Life, Growth, and Change...

 Often my life feels like I'm moving at a turtles pace. Never getting too far ahead, but then having to remind myself that publishing is an industry that operates at a slow speed.

When things get too slow it's time to push yourself to the next level.

As a writer, I can tell you the more you practice your craft, the more you study, the better your writing will be. Investing in yourself is important. Whether it is doing an online class, going to a local workshop at the library, going to an SCBWI conference or attending a Highlight's Foundation workshop it will move your writing and your confidence forward.

 Pushing yourself to change the way you do something can be the turning point for your writing and your dreams.

What have you done so far this year to push yourself? 

I went to an SCBWI Agent day!

Throwing Great Parties For Adults & One Writing Tip

The key to having a great adult party is organizing it well.  I'm a firm believer in list making.  I start list making well before the day of the actual party. 

*List one is who I'm going to invite.  (I try to invite a mix of people so that there will be an opportunity for everyone to make new friends. Don't forget to write RSVP on your invitations!)

* List two is the theme for the party and the games that could be played.  (Yes, I said games.  I believe grown ups should play games at parties.  Eating and drinking is fine, but winning prizes, eating and drinking is even better!)

* List three is what food I'm going to serve.

* List  four is the ingredients and if I'm ordering any food, when and where I'm getting it from. (I also put this info in my daytimer, so not to forget to order it and pick  it up at the right times.)

*The final list is the day of the party list.  I do that on the morning of the party...

I keep all the lists together and check things off as they are completed or purchased.

When you are inviting a mix of people I think it is helpful to have name tags.  Then there are no embarrassing, "Now what was your name, again?" moments.  I made these with scrap booking stickers and blank office name tags...simple, quick and cute. 

The day before the party I pull out all the groceries and check them off my ingredients list.  I organize them into groups. Just in case there has to be a last minute grocery store run...

 Notice the ingredients are grouped by recipes.  That will make the next day much easier.  After everything is checked off I will work on my cooking schedule.  Any foods that I can prepare the night before I will prepare and check off my list.  Then I will write down the times that I should start cooking the other items.

 The first thing (after coffee) I do on the day of the party is pull out all of my glassware.  I either dust it off or wash it depending on when its last use was.  I really like using real  dishes verses disposable ones when I entertain.  It want my friends to know they are worth the effort.  (LOL, I was up until 2 am washing dishes after this party!)  I put all the serving dishes out and put sticky notes on them saying what food item is going to be served in them.

I think there should be something that YOU do special at your house.  Something people know you will do when you host a special party.  At my house, I have a chocolate fountain.  If I have a party of more than 10 people the chocolate will be flowing....

Games are so much fun!  Do you remember when you were a kid how much fun it was to play pin the tail on the donkey?  Well it's even more fun to play games as an adult.  I'm going to share four of my favorites with you.  I planned five games for my Holiday Party, but we only got to three of them.  Always over plan!  It is better to have loved and lost rather than...sorry wrong lesson....

The first game we played was called No Holiday...As each guest arrived I let them choose a necklace.  If they said the word "holiday" they lost their necklace to the person they said it to.  At the end of the night the person with the most necklaces won a prize.

(frown) We didn't get to play this game...It is sooo much fun!  It's called I Have, Have You?  You give each person a baggie with the same number of pennies.  I have twenty five pennies each baggie (15 is not enough, I did that many at one other party).  You sit in a circle and one person starts with something they have done, everyone in group who has not done it has to give them a penny.  Then it's the next person's turn.  (ex.  I've flown in a helicopter over the Grand Canyon...)  It's a great ice breaker!

The next game we played was called Pass The Parcel.  A prize is wrapped up many times.  I think ours was wrapped eleven times.  Under each layer was a little Christmas candy and an activity like, "bark like a dog" or "stand on your hands." Someone plays music and the parcel is passed around the circle until the music stops, (like musical chairs) whoever is holding the parcel when the music stops has to open it and do the activity.  (OMGoodness this was fun!)

The last game we played was a naughty gift exchange.  Everyone drew a number.  Number one went to the tree first and chose a gift and opened it and had to show the whole group what he or she got.  Number two could either take number one's gift or chose a wrapped gift from under the tree, this went on until everyone had a gift.  There are a few rules for this game...No take backs...A gift can only be taken away three times, so who ever gets it on the third take away gets to keep it for sure...Number one gets to go back at the very end and take any one's gift she or he wants to.  This is fun for sure!  Lots of plotting with spouses and laughter...This is a great one to do after Christmas.  You can ask your guests to bring a white elephant gift (something they got that they won't use) to play this game.

(frown) We didn't get to play this one either...It's called As Much As You Need.  You pass a roll of toilet paper around the circle and  tell everyone to take as much as they need.  That's all you tell them, nothing else.  Just watch what they do.  It's good fun...some with  tear off  little squares, some will count out, some will pull off huge amounts....  When everyone has as much as they need you tell them they are to tie a bow behind their back and the best bow will win a prize.  (I always have Katherine come in the room and judge.  Everyone puts their bows on the floor and she chooses the best one.)

Now let's talk about prizes...It's so easy to get little prizes for women.  You can even go to the dollar store and buy fingernail polish, bubble bath and all kinds of little bits, but men...that's a bit harder...This was my first big party in Iowa.  There were 19 people here (9 men) .  I wanted to make sure the husbands had a good time too.  So I went to Lowe's and got manly prizes with the help of my Dad.  Plus some coffee and candy...

Other than being organized before the party another way to guarantee success is for you the host or hostess to have fun.  I had so much fun I forgot to take pictures during the party...

I hope you have a fun festive holiday season and now on to some news from the Highlights Foundation...

 A lot of children’s writers dream of the Highlights Foundation Writers

Workshop at Chautauqua. “Next year,” they promise themselves. “Next year

I’m going to Chautauqua!” Then reality sets in. The drive and talent to

support the dream are there, but the finances . . . maybe not.

Scholarships will be considered in two groups. Early applications will be accepted through December 15, 2010.

(Final scholarship deadline is February 11, 2011.)

http://www.highlightsfoundation.org/

The Highlights Foundation Writers Workshop at Chautauqua is an exceptional experience!  If you think you are interested go to the website and check it out...LOTS of people get scholarships! 

AMERICAN GIRL DOLL AUTHOR MARY CASANOVA DROPS BY TO CHAT...(and two lucky commenters will win signed copies of CHRISSA and CHRISSA STAND STRONG)

Mary Casanova lives in Ranier, Minnesota and is an award-winning children's author of picture books and novels, including several American Girl Doll novels. Many of her books are based on her life on the Minnesota-Canadian border, but some of her books have taken her as far away as France, Norway, and Belize for research. I had the privilege of meeting and befriending Mary in July of 2008 at the Highlights Foundation Summer Workshop.

Mary Casanova was voted (unanimously) as an honorary WAD member when we met her at the Highlight's Foundation Summer Workshop at Chautauqua in July of 2008.

I'd like to thank Mary for taking the time to stop by Random Thoughts to visit with us...and I hope that she'll forgive my techno skills, as I was unable to copy the photos from her awesome website, so I had to get creative with my camera...

Me: First, tell us about your most recent book?

Mary: Last year was big for me with the release of CHRISSA and CHRISSA STANDS STRONG with American Girl. Not only did I celebrate the release of two books with the “Girl of the Year” Chrissa doll for 2009, but an HBO-American Girl movie came out based on my stories. It meant lots of touring around the country, lots of book signings with American Girl fans. And though it was at times exhausting, I always consider it an honor and great opportunity to be asked to write for that company.

Me: Can you tell us about your American Girl Doll experiences?

Mary: I was first asked to write for them after publishing an historical novel, called CURSE OF A WINTER MOON, set in France in the 1500s. Shortly after my book came out, American Girl launched a series called “Girls of Many Lands” with stories and characters from around the world. They were looking for an author who could write a convincing story about a girl at the palace of Versailles during the time of King Louis XIV. And of course, I said “oui, oui!” I spent a week at the palace, roaming inside and out, to do research and find my story, which ended up being called CECILE: GATES OF GOLD. (Now that the series is out of print, I have hundreds of copies on hand, so if anyone needs a signed copy for $6 plus $3.50 shipping, just e-mail me via my website: http://www.marycasanova.com/).

Me: What is your role in the development of the dolls?

Mary: Before I write a story, American Girl asks for a few parameters. For JESS, set in Belize, I knew I would be writing about a 10-year old girl going on an archeological dig with her parents. They wanted an adventurous story with the potential for my character to have her own passport and some outdoor experiences, such as camping or canoeing. Hair color and eye color—the least important to me—are determined by AG. But I get to discover my character and her story, and that’s what keeps me writing for them. I still have the freedom to write a story that I care about and that comes from within (informed by lots of research, of course.)

Me: What is the most interesting place you’ve traveled to for research?

Mary: Interesting? That’s hard to say. Each location has been immensely interesting. I loved Versailles, and trying to imagine palace life in l711. I loved tyorropean History when I was in college, but writing a novel about a specific time and place in history is nearly like time-travel. While writing and researching the novel, I “lived” that setting.

Equally interesting: the jungles of Belize, camping in caves, scaling the Mayan pyramid structures, roaming archeological sites... My discomfort with poisonous snakes and spiders helped me write about a character who thinks she’s very brave and adventurous, until she finds herself in the jungles with its dangers and discoveries. Everything Jess does in the story, I pretty much experienced first, including getting bitten by fire ants. Ouch.

But how can I forget going to Norway? I did a research trip to the western coast, exploring islands and fjords, so I could write THE KLIPFISH CODE, set in Norway in WWII.

With Norwegian ancestors, I felt completely at home in that country, yet stunned by the breath-taking beauty—and the courage of its citizens during a brutal five-year occupation.

Me: What is the name of your next book and when does it come out?

Mary: THE DAY DIRK YELLER CAME TO TOWN is a picture book, illustrated by Ard Hoyt, about a restless, probably ADHD, cowboy. It starts out, “The day Dirk Yeller came to town, the wind curled its lip, the cattle quit lowin’ and the tumbleweeds stopped tumblin’ along.”

Those are the very lines that I woke up with in my head a few years back. I was in NYC with my husband, ready to visit editors the next day. I don’t as a rule cultivate ideas during the middle of the night, but these words came so clearly into my head that I stepped into the bathroom and wrote them down. I was sure that the next morning it would amount to nothing. But before leaving for appointments the next morning, I sat down and had to framework of the whole story in my head. Dirk Yeller is misunderstood, restless, and looking for something to stop his “itchin’ and twitchin’”… A boy named Sam, who has been in some trouble of his own, identifies with Dirk and eventually risks stepping into the outlaw’s shadow. He leads him to the one place that has always helped him—the new Carnagie Library in town. At first Dirk isn’t a real good reader, but Sam helps him sound out words, and soon the outlaw is reading and sitting still. Well, you get the idea! This story came as a gift. I have no other explanation, other than I also have years of writing and working this craft to be receptive when a good idea strikes.

Me: Where do you find inspiration?

Mary: I love to get away from my desk and get outside. My favorite way to relax is to trail ride with Charlie, my husband. It’s a time when my mind is completely focused on our horses and the natural world.

I believe we need “moodling time” (Eudora Welty’s description of writers needing time to putter) so that our subconscious brains can work at their best. So whether it’s baking cookies, playing the piano, relaxing with a good book, getting outside for a hike—I trust that I will do better writing after getting time away from it. And all of the time away is potentially time when new ideas can strike, when new experiences may lead to a new topic of interest.

If you have a specific question for Mary, you can email me (skmayh at q dot com) and I'll pass it along to Mary. I'll send you a response when Mary's able to get back to me. Right now she's on a speaking tour.

I'll be drawing a for a signed copy of CHRISSA and a signed copy of CHRISSA STANDS STRONG. To enter be a follower, leave a comment and go check out Mary's blog. I'll choose two winners using random.org on Tuesday, April 27th.

In case you haven't been over to Susan's blog lately, she's having an awesome contest.  She's giving away bookstore gift cards...what could be better than that (well other than winning signed books)!