UCET Conference Day One

Wow! I've had such a great day at the UCET (Utah Coalition for Educational Techonlogy) Conference. I attended a keynote and three sessions by David Warlick (Consultant, Speaker, Author, and computer guru extraordinaire) took pages of notes, and learned so much already to improve my blog, e-zine, and website. Now I can hardly wait to start a wiki!

All this excitement from the person who once said, "Why do I need to learn to use a computer? I'll never use one in my life." Ah, the wisdom of youth and the irony of famous last words.

So, I'm trying out some of what I learned and if I've done it right, a photo of me listening to David Warlick present should show up here at the bottom of this blog entry. Keeping my fingers crossed!

http://l.yimg.com/www.flickr.com/images/spaceball.gif

Writers Are No Better Than Their First Line

I attended the Nebo Reading Council Young Writer’s Conference yesterday and heard a wonderful piece of advice in a talk by author Carol Lynch Williams. She quoted author Richard Peck (Here Lies the Librarian): “Writers are no better than their first line.” To continue his thought, Carol said the first line of a novel should “grab the reader first, tell who the character is, and establish there is a problem.”

I decided to look over some first lines from a few of my favorite books and discovered this is indeed the case.

“Somehow I knew my time had come when Bambi Barnes tore her order book into little pieces, hurled it in the air like confetti, and got fired from the Rainbow Diner in Pensacola right in the middle of lunchtime rush.” - Hope was Here by Joan Bauer

“If your teacher has to die, August isn't a bad time of year for it.” - The Teachers Funeral by Richard Peck

“The bargain was quickly made between my mother and the witch.”.- Mira Mirror by Mette Harrison

“I wasn't even all the way home and I could hear it”. - A Mother to Embarrass Me by Carol Lynch Williams

“I grew up with my left hand tied behind my back.” - Choosing Up Sides by John H. Ritter.

So, I decided to look again at the current drafts of my own novels.

“Watch me, Leona. I’m Miss Tarantula, mysterious tight rope walker of Madagascar!”- Leona and Me, Helen Marie

“I was named after a movie star.” - Just Like Elizabeth Taylor

“Vickie and I had been waiting for this night for three weeks.” - A Note Worth Taking

"’A new world. Just saying the words brings a fire to my belly,’ Felipe Marco said, his fists resting on his hips.” - Tides Against the Sea

“Anita and I had made a plan on the phone: Think sophomore.” - an as yet unnamed novel in progress.

Maybe I’m more confident than I should be, but I think my opening lines follow both Carol and Richard’s advice. If my first lines can meet the test, then I guess there is hope for the rest of my novel. Now, if I can only find an editor or agent who agrees with me.

The Law of Attraction

Everybody’s talking about it. Colleagues at work. People on the street. All the self-help motivator gurus from Oprah to Robert Allen, Wayne Dyer to Jack Canfield, Dr. John Grey to Dr. Phil. Everyone seems to know the secret to success—or path to failure—can be found in the law of attraction.

I’ve been proving that the law works for a long time in my life, but two very vivid examples have come to our family in the last few weeks. Both came quickly to fruition, and in the most unexpected ways.

Several weeks ago one of my co-workers—a believer herself in the law of attraction—brought around a basket of fortune cookies to each of the teachers in my building. I chose one at random and opened the message to read: “A long-lost friend will re-enter your life and re-establish a friendship.” That afternoon—less than 6 hours later—an old friend whom I had lost contact with called my house and talked with my husband. “Is this still LuAnn’s house?” She had located an old Rolodex card with my name, phone number, and address and decided to give me a call. Later, when I came home from work, she called back, we chatted and renewed old friendship ties, and made arrangements to see each other when she came on a trip to Utah. That visit was yesterday, and it’s nice to say the law of attraction worked in a most pleasant way.

The other example actually happened with my husband. A week ago on a Friday night, he commented that he wished our oldest son would stay home more often. As a seventeen-year-old, this son thinks he should be out gadding around every moment of the day, to the point he seems more of a border than a member of the family. The next afternoon, both my husband and I got emergency phone calls. A snow boarding accident and a lacerated spleen have taken their toll again—two years ago this same son had the same injury for the same reason at the same ski resort. Is this his own law of attraction?—and now this boy must stay home for two solid weeks, then he must spend another six weeks in limited activity which includes parental supervision at all times. Perhaps not a happy time for him, but it’s exactly what my husband wished for.

If you haven’t heard about the law of attraction before, maybe you should check into it. You never know what you might be drawing into your life without being aware. As for me, I’m working on keeping those positive thoughts in action—funding for my movie, a book contract or two, a giant influx of money. Hey, it all sounds good. Now if I can only locate that bottle where I’ve stored my genie. . .

Making Progress

Do you ever feel like you’re just spinning your wheels in the sand? That’s how I feel most of the time anymore it seems, even though I know I’m actually making progress. The stack of papers on my desk at school diminished by two whole class sets this week, I finished reading two books I needed to review, and I managed to write both newspaper columns this morning in less than an hour.

When I forget how much I really have accomplished, I take a minute to look over my planner and submission calendar, then give myself a pat on the back. Too often we let all the things we still need to do overshadow all the things we’ve already done.

Each of us is given the same amount of time each day. It’s up to us how we use it. As for me, I’m making progress today with my “To Do” list. Only five hundred and fifty-seven more things to do before I go to bed tonight.

Actually, I’m just kidding because I just checked off this blog, so now I have one less thing to do!

Swimming in the Ocean of Paperwork

The end of the first semester and I’m still drowning in papers, papers, papers. It’s amazing how many papers 150 or so students can create at the end of a term—especially when they procrastinate and turn everything in at the last minute. Oh, how I love those students who finish their play reviews or reading logs early and hand them in weeks before the final deadline.

Final grades are finished and entered into the computer—a process which only crashed twice this time. Yippee and hallelujah. This week, I look forward to reading the very first literacy analysis papers my 9th grade honor English students have ever written. Based on the ones they volunteered to read aloud, the process shouldn’t be too painful to withstand.

I’ll actually have a little time to read them leisurely because my student teacher will be taking over a few class periods throughout the week. I threw him into the saddle for a little bit of time last week—letting him get a taste of reading a short story aloud and playing a well-organized vocabulary game. Now it’s time to throw him into the pool and watch him sink or swim. I have a feeling this one’s going to swim with no problem.

Now if I can only make it through the ocean of work I have awaiting me as my own new semester of graduate classes swing into full gear. If only the stack of edits awaiting my own work don’t overtake the computer keyboard like a tsunami, I should be back again next week.

Happy New Year!

Okay, okay, so I’m six days late with my greeting, but what do you expect when life is as busy and crazy as mine, not to mention the sinus infection that decided to strike right over the Christmas holiday! No doctors available until the entire weekend and present-opening was over. But I won’t complain because the wonderful world of modern medicine had me sleeping through the night and breathing through my nose again in a matter of hours. Yippee!

Today is Saturday and so far I’ve written and submitted—ya gotta love the advent of e-mail—two newspaper columns—one to the Press and the other to the News. I arose early and finished a piece to send to Chicken Soup for the Sister and Brother’s Soul, then read through their updated list of needs and sent an essay previously completed to the Chicken Soup for the Dating Soul submission pile. I submitted a proposal to speak at the National Council of Teacher’s of English conference next November in New York City—now there’s my idea of a fun time of year to visit the Big Apple, when temperatures average 42°. I dropped another essay into a book I’m writing for English teachers called Teaching Secondary English: One Day at a Time, sent an e-mail blast with a free book guide to add my e-zine subscribers and a collection of other potential subscribers I’d been collecting, then whipped up a couple of book guides to bring Volume 2 of Books, Books and More Books: A Parent and Teacher’s Guide to Adolescent Literature closer to completion by it’s summer target date. I dashed off a few additional e-mails—some personal and others business—and called it a pretty good writing day.

Of course, I took some time off to take a son to his basketball game. They lost but he played great, even though he’s still bummed that his team didn’t win the game. I had wanted to go to a movie, but the times didn’t coincide with the rest of the family’s plans, so my husband and four of the boys are seeing a film I didn’t care about while I work at the computer and my youngest screams at SpongeBob who is doing his usual silliness on the upstairs TV.

I wonder if all of this has anything to do with the fact that I suddenly want nothing more than to take a nap? But, instead I think I’ll start to update my website then take a good book—Give ‘em What They Want: The Right Way to Pitch Your Novel to Editors and Agents is calling out to me—upstairs for a little light reading before time to turn in for the evening.

Gossamer
by Lois Lowry
(Houghton Mifflin, 2006)

Sweet dreams or nightmares—and such are the stuff of dreams as Lowry introduces readers to the dream-givers who creep around dark houses at night, collecting memories which they then bestow upon the humans as they dream, and their counterparts, the wicked Sinisteeds who give nightmares and sometimes travel in Hordes.

Littlest is enthusiastic about her work; Fastidious is tired and impatient, not at all a good match for a trainer and a trainee. Littlest only wants to collect more, hoping to give pleasant dreams to the old woman who lives with her dog, Toby, in the house where Littlest is assigned, but Fastidious won’t hear of it. Then Littlest is paired with a new partner, Thin Elderly, who is a much better guide and teacher. When the old woman takes in a foster child, John, who wants to return to his mother, Littlest might be the only one who can help them all bring their best dreams into reality.

Young readers might be confused at first by the alternating points of view.

Boston Jane: Wilderness Days
by Jennifer L. Holm
(Harper Collins: 2002)

Jane is tired of living among a group smelly, ill-mannered men, so she prepares her return to Philadelphia and her father, but just as she is ready to board the ship bound for home, Jane receives news that her father has passed away in Boston. Is seems that Washington Territory's Shoalwater Bay is now the only home she has, and she’s not sure how much longer she can stand it.

When Jane inadvertently puts a friend's life in danger, she joins Jehu and Kee-ukso, a Chinook Indian, on a trek through the wilds and a winter snowstorm to warn her friend someone is intent on killing him. Add to Jane’s difficulties her jealousy over the new woman in town, Mrs. Frink, and the problem with William Baldt, Jane’s former fiancé who plans to move all the Indians to a reservation, and Jane has a lot to overcome before she feels she truly belongs in Shoalwater Bay.

Another exciting read from an interesting series.

Boston Jane: The Claim
by Jennifer L. Holm
(Harper Trophy: 2004)

In the time Jane Peck has lived in the Shoalwater Bay area she has taken charge of her own life and even become the concierge for the hotel run by Mr. and Mrs. Frink, a woman who Jane has made into a friend. Life seems perfect—Jane’s love for Jehu has grown, she has friends, and she even has a claim on a large piece of property where Jehu is building her a house of her own. But then, her old rival, Sally Biddle, arrives and immediately sets about to make Jane’s life just as miserable as it was back in Philadelphia when they attended finishing school together. Add to that the return of William Baldt, the man who asked Jane to marry him then married an Indian woman instead, who now threatens to take her land, and soon Jane fears even those who are her friends might become her enemy.

Readers will feel Jane’s pain as she struggles against Sally’s nastiness, William’s political position, and the loss of friendships, no matter how brief.

Mississippi Trial, 1955
by
Chris Crowe
(Phylis Fogelman Books, ISBN 0-8037-2745-3)

The Civil Rights Movement. Search the topic on the internet or in a history textbook and the names Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and Malcolm X are prominent. The Montgomery Bus Boycott, Freedom Rides, and the March on Washington are listed as important events in the forward movement of the cause. But one name and event is often missing in the story: Emmett Till, a fourteen-year-old black boy from Chicago who was brutally murdered, his body dumped in the Tallahatchie River, for allegedly whistling at a white woman. While doing an interview for a biography titled Presenting Mildred D. Taylor, BYU professor Chris Crowe first heard about Emmett Till and knew it was a story that must be shared.

Told though the eyes of Hiram Hillburn, a white teenager who has come to stay the summer with his grandfather, the reader is taken into the heart of racism at a time when the passions of the south were volatile and violent. Hiram sees changes in his beloved south, his friends, and even his grandfather; changes which make him doubt his own safety. Hiram witnesses R.C. Rydell force Emmett to eat a raw fish at knife-point. Hiram’s grandfather offers no sympathy, warning that “colored boys like Emmett should know better than to push himself on white folks.” After Emmett is murdered, Hiram doesn’t want to stay silent, he wants the truth to be told, even if it uncovers secrets about his own family.

Parents should read this book along with their teens and discuss the issue of racism as it stands in our country today and what can be done to prevent it.

Everything on a Waffle
by
Polly Horvath
(Farrar Straus Giroux, ISBN 0-374-32236-8)

Primrose Squarp refuses to believe that her parents have drowned at sea. Because the townspeople of Coal Habour will not continue to pay her elderly babysitter’s hourly wage, Primrose’s Uncle Jack resigns from the navy and becomes a real estate developer in the small community. Although populated by eccentrics, Coal Harbour provides the education and comfort Primrose needs as she waits for her parents’ return. Primrose loves to eat at The Girl in the Red Swing, where she hears the town gossip and learns how to make her favorite recipes, which she shares at the end of each chapter.

This novel is a fun light read, especially appropriate for the younger reader. You might want to try out some of the recipes as well.

Brothers in Valor
by Michael O. Tunnell
(Holiday House; 0-8234-1541-4)

Hamburg, Germany, 1937. Rudi Ollenick, the narrator, and his best friends, Karl Schneider and Helmuth Guddat, German boys, are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints. The boys aren’t sure how they can follow the teachings of their church, yet still be good German citizens, willing to follow the Führer.

When the boys are forced to join Hitler’s youth group, they learn about the ruthless and violent ways of the Nazis and begin to formulate a plan to spread the truth among the German people. The flyers they print and distribute put them in danger, but all three boys are willing to take the risk, even if it means they lose their lives.

Tunnell, a Brigham Young University School of Education professor, has based his story on personal interviews, published biographies, and Nazi archival records, bringing to life the story of three heroes who had to decide on whose side they would stand.

Say You Are My Sister
by Laurel Stowe Brady
(HarperCollins; ISBN: 0060283084) Twelve-year-old

Mony Keddrington turns to her older half-sister Georgie for comfort and strength when their mother is killed by a tornado. She doesn’t look much like Georgie, but that doesn’t matter to Mony who has learned from her Pa that “family is family.”

On a trip to town, Mony witnesses the realities of racial issues in her Georgia town when the barber is thrown through the plate glass window of his shop for giving a black man a haircut, a crime under the Jim Crow laws.

When their Pa is killed by a bull, the girls are determined to take care of themselves and their baby sister, Keely Faye. Magnolia Hewitt would like to take Keely Faye to raise as her own and she uses her position as the banker’s wife to attempt to force Georgie to give up the baby. Mony begins to learn who Georgie really is as they struggle to keep their family together.

Brady’s story is entertaining, as well as important as it looks into our country's history of racial discrimination.

Ruby Holler
by Sharon Creech
(Joanna Cotler Books; ISBN: 0060277327)

Dallas and Florida Carter are thirteen-year-old twins who have been passed from orphanage-to-home-to-orphanage-to-home-and-back-again so many times it’s hard to keep count. When they come to live with an older couple, Tiller and Sairy Morey in Ruby Holler, the children don’t trust that their luck may have changed.

The twins plan to run away, saving their money, but they find it hard to leave the new life they are living. Tiller and Sairy sure don’t treat them anything like the parents at the previous foster homes who couldn’t wait to send them back to the orphanage. Maybe the twins should stick around awhile, just to see what happens. But what if the couple who own the orphanage get in the way if the twins decide to stay?

Creech’s down-home, comfy way of storytelling makes you feel like you’re yearning for a home of your own, just like Dallas and Florida.

Wild Man Island
by Will Hobbs
(Harpercollins Juvenile Books; ISBN: 0688174736)

If you like adventure, danger, and the excitement of uncharted territory, then this book by Will Hobbs is for you.

Fourteen-year-old Andy Galloway is on a quest. He has joined a kayaking trip in Alaska, hoping to visit the place where his archeologist father was killed. Andy sneaks away from the group and travels the two miles to the location. He leaves a tribute to his father, but when he starts to return to the group, he is unaware a storm is brewing.

His kayak crashes and Andy finds himself washed ashore on Admiralty Island, a wilderness. Andy encounters wolves, bear, a Newfoundland dog, and a wild man. Who is this man and where did he come from? Is he the last of those who originally inhabited this island or someone lost at sea, like Andy?

Typical of Hobbs’ style, the reader will find an exciting story, laced with factual information about Admiralty Island and early human migration.

A Mother to Embarrass Me
by Carol Lynch Williams
Delacorte Press; ISBN: 0385729227

No matter your age, you can probably remember a time (or ten, or twenty) when you were embarrassed by your mother. Her words, dress, actions all combined to humiliate you in front of your friends, or worst of all, the love of your life. No matter what you tried to do to stop
her, Mom only became more embarrassing by the minute and you thought you'd never be able to face the world again.

Twelve-year-old Laura Stephan feels the same way and keeps a list of all the things she would like to change about her mother. But her mom doesn't mean to be embarrassing. She just wants to stay good friends with the daughter she loves. She'd do anything to keep Laura happy, but her best efforts all seem to be wrong.

How could Mom have known Dad would hurt his neck while break-dancing at Laura's party? So what if Mom and Christian talked about Laura behind her back? Why should Laura be concerned that Mom has a modeling job while several months pregnant? Will the birth of the baby make things better or worse? Williams takes a humorous look at mother/daughter relationships that are cross-generational.

A great read for a mother/daughter book club, a teen or pre-teen who feels embarrassed by her own mother, or a mother who wants to understand her emotion-packed daughter a little bit better.

Book Review: Twilight by Stepheni Meyer
(Little, Brown and Company: 2005)

Romeo and Juliet. Tony and Maria. Pyramus and Thisbe. Lancelot and Guinevere. Tristan and Isolde. Anakin and Padmé. And now, Bella and Edward. These star-crossed lovers are doomed from the start. Bella, a 17-year-old new-kid-in-school, meets Edward, an incredibly beautiful, yet aloof vampire, nearly 100-years-old.

Before she can stop herself, Bella is in love and the differences in their lives don’t seem to matter to a girl who is smitten, despite the fact her new boyfriend--or other vampires that he knows-- could kill her at any moment.

Although this book is hot, hot, hot among teen readers, I was bothered by the fact that Bella seems to have no reaction to the truth about Edward other than that she loves him. Isn't she ever afraid? Does she want to become like him? I know fiction is about being able to suspend disbelief, but I still didn't buy the outcome of this story.

Book Review: Store-Bought Baby by Sandra Belton (Greenwillow, 2006)

Although her parents call Luce’s death an accident, Leah thinks she knows the truth—Luce meant to kill himself by driving too fast on a rain-slicked road. Soon, finding the whole truth becomes Leah’s purpose when she searches for Luce’s birth parents. Along with her best friend and Luce’s girlfriend, Leah follows the trail to the Rock-a-Bye agency where Leah discovers that only family and friendships can heal her loss.

Despite the use of a first person narrative, I never knew as much about Leah as I did about the all-too-perfect Luce. As an adoptive parent myself, I thought the neighbors’ comments about adoption seemed too abundant after sixteen years to be realistic, and the book title was never fully supported by the text.

Teenagers will empathize with Leah’s yearning to know that she is as important to her parents as Luce was. The relationship she develops with her mother is satisfying.

To buy this book, click on:

Welcome Back to Another School Year

Whether you are a teacher, student, parent or just someone who remembers being one of those, it’s time for yet another year of school to begin. Our local school district began classes on Tuesday two weeks ago. The library media graduate classes I’m taking started this past Tuesday. And, for some of my students, the countdown to the last day has already begun!

The beginning of this year means I’ve now spent 43 years of my life in a classroom as either a student or a teacher. Students might not realize that they have a definite advantage over teachers. After twelve years of school, students at least GRADUATE! Teachers are there until they meet the requirements for retirement.

So, what is a teacher’s life really like? A brand new school year brings lots of new children to learn names for, lesson plans to design, changes in curriculum as dictated by state or local boards of education, and starting all over with teaching policies and procedures to a new crop of students. The days fly by, but sometimes the weeks seem to drag for teachers just like they do for students.

In reality, school is not much different from year to year. No matter what your perspective—teacher, student, or parent— it becomes your goal to make this school year the best one ever. I hope my blogs, E-zines, and newspaper columns give you ideas that will make this true for your classroom or experiences at home as you help children work on reading.

One thing I plan to do it update this blog more often with book reviews. I read an incredible number of books each year and write reviews for my newspaper columns, E-zine, and various teacher publications. I want to make the reviews more available to my student readers as well. By posting them here on the blog, my students will be able to access them too.

Of course, as a writer, I am still working like a fiend, packing in as much writing as I can around both teaching and studying. In the last few weeks I’ve accomplished the following:

1. Written both of my newspaper columns, "Read All About It" and "Out of the Best Books."
2. Updated my blog and sent out issues of my E-zine.
3. Submitted an op-ed piece to the Wall Street Journal.
4. Submitted a query to Covenant Communications.
5. Submitted three book reviews to SIGNAL Journal.
6. Wrote an article on Self-Editing for Byline Magazine.
7. Submitted a spec script to a producer.

And, I'd say it is starting to pay off. I've had the following postive results happen as a result:

1. Disney Press is keeping me on file for a possible upcoming project.
2. A producer has sent me an option on a film script I wrote several years ago.
3. I got my check from Byline and received the magazine with my article.

A few of my friends have been a little jealous and amazed at how much I’ve been able to write in such a short time. Actually, what I’ve always found is that when I give myself an impossible deadline, I reach it. That’s what I’ve been doing with my reading and my writing. It works for me. Maybe it will work for some of you. I only have one question left at the end of the day--When will I ever be able to get some sleep?

As always, thanks for reading. Check back soon for my first book review.

Lu Ann

Summer Writing Marathon

I’m back! Boy, have I been busy since I last left a message at on my blog. I try to spend as much time as possible writing during my summer "vacation." Here’s a run down of what I’ve accomplished in this writing marathon, and maybe you’ll see why I haven’t have a second to update.

1. I organized all of my newspaper columns into a new book titled “Teaching Secondary Language Arts: One Day at a Time.” At 62,500 words, I’m sure you can see that proofreading alone took quite a bit of time.

2. I sent both “Teaching Secondary Language Arts: One Day at a Time” and a MG novel I’ve written, “Tides Against the Sea,” to the Utah Arts Council Original Writing Competition.

3. I wrote a 122 page film adaptation of an award-winning young adult novel and submitted both it and an original screenplay I had already written, “Terror in Dead Horse Canyon,” to the producers of the movie my husband recently worked on.

4. I collected critiques for a magazine article I’m working on from my writer’s group and have started to work on that rewrite.

5. I’ve been working on Volume 2 of “Books, Books, and More Books: A Parent and Teacher’s Guide to Adolescent Literature,” adding several new guides.

6. I’ve written both newspaper columns–“Read All About It” for the Spanish Fork Press and “Out of the Best Books” for the Spanish Fork News”--each week.

7. I’ve written a resource handbook for the workshop I’m teaching for Nebo School District called “Recipe for the Reluctant Reader: Add Reading Strategies to Young Adult Literature and Mix Well.” This workshop is aimed toward educators or anyone who is interested in helping kids improve their reading.

8. I took a few minutes to read the article I wrote for Byline Magazine (“Five Tips on Self-Editing”) which came out in their July/August issue.

9. I wrote and submitted an original script for a television series that was recently cancelled, hoping to bring this series back once its reruns move to ABC-FAM network this fall.

10. I wrote an opinion editorial on contemporary vs classic literature for students, and submitted it to the Wall Street Journal.

11. I wrote a script transcript and sample novelization chapter and submitted it to Disney Press for consideration.

12. And, I submitted a query letter for the book I am writing on LDS Temples.

So, add to all this mix of writing, the general things a mother and wife does around the house, church obligations, and family gatherings for the holiday, and a few days of computer problems (could it be overload?) and you’ll see why I’ve had trouble getting a blog out recently. I wonder if all of this typing has anything to do with the fact my carpel tunnel is acting up and my wrists are killing me?

Until next time,
Lu Ann