Twenty-five years ago, my co-teacher Liz gave me a birthday card that said, “This card is printed on recycled paper. Please return it to me when you get the chance so I can send it to you again next year.” I smiled and dutifully handed the card back to her, totally forgetting about it in a few weeks. But when March rolled around the following year, there it was on my desk, complete with a new note inside: “Here it is again! Have a great day! Soon you’ll have someone else around to share a birthday.” My second son was about to born. I returned the card to Liz and you can probably guess what happened next. The back and forth of the card became a yearly tradition. Little did we know it would continue for at least a quarter of a century.

Five years after I first received the card, Liz and her family moved to Texas. This meant we would need to use the United States Postal Service to transport the card back and forth between Denver and Dallas. We developed a system. Liz sent the card to me in March, and I sent it back to her in October, along with a new card for her own birthday.

After ten years, every inch of possible writing space on the card was filled with Liz’s newsy greetings, meticulously dated. So by year eleven, she began typing her messages on the computer. She added a birthday graphic on top, printed the note, and tucked it inside the original card before mailing it to me.

By year fifteen, the spine of the original card was beginning to fray. Its blue envelope was also split into two pieces. I’m not sure why, but neither one of us felt the need to tape it back together. We just stuffed the entire pile of paper into a manila envelope, stuck two Forever stamps onto the top right-hand corner, and dropped it into a nearby mailbox. It was around this time that Liz’s notes were becoming longer and more literary. Maybe it was the large, blank space on the computer screen, aching to be filled. Or perhaps she (and I) had reached an age that made us prone to nostalgic ramblings. One thing was for sure. In a world of abbreviated texts, flashing Emojis, endless emails, and Facebook photo postings, Liz’s notes had become full-fledged letters. Letters that chronicled our lives with meaningful reflections and joy. Great-big-smiley-joy.

Next week, I will be throwing a huge party for my dad’s 90^th birthday. After sending out a slew of invitations, the RSVP’s began to pour in. Our guests had the choice of calling me or sending an email. Although most of the respondents are in their 80s, many chose the email option. I was amazed at the touching words that flooded my “in” box. “With happiness in our hearts, we look forward to joining you and your family in celebrating Harold at this momentous time. 90 years is special – how appropriate for such a special friend!” And this one: “We can’t wait to celebrate this occasion with our friend Harold whom we love.” Also: “Judy and I are delighted to accept the invitation to this milestone event!” The people who called me were more matter-of-fact in their responses. It was either “we’ll be there” or “we can’t make it.” But the writers – the writers were filled with joy.

Writing enables us to express ourselves deeply. We often write what we cannot say out loud. So when you open your journal or turn on your computer to compose, edit, revise, cut, rework, or scream… take a minute to remember why you are doing this in the first place. It brings you joy. Really, it does.

“Writing is slow. If you want fast, bake a cake.”   Linda Sue Park

Crafting a book takes a very long time. As writers, we agonize over word choice and sentence structure, delete paragraphs, (and put them back in), change points of view, flesh out characters, and do tons of research. We write and revise, get feedback from fellow writers, revise again, submit to editors and agents, and revise some more. We spend weeks, months, even years doing this with no promise of publication. To quote Karla Kuskin, “It’s not so much about the writing as it is about the rewriting.”

For the past three years, this is exactly what I’ve been doing with my two middle grade novels. I’ve been intensely focused on the “re’s”: rereading, rewriting,researching, revising, repeat. And although I enjoy this part of the writing process, I desperately needed a break from the slow sculpting of my stories. I wanted to race, to fly, to write non-stop with sheer abandon. And so, in November, I took the plunge and signed up for that world famous writing marathon, NaNoWriMo– National Novel Writing Month. Its challenge: 30 days, 50,000 words, No excuses. It was time to hunker down, leave the laundry to pile up, and crawl into the speed-writing cave.

I know it sounds crazy. Why would someone like me, a total “planner,” not a “pantser,” spend an entire month spewing out words that might be twisted, tweaked, and possibly eliminated in the revision process? Why take my carefully plotted, five-page, single-spaced, 27-chapter outline and punch out a first draft in only 30 days? Hmm… why not?

Let’s face it; first drafts are messy. Whether it takes 300 days or 30 days, all manuscripts morph and change. But first, you must get that story out of your head and onto your computer screen (or on paper if you’re more old-school). So why not opt for the 30 day version? After all, it’s only ONE month of your long, slow life as a writer. What do you have to lose?

Many of my fellow writers think this manic activity is pure lunacy. But I say, don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it. (I’ve never run  a marathon, but I think theNaNoWriMo adrenaline rush might be just as satisfying.)

Okay, so now that I’ve convinced you to give this thing a try (maybe), here are a few helpful tips:

1. Go to the  www.nanowrimo.org website and look around. Watch out, there are graphs!

2. Read the pep talks. They are INSPIRATIONAL AND HILARIOUS.

3. Find some brave writing souls to join you in this madness (I mean writing endeavor).

4. Have a story somewhere in your brain that is screaming to get out.

5. Have a general idea of your book’s beginning, middle, and end. (Remember my 27-chapter outline?) And have a problem for your main character to solve (this may change).

6. Make plans to attend a “Write-In” near your house (or virtually) to meet other wild and wacky NaNo’s.

7. Do some timed word sprints to get into the speed-writing mode. My favorite is 40 minutes, timed on my phone, which actually gets me to crank out 1000 words!

This is what happened to me and might happen to you if you do this:

1. I was totally immersed in my story, night and day, for all 30 days.

2. My characters came to life and led me to surprising and unplanned places.

3. Everything in my story was more emotional than I had anticipated. I laughed, gasped, and even shed a few tears along the way.

4. The laundry  got done.

And here’s the best part. Because I finished before midnight on November 30, I am a WINNER! A group of NaNo’s even sent me a congratulatory video. (I also bought the tee shirt.) So now what? What am I going to do with this 50,000 word-ramble about worries, dream journals and friend problems? Go back to my “re” life, of course. I will reread, revise, research, and repeat. NaNo On!!

As writers, we often live in the imaginary worlds of our books. Our stories are so compelling, we find ourselves daydreaming about them as we walk the dog, luxuriate in the shower, or gaze out a window. We agonize over every word and make sure to create unique characters, intriguing settings, and twisty plots. But will our readers get it? Will they feel what we feel, see what we see? Maybe – but maybe not. This is why all writers, especially those who write for children, must enlist the help of others.

There are MANY times when I think I am being perfectly clear in my writing. I am absolutely positive that I’ve given my reader important information, crafted witty dialogue, and conveyed emotion in a way that will captivate my audience. But after sending my work out to my critique group, a brilliant bunch of children’s writers who are well-read and experienced, I almost always discover that this is not the case. Not only will they suggest I rework my plot, deepen my characters’ emotional responses, and make my ending more satisfying, they are confused and have lots of questions. The truth is, we lose perspective as we revise, cut, and polish. I don’t always agree with everything my group says, but they do make me think  about my writing. And more often than not, by integrating their suggestions into my work, my story will improve.

This is why I strongly recommend that you find a group of dedicated writers to help you. Before you ever send a cover letter, query, or manuscript to an agent or editor, or enter it in a writing contest, you must revise with feedback. You can find this type of support in the form of a critique group, a trusted and experienced writer who knows your genre, a  mentor, a published author, a writing coach, or an editor. Many of the professionals will charge a fee, but it is well worth the investment. There are resources online for these services, and if you write for children, the SCBWI website: www.scbwi.org is a good place to start. If you want to join a critique group, author Hilari Bell recommends a group of 6-8 members. This ensures that you get a wide variety of opinions so you can hone in on common threads. For example, if three or four people think your main character is unlikeable or you don’t tie up loose ends, it’s probably something that should be addressed. The other advantage of a larger group is that there will always be a critical mass at your meetings (online or in person) when life gets in the way (sick children, vacations, other job obligations, etc.).

But not all critique is created equally. Award-winning author and  fabulous mentor, Claudia Mills, has said that it takes a village to write a book. In working with her, I learned that getting professional help is invaluable. But in her blog, “How much critique is too much?” she also advises against too much feedback. “It’s so easy for a writer to feel despair at the volume of negative comments on one little book.” In other words, a discouraging critique that deflates you, rather than spurring you on to improving your manuscript, can be counterproductive.

It’s also important to differentiate between negative comments and constructive criticism. There may be times when your critique group says things that might require you to do a tremendous amount of revision. That’s when you have to choose the comments that resonate with you. Some feedback may seem bizarre and you can’t even conceive of implementing the changes. But, rather than discount the feedback immediately (especially if you usually trust and respect the critiquer’s opinion), let the suggestions sink in for a few days before ruling them out.

It is also crucial that you reciprocate by spending time critiquing others. Not only will your colleagues appreciate it, you will learn a great deal about your own writing along the way. In our group, we use the “add comment” feature in Word, which gives the writer very specific notes alongside the manuscript. A written page of general comments is also helpful. Start with positive reactions and things you loved about the story. Follow with constructive criticism; citing specific places that need work and why. And third, lavish the writer with encouragement. An important role of a writing group is to provide support. We must be cheerleaders for our peers and celebrate their process! Oh, and I almost forgot… my critique group, The Story Spinners, highly recommends combining critique sessions with weekend sleepovers that include going on long walks, watching silly videos, eating amazing food, and drinking lots of wine.

When my children were young, our Passover seder was always a lot of fun.  We dressed up in costumes, sang silly songs about frogs and pyramids, acted out the Exodus story, and invited friends and relatives to share in this celebration of freedom.

But as our sons grew older, the seder got old, too. Everyone still wanted to sing the preschool songs and put the Make-a-Plate seder plates and plague bags stuffed with rubber frogs and wild beasts on the table. But the importance of the holiday was getting lost. Our seder desperately needed to evolve. I wanted our sons to be engaged in this ancient tradition and anxious to participate each and every year.

I decided to write a play. It was 2005 and our boys were 13 and 15; post Bar Mitzvah. I entitled it, “Why is this Seder Different from all other Seders,” and we tried it out on second night. It was in plain language, included traditional and not-so-traditional songs, and made the evening a true celebration of laughter and freedom. Everyone had a blast. The idea really caught on. I’ve written nine more plays.

I always try to incorporate whatever is going on in our lives into the theme.  One year when my older son was a Speech and Debate Captain, pairs of guests were given topics about the Passover story to argue. Another year, when my younger son was obsessed with game shows, I wrote “Cash Cab Pyramid.”  When my husband learned to play the ukulele, I came up with “Aloha Moses” and changed the words of songs he could play into lyrics about the Passover story.  And who could forget the two seders that were modeled after my own favorite reality TV shows: “Seder Idol” and “The Voice of Moses.” We even had Skype battle rounds when our boys were in college and couldn’t be home for the actual event.

We also go crazy with the décor.  Last year, when our Rocky Mountain High state of Colorado legalized marijuana, I wrote “Stoned-Soul-Seder” and bought tie-dyed everything from plates and napkins to bandanas and peace sign centerpieces. This year, because of my husband’s recent retirement, my own semi-retirement, and my beloved Jon Stewart’s impending retirement, I’ve written, “The Retirement of Moses.” Bottom line… the guy doesn’t want to be in the story anymore. Reliving those plagues each year is giving him nightmares.

I love our seders. Along with the delicious matzah ball soup and peach kugel, we usually have 20-30 active participants around the table. This year, I finally found the time (because of being semi-retired) to edit that very first play and put it here on my website for you to download and use. Feel free to print it, make copies, modify it, whatever. I’ve written it for 25 parts, but you can easily combine them if you have fewer guests, or add more numbers if you have more.  I hope you are inspired to revitalize this wonderful holiday.  Enjoy and Chag Sameach!

To view the play, “Why Is This Seder Different From All Other Seders,” please go to the Books-Songs-Plays tab and scroll down.  You can copy and paste the text into your own word file to use.

It’s been over a year since I’ve posted on this blog. An entire year. With teaching, a research project, a walking group, a choir, and a major house remodel on my plate, my limited writing time was focused on just that… writing. I’ve been working on two middle grade novels. However, there have been ch-ch-ch-changes in my life. After close to 30 years in the classroom, I have retired (mostly) from teaching. As a result, my writing time has increased exponentially. Thundering applause, fireworks explosion, marching band blares! I have waited a long time for this day and am ready and raring to go.

Except for the fact that… I have lived by the toll of the school bell for far too long. I have no idea how to work without an imposed schedule: Calendar at 8:30, Reading groups at 9:00, Math at 10:00, etc. I started preschool when I was three years old. That means for almost my entire life, I have been either a student, a teacher, or a parent volunteer in some school. But this year, no one, not even my own children who have both graduated from college, is in any kind of school. There is no fall break, winter break, President’s Day weekend or spring break to plan around. Is this a good or a bad thing? I’m not sure yet. I have lived by the lesson-plan book for so long that all this freedom is slightly overwhelming. (Oh, and let’s not forget my newly-retired husband who has all kinds of  ideas as to how we can spend our days.) But this has been my dream. To be able to write, write, write…and write some more.

So how do I transition to the writing life? Can I create a schedule that will work for me? Although I want to write all the time, I also hear a voice in my head (it could be my mother) saying I should start doing the laundry on a regular basis, cook those gourmet meals with the recipes I’ve printed out, organize my files, record my children’s songs, go to Zumba, do yoga, hike, ski, scrapbook, volunteer, travel to the Greek Islands…Ahhhh!!!

And believe me, writing has its own distractions. Besides working on my MG novels, there are: blogs to read, books in my genre to read, books not in my genre to read, books on craft to read, blogs to write, articles to write, plays to edit and upload, webinars, classes, book talks, critique groups and conferences to attend, contests, agents and editors to submit to, lists to make, character and plot arcs to sketch out. Ahhhh, again!

I don’t have the answer yet.  Each week, “Make a writing schedule” appears on my To Do list. But it hasn’t happened. Instead, I am muddling through, trying to dabble in this and that. The laundry is getting done on a more regular basis, I’ve started attending Zumba class once or twice a week, three digital scrapbooks are now done, and one MG novel is revised and ready for critique. I’ve written this blogpost and plan on attending a book talk tonight, a webinar tomorrow, and a conference in February. I’m figuring it out, but there is absolutely, positively, no lesson-plan book in sight. It’s a little scary. Oh, and I finally made that Moroccan chicken the other night. Delish!

Voices in my Head

  The characters argue with each other in my brain.

“She needs to work on me,” says Shirley, who speaks with the confidence of a character who has grown and changed since starring in my book, Shayna’s Song. “My book is just about finished and she’s going to need to pitch me at her upcoming writer’s conference.” 

“Again?  She’s always talking about you at those conferences.  It’s time to move on to me,” says Jack from Jake and the Adventures of Ed Lightning.  “She’s finally figured out my major plot points and I’m about to solve a mystery and see Babe Ruth. Besides, my book is funny.  Yours is about a war.”

“But mine is more important and very compelling,” Shirley is not backing down.

“What about me?”  It’s Cori Cohen whose book, Cori Cohen and the Not-So-Dreamy Dream Journal  is still in the out-lining phase. “My story is the most dramatic.  And besides, she’s obsessed with me.” Cori is the feistiest of the group.

I’m trying to listen, but the noise can be overwhelming. They all have good points.  Shayna’s Song is finished, but I’ve been tweaking and polishing it just in case one of the agents or editors who have it ask for the complete manuscript.  Jake and the Adventures of Ed Lightning is the most fun to work on.  I find myself laughing out loud when I’m writing it. The first draft is finished and I’m heavy into its revision. It’s also the only thing I’ve written that my husband loves… a big incentive.

Then there’s Cori from my latest project, Cori Cohen and the Not-So-Dreamy Dream Journal.  She’s right, I am obsessed with her. She’s my most autobiographical character to date and I have a zillion ideas of where this story can go. 

 So what do I do?  How do I work on all three?  (I haven’t even mentioned my teaching job, choir rehearsals, the food shopping, laundry, emailing, bill-paying and basement cleaning for our imminent remodel.)  By writing this blog-post, of course!  It’s a fabulous distraction and it seems that at least while I’m writing it, my characters are quiet.  Or maybe, they’ve decided to be helpful and are off doing the laundry.

When I’m on vacation, I usually break out of the middle-grade/Young Adult world and treat myself to a NY Times best seller, or an adult novel that parallels my own work for children.  This year, over Spring Break, I chose Julie Orringer’s The Invisible Bridge, a novel set in Europe during World War II. It mostly takes place in France and Hungary and is about a Jewish man who is affected by the raging anti-semitism around him and ultimately, the war itself. Although my main objective was to gain information about the time period and the people (my main character’s family in Shayna’s Song are Hungarian immigrants who left relatives behind) I found myself swept away in the actual writing.  Ms. Orringer’s ability to create gorgeous language amidst the backdrop of a horrendous war, astonished me.  I was bowled over by her ability to put words together and struck by her genius as a wordsmith.  At first I was taken in, mesmerized by her talent, her brilliance.  And then it hit me. Why do I bother?  Why do I even attempt to create stories when there are so many writers out there who are masters of the craft?  I was depressed. I felt like putting my novels in the drawer for good.

On page 236 alone, I found a treasure trove of word jewels: “Sturdy sheep and goats stood in bitten-down grass.  Children beat at the exoskeleton of a rusted Citoren.  A clutter of chickens crowded into the roadway.  A thunderstorm overtook them and threw a hard slant of rain.  As they drew closer it (the sea) became a vast plain of liquid metal. The grasses bent their seed pods in a rising wind.  The red lozenge of the sun dissolved into the horizon. At the margin of the water, a pounding roar and a cataclysm of foam. They got out of the car and walked toward that ragged white edge.” THIS IS ALL ON ONE PAGE!

And then I took a deep breath.  Many breaths, actually, and decided to write this blog post.  I wanted to shout it to the world.  Yes, I could be discouraged by my lack of genius, my inability to paint with words the way Julie Orringer does. Or, I could go back to my own manuscripts and try harder, to play more with the words.  I’m usually focused on character, voice, plot, story arc, rising action that gets you to turn the page, making life miserable for my main character, etc, etc. I’ve been told I have a knack for dialogue, a great voice with characters who make you care about them.  But I love the icing on the cake; the sprinkles, the whipped cream, the cherry on top, the little extras that make the writing vivid and delicious.  So, I will continue to bother. I will go back and add the word doodads, the sparkly combinations of strong verbs and carefully chosen adjectives to get others to stop and say:” I’m glad she bothered.”

Feb. 9, 2013

If you have children, you know how difficult it can be to get them to tell you what they did at school on any particular day.  As an early childhood educator, I always encourage parents to ask very specific questions to get the answers they crave. “Did you do a puzzle today?” “Who was the Calendar Helper?” “What did you have for snack?” These are the kinds of questions you must ask in order to get the answers you really want.  It is exactly the same when writing historical fiction.

When I was putting together an album of old family photos, I re-discovered a portrait of my mother at eleven years old.  I looked at this beautiful little girl, her long golden hair tied up with a white bow, her large green eyes staring back at me, and wondered… what was she thinking about that day?  She looked so serious. Who was her best friend and what had she eaten for breakfast ? What might make her laugh? Did she like the dress she was wearing? I had never thought to ask my mother any of these questions. And now, when I wanted the answers, it was too late.  My mother was gone. She had passed away in 2002 after a three-year battle with melanoma. Obsessed with wanting to know more, I called Aunt Irma, my mother’s only surviving sibling. Lucky for me, Irma’s memory was as sharp as a tack and full of artistic flair.

“So Irm,” I began, “I’m  writing a book and I need some information.” “What would you like to know?” she asked. “Well, for example, when you went to visit your grandmother in Brooklyn, did you take the train or a car?”  “Sometimes we drove. And when we did, my mother always brought fresh flowers from the garden and put them in a cut-glass vase Pa had attached to the back of the front seat. Other times, we took the train. I even got to go in by myself once in a while.”  We found ourselves talking for hours and emailing back and forth.  “What kind of candy bars did you like best?  Did everyone keep kosher?  What did you know about the war in Europe?  Tell me more about Uncle Gene quitting school to join the Navy…”

Before I knew it, I had a yellow legal pad full of notes and scads of emails.  There were recipes for Hungarian goulash, stories about my uncle and his pet monkey, a tale about a mysterious family in town from Germany, and lists of favorite books and films. She even described the color of her bedroom walls and the fabric of her bedspread. I decided to ask questions of other people in the family. I queried my cousins about their favorite childhood stories from their parents. “You’ve got to put in the one about the lasagna on the back porch,” said one. Another added, “And what about Aunt Tip losing her friend at Pearl Harbor? I think she was in love with that guy.”  The more I asked, the juicier the tidbits.  These, combined with further research using websites, books, and films, enabled me to piece together the story of Shirley Levy, an eleven-year-old girl in southern CT, who worries about the war and dreams of singing on a record.

This past summer,  I was out to dinner with my dad and decided to ask him a few of my questions. “Is it true Grandma had a nervous breakdown during the Depression?”  That was all it took. “Yes, it’s true.  She was in the hospital for a while, but that was the least of our problems.  Around the same time, my  father lost his job and disappeared, Aunt Winnie’s baby died, and my uncle committed suicide over a girl.  All in one summer.”  I was stunned.  I had never heard these stories told with such clarity.  “But if you really want a good story, ask me about the day I saw the Hindenburg.  It flew right by me in the morning and  blew up that very afternoon.”  And there it was, the inspiration for my latest book, Jack in July.

So don’t be shy. Find people who have stories to tell and ask away. You may be surprised at what they have to say. I was.

Dec. 1, 2012

NaNoWriMo!!!!!!!  I just finished 51,619 words in 30 days during National Novel Writing Month.  Along with 300,000 crazy and quirky story-makers, I went to Write-Ins, did Word Sprints, and basically devoted every free waking moment to my new MG historical novel: Jack in July.  It’s set in 1934, New Jersey, and is full of comic strip, baseball, super hero, and gangster intrigue.  I’m looking forward to a major revision adventure, come January.  This process truly frees up your imagination to go wild with your story.  I worked from a VERY BASIC outline that needed constant revision because of the roller coaster nature of speed writing.  Before I knew it, my characters were doing the most outlandish things and appearing in the strangest of places.  I highly recommend  you try this at least once.  It’s ridiculously addicting and creates a writing habit that is hard to break!  Check it out at www.nanowrimo.org.