The Best Moment
This week I sent a first draft of an adaptation(Inside of a Dog, about the science of animal behavior) off to one editor and a first draft of an early reader (Ancient Animals: Plesiosaurs) off to a second.
There are many good moments in the life of a writer. Getting the first bound book in the mail. Reading a good review. Connecting with a reader and seeing that your book really mattered to her. But I tell you, the finest, finest moment of all is when a draft that you’ve been working on for months is suddenly, with the tap of the SEND key, SOMEBODY ELSE’S PROBLEM for a while.
Aaaaaaaah.
Read MoreNinjas for Christmas
All other gifts in the stock must beware the ninja nesting doll!
My fab editor at Boyds Mill sent me ninja nesting dolls for Christmas. I really do have the best job in the world. I bet nobody else on the planet got ninja nesting dolls from a colleague.
Note ferocious eyebrows and culturally correct weaponry. She (of course she’s a girl, as in my upcoming novel, titled Deadly Flowers for the moment) is carrying a sword, probably the shorter one known as a wakizashi, and a shuriken, or throwing dagger, the quintessential ninja weapon (from the movies, anyway. Probably they were not used as widely in real life, since they weren’t all that accurate. Pretty scary to have one whizzing by your face, though.).
Read MoreBooks that Break the Rules
I was an editor before I was a writer (still am, in fact), and I can tell you there are certain things you look for in a manuscript when you first pick it up, a sort of mental checklist before you can even begin deciding whether or not it’s a fit for your list and something your company could publish successfully. Will it fit in a recognized format? Does it have a protagonist of the right age? Does the main character grow and change as the book progresses? Does it preach an irritating and stuffy moral? Stuff like that.
It is surprising, then, when I’m reading the classics to my daughter, to find how many of them violate these rules. Like these:
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever: Can’t be beat for sheer transgressive fun and sly humor and a dead-on perception of the trials of childhood (like being FORCED to be Joseph in the Christmas pageant just because your father is the minister). Violates the rules by having a protagonist who is barely developed, doesn’t even get a name (!), and essentially exists as a set of eyes through which to see the action.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: The ultimate wish-fulfillment book, as tasty to read as a chocolate bar is to eat. Violates the rules by having a passive protagonist who does nothing to earn his good fortune—who, in fact, earns his good fortune BY doing nothing.
Stuart Little: There’s something just so oddly satisfying about this book, although I have trouble putting my finger on it. Is it the sharp perception of the experience of being tiny in a giant world, perhaps? Violates the rules by not wrapping up plot threads once they have been started. (Did Stuart ever find Margalo? Did he ever see Miss Ames again?) And the car that goes invisible, too. That part’s just silly, E.B.
And yet, they’re marvelous books. I enjoying reading them as much as my girl loves hearing them. So is the moral that geniuses (genii?) can break the rules, or that the rules are silly?
Read MoreDoing Something
A moment in the library at Ferguson, Missouri.
If you’re like me, you’ve been deeply sad and angry about the things that have been and are happening in Ferguson, and all the things in our country that we now refer to just by saying the name of a neighborhood. And you feel frustrated and helpless, too, and wish here was something you could do.
I can think of four things.
1) Take a deep breath and admit that racial bias is real, and that it hurts people daily.
2) If someone of color says that he or she has experienced racial bias, believe it. They are the experts. They know.
3) Try to read, write and publish more books that feature children of color. If we are going to see each other as real people, and not caricatures built of fear, we need to start young.
4) Donate some money to the Ferguson Library. This small library has stayed open when schools and other public services shut down. They are trying to buy “healing kits” for the kids in the community, to help them deal with the traumatic events all around them. If there is every a community that needs a safe, calm place where minds and hearts can meet (is there ever a community that doesn’t?), Ferguson is it.
More about the library here.
Read MoreSarah L. Thomson
A children’s book author publishing award-winning nonfiction, poetry, picture books and novels including…
“Thomson focuses on newfound connection, magic, and suspense to conjure a fast-paced, heartwarming mystery. Thomson’s world is populated by resourceful protagonists, fanciful creatures, and quirky supporting characters.”
—Publishers Weekly