Heard and seen in Illinois

Last weekend I was in Springfield Illinois for the Illinois Reading Association Conference and was fortunate to be in the audience when Eric Rohmann gave his acceptance speech for the Prairie State Award for Excellence in Writing for Children.  He spoke with warmth and grace:

"The imagination doesn't require much: a sudden light under a dark doorway, a line of smoke on the horizon, a nudge down a snowy hill...[as a child] I [once] sat on the grassy slope of my front lawn looking out at the house across the street. Suddenly, a black cat ran behind the house and a moment later, from the other side, a crow flew squawking into the sky. I knew better, but to my young mind the running cat, through some enchantment, had become the flying crow.

Children only need a place to start."

What a lovely picture--a cat becoming a crow! For great photos of the Prairie State Award Banquet check out Sharron McElmeel's blog.


I had gone to Springfield with Sharron McElmeel, Michelle Edwards, and Dori Butler.  We gave two panel presentations--one on how we each do our research. Dori actually took a citizens' police course to learn about police procedures for her mystery novels. Michelle has interviewed school kids to help herself understand what it really feels like to be the new kid at school, and she once asked her own kids to scout out some authentic names. I talked about the importance of going to the places where our stories happen, and Sharron pointed out to us all that there are many kids of research. We met some very dedicated Illinois teachers, whom I am glad to know. And we had a wonderful time chatting with Candy Fleming, who was also at the conference.

We also decided to be tourists in Springfield for a while.  There is nothing like "place" to bring a person to life. Standing in the old Illinois capitol and thinking that this is where Lincoln argued cases on a regular basis was awe-inspiring. Or walking up the steep staircase at the Lincoln home and knowing that he too walked up this staircase. The whole experience seemed to fit right in with thinking about the importance of going to the place where our stories take place. Just being there made me want to write one more story about Abraham Lincoln.

"old" Illinois Supreme Court Chamber where Lincoln argued cases

Finding Stephen Sondheim in Bangor Maine

This is more than an excuse to share some photos from our trip to Maine, but I do want to do that, too--a rainbow over my sister Laura's place, northern Maine looking toward Mount Katahdin, and my brother David's blueberry pie.

Who would have thought that on a trip to northern Maine I'd find a copy of Stephen Sondheim's book about writing song lyrics for musicals--Finishing the Hat-Collected Lyrics (1954-1981) with Attendant Comments, Principles, heresies, Grudges, Whines and Anecdotes. But I did and am excited to have it. We writers can learn from each other and often "cross-over learning" surprises us, shakes us out of our old ways into some new ways.

And, sure enough, right off the bat, in the Preface I find: "There are only three principles necessary for a lyric writer, all of them familiar truisms...I have not always been skilled or diligent enough to follow them as faithfully as I would like, but they underlie everything I've every written. In no particular order, and to be written in stone:

Content Dictates Form
Less Is More
God Is in the Details

all in the service of

Clarity

without which nothing else matters."

In thinking about "Content Dictates Form," I was reminded of Candace Fleming's wonderful book about the Lincolns, The Lincolns: a scrapbook look at Abraham and Mary.

Stephen Sondheim and this wonderful Lincoln book will make me think harder about the form of my next book--what is the best, right-est form for the story I want to tell? Maybe short prose poems, maybe letters, maybe include some lists. But whatever I do, I won't assume that the traditional narrative is the best form.

"Less is More" is the first principle of revision which is really often cutting, cutting, cutting, to let the real story emerge. Sondheim says in writing lyrics for musicals the principle further demands that the lyric writer leave a space for the music to carry the message, too, that too much fanciness in the lyrics gets in the way of the music. This is probably true for picture book writers. We should leave a space for illustrators to add their important strand to the story.

And of course "God is in the Details." We know that. That's why we spend so much time thinking about the details of our characters and our settings. But it's good to be reminded, and to be reminded that it's a truism for all writing.

And the blueberry pie-- warm summer days, smell of pines, fingers stained purple and blue. Best for breakfast.