A quick shout-out to What If? magazine, which in case you haven’t heard, is an awesome creative magazine written for and by teens. Just recently, they gave The Ship of Lost Souls a lovely review. Check out this review and loads of others here!
Archive for July, 2009
What If?
Thursday, July 30th, 2009Outlines and why they’re great
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009Last night, my writers group and I had an intriguing discussion about process. The talented Karina told us about how she plans the world of her story beforehand, so that if she gets stuck she can return to the plan, and research her world’s geography and wildlife to help her get un-stuck. My process is similar – I usually spend several months planning and outlining before I ever attempt writing a novel. I love the planning phase – the point at which novel is still this perfect, brilliant thing spinning like a disco ball in your head, and you haven’t yet considered the possibility that it won’t translate perfectly onto the page. Ah, the planning stage. Wish I could live there forever.
Today I tried to convince the 13- and 14-year-olds I’m teaching at Coquitlam’s Place des Arts to create outlines before they began to write their stories. It’s a tough habit to get into, though, if you’re used to flinging yourself straight into a story and seeing what happens. Which can work, of course. But I think it’s prudent to try the outline strategy before discarding it. Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it, as they say.
Now just one more day of teaching till I’m done for the summer – and off on an another adventure! Whee!
Another confession…
Friday, July 17th, 2009I have another confession to make. The last one I made concerned a Very Important children’s book I hadn’t read, called Everything on a Waffle. This one concerns an entire series of children’s books I haven’t read.
Here goes.
I haven’t read the Harry Potter series.
(She ducks to avoid a hurtling tomato.)
I know! It’s a crime. I admit it. If it makes things better, I did read the first two books, but I never got around to reading the rest. (She ducks again — Team Potter is not appeased.)
But! I’m on it now, making up for lost time. I’m determined to get through Books 3 through 7 AND see all the movies (I’ve now seen two) this summer. Okay, maybe I’ll give myself till winter. Cause this girl is not a faster reader by any stretch of the imagination. But she is thorough.
And I’m thoroughly enjoying Book 3. I marvel at Rowling’s imagination. I mean, Quidditch — how brilliant!
So Potterites, please lower your tomatoes. I’m making up for my literary sins. And to show my commitment to the wizard world, I’ve indulged in another fun photo site. Oh yes. Check this one out.
The photographer cometh…
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009I recently read an article in the Globe that said that people who smile widely in photos are far less likely to go through divorce. Seriously. Apparently researchers studied some people’s yearbook photos and their marital status, and came to this conclusion.
Hm. Well, I’ve always been a big smiler in photos. Simply because, you see, when I don’t smile, I look like a complete knob. I try for pensive and thoughtful, but I usually only achieve knob. Which is why in my author headshot I look like I belong in a Grade 5 school photo. (Although, I do like the background. It’s kind of edgy.)
So tomorrow I have to get my photo taken. A review of The Ship of Lost Souls will soon run in the Vancouver Sun (horray!), and they’re sending a photographer to my cluttered storage locker of an apartment to snap my mug for the article. Lovely of them, yes. But the thought of it also makes me cringe.
I think my photo angst stems from having to pose for photog friends in the past few years. On a recent trip to the Oregon Coast, my shutter-happy buddy Shanna had me strike all kinds of quirky poses in public. Like the one in the candy store, where she took one huge jar of Jelly Bellies off a shelf and replaced it with my head. The store was packed with tourists buying licorice and wine gums and wondering, what on Earth is that woman doing? Does she not realize she looks like a knob?
Shanna, meanwhile, was offering helpful suggestions like, “Look natural, Rachelle. No, not cross-eyed. Natural.”
Can you blame me for having photo angst? I didn’t think so.
So hopefully, when the Sun review comes out and readers see my photo, they won’t think, “Man, that is one hokey Grade 5 grin,” but rather, “Now there is a woman who won’t be going through divorce. No sir. Not with that smile.”
Shouting out to Greenwoods
Saturday, July 11th, 2009Just wanted to give an exuberant shout out to Gail Greenwood (of Edmonton’s Greenwoods Bookshoppe) for putting The Ship of Lost Souls on her recommended reading list for this summer. Gail announced the list on CBC Radio One’s Wildrose program on July 9th. You can check out her list here (scroll down to July 9).
For me, as for many Albertans, Greenwoods has always been synonymous with “experts on all things literary.” So I’m just tickled. Big thanks!
