This past weekend we were in New York for Melanie's graduation.  Aaron Sorkin, delivered an eloquent, powerful, and inspiring commencement speech.  When he spoke of failure, he talked about his personal battle with addiction.  That story, like books written as stories, will linger long in my memory because there is emotion tied to the struggle.  When he spoke of taking risks and seeking opportunities, I thought of my mother who used to always say "take opportunities because they don't happen again."  She knew how fleeting life was because she lost her husband at a young age.  Apparently, I must echo those same words because I heard them again in my own daughter's writing.  At an awards dinner on Friday evening, we listened to stories the student's submitted.  Melanie wrote of taking every opportunity the college had to offer.  My mother was surely smiling down.

I took these photographs on a recent visit to Mystic Aquarium.  In 2008, when I wrote an article for ChemMatters, I wanted to visit an aquarium with crystal jellyfish.  I searched online, but you simply can not find every animal every zoo or aquarium stocks.  At the time, Mystic did not have these jellyfish.  Boy was I ever excited to see them on my trip there two weeks ago.  Studies of these tiny creatures led to the Nobel Prize winning discovery of Green Fluorescent Protein, a revolutionary tool in medical research!

? and rhododendron

This week, I put a new front end on an article per the editor's request.  Now it matches the tail end which had been revised during the editing process.  The whole thing is like a hearty sandwich with the meat between two matching slabs of bread.  The publication date got pushed back to October 2012.  Sometimes you just have to roll with the punches in this business.

There is excitement in the air!  Graduation season is upon us and boy, oh girl, oh girl, do we have graduates!    

I don't know what this white flower is, sorry to say, but I do like the way it looks in front of a brilliant blue sky.  The pink flower is a rhododendron. 

Rose Farm, Bolton CT

This week, I literally cut up my picture book manuscript.  The exercise was suggested at a recent conference.  Scene cuts were cake.  After that, things got dicey.  I ended up with about 30 pieces or pages,  but I neglected to incorporate full page spreads (oops!).  This made me wonder how one chooses what goes on a full page spread versus a half page?  I read on a blog that full page spreads cost less because there is less art.  Anyhow, I made a huge mess of the thing with some pages having one sentence and others having a 100.  The exercise was helpful because I trimmed text heavy pages by turning a paragraph into a sidebar.  After that exercise and another critique session, I dropped the revised manuscript in the mailbox.  Today, I mailed out a different package.  There's nothing quite like putting more irons in the fire!  Yeehah!

Outdoor gear blog

I found a really great blog if you're looking for outdoor gear.  Matt Heid  blogs about tents, backpacks, sleeping bags, backpacks and all kinds of outdoor stuff.   His blog was mentioned in his article about tents in the May/June 2012 Appalachian Mountain Club magazine.

A few weeks ago we explored the pastoral setting at Rose Farm.  It would be a beautiful place to have a picnic in the meadow surrounded by ancient stone walls and trees.  A trail in the woods led to the Rail Trail near Steele's Crossing in Bolton.   In 1781, General Rochambeau and his men camped here before joining George Washington.  Here's where you can find a little bit more history (4th post down).

Tulip and kerria

In my early days of writing, it was sufficient to go to a conference and listen and absorb as much as I could.  At this stage in the game I am finding it much more beneficial to go with a WIP in hand.  I came out of the NESCBWI nonfiction academy with more critiques and some concrete ideas on how to improve my manuscript.   It was well worth it for me.  This week, I revised and revised, whittling, carving and shaping the manuscript into a tighter story.  Next Tuesday, my friends and I will exchange notes, discuss what we learned and how we applied it, and critique revised manuscripts.  Can't wait!

On May 16th, I will be joining the CT Climate Change Education Communication Group on a field trip to Harkness Memorial Park to see how climate change has impacted that park.  The word "field trip" brings me such glee.

My favorite tulip reminds me of royalty.  The cascading yellow flowers are kerria, which grows in a bush. 

What an overstuffed week it has been:  appointments, lectures, a webinar, a trip to Boston and the NESCBWI conference.  Early morning departures followed late night arrivals.  One evening, I drove an hour to see a lecture and view a short film, but it was well worth it.  It gave me a shot of excitement about things to come (I hope!).  The next day I was out the door at 5AM, headed to Boston. 

The full-day nonfiction academy at the conference was excellent.  The faculty (Tanya Stone, Susan Campbell Bartoletti and Elizabeth Partridge) was top notch and helpful offering activities to help our writing stay focused, captivating and plot driven.  The special interest group (SIG) session I attended was run by Loree Griffin Burns who was eager to answer our writing/publishing questions.  Both the academy and the SIG offered a rare opportunity to pick an author's brain.  I am so looking forward to returning to my conference critiqued manuscript and spending next week revising it.

As a handler, I introduced the speaker in one workshop.  Thanks to Toastmasters, I wasn't nervous at all.  In fact, when I found out I would be using the microphone, that actually pleased me immensely.  As I look back, I simply can not believe that in one workshop, I (Miss Offkey) sang solo in a circle of participants.  Unreal. 

Top photo:  Jane Yolen during the last minutes of the conference
Middle photo:  The uber busy registration table
Bottom photo: The poster contest and ballot box 

Forsythia and hyacinths (and frog)

Today my writing friends and I piled in a van and drove to Massachusetts to stuff 650 folders for the NESCBWI conference next weekend.  With eleven people helping, we got done in about two hours.  I met some of the people that are heavily involved in organizing the conference.  The NESCBWI has about 2,200 members and accounts for 10% of SCBWI's worldwide membership.

This is an uber busy week.  I'm going out of state five times, so I don't expect to get much writing done, but I will try. 

Talcottville Gorge, Vernon CT - part 2

Usually, at the end of a conference, there is an open invitation to submit to some or all of the editors that attend, even if it's a closed house.  The invitation to submit comes with a deadline.  I've been molding and shaping something new, hoping to have it ready to send out to a conference editor because I'm not big on wasting opportunities.  The only stones I leave unturned are those I don't find and it irks me when I notice them too late.  BTW, I recently found another opp.  Goin' for it!  (nothing new there)
  

At Talcottville Gorge, I heard frogs, but could not find the slippery little devils.  They were likely on the opposite side of the stream that was too wide to cross.  Beavers gnawed into quite a few trees.  I'd love a photo of them lugging that big log, but they were hiding too.  Fish made random splashes, making it challenging to capture them with the camera (that's my excuse for the blurry Jaws shot).

Talcottville Gorge, Vernon CT - part 1

Recently there's been a lot of studies on how we learn, but this week I wondered what's the best age to learn?  High school students can comprehend much more than younger children, but they may not be so open to new information.  Sometimes they think they know everything.  Elementary students need simpler ideas, but they have more open minds and many years to think about the material.  Middle graders fall somewhere in between.  Some of the subjects I write about are so important I don't want kids to forget them.  Success for me isn't fame, it's making an impact, educating and enlightening.

After spending too much time lamenting PB or middle grade, I finally got started on a new project.  Once the first two paragraphs were down, I decided that I needed a new starting point.  Oh joy!
 
I am heavily into volunteering at the upcoming NESCBWI conference and I've got over 50 emails to prove it.  I am amazed at how many volunteers are needed at these events.  It was getting crazy with time slots double booked, so I finally put my mind at ease by writing up a spreadsheet detailing my whereabouts for 3 days.  I'm timing, transporting, handling, tallying, registering and stuffing.   Yowzy!         

These photographs were taken at Talcottville Gorge in Vernon  The property was recently donated to the town.  Although it's a short hike, it was quite interesting.  Today, I'm posting photographs of the geography--a cave and waterfall.  Next time, I'll write about the signs of wildlife I encountered.

Azaleas

Last summer, I won a book from Sue Macy on the I.N.K. blog.  Recently, I finally got around to reading it.  Wheels of Change is a nonfiction book published by National Geographic publishers about the history of the bicycle.

Design: The book has a vintage/retro look.  It's filled with historical photographs of items you might find at an antique sale.  Circular photographs and text in circular shapes are clever methods of reinforcing the wheel and the idea of rolling forward.

Text: It's eye-opening.  Often we hop on our bikes and go for a ride, but seldom do we ponder what it was like before the bicycle.  Who knew that at one time the pedals were on one side of the bike to accommodate long petticoats?  The book took me back in time and left me thinking and wondering.  Who could have guessed the bicycle had such a profound impact on women's attire?  I wish I could bring my grandmother back and ask her about petticoats and bicycles.
    Although it's for young adults, I see no reason why college fashion design professors couldn't use this in their curriculum to teach the history of fashion.  College students would LOVE to read a book like this versus a stale textbook.  The book won the YALSA award for excellence in nonfiction.

The azaleas are blooming!  In the second photo, I see the wind sweeping up Mary Poppins in her azalea petticoat.

The Case of the Missing Emails

I chewed up some time this week tracking down important emails.  In the past, some emails never made it to my inbox, but I didn't think anything of it.  It didn't happen that often and I chalked it up to a glitch in the connection.  One of the emails I needed contained the manuscripts I was supposed to critique for the conference in April.  Ut oh!   At first, I tried making changes to junk folder settings on Mozilla Thunderbird.  Then I tried receiving the email through Outlook Express on the laptop, to no avail.  Little did I realize that in 2003, Walt set up an AT&T account with a password I never would have guessed in a million years.  They were caught in the spam filter on this server.  Thankfully, he knew how to find them.  Hallelujah!  That poor spam filter was doing double time filtering all kinds of gunk--195 rancid emails since end of Feb 2012 (I believe).


I'm delighted with my critique group for the conference.  I've been busy reviewing a picture book and an activity book and I can't wait to meet the writers.  My writing friends critiqued my manuscript and talked me out of submitting it to a publisher before it gets critiqued again at the conference.  Good lord, you know I'm itching to get this thing out in the world!

Spring has sprung!  Bulbs are popping out of the Earth.  The azaleas are out and forsythia buds are hanging like ripe bananas.  

With the kids, husband and dog home this week, it's been a challenge to accomplish anything.  I repeatedly  tweaked my current WIP, grinding the age level down as far as I could take it.  Today, I listened to a webinar that was a review of a conference called "Legal Solutions to Coastal Climate Change in CT."  Needless to say, I didn't expect much, but it turned out to be quite thought provoking.   

I can't wait for feedback from the gang next Tuesday.  What I am really curious about is whether they think this WIP is appropriate for young children.  I definitely do.  Lately, I am involved in all kinds of volunteer work for the conference.  Emails seem to arrive daily.      

These photographs were taken on a hike at Valley Falls in Vernon CT.  More often than not I'm running on the trail that overlooks the swimming hole (elevation is slightly higher than first photo).  Some times I sit by the rushing water and write.

Here's my first interview ever.  Thank you Brittney Breakey for hosting me on your blog!

I'm looking forward to emailing my latest work on Tuesday.  I am also eagerly waiting to read the manuscripts I will be critiquing and to find out who else is in my critique group for the conference.

These photos were taken at a nature preserve in South Windsor.  You'd think it would take a lot to knock over a tree.  This one was too inviting to pass up as a balance beam.

Freja Park, Bolton CT

I'm eagerly looking forward to getting my manuscript critiqued.  We're not emailing until the 13th.  Deep impatient sigh.  It's also supposed to be submitted to nonfiction conference organizers by the 10th.  Since I don't have an email or mail address, I can't do that either.  Despite it's lack of movement anywhere, I'm SO happy I created it!

My ChemMatters article was bumped out of the March/April issue, probably because they had too many articles for that issue.  I don't know when it will get published, but I'll be delighted to get that clip because I put a lot of effort into it.

These photographs were taken at Freja Park in Bolton CT.  The water in the duck photo looked painted with sweeping brushstrokes and sharply contrasting colors..  I would love to have peeked inside those sticks to see if any beavers were home.  Knock knock. 

I spent the week working hard revising a nonfiction picture book.  It gave me a new appreciation for nonfiction PB writers and illustrators.  It was a puzzle shaving the readability level, explaining the science, pondering illustrator possibilities, showing action, and turning words into art.  In my case at least, dropping the readability level increased the word count.  I was joyous to jack down the Flesch-Kincaid number from 5.7 to a more manageable 3.7.  Cutting sentence length worked well to a point.  I went too far and made it choppy.  To compensate for this, the number of words rose by about 500.  There was one part that dragged.  Initially (last post) I thought an illustration would fix this, but after more thought, I came up with a better solution.  I broke up the science like a pizza and evenly distributed pieces throughout the manuscript. 

My deadline to submit this for the conference is March 10th.  It's in great shape!

It's been a green winter, so when it snowed yesterday, I got the camera out.   That snow covered debris and stacked wood came from fallen trees from the freak October blizzard in 2011.    

Yesterday, I got together with my writing friends.  One thing that was brought up was the Flesch-Kincaid readability level of my manuscript.  After struggling to reduce this number, I emailed my friends:
"I've decided I don't like Flesch and his buddy Kincaid is no fun either."
In the email, I called them names like Flesh Kinky and Flesch eating bacteria Kincaid.  Then I made up my own formula which was sure to please only me.  In my formula, I subtracted 300 from the result, that way I was assured of being in the ballpark. :-D 

Thus my focus today has been on making this manuscript more readable for the little guys and girls.   I'm having more success making sentences smaller than finding simpler words.  I guess I'm used to middle grade writing.  

My entire writing crew is volunteering at the NESCBWI conference this spring, so that should be fun.

This was the feedback I received on my last Toastmaster's speech about a hiking adventure at Bigelow Hollow Park.  In early January, I blogged about it.  There were no other speakers, so if I didn't get that best speech ribbon, it would have been really bad.  There was a record crowd when I gave the speech.  I've come a long way with this organization.  My heart no longer beats like a banshee when it's my turn to talk. 

One day this past week I holed up in an upstairs bedroom and shut the door.  Aside from the cat pushing her way in then jumping on my lap a few times, it was a place of solitude and little disruption.  I was away from the lure of the computer and other tasks, so I got lots done.  It was a great idea, but only when the room is unoccupied.

The picture book I've been busting stones on revising and revising is done and has been shipped off for evaluation.  This project that spent the night in the scrap bin, has come a long way.  In my mind, I hit the bulls-eye of creating exactly what I wanted to create.  That gives me quite a bit of satisfaction.  I looked at that project with three sets of eyes:  reader, editor, and illustrator.  I wanted to make sure it didn't drag anywhere, that a young kid stayed with it.  There had to be enough science.  Was there enough material for a variety of engaging pictures?  I found one spot that I thought might be dull as far as illustration goes, but I have come up with an exciting way to portray those facts.  Thus I'm now recording design notes for this project. 

Since I'm working on five things right now, I thought it was a good idea to create a small Project Status notebook to keep track of where I am with all of these because I'm constantly moving from project to project for a variety of reasons--edits to be made, ILL books coming due, requirements for conferences.....

This morning, I was eager and excited to teach a science class to a great group of K-2 kids.  I had a lot of setting up to do, so I got there about 1 hour early.  At the end of class one parent walked in and asked if the kids had fun.  I said, "I did!"  The kids learned a lot and everything went perfectly which made me quite happy.  One of the hands-on activities they seemed to really enjoy was painting food chain place mats (the only photo I took).  Andrew, my teacher's assistant, was a huge help.  THANK YOU Andrew! 

Friday morning I was at Central CT State University sitting with about 50 other people from various   organizations discussing the beginnings of CT Green Ribbon Schools.
    

Bigelow Hollow State Park, Union CT - part 3

After stressing, stewing, floundering, pondering, designing, writing, shelfing, writing, scrapping, and unscrapping, Houston I have a story!  I spent a day working on one idea, but realized that I needed to do more research to finish it, so I put that project on the shelf and went in a different direction.  I spent another day taking a MG WIP and whittling it down to a PB.  At the end of the day, I decided to scrap the whole project.  By sunrise the following day, I resolved to make it work and it is!  I am immensely satisfied with how it's going given the rocky start.  I've been hyped up trying to keep an eagle eye on the word count with books like Lightship and Wolfsnail in mind.  Yesterday, I found Donna Bowman Bratton's post that made me relax about the number of words in a NF PB.  Although I've been focusing on being concise, chopping it down too far would be an injustice to the topic.

I made this last week.  Guys may need to eat about seven of them, but hey, it was a fast healthy dinner.

I'll be Hungry in an Hour Wrap
Roasted veggies - cut up pieces of pepper, onion, squash, and eggplant drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with pepper, oregano, basil (or whatever spice you like) and a touch of sea salt then roasted at 400 degrees until done (15-20 min)
Wraps
Hummus
 
Spread hummus on wrap, top with roasted veggies and roll em' Danno.

These photographs were taken at Bigelow Hollow State Park.  We snowshoed on frozen Bigelow Hollow Pond, but at one spot it was slushy and ice stuck to the bottom of the snowshoes making them much heavier.   At the park, a blue sheet of paper listed the trails and distances.  It was missing one piece of valuable information--the distance was ONE WAY!  Daylight disappeared fast in that park because the sun went down behind a dense pine ridge.  We turned back on a 2.9 miler because there simply wasn't enough daylight.   The needles on the pine saplings in the top photo were so light and feathery in contrast to the rest of the forest.

Next week I'm going to a meeting about Connecticut Green Ribbon Schools, the U.S. Department of Education's new designation for schools that meet certain environmental criteria.  Also, if you are interested in signing up your child for an Excursions in Learning class at Manchester Community College, it's best to do it soon.  Currently, I am juggling a number of different things, but my focus is trying to get something ready for that Nonfiction Academy that I signed myself up for.  

Wow, have things picked up.  I was quite happy to hear back from the NESCBWI about volunteering at the conference this year.  After much thought, I've decided to go for the full three days, but I'll drive up daily with my writing group.  This year they have among many other things, a nonfiction academy where each participant brings either a completed picture book or a full manuscript for middle grades.  The problem here is that I don't have either.  It's impossible for me to try and finish my mid grade manuscript and do a decent job of it in such a short time, so I've decided to turn an existing piece into a picture book since I've already done the research.  While thinking about this, I came up with an intriguing idea for a picture book format.  I have to think about it some more, but it's definitely a unique idea.

When I returned home from my writing group meeting on Tuesday, I was delighted to rip into some mail that turned out to be a contract for an article in Highlights!  In other promising news, a query has also generated interest in a rough draft.

I also participated in a webinar for the CT Climate Change Education and Communication Group (good lord, those folks need a less cumbersome name).  The woman that heads up the group emailed my ChemMatters article about climate science to 98 people in this group.  Yowzy!

     When I stopped at Weir Farm National Historic Site this past weekend, I was delighted to see this table inviting visitors to sketch on the grounds.  I simply could not resist.  Since it was bitter cold and probably about 15 degrees (high temp 21, low temp 9), I sketched with thick ski gloves and a hat on.  The top photograph was a photo taken while I was sitting on a rock.  The bottom photograph was my interpretation of the scene.  I consciously thought about not putting that rock wall in the middle of the sketch and that's exactly where it landed.  Despite nearly freezing to the stone, I really enjoyed myself exploring a new place.

Today, it came to my attention that I incorrectly assigned the wrong date to one of my quotes.   Gasp!  The fourth quote down about writing being like building a snowman was actually from a 2/24/09 post (scroll down to find it) not a 3/06/09 post.  That February post originated from a homemade holiday card I sent to an editor (12/08).  IMHO, it was hysterical.  The cover of the card had a snowman in disarray.  Inside I wrote, "like everything else I send you, this is going to need a little adjustment."  I can't believe I still remember that!  Then I wrote this simile in the card, only more eloquently than I did on this website in February.  I know it sounds mundane, but I felt compelled to set the record straight on this and to do it today.

Currently, I'm debating about attending the NESCBWI conference and if so, on what days?  It's a lot closer this year.  I'd better make up my mind soon because it fills up fast.

Regarding my "most edited" article, I'm eagerly looking forward to its publication and I'm quite appreciative of all the time the editor spent working with me on it.

Bigelow Hollow State Park, Union CT - part 2

Clearly the article I just finished gets the award for "Most Edited."  I'd like to think that's not because it was a disaster, but because the editor saw some glimmer of hope in the thing.  "Light in the Cellar of the Sea," an article about bioluminescence in the deep sea, is scheduled for publication in February of 2012 in ChemMatters.

Lately, I've been polishing a small article, readying it for review by my writing friends.  Line #4 was one of those lines that had to be hammered out a zillion different ways.  I tried to analyze why the line wasn't working.  The action was fluid until it got to that point then it became more like steps.  Finally, after reworking it many times (15-20), I heaved the line altogether.  It still didn't work.  The impact of the last line in the paragraph had diminished.  Finally, I found an excellent solution by lengthening the last line in the paragraph (the new line #4).           
  

I posted some more photographs from a hike around Breakneck Pond at Bigelow Hollow State Park.  What we both thought was a 4 mile hike ended up taking us 4+ hours.  There were ridge trails on either side of this pond that reduced the sunlight faster when the sun set. 

Bigelow Hollow State Park - Union CT - part 1

Since I prefer to write outside, I think this research study on whether bird song has an impact on mood, behavior and creativity is interesting.  It got me thinking.  I have to have a sense of peace when I write.  That peace can come from singing birds, babbling brooks, crashing surf or no noise at all.  Chirping birds won't do it for me if I'm in an environment where I do not feel safe or if I am in a busy place, such as a city.  It will be interesting to read the results of this study.

This past Friday I hiked out of state while circling Breakneck Pond in Bigelow Hollow State Park.  Beaver activity was obvious, but when I scanned the pond, I couldn't find a beaver lodge or a beaver dam.  On the return trip, the trail was pretty water soaked.  In several areas, water rushed across it forming a wide stream that seemed impassable.  It was challenging and slow moving trying to navigate the best way across these spots.  To get by them, I piled stones and logs into the water, teetered on logs, and swung on a mountain laurel branch.  At one wide water logged point, I gingerly stepped across a beaver dam (2nd photo), squishing and crunching on grass covered sticks.  Since I have never stepped on a beaver dam, I had no way of knowing if my feet were going to end up in water that looked pretty deep.  Once I got across the water, I had to push my way through heavy brush.  It was clear that the beavers gnaw trees on one side of the pond and swim across it to construct their piles.  There were a lot of challenges getting around "Breakneck" Pond.

As we move into a new year, I think about all that I left behind and all that lies ahead.  I flip through the yellowed pages of photo albums, memories of a time, a place and a lifetime.  I think about the past, the future, and the news I shared one August day, before the curtain came down, for good.  I think about the course I set in 2007.  A steadfast compass still points in that direction--destiny.  Onward I march, into a new year filled with promise.  Ring it in and bring it on!

Photo - My mother in Mexico, living life.