Sunday, May 22, 2011

Ladies of the Rolling Pin

So Morris Dancers don't just bludgeon each other with clubs, they sometimes dust their victims with flour!
Spent a lovely day at the Lilac Festival at Arnold Arboretum http://arboretum.harvard.edu/ watching the Ladies of the Rolling Pin perform.www.ladies-of-the-rolling-pin.org

Second Sight

I've been reading Cheryl Klein's (http://cherylklein.com/) book, Second Sight: An Editor Talks on Writing and Revising and Publishing Books for Children and Young Adults very slowly. It has so many gems, I need to sift through carefully to make sure I catch them all.
One of her unique suggestions is to list five roles (daughter, friend, worker, etc.) that your character has in declining order of their importance to him/her at the beginning and end of the book. It made me think of my MC's story journey in a whole new way.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Notable Women

After writing bios for four books in the American Notable Women series, I've been thinking about what makes a woman notable. Is it because she is the first of her sex to accomplish something? Is it because she's done something to make life better for others?
And what drives a woman to excel in a culture that downgrades her abilities?