Joy of Books---Hooray!

 
It only took 60 hours for this wonderful video Joy of Books to be filmed. Sean Ohlenkemp, a Canadian ad-man, along with wife, friends, and helpers, created this fantasy of "what happens at night when the bookstore is closed." Moving thousands of books, the team mixed and matched themes, jacket colors, sizes, shelving, doo-dads, and toys in pursuit of the message: There's nothing like a real book.
This video also became a case study in online viral phenomena, going to over 1.5 million views in less than a week as it was passed around between book lovers. I don't know if I skewed the statistics, though, as I've watched it at least a dozen times.

Charles Dickens and My Great Expectations

It will soon be the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens, one of the greatest English writers to live.
It will soon be about 200 months since I began to read Dickens' famous novel, Great Expectations, at the suggestion of a young friend who is now no longer quite so young.

Why, you might ask, has it taken me so long to read the book? There are all sorts of excuses: work, life, restarting it several times in order to refresh my memory, switching from my hectic daily life to the leisurely pace of nineteenth-century literature...but the best reason I can think of for my slowness can be found on page two of the book.

"Hold your noise!" cried a terrible voice, as a man started up from among the graves at the side of the church porch. "Keep still, you little devil, or I'll cut your throat!"
A fearful man, all in coarse gray, with a great iron on his leg. A man with no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round his head. A man who had been soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and lamed by stones, and cut by flints, and stung by nettles, and torn by briars; who limped, and shivered, and glared, and growled; and whose teeth chattered in his head as he seized me by the chin.

When I first came to this passage, I stopped. I read it again. I'd never read prose like this, that was so utterly poetic, so filled with rhythm, and which created so evocative a scene. I read it aloud. I  copied it down and posted it above my desk. Later, I memorized it. This one snippet from a scene had grabbed me and so thoroughly mesmerized me that I've been reading that same passage over and over for the last 200 months.
That's my excuse for not finishing Great Expectations. 
What is your favorite Dickens' work? Why?

More Writing Myths for Busting

"How many of us have been held back by myths? ....I’d like to add my own favorite writing myths to be busted. (Whether these are myths or delusions, I’ll leave to you to decide.) 1. You have to be neurotic to be a good writer/poet/artist/actor.
Reality: Health and happiness are ever-so-much-more-pleasant states of being.
You don’t need to be miserable to be a successful creative artist! If, however, you like creating suffering characters, what you do need is empathy. That, plus observational skills. Of course, you’ll still tap into your own experiences to some extent as you write, but you don’t need to go to extremes in your own behavior. All you need is to amplify a quality to make it stand out in a character. In other words, the personality quirk that allows someone to justify stealing a car is not that different from the person who steals a paperclip."
Read the rest of my article at Buried Under Books, then, add some of your own myths that deserve busting!

When is a Picture Book Not Just a Picture Book? Ed Young's The House Baba Built

This beautiful book captures author-illustrator Ed Young's life in Shanghai during World War II. He tells a story that will captivate young and old alike, a story that functions on many levels. Most touchingly, it is a tribute to his father, whose concern for his family led him to build the house, and whose message to his children has been carried out in Ed Young's numerous books over the past fifty-some years.
The message is basically this: Do good work.
Ed Young can be seen in this BBC video, discussing the book, its meaning, and how it was made.

Plagued by Plot?—Try Logic!

How do writers deal with plotting? And how do they deal with being stuck with the plot? Find out what these squiggles to the left mean and how they can help solve the most intractable plot problem in my essay at the blog Buried Under Books.

Supersize Me—Organic Style

"Super-apple" ©2011 Barbara DaCosta

If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, and apples have more than doubled in size since that adage was coined, what are we to do? Eat a half apple a day or a whole one?
Even organic apples have become supersized. Here are two apples that I bought on my quest for my one-apple-a-day snack. No wonder I barely had room for dinner after consuming the hefty one on the left! By my calculations, at close to three-quarters of a pound, it had three times the volume of the smaller one, which was a "standard" lunch-box-sized apple.
"Organic" once meant getting something safe and scrumptious that might not be cosmetically perfect. The main thing was that it was not plumped out with fertilizers or hormones. Now, however, organics have become big business, and with that has come the new standard shown here: perfectly shaped, perfectly sized, perfectly colored, and, as with the apple on the left, as perfectly super-sized as any hormonally plumped out, genetically manipulated, chemically sprayed commercial apple might be.

Intricacies of Life

Everything in life is interconnected. They say a butterfly's wing beating can create an effect across the world. All the more so a wave in the ocean. Not only the force of the wave as it travels, but the thousands of big and littles ways that the wave and its aftermath touches the lives of so many. A picture of a boat on the roof of a building, amidst absolute desolation. How does one move a ship off a building? How does one start to clean up?

Ninth Annual Write of Spring at Once Upon a Crime

Don't ask me how they do it, cramming a dozen mystery writers and fans and books galore per hour into a tiny space. Somehow Pat and Gary at Once Upon a Crime manage to do it every year. So much so, that they are this year receiving the Mystery Writers of America's Raven Award for service.
Independent bookstores like this, feed on an ongoing basis, the thirst of many a reader, and help maintain the fabric of our communities. The staff has read practically every mystery under the sun, they know what else you might enjoy, and they provide a warm atmosphere in which to explore your literary tastes. As a Publishers Weekly Shelftalk blogger just wrote, "We [bookstores] want to the store to be a place you come in when you’re sad and need to smell the books to feel better or get a hug from someone who is sad that you’re having a terrible day. We want to be the store you can call at closing and we’ll leave a book you need for a present on the doorknob for you to pick up after work .... We pay sales and property taxes that fund the schools, the roads, and the Little League field and we’re happy to do it. We bring authors to the schools and host wonderful, free events for the whole community.  We need you as much you need us."
Once Upon a Crime is just one of the many bookstores that fit this bill (and the Twin Cities is lucky to have many good bookstores of all stripes, including chains). They support authors, and we authors like to support them, in return, through events such as this.
This year, I'll be appearing with just a few of my mystery-writer buddies---forty-nine, to be exact--- Saturday, April 2, 2011, from 12–4 pm. Once Upon a Crime is located at 604 West 26th Street (near Lyndale Avenue South) in Minneapolis. Among some of the authors appearing: Monica Ferris, Laura Childs, Susan Runholt, Mary Logue, Steve Thayer, and many more. Here's the link to the store.
We'll be happy to see you!

Fact-checking is Good

Detail of postcard from c. 1910, Minnesota Historical Society collection.

It's never too early to start fact-checking. While working on a children's story about Duluth, I paused to check a couple of facts about Duluth's iconic Aerial Bridge. I began with using the great online resource of the Minnesota Historical Society, and local resources such as the Duluth Public Library and the wonderful Lake Superior Maritime Museum. These led me to talk to Tony Dierckins, author of Crossing the Canal: An Illustrated History of Duluth's Aerial Bridge and to read his fabulous book.
The bridge is the centerpiece of Duluth's tourist attractions, and has been since it was completed in 1905. Until the harbor freezes up each winter (the lake is so big that it doesn't freeze except along the shore), the bridge goes up and down many times each day—halfway up for the Vista Queen and other small but tall-masted craft. But when the big shiphorns exchange salutes with the bridge operator and the lift bridge goes up all the way, that's when crowds gather to see the huge oreboats and "salties" go through the canal.
These days, the bridge is commonly called the "Lift Bridge." My research taught me that one should, however, never make assumptions. If you look closely at this photo, maybe you can see what I mean.

November is Novel Writing--no, Picture Book Idea, no...

It's November, and I'm caught in the middle! Do I participate in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), or one of its many spin-offs such as Picture Book Idea Month (PiBoIdMo)?? Do I write 50,000 words in a month (in my dreams!) for Nano, or a few thousand for PiBo? Do I want to write for adults, or for children? Do I make flow charts of plots, or sketches of goofy monsters? Or do I simply go with the coolest web badge?

You know how when you walk into some people's houses, you feel like you know who they are? Their personalities, values, and how their minds work? Have you ever had that feeling about computer software?
I certainly have. For years, I've tussled with writing with word-processing programs: scrolling for miles, searching for key points, cutting and pasting sections, bracketing reminder notes to myself, losing or confusing drafts, and scribbling notes on printouts. Other programs had arcane, convoluted, and confusing internal logic with oddly named functions, and constantly crashed.
So, when I stumbled across Scrivener a few years ago, it felt like putting on an old glove. Developed by a writer for writers, it captures all of the various tasks that a writer does in creating a work, long or short, straightforward or complex. Not functions jerry-rigged and patched into a program, but rather organically grown out of actual writers' needs, and structured in ways that are sensible to a writer. Where do I file this research note, this website reference, this character trait, this audio interview? Can I subdivide this chapter? Can I meld three scenes together from different chapters? Can I jump from section to section? What reference styling will I need for my notes? Can I automate screenplay styling? Comic books? Novels? Theses? Can I label and color-code and make index cards and customize output?
Scrivener does this and more.
I write about Scrivener not so much as an advertisement for it, but because for many people, it will feel like a lifesaver, and it should serve as a model for software designers. It is insanely cheap, and the user forums (on which the designer participates) are informative, civil, and helpful. A real community has been created that has endured even as the software has matured and become a real company. The new manual and tutorials are thorough. The popularity of this program among writers has been such that people have switched from PC to Mac in order to use it. However, the developers have surprised everyone and in addition to their new Mac release (Scrivener 2.0) they've come out with a Windows version.
Scrivener deserves high accolades.
Not bad for an old glove.

DaCosta New Story Published

"As the Number 18 bus pulled up, Terrence stuck his weather-beaten hands back into his pockets to warm them for a brief moment. He hated panhandling, but with a bum back and bum eye, there wasn't much work he could get."

In this story, "For Want of Some Gloves," I tackle the layers of honesty,  thievery, and assumptions that so easily can creep into our lives. The story appears in Why Did Santa Leave a Body, a collection of holiday season mysteries now available from North Star Press. Edited by Brian Landon, the book also features stories by Jessie Chandler, Michael Allan Mallory, Brian Landon, Camille Hyytinen, Joan Murphy Pride, Dennis Anderson, Kathleen Lindstrom, J. Henry, T.J. Roth, and Marlene Chabot. ---Barbara DaCosta

The World's Tiniest Watercolor Kit

Writers distract themselves by doing crossword puzzles, making labels for file folders, and by sharpening pencils. Artists, on the other hand, are quite unique and distract themselves by doodling, sorting art supplies, and by sharpening pencils. Some painters go over the deep end spending hours preparing convenient and functional travel kits for trips or outdoor work. Since the invention of Fimo clay, painters have used Fimo to make paint wells to fit in metal boxes such as those from Altoid Mints or Sucrets. In fact, there's a whole underground culture online about creating these kits.
I found an even smaller and easier method: dispense with the Fimo, and use a box that already has an acceptable interior paint job. I found the perfect one in the junk drawer. The only drawback with not having paint wells is that the paints mingle some as they're used, which is not to everyone's taste.
For my mini-kit, I only needed to cover the box edges with clear tape (unlike the Altoids boxes, this one has no "lip"), so that my brushes wouldn't get damaged.
This amount of paint kept me and three kids in business painting to our hearts' content for almost an hour. Not that I was wasting time distracting myself, you understand.

The Mistake That Almost Got Away

I recently attended the Anderson Center's 11th Annual Celebration of Minnesota Children's Authors and Illustrators in Red Wing, Minnesota. The Anderson Center is nestled on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River. It's a wonderful place that sponsors arts programming, exhibitions, residencies, and more. This annual celebration is sponsored by the center, along with the Red Wing Public Library, the Red Balloon Bookstore, and the U of M's fabulous Kerlan Collection of children's books and manuscripts.
The day featured speakers, signings, a Civil War reenactment, balloon animals, and many other fun activities.  I heard talks by Michael Hall (My Heart is Like a Zoo), Sharon Werner and Sarah Forss (Alphabeasties), Mike Wohnoutka (Davey's Blue-eyed Frog), and met Joyce Sidman, John Coy, Lauren Stringer, and others.

At the celebration, I met up with Debra Frasier, author and illustrator of A Fabulous Fair Alphabet, a children's picture book that debuted at the Minnesota State Fair to great acclaim. She had a fun activity for people of all ages: to assemble their names out of the colorful letters she'd photographed at the fair and used in her book. Debra's activity tent was very organized, with large laminated letters carefully sorted into bins. There were also these 4-foot long foam noodle things, a bizarre invention that I've seen used as musical instruments, as play swords, or for pool exercise. Debra was using them as oversized letter holders. A narrow slit along their length was to be the gripper for the laminated letters.
I turned down the offer of help. What could be so difficult about putting my name letters in order into a slot on a foam noodle?
Plenty, it turns out.

This was long after I'd dried off from the day's earlier incident: I'd been minding my own business talking to someone at another booth, when a young girl on stilts wobbled by behind me. She bumped into me, teetered, and grabbed onto the edge of the canvas booth roofing for balance. The roof had been holding a nice big batch of cold rainwater since the night before and suddenly, all of that water went down my back! At least I kept the booth's display material from getting wet.
Debra's fair alphabet booth activities seemed a bit less high-risk, so I headed over there.  I chose colorful letters for my name and using the noodle like a paper clip, stuck them in the lengthwise slit. But the letters kept falling out. Finally one of the kind helpers approached me again and gently suggested that most people turned the noodle so the slit would face upward. I turned the noodle over and started over.
Finally, success! Here's the colorful result:

But there was STILL something wrong—that I didn't notice until that evening at home, when I looked at the photo. See if you can spot it.

How is a Book Made?

Those of us who work as writers and editors know how much work goes on to prepare a manuscript for publication. But that's only part of the whole process. There's further work done within a publishing house, including more editing, cover art, marketing, and sales, just to mention a few areas. The material is prepared for the printer, these days, digitally, where it goes through a sequence of pre-press preparation, printing, collating, binding, packaging, and shipping.
Here's a look at how a book is physically put together by a printer here (created for Webcrafters Inc. in Madison, Wisconsin).