This and That

I just got back yesterday from a week-end at Pajaro Dunes with seven good friends who go way back. The sound of the ocean, good food and wine, and plenty of laughter -- just the thing after a miserable flu-ridden week and its aftermath. I didn't read or write while there (well, except for the crossword puzzle and scribbling notes to myself regarding my book); but I gambled (and lost) a few nickles and dimes at dominoes, drew crazy pictures at Pictionary, and enjoyed catching up on seven lives.

As after any vacation, it feels great to be home again, refreshed, re-energized, and back into routines. (And, in this case -- since I seldom take trips without him -- back to my husband.) So, today I return to working on Granny's Jig. I'm still enjoying the "I can't wait to get started" feeling that comes and goes during any long work. (With me, it often goes.)

A writing friend sent me a newspaper interview with several writers about their writing processes. Margaret Atwood advises, "Put your left hand on the table, your right hand in the air. If you stay that way long enough, the plot will come." At present, in my enthusiastic stage, I may not have to try that. But, since my characters changed behind my back -- some of them even disappeared -- who knows? The old plot line may have vanished, too. That's a mystery that can only be solved by moving into the new version.

Meanwhile, I am still savoring the echo of the ocean's roar and the laughter of good friends.

The Joy of Reading

Back from a bout with the flu, and grateful for the joy of reading: After the chills, the aches, the fever, passed, I was too worn out to write. So I yielded to the pleasure of a reading feast. From my earlier, happy wanderings through book stores, I had a stack of unread books just waiting to be read.

Even though I write books for children, I read anything and everything that I deem well-written. One of my weaknesses is mysteries, and there were a few on hand: Bodies in a Bookshop, a story that takes place in London. The Lost Keats, set in Indiana. (Anything to do with books or dead poets hooks me right away.) A new Cara Black mystery. On another day I'll blog a bit about her mysteries, because reading one of her books is like a free trip to Paris. I also discovered a luminous book, The Speed of Light, by Elizabeth Rozner, which defies genres, but goes into the pile of "must read again".

Next week I will probably start back to work on Granny's Jig, but I'm still enjoying my reading spree. I'm immersed in The Year of the French, by Thomas Flanagan, a novel about an Irish rebellion, aided by the French, that took place in the summer of 1798, fifty years before the Great Famine. It's an earlier period than the one I'm writing about, but it certainly gives the background to the sorrows immigrants would have carried to the New World with them, having listened to the many stories passed on at home.

Meanwhile, despite ten days' confinement to "resting", my little world has been greatly enlarged: Indiana, England, France, Ireland.... Only through reading can one travel so far, go back in time, and have such rich journeys in the space of ten days, without setting a foot outside the door.

Back to Granny's Jig

I finally got back to rewriting Granny's Jig last week, and it was like returning to an old friend. I had missed the characters in my long vacation from it as I wrote on other books. For a little over a week, I've been working away on it, despite other distractions.

This week I've been too busy to blog here because I was setting up a second blog (Fourth Wish Readers -- shown now under "My Blogs") in preparation for my school visit next week. The new site is mainly for the kids (or anyone who wishes they were 8-to-twelve again and has read of The Fourth Wish.) I've arranged a contest with prizes; and the newsletter from Grand Illusions, a magic shop, sends me their latest cool magic trick (which I post on the new site.)

Now, I'm settled into the long haul with Granny, and living once again in the world of 1919 Irish Catholics in Sacramento, dealing with their problems and issues and sorrows and joys. It's an odd slant on things. As I walk my dog around midtown (which is where the book occurs), it's like having double vision: I pass a present apartment house and know that in that very spot there was once a dancing school in a long-since-demolished house; I know the names of former owners of time-tested buildings, and see iron horse posts from a bygone era in front of modern homes. It's like having X-ray vision into a the past instead of through concrete.

Which reminds me why I like books so much. They are doorways into worlds, whether you read them or write them, or both. As such, they enrich life beyond measure.

I Decided to Delete Twitter

I've decided to delete Twitter from my blog. Also from my Facebook. It's a nice idea to have everything connected, and my nephew's enthusiasm was quite contagious. But then I saw how the tweets were mounting up in the margin of my blog, taking too much attention away from what I want to talk about in more depth. And the tweets started showing up as postings on my Facebook -- way too many postings. (I don't post very often.)

If anyone wants to read my tweets in addition to my blog or Facebook, they can always go to my Twitter site: 4thWishVaradan. Otherwise, I'll assume those tweets are being heard as cheery chirping in cyberspace, and I'm returning my blog and Facebook sites to normal.

Grand Illusions -- A Fabulous Magic Shop

Friday I went to Grand Illusions, a magic shop, to find prizes for the coming Fourth Wish Readers contest. It's in Carmichael, and while I think of it, here's the address and website:

7704 Fair Oaks Blvd
Carmichael, CA. 95608-1706
916-944-4708 916-944-2970fax
http://www.grandillusions.com/

What a shop! It offers everything you could ask for if you are interested in magic tricks and illusions -- books and DVD's, cards, juggling balls, mentalism tricks; lectures and workshops. And costumes galore! In addition, for those who live in Sacramento or Carmichael areas and can go in, Steve Johnson will give you a tour around the place. It's the perfect place to look right now for your Halloween costume. For those farther away, you can visit the website and shop for next year's costume.

Meanwhile, did I find good prizes? You bet I did. Stay tuned for the coming contest.

A Twittery World

One of my nephews from India is here with us this week-end. He's quite the techie (a description that fits a few of my nephews, actually). Anyway, he's convinced me to sign up, showing me the wonderful world of instant haikus, very short stories, and all the other writing possibilities within the parameters of 140 characters. (And here I thought Twitter was just about politicians informing friends they were eating a hamburger at the moment.)

So, I've gone and done it! I've signed up for Twitter. Of course, immediately I got the message that Twitter was having technical difficulty that would soon be fixed. Sigh. I'll have to wait to do my first tweet.

Meanwhile, Chapter Three on Granny's Jig progresses.

School Visit Coming Up

My school visit to talk about The Fourth Wish is coming up soon: two weeks from today. I'll be speaking at the elementary school where I taught a few years ago, which is fun to consider. After speaking to an assembly, then I'll sign books in the library.

Meanwhile, I've started the rewrite of my historical middle grade novel, Granny's Jig. I'm two chapters into the new version, and it's going well. But I have a deadline, since I promised a teacher at another school that I'd have it ready to read to her class for feedback by Spring. So, it's back to work: No more blogging until after Chapter Three.