Falling Leaves 2016

This is the hotel where we slept.

I had a fantastic time at the Falling Leaves Writing Retreat on the shore of Lake George, New York. Last year, I enjoyed this retreat too, but due to the circumstances, I wanted to be alone, I went to bed early, and at times I fought back tears. This year, I went to bed late, I wanted to socialize, and I laughed--a lot. I was pleasantly surprised to find the gorgeous fall foliage was still on the trees, an added bonus. On Saturday, we had a four-hour block of time that included a critique. I revised a manuscript for half of it and went for a walk for the other half.

The view from the front porch of the hotel.

Lisa Rush and I stuck out our thumbs and hitched a ride with the elderly golf cart driver, named Roger. We had a blast! He shared some venison jerky with us and drove us to an area that we didn't realize was part of the grounds.

We devoured brownies and roasted marshmallows at the Saturday night bonfire.

The week before I left for this retreat, I fell into a writing rut after receiving two rejections on the same manuscript. I started thinking about the holidays, the memories, and the hole that will never be filled. I had the attitude that I was paying a lot of money for five lottery tickets, one from each editor. After hearing a couple of retreat success stories and meeting so many published writers, I came home hopeful.

Lisa Schnell, Chris Mihaly, Mary Kay Carson, Alisha Gabriel

I was impressed by the caliber of the attendees. Many had published books. These photographs were taken during the last 15-20 minutes of the retreat. "Smile, like you've bonded!"

Linda Marshall, Susannah Buhrman-Deever

Lisa Hladish-Rush, Angela Calabrese, Annie Kuhn

Sue Heavenrich, Marie Sanderson and her husband, Annie Kuhn

Becky Loescher, Carolyn Scoppettone

   

Yesterday, out in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, the humpback whales were spouting, splashing, and slapping their tails as they fed in the nutrient-rich waters. We encountered several associations of whales and at least one calf. I'd go out again in a heartbeat. It was awesome!

The calf is in the foreground.

I've been working on a couple of articles for the February and March issues of MUSE. I also delved deeper into social media with new accounts on Instagram and Vine. In early November, I'm looking forward to the Falling Leaves Writing Retreat on the shore of Lake George. Last year, I learned a lot from the top-notch presentations at this retreat.

Humpbacks don't often lift their heads out of the water like this one.

Coarse hairs on the baleen plates in their mouths filter food. They felt like plastic broom bristles. 

 

Lights, Camera, Action!

The set

Earlier this month, I took a "Learn to Film" class at the Community Voice Channel. The class was free and a lot of fun. During each mock interview session, we rotated jobs. At times I handled audio, which involved selecting music and muting and unmuting microphones. Other times, I prepared graphics (title of the show, host/guest names, credits) or I worked at the control board, switching camera views. I also got to be floor manager, design the set, and set up the cameras and microphones.

The control room: audio, control board, and graphics

A director and producer came in for the last class and ran the interview with Cold Creek Brewery.  During that interview, I worked the control board. I also helped design the set, which included
my beer stein from Germany.
The director said, "I don't know about that green glass head. It's distracting."
I said, "That's mine. I thought it was hysterical."
She let it stay.

Cameras were focused on the host, guest, and the scene.

graphics for a mock interview

I'm at the control board for this live interview.

All participants of the class are allowed to use the control room, lighting, and cameras free of charge. There is also a field class that I plan to sign up for. You can take a smaller camera out into the field to do filming. The class also covers editing. I consider this another tool in my toolbox.

Set crew and the folks at Cold Creek Brewery

On Collaboration

barred owlets

In addition to writing nonfiction, I've been collaborating with a friend on a middle grade novel. The whole idea was born from loss--an untimely tragedy and a lost job. The project was immensely helpful keeping my mind busy with constant aggressive deadlines. Last year, it was exactly what I needed. In fact, I wonder some times how deep a hole I would have sunk into without this project.

Barred owl parent calling, "who cooks for you?"

The manuscript is different than the work I've been doing. It's fiction. It's fantasy. It's funny. Last year, I didn't have much of a sense of humor, but there were times when we were laughing hysterically. Even if it never goes anywhere, the project has served an important purpose. It was a healing project and for that I am immensely thankful.

Tassy Walden Award - 2016

Note to self: Don't read with your eyes shut!

On Wednesday, I basked in the glow of writerly love at the Tassy Walden Award ceremony in beautiful Blackstone Library in Branford, Connecticut. It was a wonderful classy event. Lauren Miller from the Connecticut Humanities spoke about reviving the Connecticut Book Award. I had no idea it had been discontinued. I was entertained and inspired by renowned illustrator Wendell Minor. What a stellar career that man has had!

Lauren Miller-CT Humanities, Doug Fisher-Executive Director CT Humanities, Holly Howley (Winner Young Adult Novel), Linda Zajac (Winner Picture Book Text), Wendell, Florence, Melanie Meehan (Winner Middle Grade Novel), Tim Perra (Winner Illustrated Picture Book), Doe Boyle (Chair of Tassy Walden Awards Committee), Eric Dillner, CEO/Executive Director Shoreline Arts Alliance

I figured I'd be speaking third. Boy, was I surprised to see my name listed first in the program. Next up was Melanie Meehan, who read her captivating middle grade chapters. Then Holly Howley followed with spot-on teen dialogue. Tim Perra had us all laughing when he presented his picture book dummy.

There is beautiful woodwork in this library.

I really enjoyed listening to my colleagues read their unique stories, and speaking with Marcela Staudenamier and Florence Minor. The magical evening flew by too fast.

Congratulations to all the Tassy Walden finalists and honorable mention recipients!

There aren't many opportunities for unpublished writers to shine, so I'm grateful for all that the Shoreline Arts Alliance has done to create this well-respected contest and to make the evening a special one. Salute!

Skype School Visit

Yesterday, I Skyped a school in New Hampshire and did a STEAM presentation in front of two classes of fifth graders. Test runs made me leery about the "share screen" button that at times was grayed out and inaccessible. So, I downloaded the most recent version of Skype the day before the visit and everything went smoothly.

I got started with this great advice...

Deliver a successful PowerPoint presentation via Skype by Donna Galanti

This was helpful...  how to look good on a webcam.  

I used my travel alarm to keep track of time.

Other fine points:

• Have your Skype password handy in case you accidentally exit from Skype.
• Put the webcam in the center of your computer screen so you aren't looking off to the side.
• A barrette on top of my head made the headphones feel like they kept slipping. 
• Position the computer so the background is uncluttered.
• I used inquiry-based learning in the middle of the presentation when PowerPoint was on the screen. Mention this to the teacher ahead of time and have her call on kids. It worked great!
• After thirty minutes, I stopped sharing my PowerPoint presentation. I wanted the kids in my large screen for Q&A.Then I started sharing again for the final five minutes of inspirational material. 

My latest clips are in the April issue of MUSE and the May issue of Highlights.

Tuesday I received a call that I had won the Tassy Walden Award! It was a joyous moment. In this challenging field you try and try and try some more and often you feel like you're parked at a stop sign while everyone else is zooming ahead. I'm looking forward to reading my manuscript and meeting the other winners in June. It all seems so surreal. 

Butterflies!

The first day of spring is a fitting time to post some butterfly photographs taken at Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory in South Deerfield, Massachusetts.

owl butterfly

glasswing

I do Google image searches when I'm hunting for the name of a plant or animal. I type in everything I can think of to describe it, then leaf through the photographs that the search engine finds. If I still can't find a photograph of the plant or animal I'm hunting for, I approach the problem in a different way.

White tree nymph butterfly after emerging from a chrysalis.

Today, I read about butterfly identification, then I ran an image search on "white and sulphur butterflies." That's how I found the name of the elusive white tree nymph butterfly (above and below).
 

white tree nymph (or rice paper or paper kite) and Julia (after my youngest)

Zebra longwing

My article in MUSE should be out soon. It's in April's "poison" issue. 

A coyote having a bad hair day

An interesting discussion about how to define nonfiction can be found here.  The Library of Congress sometimes finds it challenging to determine whether a book is fiction or nonfiction and gathers input from the author and the publisher (scroll down to "Determining a book's literary form" #2) . To me, that clearly means that the line between fiction and nonfiction has been blurred with the publication of new types of books. The cataloguing system (and the Library of Congress) haven't evolved to handle these new formats. (My systems background came in handy when I was trying to see the big picture)

on the run

My article in MUSE was published in January. In April, I expect another article I wrote to be published in that magazine. In June, a third article should appear in Highlights.   

A coyote track looks like a dog print and it's as long as my index finger.

Last week a coyote sneaked across my backyard. Thankfully, the camera was close by and I was quick enough to get the shot. I tracked it through the neighbor's backyard and learned it crossed the street. Then I tracked it in the other direction and noticed the animal followed the trail in the woods. At this point, I was trekking through snow in the pouring rain without rain gear, so I called it quits.

The coyote left a single line of tracks as it headed across the street.

Falling Leaves Retreat

The hotel reminded me of the Athenaeum at Chautauqua, with all the rockers on the porch.

It's been a while since I posted here. I've been busy meeting deadlines, planning a vacation, and fighting for a refund (succesfully!).

on Sunrise Mountain

Last November, I was lucky to get the opportunity to attend the Falling Leaves Retreat. After I returned, I noticed it was among School Library Journal's list of  best children's literature writing retreats. It was a well run event held at Silver Bay on the shore of Lake George in New York. I arrived early enough to hike up the red trail to Sunrise Mountain, which was described on the map as "Silver Bay's most challenging hike." In the light rain, it was a bit treacherous coming down the sleep slope on leaves that were slipping underfoot.

As I was about to join everyone in the meeting place, I saw this little guy.

What I did not expect was to meet someone that had suffered through the exact same tragedy that I went through earlier this year. When she told me what happened to her son, I blinked back tears, stunned. I was going to keep my secret all bottled up, but that's not the way it turned out.

the grounds at Silver Bay

All five editors gave excellent presentations. We did round table on-the-spot reading and critiquing, which was not what I was used to, but I quickly adapted to the format. One evening, we had the opportunity to read our work, if we were brave enough. I signed up, fearless. I read, flawless. REDEMPTION!