Fire Petal Power

I recently learned about a plea for donations to open a children's bookstore in Centerville, Utah.  I have no idea where that might be, but does it matter? It's a bookstore!

In this age of wtf is going on with book publishing and selling (Amazon, you know who you are), I think we all agree it's important to support brick and mortar booksellers. No matter how much technology is changing the face of storytelling (oh yes, it is), nothing will ever be able to replace the sense of community that a neighborhood bookstore creates.

Fire Petal Books is the vision of Michelle Witte, who has a dream to nurture readers and writers in her community, as well as promote free literacy events. I'd like to see a dot com do that. Having once volunteered for a non-profit bookstore, I understand the heart that goes into an effort like this. Those folks deserve all the support they can get.

Fire Petal Books needs to raise $6,000 in order to open its doors. Several well known authors (including Neil Gaiman and Mitali Perkins), agents (Jill Corcoran) and editors have contributed items and services for an auction. To make a bid or contribute a book or service to the auction, visit Fire Petal Books.

A Dramatic Turn of Events

This is just too priceless not to share. It's a solo reading of Bonny Becker's A VISITOR FOR BEAR. As the mom states in her description of the video:

This is a dramatic reading of one of Miriam's favorite books, "A Visitor for Bear". Note the different voices she uses for Bear (the loud, angry voice) and mouse (the quiet, higher-pitched, polite...) 

2 Good 2 Leave

I've been reading fifteen or so books as part of an assignment for a kids lit e-zine and, while I can't go into details about the books right now, it struck me that there are two types of books I love: books I don't want to leave and books I can't wait to get back to reading.

It's much easier for me to identify ways a book makes me want to get back to reading it. It could be that the writing is so delicious I want to put the book down and savor it, knowing that I have something to look forward to later. I'd call this the rich, dark chocolate variety.

Or, maybe it's that the book has a perfect pacing and rhythm that almost tells me when to take a break, knowing full well that it's going to prey on my mind until I return. This is very similar to the painfully limited two-week window of Girl Scout cookie sales. I can make myself say "no" to the peanut butter patties one day, but I'm back on the street trolling for their little storefront table for another fix.

Another reason may be that it's got energetic prose and compelling characters, but it's looooong. The plot is totally sustainable, but it's elephantine in size. These are some of the best books to have on hand, but a little goes a long way.

One of the MG novels I just finished reading, THE HEART OF A SHEPHERD by Rosanne Parry, is actually what caused me to start thinking about the various effects books have on me. I didn't want to leave it, and that felt rare. It's a different experience than not wanting to put a book down (usually those are plot driven story candies) or wanting to rush back to it.

Books I don't want to leave remind me of a long summer day that has an ache to to, a sense of being on the verge of slipping away forever. There's a feeling of not wanting to let go. THE HEART OF A SHEPHERD had that effect on me. It was written with such honesty and tenderness, and the narrative unfolded so beautifully and naturally, it was hard to believe that this is Parry's first novel. It was also hard to believe that it hasn't won numerous awards.

I've been thinking a lot about what Parry did to work such magic. I don't know if it's the vulnerability of the narrator--a 12-year-old boy left to hold down the ranch with his grandparents while his father is fighting in Iraq--but it felt true, the kind of true that needs witnessing. The plotting and pacing were pitch perfect, the internal conflict was flawlessly echoed in external complications without being obvious, and every character made me care what happened next. I didn't mind so much having to put it down from time to time, but I very much minded having to leave it. If that makes sense.

Either type of book is hard to find, but I have to admit that I have a special fondness for the ones I never want to leave.

Now hear this!

Question: How can you make your writing sing, buff up your brain and look good at the same time?

Answer: See below...

Bill Sweeney, guitar meister and patient teacher 

(Check out those rings on his right hand! He calls them his counterbalance.)

One of the many benefits of learning to play a musical instrument is the way the brain absorbs information and expands its neural capabilities without "thinking." My guitar teacher, Bill, tells me I don't need to work so hard (as I'm strangling the neck of my Fender with a death grip). "Don't worry about what you're doing. Your brain is taking it all in, recording all this new information all on its own."

It reminds me of writing. The process can feel painfully slow, as if nothing is happening and I'm just not getting it. Then suddenly, my brain spits out a technique or rhythm that makes a story work more smoothly. (At least, until the next day when I re-read it and don't feel quite so geniusy.)

On another note (heh heh):

What's up with the deafening silence over Amazon? I may be missing something, but where's the public outrage from the writing community? Are we too nice? Timid? Am I hopelessly out of the loop of online discussions?

Thank goodness Macmillan stood up to that big bloated bully and others are following suit. It may not be fun to watch this sumo match, but it sure says a lot about the need to support independent booksellers who don't dictate what the public reads or thinks. (Besides, you'll never find a fat cat sleeping next to the cash register at Amazon.)

On the plus side, the battle in Seattle highlights the issue of who's really getting hammered. As the saying goes, when elephants fight, the grass gets trampled.