When I was in Seattle last month, I spent a day at Viewlands Elementary School … and I promised you a photo of the fabulous, enormous TRACKING TRASH replica the students and parents had made. Well, here it is:
And for comparison, here is my actual book cover:
How cool is that?
Thank you, Ms. Provenza, for sending along photos!
Publication Month is officially over!
(Did that fly by or what?)
TRACKING TRASH has been available online and in bookstores for one month, and it has been great fun for me to celebrate its release by sharing some of the stories behind its creation. Many thanks to all of you who have read these stories and commented on them.
If you missed the series, here is a handy link to the seven installments.
Part 1 (Terry Turner, librarian extraordinaire)
Part 2 (Patricia , writer and teacher)
Part 4 (Betty Jenewin, photographer)
Part 5 (Liza Martz and Eric Luper, writing buds)
Enjoy!
I think teachers are some of the most important beings on the planet. Most of them do so much more than teach, you know? Some of them save lives, or at the very least put lives on the right track. In this final “Stories Behind the Story” installment, I want to tell you about one of the most important teachers in my life.
Mr. Micarelli was the chair of the science department at Everett High School (Everett, Massachusetts) when I was there in the mid-1980s. He taught biology and advanced biology and mentored student research projects—all of which I soaked up like impatiens in a neglected windowbox. It was in his classes that I became interested in studying the world around me, in being a scientist.
At the time I met Mic, though, I was also in need of a role model. I knew from books and movies that men and women could lead lives of purpose, passion and conviction. What I needed at sixteen, however, was proof that real people lived this way. Mr. Micarelli was that proof. I remember thoughtful and passionate discussions in Biology class—the details escape me—but the feelings of awe are fresh. Here was a person who thought long and hard about issues and formed an opinion. Here was a person who took his job seriously, who treated his peers and students with respect and concern. Here was a person of integrity and conviction. And what was more, this respectful and caring person of integrity and conviction thought I was a pretty okay kid. Me. Okay. I cannot even tell you how important that feeling was for me.
At that delicate time – the cusp of my independence and adulthood –Mr. Micarelli was a an inspiration. He meant a lot to me, and my memories of him guided me for a long time. In some ways, they still do. And although I had thought of him often during the twenty years after I graduated from Everett High School, I never thought I would find a way to thank him. That is, until it came time for me to write the dedication for my first book:
To Mr. James Micarelli, teacher of science and other truly important things
And then, on April 18, I had the great joy of thanking Mic in person. He and his lovely wife, Connie, came to Barnes & Noble in Worcester to help celebrate the release of my book—our book—and I was inspired all over again.
Thank you, Mic!
This I believe: writing a book is an organic process. It lives and breaths.
Obviously there are the mundane and (perhaps) less vibrant parts … the setting aside of time, the waking up and stumbling into the office, the firing up of the computer, the sitting down and beginning. And there is the intellectual work of choosing a format in which to tell your story, of shoring up the structure and hanging your story just so on top of it. All of this is important and most writers will agree that the sweat of these private hours is the price of a successful book.
But equally important, at least to me, is the other stuff, the messy stuff. I am talking about the connections I make when I am not writing, when I am doing things that are seemingly unrelated to my writing. Like talking to librarians. Or grocery shopping. Or listening to the radio. Today’s Stories Behind the Story star was an important part of the organic process that was the creation of TRACKING TRASH.
After one revision, my editor Erica Zappy and I were happy with the TRACKING TRASH manuscript … except for the last chapter. We both felt the ending needed something; but neither of us could articulate very well what that something was. And so I was in a state of deep contemplation (um, I was well and truly STUCK!) when I got a phone message from my friend Steve Schray. He knew I was working on a book about a scientist who studied ocean currents by tracking debris in the ocean, and he had heard an NPR story on his way to work that seemed relevant. He called to make sure I had heard it. As I was much too busy being STUCK to listen to the radio, I had not heard it. But within minutes of his call I had listened to the audio clip online and I was instantly, blessedly, and resolutely UNSTUCK.
The scientists profiled in the NPR piece were removing net debris from the ocean. And based on what I heard in that online clip, I was pretty sure they were finding those nets by using the tools created by my TRACKING TRASH scientists. Within a week I had interviewed the scientists and, sure enough, had my ending.
Organic, I tell you. Alive. The book I pitched to Houghton Mifflin is just part of the book I eventually wrote. And all of me … the scientist, the writer, the parent, the citizen, the keeper of friends who pay attention to radio programs … all of me and my world are in it.
Thank you, Steve, for feeding the rich, organic, trash-tracking process!
My interview with Robin Young, host of the NPR program Here and Now, was broadcast this afternoon. You can hear it here.
Enjoy!
In celebration of our planet …
I’m posting this link to the Earth Day Network, a wonderful place to learn about Earth Day and ways you can support its mission to “grow and diversify the environmental movement worldwide, and to mobilize it as the most effective vehicle for promoting a healthy, sustainable planet.”
And I am recomminding THE CONSUMER’S GUIDE TO EFFECTIVE ENVIRONMENTAL CHOICES, by Michael Brower and Warren Leon. This “practical advice from the Union of Concerned Scientists” is easy to read and does the near-impossible: sorts through the myriad of ways we are told we can save the planet and shows you which will really shrink your ecological footprint.
And for young readers I am re-recommending TRASH ACTION: A FRESH LOOK AT GARBAGE, by Anne Love and Jane Drake.
Happy Earth Day!
CANDY CORN
Poems and illustrations by James Stevenson
Greenwillow Books, 1999
Category: Children’s Poetry
This book of children’s poetry was recommended by my librarian friend Beverly. Her favorite poem in the collection, and now mine, is called “Coming or Going”. It is especially poignant to me these days, as my kids adjust to having a mom who works more than they are used to.
The screen door screeches.
The screen door slams.
Coming or going,
Going or coming,
The sounds are the same.But what a difference
It makes to me–
Your going away,
Your coming home.
Okay, let’s just hold off on posting a new time for the Here&Now interview, shall we? Suffice to say it will NOT be broadcast tomorrow as previously reported.
I’ll post a handy dandy link to the audio clip after it airs. (Because it WILL eventually air!)
I know, I know … now you’re thinking there IS no interview with Robin Young. But there is! I swear there is. Unfortunately, the producers of Here and Now tell me that it will not air today, as hoped, but on Wednesday (April 18) at 12:10pm.
This Wednesday, April 18, also happens to be the date of my first local book signing, otherwise known as the TRACKING TRASH Booksigning Extravaganza. Festivities are set to begin at 7pm at Barnes & Noble, 541 Lincoln Street, Worcester.
Pick one. Or do both. Totally up to you.
Publishing Week has officially turned into Publishing Month. There are still a few Stories Behind the Story left to come …
Today’s stars: Eric and Liza, my writing partners.
Eric and Liza are the first to read almost everything I write, and I trust their judgment implicitly. They have been part of the TRACKING TRASH journey from the very beginning … they critiqued proposal drafts, chapter drafts, saw me through contract negotiations, deadlines, mishaps, revisions, road blocks, cover issues, reviews, and, well, EVERYTHING. They are my writing pals, my peeps, and I am grateful for them every single day.
How does one find fabulous writing partners like these? I met both Liza and Eric on the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Discussion Board. There was some trial and error involved. I belonged to several other groups before I had the nerve to pull a writer I admired aside (Liza) and say, “Hey, I’m not happy with the way this group is working, but I’d like to keep working with you. Can we stay in touch?” She and I worked together for several months before we found Eric, whose “No Fluff” warning on the manuscript exchange board won us both over. We formally formed our triumvirate in December 2003 and three years later, in January of 2007, we met in person for the first time.
Eric’s first novel, BIG SLICK is being published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux this fall. You can (and definitely SHOULD!) read more about it at his website or his blog.
Liza has had some serious nibbles over the past year and a half, and I suspect her debut is on the horizon. To sample Liza’s wit, check out her Cogitations and Codswollop.
