storyfires

I'm taking a break from blogging for a bit while I madly write and prepare for the BYU Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Conference (WIFYR) which starts next week. I'm excited to be doing morning fantasy-writing workshops with Tracy and Laura Hickman, who have a ridiculous number of books in print and are fabulous teachers. I loved the one-day conference I attended with them last July and I've already learned a lot just working through the pre-conference reading. I'll be back after the conference is over, unless I get too busy with rewrites.

Here's my weird Saturday: My sister borrowed my bike for a triathalon this weekend. Before she picked it up we had this conversation: Sis: So, I'm not used to bikes with skinny tires. How likely do you think I am to get a flat? Me: I hardly ever get a flat. Sis: I'll buy a spare anyway. Me: You won't get a flat. Sis: I'll buy one anyway. After spending the morning watching Sis swim, bike, run, I'm driving my son to a birthday party, when I feel my power steering is gone. I think my car has stalled, which isn't good, since I'm on a busy street, coming up on an even busier intersection, with nowhere to pull over, but when I check my dashboard, everything looks normal. After a minute I smell something I could swear is rotten fish. Me: "Do you smell that fishy smell?" E: "Yeah. Gross. Are we there yet?" The battery light goes on. The car starts dinging at me: bing! bing! bing! I turn the corner, which takes both arms ...

Check out my friend Bree's new website www.breedespain.com and find out more about her upcoming Young Adult book, The Dark Divine. It's a great read for teens, and I feel like it belongs just a little bit to me, too, since Bree's one of my fabulous writing group sisters and we've all watched each other's novels evolve. Don't miss it next spring 2010. Also, she's having another blog contest with free stuff, so go to her blog at http://www.readbree.blogspot.com/ for more info, follow the instructions, and don't forget to mention that you saw this promotion here. Go, Bree! Okay, stupid. Bree's blog contest was over before I posted this. I forgot to check the deadline. Go see her website anyway, because it's cool.

Because ... I like the Native American tradition of telling stories around a story-fire. And because ... It's in one of my novels. In that little world, every full moon is a Telling Night, where villagers sit beside seven fires and listen to the village storymaker weave their world into sense. Hopefully. Unless that storymaker happens to be the village outcast. Who happens to be a witch in self-denial. Then maybe the villagers just chuck rocks at her head. And also because ... Storytelling in the blogosphere feels oh so public sometimes, and the fire sets a friendly mood. Even if it's a fake fire. Imaginary can be good. We can pretend we're all sitting around a massive fire on a bunch of logs. Unless you plan on chucking rocks at my head.  And last, most of all, because ... Story is its own kind of fire. The best stories light up something inside a person, burn away the old, make room for something new, and the whole world suddenly looks like a different place...

Here's a real-life story for a Friday afternoon. Once upon an actual Sunday morning, not too many months ago, a couple of lovely, polite, and very earnest people knocked on my door, Bible in hand. Earnest Woman: "We're worried about the disturbing trend of children's books about witches and wizards and magic." Me: (blink) Earnest Woman: "I see you have children, I'm sure you're concerned about their well-being?" Me: "Mmmm." Earnest Man: "We'd like to read you a verse from the Bible about the dangers of witchcraft, if you don't mind." Me: "Mmmm." Whereupon they proceeded to read a verse where Paul warns against seeking out witches and wizards who "peep and mutter." These people were so earnest, and really nice, I didn't have the heart to tell them that I, myself, had written two books about witches and magic. I didn't want to horrify them. I also didn't have time--I wo...