Author: hatfield13

I’ve been keeping the emotions of my book release in check so far.  (This is an accomplishment for someone who cries at Folgers commercials.)

My box of author copies arrived from North Country Books this week, and inside were hundreds of shiny Spitfire bookmarks.  They were beautiful, but they didn’t make me cry. 

This one did….

That was the subject line on the email my husband sent me at school this afternoon.  Look what was waiting for me at home…

My first author event with books is this Saturday from 12-2 at Borders in Plattsburgh, NY — part of the Educators’ Weekend.  If you live in Northern New York, please stop by and say hello!

She says she’s not a spitfire any more,
but I don’t believe it for a minute.  Loree Griffin Burns

 is making waves with her Scientists in the Field award-winner TRACKING TRASH: FLOTSAM, JETSAM, AND THE SCIENCE OF OCEAN MOTION.  Here’s her entry in the Spitfire Writers & Characters Contest:

Me? A spitfire? Nah.

Okay, well, maybe a reformed spitfire. A once-upon-a-time spitfire. Yes. That fits better. I’m a recovered spitfire. Which is to say that I have spent a good deal of my adult life learning to control the fiery outbursts of my youth and to maintain—at all costs—a peaceful demeanor. It has been a long process, fraught with missteps and setbacks. But becoming a wife, a daughter-in-law, a mother, and a teacher has steadied me in ways that have allowed me to let go of the idea that I have everything figured out and that it is my job to share my wisdom with the rest of humankind. I have learned to accept that people will not always believe what I believe, behave in ways that I approve of, or do the things I think they should. That is their right and no matter how angry it makes me, spitting fire won’t help.

An open mind, now that helps. Respect and tolerance help too.

And so even though I am passionate about my world views, even though I share them in appropriate venues, I no longer rile when they are challenged. I work hard—very hard—to maintain a peaceful outlook and a respectful approach. As I say, there are missteps and setbacks constantly.

Just recently my six-year-old daughter and I were waiting for the schoolbus.

“Girls can’t spit,” she told me, innocently.

The feminist in me roared to life. I counted to ten, calmed the beast as best I could, and pointed out that girls can spit every bit as well as boys. And then, well, I spit. Literally. Right there in our driveway in broad daylight, I hawked a good one.

My daughter stared at me in horror. Her little hand actually covered her mouth for a moment before she let loose on me, “Mom! Boys can’t spit either! Girls can’t spit and boys can’t spit! It spreads germs!” She paused for a moment before going on. “It’s the school rule and you’d be in trouble if Mr. Caruso found out.”

She let the threat of my shame hang in the air a moment before going on. “It’s okay, Mom. I won’t tell on you. Just don’t let me catch you doing that ever again!”

That daughter of mine? Now she is a spitfire. Long may she spit!

If you’re a world class spitter or spitfire (or something else with the word spit in it), you have one more day to email me your entry!  The contest wraps up when the clock strikes midnight Tuesday night.  A winner drawn at random gets a signed copy of SPITFIRE and some Lake Champlain Chocolate, which is organic and fabulous.  I’ll announce the winner on my blog this Friday — the day of SPITFIRE’s official release!

Time to feature another entry in the Spitfire Writers & Characters Contest!

Some of you have already met this Spitfire Writer…Sheri Goad…aka goadingthepen.   She’s a children’s writer and blogger and finalist in the ABC PB Contest.  If you haven’t already done so, you’ll want to check out her Awesome Author Contests.  Here are Sheri’s thoughts on being a spitfire:

Spitfire: Little Me

My momma’s little spitfire;
Ask her she’ll admit.
I was quiet the feisty thing,
She had her share of it.

I filled my drawers with shaving cream,
Cracked eggs onto the floor.
As if that wasn’t just enough,
I broke the bathroom door.

I decorated every wall,
With markers red and blue.
Then flushed them down the toilet,
The moment I was through!

I threw spaghetti on the floor
The dog wanted a snack.
She shook her finger crazily,
Some day you’ll get this back!

And though I had no clue
What she was talking about…
As I catch jello shooting from the fan….
I think I’ve figure it out.

 Sheri Goad
aka~goadingthepen

As the mother of a spitfire, I TRULY appreciated this one!   Are you a spitfire?  Do you have a favorite spitfire character?  Email me your entry by the end of the day Tuesday, September 25.   It’s kmessner at katemessner dot com (no spaces).   Your name could be drawn to win a signed copy of SPITFIRE and a box of Lake Champlain Chocolates!

1. We went apple picking yesterday, which always reminds me of Robert Frost’s poem “After Apple Picking” and makes me smile.     
     Today…applesauce!

2. Do not think that you are safe from rejection letters for the weekend once you’ve checked the mail after 5pm on a Friday.  They can always zap you with an email from the West Coast.

3. Aforementioned rejection letter lit a fire under me, so I’m now within 20 pages of my first revision goal for

!

4. This is the week my author copies of SPITFIRE should arrive in the mail.

5. Here is an excerpt from Linda McCrary’s entry in the SPITFIRE Writers & Characters Contest:

A spitfire, in my mind, has always been someone with energy.  Someone who speaks their mind.  Someone who won’t take no for an answer.  Someone who isn’t afraid of a challenge.  I grew up in the country catching and riding my own horses by age 8. I was writing about horses when I wasn’t on them.  I fought with and survived 4 siblings including an older and younger brother.  That deserves some recognition! At my current place in life I’m a spitfire for different reasons.  At the age of 48 I’m avidly pursuing publication of my first picture book.  Last year I auditioned for and appeared in my first play. I refuse to be submissive and follow the “rules” set for slightly over middle aged women. I won’t believe that I’ve waited too late for anything, except maybe becoming Miss America!

Go, Linda!  And you other spitfires… only two more days to submit your entries to win a signed copy of SPITFIRE and Lake Champlain Chocolate!

6. The truth is, I didn’t really have six things, but “Five Things on a Sunday” isn’t as catchy.   I wanted to be alliterative, so I just plunged in and assumed that I would have a sixth thing by the end of the post.  Alas…I don’t.  Have a great week, though!

I promised to start featuring some excerpts from the SPITFIRE WRITERS & CHARACTERS contest, so today…meet Amber Hamilton, a wife, mother, writer of magazine articles and books (in progress) for kids, and undisputed spitfire.  Her essay will make you smile if you’ve ever tried to juggle writing with kids!

Whether people would call me a spitfire or just a glutton for punishment, I’m not sure. Still, no one will stop me from doing either of two things. Number one is writing, no matter how deep I spiral into the abyss that is brokeness. (Don’t tell me you hold on to that ancient concept of grammar that says I can’t make up a word like “brokeness.”) Number two is entering a contest where you can win a free, signed copy of a historical novel, especially when everyone who enters has an equal shot.
 
But, personally, I believe that anyone who changes two pooooooooooooopy diapers while listening to “Popcorn, Popcorn!” being screamed into one ear from one knee and breastfeeding a one-month old who’s teetering on the other knee while typing the finishing line of your third chapter (Well˜ OK, that scenario does describe almost all of my writing time now. I just wrote that part about it only being during the last line of a third chapter to make myself sound like a better mother.) deserves the title SPITFIRE, don’t you? (And don‚t argue with my spelling of pooooooooooooopy. I‚m telling you, “poopy” just doesn’t cut it.)
 
 It is for those reasons that I hereby, being of frazzled mind and worn-out body, qualify myself for the title of “spitfire.” Now, I must go. I may be a spitfire, but I still haven’t figured how to keep typing when it’s time to swap kids to different knees.

I’ll feature at least a few more SPITFIRE Writers & Characters on the Book  Blog this week & next, and I know there are more of you out there.  Don’t forget to send me your entry.  You can win a signed copy of SPITFIRE and a box of Lake Champlain Chocolates. (Mmmm…chocolate….).  Just email me a short essay (Heck, did I say essay? How about a sentence or two?) about why you’re a spitfire in your writing life OR your favorite spitfire character in children’s literature.  Feel free to introduce us to a character in your book or someone else’s.  The email is kmessner at katemessner dot com (no spaces).

The winner will be drawn at random from all entries I receive by the end of the day on Tuesday, September 25.  And If you mention this contest on your blog or website so others can join in the fun, I’ll enter your name in the drawing twice. 

Sarah Miller’s novel Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller has been showing up on some early mock Newberry lists,
and for good reason.  If you read my review of this book last week, you know how much I loved it (I would have loved it even if its title wasn’t similar to mine!).   I was thrilled when Sarah agreed to stop by my blog for an  interview.

So often, a work of historical fiction starts with that spark of interest in a particular topic. Anyone who has read your book or visited your website or blog knows about your fascination with Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller. What sparked that interest, and when did you decide to take the leap and write a book about Annie?

Miss Spitfire got started when I saw The Miracle Worker on stage at MeadowBrook Theatre in October of 1998. We came to that famous scene at the water pump and when the audience stood up to applaud, I realized I was crying. I don’t do that. And it’s not like the climax of the play was a surprise – I’d seen the movie, and I knew the story – but bam! there it was, and I got it. When I saw Helen’s mind fill with words, I understood for the first time what it was like to be empty of language, and the notion fascinated me. It still does, in fact – nine years later, I still have the ticket stub, and the movie still makes me cry.

It’s probably hard to believe, but I really don’t remember when I figured out I could write a book about Annie. I certainly didn’t leave the theater with that thought in my head. I just knew that I wanted to know more about Annie and Helen. At some point in the next few years, my not-so-casual interest turned into truly focused research with a purpose.

What’s your favorite thing about writing historical fiction?

So far, I’ve spent my time writing about real people – people I’m fascinated with and become quite fond of by the time I’m done. I love the idea of spreading that fascination, and of maybe even forming a sort of vicarious friendship between my characters and my readers.

As a writer and a middle school English teacher, I’m a bit of a revision nut.  What are some of your favorite strategies for revising a manuscript?

I don’t think I have any solid strategies. I just love to tinker – I can fool endlessly with everything right down to commas and semicolons. Mostly, I like to revise as I write. I take a step forward and lay down some new territory, then take a couple steps back and smooth out what’s already there. Revision is way more fun for me than drafting, so I like to spread it out over the whole process. It’s important for me to see improvement as I go.

What did the first draft of Miss Spitfire look like?

It was actually fairly similar to the finished product, mostly because I do that simultaneous write/revise thing, and also because I do almost all of my writing on the computer. There were changes, of course: Donna Jo Napoli read my second draft and took me to task on a couple important linguistic issues in the climax. When my editor got his hands on the manuscript, he pointed out a number of places I needed to bulk up and expand on Annie’s emotions – I have a strange ability to make even a first-person narrator sound like a third-person observer in my initial drafts. He also helped me smooth out Annie’s emotions somewhat. She was very volatile in real life, but a novel requires a more gradual, even development of the characters’ feelings to engage and satisfy the reader.

What do you think Annie Sullivan would say if she could read the words you wrote for her?

Holy Ned, what a question! I know what I’d like her to say, but the strange truth of it is this: after all my years of reading and research I feel like I know Annie, but I can’t – not really. It’s impossible to know someone completely in a vicarious sense, so I’m reluctant to predict her reaction.

My best guess is that she’d feel rather exposed by some of my words – she was very proud, and very private –  but I think she’d understand and accept what I’ve written. As Annie herself said, “The truth of a matter is not what I tell you about it, but what you divine in regard to it.” That’s exactly how I approached Miss Spitfire – it’s my reflection and interpretation of the information Annie left behind.

You’ve posted some hints about your next project on your website – another work of historical fiction, set this time in the last years of Russia’s last imperial family. How’s that project coming along?

Heh. Today I hate it. 😉 I like the beginning very much though, so there’s hope. I think….

Name a few books — for kids or adults — that you’ve read recently and loved.

Easy one!

My hands-down new favorite for adults:
Lottery, by Patricia Wood.

The kids’ and YA books I love/wish I’d written this year:
Aurora County All-Stars, by Deborah Wiles
Book of a Thousand Days, by Shannon Hale
Evolution, Me, and Other Freaks of Nature, by Robin Brande
Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick
Wednesday Wars, by Gary D. Schmidt

In addition to your writing life, you also blog often about your work in an independent bookstore.  What’s the funniest thing that’s ever happened to you there?

That honor goes to the lady who came in and asked for an abridged copy of To Kill a Mockingbird for her three-year-old. Apparently the toddler was “really enjoying” Moby Dick.

What’s one question that I didn’t ask that you’d like to answer here?

Here’s one I don’t seem to get tired of answering: What do you hope people will learn from Miss Spitfire that they might not from another Helen Keller book?

There are a lot of fine things to take from the story of Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller: determination, courage, loyalty, and so on. So these two things I’m about to say may seem trivial in comparison, but I think they’re essential to understanding Annie:

1. Annie did not travel to Alabama on some lofty mission to free the mind of a child from its dark and silent prison. She needed a job and a place to live, and she took quite a risk when she accepted the Kellers’ proposal. Annie had no training as a teacher, and nobody knew if she could do it.

2. Annie didn’t sacrifice her life for Helen – she needed Helen every bit as much as Helen needed her. Helen’s friendship was probably as life-changing for Annie as the “miracle” at the pump was for Helen. In a sense each saved the other from her own form of darkness. Even so, just as Annie couldn’t cure Helen’s blindness, Helen couldn’t completely erase the scars on Annie’s heart. But in the end, I think their bond to each other brought them father than they could have dared hope for in the beginning.

Sarah, thanks so much for joining us, and best wishes with your new project (even if today wasn’t the greatest writing day!).  I know I’m not the only one looking forward to your next book.

One more thing from the Burlington Book Festival….  I don’t post pictures of my kids to my public blog, but I loved this picture and wanted to share it.  My E is reading A CROOKED KIND OF PERFECT right now, so she was so excited to meet Linda Urban and have  her sign her book. Doesn’t this photo just sum it up?

The sky was sunny, and the air was crisp and Septembery yesterday, and so I was already in a happy mood when we got to the Burlington Book Festival.  This was my first real presentation for SPITFIRE, so I was just a little nervous (okay…scared, for those of you keeping score), but as I was setting up,

and

and my old neighbor Kim walked in with smiles and hugs and “You go, girl!” kinds of sentiments, and all was well.

The nice woman who read my introduction (I’m not sure who wrote it)  told the audience that my presentation would be interesting, but gross.  (I’m thinking she must have found out about the part where I talk about the flesh-eating bugs on my roof that helped me clean my cow horns for powder horns.)  

The kids, teachers, writers, and parents in the audience were enthusiastic and were game to dress up in 18th century garb and taste hardtack and everything.  It was so much fun to share the story of SPITFIRE with them, especially some of the kids in the audience who are writers, too.

Then I got to be in the audience for Linda Urban’s presentation on A CROOKED KIND OF PERFECT, which was just fantastic.  If you’ve ever met Linda, you know how smart and warm and genuine she is, and that all came through in her presentation.  My family and I loved listening to Linda read from her book. When Linda read a part where Zoe’s dad strikes up a marching band in the living room, marching around with the lids of pots and pans, E stopped laughing long enough to lean over and whisper, “He’s even crazier than  Daddy!”

One more bit of good news… Essex, VT is getting a new independent bookstore!  I had a chance to chat with the folks at Phoenix Books, which is opening next month at the Essex Shoppes & Cinema, and they’re promising lots of great events for children.  Yay!!

As for the Burlington Book Festival… Congratulations to Rick Kisonak and Elaine Sopchak and everyone else who put this event together.  It was a fantastic, fun, inspirational celebration of reading and writing.