Libraries and bicycles...

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"My two favourite things in life 

are libraries and bicycles. 

They both move people forward 

without wasting anything." 

~ Peter Golkin

Visit a library (maybe even on a bike!) and move yourself forward.... :)

The world beyond your door...

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“Read for fun, 

read for information,

 read in order to 

understand yourself 

and other people 

with quite different ideas. 

Learn about 
the world beyond your door. 

Learn to be compassionate 

and grow in wisdom. 

Books can help us in all these ways.” 

~ Katherine Paterson

I couldn't say it better myself. I read for all of these reasons... and I hope that you do, too! :)

No place like home...

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An excerpt:

     Aunt Em had just come out of the house to water the cabbages when she looked up and saw Dorothy running toward her.

     "My darling child!" she cried, folding the little girl in her arms and covering her face with kisses. "Where in the world did you come from?"

     "From the land of Oz," said Dorothy gravely. "And here is Toto, too. And oh, Aunt Em! I'm so glad to be at home again!"

~ from The Wizard of Oz,

written by L. Frank Baum

You may have noticed that I haven't been posting every day in the last week or so. Things around our house have been very, very busy. Our high school theatre and music departments are currently putting on a production of the musical The Wizard of Oz (three shows down, three more to go!) and our family has been involved with that. My husband helped build the set, my daughter and I painted many, many of the set pieces, I've created several of the props, plus my husband and I have helped with decorations in the hallway, a special meet-the-cast event, and much more. AND my son Ben is in the show, as a Munchkin and citizen of the Emerald City. 

Needless to say, we haven't been home much! I feel like Dorothy, so glad to be here at home today, getting a bit of a break before the next show. While I'm here, I thought I'd post this excerpt from one of my favorite books. I have always been a HUGE fan of The Wizard of Oz -- the book, the play (I was in it many years ago, as a 6th grader, and played a Munchkin, just like Ben!), the musical, and especially the movie. While I can appreciate Baum's words above, and I almost always prefer books to their movies, in this case I like the final line of the movie better: "And, oh, Auntie Em! There's no place like home!"

The characters are suddenly people...

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When asked: What do you like best about being a writer?

“One of the things is 

doing what I like more than 

anything else in the world, 

and being allowed to do it, 

and being paid to do it. 

It’s great. 

And I like setting something 

going and seeing that 

all the characters 

are suddenly people 

who behave like themselves, 

as if they had nothing to do with me at all. 

They come out with remarks 

that I never would have 

thought of myself personally. 

It’s a very odd feeling. 

I like that very much.” 

~ Diana Wynne Jones, 

in The Wand in the Word: 

Conversations with Writers of Fantasy

I've had that experience before, writing along and then all of a sudden a character becomes its own person, saying things and doing things that I never expected. Jones is right -- it's a very odd feeling. It's also very cool! :)

Singing to you...

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"There is 
something about poems 
that is like loving children: 
They keep returning home 
and singing to you all your life."

 ~ Felice Hoffman,

 in The Place My Words are Looking For

I love it when poems sing to me. Do you? :)

A library book...

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"If I was a book, 

I would like to be a library book, 

so I would be taken home 

by all different sorts of kids."

~ Cornelia Funke

I have to agree with Funke. I can't imagine a happier book than a library book loved by a wide variety of children -- and adults! What kind of book would you like to be?

Powerful things.

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An excerpt:

     But Peter's word lists were not just scribbles. Words, Peter learned, were powerful things. And when he put them in long, neat rows, he felt as if the world itself clicked into order.

~ from The Right Word: 

Roget and His Thesaurus,

written by Jen Bryant

Words are very powerful things indeed. Can you think of words -- something you've heard or read or even said -- that have made a difference in your life or the world around you?

Enjoy the writing...

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"Try to enjoy the writing itself. 

Don't even think 

about publication. 

Just focus on making 

every sentence, every paragraph,

 every page the very best 

you can make it. 

Then, rewrite, rewrite, rewrite 

until the work is even better!" 

~ Suzanne Lieurance

I think that this is very good advice for writers. Enjoy the work, make it the best that you can, and then rewrite it and make it even better. (Easier said than done, I know!)

Utopia

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"Literature is my utopia." 

~ Helen Keller

Mine, too. Just give me some good books and a comfy place to sit and I will be in heaven. :)

I dream a world...

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An excerpt:

I dream a world where man
No other man will scorn,
Where love will bless the earth
And peace its paths adorn.
I dream a world where all
Will know sweet freedom’s way,
Where greed no longer saps the soul
Nor avarice blights our day.
A world I dream where black or white,
Whatever race you be,
Will share the bounties of the earth
And every man is free,
Where wretchedness will hang its head
And joy, like a pearl,
Attends the needs of all mankind—
Of such I dream, my world!

~ from the opera Troubled Island,

written by Langston Hughes

Wishing you all a MLK Day filled with peace, love, and big dreams!

Unarmed truth and unconditional love...

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"I refuse to accept the view 
that mankind is so tragically bound 
to the starless midnight 
of racism and war 
that the bright daybreak 
of peace and brotherhood 
can never become a reality. 
[...] I believe that 
unarmed truth and unconditional love 
will have the final word in reality."

~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day tomorrow, I'm sharing this quote from the man himself. Let's do what we can to make peace, brotherhood, and unconditional love our reality....

One kind word...

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"One kind word

 can warm 

three winter months." 

~ Japanese proverb

Warm someone up today with a kind word or deed.... :)

No snow?

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An excerpt:

     "No snow," said radio.

     "No snow," said television.

     But snowflakes don't listen to radio, snowflakes don't watch television. All snowflakes know is snow, snow, and snow.

~ from Snow,

written by Uri Shulevitz

I'm glad that snowflakes don't listen to the radio or the tv. Ours kept saying we wouldn't get any snow, either, but we finally did anyway. :)

A library...

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"Here is where people,

One frequently finds,

Lower their voices

And raise their minds."

~ Richard Armour

Lowered voices and raised minds -- two reasons why I love libraries so much!

Listening.

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"Everything in writing 

begins with language. 

Language begins 

with listening." 

~ Jeanette Winterson

In other words, writing begins with listening. Listen to the world around you... what do you hear? What can you write about?

Frozen now in time...

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An excerpt:

     It began to snow heavily, falling in drifts. All Ophelia could see were the outlines of walls and the shapes of what might have been low hedges, now white. She shuffled through the snow. There were stone creatures, she noticed, covered in frost. Eagles with outstretched wings and lions reclining on the walls and a white horse rising up on its hind legs as though startled, only frozen now in time. 

~ From Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy, 

written by Karen Foxlee

I read this book last summer, on a very hot day, and day-dreamed about snow. Now I can look out my window and see my very own winter wonderland. No eagles or lions, though. ;)

What to do...

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"Wear the old coat 

and buy the new book." 

~ Austin Phelps

I received some money for Christmas from my parents -- a very generous amount -- and am trying to decide what to buy with it. Right now all I that have on my "to buy" list are books! There is little else that will provide so much pleasure....

The New Year...

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An excerpt:

The New Year, like an Infant Heir to the whole world, was waited for, with welcomes, presents, and rejoicings.

~ From The Chimes:

 A Goblin Story of Some Bells 

That Rang an Old Year Out

 and a New Year In, 

written by Charles Dickens

Wishing you all a safe and happy New Year's Eve! Goodbye to 2015 and hello to 2016! :)

The first gift of Christmas...

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An excerpt:

     I knew that I could have any gift I could imagine. But the thing I wanted most for Christmas was not inside Santa's giant bag. What I wanted more than anything was one silver bell from Santa's sleigh. When I asked, Santa smiled. Then he gave me a hug and told an elf to cut a bell from a reindeer's harness. The elf tossed it up to Santa. He stood, holding the bell high above him, and called out, "The first gift of Christmas!"

~ from The Polar Express,

written by Chris Van Allsburg

The Polar Express is one of my favorite Christmas books. (I like the movie, too, but not as much as the book.) I love this scene and the meaning of the silver bell from Santa's sleigh. What would you ask Santa for?

Write a lot.

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"You have to write a lot. 

And you have to rewrite 

what you wrote a lot more." 

~ Holly Black 

Good advice for writers! :)