A New Season

It's that time of year again - fall - such a sweet, but melancholy time of year. I'm surrounded by fluttering gold and September prairie-blue sky. The Canada geese honk overhead as they do their annual practice runs, and a variety of birds like flickers and these little yellow canary-like ones, pass through the yard on their southern migration route.

It's time for sweaters and socks, soup and hot chocolate. Nature is awesome. So predictable, so messy, and so powerful. Soon I won't be sitting out here on the deck. I'll be huddled inside and turning up the thermostat.

But in the meantime, there's autumn. Time to play Autumn's Here by Hawksley Workman!

Lumsden, CANSCAIP & Shane Peacock

Back from the CANSCAIP conference in Lumsden and I'm ready to continue tackling the challenging (yes!) career of being a children's author. There was so much inspiration at the retreat that I feel quite empowered. The Saskatchewan hospitality was as warm and genuine as ever.

I met many wonderful people and came home with a bundle of books that I can't wait to read.

I'll review them here over the next six weeks or so (and continue to share, as I process the workshops' info.)

I'm focusing on Shane Peacock's Boy Sherlock series at the moment. Shane was the keynote speaker at the conference and he shared with us his slow start, but then determined road to success. He credits Robertson Davies (one of his U of T instructors) as the connection who helped open doors to the publishing world. It's always good to get that one link, isn't it?

For me, I think it was Miriam Toews. And while she didn't get me a contract, she helped me along, and for her confidence in me, I'll always be grateful.

I got to sit next to Shane at lunch on Sunday. Our whole table was delighted with his presence. One nugget I learned from him that I'll share here is: decide what your book is about in one word. ONE word! It's a simple enough challenge.

Anyway. Back to the books.

2011 Prairie Horizons

Tomorrow I head out west for the bi-annual prairie CANSCAIP conference. It's the only writing conference I get to attend this year, so I plan to enjoy every minute of every workshop.

Shane Peacock is the featured speaker. I'm reading his book, Eye of the Crow right now. It was the winner of the Arthur Ellis Award in the Juvenile category. Very much enjoying it.

Sad News

The kulak's daughter is gone. My mom died unexpectedly yesterday morning. There'll be an obit in the Saturday Free Press. The funeral is on Wednesday, August 24th, 10 a.m. over at Chapel Lawn, 4000 Portage. Her body will be put next to my dad's. Her name has been on the marker for more than 18 years - waiting for her final year to be entered. Now it will say: 1919 - 2011

I think she died at peace with life. She was looking forward to getting her hair done and then going to a noon hour BBQ. Just last Sunday, her and I picked fallen apples off the ground at her personal care home. It's gladiola season and her favorite flowers are blooming. I'm happy for her.

Love you always, Mom!

Happy Canada Day 2011, etc.

It's only coincidence that the last two books I read were by Mennonite writers, both from Winnipeg. This Hidden Thing by Dora Dueck received McNally Robinson's Book of the Year Award and Miriam Toews, well, I always read what she writes.

A friend asked me why the Mennonites are such good writers. Well, I'm no Mennonite, but I was raised as a German Baptist, and the two cultures have a lot in common. My theory is this: both cultures immerse their people in word-study from a very young age. (Of course, the word-study revolves around the Christian bible - but there's an easy transition from the biblical to all literature.) The other thing about being immersed in a religious culture like the Baptists is that you spend an awful lot of time reflecting and introspecting. Maybe there's other reasons, but that's my 2 cents on the matter.

HAPPY CANADA DAY! Let's enjoy our freedom. What a wonderful country. Let's work on keeping it that way.

By the way, Dora Dueck's book was a compelling read and her use of metaphor was simply exquisite! It very much deserved the 2011 Book of the Year Award.

comparing two exiles

Finished reading between shades of grey by Ruta Sepetys (Philomel Books). It's a story about the exile of Lithuanians during WWII. Siberia. Long trips in freight trains. Stalin. Sound familiar? I was totally surprised by the number of parallels to The Kulak's Daughter.

Let me list some of these similarities. (SPOILER ALERT!)

1. This story, like mine, is based on family history.

2. Narration is in first person. Sepetys uses a 15/16 year old girl named Lina. I use an 11/12 year old girl named Olga.

3. The pre-existing conditions. Suspicion. Who betrayed them? Why were they chosen for exile?

4. The conditions during the horrible freight train trip. Death of an infant.

5. A rock. Both characters carry around a special rock.

6. Both Lina and Olga are separated from their fathers. Both hope for reunification.

7. Both girls have a younger brother who is important to the story.

8. Both girls witness the death of their mothers under exile conditions.

9. Both girls have the saddest birthdays ever in their remote exile camps.

10. In both books there is a guard who shows limited kindness. (Sepp and Kretzky).

11. Both girls meet a boy at camp who teaches them survivor skills. (Sasha and Andrius)

There's a decade between these two novels. The Kulak's Daughter happens when Stalin's first Five Year Plan is executed - for collectivization. Sepetys' novel, between shades of gray, is set during WWII when Stalin focused on removing the intellectual class from the Baltic countries. So Olga's exile was to destroy an economic class, and Lina's exile had to do with the destruction of a country. However, to have a 1941 character call it genocide (page 182) is incorrect. The word was not coined until 1943.

The guards in my book are called the OGPU, while in Sepetys they have morphed into the NKVD. This changeover would have occurred in 1934. (I did an earlier blog post about the name changes.)

I am thrilled to see a growing body of literature that focuses on Stalin's atrocities. I hope that students will continue to have opportunities to study and discuss world issues. It's only through enlightenment that the darkness goes away. I urge everyone to read this book.

write on!

It's not that I don't want to post more often - because I do. It's just that I spend very little time online right now. When I do get a chance to use the laptop I realize how disconnected I've become to the online world of children's writers.

All's not lost, though. I'm working on a new project, I have a great new critique group, and I'm reading some very good books. Just finished Miriam Toews' new release, Irma Voth, and loved it. I like the way her story developed, closer and closer to the SECRET and then it's out and everything else falls into place. Miriam Toews was writer-in-residence at our local library a few years past - just before her breakthrough novel, A Complicated Kindness, was released and she was most encouraging and supportive with my then unpublished manuscript of my first book.

(I say first - fingers crossed and working hard - so that it will not, hopefully, be my only published book.) Toews' writing is funny, smart and oh so sensitive. I keep hoping that if I read enough great books, I'll eventually write one. On the other hand, reading a great book is a reward in itself.

Besides the reading, writing, and critiquing, there's also a garden to be edited (or weeded, watered, and talked to). There are various young people drifting through my house - usually in a hurry - looking for food, socks, head phones, rides, car keys - or even - a bit of encouragement.

Then there's the day job. Big changes in the last month. It's a good thing I like walking because with my new route I'm walking two hours more a day. You know what they say, what doesn't break you, only makes you stronger. I feel strong. But all I really want to do is get my next book published. So, write on, I shall.

Happy writing, reading, editing, and gardening to everyone.