Wings and Winners

I am Icarus. 

Except instead of wax and feathers,
I'm patched together with glitter glue,
writing morsels and
cups of hot tea.
Struck by a blaze of new story lightning,
I'm going down.

That's a good thing, right?
...Right?

Muttering at walls, scribbling
"Words are my wings!" on sticky notes,
covered in ink smudges,
I'm delightedly doomed.

But not too doomed
to help with peg dolls.
Indeed!
And Ancient Greek peggies at that.
Thank you, Margaret Bloom!
 
Here is Athena, patron of wisdom, and arts and crafts!
She's an owl lady.
 
Aphrodite, patron of love.

Posiedon. Sea guy. And that's his trident.

Hera, wife of Zeus, patron of marriage.
Peacock lady.
Also compared to a cow in some circles.
Now you know.

Parthenon?

Ruler. Cardboard. Scissors. Tape. White glue. 



And now for the drum-roll, please...
we'd like to announce a winner!
 
A hearty thanks to all of you who entered
Margaret Bloom's Making Peg Dolls giveaway,
and thank you to Margaret for the fantastic blog tour.

Our winner is... Barb Davis-Pyles. Congratulations, Barb!

I hope you will all go out and find this beautiful book.
You are going to LOVE it.

And did you know SACRED DIRT has a facebook page?
"Like it" to get posts on the beautiful mess of artsy writing,
daily dirt, and parenting sent directly to your facebook feed.

Ancient Greece on the page:

Greek Myths For Young Children, by Heather Amery, ill. Linda Edwards
Explore Ancient Greece!
Greek Myths - Ann Turnbull, ill. by Sarah Young
A Gift From Zeus - Jeanne Steig, ill. by William Steig
The Adventures of Odysseus, by Hugh Lupton, Daniel Morden, ill. by Christina Balit
Aesop's Fables - Lisbeth Zwerger

Cardboard, a Contest, and a Second Chance Castle

Where would we be without second chances?

No do-overs.
No recycling.
No erasers, delete key.
No breathing room.

It makes my lips numb just thinking about it.

I live off second chances
- art, words, and everything else!
 
What if there was a colossal rule
that you could only write One Draft?
No revisions allowed?

Aside from those sainted few who write a flawless novel to publication in three weeks,
where would we be?

Mummified, probably.

For my writer friends, I'm curious:

How many drafts do you average before your manuscript's submission worthy?

And author friends:

How many drafts do you endure before you have a finished book?

I think I stopped counting after Draft Two.

Hooray for working drafts, for do-overs, for sorries and second chances!


Remember Wish baby?
A gift from my friend Margaret Bloom
of the lovely blog We Bloom Here,
Wish baby was lonely for a new house.
Oatmeal box needed a second life.
Hello, scraps and glitter!

So far, it's been castle, tower, tunnel,

car wash, observatory, teddy bear, hat... 
 
See?
Second chances!
or third, or fourth, or whatever it takes...





And speaking of second chances,
do you know about the DEVINE INTERVENTION Book Giveaway?

I just started Martha Brockenbrough's YA novel
DEVINE INTERVENTION.
Brilliant! I'm hooked!
As I mentioned here, I can't wait for you to read it!

Martha has graciously offered a free signed copy of DEVINE INTERVENTION to one lucky blog reader. Yippee!
Check out the contest here.

I'm extending the deadline to give as many of you as possible a chance to win an excellent book!
You have until noon (pst) on Sunday, June 17 to enter.
Please do, and good luck!

 

Gifts for little bookworms

Upcycled book bags are all the rage in our house,

especially when paired with great books. 

In Pip's bag:

Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback 

Fanny by Holly Hobbie

I have so much love for Joseph Had a Little Overcoat 

that I have nothing to say -

other than that it is utterly brilliant and wow-ing in all respects. 

In the spirit of such clever thriftiness,

Pip's owl bag was made from my favorite overalls.

I loved those overalls, but the nineties are over. 

My toothy six year-old will have more fun with them. 

Pip's bag has scrappy, feathered wings that spread out

or button in

with ric-rac and button eyes

and grandpa's old tie for the strap.

Winnie's panda bag

is made from old jeans,

a belt, buttons and more of those lovely scraps

(thank you, Sharon Clark!).

What Winnie found in her bag:

Fanny and Annabelle by Holly Hobbie

Chameleon's Colors by Chisato Tashiro

Holly Hobbie's books are at the top of our list because 

girls who read 

and make their own dolls

and write their own books? 

- well, we can't help liking those kinds of girls around here.

Read on, my friends!

Write happy!

Make things

and have joy!

When Elves Visit

When elves visit,
be they wee bairns,
or white-whiskered and jolly

it is best to
provide snacks

and woolly stockings. 

Might I also suggest

a means of documentation -

for doubters, and writers alike.

How else will people believe us?

I've started keeping a notebook and pens at the ready, 

in case elves, or story lightning strikes.

from How Six Found Christmas - Trina Schart Hyman

Story lightning is what happens to writers

when they are competently going about their business, 

holding a conversation perhaps 

and without warning, they stutter to a stop 

and stare off into space. 

The muse has hit,  

a problem with the novel has clicked into place,

fresh inspiration has upended over their heads, 

or ...

elves.

I am pretty sure that Clement C. Moore

had his handy Moleskine notebook

tucked into a pocket of his pajama gown

ready for such a visitation.

The shoemaker and his wife, as well.

The Elves and the Shoemaker - Freya Littledale, Brinton Turkle

The Elves and the Shoemaker - Jacob Grimm, Jim LaMarche

How do you prepare for elves

and story lightning?

Birdy's bonnet is my latest whim. 

I cut up a red sweater that never wore right, 

stitched it and added flower ribbon. 

Voila.

More visitation stories I love:

How Six Found Christmas - Trina Schart Hyman 

What Men Live By - Leo Tolstoy

The Rainbabies - Laura Krauss Melmed, Jim LaMarche

Tom Thumb - Richard Jesse Watson

One Wintry Night - Ruth Bell Graham, Richard Jesse Watson