The Boss Baby

Once every few years, a picture book comes along and I say, "Holy ^%$@^%$, why didn't I write this???" (sob, sob)

Well, that is what precisely happened to me today when I read The Boss Baby by Marla Frazee:

From the moment the baby arrived, it was obvious that he was the boss.

He put Mom and Dad on a round-the-clock schedule, with no time off...

It's friggin' hilarious! And it is so exactly my experience! If your household is- or has ever been- run by a little creature who can't even talk yet, you have got to check out this book!

A Fractured Ballad

One of the things I liked most about my husband on our first date was that he had a creative side. He is a scientist by training and profession, but he told me over dinner that he had written a screenplay and was making a mockumentary for his sister's wedding. "Cool," I thought. "Someone who works on artistic projects like me!"

Well, this is his latest endeavor... starring Thing 1 and Thing 2, of course!

Lawyers, Guns, and Money - A Knucklehead Production

The Waiting Place

I stole this off Linda Carter Dimmer's Facebook page (the embellishment is hers)

Dr. Seuss was right. "... a most useless place, The Waiting Place...Waiting for... the mail to come, or the rain to go, or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow, or waiting around for a Yes or No, [or waiting around for an e-mail to show]. Everyone is just waiting."

If you look at the book, Seuss goes on to say "Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite or waiting around for Friday night or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil, or a Better Break or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants or a wig with curls, or Another Chance."

Kind of makes you want to write your own, huh?

Waiting around for your garden to bloom, or waiting in line for the little girls room. Waiting your turn to go up to bat, or waiting for Mom to read Cat in the Hat. Waiting all year till your birthday is here, or till June when school's out and your classmates all cheer...

This is fun. I could go on all day!

But what I am really waiting for is for my agent to call with news!!!

Creative Description

We went to my parents house in the Berkshires this weekend. They're on a lake and the kids love it up there. The only downside to visiting is that it is a three and a half hour drive. One of my Mom's friends asked my five year old, "How far away do you live?" I was very curious to see how he'd answer, since three and half hours can feel like a life time to a kid trapped in a car. Josh didn't even hesitate. "Two whole movies," he said. Ha! Guess that's how kids measure time.

That got me thinking about description in books. Kristin Clark Venuti, who I talked about once before, came up with such creative ways to describe things in her novel, Leaving the Bellweathers. The one that particularly stood out to me was her description of Heyboy, Spider's Endangered Albino Alligator, who from snout to tail was "the length of a Cub Scout and a half." Ha! She had so many choices there. Six feet. Two meters. A kayak. The shortest NBA player. The possibilities were endless.

Wow! Every choice we make as writers is an opportunity to be creative. Suddenly, I feel totally overwhelmed.

Novels You Shouldn't Give Up On

Okay, I kind of avoided blogging this week, because if I did... I would no doubt have had to mention how happy I am about the Prop 8 ruling and that would surely have opened a big can of worms.

So, let's see... if I can't talk about politics, what can I talk I talk about?

Uh, books? That's somewhat safe.

Sometimes you really have to struggle to stay with a book in the beginning, but it totally pays off in the end. I found this to be the case with A Thousand Splendid Suns. Very slow for the first 100 pages, but I ended up loving it!

I am sort of dealing with that now with Life of Pi. I am having trouble getting into it, but from what I have heard, it is worth sticking with!

What's one novel that you are really glad that you didn't give up on???

A Tale of Two Stories

It was the best of times.

My son said something about karate and an idea popped into my head.

The Three Ninja Pigs!

I wrote it. I revised. I subbed to agents.

An agent fell in love with it.

She said, "It will sell."

It sold.

It was the best of times.

It was the worst of times.

Agent asked, "What else have you got?"

I had nothing.

I thought and thought and thought and thought and thought.

I had some dumb ideas...

My blog followers had to convince me that one idea wasn't so dumb after all.

I wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote.

I revised and revised and revised and revised an revised.

I showed Agent.

She said, "Needs a LOT of work."

I revised and revised and revised and revised and revised.

Agent said, "Needs a lot more work."

It was the worst of times.

TO BE CONTINUED

What to Do When You Feel Like Throwing In the Towel?

In which I state the obvious, and more of the obvious.

So, we all get to that point now and then when we get one too many pieces of bad news and think, "This industry is just too darn hard for me. I can't take it anymore!" The question is... what do you do when you get to that point?

Well, you can...

1. Eat yourself into oblivion.
2. Drink yourself into oblivion.
3. Mope around the house for days.

But I don't recommend any of these options. (Trust me, it may seem like a good idea at the time, but the five pound bag of chocolates will not make you feel any better about your writing career!)

So what other choices are available to you?

4. Vent to your writing friends.

I really don't recommend this option either. Though I ADORE my writing friends and they are extremely supportive, the more you talk about writing, the more you are thinking about writing, and therefore, the more you are languishing in your own misery.

So, what's left?

5. Read some good books (I recommend that you read books that are not in your exact genre to ward off feelings of "What? How did this crap get published when my clearly far superior manuscript did not?") Read to ESCAPE. Get lost in someone else's problems. A sure way to get your own woes out of your head.
6. Watch great films (see #5)
7. Exercise
8. Hang out with non-writer friends.

In other words, take a vacation from all things writing. Oh, and for those of you who like to shop., try getting a kick ass pair of new shoes.