What's Up With Your WiP?

My snuggly kittens to make you smile

I haven't done a post like this in awhile, so I thought it might be fun to fill everyone in on where I am with my Works-in-Progress (WiPs).

And then I want to hear from all of you. What are you working on?

Seagull Rising: This is my contemporary YA currently on submission with editors. I'm not actively working on it. Trying not to think about it at all, actually. (Survival)

The Crazy Part: I finished the second draft on this one approximately a week ago. I was at the hair-pulling stage, so when a couple of my awesome critique partners asked if I had anything for them to read, I said YES in big letters. I'm hoping their feedback, plus a little distance from the project, will help me dive back into it with a new clarity in a few weeks.

Red Butterfly: Meanwhile, I'm working on this novel again. This one has been hard. Writing the first draft was torture. Writing the second draft was like nails on a chalkboard. And still, after all that suffering, the voice was wrong for YA. I wrote a new opening a while ago and then let it sit while I finished the CRAZY draft. When I read it again the other day it was like, "UGH! THIS BELONGS IN THE TRASH!" So I'm starting afresh. I am accepting that maybe this isn't a YA story at all. So I'm going MG. But since it's such a heavy subject (abandonment, betrayal, secrets and lies), I'm switching to verse.

I have about thirty-five poems so far.  I'm shooting for over 100.

I'll keep you posted....

Now it's your turn to share! On to the comments!

Guest Post: IVAN Makes an Impact

I'm so excited to welcome one of my former students to my blog today.

I knew Julie Morgan when she was Julie Peebles and on the yearbook staff at Tianjin International School in Tianjin, China. I was her stressed-out, clueless yearbook adviser. We stayed in touch, thanks to Facebook, and Julie, now a special ed teacher, saw my mention of Katherine Applegate's THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN on this blog. She wrote to me a few weeks later with an amazing story. I begged her to come on the blog and share her experience.

Julie is not only a teacher, but also a talented cook. She blogs about cooking at www.cookingtherapy.org. 

Welcome, Julie!

There are moments as a teacher when you are reminded why you do this job. There are a lot of difficult things about teaching these days and unfortunately it's easy to get caught up in them and forget the beauty of watching a kid master a concept or become engrossed in a book. I recently had the opportunity to watch my class of struggling readers, most of whom have significant learning disabilities, fall in love with a book and connect deeply with a character. It was truly refreshing and encouraging, and reminded me why I do what I do. 

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate is based on a true story about a gorilla who lived in a small glass cage inside a mall for almost thirty years. After the public became aware of how he was treated he finally was moved to the Atlanta Zoo. The book is written from Ivan's perspective and is a sweet, haunting and emotional tale. Immediately you get sucked in as a reader, rooting for Ivan and the other animals. Applegate writes simply, yet with beautiful imagery and layers of complexity. My class barely skimmed the surface of all the themes she introduced and I still had students weeping at different parts of the story. 

What made this book even more powerful for my students was being able to talk to one of Ivan's former trainers. The science teacher at our school used to work with the gorillas at Zoo Atlanta, and knew Ivan well. My students interviewed her and asked her all sorts of questions about Ivan. Our adventure culminated in taking a field trip to the Zoo and seeing Ivan for ourselves! He is now 49 years old and is one of the oldest gorillas in captivity. Watching my students "meet" the character that we had all grown to love was so powerful and poignant. It was by far one of my all time favorite moments as a teacher.

As a special education teacher, I am always in search of books that are high interest yet easy enough for my struggling readers to handle. This book was challenging at times, but the way it was formatted made it seem less intimidating. One of my students; who reads at a first grade level, has behavior problems, and in general hates school loved this book so much that he would sneak it out of class in order to read more on his own. Success! If you haven't read The One and Only Ivan, add it to your summer reading list (or your child's summer reading list!) You won't be disappointed.

Have you had a profound experience with a book that you'd like to share? I'd love to read about it in the comments! 

Has anyone else read THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN? My son and I read it together and it was wonderful!

My So-Called Teenage Life Blog Hop

 

You're invited to join the 

My So-Called Teenage Life Blog Hop

June 21, 2012

hosted by Christa Desir & Yours Truly

This is going to be so fun!

 

Step One: Sign up on the linky below

Step Two: Dust off those old sappy journals or high school notebooks filled with bad poetry*

Step Three: Skim through them until you find something share-worthy

Step Four: On June 21 POST IT on your blog

Optional: We all love seeing old photos, so if you have one lying around of you as a teen, post that, too.

We'll all be hopping around peeking into each others private teenage lives on June 21. Can you imagine a better way to spend the first day of summer?

*Didn't write in a journal or compose poetry as a teenager? Have no fear! Counterfeit entries are welcome! Pretend you're a teenager and write whatever you feel. Just make sure you're using your teenage voice.

And if you're still a teenager, hey, you're going to basically rock this blog hop.

Sign up below!

New Additions

Have you seen our new additions? 

Ash and Beauty

As a heads up, tomorrow I'll be announcing the blog hop Christa and I are hosting together. This is my first time hosting a blog hop and I'm super excited!! (Hint: you may want to start dusting off those old journals, poetry notebooks and adolescent ramblings. You'll need them.)

See you tomorrow!

P.S. Do you like kitties or are you more of a dog person?

Flash Fiction Blogfest: Lightning Flashed

Lightning flashed.

Thunder answered and the light above the bathtub went out with a pop.

Faye blinked in the new darkness. Funny how one bulb could make everything feel warmer.

She groped for the plug and let the water gargle out, swirling around her thin body, her hanging skin.

She heaved herself to a stand, carefully, because last year Lois Skelpy slipped in the tub. Fell and broke both tail bone and hip. She would’ve lived forever, otherwise.

Lois had been Faye’s last friend.

Faye made it to the bathmat and fumbled for the towel. Damn if the candles weren’t downstairs in the kitchen.

But she knew this house and could walk it blind. Here she’d been born. Here she’d lived for nigh on eighty-six years, for the last fifty, alone.

She pulled on her terrycloth robe, shivering as she tied the knot in front.

Another flash lit the room and Faye saw her father standing at the sink, head cocked back, a razor poised under his chin.

Her heart leapt dangerously.

“Daddy?” Her voice resonated in the swallowing dark.

Thunder cracked.

Faye shuffled forward, her ropey hands holding the robe closed at her neck.

She smelled the pomade from his hair, the zingy scent of his aftershave. She heard him whistling “Black Water Blues” under his breath, low so as not to wake Mama.

The idea of Mama sleeping peacefully in the next room choked her. It was too wonderful.

“Daddy,” she whispered.

She reached out, but her hand slipped through air.

A gust of wind smacked the house and rain started, rattling the window, pelting the oak leaves.

Another flash and Faye knew she was alone.

“Daddy always loved a good storm,” she said aloud. But it was only an explanation to the medicine cabinet.

**

Thanks to Cherie for hosting this blogfest!

Bloggy Writerly Friends - have you ever tried your hand at short fiction? Do you enjoy it?

California Beginnings & Endings

Despite all the Disneyland craziness, the REAL reason we went down to California was to attend my brother's wedding.

My brother asked the dashingly handsome sidekick to be a groomsman, and his fiance asked our three older girls to be flower girls and our son to be a page boy.

I had never heard of the page boy role before, but apparently page boys carry the bride's train as she comes down the aisle.

Part of the page boy's outfit was a pink bow tie.

Son was not too happy at the prospect of a pink tie. But then we pulled out a picture of the DHS back in 1984 at HIS uncle's wedding, sporting a pink tie AND cummerbund and that made Son feel a lot better. If Dad could pull it off, so could he.

The wedding went off without a hitch and the happy couple are now vacationing on an Alaska cruise.

We danced the night away at the wedding reception Saturday night and were up early on Sunday to catch a flight north.

Dad, Mom, Sister, Aunt, Uncle, Cousins.... (Notice I've kicked off my heels to dance)

It was tough saying goodbye. I saw my sister crying and that set me off. It's especially hard when we say goodbye to my Hong Kong family because we rarely have concrete plans for seeing each other again. The last time my sister saw my three middle kids (before this trip) was over two years ago. My almost-four-year-old was Baby's age. Just one of the disadvantages of having a far-away hometown, I guess.

I wouldn't trade my upbringing in Hong Kong for anything, but man, this part of the equation stinks.

Still, we savor the times we do have together. And it makes them all the more special.

How about you? Do you live close to your family? How often do you get to see them?

California Free

This is Part 2 of our California Experience. Click here for Part 1. 

Tuesday at Disneyland was awesome because it was Daughter #2's birthday (she's the girl with the button in the picture below) and we were all feeling a lot better.

AND we got to meet Rapunzel and Flynn Rider (who was very appreciative that I called him Flynn and not Eugene) ... I admit, I'm a Rapunzel/Flynn fan girl.

Daughter #3 was enamored with Flynn.

Baby loved the carousel ... we rode often.

The dashingly handsome sidekick (DHS) and me on California Screamin'. That's one fast rollercoaster!

Most of the gang (minus my father-in-law) for the classic pic.

 

Son was chosen to be a Jedi padawan and fought Darth Maul.  

Wednesday the girls and I stayed home and the DHS and my father-in-law took the son to Lego Land. Well, that was the plan ... but it turned out to be closed! CLOSED! I guess Lego Land is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during the off-season. Go figure. They went to a naval base and boarded an aircraft carrier instead, which was very cool (but not Lego Land).

The good news was that because of a computer malfunction on our first day at Disneyland, we weren't issued our two-day passes until our second day, SO, we got a FREE DAY. Yippee!!

The bad news was that Daughter #3 and Son weren't feeling too well (same yucky virus others of us had earlier in the week). We all went anyway (minus my parents and sister). Daughter #3 spent most of the day sleeping in the stroller.

Daughter #3 on the way to Disneyland - not feeling too good.

Daughter #1 was the only one brave enough to take a picture with the Mad Hatter.

After Day #3 at Disneyland, we went to the beach to meet our friends. They lived in China with us for our last two years there and now live in Southern California. It was so good to see them all again. They have five kids, too.

Bathing beauties on the beach.

Son (left) and his good friend ... boy, they could almost be twins!

My friend and me.

All our kids ... though Daughter #1 decided to stay at Disneyland with her grandparents.

Those were our fabulous mid-week days! Check back on Friday and I'll finish the travelogue!

California Dreaming

I wish there'd been more dreaming on our California adventure, but despite the general lack of sleep, it was a sensational trip.

I brazenly told a few people before we left, "I don't think there's any way I could NOT have fun. I mean, I'm going to see my family, I'm going to Disneyland. How could I not have fun?"

Daughter #1 & Baby waiting to get on the airplane

I began to see the error of my overly-confident words the night before we left while I lay in bed WIDE AWAKE, worrying I was going to forget something. The main reason for our trip was my brother's wedding, so we had special outfits, special shoes and so on. I was terrified I would leave something that would be expensive to replace.

As it turned out, we didn't forget anything, but that sleepless night did a number on me and by the evening of our arrival day, I was sicker than a dog. Daughter #1 was sick along with me. And Baby wasn't feeling too hot, either.

That didn't stop me from eating, though. Cafe Rio steak salad seriously rocks. (Thankfully I ate this before I started feeling really bad.)

My brother, his bride-to-be, my dad, Daughter #3 ... with the remains of our Cafe Rio dinner.

Sunday was fun, because we were with family, but horrible because some of us were sick. We moved out of the hotel, moved into the rental house ... and got ready for Day #1 of Disneyland the next day.

The morning of, I loaded up on pain meds and throat lozenges and....

We had a great time, as you can see:

Space Mountain! (Best. Picture. Ever.) My mom & father-in-law are in the back row.

My beautiful sis with daughters #1 & #2.

Daughters #2 & #3 waited in a loooong line to meet princesses.

Meeting Cinderella

Snow White

Our three-year-old was starting to get a little weary at this point....

Son & I got the most soaked of anyone on Splash Mountain

Now before I leave you for the day, since the title of this post is about sleeping, I have to explain our situation in the house.

First, everyone graciously allowed us to stay in the master suite, which was AMAZING. Big jetted tub (the kids loved that!), sofas and a king-sized bed. We brought two sleeping bags, so we had three big kids on the floor and one on the sofa.

The big bed was useful because the fold out crib at the house was a little crooked. Baby slept maybe for a max of half an hour in it before waking up. So, we had her with us in the king-sized bed.

Which was great.

Except for the sheets. They were silk and inevitably slipped off. Every morning my husband and I awoke to find ourselves asleep on either side of the huge bed on the bare mattress with our baby cocooned in the middle in a wad of sheets.

So, no, there wasn't a lot of deep sleeping or dreaming going on in California, but we still had a blast. I'll plan to pick up on Part 2 on Wednesday.

Have you ever been to Disneyland? If not, do you have any desire to go?  
 

In closing, here's a little video of my sweet mom singing on Main Street. My darling mother-in-law is dancing along. Happy belated Mother's Day to all you mothers out there!