MIA: Going to Harry Potter World

I'm going to be missing from the blogosphere for the next week because I'm going to Harry Potter World in Orlando, Florida!!!  I'm stoked.  I've been bugging my family to go since it opened and we're finally doing it (and a week before my birthday, how awesome is that?!?!)  My grandparents also live down in Florida during the winter and I'll get to spend some quality time with them, too.  Plus, 80 degree weather is way better than 20 degree weather. I am definitely going to need it, because this week I'm working two 14-hour workdays because of parent conferences.

So I won't be around much.  All I'll have is my iPhone for internet access.

I'm excusing myself from writing this week, which hopefully means I'll knock a few books out and post some reviews when I get back.

And I'll definitely have pics and a full review of Harry Potter World!  Wheeeee!

Anyone been to HP World already and have some tips to share?

Peeved on Spelling

Something that's driving me a little bonkers: spelling.

Specifically, the spelling of: Newbery.

The big book award, like the Oscar of children's literature.

It's Newbery.  NOT Newberry.

It's not a type of fruit.

Look it up on the website:
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberymedal.cfm

The Universals of Creative Genius

This morning on CBS Sunday Morning, there was a segment on Keith Richards (Rolling Stones guitarist) that I really enjoyed.  He's a far more traditional and normal guy than his reputation makes him out to be.

And while watching this piece, they spoke a bit about his creative process.  He spoke of the hard work, but also how guitar riffs would just come out of his fingers.

In reading bio pieces and watching interviews, I've come to notice three absolutes about creative greats (whether music, art, writing, design, etc.).

1. The passion, the calling, creating your art is unavoidable.
2. The process and the way in which great ideas come to your mind is mystifying.  They appear, they feel right, and you don't know quite where they came from.
3. Hard work.  The true greats spend the hours it takes to get to the top.

I really find creativity fascinating in any form.  Whether music, art, or writing, the process of how your brain creates something from nothing is awe inspiring to me.  :)

Life Gets in the Way

Life has been getting in the way of the more important things in life.  My more important things are reading and writing.

Life includes:

• Returning to my home that was abandoned for 8 weeks
• An earthquake
• Hurricane Irene
• Two power outages
• The beginning of a school year that included more meetings and technology issues than any other start of year EVER

Between the largest earthquake the East Coast has seen in 100 years and a hurricane that did billions of dollars in damage and closed schools throughout Maryland.  Between replacing the entire contents of my refrigerator... TWICE.  And negotiating new traffic patterns around downed wires and trees.  And then getting organized for a new school year with a record breaking number of students... (We don't have enough lockers for our current enrollment.)

I've been BUSY.

So on this Labor Day weekend, I'm going to make some time to do the labor I love.  My main goals:

1. Finish the last book in Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series.
2. Do some writing exercises from LeGuin's Steering the Craft
3. Make a 3000 word dent in one of my manuscripts

Other things that may interfere with my main goals:

1. Online class coursework
2. Lesson Planning
3. Recycling
4. Laundry
5. Grocery shopping

We'll see how this weekend goes.  Here's to hoping it's a CALM one.

Things I'll miss... and things I won't...

Things I'll miss:

• the mountains
• the library
• the rocking chairs
• the writing community
• my teachers
• free printing
• the church
• the restaurant/bakery across the street
• the wonderful writers I've met/reconnected with

Things I won't miss:

• the dorms
• the shower
• the assigned reading
• writing critical papers
• sitting in class for 9 hours straight
• hanging out at Panera
• staying up late to finish work

Thoughts on Feeling Spoiled

Yes, I'm at grad school.  And yes it's a lot of work.  And yes sometimes I feel overwhelmed.

But when it comes down to it, I'm spending my days lounging around reading books.  Whether comfortable in a porch rocking chair or cuddled on a couch in the library, it struck me that not many people can afford to spend their days like this.  Reading for 3-6 hours at a time.

And when I drive around down here, it becomes glaringly clear that the opportunities I have would be considered luxurious to a lot of the people around me.

I don't know why I've been given such a good life.  Good family.  Good home.  Good education.  Good health.  It probably has a lot to do with this good country I live in.  So as much as I complain about the politics and the current state of education, I do see how lucky I am.

Happy 4th of July everyone.

Conference Pt 2, American Girl, and Veg Offering @ Panera

Yesterday was the last day of the conference and I attended two sessions.  The first session I was really excited about.  It was called "Children Marked by Death" and was going to discuss several books I had read: Unwind, Graveyard Book, Harry Potter.

I didn't end up going to that session because, stupid me, I wrote down the wrong room number.  If I hadn't been sitting smack dab in the middle of the room where it would have been disruptive and rude of me to leave, I would have left.  I was especially sad because I could hear the applause and laughter in the correct room which was on the other side of a thin wall.

One of the three speeches interested me though.  It was about American Girl and how the company's emphasis on clothes and accessories detracts from the more serious issues in the books.  For example, in one of the Samantha books, Samantha goes to the African American part of town in search of her seamstress, Jessie.  Samantha is shocked by how different this part of town is: crowded, old, poor.  When she returns home, Samantha describes how much comfort she feels in putting on her soft, white, ruffled nightgown and climbing under the covers of her beautiful bed with her doll, Lydia.  The speaker argued that the clothing and accessories serve to distract girls from the real issue and are what girls remember instead.

I could see the speaker's points.  But I think the American Girl series and products have so much to offer.  I think the values of the series far outweigh many other play/toy options for girls that age.  The history, morality, and focus on appreciating girlhood (not rushing into being a teenager, make-up, boys, etc.) make American Girl a refreshing option in today's society.

They are opening an American Girl Store in Tysons Corner Mall, and there was an article about the American Girl series in the Washington Post.  The series is celebrating its 25th Anniversary, and I'm very happy to see that the company is still going strong.  Though I don't agree with their decision to retire the classic dolls.  (Samantha, Felicity, Kirsten are all retired.)

The other conference session I attended yesterday was about "Teachers as Writers."  There was a panel of writers who were also teachers.  They spoke about the challenges of balancing teaching and writing, how both jobs require a similar kind of creative energy.  That is a huge struggle for me.  Teaching drains me in every way: physically, mentally, emotionally.  Teaching also saps a lot of creative energy.  To come up with consistently engaging and unique lessons drains me of creative energy.  The panel spoke about how they often feel drained of creativity from their day job teaching and ways they recharge so they have energy for their writing.

I've had talks with several people who care about me, and how I need to do a better job of balancing my work (teaching) and my personal life.  I give way too much of myself to teaching, and it has to stop.  Next year, I already have plans in place so that I take more time for myself.  I am going to take an online course with a teacher I love.  I am signing up for writing conferences throughout the year, which will also be opportunities to travel and get away.  Traveling always helps me to refocus my life and realize there's more to life than my classroom.  Plus, I think when I'm happier, I treat my students better.  Not that I'm even a "mean" teacher, but I noticed this year that when I was stressed, I had less patience and was more likely to snap at a kid when I don't mean to.

And finally, Panera has a vegetarian sandwich!!!  They've had their Tomato/Mozz panini for awhile, but that's really their only offering in terms of veggie stuff.

I don't remember seeing the Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich on their menu, and I ate so much Panera last year that I am pretty sure I know their menu offerings by heart.  So I'm pretty sure this sandwich is new, and I tried it today.  Delicious!

On their yummy tomato basil bread: feta cheese crumbles, cilantro hummus, black pepper, salt, green leaf lettuce, red onions, fresh tomatoes, fresh cucumber, and zesty peppadew piquant peppers.  A very hearty vegetarian sandwich with a spicy kick on truly scrumptious bread.  I'm a fan.

Now, if Panera would just make a grilled eggplant panini...  I would be a happy girl.

Conference and Library of an Early Mind

This week my grad school is hosting a conference, and I got free admission by being an on-call tech help person today.  I really only had to solve 2-3 problems: not knowing the password to log in (though it was posted), switching between diplays, and switching from PC to Mac (the girl even brought her own dongle).  Pretty easy tech day considering it saved me a couple hundred bucks!

Here's a list of some topics of speeches that I got to listen to:

"Kick-Ass Slayers and Teen Terminators: Recent Trends in Lethal Little Girls"
"Girls on Fire: Gender, Authority and the Female Child-Warrior"
"Dystopic Epiphanies and Kierkegaardian Disallusion: An Exploration of the Average vs. Exceptional Hero in Feed and The Giver"
"Demystifying the Illusion of an Adultless World--Forty Years of Fearing the Children in Science Fiction"
"Like, Vampires? A Study of American Teen Slang in Young Adult Fantasy Literature"
"M.T. Anderson's Feed and the Linguistic Situation of Tomorrow"
"Young Adult Fantasy in a Visual Age: The Book Trailer as a Gateway to the Written Word"
"Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley and the Journey to Womanhood in the Harry Potter Series"
"Utopia and Anti-Utopia in Lois Lowry's and Suzanne Collins's Dystopian Trilogies"
"Media Drives Revolt: Ways Rebels Use Media Throughout Literature from Historical Fiction Through Futuristic Fantasy"
"Youth Rebellion, Dystopic Fiction, Identity Crisis"

Some summary points:

• Hunger Games was by far the most popular topic.  I am sick of listening to people talk about Hunger Games.
• Violent girl heroines is an emerging theme in popular culture.
• I really enjoyed the session on book trailers.  Super interesting and different.  And the girl highlighted Maggie Steifvater's book trailers, which I completely agree are innovative and exceptional.
• The one session on Harry Potter was packed and fun despite the fact that two of the three speakers were no shows.  The session turned into a discussion of female characters in Harry Potter.  And I subconsciously gave this one girl a really dirty look... I brought up Pottermore and JKR's announcement, and the girl said, "She didn't even really announce anything.  Basically it's just a Potter version of World of Warcraft."  RAWR!  JKR said NOTHING about an online GAMING experience.  She said online READING experience.  And she said safe for people of all ages.  And she mentioned eBooks.  And addittional Potter World content from her.  NOTHING that would even make you think WoW.  Hence my dirty look that made her wither in her seat.  Dumb chick.  RAWR!

I also got to go to a free screening of this awesome documentary film called Library of the Early Mind.  Sooooooo amazing.  I want to buy it.

Summary taken from the film's Facebook page:

"An exploration of the art and impact of children’s literature on our kids, our culture, and ourselves. From the first stories we hear told to us, to those childhood heroes who stay with us for a lifetime, the impact on our culture runs deeper than what we might expect. Featuring nearly 40 prominent authors, artists, and critics."

http://www.libraryoftheearlymind.com/

LOVE  LOVE  LOVE!!!  You can watch a trailer on the website.

And in final news, I finished the first draft of my short story due on Wednesday.
Word Count: 3,850
Page Count: 16 pages

I might sound like an over-achiever because I accomplished this so far ahead of time, but I still have three novels and two picture books to read.  And a journal entry to do.  I just did the fun stuff first  :)

Packing, Packing, Unpacking

The last three days have been LONG.  Packed up my classroom, packed a car full of stuff to take to graduate school, and unpacked a two car loads (one brought, one bought).  I want to say I slept soundly last night, but instead I was so excited to be here and start classes that I woke up practically every hour thinking: I'm here!  This is nice!  I want to go to class!  I want to write in the library!

No internet access right now due to some glitch on campus with Macs not being able to connect to the WiFi.  I came to Panera to log on briefly (I needed dates and times of all these meetings I have to go to... which were e-mailed to me... go figure).

I should have a long post coming up telling all about my first day of classes.  :)

And the internet being down might be a good thing... no Facebook to distract me from reading and writing!

Countdown Tip

My home page is iGoogle, which allows me to have all these lovely little gadgets.

I love the countdown gadget the most because it lets me countdown the days to awesome things like vacations, last day of school, Deathly Hallows...

But I've also discovered a fantastic other use for it.  I'm inputting important conference registration dates and grant application dates.  For example, there's a local conference that fills up quickly in the fall, so I put in the registration date, and now I can keep track of how many days until I can start checking of registration info (still 87 days to go).  There's also a grant I want to apply for through SCBWI, but I can't submit the application til February, so I put in a countdown for that too.

And yes, I could just do this on a calendar or in a planner.  But I'm not terribly good at using either.  I try.  I use my computer every single day.  I figured this was an excellent way to keep these dates in my sphere of attention.

Anyone else struggle with keeping track of dates?

Cool Pen

I have a thing for owls.  I don't really know where it came from, but I've been collecting owl stuff for awhile.

I recently bought a pink owl pen that I'm kind of in love with:

It's pink!

The owl is so cute!

It writes cleanly!

And the company that makes these pens is very environmentally conscious.  They call their pens "Seven Year Pens" because supposedly they can write 1.7 meters a day for 7 years.  While I think I write much more than that in a day and therefore my pen won't last that long, I am pretty happy that I will have this cute pen around for awhile!

They have other cute designs, too!

I like the feather, ice cream, glasses, and mustache!  The "NEED COFFEE" one is funny, but I'm not a fan of skulls.

If you want to check out these cool pens:

http://seltzergoods.com/The-Seven-Year-Pen-c3/

(Note: I did not pay $7.50 for my pen.  The prices on their website are much higher.)

Harry Potter cookies

The reason I did not get any writing done tonight...

I run a Harry Potter club after school, and tomorrow is our last meeting of the year.
The HP logo and the snakes were the hardest.

My brother suggested I do a Gryffindor lion in red icing...  Ummm.  NO.

PS- I listened to A Very Potter Musical while creating these cookies.  If you don't know what that is, your life is not complete and you're not a true Potter fan.  Click below.

A Very Potter Musical Act 1 Part 1

You're welcome.

If I could make it happen... I would

If you want to write children's literature, you should join SCBWI (Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators).  They send you all kinds of awesome newsletters and info about the world of children's publishing.  You can join even if you aren't a published author.


I joined this year after a recommendation from one of my grad school professors, and have been really impressed with everything they've sent me.


They also hold two BIG conferences each year.  The summer conference is in Los Angeles.  The winter conference is in New York City.


Just to show you what caliber of speakers are at these conferences, here are the keynote speakers for the Summer 2011 conference: Laurie Halse Anderson, Libba Bray,  Bruce Coville, John Green, Norton Juster, Donna Jo Napoli, Mary Pope Osborne, Gary Paulsen, Jerry Pinkney, Jon Scieszka and David Small


Yeah.  They're all kind of a big deal.


Downside: The conference is expensive.  Registration is $425 for SCBWI members and $525 for non-members.  That's just registration... there's also airfare, hotel...


And then there's this optional extra day of workshops you can sign up for (for another $200).  I was curious what kind of workshops they offered, so I opened their cute little flyer... and see...


One workshop is taught by Arthur A. Levine.
The editor who did Harry Potter.
Arthur A. Levine
Arthur A. Levine
Arthur A. Levine


O. M. G.


The workshop was already sold out.
Not that I would have the $1,000 dollars it would cost to fly out to LA and go to this thing.
Especially not after the $8,000 worth of grad classes this summer.


But if I could make that class happen... if I could take a class with the guy who published Harry Potter... I would.

On being in the South

I have never seen more mullets, missing teeth, or pick-up trucks than I have in the last few days. I've seen men twice my age with hair as long as mine.

HOWEVER-- the customer service and politeness everywhere I go is refreshing. Please, thank you, my pleasure, and smiles have been my experience at every store and fast food chain I've been to.

So, southern hospitality is definitely a reality.