The Next Big Thing

There are two schools when it comes to talking about your work in progress (WIP). The first is that you don't talk about it at all. Period. The second is that you talk about nothing else. I'm kind of a combination of both, and over the years I've become much more of the second. But my current WIP necessitates me talking about my work with a lot of people, and it's taken over such a huge part of my life that it's basically all I think about. So when the talented, beautiful, amazing Jessica Cooper asked me to participate in The Next Big Thing blog game, I agreed.

Here are ten questions (and answers) about my current WIP.

What is the working title of your book?
Okay, maybe this isn't going to be as easy as I thought. Right now it's just kind of labeled "Grandmother Poems," but that is just about the worst title possible and kind of makes me dread scrolling to the top of my manuscript. I've been tossing around some ideas like "Forest of Things" and "Children of No Country," but my working titles usually go through several amalgamations before I settle on something I don't hate.

Where did the idea come from for the book?
After complaining to a friend that I can't finish anything, he asked me the most basic question: "Why?" That made me think far more than you would expect. It also made me realize that I couldn't get to the end of anyone's story because the beginning of my own is all muddled. So I started at the beginning, writing about the grandmother. How very meta of me.

What genre does your book fall under?
Creative nonfiction is kind of the catch-all for what I'm working on. It's parts poetry, biography, memoir, speculation. Who knows what it will be in the end.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
All unknowns. My characters are very vivid in my head, so I'm not sure I'd be able to say who would "fit" the part best. Good thing I'm not a casting director, or even a screen writer.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
I will be the one to mark her grave: Leona Rodak Gaglione, 1917-1979, beloved wife and mother.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I can't imagine what agency would be willing to represent this type of book, so it might end up being self-published. But hopefully my other WIPs will get my foot in the door of an agency that's willing to take a chance on this.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
This is a WIP and very much in the early stages, but I'm hoping to have a draft finished within a year.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
It's a little like A Step From Heaven by An Na with elements of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer and Thomas and Beulah by Rita Dove. (Yes, I did just compare my mess of a WIP to Printz Award-winner, a classic novel, a New York Times best-seller and a Pulitzer Prize for poetry. And yes, I am aware that this could possible be the most ridiculous comparison ever made.)

Who or what inspired you to write this book?
My grandmother's family immigrated from Poland a few years before she was born, and their lives were far from easy. My grandmother made some very bad choices in her life that still affect my family, but I've also seen how my father has been able to forgive and overcome the past. This book is an exercise in forgiveness.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
When most people think of immigrants in the early 20th century, they mostly think about New York City and the Ellis Island Experience. This WIP, however, is set in Omaha. When a lot of people think about Poland, they think about a country in Eastern Europe that gets invaded by just about everyone that is now a member of the European Union. This WIP, however, is about the strong cultural identity of a people with no country. I like exploring the unexpected, and I think others will like it as well.

I'm not a big fan of "tagging" people, but if you do a Next Big Thing post, let me know. I'd love to find out what you're working on!

Stepping into the Past

I've always been told I look just like my grandmother Leona Rodak. I've also learned enough about her to know that she made a lot of really bad decisions in her life, decisions that continue to affect my family even though she's been gone for almost 35 years. Though I never met her, she's had the single most influence over me behind the members of my immediate family--influence that hadn't always been for the good. So I've started a journey to make peace with my grandmother.

I've decided to embrace my Polish heritage and learn about immigrant life at the turn of the century. I've been contacting family members who knew Leona and her siblings, and I've done more research on Omaha from 1910-1930 than I ever expected to do. I've spent the past two months trying to piece together the lives of people who are no longer around to tell their story. I've also written page after page of poetry and prose, fiction and nonfiction about my grandmother's family. And I've learned a lot of unexpected things.

My grandmother was a pretty amazing person. She went through a lot in her life, and my family has left an amazing legacy of women who were independent, powerful, compassionate. Yes, her life was filled with mistakes and horrible tragedies, but it was also filled with incredible stories of survival and love. I've spent so many years resenting my grandmother that I never really took the chance to know her. But maybe looking like my grandmother isn't such a bad thing.

Second Grad School Reading List

I was helping some friends move yesterday, and probably my favorite part of "helping" was playing with their four-year old to keep her occupied while her parents tried to get something done. After her nap, all Little Miss M wanted to do was read books. It didn't matter what they were about or how old they were or what type of illustrations they featured as long as she got to hear a story.

M is often my source for picture book recommendations. Her mom takes her to the library and lets her pick about a dozen books to check out. With very little guidance, M ends up with a good mix of award-winners, best-sellers, old favorites, and some odds and ends. If we get through the entire book, I know it's a good one. If we talk about it afterwords or read it more than once, I know it's a keeper.

So in honor of M, here is my eclectic reading list for my second grad school submission.

Barnett, Mac. Oh No! Not Again!: (or How I Built a Time Machine to Save History) (or at Least My History Grade) by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Dan Santat: I like seeing how text and illustrations work together to create a narrative, but the illustrations carry this book. But it is a creative concept that plays up on funny moments.

All the Broken Pieces by Ann E. Burg: This book is my favorite read from this packet. It’s great poetry, a solid plot and complex characters all rolled into a tight package. I’ll probably come back to this one again.

Vivaldi and the Invisible Orchestra by Stephen Costanza: Interesting theory on why the Four Seasons include poetic notes. Love that this is based in history but interjects plenty of artistic license. Gave me some good ideas on how to mix history and fiction.

Elijah of Buxton by Christopher P. Curtis: When I started this book, I found the stories mildly amusing, but after awhile, the vignettes about the town and its quirky residents got a little old. There was so much story here, and it wasn't coming together. Then, about two-thirds of the way through the novel, everything changed. The action started and the vignettes began to come together to create a powerful plot. I also liked the way the author used sound (specifically onamonapia) to add another dimension to descriptions.

Fat Kid Rules the World by K.L. Going: The ambiguous ending feels like another beginning and makes me keep writing Troy and Curt's story in my head. For a child of the '90s, I felt an especial affinity for the homage to Kurt Cobain, yet this book manages to be contemporary and authentic, which can probably be attributed to it’s fantastic dialogue.

My Garden by Kevin Hanks: This book was sweet, cute and imaginative, but it was missing Hankes' usual flair for vivid characters, which is why I picked it up in the first place. I was hoping to see how is used character to drive plot in such few words. The “punch line"” at the end was clever even if it did lack the power Hankes' books usually carry.

Dinosaurs Before Dark by Mary Pope Osborne, illustrated by Sal Murdocca: I will admit, I was surprised by how much I liked this book. I love Jack and Annie's relationship and how they work together to solve problems. This is a great example of how simple details can build characters in a short manuscript.

Vampirina Ballerina by Anne Marie Pace, illustrated by LeUyen Pham: This is a cute story that uses plot well. It’s kind of a high concept picture book: Twilight meets Ballet Shoes maybe. It was an interesting choice to use a second-person narration, but it works with this content.

Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them by Francine Prose: This is one of those books I’ve wanted to read forever but has sat collecting dust on my bookshelf since it was published. I’m really glad I finally picked it up as it contains some great theories on how to read looking at craft but still allow yourself to enjoy it.

Chasing Brooklyn by Lisa Schroeder: So I have this thing about emotionally manipulative books, and I think novels in verse are the biggest culprit. While I read this book fairly quickly and stayed engaged in the story, I was also slightly annoyed by it. Why the line breaks? It felt like the poetry was used as a framework for being overly emotive rather than being a catalyst for the story.

Where did we go wrong?

The first thing I read this morning was about a teenager being shot by another student on the first day of school in Baltimore County. I wonder if the victim was excited to head to school today, to see friends he hasn't seen all summer, to start new classes, to try out for a varsity sport and get ready for Homecoming. I even wonder if the shooter knew what he was going to do when he woke up this morning or if he had planned this act all summer. Did he feel bullied or threatened or just wondered what holding a gun would feel like?

Perry Hall High School is like many other high schools across America. It's located in a middle-class community and suffers from overcrowding. It has decent sports teams with an especially impressive baseball program. It boasts academic and art clubs, theater and dance. It was even where the 1987 version of Hairspray was filmed. And now it will forever be marked by a school shooting. The name of the victim has not been released as he is a minor, but I'm sure that he is loved by many people, probably a lot more people than he realizes. Classmates and teachers will worry until his status is released, and all of the parents who have students who attend Perry Hall will sigh in relief when they are able to see and hug their children again.

This was especially sad for me to read as just a few days ago, an honors student in Prince George’s County was killed in her home. I didn't know Amber Stanley, but I'm sure many of her classmates at Charles Herbert Flowers High School felt her absence when they returned to school the next day. After all, school has just started and they are already missing one of their own.

I can't help but remember the loss of one of my tutoring students to a senseless shooting almost two years ago. I often think about what Prince would be like today, how his family would be different, how his friends would be different. A shooting has far more victims than those who feel the impact of the bullet. Even a teen shooter represents a life lost as s/he will more often then not be tried and sentenced as an adult, end up committing suicide or spend the remainder of her/his life under psychiatric care rather then finishing school, getting a job, having a family of her/his own.

Too often we take children for granted. We think of them as future resources or in terms of their potential instead of looking at what they offer and accomplish in our communities today. We lump all teens together and call them lazy or ungrateful, that we adults were a better version of them in our day. In essence, we are teaching them that they do not deserve respect, encouragement or our investment. It's no wonder teens see themselves that way and treat other teens with the same contempt.

I'm not a parent and I no longer work with teens on a daily bases, but when I wake up to a news story like this, I can't help but feel like I have failed. Like we all have failed.

Making Some Noise

I'll be honest, I didn't really feel qualified to post about ethnic diversity in children's books, but then I read Linda Sue Park's blog post about this and she encouraged me to "make some noise." So while she probably said it much better than I'm about to and has a lot more experience with this issue, here's me, making some noise.

After reading NPR's list of "100 Best-Ever Teen Novels," I couldn't stop asking myself, "Where is the diversity?" Where's Matt de la Peña, Coe Booth, Lisa Yee, Walter Dean Myers, Rita Williams Garcia, Pam Muñez Ryan and Cindy Pon? Seriously, not even Maya Angelou, Alice Walker or Toni Morrison? I could keep naming YA authors of color for pages.

Granted Sherman Alexi manged to make the list at number thirty-one. Harper Lee's To Kill a Mocking Bird is third on the list, but that is still a white perspective on race. But this issue goes so far beyond books dealing with race issues that I'm not sure where to start. Many of the above mentioned authors don't even write books that address race relations--they simple write books with characters of color who represent the diversity and melding of cultures that make America great. We are stronger for our differences, and history has proven we are capable of change, even if it is hard and slow in coming.

Maybe we can excuse this because it is an NPR list, and their audience tends to be middle-class white people like myself (which is probably why I knew about this list in the first place). But isn't that even more of a reason to include diversity in our reading experience? We read to learn, explore, escape, so why are we reading so many books about the exact same type of people? Sure, you want to relate to the main character, but it shouldn't be skin color or even heritage that makes a character relatable.

In writing this, I also became fairly disappointed in myself. Why couldn't I think of a single YA author of Middle Eastern heritage? (Although I did think of Suzanne Fisher Staples's Shabanu, which is an amazingly powerful book.) I even checked my list of ten favorites on GoodReads, and not one of them features a character of color. So why is diversity missing from my own list?

The more I think about the NPR list, the more questions it raises about my personal reading choices, what books we expose children to and why we gravitate towards books featuring main characters of our own race. I don't know how to fix this problem other than to make a conscious decision on my part to read more diversely, but at least that's a place to start.