Aspiration and Admiration

Aspiration and Admiration

(This is a duplicate post to the one on my YA blog today. Forgive me, but sometimes they're good for both).

Today, my friend Shawn posted an interview with my (I wanna say friend)  K.L. Going (click there, or SEE LINK BELOW). She's not "really" my friend, but we've spoken on the phone a few times, and she's critiqued some of my early manuscripts, and I even helped her out once, with something small she needed.

Why am I proud of this fact? Why do I wish I could call K.L.Going a friend?

Because I admire her. She's brilliant. She's everything as a YA writer I hope to be.

I didn't know this when I first pulled, The Liberation of Gabriel King off the B&N shelf years ago, but I knew it the minute I read it to my kids. And I knew it when I bought St. Iggy after it, and as each of her new, award-winning novels come out. K.L.'s characters come alive, her stories are both poignant and funny, her writing is both beautiful and evocative and accessible.

As a YA writer, I aspire to be one iota as good as K.L.Going. If you haven't read her, you should.

Who makes you aspire and admire? Who is your K.L.Going?

Just Add Water

Today, my pool opens for the spring. It's early in NY, but the pool guy tells me I'm not the first one. It will take another few days for a salt-ozoneator specialist to come and fix and piece of equipment that broke last season, and a few days after that for the water to heat up to "warm enough" to possibly swim. I do own a wetsuit, so technically, at 65 degrees, I'm set to go in. Suffice it to say, by this time next week, I should be afloat in my own backyard.

Those who know me, know I swim all year. There's just something about the water for me. On bad days, you could say it saves me. And, on good days, it energizes me and helps my creativity to flow. The many times I've been stuck on story or plot, the "unstuck" came to me underwater. I count on it, knowing that, as long as I get in the water, everything will be okay.

Where do you count on? Where does your creativity flow?

Repeat Imagery

As I work on my 4th or 5th manuscript (maybe 6th or 7th, depending), it always amuses me to see the "repeats" of imagery that find their way into my stories. You know, those certain fascinating objects or images that suddenly pop up in our scenes without us knowing how, exactly, they found their way in.

I have a few favorites, and I must say, to this day, I am never tired of them when they appear: pools and water, of course, being the obvious to those who know me, but less obviously, tunafish and mayonnaise, kitchen tables (interesting side note, I do not own, nor have I ever owned a kitchen table, nor lived in a house where there was a traditional kitchen table), and today's blog-triggering image, those little brightly-colored paper umbrellas you used to get in your drinks at chinese restaurants.

God, I love those. Welcome little paper umbrella. :)

So, i'm curious: what objects/imagery finds itself repeatedly into your character's lives and stories?

the laziness continues...

ok, not really. I've written, i've worked on some marketing stuff, i finished a book, i might have done some laundry. But I need my pool back (ok, not my pool, but the pool i swim in). The water is what energizes me and keeps my creative juices flowing. The water keeps me balanced.


tomorrow the pool reopens. I'll talk to you then.