Restless

I've never been all that good at sitting around with nothing to do. I've only been on forlough for three days, and I've already flowen the coupe. Yesturday, after I finished folding the laundry and vacuming, I decided to go to the beach. I was really rainy, and even hailed a few times, but my beach trip was still preferable to sitting around the house board.

I drove the 90 miles west from Portland to the coast, then since the weather didn't lend itself well to building sand castles or playing in the surf, I just turned south on 101 and drove for several hours enjoying the senery out the car window.

There were a few sun breaks long enough for me to get out and look around a bit. At one point I attempted to go for a walk on the beach. But the tide was super high (porbably because of all the rain). When one big wave came in, I had to race up the steps to a beachfront hotel to avoid getting caught in the water. The wave covered 100% of the sand. After that, I figured enjoying the view from my car's windshield was probably the way to go.

While I was driving, I also listened to "Juliet, Naked" by Nick Hornby. The more books of his I listen to, the more I find myself loving Nick Hornby. All of his novels are so different from one another. It seems the only unifying theme is that they are all highly entertaining. He creates very believable and interesting characters.

So I had a lovely day. And just to make my land locked readers jealous, here are a few pictures I took during the sunbreaks.

When I got home last night, my husband asked me "What are you doing tomorrow? Driving to Seattle?"

A trip to Seattle does sound like fun. But I think I'm going to be good and try to stay in town today. I'm thinking maybe a trip to the art museam this afternoon after doing some research at the university library might be a more prudent use of my time.

Joke of the Day

How can you tell if a chicken has ADD?

It gets distracted by that exciting yellow line, and doesn't make it across the road.

Call Me Domesti-Kate

Thanks to the crappy state of the economy, I am on furlough for the next two weeks. When I told my husband, the first thing he said was, "Great, now the house will be clean and there will be lots of really great food for dinner."

This may sound very chovenistic, but normally my husband totally wears the apron in our relationship. I'm not very good at noticing dirt. So when we are both working, my husband does more than 50% of the domestic work.

To my own credit, I did load the dishwasher and do two loads of laundry yesterday. But I also went to the library and got 14 books about Ancient Peobloans. At the end of this furlough, I doubt our house will be any cleaner than it was last week. But hopefully I will have made a big dent in my research for this book I'm trying to write.

Vocabulary the Pest

Over the past few years, I’ve done a pretty good job of familiarizing myself with the young adult book market. But the new historical fiction series I’m starting stars a nine year old, not a sixteen year old. So now on top of brushing up on my archeology, I also have to learn about the exciting world of children’s literature.

After visiting a couple of bookstores and doing some on-line research, it appears that children’s books fall into three basic catigories. First there are picture books. Then there are “early reader” chapter books. These books are typically 3,000 to 10,000 words and contain very simple and repetitive language. Even though the text is divided into short chapters, there are often illustrations on almost every page. These books are geared towards children just starting to read on their own, typically between kindergarden and second grade.

After the “early readers”, books jump directly to “middle grade”. Middle Grade books are described as being for 9-12 year olds. They are books for tweens and often involved middle school aged characters, think Harry Potter. MG books can be as short as 25,000 words, but often extend to 45,000 words or more.

Since I hope to have my series star a nine year old, it was originally hard to tell where my series would fit. Is it an early reader or middle grade? I desided to search for other well known books with 8-10 year old characters. After visiting multiple book stores, I can attest that “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing”, “Harriet the Spy”, “Amber Brown is Not a Crayon”, and “How to Eat Fried Worms” can all be found in the middle grade section.

To give myself an idea of what type of language is used in these books, I picked up a bunch of younger spectrum MG books to examine sentence structure, word length, ect. I started out by reading Beverly Cleary’s classic, “Beezus and Ramona”. Naturally the first thing I noticed was that Ramona is a gazillion times cooler than Beezus. I actually pity any kid that identifies with Beezus. No nine year old should be that uptight.

The second thing that I noticed while reading “Beezus and Ramona” was how difficult the story was to read. There were many complex compound sentances that strung together so many clauses I had to stop and go back in order to figure out what was happening. I have to admit that as a child I was a huge Ramona fan. I loved Ramona. I wanted to be Ramona. And I eagerly listened to every Ramona tale my parents were willing to read me. But I think this reading of “Beezus and Ramon” last weekend may have been the first time I ever successfully read a Beverly Clearly book to myself.

In “Beezus and Ramona” the character of Beezus is nine and the character of Ramona is four. I remember my parents reading me Ramona books before bed when I was in kindergarden. And I expect most second and third graders would love to read about Beezus and Ramona on their own, assuming they can decode all the words. But this book doesn’t just have long complex sentances. It also has tons of multisylabic words. Beezus is constantly getting exasperated with Ramona. Seriously, how many seven year olds do you know that even know what exasperated means? And how many of them would want to keep reading after they found that word on the second page of a novel about a four year old?

I am extreamly dyslexic, and obviously had a different early reading experience than the average child. When I was in second grade, I didn’t know the alphabet and wasn’t reading anything. Still, I’m sure I wouldn’t have been capable of decoding “Beezus and Ramon” until I was well into high school. I don’t think I ever fell more than five or six years below grade level, so I seriously doubt there are very many modern second and third graders who can read this book without difficulty. I still remember shedding tears as an eleven year old when I continued to struggle and fail to read about Ramona.

I know many people think putting large words in children’s literature helps kids develop vocabulary. But I still think authors writing for young readers should think about readability when considering word selection. Forget about the agrivation of a pesky little sister. I can tell you, there is nothing more exasperating for an early reader than being unable to unlock your favorite book. I loved Ramona Quimby as a kid. I still love her now. She’s quirky and funny and overflowing with life. But Beverly Cleary was my least favorite author as a kid. I hated not being able to read her books more than all the others.

Obviously, kids today want stories more exciting than “See spot run.” But I would like to make a promise to all my future readers. I will never use the word exasperate in a novel whose intended audience is under the age of ten. I will limit my sentances to two clauses. And I will consider both familiarity and phonix when using words with more than three sylables.

Joke of the Day

Why is monosylabic such a long word?

Modern Story Telling

This past week I had the last class in my 10 week writing class. I haven’t blogged much about the class, ‘cause I generally find other peoples notes on writing classes boring and figured nobody cared.

But this morning I was reading Steph In The City’s blog about how nobody reads books anymore and everyone watches movies, and it made me think about my writing class. The purpose of the class was plotting. Students brought in outlines and talked about holes in story structure. The idea is that simply workshopping scenes doesn’t do any good, if that scene doesn’t belong in the story to begin with.

But here is the real crux of the class. The teacher, Marc Acito, began by lecturing on the basic three act format of movies. Screen plays are very formulaic. Sure they can have any number of plot lines, but they always start with an establishing shot, then about 5% of the way into the story there is an away we go moment. Then 25% of the way in there is a huge left turn (Start of Act 2). The point of no return comes at the stories midpoint. Then at the 75% point all hope is lost (Start of Act 3). The climax happens about 95% of the way in and the final details are wrapped up in the last few minutes.

It doesn’t matter if you are watching an action movie, a romantic comedy, or a Disney cartoon. That is the formula for which all movies are based. If a screen play doesn’t follow the 3 act structure, it wont find a major producer. Marc’s idea is that since movies are the major medium through which stories are currently told, a book is more likely to resonate with a reader if it follows this structure.

I actually think that he’s right. When I read classics that have tons of backstory, or drag out long after the climax, it tends to agrivate me. They are often really good stories, but are told in a format that no longer resinates. We are now a people who see the world via the silver screen, and have a hard time comprehending stories told in other formats.

That being said, I’ve all but completely given up on movie watching. There was once a time when I watched tons of movies, when I would have already seen every film nominated for an achedimy award. But that time is long past. I almost never go to the movie theater and simply wait for things to come out on video. I belong to netfilx, but I don’t have cable, so I find myself mainly order dvd’s of TV shows. I typically read (or listen to) 20 books per month. But I rairly watch more than two movies per month.

When a movie comes out that is based on a book, the added media attention often clues me in that I should check out the book. But it never makes me want to see the movie. If given the choice between a book and a movie, I know the book is always better. The only time I ever watch movies based on books is when I’ve read and loved the book and want to see what they did with the movie version. Naturally this always leaves me feeling very disapointed.

What do you think? Am I alone on my solitary island of perfering books to movies? Or will others come back around and discover that no amount of CGI can compete with your own imagination?

Joke of the Day

A clear conscience is a sign of a bad memory.

Hey You Guys

I’m busy researching the native peoples who lived in cliff dwellings in the Colorado Plato 800 years ago. I plan to feature these people in the first installment of the time traveling children’s adventure series I hope to write.

So far, the most difficult problem I’ve found is trying to figure out what to call these native people. The historic word used to discribe them is Anasazi. This term has recently gone out of fassion. It is a Navajo word that means “ancient enemy”. Pollitical correctness dictates that we can’t call these people enemy, so the term Ancient Puebloan has been applied instead.

I find it very entertaining that a Spanish term has been used to replace an un-politically correct native term. I guess the justification is that the Ancient Puebloans moved out of their cliff dwellings about 700 years ago, and Europeans didn’t arrive in this continent until 200 years later. So the Spanish were never the “enemy” of these people, they just oppressed their decendents.

So who are the decendants of these ancient people? Clearly not the Navajo. The Navajo are actually Athabaskan people, and are very closely related to the Chippeway. The Navajo didn’t migrate from the Northeast to the Southwest until after European settlers began moving into the Northeast in large numbers. So the Spanish may have actually arrived on the Colorado Plato before the Navajo.

The people that did desend from the ancient cliff dwellers are the Hopi, Taos, Zuni, Keres, and other modern Puebloan peoples. The most logical term used to discribe the ancient cliff dwellers is “Hisatsinom”, which means “ancestor” in Hopi. The problem is that calling the Ancient Peobloean people “Hisatsimom” would liguistically exclude the Taos, Zuni, and others from their lineage. So for the time being the politically correct term for a native peoples who “disappeared” centuries before Europeans arrived on this continent is Spanish.

Here is another fun names for native peoples fact I’ve learned. The term “Navajo” is a Hopi word that means “newcomers”. It’s not quite as bad as “enemy” but it’s still a big streatch from “Dine” the word the Navajo use for themselves, which means “the people”.

I have no idea what I’m going to call the people in my book once I get around to writing it. But I am having a good time learning about them.

Joke of the Day

New evidence has come out to prove that dog is man's best friend. Put your dog, your cat, and your spouce in the trunk of your car and drive around for an hour. Then open the trunk and see which one is happy to see you.

Characters Gone Wild

The debate of what is “apropriate" in YA literature will never end. Personally, I don’t have a problem with edgy topics – when they are handled properly. People make mistakes, it’s a big part of being human and a huge part of growing up. Smart people learn not only from their own mistakes but also from the mistakes of others. If a kid sees their older sibling suffer the consiquences of poor choices, hopefully they will be less likely to make the same choices when they come of age.

Similarly, a well written book can shed light on the reality of teenage behavior. That doesn’t mean YA books should be preachy, it just means that when a character makes poor choices they should experience the uncomfortable consiquences in a natural way. Some of the best YA books I’ve ever read have covered topics as “edgy” as eating disorders, drug/alcohol addiction, teen sex, death of a loved one, rape, and suicide. The books that I do have a problem, are the books that present a world view saying these things are okay. Bad behavior shouldn’t be rewarded.

I recently read an article Bad Romance (or, YA & Rape Culture) that explains in great detail how the book Hush, Hush teaches teen readers that rape is okay. When I read the book, I never found myself thinking about rape, but I did find myself hating Nora. She was the classic “to stupid to live” character. Her life was literally in dange, someone tired to killer her multiple times thoughout the story, and she didn’t do anything about it.

Nora lived in an issolated farm house on the outskirts of town. Her single mom had to travel for work, so Nora was often left home alone for weeks at a time. When her killer/staulker starts appearing in her bedroom, she didn’t tell her mom. Why? Because then her mom would want to quit her job and they might even have to move into town. Wouldn’t those be good things? The article I linked to gives lots of great examples about how Nora’s improper dealings with scary lab partner/suspected killer reinforce rape culture.

The crazy thing is that Hush, Hush is a very popular book. It hasn’t quite reached Twilight status, but it’s getting there. And it’s the first book in a series. In a few years dark angles may replace vampires as the paranormal heart throbs in vogue. I have to admit that I read Hush, Hush in one sitting. It is very gripping, and managed to keep me up until 2:00 am. All that danger and distruction did encourage me to keep reading. It wasn’t until I finished the book that I stopped to think, “Wow, I really hated that heroine. In fact, I kind of wish she had died. It would have served her right.”

My feeling that a stupid heroine deserves to die, might not be to far from the idea that a stupid girl deserves to be raped. And I don’t think that. If this was real life, I wouldn’t think Nora deserved to die either. I just think this book did a very bad job of realistically showing the consiquences of poor choices. If Nora had been raped or maimed, or somehow forced to suffer from her lack of self preservation instincts, at least that would send a message to readers – hey don’t act like this. Instead, she escapes the pearls surrounding her to make room for a sequil. And the only lesson learned is that scary deadly dark angles are hot.

Joke of the Day

A schoolgirl was thrilled when she found a book in the library called How to Hug?

It turned out to be volume eight of an encyclopedia.

Nap Time

The news that Spain is considering making the siesta an official national cultural tradition is a bit of a joke. Animal activists perposed the idea after a resent move to elevate the status of bull fighting. But the nappers may be onto something. Perhaps the rest of the world should follow Spain’s lead and start napping more frequently.

A resent study from Berkley shows that napping increases brain functioning. Perhaps if we all napped for an hour or two after lunch we would be more productive during the final hours of the afternoon.

The brain is a muscle. When it is overstressed, it gets tired, just like any other muscle in the body. And a good strong brain workout should cause just as much fatigue as a trip to the gym. Napping is then the body’s way of resting the well excersized brain muscle.

Personal experience tells me that the connection between nap-time and cognative development is real. As a dyslexic child, reading always made me extreamly sleepy. I would try and try and try to sound words out. Then I would need a nap. After I took the SAT, I think I slept for about a week.

My grandmother has recently begun to show evidence of the need to nap as well. She has alsimers disease, and has slowly been loosing her memory for about ten years. At a recent appointment with her doctor, my grandfather mensioned that she has been napping for several hours everyday. The doctor didn’t think this was any sign of a physical problem. Instead he reminded my grandfather that my grandmother is constantly excersizing her brain muscle as she tries to remember minor details of her life. It’s no wonder she’s so sleepy.

My grandmother recently moved from an independent living apartment in a retirement home to an assisted living apartment in the health center of her retirement home. In her new apartment she is in a less stressful environment, where she is not required to remember as many aspects of day to day life. The result – less naps. As early as a week after moving into her new place, my grandmother stopped requiring as many naps.

So if you don’t need a siesta every afternoon, does it mean you’re so smart that your brain can handle any task you throw at it? Or does it mean you’re so lazy, you’re barely even breaking a cognitive sweat? I’m with Spain on this one. I say, lets start thinking, and lets start napping. Who’s got a pillow?

Joke of the Day

A patient went to see the doctor and had a series of tests run. The doctor came back with the results and said, “Well, it’s not good. I have bad news, and I have worse news.”

“Oh no,” said the patient. “Give me the worse news first.”

“You have advanced liver cancer. I expect that you have about six weeks left to live.”

“Oh my goodness, that’s horrible. What’s the bad news?”

“You have alsimers,” said the doctor.

“Yeah, that is bad news. But at least I don’t have a terminal illness.”