Posted on February 9, 2010 by Elisabeth Crisp
“Mama, listen to this. ‘Questions exploded inside Harry’s head like fireworks and he couldn’t decide which to ask first.’ Isn’t that cool?”
We are on our way to school. Coco’s sitting in her booster seat, wearing her Princess Jasmine glasses with her nose in Harry Potter and the Sourcerer’s Stone. Thank you, J.K. Rowling. My second grader has seen the movie, knows the story, can recite all the Hogwart’s jargon, but until now, she hasn’t been interested in reading without a threat or a reward. This week, she’s discovered the thing the rest of us already know. Reading is fun.
Filed under: Aha!, Joined at the Heart, Mouths of Babes, Writers Write | Tagged: books, children's books, family, writers, writing | 4 Comments »
Posted on February 8, 2010 by Elisabeth Crisp
I kept thinking I’d find something worthy to write about. Since I haven’t, here’s a list of the not-so-exciting things happening around Crispworld.
1/29 Ate at Guenther House.
1/30 Took the girls to Chinese.
2/1 Bacon had a job interview. Bought groceries. Took the dog to the vet.
2/2 Bacon worked at Pearson.
2/2 Ate Cheetos and salty hot dogs at Open House at the girl’s school.
2/3 Hung art on the wall above the new television. Made two trips to Hobby Lobby for assorted hanger things.
2/4 Bought new lamps.
2/6 Took the girls to Chinese, again. Happy Birthday, BBC2. (Sorry I didn’t call.) Cleaned flower beds.
2/7 Watched the Superbowl on the new television. Go Saints! Bacon rooted for Indy. Grumbling ensued.
2/8 Bought groceries, again.
I worked on the book everyday.
Filed under: Housekeeping | Tagged: family | Leave a Comment »
Posted on January 29, 2010 by Elisabeth Crisp
A week ago, I got a call from Bacon:
“You need to come home.”
“Why? I’m at Target.”
“Did you hear that?”
“No.”
“You can’t hear that?”
“Bacon, I can’t hear anything over the phone. What is it?”
“I don’t know. It’s a big popping sound, and I can’t figure out where it’s coming from.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Come home.”
Before I got there, he had found the source. The television sat on the floor in middle of living room.
“Listen.” He plugged the device into an electrical outlet.
When I was in college theatre, we simulated gunshots by holding a board vertically, one hand on the up end and one foot on the down end. When it was time, we let go and stepped down at the same time. The board made a sound bigger than a firecracker, but less than a cannon. That was the noise erupting from our television.
Bacon unplugged the I.E.D. and carried it out to the garage.
Filed under: Housekeeping, Noxious Evils, Writers Write | Tagged: asking for help, family, writers, writing | Leave a Comment »
Posted on January 22, 2010 by Elisabeth Crisp
Cherry and I were arguing last week about the news. She wanted to watch. I said no.
When I was ten no one stopped me from watching. Every night, I waited for Huntley or Brinkley or Cronkite to announce the death toll for the day. My brothers served back to back tours in Vietnam. I knew more about the geography of south east Asia than the average ten year old. I also had an adult case of worries.
So, I’ve sheltered my kids from the news. Especially the local report full of child molesters and drive-by shootings. Which leads back to the argument with my ten year old.
“Why can’t I watch?”
“Because I don’t want you to worry.”
“Why would I worry?”
“I don’t want you to think about every murderer and molester on the news. You’re ten.”
“Isn’t it better to know about those people and be prepared than to pretend they don’t exist?”
I’ve made the argument hundreds of times. Here, my baby makes it back to me. She’s right, of course. Its better to be prepared for the evil in the world. Reluctantly, I let her watch.
Filed under: Joined at the Heart, Mouths of Babes, Noxious Evils, Writers Write | Tagged: family, writers, writing | Leave a Comment »
Posted on January 20, 2010 by Elisabeth Crisp
Here are a few of my favorite things from this week on the web.
Stephen Elliott has a book promotion idea that sounds like the beginning of a new book. He traveled to out of the way locales to do readings in front of not-so-literary audiences, crashing on sofas and eating cupcakes. His book tour on-the-cheap isn’t for me, but I loved reading about it.”The D.I.Y. Book Tour.”
Agent Nathan Bransford has guest bloggers this week. This post by Myrlin A. Hermes is terrific. “How To Make a Book Trailer.”
Also, from the same blog post–royalty free music for short movies and book trailers. The best thing about the site, besides the price, is you can plug in the emotions you want to evoke, (humorous, heroic, horror) and the index will match the music for you. Sort of like a database for background music. Very, very cool.
If you haven’t seen this yet, go there now. Nicolas Cage’s face superimposed on Frida Kahlo and King Kong is worth a laugh, definitely.
Filed under: A Zany Life, Writers Write | Tagged: book trailers, books, very funny | Leave a Comment »
Posted on January 18, 2010 by Elisabeth Crisp
I didn’t eat this morning. Instead, I got up on a ladder and felt the world drop out from under me. My balance is not what it used to be–not even close. Once, I was the girl standing at the top of the ladder, fearlesssly holding on with my calves digging into the risers, a bucket of paint in one hand a brush in the other. Like the speaker in Robert Frost’s “After Apple Picking”
My instep arch not only keeps the ache,
It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.
No more. I am wobbly. The world spins in a motion I can’t predict or identify. Once I’m steady, it does a change up. Like an NBA guard cutting around his opponent then switching directions. It fakes me out and scores over my head. So, I come down from the ladder and sit.
I like to think I have a sort of inner stability that comes with maturity–an emotional balance–a sense of the digital replacing the analog that once allowed me to stand at the edge of a precipice without diving over. Maybe I had to lose one to gain the other?
Filed under: Writers Write | Tagged: balance, compensation, dizzy, perception, Trusting Your Instincts, vertigo | Leave a Comment »
Posted on January 16, 2010 by Elisabeth Crisp
Three of the four members of my household don’t drink milk. Which means about ten years ago I should have invested heavily in soy farming. Since I didn’t, we pay a premium for the vanilla-flavored gold. I’m positive a portion of our income goes to finance black-market edamame patches in Indonesia.
But we do eat yogurt, and not just any yogurt. Every week I clip coupons, so we can pay for the pricey stuff. With flavors like Apple Turnover, Key Lime Pie, and White Chocolate Raspberry, it’s our not-so-secret indulgence. I started out buying half a dozen, but that was never enough. Arguments ensued.
“You took the last Banana Creme Pie.”
“Did not.”
“Did too.”
“That junk tastes like Laughy-Taffy.”
“Better than pink snowflake or whatever you call it.”
“Strawberry Cheesecake or Very Cherry.”
“Whatever. You ate the Banana Cream Pie.”
“I already told you. I don’t like Banana.”
“Then who ate it?”
“Bacon?”
“He likes Blueberry Patch.”
“No, he likes . . . “
“Everything.”
Now, the cart is full. Entire grocery bags of individual containers enter our house weekly. I can’t buy a case because they only come in generic strawberry and peach. Most households have a refrigerator shelf dedicated to soft drinks or beer. The middle shelf of our Kenmore is home to dozens of cone-shaped plastic containers with foil lids. We can’t get enough of the stuff.
Filed under: A Zany Life, Housekeeping, Joined at the Heart, Mouths of Babes, Writers Write | Tagged: family | Leave a Comment »
Posted on January 14, 2010 by Elisabeth Crisp
Fog this morning. Dense, wet Dark Shadows vampire fog. Sandburg said, “The fog comes on little cat feet.” I wouldn’t have used that metaphor, but I’m not a poet. By afternoon, the fog outside the window will drip, and then, the deludge will start. Our local forecasters don’t get much opportunity to make real predictions, but they tend to get this one right. Five inches by tonight, I’ve heard. I should get out of the house to walk before I’m stuck for the three or four days it takes for the rain to pass. But, it’s a writing day, and I know what I have to do.
I’m still waiting for this to get easy. And it still isn’t. I’m an incremental writer. Layer and layer and layer–a million drafts. I tweek it over and over. I don’t get the ideas or the language all at once. Instead, it’s like watching hair grow. I get a line and then trim it just so, and I watch it grow a little more before I curl it. Ridiculous analogy, I know, but I’m not Sandburg. Maybe when I’ve written ten manuscripts, I’ll be quicker, but probably not. I can say this. I know the story. I don’t have to do a dissection to understand where things are and how they fit. I know the heart and ribs and spleen. And, I have that sense of why I didn’t have last August.
At least there’s that.
So, I have the silence of fog. Sandburg’s cat feet don’t make much noise, and Lilly-the-wonderdog snores softly while she waits for me to get on with it.
Filed under: Aha!, Writers Write | Tagged: writers, writing | Leave a Comment »
Posted on January 11, 2010 by Elisabeth Crisp
It’s obvious. Every writer wants to write well, but reading the publishing news is enough to make most of us feel like Henny Penny. Or is it Chicken Little? The sky may be falling, but I’ve decided I’m not going to focus on the economy or e-readers or the fact that my local Borders store looks like K-Mart before filing Chapter 11. After reading blogs from every agent, editor, and writer on the web, I’ve decided the only advice that means anything is “Write the best book you can write.”
So that’s what I’m trying to do. It’s my only goal, my New Year’s resolution. Though I’ve deconstructed, rewritten, turned my book over to a Beta reader (Hi, Sonya), recorded then listened to the manuscript, read enough about Charles Dickens and Georgia O’Keeffe to write a dissertation, changed points of view, changed verb tenses, changed word choices, taken out the pop culture references, added the pop culture references back (Just when I got rid of Jay Leno, Oprah decided to quit,and now, Jay’s back.), watched episodes of Bonanza from the early 60’s, and read, debated, and analyzed copyright infringement on every article I could find (including a few about Charles Dickens), I still have more to do. I’m still working.
I’ll let you know when I’m finished.
Filed under: Goals, Writers Write | Tagged: Trusting Your Instincts, writers, writing | 5 Comments »
Posted on January 8, 2010 by Elisabeth Crisp
My friend Lauri posted this very cool tool. Plug in the information and the website gives you the source citation in the correct format. If only I’d had this in college.
I love Bo’s Cafe Life. Great writer jokes!
My new favorite software is Scrivener. I’ll write more about this later, but I like it enough to convert my late draft manuscript to it for rewrites.
I read about Scrivener on author, David Hewson’s blog. It’s jam-packed with great stuff for writers.
Filed under: Aha!, Writers Write | Tagged: cool links for writers, writers, writing | Leave a Comment »
crisp |krisp| adjective