Countdowns and (prematurely) aging

Let the countdown begin: there are exactly 10 days until school’s out and my summer officially begins.  Though there’s a ton to do between now and then, those days cannot go quickly enough.  Being too busy has put me in serious book-writing withdrawal, to the point where I’m trying to fall asleep at night and bits of story keep popping up, demanding attention and a jot in the notebook.  This requires finding said notebook, a pen, and turning on the lights.  Once the lights are on, I can’t fall back asleep again.  It’s a vicious, sleep-deprived cycle, and the only way to stop it is to write.  Story of my life.  Anyway, my goal is to have a first draft of my current middle grade novel ready to go for the SCBWI Summer Conference, so I’ll have three total books to plug.  Wish me luck!

Also, on a side note, I just got my new driver’s license with my official name change and ack!  Those pesky lines that make it so hard to duplicate IDs cut right across my face and make me look old.  Like wrinkly old.   Also, they never asked me if I want to be an organ donor.  And I never practiced my new signature before I had to sign the ID!  Sigh.  I’ll have this atrocious license for the next five years.  Sad day.

Resource Thursdays: UCLA Extension

Something about graduating soon must be making me sentimental, otherwise I wouldn’t be so gung-ho about shelling out more money to UCLA.  The UCLA Writer’s Extension Program has gotten rave reviews from a lot of writers I have talked to, so I’ve been browsing through their course offerings.  The program, which has an open admissions policy, offers courses in creative writing and screen writing from beginner level to master level writers.  There’s an extensive list of instructors with serious writing and publishing credits.  If you’re a Los-Angeles based writer, this is a perfect opportunity to sharpen your skills, though the program also offers online courses for non-locals.  While I do need a little bit of an academic break for the time being, I will certainly be looking into some of their Children’s Market classes in the future.  It’s just a shame for a school with such a great creative writing reputation that the undergraduate programs don’t actually offer a creative writing major.  Just another one of life’s ironies, I guess.

Proof I am really twelve years old

In case you needed more proof that I am twelve years old at heart, please reference the following witticism, written in the margins of one of my school notebooks:  Someone keeps farting and they need to stop.

Need I say more?

We mostly stay busy, mostly

Whew!  The past few weeks have been super busy for me – filled with weddings, work, and school.  When I say busy, I mean that my husband and I have sat down on four different occasions in the past three weeks to watch Aliens.  At viewing session number four the Face-huggers have just made their appearance, meaning we are only a little over halfway through.  Hopefully the fifth time’s a charm.  Luckily we own the movie, so we are not wasting away our Netflix account.  The problem with owning the movie, though, is that my husband knows all the lines in the movie so he’s always two seconds ahead of the actors in saying the classic lines.  Including, “They mostly come out at night, mostly,” which has now been spoofed by us in countless ways.  For example, “I mostly eat Cheerios, mostly,” and to our dog, “Gee Riley, you mostly are cute, mostly. “  Yeah, the possibilities are endless.  And we are super dorks.

Happy Memorial Day!

This weekend Ian and I are down in San Diego shooting one of our first weddings of the season.  Yesterday we joined Kristin and Dimitri for their fantastic wedding, and today we’re shooting a day-after session for them.  We’ll be on the road for most of the day, but be sure to click over to our photography blog for some photo updates in the next couple of days.  Happy Memorial Day!  Hope you’re enjoying a little sunshine and maybe a good book!

So much for strawberries

The problem with gardening is that by the time you finally grow something worth eating, the bugs have discovered it’s worth eating, too.

Resource Thursdas: Nathan Bransford

Nathan Bransford is a literary agent at Curtis Brown Ltd., and his blog is one of the internet hot spots for writers.  Nathan provides an inside look at the publishing world and has packed his site full of information.  The posts are varied – from contests and submissions guidelines to trends and questions for reader feedback – but when I read them I always come away with a positive feeling (you could even say the posts make me downright cheerful.)  What’s nice is that such a large audience listens to Nathan every day, and that he’s really opened up a dialogue with his readers.   A very fun post was America’s Next Top Suprisingly Essential First Page, a contest where the winners helped demonstrate what really works in a first page and why. I especially love his ten commandments for the happy writer.  If you haven’t already come across Nathan’s blog I would definitely check it out.  Hopefully you’ll come away feeling cheerful too!

Flush by Carl Hiassen

A few years ago I read Hoot by Carl Hiaasen and loved it, so when Flush came around in the same pro-environment vein, I took notice.  In this story, Noah’s dad, Paine Underwood, has let his anger go a little too far.  When he’s arrested for sinking the Coral Queen, a gambling boat that is dumping sewage into the harbor, Paine asks Noah to help catch the culprit.    Noah, along with his sister Abbey, a strong-willed childhood biter, take up the cause.  They have a scheme to reveal the poo-dumping scam that’s polluting the beaches and the siblings won’t rest without a fight. I thought this book was fantastic and I loved the characters – especially Abbey.  The fast paced plot keeps the story exciting and inspires the environmentalist in all of us.  I would definitely pick up a copy, along with Hoot.

To the DMV I go

Today I’m going to the DMV to get my name changed so that my driver’s license matches my social security card, bank accounts, etc.  The problem is, I’ll be flying in just a few weeks and still using Seal as my last name on the ticket, so I need to hold on to my current driver’s license.  Gut instinct said to just leave the darn thing home but because I lean on the side of super-rule-following Goody Two Shoes, I called the DMV to be sure.  After a 20 minute wait (at least there was no annoying music playing) I talked to some nice operator who said, “No, it’s no problem.  They let you keep it.”

“Thanks,” I said cheerfully.

“Uh,” he said.

“Yes?”

“On second thought, just leave it in the car and tell them you lost it.”

This made me laugh.  Let’s hope when I actually get there the DMV people don’t demand my old license or leave me empty handed.  That would make explaining things to the airlines a lot more difficult…

Rules by Cynthia Lord

I first heard about Rules by Cynthia Lord while thumbing through the 2007 version of Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market, edited by the wonderful Alice Pope.  In a section about first books by new novelists I read a bit about Rules and was hooked.  I didn’t buy the novel at the time, but I recently saw it on the shelves and swept it up.  The book is told from the point of view of Catherine, whose family life is dominated by her younger brother’s autism.  Since David will never be normal, Catherine writes him a set of rules for survival: no toys in the fish tank, wear pants in public.  When a new girl moves in next door, Catherine has the chance to make a new friend.  She must learn to balance her new friendship with life with David and her friend Jason, who communicates by pointing at index cards with words on them.  What I love about the book is that even though it’s about a life problem, Catherine is still Catherine, stronger and lovelier, somehow, for the challenges she faces.