A while ago, a fellow illustrator and I were having a discussion and she said to me, “Don’t you ever want to break out? Don’t you ever want to do something really different?”
The question surprised me. Yet, in a way, looking back, I’m surprised I was surprised. It seems to be fairly par for the course that artists radically change their style, sometimes a different one for each book. Meghan even posted how she felt winners of the Caldecott are oftentimes a well-known illustrator who has changed his/her style.
Because, I think we equate change with progress and courage. “It’s so brave of him/her to change his/her style like that,” someone will say, “and not stick to his/her same old way, the same old things.”
But when I hear this, I always think of the artist Giorgio Morandi, a painter we studied in school. For most of his career he painted bottles and vases. The same objects and shapes over and over again—for years and years. Each painting was beautiful, the sensitivity to light, the placement, the simplicity of his strokes. But you’d think that by, say, painting #10, he’d figure he had still life mastered, be bored and would want to move on. But he didn’t.
And I realize how admirable his dedication was; how much braver it was for him to continue to do what he believed in. Audiences thought his work was boring and mundane, yet he continued. There was something about these still lives that fascinated him. Maybe to him, to feel that he had mastered this subject matter was hubristic. Maybe to him, there was always so much more to discover.
So, even though sometimes I worry that people think I stick to the “same old thing” (as all my books seem similar), I’m reluctant to change just for change’s sake. Right now, I enjoy finding out how much there is to discover in what others might think is a narrow field. I’m not saying that I will do sixty years worth of books on Asian culture; but when my friend asked me, “Don’t you ever want to break out?” I did say, “No.” Originally published February 21, 2007
9 is a lucky Chinese number signifying longevity so I'm hoping it's a good sign...
Don't forget to enter the paperback celebration contest! You can win a free print of your choice from my etsy store just by e-mailing gracelin.manager @gmail.com. And to accommodate KidsBuzz Readers, I've just extended the entry deadline April 27th! Read here for more details.
I spent many of my happiest childhood days at the home of my maternal grandparents. My grandparents owned a duplex on a small side street. Two of my six first cousins lived on the other side of my grandparents’ house. The older of the two cousins was two weeks younger than I—and the other cousin was thirteen months younger. Both were girls. We played together in the summer. We celebrated holidays with each other. We grew up together at my grandparents’ house.
My grandparents kept a big vegetable garden out back. There were a number of fruit trees in their yard—apple, pear, plum. There were lilac bushes and all kinds of flowers growing there in spring and summer—including peonies, sunflowers, tulips, roses, and hydrangea. The yard was an oasis for us kids.
Here is a memoir poem I wrote about my grandmother and my cousins and I spending a beautiful spring day together. What I wrote didn’t happen exactly the way I present it in the poem. Still, there is much truth in it.
CROCHETING
The crowns of the blossoming fruit trees
are pink and white clouds.
We sit under the apple tree,
petals falling around us like spring snow.
Nearby Babci relaxes in the wide Adirondack chair
crocheting an earth-brown afghan
for our summertime picnics.
Her nimble fingers dance
as she hooks and loops
the dark yarn into intricate designs.
From a single strand
she creates a lacy island
where we will float
on a sea of soft green grass
near Dzidzi’s garden,
eating ham sandwiches,
crunching homemade pickles,
savoring our summer afternoons.
********************
AtWild Rose Reader, I have a review of Gulls Hold Up the Sky, J. Patrick Lewis’s first collection of poetry written for adults. The post includes some poems from Pat’s book.
At GottaBook earlier this week, Gregory Pincus featured my poem Dinosaur Dung as part of his 30 Poets/30Days celebration for National Poetry Month.
I know some authors work on multiple projects at once and sometimes that actually works for them. I can't really do this. Not at the beginning stages. I have to REALLY get into something and drown myself in it - at least at the beginning - until I can move on. I have to become obsessed. In fact, I can't move on or let go - much like a rabid dog grabbing onto a leg (is that too much?). There are other times when I can do two things at once - when I'm in the painting stages. Then it's okay to multi task. I was thinking of this because someone asked me what I was working on and sort of rejected the thing that I was loving the most. Then said "Have any other ideas?" Well... no.
I shouldn't say I can't work on two things at once. That's not quite true. I have two little notebooks I bought for 2 dollars a piece. They're very tiny and I like them both. Depending on the day I'll write in one or the other. Each has a different story idea. I work at them while I'm at work.
Inspired by the 2009 Masterpiece WUTHERING HEIGHTS (and if you haven't seen this, I can't recommend it strongly enough!), I re-read the book.
To me this time around, Cathy and Heathcliff sounded more like two intense siblings having a really bad fight than any adult lovers *I'VE* ever encountered.
[Cathy talking to her husband, in the book] "....Heathcliff would as soon
lift a finger at you as the king would march his army against a colony of
mice. Cheer up! you sha'n't be hurt! Your type is not a lamb, it's a
sucking leveret.'
'I wish you joy of the milk-blooded coward, Cathy!' said her friend [Healthcliff]. 'I
compliment you on your taste. And that is the slavering, shivering thing
you preferred to me! I would not strike him with my fist, but I'd kick
him with my foot, and experience considerable satisfaction. Is he
weeping, or is he going to faint for fear?'
The fellow approached and gave the chair on which Linton rested a push.
He'd better have kept his distance.....
(Doesn't that sound like siblings fighting? YOUNG siblings?) But when I first read the book, that was how grown-ups in love talked and behaved, for all I knew.
Maybe one reason (aside from Tom Hardy -- not just good-looking, but really SMART and a great actor!) this version is so satisfying is that although the book is great, it's flawed. The characters are real, they're intense, they've become deservedly immortal -- but there are gaps in their story. These are brilliantly filled in by writer Peter Bowker in this TV version (one of the scenes he added was practically the best -- and so well-written that I was really surprised that it wasn't in the book), and equally brilliantly acted by everyone in the cast.
It probably takes people with more experience of adult romantic relationships than Emily Bronte had to tell Cathy and Heathcliff's story as adults would experience it. This version did that -- AND kept Emily Bronte's language word for word in many places.
It even makes the story of Hareton
and young Catherine interesting. When I was young and read the book, I always thought it should have ended when Cathy died; but seeing this and then reading the book again, as an adult, made me realize that no, we need to see what happens to Heathcliff --and how things turn out for the next generation, too. Only then can the story be resolved.
The point of this post, though, is to say a book can be really, really flawed and still be great. Alive, believable characters who transcend their author's mistakes; a gripping story and setting; great writing; and, maybe, inspiration and something to say that satisfies a need in readers all count for more than technical perfection.
I'm trying to think of another great books with huge flaws - THE SECRET GARDEN, maybe? The way it kind of switches from being the story of Mary to the story of Colin? But maybe I'm just thinking of that one because in it, too, the Yorkshire moors are almost a character.
A few days ago I had a friend visiting who told me a story about one of my books. During the holidays this past year she visited a family whose kids have a mountain of toys. She was warned not to give them anything, that they had more than enough. But of course you can't show up empty handed, so she brought along a copy of What Can You Do with an Old Red Shoe? and gave it to their little girl, who then disappeared into her room.
Later on in the evening she was found dragging a big box of toys down the stairs. "What are you doing?" asked her mom. "The book said if you have too many toys you should give them away." And in fact it does. The last activity in the book begins with a poem about this fellow, who has too many toys:
What can you do with too many toys? You can pile them up and give them away to people who need them:
Her story made my day. With Earth Day coming up next week I thought it was worth sharing. Now I'm off to pile up all the baby stuff we no longer need and make a trip to good will.
I was working on some sketches for one of my new book ideas and I was at work while I was doing this. My character - ME - fell into a small child while on roller skates and and flew into the air. I was trying to figure out what kind of expression I, as a teen, might have. Mind you my cartoons have little lines for mouthes and so you'd think it wouldn't be that difficult a task but sometimes it is - especially when I just have one line to play with! I realized while doing this that i must make the facial expressions to create them on paper. I was contorting my face into all sorts of lovely forms while standing at the register. I wonder if anyone noticed?
I'm thrilled to announce that the paperback edition of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is NOW available. The interior illustrations are still printed in full color and there is extra-special back matter that show photos from my inspiration trip to China. If the hardcover was just a little too pricey, the paperback is now here!
AND to celebrate the paperback edition of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, I’m giving away a FREE PRINT OF YOUR CHOICE from my etsy shop to 8 random people. To enter, just email gracelin.manager@gmail.com with the title of your favorite print! Winners announced next Wednesday on April 20th (so you have more than a whole week to enter).
*please note that if you enter you will most likely end up receiving my monthly e-newsletter in the future but it is very easy to opt out of, if you wish (a click at the bottom of the newsletter)
Here are three clerihews that I wrote for a Poetry Stretch at The Miss Rumphius Effect more than two years ago. Note: A clerihew is a four-line poem that pokes fun at a famous person. It has a rhyme scheme of AABB. The first line should end with the name of the celebrity.
Eve,
So naive
In her birthday suit,
Tempted Adam with forbidden fruit.
Sir Isaac Newton—
There’s no refutin’—
With a force of nature had to grapple
When he was conked on the head with a falling apple.
Socrates’
Analyses
Were deducted, so they say,
Through a series of Q and A.
********************
BTW, is anyone else having major problems with Blogger? When I try to post anything at Blogger using Internet Explorer, all my text gets scrunched up. No line breaks or paragraphs show. I had to download the Firefox browser early last week so I could post at Blue Rose Girls and Wild Rose Reader. Still, I'm experiencing issues with sizing, color, and spacing of text. It's become quite frustrating.
********************
At Wild Rose Reader, I have a short review of Marilyn Singer’s book Twosomes: Love Poems from the Animal Kingdom—as well as some of my own original “cuddly creature couplets.”
I’ll be giving away a copy of Twosomes as a prize for the second week of National Poetry Month. Click here to find out how you can win a children’s poetry book from Wild Rose Reader.
I'm finally getting around to doing them. Yes, I like to cut it close. I've dumped all of my receipts onto the floor. It's a HUGE pile. I'm just curious--how long does it take you to do your taxes? How long does it take to add all the receipts up?
As Anna mentioned yesterday, I was able to stop by San Francisco for a quick visit before heading up to Nevada for an SCBWI conference. I was so happy to get to meet little Tilda, who is SO ADORABLE AND SWEET!! Here she is wearing her little blue rose headband:
Alas, it was just a quick trip, and after one night I was on a plane again headed up to Reno, and then a drive to Virginia City for the Nevada SCBWI mentor program retreat. It was held at the St. Mary's Art Center, which was formerly a hospital (and rumored to be haunted by a nun):
It was a lovely, intimate location. I had my own room, but we all shared bathrooms. Nothing says "editors are people, too!" than having one brush her teeth next to you!
I arrived on Thursday evening, because early Friday I was given the opportunity to go on a wild horse tour. Our able tour guide was wild horse photographer Mark Terrell. Check out some of his gorgeous photographs here. And check out my not-so-gorgeous photography below. We saw several bands of horses (herds are made up of many bands), and most had foals. So cute!
I managed to take two fairly interesting videos. This one features a little foal standing up:
And this one features a stallion trying to see if a mare was in heat. She made it very clear that she was not interested:
We even stopped by the Bunny Ranch (yes, that Bunny Ranch) to check out the band of horses that usually hangs out in front.
Apparently, the girls feed them. One came up closer to say hi (and probably looking for a treat. Sorry, horse!):
The retreat began in earnest Friday afternoon with a discussion of social networking:
(while drinking wine, of course. 'cuz that's how they roll in Nevada!)
After dinner I introduced myself, shared some of the books I've edited, and told a few stories, starting with my parents' love story. Oh, how I love telling that story!
After my introduction, I met with Emma's group of three mentees. The structure of this mentoring program/retreat is quite unique--this same group of mentors and mentees first met back in October for a Fall retreat. (prospective mentees chose their top two mentors, and of the people who chose them, the mentors then pick their top five choices for mentees, and then out of that every mentor ends up with three.) Mentor and mentee then worked together (via email, mainly) over the six months before meeting again in April. Mentees had to have finished their book over the course of the program (whether it be a novel or picture book). I love that the focus of the program is craft. But the business of publishing (agents, submitting, etc.) is discussed as well.
My role at the retreat was that of "visiting editor"--I was not a mentor, but over the course of the weekend, I met with all of the mentors and their groups of three mentees. We had about 15 minutes to spend on each mentee's work--generally, they would read for 5-10 minutes, and then I would comment and ask and answer questions.
The weekend was quite intensive, but not overly so, and I liked that the schedule allowed for some free time, both so that mentors could meet with their mentees one-on-one throughout the weekend, and also so that we could explore the town and surrounding areas. On Saturday afternoon I took a quick walk/run through town:
Sunday morning, I went on a hike with a few others on a nearby Comstock Trail (the Comstock Lode was the first major discovery of silver ore, and found under what is now Virginia City). We hiked about 4 miles (2 there and back) and beheld gorgeous views:
My hiking buddies: Sarah, Harold, Heather, and Lee
Saturday night there may have been a little Karaoke...
author Lee Wind and me singing "A Whole New World" from Aladdin (photo from Hazel Mitchell via Facebook)
Naomi getting down!
group song!
All-in-all, it was a wonderful, productive, and fun weekend with a group of warm, passionate, and talented writers and illustrators. Here's a group shot (courtesy of Tracy Clark via Facebook):
And I even left with a new friend. Well, actually, I feel that I left with many friends, but only one came home with me, stuffed in my suitcase. Introducing Comstock, the horse I won in a raffle:
Thanks for a wonderful weekend, everyone! And special thanks to co-regional advisers Suzanne (Suzy) Williams and Ellen Hopkins. It's a wonderful program that they run every 18 months. I believe applications for the next mentoring period will be accepted in late summer/Fall. If you've been writing for a while and feel that you're "on the brink" but just need a final push/polishing of your work, this could be the perfect conference for you.
Last week we had the pleasure of a mini-Blue Rose Girl get together out here in sunny SF. Alvina was on her way to a conference and stopped by to meet the newest, very tiny Blue Rose Girl (chunky arms and all):
We strolled to Dolores Park to get ice cream at my favorite spot and see San Francisco in bloom:
And of course there was reading time for Tilda from a stack of adorable Little Brown board books. She loves to look at animals:
All in all a lovely visit, and one of our last before heading home. We'll be back on the East Coast in May!
MBA types talk about "the 80/20 rule" (you get 80% of the results with 20% of the work), and "diminishing returns" -- those last hours or, depending upon how obsessive you are, days or weeks you spend polishing and perfecting a project. From a business point of view, those usually aren't worth making: they don't bring in any more money than turning in the project without them would.
But for an artist, it's different. It's really hard to know when to do that last polishing and how long to do it. I'm really curious to know if other people have rules about that. I used to polish EVERYTHING to perfection, and now I'm realizing, especially with client work, that if the client isn't going to pay me for that time, and doesn't care anyway, that it's simply not worth it. I force myself to stop when it's good enough....most of the time.
Sometimes, I just fall in love with the project and keep working and perfecting until my hourly rate has dropped to -- well, we won't go into that. But increasingly, these days, good enough is good enough.
With my own writing, it's a lot harder to stop, let go, decide, finish --whatever you want to call it. The rule I used to go by is when I'm not definitely making it better but am just making it DIFFERENT, it's time to stop. But now I'm trying to stop sooner than that -- when I'm proud of it, and it still feels fresh (as opposed to when I can't stand to look at the damn thing one more time).
A short piece is done if: *it says everything I wanted it to say * everything in it interests ME *I can read it out loud without my voice faltering or my insides quailing and wincing * every word is the best I can make it
For novels, though, it's different. A first draft gets only the first....a second or third draft only the second; and unless there's a pretty good chance of the book being published, I don't think it's worth getting it to the "every word" level. Better to spend the time moving on to something else -- for artistic/creative AND financial reasons! WEll, most of the time. That's what makes it hard--I never really know.
Guess what FedEx left at my house yesterday? Need a clue? Just want me to tell you the answer? Okay…TEAM MOON: HOW 400,000 PEOPLE LANDED APOLLO 11 ON THE MOON—and it was inscribed by the author, Catherine Thimmesh. It was my prize for submitting the funniest entry in Book Buds “Famous First Words” contest. Anne Boles Levy asked contestants to come up with the words we thought an astronaut would exclaim when stepping foot on Mars for the very first time.
I suppose you’d like to read my snarky entry:
The sky is pink. The rocks are red. There ain’t no birdies Overhead.
It’s bare. It’s bleak. Don’t see no plants… Or other green Inhabitants.
It’s desolate. The air is scant. Except for me— No life’s extant.
It’s dusty, dry. I need a beer. Houston, Get me outta here!
I actually entered two poems—but Anne liked this one better than my parody of Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.
A LOQUACIOUS ASTRONAUT WAXES POETIC AFTER STEPPING FOOT ON MARS
Whose planet’s this? I know I know. His home’s on Mount Olympus so He will not see me stopping here To go exploring to and fro.
The polar ice cap’s very near. I spy three skaters. Drat! I fear Some other life forms came before. I’m NOT the first Mars pioneer.
I see a Super Star Trek Store… And garish neon signs galore! There’s garbage everywhere I tread. Don’t want to be here anymore.
This trip’s a bust to “Planet Red.” Yo, Earth, give me the go-ahead To visit Jupiter instead, To visit Jupiter instead.
Now…back to the MOON! Figuratively, that is, not literally. In addition to being a poetry geek, I am also an astronomy buff. TEAM MOON is my kind of book. Even a young child who can’t yet read could get lost in this book just looking at the amazing photographs. (I know a young grandnephew who is going to get a copy of TEAM MOON for his birthday in two weeks. He’s an astronomy buff like me.)
I wrote Anne yesterday to tell her I had received my prize. I also said I just might have to write another poem for the occasion. But…I have sooooo many old moldering poems in my files that I was able to pull this one out to post today. The following poem is now dedicated to Anne and Catherine Thimmesh.
MARY HAD A LITTLE MOON (Another old moldering poem by Elaine Magliaro)
Mary had a little moon. It shone just like a star. And everywhere that Mary went She brought it in a jar.
She sneaked it into class one day, Which was against the rule— But teacher smiled because it was The brightest thing in school.
Guess what FedEx left at my house yesterday? Need a clue? Just want me to tell you the answer? Okay…TEAM MOON: HOW 400,000 PEOPLE LANDED APOLLO 11 ON THE MOON—and it was inscribed by the author, Catherine Thimmesh. It was my prize for submitting the funniest entry in Book Buds