The Writing Cave

I found this list via YABOOKNERD  and, due to the human need to keep score, promptly counted up how many I’d read.

Except, some I couldn’t remember if I’d read. Some, I’ve just seen the movie (sad, but true). And some are recent library book sale purchases I haven’t gotten around to yet (also sad). So the ones I specifically remember reading are in bold.

#1 Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

#2 A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

#3 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

#4 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

#5 From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg

#6 Holes by Louis Sachar

#7 The Giver by Lois Lowry

#8 The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

#9 Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

#10 The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

#11 The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

#12 The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

#13 Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

#14 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

#15 Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

#16 Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

#17 Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

#18 Matilda by Roald Dahl

#19 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

#20 Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

#21 Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riodan

#22 The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo

#23 Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

#24 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

#25 Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

#26 Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

#27 A Little Princess by Francis Hodgson Burnett

#28 Winnie-the Pooh by A.A. Milne

#29 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland /Alice Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

#30 The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper

#31 Half Magic by Edward Eager

#32 Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien

#33 James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

#34 Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis

#35 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire JK Rowling

#36 Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume

#37 Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor

#38 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

#39 When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

#40 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

#41 The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

#42 Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

#43 Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary

#44 Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume

#45 The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

#46 Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

#47 Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis

#48 The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall

#49 Frindle by Andrew Clements

#50 Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell

#51 The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright

#52 The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

#53 Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

#54 The BFG by Roald Dahl

#55 The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson

#56 Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

#57 Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary

#58 The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken

#59 Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

#60 The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi

#61 Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

#62 The Secret of the Old Clock (The Nancy Drew mysteries) by Caroline Keene

#63 Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright

#64 A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck

#65 Ballet Shoes by Noah Streatfeild

#66 Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary

#67 Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville

#68 Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

#69 The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

#70 Betsy Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace

#71 A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

#72 My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett

#73 My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

#74 The Borrowers by Mary Norton

#75 Love That Dog by Sharon Creech

#76 Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

#77 City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

#78 Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes

#79 All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor

#80 The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

#81 Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

#82 The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander

#83 The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

#84 Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge

#85 On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder

#86 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

#87 The View from Saturday by E. L. Konigsburg

#88 The High King by Lloyd Alexander

#89 Ramona and her Father by Beverly Cleary

#90 Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan

#91 Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar

#92 Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

#93 Caddie Woodlawn by C. R. Brink

#94 Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome

#95 Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren

#96 The Witches by Roald Dahl

#97: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo

#98 Children of Green Knowe by L.M. Boston

#99 The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks

#100 The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

Final count-

• Novels read: 58
• Owned but not yet read: 7
• Fuzzy memory, therefore don’t count: 3
• Books never before heard of: 9

Look out library, here I come! What are your stats?

Greetings from yet another hotel room, folks. Some fantastic links for this week:

There’s a wonderful compilation of 30 writing quotes making the rounds, and if you haven’t seen it yet, check it out at Writer’s Digest.

And if you needed more inspiration, read this beautiful post from Heather Sellers (found via Jennifer Hubbard) about writing. Go ahead, I’ll wait…

Back? Excellent. Next: If there’s a young writer in your life, read this post from the Mixed Up Files blog on what you can do to encourage them.

Agent Kristin Nelson reminds us to clear our Word document of track changes before submitting; click through to see how.

And for this week’s Link of Awesome: Minas Tirith made from matchsticks! And the best part: it’s in Iowa! Thank you mental_floss, for continuing to bring awesomeness to my attention.

No, not waxing unwanted hair, a waxing moon, or waxing poetic. Today is one of my cheese posts. Sorry if you were lured here under false pretenses

My husband built us a small cheese press that will handle about a two-pound wheel, but the only time I’ve used it, we didn’t get the rind dry enough and the cheese got pretty funky. So this time, we figured we’d try waxing the wheel.

This was our first attempt at making Monterey Jack and it took FOREVER! Heat the milk to 88 degrees, then add the starter culture and wait half an hour. Add the rennet and wait another half hour. Cut the curd and let sit for 30 minutes. Raise the temperature and hold for half an hour. You get the idea. Forever.

But we survived and had the cute little cheese on the right to show for it. My home cheesemaking book cautioned that cheese wax fumes are highly flammable, so we ended up melting the wax on a camp stove outside. I think next time I’ll get green wax and we’ll have Christmas cheese.

So the next pictures are what a homemade wheel brushed with wax looks like. Hardly consumer-ready, but certainly an experience. So how did this waxing thing remind me of writing? (see, it comes back to writing

 eventually)

• It takes at least two layers to protect the cheese and develop deep flavors. For a really great book, it’s not just the primary, obvious story line, but the layers of conflict and character that create the full taste.
• Practice makes…less ugly. I’m hoping our inaugural waxing experience is much like a first draft: the next version is smoother.
• Both are needy. The cheese needs to be stored at 55 degrees and at least 65% humidity, turned several times each week to keep the butterfat from migrating to the bottom. Manuscripts don’t come out right the first time and won’t get any better just by sitting there.
  

  Ta da!

So now we just have to keep turning the cheese and wait at least two months to eat it. That’s another thing writing and cheesemaking have in common, you craft something and develop the flavors and hopefully your patience pays off. Now if only I was patient!

Anyone have general waxing stories to share? What interesting cheese or book packaging have you seen?

I had the pleasure of hearing Wendy Delsol speak at the Des Moines Public Library about her debut YA novel Stork, and what a fantastic event it was. Great crowd, beautiful space, lots of shiny new books for sale, and a supportive library staff.

So I’ve been thinking about what makes a successful book launch/author event. Here’s what I learned from Wendy’s:

1. Planted questions are a great idea – Wendy had three friends in the audience with pre-written questions to show she’d answer anything from literary questions to tennis questions to raising-teenage-boy questions. It was a fun way to break the ice and get everyone laughing. Plus, it’s probably nice for the author to have the first three questions planned out before having to deal with point #2:
2. Have grace under fire – I’d heard from other authors that people will ask about money all the time, and they were right. Wendy handled the “how much goes in your pocket” question with a lot of poise.
3. Bring your family – Wendy’s sons were helping sell books and her husband was a salesman, a photographer, and general support system, which was adorable. You have to have a supportive family to be an author, I think, and it was such fun to see them helping Wendy during her event.
4. Bring non-writing friends – While writing people are some of the best, Wendy also had a group of tennis friends in the audience. It was great to see the support she had outside of “writing people.”
5. Yay for after parties – Assume you won’t have much time to visit with folks during the event and plan for drinks at a local establishment afterwards. It was lovely to mix writer and tennis friends and a good time was had by all.

What have you learned from author events? Any advice to share?

Hey everyone, just a few links this week as I’m refocused on the WIP after Wendy Delsol’s great author event on Monday:

Pat Zietlow Miller has a great round-up of advice from the Wisconsin SCBWI conference. Looks like it was quite an event!

If you’re looking for literary themed Halloween costumes, check out GalleyCat’s list of ideas. Or see mental_floss’ post for more Internet topical costumes.

And finally, I’m very excited about this week’s Link of Awesome: a British rap video to promote a dairy company. Yes, you read that correctly. HUGE thanks to my future sister-in-law for sending it my way!

I’m gonna do it. Yup, true story. I’m gonna do it.

I’m taking a vacation day from work to write. *Yay, I’m going to get something done!* *Oh no, I’m going to get so distracted!*

So here’s the question: where is your favorite place to write? I can’t stay at home, because farm things find me (ack, harvest!). The library is good, but I’d have to sneak in the Diet Coke and strawberry sour straws. And cafes have internet access. This will certainly be a good exercise in self control and focus…ick

What works for you guys?

Is it Wednesday again already? Groovy!

This week’s links:

Jody Hedlund continues dispensing sage advice with this post on planning her debut book party. Congrats, Jody!

*Fiction Groupie* gives great tips on avoiding wordiness.

Another fantastic post at Adventures in Children’s Publishing, this time addressing Goal, Motivation, and Conflict. A must-read for anyone looking to increase tension (And who isn’t? In WIPs I mean, not real life). 

Great brain tricks from author Robin Mellom. I can’t wait to try changing the font for a revision read through!

If you’re feeling discouraged by your day job, check out this mental_floss list of famous authors’ early jobs.

Serious Link of Awesome this week, folks. In light of the recent bullying-induced suicides, author Shaun David Hutchinson wrote this open letter to those with no hope left. Please read, please pass along, please help someone.

Y’all are in for a treat today! Author Janice Hardy, to celebrate the release of Blue Fire, her second novel in The Healing Wars trilogy, is here to give tips for revising a series. So sit back and soak in the awesome!

Untangling the Webs We Weave

Revisions. How many got a shiver just reading that? I’m a bit of a freak, because I enjoy revisions. I love digging back into a draft and turning “meh” into “wow.” To shape a story from a wandering mess to something that can hold a reader’s attention for 400 pages.

 Until I wrote a trilogy. And then had to revise that.

Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy revisions, but revising a series took different skills than revising a stand-alone novel. Here are some things I learned that could help if you’re working on a series.

1. You have a lot of stuff to remember

The big stuff is obvious. Major plot points, revealed secrets, story twists. But it’s the little things that get you. What color were someone’s eyes? When did the sidekick and the hero meet? Does the love interest know about that little “situation” last book? Readers remember way better than authors do, and when you mess up continuity they notice. So you have to check and double check your facts to make sure you don’t have a grandfather that played a pivotal role in book three and a great-grandfather that played that same role in book one. Keep a series bible. Don’t just write down the big stuff, but all the piddly stuff you don’t think will really be important. It will be later. And when you find yourself having to dig through past books to find a fact, put that in the bible.

2. Changing the past means changing a lot of past

If your story is already published, there’s nothing you can do about previous books. You’re stuck with what you wrote, even if changing it will make the current book so much better. But if you’re writing the entire series or trilogy before you start submitting, anything you do in book three you have to make sure still works for book one. And again, it’s not going to be the big stuff that trips you up. Sometimes it’ll be original backstory you’ll want to change, or how two people met. Small details that would deepen something you’re doing later when those details actually play a role in the plot. In book one, they were just throwaway details. But book four, the whole climax hangs by them. Then there’s that quick mention in book two, and a joke in book three over it. Those character-building details often permeate your entire series, and they might even be the motivation behind a critical moment. If you change the past, that motivation may no longer work.

3. Your backstory will try to kill you

Unlike a stand-alone novel, every previous book is backstory (shudder). You’ll want to reference previous books, cute scenes you liked, problems that really bugged your protag. Some will work and help the current story, but most of it will just confuse the reader. When you spot these character “in jokes,” ask yourself if they really need to be there. Would someone who didn’t read that book know what you’re talking about? And if you find yourself explaining it so new readers will get it, that’s a red flag that it doesn’t have to be there. Naturally, if it plays a critical role in that story it’s okay to talk about it, but you’d be surprised how often you reference past books when you don’t need to. 

4. How bad can things really get?

Stakes also become a challenge, because you want each book to have escalating stakes, but when one book ends on a major high point (as all books need to do), where do you go from there? It’s tempting – and not uncommon – to pick up right there in the next book, but when you start with stakes that high, there’s nowhere to go. Instead of starting high and going higher, the tension plateaus after a few chapters. If your crit groups are telling you “it’s exciting, but it’s just not going anywhere” then this could be the reason. Personally, I think this is one of the harder things about a series. It’s easy to go too far and fall into melodrama, but you still need to maintain that “things getting worse” aspect. Try looking at other places you can raise stakes besides the plot. Internal struggles that can cause problems (which helps with character growth), secondary characters who can get into trouble, past traumas that can come back to haunt your protag. Look at your series stakes like a wave. Start low and go high, then drop back down and start again.

Series can be challenging, but they’re great ways to really explore your world and your characters. And if you don’t mind a little (okay a lot of) extra work, you can end up with deeper, richer stories.

Thanks so much for stopping by, Janice! For more daily doses of awesome advice, check out Janice’s blog, The Other Side of the Story. Now get to work revising and, in your spare time, pick up copies of The Shifter and Blue Fire from your favorite bookstore.

What’s better on a car trip than doing Mad Libs? (answer: Playing cards with your sister, who doesn’t realize her cards are reflecting in the window behind her. But other than that, nothing.) So I thought we could all use some Mad Lib action in our Friday. Grab a writing utinsel and scrap paper and come up with words for these ten categories:

(1) Emotion

(2) Number

(3) Number

(4) Noun (plural)

(5) Girl’s name

(6) Favorite Halloween costume

(7) Color

(8) Animal (plural)

(9) Fairy tale creature

(10) Number

Got all ten filled in? No cheating now.

OK, here’s the query letter. Fill in your blanks:

Dear Agent-

(1) is a (2)-word novel exploring what happens when a girl goes on a quest to save (3) (4).

(5)’s life is perfectly normal, thank you very much, until a one-eyed (6)’s prophecy sends her on an impossible quest. Now, (5) must survive (7) (8), save a young (9), and find the true meaning of (1).

I’ve worked on this novel for (10) months and am confident it’s the best premise ever. Thank you for your consideration,

Future best-selling author

I made my husband give it a try, so here’s his letter (disclaimer, he’d just woken up and was a little loopy):

Dear Agent-

Agitation is a 417-word novel exploring what happens when a girl goes on a quest to save 0.2 squirrels. [yeah, he was an engineer...frakkin decimals]

Sarah’s [original honey] life is perfectly normal, thank you very much, until a one-eyed Chewbacca’s prophecy sends her on an impossible quest. Now, Sarah must survive mauve platypi, save a young jackalope, and find the true meaning of agitation.

I’ve worked on this novel for 7 months and am confident it’s the best premise ever. Thank you for your consideration,

Future best-selling author

What did your letters come out like?

Aaaaaand I’m back! Oh blog, Twitter, and books, how I missed you. My Google Reader is at 700-some unread items, but I did manage to find some great links for you:

The lovely Janice Hardy shares how to describe without being boring (a seriously helpful post). Stay tuned for a guest post from Janice on the 11^th!

Author Kiersten White gives 18 Easy Steps to Becoming a Writer that are humorous and true at the same time. (Side note: Just read Paranormalcy in a blur of awesomeness and it’s as fantastic as everyone is saying. Read it now!)

Agent Mary Kole tackles specifics in setting. Instead of making your setting general, like an “every town,” give details that let the reader relate that specific place to somewhere they understand.

Debut middle grade author Jacqueline West tackles Guide to Literary Agents blog’s “7 Things I’ve Learned So Far.” My favorite is number 5: “Remember that you’re working in clay, not stone.”

Weekly link of awesome: OK, this isn’t book-related, but I’m guessing I’m not the only one who suffers from cheese nub remnant issues, so enjoy the recipes from Saxelby Cheesemongers!