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Some Writerly Links

I can’t even bear to mention what project I am working on this week, because I have worked on it for years, because I have mentioned it two-hundred-and-forty-two times before and, most importantly, because it is still not done.

Big. Fat. Sigh.

Rather than dwell on all that negativity, I’ve decided to share some writerly inspiration. These particular links of motivation spoke to me because of the very project I did NOT just mention …

First, an article from the October 2009 issue of BookLinks (Talking with Jonah Winter by Sonja Cole), in which one can learn how to write a picture book biography … or, at least, how Jonah Winter writes a picture book biography. In answer to the question “What is your process for researching and writing your books?” we get a sense of Winter’s sense of humor (“I read a bunch of books, sometimes do online research, then just haul off and write the darn things.”) and, more importantly, his simple, powerful approach to the form. Do check it out.

Next up, an interview of author M.T. Anderson over at Cynsations. His answer to the question “What have you learned from writing in a variety of formats?” delves deep into the heart of what makes a picture book biography sing. Great stuff.

Finally, some good, old-fashioned writing classes. Well, not exactly old-fashioned, because they’re all offered online—but they are very, very good. I know because I took one myself back in 2004. It was called Write a Successful Book Proposal, and my homework became the book TRACKING TRASH. ( I kid you not!.) Patricia Fry is a knowledgeable and inspiring teacher; I highly recommend her online writing courses.

Happy writing!

 

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Countdowns!

Two weeks until SPRING!

That’s a crocus image from last year, but I think this year’s crop will be poking through the snow pack in my front yard any day now …

Four weeks until the softcover edition of TRACKING TRASH is released!

I’m happy that my first literary baby will soon be available in a lower-priced, easy-to-tote-to-the-beach version. (Hey, someone might do it!) To celebrate, I’m going to link back to a series of blog posts I wrote in 2007, when the hardcover edition was first published: The Stories Behind TRACKING TRASH

Eight weeks until THE HIVE DETECTIVES is officially released!

To celebrate, the lovely and talented Kathy Erskine invited me over to her blog. You can read our interview (and see some bee guts!) here. Thank you, Kathy!

 

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Good Stuff

Thanks to author Mitali Perkins, I am getting my goodreads groove on this week. Check it out:

Loree’s bookshelf: readDo Butterflies Bite?: Fascinating Answers to Questions About Butterflies and MothsThe Life Cycles of Butterflies: From Egg to Maturity, a Visual Guide to 23 Common Garden ButterfliesThe Evolution of Calpurnia TateMilkweed, Monarchs and More: A Field Guide to the Invertebrate Community in the Milkweed PatchA Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian TrailSaving the Ghost of the Mountain: An Expedition Among Snow Leopards in Mongolia

More of Loree’s books »

Loree Burns's book recommendations, reviews, favorite quotes, book clubs, book trivia, book lists

On the top is a widget of books I’ve read and blogged about recently, and on the bottom is a button that brings you to my new goodreads profile page. I’ve posted a few paragraphs from the first chapter of THE HIVE DETECTIVES there, in case you need a little something to read. 😉

If you are an author, I highly recommend you check out all of Mitali’s great recommendations for buzzing your book.

 

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The Great Sunflower Project


© Loree Griffin Burns

“It is vital that we understand how and where bees are declining in order to start to help them. Having healthy pollinators is important for both natural systems and our food supply.”

Dr. Gretchen LeBuhn, a professor at San Francisco State University, is the wise woman behind these words. She is also the creative mastermind behind The Great Sunflower Project, a simple and powerful initiative to get men, women and children outside helping our bees.

How exactly do you help bees?

It’s easy, really:

1. Register yourself The Great Sunflower Project website.

2. Order some Lemon Queen sunflower seeds.

3. When the time is right where you live, plant your seeds.

4. When your sunflowers bloom, watch them for fifteen minutes each week, recording how many bees that visit while you do.

5. Send your data to Dr. LeBuhn and her team.

In just two years, the Great Sunflower Project has recruited over 50 thousand participants, and the data they’ve collected is helping Dr. LeBuhn document bee pollination in the United States and develop strategies to protect and restore native bees where they are threatened.

Do I even need to tell you that I’m in?

And why not? I like to eat, and bees are a pretty crucial part of food production. I’ve also written a book about honey bees; helping bees feels like a fine way to celebrate its upcoming release. As luck would have it, I’m in the process of writing a book about citizen science, too; GSP will be great field research (er, backyard research?) for me. Above all, what’s not to love about fifteen minutes of forced downtime –in my own yard—every week?!

So, what do you say? Wanna join me? (You can say no, of course. But I’ll undoubtedly be blogging about our Great Sunflower Project experience in the coming months. Your sort of in-by-association whether you like it or not!)

 

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What A Girl Wants: Loree Is Missing Edition

No, I did not skip out on the conversation because it had to do with sex. I skipped out on the conversation so I could chase butterflies in Costa Rica. Honest. The panel went on without me, though, and shared their thoughts on books, sex, girls, and double standards. Check out the discussion at Chasing Ray.

Not sure what I am talking about? Read this introduction to the What A Girl Wants discussion series.

Passionate about girls and books? Check out the entire What A Girl Wants archive.

Looking for Costa Rica stories and pictures? Er, sorry. Not ready yet. Come back on Friday!?

 

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Stretching

I spent the weekend in crispy cold Vermont, at a retreat for writers, illustrators, and editors of children’s books. I had an amazing time, although I was forced to stretch myself in ways that weren’t always comfortable. The first night, for example, I was made to write poetry. (Ack!) More specifically, I had to help write a poem in the form known by smarter writers than me as a ghazal .

Our ghazal was to be built around the word “hole” and let me tell you, I squirmed a whole lot during the thirty seconds I had to compose my two line offering. (Okay, we had five minutes. But it passed very, very quickly.) In fact, I was hugely relieved that we ran out of time toward the end of the session; I was able to tuck my couplet away unshared.

But guess what? I was also hugely bummed when our ghazal was read at the end of the night and my couplet wasn’t part of the brilliance. Because somehow a roomful of complete strangers—many of whom quaked, like me, at the thought of writing a poem—composed a thing of beauty. Truly.

There were other wing-stretching group activities over the weekend. We drummed. We painted. (See the photo above; the “hole” gazal group painted it together.) We talked. We dreamed. We worked. We partied a little bit. We shared our stories. I came away with new friends and new ideas, with the start of a new draft, and, most importantly, a new mantra: stretching is good. Stretching will help you reach the cookies on top of the fridge, it will keep your muscles supple and strong, it will help you grow.

So … how will you stretch today? Me, I’m going to start by sharing that little couplet I wrote this weekend. I hope you enjoy it:

Buckwheat turned by hand and hoe and chatter
The blade fell short—just short—of a rabbit’s hole.

 

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News from a Monarch Maniac


© Ellen Harasimowicz

If you’ve ever wondered about monarch maniacs—otherwise normal people who get downright giddy at the sight of a simple black-and-orange butterfly—you may want to check out The Incredible Journey of the Butterflies tonight on NOVA. Then you will understand. Trust me.

I am tickled at the timing of this broadcast, because it was one year ago this month that I travelled to Michoacán, Mexico to see the wintering monarchs myself. It was a trip I will never, ever forget.

The show will also jazz me up for a new butterfly adventure: in a couple weeks I’ll be traveling to Costa Rica to live on a butterfly farm. (It’s a rough life, I know!) There I’ll learn how local environmentalists raise caterpillars en masse in order to stock live butterfly exhibits around the world and, by doing so, protect and conserve local butterfly habitat.

(For the record, I’m not really a maniac. Just … um … an enthusiast. Yeah. That’s it. A butterfly enthusiast. With a writing habit. And an extremely understanding family!)

 

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Borrowed Names


BORROWED NAMES
by Jeannine Atkins
Henry Holt, 2010

Category: NF/Poetry for Young Adults

I spent the long weekend wrapped in children’s literature at the American Library Association’s Midwinter Conference in Boston, MA. Catching up with publishing friends, meeting librarians, browsing books, and retreating from the outside world (and its tragedy, politics, winter storms and spring To Do lists) was a welcome, if selfish, joy. I came home rejuvenated. I also came home with an amazing book to tell you about …

At the conference, I picked up an Advanced Reading Copy (ARC) of Jeannine Atkins BORROWED NAMES, a biography (of sorts) for young adults. Jeannine is a friend, and one whose sensibility I admire; I knew her book would be something I’d enjoy. I did not know it would move me the way it did.

BORROWED NAMES is a collective biography, told in verse, of three women: Laura Ingalls Wilder, Madam C.J. Walker, and Marie Curie. Three extraordinary lives that at first glance seem unrelated are pulled close in Jeannine’s poems, which explore their times (all three women were born in 1867), their passions (work and family) and their relationships with their daughters (Rose Wilder Lane, A’Lelia Walker, and Irène Joliet-Curie). I was struck by the originality of this idea and I was completely captivated by the poems. Exploring the delicate complexity of the mother-daughter relationship through poetry was an inspired choice. Well done, Jeannine!

I earmarked pages and underlined words throughout my copy of BORROWED NAMES, and I intend to read it again, more slowly and with time for truly relishing the verse. When I do, I know that I will be caught all over again by the poem called Handful of Dirt, in which Irène Joliet-Curie grieves for Marie and asks “Who is a daughter without her mother?”

Yes, I cried. Wouldn’t you?

BORROWED NAMES will be available in March 2010, and I hope some of you will look for it then. (Heck, I’d pre-order it now if I were you!) Share it with your mother or your daughter or your sister or your best friend. I hope it moves you (and them) as much as it did me.