Gae Polisner's Blog, page 17

So, I think I may have talked about how fickle I am before. *rolls eyes*

Not so much with people (thank goodness... i am a pretty loyal soul) but with things. Objects. Books. Art. Music. Entertainment. Clothing. Oh, lord, clothing. What was I thinking when I bought that last year?!

My tastes can change from moment to moment; what appealed to me so much last winter, this winter not so much.

So instead of doing any sort of year end list of new things I love, I thought I'd just do a top ten list of totally random things I constantly love. Never get sick of. Find myself craving, day after week, after year. . .

Why? No reason. It just occurred to me as I was updating my private facebook page* with the photo you see above and a wonderful cover photo that I illegally lifted, but totally credited to, the stupendous Maira Kalman:

Maira Kalman: New York, Grand Central Station, 1999Oh, how I love Maira Kalman.
By love I mean, covet.
As in, wish I could be her.
Wish I had written her books.
Wish I could spend many hours of every day reading her books.
Wish I could... well, you get the gist.


Maira Kalman: What Pete Ate From A - Z
we read this so many times aloud. . .  My younger son, especially, and I would spend hours reading her picture books together. The whimsy and sophistication never ceased to entertain, and still don't. There's just something about her art and prose that fill my soul.

So, Maira Kalman is #1 of Things I Don't Get Sick of (TiDGSo); 


While we're at it, #2: birds. Birds and Botanicals. Botanical, aviary-type birds. And their cages. I love pretty bird cages, too.

Like the birds I put on my photo up there. Or, say, these (notice the botanicals on my chairs and table! I never get sick of my table. You should see how pretty my table is... if you bug me to, I'll go take a photo...):


yep, see, birds. . .

 


Oh, don't fail me, YMI jeans...#3 YMI jeans. Cheap and well-fitted.




Need I say more about that?



 #4 listening to my husband sing...




and play his shakers and guiros! :)


And, while we're stating the obvious #5 Water in general,





and open water swimming... in particular. . .

photo credit: Carol Moore














#6  Cherry blossoms...



And, some more obvious, but, oh, so true:

#7 Listening to Sam play guitar:



          or, #8 watching Holden play basketball:

photo: courtesy Rick Kopstein
 #9. This store, Heartichoke, in Northport, NY... (ah, the baubles and trinkets... even lots of birds and botanicals ;))

and,

come on, guys, the number one

(or, um, #10)

totally random (shiny) thing I (almost) never get sick of... even when I wish that I would?

facebook!

oh, how you distract me with your blue and white hypnosis. . . That's it. My totally random, highly incomplete, no-order top ten list for all time and/or 2012.

Hope you're all having wonderful holidays. See you for some resolutions or wishes in the New Year.

xox gae

* if you are a lovely, wonderful YA reader and want to follow me on fb, please follow me HERE and not there. :)

Crap, I've been busy.

Parenting, writing, and swimming, oh my!

Plus, um, you know, trying to make a living in there. Oddly, my mediation practice has picked up at just the time of year it's usually dead.

At any rate... just handed in my "Frankie" revisions, uh, AGAIN. My editor is good. Damned brilliant. But let me just say I'd be happy to never have to revise that manuscript again.

I think it's there. I hope it's there. And I'd really like a title. I'm reducing its working title down to Frankie in my head, so I can try to let go of "Frankie Sky." I still love that title but my editor feels it doesn't really tell you enough about the story. She's probably right.

Here's what else I am up to, in brief:

Have taken out In Sight of Stars to revise some more (even though I really want to work on the new thing I started this spring). Thinking ISOS will be my first submission to my editor when my option period opens. I need to fall in love with it again, but my agent likes it. I have more possibilities if my editor disagrees. Or if she wants to go with something else first...

In other news, I have the final draft of the The Pull of Gravity movie script in my email, if I could just get to it. Too much else on my plate. Luckily, they don't need me to read it again to start shopping it for budget (or whatever the movie lingo is for doing that). I've had plenty of input between last draft and this one, and I trust the awesome guy who is writing it.

Fyi, this is what the title page of the script looks like, talk about your really cool things:

Yep. Un huh. Really awesome. But, yes, still pie-in-the-sky. A movie takes money, so we'll see where we are six months from now. Cross fingers.

Have had, or am about to have, some awesome Skypes and in-person visits. Highlights:

Last week I Skyped with a group of terrific girls from the Reading for Life Program. Oh my goodness, they were adorable, smart, beautiful, and, loved my book. It was in the company of two giants for their program -- Speak by the incredible Laurie Halse Anderson and Matched by Ally Condie, so, I was worried, but they liked  The Pull of Gravity best, so I guess it can hold its own.

Maybe one day, I'll believe it. . .

This week I Skype with one of my all-time favorites: the kids from Silver Creek High School, Room 407 (the classroom of the inimitable Paul Hankins). Been there twice, I think, and never have anything but fun!

And coming up, also a visit to the Kids Read Program of The Center for Fiction in New York City, and my rescheduled reading at the Pen Parentis Literary Salon, where I may, or may not, read from a piece of my ever-unpublished women's fiction.

So, that's it. Doing my thing. Trying to make new things happen. And finding my way to the water most days, to boot.

me, second from the left,
wading in to the 40 degree water like a champ. ;)xox gae


So, a new school year is well underway

(of course, interrupted here in NY by the unprecedented insanity of Hurricane Sandy. . . ).

I planned to bring this feature back the beginning of this month, but you know what they say about the best laid plans:


Gang aft agley. ;)

They do. They say that gang aft agely
thingy in here...
oh, and, btw, my shiny new paperback cover
out in pb on 2/5/13!
At any rate, back in late September, I had the great pleasure of visiting the students at the Upper Dauphin Area High School in Elizabethville, PA.


This is her, the incomparable
Mrs. Minnich. :)Cindy Minnich, teacher extraordinaire,
Nerdy Book Club facilitator,
and highly-persuasive human being convinced me to
hop on a train and travel all day to her pretty little town in PA
for an overnight stay and all-day school visit
with her classes ranging from 9th grade honors (who had read both Of Mice and Men and The Pull of Gravity) to her seniors who were in the throes of writing college essays, and who participated in some writing exercises with me.

All in all, I think I sat in on 5 or 6 classes, and it was hard to even form words by the end of the day.

HERE IS a slide show of my visit with UDA HS!

(don't be fooled by the bored looking kids in the beginning photos *coughs*... that was first period and it was early, but I promise you they may have been sleepy, but they were smart, charming and ON!)

It was an incredibly rewarding day for me, only surpassed by the following week when a box of thank you letters arrived from the students (and ninjas and comedians, all... ;)).

Below, are just a few highlights from their notes.



"When you talked to us about how writers don't like their first drafts it makes me feel better about my writing. Thats because I always hate my writing so then I'll stop. . . You have made me feel better about my writing. . ."
 "My writing will not be 'showing' and not just 'telling.'  "... I thank you for giving us an opportunity to free-write and practice the technique you have shared with us. . ."  "I was proud of the five minute writing assignment you had us participate in and I plan on finishing my story."  ". . . I love Jaycee. She reminds me a lot of my best friend and she makes the story more fun. . . it definitely makes my favorite book list."    "The trolls and wax lips were a great idea because it was related to the book. . . P.s. I'm a ninja." "Why you chose Of Mice and Men, Fat Man Walking, information on Progeria, and emotions from experiences you have as a divorce attorney added depth and made the book more realistic and relatable." "You reminded me that I should never give up, even if someone else doesn't think I can accomplish my goal."  "At one point, you brought up the feeling of indifference or even inferiority in looking back at your work. Being a musician and painter, this concept has caused a spark of optimism."   "I have been trying to 'find my planet' since you said it. I'm meeting and talking to others and just exploring the high school. . ." "Thanks for being awesome. . . it was a whole bunch of fun talking about The Pull of Gravity (AKA my new favorite - amazing book). . . Plus, I already love reading, so your visit made me love it more! P.S. 'No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!' (Mrs. Minnich let us watch Monty Python)." **  "Congratulations! You might be confused why I am congratulating you. It's because your presentation was actually a more-interesting-than-average presentation!""Just you being here was great, as a bonus we didn't have to do any work." "The book was great. Its plot was amazing. I loved the end of the book. I wanted to reread it." "I also want to thank you for telling us that everyone pretty much thinks their first drafts are 'crap.' It makes me feel a lot better about my writing because now I know even published writers hate things they write." "You really let me understand that I have better potential than what I thought I had. I've always thought I sucked because I judged myself on my first draft. Now I know not to do that and I can be a better writer because of you."   Thanks so much to Upper Dauphin Area High School for having me and for my awesome letters!

Come on, I mean, how can I not give them brownie points?! :)


Here you go. Have some brownies. No nuts.
 - gae ** who doesn't love a teacher who lets her kids watch Monty Python?! ;) p.s. If you're thinking about using The Pull of Gravity in your classroom, here's a LINK to the TEACHERS GUIDE. Please email me so we may connect and plan a Skype or in-person visit. p.p.s. if you use The Pull of Gravity in your classroom and want to be part of this series, please email me at [email protected]  For other posts in this series, click on the links below:  http://ghpolisner.blogspot.com/2012/03/pull-of-gravity-goes-to-schools.html http://ghpolisner.blogspot.com/2012/04/pull-of-gravity-goes-to-schools-2.html http://ghpolisner.blogspot.com/2012/04/pull-of-gravity-goes-to-school-3.htmlhttp://ghpolisner.blogspot.com/2012/05/pull-of-gravity-goes-to-schools-4.htmlhttp://ghpolisner.blogspot.com/2012/06/pull-of-gravity-goes-to-schools.html

(me, left on the windowsill, my sister, right)
The day my dad returned from
Viet Nam (Mash Unit Chu Lai, '66 -'67)Yesterday --

two weeks after Hurricane Sandy raged through here flooding, destroying, changing the landscape of New York/New Jersey/Connecticut forever

(not to mention knocking out our power for 11 cold and difficult days)

-- I spent a "normal" day in the city with my parents, my sister and her girlfriend (who is like a sister to me now).

It was an invigorating, special, throwback day to my childhood/teens/twenties.

Two plays (one really stellar one)and a delicious dinner, all the treat of my parents.



The occasion, my sister's 50th birthday.

The last time she was taller than I am . . .


I can read that over and over again, but still, it remains unfathomable.

My sister is fifty, and soon, I will follow.


. . . and, us, horsing around recently
in my father's gardens. . .
Beyond that, my older son is 17, and next year at this time, he will be long gone to college.


My dad with me at my birthday, last July.My father, ever strong and youthful, turns 75 this March.

To see him, you would not believe it.

But there it is. 75.

It is Veteran's day, a day that always makes me want to honor, yes, all veterans, but especially my dad. But, for a writer, I am, once again, at a loss for truly meaningful words.

Nothing I write here will ever come close to explaining the strong but gentle, capable, loving, generous man he is.

Nothing.

There is no father who ever loved his daughters more, protected them better, was more loyal and true to his family.

We are so lucky that he returned from a year of hell in a MASH unit in Viet Nam to raise us.

He is anti-war.

He is a Veteran for Peace,

and yet it's hard to imagine him without that year that so much changed and shaped him.

Time flies.

Damn, how it flies.

I honor this man in his uniform,
in his hospital scrubs,
in his jumpsuits,
and leather pants,
in his (leather) speedo bathingsuit who taught me how to dive and swim.

This man who came to every single recital, every competition, every play, every honor and celebration that mattered in my life.

This man who stood over the dining room table admiring, as my sister and I made endless arts and crafts.

This man, who put other people's children through college when they could not.

This man who fixed badly crushed and broken bones with hands gentle enough to heal flowers, with the patience and skill that embodied Premum Non Nocere,

this man who has always known there is No Free Lunch, yet always offers one.

This man that can find my sister and me in a crowd,

in a dark room,

in a snowstorm,

in a hurricane,

in distress.

This man, who always kept us safe and warm,

and still does.

My dad is truly the closest person I've ever met to invincible.

And so he will always remain.


- gae

p.s. thank you to all the Veterans who have so bravely served our country. May there be no more wars. . . and only peace and love.

October is a lot of things, but one of its most important things is that it is National Bullying Prevention and Awareness Month.

As part of this campaign on facebook, I was on this BLOG HERE talking about my own experiences being bullied as a teen.

It feels pretty personal to put it out there, but if it helps one person, hey.

If you want to read it, go ahead.

There's a cheesy photo of me there as a teen, sitting on my uncle's coveted Porsche like the Kristy McNichol wannabe that I was. Man, how I wanted to be her. ;)

Anyway, suffice it to say, I was bullied pretty badly, emotionally, and a little physically -- certainly the threats to my physical safety were bad.

As part of the campaign, I've offered to sign and give away one hardcover and two paperback copies of The Pull of Gravity. If that's incentive to help spread awareness, so be it.

Mostly, I mean what I write in there: if you are being bullied and I can help, email me (you can contact me through my author website). I will listen and promise you that, if you hang in there, it will absolutely get better. Also, I will tell you the story of how I finally put one of the bullies in her place -- it's a pretty darn funny story. ;)

My teen readers: Adolescence is hard, and kids are stupidly mean sometimes. Don't take their stupidity to heart.

xox

gae

p.s. If you've never seen this -- and I hadn't -- you MUST watch it. At least from 2:00 - 6:00 minutes. Isn't it utterly amazing how powerful we can be? http://www.muchmusic.com/events/weday/video/cid/772246/pid/124276/-we-day-2012-molly-burke

This post is HERE this week,
on my Staying Afloat (non-YA) blog.

Thanks for always looking for me
and
reading.

- gae

Add captionWith HUGE thanks to three of my most vocal, most supportive book bloggers who have loved and touted The Pull of Gravity since the beginning,

they share with you the paperback cover reveal.

Please stop by

Books Complete Me;

Kellyvision and


Cari's Book Blog,

for some fun facts and to let me know what you think!

All three blogs will host a giveaway of the paperback closer to the release date. But it is available for preorder now**. 

Go on! You know you want to... :)

- gae

** you may still get a glimpse of the first draft cover on the Amazon website... deemed awesome but "too girly" by my editor and the awesome Square Fish design team, who worked hard to make the final cover boy-user-friendly too. After all, I wrote it with boys in mind. ;)

Friday Feedback was hopping this summer with my participation in Kate Messner's Teachers Write! program.**

Alas, fall is here, and we are all back to our busy school-year lives, so it's time for the feature to go off on a little hibernation. Having said that, if you are itching for some feedback, feel free to stop by any old FF post -- like, say, this one where I profess my Stupid Love for Geoff Herbach -- and I'll be there to help you, even if the post is outdated. :)

Instead, after October, which is another busy month, I plan to bring back my The Pull of Gravity Goes to School(s) feature, which is always a lot of fun for me! I mean, what is better than the opportunity for a YA author to connect directly with YA's?


This is Cindy. She's an awesome teacher.
No kidding!Speaking of which, this past Tuesday, I spent a day at the Upper Dauphin Area High School in Elizabethville, Pennsylvania. It was tons of fun and exhausting! As always, a full day in a classroom setting makes me marvel anew at how teachers actually do that! Will highlight the visit in the first return to the ... Goes to School(s) feature in November.


In the meantime, teacher extraordinaire, Cindy Minnich, and I do a little recap here on one of my favorite sites, The Nerdy Book Club.  Check it out! Hope you enjoy. :)




Other than that, there will be writing news, hopefully more movie news (!?!), and definitely more book news.

And, probably, some pointless silliness. Hope to see you here.

Happy fall!

- gae

** p.s. the Teachers Write! program was a pretty rousing success. If you want to join us on facebook until next summer, you can do so HERE.

Look ma, no hair! FYI, I cut my hair off this week. Just needed to get that out of the way. ;) Now that I have, it's time for Friday Feedback. I have a wonderful guest author -- and sister in pixie hair -- today, Helen Landalf, who wrote


         the wonderful FLYAWAY.   This is Helen!
         


and this is Flyaway:   From Amazon:Show More Show Less
"Stevie Calhoun knows how to take care of herself. It’s not like her mom hasn’t disappeared before. So why is Aunt Mindy making such a big deal of it now? It’s not like Mom’s really doing meth. Stevie makes sure of that. Whatever. She’ll go home with Aunt Mindy if it will keep her from calling Child Protective Services—but it doesn’t mean she’ll stay. Mom will come back. Mom always comes back. And Stevie will be there when she does.

But when Stevie meets Alan—frustrating and fascinating and so-different-from-everyone-she-knows Alan—and she starts helping out at the bird rehab center, things begin to look different. Even the tutoring and the ridiculous outfits Aunt Mindy’s forcing her into might not be so bad. Not that Stevie would say it out loud. She can’t. Because how can anything be good if it doesn’t include Mom?"  Helen has been kind enough to do all the hard work for me today, offering up some great stuff on authenticity in contemporary YA fiction. I must say, I wholeheartedly agree with her that one of the best compliments I receive on The Pull of Gravity is that my characters feel real. But how do you do that? Get your characters to feel authentic, make your story the Real Deal?  Helen :   As a writer of contemporary YA fiction, one of the things I strive for is a sense of authenticity in my work. What makes me happiest is when a reader finishes something I’ve written and says, “Wow, that felt really real!”
  How do you write a novel that feels authentic?Authenticity is such an ephemeral thing. It’s hard to define, but we know it’s there when we feel a story’s truth in our guts. I’m still learning how to write authentically, but I’ll humbly share a few things I’ve discovered along the way.
Get the facts In order for a story to feel real, it must be grounded in accurate facts. If you’re writing historical fiction, this is obvious, but contemporary novels require research too. Get the facts on every element of your story you can think of, from the setting to your main character’s hobbies and interests to her parents’ occupations. This is Helen's special research assistant, Toto.
No wonder her facts are air tight!  Use sensory detail Having the facts is great, but in order to create true authenticity, you have to go beyond factual accuracy and find the details of sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell that will put your readers right in a scene. This might require you to travel (darn!), take a class, or volunteer. For example, in order to write about the bird clinic in my novel FLYAWAY, I spent a summer volunteering at a bird nursery. I’d recommend these books as good examples of the use of authentic sensory detail: ADIOS, NIRVANA by Conrad Wesselhoeft – the author’s descriptions of guitar-playing and skateboarding (and Red Bull drinking!) make you feel as if you’re doing them along with the characters. AUDITION by Stasia Ward Kehoe – This book takes you deeply into the world of ballet. The author rented rehearsal space and choreographed one of the dances that she writes about in order to make it as authentic as possible.
  Draw on your own memories and emotions Nothing creates a sense of authenticity like deeply felt emotions that readers can empathize and identify with, and the best place to find such emotions is in your own store of memories and experiences. Sit in a quiet place and allow yourself to reconnect to an emotional event or time in your life. Then see if you can find a way to transfer that event, or just the underlying emotion, to your novel. These books are outstanding in their conveyance of authentic emotion: TELL ME A SECRET by Holly Cupala – The author used her own experience of having a premature baby to fuel the emotions in this novel. NEVER EIGHTEEN by Megan Bostic – The author created the emotional journey of her main character through her experience of caring for a dying relative. Whether you write contemporary, historical, paranormal, or another genre of fiction, I hope these tips for making your work feel authentic have been helpful to you.

* * *
And, because it wouldn't be Friday Feedback without putting my guest author in the hot seat, here's the opening of Helen's current WIP, tentatively titled CLEO:

           The minute I wiggle into my red-sequined tank top, Joan starts to disappear. Yank it down to show a little cleavage, slide on my black lace over-the-elbow gloves, and she fades even more. Squeeze into a pair of black velvet leggings that hug my queen-size thighs, top it off with a flirty ruffled skirt that flares over my mile-wide hips, step into a pair of red stilettos, and she’s almost gone.
            “Joan,”comes Mom’s voice from outside the bedroom door. “I want to talk to you, honey.”
 Elizabeth Taylor, in her Cleopatra gown and headdress, gazes down at me from the poster above my dresser. Ignore her, she seems to say. You’ve got work to do.
 I wedge myself into the white wicker chair and then grab the bottle of foundation and slather the cold, sweet-smelling liquid along my skin. The little potholes left over from Joan’s acne outbreak back in middle school? Gone. Next comes blush, the soft brush whispering glitter and bone structure onto Joan’s chipmunk cheeks. Then eyeliner that sweeps into a dramatic V at my temples. Thick and black, just like Liz’s.
            “Joan,”Mom says, “I know you’re in there.”
             That’s what she thinks. I fluff my limp brown hair to create the illusion of fullness and then dim the lights on my makeup mirror. Leaning forward, I suck in my cheeks and survey my work. Not bad. All I need now is a dab of burgundy lipstick, and my transformation will be complete.
            “You’re not going out with Matt tonight, are you?”

           I stand and twist one way and then the other, taking in the whole picture. I stuff the flyer from school into my beaded clutch purse and then throw on my full-length raincoat and belt it at the waist.

          “Joan!”
           Mom can knock herself out, because for tonight, Joan’s history. I smile at my reflection in the mirror, the corners of my lips curving toward my faux cheekbones.
             Cleo smiles back.

* * *

Love it, Helen! Thanks so much for being here!

Now, it's your turn, all. You know the rules!

- gae & helen

p.s. if you want to know more about Helen, you can visit her WEBSITE, like her facebook page, or follow her on twitter @helenlandalf :)

At the request of -- and thanks to -- The History Weaver, a/k/a Janet Oakley, I think today I am part of this blog tour...

If I am, yay! If not, just ignore me. "It's not your job to be as confused as Nigel."**

So, thanks, Janet, for inviting me to the hop. If I was supposed to be inviting others -- I'm sure I was -- forgive me! It's a bit rushy around here. If you're a blogger friend of mine and are reading this, consider yourself invited! ;)

The Rules:

Answer these ten questions about your current WIP (Work In Progress) on your blogTag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them. Oh, ahem, yep. See, there it is, the part where I was supposed to tag other bloggers. And, yes, I am just reading this now! Crapola! Quick, if you're reading, go do this! And, I'll come back and tag you. Or link to you. Or do something close to what I'm supposed to do. Maybe.

Ten Interview Questions for The Next Big Thing:


What is the working title of your book?
In Sight of Stars.

Where did the idea come from for the book?
Lord only knows. I got some vague image in my head of a kid who is obsessed with Vincent Van Gogh.

What genre does your book fall under?
Realistic fiction.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
I kinda hate when people ask me this question. Except for the part where known actors sell movie scripts, I would always want unknown actors to play the parts in my books. They are their own persons... you know?

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

A series of heartbreaking events lead 17-year old Klee to the brink of an emotional breakdown. Will his obsession with Van Gogh save him or push him the rest of the way over the edge?

(Bite me. Yes, I know that was two. I just made it up on the spot.)

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I am represented by Jim McCarthy of Dystel & Goderich. He already read an earlier version of this MS and approves of its message. ;) Let's hope my new editor agrees!

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
First draft came quickly. A few months. I had a reason to be rushing it, too. That reason is long gone, but it forced me to write fast at the time. ;)

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Hmmm, too hard.

Who or What inspired you to write this book?
I have always loved stories about normal people going through an "abnormal" or atypical period. How it affects them. How they rebound, if they can. You know, The Bell Jar, Cuckoos Nest, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, Girl Interrupted. . .

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
While parts of it are dark and painful, it's funny, too. Klee has a good sense of humor. And my quirkiest character yet plays an important part in the story.

Now Hop away to some really great writers
Find out about their WIPs and their ten questions.

Like this:
The History Weaver, a/k/a Janet Oakley , author of the Epic Ebook Award Winning Tree Soldier ; and this

Allison M. Dickson , check out her available books and short stories while you're there. She's a really talented author and her WIP sounds AWESOME!
- gae** that's from This is Spinal Tap, and, in fairness to me, Janet and I were communicating via email/texts while she was on the road, which only added to my usual cluelessness.