asked me why I walked away from my agent, why I'm now so determined to control this path.

I suppose it's because I can now finish my grandmother's thought. "Most of the people I know are dead now. . . and soon I will be too."

All those years ago, lifted and danced around the room by a Vietnam vet. . . I'm only now understanding how those eyes had seen death and, through death, had found life. This time is meant for dancing, for dreaming, for celebrating.

All our lives are spent in that golden hour at the end of the day. It's up to us to decide how to spend them.

Review from John Ross Barnes

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 01 May 2014 21:35:00 +0000

A 60-second sketch,
in reaction to Spillworthy,
by John Ross Barnes

Review from John Ross Barnes:

"Ulysses, a ten year old homeless boy from Portland Oregon is transplanted to small town/rural Idaho. He leaves his journal in a tree with a twelve year old girl's journal.

The conversations the middle-graders have through their written journals begins to reflect not only their own sad, colorful, and sometimes profound circumstances, but also those of others around them.

Some of those others are in serious straits, and those in positions of authority seem unwilling or unable to help.

As sometimes happens in real life they are on their own, forced by the actions of others, and their own consciences to deal with what is beyond the pale.

Johanna Harness entertains us so well with an adventurous, yet totally believable story, that sometimes we might not realize just how deeply she is delving into the human condition, and some of the myriad ways we react both as individuals, and as a society to the all-too-human creatures of those depths.

This book will teach your children and it will teach you, and the groove it will carve in your brain will be deep and wide, and you will have enjoyed the carving.

I tell you three times, this is one to pay attention to."