Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: Dear George Clooney

Today’s Pick: Dear George Clooney: Please Marry My Mom by Susin Nielsen

Published by Tundra Books

Summary:

After Violet's TV-director dad leaves their family for a new job, new house, new blond actress wife and new twin baby daughters, Violet has a little difficult adjusting. Three years later, she’s still feeling angry and definitely has an attitude. She doesn’t hide her feelings about her father deserting his family. She’s protective of her little sister, who still wets the bed after the trauma of the divorce. And she watches out for her mom, who keeps dating men that just don’t measure up.  When her mom starts dating Dudley Wiener (who wears vivid hand-knitted sweaters), Violet and her friend Phoebe decide they have to take matters into their own hands and help Violet’s mom get a decent man: actor George Clooney. Meanwhile, Violet is struggling with her own feelings about a boy named Jean Paul.

My Take:

I loved seeing the world from Violet’s perspective, even though it shocked me sometimes because she did things I didn’t expect (or wouldn’t do myself). This was a great study in character for me. I liked the uniqueness of Violet’s character and how she’s dealing with so many of the issues that face readers of middle grade books, such as starting to like boys, a family break up, dealing with the “mean girl” at school, figuring out how to get along with a step-mom, helping out with a little sister.

Other Info:

This is a stand alone novel. It has been named a Canadian Library Association 2011 Honour Book.

Susin Nielsen is a television writer and editor and has worked on many television series, including Degrassi, Degrassi Junior High, Ready or Not, Heartland, and Robson Arms.

Other books by this author include:

Word Nerd (I also loved this one)

For more info, visit Susin Nielsen’s website.

Birthday Wishes

Here it is, my birthday again. Last year, I posted my list of birthday wishes. Today, my wish list could be exactly the same, except that I'm working on a different novel. Huh. Does that mean I'm not making any progress? Or that my life is kind of boring?

Here's my attempt to try to come up with something new this year. As I blow out my candles, here's what I'll be wishing for:

1. Writing success for all my critique buddies. They've helped me out so much this year, I want something good to happen for them. In fact, let's spread the joy around. I'm wishing all my blogging friends something good, writing-wise. Your support and comments really brighten my day.

2. A magic plot wand that fixes all the plot holes and tangles, miraculously cutting away the stuff that doesn't belong.

3. More sleep! I know this is the same as last year, but I'm really feeling exhausted lately. In fact, I think I may spend part of my birthday indulging in a nap. Or at least reading a good book.

4. An extra hour each day to do the other fun things I don't seem to get to because I'm writing...like cooking experiments, sketching, actually working on the scrapbooks that I keep collecting things for, or playing more board games.

And by the way, I could still use one of those revision express passes!

Hope you have a great day!

Are You Writing What's Right for You?

One of the things I think about when I get "not for me" responses is whether I really should be writing the kinds of things I'm writing. Is it the right genre? Am I writing for the right age group? Maybe I should be doing something else altogether. This week, over at MiG Writers, some of us talked about why we're writing YA or MG.

Thinking about the why reminds me of how much I love it. If you haven't read our post, check it out and let us know why you are writing what you write.

One of the things I love about writing MG is a sense of connection to my audience (kind of funny, in light of the "no connection to the work" responses I get about my writing). I love getting a chance to think the way a kid thinks, and letting my characters explore things I never did when I was that age.

For me, writing is like a huge escape into another world, which I suppose is why I often feel so fired up and refreshed after a writing session. But I think if I was struggling to write in a genre that really wasn't for me, writing would leave me really drained and probably grumpy.

Is Writing in Your Family?

The other day, I was jotting a To-Do list in my writer's notebook (I know, lists of household jobs don't really qualify as writing but just bear with me), when I got thinking about my eccentric great-grandfather, who used to keep tiny notebooks full of lists. His lists were more about what he ate or the costs of things during his day. But now, as I consider my own obsession with writing-to-help-me-think, it makes me wonder whether he wasn't a writer that just didn't have the opportunity to write anything more than his lists.

I know I'm related to a magazine editor and an artist/writer, but maybe there are others. There must be  something about the way we think that makes us more inclined to write. Is it hereditary?

Are there any other writers in your family?

Happy Turkey Monday!

Today is Thanksgiving for us up here in Canada, so I'm taking the day off to rest and eat turkey.


Hope you have a great Monday!

Friday Fun: The Licence Plate Game

One day in the summer, my daughters and I started generating a story inspired by licence plates as a way to fight the boredom on a long drive. Our only rule was that we had to use a new one in each story bit. How's that for story-building!

Some ways you can use licence plates to inspire your writing:

1. Character names, especially for sci-fi or fantasy. Some recent ones I saw:  NINAKS, ANZY, TYTAN, DR SAME. Don't these just make you start thinking about character traits?

2. Psychology of a character. You can also think of these plates a different way, and wonder what the person is like that chose that plate. Why did someone choose 5 EVANS for their plate? What kind of person are they?

3. Names for vehicles, cities, other worlds. I'm thinking about what life would be like on DIGNITY9.

4. Made up swear words. Those random combinations of letters are great for this. BLEB!

Have you ever had any creative inspiration from licence plates?

Critique Group Benefits

Do you have an awesome writing group? If you don't, I hope you get a chance one day to find one.

My writing buddies do so much more than give feedback on my writing. They are great at questioning character motives, finding places where my writing is confusing and ferreting out those sections where what my character is doing just doesn't fit with the story. But they also encourage and support me when I'm feeling down about my writing. (And let's be honest, sometimes writing can drag you down when something is not working, when life events interfere or when you don't get the response you were hoping for.)

I feel so lucky to have not only a family that supports me, but also this circle of writers, who really understand what it is like.

Who supports you in your writing?

And speaking of supporting each other, over at MiG Writers, we're still hoping to reach 60 comments to support the MAGIC (Major Aspects of Growth in Children) Foundation. Please check out our post and consider commenting. You'll have a chance to win a free book (and with so many books up for grabs your odds are pretty good).