Unnecessary Creation

Ready To Go

Today I'm starting a week-long DIY sewing retreat in my basement. I have a deadline on three projects, because they're birthday presents. There are also some things I started last year and haven't finished. Some mending. I have something in mind I'd like to do that involves denim. I have some other plans for leftover material, if I can get to it. 

I've tried doing sewing retreat weekends and only managed a few hours on Sunday afternoons, so I know this week of sewing isn't really going to be a week of sewing. I'll be at one family member's house all day Monday. I'll be visiting another for an hour on Friday. I'll be grocery shopping Wednesday morning. Those are just the time I'm going to lose that I know about and explains why I'm going Sunday to Saturday and not just Monday to Friday. 

Why A Sewing Retreat?

• I've been feeling the effects of chaos a little more than usual the last couple of months and this will allow me to fall back on my mantra, Finish Something. In fact, just preparing for this week of sewing has forced me to impose some order on my office area, as I get it organized so I can get back to work easily next week.
• I believe in the value of Unnecessary Creation. Creativity spurs creativity.

As part of this year's twentieth blog anniversary I am republishing my first post on unnecessary creation, which I've often referred to as unnecessary creativity.

Aug.13, 2013 Time Management Tuesday: Summer Reading--Spending Time On Any Kind Of Creativity

I  know that many people probably perceive focusing on managing time as very noncreative. What about art? What about literature and music and those fields that are, I think, rather stereotypically considered creative? Shouldn't we be focusing on something like that?

I have a very practical attitude toward creativity. Creativity is simply the act of making something that did not exist before. Whether we're talking painting a landscape or baking a cake or writing a novel or building a house, we are talking creativity. Making something that did not exist before takes time. Big, big connection between time and creativity, in my humble opinion.

Manage Your Day-to-Day 's section on creativity includes an essay by Todd Henry called Creating for You, and You Alone. Now, remember, Manage Your Day-to-Day doesn't deal specifically with writers or artists but with all types of "creatives," people who need to come up with something that didn't exist before as part of their work This particular essay deals with people who work creatively in their jobs, but need to stay on a particular creative task. Exercising other aspects of their creativity is difficult for them, though doing so might be good for their day job, in addition to anything else they want to do with their lives.

Why am I interested in this essay when I write here for writers who presumably create for themselves all the time? Well, actually, we don't. Many writers have traditional day jobs that require creativity of them quite apart from the creative work they want to do for publication. Creating for themselves has to happen in addition to that. I also know writers who do work-for-hire, writing specific nonfiction books, for instance, for a particular publisher or writing volumes for series fiction. Earlier this year I met an illustrator who had "auditioned" for and won a rather nice assignment illustrating some children's books for a known cable chef. She expects to be tied up with that job for two years. For  many working writers and illustrators, this really is an issue.

Todd writes about what he calls "Unnecessary Creation," which he believes "is essential for anyone who works with his or her mind." He's talking about creative acts--making something, anything, that didn't exist  before--that are unrelated to an individual's work. "...something about engaging in the creative act on our own terms seems to unleash latent passions and insights." In other words, creativity spurs creativity.

He suggests creating a list of creative projects to work on in spare time, (I know. What's that?) then setting aside a specific time each week or day (Hell, I'd be happy with time each month) to make progress on it. The point of Unnecessary Creation is that any kind of creativity has value. For those writers I know who are trying to get to other types of creative work, that might be what goes into their spare time set asides. Or maybe not. Maybe simply engaging in any creative act will unleash the insights they need to get to the Unnecessary Creation they really want to move on. Creativity encourages creativity.

Goal-Driven Characters Are Very Readable

Copy provided by NetGalley

Publication date: June 7. 2022

I am embarrassed to say that June being Pride Month really hasn't been on my radar the way, say, Black History Month and Women's History Month are. I have been noticing references to it the last week or so, though, and as random luck would have it, I just finished reading a book that marks the occasion

I wasn't attracted to Home Field Advantage by Dahlia Adler by the romance. I don't care for romance by itself. Person meets person stories end with our leads getting together, so I feel I know the ending before I even begin. I need a surrounding story for my romance reading. And I wasn't attracted by the football, because I am only a sports fan during the Olympics, and pretty picky even then. What did lead me to ask for the galley was the knowledge that both the cheerleader in Home Field Advantage and the quarterback are girls. I haven't read a lot of those. To date.

Amber McCloud is a popular cheer leader who is shooting for cheer captain, because it will help her chances for college. Jack Walsh is a gifted football player who has been brought in to replace Amber's high school's late lamented QB who was nowhere near as good as Jack is. In fact, the whole team is not on Jack's level. But they are grieving their dead teammate who died unexpectedly, and Jack, being Jacklyn, becomes a target for both misogyny and homophobia.

Goals, Goals, Goals

Amber is a somewhat closeted lesbian--what happens at cheer camp stays at cheer camp--dating a somewhat closeted gay football player, Miguel. One of the particularly interesting aspects of this book, I thought, was that neither Amber nor Miguel have any problems with their sexuality. Nor is family acceptance a major issue for them. They are not out, because coming out will hinder them reaching goals. Amber sees making cheer captain as a stepping stone to college and getting out of town and she doesn't see the cheer team embracing a lesbian no matter how good she is. Miguel wants to play football. His one experience with another player knowing his reality did not go well for him.

Jack, too, is very goal-oriented. A high-achieving female football player has few options. Playing with this loser team may be the only opportunity she will ever have to play football. It may be a stepping stone to some kind of sports-related career.

What these characters want to achieve makes their behavior make sense. Giving characters something to want is cliched writer advice. Give them a goal! 

Oh. Wait. Football has goals, doesn't it?

I am not fond of alternating points of view, and sometimes I felt Amber and Jack got too introspective for my taste. But this was a narrative with drive and some unique characters for this reader. I was even up for a football scene. I've only been vaguely aware that LGBTQ books are a thing in YA. Home Field Advantage definitely encourages me to read more.

Let's Raise A Glass To The Late 48-Hour Book Challenge

 For ten years beginning in 2006, the childlit blogging community took part in the 48-Hour Book Challenge during a weekend early in June. It was created by Pam Coughlin of MotherReader and was a social reading experience for children's lit bloggers. You read and blogged as much as you could during a 48-hour period. 

My first year, I read magical realism. Another year I read and blogged about friends' books. Looking back through the archives, it appears that I took at least three years off, two for eldercare issues and one because I'd made some kind of crazy self-commitment to not do anything work-related on weekends during the summer months because the family had so much going on. What was wrong with me? 

As part of my 20th anniversary observance, I'm republishing below my post marking the end of the challenge and, pretty much, the end of an era.

Friday, June 03, 2016

At the end of May, 2006  I signed up for the first 48-Hour Book Challenge, the inspiration of Pam Coughlin at MotherReader.  I did a magical realism tour for my first book challenge with seven stops. I took part in 2007 and 2008 and again in 2014 and 2015.

The 48-Hour Book Challenge was a reading and blogging binge. You picked 48-hours over a 3-day weekend Pam selected, usually at the beginning of June, and during that period read as much as you could of whatever you wanted and blogged about the books you completed. Because that's what litbloggers do. There was a list of participating bloggers at Pam's site so you knew which of your friends were reading and blogging with you. There were prizes.

No 48-Hour Book Challenge this year. Pam/MotherReader is calling it a day, figuring ten years is a good wrap-up point. There may be some interest in bringing it back next year, but for now the Challenge is a happy memory.

Some litbloggers who were around back then refer to the mid '00s as the Golden Age of Blogging. As I'm sure I've said before, I think of that time as a wild west/frontier experience. There were no instructions on how to blog, no talk of writers building platform, no articles on why writers need blogs or how they can get by with a blog instead of a website. Internet book bullying was still in the future. No one had come up with ways to use blogs to market books. No one had started companies organizing blog tours for writers. Magazines weren't sponsoring blogs.

Because we sponsored ourselves! Yeah! Ya just went out and blogged in those days! Sink or swim. Blog free or die hard.

Blogging was truly social media then, at least in the childlit world, because bloggers interacted, commenting on each others' work and posting links to one another. You were part of a community. Kind of an underground community. Which was cool. The 48-Hour Book Challenge was an on-line ball for the childlit blogging world.

Well, nostalgia isn't healthy. So let's hitch up our big blogger pants, toss back a little of whatever we like to toss back when we're paying tribute, and get back to whatever bloggy things we do these days. And Twitter. I'm going over to Twitter when I'm done here.

We had some good times, Book Challenge. Have fun in retirement.

Two New Humor Publications In Two Days!

Jesswin Thomas on Unsplash

 After There's Not Going To Be A St. John The Baptist Day Parade This Year, Eli was published at The Haven on May 31, You Are The Parents Of Sixth Graders. Act Like It. was published at Frazzled on June 2. It was inspired by a daycation I was on the week before, during which we were in a museum gift shop with a field trip group. That triggered memories of my own days as a field trip chaperone.

You Are The Parents Of Sixth Graders is interesting, as writing goes, because it started out as a short story I wrote maybe twenty-five years ago when I was invited to submit a humor story to an anthology that was being put together by an editor at my publishing house. The story was about a couple of boys riding herd on some adult chaperones they found to be unruly. The story was rejected, but one thing led to another last weekend, and I revised the material for a totally different type of piece.

Something similar happened in April when I revised a piece of creative nonfiction and turned it into Your Guide To Finding The Perfect Church.

I am now wondering about what else is in my file cabinet.

A Seasonal Humor Piece

Charcuterie Board for JBD

Last month was this year's May Days, which I will discuss in next week's Time Management Tuesday post. But one of the things I planned to do last  month was work on a particular humor piece. I got that done, submitted it to The Haven, and it was published last night. 

This piece is seasonal for those of us who celebrate John the Baptist Day on June 24, which my immediate family has been doing the last few years. Haven't heard of John the Baptist Day? Not many people have in the U.S., though it is a thing in French-speaking Canada.

In There's Not Going To Be A St. John The Baptist Day Parade This Year, Eli a not very enthusiastic marketer tries to come up with a plan to raise the holiday's profile in the U.S.

Three Things I've Learned About Writing Humor

• Format. Finding a format early on is extremely helpful. It both helps generate material, because I'm writing to the format, and keeps me from falling into writing an essay.
• Humor hook. Humor needs to build up. You don't want to lead with your best line. But as a reader, I really need to see something right away in the first paragraph, or whatever is the first section, that is at least amusing, if not out-right funny. So I pay attention to that first part.
• Sub-headings. The Medium platform where my humor has been published requires a sub-heading on the material published there. With humor I want to make that sub-heading work for me. That's where, for instance, I can tip readers off about what the format is going to be or try for that initial amusing line/humor hook. 

Some Virtual Opportunities For June

As the Covid positivity rate went up and up across the country, I came across fewer and fewer virtual appearances for children's writers. That explains why I didn't do a Virtual Appearances For May post. I'm seeing more again for next month. 

I will add to this post over the month of June, if I come across more material

June 1 Nora Raleigh Baskin, Debbie Reed Fischer, Debra Green, Jonathan Rosen, Melissa Roske, Books & Books and Miami Book Fair, Miami, Florida 7:00 PM ET

June 8 Dan Abdo and Jason Paterson, R. J. Julia Booksellers, Madison, Connecticut 5:30 PM ET

June 10 and 11, Various Writers, nErDcampCTJr,, CT  Association of School Librarians, Colchester, CT Various sessions between 9:00 AM and 2:45 PM ET Open to K-12 students and their families.

June 14 Livia Blackburne and Alexandra Monir, Once Upon a Time Bookstore, Montrose, California 4:30 PM PT, 7:30 PM ET

June 15 Lynette Noni and Alexandra Bracken, R. J. Julia Booksellers, Madison, Connecticut 7:00 PM ET

June 21 Marika McCoola and Aatmya Pandya, Odyssey Bookshop, South Hadley, Massachusetts 7:00 PM ET

Connecticut's Nutmeg Award Winners For 2022

Connecticut's readers' choice award, the Nutmeg Award, has announced its winners for this year.

Elementary: InvestiGATORS by John Patrick Green 

Intermediate: Wink by Rob Harrell  

Middle School: Insignificant Events In The Life Of A Cactus by Dusti Bowling 

High School: Sadie by Courtney Summers

A Boy, A Girl, A Dog--What More Do You Want? Oh, Yeah, Robots

I stumbled upon Cog by Greg Van Eekhout on my first library visit in two years. It was the best book I brought home. 

It's a terrific middle grade outsider novel about a  boy, who isn't really a boy, but has many boy-like qualities. He's navigating the world, as real boys must do. He's at a bit of a disadvantage, because while he is capable of learning from experience (his name is short for "cognitive development") he has to do it in, perhaps we could say, a more literal way than your run-of-the-mill boys do. Because he is a robot. 

There is a cliched big-corporations-are-bad and bad-guy-corporate-employee thing going on here, but it's more palatable because of, you know, robots.

I know someone who's getting a copy of this for his birthday.

 

Joe Cepeda Has A Book Out This Month. Hey! I Know Him!

I was checking out some book events at the Once Upon A Time Bookstore in Montrose, California, when I saw that Joe Cepeda is making an appearance there next month for his book, Rafa Counts on Papa. I thought, I know that name. It's from...it's from somewhere in my past.  

Indeed it is! Joe Cepeda illustrated my last two books, A Girl, a Boy, and a Monster Cat and A Girl, a Boy, and Three Robbers.

Check out his incredible studio.

Congratulations on the new publication, which looks and sounds wonderful.

A Personal Essay With A Childlit Connection From Yours Truly

My most recent short form publication is Blackened Pans, published at The Bigger Picture on the Medium platform. This is not humor but a light, memoirish personal essay. To some extent it deals with
food and eating, something I would like to write more about. And it has a connection to some classic children's books.

Over the two years or so that I've been publishing at Medium, I've tried doing different things there. Self-publishing humor directly myself. Writing about Medium, which often goes over well there. Reworking material from this blog's Time Management Tuesday feature. Publishing a review of a time management book I discussed extensively here last year. 

With Blackened Pans what I did differently was add a bio at the end of the essay with a link to Saving the Planet & Stuff.  

I have another piece out for consideration at a Medium humor publication and will be probably submitting to another later today.

And then some work on the never ending YA novel. Because it's not all short form work here all the time.