Two things

Last week one of my best friends -- someone who's been, literally, like a brother to me since we were 17 -- died suddenly and unexpectedly. Of course, I've been crying and thinking about him and going over my memories -- and regretting how many times I COULD HAVE seen him, but didn't, because I thought it would disrupt my writing.

Grace has been saying for years that I need to learn to write "on the go," and it's time to do it-- to say YES AND (yes, I can go, I can do that, AND write), not "No because."
"Thank you, I'd love to come!" -- to NY or London or wherever I'm asked; and I'll bring my laptop with me, get up early, and write. (Tips for writing when away from home eagerly solicited!)

If I don't learn to do this, the only time I'll ever see my adult friends is when people come here--which happens once a month at most.

The people I mostly see here, where I live, are 11 and under; and I love the time I spend with them. It's different from time with adults, because when I'm with children, I am completely present, focused on being there for them -- meeting their needs -- something that is probably all too familiar to those of you who are mothers. I don't think about myself at all. If you're not a mother this is unusual, I think.

Sometimes I am rewarded by a glimpse of the world through their eyes, as in this photograph, taken by an eleven-year old with his ipod touch: I called it Trafffic on Tower Bridge in my Patch piece about him and his Legos.



When I look at this photograph, it looks so real -- the angle of vision, the distance between the cars, everything. It looks exactly as it would look if you were in a car, driving over the bridge. He's created a world he believes in -- I'd love to do that in my own, on the go, writing.

Point of view

I had a writing teacher once who said that when you write in the third person, with a point of view character:
"The reader can feel TRAPPED in that character."

I feel this way when I read some books....sometimes, I just don't WANT to know every detail of what's going on inside a character's head. But that seems to be how many character-driven children's books are written.
Jane Austen used the third person with a point-of-view character, too, but she slid in and out of her heroine's minds. And she was very selective about when she went in and how long she stayed. She never overstayed the reader's welcome.

That is the kind of point of view I most enjoy reading, and writing.....can you do it in a kid's book, though? Or does that kind of sliding in and out make a novel too adult?