Michele Regenold, Writing for Kids from the Boondocks

Patience

2009-03-22T05:31:00.000-07:00

I wonder how many people can honestly claim patience as one of their virtues? I've gotten better at it over the years, but it's still something I struggle with.

For example, it's easier for me now to wait in line at the grocery store without getting impatient, even when the customer in front of me is doing something boneheaded, like trying to buy 20 items in an express lane for 12 items. Somehow I've learned to stay calm because getting annoyed just makes me uncomfortable. It doesn't speed anyone up.

But waiting to hear from agents and/or editors? That's still not something I'm terribly patient about. Since I obviously have no control over when (or if) they respond, I try to distract myself with other writing projects.

A short graphic novel has been drafted (text only so far). I'm in the early stages of drafting a realistic YA novel. I'm also researching a couple of non-fiction ideas, 2 as possible books and another as an article.

Keep working, keep my head down. That's all I can do.

Agent search part 3: A fool's errand?

2009-03-14T05:25:00.000-07:00

So. I've been looking for an agent for a year now. For the first 8 or 9 months, I was shopping around my YA mystery. I got some requests to read partial or full manuscripts. The overall tenor of the comments was "nice writing but not for me."

The topic, I suspect, is too obscure for a debut novel. Who would buy a teen mystery novel set in farm country? No one has said this to me. It's just what I suspect. And if an agent doesn't know any editors who'd be interested, why would s/he take me on? It's too risky, especially in this economic climate.

So at the end of December and early January, after finishing another novel (MG contemporary fantasy), I stopped querying about my mystery and focused on the fantasy. I figured it would have broader appeal, and based on the significantly higher number of agents who've asked to see it, I was right about that at least.

However, that still hasn't translated into any offers of representation. Part of that may be due to my own impatience and sending the manuscript out a tad too soon, a situation I've since rectified.

And it is only March and I've been querying this novel for about 3 months. Probably I'm just being impatient, as usual.

But at what point does querying agents become a fool's errand? Just because an agent doesn't want to represent me doesn't mean my book isn't well written and saleable. It just means that particular agent wasn't taken with it and/or doesn't know how (or to whom) to sell it.

I'll reevaluate in a couple of months.

Playing with comics

2009-02-15T14:03:00.000-08:00

I'm currently reading Drawing Words & Writing Pictures: A Definitive Course from Concept to Comic in 15 Lessons by Jessica Abel and Matt Madden.

My motivation for reading this book is that I'm experimenting with a graphic novel even though I'm not an illustrator. And not that I expect working through this book to turn me into one either, but it is really fun to work in more than one medium. And comics are such an interesting blend of words and pictures.

Plus, the authors even set aside a whole page in their book for people like me with little or no drawing experience. One of the things they say on this page is this:

First of all: You're probably not nearly as bad as you think you are, and you will get better with time, no matter what your current skill level.

Ah, permission to be terrible. I can handle that.

So I've started working my way through the lessons. The major "homework" in chapter 3 is about drawing a sequence of panels. The instructions are to draw 5 wordless panels for each of 5 sections of a story the authors provide. Each panel is supposed to be drawn on a small Post-It note.

Part 1 is "An astronaut launches his rocket . . ." Here's my interpretation:

I know they're pretty faint. That's because I'm still a chicken. But it's pretty darn fun to stretch storytelling muscles in a new way.

Synopsis hell

2009-01-19T12:59:00.000-08:00

Writing a 1-2 page synopsis of my novel is about as much fun as getting blood drawn--and I'm afraid of needles. While I did lots of painful things during my MFA program (including an outline and a synopsis), now that I've graduated, it's much easier to avoid those icky tasks.

Since I finished revising my middle grade fantasy novel last month and started shopping it around to agents, I was hoping to avoid having to write a synopsis. Lots of agents I've researched don't require it, or if they mention that word, I decide they mean a synopsis in the context of the query. In other words, a couple of paragraphs that are kind of like jacket copy. That I can do.

But a synopsis that tells the whole story? Yuckety yuck. I wasn't going to do it just for fun. The other day, though, an agent asked for a 2-page synopsis along with 50 pages of the manuscript. So I had to sit down and do it.

Luckily I didn't have to start from scratch. The novel I was synopsizing has been around in various forms for years, so I had a couple of earlier versions of synopses to jump start me.

The key is to keep the details to a minimum and not get bogged down in subplots and nuances. I think what the synopsis readers want to see is whether the writer has a grasp of plot and the overall shape of a story, including the ending. No cliffhangers allowed here.

So I looked at 3 different earlier synopses for this book, a 1-page, a 2-page, and a full-blown 5-page summary. Starting with the 2-page synopsis, I revised it to reflect the current manuscript's salient details. Luckily much of the overall story structure was the same.

Since I hadn't read this synopsis in several years, I had more objectivity about its content. It was easier for me to strip away details that weren't necessary to understand the overall story.

At first I wasn't going to include the detail about a set of family history drawings the main character uses, but then I decided they were too important to her overall journey. So back I went to the beginning to figure out how and where to introduce that odd bit of information.

I also tried to pay attention to how much room I was giving to various parts of the story. If I've only covered the first 50 pages of a 175-pg novel and have filled up 1+ pages of the 2-pg synopsis, I'm being too detailed.

I also tried to be alert to pacing. The last part of this novel is especially action packed, so I tried to make the synopsis read that way too.

But what I really hope is that the novel itself is so compelling that a synopsis won't be terribly important in determining whether an agent or editor asks for more.

Starting new work

2009-01-04T10:21:00.000-08:00

The holidays are finally over. It's time to start something new. My challenge this year is to write a novel that's not a mystery or a fantasy. Instead, it will be a contemporary realistic novel based loosely on some events from my past.

Except for a couple of short stories, I haven't drawn on events from my life much at all in my fiction. So this is going to present a unique challenge in more ways than one.

I tend to be plot oriented rather than character oriented, which probably explains my attraction to mysteries and fantasies. So for this new work I'm beginning with characters. I've started making a list of them and their possible roles. Many of them are antagonists in one way or another, which should generate conflict with the protagonist. And that conflict, I suppose, is how the plot will be powered.

Fleshing out those characters and making them come to life will be another challenge. I am not writing memoir. Creating a rich, emotionally true story is more interesting to me than portraying the past as I remember it. So I need to spend some time carefully crafting the characters and getting to know them as distinct from the real people I used to know.

Reflecting on 2008

2008-12-31T05:35:00.000-08:00

2008 has been a pretty darn good year, although no one would know it from this blog this year.

Anyway, these are the writing-related events/activities that made it a good year:

In January, I finished an MFA in writing for children and young adults at the Vermont College of Fine Arts.
In March, I finished the novel I'd submitted as my creative thesis, a YA detective mystery.
In the spring, I began submitting my YA novel to agents and a couple of editors. Although no one has offered representation or a publishing contract for it (yet), quite a few have asked to read the full manuscript. People who have but passed on it have said that the story doesn't grab them. That seems perfectly reasonable to me. I know how picky I am about the mysteries I read. And I know how unusual this one is. Hogs? Iowa? Are you kidding?
In April I dug out a middle grade fantasy manuscript that I'd put away during my time at VCFA. I read it and still loved the story but could immediately see what was wrong with it and how to fix it. So I set to work and the revision process was wonderfully satisfying.
In November, just a few days before Thanksgiving, I finished my total overhaul of that MG fantasy and started querying agents about it. It has broader appeal than the mystery, so I will not be surprised if this one finds a home first.

A Pathetic Blogger

2008-08-20T15:46:00.000-07:00

Every now and then people stumble across this blog and leave a comment. Sometimes I know the person, but usually not. Either way, it's a reminder that I haven't blogged much lately.

Mostly that's because there's nothing much to tell.

I'm continuing to work on my MG fantasy novel. I'm nearly halfway through the revision. I got bogged down for a week or more in a tense scene and finally realized that the characters were thinking too much and coming up with too many options when what they really should be was scared out of their wits. Sometimes I can't believe how dense I am.

I also have little to report about agents. One agent who's had a full manuscript (of my mystery novel) since March emailed me a few weeks ago to tell me he "really loved it," which was great. He wanted to make sure I was still unagented before sharing it with his colleagues. No word since. I have several other queries still out too.

Earlier this summer I participated in an online pitch contest put on by The Buried Editor via her blog. She works for Blooming Tree Press in Texas. I looked at their website before submitting my pitch. I didn't see any mysteries on their list (they publish quite a bit of fantasy), but figured, what the heck. Preparing the pitch was good practice.

Much to my surprise, she asked me to submit the first 3 chapters. I'm still waiting to hear from her. She asked for partials from several contestants and plans to contact everyone at once. Her deadline for that keeps getting pushed back, so I don't know when I'll hear something.

What I'm working on

2008-07-08T14:00:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I reread a middle grade contemporary fantasy that I wrote pre-VCFA and experimented with it a bit by rewriting the first chapter in 3rd person. Well, that experiment is working. 3rd person has totally opened up that story.

Although it's not going as quickly as I'd hoped, I've discovered that it's easier for me to revise and think analytically about the whole story because I took such a long break from it (more than 2 years) and because I'm not using "I" all the time. Getting out of first person makes it just a tad easier to put the main character into tense situations and ratchet up the stakes.

Defusing tension was one of the things Uma Krishnaswami, my 2nd-semester advisor, tried to break me of when I was working on my 1st-person mystery with her.

Agent search part 2: A needle in the haystack

2008-07-02T07:28:00.000-07:00

One of my Vermont College of Fine Arts classmates recently acquired her first agent after 26 queries. Another classmate recently parted ways with her 3rd agent and then quickly found her 4th.

Meanwhile I keep sending out queries to agents who appear to be interested in mysteries and YA. I've had a number of nice comments about my writing, but so far the story/idea isn't grabbing people. 15 agents have passed so far (some on the query, some on a partial, a few on the full ms), and I have about 10 queries still out.

I think that's interesting because if you look at the adult mystery market, there is a humongous variety. I don't think there's nearly the breadth in MG/YA mysteries, so to me, it seems like there's room in that market for my hardboiled, environmental mystery set in rural Iowa.

However, agents naturally want clients with products they can sell. My product appears to be so specialized that agents perhaps don't see how they can sell it.

So where does that leave me? I've researched publishers and identified several that may be open to this novel. If my luck hasn't turned by the end of the summer, I'll start querying publishers. Meanwhile I've also queried a couple of agents who specialize in adult mysteries.

Revisiting old work

2008-04-13T15:05:00.000-07:00

I recently read with my newly honed MFA eyes a middle grade fantasy novel manuscript that I'd completed a few years ago. I've always liked the story, but ooh, baby. What was I thinking?

While it wasn't a total embarrassment, it's obvious to me now how much work it needs. For one thing, first person doesn't sound right for this story. This is kind of a gut reaction, but I think the story needs an omniscient narrator, which is something I haven't tried. So as an experiment, I rewrote the first chapter in 3rd person omniscient and sent it to my critique group. They'll let me know their thoughts tomorrow. Regardless of what they say, I'll probably continue with omniscient because it's so much fun!

I'm not diving into each and every character's head willynilly. I'm being selective and trying to control the narrator's proximity, which is like the movement of a camera to me, from wide angle panorama to close-up. One YA author who is absolutely a master at this is Philip Pullman.

I also need to figure out some basic things like what this story is really about, and by that I don't mean plot. There's probably an overabundance of plot. While I was out running this morning, in a chilly northerly breeze that required my full winter running gear, I realized this story is about faith. Not in a religious sense but in the sense of having faith in others.

Another tiny little thing to figure out is what my main character wants. Her external struggle is clear (because I like plot), but the internal struggle? Not so much.

Probably most Vermont College faculty tell their students this, but it was my first advisor, Rita Williams-Garcia, who told me to find the answers to story problems within the story itself. So now I'm thinking that a possible answer to the main character's internal struggle question is to give her a trait I'd given to her younger sister--a preference for realistic stories over fantasy. That one little switch could also play into the faith idea.

Agent search begins

2008-03-19T09:56:00.000-07:00

On my way home from a work/pleasure trip to the Pacific Northwest earlier this week, I finished revising my mystery novel. My critique group gave me feedback on it a few weeks ago. As I digested their diverse comments, I read the whole novel and noted things I wanted to tighten, tweak, and add. It's now ready, I think, to send out.

So I sent it the other night to an agent who'd requested the whole thing.

A few weeks ago I started researching and querying agents. I think querying is kind of fun. It's kind of like job hunting, which I also think is fun (at least it's fun when I already have a job and there's no pressure). I've used Publisher's Marketplace, Agent Query, and agents' own websites to learn more about agents and see if my book would be a good fit. Fit is hard to judge, though, just like in job situations. So much of this business is subjective.

Based on my research, I've made a list of agents who appear to be a good fit for my book. I'm querying a few at a time, beginning with agents who accept email or online submissions.

Yes, I confess that I am currently discriminating against agents who accept only snail mail submissions because email/online is easier for me. Of my handful of interactions with agents so far, this method of communication can be quick, which is good.

And to continue my whole laziness theme, I started with agents who request a simple query letter or a query letter plus sample pages. Agents who want a synopsis got temporarily bumped down my list because writing a synopsis is painful. But I did finally write one because it was a required part of SCBWI's work-in-progress grant application.

Some of my writer friends have asked why I'm starting with a search for an agent instead of an editor. I think this particular novel straddles a line between commercial/genre fiction and literary fiction that I think would appeal to an agent. It could stand alone, but it could also be the first in a mystery/detective series. An agent could help with this. Also, I think it's a little easier to find info on individual agents' tastes than it is on editors, which leads back to fit. A knowledgeable agent will know better than I which editors would be interested in this work.

Celebrating milestones under my control

2008-02-10T19:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning I reached the end of a good, solid draft of my YA mystery. Hallelujah!

I printed it out for my husband to read for plot. He hadn't read any of it before so he came to it with fresh eyes. He finished it last night while I went to my book group. He had some questions about the bad guy, which will help me decide what additional details I need to reveal. He also said he had an idea for the sequel, so I guess that means he thought it was decent.

My critique group will get copies tomorrow. These poor women have seen revisions of the first 5 or 6 chapters for about 2 years, but virtually nothing beyond that. At last they'll get to see what happens next.

I'm also trying to be patient about querying agents and waiting until the manuscript is really ready. I need a break from it before I reread it and revise. In the mean time, it's nice to read, read, read and start thinking about a couple of other projects.

Post-MFA blahs?

2008-02-04T17:18:00.000-08:00

Not me. I came home from Vermont and dove right back into my mystery novel. Partly this was because I'd finally figured out how to get around the small hurdle that had presented itself around Christmas time and partly because all of my advisors want to know when it's done. Nothing like a little pressure.

So my objective is to finish a good solid draft and have copies made by Feb. 11 to distribute to my critique group. Last night I finished writing the climax. Even though I knew the broad strokes of the scenes, it was still fun to discover the little details of them along the way, living that first draft along with my character. I have 2 scenes left. I will have no problem meeting my self-imposed deadline.

I'm also going to be sending a chapter or two at a time to my little brother to read. He just joined the Army (as in he left for basic on Jan. 30). I told him that the one thing I found hard to bear in basic was not being able to read books or magazines. Letters were acceptable, however, and I gobbled those up. So I told him I'd send him my novel in pieces for something to read. He said that sounded like what J.R.R. Tolkien did with his son. I'd heard that too.

When I'm done with this, I have another novel ready to revise. I may try rewriting a chapter or two in 3rd person. I also have a new novel banging on the door, ready to come in.

So no blahs here.

The burgundy velvet dress

2008-01-30T17:32:00.000-08:00

The Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in writing for children graduating class of January 2008, the Dedications. From left to right: Frances, Mary, Barbara, Nancy, Margaret, me, Page. This is at the reception after graduation. Photo by Frances's husband Lance.

Margaret Bechard (right) and moi at the reception. Photo by Frances Lee Hall. Frances surprised us with her photo request, I think, so we didn't have time to get self-conscious. At least I didn't. I think Margaret likes having her picture taken about as much as I do.

Barbara and me at the Black Door in Montpelier for supper after the reception. The rest of the Deds were there too. Barbara was showing me how to smile for the camera. Photo by Frances Lee Hall.

Vermont College MFA in Writing for Kids and Teens

2008-01-27T09:21:00.000-08:00

I have graduated, hallelujah! Several students have told me they stumbled on to this blog and found the info useful. To make it easier for people to trace my path through this program, I put all the related links here, in chronological order.

Acceptance and anticipation (fall 2005)

It begins: Residency 1, January 2006

Semester 1, Spring 2006

Residency 2, July 2006

Semester 2, Fall 2006

Residency 3, January 2007

Semester 3, Spring 2007

Critical thesis fini

Residency 4, July 2007

Semester 4, Fall 2007

Residency 5, January 2008

Graduation from Vermont College of Fine Arts

2008-01-27T05:47:00.000-08:00

(From left, Barbara, Nancy, me, Margaret, Page, Frances, Julie (and cut off on the right, Mary) as the dean confers our degrees. Photo by Paulette Oxner.)

Tuesday, Jan. 22 was a big day. I had to give my lecture that morning and graduate that afternoon.

The ceremony itself was short. We had to decide a lot of it early on, like who to be our graduation speaker and who to read the brief selections from our creative theses--these people are usually faculty members. My class decided not to do an invocation, so that cut a few minutes. We kept the class's welcome statement brief too. We announced our gift to the program, a new hard drive to help make lectures available in more formats.

We asked David Gifaldi to be our graduation speaker. He gave a marvelous speech that was funny, moving, and personal. We asked Rita Williams-Garcia to read the selections from our creative theses. She's a great reader, and she's worked with half of us, more than any other faculty member. Since there were so few of us, she was able to read several lines. The selection is chosen by our 4th semester advisors, so we don't know in advance what they'll choose. I smiled when I heard the piece Ellen Howard chose from my YA mystery, Smells Like Money:

Through the windshield I noticed the giant sunflowers in LuAnn’s garden. Their heads were as big as dinner plates, their deep gold petals painfully bright.

I closed my eyes against their glare. Grandma told me once that sunflowers follow the sun throughout the day, their heads turning to keep it in view.

Since Dad died Mom liked, no, needed to keep me in sight.

The president of Vermont College of Fine Arts usually confers the degrees and puts on the hoods, but he couldn't be there. We found out that anyone on the faculty could put the hoods on us. We asked Tim Wynne-Jones to do it. The hoods are kind of tricky little devils, so he practiced before the ceremony. The new dean made the formal statement conferring our degrees.

We've always admired the beautiful organ but never heard it played, so we had someone play that as we walked in and out. Other classes had bagpipes for that, but they sound sad and funereal to me. The organ was nice.

The organ in the chapel of College Hall, Vermont College of Fine Arts, Montpelier, Vermont. Photo by Paulette Oxner.

Lecture: "Solving the Mystery of Literary Detective Fiction"

2008-01-26T11:01:00.000-08:00

I was still feeling crummy last Tuesday morning by the time my lecture rolled around, but when a faculty member asked how I was doing, I told her I could fake it for 45 minutes. The number of people at my lecture was reasonable considering it was 8:15 on the last day of the residency. There were maybe 25 students there and several faculty.

Possibly because I wasn’t feeling well enough to get really excited, and therefore speak too fast, I spoke fairly slowly. I used PowerPoint slides to augment what I was telling people. This was partly to give them something to look at besides me and partly a way to help visual learners.

I started by pointing out the broad nature of mysteries and then zeroing in on detective fiction in particular. I compared the 2 main kinds of detective mysteries--the classical/puzzle mystery (think Miss Marple) and the hard-boiled/noir mystery (think Sam Spade). Then I compared detective fiction for kids and teens and got into specifics about how smart choices about setting, point of view, and character all help create literary detective fiction. I used examples from Wendelin Van Draanen's Sammy Keyes series, Nancy Springer's Enola Holmes series, and Philip Pullman's Sally Lockhart series.

Lots of people were taking notes. Afterward, several complimented me on the “clear, succinct” information I presented. I was glad to hear that because I was a little worried that it wouldn't sound coherent to people who aren't as familiar with the topic.

One faculty member, David Gifaldi, who's a former 5th grade teacher, told me I was a natural teacher. I laughed and thanked him, but I don't agree. I felt well prepared and I'm experienced at speaking to adults. I also spoke from notes instead of reading my lecture. So maybe those things combined gave him that idea. Certainly, I was flattered.

Sick during the residency

2008-01-21T09:58:00.000-08:00

I haven't been sleeping well at this residency, which I think has been going on now for about 3 months. It's so bizarre how time passes while I'm here. I caught a mild cold a couple of days ago. Then Sat. night I started feeling a little feverish, and in the middle of the night my stomach became upset. I thought it was the combination of a beer and NyQuil and possibly the Thai food I'd had for supper. So the next morning I went for a run, chewed some antacid, and met some friends for brunch.

Big breakfasts are my absolute favorite. We went to a place downtown for a brunch buffet, and it was gorgeous. They made omelettes to order and waffles while you waited. But all I could tolerate were 2 pieces of toast.

Shortly after brunch I headed back to Noble Hall to get ready for my lecture. And then my stomach started to hurt, I had chills, and I was getting weak and jittery. It sounds like nerves, but I don't get nervous about giving presentations.

So my classmates and a faculty member sprang into action and got the schedule switched around so I could go back to my room and try to sleep off the virus. Unfortunately that meant I missed 2 of my classmates' lectures and 1 faculty lecture. I felt somewhat better last night, but I think that was just the cold medicine.

I get easily tired and am heading back to my room for the 2nd nap of the day. I'll be giving my lecture on Tuesday morning, the last lecture spot of the whole residency. (No pressure there. At least it's first thing in the morning.) I may not be 100% better by then, but certainly better than I am now.

Reading from my work

2008-01-18T08:15:00.000-08:00

One of the graduation requirements during the final residency is to read from the work we produced during our time at Vermont College. I was a little nervous about this.

The night before my reading I went out for supper with another student and Margaret Bechard, my 3rd-semester advisor. Margaret would be introducing me because my 4th-semester advisor, Ellen Howard, was unable to come to this residency. I asked Margaret what she was going to say in her intro. I wanted to make sure it was nothing mushy. She assured me it was not.

As the day approached (last Wed.), my anxiety mounted, and I finally realized why I was so anxious. It wasn't the reading itself so much as fear of getting choked up in front of an audience.

To help ease my tension, I drank another helpful, foamy beverage during the lecture right before the reading. My classmate, Mary Atkinson, read first from her wonderful middle grade novel. I listened carefully and was totally absorbed in her story.

Then Margaret Bechard went to the podium and I held my breath. She said she had fun working with me on my critical thesis on girl detective fiction (she thought she had more fun than I did--not true except for when she suggested I add another 10 pages or so, which I declined). She then relayed some of Ellen Howard's unmushy comments--that I was an easy student to work with and that she was proud of how far I'd come.

When I got to the podium, I could tell that, despite the helpful beverage, I still wouldn't be able to keep it together if I thanked people, as VC custom dictates. Instead, I said I had to forego the traditional thank yous in order to maintain my composure. And then I read my YA short story about a family shopping trip.

As Ellen Howard had suggested, I had practiced it several times, so I was able to read it with inflection and make it more of a performance. It was easier than I had expected. And then I gave my advisors the calligraphy pieces I'd prepared for them and happily accepted their congratulations.

Graduating students' gifts to faculty

2008-01-14T05:11:00.000-08:00

One of the traditions at Vermont College is for the graduating class to present small gifts to the faculty on the first day. This happens at the end of the opening session.

My class had many discussions about this. Maybe I'm the most introverted of the 8 of us, but I really, really didn't want to do anything involving singing or dancing. We finally decided to walk in, with attitude, to the Mamas and the Papas version of a song whose title I'm blanking on but has to do with dedications (our class name is the Dedications). We wore scarves and sunglasses (except me because I'm wearing regular glasses). Even to do that much I needed some liquid help. Let me just say that the Vermont beer tinged with blackberries was tasty.

We gave faculty personalized notepads with their names, a cute design, and a quote from their letters to us. We also included silly candy and short notes that we each wrote.

Easy arrival

2008-01-13T05:57:00.000-08:00

I took a different route to Montpelier this time. I flew from Des Moines to Hartford, Conn. and then rented a car. I did all my checking in online so getting through the airport in Des Moines and picking up my car in Hartford was easy.

I'm driving a VW Rabbit, which was a lucky choice because that little car has some get-up-and-go for the hills. It was about a 3-hour drive, practically straight north, hilly and tree lined the whole way. The roads were dry, traffic was light, and the day was gorgeous--sunny and low 40s.

Everyone else staying in Martin House (literally a house on campus that sleeps 6) was already there when I arrived, so they'd already chosen their rooms. They saved me an excellent room--in the back where it's quiet with a beautiful view of the woods and ravine behind the house.

The sun rises a little earlier here and sets a little sooner than where I live in central Iowa, so I was able to see where I was going when I went running this morning at 7. There was no breeze and the icy patches were easy to see, so although it was cool--probably 25 degrees--it felt great.

It's a thrill to be here for my last residency.

Prep for last residency--done!

2008-01-10T17:17:00.000-08:00

I finished my PowerPoint presentation and my lecture handouts. I wrote notes to the faculty. And I finished my calligraphy projects. They aren't professional, but they look pretty good (better than this scan shows). And each one is on different colored paper using different colored ink or paint.

I even tried on the dress I may decide at the last minute not to wear to graduation. It went into my gigantic red rolling duffel anyway.

Probably the most important thing I'm trying to do the last few days before the residency is not get sick. My husband has a cold, so I keep snorting Zicam and telling him not to touch me with his germy hands. It'll be a miracle if I can stave it off because I'm ridiculously susceptible to colds.

Countdown to last residency at Vermont College

2008-01-05T06:08:00.000-08:00

This is my last weekend before heading back to Montpelier, Vermont, next Saturday at 6:30 a.m., my last big block of time (my husband has thoughtfully decamped to go hunt pheasants).

What I absolutely have to accomplish with all this lovely time before the residency because graduating depends on it:

Trim my lecture notes. I timed my lecture a few weeks ago and it came to 41 minutes. I have 45 minutes total, including questions. I need to chuck some more of the historical stuff. I'm sure I care more about that than my listeners will. They'll probably be most interested in the nitty gritty of writing a detective novel.
Prepare my lecture hand outs and PowerPoint presentation. At a minimum, I plan to give people a bibliography of kid and YA detective novels that shows some of the range of what's being published these days. But I also want to include some useful info, which I still need to decide on. I'm a firm believer that listeners who take notes will remember better than those who rely solely on the lecturer's handouts, so I don't want them to duplicate the lecture, but somehow support it.

What I really want to finish and intend to finish before the residency:

small tokens of appreciation for my 4 faculty advisors. These are calligraphy projects that I've been working on all semester. I've learned that there are just as many, if not more, decisions to be made about visual art projects as there are in fiction writing projects. Nevertheless, I found it rather relaxing.

What it would be nice to finish but I could live without:

brief, handwritten notes to all the faculty to go in the gift from our class to the faculty.

I also need to try on the dress I'm planning to wear for graduation to make sure it still fits. It also needs to fit in my duffel. Luckily, even though it's cold in Vermont, the rooms where I'll be spending most of my days and nights are usually warmer than I'm used to. So I don't need to take a bunch of sweaters. Still, winter clothes take up more room than summer clothes. So if I need to take 2 bags this time (because of special graduation/lecture/reading clothes), I'll just suck it up and do it. I'm strong. I can lug 2 bags to the airport and then to my rental car.

Semester 4 winds down

2007-12-16T05:41:00.000-08:00

My last semester at Vermont College has been a particularly busy one. That's my rationale for no blog posts between Sept. 23 and Dec. 16.

On Friday, I turned in my last packet of homework ever--the 20th over the course of 2 years and 4 semesters. It contained a copy of my creative thesis: about 2/3 of my YA mystery novel, an abstract of my critical thesis on girl detective fiction, and the bibliography of my reading during my entire time in the program.

I also slipped inside the envelope 20 news pages of my novel, which I'm determined to finish by the end of the month. My advisor won't be expecting that, and it may make her crazy, but what the heck. She doesn't have to read the extra stuff.

While the semester is over, the work is not. During my final residency January 13-23, I have to give a 20-minute reading and a 45-minute lecture.

I plan to read a short story called "Shopping." It's a YA story--my shot at realistic and literary. (Generally I write genre fiction because I love action and plot.) This story is a fictionalized account of a family shopping trip my family made in Anchorage, Alaska, in 1981 when we were considering staying there. I've asked my sisters if they remember that particular visit to Sears. They don't, which is just as well because I've made up most of it. One advisor wanted me to cut out one of the sisters, and in a short story, I could see her point, but I left the character in because they all play a role in this story.

Going to readings has never been my favorite part of the residency. Maybe it's because I'm such a visual learner. Without visual aids I get antsy. Plus the readings by graduating students are usually scheduled in the late afternoon--prime nap time. So anyway, I didn't get around to attending any readings by graduating students until my 3rd residency in Jan. 2007. I discovered that the grads use that forum to thank people--their classmates, families, advisors. Some grads get really emotional about it. At the first grad reading I attended, the student could hardly get her weeping under control. I will not have this problem.

As for my lecture, I'll be discussing "Solving the Mystery of Literary Detective Fiction." I have no idea how many people at VC may be interested in writing mysteries, but I hope this demystifies the process somewhat. It's been very enlightening for me. My prime examples will come from Wendelin Van Draanen's Sammy Keyes series, Nancy Springer's Enola Holmes series, and Philip Pullman's Sally Lockhart series.

And then I graduate!

Packet 2 response

2007-09-23T05:00:00.000-07:00

I'm not a particularly nervous person. I don't get nervous about speaking in public until 10 or 15 minutes before doing it. I don't get nervous about reading my advisor's response to a packet until I'm ripping open the envelope (or opening the email attachments). This time was no exception. While my advisor was disappointed that I hadn't sent as much as she'd asked for (because that novel outline took so darn long), she "loved" what I did send her. "Keep going," she said.

Roger, wilco.

This advisor is probably the most teacher-ish one I've had. In her letter to me this time, she gave me a sort of mini lecture about the importance of free time to a fiction writer. I think she's worried that I have too many oars in the water. She suggested that as long as I have to support myself that I consider work that leaves my mind free to subconsciously roam.

Most of my job is already like that. I'm not personally invested in it, so I don't take it home with me, literally or figuratively. But I mentioned Go! magazine to her and working on finding grants to support it. That is work I take home with me. But I like working on Go! and it's also writing for teens, so I don't really see a problem. It makes for some hectic weeks now and then, but I think taking Wednesdays off will help balance it all out. Plus, I have a lot of energy and drive. And it's fun to have more than one ball in the air.