J. E.

Christmas is getting closer. Now that I'm working as a Rep for a Toy Company I can see people are starting to shop. I'm busy putting out Bacugan and Tech Deck and trying to make sure stores bring in lots of product for their shelves and don't have out of stocks for Christmas. Fun and busy.

On the writing front I had a good time at the Children's Writing Festival in Calgary. I met a few really cool writers so it was a good day for me. I gave a talk on working with an agent and it was great except for the one guy who kept closing his eyes. I'm going with the I was inspiring him so much he had to close his eyes to contemplate my brilliance rather than I was boring him with my babbling...

I got the gift of a story idea from a man I spoke with at the festival and started a new story when I got home. Since it's Tuesday, which is often Teaser Tuesday in writer's land....here's a teaser.

THE URN

Chapter One- June 2011
Three weeks until we were supposed to leave. Three weeks until the holiday we’d been planning for years. Three major cities in Europe. The three mouseketeers. Making it happen.

We’d considered every detail over the last twenty four months. We’d figured out how much money we needed to make and we’d worked hard to raise it. Babysitting, waitressing and teaching little kids to swim. We’d do almost anything.

We hadn’t accounted for the one thing that could stop the trip from happening.

Jenny absentmindedly flicked a strand of long blond hair out of her eyes and pressed her lips into a thin pale line. She always played with her hair was she was nervous. I saw a boy sitting at the table behind her watching her with fascination. The air in the coffee shop was ripe with the scent of brewing coffee and filled with girls gossiping at tables, but he had his eyes locked on Jenny. She had that effect on boys. Her hair. That face. Her body. She didn’t even know how much they stared at her. She didn’t notice things like that.

“We want to take Ally with us Dad.”

Jenny’s dad didn’t say anything. His eyebrow lifted ever so slightly, not so much
you’d notice if you weren’t tuned into things like that. But people interested me and I saw the tiny twitch in his eye even as he tried to smile.

“Honey?” His voice cracked at the end of the word and his eyes filled with tears. He reached over and squeezed Jenny’s shoulder.

A longing shot through me. To be touched like that. With love.

“You can’t,” he said in a uncharacteristically soft voice.

“Yes we can. She still needs to come.”

I am thankful that phones still do not come with live video feed. Well. Except Skype. But you don't have to Skype if you don't want to. Kind of like when it's your party and you can cry if you want to. Only way different.

Anyhow. I would hate to have to make sure my hair was combed and my face looked human for phone calls. I can pretend I look polished and glamourous when really my face is bright red from running and I am a pile of sweaty goo. Er not that it's like that this very minute...just sayin.

I am thankful for my little dog Meeko who is so cute and loves me so much without me having to do anything. Well. Except feed her. Walk/run her. Give her treats. Groom her on rare occasion. Clean up her poop. Well. So little for so much back. She really is a cutie with the most fun and loving personality of any dog I've ever known. I love having a little dog I can scoop up when I want to and who will come and crawl on my lap when she's in the mood for it. And she looks like a stuffie.

Lori stared at her notebook for a moment but didn’t jot anything down. Then she looked at me. “You know this is rape, right, Ryan? It’s not okay what that woman did to your brother.”

Mom began to sob louder.

I shook my head. “No. I mean, you can’t really rape a guy. I mean, it’s not possible. Physically.” I didn’t look at Trey.

Lori flicked her pen up and down on the notepad. It sounded like a snare drum. “Just because his body responded doesn’t mean he wanted to do it. It doesn’t make it okay.”

Mom sniffled and groaned, grabbing more Kleenex.

Lori seemed a little dazed, too. I guess she hadn’t studied this scenario in psych school. She turned to Trey.

“How are you doing, Trey?”

He laughed bitterly, but it quickly turned into a choking sound. “How am I doing? I have a rash on my penis. It hurts when I pee and I have a broken leg. And on top of that I’m now sitting in a room with my mom and my brother talking about sex. With a psychologist.”

Cool show on TV as I check through my morning mail. Olympic Medals for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver are being partially made with gold, silver and copper extracted from discarded computer chips from a recyling plant. Green Medals!

Plus the Olympic Oval roof is being made with Pine wood infested by Pine Beetles. Perfectly good wod but not useable in all circumstances. But perfect for an Olympic Oval roof!

Today is my birthday. Which means, yes, I am one year older than I was on my last birthday. Funny how it goes that way.

I'm adjusting to the new schedule of working during the day. As a rep I am in my car and in and out of stores all day, and have no internet access. It's honestly a pretty fun job and I really like the company, but having no internet is hard to get used to. "Adjust I will." (best said in a Yoda voice)

I am itching to get some writing done. Have to work something out with myself and my family. Set some time to get to it.

That is all.

1. Started a new job this week. Part time gig, 30 hours a week, working as a sales rep/merchandiser. Spinmaster is a Toy company that sells toys like Bakugan, Tech Deck, Air Hogs, and Pixo's. Lots of great toys. I love this company. Canadian with an International scope, young and innovative it's well run and progressive. Thumbs up.

2. Things are quiet on the writing front. I am on a writing break, waiting for my next story to find me. Hello, story...here I am....

3. Big fat sloppy snow flakes are falling to the ground. I am supposed to be outside running in the next little while. Think I will use my free week pass at the YMCA and hit a treadmill instead. I signed up for my first 10km race in December. Chasing some elves around.

4. Way behind on my blogging. Have to catch up with my Deb interviews. So many great YA books have come out in 2009, many from Debut writers. Many more to discover right here!

5. Two of my favorite sounds are crunching fall leaves and crunching icy snow under my shoes. I have been hearing both the last couple of weeks as the weather tries to decide between winter and fall. I am voting for fall. I have plenty of time to crack ice and snow underneath my boots.


6. Tonight I get to go to a Jellybean Dance to watch Superson avoid girls and the dancefloor and run around in his Star Wars Clone costume, high on sugar and lighting up with glow sticks. Just another small example of how life changes when you become a parent.

Top 10!!! Yay for the Prophecy of the Sisters!

http://www.booklistonline.com/default.aspx?page=show_product&pid=3800094

Sitting under a blanket of snow that is covering the house, the lawn and everything else in town. It is way too early for this much snow. 2 weeks ago it was +32 Celcius. Weather is weird.

Theoren Fleury is all over the local paper today as his book is out, and confirms what many suspected. He was sexually abused by a hockey coach when he was a young teenager. Graham James is a most disgusting man who has already been convicted of molesting two other boys but he continues to coach hockey today even after a stint in jail. Such an abuse of power and so heartbreaking the effects it had on talented kids who had so much promise. In the paper, Theoren said something about being a kid who just did what he was supposed to. Shut up and listen to his coach.

I felt sort of an affinity with Theoren, even though I don't know him personally. He played in Winnipeg where I lived for many years, and my dad coached him for a brief time right before Theoren was turned over to the clutches of Graham. My dad professes to have liked Theoren and even used team funds to buy him a hockey jacket when no one from his family stepped up to buy him one. Dad says he predicted his star quality even back then. He had the drive. The fire.

Later on my parents used to see him and Sheldon Kennedy at ball games(my dad coached ball too) or around town with Graham. My mom spoke about how odd is seemed, two young boys hanging out with their coach like that, but at the time, no one said anything about it. Speculation but nothing was done. Sheldon is the player who eventually went public and charged GJ.

I remember years back when Theoren was a great hockey player when he played for the Calgary Flames.Actually I was a big Winnipeg Jets fan and kind of hated him, but respected him as a player. His personal life was obviously a mess though and got messier as time went on. Only makes sense when you think about the demons.

So. The book is now out. He tried out for the Calgary Flames this year, after being sober for 4 years. Old at 41, he didn't make it, but he was able to retire from the NHL with dignity. Rather than being kicked out for failing drug and alcohol tests when he was in the dumper.

I have a lot of respect for what he's done...the way he turned his life around. I know what it's like to be caught up in a dark hole fueled by alcohol, and I got out of one too, although I quit drinking 14 years ago. I wasn't a millionaire or well known, but I had my own demons to fight.

In some ways I suspected his comeback attempt was a good marketing ploy for the book. Right before the launch he was in the papers and on television. And now he's getting publictity out the ying yang.

But. In this case, I buy into it, no matter what the comeback was. It's a story of hope and acceptance. Maybe his story will help some other kid. Someone who for whatever reason can see a flicker of his or her own shame in what Theoren went though, and fight his or her way back. To claim dignity. To be strong. To go on playing.

Whoa. It's almost Thanksgiving here in the Great White North. Insert time flying analogies *here*.
In the past week I Ran for the Cure. Here's what I learned:

It is one of the few appropriate places for men to wear pink bra's in public. And/or pink undies.

It is also one of the few appropriate places to wear a baseball cap with fake boobs on it.

Running in the first snowfall of the season is not very fun. With wind. And wet feet.

It is very maddening when you're running a 5km race and your Garmin tells you that you're at 5km and the race is STILL GOING. I'm like...DUDES....5km ends here...do I have to keep going?? I did. I clocked the run at over 6km. Hmm. What is up with THAT??

I also went to a 4oth Birthday Party on the weekend. It's kind of sad that 40 is starting to sound youngish to me.

I went to see WHIP IT. I am filled with love for Ellen Page and Drew Barrymore. Could there be a better pairing. Along with Juliette Lewis? Girl flick. Girl power. Best empowered girl/boy moment I've seen in a movie in a LONG TIME! I am saddened it did poorly on it's debut. I hope it recovers. It rocks.

I have not written a word in over a week. Okay. That's a lie. I have written words, like emails and google searches, just not any story words. My mind always needs a mini holiday after a book is completed. But now I am bored. And the urge to write is crawling back into my fingers and my head. I have a new book I want to work on, but I may save it for Nanowrite. Can I handle an intense month of writing like a mad woman? Yeah. Probably. We shall see.

The Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards (Cybils) are now open for nominations!

http://dadtalk.typepad.com/cybils/2009/10/2009-nominations-are-now-open-.html


The perfect way to love your books! Your nominations have to be in by October 15th!

Well. I finished another book. And that feels good. Yes. Yes. It does.

But. I have spent an awful lot of time on the computer this past summer. Or on the road to the cabin building adventure with 14 hours road trips. Often. So. Let's just say it's not a pretty thing when a forty something chicker like myself doesn't exercise but does continue to eat and sits around on her butt. More than she should.

Running is kind of a love hate thing for me. Mostly it's hate. I'm not a natural runner. I have shortish legs. I'm not fast. It definitely ranks up there with chores. In the process of trying to get my butt back on the road I have a hard time with the mind over matter thing. My mind does well, mind. So it's not always a happy Janet out on the road. But. When I have a running goal, it gets easier because I have to run, or I will not be able to keep up.

So. Today in a fit of either craziness or extreme sanity, I signed up for a 10 km running class. I can knock off five km okay. I mean I'm no speedy gonzalez, let me tell you, but I can definitely finish 5 km without too much of a problem. But I have been stuck at 5 km for um. Okay. A few years. I improved my times on a few races but still, the distance thing has me licked.

But. I start Friday night. I have to do 3 runs a week. My run goal is the Catch The Elves Run on December 12. 10 km.

I also signed up for a 5km run on New Year's Eve. The resolution run.

Did I mention I live in Calgary? Canada? It might be very chilly my friends. Layering is key.

So. I will take on the challenge. 10 km in a couple of months time.

Run Janet. Run!

I don't understand the school of thought behind banning books. I really don't. I don't believe that exposing children to the harsh realities of life through literature harms them in any way/shape or form. Rather, it gives a safe outlet to explore these topics. To think about them, to see the truth in often gritty but factual, unbiased ways. It also presents an opportunity to open up dialogue--between kids talking to each other or between parents and kids or even just with themselves.

As many writers like Ellen Hopkins, Laurie Halse Anderson and Chris Crutcher have said far more eloquently than I, kids can read about issues, like drug addiction, promiscuity, rape, alcoholism, sex and countless others and deal with those issues in a safe environment. Think about the issues and see how they can impact lives or change the lives of others. Maybe books will even open up kids' minds to think about their own behaviour and change or prevent abuse for themselves.

It's a wonderful thing to discover when you're a teen, or at any age for that matter, that you are not alone in your plight or struggles. It's a gift to find something in books that can change a person's life in some way, even if it is just to open their eyes.

Every kid is going to hear the f bomb dropped more than once in real life, so why is it so scary in books?? I've heard it on the playground at elementary schools. Trying to "shield" children by not allowing books on library shelves or bookshelves is hypocritical imo.

WAITING TO SCORE tackles many difficult issues. Alcoholism. Date Rape. Suicide. But to me, it's ultimately a story about hope. About learning to make decisions for yourself and learning that actions have consequence. It doesn't preach, but it tells it like it is.

1. Had another job interview today and didn't say brainfart once. Thanks brain.

2. I went to my first step aerobic class in years last night, and it didn't even kill me. Thanks body.

3. Found the perfect nose ring. Well. Not a ring, like a big bull ring inside my nose wrapping around all the way to the other. A tiny little diamond that doesn't give me an infection or hurt. Thanks ring.

I am also thankful for many other things. There is a list inside my head. You might even be on it.

U2.


Not a grumpy statement.

Although it is a rainy day. Which is kind of okay because that means it's a good excuse to have a lazy day and I'm pretty tired from a couple nights out in a row. And nights out are not what they used to be. In many more ways than one. Which means I need a nappie. And it's raining. Serendipitous, yes??

Children's:
Picture book "Weird Al" Yankovic's first book, WHEN I GROW UP, in which an exuberant eight-year-old tells his patient teacher and amazed classmates about the astonishing variety of humorous and inventive careers he plans to pursue when he grows up, to Anne Hoppe at Harper Children's, for publication in winter 2011, by attorney Phalen "Chuck" Hurewitz at Isaacman, Kaufman & Painter

I saw Shorts with Superson and while it wasn't one of my fave movies, Superson thought it rocked. I like that Robert Rodriquez alternates an "adult" movie, like Grindhouse with a kid movie. He also did SHARK BOY which stars the soon to be swoony Taylor Lautner as Jacob in New Moon. Taylor will always be Shark Boy to me.

Which is really a lot of rambling about nothing but brings me to today's teaser. Having "finished" Weight of Bones, I'm now free to let my mind roam and linger on new projects. I thought I'd try to do something a little lighter after the drama of WOB, and have come up with a scene and a premise. More high concept than my contemporary books and quirkier without the angst of things I love like sickness and/or addiction. Here's the very rough first draft of the opening scene.


I had a sudden overwhelming urge to dance which might be all groovy times and cool if I were in a dance studio or even in the privacy of my own bedroom. Not under the watchful eye of Principal Jenkins. This was clearly no time to bust a move.
But it was ridiculous. My toes started tapping up and down. My head bobbing in time to some crazy tune in my head.

“Miss Taylor?” Mr. Jenkins said, breaking twenty minutes of enforced quiet. He likes to use the silent treatment as punishment. Not so effective on me.

My head wouldn’t stop swaying. I placed a hand on each ear and tried to hold my cranium still. I jumped to my feet and my hips started to shimmy.

From behind his desk, Bob Jenkins gave me his wiliest cranky eye. “Jax. Stop your fooling around this instant.” Bob Jenkins was clearly not amused.

“I’m sorry, Bob,” I told him and gave him my most sincere expression of pure innocence face. The one I only pull out on special occasions. But its effectiveness was lost when my feet started doing the running man.

“I have no idea why I’m dancing,” I told Bob as my feet fumbled the moves.

“This detention is not an audition for So You Think You Can Dance.”

I giggled in appreciation of Bob’s humor. Generally we appreciate each other’s quirks. But my laugh disappeared quickly because the running man turned into some serious pirouetting and slightly obscene gyrations and finally an attempt at a Michael Jackson moonwalk. I wondered if it were some sort of seizure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLJwAgyUFNc#

Every day for the past two weeks I have had every intention of going for a run or exercising in some form or fashion during the day while Superson is at school. Um. I did it once. And it was after school. After I picked up Superson.

I have had my head buried so deeply in my book that I haven't done much else. It's getting so close to being finished. Which is both exciting and terrifying. You know? Of course you do.

1. Writing is hard.

2. Revising is fun. But hard too.

3. Never ever let your child have the spray candy that they spray on their tongues. You have been warned.

4. Never let your untrained puppy off the leash to chase a rabbit thinking she is just like your old lab.

5. Vampire Diaries just might be my new show.

It is Tuesday. Summer is over. I can't decide whether to mourn or celebrate. Stay tuned.