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1. We spent Saturday skiing with friends at Whiteface Mountain on what I’m convinced was the best ski day of the year so far. It was sunny and beautiful and full of fresh air. Just perfect.

2. My students spent last week brainstorming and pulling together some quick fundraisers for Doctors Without Borders’ earthquake relief efforts in Haiti.  On Friday after school, we ate pizza and did a final count…

I am so, so proud of their efforts!

3. I am reading CHARLES AND EMMA: THE DARWINS’ LEAP OF FAITH right now, and finding it just as amazing as the awards committees and everyone else says it is.  I love the the way the story mixes science and religion and love, three things that fascinate me. Even if you don’t usually read nonfiction, I’d recommend giving this one a try.

4. I sent a new picture book manuscript off to my agent this week.  If you are a writer, you know the mix of jitters and excitement that can bring. It’s one of those books that I could never work on without laughing. **fingers crossed that it makes agent laugh, too**

5. Speaking of picture books that make you laugh, I picked up an F & G (folded & gathered copy) of SHARK VS. TRAIN, written by Chris Barton and illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld.  If you are interested in writing picture books, read it. It’s a shining example of a book that appeals to both kids and the adult readers who will no doubt be sharing this one aloud over and over and over again. So, so funny!

6. At the end of this week, I’ll be heading to Kindling Words, a writing retreat where I’m looking forward to workshops, time with author friends, and time to write.  My goals: finish up a nonfiction picture book I’ve been working on, revise the middle grade mystery so it’s ready to share with my agent, and write at least one chapter of a new project that’s been keeping me up at night.  It’s a fun, fast-paced mystery with a hint of magic, and my typing fingers are itching to get started.

Hope everyone has a great week!

I’m giving a lecture tomorrow night as part of a new series of talks at the Alice T. Miner Museum in Chazy. The concept, which I found irresistible, is to have two half-hour lectures presented on unrelated topics, followed by a joint Q and A session in which the audience can ask whatever they want and perhaps make connections between the two speakers.  Here’s the event poster:

One correction: It’s not $5 to get in; it’s free (yay!), and though it’s a relatively small venue, I believe there’s still space if you’d like to come.  Just call 846-7336 to reserve a seat.

Dear Tyler,

So I heard a rumor today.  Is it true that you told your teacher that real authors don’t use story webs or outlines or plan their writing?  That real authors just write whatever comes into their heads and if they need to outline or do any prep work, they’re not real writers?

Hmm.

Your teacher dropped me a note to ask if I might be able to make you reconsider.  She’s a friend of mine and knows that I’ve written eight books for kids — three that are out now and five that will be published in 2010 and 2011.  And she has a pretty good idea what “real writing” looks like.

I told her I’d share some photos tonight, because I thought you might like to see this.

This is some of the pre-writing I’ve done for the book I’m writing right now. It’s a middle grade mystery called CAPTURE THE FLAG, and I’m finished with my draft, but I’ll be revising for a while now, trying to make it better. What you’re looking at in the photo includes:

• A timeline showing where all the characters are throughout the story & what happens when (top left)
• Page two of the timeline (top middle)
• A list of things I needed to research (top right)
• A character brainstorming chart with notes on the three kids’ personalities, interests, families, etc. (middle left)
• A story web showing how the central mystery relates to the clues, villains, setting, etc. (middle right)
• A plot diagram that I did to make sure the story gets more exciting as it goes along, right up to the climax (bottom left)
• A chapter by chapter outline of characters, action, settings, plot threads, and theme connections (bottom center)
• A chart listing secondary characters hanging around the airport where the story is set & their stories

And then there’s this…

It’s my revision to-do list, with jobs for each chapter.  I’m on Chapter 13 right now.

So do I do all this stuff for EVERY novel I write?  Nope. But I use a lot of it with each book. 

And do I ALWAYS outline and plan before I write?  Well, your teacher might not like this, but no.  Sometimes I just plunge in and write for a little while.  That kind of free-writing can help you get good ideas, but it’s also scattered and unorganized and hard for readers to follow, so even if I start a book by free-writing, I usually don’t make it all the way through.  Once I have an idea where the story is going, I stop and…. you guessed it… make an outline, a road map that can get me to the end.

Having practice with a lot of different kinds of brainstorming, story mapping, and outlining helps me make sure I have the skills I need to write whatever I want to write. It’s like having a big toolbox.  You might not need the hammer for every single project, but you’d sure be lost without it, and if you have one, you can pull it out whenever you need it.

So give the outline a try, okay?  Real writers do use the tools your teacher is talking about, and we use them all the time.

I hope your fantasy story turns out beautifully.

All the best,

~Kate Messner

P.S. I am sorry about this post.  I used to hate it when my teachers were right about things like this…

There was much cheering in the Messner house this morning, once we finally figured out how to get the live feed of the ALA Youth Media Awards announcements from Boston.  So happy for all of the winners, but particularly some friends whose books we loved…

Tanya Lee Stone’s brave and brilliant ALMOST ASTRONAUTS won the Sibert Medal.  If you haven’t already read this story of the "Mercury 13" women who secretly went through astronaut testing before NASA was ready to consider women in space, you are missing an amazing story. And if you’re a teacher, know that Tanya does an incredible job with school visits; she was our visiting author last year, and the kids were fascinated by the story behind this book.

Rebecca Stead’s WHEN YOU REACH ME won the Newbery Medal, and my eight-year-old shouted "YES!" so loudly she woke up her brother. WYRM is one of those books that is just so, so special you want to hug it.  I picked up a copy at last summer’s ALA conference, read it, wrote a blog recommendation, and immediately emailed Rebecca to see if she’d be my school’s visiting author for the 2009-2010 school year.  She said yes, so in March, we’ll have our first-ever visit from a Newbery Medal author.  I believe that she may also be making a stop at Flying Pig Books, so if you’re a Vermonter, be sure to check the Flying Pig Events page for the official announcement so you don’t miss it!

Time to get some writing done, because if this morning’s feast of great books wasn’t inspiration, I don’t know what is.

There’s some discussion swirling around the title for my next middle grade novel, about a figure skater from a small-town maple farm who earns a scholarship to train with the elite in Lake Placid.  The original title is SUGAR ON SNOW, which I have always liked, but I’m also open-minded, since some folks at the publisher think it would be better if the title had a clearer connection to skating. So we’re brainstorming.

The other title that’s come up that I like is SUGAR AND ICE. (Thanks eluper and literaticat!)

So may I ask your opinion?  Which one do you like better? Which title would make you more likely to pick up a book with a skater on the cover?

SUGAR ON SNOW

or

SUGAR AND ICE

…or something else??  Would love to hear your thoughts.  Thanks!