In Case You're Keeping Track Today...

And just where is Santa now?

http://www.noradsanta.org/en/home.html

Fuzzy-Wuzzy Wuz A Santa

Our question of the week was about favorite holiday books from childhood. My personal favorite is one that I remember not for its plot but for its texture: an oversized (quite tall) paperback Christmas story, which I believe but cannot swear to was an edition of The Night Before Christmas. The crucial feature of the book? The fuzzy Santa on its cover. To me, he's the Santa to whom all other Santas must be compared.

It might have been a Whitman edition, circa 1950s or 1960s. It's still extant at my parents' place; I'll have to take a look at the publication info when I'm there next week.

(...but not until after I've finished my annual convening with its cover.)

Still More Good News

We're delighted to announce that TIME in partnership with CNN chose The Pout Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen, pictures by Dan Hanna as one of the Top Ten Children's Books of 2008.

Congratulations, Debbie!

Just Enough is Plenty

by Ann

When my boys were small, our favorite holiday book was Just Enough is Plenty: a Hanukkah Tale by Barbara Diamond Goldin, paintings by Seymour Chwast (Puffin Books, 1988). I remember sitting in the big chair with Jeremy in my lap, and Sam squeezed in beside me, reading this book and singing along with the characters. (It’s been at least a decade since the three of us could fit in that chair at the same time.)

Today, as I reread the book, I was amazed at the amount of text, and I squirmed a little at the heavy handed explanations of Jewish culture. Yet, the story rings true. What do we look for in holiday books but a depiction of our culture and the retelling of a miracle? The story is also a reminder that long before our current economic crisis, people survived hardships with generosity and grace.

Just Enough is Plenty takes place in Poland, probably in the 1800s. It illustrates life in a small Jewish village during the Hanukkah celebration and retells the story of Elijah the Prophet.

Question of the Week

The holiday season brings a slew of new holiday fare from publishers, including reprints of old favorites. I ask the Write Brainers:

What is your favorite holiday book or story from your own childhood? A version of 'Twas the Night before Christmas? Dickens? O. Henry? Or maybe you want to talk about a current favorite. The Latke who Couldn't Stop Screaming? Oh, and tell us why you like it, of course.

Writing during Seminars and Meetings

by Kay

Part of my job involves meetings and seminars, especially that we are now in job interview season. So I might be taking dual notes, one set to keep me focused and a second running set of ideas for a story.

I also write in the car. There wasn't much traffic in most of New Mexico when I did that, but I had to give it up in Alaska. Not enough of a shoulder and it was bumpy enough to render my journal unreadable. These days I'm more likely to pull off the road and write a note, but I have set off the horn more than once. Guilty, guilty, guilty.

QOTW: Writing on the sly

Debbie writes: Have you ever found yourself furtively jotting down an idea or phrase when you were supposedly doing something else?
Ruth answers: Often. I can't help it; I've been doing it since I was a kid. Today there's even more reason because my Ellie McDoodle books are full of games, jokes, pranks, trivia and require a lot of research. I keep my writer ears on all the time, and if I hear or think of something that turns into something that might someday be useful, I write it down fast.
And even if it won't be useful in an Ellie book, maybe it'll become part of another story.
I keep a notebook on the car seat next to me and can write without looking, thanks to frequent practice writing in the dark, in bed. (Note to April: Try Post-It notes on the steering wheel. No need to hold them in place while you scribble at traffic lights ;)
The most egregious intrusion of my writer self into my personal life is when I'm tucking my kid into bed. As soon as I kiss her goodnight the last time for the night, I run to collect all the gold I've just mined and stash it in a notebook.

How to Drive & Write by April

Furtive Writing

I'm the Queen of Post-Its, but also of napkin-writing and hand-writing and up-my-arm writing; whatever is available, really, and whenever -and wherever- I can. This includes while I'm driving. Yes, that's my dirty little secret (and now yours, too). I grab paper from my purse, from a tiny notebook which has been used by my children, whose squiggles I must write around, or yank a napkin from the passenger side glove compartment --the reach itself is pretty treacherous, but what I do next may make the weaker-hearted of you not wish to read on.
While handling the driver's wheel with my knees, I pinion the paper to the horn with one hand, hold a pen cap in my teeth, and jot down notes, dividing my "eye time" equally between paper and that yellow line. All while hurtling down the road in a thousand pounds of metal.

And yes, I've accidentally honked the horn during particular moments of eureka euphoria.

Coming to you from Under The Teacher's Desk

By Lori

Probably the most guilty pleasure of my job as a substitute teacher is snatching a moment to jot notes during the school day. This is not so easy to do, unless the kids happen to go to gym or music. But, occasionally, I do it when the students are still in the room because I'm afraid I will forget. It seems a little naughty, but I do have justification.

One of the reasons I sub is because schools are a veritable story minefield. I'm a kid in a candy store (an author in a story store?), and I'm only a sub, which means I have time to allow the seeds to plant themselves in my brain. Instead of going home to grade papers, plan tomorrow's lessons, take parent phone calls, do parent teacher conferences, have curriculum meetings. . . .and on and on and on, I can go home and write away.

"What are you doing Mrs. Van Hoesen?" A student said, catching me in the act one day not long ago. He was done with his work and came to look over my shoulder. I wasn't grading papers, that much was clear to him.

"Um, well, just writing down some ideas."

"For what?"

"Stories. :o)"

"OH! Mrs. Van Hoesen is writing more stories!" he announced to the class. "Maybe if we're good she'll tell us one."

And so, really, even though I sometimes feel a little sneaky, it all comes full circle in the end.

Question of the Week: Writing on the Sly

Ideas often come to writers at unexpected times, a writer-reality that gives us this week's Question of the Week for Write Brainers:

Have you ever found yourself furtively jotting down an idea or phrase when you were supposedly doing something else?

Readers of Write Brainers, feel free to share your own furtive writing confessions in the comments section.

Distractibility

--Debbie's perspective

I'm very easily distracted. This comes in handy as a writer -- it's curiosity that launches the mind into imagination -- but being prone to distraction can make it difficult to actually complete a piece of writing. In addition to general distractibility, here's what's been doing me in lately:

• The election. What with having to bring my new yard sign in every time I leave the house, there go minutes from my day. Add to that my compulsive headline checking (up two points! down a point! oh my, Florida! Ohio!) and my days are pretty full lately.
• Good mysteries. Too many writers are writing absorbing mysteries lately, and I can't seem to drag myself away from them.
• My schedule. I've been busier than usual for many months now. I have come to the point that when I open my calendar, I cringe as if expecting to be attacked by a wild animal.
• My inner critic. Man, she's noisy.
• The mess on my desk. I sorted through it just last week, but it's back!
• Email. Don't get me started -- I'll just whine and give lame excuses for my inability to stay on top of my Inbox.
• Pumpkin pie. Why write, when there is pumpkin pie to be eaten?

Still, when I push it all aside and just write, I'm never sorry. And the pie tastes even better when the work comes first. (As a side benefit, the pie can also be used to distract wild attacking calendar animals.)

Distracting Cats

by Kay

There's a reason I go to McDonalds to write. The distracting cats, all two of them. First they want milk, then a ball or milk ring to chase, then tuuuunnaahh (you can almost hear them meow it), then to lay across my work, walk across the keyboard, sleep in the basket under the lamp just within petting reach, or, their favorite, curl up on my lap and cast a sleep spell, so I can't move to upset them.

They are now 12 cat years old now and are the human equal of 64 human years, according to one website I found. I guess that answers the question "Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm sixty-four?"

Guess so. But I won't get much writing done.

Excuses - I Mean Distractions

by Ann

My main distraction is my family. I spend a lot of time taking care of them. On the other hand, I love them so how can I complain? During the past year, I spend uncounted hours with my mom, and while my writing time was limited, I don’t regret being with her during the last year of her life. My boys are growing up and requiring less and less from me. Next year my older son will live at college. Maybe my younger son will earn his driver’s license next fall, and I’ll be out of a job as chauffeur.

Distractions
by April

I am easily distracted: by noise (even the buzzing of overhead fluorescents--yes, it's that bad); by internet searches that begin on the topic of plant identification(is that poison ivy in my garden?) and end with the fact that John Ruskin founded the Pre-Raphaelite movement in 1848 (did you know this?); by conversations of which I am not taking part but want to be; by playing tackle-anything-goes football with my son wherein I suffer for two days after but the little guy says, "You're like an army of football players, Mom!" so it was worth it, because I'm thinking, boo-yah--"Mom" is more that JUST a great palindrome!;
Essentially, I am easily distracted by all manner of things...
Even the Question of the Week itself.
Three and a HALF regular readers?
I spent the next fifteen minutes after reading the question, wondering about that poor little half reader. Who would he or she be?
If you're out there, Half Reader, speak up! I'd love to follow you around for awhile, listening in on your conversations, taking notes and researching what you do, and maybe even tackle you.

One Ringy Dingy

By Lori

The number one distraction in my house is the telephone. Even when I don't answer it--that incessant ringing! Turning my ringer off is such a chore, having to hunt up all the stray handsets etc. And even then, I haven't figured out how to do more than turn them down.

My answer is to head to the library and write there. Of course, then you have the distraction of all those BOOKS! I just have to check out what's new, and then, well, read those. . . .

So then I try getting up at five a.m., before the phone stirs in its cradle, and I write in the dark, in my living room with hot tea beside me. This is actually my favorite time to work.

But then I get hooked on a show like Dancing with the Stars, or Project Runway, or some such other diversion that keeps me up late and unable to make my wake up call.

So I get up. I get my kids off to school. And then, if I'm not working that day, I sit down to write, dreading the impending ring of the phone. I check my email and some blogs because it's late enough that people will have posted new things. And the phone is going to ring any second anyway.

And then it happens. The phone does ring, and I remember that it could actually be an editor. Trying to contact me. And I think maybe I shouldn't dislike my phone so much. Because one of the reasons I do this is the flickering hope that maybe one day I will get THAT call. Which won't be even a little bit annoying.

In fact, it would be music to my ears. :o)

Question of the Week: Distractions

For various reasons, we've all been pretty quiet on the Write Brainers blog lately. But it's probably time for a little blog activity, lest we lose our three and a half loyal readers. So... Here's a question, one that should be relatively easy to answer.

What are the things (these can be actual physcial things, or intangibles) that have a tendency to distract you from your writing projects?

Tuned On, Tuned Out

I listen to A LOT of music when I'm in the rough drafting and brainstorming stages. It sends my brain in so many creative directions. Rhythm is everything for my body when it comes to creativity.  It truly does something amazing to free up that brainstorming and allow my mind to move back and forth between day to day boring old problems and the solutions likewise to writing walls.  If I'm listening to music and working out at the same time...watch out, there's a firestorm of ideas out there. Beware to anyone who disrupts those moments for me. They probably won't recognize me as anything approaching a kind human being. Therefore, I never use music during the drafting and brainstorming process if I have to be able to switch quickly into human interaction mode. 

Confession time....the list of music that I listen to while brainstorming and drafting is eclectic and bizarre.

Synthesized Bach...yeah, he's good. Vivaldi--great. So are collections of Renaissance music (Sting has a pretty interesting one; great for fantasy writing).

And then there's all that other stuff I listen to that I don't think (as an adult who's supposed to be a role model for kids) I should admit to listening to while writing. But here it is:  Coldplay, Radio Head (pretty great stuff for creating a dead narrator), Travis, The Dave Matthews Band, Michael Jackson, Runrig, Enya, Yes, Led Zepplin, The Beatles, The Indigo Girls, U2, The Proclaimers,  Pink Floyd, Abba, Billy Joel, Cat Stevens, David Bowie, The Cure, The Who, The Rolling Stones, Indian Pop-Rock (some of that stuff is awesome; plus I can't understand the words so they don’t distract me ), R.E.M, The Talking Heads, Aqualung, Oasis, Tom Petty, The Bare Naked Ladies....okay, you get the idea. 

But during revision, I DON'T listen to music. When I'm struggling with organization, or with getting connections across sections of the text, I need to spend some time away from music, just looking at what I've brainstormed on the page, and then some time away from the page and just with music envisioning all the possibilities. I never reread my writing to see how it sounds or feels when listening to music. I can't hear the rhythm of my own language then. I'm pretty good about knowing when music is helping and when it's hindering me.  

Tuning the Muse

By Lori

Sometimes I enjoy a little Loreena Mckennett, Enya, or other new agey, celtic sounding music while I'm writing.
Usually I need something with little or no words, otherwise I start listening to those words instead of writing my own.

I like Mozart piano sonatas because they remind me of my childhood (barre exercises during all those ballet lessons). Lately, after the Folk Festival a year or so ago and then again this year, I've been turned on to Acadian Fiddle. It's upbeat, and I think would be great for a hero's journey backdrop or a lot of other things, too. Folk music in general I find quite inspiring, because it's timeless and evocative. It just has to have a wordless, soundtrack-like quality.

Music To Write By

MMI'm looking for recommendations for music to write by. I usually need silence when I write, but not always. Sometimes I need music to keep me awake -- I have on occasion successfully written to CCR (Creedence Clearwater Revival for you youngsters). But stuff with words I can understand is often distracting. So foreign languages can be all right.
MMAnd sometimes I need music to screen ambient sounds, especially conversation. I have a rather small classical music collection, and haven't really settled on stuff I like to write by. Do you guys have favorites? I reckon that would change according to what you're writing: upbeat, soothing, etc.
MMBTW, I did do some googling without much help. I found this study. I assume the little dears were listening to stuff that I wouldn't call "music."

The effects of background music on word processed writing
S. E. Ransdell and L. Gilroy

Division of Psychology, Florida Atlantic University, 2912 College Ave, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33314, USA


References and further reading may be available for this article. To view references and further reading you must purchase this article.

Abstract

College students often listen to music while they use a computer. This experiment investigated whether background music disrupts their ability to word process fluently and effectively. Forty-five psychology undergraduates wrote brief expository essays. Background music significantly disrupted writing fluency (words generated per minute controlling for typing speed and including those words deleted before the final draft) even though no response to the music was required. Those with some musical training and high working memory span wrote better essays with longer sentences and were also more likely to pause at clause boundaries. Even unattended music places heavy demands on working memory and disrupts word processed writing.

Planning Pads

by Kay

The supply I cannot live without is Planning Pads.

These pads are 80 pages of thicker than normal paper, with a light blue grid on the front and lines (College ruled!) on the back. The sheets tear away, as long as you hold the top corner to get them started. The funky advertising cover tears away too, leaving a calm undersurface of blue, green or brown. The cover flips back, and the pad has a super strong back, just right for the "writing on your lap at conferences" tasks we do.

The underside of the cover gets dated when I start, because one rule that keeps me going is the mantra "Use up the pad!" That way, I try not to agonize over the quality, but get my thoughts down in a free-flow jumble of energy. I'm a terrible typist, so I start my many lists and bubble diagrams on this raw resource. And the 5 colors (and three sizes) of sticky notes that nestle inside the back cover are pretty cool too.

I just bought a new stack for the pile at home. There's one in every writing bag, near my bed, at school, in the car.. Ah! I'm ready to write!