What pirates do before they pillage...
How do you reach your inner pirate?
How do you get in touch with your characters?
And even more importantly,
do you dress up?
If I was Jo in Little Women, I'd scribble novels
in writing smock and red beret.
As Harriet Vane in Gaudy Night, I'd jot down mysteries in garnet silk dressing gown, armed with ample cups of tea and cream scones.
But in real life, I am dull as toast.
I wear comfortable, mostly black clothes,
type on the laptop, scribble in notebooks,
do small art
in my small corner
and drink coffee
(decaf! )
with animal crackers.
my corner "studio"
squashed into the corner of our dining room.
This
is where
I write.
My home
for short slips of time,
usually when the little guys nap
I nurse a hot mug
and dive deep
to other worlds,
draft cities,
waft characters
onto page
and into breath
craft injuries, death,
sparks and embers,
and then return
to
the squashed corner of the dining room,
to the end-of-nap time
and rolling snowball of day's end.
but if I could get away with it, I'd dress up...
clown around,
play gingerbread girls
or princess Leia x2
What is your secret
for getting into character as you work?
Do you have a magic rubber chicken,
a writing shawl, a special bottle of writing potion,
perfume, massage chair, a pair of slippers?
Give me your tips. I'd love to know!
Book Love:
Pirate Girl by Cornelia Funke, illustrated by Kerstin Meyer
Thy Friend, Obadiah by Brinton Turkle
Obadiah the Bold by Brinton Turkle
How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long, illustrated by David Shannon
The Serpent Came to Gloucester by M.T. Anderson, illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline
Although not pirate-themed, you must see this modern classic.
I am absolutely wowed by Bagram Ibatoulline's illustrations. The text is ballad style, clean and lilting as a sea shanty, the art intricate and masterful as an old world wonder.
