Rumors Run Rampant
As if life isn't exciting enough, . . when I checked my email, this jumped out at me:
“Kelly is this alarming post about you true?”
And this:
“Harmful and damaging events from your past may have surfaced . . . ”
Then this:
“Things don’t look good for you Kelly”
"DANGER! Will Robinson . . . "
“Kelly, Deleterious Post About You About To Be Published”
I clicked over immediately. Horror of horrors! Could it be that someone is spreading rumors about little ole me?
“ +++++ Potentially Upsetting Information Posted About You ++++ ===========================================================================
Alert: JJ-P-1904127903
Kelly negative events from your recent past may have been posted to your online file
”
Someone is TRASH TALKING me!!!! Who? . . . Of all the nerve! . . . What were they saying???
You know I was temped to follow the link. Who doesn't want to know what they --those busy-bodies--are saying about us?
Of course, I know better . . . (But it was on my mind)
Haven't. . . (Maybe it wasn't even about me. There are lots of people with my name...like that basketball coach. . . and that realtor--)
Yet . . .
But then I got to thinking: That's what they want. For me to follow that link, right?
There are no doubt scads of folks out there who do follow the link. Where does it take them? What horrors are waiting at the bottom of that particular rabbit hole?
or . . . OR . . . (That niggly curious cat voice is what gets us. . . )
Sure, I know it's a ploy to get me to click on that link, leading to some sight. But, what if there's a really great PRIZE I missing out on by not following the link???
To think there are people out there who spend countless hours coming up with ways to SPAM us. What if these same folks applied their considerable creative talents to real problems, To paraphrase Dr. Suess, Oh the things they could think!
What did I do? . . . What didn't I do? . . . Does he-she-it like me? . . . What do they know? . . .
That got me thinking. Here's my thought: Let's give them something to talk about.
MAKE IT GOOD!
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Cat Pause
I have loads to do and time to do it. But instead of getting to it, I’m circling like a cat.
Cat-like behavior makes sense, seeing as how I’m a Leo.
Maybe it is a Leo thing?
So I checked my horoscope:
Today’s reading said my “Creative Powers were the center of my world today” and told me to “Let loose and indulge my inner spirit!"
If this flibberty-gibbet, kangaroo bouncing from task to pile to job and back was my inner spirit trying to break free, then it must have been seriously bunged up. Is that why I’m circling?
“Knowledge is power!” I justified, and Googled it.
Apparently, I’m not the only one curious about this why do cat’s circle thing.
There were loads of postings posing the same question. The consensus seems to be that cats circling before they can settle is a throw back to wilder times:
“Wild cats not only tread down wild grass to find themselves a more comfortable spot to sleep; they must also carefully conceal themselves from predators in the wild.”
Armed with this new power. I took myself to task.
“Mind over matter!”
“You have the power!”
Do real lions, wild lions, Born Free type-lions circle?
I Googled that too. That search lead straight to The Lion King: Circle of Life
“Focus!”
Now hyper-aware of how I couldn’t stop it, couldn’t make myself do what I wanted to do, frenetic-fied the circling.
Was it that, in my cat’s mind:
- Towering Boxes=Tall Grass
- Saw Whirring, Hammering, Workers Gabbering=Predator noises
- Dust, Detritus, Mounded Mess=Wild
Que the Wee-Um-Um-A-Ways . . . Is that’s why I’m circling?
Circlers aren’t all cats, either. Some dogs do it too.
If you have a cure, please share it.
PLEASE?????
But don’t bother suggesting ear plugs, locking myself in the bathroom, going to the library, coffee shop, or snarfing tortilla chips in an effort to induce carb coma, because I’ve tried it!
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The Writing Process Blog Tour
There’s a Pyramid Scheme in Progress! No one seems to know who kick started this movement to get authors sharing the how and whys of “Writing Process,” but it’s spreading like kudzu as week after week, writer by writer, we’re asking and answering 4 seemingly-simple-but-surprisingly-complex questions about how we Do This Thing We Do, then tagging others to answer next. I’m having an inspired time learning from everyone else, most recently fellow VCFA alum and picture book author chum, Sarah Sullivan, who tagged me.
STARRED REVIEW from the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books; VOYA called it "AN OUTSTANDING DEBUT NOVEL
Sarah proved her talents stretched beyond picture books with her acclaimed debut novel, All That's Missing so be sure to READ SARAH’s POST.
WAIT! STOP! Before you go there, here’s mine:
What am I currently working on?
4 picture books/3 blog posts/2 chapter books/and . . . A novel started in the 90’s! (The sale from which—if it’s ever finished—might buy me that partridge and the pear tree!) That’s no fib. I always work several projects concurrently—after I have a completed draft. Each is in a different stage of the writing process. Of the 4 picture books: 2 are ugly drafts. I mean Ugly! So bluck it hurts to read them; 1 is in the Idea Stage, snippets of possibilities, lists of words, thoughts about characters (almost ready to draft); the last is a completed manuscript that’s in the scariest phase of all, I’m in LOVE! (And no, I’m not going to tell you what it’s about…) So I’m ignoring it. Giving it the cold shoulder for a few weeks. After the new wears off, I’ll reread the manuscript—without the rose tinted glasses.
Additionally, I like to work on both fiction and non-fiction at the same time,--usually children's fiction in the morning, while my nightime insights are still fresh; adult non-fiction when I'm stuck or tired (hence my blog and former column in NOW! Jakarta).
About that novel . . . It's WHOLE different story! I have a completed draft but. . . Truth Time: I’m scared to touch it! Afraid I don’t have what it takes to revise it, I ignore it (which is not the same as “letting it chill”). But that novel haunts me. . . I’m toying with taking a Whole Novel Revision Class by way of forcing me to confront my demons.
Non-fiction is my sorbet!
It freshens my pallet.
How does my work differ from others of its genre?
Many picture books face-out on bookstore shelves are Concept Books featuring what I call the Back of the Classroom characters: loud, bold, in-your-face types, who holler what they want.
My picture book are Storybooks featuring Middle of the Classroom Smart with Huge Heart, characters, the kids who keep their heads down and try hard--super hard--while occasionally make snide comments out the corner of their mouths. In short, regular kids with problems to solve:
A boy’s sister grows fangs and he has to figure out how to cope with her
Why do I write what I write?
Because I am obsessed with Picture Books—capital P; capital B—and I’m not an illustrator.
An imaginative kids turns “finds” into play toys and friend’s make fun of him, what’s he to do?
Let’s face it, people—especially kids—pluck a picture book off a shelf because they’re attracted to its cover. They thumb through looking at the pictures, first. Then, if the art peaks their interest, they’ll get around to my part—the words. And in picture books, they’re not many of them.
In a college Communications class we studied how, at one time, movie industry marketers tried splicing images of hot butter popcorn into the movies to subliminally influence movie goers to buy more popcorn. That’s exactly what I do.
A kid who wants a pet more than anything in the world gets stuck with a goldfish . . .
Instead of images of popcorn, I use words to put ideas in the illustrator's head. I guess that makes me sort of an Illustrator Whisper. Besides, nobody loves a book the way a pre-reading child loves a book. I want the book that kid hugs and asks for again and again to be mine.
How does my individual writing process work?
I write the way I drive. (Danger, Will Robinson!) Seriously,I have to whose driving, where the story is going to start & where it's going to end before I can begin. So I fiddle around, making lists, thinking, reading, noodling until I know. Once I know that, I set my sights for a specific ending, the way a tourist in Paris might aim for the Eiffel Tower, and let it rip. I'll write a complete draft straight through. It may take some time--If I'm working on a picture book, I'll finish the draft in one sitting; if it's a longer piece, it may take weeks or months. I’ll just keep winding my way along, sometimes doubling back, U-turning, occasionally crashing, until I reach that end. That's all from me...
Up Next on the Blog Tour:
A couple of smart, fresh & sassy VCFA Classmates & Unreliable Narrators:
Sarah Wones Tomp
Sarah Wones Tomp, whose debut YA novel, My Best Everything--about moonshine and falling in love and breaking rules (and hearts)—is coming March 2015 (Little Brown). What’s more: her picture book, Red, White and Blue Good-bye, face-out on my shelf of favorites is a must for every child of a soldier. Sarah lives, moms, writes, teaches and blogs in San Diego, CA. Please visit her at www.sarahtomp.com
Tamara Ellis Smith
Tamara Ellis Smith, whose debut middle grade novel, Marble Boys—the story of two boys who have experienced death and Hurricane Katrina, and how the world pushes them together to find healing—is coming August 2015 (Schwartz and Wade). Tam lives in a small Vermont town with an amazing bakery where she sits and writes, edits, reviews, blogs, mothers, runs and when called upon, doulas. Here is Tam’s website: www.tamaraellissmith.com
Thanks for reading! Popcorn anyone?
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Mistakes-Retake-Delete-Discovery: Gifts in Unexpected Places
So, about my blog posting for today: I wrote it, pictures and all, then by mistake, I deleted it.
Or the Dog might have eaten it. I found this dog in Google. Maybe it spotted my blog post and ate it...could be why it looks like this?
But the idea for my blog post was still fresh and exciting, so I rewrote it, pushed save. Then decided to be clever and add another photo, but instead of clicking "save" I must have clicked "delete" somehow--although I can't think how I would have???? Anyway, it was gone again.
But this time, instead of trying to redo it, I tried to find it. One way the online advice said to recover a lost blog post is do do a Google Search. So I did. Following instructions, I typed in my name and what I could recall of the blog title: "Cinderella" something????
And made an amazing DISCOVERY:
The Google Search pulled up another Kelly Bennett's Blog--this one is a photographer. Curious: I began clicking through. And this Kelly Bennett, with her photos and her encouraging, inspiring words to a cheerleader girl in those photos, and a bandana pirate baby, and upbeat post about jello delighted me.
In hopes it will delight you, too. Because that's how these Gifts from Unexpected Places come, I've attached the link below:
Hope it inspires/feeds you what you need today. And, I hope you'll come back and view my blog again, soon. Who knows, by that time I may have found that missing slipper-er blog post. Or something better!
Here's the link if the hyperlink is on the blink: http://www.kellybennettphotography.com/blog/?cat=15
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